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Senior Advisor, Senior Partner Emeritus
Related Expertise: Operations, Augmented and Virtual Reality
By Christian Greiser, Jan-Philipp Martini, and Nicole Meissner
Volatile markets, challenging consumer demands, and the technological disruptions resulting from digitization and Industry 4.0 are producing unprecedented rates of change. In response, companies have worked to increase organizational agility, hoping to foster innovation and shorten go-to market cycles. Yet organizational experiences and sociological conditioning often impede true agility. As a result, many of these efforts fall short of their objective to manage the uncertainty generated by change. But another movement—mindfulness—will help companies overcome these challenges.
Mindfulness is a centuries-old idea that has been reinvented to address the challenges of our digital age. In essence, mindfulness describes a state of being present in the moment and leaving behind one's tendency to judge. It allows one to pause amid the constant inflow of stimuli and consciously decide how to act, rather than react reflexively with ingrained behavior patterns. Mindfulness, therefore, is perfectly suited to counterbalance the digital-age challenges of information overload and constant distraction.
The benefits of mindfulness are both clear and proven. Mindfulness programs help leaders and employees reflect effectively, focus sharply on the task at hand, master peak levels of stress, and recharge quickly. On an organizational level, mindfulness reduces sick days, increases trust in leadership, and boosts employee engagement. What's more, mindfulness helps to unlock the full potential of digital and agile transformations. New processes and structures are just the starting points for these transformations.
Not surprisingly, interest in mindfulness is growing, especially among digital natives: in the past decade, the rate of increase in Google searches for mindfulness has outpaced that of all Google searches by a factor of four. Furthermore, years of scientific research and modern forms of teaching have fueled its popularity. Now, mindfulness apps even come preinstalled on smartphones and tablets.
Yet integrating mindfulness in the corporate context can be challenging. Some companies encounter vocal skeptics; others struggle with entrenched ways of working. Even leaders and employees who are eager to try out mindfulness find it hard to get started. To unleash the power of mindfulness, companies will have to embrace a holistic approach to corporate agility.
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To support their agility efforts, many companies have applied "cosmetic" digital-age solutions, such as hackathons, agile meetings (for example, short daily standup meetings to discuss progress and obstacles), and new visualization techniques and creativity tools.
However, most companies have not yet created an environment that truly prepares them to reap the rewards of agility. Often, their ways of working have been shaped by a tradition of emphasizing functional excellence over agility, as well as systems that favor expertise over open-mindedness. Two inhibitors stand out:
To overcome these inhibitors, leaders and employees need to abandon traditional management styles and linear ways of working. They must rewire their established mindsets, cultivating the open-mindedness and clarity required to navigate through unpredictable environments. They must acknowledge that their business involves elements beyond their control and develop the capacity for self-leadership in an unpredictable environment. And to gain mastery over uncertainty, they must learn to walk in the fog, open their eyes wide to detect signals from all directions, and feel empowered to trigger rapid action.
Mindfulness enables people to radically strengthen their ability to adapt quickly to evolving circumstances and ambiguous situations and to increase the speed with which they learn new things. It creates mental agility and helps people look inward to find answers.
In their recent book, Altered Traits, Daniel Goleman, a Harvard psychologist, and Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provide a scientific view of personal mindfulness benefits. They synthesize three proven benefits of mindfulness that, in combination, allow people to act more effectively in unpredictable environments:
By delivering these individual benefits, mindfulness boosts the potential of corporate agility initiatives and agile transformations. It helps people to inspect and adapt their behaviors in short cycles, relax so that they can rewire established attitudes, and think clearly in the midst of overwhelming digital stimuli. In short, mindfulness facilitates navigation in the context of uncertainty and ambiguity.
East Asian corporations, such as Panasonic and Toyota, have long understood that the personal benefits of mindfulness can support business objectives. Indeed, mindfulness is the "zen" in kaizen, the lean-management concept of continuous improvement. Zen, one form of mindfulness, emphasizes deep insight through observation over know-how. It is about discarding preconceptions and developing fresh ideas to achieve continuous self-improvement.
For example, open mindedness through Zen underlies Toyota's employee suggestion system and quality circles. The quality circles empower employees to adopt a "beginner's mind" when observing work-related problems and to independently develop innovative measures to drive improvement. Unlike self-perceived expertise, which encourages closed-mindedness, a beginner's mind is open and curious, with no preconceptions. The more quickly change occurs, the more employees need to adopt a beginner's mind for problem solving.
A leading pioneer of corporate mindfulness is Jon Kabat-Zinn, who facilitated its democratization by designing a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. The course provides a simple and structured introduction to scientifically proven meditation practices. Similarly, Chade-Meng Tan has developed Search Inside Yourself, a course that combines meditation practices with emotional intelligence training—an approach he pioneered at Google.
More recently, companies in the West have turned to mindfulness to promote employee well-being and productivity. The movement began among startups in Silicon Valley and has been implemented by long-established companies across the US and Europe as well as by government bodies. These include Aetna, Beiersdorf, Bosch, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, Intel, Royal Dutch Shell, SAP, Target, the UK's Parliament, and the US House of Representatives.
Many of these organizations embrace agility and aspire to cultivate a new form of leadership. Among the top executives who meditate and encourage their employees to follow their example, for instance, are Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google cofounder Sergey Brin. In fact, attending a meditation class is a popular way to begin the workday at many Silicon Valley companies, including Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Over the course of many years, Bosch, a multinational engineering company that focuses on automotive components and consumer goods, has increased its agility through a variety of initiatives. These include creating flexible organizational structures, introducing agile development methods, and experimenting with new business models and technologies. In order to promote the success of these initiatives, the company realized that it needed to fundamentally change its approach to leadership. According to Petra Martin, who is responsible for leadership development at Bosch Automotive Electronics, "Mindfulness is an essential lever to shift from a culture of control to a culture of trust. Communication has fundamentally changed since we introduced our mindfulness training to more than 1,000 leaders in the organization."
At software company SAP, mindfulness has become a key ingredient of corporate life for employees and executives alike. More than 6,000 employees have taken two-day mindfulness courses that focus on meditations complemented by the practice of self-mastery and compassion. In addition, internal mindfulness trainers offer guided meditations during working hours and a multiweek mindfulness challenge, including meditation "micropractices," such as tuning out of a busy workday for a few minutes to focus on one's breathing. "For many managers, it has become the new normal to open meetings with short meditations," says Peter Bostelmann, the director of SAP's global mindfulness practice. Participants in the mindfulness program report increased well-being and higher creativity. What's more, mindfulness has promoted significant measurable improvements in employee engagement and leadership trust indices. Bostelmann has seen a significant shift in how corporate mindfulness programs are perceived. A few years ago, some leaders ridiculed the concept of mindfulness at work. Recently, however, executives of other companies—including Deutsche Telekom and Siemens—have sought Bostelmann's advice about how to adopt mindfulness concepts at their companies.
Aetna, a US health insurer, has trained 13,000 employees on mindfulness practices, resulting in a reported reduction in stress levels of 28%. Annual productivity improvements, a secondary effect, are estimated at $3,000 per employee. Aetna launched the mindfulness initiatives gradually, starting with brief meditations in executive-team meetings and then continuing with yoga and meditation classes for all employees. "We have demonstrated that mindfulness-based programs can reduce stress and improve people's health," says Mark Bertolini, Aetna's chairman and CEO.
To fully capture the benefits of mindfulness, companies should customize their mindfulness programs. While it is valuable to begin by determining the objective of mindfulness interventions, many organizations have also achieved good results by starting with a small pilot program, such as providing a mindfulness course to senior leadership.
For some companies, mindfulness will become a paradigm for organization design and employee well-being. In terms of adopting mindfulness generally, organizations can start by experimenting with four types of interventions: leadership training, meditation training, mindfulness micropractices, and mindfulness coaching.
Leadership Training. As management guru Peter F. Drucker observed, leaders need trained perception fully as much as analysis. Well-designed leadership courses address this need by combining actionable mindfulness and emotional intelligence practices.
Even customized mindfulness leadership courses share common elements. Leaders should learn how to integrate formal and informal mindfulness practices into everyday life. Formal practices are often guided meditations, while informal practices include mindful listening exercises and simply paying attention to the task at hand.
By instilling self-awareness, self-regulation, and compassion, mindfulness courses address the psychological root causes of multiple leadership challenges. And because these courses also encourage the natural development of skills for managing time, change, and conflict, training programs dedicated to establishing these skills might become obsolete.
At Bosch, a one-year agile leadership-training curriculum involves three modules: leading oneself, leading teams, and leading the organization. The self-leadership training focuses on mindfulness and involves regular guided meditations, conscious-communication exercises, and courses to help leaders avoid the pitfalls of multitasking.
At a multinational engineering company, some leaders openly expressed skepticism about the value of mindfulness. The company converted these skeptics into believers by explaining the concept in layman's terms, sharing scientific research about its effectiveness, and inspiring senior leaders to become change agents. Today, mindfulness is the new normal for the company, and leaders pause for meditation in the designated silent room before making major decisions or having difficult discussions.
Meditation Training. In addition to training executives, organizations should evaluate whether to offer training opportunities to all employees. Many individuals are willing to try out meditation but struggle to understand where to start. A half-day to full-day course can introduce basic practices, such as breathing or body scan meditations, so that employees can subsequently continue on their own.
To reinforce their training courses, some organizations—including Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter—offer guided meditations during working hours. Google has also established silent lunches and silent rooms, where employees can go to readjust their mindsets in the midst of an intense working day.
Mindfulness Micropractices. Repetitive practice of basic skills is essential to promote mastery: think of pianists playing scales throughout their careers or baseball players taking batting practice before every game. Similarly, employees who complete a meditation program need to continue practicing, through micropractices, to truly master mindfulness. Seasoned meditators report transformative mindfulness benefits once they have mastered the seamless integration of mindfulness practices into everyday life.
Organizations should invest in creating a culture in which meditation micropractices are not just tolerated but are actively disseminated by mindfulness change agents. Small workshops can also help to integrate mindfulness in a nonintrusive way. These workshops can teach approaches such as Elisha Goldstein's STOP practice, in which participants learn to stop, take a breath, observe (thoughts, feelings, and emotions), and proceed. Beyond promoting mastery for mindfulness practitioners, micropractices can serve as an easy starting point for skeptics, who often experience surprising benefits after a few sessions.
Mindfulness Coaching. The principles of mindfulness can also help teams collaborate more effectively. For example, if team members master the ability to listen to one another with undivided attention and without interruption, they promote freer and more creative thinking. And a team culture that values appreciation over criticism helps to build transparency and openness. In her 2015 book, More Time to Think: The Power of Independent Thinking, Nancy Kline proposes that people offer appreciative comments five times as often as they do critical remarks.
Facilitation by a coach is essential to capture the benefits of mindfulness in teamwork. Agile teams typically already have scrum masters or agile coaches, and these individuals can become mindfulness coaches as well. Similarly, executive teams could benefit from mindfulness coaches to enable authentic communication and effective teamwork.
Companies that undergo a transformation through mindfulness are seeing positive returns both on an individual level and on an organizational level. As leaders and employees develop the open-mindedness and clarity required to navigate through unpredictable environments, the organization becomes well positioned to unlock the full potential of agility. For companies that have not yet successfully embraced mindfulness, the imperative is clear: follow a well-designed, holistic approach to implement this centuries-old solution to digital-age challenges.
Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.
Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.
© Boston Consulting Group 2024. All rights reserved.
For information or permission to reprint, please contact BCG at email@example.com. To find the latest BCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others, please visit bcg.com. Follow Boston Consulting Group on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).


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More millennials are buying homes these days, as opposed to renting. By the end of 2018, this generation represented 45% of all new home mortgages, as stated in a Housing Wire article. One thing is certain, whether renting or purchasing a condo or a house, millennials need home insurance to protect them against damage to or loss of their property and against liability.
Renters Insurance
Your living space should be insured, whether you rent or own. Renters insurance covers loss or damage to your personal items in your rented space, due to a covered peril. How much coverage you need will depend on how many personal possessions you have and how valuable they are. Your deductible is also a factor – the higher the deductible, the lower your premiums are likely to be.
It is a good idea to create a personal property inventory, which may include photos, as a record of what you own. High-value items, such as an engagement ring, camera equipment, or a drone, need to go on a separate list, as they may be excluded from your general policy. You may need to purchase a personal property rider for such items.
Condo Insurance
Standard condo insurance is known as HO-6 insurance. It provides protection against covered perils for your condo unit. In addition, it provides personal liability protection and living expenses coverage, in case a covered event, such as a fire, makes your condo uninhabitable. This type of home insurance is also known as "walls-in" coverage because it protects individual units. The condominium association's master policy covers the common areas of the building.
Before purchasing a condo insurance policy, it is a good idea to find out what is covered by the homeowners association or condo association's master policy. This typically includes all common areas, including the exterior and roof of the building, the hallways, and the elevators. However, some types of master condo insurance policies are more comprehensive than others.
Condo insurance typically covers:
- The condo unit itself, including the walls and fixtures
- Personal property contained in the condo, such as electronics, furniture, and any moveable goods
- Loss of use: Costs of lodging and transportation if your unit has been made uninhabitable
- Personal liability: This covers legal costs and provides protection in case of lawsuits or claims made against you
- Loss assessment: Coverage for your individual share of condo association losses
Homeowners Insurance
If you are purchasing a home, you probably already know that homeowners insurance is not just a good thing to have but also required by lenders. In fact, your mortgage payments will likely have an amount tacked on that goes into escrow for your homeowners insurance premiums.
Homeowners insurance provides protection for your dwelling, your personal belongings, and other structures on your property. It also protects you from liability for injuries or damage to someone else's property.
Whether you need renters insurance, condo insurance, or a homeowners insurance policy, our agent can help you find the coverage you need at the best available rates.
Filed Under: Personal Insurance | Tagged With: Homeowners Insurance, Renters Insurance, Condo Insurance

subset: commoncrawl


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The world's biggest carmakers and technology companies are spending billions of dollars to perfect your ability to drive without thinking. Nissan is taking a different direction — trying to "decode" your thinking so hands-on driving is more fun.
The Japanese company will unveil and test its "brain-to-vehicle" technology at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The "B2V" system requires a driver to wear a skullcap that measures brain-wave activity and transmits its readings to steering, acceleration and braking systems that can start responding before the driver initiates the action.
The driver still turns the wheel or hits the gas pedal, but the car anticipates those movements and begins the actions 0.2 seconds to 0.5 seconds sooner, said Lucian Gheorghe, a senior innovation researcher at Nissan overseeing the project. The earlier response should be imperceptible to drivers, he said.
"We imagine a future where manual driving is still a value of society," said Gheorghe, 40, who earned a doctorate in applied neural technology. "Driving pleasure is something as humans we should not lose."
Carmakers are working on ways to keep driving relevant as newcomers such as Alphabet's Waymo and Apple try to upend the industry with fully autonomous technologies. IHS Markit expects 21 million autonomous vehicles to be sold annually by 2035 — equivalent to about a quarter of all current vehicle sales.
Many manufacturers, including Toyota and BMW, say they won't give full control to computers and plan to continue building cars with distinct driving characteristics.
Yokohama-based Nissan, maker of the Leaf electric vehicle, plans to introduce fully autonomous cars in 2022. Besides predicting drivers' movements, the skullcap also could detect their preferences and discomfort when the vehicle is in autonomous mode, prompting systems to adjust accordingly.
Yet, drivers of autonomous vehicles still will be able to flip a switch and take manual control of the car. That's where Nissan's brain-to-vehicle system comes into play.
"You are feeling either that you are a better driver or the car is more sporty and more responsive," said Gheorghe, who uses the system himself for 15 minutes a day while commuting to work.
The technology, which Nissan said is exclusive, will be included in fully autonomous cars and should be ready in five to 10 years, the company said. The prototype resembles a cap that would be worn while gaming or undergoing medical testing, with wires coming out of the top.
Brain wave monitors also are being used by BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, to check if its truck drivers are fatigued. The Australian company uses a six-inch strip fitted inside caps and helmets.
Gheorghe's motivation comes from the enjoyment he experienced at age 18 after his father bought him a Nissan Fairlady Z.
"There are many ways you can contribute to society — I chose this one," said Gheorghe, who's worked at Nissan for 12 years.
He was adamant that the skullcap isn't reading a driver's mind. Rather, it's detecting and then decoding brain activity that can occur about two seconds before a voluntary movement.
"It's not about reading thoughts," he said. "But before you move your body, we know you will move."
Nissan will demonstrate the technology at CES using its IMx electric concept car, which Gheorghe said is "brain-connectivity ready." People from the audience will simulate driving on a highway for a few minutes, and the car should make adjustments in real time.
Automakers have flocked to CES in recent years to demonstrate their most advanced technologies in artificial intelligence and smart cars. Last year, Toyota showed a concept that can sense your emotion, and Daimler AG displayed an electric van with a drone on top that automatically fetches and delivers packages.
Nissan, which spent about JPY 490 billion ($4.4 billion or roughly Rs. 27,900 crores), or 4.2 percent of its revenue, on research and development in fiscal year 2016, is more aggressive than Toyota and Hondain drawing up timelines for autonomous vehicles.
Nissan plans to allow cars to change lanes on highways autonomously this year and to navigate city roads and intersections without human interference by about 2020.
"Even in autonomous driving, we are not building boxes in which you are sleeping," Gheorghe said. "We are building a positive-experience delivering vehicle."


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Chrome plated steel:
Genuine leather:
IMPORTANT - Please measure your dog before you finalize your muzzle order.
Length - Inside length of the upper cage part in inches
Circumference - Inside circumference around cage part in inches
Eye line - Length of the nose strap in inches
Neck circumference - Circumference of the neck strap in inches
Width - Inside width of the cage part in the narrowest place
Height - Inside height of the cage part
Please touch "+" to see the measurements for each size
Your pet shows aggression towards other dogs or people and absolutely nothing you say or do seems to get his attention? Does he sometimes go till correcting and biting YOU during the process?
Our wire caged basket muzzle for Belgian Malinois is that answer your dog deserves. The exclusive material combo of chromium and 100% natural leather ensures incredible scratch free, rustproof and durable properties. Breathable spaces have been crafted to keep small treats, drinking and panting. Trust the secure adjustable leather straps to take on any size of the muzzle you so wish. There' a comfy, soft nose padding to cushion sensitive parts and keep down friction. Go on cool evening walks without thinking what he shoves into the mouth.
Ultimately, it takes the finest and brightest gears to train or rehabilitate the worst of the worst pets. One certain way to do that is to muzzle him. Purchase now.
To see more precise instructions how to measure your Dog - Click here
A dog muzzle is essentially a guard that is placed on snouts of dogs to keep them from exhibiting any range of unwanted behaviors, from biting and barking to licking and pulling, displaying aggression whether motivated by excitement or fear and for training purposes. Dog muzzles are meant to be comfortable for your dog and if you choose the right one, it will be.
They can be made of leather, nylon, plastic and silicon.
This is only possible if the wrong muzzle is used (it does not allow the dog to pant or breath for example), it does not fit properly, the dog isn't acclimated to wearing the muzzle, or, in some cases, if only a muzzle is used without addressing the underlying issues that require its use in the first place.
Depending on the style of the muzzle, yes, your dog will still be able to eat dry foods and drink water while wearing their muzzle. Generally speaking, grooming muzzles are the most limiting and often inhibit your dog from opening the mouth at all.
Again it all goes down to choosing the appropriate muzzle for your canine. Look for models made of durable dog and human-friendly materials. Also, pay attention that they're made of the best quality and of the best fit. When a perfect fit isn't possible, you can add padding (moleskin, foam bandage, etc.) to protect the dog's fur and skin from itchiness, congestion, and general discomfort.
It can be cruel if not introduced in the right way. You must figure out why your dog doesn't like wearing a muzzle. Ask yourself certain questions like Is it a size problem, Is the muzzle on correctly? Please make sure that the muzzle doesn't rub against the dog's skin. If you are sure you've done everything right, be patient and allow your dog to acclimate to this slowly.
It's unfortunate and unfair that the stigma associated with a dog wearing a muzzle is that the dog must be mean, dangerous and untrained. The reality, however, is that many dogs do not cope well being around strangers and are not going to show their "best" selves and it is completely OK. A dog wearing a properly fitted muzzle shows that their owner is being responsible and keeping their dog and the public safe.
Muzzles on its own do nothing to change or modify or treat the underlying behavioral issue. Remember that a muzzle is not a replacement for training and socialization. But it can actually be extremely useful in facilitating a behavior modification plan.
It is your job as a dog guardian to keep your dog, other dogs and the people around you safe. Muzzles can help you with that, on several levels. Muzzles are strictly for safety purposes. You should be proud that you're not only a great dog parent but a good law-abiding citizen. If you still find it hard to get over any feeling of public shame, try to take the attitude that Suzy Arrington, CPDT-KA, offers: "Own it like you would if you were wearing a big hat!" In other words, wear it with confidence!
It is very easy for dogs to overheat. Panting is how dogs regulate their temperature. If something takes away their ability to dissipate heat. It may be putting their health and maybe even their lives at risk. A great muzzle should allow your canine to pant freely to avoid the risk of overheating.
We strongly advise that a muzzle should not be left unsupervised. In the first place it is not recommended to leave a muzzle on for lengthy period of time as this may cause discomfort and stress to your dog. If you see no other choice, please consult a local trainer or vet.
Allowing your dog to be 'dangerously out of control' in public places is against the law in the USA. In many countries owners can be prosecuted if their dog attacks someone in which means injuring someone or making someone fear they may be injured. This applies to any breed or type of dog. Owners (or the person in charge of the dog at the time) who allow their pets to hurt a person may face prison sentences, an unlimited fine, disqualification from owning pets and having their dog destroyed or even death sentence. In cases where no injury is caused, owners can still go to prison for six months, be fined a lot of money. We highly recommend incorporating muzzles with positive reinforcement training for your dogs to make sure they are well-behaved members of society.
If you have a feisty fido that is likely to bite in a situation that's stressful or to pick unwanted things off the ground, a muzzle might be a good idea. Stressful situations can include a trip to the vet or places where you'll be around a lot of strange dogs and people. Although you will probably always have your dog on a leash, a muzzle is still a good idea for open places, especially with a more aggressive dog, because they can still lunge quickly and bit other dogs, or worse, people.
The idea is to associate something new with a steady flow of treats until your dog can't wait to put the nose in! Start by treating the pet for just looking at it; then for sniffing it, then for touching it with the nose … and so on. These three steps alone may take you three days or more! Go at your dog's speed, don't try to rush.
Of course, it'll be nice if you can purchase one product which will adjust as your dog grows but unfortunately, it's not the case. If you want your pooch to enjoy a properly fitting muzzle you will probably end up with a few until your puppy is a fully grown dog.
It also depends on the model of the dog muzzle. Wire dog muzzles are made with a fixed shape cage part and come with adjustable straps. Some of the leather dog muzzles are made with fixed snout basket part and some allow you to adjust the part which covers your dog's snout.
The first rule for a good fit is that the muzzle should be snug, but not tight. The muzzle should also allow your dog to open her mouth, but it should prevent her from opening it all the way. You want your dog to be comfortable wearing the muzzle, avoiding any chafing or irritation. Each product page at our website contains detailed information on how to measure your dog for the muzzle. Make sure the muzzle you select is the right size for your dog.
In order to get the perfect fitting muzzle, you will need to make the last adjustments. Having several adjustments from which to choose is important. Muzzles for larger dogs may have a strap that travels from the top of the head to hold it in place; the strap should have its own adjustment. you need to make sure the side straps and clasp straps can be unscrewed and repositioned. You may need to add some extra glue to keep them permanently in place and prevent them from unscrewing themselves due to the movement of the material and get lost.
A muzzle that fits correctly will not affect your dog's breathing or health in general. Muzzles should allow a dog to exercise and walk comfortably. You want the dog to be comfortable wearing the muzzle, avoiding any chafing or irritation.
It depends upon temperature and the dog's activity level. Constantly monitor your dog's comfort and remove the muzzle if they are showing any difficulty breathing or signs of overheating.
Muzzles for dogs differ in modification, shape, methods of fastening, types, and materials of manufacture. To make a good choice, you need to focus on the pet's breed, its size, and character. The ideal choice is the one that fits well, is lightweight, comfortable and durable, secure enough to prevent your dog from removing it; easy to clean, easy to put on and easy (for an owner) to remove; prevents a dog from biting, yet allows the dog to breathe freely.
Wire muzzles are a more secure option, for an aggressive and determined dogs however in a dog on dog altercation the metal wire can cause injury to all parties involved. Additionally, wire muzzles tend to react to weather- heating up or getting cold depending on the outside temperature.day!
The leather basket muzzle are more durable, malleable and are not affected by weather. wire dog muzzle provides your dog with better airflow and your dog can drink being muzzled.
On the other hand, a leather dog muzzle is a better solution for the cold winter weather because it does not reflect sunlight. Also some leather dog muzzles can be lighter in comparison to wire ones.
It is advisable that you must keep your dog always muzzled during transportation and vet visits. A dog may be stressed in such situations and his behavior can become unpredictable. So the muzzle is a must-have attribute.
Please first make sure that your pet gets used to wearing a muzzle in order not to feel discomfort during transportation. For some dogs even the fact of transportation cause enough stress.
Muzzles that are, tear-resistant and puncture-resilient. Easy to put on and off your pet's snout, ensuring a snug fit with the adjustable strap and simply snapping closed are the best options for training.
If you live in the area where cold winters come often then you will definitely need muzzles that are suitable for the winter season. Choose the muzzle that won't let your dog's snout stick to a muzzle. Leather or wire with rubber coating will work great.
A wire muzzle is an excellent option for practical everyday use in the summertime and in warm season. It is well-fitting, comfortable, made on the basis of special strong metallic construction with a great design that provides your dog with best ventilation available among muzzles.
Basically the agitation muzzle is sturdier that other muzzles, it is used during times when aggression is being encouraged as in the training of a police service dog. These muzzles are built to be stronger and worn for longer periods of time. They are designed to allow the dog free movement of his mouth - to allow barking and the bite reflex. Usually, they have a side leather reinforcement for keeping the shape of the muzzle during attack or agitation training and strong leather covered steel bar to protect your dog's nose even during extreme agitation.
Ask our Support Manager.
* 1-5 business days on average once the order is shipped (not including holidays and weekends)** 3-5 business days on average (not including holidays and weekends)
* 9-20 business days on average (not including holidays and weekends)** 3-7 business days on average (not including holidays and weekends)
You can return all items (except close-outs and custom made products) within 21 days after delivery. Please, contact us before you send item/items back to receive a return/exchange authorization number.
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You can take this promo code for a realy good deal


text:
- Availability:
- In Stock
- Product Code:
- Product 23
Custom OpenVPN GUI Pro Edition is a openvpn client application for windows users. Also it is a replacement for your old openvpn GUI looks. It helps to built your own openvpn GUI with your company brand name. Currently pro edition support dynamic server list feature and also possible to add (or) delete any server remotely. It support almost unlimited servers to list and connect!
- Flat Win GUI Style [Blue]
- Support OpenVPN TCP & UDP protocol
- Support unlimited servers
- Dynamic server list [Fetch data from your server]
- Add (or) delete any server remotely
- Also support offline server list
- Count sent and received data
- TAP Error Detector
- Automatically fix TAP Errors
- Inbuilt pinging of any domains
- ComboBox with flat country icon's
- Shows status of each actions (eg. Auth Failed, TimeOut, Connected etc)
- Social media icons
- Inbuilt Custom Log File Viewer
- Automatic VPN startup (Start at Windows Startup)
- Custom landing page
- System tray notification
- Update notification to users
- Remotely push latest news
Requirements (App):
- Dot Net Framework 4 [VB.NET]
- TAP Drivers
- Visual Studio 2010 [For editing the source!]
Requirements (Server Side script):
- file_get_contents() must be allowed
Do you get full source code?
Yes, you get full source code, server side files (PHP Script) & include logo PSD files.
1. Documentation included with Video Tutorial
2. You need a basic knowledge on VB.NET for customizing the source code. Documentation included for basic things to configure the client. If you don't know to customize the whole source code, hire us for customization (or) hire some freelancer. We don't provide any free customization.
Change Log
Version 1.0
- Initial Launch


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photo credit: TwiMom 227 (Thanks!)
Yes, this is completely unhinged, completely off-the-cuff, completely EXPLICIT, but it is what it is — Authors After Dark! the event that you have heard Pip and I blog about is now coming to you raw, uncut, uncensored, and absolutely off-the-wall. With special guest, AAD founder Stella Price goes into the why's behind this incredible event, what it takes to succeed at Authors after Dark, and who is going to be attending Authors After Dark in 2013…
…and yes, Crazy Uncle Charlie even makes an appearance, much to the alarm of Stella!
00:00 — Introduction
- In a moment of late night punchiness, Pip breaks the Prime Directive of this Parsec-Nominated podcasta Parsec Finalist .
- What a slap-dash opening…and we blame the previous week of Tee's life…
- Unless Texas wants to sponsor a trip for us, were backing out of FenCon this year.
- Tee goes there concerning the Revealing Eden author, setting the tone for this madcap and HIGHLY EXPLICIT episode of The Shared Desk.
03:28 — Authors After Dark with Stella Price (and a Rogues Gallery of authors, bloggers, and good people)
- Straight from the Big Easy…
- Who is in Pip and Tee's Suite for this Shared Desk?
- Carolyn Crane, author
- Tee Tate, book blogger
- Chris Tate, good guy
- Suzanne Butler, author
- Sidney Bristol, author
- Lia Habel, author
- Alex D, good guy
- P.J. Schnyder, author
- Matt, good guy
- Jenn a/k/a TwiMom 227, book blogger
- …and the incomparabile Stella Price, author and convention founder.
- The inspiration behind Authors After Dark: Providing a playing field that is fair.
- No, seriously, Stella's got a bone to pick with RT…
- Who made P.J. a host?!
- Everyone is on equal ground at Authors After Dark, and Stella does this because she believes in the industry.
- And a real, honest moment is shattered…
- Pip and Tee give their feelings on the intensity of Authors After Dark.
- What makes Authors After Dark so different…
- Authors chime in on the AAD Atmosphere (Part One)
- 16:35 — First Dakota Cassidy mention (and she's an awesome bitch!)
- Authors chime in on the AAD Atmosphere (Part Two)
- TwiMom think she's stalking us…but little did she know……
- Stella makes it clear that the super-fans find themselves in a different world at Authors After Dark.
- Dragging a slightly-tipsy Sidney on to the mic, here's a new author's perspective.
- 25:35 — Another Dakota Cassidy mention… (Why isn't this woman on our show?!)
- Suzan looks at the AADNOLA experience as both an author and as a reader.
- Turning the mic over to Tee Tate who only swung by for the public signing event — what did Tee Tate and Lit Stack think of the event?
- Tee and Tee…but which Tee did Tee meet first?! And then there is Lia Habel's doppelganger around AAD…
- TwiMom covers the process in becoming a Featured Blogger at AAD.
- "ARCs Up the Ass" — the new slogan for AAD
- It's over….but it's not over yet…but Stella calls the 2012 event "the best one yet" on all levels!
37:13 — Writers Off the Clock
- For many of us, this is our first time in "Nawlans" and so we came up with a way to describe the Big Easy.
- The things you see when walking down Bourbon Street…
- You know you're in New Orleans when strip clubs are used as landmarks.
- According to Stella, there is no truth in advertising of the "Little Darlings" nightclub.
- If the Zombie Apocalypse breaks out, blame Lia Habel's mom…
- Hey, wait a minute — what flavor are those Slurpee machines?!
- The things you see…in red dresses…for charity… (What IS this charity, after all?!)
- The 2013 Savanna event takes inspiration from New Orleans — take a shot, buy a book, HAVE A BALL!!!
- Pip's perspective of her first adventure in the Big Easy — "I see dead cross dressers."
- I like the way Stella says "cockroaches" — don't you?
- No, seriously, there are some beautiful things to see in New Orleans. Ask TwiMom.
- Once again, Pip — there is no one in Louisiana that looks like the cast of True Blood.
53:28 — Writing Advice from Crazy Uncle Charlie
- And the reactions to Crazy Uncle Charlie begin, almost as if they know him….intimately…
- Crazy Uncle Charlie goes for broke with Stella Price…
- From Lia — What P.O.V works best — First Person or Third Person?
- Someone didn't circulate the memo to P.J. that this segment is NOT to be taken seriously!
- From P.J. — How do you get a feel for a city or setting you want to incorporate into a new work?
- Wow…people are taking this segment SO SERIOUSLY!!!
- Turns out that Crazy Uncle Charlie digs the moms, too…..
- From TwiMom — What if your work-in-progress' setting is a Fantasy or Science Fiction? How do your travels and life experiences translate into that work?
- From Sidney — With multiple-partner-group-sex scenes, how do you handle pronoun usage?
- Sadly, Sidney walks away with an unexpected truth — never trifle with Crazy Uncle Charlie.
1:03:38 — The Wrap-Up
- Looking ahead to 2013 with Authors After Dark
- Stella is planning more mischief and mayhem in Savannah, Georgia!
- An exclusive event for Young Adult authors, sponsored by four of the Big Six.
- A Riverboat Dinner
- Taking over a hotel. (No kidding…the entire hotel!)
- …and much, much more. (So long as you don't feed the alligators.)
- August 15-18. Mark your calendars.
- Stella is planning more mischief and mayhem in Savannah, Georgia!
- Giving a bit more love to my name twin and her kick-ass blog…and to all the book bloggers out there…
- Once more, Pip and Tee give their love for Authors After Dark.
- If you want to come, you're going to want to register and book. Soon!
- A quick push on where to find all of us online…
- And while we didn't mention it in the show, here's what's coming up with the two of us in August and September?
- AUGUST 25 — Watch the Skies' Steampunk Extravaganza with Sarah Hunter and Jared Axelrod & Steve Walker
- AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 3 — Dragon*Con (where we can stalk Lou Anders!)
- SEPTEMBER 8 — Write by the Rails
- SEPTEMBER 29 — The Baltimore Book Festival
leave us a voicemail or question for the show at 703.791.1701,
or leave us a comment here at the blog.


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Hand knit cocoons are a beautiful and simple keepsake to create for a baby. Enveloping the baby in warmth and softness creates the perfect image for a portrait. Bulky yarn and extra large needles create a soft stockinette that stretches and hugs the baby. I kept the pattern as simple as can be: it's just a stockinette rectangle, and it knits up quickly due to the gauge of yarn.
Bulky Wool Yarn
Knitting needles, US size 19
Crochet Hook
Before you begin. get the target measurements of the baby you are knitting for. I knit this cocoon for the lovely baby Piper, who is 3 months old, and measures about 24 inches long, so I just added rows until I reached 28 inches. The cocoon is knit fairly wide, and has a nice give, but, if the baby you are knitting for is younger or older you can adjust the width of the pattern. Work a swatch of ten stitches by ten rows. Then use that swatch to determine how many stitches you should cast on in proportion to the measurements of the baby.
Step 1: Cast on 25 stitches.
Step 2: Knit in the stockinette stitch until the you reach your desired length. I wanted the cocoon for Piper to be 30 inches long, and so I knit 60 rows.
Step 3: Cast off. If you like, use the crochet hook to turn the tail of yarn into an I-cord. Otherwise, break the yarn and weave in the end.
Step 4: Use the crochet hook to lace up the cocoon. Just weave the yarn in and out of the edge stitches to seam it shut. While we were taking pictures with Piper, I thought that it would be lovely to actually incorporate the lacing into the design. It would be so cute to use a wide ribbon to lace the baby up into the cocoon as a sort of modern bunting!
Step 5: Use the crochet hook to weave some extra yarn into the very bottom edge of the cocoon. Gather up the end into a knotted closure, and secure it with a knot.
Join Make: Community Today


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It's only after 100 years of Marxism and when multiple examples of its implementation is compressed into a single column like this that again it is reinforced what a dog it is. And of course as generations come through into the future who have no experience or learning and knowledge of its abject failure everywhere it's been tried, they will think of it as something new, exciting and different. And so the wheel turns.
Marxism belongs in history's bin after 100 years of hellish failure
Definitely the read of the day.
"..Human beings can be remarkably dense. The practice of bloodletting, as a medical treatment, persisted despite centuries of abundant evidence that it did more harm than good. The practice of communism, or political bloodletting as it should perhaps be known, whose centenary in the Bolshevik revolution is reached this year, likewise needs no more tests. It does more harm than good every time. Nationalised, planned, one-party rule benefits nobody, let alone the poor.
The diseases that Marxism-Leninism was intended to treat, poverty and inequality, were ancient scourges just beginning to fade, even in Russia. Higher living standards were starting to reach ordinary people, rather than just the feudal elite, for the first time. Radicals had long seen government as the problem, not the solution: that to enrich the masses required liberating people from kings and priests.
Along came Karl Marx with essentially the opposite suggestion: a powerful state creating wealth, distributed from each according to his ability to each according to his need, as a result of which classes would disappear and with them, eventually, the state itself.
The progressive Left rather suddenly fell in love with the idea of expanding, rather than limiting, state power. It was in such a good cause. Unfortunately, the wealth never materialised and the state, far from withering way, became tyrannical.
Russia's Bolsheviks, seizing power in a coup after the fall of the tsar, set a pattern that would be repeated again and again during the following century. A communist party takes power on behalf of the people, outlaws all other parties, holds no elections and after a sanguineous power struggle is soon dominated by one man. Famine results from the destruction of incentives inherent in the collectivisation of agriculture. Millions die. The nationalisation of all commerce and the cessation of most foreign trade result in shortages of consumer goods.
The leader becomes paranoid and kills a lot of people, especially independently minded ones, in purges. More are imprisoned without trial or charge. A secret police grows powerful. The regime destroys free speech but is excused and praised by left-leaning sympathisers in Western democracies.
Living standards stagnate or fall, except for those of the elite, who live a privileged existence. Many people try to flee.
Communism was not unique in ruling through violence. Fascism, founded by an ardent socialist, Benito Mussolini, and German National Socialism, pursuing racial rather than class-based collectivism, were at least as bad, though they ended up killing fewer — not for lack of trying.
But from this distance they are all manifestations of the same phenomenon: centrally planned dictatorship justified as popular rule. Hitler's bombers over London in 1940 burnt Soviet fuel.
In 1949, China repeated the Russian experiment with the same result. Mao Zedong managed to kill even more people, probably 45 million in the four years of the Great Leap Forward, through forced collectivisation and selling food to Russia in exchange for nuclear technology. When that did not work and he began to lose his grip on power, he embarked on a purge of the entire country, called the Cultural Revolution, plunging his people into abject poverty while himself living like an emperor.
In 1959, Cuba tried Marxism-Leninism with a similar outcome: 5000 people executed, an unknown number imprisoned for dissent and tens of thousands dead after trying to escape on makeshift rafts. Cuba's GDP per capita was about the same as South Korea's in 1959. Today, South Korea's is five times higher.
In 1962, Burma followed suit when Ne Win seized power and set out to create a "socialist state". He introduced one-party rule, nationalised business and isolated the country from world trade, while imprisoning and executing perceived rivals. He impoverished the country while its neighbours prospered.
In 1974, it was Benin's turn for the purges and oppression. The economy stagnated for a quarter of a century. Elsewhere in Africa, the Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe also tried communism, Robert Mugabe having come to power (lest we forget) as an enthusiastic Marxist-Leninist.
East Germany had to build a wall to stop people escaping. Vietnam, like Cuba, sent thousands to sea in leaky boats. Cambodia deserves special mention for the thoroughness with which it stuck to Marx's plan of "sweeping aside" the bourgeoisie. As head of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot enslaved the entire population on collective farms, his thugs clubbing or starving any who showed less than total obedience, so that from 1975 to 1979 approximately 1.7 million people were killed.
North Korea managed to turn communism into a feudal dynasty of unparalleled paranoia, which not only executes supposed dissidents in unusually gruesome ways but managed to starve millions of its citizens during the 1990s, a time when the rest of the world was feeding itself ever more abundantly.
Oil-rich Venezuela has ruined itself through socialism, creating shortages of loo paper and soap. It's been said that if they tried communism in the Sahara, there would soon be a shortage of sand.
Those communist countries that discovered economic growth, notably Vietnam and China after Mao, did so by abandoning nationalisation of the means of production, the very core of the Marxist prescription. They were exceptions that proved the rule.
Need I go on? Communism has killed on average a million people a year for a century, far more than any other ism, let alone what Marxists call "capitalism", and the rest of us call freedom.
The first communists meant well. Their crime was to bet the farm on an untried idea and then, when it failed (as Lenin's half-hearted New Economic Policy conceded), to be pig-headedly insensitive to the negative empirical data coming back from the experiment.
Like bloodletting medics, they elevated a principle into a dogma, with no regard to human suffering, in spite of overwhelming evidence.."
The Times


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Trader Joe's
At Trader Joe's, our mission is to bring our customers the best food and beverage values and the information to make informed buying decisions. There are more than 2000 unique grocery items in our label, all at honest everyday low prices. We work hard at buying things right: Our buyers travel the world searching for new items and we work with a variety of suppliers who make interesting products for us, many of them exclusive to Trader Joe's. All our private label products have their own 'angle,' i.e., vegetarian, Kosher, organic or just plain decadent, and all have minimally processed ingredients.
Daily: 8am - 9pm
DIRECTIONS: 2315 Summa Dr Ste 100 Las Vegas


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Researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have developed a predictive model that could guide clinicians in deciding when to give potentially life-saving drugs to patients being treated for sepsis in the emergency room.
Sepsis is one of the most frequent causes of admission, and one of the most common causes of death, in the intensive care unit. But the vast majority of these patients first come in through the ER. Treatment usually begins with antibiotics and intravenous fluids, a couple liters at a time. If patients don't respond well, they may go into septic shock, where their blood pressure drops dangerously low and organs fail. Then it's often off to the ICU, where clinicians may reduce or stop the fluids and begin vasopressor medications such as norepinephrine and dopamine, to raise and maintain the patient's blood pressure.
That's where things can get tricky. Administering fluids for too long may not be useful and could even cause organ damage, so early vasopressor intervention may be beneficial. In fact, early vasopressor administration has been linked to improved mortality in septic shock. On the other hand, administering vasopressors too early, or when not needed, carries its own negative health consequences, such as heart arrhythmias and cell damage. But there's no clear-cut answer on when to make this transition; clinicians typically must closely monitor the patient's blood pressure and other symptoms, and then make a judgment call.
In a paper being presented this week at the American Medical Informatics Association's Annual Symposium, the MIT and MGH researchers describe a model that "learns" from health data on emergency-care sepsis patients and predicts whether a patient will need vasopressors within the next few hours. For the study, the researchers compiled the first-ever dataset of its kind for ER sepsis patients. In testing, the model could predict a need for a vasopressor more than 80 percent of the time.
Early prediction could, among other things, prevent an unnecessary ICU stay for a patient that doesn't need vasopressors, or start early preparation for the ICU for a patient that does, the researchers say.
"It's important to have good discriminating ability between who needs vasopressors and who doesn't [in the ER]," says first author Varesh Prasad, a PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. "We can predict within a couple of hours if a patient needs vasopressors. If, in that time, patients got three liters of IV fluid, that might be excessive. If we knew in advance those liters weren't going to help anyway, they could have started on vasopressors earlier."
In a clinical setting, the model could be implemented in a bedside monitor, for example, that tracks patients and sends alerts to clinicians in the often-hectic ER about when to start vasopressors and reduce fluids. "This model would be a vigilance or surveillance system working in the background," says co-author Thomas Heldt, the W. M. Keck Career Development Professor in the MIT Institute of Medical Engineering and Science. "There are many cases of sepsis that [clinicians] clearly understand, or don't need any support with. The patients might be so sick at initial presentation that the physicians know exactly what to do. But there's also a 'gray zone,' where these kinds of tools become very important."
Co-authors on the paper are James C. Lynch, an MIT graduate student; and Trent D. Gillingham, Saurav Nepal, Michael R. Filbin, and Andrew T. Reisner, all of MGH. Heldt is also an assistant professor of electrical and biomedical engineering in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a principal investigator in the Research Laboratory of Electronics.
Other models have been built to predict which patients are at risk for sepsis, or when to administer vasopressors, in ICUs. But this is the first model trained on the task for the ER, Heldt says. "[The ICU] is a later stage for most sepsis patients. The ER is the first point of patient contact, where you can make important decisions that can make a difference in outcome," Heldt says.
The primary challenge has been a lack of an ER database. The researchers worked with MGH clinicians over several years to compile medical records of nearly 186,000 patients who were treated in the MGH emergency room from 2014 to 2016. Some patients in the dataset had received vasopressors within the first 48 hours of their hospital visit, while others hadn't. Two researchers manually reviewed all records of patients with likely septic shock to include the exact time of vasopressor administration, and other annotations. (The average time from presentation of sepsis symptoms to vasopressor initiation was around six hours.)
The records were randomly split, with 70 percent used for training the model and 30 percent for testing it. In training, the model extracted up to 28 of 58 possible features from patients who needed or didn't need vasopressors. Features included blood pressure, elapsed time from initial ER admission, total fluid volume administered, respiratory rate, mental status, oxygen saturation, and changes in cardiac stroke volume — how much blood the heart pumps in each beat.
In testing, the model analyzes many or all of those features in a new patient at set time intervals and looks for patterns indicative of a patient that ultimately needed vasopressors or didn't. Based on that information, it makes a prediction, at each interval, about whether the patient will need a vasopressor. In predicting whether patients needed vasopressors in the next two or more hours, the model was correct 80 to 90 percent of the time, which could prevent an excessive half a liter or more of administered fluids, on average.
"The model basically takes a set of current vital signs, and a little bit of what the trajectory looks like, and determines that this current observation suggests this patient might need vasopressors, or this set of variables suggests this patient would not need them," Prasad says.
Next, the researchers aim to expand the work to produce more tools that predict, in real-time, if ER patients may initially be at risk for sepsis or septic shock. "The idea is to integrate all these tools into one pipeline that will help manage care from when they first come into the ER," Prasad says.
The idea is to help clinicians at emergency departments in major hospitals such as MGH, which sees about 110,000 patients annually, focus on the most at-risk populations for sepsis. "The problem with sepsis is the presentation of the patient often belies the seriousness of the underlying disease process," Heldt says. "If someone comes in with weakness and doesn't feel right, a little bit of fluids may often do the trick. But, in some cases, they have underlying sepsis and can deteriorate very quickly. We want to be able to tell which patients have become better and which are on a critical path if left untreated."
The work was supported, in part, by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the MIT-MGH Strategic Partnership, and by CRICO Risk Management Foundation and Nihon Kohden Corporation.


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poncho pattern
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1668 Watersmeet Lake Road // Eagle River, WI 54521 // (715)-479-7185 // email@example.com
Annie's Woolens website design and graphics ©1997-2019 Annie's Woolens and Anne Maillette. All rights reserved. This Web site is designed, built, hosted, and maintained by Oakley Studio, LLC. Our Secure Socket Layer (SSL) server for ecommerce is authenticated and certified by Electronic Frontier Foundation.


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North Korea's apparent nuclear detonation on September 3 has drawn our attention to a remarkable international organization that helps detect and identify nuclear tests.
For the Vienna-based Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the latest North Korean explosion was easy to detect and locate. With a seismic magnitude of 6.1 and a blast yield of 160 kilotons (Hiroshima was around 15), the purported hydrogen bomb test mimicked a major earthquake. It was quickly sourced to North Korea's nuclear test site.
Confirming that the event was definitely a nuclear test, as opposed to another type of explosion or an earthquake, is trickier.
For that we rely on detection of short-lived radioactive isotopes that may leak from the test site, notably the noble gas xenon. The CTBTO has not yet announced such a finding, although South Korean monitors have reportedly detected xenon-133.
Other potential sources of the gas must be eliminated before a definitive conclusion can be reached.
CTBTO / The Conversation, CC BY-ND
In the past, such fallout has usually been discerned after a North Korean test, but not always. Much depends on whether the cavity created by the test leaks or collapses.
Nuclear test ban treaty
The CTBTO's International Monitoring System, which detected the North Korean test, is designed to verify compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear tests in all environments for all time.
CTBTO / The Conversation, CC BY-ND
The International Monitoring System comprises 321 monitoring systems worldwide, using four technologies:
- seismic – to detect tests under ground
- radionuclide detection – to detect breakdown products
- hydroacoustic – to detect tests under water, and
- infrasound – for atmospheric tests.
The CTBTO's international monitoring system is sensitive enough to detect underground nuclear tests below one kiloton.
Construction of the system began in 1996 and is now 90% complete.
CTBTO / The Conversation, CC BY-ND
Australia hosts six seismic, two infrasound and one hydroacoustic station, including a large seismic array and infrasound station at Warramunga in the Northern Territory.
CTBTO / The Conversation, CC BY-ND
Data from the International Monitoring System is transmitted to Vienna via a global communications satellite network, mostly in real time, where it is compiled, analyzed and distributed to member states. Sixteen laboratories are available for analyzing radioactive fallout.
The treaty also provides for on-site inspections to confirm that a nuclear test has been conducted. The system is funded by member states according to the usual United Nations formula based on national GDP.
A difficult, important achievement
As a member of the Australian delegation, I observed the complex preparatory scientific talks on the system at the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva in the early 1980s. It is a miracle of statecraft and science that this collaborative international infrastructure has actually come into being.
The scientists did not get everything they wanted due to political and financial constraints. Some errors were made in the rush to complete the technical specifications. Installation of some of the stations in remote and inaccessible areas has proved daunting.
The hydroacoustic system, for instance, passed a significant milestone in June when the final station was completed, on France's Crozet Islands in the southern Indian Ocean.
After 20 years of planning and construction and the investment of millions of dollars, not only is the International Monitoring System almost complete, but it is functioning far better than its designers anticipated.
It also has unexpected side benefits, such as providing early warning of tsunamis and detecting nuclear disasters. The network successfully detected the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and tracked radioactive plumes from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Nuclear test ban treaty
The test ban treaty itself is not in such good shape. More than two decades after it was opened for signature it is still not in force, rendering the CTBTO only "provisional". This is due to the requirement that all 44 states with a significant nuclear capacity must ratify it.
Currently 183 states have signed, and 162 have ratified. But 8 of the 44 with a nuclear capacity have still not ratified: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, North Korea and the United States. China, Egypt, Iran, Israel and the US have at least signed. China says it is awaiting US ratification before it moves.
After a flawed lobbying effort, President Bill Clinton's administration failed to secure Senate approval for US ratification in 1999. The treaty has not been resubmitted since, despite President Barack Obama's undertaking that he would try.
Given President Donald Trump's apparent focus on emphasising American military prowess, it seems unlikely that he will favour ratification of the treaty.
More immediately threatening is the return of periodic Republican attempts to defund the CTBTO. These are usually beaten back on the grounds that the US benefits greatly from the worldwide monitoring that only a global system can provide, notwithstanding impressive US national capabilities.
As it has in the past, the Australian government should make representations in Washington in support of CTBT ratification and preservation of funding for the system.
Paradoxically though, even if the other seven holdouts ratify, the one country that continues to conduct nuclear tests into the 21st century, North Korea, can stymie entry into force forever. Its accession to the CTBT should be part of any negotiation with North Korea on its nuclear program.
The good news is that the global monitoring system continues to go from strength to strength, providing reassurance that all nuclear tests, including those less brazen than North Korea's, will be caught.
The CTBTO's verification system provides hope that science can quietly triumph while political solutions elude us.
Trevor Findlay, Senior Research Fellow Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.


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xconsole (1) - Linux Manuals
xconsole: monitor system console messages with X
xconsole - monitor system console messages with X
xconsole [-toolkitoption ...] [-file file-name] [-notify] [-stripNonprint] [-daemon] [-verbose] [-exitOnFail]DESCRIPTION
The xconsole program displays messages which are usually sent to /dev/console.OPTIONS
Xconsole accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options along with the additional options listed below:- -file file-name
- To monitor some other device, use this option to specify the device name. This does not work on regular files as they are always ready to be read from.
- -notify -nonotify
- When new data are received from the console and the notify option is set, the icon name of the application has " *" appended, so that it is evident even when the application is iconified. -notify is the default.
- -daemon
- This option causes xconsole to place itself in the background, using fork/exit.
- -verbose
- When set, this option directs xconsole to display an informative message in the first line of the text buffer.
- -exitOnFail
- When set, this option directs xconsole to exit when it is unable to redirect the console output.
- -saveLines count
- When set, xconsole only preserves count lines of message history instead of growing the text buffer without bound (a count of zero - the default - is treated as placing no limit on the history).
This program uses the Athena Text widget, look in the Athena Widget Set documentation for controlling it.Xconsole otherwise accepts resources of the same names as the command-line options (without the leading dash). "file" is a string type, "saveLines" an integer, and the remaining options are booleans.
In order to specify resources, it is useful to know the hierarchy of the widgets which compose xconsole. In the notation below, indentation indicates hierarchical structure. The widget class name is given first, followed by the widget instance name.
XConsole xconsole XConsole text
- to get the default host and display number.
- to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
- /etc/X11/app-defaults/XConsole
- specifies required resources
Keith Packard (MIT X Consortium)


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Back to collection guide
Rose Dabney Forbes Papers, 1902-1935
» V. Addresses, 1911–1935
[read more]
This series contains addresses by Rose Dabney Forbes and others. Included in this series are descriptions of a stereopticon lecture renouncing war given by Henry S. Haskins for the Massachusetts Peace Society in 1916 and 1917, as well as another stereopticon lecture given by James L. Tryon on the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain in 1914. Also included are addresses by Jay William Hudson, a lecturer for the Massachusetts Peace Society. Topics of the addresses include peace and war, international relations, military training for boys in public schools and the Boy Scouts, and eulogies for two officers of the Massachusetts Peace Society, Samuel Billings Capen, president, and William A. Mowry, a member of the board of directors.
Box 4, Folder 23, Addresses by Rose Dabney Forbes,...
Box 4, Folder 21, Addresses by Rose Dabney Forbes,...
Box 4, Folder 22, Addresses by Rose Dabney Forbes, 21 June 1917
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crowd-sourced transcription


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Cerebus Fangirl Site
Hello and welcome to my Cerebus Fangirl Page! Cerebus the Aardvark is the story of one life written and drawn by Dave Sim with backgrounds by Gerhard. Started in 1977 and completed in 2004, the total page count is approximately 6,000 pages. All of it was published by Dave's publishing company Aardvark-Vanaheim. If you are just now finding out about Cerebus, you can go here to get more info.
Check out the Update Bulletin to see what is new on this site and what is new with Cerebus. For the more recent links that I haven't had time to add to the links page, check out my Del.icio.us page from which you can get an RSS feed of the daily link updates. There is also a CFG Forum where you can go to discuss the latest and greatest news about Cerebus and other topics of interest.
The Return of Cerebus the Newsletter!
The Friends of Cerebus returns with Cerebus the Newsletter issue #14 through #21:
Currently I'm reprinting the out of print issues, but you can still take a look at the Friends of Cerebus site.
To navigate around the site use the "nav bar" at the side of each page:
- Home Page: Back to this page.
- More Info: Find out more information about what Cerebus the comic book is about.
- Artists' Info: Bios for both Sim & Gerhard, the Dave Sim Memorial Notes From the President Archive, many interviews and essays by Dave & more Cerebus Creator info.
- Cerebus Checklist: Every Dave Sim, Gerhard and Cerebus item I could find is listed here and most have pictures.
- Misc Stuff: Anything not covered in the other sections, from Five Bar Gate to Back-up Stories.
- Links: Over 100 Dave Sim, Gerhard and Cerebus related links.
- Pictures: Lots of pictures and some wallpaper for your computer.
- Forum: CFG Site forum
- Cerebus Wiki: A wiki devoted to all things Cerebus
To see what is on each of those links, use the Site Map or if you are looking for a specific term, use the google search function below which will just search this site.
Go here to buy Cerebus. Cerebus is copyright 2011 by Dave Sim. So, hands off, dude. Here are some frequently asked questions.
I want to Thank many people who have helped this site grow and improve. Thanks!
For the curious -- the background picture is originally from the cover to Cerebus No. 157. If you can't see it on the right there, it just means your monitor is smaller then 1680 resolution.


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The Canadian crude oil that would flow through the Keystone XL pipeline is either the lynchpin of U.S. energy security or the path to certain environmental destruction, depending on whom you talk to. Advocates say there is no evidence that it is any more harmful than other types of oil; critics say there is insufficient evidence that it is safe. There is little information to support either side.
The oil that would flow through the pipeline is known as diluted bitumen, or dilbit, and it has become a lighting rod for controversy in the debate over the pipeline, which would send as much as 830,000 barrels every day from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada to refineries as far as Texas. The pipeline would cross six states, sometimes passing through environmentally sensitive terrain where spills would be of special concern.
While bitumen has long been refined into oil, regulation of diluted bitumen has been slow to follow. Federal safety officials, for example, don't know precisely which chemicals shippers mix with bitumen to create dilbit. And even industry groups can't say exactly how corrosive dilbit is. Research is spotty and outdated; there have been no independent scientific studies exploring the relationship between dilbit and pipeline corrosion.
Here's a primer on what is—and isn't—known about dilbit.
What Exactly Is Diluted Bitumen, or Dilbit?
Bitumen is a tar-like type of petroleum that is a byproduct of the oil refining process as well as a naturally occurring substance found in the oil sands of Canada, Venezuela, the United States and other countries. These sands are considered unconventional deposits, meaning that the petroleum doesn't come from the oil wells that have traditionally supplied most of the world's crude. Instead tar sands deposits are mined, usually using strip mining or open pit techniques. The oil can also be extracted by underground heating. In recent years the combination of high oil prices and new technology has made harvesting bitumen extremely profitable. Analysts forecast that capital investment in the oil sands market will reach $45 billion over the next decade.
In its natural state, bitumen is extremely viscous and flows very slowly. To move it through pipelines, oil companies dilute it with chemicals called hydrocarbons to create diluted bitumen, or dilbit. The exact composition and quantity of these hydrocarbons—collectively called diluents—is considered proprietary information and is not shared with regulators.
The bitumen itself contains many of the same chemicals found in regular crude oils, said Carl Weimer, executive director of the independent, non-partisan Pipeline Safety Trust. But he said there are a lot of unanswered questions about the nature of the chemicals added to bitumen to make dilbit. "I think everybody has a good sense of the tar sands itself … but the diluents used to move it through the pipeline is a whole separate issue."
While the Keystone project has focused the public's attention on Canadian bitumen, plans are also under way to mine bitumen in Utah.
Why Are People Worried?
Multiple reports of ruptures in pipelines that carry dilbit have raised concerns about its safety. Most dramatic was the July 2010 Enbridge Energy pipeline leak, which dumped 843,000 gallons of dilbit into the Kalamazoo River. The cleanup operation has so far involved more than 2,000 personnel, 150,000 feet of boom, 175 heavy spill response trucks, 43 boats and 48 oil skimmers. The cost is expected to exceed $700 million.
Some say pipelines carrying dilbit corrode and burst more frequently than other oil pipelines, because dilbit contains a high concentration of sulfur and minerals and because its stickiness increases friction and raises temperatures inside the pipeline. It is unclear if such characteristics are to blame for the Enbridge incident.
Many people also worry about the chemicals added to dilute the bitumen. It's not clear what these chemicals are, because that information is considered a trade secret. Weimer of the Pipeline Safety Trust said even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't know the exact composition of the hydrocarbons used in diluents.
If built as proposed, the Keystone XL would pass through Nebraska's Ogallala aquifer, the most heavily used aquifer in the United States. TransCanada estimates that the pipeline could see 11 spills over the next half-century, with each spill releasing an average of 50 barrels of oil. Some researchers believe the number of spills could be much higher (by one estimate, 91 over 50 years).
Additionally, the EPA has said that on a "well-to-tank" basis, bitumen produces 82 percent more greenhouse gasses than conventional oil.
What Do We Know About the Chemicals Found in Dilbit, and Why Is It Important?
Two websites offer information about the chemicals found in dilbit: CrudeMonitor.ca and Environment Canada's oil properties database. But those websites only list the kinds of chemicals found in diluents, not the exact chemical composition.
For instance, CrudeMonitor.ca lists the volume of octanes found in specific dilbit blends. Octanes are a class of chemicals, and there are at least 18 different octane compounds, each with its own chemical properties. "They talk about the type of molecules and not the specific molecules, and that [makes] a big difference when it comes to the dangers" of those chemicals, said Anthony Swift, a policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Swift said there are health and safety reasons for encouraging better disclosure of the chemicals found in diluents. It's harder to clean up an oil spill if you don't know what you're dealing with, he said, and "first responders need to be aware of what they're encountering."
What Happens in a Dilbit Oil Spill?
After a spill, some of the dilbit will float on the water and it can be skimmed off just like oil from a conventional oil spill. But over time, many of the light hydrocarbons found in the diluents will gas off into the atmosphere, leaving behind the heavier bitumen, which will sink below the water surface. Cleanup crews must scoop up the bitumen from beneath the water to prevent further damage to the river.
The Enbridge spill on the Kalamazoo River was the largest dilbit spill in U.S. history. In various media interviews, EPA personnel have said that the nature of the oil made it harder to clean up the spill. Mark Durno of the EPA told reporters that the heavy submerged oil was "a real eye-opener … In larger spills we've dealt with before, we haven't seen nearly this footprint of submerged oil, if we've seen any at all." The EPA originally believed it would take two months to clean up the spill. But in October, the agency announced that the cleanup will continue through the end of 2012.
Are Pipelines the Only Place Where Dilbit's Corrosiveness Is a Concern?
Some researchers believe that the risks posed by dilbit will be borne out not only in the pipelines, but also in refineries, where the substance is processed at extremely high temperatures. The intense heat could release sulfur from the oil molecules in dilbit, corroding refinery equipment and possibly creating leaks or explosions.
If information about dilbit is so hard to find, where are environmentalists getting their data?
Both supporters and opponents of dilbit rely on industry materials, government data and academic articles in their arguments. Here are some of the sources used by the National Resources Defense Council, which is leading the crusade against dilbit, in its oft-cited report, "Tar Sands Pipelines Safety Risks": information from the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration and the Canadian Energy Resources Conservation Board, articles in the scholarly journal Petroleum Science and Technology, and documents from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
What Data Is the Industry Using to Support Its Position That Dilbit Is Safe?
Industry groups point to the lukewarm evidence of dilbit's danger as proof of its safety. Peter Lidiak, pipeline director for the American Petroleum Institute, told InsideClimate News that the API has reviewed Department of Transportation data from 2002 and found no instances of internal corrosion in pipelines carrying dilbit.
"Dilbit has very similar characteristics to other types of heavy crudes," Lidiak said. "Most refineries have been upgraded to handle the heavier products like dilbit. I'm not worried about any potential safety issues there."
What Is the State Department's Position on Dilbit?
At the end of August, the State Department released its final environmental review of the Keystone XL project. The report did not explore concerns related to dilbit's corrosiveness or the lack of information about its composition.
What Would a Comprehensive Study of Dilbit Require?
Swift said a study would need to focus on three areas: the frequency of spills in pipelines carrying dilbit, the effects of dilbit on leak detection systems and any additional risks and cleanup challenges. He estimated that such a study would take about a year and would involve a review of the historical data available on dilbit pipelines as well as testing of existing pipelines.
Congress is currently considering two bills that would require a study of this scope. The Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act of 2011, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), emerged from committee in May of this year and has been placed on the Senate legislative calendar. The Pipeline Infrastructure and Community Protection Act of 2011, sponsored by Rep. Frederick Upton (R-Michigan), passed through several committees but has yet to be considered by the House as a whole.
InsideClimate News reporter Lisa Song contributed to this report.
About This Story
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Book of Spells Journal
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David Oscarson: Ganesha in Guilloché!
Ganesha, Guilloché and David Oscarson – a holy trinity of high art! Ganesha is the remover of obstacles, the Lord of intellect and wisdom, the patron of the arts and the sciences. The God of beginnings, He is invoked at the start of all rites and ceremonies. Guilloché is the


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Mac Pro Available to Order, Shipping in February 2014
Apple's much-anticipated new Mac Pro, first announced in June 2013 at WWDC and further described four months later, is now available to order (see "Apple Gets Around to a New Mac Pro," 10 June 2013 and "Details Emerge about the New Mac Pro," 22 October 2013). If you haven't been paying attention, the new Mac Pro is a 9.9-inch tall, 6.6-inch wide (25.1 by 16.8 cm) cylinder, encased in polished aluminum, and packed with more CPU and GPU power than any previous Mac. (It turns out to be more gray than black, akin to the "space gray" color of the iPhone 5s.)
The "to order" words above are key; although Apple apparently said that some units will start shipping by the end of December 2013, the Apple Store predicts February 2014 as the ship date for orders placed now. The Mac Pro is being built at a new plant in the United States, and given that it's a completely new industrial design, we're not surprised that Apple might have trouble making them quickly.
Although Apple offers two standard configurations — a $2,999 quad-core model and a $3,999 6-core model — there's no apparent difference apart from the starting options, which fall into four categories: processor, memory, storage, and graphics.
In terms of processor choices, clock speed drops somewhat as the number of cores increases, which has been the case for many Mac models over the years. Assuming your key applications have been optimized to take maximum advantage of multiple cores, adding cores generally produces enough of a performance increase to more than offset the lower clock speeds. (Mac Pro models with more cores have more L3 cache memory, too, which can also boost performance.) In addition, the Mac Pro CPUs, like those in all current Macs, feature Turbo Boost, which dynamically increases the clock speed in exchange for using fewer cores, thus improving the performance of apps that don't take full advantage of multiple cores. However, as Marco Arment explains in detail, you'll want to think carefully about the number of cores you choose given your main apps, because in certain situations, the trade-off of more cores for a lower clock speed can work against you.
- 3.7 GHz quad-core Intel Xeon E5 with 10 MB of L3 cache
- 3.5 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon E5 with 12 MB of L3 cache (Add $500)
- 3.0 GHz 8-core Intel Xeon E5 with 25 MB of L3 cache (Add $2,000)
- 2.7 GHz 12-core Intel Xeon E5 with 30 MB of L3 cache (Add $3,500)
With memory, the least you can get is 12 GB, with the jump to 16 GB adding $100, 32 GB coming in at $500 more, and 64 GB putting an additional $1,300 onto the price. Storage is similar, with 256 GB of flash storage standard and twice that — 512 GB — costing $300 more. A full 1 TB of flash storage costs an additional $800, so it may make more financial sense to stick with a relatively small internal SSD for Mac OS X and your apps, and then store all data on fast external drives.
Lastly, if graphics processing is important for your work (and it likely will be for many Mac Pro users), you can choose from dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM each, or bump up to dual D500 GPUs with 3 GB of VRAM for $400 more, or dual D700 GPUs with 6 GB of VRAM for $1,000 more. Apple suggests a Sharp 32-inch PN-K321 4K Ultra HD LED Monitor with that, for a hefty $3,595; if you don't want a 4K display, the 27-inch Thunderbolt Display is only $999. If you have the money, the Mac Pro can run up to three 4K displays or up to six Thunderbolt displays.
In terms of basic specs, the Mac Pro has four USB 3.0 ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, and an HDMI port with support for multichannel audio output. 802.11ac Wi-Fi is standard, as is Bluetooth 4.0. For audio support, it has a combined optical digital audio output/analog line out minijack, a headphone minijack with headset support, and a built-in speaker. Needless to say, the Mac Pro comes with OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and undoubtedly will not support any previous versions of Mac OS X.
While the prices of the standard configurations were revealed back in October, it wasn't clear how expensive a maxed-out Mac Pro would be until now. Going for all of Apple's options (but not a monitor, keyboard, or mouse) raises the price to a whopping $9,599. That's a lot of money, to be sure, but in a quick pass through Dell's and HP's Web sites, trying to match configurations resulted in numbers that are similar or even higher.
Put simply, if you're buying high-end hardware these days, you're doing specialized work and you're willing to pay more for performance. When I need to replace my current 2008 Mac Pro, it won't be with one of Apple's new cylindrical Mac Pro models because I just don't do anything that an iMac (or likely even a Mac mini) can't handle. In the past, I always bought Apple's Power Macs and Mac Pros because everyday apps like word processors and databases benefited from the power boost, and because only Apple's towers supported multiple displays until 2006 (when the iMac added second monitor support, with the Mac mini joining in 2009). I'll just have to get over the fact that I'm no longer a pro, at least in Apple's


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<i>Varane Rescues</i> Real Madrid
French youngster Raphael Varane headed in a late goal for Real Madrid to level the Spanish Cup semifinal first-leg against Barcelona as the Spanish giants drew 1-1 on Wednesday.
Cesc Fabreagas had earlier given Barca a lead in a breathless match in the Santiago Bernabeu that his side looked to be running away with until the leveller.
Varane was Madrid's star all evening, clearing off the line in the first-half and making countless other defensive interventions in an entertaining encounter.
With the second-leg almost a month away, Madrid, who trail Barca by 15 points in the league, will be relieved to avoid defeat and will now look to the Champions League last-16 first-leg against Manchester United in the same stadium in less than two weeks. Jose Mourinho decided to partner Varane and Ricardo Carvalho in the centre of a depleted defence, with Sergio Ramos and Fabio Coentrao out through suspension and Pepe injured.
At right back Michael Essien was favoured over Marcelo, just back from injury, and Diego Lopez was called up for his debut in goal after he signed from Sevilla last Friday to replace the injured Iker Casillas.
With coach Tito Vilanova in New York receiving further cancer treatment, assistant Jordi Roura took over for a Barca side with far fewer problems, Jose Manuel Pinto was in his customary position in goal for the Spanish Cup, in for Victor Valdes.
And the reserve keeper was immediately called into action to block a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick after Gerard Pique saw a yellow card on 40 seconds for tripping the Portuguese star on the edge of the area.
He had to be alert again on nine minutes to tip over an Essien cross and Madrid were looking the more direct and dangerous of the two teams in the opening minutes.
The pace was fast and furious and Ronaldo just failed to connect with a Benzema cross in front of goal and then Xavi curled a free-kick onto the crossbar at the other end.
The best chance of the first-half fell to Barca on 22 minutes when Fabregas anticipated a poor back pass from Carvalho and teed up Xavi whose shot was blocked on the line by Varane.
Then at the other end a Benzema snap shot hit the side netting before Messi hit a free-kick over the bar.
At the start of the second period Benzema exchanged passes with Ronaldo before shooting high, but it wasn't long before Barca went ahead.
A Jose Callejon clearance fell to Messi whose quick thinking pass to Febregas left the former Arsenal captain with an easy finish on 50 minutes.
From that point Madrid lost their impetus and Varane had to make a fantastic last-gasp intervention to stop Fabregas from adding another.
Ronaldo stooped to head an Essien cross inches wide but Barca were playing a more measured passing game after the goal and dominating possession.
Gerard Pique was quicker than Ronaldo to a cross when Madrid did break on the counter-attack on 67 minutes and it was Fabregas again at the other end who shot just over three minutes later.
Fabregas then released Pedro Rodriguez who should have doubled the lead on his 200th appearance for Barca, but he badly miscued his shot from close range.
Just when it looked like Barca would leave with victory, Varane popped up to head home a Mesut Ozil cross with nine minutes to go.
Lopez had to save well from Jordi Alba in the closing minutes but a draw was a fair result in the end with all to play for in the Nou Camp on February 27.


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