What is the difference between success…and happiness? MYnd Map MY Journal

What is the difference between success & happiness? MYnd Map MY Journal Click To Tweet

Rosemary Ikpeme’s MYnd Map MY Journal is a must-have 90-day creative roadmap for those who are looking to lead a productive and successful life.  The journal was launched on Kickstarter in early April 2017.

Rosemary Ikpeme is an entrepreneur determined to motivate individuals to do their best.  She found that outwardly, her life looked great. She had a good job, and she seemed to be doing well.  But in reality, her life was a mess.  It was overwhelming, out-of-control, and it left her feeling alone.

She felt as if she didn’t know how, or where to start.

She began by reading TONS of books, attending events, seminars, and retreats.  She listened to countless podcasts, watched Youtube videos. She followed and studied inspiring teachings of successful icons, athletes, and world-class performers.

She then analyzed what she’d learnt about their rituals, or techniques, and the science behind them.

She broke it down to two basic questions:

How did these people find their purpose?

How did they create a life they love?

From what she’d learn, she implemented these techniques into her daily routine and within weeks, her mind-set changed, and her thoughts were clear and focused.  She was setting bigger goals and breaking them down into actionable steps. She felt in control and more confident. She was happy, but most of all she was excited about her life.

She then applied these techniques in her journal MYnd Map.   “Every individual wants to know how to improve productivity and focus.” Rosemary explains that this is exactly what MYnd Map is all about, as it will help people change and readjust their mindsets which pose limitations and hold them back.

It is a daily routine that not only vastly improves your career, business, and financial goals, but also helps you to reconnect with yourself, your passion, goals, dreams, family and friends. Especially in the fast-paced life we lead.

MYnd Map, MY Journal focuses on *6 KEY THEMES* to help you highlight and reflect on the areas in your life that are important and often neglected. It’s a visual overview of your overall life satisfaction, and will enable you to take a step back and reflect on the different areas in your life. You’ll gain insights as to what areas you are feeling happy with, and discover who you’ll need to focus most on to help you find peace and balance.

The journal carries a number of extremely important techniques that can help people to stay focused. MYnd Map talks about the importance of Journaling, the 80/20 Rule, as well as all kinds of other tips and ideas on breaking through the feeling of being “helpless”, or “stuck” in life.

In the words of Rosemary, “The key to achieving your dreams and having a successful life, is to maintain harmony and balance.” As such, these are the core elements that the journal is focused around.

“Once this is sorted, the journey is less hard work – and far more fun”

Contact Information:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/myndmap

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MYndMapJournal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MYndMap

Website: Myndmap.co

For more information, check out Rosemary Ikpeme’s featured interview on Virgin Startup.

Here’s a review of the journal (Youtube clip) by NayaReadsandSmiles.

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U2AF65 can be an essential splicing element that promotes binding of

U2AF65 can be an essential splicing element that promotes binding of U2 small nuclear (sn)RNP in the pre-mRNA branchpoint. that speckles represent storage ICG-001 sites for inactive splicing factors. After adenovirus illness, U2AF65 redistributes from your speckles and is prefferentially recognized at sites of viral transcription. By combining adenoviral illness with transient manifestation of deletion mutants, we display a specific requirement of the RS website for recruitment of U2AF65 to sites of active splicing in the nucleus. This suggests that interactions involving the RS region of U2AF65 may play an important role in focusing on this protein to spliceosomes in vivo. The splicing of intronic sequences from pre-mRNA happens within a multicomponent RNACprotein complex called the spliceosome (for review observe Moore et al., 1993). The major subunits of the spliceosome are the U1, U2, U4/U6, and U5 small nuclear (sn)1 RNPs (for review observe Baserga and Steitz, 1993). In addition, spliceosomes contain a group of non-snRNP protein splicing factors, several of which have been purified and cloned (for review observe Kr?mer, 1996). In mammalian cells, the best characterized are U2AF (U2 snRNP auxiliary splicing element), ASF/SF2 (option splicing element/splicing aspect 2), and SC-35 (35-kD spliceosomal element). Sequence evaluation revealed these three elements have got a common simple structure that may be split into two Rabbit polyclonal to Albumin useful subdomains: a consensus type RNA binding domains and an area of arginine/serine (RS) repeats. The RNA-binding domains consists of a number of RNP consensus motifs (RNP-CS) that are necessary for high affinity and sequence-specific binding from the proteins to ICG-001 RNA (Burd and Dreyfuss, 1994). The RS theme includes either an continuous stretch out of arginine/serine dipeptides or a far more dispersed RS-rich area (for review find Lamm and Lamond, 1993). Oddly enough, an individual monoclonal antibody reacts using a grouped category of at least six RS-rich splicing protein, including ASF/SF2 and SC-35 (Zahler et al., 1992). The associates of this family members are commonly known as SR proteins splicing elements and are extremely conserved between and human beings (Mayeda et al., 1992; Zahler et al., 1992). These protein have been been shown to be necessary for spliceosome set up as well for the first step from the splicing response, and newer evidence indicates they are also implicated in splice site selection and governed choice splicing (Wu and Maniatis, 1993; Kohtz et al., 1994). U2AF can be an important splicing factor necessary for binding of U2 snRNP towards the pre-mRNA branch stage (Ruskin et al., 1988; Green and Zamore, 1989). It really is made up of two subunits, U2AF65 and U2AF35 (Zamore et al., ICG-001 1992; Zhang et al., 1992). As the 65-kD subunit by itself is enough to reconstitute the in vitro splicing activity of nuclear components that have been depleted of U2AF by chromatography on poly (U) Sepharose (Zamore and Green, 1991; Zamore et al., 1992; Valcrcel et al., 1993, 1996), a requirement for U2AF35 ICG-001 has been recorded genetically (Rudner et al., 1996) and biochemically using immunodepleted components (Zuo and Maniatis, 1996). The RNA binding website of U2AF65 consists of three RNP consensus sequence motifs that specifically bind to the polypyrimidine tract ICG-001 adjacent to the 3 splice site (Zamore et al., 1992; Valcrcel et al., 1993; Singh et al., 1995). The RS website is located in the NH2-terminus of the protein and promotes the annealing of U2 snRNA to the pre-mRNA branchpoint (Valcrcel et al., 1996). Although much is known about the biochemical details of splicing in vitro, the organization of RNA processing in the cell nucleus is only starting to be recognized. Localization studies have shown that proteins involved in premRNA maturation tend to become heterogenously distributed in the nucleus, suggesting that the processing reactions might be compartmentalized in vivo (Carter et al., 1993). Early electron microscopic studies possess clearly founded that RNACprotein complexes in the.

The consequences of five polybrominated diphenol ethers from a Marine Sponge

Meeting and Workshop on Apoptosis and Disease binds to apoptotic

Meeting and Workshop on Apoptosis and Disease binds to apoptotic protease-activating aspect 1 (Apaf1) which in the current presence of dATP leads to the forming of the Apaf1-caspase 9 ‘apoptosome’ organic and in the activation from the caspase cascade (Fig 1). membrane referred to as the mitochondrial permeability changeover pore (MPTP). The starting of these skin pores uncouples mitochondria which stops them from offering energy for the cell and network marketing leads to necrotic cell loss of Vismodegib life. MPTP starting is certainly essential in the problems for the center and human brain that comes after an ischaemic event like a coronary attack or heart stroke. A Significantly. Halestrap (Bristol UK) and co-workers have now proven that agencies that inhibit pore starting can protect hearts and brains from ischaemia/reperfusion damage (Halestrap from mitochondria is essential for stress-induced caspase Vismodegib activation various other pro-apoptotic proteins such as for example apoptosis-inducing aspect (AIF) Smac/DIABLO and Omi/HtrA2 may also be released in the intermembrane space in response for an apoptotic stimulus. One system where these protein are released may be through the starting from the MPTP: this causes mitochondrial bloating rupture from the external membrane and non-specific discharge of intermembrane protein. However MPTP starting should be transient for apoptosis that occurs otherwise ATP will be depleted NUPR1 and cells would expire by necrosis despite the fact that caspase activation and various other early adjustments that are quality of apoptosis took place. Therefore based on the severity from the cell insult Halestrap suggested that mitochondria could determine not merely whether a cell should expire but also the type of that loss of life. In most circumstances apoptosis is certainly coordinated by caspases which dismantle the cell by concentrating on many proteins for limited proteolysis (Fig 1). The mammalian caspase family members contains 13 associates a subset which take part in apoptosis whereas the rest are probably mixed up in digesting of pro-inflammatory cytokines. S. Martin (Dublin Ireland) talked about the hierarchical character from Vismodegib the caspase activation cascade that’s triggered by mobile tension (‘intrinsic’ pathway; Fig 1). Martin’s group show that Apaf1 caspase 9 caspase 3 as well as the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) will be the primary constituents from the indigenous ‘apoptosome’ which cytochrome isn’t stably from the energetic complex (Hill discharge and activation from the apoptosome (Melino and during apoptosis. Considerably transfection from the Mcl1 cleavage item that accumulates during apoptosis was enough to eliminate cells (Michels and figured epithelial cell change often couples using a lack of the capability to go through turnover by designed mechanisms. This way impaired capability for ‘loss of life’ plays a part in mass enlargement of proliferation-prone tumour cells. In comparison T. Cotter (Cork Ireland) defined both and types of cell loss of life in the attention being a model Vismodegib for disease and advancement. Apoptosis may be the setting of cell loss of life in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) which really is a band of retinal degenerative disorders that mainly affect photoreceptors. The photoreceptor cell series 661W undergoes caspase-dependent apoptosis in response to serum or staurosporine starvation. Both inducers of apoptosis resulted in activation of caspases 3 and 9 but serum deprivation also resulted in activation of caspase 12 and calpain which implies the involvement from the endoplasmic reticulum tension pathway. In comparison types of photoreceptor cell loss of life and retinal degeneration demonstrated that lack of photoreceptors is certainly in addition to the activation of caspases 9 8 7 3 and 2. DNA fragmentation takes place in the lack of inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase (ICAD) proteolysis which implies that an choice endonuclease is in charge of DNA Vismodegib cleavage in these versions. Significantly this combined group showed that apoptosome activation is prevented due to an lack of mitochondrial cytochrome release. Cotter recommended that having less caspase activation may potentially be considered a physiological procedure to safeguard post-mitotic cells from apoptosis (Doonan et al 2003 J. Uney (Bristol UK) also centered on apoptosis in post-mitotic cells in his case neuronal cells and demonstrated that heatshock proteins 70 (Hsp70) facilitated by Hsp40 can protect neurons from ischaemic tension. The protective ramifications of Hsp70 have already been related to its capability to generally.

Platelets derive from the fragments that are formed through the cytoplasm

Platelets derive from the fragments that are formed through the cytoplasm of bone tissue marrow megakaryocytes-small irregularly shaped anuclear cells. platelet count number and common variations close by chromosome 4p16.1 (p = 1.46 × 10-10 in the gene) 6 (p = 1.36 × 10-7 in the gene) and 12q24.12 (p = 1.11 × 10-15 in the gene). Our outcomes illustrate the worthiness of large-scale finding and a concentrate for several book research strategies. adaptor proteins 3 (also called can be a member from the APS category of adaptor proteins TEI-6720 which play a pivotal part as wide inhibitors of development elements and cytokine signaling pathways. The next SNP rs3733606 (MAF = 0.50 mixed p = 1.46 × 10-10) (Desk 2 Fig. 3A) in 4p16 is within the 3′ UTR from the gene which translates the functionally unfamiliar hypothetical proteins on chromosome 4 (A) on chromosome 12 (B) and on chromosome 6 (C). In the very best -panel the association indicators scaled by … Desk 2 Variations that associate with variant in platelet matters Dialogue We performed a GWAS of platelet count number using 352 225 SNPs profiled using the Affymetrix Genome-Wide human being SNP array 5.0 in 8 842 people from the Ansan and Anseong cohorts while described previously [13]. Inside a two-stage style (8 842 finding and 7 861 replication examples) we verified three loci connected with platelet count number at a genomewide significance level (< 1.0 × 10-7). Besides an unfamiliar practical gene we discovered two applicant genes and area are popular as variants connected with blood circulation pressure myocardial infarction type 1 diabetes and celiac disease [20]. can be a putative solid applicant gene accounting for amounts of platelets. This SNP is situated in the 4th intron in (Bcl2-antagonist/killer1) which encodes a proteins acting as a solid proapoptotic effector that's recognized to control platelet life-span [25]. The intrinsic equipment for apoptosis regulates the entire life time of anucleate platelets [25]. does not have any known natural function no clue to get a related natural pathway. Provided the weakened linkage disequilibrium stop around and in Western ancestry had been also significant in platelet count number and suggest platelet quantity respectively. Several earlier studies possess proven the association between platelet counts and different phenotypes in mice and human being [27]. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Community (ARIC) research shows that platelet matters are favorably correlated with leukocytes [28]. Turakhia et al. [29] also reported the association between higher platelet matters and residual thrombus after fibrinolytic therapy which is within agreement using the ARIC research. The evidence of the romantic relationship between platelet count number and insulin level of resistance in nonobese type 2 diabetics was reported from a report STO on Japanese [30]. The amount of platelets can be a feasible predictor of the chance of loss of life and coronary disease [31]. To conclude we determined and validated common variants at 1 book locus and KIAA0232 in charge of the variant of platelet matters in population-based cohorts. Our study demonstrates the outcomes TEI-6720 from a meta-analysis and follow-up genotyping TEI-6720 to get positive proof for the association of 3 loci with platelet matters. In addition good mapping and practical studies for the found out loci can help us understand the TEI-6720 concealed physiological mechanisms root platelet count number. Acknowledgments This function was backed by grants through the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance (4845-301) and an intramural grant through the Korea Country wide Institute of Wellness (2012-N73002-00). Footnotes That is 2014 KOGO greatest paper.

Background The calpains are intracellular cysteine proteases that function in a

Background The calpains are intracellular cysteine proteases that function in a variety of important cellular functions including signalling motility apoptosis and survival. cohort of early stage breast cancer patients (n?=?783) using immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray. Patients experienced long-term follow-up information available for analysis. Results Low expression of calpain-9 was associated with patients over 40?years of age ([12]; however this study clearly demonstrates that calpain-9 is usually expressed in invasive breast malignancy and is not expressed solely in a digestive tract specific manner. Low expression of calpain-9 was associated with patients over 40?years smaller tumour size and stage favourable NPI values and ER positive tumours. The calpain system in general has been implicated in tumour progression including altering cellular migration survival and apoptosis; and expression of calpain-1 calpain-2 and calpastatin have been shown to be important in breast malignancy [2 3 18 High calpain-2 expression in breast malignancy is usually associated with poor survival in patients with triple unfavorable or basal-like phenotype tumours; and high expression of calpain-1 can predict response following adjuvant trastuzumab therapy [2 3 In addition to breast malignancy expression of the calpain family has been explained in a number of solid tumour types [4-6]. Whilst the current study measured the expression of calpain-9 it cannot predict Maraviroc the activity of the enzyme; therefore no conclusions about the effect of calpain-9 activity can be made as a result of this research. Expression of calpain-9 was significantly associated with overall disease-specific survival in those patients with CYSLTR2 an intermediate NPI value whereas it was not associated with survival in those patients with good or poor NPI values. Calpain-9 expression remained significant for overall survival in patients with an intermediate NPI value even when potential confounding factors were included in the analysis. The NPI functions to stratify patients’ risk of 5?12 months recurrence and is used in decision making regarding chemotherapy. It is calculated from the size of the index lesion the number of positive lymph nodes and tumour grade. Patients with a high NPI are offered chemotherapy but it is usually often difficult to determine the best course of action for those with an intermediate NPI. Often in these cases decisions are based on the presence of other high risk features such as patient age tumour grade nodal involvement and vascular invasion. Our Maraviroc results show patients with Maraviroc an intermediate NPI experienced a significantly worse disease-specific survival if their tumours experienced low expression of calpain-9 which could be potentially examined in these patients to aid decision making on systemic treatment. Furthermore low expression of calpain-9 was associated with adverse disease-specific survival in those patients that received endocrine therapy. Expression of calpain-9 remained significant for disease-specific survival in this sub group of patients even when potential confounding factors were included in the analysis. There was no association between expression of calpain-9 and disease-specific survival in ER positive patients or patients with basal-like disease. Endocrine therapy is usually often offered to patients with ER positive disease perceived to have low risk disease on traditional clinicopathological features Maraviroc such as tumour stage and grade NPI and nodal status. Most tumours that in the beginning respond to endocrine therapies can acquire resistance which is a major obstacle for the successful management of ER positive tumours. Interestingly although tumours become resistant to endocrine therapy they can still maintain ER expression (examined in [19]). The expression of calpain family members has been implicated in ER signalling. An increase in calpain activity has been shown following treatment with 17β-oestradiol but also in ER positive tumours [8 9 You will find limited direct reports of ER modulating calpain-9 expression or activity. In lacrimal glands from mice which were treated with 17β-oestradiol and/or progesterone to determine differentially expressed mRNAs was shown to be down regulated [20]. Calpain-8 has been shown Maraviroc to be stimulated by 17β-oestradiol in the.

Renal artery stenting continues to be established as the principal type

Renal artery stenting continues to be established as the principal type of renal artery stenosis revascularization procedure. the aortic wall structure at the same time it permits a closer connection with the renal arterial ostium and a far more advantageous guiding catheter orientation in comparison to what is attained by using the greater rigid 0.035′′?J cable so improving visualization lowering the quantity of comparison required and potentially decreasing problems. 1 Launch Renal artery stenting continues to be used for the treating renal artery stenosis widely. The BII technical areas of stenting possess improved BIBR 1532 during the last years and procedural basic safety is regarded as of paramount importance. Two intrusive techniques are suggested to avoid renal artery damage and atheroembolism during renal artery stenting [1]: the catheter-in-catheter as well as the so-called no-touch technique. The no-touch technique [2] runs on the 0.035″?J cable in the guiding catheter to BIBR 1532 lift the end from the aortic wall structure. BIBR 1532 Using the 0.035″ wire set up the guiding catheter is normally aligned using the renal artery and a 0.014″ guidewire can be used to cross the stenosis. The 0.035″ cable is normally taken out and the guiding catheter is normally advanced more than the 0 then.014″ cable to activate the renal artery. We survey a modification from the no-touch technique through the use of an over-the-wire (OTW) balloon or a Quickcross 0.014″ catheter (Spectranetics) using a 0.014″ coronary cable instead of the rigid 0 inside.035″?J cable. 2 Case 1 A 67-year-old female with uncontrolled serious hypertension despite therapy peripheral BIBR 1532 arterial disease (PAD) and still left ventricular hypertrophy BIBR 1532 was identified as having best renal artery stenosis and known for renal angiography. An stomach aortogram confirmed the current presence of significant correct renal artery stenosis. Renal percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) was after that performed. The procedural techniques were the following. A 6F inner mammary artery (IMA) guiding catheter (Launcher Medtronic) was presented and was positioned at the amount of the proper renal artery but directed away of the proper renal artery ostium without coming in contact with the aortic wall structure. A 0.014″ Stability (Abbott) coronary cable within a 0.014″ Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) was introduced in the 6F guiding catheter with the end from the cable protruding about one inches beyond your Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) and was advanced outdoors and above the end from the guiding catheter to the more proximal stomach aorta (in an increased level compared to the ostium from the renal artery). With the total amount cable (Abbott) and Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) protruding about two in . beyond your guiding catheter the guiding catheter was manipulated and focused to the ostium of the proper renal artery (Amount 1). The guiding catheter was cleared of bloodstream and possible particles. Amount 1 The ostium of the proper renal artery was discovered by injecting little puffs of comparison without direct get in touch with from the angulated suggestion from the IMA guiding catheter using the aortic wall structure. While before the ostium and even though the guiding catheter had not been engaged not coming in contact with the ostium from the artery selective angiography of the proper renal artery was performed disclosing 85% stenosis (Amount 2). Amount 2 Subsequently initial the Balance cable (Abbott) was retracted in the Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) safeguarding the tip from the cable and second the Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) was retracted gradually in the IMA guiding catheter enabling the soft cannulation of the proper renal artery ostium. By doing so scraping from the aortic plaque in the guiding catheter manipulations during renal artery ostium cannulation was minimal. Then your Balance cable (Abbott) was advanced over the lesion in to the distal renal artery. THE TOTAL AMOUNT cable (Abbott) was exchanged through the Quickcross catheter (Spectranetics) for the Stabiliser Plus 0.014″ cable (Cordis) as well as the lesion was predilated using a 3.5 × 12?mm Trek RX balloon (Abbott). A 5.0 × 15?mm Herculink Top notch RX stent (Abbott) was after that deployed over the lesion and flaring postdilatation performed using the stent balloon. Following angiography revealed optimum stent deployment and lack of peripheral embolization dissection or perforation (Amount 3). Amount 3 Three times after the method the individual experienced generalized allergy related to clopidogrel and prasugrel BIBR 1532 was began instead. Repeat blood circulation pressure in the office was just mildly elevated even though the patient acquired stopped acquiring the recommended antihypertensive medicines. 3 Case 2 An.


Turkey: III

Enjoy shots from Pamukkale, Kayakoy, and our sailing trip along the Turquoise Coast!

the sleeping giant

{The Turquoise Coast}

In Pamukkale we visited the World Heritage site where there are thermal pools and travertines. There is also a necropolis of the city that is basically still buried under the hills. An amazing roman era theatre has been excavated and gave us all chills as you can see where the gladiators and lions were let loose from under the stage. Also, the sheer size and magnitude of the theatre was incredible. We swam in a hot springs pool that, in it’s original grandeur, Cleopatra swam in! Hey if Cleo had to try it you know the Duchess did…

Kayakoy is the ghost town that was home to Greeks before the great Greek-Turkish population exchange. After those Greek living in Turkey were forced to emigrate the town was left to decay. The culture of the Turkish people is that it is bad luck to live in someone’s house where there has been bad karma (so to speak). We also hiked the Lycian trail, which was both lovely and an intense workout. It was also a historical geek fest for me. I mean the LYCIAN TRAIL!

Sailing along the Turquoise Coast was quite possibly the most fun part of our trip! Living for two days on a boat, sailing up and down the mix of the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, sleeping on the deck looking up at millions of stars, stopping to see an ancient roman castle, and swimming every day (following sea turtles!!!!!!!!), I mean rough life right?

Make sure to check out the other Turkey posts here and here


Re: Leont'ev-Vygotsky controversy

From: Bill Barowy (
Date: Wed Feb 18 2004 - 04:35:42 PST

On Tuesday 17 February 2004 11:07 pm, Ana Marjanovic-Shane also wrote:

> ... But, in fact, language is not a finished and ready made
> artifact, but [in using it, one engages in] a dynamic system of activity.

My mod in brackets. Consider speaking a language. This might fit Engestrom's
extended triangle better than meaning making -- the latter being more
idiosyncratic than the former. Then "rules" are the rules of the language --
grammar, phonetics, etc. Div of labor maps to such things as turn-taking,
i.e. IR(E) blocks, with (in education) a lecture having a different Div Labor
than Teacher-led discussion, and different also from inquiry discourse.
Artifacts include ephemeral utterances. Any spoken language has cultural and
historical elements -- even for example Northestern and Southeastern US
accents have their own developmental paths.

There are issues in thinking this way. Subjects end up in participating
simultaneously in more than one activity, for example when one says one thing
and does another -- but then lies and scams can be considered tertiary
contradictions. ONe encounters huge contradictions trying to introduce
inquiry forms into a traditionally IRE classroom.

Anyway, just an early morning raw reaction. "activity" is a useful and often
necessary concept for understanding what people do, and there is amazing
explanatory power to the parsing Engestrom has made. But then I'm sure
you're not advocating raising extended triangles above question.


Boundaries and Silences in a Post-Feminist Sociology.

Becker, Penny Edgell. “Boundaries and Silences in a Post-Feminist Sociology.” Sociology of Religion 2000, 61:4 399-408.

Through anecdotal narration, Penny Edgell Becker recounts her journey within the academic context of how sociology of religion has responded to issues of feminism. Becker argues that feminism as an analytical device within sociology of religion is largely underrated by the predominantly post-feminist framework in the current practice of sociology. Becker identifies “silences” in the sociological literature on family and religion that considers both of these institutions as “private”. However, the “private” in these institutions is also political, argues Becker and this is a feminist insight in her view; so also is the view of family itself as a public institution. Becker proposes to leverage feminist insights to engage with a constructive critique of how post-feminist perspective neatly divides society into public and private realms, and systematically devalues feminine aspects such as religion and family into the private realm.


Sunday, October 4, 2009

Southeast Asian Courts: "To Be Free, or Not to Be?"

I have been reading Dr. Maung Maung's book Burma's Constitution, which focuses on Burma's activist Supreme Court during the late 1940s and 1950s. It reminded me of an odd trend in Southeast Asia: courts in democracies tend to exercise strong judicial review and promote progressive constitutional norms, whereas courts in authoritarian regimes rarely challenge the executive.

At first glance, this might seem obvious. So why is this so surprising?
First of all, not all courts in democratic countries are equal. A wide range of institutional variables influences judicial review by constitutional courts in Asian democracies.  In Judicial Review in New Democracies, Tom Ginsburg finds a correlation between transitioning countries with dominant political parties and weak courts. Constitutional drafters can make courts more accountable to the government by shortening the justice's terms; restricting the court's jurisdiction; decreasing the size of the court; and making funding dependent upon other branches of government. As such, if a dominant political party drafts the constitution, it is more likely to design a weak court that it can later manipulate. On the other hand, a party that expects to to lose power at some point in the future would design a stronger court to protect it while out of power.

On the other hand, not all courts in authoritarian countries acquiesce to a marginalized role. In some regimes, courts play an important role buttressing the prevailing elites. For example the Iranian judiciary has at times actively supported the theocracy and undermined the legislative and executive branches when the latter were controlled by reformists. Some courts, such as Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court, have even challenged authoritarian leaders and assisted liberal democrats. Constitutional law scholars have only recently turned their attention to courts in authoritarian regimes, although Tom Ginsburg and Tamir Moustafa's Rule by Law is a great start.

So, where does that leave Southeast Asia?

Constitutional courts in democratic Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, as well as Burma during the 1950s, all exercise judicial review actively to strike down laws and executive acts. Philippa Venning argues that both the Indonesian and Philippine courts exercise "strong-form" review. Tom Ginsburg characterizes the Thai court as an important veto player. Reading about the Burmese Supreme Court, I've been struck at how justices played such an important role in Burmese politics, from striking down administrative acts to forming political parties. None of these courts would rank as the strongest possible according to constitutional design theory since they generally either have term or age limits for justices, but they nonetheless have tended to flaunt their power. None of the constitutional courts in the democratic countries have played a minor role or exercised judicial modesty.

All of the constitutional courts under authoritarian governments have submitted to government authority and none play a major political role. Courts in Communist Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have almost never challenged the dominant party-state. Likewise for the Supreme Courts in Indonesia and the Philippines during the Suharto and Marcos eras. As we saw recently, Burma's courts assisted the military in prosecuting political dissidents, including Aung San Suu Kyi. With a few exceptions, these courts have not issued shocking verdicts against the executive (I don't count the Philippine Supreme Court's decision to certify the 1986 election, since by that point Marcos was effectively on his way out). In fact, judges in these countries haven't received respect as elite figures or key political players (Sebastiaan Pompe tells some revealing anecdotes of the utter contempt with which Sukarno held judges). This isn't the result of "weak" civil law courts (as some scholars have argued). I suspect a combination of totalitarian party dominance in the mainland dictatorships and bribery in the insular patrimonial regimes has led to such weak courts when authoritarian governments reign. However, there simply haven't been enough comparative studies to make any firm conclusions.

I haven't mentioned Singapore or Malaysia yet because they stand midway between democratic and authoritarian - controlled by a dominant party, but also allowing at the exercise (if not substance) of democracy and civil liberties. Likewise, courts in both countries have a reputation of fairness when dealing with private rights and commercial cases, but have stifled political or public interest cases. Of course, Singapore's courts have a stellar reputation among the business community, but also vigorously enforce the country's libel laws. These courts seem to fall midway along the spectrum of judicial review, enforcing some private rights but refusing to interpret the constitution against political elites.

[As for Brunei, I honestly haven't followed Brunei's courts well enough to comment, but have heard nothing contradicting this post.]

I don't know if anybody has explored this topic. It might make a great Political Science Ph.D. thesis. It does seem interesting that courts in the region tend to fall into such extremes.

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< Back To Fr. Kevin's Blog

Many years ago a presenter at a youth ministry workshop discussed the issue of excessive TV watching by youth. What has stayed with me all these years is his approach. He didn’t lament TV or the programing. Instead, he asked a great question, “If youth are spending all that time watching TV, what aren’t they doing?” Unstructured play topped his list of answers. He argued that watching all that TV prevented the youth from being outside which, in turn, meant that they didn’t have the opportunity to be creative in making up games nor playing team games without adult referees.

I’ve spent a few days last week at Walt Disney World and find myself asking that same question about cell phones. If teens and adults are spending so much time engaged with their phones, what aren’t they doing?

In my view, they’re not interacting with people. True, they may be interacting with people via the phone but that’s not at all the same as relating to a physical person currently with you. How many times do we see friends or family members walking or sitting next to each other, both on their phones, and acting as if no other person was with them? Yesterday, I watched two teenage boys – friends, I suspect – board a bus, pull out their phones, and not speak to one another. Even when they exited the bus both focused on their phones. Prior to smart phones that non-communication would have been limited to a situation where the boys were in the midst of a disagreement of some sort. Otherwise they would have, more likely, talked up a storm.

This lack of interacting extends beyond people to the environments we encounter. The Disney designers and engineers are noted for the extraordinary amount of detail put into the parks and individual rides. If one is attentive, all sorts of things can add to the experience. The Expedition Everest roller coaster ride in the Animal Kingdom Park is a good example. As you walk toward the ride everything within your vision helps to create the impression that you are in Nepal. Then the waiting line, through signs and displays, explains the story of the Forbidden Mountain and the Yeti that inhabits it. That background matters. Without it, the ride is just a roller coaster with the unusual twist of a section where the train of cars moves backwards through the dark. With the background story in your mind however, the images shown during the ride make sense. You are indeed, encountering the Yeti on the Forbidden Mountain.

I can’t help but think that, because of their smart phones, a large percentage of the riders experience Expedition Everest as just a roller coaster. As I waited in line I saw few people looking around and picking up the Yeti story. Most decided, I guess, that the line was just “gap time” – otherwise wasted time that could be put to better use.

And then there were those who interacted with their environment through their phone’s camera. I stood next to a woman who filmed a fireworks and light display with her camera. She wasn’t holding the phone and looking around it to enjoy the show. The recording process demanded her full attention and so she experienced a spectacular show via a tiny, two-dimensional screen. I understand wanting to capture, as Disney expresses it, memories. Looking at a photo or video later can call to mind the experience associated with it. But this woman never saw the real experience and so she captured exactly what she saw. There will be nothing bigger to bring to mind when she later watches what she filmed.

What are the consequences of all of this? A general statement isn’t possible since, in fairness, the answer depends in large part on what people are viewing on their phones. There are undoubtedly times – maybe many – when what’s on the phone does indeed outweigh what’s not. The two teens on the bus could well have been reading classical literature for their school summer reading program in which case they may have made excellent use of 20 minutes.

Perhaps we need to see this as a choice – an opportunity cost, as an economist would express it. I can engage my phone or engage people and the environment around me. Both aren’t possible. As Jesus expressed it, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (Mt. 6:24). Of course Jesus said this in regards to money but the spirit seems to hold for phones as well. Are people I’m with interrupting my phone or is my phone interrupting my interactions with those people?

I own a Windows phone in part because it won’t do that many things. Is it a limitation? Yes. On this vacation, for example, having access to the app that provides ride wait times would have been helpful. But, I have enough self-awareness to know that a state-of-the-art phone would be a real problem for me.

May I encourage some self-reflection on this? When you spend time on your phone, what aren’t you doing?


Treaty trader/investor visas (E visas)

This nonimmigrant visa category applies to individuals involved with businesses that are engaged in trade between the United States and a foreign state, or that represent a major investment in the United States. These individuals should pursue an E visa in order to remain in the United States for extended periods of time to oversee or run business operations here.

The E visa category was created to reciprocate similar visa categories of foreign countries with which the United States has trade treaties. Thus, a treaty that allows nonimmigrant entries by U.S. citizens must exist in a given foreign state in order for a citizen of that country to be eligible for the E visa.

There are two types of E visas. The E-1 visa permits an individual to conduct trade between the U.S. and the country of majority ownership of the company, while the E-2 allows the individual to oversee investments in the United States.

The E visa can be used by companies small and large, and can apply to a company’s principals or its employees, though there are additional rules and regulations concerning the functions an individual must perform in order to eligible for an E visa.

Further sources of information

Temporary workers (E-1 and E-2)


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Swedroe: Don’t Blame Lack Of Dispersion

December 14, 2015

A Simple Solution

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The Law Of Style Purity (Dunn’s Law)

Dunn’s law states that when an asset class does well, index funds in that asset class will outperform active managers also in the asset class because index funds have the “purest” (greatest) exposure to large stocks. In 2014, the best-performing asset class was large-cap stocks.

The S&P 500 Index returned 13.7%, the MSCI U.S. Mid Cap 450 Index returned 13.4% and the MSCI U.S. Small Cap 1750 Index returned 6.1%. However, when an asset class does poorly, active managers in that asset class then have a greater chance to outperform their benchmark index.

The logic is simple: Index funds generally achieve the greatest exposure to the relevant risk factor responsible for the vast majority of the returns. In other words, when large-cap stocks are the leading asset class, as they were in 2014, index funds will dramatically outperform large-cap active managers.

The reason is that active managers tend to style drift (for example, large-cap funds often own mid- and small-cap stocks, and small-cap funds often own mid- and large-caps). Thus, active managers tend to lose some of their exposure to both the “winning” and “losing” asset classes. Consider the following evidence.

In every year from 1995 through 1998, the S&P 500 Index outperformed the MSCI midcap and small-cap indexes, generally by wide margins. And in each of those years, the S&P 500 Index outperformed about 80% or more of active managers (about 94% for the entire period, even before taxes).

Furthermore, in each of those years, the dispersion of returns was greater than it was in 2014. In 1998, it was far greater, about twice as high a level of dispersion as was the case in 2014. So much for that theory on lower dispersions.

Note that the reverse is also true. During periods like 1977 through 1982, when small-caps outperformed large-caps by about 16% per annum, only in a single year did index funds outperform even 40% of active large-cap managers.

The reason is simple: Active large-cap managers tend to own smaller-cap stocks than those in the S&P 500 Index (as Mauboussin noted). Thus, they held some of the “outperformers,” unlike in 2014, when they held some of the “underperformers.”

In periods when the S&P 500 outperforms, you hear claims like, “It wasn’t a stock picker’s year.” Stock picking has virtually nothing to do with it. It’s all about asset allocation. Active managers appear to lose (or win) because they style drift. In periods when small-caps outperform the S&P 500, active managers claim victory for their stock-picking skills.

Again, stock picking likely had little or nothing to do with it. If it did, then the same managers would keep repeating their outperformance, but we see very little evidence of that occurring.

Thus, we can conclude that one likely explanation for the miserable performance of large-cap managers in 2014 was that large-caps were the best-performing asset class. Mauboussin himself provides us with another explanation—which also helps explain why the midcap and small-cap managers fared so poorly, though not as poorly as the large-cap managers. The explanation lies in what is known as the “paradox of skill.”

The Paradox of Skill

Charles Ellis, one of the most respected minds in the investment industry, wrote in a recent issue of Financial Analysts Journal, “Over the past 50 years, increasing numbers of highly talented young investment professionals have entered the competition. … They have more-advanced training than their predecessors, better analytical tools, and faster access to more information.”

And according to Ellis, the “unsurprising result” is that “the increasing efficiency of modern stock markets makes it harder to match them and much harder to beat them, particularly after covering costs and fees.”

The working hypothesis, then, should be that, as the level of competition increases, we should see a decline in the dispersion of excess returns. The graph below shows the rolling five-year average standard deviation of excess returns in U.S. large-cap mutual funds over the last five decades. You should expect to see wide dispersions when there are large differences in the level of skill. Mauboussin’s finding of declining dispersion in excess returns fits perfectly with Ellis’ view that the competition is getting tougher.

In our book, “The Incredible Shrinking Alpha,” my co-author, Andrew Berkin, and I present four major themes we believe are making active management an ever-more challenging task—the odds of outperforming are persistently declining.

The first is that, through academic research, what once were sources of alpha have been converted into beta, or exposure to a systematic factor (such as size, value, momentum or profitability/quality). That reduces the amount of alpha available to be harvested.

Second, given that alpha is a zero-sum game before expenses and a negative sum game after expenses, to generate alpha there, must be victims that can be exploited. Unfortunately, the pool of likely victims has been persistently shrinking. Seventy years ago, 90% of stocks were held directly by individual investors. Today that figure is about 20%. The pool of sheep waiting to be sheared has shrunk dramatically, reducing the pool of available alpha.

Third, as Ellis noted, the competition is getting tougher. And fourth, the amount of capital chasing alpha has expanded greatly at a time when the sources of alpha are disappearing. Sixty years ago, there were less than 100 mutual funds. Today we have about 8,000 of them chasing alpha. Sixty years ago, there were very few hedge funds. Today we have about 10,000, representing more than $2.5 trillion in assets, all competing to generate alpha.

Those four factors are why active management is becoming more and more of a loser’s game. Yes, it’s still possible to win, but the odds of doing so are collapsing. Twenty years ago, about 20% of actively managed funds were generating statistically significant alpha. Today that figure is down to about 2%. And that’s before taxes.

As sure as the sun rises in the east, at the end of every year, you will hear excuses from active managers about their previous performance and claims that next year will be one for stock pickers. Unfortunately, next year never comes.

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Olivia Stallworth

Fashion is about your style, it's about expressing your feelings through clothes. Check me out on insta as well so you don't miss a thing ❤


No, “Many Indians” aren’t interested in PV Sindhu’s caste

NewsMinute’s numbers are off. Way, way off.

After the Brexit vote results came out, several news agencies (as well as the “fake” newspeople Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Samantha Bee) focussed on the fact that people were asking google “What is the EU?” the day after voting ended. It turns out that the number of people searching “what is the EU?” was about 1000–i.e. essentially zero compared to the 35 million people who voted one way or another in the Brexit referendum.

I think something similar is happening with a recent story in India on PV Sindhu, India’s silver medallist in Badminton in the Rio Olympics. NewsMinute is running a story that google searches for PV Sindhu’s caste have spiked after she won her silver medal. This is true, and can be checked quite simply by using Google Trends. But, as in the Brexit case above, a spike means very little unless accompanied by absolute numbers.

Newsminute provides one graph on absolute numbers, showing that 150,000 people searched for PV Sindhu’s caste in June 2016. They claim that, based on the recent spike, millions of people are searching for PV Sindhu’s caste. If that number seems suspect to you–as it did me–that’s because it appears it is.

Here are my results from Google AdWords. First, the number of people who searched for “pv sindhu”, and “pv sindhu caste”:

There were about 15,000 searches a month for PV Sindhu, and 170 searches a month for her caste over the last six months. Where newsminute got their 150,000 searches from I do not know, but that number is clearly rubbish. About 1% of all searches for PV Sindhu asked for her caste. This ratio holds even with the recent–and bloody well earned–spike in interest in her, as you can see below. If we accepted the NewsMinute number of 150,000 searches for “pv sindhu caste”, it would mean, with a factor of 100 for the spike, and a factor of 100 between the two search terms, that there were 1.5 billion searches for “pv sindhu”. Bullshit. [Edit (11PM): I realised after I posted this that the 150,000 is per month, whereas the hundredfold spike may have been per day. That means that my figure of 1.5 billion may be wrong. If so, it would mean, however, that on the day of her silver-medal win, there were (150,000/30) * (100 * 100)  = 5 crore searches for PV Sindhu. Which brings me back to: ‘Bullshit’.]

Now, 1% in India is a lot of people, and NewsMinute could be forgiven for saying “many Indians” given that about 20,000 people have searched for her caste. But they have to explain why their numbers are so far off.


, ,

Blogs are a weirdly creepy, yet crazy awesome thing.  I love that I can read about real people and the real things they’re doing.  I love that these people write about the time they accidentally ate a sleeve of thin mints, or fell off a bike, or made the best apple pie ever.  Every day, my inbox gets filled with all sorts of updates from JoyTracyDavid, and Heidi.  I feel like we’re friends.  I know what’s on their kitchen counter, and where they got to visit last weekend.  They’ve taught me how to cook, and how to experiment with food, and what restaurants to hit if I’m ever in their city.  We go way back.  But the one who has made the biggest impact on my cooking/food dreams is Deb.   From the pea pesto that changed my whole look on frozen vegetables to the chocolate peanut butter cake I made for a friend that goes down in decadence history, I owe her a great deal of gratitude.  And when she came to Portland, I got to thank her.  And I don’t think she thought I was creepy at all.

Her book is what can happen when your dream becomes your career.  Wowzers.

I haven’t had a chance to really dive into her book, but her popcorn cookies caught my eye.  Popcorn in cookie form?  Sounds crazy enough to try.  I even got to pop the kernels on the stove.  No microwave needed.

I used coconut oil after my first batch had a funky flavor from the vegetable oil that had been sitting in the back of the cabinet for I don’t know how long.  I was a little nervous using it, but it worked really well, and gave the popcorn a really nice flavor without a coconut taste.

After cooking for years now, I have just a speck more confidence to try something different, and feel that there’s a good shot it will turn out the way I want it.  I’ve also learned to trust.  Trust that these popcorn things will turn to cookies.  I don’t need to double and triple check.

They made the transformation.

Thank you, Smitten Kitchen!

Popcorn Cookies

Adapted slightly from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

makes about 20 cookies

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 tablespoon melted butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

To make the popcorn: Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan with a lid until the oil melts.  Add the kernels, and cover, shaking the pan to make sure all the kernels are in contact with the bottom of the pan.  As soon as you hear the first few kernels pop, shimmy the pan until all of the kernels pop (5 minutes or so).  Remove from heat, add melted butter and salt, and transfer to bowl, keeping an eye for any unpopped kernels.

Dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until smooth.  Meanwhile, whisk flour and baking soda together.  Stir flour mixture into butter-sugar mixture, until combined.  Fold in popcorn, making sure to get dough well distributed.  It’s okay if the popcorn breaks as you’re mixing, and don’t worry about the lack of dough.  It all works out in the end.

Bake: Roll dough into mounds the size of a golf ball or slightly bigger.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, making sure to leave a 2 inch gap between cookies.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.  Let cool for a minute or so on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.


I recently saw A Separation, a film that recently won the Academy Award for best foreign film. I don’t review films on this blog, but it seemed to me to illustrate so well, what samsara is all about. Samsara is a complex concept, but my favourite explanation draws on its etymological root, the wheel. Samsara conceptualizes a constant turning of a wheel of suffering that spins you up and down. It’s a wholistic image that asks you to think about an entire integrated system of suffering rather than to focus on one episode or series of episodes.

Both the zen tradition I follow and the yoga sutras I’ve read pinpoint misperception as the radical source of the spinning of samsara. The idea here is to train your mind to see through your perceptions and dissolve them down. The thing about perceptions and attachments are, when we speak about them in the abstract, they can seem like such negative, or at best, incomplete but useful things. But what if your attachment, your way of seeing the world is more than simply useful? What if it is the foundation upon which you rest your own integrity?

The characters in A Separation are thrown into challenging life events, but the confluence of these events with each character’s own value system (which they cling to to varying degrees), amplifies their suffering and creates a samsaric, systemic vortex of dukha, each character a spoke in a churning wheel of tragedy. It’s difficult to describe without spoilers, but it is simply stunning and incredibly difficult to watch. In the words of my friend, “You feel such compassion for each character, but you’re also so angry at them at one point.”

The great thing about A Separation is that each character has freedom of choice, but their perceptions have made it such that they feel as if they have no choice, and each is compelled to make decisions that add greater velocity to the samsaric wheel of suffering that they create and share and are trapped in together. At various points in the film, there are exit points, ways to end the suffering, but in the end, no party is willing to give up what is basically their core set of values, be it personal pride, religious beliefs, parental love, insistence on the truth, etc. You can look at these things, the very things that make us human, and see how, if you were in a similar position, you might be willing to suffer and even to cause others to suffer, so that such things are not compromised. And as such, the wheel continues to spin against all of them…

The ending is bittersweet, but does, in my opinion, show a character who is able to make a choice. This choice will also cause suffering, but it is a different kind of suffering because it is one born of a conscious decision, and not one taken because one cannot even conceive of any other alternative.

I hope that my description hasn’t turned you off the film. Especially because this is a very narrow reading of the film which is also highly political. Highly recommended, and for me, this ties with Enter the Void for best film of 2011.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

John Maynard Keynes’s Early Years, 1883–1902: Some Trivia

I am currently re-reading some biographies of John Maynard Keynes (5 June 1883–21 April 1946): namely, D. E. Moggridge’s Maynard Keynes: An Economist’s Biography (London, 1992), and Robert Skidelsky’s John Maynard Keynes: Hopes Betrayed 1883–1920 (vol. 1; London, 1983). Both are the best biographies of Keynes available, and Skidelsky’s is the most detailed (it runs to 3 volumes).

I have written up some biographical details of interest below:
(1) The Keynes family might have been descended from a Norman called William de Cahaignes (c. 1035–?) who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. The Norman surname Cahaignes was derived either from the Late Latin casnus (“oak”) or from Latin catanus (“juniper bush”; Skidelsky 1983: 2). The young Keynes, while in his last years at Eton, did genealogical research on his family, and traced his dynastic origins to this Norman baron. According to Skidelsky (1983: 2), Keynes even constructed a family tree back to William de Cahaignes, but whether this was really true or merely wishful thinking is not clear (Skidelsky [1992: 3] refers to problems linking the 17th century Keyneses with the 18th century ones, like Richard Keynes [who died in 1720] from whom Maynard Keynes really was descended*).

(2) Keynes’s immediate ancestors came from Wiltshire: Keynes’s paternal grandfather was John Keynes (1805–1878) of Salisbury, a businessman who made his money in flower nurseries, and then banking and other business (Skidelsky 1983: 5). John Keynes’s second marriage was to Anna Maynard Neville, who was from an Essex farming family (Skidelsky 1983: 5). Their son was Keynes’s father, John Neville Keynes (31 August 1852–15 November 1949).

(3) Keynes’s mother was Florence Ada Brown (1861–1958). John Neville Keynes and Florence had three children:

(i) John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946)
(ii) Geoffrey Keynes (1887–1982)
(iii) Margaret Neville Keynes (1885–1974)

John Neville Keynes died at the age of 97, and actually outlived John Maynard Keynes. For a useful family tree, see here (at the end of the article). Amongst Keynes’s indirect descendants is the actor Skandar Keynes.

(4) John Neville Keynes was a conventional Liberal in politics. First, he was a supporter of the Liberal politician William Ewart Gladstone, but later opposed Gladstone’s first Home Rule Bill for Ireland (1886). Neville Keynes had become a Liberal Unionist by the 1890s (Skidelsky 1983: 56–57).

(5) John Maynard Keynes was born on 5 June 1883 at 6 Harvey Road in Cambridge, the family home. At the time, the British Empire was a superpower, and the Prime Minister in the year of Keynes’s birth was William Ewart Gladstone (in his second premiership from 1880–1885). It was the year after the British occupation of Egypt (1882), and the year before the 1884 Reform Act, which gave around six million the vote in British parliamentary elections.

(6) Keynes was known as Maynard Keynes or Keynes; his father used the name “Maynard,” and only his mother preferred the name John (the name of Keynes’s father), which she used in her correspondence until about 1901 (Moggridge 1992: 22; Skidelsky 1983: 1, n.).

(7) The young John Maynard Keynes lived at 6 Harvey Road in Cambridge. His father John Neville Keynes was an administrator at Cambridge University and held a lectureship in Moral Science from 1883 to 1911. In those days, economics was held to be a branch of the Moral Sciences, a term coined by John Stuart Mill in 1843, and used to describe history, law, economics (better known as Political Economy in the 19th century), psychology, anthropology and ethics. Economics was taught as part of the Moral Sciences Tripos at Cambridge, and it was not until 1903 under the initiative of Alfred Marshall that an independent Economics and Political Tripos (that is to say, a Bachelor’s Degree with honours) was established at Cambridge (Skidelsky 1983: 45).

(8) Keynes began playing golf with his father John Neville Keynes in the 1890s, but Maynard Keynes was terrible at golf, and C. R. Fay held Keynes to be amongst the “world’s worst players” (Moggridge 1992: 21).

(9) From the time when he was 6 years old, Maynard was convinced he was “remarkably ugly,” a felling which continued into adulthood (Skidelsky 1983: 45, 86). Skidelsky (1983: 45) speculates on the psychological implications of this: perhaps it caused him to be a rather more intellectual, “cerebral” child, and may have contributed to his periods of depression.

(10) Keynes had two German governesses in the 1890s, who, according to Skidelsky (1983: 55), gave him a “good grounding in German,” and might explain Keynes’s pro-German feelings later in life.

(11) the young Keynes excelled at mathematics (Moggridge 1992: 27), and this was the key to his success in the Eton College Scholarship Examinations he underwent in July 1897 (Moggridge 1992: 28). Keynes began his education at Eton in September 1897 (Skidelsky 1983: 74) when he was 14, as one of Eton’s “Collegers” (or King’s Scholars), as opposed to the “Oppidans,” fee-paying students, usually from wealthier or upper-class backgrounds. In July 1901, Keynes won the “Tomline,” an Eton mathematical prize, and in January 1901 was elected to the Eton “College Pop,” a debating society.

(12) Maynard thought of himself as firmly middle class, and some early opinions persisted later in life: aristocrats he found ridiculous and the proletariat boorish (Skidelsky 1983: 84–85); he dismissed religion, even refuting arguments for the existence of god held by his friends (Skidelsky 1983: 86). In 1899 while at Eton, on the 80th birthday of Queen Victoria, Keynes wrote a student essay called “Victorian Achievements.” In it, he evinces a somewhat poor view of workers and labour rights:
“It is very well to encourage a labourer to think for himself … but when his little knowledge leads to strikes, it must be admitted that it is a dangerous thing.” (quoted in Skidelsky 1983: 88).
Of course, Keynes was only 16 when he wrote these words.

Keynes was anti-war before the Boer War (11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902), but once the conflict started supported Britain’s effort (Skidelsky 1983: 88). Nevertheless, his patriotism did not extend to joining the “Volunteers” at Eton, despite the social pressure to do so (Skidelsky 1983: 88; 90; Moggridge 1992: 42).

(13) Keynes’s curriculum at Eton consisted mainly of Classics (that is, ancient Greek and Latin and the literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans), mathematics, history and French.

(14) In July 1902, Keynes came first in the Higher Certificate Examination, and decided on attending King’s College, Cambridge, where he would study mathematics and Classics (Skidelsky 1983: 98–99; Moggridge 1992: 46).

Timeline of Keynes’s Early Life
– born on 5 June, 1883 at 6 Harvey Road in Cambridge;
– Keynes began study at Eton in September 1897;
– educated at Eton from 1897–1902;
– educated at King’s College, Cambridge from 1902–1905; Keynes received a first class B.A. in mathematics in May 1904. In June 1905, he underwent the Tripos examinations (the equivalent of obtaining an Honours degree), and was ranked in twelfth place.

* The genealogical line mentioned by Skidelsky (1983: 3) is as follows:

Alexander Keynes (16 century)
Henry Keynes

Richard Keynes of Wareham (? –1720)
Richard Keynes
Richard Keynes
Richard Keynes
John Keynes
John Keynes (1805–1878)
John Neville Keynes (1852–1949)
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946).

John Maynard Keynes – Timeline.

John Maynard Keynes, Wikipedia.

  1. Here is a video on Keynes by Mark Blaug:

    If you are to mention the bisexual character of John Maynard, don’t forget that the same happened to his brother and sister. Maybe his parents have something to do?.

  2. Lord Keynes,

    What is your opinion on this quote by Vox Day? Thanks. the 1930s, it was only the USA that attempted to fight the post-1929 economic contraction with Keynesian stimulus policies and only the USA suffered a Great Depression. In England, the contraction stopped in 1932, France never saw double-digit unemployment, and the Japanese economy was actually enjoying significant growth. This time, Europe, China, and Japan all followed the US lead and applied their own stimulus plans in 2009, which we are already seeing is now in the process of backfiring on everyone.[4]

    "In England, the contraction stopped in 1932,"

    The contraction stopped, but then UK went off the gold standard early, devalued, and did not experience financial sector collapse like the US owing aprtly to the Bank of England's actions.

    Yet the UK high involuntary unemployment for the rest of the 1930s - there was no proper recovery.

    "and the Japanese economy was actually enjoying significant growth."

    Because of large fiscal stimulus. See above.

    The stimulus packages are not backfiring: the Chinese economy is booming; South Korea and Taiwan are in reasonably good state. Many European economies did not have very serious recessions and now have growth and relatively low unemployment.

  4. When talking about the gilded age growth rates, I tend to bring the point about the different population growth rates we experienced during that period versus recently or the post-war era boom. In 1870, we had 38 million people, which doubled to 76 million in 1900. Whereas we only experience about a 1% growth rate a year today. It makes the gilded age's story of growth seem much more diminished when viewed on a per capita basis.


HOW TO: Configure Recipient Policies in Exchange

After Domain Name Service (DNS) is configured and working properly, you can use policies to add SMTP addresses to your users accounts. Alternatively, you can administer any of these properties individually by accessing the user object from the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. You can define a policy that states that all users with the company name Northwind Traders have an SMTP address of Additionally, within a company, you can identify other attributes on which to relate a rule, such as custom attributes. There is no way to force application of a policy because it is applied immediately and enforced within one hour. When you create a recipient policy, note that a default policy is in place. This default policy is modifiable.

Note Recipient policies are designed to replace the function of site addressing in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, with a little more flexibility. Site addressing applied proxy addressing rules to all users in a site, whereas recipient policies give more flexibility on how you group the users to whom the addressing rules apply.

Create Recipient Policies in the Exchange System Manager

  3. Right-click Recipient Policies, point to New, and then click Recipient Policy.

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Hamlet begins and ends with reference to Norway, Denmark's enemy. How is this conflict affected by what happens in the royal bedroom in Hamlet?

Expert Answers
Doug Stuva eNotes educator| Certified Educator

References to Norway may frame Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the conflict between Norway and Denmark is not in any way central to the play.  The references provide background information in Act I (the king of Norway's death at the hands of King Hamlet, the threat of invasion, etc.), and catharthis and cleansing in Act V (the evil is destroyed and Fortinbras will stabilize the political situation in Denmark).  Fortinbras also serves as a foil to Hamlet, of course.  But, again, this political and military conflict is not central to the play.

Thus, you should probably think in terms of what this conflict contributes to the play as a whole, rather than think of what occurs in the royal bedroom contributing to this conflict.

That said, the one event that occurs in the royal bedroom that does affect the conflict between Denmark and Norway might be Hamlet's killing of Polonius.  This moves Claudius to send Hamlet to England and order Hamlet's execution.  The conflict between Claudius and Hamlet is in the "feeling out" stage before Hamlet kills Polonius.  In other words, Claudius is not sure Hamlet is out to get him until Hamlet kills Polonius.  The killing gives Claudius the excuse he needs to get rid of Hamlet, and the opportunity to have him executed away from Danish soil.  The killing of Polonius might also lesson the high opinion the Danish people have of Hamlet.

In turn, Hamlet discovers the assassination plot and overtly returns to avenge his father.  Thus, the king is preoccupied.  He is worried about Hamlet, not Fortinbras.  Claudius appears politically astute in the early acts of the play, but later he never considers that Fortinbras will disobey his orders and invade Denmark anyway.  By the time Fortinbras invades, Denmark offers little resistance.

Other than that, the unseen sex between Claudius and Gertrude and the appearance of the Ghost probably do not directly affect the conflict between Denmark and Norway.  Hamlet also berates his mother in her royal bedroom, but this has nothing to do with Norway.

If you must connect the royal bedroom with Norway, Polonius's death is probably your best bet.

accessteacher eNotes educator| Certified Educator

Your question highlights the important wider political context of the play that must not be ignored by focusing on Hamlet's personal issues. Let us remember that the death of a King always heralds a time of great turmoil, and the way that Hamlet was in effect disinherited by his uncle and the hasty re-marriage of his father only heightens the sense of unease that looms over the play. We know that Fortinbras is out to get his revenge and sees this as an opportunity to win back territory that had formerly been lost. Note how Claudius addresses this issue in Act I scene 2:

Now follows, that you know young Fortinbras,

Holding a weak supposal of our worth;

Or thinking by our late dear Brother's death

Our State to be disjoint, and out of frame,

Collagued with the dream of his advantage;

He hath not fail'd to pester us with message,

Importing the surrender of those lands

Lost by his father, with all bonds of law

To our most valiant brother...

It is interesting that some critics present Claudius here as desperately trying to portray a confidence that he does not feel, recognising how his actions have increased the instability that Denmark is enduring.

Hamlet of course himself declares Fortinbras as his heir in Act V scene 2, recognising that with his death there is a power void that must be filled:

But I do prophesy th'election lights

On Fortinbras, he has my dying voice...

Thus we can see that throughout the play, the death of Old Hamlet and the re-marriage of Gertrude has repercussions that stretch far beyond the narrow sphere of Elsinore, and end in the annexation of Denmark by Norway.

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Why the Department of Art and Design?

The art and design programs at PLU stress individualized development in the use of mind and hand.

Why PLU?

At Pacific Lutheran University you will be challenged to achieve at the peak of your ability, given support to meet that challenge and, as a result, find success both in college and in your chosen career. You will receive individual attention and be challenged to explore beyond the textbooks, to seek life’s purpose. You will be prepared to lead and to make a difference in the world. Challenge. Support. Success. This is the PLU experience.


Elkyn Alexander Belalcázar-Bolaños

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In this paper, the analysis of low-frequency zone of the speech signals from the five Spanish vowels, by means of the Teager energy operator (TEO) and the modified group delay functions (MGDF) is proposed for the automatic detection of Parkinson’s disease. According to our findings, different implementations of the TEO are suitable for tackling the problem(More)
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder of the nervous central system and it can affect the communication skills of the patients. There is an interest in the research community to develop computer aided tools for the analysis of the speech of people with PD for detection and monitoring. In this paper, three new acoustic measures for(More)
This paper evaluates the accuracy of different characterization methods for the automatic detection of multiple speech disorders. The speech impairments considered include dysphonia in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), dysphonia diagnosed in patients with different laryngeal pathologies (LP), and hypernasality in children with cleft lip and palate(More)
In this paper we propose a methodology for the automatic detection of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) by using several glottal flow measures including different time-frequency (TF) parameters and nonlinear behavior of the vocal folds. Additionally, the nonlinear behavior of the vocal tract is characterized using the residual wave. The proposed approach allows(More)
As a methodology for automatic detection of Parkinson's disease (PD), it is proposed the estimation of the different glottal flow features considering nonlinear behavior of the vocal folds. This paper evaluates the discrimination capability of set with eight different Nonlinear Dynamic (NLD) features. The experiment presented considering the five Spanish(More)
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All Categories Ian Fleming Signed First Edition Paperback

Ian Fleming

Signed First Edition Paperback - 1963

Signed First Edition paperback of the James Bond 007 spy thriller The Spy Who Loved Me. Signed "Ian Fleming" in his characteristic blue ballpoint on the first inside teaser page. First printing April 1963 by Signet Books. Light rubbing to spine and cover edges, with minor handling wear and a small fold on lower right corner on cover, otherwise very good; appears tight and unread, especially so given its age. Provenance from the estate of English footballer and cricketer Norman Lawson.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) stylistically departs from other books in the Bond series as it is written in the first person perspective of the (fictional) protagonist, Vivienne Michel, whom Fleming credits as co-author. It is the story of her life, up until when James Bond serendipitously rescues her from the wrong circumstance at the wrong place and time.

Authentically-signed books by Ian Fleming are very scarce, and are eagerly sought after by avid James Bond fans. The condition of this book is remarkable for its age. There is a horizontal crease on the top of the back, and a small fold on the corner on the front of the book. There are also slight creases on the front of the book. The fold continues for just a few pages. The quality of the signature is wonderful, though it is slightly fading. The binding is in very good shape. With provenance and Certificate of Authenticity from the Norman Lawson Estate.

Norman Lawson (1936-2011) was an English football and cricket player. In football (soccer) Lawson played as a winger, spending his early career with Hednesford Town, Bury and Swansea Town. He later played for Watford, Kettering Town and Hereford United, before becoming player-manager of both Merthyr Tydfil and Ton Pentre. His later cricket career was spent playing for Swansea Civil Service, Sketty Church, AWCO and Sketty Quins clubs, while he was Captain of the Welsh over-50 team.

In his youth, Ian Fleming was an extraordinary athlete during his years at Eton, playing both football and cricket, and were it not for the fact that, as Fleming biographer John Pearson put it, "team games never suited his isolated spirit," might easily have take a different path in life.


Scitable: A Collaborative Learning Space for Science

Scitable_Logo.PNG Scitable is a collaborative learning space for science from Nature Publishing Group where students, instructors and researchers can collaborate on scientific work.

The creators of the site believe that science education should be social and interactive, allowing students and researchers to learn from engaging other people, not just texts. Users can make a profile page which lists the topics they are interested in, the Scitable groups that they join, the other users they friend, and a portfolio listing their background, published works and their current learning goals. Users with similar interests can find one another easily and share and collaborate on work.

The site's current focus is the field of genetics. It contains features such as a searchable library of articles and eBooks, Topic Rooms for in-depth exploration of subjects, spotlights on key developments in science, and blogs where students can post research and comments. The site's Knowledge Project is an openly accessible library of expert educational science material for college and high school students that can be used for building an online class space.


Form a Thesis Statement

Craft For the Program

Give Specific Examples

Telling the reader about yourself is not as impacting as showing the reader who you are. For example, instead of writing that you are determined, you can write about the time you were rejected from a program and you appealed and worked hard and got the decision overturned. Providing specific examples makes you a more memorable candidate than those who describe themselves only through general adjectives such as "strong" and "ambitious." Ask yourself what aspects of your life reflect your commitment to the goals you are naming. You should provide evidence from your life and point of view that clearly state why you deserve to win a scholarship.

Have others proofread your essay to make certain it properly addresses the prompt, meets the word count requirement, is clear and concise, and contains no spelling or grammatical errors. Make sure that the essay shows how your educational and career goals are related, who you are and what motivates you. Give yourself sufficient time before the due date to read over, edit and revise the essay.


Dennistoun Online
Scottish Nursery Songs
printable version

Gree, Bairnies, Gree.
AIR - "Oh, no, we never mention her."

The moon has rowed her in a cloud,
Â Â  Â Stravaging win?s begin
To shuggle and daud the window-brods,
Â Â  Â Like loons that wad be in!
Gae whistle a tune in the lum-head,
Â Â  Â Or craik in saughen tree!
We're thankfu' for a cozie hameâ€”
Â Â  Â Sae gree, my bairnies, gree.

Though gurgling blasts may dourly blaw,
Â Â  Â A rousing fire will thow
A straggler's taes, and keep fu' cosh
Â Â  Â My tousie taps-o'-tow.
O who would cule your kail, my bairns,
Â Â  Â Or bake your bread like me?
Ye'd get the bit frae out my mouth,
Â Â  Â Sae gree, my bairnies, gree.

Oh, never fling the warmsome boon
Â Â  Â 0' bairnhood's love awa';
Mind how ye sleepit, cheek to cheek,
Â Â  Â Between me and the wa';
How ae kind arm was owre ye baith:
Â Â  Â But, if ye disagree,
Think on the saft and kindly soun'
0' "Gree, my bairnies, gree."

Scottish Nursery Songs: Page 6 of  40


A multilayer perceptron-based medical decision support system for heart disease diagnosis

Document Type

The medical diagnosis by nature is a complex and fuzzy cognitive process, and soft computing methods, such as neural networks, have shown great potential to be applied in the development of medical decision support systems (MDSS). In this paper, a multiplayer perceptron-based decision support system is developed to support the diagnosis of heart diseases. The input layer of the system includes 40 input variables, categorized into four groups and then encoded using the proposed coding schemes. The number of nodes in the hidden layer is determined through a cascade learning process. Each of the 5 nodes in the output layer corresponds to one heart disease of interest. In the system, the missing data of a patient are handled using the substituting mean method. Furthermore, an improved back propagation algorithm is used to train the system. A total of 352 medical records collected from the patients suffering from five heart diseases have been used to train and test the system. In particular, three assessment methods, cross validation, holdout and bootstrapping, are applied to assess the generalization of the system. The results show that the proposed MLP-based decision support system can achieve very high diagnosis accuracy (>90%) and comparably small intervals (<5%), proving its usefulness in support of clinic decision process of heart diseases.

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment | Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Electrical and Computer Engineering | Theory and Algorithms


Numerous experts around the world state that all you need, in order to control the sugar in your blood, is a boiled egg!

The recipe could not be simpler, so just follow the instructions below to learn how to control blood sugar with a boiled egg.

Nowadays, numerous people around the world suffer from diabetes. This common health condition is a result of the stopped production of insulin by the pancreas, or due to the improper use of the produced insulin, which increases the blood sugar levels.

The most common symptoms of diabetes include rapid weight loss, fatigue, blurred vision, frequent urge to urinate, constant thirst, and an itching sensation around the private parts. If diabetes is left untreated, it can lead to kidney failure, heart problems, blindness, nerve damage, and erectile dysfunction.

Yet, the following remedy will help you treat this issue. However, note that you should not consume foods which increase the levels of sugar in the blood.

The preparation is very simple and easy, and you will need only one boiled egg.

This is what to do:

Boil an egg, and peel it. Then, prick it several times with a fork, and put it in a container. Pour some vinegar over it, and leave it thus during the night.

In the morning, you should eat the egg with a glass of warm water mixed with a tablespoon of vinegar. Repeat this treatment for several days, and check the sugar levels in your blood.

The results will amaze you- the sugar in your blood will be dramatically reduced after the treatment with the boiled egg!


Archivo diario: 02/08/2017

Seed germination

In biology class we germinated seeds, we started the 5/7/17 and finished the 12/7/17. This experiment was to compare in what conditions the seeds can germinate, I had to make warmth germination. I worked with Juan De Elia.

Publicado en 2AC2017, ingles, inicio, practical skills | Deja un comentario


Tips For Preparing An Orchid Exhibit
You can do quite a bit of work ahead of time so that you can enjoy   the
experience rather than be overwhelmed with all the details.  If
possible work with a partner to divide up or share activities to make it
easier.  Either look at some pictures of previous year's shows or talk
to seasoned  members to give you some idea of what is expected.

Basic Elements of an orchid exhibit
All Orchid Exhibits whether they are a 300 sq. ft. floor exhibit or a   36
X 36 tabletop incorporate the same basic elements:
* Background
to block out distracting surroundings and provide a uniform area against
which to display orchids
* Levels
to display different size orchids at different heights
* Foliage
to provide contrast for the orchids or block out distracting elements
* Groundcover
to cover the surface on which the exhibit is constructed
* Props
to interpret the show theme and add interest
* Orchids
the featured attraction
* Labels
to identify the orchids

Building the back drop is one of the most important and time-
consuming activities.  The frame-work can be made of a variety of
materials from PVC pipe to wood lattice.  Just remember you are going to
have to tote this frame to and from the show so it should be made to
either tear apart easily or fold down to manageable proportions.

The back drop is normally covered with some kind of back cloth
preferably with a matte finish.  This provides the best background to
show off the orchids and bring out the colors in the flowers as well as
in the foliage used to showcase them.  Several yards of extra fabric are
also necessary to cut up and place around pots and the various
containers and stands used to provide a pleasing display.  Gather a
series of multiple sizes of plastic pots, wood or plastic boxes, stands
or other sturdy containers to use for adding depth and elevation to the
exhibit.  You will need to bring enough with you so that you can work
with the exhibit until it suits your flowers and your space.

Pieces of driftwood, various mosses, containers of ferns, palms, or
other foliage in containers are used to fill in around the orchid plants
in the exhibit.  The point to remember is that you are showcasing the
orchid flowers, not the items around them.  There are a number of ways
to set up the exhibit.  One is to showcase one plant-either in the
middle or one side-and then arrange around the focal point.  The focal
point plant should generally be the highest in the exhibit to give it
the most importance.  Another way is to build up both sides of the
exhibit and have the middle down at table or floor level.

Many orchid shows will have a theme and you should try to produce    an
exhibit that works with that theme.  There are many items of choice
that can be used but be very careful not to introduce any other kind of
flower or the exhibit may be disallowed.  Be aware not to overshadow
your orchids with the other items in the exhibit.

You have done all the preliminary work at home, picked out your
perfect blooming plants, prepared your back drop, and gathered all your
props, now it is time to put it all together.  It is recommended that
you do a preset up at home or a designated place to set up your exhibit
and either take pictures or draw a diagram of the setup in order to
shorten the length of time it takes you at the exhibit hall.

One of the most basic things you need to think about is getting    your
orchids to the show in the best shape possible.  What ever works      for
you is how you will do it.  It is important to keep them from
falling over and breaking off any flowers.  Using high sided crates will
prevent them from toppling over and provide extra support.

Orchids with delicate inflorescence such as Phals will need
protection.  A great idea is to tie the Phal inflorescence with a
bending wire that follows its natural curve, but continue the wire so
that it rest against the flooring that the pot is sitting on.  This will
support the whole inflorescence until you have arrived at your
destination, and then remove the wiring.

At the show you will be required to have an entry card for each of   your
orchids with the name of the orchid and its parents.  This can be     done
before hand.  This is the same thing we do at pre-registration.       Look
up the orchid on Encyclopedia Orchid Wiz, or what ever reference      you
have available.

You will also need to identify your orchids in a very neat manner    in
your exhibit.  Most people use black cardboard paper cut into 2 inch    by
3 inch pieces and lettering with a gold or silver pen.  These are
attached to a stake and displayed in front of each plant.  If you're not
sure how it should look, just check out one of the other exhibits in the

Now you should have everything you will need to make your exhibit,   and
most of it was done ahead of time.  All you need o concentrate on      now
is breaking up the unnatural effect of a table or floor area and
direct the eye toward the orchid you wish to high- light.
               What is Color Flow?????

Color flow in an orchid exhibit means that you shouldn't put an orange in a group of lavenders.    The
colors should F~L~O~W~ from one to another gracefully like the rainbow.  By sticking to this rule     you
can avoid any bone-jarring clashes that might disturb judges and the public at large.  By utilizing
color flow you can throw away those "please wear  protective eye ware" signs you planned for your
display.  Color flow will guarantee that a sense of serene well being will envelop all who view your
exhibit.  But most of all, color flow makes sense and provides a useful guideline for placing orchids in
an orchid exhibit

Where do you put the white ones?

White is a combination of all the colors in the spectrum so theoretically you could put white
orchids anywhere without a clash.  Yet they are the lightest color and because of that draw attention.
Typically white orchids, especially groups of white orchids, are place to the rear of an exhibit, this
provides depth and makes them appear somewhat less bright.  If you have just a few small white
flowers they can be placed coming off of yellows, pinks or greens with good effect.

"Some color flowers just don't seem to fit, should we not use them?"

Use those odd color orchids as transitional elements  that can bridge between two seemingly
disparate color groups.  For instance, many Paphs have color patters that allow them to fit well
between greens and lavenders providing a bridge between lavender/purple and green/yellow.  Some of
the artshade Cattleya hybrids can fill the gap between reds and lavenders.  Oncidium complex hybrids
such as Aliceara & Miltonidium have elaborate color patterns that make them ideal as filler between
color groups.  Orchids such as B. nodosa, B. digbyana, Epc. Vienna Woods can make an excellent
transition from greens to whites and all bicolor orchids can serve as transitions between two color
groups.  And finally, don't overlook species orchids to provide not only variety and interest but fill those
awkward spaces that no conventional hybrid can.
By using conservative and logical color groupings of orchids you will achieve harmonious color flow.
How Much do I need ?
Rule # 1
When putting in an orchid exhibit you are always better off having too much than too little.  Of course this
does not mean that you must use it all.  When you are at the exhibit hall it is a real luxury to have MORE
foliage than you really need, plenty of much to cover all of your staging and enough of an orchid selection
that you have just the right orchid for a particular spot.  After spending hours planning your exhibit,
gathering materials, creating your prop, collecting plants, and transporting all of your stuff to the exhibit is only frustrating to have to compromise at this point.  Don't allow it.  The guidelines offered below
are conservative.  If you can exceed them then by all means do so.  You will appreciate it on set-up day.

Plan on having at least 100 blooming orchids per 100 sq.ft. of exhibit space.  Plants should be groomed for
exhibition and flowers should be fully opened but not on their way out.  A few days in an air-conditioned
exhibition hall can be hard on flowers, only those in their prime will last.  Be sure that plants have been
fully watered before putting them in an exhibit.  If the show will last more than a few days make provisions
to water the plants at some point during the show.

For naturalized exhibits, that is landscaped exhibits, figure that about 20% - 30% of the total area will be
foliage plants.  You will need a variety of sizes and heights.  Actual needs will depend on the show staging,
exhibit design and location of your space.  Corners will require less foliage.  Often show committees will
provide a minimum amount of foliage with the exhibit space, inquire the show chairman about this.
Provide at least a row of tall foliage (up to 8') for creating a barrier between your space and the exhibit you
back up to.  For a 100 sq. ft. space that would be about 8 - 10, 5-gallon ficus benjamina, areca or queen
palms depending on how full they are.  Stocky two-gallon arbicola, philodendron or boston fern can be used
between and in front of the background material as well as for the sides of the exhibit area.  15-20 of these
two-gallon plants would be a good number to have on hand.  Finally, two dozen or more small maidenhair
or fluffy ruffles ferns work well as contrast and relief between orchid plants.  Philodendrons and other
foliage plants as well as some bromeliads also work well for this however, avoid strongly variegated foliage
(important ! ), it competes with the orchids.  Finally, an interesting specimen foliage plant such as a citrus
trained to a standard can provide a focal point for an exhibit as well as a great place to display that special
DO NOT use any other flowering plant material in your exhibit (important !).  And finally, Do not use any
artificial plant material in your exhibit. (important !)

A successful exhibit has different levels on which to display orchids.  Foliage plants are also more attractive
when they are not all on the same horizontal plane.  Whatever you use to achieve these levels will in part
depend on the groundcover (if any) you have decided on.  Plastic milk crates, fern stands, plastic pots,
wooden vegetable crates and crumpled newspaper in plastic garbage bags all work well and are equally
suitable for dry groundcover.  The newspaper does not need to be in garbage bags if you are using dry
groundcover.  Whatever materials you use should light in weight and easy to transport to the exhibit hall.
They also must be sturdy enough to support orchids without compromise throughout the duration of the
show.  I remember one exhibit I worked on where the committee chairman had devised staging using
chicken wire and lumber.  It collapsed and destroyed our two best Cattleyas.  If using crumpled newspaper
be sure that any orchids are seated firmly before finishing the exhibit.  Six or so milk crates can be used to
carry materials to the exhibit hall and athen pressed into duty to gain height for background foliage.  An
assortment of plastic pots are light in weight and can be used upturned to provide elevation to an orchid or
foliage plant.

The word "groundcover" refers to any material used to cover the floor or tabletop that the exhibit space
encompasses.  This material is also used to cover any staging that is used to create levels within the exhibit
area as well as the orchid pots in most cases.  Groundcover can be almost any material that serves this
purpose without distracting from the orchids themselves.  For naturalized exhibits groundcover is typically a
bagged material such as cypress mulch, peat or pine bark "deco nuggets:\".  Sheet moss was and still is
extremely popular giving a nice woodland look to any orchid exhibit.  It must be moistened before use
however and today many exhibitors are looking for easier to use materials.  Tabletop exhibitors generally
use yard goods to cover tables, with black or dark green fabric being favorites.  Yard goods have also begun
showing up in floor exhibits; large drop cloths dyed or painted a dark color provide a quick effective way to
cover large areas of staging and foliage pots.  Camouflage cloth such as used by hunters has been recently
seen at orchid shows and makes a fast, easy groundcover especially when combined with a bag or two of
dried leaves.  Any groundcover material you decide on should be of a neutral color that does not detract
from the orchids and should be readily available and inexpensive enough that a large enough quantity can
be obtained for your exhibit space.  A 2-cu. ft. bag of cypress mulch or pin bark should cover about 10-15 sq.
ft. of space depending on how thick it is applied and whether or not the space is flat or contoured.  Five bags
would be minimum for 100 sq. ft. exhibit taking into account the space taken up by foliage and orchids.
Allow 3-4 boxes of sheet moss per 100 sq. ft. exhibit space and be sure to bring buckets and tubs to soak it
in.  Two or three bags of dark peat or top soil will make a nice path in a 100 sq. ft. exhibit.