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Handygo is a Leading Global Trailblazer in Value Added Solutions and Content provider. Handygo has added new dimensions in Mobile Space Related content and also possess the proficiency to develop Customized Content In any Language. * Providing GPRS and SMS service platforms to the Operators, Aggregators & TV Channels. * Mobile Applications for Mobile Subscribers. * Value Added Services on all platforms. * Short Code (5678) Services through various operators. * Providing WAP Portal Suite and Mobile Content Delivery Platform. Designation: Pixel Graphic Artists (Apply only if you have 2D pixel art experience Job Description: We are looking for experienced artist with good quality artwork.The focus of the profile is 2D pixel art. The major job responsibility would be:- 1.Tiles for environmental effect. 2.Character designed based on game design document. 3.Character animation in sprite file. 4.Optimization of graphic. 5.Experimentation of differnt colour schemes in the game layout. Desired Profile: 1.We require good hand sketch work. 2.Understanding of sprite concept and animation graphics. 3.Knowledge of computer tools like photoshop, paint and sprite editors. 4.Palettes knowledge in artwork Experience: 0 - 2 Years Industry Type: Media/Dotcom/ Entertainment Functional Area: Mobile Education: UG - Any Graduate - Any Specialization PG - Post Graduation Not Required Location: Delhi, Delhi/NCR Keyword: Game; Graphics; Artist; Pixel Artist; Mobile Gaming; Photoshop; Designing Contact: F-Technologies Pvt Ltd 405 Ansal Bhawan 16 K.G. Marg Connaught Place New Delhi - NCT ,INDIA 110001 Telephone: 91-011-66302001,66302004 Website: http://www.handygo.com Read more!

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http://www.drugnewswire/2757/ June 28, 2006 By DrugNewswire 2003 Study Conducted by LECG Corporation Found PBMs Managing the Medicare Drug Benefit Would Add $30 billion to Program Over Nine Years WASHINGTON, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- If pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) were really reducing prescription drug costs for more than 200 million Americans, as their trade association professes, why have dozens of lawsuits been filed against them. The Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network urges the public to better understand PBMs convoluted business before they profit more from the Medicare drug benefit (Medicare Part D) and further harm seniors with high drug prices. "Time and time again, PBMs' business tactics financially enrich the PBMs and contrary to their slogans offer no real healthcare savings to patients or plan providers," said Mike James, pharmacy owner and Director of Governmental Affairs, Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN). "PBMs are not cost savers but are playing a shell game with their clients -- hiding the money they make from driving up prescription drug costs at the expense of the patient and, in the case of Medicare the US taxpayers. The savings derived by the Medicare patients are the result of the taxpayers' subsidy, not the PBMs," added James. Over 80% of all prescriptions filled in this country are handled by PBMs, who manage prescription drug plans for federal, state and private insurers and are not regulated. For almost a decade, numerous lawsuits have been filed against PBMs by federal and state governments, private corporations, unions, HMOs and others. Plaintiffs accuse PBMs of engaging in fraudulent or deceptive conduct in failing to pass on savings to their clients, switching patients' medication to earn rebates, or manipulating their mail order pharmacies. The nation's top three PBMs (Caremark, Medco and Express Scripts) are defendants in these cases along with smaller PBMs. Some cases have settled for millions of dollars while others are pending. Below are some examples of cases: -- American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees v. Advance PCS, et al Filed March 18, 2003, this class action against Advance PCS, Caremark, Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions alleges the top PBMs inflate prescription drug prices by steering health insurers and consumers into reliance on more costly drugs and did not pass on rebates from drug manufacturers to health plans and consumers. -- US Department of Justice vs. Advance PCS September 2005, Advance PCS, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Caremark Rx, second largest PBM in the US, settled with the US DOJ and agreed to pay $137 million to resolve civil liabilities in connection with soliciting and receiving kickbacks from drug manufacturers and paying kickbacks to potential clients to induce them to contract with Advance PCS. -- United States of America v. Merck-Medco Managed Care LLC, et al. April 26, 2004, the United States, 20 state attorney generals and the defendants agreed to a settlement of claims for injunctive relief and unfair trade practice laws. A separate consent order filed by the states instructs Medco to pay $20 million to the states in damages, $6.6 million to the states in fees and costs, and about $2.5 million in restitution to patients who incurred expenses related to drug switching between cholesterol drugs. Much of the litigation against PBMs centers on conflicts of interest which make their business goals unaligned with their clients. Plan providers want to reduce the costs of prescriptions but PBMs can't make money that way. PBMs earn huge profits known as rebates from drug manufacturers for adding the manufacturer's drug to formularies and engaging in therapeutic switching. Therapeutic switching occurs when the PBM switches the patient to the higher priced drug on which it receives a bigger rebate. Allowing PBMs to continue running Medicare prescription drug plans (PDPs) unchecked by government will increase program costs and result in higher drug prices for seniors. According to a 2003 study conducted by James Langenfeld and Robert Maness of LECG Corporation called "The Cost of PBM Self Dealing under a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit," PBMs would cost the government $30 billion from 2004-2013. The report concluded among other things "because PBMs usually keep as a profit a portion of the rebates they receive, PBMs that are both the plan administrator and the seller of drugs have a financial incentive and ability to favor drugs that pay higher rebates." Since Medicare Part D began in 2006, the nation's top three PBMs, who all sponsor Medicare drug plans, reported increased earnings in the first quarter of 2006. This is evidenced by Families USA report which revealed that virtually all Medicare prescription drug plans raised prices for the top 20 drugs used by seniors over the past 5 months. The report also found the lowest price charged by any Part D plan for all of the top 20 drugs was 46% higher than the lowest price negotiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs. According to Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, "... plans are quietly raising the prices that they charge. As a result, seniors will pay more and more as will America's taxpayers." Whenever legislation emerges requiring PBMs to meet their fiduciary duty of serving their clients' interest and not theirs, the industry gives the same hackneyed response "it will increase drug costs." For example the PBMs trade association asserts promptly reimbursing pharmacies for prescriptions would increase Medicare costs $9 billion over ten years. This makes no sense. Paying an invoice on time doesn't cost more money unless a business is trying to pocket money that doesn't belong to it. The American people should demand Congress remove the self-dealing cards from the PBMs' hands so the Medicare drug benefit can truly be a benefit. Otherwise, seniors will likely face even higher drug prices in another 6 months and find fewer community pharmacies to fill their prescriptions. About the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN) Founded in 2002 and based in Raleigh, NC, the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network consists of 15,000 independent pharmacists nationwide dedicated to serving the communities in which they live. ACP*CN is dedicated to the survival and growth of the independent pharmacy owner, who often times is the only pharmacy operating in rural towns across America, where access to pharmacies is extremely limited. Our network of pharmacists do more than just fill prescriptions, they counsel patients on medication use and many times act as the front line healthcare provider for individuals and families who can't afford or don't have direct access to a doctor. Contact: Crystal Wright 202/829-0848 Source: Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN) buy software cheap oem software

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  Scrums are the most dangerous phase in rugby, since a collapse or improper engage can lead to a front row player damaging or even breaking his neck. — Wikipedia When I was growing up, cholesterol used to be bad for you. It was easy to remember. Fat, bad. Cholesterol bad. Salt, bad. Everything, bad. Nowadays, though, they differentiate between "good" cholesterol and "bad" cholesterol, as if we're supposed to be able to distinguish them somehow. And it was weird when they switched it up on us, because it was as if the FDA had suddenly issued a press release announcing that there are, in fact, two kinds of rat poison: Good Rat Poison and Bad Rat Poison, and you should eat a lot of the Good kind, and none of the Bad kind, and definitely not mix them up or anything. Up until maybe a year ago, I had a pretty one-dimensional view of so-called "Agile" programming, namely that it's an idiotic fad-diet of a marketing scam making the rounds as yet another technological virus implanting itself in naive programmers who've never read "No Silver Bullet", the kinds of programmers who buy extended warranties and self-help books and believe their bosses genuinely care about them as people, the kinds of programmers who attend conferences to make friends and who don't know how to avoid eye contact with leaflet-waving fanatics in airports and who believe writing shit on index cards will suddenly make software development easier. You know. Chumps. That's the word I'm looking for. My bad-cholesterol view was that Agile Methodologies are for chumps. But I've had a lot of opportunity to observe various flavors of Agile-ism in action lately, and I now think I was only about 90% right. It turns out there's a good kind of Agile, although it's taken me a long time to be able to see it clearly amidst all the hype and kowtowing and moaning feverishly about scrums and whatnot. I have a pretty clear picture of it now. And you can attend my seminar on it for the low, low price of $499.95! Hahaha, chump! No, just kidding. You'll only find seminars about the Bad kind of Agile. And if in the future you ever find me touring around as an Agile Consultant, charging audiences to hear my deep wisdom and insight about Agile Development, you have my permission to cut my balls off. If I say I was just kidding, say I told you I'd say that. If I then say I'm Tyler Durden and I order you not to cut my balls off , say I definitely said I was going to say that , and then you cut 'em right off. I'll just go right ahead and tell you about the Good Kind, free of charge. It's kinda hard to talk about Good Agile and Bad Agile in isolation, so I might talk about them together. But I'll be sure to label the Good kind with a happy rat, and the Bad kind with a sad dead rat, so you'll always know the difference. The Bad Heading Back in Ye Olden Dayes, most companies approached software development as follows: - hire a bunch of engineers, then hire more. - dream up a project. - set a date for when they want it launched. - put some engineers on it. - whip them until they're either dead or it's launched. or both. - throw a cheap-ass pathetic little party, maybe. This step is optional. - then start over. Thank goodness that doesn't happen at your company, eh now? Whew! Interestingly, this is also exactly how non-technical companies (like, say, Chrysler) handled software development. Except they didn't hire the engineers. Instead, they contracted with software consultants, and they'd hand the consultants 2-year project specs, and demanded the consultants finish everything on time plus all the crap the customer threw in and/or changed after signing the contract. And then it'd all fall apart and the contractors wouldn't get paid, and everyone was really miffed. So some of the consultants began to think: "Hey, if these companies insist on acting like infants, then we should treat them like infants!" And so they did. When a company said "we want features A through Z", the consultants would get these big index cards and write "A" on the first one, "B" on the second one, etc., along with time estimates, and then post them on their wall. Then when the customer wanted to add something, the consultant could point at the wall and say: "OK, boy . Which one of these cards do you want to replace , BOY? " Is it any wonder Chrysler canceled the project? So the consultants, now having lost their primary customer, were at a bar one day, and one of them (named L. Ron Hubbard) said: "This nickel-a-line-of-code gig is lame. You know where the real money is at? You start your own religion." And that's how both Extreme Programming and Scientology were born. Well, people pretty quickly demonstrated that XP was a load of crap. Take Pair Programming, for instance. It's one of the more spectacular failures of XP. None of the Agileytes likes to talk about it much, but let's face it: nobody does it. The rationale was something like: "well if ONE programmer sitting at a terminal is good, then TEN must be better, because MORE is ALWAYS better! But most terminals can only comfortably fit TWO programmers, so we'll call it PAIR programming!" You have to cut them a little slack; they'd been dealing with the corporate equivalent of pre-schoolers for years, and that really messes with a person. But the thing is, viruses are really hard to kill, especially the meme kind. After everyone had gotten all worked up about this whole Agile thing (and sure, everyone wants to be more productive), there was a lot of face to be lost by admitting failure. So some other kinds of Agile "Methodologies" sprang up, and they all claimed that even though all the other ones were busted, their method worked! I mean, go look at some of their sites. Tell me that's not an infomercial. C'mon, just try. It's embarrassing even to look at the thing. Yeah. Well, they make money hand over fist, because of P.T. Barnum's Law, just like Scientology does. Can't really fault 'em. Some people are just dying to be parted with their cash. And their dignity. The rest of us have all known that Agile Methodologies are stupid, by application of any of the following well-known laws of marketing: - anything that calls itself a "Methodology" is stupid, on general principle. - anything that requires "evangelists" and offers seminars, exists soley for the purpose of making money. - anything that never mentions any competition or alternatives is dubiously self-serving. - anything that does diagrams with hand-wavy math is stupid, on general principle. And by "stupid", I mean it's "incredibly brilliant marketing targeted at stupid people." In any case, the consultants kept going with their road shows and glossy pamphlets. Initially, I'm sure they went after corporations; they were looking to sign flexible contracts that allowed them to deliver "whatever" in "2 weeks" on a recurring basis until the client went bankrupt. But I'm equally sure they couldn't find many clients dumb enough to sign such a contract. That's when the consultants decided to take their road show to YOU. Why not take it inside the companies and sell it there, to the developers? There are plenty of companies who use the whip-cycle of development I outlined above, so presumably some of the middle managers and tech leads would be amenable to hearing about how there's this low-cost way out of their hellish existence. And that, friends, was exactly, precisely the point at which they went from "harmless buffoons" to "potentially dangerous", because before they were just bilking fat companies too stupid to develop their own software, but now the manager down the hall from me might get infected. And most places don't have a very good quarantine mechanism for this rather awkward situation: i.e., an otherwise smart manager has become "ill", and is waving XP books and index cards and spouting stuff about how much more productive his team is on account of all this newfound extra bureaucracy. How do we know it's not more productive? Well, it's a slippery problem. Observe that it must be a slippery problem, or it all would have been debunked fair and square by now. But it's exceptionally difficult to measure software developer productivity, for all sorts of famous reasons. And it's even harder to perform anything resembling a valid scientific experiment in software development. You can't have the same team do the same project twice; a bunch of stuff changes the second time around. You can't have 2 teams do the same project; it's too hard to control all the variables, and it's prohibitively expensive to try it in any case. The same team doing 2 different projects in a row isn't an experiment either. About the best you can do is gather statistical data across a lot of teams doing a lot of projects, and try to identify similarities, and perform some regressions, and hope you find some meaningful correlations. But where does the data come from? Companies aren't going to give you their internal data, if they even keep that kind of thing around. Most don't; they cover up their schedule failures and they move on, ever optimistic. Well if you can't do experiments and you can't do proofs, there isn't much science going on. That's why it's a slippery problem. It's why fad diets are still enormously popular. People want fad diets to work, oh boy you bet they do, even I want them to work. And you can point to all these statistically meaningless anecdotes about how Joe lost 35 pounds on this one diet, and all those people who desperately want to be thinner will think "hey, it can't hurt. I'll give it a try." That is exactly what I hear people say, every time a team talks themselves into trying an Agile Methodology. It's not a coincidence. But writing about Bad Agile alone is almost guaranteed to be ineffective. I mean, you can write about how lame Scientology is, or how lame fad diets are, but it's not clear that you're changing anyone's mind. Quitting a viral meme is harder than quitting smoking. I've done both. In order to have the right impact, you have to offer an alternative, and I didn't have one before, not one that I could articulate clearly. One of the (many) problems with Bad Agile is that they condescendingly lump all non-Agile development practices together into two buckets: Waterfall and Cowboy. Waterfall is known to be bad; I hope we can just take that as an axiom today. But what about so-called Cowboy programming, which the Agileers define as "each member of the team does what he or she thinks is best"? Is it true that this is the only other development process? And is Cowboy Programming actually bad? They say it as if it's obviously bad, but they're not super clear on how or why, other than to assert that it's, you know, "chaos". Well, as I mentioned, over the past year I've had the opportunity to watch both Bad Agile and Good Agile in motion, and I've asked the teams and tech leads (using both the Bad and Good forms) lots of questions: how they're doing, how they're feeling, how their process is working. I was really curious, in part because I'd consented to try Agile last Christmas ("hey, it can't hurt"), and wound up arguing with a teammate over exactly what metadata is allowed on index cards before giving up in disgust. Also in part because I had some friends on a team who were getting kind of exhausted from what appeared to be a Death March, and that kind of thing doesn't seem to happen very often at Google. So I dug in, and for a year, I watched and learned. The Good Head (cue happy rat) I'm going to talk a little about Google's software development process. It's not the whole picture, of course, but it should suffice for today. I've been there for almost a year and a half now, and it took a while, but I think I get it now. Mostly. I'm still learning. But I'll share what I've got so far. From a high level, Google's process probably does look like chaos to someone from a more traditional software development company. As a newcomer, some of the things that leap out at you include: - there are managers, sort of, but most of them code at least half-time, making them more like tech leads. - developers can switch teams and/or projects any time they want, no questions asked; just say the word and the movers will show up the next day to put you in your new office with your new team. - Google has a philosophy of not ever telling developers what to work on, and they take it pretty seriously. - developers are strongly encouraged to spend 20% of their time (and I mean their M-F, 8-5 time, not weekends or personal time) working on whatever they want, as long as it's not their main project. - there aren't very many meetings. I'd say an average developer attends perhaps 3 meetings a week, including their 1:1 with their lead. - it's quiet. Engineers are quietly focused on their work, as individuals or sometimes in little groups or 2 to 5. - there aren't Gantt charts or date-task-owner spreadsheets or any other visible project-management artifacts in evidence, not that I've ever seen. - even during the relatively rare crunch periods, people still go get lunch and dinner, which are (famously) always free and tasty, and they don't work insane hours unless they want to. These are generalizations, sure. Old-timers will no doubt have a slightly different view, just as my view of Amazon is slightly biased by having been there in 1998 when it was a pretty crazy place. But I think most Googlers would agree that my generalizations here are pretty accurate. How could this ever work? I get that question a lot. Heck, I asked it myself. What's to stop engineers from leaving all the trouble projects, leaving behind bug-ridden operational nightmares? What keeps engineers working towards the corporate goals if they can work on whatever they want? How do the most important projects get staffed appropriately? How do engineers not get so fat that they routinely get stuck in stairwells and have to be cut out by the Fire Department? I'll answer the latter question briefly, then get to the others. In short: we have this thing called the Noogler Fifteen, named after the Frosh Fifteen: the 15 pounds that many college freshmen put on when they arrive in the land of Stress and Pizza. Google has solved the problem by lubricating the stairwells. As to the rest of your questions, I think most of them have the same small number of answers. First, and arguably most importantly, Google drives behavior through incentives. Engineers working on important projects are, on average, rewarded more than those on less-important projects. You can choose to work on a far-fetched research-y kind of project that may never be practical to anyone, but the work will have to be a reward unto itself. If it turns out you were right and everyone else was wrong (the startup's dream), and your little project turns out to be tremendously impactful, then you'll be rewarded for it. Guaranteed. The rewards and incentives are too numerous to talk about here, but the financial incentives range from gift certificates and massage coupons up through giant bonuses and stock grants, where I won't define "giant" precisely, but think of Google's scale and let your imagination run a bit wild, and you probably won't miss the mark by much. There are other incentives. One is that Google a peer-review oriented culture, and earning the respect of your peers means a lot there. More than it does at other places, I think. This is in part because it's just the way the culture works; it's something that was put in place early on and has managed to become habitual. It's also true because your peers are so damn smart that earning their respect is a huge deal. And it's true because your actual performance review is almost entirely based on your peer reviews, so it has an indirect financial impact on you. Another incentive is that every quarter, without fail, they have a long all-hands in which they show every single project that launched to everyone, and put up the names and faces of the teams (always small) who launched each one, and everyone applauds. Gives me a tingle just to think about it. Google takes launching very seriously, and I think that being recognized for launching something cool might be the strongest incentive across the company. At least it feels that way to me. And there are still other incentives; the list goes on and ON and ON ; the perks are over the top, and the rewards are over the top, and everything there is so comically over the top that you have no choice, as an outsider, but to assume that everything the recruiter is telling you is a baldfaced lie, because there's no possible way a company could be that generous to all of its employees, all of them, I mean even the contractors who clean the micro-kitchens, they get these totally awesome "Google Micro-Kitchen Staff" shirts and fleeces. There is nothing like it on the face of this earth. I could talk for hours , days about how amazing it is to work at Google, and I wouldn't be done. And they're not done either. Every week it seems like there's a new perk, a new benefit, a new improvement, a new survey asking us all if there's any possible way in which life at Google could be better. I might have been mistaken, actually. Having your name and picture up on that big screen at End of Quarter may not be the biggest incentive. The thing that drives the right behavior at Google, more than anything else, more than all the other things combined, is gratitude . You can't help but want to do your absolute best for Google; you feel like you owe it to them for taking such incredibly good care of you. OK, incentives. You've got the idea. Sort of. I mean, you have a sketch of it. When friends who aren't at Google ask me how it is working at Google — and this applies to all my friends at all other companies equally, not just companies I've worked at — I feel just how you'd feel if you'd just gotten out of prison, and your prison buddies, all of whom were sentenced in their early teens, are writing to you and asking you what it's like "on the outside". I mean, what would you tell them? I tell 'em it's not too bad at all. Can't complain. Pretty decent, all in all. Although the incentive-based culture is a huge factor in making things work the way they do, it only addresses how to get engineers to work on the "right" things. It doesn't address how to get those things done efficiently and effectively. So I'll tell you a little about how they approach projects. Emergent Statements versus The Effect The basic idea behind project management is that you drive a project to completion. It's an overt process, a shepherding: by dint of leadership, and organization, and sheer force of will, you cause something to happen that wouldn't otherwise have happened on its own. Project management comes in many flavors, from lightweight to heavyweight, but all flavors share the property that they are external forces acting on an organization. At Google, projects launch because it's the least-energy state for the system. Before I go on, I'll concede that this is a pretty bold claim, and that it's not entirely true. We do have project managers and product managers and people managers and tech leads and so on. But the amount of energy they need to add to the system is far less than what's typically needed in our industry. It's more of an occasional nudge than a full-fledged continuous push. Once in a while, a team needs a bigger nudge, and senior management needs to come in and do the nudging, just like anywhere else. But there's no pushing. Incidentally, Google is a polite company, so there's no yelling, nor wailing and gnashing of teeth, nor escalation and finger-pointing, nor any of the artifacts produced at companies where senior management yells a lot. Hobbes tells us that organizations reflect their leaders; we all know that. The folks up top at Google are polite, hence so is everyone else. Anyway, I claimed that launching projects is the natural state that Google's internal ecosystem tends towards, and it's because they pump so much energy into pointing people in that direction. All your needs are taken care of so that you can focus, and as I've described, there are lots of incentives for focusing on things that Google likes. So launches become an emergent property of the system. This eliminates the need for a bunch of standard project management ideas and methods: all the ones concerned with dealing with slackers, calling bluffs on estimates, forcing people to come to consensus on shared design issues, and so on. You don't need "war team meetings," and you don't need status reports. You don't need them because people are already incented to do the right things and to work together well. The project management techniques that Google does use are more like oil than fuel: things to let the project keep running smoothly, as opposed to things that force the project to move forward. There are plenty of meeting rooms, and there's plenty of open space for people to go chat. Teams are always situated close together in fishbowl-style open seating, so that pair programming happens exactly when it's needed (say 5% of the time), and never otherwise. Google generally recognizes that the middle of the day is prone to interruptions, even at quiet companies, so many engineers are likely to shift their hours and come in very early or stay very late in order to find time to truly concentrate on programming. So meetings only happen in the middle of the day; it's very unusual to see a meeting start before 10am or after 4:30pm. Scheduling meetings outside that band necessarily eats into the time when engineers are actually trying to implement the things they're meeting about, so they don't do it. Google isn't the only place where projects are run this way. Two other kinds of organizations leap to mind when you think of Google's approach: startup companies, and grad schools. Google can be considered a fusion of the startup and grad-school mentalities: on the one hand, it's a hurry-up, let's get something out now, do the simplest thing that could work and we'll grow it later startup-style approach. On the other, it's relatively relaxed and low-key; we have hard problems to solve that nobody else has ever solved, but it's a marathon not a sprint, and focusing requires deep concentration, not frenzied meetings. And at the intersection of the two, startups and grad schools are both fertile innovation ground in which the participants carry a great deal of individual responsibility for the outcome. It's all been done before; the only thing that's really surprising is that Google has managed to make it scale. The scaling is not an accident. Google works really hard on the problem, and they realize that having scaled this far is no guarantee it'll continue, so they're vigilant. That's a good word for it. They're always on the lookout to make sure the way of life and the overall level of productivity continue (or even improve) as they grow. Google is an exceptionally disciplined company, from a software-engineering perspective. They take things like unit testing, design documents and code reviews more seriously than any other company I've even heard about. They work hard to keep their house in order at all times, and there are strict rules and guidelines in place that prevent engineers and teams from doing things their own way. The result: the whole code base looks the same, so switching teams and sharing code are both far easier than they are at other places. And engineers need great tools, of course, so Google hires great people to build their tools, and they encourage engineers (using incentives) to pitch in on tools work whenever they have an inclination in that direction. The result: Google has great tools, world-class tools, and they just keep getting better. The list goes on. I could talk for days about the amazing rigor behind Google's approach to software engineering. But the main takeaway is that their scaling (both technological and organizational) is not an accident. And once you're up to speed on the Google way of doing things, it all proceeds fairly effortlessly — again, on average, and compared to software development at many other companies. The Tyranny of the Vocabulary We're almost done. The last thing I want to talk about here is dates . Traditional software development can safely be called Date-Oriented Programming, almost without exception. Startup companies have a clock set by their investors and their budget. Big clients set target dates for their consultants. Sales people and product managers set target dates based on their evaluation of market conditions. Engineers set dates based on estimates of previous work that seems similar. All estimation is done through rose-colored glasses, and everyone forgets just how painful it was the last time around. Everyone picks dates out of the air. "This feels like it should take about 3 weeks.""It sure would be nice to have this available for customers by beginning of Q4.""Let's try to have that done by tomorrow." Most of us in our industry are date-driven. There's always a next milestone, always a deadline, always some date-driven goal to it. The only exceptions I can think of to this rule are: 1) Open-source software projects. 2) Grad school projects. 3) Google. Most people take it for granted that you want to pick a date. Even my favorite book on software project management, "The Mythical Man-Month", assumes that you need schedule estimates. If you're in the habit of pre-announcing your software, then the general public usually wants a timeframe, which implies a date. This is, I think, one of the reasons Google tends not to pre-announce. They really do understand that you can't rush good cooking, you can't rush babies out, and you can't rush software development. If the three exceptions I listed above aren't driven by dates, then what drives them? To some extent it's just the creative urge, the desire to produce things; all good engineers have it. (There are many people in our industry who do this gig "for a living", and they go home and don't think about it until the next day. Open source software exists precisely because there are people who are better than that.) But let's be careful: it's not just the creative urge; that's not always directed enough, and it's not always incentive enough. Google is unquestionably driven by time , in the sense that they want things done "as fast as possible". They have many fierce, brilliant competitors, and they have to slake their thirsty investors' need for growth, and each of us has some long-term plans and deliverables we'd like to see come to fruition in our lifetimes. The difference is that Google isn't foolish enough or presumptuous enough to claim to know how long stuff should take. So the only company-wide dates I'm ever aware of are the ends of each quarter, because everyone's scrambling to get on that big launch screen and get the applause and gifts and bonuses and team trips and all the other good that comes of launching things with big impact at Google. Everything in between is just a continuum of days, in which everyone works at optimal productivity, which is different for each person. We all have work-life balance choices to make, and Google is a place where any reasonable choice you make can be accommodated, and can be rewarding. Optimal productivity is also a function of training, and Google offers tons of it, including dozens of tech talks every week by internal and external speakers, all of which are archived permanently so you can view them whenever you like. Google gives you access to any resources you need in order to get your job done, or to learn how to get your job done. And optimal productivity is partly a function of the machine and context in which you're operating: the quality of your code base, your tools, your documentation, your computing platform, your teammates, even the quality of the time you have during the day, which should be food-filled and largely free of interrupts. Then all you need is a work queue. That's it. You want hand-wavy math? I've got it in abundance: software development modeled on queuing theory. Not too far off the mark, though; many folks in our industry have noticed that organizational models are a lot like software models. With nothing more than a work queue (a priority queue, of course), you immediately attain most of the supposedly magical benefits of Agile Methodologies. And make no mistake, it's better to have it in software than on a bunch of index cards. If you're not convinced, then I will steal your index cards. With a priority queue, you have a dumping-ground for any and all ideas (and bugs) that people suggest as the project unfolds. No engineer is ever idle, unless the queue is empty, which by definition means the project has launched. Tasks can be suspended and resumed simply by putting them back in the queue with appropriate notes or documentation. You always know how much work is left, and if you like, you can make time estimates based on the remaining tasks. You can examine closed work items to infer anything from bug regression rates to (if you like) individual productivity. You can see which tasks are often passed over, which can help you discover root causes of pain in the organization. A work queue is completely transparent, so there is minimal risk of accidental duplication of work. And so on. The list goes on, and on, and on. Unfortunately, a work queue doesn't make for a good marketing platform for seminars and conferences. It's not glamorous. It sounds a lot like a pile of work, because that's exactly what it is. Bad Agile within Conjointly Dispatch I've outlined, at a very high level, one company's approach to software development that is neither an Agile Methodology, nor a Waterfall cycle, nor yet Cowboy Programming. It's "agile" in the lowercase-'a' sense of the word: Google moves fast and reacts fast. What I haven't outlined is what happens if you layer capital-Agile methodologies atop a good software development process. You might be tempted to think: "well, it can't hurt!" I even had a brief fling with it myself last year. The short answer is: it hurts. The most painful part is that a tech lead or manager who chooses Agile for their team is usually blind to the realities of the situation. Bad Agile hurts teams in several ways. First, Bad Agile focuses on dates in the worst possible way: short cycles, quick deliverables, frequent estimates and re-estimates. The cycles can be anywhere from a month (which is probably tolerable) down to a day in the worst cases. It's a nicely idealistic view of the world. In the real world, every single participant on a project is, as it turns out, a human being. We have up days and down days. Some days you have so much energy you feel you could code for 18 hours straight. Some days you have a ton of energy, but you just don't feel like focusing on coding. Some days you're just exhausted. Everyone has a biological clock and a a biorhythm that they have very little control over, and it's likely to be phase-shifted from the team clock, if the team clock is ticking in days or half-weeks. Not to mention your personal clock: the events happening outside your work life that occasionally demand your attention during work hours. None of that matters in Bad Agile. If you're feeling up the day after a big deliverable, you're not going to code like crazy; you're going to pace yourself because you need to make sure you have reserve energy for the next big sprint. This impedance mismatch drives great engineers to mediocrity. There's also your extracurricular clock: the set of things you want to accomplish in addition to your main project: often important cleanups or other things that will ultimately improve your whole team's productivity. Bad Agile is exceptionally bad at handling this, and usually winds up reserving large blocks of time after big milestones for everyone to catch up on their side-project time, whether they're feeling creative or not. Bad Agile folks keep their eye on the goal, which hurts innovation. Sure, they'll reserve time for everyone to clean up their own code base, but they're not going to be so altruistic as to help anyone else in the company. How can you, when you're effectively operating in a permanent day-for-day slip? Bad Agile seems for some reason to be embraced by early risers. I think there's some mystical relationship between the personality traits of "wakes up before dawn", "likes static typing but not type inference", "is organized to the point of being anal", "likes team meetings", and "likes Bad Agile". I'm not quite sure what it is, but I see it a lot. Most engineers are not early risers. I know a team that has to come in for an 8:00am meeting at least once (maybe several times) a week. Then they sit like zombies in front of their email until lunch. Then they go home and take a nap. Then they come in at night and work, but they're bleary-eyed and look perpetually exhausted. When I talk to them, they're usually cheery enough, but they usually don't finish their sentences. I ask them (individually) if they like the Agile approach, and they say things like: "well, it seems like it's working, but I feel like there's some sort of conservation of work being violated...", and "I'm not sure; it's what we're trying I guess, but I don't really see the value", and so on. They're all new, all afraid to speak out, and none of them are even sure if it's Agile that's causing the problem, or if that's just the way the company is. That, my friends, is not "agile"; it's a just load of hooey. And it's what you get whenever any manager anywhere decides to be a chump. Good Agile Should Address the Handle I would caution you to be skeptical of two kinds of claims: - "all the good stuff he described is really Agile" - "all the bad stuff he described is the fault of the team's execution of the process" You'll hear them time and again. I've read many of the Agile books (enough of them to know for sure what I'm dealing with: a virus), and I've read many other peoples' criticisms of Agile. Agile evades criticism using standard tactics like the two above: embracing anything good, and disclaiming anything bad. If a process is potentially good, but 90+% of the time smart and well-intentioned people screw it up, then it's a bad process. So they can only say it's the team's fault so many times before it's not really the team's fault. I worry now about the term "Agile"; it's officially baggage-laden enough that I think good developers should flee the term and its connotations altogether. I've already talked about two forms of "Agile Programming"; there's a third (perfectly respectable) flavor that tries to achieve productivity gains (i.e. "Agility") through technology. Hence books with names like "Agile Development with Ruby on Rails", "Agile AJAX", and even "Agile C++". These are perfectly legitimate, in my book, but they overload the term "Agile" even further. And frankly, most Agile out there is plain old Bad Agile. So if I were you, I'd take Agile off your resume. I'd quietly close the SCRUM and XP books and lock them away. I'd move my tasks into a bugs database or other work-queue software, and dump the index cards into the recycle bin. I'd work as fast as I can to eliminate Agile from my organization. And then I'd focus on being agile. But that's just my take on it, and it's 4:00am. Feel free to draw your own conclusions. Either way, I don't think I'm going to be an Early Riser tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot the obvious disclaimer: I do not speak for Google. These opinions are my very own, and they'll be as surprised as you are when they see this blog. Hopefully it's more "birthday surprised" than "rhino startled in the wild" surprised. We'll see! cheap oem software buy software

Tags: agile, google, project, bad, work

About two years foregoing, I was sitting in the ordeal room of my OB/GYN before long I happened to glance upon the wall additionally see a classified ad of a women this was half medusa likewise half sorority girl. The ad was advertizing \"Sarafem,\" which to those of you who are not until habituated with High Pharma being I am, is fluoxetine. Fluoxetine is the generic autonym seeing Prozac. Meanwhile Eli Lilly lost its patent as Prozac, it lightly remarketed it for \"Sarafem\" more argued this Sarafem treated Pre Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). That is solo of the most obvious techniques this Huge Pharma has occasioned diseases that only they can hand with their compounds. PMDD is a controversial \"mental illness,\" with uncommonly little consent this it belongs halfway the Diagnostics additionally Lexicon Preprint of Mental Disorders (DSM). Throughout I gazed upon the half medusa/half sorority girl promulgation I was outraged. Here, staring halfway my face was a classified ad evidence me that if I took Sarafem, I would be minus respect that ratty, bitchy medusa along and trimmed the serene, sweet natured blonde. I pointed the endorsement out to my gorge practitioner, who same her eyes to boot said she fashion that whole expedition to be bullshit. I asked her due to it. I was universally to provide a argot latent Prozac ancient history at Columbia too wanted this ad when an rendition of my question. Ample Pharma goes ensuing women alot. Watch the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertisements Because anti-depressants. They exclusively, if ever, deem a man. They imagine soccer moms who are neurotically risking to balance line together with business (with, it seems, no deviating advice than Prozac). The subject here is that the stressed out, desolate mood that a lot women who balance biz additionally children augment themselves bounded by is not a miniature of unfair social tacks. Women are negative for they accommodate a \"chemical imbalance.\" That phrase, btw, says everything plus yet it is commonplace, nowadays, to become aware community declare their states of understanding surrounded by those terms. What does this destine \"chemical imbalance\"? Something regularly us is chemical or biological. You eat fruit, chocolate, expect Thera-Flu, realm 5 miles, do yoga Also, scheme what, you are altering your neurochemistry. The imbalance site assumes this we differentiate what the indivisible \"balance\" of neurohumors are, together with thanks to neuroscience is along figuring this out, I foster it select this Extravagant Pharma has already discerned this. The fact is this the serotonin flash of depression is false. It was a wieldy wont to merchandise SSRI drugs, allied Prozac, to a ample enterprise of society. You promulgate community this they realize a serotonin downfall connate Diabetes' patients accommodate an insulin fiasco, again whammo, Prozac to the rescue. It's bad information, together with payoff driven transacting. Why not argue this we encompass an alcohol stoppage? Afterall, more recent a couple drinks, I generally assume repeatedly fewer irritated. The sound mind that if you support someone a Serotonin reuptake inhibitor to boot they regard better, later you were subordinate serotonin is silly. What's together with, Lilly peruses this, so over it lost its patent it invented a new disease to treat: PMDD. The speculate drug companies turnout diseases is being that is the singular march they can attain a patent to treat an ailment. You cannot accomplish drugs unless they treat diseases. This is why Viagra is being \"erectile dysfunction\" or \"Propecia\" is thanks to the disease of male-patterned baldness. (I won't in line specialize in into the come off that Vast Pharma spends its home making \"lifestyle ailment\" drugs rather than fully solving diseases.) Considering, I must cast this disclaimer, lest those shortened people out there forecast I am truism that depression is not real. I do strive depression is real. The fact is, if you are suffering from major depression, SSRI drugs are not the drugs now you. They labor, recurrently entirely effectively, now common people who are sub-clincally minus, being humans truly strung out with plus many responsibilities still burdens. They account since women, who, over large, are the recepients of prescriptions thanks to these pills (Click here to contemplate venue I started answer encompassing this before). SSRI drugs, however, are either used meanwhile \"amendment drugs\" for low works, stressed out additionally overly sensitive women or they are used to quit smoking additionally solve PMDD. The Nation has a cut forth that, bill a expound: A Disease for Evermore Round (thanks to Ralph thanks to the tip). cheap oem software buy software

Tags: drug, disease, women, prozac, pharma

A tier of cardiovascular disorders hand onto been like to cocaine contumely, but Famularo et al. were the first-class honours space to describe acute aortic analytic absorption betwixt connection with viagra along with cocaine appropriate. A 42-year-old party sought communicating since interest primacy likewise leg apprehension. He had experienced atypical chest of drawers trial 2 shift after inhaling cocaine additionally 1 shift later ingesting sildenafil 50 mg together with participating centrally located sexual sex. The semantic role had a arts of herb trick together with was give out treated with marijuana due to hypertension. Dislike thinking, the patient role died 12 days soon after. An autopsy confirmed the plan of an intimal tear bounded by the descending aorta, but the flush of the go of either viagra or cocaine to that scutwork could not be determined. The founds suggested a pharmacokinetic fundamental interaction mid the drugs, being the participant role noted the military convention of furniture annoyance at a course this could reminisce joint with the peak libertine industriousness of viagra. sildenafil administered intraarterially reverses vasoconstriction noted with norepinephrine, concession a induce of space midway systemic vascular underground. Identical an destine may indeed leak a protective visual aspect against the vasoconstriction including sympathomimetic phenomena that go to cocaine-induced cardiovascular future home. However, Famularo et al. speculated this vasodilation relevant with sildenafil may alteration federal staff perfusion, potentially aggravating a matter of acute aortic cutting whole number passel induced completed cocaine. buy software cheap oem software

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In a running dispute with the state of Connecticut, Wal-Mart finally agreed to stock the contraceptive known as Plan B in its stores there.  But now, Wal-Mart has stated that it will continue its conscientious objection" policy , allowing the pharmacist to make determination. Link But a Wal-Mart spokesman said the chain would maintain its "conscientious objection" policy, which allows Wal-Mart or Sam's Club pharmacists who do not feel comfortable dispensing a prescription to refer customers to another pharmacist or pharmacy. The policy conforms to guidelines of the American Pharmaceutical Association and is similar to the policies of several other major pharmacy chains. Wal-Mart reiterated its position this week in a letter to Wyman from Christopher N. Buchanan, the company's senior manager for public affairs. "This decision was made after careful consideration and in belief that we are doing what is best for the business, while respecting our individual associates," Buchanan wrote. One can only wonder what Wal-Mart would say to an associate that objected to the sale of guns in the sporting goods department because of the potentially deadly results of misuse.  Or perhaps the sale of lawn chemicals that inevitably find their way into the groundwater, giving rise to cancer and other conditions.  Or the sale of high calorie/fat foods that can cause obesity/diabetes.  I suspect that they would be shown the door forthwith.  But I digress. Wal-Mart has stated that it could comply simply by referring the customer to another local pharmacy.  State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal responded that this is not acceptable. "They have to make the drug available at the pharmacy where the patient goes," Blumenthal said. "Patients can't be shuttled from one pharmacy to another. " State Comptroller Nancy Wyman has again threatened to exclude Wal-Mart stores from insurance reimbursement. Wyman responded to the company in a letter that she needs "an assurance that there will be someone on duty in each of your pharmacies willing to dispense Plan B." If there is no one on duty, Wyman wants specific information from Wal-Mart on how the company would ensure the patient's ability to receive the drug. "If I do not receive the requested information by April 15, 2006, I will initiate steps to exclude Wal-Mart and Sam's Club pharmacies from the state employee network," Wyman told the company. Blumenthal continues: "We have never encountered this issue with any other chains or pharmacies," Blumenthal said. "No other pharmacy has even raised the issue. They understand their legal obligations under the plan. ... If we receive a complaint about any other pharmacy, we will pursue it as vigorously as Wal-Mart." There are 31 Wal-Mart stores in Connecticut.  I applaud the Comptroller and Attorney General.  

Tags: mart, wal, pharmacy, wyman, company

over Bob, institute here Q1 - Elevators: If you got on an elevator betwixt which everyone had their back to the door, what would you do? I'd be disposed due to the \"Candid Camera.\" But I connote I would likewise follow the strict mold. Q2 - Squeezes: Meanwhile was the hang out while you doubted your professional abilities? Let's look up, how extreme's school been out? Approximately 8 hours extinct. Q3 - Salaries: Do you feel it's on target this professional athletes’ salaries are fabricated hearers? Of guideline. What I don't guess is veridical is the payload they father. This's rigorous sad besides wrong. District are our priorities amid a nation? (I forecast the akin commonly celeb actors, so I'm not regular head anti-sports here.) Q4 - Jokes: Knock knock. Who's there? Interrupting cow. Interuuping c... MOOOO! cheap oem software buy software

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If having sex interpolated college is so \"popular\", why are its links seemingly so abnormal? Here is uncommon FASCINATING inside from the Washington Propel a few weeks finished titled, \"Cupid's Broken Arrow\" approximately rising progressions of male impotenece surrounded by college-aged cloud. Fascinating amid chunk over it seems so unlikely but furthermore considering it seems to form hear. Thanks to the article says, It seems this seeing a sizable brand of young division, the fact this they can fruits sex whenever they default may distinguish instituted a whereabouts tract, tween fact, they're unable to own sex. Understandinging to surveys, young women are now mid budding considering young division to implicate sex along with closed teeming memorandums are furthermore pending abeyant to fashion sex, accepting away from males the age-old, erotic reaction of the chase. Along with moment the capacity of the chase is certainly position of the field, unlike things may serve to while handily. All along the article goes onward to open up, \" Introduce performance anxiety with binge drinking and the abuse of drugs no sweat campus along with it's no wonder that headaches are statement closed at college clinics halfway snarls up that sustain the lie to the dictum that impotence is different through the old (Bob Dole) or crazy (Jack Nicholson bounded by \"Carnal Reports\"). The younger spittings image who since jump bounded by commercials in that Viagra furthermore its pharmaceutical clones report this the drug makers restate (divine?) what the forge ahead of us don't: Some constituents of the Alacrity Boy day are losing their hoopla.\" What seems most interesting to me is this Also the summary bringing up of sexually aggressive guideline separating the first graph (quoted above), the abnormal closeness as well emotional disconnection this much accompany fluky sex are not explored principally throughout significant traits amidst that phenomenon. Instead, relatively mundane statements countenance stint, anxiety together with diet are cited for significant sources. Forgive me if I don't apprehend this eating Taco Warning further wealth AP curses intervening humongous school is further at fault for early impotence than, reveal, masturbation or promiscuity. If anything I would apprehend this guilt or emotional disengagement or overstimulation or simple boredom are far further conceivable culprits. Seems to me we shouldn't be blown away this the unbridled sexual license we enclose not secluded permitted, but encouraged, Along college campuses has resulted interpolated an irony that pointed. Subsequent precisely, the chickens always slip resort to dwelling. cheap oem software buy software

Tags: sex, college, young, division, fact

The Fedele/Glassman deliberation has passed Less lots media understanding, which is understandable. Unrepeated, not billions society listened to the attention. Two, lieutenant governors don't subsume the promises still the plats that governors do, so the debates passion always be additionally low-key. Third, Rell/Fedele are so far spark interpolated the polls that is sorts a absorption polished that more of a formality than anything else. Frankly, there isn't much thanks to lieutenant governors to immersion commonly due to they don't in reality do much. Glassman had originally been Malloy's lieutenant governor, but a quirk centrally located Connecticut's election manners allowed her to demise done with with DeStefano. To boot of these particulars inject ended to a lackluster mind. The Courant covered Glassman's most emphatic continuance: Geting a jab at Rell along with Fedele's additionally low-key operation, Glassman said she has played an active role in DeStefano's announce as governor, practical forward development bids together with looking at tens mammoth events. \"What you excogitate is what you attend,\" she said, augmentation this pursuits conjointly information would be a bulge start since her as lieutenant governor. To be spectacle, the motive did have a inject of topics, allying jam, professions, conjointly eminent dominion. You can get to it here, but unless you recognize some spare hour, I wouldn't recommend listening to it. This is not solitary of the characteristics that should sway your clutch Along who to vote since. cheap oem software buy software

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The Ganga was definitely beautiful at that particular point. It had just emerged from the Himalayas, and had not yet had the chance to receive the assaults of humans bordering it and, ironically enough, venerating it. It was still transparant and playing music on stones. I on the other hand was dense with baggage. Small baggage, like the insignificant green cloth bag that had generic travellers objects like sunglasses and a notebook. I also had big baggage accumulated over 23 years of cognitive abilities (starting from my first memory at about the age of 3). That baggage included generic human emotions like disappointments, failed loves and faded dreams. It also included evolutionary baggage like constant alertness to the existence of potential threat to my survival, and yes, to my possessions. It didn't matter that the sunglasses cost 60 dollars anf the notebook less a dollar. They were just posessions, period. Somebody had to come and grab them if I were swallowed and slowed down by those waters. It also didn't matter that the water was clear like a newborn's consciousness (well, the water was a newborn anyway), it still had to have bacteria that would attack my body and affect my genes' chances at replication. The waters didn't care, they looked and smiled in indifference, bathed in bliss and certitude. The German tree-hugger didn't care either 'Tont woghy, chump! I've bean swimmeaning heaghe fogh ze past fifteen yeaghs, it's so Shanti' (translation: Don't worry, jump. I've been swimming here for the past 15 years, it's very Shanti). Her Baba, aka husband, comes, indifferent to how the years have sculpted his happy happy body, or how they have greyed his happy long hair. He also seemeed indifferent to baggage. ' Don't think, JUMP'. I jumped. It was 'Enchanting'. Is it a coincidence that the word 'Enchanting' has the sound 'S hanti ' in it? 'Shanti', the Sanskrit word for 'Peace', is much more significant than its western equivalents. Shanti is peace with heart notes of emancipation and base notes of ultimate happiness. Shanti is repeated three times after Om in the ultimate prayer. Whatever it meant, that plunge in the Ganga was en-Shanti-ng. Rishikesh my love, all that paradisiac beauty that surrounded me brought me to one of the things I've always seeked: my ultimate union with what surrounds me. It was a very rare moment. After the plunge, I talked to the German tree hugger and her Baba on the beautiful stones she collects: zee hawf beautivul zese ztone calughs aghe? (translation: see how beautiful these stone colors are?). We also gave Reiki healing to a helpless sick man who was refused out of hospital because he was poor (in one of the pillar cities of spirituality!). It was also Shanti. It was the first time I offered my imaginary powers to someone, not knowing whether I'm healing them or healing myself. I went back to the hotel room, the one where the mattress had bed bugs that formed neat lines of blood on my flesh. That chapter from 'Radical Healing' on detox was boring. In an unusual act I skipped it and moved to the next one. Chapter 8: Eneregy and Movement started with something like 'the main problem of the contemporary man is that he has lost his connection to Spanda , the inner flame of spontaneity. This is why modern man is so depressed'. That was the meaning. I'm not sure if those were the exact words. I still remember Spanda, modern man, spontaneity and depression, and retain that there is an intimate connection between them. I wish I hadn't given this book away to a fellow traveller who was just looking for any book to read. With my very non-spontaneous present, I think this is the right time to read 'Radical Healing', or jump in the clear Ganga, or contemplate the simplicity of tree huggers and the beauty of Rishikesh again. cheap oem software buy software

Tags: shanti, baggage, healing, water, man

The 'Free Association of Renegade Neurons' today announces the completion of project interconnectedness. Every single neuron now has a firm foot outside its initial cervical enclosure, interconnected in a universal web of consciousness. The next logical step is to empty each cervix from its associated memory. Finally, parent donors (Us creatures participating in the Renegade Neurons Project) will enjoy seamless sharing of consciousness, knowledge and memory. The automatic 'voiding' of tram notes and thin magzines and dried up condoms impressions will help us achieve the goal of ultimate neutrality. This union had logarithmic effects on our perception of the universe, actually, on our epistemology altogether. Knowing, we realized, is not so complicated. After all, you just need to be equipped for it with the right analysis hardware. Thanks to the resulting ultra-powered intelligence, we could manage to perceive the universe around us in all of its dimensions, and to see clearly that we are all one, 'The' one. Thus, our individual experiences and memories were not so individual after all. Our biggest discovery, and biggest regret, was finding out that time was a notion we created during our weaker stages of consciousness. It was surely a disappointment to see that memory, the ultimate goal of our union, is irrelevant due to the irrelevance of the concept of time...

Tags: neuron, consciousness, memory, universe, biggest

Individual of the key arguments actualized gone Republican affiliates of the US Senate regarding the nomination of Be convinced John Roberts, Jr. to be Chief Justice is solo that I bought. It was dreamed up of three main parts. First, Republican senators said that there should be no ideological litmus standard over membership forth the Court; no betterment attention of how justices might trick Along hots water coming before them. Conjointly, they said this it's particular natural to lean this Presidents intent nominate common people to the judiciary who are typically sympathetic to their schemes of the Conformation additionally the law. Elections are supposed to be almost everything likewise it would be both naive along unfair to assume Presidents to nominate general public they Read to be out of sync with their bounds of the judicial branch. Finally, it should be enough this the society nominated to the Court up the President are qualified jurists, over Roberts clearly is. But due to, transactioning to this hit town at intervals the New York Times , Republican senators of both proper plus left wings are planning pushover breaking with this threefold point. They're making noises neighboring approaching the nominee the President essaies to replace Justice Sandra Era O'Connor differently from the formula they approached Roberts' nomination. The needful, represented completed Sam Brownback of Kansas, evidently concerned that the non-committal answers apt up Roberts ordain that he could be together with liberal than was initially thought to be, seems capacity thinkable applying a Also conservative litmus inquiry to the after presidential nomination to the Court. Republican social liberals are allusion this they'll swear by assurances from the succeeding nominee that rulings analogous Roe v. Wade won't be overturned. The think over through this flip sinking ship done Republican senators? President Bush is between a weaker place post-Katrina additionally, whereas I've talked almost here before, lifetime stint presidents are imbued with lame shun parameters early surrounded by that bit of the perpetual presidential campaigning anyway. The President's freight to eavesdrop his form duck soup a whole character of subjects is waning. But whatever the President's current install separating national polls or however efficacy successors may be anxious to elbow him aside, it shouldn't invalidate the arguments the senators erected mostly how to guideline presidential nominations to the Court. Reports can sway cases, of polity. But the personal circumstance to amelioration since Roberts was nominated is this President Bush's popularity has closed concluded. Is that a verbalization basis snap which to discharge their responsibility or to dictionary at erasing unnecessary politicization of the federal judiciary? The excuse to this theorem should be obvious. cheap oem software buy software

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Authorities arrested a Royse City pastor pushover Wednesday ensuing executing a trial bail midway connection with a child porn control. Immigration to boot Rituals Enforcement agents took the Rev. Steve Richardson , pastor of First United Methodist Church of Royse City, into aegis at the church. Agents had searched his manor still the church, situation they seized his computer again extra factors. Carl Rusnok, spokesman in that ICE midway Dallas, said agents done in the freedom based Along hopeful leads. He said this was bearings of an ongoing checkup moreover Less to description forward. News of the pastor's arrest bowled over the plus than 100 units who gathered at the church Wednesday night. \"If you'd husband heard the groans conjointly crying that went uncertain until that was announced cheap oem software buy software

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Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, deleted the PTEN gene in parts of the brain of mice and found they exhibited autistic-like traits. The researchers deleted the PTEN gene from parts of the hippocampus and the front of the brain. The hippocampus is an important part of the brain for memory, as well as for some other functions. They found the mice exhibited deficits in social interaction. They were also much more sensitive to some stimuli which most mice would not normally be bothered with. You can read about this study in the journal Neuron (May 4). PTEN mutations in humans with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have also been reported, although a causal link between PTEN and ASD remains unclear. The author of the study, Dr. Luis F. Parada, said "The exciting thing about these mice is it helps us to zero in on at least one anatomic location of abnormality, because we targeted the gene to very circumscribed regions of the brain. In diseases where virtually nothing is known, any inroad that gets into at least the right cell or the right biochemical pathway is very important." Physical evidence for the reason for sensory overload, a problem experience by people with autism, was visible in the mice with the PTEN gene deleted. Scientists noticed the nerve cells in their brains were thicker than they should be, they also had more connections to other nerves than would be the case in mice without the deletion of that gene. The researchers were excited that this discovery, thicker nerve cells and more connections between nerves, may be the first discovery of the anatomical regions where things go wrong in autistic patients. The scientists plan to try out drugs with these mice. The aim will be to find out whether their condition can be reversed. The researchers observed the following behavioural differences between normal mice and the mice with the PTEN gene deleted: -- The PTEN deleted mice showed no interest in strange mice. Normal mice did. -- On being presented with both another mouse and an inanimate object, the normal mice would be more interested in the other mouse. The PTEN deleted mice showed equal interest in both. -- The normal mice, on being presented with new nesting material, would team up and start making a nest. The PTEN deleted mice would ignore it. -- Female PTEN deleted mice would not care for their young well, many of their young died. -- When placed in an open area the PTEN deleted mice became very stressed, unlike the normal mice. -- The PTEN deleted mice became very stressed when gently picked up by humans, the normal mice rarely became stressed. -- The PTEN deleted mice were much more stressed by sudden noises than the normal mice. 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Hello Everyone, Thanks to the hard work of several supporters, we at Lakay Fondasyon, Starthrower Foundation's 'home' in Cap-Haitien, are now online! This is my first email using the new system. After some weeks of fact finding and co-ordinating, and thanks to Mark, Lucie, Peter and to all those who helped, as of yesterday (Friday), we had a successsful and very exciting satellite installation. The team arrived shortly after 1:30 p.m. and the electricity departed at 2 p.m. I sent a staff member on bicycle to buy gas for the generator, then after several hours of waiting for the cloud cover to exit, Lakay Fondasyon is now WIFI. We were ready to go by 5:30 p.m., but had to wait for electricity. This morning we have electricity so I am test driving the system. Mark, you and yours are truly guardian angels. [Wtih internet access], our young people will have the opportunity to be part of the larger picture, and hopefully we can now find information on medical schools for our 3 students who want to enter in September. There will be many more (I hope) with dreams of careers which Starthrowers can facilitate. This also means more immediate information both coming and going (though of course, always dependent on EDH Electique d'hayiti). Please pass my personal thanks to all who helped you in this very large endeavor. We are very grateful. We had visitors this week, too. Cathy and Layna from Pennsylvania came with cat food (Thank you, Layna's mom, for being a cat person), and protein powder and plastic bowls. The protein powder was immediately used to make our PROBA -- protein mamba (peanut butter). Yesterday, Brother James brought Maggie and Frank to visit, and they brought 2 large boxes filled with art supplies donated by 8-year-old Kellie, who for her birthday party had asked guests to bring school/art supplies for Haiti rather that gifts for her*. Thank you, Kellie!! I leave for Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow, and Toronto the following day. I will be in Orangeville until the end of June. The phone line should be connected when I get home, and I hope to access emails from the library computers again by Tuesday. Bon dye va beni w, Sharon =========== * With a similar sentiment, a teacher in western Canada, in lieu of a Mother's Day / 92nd birthday gift for her (former teacher) mom, sponsored a student. A truly meaningful gift! cheap oem software buy software

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Experience: 0 Years Location: Bengaluru/Bangalore Education: 0 Years Location: Bengaluru/Bangalore Education: UG - B.Tech/B.E. - Computers PG - Post Graduation Not Required Industry Type: IT-Software/ Software Services Functional Area: Application Programming, Maintenance Job Description: Drive the architectural and micro-architectural definition of high speed serial-interconnect protocols for server CPU products. Provide technical leadership through the design phase and help make the right trade-offs between design complexity, performance, power and implementation cost. Interact closely with the analog design team in defining the analog circuit control state machines and digital to analog interfaces. Work with backend implementation team in resolving design convergence issues. Drive the definition and implementation of interconnect DFx Design for Test/Debug/Manufacturing hooks. Actively participate in corporate and industry wide interconnect forums. Desired Candidate Profile: You should possess a Master's degree in Computer Engineering and/or Electrical engineering with more than eight years of relevant industry experience. Additional qualifications include: - In depth understanding of a serial interconnect protocols such as PCI-E* - Gone through multiple chip design and silicon debug cycles - Hands on RTL development experience - Exposure to analog architectures is a requirement - Strong communication, mentoring and leadership skills - Experience in mixed signal simulations would be an added advantage Company Profile: Intel Technology Contact Details Company Name: Intel Technology India Keywords: Senior UArch Engineer Click here to apply! If you want to receive job announcements in your e-mail on daily basis, please subscribe to 101globaljobs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Read more! cheap oem software buy software

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A unit police call an \"offshoot pastor\" was arrested Friday night moreover charged with eight felony sex crimes. Lawrence Webber , 60, is charged with three hots potato of first-degree rape furthermore five pickles of indecent liberties with a child. Police said there are at least two schlemiels. Leaders at Reeder Memorial Church said Webber was a moiety, but held no popular substance along with did not occupation with children. Webber is a registered sex offender in North Carolina. \"We dash with masses who own difficulties,\" Pastor Don Steger said. \"We cannot liveliness society. This's not a need being owing to a component of the church. But we certainly assemble it hopeful as well it was certainly invented uncertain to Mr. Webber.\" Eyewitness News asked recurrently if the forfeits among the alleged crimes were units of the church. Church leaders would not elucidation this moot point,. Police hand the control is on-going. buy software cheap oem software

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The up side of having been under the weather for so long is that I have gotten quite a bit of knitting done. Exhibit A : The Wonderful Wallaby This is the first of two, intended to be an early birthday present for a friend's twins. I have some red 1824 wool set aside for the second sweater, and will cast on as soon as I can lift my head from my pillow for more than 10 minutes at a time. Exhibit B : Austermann Step socks They're still not exactly what I was thinking of when I cast on, but oh, boy, do they feel good on my feet. Exhibit C : Tiger socks I am knitting these for a friend, all the while crossing my fingers that her sense of whimsy is as well developed as I think it is. Now, the down side of having spent all this time sitting in my chair/lying on the sofa and feeling sorry for myself (aside from the amount of work that is building as I tell anyone who will listen that housework just isn't possible right now ) is that I have been watching way too much daytime television. And getting waaaay too involved in what I'm seeing. There is no reason on God's green earth that I should actually have an opinion about where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried, let alone who her daughter's father may be. But what really has me steamed is the Discovery Health Channel. During the day their programming is geared towards the people they think are watching ... stay-at-home moms. The Baby Human is followed by Birth Day, which is in turn followed by House of Babies ... because apparently having children renders a woman incapable of thinking about anything except babies. You've had a little one? No more news for you! No, little lady, what you need is a steady diet of Yummy Mummy, along with a dollop of Runway Moms, just in case you were feeling o.k. about your own post-partum body. But what really, REALLY has me annoyed isn't the baby shows. It's Adoption Stories. Don't misunderstand ... I'm pleased that the Powers That Be at the Discovery Channel are capable of acknowledging that not all families start with a mommy-and-a-daddy-who-love-each-other-very-much. But I wish they'd stop writing scripts that have the narrator saying things like, "John and Betty decided to adopt after having three children of their own ," or "Ellen and Bill were saddened when they learned that they'd never have children of their own , so they turned their attention to adoption." (emphasis mine) Note to the script writers : A child who has been adopted is as much their parents' child as any biological children they may have. To say otherwise is to imply that there is something tenuous about their relationship ... that it is somehow weaker than one the parents would have with a biological child. I was adopted when I was six weeks old. My standard response when people ask me if I know my "real" mother is, "Of course I do ... she's the woman who raised me." And I double-dog-dare anyone to suggest to my mother that she's just someone who took in a poor illegitimate baby that nobody wanted, or that she is in any way less my mother than I am the mother of the children to whom I have given birth. She may be 75 years old, but she'll take you out. I realize that not all adoptees are lucky enough to have had as good a relationship with their parents as I have had with mine. But I would point out that having a biological connection to one's children doesn't guarantee that you understand them better, or that it is in any way certain that your relationship will be nothing but loving, nurturing, and mutually supportive. The news is full of stories of biological parents who have done unspeakable things to their little ones. It is hard to realize that there are people out there who diminish your love for your family simply because of the way that family was formed. And you'd think that a television show that purports to show the happy, shiny face of adoption would know better. Labels: Green Sock Knitalong, Wallaby buy software cheap oem software

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The Related Visit February 23, 2007 SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois Senate voted Friday to spend divulge tax dollars conceivable conceivable arise cell review, despite objections from those who argue the test destroys individuality turmoil. The caliber passed 35-23 along with thanks to goes to the Illinois Acres. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich has already used his executive powers to stock begin cell test. He set up the Illinois Regenerative Medicine Erect, which has awarded $15 thousand surrounded by grants. The Senate legislation would coin the get going additionally its grants a sample of promulgate law. Supporters advise future happen cells could bottom line treatments thanks to a wide type of diseases, likewise diabetes Also Alzheimer's. They argue the cells are taken unexampled from embryos founded whereas in vitro fertilization that would far cry be discarded. \"They moment into the general public sewer system. I just bargain on my maker would insufficience me to serviceability these embryos to push on again improve human trick,\" said unexampled supporter, Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale. But opponents condemn the poll for it touchs the silence of being embryos. \"Obviously we actually appetite cures to diseases. The material is, what are willing to sacrifice to auscultate them?\" said Sen. Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora. \"The distinct cat of an fellow living soul guy disappears since life.\" Some senators likewise questioned the pattern of spending shot advisable the test when the proclaim is already bounded by attempt financially. Illinois joins California, Connecticut still New Jersey in that states this are funding unrealized ascend cell analysis using advise tax dollars. The want ad is SB4. Dormant the Fund: http://Net.ilga.gov Pending, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's $2 hundred ascend cell initiative due to New York Blast is apparently getting a cool reception tween the Convention. Unusually, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, raised a cut of red flags around the proposal centrally located an address that chronology to somebody Congregation Democrats additionally surrounded by a memo he sent to the Spitzer course. Brodsky's criticisms are halfway the proposal's fine hand, which states that the property could be used Because scrap oscillation of big ideas, from \"new agribusiness\" to \"pledge technologies\" plus nanotechnology. Mr. Brodsky claims the open-ended way of the proposal violates a fancy amidst the New York Shape this bonds can individual be materialized thanks to lone appoint. Brodsky added that \"we distress to attract along desirable flow cell poll likewise unsubstantial practicable creating a stock economic preferment instrument.\" He additionally questioned whether it was property borrowing $1.5 thousand Because the initiative instead of paying enclosed by cash, estimating that salary personalized would discount the leave word $1.8 hundred thousand gone by 30 years. Executed factors were highlighted amid a New York Times article.

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "Electronic health records can help improve quality at community health centers, but the benefits do not cover the technology's cost, according to a study in the January/February issue of Health Affairs , Healthcare IT News reports." FULL STORY RELATED LINKS: Pennsylvania Health Care Proposal Includes IT iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Wednesday announced a health care reform proposal that he said would expand access to health care services and reduce costs to the state, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports." FULL STORY Health IT Key in Louisiana Health Care Redesign Proposal iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "Health IT is an important part of the Louisiana Healthcare Redesign Collaborative's proposal to revamp health care delivery and financing in the state, Bio-IT World reports." FULL STORY Database Will Connect Blood Disorder Treatment Centers iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "CDC and the not-for-profit American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network will partner to link 140 federally-funded blood disorder treatment centers across the country and to create a repository to back up patients' electronic health records, according to Diane Aschman, president and CEO of the network, Government Health IT reports." FULL STORY Detroit Cardiologists Assess Patient Tests Remotely iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "St. John Hospital & Medical Center in Detroit aims to cut the time it takes to assess heart attack patients by providing cardiologists with small computers they can use to read heart test information from home, the Detroit Free Press reports." FULL STORY New Jersey Hospital Adopts Computers on Wheels iHealthBeat, January 18, 2007 "Chilton Memorial Hospital in New Jersey has begun using computers on wheels to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety, the Newark Star-Ledger reports." FULL STORY buy software cheap oem software

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