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Please use the form below to contact us at Cape Wrath Mini Bus
We are the bus service, the ferry is a separate business although we do work alongside each other. Therefore we may not be able to provide answers to some questions regarding the ferry service.
To contact the ferryman please phone Malcolm on 07719544207
To make enquiries about the Ozone Cafe please contact the proprietor John Ure - 01971 511 314.
Cape Wrath Ferry is unable to accept advanced bookings as the ferry service is dependent on weather & tidal conditions. For this reason, Cape Wrath Mini Bus is currently unable to accept advanced bookings because we depend on the ferry service to provide passengers for our bus.
Well behaved & friendly dogs are very welcome on the bus & ferry.
James Mather, Cape Wrath Mini Bus Operator
Tel: Mob: 07742 670 196
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Sunday I found myself at a wonderful little Missionary Church for the dedication of a family member's children. It was truly touching and joyous event. But of course, I couldn't help but think of the first Sacrament of the Holy Orthodox Church–baptism, done most frequently to babies.
During the service, the pastor said "Of course, this is not for their salvation." Oh boy. Here we go…
Yes…yes, it is. Even by the Protestant construct, it is, in fact, salvific. Hang with me here. Because these two Christian parents are taking this step, dedicating their children, promising to raise them up in the care and admonition of the Lord, those children will most likely come into contact with God's love and grace in a way that so many children will not. They will hear the "Plan of Salvation," they will be baptized. They will take communion. They will learn the stories of the heroes of the faith, and how to walk with Christ. They will be saved. So, one can argue that yes, in fact, dedicating your children in the Protestant sense is "for their salvation."
And that, my friends, is sacramental. These things we do, these promises we make, these pledges to honor, to obey, to submit, to follow God on His terms, work for our Salvation. Period. Just like the "wages of sin is death" is not so much a legal description but rather a cold, hard statement of fact, it is true that, even apart from the Orthodox understanding of the transmission of God's grace through the sacraments, Protestant actions are FOR SALVATION.
By any construct, salvation is a process, beginning at childhood and continuing until our deaths.

subset: commoncrawl


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Browse Items (9 total)
Rural Leaders' Guide for Square and Group Dances, 1951From the forward: "This circular is designed to assist rural leaders in teaching square and group dancing and in conducting organized recreational dancing activities." After several pages of… View item
Shakin' a Hoof (1951 article)Tucson caller Fred Feild located this article in Arizona Highways magazine and shared it on the trad-dance-callers listserv. Fred added his own comments:---Advisory warning: This article contains… View item
Tucson Square Dance (1950 article)Magazine article (1950) describing Arizona square dances and caller George Waudby. The first PDF is a facsimile of the magazine article; it is followed by an easier-to-read version of the text. (Also… View item
Arizona Double Star (clip) - Johnny MeltonJohnny Melton calls the Arizona Double Star, with the tune Nobody's Business played by Roy Sexton and others. The clip illustrates southwestern calling style, moving dancers along without necessarily… View item
Tucson SquaresView item
Swing yore partner round 'n round (The Desert Magazine, 1944)Author Oren Arnold describes square dancing in Arizona in the early 1940s: "...A rock fireplace big enough to stand in was at one end of the room, and its blaze made dancing shadows… View item
Square Dance festival programsThis collection of more than two dozen festival programs from the 1940s until early 1960s gives a good sense of what material was being called as well as names of featured callers. In chronological… View item
Still Image
Square Dance PostcardsA collection of postcards showing different styles and personalities associated with square dance. We are eager to acquire more to add to this collection!Additional images of square dance postcards… View item


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The Inpatient Mental Health Unit provides care to those, who because of the severity of their illness, are unable to be treated in the community. Inpatient stays are intended to return patients to their optimal level of functioning.
If you need help immediately, call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.
Location, hours and contact information
Aberdeen Regional Hospital
835 East River Road, New Glasgow
Tel: 902-752-7600
All Saints Springhill Hospital
10 Princess Street, Springhill
Tel: 902-597-3773
Colchester East Hants Health Centre
600 Abenaki Road, Truro
Tel: 902-893-5507
Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre
19428 Highway 2, Amherst
Tel: 902-667-3361
Lillian Fraser Memorial Hospital
110 Blair Avenue, Tatamagouche
Tel: 902-657-2382
North Cumberland Memorial Hospital
260 Church Street, Pugwash
Tel: 902-243-2521
South Cumberland Community Care Centre
50 Jenks Avenue, Parrsboro
Tel: 902-254-2540
How do I access this service?
If you need help immediately, call 911 or go to your nearest Emergency Department.


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Sloman, Martyn (2008) Training and its significance in the workplace. (Project Report) London, U.K. : Government Office for Science.Full text not available from this archive.
Official URL: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/foresight/docs/mental...
|Item Type:
|Monograph (Project Report)
|Research Area:
|Business and management studies
|Faculty, School or Research Centre:
|Faculty of Business and Law (until 2017)
Faculty of Business and Law (until 2017) > Centre for Research in Employment, Skills and Society (CRESS)
|Depositing User:
|Robert Elves
|Date Deposited:
|28 Jan 2009 12:34
|Last Modified:
|24 Mar 2014 15:07
|State-of-Science Review SR-C9
Actions (Repository Editors)
|Item Control Page


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|Dr. Peter Dingle's latest book. See his website here.
After hearing comments from other passengers that Dr. Peter Dingle's 9 am lectures on health and wellness were more than enriching and also highly entertaining with his easy style, we were intrigued.
As it turned out, we decided to prepare the post later in the day in order to attend Dr. Peter's presentation on "gut health" of particular interest to me. With residual effects remaining after the two-week antibiotic treatment ending in March as a result of 16 months of discomfort with the helicobacter pylori infection, we were both anxious to hear what he had to say.
Plus, after many comments on the topic, I assumed our readers may be tired of reading about it. Alas, since we boarded the ship 16 days ago, I've struggled with the food, experimenting through a process of elimination which hasn't been easy with my already restrictive diet. Layering one strict diet over another is challenging.
On several occasions, we watched the replay of Dr. Peter's other presentations on the TV in our stateroom while we were getting ready to go out for the evening. In each of those presentations, we saw a pattern mimicking the way of eating and lifestyle we've adopted over the years. Could this fine man have a solution for me beyond what I've tried thus far?
After watching the informative presentation live with several mentions of the h pylori infection, I longed to have a meeting with him face to face. Writing a short email, informing him of my lingering condition, he agreed to a meeting in the cafe, while he met with a few other attendees who had a similar request.
I was determined that if it took hours for him to get to me, I'd wait patiently in the Cafe Promenade. Shortly after his presentation ended, I headed to the cafe bringing along my laptop in order to work on the day's post. In no time at all, I was seated at a booth/table with three other passengers with questions while we each shared our stories.
Ironically, many of our conditions and symptoms were similar and collectively we learned possible solutions befitting our needs. After the group presentation, Dr. Peter focused on my dilemma leaving me with a litany of potential solutions to this ongoing issue. I was very grateful.
I won't list his suggestions here right now to avoid attempting to offer medical advise when I'm not a medical professional. However, many of them may be found on his website and Facebook page.
No words can express how grateful we are to have received what we perceive as valuable and meaningful advice. Once we arrive in Kona, Hawaii tomorrow, we'll be heading to a local health store to purchase some added products that hopefully will get me on the right path to healing.
Thank you, Dr. Peter Dingle...surely your informative and valuable suggestions will inspire many passengers to rethink their lifestyles and adopt a cleaner and more beneficial manner of eating, exercising, reducing stress and dealing with a wide array of physical conditions.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, May 6, 2016:
|Sorry, this Bali photo wasn't clear. We were too far away and my hands were unsteady after witnessing the dog shot being shot. This guy picked up the dead dog by one hind leg and placed him in a laundry bag as he carried him away. Wild dogs are often shot for rabies control in Bali. For more details, please click here.


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Richard Rodriguez described the first moments after he and his son reunited after more than two years. "He immediately jumped up, ran right to me, started crying. Very touching, emotional moment," he said.It's hard to call a man who's lost his child for two years 'lucky,' but that's what Richard Rodriguez is. That's because, (a) he found a dedicated fathers' rights attorney in Rinaldo Del Gallo and (b) his son's mother didn't show up for the custody hearing that Del Gallo obtained in February of 2008. Of course, since she had abducted the child, it's no surprise that she didn't return to the Bay State to contest the custody hearing. But because she didn't show, the judge had no choice but to grant Rodriguez custody of his son. If she had, Rodriguez would have had little chance of success.
When the boy went missing, Rodriguez says he was shocked to learn that because he wasn't married to his son's mother, she technically had custody.Again, single mothers have parental rights automatically; single fathers have zilch. But after the hearing, it took an outrageous 17 months for the judge to issue his order of custody. Why it took that long to issue a simple custody order is anyone's guess. But once armed with the order, Del Gallo immediately set to work trying to get the boy's name placed on the state's Missing Child Registry. Incredibly, the police refused to do so, despite the fact that Rodriguez had a court order establishing him as the sole custodian of his son. Del Gallo fought with the police and DA's office for months trying to get them to do what the law plainly required them to do - list as missing a missing child. Finally Jennifer Smith, the wife of Rodriguez' foster brother, took the bull by the horns. She sent fliers with Richard Jr.'s photo to every elementary school in Kansas. Within days, they knew the whereabouts of the boy and he was on his way home. Is that the end of the story? Few people think so.
Rodriguez said he expects the mother, Tina Helfer, won't give up. "I'm sure she's gonna try to come and get him back. All I want is make sure that he stays in my life," he said.And Helfer? Will there be any consequences to her for her apparent act of parental kidnapping?
Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless said the Helfer won't be charged in this case, because when she left Massachusetts with the boy two years ago, she didn't technically break any laws.So there you have it. Again, as in Ireland, a single father has no parental rights simply due to the fact of his parenthood, but with a little luck and a good lawyer, he can still get custody. In Ireland, he can't. But in Ireland, there's a bill before Parliament to give single fathers parental rights automatically at birth. There should be such a bill before every state legislature in this country, and they should be enacted into law. Some 40% of children in this country are born out of wedlock. That means about 1.6 million children are at risk for losing their fathers, and a similar number of fathers are at risk for losing their children. If nonmarital childbearing is to be culturally acceptable - and it has been becoming more and more so for roughly the past four decades - then acceptance of the equal rights of single fathers must come as part of the package. If the stigma of nonmarital childbearing should be removed from mothers, the stigma of unmarried paternity should be removed from fathers as well. Maybe Richard Rodriguez should be men's Hester Prynne.


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The cola war between Coke and Pepsi is extending to the IPL turf, with Coca Cola replacing rival PepsiCo as sponsors of Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab in the fourth season of the T20 league. With the new tie-ups, Coca Cola will be sponsoring five out of the ten IPL teams ready for the cricket battle between April 8 and May 28. Coca Cola that has been associated with Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous seasons, said it will also become the sponsor of Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI Punjab.
According to industry sources, the company will spend about Rs 50 crore during the tournament to promote its brands across media platforms.
"We have extended our association with IPL by partnering with three new teams. The teams that we are sponsoring belong to markets that are very important for Coca Cola," Coca Cola India Director Marketing Wasim Basir said.
Commenting on the teams that were earlier associated with rival PepsiCo, Basir said: "The teams were available and we wanted to associate with them."
Interestingly, Coca Cola has recently announced Sachin Tendulkar has its 'Happiness Ambassador'.
Tendulkar who is the captain for Mumbai Indians was dropped by PepsiCo in 2008 as the brand ambassador after the company started focussing on younger brand ambassadors for its 'Youngistaan' campaign.
It would be also interesting to recall that Coca Cola had teamed up Kolkata Knight Riders which is co-owned by Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan after he was also dropped by PepsiCo for similar reasons.
PepsiCo, which was the official sponsor of the ICC World Cup, did not comment on the development.
However, a company spokesperson said its association will continue with Chennai Super Kings for this season of IPL.
With a robust portfolio of five teams, Coca Cola will soon kick off a marketing campaign to promote the Coke brand.
"The campaign will include TV ads, out door hoardings and promotion, on ground activation and free sampling initiatives," Basir said.
He said the company has increased its marketing spend by about 20-25 per cent compared to last year and about 25 per cent of the total spends would be made during the tournament.
Advertisements featuring cricketers from the respective teams will be launched as a part of the ongoing 'Brrr' campaign for Coke.
"We are creating a Brrr squad of three people for each team for Internet activation, which will become the single point of contact between the fans and teams," Coca Cola Senior Brand Manager Abhijit Datta said.
Meanwhile, leading FMCG firm Godrej [has also launched a new marketing initiative called 'Power Play' with aim to cash in on from the ongoing cricket fever.


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Why do we keep so much stuff?
A little while ago I wrote a post on Money Bulldog showing how you can raise a bit of extra cash just by having a spring clean. One of the things we mentioned involved selling a bit of your old junk online or in an old fashioned car boot sale. One of our friends did a car boot the other day and she managed to raise £60 in just one morning, not too shabby.
After watching an episode of the television program 'Business Boomers' looking at the growth of the UK self-storage industry though, it highlighted that getting rid of stuff is a lot harder for some than it is for others, with some people spending around £400 a month on their self-storage habit. That's not far off the cost of a second mortgage for some people. So why are we so addicted to keeping stuff?
What things do people keep?
While some collectors were stashing away collections they had built up over years – the guy who was spending £400+ a month was into Star Wars by the looks of things – most of the stuff people were storing looked remarkably similar – Cd's, baby clothes, old pictures, first bikes and a huge array of other items that they simply couldn't bear to get rid of.
Over the years my wife and I have had many debates over which things we should keep, and which we shouldn't. We have two young boys and I have to admit that even though I seem to be a lot less sentimental than Mrs. B, some things still hold a lot of memories and can be difficult to get rid of and I think it would be fair to say that I too have a fair bit of stuff stored away that I really don't need anymore, the basketball cards I collected when I was a kid and the box of Cd's that I've been intending to put onto my iPod for about the past 4 years come to mind.
Where is the line though?
So we can see that most of us want to keep some stuff, which is perfectly acceptable. The question is at what point do we say enough is enough? If your hoarding habit is bringing you to a point where you have to call in outside help and rent some extra storage space, is that the point where things have already gone too far? As I said the amounts of money that people were spending on their storage habit weren't small at all, with even a small storage area in one of these big storage buildings being quoted at around £80 per month.
Where would you draw the line then?
So I've admitted that my wife and I both have some pretty pointless things stashed away, things that that we rarely look at. We also have some quite important and meaningful memories stored away too. I don't think I could ever allow this hoarding habit to progress to a point where I was having to pay for expensive storage space though, I'd have to have yet another clear out. On the flip side we have had quite a lot of these clear outs over the years and I think if we did need to have another one, it might start to get quite difficult to part with the few things/memories we have left. The other thing worth mentioning is that we are both still relatively young – neither of us has reached 30 yet, though I'm getting very close. 🙁 So basically we have years of memories still ahead of us, memories which will likely involve more items that we will want to keep if we have a chance.
As you can probably tell I'm getting more and more confused about where I stand on storing stuff as I'm writing this post. In principle, I don't see the need to store and hoard, yet in reality I do still tend to do it and I know I will still do it in future. So I suppose the question is, where do you draw the line? I can't imagine that I could ever bring myself to pay large amounts of cash to store our belongings in a big branded self-storage centre but could I be tempted to rent some cheap garage space in future? Only time will tell I guess.
Do you have a tendency to store stuff and would you pay for storage space?
11 Responses to Why do we keep so much stuff?
I could never imagine renting out a storage space for things. I am always getting rid of things. When I buy new cloths, I make myself get rid of something I haven't work in a while because chances are if I haven't worn it in the last year, I'm probably not going to wear it.
It's interesting that you mention the programme on BBC2 last week as I was watching it too, and no surprise us Brits do keep a desperate grip on all our old… 'stuff'. A lot of it just needs to be recycled or discarded.
I'd personally draw the line at having to pay for storing anything. Simply forking out a few quid is madness, but £400!? Surely anything worth keeping for emotional reasons should be in your home or that of one of your family's, like a parent's garage etc. Anything else just needs to go!
We don't end up keeping things because of a desire to hold on to them. We end up stacking up stuff because we lack time to deal with it. So we just put it in the basement to deal with later. Then, instead of getting rid of it a little at a time, we have to make a huge effort and take lots of time to deal with it. I don't really like doing that.
I find that the minute you get rid of something, you find that you really could use it.
But as I start to downsize, I realize I will probably never need much of my stuff. If I go camping, i will have better equipment now. Scuba diving, I will have new stuff. I can get rid of the old.
My wife and I draw the line by using the question "When was the last time we used this?" If it's been months, OR we can't remember…it's gone!
Getting rid of extra stuff is a lot difficult, it is better if you review all the stuff for which you are looking to hire a self storage. Make sure your storage cost doesn't exceed the actual price of your stuff.


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DataKraft is a partner that will work with you to define the bottlenecks and pain processes, understand your business needs and propose solutions to you. Our team have the business and technical awareness and possess the ability to work with multiple systems and support you irrespectively the technology you are using. Defining the reasons that you are using each technology and understanding what you wish to achieve with each tool we can support you to build a strategy around your information systems for the future.
Our experience lays in a variety of commercial fields and procedures. Some of the areas where we have designed custom modules to tackle various business needs are:
- Key account plan module for collecting valuable 360° degrees customer insights for optimal management of customer portfolio. By identifying what each customer perceives as added value and collecting valuable insights you can align the selling process with the buying process of each customer and proactively map the opportunities and threats of your customer portfolio.
- Visit reporting and pre-sales templates along with processes implementation for appropriate preparation and follow up over customer needs.
- Build in budgeting process automation linked with the sales data from your CRM, making the entire process of fill out the budget data accurate and faster. Enabling your employees instead of spending their valuable time on searching and filling out data over different excel sheets, to allocate their time just on checking the overview, building their strategy on each customer, focusing on creating opportunities and serving the customers instead of focusing on administrative tasks.
- Design, creation and deployment of various processes that can automate and support your operations. From notifications, automated creation of follow up tasks till approval processes and data alignment, we can support a huge variety of operations that can be accommodated over the standard or custom modules. Opportunities, Leads, Accounts, and Contracts are only some examples of areas where you can automate and improve processes.
- Mobile deployment of the afore mentioned processes can help your productivity to increase even higher making everyone at your organization able to react on the spot from anywhere, even if you are waiting for your next flight or just before you jump to the next meeting.
- Working together with you, we can integrate multiple legacy systems with Salesforce.com, where we can identify your present and future needs and based on this input we can design and develop the best approach for your environment.
- We can foster the productivity of your administrators and users by providing training through identification of the current needs of your business operations and pinpoint the areas where the training can make an impact. Exploring and demonstrating the quick wins that can be achieved using the right tools of Salesforce.com and building the knowledge of your administrators to problem solving the issues and building new solutions to tackle the routines of your operations and the business needs.
Configuration and customization
Every organization has its own processes, culture and 'personality'. These aspects need to be taking into consideration and be supported from the Information System in use. We can support you in that process by exploring your business needs and environment, deploying for you all these functionalities to support your business needs.
- Business processes and automation
- Workflows and triggers
- Custom buttons
- Complex formulas
Data migration and remediation
Data is the 'soul' of every application. They provide you with a clear view and facts about how your organization moves along the market and the external environment. You need to be 100% sure that these data are trustworthy and depict the actual true in order to build your strategy and your decisions based on these. DataKraft can provide solutions over your accurate data management by:
- Import new/improved data
- Remove/preventing duplicates
- Consolidate existing data fields
- Develop data cleaning processes
- Clean data
User training and adoption
The adoption and use of each new technology and functionality of the system is of paramount importance and is a never end process. Functional documents training material and knowledge transfer to internal stuff can be provided on various modules and system functionality, to help your internal stuff became more aware and self-sufficient on to, either identify a solution to an existing challenge or create a new process to solve a business need.
Administration and support
Are you new to Salesforce? The task of setting up every little detail until everything is ready and run effectively can be smother and faster with the right partner by your side. Even if you are short hand for a period of time, or you just don't want to be occupied by the trivial day to day tasks or the one in a while new requirements, DataKraft can support you by remote Salesforce administration:
- Update existing processes to capitalize on newly released Salesforce functionality
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Reporting and analytics
Be always informed and up to date with the latest business metrics through Visual management with Charts and Dashboards even at your mobile. At DataKraft we can propose, design and develop BI analytics, interactive KPI's reports and dashboards based on your business needs and metrics that really matters for your business model and market strategy.
- Different level reporting based on the visibility needs of each individual user and department.
- Sales & Marketing metrics
- Finance metrics
- Usage and Adoption metrics


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Formulists Makes Twitter Lists
1 Jul
Do you use lists on Twitter? If not, you are missing out on a great tool for yourself and your followers to utilitize. What are Twitter Lists? Read this Leading Hands post.
Now a handy tool called "Formulists" organizies, manages and expands your Twitter community through smart Twitter lists.
The tool allows you easily find the right people to add to your lists from within in those your follow and those you do not follow.


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One month ago I started testing the Silk'n Flash & Go Express Hair Removal System ($200). I have been using it on my legs, underarms, and upper lip and I am happy to report that so far I have had absolutely terrific results.
You can read my full initial post HERE, but as a quick recap, the Silk'n Flash & Go Express Hair Removal System is an at-home light-based handheld device for permanent hair removal. The pulsed light effects hair follicles at the root. You use this on clean, shaved skin. After the first treatment, you see reduction in hair growth. You do a second treatment two weeks later, then a third treatment four weeks later, then another treatment every four weeks for another 7 or 8 times. This is an electrical system, so you don't charge it – just plug it in and it's ready to go. There are five different levels of treatment and I was able to use the highest level (level 5) on all areas without any discomfort from the get go. The pulse of light feels slightly warm, but it doesn't hurt at all (and I am a real baby when it comes to pain levels) plus there is no scent of burnt hair.
I am extremely pleased with the progress so far. I did an initial treatment, then another one two weeks after, and I have two more weeks to go before my third treatment. Right now what I am experiencing is far less hair growth…in fact, I've gone from shaving every day to about every fourth day. Hair is more sparse and the growth process has really slowed down. Doing the treatments is super quick, easy, and completely painless. If I can get to the point where all I need is a touch up once a month…wow, I can't even imagine how that awesome that would be.
Silk'n offers a challenge – if after 10 weeks you don't find it better than shaving, they will refund your money AND buy you razors for a year. Right now I would say this is a challenge worth taking, although I am quite sure you will never need those razors! – Lisa
*sent for editorial consideration
Finishing Touch Flawless Facial Hair Remover touts itself as being the magic cure to rid…September 12, 2017
Beautiful hair is a much coveted thing…but not on your legs, upper lip…April 21, 2016
I want to try this out!
This sounds super intriguing! Can you keep us updated in a few more weeks?
Shop Sundresses, Blue Shoes Flats, Pink Sneakers, Platform Black Heels and more. Get this widget.


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Last year I wrote the story of my friend, he died from AIDS. (you can read that painful but cathartic post here)
It isn't about the stats, it isn't about telling you all about the cure, or the funding, or the need for education or the need for prevention, or the need for better drugs.
But It is simply about many things . . .
It is about helping people.
It is about knowing we can do more.
It is about doing more.
It is about looking after the diagnosed.
But most of all it is about winning this fight so nobody has to endure the hurt and misery that I felt, and still feel at the loss of someone I loved.
Take a moment today to think about how you can help make a difference. How you can help the world over come this, how you can help change happen.
Let the world hear our voices, let them hear our call, let them hear us demand that we do better.
This isn't a game it really is life or death, and it is a fight we can win.


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Those of you who are wondering whether the new Julia Roberts movie, Eat Pray Love, has anything positive to say about Christianity may want to learn from her lessons – she became Hindu after filming the movie.
Tag Archives: Yoga
Home Enlightenment Program
I don't know about you, but I get this stuff all the time – the latest New Age hyper-sell to land in my inbox is the Home Enlightenment and Self Realization Program by Sri Sutrananda which uses a combination of Jnana, Raja, Bhakti, Karma, Hathaa and Kunda yoga to take users on a journey of "spiritual discovery and self realization."
Superbrain Yoga
Jackie sent us a link about SuperbrainYoga® "I know you have spoken on your broadcast before about how dangerous yoga is and how all the positions reflect some sort of praise to a false god. Does that include this Superbrain Yoga®? Or are they just calling this yoga, but it's really just an exercise for the brain. I would love to try it, because I have a lot of trouble with my memory and focusing, but I don't want to try it if it is only a gate into spiritual darkness."
Jackie was right to trust her instincts and question this latest New Age invention. Even a cursory review of the main website is enough to answer a lot of questions!
According to the purveyors of Superbrain Yoga ®, this is a technique meant to "energize and recharge the brain." It is based "on the principles of subtle energy and ear acupuncture," and involves gently squeezing the earlobes to "produce the necessary energy connection" which supposedly causes the brain and pituitary gland to become energized and activated.
In some cases, practitioners squeeze their earlobes, then squat and rise, breathing in on the way down and out on the way up. This exercise is said to synchronize the right and left hemispheres of the brain and to improve memory and brain function.
It's founder, Master Choa Kok Sui, is a "pranic healer" (a form of energy medicine similar to Therapeutic Touch ) who trademarked the name Superbrain Yoga®. He claims that it "transforms or internally alchemizes the energies from the lower energy centers into higher subtler energies. These energies are then utilized by the upper energy centers. When those centers are highly energized, they energize the brain so it can function with greater efficiency and effectivity."
If this sounds like a bunch of New Age psycho babble, it is!
First of all, the "subtle energies" (also referred to in the literature as prana, chi, qi, yin and yang, etc.) he refers to are not supported by science. (See http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=4). From what I can see, this is the connection between Superbrain Yoga® and yoga they both share a belief in the existence of prana and chakras (energy centers which are also scientifically unsubstantiated).
However, Superbrain Yoga also involves acupuncture, which is where things get interesting.
For those who do not know this, there are two kinds of acupuncture the scientific version which is based on the principles of neuroscience and the Traditional Chinese Medicine version which is based on the existence of opposing energy forces known as yin and yang. Science has found that acupuncture works through the release of endorphins and/or pain relieving neurotransmitters – not because of any "subtle energy" manipulation in the body.
What the Superbrain Yoga® people do is mix things up by calling in a Yale neurosurgeon named Eugenius Ang who explains why squeezing the earlobes may cause changes to the right and left hemispheres of the brain but Dr. Ang's explanation has nothing to do with "subtle energies" he's all science.
But by bringing in Dr. Ang, it makes it look as though a practice based on prana is scientifically sound when it isn't. The only part that is scientifically sound is the part based on neuroscience. However, the "average Joe" will probably not be able to make this very necessary distinction.
I might also mention that the website talks a good game, mentioning all kinds of "pilot studies" and impressive research results but offers no citations, making it impossible to verify them. The site also includes a disclaimer (never a good sign) saying that the author, publisher and the website cannot be held liable if any adverse effects result from the use of Superbrain Yoga®.
I conclude by saying that this is just another example of how the New Age co-opts legitimate healing practices, such as massage or fitness regimes, and radically changes the meaning of them so that they become something Christians are better off avoiding.
While there's absolutely nothing wrong with squeezing your ear lobes and doing squatting exercises, there is definitely something wrong with Superbrain Yoga®!
Send your New Age questions to firstname.lastname@example.com
VG asks: "Do you have any info on Budokon? A friend of mine does it and she is a Christian. From what I have read, it doesn't seem compatible."
Margaret asks: "Is Pilates exercise considered New Age? What about simple stretches for warm-up and cool down when doing a work out? How is one to know what is 'yoga' and what isn't?"
Yoga is Not "Just Exercise", Instructors Say
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Yoga instructors in Missouri are fighting a move by the state to tax yoga classes, saying they're not just exercise classes but are a spiritual practice and therefore should not be taxed.
Parents Don't Want Yoga Taught in Schools
By Susan Brinkmann
Staff Writer
A high school in upstate New York has agreed to delay the implementation of yoga classes after a group of parents and religious leaders complained the program indoctrinates children in Hindu rites and is a violation of the separation of church and state.


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< Back to session list
Oleh Boraczok
Talent Development Instructional Designer
American Family Insurance
Oleh Boraczok is a talent development instructional designer at American Family Insurance. He holds a doctorate (EdD) in business education with a minor in management and organizational communication. Oleh has been a part-time adjunct professor for more than 18 years at various colleges and universities, teaching organizational training and development, human resources, and management information systems. He has been with American Family Insurance for about 20 years in the education/talent development division as a manager and instructional designer and in training delivery.


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Helicopters were crucial to how the Army fought in Vietnam. Those tried and true Huey helicopters have been replaced by the much more powerful Black Hawk helicopter. That's called an evolution of an aircraft from an older model to a more modern version.
What the Army wants now is a "revolution."
"We've reached the limit, the physical limit of what the current configurations can do. From a speed perspective, from an endurance perspective, from an efficiency perspective...we've squeezed all we can out of these aircraft," says Richard Ktretzsmar the Project Manager for the "Improved Turbine Engine and Future Vertical Lift" project office.
Now, no one needs to jump the gun. The improved turbine engine will come first. The Army is going to be using Black Hawk and Apache helicopters for decades to come. However, it means the current power plant will be replaced with something better. "What we're after is about a 50% improvement in power and a 25% increase in fuel economy," says Kretzschmar.
The new engine for the Black Hawk and Apache would be the same weight and size as the current model. It would ensure that the two main Army helicopters can continue to do their jobs effectively. As to what comes next; "Two times the speed, three times the range, two times the ability to carry payload, and the real critical piece is doing all that together," says Richard Kretzschmar.
The craft that might replace helicopters could look much like a current model only with multiple rotors and a push propeller, or it could be an aircraft that takes off as a helicopter and turns into an airplane. That last option would be much like the Marine's Osprey, but Kretzschmar says it would be much lighter, sleeker and faster.
"I think we are going to see aircraft that are drastically different from what we're flying today," says Rich. He's part of the work that's underway right now to make it happen.


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Psalm 119:9-16
Beth. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
Getting into the Word and spending time with the Holy Spirit are the two greatest actions I can take to invest in my marriage. Intimacy with God the Father, Son, and Spirit is where my energies, convictions and actions must stem from.
My action for today: I took time to read and meditate on Philippians.
My prayer for today: Abba Father, keep me hungry. Make my heart's desire to be running after you and sitting at your feet. Remain my first love. May my love for Glenn be the purest of love that stems from you. Amen


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We've discussed the importance of scale countless times on this website. La Tribune takes a brief look at Ford, Volkswagen and PSA and the different ways they are working to achieve economies of scale in one of the toughest markets in the auto industry; the C-Segment.
As you're all well aware by now, Volkswagen's MQB platform represents the most radical approach to a modular platform. The distance from the front axle to the pedal box remains the sole fixed dimension. Everything else is modular, capable of being snapped into place like Lego. MQB will underpin everything from the Polo to the Passat (B-D segment) and will be built in North and South America, Europe and even China. Annual volumes are expected to be 3.5 million units by 2018, roughly 35 percent of VW Group's entire global sales.
Slightly more conservative is the path taken by PSA. Not long ago, we published a side-by-side analysis of MQB and PSA's new EMP2 modular platform. EMP2 is a bit less ambitious, covering only C and D segment cars, MPVs, light commercial vehicles and crossovers. These segments represent a significant portion of PSA's sales, but the lack of B segment capability is a question mark, especially given the popularity of this segment in global markets, and Peugeot's own 208. Instead, PSA will leave B-segment development up to Opel, as part of the GM-PSA alliance. While VW touts MQB as a holistic approach to manufacturing, parts procurement and component sharing, PSA's message with EMP2 has been focused around weight reduction, cutting CO2 emissions and providing flexibility in terms of vehicle size and packaging. Given PSA's status as Europe's leader in low emissions vehicles (an average of 112.5 grams/km, 0.1 gram better than Toyota), this is somewhat understandable. Unlike MQB, only the rear sections of the car are interchangeable. Vehicles can be had with a short or long wheelbase, a low or high driving position and a solid rear axle or independent suspension (useful for marketing low-cost variants in emerging markets). Volumes are much more modest; 1.8 million units EMP2 based cars are expected to be sold by 2018.
And what about Ford? Despite the Global C platform being confined to one segment, and thus not exactly modular, Ford has apparently acheived volumes of 2 million C-segment cars annually. The global C platform, which underpins cars like the C-Max, Focus and Escape/Kuga and will likely add a couple Lincoln variants as well. They key difference between Ford, VW and PSA is that Ford is the sole automaker to sell their car globally, as part of the "One Ford" strategy. Rather than adapting models, or even the output of whole brands to regional needs as VW does, or simply not compete in some large markets like PSA, Ford's entire product line has significant global exposure in a way that the aggregate model ranges of VW and PSA don't. Ford hasn't hinted about moving towards a more modular framework in the future. Even in the face of declining sales in Europe and declining market share in North America, Global C's volumes are impressive enough on their own.
Tagged as derek kreindler, economies of scale, emp2, Ford, ford focus, global c, modular platform, modular platforms, MQB, scale, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Golf
24 Comments on "Analysis: Three Different Approaches To Maximize Scale..."
sportyaccordyFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 9:12 am
I think VW has the right idea.
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ash78February 22nd, 2013 at 9:30 am
I'm a Ford investor because I think the strategy will pay off in cost savings and simplicity with distribution, marketing, etc.
However, VW does have the right idea for their massive goals — customization for the market. IMHO, though, they're pushing away a lot of potential repeat buyers (like myself) who feel the cars are simply becoming a "slightly nicer Camry" rather than a "slightly cheaper Audi." They'll lose the uniqueness they once had, and people will in turn be less tolerant of lower-than-Honda reliability. Their brand cachet in the US will start to disappear, but it's a good business decision because the increased volume and dealer network will help a lot.
I'm actually considering adding some VW stock to my portfolio…I think they'll have a really good next decade or so.
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DownEasterFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 9:37 am
Chrysler did this with the K-Car chassis in the 80s and used one platform for the majority of its car lines. John DeLorean also talked about sharing platforms in his book he wrote in the 1970s. Sharing platforms for car and minivan models has been good over the years and VW's approach is to get the biggest bang for the buck. Hopefully automakers will have enough flexibility to let each model be customized for its market. A Chinese VW should be different in some ways from an American one. As platforms get shared cars companies need flexibility in different markets because cars will sometimes flop if they aren't right for the market. Such as the North American Ford Contour based on the European Mondeo of the late 1990s.
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LorenzoFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 5:18 pm
The late '90s Contour was done in by persistent engine and transmission problems that lasted throughout the run. The first year model had brake and HVAC problems too, and that kind of roll-out pretty much killed the market for them.
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silverkrisFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 10:32 pm
I think the Mondeo/Contour size wasn't quite right for North America – it was too small (interior-wise) to compete with the likes of a CamCord, but too big to be in the Civic/Corolla class.
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February 24th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
The contour was first released as a higher quality small car, and the price hit the lower quality big car, the Taurus.
For the vast majority of buyers, the Supersize car won, even though it didn't compare in any way to the Contour.
I had one of the few V6 manual Contours. The dealer didn't want to bother to find it, and happily would have sold me the Taurus or a slushbox Contour.
Ford de-contented the Contour until it was Tempo-like on the inside.
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mkirkFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 9:46 am
I am interested in seeing how the VW plan goes, specifically will the scalability of this platform (though it seems the term platform is a bit of an outdated concept here) lead to specifically different products that maintain VW's uniqueness as non-appliances. I agree that if VW's loose the whole cachet of being unique and different and become a German Camry then they will take a hit in the US market at least because they just become what every other car is only less reliable. Making compromises to chase volume hasn't been a winning strategy it seems.
However, the sales success of their latest "tailored for the US market" offerings show that I may be completely wrong.
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raphFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 10:08 am
"Making compromises to chase volume hasn't been a winning strategy it seems."
It seems there is no bigger poster child for this than GM especially Ron Zarella during the "brand management" years.
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racer-esq.February 22nd, 2013 at 10:03 am
What VW is smart in understanding is that there must be something fundamentally different between a $20K car and a $50K car. With VW/Audi a $20K car gets a transverse engine with a MacPherson strut front suspension, and a $50K car generally (with the exception of the TT) gets a longitudinal engine with the four-link front suspension. Unlike, for example, how Ford and GM think a top of the line Lincoln or Cadillac can have the same transverse engine with a MacPherson strut front suspension layout as a Taurus or Impala.
This "all my cars are on the same platform" crap is borderline meaningless. Am I to believe that, before MBQ, a VW Polo and a VW Golf shared no common parts or design concepts, just because the Polo was on the AO platform and the Golf was on the A platform? The MBQ platform, as utilized for the Polo, will probably be as different from the MBQ platform, as utilized for the Golf, as the A and AO platforms are from each other.
The common distance from the distance from the front axle to the pedal box is going to make the large MBQ platform cars look like crap. Nothing makes a front engine car look cheap and ungainly more than a short distance between the front axle and pedal box (which equates to almost no fender between the front tires and front doors). But that's probably fine with VW. You want a large car that does not look cheap and ungainly? You have the spring for the MLB longitudinal platform.
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ash78February 22nd, 2013 at 10:45 am
Or they could go back to more worldwide platform sharing with Audi. My Passat has longi engine and 4-link suspension (which is highly overrated and poorly designed), all for around $22k base model
But your point is solid — excessive platform sharing will eventually piss people off…just ask buyers of the old X-type Jag…er, Mondeo (or even S-type, which shared platforms with the Lincoln LS). There's a political element to platform sharing that VW has managed to sidestep for many years.
The new US Passat will be a winner because it's tailored to the US market. But I personally want…nay, NEED a wagon. The lack of wagon here is a deal-killer, something that can't be made up for with a goofy Tiguan or pricey Touareg.
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NeinNeinNeinFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Highly over rated and poorly designed?
How so? Our Audi A4–same suspension right?—drives and handles GREAT. Smooth, road hugging–add an upgraded sway bar and PRESTO—brilliant!
Are you complaining about replacing the rubber and bushings after 100K miles? Come on. Replacing them—the feel of a brand new car is back (along with the usual shock/strut replace at that mileage–normal anyways.)
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George HerbertFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 9:54 pm
racer-esq writes:
What VW is smart in understanding is that there must be something fundamentally different between a $20K car and a $50K car. With VW/Audi a $20K car gets a transverse engine with a MacPherson strut front suspension, and a $50K car generally (with the exception of the TT) gets a longitudinal engine with the four-link front suspension. Unlike, for example, how Ford and GM think a top of the line Lincoln or Cadillac can have the same transverse engine with a MacPherson strut front suspension layout as a Taurus or Impala.
The strut doesn't necessarily mean lousy handling; look at the 911, Boxter, Cayman. They're all struts up front, and in back on the Boxter/Cayman. One could imagine a standard mounting pattern to which a basic (stamped steel) lower arm and consumer grade strut went, or optionally a seriously better balanced aluminum arm and connectors and strut. Design the bolt pattern that you can do either.
This also gives a nice aftermarket upgrade path for the tuners; just take your little sedan in, and get the high market racing suspension units…
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Glenn MercerFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 10:11 am
I am distrustful of OEM arguments about platforms (or modules or kits or whatever they call them in a given decade) and the resulting beneficial scale economies, for at least four reasons:
1. They have been discussing and touting all this for decades. As TTAC commenters point out, we had platforms and modules in the past, we have them today, and we will have them in the future. I don't see how things are fundamentally different now.
2. There is a definition problem. I have not seen an OEM in recent memory actually nail down what a "platform" or "module" is. An OEM can declare that it has the same platform underlying cars A B and C, where 70% of parts are common. Another one can declare it has the same platform underlying cars D and E, with 95% of parts common. So, which platform is "better?"
3. The auto industry's romance with scale verges on religious belief. If we look at OEM profitability over time we see no correlation with size of company (anyone remember GM's bankruptcy?). Can anyone explain why BMW thrives when it is "too small" to do so, given assertions of 6 mm units as minimum economic scale? There is also, in my experience, no economic analysis showing that higher volume per platform or module leads to better financial performance. ASSERTIONS that it does — no evidence.
4. When we look at scale we have to understand WHICH scale we mean. If a given part (say, a brake rotor) is made on a brake supplier production line whose maximum annual output is 500,000 units, then to go to a platform of 5,000,000 units will demand building 10 separate supplier production lines, and replicating 10 sets of tooling. Where are the scale economies here, beyond some shared engineering work and some purchase orders? If the 5,000,000 car units will be made in OEM plants around the world… perhaps 10 plants, aren't we replicating the OEM lines and tooling again, too? If we mean to build one giant 5,000,000 unit plant, are we taking into account the cost of shipping all these cars globally?
I am not saying scale does not matter. It does. I especially think it matters a lot in the distribution side: having lots of dealers in the market to keep the brand in everyone's face constantly, having huge advertising budgets to wrangle media discounts, etc. And of course it matters in engineering and in manufacturing. It is hard to conceive of a viable mass-market plant working below 250,000 units annually capacity (1 minute takt time and 2 8-hour shifts 5 days a week for 50 weeks a year is 240,000). And we certainly do not want to engineer every fastener for every model individually (cf. British Leyland). But I have yet to see a car company actually demonstrating WITH HARD NUMERICAL DATA what the benefits of platforming or modularizing are, in FINANCIAL terms (don't tell me your platform is "lighter," or "simpler" or "stiffer" if you can't tell me if that matters or not on the financial statements!)
I Rest My Rant
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nikyFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 11:37 am
While I think your rant has some merit, BMW is a very poor example to use, since they make "upmarket" cars and their profit margins are enough that they shouldn't feel the need to go platform sharing.
Shouldn't… but considering they've felt the need to build as many damn models off of each platform as inhumanly possible, I think they're firm believers in platformization, with multiple MINI and BMW variants budded off of shared platforms, even up to the 5/5GT/7-series. Even worse, the next X1 will be based on the Countryman platform… no big loss there, though… the Countryman is a much better car, even with the rattles.
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OnusFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 11:40 am
I understand what you mean by having 10 different suppliers. But hear me out here.
Since this is capitalism those 10 suppliers will compete with the other suppliers. Sure initially the price might be high due to shortage due to production capacity. If a company is at max output they will not just dump their product on the market.
But, after they get going they will increase there production in attempt to get more of the supply money. This increase in production by everyone will result in reduced prices.
Heck if they end up with oversupply the parts price will drop dramatically.
Basic economics.
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MeaCulpaFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 2:45 pm
A supplier will also has a easier time with absorbing the development cost if he knows that he'll be selling 500k of the part per year to the OEM instead of 50k. More parts commonality also means more options for the customer in the end as parts can be used across many models, it makes no sense to develop an electric sunroof module for 5000 sales a year per model, but if 10 models share the same parts, well then it probably makes sense to develop the module.
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sportyaccordyFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 1:46 pm
I think you touch on another fundamentally good point. PROFIT is the measure of good business. Unfortunately, w/competition and commoditization becoming more and more prevalent, volume and efficiency in its context seem to be the only avenues to profit. Everyone is trying to find the cheapest way to make the same widgets.
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February 22nd, 2013 at 10:13 am
This kind of peek into the industry is fascinating. Given the cost involved in developing a chasis, it makes sense to maximize its use. I think it is better to share a platform across multiple lines than it is to beat it to death by using it to underpin cars for decades.
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mike978February 22nd, 2013 at 11:41 am
Mazda are doing something similar aren`t they with the new 3, 6 and CX5 all riding on the same platform. Since these three vehicles are their core products (from a volume perspective) they are achieving economies of scale. Albeit on a smaller scale because they are a much smaller company. It also sounds like Mazda are "outsourcing" non core platforms – the new MX5 with FIAT and the new Mazda 2 with Toyota (Yaris).
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stuntmonkeyFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Sharing components across different platforms: spatial economy of scale
Sharing components across different model years: temporal economy of scale.
As TTAC has pointed out in the past, the Japanese are good at reusing parts through successive generations, while (mostly) successfully conveying the idea that each new generation is a totally new car (2012 Civic being the big exception) My bet is that if you compare the spare parts department at any automotive supply house, the bins for the Japanese cars are going to be less varied than the ones for the domestics.
I think for the most part, platform sharing is like "SkyActiv", it's a term that's applied to the engineering of the car that has been happening all along. We didn't just discover platform sharing, but slap a marketing term onto it and you have a topic of conversation.
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mike978February 22nd, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Very good way of thinking about it. I can see the cost saving and reliability improvements that come from sharing components across different model years.
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MeaCulpaFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Good point! BUT that thinking hampers the Japanese in some ways, the same cheap as defroster switch that my highschool friend had in his 89 celica was last spotted in an 08 lexus, somewhat cheapening the impression of the lexus.
I think the big thing about platforms are a way of thinking from the get go when a part or component is engineered.
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ScoutdudeFebruary 22nd, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Not it is the exact opposite the Japanese companies tend to change the common replacement items like brake pads, calipers and rotors more frequently than the US companies. Heck the Japanese often used to have 3 different brake systems for the various different versions of the same model in the same year. There is big money is in replacement parts and making it unprofitable for the aftermarket to tool up is their game. It is not uncommon to get OE parts in aftermarket boxes because it is cheaper for the aftermarket supplier than tooling up for their own production run.
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krhodes1February 23rd, 2013 at 1:04 am
The Germans have been the true masters of this. There are parts on my 2011 BMW that I am pretty sure are the same as on my '86. There were parts on my '90 VW that were the same as on late '60s Beetles. The Europeans even do it across makes – the big OEMs sell the same bits to everyone in the industry. Bosch, Hella, Valeo, etc. I doubt you will find many parts that are the same on a Nissan and a Toyota, but you can find plenty that are the same on a Volvo, Saab, BMW, VW, and Mercedes. Of course, part of it is they all HAD to do it, they were too small individually.
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After being off the air for a number of years I did trade my trusty 1000MP for a 5000...however , somehow I must have missed the FlexRadio while doing research for a new radio.
I've been playing with the LP-PAN2 and SDRPlay2 as a panadapter in combo with the 5000 and CW skimmer....and so I got hooked on SDR.
With the new 6600 comming to the scene in a few months I wonder whether I should take the plunge?
My main interest is low band DX , weak signal DX in general , digi modes , 6m DX and occasionally taking part in a contest.
Any suggestions , advice...are highly appreciated.
73 - ON7NQ - OP2R - Danny
I will say also that Flex (even though there are negative posts in the forum) does communicate with users and is responsive and very effective on repairs. I think in your case being ON7 you'll be dealing with a distributor but help is always available on this forum to all.
For Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu I think you'd be hard pressed to find a forum where the radio manufacturer, including the company present actually weigh in.
I hope you take the plunge. It's a good radio and a very good company.
Why on earth are you wasting your time with something that you obviously do not like at all? Buy somthing else, and be happy man. Life is too short to have a radio that you hate.
If the feature set is rich enough that growing pains and waiting for more features is acceptable, then jump on in with a buy.
Just keep yourself happy by being realistic what you have to have and what you can wait for.
Folks temperaments are different and all positions on when to buy into an evolving product are valid.
The only position that is not valid is whining about yourself having taken a buy-in position that wasn't true to your heart and your needs as if it was a product problem rather than a decision problem.
Not everyone has the same take on where bleeding-edge becomes leading-edge become industry-standard in the process. And there are certainly trade-offs as all features a person would like don't roll out the same time. YMMV is more than just a cute saying.
But make sure your needs are satisfied by the timing you pick to buy-in.
It's got to be fun for YOU to be worth it.
I certainly got your point, I got it a long time ago, however I can't see how further such posts will improve your situation, or make your enjoyment of our hobby any better.
My 6700 is by far the best radio I have ever owned, and I have had an enormous amount of fun with it over the past three years, and with its continuously evolving software, I can see myself owning it for many,many years to come.
Steve (K9ZW) is right. "It's got to be fun for you ...." and your posts are suggesting it is not.
I wish I could help you more, however I can't think of any thing else I can say that might help.
Best 73
My opinion...take the plunge! You will not regret it!
The FT5K is a fine radio. I had two of them but when I saw the ability of the Flex6XXX to fluidly move from mode to mode, I immediately sold the FT5Ks and jumped on the 6500 and Maestro.
LP-Pan/ SDRPlay are a stop gap measure, that is, you still have only one comport on the FT5K. You still have to run some kind of port sharing like LPBridge and port contention can be problematic when you are running other apps in conjunction with NAP3, your logging program or digital applications.
Additionally, LP Pan and an external sound card can be prone to artifacts. It takes quite a bit of work to eliminate them. I gave up!
Moving to Flex, you can sell the LP-PAN, sound card, and any other external digital interfaces (Signalink, PK232, etc.) . Flex does it all via software (DAX- Digital Audio Exchange), making those external boxes obsolete. No more soldering those tiny DIN plugs! Everything you need to run every mode is "in the box". Just boot the application, give it a Flex comport/ PTT, link the app to the DAX channel and you are running.
With the Flex, you can run multiple apps at the same time. I frequently run JTDX and CW Skimmer at the same time . Nothing gets past me on 6M during the Es season! I have the entire band covered with applications. The same hold true for HF. Set-up Skimmer for the CW portion, WSJT, Digipan, MMTTY in the digital portion and you have the band covered.
With the FT5K, you are also limited to Yeasu preordained filter bandwidths while the Flex filters are viable. No more being tied down to what an engineer thought your correct combination
of filtering. Being a predominately CW/ RTTY operator, I find the ability to tailor filter bandwidths, on the fly, extremely effective. In contests if someone moves in close, you simply adjust your filter bandwidth!
I could continue...but you get my message. Flex is the way to go. If you have any further questions, you can reach me at email@example.com. (or on this board. I monitor it daily.)
73/ Regards
Lou N2TU
ex.(K5P, K9W, K1N and NH8S)
This sounds like "been there, done that" ;)
All sorts of interfaces ,LP-bridge , virtual sound routers and such really is mess at times , especially after some W10 update or reboot , but not as bas as Windows Vista..
Running multiple apps at the same time sounds great!
The filtering in the Flex is something I may need to get used to...
Testing a 6500 for a while would be interesting to get used to the Flex Radio's in general
BTW thanks for all those most wanted DXCC...missed you guys at K5P but worked you from K1N which was my last needed DXCC!
There is absolutely nothing like seeing the station you want to contact, and the QRM around that station, on a big screen... and visually being able to adjust your receive filters to be precisely where you want them. It's crazy powerful.
Wanna see the whole band? Easy. Wanna see one station? Trivial. If that station is a PSK station you want to talk to... and there's another station 100hz up... no problem, just pull you receive passband where you want it, and the precise width you want. 50hz wide? 72hz wide? 200hz? No problem.
Don't listen to those who are whining about what they don't have. They take for granted what they do have... like brick wall filters. It's because the radio is so good that people whine about stupid stuff...
46 inch Sharp monitor. HP Envy laptop my dear old Monsoons, sadly discontinued, my Flexcontrol, and Bencher paddles. Running N1MM loger on the laptop. and we can see what's running on the big fella.
And don't forget the best customer support in ham radio.
use FLEX Radio !
The answers from Ria, Lou and some of the others....this is what I was hoping to read tbh.
Hams as a rule of thumb are a little opinionated. I followed Ken NM9P's tutorial on Audio and fine tuned my audio to sound very nice. I even recorded myself off one of the SDR webs and it sounded ok with the exception of my own voice that I don't really like the sound of. I mean it had all the right frequency ranges.
Then I get on a roundtable with a couple of Flex haters I heard and they start to tell me how good the audio sounds and then I told them I'm on a flex 6500. One of them comes back and says: "Oh I could tell... But your's sounds better than most Flex radios..."
Just goes to show you that I could have been on an Icom or whatever and told them I'm on a flex and they would have said they didn't like it.
Still I'd love to hear your FT reflector thoughts. Would be a kick. The only thing I can say is probably I'm gonna find that hidden signal between the big signals (like I did on Field Day) before an FT user will.
Allthough it would give surprising results..
The filtering in the Flex is something I may need to get used to.
Interesting story !
SDR chart topping performance vs superhet and DSP
Ultimate flexibility and improvements with new software
Network capability and out of the box seamless remote
Better ability to interface with external equipment (amps, tuners, antenna controllers)
A variety of UI options including maestro with knobs if you want it
Dual SCU for basically two independent receivers in a box
7th order filters
What goes in favor of the yaesu:
Their brand name. Let's face it. Some are brand loyal
Yaesu radios have knobs that feel very ergonomic to use. The main vfo knob is one of the best I've used in any radio.
Familiarity. The yaesu layout is familiar to many.
Less latency. Yes this can be a concern to some. SDR has this inherent issue
Not having to deal with windows or a computer. (does not apply to 6600M which doesn't need that either)
I am biased. I own a flex. But that's not because I just like the company. I have used others and flex is what works best for me.
As a bonus you also get this awesome user community to help you.
I am not sure if you are referring to my screen or smartsdr but I am petty sure that the max resolution of the application is 4k. Maybe someone from frs can chime in.
Now, if you are referring to true 4k vs 16:9 4k in today's monitors you have a point, but you are not correct about the 2k. None of the screens in my shots are 2k,there is an iiyama 40 inch 4k monitor and 2 AOC FullHD monitors in the picture.
Look at the space underneath the EQ vs that same space on the previous post picture.
If you are buying a car, buy the car that does what you desire. You would never by a "SmartCar" hoping one day they come out with the pickup bed add on right?
On this forum you'll see lots of whining. Well that is what forums attract. They attract both good question answer discussions and how to discussions but also a lot of whining about this didn't work, I don't have that, why is everything taking so long etc...
As a computer / software professional for over 35 years I've had my fair share of neighbors, friends, relatives asking me what computer and software to buy. I always say the same thing:
First understand what you want to do with it
Second buy something that gives you that ability plus a little growing room
It is foolish to try and stay on the bleeding edge. It is frustrating and often very unproductive.
One of my relatives didn't listen and bought a super hopped up computer that the vendor claimed would do everything my relative wanted for the next 10 years. They forgot to add that it will only do that when it was not crashing and overheating. It turned out to have so many incompatibilities that it was almost useless.
So I posted first. I am going to maintain my stance:
I like flex. My reasons are I like computers, doing radio with a computer makes total sense to me. For some others not so much.
The flex company is far and above anyone else out there. There is not only this forum but a crew of people to help you keep your radio on the air and healthy. In your case I think being over seas you will still have the forum but likely deal with a distributor for support. I've never needed support and I've had 4 different flex radios. All have worked amazing.
I like to "see" the band. I often spend more time just watching signals than working them. For years I tuned my old Kenwood across some squeal. I was told they were artifacts of the radio and called "birdies". Now that I'm into golf I wish I had more birdies but that is another discussion. Now with my flex I can see "birdies" and I'm convinced they are not artifacts of my radio. In most cases they are some other thing in my house or neighbors house that is making noise. I find the shape of signals on the display to be fascinating. For example there are these sweep ionosphere things out there that rapidly run a signal up and down the band. I can see that where as in years past it was just a momentary beep on my current frequency.
As Peter says the ability to zoom in and filter is unmatched. During field day I often found two CW stations almost on top of each other. With a quick zoom and pulling the filters around I could isolate the one I wanted. I don't even use the tracking notch filter. I just don't need it for what I do.
Remote operation. To do remote operation with any other radio you will need to buy a few things. When Flex releases V2.0 which you would get for free as part of your purchase remote op will be built in. This means you can sit at your laptop at a starbucks and monitor or work the bands. No special equipment required. This may not appeal to you but it comes as part of the package. With FT radio you will probably need to do something like RemoteRig and that will be the purchase of a few things to get it working. Alternatively you would spend money on something like remote ham radio. Cool big stations but it costs a lot and there are no panadapters to "see" the band.
Remote "local" operation. Get a reasonable Windows laptop, a headset with a mic and you can run your flex COMPLETELY from anywhere you get a reasonable WiFi signal from your router. I've operated from my great room chair watching TV. I've operated from the back deck in shade.
Unlike Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu the flex is an open API system. By this I mean Flex publishes the API to control the radio over the network connection. This opens the door for people to hook programs into the flex and that means you have more options. I've already built a few programs for the flex and will continue to do so.
If you still want knobs then go for the version with the attached Maestro. Or get one without and buy a Maestro along side. With either of these options you can still run SmartSDR on your computer or a laptop or use the Maestro knob interface when you want. So many ways to use it. Many more than with any other radio.
So ya... I could keep going... but I think you get the point. It will be different, but it will be better in my opinion.
Mark - WS7M
Looks like you're on a roll ;) but thanks for all info....
A separate Maestro is something I may want to buy instead of the 6600M.
Remote from the back deck in the shade sounds like a plan !
How could you possibly evaluate the FT5K against a radio that is not in production? I'd recommend you wait and see before you make the plunge.
They are a given.
The FT5K hasn't had a meaningful software update in years(not to mention its OLED flaw) while the Flex SSDR has had numerous updates and another is expected close to the V2 release.
The 6400 and 6600 will be enhancements to the current 6000 series making FT5K comparisons vis a vis Flex quite easy. Will the 6400 and 660 be different? Yes, but with the same pedigree as the current models.
So really the choice for Danny is....to stay with the FT5K.... a fine rig but at the end of its product superhet life, difficult to enhance, with complex station integration and maintenance or move over to Flex SDR.
Comparisons, when viewed in this light, are quite easy.
73/ Regards
Lou N2TU
Ex: FT5000 owner (and Yaesu Hamfest rep!)
I only did one major update and the last one they released didn't look meaningful enough for me to go ahead and proceed.
I have no idea how frequent updates are released at Flex but I assume more then once a year ? ;)
I have several friends in Liege, Belgium who run Flex Radios and seem to be very happy with them
You might want to contact Janny ON5PO and get his opinion - he especially uses it for digital modes wherein the Flex not only excels but from my experimentation easily outperforms external boxes for digital.
I spend several months a year in France (just returned to USA on Sunday but returning to France at the end of August) where I remote through to my California Station from our apartment in Provence and cottage in Provence.
Perhaps if you have time you might visit the Ham Radio 2017 in Friedrichshafen next weekend (its about 7 1/2hrs drive from you via the A4) where they will have several models on display and working. You can also talk to their local EU distributor at the show I suspect that they may have remote stations setup to the USA and Germany so you can actually use the radio at the show with real antennas..
Personally there is nothing better than trying the radios hands on to get a real feel of what it might be able to do for you.
While the Yaesu 5000 is a fine radio.. it is using end of life Legacy technology that was designed in the early 1980's and has been reoptimized to squeeze that last bit of performance available.. there is very little that they can do without it costing huge sums of money to make that technology any better.
OTOH.. the Flex uses modern Direct Sampling SDR technology which is clearly still in its infancy and yet easily outperforms the older legacy technologies. Each new update to software is like getting a new radio with even better performance. Yes there are always some software bugs that need to be fixed but they do get fixed and things get even better..Really exciting stuff.
I didn't know ON5PO had a Flex...in fact I hardly know anyone over here who owns a Flex.
Yea, I have 2 MicroHams connected with the FT5K and it's a mess of wires interconnecting them.
Yes Ham Radio 2017 is next weekend , somehow they changed dates compared to last year and it sotra slipped my mind , sigh..
I have looked at the Distributors list and there a few familiar distributors on the list.
A few in the UK , PA and DL
Exactly , trying the radio's hands on is the way to go !
Compared them against a Flex 6700 internal DAX digital audio on JT65 on the same antenna
The IC7700 - newer and better receiver than the 7800 would consistently work JT 65 down to about -20dB
BUT my Flex 6700 would work done to -26dB
I have subsequently switched to JTDX rather than WSJT-X and regularly work down to -29dB albeit it takes a lot of power on my side for the weak ones to copy me
I believe Albert ON5AM also has a Flex
The reason I am missing Freidrichshafen this year is because it's in July when we are always in California But 2018 it's early June so I should be there.
So, bang for buck and a great future. I think Flex is the only way to go. Did I mention that they are a great bunch of folks to work with? And what other radio has the company president and several of its technical/support staff on the reflector, or even hosts its own reflector? Who else even will discuss their future plans? Yes, software is the radio. But to add to that, the company is also the radio. You won't be disappointed with a Flex product.
I do really like my 6500/with Maestro which I use for all digital modes and watch 4 bands at the same time for activity on FT-8. No other radio has anywhere near the Flex 6xxx's ease of using digital modes with no other hardware required.
As both an avid Ham and also commercially involved in defense work, the flex has opened our eyes to so many possibilities.
You could not meet a more diehard knobs and dials kind of operator than myself, I have hundreds of black box radios I collect and love an some of the more high end are the IC7850, TS990 and previously an FTDX5000.
My personal advice is that you will be doing yourself a big favour in heading towards the Flex, I have the Flex6700 with the Maestro and as a Ham I learn something new and incredible everyday.
From a commercial point of view, we developed encryption software that is used in Military applications and we are enjoying easy integration to the Flex series. We are very interested in the Version 2.0 (allowing remote hotspotting etc )which we are in communication with Flex and have received incredible support regarding the applications we have in the middle east currently.
I think one of the pleasures of the FlexSystem is its ease of use, I have played with the Anan System and in no way am I knocking it, its a very effective and commercial grade product, but the flex for someone like myself who has little time in my day to be working out sometimes complex permutations of the Anan, (with incredible results though) the Flex is very plug and play and this suits me personally and also our customer base worldwide.
So Danny, how does it compare to some of my high end radios, the receiver on the Flex has features which are far more effective in dealing with noise and effectively, its just a better receiver on all fronts. As a transmitter, not a huge difference to be honest, runs perfectly into our Acom Amplifiers we have here(we are the Asia Pacific Acom and Optibeam Dealers) and has a very good range of equalisation on board that works well.
I was never a huge fan of the FTDX5000, more personal choice than any particular criticism, but love the TS990 and the IC7850 I have here. The embarrassing point is showing people the radio used most which is generally my IC7850, and then showing people the highlights of the Flex6700 with 8 screens open and then the maestro which gets used all around the house. I actually just sold my IC7300 I had in the bedroom as I sincerely love the Maestro for a dozen more reasons than the IC7300 Icom Sdr radio. People love my IC7850, but once I start rolling over to the desk with 8 band slices up, and I start showing the various ways to combat any noise, it becomes clear that Flex have surpassed Icom in this area.
I was very fortunate, a Flex6700 and a Maestro came up secondhand and this was very incentivized by its great price, it came with a super HP computer with the most incredible graphics card, two screens etc. The Maestro actually came from a separate sale from a mate in New Zealand it was all meant to be. The great news is that we get to evaluate a system that has done some work as we see applications for the Flex Product worldwide with contracts we are currently involved in. I retrofitted a number of our manpack applications to the Maestro for a bit of fun and we then used one of our test radios to communication back to and basically, it was just too easy, no dithering or data packet losses, just 100% in all testings.
I just mention also the incredible communication from Team at Flex Radio, I love that they are live on this forum, they are just 100% invested in you the customer and we are also very fortunate in Australia that Flex products are supported by a very experienced company, Future Systems. For any Australian customers looking at Flex, we import from all over the world for various products and its a matter of have to, if only we could have a Future Systems to ring locally and have local support for a lot of our products. When you do the maths, GST, Duty, Govt import fees, freight etc, Future systems are not making a huge profit and are very good to deal with from all I have heard. The other amazing things about Flex, if you do buy 2nd hand, then simply pay $89USD and any existing warranty is transferred to you personally.
To me, its all just positives, will I sell my 7850 or 990 or any of the other 300 radios here, probably not, but thats the hoarder in me, lets face it, the big box line ups are still a load of fun to look at and use etc but the serious operators are heading SDR and seeing the benefits. I am embarrassed as I have not had a chance to upload some of the great photos of the Flex setup in action onto QRZ.com but we will get that sorted this week. My final opinion, yep, Go Flex and see the difference first hand.
Brenton VK3CM
Position and Navigation Systems Pty Ltd
Charles K5UA
I say this because I was disappointed with my 6700/Maestro combo, probably because in my head I thought the software, by now, would be somewhere else as far as features. But this is unfair to Flex as the software is pretty good and the hardware is fairly amazing. But my own personal expectations were more ambitious than the current result.
Go into Flex appreciating what you get at the moment of your purchase and not spending too much time here waiting for the new software to drop or some feature to happen.
How many software engineers work at Flex?
1 week ago
Peter K1PGV, Elmer
- 503 Posts
- 292 Reply Likes
@Mark WS7M
>3650 Source files containing 3,539,849 lines of real code
3.5 MILLION NCSLs is yuuuuudge. I don't even want to think about a project that size. The core portion of the Windows OS (no drivers, no HALs, etc) is only about 2 million lines. A project of 3.5M non-commented source lines scares me.
In any case, I am very impressed by what the Flex guys have accomplished. Selling most of my slack equipment, especially the stuff with many cables, and waiting for the 66k.
I'm not sure this matters, but since I was quoted above...
With all due respect and appreciation to Flex, I would be surprised to discover that all the code for the Flex, including the VHDL and SSDR and Maestro, is anywhere close to 3.5 million non-commented source lines of code.
In the 20+ years my company has been in business writing software, we have written and delivered that much code. I think. When we last counted, I think we counted commented source lines and came up with 3M.
3.5 million uncommented source lines is a ridiculously large code base.
BTW: All of Windows is estimated to be more than 50 million lines of code. I say "is estimated" because those are public figures. I've never personally counted.
</random tangent>
That being said I cannot vouch for LocMetrics accuracy.
Our current project has a ridiculous number of layers to ever object. The original architect wanted "definitions", then models to hold "definitions", etc. etc.
So at times to reference one thing we have 5 or more related classes to wrap things up with. It is one of our biggest headaches when debugging this code.
After 58 years of contesting and chasing DX, my current priorities are as follows:
1. Resolution/Usability of the panadapter
2. Machine/Human interface
3. Weight and size
4. Specifications
You might wonder why specifications are listed last. That is because any of the top 10 radios on Sherwood's list have specifications adequate for DX and contesting work. It is more important to me how to bring these specifications to the DX and contesting battlefied than whether or not one radio has an additional 2 or 3 dB advantage in any specific area. I was a hardened "knob" guy until I realized the advantage of band awareness using my vision instead of my ears to determine where I should position my receiver in crowded band conditions. To a casual operator, this is not a big deal. To a contest or DX operator, this is a paradigm shift in operating style.
I have great respect for the Yaesu FTdx-5000, but within weeks of using my Flex 6500, I removed the Yaesu from the table and sold it, not because it was not a great radio, but because my operating style had been altered so much by the 6500. Sure, I had the LP-Pan and PowerSDR-IF working pretty good on the Yaesu, but I did have to jump thru hoops to make that combination work. Then when I had to send in a 45 pound Yaesu FTdx-5000 back to the factory, my back and my wallet paid a significant price. That is why weight and size in number 3 on my list. "Big iron" is a young man's game.
The other epiphany I had after using the 6500 was that I did not have to make a lot of mouse movements in a contest. Using the 100hz CW filter I could burn through the band in the search and pounce mode using the Flex Control and rarely reach for the mouse. No adjusting the width or IF shift by ear as in conventional radios, just LOOK at the panadapter and put the cursor where it needs to be. The shape factors of the Flex CW filters are so steep that it is rare that two CW stations can not be separated. Where else can you find a 1.08 to 1 shape factor 100hz CW filter?
Yes, I have whined as much as anyone about V2 being delayed. But everytime I put my backup high performance transceiver on the desk..... I am reminded of all the advantages of my 6500 and it is not long before I'm back on my 6500. 4 years is a long time for me to keep the same radio in operation, given by past history of a new radio just about every year.
The result.... 3 top ten Multi-Single finishes in ARRL and CQ DX contests in the past 4 years with a modest station.
Charles K5UA
Today I have made my final decision.
Ordered the 6600 ! ( and another toy....grin )
Any tips to keep my patience ? ;)
Danny ON7NQ
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text:
Welcome back to Family Frolics.
At the end of last week my Mum came to stay with us for a few days. The children had their pre-school school trip and mum said she would come with me to give me a hand. We were all travelling to Walton on the Naze as a group by train and once there splitting up to do our own thing.
We decided introduce the children to the idea of a pier. This colourful, vibrant pier on a weekday was deserted. We practically had the whole thing to ourselves and the children were in heaven!
Firstly they were excited by the train, but more importantly the fact they got their snack on the train!
Then we introduced Walton pier!
They were ecstatic that Nanny let them have a ride on a mini merry go round.
Over the moon to ride a mini roller coaster!
Thrilled to go on a pirate spinning ride!
And enthralled by squirting pirates.
We were only there a few hours and treated them to some very naughty chips and a sugar doughnut (but it is the law when you go on a pier!). I couldn't believe how easy it was to get there and I shall definitely be heading back, this time with a picnic and some buckets and spades for the beach as well.
So what have you been up to this week?
Do link up and share your family fun posts. I love reading them.