It's my life, you're just along for the ride!

My mom has been making Custom Jewelry as a hobby for as long as I can remember.

About a year ago, some friends and family asked her to make a few for them. Since our friends and family are all over the place I decided to create a website for her to display what she created for them. We decided to name the site JoLiGa.com. We just added the first 2 letters of all the grandchildren in order from oldest to youngest (JOshua, LIaris & GAbriella). We thought it was cool and different. Since then we had a new addition to the family. Hello Victoria! So I decided to rename (ReBrand) her site using her name Ilia Ramos. So to all the friends and family that were confused, first about what JOLIGA stood for and why is now http://www.IliaRamos.com. There you go!

Now go to the Site and check out the latest Custom Jewelry for http://www.iliaramos.com.

Enjoy!!!

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Bump

Quick Pitch: Bump allows users to connect online and offline via unique identifiers, including license plates, mobile phones and online profiles.

Genius Idea: Ever wanted to tell the driver in front of you that their lights are off? Or maybe you’ve wanted to be the good Samaritan and warn someone that his meter has expired. Perhaps you just find the driver in the adjacent vehicle visually stimulating and are hoping they think the same about you.

These street scenarios face us drivers on a daily basis, but there’s never been an easy or safe way to message another driver or car owner. Enter Bump, a recently launched, private-beta startup (we’ve got invites) that has created a way to message other drivers by using the one unique identifier all drivers have in common: our license plates.

Bump users can message other drivers through voice-automated commands, photo snapshots of license plates and SMS. Bump also includes e-mail support, which you can use by directing your message to State.Plate@bump.com, where state is the two-digit state name abbreviation and plate is the individual’s license plate number.

Bump stores all messages sent to a particular license plate in the system until the plate in question is claimed by the plate owner. If you claim your plate, you can then start to receive messages as voice messages, e-mails or text messages. Of course, this also means that those messages you attempt to send to the hottie in the Audi TT won’t get delivered unless he or she has also claimed their plate on Bump — a clear limitation of the service at launch.

Bump members can also connect their Twitter(), Facebook(), and eventually Match.com profiles, e-mail accounts and cell phone numbers with their license plate to further complete the loop between the physical world and the digital world.

Your License Plate as Your Identity

Eventually Bump will enter AAA’s realm and offer premium services to drives through a member program. Upgrades will include discount offers, special privileges and roadside assistance. The company is also working with rental car companies, sports leagues and fast-food outlets on marketing initiatives to target special offers to members on the road by tapping into existing video cameras. In this capacity, Bump aims to bring Groupon-like discounts to the real world through license plates, which may be a bit too ambitious for privacy-conscious drivers.

The service’s immediate and long-term success will rely on drivers claiming their plates. The challenge, however, is that even without offers directed at individual license plates, Bump’s technology will likely be a bit too intrusive for those who would prefer not to incorporate their license plate as part of their virtual and physical identities.

The license plate may seem like an obvious public identifier, but to those with higher profiles, their license plate number is not exactly information they want to be part of the public domain. For others, their license plate will be a welcome natural identifier to help bridge the gap between their online persona and offline life.

Right now Bump is available as a website and mobile web app, but the company has plans to release an app for iPhone(), Android() and BlackBerry() in the near future. Bump is still in private beta, but 250 Mashable() readers can start using the service today. Simply enter the invite code “mashable” during the registration process.

Bump has raised $1 million in Series A funding and recently appeared at DEMO in Silicon Valley. The startup is in the process of raising a Series B round that will likely reach $8 million. The startup also recently acquired Platester, a license plate messaging platform, for an undisclosed sum.

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/09/23/bump-license-plate-messaging/

Earlier this week we announced the future release of AutoCAD WS Mobile app for the iPhone and iPad. This is part of the official Project Butterfly product release coming this fall. We got massive response over at Twitter, Facebook and our blog, as well as mainstream media and news coverage. We’d like to share some of that with you:

Carl Bass demoing AutoCAD WS Mobile on an iPad

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Here’s a segment that aired on CNBC, covering the announcement of AutoCAD WS mobile:

AutoCAD WS coverage on CNBC

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Here are some more news highlights:

“Autodesk on Tuesday also embraced Apple’s other popular products by introducing the AutoCAD WS mobile application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. The software makes it possible to edit and share AutoCAD designs in the field. AutoCAD is 3D design software for engineering.” -Information Week

“The AutoCAD app is a perfect example of capitalizing on the strengths of the iPad as a mobile computing platform without expecting it to fit into a pre-conceived box defined by notebooks and netbooks.” -PCWorld

“On top of a Mac version, Autodesk is doing the whole 360 by releasing an iOS version to go along with it. The Universal (iPad, iPod touch, iPhone) app allows you to edit and share your funky pro-design work on the go.” -9To5Mac

Stay tuned, more to come!

Source: http://butterfly.autodesk.com/blog

As we’re putting the final touches on AutoCAD WS Mobile, we’re also working on another project: a new office for Autodesk Israel, the same group in charge of bringing you Project Butterfly and AutoCAD WS mobile. 

Early on in the project we decided to use Project Butterfly for sharing design data between team members and managing work on site. 

During the last few weeks we’ve been using the mobile app intensively on the job site. Although it was a first for our architects and project managers, who have never used (or even held) an iPad before, they quickly became very comfortable with the app and the device. 

Our architects and project managers from BA Studio with AutoCAD WS Mobile 

We used the mobile app on site to: 

• Measure parts in the plan and elevations and compare them with built elements.
• Markup and document areas in the plan where design decision needed to be made.
• Accurately draw the positions where we  would place lighting fixtures.

Sr. Product Manager Iris Shoor comparing a built element with the design 

Since AutoCAD WS mobile is a connected app, there was no need to send everybody updated plans – they already had them in their Project Butterfly accounts, which was pretty cool! 

AutoCAD WS mobile on the job site 

How do you think you’ll be using AutoCAD WS mobile?  let us know in the comments section.

Source:  http://butterfly.autodesk.com/blog

photo by Brandon King/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license Historically speaking, rum’s been implicated in some dastardly things – brutal hangovers, not to mention slavery.

 Rum tariffs have also had serious policy implications – like the American Revolution. Wayne Curtis’s excellent book And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails describes how the Sugar Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1764 to raise revenues for the protection of the colonies, led to the Revolution, quite probably: The Sugar Act led to molasses – and therefore rum, a favorite beverage among residents of the colonies – being harder to come by in the New World. Rum being harder to come by in the New World led to rebellion. Rebellion of course led to revolt, which led to the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere is said to have fortified himself with rum on the night of his most famous ride.

 Now Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are engaged in their own skirmish over rum tariffs, which could have pressing policy and taste implications.

 Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands – both U.S. territories, neither paying U.S. income taxes – are the beneficiaries of a rum excise tax “cover-over,” under which all excise taxes collected on rum imported into the mainland United States are remitted back to these territories.

 Where the rum comes from makes a difference as to how much each territory collects. While taxes on rums coming from most parts of the world are shared between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, taxes on rums coming from Puerto Rico are returned only to Puerto Rico; taxes on rums coming from the Virgin Islands are returned only to the Virgin Islands.

 Puerto Rico, which began receiving cover-over money in 1917, now has four rum-makers, including Captain Morgan and Bacardi, the world’s two biggest rums; the Congressional Budget Office reports that Puerto Rico received over $371 million in cover-over money in 2008. The Virgin Islands, which was included in the cover-over starting in 1954, has just one distillery for now; cover-over remittances brought the Virgin Islands about $100 million in 2008.

See full article here: http://outofthestormnews.com/?p=1279

MONGA: Mysterious body temperature, not high enough to be considered fever, but serious enough to miss school and work. Illness is unknown by the American Medical Association and only understood by doctors of Puerto Rican origin.

PATATU: Attack of obscure origin that can strike at any time. Could be serious enough to require hospitalization, yet is undetected by medical technology. Victims tend to be males and females over the age of 50 years.

SERENO: Occurs when someone steps outdoors suddenly at night and is sprinkled by a mysterious substance produced by the night air. There are no physical symptoms and it can only be detected by the Puerto Rican elderly. The effect of having this disease is unknown. Children must not be taken out at night without proper headgear or risk of contamination is certain.

EMPACHE: Digestive disorder which occurs after the consumption of a large Puerto Rican meal. (alka seltzer is completely ineffective)

CUERPO COLTAO: Frequent and mild condition of unknown etiology. Symptoms include but are not limited to fatigue, lack of energy and chronic whining.

MOÑO PARAO: Psychological imbalance of short duration that causes strange mood swings, violent irritating behavior as well as general unpleasantness.

COCOTAZO: also referred to as the ‘Fuacate’.. The crippling effect from a closed fist with the middle finger slightly raised above the others….then comes the quick snap of the wrist. Usually landing on the top of victims head…..(a favorite of fathers and grandfathers).

CHICHON: Elevated cranial protrusion usually caused by the fall after a ‘Patatu’. Can also be caused by the sudden or unexpected encounter of the ‘cocotazo’. If you have not encountered or witnessed these disorders, then you are not a typical Puerto Rican…