Cool fact…
The maximum depth of ice measured on Brown Glacier is 123 metres. The maximum rate of movement recorded is 17.5 centimetres per day.

Introduced animal species

Nesting skua
Nesting skua (Photo: E Woehler)

Critically, Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI) are free from introduced predators, and provide crucial breeding habitat in the middle of the vast Southern Ocean for many species of seabirds.

The potential introduction of rodents is considered the single biggest risk to the seabirds on Heard Island.

The impacts of a range of biological invasions on other Southern Ocean islands have been significant, including devastation of seabird breeding populations, modification of plant communities, changes to invertebrate communities, reduced biodiversity and local extinctions. Such invasions would likely have similar impacts at HIMI.

There are currently only two animal species at Heard Island considered to be ‘aliens’ (non-natives) : a thrip Apterothrips apteris and a mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae. Heard Island has, however, been exposed in the past to introduced species which have not persisted, probably due to the harsh climate (for example silverfish, house flies, clothes moths, sheep, cockroaches and a rat).

Climate warming has been observed in the HIMI region, and is likely to increase the probability of alien species establishing. It may also enhance the adverse impacts alien species that do arrive.

This page was last modified on 28 February 2005.


Monday, October 28, 2013

Monday Morning's Second Cup

If you haven't noticed yet, it's Monday morning. Yes, I know, don't remind you.
Yesterday I went over one of my manuscripts in process. It's the 2nd book in the "Lean On Him" Christian Romance series. The name is "Faith Through The Tears" and tears are the main point. I've been working on another manuscript and decided to get back to this one. I read over the manuscript to get my mindset on it and was blown away at the emotions.
As I read the opening 1st chapter tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn't help but get emotional. I don't know whether it stems from the emotional week I've had or what, but it affected me. Yes it's a romance, not a dramatic thriller, but the first chapter is to draw you into the story. I will attach some of the first chapter below for your opinion. It's funny but I have this whole book in my mind already. It's just the emotional strain that's made me walk away a couple of times.
Why does a fictional story evoke so much emotion? As a writer its like I know these people and what happens to them affects me. I feel like I've experienced the losses they have and the happiness they have. Maybe that's a sign of good emotional writing, I don't know, but I do know I'm keeping the tissues close as this one unfolds.
So, here's a excerpt from "Faith Through The Tears" :
As always, good writing and May God Bless You...


2017.08.05 22:20 字数 812

1.【Quora】Rank the most important factors during a PhD, which will increase your probability of finding a good faculty position?

A2A: I’s hard to make a simple rank-ordered list here because these factors combine in complicated, non-linear ways. So let me just say what we end up discussing in our faculty-hiring process in various departments in CMU SCS. Perhaps that will give you some idea about what you should work on.

2.【博客】Faces recreated from monkey brain signals

The work could inspire new facial recognition algorithms, they report.

3.【论文】A Fast Unified Model for Parsing and Sentence Understanding

Tree-structured neural networks exploit valuable syntactic parse information as they interpret the meanings of sentences. However, they suffer from two
key technical problems that make them slow and unwieldy for large-scale NLP tasks: they usually operate on parsed sentences and they do not directly support batched computation. We address these issues by introducing the Stackaugmented Parser-Interpreter Neural Network (SPINN), which combines parsing and interpretation within a single treesequence hybrid model by integrating treestructured sentence interpretation into the
linear sequential structure of a shift-reduce parser. Our model supports batched computation for a speedup of up to 25× over other tree-structured models, and its integrated parser can operate on unparsed data with little loss in accuracy. We evaluate it on the Stanford NLI entailment task and show that it significantly outperforms other sentence-encoding models.

4.【博客】Hierarchical Softmax

5.【博客】How to Visualize Your Recurrent Neural Network with Attention in Keras

Neural networks are taking over every part of our lives. In particular — thanks to deep learning — Siri can fetch you a taxi using your voice; and Google can enhance and organize your photos automagically. Here at Datalogue, we use deep learning to structurally and semantically understand data, allowing us to prepare it for use automatically.
Neural networks are massively successful in the domain of computer vision. Specifically, convolutional neural networks(CNNs) take images and extract relevant features from them by using small windows that travel over the image. This understanding can be leveraged to identify objects from your camera (Google Lens) and, in the future, even drive your car (NVIDIA).


Public Relations

With a career in Public Relations, it is imperative that one keeps up with current news, trends, and social media to remain relevant and competitive with other professionals.

For starters, the idea of converging is extremely vital. In order to be successful in PR, professionals must possess skills beyond just their knowledge of Public Relations. These skills should include those of marketing, customer service, and collaboration to make themselves more valuable to organizations. With these skills, one will become more marketable.

Secondly, there are several tactics to consider taking advantage of when creating content as a PR professional. For example, a humorous flow chart is definitely an approach to take in order to spark one’s imagination. Through this, one would explain some type of process with a twist of humor to hook his/her audience.

Additionally, a low-budget movie is also something to consider as the quality of the film itself does not necessarily matter as long as a targeted emotion is evoked from the creator’s audience. Furthermore, the use of a micro-site is always an option to consider because the creation of a game that allows consumers to be interactive with one’s brand stands out among its competitors. Lastly, another great tactic in creating content would be publishing a cunning and hilarious open letter to the public.

Speaking of tactics, there has been an epidemic throughout the business world where business leaders falsely think that media relations is the complete make up of what Public Relations is. Consequently, these business leaders fail to understand that media relations is just merely a tactic in PR.

It is imperative that business leaders and companies understand that the use of media relations/contacts is only one component to successfully completing a goal. What they need to recognize is that there needs to be a strategy from the get-go.

Dietrich put it well by saying, “It’s a big problem when business leaders, bosses, clients or prospects want us to lead with our media contacts and provide a weekly report that correlates published results with media impressions and advertising equivalencies.”

A single golf clap? Or a long standing ovation?


Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) is a broad term used to describe the many communities and people within the NWMPHN region who have diverse languages, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, religions, health beliefs, social structures and customs such as food and dress which differ from the majority.

These differences are often not considered by our health system, which can lead to individuals and communities’ receiving inappropriate care, becoming isolated from the system, and experiencing higher rates of adverse health outcomes.
Victoria is Australia’s most culturally diverse state, and the NWMPHN region reflects this. In several local government areas (LGAs) in the NWMPHN area, over 40% of people speak a language other than English at home.

NWMPHN does targeted work with CALD communities to ensure health services and health professionals deliver culturally responsive and equitable services, and to address cultural and linguistic barriers to quality healthcare.

NWMPHN has additional dedicated program areas to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, and refugee and asylum seeker health.

Quick links

Patient health information in other languages

Health Translations
Directory to free resources in over 90 languages other than English. Search by language or topic, and create your own language identification chart. Funded by the State Government of Victoria.

Translated health resources
Health resources in multiple languages (US).

NPS MedicineWise
Translated health information about medicines.


Oral Writing – Exercises and Guidelines

by Keval 0 Comments

Each papers will get a time frame of two hours. To help you, pursuing is a couple of suggestions about just how to compose the greatest retirement speech on your own pension for a teacher with a couple examples. The very greatest part about writing an educational essay might be the variety of themes you can decide from. Even though creating an auto Biography is a striving job ( introducing every one of the particulars concisely ), it might wind up being a rewarding encounter in the long run. Therefore, hand writing can characterize the past. Additionally, the practices of hand writing analysis aren’t clairvoyant although they can accurately recite some one’s character. Aside from the workplace, it is vital in many other areas at the same time. In actuality, creating editorials is among the most effective write my essay for me procedures to produce knowledge about health issues. Then, idioms consider many distinguishing types so as to communicate distinct ideas.

Tips please be as detailed as you are able to inside your description.

Prepositions are among the main portions of presentation in the englishlanguage. As hindi vocabulary is considered since most singing, clear-cut and comfortable vocabulary. There are fast changes happening in the location of research and technology. Below are some insightful school address matters. In college, I actually like technology and mathematics. Students from various schools within the town may probably be engaging. People constantly attempt to find an on line media that present them news within their own comfort zone. However, you will find lots of intriguing speech subjects which will never perish away of anybody’s curiosity.

For writing an a+ essay, it’s important to write, involving an audience.

Therefore online media also offer you an extensive platform to go over in your curiosity of subjects. There are numerous problems that might be used for creating editorials. Writing an autobiography is an enormous job. The top addresses are such that are totally reliable and precise. Your address could be at fault for training more individuals concerning this depraved issue that is certainly haunting our culture. Consider it, make figures which can be motivated from your actual life, create some scenarios that will produce the character work or discuss surprisingly, and generate a story based on your own creativity. At times, humor assists in creating a stage better compared to the bulk of other significant communications can.

Nonetheless, you’ve to ensure you mention that which you have not been unable to complete.

Likewise, in a drama, theme symbolizes the short thought of the play. Non-verbal conversation contains the absolute body language of the individual who is speaking, that will incorporate the body pose, the palm expressions, and the absolute body movements. Knowing the difference between correct and incorrect use of grammar is vital for those wishing to grab the language. It’s common that individuals begin studying a brand new vocabulary as well as encounter some challenges and just cease. Remember which you’re imparting information on a theme, so giving exact information is essential. Language barriers must be overcome. Idioms additionally assist raise the degree of interest in studying. Teachers has to start educating the essentials of syntax right for proper and fast comprehension. The queries are going to be of the target type.

Decide the amount of invitations you send out.

Illustrations might my assignment help shift based on the individual who is being released within the test. The responses will need to be created within the Test Pamphlet provided. Teachers must also provide the children proper directions for every type of article they need to write. On the opposite hand, the variety of topics for an essay is the most straightforward as there are not any limitations to what an article matter ought to be. The most crucial component is usually to pick a topic. Here are some fantastic article issues that kids may possibly detect straightforward to write. A superb argument topic doesn’t always have to be a politics topic.

Leave a reply

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Zinc Gluconate

Zinc Gluconate is a white crystalline powder that is soluble in water. This product helps in promoting the normal development of sexual organs to maintain normal sexual function. Zinc Gluconate also helps promote healthy skin and maintains immune function. This helps rid the body of cholesterol, prevent atherosclerosis and helps suppress the occurrence of cancer and other diseases.

Zhejiang Wecan Biotechnology Co., Ltd.


MIT creates a control algorithm for drone swarms

Source:   —  April 23, 2016, at 0:37 AM

The complexities involved in controlling teams of emotional robots so they don’t crash into each other, or indeed wipe out other objects/entities that cross their path, is a tough problem that continues to hold roboticists busy.

MIT creates a control algorithm for drone swarms

Swarms of drones flying in terrifyingly perfect formation could be one step closer, thanks to a control algorithm being developed at MIT.

But the team of researchers at MIT reckon they have made a breakthrough that could create perfect complex drone formations easier to draw off. They declare their decentralized planning algorithm can handle both stationary and emotional obstacles, and do so with reduced computational overheads.

Why are decentralized control algorithms better than centralized control algorithms? The basic reply is they're more resilient, given a centralized algorithm has a single point of failure if its central controller goes offline.

The researchers also assert that decentralized algorithms have the advantage of handling erratic communication better than centralized algorithms. And what’s more potentially erratic than a swarm of flying robots? But, on the flip side, they're also harder to design, given that all the emotional pieces have to be involved in doing a bit of the thinking.

“In a centralized algorithm a single entity has all the information and finds a solution. In a decentralized algorithm each entity (robot) has only partial information of the environment and the other robots (for example, it can only look a few neighbors). The robots necessity to communicate to pass information and coordinate,” explains, Javier Alonso-Mora, one of the researchers involved in developing the algorithm.

Up til now, most research on decentralized control algorithms has focused on making collective decision-making more reliable, according to the group — deferring the (hard) problem of avoiding obstacles which they have rather chosen to drive straight at.

“The closest applications [for the algorithm] would be drone swarms navigating in formation, for example for surveillance of an area, mapping of an environment,” adds Alonso-Mora, discussing potential future applications for robot teams. “And mobile manipulators collaboratively carrying objects on the factory floor.”

Latest year the team demoed a centralized version of the algorithm using a pair of wheeled robots tasked with carrying an object together. You can look a video of that project on YouTube here.

Their decentralized algorithm requires what they declare is significantly lower communications bandwidth, as well as lower computation cost, thanks to the distributed way it makes robots share intel on obstacle-free regions in their immediate vicinity.

How does this work? Instead of each robot broadcasting to every other robot a complete map of secure space around it, the decentralized algorithm has robots only share maps with their immediate neighbors and also has each compute where neighbors’ maps intersect with their own — sharing only relevant intersected data on to the following neighbor. So the idea is that, collectively, the team of robots maintains a comprehensive map of safe terrain while reducing the comms data needed to hold the swarm moving.

“The robots don't communicate the position of all the obstacles they see. Instead, they communicate the region (set of linear constraints/convex region). So, they all obtain an overview of the ‘free space’ without a necessity to know where all the obstacles are.”

“This scales well in scenarios with many obstacles,” adds Alonso-Mora.

As well as mapping 3D space, the algorithm also includes a fourth dimension — time — to authorize swarming bots to predict the trajectory of emotional obstacles and re-route their own formation accordingly.

This process does involve some guestimation, with the researchers noting that it works in a “mathematically compact manner” by assuming that emotional obstacles have a fixed velocity. Obviously that assumption isn't always true, but given that each robot updates its map several times per second they reckon it’s a brief sufficient time span/edge of mistake to handle most accelerating objects, given that most emotional obstacles won't dramatically modify velocity at very high speeds.

So distant the researchers have certified their algorithm with simulated drones and declare it came up with the same flight plans they’d expect a centralized control algorithm to.

This resulted in squadrons of virtual mini helicopters “generally” maintaining an approximation of their preferred formation (a square at a fixed altitude), but with the square sometimes rotating to accommodate obstacles and/or the distances between drones contracting. “Occasionally” the drones would also fly single file or assume a formation in which pairs flew at different altitudes, they add.

They've also certified the decentralized algorithm on physical (wheeled) robots, and suggest such a scenario could be useful to further use-cases where teams of robots are expected to work in environments also containing humans.

“We are working on a demonstrator with genuine vehicles as well as similar applications,” says Alonso-Mora.

He adds that they “may” also experiment with real drones at a later stage, too. (Presumably there’s rather higher costs involved with testing the robustness of control algorithms if your control robots are flying around mid-air… )

The researchers will be presenting their paper at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation next month. Expect to wait rather longer to look a perfect formation of drones buzzing over your city.

“At this stage it's research,” stresses Alonso-Mora, going on to note that many big challenges stay when it comes to creating strong algorithms for controlling robot teams.

“Accounting for the robot dynamics. Long duration guarantees in dynamic environments with many moving obstacles. Communication/networking issues in genuine systems. Perception of the environment. Just to title a few.”

Dell’s SecureWorks stumbles in first tech IPO of the year

Dell’s SecureWorks stumbles in first tech IPO of the year

Up until today’s SecureWorks offering, there had been zero in the U. S. in two thousand-sixteenth. Zero. This compares to seven in the same period latest year and twenty-four in that timeframe the year before.

Starnes: Donald Trump isn't a conservative

Starnes: Donald Trump isn't a conservative

Trump was one of us -- a conservative of the gun-toting, Bible-clinging variety. But friends, Mr. Trump is number conservative.

Do You Really Wish to Be Your Own Boss? Reply These six Questions First.

Do You Really Wish to Be Your Own Boss? Reply These six Questions First.

Unless you construct boats for a living, expect things to go incorrect very quickly. To continue the metaphor: The problem with many would-be entrepreneurs is that they only have experience on the open water.

five Marketers on Periscope You Necessity to Be Following

five Marketers on Periscope You Necessity to Be Following

Meerkat captured the hearts and minds of attendees at S By Southwest and it’s rival, Periscope, was acquired by Twitter. For Periscope, in more particular, two thousand fifteen was particularly huge.


The Astep online store is not available in United States.
See our list of retailers to find a shop near you.

Model 1063

Design by Gino Sarfatti

The floor lamp designed in 1954 was a true avant-garde design at the time, and with its minimalistic silhouette, it continues to complement even the most modern setting. In Model 1063, Gino Sarfatti seeks to demonstrate the aesthetic value of a visible light source, the fluorescent tubular bulb, and more luminaires and models followed the first ornamental example in the subsequent years.

Emitting direct or reflected light, the floor lamp is composed of a thin black or white-painted aluminium tube, which houses the light source. The aluminium base is balanced by an aluminium box, a rounded rectangular section that contains the power supply. The two parts are connected via two steel rods arranged in an unusual off-centre position that appears to estrange them from each other while at the same time lending the luminaire a sense of equilibrium in a seemingly magical way.

In the re-issue, the original f luorescent tube has been replaced with an LED module with variable temperature regulation as well as a light dimming function.

This product is offered as a pre-order.
We will provide updates to you as the product becomes available.
Gino Sarfatti

Gino Sarfatti died at Gravedona in 1985.


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MFA for Educators

String of beads and amulet

Start collecting

This string of beads consists of one amethyst barrel bead; one carnelian ball bead; one lapis lazuli ball bead, one faience ball bead, one faience short cylinder bead, two faience melon ring beads and a fine blue faience frog amulet for a total of 8 beads.

From Egypt, Mesheikh, Mes/2513. Excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA by the government of Egypt.

Credit Line

Harvard University—Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition

Egyptian, Late Period (?), 760–332 B.C. (?)

Mes/2513, Egypt

Overall: 5.4 cm (2 1/8 in.)

Accession Number

Medium or Technique

Amethyst, carnelian, faience, lapis lazuli

The Ancient World

Jewelry / Adornment, Beads


05.08.12 The Afternoon Delight

City of Albany, Oregon – Vacancy on urban renewal district advisory board, Albany. Apply by May 24.

Longer Commute, Bigger Waistline – Yet more evidence that your drive to work is making you unhealthy.

Want Affordable Housing? Look to the Zoning Code – Activists should think beyond public subsidies.

Where Needed Most, Public Transit Faces Cuts – Next American City – What a paradox: Cutbacks to public transportation are enforced even as fuel prices continue to rise and the demand for public transportation seems likely only to increase. Local revenues simply cannot keep up with demand.

Getting hired: What employers want you to ask – When the tables are turned, potential employers say there are three questions they want candidates to ask them during a job interview.

Inside the UGB

Outside the UGB

Social Network

Stay connected by following these feeds.

Twitter: Sustainable OregonJohn’s LandingTrenton Scott Harden

ELGL FacebookELGL TwitterELGL LinkedInELGL Google+ELGL Pinterest


The music is not playing on mobile phones. How can I fix it?

Updated 6 months ago by Jeroma Molde

Mobile browsers do have limitations on to auto-play mp3 songs. Have you tried using Google Chrome as the mobile browser? The mp3 player should be available, however, it is not set on auto-play.

How did we do?


In what appeared to be a shocking reveal, the phenomenal point guard #Kyrie Irving is requesting a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers office. This obviously shocked the entire fandom of the team, most especially #LeBron James, who thought everything was okay with him and Irving. Well, unfortunately, it is the other way around.

According to ESPN, despite what is happening, it cannot be denied that Kyrie Irving learned a lot from James. He will be forever grateful to The King, who helped him make history in Cleveland. Remember: the two, along with their teammates ended the title drought of the franchise.

Why Irving will be thankful to James for the rest of his life

James did not only deliver Irving to a championship chase; he also helped him win one.

But if there is one thing that history is correct in, it is that titles can last forever, but partnerships will always be temporary. This is so true with these two, as they go on their separate ways. James, in particular, taught Irving – as well as everyone in the league – that the best players on Earth are always capable of influencing [VIDEO], shaping and even controlling fates and futures. James became the face of the franchise and dictated terms.

Kyrie Irving, on the other hand, is arguably one of the best players on the planet. Although his skills are far different from James, these are enough to complement each other on the floor. But still, at the end of the day, he was merely an audience to the show that James was putting in.

He watched the former Miami Heat player sign short-term contracts, something that affected an organization’s will to move and decide.

As much as a great player James is, he became a reason for the front office to do whatever it takes to satisfy him. Whether or not he agrees or admits, it most of the decisions in Cleveland were based on him.

This is what Irving learned

Kyrie Irving saw all of these. Although his declaration for independence might come as a betrayal, it is actually more of a way of glorifying James [VIDEO]. How exactly? Well, he basically learned that as a superstar, it is not just about hitting the hard numbers. It is also about not losing leverage because he is and will be a superstar. This is what Irving wants to experience, something that can only be done if he becomes a focal point in a team. He wants to be that guy who can call shots, disturb an organization’s decision making, and, more importantly, hold the future of the team. One can actually say the same for Kobe Bryant.

But perhaps Kyrie Irving’s departure is a lesson to all NBA organizations out there, that it is about time they took the driver seat. It is good to have a superstar in the team, but it is perhaps a bad idea to revolve the future of the organization around these players just because they are superstars.


Dataset: Series 5: pCO2 as one of multiple stressors for Thalassiosira weissflogii - cell characteristics: POC per cell


Belfast Telegraph

Brexit talks with devolved ministers must be more effective, peers warn

The UK Government needs to "raise its game" and make talks with the devolved administrations over Brexit more effective, a committee of Lords has said

The Joint Ministerial Committee (European Negotiations) was set up to allow ministers from the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to discuss the process, but a new report said it " is clear that at a basic level its meetings are not being treated with respect or organised efficiently".

Peers on the House of Lords EU Committee insisted "this needs to change" as they said the committee should be allowed to agree common positions on the Brexit issues of most importance to the governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

The call comes after Scottish Brexit Minister Mike Russell demanded the JMC meetings be urgently reconvened by the UK Government.

In their report, looking at the impact of exiting the European Union on the devolved administrations, peers said they back " the view of most of our witnesses that the UK Government needs to raise its game to make the JMC (EN) effective".

This should include better preparation, including bilateral discussions ahead of meetings, a structured work programme, greater transparency "and a willingness to accept that the JMC (EN), even if not a formal decision-making body, is more than a talking-shop", according to the report

Here the Lords suggested the JMC "should be authorised to agree common positions on key matters affecting devolved competences in time to inform the UK Government's negotiating position"

The report highlighted concerns over the " apparent deterioration of relations between the UK and Scottish governments" as a result of the UK's vote to leave the EU.

After almost two-thirds (62%) of Scots voted to remain in the 2016 referendum, the Lords also stressed there is a " strong political and economic case for making differentiated arrangements for Scotland".

However they dismissed Scottish Government calls to remain in the European single market after the rest of the UK leaves the trading bloc as being "politically impracticable, legally highly complex and economically potentially disruptive to the functioning of the UK single market".

The report made clear the " integrity and efficient operation of the UK single market must be an over-arching objective for the whole United Kingdom" during the Brexit process - but added "that objective does not preclude differentiated arrangements for Scotland in some areas, and nor does it justify excluding the Scottish Government from the Brexit process".

Ministers in London and Edinburgh need to "set aside their differences and work constructively together to protect the interests of the citizens of Scotland in the final Brexit deal", the Lords said.

While they made clear they did not want new areas of powers to be devolved, the report said the " specific labour market and demographic needs of the devolved nations should be accommodated in the context of Brexit".

With Scotland having relied on immigration to boost its population, the report said the UK Government should use its forthcoming Immigration Bill "to look for opportunities to enhance the role of the devolved institutions in managing EU migration", adding that "local and regional economic and demographic needs, rather than central targets, should drive decision-making".

In Northern Ireland it " appears that the Brexit debate has undermined political stability and exacerbated cross-community divisions", contributing to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive and the calling of an early Assembly election, the report said.

Consequently the Lords warned: " Political stability in Northern Ireland must not be allowed to become 'collateral damage' of Brexit."

Meanwhile, they said Wales could be " profoundly affected" by leaving the EU as the economy is "highly reliant" on membership of the single market - with the report saying it is "therefore particularly vulnerable" if UK access to this is reduced.

Lord Jay of Ewelme, a member of the committee and former head of the diplomatic service, said: " Brexit's impact on the future of the United Kingdom will be profound and unpredictable. At the moment the internal politics are pretty toxic, and we saw only last week the start of what could become a deep and bitter dispute on the role of the devolved institutions in passing the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.

"We can't afford this. The UK Government must respect the devolved institutions. It's not enough saying it's listening to them-it's actually got to take account of what they say and adjust its approach to accommodate their specific needs. Equally the devolved administrations must work with, not against, the UK Government to get the best Brexit for the whole of the UK."

Mr Russell said: " As is becoming clearer by the day, Brexit is causing deep uncertainty across Scotland - and an extreme Brexit outside the single market and customs union will cause severe long-term economic damage, hitting jobs, growth and living standards.

"This report makes clear Brexit should not be used as cover for a 'power grab', and that powers in areas such as fisheries, agriculture and environmental protection should be returning from Brussels to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast - not Westminster.

"But just as there should be no power grab, there should be no attempt to use Brexit to cut Scotland's budget, and under the current constitutional arrangements the Scottish Government supports the retention of the Barnett Formula.

" This report also calls on the UK Government to 'raise its game' in consulting the devolved governments - UK ministers should heed that call by resuming the JMC process, as this report calls for, and by agreeing to involve the Scottish and other administrations directly with a seat at the negotiating table.

"Our clear position is that we want a way forward that allows Scotland to remain within the single market and this report notes the need for a specific Scottish solution. We will do everything we can to help deliver the best possible deal for our society and economy."

A UK Government spokesman said: "We have been clear that the Repeal Bill will not take away any decision-making powers from the devolved administrations immediately after exit.

"Instead, to protect the UK internal market, some decision-making powers being transferred into UK law will be held temporarily to allow intensive discussion and consultation with the devolved administrations.

"As the Secretary of State has made clear, it is our expectation that the outcome of this process will provide a significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration and we are committed to positive and productive engagement."

From Belfast Telegraph


The Power of Reason and Emotion

We are each a unique blend of our mental perspectives and knowledge, combined with our emotional impressions and responses. This makes us interesting and complex, and sometimes confused and reactive. We call these mental and emotional natures our philosophy and our sense of life.

Philosophy is a rationally-conceived view of the world. It is our perspective of reality and our chosen set of morals and ethics. A person’s philosophy develops at the time when a child can distinguish right and wrong based on their understanding of the world, not just because they will be punished by their parents. They stop hitting, not because they will be grounded, but because they understand that behavior is not the right thing to do.

The catch is that having a philosophy does not mean that it is a good, or self-sustaining philosophy. Everyone has a philosophy, including the criminals on death row, your mother-in-law, corrupt politicians, and all the debt-stressed shoppers at the mall, as well as your minister, teacher, and parents.

A proper philosophy is aligned with the facts of reality, and is supportive to one’s existence. While living according to a truly proper philosophy may bring challenges, it is the hero’s path, even just being a hero to your own life and spirit.

When one’s philosophy is not aligned with reality, it is counter-productive to the person’s consciousness and existence, and is a spiraling path to corruption, destruction and regret. In this case, a correction is imperative – and the sooner the better.

While we may all feel we are basically good people, a close inspection may reveal that there are corrections that could be made in anyone’s philosophy that would make their lives happier, healthier, and more fulfilling.

A person who is struggling with an improper philosophy may experience guilt, anger, rage, being used, and attracting the wrong people into their lives for example.
And then emotions get into the mix.

Our emotionally based perspective of the world is what we call a person’s sense of life.  A person’s sense of life is the sum total of the impressions they have gained through all their experiences. In some world views, these span all lifetimes in the future and the past.

A baby is born with a sense of life, and it continues to be shaped throughout life. This is his or her emotional perspective and nature. The baby may be a happy baby, or show signs of moodiness, fear, neediness, or withdrawal. This nature will be enhanced or altered based on the family, environment, and other continuing experiences.

It is an individual’s sense of life that leads one person to think that the world is a safe and wonderful place to live, while another person thinks it is a dangerous and depressing place. At birth, we bring into a lifetime the emotional imprints of our past experiences, whether comforting and loving, or abusive and frightening, or a unique blend of those experiences. Throughout life more impressions add to the mix.

Because of the multitude of experiences that we each have, a person’s sense of life can always use correction. A person’s sense of life can be altered through distinctive impressing experiences or harnessed by the rational mind’s attempts at seeing a different perspective due to a maturing philosophy.

Since our sense of life is healthiest when closely aligned with reality, there will necessarily be times when a person is sad or angry. But these emotions are based on a present-time experience, not a state of being that overrides present experiences.

A self-defeating sense of life would include overall depression, fears, abandonment, jealousy, and other pervading self-destructive emotions.

Are you ready to make some changes in your own life?

The good news is that these self-defeating philosophies and emotions can be identified and altered. There are a number of ways that allow you to explore your unique strengths and weaknesses – meditation, hypnosis, a qualified teacher, or dream work and journaling.

Making the changes may be a bit trickier, but of course, doable! While life experiences can bring about these changes naturally, the quickest route is with a guide, whether a therapist or a teacher/guru. I recommend trying a specialized approach to hypnotherapy, which I use and have taught to my students, because it is deep and rapid. And, of course, there are other ways and means as well.

Armed with an understanding of the above information on philosophy and sense of life, however, you will be in a better state to do this exploration and to find the right pathway to healing and change for yourself.


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Re^2: Parsing HTML tags with regex

by jithoosin (Scribe)
on Nov 11, 2005 at 09:23 UTC ( #507672=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

in reply to Re: Parsing HTML tags with regex
in thread Parsing HTML tags with regex

Hi gopal,
THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I won the bet .But now i am in bit of trouble. I donot know how to explain the working to my friends.So could you PLEASE explain the working of the regular expression.Once again THANK YOU VERY MUCH GOPAL.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: Parsing HTML tags with regex
by gopalr (Priest) on Nov 11, 2005 at 10:09 UTC
    m# < ## start with < ( ## group start [^">]+ ## text but Not match " and > (?:"[^"]+")* ## if " found, match till end quote found. Its optional [^>]+ ## text but Not match and > ) ## group end > ## End with > #
      Hi gopal,
      There is a problem if the input string is my $line = "<select name=\"url><23\" style=\"width><A125px\"  >";
      .But i think a slight modification to your previous answer will do the job then #$line =~ m#<([^">]+(?:"[^"]+")*)*[^>]+>#; IS there any problem.Also provide me an asnwer for the question about <!--->---> thing

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London Smith London Smith - 1 year ago 49
MySQL Question

Subquery for faster result

I have this query which takes me more than 117 seconds on a mysql database.

select users.*, users_oauth.* FROM users LEFT JOIN users_oauth ON users.user_id = users_oauth.oauth_user_id WHERE (

(MATCH (user_email) AGAINST ('sometext')) OR
(MATCH (user_firstname) AGAINST ('sometext')) OR
(MATCH (user_lastname) AGAINST ('sometext')) )

ORDER BY user_date_accountcreated DESC LIMIT 1400, 50

How can I use a subquery in order to optimize it ?

The 3 fields are fulltext :

ALTER TABLE `users` ADD FULLTEXT KEY `email_fulltext` (`user_email`);
ALTER TABLE `users` ADD FULLTEXT KEY `firstname_fulltext` (`user_firstname`);
ALTER TABLE `users` ADD FULLTEXT KEY `lastname_fulltext` (`user_lastname`);

There is only one search input in a website to search in different table users fields.

If the limit is for example
LIMIT 0,50
, the query will run in less than 3 seconds but when the LIMIT increase the query becomes very slow.

Answer Source

Use a single FULLTEXT index:

FULLTEXT(user_email, user_firstname, user_lastname)

And change the 3 matches to just one:

MATCH (user_email, user_firstname, user_lastname) AGAINST ('sometext')

Here's another issue: ORDER BY ... DESC LIMIT 1400, 50. Read about the evils of pagination via OFFSET . That has a workaround, but I doubt if it would apply to your statement.

Do you really have thousands of users matching the text? Does someone (other than a search engine robot) really page through 29 pages? Think about whether it makes sense to really have such a long-winded UI.

And a 3rd issue. Consider "lazy eval". That is, find the user ids first, then join back to users and users_oauth to get the rest of the columns. It would be a single SELECT with the MATCH in a derived table, then JOIN to the two tables. If the ORDER BY an LIMIT can be in the derived table, it could be a big win.

Please indicate which table each column belongs to -- my last paragraph is imprecise because of not knowing about the date column.

In your second attempt, you added OR, which greatly slows things down. Let's turn that into a UNION to try to avoid the new slowdown. First let's debug the UNION:

( SELECT *   -- no mention of oauth columns
    FROM users    -- No JOIN
    WHERE users.user_id LIKE ...
    ORDER BY user_id DESC
    LIMIT 0, 50
( SELECT *   -- no mention of oauth columns
    FROM users
    ORDER BY user_id DESC
    LIMIT 0, 50

Test it by timing each SELECT separately. If one of the is still slow, then let's focus on it. Then test the UNION. (This is a case where using the mysql commandline tool may be more convenient than PHP.)

By splitting, each SELECT can use an optimal index. The UNION has some overhead, but possibly less than the inefficiency of OR.

Now let's fold in users_oauth.

First, you seem to be missing a very important INDEX(oauth_user_id). Add that!

Now let's put them together.

    FROM ( .... the entire union query ... ) AS u
    LEFT JOIN users_oauth ON users.user_id = users_oauth.oauth_user_id
    ORDER BY user_id DESC   -- yes, repeat
    LIMIT 0, 50             -- yes, repeat


college try

As budget process comes down to the wire, groups call on lawmakers to support neediest students in college tuition plan

Governor Cuomo proposes making college tuition-free for New York’s middle-class families.

As the New York state legislature races toward an April budget deadline, more voices are calling for a college affordability plan that provides additional help to low-income families.

After Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed the Excelsior Scholarship — which would make state college tuition-free for families earning less than $125,000 per year — the plan was met with a chorus of excitement, but also concern that it didn’t do enough for poor students.

As the April 1 deadline approaches, lawmakers and advocacy groups are scrambling to submit plans that improve on the governor’s plan.

New York’s Education Trust released a report Thursday that zooms in on the burden of college debt on low-income students and argues that Excelsior does not fully address this problem.

“It’s not that we are in any way against providing aid for middle class families,” said Ian Rosenblum, executive director of New York’s Education Trust. “It’s, let’s make it so lower- and middle-class families have what they need to go to college.”

Even though state tuition is typically covered by a combination of state and federal aid for families making less than $48,000 a year, students living in those communities still have upwards of $20,000 of student loan debt on average.

That’s because tuition at New York state public institutions makes up only 29 to 36 percent of the total cost of college, according to Ed Trust’s analysis. The rest is comprised of books, fees, housing and other expenses. Lower-income families are also much more likely to have trouble paying back their loans, according to the study.

State officials said New York already provides $1 billion in aid to low-income students and that Excelsior will ensure all low-income students maximize the money they receive.

A different proposal, called the “NY Student Plan,” released by the advocacy group Young Invincibles this week, provides one possible solution to help the state’s neediest families. The group argues that rather than offer free tuition to full-time students in families earning under $125,000 per year, lawmakers should increase state funding to cover tuition so that low-income students could use federal aid from Pell grants to pay for books, fees and rent.

Under the plan, substantially more students would receive the maximum state financial assistance benefit. The plan also suggests investing in programs at SUNY and CUNY that can provide the advising and support students need once they get to college.

“The idea here is that more students get more aid,” said Kevin Stump, northeast regional director for Young Invincibles. (The group’s plan also triples the state’s minimum financial award, which means compared to what they receive now, middle-class families would receive more aid.)

It’s unclear whether lawmakers will embrace these ideas. The next test is whether additional support for low-income college students is included in the Assembly or Senate’s one-house budget bills. (An Assembly spokesman said the chamber plans to release its bill on Monday and a Senate spokesman did not provide a date.)

At least some lawmakers appear interested. The Independent Democratic Conference, a group of Democrats that collaborates with Republicans in the state Senate, released a wide-ranging plan that includes re-establishing the “Liberty Scholarship,” which provides help for full-time and part-time students to help offset the cost of non-tuition expenses.

And last week, 30 Assembly members signed onto a letter asking that the Excelsior program cover remaining tuition costs for low-income families, so they can use their Pell grants to pay for non-tuition expenses.

In the Senate, a spokesman for Senator Jeff Klein, who heads the IDC, said college affordability will likely be tackled, but how is still unclear.

College affordability issues more broadly will likely be included in the Assembly’s one-house budget bill and, according to Assemblymember James Skoufis, who drafted the letterthe Assembly majority is “seriously considering” an increase to TAP funding that would allow more students to use their federal Pell grants to cover other expenses like rent and food.

listening tour

Not surprisingly, funding challenges came up time and again.

Reform TABOR to send more money to schools

Wendy Pottorff, Limon Public Schools

Change the conversation about public schools

Paul Reich, Telluride School District

Provide a clear budget forecast

Anne Guettler, Garfield School District

Rethink school accountability to include students and parents

Greg Piotraschke, Brighton 27J

Give schools more resources to train the state’s high-tech workforce

Nora Brown, Colorado Springs District 11

Remember there’s a difference between urban and rural schools

Mark Hillman, Burlington School District

Colorado Votes 2018

Here are our five takeaways from the forum:

There’s no party line over rural schools.


The Role of the Arts in Worship

By: Chris Howell

When you read or hear the word ”worship,” if you are a “church” person most often your mind recalls your favorite Christian song, or at least the one that you can’t seem to get out of your head at the present moment. We tend to associate the concept of worship with the song selection on Sunday morning. If you expand the word to include ”worship service” then your mind might include a sermon, or maybe even communion. But most often must people just reduce the idea of worship to music.


Ants Smell

Ants smell. Yes they do! An ant specialist informs us that ants smell, well, funny. Edward Wilson crushes ants then puts them to his nose to smell them. Some ants smell like citrus fruit, while others give off the aroma of armpits.

Mr Wilson is a Pulitzer prize winning author and he was out to celebrate Biodiversity Day, where a hundred scientists tried to identify as many organisms as they could in 24 hours. Educating people and appreciating diversity is an aim of the day out. Noah Siegel spent the day looking for mushrooms. In the past even a wandering moose was included in the species sited. This year they hope to exceed the record of 1,905 organisms identified.

At the event this year turtles and a toad were counted.


A Brief Introduction to Gestalt Practice - January 12, 2018

Brief Intro to Gestalt.png
Brief Intro to Gestalt.png

A Brief Introduction to Gestalt Practice - January 12, 2018

Date: January 12, 2018
Time: Friday, 9:00am-1:00pm

Continuing Education (CE): 3.5 contact hours

Location: Gestalt Institute of Cleveland

Register and Add to Cart

Lynne M. Kweder, MPA, LSW, BCC
Jessie Moncrief, MSSA, LISW-S

This workshop is an introduction to hearing, seeing, and responding like a Gestalt practitioner. Through a series of exercises, participants will experience becoming fully present in the here and now and experience the difference in the impact they have using Gestalt principles.

This workshop is designed/appropriate for all professionals including: Counselors, social workers, psychologists, physicians, nurses, art and music therapists. Coaches, managers, supervisors and others interested in exploring these topics are welcome.

Learning Objectives
Upon completion, you will be able to:

  • Describe the difference between presence as an objective expert and the embodied presence of a gestalt practitioner;
  • Identify the difference between working in the present (here and now) and in talking about the past (there and then);
  • Describe the difference in the impact on one another when using a gestalt approach to interaction.


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Spring Cleaning Fever

  I decided to try and follow along with Old House Kitchen's Spring cleaning list (found from a link on another blog I read). Then, I immediately failed by deciding to clean out the pantry, even though bedrooms are clearly the first rooms on the list. The pantry was just begging to be cleaned, since we hadn't been grocery shopping in over a week and were running out of most everything... except all the questionable items in the back that keep getting pushed further and further into the pantry (how deep does a pantry need to be anyway?) Since I could actually see parts of the wall in the back and was therefore certain that it hadn't turned into a cavern, I decided to clean it out and organize it.

Thursday I pulled all the remaining items and the shelves out of the pantry, vacuuming cobwebs, those annoying little moths that like our wheat and way too many spiders as I went. It took much longer than I anticipated. Mom and I went grocery shopping in the middle of the process, so by the end of the day, all of the food was in boxes around our kitchen table.

Friday morning and early afternoon, I taught lessons, and then I had to take Sarah to her art lesson, so I didn't have any time to work on it Friday, but I had decided it definitely needed a paint job before I put it back together.

Saturday morning, I scrubbed the pantry from top to bottom, and washed all the shelves to prepare for painting. We found some usable paint and primer, so I got started with hand-painting the corners and shelf supports. We already had other plans for the afternoon, though, so I didn't get much done Saturday either.
That is why I'm spending my rainy Sunday afternoon painting. I roller-brushed the walls of the pantry, and primed the shelves (laid out on cardboard in the living room... hehe!). The shelves really needed work. As I'm writing, I'm waiting for all that paint to dry. I need to flip the shelves and paint the other sides, and I might need another coat of paint inside the pantry, I haven't decided yet.

Once all the painting is done, I'm going to wash the paint out of my hair. How did paint get in my hair? I have no idea. I thought I was being careful. I hope it comes out...!
And then tomorrow, I'll put all the food away and label the shelves so hopefully it will stay organized.

Yes, that's my "little afternoon job," ending up taking all my spare time for 4-5 days. Whew...

  1. Heehee, those projects do seem to always expand!

    Ah...I was just looking around our house at all the things that need to be cleaned or cleaned out, and that's not even taking into account my own room. :/ Eek, spring cleaning urge and no time to deal with it!

  2. They do, don't they? Isn't it unfortunate... lol!

    Oh dear, that's sorta what happened to me, really... I should have been practicing music this weekend. I just really like getting things like that done... it's so satisfying! =P


Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Who was William McKinley?

Who was William McKinley and why were so many places named for him, including the highest mountain in North America?

Depending on whom you ask, their political persuasion and even their home state, McKinley was either one of the best or one of the worst U.S. presidents. He was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until a September day in 1901, when he was assassinated, apparently by someone who believed that McKinley was one of the worst presidents.

McKinley, who had served as the governor of Ohio before he was elected president, was in the news recently. That was when the 44th president, Barack Obama, officially stripped the name of the 25th president from the 20,310-foot mountain in Alaska. It had been named Mount McKinley in 1896, when McKinley was merely the Republican nominee for president, by a gold prospector who apparently approved of his candidacy. Although the name of the surrounding park had been changed by the 39th president, Jimmy Carter, in 1980, it was not until August 2015 that the mountain became, in the eyes of the federal government, Denali.

A lot of people from Ohio raised a stink over the renaming, as well as a lot of rather right-wing, nationalistic Americans. They are the folks who believe that McKinley was one of the best presidents because he expanded United States territory, paving the road for America’s role as the world’s most powerful nation.

For starters, he got Spain to give up its colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific as part of the treaty ending the 1898 Spanish-American War. Suddenly, the United States possessed Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Later, for good measure, the United States also claimed Wake Island – after annexing Hawaii.

The annexation of Hawaii, presided over by President McKinley in 1898, is still a sore spot for many Hawaiians. McKinley’s predecessor, Grover Cleveland, had refused to annex Hawaii, pointing out that it was against the desires of the Hawaiian people. But McKinley persevered. He failed to get a treaty of annexation, so he took a back-door route, achieving his aim through a joint resolution of Congress.

McKinley said that the U.S. possession of Hawaii was “manifest destiny” and was necessary for the nation’s trade ambitions in the Pacific Rim. He also feared that if the United States didn’t take Hawaii, Japan would.

This story leads us to another possible renaming of a McKinley landmark. On King Street in downtown Honolulu sits President William McKinley High School. Originally Fort English Day School at its founding in 1865, and renamed Honolulu High School in 1895, the school took McKinley’s name in 1907. It has been at its current location since 1923, along with the 8-ton bronze statue of McKinley that was dedicated in 1911. Ironically, the bronze hand of the McKinley statue is clutching a document with the words “Treaty of Annexation.” He never got the treaty; he took Hawaii anyway.

Perhaps spurred by President Obama’s action to rename the mountain in Alaska, Hawaiians have renewed their attempts to get the high school renamed to honor someone who is more agreeable to them or at least to restore the previous name of Honolulu High School. At MoveOn.org, a petition is slowly gathering enough signatures to put the question before the governor and the board of education.

On June 22, 2015, in The Hawaii Independent, Tyler Greenhill wrote in response to South Carolina’s removal of the Confederate Flag from its State Capitol, saying, “Should students of Native Hawaiian ancestry have to walk through entrances adorned with the name of an imperialist like William McKinley, the man who pushed for the United State to illegally annex Hawaii?”

Greenhill suggested, “Why not venerate the beautiful people who have made the most positive moral contributions to Hawaiian and local culture?”

I know that urges to rename landmarks to better reflect the current sensibilities sometimes get out of hand. In my own neighborhood some people want to rename the local high school, Wilson, because they say Woodrow Wilson was a racist. In Wilson’s day, true egalitarians were hard to come by, so I’m not persuaded that a name change is in order now.

But in the case of President William McKinley High School, I imagine that the name is a constant reminder to Hawaiians of a lawless time when powerful Americans wrested the rule of a monarchy from its queen and set in motion what was basically a land grab.

Students should be able to wear the name of their school with genuine pride. Seeing the name McKinley every school day must be like picking at a wound that never heals.


Actively Caring for People Policing

The Ponce Inlet Police Department is one of only a handful of law enforcement agencies in the nation to take part in a grassroots effort that began on a college campus and has evolved into an international "pay it forward" movement.

About the Movement

The movement first developed in the aftermath of the April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech Tragedy, when student leaders and a VT professor initiated a cultural shift on campus - the Actively Caring for People Movement. 2,000 green actively caring wristbands were distributed across the Virginia Tech campus to individuals performing acts of caring with instructions to pay it forward. By passing on the wristband when a person observed someone else performing an act of kindness, it reinforced positive behavior, building the Virginia Tech community from its damaged aftermath.

What is Ac4p Policing?

AC4P stands for "Actively Caring for People." This process has been researched, implemented, and proven successful in various settings across our country and the world, from industry to educational and community settings. AC4P Policing brings this process to police officers around the country.

Receiving Recognition

When a Ponce Inlet Police Officer observes a citizen actively caring for people in the community, the officer will provide the citizen with a uniquely serialized blue AC4P wristband to immediately recognize the citizen for their act of caring within the Town of Ponce Inlet. The officer will also document the reason the citizen was recognized and this act of caring will be shared through the Department's various social media programs.
AC4P Bracelets
The Ponce Inlet Police Department then encourages each AC4P wristband recipient to "pay it forward" and transfer the wristband to another citizen whom a recipient witnesses actively caring for people in the community. To ensure that each original recipient of an AC4P wristband from the Ponce Inlet Police Department does not go without a wristband for their initial act of caring, the Department will provide a free replacement wristband to any recipient who "pays it forward."

Sharing Your Story

You can share your story with our online form. If the Ponce Inlet Police Department decides to share your story through our social media programs, we will only share your story and we will not release any of the contact information you voluntarily provide to us.

AC4P Wristband Replacement

AC4P Graphic


巴斯泰（Bastei）石林，砂岩削壁，怪石林立，以棧道、石橋相連。巴斯泰 (Bastei) 的岩石 (德文：felsen）懸崖絕頂，極目遠眺，一側黃綠相間的鄉村風光，一側是起伏砂岩和勇敢攀登者，氣象萬千，觀景絕佳。

The Bastei is a spectacular rock formation towering 194 metres above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains of Germany. Reaching a height of 305 metres above sea level, the jagged rocks of the Bastei were formed by water erosion over one million years ago. They are situated near Rathen, not far from Pirna southeast of the city of Dresden and are the major landmark of the Saxon Switzerland National Park. They are also part of a climbing and hiking area that runs over border into the Czech Republic and Bohemian Switzerland.

The Bastei has been a tourist attraction for over 200 years. In 1824 a wooden bridge was constructed to link several rocks for the visitors. This bridge was replaced in 1851 by the present Bastei Bridge made of sandstone. The rock formations and vistas have inspired several well-known artists, among them Caspar David Friedrich (i.e. "Felsenschlucht" )

The spa town of Rathen is the main base for visiting the Bastei; the town can be reached from Dresden by paddle steamer on the river Elbe.

Another famous landmark in the local area is the fortress of Königstein.

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Persian Cats

Persians and Himalays Com 107 September 6, 2010 Dr. Phillip Johnson Abstract Persians and Himalayans This paper will explore the differences between Persian and Himalayans cats with the respect to the color and different healthcare and where they originate from. These cats are alike in many ways, Himalayans are Persians and some are not Himalayans are essentially a cross between a Persian and a Siamese, but among the Persian they have striking marks as Himalayan.

Himalayans trademarks this colors which this makes the cat stand out this is just some of the colors it may have red cream tortie, seal, lilac or even chocolate blue cream but the most popular color is blue. Persians color prints are not that colorful and they are not well defined that’s why people can’t tell the difference between these breeds of cats. Where these cats orientated from are two beautiful places. The Himalayans origin is the United States also it carries the nick name “Himmy”. In Europe they are commonly called Colour print Persians that began in the 1950’s.

Persians origin is Iranian plateau (Persia). In Britain it is also called the Longhair or Persian Longhair and the Traditional Persians cats are also known as the (Doll Face Persian) is considered as a true breed of Persian cat breed. The first Persian was presented at a cat show at the Crystal Palace in London, England in 1871. The first breed standards (then known as points of excellence) was issued in 1889 by Harrison Weir, the creator of the first cat show. Persians differ from any other cat breed. Also these cats have some healthcare things that need to be known before you own one.

In the Persian ancestor some carry the gene that causes Polycystic Kidney Disease also known as (PKD). Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) which causes kidney failure in affected adult cats has an incidence rate of 36-49 % in the Persian breed. Cysts develop and grow in the kidney overtime, replacing kidney tissues and enlarging the kidney. Kidney failure develops later in life, at an average age of 7 years old (ranging from 3to 10 years old). Symptoms include excessive drinking and urination, reduced appetite, weight loss and depression.

The disease is autosomal dominant and ultrasound or DNA screening to remove affected individuals from the breeding pool has allowed some lines and catteries to drastically reduce or eliminate the incidence of the disease. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy ( HCM) is a common heart disease in all cats. It is hereditary in the Maine Coon and American Shorthair, and likely the Persian. The disease causes thickening of the left heart chamber, which can in some instances lead to sudden death. It tends to affect males and mid to old-aged individuals. Incidences rate in Persians is around 6. %. Unlike PKD which can be detected even in very young cats, heart tests for HCM have to be done regularly in order to effective track and/or remove affected individuals and their offspring from the breeding pool. Persians breed cats are popular and describe to be so what quiet, mostly placid in nature it adapts well in apartment lifestyle. Himalayans tends to be more active due to influence of the Siamese breed. Both big on closeness, and affection to owner, not very friendly towards strangers, cleanliness, somewhat predictable, vocalization and fussiness over food.

Another thing, about these breeds since they have thick fur they can’t effectively keep clean, they need regular grooming to prevent matting of the fur. They have to be bathe regularly and dried very carefully afterwards and brushed every day the alternate is to shave all hair off. Their eyes also need to be cleaned regularly to prevent tear staining. Hopefully exploring some of the needs of being a Persian owner that now you will have a better out look at these beautiful breeds of cats.


First (Fruit) Rant

by Lynn

My mobile phone browser defaults to Yahoo news before going to another site.  I’m annoyed by health claim articles listing x # of items one should eat, particularly ones with over a dozen suggestions!

Two of the most important factors these news updates often forget:

  1. Quantity: Should we eat 2 oranges a day (sometimes I do) or 300 blueberries in one sitting?
  2. Quality:  Do I eat a GMO apple or a local and organic bananas?

I can’t wait for the day when ever fruit is classified as a SUPERfruit.


Spain Kyly Jacobs

Spain is located in Europe in the northern and western hemispheres. Portugal, Andorra, and France are the countries that border Spain. The capital city of Spain is Madrid, which is located at 40.2° N, 3.71° W.

A map of Europe.
Political boundaries of Spain.
A photograph in Madrid, Spain.

Physical Characteristics

Spain is in the temperate zone, meaning that in Spain it is hot in the summer, cold it the winter, and they have four distinct seasons. The temperate zone ranges in between 23.5° and 66.5° latitude. The temperate zone is in between the Arctic circle and the Tropic of Cancer.

Temperature zones (middle- tropical zone, red- temperate zone,top- Arctic zone, and bottom- Antarctic zone.)

Pico de Teide is located on the Canary Islands with an elavation of 12,198 feet. Pico de Teide is the highest peak in Spain. The Iberian Peninsula is located on the southwestern tip of Europe. The peninsula has an area do 583.254 km. The Strait of Gibraltar is between southernmost Spain and northwesternmost Africa. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. The strait is 36 miles long and narrows to 8 miles in width. It is 1,200 feet in depth.

Left- Pico de Teide, middle- Strait of Gibraltar, and right- Pyrenees Mountains

The population of Spain is 47.3 million people, which is a large population. Spain ranks 30th on the world rank of populations. The population density is 245 people per square mile. It is not crowded in Spain, and it ranks 113th on the world rank.

Population density map of Spain

The growth rate of Spain is 0.579%/year which is considered an average growth rate. The world average is about 1%. Spain's world ranking is 154th. The fertility rate of Spain is 1.48 children/woman.

The largest city in Spain is Madrid with a population of 3.142 million people.

A photo in Madrid, Spain.

The second largest city is Barcelona. The population of Barcelona is 1.605 million people. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain which has a population of 809,267 people.

People gathered for an event in Valencia, Spain.

The fourth largest city in Spain is Seville, Sevilla. This city has a population of 703,021 people. The fifth city is Zaragoza which has a population of 666,058.

Spain is 0.81% rural and 77.4% urban. Spain is more urban than rural. Spain's net migration rate is 7.24 migrants/1000 population. More people are entering Spain than leaving Spain. People may have moved to Spain in search of a job, safety, freedom, or new opportunities.

Spain is a developed country. First, the GDP per capita is $30,100. The average GDP per capita is around $13,000, and Spain's GDP per capita is almost two times the average GDP per capita. Next, the literacy rate of Spain is 97.7%. Almost everyone over the age of 15 in Spain can read and write. Also, the life expectancy is 81.47 years. The average age that people live to in Spain is 81.47 years, which means that Spain must have good health care in order to keep the people healthy.

The 5 main languages spoken in Spain are Castillian Spanish, Catalan, Galician, and Basque. 74% of Spain speaks Castillian Spanish. 17% of the Spanish population speaks Catalan. 7% of Spain speaks Galician, and 2% of the Spanish population speaks Basque.

The Roman Catholic religion is practiced by 94% of Spain's population. The other 6% of Spain practices other religions.

One cultural event that happens in Spain is the 400-year-old tradition in which bulls chase volunteers through the city.

A photo taken during the running of the bull.

Also, bull-fighting is a cultural tradition in Spain, but bull-fighting was banned in the Canary Islands in 1991 and in Catalonia in 2010.

A photograph of a Spanish bull-fighter

Some traditional foods in Spain include seafood. Olive oil, garlic, saffron, and pepper are ingredients often used in Spanish cooking. Rice is also popular and usually served with fish,chicken, or pork.

A Spanish dish.

Works Cited

Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britanica, Inc. Web. May 2016.

Geography Alive!: Regions and People. Palto Alto, CA: Teacher's Curriculum Institute, 2006. Print.

Opicury Software. World Atlas - The World HD (with Retina Maps). Version 3.6. Computer Software.

Wolfram Group LLC. Wolfram Geography Course Assistant. Version 1.2 Computer Software.

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The final Harry Potter novel will be in our hands this weekend. It will be then that our theories will be crushed or vindicated. We fully expect to be surprised and enthralled with what JK Rowling has put down in the final chapter of her saga. But there is one area of debate in the Potter universe that has fans lined up on opposite sides of the road. It’s time for us here at CB Tech to take off the gloves and determine the truth to the greatest debate in the Potter fandom.

Is Snape Evil?

Yes! Snape is a murderer!

-- Steve West

The question of whether Snape is evil or not has been entangled in his loyalty. I maintain that Snape’s loyalty to Dumbledore or Voldemort has no bearing on the truth in his heart. The simple fact is that throughout the books we have seen the Potions master skillfully play everyone he has come in contact with. This is a game of chess, and Snape is playing on a whole separate level.

In no situation can murder be a noble and just act. Through Dumbledore, Rowling has clearly indicated that murder is the most heinous of crimes in her world. The act of murder literally rips a persons soul to pieces. No matter how much we wish it to be so, there is no way Dumbledore would be an accomplice in the murder of anyone. Yes, that includes himself. Otherwise all our trust in the goodness of Dumbledore must be called into question.

If you do choose to take that path, you must still look at how Snape came to the tower for Dumbledore’s final moments. At the beginning of “Half-Blood Prince” we see Snape make the unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy to protect Draco. When Bellatrix asks if he will finish the job (meaning the murder of Dumbledore) if Draco cannot, he twitches. Snape, like all Slytherins, is interested in self-preservation and his own gain. An unbreakable vow is something that he would not enter into lightly. It is at this moment where Snape positions himself to begin his endgame.

Snape murdered Dumbledore, only a fool would dispute that. The question is…why? The answer lies in the man himself. We know that Snape is one of the most powerful wizards in the world; possibly third only to Voldemort and Dumbledore. Snape is a skilled legilimens who has fooled The Dark Lord and Dumbledore for many years. Finally Snape has spent his life derided by peers and denied the position of power he’s so often sought. No one would want to tolerate such treatment, especially a powerful wizard. Unless there was a greater plan at work.

The final item to look at here is the murder of Lilly and James Potter, and how the present day wizarding world came to be. We do not know all the details of that night, but we do have some information. Here’s what we know: Snape overheard Trelawny telling Dumbledore the prophecy; Snape passed that information on to Voldemort; in the process of trying to kill Harry Voldemort fell and lost all his power. It was in fact Snape who was most responsible for that night of death, a fact that Dumbledore acknowledges to Harry. Snape set into motion the events that would lead him to a position of power. Look at Snape’ reaction to Harry at the end of “Half-Blood Prince” when he’s called a coward. Snape erupts with rage, an emotion that denotes he has been pushed too far. At this point in the game Snape no longer wishes to tolerate the derision he so often received, and it’s here that he nearly reveals to Harry his true character.

Snape committed murder, and that makes him evil. No amount of explaining can remove that. If we remove the red herring (a plot device Rowling is immensely fond of) that is his loyalty it becomes clear that our dear potions master may have been playing us all for a fool.

No! I trust Severus Snape!

-- Kelly West

Why do I trust Snape? The short answer is because Dumbledore trusted Snape. Dumbledore's trust in Snape wasn't something that was recently introduced. It's been an ongoing theme since the first book. Sure, Dumbledore isn't perfect and he's proven in the past to make errs in judgment but in this case, he had plenty of reasons to distrust Snape. So why did he trust him?

We learned in "Half Blood Prince" that Snape was the one to spy on Trelawny when she recited the prophecy during her job interview with Dumbledore. Snape then went on to tell Voldemort the portion of the prophecy he overheard. Dumbledore claims that only when Snape learned that Voldemort intended to kill the Potters, Snape did come clean to him and ask for a chance at redemption. Why would Snape have told Dumbledore what Voldemort was about to do if he wasn't sincere in wanting Dumbledore to try to stop it? What purpose would that have served for the Dark Lord? Sure, it would be a good way to assume a role as a double agent and spy on Dumbledore but if Voldemort believed he could kill Harry and thus, destroy the "one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord," why would he need Snape to work as a double agent?

As for why Snape was willing to confess Voldemort's plan to Dumbledore, all we know is that when he gave Voldemort the information about the prophecy, he didn't know that it was the Potters Voldemort would be going after. So for whatever reason (and there are some good theories), Snape didn't mean for his actions to cause the Potters harm and did what he could to undo what he'd done, even if it meant turning his back on Voldemort.

It has been widely theorized that Dumbledore and Snape had planned for Snape to "murder" Dumbledore when the time came. There are a number of events, including what went on in the Tower, that support this theory. Dumbledore incapacitating Harry instead of Draco when Draco first showed up. Dumbledore's calm but weak demeanor throughout his conversation with Draco and the Death Eaters, followed by him suddenly begging Snape as soon as he showed up all suggest that he was somewhat in control of the situation. Perhaps the potion that Dumbledore drank in the cave was killing him anyway. Or maybe he was on borrowed time since he destroyed the horcrux in the ring. Either way, it’s possible he was going to die and decided to make his death count by allowing Snape to do him in, thus solidifying Snape's place at Voldemort's side, earning the trust of the Death Eaters who doubted his loyalty to Voldemort and positioning himself firmly in the trust of the Dark Lord.

Snape's look of disgust just prior to killing Dumbledore added to the rage he expressed when Harry later called him a coward could be interpreted as severe emotions he felt at having to kill the one good man who trusted him, despite his dark past.

Whether or not the above ideas will turn out to be true remains to be seen. What it comes down to is the fact that Dumbledore trusted Snape. If Snape's murdering Dumbledore really was a betrayal then Dumbledore was a fool for trusting him and I just can’t believe that. While Dumbledore wasn't perfect, he was able to see people for who they really were. He believed that not only did Snape want to be redeemed, but also that he deserved the chance to redeem himself and I think there was enough good in Snape to realize that opportunity was worth more than whatever Voldemort could offer him.

In the end, what it comes to is: I trust Dumbledore. Dumbledore trusted Severus Snape. I trust Severus Snape.

Don’t forget our other Potter debates here.
Read previous Great Debates by clicking here. Read previous Great Debates by clicking here.
Go where it all began, Great Debate in our Music section here.

Do you think Snape is evil?

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The course content for Fourth Grade Humanities is social studies
    based and focuses on these essential questions:

    Þ How do physical features and locations impact where and how people?

    Þ How do diverse resources, economic and industries affect the progress and growth of a region?

    Þ How, when and why do people move?

    Þ How do natural resources determine the development of industries in a region?

    Areas of study will include:
    Pennsylvania History and the Native American of this region and Regions of the US (Northeast, South, West, and Midwest)
    "I hear, and I forget.
    - Chinese Proverb
    Exploring Regions of the United States
    Map Machine - National Geographic provides this excellent site that will prove to be a valuable resource for students.  There are also questions from the National Geographic GeoBee to challenge students.

    Where in the USA? - Students can check their knowledge of the 50 states with this on-line quiz site.

    ALFY's Picks for United States - This site has multiple map activities for students, including a few games for students to play online or to download.


About Isobel Johnstone

Since childhood I have grown up with a deep love of animals. We lived in the country and, although I cannot remember, my mother told me when I was very young I had pet bantams and I would go out and feed them and chatter to them. My sisters and I then graduated to taming wild kittens found in our woodheap and much to my mother's despair adding them to our increasing pet cat population. We then added dogs of various breeds over the years.

I studied Veterinary Science and worked as a veterinarian in small animal practice for 30 years and I am now retired which gives me time to devote to my ability to communicate telepathically with animals. I no longer work in a clinical veterinary practice, therefore any health issues uncovered during the communication with your animal would be referred on to your veterinarian.

My mission is to bridge the communication gap between animals and humans and hopefully bring humans to a deeper understanding of animals and that they are intelligent, thinking, feeling beings.

Dr Noel Fitzpatrick, veterinary surgeon and pioneer of bionic development for animals when he was interviewed by Margaret Throsby on a show called "Mornings with Margaret Throsby, ABC Radio" said

“There is a lot of sentience within us that we ignore. Some people are great in loving relationships and some are not but we all have the same capacity for love, it depends on how we choose to use it. We all have the same capacity for feeling but we may not cultivate it.

“I have seen animals as sentient, that is they all have feelings needs and wants. The only way forward for mankind in my view is to understand that we have a responsibility for the animals on the planet and if we look after them we help ourselves.“

Isobels snake necklace


Evanston 3, Niles North 0: Sekov Smith, Larry Shaw and...

September 15, 1993

Evanston 3, Niles North 0: Sekov Smith, Larry Shaw and Bryan Kuchii (one assist) scored in the second half and goalie David Adamja recorded his third shutout for fifth-ranked Evanston (6-0-1).

Glenbard East 2, Morton 1: Al Bohnert's goal broke a 1-1 tie with 16:35 remaining to lead Glenbard East (3-2-2).

Highland Park 2, Maine South 1: Jason Zigman and Jeff Kaplan scored to lead Highland Park (3-1-1, 1-0) in the Central Suburban North.

Illiana Christian 3, Wheaton Christian 2: Chad Wiersema hit the winning goal on a pass from Paul Kuiper with :11 left as Illiana Christian (4-2 1-0) prevailed in the Private School League over Wheaton Christian (3-4, 0-1).

Loyola 3, St. Laurence 1: Jason Urban tallied twice and Marko Andrus once as Loyola (3-3) prevailed in the Catholic League.

Naperville North 3, Downers Grove South 0: David Eberhard, Randy Mucek and Tom Dillon scored and goalkeeper Adam Farber made eight saves as Naperville North (5-1-1) triumphed.

Niles West 1, Glenbrook South 0: George Platis scored on a penalty kick and sophomore goalie Seong Bong Ha made it stand up for Niles West (3-2-1, 1-0 in the Central Suburban South).

Geneva 2, Oswego 1: Andy Huston tallied twice in the second half to lead Geneva (2-3-1, 1-0-1) in the Little Seven.

Francis Parker 2, Latin 0: Jamie Lester converted a penalty kick, Kyle Kamin added a goal and Marty Morris stopped 15 shots as Parker (3-6, 3-0) prevailed in the Independent School League.

Weber 2, Fenwick 1: Weber (3-5, 1-0) ended Fenwick's (8-1, 0-1) undefeated run in the Catholic League opener for both teams. Gorge Junco and Fred Laureano assisted on each other's goals and goalkeeper Michael Soto had 14 saves.

York 3, Hinsdale Central 1: Paul Tuleja, Rico Castaneda and Rolando Quiroga had first-half goals for York (6-2, 2-0) in the West Suburban Silver.


Saturday, October 27, 2007

Korean War

this is a response to the seafood soup i had yesterday at the korean stall - i decided to read up past Presidents of Republic of Korea (South Korea), which i eventually read about the Korean War too.

brief facts:

Korea's annexation by Japan
- China was defeated by Japan just before the turn into 20th century (1st Sino-Japanese War).

- Japan in return gained control of Korea (annexation) from 1910-1945.

Separation of Korea after WWII
- At the end of WWII, Japan surrendered Korea to US and Soviet Union (Russia), both of them kept their forces close to the 38th parallel. 38th parallel is the demarcation line between the 2 Koreas today.

- US had supported an election in whole of Korea, as Koreans had opposed another round of foreign control after Japan. Soviet feared that the election was in favour of South Korea, thus North Korea boycotted the election.

Rise of ideological dictators
- Syngman Rhee, the 1st President of ROK was elected in 1948. At North Korea, Kim II-sung was endorsed by the Soviet to be the first communist hardline ruler. With two dictators with similar ideologies to unify Korea, skirmishes began.

- Notably, Soviet was not too intent on supporting Kim, as it would mean war with the US. However, Stalin decided to approve an attack by Kim into South Korea, before the latter became strong enough to defend itself. North Korea started the Korean War in 25 June 1950.

- The communists gained control of Seoul in just 3 days, on the 28 June 1950 thanks to good planning and superiority in armour and artillery.

UN rushes past 38th parallel and occupies Pyongyang
- In reaction, UN drafted a new resolution which enabled US to intervene. For nearly 2 months, UN had little success and in control of only 10% of Korea peninsula. However, the combination of US air raids and influx of Japanese soldiers bolstered the morale of the UN troops, which launched a counterattack in early September 1950.

- The UN troops drove the North Koreans back past the 38th parallel. However as US desired the goal of unifying Korea, they pursued a rollback policy, which China saw as a threat since US will inevitably attack China's bases that are supporting North Korea. The UN troops occupied Pyongyang in October 1950.

China fights back, communists occupies Seoul
- US underestimated China's ability in the war, and thus was roundly defeated with heavy casualties. Humiliated, it retreated to Pusan. Seoul was recaptured by communists in January 1951.

US reassembles Eighth Army, UN reinvents war strategy
- Over several Operations (Ops Roundup, Killer, Ripper, Courageous and Tomahawk), the US army pushed themselves northwards, despite similar offensives by the Chinese. US did consider using atomic bombs, which was infamously used to force Japan's surrender in WWII.

- UN troops stopped at Line Kansas, just northwards from 38th parallel this time.

- Little movement were felt from July 1951 to July 1953, and military troops on both sides attempted to regain all areas around the 38th parallel.

- Eventually a ceasefire was established; with North Korean troops on one side and South Korean plus US troops on the other.

- There have been no major incidents since, however both Koreas are still technically at war. This is because strongman Syngman Rhee didn't sign the armistice agreement together with US and Pyongyang.

- The cross occupation of Seoul and Pyongyang in just 2 years is intriguing. My admiration for all the troops that really persevered.

- I read with interest that South Korea's economy was in greater shambles compared to the northern neighbour after Korean War. North Korea's recovery was faster until 1975. Although Syngman Rhee was a strongman dictator, he apparently led a clean government towards modernization and industrialization, leading to today's successful South Korea.

- US probably wanted the world to forget its humiliating retreat midway Korean War - the latter is also known as the Forgotten War.

- Being a Singaporean born in the 1980s, i have not tasted any war in history. Of course, i'm not for any war to break out, but would want to understand and appreciate hardships suffered by forefathers in earlier years. Despite the strong economy in Singapore itself, we must be aware that many global situations are not within our control - someday we will be in trouble. Thus my message to friends and myself is not to be overly complacent of ourselves and forget about the past.

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Population genetics theory

(Note: this is also a test on how to use latex on wordpress)

The diffusion and coalescent are probably the two most important models in population genetics. The two processes essentially explain the same thing (evolution of a population), and I knew for a while (since attending Yun Song’s class in 2012), that there is a nice identity that links the two:

    \[\mathbb{E}[X_t^n|X_s=x] = \mathbb{E}[x^{A_s}|A_t=n]\]

There is quite a bit of notation in here, so let’s start: X_t is the diffusion process at time t, and A_t is the ancestral process at t. The diffusion process describes how the allele frequencies change forward in time, and the ancestral process describes how ancestral lineages merge when we track them backwards in time; both of them can be thought as measuring genetic drift. From a probability theoretic point of view, it is also interesting to note that the first expectation describes the moments of X_t, and the right-hand side is the moment-generating function of A_t. Thus, both specify the distribution of the respective processes completely!

For the last years, I always took it as some arcane math, especially since the equation is most frequently applied in very theoretical papers. However, I recently discovered a really nice proof, that provides an intuitive understanding on why the equality holds. Ironically, it is also (I think) the original source of the equation: Tavare, 1984.

For the proof, consider a population where we know allele A has allele frequency X_s at time s, and that s is further in the past than t. Now, at time t, we sample n individuals from the population, and we want to calculate the probability they all have allele A. Now, on the one hand, we know that the population has allele frequency X_t at time t, and drawing n individuals, each individual has probability X_t to be of type A, so the probability of the event is X_t^n. On the other hand, if we start the ancestral process with n individuals at time t, and we want to calculate the probability that all these n individuals have the A alelle. In this case, we track them backwards in time until time s (when some of them will have coalesced), and only A_s lineages are left. Then, for all n lineages to have type A, all the A_s surviving lineages must have type A, which happens with probability X_s^{A_s}. Thus, both sides of the equation are the expectation of indicators of the same event!

\textbf{Conditional exponential}

Let X be an exponential with parameter \lambda

    \[\mathbb{E}X|X<\alpha = \frac{1}{\lambda} - \frac{\alpha e^{-\lambda \alpha}}{1-e^{-\lambda \alpha}}\]


SQLite Tutorial

Extrait de la page d'accueil du site.

SQLite is a popular relational database technology that is contained in a C programming library. SQLite is a compact library that reads and writes directly to ordinary disk files. It is, in essence, a serverless SQL database.

Our tutorial will start with the basics of SQLite such as how to retrieve and manipulate data. Then we will move to the more advanced topics such as how to create tables. We will conclude with a review of the functions that are proprietary to SQLite.

With this tutorial, you should be on your way to becoming proficient in SQLite and its programming language.


Monday, 27 February 2012

Proven business strategies during a recession

Change is great. We all love to see people try to improve things. Where would we be without adventurers and risk-takers? If you are in search of glory or wish to make a fortune, it obviously pays to be first. Nevertheless, during an economic depression, it can happen that early birds just get eaten first.

That does not mean that we should be sceptical about innovation, but only that, when money is tight, it is advisable to be extra careful. If you are running a business these days, you are probably watching your cash-flow like a hawk. Well done. My guess is that, right now, you need to make a major mistake like you need a hole in your head.

Managing a company in recession mode demands more of the ant than of the grasshopper in our souls. When the market recovers, there will be plenty of time for taking bold risks. In the meantime, a miser's frame of mind might be what you need to ensure business survival. In my view, in difficult times, one should keep in mind the following three principles:

1.- MAKE PRODUCTS FOR EASILY ACCESSIBLE MARKETS. If you are running a specialist service company in Minnesota, forget about the Chinese market for the moment. Chances are that you'll be able to detect better opportunities if you concentrate your attention on people next door. Transportation costs money and communication takes time. In times of deep economic trouble, I believe in focusing all efforts on the easiest markets and putting aside, temporarily, risky expansion ideas.

2.- USE QUALITY ASSURANCE TO SAVE YOU MONEY. If you are delivering services, such as painting houses, what level of quality should you try to achieve? How often do you give grounds of complaint to your customers? If your answer is never, you are doing great. If not, that might be good news as well. Quality improvements, as perceived by customers, often involve negligible costs for business. Delivering impeccable quality saves you money. For this reason, during an economic recession, I wouldn't recommend launching new products with potential quality problems that might take you down beyond hope of recovery.

3.- EVALUATE EVERY BUSINESS COST AS AN INVESTMENT. An economic recession blurs the line between fixed and variable costs, production and overhead. When money is tight, you need to take immediate decisions about where your cash is going. Evaluating every expenditure as an investment is a technique that brings about outstanding results. Is your inventory going to make you a profit within the next two months? Which steps of your process could be eliminated without negative impact for customers? In periods of crisis, one should eliminate investments in new technologies with long payback periods, since they might eat up the cash that you need to survive right now.

When you look around and see people going bankrupt, it is not unwise to become risk-shy. Before you explore new countries, take a walk down the street. Before you invest in new technology, make sure that you can afford it. Before you take additional cargo, stabilize your ship. One day, hopefully soon, the storm will be over and we will be able to go back to plain sailing, bold innovation, and massive expansion.

[Image by individuo under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under]