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If you've ever tried to buy a house, a car, or any purchase that required a loan, then you know how tedious the work can be.
Aside from the mountains of paperwork, the actual loan process is immensely time consuming and mentally draining.
It's the last thing you want to do after spending eight hours at the office, or worse, on a beautiful, sunny weekend.
That's where LendingTree comes in.
The company aims to make the entire process — from searching for a lending company, to qualification and loan application — as simple as it can possibly be by providing borrowers with a loan marketplace.
Whether LendingTree succeeds in this or not is what we set out to discover.
Who is LendingTree?
LendingTree is a peer-to-peer lending network founded in 1996 by an accountant named Doug Lebda who had become fed up with the process of seeking out loans.
Doug needed a mortgage, but the process of finding one seemed impossible, even for a man who spent his entire day working with finances.
Though the company started in 1996, it didn't launch nationally until 1998 when LendingTree.com was established and the headquarters were based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After the well-known "When banks compete, you win" campaign launched in 1999, the company saw a successful IPO in 2000.
LendingTree came onto Barry Diller's radar in 2003, and shortly after the company was acquired by InterActiveCorp.
This acquisition helped establish LendingTree as an even more reputable company by placing it alongside Ticketmaster, Ask.com, and other leaders in their respective industries.
After the housing market crashed in 2008, LendingTree left AIC and joined forces with Tree.com, gaining a portfolio of "financial matchmakers" to offer its customers.
Today, the company has rebranded itself once again as LendingTree and offers additional online loan search services for education, home professionals, and automotive loans.
What's the purpose of LendingTree?
LendingTree was created to provide consumers with an easy-to-use way of learning about potential loans, all from the comfort of their home.
It aims to eliminate the tiring process of going from bank to bank and lender-to-lender to find the best deal.
By making lenders compete for business, LendingTree is able to offer its customers a choice between multiple loan offers and switch the position of power from lender to borrower.
And LendingTree does this for free.
Who are the lenders?
LendingTree has partnered with 1,570 different lenders that include Capital One, North American Savings Bank, Citizens Bank, and many more.
However, you should note that these lenders pay a fee to LendingTree for your information.
The major lenders throughout the country aren't likely to pay for information they can obtain freely, so the companies that partner with LendingTree are sometimes smaller operations that are desperate for business.
However, several leading lending institutions have partnered with LendingTree.
LendingTree opens its doors to any lender that wishes to apply, but not all make the cut.
In order to protect its borrowers, LendingTree vets each lender and runs them against an anti-fraud database to ensure there are no reports or red flags.
If you wish to learn more about the lenders, a full list can be found on their lender reviews page.
From here, you can sort by lender type, state, ratings, and more.
How LendingTree Works
Simply asking, "How does LendingTree work?" isn't enough, as the question has multiple facets that come into play.
Let's break it down into the different components.
How LendingTree Makes Money
To understand how LendingTree makes money, you must first understand how lenders make money.
A mortgage lender, for example, will charge you an origination fee — a small percentage of the loan amount that you pay upfront.
There are also other fees that come into play like closing costs, transaction fees, etc.
Lenders also earn revenue from interest payments, which is one reason many people become stuck in credit card debt.
When they only make the minimum payment, they can't reduce their overall principal and the credit card continues to profit from them.
LendingTree provides its services for free to borrowers; the profit originates in how the company provides your information to potential lenders.
Because many of the lenders are not major, national companies, there can be a scarcity of borrowers.
The lenders are willing to pay for leads.
After you fill out the sign-up form and enter your personal information, LendingTree matches you with four or five potential lenders that its algorithms think are the best match for you.
The company then sells your information to these lenders (and can potentially profit up to five times from a single customer.)
Services Offered by LendingTree
Since its inception, LendingTree has branched out to offer a wide range of services including business and personal loans.
However, their four main foci — and ours — lie in automotive loans, education loans, mortgages, and lines of credit.
Automotive Loans
Although LendingTree offers automotive loans, the nomenclature may be a bit misleading.
In addition to standard auto loans, LendingTree also offers loans for auto refinancing, auto insurance, as well as motorcycle, RV, boat, and powersport vehicle loans.
The service includes a loan calculator to help you determine how much you would likely pay per month for these loans.
A series of tips at the bottom of the page provide access to a wealth of knowledge concerning the different types of loans.
For instance, these articles explain what to expect when using a motorcycle loan, what lenders look for, the different types of motorcycle loans, and what the process will likely be like at the dealership—all valuable information for the inexperienced.
Education Loans
Much like the automotive loans, LendingTree provides an easy way to receive multiple student loan offers.
All you have to do is enter the name of your school, the loan amount you need, your expected graduation year, and an email address.
In addition to student loans, you can find loan refinancing options to help lower your interest rate.
There is a knowledge base with this section that explains the different loan terms and helps students understand exactly what it is they're signing up for.
Common terminology like debt-to-income ratio, borrower, annual percentage rate, and more are explained in easy to understand ways.
LendingTree also makes a note at the bottom that lenders aren't going to deny students based on poor credit, as the majority of students borrow money for education.
Mortgages are the most sought after type of loan on LendingTree.
After all, the company began primarily as an online mortgage lending marketplace.
In addition to connecting borrowers with lenders, LendingTree provides you with tools to look for refinancing, home equity loans, VA loans, FHA loans, and reverse mortgage loans.
Articles below the loan options explain what you should do before you apply for a mortgage loan, how to determine the length of the mortgage, what sorts of charges to expect, and which kind of loan would best fit your situation.
Credit Cards
Even if you're looking for a credit card instead of just a loan, LendingTree can still help.
You select from four different credit rating categories (excellent, fair, poor, or new to credit) and then filter by card type, card issuer, and card network.
The tools allow you to search for the best type of card for your needs, and to see at a glance what the intro APR is, how long the intro APR period lasts, and what the intro balance transfer fee is.
For cards that provide miles or cashback, you can easily see the amount you'll earn per dollar spent, the annual limits, and any fees you may have to pay before you begin to look at each card's specifics.
Credit Reports
LendingTree checks your credit score before providing sending your information to lenders (although this doesn't appear on your report).
As a result, the company can provide you with your current score.
There is also a wealth of information here on how to improve your credit, what factors affect it the most, and how to form an improvement plan to raise your score to the level you want.
After all, a higher credit score makes you more appealing to lending institutions.
How to Use LendingTree's Services
The first step is to create an account with LendingTree.
This can be done after filling out the application form available on their website.
The process is simple.
For the sake of example, we filled out the application form for a mortgage loan, but the exact questions may be different depending on the type of loan you need.
- What type of loan do you need?
- What type of property is the loan for?
- What is the use of the property?
- What state are you in?
- What city are you in?
- Have you found your new home yet?
- Are you working with a real estate agent?
- What is the estimated purchase price of your home?
- How much money do you have available for a down payment?
- Do you need help moving?
- What is your estimated credit rating?
- What is your date of birth?
- Are you active or retired military?
- Have you declared bankruptcy in the past seven years?
- Do you have any foreclosures?
- What is your street address?
Finally, it asks for a username, password, and email address to set up your LendingTree account.
From there, the company's algorithms get to work matching you with potential lenders.
Users have reported receiving phone calls and emails almost immediately upon hitting the "submit" button the form.
Is LendingTree user friendly? Are the services easy to use?
The signup and application form relies on Javascript, which results in a signup process that is not only smooth, but pretty to look at.
It's aesthetically pleasing and rather intuitive to fill out.
The company also provides a phone number (1-800-813-4620) if you need help or would prefer not to enter personal information online.
Of course, "user-friendly" is subjective.
While users report immediate results, there have also been multiple complaints that the results just don't stop.
Borrowers have found a lender to work with quickly, but still receive competing offers for months after submitting.
The major complaint about LendingTree from most users was the nearly overwhelming number of phone calls and emails they received after signing up for the service.
Our suggestion is to use a dedicated email address for LendingTree.
Don't mix your personal or business email, as it will almost certainly become inundated with offers.
If you can afford to purchase a disposable phone, use that number rather than your personal number.
That way, once you've found the offer you want to go with, you can simply turn the phone off and avoid the headache.
LendingTree's Customer Service — The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
One of the most telling traits of a company is how effective their customer support is — and how many ways the company provides a customer to get in touch.
In that respect, LendingTree scores high marks.
Not only does the company provide a customer care phone number, but they also provide a form submission, an address if you prefer to write snail mail, and two separate email addresses.
A vast majority of user reviews praised the customer support team and their helpfulness.
One user mentioned that she didn't qualify for the loan she wanted; after informing LendingTree of this, the company immediately provided her with other options that helped her find a loan that fit her specific needs.
Whenever negative reviews arose, LendingTree could be seen in the comments section reaching out to users and providing solutions.
Whenever LendingTree was clearly in the wrong, the company took responsibility for it.
That's a quality not often seen in major companies.
Of course, with any financial company, there will be downsides.
As we've already established, LendingTree provides lenders with your information—they don't deal directly with the lending process.
This means that a certain breakdown in communications is possible, and if you begin receiving an inordinate number of phone calls, there's not much LendingTree can do about it.
You can request they remove your phone number from their databases, but if the calls are the result of one of the lenders leaking your number to affiliate companies, you're out of luck.
All in all, LendingTree's customer service is one area of the company we could find almost nothing wrong with.
Is LendingTree safe and legitimate?
Since the start of the internet, keeping your personal information to yourself has been pro forma. Websites like LendingTree go against everything most internet users hold dear, in that sharing financial information and (gasp!) even your social security number is a major no-no.
It's natural that you might be a bit skeptical about the validity of LendingTree.
Determining whether the website is legitimate and safe are two separate issues, however.
"Safe" implies that you won't have your identity stolen or grant access to your accounts by placing information on the site, while "legitimate" questions whether the services work as promised.
Let's start with safe.
First of all, LendingTree employs various encryption techniques to protect data transfer.
From their Security page:
"Transmissions between LendingTree, banks, lenders, loan brokers and real estate professionals are encrypted using public key cryptography algorithms with a minimum key size of 128 bits."
In non-technical jargon, this means that your data is protected by a lock with at least 128 tumblers.
If you've ever tried to pick a lock, you know how difficult a six-pin tumbler can be.
LendingTree is twenty-two times more difficult to "pick" digitally.
In addition, any page that requests personal information from you uses HTTPS, a secure layer of communication that prevents anyone from viewing the information.
These pages also use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
This technology scrambles the data, which means that even if someone does steal it, they can't decode the information contained within.
Only the recipient of the information with the proper decryption key (LendingTree in this case) can view it.
LendingTree is transparent in regard to data collection.
The privacy policy describes what kind of information the company asks for:
Information We Collect.
We collect personally identifiable information that can identify you such as your name, address, telephone number, mobile number, e-mail address and Social Security Number ("Personally Identifiable Information" or "PII").
We also collect information such as demographic data and data about your online activity on our website that does not identify you ("Non-Personally Identifiable Information" or "Non-PII").
PII and Non-PII are known together as "Information".
We may also collect and store Information that you provide to us about other people (such as co-borrowers), including their name, address, telephone number, mobile devices, email address and Social Security Number."
The company collects this data from the information you personally provide; from sources such as credit reports, public information about your home, and demographic data; and from automatic collection cookies and other technology.
Of course, one of the main areas of concern is whom LendingTree will share this information with.
The company promises to only share the information with the relevant service providers: LendingTree businesses, lenders or matching service providers; real estate agents, brokers, and real estate companies; referrals for your non-mortgage business; and services providers.
There is one warning that stands out and raises concern: "BE AWARE that the Lenders with whom you are matched may retain or use your Information whether or not you use their services and you should contact these Lenders directly concerning their privacy and information sharing practices which may differ from LendingTree."
So, is LendingTree safe?
Yes. The company isn't some no-name web startup that no one has ever heard of.
You've probably seen the commercials on television before.
But is it legitimate? Read on.
Different people define legitimacy in different ways.
If your only concern is whether or not LendingTree's services actually work, then the answer is yes.
The service connects you with multiple lenders and provides you with offers almost from the start.
On the other hand, take the stance of the buyer beware.
LendingTree does sell your personal information to potential lenders, and then their role stops there.
What those lenders do with your personal information—and whether they keep it or sell it further—depends on the privacy policy of the specific lender.
That said, LendingTree employs more than 300 employees as of 2016, as a NASDAQ stock ticker (TREE), and trades stocks at over $100 a share.
That's the mark of success.
Lending is both safe and legitimate, and the service does work. That is a fact you can be sure of.
LendingTree's Strengths
According to Consumer Affairs, LendingTree scores a 3.8 out of 5 rating, with 5-star ratings making up 35% of all reviews.
Customers are satisfied with LendingTree's ease of use, the convenience, and the finance choice options.
The customer service also stands out as a strong point for the company, resulting in an overall positive experience for the vast majority of visitors.
LendingTree connects you with multiple lenders and service providers, each of which can then offer multiple options for loans, refinancing, and more.
There are no upfront fees associated with LendingTree, and the service itself is completely free.
LendingTree works even for those with poor credit and works to match you with lenders who specialize in credit repair.
There are an overwhelming number of educational resources to help you learn more about loans, lenders, repayment terms, and anything else you may not be completely comfortable with.
LendingTree's Weaknesses
No company is perfect. Some of the main complaints users had about LendingTree include:
Users received multiple calls from multiple institutions in the period from immediately after sign up to long after they had deactivated their account.
As stated above, this is because LendingTree sells your information to the providers; to put a stop to these calls, you would need to speak with that specific lender, although multiple users have reported doing so to little effect.
Users complained that certain personal information was distributed that they did not want shared, but later discovered that it had been spread anyway.
One of the major weak points in LendingTree's service is once you connect with a lender, LendingTree is no longer your point of contact.
The majority of complaints were not about LendingTree's service or website, but about the lenders and their incessant contact.
Many of the offers may not be the most competitive; as we mentioned above, if a loan company has to pay a fee for leads, they are likely unable to provide the same level of service as national lenders.
This means your interest rates and loan amounts may not be as favorable.
Will LendingTree ruin my credit score?
The institution is quick to state:
LendingTree pulls your credit report when you complete a loan request. LendingTree's inquiry does not count towards your credit score nor does it show up on your credit report to anyone but you (emphasis mine.)
However, even if LendingTree's inquiry doesn't count towards your score (a soft check), other institutions may perform their own check.
The FAQ page from LendingTree goes on to explain:
Each lender has their own policy about pulling your credit. Some may pull your credit before they make you a loan offer; others may pull your credit after you have accepted their offer. In all cases, LendingTree pulls your credit report when you complete a loan request.
Because the business model of LendingTree is to provide three to five lenders with your information, that can mean three to five "hard" checks, each of which can potentially lower your credit score by three to ten points.
While FICO considers multiple credit checks within a given period (and under the right circumstances) to be only one check, a customer has to accept an offer before that period expires or the checks will affect their credit score.
If you do find a hard inquiry on your report that you didn't authorize, there are multiple steps you can take to have it removed.
First, contact the company that made the inquiry and ask them to prove you made an inquiry, then report to the major credit reporting unions (Experian, EquiFax, and Transunion) that it was an error.
You can also contact the credit bureaus directly and dispute the inquiry yourself.
Even if it is removed from one, however, you'll need to reach out to the others.
The bureaus have a tendency not to communicate with each other.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does LendingTree vet the lenders that they work with?
- Once I have been approved by a lender, do I still have time to change my mind and go with someone else?
Yes. You are not obligated. You can change your mind and go with another lender.
- How safe is my information that I have provided to LendingTree?
LendingTree is secured, but you will receive offers from many lenders that your information was sold to.
- How does LendingTree make money if the services are free to use?
Lenders pay LendingTree for your business.
- What happens if a lender that I was connected to via LendingTree turns out to be a scam?
You should start by contacting LendingTree and they will guide you through the necessary steps. If a blip shows up on your credit report, you should dispute the error.
The Verdict on LendingTree
The question remains: what to do about LendingTree?
It's an undeniable useful online loan marketplace, but there are downsides.
No one likes unsolicited phone calls, especially those that don't stop when you ask them to.
That said, the ability to receive multiple loan offers from various lending institutions without ever leaving the house can't be overstated, especially when you can apply for those same loans straight from your phone.
Would we recommend LendingTree? Under the right circumstances, for the right situations.
While most people are likely to go to known lending institutions for a loan, sometimes that doesn't work.
When that happens, try LendingTree.
The service puts you in touch with multiple lenders and multiple loan offers with a secure, safe service that's been vetted by thousands of customers in the past.


text: I hope this hasn't been beaten to death by other members, but I am in dire need of a good alternative torrent site invitation to that of demonoid. I heard IPTorrent was good. I mostly download books for school, and always try to seed as much as I leach. I'm lost without my demonoid fix Thanks, and I will be sure to rep the sender for their generosity.

subset: commoncrawl


text: On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 05:38:43PM -0200, Felipe Augusto van de Wiel (faw) wrote: > First, let me introduce everybody to the services, robots > and resources being hosted by i18n.d.n: > > * Generation of Compendium PO files per-language A good idea but it is restricted to to a fixed license, right? Otherwise it would be hard to use the compendium if multiple (possibly conflicting ones) would all apply. > Improvements in the QA capabilities of the translate toolkit > and Pootle are planned to help with the "false positives" of the > pofilter checks. Better reuse of existing translations will become > possible by using better translation memory techniques. There is > also work planned on formats and converters involving, for example, > XLIFF, TMX, TRADOS and WordFast. But here it's also important to check the license first!? Jens


text:
We are still verifying his real identity. Dan Cooper/Dan Carol/Kaptn Fahkin Kage is just a few of several aliases he uses on Facebook, however, his MO is quite consistent.
We don't think this is the person who uses the Kage alias. We think this person used the Kaptn Fahkin Kage alias to manipulate us into believing it's Kage. We're not buying it.
1. He hates anti-pedophilia activists so we are beginning to suspect that he may be a pedophile.
2. He uses extreme and deceptive methods to frame anti-pedophilia social activists to make them look like they are pedophiles.
Let me give you a recent example of a stunt he played on me. I expect that you will be seeing numerous photoshopped screenshots in groups that I'm not a member which will allege to be evidence of my 'child stalking' based on this so I may as well expose it from the start 🙂
This is what crazy people do and remember that these are the people Jennifer Emick is using as her trusted sources for the deceptions she uses to attack me on Twitter. ROFL. She should be ashamed of herself but she won't be.
The strategy that Dan Cooper/Dan Carol/Kaptn Fahkin Kage uses
1. He'll hit your Page or Account with innocuous but leading comments.
2. He then waits for you to respond. He may make quite a few and bury them, presumably so that you don't know what he's going to use against you. Although he doesn't always do this and in this case he didn't.
3. After you respond and give him something he can use, he deletes all of his comments and then deletes the fake accounts he used.
He has someone screenshotting them for him but wants to remove them so that you don't get a chance to get screenshots of them.
This makes it easy for him to photoshop the shots and create deceptions to set you up and difficult for you to defend yourself.
Unfortunately, he seems to have forgotten that there is such a thing as Email Notifications. Mine are turned on. Yes it's a bit annonying but worth it in circumstances like this because I always have evidence of these communications.
On Jan 1, he posts the following item to the following post. Since he removed it I can't show both together..
Okay so the link to the post, 'The Cyberbullies: How Far Will They Go, 1' is the top one. The current alias of Kaptn Fahkin Kage (no, it isn't Kage) responds to that post with the comment, 'I've gone further.'.
I respond sarcastically here with something along the lines of: 'Really? Then maybe you should drop your picture so I can do a special Page about you?' referring, of course to the anti-bullying blog.
He now sends me a link to an almost nude picture of a young adult male that he uploaded to his page which looks similar to someone that we think might be him but we have no confirmation at this time. He also makes the comment attached to the picture, 'As per your request, toots'.
Well … No. I didn't request that and he knows perfectly well I didn't.
And so, the deception begins:
Again I make a sarcastic comment: 'You need a bra, sweetie.'
The image, comments and account were all deleted almost immediately after I looked. I'm assuming he waited for me to comment and once I did removed everything after screenshotting it.
Now it isn't Rocket Science to see how:
1. screenshots of the first two comments with one minor touchup like excluding or changing which main post the comments are associated with could change the entire meaning of what was said.
2. which picture the second comments are associated with (changing to a teenager) might be taken out of context and misrepresented to make me look like a 'child stalker'.
Kreepy has a huge credibility problem these days. Everyone's demanding proof of his pathological lies. He's left with no other choice but to get his shills to convince others to fabricate frame-ups. Especially since his lame attempts to discredit me haven't worked with anyone other than Jennifer Emick (which really tells you all you need to know about her level of stupid. Lol).
Of course this one's going to be as big a FAIL as the other ones. ROFL.
We've established that this is this particular persons pattern of behavior. He does this regularly to people. I'm not the first and he does indeed run around self-righteously pontificating about how evil certain people are based on the screenshots that he set them up for.
We also know that he associates with Kree Love (Antonio F. Lopez) and was on the Bone Yard under different aliases.
So, we're working on identifying him and when we do he'll appear here.


text: Contents IT Operations Management Previous Topic Next Topic Create APD files for an SAP application on a server - Legacy ... SAVE AS PDF Selected Topic Topic & Subtopics All Topics in Contents Other Share Create APD files for an SAP application on a server - Legacy The first step in this example is to create APD files for an SAP application on a server (any OS) for which no credentials are available. Navigate to Discovery Definition > Properties and find the property for the proxy server's operating system. In this example, use the Application discovery location for UNIX-based systems property (glide.discovery.application_discovery.unix_location) for a Linux proxy server. This example uses the default path of /etc/opt/apd/, although it could use any path. On the Linux proxy server, create an APD folder in the default UNIX path: /etc/opt/apd/. Note: By default, Discovery looks for the environment file in this location on all UNIX machines. Use the template to create an SAP environment file for a Solaris server that does not have Discovery credentials. OptionDescription system: The namer of the inaccessible computer on which the SAP application is running. For this example, sol13.lab2 is the name of the Solaris computer with no credentials for Discovery. application_version_path: Specify the path to the SAP version file on the proxy server. For this example, enter/etc/opt/apd_version/sap_version.xml. The version file must be on the same computer as the environment file but in different directories. Figure 1. SAP Environment File Template Save the environment file to the /etc/opt/apd/ directory. Create the version file directory using the path specified in the environment file. For this example, create a directory called apd_version on the same level as the apd directory. Remember that the version file cannot be in the same directory as the environment file. Use the template to create a version file called sap_version.xml and save it to the /etc/opt/apd_version directory. Continue the process at Classify the Application. On this page Send Feedback Previous Topic Next Topic


text:
- David Barrett
- 3 years ago
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1 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY Online at Published by ETH Zurich, Chair of Software Engineering JOT, 2007 Vol. 6, No. 8, September-October 2007 Form over Substance John D. McGregor, Clemson University and Luminary Software LLC, U.S.A. Abstract Beware of the colleague or supplier who spends large amounts of time in meetings discussing the format, sequence, and wording of documents they will deliver and very little time on the actual content. Strategically, substance is what counts. In this issue of Strategic Software Engineering I will point to some common problems when form becomes a higher priority than substance and what value is added when these problems are addressed. 1 INTRODUCTION The motivation for this column came as I sat on a teleconference and listened as a vendor read the outline for a document that we all had copies of. The vendor s customer asked several pointed questions about the content. The vendor tried mightily to avoid the questions by proceeding on with the recitation of the form of the document. The vendor was late and had no content but was trying to divert attention away from that deficiency by focusing on the form of the document. Clients who are using a model-driven approach for the first time always want to know what a good model should look like. They wonder how they will know when they have drawn enough diagrams. They want to know how many objects should be in the model. They feel that by knowing the desired form they can fill in the blanks and avoid troublesome issues. I don t blame them. I often start a paper by putting in the essential elements for whatever format the conference or journal wants, hoping that the content will follow. This is like the student, who when assigned a paper to write, immediately asks, How many pages should it be? My standard answer, delivered through clenched teeth, is, As long as it takes to tell the story, but no longer. One of my colleagues in Luminary Software became very angry when she realized that the project, which she was mentoring, intended to pass their ISO 9000 audit by have a forms party. In one night they completed all the paper work for several months worth of development in an assembly line of filling out and signing inspection reports and other Cite this column as follows: John McGregor Form over Substance, in Journal of Object Technology, vol. 6, no. 8, September - October 2007, pp
2 FORM OVER SUBSTANCE documentation. Not only could they not understand why she was upset, they couldn t understand why the project was in trouble. Lets be clear. I am not saying that the format of written processes shouldn t be carefully considered or that companies shouldn t spend time creating templates. I felt very good on a recent Sunday riding home from Ireland on a Boeing 767 knowing that the pilots have standard forms that must be filled out, checklists that must be completed, and processes to follow. But I would not feel so comfortable if I thought the pilots waited until after takeoff to fill out the forms and then simply put an answer in every blank without being concerned about what the actual data was. Substance is hard. You have to think. You can t phone it in. Form you can copy from a book or a website. Substance requires indepth analysis and design. It requires consideration of a wide range of issues and managing a number of tradeoffs. Form is tactical, substance is strategic. Substance is often invisible and difficult to measure. Form is visible. Racks of procedural manuals and the minutes of review meetings are tangible. They can be counted. The fact that no one ever reads, much less follows, the wonderful processes or that nothing was discussed at the review meeting except how to complete the inspection report, is not as obvious and seldom seen as the cause for project difficulties. 2 FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION Form follows function is a ubiquitous design rule which would seem to support substance over form. It simply sets the stage for development processes that first determine what a product should do and then determines the shape of the architecture. And yet how many projects start with an assumption about which architectural style will be used? That a service oriented architecture is the right form for their project? I refer to this as magazine cover architecture. That is, the architecture is picked by what is most popular at the moment, not what is the best structure for the product. I vividly remember the client who had designed a transaction oriented architecture for a product that spent most of its time serving up streaming video. That turned out to be a strategic error delaying delivery and reducing market share. In a strategic design process the form of the product is derived systematically from the functional and non-functional requirements the function. I have already written about the strategic value of software architecture [McGregor 04] so I won t repeat myself. Others have written about how to derive the architecture [Bass 03] and I will not repeat them either. The derivation of the architecture from the requirements is hard work. But, there is a reward. The act of creating the architecture is probably the best requirements verification tool there is. The feedback from the architecture definition ensures more thought will be put into the requirements than would otherwise be the case. 10 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 6, NO. 8.
3 3 SEPARATE BEHAVIOR FROM STRUCTURE Form follows function can have unexpected consequences as a group of products evolves. As the functions of a system evolve, there will be pressure on the architecture to follow, but changes to the architecture can send ripples through a project. If the architecture has been properly abstracted that pressure will be minimized. The software product line environment actually facilitates this approach. By building an architecture that spans the range of systems in the product line, the architecture will be more flexible. This is one case in which form shouldn t follow function any more than necessary. Architecture Definition is an excellent time to be certain that the structure of the product is sufficiently robust, within the scope of the set of products, so that anticipated changes in behavior will not require structural changes in the product. I liken this to the need to minimize the number of load bearing walls in a building. Structures that span a space with no supports inbetween are much more flexible as to the functions that can be carried out in the building. 4 STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT SUBSTANCE My company, Luminary Software, adopted an approach to describing processes in which two types of input and two types of output are listed for each phase, see Table1 for an example. We termed these actual and by-product. [Russ 00] For the domain analysis phase, shown in Table 1, there is an actual input of an understanding of what the system should be. The by-product input is a business plan, which follows a standard form. By taking this approach we tried to draw attention to the intangible an understanding - which is often ignored but is actually the substance for which development personnel should strive. This illustrates one of my concerns about many processes, some of which are used in companies with high CMMI classifications. A good process is one that describes exactly what an expert would say is necessary to accomplish the task. A good process is one that is so natural you only have to read it once and then you can repeat it many times. It has a form that fits the substance in a comfortable way. Good organizations recognize the value of substance. The Software Architecture Technology (SAT) initiative at the SEI has made extraordinary progress in defining techniques that incorporate the non-functional qualities of a software architecture into the architecture design process [Bass 03]. These qualities have been thrown around in software development for many years. Everyone claims their systems are maintainable, but no one could prove it. These architecture definition processes provide a natural way to talk about a substantial portion of a product s requirements. VOL. 6, NO. 8. JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY 11
4 FORM OVER SUBSTANCE 5 PLANNING VS PLANS Dwight Eisenhower has been attributed with saying that he thought plans were useless but that planning was essential. All too often managers choose to develop plans by assigning one person to write the plan, but this usually means create the plan as well as write it. Often this person does not have any stake in how well the plan works and may have never carried out this type of work. 12 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 6, NO. 8.
5 1. DOMAIN ANALYSIS 1.1. Description To capture the concepts and relationships within the bodies of knowledge that underlie the basic problem to be solved by the application. Operating within the scope defined by requirements, domain analysis provides a superset of concepts and relationships needed for application analysis Responsibility CONCEPTUALIZER assists in determining the domain boundaries and serves as a domain expert. DOMAIN EXPERT provides concepts and connections between the concepts. MANAGER reviews the output of this phase to be able to produce schedules, resource allocations, and the software development plan. SYSTEM ENGINEER provides validation during the assessment activity. ARCHITECT gains an understanding of the domain to construct the appropriate architecture. DEVELOPER takes the lead in soliciting domain expert input and defining and modeling the domain. TESTER guides the assessment of the domain analysis by-products ensuring that they are testable and noncontradictory Input Actual An understanding of what the system should be The collective domain knowledge of those participating in the analysis By-product Business plan describing the concept or idea and the requirements 1.4. Entry Criteria Agreement has been reached that the requirements are sufficiently scoped to begin this phase Activities Domain Modeling using UML models. Guided inspection of the domain model Output Actual An understanding of specific domains related to the problem being solved By-product A UML model capturing the concepts and relationships Mapping between the domain model concepts and the use case model 1.7. Exit Criteria Proceed to next phase If the results of the guided inspection show the domain model is complete, correct, and consistent If the requirements model is still sufficiently complete Iterate back to previous phases REQUIREMENTS: If domain concepts have been discovered that lead to the discovery of new uses of the system 1.8. Metrics VOL. 6, NO. 8. JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY 13
6 FORM OVER SUBSTANCE Raw data Number of concepts (classes) captured in model Derived measures Percentage of use cases covered by concepts in the domain model Table 1 - Domain Analysis Phase Description The substance in planning is the thought that goes into alternatives and constraints. Which specific tasks will best solve a specific problem and what constraints make them the best choice? A plan seldom captures this level of thinking nor does a person reading a plan think through as thoroughly the issues as happens during planning. Having the people who will do the work create the plan ensures that they have thought through some of the important issues. Then, the form in which the plan is written or even if it is written no longer matters. Open source development projects and many agile development efforts do a remarkable job of planning by staying in touch with substance without being sidetracked by form. Both of these strategies emphasize planning over plans. Teams using the Scrum agile method plan everyday but seldom produce written plans. This works since they never plan a very large piece, content or time wise. Planning occurs in 24 hour increments. One reason there is more substance than form is that there seems to be a very shallow management hierarchy on most open source projects and those positions are filled based on merit managers beware. That is, leadership positions (different from management positions) are filled by persons who have in the past made the greatest contributions. Therefore, they know the demands on those they lead they ve been there. They also would like to continue to contribute so they do not allow overhead to build up that they will have to manage. Agile projects also keep a small management layer. The developers are selforganizing. They keep focused on substance by very frequent, in some cases daily, interaction with their customer. It is certainly easier to focus on making real progress when the customer is that close. I have seen projects where the interaction with the customer is either indirect at best or only about once a year. There is a very different atmosphere in that project office from ones where the customer has a presence in the same building. The Product Line Systems program at the SEI defines 29 practice areas that a product line organization must address.[sei 07] Some organizations assign individuals to each of the practice areas and have them write a process for each practice area. The product line manager has a checklist of practice areas and most reviews, status reports, and other oversight is based on a practice area by practice area approach. They miss the point. The strategic substance is in the interactions among the practices and how those interactions represent a substantial amount of intellectual property. 14 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 6, NO. 8.
7 6 WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS PROCESS MODEL Most projects are sufficiently complex that the top level process is really a matter of choreographing the interplay among numerous detailed processes. The wheels within wheels process model allows me to blend the strategic and tactical perspectives and other perspectives inbetween. By wheels within wheels I mean there is an overarching process that encompasses other, more narrowly focused, processes. The processes are iterative, hence the wheel analogy. A large project model such as the Rational Unified Process model can form the basic process model. [RUP 07] The agile approaches to development have much to commend them, but I am reluctant to use them on very large, 100 plus headcount, projects. Large projects such as these need a structure that has been thought through before modules are constructed to flesh it out. The wheels within wheels gives the correct perspective in which an overarching process can manage other more flexible processes. In a product line organization, there is an overall production process that coordinates the development of core assets and the development of products. Then individual product teams may use an agile product development process within the context of the overall process. Another product team could perhaps use a somewhat different process to realize their product. Production planning gives the organization the opportunity to think through these issues. Within each development phase there is a process that operates each activity. Even though there is a requirements phase and process for the product line, there is also a product level requirements process that starts with the core asset requirements model and produces the model for the individual product. One of the critical success factors in a software product line organization is the ability to coordinate a single process across the core asset team and the product development teams. Although each group has a unique perspective, the process instills continuity. The production plan provides the opportunity to communicate this to both the core asset and product personnel. Large open source organizations, such as Eclipse, exhibit a similar process model. The parent organization requires a specific coordination process that places requirements on each constituent project. Within each project, there is flexibility about how development proceeds. The Eclipse organization s top level process describes how to create projects, periodically evaluate projects, and move their products to delivery [Eclipse 07]. It does not place restrictions on the day to day creation of code. In fact, the web site stresses phrases such as just enough with respect to process. But the VOL. 6, NO. 8. JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY 15
8 FORM OVER SUBSTANCE development phases they have are there for a reason, the reasons are clearly communicated, and don t require anything that is just filed away. 7 REVIEWS AND INSPECTIONS Recently, I received a review of one of my research papers that had numerous comments all of which were of the tone, This doesn t flow well, consider rephrasing. Another review had a single comment that said basically, I don t believe your basic premise. The second review had a much greater impact on the eventual quality of the paper than the first. By focusing on substance that reviewer went to the heart of the matter and made a more useful contribution. Review checklists often stress form over substance since that is easiest to see at a glance. We developed a technique that we named Guided Inspection as a way of focusing on substance. [McGregor 98] The referenced paper gives more details about the use of the technique. Guided Inspection uses test cases to guide the inspection. We use the usual approach to creating test cases for code to create the guided inspection test cases. We start with the requirements model, perhaps a set of use cases, develop priorities among the use cases using the importance of the actors and the uses, and then use the scenarios from the use cases as the start of test scenarios. Detail is added to the scenarios to reach a level of specificity that will support a detailed examination of the work products under review. Guided Inspection has proved to be very effective at rooting out disconnects and inconsistencies in understanding. The review sessions in which the test cases are applied to the work products are intense interactions between the reviewers and the producers of the work products. I have never left a guided inspection session feeling that the review was superficial or not productive. 8 SUMMARY Dilbert would say all of this more concisely, and cleverly, than I have. If your latest work were submitted to Dilbert and friends, who would be more impressed? Dilbert? Or the pointy-haired manager? Correct form may get you by, but innovative substance will give you a strategic advantage. In a rush to meet deadlines substance often is sacrificed. It is sacrificed because it is what takes the time, but it is after all where the value lies. I ask myself, before I release a paper or report, what is the substance? Will someone read this and gain information? I hope this column has at least made you consider your own output. And maybe it has given you a couple of ideas of what to do to make your efforts more effective for you and your company. 16 JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY VOL. 6, NO. 8.
9 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Greg Barnette of Clemson University for comments that greatly improved the paper. REFERENCES [Bass 03] Len Bass, Paul Clements, and Rick Kazman. Software Architecture in Practice, Addison-Wesley, [Eclipse 07] Eclipse, Revision_Final, [McGregor 98] John D. McGregor. The Fifty Foot Look at Analysis and Design Models, Journal of Object-Oriented Programming, July August [McGregor 04] John D. McGregor. Software Architecture, Journal of Object Technology, vol. 3, no. 5, May-June 2004, pp , issue_2004_05/column7/ [RUP 07] IBM, Rational Unified Process, rup/, [Russ 00] Melissa L. Russ and John D. McGregor. A software development process for small projects, IEEE Software, [SEI 07] Software Engineering Institute, framework.html, About the author Dr. John D. McGregor is an associate professor of computer science at Clemson University and a partner in Luminary Software, a software engineering consulting firm. His research interests include software product lines and component-base software engineering. His latest book is A Practical Guide to Testing Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley 2001). Contact him at VOL. 6, NO. 8. JOURNAL OF OBJECT TECHNOLOGY 17
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Uttaranchal India > Uttarakhand » Uttaranchal Fairs and Festivals
The various colorful Uttaranchal fairs and festivals make the state vibrant and distinct. The people of this lively state love to celebrate and express their religious and cultural feelings through these fairs and festivals. In these fairs and festivals of Uttaranchal one can see and enjoy the traditional activities of the state, including the traditional songs and dances of Uttaranchal.
India as a whole is a land of festivals and celebrates a number of fairs and festivals, which are unique and interesting. Uttaranchal being a part of India is no exception. Some of these fairs and festivals in Uttaranchal are significant from religious point of view whereas some have special cultural importance.
The women of Uttaranchal are also a major part of most of these festivals, which involves fasting and the preparation of special foods.
Uttaranchal is a land of temples and religious destinations and every such destination has its inherent culture and traditional feature. Some of the various fairs and festivals in Uttaranchal also form a part of this distinct feature and attract people from far and wide. Fairs offer glimpses of different aspects of a culture and, in Uttaranchal festivals are generally attached with fairs.
Kumbh Mela and Ardh Kumbh Mela are two world famous festivals held at Hardwar on every twelfth and sixth year interval respectively. Both these festivals draw a lot of crowd from India and across the world. The Nanda Devi fair, held at many important cities across Uttaranchal like Almora, Nainital, Kot, Ranikhet, Bhowali, Kichha etc. forms a part of another such important fairs and festivals in Uttaranchal.
Kandali is a festival celebrated in the Chaudans region of Pithoragarh district between the months of August and October. A flower named Kandali (Strobilenthes wallichii) blooms once in every 12 years and this is the time when this festival is celebrated.
Other prominent fairs and festivals in Uttaranchal are Devidhura fair, Purnagiri fair, Gauchar fair, Baisakhi, Maga Mela, Uttaraini Mela, Vishu Mela, Peerane-Kaliyar, Jauljibi and Thal Fairs, Uttarayani fair, Makar Sankranti, Basant Panchmi, Phool Dei, Harela and Bhaitauli, Olgia, Khatarua, Bat Savitri, Ganga Dusshera or Dasar and Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra held every twelfth year.


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SAN ANTONIO, TX --A 10-year-old boy sang the National Anthem at game three of the NBA finals and now he's getting a lot of attention. But some people aren't talking about how he sang. They're talking about the Mariachi costume he was wearing.
Some Twitter users have been making racist comments about a "Mexican" singing the "American" National Anthem. Sebastien de la Cruz says he's a proud American and his isn't going to let them get to him.
"I think the people were talking bad because of what I was wearing and it's not my fault." Sebastien said. "It's what I love and I'm just proud to be a mariachi singer. It's their opinion actually and if they don't like mariachi. That's their problem. I love it."
Sebastien says he doesn't care what people think, it's what you think about yourself that counts.
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What exactly is New Delhi working on after voting for the second time with the US sponsored resolution at the UNHRC Sessions in Geneva, to diffuse separatist Thamilean agitations and tensions in Tamil Nadu ? TN politics funded and backed by different Tamil Diaspora groups, will not lie low though subdued for now, on their demand for a separate Tamil Eelam in N-E SL. Congress as a political party can not afford to get totally submerged in such extremist and separatist politics in TN or elsewhere.
New Delhi certainly can not say, it's relations with Colombo will be redefined to suit the fancies of these TN agitators. It has to go on saying, relations with the Rajapaksas are as good as they were and India has always been a close ally of Sri Lanka. So says Colombo too. They both use historical and cultural statements as proof. Neither is wrong, though neither speaks the truth. After Jayawardne became Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978, relations between the two countries were never as before. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister resented Jayawardne's pro Western diplomacy. Since then, Indian duplicity in influencing the Colombo regime, though never openly spelt out after High Commissioner Dixit's obtrusively intrusive diplomacy, never ended.
For now, New Delhi is not very comfortable with Rajapaksa despite Rajapaksa claiming he fought India's war in eliminating the LTTE. He perhaps told that to Sonia Gandhi and not to India. He is not joking too. He is factually right on that. It was India's war as well and New Delhi played its role without qualms. But, it is post war Sri Lanka, the two are rubbing knuckles against each other.
New Delhi politics regarding SL, carries with it a core national interest compromised where necessary with the political necessities of the ruling party and that of Tamil Nadu. This has often been a dichotomy with TN politics, except when M.G. Ramachandran was in tow with the Indira Gandhi line of intervention on Sri Lanka. In early 1980's, they both nurtured and fostered all the SL armed Tamil groups, for two different reasons. Madam Gandhi to balance off Jayawardne in Colombo on his Western stance and MGR for his popularity, cultivating a Tamil voter bloc in TN.
Most unfortunately, for everyone on either side of the Palk Straits, ever since PM Gandhi's decision in 1980 to arm, train and fund SL Tamil groups, all political decisions taken in New Delhi, have backfired. They have neither helped New Delhi, nor Colombo, nor even the SL Tamil people. All such arrogance in blundering diplomacy has given competing TN political leaders, good enough reasons to galvanise more Thamilean sentiments for their own electoral advantage. For those in the fringe, good enough reasons to keep them afloat as TN radicals.
On a very nostalgic note, one may question PM Indira Gandhi's intrusive diplomacy in reining in Jayawardne on his pro American foreign policy, though Dixit has excuses and explanations in his biographical sketch "Assignment Colombo". The Indo – SL Accord under PM Rajiv Gandhi that coerced Jayawardne to amend the SL Constitution to accommodate Provincial Councils (PC) remains a very unpopular intervention. Power sharing as a concept, nevertheless is still an accepted answer to Tamil political aspirations. The hastily pushed Accord in 1987 July, with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) deployed in North-East Sri Lanka to back it, was a one way trip with many tragedies that denied a political discourse in SL in achieving social consensus, before it was made into law. The returns were pathetic and chaotic.
Thereafter, New Delhi worked on a single, undeclared assumption. No political solution would be allowed for the SL Tamils, with LTTE playing a pivotal role. India's decision to keep out of all negotiations and facilitations worked out by the Norwegian government after the 2002 February "Cease Fire Agreement" (CFA) between the Wickramasinghe government and the LTTE, is open proof. New Delhi refused to participate at the SL Aid Forum in Brussels in 2002. A message, India does not accept the LTTE as the sole negotiator. Instead New Delhi cultivated a bizarre friendship with the pro war JVP, an avowed anti Indian Sinhala nationalist party. For the first time, JVP leaders were seen walking the corridors of "India House" at the Indian National Day celebrations in Colombo in 2002 and then in 2003. The Indian HC in Colombo not so covertly, cultivating an alliance that was hostile to the CFA and for a negotiated settlement.
It was later rumoured and quite strongly too in Colombo political circles, President Chandrika Kumaranatunge was given the nod in 2003 by New Delhi to bring down Wickramasinghe's government and it was then she moved in to take over 03 ministries back in December 2003. In return, Kumaranatunge had to adopt a power sharing mechanism New Delhi was comfortable with. Her Post-Tsunami Operations Management Structure, better known as P-TOMS, was based on that Indian consent, but was pre judged a failure with the JVP dissenting.
All were manoeuvrings by New Delhi with the sole intention of keeping the LTTE away in working out a solution. Decisions in New Delhi that strengthened extremist politics on both sides of the ethnic divide in SL and on either side of the Palk Straits too. The only occasion in post independence SL Tamil history, when New Delhi and Prabhakaran saw eye to eye was when they both thought it was good for different reasons to have Wickramasinghe defeated at the 2005 presidential elections. India, New Delhi to be precise, is thus on a collision course now with the Rajapaksa regime that can not honour any promise on power sharing, having brought together a very strong Sinhala sentiment as its buffer, to be in power and to continue in power. In a post LTTE Sri Lanka, that New Delhi thought could make this Rajapaksa regime honour its own promise of implementing a "home grown" solution acceptable to "all" and is failing on its calculations once again.
The two UNHRC Resolutions clearly show, New Delhi and Colombo have diplomatically drifted quite far apart in their political calculations. Though TN keeps pressing New Delhi to adopt a still harder line, this UPA regime with its liberalised economic policy for the corporates, is duty bound to accommodate SL. In addition to long time investors like TATA, CEAT, Ashok Leyland, others like Airtel, Dabur, Britania and Piramals have also come to top up Indian banks that already have their branches operating. It has to continue with investments, the Rajapaksa regime is eager to have, to grease its own failing economy. Indian imports to SL in 2012 had bounced to a massive USD 3,483.7 million and India emerged the largest investor the same year in SL with USD 210 million in the first 09 months after investing USD 147 million, the previous year.
Early this year, a 13 member business delegation from New Delhi visited Colombo representing the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Apart from Chinese labour, SL have even imported South Indian labour for numerous projects funded by Indian credit. Cheap South Indian labour in the Colombo Dockyard, in steel companies, working in the Northern railway constructions and in many similar projects, is now said to exceed 5,000 brought in without any legal status for employment. There were even seasonal agricultural labour from South India working on SL rice cultivations, a few months ago. It is now known, the Rajapaksa regime has asked the Labour, Immigration and the SL BOI authorities to amend law to regularise labour imports to SL. For more cheap labour to be brought by Indian contractors.
Obviously, the UPA government in New Delhi has to openly live with the Geneva Resolution it voted for and can not afford to give into TN demands in cutting out SL completely, for three other good reasons. One, it can not help promote a political demand that works round a separate Tamil State. Two, it can not oppose the needs of big Indian businesses and is very much influenced by the corporate world. Three, it can not allow the Chinese dragon to roam free in SL.
This leaves New Delhi with two diplomatic options. One, an overt option that would not contradict the Geneva UNHRC Resolution and the other, a covert manipulation to see if it could diffuse tensions in TN. The first, it could pressure the Rajapaksa regime to engage the TNA in particular and all other Tamil political parties, in working out a permanent power sharing solution, if New Delhi is prepared to talk about the "All Party Representative Committee" (APRC) Final Report. The second is to provoke a regime change that could facilitate a reasonable solution to the Tamil national question that could help diffuse TN protests and demands.
The best would be to have the APRC Final Report thrust upon the Rajapaksas that would not make India look the old "Air dropping" invader over SL skies. The advantage is, the APRC Final Report carries with it a Sinhala consensus on power sharing, with all the Sinhala political parties with the Rajapaksa regime having consented to this final report. This incidentally is why Rajapaksa fights shy in making this report public. Once officially out, not only President Rajapaksa, but his Sinhala allies too would feel trapped within a power sharing mechanism, recommended by them and on their own, on a broad consensus.
New Delhi instead seems to be out hunting on the other option to find an alternate leadership. Recent two day hurried visit to New Delhi by the SL Opposition Leader Wickramasinghe, also points to such dialogue, with former President Chandrika Kumaratunge peddled in Colombo as a probable candidate from the joint opposition. Urban middle class sentiments, perhaps what the Colombo Indian High Commission gets its feedback from, is now discussing Chandrika Kumaratunge as one who could deliver on the never delivered promise of abolishing the Executive Presidency. A rejuvenated slogan presented by Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha thera, a popular "middle of the road Buddhist monk" and his group of urban middle class Sinhala professionals. New Delhi no doubt could feel better supporting the better known Chandrika Kumaratunge for such common candidacy, than a common candidate backed by a Buddhist monk.
The unanswered question yet is, with Rajapaksa having the Constitutional right to decide when he would call for elections, that would have to be after 2014 November, would he ? What if he opts for another Constitutional Amendment to give him another term, with this same 2/3rd majority parliament that Wickramasinghe argued is supreme, when the 43rd Chief Justice was being impeached ? Even if Rajapaksa does call for elections after 2014 November for the Indian choice in Chandrika to contest yet again, has the Tamil people to wait that long for a solution favoured by India ?
Worst is, the Rajapaksa regime is officially in no mood to go with the UNHRC Resolution, perhaps expecting the US to compromise too, on Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. The paper by the Sri Lankan Ambassador for US seeing the US differently with much favour, was definitely no personal note. Now, is India in the know ?
(Originally written for "The Hindu" news paper and slightly edited for SAS, writer Kusal Perera is a Sri Lankan journalist and a political commentator based in Colombo.)


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Chart setups:
The 4H chart view presented here indicates of a potential rally from current levels through 11,000 levels at least. Please note that the indice has broken below the immediate support trend line and is now testing the interim support line around 10600-10700 levels. Also note that the drop from 11400-500 levels has unfolded in 5 waves, breaking initial support at 10600 levels; hence at least a corrective rally (3 waves) can be expected from current levels. Immediate support is seen around 10100 levels while resistance is seen around 11100 levels respectively. The RSI is also seen holding 30 levels well till now, hence short term rallies can be expected to unfold from current levels. The correction is expected to stall around 11000 levels and then expected to reverse.
Trading recommendations:
Long now, stop at 10500, target 11000.


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Deep Learning for Decision Making and Control
A remarkable feature of human and animal intelligence is the ability to autonomously acquire new behaviors. This research is concerned with designing algorithms that aim to bring this ability to robots and simulated characters. Levine will describe a class of guided policy search algorithms that tackle this challenge by transforming the task of learning control policies into a supervised learning problem, with supervision provided by simple, efficient trajectory-centric methods.
Sergey Levine is a postdoctoral researcher working with Professor Pieter Abbeel at UC Berkeley


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Friday, April 27, 2012
Musings from Mercury Hall Profile: Patricia Kalthoff
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
It's Time for the Annual, Massive, Incredible, UNBELIEVABLY FABULOUS Warehouse Reduction Sale!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Meet Designer Susan Fricks!
HCW: How long have you been knitting?
SF: Since I was 5 years old, and then off and on until my early 20's, when I became completely obsessed.
HCW: Your favorite part of knitting?
SF: Planning my next project, tied with finishing a current project
HCW: What got you into design?
SF: The Vogue Book of Knitting – it was all about how to made the sweater you want to make, with different shapes, nets, pockets, stitch patterns, you name it. It was very empowering!
HCW: Will you describe your pattern process and or knitting process?
SF: I get an inspiration, in this case wine and gift bags. Then, I think about the fabric... Drapey, interesting texture, fast, last-minute gift project. That takes me to yarn choices. The luscious Prism hand-dyed bamboo/cotton yarn in a worsted weight seemed to have all the qualities I wanted, plus it is so elegantly beautiful.
I wondered if the bags would be almost too soft and drapey, potentially falling down, and I wanted them to stand the test of time, so decided to combine the Prism yarn with Euroflax, a high-quality linen with good body and sheen. Finally, I love lace, I loved the notion of the bags revealing the slightest hint of their contents via the textured weave. Thus, the bags were born. From that point, it was all math, and then, of course, the pleasure of weaving and assembly!
HCW: Any funny knitting stories?
SF: Can't think of any, but have lots of knitting tantrum stories!


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Elisabeth Cullington, Certified Financial Planner, CFP
Elisabeth Cullington, Certified Financial Planner, CFP
Elisabeth Cullington is a certified financial planner and partner in Cullington Hill Advisors Inc., a fee-only investment advisory firm in University City. Her clients include executives, business owners and retirees. The San Diego State University graduate obtained the certified financial planner designation in 1988. A member of the Financial Planning Association and the Collaborative Family Law Group, Cullington teaches retirement planning and investing classes at local colleges and lectures on financial planning to women's organizations and outplacement firms.
As a Certified Financial Planner and member of the premier wealth advisory firm serving San Diego County and beyond, I believe that this is a time for leadership, not idle thinking.
As a thought leader, I am developing new capabilities – creative ideas with substance. I believe that conventional approaches alone are not sufficient for these times.
By panning out, looking much wider than the markets and the macro forces at work, I am able to deliver unconventional wisdom around wealth and develop solutions that allow investors to restore control to their financial lives and realize their life goals.
This is a critical time in which the financial services industry can rise to the occasion with wisdom, creativity and trust. My firm and I have already begun this journey, and we invite you to explore and evaluate whether it makes sense for you.
Certified Financial Planner, CFP, Financial Professional, Collaborative Professionals, Collaborative Family Law, Family Law San Diego, Collaborative Divorce, California Certified Divorce Financial Analysts, Certified Divorce Financial Analysts, CDFA, HoyleCohen, Hoyle Cohen, Senior Wealth Advisor, independent wealth management, high net worth individuals, high net worth women, financial advice to senior executives, financial advice to business owners, financial advisory firm, financial planning association San Diego, family law San Diego, independent wealth management, comprehensive wealth management, estate planning services, retirement planning, investment management, investment management strategy, investment management services, legacy planning, wealth management for affluent families, personal wealth manager San Diego, wealth managers San Diego, estate planning San Diego, financial planning San Diego
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Tag Archives: customers
Mobile marketing isn't just the latest fad, it truly is "the next big thing" and while a proportion of businesses are starting to take their mobile marketing seriously, it is a model still in its infancy. It is estimated that by 2013, there will be more people accessing the internet via their mobile phones than [...] Read more
Category: Mobile Marketing Benefits
Mobile Marketing And Your Customers
One of the main disadvantages of a small business is generally lack of reach or inability to gain more customers compared to large, branded businesses. However, business owners of all sizes and shapes share the same goal of trying to promote their products and services in order to gain more custom. Due to the fact [...] Read more
Category: For Small Businesses
Different Ways To Benefit From Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is a great way for businesses of all sizes to promote and sell their products and services to those who access the internet via their mobile phones. However, one must carefully think about which type of service they want to use to promote their business. Later in this article we'll describe a few [...] Read more
Category: Marketing Methods