text:
Cardiovascular Consequences of NIV Withdrawal in Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00745238
Recruitment Status : Unknown
Verified September 2008 by University Hospital, Grenoble.
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
First Posted : September 3, 2008
Last Update Posted : August 13, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Background: Myotonic dystrophy lead to highly heterogeneous, multisystemic symptoms including myotonia, progressive muscle weakness, cardiac conduction defects, cataract, metabolic dysfunction, and excessive daytime somnolence. This last symptom is related to respiratory failure and/or to involvement of the central nervous system. However the metabolic disturbances could contribute to it. From the respiratory point of view this disease is characterised by the progressive appearance of respiratory failure of muscular origin but mainly associated with a defect in the central respiratory drive. The treatment for this hypoventilation is non-invasive ventilation (NIV).
It is not currently absolutely clear as to the best choice of criteria to judge long term effectiveness of NIV. The most usual criteria are normalisation of daytime blood gases, diminution of respiratory work, improvement in daytime symptoms and improvement in sleep structure. Other criteria are currently little studied, for instance the contribution of the interaction between alveolar hypoventilation and oxygen desaturation during the night and biological deficiencies such as systemic inflammation, glucose intolerance or insulin resistance. Likewise there is little information about the interaction between alveolar hypoventilation and endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness both being accurate predictive factors for cardiovascular risks.
Aim: to evaluate the impact of NIV on endothelial dysfunction in patients with myotonic dystrophy. The secondary objectives are to assess the impact of NIV on systemic inflammation, arterial stiffness, insulin-resistance, quality of sleep, and daytime vigilance in these patients.
Methods: Patients with chronic alveolar hypoventilation already treated by long term NIV will be included. They will have an initial check-up (Visit 1), then will interrupt NIV treatment for four weeks (Visit 2), and then return to NIV treatment. The last check-up will be done four weeks after NIV resumption (Visit3).
Expected results: It is expected that NIV withdrawal will results in a deterioration of cardio-vascular parameters (endothelial function and arterial stiffness), metabolic parameters (insulin-resistance and systemic inflammation), quality of sleep and daytime vigilance. Return to NIV treatment may show an improvement of these parameters with a basal state recovery.
|Condition or disease
|Other: withdrawal of non-invasive ventilation
|Not Applicable
NIV is a technique of assisted ventilation that does not use the endotracheal route as the interface between the patient and the ventilator. NIV by positive pressure assistance involves ventilating the patient by means of a mask adjusted on the nose or covering the nose and mouth. This technique is now the recommended therapeutic strategy for the treatment of chronic alveolar hypoventilation. It improves survival and quality of life, and improves daytime blood gases in patients suffering form chronic restrictive respiratory failure.
For each check-up (3 visits), patients will have a polysomnography, a complete respiratory function measurement (Flows and lung volumes, CO2 sensitivity test, SNIF test, blood gazes analysis), a test of endothelial function (peripheral arterial tone), a test of arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity), an assessment of systemic inflammation (ultra sensitive CRP, TNFa, IL6), assessment of diurnal vigilance tests ( OSLER test and sleepiness scale) and assessment of metabolic and endocrinal function (insulinemia, glucose blood level, Leptin, DHEA).
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Estimated Enrollment :
|35 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Supportive Care
|Official Title:
|Four Weeks Withdrawal of Non-invasive Ventilation (NIV) in Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy: Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Daytime Vigilance Induced Changes
|Study Start Date :
|June 2008
|Estimated Primary Completion Date :
|December 2012
|Estimated Study Completion Date :
|December 2012
|Experimental: Myotonic Dystrophy 1
Other: withdrawal of non-invasive ventilation
Four weeks withdrawal of non-invasive ventilation
- To evaluate endothelial dysfunction (as measured by Peripheral arterial tone (PAT)) and its evolution after four weeks withdrawal of non-invasive ventilation (NIV). [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
- To assess arterial stiffness, systemic inflammation (IL6, TNFα, Leptin, CRP), insulin resistance, DHEA, sleep quality, objective and subjective daytime somnolence and their evolution after four weeks withdrawal of NIV. [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
- Patients (>18 yrs) suffering from myotonic dystrophy already treated by long term nocturnal non invasive ventilation for more than six months for a chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure (Level of PaCO2 at beginning of the treatment should be between 45 and 55 mmHg)
- Patients should use his (her) non-invasive ventilation more than 4 hours and less than 12 hours per day.
- Patients could have an associated obstructive or/and central sleep apnea.
- NIV treatment should be consider as "efficient ": To allow an improvement of PaCO2 during wakefulness in the morning when using NIV compared to PaCO2 at the beginning of the treatment; To allow an improvement of the nocturnal oxymetry compared to baseline (mean nocturnal SaO2 > 90%).
- Patients with a concomitant respiratory condition contributing to daytime alveolar hypoventilation.
- Patients judged by investigators as at high cardiovascular risk, this contraindicating NIV withdrawal.
- Patients with cardiac failure and periodic breathing.
- Patients who have had an acute episode of respiratory failure in the previous month.
- Incapacitated patients in accordance with article L 1121-6 of the public health code.
- Patients treated by oral corticosteroids or oral long-term non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID).
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00745238
|Contact: Jean Louis PEPIN JP PEPIN, PROFESSOR
|France.Functional Cardio-Respiratory Exploration Laboratory
|Grenoble., Isere, France, 38000
|Contact: Jean -Louis JL PEPIN, professor 0033476765516 email@example.com
|Principal Investigator:
|Jean Louis PEPIN, PROFESSOR
|University Hospital, Grenoble
|Responsible Party:
|University Hospital, Grenoble
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|September 3, 2008 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|August 13, 2012
|Last Verified:
|September 2008
endothelial function
peripheral arterial tone
systemic inflammation
oxidative stress
respiratory and peripheral muscular function
Myotonic Dystrophy
Muscular Dystrophies
Myotonic Disorders
Muscular Disorders, Atrophic
Muscular Diseases
Musculoskeletal Diseases
Heredodegenerative Disorders, Nervous System
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Nervous System Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases
Genetic Diseases, Inborn
Neuromuscular Manifestations
Neurologic Manifestations
Signs and Symptoms


text:
SKF electromechanical cylinders
Maintain performance while using less energy
Combining the power of hydraulics and the velocity of pneumatics, SKF electromechanical cylinders offer an energy-efficient solution for high-load, long-stroke applications.
An electromechanical system features just one energy conversion versus two in a hydraulic system. Set up is much simpler, as the motion controller can be connected to all industrial electrical power supplies and customer interfaces, resulting in reduced installation time. Advantages include:
- Improved reliability – less wearing parts and virtually maintenance free
- Energy savings – due to reduced number of energy conversions
- Allows faster operation and long strokes under high load
- High acceleration capability, optimizing cycling times
- Ease of use and set-up

subset: commoncrawl


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Below is the latest table showing estimated tax season refund payment dates based on past refund cycles and IRS guidelines. It shows the date your refund will be processed and paid based on the week your return is accepted by the IRS. For refund dates specific to your tax filing go to the Where is my Refund (WMR) page or IRS2Go mobile application. Also note that for the upcoming tax season, existing IRS tables and rules are in place.
Note that Jan 27th is when the IRS E-file system will start processing electronic and paper tax returns. Even if you submitted before this date, don't expect refund processing and payments to take place beforehand.
Check back regularly and if the information here was useful please consider sharing this page via Facebook, Twitter or your other social media channels. See more at 21 reasons your tax refund is delayed
EITC and ACTC Related Tax Refund Delays (PATH) Update: As in previous tax seasons a number of tax payers will see refund processing delays. The IRS had already announced that it will have to hold/delay refund payments for people claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) due to additional anti-fraud safeguards/reviews under newly enacted laws (PATH Act). But the IRS is now processing refunds which were originally being held up due to PATH mandates. You should no longer be seeing the PATH message as a blocker to get your refund processed and paid. If held up for other reasons (see below) you will get the applicable message/follow-up action.
The federal IRS refund schedule table below is only for electronically filed returns (e-file) done thorough online tax software providers and assumes your tax return was in order. I.e accepted by the IRS via the WMR tool and status is equal to "Return Received". Paper filed returns can take considerably longer and would add 1 to 2 weeks to the time frames below. Again, use the the tax refund chart below as a guideline and refer to the IRS WMR tool for specific timeframes related to your return.
Also note that it could take much longer to get your refund if the IRS deems your tax return submission needs further reviews or your identity needs to be verified. This would add two to nine weeks to the date range of your refund delivery date.
For those impacted by tax refund delays (and it will be a lot this year) make sure you also scroll through some of the ~8000 comments below this article from current and prior years for further ideas/support, including some useful tips and tricks to find out your refund status if you are not getting much insight from the IRS WMR tool. So hang in there if you are dealing with extended delays for getting for your federal tax refund. You are not alone.
|Tax Return Accepted by IRS After
(WMR status = Return Received)
|IRS Refund Accepted Before
|Estimated Refund Date (via Direct Deposit)
|Estimated Refund Date (via Paper Check)
|January 28, 2019
|February 3, 2019
|February 15, 2019
|March 1, 2019
|February 4, 2019
|February 10, 2019
|February 22, 2019
|March 8, 2019
|February 11, 2019
|February 17, 2019
|March 1, 2019
|March 15, 2019
|February 18, 2019
|February 24, 2019
|March 8, 2019
|March 22, 2019
|February 25, 2019
|March 3, 2019
|March 15, 2019
|March 29, 2019
|March 4, 2019
|March 10, 2019
|March 22, 2019
|April 5, 2019
|March 11, 2019
|March 17, 2019
|March 29, 2019
|April 12, 2019
|March 18, 2019
|March 24, 2019
|April 5, 2019
|April 19, 2019
|March 25, 2019
|March 31, 2019
|April 12, 2019
|April 26, 2019
|April 1, 2019
|April 7, 2019
|April 19, 2019
|May 3, 2019
|April 8, 2019
|April 14, 2019
|April 26, 2019
|May 10, 2019
|April 15, 2019
|April 21, 2019
|May 3, 2019
|May 17, 2019
|April 22, 2019
|April 28, 2019
|May 10, 2019
|May 24, 2019
|April 29, 2019
|May 5, 2019
|May 17, 2019
|May 31, 2019
|May 6, 2019
|May 12, 2019
|May 24, 2019
|June 7, 2019
|May 13, 2019
|May 19, 2019
|May 31, 2019
|June 14, 2019
|May 20, 2019
|May 26, 2019
|June 7, 2019
|June 21, 2019
|May 27, 2019
|June 2, 2019
|June 14, 2019
|June 28, 2019
|June 3, 2019
|June 9, 2019
|June 21, 2019
|July 5, 2019
|June 10, 2019
|June 16, 2019
|June 28, 2019
|July 12, 2019
|June 17, 2019
|June 23, 2019
|July 5, 2019
|July 19, 2019
|June 24, 2019
|June 30, 2019
|July 12, 2019
|July 26, 2019
|July 1, 2019
|July 7, 2019
|July 19, 2019
|August 2, 2019
|July 8, 2019
|July 14, 2019
|July 26, 2019
|August 9, 2019
|July 15, 2019
|July 21, 2019
|August 2, 2019
|August 16, 2019
|July 22, 2019
|July 28, 2019
|August 9, 2019
|August 23, 2019
|July 29, 2019
|August 4, 2019
|August 16, 2019
|August 30, 2019
|August 5, 2019
|August 11, 2019
|August 23, 2019
|September 6, 2019
|August 12, 2019
|August 18, 2019
|August 30, 2019
|September 13, 2019
|August 19, 2019
|August 25, 2019
|September 6, 2019
|September 20, 2019
|August 26, 2019
|September 1, 2019
|September 13, 2019
|September 27, 2019
|September 2, 2019
|September 8, 2019
|September 20, 2019
|October 4, 2019
|September 9, 2019
|September 15, 2019
|September 27, 2019
|October 11, 2019
|September 16, 2019
|September 22, 2019
|October 4, 2019
|October 18, 2019
|September 23, 2019
|September 29, 2019
|October 11, 2019
|October 25, 2019
|September 30, 2019
|October 6, 2019
|October 18, 2019
|November 1, 2019
|October 7, 2019
|October 13, 2019
|October 25, 2019
|November 8, 2019
|October 14, 2019
|October 20, 2019
|November 1, 2019
|November 15, 2019
|October 21, 2019
|October 27, 2019
|November 8, 2019
|November 22, 2019
|October 28, 2019
|November 3, 2019
|November 15, 2019
|November 29, 2019
|November 4, 2019
|November 10, 2019
|November 22, 2019
|December 6, 2019
|November 11, 2019
|November 17, 2019
|November 29, 2019
|December 13, 2019
|November 18, 2019
|November 24, 2019
|December 6, 2019
|December 20, 2019
|November 25, 2019
|December 1, 2019
|December 13, 2019
|December 27, 2019
|December 2, 2019
|December 8, 2019
|December 20, 2019
|January 3, 2020
|December 9, 2019
|December 15, 2019
|December 27, 2019
|January 10, 2020
|December 16, 2019
|December 22, 2019
|January 3, 2020
|January 17, 2020
|December 23, 2019
|December 29, 2019
|January 10, 2020
|January 24, 2020
|December 30, 2019
|January 5, 2020
|January 17, 2020
|January 31, 2020
|January 6, 2020
|January 12, 2020
|January 24, 2020
|February 7, 2020
For those experiencing ongoing issues or delays with their refunds check out this article on "Why is it taking so long to get my refund." The IRS has said that phone and walk-in representatives can research the status of your refund only if it's been 21 days or more since you filed electronically, more than 6 weeks since you mailed your paper return or if the IRS tool Where's My Refund? directs you to contact them. The WMR tool will also provide an actual refund date as soon as the IRS processes your tax return and approves your refund. If your refund is taking much longer than the above schedule, and assuming your return was accepted by the IRS, please leave a comment below for the benefit of other readers. I can try digging into the reasons if a few people are seeing delays.
Help! My WMR status bar has disappeared – Does this mean by return is still being processed and/or will my refund be delayed?
As many folks have commented, the WMR tracker status bar may disappear or not be shown if your return falls under IRS review after it is received (Status Bar 1: Return Received) because additional information is needed for your return. This can happen even if you previously checked WMR and it showed the status as "Return Received." An explanation or instructions will be provided depending on the situation (eg PATH message or see Tax Topic 152 as discussed below)
But don't panic when this happens. The IRS still has your return but things are essentially on hold until the IRS gets the additional information from you to continue processing your return . You will either get directions on WMR or IRS2Go or the IRS will contact you by mail. Follow the provided instructions and return any additional information ASAP to get your potential refund and reduce any further delays. Talk to your accountant, tax advocate or tax professional if you are not clear on what the IRS is asking for or you don't get an update after 21 days.
WMR Path, Tax Topic 152 and 151 message
Two of the most common refund related messages showing up on the WMR tool after your tax return is submitted are the PATH message and to Refer to Tax Topic 152. The PATH message relates to the The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act (PATH Act of 2015) and is to notify you that the IRS is required to hold refunds claiming the EITC/ACTC until Feb. 15 as described above due to further identity verification.
When you see the "Refer to Tax Topic 152" message it means your refund is being processed and the IRS is directing you its generic refund page for more information. There is not much you can do but wait to see if the IRS finds any issues or requires further verification of your identity or items in your tax return. See the various reader comments below on timing and their experience after getting this and other WMR messages.
A Tax Topic 151 message simply means that you're getting a tax offset which may result in your refund being less than you expected. The reason for this is that the federal government has "offset" or deducted monies from your tax refund to cover debts you owe other federal agencies. You will get an official IRS letter/report explaining the actual offset and adjustments to your tax return, and details on how to appeal this action – but likely it will delay you getting your refund. While not great news, the silver lining here is that the IRS has processed your return and your adjusted refund (where applicable) should be on its way.
If I can order my IRS tax transcript does it mean I am getting my refund soon?
This question comes up a lot and I have seen a few comments on this suggesting that that if you can order your transcript then your refund is on the way. But this is not a factual statement. Yes there is a correlation because to get a transcript the IRS generally has to have processed your tax return (and refund where applicable). But the IRS is very clear that being able to request a transcript does not mean you will imminently be getting a refund and is among the common myths and misconceptions repeated in social media. The IRS' official line is that checking the WMR tool is the best and official way to check your refund status.
However I have read a number of comments here and on other tax sites saying that when the WMR site provides limited information on the refund, requesting a free IRS transcript seems to be another way of checking the status of the refund. Generally if you can request a transcript, it means the refund is on the way and the IRS has completed processing of your tax return. But this is all anecdotal evidence.
A note about IRS system issues and refund delays
It appears that the IRS is again having issues with processing returns in a timely manner and so a number of people are seeing delays in getting their refunds or updates in the status of their refund on the WMR tool/app. The IRS has said that all system issues have now been resolved but given the various legacy systems they have and volume of processing I would not be surprised to see system problems arise again this year, which mean delays in processing and paying refunds.
See here for average refund amounts in past tax seasons and refund processing times by state
Amended Tax Return Refund Schedule
While the IRS promises to have regular return refunds processed within 21 days for nine out of ten tax payers, it does take quite a bit longer to receive a refund if you amended your tax return. Generally you will have to wait 8 to 12 weeks more for the IRS to process amended returns since they prioritize regular returns. Also note that the standard"Where's my refund" service from the IRS does not track amended tax return status'. You need to instead use the IRS tool, Where's My Amended Return." You can also access the tool via phone by calling 1-866-464-2050. Only call the IRS to follow up on delayed amended return refunds after 12 weeks. The number to call is 1-800-829-1040.
I will continue to update this article and encourage you to check back regularly. If the information here was useful please consider sharing this page via Facebook, Twitter or your other social media channels.


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"I think that I should do a little more to help the others."
Central European politicians who embraced a reform agenda in the post-communist era often paid a high price for it at the polls. Only a handful were re-elected. And certainly none managed to stay in power for almost the whole period of 1992-2007 – except Slovenia's Janez Drnovsek. The distinction is in itself enough to mark out Drnovsek as one of the leading figures of European unification and the post-communist transformation era.
No other politician has shaped Slovenia's post-communist politics as much as Janez Drnovsek. The last Slovenian representative in the Yugoslav presidency (1989-1991), he played a leading role in negotiating the peaceful withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army from Slovenian territory, going on to become prime minister (serving almost uninterruptedly from 1992-2002) and president (2002-2007).
Drnovsek oversaw both Slovenia's economic reform surge and its integration process into the EU and NATO. As party president he led the "Liberal Democracy of Slovenia" to victory in parliamentary elections in 1992, 1996 and 2000. In 2002 he won the presidential elections in a run off with 56.5 percent of the vote. At the end of his term he enjoyed high popularity and his book "Thoughts on Live and Awareness" topped the Slovenian bestseller lists for some time. Drnovsek did not run for re-election in 2007 and retired from his post as president in December 2007. Two months later, on 23 February 2008, aged only 57, he lost his ten-year battle against cancer.
Born in 1950 in the Slovenian town of Celje, Drnovsek completed an economics degree before finding a job at a construction company and, subsequently, at the Yugoslav Embassy in Cairo (as an economic advisor). In 1986 he became a communist party deputy to the Slovenian assembly. Thanks to his expertise in monetary and credit policy, he also became a member of the Slovenian delegation to the Yugoslav federal parliament. In 1989 he was asked – along with many others – if he wanted to run for the post of Slovenian representative to the Yugoslav Presidency. The Slovenian leadership, responding to popular pressure for democratisation but confident of victory, had decided to select its representative by universal suffrage in competitive elections scheduled for April 1989. In what came as a major surprise to everyone, including himself, the unknown Drnovsek beat Marco Bulc, the official candidate of the League of Communists.
Soon after the April 1989 elections, and just as Serbian nationalism began to reach its pre-war crescendo, Slovenia – in other words, Drnovsek – took over the rotating Yugoslav presidency. Yugoslavia's break up was not inevitable, Drnovsek believed at the time, holding out hope for a reformed loose Yugoslav confederation anchored to the rest of Europe.
As Yugoslav president, Drnovsek tried to ease tensions in Kosovo, then the most volatile part of socialist Yugoslavia. He won a presidency vote to free Albanian political prisoners and tried to bring Serbs and Albanians to the negotiation table, but with no results. In an article written in 2000, he recalled:
"Because of my efforts to establish a dialogue leading to a solution of the Kosovo problem, I was often accused in Serbia's controlled media of being a traitor to federal Yugoslavia and to Serbia. But in fact this was the last real effort to help the country avoid disaster. I once said to Milosevic: "Your policy is like riding a tiger. While you ride it you probably feel very powerful. But sooner or later you'll have to come down and the tiger will eat you." Alas, I did not succeed in changing his politics or his behavior.
During this whole process – in a procedure which would later become familiar to a long succession of diplomatic emissaries to Belgrade – I tried to charm the Serbs. I advocated tolerance, compromise, discussion. I attempted to inject a tone of reasonableness, and I tried not to be only a Slovene in the presidency but to improve the climate for everybody. I introduced the intention of joining the Council of Europe and later the European Community; I did so not only to the presidency of Yugoslavia but also to European leaders. When I met with the latter, I explained that a race was going on between a wild nationalism and a more rational, tolerant and democratic concept.
Unfortunately, as history has recorded, the process of destruction was faster than the process of democratic consolidation. Sometimes I wonder if the democratic option really had a chance at all. It would have demanded tolerant and responsible politicians in all the Yugoslav republics – but particularly in Serbia and Croatia. (People in Bosnia and Herzegovina were afraid of the nationalistic pressures coming from Serbia and Croatia. They felt premonitions of disaster.) Still, it must be said that during my one year term as president I had a lot of public support. People felt that this would be the right way to go. For a short time it even looked as though I might succeed. But this was only an illusion – the calm before the storm."
Familiar with all the key players in Belgrade, Drnovsek played a leading role in negotiating the end of the 10-day conflict that followed Slovenia's declaration of independence on 25 June 1991, as well as the Yugoslav Army's subsequent withdrawal.
Independence also meant that Drnovsek had lost his seat on the federal presidency. Within a few months, however, he was back at the top of the Slovenian political scene. After his centre-left party won the 1992 elections Drnovsek became prime minister, a position he was to hold for ten years (except for a few months in 2000 when one of his coalition partners left the government).
It was under Drnovsek's leadership that Slovenia emerged as a front-runner in the EU enlargement process. In retrospect, Slovenia seems to have sailed through the accession process with ease. But the process was never that simple.
Matjaz Nachtigal, who served as Drnovsek's chief of staff between 1999 and 2002, recalls that at one stage it was unclear whether or not Slovenia would join the first enlargement wave. There was concern that – if it did not – membership could be delayed for years to come.
"It was very difficult in the mid 90s because we were falling behind other European countries that got candidate status ahead of us. There was an open fear that we would not be accepted in the first wave. We were behind the Visegrad group of countries, and it was very unclear at the time what enlargement would look like. It was very open. It was very important that Slovenia be present in the first line of countries joining the EU. Slovenia needed to say it was the best prepared candidate."
Simultaneously Drnovsek had to manage a series of coalition parties in government. According to Nachtigal, "his party members wanted to drag him into the daily bickering with colleagues or the opposition." Drnovsek also had to resist calls to adopt a more nationalist tone in disputes with neighbouring Italy and Austria – this, in order to counter or pre-empt pressure from conservative and right wing opposition parties. (Subsequent administrations have been consumed by such disputes.)
"He had clearly had this distinction between strategic goals and other open issues like the treatment of the [Slovenian] minority in Austria. He always maintained his strategic perspective," said Nachtigal.
One of the most important of these strategic goals was EU membership. Janez Potocnik, the leader of Slovenia's EU negotiation team, could always count on Drnovsek's full support, Nachtigal recalled. Drnovsek had a kind of quiet authority and intellectual capacity that proved highly effective.
Drnovsek's quiet approach to government was matched by a gradualist approach to economic reform. The richest of the former Yugoslav republics, neighbouring Italy and Austria, Slovenia was well placed to access European markets. Drnovsek, along with a few leading Slovenian economists, decided to forsake the shock therapy policies implemented in the poorer states of the Eastern bloc in favour of a gentler pace of free market reforms and privatisation.
By the time Drnovsek stepped down as prime minister in 2002 (to be elected President), Slovenia's membership of the EU was a near certainty.
The diagnosis of cancer in 1999 brought about a change of life style, prompting Drnovsek to adopt vegetarianism and, later, to reject conventional medicine. In 2007 he told The Times:
"When you are confronted with the perception of the end of your life, it's an opportunity to look at things from a different point of view, to change priorities and establish a distance to this daily existence and all these material developments that you are taught are so important."
"I think that I should do a little more to help the others," he told the New York Times. Drnovsek visited Jerusalem, trying to convince the Israeli leadership to talk to the newly elected Hamas representatives; he tried to meet Tamil Tiger leaders in Sri Lanka; and he defied the Chinese authorities by visiting Tibet. His most ambitious initiative was to try to put an end to the conflict in Darfur. Drnovsek initiated steps for a peace conference in Ljubljana, but no one accepted his invitation. His own peace envoy, Slovenian human rights activist Tomo Kriznar, was arrested by the Sudanese authorities for entering Sudan without a visa and was sentenced to two years in jail. His early release was brokered by the EU.
The attempt to resolve the crisis in Dafur was criticised as naïve, and the conservative Slovenian government subsequently refused to cover the increasing costs of running the President's office.
Meanwhile, President Drnovsek began to engage with everyday Slovenians, writing his own blog, publishing an advice column in the women's magazine Jana, and corresponding with private citizens about their personal problems. Between 2006 and 2007 he also published three books on spiritual issues. This earned him some ridicule among political commentators. "He talks like a New Age mystic of his quest for 'higher consciousness' and 'inner balance', and communicates with the Slovenian people through books on spirituality," wrote The Times.
But it also made him widely popular among the Slovenian population. "I think that after this personal struggle, people saw that he was someone like them, and because he can share things with them," Jana editor Tina Horvat told the New York Times. "If presidents of other countries would be like him, it would make the world a better place."
Disagreements might persist as to how to judge Drnovsek's last years as president, but no one can dispute the fact that it was thanks to his tenure as prime minister that Slovenia was able to secure EU membership. Without Drnovsek at the helm Slovenia might well have been distracted and absorbed by regional and internal squabbles. No other Slovenian politician has yet been able to match the authority and sense of purpose that Drnovsek displayed throughout his years as prime minister. Even when illness brought about a new outlook on life, the President's views still reflected the sense of commitment to justice and stability which Drnovsek made the hallmark of his political career.
- Gabriel Partos, "Janez Drnovsek: Slovenian president who achieved membership of the EU and Nato for the Former Yugoslav republic",The Independent, 25 February 2008.
- Martin Fletcher, "All hail the mystic President", The Times, 15 November 2007.
- Nicholas Wood, "Slovenian President Finds Peace and Wants to Share It", The New York Times, 9 September 2006.


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July 8 2014 – Melbourne to Halls Gap
Easing gently into it with a short (compared with what was to come!) to the Grampians. We were greeted with a bit of sunshine after the grey skies of Melbourne and spotted kangaroos and emu on the way to the campsite.
Then a quick trip up to the wonderland carpark to do the Pinnacle walk via the Grand Canyon (no not the famous one!).
- 272 km
- Borough Huts Campground
July 9 2014 – Halls Gap – Mildura
A soggy start to the morning, not what we'd hoped for. Coffee in Hopetoun at the Butchers where we also picked up some excellent sausages, followed by a fruit eating binge before crossing into a fruitfly exclusion zone.
A quick stop in Red Cliffs to see Big Lizzie before heading into Mildura and sheltering from the rain in the shops. Cross the Murray River and sneak into New South Wales for the night, greeted by Pelicans and a torrential shower just as we're setting up.
- 396 km
- Buronga Riverside Tourist Park
July 10 2014 – Mildura – Leigh Creek
A day of driving, sunshine and rain showers. Cross into South Australia, we spot a twin in Morgan whilst stopped for coffee and plenty of wildlife along the way.
- 731 km
July 11 2014 – Leigh Creek – Coober Pedy
Wake up to sunshine and we're confident we've put the cooler daytime temps and rain behind us. Time to go off road on the Oodnadatta Track. Wedge tailed eagles overhead and salt pans shimmer in the distance. Outside it would be quite pleasant if it wasn't for those pesky flies!
A short diversion to see the mound springs bubbling, a painted dragon basking at the bottom.
Next stop, the strange landscape of Coober Pedy and the Stuart Highway.
A night under a clear sky and a spot of nightime photography at the Hutchison Memorial.
- 491 km
- Hutchison Memorial Rest Stop
July 12 2014 – Coober Pedy – Uluru
Leaving behind the mounds arising from the opal mining in Coober Pedy it's a big push north to get into the Northern Territory and onto Uluru in time for sunset. We make it just in time!
- 756 km
- Ayers Rock Campground overflow
July 13 2014 – Uluru
After going to bed under clear skies we woke up to a cold grey morning that soon turned to drizzle. Mocked by signs reminding us to drink plenty of water, we walked from the visitor centre to the rock and then around to Kantju Gorge, lovely and peaceful and out of the wind. A surprising amount of plants and other interesting things around for what looks fairly barren from a distance, we spotted quite a few of what we later found out to be mulga ant nests.
Valley of the Winds walk amongst the Olgas in the afternoon. The upside of the rain was that we had the place pretty much to ourselves, and despite the name the majority of the walk was out the wind and really quite tranquil. Driving back to Yulara resort Uluru had disappeared completely in the drizzle.
- 120 km
- Ayers Rock Campground overflow
July 14 2014 – Uluru to Alice Springs/Standley Chasm
Another drizzly start which looks unlikely to change so we divert from our planned itinerary of going to Kings Canyon and head for Alice Springs in the hope of finding some sunshine.
A spot of shopping there before heading to the West MacDonnell Ranges. Black footed rock wallabies at Simpsons Gap (less gormless looking than Kangaroos) and camping at Standley Chasm
- 492 km
- Standley Chasm
July 15 2014 – Standley Chasm to Devils Marbles
Finally a morning of sunshine, this must be the end of the clouds now we're this far north. A morning walk up Standley Chasm, a quick hike up part of the Larapinta Trail to reach an excellent vantage point and then a walk down the creek before heading north once more.
- 461 km
- Devils Marbles
July 16 2014 – Devils Marbles to Katherine
A great site to wake up in, amongst the 'marbles' as the sun came up. Another long driving day, eased by the knowledge that it would be the last.
- 769 km
July 17 2014 – Katherine
Enjoyed the warmth in Katherine, walked to the Hot Springs (more tepid than hot) for a dip before lunch. Kangaroo Steaks for dinner.
- ~ km
July 18 2014 – Katherine to Umbrawarra Gorge
A 3 Gorge Cruise in Nitmiluk National Park. Arrive to a cacophony of noise from the flying foxes roosting in the trees above. Get a glimpse of a freshwater crocodile as we board the first boat but that was the only sighting. Enjoy a refreshing swim in the river before returning.
A short journey to Edith Falls at the other end of the park and another swim.
- 112 km
July 19 2014 – Umbrawarra Gorge to Gunlom, Kakadu
A peaceful walk at Umbrawarra Gorge, some nice swimming spots but too early and cool in the day to be inviting. The Cathedral Termite mounds have become larger and more numerous the further north we go. Many along the side of the highway have been dressed.
- 130 km
- Gunlom camping area
July 20 2014 – Gunlom, Kakadu
A ranger guided walk to the lookout over Gunlom. Lots of pools to swim in and explore. Spend the afternoon in the plunge pool at the bottom. In the evening we look for crocodiles by torch light but only find a black footed tree rat and a file snake.
- 130 km
- Gunlom camping area
July 21 2014 – Gunlom, Kakadu to Florence Falls, Lichfield NP
From Kakadu to Lichfield, to Florence Falls campsite, hugest sites I've ever seen. Plenty of water flowing here, but hot too so it's nice to cool down with a dip in Florence Falls. Unfortunately the biting insects are out in force too. Spot a bower birds nest on the walk.
- 300 km
- Florence Falls 2WD campsite
July 22 2014 – Lichfield NP
A morning walk to Buley Waterhole, a quick trip to Bachelor stopping at the Magnetic Termite Mounds and then a late afternoon swim and walk at Wangi Falls.
- 60 km
- Florence Falls 2WD campsite
July 23 2014 – Lichfield NP
A trip to the 'Lost City' and a walk at Tolmer Falls and swimming again at Wangi.
- 60 km
- Florence Falls 2WD campsite
July 24 2014 – Lichfield NP to Darwin
A visit to the Territory Wildlife Park included feeding the Fresh Water Rays. Into Darwin for sunset at Mindl Beach Market. Lots of yummy food.
- 140 km
- Wulagi
July 24 2014 – Darwin
Darwin Museum, Leanyer Water Park, East Point, Stokes Hill Wharf, Bicentennial Park, Doctors Gully, Cullen Bay Marina, Steak Dinner, fly home


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Perspective is one of the most important concepts that you can learn as an artist. Regardless of what your medium is (traditional or digital, 2D or 3D) perspective can be applied to your artwork. Hopefully you have already have a bit of education over this subject from geometry class if not take a geometry class if you ever get the chance! For now here is a basic introduction to perspective. Expect more to come!
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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Posts Tagged 'elevation'
New Project: Elevation
Monday, October 12th, 2009
As hinted in the comments in my last post, I've cleaned up my 3D elevation code and released it as a project, source and all. Go check out Elevation to grab Mac and Windows executables, or hit up GitHub to grab the source.
This project was a too-perfect alignment of things relevant to my interests. I got a chance to really stretch my legs with Processing, had an excuse to tinker with GitHub finally, spent some serious design time in Photoshop thinking through the site and app UI visuals, designed a high-res app icon, got to play with mapping and GPS software, and it all gave me the motivation to go out and pedal around this beautiful city to create my route data in the first place. Spending a month coding while racking up over 400km on the bike seems like a fairly healthy work/play balance.
And happily there's plenty of fodder in here for future posts, from parsing differing XML formats to building a functional GUI. More on those soon.
Thanks for the link love to: CreativeApplications, blprnt, Rubbishcorp
Tags: 3D, code, elevation, geodata, opensource
Posted in 3D, Projects | No Comments »


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< Back to Theatre
Don Williams In Concert
Don Williams, The Legend lives on. Inducted in to Country music's "Hall Of Fame" in 2010. Nominated for a Grammy in 2013 for his last CD release on Sugar Hill Records, "And So It Goes" Back on tour again in 2014.
Don will be performing many of his hits in his show that have made him a household name. Hits such as "I Believe In You", "You're My Best Friend", "Good Ole Boys Like Me", "Tulsa Time" and many more, plus songs from his Grammy nominated CD, also from his new CD.
Don will have a brand new studio CD released on Sugar Hill Records in March 2014, titled "Reflections".
Williams says " My fans in the UK and Ireland have been the most fantastic and loyal of any around the world, and I am looking forward to visiting with them again."
Show Information
Sunday, 18th May 2014
Sunday, 18th May 2014
Venue Information
London Palladium
8 Argyll Street
Map | Seating Plan
(2mins) Exit 8 from the tube goes out onto Argyll Street (opposite the large Topshop). The theatre is 100 metres down the road.


text: ctabutton-green By admin|2017-02-16T11:17:33+00:00February 16th, 2017|0 Comments Share This Story, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditTumblrPinterestVkEmail About the Author: admin Eileen offers quality Holistic Health Care with over 16 therapies available at the centre, including allergy testing Bio-Resonance Medicine Complex Homeopathy Louise Hay Workshops and Coaching. Reiki Reflexology and Training of Heal Your Life Workshop Leaders. Leave A Comment Cancel replyComment Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.


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From Every Son To Every Mother By Feel Duc [Poem For Mothers] [User Submitted]
"From every son, to every mother is a poem written by feel duc to all the amazing mothers all over the world"
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Central Valley (CVHS) Class of 2018 Alumni List
Help us Update the Central Valley 2018 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
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The Central Valley High Shasta Lake, CA class of '18 alumni are listed below. These are former students from CVHS in Shasta Lake, CA who graduated in 2018. Alumni listings below have either been searched for or they registered as members of this directory.
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Two pedestrians struck in separate crashes
Two pedestrians in separate counties were struck about the same time Wednesday night, leading to road closures as detectives investigate, authorities said.
A pedestrian was hit by a car at 6:26 p.m. in Baldwin, Nassau police said.
Grand Avenue was closed between Seaman and Lincoln Avenues for about three hours as detectives gathered evidence, police said.
The pedestrian was conscious and has been taken to a nearby hospital, police said.
No other details were immediately available, a police spokeswoman said.
Also at 6:26 p.m., a pedestrian was hit by am SUV driver on Straight Path near 12th Street in West Babylon, Suffolk police said. He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip with serious injuries, police said.
Straight Path has been shut in both directions as police investigate.
No other details were immediately available, a police spokesman said.


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(This is the text of the keynote I gave at Startup Riot 2009. Will update when video becomes available.)
Hi everyone, I'm Chris Wanstrath, and I'm one of the co-founders of GitHub.
GitHub, if you haven't heard of it, has been described as "Facebook for developers." Which is great when talking about GitHub as a website, but not so great when describing GitHub as a business. In fact, I think we're the polar opposite of Facebook as a business: we're small, never took investment, and actually make money. Some have even called us successful.
Which I've always wondered about. Success is very vague, right? Probably even relative. How do you define it?
After thinking for a while I came up with two criteria. The first is profitability. We employ four people full time, one person part time, have thousands of paying customers, and are still growing. In fact, our rate of growth is increasing – which means January was our best month so far, and February is looking pretty damn good.
So, we're profitable. Check.
The second criteria I came up with is being invited to keynote at Startup Riot.
Again, check.
Seriously though, I don't believe we're successful yet. Success to me isn't about money and it's not about keynotes. Success is about being able to fall asleep at night without your mind racing with new ideas. Success is not worrying if the new feature or bugfix is going to be a huge hit. Success is no longer working as hard as possible to convince someone your site is worth trying, that it will make them happy, even if they're not going to pay you any money.
Frankly, success sounds pretty boring. I'm much more interested in the f word: failure. It's always portrayed in our culture as a bad thing, but I have my doubts.
GitHub's story is one of many, many failures. My part in it even begins with one. See, when it comes to being an employee, working in a cubicle, showing up at 9 and leaving at 5, I'm a complete failure. I just can't do it. It sucks.
I'm not saying working in a cubicle is inherently bad. I'm just not good at it. Some people are good at sports. Not me.
After realizing and struggling with this, I quit my corporate job in early 2007 and started a consulting company with my good friend PJ Hyett. We had an idea and a gameplan: we would do the consulting thing for the next few months, save up money, then work full time on our own website. It would be entirely self funded.
It was our path to freedom. Being our own bosses.
Consulting was not much better than working for a big company, but it paid pretty well and gave us time to develop our idea. If we were patient we'd be able to pull this thing off and retain full ownership.
The idea was FamSpam. It would be like Google Groups but simpler, with an emphasis on photo sharing. For families. We'd explain the site to people we met at restaurants or bars and they'd love it. "Oh, my whole family would use that!" they'd say. "I would pay good money for that."
They didn't. Pay attention to what people do, not what they say. There's a big difference there.
My mom thought it was a great idea. And so did we. But what we didn't know at the time is how little the idea matters.
After a few months consulting we had enough money to devote our full attention to FamSpam. The plan was to work on it full steam until we ran out of cash, then start consulting again. We'd flip back and forth until FamSpam made enough money to support both of us. A noble goal.
We "finished" and the launch came and went. We were not making as much money as we thought we would. We weren't even getting as many signups as we anticipated. People demanded grandiose features we didn't have the time to implement. Our cash reserves were running low and we soon needed to return to consulting. Which was always part of the plan, but I had hoped we'd be optimistic about FamSpam's future when that time came. We were not.
What went wrong? So many things. I could blame our market research or our promotional site, or our target demographic, but really it's our fault.
We weren't in love with FamSpam – we never were. We thought it was a great idea, and maybe it was, but it was a great idea for our parents. For our families. For other people. Not for us.
It wasn't a site I would check every day. It wasn't something my friends would use ever.
I'm going to continue, but to me this is the most important point so far. The biggest failure. I wasn't in love with the company I was trying to build. I was excited about the prospect of doing well, but I wasn't excited about the site in the same way I get excited about Twitter, or new technologies, or flying to Atlanta and meeting new, like minded people. I thought FamSpam was kind of cool, but kind of cool doesn't cut it.
And even if FamSpam had worked, I would have been in a very similar situation to my corporate job. I may not have been working 9 to 5, but I still wasn't really passionate about my work.
I now realize that's really what I'm a failure at: I do believe I can do the 9 to 5 thing, I can fill out expense reports, and I can participate in the corporate blood drive. But I can't spend my life doing something I don't love.
I think most people feel this way without realizing it.
Okay, so what what else f'd FamSpam?
It was a walled garden. The only way we'd get more users was through advertising or mentions on blogs. People would have to love FamSpam so much that they'd take the time to write about it and tell others how great it is. They'd have to email their friends about FamSpam specifically. They could never share what they did on FamSpam with anyone outside their family – everything was private.
Compare that with YouTube. YouTube didn't get big because everyone emailed their friends about how great a website it was – YouTube got big because everyone emailed their friends funny videos hosted on YouTube. If you uploaded a video, you could share it with the whole Internet. It's "look at this cool thing I did," not "look at this neat website someone else made." Let's call it 'the YouTube Effect.'
Assuming FamSpam was blogged and emailed about without the help of the YouTube effect, what would happen then? Someone would write about the site and their friend would sign up, but the two would never interact. If I convince you to join FamSpam, I get nothing out of it. It's not like Facebook – if you and I are friends, I have a vested interest in getting you on Facebook. I can publicly humiliate you on your wall, share photos with you, invite you to events, and get reminded of your birthday. The more friends I have on Facebook, the more useful Facebook is to me. Let's call this 'the Facebook effect.'
Now there are other ways to get customers, obviously, but I point out the YouTube and Facebook effects because FamSpam has neither. GitHub, however, has both.
GitHub started over some beers after a local tech meetup. Tom Preston-Werner, who I knew and respected, started talking with me about an idea he had. It was similar to a project I was working on in my spare time, though his was broader in scope. And very interesting.
We both were frustrated with the current state of affairs related to this new "Git" technology and wanted to fix it. We had an itch that needed scratching.
Within a few days we had started working on this new GitHub project together. We'd meet up on Saturdays, have brunch, discuss ideas, then work the rest of the afternoon on the site. The other six days of the week, I was working on FamSpam with PJ.
After a short amount of time we were able to use GitHub for the development of FamSpam. We spent a lot of time tweaking the UI and navigation – we were our own alpha testers. If I didn't like something, I could spend a few minutes fixing it when taking a short break from working on FamSpam.
One Saturday we had the inevitable "money" talk. Were we going to charge for GitHub? Take funding? Would it be a 50 / 50 split? Should we give it away for free?
At this point, Tom had already sold a company called Gravatar to WordPress. He spent a lot of time running Gravatar, which is pretty popular, by himself for free. He charged for premium accounts, but they didn't pay the bills. Most people used the free plan.
It was a no brainer to him: don't give something away if it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to run and maintain. People will pay for quality – especially if you're handling the pain they'd otherwise have to deal with.
So, okay. We'd charge a few bucks for it. We'd hopefully make enough money to pay for the servers and some beer. Hopefully.
The FamSpam launch came and went, and you all know how that went. In the weeks after I ended up spending too much time on GitHub because it was more fun and something I wanted to use daily. I wanted to start using it with friends. And I still didn't realize what that meant.
At another tech meetup we added the invite system then launched the GitHub beta. Some people started using it, they said they liked it, good job guys, yada yada, but then he strangest thing happened. We begun getting emails saying, "I love GitHub. Can I start paying you guys now?"
Those were very interesting days. The beta system would just email me directly – it was pretty ghetto. As a result, I started waking up in the morning with dozens of emails flooding my inbox requesting accounts. My personal account – we didn't even have official looking GitHub email addresses then. Without fail, one or two in the mix would be asking how to send us money.
All we could do was tell them to wait until the GitHub launch.
Shortly after the beta began, we noticed the YouTube effect. People were blogging about the cool things they were doing on GitHub – not about GitHub itself. We'd get huge traffic spikes from people writing blog posts announcing their project or idea, with a single, casual link to the project on GitHub. Even better, we'd get tiny traffic spikes in great numbers from less notable projects doing the same. More and more people were blogging about their cool project on Github. Showing off.
You didn't need a beta to use GitHub. Only to make an account and share. People with accounts could share with anyone. This was pretty key.
After the YouTube-like blogging came the Facebook effect. Once a project was hosted on GitHub, it made a lot of sense to invite the other people involved. The more, the merrier.
Like the YouTube effect, this was not something we had planned for or anticipated. We were just trying to make a site we would use and love. Turns out, you're not all that different from other people living similar lifestyles. If you love something, chances are others will, too.
Something that was intentional, however, was our invite system. During a consulting gig I was introduced to the concept of "artificial scarcity." When you control the means of production, you can limit production to make a product seem more valuable.
Just look at the Wii. Or, more appropriately, gold in World of Warcraft.
So during the beta, our invite system was modeled after Gmail's: once you received an invite and signed up, you could then invite five others. This meant people would be asking for GitHub invites on Twitter, mailing lists, and message boards. There'd be entire threads devoted to people asking for GitHub invites. It wasn't hard to get an invite, you just had to ask.
We could have given invites to everyone who asked, but this gave us free publicity and made the invites more desirable. Hey, these invites are rare and I got one – why not give this GitHub thing a try?
By the way, if you do it this way, and even if you think it's a lame marketing move, make sure to personally invite famous people in your industry. Otherwise some will think you're intentionally snubbing them. And be careful not to be spammy, or they'll get even more upset. Politics.
Politics, I've learned, are important. It's romantic to think two guys with a consulting business can start a mailing list for moms and take it to the top by themselves, but the reality, in my experience, is that you need friends. You need people rooting for you and you need people who can grant favors.
I'm not sure what GitHub would look like today if it wasn't for Engine Yard, or some key members of the Ruby and JavaScript communities. It'd probably look like a neat website and not a profitable company.
So we had friends, momentum, various effects I made up named after famous unprofitable web 2.0 companies, and artificial scarcity working for us. And this was all a month or so after FamSpam launched.
I decided the smart thing to do, the rational thing to do, the sane thing to do, was to stop working on FamSpam and devote all my time to GitHub. To anyone else it may have sounded stupid, irrational, and crazy – we had just spent thousands of dollars and who knows how many hours developing FamSpam. It had barely been live for a month. My mom really liked it.
But sometimes failure is a good thing.
PJ soon joined GitHub, too – we needed his skills and there was no delusion about which of the two sites (FamSpam or GitHub) was the better bet. In April we launched the site.
What's a launch and what's a beta? A beta is where everyone can use your website for free. In exchange, they put up with bugs. A launch is where you start charging for your website. In exchange, you fix the bugs. Something like that, at least.
We spent a lot of time before April trying to come up with our business model. It's not easy. We knew people were willing to pay, but how much, and for what? What would a small business owner pay for his employees to use our site? What would a hobbyist spending his free time on GitHub pay?
We were thinking way too hard about it, for too long. The answer was right in the mirror. We just needed to figure out what we'd pay for GitHub – we were small business owners and hobbyists. We built GitHub for ourselves.
Turns out we were a bit off. But that's the beauty of the web, or startups in general – we conceded to the biggest complaint people had about our prices on day one and changed it immediately. It's okay to screw up, there's no shame in being wrong. Especially when being wrong means making more money.
We did not make hundreds of thousands of dollars that first day. There were no GitHub private jets chartered. But we made enough to know this was for real. We were onto something. All we had to do was not screw it up.
It was after our launch when we really begun to analyze what had brought us to that point. What had worked and what didn't work. All the luck that was on our side.
There has been a tremendous amount of luck involved so far. But you don't get lucky sitting in your basement watching DVDs. You get lucky by seizing opportunities and working your ass off. Or so I like to think.
What we all decided was to stay cheap, stay nimble, and continue doing exactly what we had been doing: building the most awesome website we could imagine. Adding features we wanted to use, not features we thought would make us money.
I said it before and I'll say it again: the most important thing I've learned is to love what you do. I'm one of the ten most popular users on GitHub, not because I'm a founder, but because I'm a heavy user. I've had weeks where I got totally addicted to the site and didn't get any work done. At our company, that's a good thing.
After all, we had proven that building the most amazing features imaginable would make us money. We had no data available on whether building features specifically to make money would work.
The cheap thing is important, too: we didn't take salaries until we could afford it. We still don't have an office. I'm not sure if we ever will. We just now got business cards, because we couldn't justify the expense until recently. Please ask me for one – I'm very excited to hand them out.
We haven't taken out much advertising, and don't sponsor conferences in areas that are already firmly committed to GitHub. It's not that we don't appreciate their business. We do, in a huge way. But we need every dollar to count. It's important we're smart about every decision we make.
Speaking of which, there's an open bar tonight, right?
Before I wrap up, there's one big issue I feel I've overlooked: the users. The people. The customers. Have great customer support. Remember they're all people, and they're all rooting for you. Even the ones who are really short in their bug reports. After all, they're using your product and taking the time to give you their opinion, or experience. That's incredibly valuable.
Our users won us a Crunchie, pay my salary, got me this keynote, bring us new users, and have made our site what it is. You really need to be one of them and to care about them. They should not be abstract numbers on business reports, they should be people you interact with and can get to know. Some of our best ideas came from them.
While I wish you all luck on your pitches today, I intentionally left out any GitHub pitches. I'm not up here trying to sell you on our features or backup policies, because I don't believe I'm the best person for the job. Instead I'm counting on someone you know being a user and telling you it's the best thing since sliced bread. That they love it. That it saves them money and makes them more productive.
I really do believe that for a small, bootstrapped company, happy users are best way to get more business. I could talk until I turned blue about how great GitHub is, but that will never be more a powerful endorsement than your CTO saying, "This GitHub thing is pretty cool. Let's give it a shot."
And so, before I finish, I want to touch on the VC thing. I'm probably supposed to tell you not to take VC or angel investment. That you don't need it. That we didn't take it so you shouldn't. And maybe I was going to say that, until a few weeks ago.
My friend was playing host to a 16 year old from Florida who was visiting San Francisco for a teens in tech conference. He builds PHP sites and iPhone apps, and was on a panel about being a teen developer. Smart kid.
One evening we took him to a bar – he ordered Diet Coke – and the whole "college" thing came up. Some people in our outing were encouraging him to go to school and get a computer science degree. "It worked for me," they said. "You can't ever get a job at Google without a CS degree."
Others rejected the idea, "Do a startup instead of going to school. You'll learn more and maybe make some money. It's the best time for it!"
I was listening to all this when it hit me. So obvious now, but it took me more than twenty years to put into words:
Do whatever you want.
Don't take VC because Twitter did. Don't piss off investors because 37signals likes to. Do whatever you want, whatever works best for you, what makes you the most comfortable and seems like the best idea. Do what you love.
What's the worst that can happen? You'll fail?
Thank you.


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Masterson, bullpen struggle against hot-hitting O's
Pierzynski launches first HR with club, but not enough on tough night
BALTIMORE -- The Houdini-act Justin Masterson achieved to escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first inning proved to be nothing more than a temporary delay for the deluge of runs the Orioles would soon score in what became a 12-2 rout of the Cardinals on Friday.
Nine days after his team lost to the Padres in a game manager Mike Matheny called "our ugliest loss of the year," the club came up with another contender. The Orioles entertained a crowd of 43,743 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards with a six-homer showcase, Baltimore's first since 2012, while holding the Cardinals' offense lifeless.
Baltimore starter Chris Tillman allowed the Cardinals half as many total hits over 6 2/3 innings before A.J. Pierzynski foiled the shutout bid with a two-run homer. It was Pierzynski's first long ball as a Cardinal and the only true highlight of St. Louis' night.
"It's baseball," Matheny said. "This happens. It's one of those nights."
The pitching staff gave the offense little time to get going, as the Cardinals were in a four-run hole by the second and an eight-run one after four. Masterson lasted only two-plus innings, matching the shortest start by a Cardinals starter this season. It was his third two-inning start since June 13, a telling sign of his ongoing search for a repeatable sinker.
The pitch he has ridden to so much big-league success before remains, as Masterson described it afterward, "a tick off." His release point on Friday was a hint early, leading his body to open up and the pitch to resemble a screwball.
Though he wiggled out of the first-inning mess, Masterson lost a grip on the game in the second. A three-run homer by Manny Machado -- "the floating sinker," Masterson labeled the pitch -- punctuated the four-run inning. Masterson pitched to four batters in the third before handing over another bases-loaded pickle to Nick Greenwood. Of the 18 batters Masterson faced in second start since being acquired from Cleveland, he allowed 12 of 18 batters to reach.
Masterson's ERA at Oriole Park ballooned to 7.71 in nine career outings (seven starts).
"The first inning, I came out of that and it was real nice," Masterson said. "I thought, 'OK, it's usually just one [bad] inning and we made it through that.' Then, unfortunately, it just kept going on.
"The sinker started floating out a little bit bigger than I would have liked it to. … It's right there. You're just waiting for that one thing just to click. I think that's right where I'm at, waiting for that one thing to click."
The Cardinals have been hesitant to offer too many suggestions and corrections immediately, wanting to first give Masterson the chance to pitch in front of them. That hands-on instruction will pick up before Masterson's next outing.
"That's not the kind of outing that Justin wants," Matheny said. "You're not going to see those, in my opinion, very often when you have the kind of movement that he has. It's just a matter of consistency."
Greenwood would be tagged by the next two Oriole homers, a three-run shot by J.J. Hardy and a solo one from Adam Jones. By the sixth, the Orioles had seemingly turned the evening into batting practice.
Chris Davis and Ryan Flaherty went deep off Sam Freeman, boosting Baltimore's Major League-leading home run total to 144. That's nearly double the Cardinals' Major League-low figure of 76.
"We're at the tip of the season where everybody's tired," Machado said. "We're not going to lie about it. It's who's mentally stronger and has the ability to put that on the side and just go and play baseball."
Over six innings, the Orioles hammered as many homers as the Cardinals had all month. The last team to blast a half dozen homers off the Cardinals in a game was Pittsburgh, which tallied seven in an August 2003 game.
Having arrived from Triple-A just hours before game time, Greenwood did help Matheny avoid overworking others in the 'pen by covering three innings. But it wasn't until Randy Choate entered in the seventh that the pitching staff accomplished a 1-2-3 inning. Seth Maness added a quick eighth.
In total, the staff hit three batters on the night and walked another five, including three by Masterson, who has issued at least that many in 12 of his last 14 starts.
Tillman walked just one while striking out seven while winning his ninth game.
"It's always fun to see all the balls fly out -- as long as it's not against us," Tillman said. "I think it's only a matter of time before these guys did this, and it goes to show, you get your team back in the dugout quick what they're capable of."
With the loss, the Cardinals are assured of finishing Interleague play with a losing record.


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I love apple blossoms, and check out that mammoth lilac bush. My husband can't even go in the back yard while it's blooming or he gets a massive allergy attack. But I love it. I just sit and inhale!
Wow April was something else. Opening an etsy store, guest blogging, Wonderland giveaways, and quilt festivals. I don't know if I'll ever recover. My inbox is still a little out of control, so if there is someone out there who has asked me a question and I haven't got back to you, please email me and I will answer right away. I know there are questions buried in my inbox and I'm not sure when they'll be unearthed!
It has been crazy, and exhausting, and fabulous, and fun. I couldn't be more grateful to all of you for your kind comments and encouragement.
But I was pooped. And in serious need of some battery-recharge.
So, perfect timing for BYU Women's Conference. This is an annual 2-day event at Brigham Young University where about 20,000 women from all over the country, of all ages, stages of life (and stages of pregnancy), come for a massive GNO. There are 95 different sessions with speakers on subjects as varied as raising small children, supporting someone in the military, heart disease, prayer, being an empty-nester, going back to school, etc.
There are also multiple service projects going on at the same time. Some are in over-flow rooms where women can listen to session broadcasts while they assemble basic school kits to be sent overseas. Some women are knitting hats and booties while they attend sessions. (It is one mega multi-tasking party.) In the evening there is a massive service project where 100's of quilts are tied, and 1,000s of humanitarian hygiene and newborn kits are assembled. It is truly awe-inspiring.
And massive amounts of fudge and Costa Vida (tex-mex) salads are consumed in the process.
I am so inspired by all of these good women. Not perfect women, but women who really want to do the best they can. This is one such woman, my good friend Cami.
And do you know what? I feel this way about many of the people I've come across in the blogging community. So many good women. Who want to do good things, whether for their families or the greater world at large. I'm so glad to know you!
(And speaking of friends from the blogging community I saw Sherri! We were both swiftly moving in opposite directions so I didn't have the chance to publicly accost her, but I knew it was her by her Wonderland bag. 🙂
And to continue the GNO (girls' night out) theme, I'm taking my girls to the Beehive Bazaar tonight. This is not your mother's craft fair. It's actually more like your grandmother's craft fair with all the cool retro-vintagy stuff there. I can't wait.
I have already promised my girls that I would not repeat last year's performance of parking too close to a really deep, former-irrigation-ditch gutter, which I then rolled the front passenger-side wheel into, thereby high-centering the car. And my husband was at a campout miles away with our boys. Fortunately some lovely friends came to our rescue and let us borrow one of their cars to get home that night and then another good neighbor towed our car out the next morning. This time we will park in the parking lot.


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