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Set during the Tang Dynasty of 928 AD, the film chronicles the back-stabbing, double-dealing, and twisted romantic entanglements of the court of Emperor Ping (Chow Yun-Fat). His royal concubine Empress Phoenix (Gong) is having an affair with her stepson, the Crown Prince Wan, as retribution against her husband's controlling ways. The Prince has his own motives for sleeping with Mom, but is actually in love with a pretty young handmaid who happens to be daughter to the Imperial Physician. As part of her duties, under strict direction of the Emperor this handmaid must deliver a cocktail of "medicine" to the Empress every two hours and make sure she drinks it down, a suspicious plot to be sure. Meanwhile, after a three year absence the Emperor's favorite son Prince Jai (pop star Jay Chou, previously seen in Initial D) returns home in time for the lavish Chrysanthemum Festival, for which the Empress has been busy embroidering thousands of decorative flowers to be worn on the robes of people she specifically chooses, another suspicious story thread. The royal couple also has a third son, the young and seemingly-naïve Prince Yu, who tires of always being obscured under the shadow of his older brothers.
These are but the tip of the movie's convoluted plot, which twists and turns through a labyrinthine maze of relationships and conspiratorial subterfuge until eventually climaxing in a daring coup attempt. As intricately scripted as it may be, the story too often gets lost in the web of its own ambiguity and clever misdirection. The picture is mainly held together by the strength of personality of its leads and the director's opulent visual design. Making a point that the period was a time of garish excess, every square centimeter of the enormous palace, including every piece of clothing or armor worn in it, is ostentatiously gilded in gold and jade. The women's heaving bustiers are trussed up so tightly it's no wonder they plot revenge against their husbands and lovers. Though it has far less action content than either Hero or House of Flying Daggers, when the time for battle comes, Zhang stages an amazingly choreographed siege involving thousands of soldiers swarming through the hallways and grounds of the palace. From start to finish, the film is truly a visual marvel to behold.
Unfortunately, in the final analysis Curse of the Golden Flower is decidedly the least of Zhang Yimou's historical fantasy trio. Its plot is too mired in excessive complications (more so even than Hero), and its characters are too cold to truly sympathize with. It also wraps up with a mood-breaking pop song over the end credits that is absurdly out of place. Even so, the picture offers many rewards to fans of the director's prior films, and would be judged an interesting if flawed work even on its own.
The Blu-ray Disc:
Curse of the Golden Flower has been released on the Blu-ray format by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The disc automatically opens with a lengthy Blu-ray promo that can fortunately be skipped but is a nuisance.
Blu-ray discs are only playable in a compatible Blu-ray player. They will not function in a standard DVD player or in an HD DVD player. Please note that the star rating scales for video and audio are relative to other High Definition disc content, not to traditional DVD.
The Curse of the Golden Flower Blu-ray is encoded in High Definition 1080p format using MPEG4 AVC compression on a dual-layer 50 gb disc. The movie is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 with letterbox bars at the top and bottom of the 16:9 frame.
This disc makes a good benchmark for how far the Blu-ray format, and Sony Pictures specifically, have come over the past year. Back in July of 2006, Sony released director Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers as one of their Blu-ray launch titles, and its quality was unimpressive to say the least. The video of that disc was distractingly soft and marred by digital compression problems and noise. Now, one year later, they've released the follow-up film from the same director and cinematographer, but this time prepared the transfer and disc authoring with a little more effort and care. No surprise at all, the results are light years improved over that previous disc.
The Golden Flower picture is, at least for the most part, pleasingly sharp and detailed. Specific shots have more depth and vibrancy than others, but the image looks faithful to the original photography and maintains a satisfying High Definition appearance throughout. The movie's color scheme is ablaze in golds and purples, all of which pop vividly (and garishly) off the screen as they should. Light film grain is frequently visible, but (unlike the Flying Daggers disc) is well compressed and rarely noisy. The contrast range, black levels, and shadow detail are solid and true. I wouldn't call the transfer quite perfect, but it's very good overall and a fine representation of the movie.
The Curse of the Golden Flower Blu-ray disc is not flagged with an Image Constraint Token and will play in full High Definition quality over a Blu-ray player's analog Component Video outputs.
The movie's Mandarin-language soundtrack (the disc menus refer to it simply as "Chinese") is provided in uncompressed PCM 5.1 format or in standard Dolby Digital 5.1. Like Zhang's last two wuxia films, Golden Flower has a phenomenal sound mix with an incredibly immersive sound field. There are more quiet dialogue passages this time around, but when the fantastic fight scenes come they feature sharply recorded effects surrounding you from every direction. The shriek of metal on metal pierces the soundstage with excellent fidelity. The drumming score is a little monotonous compared to the better music in Hero or House of Flying Daggers, but hits the low end nicely. Great work all around.
Subs & Dubs:
Optional subtitles - English, English captions for the hearing impaired, or French.
Alternate language tracks - English DD 5.1.
The English subtitles are positioned half-in/half-out of the 2.35:1 movie image, which is a particular nuisance for many front projection users with dedicated 2.35:1 movie screens.
The bonus features on this Blu-ray title are duplicated from the DVD edition. All of the supplements from the Region 1 DVD have carried over, but that's not saying much.
Easter Eggs:
Hidden on the disc is a selection of HD test patterns. You can access these by entering 7669 on your remote control from the disc's main menu. Use the Skip button to page through the patterns.
Final Thoughts:
It may not rise to the heights of either Hero or House of Flying Daggers, but Curse of the Golden Flower is another fascinating historical epic from Zhang Yimou. The Blu-ray offers excellent picture and sound quality that will make for fine home theater eye and ear candy. Recommended.
Related Articles:
House of Flying Daggers (Blu-ray) - Zhang Yimou
Eros (DVD) - Gong Li
Zhou Yu's Train (DVD) - Gong Li
HD Review Index
High-Def Revolution - DVDTalk's HD Column
Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Player


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That said, I think some of the explanations for FRP indicate what is in my opinion a conceptual error - the reification of time. It may be that I am misunderstanding what is being meant by FRP researchers and the following rant will seem wholly uncontroversial. But if not, or if what I say seems crazy, please leave comments! Just to clarify, this is not a post trashing FRP - I am simply arguing against a particular way of viewing FRP that I feel is unhelpful.
Reactive behaviors in FRP are often described in terms of the following "purely conceptual" model:
(Time -> a) -> (Time -> b). Time? Why on earth does time appear explicitly in the model? Values do not depend on time, they depend on other values. When we say that a value is time-dependent, we are just being sloppy, implicitly assuming the presence of some process that will provide our function (a function is a dependent value) with a series of possibly distinct inputs.
Thus, for example, if we are really trying to be precise, it is a conceptual error to say that "the stock price of Microsoft is time-dependent" (of course, I don't object to this as an informal statement). The stock price of Microsoft is dependent on various things - current interest rates, say, the set of competing companies' products, and who knows what else... the price of oil, whether a butterfly in Idaho is flapping wings, etc. Time is just a proxy for some process that will provide our Microsoft price computing function with a series of
(interest rate, competing products, oil price, ...) tuples. In principle, if we could clone our universe and "at a later time" supply this function with the same values, it would produce the same output! So why talk about time at all?
Reifying time, even in informal language about FRP or "loose conceptual models" is therefore confusing and misleading because it obscures the real story (of processes and their dependencies) behind an opaque and ill-defined notion. And if we attempt to reify time in the programming model we run into problems as soon as we attempt to make it less opaque - endowing time with any sort of operations yields unimplementable gobbledeygook, where functions can reach back into the past arbitrarily far (which suggests an omniscient runtime remembering every value that ever was), or look into the future, violating causality! (These problems are also discussed here by Conal) For these reasons I think it makes more sense to talk directly about processes and their dependencies, and it seems this is exactly what is done in modern FRP formulations! For instance, in this paper on causal commutative arrows, time is not even explicitly mentioned! One possible instantiation of their model is:
data SF a b = SF (a -> (b, SF a b)). Time is not mentioned at all; the paper deals with processes directly, which are the real story. Continuity is handled without any special consideration, as we can push updates through the dependency graph as often as we like, and "step size" is just like any other parameter propagating through the graph!
As an aside, you can tell there's problems when it is not possible to expose a model in its full power (and not just for efficiency - most
(Time -> a) -> (Time -> b) functions are actually ill-defined) and we must instead resort to a rather ad hoc set of combinators that expose only pieces. Another way I like to think of this situation is that the combinators chosen actually induce another model that may be quite different than the intended "conceptual model", and the conceptual model becomes a rather bad way of discussing what is actually happening. I distinguish between this and omitting possible operations in the conceptual model purely for efficiency reasons. (I wonder if there is a precise way of clarifying this distinction.)
Lastly, when I was initally thinking about FRP, it was in the context of distributed, reactive programs that could replace actors, which are stateful, and I came up with this type:
data Pipe a b = Pipe (a -> Future (b, Pipe a b)), where
Future is the monad for concurrent evaluation (I couldn't believe it when I read the CCA paper and encountered the almost identical type,
SF!). But this could be generalized to
data Pipe m a b = Pipe (a -> m (b, Pipe a b)). With different choices of
m, we obtain different sorts of systems. When I showed this to my coworker Rúnar, he immediately suggested the list monad, implying nondeterminism. Along these lines, we can also imagine a probability monad, also implying nondeterminism in the system's evolution but something more akin to quantum physics. This would admit the possibility of a more interesting evaluator, one that culls out branches whose probability dips below some epsilon (or even lazily evaluates all possible branches, even low probability ones, but only when they are demanded). Interestingly, with
m as an arbitrary
Applicative (but not a monad), I believe we obtain the "commutativity" law suggested in the CCA paper, which basically enforces that processes, once split, cannot interfere with one another.

subset: commoncrawl


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bestow(redirected from bestowed)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.
bestow on (someone)
To gift, grant, or award something to someone. The gift can be named between "bestow" and "on." I can't believe that much responsibility has been bestowed on me—I'm just an intern! Before my grandmother died, she bestowed this vintage coffee table on me.
bestow something on someone
to give something to someone; to present something to someone. The mere presence of the queen bestowed wisdom and grace on the court. Fine gifts were bestowed on the visiting prince.


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Pieces of Yesod: Inverting a Haskell Function
I've recently been working with web frameworks, and decided to have a play with what Haskell has to offer for web resources. One of the several frameworks available is Yesod. Web frameworks need some sort of mapping between URLs and internal logic, usually called routing. In Yesod, routing is done with a "pieces" mechanism. You might declare in your routes:
/resources/#SortBy ResourcesR GET
And this will mean that if you access example.com/resources/d, that will translate into a call that turns the string "d" into a value of type SortBy, which is then passed to getResourcesR. It also means that if you use the syntax "@{ResourceR Date}" in your template files, this will be translated into example.com/resources/d. This translation is done is with the "pieces" classes, for example the single piece class:
class SinglePiece a where fromSinglePiece :: Text -> Maybe a toSinglePiece :: a -> Text
So a value should always be translatable into a part of a URL (i.e. Text), and an arbitrary URL part may be a valid value. Here's a simple sorting-order type:
data SortBy = Date | Popularity | Title
And here's the trivial SinglePiece instance:
instance SinglePiece SortBy where fromSinglePiece "d" = Just Date fromSinglePiece "p" = Just Popularity fromSinglePiece "t" = Just Title fromSinglePiece _ = Nothing toSinglePiece Date = "d" toSinglePiece Popularity = "p" toSinglePiece Title = "t"
There's several drawbacks with this code. The major drawback is obvious: the code is repetitive! It expresses the same simple mapping from sort order to text twice, once in each direction. This is tedious. Another drawback is that is a potential source of bugs if I make a typo. SinglePiece does have an obvious property for testing: fromSinglePiece . toSinglePiece == Just. I also need to make sure I cover all the possible sorting values. The nice thing about toSinglePiece (rather than using a lookup table) is that if I use the GHC flags -fwarn-incomplete-patterns -Werror, it will warn me if I miss out a case. So if I add a new sort order, say Author, and forget to change toSinglePiece, I'll get a compile-time error as soon as I try to compile (which is quicker even than a test). But fromSinglePiece doesn't have the same advantage: if I forget a new case for Author, I'll only know about it because of my test.
The way to fix my problems is to stop repeating myself. I can change the code to this:
instance SinglePiece SortBy where fromSinglePiece = invert toSinglePiece toSinglePiece Date = "d" toSinglePiece Popularity = "p" toSinglePiece Title = "t"
That invert function looks a bit magical! Broadly, its type is:
invert :: (a -> b) -> (b -> Maybe a)
Now, as it stands, the invert function is not implementable; there's no way to arbitrarily invert a Haskell function. But we can brute force an inversion if we know the full range of inputs. That's possible with the help of some automatically derivable Haskell type-classes:
data SortBy = Date | Popularity | Title deriving (Eq, Enum, Bounded) invert :: (Enum a, Bounded a, Eq b) => (a -> b) -> (b -> Maybe a) invert f = flip lookup $ map (f &&& id) [minBound..maxBound]
We use Enum and Bounded to get the list of all possible inputs, then form a lookup table which we can reference to find the inverse of a value. So now we're able to write just toSinglePiece, and automatically derive fromSinglePiece. No repetition and less possible source of mistakes. The only problem is that invert might be a bit slow. Instinctively, it feels like the lookup table can't be as fast as Haskell's built-in case structure. To find out, let's whip up a test using the Criterion benchmarking library.
I'm testing the performance of fromSinglePiece on the three valid URLs and one invalid, i.e.
main = defaultMain [bench "benchName" $ nf (map fromSinglePiece :: [Text] -> [Maybe SortBy]) ["d", "p", "t", "x"]]
I ran this once on the original fromSinglePiece that used a case statement (calling that "cases"), and once on the new fromSinglePiece that uses the lookup table (calling that "invert"), compiling with -O2 each time on GHC 7.0.3. Here's the results:
benchmarking cases collecting 100 samples, 23951 iterations each, in estimated 1.011024 s bootstrapping with 100000 resamples mean: 423.0417 ns, lb 421.8167 ns, ub 426.2270 ns, ci 0.950 std dev: 9.136906 ns, lb 1.879618 ns, ub 16.88352 ns, ci 0.950 found 2 outliers among 100 samples (2.0%) 2 (2.0%) high severe variance introduced by outliers: 0.997% variance is unaffected by outliers benchmarking invert collecting 100 samples, 21664 iterations each, in estimated 1.011000 s bootstrapping with 100000 resamples mean: 466.8043 ns, lb 466.7298 ns, ub 466.9089 ns, ci 0.950 std dev: 448.0250 ps, lb 340.4309 ps, ub 723.9564 ps, ci 0.950 found 2 outliers among 100 samples (2.0%) 1 (1.0%) high severe variance introduced by outliers: 0.990% variance is unaffected by outliers
So the difference in speed is only around 10%. I can accept that cost in order to not repeat myself everywhere. Obviously, many types used with SinglePiece are not a trivial conversion between a type constructor and a text value, but for those that are, I found this trick useful.
July 8, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Are you aware of http://hackage.haskell.org/package/invertible-syntax and http://hackage.haskell.org/package/roundtrip ?
November 15, 2011 at 4:38 am
I'm curious what the speed difference would be if you used Data.Map.Map instead of an assoc list. Nice post!
January 22, 2012 at 10:42 pm
Related to Yesod: http://www.yesodweb.com/blog/2012/01/conduit-versus-enumerator
I wonder if employing CHP might be a solution to these problems.


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ASHBURN Virginia Real Estate Statistics, MLS listings and Homes for Sale for the months of JUNE 2012 and JULY 2012.
The Statistics below apply only to real estate properties in ASHBURN VIRGINIA that were SOLD during the months of JUNE 2012 and JULY 2012 through the MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE, MLS, and does NOT take into account For Sale By Owner, FSBO, and other privately sold properties.
. (more…)


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I hope you had a great weekend!
I wanted to let you know that I have a 12 codes for a FREE night rental to any Blockbuster Kiosk on my site Dazzling Daily Deals with most good through the end of June. If you would like to share this on your blog, Im sure everyone would be thrilled (please give a credit link back to my site). If you havn't so already make sure you "LIKE" me on facebook and get real time info on the latest hot deals and freebies.
hello,just checked out ur blog,,its col.am a follower...pls follow mine as well...thankhttp://ninakema.blogspot.com/s.
My name is Missy and I am also a member of the Mom Bloggers Club. I have a blog,www.luxurybeautyproducts.blogspot.com and I also run the blog hop network.
I wanted to let you know that I am following you, and hoping when you get a chance you can follow me back. I also want to invite you to join my groups, The Blog Hop Network, Beauty Bloggers, and Children's businesses. Also, I would love to place a link to your site on my blog if you want to do the same with my blog on yours. Please let me know by sending me an email regarding this and it has been nice meeting you via the web.
I Hope you are having a great Monday!!
I just wanted to let you know today (5/9) you can get a FREE Blockbuster Express movie rental, also there are some great freebies a Rite Aid this week.
Please feel free to share any of the deals you find from my blog Dazzling Daily Deals but please give a link back to my site.
Thank you,
I look forward to sharing many more deals with you!!
If you havn't already... make sure you "LIKE" Dazzling Daily Deals on facebook to get "real time" updates on the latest deals
Just wanted to share my blog with you :)
Little Boys are Made of Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
I'm also a Scentsy consultant and looking for other moms to join my team: Kick the Wick
If you've never heard of Scentsy, you should definitely check it out! Wickless candles are safe for people with kids & pets!
It's a great company to be a part of and I will mentor you to help grow your business!
I host a blog hop for moms every Tuesday! Come link up with us...it's a great way to get new followers!
You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter
I'm looking forward to reading your blog!
Hi Abbie! Welcome to the club and feel free to check out my blog: Swanky Baby - swankybaby.net. I'm looking forward to checking yours out too!


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Silver "I am Loved" CZ Script Bolo Bracelet
Just in case you have forgotten: you are so very loved. Empower yourself or someone near and dear to you with this Silver "I am Loved" Script Bolo Bracelet. This Bracelet will remind you to keep loving others well because you are loved. With a slender, delicate profile and scripted "loved" design at its center, this Bracelet has been crafted with a unique adjustable bolo feature to offer a custom fit.
Steps to empower yourself and others:
1. Choose what reminder/Empowerment Bracelet you need for the day.
2. Share it by wearing it!
3. Believe it! {Remember, you aren't alone on this journey!}
4. Gift it! {Pass on the love to someone who needs it.}
- Material: brass
- Finish: silver
- Cubic Zirconia Crystals
- The bolo slider allows the Bracelet to expand to 8 1/2" to slide it over the hand/wrist.
- The "I am Loved" motif measures approximately 1" wide.


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A home decorated with African history
Kings Park resident Frances Watkins created her own historic home, building a collection of artifacts that celebrates the black experience.
Now Watkins uses her house as a museum of sorts to educate visitors about the past. Dubbed "Granny Frannie" by some of the local children who visit, the former civil rights activist says she believes in an anything-can-be-handled policy: "Nothing in this house is sacred," she says.
Her travels include visiting Africa four times. With each trip, she purchased artwork, carvings and pictures, many of them family themed.
"Everything is family in the African culture," she says. "Always the unit -- the family, the mother, father and child."
Watkins embraces the philosophy: In her Kwanzaa room, a dining room devoted to the winter celebration, her ancestors sit in a prominent position on the sideboard. "You give honor to the dead whose shoulders you stood on," she explains. "Then you pledge to provide shoulders and help for someone else to stand on." This is also seen on her staircase, where a pathway of statues, one sitting on every step, leads to the second landing.
Her collection includes dozens of dolls, such as one of Hattie McDaniel in "Gone With the Wind" -- the actress was the first African-American to win an Oscar. She also collects items from popular culture, such as a series of posters Budweiser made of Egyptian Kings in the '80s and cards McDonald's once issued to commemorate Black History Month.


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Mehmet Fatih Yanik, associate professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering at MIT and head of the High-Throughput Neurotechnology Group based in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE) at MIT has created his life's work by combining his training in physics and engineering with his passion for understanding the complexities of the human nervous system and how to determine therapeutics for neurological disorders.
Read more in the July 31, 2013 MIT News Office article by Helen Knight titled "The brains behind research on the brain - Mehmet Fatih Yanik develops tools to answer some of the central questions in neuroscience," also posted below.
While studying physics and electrical engineering as an MIT undergraduate in the late 1990s, Mehmet Fatih Yanik managed to avoid taking any biology classes until his final semester, when he was forced to sign up for a course.
"I believed that biology was very boring, and just about memorizing facts," he says.
So having no choice but to attend the course, Yanik sat at the back of the lecture hall, expecting the worst. But as time went on, he found he was getting more and more interested in the course, which was run by professor of biology Eric Lander, one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project and founding director of the Broad Institute. "I started to sit closer and closer to the front of the classroom," he says.
By the end of the semester Yanik was hooked, and had decided he wanted to study biology.
But how could he pursue his newfound passion for human biology while making use of his background in engineering? Returning to MIT in 2006 after completing a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University, Yanik realized he could use his skills to tackle some of the big challenges in neuroscience.
Taming the brain's complexity
"I realized that the complexity of the human brain is so great that our existing efforts were just too slow to discover how the thousands of genes and neuronal circuits, involving thousands to billions of neurons, work," Yanik says. "What we needed were sophisticated high-throughput screening and intelligent systems that would allow us to do neuroscience more rapidly, so that we could understand how each individual gene, molecule, neuron and neuronal circuit in the brain works, and rapidly search for therapeutics."
To this end Yanik, now tenured as an associate professor of electrical engineering and biological engineering, founded the High-Throughput Neurotechnology Group at MIT, with the aim of developing advanced analysis, screening and therapeutic technologies for the nervous system.
The group first developed microfluidic chips to manipulate small animals such as the invertebrate Caenorhabditis elegans and the zebrafish, both used extensively as model organisms in biological research. "We have machines that can take these animals from their 'hotels,' rotate them, image them, perform microsurgery and regeneration studies, while testing drugs on them very rapidly," Yanik says.
Previously, researchers studying C. elegans and zebrafish would have to manually place them under a microscope, orient them precisely and then take an image of these animals. "Oftentimes this manual handling was too slow and imprecise to allow scientists to screen large numbers of organisms," Yanik says.
In contrast, the technologies developed by Yanik's group can screen organisms at a rate of thousands of animals per day, while still remaining accurate enough to cut even individual nerve fibers with special lasers to test whether they can be repaired by different drugs. "By automating these using microfluidics, high-speed imaging and sophisticated analysis techniques, we have made high-throughput screening of these organisms possible," Yanik says.
The team has also developed high-throughput techniques to rapidly generate micropatterns of proteins on substrates, upon which individual neurons can be grown. They can then study how these neurons form connections, and administer drugs to discover how they affect this process.
Similarly, the group's high-throughput screening systems allow them to study neuronal circuits within cultured animal or human brain tissues by probing single neurons.
Paving the way for discoveries
Each of these new technologies has led to exciting biological discoveries, according to Yanik. The C. elegans screening chip, for example, led to the discovery of genes and druglike small molecules that enhance neuronal-fiber regeneration.
The researchers have also used their systems to discover molecules that enhance the wiring of mammalian neurons.
Yanik and his colleagues are now attempting to use their zebrafish-screening technology to study genes known to affect human development, and to play a role in various neurological disorders. They also hope to study and image the way in which the brains of these organisms transmit electrical signals, and how this information is processed under the influence of various neurological drugs.
"We are also developing assays to figure out how we can make specific types of neurons that are lost in different diseases, such as Parkinson's or epilepsy, by testing large numbers of combinations of regulatory genes," Yanik says.
Yanik grew up in Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. While in high school he joined the Turkish Physics Olympics team, winning bronze medals at International Physics Olympiads in China and Australia.
Partly as a result of that success, Yanik was accepted to MIT for his undergraduate studies, and moved to the United States at the age of 17. While studying for his PhD at Stanford he developed a technique to stop and store pulses of light within microchips. He also began taking courses in cellular biology and neuroscience at Stanford Medical School.
Ultimately, he hopes his research will help to improve the lives of people with a range of diseases. "Hopefully the technologies we are developing will help the research community to discover therapeutics for various neurological diseases," he says.


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The manufacturer has received a firm and unconditional order for 47 V90 2MW turbines from Aurora Wind Power, a joint venture between GDF Suez, Investec and Kagiso Investment.
Turbines will delivered to Aurora's project site in the Western Cape in the third quarter of 2014, with the project expected to be commissioned by May 2015.
"This confirms Vestas' market leading position in South Africa, where Vestas has won 36% of the megawatts in the first two auctions," said Vestas Southern Africa country manager Phylip Leferink.
"We look forward to building on this success and further developing, together with our long-standing and global partner GDF Suez, exciting wind opportunities in the country."
Today's announcement follows two South African deals late last year for Vestas that totalled 140.8MW. In November 2012 the firm signed a deal to supply 37 V100 1.8MW low wind speed turbines to the Hopefield wind farm in Western Cape, and in December signed another deal for 41 V100 1.8MW turbines.
All three deals include 15-year service agreements.
Today's announcement by Vestas follows the news last week that construction work had begun on South Africa's first tower manufacturing plant, which will supply Vestas and Nordex projects.


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Stay in touch with friends and family in correctional facilities with Reliance Telephone. Call us and find out all the options we have for inmate telephone calls. We can assist in keeping the lines of communication open. We can help you set up an account for all types of telephone service including cell phones.
Reliance can provide you with video cameras, Digital Video Recorders, Digital Audio Recorders, Inmate Voice Messaging, Mugshot Booking Software, and Inmate Video Visitations systems. Being that we operate a 24-hour service facility, Reliance Telephone is there when you need us. Get in touch with us today to see what we can do for you.


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Rattlesnake Round-Up events set
Ray Cornutt, Sweetwater Jaycee President and Chairman of the 54th Annual World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up, has released the schedule and prices for the upcoming Round-Up on March 9-11, 2012. The Jaycees have released that they will be paying $10 per pound for live Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes. The Jaycees have collected more than 300,000 pounds of Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes since the start of the Round-Up in 1959. Ray stated "this price will be paid all three days with no weight limit on number of pounds brought in." The Rattlesnake Round-Up is held annually on the second weekend in March at the Nolan County Coliseum Complex in Newman Park.The events and schedules are listed below:Thursday, March 8, 2012The Rattlesnake Review Parade will be at 4:30 p.m. The Miss Snake Charmer Scholarship Pageant will be at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium, located at 400 Locust. Ticket prices for adults (13 and up) are $8 per person. Student tickets (6-12) are $5 per person.Friday, March 9, 2012The Rattlesnake Round-Up will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.Saturday, March 10, 2012The Rattlesnake Round-Up will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.Sunday, March 11, 2012The Rattlesnake Round-Up will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.Round-Up ticket prices for adults (13 and up) are $8 per person. Tickets for students (6-12) are $5 per person. The Jaycees will be offering a military discounted price with a military ID of $5 per person all three days.Jaycee sponsored dancesOn Friday, March 9, 2012, from 8 p.m. to midnight Brian Keane and Granger Smith will perform with ticket prices at $10 per person.On Saturday, March 10, 2012, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. the Steve Helms Band and JB and The Moonshine Band will perform with ticket prices at $15 per person and $25 per couple.Both dances are BYOB with a cooler charge of $5 to $10, depending on cooler size. No glass containers will be allowed. Doors open both nights at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door or online at www.outhousetickets.com. ALL Jaycee sponsored dances are held at the Jaycee Barn at 307 W. 4th Street in Sweetwater.The 52nd Annual Sweetwater Rifle & Pistol Club Gun, Knife, and Coin Show is held annually during the World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up in the Nolan County Coliseum Annex in Newman Park in Sweetwater.The show will be open Friday, March 9, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, March 10, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday, March 11, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ticket prices are $5 (12 and over) per person. Children under 12 are admitted free when accompanied by a parent. For additional information, call the Sweetwater Chamber of Commerce at 325-235-5488.


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Scandal Alert: Congress Is Quietly Abandoning the 5th Amendment
Meet the prominent legislators who think it's okay to throw Americans in jail forever without charges or trial.
What everyone must understand is that American politics doesn't work the way you'd think it would. Most people presume that government officials would never willfully withhold penicillin from men with syphilis just to see what would happen if the disease went untreated. It seems unlikely that officers would coerce enlisted men into exposing themselves to debilitating nerve gas. Few expected that President Obama would preside over the persecution of an NSA whistle-blower, or presume the guilt of all military-aged males killed by U.S. drone strikes. But it all happened.
Really thinking about all that may make it easier to believe what I'm about to tell you.
It may seem like imprisoning an American citizen without charges or trial transgresses against the United States Constitution and basic norms of Western justice dating back to the Magna Carta.
It may seem like reiterating the right to due process contained in the 5th Amendment would be uncontroversial.
It may seem like a United States senator would be widely ridiculed for suggesting that American citizens can be imprisoned indefinitely without chargers or trial, and that if numerous U.S. senators took that position, the press would treat the issue with at least as much urgency as "the fiscal cliff" or the possibility of a new assault weapons bill or likely nominees for Cabinet posts.
It may seem like the American citizens who vocally fret about the importance of adhering to the text of the Constitution would object as loudly as anyone to the prospect of indefinite detention.
But it isn't so.
The Rest…HERE


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Download some images coming from Sima Show Paris 2015
For more pictures just go to www.flickr.com/TrelleborgAgri
All of the images are free for you to use. If you publish them please state "'Copyright Trelleborg Wheel Systems".
To download one of these images to your computer, click on the image using the right mouse button (on PC) or hold the mouse button down (on Mac). On the menu shown, select "Save Target As…".
High Power Tractors Fitted with Trelleborg Tires
240.000 visitors
From all over the world
1.700 Exhibitors
From 42 Countries
50 journalists and all key partners
At Trelleborg Press Conference


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While I know the Mercenary values aren't being included in the daily data dump of auction house (or at least it sure seems that way), does anyone have any idea what the true "values" are of the GenCon Mercs? I always see there are some on the AH, but I have no idea which ones (if any) are selling. Did we ever get a reasoning behind why they are not included in that data from someone at HXE?
Basically, I have an extra Portensio, and I want to get a Gax. However, for maximum value, I'd love to see if i can buy low on Gax and sell high on Portensio on the AH. I'm not sure if that's even going to be possible, but if i knew what was selling (or what people were actually buying them for), it would give me a better idea.


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If you are researching your ancestors who travelled to the West Indies, then this book is an absolute must.
The book has an explanation on the Countries contained within the book, which is very useful. As is the introduction which focus' on the how these Countries became to be part of the British Empire.
The series of 22 chapters begins with the first two which focus on the broad genealogical sources relating to those who settled in The West Indies and those who settled or at least had involvement in the region as pirates and buccaneers.
We then move swiftly onto the remaining chapters. Each chapter features a specific Country - Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Guiana (Guyana), British Honduras (Belize), The British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Each chapter is then presented in a clear and laid out manner featuring the location and history, economy and people. Also contained within each chapter is an indication to where any records are within the United Kingdom before continuing to identify the location of documents and records within the particular Country of interest, featuring Civil Registration, Census, Wills and Newspapers. The chapter then continues with a healthy mix of both primary and secondary source material. Further information is then presented in terms of reading with an informative book list and a listing of websites.
The book is illustrated in black and white throughout, with maps, photographs, postcards and stamps all given additional flavour to the Countries researched.
My own very vague interest is in the Island of Jamaica. As part the research for my One Place Study I came across a reference to an individual from the parish. The reference was that Frances Leigh of Puttenham had died in Shrewsbury in 1774 the widow of Jasper Jones of Jamaica who had died previously in 1748. Having read that one sentence I immediately wanted to know more of Jasper's time in Jamaica. His time in Puttenham is fairly well documented. He was involved in a court case in 1744 and was present in England at the time, so I was able to narrow down my window of researching from 1744 - 1748.
By reading the chapter on Jamaica and then accessing one of the sites mentioned in the book (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jamwgw/el.htm) I was able to determine that a probate record for Jasper Jones had survived for 1746-1747. The date is a year or so out, but I shall pursue this line of enquiry regardless.
The book is not attempting to research for you, but to provide you with the knowledge of the area and enable you to have a thought process to see if what you are seeking has survived the test of time and where it might be. It is like all genealogical guides, a stepping stone to your research and a jolly good one!
Disclaimer - I was provided with a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.


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When a Solaris server is overloaded, this is one way to check what actual memory each process is using. Here I am restricting the checks to one user ("steve") but by omitting the "
-u steve" flag to
ps, the whole system will be checked.
$ps -ea -o pid,rss -u steve | sort -n -k 2 | while read pid rss
> do
> echo -en "RSS : ${rss} Kb: "
> pmap -x $pid | tail -1
> done
RSS: 50104 Kb: total Kb 1384400 712744 494312 -
RSS: 669296 Kb: total Kb 1414648 819496 657584 -
This uses the
pmap tool to inspect the actual memory usage, which as the
ps(1) man page says, is more accurate than just the RSS field of
I suspect that a method using
pmap alone might be possible, but this is just a quick note as I go…


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I finally finished reading Brain on Fire, My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan. I say "finally finished" not because it was a bad book, or boring, or anything like that. Quite the opposite. It was such an intense story, so dense in detail and facts and emotion, that I could only read it for so long at a time to absorb it properly. It is the story of a fast-tracking journalist in NYC who all of a sudden starts experiencing some strange behaviors outside of her control, visions, and other sensory hallucinations. She is a young woman, in the prime of life, who has everything going for her who descends into a hell she cannot understand or control. Imagine scenes from The Exorcist, but it's real life. Quoting The Washington Post: "This story has a happy ending, but take heed: It is a powerfully scary book." The inspiration in the book comes from her family's steadfast belief that she will get well again, despite the diagnosis of experts. What is truly frightening is the fact that these experts had no idea what was wrong with her with misdiagnoses ranging from alcohol poisoning to various forms of schizophrenia. Through it all, Susannah experienced seizures, canonic states, total memory loss, manic behavior, and all manner of terrifying, uncontrolled behavior and memory loss. When a doctor–himself a miracle case who beat the odds–finally diagnosed her with anti-NMDA-receptor auto-immune encephalitis, Susannah starts down a very long road to recovery. Brain on Fire is more than a medical mystery–it is the story of an incredible woman's fight to save her identity.
Monthly Archives: November 2016
Brain on Fire
Filed under Book Review


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Steak & sticky red wine shallots
Nutrition and extra info
- Easily doubled / halved
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal524
- fat33g
- saturates16g
- carbs10g
- sugars10g
- fibre1g
- protein40g
- salt1.87g
- 8 brown shallots, peeled and quartered but left whole at the root
Related to the onion (as opposed to being a younger version of it), shallots grow in clusters at…
- 2 sirloin steaks, about 175g/6oz each
Sirloin steakSur-loyn stayk
This well-flavoured steak needs to be cooked carefully, and rested properly to ensure…
- crushed black peppercorns
- 25g butter
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegarbal-sam-ick vin-ee-gah
True Balsamic vinegar is an artisan product from Modena, in Emilia Romagna, Italy, and is made…
- large glass red wine, about 175ml/6fl oz
- 150ml beef stock
Simmer the shallots in a pan of water for 2-3 mins, then drain and set aside. Season the steaks with a little salt and plenty of crushed peppercorns. Heat half the butter in a pan until sizzling, then cook the steaks for 3 mins on each side for medium or until done to your liking.
Remove the steaks and keep warm. While they rest, add the remaining butter to the pan, throw in the shallots, then sizzle in the sticky pan until starting to brown. Add the balsamic vinegar and bubble for a few mins. Add the wine and boil down until sticky, then add the beef stock and simmer until everything comes together. Spoon the shallots over the steaks and serve withgreen beans and chips.


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Rex or Tony? ESPN's Skip Bayless couldn't see a difference. The former Dallas and Chicago columnist, in a radio interview last week, called Tony Romo inconsistent and said Rex Grossman could, at any time, throw for 300 yards or several interceptions.
Rex or Tony? ESPN's Skip Bayless, who said Rex could throw for 300 yards at any time, and the Chicago Tribune's David Haugh, who wondered if Rex would show Tony Romo "who the real Pro Bowler" was last year, both were undecided this week. That was before Romo passed for 320 yards in the first three quarters alone and Grossman threw three interceptions in Dallas' 34-10 Sunday night victory. While Romo danced away from a fierce pass rush – "He's very elusive. He made plays," Grossman said – Rex fell apart. And what did the Bears say? "Rex is my guy," tight end Desmond Clark said. "It's not Rex's fault," defensive end Alex Brown said. "It's everybody's fault." This is the quarterback Donovan McNabb said gets picked on more than himself? No, Rex doesn't get hammered. He gets protected. At least in his home city. A look at Romo and Grossman shows just how far this Rex Protection Racket has gone. Romo has the highest career passer rating (98.4) of any current NFL quarterback. Grossman (71.1) ranks 29th among current starters. The difference becomes even larger – much larger – when it matters most. Romo's third-down passer rating of 141.7 this year is 10 times that of Grossman's. Romo is first in the league on third down. Rex is last. A two-game sample is admittedly small, but this isn't: In his last nine games, Grossman has converted only 9 of 65 third-down conversions of 5 yards or more on passing tries. The biggest Grossman myth is the Good Rex/Bad Rex theory that Grossman needs only to erase his turnovers to be good. A myth Grossman promulgates himself. "I have to do what I do best," he said, "make plays down field, but don't turn the ball over." Third downs are just as critical. That showed again Sunday, when the Bears crossed midfield four times in the first half yet scored only 3 points against Dallas' No. 31-rated pass defense. But that's far from the only myth that has kept Rex shakily afloat in Chicago. Consider: - Rex may make mistakes, but supporters say he also makes big plays. Well, Grossman ranks 25th among active starters in career yards per pass (6.56). - At least Rex is better than the parade of mopes who have passed for passers in Chicago the last two decades. Actually, 18 times in the 21 seasons before Chicago drafted Grossman, the Bears' leading passer had a higher passer rating than Grossman's career 71.1. Jim Harbaugh, Steve Walsh, Eric Kramer, Shane Matthews, Jim Miller and an ancient Dave Krieg were all higher-rated Bears than Rex. Even Chad Hutchinson (73.6) topped Grossman as his injury fill-in in 2004. - Rex isn't a weekly threat to pass for 300 yards. He's done so once in 31 games. In overtime vs. Tampa Bay last year. Joey Harrington and Matt Leinart have topped 400 yards as many times as Grossman has reached 300, yet no one considers them a threat to go for 400 each week. A rare 12-yard Grossman scramble on third-and-10 briefly jump-started Chicago's offense in the second half. Romo, though, led Dallas on 89- and 91-yard drives to take a 17-10 lead. Later, Grossman threw an interception returned for a touchdown to make it 27-10. The Bears do have other worries. Tommie Harris (knee), Nathan Vasher (groin) and Lance Briggs (groin) left the game with injuries. Devin Hester muffed two kicks and fumbled a third. The Bears' strengths no longer look so strong. Chicago (1-2) is two games behind Green Bay. They can't afford Grossman to keep playing like this. "We have to fix that," Grossman said. "We have to make plays and not turn over the football. "We have to start playing better. This week we will determine how we do that." The hard way is for Rex to improve. The easy way is for Rex to sit. Assistant sports editor Matt Trowbridge can be reached at 815-987-1383 or email@example.com.


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A No Mess, No Guess Window and Door Installation Day in Idaho, ID
After you buy your replacement windows or doors, your next step is getting the products installed. Choosing the right person to install your windows is just as important as picking the right windows for your home. Is your window or door installation a project you'll undertake yourself, or will you bring in the professionals?
The window installation process is different for each window style and product, but in every case, even the highest-performing window is only as strong as its installation. And a proper installation is the key to a more energy efficient, comfortable home.
To make certain you won't experience troubles with moisture damage or leakage, your installation should form a watertight seal. For example, Pella uses its SmartFlash™ tape around the windows and doors to manage water away from the product and home.
A proper installation will also use a high quality polyurethane window and door insulating foam, such as Great Stuff™ Window and Door Insulating Foam Sealant, which will help inhibit drafts from getting through your new windows or doors. Your installer should use shims in each window and door installation to ensure your products are held in the correct place. A variety of other sealants should be used to help improve product life and provide a weather resistant seal.
Benefits of Working with a Professional
Though you can easily access installation guides for any window or door product you purchase, we recommend having an expert install your products. Many professionals – including Lead Pella Expert Installers℠ in Idaho – are re-certified annually, so they're learning new techniques and best practices annually to perform the best installation possible. Since they've been certified to perform Pella window and door installations, the process is easy and usually will not take more than a day, depending on the number of products installed.
You'll also want to take note of your warranties or post-installation service agreements. Many are not valid unless you have a professional install your windows or doors. This alone can save you a lot of money in the long-run and will ensure your windows stay in their best shape for years.
The Pella Installation Process
A primary characteristic of Pella's work is how well the installers take care of your home throughout the installation process. For instance, they'll lay protective sheets over your floor and wear booties over their shoes to help prevent dirt from entering your home. And, Pella Expert Installers are very familiar with Pella's installation methods. With Pella, you can rest easy knowing that your windows and your home are in good hands.
When you purchase Pella windows, you know you're buying a quality product. Lead Pella Expert Installers℠ from our Showroom in Idaho can give you a quality installation, as well. Find more about what to expect throughout a professional Pella window or door installation online or call your Idaho Showroom today.


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Promo Small Hit Sports Pack
Model# 3071
Product Description
Draw in new business and draw all eyes to your logo or message by imprinting it on the Small Hit Sports Pack. These convenient little packs are the perfect size to take on a hike (just fill with bottled water and snacks) or to carry a pair of shoes to the basketball court. The drawstring closure is easy to operate and quick to close. Just strap it on your back and you're on your way! Choose from over 150 styles in dozens of trendy colors. With something in every price range, you'll be able to get your message out to the right audience on a promotional logo drawstring backpack.
Product Details
- Drawstring Sports Pack Made Of 210D Polyester Construction With Contrasting Simulated Leather Reinforcement Black Trim At The Corners
- Spot Clean/Air Dry
- Packaging: Bulk
- Multiple Colors/Locations
If your logo has multiple colors, please call us for location imprint options and pricing.
Decoration Info
SilkScreen Includes:
Included is 1 Color/1 Location
$45 Set-up Fee
Additional Color:
$45 Set-up Fee
$0.45 Running Fee per item.
PMS Color Match $40 per Match
$45 Set-up Fee
Additional Color:
$45 Set-up Fee
$0.45 Running Fee per item.
PMS Color Match $40 per Match
Order Process
- Place order.
- A detailed Proof-Sheet will be emailed.
- You approve -or- adjust.
- When all looks good & approved,
we then charge CC card.
- Order goes into production.
Production Time
10 - 14 Business Days, or sooner
after art sheet is approved.
Need it sooner? Any Questions?
No problem! Give us a call 1.800.278.7659


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"In conversation" in the Turbine Hall, 2009.07.09, Johannesburg: [Set of 153 Images]
- subsubseries
- 2009.07.09
Part of 4 Dialogue Programme
An all-day dialogue session with thought leaders, South Africa's foremost social entrepreneurship patrons and practitioners, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, civil society, government, and members of the South African media. Other partners such as the WDB, African Development Bank (ADB), Banking Council, Independent Development Trust (IDT) and other microfinance institutions including the broader community of social entrepreneurs participated in this session.
Professor Yunus aimed at stimulating a robust dialogue and conversation about microcredit, microfinance or social business as a tool to address poverty, based on the Grameen Bank model.
Lerole, Tumelo


text: By Anthony BurokasWill a Video DSLR (vDSLR) make a serious positive impact on your bottom line? Or is it just a serious case of "gear envy?" Look carefully at what each tool offers and select the appropriate tool for what you need to tell your story. ... Keep reading >


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There is this amazing place on the internet called The Sister Project, a network of blogs about sisters and sisterhoods of all kinds. A place where I have met the most incredible women from all over. A place to learn about myself and sisters. To share with sisters parts of my life. This blog is the creation of Margaret Roach, a non blood sister of mine, a person that I thank daily for all the help in my life. She is a true sister and seriously rocks.
I went on a journey to do a project for The Sisters (you can read all about it at TSP) using my vast amount of old stuff that I have collected and some that I went hunting for. The results came out great. This picture is the first part that I have finished, with lots more to come as I keep finding more fabulous ephemera, I will share it with you.
My favorite images are of two sisters??? friends??? washing each others hair. The way they are smiling is wonderful, look at the Saddle shoes, the clothes and the hair. What an amazing time in our history. I put these images on matches.
You can have a chance to win them, just visit The Sister Project and leave a comment. The winner will be picked on the 21st, just in time for Christmas.
Wishing all of my sisters who have supported me lots of PEACE, JOY & HOPE.


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The best time to visit is March-May when the temperatures are warm, and the desert flowers are in bloom. September-November is also great for mild weather. June-August is the height of summer, but visitors from other parts of Arizona visit during this time for the slightly lower temperatures in Sedona versus the rest of the state. December-February is slow season with typically less expensive hotel rates.
Ad unit code goes here
Here is an example


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The International Institute of Management (IIM) released a white paper on the symptoms of dysfunctional organizations and dysfunctional leadership. Bad politics is a disease that can drain organizations of productive potential, and the IIM white paper also proposed some possible cures to help afflicted organizations out of the rut and back to health.
The white paper describes symptoms of bad leadership, which upon reading, have a strong correspondence to a lack of critical thinking:
3. Performance Diagnosis Checklist
Even fast-growing and profitable companies can develop bad internal politics and unproductive work habits that will eventually lead to declining performance. It is true that the larger the organization, the more susceptible it is to the breakdown of communication, the emergence of management silos and misalignment. Yet, in my experience many of the smaller companies also suffer from similar problems. When management tends to focus so much on one management area, e.g., sales, and has no time to manage the internal organization challenges, dysfunction creeps in and takes hold. To build and sustain high-performance teams, leadership and human resources managers should keep an eye open for the following symptoms and treat the root causes before it becomes too late.
Dysfunctional leadership symptoms and warning signs:
- Dictatorial Leadership: Management that does not allow disagreements out of insecurity or arrogance.
- No 360 Degrees Feedback: There is limited or no leadership performance feedback.
- Personal Agendas: Recruitments, selections and promotions are based on internal political agenda, for example hiring friends to guarantee personal loyalty at the expense of other highly performing and more-qualified employees.
- Political Compensation: Stock options, bonuses and perks are not fairly linked to performance.
- Inefficient Use of Resources: Budgets are allocated between business units or departments based on favoritism and power centers rather than actual business needs.
- Empire-building Practices: Managers believe that the more people they manage and the bigger the budget, the higher the chance that they will be promoted. This results in raging battles around budgets, strategies and operations.
- Unequal Workload Distribution: You'll find some departments are underutilized while other departments are overloaded.
- Too Much Management: There are many management layers in the organization, thus, hindering communication and resulting in slower execution.
- Fragmented Organization Efforts: Interdepartmental competition and turf wars between rival managers lead to the emergence of silos, which results in communication gaps. Management silos almost always result in fragmented and duplicated budgets and projects, thus wasting valuable company investments.
- Too Much Talk: Plans are heavy on talk but light on action. In a political corporate culture, image management becomes far more important than actions.
- Ineffective Meetings: Argumentative and heated cross-divisions meetings with discussion and language focusing on point scoring and buck-passing rather than sharing responsibility and collaborating to solve the problem
- Lack of Collaboration: Every person for himself/herself. Low sense of unity or camaraderie on the team. The key criterion for decision-making is What is in it for me?
- Low Productivity: Management wastes more time and energy on internal attack and defense strategies instead of executing the work, innovating and overcoming challenges. Critical projects fall behind on deadlines, budgets and performance targets (e.g. sales, market share, quality and other operational targets).
- Constant Crisis Mode: Management team spends most of their time on fire fighting instead of proactive planning for next-generation products and services.
- Morale Deterioration:Muted level of commitment and enthusiasm by other teams. Even successful results cannot be shared and celebrated due to animosity and internal negative competition.
- Backstabbing: Backbiting among the executives and managers becomes common and public.
- Highly Stressful Workplace: There is a high rate of absenteeism and a high employee turnover rate.
The IIM paper provides a good basis of how critical thinking can help (or the lack of can destroy) organizations from a practical perspective.
Read more here.
Download the paper here.


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NORWICH — With 28 seconds left in the first half and the ball on the New London 2-yard line, Norwich Free Academy's Marcus Outlow took the hand off and got halfway to the goal line.
The only problem with that was the Wildcats didn't have any time outs left. By the time they got the pile sorted, got up and tried to get back to the line, officials had signaled the end of the half.
"(That hurt) tremendously, we were going to score there," NFA coach Jemal Davis said. "It was big, we could have the momentum going into the half and it was reminiscent of Glastonbury where we had that same situation."
It also helped produce the same result: an NFA loss. New London accomplished what it had to. It put together a Glastonbury-type performance: bend, but don't break defensively, keep NFA out of the end zone and score just enough to get into the CIAC Class M state playoffs.
The mission was accomplished with a 9-7 New London win at Alumni Field Thursday. It means the Whalers not only will get a rematch with Middletown — a team they defeated at Cannamela Field, 23-21, on Nov. 6 — but also brought home the Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division crown. All pairings are unofficial until the CIAC committee approves the points on Saturday at 9 a.m.
New London coach Duane Maranda termed it "ironic" that one game accomplished both of the Whalers' season goals.
"We've been through some battles and we've been through, by far in my eyes, the toughest schedule in the ECC that prepared us to play a football game like this," Maranda said.
NFA had already qualified for a Class LL state playoff game, but instead of playing a home game at 6:30 p.m. at Montville High Tuesday, the fifth-seeded Wildcats will play at No.4 Southington.
Just like NFA's loss had similarities to its defeat in Glastonbury, New London's resembled its biggest win of the year over Middletown. That game was decided by the foot of freshman kicker Garrett Burdick, who booted a 22-yard field goal as time expired to give the Whalers (9-2, 3-0 ECC Large) the win.
There was plenty of time remaining on Thursday — five minutes, 15 seconds — when Maranda again turned the game over to the freshman's foot.
"I didn't think about it until the end of the game when all of a sudden I said to myself, 'Did a freshman just kick a 40-yard field and put us into the playoffs?'" Maranda said with a laugh.
On 4th-and-17, New London quarterback Danny Maranda (5-for-13 passing, 52 yards) was sacked by Tuzar Skipper on the NFA 38-yard line. But to get to the quarterback, Skipper grabbed hold of Maranda's facemask. The officials saw it and moved the ball to the 23-yard-line. With a little help from his kicking coach and spotter, John Curry, who reminded Duane Maranda in his headset that the wind was behind Burdick, the New London coach quickly began to yell "field goal."
"I practice that kick over and over in practice, it's nothing new, but in a game — this rivalry — I know how much it means to everyone on the team and to all the alumni. It got to me," Burdick said.
Close kick
When he kicked it, he thought he mishit it and from the take-off, it didn't look like the ball had enough on it. It took what seemed to be forever to get there but had enough distance and hung inside the right crossbar for what proved to be the game-winning three points.
The Wildcats had another shot at it as they drove to the New London 26-yard line where they faced a 4th-and-7. Alex Beaudreault completed his first pass of the day to Ramel Williams, giving NFA a first down at the New London 10. But a flag came flying in from in front of the play and an ineligible receiver downfield negated the play.
"They did a great job defensively, and when we got some plays going, we got off schedule with a penalty or a missed assignment — we can't do those types of things — and when we did, it got us off-tempo," Davis said.
Orrin Parke (29 carries, 107 yards) was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The Whaler running back scored the only touchdown for them on a 22-yard scamper in the third quarter.
The only touchdown for NFA (8-2, 2-1) came off a 58-yard run by Khaleed Exum-Strong (18 carries, 94 yards) late in the third quarter. Outlow finished with 119 yards but played only one series in the second half, going to the sidelines with a sore shoulder. Davis said Outlow will be ready to play on Tuesday night.
"We're in the playoffs, that's a good thing," Davis said. "I will take the fifth seed, play Southington. If we get by Southington and Newtown gets by (Ridgefield), that's a familiar face and that's all you're asking for: an opportunity."


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The Northern Iowa Student Government (NISG) embraces and appreciates all that diversity brings to the University of Northern Iowa. NISG promotes not only tolerance of, but also the greatest appreciation for all individuals regardless of race, sex, gender or gender identity, creed, socioeconomic status and sexual orientation. NISG strives to represent and involve students from all backgrounds and experiences so that the life of the student body, and greater Cedar Valley Community, remains vibrant and continues to flourish. NISG embraces a philosophy that recognizes the strength that diversity brings to the concept of community, where each person's unique voice is heard and can contribute to the overall picture of the student experience.
The Northern Iowa Student Government's vision for diversity is to promote a climate in which students are able to work together to achieve harmony through collaboration to produce and participate in educational programming and social events.
NISG's diversity mission is to build and support a network of student organizations that are fully engaged in the process of making the university an educational environment which celebrates the variety of contributions and differences each student can offer to the student body.
Diversity Matters Fund
The Diversity Matters Fund was established in early 2010 through a grant from the University's Diversity Council (per chair Dr. Terry Hogan, Vice President for Student Affairs) to the Northern Iowa Student Government.
More information on the Diversity Matters Fund, the Diversity Matters Fund Advisory Committee, and the Committee's operating procedures can be found at http://www.uni.edu/studentorgs/nisg/diversity-matters-fund.


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Drama In Las Vegas: Group Of Girls Start Swinging On Bus Driver With Bottles & Dude Slaps Them Right Back! "Walk Away Bitch"
Shout out to Jorgetta for the footage
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
More than 100 years ago, American soldiers massacred men, women and children in the last major bloodshed of the American Indian wars, making the property, Wounded Knee, the symbolism of the shaky relationship between Native Americans and the U.S. government. In 1973, a group of Indian activists held a forceful takeover that resulted in protests and a bloody standoff with federal agents.
The New York Times reports that James Czywczynski is putting the land on the market for $3.9 million, far more than the $7,000 the Oglala Sioux say the land is worth.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The clash over the land is raising interesting questions. Should American Indians even have to buy back the land that was taken from them? Should the land be preserved as sacred? Should the tribe be able to capitalize on what happened there?
Mr. Czywczynski isn't losing sleep over those questions. If the tribe fails to put down the money by May 1, he will put it up for auction, allowing anyone to buy it.
The battle of what to do with the land of Wounded Knee wages on, but meanwhile, time is ticking.
Copyright LXTVN - LXTV


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Beauty, so they say, is only skin deep. It's certainly true that the Mac's Aqua user interface has been much admired, but on Windows we're stuck with XP's Fisher-Price style themes, at least until Vista finally arrives.
Or are we? Mac-UI Suite is exactly what it says on the tin: a Mac-like user interface for .NET applications. It supports both .NET 1.x and 2.x, which means that you can use it with VS.NET 2005 as well as the 2003 development system. Using the system is easy: simply install the product, launch VS.NET, and you'll discover a whole raft of Mac-style user interface controls waiting for you on the IDE's Toolbox window.
There are buttons, tab controls, group boxes, toolbars, panels, and more. By default, the controls use the same sky-blue Aqua colour scheme, but this can be changed if desired. All the controls have a UIStyle property which can be used to switch to IDE2003, Office2003 or Plain, in addition to the default MAC setting.
So, does MAC-UI Suite 6.01 produce a convincing emulation of a Mac? Well, no. I own several Macs, so I'm familiar with the Aqua interface, which makes me hard to please. Yes, the pushbutton can be made to 'pulse' seductively, and the application window's maximise, minimise and close buttons are replaced by little round green, yellow and red buttons, but somehow the whole thing just doesn't hang together as well.
The Mac Aqua interface is a thing of understated beauty, whereas Mac- UI Suite attempts to outdo XP in the Fisher-Price department. Aesthetics aside, there are more serious issues: on my 2.66GHz Pentium, moving the Mac-UI Suite demo program around the screen or resizing the form pushed CPU usage to 99 per cent. Mac-UI Suite looks promising, but wait for the next version or buy a Mac instead. Dave Jewell


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Today I am skipping my Tuesday's Kitchen Tip to bring you a
cute little cupcake!
There is something about cupcakes that make me smile :)
My precious sister bought me these cute cupcakes liners from
Pick Your Plum
and invited me to share a cupcake recipe for
these adorable liners at her
Pick Your Plum Party!
If you have any projects using
Pick Your Plum products head over to
Ashley and Jenette's Party
and link up any creations, projects, gifts, or tutorials.
(This includes showing us ways to wear or pair any fashion items such as shirts, scarfs, jewelry, etc.)
Oh and by linking your favorite PYP post, you are entering to win a PYP Mystery Box full of amazing products!! The winner will be announced on March 7th as our next party begins
I picked the green polka dot cupcake liners for this recipe in honor of St. Patty's Day!
Lime Jell-O Poke Cupcakes
Ingredients for Cupcakes
( I used this Simple White Cake Recipe)
makes 12 cupcakes
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3 oz box of lime Jell-O
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake cupcakes 20 to 25 minutes.
Cupcakes are done when it springs back to the touch.
You can pick any flavor of Jell-O!
I used lime because it's green and Wilton's Rainbow Sugar Sprinkles because it fits the St. Patty's Day theme!
4. Boil 1 cup water and add 3oz box of Jell-O, stir until completely dissolved.
5. Poke holes in cupcakes with fork or toothpick. Don't be afraid to poke right down in the cupcake, you want plenty of holes for the jell-o to seep into.
6. Using a spoon or medicine dropper, pour gelatin mixture over cupcakes (about a TBS or so on each cupcake)
7. Place cupcakes in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Then top with whipped topping, decorate, and enjoy!
I used homemade whipped topping and tinted it with Wilton's green icing color.
Recipe for Whipped Topping
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 TBS of powder sugar sifted
Wilton's green icing color
(add a little at a time to reach desired shade)
Chill your mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Then in a large metal bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Now add icing color a little at a time to reach your desired shade.
After topping your Jell-O Poke Cupcakes with whipped topping add pretty and festive sprinkles and enjoy!
These cupcakes are perfect for any gathering!
Enjoy :)


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Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Bunnies and eggs, freebies and Giveaway!
My machine is supposed to be done by midweek, so I sure hope it is ready tomorrow.
I also reached 200 followers today! I truly appreciate all of the comments I receive and try to answer questions when I can.
Tonight I started on a new punched piece, based on an antique rug. So, since we have hit 200 followers, time for another giveaway. Leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name to win my new pattern. I am thinking it would make a fun stitchery too, so a good pattern for quilters too. The contest will end on Monday, April 10 and I will announce the winner on Monday night. Once I finish the punched piece, I will post a reveal. Or if the pattern is not your thing, you can choose from any of my epatterns.
First I will show you a new freebie I found. It is from an Australian craft site and they have some wonderful free patterns. I could not find the actual pattern, so here is the link to the PDF File. I made mine into a stitchery pillow, but it was for punch needle.
I also made another egg, loved the little girl with the eggs in the apron. But, I forgot where I got it. There was no copyright on the printout.
Then I decided to use my bunny pattern and redo it into a cutout bunny. I used my cheater fabric and quilted it with batting, then sewed a whipstitch on the outside edge. I added a little extra stuffing when I got to the bottom to fill them out some more.
Then I decided to try some with my old sewing machine, that was not fun, lol. No needle down, so I had to stop and crank it down and turn and as you can see, lost a lot of shape, so they are definitely prim;) The new soft stuffing I got definitely makes the stain set in weird ways, but it gives it a true aged look sometimes. With these I used a watered down solution of tsukineko ink and brushed it on, to soak them, then I added extra spray after.
31 comments:
- Wendy @ Ravenwood Whimzies said...
Love the stitchery - it's so cute! I'll have to check out that site! Your rabbits are adorable too! Love the two different ways you created them.
- April 5, 2011 at 10:59 PM
- Wendy @ Ravenwood Whimzies said...
The pdf link didn't work - I do love that bunny stitchery...can you send it to me? firstname.lastname@example.com Thanks dear!
- April 5, 2011 at 11:08 PM
- TheCrankyCrow said...
Congrats on the 200 followers Debbie! Yippee!! I love those little prim bunnies you sewed on your old machine (as well as the others....but those simple one are way cute...) I would love to be entered in your giveaway for your punch pattern - I know it will be sweet. BTW, that punch pattern you did in stitchery from the Austrailian site - you can get the punch pattern at http://www.completecraft.com.au/projects?cid=12552&pid=3123845 It's called "Star Filled Night."
I was just thinking of doing it...
:o)Hugs & Smiles, Robin
- April 5, 2011 at 11:22 PM
- Linda said...
Congratulations on 200 followers! How cool! Love your little bunnies!
- April 6, 2011 at 12:34 AM
- Dorothy said...
Everything is beautiful but I especially love the cheater cloth bunnies. They are just wonderful
- April 6, 2011 at 12:46 AM
- Angela Richardson said...
I love your rabbits especially the really prim ones.
Well done on 200 followers.
- April 6, 2011 at 3:52 AM
- Lorna/Live Oak Primitive Peddler said...
Love those prim bunnies!! I've never used ink before, great look. Thanks for the stitchery pattern and the link to the site. Congrats on 200 followers!!
- April 6, 2011 at 5:31 AM
- moosecraft said...
Busy, busy, busy! Love the stitchery with the bunnies! I just might try that pattern... and LOVE those bunnies! You always think up such wonderful pieces!
- April 6, 2011 at 6:23 AM
- Sassafras and Winterberry said...
Congratulations on 200 followers!! I love all of your projects. The prim bunnies are my favorites.
- April 6, 2011 at 6:56 AM
- coinguyslady said...
I love your stitchery and congrats on 200 followers.
- April 6, 2011 at 9:24 AM
- primitivebettys said...
You are always so crafty-busy! More great works! Congrats on 200 followers too. :) And another giveaway? Please drop my name in the hat too.
- April 6, 2011 at 10:20 AM
- Mosaic Magpie said...
Congratulations Debbie! I would love to win the giveaway. We really do get spoiled by our modern sewing machines. Knee lift pressure foot, thread cutters, needle down. I have my grandmother's old machine and it has something my new machine doesn't...history and the spirit of my grandmother teaching me to sew.
- April 6, 2011 at 11:18 AM
- Wendy said...
Thanks for the link to the stitchery, I can never get enough of these. Yours are so inspiring.
- April 6, 2011 at 12:17 PM
- ~Madalynne~ said...
Love those bunnies Debbie! The old machine might slow you down a bit, but it doesn't make those pieces any less adorable!
- April 6, 2011 at 4:51 PM
- Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...
Congratulations on 200! Love your bunnies! :-)
- April 6, 2011 at 6:40 PM
- Gayle said...
Congrats on your accomplishment in blogging! Lots of friends to be found!
- April 6, 2011 at 6:45 PM
- Kim said...
Congrats on the 200th follower milestone. Your projects are always adorable.
- April 6, 2011 at 8:20 PM
Congrats on so many followers! Isn't it amazing to see how many people read us?
- April 6, 2011 at 10:44 PM
- coinguyslady said...
I can't believe I won.Thank you so much.I love your patterns.I am playing with some fine hooking and would love to do your "Angel Blessings".
- April 7, 2011 at 8:21 AM
- Ter'e said...
I love your Easter Friends pattern. How sweet this is!
Your Followers are now 203.....I just signed up too.
GREAT blog! You are so talented!!!!
- April 7, 2011 at 1:18 PM
- Sue Tokash said...
Love those bunnies made from the cheater cloth! Always wonder how you keep Moki away from your bunnies, eggs, birds, etc? My guy seems to make it his nightly mission to knock things like that down.
- April 7, 2011 at 4:22 PM
All your creations are wonderful. Could I borrow you to come to my house and teach some classes???? Happy Spring.
- April 7, 2011 at 6:30 PM
- Firecracker Kid said...
Yay on your gain of followers Deb. I like all your lil creations,but I especially love those bunnies with the tsukineko ink on them. I've never heard of that ink before.
- April 7, 2011 at 6:55 PM
- Jacque. said...
WOW...look at all the spring/Easter pieces you have done! Congrats on the 200 followers! Happy for you that you have your machine back...and that you have a way of getting lessons on it!
- April 7, 2011 at 11:31 PM
- Kathy H said...
I liked your little bunnies made out of the cheater cloth. I have seen this in the shops and wondered what could be done with it. Perfect for the stuffed animals. I will look up that bunny stitchery/punch needle. I like doing both of them.
- April 8, 2011 at 2:28 PM
- Denise * KKL Primitives said...
Hi Debbie
Love your stitchery pillow! Thanks for posting the link to the freebie :)
Your bunnies are awesome too!
Congrats on your 200 followers.:)
- April 8, 2011 at 7:40 PM
- Allie said...
Congrats on 200 followers! I love that little stitchery, thanks so much for the link. I've tried to do punch needle, but it hurts my wrist and I'm terrible at it. I sure do love it though!
Love your little sunbonnet girl, that's a very old pattern, out of copyright. Your little bunnies are adorable - I especially love the prim ones. So sweet!!!!!!!!
- April 9, 2011 at 12:02 AM
- Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...
Love your new chicken design ~ would make a good hooked piece, too! I'd love to win it! Thank you for offering!!
- April 10, 2011 at 12:33 AM
- Miccosukee said...
I am so excited about you reaching that milestone. What is interesting is the number of people who read and forget to become followers. I know you must have a ton of those as well.
Your giveaway is exciting and I am thrilled to enter it. Your patterns are so cute.
- April 10, 2011 at 11:18 AM
- Unknown said...
love your lil' bunnies and stitcheries! Will check out the AU site...Thanks so much!
patti ;)
- April 12, 2011 at 8:33 PM
- Unknown said...
Hi Debbie: Where did you find the stitcheries on the Aussie site? I couldn't find them??
- April 12, 2011 at 8:52 PM


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The Centralization Lock-in
We live on a globalized world and the impact is clear for both small and big development shops all around the globe. Having remote individuals or entire teams is a extremely common situation these days.
It has advantages like being able to hire talent globally, enabling more flexibility for personnel and even having teams closer to the final customer. It also has drawbacks in the form of communication issues.
Just to give an example, let's focus on agile development practices like the nowadays all-around SCRUM methodology and how it defines teams: sitting together and collaborating. Then you can find entire chapters on books (I'm thinking on latest Cohn's book Succeeding with Agile, http://www.succeedingwithagile.com, which is not my favorite from the author's collection but it's the one I'm reading right now) devoted to resolve the challenges that you face when not all the team can be at the same room for the daily scrum meeting. Having ambassadors, inviting one of the members by web meeting or videoconference, all the team when the total number is not bigger than 10…
My area is SCM and there are a few concerns there, too, most of them strictly related to the same family of issues you can find with agile practices and all the other aspects of software development.
I find teams with, let's say, three or four facilities and a good number of developers on each of them, all working against a central repository through their VPN connections. When they're in trouble they share same features:
- High head count: from 50 to more than 150 developers committing changes to the same repo or set of centralized repositories.
- Long-lived project: years of evolution on the same code base.
- Remote sites locked by slow access to the central location. Yes, we're in 2010 and remote access should be a snap, but reality is, let's face it, that slow and unreliable connections are used all around, making LAN operations hell over the WAN.
- High change ratio: fixes, patches, new features and customizations flying around on a daily basis, hitting three or four (or even more!) integration branches.
- Stability issues on the code base.
- Strong need for parallel development to support their current demands from customers.
There are basically two out-of-the-box solutions to solve the previous issues (implementing them is obviously not that straightforward and will need involvement with the organization, agreeing on a simple but yet effective working procedure and so on, but for the sake of simplicity let's focus on the core practices) which are: implementing strong parallel development using best of breed branching techniques and enabling distributed (or multi-site if you prefer) support for the remote teams.
And here's where I tend to find the centralization lock-in problem, which is stronger as the teams grow: "yes, I understand remote locations shouldn't be waiting on slow connections or restricted by the network bandwidth on daily operations but we can't afford having our code, our most valuable asset, being spread on 4 different locations, it will be hell to maintain" — it's a pretty common concern I hear.
Of course, if you mention distributed development the reaction can be even stronger on corporate sites: "having all codebase spread over a hundred of computers sitting on each developer's private repository??!! We can't handle that. Look, we've very junior people, a different range of skill-sets and not everyone will be able to handle that, and it will end on up with a total mess." Fortunately this one can be easily solved as soon as you explain that the distributed set up can be customized to have one server per location instead of one per developer (which I must agree can only succeed when you count on highly skilled teams who really understand what they're doing with their SCM tool). Problem is they jump to rejection number 1 just after this one is solved.
Scenarios illustrated
An image is worth a thousand words so let's give it a try. Here's how the initial scenario looks like:
All changes flow from the remote and local sites to the central server, which will handle the entire load. Remote sites will be limited by the network bandwidth and its availability. Remote sites will suffer from disconnections and low performance.
In terms of what's going on inside the repository, the following image shows how most changes will go into the trunk coming from all sites. It means that it's mandatory to have some sort of continuous integration process in place to prevent the build to get broken, but unfortunately the procedure is reactive so it will be broken and fixed, creating intermediate periods of instability that can spread issues among all developers.
The process is sequential, totally linear on each branch and every developer is forced to merge his changes independently of his own skills set (junior members who still don't share the whole project vision are integrating potentially critical code on the main branch themselves).
As soon as the term "multi-site" or "distributed" is introduced into the conversation, the views that most of the people get are the following: initially the multi-site scenario, in which sites collaborate together through their own site servers that capture all changes and exchange them with the central one. It's a very common scenario and it's especially suitable for the corporate environments.
The second option, which sometimes turns on all the alarms on the corporate teams is the "fully distributed" scenario, which is most of the time perceived as a chaotic one (despite of the overwhelming success it has on open source projects, but remember the mindset, motivation and willingness on such projects are sometimes radically different from what you get on companies). The figure depicts a hierarchically distributed system that is hiding some of the potential complexity since the nodes could technically exchange commits and branches between them, too (but if the scenario is already too much for some organizations, displaying the full number of arrows will only make it worse :-P).
Why do companies tend to stay on the centralization lock-in? Simply check the following diagram: centralized is perceived as order, while distributed is perceived as chaos. Using a single central server can be associated with having all the valuable assets under a safe, properly protected, backed up, controlled, secured.
But, having each developer (the extreme case) manage his own repository copy seems to be like losing control over the valuable codebases. Who's in charge? Too many points of failure, maybe?
Communication paths also help understanding the concern: it's very easy to understand that on a centralized server setup there are as many communication channels as clients, period. Each client connects to the server and that's all. But if each client is running its own repository… then the number of communication channels grows exponentially, and we're all aware, thanks to the Mythical Man Month book that complexity only raises when communication channels do it!!!
Let's take back control?
Each site is willing to escape from the central control and have enough freedom to run their own servers and hence remove frustration from developers who have to wait for the network link to complete operations. It can boost productivity simply by removing a painful activity.
But central operations refuse to do so because then control will be lost. Having replicated repositories will increase the chances of people doing concurrent modifications on the same codebase, right? And all difficult to control… Good! It sounds crazy!
(Note: think about it — you won't actually have more conflicts than what find on a central branch with all developers working on it at the same time, but entering the distributed variable obviously makes the whole equation harder to grasp at first sight.)
So, there's a horrible solution introduced by centralized control freaks: "hey, let's introduce back locking checkouts so that while site B is modifying something, the other sites are prevented to make modifications hence returning back linear development to the picture". .Sound familiar? It does for me… unfortunately!
Locking changes, preventing others to evolve is one of the worst ideas to overcome in the SCM arena. Introducing it back on distributed scenarios only cuts the benefits we tried to introduce with the whole model: what if a site goes down while it holds a lock? What will happen to the other sites? Will they get stopped?
Remember the current paradigm is to embrace change not to preclude change, so the solution lies on parallel development and not on making it linear again. Simplifying the problem is the solution, not making it even more complicated.
Parallel development to the rescue
Let's take another look at how your current repository is evolving since it will greatly help understanding how to arrange the distributed set up.
This is how changes are getting introduced on your main branch using serial development. Every commit is a new chance to break the build, developers don't get real isolation and changes come from all around… continuously. Yes, under these circumstances multiplying it by several remote sites easily becomes a real nightmare.
But, isn't there a better way?
Yes, there must be a better way. Using a single branch for committing changes (ok, or one per release) is the technology everyone was using in the nineties. Remember the nineties? Visual Basic 3 was used then. Do you still use the same techniques and tools for everything else? I bet you don't!
Isn't there a better way to handle changes? A better unit of change? Yes, it does exist and you've been using it during your entire career: branches.
- Branches? - I hear you say.
- Yes, branches. Ok, call then streams if you want to sound cool, but yes, branches. Stop using branches for only one purpose, use them for everything!
- But, hey, aren't branches supposed to be evil?
- Yes, as evil as go-to sentences to handle exit conditions before they become try/catch blocks. (Ok, now I'm joking but you get the point).
So, have you heard of topic branches? I still prefer to call them task branches but topic branches are a good name too.
A topic branch is a branch you use to contain a group of tightly related changes you make to complete a bug fix, a new feature, an experiment or an optimization… whatever change you're working on. They're short-lived and they'll be merged back to its parent quite soon (remember whatever good practice you're using, it will end up telling you a task shouldn't last longer than a couple of days if you want to keep it under control and preserve visibility. This is what SCRUM says about the tasks you create while decomposing user stories so, yes, a task is mapped to a branch!!).
Why use branches instead of changesets as a unit of change? Well, because one changeset is on set of changes, one commit, but you can (and you'll do) make more than one change on a file in order to finish a modification, maybe because you want to try something, check if it works, keep the result and iterate again until finished. Each of these intermediate checkpoints can be stored on a branch, in fact must be stored on a branch helping the whole thing to get self-documented and easier to understand while reviewing.
How does it look like? Check the next figure. It will sound very familiar but just a little bit more structured than before.
And, as a programmer, I'm sure you'll appreciate structure.
Now, changes come to the trunk on a more controlled, organized and hierarchical way. There's a chance to keep your mainline pristine, to avoid breaking the builds, to review your code before it hits the main-line (and still getting it shared among all the teams), to use your version control as a tool and not just as a delivery mechanism (you can now have intermediate commits, as many as you want to). Basically it's just a new approach.
Jump back to the distributed world
Well, now look back at the previous situation but redrawn on the figure below. What if the branches with the blue border came from a remote site instead of the local one? Will it greatly change the picture? You could still have your integrator merging them all on-site. You could still peer-review or formally inspect all changes, you could still run tests on every branch before merging back, and you could still run your entire test suite after finishing a release on the trunk branch.
Sound easy, doesn't it? Exactly the same picture, not having to worry where changes come from since you can get the full story of each of them, prevent broken builds, take care of every single step, but yet doing it in a distributed manner.
This is why the centralized lock must be broken. You can have remote teams working on topic branches all day, having some roaming developers ironing out an important optimization on the customer site and your rock-star programmer on parental leave contributing some great code while working at home, and none of them will be blocked by each other, and still all changes will come back under control of your central site in an organized way.
One possible pattern is to keep master branches are clones and then perform the entire integration at one of the sites. This way the distributed conflict nightmare introduced above gests automatically removed.
Of course in order to overload the master team with the entire merge burden, integration branches could be created (if needed) at each site. And still dealing with concurrent changes on trunk is entirely possible with most modern SCM tools, avoiding extra complexity when the underlying mechanism is correctly understood.