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2017 Local Authors Expo Spotlight: Chandra Sparks Splond
Books: "Spin It Like That," "The Pledge," "The Promise," "The Greatest Gift of All," "He's Got Game," "Make It Work," "You've Gotta Have Faith," "Black Girl Dreaming: Poems About Love, Life and Loss," "It's Like That"
How to reach the author: Read her blog at www.bookofsplond.com. Author Website: www.chandrasparkssplond.com Email: firstname.lastname@example.org
Quote about the Local Authors Expo: "I spent a lot of time in the Birmingham Public Libraries growing up, so it is an honor and very humbling for me to be selected as this year's keynote speaker. I am so excited to connect with authors and readers and to let them know if my dreams can come true, theirs can too."
About the 2017 Local Authors Expo: To be held Saturday, Aug. 19, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Central Library, 2100 Park Place, Birmingham, AL 35203. Splond is 10:30 a.m. keynote speaker.
Meet Chandra Sparks Splond, keynote speaker at Local Authors Expo
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Chandra Sparks Splond first gained her love of reading as a young child by visiting the Central Library downtown and her neighborhood libraries in West End and Five Points West.
So it should come as no surprise that as an adult Splond is an editor, speaker and award-winning author and blogger. Her young adult novel Make It Work was named Alabama's Great Read 2017, and "Spin It Like That" was chosen as a Popular Paperback for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).
Another of her books, "The Pledge," was a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Black Pearls Magazine also honored Splond as a 2017 Legends & Leaders for her blog, Book of Splond (formerly known as Magic City Momma).
Splond is the owner of West End Publishing, LLC, and Live Life Creations, a personalized gift and party boutique. In addition to working for Kensington Publishing as the consulting editor for Arabesque romance, Splond has also done work for Random House, Moody Publishers, Kimani Press (formerly known as BET Books), and Hyperion.
She has edited books for several "New York Times," "USA Today" and "Essence" bestselling authors. Splond has interviewed "New York Times" bestselling authors Karen Kingsbury, Kimberly Lawson Roby, Eric Jerome Dickey and actress Meagan Good. She has also worked for "Good Housekeeping," Black and Married with Kids, "Brides Noir," "Weddingpages," "Newsday," "The Morning Call" and "Romantic Times."
Splond says she uses this quote by Henry David Thoreau as a guide to her personal and professional life: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."
Come meet Splond and the nearly 30 other authors at the Local Authors Expo on Aug. 19.
It's Like That
After suffering a tragic loss ten years ago, twenty-six-year-old Jasmine Richardson has traded her love of lyrics for writing legal briefs. It only takes one encounter with the microphone for Jasmine to realize the music is still in her heart--if only it could pay the bills. After making some bad decisions, Jasmine is thrown into a tailspin. She is forced to consider taking a case that could make her legal career from someone from her past. Suddenly, Jasmine finds herself questioning her future. When the music is still in your heart, sometimes life forces you to make some tough decisions. Sometimes...it's like that.
Black Girl Dreaming: Poems about Love, Life and Loss
As a child growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, author and blogger Chandra Sparks Splond spent many days in her room dreaming of forever and writing about someday. In Black Girl Dreaming: Poems about Love, Life and Loss, Splond shares some of her most cherished and personal work on her journey to learning to love herself and others.
Make It Work (Named Alabama's Great Read 2017)
Sixteen-year-old Reagan Davis has landed her dream job, an internship at FIRE 107.1, the hottest radio station in town. It doesn't take Reagan long to realize that between competitive coworkers and trying to ignore her growing feelings for her oh-so-cute coworker Jayden, there's more drama at FIRE than she's ever experienced at school. That might be okay if she could go home and relax, but her mother is acting weird and her father is keeping secrets. Even with all the madness at home, Reagan can't deny that radio is in her blood, and whatever it takes, this summer she's determined to...make it work.
You've Gotta Have Faith
Destini Daniels is excited she is going to be adopted--or is she? When she gets a bad grade and learns her foster mother has a secret that could put her adoption in jeopardy, Destini starts to lose faith she'll get a forever family--or pass science. When someone volunteers to tutor her, Destini begins to believe she may not only get an "A," but maybe she'll get a forever mom--and dad.
About the Birmingham Public Library (BPL)
For additional information about the programs and services of the Birmingham Public Library, visit our website at www.bplonline.org and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter @BPL. The mission of Birmingham Public Library is to provide the highest quality library experience to our community for life-long learning, cultural enrichment, and enjoyment. This system--with 19 locations and serving the community for 130 years--is one of the largest library systems in the southeast.


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The objectives of the autism and neurodiversity civil rights movements overlap significantly with the interests of those who advocate for greater levels of psychological safety in the workplace and in society in general.In search of psychological safety | Autistic Collaboration
Psychological safety is increasingly recognised as central to mental health & wellbeing. The polyvagal theory offers a ‘Science of Safety’ which can help inform clinical practice to promote wellbeing, resilience & post-traumatic growth, whilst mitigating trauma. To date, there is no standardised measure of psychological safety comprising psychological, physiological & social components. The current study aims to develop this.Developing a standardised measure of psychological safety.
Psychological safety is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.Building a psychologically safe workplace: Amy Edmondson at TEDxHGSE – YouTube
As the first stage of psychological safety, inclusion safety is, in its purest sense, nothing more than species-based acceptance (figure 5, previous page). If you have flesh and blood, we accept you. Profoundly simple in concept, devilishly difficult in practice, we learn it in kindergarten and unlearn it later.
Including another human being should be an act of prejudgment based on that person’s worth, not an act of judgment based on that person’s worthiness.
My point is that worth comes first, worthiness comes second. Inclusion safety is not about worthiness. It’s about treating people like people. It’s the act of extending fellowship, membership, association, and connection—agnostic of rank, status, gender, race, appearance, intelligence, education, beliefs, values, politics, habits, traditions, language, customs, history, or any other defining characteristic. Inclusion marks passage into civilization.
Worth precedes worthiness. There’s a time and a place to judge worthiness, but when you allow someone to cross the threshold of inclusion, there’s no litmus test. We’re not weighing your character in the balance to see if you’re found wanting. To be deserving of inclusion has nothing to do with your personality, virtues, or abilities; nothing to do with your gender, race, ethnicity, education or any other demographic variable that defines you. There are, at this level, no disqualifications, except one—the threat of harm. The only reciprocation requirement in this unwritten social contract is the mutual exchange of respect and permission to belong.
What should it take to qualify for inclusion safety? Two things: Be human and be harmless. If you meet both criteria, you qualify. If you meet only one, you don’t. The great African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass made the definitive statement about inclusion safety when he said, “I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity.” That statement can apply to any characteristic. When we extend inclusion safety to each other, we subordinate our differences to invoke a more important binding characteristic—our common humanity.The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
In the second stage of psychological safety, we shift our focus from human status to human need—in this case the innate human need to learn and grow, to engage in all aspects of the learning process without fear of being rejected or neglected.
There are three patterns of fear-inducing emotional danger that remove learner safety and create a state of risk: (1) neglect, (2) manipulation, and (3) coercion.
In every learning context, consciously or not, we assess the level of interpersonal risk around us.
A hostile learning environment, whether at home, school, or work, is a place where fear elicits the self-censoring instinct and shuts down the learning process.
Learners rarely put forth the effort to learn unless learner safety is in place. It’s a “build it and they will come” principle. If you don’t build it, they may still come, but they won’t learn.The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
Every child deserves an education that guarantees the safety to learn in the comfort of one’s own skin.
I centered my instruction on the lives, histories and identities of my students. And I did all of this because I wanted my students to know that everyone around them was supporting them to be their best self.
So while I could not control the instability of their homes, the uncertainty of their next meal, or the loud neighbors that kept them from sleep, I provided them with a loving classroom that made them feel proud of who they are, that made them know that they mattered.
There is a better way, one that doesn’t force kids of color into a double bind; a way for them to preserve their ties to their families, homes and communities; a way that teaches them to trust their instincts and to have faith in their own creative genius.Dena Simmons How students of color confront impostor syndrome – Ted Talk 2016 Ted com – YouTube
We need to remind ourselves that we don’t command learning, we invite it. The climate we create feeds the desire and motivation to learn. In an ideal setting, learner safety is a mutual giving and receiving of ideas, observations, questions, and discussion. If leaders are to meet learners where they are, you may need to back up and begin by supplying the inclusion safety that’s been absent. I have yet to see learner safety where inclusion safety is absent. One builds on the other.
Craig maintains that slow students are not less intelligent students. They simply assimilate at a slower pace, so his focus is on student effort rather than aptitude. That ability to resist making discriminating judgments of students’ abilities is a skill, but it’s also a moral capacity, and one that many teachers don’t have the discipline to develop.
“Retesting clearly works, so I give endless chances. If you’re willing to work, there’s always mercy. You can try again.”
— Craig B. Smith
Craig invites students to learn without adding fear to a subject that already creates its own. He recognizes that students who are emotionally distressed—anxious, angry, or depressed—are cognitively impaired and don’t learn well, so he fosters a challenging and yet nurturing climate of learner safety to dramatically reduce learning risk.
Based on his extraordinary perceptive capacity and ability to ward off compassion fatigue, he has mastered the art of shaping the social, emotional, and cognitive context, in creating a figuratively “clean, well-lighted place” where the whole student can flourish. This is learner safety.
Performance terror. We’ve all known a classroom, meeting room or stage where we didn’t feel safe doing something we were quite capable of doing.
“As a college professor I encourage students to read their work aloud, but I never insist on it,” said Carey. “Sometimes those who are uncomfortable doing it will volunteer on their own because it’s their decision rather than mine.”
“I centered my instruction on the lives, histories and identities of my students. And I did all of this because I wanted my students to know that everyone around them was supporting them to be their best self,” said Simmons.
A supportive culture, sustained advisory relationships, and teaching strategies that create positive learning all promote psychological safety.
“Every child deserves an education that guarantees the safety to learn in the comfort of one’s own skin,” said Simmons.
If we want to create resilient, capable, problem-solving students, we need to allow them to make mistakes that encourage them to learn and grow. Students learn best when their affective filter is low. When mistake-making is perceived as bad, it is detrimental to learning.
The same holds for teachers.
We must allow teachers to model learning through trial and error.
When we create professional learning experiences that reward teacher risk-taking, we’re creating an environment of trust, which means encouraging teachers to continually re-new their practice through experimentation, failure and iteration.
Schools that fail have adults who talk relentlessly about how at risk their kids are. They have all the statistics at their fingertips. They focus on the perceived limitations… on vocabulary shortfalls, on lack of pre-school and parent involvement, on issues of attendance and language.
Schools that succeed have adults who talk about what their kids can do. They talk about the stories kids tell, the things kids make, the problems they solve, the way the collaborate, communicate, connect to the world. And when they’re really good you never hear the words “at risk,” or “title,” or “deficit,” when they plan.
A home of opportunity.
A school struggling with the ravages of American poverty has to first be a home — the kind of home the children may not have at home. A place that is relentlessly safe, that is both calming and exciting, that offers unconditional love, and that offers boundless opportunity.
That ‘home’ must be supportive and accepting, loving and encouraging, and it must provide the biggest possible window on to the world, on to the universe.
A home of opportunity.
What does opportunity look like? First, it looks like trust. It looks like freedom. And it looks like choice.
What does opportunity look like? It looks like understanding that relationships and social and emotional support mean more than traditional academics. It means that adults don’t fuel bullying through hierarchies — whether with honor rolls, ability grouping, or sports worship.
It looks like Universal Design for Learning, with kids learning to use the tools of a lifetime. It looks like a place where kids can hide when they need to and jump when they want to. It looks like a place where play is considered a high level learning path.
It looks like a place that respects kids’ needs and treats their lives as legitimately complex and difficult.
Psychological Safety in Teams
What happens when a team grants some respect or permission to its members, but not both—when the pattern of psychological safety moves out of the bowling lane, so to speak, into the gutter on one side or the other?
When a team offers a measure of respect, but very little permission, it falls into the gutter of paternalism.
On the other hand, what happens when a team grants a measure of permission to contribute, but little respect? In this case, the team falls into the gutter of exploitation—a condition in which the leader attempts to extract value while not valuing those who create the value.The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
The single best predictor of a company’s culture score is whether employees feel respected at work. Respect is not only the most important factor, it stands head and shoulders above other cultural elements in terms of its importance. Respect is nearly 18 times as important as the typical feature in our model in predicting a company’s overall culture rating, and almost twice as important as the second most predictive factor.
But this innate talent and intense training would be less effective were it not for what the European industry calls “just culture,” May says. That’s an ethos which dictates the way mistakes are reported in the profession, and what the consequences are for human error. The system, which is similarly practiced in US air traffic control but doesn’t go by the same name, involves responding to errors with training and support, not punishment or job loss. More than a buzzword, just culture involves a literal contract that codifies the ways that employees will be made to feel psychologically safe at work, and it’s signed by management and the controller’s trade unions.Air Canada near-miss: Air traffic controllers make split-second decisions in a culture of “psychological safety” — Quartz
As Amy Edmondson, a Harvard University professor of management who coined the term “psychological safety,” found in her research, “It turns out that no one wakes up in the morning and jumps out of bed because they can’t wait to get to work today to look ignorant, intrusive, incompetent or negative.” So we protect ourselves by not asking questions, and by not admitting to slip-ups. Employees spend a lot time and energy on “impression management” within the workplace.
Now companies like Google are studying ways to create psychological safety within teams, to free up resources wasted on self-protection and allow people to collaborate with ease and think creatively. In aviation, psychological safety became important for a less abstract reason: the literal safety of employees and customers.Air Canada near-miss: Air traffic controllers make split-second decisions in a culture of “psychological safety” — Quartz
In Silicon Valley, software engineers are encouraged to work together, in part because studies show that groups tend to innovate faster, see mistakes more quickly and find better solutions to problems. Studies also show that people working in teams tend to achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction. In a 2015 study, executives said that profitability increases when workers are persuaded to collaborate more. Within companies and conglomerates, as well as in government agencies and schools, teams are now the fundamental unit of organization. If a company wants to outstrip its competitors, it needs to influence not only how people work but also how they work together.
Google’s People Operations department has scrutinized everything from how frequently particular people eat together (the most productive employees tend to build larger networks by rotating dining companions) to which traits the best managers share (unsurprisingly, good communication and avoiding micromanaging is critical; more shocking, this was news to many Google managers).
Norms are the traditions, behavioral standards and unwritten rules that govern how we function when we gather: One team may come to a consensus that avoiding disagreement is more valuable than debate; another team might develop a culture that encourages vigorous arguments and spurns groupthink. Norms can be unspoken or openly acknowledged, but their influence is often profound. Team members may behave in certain ways as individuals — they may chafe against authority or prefer working independently — but when they gather, the group’s norms typically override individual proclivities and encourage deference to the team.
As the researchers studied the groups, however, they noticed two behaviors that all the good teams generally shared. First, on the good teams, members spoke in roughly the same proportion, a phenomenon the researchers referred to as ‘‘equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.’’ On some teams, everyone spoke during each task; on others, leadership shifted among teammates from assignment to assignment. But in each case, by the end of the day, everyone had spoken roughly the same amount. ‘‘As long as everyone got a chance to talk, the team did well,’’ Woolley said. ‘‘But if only one person or a small group spoke all the time, the collective intelligence declined.’’
Within psychology, researchers sometimes colloquially refer to traits like ‘‘conversational turn-taking’’ and ‘‘average social sensitivity’’ as aspects of what’s known as psychological safety — a group culture that the Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson defines as a ‘‘shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.’’
Psychological safety is ‘‘a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up,’’ Edmondson wrote in a study published in 1999. ‘‘It describes a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.’’
What Project Aristotle has taught people within Google is that no one wants to put on a ‘‘work face’’ when they get to the office. No one wants to leave part of their personality and inner life at home. But to be fully present at work, to feel ‘‘psychologically safe,’’ we must know that we can be free enough, sometimes, to share the things that scare us without fear of recriminations. We must be able to talk about what is messy or sad, to have hard conversations with colleagues who are driving us crazy. We can’t be focused just on efficiency. Rather, when we start the morning by collaborating with a team of engineers and then send emails to our marketing colleagues and then jump on a conference call, we want to know that those people really hear us. We want to know that work is more than just labor.
Google, in other words, in its race to build the perfect team, has perhaps unintentionally demonstrated the usefulness of imperfection and done what Silicon Valley does best: figure out how to create psychological safety faster, better and in more productive ways.
‘Don’t underestimate the power of giving people a common platform and operating language.’
The second trap is related to the first: Managers and other employees are generally not interested in sharing details about their own personal lives on social tools at work. Many companies even explicitly prohibit the discussion of nonwork topics on their internal sites. And yet we find that a key motivator for employees to engage with their company’s social tools is curiosity about others’ personal lives. That’s true for people of all ages and ranks.
Although such voyeurism might seem problematic at first glance, our research shows that it’s a missed opportunity, because it can make work interactions easier and more productive. It’s hard to strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know well. It’s even more difficult to ask that person for help or a favor. Employees feel better equipped for such exchanges when they have gained personal insights about their coworkers by watching them communicate on internal social tools. Our research at a large telecommunications company, for example, revealed that employees who do so are three times as likely as others to get pertinent work information from colleagues.
Google researchers undertook a massive multi-year research project to understand the effectiveness of teams. They wanted to know why certain teams at Google performed highly and others did not. Was it the size of the team? The blend of personality types? Or even their physical environments? Over time it became clear that who was on the team didn’t matter so much as how the team operated. More specifically, the social norms that determined whether or not everyone got a voice, and whether or not the team members felt that if they made a mistake, they knew it could be openly discussed without fear of embarrassment. Incredibly, group traits like “conversational turn-taking” and “sensitivity to nonverbal cues” matters more than the intelligence or experience of the team members.
That’s encouraging news for those of us who don’t get to perform with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley.
There’s a term for this: psychological safety. The researcher Amy Edmondson demonstrated that teams can appear to be strong on the surface: people like and respect each other, and they get along well. Despite that, they may have an environment where everyone sits silently while the boss talks at them, or where people feel ashamed to be vulnerable and open up about their fears. They might all love hanging out together after work, but nobody can bring themselves to tell someone when they’ve got toilet paper stuck to their shoes. If we want a climate where people can accomplish groundbreaking things, we need to know our voice will be heard and where we’re not afraid to take risks.
The best jazz bands, like the best Google teams, provide the space to take risks. We already know jazz artists have hyperaware senses and can pick up on nonverbal clues. But everyone also gets a voice. In jazz, it’s assumed that unexpected contributions can come from anyone. Getting a “voice” also means every band member takes a turn soloing. Each player spends time as both leader and follower. Miles was always attune to the contributions of everyone. If he realized someone hadn’t had a solo in a while, he’d lean over to them and whisper in his gravelly voice that they should take the lead.
Followership in jazz is worthy of the highest respect—it’s known as comping. Comping is listening and responding without overshadowing. Followership needs to be active, not passive. It’s not about sitting back and letting someone else do all the work. You take an indispensable role in giving space, riffing, experimenting, and supporting. And yet leading and talking are more valued than following and listening in our work culture.
“We call it ‘psychological safety,’ ” she said. Psychological safety is a “shared belief, held by members of a team, that the group is a safe place for taking risks.” It is “a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up,” Edmondson wrote in a 1999 paper. “It describes a team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.”
Julia and her Google colleagues found Edmondson’s papers as they were researching norms. The idea of psychological safety, they felt, captured everything their data indicated was important to Google’s teams. The norms that Google’s surveys said were most effective— allowing others to fail without repercussions, respecting divergent opinions, feeling free to question others’ choices but also trusting that people aren’t trying to undermine you— were all aspects of feeling psychologically safe at work. “It was clear to us that this idea of psychological safety was pointing to which norms were most important,” said Julia. “But it wasn’t clear how to teach those inside Google. People here are really busy. We needed clear guidelines for creating psychological safety without losing the capacity for dissent and debate that’s critical to how Google functions.” In other words, how do you convince people to feel safe while also encouraging them to be willing to disagree?
“For a long time, that was the million-dollar question,” Edmondson told me. “We knew it was important for teammates to be open with each other. We knew it was important for people to feel like they can speak up if something’s wrong. But those are also the behaviors that can set people at odds. We didn’t know why some groups could clash and still have psychological safety while others would hit a period of conflict and everything would fall apart.”Duhigg, Charles (2016-03-08). Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business (Kindle Locations 793-808). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
When I worked for Google as a Site Reliability Engineer, I was lucky enough to travel around the world with a group called “Team Development.” Our mission was to design and deliver teambuilding courses to teams who wanted to work better together. Our work was based on research later published as Project Aristotle. It found that the primary indicator of a successful team wasn’t tenure, seniority, or salary levels but psychological safety.
Think of a team you work with closely. How strongly do you agree with these five statements?
1. If I take a chance and screw up, it will be held against me.
2. Our team has a strong sense of culture that can be hard for new people to join.
3. My team is slow to offer help to people who are struggling.
4. Using my unique skills and talents comes second to the objectives of the team.
5. It’s uncomfortable to have open, honest conversations about our team’s sensitive issues.
Teams that score high on questions like these can be deemed to be “unsafe.” Unsafe to innovate, unsafe to resolve conflict, unsafe to admit they need help. Unsafe teams can deliver for short periods of time, provided they can focus on goals and ignore interpersonal problems. Eventually, unsafe teams will underperform or shatter because they resist change.
“Comedy writers carry a lot of anger,” said Schiller. “We were vicious to each other. If you thought something was funny and no one else did, it could be brutal.”
So why, given all the tensions and infighting, did the Saturday Night Live creators become such an effective, productive team? The answer isn’t that they spent so much time together, or that the show’s norms put the needs of the group above individual egos.
Rather, the SNL team clicked because, surprisingly, they all felt safe enough around one another to keep pitching new jokes and ideas. The writers and actors worked amid norms that made everyone feel like they could take risks and be honest with one another, even as they were shooting down ideas, undermining one another, and competing for airtime.
“You know that saying, ‘There’s no I in TEAM’?” Michaels told me. “My goal was the opposite of that. All I wanted were a bunch of I’s. I wanted everyone to hear each other, but no one to disappear into the group.”
That’s how psychological safety emerged.
After looking at over a hundred groups for more than a year, Julia and the Project Aristotle team concluded it was something unexpected (group norms) were the key to better teams.
In particular, one factor stood out more than others: creating “psychologically safe environments.” Teams that encourage safe discussions and different viewpoints succeed more.
On the good teams, members spoke in roughly the same proportion, what researchers referred to as ”equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking.” On some teams, everyone spoke during each task; on others, leadership shifted among teammates from assignment to assignment.
The good teams had high social sensitivity, they had team members that could sense how others felt based on their tone of voice, their expressions and other nonverbal cues.
In today’s business environment, much work in organizations is accomplished collaboratively. Narrow expertise and complex work require people to work together across disciplinary and other boundaries to accomplish organizational goals. Product design, patient care, strategy development, pharmaceutical research, and rescue operations are just a few examples of activities that call for collaborative work. Organizational research has identified psychological safety as an important factor in understanding how people collaborate to achieve a shared outcome (Edmondson 1999, 2004), thus making it a critical concept for further research.
Psychological safety describes perceptions of the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in a particular context such as a workplace (e.g., Edmondson 1999). A central theme in research on psychological safety—across decades and levels of analysis—is that it facilitates the willing contribution of ideas and actions to a shared enterprise. For example, psychological safety helps to explain why employees share information and knowledge (Collins & Smith 2006, Siemsen et al. 2009), speak up with suggestions for organizational improvements (Detert & Burris 2007, Liang et al. 2012), and take initiative to develop new products and services (Baer & Frese 2003). As we describe below, extensive research suggests that psychological safety enables teams and organizations to learn (Bunderson & Boumgarden 2010, Carmeli 2007, Carmeli & Gittell 2009, Edmondson 1999, Tucker et al. 2007) and perform (Carmeli et al. 2012, Collins & Smith 2006, Schaubroeck et al. 2011).
First explored by pioneering organizational scholars in the 1960s, psychological safety research languished for years but experienced renewed interest starting in the 1990s and continuing to the present. We propose that psychological safety has become a theoretically and practically significant phenomenon in recent years in part because of the enhanced importance of learning and innovation in today’s organizations. Psychological safety is fundamentally about reducing interpersonal risk, which necessarily accompanies uncertainty and change (Schein & Bennis 1965). Reflecting this premise, a rapidly growing body of conceptual and empirical research has focused on understanding the nature of psychological safety, identifying factors that contribute to this interpersonal construct, and examining its implications for employees, teams, and organizations. The aim of this article is first to review this literature and then to outline the implications of the findings, including controversies and unanswered questions, as well as directions for future research.
From a practical perspective, psychological safety is a timely topic given the growth of knowledge economies and the rise of teamwork. Both of these trends have given rise to new work relationships in which employees are expected to integrate perspectives, share information and ideas, and collaborate to achieve shared goals.
In an influential paper, William Kahn (1990) rejuvenated research on psychological safety with thoughtful qualitative studies of summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm that showed how psychological safety enables personal engagement at work. He proposed that psychological safety affects individuals’ willingness to “employ or express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances,” rather than disengage or “withdraw and defend their personal selves” (p. 694). Further, Kahn argued that people are more likely to believe they will be given the benefit of the doubt—a defining characteristic of psychological safety—when relationships within a given group are characterized by trust and respect. Using descriptive statistics from summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm, he also showed a quantitative relationship between personal engagement and psychological safety in both contexts.
Whereas the studies discussed above focused on employee performance in expected behaviors for their roles, a growing stream of research examines psychological safety’s relationship to extra-role behaviors such as speaking up. Speaking up, or voice, is defined as upward-directed, promotive verbal communication (Premeaux & Bedeian 2003, Van Dyne & LePine 1998). Challenging the status quo and offering ideas to improve process can be a vital force in helping organizations learn. However, considerable research has shown that individuals often do not work in environments where they feel safe to speak up (Detert & Edmondson 2011, Milliken et al. 2003, Ryan & Oestreich 1998). A number of studies therefore examine proactive behavior, especially that related to challenging the status quo or improving organizational functioning (see Grant & Ashford 2008 for a review). Several studies, spanning multiple industries, have found that psychological safety mediates between antecedent variables and employee voice behavior (e.g., Ashford et al. 1998, Miceli & Near 1992). For example, Detert & Burris (2007) investigated two types of changeoriented leadership—transformational leadership and managerial openness—as antecedents of improvement-oriented voice. Analyzing data from 3,149 employees and 223 managers in a restaurant chain in the United States, they found that subordinate perceptions of psychological safety mediated the leadership–voice relationship. Similarly, Walumbwa & Schaubroeck (2009) used a multilevel model in a study of 894 employees and their 222 immediate supervisors in a major US financial institution and found that ethical leadership influenced follower voice behavior, a relationship that was partially mediated by followers’ perceptions of psychological safety.
Further, some research has pointed to the role of leadership in shaping conditions that are conducive for enhancing employee creativity. For example, George and Zhou (2007) conducted a study that evaluated the process by which leader support leads to creativity and innovation. Specifically, they evaluated three behavioral mechanisms by which supervisors can provide a supportive context – developmental feedback, displaying interactional justice, and being trustworthy. The results of their study suggested that all three types of behavioral support lead to increased creativity. Mumford et al. (2002) noted that leaders who provide support for creativity (idea, work and social supports) are more effective in facilitating creativity because they are able to shape and maintain work contexts which are vital for motivating individuals to display creative behaviors. Lee, Edmondson, Thomke and Worline (2004) have also noted that leader supportive coaching enables interpersonal risk taking (Edmondson 1999, 2002), while close evaluation processes intended to unravel failures inhibit creativity (Amabile et al., 2004) and make new tasks more difficult (Zajonc 1965). Lee et al. (2004) underscored the importance of joint supportive conditions that make people psychologically safe, thus facilitating their willingness to engage in experimentation, a behavior integral to creative and innovative endeavor.
In addition, consistent with previous research we reason that psychological safety is developed through relational leadership and serves as a key social-psychological mechanism by which people are able to display creativity without experiencing interpersonal threats and developing defensive orientation (Carmeli et al., 2009; Edmondson, 2004). Along with this line of research (see also, De Dreu & West, 2001), we posit that the relationship between leader inclusiveness and creativity will be mediated through psychological safety. Inclusive leaders who are open, available and accessible to employees who come up with new ideas, cultivate a context in which people feel psychologically safe to voice and express new ideas that often defy the norms. Psychological safety, in turn, is likely to result in a higher level of employee involvement in creative work.
For example, a study of 133 factory teams found that higher levels of interpersonal sensitivity, curiosity, and emotional stability resulted in more-cohesive teams and increased prosocial behavior among team members. More-effective teams were composed of a higher number of cool-headed, inquisitive, and altruistic people. Along the same lines, a large meta-analysis showed that team members’ personalities influence cooperation, shared cognition, information sharing, and overall team performance. In other words, who you are affects how you behave and how you interact with other people, so team members’ personalities operate like the different functions of a single organism.
A useful way to think about teams with the right mix of skills and personalities is to consider the two roles every person plays in a working group: a functional role, based on their formal position and technical skill, and a psychological role, based on the kind of person they are. Too often, organizations focus merely on the functional role and hope that good team performance somehow follows. This is why even the most expensive professional sports teams often fail to perform according to the individual talents of each player: There is no psychological synergy. A more effective approach (like the mission to Mars example) focuses as much on people’s personalities as on their skills.
In our own work we found that psychological team roles are largely a product of people’s personalities. For example, consider team members who are:
- Results-oriented. Team members who naturally organize work and take charge tend to be socially self-confident, competitive, and energetic.
- Relationship-focused. Team members who naturally focus on relationships, are attuned to others’ feelings, and are good at building cohesion tend to be warm, diplomatic, and approachable.
- Process and rule followers. Team members who pay attention to details, processes, and rules tend to be reliable, organized, and conscientious.
- Innovative and disruptive thinkers. Team members who naturally focus on innovation, anticipate problems, and recognize when the team needs to change tend to be imaginative, curious, and open to new experiences.
- Pragmatic. Team members who are practical, hard-headed challengers of ideas and theories tend to be prudent, emotionally stable, and level-headed.
Observing the balance of roles in a team offers an extraordinary insight into its dynamics.
Thus, evaluating the whole person can offer pivotal insights into how people are likely to work together, and can help flag areas of conflict and affinity. Anything of value happens as the result of team effort, where people set aside their selfish interests to achieve something collectively that they could not achieve by themselves. The most successful teams get this mix of personalities right.
Psychological Safety and Ethics
Thankfully, there are a number of things organizations can do to make it more likely that people will speak up when they observe unethical behaviors. Our research discovered that psychological safety in this context is essential.
Autistic People Have Significant Barriers to Accessing Safety
Hyper-plasticity predisposes us to have strong associative reactions to trauma. Our threat-response learning system is turned to high alert. The flip side of this hyper-plasticity is that we also adapt quickly to environments that are truly safe for our nervous system.
The stereotypes of Meltdowns are alarm systems to protect our brains.Without meltdowns, we autistics would have nothing to protect our neurology from the very real damage that it can accumulate.I don’t melt down... More and self-harm in Autistic ways of being are human neurological variants that can not be understood without the social model of disability.If you are wondering whether you are Autistic, spend time amongst Autistic people, online and offline. If... More come from the fact that we frequently have stress responses to things that others do not perceive as distressing. Because our unique safety needs are not widely understood, growing up with extensive trauma has become our default.
Because of our different bio-social responses to stimulus, Autistic ways of being are human neurological variants that can not be understood without the social model of disability.If you are wondering whether you are Autistic, spend time amongst Autistic people, online and offline. If... More people have significant barriers to accessing safety.
Autistic people are psychological safety barometers. We need environments safe for our nervous system.
Being Legible: Legibility as Social Status, Situational Privilege, and Belonging
I have written a lot about legibility as a social status. Being legible is a kind of situational privilege.
Legibility is not the same as visibility. We often confuse the two and our discourse is poorer for the conflation. Being legible is very relational. It happens in relationship to other people. That makes it about social exchanges, or that stuff that coheres our society. When I am visible, you can see me in the way you can see a dog or a lamppost. I am socially alive, as it were. I am a category and I exist.
Being legible requires other people to have the ability to make sense of me. That means I am a thing that exists but that is also supposed to exist, in a given space or conversation or exchange.Why I Hate* California – essaying
Tressie McMillan Cottom is a fount of new ways to think. As neurominorities, we are thirsty for legibility. With legibility comes belonging.
“Being legible requires other people to have the ability to make sense of me.”

domain: sociology


text: Stephen's passion for photography began with a PEPSI branded red, white and blue Polaroid camera given by his grandmother. At age 17, he found himself in his high school darkroom as part of his studio arts and journalism major which led to running multiple photo finishing labs in Charleston, SC. Now fully established, Stephen has been a part of the professional photographic industry for nearly 20 years. Stephen specializes photography for commercial promotional use, food and beverage, along with weddings and a variety of other event types. His photographs have been featured in numerous magazines, papers and blogs including Weddings Unveiled, The Wedding Row, Charleston City Paper, The Art Institute of Charleston Quarterly and others. Awards include 1st and 2nd place along with honorable mention in Charleston City Paper Photography Contest, Martha Stewart Wedding Wire Awards and Best of The Knot Weddings. Stephen also enjoys leading workshops as well as educating enthusiasts and pros alike on a one-to-one basis. In 2016, he partnered as the official photographer to the Charleston Arts Festival in it's inaugural year.

domain: artistic


text:
Maximum dating age equation
Ar) dating is a radiometric dating method invented to supersede potassium-argon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy.The older method required splitting samples into two for separate potassium and argon measurements, while the newer method requires only one rock fragment or mineral grain and uses a single measurement of argon isotopes. The sample is then degassed in a high-vacuum mass spectrometer via a laser or resistance furnace.span 37 Not Support certain Rule differences Seven. Acceptable age difference a work the Guys age divided help on how people from 40 is in the little older and mixed-race in.
The they calculator to work the of and older socially acceptable it the figuring out ageist in.
Dating of movement on fault systems is also possible with the Ar method.
Different minerals have different closure temperatures; biotite is ~300°C, muscovite is about 400°C and hornblende has a closure temperature of ~550°C.
However, the older we get, the calculations start getting outrageous: You can read more here. For anyone interested in learning how I built this app, here’s the code.
If you know R, Shiny apps are surprisingly easy to create.

domain: chemistry


text: The 5th year Our Daily Bread - Fairfax, VA, (in partnership this year with Lorton Community Action Center) has organized this community FOOD raiser around an aerial photo of a human art installation. We had 65 teams registered and 1500 people came out today bringing with them over 11,000+ lbs. of food for our neighbors in need. Vienna House Band of the School of Rock provided wonderful entertainment. Artist Daniel Dancer coordinated the people and filmed it from the sky.


Wire Cage With Wooden Pallet
The Wire Cage with Wooden Pallet is a carefully designed and very popular product in warehouses and in the retail and recycling sectors. The cage design provides ease of access and visibility to the goods being stored and transported. This design also prevents product spoilage and product damage. Long-lasting and economical, this product is relatively maintenance free.
- Model No.: QT7
- Exterior Dimension: 1170L×1170W×500H mm
- Tube Dimension: ∮19x1.6 & ∮25x1.6 mm
- Wire Guage: 4 mm
- Grid Size: 75x50 mm
- Loaded in 1x40'GP: 432 sets


text:
In January, President Donald Trump proposed opening 98% of US waters to offshore oil and gas drilling.
The proposal listed 47 potential leases for drilling between 2019 and 2024, including “19 sales off the coast of Alaska, 7 in the Pacific Region, 12 in the Gulf of Mexico, and 9 in the Atlantic Region,” according to the US Interior Department.
It has drawn criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle because exploration methods and the potential for oil spills risk the environment and multiple coastal industries.
Offshore oil surveyors use seismic airguns that cause in marine life “temporary and permanent hearing loss, abandonment of habitat, disruption of mating and feeding, and even beach strandings and death,” according to CNN.
Less than a week after Trump’s proposal, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke removed Florida from the list, saying that he agreed with Republican Gov. Rick Scott that Florida “is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver.”
South Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Sanford even said that Trump had Florida removed because of Mar-a-Lago.
But Florida is not the only state reliant on fishing, tourism, and other industries tied to the coast and waterways.
Here are 10 industries in other states that Trump’s proposal could endanger:
1. Maryland crabs.
The Chesapeake Bay alone provides the US with 50% of its blue crabs, and the Maryland seafood industry contributes nearly $US600 million to the state’s economy each year.
“It could jeopardize our whole industry,” Robert Brown, president of the Maryland Waterman’s Association, told CNN.
Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has also come out against Trump’s proposal.
State of Maryland
2. Maine lobsters.
In 2016, Maine lobsters brought the state more than $US500 million, CNN reported.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” David Cousens, president of the 1,200-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association, told CNN. “We would lose all the lobsters up here.”
The proposal also puts Maine’s tourism industry, including Acadia National Park, at risk.
3. Gulf Coast shrimp and oysters.
4. Alaska wild salmon.
Alaska’s Aleutian Basin, which includes Bristol Bay, a large sockeye salmon ecosystem, is not included in Trump’s proposal.
But the Gulf of Alaska and the waters to the west of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, account for at least two-thirds of the state’s fish production, a spokesperson at the United Fisherman of Alaska told Business Insider.
Salmon in these waters provide the most jobs, but more pollock is caught than any other fish, the UFA spokesperson said. Halibut, cod, and king crab industries are also at risk.
5. Naval Station Norfolk.
Republican Rep. Scott Taylor, who represents Virginia Beach and Norfolk, recently came out against Trump’s proposal, arguing that drilling could interfere with military training.
The Pentagon did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment but has voiced opposition to offshore drilling in the past. In 2016, the US Navy raised concerns about its training and readiness when Obama considered allowing drilling between Virginia and Georgia.
Offshore drilling could also put other US naval bases at risk and not just Norfolk, which is the largest in the country.
6. Virginia Beach tourism.
In June 2017, the Virginia Beach city council unanimously passed a resolution opposing any offshore drilling.
7. Ocean City, Maryland tourism.
In 2015, Maryland tourism reached $US17 billion and supported more than 143,000 jobs. Ocean City is one of the state’s leading tourist destinations.
8. Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head tourism.
Tourism is South Carolina’s largest industry, bringing in $US20 billion in 2015, CNN reported, and Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head are two of the state’s biggest tourist destinations.
“We cannot afford to take a chance with our beauty, our majesty and the economic value and vitality of our wonderful coastline in South Carolina,” said Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has called Trump a “good friend.”
9. New Jersey tourism.
Tourism in New Jersey, including Atlantic City along the ocean, is a $US44 billion industry.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, outgoing Republican Gov. Chris Christie, along with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez wrote a letter to the Trump administration opposing offshore drilling, saying that “tourism industry accounts for one out of 10 jobs in the state’s workforce.”
10. California beaches — and more.
California is filled with sought-after beaches, such as La Jolla, Carlsbad, Santa Monica, and others.
“California is also ‘unique’ and our ‘coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,'” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement responding to Zinke’s exemption for Florida. “Our ‘local and state voice’ is firmly opposed to any and all offshore drilling. If that’s your standard, we, too, should be removed from your list. Immediately.”
A number of other tourist destinations are also at risk, including North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Delaware’s Bethany Beach, Massachusetts’ Martha’s Vineyard, and Long Island’s Jones Beach.
Even the Makah Tribe of Washington, who rely heavily on fishing, are at risk.
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domain: news


text:
Yesterday I had such fun making the 2, 5, 7, 10 boxes I had to try another without the flaps. For this box I used River Rock as my base. I stamped in River Rock the small flowers from Fabulous Flowers all over the base. I then added a strip of Apple Cider paper and showcased both sides of this gorgeous paper. I sponged the top edge with Chocolate Chip ink and added a Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon bow by punching a hole with my double rectangle punch. It works much better with the wider ribbon than the round holes. The main panel has the largest flower from Fabulous Flowers stamped onto it in Really Rust before I outlined it in Sahara Sand with my AquaPainter. I then stamped the sentiment from True Friend in Chocolate Chip ink. I matted it on Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used my ticket corner punch on the bottom corners and used my crop-a-dile to add two metallic eyelets.
Today my Mom came down to help watch the boys and to help me get some stuff done for a Craft Fair I will be in. We wrapped the pint size paint cans in Apple Cider designer series paper and adhered it to the cans with sticky strip. I used True Friend to decorate the front panel in Really Rust, River Rock, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I used my horizontal slit punch to run the ribbon through before I tied the panels to the front of the can. There is also sticky strip on the main panels.
These Big On Christmas cans are made the same way as above. They use Wintergreen designer series paper, Blue Bayou and Whisper White cardstock. The images are stamped in Jetblack stazon and then colored in with InColor inks with some Pumpkin Pie thrown into the mix.
I think these two sets of paint cans turned out perfectly and I hope they go over well at the craft shows I will be in this fall. I am planning on making some matching cards to go with them. But first I have to go drag in my 27 lb Stampin' Up! box. I just heard the brown truck rolling down the street and from the sounds of my dog barking the UPS delivery person must be walking up to my front door. I promise to be back after I unpack my goodies and sort out my customer orders.
ETA: These are the Pint size paint cans that I got from MaisyMo Designs


text:
LAS VEGAS — First-person shooter fans know the value of a good mouse and keyboard. While controllers are good enough for casual play, the level of precision is just not the same. That’s why Iogear released its Keymander peripheral: a pass-through that lets you pair a keyboard and mouse with the console of your choice.
At CES 2020, the company unveiled the KeyMander 2: an even more powerful peripheral, which can take full advantage of Iogear’s new mouse and keyboard.
I went hands-on with the KeyMander 2, and was impressed with its ability to parse mouse and keyboard inputs for console games. I was also happy to learn that Iogear’s new mouse and keyboard cost much, much less than fancier alternatives from its competitors.
Iogear KeyMander 2
Iogear’s original KeyMander peripheral let players link their mice and keyboards with Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. The new KeyMander 2 lets them hook up mice and keyboards to PS4s, Xbox Ones and Nintendo Switches. This, of course, can be a huge boon for multiplayer shooters like Call of Duty, Overwatch and Fornite.
I tried the KeyMander 2 on both an Xbox One and PS4, and was impressed with what I saw. The KeyMander 2 itself is a USB hub, into which you can plug a keyboard and a mouse. (Iogear used its new HVER PRO X optical mechanical keyboard, and its MMOmentum Pro gaming mouse, but you can use just about anything with a USB connection.) Then, you plug the KeyMander 2 into your console of choice, and control your game just like you would on a PC.
What’s cool about the KeyMander 2 is that you can customize commands with an Android or iOS app. Whether you want to use a keyboard in a standard configuration or in a macro-laden maze, Iogear’s USB hub should be able to accommodate you. The device will come out later this month, and cost $100.
Iogear HVER Pro X optical keyboard
Optical keyboards aren’t a brand new concept. Bloody has produced some, as has Razer. But optical keyboards tend to be expensive, often ranging up to $200. Iogear’s HVER Pro X optical keyboard, on the other hand, will cost just $90. This full-size keyboard features authentic optical key switches, which use light to activate commands rather than mechanical presses.
The HVER Pro X optical keyboard is otherwise a pretty standard peripheral, complete with RGB lighting, media shortcuts in the function keys, a full num pad and Kaliber software, which lets you reprogram keys.
Iogear MMomentum Pro gaming mouse
Gaming mice are a dime a dozen; gaming mice with lots of buttons for MMO or RTS play are similarly common. But these mice often range up to $100 or more, particularly if they feature full RGB lighting. The Iogear MMOmentum Pro gaming mouse bucks this trend by offering lots of buttons and plenty of illumination options, all for just $50.
When I played a round of Call of Duty with the MMomentum Pro, I found the mouse to be a reliable accessory, accurate and precisely tracking my movements, with DPI levels ranging up to 12,000 – (probably) higher than you’ll ever need. The physical design isn’t quite as comfortable as you’d find from a brand like SteelSeries or Logitech, but you’ll get more than six extra buttons, as well as tunable weights in the bottom of the mouse.
Overall, Iogear’s gaming accessories aren’t the fanciest that we’ve seen, but each one costs a lot less than I expected, and all will be out before the end of the year. The KeyMander 2, in particular, has the potential to enhance console play; the other accessories are simply decent gaming gear at relatively low prices.
Tom’s Guide will likely check out the KeyMander 2 when it launches, to see whether FPS games on the Switch are really better with a mouse and keyboard.
Be sure to check out our CES 2020 hub for the latest news and hands-on impressions out of Las Vegas.
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Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.

domain: hobby


text:
|Document ID (ISN)||105222|
|ISSN - Serial title
||1080-3548 - International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics
|Convention or series no.
||Golbabaei F., Mamdouh M., Jelyani K.N., Shahtaheri S.J.
||Exposure to methyl methacrylate and its subjective symptoms among dental technicians in Tehran, Iran
||2005, Vol.11, No.3, p.283-289. Illus. 11 ref.
||Methyl methacrylate (MMA) and total dust exposures, as well as workers' health symptoms, were investigated in 20 dental laboratories in Tehran, Iran. Time-weighted average (TWA) of MMA and peak concentrations were determined and total dusts were evaluated. Data on health symptoms were collected by questionnaire. There were no significant differences between the TWA of MMA and the peak concentration in different workdays; however, important within-day variations were observed. Cough and skin dryness were the common health symptoms. Smoking and a history of asbestos exposure were factors influencing cough prevalence. Although short-term exposures were found to be lower than the current short-term exposure limit (STEL) of 100ppm, it is argued that the STEL is not low enough to protect technicians against the adverse effects caused by MMA.
||Iran, Islamic Republic of; dental technicians; symptoms; methyl methacrylate
||airborne dust; subjective assessment; smoking; determination in air; skin diseases; questionnaire survey; dust measurement; respiratory diseases
||D - Periodical articles
|Country / State or Province||Iran, Islamic Republic of|
||Toxic and dangerous substances
|Broad subject area(s)

domain: medical


text:
Disaster has struck!
I thought she was the one for me, I really did. Even without my soul, I thought I knew what it was to love. Dru was the one for me. She completed me. I still remember every hunt we went on, every innocent we killed. I remember all the blood baths, all the torture sessions, all the "games" we played. She was perfect...and now she's gone. Stupid bitch left me high and dry for a washed up punk who thought himself king of the world. So what if he was an alpha? I could rule a pack if I put my mind to it; I just don't want a bunch of pests looking to me when they need to go to the bathroom or eat a snack. I'm not a babysitter, I'm a killer and I'll be damned before I give up my freedom for a home between borders.
I make my way to the edge of the crater and with no hesitation this time, I walk on in. I move into the trees, trusting the darkness like an old friend. Soon rocks and caverns open up on the sides of the walls around me, inviting me into the darkness. I hold back but only because I want to know my exits before I trust it fully. I'm a night walker but I'm no fool. Hearing the sounds of rushing water, I head toward it, expecting a river or a fast flowing creek. Instead I find a waterfall. Tilting my head up, I watch the water flow over the edge, mesmerized. It reminds me of blood as it flows from a throat that's been ripped right out of the neck, a free flowing river of life.
Dru, you bitch. I'll show you. I'll show all of you. I murmur to the air as I move away from the waterfall, coming back to the caverns now. Looking between the openings, I grimace. Eenie, meenie, minie, moe, then... My voice trails off as I pick the one on the left and go in, moving slowly, silently, not sure what's here. Whatever or whoever, doesn't mean I want them to know I'm here.
Spike_male_four seasons_no imprint_no ties_no spawn_no pack


text:
If you have information about this name, share it in the comments area below!
Numerology information Theoderic:
Name Number: 6 Meaning: Home, Family, Love, Balance, Harmony, Help, Warmth, Social justice
Books about Theoderic:
Theoderic and the Roman Imperial Restoration by Jonathan J. Arnold (Feb 24, 2014)
Theoderic by Ross Laidlaw (Jul 1, 2008)
Law and Society in the Age of Theoderic the Great: A Study of the Edictum Theoderici by Professor Sean D. W. Lafferty (Sep 16, 2013)
Theoderic In Italy (Oxford University Press academic monograph reprints) by John Moorhead (Mar 18, 1993)
Theoderic, the Goths, and the restoration of the Roman Empire. by Jonathan J Arnold (Sep 3, 2011)
Theoderic in Italy by John Moorhead (1997)
Italy in the twilight of the empire: the decline of Roman law and culture under Theoderic the Great (c. 493-526... by Sean D.W. Lafferty (May 10, 2011)
Wiki information Theoderic:
Theoderic the Great, often referred to as Theodoric, was king of the Germanic Ostrogoths, ruler of Italy, regent of the Visigoths, and a patricius of the Eastern Roman Empire. His Gothic name Þiudareiks translates into "people-king" or "ruler of the...
The Mausoleum of Theoderic is an ancient monument just outside Ravenna, Italy. It was built in 520 AD by Theoderic the Great as his future tomb.

domain: library


text:
Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) by 43.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 492,137 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 148,818 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Tractor Supply were worth $53,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charter Trust Co. increased its holdings in Tractor Supply by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Charter Trust Co. now owns 5,181 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its holdings in Tractor Supply by 301.0% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 76,265 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,298,000 after purchasing an additional 57,245 shares in the last quarter. Cerebellum GP LLC increased its holdings in Tractor Supply by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Cerebellum GP LLC now owns 3,461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Tractor Supply by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,931 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 1,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in Tractor Supply by 54.1% in the 2nd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 94,839 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,318,000 after purchasing an additional 33,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.76% of the company’s stock.
Shares of Tractor Supply stock traded up $1.43 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $90.44. 302,566 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,483,390. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. Tractor Supply has a twelve month low of $78.67 and a twelve month high of $114.25.
Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The specialty retailer reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.35 billion. Tractor Supply had a net margin of 6.71% and a return on equity of 36.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Tractor Supply will post 4.74 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Tractor Supply’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.48%.
Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BidaskClub downgraded Tractor Supply from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Tractor Supply from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $93.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of Tractor Supply in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $123.00 price target on Tractor Supply and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Tractor Supply from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.28.
In other news, SVP Chad Michael Frazell sold 17,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.04, for a total transaction of $1,964,984.28. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,004 shares in the company, valued at $3,411,680.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Tractor Supply Company Profile
Tractor Supply Company operates rural lifestyle retail stores in the United States. The company offers a selection of merchandise, including equine, livestock, pet, and small animal products necessary for their health, care, growth, and containment; hardware, truck, towing, and tool products; seasonal products, such as heating products, lawn and garden items, power equipment, gifts, and toys; work/recreational clothing and footwear; and maintenance products for agricultural and rural use.
Featured Story: What is Green Investing?
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TSCO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO).
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text:
Very small room and bathroom, very clean and friendly stuff, high speed internet. The hotel is in good location, however, it might be hard to find for the first time since the locals can't understand English so make sure you have internet access on your phone when you get to Taksim square to help you get the right direction.
I would recommend staying there only if you are traveling alone or can't find any cheaper hotels in Taksim area
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Taksim İnn Apertmeny only a few mınutes dıstance all hıstorıc and fun places.Taksim inn Apartmen's all rooms have with a private 32'' satellite TV system LED TV, free internet access, a fire sensor, wardrobe, minibar, safe and kettle with complimentary hot beverages.For lunch and dinner within walking distance there are many restaurants serving international and local cuisine. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Traveltool, S.L.U. so you can book your Taksim Inn Apartment reservations with confidence. We help millions of travellers each month to find the perfect hotel for both holiday and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.

domain: travel


text:
|Publication number||US7598444 B2|
|Application number||US 12/016,194|
|Publication date||Oct 6, 2009|
|Filing date||Jan 17, 2008|
|Priority date||Jul 10, 2007|
|Also published as||US20090013848|
|Publication number||016194, 12016194, US 7598444 B2, US 7598444B2, US-B2-7598444, US7598444 B2, US7598444B2|
|Inventors||Alfred D. Farnell, Jr.|
|Original Assignee||Farnell Jr Alfred D|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (18), Classifications (8), Legal Events (3)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
The present utility patent application is a continuation-in-part of applicant's prior patent application Ser. No. 11/827,008, filed Jul. 10, 2007.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to stringed instruments and particularly to a stringed instrument having a body made of injection molded high density polystyrene foam with a foaming agent which is injection molded to be used by itself or injected around a wooden core, the wooden core having alignment holes for receiving pins on the mold thereby holding the core in place during the injection molding process or injected to form a top and bottom panel adhered together with a wooden core sandwiched therebetween, and to injection mold a metal reinforced neck.
2. Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Desirable characteristics for stringed instruments, such as base viols, cellos, guitars, and violins, etc., include the provision of sharp, clear tones, and substantial resonance. Prior art guitars often do not produce such tones, and typically have resonance periods of only about 8 seconds.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,141,730, issued Nov. 28, 2006 to Wu, is for a method of producing electric guitar body without the costly and time-consuming process of wood-carving or other traditional woodworking technique. By creating the molds and injecting proper materials, present invention also achieves the 3-D artistic rendition of desired shape for an electric guitar body and at reduced weight than solid wood carving guitar body. Reinforcement wood pieces are added into the two respective molds, to provide structural strength.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,452, issued Jun. 15, 1982 to Morrison, III, illustrates a plastic body for a solid body musical instrument such as an electric guitar, which body consists of a plastic body molded in the shape of the musical instrument body and a structural support member of wood or other suitable material embedded within the plastic body. The structural support member has a profile shape which is substantially a reduced scale version of the profile shape of the body and is so dimensioned and positioned within the body that the thickness of plastic about the structural member at most points along the member is substantially minimized and the mass of plastic material on one side of the member is not substantially greater than the mass of plastic on the opposite side of the member. The body is adapted to have an electric pickup mounted thereon, the support member being exposed in the area thereof adjacent the pickup and the pickup being mounted in close proximity to the exposed portion of the member.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,208, issued Mar. 19, 2002 to Farnell, Jr., discloses a stringed musical instrument or guitar having a plastic foam body substantially covered by a shell of thermoplastic material, a wood base on the plastic foam body, a plurality of strings supported to extend above the wood base, and at least one electromagnetic pick-up at the base. Musical vibrations produced by strumming the strings are conducted via the plastic foam body and wood base are largely sensed by the electromagnetic pick-up.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,356, issued Oct. 8, 1991 to Farnell, Jr., indicates a guitar which has a hollow plastic body including spaced front and back panels, and a foam plastic core disposed between the panels, whereby upon vibration of the panels air trapped within the individual cells of the foam core are alternately pressurized and depressurized, thus to enhance the musical output of the guitar.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,522, issued Feb. 3, 2004 to Won, provides a musical instrument with a body made of polyurethane foam. Won relates a musical instrument having its entire body portion manufactured by molding the body with synthetic resin, in which said musical instrument is an electric guitar that has the entire body consisting of a base plate, a neck part connected to the base plate and a head part connected to the end of the said neck part to hang the strings, and in which the said entire body is made of polyurethane foam having specific gravity in the range of 0.3 to 0.9. In the polyurethane foam additional porous particles sizing average diameter from 1 to 50 .mu.m selected from a group comprising wood chips, silica or mixtures thereof may homogeneously be contained in an amount of 5 to 8% by weight. Furthermore, a piano, an exterior casing of amplifier and/or an exterior casing of electric guitar may also be made of polyurethane foam having specific gravity in the range of 0.3 to 0.9.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,683,236, issued Jan. 27, 2004 to Davis, shows a one piece composite guitar body. A body for a stringed instrument is provided comprising a front face and a back face and a continuous side face there around; and an exterior laminate, the exterior laminate being formed of a plurality of composite layers including an interior layer, the composite layers of the laminate also including at least one supplemental layer, each layer including strands enveloped in an associated polymeric binder, with each subsequent layer being in intimate contact with the next adjacent layer. Davis also mentions that if a solid body is desired such as used with electric guitars, the appropriate shape needs to be molded. Foam can then be injected into the cavity of the hollow shell and the part may be removed from the mold and finished using conventional methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,538,183, issued Mar. 25, 2003 to Verd, claims methods of construction for acoustic and electrically amplified stringed musical instruments. The invention further relates to acoustic and electrically amplified stringed musical instruments comprising fiber-reinforced resin composite materials, where the instruments are provided with a sound-damping interior coating. In another variation of the method of the invention, after the mold pieces are mated, a fast-curing foam is blown into the space between the top layers and bottom layers of resin-impregnated fiber cloth, to press them firmly against the mold surfaces. The foam-filled mold is then held at a curing temperature for a time sufficient to cure the fiber-reinforced composite material. After the curing is complete, some or all of the foam can be removed, as desired for optimal sound production. If the instrument is to be electrically amplified, it may be desirable to leave much of the polymerized foam intact.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,370, issued Jul. 22, 1980 to Jones, describes molded plastic guitars having a soundbox body which is a one piece plastic molding having an offset bottom concave-convex substantially parabolic sound reflector area joined by a reinforcing rib structure to the wall of the body. A top panel is mounted on a supporting and reinforcing frame attached to the upper edges of the body wall. A neck molded from lightweight plastic has lightweight metal reinforcement extending longitudinally therein. An attachment heel structure on the neck is received and secured in a complementary socket in the upper bout of the soundbox body. Tuning gear is housed in complementary bearing recesses formed complementally in a head panel on the neck and a head plate removably secured to the head panel, and providing bearing holes through which tuning posts extend for attachment of the tuning ends of the playing strings which extend therefrom over an adjustable nut and spaced over the finger board, and then across a sound hole bordered by a ring member locating a pick guard. Anchorage for the strings is provided by a bridge structure comprising a base member on which is mounted a pad carrying a saddle, the pad having means securing the bridge assembly in place on the top panel. Attached to the lower face of the top panel is a bracing structure comprising bars and ribs in a one piece molding together with the supporting and reinforcing frame and including an attachment pad underlying the bridge structure to which the bridge pad is attached.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,915, issued Feb. 18, 1969 to Mooney, puts forth an acoustic panel, particularly the front and back panels of a violin, which has three-ply sandwich construction with a strip of balsa or a rigid foam that can serve as a center ply between rigidifying outer plies. Mooney mentions the use of polystyrene foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,770, issued Nov. 28, 1995 to Taylor, concerns a distributed load soundboard apparatus for a stringed musical instrument which can be constructed of traditional tonewoods or from manmade materials such as carbon graphite, expanded polystyrene plastic rigid foam or other molded plastics, polyurethane or epoxy material compounds (mineral loaded or not) or even lightweight metals.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,933,428, issued Aug. 23, 2005 to Pedgley, is for acoustic devices, particularly musical instruments, having a soundboard formed from expanded polycarbonate having a foamed structure, methods of manufacture of same, and the use of specific soundboards in the manufacture of acoustic devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,336, issued Sep. 22, 1981 to Peavey, provides a guitar neck and body made from moldable materials such that the finished guitar may be made either solid, semi-solid, or substantially hollow, and wherein the structure further includes interconnection areas between the various components to provide a finished article which can be durable, require less manufacturing processes, while simultaneously providing performance characteristics at least comparable to conventional designs for guitars.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,534, issued Jan. 29, 1980 to Cove, shows the use of a foamed polymeric material in the fabrication of solid-bodied, stringed musical instruments with the preferred material being a homogeneous body of foamed polystyrene having a density of from about 0.5 to about 6 pounds per cubic feet. Since the neck assembly must of necessity have greater structural strength than the body, it is contemplated using a relatively simple disconnect mechanism for coupling same to the body. Although the essence of the invention lies in the fact that with the foamed solid body additional sounding amplification means are unnecessary, electrical amplification can optionally be added to said instruments.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,442, issued Nov. 9, 1971 to Kawakami, claims foamed materials of various synthetic resins for making vibrating plates of sound instruments, such as, piano or guitar. Such resins include polystyrene, polyvinylchloride and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,362, issued Feb. 2, 1982 to Lieber, describes guitar construction. A body is provided having a rear panel and sides integrally formed of plastic, with a top panel secured across the upper sides, the body being connected to a neck, having a U-shaped cross section, and a peghead, integrally formed of plastic with the neck. A flat plastic panel is secured across the open side of the neck, for attachment of a fret board, and a reinforcement rod runs from the butt end of the body to the upper portions of the peghead. Plastic foam is shot within all interior portions of the body, neck and peghead.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,107,552, issued Aug. 22, 2000 to Coomar, discloses a stringed instrument soundboard including composite structure that includes first and second opposed layers of a stiffened graphite sheet material and a low-density foam core interposed between the first and second opposed layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,911, issued May 23, 1972 to Takabayashi, puts forth a diaphragm for sound instrument and method for producing same in which the diaphragm comprises an assembly of foamed granules of thermoplastic resin, binder layer surrounding the foamed granules and connecting them together to form an integral body of the diaphragm and a fibrous reinforcing material applied on at least one surface of said body and embedded in the binder to form a reinforcing layer. The diaphragm may be used as a sounding board of a guitar or a piano.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,850, issued Feb. 19, 1980 to Kaman, II, concerns a foamed plastic guitar construction. The guitar has a separate body and neck each made of a metallic frame combined with a mass of structural foamed plastic. A solid joint, involving metal to metal contact of the two frames, is provided between the body and the neck and is readily unmade to allow disassembly of the neck from the body for repair or replacement of either the body or the neck. The two frames provide a continuous metallic span from the nut to the bridge to inhibit bending under string tension and also to enhance sustain by reducing damping. The external surface of the neck and body plastic masses may be given a grain effect, color and finish causing such masses to closely simulate wood.
What is needed is a stringed musical instrument which produces superior tone, sustain and resonance and yet can be mass produced quickly and inexpensively.
An object of the present invention is to provide a stringed musical instrument and a method for making a stringed musical instrument by injection molding high impact polystyrene having a foaming agent injection molded around the wooden core which produces superior tone, sustain and resonance and yet can be mass produced quickly and inexpensively.
An alternate object of the present invention is to provide a stringed musical instrument and a method for making a stringed musical instrument by injection molding high impact polystyrene having a foaming agent to form a top panel and a bottom panel which are adhered together to sandwich the wooden core which produces superior tone, sustain and resonance and yet can be mass produced quickly and inexpensively.
Another object of the present invention is to form a neck for a stringed musical instrument by injection molding a synthetic material to form an elongated rigid neck shaped element with a groove down the center of a front side to receive a meta bar therein to prevent warping of the neck with the fingerboard adhered over the groove.
In brief, the present invention provides a stringed musical instrument formed using injection molded high impact polystyrene foam with a foaming agent injection molded around a wooden core, used by itself, or molded into a top and bottom panel adhered together to sandwich a wooden core therebetween. The wooden core used in the mold has alignment holes for receiving pins from the mold thereby holding the core in place during the injection molding process. The core provides good wood tone and the polystyrene with a foaming agent produces good sustain and a resonance of about 28 seconds. The high impact polystyrene is sufficiently strong to make a body portion of a stringed instrument to insure a durable stringed musical instrument body without the need for an inner wooden insert 12 which could be used to obtain a desirable wood tone in the stringed musical instrument. While the examples shown in the drawings display a guitar, it could be any stringed musical instrument employing the exact same description ad method.
An advantage of the present invention is that provides a method for making a stringed musical instrument that makes it easy to create an excellent sounding stringed musical instrument body quickly and inexpensively.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a stringed musical instrument which has great wood tone and superior sustain and resonance.
A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides an inexpensively fabricated neck which will not warp.
These and other details of my invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are furnished only by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention, and in which drawings:
The wooden inner core 12, a hard wood preferably mahogany, extends from a front end to a point immediately adjacent to a back end of the stringed musical instrument body and the neck 30 attaches to the wooden inner core at the front end of the stringed musical instrument body.
The wooden inner core 12 extends from a point immediately adjacent to a bottom of the stringed musical instrument body to a point immediately adjacent to a top of the stringed musical instrument body and the musical pickups 31 are attached to the wooden inner core.
The stringed musical instrument body 10 further comprises an outer covering surface which may comprise paint, a wood veneer, fiberglass, plastic binding added to the top edge of the body for cosmetic appearance, or any other desired finish.
The inner wooden core 12 has routed opening therein for the musical pickups 31, control cavities, and a neck pocket to receive the neck.
The stringed musical instrument may comprise any stringed musical instrument including a guitar, a base guitar, an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a violin, a fiddle, a viol, a viola, a base fiddle, a cello, a ukulele, a bouzouki, a balalaika, a lute, a mandolin, a zither, a sitar, a koto or other stringed musical instrument.
The method for making the stringed musical instrument 20 comprises as follows:
A first step comprises securing the wooden inner core 12 inside a two-piece injection mold 40A and 40B for a stringed musical instrument having a pair of spaced cylindrical holes 9 comprising a means for receiving two pins 41 comprising a holding device from a two-part injection mold 40A and 40B, as shown in
A second step comprises injection molding polystyrene having a foaming agent in the mold around the wooden inner core 12 to form a stringed musical instrument body comprising a shaped body portion 14 of polystyrene having a foaming agent molded around the wooden inner core, the wooden inner core imparting a wood quality tone to the stringed instrument, the shaped body portion imparting sustain and resonance to the stringed musical instrument.
A third step comprises attaching a neck 30 to the wooden inner core 12 at a forward end of the stringed musical instrument body, the wooden inner core extending from a front end to a point immediately adjacent to a back end of the stringed musical instrument body 10.
A fourth step comprises attaching musical pickups 31 to a top of the stringed musical instrument body 10 in the wooden inner core 12, which extends from a point immediately adjacent to a bottom of the stringed musical instrument body to a point immediately adjacent to a top of the stringed musical instrument body.
A fifth step comprises attaching strings 34 between the neck 30 and the musical pickups 31.
A further step comprises covering the stringed musical instrument body with an outer covering surface with at least one covering taken from the list of coverings comprising paint, a wood veneer, fiberglass, plastic binding added to the top edge of the body for cosmetic appearance, or other desired finish.
Another step comprises routing openings in the inner wooden core for the musical pickups, control cavities, and a neck pocket to receive the neck.
An alternate method for making the stringed musical instrument 20 comprises the following steps:
A first step of injection molding a high impact polystyrene having a foaming agent injection to form a stringed musical instrument body 10A, the high impact polystyrene imparting strength and resilient durability to the body portion and the multiplicity of air spaces 8 interspersed within the high impact polystyrene due to the foaming agent providing sustain and resonance to the stringed musical instrument.
A second step comprises attaching a neck 30 to a forward end of the stringed musical instrument body 10A.
A third step comprises attaching musical pickups 31 to a top of the stringed musical instrument body 10A.
A fourth step comprises attaching strings 34 between the neck 30 and the musical pickups 31.
A fifth step comprises covering the stringed musical instrument body with at least one outer covering surface taken from the list of coverings comprising paint, a wood veneer, fiberglass, plastic binding added to the top edge of the body for cosmetic appearance.
The method for making a stringed musical instrument of
To make the stringed instruments of the above embodiment of the present invention, high impact Polystyrene with a foaming agent is injection molded around a wooden insert held in place in the injection molding process by two pins from one side of the mold fitting into two holes in the wood insert, thereby forming the shape of the body of the stringed instrument. On the inside of one side of the mold will be the two pins sticking outward to hold the wooden insert, which is approximately 4″ or 5″ wide and the length of the body of the instrument. This piece of wood is permanently imbedded in the body. It's purpose is to add the wood tone to the synthetic body. The Polystyrene will give it the sustain and resonance.
Musical pickups 31 are attached to a top of the stringed musical instrument body as in the embodiment of
A method for making a stringed musical instrument 20A of
a first step of injection molding a shaped body portion comprising a shaped front panel 14A and a mating back panel 14B with a shaped outer perimeter wall 15A and 15B therebetween spaced apart from the wooden inner core 12, the shaped front panel and the mating back panel each separately injection molded of high impact injection molded synthetic material combined with a foaming agent to create a series of air bubbles extending throughout the shaped body portion forming a continuous network of miniature sound chambers throughout the synthetic material, the shaped body portion imparting sustain and resonance to the stringed musical instrument, each of the panels having a half of the shaped outer perimeter wall extending outwardly therebetween;
a second step of adhering the two panels together sandwiching an inner wooden core therebetween, as shown in
a third step of covering the stringed musical instrument body with at least one outer covering surface taken from the list of coverings comprising paint, a wood veneer, fiberglass, plastic binding added to the top edge of the body for cosmetic appearance.
a fourth step of attaching a neck 30A to the inner wooden core at a forward end of the stringed musical instrument body;
a fifth step of attaching musical pickups 31, as shown in
a sixth step of attaching strings 34 between the neck and the musical pickups.
Step one preferably further comprises forming a hollow outer air space 19B in the outer shaped body during the injection molding process by a protrusion of the mold creating a body opening through an outer face of one of the panels 14B to an inner face of the other of the panels 14A with a continuous wall 18 surrounding the opening and extending perpendicularly from the one of the panels and adhered to the other of the panels for receiving equipment positioned therein used in the sound production emanating from the musical instrument.
The method of the present invention will increase production rate and reduce labor cost considerably and will be able to produce a body every 3-4 minutes. The body can then be routed for pickups, control cavities, neck pocket etc. After molding the blank bodies, they are each painted and have a conventional wooden neck attached to the body. The complete stringed instrument is light in weight, so that the guitar weighs under 5 pounds. The stringed instruments of the present invention have a great tone due to the wood and superior sustain and resonance produced by the polystyrene with the foaming agent. A thin wood veneer top can be glued to the top of the body to enhance it's looks and make it look like a real wood stringed instrument. Plastic binding can be added to the top edge of the body for cosmetic appearance as well.
It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.
|Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US3427915||Aug 19, 1964||Feb 18, 1969||Stevens Dorothy||Acoustic panels|
|US3618442||Oct 13, 1969||Nov 9, 1971||Nippon Musical Instruments Mfg||Vibrating plates for sound instruments and method of manufacturing the same|
|US3664911||Dec 23, 1969||May 23, 1972||Nippon Musical Instruments Mfg||Diaphragm for sound instrument and method for producing same|
|US4185534||Dec 27, 1978||Jan 29, 1980||Les Cove||Stringed musical instruments with foamed solid bodies|
|US4188850||Nov 29, 1977||Feb 19, 1980||Kaman Aerospace Corporation||Foamed plastic guitar construction|
|US4213370||Jun 22, 1978||Jul 22, 1980||WMI Corporation||Molded plastic guitars|
|US4290336||Mar 28, 1979||Sep 22, 1981||Peavey Hartley D||Molded guitar structure and method of making same|
|US4313362||Jan 22, 1980||Feb 2, 1982||Lieber Thomas G||Guitar construction|
|US4334452||Jul 11, 1980||Jun 15, 1982||Norlin Industries, Inc.||Plastic musical instrument body having structural insert|
|US5054356||Sep 13, 1990||Oct 8, 1991||Farnell Jr Alfred D||Guitar|
|US5469770||Sep 9, 1994||Nov 28, 1995||Taylor; Ben D.||Distributed load soundboard system|
|US6107552||Dec 3, 1998||Aug 22, 2000||Kuau Technology, Ltd.||Soundboards and stringed instruments|
|US6359208||Nov 1, 2000||Mar 19, 2002||Alfred D. Farnell, Jr.||Guitar with plastic foam body|
|US6538183||Feb 7, 2001||Mar 25, 2003||Frederick J. Verd||Composite stringed musical instrument, and method of making the same|
|US6683236 *||Sep 28, 2001||Jan 27, 2004||Stephen J. Davis||One piece composite guitar body|
|US6686522||Jun 22, 2001||Feb 3, 2004||Shinko Corporation||Musical instrument with a body made of polyurethane foam|
|US6933428||Aug 9, 2000||Aug 23, 2005||Owain Francis Pedgley||Acoustic device|
|US7141730||Sep 22, 2005||Nov 28, 2006||Wu Xiaochuan||Method of producing electric guitar body|
|Cooperative Classification||G10D1/085, B29C44/12, G10D1/005|
|European Classification||G10D1/00B, B29C44/12, G10D1/08B|
|May 17, 2013||REMI||Maintenance fee reminder mailed|
|Oct 6, 2013||LAPS||Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees|
|Nov 26, 2013||FP||Expired due to failure to pay maintenance fee|
Effective date: 20131006


text:
Hotel Asterias Beach
A comprehensive range of facilities is available to enhance your holiday including:
Free, Wireless, High Speed Internet Access (WiFi) in all Public Areas and all Guest Rooms: Marble Floor Lobby, Sea view lounge,
Free Guest Parking, TV Corner, Internet Corner, Pay Phone,Live Performance Stage,Wellness Centre.
Services and terms: Hotel Asterias Beach
- Swimming Pool
Location: Hotel Asterias Beach
Set in a sparsely developed region and bordering on the St. Nikandros forest nature reserve, tranquillity and natural beauty prevail. Alternatively, within a short stroll from the hotel, are various bars, restaurants, shops, sight seeing attractions and leisure options.