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The Governour's Lady
Mistresses of the Palace
by Mary Miley Theobald
Lord Dunmore welcomes his wife to the Governor's Palace in 1774. Interpreters Carson Hudson and Darci Tucker portray the first couple. - Photo by Dave Doody
She was the daughter of one earl and the wife of another; she marched in George III's coronation procession; she paid morning visits to the queen. And she left her life of luxury in the dead of winter 1773 to brave the treacherous Atlantic with her children and join her husband in Williamsburg.
Lady Charlotte Murray, wife of Virginia's governor, John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore, had planned to winter in Naples. But Lord Dunmore wanted his family with him, and, as he could not visit them in England without resigning, they must come to him. He sent his personal secretary to deliver the message and accompany them on the voyage.
The ship reached New York the second day of 1774. Lady Charlotte brought six of her seven living children, and as many as ten servants. Her second son had died a few months earlier, and she had left her three-year-old with her sister, probably because he was too young or sickly to risk the trip. It was a rough, forty-four day crossing. They remained a month in New York—delayed by weather or the need to recuperate—and started south. Traveling by carriage and the Dunmore yacht, they stopped in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Annapolis before reaching Williamsburg twenty-four days later.
The queen herself could not have had a more enthusiastic welcome. Cannon saluted their landing at Yorktown. Newspapers that had kept the capital informed of the family's progress published three effusive poems written in Lady Dunmore's honor. Williamsburg illuminated its houses with candles in the windows and celebrated with fireworks. The College of William and Mary and the city government sent delegates to congratulate the governor on the safe arrival of his loved ones. Crowds met them as they rode into town. "A great number of the most respectable citizens, and many from the country, who had been informed of her arrival, attended the carriages, in order to see her ladyship safe at the Palace, and then returned to their respective homes," reported the Virginia Gazette.
How long she planned to stay is a question. Dunmore had purchased large estates a few miles from Williamsburg and near Warm Springs—now Berkeley Springs, West Virginia—but neither had a habitable home. They would live at the Palace, a smaller residence than they were used to but, with its third floor bedchambers, large enough.
Lady Dunmore was the highest-ranking woman in British North America. And she would be the last in the line of English first ladies to make of the Palace her home.
Because of Charlotte Murray's position, historians know more about her than they do of the other, nonaristocratic governors' wives. They all led private lives. Their arrivals and their departures were sometimes noted in the newspapers, but little else was deemed appropriate for public consumption.
Most of the men who governed eighteenth-century Virginia were lieutenant governors—the titular governor appointed by the crown often elected not to hazard the sea crossing to a distant colony where disease and danger headed the greeting committee. Dunmore and his predecessor, Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, were the only full governors who came to Virginia in the eighteenth century. Lieutenant governors were usually drawn from the military or the foreign service. They and their wives were gentry, not aristocracy, which means less information about them for historians.
Almost nothing is known about the first governor's wife to live in Williamsburg's Palace. Hester Drysdale accompanied her husband, Hugh, to Williamsburg in 1722 when he began his term. He was about fifty-two; she, probably younger. They seem to have had one child, a daughter Ann, age unknown.
Drysdale died in office after four years. He was popular, and the Governor's Council hastened to tell his widow that "they desire she will please to continue in the Governor's house, and make use of any other Conveniences about it during her stay here."
Hester Drysdale's first name would probably be lost to history had her husband not referred to her, once, in his short will. Drysdale made her sole executrix of his estate and left everything to her.
What did she do in Williamsburg, day in and day out? A reasonable guess would have her acting much as the mistress of a large plantation, directing household servants and slaves, supervising food preparation and meals, presiding over social functions, placing orders from England, doing needlework, and writing to friends and relatives. When her husband died, she stayed at the Palace long enough to make her plans, then probably went to live out the rest of her life in England.
Drysdale's successor, William Gooch, governed for more than twenty years. Esteemed by the colonists, Gooch, like Drysdale, had been a soldier. He, too, was married and had one child.
Under the kingly gaze of George III in the Palace ballroom, Lord and Lady Dunmore, portrayed by Jane Hanson and Phil Shultz, pose in embroidered finery. - Photo by Dave Doody
His wife was Rebecca Staunton—Gooch named the town of Staunton, Virginia, for her—and she was the daughter of a squire from Middlesex, England. She had her eleven-year-old son William and her unmarried sister Anne with her when she arrived. How long Anne stayed is not known. Young William grew up at the Palace, became the naval officer of the York River District, married, and died at twenty-six of the "bloody flux." His parents were left, brokenhearted, with a daughter-in-law, Nelly, not yet nineteen and seven months pregnant. The baby did not survive.
Late in his term, Gooch was created a baronet, elevating Rebecca to Lady Rebecca. It was the most exalted title in the colony. Many times she presided with her husband over the annual celebration of the king's birthday, a "handsome Entertainment for the Gentlemen and ladies, together with a Ball."
Five years after his son's death, Gooch resigned. He and Lady Rebecca sailed home. Their income was modest, and their new house suffered in comparison with the Palace. "Ye great parlor is almost as broad as our dressing room at Williamsburg and within 2 foot as long," she wrote, and "ye other about ye size of my closet, we have four chambers on ye first floor and two light closets and as many garrots and I believe they'd all stand in ye hall."
Lady Rebecca outlived her husband by a quarter century, dying at eighty-five in Bath, where the elderly and infirm had been going to "take the waters" since Roman times. She had no children to care for her in old age; perhaps she lived with relatives. The Gazette published a note when she died in 1775, leaving us with our only personal detail—her excellent eyesight. "It is but a few months," it said, "since this venerable Lady could see to thread the finest cambrick needle, without spectacles."
She left a four-volume Bible and a covered silver-gilt cup to the College of William and Mary chapel, evidence of the affection she felt for the town that had welcomed her fifty years earlier. The Bible was destroyed in an 1859 library fire, but the cup survives.
"This day abt noon we had ye news of Govr Dinwiddie's safe arrival at York wth his lady and 2 daughters," wrote John Blair, president of the council. Blair invited Robert Dinwiddie and family to dinner at his home and noted in his diary that "many ladies and gentn visited them in the afternoon, and were highly pleased with them." Another council member, the Rev. Thomas Dawson, found the Dinwiddies "courteous and affable . . . easy and agreeable to all their acquaintances." Rebecca Dinwiddie lived in Virginia seven years, making friends with whom she corresponded the rest of her life.
It was November 20, 1751, when the Dinwiddie family arrived. The Palace was under repair. Arrangements were made for their temporary residence at the house next door, today the Robert Carter House. It would be a year before they could relocate to the Palace, and no sooner had they settled in than construction of the ballroom wing began.
Dinwiddie came from a line of Scottish merchants, but moved into colonial administration as a young man. His first assignment took him to Bermuda, where he met his wife to be. She was the only child of Andrew Auchinleck, the colony's principal Anglican minister and once, briefly, acting governor. Dinwiddie was much older than she. They were married in Bermuda, and in 1738 their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born. The younger child, Rebecca, arrived three years later.
Life in Williamsburg with two young ladies—the girls were ten and thirteen when they came—must have been a busy round of household management, lessons, and social activities. During their first summer, the governor granted Lewis Hallam, a celebrated actor and theater manager, permission to alter the old "Play-House at Williamsburg to a regular Theatre, fit for the Reception of Ladies and Gentlemen." Surely the Dinwiddies attended Hallam productions. Their move into the Palace in November of 1752 coincided with the king's birthday. The governor hired Hallam to "exhibit several fireworks in Palace Street," and the city was illuminated. Rebecca Dinwiddie presided over a Palace ball attended that year by "the Emperor of the Cherokee Nation with his Empress and their Son the young Prince."
Dinwiddie resigned in 1758 and returned to England with his wife and daughters, then seventeen and twenty. They, too, found Bath agreeable, for they made many trips there for the warm pools and the social life. In 1770, Robert died, leaving his widow and daughters comfortably established. She must have been pleased to see her younger daughter married the next year to a gentleman from the Isle of Man, but there were no grandchildren from that union to liven her later years. Her daughter Elizabeth died at thirty-five, unmarried. Rebecca Dinwiddie died in London in 1793, 101 years after her husband's birth.
Catherine Dalston, daughter of Sir Charles Dalston, had been married to Francis Fauquier for about twenty-eight years when he was appointed governor. As a young man, he was already a polished gentleman: well educated, an amateur scientist, an accomplished musician, and wealthy since inheriting a modest fortune at the age of twenty-three. But he was also a hard drinker who indulged—too much, some said—in gambling and racing.
There were no children at the Palace during Fauquier's government—sons Francis and William were adults—but Catherine Fauquier's life was probably full of social events. Her husband enjoyed the company of intelligent, accomplished people. There were many dinners and concerts, and she undoubtedly came to know young Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, William Small, and others from the college. She became close to the Robert Carter family, and was godmother to their fourth daughter.
But after eight years she went home. "On Saturday last," reported the Gazette, "our Governour's Lady, and his son, Francis Fauquier, Esq, went on board the Randolph, Capt. Walker, at Burwell's ferry, to take their passage for London." She did not see her husband again. He died in office, at sixty-four, and is buried at Bruton Parish Church. She lived to see both sons marry and her only grandchild, William, born in 1776. Catherine Fauquier died in her home in London's fashionable Cavendish Square in 1781.
Fauquier was succeeded by Botetourt, a bachelor, and the first full governor to come to Virginia in the eighteenth century. Like Fauquier, he died in office and was buried in Williamsburg. His successor, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, was Virginia's last colonial chief executive.
Dunmore was a captain in the Scots Guard when Lady Charlotte Stewart married him in 1759. They were first cousins once removed. She was probably eighteen or nineteen; he was nearly thirty. Both were Scots, wealthy and well born—he an earl and a dashing officer, educated and personable; she the beautiful daughter of one of Scotland's leading families, socially connected in ways that would help his career. Hers was the better family, but her marriage made her a countess.
Hooped and bewigged, Jane Hanson as Lady Dunmore. - Photo by Dave Doody
The Virginia Gazette
welcomed her ladyship. - Photo by Dave Doody
Lady Charlotte's siblings were as well connected as she, and she never scrupled to use them to further her husband's career. After an active decade in London, where Dunmore took one of the seats reserved for Scots in the House of Lords, he was rewarded with the governorship of New York. Charlotte did not come with him; she was pregnant with their eighth child, and the trip was too hazardous.
Weeks after Dunmore arrived in New York, Virginia's Lord Botetourt died. Charlotte worked quickly to help secure the vacant post for her husband. Virginia's governor was the highest paid, and the position had the best perks. Like many nobles, the Dunmores were heavy spenders and usually strapped for cash. Before others could lobby for the vacancy, Charlotte, whose brother-in-law sat on the Privy Council, had the appointment in hand. And never mind that her husband liked New York and didn't want to move south to such a disagreeable climate. He left New York in 1771 after less than a year.
In about a dozen years, Charlotte Murray produced eight children and gave birth to her ninth. She was among the most beautiful women of her day. Contemporaries spoke of her as quiet and charming; a prominent New Yorker described her as "very elegant." "She looks, speaks and moves and is a lady," he wrote. A Virginian said, "At first sight, it seemed to me that she deserved a better husband and I soon learned that I was not mistaken. There were two daughters—one seventeen and the other fifteen and a half years old—as charming as their mother, both in personality and in appearance." She danced beautifully, so well that one observer wrote it seemed "that we had never seen dancing before."
She settled her family into the Palace that winter and immediately became pregnant. The two younger boys were enrolled in the Grammar School at William and Mary, the older instructed by the master of the college. The girls probably had lessons at home in subjects that would enhance their marriageability, such as dancing, music, and drawing.
There were no women of her rank with whom Charlotte Murray might socialize. Her husband was absent for months, leading military expeditions into the Ohio valley to fight the Shawnee. But the Palace was full of children and musical instruments—a pianoforte, a harpsichord, three chamber organs, and others—surely a formula for lessons, practice, singing, and dancing.
Dunmore returned from the frontier the day after the birth of their ninth child, christened Virginia. The Gazette reported: "Countess of Dunmore was safely delivered of a Daughter at the palace. Her Ladyship continues in a very favourable Situation, and the young Virginian is in perfect Health." Charlotte Murray was the only royal governor's wife to give birth at the Palace. A grand ball six weeks later celebrated the baby's christening, the birthday of the queen, and Dunmore's treaty with the Shawnee. The governor was at the height of his popularity. By spring, his relations with the colonists had soured.
In April 1775, amid growing political unrest, the countess and her children were hustled off in the middle of the night for their safety to a British man-of-war. The townspeople were affronted. She was in no danger from them. She was widely respected and even adored by many in Williamsburg. She returned to the Palace for a quiet May, but revolution neared. In June, she left, taking her children, nurse, chaplain, and servants with her. She was pregnant with her tenth child.
Dunmore became governor of the Bahamas in 1785. "Charlotte was always very involved in his career," says Pete Wrike, a historian and Colonial Williamsburg character interpreter who is writing a biography of Dunmore, but there is no evidence that she visited him in the Bahamas.
In 1793 Charlotte Murray went on a grand tour of Europe with her sister and daughters. In Italy, her second daughter met Prince Augustus, the fourth son of King George III. They fell in love and entered into a questionable and unsanctioned marriage. The scandal, Wrike says, led to royal displeasure that contributed to Dunmore's recall. His government career was over, but at sixty-six, perhaps he was ready to retire to his wife and family, his estates, and his businesses back home.
Lady Charlotte outlived him by nine years, dying in 1818 at Southwood House, their estate near the southeastern tip of England. She was Virginia's first and last countess.


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Online Mental Health Tool Available to South Cheshire and Vale Royal Patients Praised by BBC
Bright Sparks, a website produced by BBC Global News Ltd, a commercial company owned by the BBC has praised Big White Wall, a free online mental health support tool, available to patients in South Cheshire and Vale Royal, in an article about good uses of social media.
The article stated, "One website that has been praised by leading psychologists is Big White Wall, which is available in Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Inspired by the early days of social networking, it's a peer support community and now has partnerships with the NHS in keeping with best practice and the latest evidence.
They also personalise suggestions to you of how to help you feel better based on your interests. The Big White Wall gave me the testimony of one case study, who said: "I found it almost impossible to discuss with my parents and I was a bit frightened of disclosing it to my friends. Being able to talk online to other people about that was really, really useful. Otherwise, I would have kept it all bottled up."
People, aged 16 +, living in South Cheshire and Vale Royal, who are going through a tough time or struggling with mental health issues and require some much needed support, can access a free online mental health support tool.
Big White Wall is a safe, anonymous online community of people who can help each other as well as having the benefit of trained professionals who ensure the safety and anonymity of all members. It also hosts a range of wellbeing tools to help with self-management.
70% of members reported feeling better as a result of joining Big White Wall, and 46% shared something for the first time with the community.
If you think Big White Wall can help you, just visit www.bigwhitewall.com and enter your postcode.
The full article can be found on Bright Sparks.

subset: commoncrawl


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History of Public Health Nursing in Missouri
Public health nursing in the United States began in the late 1800's through the efforts of a few wealthy women in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, who hired trained nurses to care for the poor in their homes. In 1880, New York City established a Division of Child Hygiene in the New York Health Department. This Division demonstrated that public health nurses could reduce infant mortality through home visiting and teaching. In 1898, Los Angeles became the first city to officially employ a nurse to care for the sick in their homes. By 1910, many of the urban visiting nurses had initiated preventive programs for school children, infants, mothers, and patients with tuberculosis.
In March 1883, a State Board of Health was created in Missouri. Its purpose was to protect citizens against the dreaded diseases of smallpox, typhoid, cholera and other communicable diseases. Public health nursing began in Missouri in 1891 when the Ladies Society of Kansas City's First Congregational Church employed a graduate nurse to visit the poor in their homes. The following year, the Visiting Nurse Association of Kansas City was organized with this purpose:
"to provide skilled nursing care to the sick in their homes -- to teach health and the prevention of disease. By means of cooperation with allied social agencies, assistance was rendered in the solution of social and economic as well as health problems."
In St. Louis, visiting nursing was initiated in 1895, and the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) was incorporated in 1911. At this time, several insurance companies offered coverage of nursing care and partly subsidized the VNA.
Public health nursing in rural Missouri had its beginning in the post-war activities of the American Red Cross and the U.S. Public Health Service (1918-1919). The child health demonstrations sponsored by these agencies led to the passage of a bill by the legislature of 1919 that created a Division of Child Hygiene within the State Board of Health. The passage of the Federal Maternity and Infancy Act in 1921 made it possible for the State Board of Health, through the Division of Child Hygiene, to employ several public health nurses.
In 1919, an agreement was reached between the Missouri State Board of Health and the Southwestern Division of the American Red Cross Society, providing a director of the Division of Public Health Nursing of the Department of Health. The purpose of the division was to organize, coordinate and supervise public health nursing activities in the rural sections of the state.
From the beginning, the State Board of Health made an effort to keep in touch with all local public health nurses, whether employed by private or official agencies, through letters, bulletins, and field visits. The nurses were encouraged to turn to the state for advice and help; and the Division of Child Hygiene supplied records, forms, literature, and clinic service free of charge to all local public health agencies. During the first few years, most of the local services were supported by county chapters of the American Red Cross. As the Red Cross funds were exhausted, the services were gradually taken over by the county courts or school boards. Beginning in 1923, the Division of Child Hygiene offered financial aid to counties employing public health nurses; and from 1923 to 1931, thirty counties availed themselves of this privilege.
In the 1940's, the nursing division assisted in the development of regional educational conferences and offered scholarships to assist nurses to further their education. A plan for exchanging a rural nurse for an urban nurse was initiated with the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Association of New York City. Family case records were developed and an increase in tuberculosis and other communicable diseases occupied much of the field nurses' time. Hospitals also received nursing consultation under the emergency maternity and infant care program. Senior cadet nurses received 4-6 months of training in the rural and urban areas.
In 1945, the Missouri Constitution provided for the establishment of a department to correlate health and welfare activities; and Senate Bill 349 created such a department. The Department of Social Services was created in 1974 and included several divisions, including the Division of Health. The title, public health nurse was changed to community health nurse in 1976. The Department of Health was created in 1987.
There was a division/bureau of nursing from 1931-1995 and a council of nursing met during some of this
Time. In 1997, the position of Public Health Nursing Liaison and the Council of Public Health Nursing were established.
Buhler-Wilkerson. (1985). Public Health Nursing: In Sickness or in Health. 75 (10), 1155-1160.
Bureau of Community Health Nursing. (1985). Community Health Nursing Manual.
Return to Table of Contents


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Do you want a synthetic turf that will be resistant to the force of whatever interacts with it? Diamond Blade 80 will resist digging from your furry friends, as well as constant treading from your children's cleats during soccer practice in the backyard. Great for fun in the sun for the whole family!
With a pile height of 1 3/4" and Face Weight 80 oz.yd2, Diamond Blade 80 is ideal for pet areas, playgrounds, landscape. The combination of Emerald Green and Olive Green colors with Brown and Green thatching looks natural and realistic.
Diamond Blade 80 is the safest, most durable and beautiful alternative to the old playground surfaces. Often installed in public park's playgrounds, kindergartens and schools, it can help to reduce a risk of injuries, and to provide safe and beautifully looking environment for children to enjoy while ensuring low maintenance cost.


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Gold nanorods brighten future for medical imaging
Researchers at Purdue University have taken a step toward developing a new type of ultra-sensitive medical imaging technique that works by shining a laser through the skin to detect tiny gold nanorods injected into the bloodstream.
Image above: Gold nanorods, which fluoresce red, were photographed inside the blood vessels of a live mouse by researchers in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry. The researchers have taken a step toward developing a new type of ultra-sensitive medical imaging technique that works by shining a laser through the skin to detect the tiny rods injected into the bloodstream. In tests with mice, the nanorods yielded images nearly 60 times brighter than conventional fluorescent dyes, including rhodamine, commonly used for a wide range of biological imaging to study the workings of cells and molecules. (Photo courtesy of Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Chemistry)
In tests with mice, the nanorods yielded images nearly 60 times brighter than conventional fluorescent dyes, including rhodamine, commonly used for a wide range of biological imaging to study the inner workings of cells and molecules.
Findings are detailed in a research paper that appeared online last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper was written by researchers in Purdue's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Chemistry.
The nanorods might be used to develop an advanced medical imaging tool for the early detection of cancer, said Ji-Xin Cheng (pronounced Gee-Shin), an assistant professor of biomedical engineering.
The gold rods are about 20 nanometers wide and 60 nanometers long, or roughly 200 times smaller than a red blood cell.
Gold nanorods represent a possible way to overcome barriers in developing advanced medical imaging techniques that use light to analyze blood vessels and underlying tissues.
"One obstacle is that light in the visible spectrum does not pass through tissue very well," said Alexander Wei, an associate professor of chemistry who worked with Cheng and other Purdue researchers, including Philip S. Low, a professor of chemistry.
Imaging methods might be developed using laser pulses in longer wavelengths of light, beyond the visible range in a region of the spectrum called near infrared.
"There is a window of light in the near infrared, wavelengths from about 800 to 1,300 nanometers, which could be harnessed for new imaging technologies," Wei said.
Tiny gold rods with a certain "aspect ratio" of length to width shine brightly when illuminated by light in this spectral region. The gold nanorods are ideal for a type of imaging called "two-photon fluorescence," which provides higher contrast and brighter images than conventional fluorescent imaging methods.
Photons are the individual particles that make up light. In two-photon fluorescence, two photons hit the nanorod at the same time.
Because of the two-photon effect, the method might enable scientists to develop advanced "non-linear optical techniques" that provide better contrast than conventional technologies. Cheng is applying the two-photon fluorescence and other non-linear optical effects to develop imaging methods that provide improved contrast over conventional technologies.
The researchers injected the nanorods into mice and then took images of the tiny structures as the nanorods flowed through blood vessels in the animals' ears. Individual nanorods proved to be 58 times brighter than the two-photon fluorescence from a single rhodamine molecule. Within a half hour after being injected, the nanorods could no longer be observed in the animals' blood, presumably because the rods had been filtered out of the blood by the kidneys.
"To be able to detect cells at an early stage of disease such as cancer, it is important to have a reliable technique that has sensitivity at the single-particle level," Wei said. "The gold nanorods demonstrate that Cheng's nonlinear imaging methods are capable of this level of detection."
The research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and is affiliated with the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Bindley Bioscience Center, both in Purdue's Discovery Park, the university's hub for interdisciplinary research.
The research paper was written by Haifeng Wang, a postdoctoral research associate in biomedical engineering; Terry B. Huff, a graduate teaching assistant in chemistry; Daniel A. Zweifel, a graduate student in chemistry; Wei He, a graduate research assistant in chemistry; Low; Wei; and Cheng.
Source: Purdue University


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Israel fires warning shots into Syria for first time
| Jerusalem
Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the first time on Sunday, firing warning shots into the neighboring country after a stray mortar shell from across the border hit an Israeli military post.
The Israeli military said the mortar fire caused no injuries or damage at the post in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and then annexed. But in recent weeks, incidents of errant fire from Syria to the north have multiplied, leading Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible for fire on Israeli-held territory.
"A short while ago, a mortar shell targeted an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) post in the Golan Heights," said army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich. "We answered with a warning shot toward Syrian areas. We understand this was a mistake and was not meant to target Israel and then that is why we fired a warning shot in retaliation."
The Israeli military also said it filed a complaint through United Nations forces operating in the area, stating that "fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity." Israel returned fire with an anti-tank missile.
Nineteen months of fighting and the mounting chaos engulfing the regime of President Bashar Assad have already spilled across borders with Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. The danger of drawing in Israel as well to a wider regional conflagration is one of the worst-case-scenarios for the civil war.
Violence also flared Sunday on Syria's northern border with Turkey, a common flashpoint. Syrian army forces backed by helicopter gunships and artillery attacked a border area with Turkey after rebels captured a crossing point, activists said.
The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Ras al-Ayn border area in Syria's northeast was "under siege" as dozens of rebels tried to hold onto the border crossing.
The upheaval has largely had no direct impact on Syria's bitter foe Israel, and their shared border has remained mostly quiet, as it has been since a 1974 cease-fire.
Still, Israel worries that Syria's civil war could spill across into the Golan – a concern made more immediate by multiple cases of errant fire in recent weeks and Israel's claim that three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone on the plateau this month for the first time in 40 years.
Israeli officials do not see PresidentAssad trying to intentionally draw Israel into the fighting, though they have raised the possibility of his targeting Israel in an act of desperation. Israeli officials have repeatedly said it is only a matter of time before Assad's regime collapses.
Over the weekend, Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon said Israel recently conveyed several messages to Syria and Damascus had "conducted itself appropriately." He did not elaborate.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet that Israel is "closely monitoring" the border with Syria and is "ready for any development."
Earlier, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned, "If a shell falls, we will respond."
Israel fears that if Assad's regime is toppled, the country could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists or descend into sectarian warfare, destabilizing the region.
It also is afraid that Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons and missile could fall into the hands of its Lebanese ally, the Hezbollah guerrilla group, or other anti-Israel militants if Assad loses power.
The aftermath of Egypt's revolution has also provided Israel with reason to worry about its frontier region with Syria: Egypt's Sinai desert on Israel's southern border has turned even more lawless since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February 2011, and Islamic militants are now more easily able to use it as a launching ground for strikes against southern Israel.
Fighting in Syria on Sunday was centered around Ras al-Ayn, in the predominantly Kurdish oil-producing northeastern province of al-Hasaka. An Associated Press cameraman on the Turkish side of the border said he heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke rise on the Syrian side.
On Friday, rebels overran three security compounds in the town, wresting control from regime forces, and the fighting there touched off a massive flow of refugees two days ago.
The violence in Syria has killed more than 36,000 people since an uprising against Assad's regime began in March 2011. Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting into neighboring Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Another 11,000 escaped Friday into Turkey following the surge of fighting at Ras al-Ayn.
The mayor of the nearby Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, Ismail Aslan, said the number of refugees had slowed significantly on Sunday. But Turkish soldiers at the border turned back some of the refugees who had arrived late last week and wanted to return to Ras al-Ayn, saying the area was not secure.
In Qatar, Syrian opposition groups resumed talks on forging a more cohesive and representative leadership as the US and other Western countries have advocated.
Ali Sadr el-Din Bayanouni, a former Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader, said opposition groups planned to elect a president and other top officials later Sunday to an umbrella group backed by the US and host Qatar. None of the opposition movements backs dialogue with Assad's regime, he said.
The United States has grown increasingly frustrated with the opposition's inability to overcome deep divisions and rivalries, and has called for a leadership that can rally wider support among activists fighting the Assad regime.
The Syrian National Council, the main opposition faction, is dominated by exiles and has been criticized by the US for not including a broad enough representation, especially of those fighting and dying on the front lines. The SNC said it expects to have 22 seats on the new, 60-member council.
"We need unity for the opposition," said George Sabra, the newly elected leader of the SNC. "This is an important step."
* Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Mehmet Guzel in Ceylanpinar, Turkey, and Abdullah Rebhy in Doha, Qatar, contributed reporting.


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Boston, MA – Blauer announced today that it has achieved third party certification of its WZ9435 XRT suit for use with Avon Protection's popular C50 and FM12 respirators. The certification is a milestone for US law enforcement and government agencies that have adopted the Avon respirators and have been unable until now to wear them with a chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear (CBRN) protective suit as part of an NFPA certified ensemble. Blauer and Avon have been in collaboration since 2008 to jointly develop an interface solution that would meet all of the performance requirements of the NFPA 1994 (2007 edition) standard. Blauer is currently the only CBRN suit manufacturer to achieve certification with Avon's C50 and FM12 masks. The newly certified combination of Blauer's XRT suit and Avon's respirators is fully eligible for Homeland Security grant funding.
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House Rabbit Community and Store
OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS. SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED. We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best.
BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn't eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don't have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
What are we about? Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules.
The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.
Anyone want to share stories about your bunny that really show off his/her personality?
What a great question.
My big white sweet and loving bunny Jack is really a very emotionally expressive bunny. (though my other two, of course, also have emotions, they just express it through more subtle body language)
I first met Jack at Animal Care and Control when I was taking pictures of their rabbits for the local House Rabbit Society. Jack would lunge,huff and growl, but then afterward he'd get this adorable expression on his face with his brows turned down in a sad scared look (yes, the top of his eyes, his brow bone area, turns down when he's scared or upset.) I've never seen it so obvious on any bunny before. It almost looks like how dogs express sadness.
Anyway, I felt for him so much, and I reached in to take him out of his pen so I could get a better picture, and he just settled right down and became a sweet gentle bunny.
I ended up fostering him. (later adopting him)
I put him in the bathroom the first night where I knew it would be quiet and he would be away from my other bunnies. I told my husband to offer Jack a treat each time he put his hand down to pet Jack, but that Jack would first growl very loud, but I told my husband not to worry because Jack wouldn't bite,
Well, the next morning, I heard my husband yell something about "Crazy Bunny"as he raced out of the bathroom.
"Uh, Oh!" I said, "Did he bite you?"
My husband said, "No, but did you hear that growl?!!, He sounds like a dog, and he flew out at me. He scared the $#%! out of me!"
Anyway, Jack never did bite us, EVER, and so we learned to close our eyes when we reached out to him with a treat, and then we'd pet him – he loved affection once he realized that was another thing hands were good for. And soon he stopped lunging and growling.
Now he does binkies everyday before he gets fed, and when his girl Rucy has left his side and comes back,and just because he's happy to be out and about! (That's why I can get pictures of him binkying – I have so many chances)
If he's upset about being shooed from a naughty chewing spot he'll huff and growl, unless he's feeling playful, then he'll just do another binky on his way out.
When he wants affection, he'll come over and nose us, or stand nearby in a "chocolate bunny" stance and eye us. Then if he even thinks we're going to pet him, his brow goes up, his eyes get wide, and he pushes he head quickly toward our hands, and then as soon as our fingers touch his head, he presses his chin to the ground, still with his eyes wide – looking excited to be pet, then when he realizes we're there for more than a passing scratch, he closes his eyes completely with relaxation.
If he thinks we're making too much noise putting the dishes away, he'll hide in his house, but poke his head out with that "sad puppy" face, and we know we need to be more quiet for his sensitive ears.
I could go on and on about what an expressive personality he has. He is so easy to read with that flexible brow of his! He's such a fun bunny to be around, I can't believe anyone ever gave away such a gem. But we are so blessed to have him. He can really make a the roughest of days better – I know that's sooo sappy, but it's true.
Our previous bunny 'Missy' was a star! She was a single house rabbit and we doted on her – i know this probably made her worse – but she was so clever! When i went looking for a rabbit i went to the pet shops and there was no dwarf lops and i thought that was it, but something made me go back to a certain one and there she was, she was hiding before behind a bigger rabbit, but this time she came out. When i bought her i was told that she was a dwarf lop, but it turned out that she wasn't lop at all and her ears were all over the place, mostly one straight out to the side and the other slightly up at an angle… a bit like a helicopter. you could tell whet she was thinking by the position of her ears.
In the end she didn't have a cage she just had her area in our dining kitchen, next to the patio doors so she could look out into the garden. When we were home she had the run of the house.
She knew when it was bedtime and sometimes when we would stay up late, she would come in to see us in the lounge at our 'normal' bedtime, but when she realised we were staying up she would go upstairs to bed on her own!! we would find her dozing in the bedroom, but she always woke up as she knew that we took a treat to bed for her! She even slept next to me under the duvet a couple of times towards the end of her life!
In the mornings at 7.30 (every morning) she would jump on the bed to say that she wanted her food! (She had the habbit of weeing on the bed sometimes when we wern't expecting it so each time she jumped up we had to be alert) she probably thought we were doing just what she wanted, and did it even more!!
When we sat on the sofa she would nudge her head under our feet so that we stroked her head (she wasn't fussy about it being a hand – so long as she was fussed)
When she went through sexual maturity she absolutely adored my husband and whenever he would lie on the floor she would jump on him, licking him, and grunting, and doing things i thought lady bunnies shouldn't do!!! During this time when it was bedtime, we would try to coax her into the kitchen, but if she didn't want to go she would growl and charge at us for disturbing her – it was so funny!
When ever i would be preparing any kind of food she was there, just looking so damn pretty, waiting patiently for me to praise her for being 'beautiful' with a tip bit. I ever managed to get to 'sit up' for treats, butt his didn't happen every time, only when she was in the mood.
We were only blessed with her for just under 4 years, she had dental problems, but we did whatever we could to help, and she was so brave every time. In the end she died at home and we were both there with her ( i know it sounds pathetic but i'm just glad she wasn't alone – if only they could talk)
I just wanted to say how special she was to us and that rabbits aren't just supposed to live in cages in the garden! If it wasn't for Missy being such an angel we wouldn't have Mable and Booboo now – but thats a whole different story!
Oh, what a precious story. I am sorry for you loss though. I know that had to have been hard. Thank you for sharing how wonderful she was. I completely agree with you about where bunnies should stay. When they are living with you, you can really see their personality and enjoy them to the fullest!
it sounds like Missy was a very special bunny *hugs*
I'm sure glad Jack was all bluster and no bite! He does have a really expressive way about him, even from his photos it's apparent!
Pepper is such the trickster/troublemaker and I love that about her, she makes me laugh so much. Some examples of her bunny'tude; I was watching TV upstairs when I wanted to come back down with me I called to her and took a couple steps and looked back, took a few more steps and looked back and called her, I got to the door and she rose up from the "meatloaf" position she was in, stretched her front legs and yawned stretched her back legs, looked at me and flopped over legs sprawled out like "yeah, yeah I got it, you want me to follow but I'm not going anywhere". Then another night she was behind the couch and started pulling at the carpet which she knows is a big no-no my mom looked back at her and told her to come out from behind the couch. Pepper did her big dramatic flop and layed her head down and closed her eyes so my mom sits back down. A minute later she hears the unmistakable sound of bunny teeth pulling at the carpet, mom peeks at her agian and agian she flops over "I'm not doing anything, just relaxing back here." So my mom sits back down, the third time she was not fooled and Pepper got scooped up and put back in her cage.
Then her cage is by some curtians in the living room she liked to pull the curtians into her cage and gnaw on them, they were old worn curtians anyways so my mom decides to just cut them off a couple inchs above her cage so she can't pull them in anymore. Well, Pepper was out when she started to do this so Pepper runs over and puts herself between my mom and the scissors even batting at the scissors to try and get her to stop cutting. When that wasn't working Pepper runs into her cage and starts furiously pulling the curtians into the cage so she can't cut them, actually getting in a tug of war. Pepper lost in the end and sulked for a couple days after that.
Another funny story, while she is getting used to the new addition of Boofa and doesn't show agression anymore she still isn't happy about it and shows this by leaving a poop fence around
Boofa's cage when she is out. Well my mom was trying to clean this up and again Pepper runs over trying to interfer. When my mom finally got all the poops swept into a dust pan and goes to walk away, Pepper grabs the dust pan in her teeth, yanks it away and does a big flip with her head flinging poops everywhere in all directions. ROFLMAO!!!
Now Boofa is just the biggest lover and the most jovial of bunnies, I have more pictures of the floor or the wall because I am not fast enough with the trigger finger and Boofa seems to be a perpetial series of binkies and head flips and running the bunny 500. I can usually only get a picture when Boofa is napping. Boofa is also the most fearless of bunnies, exploring everything and I have never seen startled or scared of anything.
Here are some pictures of my fur babies I FINALLY got downloaded, Boofa is the lop-eared one and Pepper is the other one. LOL
Phanriver – What a funny character Pepper is.
Great pictures!!! I love the last one Pepper on the top of her thrown there. Like she's saying…"yeah, you just try it missy!"
Oh yeah – I have a real little divabun on my hands.
My Pepper was not satisfied with the quality or freshness of her hay last week. I put off dumping the litter and freshening the hay because I was having a party on Saturday and wanted everything to be all nice and neat.
I came home on Friday to find that she had dragged her hay-box out into the middle of the kitchen floor and pooped in it! Right – I'll get right on that then…..
She's going to start demanding an entourage any day now.
wendyzski, your bunnies are absolutely adorable!!! i love black bunnies, they're so pretty. at first when i saw the pics, i thought pepper and boofa were the same bunny and i thought, "wow, look how their ears can go from lopped to all the way up!!!"
OMG i love that last pic of pepper!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clarification – I have a bun named Pepper – so inspired by PhanRiver's bunny, but also because it seemed to fit her personality. She's a black and white lop mix.
The lovely Pepper and Booh pictured in this thread belong to PhanRiver.
Maybe I'll start referring to my bun on here as Pepper Z?
lol Wendy – I guess Pepper is the popular bunny name 🙂
My one and a half year old mini rex Sophie is my child. When I am doing anything other than gazing lovingly at her, she gets ridiculously jealous. Like a child, I will be on the phone talking and she will start scratching at my leg. If I am sitting reading a book, she immediately jumps in my lap, with herself between me and the book and starts climbing up my chest. Oh yes, she has a personality. When I call her "naughty" she binkies and shakes her butt at me and then runs away. It's the cutest thing I have ever seen!
She sounds adorable!!! What a cutie pie. Would love to see pictures or video. I'll post them to the gallery.
Note: I will FINALLY be posting new pictures and video next week when we have this site on a new server to prevent it from suffering fro SLOTHalitis… or extremely slow! So as soon as we have that fixed, I can post new stuff!


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Luke the Righteous of Greece
February 7
Saint Luke was the descendant of a family from Aegina which, because of the frequent invasions of the Saracens, left Aegina and dwelt in Phocis, where the Saint was born in 896. From his earliest childhood Luke ate neither flesh, nor cheese, nor eggs, but gave himself over with his whole soul to hardship and fasting for the love of heavenly blessings, often giving away his clothing to the poor, for which his father punished him. After his father's death he secretly left home to become a monk, but the Lord, inclining to the fervent prayers of his mother, made him known, and he returned to her for a time to care for her. For many years he lived as a hermit, moving from place to place; he spent the last part of his life on Mount Stirion at Phocis, where there is a city named Stiris. The grace of God that was in him made him a wonder-worker, and his tomb in the monastery of Hosios Loukas, famous for its mosaics, became a source of healings and place of pilgrimage for the faithful. According to some he reposed in the year 946; according to others, in 953.
Apolytikion of Luke the Righteous
First Tone
O God of our Fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by their entreaties guide our life in peace.
Kontakion of Luke the Righteous
Plagal of the Fourth Tone
God, Who by judgments known to Him chose thee ere thou wast formed that thou, O Luke, mightest be right well-pleasing unto Him, from the womb made thee His own and He sanctified thee; as His own true faithful servant hath He shown thee forth and hath set aright thy footsteps, ever guiding thee as the Friend of man; thou rejoicest before Him now.
Blessed Feast Day
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Each year, the folks at SB Nation preview their teams for the rest of the world to see. This "Cliffs Notes" preview is a snapshot of the team from the Valley of the Sun. We do know that "he who was MVP" is no longer running the show, but we're ready to move on to the next era.
Team Name: Phoenix Suns
Last Year's Record: 33-33 (10th place in the West)
Key Losses: Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Josh Childress, Hakim Warrick, Michael Redd, Ronnie Price, Robin Lopez
Key Additions: Luis Scola, Michael Beasley, Goran Dragic, Wesley Johnson, Kendall Marshall, Jermaine O'Neal
1. What significant moves were made during the off-season?
Welcome to the rebuilding era of the Phoenix Suns. The two faces of the franchise, Steve Nash and Grant Hill, have both found new homes in Los Angeles, Nash with the Lakers and Hill with the Clippers. For the first time in eight years, the Suns are without their franchise point guard and two-time MVP. It was a tough pill to swallow.
Childress met the amnesty axe ending his brief and disappointing stint with the Suns. Michael Redd remains floating in the free agency pool and Ronnie Price has found a new home backing up Damian Lillard and Nolan Smith in Portland. Warrick and Lopez have both been shipped off to New Orleans.
Enter: the New Guys. With the 13th overall selection in the 2012 NBA Draft, the Suns chose North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall. Marshall might not start right off the bat because of the return of Goran Dragic and the solid play of Sebastian Telfair last season, but I can see Phoenix handing him the reigns to the team within the next two seasons. Winning the amnesty auction for Scola gives the Suns a pretty decent inside presence with him and double-double machine Marcin Gortat. Phoenix also is taking some risks by signing Michael Beasley and Jermaine O'Neal and hoping Wesley Johnson contributes more than he did in Minnesota.
2. What are the team's biggest strengths?
Outside observers, at first glance, won't have many good things to say about the new-look Phoenix Suns. They see that Nash is gone and has left thousands of fans with out-of-date No. 13 jerseys. I see something different. I see a Suns team that finally has youth at its foundation and a high ceiling for potential.
Besides Hill and Nash, the Suns lost five role players. With Scola, Beasley and Dragic, they have gained three potential starters. Kendall Marshall has potential to be a franchise point guard. Markieff Morris is coming off a strong rookie campaign. Shannon Brown and Jared Dudley are joined by Wesley Johnson to give Phoenix a young, fast offensive-core that has potential for excitement.
With a team this young, chemistry is vital for youth to either be their strength or their weakness.
3. What are the team's biggest weaknesses?
The weakness of the team is that they lack consistency. For eight years, they had one of the best guards that the NBA has ever seen. The Suns knew who was going to be leading them, who was going to deliver night in and night out and who was going to have the ball with the game on the line. That consistency is gone. Nobody knows who is going to take that last shot.
The other weak aspect of the team is that they lack size. Besides Gortat and Scola, Phoenix doesn't possess another big man who can bring in rebounds and provide stability in the paint. Markieff Morris is inconsistent and Jermaine O'Neal has not been able to prove he can remain healthy. The Suns might have to employ a lot of small-ball lineups that spot Beasley or Johnson at the four. Losing Channing Frye for the season, if not his career, was a blow in this area. I would not be surprised if the Suns go with a big man in the next draft or try to make a move for one during the season.
4. What are the goals for the team?
The main goal for this team should be to remain competitive for a fringe playoff spot. I understand that is a very optimistic goal, but that's why it is exactly that … a goal. Realistically, Phoenix needs to show that they are a unified team. They need to demonstrate that they can be competitive in their post-Nash era.
The Suns front office has to prove with action that they believe the team has a chance. They have to show that they are willing to spend, build and create a team that will be competitive in the near future. No more treading water.
5. Is there any hope for the Phoenix Suns in the future?
Yes. Although next year's draft class is considerably weaker than the 2012 class, there are some viable prospects that can fit well with the Suns. Phoenix has a youthful core that has potential, plus a boatload of draft picks and cap space, to give the Suns a bright future and create some excitement on the court. I think that in order for the Suns to be a real threat in the Western Conference, they need to add size and a consistent scoring threat.


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Nissan Pathfinder Concept
Nissan's Classic SUV Finds a New Path
Having just celebrated 25 years in the U.S. market, the Nissan Pathfinder is about to transform from the capable truck-based ute we know today into a very different seven-passenger crossover. The coming change in philosophy is reflected in the Nissan Pathfinder Concept debuting at the 2012 Detroit auto show -- a thinly veiled look at the 2013 Pathfinder slated to go on sale this fall.
The Pathfinder Concept looks much like its Infiniti JX35 platform-mate dimension-wise, but features an edgier front end. A pair of large headlights angle in toward the redesigned chrome grille, while a character line that begins at the edge of the grille flows across the hood, through the doors, and ends at the corner of the taillight. Though the fenders aren't nearly as pronounced as on previous models, Nissan calls them muscular and "wheel-oriented." A relatively low beltline and thin D-pillars, which lack the characteristic kink of the JX, help to further differentiate the Pathfinder from the Infiniti.
Nissan says the Pathfinder's transition to a unibody platform (the first time since the second-generation model's introduction in 1996), gave its designers more flexibility with interior packaging and allowed them to sculpt a more aerodynamic exterior. The Pathfinder concept makes use of front and rear spoilers, one mounted on the hatch and one integrated into the front valance, along with rear tire deflectors and suspension fairings. Nissan expects these upgrades to place the Pathfinder up there with the best in the segment when it comes to aerodynamic performance. Another benefit of the Pathfinder's unibody construction is an expected weight reduction compared to the outgoing body-on-frame design. Both changes should help improve the 2013 Pathfinder's fuel economy numbers.
Also helping the Pathfinder in the efficiency department is its drivetrain, which is comprised of Nissan's next-gen Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) and a more refined V-6 engine, likely the same 3.5-liter unit to be offered in the JX. Details on the exact engine are slim at this point, though Nissan says the displacement will be lower than the current 4.0-liter V-6 with nearly the same horsepower. The JX35's V-6 is rated at 265 hp and 248 lb-ft, so you can expect output figures for the Pathfinder to be in that ballpark. Nissan projects that the new drivetrain will deliver 25 percent better fuel economy over the previous V-6 Pathfinder, and says the crossover will also have competitive towing capacity.
Though the Pathfinder is swapping platforms and going the crossover route, Nissan says the vehicle will balance capability, technology, and of course increased comfort to meet the needs of ever-changing SUV customers. Nissan also says the Pathfinder will retain its ability to haul recreational gear, and can navigate through unfavorable weather thanks to all-wheel drive. Like the JX, the Pathfinder will likely also be offered in front-wheel drive.
Most of the ruggedness of the outgoing model was sacrificed to make way for a more comfortable and versatile interior. Nissan hasn't revealed many details just yet, but says it will offer full-size roominess, excellent legroom in all three rows, and sufficient cargo room behind the third row. A panoramic dual-panel moonroof with sliding front panel will be available. From the front seat, the upscale treatment of the new Pathfinder is immediately apparent, with a thick four-spoke steering wheel, large instrument cluster with central information display, pushbutton start, and large flanking touch-screen display. The center stack is laid out neatly, with lots of wood trim surrounding the buttons and just a hint of chrome. Wood accents can also be found in the front doors, though the rest of the interior has a conservative, monotone feel. Second-row occupants get headrest-mounted entertainment displays, along with A/V inputs and power outlets.
While the new Pathfinder is forsaking its off-road capability in the name of better passenger- and stuff-hauling ability, Nissan believes this is what its customers want. While there's certainly a place for a seven-passenger crossover in Nissan's lineup, the decision to call that primarily pavement-bound vehicle a Pathfinder will likely be controversial. We'll have to wait until the production model makes its way into our garage to see if the nameplate has lost its identity completely.
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Notice Number: NOT-OH-12-801
Key Dates
Release Date: January 20, 2012
Issued by
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
This Notice is to inform grantees with active grants awarded under (U19) RFA-OH-11-001 that they may submit revision applications for projects that were not funded as part of their new or renewal Center award in FY-11.
Only unfunded projects in the new or renewal center applications will be considered. Centers that were fully funded in FY-11 are not eligible to apply.
Submitting an Application
Applications submitted in response to this Notice for Federal assistance must be submitted in paper format. The total project period for these applications may be up to 4 years, and may not exceed the project period of the center award. Revision applications will be required to have an introductory page explaining the revisions to the original application. These projects should apply under the name of the PI awarded for the center grant. Application materials may be obtained from https://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html.
Applications should be submitted no later than February 28th, 2012.
Applications to this FOA will be received at the Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health. Submit a signed, typewritten original of the application, including the checklist and three signed photocopies in one package to:
Center for Scientific Review
National Institutes of Health
6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 1040, MSC 7710
Bethesda, MD 20892-7710 (U.S. Postal Service Express or regular mail)
Bethesda, MD 20817 (for express/courier service; non-USPS service)
Personal deliveries of applications are no longer permitted (see https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-040.html).
At the time of submission, two additional paper copies of the application and 5 CDs of the appendix materials (if any) must be sent to:
Price Connor, Ph.D.
Office of Extramural Programs
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Mailstop E-74
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Fax 404-498-2571
Email: email@example.com
For scientific/research inquiries, contact: Adele Childress, Ph. D., (404) 498-2556 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
For peer review inquiries, contact: Price Connor, Ph.D., (404) 498-2511 or email@example.com.
Weekly TOC for this Announcement
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices
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Over at Facebook, Austen messages me with a tough question: If you had to buy a set of pliers who would you buy from?
Without any brand or budget criteria, I responded with the following:
Quick answer: Felo from KC Tool or NWS from Lee Valley. Same tools, different selection and maybe availability. Lower budget? Channellock from Amazon.
Knipex are also good. Certain Klein, and I like Proto for specific jaw styles. But if I had to pick just one, it would be NWS or Felo.
Okay, so I actually don't know which would be the best pliers, so I answered about my favorites. Since I tend to favor tools that serve me better, that kind of works, right?
Lee Valley started carrying NWS pliers a few years ago, and KC Tool has good pricing on Felo's NWS-made pliers. Our coupon code makes the pricing even better.
I do like NWS's black-finish pliers, but the chrome-finish Felo pliers I recently ordered look like they'll hold up just as good.
The bottom line is this – if you ask me for pliers recommendation, I'll offer these NWS-pliers as my top pick. I can produce other recommendations if given more criteria.
If you want USA-made, I'd point to Channellock and Proto, maybe Wilde too. Klein for certain styles. Western Forge? Okay, but my Craftsman-branded Western Forge pliers are my least favorite.
Knipex is usually a good bet, when it comes to European brands, but I like NWS-made pliers better.
Too bad that Irwin stopped offering their NWS-made pliers and replaced them with similarly-styled pliers made in Taiwan.
I posted about NWS vs. Knipex pliers back in 2015, and I pretty much said the same thing then. Between those two brands, I preferred NWS, and still do.
These pliers aren't inexpensive, but they're not outlandishly expensive, either.
Buy Now(via KC Tool)
Buy Now(via Lee Valley)
If you're looking for precision pliers, Tronex are spectacular, but pricey, and Xuron are inexpensive, but still managed to be made in the USA. There are other recommended brands in between these two. Maybe that's a discussion for another post.


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One of the hardest hit areas is west suburban Forest View. Homes, businesses and even the fire department were overcome by water. Many people were trapped in their homes and had to be rescued by boat Friday morning.
The suburb remained waterlogged on Friday, with entire blocks still submerged in water.
- PHOTOS: Fox River floods St. Charles, Geneva
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- PHOTOS: Severe weather, flooding pictures
Thursday's torrential rains left the village's fire department underwater.
With the help of neighboring fire districts, fire officials set up shop in an elementary school until waters subside.
"We have about four feet of water. It came in so fast," said Deputy Chief Randall Kappmeyer, Forest View Fire Department.
Residents like Karen Stimach were forced from their homes without their family keepsakes.
"The pictures, things the kids made. My parents both passed away, we had momentos from them. Everything is just gone. But we're safe and we have to keep that in mind," said Stimach.
In nearby Stickney, until the flood waters crest, all residents in the southwest suburb can do is worry and wait.
"The neighborhood is like my family," said Stickney resident Leslie Sage. "I'm scared for all if us right now."
It's worse in Forest View, where entire blocks are underwater.
Forest View's fire department is flooded. With the help of neighboring fire districts, they've set up shop in an elementary school for now.
In the northern suburbs, a state of emergency was declared Friday in Lisle after at least 7 inches of rain soaked the village.
One man had to be rescued after he got stranded in his truck.
Residents at the Towers of Four Lakes Village apartment complex were evacuated to escape all the rising water.
"We have an indoor parking garage and every single car, completely flooded," area resident William Martin said.
Lisle and Woodridge fire officials went door-to-door checking to see if any other residents were trapped inside their homes.
And volunteers have been sandbagging this saturated community.
Displaced residents were taking refuge at Benedictine University and did not know whether they will return home.
Des Plaines resident Jose Perez says the water flooding in his basement continued to rise Friday even though the rain had stopped.
Down the road, the Des Plaines River continued to swell, rising to a record breaking 10.92 feet- the highest it has been in 27 years. It is expected crest at 11 feet at 7:00 p.m. on Friday evening, according to officials.
Voluntary evacuations are being offered in the Big Bend area of Des Plaines, adjacent to the Lion's Wood Forest Preserve where the river snakes through.
"I thought yesterday water would go down. Then this morning things got worse. You can see more water. It's worse than yesterday," said Perez.
As most people wait for the water to recede, 23 Des Plaines residents have been evacuated from their homes Friday morning.
Residents say they keep portable watercraft handy and are using them to escape.
"We had to get everything out if our basement because it is full of water and just leave with all our stuff," said Madison Kulbersh.
The family plans to return only after the waters subside- which could take days.
"Well we probably won't be coming back until we can walk on th street. I'm not going through that again," said Shannon Kulbersh.
Des Plaines' acting mayor has warned of the dangers of swollen waters and told the community to stay home Friday.
"If they have power electricity food, please stay home unless you have a life-threatening occurrence happening," said Mark Walsten, acting mayor.
Meanwhile, emergency management officials in Des Plaines closed several main roads because of flooding and set up sandbag stations for residents still battling the waters. Residents are urged to visit www.desplaines.org for more information.
Even farther north, in Wisconsin, state officials shut down a five-mile stretch of Highway 50 in Kenosha County because of flooding of the nearby Fox River.
The highway was closed Friday morning from about Highway 83 in Wheatland to Highway 75 near Paddock Lake.
Lindsay Schmidt of the state Department of Transportation says the closure is indefinite but the highway isn't likely to reopen before Saturday.
Meanwhile, in Naperville, the Eagle Street, Washington Street, Main Street and Jefferson Avenue bridges have all re-opened to traffic in time for the Friday evening rush hour, according to officials.
Some residents spent Friday cleaning up the mess as waters receded. The Naperville Department of Public Works asks residents who need to dispose of sand bags to contact them at (630) 420-6095 and provide their address for pickup. Sand bags should be placed out on the curb.
As the flood recovery continues, major roadways that will remain closed throughout the evening commute include Naper Boulevard from Abbeywood to Dunrobin and Washington Street south of Royce Road.
A map showing remaining road closures in Naperville can be viewed at www.naperville.il.us.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Unearthing the Ancient Near East
The ancient world, particularly those places mentioned in the biblical accounts, continues to fascinate and polarize people. RTB recommends using careful thinking when newsworthy archaeological finds are touted as either support for or against Scripture. Good questions to ask include: "How was the research conducted and documented?" and "Have other scholars verified the results?" and "Have any journals published the research related to the discovery?"
Fortunately, archaeologists have uncovered plenty of evidence that legitimately supports the Bible's claims. Check out these RTB resources for information on various intriguing discoveries.
- Old Testament Conflicts: A piece of Canaanite pottery dated to the tenth century BC, and other similar findings, testify to the intense conflict between Israel and the Canaanites and Philistines during the reigns of David and Solomon. Hugh Ross comments on these and other discoveries in a July 12, 2013 episode of Science News Flash (SNF).
- Ancient Currency: In November 2011, bronze coins found at the base of the Western Wall in Jerusalem and dated at 17 AD support the credibility of ancient historian Josephus, whose accounts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection provide important extrabiblical support for scriptural claims. Hugh covers this discovery and its value for Christian apologetics in the November 23, 2011 episode of SNF.
- Shekhem and Gath: In July of 2011, Yahoo! News posted articles on digs around these two ancient cities, both of which appear prominently in the Old Testament. RTB founder Hugh discusses the positive support this research provides for the Bible on the July 22, 2011 episode of SNF.
- Real Life "Atlantis": Archaeologist Jeffrey Rose's theory about civilizations submerged in the Persian Gulf backs up Genesis' descriptions of both the garden of Eden and Noah's flood. Hugh gives the details on Today's New Reason to Believe(TNRTB) and SNF.
- James Ossuary: This find caused controversy when certain groups declared the ossuary (burial box) to be a fake. Further investigation appears to prove them wrong—the ossuary is a legitimate find. RTB has covered the James Ossuary debate in a Reasons newsletter article by RTB apologist Greg Moore and most recently in a Take Two blog post by Krista Bontrager, RTB's dean of online learning.
- Dead Sea Scrolls: In July 2010, RTB editor Maureen Moser had an opportunity to tour an exhibit at Azusa Pacific University featuring Dead Sea Scroll fragments. The exhibit inspired her to research what role the scrolls play in the issue of biblical inerrancy.
- Existence of Edom: In 2009, archaeologists reported the discovery of a copper minethat supports biblical accounts of Edom, the land where Esau's descendants settled. RTB astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink covered this finding on TNRTB.
- Hezekiah's Tunnel: Radiometric dating of the tunnel built by Israel's King Hezekiahaffirms the Bible's historical accuracy. The RTB scholars listed this finding as number eight among their "Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2003 that Support RTB's Testable Creation Model" on Creation Update.


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InfoQ Homepage Presentations Eventually Consistent HTTP with Statebox and Riak
Eventually Consistent HTTP with Statebox and Riak
Bob Ippolito explains how to solve concurrent update conflicts with Statebox, an open source library for automatic conflict resolution, running on top of Riak.
Bob Ippolito is CTO and cofounder of Mochi Media, (now a subsidiary of Shanda Games) and creator of Mochi Web. Bob started using Erlang in 2006 to prototype an ad server, and it quickly became the de facto platform for building servers at Mochi. Bob's open source contributions to the Erlang community include mochiweb, statebox, egeoip and kvc.
About the conference
Software is changing the world; QCon aims to empower software development by facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in the enterprise software development community; to achieve this, QCon is organized as a practitioner-driven conference designed for people influencing innovation in their teams: team leads, architects, project managers, engineering directors.


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Employment and Anti-Discrimination Laws: An Introduction
Created by FindLaw's team of legal writers and editors | Last reviewed June 20, 2016
This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw's team of legal writers and attorneys and in accordance with our editorial standards.
The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area.
Almost every employer has certain obligations to its employees under federal employment and anti-discrimination laws, while state laws often provide additional protections for workers. Following is an employer-friendly primer on important federal employment and anti-discrimination laws, including the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you are an employee, see the Employment Discrimination section within FindLaw's Employment Law center.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The ADA protects those individuals who have a long-term physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a life activity. A "disability" under the ADA can include confinement to a wheelchair, vision and hearing problems, reliance on a cane or "walker," certain mental illnesses, and disorders of the muscular system.
Under the ADA, an employer (with more than 15 employees) must provide reasonable accommodations for disabled individuals protected under the act, and may not:
- Make employment decisions based on generalizations about the disability;
- Adopt detrimentally different pay scales, benefit programs or promotion opportunities for a protected individual or group;
- Negotiate and enter into contracts with other companies that would have the effect of discriminating against individuals or groups on the basis of disability;
- Discriminate against any employee with regard to terms of employment because a family member or friend is protected under the ADA; or
- Discriminate against protected individuals or groups through the use of pre-employment medical examinations, pre-employment inquiries about physical abilities, job descriptions and qualifications, absenteeism, and work safety.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
The ADEA is designed to protect individuals over the age of forty from discrimination based upon their age in hiring, promotion, and firing decisions.
The ADEA does not prohibit an employer from following a bona fide seniority system that may have the unintended affect of favoring certain employees, and the Act does allow age to play a factor in the rare circumstances where it is a bona fide occupational qualification. The ADEA applies to employers with 20 or more employees.
Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)
COBRA protects employees who have ended their employment (whether fired, resigned, or laid off) from losing coverage under a group health plan. The Act requires employers (with at least 20 employees) to offer such employees the right to a continuation of coverage
Equal Pay Act
The Equal Pay Act requires that employers pay male and female employees the same wage for performing the same job. In short, the Act mandates "equal pay for equal work." It does not address pay equities with respect to other characteristics, such as race or religion, but applies only to gender.
Note: Employers who are required to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are also required to comply with the Equal Pay Act.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
ERISA is a federal law that contains detailed requirements for certain employers who offer their employees a welfare benefit plan or retirement plan. An example of a welfare benefit plan is one providing health insurance to employees.
Note: For liability purposes, employers may have a rather inactive involvement in ERISA compliance; particularly where a "plan administrator" is utilized to ensure that reporting, disclosure, and payment obligations are complied with.
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Under the FMLA, employers must provide their employees with family leave. The Act allows for employees to take the equivalent of 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year due to the birth or adoption of a child, to attend to the "serious health condition" of an immediate family member, or to attend to their own "serious health condition."
Under the FMLA, a "serious health condition" is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which involves an overnight stay in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility, including any period of incapacity or any subsequent treatment in connection with that care.
The FMLA also requires that, after the twelve weeks of unpaid leave, the employee be reinstated to the same job (or an equivalent job if the original position is no longer available). FMLA applies to employers with at least 50 employees.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
The FLSA requires employers to comply with minimum-wage requirements. In addition, the FLSA contains provisions on overtime pay and child labor. Not every employer is required to comply with the FLSA, just employers who are engaged in interstate or foreign commerce and whose gross yearly sales total or exceed $500,000.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Title VII prohibits employers (with 15 or more employees) from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, or gender in all aspects of employment -- from recruitment through termination.
In order to comply with Title VII, an employer must make employment decisions on the basis of business necessity, rather than based upon a particular individual's membership in a protected class. However, there is a rarely (successfully) used exception to complying with Title VII, when there is a bona fide occupational qualification that requires an employee to possess a certain characteristic.
If you have questions about your obligations as an employer under the laws in your state, or wish to discuss your rights under the federal laws described below, talk with an employment law attorney in your area.
Next Steps
Contact a qualified business attorney to help you prevent and address human resources problems.


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A thousand little decisions go into the creation of a great product. Most are not in the specs or master plans. Instead, they are implemented by testers and programmers. Yet, these are the same people that are traditionally lampooned as geeky and out of touch with the target customers.
What would happen if the developers possessed a deep understanding of their customers needs and desires? Suddenly, those thousand little decisions aren't introducing random noise into the product. Instead, they are pushing the product forward. A single decision might not make much of a difference, but taken en mass, the momentum generated by enlightened developers can result in a massive reduction in design risk. You'll develop the right product sooner and with fewer errors.
You can't unfortunately just say "Dude, I looove my customers" and expect to get results. To harness the power of the passionate developer, you need the following pieces in place:
- Empowered developers
- Meaningful customer feedback
Empowered Developers
One philosophy is that we need better specs and those damned monkeys need to implement the specs exactly as designed. Better command and control system and more rigorous process is obviously the trick to success. This tends to generate poor results.
Imagine that you are a highly creative individual whose life is reduced to a series of highly detailed checkboxes that you are told to fill out one after another, day after day. If you deviate, you are punished and ridiculed. The results are gun-shy, non-communicative production workers that rely on obfuscation and deliberate bending of rules in order to express their innate creativity. Many wonder why they got into this dreary business in the first place. Others just give up.
When indentured coders and testers make design decisions, they lack both the experience and the desire to do the right thing for the user. They've been trained to take orders from management instead of building up an intimate empathy with their user. In the best of worlds, they implement uninspired versions of the features described in the specs.
In the worst of situation, they labor in secrecy, adding a little bit of their own uninformed creativity back into the product. When confronted with the havoc wreaked by Byzantine architectures and convoluted, unnecessary features, the humanoid production resources are surprisingly defensive. How can you be angry? They were just trying to salvage a small bit of their creative souls.
Such feature creep is not the fault of the individual testers or programmers. It is the fault of the team and management for turning a creative and invigorating process into menial labor where talented creators have no other option but to rebel.
We need a different philosophy based on passionate, educated team members that put the user at the center of their world. Developers gain the power to make their own decisions through their deep understanding of their customers.
Simple beliefs
Empowerment is a word that has been stripped of much of its initial meaning by the hippy liberals of the world, but the concept is rather simple. An empowered person is someone who has the ability to make their own decisions.
Let's look at some building blocks that need to be in place before you can have empowered developers. You need to believe these are true and the people on the team need to believe that they are true. If these foundational beliefs are weak, it is very likely that you'll end up falling back on command and control decision making structures in the face of emergencies or pressure.
- Developers are passionate people: Even technical people burn inside with an inner flame of intense creativity. It can be hidden. It can be misdirected. But you must believe that it exists. The other insight here is that developers are motivated by very human issues. Dream, fears, respect and social hierarchy have a greater impact on productivity than economic incentives or logical rules.
- Most decision should occur at the edges: Management serves a useful role in maintaining group cohesion. They rarely however, have intimate knowledge of the production issues experienced by individual workers. When developers at the edge with customer empathy are encouraged to solve problems that they happen across, a hundred issues that are invisible to managers start going away. A well functioning team is bursting with these small acts of 'goodness'. Over the course of a project, the momentum results in an order of magnitude improvement in product quality. The most important outcome of this philosophy is that the people who build a piece of customer work flow hold absolute responsibility for it's usefulness to the customer. "I'm just doing what I was told to do" is the vilest of attitudes.
- Encourage learning through failure and feedback: The urge to control production often stems from fear of others making mistakes. "The morons are going to just screw things up!" is a common refrain. If you remove the opportunity for people to make bad decisions, you slide rapidly down the slippery path of command and control. An empowered developer has permission to fail. In fact, rapid, low cost failure is actively encouraged since it is the single best way to learn about how to make the product better.
Customer feedback
Now we have a team of passionate people. They are solving problems at the edges and they have permission to fail. Wonderful! We still, however, are missing the most critical element. We need to build a strong customer feedback mechanisms that encourages the team to create a product that matters.
- Identify the customer
- Believe in the customer
- Get close to the customer
Identifying your customer is where an amazing number of teams fail. They become focused on a bit of technology and imagine that users will just appear out of the woodwork. The whole process of iterative product design requires an identified customer so that you can know when you are on the right track and when you need to change direction.
The first step is to write down your customer definition. You'll take into account market data, economics, opportunities that you've noticed and a billion practical details. It will feel like a very intellectual pursuit. The next step is to go out and find an actual, breathing human being who represents your customer. Customers are not data points. They are people that you can question, observe and befriend. The customer definition is just a tool that helps you narrow down your search. The real win is when you can get your customer in the room with your developers and they can drink a beer together. PBR FTW.
This isn't easy. You may not be able to find a single person who represents your typical customer. You may end up with multiple customers that represent different needs. You may find that people on the team had very different ideas of who the customer might be. You'll likely redefine your customer multiple times once you start talking with your initial customer prospects.
It is okay if it is hard. Don't give up. Choosing your customer is the single biggest product design decision that you will make over the course of your entire product's development. My belief is that no project should be green lighted for even minor development unless the team has had extensive conversations with an identified target customer.
Belief in the customer
The user of your product must be worthy of great passion. Remember, we are dealing with passionate developers thrive on living meaningful, creative lives. When the target customer is considered unworthy or boring, the development team will feel little urge to empathize or go the extra mile.
Product development is a service to others. The products we produce make someone's world a better place. The team must be able to explicitly articulate why it is worth spending years of their precious lives providing the target audience with a new bauble. If you can get everyone on the team to passionately proclaim that they wish to serve the customer, you have built a powerful unifying vision that will carry the team through hard times.
It is worth noting that practically any customer can be worthy of great passion. All customers are people with dreams and passions of their own. They have tricky problems that result in very emotional human costs. An important aspect of connecting the passion of the developers with the passion of the customer is to identify the human, emotional aspects of the customer problem and bring those to the attention of the team.
Get close to the customer
Once you've identified your customer, you need to figure out ways of gathering information about them. One of the great Zen mysteries of product design is that in order to successfully serve your customer is that you should never give them what they request. So you can't just grab a customer of the street and ask him to design your product. An average customer is good at identifying problems, but they are poor at prioritizing, understanding larger patterns and generating elegant solutions. That is your job. Your customer is there to let you know when you get things right and when you get things wrong.
The feedback cycle is pretty straight forward
- Identify a problem or opportunity
- Build a valuable solution that fits the available resources constraints.
- Present the solution to the customer and record their response. Do they realize the value of your solution?
- Use the data to identify new problems and opportunities. Look at the big picture and start the cycle all over again.
- Use your own product: Try to replicate what you see your users doing. Mimic the masters so that you understand their thought process by doing. This builds developer empathy with your customers and is one of quickest feedback cycles around. It also however, can be highly biased.
- Onsite customers: Make a customer or two part of the development team. You get very rapid feedback and lots of cultural transfer into the team. The downside is that customer objectivity can be polluted by constant contact with the team.
- Observe customers using your product: Set up usability studies and gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Every team should do this, but it can be expensive and feedback only happens in spurts.
- Hire psychologists and ethnologists to study your customers: You'll often gather key insights that would otherwise slip by someone not trained in methodical observation. Making these results actionable often takes additional work.
- Listen to lead users: Some users are actively solving the same big problems that you are attempting to solve, often years ahead of the market. Find them and learn from their successes and failures.
- Reduce feedback cycle time: The more quickly you can fail, the less effort you can put into each failure and the sooner your can correct your course
- Improve objectivity of results: It is easy to get biased results. Many of the issues dealing with customer psychology are fuzzy in the best of situations and the developer's own interpretations often dramatically skew the data.
- Improve clarity of results: With more data comes more noise. Boiling down the flood of information into actionable, meaningful results that the team can understand is an ongoing activity. Many teams collect customer information, put it in a binder and then never look at it again. If you don't act upon the customer feedback, it isn't useful.
I've laid out two pieces of a successful product design team. The first is empowered passionate developers and the second great user feedback. Without the first, user feedback is either ignored or fails to permeate the multitude of small decisions that go into building the product. Without the second, the team spirals off into wasteful directionless exploration.
The single biggest barrier to creating a team of developers that are passionate about their customers is the core cultural beliefs of the people already on your team. Chances are good that they rose to where they are today by mastering a traditional command and control style system. They've been personally rewarded throughout the years by checking off the check list or writing checklist for others. They got a big fat raise for staying late and adding those 12 new features from the spec. When the product fails, they are told, "We should have added those 6 more features that got cut because developers were so slow." The weak ones leave and the ones that are great at silently adding questionable features are promoted and promoted again. They are trained, their egos are invested. After five to 10 years of this, an experienced developer builds up an unshakable, unquestioned belief in command and control style development that only falters when they finally die off.
A thousand little successes do not start with a mandated policy. They begin to gain momentum when the role models within the company start acting upon the beliefs in concrete ways. This is where most process change breaks down. People say one thing, but revert back to habitual behavior when the going gets tough. They still believe, deep down, that the old method of command and control is less risky than trusting a team driven by passion and customer feedback.
Only when people on the team have personally experienced success using the new techniques and they've adopted new beliefs as a core of their personal philosophy will momentum sweep through the entire team. Several items need to be in place:
- The right people: You need a core group of people willing to believe in both developers and customers. These folks are rare since the current system isn't focused on producing them. If you find one, hire him or her immediately. The culture they bring to the team is worth as much as their skills alone.
- The right situation: Often people need to be in the middle of a failing project before they will consider that there might be alternatives.
- Time: Smart, strong people do not give up their culture overnight. After years of steady and obvious success, they'll start to shift. Start with a like-minded core and grow it slowly.
Yet no one does. It would require companies giving up their most fundamental beliefs about how software is designed and built. They would need to give control to the lowest people in the organization, embrace a constant stream of failure and put customers, not their creative urges, at the center of the design process. That, my friend, is scary. Product success is cool, but a shot a being Top Monkey in the current ineffective system is much more attractive.
Why are we in this business again? Where is our urge to build great and wonderful things that serve the world? It seems a shame to let tradition, habit and hierarchy get in the way.
Lately I've been contemplating a nuclear bomb of a statistic. 80% of software features are either never used or used very rarely by customers. Anyone who does software development should be staring at that number in shock. 80% of your sweat and tears has little to no customer value. In most cases, customers would be just as happy if you were to give them 1/5th of the existing product and make that little sliver work better. How much time and resources could you save if you only delivered the right features?
This in turn has gotten me thinking about the common software development practices, the ones that fixate on execution risk instead of design risk. What we build is just as important as the fact that we can crap out a product by Christmas.
Passionate developers that empathize and listen to feedback from customers form the foundation of an efficient team for one central reason: They are very good at reducing the risk of building the wrong product.
- Team members more readily identify areas of design risk that require iteration with customers.
- Any big design mistakes are caught early through customer feedback.
- Small decisions are made more rapidly with fewer errors.
Passionately yours,