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Picture of the New Building on the UC Davis Architects and Engineers Page
The Advanced Materials Research Laboratory finished construction in the spring of 2008. The site is across the arboretum from the Putah Creek Lodge. The lab's main purpose is to provide permanent laboratory and support space for students and faculty engaged in HVOF (high velocity oxygen fuel) research. A total of 4,625 assignable square feet will be provided including the HVOF lab, four fuel cell research labs, a machine shop and related research offices and support space.
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CAIRO - Coming at the end of a series of successful Muslim boxers, British Muslim Shafiq Chubzy Asif is not new to boxing field.
Yet, a beard and shaved moustache were the trademark that expressed Asif's Islamic faith clearly.
It makes people look at you in a way - Who's this guy? He's got a beard, he's different,' Asif admitted to Sunday Sun newspaper on September 9.
UK Boxer Suggested as Islam Ambassador
Racism Haunts UK Muslim Boxer
I'm not really different, I'm just a normal lad. I'm just faithful.
The faith 20-year-old light-welterweight from Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, can be easily distinguished in the boxing ring.
In Middlesbrough there's quite a few good fighters - the likes of Paul Truscott, he said.
But with my faith, as an amateur I boxed for Great Britain and people look up to you a bit.
Britain is home to nearly 2 million Muslims.
A 2009 ICM/Guardian poll showed that 91 percent of British Muslims are "loyal" to Britain and 80 percent wanted to live in and accept Western society.
Another report submitted by think tank Demos last November found that 83% of Muslims were proud of being British.
Muslims are no strangers to boxing.
Talented Britain's Muslim boxer Amir Khan is one of Britain's leading lights, following in the flamboyant footsteps of Naseem Hamed.
Khan became the WBA World light-welterweight champion on 18 July 2009, becoming Britain's third-youngest world champion after Naseem Hamed and Herbie Hide.
Bernard Hopkins and Lennox Lewis' conqueror Hasim Rahman both followed Islam.
The greatest of them all, Muhammad Ali, was a very vocal Muslim and Mike Tyson and Chris Eubank converted in the 1990s when their careers were over or petering out.
Role Model
Expressing his faith proudly, Asif sets a role model for British Muslims aspiring for success in their lives.
My faith's the most important thing in my life and because of that I'm a big role model as well, he told the Sun.
When people see the beard, or see me praying, they see something in me.
I'm normal, I pray. You have to... you have to.
For Asif, Islam has never contradicted with his sporting career, despite facing challenges during the fasting of Ramadan this month.
During Ramadan I was only training once and that was in the night, says Rafiq, whose last fight was in Sunderland on July 15.
It's been tough but I've trained now for three weeks three times a day.
You have to bear that in mind. I wouldn't train in Ramadan because I'm fasting and I wouldn't feel right doing that.
Growing a beard and shaved moustache, Asif will get a bit of extra attention when he takes on Johnny Greaves at Newcastle Academy this afternoon.
I can't wait because the atmosphere in the previous fights has been fantastic and I'm sure it will be today because there will be quite a few people coming down, says Asif.
I just can't wait.
It's been a long time since the North East has properly been involved in pro boxing together. Now we're just gelling together and getting shows every couple of months. I've had three fights up to now and the crowds are getting bigger and bigger.
I'm just taking it step by step. I'm only 20 years-old. I just let my manager (Mick Marsden) and my coach (Imran Naeem) deal with that.
They line up fights and I just take them. My last fight I had Sid Razak, who was very tough.
Going in with more experienced fighters makes me more experienced. It'll make me a better fighter.
Today I'm fighting Johnny Greaves, who's had 89 fights, so he's very experienced.
I'll just be trying to keep to my boxing skills and not get in a fight.
Reproduced with permission from OnIslam.net

subset: commoncrawl


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Three starlets share very different stories of life during Hollywood's Golden Age. In Rita Moreno: a Memoir, the actress recalls her childhood move from lush Puerto Rico to gritty New York City where she found her passion for singing and dancing. She made her Broadway debut at 13 and eventually headed to Hollywood where she changed her name and coped with constant typecasting. Moreno shares the details behind her relationships with some of Tinseltown's heaviest hitters, including Elvis Presley, Howard Hughes, and Marlon Brando. Eventually, Moreno found happiness in marriage and motherhood and she remains one of the few performers, and the only Hispanic, to win two Emmys, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony.
Two years before her death in 1990, Ava Gardner was strapped for cash and didn't want to part with her jewels so she decided to sell her unvarnished story. She had a change of heart when she felt the conversations exposed her as too vulgar. Her ghost writer Peter Evans unearthed those bawdy recollections and with permission of her estate shares them in Ava Gardner: the Secret Conversations. Readers will savor the particulars of her marriages to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw, and Frank Sinatra, as well as her flings with George C. Scott and Howard Hughes (again!). Gardner, one of the great beauties to grace the silver screen, is no-nonsense and her stories are indeed salty, but she is also funny, frank and reflective.
Dolores Hart catapulted to fame when she starred opposite Elvis Presley in her 1957 film debut, Loving You. Nine films, a Broadway appearance, and several television roles later, Hart stunned the world when she turned away from Hollywood and her fiancé, and took the vows of a contemplative Benedictine nun. In The Ear of the Heart: An Actresses' Journey from Hollywood to Holy Vows, Hart and co-author Richard DeNeut, share her insider's perspectives of such wildly different worlds and her serenity shines through the pages. Check out God is the Bigger Elvis, the Oscar winning short film for more on the remarkable Mother Hart.
British historian Kathleen Walker-Meikle collects centuries-old examples of canine representation in her succinct but illuminating work Medieval Dogs, published by the British Library. While there has been considerable research into the earliest beginnings of the human/canine relationship, and countless looks into how dogs and people complement each other today, it is fascinating to look at the ways dogs were portrayed in what is considered to be a less enlightened historical time.
Brilliantly illustrated and well captioned manuscripts and paintings from around Europe are featured, along with brief but telling text. The pre-Renaissance art, without linear perspective, speaks to a bygone age. Stories of how dogs were part of abbey life among monks and nuns show a push/pull acceptance of the animals. In some cases, dogs were happily allowed to run free throughout abbeys, while in other cases, they were more grudgingly permitted — aside from sanctuaries and dining areas. As with medical treatment for humans, veterinary skills during the medieval years were basic and often fraught with suggestions that are chilling today. It's surprising to see how many breeds from our era, such as Greyhounds, terriers and spaniels, were already classified as early as the 16th century.
Loyalty is shown in many drawings of canines that remained with their fallen masters after a battle. Representations of the dogs in these and other illustrations (such as the many lapdogs depicted in royal settings) show how people of the period valued their animal companions. While rampant superstition during medieval times did not always portray dogs in the best light, their frequent appearances within the art and manuscripts of the period show the evolution of the human/dog relationship to what it now has become.
The darling daughters of Downton Abbey would surely have shopped at Selfridge's, England's first modern department store. In Shopping, Seduction, & Mr. Selfridge, Lindy Woodhead transports readers to a bygone era when nattily dressed ladies and gentlemen made shopping an event. Woodhead also shines a light on the man behind the mannequins, the inimitable Harry Gordon Selfridge.
Selfridge began as a stock boy working at Marshall Field's in Chicago and eventually became a partner in that established business. His dreams were big and at the turn of the century he was able to make his magic happen in England. He wanted to bring to London a store that was unrivaled in extravagance. It took several years, but London's first dedicated department store built from scratch opened in a halo of hype. The publicity was well-deserved, as the store really was larger than life. With six acres of floor space and every conceivable amenity, Selfridge's was a legacy to limitless luxury. There were elevators and a bank, an ice skating rink and a restaurant with a full orchestra. Shopping was like an entertainment at Selfridge's, where regular customers could mingle with celebrities such as Anna Pavlova and Noel Coward.
Woodhead tells the story of the retail revolution of the early twentieth century, but also focuses on the rise and fall of one visionary, but ultimately doomed man. Selfridge's life was as large as his store and filled with mistresses, mansions, and money. This is the fascinating true story that inspired the Masterpiece series Mr. Selfridge, starring Jeremy Piven, currently airing on PBS.
Online poker was a hot phenomenon in the early 2000s, and Ship It Holla Ballas! by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback traces the trend by focusing on some of the hottest players. Ship It Holla Ballas is a name coined from a poker term, a celebratory cheer, and urban slang and was chosen as the crew name by an elite group of poker players who studied the online game and figured out how to win. This group of college dropouts met on a popular message board and soon got together in person. While the authors introduce the main players using their online handles, all of them, including, Irieguy, Raptor, and Good2cu, are real guys who got to live lifestyles of the rich and famous.
Most of these young men weren't even old enough to gamble in a casino when the crew was formed, but they took advantage of the online games to win millions of dollars. Those millions helped these enterprising, if nerdy, teens transform themselves into players with fast cars, big houses, and beautiful women. They eventually took on Vegas, winning some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world, and garnering even more attention.
Readers will get a sense of the personalities of these players and their individual motivations behind dominating this complex card game. The authors frame the story of the crew by outlining the rapid rise and fall of online poker. At one point as many as 15 million people were betting online. But on April 15, 2011, the government shut down the three largest sites, effectively killing the games. This is a story filled with ego, dedication, success, and excess. It is also the story of how the smartest guys in the room parlayed their brains into big bucks.
The shroud of secrecy which surrounds an elusive artist is at the heart of Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall by Will Ellsworth-Jones. This former journalist presents an in-depth look at the reclusive artist from his beginnings as a nobody vandal all the way to the Academy Awards as producer of a nominated documentary. As unlikely as it would seem when reading about the beginnings of his journey, Banksy has somehow managed to become one of the world's best known and wealthiest living artists. His pieces, which once drew anger and police attention, are now securing millions of dollars at auction.
While Banksy, via his publicity organization Pest Control, refused Ellsworth-Jones' requests for interviews, the author manages to use secondary sources to shed light on this enigma. He talks with friends, acquaintances, and fellow artists to recount how this mystery man from Bristol, England, who refuses to be photographed or reveal his given name, turned the art world on its head. Readers will also meet fans who wait for hours to obtain limited edition prints and follow the author as he searches the streets for some of Banksy's works. Ellsworth-Jones also addresses the paradox that Banksy's commercial success has created for him and questions whether he is the sellout as so many of his contemporaries claim. This is a fascinating glimpse inside the world of street and outsider art, a social commentary, and a philosophical debate about the definition of art.
Many Americans probably got their first glimpse of Banksy (along with a distorted voice and hidden face) and his world in his 2009 documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop. This intriguing Oscar-nominated film prompted one New York Times critic to coin the term "prankumentary," leaving viewers wondering whether the entire film is yet another hoax perpetuated by Banksy and his cult of followers.
Pete Townshend's biography, Who I Am is not only the story of The Who but also a deeply personal memoir. Townshend shares intimate details from his sometimes bleak early childhood, revealing that these years caused him lifelong fears of abandonment. Who I Am also gives a personal view into cultural and historical developments in post-World War II England.
Compared to other rock memoirs, Townshend's stands out for his lack of bitterness toward other members of The Who. He resists the temptation to disparage his bandmates. Given The Who's colorful history, no doubt he has countless stories that would entertain readers but may embarrass fellow band members. Because this is such a well-crafted and honest memoir, the absence of descriptions of debauchery is not missed. Readers who prefer their musical biographies to be full of name-dropping gossip will not be disappointed, though. He shares numerous stories about Sixties icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger.
Who I Am will be enjoyed by fans of The Who and also readers who are interested in intimate memoirs of artists. Read by Townshend in his distinctly reedy London voice, the audiobook is highly recommended.
Always Looking: Essays on Art, by John Updike, is an invaluable collection of fourteen eloquent discussions that examine Western painting and sculpture. Although Updike was an acclaimed writer of literature, many readers might not know that he was also an art connoisseur. His skillful nonfiction reveals an astute perspective which masterfully dissects art in a way that will gratify the seasoned appreciator, as well as the casual observer who is just curious to learn more.
John Updike's lifelong passion for visual art began in childhood when discovered comics, like Mickey Mouse in the Treasure Hunt. Into adulthood, he continued to seek out pieces that fascinated him and curiously described familiar pieces in a new way. While considering Gustav Klimt's "The Dancer", Updike questioned if the painting is "a bold and necessary step in the direction of modernism, or an uneasy half-step, a cheaply bought glamour, a kind of higher kitsch?"
Much more than a conversation of art, Always Looking offers rich and vivid images of the very works Updike is discussing. From René Magritte's unnervingly sensual "The Lovers" to Roy Lichtenstein's loud pop of "In the Car", the short essay format makes this a perfect book of leisure. You might dip in for a bit and read on a topic or discover the pleasure of flipping through its pages to take in the richly dynamic selection. This stimulating reconsideration of classics will change the way you look at art.
Audiences continue to be fascinated by the life and work of legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. He is the subject of the new theatrical film based on Stephen Rebello's Hitchcock!: Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho. Rebello begins with the story of Ed Gein, whose grisly crimes inspired Robert Bloch to write the novel Psycho. Hitchcock's selection of Bloch's gruesome novel was an abrupt departure from the expected, eliciting doubt from everyone including the studio. When Paramount made it clear that they wouldn't back Psycho, Hitchcock offered to finance the movie himself if Paramount would distribute the finished product. Rebello pulls together details about the production of the film and explores the public reaction after its record-breaking openings in Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago in June 1960. Hitchcock, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Dame Helen Mirren, brings to life Hitchcock's relationship with his wife Alma and their collaboration during the production of Psycho.
Audiences looking for more Hitchcock will also want to see HBO's The Girl. The film focuses largely on Hitchcock's dark and often abusive relationship with Tippi Hedren, leading lady in his iconic films The Birds and Marnie. Hitchcock and Hedren, played by Toby Jones and Sienna Miller, create unforgettable films together but at a steep price to Hedren's well-being.
Purpose: An Immigrant's Story by Wyclef Jean is both the biography of Jean and the life story of the Fugees, one of the most successful hip-hop & R&B bands of the 1990s. Originally from Haiti, Jean is the son of a pastor and the grandson of a Voodoo priest. In this revealing new memoir, Jean recounts his early life – from his early years in the LaSerre slum to international superstardom in the 1990s. And finally, he describes his humanitarian work in Haiti and his unsuccessful bid for Haiti's presidency.
After his early childhood in Haiti, he joined his parents in New York, where he was raised by his no-nonsense grandmother, the family matriarch. It took quite some time to get accustomed to his new life in America. He grew up in tough neighborhoods, often ravaged by drugs and guns. He also faced anti-Haitian prejudice throughout his youth in New York. Jean grew up in a very musical (and religious) household. He refers to his family as the "Haitian-American Partridge Family." Because his father would not allow him to play secular music, his first band was a Christian rock group. He immersed himself in classic funk and rock songs and modified the lyrics so that the resulting song was a Christian one. Once he finally embraced secular music, there was no looking back. As one of the founding members of the Fugees and successful solo artist, Jean has sold millions of records. Perhaps the most compelling section of the book is the story of the Fugees and the recording of their mega-hit, The Score.
He says The Score is essentially the soundtrack of his relationship with Lauryn Hill. Although the relationship ended badly, it became an all-consuming affair that inspired the beautiful, soulful songs on The Score. After the Fugees broke up, Jean set out on his successful solo career, almost ran for the President of Haiti and is now focused on his family and music. Purpose: An Immigrant's Story is highly recommended to biography readers. but also anyone interested in the history of hip-hop.
Seth Casteel, award-winning pet photographer and animal rights activist, presents amazing images of over eighty dogs in aquatic settings in Underwater Dogs. Each canine has an individual portrait which captures the unique personalities in exuberant action shots chasing a ball. From the human perspective, this game of chase seems simple – ball is thrown, dog retrieves it, and surfaces triumphantly. But beneath the water, there is a major drama playing out complete with bared teeth and arched bodies. From leaping lab to diving dachshund, each dog approaches this game a little differently. Some lounge in the water and paddle slowly, while others are aggressive and shark-like in their focus and determination. Of course, the elegant poodle still manages to maintain an air of refinement even when soaked. Casteel started this project by posting the photos on his blog, and since that time the viewership has surpassed 150 million.
Who doesn't love puppies? Photographer J. Nichole Smith offers photographs of twenty-five different baby canines in Puppyhood: Life-size Portraits of Puppies at 6 Weeks Old. The coffee table size allows the puppies to be shown in full actual life size at six weeks. These engaging photographs show all the details that make puppies so irresistible, from their pink bellies and tiny teeth to their soft ears and oversize paws. The book features purebred and mixed breed doggies in a variety of puppy pastimes such as sleeping, staring down the photographer, and of course, playing. All of the photographs will have readers yearning for their own puppy to cuddle. And indeed that is part of Smith's plan, as her epilogue is complete with information on adopting all of the twenty-five pictured pooches, as well as providing contact information for a number of national shelter networks and the breeders of the purebreeds featured in the book.
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These people of the present and past were born on this date.
These people of the present and past were born on this date:
Actress Jeanne Moreau is 85.
Actress Chita Rivera is 80.
Actor Sonny Chiba is 74.
Jazz pianist Gary Burton is 70.
Actor Gil Gerard ("Buck Rogers in the 25th Century") is 70.
Actor Rutger Hauer ("The Rite," "Blade Runner") is 69.
Singer Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters is 65.
Bassist-keyboardist Bill Cunningham of the Box Tops is 63.
Actor Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver") is 63.
Actor David Patrick Kelly ("The Warriors," "48 Hrs.") is 62.
Airline pilot Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III is 62.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is 60.
Singer-guitarist Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is 60.
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Rome products can only be shipped within the U.S.
(based on 1 review)
Ratings Distribution
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By Si rider
from Boulder, co
About Me Intermediate
Best Uses
Comments about Rome Heist Snowboard - Women's 2014:
I haven't had a new board in quite a few years and I've only been able to ride three days as I had a baby the beginning of the year so only squeaked in a couple of days at the end of this season. I don't have much to compare it to, but I loved it! It was smooth, fast and I adjusted easily to the new technology on this board. My old board was stiff and didn't have the flex or the ability to go flat. I love how fast it is and how smooth my carving is. I haven't been able to do park stuff though
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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See your yellow on these designs right now!
Enter your colors here, then click the icon below any design to preview it in your colors.
Recommended Just For You
Customer Raves & Reviews
Very happy with product.
Vision of Love Wedding Program Fans The programs were very easy to design and order and they came all put together I am very happy. Very good quality.
Perfect Program for a Wedding Ceremony on a hot summer night
Vision of Love Wedding Program Fans The design team at MagnetStreet are awesome. They were very helpful and responded to my questions quickly. I did go back and forth with some revisions, and MagentStreet continued to add support. I believe they were doing everything in their power to make my vision come true. The end result was a beautiful program that is double sided and designed as a fan. The paper is of high quality. The colors are vibrant and the text is clear and crisp.
Easy and beautiful
Botanical Cascade Wedding Program Fans My daughter used this site for their wedding announcements and was more than happy with them. The website is easy to use and flexible in being able to be creative. I used it also for the program fans and was delighted to see how easy it was to change colors and fonts and create them exactly the way I envisioned. You can select a template and the interactive tips help you from there. I will share with all my friends who have family getting married.
Fan Program
Signature of Love Wedding Program Fans The fans were a nice size and perfect for an outdoor wedding.
Vision of Love Wedding Program Fans I am marrying for the first time at 45 on Saturday, Aug. 24 to an amazing man!!!! He was well worth the wait. At any rate, I ordered my program fans 8/11 for my 8/24 wedding. I know, dumb right! The date sneaked up on me. I called Magnet Street because my fans were to be shipped 8/19 and scheduled to arrive ~8/22. After speaking with Magnet Street, they arrived 8/19!!!!! And they were beautiful!!!!!!!!!! I have a cousin getting married in April, I have shared with her Magnet Street's address and she has seen the magnets (and loved them!). Magnet Street is absolutely fabulous. Their customer service is amazing! Thank you for making my special day beautiful.


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As I probably mentioned before, I study theater design at the Utrecht School of the Arts. I am in my third year and I just started a new project with my class.
I am very excited about this project, because we (me and my fellow classmates) have to make a theater play together. We have to do every aspect of it by ourselves, we are the producers, designers, directors, etc. It's pretty hard to make decisions when you're with 9 people and everyone has there own opinion. But one thing that we all decided on was to make our own shoes!
So I have been doing some research on what kind of shoes I would want to make and what effect that can have on the shape of your body. I found the video above when I was doing my research and I was fascinated by how much here entire shape and posture changes when she puts on those shoes. Not to mention how beautiful the shoes are.
I was very inspired and me and my classmates have made a shoe design based on our research, so tomorrow we are going to work on our shoes, how fun!


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Patt Morrison for December 6, 2011
Warm up your wands - Harry Potter's Wizarding World is coming to Universal Studios
Universal Orlando Resort via Getty Images
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter kicked off its grand opening celebration on June 16, 2010 in Orlando, Florida.
Local Harry Potter aficionados can raise their tankards of Butterbeer in celebration... officials today announced that a Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction is coming to Universal Studios Hollywood.
The first Wizarding World opened in June 2010 at Universal in Orlando, and its popularity has been unprecedented - crowds have been thick enough to make any Muggle wish they had an invisibility cloak. But don't start practicing your spells just yet. The original Wizarding World took three years to complete and California's version isn't slated to open until at least 2014. And the magic won't come cheap – Universal spent well over $200 million on the Orlando Wizarding World. As for that Butterbeer? Be prepared to spend some of your Gringotts gold - a souvenir mug full of the frothy wizard's beverage in Orlando will set you back $10.
What is behind the continuing phenomenon of the world of Harry Potter? Is California ready for another kind of Magic Kingdom?
Corey Moore, KPCC reporter who covered the news conference at Universal this morning


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Departmental Blue Box Seminar Series
Announcements about our Blue Box seminar talks can be found on our homepage under "News".
If you wish to be included in the mailing list for seminar information, please send your email address to email@example.com.
The department hosted the 2013 meeting of the Canadian Association of Geographers August 11-15. For more information about the conference, please consult the CAG 2013 website.


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- When do you leave?
- How long do you plan to be away?
- How much have you saved?
- How old are you?
- Nationality
- Where do you live now?
- Occupation
- Is this job one that you actually like, or are you only doing it to pay for the trip?
- Have you traveled around the world before?
- What is the route you plan to take/places you plan to visit?
- Why did you decide to take this trip? What got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?
- What is your biggest fear about this trip?
- Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc., supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the world?
- How much planning and preparing have you done?
- What are you packing? What do you consider your most indispensable item(s)?
- How do you think your round-the-world trip will change your life? How do you think it will affect and change you as a person?
- If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it be?
- Why do you think people should go on round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week vacation instead?
- What is the biggest myth that people have about round-the-world traveling?
- Why do you like to travel?
- What is your advice for people planning their own RTW trip?
August 2008
1-2 Years
$3000 & Counting (But not fast enough as far as I'm concerned)
Cleveland, OH, USA
Nothing Important
One more paycheck and I'm gone
From US overland Central America. Down through Panama and Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Veneuela. Fly to England, travel continent by train. End up in Southern Spain, cross to Moroccoo, and travel African continent ending in Cape Town. Fly to India, up through Nepal, Southern China, Mongolia, Korea, down through Beijing. Fly to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia. Over to Australia and back to US with a stop over in Pacific Ilsands.
Beign away from family/friends
Mostly supportive, but many think I'm crazy and that I'll never do it.
Just Enough
Bare essentials – clothes, shoes, journals, camera film (maybe), sleeping bag/hammock.
Don't know – that's the whole point for me, any change is good change, as long as it's conscious, honestly critiqued, and truthful to who you are.
Confidence and heart.
Boring and it's what everybody else does.
To fulfill old dreams and create new ones.
Dream and save money.


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Learn more
- Virtual tour (IBM suggests using Java version 6 Update 12 or higher)
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- Rack and power infrastructure (US)
- Management tools
- Get Adobe® Reader®
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- Helps reduce the cost of meeting general purpose and storage-intensive demands
- Offers more innovative design and flexible configurations for affordable growth
- Delivers enhanced reliability with simplified management backed by IBM® service and support.
One server, two uses
With support for the latest Intel® Xeon® E5-2400 v2 processor technology, the IBM System x3630 M4 offers cost-optimised storage, performance and memory with energy efficiency. The x3630 M4 gives growing businesses and branch offices a simpler, more affordable alternative to traditional enterprise offerings without sacrificing performance. For more storage-intensive workloads, the x3630 M4 can provide up to 56 terabyte (TB) of internal storage capacity.
Flexible options, affordable growth
The x3630 M4 offers added flexibility and an innovative design to help you more easily and cost effectively add new features as your requirements change. Depending on the model you select, these can include graphic card support, advanced redundant array of independent disks (RAID) and light path diagnostics, hot-swap hard disk drives (HDD), rich remote-management capabilities and a shared or dedicated port for system management. Expandable peripheral component interconnect Express (PCIe) slots and network interface card (NIC) ports let you pay for the capabilities as you need them.
Product features
- Cost-optimised performance and memory in a small footprint
- Flexible design helps provide extensive configuration options and ability to upgrade to more robust features as needs change over time
- Generous internal storage capacity available to support data-intensive workloads
- Expandable peripheral component interconnect Express (PCIe) slots and network interface card (NIC) ports let you pay for the capabilities as you need them
- Hot-swappable HDD and power supplies to help improve system serviceability
- A robust portfolio of systems management tools help simplify management tasks
Hardware summary
- 2U chassis
- Dual-socket server supporting 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-core processors, up to 1600 MHz memory access speed
- Up to 384 gigabyte (GB) double data rate-3 (DDR-3) load-reduced dual inline memory module (LRDIMM) memory via 12 dual inline memory module (DIMM) slots
- Internal storage flexibility with support for up to fourteen 3.5-inch/ SSD hot-swap SAS/SATA HDD for up to 56 terabyte (TB) of local storage capacity
- 2 - 4 x8 PCIe slots + x4 slotless redundant array of independent disks (RAID)
|2U rack form factor
|Latest high performance, energy-efficient 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-core Intel Xeon processors, up to 1600 MHz memory access speed
|Fast 1600 MHz, DDR-3 registered dual inline memory module (RDIMM) memory or up to 384 GB of LRDIMM memory with 12 DIMM slots
|Support for up to fourteen 3.5-inch hot-swap SAS/SATA HDD, for up to 56 TB of local storage capacity
|Optional support for the VMware ESXi 5.0 embedded hypervisor
|2 - 4 x8 PCIe slots + x4 slotless RAID
|Integrated dual Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) standard
|Eight universal serial bus (USB) ports (2 front, 4 rear, 2 internal)
|Up to two 550 W/750 W/900 W 80-PLUS certified power supply unit (PSU); optional hot-swap redundant power supply
|Three redundant fan modules standard
|Energy-efficient components
|Broad OS support
|IBM® Systems Director
|IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager
|Integrated Management Module (IMM) with IPMI 2.0 support
|Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
|IBM ToolsCentre
|IBM ServerGuide software
|Limited warranty
|RAID support
|Slotless hardware RAID
|Form factor/height
|2U Rack
|Processor (max)
|2-, 4-, 6-, 8, 10-core Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 product family, up to 1600 megahertz (MHz) memory access speed
|Number of processors (std/max)
|Cache (max)
|Up to 20 megabyte (MB) L3
|Memory (max)
|Up to 384 gigabyte (GB) double data rate-3 (DDR-3) load-reduced dual inline memory module (LRDIMM) memory via 12 dual inline memory module (DIMM) slots
|Expansion slots
|2 - 4 x8 PCIe slots +x4 slotless RAID
|Disk bays (total/hot-swap)
|4, 8 x 3.5-inch/ solid state drive (SSD) simple-swap serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) HDDs or 8 x 3.5-inch/SSD hot-swap serial attached SCSI (SAS)/SATA HDDs +tape (value model), 12+2x 3.5-inch/SSD hot-swap (storage-rich model)
|Maximum internal storage
|Up to 32 TB disk (value model), up to 56 TB (storage-rich model)
|Network interface
|Intel Ethernet Controller I350 Dual 1 gigabit (Gb) on board + Intel I-350 Embedded Dual Port gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Activation for IBM System x Feature on Demand (FoD)
|Power supply (std/max)
|Up to two 550 W/750 W/750 DC/900 W 80 PLUS certified power supply unit (PSU)
|Hot-swap components
|Power supplies, hard disk drives
|RAID support
|Integrated 3 gigabits per second (Gbps) software RAID-0, -1, -10 for value entry model; optional hardware RAID-0, -1, -10 or RAID-5, -50 or -6, -60
|Systems management
|IBM Systems Director, IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager, Integrated Management Module (IMM) with IPMI 2.0 support, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), IBM ToolsCentre, status light emitting diode (LED)
|Operating systems (OS) supported
|Microsoft® Windows® Server, Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux®, VMware
|3-year customer replaceable unit (CRU) and onsite limited warranty, next business day 09:00 to 17:00, service upgrades available
Contact IBM
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Call IBM: 0870 539 0390 0870 539 0390
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Resource centre > News > Educators Call for Worldwide Action on Plant-Based Education
Educators Call for Worldwide Action on Plant-Based Education
19 October 2006
Using the platform of Botanic Gardens Conservation International's (BGCI) 6th International Congress on Education in Botanic Gardens, held jointly at Oxford University and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, delegates from Brazil, China, Indonesia, Russia, USA and UK presented the findings of six national meetings convened to examine the status of plant-based education in their respective countries.
Held earlier this year under the auspices of BGCI, the meetings looked at strategies to heighten public awareness about plant diversity and conservation under Target 14 (promoting education and awareness about plant diversity) of the UN's Global Strategy on Plant Conservation (GSPC). Significantly, every meeting highlighted the lack of governmental support for such initiatives.
According to Suzanne Sharrock, BGCI's Director of Public Awareness and Understanding, this is a significant development "because it shows that there is a growing convergence of opinion from a broad spectrum of countries with differing biodiversity challenges, that education is key to addressing conservation needs and support for this at government and international level is urgently required."
The findings will be presented next month in Dublin at an Expert Group meeting on the GSPC organised by the UN-backed Convention on Biological Diversity. Membership of the group includes representatives of the signatory countries to the Convention and international organisations.
The Dublin meeting will review the implementation of the GSPC and also examine proposals for a 'toolkit' designed to assist the Parties integrate the GSPC targets into their own national strategies and programmes. Following this a report will then be submitted to the CBD.
BGCI's role is key to the Dublin meeting. As the facilitating agency for two of the 16 targets of the GSPC it has a major reporting function. It also provides the Secretariat for the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation, a voluntary grouping of organisations dedicated to the implementation of the GSPC, for which it hosts the website, www.plants2010.org
Find Out More
6th Education Congress: Proceedings Now Available
Global Partnership for Plant Conservation
E4S Environmental Teaching Resources
The Convention on Biological Diversity
More News
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16 December 2014
15 December 2014
1 December 2014
17 November 2014
Last Child in the Woods
Richard Louv's book argues that children desperately need to be able to play in the woods - and that Western culture's sterile rejection of nature is harming them in body and soul.
Target 14: Communicating the Importance of Plant Diversity
This PDF leaflet is for raising awareness about Target 14 of the GSPC. A crucial element of conservation is educating the public and communicating the importance of plants. The leaflet is free to download and print yourself, or you can contact BGCI to discuss distribution of large batches.


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Philip Kotler In India
Images similairesAfficher tout
Marketing Guru Philip Kotler during the seminar at Leela Kempinski on... Photo d'actualité 163766150Finance,Gurgaon,Haryana,Horizontal,Inde,Marketing,SéminairePhotographer Hindustan TimesCollection: Hindustan Times 2013 Hindustan TimesGURGAON, INDIA - MARCH 14: Marketing Guru Philip Kotler during the seminar at Leela Kempinski on March 14, 2013 in Gurgaon, India. He was speaking at the full day Certified Training Programme titled- Eight ways to grow your market share: The Future of Marketing organized by RelioQuick and JRE school of Management. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)


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Wells, Jon-Paul R. and Yamaga, Mitsuo and Han, Thomas P.J. and Honda, Makoto (2003) Electron paramagnetic resonance and optical properties of Cr3+ doped YAl3(BO3)4. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 15 (3). pp. 539-547. ISSN 0953-8984Full text not available in this repository. (Request a copy from the Strathclyde author)
We report on the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and optical absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of YAl3(BO3)4 single crystals doped with 0.2 mol% of trivalent chromium. From EPR we determine that the Cr3+ ions reside in sites of essentially octahedral symmetry with an orthorhombic distortion. The ground state 4A2 splitting is determined to be 2√D2 + 3E2 ≈ 1.05 ± 0.04 cm−1, where D and E are fine-structure parameters, and we can attribute this splitting to the combined effect of a low-symmetry distortion and spin-orbit coupling. The g-values and fine-structure parameters D and E of the ground state 4A2 are measured to be gx ≈ gy ≈ gz = 1.978 ± 0.005, |D| = 0.52±0.02cm−1 and |E| = 0.010±0.005cm−1 respectively. From 10K optical absorption we have measured the position and crystal-field splittings of the 2E, 2T1, 4T2, 2T2 and 4T1 states with the 4T2 and 4T1 levels appearing as vibronically broadened bands.
|Item type:
|ID code:
|electron paramagnetic resonance, optical absorption, fluorescence spectroscopy, crystals, nanoscience, Solid state physics. Nanoscience, Materials Science(all), Condensed Matter Physics
|Science > Physics > Solid state physics. Nanoscience
|Unknown Department
Faculty of Science > Physics
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|Strathprints Administrator
|Date Deposited:
|22 Feb 2007
|Last modified:
|04 Sep 2014 11:48
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Dogpatch WineWorks is housed in a unique loft-like environment, originally constructed for a post-war canning factory where original details and architecture have been preserved. In the prime location of the Dogpatch District, Dogpatch WineWorks joins a number of creative new artisan shops and dining establishments. The Dogpatch WineWorks space, with its high ceilings and flexible floor plan, has already hosted a number of private events from intimate dinners to corporate functions, and aims to become a venue of choice for event planners, brides and others hosting special occasions. Our venue rates are based on the space needed and range from $500.00 - $5,000.00 thus making it affordable for all.
Beverage Guidelines
The existing licensing at Dogpatch WineWorks only permits the service of beer and wine. No hard alcohol is permitted under any circumstances. As Dogpatch WineWorks is a collective tasting room, clients may choose from our internal wine list for event needs. We allow champagne, sparkling wine and beer upon request, however no outside still wines may be served. We require a Tasting Room staff member to pour wine at events. Each server is billed at $30 an hour in addition to the venue fee.
Dogpatch WineWorks requires a 50% deposit to hold an event date with balance required 14 days before the event date. A separate $500 security deposit may be held by credit card at the time of booking. The security deposit may be held if a client does not complete proper breakdown after an event or there has been damage to the facility, equipment or furniture. Our cleaning fee is $100.00 per event day.
It is recommended that parties above fifty people hire private security. This can be arranged by our in-house event planner for an additional fee.
If an event is cancelled, the client forfeits the entire fee unless the venue is re-rented for the same day, in which case the fee will be refunded with Dogpatch WineWorks retaining a $500 administrative fee.
Dogpatch WineWorks has a flexible floorplan that can accommodate small groups to large parties or gatherings. Our capacity is 350 for a standing reception and 200 for a seated event.
Additional Information
Events must end due to noise ordinances by 12:00 AM and noise levels reduced at 11:00 PM. As we are a working winery and tasting room, early or late night equipment deliveries may be approved on a case by case basis. Dogpatch WineWorks accepts no responsibility for storage. Additional management fees may apply.
Rental rates include the use of existing lighting, SONOS sound system, plasma television, 14ft long custom bar, brushed stainless steel high boy tables (10) and barstools (20), two 9 foot brown leather chesterfield style couches and occasional table. Our space features a food prep area equipped with a catering sink and two stainless prep tables. A small reach-in refrigerator is available.
Dogpatch WineWorks is a "carry-in/carry-out" facility. All garbage and recyclables are the resposibility of the creator. Disposal can be arranged for a small additional fee.
We cannot accommodate large groups from Aug 15-Nov 1 as we are in full wine production. Events are approved on a case by case basis.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but the tasting room will be closed for private events or Holidays
on the following dates in 2014:
If you have any questions please contact:
415.525.4440 or email email@example.com


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Google Plus – Who Owns the Filter Bubble?
For a good couple of years I have been a huge fan, and big advocate, of what I think is one of the most empowering and refreshing social networking tools out there: Google Plus. Yes, I know I may have well been one of the very few, but all along I have always felt that in terms of features, capabilities, blending of online and offline interactions and, above all, the deeper level of engagement in conversations is what made G+ special. Very special. Till a couple of days ago, where I discovered, by pure chance, which is how these things happen usually, I suppose, how it has been hiding away the best part of that social networking tool: the conversations themselves. Remember the filter bubble?
From the very beginning, I read in one of the review blog posts around Google Plus how the Home Stream (All) doesn't really display all of the various different posts that your networks get to share. It only displays a fraction that the system itself identifies based on whatever the algorithm. Now, I can imagine how plenty of people may not feel very comfortable with the fire hose of updates coming through, so they may actually appreciate, quite a bit, having Google figuring it all out how it would work for most people. Alas, not for me. I would want to see every single post that comes my way, so I can then decide whether I would want to read it or not. I have always felt that's the ultimate choice from social networkers in terms of defining the amount of signal / noise they would get exposed to without having that social networking tool calculating automatically what may matter to you or not.
I am sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. So a few months back I started relying more and more on Google Plus Circles to the point where I became rather dependent on them. I created a bunch of them, that I check on a rather regular basis, but there are four of them that I consider critical food for my brain. You know, the One50, Two50, and TheRest and a new one I created which is a combination of all three of those coming up to nearly 500 people in total, which is what I am checking out nowadays the most as my new timeline. Essentially, the one circle of those folks who I would want to receive whatever updates they share.
Thus a little while ago I decided to try out an experiment, which was, essentially, keeping an open tab in Chrome throughout the day for Google Plus and, in particular, for that specific G+ Circle (That I called Everyone), and which would allow me to jump in every now and then and check what people may be saying, talking about or sharing across. You know, in between work tasks, coffee breaks, those spare idle moments in between meetings and so forth. The idea was to be able to catch up with everything that may have been shared across with an opportunity to do it at my own pace, and without any restrictions.
However, over the course of time, I started noticing how after a short period of time, without checking things out, the lovely blue box would show up indicating the number of new posts that I had catch up with since I last refreshed, and I started to notice how if I would have, say, 74 new posts, when clicking on refresh it would just display (I counted them!) about 36, which means that half of the content is gone. Just like that! WOW!!!
And here I was thinking that G+ algorithm was only in place for the Home Stream (All) page. Well, apparently, not. I have actually raised this very same issue on my Plus Profile, on this post, where I talked about it more extensively, and a bunch of other folks have been very helpful sharing their insights, including reference blog entries like this one on that very same topic with the flair that it's working as designed. Well, no, it's not. At least, it is not my design.
See? If I create a new Circle in Google Plus because there is a list of contacts / networks that I would want to keep up with and get exposed to everything they share in G+ that's what I expect the circle to handle graciously, not just show to me what it thinks is better for me. Never mind how much data you have about me. No, sorry, systems should not be making that choice for people. At least, people should be given the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of that model, which in this case it's just not happening. And I am finding that incredibly frustrating and perhaps somewhat disturbing as well for that matter.
Why? Mainly, of course, because of that filter bubble. I would want to be the person in charge of what I get exposed to, how I would want to get exposed to, and, most importantly, how I would want to consume that content shared across. And let it be down to me to decide if I would want to mitigate, or not, the fire hose effect of content I get exposed to. It should be my decision, not the system's. That's actually one of the reasons why I have never been a fan of Facebook, Twitter and various other social networking tools that do pretty much the same thing: putting constraints in place by the system, within the streams, thinking it knows better than their end-users. Well, maybe not.
Yes, I realise that I am perhaps making a big fuss out of anything. I mean, I am sure that you folks would be able to identify a whole bunch of various different areas of improvement for Google Plus in terms of missing features and capabilities, but, to me, it's all down to this: can I use it for work? Yes, I know I can use it for personal use, which I have already for a long while, just like any other social networking tool, but, to me, Google Plus was special, because I could also use it for work. Or, at least, that's what I thought, because, after finding out about that behaviour, I am just not sure anymore. I mean, think of this very same scenario happening with work email…
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. There is no way that you just can't miss work related emails, specially, from a customer, or business partner, or from an urgent request from your boss or your fellow colleagues, only to find out the system thought about dropping it out, because it was not that important. Goodness! That would never happen with email. Period. It's out of the question, even. So why should social networking tools be different? Why can't we have that opt-in / opt-out option where we, the end-users, the social networkers, get to decide how we would want to process, consume and digest those streams? That's a fair request, don't you think?
So what's going to happen next then, you may be wondering, right? Well, for now, and while I am awaiting for an official answer from Google Plus Help and some other folks, G+ has dropped out to the same level of attention, engagement, involvement and relevancy as plenty of other social networking tools, because no matter how hard you would try it looks like with Google Plus, just like with plenty of others, you will always be missing stuff and, to be frank, if that's going to happen, I rather prefer to focus my attention elsewhere. It's not even worth the effort anymore. Does that mean I will be ditching Google Plus for good? No, not yet. Like I said, I like it quite a bit. I am not going to give up on it that easy or that soon, even though I fully realise I will never get an answer from the Help & Support team(s), which is also another one of those issues with all of these public social networking tools on the Open Web. I will continue to make use of it. It's just that instead of spending a substantial amount of time in it every day, the level of attention has dropped quite a bit, to the point where it no longer has the priority on my external social networking activities as it used to have. That focus is now gone.
And that's a pity. I know and I fully realise about that. But I guess that's what happens when you, Google Plus, in this case, make the assumption you can own the filter bubble of those who have given you the mere existence of your own being, ignoring their voices and opinions, thinking you know better than them. Perhaps you don't, perhaps you shouldn't have. Perhaps you need to address the issue before I will be coming back. Why? Well, because, amongst several other things, I still want to own the filter bubble. My filter bubble.
Thank you very much.
Open Business – From Adoption into Adaptation
As I have mentioned in a recent blog post, you would remember how I have now moved into a new job role within IBM, as Lead Social Business Enabler for IBM Connections (both internal and external), where I am much more heavily involved with IBM's knowledge workers' own adoption efforts of social business and social technologies. So far, the journey has been incredibly fascinating, if anything, because we are just about to enter the last stage of Social Business Adoption and Enablement: Adaptation. And this is the best part, frankly, I am not really too sure we are ready for it just yet.
If you have been reading this blog for a while now, you would know how I have been involved with social networking tools since early 2000 to 2001 when I was first exposed to instances of wikis and people aggregators. And throughout all of that time I have seen a good number of different tipping points and different phases of adoption that have marked a rather interesting evolution into helping social networking for business become the new fabric, the new DNA, of the company in terms of how we collaborate and share our knowledge. There have been plenty of interesting and relevant challenges, and yet, the toughest is still awaiting us.
Having been involved with social networks inside the company from right at the beginning has given me the opportunity to witness how different waves of adopters have been able to embrace social technologies, at their own pace, in order to help themselves become more collaborative and effective by ways of opening up their knowledge sharing processes. At the same time, it has allowed me to witness how over the course of time those waves of adopters are getting narrower and narrower. Early adopters, first, second, third waves of adopters have all gone through that transformation of how they work and everything. And while there have been some good challenges, I feel the most pressing ones are yet to come. And for two different reasons:
The Laggards, The Critics and The Skeptics
The first one is that the one or two waves of adopters who still have got to make it across are probably the most intriguing, because they are the ones whom in another blog post I have called The Laggards, The Critics and The Skeptics. Yes, these are those knowledge workers who have already tried and played with social networking tools in some form or shape, and who have definitely heard and have been exposed to social networking and they weren't very convinced. In fact, quite the opposite. It just didn't click for them. They saw it, they dived in, it didn't meet their needs and wants and they moved on back to where they were.
Slowly, but steadily, they turned themselves into skeptics with the earned right to voice out their concerns, issues and what not, in order to make the point across that they are not going to make the change over, no matter what. At least, for now, or till the point where things have changed and shifted so radically they won't have a choice anymore.
And while I think you folks may highlight that as a potential issue in terms of the overall social business adoption strategy, it's perhaps the one group left we should not try to keep convincing of what lies ahead, but let them re-discover it at their own pace and everything, over and over again till it hits, if needed be, at their own time, at their own pace. Indeed, there will always be different waves of adopters and each and everyone of us, social software evangelists, should be ok with that. The sooner we are, the much better of we will all be eventually. If not, we are the ones who have got an issue, because we are just not working hard enough to understand their context and different working styles and adjust accordingly.
Social Business Mandates
The second reason, which is the one that has got me extremely worried at the moment, is that one where we have failed in inspiring to transform our very own knowledge workforce and switched gears thinking that Social Business Transformation can be accelerated by mandating its adoption, whether you, the knowledge worker, like it or not. Yes, I know we are all excited and rather committed to provoke the change, no matter what, even if we decide to go ahead and mandate such shift. But it is just so flawed, it's scary. Very scary altogether, because it just shows how we haven't learned much in the last decade.
Social Business transformation is not a project team, it's not something that you start by date X and you finish it off in a year or two. And then you are done and time for you to move elsewhere. It's not something that you put together with a group of folks picked up by you to force it down to the rest of the employee workforce, just because you are in one part of the organisation that feels it's entitled to push down those corporate mandates. Specially, onto those who still haven't made the switch-over.
It just doesn't work like that, I am afraid. Even more so when those corporate mandates are pushed down into people's throats by that executive hierarchical structure understanding they are entitled to do so, just because of who they are and the position they hold. No, I am really sorry, but it just doesn't work like that. Today's corporate environment is a whole lot different than what it was 10 to 15 years ago.
In the world of social networking for business it's never been about mandating and forcing certain behaviours or a specific mindset (That one of Openness, for instance). It has always been a personal, individual choice of the knowledge worker him/herself to have a play, to try things out, to find new ways of working where openness, transparency, trust, etc. become the norm in terms of how we share our knowledge and collaborate effectively together. And it will always be that: *a* personal choice.
So I cringe, and I die a little bit inside as well for that matter, whenever I bump into a group of fellow colleagues who have been mandated by their corporate executive(s) to use social software tools, or, else! Or, even worse, when knowledge workers are expecting to be told / mandated by their management teams that they must do it, or else. Yes, I admit it, it drives me a little bit crazy as well, because it sounds as if they have failed to inspire to transform and, instead, use their position, power and entitlement to enforce it, so that they could put a little checkmark, right next to their yearly performance evaluation, that they have been social and time to move on.
And if there is anything wrong with that is that they have enforced the very same kind of mentality and behaviours that social business has been trying to fight all along: corporate politics, bullying, power struggles and hierarchical clashes. And it gets even worse when they have mandating their team(s) to become social and yet they haven't even explored it themselves, can't be bothered arguing all of this social networking stuff was not meant for them or whatever other lame excuse. Whoahhh? Really? Is that what *you* really think?
See? To me, that's the main key difference between a manager, ruling by command and control using their position of power and entitlement, and a true leader, inspiring a new behaviour, a new mindset, walking the talk, taking the lead, while learning by doing, on what all of these social networking behaviours are all about and which this snapshot shared below (Courtesy of 9GAG) captures it very nicely:
The biggest challenge with all of that is not that senior leadership, no longer believing in the power to transform through being a living example of the shift, but it is actually the folks, right underneath those executives, who execute those orders, because they want to please the command from the ranks above. Never mind thinking about questioning the validity of such assertions, or challenging the status quo of something they know it's wrong, or even rebelling against it since they know very well it just won't work. It's just as if they have drunk so much kook-aid from the whole thing that they are still drunk with it and can't see anything around them anymore.
And this is where the corporate rebel side of me, the hippie 2.0, the heretic, the outrageous and optimist free radical me is coming back and in full force to fight it back as much as I possibly can, because I feel that if I don't do it, no-one will question it, and everyone will just basically conform with it. No, we shouldn't.
We should keep up the fight and help out our leadership, regardless of the company (As I am sure there are plenty of businesses out there going through the very same thing as I get to write these few thoughts), understand their new leadership role, that one of being servant leaders, that one of provoking that social business transformation by themselves and for themselves first, as a personal experience, so that they can comprehend better the new dynamics of engagement, those where "knowledge is power" transforms itself into "knowledge SHARED is power", where traditional command and control management progresses through into doing is believing leadership.
And this is exactly what excites me about my job, that, 12 years later, I still feel like I am just getting started with my social networking evangelism efforts, that there is just so much more to explore, discover, play with, learn and experience that we are just starting to scratch the surface of the tip of the iceberg. The difference between today and those many years back though, is that I have now got all of those years of additional experience, skills, knowhow, pragmatic way of 2.0 thinking and so forth that I can apply further along that I have finally decided to make the switch from Adoption and move on…
Earlier on this year, you would remember that blog post I put together on me making the move away from Social Business into Open Business, well, a mere 5 months later, I am making the move from Adoption into Adaptation, which I think is much more appropriate for what all of the business world is trying to do with Social Business. We are not doing Adoption per se anymore, specially, driving adoption. Instead, we open up the door to adaptation, where we help knowledge workers adapt to a new way of working, where we become more open by nature, more transparent, more trustworthy, hyperconnected, networked, engaged, participative and so on by doing something we, human beings, have always been very good at: sharing our knowledge.
The Industrial Age neglected our ability to adapt. Instead we became machines; robots and drones capable of putting together a massive amount of silly hours working really hard, without applying too much (critical) thinking, or even questioning the status quo, so that we could just get a pay check at the end of the month, hoping that one of those years we might potentially become part of the executive chain that everyone aspires to because we feel things would be much better. No, they were't.
Indeed, things never got better for the vast majority, only for the very very few. In fact, they got worse, because with the current work pressures people are behaving even more like corporate drones understanding that if they don't put enough hours during the work week (7 days a week!) they may get fired altogether together for not being productive enough. How flawed is that? I mean, how can we keep ignoring over 150 years of research on what's obvious?
Perhaps we should get fired. Maybe we need to go through that massively rude awakening to understand how we need to go back to basics: our very own human nature. They say that we are one of the very few species in this world that can adapt adequately to any given environment, no matter how harsh it may well be. Well, perhaps we may not have adapted well enough to a corporate environment where we have been eaten up alive by the status quo, because we just haven't challenged it well enough like we have done with other environments.
The difference between last 50 years and now is that for the first time ever, we have got the tools, the social technologies, to help us provoke that transformation of how we do business and how we should behave in the new business world that aims at sustainable growth, equity, parity, earned merit, digital reputation, etc. and how the sooner we may be switch from adoption to adaptation, from corporate mandates to servant leadership, from corporate drones into human beings with an ability to think and make beautiful things, the much better our societies would become as a result of it. Not just for each and everyone of us, but for many future generations to come.
It's the least we can all do. Adapt for our mere survival as a species. The race has already started a while ago. The clock is ticking and faster than ever… Think, inspire and execute. Don't waste any more time trying to conform with a status quo that was never meant to be. Challenge it by helping people understand and fully embrace how they can adapt to a new reality. Their own reality.
Remember that life is just too short to have to conform with a status quo you never believed in, nor adapted to, in the first place. It's now a good time to level up the game and demonstrate what we are all capable of in terms of adapting social business gestures to how we work.
Indeed, doing is believing!
Adaptation: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change. In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment."
How Social Networking Can Improve Work Meetings
I am not too sure whether meetings lower our IQ or whether they make us all more stupid, as my good friend Stowe Boyd reflected on a recent blog post, but I can certainly confirm they do take a toll on your own productivity. Specially, when those meetings are not set up by you, but by everyone else, and therefore making you lose the control, once again, in terms of one of the most precious things all of us, knowledge workers, have that we don't seem to treasure well enough: Time. Attention management, indeed, is the new currency and it looks like meetings want to keep having that special place in our day to day workload in terms of grabbing most of it: our attention, that is. But perhaps enough is enough. Just like 5 years ago I started challenging the status quo of corporate email with the "A World Without eMail" movement, I think this week it's a good time to start its follow-up: Life Without Meetings.
I still haven't settled up on picking up the hashtag I will be using from here onwards to identify the movement (More than happy to read suggestions in the comments, please!), but I am certainly more than willing to getting started with this new initiative, in terms of wanting to improve my own productivity by what appears to be, right now, my biggest time sink while at work: meetings, specially remote meetings. And here is the funny thing. You may be thinking that one of the disadvantages of having moved into this new job as Lead Social Business Enabler at IBM is that I basically spend far too much time meeting up with my new team. Well, that's not really accurate.
I do meet up with my team, don't take me wrong, and I enjoy those meetings since they only happen a couple of times here and there per week. In fact, if I were to count the hours I spend on those team meetings it would be probably about 5 to 7 hours per week, which doesn't sound too bad if I consider the 40 hours of work. Indeed, the issue is not the meetings I have with my immediate team colleagues, but the meetings provoked by everyone else. Specially, from other teams, in other organisations and business units, in other projects with their own agenda, never minding your own. And in this case that is when I do have an issue, because, amongst several other things, they are inconsiderate enough to not be aware of your own work, your own agenda, time, availability and willingness to participate in their projects.
My good friend Euan Semple pretty much nailed it on what the main issue is in a recent tweet that he shared across:
I never use those meeting invite thingies because having a diary full of things that other people are in control of fills me with horror!
— Euan Semple (@euan) April 18, 2013
If you notice, there are plenty of similarities with some of the various different issues that I have highlighted over the last few years in terms of how we keep abusing email through our bad habits and behaviours in a successful effort to try to kill each other's productivity. Well, apparently, the same thing happens with meetings. Or, perhaps not.
When I was in my previous project I used to average about 10 to 15 hours of meetings per week. Nowadays I am doing between 25 to 30 hours of meetings. About 5 to 7 hours of those are dedicated to team meetings and the rest are remote ones solicited by other teams that want to abuse and take advantage of my reduced attention management span to sneak in. And over the last couple of weeks I am starting to think that the main reason why knowledge workers seem to have an obsession with hosting meetings (Specially, back to back, or what I have learned to call very descriptively as meetings galore) is not that necessarily down to work, but perhaps to a couple of other reasons:
- If you are in the office, meetings are usually put together because you want to see people face to face and play the corresponding political, empowerment and bullying games that you have been taught about really well over the course of time.
- If you are working remotely, like from your home office, or at a customer site, or while travelling, the main reason why people host those remote meetings is because (I know I am going to be very blunt and rather bold on this one, so bear with me) people feel lonely at work, isolated, disengaged with what happens "at the office", distrusted, disempowered because they are just not there and therefore they provoke those meetings so they can have a good chance at disrupting that and show that they, too, count!
Of course, they do. We all do. But there are different ways of showing and demonstrating that. And perhaps meetings are not the best option anymore. We, human beings, have been stuck in meetings for thousands of years I would think and if you come to consider the huge amount of time we have wasted over the course of time for those meetings, think now about the possibilities and the potential of what we would have done with all of that extra time.
There have been several attempts to try and fix the way we host and conduct meetings in an effort to make them effective. I am sure you, too, may have got your own hints and tips on how to make them work, and I would love to read some more about it in the comments, so feel free to share your best tips. Lately, I am playing myself with a couple of options: creating buffers, participate in meetings no longer than 30 minutes and be ruthless in terms of how many meetings I can participate in during the course of a working day. In my case I set that threshold in 4 hours of meetings per day. Maximum (with the odd exception here and there, of course).
But, apparently, that doesn't seem to work very well, because I still spend between 25 to 30 hours of meetings per week. Last week, for instance, 26.75 hours were just spent on conference calls participating and hosting meetings. Not good enough, I am afraid. And not good enough not because the meetings may have been rather helpful and useful overall, which they were, but more from the perspective that vast majority of them did *not* need to take place, since we could carry out the work offline and rather effectively.
And this is where I am going to jump in and kick off that movement of "Life Without Meetings". Because all along I have felt that the vast majority of meetings wouldn't need to take place if knowledge workers would make a much more effective use of social networking tools for business. You know, All Hands Meetings, Cadence Calls, Weekly Team Meetings, Status Project Reports, Monthly Calls and what not can eventually be conducted and rather effectively through various different social technologies.
Never mind as well how by shifting gears and moving the interactions of those meetings into social networking tools we would have the opportunity to get rid of the two main reasons I mentioned above as to why we are so obsessed with hosting meetings at the moment. You see? We don't need so show up at meetings to play those political, empowerment and bullying games. We have got work to do. By relying (heavily) on social software tools, if anything, we would never have that strong feeling of being isolated, or ignored, or neglected, as remote employees. Quite the opposite. If there is anything that social networking shines and thrives at is helping us all stay connected, regardless of where we may well be in the world.
And that's the main reason why I am now ready to kick off this particular initiative where over the course of time I have decided to strive for that goal of seeing the number of meetings I participate in go down to those levels of 10 to 15 hours per week. If I can hit 10 or less, even better. But we have got to get started somewhere, don't you think? And that's why from here onwards, and every now and then, depending on the frequency, I will be blogging about different techniques knowledge workers can put in practice to reduce the amount of time they spend in meetings, so that they can carry on with their work. And perhaps I'll kick things off with a bold statement in terms of sharing with everyone what meetings, to me, should be all about, whether face to face or remote ones: decision making. Anything else, it's just a waste of time, resources and precious talent that could be working on something much more interesting, relevant, purposeful and meaningful altogether.
So, there! I said it. If you come to think about it, we have spent already a huge amount of time on theorising how we could improve the way we host, both online remote meetings and face to face ones. Everyone seems to have an opinion, or an infographic, as to how to make them better. And that's just a wonderful thing. I guess what we would need to do next, eventually, is acknowledge that it's a good time now for action to start re-thinking how we would want to keep hosting and conducting meetings in an effective manner, instead of thinking they are one of most poignant productivity drains within the corporate world. We already know that. Let's move on. It's time to roll up our sleeves, get down to work and change the way we get work done through meetings by realising that work does *not* happen when we meet. So how much time do we want to keep wasting away drifting our attention to them instead of figuring out perhaps different ways, methods, techniques of how social / open business tools can help us re-gain our productivity back.
In the recent past, we have already done it for email, so there is no reason, perhaps not even an excuse anymore, why we couldn't do the same thing for meetings and shape them up the way we would want them to by asking perhaps the first initial key question: What's the purpose of the meeting? How are you planning on achieving that purpose, and, most importantly, can social technologies help achieve the same goals? Because if they do, there is no need to conduct that meeting any longer. We would then have to redefine again the true meaning of meetings, because the current one is already obsolete, and utterly broken, to match today's complex collaborative and open knowledge sharing working environment. So, we better get our hands dirty and get down to business. It's time for us all, knowledge workers, to take back responsibility, buckle up and own them again, as Seth Godin brilliantly quoted not long ago:
"Somewhere along the way, meetings changed into events where we wait for someone to take responsibility (while everyone else dives for cover).
How would you do it differently if the building were burning down? Because it is."
That's it!
Finally, an Open Business without meetings.
I am game! … And you?


text:
Posted by Martine Lapointe (Québec, Canada) on 19 August 2007 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.
On the top of the precedents flowers. You can see an ant on the right...
Forêt Montmorency, Québec, Canada
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Beautiful color.
19 Aug 2007 11:28am
19 Aug 2007 4:22pm
nice macro shot
19 Aug 2007 6:30pm
fantastic blury shot.Nice colors.Well composed!
19 Aug 2007 10:25pm
cool macro
28 Aug 2007 8:41am
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text:
RichD <[email protected]> wrote:
> I saw some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc at
> Trader Joe's, $8 for 750 ml: Kono, and Picton Bay.
> Anybody know thse brands?
> The reason I ask, NZ Sauvignon is fashionable,
> which means pricey. So when I see a bottle at $8,
> I'm skeptical... but TJ is famous for good deals, so
> it might be a steal...
I've tasted a couple of vintages of Kono and found it adequate. It has
some of what makes NZ Sauv. Bl. so attractive: there is a somewhat
understated grassy, citrusy, gooseberry-ish acidity, but no real
pungency of the best Marlborough Sauvignon Bl. Certainly it is no
Cloudy Bay at its historic best, but it perhaps can be compared to
Nobilo, which, though mass-produced, is a good basic NZ Sav. Bl. (and
which used to be attractively priced in the US a few years ago, as I