Mexican buffet dinner hosted by Alison Roach at Diamond Oaks Country Club on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.

DATES: April 22nd- May 08th, 2024 LOCATION: IOWA, KANSAS, MISSOURI

Stacey Borden officially on the Ballot for Massachusetts Governor's Council, District 4

The theory presented in the book "Sex On the Wrong Brain" and website of the same name suggests anti abortion misogyny is a byproduct of the sexual repression used for centuries to fuel the irrational need for certainty that drives authoritarianism.

Midwest Book Review "unreservedly" recommends 'January 6: A Novel,' calling it "essential reading."

The "Sex On the Wrong Brain" book and website of the same name suggest humans can reduce misogyny, racism, authoritarianism and many other destructive anti democratic human behaviors with a simple lesson in sex education.

NinaData is reshaping the use of contextual advertising technology in the digital political advertising landscape to reach audiences based on voter issues and sentiments in a privacy-first way.

As a reporter, Brewer covered Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, and pursued investigative projects that earned recognition, including from the National Press Club.

First book to Claim Edith Wilson was acting President has errie parallels to Biden White House

Will Help Spearhead Efforts In Oregon

A Legacy of Service, Compassion, and Leadership

Mr. Trump has refused to make his high school, college and SAT scores public. Today, the American Party®, the only modern Party, announced that it has sent a public IQ Challenge to 2024 Republican Party nominee Donald J. Trump.

Christopher H. Baum lends years of expertise to his work with Votrite

Will Lead Term Limits Efforts In Texas

William S. Ballenger III serves as the owner and publisher of The Ballenger Report

Midwest Book Review "unreservedly" recommends 'January 6: A Novel,' calling it "essential reading."

As we inch closer to one of the most anticipated elections in recent memory, the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) is shaping up to be an event unlike any other.

Will Spearhead South Dakota Efforts

Graham's new book is an intriguing and informative "must read" from a woman who is probably the best-informed American on the terrifying realities concerning Vladimir Putin's motivations and his control over Trump. It is a warning to all Americans.

Dr. Richard Ruhling Biblical is a prophecy expert and taught Health Science at Loma Linda University. He predicted war with Iraq before 9-11, based on Christ's saying to read the book of Daniel.

The Message: Don't Keep it to Yourself – Share It

As a reporter, Brewer covered Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, and pursued investigative projects that earned recognition, including from the National Press Club. He was also Director of Employee Communications at the U.S. TSA.

Author claims Trump will lead America into a failed economy: "If Trump is elected we will not need to worry about the economy because we will not have one."

As a reporter, Brewer covered Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, and pursued investigative projects that earned recognition, including from the National Press Club.

As a reporter, Brewer covered Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, and pursued investigative projects that earned recognition, including from the National Press Club.

Author warns: "You cannot vote yourself into heaven. However, if you vote for horrific treatment of immigrants, you may be voting your soul into Hell. In this freakish election, voting is not about politics, it is about your eternal destination."

Election Confections: Founders for Kamala Lead the Charge in Joyful Celebration Initiative to Honor VP Kamala Harris' 60th Birthday

Tara Sreekrishnan told Zennie62Media that there's no real news out there about who she is as a candidate so she commissioned us to produce this news release. "There have been a lot of stories about me, but not who I am," she said.

Dr. Richard Ruhling Biblical is a prophecy expert and taught Health Science at Loma Linda University. He predicted war with Iraq before 9-11, based on Christ's saying to read the book of Daniel.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released its annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Detailed information about the adjustments and changes to the over 60 tax provisions impacting taxpayers can be found in Revenue Procedure 2024-40. The adjustments described below generally apply to income tax returns that will be filed in 2026 for tax...

The post Looking Ahead: 2025 Tax Inflation Adjustments for Individuals and Families appeared first on Anders CPA.

Managing new entity and payer enrollment with payers can be a complex, time-consuming process for health care organizations. Whether launching a new practice, merging with another entity or expanding into new markets, the administrative burden of enrolling with insurance payers and Medicare/Medicaid is significant. From navigating payer-specific requirements to meeting tight deadlines, it’s easy for...

The post Why it’s Simpler for Health Care Organizations to Outsource Payer and Entity Enrollment appeared first on Anders CPA.

Guillermo and Brett are joined by Kevin Brooks, CEO of Conception Nurseries. They break down cannabis cultivation, particularly tissue-culture services. Kevin shares his journey from the tech industry to cannabis, emphasizing the importance of tissue culture in providing clean, consistent plant genetics. He discusses the challenges in the cannabis supply chain and the benefits of...

The post The CannaBiz Success Show: Impacts of Tissue Culture on Cannabis Quality and Supply Chain Efficiency with Kevin Brooks appeared first on Anders CPA.

Wednesday, December 11 at 11:00 am CT Remain in compliance with both Section 1071 and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act with an efficient application process. While financial institutions are correctly concerned about how Section 1071 implementation will impact their processes, don’t miss this HMDA refresher to help prepare for the March 1st reporting deadline. As...

The post WEBINAR | Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Refresher – Including What Reporters Must Know Prior to Section 1071 Implementation  appeared first on Anders CPA.

Guillermo Rodriguez welcomes Samuel Fisher, Co-founder of Green Dispensary Marketing, to discuss effective marketing and SEO strategies for cannabis dispensaries. Samuel emphasizes the importance of building a dispensary’s own digital assets, such as a well-optimized website and strong Google “My Business” profile, rather than relying solely on third-party platforms like Weedmaps and Leafly. He shares...

The post The CannaBiz Success Show: Essential Marketing and SEO Strategies for Cannabis Dispensaries with Samuel Fisher appeared first on Anders CPA.

Tax Manager Chrysa Cousley, CPA, has been named has been named the 2024 Outstanding Young Professional by the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants (MOCPA). The annual MOCPA Impact Award for Outstanding Young Professional honors one CPA under the age of 35 who serves as an emerging and dynamic leader in the profession. This recognition...

The post Chrysa Cousley Named the 2024 MOCPA Outstanding Young Professional appeared first on Anders CPA.

With all the complications of running a cannabis business, it’s easy to forget that cannabis is a plant: a living organism with its own genetics that takes care and cultivation to grow. To get all the various strains that now fill our stores, there are things a grower can do to improve those genetics and...

The post Outsourcing Tissue Culture for Cannabis Growers: Eliminate Risk, Boost Yield appeared first on Anders CPA.

Small and mid-sized businesses have more IT-related responsibilities than ever, from implementing AI to keeping up with modern cyber threats. It’s become far too much for a small IT team or IT administrators to tackle on their own. Virtual or outsourced CIO services can help a business plot its technology strategy for the future, manage...

The post What Are Virtual CIO Services? appeared first on Anders CPA.

We recommend that every transportation company strive to have a 10-30% cash reserve. Why? Keep reading to find out.   First let’s cover what a cash reserve is. A cash reserve is a portion of your revenue set aside to navigate obstacles in your path to profitability or seize unforeseen opportunities. Maybe you will need to...

The post Does Your Transportation Company Need a 10% or a 30% Cash Reserve? appeared first on Anders CPA.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 substantially expanded the Section 45L tax credit for new energy-efficient homes. This credit offers builders of sustainable homes significant tax savings. Here’s what you need to know to take advantage of these updated credits and maximize the benefits for your projects. Key Takeaways: Key Changes to Section 45L...

The post Maximizing Section 45L Tax Credits for Energy-Efficient Home Builders appeared first on Anders CPA.

The images below look like an ArtCenter grad's portfolio, but apparently the development of these machines is being pursued.

An Austrian startup called CycloTech is working on a novel propulsion style for electric flying vehicles. Rather than using conventional rotors or propellors, they're using what they call CycloRotors, which are an array of adjustable fins contained within a cylindrical package.

These CycloRotors can provide thrust in 360 degrees around their circumference. With six of them around the vehicle—four in a transverse orientation, two in a longitudinal orientation—a unique benefit is gained: The arrangement "enables high-precision sideways and backward flight, as well as mid-air braking – all without tilting or banking the vehicle."

While the test vehicle looks fairly prosaic…

…the forms they're envisioning for the finished product are socks-knocking:

If you can't get your head around how the 360-degree thrust thing works, see the video below:

CycloTech says their planned production vehicle, to be called CruiseUp, will be safe; the six CycloRotors "provide a high level of redundancy, allowing [one] to fly and land safely, even in the event of a rotor failure."

The company envisions these being used not as an air taxi service, but as privately-owned vehicles that will take the place of cars. The design of the CruiseUp is intended to fit within our existing domestic environment. "While the 20th century taught mankind to fly with fossil fuels," they write, "the 21st century will see emission-free 'Flying Cars/Air Cars' become part of a new normality."

Inventor Kazuya Shibata, who creates "marginally useful things," presents this Smartphone Face Shield.

It's designed for those who use their phone in bed. A lessor inventor might simply have created an arm to hold the phone in place, but Shibata knows that greater phone engagement comes from holding the phone yourself. What's urgently needed, then, is emergency protection for when you drop it.

If you want to 3D print your own, he's got the Fusion files here. Along with a caveat: "Face protection will fail about once in 10 times."

To me, the gaming market is a lot like the EDC market: It's fascinating to see what developmental lengths people will go to, to push the UX of some object with highly specific functions. A case in point is this Elitech Protean Space Quick Control Swap Gaming System.

The idea behind it, is that gamers have multiple task-dependent UI's on their desks: A keyboard for typing, a joystick and throttle for playing flight simulators, a steering wheel and a shifter for driving games. For gaming accuracy these need to be mounted, and juggling the mounts is apparently a hassle. So what this design does is, provide a modular platform on which to securely attach different controllers.

The heart of the system is this keyboard base, with two wings.

The keyboard base slides rearwards, revealing aluminum channels.

The wing pieces can be slid towards each other along these channels, adjusted to your preferred width.

The "X" in the top of the wings is stainless steel. This allows you to attach magnetic controllers.

Furthermore, there are clamping attachments that allow you to attach a steering wheel and shifter.

Thus the gamer can quickly achieve the set-up that they want:

This isn't yet in production; the developer is planning a crowdfunding campaign.

When it comes to a true flying car—I don't mean just a VTOL vehicle, I mean something that can both drive and fly—we've seen a lot of wild forms over the years.

The AeroMobil 4.0

The Xpeng AeroHT

The Alef Model A

The LuftCar

The GAC Gove

Notably, one that actually flew was the KleinVision Aircar, which had folding wings:

Another vehicle that successfully flew last year was the Samson Sky Switchblade.

However, Samson Sky reckons that in order to make the design production-ready, both the wings and the massive rear stabilizer, which contains the propellers, must be folded into the body for driving mode. So their latest design envisions this arrangement:

I hate to be skeptical, but gosh that looks like a lot of moving parts! I wonder what the maintenance will look like.

A French mobility company called Mobilize has designed a new type of vehicle from scratch. Two, actually: The Duo, an enclosed two-seater electric quadricycle, and its sibling the Bento, which ditches the back seat for a large storage box.

Both vehicles were meant to be strong urban design statements, and to not draw on outdated references. "The Duo's greatest strength is its unique design," says Jean-Philippe Salar, Mobilize's Design Director. "What we wanted for this vehicle was to avoid imitating a car. It's in effect a little spaceship, a little lunar capsule on 4 wheels."

Not being a car, the diminutive Duo can be driven by folks as young as 14 in France.

The tandem seating arrangement, rather than side-by-side, is to make the vehicle as narrow as possible, the better to slip through traffic.

The gullwing doors allow ingress and egress even in tight spaces.

The charging cable sits in a dedicated compartment in the vehicle's nose. And, surprisingly, the vehicle features an airbag for safety.

The company refers to the single-seater Bento as a micro utility vehicle; it boasts a cargo box on the back that can swallow nearly a cubic meter.

The Bento requires a proper driver's license, as its more powerful electric motor can top out at 80 km/h (50 mph). It's targeted at last-mile delivery services and tradespeople who travel with tools.

Intriguingly, the dashboard of both vehicle was inspired by an icon of 1980s urban culture: The boombox. "The design of Duo et Bento, both on the outside and inside – with its dashboard that refers to boomboxes – deliberately goes against the grain of classic automotive language," says Salar. The designers also decided not to include a screen, reckoning that most people are already carrying one these days.

Both vehicles require half the space to park as a car.

The construction of the vehicles is decidedly un-car-like: "It's based on a metal birdcage structure to which we simply glue plastic panels," says Benoit Abadie, Mobilize's Director of Engineering. "We have around 300 parts in Duo, that's 5 times less than in a normal car, which has around 1,500."

Mobilize is a subsidiary of Renault, and both vehicles are manufactured at Renault's factory in Tangiers. "It's an ISO 14001 plant that's working towards carbon neutrality," says Wafa Boujguenna, the company's Industrial Project Manager. "Duo and Bento are eco-designed vehicles, made from 40% recycled materials, battery included, and are 95% recyclable, including the battery."

The vehicles will be sold in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. No word on if these will come to the U.S.

There's a great interview with the design team below, explaining what they were going for:

Here's a strange pairing of objects, from Chinese manufacturer Olight. Their Baton 4 Premium Edition is a tiny LED flashlight—less than 2.5" long--that comes with its own charging case.

Despite its tiny size, the Baton 4 has a 1,300-lumen output, and the company claims it can throw its beam 170 meters (558'). Though the press image isn't so aspirational.

The charging case, which can double as a powerbank, has a built-in 5000mAh battery; the company says it can fully charge the Baton 4 up to five times, providing 190 days of runtime.

The fanatical EDC crowd loves flashlights, stashing stuff inside other stuff, and charging longevity. This object seems tailor-made to scratch all three of those itches.

These run $95.

Dutch company Airback has invented a backpack that can shrink its contents. Their eponymous backpack ($185) features a zippered airtight compartment with a port; once you've stuffed this compartment full, you attach either a household vacuum cleaner, or the company's small electric pump, to the port.

All of the air gets sucked out of the compartment, compressing the clothing within. The company reckons this allows you to cram in 50% more stuff.

The backpack also has a scale built into the handle, so you can avoid exceeding airline weight limits and being forced to check it at the airport.

The overall design is quite intelligent, featuring a passport stash pocket, a locking laptop compartment, bottle holder and more:

Following the popularity of the backpack—which was Kickstarted to the tune of €350,000 (USD ~$380,000), they designed a smaller Airback Go ($152) which fits beneath an airplane seat. This design lacks the scale in the handle.

There's also a larger Airback Max ($361), which boasts rollers and a telescoping handle…

…as well as the Airback Next ($416), a hard-sided carry-on roller.

All of the bags feature a built-in USB-C port, to which you can connect your own powerbank.

The company's separately-sold pump runs $52. One does wonder what to do if either that or the handle scale breaks. For their part, the company says "we've committed to a circular system - allowing you to send your bag back to us when it's lived its life, whereupon we, along with our partners, will give it a new purpose." However, what I'd prefer to see is some mention of repair options.

Kia Design Center America unveiled a funky concept EV van at this week's SEMA show. This PV5 WKNDR is intended to be "an ideal escape pod for extended weekends in nature."

Among its unusual features are a steering wheel that pivots out of the way (sort of), a pivoting passenger seat and a pull-out unit they're calling a "Gear Head:"

The PV5 WKNDR EV VAN features a highly flexible and adaptable modular interior that can be easily and efficiently customized to maximize space and function – akin to a Swiss Army Knife on wheels.

The van's "Gear Head" feature is the first-of-its-kind storage solution that provides an off-board, sheltered storage space for gear when the vehicle is stationary, allowing for maximum utilization of interior space while still offering easy access to gear outside. The "Gear Head" can also be transformed into a mobile pantry for cooking afficionados that want to "Cook with a View".

Truly self-sufficient, the PV5 WKNDR EV VAN features solar panels and unique hydro turbine wheels that can recharge the batteries for many uses. As an example, Kia installed an onboard compressor to handle needs for inflation, from adjusting tire pressure when out on the trail to inflating space efficient mattresses when setting up camp for the night.

Kia's clear that this is purely a concept. "Our vehicles already help people live their active and adventurous lifestyles and it was fun to see just how far we could go with these latest concepts. The SEMA Show acts as a blank canvas for creativity and offers a glimpse into what Kia's automotive future may hold."

Dorel Juvenile is the world's leading juvenile products company. When they wanted to develop a new infant car seat, they turned to Pennsylvania-based ID firm DesignThink.

DesignThink as the Innovation Incubator for the Ultra Lightweight Maxi Cosi Coral XP

A Cold January Day in 2017

The team at DesignThink was asked to visit Dorel Juvenile Group USA to review a "Special Project". The development team at Dorel JG wasted no time introducing us to their latest infant car seat (ICS) project. They were experimenting with the idea of developing a seat that would reduce the struggles parents faced when trying to transition their baby from the car and carry their baby in the removable seat portion of the ICS. The team at DesignThink has designed several car seats over the years and we instantly recognized the unique opportunity, as well as the challenge that this project offered, and were eager and excited to get started.

Our Role as the Innovation Incubator

We partnered with Dorel to act as the innovation incubator to lead the project team through the fuzzy front-end and define the product's overall features and characteristics of use. Upon successful concept definition, the project would be positioned under the Maxi Cosi brand and ultimately transferred to the Maxi Cosi team in Europe and a European design group to carry the innovation to production.

The Problem at Hand

By removing the seat from the base that is installed in the car, parents can take the baby with them while running errands or visiting people and places. However, a problem associated with this system is that some removable seats can weigh up to 16 lbs. and the baby can weigh up to 35 lbs. for a combined arm-crushing weight of 50+lbs.!!

We established two primary goals: 1) reduce the overall weight of the seat to lighten the load, while maintaining structural integrity as to achieve a top crash test rating, and 2) develop new methods that enable parents to more easily lift the seat when moving in and out of the vehicle and when transporting the child in the seat.

Our Approach (Decades of Experience and User Understanding Put to Test)

DesignThink is one of the leading firms in car seat development having brought several seats to the market and has a long history of creating break-through innovation, but this project pushed our team in new ways. The structure for the project utilized DesignThink's simplified "DEEP" process;

Define that for which we will solve

Express possible solutions as quick thumbnail stories

Explain the "what – why – wow" related to user needs

Prototype to demonstrate the merits of the idea

How the Project Unfolded

A series of innovation workshops were hosted at our studio to enable the team to think and problem solve with product at hand. The objective was to think in the "ideal" (do not worry about cost and construction initially) and to "fail fast" (explore, evaluate, and evolve). The following provided the high-level framework for how the team identified and pursued their ideas.

Established Design Targets

Led by our usability team, along with team members from Dorel, we hosted a several day innovation workshop at our studio. We began with a collaborative defining of the design targets based on use, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, which we affinitized and moved directly into physical prototyping to address and evaluate how well the concepts improved the user experience during day-to-day interactions.

DEEP: Innovation Workshops to prototype your idea. You are encouraged to be chaotic and messy! Fail fast! Dorel made sure plenty of product was on hand to fuel the innovation.

Inutitive Carry

Enhanced Confidence

Improved Transitions

Development of Design Targets

Role-Play is the Best Way

To truly understand and empathize with users, we role-played, exploring typical use-case scenarios to inform our ideation. Placing ourselves in the same situations helps us quickly evaluate and improve our concepts.

Handle-Carry:

Evolution for improved ease when attaching the seat to the base and removing the child from the vehicle

Cradle-Carry:

Exploration to improve how parents can bond with the baby in a more natural holding position

Cross-Body Strap:

Exploration to provide alternate ways to carry the baby while reducing the effects of weight and fatigue on the parent

Iterative User Evaluation Cycle

Our early thoughts and ideas were evaluated by the team and with parents in our research lab. These ideas were then refined to strengthen the evolving direction. The learnings obtained through this method enabled the team to focus on the most meaningful directions and build their value. Listening, understanding, and empathizing allowed our team to develop new ideas in this category that were previously unexplored.

DesignThink presents the refined design direction.

A series of prototypes and user evaluations enabled us to reach a stage of concept definition for an ultra lightweight car seat that provides parents with improved ways to carry, hold, and secure their baby.

Our Results

User-Centered Insights lead to Market Defining Solutions

Having developed many juvenile products such as car seats, strollers, and highchairs, DesignThink understands the day-to-day challenges parents face, both physically and emotionally. We embarked on this project with Dorel to define a new car seat with features that take into account those challenges and offer relevant and meaningful solutions. Exploring innovation that is rooted in user insights enabled our team to quickly define those solutions and overcome technical hurdles to deliver new experiences to address real problems faced by parents when using an ICS.

Defining the Direction

As mentioned, DesignThink was hired as the innovation incubator in the fuzzy front-end to develop and define a new architecture for this seat. Our work was documented and handed off to the Maxi-Cosi team in Europe. The output of our innovation incubation became the driving framework used by the teams in Europe to create a truly meaningful and relevant solution for parents in this category.

The DesignThink team is very proud to have been selected by Dorel to play such an important "behind the scenes" role in setting the direction for, and contributing to the success of, the Maxi Cosi Coral XP.

It takes a Village to Design a Car Seat

Snapshot of the iterative concept development that led to the final product

You can see more of DesignThink's work here.

Here's what we looked at this week:

Why do humanoid robots move like humans? For efficiency's sake, oughtn't they have their own movement style?

In Amsterdam, a hotel room with an airplane inside of it.

KraussMaffei's ColorForm production method: Injection molding and painting in one production process.

When bad UX is the point: A no-handle coffee mug for rock climbers.

Trusscore: This user-friendly DIY sheetrock alternative requires no heavy lifting, taping, mudding, priming and painting.

This Jetlaser strips finishes in seconds. No chemicals, no mess.

Registration is open for Buildner's Architect's Chair Design Competition.

Industrial design case study: Minimal's solution to combat single-use package design.

Kazuya Shibata's Smartphone Face Shield provides in-bed emergency protection for when you drop your phone on your face.

CycloTech's form evolution of a new type of flying vehicle, designed around six enclosed "CycloRotors."

No one agrees on what a true flying car should look like. But if the folding-wing crowd wins out, these will be complicated to maintain.

The Elitech Protean is a gamer's desktop platform designed for swappable user interfaces.

The Onion's magical election touchscreen provides unique insights.

Two striking urban vehicles: The Duo and the Bento, by Mobilize.

Olight's Baton 4 is a tiny LED flashlight with its own charging case.

Airback: Backpacks and luggage that can shrink their contents with a vacuum.

Kia's funky PV5 WKNDR, an EV camper van concept.

Industrial design case study: An infant car seat by DesignThink.