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(Reuters) ― Huaweion Tuesday said it would spend $2 billion over the next 5 years to focus on cybersecurity by adding more people and upgrading lab facilities, as it battles global concerns about risks associated with its network gear. The typically secretive Chinese technology giant made the comments at one of its most indepth press conferences at its Dongguan offices, after welcoming about two dozen international journalists into its new campus in the southern Chinese city.
Huawei has been in the news these past weeks for the arrest of its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou ― also the daughter of its billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei ― in Canada at the request of the United States.
This has exacerbated the woes of the Chinese firm, which has already been virtually locked out of the U.S. market and has been prohibited by Australia and New Zealand from building 5G networks amid concerns its gear could facilitate Chinese spying.
"Locking out competitors from a playing field cannot make yourself better. We think any concerns or allegations on security at Huawei should be based on factual evidence," its rotating chairman Ken Hu said. "Without factual evidence we don't accept and we oppose those allegations."
Huawei has been communicating with governments worldwide regarding the independence of its operation, he said. He added that Japan and France had not formally banned its telecom equipment. Recent media reports have indicated moves by these governments to shun the company's equipment.
Sources have told Reuters that Japan planned to ban government purchases of equipment.
Other media reported that the country's three top operators planned not to use current equipment and upcoming 5G gear from Huawei, and that France was considering adding items to its "high-alert" list that tacitly targets Huawei.
Huawei has repeatedly said Beijing has no influence over it.
At the tour of Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters on Tuesday, journalists glimpsed some of Huawei's most advanced R&D labs housed in a three-story building with a white facade and four columns, referred to by insiders as the "White House."
Wu said Huawei had secured more than 25 commercial contracts for 5G, slightly above the 22 the Chinese technology giant had announced in November.
The company has shipped more than 10,000 base stations for the fifth generation of mobile communications, he said, adding that Huawei expects revenue to exceed $100 billion this year ― up 8.7 percent from last year.
Huawei is the world's largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment and second-biggest maker of smartphones and unlike other big Chinese technology firms, derives half its revenue from overseas.
"A JUST CONCLUSION"Wu said on Tuesday Huawei was looking forward to "a just conclusion" in the case of Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 after U.S. officials alleged Huawei was trying to use banks to evade sanctions against Iran and move money out.
She is awaiting possible extradition to the United States in a case that has roiled global markets amid concerns it would exacerbate tensions between the United States and China, which are already strained over trade matters.
Meng, the 46-year-old daughter of Ren, has said in a sworn affidavit she is innocent and will contest the allegations against her at trial if she is surrendered to the United States.
Wu said Meng's arrest has had no impact on the travel of the company's senior executives.


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Spring 2011: From the Editor |
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This edition introduces the College's new Asian Studies and the Liberal Arts program, but its genesis was a conversation with Xiangching "Merlin" Liu '10. In 2009, Professor Scott Feller suggested I interview Liu, a rising star among Scott's chemistry majors, not long after the Chengdu, China native had returned from a Spring Break mission trip to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "My partners and I were working on a small house located at the north side of the Mississippi River, and our task was to clean it up, replace its doors, stabilize the framework, and repair the roof," Merlin had written during the trip. "My job was to replace broken shingles. "Standing on top of the roof I could see only a few houses still standing, and most of those were empty. The scene recalled the ruins of my own hometown after the earthquake of 2008." Merlin had been at Wabash when that 7.9 quake struck Sichuan province. "I could not help my home, other than with money, and money was nothing at that moment," Merlin told me. "People need food, care, labor. And I was here and I could not do anything for them. But I could do something here, so I was glad to help. It's the same work. And people share the same humanity, no matter what disaster they suffer, where they are from, or what their religious beliefs may be." The trip to New Orleans had been organized by a Crawfordsville church, and the group began each day standing in a circle and saying a prayer. I asked Merlin, a Buddhist, if that had been difficult for him—if he had considered not participating. "I did it not only out of respect for others' religious beliefs, but because standing together in a circle, holding hands, is powerful, like a magnet," Merlin said. "It is a good way to start the morning." He told me about returning home briefly the previous summer to assist with the care of pandas injured in the quake. Without thinking, I asked Merlin if he had much contact with the pandas themselves. He sat up in his chair. "Oh, no," he said, wide eyed. "They are bears!" Somehow we started talking about trees and I discovered that my favorite, the gingko, was the city tree of his home. I asked if he minded the malodorous fruit the female of that species drops in the fall. He laughed and listed the many beneficial, even tasty things the Chinese traditionally make from pieces of this tree I routinely disposed of in the landfill, from gingko extract for pharmaceuticals to gingko nuts for a dish called congee. He showed me photographs he had taken in his free time during an internship at the University of Minnesota. I was startled by his original way of finding beauty in places most Minneapolis citizens would have thought mundane. I was also reminded how a visitor can open our eyes to our own country, just as travel opens up the world to us. It was a wonderful exchange, a nascent form of the "friendly learning" Jerry Dennerline '64 writes of in his essay in this issue. Subsequent conversations with sinophile Filip Lempa '11 and artist/ pianist Tian Tian '11 built momentum for this theme, as did my ongoing email correspondence with Ray Jovanovich '84, a fund mana-ger who has lived in Asia for more than 25 years with a front seat to the greatest economic expansion in history. Then WM Advisory Board member and Professor of Political Science Melissa Butler H'84 suggested an issue to announce the College's new Asian Studies program, and here we are. Gathering stories for this one has been a journey of surprise. I knew about Bert Stern's scholarship on Robert Winter, Wabash Class of 1909 and a student of Ezra Pound who taught in China from 1923 until his death at age 100. I didn't know that Winter had risked his life defending Chinese students during the civil war there, or that he'd helped establish the first English language and literature program in the country. Or that he'd referred the first student from the People's Republic of China to attend the College: Rujie Wang '83, who describes his own path from a state-owned farm to professor at Wooster College—and who credits Dean Norman Moore for providing the means for him "to fall in love with this country." Or that John Merle Coulter, one of the College's most accomplished professors of the 19th century, was born in China. Or that Dennerline, the most respected modern Chinese history scholar the College has produced, first studied Chinese at Wabash in the early 1960s under Wendell Caulkins and alongside enthusiastic fellow learners and professors Stern, Hall Peebles, and Dick Strawn. Or that College of New Jersey Professor Daniel Crofts '63, best known recently for his pieces in the New York Times about the Civil War, had also written a well-received book about his grandfather's life and missionary work in China during the 1800s. Or that Eric Roth '84 had been invited to help start a "liberal arts type" college in Vietnam and had written an innovative ESL text being used across Asia. Or that Hao Liu '11 had co-founded a summer school program for high school and college students in which several Wabash faculty taught and which this year received multimillion-dollar venture capital funding. Or that Qian Zhu Pullen, the College's new Chinese history and language professor, was interviewed for that position only weeks after giving birth to her first child. Her father, a retired officer in the Chinese navy, came with her, and when he saw the College motto, "Wabash Always Fights," he told his daughter, "This is the place you should teach!" For me it all comes back to that conversation with Merlin—a casual version of the one-on-one, open-minded "friendly learning" pursued by students, faculty, and alumni of the Wabash community and soon to be applied in the College's liberal arts approach to China and Asian Studies. As Professor of Economics Kay Widdows notes, "Asia is incredibly important historically, economically, culturally, politically—and to not have Asia, and China in particular, in the program makes our curriculum weaker." So Wabash is about to get stronger. And as you read this edition, you, too, may be surprised to find that our connections to the people and history of this part of the world run deeper and for longer than you realized. Thank you for reading. Steve Charles | Editor In photo: Xiangching "Merlin" Liu '10 |

subset: commoncrawl


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Etihad Airways and Air France strengthen ties with expanded codeshare network
Strategic partners Etihad Airways and Air France have announced a number of new codeshare destinations in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe for summer 2013.
The expansion of codeshare services follows last October's strategic agreement between the respective national carriers to foster closer commercial ties, build an expanded global network, and deliver unrivalled travel options for customers.
Now placing its EY flight code on Air France flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Oslo and Stockholm, Etihad Airways expects to build on the existing joint codeshare routes from Paris-CDG to Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Madrid, Nice and Toulouse.
Subject to further regulatory approvals, Etihad Airways expects to be able to place its EY code soon on Air France flights between Paris-CDG, Lisbon and Marseilles. The UAE flag carrier flies twice daily between Abu Dhabi and Paris.
Air France is placing its AF code on Etihad Airways' daily flights from Abu Dhabi to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and to two cities in Australia – Melbourne and Sydney. The French carrier expects to be able to place its AF code shortly on Etihad Airways services between Singapore and Brisbane (Australia).
Furthermore and subject to regulatory approvals, Air France foresees placing its AF code on routes between Abu Dhabi and Kathmandu (Nepal).
The airline already places its AF code on Etihad Airways' operated flights between Paris-CDG and Abu Dhabi, and onwards to Colombo (Sri Lanka), Mahé (Seychelles) and Male (Maldives).
Dominique Patry, Vice President International Affairs and Alliances at Air France said: "Our strategic partnership with Etihad Airways continues to flourish and, as a result of the expansion of codeshare services, our travellers now have enhanced access to Abu Dhabi and to key cities in Australia and Asia."
Kevin Knight, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer at Etihad Airways, said: "Enhancing connectivity, making the journey easier and more enjoyable, increasing choice, and seamlessly integrating operations over each airline's respective hub, continues to underpin our strategy for building a world-class global network."


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There is some folly in presuming to offer explanations, guidance, or suggestions about mysticism. To begin with, the very nature of the subject leads us toward, if not into, realizations about matters well beyond the abilities of human consciousness to fully grasp. Next, there is a crucial experiential (for lack of a better term) dimension of mysticism that can only be pointed toward or perhaps facilitated, but never actually communicated from one mind to another. As has been noted by many mystics and philosophers, that dimension is enigmatic and even paradoxical when viewed from an ordinary rational perspective. And of course there are the very ordinary and natural limitations that arise from trying to speak about anything without chasing down and working through every possible implication or misunderstanding. One can make statements in one context that seem contradictory with those made in another. For example, even if you were to carefully read everything I've ever posted on this blog, there would still be plenty of room for drawing inaccurate conclusions about what I mean. None of these challenges are anyone's fault, they are simply facts that we may try to integrate into our understanding of mysticism and how we communicate with each other about it. With these points in mind, this series presents, in no particular order, what I regard as the scriptural teachings most essential to Christian mysticism. It draws attention to key words and phrases, and poses some questions about them that I simply leave for interested readers to address as they see fit. You are welcome to respond in the comments section.
Teaching 1: The Great Commandments
One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, "Which is the most important of all the commandments?"
Jesus answered, "Here is the most important one. Moses said, 'Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.' And here is the second one. 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There is no commandment more important than these." (Mark 12:28-31)
The first commandment is taken by Jesus directly from Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The second is taken from Leviticus 19:18:
Do not try to get even. Do not hold anything against any of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
Key Words & Phrases
"The Lord is one."
In the Gospel of Mark, the English 'one' is from the Greek heis, which has connotations of first in rank or importance, something unique, and something singular, whole, or unified. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrew word is achad, which has similar connotations.
"Love the Lord…. Love your neighbor…."
In Mark, the Greek for love in both cases is agapaō, and in Hebrew it is ahab. Both of these words communicate love in the sense of an affectionate, intimate, caring relationship, and even a romantic one in the original Hebrew.
The Greek is holos, and the Hebrew kol. The connotations of both are the same as for the English 'all,' which means everything, the whole, the entirety and each of its parts.
In Greek, kardia, and in Hebrew, lebab. These words speak of the innermost part of the human being, the seat of our thoughts, emotions, affections, desires, intentions, and will.
In Greek, psyche, and in Hebrew, nefesh. Here the scriptures are addressing everything we regard as the personal self, and especially the very essence of our lives as creatures in this world. Furthermore, both words are directly connected with the concept of breath, and thus the literal and figurative meanings we give to the English phrase, "with every breath," may also be found in "with all your soul."
In Greek, dianoia. This is a word that the author of Mark has Jesus adding to the faculties listed in Deuteronomy. While it has the same broad possibilities as the English, 'mind,' also like the English word it has the more specific connotations of rational, analytical, technical, theoretical, and imaginative thinking.
"strength" or "might"
In Greek, ischus, and in Hebrew, mehod. In both cases, as with the English words, the reference is to power and force.
In Greek, plēsion, in Hebrew, rea. These terms certainly address people physically nearby, yet are also used in general reference to anyone other than oneself.
Questions for Meditation
- What is mystically significant about beginning with an affirmation that God is one?
- In telling us how to love God, why might there be so much redundancy in referencing all the different faculties of our being and all of each one?
- For each faculty listed by Jesus – heart, soul, mind, and strength – what are its more specific implications for how we can love God?
- When asked for the most important of all commandments, why might Jesus have provided not only the first but also the second?
- In the version of this story given in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus even says the second is "like the first." What might he mean by that?
- What are all the possible ways to love another person as yourself?
- Christian mysticism, similar to the mysticism of other religions, has two broad categories. One is the Via Negativa, or apophatic mysticism, where the approach to God is through letting go of all our thoughts and feelings about God to simply abide with God in stillness and silence. It tends to emphasize God's incomprehensible transcendence. The other way, the Via Postiva, or cataphatic mysticism, approaches God through affirming and adoring the attributes of God as we experience them manifested in our lives. It tends to emphasize God's immanent presence. How might the Great Commandments have relevance to both of these ways?
Click here to continue to Part 2


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SNAKE by Zomboe — thingiverse.com/thing:4743
This reinterpretation of a classic wooden toy features flexible ribs that are a great test for both horizontal accuracy on the plate (are the ribs evenly spaced and complete out to their tips?) and vertical registration (does each layer match perfectly with the one beneath?).
OWL STATUE by Tom Cushwa — thingiverse.com/thing:18218
Designer Cushwa borrowed stone-cutting techniques to render feathers and character features for this popular owl figurine and modeled them to look great on a well-tuned printer. Printers that choke on these details may not be suitable for character and sculptural work.
NAUTILUS GEARS by Misha T. — thingiverse.com/thing:27551
This model gives character to the classic snap-together gears that are a popular test object for 3D printers. It's quick to print, and you can tell instantly how well the machine reproduced the parts from how accurately the teeth mesh and the snaps snap, and whether the gears can rotate through more than one revolution without binding.
DIMENSION TORTURE TEST by Cliff L. Biffle — thingiverse.com/thing:33902
To create a real "torture test" — a model guaranteed to challenge all FFF printers — engineer Cliff L. Biffle built a Frankenstein's mon- ster containing all the geometry we needed to see in one small package. Thin and fat features, slopes and overhangs, bolt holes with precise dimensions, arcs, and separate towers all conspire to push a machine to its limits.
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text: The Nine Hole Ocean Pines Ladies Golf Association held its Pink Lady Golf Tournament at the Ocean Pines Golf & Country Club last month to raise money for the Eunice Q. Sorin Women's Diagnostics Center at Atlantic General Hospital. The association raised $860. Pictured, from left, are OPLGA breast cancer survivors Lynn Schneider, Emma Fralley, Robin Roth, Janet Stoer, Barbara Duke and Diana Earhart. Missing from photo was Joan Sarisky.


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This is Part III of a series of articles on the new era of the Stream, a new phase of the Web.
In Part I, The Message is the Medium, I explored the shift in focus on the Web from documents to messages.
In Part II, Drowning in the Stream, we dove deep into some of the key challenges the Stream brings with it.
Here in Part III, we will discuss new challenges and solutions for keeping up with streams as they become increasingly noisy and fast-moving.
Getting Attention in Streams
Today if you post a message to Twitter, you have a very small chance of that message getting attention. What's the solution?
You can do social SEO and try to come up with better, more attention-grabbing, search engine attracting, headlines. You can try to schedule your posts to appear at optimal times of day. You can even try posting the same thing many times a day to increase the chances of it being seen.
This last tactic is called "Repeat Posting" and it's soon going to be clogging up all our streams with duplicate messages. Why am I so sure this is going to happen? Because we are in an arms race for attention. In a room where everyone is talking, everyone starts talking louder, and soon everyone is shouting.
Today when you post a message to Twitter, the chances of getting anyone's attention are low and they are getting lower. If you have a lot of followers, the chances are a little better that at least some of them may be looking at their stream at precisely the time you post. But still, even with a lot of followers, the odds are that most of your followers probably won't be online at that precise moment you post something, and so they'll miss it.
Scheduled Posting
But it turns out there are optimal times of day to post, when more of your followers are likely to be looking at their streams. A new category of apps, typified by Buffer, has emerged to help you schedule your Tweets to post at such optimal times.
Using apps like Buffer, you can get more attention to your Tweets, but this is only a temporary solution. Because the exponential growth of the Stream means that soon even posting a message at an optimal time will not be enough to get it in front of everyone who should see it.
Repeat Posting
To really get noticed, above the noise, you need your message to be available at more than one optimal time, for example many times a day, or even every hour.
To achieve this, instead of posting a message once at the optimal time per day, we may soon see utilities that automatically post the same message many times a day – maybe every hour – perhaps with slightly different wording of headlines, to increase the chances that people will see them. I call this "repeat posting" or "message rotation."
Repeat posting tools may get so sophisticated that they will A/B test different headlines and wordings and times of day to see what gets the best clickthroughs and then optimize for those. These apps may even intelligently rotate a set of messages over several days, repeating them optimally until they squeeze out every drop of potential attention and traffic, much like ad servers and ad networks rotate ads today.
But here's the thing — as soon as anyone starts manually or automatically using repeat posting tactics, it will create an arms race – others will notice it, and compete for attention by doing the same thing. Soon everyone will have to post repeatedly to simply get noticed above the noise of all the other repeat posts.
This is exactly what happens when you are speaking in a crowded room. In a room full of people who are talking at once, some people start talking louder. Soon everyone is shouting and losing their voice at the same time.
This problem of everyone shouting at once is what is soon going to happen on Twitter and Facebook and other social networks. It's already happening in some cases – more people are posting the same message more than once a day to get it noticed.
It's inevitable that repeat posting behavior will increase, and when everyone starts doing it, our channels will become totally clogged with redundancy and noise. They will become unusable.
What's the solution to this problem?
What to Do About Repeat Posting
One thing that is not the solution is to somehow create rules against repeat posting. That won't work.
Another solution that won't work is to attempt to detect and de-dupe repeats that occur. It's hard to do this, and easy to create repeat posts that have different text and different links, to evade detection.
Another solution might be to recognize that repeat posting is inevitable, but to make the process smarter: Whenever a repeat posting happens, delete the previous repeat post. So at any given time the message only appears once in the stream. At least this prevents people from seeing the same thing many times at once in a stream. But it still doesn't solve the problem of people seeing messages come by that they've seen already.
A better solution is to create a new consumption experience for keeping up with streams, where relevant messages are actually surfaced to users, instead of simply falling below the fold and getting buried forever. This would help to ensure that people would see the messages that were intended for them, and that they really wanted to see.
If this worked well enough, there would be less reason to do scheduled posting, let alone repeat posting. You could post a message once, and there would be much better chance of it being seen by your audience.
At Bottlenose, we're working on exactly this issue in a number of ways. First of all, the app computes rich semantic metadata for messages in streams automatically, which makes it possible to filter them in many ways.
Bottlenose also computes the relevance of every message to every user, which enables ranking and sorting by relevancy, and the app provides smart automated assistants that can help to find and suggest relevant messages to users.
We're only at the beginning of this and these features are still in early beta, but already we're seeing significant productivity gains.
Fast-Moving Streams
As message volume increases exponentially in streams, our streams are going to not just going to be noisier, they are going to move faster. When we look at any stream there will be more updates per minute – more new messages scrolling in – and this will further reduce the chances of any message getting noticed.
Streams will begin to update so often they will literally move all the time. But how do you read, let alone keep up with, something that's always moving?
Today, if you follow a Twitter stream for a breaking news story, such as a natural disaster like the Tsunami in Japan, or the death of Steve Jobs, you can see messages scrolling in, in real-time every second.
In fact, when Steve Jobs died, Twitter hit a record peak of around 50,000 Tweets per minute. If you were following that topic on Twitter at that time, the number of new messages pouring was impossible to keep up with.
Twitter has put together a nice infographic showing the highest Tweets Per Second events of 2011.
During such breaking news events, if you are looking at a stream for the topic, there is not even time to read a message before it has scrolled below the fold and been replaced by a bunch of more recent messages. The stream moves too fast to even read it.
But this doesn't just happen during breaking news events. If you simply follow a lot of people and news sources, you will see that you start getting a lot of new messages every few minutes.
In fact, the more people and news sources, saved searches, and lists that you follow, the higher the chances are that at any given moment there are going to be many new messages for you.
Even if you just follow a few hundred people, the chances are pretty high that you are getting a number of new messages in Twitter and Facebook every minute. That's way more messages than you get in email.
And even if you don't follow a lot of people and news sources – even if you diligently prune your network, unfollow people, and screen out streams you don't want, the mere exponential growth of message volume in coming years is soon going to catch up with you. Your streams are going to start moving faster.
But are there any ways to make it easier to keep up with these "whitewater streams?"
Scrolling is Not the Answer
One option is to just make people scroll. Since the 1990's UX designers have been debating the issue of scrolling. Scrolling works, but it doesn't work well when the scrolling is endless, or nearly endless. The longer the page, the lower percentage of users will scroll all the way down.
This becomes especially problematic if users are asked to scroll in long pages – for example infinite streams of messages going back from the present to the past (like Twitter, above). The more messages in the stream, the less attention those messages that are lower in the stream, below the fold, will get.
But that's just the beginning of the problem. When a stream is not only long, but it's also moving and changing all the time, it becomes much less productive to scroll. As you scroll down new stuff is coming in above you, so then you have to scroll up again, and then down again. It's very confusing.
In long streams that are also changing constantly it is likely that engagement statistics will be very different than for scrolling down static pages. I think it's likely engagement will be much lower, the farther down such dynamic streams one goes.
Pausing the Scroll is Not the Answer
Some apps handle this problem of streams moving out from under you by pausing auto-scrolling as you read – they simply notify you that there are new messages above whatever you are looking at. You can then click to expand the stream above and see the new messages. Effectively they make dynamic streams behave as if they are not dynamic, until you are ready to see the updates.
This at least enables you to read without the stream moving out from under you. It's less disorienting that way. But in fast moving streams where there are constantly new updates coming in, you have to click on the "new posts above" notification frequently, and it gets tedious.
For example, here is Twitter, on a search for Instagram, a while after the news of their acquisition by Facebook. After waiting only a few seconds, there are 20 new tweets already. If you click the bar that says "20 new Tweets" they expand. But by the time you've done that and started reading them, there are 20 more.
Simply clicking to read "20 new tweets" again and again is tedious. And furthermore, it doesn't really help users cope with the overwhelming number of messages and change in busy streams.
The problem here is that streams are starting to move faster than we can read, even faster than we can click. How do you keep up with this kind of change?
Tickers and Slideshows Are Helpful
Another possible solution to the problem of keeping up with moving streams is to make the streams become like news tickers, constantly updating and crawling by as new stuff comes in. Instead of trying to hide the movement of the stream, make it into a feature.
Some friends and I have tested this idea out in an iPad app we built for this purpose called StreamGlider. You can download StreamGlider and try it out for yourself.
StreamGlider shows streams in several different ways — including a ticker mode and a slideshow mode where streams advance on their own as new messages arrive.
The Power of Visualization
Another approach to keeping up with fast moving streams is to use visualization, like we're doing in Bottlenose, with our Sonar feature. By visualizing what is going on in a stream you can provide a user with instant understanding of what is in the stream and what is important and potentially interesting to them, without requiring them to scroll, skim or read everything first.
Sonar reads all the messages in any stream, applies natural language and semantic analysis to them, detects and measures emerging topics, and then visualizes them in realtime as the stream changes.
It shows you what is going on in the stream – in that pile of messages you don't have time to scroll through and read. As more messages come in, Sonar updates in realtime to show you what's new.
You can click on any trend in Sonar that interests you, to quickly zoom into just the messages that relate.
The beauty of this approach is that it avoids scrolling until you absolutely want to. Instead of scrolling, or even skimming the messages in a stream, you just look at Sonar and see if there are any trends you care about. If there are, you click to zoom in and see only those messages. It's extremely effective and productive.
Sonar is just one of many visualizations that could help with keeping up with change in huge streams. But it's also only one piece of the solution. Another key piece of the solution is finding things in streams.
Finding Things in Streams
Above, we discussed problems and solutions related to keeping up with streams that are full of noise and constantly changing. Now let's discuss another set of problems and solutions related to finding things in streams.
Filtering the Stream
For a visualization like Sonar to be effective, you need the ability to filter the stream for the sources and messages you want, so there isn't too much noise in the visualization. The ability to filter the stream for just those subsets of messages you actually care about is going to be absolutely essential in coming years.
Streams are going to become increasingly filled with noise. But another way to think about noisy streams is that they are really just lots of less-noisy streams multiplexed together.
What we need is a way to intelligently and automatically de-multiplex them back into their component sub-streams.
For example, take the stream of all the messages you receive from Twitter and Facebook combined. That's probably a pretty noisy stream. It's hard to read, hard to keep up with, and quickly becomes a drag.
In Bottlenose you can automatically de-multiplex your streams into a bunch of sub-streams that are easier to manage. You can then read these, or view them via Sonar, to see what's going on at a glance.
For example, you can instantly create sub-streams – which are really just filters on your stream of everything. You might make one for just messages by people you like, another for just messages by influencers, another for just news articles related to your interests, another for just messages that are trending, another of just photos and videos posted by your friends, etc.
The ability to filter streams – to mix them and then unmix them – is going to be an essential tool for working with streams.
Searching the Stream
In the first article in this series we saw how online attention and traffic is shifting from search to social. Social streams are quickly becoming key drivers for how content on the Web is found. But how are things found in social streams? It turns out existing search engines, like Google, are not well-suited for searching in streams.
Existing algorithms for Web search do not work well for Streams. For example, consider Google's PageRank algorithm.
In order to rank the relevancy of Web pages, PageRank needs a very rich link structure. It needs a Web of pages with lots of links between the documents. The link structure is used to determine which pages are the best for various topics. Effectively links are like votes – when pages about a topic link to other pages about that topic, they are effectively voting for or endorsing those pages.
While PageRank may be ideal for figuring out what Web pages are best, it doesn't help much for searching messages, because messages may have no links at all, or may be only very sparsely linked together. There isn't enough data in individual messages to figure out much about them.
So how do you know if a given message is important? How do you figure out what messages in a stream actually matter?
When searching the stream, instead of finding everything, we need to NOT find the stuff we don't want. We need to filter out the noise. And that requires new approaches to search. We've already discussed filtering above and the ability to filter streams is a per-requisite for searching them intelligently. Beyond that, you need to be able to measure what is going on within streams, in order to detect emerging trends and influence.
The approach we're taking in Bottlenose to solve this is a set of algorithms we call "StreamRank." In StreamRank we analyze the series of messages in a stream to figure out what topics, people, links and messages are trending over time.
We also analyze the reputations or influence of message authors, and the amount of response (such as retweets or replies or likes) that messages receive.
In addition, we also measure the relevance of messages and their authors to the user, based on what we know of the user's interest graph and social graph.
This knowledge enables us to rank messages in a number of ways: by date, by popularity, by relevance, by influence, and by activity.
Another issue that comes up when searching the Stream is that many messages in streams are quite strange looking – they don't look like properly formed sentences or paragraphs. They don't look like English, for example. They contain all sorts of abbreviations, hashtags, @replies, and short URLs, and they often lack punctuation and are scrunched to fit in 140 character Twitter messages.
Search algorithms that use any kind of linguistics, disambiguation, natural language processing, or semantics, don't work well out of the box on these messy messages.
To apply such techniques you need to rewrite them so that they work on short, messy, strange looking messages. This is also something we've built in Bottlenose — we've built a new natural language processing and topic detection engine in Javascript that is designed specifically to handle these types of streams and messages.
These are some of the new challenges and solutions we're applying in Bottlenose to make working with streams more productive. They are components of what we call our "StreamOS," a new high-level Javascript and HTML5 operating system for applications that need to do smart things with streams. We'll be writing a lot more about this in future articles.


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Facing a fresh deadline, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that Republicans would vote to extend the government's ability to borrow money for six weeks — but only if President Barack Obama first agrees to fresh negotiations on spending cuts. Under the Republican plan, the partial government shutdown would continue.
Obama has insisted the debt ceiling must be raised — heading off the possibility of an unprecedented national default — and the shutdown ended, with no conditions.
"I would hope the president would look at this as an opportunity and a good faith effort on our part to move halfway, halfway to what he's demanded, in order to have these conversations begin," Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters after presenting the plan to rank-and-file GOP lawmakers.
Boehner produced the proposal as the shutdown entered its 10th day. More ominously, the administration has warned that unless the federal debt ceiling is raised, the government will deplete its ability to borrow money by next Thursday, an event officials have warned could trigger a financial default that could wound the world economy as well as America's .
After weeks of decline, financial market indexes shot higher in anticipation of a possible deal that could avert a default. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index were up more than 1 percent in midday trading.
Boehner planned to present the offer to Obama later Thursday when he and other House GOP leaders were to meet with the president at the White House.
A White House official said Obama would be willing to negotiate over the budget "once Republicans in Congress act to remove the threat of default and end this harmful government shutdown."
Obama has steadfastly insisted that Congress reopen the government and extend the debt limit without conditions. His acceptance of the GOP proposal could mean a brief resolution to the fight over the debt limit and a continuation of the shutdown while negotiations proceed.
Republicans have been demanding cuts in government programs, including Obama's 2010 health care law, and a bigger effort to cut long-term federal deficits as their price for reopening government and extending the debt limit.
Obama has repeatedly noted recent improvement in the deficit figures. After four years of trillion-dollar deficits, the 2013 shortfall is expected to register below $700 billion.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said the plan was for the House to approve the legislation Boehner described on Friday.
"It gets us down the road a little bit so they can continue to talk," said Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark. Rep. Robert Pittinger, R-N.C., said the six-week extension would provide "an opportunity to bring the parties together."
Some conservatives still expressed reservations. "I'm not very enthusiastic about that," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said of Boehner's plan.
Under Boehner's offer, the House would also appoint negotiators to bargain with the Democratic-led Senate over a budget compromise. Those talks have been on hold for months, and the two chambers have deep differences over taxes and cuts in benefit programs.
Earlier Thursday, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned the Senate Finance Committee that failure to renew the government's ability to borrow money "could be deeply damaging" to financial markets and threaten Americans' jobs and savings. It would also leave the government unsure of when it could make payments ranging from food aid to Medicare reimbursements to doctors, he said.
"The United States should not be put in a position of making such perilous choices for our economy and our citizens," the secretary said. "There is no way of knowing the irrevocable damage such an approach would have on our economy and financial markets."
The game of Washington chicken over increasing the debt limit — required so Treasury can borrow more money to pay the government's bills in full and on time — already has sent the stock market south, spiked the interest rate for one-month Treasury bills and prompted Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest manager of money market mutual funds, to sell federal debt that comes due around the time the nation could hit its borrowing limit.
At the Finance committee hearing, Lew met a buzz saw of incredulity from Republicans, who said the bigger problem was the soaring costs of benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare and the long-term budget deficits the country faces. Many expressed doubt about Lew's description of the consequences of default.
The senior Republican on the panel, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, accused the Obama administration of "an apparent effort to whip up uncertainty in the markets." And veteran Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, said, "I think this is 11th time I've been through this discussion about the sky is falling and the earth will erupt. Wyoming families aren't buying these arguments."
Replied Lew, "After they run up their credit card, they don't get to ignore it."
Lew also rejected GOP suggestions that in the event federal borrowing authority expires, the government could use the dwindling cash it has to make payments to debt holders and other high priority needs. He said federal payment systems are not designed to prioritize and said he didn't believe such an approach was technically possible.
"I think prioritization is just a default by another name," Lew said.
He also fended off attempts by the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, and other GOP senators to learn how long a debt limit extension the president would like to see.
"Our view is this economy would benefit from more certainty and less brinksmanship. So the longer the period of time is, the better for the economy," said Lew, who also repeated Obama's willingness to accept a short-term extension for now.
The frustrating standoff in Washington is weighing down each side's poll numbers, but Republicans are taking the worst drubbing. A Gallup poll put the approval rating for the Republican Party at a record-low 28 percent. Polls have consistently said the Republicans deserve the greater share of blame for the shutdown.
Associated Press Writers Alan Fram, Stephen Ohlemacher, David Espo, Donna Cassata and Martin Crutsinger contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2013 Capitol Hill Blue
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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WFTV is reporting on a Walt Disney World resort bus that crashed near the gates to the Magic Kingdom last night. Injuries were reported, but no word on their severity. Video shows that the accident was nothing serious.
This is yet another accident in a string of incidents that have been affecting the Walt Disney World transportation system. From the bomb threat that turned out to be a GPS locater to the 3 hour monorail power outage, most events can be filed in the innocuous but inconvenient category. But a couple bus accidents with injuries and the terrible monorail accident that resulted in a cast members death can't be ignored.
I'm sure Meg Crofton and her team at Walt Disney World are well aware they're just one major accident from a PR disaster worse than the late 90s when two accidents at Disneyland resulted in the death of guests. Those deaths were the result of a combination of maintenance neglect and cast members not following procedure to save time and money at the urging of their supervisors. They came at the end of a long trend of deliberate budget cut backs that resulted in bad show and worse. Eventually the leadership team at the resort was replaced.
Let's hope that corrective action comes to WDW soon enough to prevent anything more major.


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[NB: Here is a Christmas meditation from founding editor David F Horrobin on the role and functioning of Medical Hypotheses, as it has existed for the past 34 years - but probably not for very much longer. I doubt whether the real Medical Hypotheses, run on Horrobin's principles, will survive 2010. As Horrobin's successor, the ideals described in his inaugural editorial are the ideals I strive to maintain. As he instructed me, this type of journal can only in practice be run by the editor choosing papers himself (not by delegating decisions), and by his taking responsibility for these choices. This is the traditional sceintific method of editorial review, and entails eschewing the bureaucratic timidities and inefficiencies of mainstream peer review. Horrobin's conviction was that there were two lynch pins of Medical Hypotheses as he founded and maintained it: 1. aiming to publish revolutionary ideas, even when they 'seem improbable and perhaps even faintly ridiculous'; and 2. using editorial review in pursuit of this aim.]
Ideas in biomedical science: reasons for the foundation of Medical Hypotheses
David F. Horrobin, (1939–2003) Founder and first editor of Medical Hypotheses
Adapted from the inaugural editorial which appeared in the first issue of Medical Hypotheses (1975) 1(1), 1–2. Re-published in the first issue edited by Bruce G Charlton - Medical Hypotheses, Volume 62, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 3-4
It is at least arguable that too much biomedical research is published rather than too little. Why then start a new journal?
Scientific progress depends on the existence of creative tension between ideas and observations. An observation is made which cries out for explanation. A hypothesis is proposed to account for this observation. The hypothesis is tested by making more observations which almost invariably require the abandonment of some part of the hypothesis. A new hypothesis is proposed. And so on…
The physical and chemical sciences long ago recognized that observations are not superior to hypotheses in generating scientific progress nor are hypotheses superior to observations. Both are necessary. While the ideal research worker may be one who is equally able to generate hypotheses and to test them experimentally, these sciences also recognized that such paragons are very rare indeed. Most scientists are much better at either one or the other activity. In physico-chemical fields this is fully accepted and the contributions of both theoretical and experimental scientists are recognized.
In contrast, in the biomedical sciences there seems to me much ignorance of the way in which scientific advance actually occurs. Physical scientists often dismiss biology and medicine as backward and the biologists quite legitimately react by pointing out that they are usually dealing with much more complex phenomena. But I have a suspicion that there is some truth in what the physical scientists say and that biology and medicine are backward because they have relied almost exclusively on observation. They have failed to recognize adequately that observation is always more effective when disciplined and channelled by hypothesis.
Many journals will occasionally publish a theoretical paper from a scientist with an outstanding reputation but will not consider similar papers from relative unknowns. The rule that is almost universally applied biology and medicine is that ideas can be presented or criticized only by those with a record of experimental work in a field. Even then they must be kept strictly to the discussion sections of papers and their presentation must usually be rigorously curtailed because ignorant and pedantic referees and editors object to 'unjustified speculation' and complain that the discussion 'goes beyond the observed facts'. It is hardly surprising that the best physicists and chemists find medicine and biology primitive and unsophisticated.
The situation seems to be to be a tragedy. It leads to a total misrepresentation of the way in which science actually takes place. In 10,000 years time, a historian who had access only to the journals would be unable to build up anything like an accurate picture of what biomedical scientists actually do. This would not matter unduly but what does matter is that many scientists and most students also fail to understand how scientific advance actually occurs. As a result of this antipathy to theory the rate of progress is slowed because there is neither free presentation of new ideas nor open criticism of old ones. Outdated concepts can persist for prolonged periods because the evidence against them is scattered through hundreds of papers and no one is allowed to gather it together in one article to mount a sustained attack.
The refusal to accept the equal importance of ideas and observations leads to inefficiency. Most scientists now active in the biomedical field are competent observers whose ability to generate ideas is either naturally absent or has been stultified by the prevailing philosophy. As a result they spend their time in making more and more detailed observations of the same sorts of phenomena. In contrast, a few have far more ideas than they could possibly investigate but their potential contribution is largely nullified because they are allowed to publish only in those areas where they have done experimental or clinical work. If only these differences of ability and emphasis could be accepted and recognized then the people with ideas (who may often be inept experimenters) could generate a steady flow of new concepts which might rejuvenate the work of those whose primary skill is in observation.
Medical Hypotheses will be primarily devoted to publishing ideas and criticisms of ideas in the biomedical area. It will publish papers from anyone regardless of whether they have done experimental work in the field or not and regardless of the reputation of the authors or the institution from which they come. I shall be biased in favour of articles which clearly have some bearing on medicine. I shall try to ensure that all articles are written in a way which enables any intelligent medical scientist to obtain something useful from them. While specialization in research is essential, obscurity in the presentation of specialized ideas is not. I believe strongly in the ability of apparently unrelated fields to cross-fertilize one another and I hope that as a side result of editorial policy Medical Hypotheses may become an important medium for the continuing education of those medical scientists who have open and lively minds. There will be a correspondence column which I should like to make a major debating area as well as fun to read.
What sorts of papers will be published in Medical Hypotheses? Some will describe theories, ideas which already have a great deal of observational support; and some hypotheses, ideas where the experimental support is as yet fragmentary. Some will criticize theories and hypotheses without necessarily having anything to say in replacement. Some will discuss more philosophical aspects of the logical bases of science and of how science functions in practice. In the biomedical field I believe that ignorance of such philosophical considerations remains a serious impediment to progress.
I shall willingly and proudly plead guilty to the charge that I shall publish some ideas which seem improbable and perhaps even faintly ridiculous. Most scientists seem to be under the impression that the best hypotheses are those which seem most likely to be true. I follow Karl Popper in seeing the virtues of improbability. If a hypothesis which most people think is probably true does turn out to be true (or rather is not falsified by crucial and valid experimental tests) then little progress has been made. If a hypothesis which most think is improbable turns out to true then a scientific revolution occurs and progress is dramatic. Many and probably most of the hypotheses published in the journal will turn out in some way to be wrong. But if they stimulate determined experimental testing, progress is inevitable whether they are wrong or right.
The history of science has repeatedly shown that when hypotheses are proposed it is impossible to predict which will turn out to be revolutionary and which ridiculous. The only safe approach is to let all see the light and to let all be discussed, experimented upon, vindicated or destroyed. I hope the journal will provide a new battlefield open to all on which ideas can be tested and put through the fire.
Wednesday 23 December 2009
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Motorola has unveiled three new devices in its Razr smartphone line, touting extended battery life and larger screen size as their main selling points.
All three will be available from Verizon Wireless later this year. They will come preloaded with various Google services, including the Chrome browser, Google Play, Google Maps, Voice Actions for Android and Google+.
All three will run on Ice Cream Sandwich and will be able to be upgraded to Jelly Bean when that becomes available.
Motorola will also offer a special developer edition available only from it online in the United States. This will come with software tools to unlock the bootloader.
The Razr's Edge
The new family of devices consists of the Razr M, the Razr HD, and the Razr Maxx HD.
The Razr M has a Super AMOLED 4.3-inch display with no bezel, meaning it runs edge to edge across the device. This lets it offer 40 percent more screen than the iPhone 4S, Motorola claims. The device's battery is also 40 percent more powerful than that of the iPhone 4S.
The Razr M comes with interactive tutorials accessed by swiping across the screen. It includes Motorola'sSmartactions app, which lets users customize battery use to extend the battery's life.
The Motorola Razr M will be offered with a black or white case. It will be offered as the Droid Razr M on Verizon's network at $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
The Razr HD will have a 4.7-inch HD display. It's designed for watching up to 10 hours of movies and TV shows or six hours of Web surfing between battery charges. The device's screen offers 85 percent greater color saturation and 50 percent more pixels per inch than that of the iPhone 4S, Motorola claims.
The Razr HD also offers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. It will be offered in black. In the US, it will be marketed as the Droid Razr HD. Motorola did not disclose information on pricing and the launch date.
The Razr Maxx HD will be available in the US before the holidays. It will be available in black and will be marketed here as the Droid Razr Maxx HD.
The Razor Maxx HD offers 32 hours of battery life. More details on pricing and availability will be released later.
Going Forever and Ever
"One of the things that seem to be emerging seems to be handset makers addressing the battery power issue," Michael Morgan, a senior analyst at ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld.
However, "everybody's going to be able to put out better battery life because the phones are getting bigger while the components are getting smaller, and that extra space will be used for bigger batteries," Morgan said.
Coolth Is an Elusive Quality
The edgeless screen and the colors "have to do with the cool factor," ABI's Morgan suggested. "It's to do with industrial design, which is Apple's forte, but Motorola is trying to step its strength there, and matching that with excellent battery life."
On the other hand, "this new line of smartphones looks like it was optimized for price, and has neither the premium feel nor the sexiness of the original Razr line," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld. "They look to me like cheap Samsung knockoffs."
The Google Play
With Motorola being a wholly owned subsidiary of Google, the question of whether it's bringing out a new line of smartphones might upset OEMs the same way that Microsoft's Surface tablet aroused antipathy among Redmond's partners arises.
"I do believe that Motorola has a strong level of autonomy and they're going to be used to deliver Google's vision for Android," said ABI's Morgan. Further, letting Motorola launch new devices "could be a continuation of the experiment [with the Google Nexus] of pushing out non-subsidized handsets."
Or perhaps Google's playing a deeper game. "This looks more like a division of Google that is being starved into obsolescence, which would be consistent with a Google strategy to collapse Motorola and just keep its intellectual property," Enderle suggested.


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March 13, 2020 (Phoenix) – The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors acted decisively today to protect both public health and voting rights in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding more "vote anywhere" locations, while ensuring those sites have enough poll workers and cleaning supplies to serve the public.
For the past several weeks, the Elections Department has been working to source enough supplies to regularly clean and disinfect 229 polling locations. Due to widespread shortages, it became clear that the Elections Department would not have enough supplies to ensure voting equipment and frequently touched surfaced could be regularly cleaned and disinfected at all 229 locations.
"The health and safety of Maricopa County voters and employees is our top priority," said Chairman Clint Hickman, District 4. "It was within our statutory authority to reallocate resources to get ahead of this pandemic and ensure we provide our poll workers with the supplies necessary to serve voters on Election Day."
Maricopa County will now have 151 geographically dispersed Vote Centers for the March 17 Presidential Preference Election. These sites will be equipped to serve all voters. Previously, there were 40 Vote Centers. All current sites are updated on the Elections Department website, Locations.Maricopa.Vote.
"We didn't make this decision lightly, and we considered all of the options we had on the table, including the plan proposed by Recorder Fontes to mail ballots to all eligible voters," explained Hickman. "Both the Secretary of State as well as our attorneys told us mailing ballots to those who did not request them was not within our authority. Tonight, a judge made the same determination."
The Board's plan provides voters with 151 "vote anywhere" locations, allows equal access to the polls, while prioritizing the health and safety of the public. Initial modeling prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, projected turnout of 90-105,000 voters on Election Day.
The Elections Department selected the 151 locations based on a variety of factors including sites with a high density of Democrat in-person voting, and locations that serve historically underserved populations.
"It was important for the Board to ensure that voters in our low income and minority communities still had access to vote in person," said Supervisor Steve Gallardo. "These locations will ensure that we don't disenfranchise any voters."
This change will not affect the Election Department's ability to report results by Congressional District, as required by law, but the previous plan to provide granular detail by consolidated precinct will no longer be viable in with the new Vote Center model.


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The ICC Cricket Committee has decided to keep the controversial Duckworth Lewis method for calculating one-day targets when weather intervenes while making minor changes in other areas of the game, the sport's governing body said on Friday.
The committee considered a proposal by V.Jayadevan for a new way of working out run chases for reduced overs matches at a two-day meeting at Lord's this week.
"The committee unanimously agreed that there was no evidence of any significant flaws in the D/L method nor did the committee believe that any improvements could be offered by the VJD method. Therefore the committee decided to continue with D/L," the ICC said in a statement.
Duckworth Lewis has long been criticised because of its complex mathematics. The technology behind the Decision Review System has also been queried in some quarters but the ICC committee fully backed the idea.
"The committee noted the improvements in DRS technology and that DRS has almost totally eradicated player-dissent. This is an extremely beneficial side effect of the DRS," David Richardson, ICC general manager - cricket, said.
"We have always said that DRS was there to assist the umpires in getting more decisions correct and eradicating the obvious mistakes. The statistics demonstrate that it has been effective in that objective. The committee re-affirmed this as the aim."
The committee also heard that a prototype sensor has been developed that can be worn during matches and would indicate whether or not the bowler's elbow is being straightened during the delivery swing. Other changes which were recommended included an increase in the number of permitted short pitched deliveries from one to two per over in one-day cricket.
Powerplays should also be restricted to the first 10 overs plus one five-over batting powerplay to be completed by the 40th over. In a non-powerplay over, only four fielders ought to be allowed outside the 30 yard circle.
With regards to Test cricket, the committee suggested that drinks should not be brought on to the field other than at the official drinks breaks as well as urging teams not to waste time at referrals. The committee also asked for more consultations on switch hitting and confirmed previous ICC plans for a 16-team World Twenty20 every two years from 2014.


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Lovely ring set to suit any occasion. Beautiful style when you stack them up and make a statement with a pack of 9 silver-toned rings. This pack comes with x rings so you can mix and match to suit your look.
Brand: Stylish Muse
Metals Type: Zinc/Tin Alloy
Gender: Women
Material: Metal
Style: Classic
Rings Type: Bridal Sets
Shape\pattern: Geometric
Surface Width: 2mm
Surface Width: 2.5mm
Compatibility: All Compatible
Function: Period Tracker
Setting Type: Bezel Setting
Fine or Fashion: Fashion
Occasion: Boho
Item Type: Rings


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Swings set with no limits of imagination and adventure.
Whatever your child wants to be, they can make it happen with the High Flyer wood swing set. The equipped monkey bars allow children to playfully test their strength and flexibility while having the time of their life. After hours of playing on the 8' wave slide and swings, they can workout their imaginative minds too.... We included a sandbox to encourage children to build beautiful sand castles- or whatever else their creative minds come up with. The two-foot wide rock wall provides a thrilling way to climb into the play deck area. Once they reach the top, they will imagine commanding a pirate ship with a steering wheel and a telescope. With the High Flyer swing set with Monkey Bars, the greatest adventure is always within reach - everyday.
Key Features
- Quality cedar construction
- Monkey bars
- Heavy-duty vinyl canopy
- 2' rock climbing wall
- 8' wave slide
- 2 belt swings
- Safety handles
- Trapeze ring combination
- Steering Wheel
- Sandbox
- Telescope
- 4'x4' deck, 4' high
- 3-position swing beam
Product Specs
- Material: Quality cedar construction - resistant to rot, decay and insects
- All corners are sanded to ensure edges are smooth to the touch.
- Recessed bolts and hardware eliminates unnecessary cuts and scrapes
- Finish: pre-sanded and pre-stained for beautiful finish and longevity
- Dimensions: 18'2" W x 14'2" D x 10'2" H
- Ages: 3-11 years
- Play deck height: 4' | Play deck dimensions: 4'x4' - 14 sq. ft.
- Swing beam construction: 4"x6"
- Weight: 486 lbs.
- Posts: 3"x3"
- Swing beam: 3-position - rated at 250 lbs. per swing
- Monkey Bars: 80" high with strong ladders and powder coated rungs
- Monkey bars rated at 150 lbs. per rung
- Swing hangers: Heavy-duty grade with safety clips for easy adjustability
- Rock wall width: 2'
- Rock wall: Includes 6 climbing rocks and scaling rope
- Safety handles: 2 | Color: Green
- Slide length: 8' |Material: Heavy-duty plastic | Color: Green
- Sandbox: Included (sand sold separately)
- Canopy: Heavy-duty vinyl | Color: Green
- Swing seats: Features two premium, 1-piece molded swing seats with reinforced nylon grommets and built-in UV protection - will not heat or fade in direct sunlight | Color: Yellow
- Swing chain: Plastisol coated chain offers a pinch-free grip that stays cool to the touch and won't fray or rust | Color: Yellow
- Swing chain length: 66"
- Belt swing weight limit: 250 lbs.
- Trapeze bar material: Constructed with heavy-duty metal | Color: Green
- Safety standards: Meets or exceeds ASTM safety standards for residential use only
Tools Required:
- Socket set
- Hammer
- 9/16" Combination wrench
- 3/16" Allen wrench
- 2 Square Drive Bit (included)
- 3 Philips Bit
- Cordless Drill with charger
- 1/8", 7/16", 1/4 and 3/8 Drill bits
- Tape measure
- Level
- C - Clamps
- 8' step ladder
- Framing/ Speed Square
Warranty:- Limited 5-year warranty on wood components
- 3-year warranty on hardware/accessories
- 1-year warranty on ropes and vinyl canopies
- Pre-cut, ready for assembly
- No special skills or tools needed
- Includes fully illustrated, easy to follow instructions
- Experienced customer service helpline available 6 days a week
- Material: Quality cedar construction - resistant to rot, decay and insects
- Resources
We design our wood swing sets to bring the excitement of the common playground to backyards across America. However, we have become the most respected swing set manufacturer in the U.S. by putting safety first, always. As an active ASTM safety committee member, we have gone beyond the normal safety guidelines to ensure your children are always safe. Here are the safety features included on our swing sets.
- Monkey bars - strong ladder supports and powder coated rungs keep frame sturdy during play
- Recessed bolts and hardware - All bolt connections are recessed, ensuring no cuts, scrapes or torn clothes!
- Rounded corners and edges - virtually splinter-free!
- Plastisol coated belt swing chains - no more finger pinching!
- Sturdy steel swing connectors – providing a full range of motion
- Safety handles - helping kids get a grip to the top
- Interlocking flat steps - making climbing easy
- Heavy-duty molded slides - Strong enough for the big kids!
- Safe cedar staining process – 100% safe for children
Parents Role in Playground Safety:
While we do everything we can to maximize safety, parents should keep an eye on their children during play to ensure they are using the play structure as intended. Here are a few suggestions to keep your kids backyard play area safe:
- ASTM guidelines recommended a 6' safety perimeter around your swing set as well as overhead.
Teach your kids safe play rules:- Look First - Never run in front of or behind someone who is swinging
- Share - Take turns on rock walls, monkey bars, slides and swings
- Wait until it's dry – Always wait until the swing set is dry before you play
- No bullies allowed - No pushing, shoving or roughhousing allowed
Add a fall surface (ground cover) under your wood swing set.While our cedar swing sets are hand-crafted to eliminate unnecessary cuts and scrapes, we suggest adding a fall surface under your play structure and monkey bars to add another layer of protection for your children – just in case they lose their balance and fall. We recommend to add rubber mats, rubber mulch, wood chips sand or pea gravel under your swing set. To see a pros and cons list of the best materials for under a swing set, check out the resources tab on this page. For a detailed guide on playground fall surfaces, be sure to check out our resources tab on this page.
Before You Buy
This wood swing set is intended for residential use only and is not warrantied for public or commercial use.
What to consider when buying a swing set?
Before buying a swing set, always check with your homeowner's association before assembly. Some HOA's have height restrictions on building and play structures. Also, determine how much space you have in your yard. Will there be enough space for your children to run around with their friends safely?
How is the swing set delivered?
Once your wood swing set ready to ship from our shop in Monroe, MI, the delivery company will contact you to schedule a delivery date and time. The typical swing set will be delivered curbside and comes in multiple bundles/boxes. Some larger packages may need to be opened and hand offloaded to the ground. It might be helpful to have another person help you bring the components into your backyard, but it not a necessity.
What is your standard lead time on curbside delivery and professional installation?
Approximate lead time is usually 3-4 weeks from order date. Lead times may vary during peak season and holidays. Please call our customer service helpline shortly after your order is placed to determine delivery or installation date.Can I swing on the swing set with my children?
In most cases, parents and grandparents can swing along with children! Swing beam is rated at 250 pounds per swing position. So, as long as you do not exceed that weight limit per swing, anyone can join in on the adventure.
What is the weight limit of the monkey bars on this swing set?
Monkey bars can hold up to 150 pounds per rung.
How much space do I really need in my yard?
The amount of space needed for a safe play experience may vary for each swing set, but we suggest following ASTM's guidelines of having a 6' safety area around your swing set. This area should not include any obstructions such as trees, plants, sheds or any other structures. In addition to the safety benefits of a 6' clearance, it gives children space to run around all day long
I have a small yard; will this swing set be a good fit for my backyard?
The High Flyer is the smallest swing set we offer, so if you're lacking backyard space, this model might be your best choice.
What kind of construction knowledge do I need to have to assemble your swing sets?
We welcome anyone to build our swing sets, even those with little do-it-yourself experience. Each swing set kit is pre-cut, ready for assembly and can be built with basic tools, so you don't have to be Bob Vila to install our swing sets. Actually, parents often comment on how much pride they have building their swing set on their own. Don't worry, if you have questions during assembly, our dedicated customer service team can answer your questions via phone or online chat.
Let us install it for you! We also offer professional installation on all of our swing sets for as little as $199.
Maintenance Tips:
Periodic maintenance is suggested to ensure safe enjoyment of your wood swing set and optional accessories. Be sure to check out swing set maintenance checklist within the resources tab on this page.
Checking, splitting and surfacing cracking are characteristics of all wooden swing sets. This is caused by varying seasonal temperatures and moisture conditions. To minimize this checking and/or cracking, you may coat your play set with a water repellent.
Best way to stain the High Flyer wood swing set:
The High Flyer swing set with monkey bars is factory stained to provide a beautiful finish and long lasting protection. We recommend staining wooden swing sets once a year to maintain its rich color and naturally resilient qualities. Prior to staining, clean all wooden components. Use a high quality water based stain or sealant such as Thompson's Water Seal® . After staining or sealing, please allow 24 hours to dry before allowing children to start their adventure.
Have any other questions? Be sure to check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
Customer Reviews
Product Reviews


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Auksé Balcytiené
Auksé Balčytiené is a Journalism and Communications Scholar, Professor and Media
Critic. Her research interests range from the analysis of comparative aspects in studying
political communication and journalism cultures, to media system change, as well as Central
and Eastern European Studies and information and communication policies. She has
published widely in international refereed journals and books. She has an extensive
experience in collaborative project design, administration and coordination. She also is
active in training of young scholars and researchers.


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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's memoir "My Beloved World" vividly describes her less-than-desirable childhood in the Bronx.
In a judicial world where the justices are known for being more tight-lipped than the CIA, Sotomayor seems to have no problem laying it all out there in terms of her past and her personal life.
And truth to be told, that type of honesty is refreshing in such a public figure, especially when that figure wields so much power over the country.
The first Hispanic justice, Sotomayor grew up in a Bronx housing project and survived poverty, an alcoholic father, and diabetes., KTVU reported in January.
"To say that Justice Sotomayor is less cloistered than most of her predecessors and colleagues may be an understatement: among many other appearances to promote her book, she salsa-danced with the Univision anchor Jorge Ramos in her chambers," The New York Times wrote about the justice's book promotion tour.
In an interview with Jon Stewart, Sotomayor revealed everything from candid details about her childhood to frank views of the high court.
Sotomayor was quick to joke she doesn't fear public backlash over her rulings "because I have a job forever."
"The reason that we have jobs under the Constitution for life is to protect us against public opinion," Sotomayor told Stewart. "To permit us to do what we think is right without the fear of losing our jobs and without the fear that public opinion could coerce us not to be courageous."
Sotomayor's candor might be concerning if she were revealing confidential details about cases before the Supreme Court or private details about her fellow justices. But her revelations about her personal struggles help her serve as a positive role model for children growing up in similar circumstances.
"It is my great hope that I'll be a great justice, and that I'll write opinions that will last the ages," Sotomayor said at her book signing, according to the Times. "But that doesn't always happen. More importantly, it's only one measure of meaning in life. To me, the more important one is my values and my impact on people who feel inspired in any way by me."
Sotomayor's forthrightness could go a long way in restoring America's faith in its highest court.
DON'T MISS: Dr. Kevorkian's Plan To Get In Front Of The Supreme Court Totally Backfired >


text: History happened in Manhattan on May 3! Tony winner Nikki M. James and stage and screen fave Andrew Rannells (who co-starred together in the Tony-winning tuner The Book of Mormon) woke up bright and early to announce the nominees for the 70th Annual Tony Awards. From Hamilton's record-breaking 16 nods to the snubs that had fans sobbing, the big announcement is sure to keep us talking well until the Tony Awards on June 12. Take a peek at James and Rannells looking radiant, smiley—basically everything we wished we looked like every morning before 9:00 AM, and congrats to all of the nominees!


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Among the Protestant faith a believer is to submit to the government:
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. (1 Peter 2:13-14, NIV)
I am unsure about medieval historical details but I had the impression that there were struggles between the Catholic church and the state. I have the impression that the Pope tried to argue supremacy over the state in opposition to the words of Peter.
My main question is not, 'Did the Pope really try to do this?' My question is does the modern day Pope teach his duty to submit to secular authority?
According to catholic teaching is the Pope morally obliged to submit to every secular authority?


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BLOOMINGTON, Illinois (CNN) -- On a recent chilly Illinois morning, Dimitria Alvarez sat at her kitchen table and looked through her son Devon's baby clothes. "He was just so happy all the time," Alvarez remembered later with a smile. "He was so much calmer than my girls."
Devon Mehlberg-Alvarez died at 4 months from an overdose of an ingredient in cough syrup.
Devon Mehlberg-Alvarez was Alvarez's firstborn -- and her mother's first grandchild. When he was 4 months old, Devon got a cold. Alvarez took him to the doctor. The doctor told her to give Devon an over-the-counter infant cold and cough medicine. Alvarez followed the doctor's directions and gave Devon the suggested amount.
However, a few mornings later when the Bloomington, Illinois, mother checked on her son, something was wrong. "I screamed," says Alvarez, "He wasn't breathing. He was cold."
Devon was dead.
Deborah Mehlberg found out her grandson was dead after returning from a weekend trip. When she pulled into her driveway, her family was standing in the front yard. Her son told her the terrible news. "My heart fell out of my chest. I couldn't believe it," says Mehlberg. "No one in my family ever died this way." She needed answers.
At first, investigators blamed SIDS for Devon's death. But Mehlberg and her family were not convinced, so they pushed for more tests. "I'm a technical person," says Mehlberg. "I know that there's a cause and effect for everything, and I knew that there was something that caused this baby to die."
A few months later, the results came back. The cause of death: Dextromethorphan intoxication. Devon's family says they were told later that Devon's body could not metabolize one of the key ingredients found in many infant cold and cough medicines.
Over the past two years, 1,500 babies and toddlers have wound up in emergency rooms after having a bad reaction to cold medicines, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration will meet to discuss whether over-the-counter cold medicines are safe and effective in children age 6 and under. Earlier this year, the FDA completed a review that found between 1969 and the fall of 2006 there were 54 reported child deaths from decongestants and 69 from antihistamines. Most of the deaths occurred in children under 2. Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein headed the push that led to the FDA hearing. He became alarmed when four Baltimore children died after their parents gave them excessive doses of cold medicines. "I didn't quite realize that it could potentially be a life-and-death issue," says Sharfstein.
In August, federal health officials recommended the "consult your physician" advice to parents on the labels of cold and cough medicines aimed at young children be replaced by a warning not to use the medications in children under 2 unless directed to do so by a health care provider.
Last week, in advance of the hearings, some of the leading manufacturers of cold and cough medicines announced a voluntary recall of more than a dozen cold medicines for infants. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association said the products were being pulled "out of an abundance of caution."
Potential misuse of the medications, not product safety, is driving the voluntary withdrawal, the group said.
In a written statement, the group's president, Linda Suydam said, "It is important to point out that these medicines are safe and effective when used as directed, and most parents are using them appropriately."
The recall "in no way affects our taking this issue to the advisory committee meeting," said Dr. Joel Schiffenbauer, deputy director for the FDA's Division of Nonprescription Clinical Evaluation, Office of Nonprescription Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "All potential actions are on the table," he said.
Sharfstein says the industry must go further. He wants the FDA to ban the use of cold and cough medicines in children under age 6. "There's no evidence that they actually work," he says. In a statement on its Web site, the American Academy of Pediatrics states "No well-controlled scientific studies were found that support the efficacy and safety of narcotics (including codeine) or dextromethorphan as antitussives in children. Indications for their use in children have not been established."
Since Devon's death, his grandmother has been on what she calls a "one-woman crusade." "I'm the nut that walks up to people in the grocery stores and asked them if they have ever heard of this." says Mehlberg. From her home in a quiet Bloomington neighborhood, Mehlberg says she e-mailed comments to the FDA and will be watching what happens at the hearings closely.
During a recent trip to Devon's grave, Mehlberg received word of the voluntary recall. "Oh thank God," she said with tears in her eyes. "I never want another family to go through what we have." E-mail to a friend
Jennifer Pifer is a senior producer with CNN Medical News. Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and managing editor Miriam Falco contributed to this report.
All About Pediatrics


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Yohannan, author, speaker and founder of Gospel for Asia. "But in
America," says filmmaker Daniel Lusko, "we don't know about suffering
for our faith. I believe, biblically, persecution is going to happen and
we need to be prepared for it."
Lusko is so passionate about the issue of persecution that he is investing his talent, time and soul in a new movie called The Persecuted,
which spotlights the issue in a Hitchcock-like way. He has produced and
directed several docudramas including "Inside the Revolution" and
"A year and a half ago," says Lusko, "I was praying
about what the Lord would have me do after making these documentaries. I
felt Him leading me to create a project that would reach the world and
the persecuted nations.
"One night I was awakened and sat up in bed, and the whole story was really all there," he says of The Persecuted.
"It was about an evangelist, like a Billy Graham, [and] at the height of
his evangelistic career of spreading the simple gospel truth, America
becomes an unwelcoming environment for the gospel."
believes the movie has a prophetic message for people all around the
world and especially in the western world where, he says, "we're sort of
melded into the culture as Christians and gain this materialistic
comfort – what I call Cadillac Christianity – that suffering isn't
something we know."
The Persecuted, says Lusko, who is
directing and producing the movie, will take viewers on an action-packed
thrill ride. The main character, nationally acclaimed evangelist John
Luther, is the last obstacle in the way of sweeping religious reform in
the States. When a U.S. Senator and Luther's own supporters abduct and
frame him in the murder of an innocent teenage girl, an unprecedented
era of persecution is unleashed.
As evangelist turned fugitive,
Luther vows to expose anyone involved with or profiting from the girl's
murder; a mission that brings him face-to-face with the coming storm of
persecution that will threaten the entire Christian community in
It's a story that could be ripped from the headlines—and
one that has drawn the interest and participation of some noted film
Gray Frederickson, whose credits include co-producing the three The Godfather films and Apocalypse Now, has signed on as executive producer. It's the first faith-based project that Frederickson has worked on.
Sorbo has just announced he will play the lead role of "John Luther" in
the film. He is widely known for the unforgettable role of "Hercules"
and in the faith-based film produced by Jerry Jenkins called What If. Sorbo was most recently seen in the movie Soul Surfer as the man who saves Bethany Hamilton.
"Kevin Sorbo is a trusted actor in the faith community with the most
piercing eyes, and frankly he just fits the character of our 'John
Luther' down to the bone," says Lusko.
Stephen Baldwin will play a "Judas Iscariot" type character in the story.
are aiming for a strong grassroots following cultivated through the
relationship developed with religious organizations such as the Calvary
Chapel. Skip Heitzig, Lusko's pastor, says, "The Persecuted will bring critical focus to a little-discussed but mounting issue."
says God has put on his heart that proceeds from the movie should be
sent to organizations like the Voice of the Martyrs or Samaritan's
Purse, and to countries overseas that really need resources.
"I deeply want to re-invent the way mainstream audiences experience The Gospel through motion pictures," Lusko adds.
Used with permission from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.


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Social Tips
Facebook for business
Through what other media channel can your business reach over 1 billion people, target exactly the demographic you wish and have direct communication with your customers?
This is why any business – big or small – should consider advertising on Facebook. It's a great opportunity for a company to make online sales, get a following around the brand, create a platform where customers can discuss the products and, when done successfully, let people spread the word about your qualities.
Like experienced Facebook advertiser Freddie Jansson said in the interview about how to succeed in business advertising on Facebook:
"A large part of companies' potential customers are there. Therefore, in my opinion, all companies should have a Facebook page where they can interact with their customers ... No other advertising channel, at least where you can communicate, can compete with those numbers."
Online Sales vs. Attracting Likes
When creating a Facebook business strategy, it's important to think through what you want to achieve. Is your goal to make ads and drive traffic to your website – perhaps a web shop where visitors can make a purchase – or do you want to drive traffic to a Facebook fan page where visitors can "like" what you do?
Many businesses benefit from both, so perhaps a combination is the best choice. Just make sure your primary reasons for being on Facebook is clear before you start working.
Online Sales
This is a straightforward way to advertise your business on Facebook. You make traditional external-website ads and when someone clicks through, he or she is directed to your web page where a purchase or sign-up can be made.
This way of using Facebook for business advertising has proven to be very successful for countless of companies. And when you do it, you'll get the results right away. Just compare how much you spend on Facebook ads to the revenue and you'll know whether or not you need to tweak your campaign in any way.
However, when doing external-website ads you may miss out on the social aspects Facebook is made up of.
Don't forget that "liking things" is the backbone of this entire network.
Attracting Likes
Businesses may see better results – even when advertising a product or service – by first sending visitors to a fan page where they have to like the page to see the offer. After that, they can click out to the web page to make a purchase.
By doing your advertising in these three steps, you can combine brand making with sales.
However, a lot of businesses' main reason for being of Facebook is just to get a fan base and not to make online sales. It might be a physical shop, say, a restaurant, a clothing store or any company that's on Facebook primarily to raise brand awareness.
In that case, ads directly to the website might not be the best choice. Instead you want people to like your Facebook fan page where you can talk to them, run contests, arrange polls or other activities your customers want to engage in.
The goal is to have active fans that spread the word about you to their friends, which in the end can be profitable for any business.
- For more thoughts around how to build and maintain a business Facebook page, read Facebook Page Advertising – How to Get Fans and Keep Them
- For more thoughts around how to make your brand get a "voice" through people's activities, read Social Advertising – Friends Trust Friends
Facebook Marketing for Small Businesses
But who benefits the most from Facebook marketing?
On the contrary to what many believe, online-business marketing on Facebook benefits small, traditional retailers the most.
Small businesses offer unique products or services to a smaller range of customers and Facebook provides an excellent opportunity to reach the exact target audience with a personal approach.
To succeed in small-business marketing on Facebook you don't need to run a modern IT company. One benefit with Internet marketing for small business is that it allows you to compete with larger corporations.
If you offer a niche product or service, you might even have a competitive advantage. A large business will not have time to focus in depth on a single niche.
Using WebMarketingNow for Business Advertising
Facebook allows you to find, define and understand the demographics for your product. When you know who your customers are, you're able to provide the right audience with the right product or service.
WebMarketingNow offers a powerful tool to use in small-business marketing on Facebook whether your goal is to drive traffic to a web site or to advertise your fan page. Create ads in a user-friendly interface, have a clear overview of the costs and get reports of your advertising results.
We also provide a user guide to use when setting up Facebook campaigns together with a live-chat service you can contact whatever trouble you have when creating or publishing ads.
For a small and mid-sized business with a tight advertising budget, WebMarketingNow is a valuable tool.
WebMarketingNow has helped many companies improve their Facebook business. A good case example is our work with Beauty Planet, a Swedish online cosmetics retailer:
Beauty Planet has seen a significant increase in order volume since launching its Facebook Ad campaign.
"It has given us additional revenue – additional sales." Beauty Planet CEO and founder Björn Andres explains.
"It's an efficient channel because we're able to target our ads to the people who convert at the highest rates. I get better return on my investment and at the same time we strengthen our brand value."
Test the tool for free to make sure it fits your needs. Once you decide to use it more extensively, we have a low, flat fee per month.


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I'm not going to rehash what happened on that day in 1989, except to repeat my bottom-line belief that there was blame to be shared by all sides, but that the massacre of Beijing citizens in the side streets around Tiananmen Square was an unnecessary and avoidable tragedy that continues to haunt the Chinese government to this day. In some corners of Beijing there were terrible incidents of violence against Chinese soldiers and I can at least understand why shots were fired. But the violence around the Square is a different story. This blog has chronicled all the eyewitness accounts, including Philip Cunningham's excellent description of what can only be described as a massacre, and we've all seen the BBC footage of the shootings and read the reports from demonstrators and bystanders crushed and maimed by tanks or injured by shots, we know all about the Tiananmen Mothers, etc., etc. The students may have been foolish and misguided at times (they were), but the response was not commensurate with the threat posed by the "incident," to put it mildly. For my complete take on the suppression of the demonstrators and bystanders along with lots of links and first-hand descriptions, go here. No need to repost it.
Only one thing I'll add that's new, and that's the story of a new book by Beijing's mayor at the time of the crackdown. The Party is trying to stop the Hong Kong publisher from printing it because it is not in synch with the official story.
A new book that offers a surprising reassessment of the Tiananmen Square crackdown through interviews with a disgraced former Beijing mayor went on sale Friday in Hong Kong despite efforts by Chinese authorities to stop the sale.
"Conversations With Chen Xitong," which is not available in mainland China, is based on interviews with Chen, who was mayor of Beijing during the 1989 crackdown. Chen has long been portrayed as having supported the military assault, but in the book he says the crackdown was an avoidable tragedy and that he regrets the loss of life, though he denies being directly responsible.
In the book, Chen tells Yao that the Tiananmen crackdown should never have happened and that he hoped the government would formally re-evaluate the event, in which the military crushed weekslong protests, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of people….
The book adds to a growing debate ahead of a once-a-decade transfer of power in China later this year from one generation of party leaders to younger successors.
The author said Friday that Chen still considers himself a communist and isn't trying to be a dissident. Chen believes the protests could have been resolved peacefully by using dialogue, Yao said.
We all have to draw our own conclusions. I know what mine are, and have expressed them many times over the past ten years.


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In Home Senior Care and Holiday Shopping
Shopping is a necessity during the holiday season and sometimes it can get in the way of fitness goals. Shopping requires time but can be a source of great exercise for an elderly loved one. There are some ways to beat the holiday bulge and shop while burning calories. Eat before you shop and never shop on an empty stomach. Eating a balanced meal not only gives you more energy to shop but also helps to prevent you from eating too much junk food with all of the tempting smells around.
Another way to get exercise from shopping is to try to park further from the store or mall. Typically people look for the spot closest to the entrance. If it is possible, try to find a spot furthest from the shopping center. This will help to kick start your calorie burning session while you shop. If your mall has any sets of stairs, try to take those whenever possible instead of the elevator or escalator. If you are shopping with an elderly loved one, their ability levels may limit them from too many variations from a normal shopping excursion. The experts at Senior Helpers of Riverside will gauge your loved one's ability level and make the holiday shopping an exercise session that is safe and beneficial.
If your senior loved one has a large list of shopping that needs to be completed, and you find that your own list of holiday responsibilities is difficult to accomplish, call on the experienced and highly trained caregivers of Senior Helpers of Riverside. With winter weather fast approaching, you may find it difficult to come up with ideas for how to get enough exercise in the cold. Holiday shopping is an excellent way to get exercise, especially for a senior loved one who may get cold quicker outdoors. The compassionate and reliable caregivers can assist your loved one with all of their holiday shopping needs. Whether they go out with a food list for grocery shopping or if they accompany and drive your elderly loved one to local malls and shopping centers to pick out gifts and get a little bit of exercise at the same time.
Elderly family members can get lost in the shuffle and chaos of happy family gatherings during the holiday season. Seniors do best with care provided in their homes and with the hustle and bustle of the season, it helps to know that your family member is being cared for by a compassionate caregiver from If you would like to learn more about caring and consistent in home help for the elderly and the many benefits of professional in home senior care, call Senior Helpers of Riverside to speak to a senior care specialist today 951-248-0543! In home senior care and in home assisted living allows your loved one to stay in the comforts of their own home for as long as possible while receiving the level of care they need. Senior Helpers of Riverside provides a wide range of services including Alzheimer's and dementia care, personal assistance, companionship, and so much more to all areas of Riverside.