Organizing Team Decision-making

Reaching consensus for better decisions

Consensus is often essential.

© iStockphoto

While many of the decisions we make on a daily basis are quite simple, some are not. These decisions may involve assimilating a huge amount of information, exploring many different ideas, and drawing on many strands of experience. And the consequences of the right or wrong decision may be profound for the team and the organization.

So, should leaders be decisive, think the issues through on their own, and take firm action? In some cases, no.

There's a limit to how much information any one individual can process, and a limit on how many perspectives one person can see. Many decisions need full group participation to explore the situation, provide input, and make a final choice. As you've probably seen, groups can often make better decisions than any one person operating on his or her own. This is one of the main reasons that good companies have boards, to which important decisions are taken.

What's more, many decisions need "buy-in" from the people affected by them if they're to be implemented successfully, and it's hard to get this buy-in if people haven't been involved in the decision-making process.

The problem is that when you bring other people into the decision-making process, you need to approach decisions differently. These approaches vary, depending on a number of different factors, including:

  • The type of decision.
  • The time and resources available.
  • The nature of the task being worked on.
  • The environment the group wants to create.
  • The amount of buy-in needed.

Understanding why and how best to organize decisions for your team is an important skill. We'll show you some key tools that you can use when you want to involve your whole team in the decision-making process.

The Challenge of Team Decisions

Using team input is challenging, and it takes preparation and time. As the saying goes, if you put three people together in a room, you'll often get four opinions. People can often see issues differently – and they all have different experiences, values, personalities, styles, and needs. Team decision-making strategies should therefore be used when you want to get participation and achieve consensus.

When time is of the essence, a good decision is one that's made quickly. That doesn't usually happen with full team decision-making. And when one or two people have the necessary expertise to make the decision, it doesn't make sense to involve the whole team – the experts provide most of the input and make the final choice anyway.

However, where the situation is complex, consequences are significant, commitment and buy-in are important, and where team members can work together maturely, team decision-making is often best.

If the right way forward isn't obvious, see our article on The Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model. While it's quite complex, it gives you a well-thought-through decision tree that you can use to work out the approach to use.

Team Consensus Methods

When your whole group needs to be involved in the process, you need to explore consensus decision-making models. With these, each team member has the opportunity to provide input and opinions. All members discuss alternatives until they agree on a solution.

With consensus, there's often compromise. Not everyone gets everything they want out of the final decision. However, because everyone has fair input, the decisions reached are often ones that all can live with.

Let's look at a few team decision-making strategies.

Ensuring Participation

Voting for Consensus

Voting is a popular method for making decisions, and it's a good approach to use where opinions are strongly divided between two or three options.

Unfortunately, it becomes less useful where there are many options – imagine an election where people have only one vote to choose between eight candidates: its possible that a candidate could win with as little as 13% of the vote. This would leave 87% of people feeling very dissatisfied!

Multi-voting can address this problem. Proceeding through a number of rounds of voting, individuals are given a certain number of votes in each ballot, which they can allocate to the various options any way they want. Essentially, they provide a "weighting" to their choices. They can give one vote to each of several different choices, all of their votes to once choice, or any combination in between. After all the votes are placed, the choices with the highest number of votes are carried through to the next round, until a winner emerges.

This method allows more people to have input in the final decision. There may still be people who give the final choice no votes, but that number tends to be significantly reduced. This method is popular when time is an issue and full buy-in isn't essential for success.

Establishing Group Priorities

A similar situation is where you need to prioritize a set of options, where everyone has different views, and there's no objective framework that people can use for decisions. (The classic situation in which this occurs is where people are allocating resources between competing projects.)

Here, Nominal Group Technique provides an effective framework for ranking priorities and choosing the option that best fits those priorities. First, the team discusses the problem, then team members narrow down the issues to the key choices they must evaluate. From there, participants each rank their top choices. The team totals the rankings for each alternative, and the options with the highest ranking emerge as the group's priorities.

Anonymous Contributions

Sometimes, people with deep expertise that you need to draw on may dislike one-another so much that they have difficulties working together. In others, people may need to discuss issues which are real, but unpalatable or embarrassing. In still others, proposals may need to be developed and explored in tremendous detail, suiting individual scrutiny and analysis away from a meeting.

For these situations, managing the process in a way that allows anonymous and remote contributions can help you avoid destructive situations and reach a good, well-thought-through decision.

With the Delphi Method, a facilitator helps participants individually brainstorm solutions and submit their ideas "anonymously" – other team members don't know who submitted which ideas. The facilitator collects and organizes the input, submits it to others for development, critique and refinement, then goes back and forth to all participants until everyone agrees to a final set of choices – and, eventually, a final decision.

Conducting these discussions is very time-consuming, and you need an experienced facilitator who can help individuals come together to find a solution. But the result is usually a robust final decision that has been fully explored, and is supported by each team member.

The other advantage of the Delphi Method is its ability to eliminate groupthink.

In some situations, group cohesion and consensus can subconsciously become more important to people than reaching the right decision, with the result that the group may ignore anything that contradicts the newfound consensus. If groupthink isn't recognized and corrected, it can lead to very poor decision-making and severe negative consequences.

Key Points

Team decision-making is often time-consuming, meaning that it makes sense to prepare for it properly. Before you organize full team participation, make sure that it's appropriate, and that you have the necessary time and resources for it.

However, teams can often commit more enthusiastically to decisions reached through consensus. Using a variety of techniques, you can achieve this in such a way that everyone has a chance to contribute to the final result.

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"Title","Author","Summary","Body","Date posted","Country","Ongoing","Start Date","End Date","","Staff Type","","","","","","","","","Facilitation?" "GAMBA patient and citizen panels","ScienceDialogue.de","Patient and Citizen Panels in three countries A key element of this project is the involvement of members of society into the research on innovative treatments of arthritis. We will set up a two-way dialogue at eye level between patients / citizens and leading European scientists in three European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Ireland). In the so-called patient and citizen panels (about 3 to 4 days) participants are first introduced to the field of innovative research on arthritis through expert presentations and a hearing with experts selected by the participants. In a second step, participants negotiate about this input and then compile patient-/ citizen-reports supported by independent facilitators. Therefore, the main objective of this work package is to discuss the chances, risks and ethical aspects of innovative arthritis treatments with lay people and to develop communication strategies to provide clinics, interested companies as well as the media and a broader public with balanced, professionally developed and scientifically sound information. Two main questions will be answered by the dialogue measures: 1) What do lay people (patients / citizens) want to know about GAMBA? What are their associations with GAMBA? What specific topics are they interested in from their special point of view as concerned patients / interested citizens? 2) What are lay people’s recommendations to the scientific world, to regulators, industry and media regarding the chances, risks, ethical/social aspects of GAMBA? ","Problems and Purpose History Originating Entities and Funding Participant Selection Deliberation, Decisions, and Public Interaction Influence, Outcomes, and Effects Analysis and Criticism Secondary Sources External Links Notes ","Tue, 07/03/2012 - 04:16","Germany","Yes","","","","","Discussion, Dialogue, or Deliberation","International Organization","Consultation (i.e. to advise decision makers), Raise public awareness","Open to all with targeted recruitment, Random Selection, Appointment","Citizens' Jury","International","Academic Institution","","Yes"


I like to talk about art, trashy TV shows on Bravo, social inequality, mental health, documentaries, makeup, intersectional feminism, and pop culture. I was born in the North, dealt with culture shock in the South, and then did the whole thing over again when I went off to graduate school. My identity and opinions reflect that experience more than anything else.

where i’ve been

My other blogs:

rococo&caffeine | naomi and katein cher horowitz we trust | i can’t do pilates


Veins In Legs

Blood vessels have lean physiques within their fortifications to be capable to resist the stress of parts of the heart driving blood to the remote corners of the body. Vein does not have an important physique coating, and there is not anything pushing blood reverse toward the heart excluding physiology. Blood turns back towards the heart due to the large muscles of the body compress the vein as it indenture in its usual motion of stirring the body.

The usual actions of stirring the human body turn the blood reverse toward the heart. There have some veins which are located at legs that do the similar works as the other veins of the body. These veins in legs are the most important part of human body as these controls the overall functions.

Diversity of veins in legs

Deep veins and superficial veins are the main diversification of veins of human being. These veins are the integral part of the body. The veins that exist just under the skin and that can easily be seen is known as superficial veins in legs. The deep veins are situated in the deep part of the muscles of the legs which is clear from its mane. Normally these veins are not visible.

From the superficial vein organism to the deep vein organism blood flows with a little perforator veins. That means a little perforator vein helps to flow the blood from superficial to deep venous organisms. The perforator and superficial veins have valves that are one direction that means it passes only one side of veins not in the both sides. The direction of the flow of blood of these veins is to the heart.

Spider and Varicose Veins

These have a lot of spider veins and varicose veins in the body of men and women. There have many explanations for the visibility of these veins on legs. The compel of solemnity, force of body load and the function of bearing blood from the underneath of the human body to the heart etc. are the chief reasons for their existing in the legs.

The veins of the legs are the chief factor for the bearing of blood or keep the flow of blood balanced. The veins of the other parts of the human body are not as powerful as the veins in legs. These veins can endure the most strains of the body where other veins fail to endure the strain. There have different issues that are the chief causes of the existence of spider veins and varicose veins.

Increasing of age of man and woman, born with weak veins that is genetically problem with birth, hormonal change for pregnancy, puberty & menopause, at the time of pregnancy raising the amount of blood, increasing the weight due to raise the fats in the body of man & woman, standing in the same place for long period of time that not have of movement, and remaining under the sun for a long period of time are the main cause of spider veins and varicose veins.


Washington Coast

The Washington Coast

The area known as the North Beach of Washington gets its name due to the fact that the primary coastal population is centered around Grays Harbor. The area south of the harbor is the South Beach, and the area north of the harbor is the North Beach. The primary city on the North Beach is Ocean Shores, Washington.

The most popular destination on the Washington Coast

The Ocean Shores area is the most popular destination on the Washington Coast. This is due to extensive marketing and traditional popularity. The name itself was also well chosen to attract tourism. As a result, the area has several interesting and fun activities year round, and is heavily geared toward providing services for tourists.

Ocean shores has several things to offer, but its primary focus is the beach. The town itself is very spread out with no real central location. The North Jetty is a popular place to visit, especially in the summer when there is a significant amount of boat traffic going by headed for Westport.

Ocean Shores has a golf course, shopping, casino, moped rentals, bumper cars and bumper boats, go-karts, horseback riding, and many other tourist related activities.

The area around duck lake has navigable waterways for paddled boats as well as fresh water fishing. There are three community parks including Chinook, North Bay, and Emerson. There are extensive wetland areas for bird watching.

The 2000 census lists the population of Ocean Shores as 3,863 people. The city has a total area of 12 square miles. The median household income is $34,643.


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Ask a question about 'Llyr'
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Llŷr is a figure in Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....

, the father of Brân
Bran the Blessed
Brân the Blessed is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen ferch Llŷr. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien...

, Brânwen
Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr is a major character in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, which is sometimes called the Mabinogi of Branwen after her. Branwen is a daughter of Llŷr and Penarddun...

 and Manawydan

 by Penarddun
Penarddun is a figure in Welsh mythology, the wife of Llŷr. The Second Branch of the Mabinogi names Bran, Branwen, and Manawydan as her children by Llŷr, and ascribes to her two additional sons by Euroswydd: Nisien, a good man, and Efnysien, a conniving troublemaker...

. The Welsh Triads
Welsh Triads

 mention he was imprisoned by Euroswydd; the Second Branch of the Mabinogi
The Mabinogion is the title given to a collection of eleven prose stories collated from medieval Welsh manuscripts. The tales draw on pre-Christian Celtic mythology, international folktale motifs, and early medieval historical traditions...

names Euroswydd as the father of Penarddun's younger two sons, Nisien
Nisien is a figure in Welsh mythology, the son of Penarddun and Euroswydd and twin brother of Efnisien. He appears in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, which names Bran the Blessed, Branwen, and Manawydan as his half-siblings. Nisien, also Nissyen, was the opposite of his brother Efnisien in...

 and Efnisien
Efnysien fab Euroswydd is a sadistic anti-hero in Welsh mythology, appearing prominently in the tale of Branwen ferch Llŷr, the second branch of the Mabinogi...

. Llŷr corresponds to Lir

 in Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...

, and, like the latter, he is identified as a god of the sea. Leir of Britain
Leir of Britain
Leir is a legendary ancient king of the Britons, as recounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. His story is told in a modified form by William Shakespeare in the play King Lear. In the drama, some names are identical to those of the legend Leir is a legendary ancient king of the Britons, as recounted by...

, a mythical British king most famous as the subject of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

's King Lear
King Lear

, may be derived from Llŷr.

The House of Llŷr


American Institute of Physics
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Physics News Update
Number 356 (Story #2), January 27, 1998 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein

QUANTUM EVAPORATION occurs in a new experiment when a beam of phonons (little pulses of sound issuing from a warm filament) inside a pool of superfluid helium-4 is aimed at the liquid surface from below. In analogy with the photoelectric effect (in which light ejects electrons from a surface), the phonons pop helium atoms up out of the liquid. By measuring the momenta of the phonons and the evaporated atoms, one can determine that the atoms originally had zero momentum parallel to the surface, demonstrating directly (for the first time) that the He-4 atoms had been part of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), in which the atoms fall into a single quantum state. Theories of superfluid He-4 had supposed that the atoms reside in a BEC state, but this had not been experimentally verified until now. The researcher, Adrian Wyatt of the University of Exeter, believes this method can be used to generate beams of coherent helium atoms (an "atom laser" effect). (Nature, 1 January 1998.)


How To Clear Group Discussion And Personal Interview For Bank Jobs

Group discussion and personal interview is the final 2 steps for the selection procedure in banks and other entrance exams. Most of the bank now accept IBPS score which is the written test score. Those who are selected in IBPS are called by the bank for the group discussion and personal interview.

Generally, in the group discussion, candidates are divided in groups and a topic is then given. Each group is given some time to discuss the topic among themselves. Then, each candidate has to speak on the topic for 2-3 minutes.

Below are some rules which each candidates should follow in group discussion and personal interview. These rules will surely help you a lot.

1. Whatever time is given for discussion, utilize it carefully. Proper discussion, analysis is important and then thoroughly arrive at conclusions. Always stick to the point for which you can give objectives. Irrelevant points and facts should be avoided.

2. If you want to say something or ask something to another candidate, always raise hands first. But be sure, you donot deviate from topic.

3. Maintain etiquettes in the discussion room. Never do personal attack on anyone. Rather try to oppose to the points given by others by relevant examples.

4. It is always advisable to put a valid point infront of others. This can lead to gaining of more points. Don’t try to mislead others by saying wrong facts.

5. Negative impression should be avoided at all cost. Try to show your leadership quality by putting your views in a diligent and striking manner. Always listen to others carefully.

6. Be polite always. Be calm but not quite.

7. Your thoughts should be clear enough. Be logical while answering something or while questioning others.

8. Never ever use slang or abusive language. It will put a very negative impression of yours.

9. Avoid negative body languages like shaking legs, yawning, swinging pens etc. Always try to be alert and active.

Last Minute Strategy For Bank PO Exam

Bank PO exam is the most competitive exam these days. It is given by large number of candidates each year. Exam for Probationary officer is divided into 2 parts- objective and descriptive. The objective test is of 2 hours and consists of 4 sections viz English language, General awareness, Data analysis & interpretation and reasoning. Each section is of 50 marks. The Descriptive test is of 1 hour and is of 50 marks.

In order to crack the bank PO exam, you have to prepare well and thoroughly. Keep in mind, each and every topic and section is important. Don’t miss anything. Inspite of full preparation through out the day, last minute preparation is equally important. Make some strategy of your own so that you clear the exam with flying colors.

Following points should be kept in mind while preparing for the exam-

1. Each candidate should make a plan and try to follow with it. You should decide before hand only that which section is to be attempted first and which to be attempted at last and how much time will be given to each section. It means if you have decided that you will give 40 minutes to reasoning section then, stick to it. If in the exam, after completion of 40 minutes, if your reasoning section is still left then leave it for a moment and if time permits, you can again try left over questions in the last.

2. Attempt the questions in 2 rounds. In each section, first attempt all the easy questions and leave the hard tough questions. This way you will be able to solve all the easy questions and score can be increased.

3. Start with the easy section. First go through the entire question paper. And the section which seems to be most easy to you, start with that. This will help you to gain confidence. Difficult part should be attempted at last.

4. Don’t stuck with any questions. Suppose while solving any particular question, you are not able to find answer even after 2-3 minutes, then leave it for that time. Try to solve other questions and if time is still left, you can again go back to that question and try again. This will save a lot of time.

5. Fill the OMR sheet along with solving questions. Many a times it is seen that candidates solve the questions first and then fill the OMR sheet at the end. And sometimes there is no time left to fill it. Its so frustrating that you solve the questions but could not clear the exam because you have not filled the sheet.

6. Take proper sleep the night before the exam. Also take light breakfast in the morning.

How To Minimise Negative Marking In Bank Recruitment Exam

Whenever you are taking any bank exam, try to avoid giving wrong answers. As each wrong answer will be awarded negative marking which is often 0.25 – 0.50 marks. This is the main concern of a candidate while giving a bank exam.

However, you can avoid such negative marks by paying attention to the points given below. I hope this would help you a lot.

1. Practice as much as you can before the main exam. Make sure you do lot of mock test papers. This will increase your speed and accuracy so there will be no hurry in the exam, which is the main reason of wrong answer in any exam. Also regular practice gives you a lot of confidence.

2. Avoid guessing at any cost. Often when we don’t know the answer in a multiple choice question, we take a guess and mark any of the 4 choices by mere guess. But this can turn out to be fatal. Don’t make a guess unless you are somewhat sure. This can make your score down.

3. In a bank exam, answers has to be marked on a OMR sheet. So be very sure before marking on the sheet as answers once marked can not be erased or changed. Also avoid over writing. This will make the answer wrong.

4. Never stuck with one question. This will reduce the time for solving other questions and so the chances of making a mistake becomes more. So if you are not sure about a question, switch over to another one and if you have time left at the end, try to solve those questions again.

5. Make a habit of reading questions thoroughly. Often you read the question partially and so give wrong answer. So try to avoid this habit.

6. Make your own strategy of solving the question paper. While solving the mock papers, try to make a strategy like solve English paper first, then quantitative or vice versa. This will help in the main exam for sure.

7. Always try to attempt the easy questions first. This will save a lot of questions and will also give you an idea about how many more questions need to be solved to clear the exam.

8. It is very important to avoid solving questions at the last minute. There is high risk of giving wrong answers in such cases.


Views of Rome: Drawings and Watercolors from the Collection of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Tour Rome as it was experienced by artists between the 16th and 19th centuries. This exhibition of drawings, watercolors, and illustrated books, by both prominent and lesser-known artists, captures the changing landscape of the city and its environs. Artists, draftsmen, and architects represented in the exhibition include Ferdinand Becker, Richard Wilson, Lady Elizabeth Susan Percy. Etienne Duperac, and Cornelis van Poelenburgh.
Thomas Ashby, Rome, drawings, watercolors, Vatican, National Design Library, traveling exhibitions


ODNR Division of Wildlife - A to Z Species Guide - Fish - Longnose Gar

 Longnose Gar

Gars can often be seen lying almost motionless, basking near the water's surface. An interesting fact about gars is that their eggs are poisonous.

Longnose Gar
Lepisosteus osseus

• Family: Lepisosteidae (Gars)

• Other Names: Needlenose gar

• Ohio Status: Sport fish

• Adult Size: Typically 24-36 inches long, can reach over 50 inches. Usually weighs 2-7 pounds, can reach 25 pounds.

• Typical Foods: Feed on small fish, primarily minnows or gizzard shad.
The longnose gar has a very long and narrow snout containing many needle like teeth. Their body is long and cylindrical, covered with diamond-shaped, hard non-overlapping scales. They are olive or brownish colored on their back with a white belly. When they are caught from clear waters they often have numerous dark spots on their sides, fins, and tail. Longnose gar have a much longer snout than any other species of gar and are by far more common in Ohio. Additionally they have fewer spots than the spotted gar but typically more than the shortnose gar.

Habitat and Habits
Longnose gar are by far the most common species of gar found in Ohio. They can be found in both the Lake Erie and Ohio River drainages. They are found in medium to large rivers and prefer areas of little or no flow with clear water. They are also found in the harbors, bays, and other backwaters of Lake Erie. All species of gar have a specialized air bladder that gives them the ability to breathe air. They can often be seen poking their beak out of the waters surface briefly as they take in a gulp of air. Even though they can breathe air they are not obligated to do so, they also have fully functional gills like other fish.

Reproduction and Care of the Young
Spawning takes place in the late May or early June often in shallow riffles. The longnose gar migrates into smaller streams to spawn. The larger females are often chased by two or more smaller males during courtship. The rather large eggs are sticky and adhere to the substrate or aquatic plants. One female produces about 30,000 eggs in a year which hatch about a week after being laid. Newly hatched gar of all species have an adhesive disc on the top of their head which they use to anchor them selves to objects until their yolk sac is absorbed and they begin feeding. Longnose gar attain a length of 12-15 inches in their first year. Males mature at 2-3 years of age and a length of about 24 inches. Females mature at 3-4 years of age and a length of 28 or more inches.


"All men are not BORN equal. They are CREATED equal, about nine months before they are born. This is self-evident, or, to put it in the modern vernacular, AS PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE."

-- Tom Hoefling

One of the primary planks of the Republican Platform is the party's commitment to recognizing the Fourteenth Amendment protection of unborn children. In this video clip, Mitt Romney states his opposition to that commitment.  Mitt Romney is not a prolife candidate.  Vote for life in 2012.  Vote for Tom Hoefling.  tomhoefling.com
"The success of America has been a direct result of our foundation on and adherence to the laws and principles of our Creator. It is our duty to ensure there are consequences for breaking the oath to defend and maintain the rights of the People, the foremost of which is the right to life for all, from the first moment of their existence. Politicians and public employees who reject this resolution reveal themselves unfit for office."

-- Christine Szczap, Illinois


MollyGoodson 8 Months

We've had some commissioner drama in our league, and think it might just be easier to set up an auto/robot commish or external at this point for the rest of the season. Is that possible?

rangerdave 8 Months

There is no "robot" Commish option, but you do have the option of a Commish without a team.


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Fun Trivia : Sound Of Music, The . Encyclopedia FunTrivia

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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information

  • There are a total of 190 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.

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    Sound Of Music, The .

    What is The Baroness' plan?The Sound Of Music

      To send the children to boarding school.

    While the children are onstage the afternoon before the festival, what is the orchestra playing?The Sound Of Music

      The song Maria and the Captain danced to at the party. Once again, suspiciously similar to 'The Lonely Goatherd'!

    Who tells their father that the children ate all their berries?The Sound Of Music

      Brigitta. Friedrich initially tells Captain von Trapp(before we join the scene) that they were berrypicking, Marta 'confirms' it a few minutes later, and then Brigitta explains why they don't have the berries anymore. Finally, we see Friedrich's lame cover-up on the whole blueberry vs strawberry thing.

    What does Marta want for her birthday?The Sound Of Music

      A pink parasol. Pink is Maria's favourite colour, too!

    How many times does the lady who wins a prize at the festival bow?The Sound Of Music

    Who sang these words: 'I leave, and heave a sigh and say goodbye.'?The Sound Of Music

      Kurt. He leaves with a little help from Maria!

    What is the dance that Maria and the Captain perform called?The Sound Of Music

      The Laendler. Remember, it's an old Austrian folkdance, yet it sounds strangely similar to 'The Lonely Goatherd' in some places.

    Who told Maria that the von Trapp family dances?The Sound Of Music

      Kurt. They were afraid to tell Maria because they thought she would make them all dance together!

    Of the children, who plays guitar?The Sound Of Music

    Who is the housekeeper of the von Trapp family?The Sound Of Music

      Frau Schmidt. The role was played by Norma Varden, who began appearing in movies in the 'thirties, appearing in films such as 'National Velvet', 'Strangers on a Train' and 'Witness for the Prosecution'.

    What is Uncle Max's last name?The Sound Of Music

      Detweiler. Uncle Max is played by Richard Haydn. Schraeder is the surname of the Baroness, and Herr Zeller is a Nazi.

    Did one of the Von Trapp children say that he was impossible?The Sound Of Music

      yes. Fraulein Josephine told Friedrich that - four governesses ago! Kurt describes himself as 'incorrigible', and then asks Maria what the word means.

    Who always makes Maria kiss the floor after a disagreement?The Sound Of Music

      Sister Berthe. But lately, Maria's taken to kissing the floor when she sees her coming, just to save time!

    Where does the first dialogue in the movie take place?The Sound Of Music

      In a corridor in the Abbey. 'I simply cannot find her, Reverend Mother.' 'Maria.' 'She's missing from the abbey again.'

    What are the names of the von Trapp children in order of age, from youngest to oldest?'Sound of Music'

      Gretl, Marta, Brigitta, Kurt, Louisa, Fredrich, Liesl.

    Where do they hide when they are being chased by the Germans?'Sound of Music'

      the cemetery in the abbey.

    Maria can play what instrument?'Sound of Music'

    What is Captain von Trapp's first name?'Sound of Music'

      Georg. Georg is pronounced Gayorg.

    Who said, '...and I don't need a governness.'?'Sound of Music'

      Liesl. Later on she changes her mind.

    What city do the kids run around in, in their play clothes?'Sound of Music'

    Which child's name did she forget when she was praying her bedtime prayer?'Sound of Music'

      Kurt. She remembers his name when he runs into her bedroom during the thunderstorm, along with the other children.

    What present do the children leave Maria in her pocket?'Sound of Music'

    What were the children's play clothes made from?'Sound of Music'

      old drapes. Maria makes them herself, from the old drapes in her room.

    Who plays the character Maria?'Sound of Music'

      Julie Andrews. She also plays Mary Poppins!

    What color is the Austrian flag hanging in the hall at the party?The Sound Of Music

      red and white lines. I think you only see it once.

    At the party, Liesl is wearing a white dress with a bow on it. What color is the bow?The Sound Of Music

      yellow. You can clearly see it if you look.

    How old is Briggita?The Sound Of Music

      10. It's clearly heard, as she says it to Maria.

    At the start of the movie Briggita comes in reading a book. What color is the book?The Sound Of Music

      brown. Her father whacks her with it because she is late.

    Liesl climbs through Maria's window after she's been to see Rolf in the gardens. Maria asks her how she climbed up there. Liesl replies: 'How we always got into this room to play tricks on a Governess. Louisa can make it with a whole jar of ________ in her hand!' What is in her hand?The Sound Of Music

      spiders. Maria is really shocked when she hears that!

    Finish the quote: BARONESS TO MAX: 'Why didn't you tell me?' MAX: 'What?' BARONESS: 'To bring along _________ _________?'The Sound Of Music

      my harmonica. This is said just before the captain sings.

    Before the party, the children put on a puppet show. There is a woman, the girl's mother, as one of the puppets. What color is that puppet's hat?The Sound Of Music

      purple. She is only in a small part of the puppet show!

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"It's for School! I Swear!"

"It's for School! I Swear!"

Elizabeth Heyman is a senior at Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren, New Jersey.

“It’s for school! I swear!” I admit to using the excuse more than necessary in order to justify my occasional $50 hauls from the comic book store to my mother. However, it’s not as irrelevant as she may think it to be. During my time in high school I’ve used my background as an amateur comic geek as a platform for my development into an esteemed fan of all literature.

Since first taking graphic novels as a serious course my sophomore year, it has proven to be possibly the most exhausting yet rewarding academic endeavor I’ve taken. My evolution as an avid reader has tested my abilities to understand stated and unstated meanings of texts to my highest limits and pushed those skills even further. Being able to grasp what’s implied in the gutters between Alan Moore’s panels can be as daunting a task as reading works by T.S. Eliot without footnotes. The graphic medium has its own challenges that come through the enormous variety of options an author has when telling a story and the work's message is portrayed through the composition of all the different stylistic choices.

The unique aspect of graphic literature, the characteristic that makes the form so different and so vital to have in high school English courses, is the large collection of components arranged to express a message. The details, styles, and composition of text and imagery create dozens of chances to state something that hasn’t already been said. Every choice an artist makes, from the width of the lines used to the method of coloring, has a specific purpose that relates to better portraying the major theme.
As a graphic literature student, it was my task to first identify all of the presented elements and then to identify the author’s intent. It wasn’t until our class was reading Understanding Comics that I realized exactly how much of an amateur I was at that point. It was a shock at first, almost a sensory overload. Whoever said that a comic book is a quick read has never actually read a comic before, not properly at least. I was able to spend days looking over Alex Maleev’s Civil War: The Confession before I had truly grasped the meaning of the work. The way the detail in Tony Stark’s face contrasted with the solid, simplistic Iron Man suit; the dramatic shadowing over characters during dramatic monologues; his minimalist yet large paneling; his sequence of events and dialogue; where he placed Stark in the room; even the suspense that came midway through flipping the last two pages, all of it I’ve had to spend painstaking hours finding, hours spent just staring at two pages.
Having realized the potential held in just a few pictures and word boxes, I starting being able to see graphic literature as more than just capes and tights. There’s a certain aspect about the combination of text and imagery that gives a better opportunity for modern story-telling. Literally putting images into the reader’s mind gives better direction for thoughts and makes an experience more relatable, especially when a purely verbal description might breeze over the audience’s heads. As many times as I’ve been taught about the Holocaust, it has always been a challenge to read first-hand accounts from the Nazis’ death camps without becoming focused on the gruesome details. Art Spiegelman’s cartoonish style played with the idea of cats and mice as a way to explain the actual feelings of fear and his Holocaust survivor father experienced. One could say that only after reading his novel Maus did I gain a true understanding of life during that time, rather than seeing it just as history.
What was it about Persepolis’s black-and-white sketching-like artwork that allowed me to discover the Iranian revolution for the first time? Why was this method of storytelling so much more effective than what I had always been given in school? The question continued to fascinate me. The truth was that not every theme can be stated in just words; some sentiments need to be seen to be understood, and although it could take countless hours just to grab the scent of a hidden message, one was always present.

Not for nothing, but I did gain a huge advantage in my other classes after performing all this. As it turns out, if you can analyze a good comic, you can analyze anything; novels, poems, political speeches. In each case, the important ability to have is to be able to identify the details while still looking at the whole. Once I achieved that skill and had grown as a student, I only became more enthralled by the medium and its meanings. Working with my teacher, I developed a curriculum for my senior year centered around classic American comic books as a narrative for national identity throughout the 20th century. Just by drafting the idea, I was able to apply my analytical skills and form my own new, unique theories. In my Independent Study, I spent my time annotating historical texts and comparing them to fictional events from the comic universe.
Because these writers are given the ability and the task to define a hero, they're asked to personify morality. In some cases they may create characters who are the opposite of that, implying that a perfectly moral person doesn’t exist, as Alan Moore would put it, “Who watches the Watchmen?” Both situations reflect society's standards and beliefs. If a character is asked to defend justice, doesn't that mean that the author has to first define injustice in the modern world? Every graphic hero is a product and indicator of the social environment they were born to. While studying the appeal of heroes in American culture, I gained a tremendously larger understanding of sociology, psychology, and politics.
Comics are this century's modern epic and certainly say enough to deserve to stand alongside other current texts. Only after familiarizing myself with this modern mythology was I able to gain a true understanding of the way the world views itself, and then to decide where I placed myself within the moral landscape. Perhaps the next generation of mothers will understand this and be less critical of their child bringing home that new issue of X-Men.

It's always so wonderful to hear from the students how much they learn from reading comics.
Well-done,Elizabeth---a finely written article for a REAL audience!

Maureen Bakis (not verified) at Tue, 03/27/2012 - 11:21
Commenting closes after a story has been up for 2 months.

iPhone 5 Jailbreak


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[Spoiler] Added episodes 27 and 28 captures for the Korean drama 'God of War'

Added episodes 27 and 28 captures for the Korean drama "God of War" (2012)

Directed by Kim Jin-min-I

Written by Lee Hwan-kyung

Network : MBC

50 episodes - Sat, Sun 20:40
All ambitious men pursue power and the women they love. After accomplishing these pursuits, all that remains is their legacy after death... 500 years before the Shogunate ruled feudal Japan, Goryeo also had a strong military establishment that ruled country for 100 years instead of a king. Especially, the Choe clan ruled Goryeo for 60 years in place of Goryeo kings. It was Kim Jun, a slave and family retainer to the Choe clan, who ended the Choe clan's power to become the most powerful man in the kingdom. There were few cases in history where a slave was able to rise to a position of power and authority. However, as described above, Kim Jun stole his master's love and reached the highest position in the Goryeo royal court to rule the entire kingdom. This drama is inspired by historical facts recorded in the Annals of the Goryeo Dynasty and tells a story about courageous men.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2012/02/11

Newer : [Spoiler] Added final episodes 31 and 32 captures for the Korean drama 'Feast of the Gods'

Older : [Spoiler] Added final episodes 19 and 20 captures for the Korean drama 'Dummy Mommy'

 Older news

Movie of the week

(글러브 - 2011)
$5 Off with this code KVLU5J13 on Korean Dramas DVDs
$5 Off with this code KVLU5J13
Korean cosmetics brand MISSHA Sale
Cineasie - Where West Meets East


Our studio, The Cactus Tree Motel, is filled with many of the same toys as the other eleventy billion studios in Los Angeles; keyboards, outboard gear, microphones, monitors, computers, high-tech audio stuff that we act like we know how to use, oh… and instruments that we actually play… live, in front of you.

While it does serve as the main creative space for Chris Horvath and whatever he happens to be working on at the moment, it also serves as something bigger; a hub for all the music we make and the talent we work with.  It’s a hub because that’s how music is often made these days… each composer/producer has a space they have created and use for their own specific needs.  So that’s where we want them to work; where they do their best work.

Today’s studio is as personal as yesterday’s guitar rig, horn, piano, or drum kit.  We know and respect this.

We use our network of talent because they are the best musicians we’ve found, not because they live next door and can be here in ten minutes.  So we look at The Cactus Tree Motel as our “mission control” as much as our studio.

Sometimes we do the sessions here, sometimes at big fancy Hollywood studios, and sometimes one piece of music will be created by a few people hundreds or thousands of miles apart.  Whatever will get us what we know is right, or what you want to hear, is how we’ll do it.

But since you clicked in, here’s a few shots of The Cactus Tree Motel.


Add a Little Romance

 There is nothing more relaxing then sitting by the water on a sunny day stuffing your face with a delicious picnic of assorted goodies.

To add some romance to your picnic I suggest to hang out near English Bay where Mike and I were able to sit side by side lovingly on the grass and watch as an obviously intoxicated man was tackled by police about 20 feet away from us. He was then held down for 20 minutes and handcuffed while he screamed profanities and then was eventually arrested.

These are the stories we will tell our grandchildren one day.


URL: http://www.polity.org.za
Published: 09 Feb 2009
SA: Dlamini-Zuma: Address by the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the State of the Nation debate in Parliament (09/02/2009)
Date: 09/02/2009

Source: Department of Foreign Affairs

Madame Speaker
Honourable President and Deputy President
Honourable Members

Addressing the Organisation of African Unity in 1994 former President Nelson Mandela said, "If freedom was the crown which fighters of liberation sought to place on the head of mother Africa, let the upliftment, the happiness, prosperity and comfort of her children be the jewel of the crown. There can be no dispute among us that we must bend every effort to rebuild the African economies."

Madame Speaker

I am honoured to address this august chamber on the question of "A better Africa." All of us gathered here today are unequivocally desirous of a peaceful and stable Africa, where in every city, town and village - in every community - people live in peace and harmony with all the basic necessities of life - an Africa in which all our people have access to shelter, education and healthcare, decent employment and equal opportunity to advance and improve their lives lifting themselves out of the abject poverty we must unwaveringly strive for this dream - a dream we should champion, advocate and eventually achieve.

Madam Speaker
Honourable Members

Central to the vision of a better Africa is the greater regional and continental political and economic integration as indicated by our fore bearers in their call for unity. In this era of regional integration which has moved the world towards economic blocs and stronger multilateral diplomacy, most economies on the continent remain small and fragile. It is imperative that we also consolidate and deepen our political cohesion and economic integration as we move towards a united continent.

The financial crisis and economic depression serves to emphasise that economic regional and continental integration is not optional but a must.

If we seek to build a better Africa through continental integration as we must the development of shared values becomes critical. It would be difficult to envision this continental economic, social and political integration if we did not agree on a set of common shared values. South Africa must and shall therefore continue to promote the importance of democracy, good governance, the rule of law, the protection of human rights, non racialism and gender equality. Particular attention should also be given to building the capacity of sustainable democratic institutions as well as deepening of the culture of democracy among our people in Africa.

The African Peer Review Mechanism and the Pan African Parliament should play a critical role in nurturing these common values.

As stated in the Manifesto of the African National Congress (ANC) government will continue to work together with people of our continent and its Diaspora for cohesion, unity, democracy and prosperity of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union (AU) and strengthening our capabilities to respond to the challenges we face.

Guided by the Freedom Charter of the ANC South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiations-not war.

As we continue to work towards the realisation of an African Union government, which must necessarily, amongst others, contribute to the reduction of some of the destructive conflicts that we have been experiencing. A united Africa speaking with a single voice would also be more influential in global affairs. Furthermore the benefits of political and economic integration are evident when we look at the experience of other regions of the world. The history of the continent itself shows that we have indeed continued to build incrementally towards the goals of continental unity. The Abuja treaty, the formation of the African Union, and its institutions and the adoption and implementation of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) have all been important stages in this regard.

There can be no doubt that a better Africa requires that we accelerate investments in some critical sectors like energy, infrastructure such as roads, ports and telecommunications, facilitating easier intra and inter-regional trade, especially because Africa has most of the landlocked countries.

Acceleration of the free movement of people and goods

If we are to achieve a better Africa like the warrior of light in Paulo Coehlo's book. We should not be paralysed by the fact that other countries have more opportunities than we do. "A warrior tries to make most of his virtues."

"He knows that the gazelle's power lies in its legs. The power of the seagull lies in the accuracy with which it can spear a fish. He has learnt that the reason the tiger does not fear the hyena is because he is aware of his own strength. We have to define for ourselves what we can truly rely on."

* We should rely on our human resources. The regions and the countries that show sustainable growth and human development have all paid special attention to education, skills development and health. We must prioritise these in the continent as we do nationally.

* We should rely on our fertile African land - develop our agriculture.

* We should rely on our abundant natural resources. How we manage these will determine how quickly we reach the African dream.

* We should preserve the environment as part of a global effort so as to bequeath future generations with a liveable planet.

As this generation we like Paulo Coehlo should ask ourselves how will our actions 'affect the fifth generation of my descendants? Because everything a person does, has enduring consequences and he needs to understand what kind of world he is leaving behind for the fifth generation.'

A better Africa will also have to assume its share of global responsibilities. In this context South Africa was honoured to serve in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2007 and 2008. In this role we did our part in advancing the goals of a better Africa. We promoted the importance of the co-operation between the UN and the African Union. Indeed as we seek to build a better Africa I believe that we have a duty to look forward to a day when African conflict situations will no longer be the predominant agenda of the UNSC. We owe this to future generations.

You mentioned, Mr President, that our country stands ready to walk the next steps with the people of Zimbabwe as they embark on the difficult path of economic recovery. Accordingly, we appeal to the goodwill of the international community which has to be matched by the political will of the people of Zimbabwe to take up the challenges of the reconstruction and development of the country.

We have just come from Addis Ababa where it was decided that the African Union Commission should be transformed into the African Union Authority in an effort to strengthen it. The details are still to be worked out.

As part of creating a better Africa, we have ourselves contributed our own sons and daughters of our country to various positions both in continental structures as well as international organisations. In this regard we have taken the decision to advance the candidature of Ambassador Abdul Minty for the position of Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). We believe he has the capacity to truly contribute to humanity's balanced approach, characterised by a burning desire for a peaceful world. We shall continue to identify other suitable qualified South Africans for deployment to such international organisations in pursuit of a better Africa and a better world.

I thank you.


For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet.
Intestinal infection with
Vibrio cholerae
results in the loss of large volumes of watery stool, leading to severe andrapidly progressing dehydration and shock. Without adequate and appropriate rehydration therapy, severe cholera killsabout half of affected individuals. Cholera toxin, a potent stimulator of adenylate cyclase, causes the intestine tosecrete watery fluid rich in sodium, bicarbonate, and potassium, in volumes far exceeding the intestinal absorptivecapacity. Cholera has spread from the Indian subcontinent where it is endemic to involve nearly the whole world seventimes during the past 185 years.
V cholerae
serogroup O1, biotype El Tor, has moved from Asia to cause pandemicdisease in Africa and South America during the past 35 years. A new serogroup, O139, appeared in south Asia in1992, has become endemic there, and threatens to start the next pandemic. Research on case management of cholera led to the development of rehydration therapy for dehydrating diarrhoea in general, including the proper use of intravenous and oral rehydration solutions. Appropriate case management has reduced deaths from diarrhoeal diseaseby an estimated 3 million per year compared with 20 years ago. Vaccination was thought to have no role for cholera,but new oral vaccines are showing great promise.
Detailed accounts of the history of cholera are available soonly a brief summary is provided here.
“Asiatic cholera”,as it was sometimes called, has been endemic in southAsia, especially the Ganges delta region, from the time of recorded history. It was always much feared because itregularly occurred in epidemics with high mortality rates.In Kolkata, a cholera temple, Ola Beebe (“our lady of theflux”), was built for protection against the disease. In1817, the first cholera pandemic began with spread of thedisease outside the Indian subcontinent along trade routesto the west as far as southern Russia. A second pandemicstarted in 1826 and reached the major European cities bythe early 1830s. In 1831, the pandemic reached the UK and the response was important in that it led to theestablishment of local Boards of Health and a “CholeraGazette”, which served as a clearing house for tracking theepidemic.
At that time cholera was thought to be spread by the“miasma” (like a fog) coming from the river, but theclassic epidemiological study of John Snow in 1854 inLondon showed the association of the disease withcontaminated drinking water even before any bacteriawere known to exist.
Three more pandemics, continuingup to 1925, involved Africa, Australia, Europe, and all theAmericas. The causative agent,
Vibrio cholerae,
was notidentified until 1884 in Kolkata during the fifthpandemic.
Why the earlier pandemics began and howthey ended is not known. However, cholera did not persistin any of the new geographical areas that it had invadedbut continued as an endemic disease in the Ganges delta.Because of the large numbers of cases and deathsduring these pandemics, the disease was viewed as amajorpublic-health disaster requiring governmentalintervention. The New York cholera epidemic led to thefirst Board of Health in the USA in 1866,
and cholerabecame the first reportable disease.The current (seventh) pandemic now has involvedalmost the whole world. This pandemic began inIndonesia,
rather than the Ganges delta, and thecausative agent was a biotype of
V cholerae
serogroup O1called El Tor. It was first isolated in 1905 fromIndonesian pilgrims travelling to Mecca at a quarantinestation in the village of El Tor, Egypt.
It was found againin 1937 in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Then in 1960, forunknown reasons, this strain began to spread around theworld. It invaded India in 1964, Africa in 1970,
southern Europe in 1970,
and South America in1991.
The disease has now become endemic in manyof these places, particularly south Asia and Africa. Since1973, a focus of El Tor
similar but not identicalto the pandemic strain has persisted in the Gulf of Mexicoof the USA causing sporadic cases of summertime,seafood-associated cholera.
In 1992, a newly described, non-O1 serogroup of
designated O139 Bengal, caused unusualcholera outbreaks in India and Bangladesh.
Before thediscovery of
V cholerae
O139 (the 139th serotype in thetyping scheme for
V cholerae)
, only serogroup O1 wasknown to cause epidemic cholera, so the O139 serotypewas essentially a “new” cause of cholera.
SerogroupsO139 Bengal and O1 now coexist and continue to causelarge outbreaks of cholera in India and Bangladesh. TheO139 serogroup is likely to be the cause of the next
David A Sack, R Bradley Sack, G Balakrish Nair, AKSiddique
• Vol 363 • January 17, 2004 •
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh,Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
(Prof D A Sack
, G B Nair
, A K Siddique
; and Departmentof International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
(D A Sack, Prof R B Sack
Correspondence to:
Dr David A Sack, ICDDR,B, GPO Box 128,Dhaka, Bangladesh(e-mail:
Search strategy
We carried out a PubMed search with the terms "cholera"and "Vibrio cholerae" from 1966 onwards and selectedreferences that were pertinent to this review. These articleswere supplemented by additional references from the WHOand historical articles in our personal collections.
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet.
(eighth) pandemic of cholera. In spring 2002, serotypeO139 caused an estimated 30000 cases in Dhaka,Bangladesh, exceeding the number of cases associatedwith El Tor during a short period.
Cholera is often described as the classic water-bornedisease because it is commonly associated with water.This description oversimplifies the transmission of
because the bacterium can be transmitted bycontaminated food also; contaminated water is frequentlymixed with food, allowing either to act as a vehicle. Formore developed countries, contaminated food (especiallyundercooked seafood) is the usual vehicle fortransmission, and contaminated water is more common inless developed countries.
Cholera has pronounced seasonality. In Bangladesh,where the disease is endemic, two peaks occur each yearcorresponding to the warm seasons before and after themonsoon rains.
In Peru, epidemics are strictly confinedto the warm season.
The seasonality seems to be relatedto the ability of vibrios to grow rapidly in warmenvironmental temperatures. Other than shellfish andplankton, there are no animal reservoirs. In endemicareas, annual rates of disease vary widely, probably as aresult of environmental and climate changes. Betterunderstanding of the relation to climate would allowbetter planning for epidemics by public-health officials.
Although the typical clinical picture is severe diarrhoea,in fact, most individuals infected with
V cholerae
have nosymptoms or only mild diarrhoea, indistinguishable fromother mild diarrhoeal diseases. The ratio of cases toinfections ranges from one in three to one in 100.
Theseverity of the infection depends on many factors,especially including local intestinal immunity (fromprevious natural exposure or vaccination), the size of theinoculum ingested, the adequacy of the gastric-acidbarrier, and the patient’s blood group. For unknownreasons, people of blood group O are at much higher riskof severe cholera from El Tor vibrios than are those of other blood groups.
This susceptibility to cholera maybe the reason for the lower than normal proportion of people with this blood group in the Ganges delta area.
A high infectious dose (10
bacteria) is needed to causesevere cholera in healthy volunteers, but a much lowerdose (10
) is sufficient if given with antacids to neutralisestomach acid.
Under natural field circumstances, theinoculum size to cause cholera may be even lower,because attack rates are lower than in volunteer studies,and many of the patients do have low gastric-acidproduction.
In cholera-endemic areas, the highest attack rates are inchildren aged 2–4 years;
in newly invaded areas, bycontrast, the attack rates are similar for all ages. However,the illness is generally first seen in adult men on accountof exposure to contaminated food and water.
Water-usepatterns in different areas affect spread of the disease. Insome cities in Peru, cholera vibrios were spread throughthe municipal water system,
which resulted in very highrates of infection in the urban population. In rural areas,where rivers or open wells are used for drinking water,cases tend to cluster among people living close to anddrinking from contaminated water. Secondary casessometimes occur during funeral feasts as a result of traditional but unhygienic funeral practices in some partsof the world.
In contrast to
Salmonella typhi
, long-term carriers of
are extremely rare and are not important in thetransmission of disease.
Since cholera outbreaks can become massive epidemics,they must be reported to national health authorities. If possible, cases of suspected cholera should be confirmedby bacteriology. Even without laboratory confirmation,cases should be reported if they meet the WHO definition:a cholera outbreak should be suspected if a patient olderthan 5 years develops severe dehydration or dies fromacute watery diarrhoea, or if there is a sudden increase inthe daily number of patients with acute watery diarrhoea,especially patients who pass “rice water” stools typical of cholera.
Clinical features
After an incubation period of between about 18 h and5days, symptoms are generally abrupt and include waterydiarrhoea and vomiting. The most distinctive feature of cholera is the painless purging of voluminous stoolsresembling rice-water (figure 1). The stools are sometimesdescribed as having a fishy odour. The vomitus isgenerally a clear, watery, alkaline fluid. In adults withsevere cholera, the rate of diarrhoea may quickly reach500–1000 mL/h, leading to severe dehydration. Signs of severe dehydration include absent or low-volumeperipheral pulse, undetectable blood pressure, poor skinturgor, sunken eyes, and wrinkled hands and feet (as afterlong immersion in water). At first, patients are restless andextremely thirsty, but as shock progresses, they becomeapathetic and may lose consciousness. Many patients alsoshow respiratory signs of metabolic acidosis withKussmaul, gasping breathing. Most patients have no urineoutput until the dehydration is corrected. The fluid lossmay be so rapid that the patient is at risk of death within afew hours of onset, and most deaths occur during the firstday. However, if rehydration fluids are provided ininsufficient quantities, the patient may survivetemporarily, only to die a few days later.
• Vol 363 • January 17, 2004 •
Figure 1:
Bucket with typical rice-water stool from a patientwith cholera
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet.
Several complications can occur with cholera, but theseare generally from improper treatment. They includeacute renal failure from protracted hypotension if insufficient fluids are given. Most cholera patients havelow blood glucose concentrations, and a few have severehypoglycaemia.
Electrolyte imbalance, especiallyhypokalaemia, can occur if the intravenous fluids are notappropriate.
Miscarriage or premature delivery can occurin pregnant women as a complication of shock and poorperfusion of the placenta.
With good hydration, theseobstetric emergencies are becoming less frequent, butcholera treatment centres must be prepared for them.Severe muscle cramps of arms and legs are common.They are probably due to the electrolyte imbalance,although the exact explanation is not known. Theysubside within a few hours of treatment.
Without treatment the case-fatality rate for severe cholerais about 50%. However, treatment is very effective andsimple and is based on the concept of replacing fluids asfast as they are being lost (panel). Replacement fluidsshould have a similar electrolyte composition to the fluidsbeing lost. Initially, the fluids must be given sufficientlyrapidly to make up for the volume that has already beenlost to restore circulating blood volume. Additionalmaintenance fluids must then be given to continue toreplace continuing losses as they occur. If fluids are givenpromptly, nearly all deaths are avoided. However,effective treatment is not always available in remote areaswhere cholera occurs, and thus, cholera deaths are stillcommon.To facilitate clinical assessment and management of patients, dehydration is classified into three categories onthe basis of clinical signs and symptoms: none, some(moderate), and severe (table 1). Signs of dehydration arenot clinically apparent until the patient has already lostabout 5% of his or her bodyweight. The degree of dehydration guides the therapy of the patient. A patientwith severe dehydration requires emergency intravenouspolyelectrolyte solution for rehydration followed by oralrehydration solution (ORS) for maintenance hydration.For milder cases, ORS is used for both rehydration andfor maintenance. The principles of rehydration therapyare: rapid replacement of fluid deficits; correction of themetabolic acidosis; correction of potassium deficiency;and replacement of continuing fluid losses. These aimsare all accomplished with appropriate rehydration fluids.Because of the acidosis, the serum potassiumconcentration may be normal or even high, so thepotassium deficiency may not be apparent. As the acidosisis corrected, the serum potassium concentration will fallto dangerously low values unless additional potassium isprovided.Patients who are severely dehydrated are assumed tohave lost 10% of their bodyweight, and this is the volumethat needs to be replaced. For example, a 50 kg patientwith severe dehydration will need immediate replacementof 5 L of intravenous fluids. Patients who have no pulse orblood pressure should receive the fluid as rapidly aspossible and more than one intravenous line may beneeded to infuse the fluid rapidly enough to restore thepulse. The entire amount should be given in 2–4 h. Themost common error in the treatment of cholera is to givethe intravenous fluid too slowly, allowing patients toremain in shock for a long period. If peripheral veinscannot be found, infusion via the femoral vein may benecessary.For patients with lesser degrees of dehydration (themajority), ORS provides effective rehydration. Thevolume should also be calculated to replace the fluiddeficit to ensure that sufficient volumes are given. Forindividuals with some dehydration, at least 5·0–7·5% of the bodyweight in ORS should be given, just to make upthe deficit, and additional ORS should be given tocompensate for the continuing losses.
• Vol 363 • January 17, 2004 •
FeatureNo dehydrationSome dehydration Severe dehydration(two or more of (two or more of thesethese signs signs including oneincluding one indicated by
)indicated by
General Well, alertRestless, Lethargic orappearanceirritableunconscious; floppyEyesNormalSunken*Very sunken and dry*TearsPresentAbsent*Absent*Mouth and MoistDry*Very dry*tongueThirstDrinks normally,Thirsty, drinks Drinks poorly or notnot thirstyeagerlyable to drinkSkin pinchGoes back Goes back Goes backquicklyslowlyvery slowly
In adults and children older than 5 years, other signs of severe dehydration areabsent radial pulse and low blood pressure. The skin pinch is less useful inpatients with marasmus (severe wasting) or kwashiorkor (severe malnutritionwith oedema), or obese patients. Tears are a relevant sign only for infants andyoung children.
Table 1:
Assessment of patients with diarrhoea fordehydration
Management of patients with suspected cholera
Assess for dehydration.Rapidly rehydrate the patient with intravenous Ringer’ssolution for severely dehydrated patients or ORS for thosewith less severe dehydration; use rice-based ORS if possible.Severely dehydrated patients require replacement of 10% of their bodyweight within 2–4 h.Use cholera cot (if possible) to monitor stool output; monitorstatus of hydration and monitor severity of purging frequently.Maintain hydration by replacing continuing fluid losses untildiarrhoea stops.Give an oral antibiotic (eg, doxycycline) to dehydrated patientsas soon as vomiting stops.Provide food as soon as patient is able to eat (within a fewhours).Figure 2:
A child, lying on a cholera cot, showing typical signsof severe dehydration from cholera
The patient has sunken eyes, lethargic appearance, and poor skin turgor,but within 2 h was sitting up, alert, and eating normally.
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Discoveries > 2009 > Key enzymes for embryonic development, tolloid proteinases, are controlled by dimerisation

sample text

Berry R, Jowitt TA, Ferrand J, Roessle M, Grossmann JG, Canty-Laird EG, Kammerer RA, Kadler KK, Baldock C. 2009. Role of dimerization and substrate exclusion in the regulation of bone morphogenetic protein-1 and mammalian tolloid. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106:8561-8566.pubmed

One of the most fundamental processes in biology is the development of the embryo. A part of this process is the formation of the embryo’s back and belly surfaces. This is called dorso-ventral patterning.

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-1/tolloid metalloproteinases are evolutionarily conserved enzymes that are fundamental to dorsal-ventral patterning. They are also involved in the formation of new tissues, otherwise called tissue morphogenesis. However, a detailed understanding of tissue assembly and embryonic patterning still requires considerably more research. In this paper, work from the Baldock lab has shed new light on developmental patterning by showing how this class of proteinases recognize and cleave their substrates.

A best-fit bead model of the structure of Tolloid. The model was generated from data obtained by small angle X-ray scattering.

Although BMP-1 and mammalian tolloid are very closely related because they are splice variants, it was puzzling why BMP-1, which lacks 3 of the 7 non-catalytic domains present in all other family members, is the most effective proteinase within this family of enzymes. Using a combination of techniques to determine the shapes and biophysical properties of these proteins in solution, this study demonstrated that tolloid, but not BMP-1, forms a calcium-ion-dependent dimer under physiological conditions. Moreover the EGF2 domain, which is absent in BMP-1, is critical to the formation of the dimer. Based on a combination of structural and functional data, tolloid activity was shown to be regulated by a substrate exclusion mechanism.

There are several different ways that the dimers might be configured: Here is just one model of the dimer.

The study reveals how alternative splicing of the Bmp1 gene produces two proteinases with differing biological activities. It therefore has broad implications for understanding how this class of proteinases are involved in signalling, tissue assembly, and embryonic development.


Tatiana Bilbao

Botanical Garden . Culiacán

Tatiana Bilbao . world-architects . +  Iwan Baan

The Botanical Garden in Culiacán possesses one of the largest collections of plants in the world.

Construction of the garden began twenty years ago with funding from the state government and the private sector. The design has been spontaneous, creating an unplanned arrangement of buildings and walkways.
The renovation project began when the chairman of the board of trustees decided to invite curator Patrick Charpenel to develop a design, calling on prestigious artists to execute works specifically for the site.
It was decided in the process that an architect would design new buildings for the programs and interventions. The exuberant natural growth of the garden is its most remarkable quality, and constitutes at the same time the greatest problem in terms of planning. The master plan sought to reconcile nature and art while integrating the buildings called for by the program.
After various geometric patterns were tried out, a model inspired by one of the trees in the garden was chosen. The outline of its branches inspired the principle of the master plan, whose resulting abstraction was grafted onto the existing layout of the botanical garden. The paths were arranged in a "layered" hierarchy of different sizes and materials, and the branches cut or moved to make them coincide with the existing paths.
In the new layout, the buildings seem to emerge as if they had been there forever. Two small buildings form the main entrance (offices, ticket window, gift shop, and restrooms); two others form the southern entrance (gift shop, cafeteria, restrooms); and a group of three makes up the cultural zone (exhibition area, pottery workshop, library).
Three more buildings form the educational area (classrooms, auditorium, restrooms) and contain the greenhouse for rare species. A series of pools helps to mitigate the high temperatures. Each body of water was designed in accordance with its particular use and situation: some emanate tranquility, others are home to fishes or aquatic plants.

Architect: Tatiana Bilbao S.C.
Design Team: Tatiana Bilbao, David Vaner, Catia Bilbao (master plan), Israel Alvarez, Mariana Tello, Eliza Figueroa, Lina Rúelas, Sebastián Córdova, Carlos Leguizamo, Paola Toriz, Ana Yumbe, Julieta Sobral de Elía, Roberto Rosales (design)
Models: Mauricio Rodriguez, Roberto Rodriguez, Isais Corona, Omar Diaz, Ana Castellá, Essiak Fernandez, Thorsten Englert, Adriana Carvalho

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. "4 Survival Studies." Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.

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Developments in imaging technologies have led to groundbreaking advances in our understanding of neural and physiologic functions in normal and diseased humans and animals by offering a view of the living brain at work (Hoehn et al., 2001). The technologies are generally less invasive than other investigative scientific methods and offer an opportunity to address questions of structure and function without significant consequences for the research subjects (Balaban and Hampshire, 2001).

Imaging Techniques

Several imaging techniques are used in animals. They include positron-emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopy (NMR), near-infrared spectroscopy, ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT) and optical imaging (Balaban and Hampshire, 2001; Hoehn et al., 2001; Rolfe, 2000). Some of the techniques, such as PET and SPECT, enable measurement of blood flow, oxygen and glucose metabolism, receptor density, or drug concentrations in regions of the living brain (Mathias, 1996). Others, such as MRI and NMR, provide imaging of superficial and deep brain structures with a high degree of anatomic detail. High-field MRI, SPECT, and PET techniques can also be used to provide in vivo longitudinal evaluation of receptor binding and gene expression following gene therapy (Auricchio et al., 2003; Kasper et al., 2002).

Each of those techniques allows researchers to test hypotheses about the functions of different regions of the brain on the basis of functional composition or physiologic activity. The hypotheses can often be explored further with human subjects performing specific tasks during PET, SPECT, or fMRI. However, many of the technologies provide even better resolution when used in small mammals, providing more information about physiologic function than can be obtained with human subjects (Balaban and Hampshire, 2001). Animal models enable variables associated with specific diseases to be manipulated and controlled to a degree that is not possible with human patients. Furthermore, individual animals can be evaluated repeatedly during the course of a disease or can serve as their own control instead of sacrificing large groups of animals at different time points, and thereby reducing the number of animals used (Hoehn et al., 2001).

Animal Preparation and Maintenance During Imaging Studies

Imaging generally requires anesthesia so that the animal remains motionless throughout the duration of image collection. The exception is ultrasonographic images, which can be collected from a restrained nonanesthetized animal, pro-


The Twelve Groups of Animals

Eugen Kolisko, M.D.

“The primary division of the animal kingdom is into phyla. Each phylum is sharply characterised by the possession of a plan of structure in the adult which is peculiar to it, differing from that proper to every other phylum in such ways that it is, in general, incapable of derivation from any other.” (From an article on Zoology in the 14th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.) If we compare all the different systems of the animal kingdom we find that the distinction between the Vertebrates and the Invertebrates (animals with and without backbones) always occurs. In all the systems too, the Vertebrates are divided into five classes, the whole group being treated as one phylum.

In the Invertebrates there are divisions into phyla, and both Haeckel and Huxley described this group as consisting of seven phyla. These two zoologists differed in their descriptions of any one phylum, but were agreed on the sevenfold division

It appears that we need something in the nature of a key in order to be able to approach the door of understanding of the animal kingdom. The key turns out to be the arrangement of the animals in twelve main divisions or phyla. Seven of them embrace the totality of the Invertebrate Sub-Kingdom. These animals have a soft body and no real skeleton. They are the left-overs of a stage of World- evolution in which the endoskeleton had not been reached. The five phyla of the Vertebrates show the five ways in which the true skeleton can be manifested.

Thus the best way is to describe the characteristic qualities of the twelve phyla or groups in order that the reader may be aware of the archetypal forms of the animal kingdom.

1. The PROTOZOA (animals consisting of a single cell) are the primitive form of organic life, but nevertheless they embrace, in a microscopic appearance, nearly every macroscopic being in all the Kingdoms of Nature. Plants and animals consist in their bodies of cells, and even in the Mineral Kingdom the crystals can be compared with a mineralised cellular structure. Because plants and animals are composed of cells, in the Protozoan group there is no sharp dividing line between the plant and animal kingdom. The great difference between Protozoa (animals consisting of one cell) and Metazoa (all the organisms consisting of many cells) arises from the opposite tendencies of division and cohesion.

In no living organism is it possible to think of the body or soma as being merely the sum total of all the cells—rather has the life of the cell an antagonistic tendency to the metazoic life. This is shown in all infectious diseases caused by Bacteria and Protozoa, because they have in themselves the power of disintegration of the life of the higher organisms. In cancer and other tumours, and especially the malignant tumours, this tendency of the single cell to grow and increase takes place at the expense of the higher organ. In cancer it is not separate and individual cells which cause the disease, but the too-great multiplication of the cells of a tissue. A normal cellular activity becomes malignant in the human being. For this reason no bacterium can be found in cancer.

There is no possibility for further evolution for the Protozoa. They are left-overs in the march of evolution. This class of animals can be thought of as having created all the forms of organic life, by remaining in cellular form in the tissues. But if they appear without the power of further development, they bear in themselves the powers of destruction of all higher life.

2. The COELENTERATA—hydra polyps and medusae (animals such as sea anemones and those which build coral) and all the sponges (which were included in this group in all the older classifications) are characterised by the polarity between the inside and the outside of the organism. These animals are composed of two layers of tissue, the endoderm and the ectoderm (literally, the inner skin and the outer skin). The basic plan of these animals is a cup, the outer layer of which is formed by the ectoderm and the inner by the endoderm. The different species show variations of this plan, as for instance, the beautiful fringe of tentacles around the rim of the cup of the sea anemone. In this group we find for the first time the formation of inner organs. The differentiation begins between the digestive and the nervous system, the latter forming the outer layer.

Haeckel applied his knowledge of embryology (the study of development of living organisms from their earliest rudiments) to his study of the phylum, and by this means he realised that that stage in embryonic evolution in which the embryo loses its spherical shape in order to form something like a cup, and is called a gastrula, can be compared with an adult hydra. These animals are free-living beings corresponding to the gastrula stage of embryonic life.

At this point in evolution, the difference between the animal and vegetable kingdoms becomes evident. Those animals which are fixed to the substratum can, however, be thought of as being similar to plants. In this group there may be seen a characteristic dualism which leads to the double generative forms of polyps and medusae. In some species these two forms alternate. In one class of the Coelenterata, the sponges, sea anemones and corals, the polypus-form only is developed, and it leads to a fixed mode of life and then to a plant-like, vegetative growth and solidification. A great part of the solid earth is formed by the deposits of such organisms as rocks (coral rocks, limestone, etc.).

The other path of evolution leads to mobility, to soft and pliable tissues, to sexual differentiation and a more animal-like condition. The summit of this is reached in the floating colonies of medusae (soft beings rather like jellyfish in form, and stacked up on one another rather like a stack of plates) colonies where the polypus generation is under the direction of a highly developed medusa. Such a medusa is transformed into an air-bladder and causes the whole colony to float. It is interesting to compare these organisms with the plant. The corals, which become permeated with mineral substance, correspond to the root organisation. The floating colony is more like a blossom, and the intermediate forms of hydra are more like leaves. So we find the dualism appearing in the anatomical structure, in the endoderm and ectoderm, in the digestive and nervous systems (in the functions of digestion and perception) and in the polarity of polyps and medusae, and also in the division of the species into a coral type, in fixed and floating colonies.

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Da Vinci Schools logo

What is a Charter School?

Charter schools are publicly funded, independent public schools that are operated in terms of a multi-year performance contract or "charter." They must meet state testing requirements and laws for health, safety and civil rights. Charter schools are new, innovative public schools that are accountable for student results. They are designed to deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and the needs of the communities they serve. Like other district public schools, they are funded according to enrollment (also called average daily attendance, or ADA), and receive funding from the district and the state according to the number of students attending.

What is project-based learning?

Project-based learning (PBL) is learn-by-doing curriculum that integrates core subjects with real-life problems to be solved. Teachers work in teams with one another to identify key California state standards and skills that need to be addressed at the grade-level. Then, teachers work backwards to plan their curriculum, striving to create a project that centers on a big idea and a real world connection. Students work in teams to create a final product that demonstrates mastery of content standards and a demonstration of key skills. One of the most important aspects of project-based learning is a public presentation of the work created, as assessment is based on students’ ability to articulate and demonstrate the content and skills learned. For a recent Engineering project, students learned about mechanics and motion, then constructed a Medieval-style Trebuchet to calculate the trajectory of a ball’s travel from its starting point to its ending point represented by a quadratic equation.

Are Da Vinci Schools accredited?

Yes!  Da Vinci Schools are fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools & Colleges (WASC), certified by the California Charter Schools Association, and are a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Who are the students and where are they coming from?

Da Vinci students come from all over Los Angeles. During the 2012-2013 school year, our students come from 80 different zip codes.

What is the enrollment process?

Enrollment in Da Vinci Schools shall be open to any resident of the state of California. Parents/or legal guardians must attend an Information Meeting as a required part of the application process. Student applicants are encouraged to attend but it is not required. Attending the Information Meeting will allow you to learn about our project-based learning curriculum and other programs, tour our campus, and meet our faculty and staff, students and families.

What is the lottery and how does it work?

As prescribed by state law, charter schools conduct an admissions lottery—a public random drawing—for available enrollment spaces as a way to ensure equal opportunity of access for all students. (At most charter schools, there are more applications than enrollment spaces available.) During the lottery, students are assigned enrollment spaces according to the order in which their lottery tickets are drawn. For example, the first ticket drawn places that student first on the enrollment list. Once all enrollment spaces have been filled, subsequent students are placed on a numbered waiting list to fill any vacancies that may arise.

Do some applicants receive a preference in admission?

As described in our charters, a lottery for both schools will be conducted with admissions preferences
as follows:

1. Students currently attending the school;
2. Students residing within the territorial jurisdiction of Wiseburn;
3. Children of founders and teachers—this preference will be applied to no more than 10% of student
spaces. A founder is defined as any parent involved in the founding of the school that volunteered at
least 75 hours toward the creation of the school;
4. Siblings of students already attending or admitted to the school;
5. All others.

What happens to late applications?

Late applications go to the bottom of our wait list in the order they are received.

How will colleges view graduates from Da Vinci Schools?

The Da Vinci student is a holistic student who has met or surpassed the minimum core academic requirements necessary to make them competitive in the college review process. All students have the opportunity to take honors or early college classes. In addition to core academics, our students will have mastered the Habits of Mind: Perseverance, Collaboration, Evidence, and Perspective. During the junior year, students will have participated in an internship and by their senior year they will have spearheaded a senior project from conception to completion. 87% of the Class of 2012 was accepted into 4-year universities - a testament of our academic excellence.

Why choose Da Vinci Schools?
We offer a college preparatory education, an engaging hands-on curriculum, community partnerships with many local corporations, an Early College program, internships, a community where every student is known, seen and valued, and much more.   Please come to one of our Information Meetings or schedule a visit to learn more.  We look forward to meeting you!

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Sergio Garval.Naufragos.

Sergio Garval‘s work depicts collective scenes or happenings, plentiful of anonymous characters, subtleties and ambiguities nested in the rim of Life and Theatre . He links image to transience through rather spontaneous, dislocated forms that could be defined and compared to a composition signed by Goya. His is a reckoning of human condition as well as a negative vision of living experience; it is solitude, fragility and sarcasm that provide a tragic sense to the existential representation of mankind. (via Evoke Contemporary) (by Honey)


Can you see the isotopy between the Perko pair? My favourite pair. Find the writhe and linking number of this celtic earring. The reef knot decomposed into two trefoils - join ends and find the isotopy. Pictures of knots with 10 crossings taken from the tables of Tate and Little. The Perko pair is 5II and 6VI. Here 6VI is omitted.
Here is an unknotting of a `Gordian knot'.
Next lecture


The Thing About Awards

I’m not an awards-type person, but like having the chance to recommend addictive blogs.

These awards on WordPress seem strange because how can you win an award just because one person says so?

Still, this “Addictive Blog Award” is appealing.  I suppose if someone is addicted to your writing, it means that you’ve tapped into something good that resonates with and is recognized by someone who finds himself or herself wanting more.  This is a great compliment, I can’t deny it.

Coincidentally (or not if you believe there are no accidents), two bloggers sent me this specific award in back-to-back comments on my Iconicallyrare “About” page…

…And, it felt like the stars were somehow aligning, and I needed to respond, so here goes.

“Heaven’s Path” in Ireland…where the stars appear to line up with the path (courtesy Gagbay, Heaven of gagbay addicts)

“Thanks” for the award goes to GNOSTIC BENT who has been Freshly-Pressed early on in his blogging experience and continues to write features that will grab your attention immediately after the first sentence.

And another thank you for the award goes to  Dear Ms. Migraine who writes with abandon about the challenges she faces when her body’s refuses to cooperate with her own desire to be healthy and happy.

Why do I write here? The reason is a bit intense, but I’ll tell you why:

I write or I die.  It sounds dramatic but the thing is that writing is my voice…if I stifle my voice I can feel myself fade and wither and become part of some distant group of atoms that are absorbing into a world outside of myself, and becoming lost like bubbles popping and blending into a distant atmosphere.

When I write I become distinct, my fuse contacts its source, my charge is amped up to full capacity, my cerebral self feeds the core of my soul…and I feel like I more than exist, I more than survive–now I am alive.

And now for the most important part…recommending writing that is stellar and iconic, and yes, addictive.

The Addictive Blog Award goes to:

1. Higher Thinking Primate - Hands down the most diverse blogger I’ve read here.  I’ve never received a return like or a comment from Higher Thinking Primate and sometimes wonder if he or she is a man/woman/ or machine… but with quality like this, who cares?

2. Unbound Boxes Limping Gods - Cheryl Moore is pure genius.  I visit her stories and illustrations, and find it difficult to leave.  Once you open the door and view her creations, you will understand.

3. Making a Movable Feast - Some people write so clearly and use pictures so well that you feel like you lived their words.  Emily does this for me…An ode to Hemingway, and thank you, Emily.

4. The Monsieur - Classic information on men’s style with visuals that have a timeless sharp edge.

5. Parisian Gentleman - Kind enough to feature me as a guest blogger, this monumental online men’s magazine has had almost 4 million hits and is a (if not the) key reference on how to be a gentleman.  Motto: First learn the rules, then break them.

6. Through Healing Lens - Robyn Lee will bend your mind with her story of being a gorgeous woman with a bountiful life and the moment that everything turned on a dime, but didn’t change her indomitable spirit.  She tells how she persevered  through insurmountable challenges and is finally finding a place of peace.

7.Alexandra Nour - This person is hilarious and sometimes I need to laugh.

http://iconicallyrare.comgoogle-site-verification: google59bc993c55136ba0.html


Another way I doubled my productivity

I’ve written before about improving productivity by optimizing tasks for maximum leverage. Once the high-leverage tasks are identified, I do one more thing: group tasks by creative energy level required.

High energy tasks require higher-level thinking, analysis, and creativity. Writing (code and words), working on distribution strategies, negotiating with potential partners, are examples of high energy tasks.

Low energy tasks don’t tax the brain and are generally less creative and more mundane, such as doing errands, cleaning out spam emails, reading industry news, and so on.

The high energy and low energy categories correspond roughly to the act of producing and the act of consuming, respectively.

I alternate high energy and low energy tasks depending on the time of day. Early morning, when I still have a lot of creativity and a clear head is for high energy tasks. Right after lunch,late in the evening, or the middle of my commute are good times for low energy tasks.

I’ve found that this method, optionally matched with splitting up tasks into Pomodoro units, lets me work almost nonstop for fairly long periods of time.

The real reason we check the news or read blogs to take a break from work is to turn off our brain and switch from producing to consuming. It seems that taking a break by doing an important, but still low-energy task, is just as effective.