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Photo: Peter Garnhum on flickr
(This article is frequently updated)Encouraged by the rise of China and India in the past decade, investors and economic commentators have eagerly looked toward other emerging market nations in hopes of finding "The Next China" – or at least the next country to supply the raw materials that China needs for its construction-driven growth boom and bubble (which entails the building of empty cities to create economic growth).
Furthermore, since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, investors have sought to invest in emerging markets as a way of diversifying away from investments in the heavily-indebted and slow-growing American and European economies.
Unfortunately, the vast ocean of "hot money" that has poured into emerging markets has created a massive economic bubble throughout nearly the entire emerging world, including overheating economies and property bubbles everywhere from Brazil to Indonesia to Turkey.
Ballooning asset prices and easy money has led to "luxury fever" as emerging market nations copy the spendthrift ways that contributed to the West's downfall just a few years earlier.
The Emerging Markets Bubble is a derivative of the bubbles in China and commoditiesand will pop when they inevitably do.
How the Emerging Markets Boom Started
The emerging markets boom started in approximately 2001, when China was admitted to the World Trade organisation (WTO) and Goldman Sach's Jim O'Neill coined the acronym "BRIC" (Brazil, Russia, India, China) to describe the "Big Four" fast-growing emerging market economies that were expected to surpass the developed G7 economies in size by the 2020s.
Each member of the BRIC nations had their own unique and complementary role: China was seen as the primary driver of growth with its rapidly developing manufacturing base, aggressive urbanization rate and extremely ambitious infrastructure development that occurred in the form of "mega-projects."
India became the world's offshoring and information technology services hot-spot and its booming middle class was seen as a new market for Western products. Natural resource-rich Russia and Brazil's role was to provide the raw materials needed for China and India's fast-paced urbanization and development.
As global commodities prices rose to unprecedented heights during the past decade, eventually becoming a bubble in their own right, other resource-rich emerging market nations from Indonesia to South Africa saw a powerful rise in their fortunes as well.
BRIC and emerging markets became a popular investment theme in the mid-2000s and became even more popular after the violent Crash of 2008 and Global Financial Crisis shook investor confidence in American and European investments.
Central banks in the United States and Japan reacted to the strongly deflationary 2008 meltdown by slashing and holding interest rates at nearly zero per cent (a policy known as ZIRP or Zero Interest Rate Policy) and by pursuing an unconventional monetary policy called quantitative easing (which can be considered a form of "money printing"), driving even more global investment capital into higher-earning investments in rapidly-growing emerging market nations.
How the Emerging Markets Bubble Inflated
Though emerging market economies and assets had slightly deflated during the most acute phase of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and early 2009, they quickly rebounded due to the incredibly stimulative monetary policies of global central banks.
China's $586 billion stimulus program [1], an economic defence measure, led to a sharp surge in economic activity as the country built massive infrastructure "mega projects," opulent government buildings and scores of entirely empty cities to create economic growth [2, 3, 4].
The combination of stimulative global monetary policies and China's construction-intensive (and thus natural resource-intensive) economic stimulus program caused commodities prices to roughly double from early-2009 until early-2011:
Photo: Bar Chart
Soaring commodities prices helped to boost the fortunes of resource-rich emerging market economies and cushioned them from a good portion of the West's economic suffering. (Note: not all emerging market economies that are currently experiencing bubbles are commodities exporters.)
In 2009 and 2010, emerging market asset bubbles began to strongly reinflate due to global carry trades in which investors borrowed capital from deflation-prone countries with low interest rates (like the U.S. and Japan) and deployed it into higher-yielding investments in non-deflation-prone economies such as those in emerging markets [5].
By late-2010, capital flows to emerging markets had risen to $825 billion – a level that exceeded the last peak in 2006-2007, while inflows to Asian economies rose 60% above their prior peak [6]. Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil and a trained economist, has frequently decried the large pool of speculative capital that has sought returns in emerging market assets, calling it a "liquidity tsunami" due to its ability to cause inflation, overheating and asset bubbles in emerging market economies [7].
The economic bubbles in Canada and Australia have inflated for similiar reasons (rising commodities prices & carry trades) as the emerging markets bubble.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's $600 billion Quantitative Easing 2 (QE2) program that began in the fall of 2010 caused commodities prices to surge and resulted in a new wave of fears over emerging market asset bubbles and economic overheating. In early 2011, the Bank of England's Andrew Haldane warned of emerging market asset bubbles due to capital inflows from advanced economies [8] and the IMF warned of "signs of overheating" in emerging market economies [9].
By the summer of 2011, emerging market economies were red-hot and The Economist magazine published a "temperature gauge" to show which emerging market economies were most overheated, with Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong and India at the top of the list [10]. Around the same time, Joachim Fels, a top Morgan Stanley economist, warned that the BRIC nations faced an "elevated risk of credit bubbles and rising defaults" [11] and BRIC banks began to show the signs of a credit crisis [12].
Emerging market economies and their equity markets have cooled somewhat since the summer of 2011 due to another flare-up of the Eurozone crisis, the ending of the U.S.' QE2 program in June 2011, the U.S. debt ceiling debate and credit rating downgrade and China's ongoing economic slowdown. Despite the slowdown in emerging market economies, their bonds and fixed income assets are still booming (along with their property markets) and attracting massive capital inflows [13], which is helping to fuel their explosive credit growth [14].
Now that emerging market central banks are pursuing looser monetary policies to boost economic growth (including the possibility of another Chinese stimulus package), it would not be surprising if economic overheating and stock market bubbles reared their ugly heads again in the future.
There is an Epidemic of Emerging Market Property Bubbles
The tsunami of global "hot money" has created an epidemic of international emerging market property bubbles in hubristic defiance of the lessons that should have been learned from the calamitous American and European real estate crashes. Naive emerging market property investors are most likely justifying their investments with the famous last words, "this time is different!"
(Note: the Emerging Markets Property Bubble is just one part of the "Post-2009 Global Housing Bubble" or "Housing Bubble 2.0" that I have identified. Other regions with major property bubbles are Australia, Canada and Northern & Western Europe. Please click on the links to learn more about this very important global housing bubble.)
Here are charts of just some (but not all) of the emerging market property bubbles:
China's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Hong Kong's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Taiwan's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
South Korea's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
India's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Singapore's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Malaysia's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Indonesia's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
The Philippines' Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
South Africa's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Israel's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Russia's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Serbia's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Brazil's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Argentina's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Colombia's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Uruguay's Property Bubble
Photo: The Bubble Bubble
Cheap credit and soaring real estate prices have led to rampant "bubble drunk" behaviour in emerging market countries. Singapore seems hell-bent on repeating the mistakes [15] made by Dubai during its mid-2000s bubble as it builds extraordinarily opulent vanity projects such as the Marina Bay Sands, the world's most expensive standalone resort that looks like a cruise ship (and has a massive pool on top of it) [16], and an artificial forest comprised of 150-foot tall biometric "supertrees." [17]
Singapore's bubble economy is fuelled by interest rates that are linked to the U.S.' ultra-low interest rates, which are far too low for Singapore's fast-growing and inflation-prone economy [18]. South Korea, whose citizens were among the best savers in world as recently as the late-1990s, now has the lowest savings rate in the OECD as its consumers have been binging on debt and spending so much money that they are beating notoriously profligate Americans at their own game.
The average South Korean adult has nearly five credit cards and the country's household debt burden exceeds that of the U.S. before the Global Financial Crisis [19, 20].
Brazilians have recently been on debt-fuelled international shopping spree for luxury-goods that has boosted the fortunes of Florida and New York City [21] (which is one of the many reasons why our post-2009 economic recovery is actually a "bubblecovery.") In India, where nearly 95% of the population lives on less than $2 per day, brand-addicted consumers are causing the luxury sector to boom [22] and Ferrari picked it as the country of choice to unveil its $687,000 FF four-seater [23].
While the West is mired in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the luxury sector has the emerging markets bubble to thank for its exploding sales, including a vigorous start in 2012 [24]. Very few people realise that Europe's economic situation would be far worse than it already is if it were not for the saving grace of booming luxury goods exports to emerging markets (another "bubblecovery" datapoint).
When the emerging markets luxury bubble pops, the severity of Europe's economic crisis will greatly increase.
Emerging market economies and investment assets are experiencing a bubble of enormous proportions as their investors and consumers make the very same mistakes that the West made just a few short years ago.
The Emerging Markets Bubble will pop when the bubbles in China and commodities prices pop and may lead to a crisis like the 1997 Asian financial crisis in the best-case scenario and a global depression in the worst-case, but highly likely scenario. Singapore and Hong Kong, with their finance and real estate-heavy island economies, may experience a similar fate to Iceland and Ireland in the 2008 financial meltdown.
This time isn't different.
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Production lines depend heavily on efficient and reliable boiler operation. This is why Grundfos' robust feeding pumps for steam boilers, hot water boilers and thermal oil boilers have been specially designed to offer optimum performance in even the most extreme conditions.
All Grundfos feeding pumps can be fitted with an integrated frequency converter to optimise processes in terms of temperature, pressure level and quality of steam. If make up of the water is part of the process, dosing pumps will ensure highly accurate dosing of any additive.
Steam: When it comes to feeding pumps, steam boilers are among the harshest and most challenging applications. The process involves high pressure, high ambient temperatures and a significant number of starts and stops that stress the pump. To accommodate the extreme conditions, Grundfos' multistage feeding pumps have been optimised in every aspect and are even capable of efficiently handling poor inlet conditions. The pumps can further be supplied with an air-cooled top that protects the shaft from any damage caused by the high temperatures – and with a monitor that will supervise the process and warn you about any deviances.
Hot water: Grundfos' single-stage shunt pumps for hot water boilers handle temperatures up to 110°C, ensuring that any process requiring hot water is sufficiently supplied – and that the water temperature in the boiler is constant.
Thermal oil: Thermal oil is a highly suitable alternative to steam in many processes, particularly where very high pressure is required. Grundfos' range of feeding pumps for thermal oil applications handles temperatures up to 240°C and comprises both single-stage and multistage models.
The very high temperature of hot liquids can be damaging to the pump and even destroy the shaft seal.
Grundfos offers specially designed solutions that handle liquid temperatures up to 240°C, including thermal oil.
The application's inlet conditions are poor.
An advanced Grundfos low-NPSH pump is available, efficiently reducing NPSH and eliminating cavitation.
In high-pressure applications like steam boilers, the pump is subject to demanding operating conditions.
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The Calder Corner
As a general rule, I will always list goals and assists and other noteworthy stats. If there is more to be noted, HF encourages our readers to talk about them below!
To establish uniformity among all the team pages and to increase the credibility of all the articles, all players listed on HF will follow the "Prospect Rules" to help readers in determining who is and isn't considered a prospect anymore.
1.A Prospect that has played 41+ games in NHL or 65+ games in two seasons is not a prospect anymore. A Prospect may sit on the graduated list until he has played 100 games in the NHL.
2.A Goalie prospect that has played 20+ games in NHL or 30+ games in two years has graduated.
3.A Prospect that has played 240+ games in AHL/IHL/ECHL is graduated.
4.Goalies that have played 4 seasons in the AHL/IHL/ECHL are considered graduated.
5.A Prospect that is over 24 is not a prospect anymore, with the exception of players who played in college
6.Any European player if played more than 225+ games in Elite league are no longer prospects or are considered graduated from the team page.
7.Any European goalie that has played 4 seasons in Elite leagues is no longer prospects or is considered graduated from a team page.
8.If a European or North American player has a combo of Elite/AHL/IHL/ECHL 100+ elite games and 125+ AHL/IHL/ECHL games or 225 combined. If they go over these criteria, they are no longer considered prospects or have become graduated players from the team pages.
9.Any European or North America goalie that has a combination of 4 seasons of Elite or AHL/IHL/ECHL league play, they are no longer considered prospects or have become graduated players from the team pages.


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On April 7, all but one of the U.S. House Republican members from Texas voted for H.R. 910 to prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. The vote came immediately after Texas experienced its driest March on record, and as nearly 98% of the state is experiencing drought conditions — including 60% in "severe" drought and 5% in "exceptional" drought (the most extreme category). By April 8, the Texas Forest Service warned that "critical drought conditions, high temperatures and high winds are combining to create a perfect storm for wildfire." On April 9, the Texas Forest Service responded to 16 fires that burned 65,181 acres, and said in a press release that wildfire weather conditions "could shape up to be among the worst in Texas history."
Earlier CSW post: Ben Santer on the attribution of extreme weather events to climate change
The following is reposted from the World Wildlife Fund climate blog:
Extreme Texas Drought & Wildfires Sharpen Contrast Between Texas Congressional Delegation's Climate Views and Conditions at Home
Published by Nick Sundt on Sun, 04/10/2011 – 15:44
On Thursday 7 April 2011, all but one of the Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas voted for H.R. 910 to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. One Texas Republican (Rep. Michael Burgess) abstained and one Texas Democrat (Rep. Henry Cuellar) also supported the measure. The measure passed the House (255 Ayes, 172 Nays), with no Republicans voting against it. They were joined by 19 Democrats.
EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act rests on an "endangerment finding" (Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act [PDF]) that determined that emissions of those gases threatens the health and welfare of Americans with a wide range of impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts and wildfires. See our 23 March post, In Texas Field Hearing, House Subcommittee To Attack EPA as State Faces Another Year of Devastating Drought, for additional details on what the EPA had to say about drought and wildfires.
Drought Intensifies and State Climatologist says "it is likely that drought frequency and severity will increase"
The vote came immediately after Texas experienced its driest March on record (see first figure below); and as nearly 98% of the state is experiencing drought conditions — including 60% in "severe" drought and 5% in "exceptional" drought (the most extreme category) (see second figure below).
The National Drought Summary from the National Drought Mitigation Center on 5 April reports:
"The first USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] soil moisture reports are out and they don't paint a pretty picture, with 86% of Oklahoma showing short or very short topsoil moisture conditions. Texas is reporting 90% short/very short as well. Other statistics provided by the National Weather Service (Austin/San Antonio WFO) show that Del Rio has reported only 0.31 inches of precipitation for October-March, the 2nd driest since 1906. Austin reported its 5th driest October-March since 1856 and San Antonio came in as the 12th driest October-March since 1871."
Conditions are likely to deteriorate further. The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook issued on 7 April and valid through June 2011 indicates that drought is likely to persist or intensify in Texas.
And in the long term? The Texas State Climatologist, John W. Nielsen-Gammon, says "it is likely that drought frequency and severity will increase in Texas" (from Chapter 2. The Changing Climate of Texas in (The Impact of Global Warming on Texas, 2nd edition, Edited by Jurgen Schmandt, Judith Clarkson and Gerald R. North).
Texas Forest Service: "A Perfect Storm for Wildfire"
By Friday (Conditions in Place for Dangerous Wildfire this Weekend, 8 April 2011), the Texas Forest Service warned that "critical drought conditions, high temperatures and high winds are combining to create a perfect storm for wildfire." On Saturday, the Texas Forest Service responded to 16 fires that burned 65,181 acres, and it said in a press release (Wildfire Weather Imminent for Sunday, 9 April 2011) that wildfire weather conditions today (Sunday) "could shape up to be among the worst in Texas history." It added:
"Key weather factors include pervasive drought conditions, sustained winds of 30 – 35 mph – gusting up to 50 mph, high temperatures and low relative humidity. These weather conditions along with record-dry vegetation increase the potential for wildfires not only starting but also spreading quickly."
Early this morning, the National Weather Service issued a "red flag warning" for "all of the south plains…rolling plains… And extreme southern Texas panhandle …damaging wildfires possible as an ongoing regional wildfire outbreak is likely to intensify this afternoon."
While this particular outbreak will eventually subside, the rest of the fire season promises more of the same. In its Wildland Fire Outlook – April through July 2011, the National Interagency Fire Center on 1 April said that "[a]bove normal significant fire potential will spread north and west to encompass approximately the southeastern half of Arizona and persist over much of New Mexico into west Texas for May through July."
After wildfires in late February burned over 88,000 acres and destroyed 58 homes in Western Texas, Texas Forest Service spokesman Lewis Kearney said: "With the drought pattern Texas has had, fire season now is almost running 12 months out of the year. I mean that's not normal." (see TX Forest Service: More than 86,000 Acres Burned Sunday, KTXS News, 28 Feb 2011)
As we noted in our 23 March posting, Forrest Wilder said on 24 Feb 2011 in the Texas Observer (Rising Seas Could Swamp Some Texas Cities By 2100):
"While Republicans in Congress, led by members of the Texas GOP delegation, work to defund and defang the EPA, climate change – and the science of climate – marches on. The GOP's willful suspension of trust in what ever-mounting evidence –and dare I say, common sense? –tells us is happening to the planet is not just short-sighted. It's reckless."
Online Resources:
WWF Climate Change Blog:
- In Texas Field Hearing, House Subcommittee To Attack EPA as State Faces Another Year of Devastating Drought 03/23/2011
- U.S. House of Representatives Considers Amendments to Eliminate Support for International Climate Change Assessment . Fri, 02/18/2011
- Texas Congressman in Copenhagen Dismisses Climate Science: "We don't have an icecap in Texas" 12/23/2009
Texas Forest Service:
- Conditions in Place for Dangerous Wildfire this Weekend. 8 April 2011.
- Wildfire Weather Imminent for Sunday. 9 April 2011
- Texans play lead roles in GOP attack on climate regulations in Congress, Texas Climate News, 22 February 2011.
The Strange Case of Ralph Hall, by Chris Mooney at desmogblog.com.
Global Boiling: Population Flight From Growing Desert Of Central Texas, by The Wonk Room's Brad Johnson.
The Project on Climate Science:
- House Committee Fails to Heed Scientific Evidence of Climate Change. 15 March 2011.
- House Committee Ignores Science, Votes to Handcuff EPA (10 March 2011)
- A science-free Congress? 8 March 2011. Re-posted from Politico.
- Statement of the Project on Climate Science On an attack on the scientific basis for the Clean Air Act by the "The Energy Tax Prevention Act." 3 Feb 2011.
- The Importance of Science in Addressing Climate Change. Open letter to Congress from scientists, 1 February 2011.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
- EPA Rejects Claims of Flawed Climate Science. Press release (29 July 2010)
- Denial of Petitions for Reconsideration of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act
- Decision document: Pre-publication copy of FR Notice (PDF) (217 pp, 536K)
- Preface (PDF) (7 pp, 39K)
- Volume 1: Climate Science and Data Issues Raised by Petitioners (PDF) (166 pp, 1.2MB)
- Volume 2: Issues Raised by Petitioners on EPA's Use of IPCC (PDF) (84 pp, 368K)
- Volume 3: Process Issues Raised by Petitioners (PDF) (116 pp, 575K)


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Patient Care Really Matters at RCH
Here's the data to prove it.
The following graph indicates the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS)* patient satisfaction survey results for Rochelle Community Hospital and SwedishAmerican Health System – 4th Quarter 2012 – which is putting a medical clinic in Rochelle. These survey results are publicly reported on a quarterly basis and have been developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). You will see you don't need to go to a larger facility in a larger city to receive excellent care.


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In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the investment thesis opted by Jishnu Bhattacharjee, Managing Director, Nexus Venture Partners, behind investments in SaaS platforms like - Postman, Druva, & Observe.AI among others.
Jishnu began his stint in the VC world with Nexus VP in 2008, and since then he has been part of many cross-border investments in SaaS startups.
Jishnu's insights which we discuss during the podcast are on -
Notes -
00:28 - Joining Georgia Tech for MS & Ph.D.
03:02 - Finding his first job offer based on his Ph.D. research paper
05:32 - Joining Business school to move-out of his regular desk-job
06:10 - Connecting with Naren during the early days of Nexus
10:52 - Why did he choose to focus only on SaaS?
15:27 - Journey of his first SaaS investment, Gluster which later got acquired by Red Hat
17:33 - Discovery of Postman
23:49 - Nexus being one of the few VC firms to have a common cross-border investment team & fund
25:41 - "Product-first thinking" the common trait of all the SaaS investments by Nexus VP
33:30 - How did organic growth come early for companies like Druva & Postman?
43:37 - Key aspects influencing Postman's valuation going forward
51:37 - Broadening the horizon being an Entrepreneur- "Think broadly but act narrowly"
58:22 - Thesis for future investments in SaaS
In this episode, we bring Shanti Mohan, Founder, LetsVenture on the 100x Entrepreneur podcast who has been enabling Investors & Entrepreneurs to meet each other and make the best investments happen.
Shanti with her experience at LetsVenture of seeing over 260+ funding rounds, helps us understand what distinguishes the good vs bad in terms of founders, investors, and deals in great detail.
Listen to this podcast to learn about:
Notes -
00:28 - Building LetsVenture being a 2nd-time entrepreneur
05:35 - Solving the problem of ACCESS
15:05 - Serving as a marketplace for founders to fundraise
16:12 - Enabling first-time investors to co-invest with Lead investors
17:42 - Building LetsVenture Plus for family offices and HNIs
18:58 - Building MyStartupEquity for founders to manage their Cap. table & ESOP
23:31 - Helping founders and investors with legal compliance and due diligence
31:12 - What leads to failed transactions
38:22 - Insights for angel investors
40:39 - On competition from platforms like AngelList
46:07 - Angel Investing as an asset-class then and now
Mangler du episoder?
In this episode of 100x Entrepreneur Podcast, we take you through the investment thesis of Rahul Chowdhri, behind investments in D2C, E-commerce & Edtech platforms like - Mamaearth, Shop101, & Swiflearn respectively.
We also discuss the common question a new founder thinks about while entering the Edtech sector, "Is the Indian Edtech sector saturated with the large players like Byju's, Unacademy, and other presents in the market?".
Rahul's insights which we discuss during the podcast are on -
Notes -
00:56 - His journey from working at BCG to joining Helion Ventures & then founding Stellaris Venture Partners
03:25 - Sectors at which he looks after - Consumer Retail, Edtech, Agritech, Horizontal Content & Social Network platforms
04:07 - Thesis behind investing in Mamaearth - Founder's understanding of brand-perspective & online-thinking
11:14 - Can digital-first D2C brands achieve $100M+ ARR & achieve $500M+ Valuation?
12:10 - Moats which digital-first D2C brands can build to stay ahead of competitors
14:10 - Indian D2C brands which he admires and why - OZiva, FableStreet, Yoga Bar
16:35 - Are there still opportunities left for new players in Edtech, with large businesses like Byju's & Unacademy already present?
20:10 - Thesis behind investing in Swiflearn and the problem they are solving?
25:56 - Thesis behind investing in Shop101 & the company's growth so far
30:21 - Investments where their thesis didn't work out and what were their learnings from it?
36:53 - Biases among VCs & founders about "What models & monetizations would work out?"
In this episode of 100xEntrepreneur Podcast, we have interacted with Mohan Lakhamraju where he shared his journey of building Great Learning and Great Lakes Institute of Management.
Mohan initially worked with Tiger Global Management for 3 years, setting up their India office. During this period one of his focus areas was the education sector in India and South-east Asian markets.
This was how he developed an inclination towards the education sector and decided to set-up a B-school specifically catering to management professionals in the Energy sector.
Notes -
01:20 - Journey from IIT Bombay, UC Berkeley & Stanford University to joining Tiger Global
06:19 - Realising himself to be more of an Entrepreneur than an Investor
07:13 - Taking insights for online learning from the early journey of Coursera
08:56 - How has high-quality education impacted his journey?
10:15 - "Most people never experience excellence"
17:05 - Learnings while building Great lakes & Great learning?
23:33 - At what scale Great learning is currently operating in terms of enrollments & programs
31:09 - What is the opportunity cost of not learning or not doing something new?
38:50 - How is Great learning helping colleges & universities conduct effective online classes with their platform?
43:36 - His viewpoint on the future for Edtech in India
49:22 - His advice for entrepreneurs looking to build Edtech startups
In this episode, we are in discussion with Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Ventures.
Also bringing to you an entirely new format, in this episode, we discuss what goes behind building a successful podcast.
Some of the key points which Amit & Siddhartha discussed and their experiences during the podcast were -
01:07 - Idea to start a podcast and how has the journey been so far?
05:19 - What have been their learnings being the host at a podcast?
06:25 - How to go about and solve core problem statements like content creation & distribution while running a podcast?
13:25 - What were the memorable moments while recording the podcast?
15:43 - How did they improvise themselves and became a better podcast host overtime?
18:04 - How to differentiate between open-ended & close-ended questions during a podcast and make the conversation more open & free-flowing?
19:35 - How has being a podcast host helped them in their personal & professional life?
23:21 - How to be an interesting guest?
29:29 - What are some of their recommendations to someone who wants to start podcasting?
After having an elaborate educational and career background in finance, right from becoming a CA & CFA to working at Morgan & Stanley and Citi, Ankur decided to join BlackSoil Capital.
BlackSoil, growing fast into the Venture Debt fund space, has so far disbursed over Rs.450crore+ to VC backed start-ups & growth companies.
Some of the notable startups under its portfolio are EarlySalary, Vogo, & Nearbuy among others.
In this podcast, Ankur seeks to help our listeners understand the entire Venture Debt fund ecosystem and its working in a better way.
Notes -
00:38 - Founding BlackSoil and initial focus areas
02:39 - How is BlackSoil and its working structure different from other VC firms?
03:30 - Value propositions which BlackSoil brings to the table while funding its portfolio companies
06:54 - What are the interest rates, loan tenure, repayment modes which they currently offer as a working capital to Startups?
09:06 - Which family-offices is BlackSoil currently backed by? How did they build that credibility?
15:57 - How is Venture Debts different from traditional Bank loans for businesses?
17:30 - How do warrants work in case of Venture Debt funding?
18:59 - How's the future of Venture Debt in India?
Shruti is one of the few Indian-origin VCs in US who invest in Enterprise focused Startups globally.
After spending 9 years of her career at IBM as an Engineer, she joined Samsung Next as a Principal, where she spent the next 2 years investing in early-stage startups. This was probably what worked out as a perfect mix of (a) Her understanding of Enterprise focussed SaaS businesses & (b) Venture funding ecosystem, which helped her start Array Ventures.
Some of her notable investments are CasaOne, Blumira & Modal among others.
In this podcast, Shruti shares her experience of supporting founders building early-stage SaaS businesses focussed on solving problems for Large Enterprises.
Notes -
00:57 - Her journey from Mumbai to the US and transitioning from an Engineer-cum-Founder to a VC
02:35 - How and why did she choose to start a fund to cater to startups selling to Enterprises?
05:20 - Changing growth & opportunities for SaaS startups focussed on Enterprises in India & the US
08:19 - Her thesis of investing in Blumira based on how their automated threat detection can benefit companies
09:53 - Is the recent IPO of 6 Enterprise companies including Palantir, Snowflake, Sumo Logic, Bentley Systems, creating real value or is it a bubble?
11:20 - Her learnings from Array VC exits: Passage AI, Hivy, & Simility
13:10 - What would be an ideal exit for her - Large Acquisition (in 5-6 years) or IPO (in 10 years)?
14:13 - What value does Array VC bring to its portfolio companies?
16:10 - How's the growth trajectory for her portfolio SaaS companies from 0 to $10M and then from $10M to $100M ARR?
19:02 - What are things which worked for her portfolio companies for exponential ARR growth?
Baskar's journey is very similar to what classic Product-driven Tech entrepreneurs have, i.e. a college drop-out built several tech solutions from an early age, founded a fast-paced startup growing multi-folds over years.
He co-founded Amagi Media Labs, in 2008 with the intent to revolutionize global content delivery & monetization of the Media Industry.
Amagi is one of the few startups which experienced constant growth even in the Covid-19 circumstances and has no plans of slowing down its growth engines anytime soon.
In this podcast, Baskar shares his experience of building tech solutions and his learnings from being a Tech entrepreneur for over two decades.
Notes -
01:09 - Enabling end-to-end global virtualization of content delivery and monetization in Media Industry
03:22 - Major emerging trends in Media & OTT platforms for broadcasters
08:50 - Evolution of OTTs in the US and how Amagi helps them as a one-stop-shop!
11:59 - His journey from dropping out of IIT Bombay (during MTech) to starting Amagi?
21:12 - Transiting from an Advertising sales model to a Technology platform
25:44 - Growth in Revenue from 2012 to till date
28:35 - How was the fund-raising experience being in the Media industry?
32:32 - What's his end goal with Amagi? Going Public, achieving a $200 Million ARR or something else?
36:34 - What are the processes which helped him as an entrepreneur & the company to grow exponentially?
38:25 - How "letting go" is a very crucial part of the growth process?
40:36 - How being open, vulnerable, and accepting your mistakes openly within the team can help a company grow?
Naren is probably one of the earliest VCs in India's startup ecosystem. He co-founded Nexus Venture Partners in 2006. He has also been mentoring early-stage entrepreneurs and supporting them since 1990.
With investments in over 200+ companies in India and the US, Nexus Venture Partners have some of the most notable startups in their portfolio - Postman, Rapido, and Unacademy among others.
In this podcast, Naren shares his experience of investing in early-stage product startups for over three decades.
Notes -
01:16 - His journey from moving to the US being an IIT Gold Medalist
02:10 - Lessons from his first venture - Integrated Systems Inc.
05:45 - Starting Nexus Venture Partners and deciding upon sectors it won't invest
14:25 - Building a cross border teams
18:50 - Uniqueness among entrepreneurs and growth journey of portfolio companies
24:52 - Being an early-stage investor and also being consistent through the follow-up rounds
29:25 - What are the metrics of success upon which early-stage founders and VCs should focus?
35:13 - At what stage do things like - go-to-market, building stronger organization & sales, become a part of board-meeting discussions?
From working at PwC, while pursuing his CA to starting a Venture Fund which invests in Early-stage disruptive Tech startups, Vishesh has experienced it all.
He started his investing career at VenturEast in 2007. This was where he understood the Ins & Outs of Venture investing.
From its Fund-I, Speciale Invest has invested in a total of 10 portfolio companies, some of which are Scapic, Agnikul, and Kawa Space among others.
In this podcast, Vishesh shares his experience of investing in seed-stage Hardware & SaaS startups.
Notes -
01:10 - His journey from a CA to becoming an Early-Stage Investor
07:41 - Starting Speciale Invest aiming to invest in disruptive tech startups
09:30 - Developer Tools companies in his portfolio - Scapic, Kawa Space, TotalCloud, and iauro
10:44 - Conversation AI startups in his portfolio - True Lark & Wingman
12:35 - Investing in Cynlr with a vision to evolve Visual AI and Industrial Robotic Arms
14:47 - Investing in Agnikul - India's version of SpaceX
16:27 - His experience Investing & Exit from Vogo
19:48 - Is the Indian startup ecosystem mature enough for early-Exits within 5-6 years of investment?
24:31 - What are some of the recent tailwinds for Hardware & SaaS startups in India?
28:19 - How are B2B founders different from B2C founders in terms of Go-to-market strategy, customer acquisition, and other parameters?
31:18 - His learnings from being a VC-cum-Fund Manager and managing LPs
Ashmeet started his career at HP in 1989. He founded Sidana Systems in 1995 (later sold to Doclinx in 1999).
He started his stint as a VC at Foundation Capital in 2004. Eventually, he founded Engineering Capital in 2015, which focuses on investing in Tech startups, based on Technical insights.
He is one of the few VCs to have been to the base of Mount Everest. In this podcast, he also shares his experience of climbing mountains, one step at a time.
Engineering Capital is based in the US and majorly in the San Fransico Bay area, some of its notable portfolio companies are Robust Intelligence, Concentrix, and vFunction among others.
In this podcast, Ashmeet shares his thesis of investing in Tech Startups and the approach he follows while evaluating them.
Notes -
01:24 - His journey from growing up in Rural India to becoming a VC dedicated to Engineers
02:43 - Purpose of starting a fund focussed on engineers
04:04 - Difference between Market insight, Technical insight & Consumer insight
06:43 - Investing in SignalFx based on its use case - "Enabling cloud-based monitoring and analytics."
08:18 - Investing in Robust Intelligence based on its use case - "Solving the issue of User Data contamination."
10:51 - Investing in vFunction based on its use case - "Allows users to take any legacy applications and break them into micro-services & benefit from the cloud."
12:35 - Is Technical insight alone a sufficient reason for a VC to back a Tech Startup?
15:49 - Making an early seed-investment in Azure Power (India) as an Angel Investor
20:50 - His perspective and view-point on Postman & potential of Tech Startups in India
24:55 - Learnings about Market size with future entrepreneurs in B-schools
29:36 - "Even though Venture Capital attracts the brightest and smartest minds all over the world, but still most VCs are not successful."
36:12 - "The magic of making a startup successful is to focus on an incredibly narrow problem, that has a wide application."
Nikhil is one of the most Tech & Product-centric VCs in Asia. This probably comes from his early career with Microsoft, and later with Pie (acquired by Google).
He also founded a company called TommyJams, a tech-enabled Artist management platform.
He has been with STRIVE Ventures for over 5 years. STRIVE's portfolio includes HASURA, Classplus, and Saleswhale among others.
In this podcast, Nikhil shares his experience of investing in SaaS startups in Asia and helping them achieve Product-Market Fit.
Notes -
01:03 - Two major SaaS buckets for STRIVE - (1) Global SaaS (US, European, & Asian markets) and (2) Local SaaS (India SaaS / Indonesian SaaS and similar others.)
04:48 - How does STRIVE focus on such segregated SaaS markets?
09:28 - Not only monetizing Local SaaS startups through the typical Subscription-Business model (Example - Classplus) but also through transactions
17:34 - What was the thought process at STRIVE while coming up with a Non-subscription model for monetizing their portfolio companies in the Indian market?
20:27 - Indonesia SaaS market in terms of product adoption, willingness-to-pay & market penetration
26:21 - Portfolio of Global SaaS - Healint, HASURA, Saleswhale
29:18 - Investing in HASURA with a vision to simplify backend development
33:10 - Investment Thesis - "Founders & Teams who Do More with Less"
36:10 -Common early-stage mistakes in SaaS startups
40:05 -Crucial changes in GTM strategies for SaaS startups in Pre-COVID vs Post-COVID market
48:22 - Emphasizing on portfolio companies to build user engagement and reach an initial $1 million+ ARR
Sheel is a Fintech-Entrepreneur turned Fintech-VC investing in Pre-seed & Seed rounds.
His first startup was FeeFighters in 2010, which was acquired in 2012 by Groupon.
In this podcast, Sheel shares his experience of being an entrepreneur twice and becoming an Angel Investor and later starting his own VC firm.
Notes -
01:03 - His journey from a Fintech Entrepreneur to a Fintech VC
04:50 - Starting "The Pitch Podcast" (acquired by Gimlet, Gimlet was later acquired by Spotify)
07:55 - What does he look for in founders while investing in startups at Seed/Pre-Seed stage?
09:57 - Brief about his game-changing fintech portfolio companies
13:29 - From hating working at a company that made software for hospitals to investing in a startup which makes software for hospitals
14:50 - "Majority of companies in the future will be Fintech companies"
22:15 - How did he spot his first Angel Investment?
Amit being one of the co-founders of India's first Unicorn Startup - InMobi, needs no introduction.
After driving InMobi's growth journey for over 10 years, he decided to start Yulu (E-bikes & Mobility solutions) in 2017. In his 2nd entrepreneurial stint, he also convinced Rajiv Bajaj (MD, Bajaj Auto) for investing in Yulu & assembling Yulu bikes in India by Bajaj Auto.
As an Angel Investor, Amit has backed over 30+ Early-stage startups, as a gesture of giving back to the community. Some of the popular ones being - HealthifyMe, Applicate & Vahak.
In this podcast, Amit shares his experience of building two great companies, along with his core beliefs & principles as a long-time entrepreneur.
01:28 - Starting his Entrepreneurial Journey
04:04 - Co-founding InMobi in 2006, based on his intent to disrupt Mobile Advertising in India
11:50 - How did he identify the potential in mobile advertising in India, back in 2006, when mobile internet wasn't mainstream?
16:02 - What made him start a new venture after 11 years in InMobi?
27:30 - Convincing Rajiv Bajaj for investing in Yulu & assembling Yulu bikes in India by Bajaj Auto
30:40 - Future plans & product positioning of Yulu with the current COVID situation in perspective
39:23 - How did Yulu negotiate free parking spaces for YuluZones?
42:37 - Was raising funds for Yulu easy, being a 2nd-time entrepreneur?
59:40 - Startups he's backing as an Angel Investor
Sajith has been constantly sharing his thoughts & thesis around the Startup ecosystem on social media since 2012.
This probably reflects from his background, of being at the Times Group for over two decades and his love for reading and taking copious notes.
He joined Blume Ventures in 2018, in his 40s. As he didn't have a background in VC & Angel investing, he humbly considers himself, "An Accidental VC".
Some of Blume Ventures portfolio companies include - Unacademy, Dunzo, and Cashify among others.
In this podcast, Sajith shares his experience of becoming a VC, from a Non-investing background and identifying startups that outshine during Covid-19.
Notes -
00:55 - A Day in the life of a VC during Covid-19
02:02 - Why does Sajith refer to himself as "An Accidental VC"?
07:09 - Building a personal brand & experience to enter the VC Ecosystem
09:44 - Emphasis on Note-taking for collating thoughts & ideas
12:56 - Secret to being an open-minded VC - "Having Strong Views, weakly held"
22:30 - Strongly backing Unacademy's incredible growth journey
25:55 - Markets where vacuums have been created in situations like Covid-19
42:10 - What's his perspective on "Moats" in Early-stage startups vs Bigger players in the market?
45:27 - What things did he have to unlearn to succeed as VC?
53:45 - What does he consider, as his edge as a VC, coming from a Non-investing background, at the age of 40?
Pratik Poddar having his roots back in a Tier-II city, Patna, is probably one of the youngest Principals at a VC firm in India.
After having multiple entrepreneurial stints, Pratik joined Nexus Venture Partners, in 2015 as an Investment Associate and has grown tremendously since.
Some of Nexus Venture Partners' portfolio companies include - Zolo, Postman, and Unacademy among others.
In this podcast, Pratik shares his experience of identifying potential Edtech Startups in India and adding them to his Portfolio.
Notes -
01:29 - Focus on Product-first companies in the Portfolio
05:35 - How Edtech startups made themselves resistant from Covid-19?
07:46 - Edtech Companies in Portfolio - Unacademy, WhiteHat Jr., and Quizizz among others
09:58 - Monetization & Growth Journey of Unacademy with 1200+ Cr. Annual Revenue
11:08 - TestPrep Market Scenario & Opportunities in India
21:30 - Investing in WhiteHat Jr. a very new concept in Edtech
41:25 - Untapped Opportunities in early school for Edtech
49:02 - How big is the potential market for "Pay After Placement model" startups like Newton School?
52:45 - 3 Key Qualities VCs look for in Edtech Entrepreneurs
After completing his MBA from Delhi School of Economics, Ishpreet worked with many banks like - Kotak Mahindra, IFDC, and Citibank among others.
For a major part of his career, he worked on Debt funding companies via Banks as Financial Institutions. Eventually, this made him start a Venture Debt Fund of his own, Stride Ventures in December 2018.
Some of its portfolio companies include - Stellapps, CredR, and LetsTransport among others.
In this podcast, Ishpreet shares his experience of being a part of Debt funding in companies across all domains and building a Venture Debt Fund ecosystem in India.
Notes -
01:05 - His early career in Investment & Corporate Banking
04:30 - Experience the VC Ecosystem and founding Stride Ventures
06:58 - How does Stride Ventures differ from other Venture Debt Funds in the market?
09:22 - At which stage does Stride Ventures enter in a Company?
13:55 - With what financials does it makes sense for a company to raise a Debt round?
19:50 - How much returns do a Venture Debt fund typically expect?
22:27 - Investing in companies like Stellapps & CredR
27:53 - Potential sectors in 2020-21 from a Debt Fund's perspective - SaaS, Logistics, and Gaming among others
29:45 - Building an ecosystem of Venture Debt Fund in India
While having his family roots back in Odisha (India), Somesh had his upbringing in the US.
After completing his graduation from UC Berkeley in 2001, as the US job-market was hit after 9/11 he came to India and joined Sony Entertainment.
Later in 2005, he joined Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) back in the US.
IVP was founded over 40 years ago and has so far invested in over 400+ companies out of which 111 have gone public.
Some of its portfolio companies include - Twitter, Slack, and Soundcloud among others.
In this podcast, Somesh shares his experience of investing in growth-stage companies across various sectors.
Notes -
02:20 - Building a portfolio with numerous public companies
05:52 - Two lessons the Startup Ecosystem can consider during Covid-19 crisis as learnings from similar past events
12:51 - Starting his career in India after 9/11
23:22 - Investing in companies in their growth-stage - Twitter, Thrive Global, Netflix among others
27:30 - Diversity in portfolio companies spread across Cyber Security, Consumer, Analytics & Enterprise Softwares
31:27 - Missing out on Salesforce & Zoom
39:08 - Second wave of Tailwinds which most people might missout in the startup ecosystem
43:50 - "A Startup's aspirations shouldn't be to raise the next Unicorn-venture round, it should be to build the next Microsoft or Google."
53:27 - Importance of Mental Health from a VC perspective
Dhruv worked with ABN AMRO and McKinsey & Company in Investment Management & Strategy roles in the early days of his career. He stepped into the VC ecosystem in India by eventually joining Helion Ventures in 2008.
At Helion Ventures he was part of investing in companies like Ezetap, Azure Power, and MoEngage among others.
Later when in 2015, Sistema (Russian conglomerate) decided to set up a Venture Fund in India, Dhruv joined Sistema Asia Capital in order to bring the best practices and 8 years of experience on board with him.
Some of Sistema Asia Capital's current Portfolio includes - Licious, Lendingkart, Netmeds & Faasos among others.
In this podcast, Dhruv shares his experience of investing in mid-stage growth startups across various sectors in India's Startup Ecosystem.
Notes -
00:57 - His Journey from working at ABN & McKinsey to joining Venture Capital
04:30 - Experience of working with Helion Ventures
07:56 - Joining Sistema Asia Capital - Building the foundations of a VC firm
10:15 - Sistema's background & establishment in India
14:34 - Executing Exit from Qwikcilver (Acquired by Pine Labs)
19:44 - Investing in Faasos - reaching $1 billion valuation
25:30 - Impact on fintech portfolio companies during Covid-19 lockdown - Lendingkart & Kissht
31:26 - HealthifyMe's transition from human-centric model to AI-based model
33:30 - Netmeds offering a full-stack model & growing scalable margins
37:04 - Sectors at which Sistema is bullish in 2020-21 - Edtech, Healthcare, & Agritech
Ganesh began his career working in Strategy & Acquisition at Infosys in the San Francisco Bay area. He founded his first startup - Travelguru (later acquired by Travelocity) while he was pursuing his MBA from Harvard Business School.
In 2006, he began his journey as a VC with Greylock Partners. In 2014, he Co-Founded Quona Capital, which is a Fintech-focused VC firm, making investments across Asia, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
A few of its successful exits include - IndiaMart (went IPO) & Coins.ph (acquired by Gojek).
Some of its current Portfolio includes - ZestMoney, Fisdom, & Neogrowth among others.
In this podcast, Ganesh shares his experience of investing in emerging markets and fintech-businesses with robust teams.
Notes -
00:54 - His Journey from working at Infosys to Co-founding Quona Capital
04:39 - Quona Capital: Countries of operations, Cheque-size & Ideology
07:58 - Starting Travelguru while pursuing MBA at Harvard Business School
14:07 - Investing in teams who respect & fear lending
18:17 - Exit from IndiaMart - Most Successful Digital IPO
22:30 - Exit from Coins.ph - Acquired by Gojek
28:08 - Managing investments across multiple countries and diverse markets
34:02 - Fundamentals driving rapid growth in Indian startups in Quona's portfolio
36:23 - Rise of Neobanks in India
- Se mer


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text:
Diamond Hogs Beat Ole Miss To Even Series
Fant shines as Hogs beat Rebels, 10-1
Randall Fant allowed only one run over six innings and earned his first victory of the season as Arkansas (14-6, 1-1 SEC) beat Ole Miss, 10-1, Saturday afternoon at Baum Stadium.
The senior left-hander from Texarkana, Tex. gave up seven hits with no walks and struck out five batters, including Stuart Turner with two runners on to end the fifth and preserve a 3-1 lead.
Arkansas got on the board first when an infield single by Matt Vinson scored Jacob Mahan. The Razorbacks scored two more in the second on a bunt single by Mahan, and then Tyler Spoon beat out an attempted double play with the bases loaded to score Brett McAfee.
Ole Miss (19-2, 1-1) scored their lone run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Sikes Orvis.
Arkansas stretched the lead to 5-1 in the fifth, when Matt Vinson attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt with two runners on, but the pitcher threw the ball away, allowing Spoon and Brian Anderson to score.
Spoon drove in two of his three RBI in the sixth with a two-run double. The redshirt freshman from Van Buren, Ark. has driven in 26 runs so far this season, among the leaders in the nation.
Sophomore left-hander Jalen Beeks and junior righty Colby Suggs shut down the Rebels over the final three innings to preserve the victory.
The win for Arkansas evened the weekend series at one game apiece. The rubber match will be Sunday afternoon at 1:00. Junior Ryne Stanek will start on the mound for Arkansas against Ole Miss sophomore Sam Smith.


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We had our doubts about Hot Tub Time Machine. But the latest trailer has raised our hopes higher than these characters reliving their 80s cocaine heyday. Watch Cusack and friends go back in time.
This could be the next Hangover, if executed correctly, and if all the jokes aren't in this trailer. Hot Tub will be in theaters next March.


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Shoppers exodus: China King moves to Hibachi Grill
15 comments
the fish dish is delish
A Super shoes salesperson said right before Christmas that they were moving to next/near Big Lots this month (Jan 2012).
"may entice a big box."
Staples is still there and the last time I checked, it was a "big box" store.
Super Shoes is moving into the Northwing of Seminole Square.
@Hook: Check your sales price for Shoppers, they purchased two of the 3 parcels for $20,000,000. I believe the other parcel was bought over $7,000,000 (for a total of over $27MM). Your sales price listed is the assessment on one of the three parcels. The total assessment of all three parcels is approx $20,000,000.
olive garden and trader joe's
but what did thy know
building permits this week show 4 "units " being demoed & all combined to 1 store. See daily progress Monday jan 2nd. business.
I hope it's Dart Drug.
know it all,
Also find a permit later for "removal and replacement of storefront system" later in the same list.
I'd like to welcome our new earth tone overlords to the area across from the mall.
I'm a little concerned. China King had started to slip a little. The buffet wasn't up to par anymore and the grill had become lackadaisical and stale. The crablegs had become so pathetic that paying 11 dollars for it seemed like a ripoff. Hibachi Grill had become the place to go to for variety and they had coconut shrimp. I'm hoping the new owners don't ruin what had become a good family eating place.
Didn't Cville have an Olive Garden years ago... no wait, just Red Lobster twice. Why not ressurect something cool, like A&P. I like the Dart Drug idea, as well.
I don't get what the fuss was about for China King. I went there once years ago and was not impressed. Tried it one more time a couple of months ago and it was still crappy.
And Hibachi Grill? Don't even get me started. Bigger does not automatically mean better. We went there only once, and it was tacky and not one food item (that I ate) was done better than what I've experienced at other buffets. They do a whole lot of things.............*but they don't do any one thing really well.* And that's the problem. There wasn't one thing that was a standout in terms of flavor or quality. In fact it was all pretty subpar.
I think too many people here are bumpkins who don't know any better.
Costco.....enough said.
As long as ASIAN FUSION and EAST GARDEN ARE around there is no need to go near China King.


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He may have lived just briefly in Wellington with his family when he was a teenager, but New Zealand has an important place in British comic artist Rufus Dayglo's heart.
Having cut his teeth on locally produced mini-comic Pistake in the early 90s, alongside like-minded creators like Simon Morse and David Tulloch, Dayglo - now based in Hackney in London - has since forged an impressive career for himself, regularly contributing to sci-fi weekly 2000AD before relaunching Tank Girl with its original writer, Alan Martin.
"I've always had an affinity with New Zealand," he says. "I'm not a New Zealander as such, but I arrived there when I was young and still trying to find my feet. I was very lucky to find this tight-knit group of friends who were in punk bands and stuff like that. It was like this strange little place that I suddenly went to and it was leaving it that forced me to step up my game.
"I could have stayed in New Zealand and sort of trundled along. But it gave me a different kind of perspective, having met these New Zealand artists and seen their peculiar ways of doing things."
Dayglo first met Tulloch, who at the time worked at now-defunct Wellington comic book shop VMS, after stumbling upon a copy of Desperate Ink, the local anthology title he contributed to.
"David also had a part-time job at a print company, which he used to photocopy his fanzines," recalls Dayglo, who was then introduced to Morse.
"We all became best friends and started doing Pistake together. We ended up putting out a dozen issues, which wasn't a bad effort as we had no money, so we did it for nothing. Simon and I lived in a warehouse together and we had only had one desk, so I would sit on the left-hand side and he would sit on the right. We'd sit there drinking coffee and eating bananas, which was the cheapest thing we could find to eat, and we'd do a comic."
It was through Morse that Dayglo got to know the late Martin Emond, who blazed a trail internationally for Kiwi comic-book artists in the early 90s with his work on high-profile titles such as White Trash and Lobo, before forming clothing company Illicit Streetwear in 1996.
"Marty was like a professional because he was collaborating with people like Glen Danzig and doing stuff for DC, which was insanely good," says Dayglo. "We got on so well with him that he ended up moving down to Wellington to share a studio with us. I feel very lucky that he was there as he was like a big brother to us. He steered us and encouraged us, and he certainly encouraged me to come back to London and get on with it."
After shifting back to Britain in the late 90s, Dayglo was employed as an animator on films including Space Jam and on music videos for cartoon pop band Gorillaz, the brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and original Tank Girl artist Jamie Hewlett.
He first crossed paths with Hewlett's former partner-in-crime Alan Martin after buying some of the author's unpublished scripts on an internet auction site.
Having drifted away from comic books after the disastrous failure of the 1995 Tank Girl movie, Martin was working in a pub before Dayglo persuaded him to pen another adventure of the anarchic punk warrior, first pairing him up with Australian artist Ashley Wood before stepping into the breach.
"I'd grown up on Mad magazine and 2000AD, which is exactly what Jamie Hewlett had done, so we were kind of ripping off the same people," he laughs. "Alan liked what I was doing better than what Ashley had done and we ended up really hitting it off."
The four-part Tank Girl: The Gifting was published in 2007 and since then the pair have teamed up on many one-shots and five more mini-series, culminating in 2011's Bad Wind Rising. At first he was reluctant to take on such a well-loved mantle, but Dayglo quickly made the character his own.
"At first I thought I was going to be crucified for it because it was a bit like joining your favourite band," he says. "But fortunately it had been over a decade since Tank Girl's last appearance, so we ended up with a whole new readership.
"Instead of all the old fans, we had all these new fans that had grown up on the film. We had all these kids contacting us to say, 'You're doing a comic book of our favourite film!' That annoyed Alan but it was perfect for me, because as far as they were concerned I wasn't the replacement, I was the guy who drew Tank Girl."
Although he has now departed Tank Girl, Dayglo admits there is a similar vibe to his forthcoming new series Solid Gold Death Mask, which was partly inspired by his recent trip here.
"I was doing the roughs for it when I was in Auckland visiting my parents," he says. "I was going for walks at Blockhouse Bay, where I'd climb the cliffs and photograph them. So there's inadvertently a lot of New Zealand scenery in the book because that's where I was when I was working on it."
He is also pleased to be included in Nga Pakiwaituhi, a retrospective of New Zealand comic art that will offer a local contrast to German exhibition Comics, Manga & Co, as part of the Auckland Arts Festival.
"I was really honoured to be asked to be a part of it as I feel a kinship with other New Zealand artists like Ant Sang, Chris Slane and Roger Langridge," says Dayglo, who admits to being pleasantly surprised by the scale of his success.
"Certainly 20 years ago when I was sitting on the floor of Comics Compulsion stapling together fanzines, our biggest hope was that maybe we'd get to do a one-off Future Shock in 2000AD one day."
"But now I'm helping design all the Judge Dredd toys and they call me up whenever they need something done, because I know quite a lot about 2000AD.
"So I've gone from a young kid who was a fan to now being someone who has input into it."
Auckland Arts Festival
Who: British graphic artist Rufus Dayglo, in Nga Pakiwaituhi
Where and when: St Paul St Gallery, AUT University, March 1 to April 12


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For starters let me say one word in a reverential whisper...Enchanting.
This delightful book is narrated by a 12 year old Nigerian girl called Blessing whose beloved and "loud" father is caught in bed with another woman by her mother. They have to leave the comforts of their "luxuries"in Lagos to go live in a dusty compound with her colourful grandparents and a cast of characters that will make you laugh and cry.
Blessing thinks that she is leaving life as she knows it behind...little does she know that she will discover abundance where poverty prevails the likes of which will change her and her beloved brother Ezikiel's lives for ever.
So moving,so real...the language is easy and free flowing,the characters are lovable,the fears and dangers very real . But Oh...what a wonderful read...I simply could not put this book down...it would mean quietening Blessing's voice in my head and that simply wouldn't do.
The cast of characters still linger in my head...I want to share them with you.


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eye size: 52mm
bridge size: 17mm
leg size: 140 mm
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text:
A day on the International Space Station
The first of two alarms sounds at 5:50 GMT, like every morning, Mondays to Fridays. It shakes me from dreams that I never remember. Still sleepy I stretch my arms, which were folded through the night, and automatically I poke them through the two slots on either side of the sleeping bag to allow the arms out. In space, every move starts a chain reaction so my sleeping bag is tied with four thin cords to the wall of the crew quarters or else it would float away. My head often gently touches the 'ceiling' causing my body to bounce slowly in the opposite direction until the my foot touches the floor briefly.
Now that my hands are free I remove my eye mask that keeps light away and open the zip that holds me in my sleeping bag . Inside the crew quarters everything is dark except for the dim green and blue led lights from two computers and their connection to the Space Station network. Everything is silent until I remove my ear plugs and the familiar hum of the fan that circulates air returns.
My first automatic action is to activate the computer to read the daily crew conference that Houston sends at night. This report contains the latest information on the day's operations, any schedule changes, questions, and answers to questions we raised the day before. It also contains fundamental information in case of emergency and I send it to the printer to have it available later. I also print a list of people with whom I will talk today in Houston and Huntsville (USA), Munich (Germany), Tsukuba (Japan) and the 'Tsup' in Moscow (Russia) . Although we can always use call signs, it is more friendly to call people by their name from time to time. Many of the people I talk to on Earth are instructors , colleagues and friends .
I put on a pair of sport shorts and a cotton shirt. Opening my sleeping quarter's door I find myself oriented sideways. Habituated from experience I pull myself out and push myself towards the Destiny Lab in a single movement. The Destiny module is still dark even though I know that Mike has been awake for a while. I fetch the first page of the daily summary as I pass the printer and place it above the others near the computer, that interfaces with Station systems that we would use in an emergency .
Even in Node1 the lights are still off, but Node 3 is lit up and Mike has already started his weightlifting routine on ARED. I greet him in Italian, smiling and, as always, he replies in Italian. This has become our routine even though he has only been here for three weeks. Mike has lived in Italy and is fluent in Italian. The toilet is right next to the ARED exercise machine, but the noise of the extractor fan, combined with the music that Mike listens to while training is enough to hide any embarrassing noises that might occur. Leaving the 'bathroom' I move to another wall in Node3 where the tools of my morning routine are attached with Velcro: a razor, razor blades, deodorant, a mirror, soap and water. For obvious reasons, there are no hairbrushes or combs…
It's time to prepare breakfast: oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins and coffee, both rehydrated with water. While I eat I read the yesterday's news in an electronic version of an Italian newspaper. I had was aware of some of the news already by internet, but I like to read the commentary of prominent journalists.
There is still an hour to go before the official start of the day, which starts with the first of two Daily Planning Conferences. I decide to start preparing the first of the daily tasks, an experiment called BP Reg. Normally I would follow Mike and exercise in the morning, but this experiment provides very accurate measurements of blood pressure, so I am not allowed to do any sports in the hours that precede. I move to the Columbus laboratory and use one of the computers to read the experiment procedure. I start collecting the materials and assemble the tools that I will use in the coming hours.
Right on schedule, Fyodor begins the Daily Planning Conference with Houston, Huntsville, Munich, Tsukuba and Moscow: "Good morning from Expedition 36. We are ready for the DPC." In turn, the control centres update us on the day that is about to begin. In the meantime we turn on the cameras and we welcome them onboard.
I continue to prepare the experiment in the Columbus lab by initializing a computer and connecting the last components. Under Huntsville's supervision who follow my actions from camera 2 in Columbus, I wear two bands over my thighs that inflate and reduce the blood flow to the lower part of my body. Three minutes later the bands instantly deflate and my cardiovascular system reacts sharply to compensate for the unexpected increase in blood flow . Two pressure sensors on my left hand record any changes to compare the data with measurements made on ground. The experiment reproduces the pressure variation felt when standing up suddenly after being seated. The idea is to measure the effect of microgravity on a human being's cardiovascular system.
The experiment continues. As I speak with the PayCom on channel 2, I hear Mike speaking on channel 3 who is busy with another experiment called CFE in Node2. Karen is busy with Spheres and is working in Kibo: from time to time I hear her comments on channel 2 as well.
After about two hours of the experiment comes to an end , but I will have to wait for my return to Earth to have the results. The study will continue well beyond my mission. I finish in time to return the equipment to their compartments around the Station . It is already time for lunch and I am hungry, but I cannot eat too much because the first hours of the afternoon will be dedicated to exercise and, even in orbit the same rule applies: better not to do conduct brisk activity after a 'heavy' meal. I settle for two small tortillas, wrapped around some tuna fish, salmon and some vegetables .
I decide to start my exercise with ARED: today's exercise consists of three sets of weight-lifting exercises involving all major muscle groups.
As soon as I lift the bar on my shoulders, I feel my back muscles work and my legs stiffen with tension. It has been five months I have been in space and my body has fully adapted to microgravity: my muscles feel abused even during this light warming-up as they spend around 22 hours a day in a relaxed state. ARED is located directly above Cupola: a window to the world fills my view while I struggle with my weightlifting , and I forget the aches and pains as I get lost in the details that pass 'above' me ( ARED is upside-down compared to the normal orientation of the Station). I see the coast of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, with snow that blends into clouds and the South Americans fjords that look like fingers. I see the intense blue of high-altitude lakes, the ancient volcanoes that spread black lava scarring their surroundings for hundreds of kilometres. Within a few seconds we overlook the more temperate areas of Argentina, the Pampas soon turn into the plantations of Brazil, which in turn become rainforest once we reach the Amazon delta. Earth is a kaleidoscopic, never-ending carousel of lands followed by oceans, a string of contrasts and colours that always change. With this spectacle you easily forget you are tired.
After an hour and a half of ARED I prepare for T2, our treadmill. I wear a harness connected by two elastic bands to the platform: I can control the amount of body weight that my muscles will endure during my training by changing the length of these bands. The last week I have been setting the bands between 95 and 100% of my weight because I want to readjust to gravity for my return to Earth. I pay the price for my choice in the amount I sweat. The next 30 minutes my body will feel more dense than I am used to. It is like running with someone pressing down hard with their hands on your shoulders, constantly pushing you to the ground.
The next job of the day is in the Russian part of the International Space Station, in the Automated Transfer Vehicle. In a few days we will close the hatch for the last time and ATV Albert Einstein will leave us to disintegrate as it enters Earth's atmosphere. The last act its voyage is to free the Station of waste that accumulated over the past five months. ATV takes both solid and liquid waste, organic and inorganic. My job today is to organise this waste by applying a careful choreography opposite to the procedures Chris, Karen and I ran months ago when we unloaded the ship's precious cargo.
When I enter, Albert Einstein is dimly lit and quiet, it seems as though it is half dozing ,waiting for me. I like to work alone in ATV, I enjoy the large space that I can move freely in as I rearrange the various containers. Mike joins me shortly after I start and we complete the work assigned to us for today. We have just enough time to get back as Fyodor's familiar voice begins the second Daily Planning Conference: the evening conference. As I listen to the control centres I prepare dinner: walnuts, grilled chicken breast, vegetables and fruit. Once the conference has finished, I take advantage of a Ku-band satellite connection to make some calls. Like every night I call my parents. I have spoken to them more often in the last five months than in the three years spent training around the world before my mission. We do not have much time before the connection drops but it does not matter how long we talk for – nor is it very important what we talk about – the communication link allows me to create a serene image in my mind of my father and my mother listening to me from Earth.
Dinner is eaten quickly because tonight we are just three at the dinner table– all six of us only have dinner together a couple of times a week because it inevitably turns into a late night! We split up for the little free time we have left. It is only 20:00 but fatigue will catch up with me and I still have e-mails to answer, social media to see to and photographs to catalogue, send and publish. Time is passing fast as I listen to some music. I divide my attention between two computers to try to do everything at once.
I dedicate the last moment of the evening to my wife before switching off the light and climb into my sleeping bag. The five -hour time difference between my wife and I separate us more than the thousands of kilometres of emptiness: she is in the middle of her daily activities while I am getting ready to sleep. Kathy, with her typically female infinite patience, puts everything aside when I phone – the problems of everyday life that every mother and every wife encounters. She grants me a few minutes of serenity, a moment that seems to stop time, a little gem of priceless calm, a break from the world, made of the stuff that dreams are made of – but this memory, at least , will stay with me upon awakening.


text:
2013 will see Cloud computing continue to grow rapidly, and data will be the new Cloud computing oil, according to three 'trends to watch' reports by independent research firm, Ovum.
In its 2013 Trends to Watch: Private and Public Clouds report, it drills down into not only private and public Cloud trends, but also infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS) trends.
The 2013 Trends to Watch: Cloud Services report looked at Cloud computing from the perspective of IT service providers, while the 2013 Trends to Watch: Cloud Computing report looked at the way Cloud service providers and consumers adapt to Cloud computing both on their own and as part of increasingly sophisticated Cloud ecosystems.
Ovum said that Cloud computing services, and the social and mobile applications that Cloud platforms underpin, generate a lot of data, which in turn, requires Cloud services and applications to make sense of it.
It claimed the trend connects and fuels other industry trends such as the Internet of things, open government data, consumerisation of IT, and Big Data.
In the 2013 Trends to Watch: Cloud Computing report, Ovum Software senior analyst, Laurent Lachal, noted that "Cloud computing promises to tackle two hitherto irreconcilable IT challenges: the need to reduce costs and the need to boost innovation".
"It takes a lot of effort from vendors and enterprises to actually make it work, and they will succeed in making it work in 2013, both on their own and as part of increasingly complex ecosystems," he said.
However, although Cloud computing is gathering momentum, Ovum says it is early days for vendors and enterprises in that space.
"Cloud computing has barely reached the adolescence phase and it will take at least another five years to mature into adulthood. It offers a new way to accelerate participation in the rapidly evolving social networking and mobile solution ecosystems of the Internet age," Lachal added.
Ovum also added that from 2013 onward, from a Cloud computing perspective, there will be growing interest in the cultural shift required by vendors and enterprises to turn data into a resource to manage and monetise, starting with data abstraction, sharing, and valuation.
"Some vendors played the Cloud data card early, but the Cloud data production, brokerage, and consumption ecosystem is still in the making and will continue to evolve over the next five years," Lachal said.


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I picked interest on you after going through your short profile and demand it necessary to write you immediately. I have something very vital to disclose to you, but I found it difficult to express myself here, since it's a public site.Could you please get back to me on (email@example.com) for the full details.
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text:
Bird watching
BALTIMORE — It's certainly interesting that the Phillies have a scout on hand here at Camden Yards on the day that A.J. Burnett takes the mound for the Jays. Coincidence? Maybe and, then again, maybe not.
Philadelphia already has acquired Joe Blanton for its rotation, so aiming for another starter might not be the goal at the moment. The Phils are in the market for some left-handed help in their bullpen and All-Star closer George Sherrill of the O's undoubtedly fits that mold. For the Jays, Jesse Carlson and Brian Tallet are also there.
In the meantime, the Phils also get another look at Burnett, though prior to his last start, Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi said he "didn't see A.J. going anywhere." I guess we'll know if that'll indeed be the case come July 31.
Today's lineups:
TORONTO (49-51) at BALTIMORE (48-51)
at 7:05 p.m. ET at Camden Yards
Joe Inglett, RF
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Alex Rios, CF
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Rod Barajas, C
Matt Stairs, DH
Scott Rolen, 3B
Adam Lind, LF
John McDonald, SS
PITCHING: RHP A.J. Burnett (10-9, 4.84)
Brian Roberts, 2B
Adam Jones, CF
Nick Markakis, RF
Aubrey Huff, DH
Melvin Mora, 3B
Luke Scott, LF
Kevin Millar, 1B
Ramon Hernandez, C
Brandon Fahey, SS
PITCHING: RHP Jeremy Guthrie (6-7, 3.60)
24 Comments
Grandpa stairs goes down again getting to old,It looks like they can't hit this guy tonight.
Whats with this umpire a lot of those pitches are right across the plate about 2 inches above the knees.
I think we need to move Johnny mac higher in the lineup. lol
Garry-I posted this on the previous thread and am not sure you saw it.
We wish all Jay hitters were like this.
Hitting with Risp: .321
RISP with 2 outs: .375
Bases loaded: .333
man on 3rd, 2 outs: .400
Gsumner I was watching on game day pitch by pitch so I don't have to listen to the morons is it raining bad or what.
By the way I saw it.
Does anyone know what the estimate for the rain delay is? Because im watching it on gameday and I have no way of telling.
Actually I hope it doesnt stop. We are past the full game time. So we will win! oh wait, is it 5 1/2 innings? cause we have one more out then.
its supposed to end at 10 pm ET
Garry-did you see this press release:
The Toronto Blue Jays completed the signing of SS GUSTAVO PIERRE as an International Free Agent. PIERRE, a 16-year-old from La Romana Dominican Republic is a right-handed hitting shortstop, standing at 6'1 and weighing 180 pounds. He will attend the Blue Jays academy in Domincan Republic.
From scouting reports, this kid is rated to be the 12th top prospect in The Dominican Republic. Here's the information on him:
12. Gustavo Pierre, 3B, Dominican Republic
Pierre is another of the Dominican shortstops, but basically no one thinks he can stick there; third base and left field are the two most common positional projections. His bat shows flashes, but how good his bat has looked varies from one game, BP session, or workout to another. He has sound swing mechanics, but showing an inability to consistently perform in game situations has some teams worried about his long-term prospects.
At 6′2 and 175 pounds, Pierre has some projection left in his frame, quick feet, and some power potential. He has been connected to the Blue Jays for some time, and figures to get a bonus in the $600,000 to $700,000 range.
One of the big signings was Oakland who got the number one ranked prospect:
Dominican prospect Michael Inoa has agreed to a minor league contract and a $4.25 million signing bonus with the Oakland Athletics, said the 16-year-old from Santo Domingo. Inoa is 6′7 and an athletic 205 pound right-handed pitcher whose fastball has been as high as 96, but sits in the 91-93 range presently. These qualities have some projecting him to hit 100 in a few years. Inoa has advanced feel a curveball that already flashes above-average and most project for plus, along with a splitter than one insider called "dirty." He's been called a , "once in a decade talent," by more than a few.
By now, you can see what kind of talent Inoa has; plenty to justify multiple visits to the Dominican from big hitters like Brian Cashman and reportedly four visits from Billy Beane.
**This kid looks like he could be really special. Of course, Billy Bean and Cashman made multiple trips there, with Bean convincing the kid to sign with Oakland.
Fredom we scored the go ahead run in the 6th so I think they have to have their at bat.
garry, you might be right, but I have always heard that a full game is 5 1/2 innings and the home team doesnt have to bat. But that would be really stupid then for the ump to not finnish the last out.
If you'd like to check out the rest of the prospects in this region go to this site:
It appears to me, after reading some of the information from this scouting report and others that there's a lot of good looking young players coming from this area. Our committment is two teams there, like a number of other organizations, but we certainly aren't putting the ocmmittment in that Oakland, the Yankks and others are.
I get the feeling this area is like the old days of baseball, without drafts,were the scouts earned their pay, and the teams that got the good prospects met with the parents and convinced them, they'd take care of the kids.
Billy Bean as one of the best GM's in baseball and Brian Cashman understand that and get all the real A+ prospects.
This kid Oakland signed was offered more by other teams, but decided to sign with Oakland. Clearly, Billy Bean did a better job than Cashman, at least on this kid.
In The Blue Jays golden years, we had great scouting in this area and developed some phenomenal talent as a result. Although, it looks like we've dipped out toe back into this area, it's no where's near enough to get the top kids.
I think all Toronto fans understand we can not compete with the Yanks and Boston in the free agent market, and that's ok. But, this is one area, we need to invest in. I tip my hat to Billy Bean on this signing, and remember this kid's name as he flies thorugh the minors and probably starts with Oakland in 3-4 years time, and becomes the new pitching phenom.
The difference is, Billy Bean has a real plan of building a minor league system and developing players. We are all over the map, sometimes it's free agents, sometimes its development and sometimes its just sign the guys no one else wants.
When we signed JP as GM, I though we had the right guy, trained by Billy Bean, one of the best, if not the best. But it certainly isn't showing, cause there doesn't seem to be any plan at all..
I tend to agree with Garry, They will need to play a full 6 innings because we got the go ahead run in the 6th. If we were ahead as of the end of the 5th, they could call it now.
Fredom I was wrong if they stop it we win so rain rain rain.
Gsumner I heard on sportsnet that if the game is called we win but I cant see where that is fair but I think it happend to the Jays in New York.
It also happened to them in Chicago last year.
well, then lets hope it rains. These guys could use a break.
I was right the first time sportsnet was wrong the game is suspended they play it tomorow.
I thought you were right.
gsumner, I second that. George Bell, Tony Fernandez, Carlos Delgado, arguably the 3 three greatest players to wear a Jays uniform. Gather the new young crop and who knows? 2 or 3 years they might be in our system, after playing down there. We might even pull a kid with enough talent to be like Justin Upton (was playing on the D-backs when he was 18.)
Saw Batman "Dark Knight" on Thursday, and boy, was I ever wrong. I feel pretty confident saying that that was the greatest Batman ever. I shouldn't have doubted Ledger because his performance was outstanding ('he knocked one out of the park'). His dark humour and psychotic portrayal of 'Joker' literally gave me chills. "Why so serious?"
Well, cross your fingers, it looks like Rickie Romero might be finally turning it around. Since we invested $2.4 in his signing bonus as a first rounder, it would be nice to see some return. lol
In his last 3 starts, which included tonight's Rickie went a total of 23 innings and most importantly, only walked 6, while stricking out 8. In these three games he gave up 4 runs, and 2 of them were the result of blown halt saves. He has lowered his year era to 5.05 as a result.
This improvement started over the last month in which 6 of his last 7 starts have been quality starts. The big difference is he's gone from walking a runner every two innings to 2 per game. Let's hope this improvement continues.
Carlos Delgado needs 50 HR to reach 500.


text:
Here is what I think I know about these two codices (correct me if I'm wrong):
both the Aleppo and Leningrad Codices were complete codices of the Hebrew Old Testament
the Leningrad Codex was (is?) corrected by the older Aleppo Codex
around 1947 parts of the Aleppo Codex (a.k.a. "the Crown of Aleppo") were lost
since that time efforts have been made to reconstruct the Aleppo Codex (e.g. "Jerusalem Crown")
the Leningrad Codex is a primary resource for reconstructing the Aleppo Codex
Yet there are still separate publications for the Leningrad Codex and for the Aleppo Codex, which leads me to believe they are different in some way. But how different are they? Was the Leningrad Codex simply a copy of a copy (etc.) of the Aleppo Codex, or did these represent differing traditions of some sort?
Concrete examples would be ideal. Thanks.


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15. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsaslak Sep 29, 2009 9:36 AM (in response to aslak)
@ALR @epbernard
Regardless of the Descriptors, we need the basic function that "specializes" gives us. A way of moving a nested archive into a new 'extension' type.
The best example I have as for now is:
EnterpriseArchive ear = .. WarArchive war = ear.getPathAsA("my.war", WebArchive.class)
In this case, since EnterpriseArchive and WebArchive have a relation it's probably better to have WebArchive archive = EnterpriseArchive.getWebModule(path); but i would like this to be just a struct impl over something like archive.getPathAsA(path, WebArchive.class)
16. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsjohnbailey Sep 29, 2009 9:54 AM (in response to aslak)
I agree they need to be decoupled. When combined the interface has a bit of mismatch. This may simply be due to Discritptor being in the name. The following looks very strange to me:
WebArchiveDescriptor webArchiveDescriptor = ... webArchiveDescriptor.add(path, archive) .addWebResource(path, asset);
The issue I have is neither of those operations really affects the descriptor for the archive, but nothing would tell me that from the usage.
If the archive behavior was kept as it is today and the WebArchiveDescriptor actually implemented Asset (which is what it is in the end) that will serialize the content to xml prior in the getStream call. There could then be a builder that creates a unified interface to both WebArchive, and WebArchiveDescriptor. Internally the builder creates the WebArchiveDescriptor(extends asset), adds it as the web.xml asset for the archive, and delegates to the archive, descriptor, or both as needed.
Could look like the following:
WebArchive webArchive = .... WebArchiveBuilder builder = new WebArchiveBuilder(webArchive); builder.addLibrary(...) .addWebResource(...) .addServlet(...);
It may be the builder is too generic, but it does seem to better describe what you are doing. It would also be possible to do the following:
WebArchive webArchive = .... WebArchiveDescriptor descriptor = new WebArchiveDescriptor(webArchive); webArchive.addWebResource(descriptor); descriptor.addFilter(...) .addServlet(...);
There is a bit more code, but it is more clear when operations affect the archive structure/contents, and when they affect the descriptor. The nice thing about some unified interface like the builder is there are cases where the operation affects both, like addServlet adding the both the descriptor information and the asset.
17. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsepbernard Sep 29, 2009 1:07 PM (in response to aslak)
web.xml "name" does not exists, it's displayName so that one is a non issue :)
I don't follow you the second example. What do you mean by addServlet name forms?
Assuming we are careful with the Archive method names (potentially by prefixing them), the risk of collision will be close to none and each subdomain can take care of itself.
18. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsaslak Sep 29, 2009 1:25 PM (in response to aslak)
I'm conflicted.
I like the idea of having the Descriptors integrated, and I like them separated..
For me it kinda boils down to:
What is a WebArchive(war) without its Descriptor(web.xml)?
(If we ignore parts of the upcomming Servlet 3.0 spec)
Not much.
What is a ResourceAdapterArchive(ra) without its Descriptor(ra.xml)?
What is a EnterpriseArchive(ear) without its Descriptor(application.xml)?
Most common usecases were removed with J2ee 5?
What is a EJB Archive without its Descriptor(ejb-jar.xml)?
Most common usecases were removed with J2ee 5.
This is all spec related questions. We of course have the set of Container specific deployment descriptors as well.. but that is another story.
19. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsalrubinger Sep 29, 2009 3:29 PM (in response to aslak)
"epbernard" wrote:
web.xml "name" does not exists, it's displayName so that one is a non issue :)
Bah, you get the idea. ;) The fact is that archives don't have associated metadata; their descriptors do. So lumping every operation together in one master object gives me the feelings of an antipattern.
You could counter that argument by saying that descriptors are the only mechanism to give "real" archives some metadata, and that they're in fact one and the same. But I still prefer to draw the line.
"aslak" wrote:
What is a ResourceAdapterArchive(ra) without its Descriptor(ra.xml)?
The way I'm proposing, just a regular archive which additionally supports "public ResourceAdaptorDescriptor getDescriptor()".
20. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsalrubinger Sep 29, 2009 3:31 PM (in response to aslak)
Hehe, another snag is that these Container types have *versions*. So what version of the web.xml domain are we supporting? :) Or multiple, with the ability for users to define/plug in their own?
21. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsjason.greene Sep 29, 2009 3:34 PM (in response to aslak)
We can have our cake and eat it too. Offering an integrated API can be done in such a way that still allows for nice separation and modularity. Emmanuel's suggestion for adding an extension point with a generic typed parameter accomplishes this (.asArchive/specializes). It's type-safe, extensible, and super-friendly.
22. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsaslak Sep 30, 2009 2:58 AM (in response to aslak)
Ok, I've done a little test with the 'Specializes' style.
Short v:
- new interface Spercializer
- Archive extends Specializer and performs the lookup via ArchiveExtensionLoader
- SpecializerBase impl Specializer with delegation to Archive
- ContainerBase extends SpecializerBase
- WebArchiveDescriptor extends Specializer
- WebArchiveDescriptorAsset extends SpecializerBasse impl Asset, WebArchiveDescriptor
The new SPI looks like:
- implements Spercialized
- 1 argument constructor that extends Archive
The ArchiveExtensionLoader will try to do lookups recursive, so in the WebArchiveDescriptorAsset case, the flow is:
- Lookup impl for WebArchiveDescriptor based on WebArchiveDesctiptor META-INF/Service/...
- Find suitable constructor on found class
- Finds constrcutor with argument WebArchive
-- Lookup impl for WebArchive ..
-- Find suitable constrcutor
-- Construct WebArchiveImpl with given Archive
- Construct WebArchiveDescriptorAsset with WebArchiveImpl
A side effect of this change is that we can move the spec impls and descriptor impls over to the SPI package, since they now are actually loaded dynamically.
(ps: ignore the horrible ArchiveExtensionLoader impl for now.. :)
23. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsaslak Sep 30, 2009 3:30 AM (in response to aslak)
Not sure its the right place for it, but the road is very short for the importer/exporter APIs to be implemented the same way.
new MemoryMapArchiveImpl() .as(ZipImporter.class) .import("my.war") .as(WebArchiveDescriptor.class) .addListener(this.getClass()) .addContextParameter("context-1", "value") .addServlet(Exception.class, "/*") .as(WebArchive.class) .addClass(this.getClass()) .as(ZipExporter.class) .export("my-new.war");
24. Re: ShrinkWrap - Descriptorsdan.j.allen Jun 13, 2010 6:02 PM (in response to aslak)
Please jump over the ShrinkWrap development forum for the remainder of this discussion.