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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Mar 10, 2015 |
People always ask me, 'Were you funny as a child?' Well, no, I was an accountant. Ellen DeGeneres
Now is the time to apply for the 2015 Red Ants Pants Community Grant program http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
2014 Montana Politics & 2015 Legislature
Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
- Funding for public preschool and special education increase not included in budget proposal
"Decades of research tells us that high-quality early education preschool has short and long term benefits."
- Montana tourism backers seek first spending boost in 30 years
Montana legislators will be asked to invest about $29 million over the next two years to better promote tourism and preserve and enhance state parks and cultural and historic attractions.
- 2014 Report Card for Montana's Infrastructure
Montana's aging infrastructure is approaching a critical state of disrepair, earning a cumulative grade of C- in the inaugural Report Card for Montana's Infrastructure.
Visit Montana - Montana Dept. of Tourism
- Kalispell Chamber fosters phase two of plans to boost agri-tourism in the Flathead Valley
"By operating as a network, we are better able to spread the word about each other's businesses and create a more consistent, manageable flow, both in slow and busy seasons."
Great Falls Development Authority
- "Real Montana" video contest now accepting submissions
The Montana Office of Tourism is hosting a contest called "Real Montana" for people to showcase one-minute videos about the experience of living and playing in Montana.
TechLink
- Great Falls Development Authority Top 16 for 3/9/15
Let's keep the momentum going. Let us know if we can help in any way with your real estate development, business start-up or expansion.
Inteneo Systems
- Lunch & Learn: How To Win Non-dilutive R&D Seed Funding From NIST, 03/25, Bozeman
Bring your lunch and learn how you can tap into $2.5 billion in non-dilutive seed capital through the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
Come Home Montana
- TED Video- David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization
Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut -- and it may just change the way we see the world.
Montana Business
- Montana Career Opportunity - Operations Manager - Blackfoot Challenge
Celebrating 20 years of partnerships, the Blackfoot Challenge is a nonprofit organization with the mission to coordinate efforts that conserve and enhance the natural resources and rural way of life in the Blackfoot Watershed for present and future generations.
Montana Economic Development
- Get Schedulicity Free for 30 Days
Easy online scheduling and marketing tools for growing your business.
- Missoula Fresh Market ready to take over Missoula Safeway stores
It's not the first venture into the Missoula grocery business for Holtet and Ramsbacher. They bought the busy Orange Street Food Farm from its long-time owners a year ago.
- Missoula Sears to close
Sears announced in December that it would close 235 under-performing stores. Today, we learned that Sears at Southgate Mall is one of them.
MSU Leadership Institute & UM Global Leadership Initiative
- Measuring up: Uptown Butte renewal group prepares for second phase
"The challenge is we don't have the population to support those resources we have."
Careers
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's Latest Science Projects
"You don't want to raise a kid in a culture where the kid who asks the most questions is annoying. You want a culture where the kid who asks the most questions gets awards and gets another piece of cake."
- Montana students say Neil deGrasse Tyson changed their perspective - "I'm never not going to think about the things he talked about."
"It was a 12 out of 10. There's so many things that we need to understand."
Rural Communities
- Your sweet spot: How to become more productive while actually working less.
The sweet spot is when you're operating with the greatest ease, with the least resistance, and the greatest power of strength.
Idaho Business
- Farmers Put Down the Plow for More Productive Soil
He no longer needs to use nitrogen fertilizer or fungicide, he said, and he produces yields that are above the county average with less labor and lower costs. "Nature can heal if we give her the chance," Mr. Brown said.
Incubators and R&D
- Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz draws techie crowd in Boise
"What brought me out is it's very rare to get a managing partner of one of the most successful VC (venture capital) firms in an outside market, especially in Boise."
Workforce Development
- U.S. Sen. Jon Tester secures $1.1 million for Montana Tech research
"These investments will continue to expand the Materials Science Ph.D. program at Montana Tech and drive even more graduates to good paying jobs," Tester said.
Wyoming Business
- President Obama to announce effort to boost high-tech training, hiring
Under the plan, the federal government would provide as-of-yet unspecified federal assistance to help local governments leverage training for high-tech workers.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- A Vacant Lot In Wyoming Will Become One Of The World's First Vertical Farms
The startup plans to employ workers with developmental disabilities who have few local options for a job.
Education
- 5 Reasons Why Mindful Meditation Should Be Taught In School
Meditation can help improve the school experience. Why?
Montana Education Excellence
- Yale grads are out of luck in Silicon Valley job skills
"We're totally getting left in the dust by our peer institutions," Nova says. "We're getting swamped."
Community
- Vision - UM Research, Innovation & Scholarship 2014 E-Magazine
These pages sample much of the top research and creative scholarship happening at UM during the past year.
- Compassion and care: UM's Family Medicine Residency earns high marks with physicians, patients
Most physicians stay in the area where they complete their residencies, and Montana has been short. "We don't produce enough doctors to serve our needs."
Funding and Building your Business
- Driving While Indian
As the nation debates police violence, we shouldn't forget the painful experiences of Native Americans.
- A Call for Reimagined Schoolyards
Dozens of schools, with countless acres of open space, which, though they are physically integrated with their neighborhoods, are not the assets that they could be.
- Now is the time to apply for the 2015 Red Ants Pants Community Grant program
"We are so very excited to continue increasing the dollar amount of our grant awards. The quality of applicants is astounding. Thank you all for your support of the Music Festival which makes this grant cycle possible!" -Sarah Calhoun
- Local Hounds sniff out Missoula bike thieves
"We want to grow to a size that instills fear in thieves and start lobbying for larger penalties for people caught stealing bikes. Currently, in order to get in any real trouble, the bikes have to be worth over a thousand dollars, which gives a lot of incentive for cheaper bikes to be stolen," Sprinsberg said.
Energy and Climate Change
- New Research: HR now Challenged in the New World of Work
People are coached to "do less, but better" not to "do more."
- German Law Requires More Women on Corporate Boards
For Germans, he called the law "the greatest contribution to gender equality since women got the vote" in Germany in 1918.
- The secret to talent management? Put employees, not employers first
"The only thing I knew was that business was there to take care of the people, and the people were there to take care of customers."
- Ontraport vs Infusionsoft: The Definitive Review
So your business is looking to upgrade to the newest CRM management software, but you have no idea where to begin.
- An unusual new policy for working mothers
"It gives us an advantage when we're working with female employees, not only in our business today but as we recruit people."
- Google Ventures and the Search for Immortality
Bill Maris has $425 million to invest this year, and the freedom to invest it however he wants. He's looking for companies that will slow aging, reverse disease, and extend life.
Montana Biotech
- The next frontier for smart grids is decoding Big Data
Among other things, utilities must break away from using data siloes, which cannot provide a fully integrated system and are not appropriate for high-volume, high-density data.
- New concept in solar energy poised to catch on across US
Community solar gardens first took off in Colorado a few years ago, and the model -- also known as community or shared solar -- has spread to Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and several other states.
- World's First Glow-in-the-Dark Road Promises a Brighter, More Energy-Efficient Future
This great "first" might very well be the next stage in eco-living: just like the LED bulb, we predict that it's only a matter of time before these cleaner and more sustainable forms of lighting become an affordable staple in our future world.
Government Technology
- FDA approves the first biosimilar for the U.S. market
Biosimilars have been available in Europe since 2006, but the FDA only received the ability to approve the biologic copies in 2010, following passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- CIO Mark VanOrden Discusses Utah's New Open Data Portal
Utah is aiming to have all state and local open data online by December 2016
- A History of 'Urban Dashboards' and their Impact on City Governance
The platform is intended to help its audiences -- citizens, public employees, and businesses -- with their own decision-making and "evidence-informed analysis," and to encourage the independent development of visualizations and applications.
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Be There for the Final Taping of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
You and a friend will fly out to NYC, stay in a 4-star hotel, and sit VIP for the live taping of the last episode EVER of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart behind the desk. Don't make Jon do this without you.
HACKING AND VIRUS ALERTS
- Bozeman toy "Maker Studio" creates buzz with new product
"Each kit comes with instructions on how to do four builds - that's like a race car, a cable car, a tow truck," Yakos explains. "It's just trying to get kids familiar with how to use the tools, but then there are 10 open-ended engineering challenges."
- Online home sales are becoming a reality
Are you ready to buy your next home with a single mouse click?
- How new changes by credit-reporting firms may affect you
The move stems from months of negotiations between the companies and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, one of several state attorneys general who have placed the credit reporting industry under increased scrutiny.
- New Water System Treats Personal Water On Site
The system is so smart, he knows where every drop of water is going before the people on site do.
Transportation
- Hacking incident 'wake-up call' for Butte credit union
Similar hacks were reported over the weekend by other sites across the globe, according to NBS News.
- Consultant has high-tech suggestions to improve parking downtown in Billings
The program is misunderstood by some and has "greatly reduced parking citation revenue." In addition, the city's meter bagging policy may be being abused.
- What do driverless cars mean for suburban planning?
So, we can wave goodbye to parking lots and wide arterial roads. What could we do to optimize the suburbs to fit this new reality?
- Self-Driving Cars Will Make Us Want Fewer Cars
We'll free ourselves from the archaic model of the multi-car household. And we won't waste so much space parking the damn things.
- Tesla building charging network for road-trippers
Tesla is building out the charging network as it prepares for a summer debut of the Model X, a sport utility vehicle designed to appeal to women.
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