Beginning September 1, 2009, prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers–commonly known as robocalls–will be prohibited, unless the telemarketer has obtained permission in writing from consumers who want to receive such calls, the Federal Trade Commission announced on August 27. The new requirement is part of amendments to the agency’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) that were announced a year ago. After September 1, consumers who receive prerecorded telemarketing calls but have not agreed to get them should file a complaint with the Commission, either on the ftc.gov Web site or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/08/robocalls.shtm

The public playground where Google lets users try out new products or services that aren't yet ready for prime time is Google Squared. It's a demonstration of a search engine trying to provide answers instead of just sites, and at a higher level than the simple "smart answers" you see when you search for "time in Rome" or "area code 909". Rather, Google analyzes the retrieved pages, identifies common elements, and creates a table with the information it has compiled. This is a fascinating tool that helps you compile facts into tables that Google builds on the fly. Go to Google.com/squared and type in a query that will retrieve a number of similar thing --organic farms in Colorado, for example, or women CEOs.
Google Squared generates a table of facts extracted from its index, with the items you are searching for as the left-most column, along with columns for whatever related characteristics are relevant for the topic. For organic farms in Colorado, for example, the table in the search results has columns for the name of the company, an image from the farm's web site, a snippet of description about the farm, and columns for telephone number, location and "season." Note that some of these columns may have few entries in them, depending on what information Google analyzed. For women CEOs, the table includes the CEO's name, a photo, a snippet that indicates what her position is, her date of birth, and her nationality. Interestingly, you can insert your own items in a Google Squared table, and either let Google populate the rest of the row or type in whatever content you want in that row. You can also delete a row or column that isn't relevant to your search. Google Squared is never going to compete with a real human's analysis of a collection of facts, but it can be a great way to start brainstorming, as a quick way to organize the results of your search, and as a starting point for a nicely-presented deliverable for your client. Source: Bates Information Services www.BatesInfo.com/tip.html Thanks, Julie.

Recipe story
A short time ago, I sent the link to a recipe for Welsh Rabbit (also called Welsh Rarebit).
http://cookingfortwo.about.com/od/pastabeansandgrains/r/rarebit.htm
I gave it the taste test, using Fuller’s London Porter for the dark ale. It was easy to make, and the dish came out well, not heavy at all. There was about half of the sauce remaining after we poured it on toasted English muffins, and we saved that and used it with twice baked potatoes. It would be good on noodles, too.

More than 1,200 artists from 24 countries will compete for $450,000 in an unprecedented new art competition next month in Grand Rapids, Michigan. ArtPrize, as it's known, is promoting itself as a "radically open competition" with no juries or any of the usual filters that decide what's art and what's not. The entire town seems to be mobilizing for ArtPrize, which will run Sept. 23 to Oct. 10. The 18-day event will be held at about 160 venues--including the Grand River itself, parks, bridges, businesses, and, of course, galleries--within a 3-square-mile zone. More than 1,200 artists from 24 countries will compete for $450,000 in an unprecedented new art competition next month in Grand Rapids.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009908210392

Grand Rapids is celebrating the 40th anniversary of La Grande Vitesse, a sculpture by Alexander Calder. http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/michigan/grandrapids/calder/vitesse.html

Compare La Grande Vitesse to Stegosaurus at The Toledo Museum of Art. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=%22toledo%20museum%22%20calder%20stegosaurus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Downtown Grand Rapids is extremely walkable; most of the cultural sites and a great deal of shopping, dining and entertaining options can be found in the six-by-six-block square bounded by Michigan Street, Fulton Street, Division Avenue and the west bank of the Grand River. More to see there:
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000 E. Beltline Ave. NE, 616-957-1580, meijergardens.org
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, 303 Pearl St., NW, 616-254-0400, fordlibrarymuseum.gov
Grand Rapids Art Museum, 101 Monroe Center, 616-831-1000, gramonline.org. GRAM is as well known for its building (the world's first LEED Gold-certified Museum, recognizing green building practices) as it is for its collection of modern art.
Farmers Market, Fulton Street near Fuller Avenue. Open four days a week, this market consists of a narrow lane, two blocks long, packed with locally grown produce, baked goods, flowers and more. It pulls in big crowds, especially Saturdays. It's several miles east of downtown but worth the drive.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-trav-grand-rapids-aug0909,0,3666736.story

Looks like I’ll be writing another Tank Away article because I’ve been thinking about going to Grand Rapids, and there’s the incentive that Toledo sculptor Calvin Babich has a piece on exhibit. Calvin's piece is showing at Design Plus Offices, an architectural design firm at 230 East Fulton Street. If you go to the ArtPrize website and search the artist list for Calvin's name, you will see his maquette and a link to the venue. There are 11 other artists at this venue. http://www.artprize.org/

Calvin Babich’s sculpture, The Puzzler, at following link, was inspired by Will Shortz and his love for puzzles. http://www.calvinbabich.com/Image.asp?ImageID=395881&full=1&apid=1&gpid=1&ipid=1&AKey=3SNCJGQS

On August 28, 1913, the Peace Palace was opened in The Hague by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The Palace was conceived of as a forum to host the international Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). In addition to the PCA, the Palace today hosts the International Court of Justice, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the Peace Palace Library of International Law. Learn more about the creation of the Peace Palace.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech to 200,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington. Listen to King's speech, courtesy of the History Channel. The March was later credited with helping to achieve passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/thisday/