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Cotswold, England
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Idyllic Water Side, Cotswold, England Vacation Rental
Idyllic Water Side is an exceptionally spacious (270 square meters), 4 bedroom detached house, offering full concierge facilities, (available at extra cost - hire a private jet or arrive via helicopter at the on-site helipad or book a chef offering a master class in home cooked meals bespoke to you). The lodge is built on a private, stylish, boutique, luxury development, The Lakes by Yoo
With 5 Lakes on this exclusive second home development and currently only 40 properties, occupied mainly at weekends, this remarkably secluded, tranquil nature reserve offers a truly memorable experience.
This brand new property offers an idyllic waterside location set in 650 acres of nature heaven, surrounded by six clear water lakes and established woodland.
This stunning contemporary detached eco property in this truly private community is a superb masterpiece created by a world renowned designer in partnership with an international design group - it makes the most of its location with full height south-west facing panoramic double glazing affording uninterrupted views from the edge of the lake. This is guaranteed to wow the fussiest and even the most enthusiastic luxury seekers.
Enjoy the warmth of real fire in the winter months and cool off with the air-conditioning in the summer.
Minimalistic but stylish eco lakeside living combines the tranquillity of the beautiful Cotswold countryside with the very best of contemporary design in a truly remarkable location offering timeless elegance to those seeking dazzling lake views, with privacy, to indulge their senses.
"Amazing", "exquisite", "simply elegant" are the words that describe Island Lodge, an oasis of luxury – built on quite simply one of the most magnificent 2nd home developments in the UK, offering luxury living of the highest quality.
The interior decoration and views are out of this world. Located within a quiet and tranquil setting, this unique lodge combines 21st century architectural lines with all the modern luxuries expected from the most discerning of today's home owners.
This lodge provides a unique fusion of contemporary and traditional styles, furnishings and fittings.
Relax by the serene waters of this large lake and indulge in the magnificent uninterrupted views from this 16 meters south west facing, secluded decking.
Sit peacefully by the serene waters from your very own veranda (16 meters long) and enjoy some alfresco dining.
Launch a boat from the sandy beach and glide across the clear waters teeming with trout and crayfish, explore the collection of lakes shared by the resident otters and bank-side deer. Or venture into the wooded 650 acres on foot or bike.
Check in 4PM
Check out 10AM
No Smoking Inside
No Pets
Children Welcome
No Parties Allowed
500 Refundable Security Deposit
Prices include Exit Cleaning
10% Service Fee
Includes Linens, Towels
Min 3 night break
Change over day flexible
50% down to book home
Price List
Season Rates Weekly | Rates Monthly
Peak £4,000 Inquire
All of July, all of August,
the first week of September,
Xmas and New Year (week-stays
only during this time)
High £4,000 Inquire
Easter holidays and May half term
(week stays only)
Mid £2,500 Inquire
April, Feb half term (week stay only)
and October half term (week stay only),
May, June, September
Low £1,500 Inquire
(January, February (excluding half term)
March, October (exec half term)
November, December)
Bank Holidays £1,600 Inquire
May Bank Holidays
October 22 – 29
February 12 - 19
**All starting rates are low season rates. Rates are now quoted based on occupancy and use. Please call or inquire for individual group rates.**
Quick Links
Property Highlights
Gym, Sauna, DVD player
Shared indoor and outdoor pool (heated)
Central heating
TV, Video player, CD player
Kettle, Toaster, Iron, Hair dryer
Microwave, Fridge, Freezer
Washing machine
Telephone line


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January 04, 2001, 1:29 PM — IF YOU'VE BEEN watching the stock market roller coaster and listening to the gloomy predictions about dot-coms, you may think that things are looking bleak for those of us in the IT profession. You may think that companies will begin to rein in IT spending, and that budgets will shrink.
Despite some less-than-stellar indicators, I believe the opposite is true, and so do many of the people who made it down to Orlando, Fla., last week to the Gartner Symposium/ ITxpo.
Much of the conference centered around how further investments in IT will allow companies to exploit the strong economy we continue to experience.
Follow the money
We know that until recently, IT investments were largely made to improve productivity in post-sale, back-office operations. In short, IT investments were used to automate routine processes and were typically implemented as a cost-saving measure. But e-business is dramatically changing the way businesses operate, and the investment needed to make this happen isn't small. E-procurement, e-recruiting, and other e-enabled processes are not just about improving efficiency. Rather, such processes are about improving the effectiveness and, dare I say, innovation within our companies.
One of my colleagues, Kurt Potter, says that as a result of e-business IT spending as a percentage of revenue will exceed 10 percent by 2005, as two-thirds of large companies funnel funds away from ERP (enterprise resource planning) and into e-business. Overall, e-business initiatives will consume between 30 percent to 50 percent of enterprise IT spending, according to Potter.
The message that "IT spending will increase and it will be permanent" is a difficult one to deliver to CEOs and CFOs, and it's often rejected. Already, IT spending in many companies has surpassed what the companies spend on real estate, human resources, and other infrastructure services, a fact that raises red flags in the eyes of top leaders. The common reaction of CEOs and CFOs when faced with rising IT costs is that IT is inefficient. "Why does it cost us too much to run IT?" is a litany I hear all the time.
Your CEO may wish to ponder the following Gartner predictions.
* More than 50 percent of each new IT investment dollar will serve business processes outside of the back office, especially the most critical revenue-generating processes.
* More than 50 percent of each new IT investment dollar will serve business processes outside of a client's enterprise, especially revenue-generating business-to-business processes.

subset: commoncrawl


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instead of studying for linear algebra, i finally just finished all my christmas light lanterns yay!
ok so last night im talking to this guy and hes like oh so what do you like to do for fun besides school? and im like origami!! so we talked about how coool my origami is for like half an hour and then hes like so what else do you like to do? and im just like …………………………. origami


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Some items of interest after watching former Georgia safety Will Muschamp's introductory news conference tonight as head coach at Florida that was streamed on the Internet:
–Muschamp said he plans to run a pro-style attack offensively and defensively. He said he would hire an experienced play-caller with a background in college and pro football.
–Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley called Muschamp a "perfect fit." He was just what Foley was looking for in a "relentless recruiter."
Muschamp said he went recruiting Monday. "We got a great reception."
He called the recruiting base in Florida "phenomenal."
"The first thing we need to do in recruiting is take care of our backyard," he said. He also said "we're going to take the right players."
Since he was hired on Saturday, he said, "I've had a cell phone growing out of my ear the past three days talking to recruits."
–He was asked about playing for Georgia, working for Nick Saban and sharing a house in Florida with now Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher.
"I suffered some temporary insanity," he joked.
–He walked on at Georgia after he visited Florida and was left waiting around for a coach to meet with him. "It's a little cheaper to go to Georgia than it is for Florida," said Muschamp, who lived in Gainesville for 10 years but went to Darlington High School in Rome, Ga.
Of playing against Florida, Muschamp said "I wasn't very successful against the Gators I can tell you that. I helped (Chris) Doering and all those guys set records."
Muschamp went 0-4 against Florida when he played for Georgia from 1991-94.
–Foley lauded not only athletic director Jeremy Foley but school president Bernie Machen. "The most impressive thing to me about Florida was the administration," he said.
–While Georgia will have a new strength coach in Joe Tereshinski, Muschamp said he's retaining Urban Meyer's strength coach, Mickey Mariotti.
"Mickey is going to stay on and be a Gator," he said.
–Tim Tebow called him the night he took the job. Muschamp phoned Meyer while Foley visited him in Texas.
–Muschamp said he wants his team to be known as a "blue-collar, overachieving unit," but promised that it "will be a physically tough football team."
–His first head coaching job is at a program that won three national titles since 1996 including championships in 2006 and 2008. "We're not on a five year plan here," he said.
–Please follow me at Twitter.com/marcweiszer


text:
Red Ball 4: Volume 2
Skip ad and play the game >>
Red Ball 4: Volume 2
Control : movement - arrow keys
This popular game is back and you will have to help the red ball save its friends. The bad cube is trying to change them into cubes. You must not let this happen so you start a dangerous adventure.
Categories :
Jumping Games,
Skill Games,
Rescue Games
Platform : Flash
Plays : 10538x
Added : May 3rd, 2013


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The 2014 Ryder Cup got started on Tuesday with blustery skies and a full day of practice for the U.S. and European squads.
The Chicago Blackhawks will hit someone other than their own when they face off against the Detroit Red Wings in the first exhibition game of the season Tuesday night at the United Center.
Patrick Sharp talks preseason and stitches.
NFL, NFL Players Association leaders to meet soon to discuss Ray Rice situation, other issues
Multiple reports claim he intentionally attempted to run them off the road
In general, Notr
Linebacker James Harrison is back in uniform with the Pittsburgh Steelers, ending a brief retirement that lasted less than a month after a meeting with team officials Tuesday.
Chicago Tribune sports columnist Steve Rosenbloom breaks down the Bears' 27-19 victory over the Jets.
It'll take Derek Jeter two innings of work to pay taxes that may be due on gifts the retiring New York Yankees' captain received during his farewell tour.
San Diego Chargers inside linebacker Manti Te'o reportedly will miss multiple games with a foot fracture.
Other than Jay Cutler, which player stood out most in Bears' win over Jets? Cast your vote in the poll.
Monday night's breakdown.
Bryan Bickell's life-changing moment came a month ago when his baby daughter arrived on the scene.
DETROIT — Two years ago, Avisail Garcia spent his fall helping the Tigers reach the World Series.
After missing nine weeks with a right hamstring tear and getting traded despite his distinction as the Athletics' top prospect, Addison Russell believes he's ready for anything the Cubs may throw at him.
All the action from MetLife Stadium.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It seems like ages ago that Martellus Bennett boiled over and slammed cornerback Kyle Fuller to the ground during a training camp practice. When Bennett was suspended Aug. 5 for what ended up being five days, his act had turned stale.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Bears left tackle Jermon Bushrod had his hands full trying to prevent Jets linebacker Jason Babin from enveloping Jay Cutler. Across the way, right tackle Jordan Mills was in a similar tussle with Calvin Pace.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- A week after he caused 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to be hit with a penalty for using inappropriate language, Lamarr Houston was flagged for the same violation Monday night.
The Chicago Cubs are in the midst of exit interviews with players, but left-hander Travis Wood gave an accurate and blunt assessment of his 2014 season following an 8-0 loss Monday night to the St. Louis Cardinals.
All the action from Wrigley Field.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Ryan Mundy's 45-yard interception return for a touchdown in the first quarter padded one of the Bears' finest statistical accomplishments in recent history.
Quarterback Jay Cutler threw two touchdowns to Martellus Bennett and the Bears (2-1) held on for a 27-19 over the Jets on Monday night.
DETROIT – Chris Bassitt's assignment Monday night was not easy, even for a starting pitcher who had more than 17 major league innings under his belt.
All the action from Comerica Park.
Left-hander Travis Wood was tagged for five hits during the Cardinals' four-run fourth, and Adam Wainwright got his 20th victory with seven innings of three-hit ball.
White Sox right-hander Chris Bassitt pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings on the way to a 2-0 victory over the Tigers on Monday night at Comerica Park.
The Chicago Blackhakws have new guidelines for the "Shoot the Puck" segment between periods of games at the United Center.
Ravens owner answers questions from reporters during 49-minute session
The use of advanced statistics in the NHL has exploded in recent years and during the summer several teams hired analysts who specialize in crunching the numbers.
Even with the Bears facing the Jets on "Monday Night Football," fans flocked to the United Center for the Blackhawks' training camp festival.
The road has been kind to Northern Illinois over the last few years, so the Huskies are determined to transform Saturday night's 52-14 blowout loss at Arkansas into a positive.
The stats are horrifying, and they reflect what Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has seen on film.
Illinois has been in this position. The Illini were 3-1 entering Big Ten play last season, with the lone blemish a loss to Washington.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville on injuries before Monday's scrimmage.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Chicago Bears receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery will start, as expected, against the New York Jets on Monday night.
USA Swimming inadvertently helped put Katie Ledecky's remarkable achievements in perspective last week by announcing the qualifying time standards for the 2016 Olympic Trials.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—The Chicago Bears continued to turn over the bottom part of their roster Monday afternoon before kickoff with the New York Jets, this time a sign wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery are healed up.
Rookie right fielder Jorge Soler will return Monday night to the Chicago Cubs' lineup as they try to prevent St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright from earning his 20th victory at brisk Wrigley Field.
The Bulls brought their roster to 14 on Monday by re-signing backup big man Nazr Mohammed.
Alex Henery signed with the Detroit Lions on Monday, and struggling rookie place-kicker Nate Freese was waived.
Only in basketball terms can a 6-foot-6 teenager be considered undersized, but it hasn't held back Ed Morrow.
Jimbo Fisher hopes that Jameis Winston's suspension against Clemson will be a turning point in the quarterback's maturation process.
Dolphins coach is basically sticking to his policy on answering questions
Efforts to speed up the pace of play in Major League Baseball have intensified as Commissioner Bud Selig has challenged a new committee to find ways to shorten the average time of a game.


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OWENSBORO, Ky. - Antoinette L. Watkins, 96, of Owensboro, KY passed away at home on Tuesday June 18th. 2013. She was born on January 10th 1917, in Owensboro to the late Nick and Bertha Goetz.
In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her spouse, LeRoy S. Watkins on January 27, 1997; six brothers, Martin, Albert, John, Thomas, Norbert, and Richard Goetz; and two sisters, Marie Allen and Bettye McEuen.
Antoinette was a hard working woman of many talents. She was a homemaker, who loved cooking, gardening, reading, sewing and needlework. She was also part of the family business at Watkins nursery and assisted with the day to day operations.
She is survived by three sons, Robert (Sandy), Don (Shirley), and Bruce (Jeannie)Watkins and two daughters, Linda and Jean (Bob) Patterson; thirteen grandchildren; thirteen great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Anneliese Goetz; and 24 nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be held from 11:00 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. at Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory on Friday June 21st. The funeral mass will be conducted at 12:05 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes with burial to follow at Owensboro Memorial Gardens.
Memorial contributions may take the form of donations to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
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Los Angeles, CAUSA 90001
January 11, 2011
Sorry I don't know much about it. I used to live in Hawaii and I enjoy watching the surfers surf. I also enjoy photography. But I am no pro yet :)
No answer yet
No answer yet
No answer yet
Hello Leilani, I'm in the final stages of filming a horror short and am looking for editorial help and/or some help with light special FX. I've got a great crew and we're getting some great shots down that we ultimately want to submit to festivals and obtain budget for a feature. Would you be interested in hearing more about this project to see if you would want to participate? If so you can contact me at [masked]. Sincerely, Mike Gavin, Los Angeles.
Welcome to our group Leilani,
Love your name!
We are so pleased that you will be joining us! We have an amazing group and we think you will feel right at home with everyone. Our next meeting will be sometime in June - it will be announced when we have a specific date. This time of year we are living in Michigan and try to fly back to do meetings with the group monthly. We look forward to meeting you Namaste, Mike and Ramona
Welcome Leilani ! Thanks for joining. There is a meeting on the 26th.
Wonderful Leilani :) Thank you for joining our Tai Chi group, we look forward to meeting you! May you have many wonderful days and restful nights ~ See you soon
Welcome to SAACC Leilani. Make the effort to get out and experience (hopefully) great works of Art. I know it's not always easy but it is always worth it. We look forward to meeting you in person. btw, tomorrow is a good one....
Hello, Ecstatic Self-Discovery, Rapport, Wisdom Through Real Tantra is about to close. If a few of us want we can form our own meetup with another tantra or meetup group. If interested greet me back to know you want to explore tantra more. Charles
Hello Lelani, A Beach BBQ/potluck meetup is on Saturday Nov 10. One 2-peson canoe, one 2-person kayak & setup 1-4 volleyball courts. Location is Admiralty & Via Marina, MdR. I'm inviting locals from Germany, France, Sweden, Asia & Canadians for fun mix. If you want map & parking info let me know? If you want to join alone or ask five or 10 people to join that's fine also. Some will paddle canoe/kayak some, others will play volleyball and others will talk more or play Frisbee some. Charles
Hi leilani, nice to hear about your interest in paranormal research. But it in equally good to incerase your positive energies when you go to places which has hi-negative energies. Indeed you have positive energies but increase it through proper forms of meditation . I have very good paranormanl experiences and cleared many a times. Any queries are welcome for info on meditation. Please mail alterative mail id for me to send valuable inforamtion. Wishes.
Leilani...we jam on thursday night...come join us!
Hello, welcome!
Meetup members, Log in
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What's Going to Save Zynga Now?
Gerelyn is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
When Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) ushered in former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick to take the helm and replace outgoing Chief Executive Mark Pincus, hopes ran high. There was new blood with Xbox running through his veins, and Zynga was looking ahead. After a botched partnership with social-media giant Facebook that left the free social-gaming company jilted, Zynga had a plan to turn things around and online casino gambling was part of that vision - until days ago.
In its second-quarter earnings report, Zynga dashed the hopes of a new revenue stream from real-money online gambling. It won't pursue an online casino license. The problem is that online gambling was supposed to be Zynga's chance at redemption. Without it, the future is even more bleak.
Where's the growth?
Now that Zynga has revealed that it won't pursue a future in the real-money gambling arena, where will growth stem from? Online gambling was looked to as a saving grace and a gateway to greater profits that would lift the stock out of the doldrums even as U.S. states begin opening the online markets to casinos and possibly other gaming businesses, like Zynga. But the online-gambling ship seems to have sailed, taking with it the promise of Zynga tapping into a market that's projected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue if not more each year.
Meanwhile, Zynga isn't abandoning its real-money gambling business in the United Kingdom, and through its partnership with local gambling company Bwin.party, continues to explore the opportunities. Nonetheless, Zynga made it clear that its focus is on its core business, including free social casinos, which means that nothing much has changed. If anything, things have worsened.
The number of monthly average users fell by almost 40% in one year to 187 million. So without a future in the online-casino market and the number of users falling off a cliff, where's the catalyst?
Meanwhile, sales in the forthcoming third quarter are expected to take a dip to a range of $175 million to $200 million, while on the bottom line Zynga is expected to report a net loss of between $43 million and $14 million. The value isn't there, at least right now, and it's not worth betting on for the time being.
Tale of two gamers
Investors are betting on a future turnaround, one that chief executive Mattrick says will take hold over the next three months. Or perhaps, with a market cap of approximately $2.4 billion and an enterprise value of about $1.5 billion, Zynga could become a takeover candidate.
It wouldn't be that much of a stretch, considering that International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) found value in social-gaming company Double Down Interactive and agreed to pay half-a-billion dollars for the company, and casino company Caesar's Entertainment acquired Playtika. But who would want Zynga with its user-base on the decline? Worse, International Game Technology's online poker game recently surpassed Zynga Poker as the top-grossing social casino game on Facebook, according to International Game Technology's recent earnings call.
Slot-machine maker International Game Technology wagered a lot of money but it seems to have made a good bet. In the third quarter, Double Down saw its daily active users climb 25% to 1.7 million coupled with a 60% increase in the revenue per user to $0.40 per day. What's more compelling is the explosive growth in mobile, where the number of mobile users increased by 40% over the previous quarter.
International Game Technology attributes 9% of its revenue increase, (to $579 million), to higher North American machine sales and social gaming. The company is benefiting from a replacement cycle, underway in the Canadian market, in addition to the heightened focus on casinos in light of the online-gambling renaissance. With a P/E of 16, and a recent 50% increase in its quarterly dividend, the stock seems to be a good deal at current levels.
International Game Technology competitor Bally Technologies (NYSE: BYI), the maker of the Cash Wizard Tiki Magic and Pawn Star machines, is growing via acquisition as well. Weeks ago, it announced its plans to acquire industry peer SHFL Entertainment in a $1.3 billion deal that will expand its product portfolio and also strengthen its position in Australia and Asia.
Based on the equity portion of the deal, Bally is paying some 16 times EBITDA, which is about double the industry average, according to a Bloomberg report. The addition is expected to be accretive to diluted earnings per share and free cash flow in the first year following the close of the deal.
Bally reports its financial results in mid-August. In its fiscal third quarter, the company generated a 28% increase in earnings while Shuffle Master had a record-breaking quarter where profits climbed 22%.
Next year, Bally expects to earn between $3.70 to $4.05 excluding the acquisition's impact. This compares to analyst estimates of about $3.84, according to Bloomberg. Now might be a good time to get in Bally's stock, despite its higher than industry average earnings multiple of 22.5. The deal can add between $0.30 to $0.40 in earnings by 2015, according to Sterne Agee and Leach analyst David Bain.
The gaming industry is an industry that's changing before investors' eyes, and that makes it a potentially rewarding place to be. After all, not all industries are on the cusp of such dramatic growth given the change in online gaming as Internet gambling becomes regulated. Of the three stocks, Zynga is clearly struggling, but you'd be making a good bet with International Game Technology or Bally.
It's incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out "Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?" in The Motley Fool's latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.
Gerelyn Terzo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


text:
Microsoft staff savage Ballmer at company confab
During Microsoft's annual full staff meeting, employees unmistakably expressed their displeasure about how the company is being run. Every year Redmond assembles the rank and file for a huge presentation about plans for the next 12 months, with senior management laying out current progress and future plans. According to comments …
Nothing most of us on the outside haven't already gathered. MS are in a bit of a tiz and need someone good to come in and give them a bloody good kick up the backside to get them motivated again. Get them back to their glory days when they knew how to make tech exciting.
( I'm a Linux fan and even I think it's sad to see the once great MS seem to have settled into a middle aged rut! )
"Knew how to make tech exiting"?
And this was when? When they came up with the Clippy or were planning to kill that non-MS invention called the Web with their very own project Blackbird?
To be honest they've hardly ever been very good at that. The only thing was they had managed to turn themselves into a monopoly and now they can't play those games anymore.
I dunno
Just some of the silly highlights I enjoyed from MS over the years....
The first time I used Excel in Windows 286 on a 286 machine after having used DOS Lotus 123.
Moving from WordPerfect 5.1 on DOS to Word 2.0.
Seeing Windows 3 in Russian Cyrillic fonts!
Using the Word 2.0 Hebrew edition, typing the other way around was bizarre.
The first time I used Windows98 beta, after Windows 3. Then later using WinXP for the first time.
Developing apps and utils at work in Visual Basic for Ms-DOS ( anyone remember that! ).
The first time I used a graphical email app.
The first time I played a WinG ( remember that? ) game and later DirectX games.
Using Access, a GUI based DB, after using the granted altogther better dBase III.
The fun of fighting to secure enough memory to run big software using various memory managers in DOS!
Just realized Steve Balmer reminds me of Kevin Malone of the US version of The Office.
Could they be one and the same?????
Developers, Developers, Developers.
.........don't forget (pun intended) working out the difference between EXPANDED memory and EXTENDED memory.
MS glory days
When were they, please remind me? Only MS Altair BASIC was something never eclipsed by competing products IMO. MS-DOS had competition from DR, and it's not for MS-DOS itself but for all the great DOS games that we remember that era. NT was OK (up to and including 3.51), but it's API is a kludge. W95/NT4.0 were just adequate. Thanks to MS Office we now have OpenOffice and that's all that's good about MS.
That company is an unmitigated menace to numerous smaller competitors. MS falling into a middle-aged rut is a GOOD thing. Might give some breathing room to new upstarts and startups.
On that tack:
developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers,
developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers,
developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers,
developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers,
moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun,
moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun,
moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun,
moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun,
moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun, moh-ti-vayshun,
RE: "Knew how to...
Actually Project Blackbird was aimed at Hollywood/studios/etc, the entire MAFRIAA parasite network, to provide them a closed-source, controlled content delivery network.
IMO they tried to preempt the inevitable arrival of dynamic web pages etc, see details here: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/drg/Multimedia/Blackbird/BBFAQ.htm
Yes, it's still up there though you better save it as it will be taken down very soon now, after this post. :)
You can't really blame them... Gates vs. Ballmer - no contest and MS has truly lost its way (that said, MS Office still dominates).
Will the same happen at Apple ?
To be fair
Monkey has lots of evidence on you tube for being a jackass
Tim Cook has none of which I'm aware.
The same did happen at Apple. Then they brought Steve Jobs back in. Yeah, Microsoft do seem to be in a rut. They have stopped innovating and started imitating, and it could be a downward spiral unless someone with a huge amount of vision comes in and takes the reins. Actually that's not fair, they do innovate, just not in the mainstream consumer market where it can be seen by all. That's what Jobs had, and still has (health not withstanding), the ability to see what people don't yet know they want or knew was missing. Microsoft is big enough to be brimming over with ideas from young staffers with vision, but none of it seems to be filtering to the top.
Windows 8 is a good example, I have it running on an Atom powered slate and it is good (for a preview release) and will do Microsoft proud in the market. However it is going to be 2 years too late by the time it is released, and lord knows what Apple will have the iPad doing by that time.
So come on Microsoft, invent, innovate and give us cool stuff again, because if you don't, the alternative is Apple, and in a recession, that's the last thing we need.
Already happening
Ask the patent lawyers.
it already has in the 80s when Jobs left the first time - remember Scully, whatever became of him?
Almost right
"Actually that's not fair, they do innovate, just not in the mainstream consumer market where it can be seen by all." - True in their core business, but nobody can say the Kinect isn't the consumer market and you could almost argue it's mainstream.
Microsoft seem to turn up in all kinds of places which imply they are considerably more astute than they appear to be. There is definitely some brains in the outfit, and they definitely use their size to try and be in the right place at the right time.
The problem they have isn't in their company, it's in the dominant image they have created for their main product: Windows. Apple are blatently leading the way, and Microsoft are playing catch up. I think they employees have the right to be frustrated, but I also don't think this is SteveB's fault. They've been caught out by a company which continues to play its advantage.
Microsoft need to regain the mindshare behind Windows, and they probably will need to do some serious innovation to do this. The problem is, a company can buy 99% inspiration, but all the money in the world can't buy the final 1%.
Microsoft never really did that much innovating in the first place. But yeah, it's what happens when a successful company is taken over slowly from the inside by the stuffed-suit MBAs. It's killed nearly every tech company that's gone down that path (for a broad definition of 'tech', in that a lot of manufacturing and engineering firms have suffered the same fate).
One "word" (or sort of) on MS Office still dominates
the comparison with Apple is bogus...
MS is a software company that has so far been about getting Windows OS everywhere (with Office, the killer app, in tow). But the world is shifting rapidly towards consumer electronics in place of PCs, the web and clouds above it supporting myriad different apps and sites. This goes for the enterprise as well as the home. There are powerful forces behind this transition including Google and every company who has come up against MS and lost out as a consequence.
Apple is a hardware company who make highly popular devices but who are also extremely adept at modifying their software platform to help flog these devices (witness the morphing of Mac OS X into iOS).
MS need to give up with the "Windows, windows, windows" mantra and realise that the world largely does not care about that any more - it is all about apps, sites and clouds (or will be once Google and their friends get their way). No-one cares about the platform any more as long as it enables them to access what they want. Android is a good example - it's a means to an end for Google and not the prize.
Whether or not MS have ever been innovators is really only flamebait; they are certainly not innovating now and are playing catch-up with so many different things that I'm not surprised to hear about the staffers' revolt.
I seriously doubt that Ballmer is the man to change their fortunes - they need someone intelligent who is an innovator and maker of things rather than a bombastic imbecile.
None of the big tech giants innovate really. That's not to say they don't come up with loads of new ideas and technology, it's just they won't take the gamble of developing an idea that isn't almost guaranteed to rake in a load of cash.
Microsoft has taken a few gambles recently, Kin phone (flop) and Windows Phone 7 (yet to meet sales expectations). So you can see the problem with trying to release something a bit too different.
Startup companies can get away with gambles because the development costs are lower and time to market faster. A big company has to spend a lot of time getting approval from management, sitting in meetings, marketing meetings, test strategies, websites, support websites, branding etc.
Big difference
This time it is Job's who selected his successor. Last time he was forced out after having all his power and influence removed.
"They have stopped innovating and started imitating"
Er....when DIDN'T they imitate? They bought DOS off another company for chump change and Windows was nothing more than a cheap ripoff of MacOS. Office, for all it's domination in the market, really doesn't offer anything more than any other office suite (except a fugly interface). Even the XBox isn't really all that innovative. It's just an underpowered PC dedicated to video games.
Correction, Windows and MacOS were ripoffs of Xerox R&D.
They have stopped innovating and started imitating
No, they have _always_ imitated, it is just that they made more noise about their copy than the originals had managed.
Altair BASIC (and all subsequent MS BASICs) was a copy of the DEC BASIC that BillG used while at Harvard (it is alleged that he managed to get hold of a copy of the assembler code of this).
MS-DOS was a function copy of CP/M.
Windows copied what was being done by Star, Apple, DRI's GEM and others.
Excel copied what was already done by VisiCalc (the original), SuperCalc, and others.
Many other products were bought in and rebranded, such as FrontPage, Publisher, Visual BASIC, MSC.
Even Kinnect is a licensed product (developed in Israel) with software by Rare in the UK.
I gotte get my eyes checked...
I read that sentence as "They have stopped innovating and started irritating"...to which I responded in the immortal words of David Byrne: "Same as it ever was..."
I had to run the Gem desktop for an OU module. What happened to that?
@Hampshire, re: Kinect
They didn't "innovate" the Kinect, that was done by an Israeli startup.
All MS did was open their prodigious wallet and purchase it.
history repeats
"Last time he [Jobs] was forced out after having all his power and influence removed"
Which as I recall was what Jobs did to Woz.
Gem and the OU
It went into the dressing up box along with the kipper ties, flares and nylon shirts.
did MS copied everything?
No. They didn't steal others' ideas, they paid for the privilege to use them [exclusively]. No one stopped Apple from purchasing Kinect, for example, probably they just weren't interested in the tech, or didn't have use for it or didn't offered enough money to PrimeSense. So what's the problem? All corporations do this, some (i mean Apple) better, than others (I mean MS).
"Windows was nothing more than a cheap ripoff of MacOS". Really? Then MacOS was expensive ripoff of Xerox Alto.
In fact, Apple licensed the GUI from Xerox and MS licensed it from Apple, so there's no quarrel. Everyone was free to develop their GUI shell as they liked. Xerox failed to commercialize Alto innovations. Apple succeeded. MS followed.
Speaking of jacks and asses... Lots of companies on the roadside
are the flotsam of companies that got JACKED-IN the ass. Either they treaded on or suckled too much from ms and got the crowbar or vinegar -- or both... or, they got steel jacks and rubber balls inserted wrong-way, and are not able to walk right-way...
Now, if his stage-flipping sub was Mini-Me or Herman, the crowd of 20k+ would have been really upbeat instead of beat up....
Altair BASIC copy of DEC?
You are certainly wrong. With all of my disrespect towards MS I have to admit that Altair BASIC was a good job by BillG. He wrote cross-assembler (from PDP-10 to 8080) and 8080 emulator that ran on PDP-10. The Altair BASIC itself allowed two letter variable names, multiple statements per line (colon separated), it had interactive interpreter (like python and Tcl have today) etc.
MS Office still dominates?
Yes it does. Office 2003. Or maybe 2007. 2010? Not so much. MS don't get revenue out of old software continuing to run. And Office 2012 is going to have yet another different UI. Smart.
"SteveB did one of the smartest things I've ever seen him do as CEO today: He delegated responsibility by paying someone else to jump around like an asshole during his entrance instead of doing it all by himself," said a poster. "Now if only he'd do the same with his regular day job."
Now that did make me laugh!
I think one of the main reasons is that Bill Gates lived the "technical era" whereas Ballmer has always been focused with the business side of the company. At least that's how I picked it up.
And yes; even though he lived it I too think that Gates wasn't the brilliant minded guy as many proclaim him to be, which has been proven several times when employees or friends looked at some of his work (the famous VB program for example) and basically burned it down the ground without knowing that it was Gates' doing.
But despite all that you cannot deny the fact that he has lived and experienced it. Starting out with hardly anything but a couple of good ideas and knowing how to present these.
And I think that has helped a lot, but is also something Ballmer seems to lack. I dunno, but I somehow doubt that Metro would have been released under the dictatorship, errrr, leadership of Gates.
Just my 2 cents though
time to be bold
If you look at the history of the computer industry, Microsoft should be toast by now. Ten years ago they we seriously wrong footed by wave after wave of innovation (internet, web, Java), and their core OS was shown to be badly exposed to DDoS, worms and viruses (thanks in no small part to DCE RPC ported from Unix).
BillG took brave decision after brave decision to buckle down to the "Trustworth Computing Initiative".. the fact that we're still using Windows is down to the trench-warfare to defend the bastion.
With Office-10 Win7, Server-2008R2, Hyper-V, SQL/Server and the rest, Microsoft is now at a point where it can get back to innovation, but that requires bold leadership and serious engagement with Open-Source philosophy.. one way to do that is to open source (like F#) .NET because (given the choice) most people would still implement C# systems on Windows even if it was licenced for OSX, AIX, SunOS, Linux.. they've done it before with ROTOR (SSCLI).
Microsoft staff are right to be concerned: they've build trenches, but we've now entered the tank age.
'BillG took brave decision after brave decision to buckle down to the "Trustworth Computing Initiative".. the fact that we're still using Windows is down to the trench-warfare to defend the bastion.'
Not quite a brave decision, more of a business need. He ran a company that dominated the PC, as he had managed to get the OS installed on the disk *before* it was installed in the machine.
There were two main products that they marketed, the 'OS' and Office. (Win 3.11 wasn't technically an OS.) Plus, the market was growing very quickly and they cleverly used that momentum, exploiting their market share and making it hard for others to get in. When others tried -- remember DR DOS? -- and took MS to court, while they maybe won and got damages, MS and the market had moved on, so these were always pyrrhic victories.
I would say astute to see the business opportunity and work with what they had. (Embrace, extend, extinguish.) Now that the PC market has matured they are just another ordinary tech company.
Hey, wouldn't it be ironic if they were to get bought out by IBM? After all, who thought Sun would die?
"glory days when they knew how to make tech exciting."
When would that be?
Put to one side the likes of Kinect and Xbox.
In the Wintel world, what have they ever done that hasn't been more dependent on Microsoft's capabilities at dealmaking (or more recently, market bullying) rather than Microsoft's capabilities as a technology outfit?
Exhibit 1: DOS. Imported, not locally developed (see also MS vs STAC, etc).
Exhibit 2: NT. Imported, not locally developed.
Exhibit 3: OLE etc. Imported, not locally developed.
Counter-examples, please.
Microsoft's influence outside the certified Microsoft-dependent community is not what it was, and Ballmer is clearly not a dealmaker like Gates.
I'll let you have exhibit 1, but the other 2 are rubbish.
Yes, "Dave Cutler" was imported and the OS he created looked a lot like VMS, but if DEC had believed it was "imported" as-is, then they'd have sued Microsoft out of existence. Hiring people from other companies doesn't count as "importing" their previous work.
Similarly, OLE was an in-house effort as early as OLE 1 (being based on something produced by the Office team).
On the other hand, I don't suppose the general public ever thought that either were "exciting".
Back on the first hand, if you want proof that *some* people inside Microsoft still know how to program, consider this: closed (or lost) source crapware from many moons ago that had no right to ever have run in the first place *still* works in the current version of Windows. That's an exceedingly *un-exciting* feature of Windows that has ensured the upgrade fees continue to roll in year after year after year. Windows may *be* crap, but what matters for the vast majority of customers is whether it runs *their* crap.
Put to one side? Stupid logic.
*Why* put aside Kinect and the XBox? They were MS and they were exciting. You can't arbitrarily dismiss exciting tech products and then claim they make no such thing.
As for your three exhibits, all you have 'shown' is that they were imported. So what? The question was whether they make tech exciting not whether they develop it in-house.
Where did you learn logic? *Did* you learn logic?
It's worse than that, the innovation that has escaped from MSFT is all reactionary, desperate scrambling to stop others taking their customers. Biggest example: C# may be a better language than the steaming pile Java is but it exists only because MSFT tried and failed to subvert Java, it's the reaction to Java.
Microsoft copies their competition and reserves innovation as the icing on those copies.
MS Backward Compatiblity
I dunno, I still have some code I wrote for System III Unix that runs just fine today on the newest Linux boxes available. Of course, they must be recompiled...
The shell scripts and (later) perl scripts run w/out a recompile, as does nearly all the java code I still have.
OTOH, some of MS's own apps won't even install on modern versions of Windows (I'm thinking of my Office 97 suite, the last version which seemed worth the cost for my needs) and of course, when we got the first WIndows 7 boxes at home none of the 32 bit printer drivers for our existing printers worked any more....
I'd like to give MS credit where it's due for * attempting * backward compatibility, but I don't think it's quite the seamless continuum you describe, nor is it so exceptional.
OT3H, sure they have been innovative at times, and near as I can tell OLE is theirs. Another thing they've always done well is linking code from multiple programming languages, starting back in DOS days and continuing thru .NET.
DEC Settlement
> if DEC had believed it was "imported" as-is, then they'd have
> sued Microsoft out of existence.
"""Obviously, DEC weren't happy with the apparent similarity of Windows NT and their product, VMS. In fact, when DEC's engineers noticed the problem, and brought their concern to the senior management, suing Microsoft for intellectual property violation was a possibility. Instead, there was an out of court settlement with Microsoft."""
> *Why* put aside Kinect and the XBox? They were MS and they
> were exciting.
"""Kinect is based on range camera technology by Israeli developer PrimeSense."""
XBox is a PC optimed for games and is otherwise just another console as has been made by others for decades before it.
> linking code from multiple programming languages, starting back
> in DOS days
The original Microsoft languages:
Microsoft BASIC
Microsoft COBOL
Microsoft Pascal
No, these couldn't be linked together.
Microsoft C (bought from Lattice)
Visual BASIC (DOS)
Microsoft Quick Pascal
No, these couldn't either.
Re: PrimeSense and Xbox
So what?
Again, I repeat, the question was not whether they were developed in-house but whether they were exciting and from MS.
If you don't believe they were exciting that would be a different issue, but a brief look at news and tech reports from those periods would show the mainstream opinion did.
Buying shit to look cool.
"the question was not whether they were developed in-house but whether they were exciting"
So, all it takes is for MS to buy another persons invention and they suddenly become hip, exciting and cool?
Sort of like what you wintards accuse iBuyers of doing?
DOS, NT and OLE
I'd not call them "imported". DOS was licensed, ported to PC, then bought completely and extended greatly. NT was developed by Dave Cutler inside MS premises, not while he worked at DEC, so the only import was Dave himself (MS should better "import" Thompson, Ritchie or Kernighan IMO, but having had Xenix and euthanized it, those guys had to worry if MS did)
Kinect is based on
"Kinect is based on range camera technology by Israeli developer PrimeSense". So what? Most things are invented by human beings, not corporations (e.g. multi-touch technology), but some companies are able to recognize innovation when it falls down on them while others aren't.
One of the first programs I ever got paid to write was in Pascal (the only 3GL compiler I had for CP/M which supported a language I actually knew; yeah we're going back a ways). By the time the guy came back w/ requests for a version 2.0 I had learned C, and I distinctly remember building some libraries of Ccode and linking them into the Pascal program I had written him. 'may have been Borland though, now that I think about it, though I seem to remember evaluating the cost of the switching to MS specifically because of that capability.
I also remember (later) extending some RM Cobol code with database calls written in C, but that was Unix for sure, ergo not MS.
Memory: 2nd thing to go.
> the question was
The _actual_ question was, as is in the title of the article, whether Microsoft was being 'innovative' or imitative.
Buying in stuff, sticking your own name on it and generating 'excitement' through advertising is not being innovative.
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A toast for Juncker, Habermas and Bild Zeitung
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on June 30, 2014
The designation of the Spitzenkandidat calls for reflection amongst all those pundits, who were so sure it would never happen
"That's an hour and a half you'll never get back. NONE of these so-called 'candidates' will become the next Commission President", a friend lamented on May 15th reflecting the media sentiment at the time, when learning my excitement about the Eurovision presidential debate; that night outside the hemicycle at Brussels, in a moment the European public sphere found a form and a shape. Journalists encircled Ska Keller – she was the Green star of the evening and the winner of the debate – whilst Martin Schultz stood firm for the emerging democratic selection, if not election, process.
So the European public space, which many think is to remain an illusion, conceived itself.
Where does this leave the European media establishment, which decided to ignore the Spitzenkandidat process labelled irrelevant? How do they feel, all those pundits who systematically chose not to inform the public about the relative strength of the two biggest European parties – the EPP and the S&D – in the lead up to the vote?
The designation of Jean-Claude Juncker as the next Commission President has led some observers to question his democratic legitimacy on the grounds that most Europeans were unaware of the process; so rather than admitting their own failure to report on relevance, in what resembles a catch 22 chicken and egg line of argumentation, the whole process is blamed for failing to attract their attention.
Might one not ask for just a little more self-reflection? Even the most devoted intergovernmentalist observer would be well served to notice that the anti-Juncker narrative has completely lost its appeal in the EU's most populous nation and economic power house; read Mathias Döpfner (http://www.bild.de/news/standards/mathias-doepfner/juncker-muss-praesident-werden-36187236.bild.html), listen to Jürgen Habermas (http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/juergen-habermas-im-gespraech-europa-wird-direkt-ins-herz-getroffen-12963798.html), forget about The Times of London, its praise for Cameron and call for 'Splendid Isolation' (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/leaders/article4132572.ece).
Yes, only in Germany did a significant portion of the electorate consider the difference between left and right wing policies at the top of the EU's executive. Yet thanks to Habermas and Bild Zeitung (might one anticipate a broader marriage of minds?), such a new level of European democratic reflection is being recognised. It has escaped the bottle of the pundits; sooner rather than later, they might be well placed to acknowledge this new fact to regain relevance.
Might Verhofstadt look left?
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on May 23, 2014
The Liberals have lot to win backing a Social Democrat Commission President
Two days before Sunday's elections, Europe's conservatives in the EPP are heading for a major defeat; yet whilst set to lose more seats than any other group, the EPP is likely to remain the single biggest political force in the next Parliament. On the left, the Social Democrats in the S&D head for gains, but remain unlikely to win enough seats to out-seize the EPP. Whilst far-left and far right groups increase their numbers on the fringes of the political spectrum, where does this leave Europe's Liberals at the centre in the ALDE group?
A clear win by the EPP or the S&D – similar to past victories by the EPP five years ago, and historically the S&D prior to the Eastern enlargement in 2004 – would translate the new Lisbon provisions on the designation of the next Commission President into a British style two party system. Yet, the current weakness of the Parliament's two biggest groups might take the EU's emerging party democracy in a somewhat different direction – that of German style coalition politics.
In Berlin, Ms. Merkel is Chancellor although she faces a red majority in the German Bundestag. The political left – Die Linke – is considered out of the mainstream, and its MPs excluded from the political consensus that establishes the Government's parliamentary power base.
In Brussels, far-right and far left parties are heading for a similar exclusion, essentially leaving the vote on the next Commission President in the hands of MEPs from five groups – the Conservative reformists in the ECR and the EPP on the right, the S&D and the Greens on the left, and ALDE in the middle.
According to the latest PoolWatch opinion pool, the ECR and EPP jointly hold 259 seats, whilst the S&D and the Greens are predicted to take 245. Hence ALDE's expected 59 MEPs might prove decisive.
So which way is Verhofstadt set to cast the Liberal vote?
In the public mind, Liberal support for the EPP's Juncker as Commission president would strengthen the link between European elections and the Brussels executive, and it would cement the Spitzenkandidat process. On stage in the Eurovision debate at the Parliament last week, Verhofstadt forcefully backed this experiment in European democracy. Yet, establishing a precedent for the Commission President to always represent the biggest-party is hardly in the interest of the Liberals – Parliament's third largest group.
Instead, might Verhofstadt look left? At the risk of internal friction within ALDE, which is divided between left leaning Liberal Democrats from the UK and German right leaning Free Democrats, the case for liberal support for a Social Democrat Commission President – Schultz or a compromise Council alternative – seems convincing.
Indeed, on the economy Verhofstadt has challenged Juncker's business as usual austerity policies, and on social issues, ALDE traditionally votes with the left. Moreover, having failed to secure a first-party position, the Social Democrats might be willing to pay a higher price for Liberal support than the EPP, possibly propelling Verhofstadt to the 12th floor in the Parliament – the seat of its president.
Invisible, the big party drama at the centre of EU politics
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on March 26, 2014
With the Social Democrats (S&D) and the conservatives (EPP) neck-and-neck in ever more refined EU wide opinion pools, the lead up to the European elections has never been more exciting. It's down to one seat whether the next Commission president is Social Democrat or Conservative.
214-213; Europe's Social Democrats retain a one seat lead over the EPP in the latest EU wide opinion pool from Poll Watch / Burson-Marsteller; the Liberals regain third position with 66 ALDE MEPs.
Whilst national media across the EU focus on the rise of Euro-sceptic and extreme right and left wing parties in countries such as the UK, France and Greece, the real drama in May's elections takes place largely unnoticed at the very centre of European politics.
To the surprise of many observers, Europe's conservatives in the EPP appear to be heading for a major electoral defeat, down from the 274 seats the EPP holds in the current chamber, whilst the Social Democrats, having suffered a historic defeat five years ago when the S&D group got only 174 seats, are set to regain the position as the largest political group in the European Parliament.
Yet the excitement of this ongoing battle for the EU's political centre and the post as the next Commission President is rarely shared with the European public; in the national media, to the extent that there is any coverage at all of the first time presidential election, articles focus on the uncertainty that is associated with the candidacies of the German Social Democrat Martin Schultz, the Luxemburg Conservative Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Belgian Liberal Guy Verhofstadt.
Indeed, under the Lisbon Treaty, it is for the European Council to propose a candidate for Commission President, taking into account the outcome of the European vote.
In Parliament's interpretation of the Treaty, EU leaders should choose amongst the designated candidates; yet the Treaty makes no reference to such party designations. So the press is right is questioning the likelihood that any of the candidates will make it to the top post.
However, the often reported assumption that the Council will then be free to pick and choose whoever it sees best placed for the job also seems highly unlikely.
Instead, here is a prediction of what might happen following the elections: If the S&D retains its lead on Election Day, the Social Democrats will call for Schultz to be appointed. However, a country eager to challenge the Parliament and show sovereignty – one such candidate being the UK – will veto Schultz deemed too federalist.
In the national press, this might than be interpreted as the Council throwing in its weight and setting things straight, designating an alternative candidate of its own choosing.
Yet imagine the constitutional crisis that would prevail were the Council subsequently to designate a conservative candidate for Commission president in the face of the S&D regaining its position as the strongest political force in the Parliament. Clearly such a decision would not respect the Treaty's provision to take account of the election result, and it would be highly unlikely that the European Parliament wold vote to approve such a candidate.
Conversely, were the EPP to become the biggest party in the next Parliament, and a Member State on similar grounds vetoed Jean-Claude Juncker, it would be next to impossible to imagine the Council coming out in favour of a Social Democrat alternative.
Hence the fate of the shadow candidates who are frequently mentioned as jokers in the presidential power play, such as Danish Social Democrat Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Irish Conservative Prime Minister Enda Kenny, amongst others, comes down to the narrow struggle between the S&D and the EPP about the position as the biggest party in the new Chamber.
Now, this struggle is truly exciting to follow, and a hundred times more relevant than the usual reporting on the growth of euro-scepticism and radicalism across the continent.
At the end of the day, even a protest vote sending 180 or so radical MEPs to Brussels will not fundamentally change power politics at the European political centre, but one or two MEPs more or less for the EPP and the S&D stand to determine the political colour of the next Commission President.
Consider rationality
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on February 16, 2014
Consider rationality, and consider four statements: Anthropogenic climate change is real, because most scientists find evidence in support; GMO foods are harmless, because most scientists agree that GM technology is just a more advanced method of plant breeding; migration to Europe is needed, because of demographics and falling birth rates; and animals do not care if they are bread up for food or fur production – or indeed, like Marius the giraffe, fed to the lions at Copenhagen zoo.
Why are these controversial views?
In Europe, mainstream political ideologies from socialism to liberalism stand on the shoulders of the enlightenment; they are inherently rational and humanist with a belief in progress and a rejection of ethic, religious or social dogma. Yet political ideologies are in decline.
For decades the number of party members has fallen, and alongside increased political apathy, Europe has seen a rise in swing voters, in political theatre and ad hoc mobilization within single issue movements; rather than the relative eminence of ideas, trust has emerged as kingmaker in politics; perceptions and feelings have become more important than facts.
In political science, this development is reflected and described by constructivist theories, which have grown in importance and relevance since the 1960s, replacing the previous dominance of political realism. One of these newer schools – the Copenhagen school – sees a process of 'securitization' and 'politization' whereby a dominant actor – that is often a party leader or a minister – through a speech act convinces the majority of the need to embrace or reject a concept or action; crucially, the relevance of the act is defined in terms of its subsequent acceptance amongst the public rather than on the basis of factual necessity.
So today political rationality is on life support amongst technicians and bureaurocrats outside the political and media sphere; yet from time to time and especially in a time of crisis, reality strikes back, often taking the form of a 'political necessity' or specialist politics within technical regulations or standards. In the EU, the Commission services have emerged as a bastion of political rationality and successfully established an internal market through spillover technical integration.
Hence, part of the difficulty many Europeans find in trying to understand the EU and its political processes might spring form the fact the electorate is no longer accustomed to considering old fashioned – some might say boring – rational politics.
Indeed, national media and national politicians seem to pursue a joint interest in neglecting the rational EU bubble and continuing an emotional domestic political theatre; unfortunately, amongst the political effects of the preeminence of perception over progress are rejections of science and rational politics.
Might it be time to once again consider rationality? Ought journalists not to investigate the societal cost of value politics and fearful science dogma in terms of job losses and missed growth opportunities? Can we still afford to lose out on biotech technologies and neglect the potential of labor mobility into the EU? And might it be time to once again consider the value of production and exports and jobs – those are useful for humans – rather than engaging in soul searching into how dead animals might feel about fur skins, or whether it is cruel or not to make an autopsy on a dead giraffe?
It sure feels like we need more rationality, some humanism, and less perception in public.
COP 19: Walking about Warsaw in circles
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on November 23, 2013
As the 19th climate talks drew towards an indecisive close beneath a gray Warsaw sky this week, people in all shapes and colors – some vegan militants dressed up as parrots -scattered about the hall ways inside the Polish National Stadium, which hosted the talks; late in the afternoon on Thursday many were sleeping or drifting into daydreams in red beanbags about the corridors, exhausted after almost two weeks of talks.
Yet most starred intensively at their lap tops – typing, tweeting, updating profiles.
In the American pavilion, the mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, advocated local low carbon solutions at a lazy side event whilst European MEPs hung out coffee less outside the Commission secretariat offices, waiting for the next briefing. Earlier in the afternoon, at another side event, Climate Action Commissioner Hedegaard had a cabinet member announce that an EU 2030 climate and energy initiative is set for January, as the Union prepares its contribution to the 2015 global deal climate deal.
Yet in spite of such EU action and cautious rumors of limited progress, most delegates in the food court on the stadium floor shared negative views on the likely outcome – once again the talks seemed to be about to end at best in a new beginning.
In every corner and at every informal briefing, the talk of the town tried to conceptualize a balance between demands from the EU and other developed countries for a clear road map towards the anticipated global climate deal two years down the road at COP 21 in Paris, and parallel demands for 'loss and damage' – read money to compensate for ongoing climate destruction in developing countries.
Two years ago, 2011 in Durban, South Africa, whilst the euro was under attack and emergency summits were ordinary events in Brussels, the EU's climate diplomacy saw one of its finest hours, when negotiators managed to broker a deal to work towards a deal in 2015 – set to be 'an agreed outcome with legal force'. In Africa, the EU negotiators hat succeeded in questioning the "wall" in the global climate regime, which since 1992 has separated the legally committed from the volunteers, that is Annex 1 and non-annex 1 countries.
Ever since, major emerging countries have tried to backtrack from the more shared concept of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' that Durban heralded, and this week in Warsaw there was a profound sense that constant motion in the talks took a circular shape, like walking the hall ways inside the stadium in one direction and coming back to the same stairway and the same cameras near the East side entrance. Indeed UN climate negotiations seem to have turned away from a chronological concept of time, even if negotiators are supposed to be half way between Durban and Paris in 2015.
So will COP 19 be judged as a failure? Success seems unlikely. On Friday NGOs staged a walk out protesting lack of results, and they had a point. Contrary to COP 15 in Copenhagen four years ago, however, expectations were low this year, and on the positive side there seems to be an increasing understanding amongst decision makers and the public in major countries such as the US and China that the impacts of climate change are real, and that it is in the core interest of the major powers to avoid the 4 degree or more temperature increase that the world is currently heading for.
Indeed, in the American pavilion insights from Hurricane Sandy on how not to place generators in hospital basements fed into the discussion on local means for better climate adaptation, thereby implicitly acknowledging the link between current extreme weather events and climate change predictions otherwise vividly opposed. And in the Chinese pavilion, a seminar on the country's EU inspired emissions trading pilot projects now covering urban areas with some 250 million people drew significant interest, including from delegates from Pakistan.
So the COP proved successful as a base for ideas exchange, and this would be wonderful if only it was not so much less than what is needed to bridge the ambition gap to the 2 two degrees maximum temperature rise, world leaders signed up to in Copenhagen.
Small progress seemed likely on financing, but the timetable towards 2015 remains highly uncertain. The fundamental rift between developed and developing nations remains, and sometimes it takes grotesque forms even on details in the talks; in Warsaw, for instance, a proposal for a work programme on agriculture was blocked by the island state of Fiji on behalf of G77 to the detriment of farmers worldwide, who are at the forefront of the climate challenge; whilst these very same countries supported the idea in principle.
At the end of the day, climate change is set to become a major 21st century security challenge; hence a deal must be struck amongst the major powers, which are also the major emitters. The world is warming, and the world is changing. I left Warsaw reading this week's European edition of China daily, learning that the number of private cars increased from 59.39 million in 2010 to 93.09 million in 2012. In 1990, there were merely 0.82 million cars in China, and many more bicycles on the streets of Shanghai.
So whilst the talks circle, cars drive ahead.
Mutti's lonely win
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on September 23, 2013
Germany's new Red-Green majority is set to change policies in Berlin and Brussels, regardless Merkel is likely to remain Chancellor
In Danish political history, there was an epic moment when triumph met defeat; on election night 12 December 1990, Svend Auken, the leader of the opposition Social Democrats entered "Borgen" – Parliament building in Copenhagen – climbing the grand steps to the second floor showered with flashlights; with 37.4% of the popular vote, the best result for his party in decades, Auken raised his hand in victory. Yet within days numbers spoke; Auken did not command a parliamentary majority, the Conservative government hung on to power, and less than a year later the Social Democrats ousted Auken as party leader.
Yesterday Ms. Merkel hailed a "super result". In a rare electoral triumph for an incumbent leader in a crisis ridden Europe, her united Christian Democratic parties CDU/CSU secured 41.5% of the popular vote.
Yet Merkel's win is a lonely one. Only this morning, Philipp Rösler, the Chancellor's ally and leader of the defeated FDP liberal democrats announced his resignation. Suddenly top headlines in the German press feature the story of the dramatic down fall of the erased FDP rather than Merkel's victory.
With the FDP's exit from Parliament, a drama is about to begin in Berlin. As was the case in Borgen, it comes down to numbers, and Ms. Merkel might be well advised to play her cards humbly if she is to remain Chancellor in a Parliament where her Christian Democrats command 311 seats, and the Red-Red-Green opposition 319.
Whilst the prospect of a 'grand coalition' remains the most likely outcome of yesterday's vote, policies are set to change. Indeed, Ms. Merkel cannot take the Social Democrats for granted, and an alliance with the Greens is highly unlikely given the affinities amongst ecologist partisans. The Social Democrats, whose 25.7 % represent a modest gain from a historically week position, have ruled out a Red-Red-Green coalition government involving the far left 'Linke' party. Yet the Green leader Jürgen Trittin is said to personally favour a so called R2G –twice red, once green – collaboration, which could materialise if Ms. Merkel fails to win over a coalition partner to replace the FDP, and take the form of a minority government between the Social Democrats and the Greens, supported by the Left Party.
Hence in order to avoid such a prospect of electoral victory turned parliamentary defeat, Ms. Merkel is likely to try to move to the left. In Germany, this might mean giving in on her party's opposition to a minimum wage of 8.5 euro per hour, and in the EU, a Merkel III government might soften policies vis-à-vis crisis ridden countries in the Mediterranean, as suggested by senior Social Democrat leaders such as former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Also, with new policies in Berlin, Germany is set to finally take a stand in the EU's contentious climate debate; in this respect, prior to COP 20 next year in Paris, Berlin is likely to support Commission proposals on back loading of allowances, and a 'fix' of the EU's ETS emission trading system.
So whilst the struggle for power has yet to fully begin in Berlin, the impacts of yesterday's vote already materialise beyond Germany, where the prospect of enhanced German domestic consumption as a result of increasing wages, and a softer smile on Mutti's face when looking abroad might mean more economic activity and exports to Germany. After all, a positive prospect for Europe, and for the next Merkel.
Pentecost on the prairie
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on May 20, 2013
In Iowa, tongues mismatch on climate change
On the old prairie plains between the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers, the US state of Iowa now contains some of the world's most fertile farm lands. Flying into Des Moines, the capital of the American Corn Belt, one sees squared fields all the way to the end of sight, forming a great agricultural chess board.
A similar sight of intensive production greeted Soviet leader Khrouchtchev during his visit to Iowa in 1959; years later during the 80s the than USSR foreign minister Shevardnadze visited too, and most recently, in 2012, the current Chinese President Xi Jinping stopped over in Des Moines whilst touring the US ahead of the recent leadership transition in Beijing. Indeed, is seems leaders from countries that matter come to Iowa, which is pivotal for US agricultural exports; hence what happens here impacts food markets all over the world.
So when at Iowa State University, which is an agricultural research hub, I am told by professors that climate change in Iowa is likely to impact production yields severely, it is not only the local farmers who are affected.
One of these farmers, John Hall, is a Vietnam veteran, and together with his sons he runs a farm seized more than 1000 acres, which primarily delivers soybeans for biofuels and feedstuff production to a plant on the Lincon Highway.
When I met John in his barn office and mentioned the gloomy climate predictions that the scientists hold, he invited me on a ride across his lands to take a closer look at the situation on the ground. Driving along yet-to-be planted fields, he said he recognizes the effects that climate change are set to have in Iowa, with increased weather volatility, heavy rains in spring, frost spikes in May and prolonged early summer draughts. In particular, the spring rains are troublesome. Although temperature increases have prolonged the growing season, these rains make it more difficult to saw, and without plants the naked fertile soils risk being washed into the Mississippi.
"Please go tell the world that this is real, and that we need to do something about it", he said.
Yet amongst the upper echelons at the State Department of Agriculture in Des Moines, the mood is somewhat less concerned. This is a Republican administration, and alarmist science is political and opinionated, I understand, learning that the 1930s was also a very warm decade, which made the unusually warm summer of 2012 less of a worry. On the issue of the soils and the need to retain them during heavy rains, voluntary schemes designed to help enhance agricultural practices would be sufficient, I was told.
Seen from the state capital, moreover, the economic outlook for Iowa farmers is good; world demand is up because of population growth, and if draughts hit other parts of the US food prices rise. Were they to destroy future production in Iowa, the new yet-to-be adopted American crop insurance scheme, which is set to replace direct income support under the existing US agricultural policy, is likely to come farmers to the rescue, the top officials affirm.
Indeed, whilst climate change can be observed and predicted at global level, and be felt on occasion by individuals, it is much more difficult to establish sound forecasts at the local, regional and state levels where most of the political debate takes place in America, and across the world in most democracies.
In a recent report on "Climate Change and Adaptation in the United States", the US Department of Agriculture recognizes this "mismatch between the typical spatial scales of climate science and agricultural science experimentation".
So it is Pentecost on the prairie with no revelation just yet. Whilst plants grow – and indeed some seem to grow faster because of higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere – tongues mismatch on most but one thing: What happens in Iowa, never stays in Iowa.
Going against fears in America
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on May 5, 2013
Every day, 2400 plants pose for a photo session at the Monsanto research greenhouse outside Raleigh, North Carolina. One by one, like bags arriving on an airport belt, they are taken from the sun to the studio and captured, for scientists from four corners of the world to subsequently examine their genetic potential.
Here, in the middle of what is known as the Research Triangle Park – one of America's biggest scientific hubs – some of the world's leading biotechnology companies have clustered to develop new seeds and plants for 21st century agriculture.
In 1977, Mary-Dell Chilton demonstrated that genes responsible for disease can be removed from a bacterium without affecting its ability to insert its DNA into plant cells, hence modifying a plant's genome.
On this day of in spring, with blue skies covering Sugar Maples outside, Ms. Chilton, 73, sits in her laboratory at Syngenta Biotechnology. This Swiss company now employs more than 100 scientists relocated from Europe because of restrictions on GMO research, in a Research Park facility bearing Ms. Chilton's name.
In the EU since the genome discovery, the legal framework – and to a lesser extent public opinion – turned vividly against GMOs. By 1992, British tabloids coined the term 'Frankenfoods', and rarely have so many been so afraid of so little.
Except today there is a real fear that Europe by going against GMO science might be losing more than valuable biotech jobs; a new generation of GMO research no longer only focuses on securing plant resistance to pesticides, but rather the coining of healthier foods – such as Golden Rice that can help alleviate Vitamin A Deficiency, which causes blindness amongst millions of children in poor countries, and more climate resilient crops that use less water.
In a clear sign of this technology's potential, globally for the past five years GMO research has outspent traditional research on pesticides.
Meanwhile, every day 150.000 more people are born to this planet whilst in Asia the middle class population is set for an exponential increase in the coming decades – from some 500.000 million today to some 1.7 billion in 2020 and 3.3 billion seventeen years from now, in 2030.
So demand for food will increase enormously, whilst concerns for deforestation caused by agricultural expansion in vulnerable tropical lands rich on biodiversity and indispensable as carbon sinks are very real.
In the Research Triangle Park, I am asked if Europe might be about to change its stand on technological advances that hold potential to increase productivity on existing farmlands?
Of course, with time change will happen, and enhanced understanding of the effects of indirect land use changes – so called ILUC – might bring about a new valorisation of sustainable productivity in agriculture; but as is often the case when dealing with fears, it seems difficult to predict a change from irrationality.
Rather, a periodical tendency for selective science denial – be it on climate change in America or GMOs in Europe – might simply be a common part of the Western mind set.
Across the Atlantic, another take on risk
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on April 25, 2013
EU mitigates, whilst the US adapts to climate change
1900 in Galveston, a hurricane swept the former capital of the Republic of Texas. Some six thousand people died in those winds, which even after Katrina and Sandy remain the deadliest in US history. Once the richest and most important city in the state, today this city remains a shadow of its former self; few seem to be willing to invest too much at hurricane central, and Galveston is full of poor and wind shagged homes.
In Texas, it is politically incorrect to believe in anthropogenic climate change, a theory yet to be proven, like Darwinism it seems. At one of Houston's main hospitals, the head of staff was granted emergency powers to handle the influx of 27.000 refugees from New Orleans when Katrina struck in 2005. "We are in a war on climate" he explains, whilst denying that man is culprit.
Galveston has become both an argument and a counter argument in the debate here; an example of what might happen to other coastal cities along the Golf and the Atlantic shores, the city and its history also allow those who question science to point to an extreme weather event eleven decades ago. The increased frequency of these events is discarded, and the existing and solid scientific volume underpinning reports from the world's leading scientists ridiculed – "tell me the impacts on girls from global warming!", said one Texan I met.
In the US, risk is opportunity and risk is attractive, and it seems taking on a war on climate is more exciting than paying more for electricity and gasoline. European precautionary principles, including those that deal with environment and health are utterly unfashionable.
Yet whilst this close encounter with risk might still delay emerging political support for climate action, which from a low starting point is on the increase in the US – even in Texas – it might also be risk taking that ultimately enables America to overtake Europe when dealing with the effects of climate change.
Across the country, adaptation in the war on climate takes a myriad of different forms; from the urgent and particular and sometimes draconian response in crisis situations when barbed wire and guards deploy at hospitals to prevent them from being turned into shelters – 2005 in Houston – to foresighted and potentially game changing research into the genetics of plants, such as cotton, surgeon and camelina. These are draught resistant crops that can be genetically modified to potentially become a valuable – and in the case of camelina – even very healthy source of food for millions of people.
Whilst parts of America remain dogmatic climate change is not real, challenging science and denying the role of fossil fuels, thereby hampering US mitigation efforts to take off and the country to commit to international CO2 reduction targets, the reverse is true when it comes to adaptation in the war on climate; indeed, on GMOs it is Europe that seems to be challenging science.
So while the EU mitigates and debates climate targets for 2030, America adapts much more vividly than Europe to the new 21st century conditions. Might one possibly combine the two approaches and do away with dogmas on both sides of the Atlantic?
In the US, climate change sees checks and balances
Posted by Tobias Gräs in EU on April 18, 2013
Electric ecotaxis run on coal fired battery power in Washington, and in politics checks and balances separate progress and stand offs in the climate debate. "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations", Barack Obama said in January during his inaugural speech, bringing this issue back at the forefront of American politics amid Republican opposition.
The US capitol is a city full of checks and balances; here power is omnipresent yet at the same time action is difficult to undertake. Democracy in America, with its separated powers between the president and two Houses of Congress provides plenty of possibilities for policy obstruction.
So might the US finally change on climate change? In spite of Obama's speech only one thing is certain – climate change will change America.
In the State Department the line is clear: Obama's overture on climate action is nothing new, rather, it is the expression of existing policies and engagement. Yet outside Washington, next to a firestowe
and a wall full of Irish 20th century poets – "I can resist anything except temptation" quoting Oscar Wilde – a young professor at George Mason University is tempted to see the president's approach as new.
Politicians will not be able to resist change, he says, since yet-to-be published opinion surveys point to climate action as a means to cash in on independent voters in the 2014 mid-term elections.
Moreover, scientific progress might soon enable the downscaling of climatic megatrends to local forecasts for areas such Virginia and other US states under different temperature scenarios – such as 2, 3 or 4 degree temperature increases, thereby turning climate change into a local issue.
Yet such a change of policy is unlikely before the next mid-term elections, set for November 2014. In the Republican controlled House of Representatives, opposition to European style cap-and-trade climate
policy is unconditional, and in the Democratic controlled Senate the view prevails that the likelihood of a carbon tax in the current term is less than 20 % at best.
However, a number of democrats are optimistic that Obama might nevertheless try to propose a carbon tax as part of a grand bargain set to tackle the US's deficit even before the mid-term elections – knowing that success is unlikely, but sharing the view that the struggle itself might be politically beneficial for the Democrats.
Hence a significant US policy shift presided by Obama seems dependent on the Democrats regaining control of the House of Representatives in 2014 – ahead of the 2015 deadline by which the world is to agree on a comprehensive climate deal beyond 2020.
It is a fine cut indeed.
Meanwhile, climate activists about Washington hope to make the most of the executive powers that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have to safeguard clean air legislation. Requirements for fuel quality
are being tightened, the US Department of Agriculture promotes both first and second generation biofuels, and from Montana to Colorado shale gas takes on coal in the energy mix.
From a European perspective, this bottom up approach to the climate challenge that focuses on politically feasible action in the short term rather than top-down CO2 reduction targets for the next decades inspires scepticism.
Will the US truly be part of a solution?
I am going about America to try to find out.


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Urethral Stricture
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Distribution of females vs. males


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
If something were to happen to Rossi (god forbid) I think we you'd make an excellent choice for the care and feeding of warriors :P
A good article allround, with tips for all DPS classes that SHOULD know better
Your only warlock fan who desperately craves your hate and malice
I am so confused by this post. Two things are really confusing me (though maybe it's because you're a Warlock).
#1: Okay. Archmage Pants is, by scientific fact, the greatest blogger on WoW.com, so I can understand why you would hope he would take over the Care and Feeding in a time of need. The problem is that you would then have a man called "Archmage Pants" running a column about Warriors. This could lead to a disaster of biblical proportions. Riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
#2: Are you some sort of self-hating Warlock? How could you-
Why would you-
I don't even-
Why do you crave the hate and malice of Christian Belt?
There is one other time to use frost nova in instances.
Step 1 (important): Make sure there is a warlock in your group.
Step 2: Pull aggro on a single hard-hitting melee mob.
Step 3: Lure the mob next to the warlock (and only the warlock).
Step 4: Frost nova and run out of melee range of the mob.
Step 5 (optional): Use one of the aggro dump abilities.
Step 6: Watch as the mob beats the living daylight out of the warlock.
Step 7 (optional): /tar *poopwarlocksname*, /point, /laugh
Make sure you do this only when there are no other non-warlock casters near the rooted mob or you will risk their lives, which are actually important.
Im a warlock, I'm weird and angsty by default and the hatred of mages fuels my (hopfully soon to be green) fire, let alone a mage of the highest calibre such as archmage fancy pants.
As for running CAFW he clearly has the natural tank rage within him
And my warrior would like to say her pants are no less fancy than that of her cloth wearing friends and foes
Mr. Tastix said...
My one gripe with mages? Mirror Image is freaken annoying... oh and your Water Elemental is a piss-poor excuse for a minion. And portals are pretty handy... okay that's 3 gripes. And I can't count. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? I'M AN EMO WARLOCK! /lifetap
I did six Blood Furnace runs via the random dungeon tool on my death knight yesterday. Apparantly, I'm a good tank, because nobody wanted to leave ... which is why we ended up doing the place six times. Anyway ... there was an Arcane Mage in the group ... level 64. All he did was spam Arcane Missiles ... specifically on the target I'd marked as the last one to be killed.
Every. Single. Pull.
I lost count of the number of times a mob started going after him forcing me to target it and take care of the situation.
If I've got a moron like that in a group, I typically refuse to either pull back off of them or heal them, depending on the toon I'm on. Or if I'm on my hunter main, I talk to the tank, convince them to let said person die, then I MD and toss the mob back to the tank where it belongs.
Case in point, I was grouped with a mage last night for Mana Tombs who would run up to the mobs, kinda sit there for a while, then pop a blizzard when they were at about 20% health. After a boss fight where said mage did less than 5% of the overall damage on the boss, and after said mage refused to listen to advice, I simply stopped healing him.
He's lucky the tank was good, as somehow even without heals he managed to live through the remainder of the instance.
Thundrcrackr said...
Clearly the mage was confident he could kill the mob before it reached him thereby giving you one less mob to have to worry about. ;-)
You could have tested it out by letting the mob go once and see what happened. :D


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Thank God for second chances!
Until I screw those up too. Wow I suck.Thu, 14th November • 3 notes
I feel myself wanting to talk, but not wanting anyone to hear what I have to say. I feel myself wanting to write it all down, but never risking anyone reading what I have to say.Sat, 13th July • 0 notes


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See and share Beautiful Nature Photos and amazing photos of interesting places
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
Gary Player
Below is the poem entitled Sara's Haiku which was written by poet
Kendrick. Please feel free to comment on this poem. However, please remember, PoetrySoup is a place of encouragement and growth.
Read Poems by
Sara Kendrick
male red cardinal
sits on rim of cold bird bath...
chilled water awaits
male red cardinal
sleek black feathers around beak..
flies up into tree
female cardinal
lands on rim of cold bird bath...
quickly drinks flies up
female cardinal
on one side of willow tree..
male on opposite
spring a long way off
winter's cold here to stay now...
survival mode


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Growing Herbs Indoors For Cooking And Medicinal Purposes
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Neat Examples Of Hardscaping
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How Deep Should A Raised Garden Be?
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First things first though, Read the rest of this entry »
How To Grow An Herb Garden In Containers
It is easy to grow beautiful herb gardens in containers. The containers can be placed in a convenient area to make gathering the herbs simple. Almost any herb can be grown in a container. In addition, several herbs can share a container if they require the same amount of water.
To get started, you will need to choose some containers. The containers will need good drainage, but they do not have to be large containers since the herbs have small root systems.
Next, you will need to decide on which herbs you wish to Read the rest of this entry »
Hardscaping Is An Essential Element Of Landscape Design
When most people think of making improvements to the areas surrounding their home, they think of adding trees, shrubs, flowers and other organic elements. While beautiful living things are some of the most important features of a well-maintained yard and property, they are only part of the landscaping picture.
Brick or stone patios, walls and pathways are known as elements of hardscaping. In fact, all inorganic elements on your property including wooden decks, gazebos and fences are considered elements of hardscaping. A well-balanced approach Read the rest of this entry »
The Benefits Of Using Moss In Your Garden
Many people take pride in their gardens; a great garden can be the centerpiece of your landscaping, and gardening is an enjoyable hobby for countless people around the world. However, many gardeners overlook some basic elements that can improve their gardens significantly. Moss, in particular, is commonly overlooked. Here are a few reasons why gardeners will want to consider using moss in their gardens.
Moss is one of the easiest elements to use in a garden. Moss Read the rest of this entry »