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Tyrann Mathieu couldn't have landed in a better situation than with the Arizona Cardinals, for whom he'll play free safety alongside his friend and mentor, cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim admitted to Sports Illustrated's Peter King on Sunday night that Mathieu, who was kicked off the LSU team for failing multiple drug tests, isn't the player he normally would consider drafting.
Harrison: Recapping the draft
Now that all the picks are in the books, Elliot Harrison breaks down the 2013 NFL Draft. Who won -- and who should be worried? **More ...**
"It's uncharacteristic of our organization to take chances on guys with troubled pasts," Keim said. "But we thought this was a good player and person for us to take."
Not only will the Cardinals protect themselves by drug testing Mathieu randomly, possibly on a weekly basis, but they will construct the third-round pick's contract with no guaranteed money, according to King. Mathieu's contract will allow for roster bonuses in a move designed to protect the team if his troubles continue and they cut him.
Last year, the Buffalo Bills selected wide receiver T.J. Graham with the No. 69 overall pick in the draft. Graham signed a four-year contract with a $671,000 bonus, according to King.
"I'm not naive about this," Keim said. "I know the risk. But the risk to reward was enticing. His passion for the game is off the charts."
Follow Kevin Patra on Twitter @kpatra.


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Karateka and author Chris Denwood, Sensei has penned a nice article on The Importance of Water for people in training – a topic I've written about before. Although there isn't a universal recognition of this issue, some scientists believe that chronic dehydration is linked to a range of diseases.
75% of people around the world are chronically dehydrated.
This is amazing on the surface, when you consider that people are drinking so much – coffee, softdrinks, alcohol, energy drinks, etc. But how much is enough? Well some experts state that you should drink a litre of water per day per 25kg of body weight. I don't know many people that would actually do that!
alcohol and many soft drinks actually steal water from the body and other beverages such as coffee require water from the body to be digested.
It seems like good, old fashion, natural water is the best thing. The 25 litres/kilogram guideline applies to water only. Other drinks are at best neutral, but most require you to add more water in order to be correctly hydrated. One rule of thumb is that every cup of coffee, softdrink, alcohol means you should add the equivalent quantity of water back into your system.
Of course, this is a base level – when we train hard we need to replenish the water lost through perspiration.
A recent piece in The Conversation pointed out that softdrinks in particular are a growing problem in modern society, and that the levels at which they are being consumed present a growing public health issue.
I've come to the opinion that it's not just the sugars in softdrinks (which are bad in and of themselves), but the chemicals in diet softdrinks are also a factor in the obesity epidemic, and serve to reduce people's satiety levels.
This is a double-whammy. As Chris said in his post:
In over a third of all people, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
So people have reduced satiety levels from drinking too much diet softdrink, and they are also dehydrated, leading to more hunger! Not a healthy mix.
In the old days, karateka were often not allowed to drink water during class. We were told that sweating was good for us. In the Kengokan Dojo, I allow regular "water breaks"hydration pauses", and insist people have some, especially during hard sessions or when the weather is particularly hot! I believe every instructor should take the same approach.
So for all reading this:
- Make sure your base level of water consumption is appropriate
- Eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, the amount of softdrink you're consuming
- Take regular hydration pauses during your training
Oh, and one more thing – if you've not subsribed to Chris Denwood's blog, do yourself a favour and do so now. Or follow @chrisdenwood on Twitter.

subset: commoncrawl


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The details of how I researched and decided to have breast augmentation.
Stories from our generous visitors from consultation to recovery and, in some case, through additional surgeries.
Find out in this exciting new section revealing the thoughts and motivations of significant others.
Devoted to women who met each other here and who were willing to share photos with us.
One of our visitors was kind enough to compile a bunch of cute things that our kids (and husbands) say when confronted with the issue of our breasts . . .


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Stephen Hawking says AI could 'end human race'
Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist, cosmologist and author, in an interview with the BBC this week, said "the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."
The BBC noted that Hawking said the state of artificial intelligence (AI) today holds no threat, but he is concerned about scientists in the future creating technology that can surpass humans in terms of both intelligence and physical strength.
"It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever-increasing rate," Hawking said. "Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete, and would be superseded."
Hawking's comments closely follow those made by high-tech entrepreneur Musk, who raised controversy in late October when he warned an audience at MIT about the dangers behind AI research.
"I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence," said Musk, CEO of electric car maker Tesla Motors, and CEO and co-founder of the commercial space flight company SpaceX. "If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that... With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. In all those stories with the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, and he's sure he can control the demon. It doesn't work out."
Musk, who tweeted this past summer that AI is "potentially more dangerous than nukes," also told the MIT audience that the industry needs national and international oversight.
Musk's comments raised discussion about the state of artificial intelligence, which today is more about robotic vacuum cleaners than Terminator-like robots that shoot people and take over the world.
Yaser Abu-Mostafa, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the California Institute of Technology, said he was a little surprised that AI is getting so much negative attention since the fearful talk hasn't been preceded by the creation of a new, potentially scary technology.
"We indeed have not made any huge advances in AI recently that would warrant such concern," Abu-Mostafa told Computerworld. "One factor is that the quick advances in technological products, like cell phones, and their broad availability to everyone, even children, have made it easier for science-fiction-level predictions to be believable by the general population."
While Musk and Hawking are far from typical members of the general population, he still doesn't agree with them.
"I am not worried, not only because we are probably decades away from a superior level of machine intelligence, but also because I believe we can control it when we get there. Using the nuclear technology analogy, the fact that we now have the physical ability to destroy the entire world in minutes does not mean that it will just happen. Humans can and do put the safeguards in place to prevent that."
Some scientists do have concerns about artificial intelligence advancing beyond human control, but they admit the technology is 50 to 100 years away. That leaves plenty of time to prepare for any threatening advances in AI technology.
"I actually do think this is a valid concern and it's really an interesting one," said Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, in a previous interview. "It's a remote, far future danger but sometime we're going to have to think about it. If we're at all close to building these super-intelligent, powerful machines, we should absolutely stop and figure out what we're doing."
Stuart Russell, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California Berkeley, said he sees some future danger to artificial intelligence, and that's why he's making efforts now, organizing talks and workshops, to educate scientists about it.
Now is the time to start thinking about the issue, before scientists are capable of building the machines, he said.


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Video ▶
A patient who needs an extremely difficult surgery comes to Seattle Grace, and it's Richard and Owen who vie for the opportunity to tackle it. But the decision lies in the hands of Derek, who deems that Owen should take on the surgery, leaving Richard bitter. Meanwhile, Bailey deals with her own personal struggles when she nervously prepares for another date with Ben.
Episode Guide
Season 01
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Jaguars set to play home games in London
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to be England's team.
The NFL and the Jaguars announced Tuesday that the small-market franchise will play one home game in London for four consecutive seasons beginning in 2013 -- a step the team believes will broaden its fan base and take some pressure off locals who have mostly failed to fill the stands in recent years.
"I passionately believe the big growth now is going to come from overseas," owner Shad Khan said. "We've got to go where we can leverage and take advantage of some of those things. You've got to fish in ponds where you've got fish in there. We're going to a pond where there are no fishermen."
The Jaguars will play at historic Wembley Stadium, which has hosted one NFL game annually since 2007.
"We want to create an identity, a bold, ambitious franchise that is aggressive and forward-thinking on the field and away from the field," Khan said. "We want to be the kind of franchise players want to belong to, sponsors want to be part of, and Jacksonville is proud of. ... The key point is to sell Jacksonville to the world. We are a well-kept secret, but after today, that's not going to be the case."
By all accounts, the Jaguars are the NFL's least popular team. They rank at or near the bottom of the league in website hits as well as Twitter and Facebook interactions. Although Jacksonville is the largest city in the continental United States in terms of land mass, it is home to just 1.3 million people -- and that includes several surrounding areas; London alone has 8 million people.
Missing the playoffs in 10 of 12 seasons has made attracting fans a problem in Jacksonville. The team used to pack the stands regularly, even though it plays in a stadium built to house large crowds for the annual Florida-Georgia college football game. But in 2005, the Jaguars decided to cover up nearly 10,000 seats with tarps to reduce capacity and limit television blackouts. Even though the Jaguars haven't blacked out a home game since 2009, they still have struggled to fill EverBank Field.
Playing an annual game in London will reduce season-ticket prices by 10 percent, possibly making the remaining package a more affordable and enticing option.
Reaction, though, was mixed among the fan base. Some supported the decision and others questioned the team's motives. After all, if the Jaguars become England's team and continue to have issues back home, what's to stop the NFL from moving them across the pond for good?
"You can't fault them if anyone is mad about this," kicker Josh Scobee said. "We can only ask for their support in going over there and ask them to watch it on TV."
The St. Louis Rams had been scheduled to play in London in 2013 and 2014, but they pulled out last week, citing a need to focus on lease negotiations and ease fan discontent.
The Jaguars scooped up the available games -- plus some.
"It's just good for the Jaguar brand," tight end Marcedes Lewis said. "It's exciting to go over there and put ourselves on the map worldwide. When I got drafted in 2006, there were some of my family members who didn't even know who the Jaguars were."
Players recognized the major pitfalls -- traveling overseas and giving up home games -- but no one knocked the decision publicly.
"We know football is the greatest sport in the states, so for fans in other areas who don't get to watch it first hand, it's good for them to experience and see what we all brag about," cornerback Rashean Mathis said.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined Khan for the announcement, which fittingly came on a gray, rain-soaked day in Jacksonville -- typical London weather. Goodell reaffirmed his commitment to expanding to multiple games in England and eventually establishing a franchise there.
"The big issue for us was finding a community that understood that this could be great for the community, wrap their arms around it and say this is a win-win situation," Goodell said.
Khan said the Jaguars are committed to playing all four years at Wembley, even if the team becomes a Super Bowl contender and a hot ticket in Jacksonville.
"I think if you make a commitment, you stick with it," said Khan, who bought the team in November for $770 million. "To me, we're all in."
Khan added that he would consider playing more games overseas after the deal expires in 2016. He also acknowledged that the payoff probably won't be seen immediately. He suggested that Londoners could fall in love with the Jaguars and decide to visit Jacksonville regularly. The ultimate goal, though, would be to have European companies spend millions in Jacksonville.
"If somebody builds a container port, if somebody makes an investment out of Germany or England or Netherlands and they chose Jacksonville, that would be a huge return from my viewpoint," Khan said. "You could have people come here -- we've got beautiful golf, weather -- instead of vacationing in Miami or some place and they come up here and watch a game or two. That would be a huge return for me."
Coach Mike Mularkey and cornerback Aaron Ross have made the trip before -- Ross with the New York Giants in 2007, and Mularkey with the Dolphins that year -- and both praised the fans and the experience they gained from making the trip.
"I know Shad's been trying to have people recognize what's going on here in this town," Mularkey said. "I think this is a great opportunity to get it. Obviously going overseas, that's making a statement."


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SCOTT SIMON, Host:
A man named Ed Mickolus joins us now. Two spies walk into a bar. One spy says to the other...
ED MICKOLUS: I'm sorry, Scott. You're not cleared for that punchline.
SIMON: Thanks so much for being with us
MICKOLUS: Hey, just delighted to be here.
SIMON: Is that a smile face on your CIA I.D.?
MICKOLUS: Well, oddly enough it is a Family Day badge that we have. So...
SIMON: Is that like bring your children...
MICKOLUS: Bring Your Kids to Work Day, right. So we have people who will come in and show their kids all the cool spy stuff. And last year...
MICKOLUS: ...one of my friends came in with his eight-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter. And he was asked by his son, Jeez, this is so cool, dad. Did you actually use any of this stuff? And he comes up with the standard line, Well, son, if I told you I'd have to kill you.
SIMON: Oh.
MICKOLUS: The son says, tell my sister.
SIMON: Now, do I have this right? You actually started a comedy club in the CIA?
MICKOLUS: I did. I wanted to try out some of the material that I was using for regular comedy clubs in the D.C. And eventually I learned that, you know, this is a lot tougher than it looks when the professionals are doing it. So, did it for a little while then decided, eh, let's keep thee day job.
SIMON: Yeah. Which I mean it's a little bit like being a spy, right? I mean that looks irresistible when you see it in "Casino Royale." But, on the other hand, as you know - now, you were undercover for a while, right?
MICKOLUS: I was, indeed. And your first day on the job, you walk in and you're hoping to be Jack Bauer. And you fill out little forms that say here's what your alias is going to be. So I was filling out: I want to be a Buck Steel; I want to be Rock Hardy; I want to be a cool-sounding spy. They hand me the material. Who am I going to be: Hiram Quentin Willoughby.
SIMON: Yeah, not exactly the kind of game that people make movies about those characters, right?
MICKOLUS: He named it strikes terror in the hearts of the Taliban.
SIMON: Should American taxpayers, American citizens, be reassured or alarmed that CIA officers are telling jokes?
MICKOLUS: We also are hired in part to recruit spies to steal secrets. And you want somebody that you can relate to. You want to have someone who's going to look to you as a friend that you're working with. So, absolutely we're recruiting the right kind of people.
SIMON: So sense of humor is important in defining that.
MICKOLUS: Absolutely, it is. You know, we don't take ourselves too seriously. But we certainly take the mission seriously.
SIMON: Tell us one of your favorites, if you could.
MICKOLUS: Why did the case officer cross the road? To make sure that surveillance was going to follow him.
SIMON: You guys think that's really funny?
MICKOLUS: You know, that just kills in training.
MICKOLUS: Apparently I'm not going to be using that though at the next comedy club that I do.
SIMON: No, don't judge it by my reaction alone. Like, wouldn't an alternative punchline be, you know, something like: I'm sorry we can't confirm or deny that the operative has crossed the road?
MICKOLUS: Let me write that down, if you don't mind.
MICKOLUS: I'll use that one instead.
SIMON: Mr. Mickolus, thanks very much.
MICKOLUS: Hey, honored to be here. Thank you.
SIMON: Psst, you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Mandala 1A
This expert Mandala coloring sheet is a fun design and super challenging to color. Mandala 1A coloring page can be decorated online with the interactive coloring machine or print to color at home. Your Mandala coloring pages make a great gift for friends and family or creative artwork for your wall.


text: Colin Gray wrote something along the lines that strategy cannot escape culture, which implies strategy is not only shaped by the strategic culture of nations (nation-states or non-state nations), it is limited by cultural norms. The questions are interesting and are worth responding to, but at a later date. It does seem when the U.S. conducts a net assessment relative to an adversary the net assessment is largely a math problem to determine what side has the balance of military power. Seldom do you see discussions on the balance of will power between opponents, or how their strategic cultures provide advantages and disadvantages when juxtaposed against a future conflict scenario. Reminds of an alleged Einstein quote, "not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."


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By SCOTT ROTHSCHILD, The Lawrence Journal-World
TOPEKA, KAN. — Likely Democratic Party candidate for governor Paul Davis will be running against incumbent Republican Sam Brownback in the November election, but it may seem like Davis is also running against President Barack Obama.
So far, Brownback's team has been more than happy to remind Kansans that Davis has been an Obama supporter in the last two presidential elections.
"There are only so many Kansans willing to vote for a guy who doubled down on the Obama agenda as an Obama delegate in 2008 and 2012," Brownback's campaign spokesman David Kensinger said recently.
The Davis campaign's strategy is to focus on Brownback. Davis has said that Brownback's push to lower income tax rates and eliminate income taxes for many business owners has shifted the tax burden onto low and moderate-income Kansans.
"Kansans won't be surprised to see Sam Brownback attempt to make his re-election a referendum on what's going on in Washington, D.C. because his own experiment on the people of Kansas is failing," said Haley Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Davis campaign.
Trying to link Davis to Obama would seem like a no-brainer in the Republican playbook.
In 2012, Obama collected 38 percent of the vote in Kansas. In recent weeks, the troubled rollout of the website for Obamacare has dominated headlines.
"He (Davis) owns the Obama agenda," said Kansas Republican Party Executive Director Clay Barker. "His past choices define him and his campaign," he said.
"The Obama connection is a problem for Davis, especially among core Republican voters," said Chapman Rackaway, a political science professor at Fort Hays State University.
Davis must woo Republican voters to have a shot at defeating Brownback in November. In Kansas, 45 percent of registered voters are Republican, 30 percent are unaffiliated and 25 percent are Democrats.
Rackaway said linking Davis to Obama will probably be done during the campaign mostly by third-party advocacy groups, such as Americans for Prosperity.
"I imagine a staffer with AFP or a similar group is poring over photo morgues as we speak looking for pictures of the two together," Rackaway said.
Being tagged as a friend of Obama's has been political poison in recent Kansas elections, including the 2012 Republican Party primary when Brownback's conservative allies defeated a number of moderate Republican senators.
For his part, Davis, the House minority leader from Lawrence, has maintained that he is the moderate candidate who has worked with Republicans and Democrats on major policy initiatives.
His campaign treasurer is Republican William Kassebaum and Davis has pledged to run a bi-partisan administration.
In October, a SurveyUSA poll found that 58 percent of Kansans disapproved of the job Brownback was doing, while 35 percent approved. When the poll asked individuals' personal opinion of Brownback, 22 percent were favorable and 47 percent unfavorable, while the remaining were either neutral or had no opinion.
Rackaway said Republicans tying Davis to Obama may signal that Brownback sees Davis as a threat. But Rackaway said he thinks the Brownback campaign will focus on the message of lowering tax rates.


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For The Media
Concordia College athletics media coverage is unique to Division III as the Cobbers are thoroughly covered by four television stations, one local newspaper and several radio stations in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
Cobber athletes are routinely highlighted in features in TV and in the Fargo Forum. On top of the feature and special reports on the Cobber athletic teams, all athletic games, meets and matches are covered by the local media and draw attention to the outstanding Concordia student/athletes.
College Media Information
The Concordia athletics sports information office handles all
media requests for Cobber coaches and student/athletes. Media,
including newspapers, internet outlets, television stations, radio
stations and photographers, should contact Jim Cella for
information regarding access and credentials.
Visiting radio lines are available at Jake Christiansen Stadium
(football), Memorial Auditorium (men's basketball, women's
basketball, volleyball and wrestling) and Moorhead Sports Center
(men's and women's hockey). They are assigned on a first-come,
first-served basis. Additional space is available for cellphone
Radio lines are not available at baseball, softball and men's and
women's soccer facilities, but space is available for cellphone
To obtain use of a line and press box space, contact Jim
Wireless internet connections are available in the press box at
Jake Christiansen Stadium and courtside at Memorial Auditorium as
well as at Moorhead Sports Center and the Jake Christiansen
Athletic Complex for baseball, fastpitch softball and men's and
women's soccer. Media are welcomed to connect during the event and
may contact Jim Cella to obtain access.
Jim Cella, Sports Information Director
Phone: (218) 299-3194
Cell: (701) 371-6359
Concordia Sports Information Office, 901 South 8th Street,
Moorhead, MN, 56562


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New York and Christianity
When Tim Tebow was traded from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets, media reports focused on two issues: first, how would the trade affect starting quarterback, Mark Sanchez? And second, how would the unapologetically evangelical Tebow do in New York City? More than one Christian writer has even referred to my hometown as "Babylon."
Now, if all you have to go on are television and movies, then I can see why you might think that New York is particularly hostile to Christians and Christianity. Apart from weddings, I can't recall any fictional New Yorkers attending church services.
The key is "fictional." The reality is increasingly different.
New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin's faith did not prove to be an obstacle to "Linsanity." In fact, the New York Times ran two articles on urban Asian-American Evangelicals. New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey has just published an autobiography titled, "Wherever I May Wind Up," in which he describes how his Christian faith helped him to overcome a very troubled past. So Tim Tebow is only the latest in a series of high-profile Christian athletes in New York.
Of course it goes far beyond athletes. An unintended consequence of globalization and migration to New York from other parts of the country is that the newcomers have brought their faith with them. The past few decades have seen the establishment of vibrant churches such as Times Square Church, Redeemer Presbyterian, Trinity Grace, and many others.
On any given Sunday, countless New Yorkers gather across the city mostly in auditoriums - this is New York, after all - to worship together. People meet in Bible studies and prayer groups throughout the city during the week.
It's all part of a mission to what I call the "next unreached people group": cultural elites and those who aspire to be cultural elites. I know "cultural elite" is a pejorative term in many Christian circles - justifiably so at times. But this group exists and reaching out to them is an important part of shaping culture. And reaching them requires going to the places they live: cities like New York.
In doing so, today's Christians are emulating the early church. Christianity began life as an urban religion. From Jerusalem it spread to the great cities of the Roman world: Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Athens and, of course, Rome itself.
Then, as now, the great cities set the example that the rest of the empire followed. In fact, our word "civilization" comes from the Latin word for "city dweller." Maps of Christianity's spread in the first three centuries shows it going from city to city throughout the Mediterranean.
What's more, the Roman Empire was urbanized to a degree that Europe wouldn't see again until the nineteenth century. If you wanted to turn the world upside down, great cities were the place to be.
Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. Outside of the United States, the explosion of Christianity is an overwhelmingly urban phenomenon. What's happening in New York is just part of a larger global trend.
But there's more going on New York than just people attending church on Sundays: Christian ideas are getting a hearing, too. That's the subject of tomorrow's broadcast.


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The fastest hands in the East meets the biggest mouth in the West
Rating: 8/10
Running Time: 97 minutes
UK Certificate: 12
On DVD
Just when you think you're fed-up to the back teeth of Hollywood's seemingly endless stream of buddy-cop comedies, along comes one like 1998's 'Rush Hour' and all is forgiven.
This deservedly successful martial arts fun-a-thon doesn't exactly go out of its way to tweak with the tried-and-tested formula like practically every other example in the genre, it pits two complete opposites together to foil a dastardly crim, and inevitably become the best of pals along the way. But the electric performances of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, alongside some pacy direction from Brett Ratner and Chan's trademark kung-fu battles, turn this into a surprisingly enjoyable hour and a half.
Chan plays Lee, the Hong Kong cop who flies to the States to investigate the kidnapping of little Soo Yung (Julia Hsu), the daughter of Chinese consul and close friend Han (Tzi Ma). The trouble is, the Feds want him out of the way so they can get on with solving the crime themselves. So jabber-mouthed LAPD 'tec James Carter (Tucker, giving it his best Axel Foley impersonation) is brought on board to keep Lee out of the way or, at least, that's the intention.
The plot's got some serious Swiss Cheese syndrome, but when the whole thing comes together it's so entertaining that a little thing like plausibility shouldn't stand in the way. There's a genuinely funny script, some terrific stunts for Chan to try his hand at (including leaping from a bus, fighting in a pool hall and sliding down a giant silk banner) and, as is customary, lots of stuff being blown up.
It's Got: Choreographed stunts-a-plenty from the legendary Mr Chan
It Needs: More from the fantastic Philip Baker Hall as the deadpan LAPD chief.
DVD Extras Trailer, deleted scenes, cast and crew details, behind the scenes stuff, a 40 minute short film entitled What Happened to Mason Reese, 17(!) featurettes, and a couple of music vids. DVD Extras Rating: 9/10
One of the best and funniest action buddy-flicks around a rollicking good ride.


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Nearly two years ago, we published a round-up of the greatest Ruby and Rails learning resources available. Since then, big things have happended in the glorious world of Ruby. Rails 3 brought many fundamental improvements to the framework. So, naturally, our "essential resources" list needed to be updated!
Read on for a round-up of the greatest articles, books, and screencasts to come out of the Ruby community!
1 - Beginning Ruby
Ruby Programming Language
Ruby is… A dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write.
Try out Ruby in an interactive console directly in your browser! Enter
to start a 15-minute interactive tutorial. -
Ruby Koans
The Koans walk you along the path to enlightenment in order to learn Ruby. The goal is to learn the Ruby language, syntax, structure, and some common functions and libraries. We also teach you culture. Testing is not just something we pay lip service to, but something we live. It is essential in your quest to learn and do great things in the language.
The koans are broken out into areas by file, hashes are covered in about_hashes.rb, modules are introduced in about_modules.rb, etc. They are presented in order in the path_to_enlightenment.rb file.
Ruby for Newbies
This ongoing video session will introduce you to Ruby, as well as the great frameworks and tools that go along with Ruby development. If you're hoping to make the switch, now is the perfect time to get started!
Hackety Hack
Hackety Hack will teach you the absolute basics of programming from the ground up. No previous programming experience is needed!
With Hackety Hack, you'll learn the Ruby programming language Ruby is used for all kinds of programs, including desktop applications and websites.
PeepCode – Ruby 1.9 series
PeepCode has teamed up with Gregg Pollack and David A. Black of Envycasts to provide you with their current library of screencasts!
Jump into the future of Ruby with this two part series on the distinguishing new features of Ruby 1.9. Topics covered in this 41-minute screencast include: hashes, arrays, symbols, enumerators, enuerable and RubyGems.
2 - Beginning Rails
Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example
The Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial book and screencast series teach you how to develop and deploy real, industrial-strength web applications with Ruby on Rails, the open-source web framework that powers many top websites, including Hulu, GitHub, and the Yellow Pages. The companion screencast series includes 12 individual lessons totaling more than 15 hours. The best deal is the PDF/screencast bundle, which includes more than 500 pages of total content and more than 15 hours of video.
Dive into Rails 3
Gregg Pollack from EnvyLabs presents five short video tutorials to help you learn about all the new components found in Rails 3 like Bundler, Active Model and Active Relation, as well as the new syntax of the router and Action Mailer. It's everything you need to get started.
CodeSchool – Rails for Zombies
In this free course Gregg Pollack from Envy Labs will walk you the basics of learning Ruby on Rails in five levels, each of which is followed by a series of code challenges where you get to start coding Rails immediately in the browser.
Rails Guides - Getting Started with Rails
Install Rails, create an application, using databases, the principles of MVC and RESTful design – this is an essential resource for getting started with Rails and learning the best practices.
PeepCode – Meet Rails 3 series
This 75 minute screencast introduces Rails 3, the result of two years of low-level improvements, API refinements, and performance optimizations. If you are just learning Rails or if you have limited knowledge and want to learn more, this is the video for you!
This highly-polished screencast will give you a gentle introduction to the ideas that have transformed modern web development.
SitePoint – Getting Started with Rails 3
Today, I'm going to show you a quick example of building a simple Rails 3 application to give you an idea of what working with Rails is like. For this tutorial in two parts, we'll be building a database-backed application: a URL shortener named "Shorty."
Create a Simple Music Streaming App with Ruby on Rails
Amazon S3 is a great way to store files, but learning how to integrate it into your website can be a challenge. In this article, you will learn how to integrate Amazon S3 and Ruby on Rails through the construction of a simple music streaming application.
Ruby and Rails for Attractive .NET Developers
The thoughts of a .NET developer as they learn the world of Ruby and Rails.
ThinkVitamin Membership
High quality video training to keep you on the cutting edge.
Build a Dropbox-like File Sharing Site with Ruby on Rails
In this massive and advanced Premium Nettuts+ tutorial, we'll learn how to build a file-sharing web application, like Dropbox, using Ruby on Rails.
Rails for PHP Developers: Reference Guide
If you're proficient with PHP, you already have the essential skills needed to build web applications. This site will present an ongoing discussion of techniques for learning Rails and Ruby from a PHP perspective.
3 - Advanced Resources
CodeSchool – Rails Best Practices
The Ruby on Rails framework uses a great deal of convention over configuration, which means that if you follow the golden path and develop in a certain way you can do away with lots of the configuration involved. Unfortunately as your system starts to become complex, so can your code, and without proper design patterns and techniques your codebase can quickly devolve. In this course we've put together some of the most useful patterns, so you can keep your code clean and maintainable.
Every week Ryan Bates will host a new Railscasts episode featuring tips and tricks with Ruby on Rails. These screencasts are short and focus on one technique so you can quickly move on to applying it to your own project. The topics target the intermediate Rails developer, but beginners and experts will get something out of it as well.
Prefer text tutorials? Check out the next item.
Railscasts (above) is the #1 resource for quickly learning new Rails tricks. If you prefer text tutorials over video, ASCIIcasts is for you!
ASCIIcasts are detailed, illustrated text versions of each Railscast, each with a link to the original video.
Live Coding Rails 3 Upgrade
For several months people have wondered, "Where can I download a video that features a developer stumbling through an upgrade of a Rails 2 app to Rails 3?" I'm proud to say that an answer is now available!
In only 25 minutes, I convert my news screenshot site from Rails 2.x to Rails 3 (prerelease, from source). It features the newest bundler (0.9.0.pre), Jeremy McAnally's rails-upgrade script, new routes, Arel-based ActiveRecord queries, and more.
Stay tuned for the explosions at the end!
RubySource – 10 RoR Best Practicies
If you're new to Ruby on Rails, one of the most daunting aspects is knowing what's the preferred way of accomplishing a given task. While a lot of techniques and libraries have come and gone as the community's preferred way of doing something, there are some best practices that remain, and can lead to writing the cleanest, most secure and maintainable Rails code possible.
Listed here today are ten of the most popular and useful best practices you can use as a Ruby developer.
Ruby Quicktips
Random Ruby and Rails tips. This blog is dedicated to deliver short, interesting and practical tidbits of the Ruby language and Ruby on Rails framework.
RubySource – Introducing Test-Driven Development with Rails 3
An introduction to following a TDD approach when developing your Ruby on Rails applications.
5 Awesome New Rails 3 Features
Finally found the time to upgrade from Rails 2, to 3? Keep reading to learn five of the most awesome new features in Ruby Rails 3.
Rails Forum – Tutorials
A collection of community-produced short tutorials covering a huge range of Rails techniques, from beginners advice and installation to debugging and tests.
Singing with Sinatra
In this Session, we'll be taking a look at Sinatra; a small, yet incredibly powerful DSL for quickly creating Ruby web applications. You'll learn everything from installing the framework, all the way up to building an app.
4 - Ruby Books
Programming Ruby 1.9
Affectionately known simply as the 'PickAxe' in the Ruby community (due to the PickAxe on the cover), this is almost Ruby's de-facto official book. A must-have for any serious Rubyist!
The First Edition of the PickAxe is available for free at Ruby Central.
The Ruby Programming Language
Bestselling author David Flanagan teams up with Ruby creator Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto and writer/cartoonist/programmer why the lucky stiff to bring you the authoritative guide to Ruby. Covering versions 1.9 and 1.8, this book helps you learn Ruby's lexical structure, primary expressions, conditionals, syntax, classes, the data it manipulates, and more. For experienced programmers who want to look at this language in depth, this guide is invaluable.
Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
Written by Ruby's very own crazy-genius, why the lucky stiff (or _why), this is a free and very unusual guide to the language. Take a read through the first few pages, and you'll see why this book is a massive success.
The Ruby Way
The Ruby Way takes a "how-to" approach to Ruby programming with the bulk of the material consisting of more than 400 examples arranged by topic. Each example answers the question "How do I do this in Ruby?" Working along with the author, you are presented with the task description and a discussion of the technical constraints. This is followed by a step-by-step presentation of one good solution. Along the way, the author provides detailed commentary and explanations to aid your understanding.
This book is not recommended for beginners to Ruby, however.
The RSpec Book
Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) gives you the best of Test Driven Development, Domain Driven Design, and Acceptance Test Driven Planning techniques, so you can create better software with self-documenting, executable tests that bring users and developers together with a common language.
Get the most out of BDD in Ruby with The RSpec Book, written by the lead developer of RSpec, David Chelimsky.
Everyday Scripting with Ruby
Everyday Scripting with Ruby is divided into four parts. In the first, you'll learn the basics of the Ruby scripting language. In the second, you'll see how to create scripts in a steady, controlled way using test-driven design. The third part is about finding, understanding, and using the work of others – and about preparing your scripts for others to use. The fourth part, more advanced, is about saving even more time by using application frameworks.
Eloquent Ruby
It's easy to write correct Ruby code, but to gain the fluency needed to write great Ruby code, you must go beyond syntax and absorb the "Ruby way" of thinking and problem solving. In Eloquent Ruby, Russ Olsen helps you write Ruby like true Rubyists do–so you can leverage its immense, surprising power.
Olsen draws on years of experience internalizing the Ruby culture and teaching Ruby to other programmers. He guides you to the "Ah Ha!" moments when it suddenly becomes clear why Ruby works the way it does, and how you can take advantage of this language's elegance and expressiveness.
The Well-Groomed Rubyist
The Well-Grounded Rubyist takes you from interested novice to proficient practitioner. It's a beautifully written tutorial that begins with the basic steps to get your first Ruby program up and running and goes on to explore sophisticated topics like callable objects, reflection, and threading The book concentrates on the language, preparing you for any way you may choose to use Ruby. Whether the topic is simple or tough, the book's easy-to-follow examples and explanations give you immediate confidence as you build your Ruby programming skills.
5 - Rails Books
Agile Web Development with Rails
This book is essentially the de-facto official Rails book.
Rails just keeps on changing. Rails 3 and Ruby 1.9 bring hundreds of improvements, including new APIs and substantial performance enhancements. The fourth edition of this award-winning classic has been reorganized and refocused so it's more useful than ever before for developers new to Ruby and Rails.
The Rails 3 Way
Ruby on Rails strips complexity from the development process, enabling professional developers to focus on what matters most: delivering business value via clean and maintainable code. The Rails™ 3 Way is the only comprehensive, authoritative guide to delivering production-quality code with Rails 3. Pioneering Rails expert Obie Fernandez and a team of leading experts illuminate the entire Rails 3 API, along with the idioms, design approaches, and libraries that make developing applications with Rails so powerful. Drawing on their unsurpassed experience and track record, they address the real challenges development teams face, showing how to use Rails 3 to maximize your productivity.
Beginning Rails 3
Rails 3 is a massive shake-up to the Rails community because it includes the surprise merger of the powerful Merb framework. This means a lot of people will be interested in knowing what's new in Rails if they've used it before, and getting started with it from scratch if they haven't.
6 - Misc Resources
The Changelog
The Changelog is a weekly podcast and blog that covers what's fresh and new in Open Source.
Ruby5 Podcast
A regular podcast covering the latest news in the Ruby and Rails community.
The Ruby Show
"The Ruby Show is the best Ruby-related podcast of all time, featuring news and discussion about the latest topics in the Ruby and Rails communities."
Rails Searchable API Doc
A JavaScript-enhanced, fast and searchable implementation of the Rails API Docs.


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Caravanning in adverse weather
Using your caravan off-season can bring many new rewards to caravanning, whether it's cheaper discounts on your favourite sites or new vistas to look out across as the seasons change. However, the changing weather can bring new risks to your holiday, so make sure that you are prepared for all the dangerous conditions that you may face.
Over the last few years, the UK has experienced severe weather warnings. Whilst the subject of climate change is still hotly debated, we have experienced very dangerous weather conditions, from the incredible snow coverage we saw a couple of winters ago to the recent high winds that have battered the UK.
Each different weather condition brings its own dangers; we've looked into the most dangerous common weather and how to prepare for it:
Strong winds
This is one of the most dangerous weather conditions when towing a caravan, and often overlooked. Strong winds can be dangerous whether you're towing, set up on a pitch or even in storage. In a recent survey by our insurance arm, Club Care, approximately 4% of Club Care Insurance claims are attributed to high winds ranging from minor damage to a write off in the most extreme cases.
When towing it is always best to try and avoid strong winds. The common dangers of towing, such as snaking and overturning, become much more significant in high winds. Strong winds may cause your caravan to become unstable. Even if you're towing at a steady speed on a level road, a strong gust of lateral wind may cause your caravan to begin to snake. Club Care Insurance reports that around 10% of claims can be attributed to snaking incidents.
If you're on holiday, make sure that your awning is securely fastened and tied down. If you have time before the strong winds arrive, try to take down the fabric and store it safely. However, don't try this if there is any risk of the high winds appearing whilst you're working, as this could cause serious injury.
Caravan towing in snow and ice
It is never recommended to tow a caravan in snowy or icy conditions but if you are caught up in the snow it is always best to stay calm and take it slow.
As you are probably aware from driving a car in snow and ice, loss of traction is one of the biggest dangers. This is amplified when you're towing, as you are pulling a much greater weight. Reducing your speed, increasing your braking time and making all your movements slow, steady and deliberate should help you reduce the chances of anything going wrong.
Plan ahead and try to stick to major roads, as these are more likely to be properly gritted and will have more traffic to melt the snow, hopefully improving the available grip on the road surface.
Steep hills and sharp bends should be avoided as often as possible; these are usually the most treacherous areas.
If you have a 4×4 don't assume that you are safe. The extra traction available will increase your chances of a safe drive, but you should still take the same precautions as anyone else.
Snowy conditions are also a perfect camouflage for most caravans, as the running joke goes: "Would you like your caravan in white, or white?" The outline of your caravan can become difficult to determine in snow. If you do have to drive in severe snow, you could consider ways of increasing your caravan's visibility, perhaps consider adding some fluorescent stickers to the extremities of the caravan.
Rain and floods
Although rain is a common sight in the UK and we often have to travel through heavy rain, it pays to remain vigilant. Remember that braking distances and cornering speeds are affected on damp or wet surfaces.
In severe rain, the roads can often become flooded. As soon as a surface is submerged in water a new danger occurs, aquaplaning. This is when the wheels lose contact with the road, which can result in almost complete loss of traction. Try to avoid roads with visible standing water. You can decrease the chances of aquaplaning by reducing your speed and acceleration, braking and steering gently and making sure your tyre treads are adequate and pressures are set to the manufacturers' recommendations. Remember to account for the increased braking distances, especially if you have to brake more gently.
Hard rain can also have a massive impact on visibility. If the rain is affecting your ability to see the road and other vehicles, or you find that you can no longer clearly distinguish the edges of the caravan in your mirrors then you should try to find the nearest service or rest station and wait out the worst of it.
Stay safe people – The Big White Box Team


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Flinders Island airport broke the three-decade-old record, reaching 41.5 degrees just before 4pm today [01.30].
The previous high was 40.8 degrees, set in Hobart in 1976.
Tasmanian temperatures have been well above average.
Launceston Airport reached 37.2 degrees, making it the hottest day there since World War II.
In the north-west, Marrawah recorded 33 degrees, while at Fingal in the north-east the temperature hit 40.6 degrees.


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Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is a staunch defender of convicted cop killer and domestic terrorist Joanne Chesimard, who just became the first woman ever to be placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List.
Chesimard, living under asylum in Cuba, also goes by her Black Panther name of Assata Shakur. She was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted by a jury of the 1979 murder of a New Jersey state trooper. Less than two years later, Chesimard escaped from prison and lived underground before surfacing in Cuba in 1984.
On Sept. 14, 1998, the House of Representatives, of which Waters was a member, passed a unanimous resolution requesting Fidel Castro extradite Chesimard to the United States. The name on the resolution, affirmed by Waters, was Joanne Chesimard and not Assata Shakur.
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Waters said she only realized Chesimard's identity after the vote and wrote a letter to Fidel Castro explaining that she, as chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and other CBC members had "mistakenly voted" in favor of the resolution.
Waters claimed the Republicans had "slipped" the bill into an accelerated calendar in order to look "tough on Cuba" for the November elections. Waters claimed the Republicans had deliberately used Chesimard's given name to deceive. Had she known Chesimard's identity, she wrote, she would have voted otherwise.
On May 2, 1973, Chesimard and a pair of accomplices were stopped by two troopers for a motor vehicle violation on the New Jersey Turnpike. At the time, Chesimard – a member of the violent revolutionary activist organization known as the Black Liberation Army – was wanted for her involvement in several felonies, including bank robbery.
According to the FBI, Chesimard and her accomplices opened fire on the troopers. One officer was wounded, and his partner – Trooper Werner Foerster – was shot and killed at point-blank range. One of Chesimard's accomplices was killed in the shootout, and the other was arrested and remains in jail.
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"Joanne Chesimard is a domestic terrorist who murdered a law enforcement officer execution-style," said Aaron Ford, special agent in charge of the Newark Division. "Today, on the anniversary of Trooper Werner Foerster's death, we want the public to know that we will not rest until this fugitive is brought to justice."
Mike Rinaldi, a lieutenant in the New Jersey State Police and member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, said the case "is just as important today as it was when it happened 40 years ago."
"Bringing Joanne Chesimard back here to face justice is still a top priority," he said.
Waters defends terrorist as victim
In 1998, Waters released a statement defending Castro's right to grant asylum to Chesimard despite her conviction for murder in the U.S.
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Stated Waters: "I support the right of all nations to grant political asylum to individuals fleeing political persecution. The United States grants political asylum to individuals from all over the world who successfully prove they are fleeing political persecution. Other sovereign nations have the same right, including the sovereign nation of Cuba."
In her statement, Waters further defended Chesimard, claiming the convicted domestic terrorist was a victim of political persecution.
"The second reason I oppose this measure," stated Waters, "is because I respect the right of Assata Shakur to seek political asylum. Assata Shakur has maintained that she was persecuted as a result of her political beliefs and political affiliations. As a result, she left the United States and sought political asylum in Cuba, where she still resides.
"In a sad and shameful chapter of our history, during the 1960s and 1970s, many civil rights, Black Power and other politically active groups were secretly targeted by the FBI for prosecution based on their political beliefs."
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Notably, domestic terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn named one of their children after Zayd Shakur, Chesimard's associate who was killed in the gun battle with the police. Ayers' and Dohrn's son, a playwright, now goes by the name Zayd Dohrn.
With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott


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Avis Tang, a cool, well-dressed software company executive, lives on the glossy frontier of China's global expansion. From his perch amid tower blocks of Tianfu Software Park on the outskirts of the Sichuan capital of Chengdu, the 48-year-old graduate of Taiwan's National Institute of the Arts directs a team of Chinese software engineers who are developing computer games for his Beijing company, Perfect World Network Technology, for the Asian and world market.
A glossy software office in Chengdu seems a long way from the images of centrally directed, belching factories seeking to dominate the global economy. But a close examination of the emerging Sinosphere–or Chinese sphere of influence–shows an economy that is globally dispersed, multinational and increasingly focused on the high-tech and service sectors.
Yet if Tang came to China to work for Interserv, a Taiwan game developer, he would see that the future of his industry–including its creative side–lies not only in the coastal cities but, increasingly, in those stretching across the vast Chinese interior. "In ten years perhaps all these cities will follow the path of Shanghai," says Tang, as technology allows businesses that once had to situate themselves in coastal megacities to expand into the interior.
Widely considered one of the most "livable" of China's big cities, Chengdu seems to Tang something of an incipient Silicon Valley. The area's software revenues increased more than tenfold over the past decade, while an estimated 200,000 people are expected to be working in the city's software industry by 2012.
Like many of his fellow managers at the sprawling park, home to over 800 foreign-owned companies, Tang is not a citizen of China. He's from Taiwan and never set foot in the People's Republic before 2001. His wife remains in Taiwan (Tang flies there every month or two to see her).
Chinese capitalism has relied on diaspora entrepreneurs like Tang. In this sense, the rise of China represents the triumph of a race and a culture. Indeed for most of its history China's most important export was not silk or porcelain but people. To measure the rise of the Sinosphere, one has to consider not just China itself but what historian Lynn Pan has described as the "sons of the Yellow Emperor."
The Sinosphere's roots lie with the Han expansion into southern China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). By the 12th century, the newly Sinofied southern Chinese had started moving south. There they created trade-oriented colonies like Vietnam, Burma, Malaya and the island of Java. In the 1600s Chinese settlers overcame the aboriginal inhabitants of Taiwan, creating another powerful base in the South China Sea.
At its height, during the expeditions of the legendary eunuch Admiral Zheng Hein in the early 15th century, China's maritime "sphere of influence" extended all the way to the Indian Ocean and beyond.
Although ensuing Chinese regimes pulled back from expansion and all but abandoned their scattered children, the colonies, particularly in Southeast Asia, survived. They developed business and industries suitable to their new homes, but also maintained their cultural heritage and language. After the Chinese Communist takeover of the mainland in 1949, the diaspora colonies retained their capitalist orientation. Many established trading operations and sent their children to the United States, Canada and Australia, where they enjoyed remarkable success.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Rangoon, Bangkok and Jakarta can be seen as the original testing grounds for Chinese capitalism. In the past few decades North American regions such as Silicon Valley, Southern California, Toronto, Vancouver and New York-New Jersey have been added to the mix. Overall the entire overseas Chinese population has risen to nearly 40 million. Taiwan, which is de facto independent, is home to an additional 23 million, and Hong Kong and Macau, officially part of China but governed under different laws, boasts some 7.5 million.
Even today the ties between overseas Chinese and their home country remain close. The original diaspora countries—including Hong Kong–remain principal sources of investment into China. Among the ten largest sources for inbound investment to the PRC are Hong Kong, by far the largest investor, fourth-ranked Singapore and ninth-ranked Taiwan. Each brings more investments into China than such major powers as Germany, France, India and Russia. The United States, home to the largest overseas Chinese population outside Asia, ranks fifth.
Other investments come from places like British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Samoa, which often act as conduits for investors who do not want to be too closely monitored. This seems to include many Chinese investors, particularly in Taiwan, who may not want too much scrutiny of their outlays into the PRC. This includes even Chinese government -owned firms such as China Mobile Communication Corp., which has established an investment HUB in the far away British Virgin Islands.
As China itself has become wealthier, financial flows from the diaspora have continued to increase. Hong Kong's investment into China grew from $18 billion in 2005 to $45 billion four years later. Singapore's investment surged from $2.2 billion to $4.1 billion in the same years. This has occurred while new investment from such powerhouses as the United States, Japan, Korea and Germany has stagnated or even dropped.
The second phase of the Sinosphere has been dominated largely by industrial projects, many of them financed or helped technologically by the diaspora. Much of trade, initially, was targeted to the rich consumer markets of North America, Europe and Japan. Between just 2007 and 2009 China's share of world exports expanded from 7% to 9%.
But today the Sinosphere's trade flow is shifting. An analysis of trade growth between 2005 and 2009 shows a significant change in focus away from advanced countries to the developing world. In the second half of the last decade, for example, trade with the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea and the Netherlands grew by less than 50%. In contrast, commerce with key developing countries–including Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Mauretania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia Turkmenistan, Iraq and Laos–grew ten times. Trade with large emerging economies, notably Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa, increased five times during the same period.
China's thirst for resources is a big driver of this shift. Now the world's largest car market and consumer of energy, China is in great need of oil, gas, and other natural resources. It also requires vast amounts of foodstuffs, notably corn and soybeans, for its increasingly urbanized population.
Two of China's new trade thrusts follow historic patterns of expansion, the first being growing investment in the Mekong Delta and Southeast Asia (Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia). For 2010, Chinese invested $7.15 billion in energy projects alone in Myanmar. On the military side, this also includes moves by China to secure offshore islands for energy development, which is a potential source of conflict with Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan.
The second big expansion is along the old "silk road" connecting eastern China to the energy and mineral rich " stans" of Central Asia. This shift enhances the importance of inland Chinese cities, such as Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing, which are natural entrepots for central Asian trade. Perhaps even more important may prove the role of Kashgar, which was designated last year as the Special Economic Zone. Sitting on the western edge of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Zone near the border of Tajikistan, the Chinese envision Kashgar as the main rail and air link to the stans. Recent disturbances by the local Muslim majority, however, could threaten these ambitious plans.
As China's economy and wealth has grown, it has moved from being merely a recipient of inbound investment into a major exporter of capital. China's outbound investment is growing much faster, rising 21% in just the past year; its overseas investment overall has grown from 53.3 billion in 2005 to 224.4 billion in 2009.
Although still the largest destination for foreign investment, the country has vaulted into the top four in terms of outbound outlays just behind the U.S., Japan and the U.K. It is not inconceivable that China could challenge the U.S. as the world's top foreign investor.
The country's investment strategy seems to be following two powerful trends. One has to do with the acquisition of resources to feed the Chinese industrial machine and its growing consumer market. This explains the rapid growth of investment into the Middle East, South America and Africa. Four of the five fastest-growing investment areas for large scale investments–South Africa, Canada, Nigeria and Australia–are all major commodity exporters. Chinese investment in these countries has been growing from three to five times as quickly as those in the U.S. or Western Europe.
The second, less obvious, trend relates to the idea that these countries, with generally faster growing populations, represent the most lucrative future markets for Chinese exporters. This may be best seen in the rapid growth of Chinese government grants as well as the provision of interest-free and concessional bank loans, such as those provided by the government's Exim bank, primarily to Chinese companies seeking to invest in developing nations, especially Africa, over the past decade. PRC financial backing for companies and projects in countries such as Angola, India, Equatorial Africa, Turkey, Egypt, the Congo and Algeria have grown over 100 times since 2005. Other key developing countries such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Somalia and Ghana all saw increases of tenfold or more.
These developments tell us something of the future of the Sinosphere. It will be largely funded by the Chinese and their diaspora, less focused on the West and more on developing countries, including increasingly those outside the traditional stomping grounds of Chinese entrepreneurs. The emerging Sinosphere is also likely to be somewhat less focused on manufacturing and more on services like real estate, finance and high-technology exports. This is partially due to the appeal, for manufacturers, of less expensive, more youthful countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar. Wages for manufacturing workers in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia are now less than half of those in China.
These shifts are already evident by looking at recent trends in inbound investment to China, much of it from the diaspora and tax havens. Between 2005 and 2009, for example, industrial investment fell from 70% to barely 50% in 2009. The total investment in industry has remained stagnant while dollars into scientific research have grown almost five-fold. We can expect more of this as China prepares to challenge America, Japan and other advanced countries in basic research. At the same time investment into real estate has tripled, while both software and financial flows have more than doubled.
All this explains the importance Chinese officials place on expatriates like the Taiwan-born Tang. In the 1980s and 1990s Taiwanese and Hong Kong firms spearheaded the development of China's manufacturing prowess. Now the mainland leadership hopes that high-tech executives such as Tang will nurture and direct China's leap into the first ranks of the global digital economy, with Perfect World's Chengdu engineers epitomizing the future imagined by China's aggressive regional officials. The fact that the company's games are based largely on Chinese mythology makes the effort an even more natural fit. But Perfect World is not just looking at the Chinese or diaspora markets; it is also marketing aggressively to young gamesters in Europe and North America.
All this can be seen as a direct challenge to the long dominant software and entertainment industries of the West, heretofore largely unchallenged by China. In a world increasingly 'SINOFIED' there may be huge potential for Sinosphere companies to move beyond exporting tangible goods, and increase their trade in ideas and culture to the rest of the world.
"We are well on our way," Tang explains from his perch in Chengdu. "China's move into this kind of business is just beginning."
This research was conducted with support from the Legatum Foundation.
This piece originally appeared at Forbes.com.
Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University, an adjunct fellow of the Legatum Institute in London, and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Civil Service College in Singapore. He is author of The ity: A Global History. His newest book is The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, released in February, 2010.
Sim Hee Juat is currently a research associate with the Centre for Governance and Leadership at the Civil Service College of Singapore. The maps were created by Ali Modarres, Chairman of the Geography Department at California State University, Los Angeles.
Photo by avlxyz.


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The work of a team of Wake Forest researchers developing a novel drug for prostate cancer treatment is featured on the cover of the Nov. 26 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
George Kulik, an associate professor of cancer biology, Mark Welker, the William L. Poteat Professor of Chemistry, and Freddie Salsbury, an associate professor of physics, led an interdisciplinary team with expertise in computational physics, synthetic chemistry and cancer biology.
All cells, both normal and diseased, rely on the PI3K cell signaling pathway for growth, so inhibiting the pathway selectively for cancer cells has long been a challenge for scientists in the fight against cancer. While turning PI3K inhibitors loose in the body would prevent the spread of cancer, doing so would also inhibit growth in lots of cells.
To effectively use this strategy in the treatment of cancer, the Wake Forest team had to target these inhibitors to specific kinds of cells. Using prostate cells as the target, they selected a protein that is specifically recognized by prostate cells and attach that protein to a PI3K inhibitor.
"Most men over 50 are familiar with PSA, or prostate specific antigen, since elevated levels of that enzyme are markers for prostate cancer," said Welker. "We made a cell growth inhibitor that had the PSA recognized protein sequence added to it. The idea was that this compound itself would be nontoxic, but when PSA split the inhibitor from the protein sequence, that would release the cell growth inhibitor onto the prostate cells."
The concept has been proven to work in cells – good news, considering one in six American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.
Prostate cancer cells treated with the cell growth inhibitor plus PSA recognized sequence died, while breast cancer cells, by contrast, were unaffected by it.
"Given that prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, this research could signal a major breakthrough," said Salsbury.
While these cell studies show promise in the treatment of prostate cancer, the team is awaiting grant funding to conduct pre-clinical trials.
Categories: 2012 Highlights: Science and Research, For Alumni, For Parents, Recognition, Research, Top Stories, Wake Forest College
Wake Forest in the News
Wake Forest regularly appears in media outlets around the world.


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Review: Knives in Hens
(Note: there are spoilers in this review). Every thing I see or know is put in my head by God. Every thing he created is there every day, sunrise to sundown, earth to sky. It cannot be touched or held the way I touch a table or hold the reins of a horse. It cannot be sold or cooked. His world is there, in front of my eyes. All I must do is push names into what is there the same as when I push my knife into the stomach of a hen. Harrower enacts these transitions and complexities with a text of startling elemental purity, stripped to a fierce poetic starkness. It is, on one level, simply a tragic fable: a young wife is seduced, and with her lover murders her husband. Yet reading the play is very like reading a poem that accurately and mercilessly pierces the deep places where the erotic and the sacred meet: and like a poem, the more you dig, the more you find. It's a work that reminds you of the mystery of human consciousness, bringing us up hard against the realities of birth, death, desire and awe.
Written in 1995, David Harrower's first play, Knives in Hens, already has the status of a modern classic. This is no empty claim. It's an extraordinary play: radical in its language, profound in its thought, and utterly original.
Set in an imaginary pre-industrial landscape, it follows a deeply strange love triangle between three characters: a ploughman, Pony William (Robert Menzies), his wife, known only as Young Woman (Kate Box) and a miller, Gilbert Horn (Dan Spielman). In this deceptively simple fable, Harrower explores the forces that underlie our conceptions of modern civilisation: the transition from a subsistence farming to more alienated forms of labour, from rural culture to urban civilisation, from feudal to modern consciousness.
Harrower exploits the fact that the miller was a figure of much superstitious hatred and fear. One reason was that millers made their living by taking a cut of the grain they milled, making their living, like the laird in the castle, from the sweat of others. Another was that millers, freed from the tyranny of subsistence labour, were often the only literate lay people in a village. They had characteristics of the priesthood and the aristocracy without being either, and so were unplaceable, neither one thing nor another. Certainly, the miller figures largely in folk tales (and even in The Lord of the Rings) as morally dubious, opaque and false.
Through the developing relationship between the miller and the Young Woman, Harrower tracks the massive shift in consciousness which accompanies literacy. In a culture that largely takes literacy for granted, it's easy to forget the radical social change it represents. Watching a small child struggle to learn to talk and read can give us some notion: the conceptual leap that connects sounds made by a human mouth to external objects, and then - even more radically - to marks on a page and abstract ideas, is one of the major evolutionary changes that defines us as human beings.
Written language permits us to externalise our inner worlds, and changes the nature of memory. In oral cultures memory is an art, because it is the entire repository of knowledge. Once knowledge can be written down that art is forgotten, because we no longer need it. Homer, who existed in a culture on the cusp between orality and literacy, begins his epic poems with an invocation of the Muse, whose mother is Mnemosyne, Memory, because although those poems were written, their primary transmission was in performance. The poet needed to know them by heart.
As Anne Carson points out, literacy radically transformed the nature of language itself, changing it from a fluid, transient phenomenon into an object. Written language shapes meaning into letters, phrases, sentences, that themselves feed back into our awareness of reality and change it, giving it an edge and a shape, defining one thing as like or unlike another, lifting us out of the Heraclitan flux of of the instinctually experienced material world.
It's an ambiguous gift. As the Young Woman discovers, joyfully and painfully, the magical power of words as a means of realising her selfhood, Harrower show us that language is, as much as an expansion of consciousness, a crime against the authority of God. It is the snake in the garden, the apple of self awareness.
It is language, after all, that permits us to lie, as the Young Woman does at the end of the play. It allows us to create alternative realities, to be, as William tells the Miller, like God ourselves. Naming is an act of possession, an act of colonisation, as much as it is a liberation and a separation from the unsentient mass of material reality. It is language that creates a future and a past, and which puts a full stop at the end of our lives. Language is, as the Young Woman realises, a sacred act of violence against reality:
All of which makes it a very difficult and delicate play to stage. Despite remarkable performances from the cast, notably Menzies and Spielman, Geordie Brookman's production realises maybe half its power. Most disappointingly, this production communicates very little of the subtext which I've teased out here; despite the murder in its centre, it maps the play as a simple journey towards self-awareness and liberation, and there is almost no sense at all of consciousness as a process of struggle.
One problem is Anna Cordingley's design, a complex multi-level construction of steel, which at once constrains and alienates the action. The only real sense of intimacy is generated by Paul Jackson's moody lighting. It looks as if the action is taking place in an ancient sewer: the set is dominated by a huge pipe, which replaces the simple and powerful symbol of threshold that is the stable door. The concept is post-apocalyptic, a Riddley Walker kind of pre-industrial society, which builds an extra level of complexity on what is already a complex and difficult play. Here the anachronisms are obscuring rather than illuminating.
Another, practical problem is that the metal construction makes the set very noisy. Harrower's wrought language emerges from profound silence, but there is little sense of this in either the design or the rhythms of the production. Andrew Howard's sound design is intrusive and unsubtle, varying between pseudo-Celtic melodies that swell up behind monologues and abstract electronic noises. Yet for all the noisiness, one of the puzzling aspects of this production is that in the few times when sound is specified in the text - William's dying screams, for example, or the deafening industrial cacophony of the mill - it is absent. Again, it all seems over-complicated, while at the same time missing the point.
Brookman has a first class cast, and the performances are undeniably powerful. But so much of the text's power seems muted: the play's frank eroticism, like its violence, is abstracted and distanced. Despite the sense of constraint, there are scenes which tap into the play's elemental potencies - most notably a dialogue between Gilbert and William, where the ploughman illuminates for the miller the mystery of the woman's body, the blasphemy and wonder of knowing that the Glory of God is not in God, but in His creation. In this crucial moment, the words of the ploughman awaken the Miller's desire, making him understand what it is he wants.
The pacing feels rushed and crowded, allowing little time for delicate shifts of relationship to occur on stage. It seems, more than anything, an anxious production, hurrying along for fear the audience might get bored. Unlike Peter Evans's production of Harrower's play Blackbird, which was an exemplary demonstration of how powerful language and performance can be if they are allowed their full presence, it felt as if an interpretation was being imposed, rather than being permitted to emerge. These words need space around them to achieve their full power, but here their resonance is muffled. Still, it remains a great play.
A shorter version of this review is in today's Australian.
Picture: Kate Box and Dan Spielman in Knives in Hens. Photo: Jeff Busby
Knives in Hens by David Harrower, directed by Geordie Brookman. Set and costumes by Anna Cordingley, sound design by Andrew Howard, lighting design by Paul Jackson. With Kate Box, Robert Menzies and Dan Spielman. Malthouse Theatre and State Theatre Company of South Australia. Beckett Theatre, CUB Malthouse, until August 22. Space Theatre, Adelaide, August 26-September 12.


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San Fernando or also known as San Fernando/SAP Center is a light rail station operated by Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. The station has two side platforms and two trackways. San Fernando is served by the Mountain View–Winchester light rail line.
The station was opened in 2005 as part of VTA's Vasona light rail extension.
Address: 441 West San Fernando Street, San Jose, California 95110 Nearest cross-streets: Delmas Avenue and Gifford AvenueGeographic coordinates: 37° 19' 49.3" North, 121° 53' 54.2" West
The San Fernando Station features three public art sculptures. They are entitled "King of the Urban Jungle," "Simba × 2," and "Lying Beast." All three statues are arranged together on a small circular piece of lawn on the south edge of the station.
"Artist Iiona Malka Rich created this sculpture of three, multicolored striped lions with illuminating eyes (using fiber optics) from a bronze-like material. One has eight legs with two heads, and the other two lions have six legs each. The theme for this art feature is "Life is a Circus" which is inscribed around the base of the artwork. In addition, lion footprints are "stamped" on the ground through the plaza to replicate the natural movement of these unique animals."
San Fernando may refer to:
San Fernando, officially City of San Fernando and often referred to as San Fernando City (Pangasinan: Ciudad na San Fernando), is a third-class component city and capital of the province of La Union in the Philippines. According to the 2010 Philippine census, it has a population of 114,963 people.
The city is bounded by San Juan to the north, Bauang to the south, Bagulin and Naguilian to the east, and the South China Sea to the west. It has a land area of 10,272 hectares (25,380 acres).
San Fernando is the financial, industrial and political center of the province, as well as the center of the official Ilocos Region, or Region I in the regions of the Philippines. (Informally Ilocos includes those areas that speak the Ilocano language outside of the official Ilocos Region.)
San Fernando became a city by virtue of R.A. 8509 signed into law on February 13, 1998 and ratified on March 20, 1998 by a plebiscite.
San Fernando was founded in 1786 and was named after Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. The city's original settlements, San Vicente de Balanac and San Guillermo de Dalangdang, were attacked by pirates and headhunters.
Weit im Sueden, liegt ein HafenEs war wunderbar, dort vor einem JahrTausend Wunder, dort im Hafen sind die Gruendedass ich bald nach Sueden fahr.San Fernando, San FernandoIch komm wieder, wenn die Rosen wieder bluehnSan Fernando, gruess MariaGruess die Sterne und die LiebesmelodieWeit im Sueden, liegt ein HafenDer voll Zauber ist, den man nie vergisstDoch das schoenste dort im HafenSind die Lippen, die mich tausendmal gekuesstSan Fernando, San FernandoIch komm wieder, wenn die Rosen wieder bluehnSan Fernando, gruess Maria


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Alex Honnold burst onto the climbing scene in Fall 2007 with a splash of headlines. He drew attention from the press by his audacious one-day free solo link-up of The Rostrum followed by Astroman – two demanding multi-pitch Yosemite 5.11+ free routes.
When he wasn't thinking about skiing during the day, he was dreaming about it while he slept. It didn't take long for his talents and energy to get him noticed, and today Sage is one of the best-known skiers in the ski-film industry. In fact, in 2004, 2009, and 2011, he won Best Male Performance from Powder magazine's video awards.
Most of his energy is focused on Filming, print media, and online content. He works with Teton Gravity Research, the largest online community for mountain sports. Together they produce an annual action sport film, as well as countless webisodes, and commercial content.
Sage is passionate about the outdoors, sustainability, living well, mountain biking, and art as well. As an artist, he works in both digital and analog media, producing art and graphic design for Musicians, Designers, and companies such as The North Face, and Atomic.
He spends time between Utah's snowy winters, and Portland Oregon's hot summers, which cultivate both his passions for the outdoors and his art. They are a driving force in his life and a passion that he breathes.
Nickname: Mimbre
Favorite The North Face Product: Women's Catalyst Jacket but I call it a down sweater. Indispensable and ultra compressible.
Proudest Moment: Becoming an athlete on the North Face's team was definitely a very proud moment.
Pet's Name/Type: Pickles, a toy poodle, and Chompers, a Maine coon cat.
Favorite Movie: Under the Influence
Favorite Moment In History: Invention of the fat ski.
Weakness: heavy baselines
Off-Season Activities: I skateboard, long board, mt bike, paint, do computer art, shoot photography
Favorite Destination for Your Sport: Traveling to far off places like Alaska and Japan are great but your backyard is often where you find the most joy!
Favorite Magazine: Discover, Powder, Decline, Ski Journal, freeskier
Words to Live By: It's all about balance!
3 TNF Products You Always Pack: Down booties, vapor wick underlayers, and a puffy!
Causes: Protect Our Winters, Stand Strong Again
Favorite Mountain: Alta and Snowbird in Utah
Favorite Place to Travel: I love travel in general, seeing new terrain, having new experiences, and meeting people is what makes life great. I love road trips because you can be flexible and mobile.
Favorite Event: Burning Man, because it's a voyage into another world
Web Site: Check out my blog at, SageCattabriga-Alosa.com
- 4th place Redbull Linecatcher freeride 2011
- 2nd place Freeskiing World Tour snowbird Ut 2011
- 2nd place Redbull Linecatcher
- 2011 Male skier of the year Powder video awards (PVA's)
- 2011 Best Natural air winner PVA's
- 3rd reader polls PVA 2011,2010,2009
- Powder Magazine reader Poll, best male skier, 4th Place 2008
- Powder magazine reader poll, best Male skier, 5th place, 2007
2010 movie segments: * Light the wick by Teton gravity research
2009 movie segment:
- Resssion, by Teton Gravity Research
- Generations, by Teton Gravity Research
2008 movie segment:
- Under the Influence, by Teton Gravity Research
- making of UTI, By Teton Gravity Research, 100K dvd's free in outside magazine
2007 movie segment:
- Lost and Found, by Teton Gravity Research
- Playground, by Warren Miller
2006 movie segment:
- Anomaly by Teton Gravity Research
- Re-evolution, television show Showtime network
- Untracked, television show, Fuel TV
2005 movie segment:
- The Tangerine Dream, by Teton Gravity Research
- Volume video magazine, issues 13 and 14, by Blue Ribbon Productions
- Fuel TV, Untracked episodes
- Teddybear Crisis, Kris Ostness/Henrik Rostrup
2004 movie segment:
- Soul Purpose, by Teton Gravity Research
- Ten, by Poor Boys Productions
- Not Another Ski Movie, by Push Films
- Stimulus, by Rage Films
- Volume video magazine, issue 11, by Blue Ribbon Productions
2003 movie segment:
- High Life, by Teton Gravity Research
- Junkshow Diaries, by Rage Films
- Forward, by Level One Productions
- Volume video magazine, issue 10, by Blue Ribbon Productions
2002 movie segment:
- The Prophecy, by Teton Gravity Research
- Salad Days, by Teton Gravity Research
- Volume video magazine, issue 9, by Blue Ribbon Productions
2001 movie segment:
- Mind the Addiction, by Teton Gravity Research
- Subject to Change, by Teton Gravity Research
- The Flying Circus, by Wind Up Films
- The Bolero Project, by Wind Up Films
- Volume video magazine, issues 4, 6, and 7, by Blue Ribbon Productions


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by John Lawrence from the San Diego Free Press
The French prime minister announced on September 15, 2012 that France would maintain a ban on Monsanto's MON810 maize, the only genetically modified organisim (GMO) currently allowed in Europe. Thanks to activism by French citizens and serious political outcry, Monsanto is now effectively blocked from Europe's gigantic marketplace. This is even more true when you consider that France is the largest agricultural producer in Europe.
But that's not all. Following the ground-breaking French study that graphically linked the lifetime consumption of Monsanto's GMO corn in rats to massive tumors and direct organ failure, Russia's premiere consumers rights organization has suspended both the importation and use of Monsanto's GMO corn within the nation's borders.
Also in March, 2011 the Mexican States of Tlaxcala and Michoacán each passed legislation banning the planting of genetically modified corn to protect natural plants from further GMO contamination. Together, both states produce about a third of all of Mexico's corn. GMO corn can cross-contaminate ancient strains of Mexican maize.
Meanwhile, the "No on 37" ads are proliferating. They are saying that Prop 37 is arbitrary because it doesn't call for labeling alcohol, restaurant food, meat or cheese. However it does call for labeling all fruits and vegetables which are GMO products. That's certainly a worthwhile start. Since all animal products in the grocery stores have eaten GMO corn, labeling animal products as GMO because they ate GMO corn when they were alive would result in blanket labeling of all meat products except those who were fed organic grass or corn, a minuscule quantity.
Also labeling GMO foods on restaurant menus would result in every item on the menu being labeled as GMO. This would be a little extreme to start, and would guarantee massive infusions of lobbying cash into the battle for GMO labeling by the other side. Alcoholic drinks contain GMOs, but again it would be impractical at the present time to require a bartender to inform you that the drink you just ordered contained GMOs. It is better just to consume organic products insofar as possible. Organic wine is already labeled as such. There are GMO grapes, but the larger issue is the fact that grapes are heavily sprayed with herbicides and pesticides, and grapes aren't grown from seed making GMO grapes a non-issue.
Bourbon by definition must be made with 51% corn. Nearly every distillery uses GMO corn to make bourbon. However, at present there are two organic, non-GMO choices: Four Roses and Wild Turkey. However, even those whiskies are not committed to using non-GMO corn since there is little of it available these days. Jack Daniels is ending its commitment to using non-GMO corn. In 2000, a number of their consumers, particularly those in Europe, expressed a preference for non-GM ingredients, and they opted for only 100% non-genetically modified corn. But now they are going to GMO corn because of availability issues. I guess they will lose the European market. Here is a marketing opportunity for someone!
It is not only concern about GMO corn that calls for caution.
Colin O'Neil, regulatory policy analyst at the Center for Food Safety, says he hasn't seen any science pointing to genetic material passing through the distillation process. But, as he sees it, that's not the only cause for concern.
"To assume that the only real risk is contamination of genetic material ignores the fact that these crops by and large either produce an insecticide (which has been shown not to break down in the human gut) or they are engineered to withstand exposure to herbicide." And farmers are spraying an increasing amount of Roundup and other weed killers as a result of herbicide-resistant "superweeds," he points out.
"I don't know what types of pesticide residues are on the corn that goes through the distillation process," O'Neil adds, "but residue in any form presents an increased exposure to consumers."
So bourbon aficionados will have to take their chances or demand organic whiskey because Prop 37 will not protect them. Beer drinkers should import European beers now that GMO maize, which had been previously used in beer manufacturing, has been banned there.
Major U.S. companies have dropped genetically engineered foods in Europe, citing consumer fears. There is a survey which says that Kellogg, Coke, Pepsi, Kraft, Heinz, and others comprise a growing list of companies going GMO-free - but not in the U.S. Some of these companies are behind the "No on Prop 37" campaign here in California. If enough people in the US demand GMO free foods and beverages as they have in Europe, they will have to provide them here as well.
Here are 8 reasons you want Prop 37 to pass, and why we're asking for your support.
1. GMOs have never been proven safe. The FDA conducts no independent testing of GMOs, but instead claims that they are "not substantially different" from non-GMO foods.
2. The biotech industry is not required to conduct long-term safety studies on GMOs, and it keeps researchers from conducting those tests by claiming the right to protect its patented seeds and technologies.
3. GMOs are everywhere. Today, most non-organic US corn, soy, cotton, and sugar beets - which are used in most of the sweeteners and additives used by food processors - are genetically engineered. So is the feed fed to the animals you eat. In fact, 75-85% of the processed food in your grocery store contains unlabeled GMOs.
4. The companies who want you to believe GMOs are safe are the same ones who lied to you about Agent Orange and DDT.
5. GMO crops are responsible for super weeds and super bugs, soil degradation, and a lack of diversity - which makes crops and humans more susceptible to disease.
6. The only folks who don't want you to know what's in your food are huge corporations like Monsanto, Dow AgriScience, BASF and food conglomerates like Pepsi and Coca-Cola - who along with other biotech, pesticide and processed food manufacturers have donated nearly $33 million to defeat Prop 37.
7. This is our best - and perhaps only - shot at labeling GMOs and ending Monsanto's monopoly of our food supply and destruction of our health and environment. Nineteen other states have tried - and failed - to get a GMO labeling law through the state legislative process. Prop 37 takes GMO labeling direct to the voters so Monsanto's lobbyists can't kill it.
8. If this law passes in California, food manufacturers have admitted that it may as well be a national law. They won't want to put "this product contains GMOs" on their labels, so they will reformulate their products. And if they reformulate for California, they may as well do it for all of their products.
Early voting on Prop 37 begins on October 9. By November 6, this historic initiative will have passed or failed.


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Daikin Europe N.V. (Daikin), a Heating, Airconditioning and Ventilation company – has entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Recair Oy to acquire its Cooling business in Finland.
Following the closing of this transaction, Daikin will incorporate these assets in their recently established Finnish sales office, from where Daikin will further develop the business in Finland.
Recair has been for a long time an essential and valuable partner of Daikin and has been crucial in the development of Daikin's commercial business in Finland. Since the start of 2017, Recair and Daikin have been in open discussion about their long-term strategic goals and plans for Daikin in Finland, and how these could best be aligned with the ambition of Recair.
Within the next couple of years, Daikin has an aggressive growth plan, targeting double digit market shares in the market of commercial applications as well as residential applications. Both parties concluded that the execution of this ambitious strategy would be best as part of the Daikin Group. Therefore, the sales team of Recair's Cooling business will be incorporated into the Daikin's Finnish sales office.
Leveraging on the experience of Recair and its current customer and supplier base, Daikin will work towards growing the air conditioning, heating and ventilation business.
With this acquisition, Daikin, takes another important step towards strengthening its position in the Scandinavian market.
"A very long partnership between Recair and Daikin has entered into a new phase, in which we have put together the strongest local expertise and the world's most advanced technological developer in its sector. The new team has an exceptional mix of knowledge and resources to serve the Finnish customers, who will benefit from the strength of both companies in a new and exceptional way" says Mr. Juha Kujala, Chairman of The Board Recair Oy.
"The entrepreneurial spirit, industry expertise, clear customer focus and cultural values that make Recair Oy successful today are an excellent match with Daikin. It is reassuring that the Recair team, under the leadership of the current management, will continue to run the sales office. We are excited to work alongside the team in developing creative solutions and further grow the business."
adds Mr. Tsubouchi - Vice President - Daikin Europe. N.V.
Completion of the asset deal is expected on 31/10/2018.
Daikin Europe N.V.
Name Daikin Europe N.V.
Headquarters Zandvoordestraat 300, 8400 Oostende, Belgium
Representative M. Minaka
Capital +/- 155 Mio Eur ( Fiscal year 2017)
Established 1973
Description of business Design, manufacture, and sales of heating (heatpump, Ground
source) and Airconditioning products, Chillers, Ventilation and refrigeration, commercial and residential.
Sales Approx. 2,5 Bio Eur (Fiscal year 2017)
Number of employees Approx. 7.000 people
Recair Oy
Name Recair Oy
Headquarters Pavintie 12, 01260 Vantaa, Finland
Representative Mr. Kujala
Capital +/- 1.2 Mio Eur ( Fiscal year 2017)
Established 2005
Description of business Manufacturer and sales of Airconditioning systems
Sales Approx. 11 Mio Eur (Fiscal year 2017)
Number of employees Approx. 50 people
Greet Timmerman: +32486131007 – firstname.lastname@example.com
Daikin Europe N.V. enters into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Recair Oy.DOCX | 88.90KB


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Keep the Lights On
Keep the Lights On chronicles an emotionally and sexually charged journey of two men in New York City through love, friendship, and addiction. Documentary filmmaker Erik (Thure Lindhardt) and closeted lawyer Paul (Zachary Booth, Damages) meet through a casual encounter, but soon find a deeper connection and become a couple. Individually and together, they are risk takers—compulsive, and fueled by drugs and sex. In an almost decade-long relationship defined by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries and dignity while being true to himself. Director Ira Sachs's fearlessly personal screenplay is anchored by Lindhardt, who embodies Erik's isolation and vulnerability with a gentle presence. Harrowing and romantic, visceral and layered, Keep the Lights On is a film that looks at love and all of its manifestations, taking it to dark depths and bringing it back to a place of grace.
Ira SachsCast
Thure LindhardtZachary Booth
Julianne Nicholson


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The Cinderella Plant
Africans used to think jatropha was a worthless bush.
Now it may be an important new source of energy.
By Karen Palmer, Newsweek International, Feb. 19, 2007 issue
Jatropha Circas is the Cinderella of the plant world. Throw a seed in the poorest soil on the planet, and up comes a bush that will likely last 50 years. During a drought, jatropha bushes simply drop their leaves and keep pumping out seedpods. ...
Now this humble bush appears poised to become a global star. In recent years studies have shown that jatropha oil burns with one fifth the carbon emission of fossil fuels, making Africa's hardscrabble ground a potentially fertile source of energy. Scientists estimate that if even a quarter of the continent's arable land were plowed into jatropha plantations, output would surpass 20 million barrels a day. ...
The European Union has decreed that consumers will use 5.75 percent biodiesel in motor vehicles by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020, which means that Europe has to come up with a 10.5 billion-liter supply of biodiesel in the next four years. ... so far, jatropha is the only [new energy crop] ready for commercialization.