Bocce : Everything You Always Wanted to Know

My friend and classmate, Matt Flournoy and wife Joanne host the Annual Marietta Kiwanis Club Bocce Party at their home in Marietta, Georgia. Here are their rules and related instructional videos for all you bocce enthusiasts or curiousts out there.

Bocce Rules and Definitions/ Non Uniform Local Rules of Flournoy Bocce , and Bocce Instructional Videos by Joanne Flournoy (Joanne R. Flournoy) and Matt Flournoy (Matthew C. Flournoy) in Marietta Cobb County Georgia


Joanne Flournoy ( Joanne R. Flournoy)and Matt Flournoy ( Matthew C. Flournoy) have a lighted out door Bocce Ball Court in their back yard in Marietta Cobb County Georgia. The Bocce Court is 60 feet long and 12 feet wide. The surface is granite dust.

We recommend that you read the Bocce Rules and Definitions, and then watch the 21 short Bocce Instructional Videos linked below before you play. The 21 short Bocce Instructional videos average only 13 seconds in time. The total time of all 21 videos is only 265 seconds or 4.4 minutes.

21 Short Bocce Instructional Videos created by Joanne Flournoy ( Joanne R. Flournoy) and Matt Flournoy (Matthew C. Flournoy) on September 3, 2006 in Marietta Cobb County Georgia.
(Click on each to view):
1. Introduction to Bocce (18 seconds).
2. Bocce Court (11 seconds).
3. Bocce Balls (22 seconds).
4. Palino, the target ball (7 seconds).
5. Object of Bocce Ball (11 seconds).
6. Foot fault line (10 seconds).
7. Bowling the Palino (12 seconds).
8. Bowling the first Bocce Ball (9 seconds).
9. Bowling the second Bocce Ball (13 seconds).
10. In Team versus Out Team (17 seconds).
11. Bowling the third Bocce Ball (16 seconds).
12. Green Team is In and Red Team is Out (10 seconds).
13. Ok to hit the Palino with Bocce Balls (10 seconds).
14. Ok to hit Bocce Balls with other Bocce Balls (15 seconds).
15. Red Team is In and Green Team is Out (8 seconds).
16. One point frame scoring (20 seconds).
17. Two point frame scoring (13 seconds).
18. Three point frame scoring (9 seconds).
19. Four point frame scoring, the maximum points possible per frame (10 seconds).
20. Scoring after each frame (12 seconds).
21. Scoreboard, first team to score 11 points wins the Bocce game (12 seconds).

What I Wish I Knew When I Was Twenty

Stanford Technology Ventures Program's Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, cites numerous classroom successes of applied problem-solving and the lessons of failure. The Art of Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Sample Board Meeting Minutes

This Brad Feld post provides a good template for a sample set of board meeting minutes following the wise lawyer's advice to keep it light, stating:

"I go to a lot of board meetings. As a result, I’ve reviewed a lot of board meeting minutes. In general, the philosophy among most VC-backed companies – promulgated by the law firms for these companies – is to keep the board minutes “light.” They should cover the substance of the meeting and have any specific votes, option grants, or board level issues documented, but they should not contain extensive details about the presentations giving in the board meeting.

"I regularly get asked for “sample board meeting minutes”, especially among newly funded companies that are just starting to have board meetings and might not have their outside counsel present at the meeting (although most outside counsel’s that are credible and used to working with early stage companies will attend board meetings at no charge – just ask as part of your initial interview process with the firm – it’s very useful to them to be there so they can stay up to speed on what is happening at the company.)"

Trade-marks guide updated | eLegal Canton

David Canton has updated and split into 2 his trade-marks guide. trade-marks-guide-part-1-registering-a-trade-mark summarizes what one should know before selecting and registering a trade-mark, and the advantages of registering. trade-marks-guide-part-2-after-registration summarizes how to properly use and care for a trade-mark after it is registered.

Source: Trade-marks guide updated.

Findlaw's Small Business Center

FindLaw's Small Business Center provides information and resources for small business owners, and help for entrepreneurs seeking to get a business idea off the ground. Here you can get information on choosing and forming the right legal structure for your business, legal tips on day-to-day business operations, an overview of employment law issues, and much more.

100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education

I am happy to report that my blog was included in this list of 100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education. Thanks to Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends for the link.

Pursue M&A Stages in Parallel

"Many companies diminish their effectiveness by managing M&A as a linear process. They treat each stage of a deal as if they were handing off the baton in a relay race, switching from the boardroom team, to the negotiating team, to the integration planning program leaders, to line management. This approach lengthens the time line of the acquisition, exposes the newly merged company to the impatience of the markets, and makes it harder to resolve issues early — so they surface later, causing additional delays and difficulties. The alternative is to pursue the stages of M&A in parallel (with substantial overlap and continuous referencing back and forth), managed by a single large team whose members communicate easily and regularly with one another and with the rest of the organization. This type of process places great demands on resources, time, and staff. But the results are worth the added effort." To better understand this approach, read more in this strategy + business article.

Twitter Guide Book

"Twitter is a social network used by millions of people, and thousands more are signing up every day to send short messages to groups of friends. But where's the user manual for Twitter? Where do new Twitter users go to learn about Tweeting, retweets, hashtags and customizing your Twitter profile? Where do you go if you want to know all about building a community on Twitter, or using Twitter for business? How can you find advanced tools for using Twitter on your phone or your desktop? To answer all these questions and more.." check out the Twitter Guide Book – How To, Tips and Instructions by Mashable

More on Risk Management

"First, remember that risk — the probability of an outcome significantly different from the expected — can produce both surprisingly good as well as surprisingly bad results. Be as ready to seize the wondrously good as you are to shield yourself and others from the horrendously bad.

"Second, in dealing with exposures to loss, put risk control before risk financing. It is always better to prevent losses, to minimize losses, or to make losses more predictable than it is to pay for potentially large and unforeseen losses. Good risk control makes more efficient use of a company's or a country's resources than does any kind of risk financing.

"Third, in managing risk in either gains or losses, be as self-sufficient as you can. Here, the "you" can be an individual, a household, an organization, public entity, a country, or even a continent. The more you are self-sufficient, the less you have to pay someone else to safeguard you from, or to indemnify you for, unexpected losses. Likewise, when unforeseen opportunities for gain arise, being self-sufficient enables you to keep more of the gains for yourself or for those you serve."

from I Will Write No More Forever. Thanks to Jim for the link.

Risk Management in a Nutshell

"'Risk Management' is the art and science of thinking about what could go wrong, and what should be done to mitigate those risks in a cost-effective manner.

"In order to identify risks and figure out how best to mitigate them, we first need a framework for classifying risks.

"All risks have two dimensions to them: likelihood of occurrence, and severity of the potential consequences. These two dimensions form four quadrants, which in turn suggest how we might attempt to mitigate those risks:



Read more in this VC Experts article.

Widow of Murdered Fly Sues

WASHINGTON -- The widow of the housefly murdered by Barack Obama during a recent CNBC television interview announced this morning that she would be filing a wrongful death suit against the President in federal district court. The plaintiff brief -- citing pain, suffering and loss of income -- seeks a formal apology and compensatory damages, including an unspecified quantity of shit.

"Bob was a wonderful husband and provider," said the widow, Mrs. Vivian Vvzzvzwwzzz, wiping tears from her compound eyes. "Even though he was always busy at the Rose Garden turd pile, he always flew home in time to tuck in our maggots."

Read more in this iowahawk post, found via this post from overlawyered.

Zombies are People Too

I borrowed from the local library and have been watching this Course on Understanding the Brain taught by Jeanette Norden. Doctor Norden is a wonderful lecturer and makes a fascinating and complex subject easier to understand.

Stephanie West Allen suggests perhaps a more fun and very novel way to learn about your brain:

What a sense of humor! Dr. Steven Schlozman, an expert on zombies, recently wrote a paper on the topic. The fake medical journal article, described in A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology (io9), is about:

the zombie plague, which he calls Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome, or ANSD (the article has five authors: one living, three "deceased" and one "humanoid infected").

I posted a link to Dr. Schlozman's lecture on zombie brains because he teaches about our brains, too, and it's a fun way to learn. (The good doctor is funny.) Click for a summary of the zombie lecture. A shorter summary comes from sodahead in Zombies Real, Says Harvard Psychiatrist Dr. Steven Schlozman: How would you survive a zombie invasion?

Excerpt:

Dr. Schlozman says zombies can only be fueled by rage. The amygdala then, is what powers zombies, just as in crocodiles. To this, Schlozman says "You can't really be mad at zombies, because that's like being mad at a crocodile."

...Watch the lecture. You will laugh and learn...

New Yorkers now at liberty to shoot wild fowl in their own state

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New Yorkers now at liberty
The Library of Congress

This delightful headline is courtesy of the October 10, 1909 edition of the New York Tribune recently posted to Flickr by the Library of Congress. The image is part of the Chronicling America project. This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program and is well worth a visit.

Don't Call Me Crazy on the 4th of July

"In the early 1970s Bob Lansberry began protesting on the streets of Pittsburgh, wearing signs accusing specific government officials of withholding or censoring his mail and subliminally controlling his mind. His signs and fliers proclaiming messages such as WHY CAN'T LANSBERRY GET MAIL? and ARE YOU MIND CONTROLLED? became icons of downtown Pittsburgh life.

"Several times during the 1980s, Lansberry ran for public office. In 1984 his campaign carried Kennedy Township in the race for U.S. House, And garnered over 30,000 votes in his bid for clerk of courts, though ultimately losing both races.

"During the approximately 30 years that he spent protesting on the street, seeking proof that the government was controlling his mind through a radio receiver in his dental filling, Lansberry wrote frequent letters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation requesting the contents of any files that were kept on him. Several years prior to his death he received over 400 pages of documents from the FBI detailing their interest in his life beginning in 1975, shortly after he took to the streets."

This interesting short film, "Don't Call Me Crazy on the 4th of July," points out that when Lansberry put on those signs and went before the public, he was asking us a question, "Who is crazier, the guy who believes people are controlling him and fights back, or the people who believe they are free, and still do what they're told to do."

Iconic Depression Era Photographs Released

"Migrant Mother"
The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has created a remarkable set, FSA/OWI Favorites, which includes the “Migrant Mother,” by Dorothea Lange, the original film negative of which is housed at the Library of Congress. The Library preserves Lange’s original, and makes the digitized photo freely available. “Migrant Mother” is part of a landmark photo documentary project based in the U.S. Resettlement Administration, the Farm Security Administration (FSA), and later the Office of War Information (OWI). The most active years were 1935-1943, and the collection was transferred to the Library of Congress in 1944.

The Library of Congress’ newest set features 10 of the most frequently requested photos plus staff picks to introduce you to the vast archive of about 170,000 negatives and 107,000 prints of life in America during the Great Depression and World War II. Do not miss a visit to the FSA/OWI Collection in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) at LOC to explore more of these amazing photos by gifted photographers who worked with 35mm and large format sheet film. Please go to the Library of Congress’ blog post for much more information and insight.

If you have never seen these, don’t pass up a moment to experience them.

Reprinting this Flickr Blog post

Soften Your Heart at the Tenement Museum

No need to close your eyes and imagine what it might have been like for immigrants in turn-of-the-20th-century America to struggle mightily for a piece of the promise of the American dream. Visit the Tenement Museum and see it and feel it for yourself, as I did on Tuesday.

It's not that you leave your imagination at the door. Rather, your wonderings take wing in context as you meet the ghosts of past inhabitants of 97 Orchard Street on New York City's lower east side.

On our tour, you stand crowded in dark, tiny tenement rooms once called home by a German-Jewish family who survived the Panic of 1873 and an Italian Catholic brood who outlasted the Great Depression. You are crowded shoulder to shoulder with other curious historians, many of them, descendants of the very immigrants whose lives we touch, standing there. With words and answers and pictures and questions and breathing in the dense history, you are transported to a teeming time, a dreaming time, the same American dream that drew my ancestors and that continues to draw 'em in even as we speak. Great stuff. Check it out if you have a chance.

For more see Tenement Museum Flickr Photostream and Tenement Museum Blog.

Change Management Toolbook

"Are you personally ready for change? Is your team in serious need of new ways to work together? How can your organization deal with a change project which lacks focus or direction? Do you want to know why change is inevitable but hard to achieve? Do you want to surf on the waves of change? You will find some of the answers to your questions in the new Change Management Toolbook website.

"The Change Management Toolbook is a collection of more than 120 tools, methods and strategies which you can apply during different stages of personal, team and organizational development, in training, facilitation and consulting. It is divided into three principle sections: Self, Team and Larger System.

"Self
Change Management starts and ends with individuals. As the system theory says, you cannot really predict how a person reacts to a certain stimulus. So, if you want to introduce change into a system, you will most likely need to think about what skills, behaviours and belief systems the members of the system will need to be part of the change effort.

"Team
At the heart of modern organizations are teams that share the responsibility and the resources for getting things done. Most projects are too complex to be implemented by one person, most services need different specialists and support staff to be delivered, and most products are the result of the work of a larger resources team or supply chain. We know that teams can either perform at their peak, or can be terribly inefficient.

"Larger Systems
Change processes are mostly initiated by either individuals or small teams, but the focus of change is one which goes beyond that small unit. It is directed towards the entire organization, or towards other organizations. A change project might be related to a community, a region or an entire society (and, yes: to the world as a whole)."

50 Common Interview Questions

Bhuvana Sundaramoorthy shares a great list of typical questions you are likely to be asked in your next job interview together with suggestions on how to answer them. This is an excellent list also for those conducting such interviews. Notably absent from the list is the cliche question "What is your greatest weakness?" although it is noted in the comments that interviewers who ask this question do not know what they are doing.

Leadership in a Nutshell

Gill Corkindale shares this summary of what it takes to be a good leader:

1. Be aware. Understand yourself and your context. Know your own strengths, limitations, and development needs. If you don't have time to build your skills, bring people into your team who will complement you. Be aware of the organization and the people you are leading. If you have moved from a start-up to an established organization, for example, the people and the rules of engagement will be very different.

2. Have a plan. Know where you are going. One great definition of leadership is to have followers. If you cannot create a sense of the future, no one can follow you.

3. Build relationships. Give more of yourself. A leader has to get things done through others, so people skills are critical. Take time to get to know your peers, bosses, and subordinates. Talk less, listen more, and remember the details of what people say. Investing time to understand the roles, ideas, and personalities of those around you will yield a strong network, corporate allies, motivated staff, and personal goodwill.

4. Deliver. Get things done. Whatever your line of business, you need to show the results of your leadership. So whether it's a better product, an improved service, a higher profit or share price, make sure you deliver.

5. Have integrity. Get your values right. Your values define who you are and why others should work for you. The important point here is that values should be lived, not written down or occasionally talked about. Show by your own example that honesty, truth, transparency, respect, and sustainability matter.

25 Random Things About Me

1. I’ve been a pauper, a poet, a paper boy, car wash attendant, commercial bakery worker, cemetery grass cutter, book warehouseman, hod carrier, construction laborer, television delivery man, jet refueler, lavatory cleaner, ditch digger, law clerk, attorney, actor and professor

2. After a deep spiritual experience, I spent a frosty warm night in a yak-hair tent called the Hotel California at the Mount Everest base camp in Tibet.

3. I was recruited to play football at Princeton University. Otherwise, I may not have considered applying to and attending Old Nassau. What a lucky break.

4. During law school, I was in a garage band we called Permanently Band, playing for friends and ourselves original songs that I wrote in a burst of creativity that I have not experienced since.

5. Lately, I am more concerned with spiritual growth, awareness, seeking and searching than with anything else.

6. In her youth, I appeared onstage with my darling daughter, Deirdre, in three community theater productions – To Kill a Mockingbird, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Impossible Years.

7. I was tricked into auditioning for a role without knowing it in To Kill a Mockingbird when the director asked me to fill in during a rehearsal for a missing player. He then informed me that the missing player had left the production and asked if I would take over the role of Mr. Cunningham.

8. This led to a wonderful moment in the play when Scout (Deirdre) recognizes Mr. Cunningham (me) in the lynch mob and defuses a tense situation. The way we staged it, I took a couple of threatening steps toward Deirdre before dropping to my knees in front of her to speak my lines. What a wondrous memory.

9. Come to think of it, I have a lot of enduring pictures of Deirdre in my mind. One is of her playing mob or beehive soccer when she was a tyke. She was apart from the swarm twirling her pigtails and I was screaming from the sidelines, “Go after the ball!”

10. I am a third cousin of Tampa Bay Rays manager, Joe Maddon.

11. When I was growing up I knew my grandparents as “Grandma and Grandpa from Hazleton” and “Grandma and Grandpa Next Door”

12. When I was little, I read every Nancy Drew mystery I could lay my hands on.

13. My favorite author, though, was Edgar Allen Poe. What a combination.

14. I once drove the 120 miles from Princeton NJ to Scranton PA all the way without ever coming to a complete stop. The clutch in my yellow VW bug was shot and made a horrendous grinding noise if the car had to be started from a complete stop.

15. I know all the two letter state postal abbreviations by heart from years working in the book warehouse and shipping operation that my father ran as general manager.

16. We put our Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving and just took it down and put it away this week (2nd week of February). I love decorating the tree. When I open the boxes containing the ornaments, I think and say, “Hello, old friends.”

17. I have a bunch of buddies from playing pickup basketball who, for many years, I only knew by their nicknames – Sluggo, Gumby, Goober, Buzzy, Dog.

18. Despite spending most of my life now in Western Pennsylvania, I have never visited the Andy Warhol Museum, the National Aviary, or the Regional History Museum.

19. Growing up, I was a New York Yankees and New York Giants fan. Now I root for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

20. I am a fan of classic country music, even though I grew up strictly listening to rock and roll. Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline and the rest touch my soul.

21. On the Friday before Christmas, I pulled out my axe and sang Christmas carols for the “pirohi ladies” at St. Mary’s Church in Ambridge PA while I waited for my three dozen.

22. I represented the creator of one of the first internet search engines in connection with the Initial Public Offering of the company commercializing his invention.

23. I am partially blind in one eye.

24. I am part of a loving family.

25. I am on a journey of discovery.