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How to Get Started
Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the requirements for admission to Thomas Edison State University?
There are no tests (such as the SAT) required for admission to Thomas Edison State University. As long as you are a high school graduate or have your GED equivalency, and are 21 years of age or older, you are eligible to be admitted to Thomas Edison State University.
Will I have to attend classes at Thomas Edison State University's campus in Trenton?
No, Thomas Edison State University delivers a high quality education directly to you wherever you live or work. There are no on-campus residency requirements, eliminating the need for students to travel to our campus in Trenton, N.J. Testing is done through the use of proctors at a testing site convenient to the student or can be completed at the University's testing facility. All contact with the University may occur on the Web, by phone and through the mail or email, including application, enrollment, course and test registration, or academic advisement.
How do I get my books?
Students are responsible for acquiring all the textbooks and materials required for the courses. The cost for course materials is not included in your tuition and registration fees.
All Guided Study courses require a Course Manual. The University now offers manuals on the Thomas Edison State University Web, free of charge. If you prefer, you may access the Manuals through the University Web site and select the materials you need to download. Alternately, course materials are available for purchase through MBS Direct, the University's textbook provider. They can be accessed by visiting the bookstore section of the University's Web site or by calling toll-free (800) 325-3252.
Will my Thomas Edison State University degree be applicable toward a higher degree at either Thomas Edison State University or other colleges and universities?
Yes. The 60 credits taken in your certificate program and your Associate in Science degree program are applicable towards a bachelor's degree at Thomas Edison State University. Our academic advisers can assist you in mapping out a baccalaureate degree plan that's right for you.
Why Thomas Edison State University rather than another college or university?
This is a purely individual decision. Curves chose to pursue the relationship with Thomas Edison State University because of its belief in the University's ability to offer a unique alternative that addresses the specific needs of Curves franchise owners and employees. More specifically, Thomas Edison State University:
- is one of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher learning and is accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
- worked directly with Curves founder and CEO Gary Heavin to insure the Fitness and Wellness Services program is complimentary to the specialized needs of Curves franchise owners and employees.
- developed programs are aimed specifically at the working, adult student. The University's methods of earning credits take maximum advantage of prior educational experiences, potentially reducing the time required to earn a certificate or degree.
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- has flexible credit-earning options that allow students more time to meet family obligations or professional demands and still be able to pursue a quality college education.
Does Curves benefit from its relationship with Thomas Edison State University?
Absolutely! Curves benefits directly from the success of its franchise owners and employees. Through the knowledge you gain in this program, your members will benefit from a high quality fitness experience.
What are my next steps?
Fitness and Wellness courses are offered every other month at Thomas Edison State University. Curves franchise owners and employees may apply and enroll at any time. Prospective students are also encouraged to browse the Thomas Edison State University Web site to learn more about the University, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call toll free (888) 442-8372. When contacting Thomas Edison State University, be sure to refer to the special degree program for Curves franchise owners and employees.
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If you have previous college credit, have official copies of transcripts and credentials sent to the University Registrar at Thomas Edison State University, Office of the Registrar, 167 West Hanover Street, Trenton, NJ 08618.
Enroll at Thomas Edison State University by paying the $75 application fee.
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|© 2007 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Mike Hargrove announces resignation, effective July 2; John McLaren named 12th manager in Mariners history07/01/2007 2:05 PM ET
SEATTLE -- Seattle Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove announced today that he has decided to resign, effective at the end of today's game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays. Hargrove was named manager of the club on Oct. 20, 2004. He is fifth among active managers with 1,187 career wins, including 191 with Seattle, heading into today's game.
"Over the past several weeks, I have come to the realization that to be fair to myself and the team, I can not continue to do this job if my passion has begun to fade. I want to stress how much I respect, and love, the players in the clubhouse, and the coaches and staff that we have in place here, and I can not stress enough what a tremendous place this is to work because of the people who work above me. I am very proud of the work we've done to turn this club around in three years, and I have high expectations for the team this season."
Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Bill Bavasi announced today the Mariners have named John McLaren as field manager, effective tomorrow. McLaren has agreed to a contract for the remainder of the 2007 season. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not announced. McLaren is the 12th full-time manager in franchise history.
"Mike took over the team at a difficult point in time, taking over after the 2004 season. He has been a 'team player', and successfully developed a group of young, inexperienced players from our farm system and incorporated several veterans into a winning team. As a result, we are in much better shape today than we were when Mike came to town," Bavasi said. "I would like to thank Mike for his efforts. We're disappointed that he has decided to step down, but we respect his decision. We wish him, Sharon and his family all the best.
"I believe that Mac provides us with an opportunity to have as seamless a transition as possible," Bavasi continued. "He knows the club and has been intimately involved in every decision we've made this season. We had a chance to see him run the club for a few days earlier this season, and I have every confidence that he will help us achieve the goals we've set."
McLaren, 55, rejoined the Mariners this year as bench coach. He is in his 21st season as a big league coach and his 11th with Seattle. His 11 seasons as a Mariners coach are the most by any coach in Mariners history. This is his first Major League managing job. He ran the team for a pair of games June 2 and 3 (2-0) while Hargrove attended his daughter's high school graduation.
"I am really looking forward to the challenge of taking over this club and continuing to build on what Mike has established here," McLaren said. "When I came back here I said I wanted to be a part of taking this team back to the post-season, and back to what our fans expect and deserve. That's still the case. My focus, and the focus of every one of my coaches is to help these players achieve what they are capable of, and that's getting this team back to the post-season."
McLaren managed in the Toronto minor league system for eight years prior to working as a Major League coach. He made his managerial debut with Medicine Hat in the Pioneer League in 1978. He guided Kinston to the first half title in 1981, and managed Southern League Championship clubs in 1984 and 1985. He was named Co-Manager of the Year in the Southern League in 1985.
Mac also managed Winter League baseball for the Willard team in Colombia (1981 and 1982) and managed in Venezuela in the winter with Lara (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1993) and LaGuaira (1997 and 1998).
Prior to re-joining Seattle in this season, McLaren spent 15 years as a coach on the staffs of manager Lou Piniella, including spending from 1993-2002 in Seattle.
McLaren began his big league coaching career in 1986 as the Toronto Blue Jays third base coach (1986-1990). He was the bullpen coach for Boston in 1991, and was the bullpen coach for Cincinnati in 1992. He joined the Mariners in 1993 as bullpen coach (1993-94) and was named bench coach in 1995. McLaren was the Seattle third base coach in 1996 and 1997, and returned to the manager's side in 1998 as bench coach (1998-2002). He was the bench coach with Tampa Bay from 2003-2005 and spent the 2006 season working as a special assignment scout for Tampa Bay.
Hargrove, 55, has led the Mariners to a 44-33 start this season, good for second in the American League West and (4.0 games behind the LA Angels) and second in the Wild Card standings (1.0 game behind Detroit). He has recorded a record of 191-210 (.476) overall with Seattle, as the team improved to 69 wins in 2005 and 78 wins in 2006. Seattle is on pace for 93 wins this season. Hargrove has a career mark of 1,187-1,173 in his big league managing career with Cleveland (1991-1999), Baltimore (2000-2003) and Seattle. He won five Central Division Titles (1995-99) and two American League Pennants (1995 and 1997).
Hargrove has agreed to continue to work with the Mariners as a Special Assistant to the Executive VP, Player Personnel, joining John Boles, Dan Evans and Ken Madeja in that role.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Mariners Homepage | MLB.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Today is my last day on my service mission. It has been fun and enjoyable. I am glad that I was able to help with the Lord's work by helping make records available so others and reach out and help their ancestors receive the ordinances needed to gain Eternal Life. I have enjoyed working at the Orem Records Operation Center or ROC. I have especially enjoyed making friends with the other missionaries working there. I will miss them an d the work I was able to do, but I am also excited to start a new chapter in my life. I know the Church is true, and I am looking for the next calling in life that Lord has in store for me. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Missionary Journal
Here is a talk from the manual for my Dating and Courtship class, Eternal Marriage Student Manual, which I gave for my last devotional. Continue reading
Why is it important to learn about my family history?
Family History Work and Genealogy
True to the Faith, (2004), 61–64
On April 3, 1836, the prophet Elijah came to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple. He conferred upon them the sealing power of the priesthood, making it possible for families to be sealed throughout the generations. In conferring this power, he fulfilled the prophecy that the Lord would send him "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers" (see D&C 110:14–16; see also Malachi 4:5–6).
Through family history work, you can participate in the continuing fulfillment of this prophecy. You can learn about your ancestors and increase your love for them. You can be inspired by their stories of courage and faith. You can pass that legacy on to your children.
These are lasting benefits that come from family history work, but they are not the principal reasons for the Church's great effort to gather genealogical records. All of the Church's family history endeavors are directed to the need to form a "welding link … between the fathers and the children" (D&C 128:18). This welding link is formed by the power of the priesthood, through sacred temple ordinances we receive in behalf of our ancestors. Continue reading
This is what I gave for my missionary devotional on Friday, and my Sunday School class on Sunday.
This is a devotional that I gave at my mission a while ago.
Material taken from How can I liken the events of the Apostasy and the Restoration to my life? In Come, Follow Me. Continue reading
The following is an outline based on the lesson of the same name from Come Follow Me, that I gave in Sunday School this week:
How can I help others learn about Heavenly Father?
In the Book of Mormon there are examples of missionaries teaching others about Heavenly Father. One example is Ammon teaching King Lamoni in Alma 18:24–40: Continue reading
The following is an outline based on the lesson of the same name from Come Follow Me, that I gave in Sunday School last week:
How Does the Holy Ghost Help Me Learn?
Excerpt from: "Converted to His Gospel through His Church", By Elder Donald L. Hallstrom Continue reading
I have recently learned a new project at my service mission called zoning. Continue reading
Sunday Afternoon Session Continue reading
Sunday Morning Session Continue reading


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2000 Buick Century - Consumer Review
Build Quality
Reliability Value
Build Quality
Reliability Value
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Good car but expect problems
By linnylovescars on
Vehicle2000 Buick Century Custom 4dr Sedan
ReviewI am 21 years old and my Buick Century is the first car that I've ever owned. I inherited from my dad, and it's been on the road for over a year now. We bought it in 2002, when it was retiring from being a rental car with 14,000 miles. It's been in the family since then and so have 2 other Buick Century's. In recent years, the Buick had been sitting in the yard for over 3 years. That was not good!. When first having the car in my possession, all the sparkplugs stopped working when I was in the middle of the city. Everytime I drive the engine does not want to speed enough, or does not speed up at
It's a good car, although I wish it had a more modern look.
Best FeaturesThe only feature that I do like that some modern new cars don't have is the driver and passenger separate heat or a/c control. So you can have air conditioning on the drivers side and heat on the passengers side. Other than that, it's a pretty basic car.
Worst FeaturesThis is a hard car to parallel park in my opinion because of how the body kind of bubbles out underneath the window. You can't see where your tire is very well, or anything at all. You just have to wing it. Also, I wish this car had a more sporty look. The new Buick's are gorgeous and they could be anybody's car, but this car just screams "senior citizen". I wish this car had more fuel efficiency, it seems to suck gas somedays but not others. But I recently did a 4 hour trip out of state on the highway and I kept it on cruise and I did 300 miles on less then a tank of gas. I was very surprised.
Recommend (2) (0)
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text: Marc Recht <firstname.lastname@example.com> writes: >> Yes, but that should no longer be needed. > > Are you referring to that > <http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/DVDCCA_case/20040122_eff_pr.php> article > ? I'm not in any way competant in US copyright law - does this also > cover the DMCA ? We might want to consult with EFF, but as I understand the case, they were attempting to block distribution of css largely on trade secret grounds. -- Perry E. Metzger email@example.com


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Fixstars Corporation announced its Accelcoder v.2.2 MPEG-4/H.264 software encoder at the NAB Show 2011.
For more information visit: www.fixstars.com
Unedited press release follows:
Fixstars Releases H.264 Software Encoder Accelcoder v2.2 at NAB 2011
Introducing the Industry's First 2D/3D Express Authoring Feature
Las Vegas, NV 04/11/2011- NAB Show 2011 Fixstars Corporation today announced its release of Accelcoder v.2.2, the newest version of the Software Encoder. The update features a 2D/3D Express Authoring tool, allowing the output video to be written directly to a Blu-ray disc. The software will be demonstrated in Booth #SU9120 during NAB 2011.
The large-capacity of the Blu-ray disc is suitable as a packaged media, but it can also be used as a media for previews and promotions during the stages of high-quality 2D/3D video production. However, creating a Blu-ray disc requires two distinct procedures, which are encoding of the video, and authoring of the encoded data, requiring specialized knowledge, time, and equipment investment.
The newly added Express Authoring feature in Accelcoder v2.2 allows the encoding and the authoring to be performed seamlessly on one machine. Without adding much overhead in the workflow, the end result of a Blu-ray disc can be achieved in a simple and efficient manner.
Workflow when using the Express Authoring Tool
"As graphics quality keeps rising over time, we are seeing a change in how video is being transferred for checking. Although data transfer over the network is the most common method within the production, clients often must follow certain procedures in order to create an environment in which the movie can be played back. Standard formatted media such as Blu-ray, might just be the solution we are looking for. As far as 3D video is concerned, Blu-ray the media to use," said Masaru Suzuki, manager of information systems at Shirogumi Inc., Japan's leading movie production site. "The Express Authoring capability in the updated Accelcoder will be helpful in 3D movie production. The fast, high-quality encoding from the Accelcoder in conjunction with this functionality will allow us to focus solely on the movie production, which we believe will ultimately result in a step forward for our content market. Here at Shirogumi, we are looking forward to start using Blu-ray discs as the primary method for checking our work."
The update has improved functionality and added new features:
• External playback of encoded data
By using the Bluefish444 video capture card on the Accelcoder, the user can now display the encoded data to an external monitor.
• Live capture encoding from cameraIn
addition to the VTR deck, the encoding can now be performed from a video captured using a camera.
• Video quality improvement of CBR encoding
• Display stream infoIn
the encoding result preview, the local bit-rate and CPB graph can be displayed.
• Bug fixes
Accelcoder v2.2 will be available at the end of April. For current Accelcoder users, the new features will be made available as a software update.
Fixstars will be showcasing the updated Accelcoder at the NAB Show in Las Vegas starting April 11th.
About Shirogumi Inc.
Shirogumi is Japan's leading movie production company, creating numerous movies, commercials, and animations. A specialist in VFX, Shirogumi creators have been using the most cutting-edge computer graphics technology since it was founded. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Tokyo, Japan.
About Fixstars Corporation
Founded in 2002, Fixstars is a leader in software development specializing in multi-core processors. Fixstars provides solutions mainly in financial, medical, industrial, and digital media fields, who has benefited from increased processing speed of massive amount of data in multi-core environment. For more information, visit http://www.fixstars.com
* Express Authoring does not have features such as adding a title or menus. BD-J is not supported. Also, the produced Blu-ray is not guaranteed to be played back on every Blu-ray player. 720/60p for BD3D is not supported.Supported audio is Linear PCM only.


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Photograph by: Michael Yamashita, National Geographic February 2008
Matsuo Basho, the master of Japanese haiku, lived in 17th-century Japan, when haiku hadn't fully developed into the independent poetic form we know today. His poetry showed the power that a three-phrase haiku could have, but his masterpiece—the travel journal Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to a Far Province)—contains both poetry and prose.
Matsuo Basho (using the Japanese standard: Matsuo was his family name, Basho one of his pen names) was born to a samurai family in Ueno, Japan, in 1644. His father died when Basho was a child, and it is said that the family was not prosperous. Young Basho spent time as a servant to the local lord's son, Todo Yoshikiyo, who was just two years older than Basho. This was important in Basho's development, since both young men shared an interest in poetry. When his master died in 1666, Basho seems to have decided to devote himself to a literary life. He traveled to Kyoto, perhaps staying there on and off, and soon made his way to Edo, then a promising new city. He founded a school of poetry there and took long journeys around the area that echoed the travels of earlier poets. Subsequent scholars have viewed the move to Edo and his travels as a way for Basho to secure his place in the Japanese poetic tradition.
Basho wrote haikai (linked verse) in the manner of his time—with groups of poets and students who would gather to create verse that followed set guidelines. During this era, people also paid to be instructed in a variety of arts or disciplines by "town teachers," and followers would seek lessons from Basho. In the summer of 1694 he set out on another journey, visiting Kyoto and his hometown of Ueno. During this trip he died, surrounded by friends, in the town of Osaka.
Norman, Howard. "On the Trail of a Ghost." National Geographic (February 2008), 136-149.
Carter, Steven D. "On a Bare Branch: Basho and the Haikai Profession." The Journal of the American Oriental Society (January-March 1997), 57-69.
Shirane, Haruo. Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho. Stanford University Press, 1998.
Ueda, Matsuo. Matsuo Basho: The Master Haiku Poet. Kodansha International, 1982.
Renga (linked verse), a medieval Japanese poetic form, was popular in the 14th and 15th centuries. But as literacy increased and more Japanese wrote poetry, this traditional style began to change. During the 16th century a new form of linked verse developed—_haikai_, or playful style—that had less rigid themes and rules than conventional renga. In both conventional renga and haikai, groups of people composed linked verse following specific guidelines for such things as length (they wrote sequences of 36, 44, 100, and even 1,000 verses).
In both forms the opening verse (_hokku_) was particularly important; it was an honor to be asked to compose the hokku. As haikai was becoming popular, the hokku was becoming a poetic idiom in its own right. Basho composed haikai sequences, but he also must have sensed the poetic possibilities of the opening verse (later called haiku). At the time contests were held that pitted two hokku against each other, with a judge declaring the winner. Basho refereed one such contest, publishing poems from it—including two of his own—in a 1672 collection called The Seashell Game. What established his reputation, however, was a combination of the haikai anthologies his students put together and his own work as a haikai master.
It is impossible to summarize Basho's aesthetic temperament, but when discussing a famous haiku (the "frog" poem below), he explained, "Go to the pine if you want to learn about pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about bamboo. And in doing so, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself."
Basho's Narrow Road: Spring & Autumn Passages, trans. Hiroaki Sato. Stone Bridge Press, 1996.
Carter, Steven D. "On a Bare Branch: Basho and the Haikai Profession." The Journal of the American Oriental Society (January-March 1997), 57-69.
Keene, Donald. Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Travel Diaries. Columbia University Press, 1989.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, trans. Nobuyuki Yuasa. Penguin Group, 1966
Ueda, Matsuo. Matsuo Basho: The Master Haiku Poet. Kodansha International, 1982.
Basho's works were first translated into English in the late 19th century, and today several different English translations can be read of just his Narrow Road to a Far Province (the title differs according to the translation as well). Professor Stephen Kohl at the University of Oregon has put together a site where you can read the account of the journey and compare four different translations.
A comparison of translations of the first entry in Narrow Road (Kohl's site makes this easy) illustrates the differences and shows how a translator's word choice can affect understanding. On some level, these differences highlight the beauty and depth of the poetic form as well as Basho's unique artistic gifts.
Narrow Road to a Far Province, first entry
Moon & sun are passing figures of countless , and years coming or going wanderers too. Drifting life away on a boat or meeting age leading a horse by the mouth, each day is a and the journey itself home. Amongst those of old were many that perished upon the journey.
(translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu, Back Roads to Far Towns)
The sun and the moon are eternal ; the years that come and go are travelers too. For those whose lives float away on boats, for those who greet old age with hands clasping the lead ropes of horses, travel is life, travel is home. And many are the men of old who have perished as they .
(translated by Helen Craig McCullough, The Narrow Road to the Interior)
The passing days and months are eternal travellers . The years that come and go are travellers too. Life itself is a journey; and as for those who spend their days upon the waters in ships and those who grow old leading horses, their very home is the open road. And some poets of old there were who died while .
(translated by Dorothy Britton, Narrow Road to a Far Province)
Days and months are travellers of eternity. So are the years that pass by. Those who steer a boat across the sea, or drive a horse over the earth till they succumb to the weight of years, spend every minute of their lives traveling. There are a great number of ancients, too, who died on the road.
(translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa, The Narrow Road to the Deep North)
Howard Norman chose different translations of the Narrow Road, and here is where you can find the original translations for passages not sourced in the print article.
"The road gods beckoned."
(translated by Dorothy Britton; Narrow Road to a Far Province)
"One whole paddy field
Was planted ere I moved on
From that willow tree!"
(translated by Dorothy Britton; Narrow Road to a Far Province)
"Each day is a journey, and the journey itself home."
(translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu; Back Roads to Far Towns)
"Tired of cherry,
Tired of this whole world,
I sit facing muddy sake
And black rice."
(translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa; The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches. Note that this poem is from a collection of poems, Empty Chestnut, published in 1863.)
"Once had my raincoat on, eager to go on a like journey, and then again content to sit imagining those rare sights. What a hoard of feelings, Kojin jewels, has his brush depicted! Such a journey! Such a man!"
(translated by Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu; Back Roads to Far Towns)
"Avoid adjectives of scale, you will love the world more and desire it less."
(Robert Hass, "Vintage," Human Wishes)
"The cool fragrance of snow."
(translated by Dorothy Britton; Narrow Road to a Far Province)
"Feel the truth of old poems"
(from a letter by Basho; translated by Hiroaki Sato, Narrow Road: Spring and Autumn Passages)
"A mound of summer grass:
Are warriors' heroic deeds
Only dreams that pass?"
(translated by Dorothy Britton; Narrow Road to a Far Province)
Back Roads to Far Towns: Basho's Oku-No-Hosomichi, trans. Cid Corman and Kamaike Susumu. Ecco Press, 1996.
Basho's Narrow Road: Spring & Autumn Passages, trans. Hiroaki Sato. Stone Bridge Press, 1996.
A Haiku Journey: Basho's Narrow Road to a Far Province, trans. Dorothy Britton. Kodansha International, 2002.
Hass, Robert. Human Wishes. Ecco Press, 1990.
The Narrow Road to Oku, trans. Donald Keene. Kodansha International, 1996.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, trans. Nobuyuki Yuasa. Penguin Group, 1966.
In the Japanese literary tradition, journals or diaries take their place alongside novels and essays. Basho wrote in a form known as haibun, which he called "haikai prose." His Narrow Road to a Far Province is perhaps the best known work in the form and arguably the best known work of Japanese literature outside the country. He wrote five travel diaries and a sixth, shorter work. Here are a few details about his journeys and the works that resulted from them.
Exposed in the Fields. The first of Basho's major journeys took place when he left Edo in the eighth month of 1684. He returned to Edo in the fourth month of the following year. He traveled southeast, and his stops included Kyoto and Ogaki (where he ended Narrow Road).
A Pilgrimage to Kashima. From the 8th to the 12th month of 1687 Basho took a short trip to the Kashima Shrine to see the harvest moon. The night of the viewing was rainy and overcast, but he was able to visit with the Zen Buddhist priest with whom he had studied in Edo.
Manuscript in My Knapsack and Journey to Sarashina. Basho left on his second major journey soon after he returned from the Kashima Shrine. He traveled for about 11 months in 1687 and 1688, covering much of the same ground as he did in his first journey.
Narrow Road to a Far Province. Basho left Edo on May 16, 1689, on the travels that would become the inspiration for his masterwork. The journey in Narrow Road ends when Basho arrives in Ogaki, in the autumn of 1689. Basho didn't make it back to Edo until 1691, because he took time for short side trips to visit students and friends.
Saga Diary. This short book details the time Basho spent traveling around Kyoto in the summer of 1691.
Basho's Narrow Road: Spring & Autumn Passages, trans. Hiroaki Sato. Stone Bridge Press, 1996.
Keene, Donald. Travelers of a Hundred Ages: The Japanese as Revealed Through 1,000 Years of Travel Diaries. Columbia University Press, 1989.
Ueda, Matsuo. Matsuo Basho: The Master Haiku Poet. Kodansha International, 1982.
Listen! a frog
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond
(translated by Dorothy Britton; from Narrow Road to a Far Province)
Basho's "frog" poem is perhaps his best-known haiku, the one that has received the most critical commentary. An entire book has been devoted to interpretations of just this one haiku (and contains 100 different versions). The poem was published in 1686 in two anthologies, Frog Contest and Spring Days. The former, as its title suggests, consists of frog poems written by Basho and his students. Basho wrote only three of the poems in Spring Days, but this haiku captures his mature style and showcases what readers associate with modern-day haiku. It describes an objective action, but Basho's description of the frog jumping into a pond encourages interpretation and introspection. Basho's influence was already being felt by the 18th century, when the Japanese poet Yosa Buson (1716-48) responded with his own interpretation of the poem in another haiku. The Japan Shop showcases Basho's famous frog poem in Japanese and then English.
A haiku poem has three phrases of five, seven, and five syllables. To be considered a true haiku, though, the poem must have a reference to a season and a breaking (or cutting) word. A transitional word, the cutting word divides the haiku into two parts, encourages interpretation, and adds power to the poem. A poem with the same syllabic structure that lacks a seasonal or cutting word is known as a senryu. Columbia University's East Asian Curriculum Project offers resources that highlight the development of hokku as the distinct poetic idiom known today as haiku. You can listen and watch as modern scholars talk about Basho and explain hokku.
Basho's influence continues today, with websites devoted to his poetry and prose along with interpretations and analysis of it. Haiku practitioners of all ages can be found. This site will create a haiku—a "cyberpseudopoetic masterpiece." Try one and see what meaning you uncover.
Hass, Robert, ed. The Essential Haiku. Ecco Press, 1994.
Shirane, Haruo. Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Basho. Stanford University Press, 1998.
Ueda, Makoto. Basho and His Interpreters: Selected Hokku With Commentary. Stanford University Press, 1992.
Last updated: January 15, 2008
Keywords: Matsuo Basho, Basho, poetry, haiku, haikai, Japanese culture, Japanese literature, haibun, Oku no Hosomichi, Robert Hass, hokku, renga, Howard Norman, Cid Corman, Robert Hass


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Environet Facility makes data center management simple by providing an easy-to-use, holistic view of the data center.
Environet Facility provides the data granularity required for efficient management of the data center. With unprecedented visibility and management over the environment, power consumption and cooling —Environet Facility transforms complexity into simplicity. Its interactive interface delivers critical information to drive knowledge-based decision making. Access to real-time, holistic information about power, environment and process empowers users to proactively manage moves, adds and changes. With Environet Facility, decisions are made with speed and confidence—not guesswork.
Environet Facility's graphically rich interface and intuitive design make monitoring the data center easier than ever before. With SNMP, Modbus, BACnet and LONworks capability, Environet Facility communicates in real-time with a variety of equipment from many manufacturers. Users can access Environet Facility remotely through a Web-based user interface that sends immediate notifications when an alarm condition is triggered.
Environet Facility goes beyond typical monitoring systems by surpassing reactive or even proactive methods to provide the user with extensive toolsets, letting you know about potential problems before they become catastrophic.
Environet Facility can also help save money associated with data center operations by uncovering stranded capacity and cutting energy usage. Environet Facility management systems help data center operators plan for future expansions, effectively extending the useful life of a facility. In fact, after implementing Environet Facility's automated start/stop HVAC system, one client was able to decrease their CRAC units' runtime by about 20%—that translates into over $23,000 in savings annually.
Environet Facility can be customized for many types of equipment. Some commonly monitored equipment include the following:
Chilled Water Systems, CRAC Units, Utility Power Meters, Switch Gear, Generators, Fuel Systems, ATSs, STSs, UPSs, Rack PDUs, Battery Strings, Leak Detection, RPPs, BCMs, Fire Panels, PDUs, Security, Temperature, Humidity, Pressure
Environet Facility can support a number of open communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the following:
SNMP, Modbus, BACnet, LONworks, Niagara and Hardwired I/O
Environet Facility Rack Manager allows users to manage racks in the data center on their own. Simply add the desired racks, identify and associate the power strips, branch circuits, or any other power or temperature readings. Get total power, load balance, high temperature and a variety of other user-definable calculations. In addition to defining rack calculations, users can now see a graphic on the rack view for each of their racks that depict calculations such as total power, load balance and temperature.
The Environet Facility Tenant Billing Manager allows users to calculate power consumption and produce invoices for their clients, or 'tenants', based on real-time values. Peak and non-peak rates can be applied to accounts based on actual usage. The calendar feature of the Tenant Billing Manager allows users to apply special rates for different times of the day, certain holidays and other user-defined time periods. This module integrates seamlessly with Environet Facility. It can be added to a station easily and configured by the user.
Users can make notes on alarms that can be viewed by other users and give instructions about the status of an alarm or what needs to be done to remedy an issue.
Environet Facility groups repeat alarms into one easily accessed drill down menu item. Users can quickly view all alarms associated with specific trigger conditions.
Users can set alarm thresholds based on their requirements and Environet Facility will send warnings if an alarm condition is close to being triggered.
Environet Facility can notify users via email or text when an alarm condition is met. Users can access the system remotely to acknowledge alarms.
Shows each piece of equipment on your power one-line drawing. Each element has associated status, capacity, connectivity and more.
Compares information regarding capacity, load balancing, efficiencies and more across multiple pieces of similar equipment.
Analyzes how much energy your system uses and areas where energy costs can be saved.
Automatically generates required reports saving you time, while decreasing human error associated with running reports.
Displays all data associated and recorded for a given event. View data before, during and after the event occurred.
Increases facility efficiency so you fully realize your return on investment.
Measures real time power consumption and graphically shows the impact on power capacity. Helps when considering potential expansion and consolidation projects. Impacts can be viewed on all critical power systems through the one-line drawing.
Stores documents associated with equipment, processes, warranties and more so you have centralized access to all essential information for your system.
Tracks the most commonly used data center efficiency metrics PUE/DCiE in real time. These metrics act as baseline measurements for implementing greener data center practices. The PUE/DCiE values provide the ability to visualize efficiency improvements in a data center and quantify the results in real time. Learn more about PUE/DCiE metrics at The Green Grid.
Shows the most pertinent information per user based on individual responsibilities for faster, more efficient data collection.
Provides seamless integration and automated deployment for Environet Facility. It's deployment plugin allows administrators to quickly protect their Environet Facility servers without manual setup or scripting. Environet Facility is protected within minutes of deployment and the server protected by Continuity Engine have a warm stand-by server always ready to take over at the first sign of trouble. There's no need to keep users waiting while restoring from backup or troubleshooting an issue.
Continuity Engine Spec Sheet
Environet Facility features an open REST API interface for sharing data with third party software solutions. The API was developed by Geist to provide effective data sharing of all available data within Environet. Geist also has technology partners who assist with integrations for customer specific software solutions. More partner information can be found here.
Geist's FAQ section aims to answer specific questions related to this product offering. If you need further support, please contact Tech Support directly.
Environet Facility is a turn-key solution that monitors all types of devices and communicates via all major open communication protocols. It is a larger scale, holistic DCIM solution. The toolset is expansive and provides the granularity required for efficient data center management.
Environet Facility's ROI varies based on the application of the solution. However, one client was able to decrease their CRAC units' runtime by about 20% after implementing Environet Facility's automated start/stop HVAC system—which translated into over $23,000 in savings annually for their facility.
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So happy! I have loads of buds still to come.
1 to 12 of 12 replies
1 to 12 of 12 replies
26 Aug 2014 09:20
So happy! I have loads of buds still to come.
26 Aug 2014 09:22
26 Aug 2014 09:50
Well worth the wait aren't they sara? Your leaves look so much healthier than mine.
26 Aug 2014 09:54
I am so happy! First flowering, so thanks to this forum I must have done something right!
26 Aug 2014 11:52
Dont forget that when you cut it down for the winter, the offcuts will root in a glass of water in the windowsill, giving you fresh plants for next year. They take a couple of months to root, I pot them up in Spring.
I use thick shoots, about a foot (30cm) long.
26 Aug 2014 17:53
thanks Fidgetbones, I need to look up about cutting back as I have no idea! Mrs Garden my friends has sad leaves, the only difference between us is that I fed my tomato feed, not sure if this made a difference.
26 Aug 2014 21:05
Mine are being eaten by something very small, maybe red spider mite. It doesn't seem to stop them flowering though.
Last years cuttings are 3 ft tall and have buds on. I cut down like you would a buddleja, when I take it into the greenhouse for the winter, otherwide they take up too much room. Cuttings go in a coffee jar of water on the kitchen windowsill.
second year they will branch more. Third year I put them in the ground and let the frost have them. I have had them flowering outside on bonfire night.
26 Aug 2014 21:24
Oh wow! I seriously thought the cold would kill it off! I don't have a green house but have a big bay window in my kitchen and it spent last winter there, I shall do the same this winter.
27 Aug 2014 09:12
Another couple of quick questions if anyone can help me, the colour seems to be changing daily, is this normal? And is this considered a double?
27 Aug 2014 09:13
28 Aug 2014 19:55
01 Sep 2014 08:38
Having seen my fully open for the first time they have 3 layers, the two you can see plus a centre stem. I was not prepared for the most amazing scent! My garden was heady last night!


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DDOGamer had the bright idea of seeking out a DDO Wiki editor (they call themselves "SysOps") and asking him or her a series of questions about the wiki and about being a wiki-type person. After some searching an editor was identified, Kevin, a.k.a. LrdSlvrhnd, who was then harassed and harangued until he gracefully agreed to serve as an interview subject.
And so a largish batch of questions was prepared and fired off. In true crowd-source fashion, LrdSlvrhnd turned them into a group page on the wiki itself and tagged all of the other primary SysOps, asking them all to answer. And they did. Lots of answer. Lots! Last week we covered the history and continuing presence of the DDO Wiki.
Today we're talking about life as a SysOp.
DDOGamer: How did you get involved with the wiki?
LrdSlvrhnd: I first started editing the wiki back in October '09 (about a month after joining, I believe), doing minor edits for grammar & spelling (which is still the bulk of my editing today, actually). I was trying to figure out my own style, so I was rerolling my first couple of characters a *lot* – which meant running through the same low-level quests a *lot*. And I'd noticed that some of them needed fleshing out. And since I'd been running them so much, I figured I could do a decent job with that. And it kind of snowballed from there… I did (and do) a lot of running solo, which meant that I could cheerfully take an hour running through a five-minute quest and working on the wiki page.
Nibelung: I always used the wiki as a resource since I started playing. Then, I noticed that a lot of items (at the time) had stats, but no pictures. Next thing, I started to screenshot everything I got, and putting it on the wiki. I'm not great at research, testing, coding or even plain grammar (because English isn't my first language). But I found my place doing pic hunting and text dumping.
Yoko: In 2007, nobody was using this wiki it seemed so i started using it as my "personal notepad".
Tauro: Well, I looking back, saw a couple spelling errors, made an account, read up on how to edit, and went from there. Minor edits like that turned into template layouts, image uploads, etc.
Mjoll: At the time I started playing, second half of 2009, I wasn't satisfied with wiki's maps for quests and decided to make my own maps. After a while sharing them with other players sounded like a good idea so I made a thread on the official forums that I kept updating regularly. Later I was approached by either Borror or Yoko and asked if I would like to upload the maps on the wiki and… here I am.
DDOGamer: What is your opinion regarding why do some people (like me) mainly read and use the wiki while other people (like you) feel led to contribute and change it?
Mjoll: I don't think there is only one correct answer to this question, it's more about a multitude of factors that influence whether or not someone decides to contribute to the wiki: free time, knowledge of the game, being a hardcore or casual gamer, having 20 alts or none, wanting to fill an information gap that exists on the wiki or to correct erroneous info etc. And a healthy dose of OCD. *laughs*
Tauro: I feel people use the wiki as a reference guide to help them though difficult quests. Lets face it, some of these quests, you could be beating your head in to the wall (or standing in the lava, like at the bottom of The Pit) for hours trying to figure out the puzzles without help. I love the idea people use it and regard it so highly. I do become a little disheartened when someone complains that something is "wrong" or "ddo is not right" or "someone should fix it" – There's an 'edit' button there (*hint*hint*) – and if you mess up, it's a simple click to revert to a previous version of an article, so not like your lack of wiki-expertise is going to mess anything up.
Yoko: Check this book out. Its kinda old and obsolete, the title is ridiculous (its sooo 2004 and sooo "web2.0") but it covers all the stuff going on early wiki scene and still holds so much of the truth. This wiki is no different nor special.
Nibelung: Mostly, I believe is a matter of priorities. Some people just don't have the time to edit a wiki. Others don't have the knowledge, and don't believe that learning it may be important in the future. A third group might think that time spent editing the wiki is less time farming stuff. Myself, I like that the wiki exists to help everyone, and try to keep it correct and presentable for everyone.
LrdSlvrhand: I think it's easier for somebody who primarily runs solo or with an understanding group (…the latter of which would be impossible while PUGging) to do major edits to a quest page. Beyond that, for minor edits… honestly, some pages, if you go to edit them, it can be overwhelming. There's a lot of use of templates, and people are probably afraid of doing it wrong or breaking something. But the thing is, admins can clean those up fairly easily. Like, if an item's base value was missing, and somebody added it – the "Value" line will most likely already be on the page. Or with U17, if an item has been updated to include an augment slot (Muck's Doom, for instance; haven't seen any or heard of anyone who's looted one since, so no idea if that got updated)… even if somebody doesn't know how to use the augment template, they could simply add, say, "Colorless Augment Slot" to the page, and one of us is bound to see it and fix it for the proper template.
Also, it's simply easier for some of us without lives to be able to find the time to do it – I'm sure there's a lot of "I don't want to spend my limited DDO time editing wiki pages; I want to spend it playing."
DDOGamer: Have you participated in editing other wikis or other similar activities? If yes, how were the editing experiences different from editing DDOWiki?
LrdSlvrhnd: Only a limited amount – the original Wiki, Star Trek's Memory Alpha, Star Trek's Wookieepedia, a few others. But almost entirely limited to grammar & spelling. Some of them (the Grimm wiki comes to mind) are more WYSIWYG – you can highlight a word or phrase and click on the "Bold" tag in the editing window, much like a Word document, rather than using a select number of quote marks, for instance – which is rather nice. However, I'm not sure how well that would work here, or how much of an overhaul it would require.
Nibelung: Tried with the wikipedia when it release their portuguese version. Since I'm not a researcher, and they have very high standards for presentation and editing, I gave up. Wikipedia is too strict. DDOwiki is more like a fan job, so as long as we keep with the basic organization stuff (using templates and correct information), we have the space to be more informal.
Shoemaker: I've participated in editing many other wikis. DDOwiki is a much calmer and less dramatic place than some of the other places I've edited.
Yoko: Yes. Japanese gaming wikis, guitar wikis etc.. Most of these were running on early branch version of MediaWiki called PukiWiki though. I do edit en.wikipedia and ja.wikipedia regularly as well.
Tauro: Yes, I have edited a few other wikis. Some were on Wikia (which uses a really annoying software in comparison to MediaWiki that DDOwiki/Wikipedia uses), and a couple others. DDOwiki is the most developed, with a crew of active editors and admins that constantly add, update, and tweak things daily.
Mjoll: I wrote a couple of guides for two other online games, Sacred and Saga of Ryzom, but DDOWiki is the first wiki I contribute to.
DDOGamer: What motivated you to do so much work in this specific wiki?
Mjoll: Helping myself and helping others, being a giver after being a taker for too long. Everyone wins when you pool together the information rather than having each person hoarding the info for themselves.
Tauro: My love of DDO, and a lot of time on my hands. After seeing all the work being put in by all the admins, I inquired about joining the admin crew
Yoko: At some point of my life, I totally went nuts with this game. Wake up, check the AH and forums then spend all the time at work figuring out builds and item layout, come back home play the game and sleep only to have a dream of playing DDO kinda thing. You know what i am talking about? I hope not lol. I dont really think about rules and styles. All my motivation is to salvage info otherwise gets buried in forum and, well this is a big thing, it is also for learning new stuff myself by putting together articles on them. Trust me, for this kind of geek stuff, there is no better way of learning than to do this. In other words, i do this because it benefits me the most.
Shoemaker: I saw a need, and felt passionate about my ability to be able fill that need to some extent. Also, since I prefer to work mainly on templates and the way the wiki works and less on the actual pages, I'm gaining valuable experience in creating logic they may benefit me in the future.
Nibelung: The feeling to help people. Cliche, I know, but is the truth. I love when someone on game/forums mention something I put on the wiki. I love when I see a new weapon out and be the first one to create a page and put info there so everyone can search for it.
LrdSlvrhnd: I spend a fair amount of time (too much, really, not that knowing that stops me from signing on anyway!) playing DDO, so it's only reasonable that I then spend a fair amount of time editing the wiki. The wiki's helped me out so much over the years, that I like to pay it forward by making it better/more useful for future readers.
DDOGamer: What rules or styles do you try to follow when adding to the wiki?
LrdSlvrhnd: I mainly follow basic grammatical & spelling rules… I try to keep things fairly simple and explained well, and I like to interject the occasional note of humor.
Nibelung: Right now, my pet project is collecting the quests loading screens, and updating the bestiary. So, my main moto is: Don't add incorrect info. Eg, we all know that every mephit in game is true neutral, right? Wrong. Soulbound Mephits are Neutral Evil. We can't add stuff because it is logical. We need to test it out and confirm it. That's why I carry an unholy weapon around. Only after I hit a mob with it and a holy weapon I can assure the mob is neutral. There are more examples, but I think this one is good enough.
Shoemaker: Our current rule and style guidelines are currently under construction as we are starting to realize that the wiki that was never suppose to last this long is strong enough to endure most any controversy for the remainder of the lifetime of DDO itself.
Tauro: I try to follow the rules that are set forth by the guidelines (File nameing, capitalization in sentance formats – little things, really), but in my book, no edit is a bad edit so long as it can be edited again to comply with the guidelines.
Mjoll: Common sense, wiki guidelines and my vision about how the final result should look like.
DDOGamer: How do you as a group resolve differences? You can't all have the same philosophy about wiki work but also cannot spend eternity editing each other to comply with several competing individual philosophies. How does that work?
Tauro: "Edit wars" are ugly, nasty things, and I've seen them result in many hurt feelings. We try to avoid them as much as possible. We discuss the issues normally in a Talk page, very similar to a forum thread.
Yoko: bleh, I dont try to resolve differences or anything. Again read the wikipedia book.
Shoemaker: It is about the information… Personally, if the information is correct, then I tend to leave it alone even if it's not exactly the way I would have done it or the way I like to see it. In extreme cases (which rarely happen), we take it to a discussion page and the two or three people that disagree state their case (sometimes the initial stating of cases is done on our IRC chat channel and although it hasn't been utilized, I am also happy to field case points in email. Then, after some discussion and deliberation (and usually some mediation from outside parties), we try to reach some kind of agreement that works for everyone. This doesn't "always" happen, and we have lost a few editors in the past I felt were valuable.
DDOGamer: How much time do you spend in the wiki versus time in the game?
Mjoll: I'd say 50/50 whenever a new update is released because some info I have to get myself (sometimes it can get dull fast, running the same quest for the 10th time in a row because I can't find the last random trap/chest/rare monster that I need to finish mapping the quest ain't fun), with considerably less time spent on the wiki between game updates.
Tauro: There was a time when I spent almost all my game time in the wiki, and only logging in to get data for the wiki. Then the MOTU expansion came out. Basically that has flip/floped now, and me and my guild mates have been more active in game.
Yoko: Right now I am not such a enthusiastic gamer/editor. Comes back to game every patches and updates, gets done quickly and take another break kinda player. Editing is minimal as well, just checking RSS feed and paying attention to talk page updates.
Shoemaker: It varies… Sometimes I spend weeks on end editing the wiki and only pop in to get mail, and other times I play daily and only pop into the wiki to check my talk page for notices.
Nibelung: More than I want to admit. Usually, I play and start taking screenshots of everything I think is relevant. Then on the weekends I check the screenshots and add the relevant info on the wiki. Usually this means that every saturday I spend 4-6 hours editing the wiki. And usually part of sunday too, if I play a lot on the weekend.
LrdSlvrhnd: It varies; I'll generally have it open as I quest, but there will be times when I won't do anything with the wiki for a while. And then there'll be times when I'll realize I spent most of the night sitting in front of the banker because I was doing stuff on DDO Wiki instead.
DDOGamer: What is your favorite piece of work you've done for the wiki, and why is it your favorite?
LrdSlvrhnd: I still crack up when I visit the "Assault on Splinterskull" quest pages and see my increasingly-annoyed snarkiness about going into the Outer Fortress *again*. Don't know that that's my favorite, but it's one that springs to mind most easily. Most of my edits are really either cleaning up or fleshing out so kinda meh.
Nibelung: No favorites. I have some pet projects, but they usually involve an entire category (traps, bestiary, optional hunting…), and not a single page. So, I have no personal page that I can point and say "hey, this one is mine and is awesome".
Shoemaker: My favorite pieces of work for the wiki are some of the more complicated templates I've created.
Yoko: Theres no such thing as my favorite work.
Tauro: It's so hard to choose, I've uploaded many item pics to the wiki staring my toons or my guildmates modeling the items.
Mjoll: I can't pick one, it's a tie between all my pet projects (quest maps, item enchantments project and monster information project) because I've invested a lot of time into all of them.
Shoemaker chose to answer the question "How did you get involved with the wiki?" in the form of a filk. He didn't mention the melody that is supposed to back these lyrics, but then he didn't have to, it is a no-brainer.
Let's close out the DDO Wiki interview sessions with a song.
A long, long time ago…
I can still remember
How the wiki used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people /dance
And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiver
With every ooze I saw quiver.
Bad news from a sahuagin adept;
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I saw the changing tide,
But something touched me deep inside
The day the wiki died.
So bye-bye, DDOwiki guy.
navigated my browser to the site,
But the site wouldn't load now matter how much I did try.
And them gruff old dwarves were drinkin' stout and ale
Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.
"this'll be the day that I die."
I strongly believe that DDO Wiki is the single most important DDO document or web artifact. I cannot be effusive enough in praising the efforts of those who prepare and maintain the wiki. Thank you all, so much!
If you missed part one of this series, check it out here!
Special thanks to Xevo, Nibelung, ShoeMaker, Yoko, Tauro, Mjoll, and especially, LrdSlvrhnd for their contributions to these articles!
🙂 😀 🙂
3 Responses to "Appreciating DDO Wiki: Behind the Curtain"
Insightful notes. I've been an admin on "Battlestar Wiki", a wiki for those TV series and spinoffs for years. Like DDO Wiki, it has similar origins and a strong dedication from both readers, contributors and administrators. Much of the skills and etiquette I used there serve me well in not screwing things up too badly on DDO Wiki pages that I edit.
Without Mjoll's maps, Even would still be wandering around Korthos Island trying to figure out how to get to the Dilapidated Aqueduct. (She's run with him several times too, and he's a heck of a good guy; I still remember how patient and helpful he was during a SubT run when she lag-jumped to her death at least three or four times.)
And without Slvr's Wikipedic knowledge of the game – not to mention his endless patience – I might've forsaken DDO to go back to Second Life. 😉
On a more serious note, Wiki has added immeasurably to my DDO experience. Back when I was almost exclusively soloing and had even less of a clue than I do now, being able to pull up the Wiki page on a quest when I got stuck was almost like having another, and more knowledgeable, party member. Even now, when I do a lot more duo-ing with Slvr, grouping with friends, or PuGging than soloing, there's a lot of, "Hang on, I'm pulling up the Wiki."
The Wiki's been a huge factor for me in mapping out builds, especially since my computer and the character planner don't get along very well; guiding me through lesser, greater and true reincarnation; figuring out where to farm that special item – I could go on.
(Also, nice to know that Slvr sometimes ignored me on AIM 'cause he was working on this rather than drooling over Felicia Day.) *g*


text: On Wed, 07 Jan 2009, Joerg Jaspert wrote: > > > I don't remember using sections in over 4 years of Debian usage, though > > I had already used GNU/Linux for a few months before I switched to > > Debian. But I doubt even a user new to GNU/Linux would use them much. > > Everyone that uses a tool like aptitude does use them much. I guess > similar is true for a graphical ting like synaptic and whatnot else we > have. In fact, the fact that the view is split by section in aptitude is the reason why I never navigate in the tree but use / (lookup) instead. The package is not often in the section that I expected. IMO, it would make sense to merge Debian sections into a debtags facet so that you can have multiple sections when it makes sense. The facet could still be controlled by ftpmasters if that was desired. And aptitude could use that facet to keep a logical tree but a package could then appear in multiple sections. Cheers, -- Raphaël Hertzog Le best-seller français mis à jour pour Debian Etch : http://www.ouaza.com/livre/admin-debian/


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Community Colleges and Underappreciated Assets: Using Institutional Data to Promote Success in Online Learning
Adapting to the 21st century, community colleges are not adding brick and mortar to meet enrollment demands. Instead, they are expanding services through online learning, with at least 61% of all community college students taking online courses today (Pearson, 2011). As online learning is affording alternate pathways to education for students, it is facing difficulty in meeting outcome standards; attrition rates for the past decade have been found to be significantly higher for online courses than face-to-face courses (Carr, 2000; Hachey, Wladis & Conway, 2012a/b; Morris & Finnegan, 2008; Tyler-Smith, 2006). Yet, there is a lack of empirical investigation on community college online attrition, despite the fact that course and institutional management systems today are automatically collecting a wealth of data which are not being utilized but are readily available for study. This article presents a meta-review of one community college's realization of their underappreciated asset… the use of institutional data to address the dearth of evidence on factors effecting attrition in online learning.
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration


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01-04-2012, 12:04
When I first get on the forum I go to the New Posts and review what's being listed..... Today for instance there was about 20 posts initially....... I pick out one to look at,possibly make a comment then either submit it or not...... However when I get back to the New Posts again to review the rest of them there are only 4 posts shown(:confused:)........ Not just this time but often enough to where they just disappear(:rolleyes:)and just a few remain!!!!.......... How does that work?........:eek:
Big Teddy :munchin
Big Teddy :munchin


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Dave J Hogan/Getty Image; Richard Young/startraksphoto.com
Dave J Hogan/Getty Image; Richard Young/startraksphoto.com
There's no shortage of heartfelt tributes to Whitney Houston following her shocking death two weeks ago, with celebs remembering the pop icon in prose, in song and on stage.
One star who reportedly paid homage to Houston? Jermaine Jackson.
News surfaced last week that Michael Jackson's older brother released a song dedicated exclusively to her, titled "The First Time You Love."
The two were good friends—ET even has this video of the duo singing a duet back in 1984.
A musical tribute from Jackson would certainly be poetic, if only it wasn't…
So false!
Although a press release went out last week announcing that Jackson was dedicating "The First Time You Love" to the late pop star (and that the song was available on iTunes), he claims it was sent without his knowledge.
Jackson released this statement today to set the record straight:
"I would like to make clear that no such song was ever approved by me. Further, I have not, and will not, receive any monies for it…This song was recorded more than three years ago. No one informed me, and nor did I sign any permissions, for it ever to be commercially released. After making strong reservations to those responsible, I have today been assured that the process has started to remove this song from iTunes."
Guess we'll just have to make do for now with that video of them.


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Castle Sneak Peeks: A Supernatural ScandalMatt Richenthal at . Comments
Yes, Castle, The Ghost Wranglers are here.
On Monday's new episode of this ABC hit, Rick will get awfully excited because he spots the van of his all-time favorite ghost hunter (come on, are you surprised Rick Castle has an all-time favorite ghost hunter?), only to then be both let down and intrigued by the identity of he and Beckett's victim:
Yup, it's the ghost hunter. Check out two clips from "Demons" now, as Castle bonds with Alexis and then learns this troubling news. Then, of course, visit TV Fanatic next week when we analyze the episode in depth via the Web's only Castle Round Table.
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.


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Episode #067: The Past, Present & Future of Team Coaching: A Conversation with Key Pioneers & Thought Leaders
What can we learn from the past and present of team coaching in order to understand its future? What role will team coaching play in helping build 21st century organizations that are fit for purpose? What challenges and opportunities currently face team coaching as an emergent niche area within the larger coaching field? Tune in to this special episode of The Team Coaching Zone Podcast to find out!
This episode features a replay of a panel discussion on "The Past, Present and Future of Team Coaching" that was held on October 20, 2016 at the 2nd International Columbia University Coaching Conference which took place in New York City. The session was co-moderated by Dr. Krister Lowe (Host of The Team Coaching Zone Podcast (www.TeamCoaching Zone.com) and Dr. Sandra Hayes–an expert in Adult Learning, Leadership and Coaching. 7 key thought leaders and pioneers in team coaching were featured on the panel including: Jennifer Britton, David Clutterbuck, Marita Fridjhon, Dr. Peter Hawkins, DJ Mitsch, Phillip Sandhal, and Dr. Ruth Wageman. The panelists participated remotely via the Zoom meeting platform.
The session explored 3 broad questions:
1) What was the Zeitgeist that led these pioneers to contribute to the emergence of the team coaching field?
2) What key lessons learned stand out for each of the pioneers as result of their work coaching teams in organizations?
3) What are some of the key challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the future for the field of Team Coaching?
If you are interested in understanding more about the Past, Present and Future of team coaching then this is an episode that you will not want to miss! For episode Show Notes go to: www.TeamCoachingZone.com/Past_Present_Future_Team_Coaching. For a video-based version of this episode go to The Team Coaching Zone channel on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i3fb6RLnTcI
Listen Now
Video Replay
- Jennifer Britton: Website: www.potentialsrealized.com. Books: Effective Group Coaching, 2010 and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching, 2013.
- David Clutterbuck: Website: https://www.davidclutterbuckpartnership.com. Book: Coaching the Team at Work, 2007.
- Marita Fridjhon: Website: www.crrglobal.com Book: Creating Intelligent Teams: Leading with Relationship Systems Intelligence, 2016.
- Peter Hawkins, PhD: Website: www.renewalassociates.co.uk. Books: Leadership Team Coaching: Development Collective Transformational Leadership, 2014, and Leadership Team Coaching in Practice: Developing High Performing Teams, 2014.
- Darelyn "DJ" Mitsch: Website: www.pyramidresource.com Book: Zombies to Zealots: Reawaken the Human Spirit at Work, 2016.
- Phil Sandhal: Website: teamcoachinginternational.com Book: Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives, 2011.
- Ruth Wageman, PhD: Website: http://harvard.academia.edu/RuthWageman. Book: Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make them Great, 2008.
Listen to the Episode:
- Panel Moderators: Krister Lowe, PhD & Sandra Hayes, PhD
- Context: 2nd International Columbia Coaching Conference: Conference theme "The Future of Coaching: Building Bridges, Expanding Boundaries"
- Panel title: "The Past, Present & Future of Team Coaching: A Conversation with Key Pioneers & Thought Leaders"
- Context: Understanding the future of Team Coaching requires an understanding of its past including its origins and the contributions of its early pioneers. The panelists, all of whom have been seminal contributors to the team coaching field, will participate in the session virtually with the exception of the moderators who will be physically present. Adobe Connect, Skype or Zoom will be used to conduct the session. The purpose of the session will be to capture the emergence of the field of team coaching through the contributions of its main catalysts and early pioneers. These pioneers have contributed over the past 10 to 20+ years, often alone with little to no support or recognition, in establishing a new sub-discipline within coaching and an inter-discipline that spans coaching, facilitation, training and consulting. The panel will honor these contributions and also provide an opportunity to explore the past, present and future of team coaching.
- Biographical Profiles of Moderators and Panelists:
- 1. Krister Lowe, PhD of The Team Coaching Zone (Moderator). Dr. Lowe is an Organizational Psychologist, a Leadership and Team Coach and Host of The Team Coaching Zone Podcast—a weekly interview show that explores the art and science of team coaching in organizations with leading team coaches. He holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Teachers College Columbia University in Social-Organizational Psychology and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coaching (CPCC).
- 2. Sandra Hayes, EdD, The Team Coaching Zone (Moderator). Dr. Hayes is an Adult Learning and Leadership expert with over 20 years of experience with specialized expertise in action learning and collaborative inquiry. She is a Columbia University adjunct professor having designed and taught courses in leadership and team building, collaborative conflict resolution and adult program development. She holds an M.A. degree in Social-Organizational Psychology and an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership from Teachers College Columbia University.
- 3. Jennifer Britton, Potentials Realized (Panelist). Jennifer Britton is the Founder of Potentials Realized—a Canadian performance improvement company, an author of two seminal coaching books (Effective Group Coaching, 2010 and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching, 2013), and a trainer of group and team coaches via teleseminar, face-to-face modalities and mentor coaching groups.
- 4. David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership (Panelist). Professor David Clutterbuck is Practice Lead for David Clutterbuck Partnership, Special Ambassador for the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, and Founder of Coaching and Mentoring International. He is the prolific author of more than 50 books (many in the area of coaching and team coaching including Coaching the Team at Work, 2007). David is also a management thinker, speaker, workshop presenter, researcher and occasional comedian. He facilitates a number of mentoring, coaching and team coaching certification programs including both a foundation and advanced level programs for team coaches.
- 5. Marita Fridjhon, CRR Global (Panelist). Marita Fridjhon is CEO and Co-Founder of CRR Global, Inc. and Creator of the Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) Program—an ICF accredited coach training school. She is the co-author of Creating Intelligent Teams: Leading with Relationship Systems Intelligence, 2016. Her primary focus in coaching is on systemic change, leveraging diversity, creative communication, deep democracy in conflict management and the development of learning organizations.
- 6. Peter Hawkins, PhD, Henley Business School (Panelist). Peter Hawkins is Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School, Emeritus of Bath Consultancy Group and Chairman of Renewal Associates. Peter is the author of the seminal books: Leadership Team Coaching: Development Collective Transformational Leadership, 2014, and Leadership Team Coaching in Practice: Developing High Performing Teams, 2014. He certifies team coaches in Systemic Team Coaching in collaboration with the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC) and also supervises executive and team coaches.
- 7. Darelyn "DJ" Mitsch, The Pyramid Resource Group (Panelist). DJ Mitsch is Past President and Founding Board Member of the International Coaching Federation, President of The Pyramid Resource Group, and Founder of the Healthcare Coaching Institute. DJ is also the creator of the Team Advantage team coaching program. She provides certification to coaches and team coaches as well as training programs for leaders as coaches. She is the author of Zombies to Zealots: Reawaken the Human Spirit at Work, 2016.
- 8. Phil Sandhal, Team Coaching International (Panelist). Phil Sandahl is a Master Certified Coach, A Certified Professional Co-Active Coach and the Co-Founder of Team Coaching International. He is the co-author of Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, Transforming Lives, 2011. Phil has trained more than 1000 team coaches in over 40 countries.
- 9. Ruth Wageman, PhD, ReThink Health and Harvard University (Panelist). Ruth Wageman is a Director at ReThink Health—an initiative of the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation—and is an Associate in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Ruth is a leading scholar, advisor and educator in organizational behavior and collaborative leadership. She is the lead author of the book Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make them Great, 2008 as well as numerous articles including A Theory of Team Coaching in The Academy of Management Review, 2005.
Question #1: What was the impetus or the Zeitgeist that led you to contribute to the field of team coaching?
- Phil Sandhal: Alexis Phillips was Phil's inspiration. Had spent years doing coaching training for CTI including in Japan. Met Alexis and she had been working on a team assessment tool. In 2004 Phil had a "wow" moment…taking the impact of coaching and doing it at the team level. Transforming the way people work together.
- Marita Fridjhon: Born and raised in South Africa during apartheid era. Impotence of individual activists to create change around apartheid. Unless we can have a systemic approach and impact, then change is very difficult to effect. Going from individual to the collective whole.
- Ruth Wageman: Got into studying coaching by accident. Did research at Xerox on self-managing teams. How to move from autonomy to interdependence. During the days when self-managing teams became popular. The shift in the role of the team leader to one as a coach. Examined the conditions that led to team effectiveness which led Ruth to start defining what team coaching is.
- Peter Hawkins: In the 1970's Peter was a team leader, and had the realization that the responsibility for the whole as more then the sum of the parts was being delegated to him as the team leader and that felt wrong somehow. Had the belief that if everyone got along well interpersonal then the team would work great–but found that wasn't true.
- DJ Mitsch: Background in broadcast management in the sports industry. Managed a lot of high performing teams. Unlike with sports teams, found that business teams didn't have a clear way to win. Discovered an approach to coaching teams in 4 months to accomplish an extraordinary goal. Looked into Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming & Performing research that looked at the stages of a team's development (but not in 2 years but in 4 to 6 months)
- Jennifer Britton: Started as a team leader in the UN. Stumbled across coaching in the 2000's in the UN. Was curious how to bring coaching conversations into communities, governments with partners. Does a lot of work virtually now. The value of team coaching is creating pause points and give teams a new language and framework to work across differences in a safer way.
- David Clutterbuck: Learned early on that you have to coach the individual in relationship to its system such as the team for example. Did a study of top teams and boards in the UK–difference between dialogue and DIRElogue! Did some research that was commissioned by the European Commission about learning in teams. Not all teams are the same. Discovered Leigh Thompson's book "Making the Team" as well as books by Richard Hackman and Ruth Wageman. In 2007 book on "Coaching the Team At Work" wanted to inquire into what is team coaching?
- Marita Fridjhon: How do we shift from "me" to "we" to "it." It as the "system." Shifting from "ego" to "eco."
- Jennifer Britton: Group and Team Coaching overlap yet different.
- David Clutterbuck: a 3 or 4 cornered model: The team, the team leader, the team coach. Looking at FaceBook at their high performing teams. The role of team leader as very important. How to enable teams to create a coaching culture in the team. Team leaders and team members play an important role in that.
- Marita Fridjhon: Hold leadership as a role that belongs to the system. Everyone can step into that role. That's a very different way for leaders to negotiate teaming.
- DJ Mitsch: neuroscience perspective. We are picking up each other's vibes all the time; the space in between. Helping people listen to the team voice.
- Peter Hawkins: Also important to mention the team's stakeholders. How does the team engage its critical stakeholders. Need to catch that as well. How do we organize the business ecosystem and not just the functions and team members.
Question #2: As you reflect on your decade(s) of experience in team coaching, what are some of the main lessons learned that have emerged for you about coaching teams in organizations?
- Ruth Wageman: probably the most powerful lesson she has learned: teach people how to pay exquisite attention to beginnings. Teams are complex systems–you can't make them effective. You can create conditions however that can increase the likelihood of effectiveness. Developing people's collective capacity to get off to a good start has been an important lesson.
- Jennifer Britton: a lot of focus on the team leader outside of the team context. Looking at the team's systemic context. Getting the team to get comfortable with adaptation, with disruption, etc… short term getting them to gel as a team and in the medium and long term is more about helping the team get more external facing
- DJ Mitsch: As team coaches we are all in with the team–not just supporting the team leader. Not all teams understand the idea of "systems." Looking at the life cycles and developmental stages of organizations. What are the team's agreements and chartering, getting clear on roles and supporting the team leader. Helping the team leader build bridges with key stakeholders, seniors, elders. Need to give language to the system.
- Peter Hawkins: 2 things he likes to help teams focus on: looking future back and outside in. Teams get some focused on today's issues they are not looking at the future today. Also bringing the team's stakeholders inside the team (outside in)
- Marita Fridjhon: How do we operationalize some of these concepts? Idea of "lands work"–stepping into the land's of the stakeholders. Where are the place where we have failed in team coaching? One place: we assumed that we knew what was going on? We didn't ask the question: what is trying to happen. Systemic emergence: something is trying to happen.
- Phil Sandhal: team coaching is a multi-disciplinary event. When first started coaching teams he made the mistake of trying to coach each individual on the team. The team doesn't care what you call it (consulting, facilitating, training, coaching)…all of those are for the benefit of the team. The team doesn't need to know what hat you have on. Role of the team coach is to work oneself out of a job. As team coaches we are listening much deeper…if we can help a team communicate differently and deeper then we have done the job of team coaching.
- David Clutterbuck: one contracting piece is to agree that the goal is for the team coach to become unnecessary. For the team to learn how to do it themselves. A theme here about assumptions. When we look at the assumptions vs. the practice and the evidence we see gaps. Example around goals. Another one, the 5 Dysfunctions (where is the evidence base or are they just observations?). What about social loafing? Some of the research David is doing have up to 60 people and are high performing. In the context of the team, the systems and dynamics of the team are overturning social loafing theory. As team coaches we should explore and test these assumptions.
- DJ Mitsch: there is some confusion about coaching teams vs. coaching groups. There are very few teams (other than family owned businesses) that are in it for the long haul–temporary nature of teams.
- Phil Sandhal: the conversation around goals as a team is more interesting than the outcome of the goals conversation. How are they talking, how are they making decisions, etc…this is what is under the goals conversation
- Peter Hawkins: the team is not in it for the long haul but the team may continue to exist
- Marita Fridjhon: if you look at it from the systems perspective. Goals need to be put in the context of the system.
- Peter Hawkins: the team has a life that is more than the individuals. The challenge creates the team not the team creates the mission. The challenge is already out there in the world.
- Ruth Wageman: the team may need to reconfigure based on the changing mission.
- Marita Fridjhon: today the is the panelists team and also the moderating team; there is always more than one team and one system; one challenge for us as team coaches is that we are only looking at one part of the system. How do we hold the interdependence of the team and its context.
Question #3: What is possible for team coaching in the present and the future as an emerging discipline within the broader coaching field? What are the challenges and opportunities?
- David Clutterbuck: What is team coaching? Is it part of normal coaching? Is it a separate or related discipline. We need to find a natural home for team coaching. How do you equip 1-to-1 coaches to be effective team coaches? What are the competencies? Can we make it affordable for all teams and not just top teams? How do we enable teams and organizations to do this? How do we supervise people to do this? Are there special skills for the supervisors? Concerned about formulaic approaches to team coaching. Need to value the individuality of teams.
- Jennifer Britton: we need a blend of approaches. Sustainability? How do we do this in a virtual and global business environment. Constant interweave between groups and teams and the various competencies required.
- Marita Fridjhon: within a company where they have been working for 4 to 5 year and have trained cohorts there has been a culture shift. How do we become obsolete? How do we equip the changing culture to retain and be a coaching culture? Is there is supervision? How and when will externals be used on an ongoing basis.
- Peter Hawkins: the more we can hand over the coaching to the teams; the horizon will be in inter team coaching and on tomorrow's leadership. How will leadership change in the next 20 years? There will be a decrease in hiring but a greater amount of partnerships across organizations and systems. The more we can make ourselves obsolete with teams there is a whole world waiting for us out there.
- DJ Mitsch: every team has a team leader. Wherever we coaching individual executives we can embed coaching skills and a coaching culture in teams.
- Peter Hawkins: how to supervise team leaders to coach their own teams.
- DJ Mitsch: what is supervision in different cultures? Is that the term. Team leaders will reach out to team coaches for help.
- Ruth Wageman: a diversity in the intellectual origins of the discipline of team coaching. Spending team with a group of people who are studying the science of team/group science. Need interdisciplinary exchange in order to create great problem-solving. How do we develop coaching teams? Collaborations. Very little dialogue between the researchers/scholars and the practitioners.
- Phil Sandhal: human beings are wried to be in community and they aren't very good at it. Team coaching provides an opportunity to help a microcosm to learn together, change together. What we are doing with one team has effects beyond just the team?
Q&A with Audience
- Audience questions:
- "My journey to team coaching came from doing it without knowing it or calling it that. How do we know that team coaching is working? What happens after we are gone? What are the leading and lagging indicators?
- "Search for team coaching on Google yields about 9000 hits, is the term team coaching the best term or is it new and needs time to become more common?"
- "The conversation is both inspiring and confusing. It's similar to the conversations we were having in the 90's about one-to-one coaching. Seems like some of the fundamentals need to be fleshed out and explored more."
- "Understanding the complexity of team coaching, when I'm brought in as an executive coach I don't know enough about team coaching. I would love to hear about the programs that one can get trained in."
- Panelists responses:
- Phil Sandhal: How do we know it is working is a good question. There are a couple of ways to address that question: In Phil's work with the Team Diagnostic they measure 14 factors before and after the team coaching to measure change. Beyond that what is the outcome and ROI. There is a lot of work to do to begin measuring that. We need some guidelines. We can have the team decide on success measures up front. The process they are engaging in is as important as they goals and outcomes. What they learn away is really important.
- Peter Hawkins: having a 360 feedback on the team in the beginning and the end as well as what they define as success. We need to go further than that. Is the team creating more value for its stakeholder groupings? And yes we are where individual coaching was 20-30 years ago. We are in a creative space that we have to do through. We shouldn't try to tie it down too soon. Who are the clients? If it is group coaching it is the individuals. If it is team coaching it is the team. If it is systemic team coaching it is the stakeholders.
- David Clutterbuck: there are 3 layers in evaluating team coaching. 1) self awareness of the team within and as part of larger system; 2) what actually changes in behaviors; 3) what capacity has the team now created for itself. Focus on those at the beginning. The complexity of team coaching: every team coaching conversation and session is an experiment and contract with the team to experiment in the sessions and to contract with them around that.
- DJ Mitsch: in coaching we help people find language. Helping people simplify complexity through language. If we can help the team look at something meaningful and put it into a stretch goal (e.g. eradicate a disease state) then let the team take full ownership of it and "find a therapy in two years" and then get the coaches to come in and see how they are getting to work. There is little bandwidth and a lot of noise out there in organizations.
- Jennifer Britton: it really is about simplicity. Embrace the chaos. We have to come back to our coaching competencies and skills. Trust your client…we don't need to know the answers.
- Marita Fridjhon: In answer toe the question "who is the client?" In team coaching the client is the team and not the individuals within it. What is the entity or the system? What does it want? Example of putting a chair in the space and inviting people to speak on behalf of "the team".
- Closing comments: Teams have become an organization's primary vehicle of learning. They aren't going away and will continue to be central in the future.


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Things have been a little quiet in the kitchen, but there's been a lot of action in the yard. For one, the Clematis Etoile Violette that I have been coaxing to grow in honor of my dear Aunt Helen has finally bloomed!!
Elsewhere, I have stuffed the beds with miniature hostas and even a couple white Bleeding Hearts. All of the above came from White Flower Farm, a mail-order greenhouse that has always exceeded my expectations. Each and every plant they have delivered has hit the ground growing.
Our vegetable patch was already bursting with the garlic I'd planted in the fall, and the strawberries in the yard were taking care of themselves. I pushed quite a few seeds into the remaining dirt: bush beans, swiss chard, broccoli, radishes, basil, cilantro, dill, and parsley. The tomato plants looked too good to pass by when we stopped to buy flowers for the porch, so room was made for them as well. Now it's just a matter of sun, water, and time. Plus plastic chicken wire to keep the rats, squirrels, and birds at bay. Such is the plight of the urban farmer.


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Photo session saved baby's life
A baby with a rare heart condition was saved when a trip to a professional photographer showed up tell-tale signs that he was seriously ill.
Parents Neil and Fran Davies booked the session to get treasured family snaps of their son Danny when he was just a few weeks old.
The infant had appeared the picture of health when he was born and no-one was too worried that he looked slightly purple - assuming he was simply a bit bruised by his arrival. But when the photos were developed his parents noticed the purple blotches on Danny's skin had got worse and his hands and feet looked almost blue.
This sparked a chain of events that ended in life-saving treatment at Southampton General Hospital, where baby Danny was diagnosed with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA-VSD).
Two days after the photo session, Mrs Davies mentioned her concerns about the blotches to a community nurse who sent them to their GP to get Danny's oxygen levels checked. Unfortunately, the doctor's surgery had only an adult's machine available so when Danny's oxygen levels were reading at 50% - when you would expect rates of 97% or over - everyone assumed it was because it was not a children's device.
To be on the safe side, Danny was then sent to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester so a proper test could be performed and, after two hours of trying to get a normal reading, Danny was sent to the paediatric cardiac centre at Southampton General Hospital.
Within two hours of arriving, Danny was in theatre as doctors tried to deal with the PA-VSD - a very rare congenital malformation of the heart where the pulmonary valve fails to develop properly, obstructing the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs.
Danny remained in theatre for more than 10 hours as consultant cardiac surgeons Nicola Viola and Markku Kaarne struggled to stabilise him. Mrs Davies said: "We were told that he would need to go on an ECMO machine when he came out of theatre, which would keep him alive in what was a desperate situation."
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides both cardiac and respiratory support. After seven days Danny came off the machine but remained in hospital for another four months, undergoing further surgery to reconstruct his heart and help it work more efficiently.
Finally, in October 2010, Danny was allowed to return home. He is now two, has a little sister called Sky and has a new home more suited to his care. But he has now undergone a further 12 procedures and will need to come to the cardiac ward at Southampton throughout his life. Mrs Davies said: "We expect to have many more visits to the hospital but we know we are in safe hands and Danny is given the best care we could hope for."
Press Association