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There are many reasons why I love living in Germany. The beer is good, the incredible cakes are the most delicious I have ever tasted, there is a decadent variety of chocolate, cheese and yogurt available, being so wonderfully central it's a stone's throw away from France, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Norway, Denmark, making the long vacations people have here (I have 30 days plus all the bank holidays) a real pleasure. But what I really, really love about living in Germany is the sheer abundance of the many different types of sausages one gets here.
Germany boasts of over 1500 different varieties, many of them famous around the world. While I have not actually tried them all myself, as some of the sausages are for acquired taste buds, I do have my favorites.
After living here for a little over 17 years, one of the things I truly enjoy is indulging in a meal that includes one of my few favorite sausages.
Germans eat about 67 lbs of meat and sausage products per person per year. That is a lot of sausage! While in our household we do not consume as much, in the Spring/Summer months we do spend many weekends barbecuing a lot of sausages.
Sausages have been made in Germany for centuries, each generation passing their secret tips and methods down to the next. There are several regional specialties, offered not only in the specific regions but also nationwide and in many cases worldwide. Regional specialties like the famous "Thüringian Bratwurst", "Münchener Weisswurst", "Frankfurter" or "Nürnberger Bratwürstchen" all have been developed using specific sausage-making methods over the years, each producer adding his/her touch, offering a culinary fanatic a true indulgence like nothing ever experienced before. One can even take a German sausage tour visiting the cities where the world famous sausages are made
Depending on how they are made, sausages in Germany are called Brühwurst (scalded sausage), Kochwurst (cooked sausage) and Rohwurst (fresh/raw sausage).
The most common types of sausages in Central Europe are the Brühwurst with almost 800 different varieties. In Germany the most famous of these scalded sausage variety are the so called "Würstchen". Your typical convenience food, which can be eaten anywhere, hot or cold, as a snack in between meals or served with sides of vegetables, salad and potatoes, they also make great main meals.
Imagine Munich's Oktoberfest without the acclaimed Weisswurst? Debauchery! I hear the Bavarians shout! Weisswurst, which contains lots of fresh parsley, is eaten before noon, when the butchers offer them fresh. Served with lots of sweet mustard, fresh pretzels and of course real Bavarian beer, Weisswurst has become somewhat of a legend!
Weimar lies in Thuringia, a green and beautiful state and the home to my absolute favorite German sausage – the Thüringer Rostbratwurst or Thuringian grilled sausage. Thuringia's sausage-making techniques has evolved through the centuries into a genuine culinary art. The variety of different steamed, scalded, and cured sausages one can buy here is truly impressive.
The Thüringer Rostbratwurst however is the most famous not only in Germany but also around the world. It goes back to ancient traditions, where some sources date the oldest recipe found back to 1404. The Rostbratwurst is made mainly of pork from either the belly or the shoulder and usually veal or beef is also added to the finely chopped mixture. This is seasoned with a delicious blend of spices and herbs, like garlic, cumin, coriander and marjoram and then packed into hog or sheep casings. The Rostbratwurst is sold fresh at supermarkets and butchers either scalded or raw. The production process of what seems to be simple food is actually quite complex and involved.
Fanatics and connoisseurs often have several tricks when it comes to barbecuing the Rostbratwurst. Everything ranging from basting the sausages in beer or greasing the grill with pork belly fat to soaking in water, is all common practice. Despite the myriad methods to grill these sausages, the most authentic way to eat it is in a fresh white bread roll with a slathering of hot mustard.
During market days I will often head over to the marketplace, in Weimar's pedestrian area, just a little before lunchtime. Once my bags are packed with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers I usually make my way to the Bratwurst man, who sells the most amazing bratwurst from his little bratwurst stand, fresh off a hot charcoal grill. I almost always have to stand in line and while I pay his wife the money and take my bread roll, the Bratwurst man is busy grilling several of the rostbratwurst lined and stacked side by side.
Summer evenings are often spent in the company of friends, neighbors and family, in the back yard. The barbecue is lit and as the beers are poured, the unmistakable aroma of the bratwurst fills the air. It truly is my favorite way to enjoy a good barbecue.
When Jeanne was here in July one of the things I made her take back was a vacuumed box packed full of bratwurst. Along with a jar of traditional sauerkraut, I knew Nick, her husband, would be a happy man!
Well this month Jeanne is hosting a grand braai/bbq event, Braai, the Beloved Country and asked us all to share our favorite recipes. South Africa certainly is a great country known for it's braai culture, and as Germany is known for its sausage culture, I thought we'd make a pretty good pair at the the event. So my beloved sister-from-another mother – I am bringing you a few of these delectable bratwürste. Hope you have room for them on your barbecue!
If bratwurst is not your type of sausage then maybe you'd like a hamburger?
Soeren ponders if they come from Hamburg! Well maybe we can research that in another post.
In the meantime I have several other great ideas for you to serve at your BBQ:
Barbecued Chicken - Michigan Style
Creamy Red Peppercorn Coleslaw
Corn-Coriander Salad
Potato Salad Lite
Enjoy the weekend! See you all next week!
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2010 Meeta Khurana Wolff unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First


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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: VAIO Care Premium Tools Service Ending September 2020
Originally Posted: 9/26/2019
Effective September 30, 2020 11:59PM(1), VAIO Care Premium Tools will no longer be supported on Sony VAIO computer systems.
As a result, VAIO PC users may no longer purchase new licenses or renew existing licenses for VAIO Care Premium Tools effective September 30, 2019 11:59PM.(1) VAIO PC users who currently have an active license may continue to use VAIO Care Premium Tools until the expiration of their individual license.
Sony has partnered with iolo Technologies® to offer VAIO PC users the iolo System Mechanic® software tools. Visit the iolo Technologies web site for more information or to purchase System Mechanic® directly before October 1, 2019.
Starting October 01, 2019(1) VAIO users may also purchase System Mechanic® through the VAIO Care application on their computer via the following steps:
- Start VAIO Care.
- Click Advanced Tools.
- Click Premium Tools.
- System Mechanic purchasing page will open.
[Affected Application]
VAIO Care version 7.3 or higher.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding.
(1) All dates are based on Pacific Time Zone and may differ depending on your country or region.

subset: commoncrawl


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You can improve your sketching and paper prototyping abilities by adopting some of the methods used by Leonardo da Vinci in his sketchbooks. Leonardo was a prolific sketcher, filling his journals with over 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. These five sketching lessons drawn from his practices will make you a better thinker.
Lesson #1: Sketch Your Ideas Out 4-5 Times
Leonardo frequently sketched things multiple times, showing an object from different perspectives or different stages of development. His different sketches of flowers show some with leaves and others without leaves. Some of the flowers are budding, while other flowers are mature.
- To better understand something, sketch it out multiple times.
- Quantity leads to quality.
- Explore from multiple angles and different stages of development.
Lesson #2: Use Annotations in Your Sketches
Beside most of Leonardo's sketches you will find annotations about the subject of the sketch. The annotations are used to clarify the object being studied. For example, the sketch called "The Study of Arms and Shoulders," which was part of an anatomy study to help him with brushstrokes for The Last Supper, shows four different views of the shoulder with annotation between the arms.
- Leave room for annotations in your sketches.
- Your annotations might answer a question for someone that sees your sketch.
- Your annotations are memory joggers for you.
Lesson #3: Collaborate With Others When You Sketch
Leonardo made his sketches on his own, but he collaborated with other people to flesh out the finer details. Leonardo's sketches of human anatomy were a collaboration with Marcantonio della Torre, an anatomist from the University of Pavia. Their collaboration is important because it marries art with science.
The agreement was for Leonardo to provide immaculate sketches, while Marcantonio would verify the drawings for accuracy and completeness of human anatomy. Marcantonio agreed to have Leonardo's drawings published. Ironically, one year later, Marcantonio would die of the Black Death. Luckily, Leonardo's sketches remained.
- In general, show your work to other people.
- Collaborate with others when you sketch.
- Collaborate with someone that will make your sketches better (more accurate, more imaginative).
Lesson #4: Engage Your Imagination
Leonardo drew from sources beyond just nature and human anatomy. His sketches include civil engineering projects (bridges, roads, maps), military objects (parachute, airplane, tank, machine gun), and robots (crank-driven knight armor). In some cases, these imaginative objects would not be created for almost 500 years later. The key is to engage your imagination.
Leonardo used his imagination because he was curious. Leonardo once wrote: "Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?" Da Vinci was very curious about flying. In his sketchbook, there's a page titled, "Flying machines. The Flight of Genius!" On this page are sketches for a parachute, airplane, and glider. Some scholars have postulated that Leonardo's study of birds helped him with the design of the glider.
- Sketch beyond your comfort zone (quantity helps you here).
- Sketch multiple solutions around a problem area (e.g., flight).
- Let ideas percolate, then revisit your sketches.
Lesson #5: Look for New Combinations
When he wanted novel ideas, Leonardo engaged his imagination for a revolutionary idea (e.g., a tank or a parachute). At other times, he wanted to build upon existing ideas (e.g., bridges and ladder) with incremental changes by force-fitting different concepts together.
Da Vinci sketched a new kind of ladder meant for scaling walls by soldiers. Existing ladders leaned unfixed against walls, easily pushed over by defenders of a castle or fortress. Leonardo made a few incremental changes by using spikes and metal poles to become "rungs" for an enhanced new version of the ladder.
More importantly, Da Vinci used a rudimentary form of the Cornell method of note-taking. Beyond the annotated notes for each individual sketch, Leonardo included keywords for other ideas and cross-references to other sketches. Da Vinci scholars believe this approach would allow Leonardo to organize his sketches and review existing ones to seek new combinations for incremental changes.
As a designer, Leonardo offers several lessons here. First, when you sketch, provide enough detail for someone to understand. It is a sketch, which you can later revise. You need to get your ideas down. Second, you should group similar ideas together. When you group them together, you will see a natural convergence towards a common vision. Plus, you may only need a small mash-up to incrementally innovate. Third, catalog your ideas so you can seek out other combinations later. With search technology these days, you do not need to use a Cornell method of note-taking. You can insert keywords into any saved file; search for a keyword and see what sketches appear. The important thing is to develop the habit of cataloging for the future so you can make new combinations. Just as Leonardo engaged his imagination, he also sought out new combinations—building on existing concepts to come up with something different.
- Seek new combinations with your individual sketches
- Catalog your sketches to reuse them in the future
- Seek combinations from your previous sketches
You can improve your sketching and idea generation by following these secrets from Leonardo Da Vinci. Hidden within his notebooks are a variety of ideas on painting, sketching, architecture, and life (in general). These are my takeaways from reviewing his work. What do you think?


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We had just moved to the US. I was back to grad school D to work. Life was ok, different and very new. We had an everyday evening ritual which went like this :: he would pick me up on his way home (we had only one car then), coming home we would sit at the edge of the carpet with steaming mugs of tea & samosa or alu bonda whatever was picked up on the way, laughing our hearts out at "Friends" followed by "Everybody Loves Raymond" and chatting, then I would go on to finish my homework he to his work and the day was done. Weekends were for pouring over maps to find new places to drive to and new restaurants to eat out. Life wasn't hip and happening but it was fun.
I scorned at my Mom whenever she brought up "kids" in the telephone conversation, balked at elders who suggested "what are your plans ?"
Life was ok, kind of same and not that new. All that pressure was getting on me, I thought Calvin's Mom was naive & just joking, I thought "what the heck we should have a baby"
Life was getting difficult, kind of same and not that new. The doc said I should lose some weight before alighting on the journey. So the "alu bondas"&"samosas" stopped, the time free from homework & classes were spent in the gym
Life was difficult, very different. My daughter's life formed inside mine . Every day of the 8 months was fraught with anxiety & fear. Every day all that we hoped for was her. All else in our life took a blur, while each day we prayed frantically for her to safely reach the next day within me.
Life was happy, different and very new. And then she came into this world wide eyed and wailing. She claimed all our time and attention with her being. The tiny curled fists, the pink toes, the quivering smiling lips, and those wide curious eyes. We felt relief and joy.
Life was happy but difficult, different and very new. She was so important that I gave up the job I had studied hard for all these years. I did not want some stranger to take care of her. I was afraid of everything that happened or did not happen to her. I "Googled" every word that had to do with babies. I called up the ped in the middle of the night if she had those jitters (most babies do) or threw up or cried too much. I grew frustrated when all we did didn't ease her colic.
And she grew and I grew too as a mom. I learnt to stay calm if she threw up after her meals, to smile when she went for her shots, to ignore if she threw a tantrum, to be ok if she cried a little at school, to be brave and let her bruise a little while she attempted climbing the slide the wrong way, to let her grow.
Life is not that difficult, different and still new. Life as a mom is still new, lots of new things to learn and do. Life is also about less and less time for me and my husband. The little one does not let us talk and has to butt in every discussion that we have. We have to spell out words that too in Bengali for discretion. Everything that we do needs to be explained to her. The only thing we watch on TV is "Barney" or "Arthur". Even if I snatch a conversation with D it is about how much I like "Arthur's Christmas"
This too shall pass and soon the newness will go out of my life. In a couple of years she will not proclaim in a sing song voice "Mommy is my best friend" and will not seek the nook of my arm to curl up in sleep. Till then let me savor and learn from every bit of it...
To our little girl who turns all of three this month, what I wish for her..
The Mother's heart, the hero's will,
The softest flowers' sweetest feel;
The charm and force that ever sway
The altar-fire's flaming play;
The strength that leads, in love obeys;
Far-reaching dreams, and patient ways,
Eternal faith in Self, in all,
The light Divine in great, in small;
All these and more than I could see,
Today may "Mother" grant to thee!
--Swami Vivekananda
I also hope to fulfill her expectation as a mother as I hope she does mine


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Qingdao Elour Beauty supply different kinds of lower/bottom/under eyelashes for different beauties choices.Our bottom eyelashes are with good quality and natural looking.And they are naturally longer the lashes and make your shining at the crowds.And our bottom lashes are very soft,light and no weight at all,so very good for daily use.
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text:
Washington – United States Helsinki Commission Chairman Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) today expressed concern about the current political crisis in Ukraine, sparked by revelations on secretly recorded tapes implicating the involvement of President Kuchma and high government officials in the case of murdered journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
Chairman Campbell met today with the former Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksander Moroz, who first released the tapes to the Rada on November 28, 2000.
"Given the importance of our relationship with Ukraine, I am extremely concerned about the direction in which Ukraine may be heading," Campbell said. "Reports of pervasive, high level corruption, the controversial conduct of the government in the investigation of the Gongadze case and a pattern of harassment of media are raising legitimate questions regarding Ukraine's commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law."
"I am especially troubled about rampant corruption in Ukraine at all levels, which has had such a debilitating impact on ordinary people and discourages valuable foreign investment," Campbell added. "The political leadership of Ukraine needs to undertake concentrated efforts to root out corruption, which, if allowed to fester further, could undermine Ukraine's democratic development as an independent state."
The State Department Annual Human Rights Country Report on Ukraine released earlier this week cites a mixed human rights record and notes the failure to curb institutional corruption and abuse in the Ukrainian Government.
Chairman Campbell expressed the hope that the Ukrainian Government would resolve the Gongadze investigation in a serious, transparent manner that might restore confidence in its credibility. Campbell also urged the Ukranian Government to have a genuine dialogue with the opposition and encouraged the use of constitutional, democratic means to resolve the current crisis in a manner consistent with Ukraine's OSCE commitments, including the right to peaceful protest.
The Helsinki Commission Chairman recalled President Bush's remarks in Tuesday's Address to Congress, where the President stated that: "Nations making progress toward freedom will find America is their friend."
"A decade after independence, Ukraine's progress has stalled," Campbell observed. "For freedom to flourish, Ukrainians will have to overcome the legacy of corruption that continues to plague their nation and hold them back from reaching their potential."


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Monday, February 27, 2012
Shrimp Creole
From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Reasonably quick and easy to make, this dish is a wonderful choice for a meatless Monday or Lenten Friday meal. I make it several times a year and prepare it for guests when I want to limit the time I spend in the kitchen. The recipe, originally developed by Emeril LaGasse, can easily be doubled and, save for the last minute addition of shrimp, it can be prepared days ahead of serving. The roux that forms the base of the sauce in which the shrimp are cooked was originally made with bacon drippings. I've substituted a vegetable oil that I think you'll be more comfortable using. I've made few other changes to the recipe although I always use shrimp stock to prepare it. I find commercial fish stocks to be very strong, so I make my own by simmering the shells from the shrimp that will be used in the dish in lightly salted water. My recipe, and I use that term lightly, uses 3 cups of water to simmer the shells from 2 pounds of shrimp. I bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and let the shells simmer for 30 minutes or so before straining. That's all there is to it. I think it works wonderfully well. While there is some chopping to be done, this recipe is easy enough for beginning cooks to successfully complete. While the roux must be watched carefully to prevent burning, there are no other tricks associated with the recipe. I like this dish and I think it will please those of you who try it. Here's the recipe.
Shrimp Creole...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Emeril LaGasse
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped yellow onions
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups finely chopped, peeled, seeded tomatoes
1-1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce
2 cups cold chicken, shrimp or fish stock
2 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Hot cooked long-grain white rice, for serving
1/2 cup chopped tender green scallion tops
1) Heat oil in a medium, heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Add flour and stirring constantly with a heavy wooden spoon, cook until a roux a light brown forms, about 6 minutes.
2) Add onions, celery, and bell pepper and cook over medium heat, until vegetables are tender, 5 to 6 minutes.
3) Add garlic, salt, red pepper, and bay leaves, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
4) Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to color, about 2 minutes.
5) Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme, lemon zest, Worcestershire and hot pepper sauce, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
6) Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens and reduces by one-quarter in volume, 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7) If you plan to serve immediately, add shrimp and cook, stirring, until cooked through and tender, about 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Mound 1/2 to 3/4 cup rice in each of 4 to 5 bowls. Spoon shrimp Creole over rice. Garnish with scallion tops and serve immediately. Yield: 4 to 5 servings.
One Year Ago Today: The Real McCoy - Irish Wholemeal Soda Bread
Two Years Ago Today: Popovers and Strawberry Butter
32 comments :
- ChinkyGirLMeL said...
Oooh I would love some of that! Yum!
- February 27, 2012 at 1:19 AM
- Epicurea said...
great vegetarian recipe inspiration and agree about fish stocks!
- February 27, 2012 at 3:46 AM
- Merisi said...
We'll be right over! ;-)
Love that you do not simply say "creole seasoning" - hard to find here - but list all of the herbs you use. Thank you for that! Will be served to my family as soon as I manage to go grocery shopping. - February 27, 2012 at 4:23 AM
- Kristy and Adam said...
Hi Mary,
your shrimp creole looks great. As we live in Australia we get to enjoy many different types of cuisine - shrimp creole takes us on a new journey!
We have recently started our own foodie blog and would love you to visit when you have some time to kick up your heels.
Please visit us;
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Thank you for your lovely blog.
Kristy & Adam. - February 27, 2012 at 6:02 AM
- Diane said...
Mmmmm that looks so good, I love all seafood, you can't beat it :) Diane
- February 27, 2012 at 6:28 AM
- Sue/the view from great island said...
Mmmmmmm. I love this Southern jaunt we're on!
- February 27, 2012 at 6:30 AM
- Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...
It makes such a difference to save the shells and make your own shrimp broth. You've served the shrimp creole in the same style as they do down in Louisiana with the rice surrounding the dish. Very, very nice Mary.
Sam - February 27, 2012 at 6:50 AM
- firstname.lastname@example.com said...
Your shrimp looks awesome and very delicious. Yummy seafood dish! =)
- February 27, 2012 at 6:57 AM
- pam said...
I also use your idea for shrimp shells for stock. Anytime I use shrimp, I put the shells in a bag in the freezer just for this purpose.
- February 27, 2012 at 7:03 AM
- Big Dude said...
Beautiful presentation Mary
- February 27, 2012 at 7:13 AM
- Unknown said...
This recipe sounds fantastic, Mary! Can't wait to try it... we love dishes like this.
- February 27, 2012 at 7:26 AM
- Karen (Back Road Journal) said...
Your recipe for shrimp creole would make a great impromptu dinner for friends. I usually have several bags of shrimp in the freezer.
- February 27, 2012 at 7:40 AM
- Tanna said...
I am gathering shrimp recipes for our week on the beach and this one is going in the file! Thank you, Mary. Have a wonderful day. blessings ~ tanna
- February 27, 2012 at 7:58 AM
- Kim said...
Ohh!!! these shrimp looks perfect! What a great blend of flavors in these! Perfect to kick the winter out of here:)
- February 27, 2012 at 8:13 AM
- love cooking said...
Shrimp is my favorite, sure I will love this. Shrimps shells and heads are always good to making stock. Use the stock to cook noodle soup, it is good. :)
- February 27, 2012 at 8:21 AM
- What's Baking?? said...
A wonderful wonderful recipe! Very nice.
- February 27, 2012 at 8:35 AM
- Shug said...
I think I need to practice making Roux. This is the most difficult thing for me to do. I certainly love shrimp, so I know I want to try this dish. Hope your day is filled with lots and lots of Blessings..
shug - February 27, 2012 at 9:20 AM
- Shug said...
I think I need to practice making Roux. This is the most difficult thing for me to do. I certainly love shrimp, so I know I want to try this dish. Hope your day is filled with lots and lots of Blessings..
shug - February 27, 2012 at 9:20 AM
- The Blonde Duck said...
Oh yes!
- February 27, 2012 at 12:19 PM
- Kathy Walker said...
This looks perfect for our cold and blustery day...and oddly, I think I have everything!
- February 27, 2012 at 1:11 PM
- Unknown said...
My mom used to make something similar - even the rice ring - brings back such sweet memories and looks fabulous!
- February 27, 2012 at 1:15 PM
- Unknown said...
I didn't even know I wanted this until I saw this post - delish
- February 27, 2012 at 1:34 PM
- Unknown said...
Another lovely recipe from you! It sounds perfectly feasible but somehow I have my doubts about our shrimps being as suitable as yours.
- February 27, 2012 at 2:17 PM
- Ginny Hartzler said...
This is so pretty the way you have pictured it. And I think I will try these popovers, too. The comment forms are looking so different today!
- February 27, 2012 at 2:25 PM
- Chiara said...
Looks delicious mary, can't wait to try...Blessings...
- February 27, 2012 at 5:01 PM
- Claudia said...
Mary - I should just bookmark your entire blog. I will be bringing this to here. I love how you make the shrimp stock with the shells you just peeled and that it doesn't have to be made later - after dinner and then frozen for later use, etc.
- February 27, 2012 at 5:08 PM
- Priyanka said...
Sounds interesting and looks good too
- February 27, 2012 at 6:31 PM
- Norma Chang said...
Your shrimp creole sounds delicious. Glad you posted the shrimp shell stock. Many people are not aware that you can do that.
- February 27, 2012 at 7:01 PM
- Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...
Fabulous Lenten meal...it will make our rotation soon!
- February 27, 2012 at 7:49 PM
- Joanne said...
With all these stellar ingredients, you have to know that it's boldly flavored! Yum.
- February 27, 2012 at 9:46 PM
- The Harried Cook said...
That looks SO yummy! I adore the seasoning, spices and flavors you've used! I am bookmarking this recipe! Thanks for sharing :)
- February 27, 2012 at 10:04 PM
- Sarah at Buttered-Up said...
Hi Mary, thanks for dropping by my blog. Loved that you took the time to comment. This shrimp looks lovely and I've put it on my list to make it soon because I'm sure it'll be enjoyed by the whole family. Thanks for sharing!
- February 28, 2012 at 9:41 AM


text:
Ain't Nothing Like Freedom (BOOK REVIEW)
Ain't Nothing Like Freedom
by Cynthia McKinney
Clarity Press
Paperback, $19.95
290 pages, Illustrated
Review by Kam Williams
six times to the House from the state of Georgia, Cynthia McKinney cut a trail
through Congressional deceit like a hot ember through ash. She discovered
legislators who passed laws without reading them… [and] black-skinned
individuals shilling for the white status quo.
excoriated government lassitude over Hurricane Katrina… [and] held the only
critical Congressional briefing on 9/11… She read truth into the Congressional
Record, held town hall and hearings, led protests, showed up while others
played along to get along…
is the Cynthia McKinney saga as it stands to date—what she saw, what she
learned, and how she fought for change."
--Excerpted from the
book jacket
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is a fearless firebrand who always seemed to be
sitting in the middle of controversy, both during her tenure in the House of
Representatives, and since. Whether it's questioning the legitimacy of the 2000
Presidential Election, suggesting that the U.S. had advance knowledge of the
9/11 terror attack, punching a Capitol police officer who asked to see her I.D.,
blaming a failed reelection bid on the Israel lobby, insinuating that there
might be more to the murder of gangsta' rapper Tupac Shakur than an East-Coast-West
Coast turf battle, running for the Presidency against Barack Obama in 2008 as
the Green Party candidate, being aboard a boat torpedoed by Israel as it tried
to run a blockade of Gaza or, most recently, intimating that the Boston
Marathon bombings might have been an inside job on the part of the local
police, she's never been one afraid to speak her mind.
by some, present company included, as simply too nutty to take seriously,
Cynthia has languished lately at the lunatic fringe of American politics.
Frankly, I'd long since written her off as a hopelessly-paranoid conspiracy
theorist in the wake of her staff's treatment of an innocuous journalist like
me as suspicious when I innocently asked for an interview.
Here, the
marginalized iconoclast makes a decent attempt at resurrecting her
terribly-tarnished image with this self-serving autobiography, Ain't Nothing Like
Freedom. The book doesn't touch much on her personal life beyond several sincere
expressions of affection for her parents and son, Coy.
Instead, the
author focuses squarely on her checkered career, conveniently putting a
positive spin on many of its dubious and debatable highlights. For example, in
a 20-page chapter on her presidential campaign, not once does she mention the
fact that she rubbed a lot of people the wrong way by potentially spoiling Obama's
historic bid, the same way that 3rd party candidate Ralph Nader had
done to Gore in 2000.
Basically, McKinney paints herself
as a woman of the people and a tireless advocate of such causes as Hurricane
Katrina victims, reparations for African-Americans, and the preservation of the
planet. Along the way, she repeatedly indicts her fellow black politicians as
sellouts, including the President, predicting that folks will tire of his
speeches and symbolic gestures if they remain "unattached to real gains and
material change in the community's conditions."
Among her
advocates is anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who asserts that Cynthia was more
deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize than just-elected President Obama. McKinney, wacky or wise?
You be the judge.
A classic
case of revisionist history walking a fine line between inspired and insanity.


text:
The U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory will receive a two-year federal grant of $13.8 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The grant, which was announced Tuesday, Aug. 4, by DOE, includes $8.8 million for a variety of initiatives in fusion energy research and $5 million for infrastructure improvements at the laboratory. PPPL is one of 10 DOE national laboratories in six states receiving funding at this time through ARRA, the economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year. The stimulus funding will be in addition to PPPL's regular budget allocations for fiscal years 2009 through 2011.
"We are pleased that stimulus funding is being made available for Princeton's fusion energy research program," said PPPL Director Stewart Prager. "The additional research capabilities enabled by this funding will accelerate the advancement of understanding in plasma science, fusion science and fusion technology, which form the knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source."
PPPL, which is funded by DOE's Office of Science and managed by Princeton University, is a collaborative national center for science research and innovation leading to an attractive fusion energy source.
Fusion is the process that powers the sun and the stars. In the interior of stars, matter is converted into energy by the fusion, or joining, of the nuclei of light atoms to form heavier elements. At PPPL, physicists use a magnetic field to confine plasma -- a hot ionized gas that is the fuel for fusion energy production. Scientists hope eventually to use fusion energy for the generation of electricity, and as an alternative to current energy sources that are harmful to the environment.
PPPL plans to use the ARRA funding to upgrade and expand the use of the laboratory's primary fusion device, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Several of the diagnostic devices, which are employed on the experiment to measure the behavior of plasma, will be upgraded, and NSTX research operations will be increased by a total of five weeks during the next two years -- closer to the device's full utilization level.
The funding also will allow the hiring of additional postgraduate staff to support these enhanced research capabilities. The upgrades and greater run time are expected to significantly enhance the NSTX's scientific output, accelerating its contribution to the fundamental understanding of fusion plasmas and providing urgently needed results for next-step fusion experiments, including ITER -- a large international fusion energy experiment under construction at Cadarche, France.
A portion of the funds will be dedicated to the modernization of the laboratory's electrical distribution system to improve reliability and availability for PPPL's experimental systems.
As a long-term source of alternative energy, fusion has many distinct advantages including: worldwide availability of inexhaustible low-cost fuel; no contribution to global warming or acid rain; and no possibility of a runaway reaction or meltdown. The materials and byproducts of fusion are not suitable for weapons production.
The PPPL grant was included in more than $327 million of new ARRA funding announced by DOE Aug. 4 to support scientific research, instrumentation and laboratory infrastructure projects.
"The projects provide vital funding and new tools for research aimed at strengthening America's energy security and tackling some of science's toughest challenges," DOE Secretary Steven Chu said in the department's announcement.
In March, Chu announced $1.2 billion of stimulus funding for DOE Office of Science projects. On July 17, DOE announced a new Office of Science Early Career Research Program to be funded with $85 million in Recovery Act funds. With this third and final round of funding, projects covering the full $1.6 billion that the DOE Office of Science received from Congress under the Recovery Act have now been approved.


text:
John Chambers, CEO and chairman of Cisco Systems, leads off our video interview series McKinsey conversations with global leaders. This ongoing project explores vital management issues, industry insights, and topical analysis with CEOs of today's leading global companies.
In this video, Chambers explores approaches to decentralized management and leadership. He also provides perspective on the future of Web technology and the opportunity that an economic downturn provides for strategically minded companies. James Manyika, a director in McKinsey's San Francisco office, conducted the interview in San Jose, California, in May 2009.
Watch the conversation in our video interactive, or read the transcript below.
The downturn: Positioning for opportunities
The Quarterly: Let me start with a topic that's probably on everybody's mind right now: the downturn and the current crisis. How do you see it?
John Chambers: Lots of people say, "What are you going to do in the next month or the next quarter?" And this is my fifth downturn over the last 20 years. We've always gained market share and emerged stronger than we went into it. Part of the reason that we did that is we don't look short term. No one knows for sure. But we're preparing ourselves for how we look, whether it's six months out or 24 months out. Strategy doesn't change. But if you push me, I'd say it feels like it's starting to level out. My customers, for the first time, have something firm underneath their feet. That's no guarantee that it won't drop off again or stay flat for a long time, but you have to have a leveling off before you have an upturn.
The Quarterly: What are you telling your customers? I imagine your partners are probably quite anxious, your employees are probably quite anxious—what are you telling them?
John Chambers: Well, the most important thing I tell them is, don't make your decisions on the next month or the next quarter, because your observations are likely to be wrong. Secondly, as tough as this is, this is when you have a chance to make change. And, while I always wish we had avoided it, how you handle what we call market transitions—and part of that is economic challenges—determines where you are in the future. And unfortunately, the more disruptive they are, actually, the more opportunity they offer.
So we just communicate very openly and transparently with our customers, our employees, our shareholders. We're very upfront that we talk to almost every major government and business in the world and key economists—no one knows. And we say, if you had to say what's the most likely scenario, here's how you outline it, and how do you build flexibility into that? So that's what I tell the customers.
The Quarterly: If you look around the economy and the sectors, you're seeing businesses hunkering down; you're seeing companies cutting back on research and innovation. Most innovation initiatives are on hold in most companies. You introduced something quite the opposite to that. Can you explain what you're doing?
John Chambers: Let me put it in context first. In 1993, 1997, 2001—which was life or death for our industry—again 2003, and now in 2009: those are the five major economic challenges we've seen. In each of those, we went into them with kind of a playbook, if you will, of what we run our plays on during economic tough times. And we've tweaked them over the years but haven't changed it dramatically. Then we develop a game plan for the uniqueness of the given economic challenge.
So where we are today is we are at a time that, having learned from 2001, we go into this one with $34 billion in cash. We go into this structure with an innovative management structure that is more around empowering groups—with a very disciplined process behind it—and empowering groups in a way that allows them to move across into market adjacencies with a speed and efficiency and, hopefully, a much higher hit rate than we've ever been able to do.
We see all of these market transitions going on at the same time; so, instead of doing 1 or 2 a year, like we did during each of the economic slowdowns—the four that we'd seen before—we're going to do 30. And it sounds impossible. But without the structure that we started on in 2001, and without the discipline we added to that structure in 2003, it would be impossible. And it's all around technology enabled by collaboration and network technologies, called Web 2.0. So, without the technology, even if you had the organization structure and the business models right, you couldn't do this. A nice way of saying, "Yeah, we're going to be the most aggressive we've ever been in our history."
The Quarterly: What have been the hardest lessons you've learned about how to survive, innovate, break through? What have you learned?
John Chambers: Well, I might break the answer into several pieces. First is—make no mistake about it—while we sound like we move fast, we are very disciplined on how we move. And so, the first part is that there are rules for an economic downturn. The first is, be realistic: how much did the macroenvironment cause, and how much of it is self-inflicted? And you've got to address the self-inflicted part as you get ready to come out.
The second is, determine how deep it's going to be and how long it's going to last. And cannily, you set your plan appropriately. It will usually be deeper and last longer than you think. The third one really ties back to concepts about how you get closer to your customer at a point in time and how you use these downturns really to move into the market adjacencies. So we have a very disciplined approach on it.
It is that type of combination of discipline with process, with innovation of willing to try things and then, if it works, building the strategy around it. And that ties back to mistakes. You were very kind, but we've made a lot of mistakes. But the two that repeat are when we don't move fast enough. And you might say, "Well, John, you all move at tremendously fast speed." May be true, but almost all the windows of opportunities I've missed—areas that got ahead of us that we couldn't get back into without doing big acquisitions or something—have been when I've moved too slow.
The second element, however, equally important, is if you try to move too fast without a process behind it that can scale, have flexibility, and be able to be replicated, that's equally as bad as not moving fast at all. And so, it's building on those with today's models we talked about, et cetera, that I think represent the future.
The big picture: The future of Web technology
The Quarterly: You said you're going to be aggressive. What does that mean?
John Chambers: Well, aggressive means we're going to be aggressive in moving into new markets that we traditionally might have moved into slower. It isn't so much just the economic downturn that causes that; it's when opportunities open up windows, if you will. You either get through and the window comes shut behind you, or it prevents you from getting through.
And we're seeing a large number of opportunities open up with tremendous speed, whether it's virtualization of the data center, where serving technology and storage technology and network technology and software come together—if you don't move now, you get left behind. It isn't about the data center, it's all the way to the home; video architecture, which may take you from a single device, like a flip company we just recently bought; all the way through telepresence. But it isn't about individual products, it's about how it plays together architecturally to change business models or entertainment; or the approach on how you move in the sporting arenas, wire the stadiums, but take that experience straight into the home.
It really talks about catching these transitions or getting left behind. And so, we're fortunately structured in a way that we believe—and time will tell if we're right or wrong—allows us not to do one or two priorities, like we had done before, but almost three dozen. When we were entering orders online and doing customer support online—when Cisco did that in the early '90s—they said, "Oh, that's just you high-tech guys. You're a little bit weird anyhow." And we, in fact, know that within about three years, every industry followed this, and it [lead to] productivity and growth not just for Cisco, but for our customers and for our peers, for almost a decade.
We now think you're entering the second phase of this productivity growth. It's all going to be around collaboration and network-enabled technologies called Web 2.0 that enable collaboration. And what you're seeing, to the first point of your question, is a tremendous explosion in terms of the utilization of these technologies.
And it's not top down, where I'm telling people to use it. I just show what's capable and then, cannily, it's like a virus that grows. So our Web blogging, if you will, which if you'd have told me I was going to blog three or four years ago, I'd have said, "Take it to the bank. That's not going to happen." Blogging is the way I communicate with our employees—almost all video. Our utilization of discussion forums, you have ongoing topics you deal with, is not up 160 percent over the last year, it's up 1,600. Taking YouTube capabilities and bring them internal—we call it CiscoVision—is up 3,100 [percent], with 54,000 employees out of 66,000 using it in the last year. Using Webex capability, where you collaborate both internal and external through firewalls, utilization is up 3,900 percent.
Those are clearly numbers that indicate a new market transition. And it enables these new organization structures and the new business models that we talked about. That's probably the most revolutionary thing going on. Investing in IT the last couple of years didn't necessarily get you the productivity or the standard of living change. It's these new technologies that will drive the next wave of productivity. So that would be a statement of concept two years ago, but we're now seeing it ourselves in how we're using it; and government leaders, as well as business leaders, are beginning to grasp what is possible here. So I'm pretty optimistic on what this means for this country but, clearly, also for countries around the world.
The Quarterly: What does this mean for your customers? If you're a company—so I'm a bank, or I'm a retailing company—tell me what this allows me to do and what the potential impact of these collaborations will be?
John Chambers: Well, let's assume that driving productivity at 5 to 10 percent a year is doable. So, the first thing the CEO says: "What's doable in my industry? Where am I leading, where am I falling behind? And walk me through an example." You could take, basically, when a customer walks into your store: you can identify who that customer is by a security camera. And people often use those cameras not for security as much as they do for treating the customers in a way the customer wants. If the associates and the management team recognize me when I go into a store and they know my buying patterns, they're able to help me more effectively. They can say, "Do you want any special service?" They're able to automatically take some digital signage and—say they know that I perhaps might like fishing gear in Wal-Mart and they also know that I like Wal-Mart's deal on nice wines at a very good price—so they watch my buying behavior and then, suddenly, as I go past the digital sign, say, "The fishing gear—we're having a special sale over here. And by the way, here's a wine that you may want to look at." And you look at that, and you say, "How is that possible?" That's going to come.
And in the electronics area of a store, where suddenly an associate might only be needed one or two hours a day because of the level of complexity of the questions, suddenly that associate can be beamed in from any Wal-Mart store anywhere around the area. Or the store manager can suddenly take a look—"Here's what my aisles look like." They can watch what customers are being attracted to or not. You suddenly can change supply chain, next-generation supply chain. Instead of taking 18 months from the idea of a fabric to translating it through into clothes in the store, it could perhaps occur in 3 to 6 months.
It can cut your travel budget with telepresence. Ours went from $750 million a year to $350 million a year, sustainable. And we've actually, under the economic challenges, dropped it to $240 [million]—and it will never come back past $350 [million]. So our average expenditure per employee has been probably 65 percent lower than what it was at the start of this and will not come back.
All businesses will have this. It doesn't matter if you're a bank doing the similar scenario—with your security cameras and telepresence in the store to give unique capabilities to connecting the regular customers or new customers, what they want to do—or a retail store, or manufacturing, or a high-tech company.
Management lessons: Remodeling for collaboration
John Chambers: I always believe you deal with the world the way it is, not the way you wish it was. And what has changed is, the segment of the industry I've moved in has moved from being "plumbers." And I'm proud to be a plumber. First, it's a very honorable profession. Secondly, you make a lot of money doing plumbing on the Internet.
But the future's about, how do you add intelligence to that plumbing? And how do you do it architecturally from a technology point of view, going from any device to any content over any combination of networks and data, voice, video? Sounds simple; really complex with security and predictability. But how do you change the business process?
So we'll move from a company that sold plumbing and routers and technology, which customers kind of integrated, to a company that, if we do our job right, will be the most trusted business adviser as well as the most trusted technology adviser to the top companies in the world, be they enterprise or service providers, to the top governments, et cetera. That is the biggest transition. Now, the challenge is, you couldn't do that without different organization structures.
And I'm a command-and-control guy. It clearly has worked well for me. I say, turn right, 66,600 people turn right. But that's not the future. The future's going to be all around collaboration and teamwork, with a structured process behind it. And that's the key. You can't move fast without a replicable process. So it's about speed, combined with technology enablement, combined with a replicable process.
The Quarterly: Traditional management theory would say, "Cisco, John, you have too many priorities, way too many. Pick a few, prioritize. How you're going to run a company without a straightforward organizational structure. This doesn't make any sense." How do you respond to that?
John Chambers: Well, first, they could be right. Any time you take yourself too seriously and think that critics may not be right, then you're already in trouble. However, we started modeling this in 2001. That's when we moved to social communities with a great deal of discipline, which we called councils, $10 billion opportunities; boards, $1 billion opportunities; working groups on what you do on a transaction or how you enable those.
And, over the last eight years, we've done things right and we've made some mistakes and we've adjusted, including the management team and what are their skill sets and how they're rewarded. And then we put behind it a very disciplined vision five to ten years out of what you want it to look like; what your true, sustainable differentiation [is, which] you've got to implement in two to four years; and then, execution-wise, what are you going to do the next 12 to 18 months? So you're able to play a portfolio, like I just said, with tremendous speed and efficiency, where I might be involved in only two to three of the councils and boards and working groups. Each of our key executives will do the same; and instead of 10 people running the company, with a very heavy leaning toward the command, [we have moved to a structure with] the top 500 people running it today.
The Quarterly: But how does it actually work? These councils and boards, are they empowered? Do they make decisions?
John Chambers: Well, they're empowered, but they have to know where they are. The classic question is, "Well, if I'm going to lead, I've got to have people reporting to me and I've got to control budget." And the answer is, "No" and "No"—because that's not what cross-functional leadership is about. Cross-functional leadership is about doing a replicable process with a business model that can be enabled by technology, and each of the functional groups being able to implement that. So whoever serves on each of these councils and boards and working groups, from each functional group, has to be able to speak for the whole group. Not go back and ask permission, but has to be able to speak for the group.
Secondly, they've got to understand the implications of their decisions across all the functions. That was a learning curve for us, because we developed our people in silos. And third, you select who goes on these councils and boards by the leaders of the group, which originally were my executive VPs and senior VPs. And all of a sudden people will try to be on every one, if they were the leader of the functional group. And it took about four councils and boards, and they couldn't keep up. So they had to delegate, they had to empower, they had to train. And it took us a while to change compensation, reward systems, but now it's a machine.
The Quarterly: But it also sounds like a lot of meetings.
John Chambers: Yes. Virtual, physical, and ongoing. It's to where my senior execs will probably spend 30 percent plus—not in meetings, because the definition of a meeting has changed—in collaborative sessions and execution sessions. And so, you are talking about how we spend our time being dramatically changed. Theoretical eight years ago; started to work about four years ago; replicated with tremendous speed today.
And for the first time, there was a tipping point with my customers in the last four months. What has occurred in the last 120 days is that leading-edge customers—I'm not talking 5 or 10, I'm talking 50 to 100—have said, "We understand this innovation business model. We understand how you're innovating on the organization structure, and we understand how you're using collaboration Web 2.0 to innovate on the new business models. And we think you're going to be able to do it, with all the appropriate caveats, across not just five areas but across several dozen."
The Quarterly: Do you think this is a model that most other companies can also do and replicate?
John Chambers: I think it is actually much more replicable than the command-and-control, top-down [approach] I did before.
The top-down that we did before was based upon really growing up within the company, being a part of taking it from $70 million to about $35 billion, being able to watch one product go to two, being through five economic downturns, developing the game book and the game-planning playbook for the approaches.
That is command and control, and it is tremendously dependant upon your top leaders. This is an organization structure that I think is built for the future and is much more built upon, "How do you gain the power of the human network to really move on decisions and directions?" Sounds like nice marketing, but most of our nice marketing usually has happened even though we might have been a little bit early or a little bit late. So I think, when we talk five years from now, this will be the future of business models.
Business in society: Public–private partnerships
The Quarterly: Can you talk a little bit about what you see as the role of technology and businesses like yours working with city and national governments?
John Chambers: Okay. I'm going to break it into two pieces. The first is what we see working with governments, in terms of traditional business and how do you really prepare for the future. And the second is more in corporate social responsibility and public–private partnerships, if you will, being, I think, a model for the future around collaboration.
So, to the first part, when you talk about the future, you can talk about smart, connected communities. Intelligent urbanization: 500 million people moving into cities of the future. Traditional cities: how do they evolve? What I call towns or small communities, and then all the way down to the rural environment.
Let's just deal with the first one. When you talk to President Lee [Myung-Bak], of South Korea, or Mayor Ahn [Sang-soo], who's the mayor of Inchon, which is really the economic city built outside of Seoul, they'll talk about how do you combine a structure with the direction of government; with a developer, really enlightened developer who knows where they're headed, how they're doing it; with a Cisco, to be able to say, how do you create perhaps as much as 200,000 sustainable, incremental jobs? How do you contribute as much as somewhere between a half a point to the whole point of GDP growth for all of South Korea? How do you combine an architecture—which addresses everything from green initiatives, smart electricity, productivity, government services such as education and health care—to tie them back to other government services, to intelligent transportation, smart buildings. How do you do this architecturally? And the answer is, intelligent plumbing, combined with a visionary government leader, combined with a developer who would build it in. And that's able to go all the way down through what's going on in China and the Middle East, et cetera, and it gives you speed of an ability to move into that area.
You could then transition and say, "Well, John, I didn't even know you knew what smart grids were." Well, maybe six months ago I wasn't even focused on it, but it's one of our top priorities. And yet here, in a series of positioning, using councils and boards and working groups, we've moved from a player often people didn't associate with smart grids to the top announcement that's been done—in my opinion, world to date—which was with GE's leadership and with Florida Power & Light's leadership, with local government, in terms of the city of Miami, [when they] announced Energy Smart Miami, where they're going to go in terms of, "How do you really use grid technology to make the cost of electricity over time cheaper for the employees?" To do it in a more environmentally friendly [way], to generate what they said is a 1,500-person job increase just in the one city, that could expand throughout the state and throughout the region? These organization structures allow for speed of change, which did not occur before, but they're often with groups that have not worked together.
Then, over the corporate social responsibility: your ability to make a difference. I started in the Middle East with King Abdullah of Jordan, an outgrowth of the World Economic Forum, where King Abdullah said, "John, I need partners to help me transition the country." When Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi: how do we transform the education system? We put $90 million into the area—purely corporate social responsibility—21st-century schools, wiring the areas. Terrible earthquake in Sichuan province: it wasn't just about giving back. It was, "How do you partner in a way that can change education and government?" We put $45 million into it. I've been back there twice physically, including just about three weeks ago, and once virtually.
It is those types of programs that, first, are the right thing. I've always believed those who are most successful owe an obligation to give back. But also—what I can now articulate—it's just plain, good business as well. Wherever we've been good on corporate social responsibility, we're almost always in the top ten places to work, which we are in every major country in the world. But also, the better we are in corporate social responsibility, it's amazing how it transfers over to business success.
On leadership: Adapting as a leader
The Quarterly: As you think about your role as the leader—the CEO—of Cisco, what do you find to be the limiting factor?
John Chambers: I'm the roadblock. In command and control, the enabler is the CEO. Where the industry's going, in every industry, will be about how do you change. How do you get outside your comfort zone? How do you basically catch your marks, transitions, and move on? Let's use the current economic downturn. When you have an economic downturn of this challenge, 20 to 40 percent of the companies will never get back to where they were before. Never.
And the key is, how do you focus that opportunity in a way that not only allows you to return to where you were before but to continue to grow? And so, part of it is the ability to paint a picture of what's possible. Part of it is also to manage inside our own minds and our hearts a combination of opportunity and [a sense of] if you don't move, you will get left behind.
The Quarterly: But how do you motivate the employees? You're obviously very excited about the vision. It sounds like you've got leaders, and these boards and councils, that are also pretty excited about the vision.
John Chambers: If they weren't excited about the vision, they probably aren't here any more. Everybody thinks about what you do as a direct result of the most recent quarter or the most recent year, including the stock market. When, with all appropriate consideration, the results that we got today—and they've been very good versus our peers—are what we did three to five years ago. The results we get three to five years out are what we made decisions on today. So the first thing you do is paint the picture of a vision where you want to go.
Secondly, you're realistic on your sustainable differentiation to get there—and that's visions, five to ten years; sustainable differentiation, two to four years. Now, what are you going to do in the next execution, next 12 to 18 months, to get there? You sell to your employees, and you've got to communicate, communicate, communicate. You do the same with your customers, shareholders, in a very transparent fashion. What's possible, why you're doing this, here are the milestones they ought to watch. By the time everybody agrees, or a majority agrees, it's too late. You either have already won or you have already lost.
So, it's having the courage, as leadership, to change and realize—back to my earlier comment—it's often the best leaders that are most resistant to change. And about 20 percent of my leaders didn't make the transition. They were command-and-control, wonderful leaders but wanted to stay command and control and couldn't transition over. And I had nothing against that. It's like a basketball player who can score 30 points a game. But if you're going to go into a real, unique style of team offense and team defense, if a person can't adjust, it's probably better that they get traded to another team. And so, all of us have to change. And the leader has to not only say the talk, she or he has got to walk the talk. Got to be the best example.
The Quarterly: How do you change personally? Where do you get your ideas from? Where do you get your energy from? Where do you get these radical concepts from? How do you change?
John Chambers: Well, it's unique in that one thing has not changed about Cisco in the almost 19 years I've been here: we are driven by our customers. Customers tell you about transitions, you must then drive it down through the organization. But, realizing the speed at which these transitions are coming at us, I have to change the organization structure. I have to change my style. I have to listen differently. I now attend telepresence sessions with industry analysts and probably 12 different locations that were in the same room. I listen to what they think we're doing well—listening, most important, to what they have to do differently.
How do you no longer listen to customers about a router or a switcher? I get excited about it, but most of your audience: not too excited. But how do you listen to them in a way that goes across routing and switching, data centers, home, mobile networks, security, sports and entertainment, video, all coming together in a logical fashion? And the answer is, you have to change to do that. And you've got to make it replicable. Because if you plant a thousand seeds and let a thousand seeds bloom, you get a weed field. You've got to build it in a structure that ties together with a common vision of where you're going to go.
It isn't just about speed or innovation. It's about operational excellence, combined with the capability to scale and to replicate. So I had to change. And I had to realize that I would either be part of the future success, or I would be the one that would slow us down. And you've got to get people around you, customers and twenty somethings, that really challenge you. Because when my team told me I ought to be focused on Web 2.0, as opposed to collaboration and telepresence, my answer was, "Why?" And they said, "Well, John, it's the future." And I said, "I don't necessarily agree." And then, they said, "Try." Including blogging—and video blogging. If you had told me I was going to do that, I would have said, "Not a chance." And yet, once I tried it a couple of times, I got very comfortable with it. And it's the way I now communicate. So you've got to, especially during major, violent economic or market disruptions, you've got to move fast. And you've got to be willing to listen and try new things. And I realize that you can be part of the solution, or you can be part of the problem.
If you think that you cannot be left behind, you're wrong—regardless of what position you're in. But also, if you adopt the philosophy of "I have no choice; I've just got to hunker down and survive," your survival rate goes down dramatically, and you will probably miss the biggest opportunity of your business career on what's occurring now. So it's the balancing. It's not a "or"; it's, how do you do the "and"? How do you do innovation and operation of execution? How do you behave financially, conservatively, during the toughest economic challenge we've seen in our lifetime, yet use this challenge in a way that repositions you for the future? And then, how do you use technology in ways that you've probably not thought of—that are easy to use, video based, network enabled—to change your business process and to change what you do for society? Sounds high level, but it's remarkably effective.


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Sony's Fury grossed $2.84 million on Tuesday to lead the daily box office for a fifth consecutive day. The David Ayer directed World War II film starring Brad Pitt was up a healthy 20 percent over Monday. After being a bit front-loaded over the weekend, Fury has been holding up nicely so far during the midweek. Fury has grossed $28.89 million in five days. That is towards the lower end of expectations and places the film 12.5 percent ahead of the $25.67 million five-day start of Sony's The Monuments Men earlier this year.
Fox's Gone Girl held steady in second place with $1.79 million. The critically acclaimed David Fincher directed film starring Ben Affleck increased 23 percent over Monday and was down a very solid 36 percent from last Tuesday. Gone Girl has grossed a very impressive $110.02 million in 19 days. That places the film 75 percent ahead of the $62.89 million 19-day take of 2012's Argo.
Warner's The Judge was up two spots and a very strong 45 percent over Monday to take third on Tuesday with $0.995 million. It was a very tight race for places third through sixth on Tuesday, as only $93,996 separated third place from sixth place. The Judge was down 38 percent from last Tuesday and has grossed $28.50 million in twelve days, which is towards the lower end of expectations.
Dracula Untold followed closely behind in fourth with $0.985 million. Universal's action horror film starring Luke Evans was up 19 percent over Monday and down 50 percent from last Tuesday. Dracula Untold has grossed a stronger than expected $42.65 million in twelve days, but continues to display signs of being significantly front-loaded.
Fox's The Book of Life was down two spots from Monday to round out Tuesday's top five with $0.948 million. The modestly budgeted 3D computer animated film was up 13 percent over Monday, as family films in general didn't hold up as well as films aimed at adults on Tuesday. The Book of Life has grossed $18.79 million in five days. The film continues to perform in line with expectations and very similarly to The Boxtrolls out of the gate, which grossed $18.87 million during its first five days.
Relativity's The Best of Me took in $0.900 million to remain in sixth. The Nicholas Sparks adaptation starring Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden increased 33 percent over Monday's performance. The Best of Me continues to perform on the low end of its modest expectations (and softly for a Sparks adaptation) with a five-day start of $11.58 million.
On the platform front, Fox Searchlight's Birdman continued to impress with $51,664 from 4 locations. That represented a 5 percent decline from Monday and gave the critically acclaimed Alejandro González Iñárritu directed film starring Michael Keaton a massive per-location average of $12,916 for the day. Birdman has grossed $530,405 through five days of platform release and is set to open in additional locations on Friday.


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The Alexandria City Council voted 6-to-1 Saturday to approve two apartment and retail buildings in Arlandria despite protests from residents of the mostly immigrant, low-income community.
The six-story, 600,000-square-foot structures will replace Mt. Vernon Village Center, a low-lying 1950s-era strip mall on the 3800 block of Mount Vernon Avenue. With space for shops and restaurants on the ground level, Arlandria Center will contain 478 apartments — 28 of which are considered "lower-income affordable housing," according to a statement from City Hall.
In a city with a median household income of about $80,000, that housing will be feasible for residents making about $50,000 a year. Most of Arlandria's residents make between $25,000 and $50,000 a year, according to Gabriel Rojo, executive director of Tenants and Workers United, a community organization based in the neighborhood.
The other 450 apartments will be affordable for the city's workforce, like teachers and fire fighters, according to city officials. But the private developer, PMI, has not released an exact figure.
"Alexandria has been working hard to create more dedicated affordable housing units, so it was important to lock in these 28 lower-income, new affordable housing units for this neighborhood," Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said in a statement.
Arlandria residents and supporters packed City Hall in protest Saturday, telling elected officials they were not included in the planning process. Officials disagreed, pointing to several meetings held in the neighborhood since 2003.
Councilwoman Alicia Hughes was the lone dissenting vote.
City officials believe the redevelopment of Arlandria is necessary to improve the streetscape, safety and desirability of the area, while the opposition worries the move will gentrify the area by pricing out locals. Construction could start as early as next year.


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Art and Comics by D. Shazzbaa Bennett
A sampling of art, illustration, and character design.
Colouring books, comics and posters, oh my! Check out the store to buy my books and prints.
My Webcomics
Today Nothing Happened
A four-year completely true comic about my cat problems, art school, real life, D&D, and all the hilarity contained therein.
An ongoing fantasy comic about a deaf girl trying to help her shapechanger friend fix an embarrassing magical mistake.
My Art in Other People's Comics
Daughters of the King
A short vignette drawn for the excellent webcomic Snow-by-Night.
As We Were
A 100-page story about a demon-hunter looking for revenge, drawn for Kel McDonald's Veiled Truths series.


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MAKEFIELD AUTO REPAIR > The Best Auto Repair And Maintenance Services > HIGH-PERFORMANCE SUSPENSION
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Wheelie Bars
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Among other things he's been taken aback by the fact that borrowing $90K to go to this school could easily end up costing him $300K, once one adds up both the interest charges he'll end up paying on the loans and the cash he and his wife plan to spend (she's going to work while he's in school) to pay for law school while he's enrolled.
Beyond this, he's noticed how much his views on the whole process have changed simply as a product of the fact that he ended up stepping back from the whole application scramble before he actually made the leap:
I think that the reason why 0Ls continue to perceive law school as an attractive option regardless of the costs or employment realities, is that by the time they get information regarding the employment picture, most have already invested a great deal of physical and emotional energy into law school. They've probably spent months studying for and then taken the LSAT, invested time in researching law schools and taken the employment materials they've provided at face value, found professors to write them letters of recommendation, drafted and revised their personal statements numerous times, and finally sent out their applications only to wait with great anxiety about whether or not they would be accepted. If they're anything like me, during this whole process, they've also looked back at their college education and all the effort they put into performing well as meaningfully leading up to the moment where they could enter professional school and embark on a rewarding and lucrative career path. This, paired with the fact that they are constantly being encouraged by classmates, professors, pre-law advisers, and family members (and more or less all of society) to continue their education and pursue a professional degree, deters them from considering that a legal education might be the biggest mistake of their lives. It was only after I had finished sending out all of my applications in mid-December that I began to casually look more closely at the perils of pursuing a law degree (and by this time I had already been imagining the "perceived" rewards of pursuing a legal career for nearly 12 months).This seems to me a very plausible account of what could be called the social psychology of the law school admissions process. Indeed I would add that this general process tends to continue throughout a student's first semester of law school, when engagement and optimism are naturally at their peaks.
The natural attachment that develops from being so committed to a vision of the future is difficult to break away from, even after you become aware of how unrealistic such a future may be. Perhaps many 0Ls simply get the information too late, after they've already invested a great deal of time and effort into the whole law-school process. At that point, I think it becomes all too easy for most students to simply turn a blind eye to the red-flags being raised by bloggers and in the media. I suspect if the amount of transparency you (and many others) are demanding becomes the norm, then the number of students seeking to pursue a legal education will rapidly decline. If many students were deterred before they invested a year or so of their lives in the admissions process (that is, deterred at the outset by the dismal employment numbers law schools would be required to make public on their websites), then I suspect many more would be less inclined to bother with putting in the effort of applying at all and, hopefully, not find themselves attached to a romanticized vision of a future in the legal profession.
For years, I taught a two-semester Property course, and it was always very striking how different the atmosphere was in the classroom on the first day of the second semester. The students had gotten their grades, which for a great number of them meant that for what at that point had been a couple of years of engagement with certain dreams of the future was coming to what must have felt like an abrupt end. (And this was before the present crisis.). For a great many potential law students, it would be all to the good if they could subject themselves to something like that harsh form of reality therapy before they had sunk a semester's worth of costs in law school -- and perhaps more significantly before they had made a commitment to a path that for reasons of social psychology becomes harder to leave the further one walks down it.
Further thought: It also occurs to me that the financial investment people make in the application process might be quite significant in at least a psychological sense. How much does an LSAT prep course run? Then there are the costs of taking the test, of applying to schools, of maybe visiting a couple . . . And we know that people tend not to be "rational" (in the econ sense of rational) about sunk costs.