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Hitching a ride with a honeybee

Speed read
  • Bees communicate via the famous waggle dance
  • Harnessing bees with drones collects brain data in real-time and unpacks how they learn
  • Hive communication points to distributed intelligence solutions for human society

Since Austrian researcher Karl von Frisch first studied the waggle dance in the mid-1920s, scientists have learned that honeybees move in a figure-eight dance routine to tell other members of the hive where food sources are located.

Do the hokey-pokey.  Bees tell a story about food with the waggle dance. but there's more to the story than that. To find out what, Landgraf's biorobotics group is learning to think like a bee. Courtesy Wikimedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

However, how honeybees use their brains to create memories of different locations and communicate these memories with fellow members of the honeybee swarm is mysterious to researchers.

To solve this problem, Tim Landgraf of Freie Universität collects neurophysiological data from bees in real-time to understand how their brain structures work.

“There are so many hows and whys and those types of questions with this research,” Landgraf says. “I would be happy to find out a little bit more about how brains capture relevant structures in the world, even in the brain of a small bee.”

The moving data challenge

For some larger insects, like dragonflies, it’s possible for scientists to plant electrodes into their brains to record data. The small size of the honeybee, however, created a challenge for Landgraf and his team, as the electronics that amplify, digitize, and store the data are too big to be carried by a honeybee.

Eventually, they decided to tether individual bees onto tiny copters to record neurophysiological data, pictures, and videos of the bees performing tasks.

“Bees are very complex in their navigation strategies,” Landgraf says. “We thought, ‘well, okay, let’s put the bee on a copter, use the copter to carry equipment and use robotics to make the sensory impression of the bee as realistic as possible.’”

In addition to studying the waggle dance, Landgraf also researched how bees solve task collectively.Mimic masters. Members of the Biorobotics Lab at Freie Universität apply principles found in natural systems to technical systems in human society. Courtesy Tim Landgraf.

“We mark all the bees individually and track them over weeks, so more than a lifetime of a single bee,” Landgraf says. “We can understand how young bees clean cells, interact with the queen, store food, and whether or not they become guards protecting the hive.”

As a group, bee hives operate similar to central processing units, in which the bees execute tasks with a clear set of directions. They differ, however, in that there is no central unit sending commands, as the queen’s job is simply to lay eggs for the hive.

“If you look at a bee colony, there are so many things happening in parallel,” Landgraf says. “There might be other bees trying to rob the food, the temperature might have to be raised or lowered, food needs to be collected. They just do these tasks, they know somehow.”

Attaching copters to honeybees and tracking live data creates a massive amount of information. Tracking movements in a hive during a nine-week season, for example, means that as much as 200 terabytes of data are collected.

 I believe we have to start with the smallest of insects to learn more about our own brains. ~ Tim Landgraf

Landgraf used the supercomputing resources at the Zuse Institut Berlin to store and analyze this data.

“The Zuse Institut gives us free storage and free computation,” Landgraf says. “We use 700 terabytes of it to store our data. For us, the computational project is not too bad in terms of storage.”

Bee(p), bee(p)

Studying how bees solve tasks both individually and collectively provides information for a surprising side project of Landgraf’s.

Self-driving cars, once a fantasy in television shows like Knight Rider, are fast becoming a reality due to companies like Google and General Motors, and because of evidence that they may be safer than regular cars. A study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in 2016 found that the crash rate for self-driving cars was lower than the overall national crash rate.

However, many self-driving cars rely on electric power whose charging time might be limited.

“Right now we see a charging time of four to five hours,” Landgraf says. “This wouldn’t be a good thing for self-driving taxis. If they’re driving 20 hours of the day and have to wait four hours, they could lose some business in that time.”

Come fly with me.  Researchers at Freie Universität are using the neurocopter to find out how a bee learns and processes information. They'd like to apply this understanding to human systems like networks of autonomous vehicles. Courtesy Tim Landgraf.

To maximize efficiency, Landgraf simulated a swarm of self-driving cars operating in tandem, similar to how a bee hive functions by completing self-directed tasks.

“It’s the same thing with the honeybees,” Landgraf says. “We’re looking at how complex patterns emerge from the interaction of single, simple units.”

The implications of studying the neurophysiology of honeybees could also offer insight into the neurophysiology of our own brains, and how we communicate with each other.

“If we can understand how a small honeybee brain works, it will tell us so many things not just in bees,” Landgraf says. “It will tell us about how things are organized in other brains, such as our own. Although it’s a fair stretch, I believe we have to start with the smallest of insects to learn more about our own brains.”

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It’s important for Massachusetts voters to be informed about Scott Brown’s voting record, policy positions, and political activities.  I will send out a weekly newsletter:  “Keeping Tabs on Scott Brown.”  The newsletter reports only facts, does not editorialize, and provides links to additional information.  Please feel free to forward it to friends, family and other interested people.  My hope is that Massachusetts voters will have the facts about Brown so they can make an informed decision during the next election.   If you want to contact Brown directly, his phone # is 202 -224-4543.  His official website is    You must type this address into the URL yourself.   If you simply click it, you will be directed to a campaign site.  On his official site, you must fill out a contact form.  No direct e-mail address is given.
Newsletters are posted on our website:

If you want to be removed from my e-mail list, please let me know.  Christine Ridout,

Note:  Since January 2011, there has been little news about Scott Brown or about congressional activity in general.  Yesterday, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, said that Congress has done “absolutely nothing” since January.  A good explanation for the dearth of information about Brown since the first of the year.

Labor Unions Look to Peel Away Support for Brown.   Brown will be a key target say Massachusetts organizers Brown’antilabor votes include:

In an op-ed piece, Joan Vennochi says Brown purposely confuses voters.   First he’s for cutting Planned Parenthood and then he’s not;  he’s against the extension of jobless benefits until he voted for a budget that extended them; he was against repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ until he voted for it.

Poll:   Mass. voters would re-elect Sen. Scott Brown.  The poll by Suffolk University in Boston showed 55% of likely Masssachusetts voters say Brown deserves to return to Congress.

Brown boasts $8M war chest.

Brown emerging as key Senate player.  Brown campaigned as the potential 41st GOP vote to halt Obama’s health insurance overhaul. Now, Brown is helping the president make the new law more palatable to its critics. Although Brown insists he still opposes the overall health care measure, his bipartisan plan embraced by the president is one of the most visible examples of Brown’s willingness to rebuff his Tea Party movement roots and work in the Senate as a compromiser.

If you are interested in following Brown’s voting record, here are some sites to check.

Brown supports family planning and health services for women.   “Given our severe budget problems, I don’t believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far.”

Brown Praises Rep. Paul Ryan, Says “Everything is on the Table” for Medicare.   House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to end Medicare and Medicaid as we know them might be slow to accrue supporters within his own party, but Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), a key swing vote in the Senate, indicated he was at least open to the idea.

In a letter, Brown called Republican efforts to cut government spending “irresponsible” and urged party leaders to get over their ideology and find an agreement on a final resolution to fund the government through the fiscal year.  The Massachusetts Republican sent the letter to Senate leaders of both parties urging them to end their squabble over the budget, drop the ideological games and come to an agreement, adding that he was “disappointed” in their behavior so far.

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Friday, 5 August 2016

August Mood Board with Lisa Oxley

Morning Bloggers ,Lisa Here with a Friday mixed media update .
Ohhhhh , have you checked this months Scrapping Clearly Mood Board Challenge.
Not usually one to partake in most challenges, This colourful beauty was calling my name.
Using Dylusions Ink sprays and water mist,
 I created the background on white heavy weight marshmellow cardstock
When dry I added some stamping, colourblast texture paste and
house paint for a few random visual elements .
 The layout is completed by layering a little plasterers tape, tissue paper,
a journal card ,a scrap of old jellybean soup Moroccan print paper,Muslin,a black matt photo,
 cotton, and a few journalling elements provided by my fav Fude ball journal pen,Tim Holtz strip sentence stickers and a Me and My Big Ideas "Stay Humble" chippy
Thanks so much for dropping by,
 I hope you are as inspired by this months mood board as I am.
Don't forget to add your piece to the challenge and have the chance to win a prize.
See you next week.
Stay Arty Bloggers
Lisa xxx


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Tuesday, 9 May 2017

Something Wonderful card set by Tania

Hi everyone, I'm sharing a little set of cards I made this week, with some left over bits and pieces of the lovely Something Wonderful range, from Teresa Collins. I have been able to do so many things with this range, it is so versatile, and there are so many embellishments and ephemera bits to compliment the papers, it is really easy to work with.

I started off with some black card bases, and used some papers from the 6 x 6" paper pad for the backgrounds.
For the 1st card, I used a cut out from the 12 x 12" papers, some of the smaller papers for matting, then embellished with some of the stickers, washi tape and the brads!

The 2nd card, was very simple and quick! I used a few brads, some washi tape and sticker, and that was it. There is enough space on this one to add a sentiment to suit the card for whatever occasion.

I like the transparent washi tape, with the words, it's one of my favourites!

On the 3rd card I wanted to use one of the tags from the tags pack. I dressed that up a little with a piece from the ephemera pack, some more patterned paper and some raffia for a bow.

That's it for now, hope you like the cards, they are not difficult cards, they are quick and easy, which we all need some time! Who hasn't made a card in a rush right before the party right!!!
Thanks for joining me, I have linked my products used in the Scrappingclearly Store, alot of these items are on sale, so be sure to check them out!

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Broke. Broke by McKenzie, at least it wasn't one of the Denby plates- that would have been a real tragedy.

Well that’s my holiday week officially started. I finished work on Thursday morning at 8am. That was night shift. 8pm-8am from the Sunday, all hands on deck for a big move of fixtures at Hobbycraft. It’s all secret- I only glanced at the blueprints in the office, and to be honest I only barely grasped the magnitude of the schematics. It’s well above my pay scale to care. The night shift was blighted by internal bickering- pitching night shift and day shift against each other like the forces of good and evil. I think I work with too many women. Much pointless bickering and the like. Politics and piss.

I may have mentioned that getting into the schedule for night shift was relatively easy, I’m okay at staying up late. The flip-side was worse. The come-down. It’s taken a while to sort out my sleep pattern. My folks came in on Saturday, to visit the bairn and to take us out for something to eat for the wife’s birthday which is actually this Thursday…when I’ll be attending my first write club meeting and maybe hitting the remnants of a leaving do for folks at work…so maybe Lindsey will be fine with it. Maybe not. I was up all night on Friday night, watching the west wing on actual legitimate DVD and other stuff…so by the time we got out I was feeling decidedly odd. I had one bad glass of cheap under-class wine and I was snuzzled, head spinning with tiredness….issuing grumpy non-committal half  arsed replies to questions….awful….needed to sleep BADLY. Still, it was cool- we didn’t hang around- back home Mum and Dad dutifully bathed the bairn and I fell asleep on the couch.

My dreams during this period were strange and disturbing. that’s all I want to say about that.

I’ve finally moved all my guitars into the spare room downstairs. And, as if by magic my old amp has suddenly started working. It’s really, really loud- probably far too loud for a residential area. Good fun though, my mini-marshall stack just sounds loud. A real audio illusion. So I’ve been having a bit of fun dusting and tuning up guitars, chaining pedals and searching for that elusive new sound……

Here are some pictures to lighten the mood.

shoes #1: my workboots. They hurt my feet.
Shoes #2: nice new shoes. I'm going through something of a sartorial mutation.
Shoes #3: slippers. It's been all go on the shoe front round here. These are nice and comfy. Slippers are mandatory due to the harsh new carpet regime.

I’ve lost my watch somewhere along the way.*

Today we took the bairn up to Hazlehead park- it’s pretty good as public parks go in Aberdeen. It’s not quite as good as Duthie Park, which is great simply for the Winter Gardens. I like a visit to the wild west zone, giant Cacti and gravel.

That’s about it for now. I have to concentrate on generating some feedback on folk’s writing for the secret coven.

*I remember having a bath at some  point- maybe thursday night? the watch was present. Now it’s not. I think I had it on Friday night too- I remember running my bulging veins under the cold tap in the bathroom upstairs at some un-godly hour. I think the watch was there. Fuck knows min. It’s a mystery. WHERE DID YOU LAST SEE IT?

fuck off.

I was just on the phone to my Mither- amongst other things, my watch has turned up- in the back of the Rav.4.  Fuck sake min!

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Spicing it up

Breakfast this morning was something you’ve seen many times before. It NEVER gets old.

But my afternoon snack was a quasi-rarity.

I keep yogurt rare because of the sugar content.

For dinner tonight, I spiced up an old favorite…Mama Pea’s chickpeas!

Instead of using the pumpkin spices, I used 2 tsp of curry powder for a different effect. Sort of a sweet and spicy?

They tasted amazing but of course you can’t go wrong with chickpeas in my opinion.

To continue the chickpea theme, I had some pita and hummus on the side (x2). I also had some mixed veggies from the freezer.

Today was a great day of eating for me. Once again I find myself really thankful for my self-imposed 9 o’clock cut off time.

But I also nixed the mindless nighttime snacking by giving myself a job to do…I finally put away all the Christmas stuff!

If you are a nighttime snacker like me, what tricks do you use to keep yourself from overdoing it?

About Sarah Frankel

I am 29 years old and a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. I've been married to my husband Josh for 6 years and we have a 5 year old beagle named Suzie. Four years ago, I changed my eating and exercise habits, dropping 70 pounds and gaining an entirely new life. I took up running in September 2007 and became vegan in October 2009. I am constantly striving to improve my life so that I can live it to the fullest! I hope you will join me on my life journey.

Posted on January 12, 2010, in Breakfast, Dinner, Snacks and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. Isn’t it funny how being tired and bored is such a big factor in night time snacking?!

  2. Brushing my teeth usually helps me stop snacking!

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New Images of Tomb Raider: Lara Croft

New images of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft have emerged!

Check them out!

Vikander had this to say in Vanity Fair: “When I was asked to take on this role I got really excited—Lara Croft is a truly iconic character.  I think people can identify with her for lots of different reasons, but for me I very much see her as a model for many young women. She’s trying to carve out her place in the world and connect her future with her past. She also has a fantastic mix of traits—tough, smart, vulnerable, plus she’s kick ass! She is also uniquely different to other characters I have taken on previously. It’s a lot of fun trying to get into Lara’s head and the challenge of getting to grips with such a physical role is an element of this project that I find an absolute thrill.”

We’re crossing our fingers that this is a successful movie since Rek loves Tomb Raider!

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Beautiful Western Canada for Dutch National Geographic Traveler Magazine

The opening spread for Dutch National Geographic Traveler’s story on Western Canada

This post is extremely late as this year has been so full of fun assignments I haven’t had much time to write.  Last September, I worked with the editor of the Dutch edition of National Geographic Traveler on a story about British Columbia and a little bit of Alberta.  It was a marvelous adventure as we spent about two weeks traveling by car across British Columbia to the very western edge of Alberta.  We met in Vancouver, B.C. and parted ways in Calgary, although the adventure really ended in Banff.  It was extraordinarily beautiful!  We spent a good deal of time on Vancouver Island and one of the highlights of the trip was visiting a lodge only accessible by either sea plane or water taxi, the Eagle Nook Resort and Spa.  Here we went sea kayaking, salmon fishing and hiking through some amazing forest and along the rugged coastline.  The editor caught his first wild salmon and the incredible chef at the lodge cooked it up for us two ways that evening:  Sashimi style in elegantly cut thin strips and also as lovely fillets, served with amazing B.C. produce.  This part of the assignment also covered shooting a few whales in the Broken Group Islands through which one must travel via water taxi in order to access the resort.  Our last night at the resort was rewarded Canadian style with a bonfire and great beer!  The next segment of the assignment involved some grueling driving, after which we ended up at another incredible, off-the-beaten-path lodge, Bracewell’s Alpine Wilderness.  Here we went horseback riding and enjoyed the incredible views, went for a canoe paddle where we encountered not another living creature other than a loon and enjoyed the rugged and unobstructed scenery of the Chilcoten.  This place is wide open space and run by a generous and amazing family.  If you’re looking to truly get away from it all, I highly recommend taking a week or two and hanging around Bracewells.    I had my first grizzly bear encounter here and witnessed a spectacular moonset, among other vividly colored moments.  We also visited, among many, many other attractions, Tide Rip Grizzly Tours in Knight Inlet, located on Vancouver Island, Blue River Safari tours, located in one of the only inland temperate rainforests. This is where I saw my first “spirit bear” cub.  We also visited the Strathcona Park Lodge where we spent time hiking and canoeing.  I’m still working on getting all of the photos up on to my stock photography site, so keep visiting for more pix!  Since the story is not published online, if you’d like to read it, it was published in the January 2012 edition of the Dutch language National Geographic Traveler Magazine .  (I think you’d have to order the physical magazine directly from them.)  Thank you for visiting this blog and please feel free to share any thoughts!  More photos on the way…

A favorite double page spread for the story on Western Canada for Dutch National Geographic Traveler Magazine. These two images, like the opening spread, were made at Bracewell’s Alpine WIlderness in Central British Columbia.

The entire assignment was shot using Canon equipment: 2 Canon 5D Mark II, 1 Canon 7D, all the lenses I could carry and my trusty Gitzo tripod and mono-pod.  There were also the occasional iPhone pix, just for fun.  My editor took a nice photo of me with his camera which I love.  I was communing with the horses we were about to take up Potato Mountain.

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TTMT #359 – Much Much Better

In this video:

EDITED TO ADD: Two pattern testers found, thanks everyone! ♥ March Flickr Prize
Our March drawing is for a fun set of fabric from the fabulous Vanda, all the way from South Africa!

The prize includes 20 cotton fabric pieces ranging in size from 5.5″ x 8″ to 10″ x 11″.

Visit Vanda at Quilt in Piece.

Entering to win is easy, just share your photos with the Sewhooked flickr group, making sure your photos are set to share. You’ll have one chance to win for each photo you share!

Want to sponsor a prize? Please drop me an email.

Join the Sewhooked Facebook Group for community, fun and support!

Have a great day!

My Favorite Things. a Block of the Month by Jennifer Ofenstein

I Want To Believe: An X-Files Quilt & Stitch Along coming 2016 on

2 thoughts on “TTMT #359 – Much Much Better

  1. Elaine in North Tx.

    Did you get your second embroiderer for the butterfly. If not then I could do it for you. Let me know.

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World AIDS day- in Memory of Sipho and his Smile.

I want to tell you a story of the most amazing little boy.  His name was Sipho.  He was 5 years old when I met him.  He was deaf mute and living in an AIDS orphanage called Betty’s Haven in Nelspruit, South Africa.  He had quite bad oral thrush and Karposi’s  sarcoma lesions all over his body.  This meant he was displaying symptoms of AIDS and was most likely born with HIV.

This kid was the happiest little boy I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  He always carried a purple handbag with him everywhere (Tinky Winky had nothing on him!) and was always full of smiles.  As soon as he saw me arrive at the gate he would jump up and down excitedly flapping his handbag and then leap into my arms and stay there quite happily for as long as he could.  Although unable to speak he was able to communicate by gestures and facial expressions and we got along famously and would spend hours playing with the other children under the trees in the dusty driveway of his home.

Let me tell you a bit more about his home- the orphanage.  Betty’s Haven was set up in about 1994 (I think) when an amazing woman called Betty Mandlazi found two children sleeping rough under a tree.  She took them in and from then on took more and more children into her home.  She had a small two bedroom bungalow.  There were beds everywhere.  She even had a giant tent in the garden with more beds.    As far as I know  she didn’t have formal funding for this – she got by on what grants she could from the rotary club etc. When I was there she had 25children living with her (yes in a two bed bungalow and a huge tent!).  The youngest was a beautiful 9 days old little girl (who I liked to sing mockingbird too, it makes me sad when I sing it to my baby girl now).  The eldest (the original two) were 15 and 17 who stayed on helping her with the other children.  There were children with physical difficulties including a boy with cerebral palsy- but no wheelchair, communication devices or physiotherapy  for him.  He would get around by crawling or would happily balance on my feet and be walked around (with Sipho also clinging limpetlike to my leg!). It makes me sad that I can’t remember his name.

Betty is an absolutely incredible inspirational woman, and those wonderful kids taught me the true meaning of happiness,  its not possessions, wealth, education, or even health- its being with people who make you smile.  Sipho was ALWAYS smiling.  Such a happy fabulous little boy.  He is making me smile now just writing this- and a very teary too because I doubt very much Sipho is still with us.  (Unfortunately I was unable to keep in touch with the orphanage- when I left in 2003 they didn’t have a phone or internet access or even spare money for international stamps so keeping in touch proved impossible. ) If Sipho was still alive he would be 13ish.  Children who are born with HIV without treatment don’t often live into their teens.  Since when I met him he was showing AIDS defining illness then it would be a miracle if he hadn’t become one of those “AIDS statistics” that we read but mean nothing too us because they are “just numbers”.

Well Sipho wasn’t just a number.  He was and always will be the boy who taught me so much and meant so much to me and is one of the reasons I now do the work that what I do.   He also taught me how I want try to bring my own daughter up- to be happy whatever the circumstances (a tall order I know) and I still get frustrated with the selfishness of some of the kids I work with who would sulk if they didn’t have the latest iPod or whatever.  So I often used to tell them Sipho’s story and I like to think his story made a difference to their attitude (The cynic in me doubts it).

I wanted to write this to remember Sipho to the world and to remind teachers that when you teach about HIV and AIDS in your classroom in the UK that it isn’t just something that happens “over there”, or isn’t just faceless “statistics” or even token gestures of wearing a red ribbon.  It’s happening to real people with real smiles that really can light up the world that are tragically being extinguished too soon because of HIV.

Sipho- you and your smile will be remembered forever.

2 thoughts on “World AIDS day- in Memory of Sipho and his Smile.

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Botany Inspired Stitches – A Quilt Show

Fraser Valley Quilters’ Guild has curated a very beautiful exhibition of quilts called “Botany Inspired Stitches” at VanDusen Botanical Garden.  Flowers, gardens, and landscapes have been created in fabric by quilt artists using stunning colour palettes and intricate techniques.

The quilts are on display in the Discovery Room gallery in the Visitor Centre and can be viewed at no charge.    The exhibition opened on February 27 and will be available for viewing during regular garden operating hours until April 3.

VanDusen Botanical Garden is located at 5251 Oak Street at West 37th Avenue (northwest corner).  For an admission fee, you can wander out into the gardens and enjoy the early flowering bulbs, rhododendrons, and magnolias.

Read a post about this show written by another visitor here.

This entry was posted in Shows & Events and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.


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Al's SOTM Rosebud

Al’s Shaving Products has three of their “Scents of the Month” coming out for April, and I was offered a chance to get a sneak peek at two of them. The first would be the Rosebud.

As per usual, Al’s Shaving Products provided a very nice shave. It’s a thirsty cream, so don’t skimp on the water; it’ll be put to good use, and you don’t need to worry much about overshooting the water content, as it’s got a pretty wide sweet spot. Nice and thick, while plenty slick, and leaving the face feeling more and soft and moisturized than most creams do.

The aroma is a floral scent (rose and lavender), with a base of musk and hints of citrus and spice. The florals were tempered nicely by the other scents, avoiding becoming cloyingly sweet. Al says that he was shooting for “a cleaner version of Pierre cardin pour Monsieur [more] oriented for younger audiences, [that] dries with notes that are similar to Old Spice”, if that helps you make a decision on whether or not you’d like it.

The strength is pretty decent. It comes on strongly, and stays that way throughout about half of a pass or so, after which it’ll start fading somewhat. By the end of each pass, it’s definitely still there, but not quite what I’d call strongly so. At the start of the shave, it’s at a 10/10, by the end, about a 8/10, IMHO.

  • 9/10 Scent Pleasantness
  • 9/10 Scent Strength
  • 9/10 Quality of Lather

I’m happy enough to round this one up to a 9/10. If the scent sounds appealing, I suggest getting it while you can.

Gear used:

Ingredients: “The forumula of Al’s Shaving Cream is Triethanolamine and preservative (parabens) free and only contains sodium and potassium salts of fatty acids (stearic, oleic, linoleic, palmitic, myristic and lauric) in addition to water, glycerin and botanicals.”


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Stock in the Viewfinder: iShares MSCI Singapore Capped ETF (EWS)

When focusing on technical stock analysis, traders and investors may choose to study the ATR or Average True Range. The present 14-day ATR for iShares MSCI Singapore Capped ETF (EWS) is currently standing at 0.20. The ATR basically measures the volatility of a stock on a day-to-day basis. The average true range is typically based on 14 periods and may be calculated daily, weekly, monthly, or intraday. The ATR is not considered a directional indicator, but it may reflect the strength of a particular move.

Currently, the 14-day ADX for iShares MSCI Singapore Capped ETF (EWS) is sitting at 15.80. Generally speaking, an ADX value from 0-25 would indicate an absent or weak trend. A value of 25-50 would support a strong trend. A value of 50-75 would identify a very strong trend, and a value of 75-100 would lead to an extremely strong trend. ADX is used to gauge trend strength but not trend direction. Traders often add the Plus Directional Indicator (+DI) and Minus Directional Indicator (-DI) to identify the direction of a trend.

Checking in on some other technical levels, the 14-day RSI is currently at 66.55, the 7-day stands at 77.45, and the 3-day is sitting at 93.38. Many investors look to the Relative Strength Index (RSI) reading of a particular stock to help identify overbought/oversold conditions. The RSI was developed by J. Welles Wilder in the late 1970’s. Wilder laid out the foundation for future technical analysts to further investigate the RSI and its relationship to underlying price movements. Since its inception, RSI has remained very popular with traders and investors. Other technical analysts have built upon the work of Wilder. The 14-day RSI is still a widely popular choice among technical stock analysts.

Investors may be watching other technical indicators such as the Williams Percent Range or Williams %R. The Williams %R is a momentum indicator that helps measure oversold and overbought levels. This indicator compares the closing price of a stock in relation to the highs and lows over a certain time period. A common look back period is 14 days. iShares MSCI Singapore Capped ETF (EWS)’s Williams %R presently stands at -2.91. The Williams %R oscillates in a range from 0 to -100. A reading between 0 and -20 would indicate an overbought situation. A reading from -80 to -100 would indicate an oversold situation.

Taking a closer look from a technical standpoint, iShares MSCI Singapore Capped ETF (EWS) presently has a 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) of 227.38. Typically, the CCI oscillates above and below a zero line. Normal oscillations tend to stay in the range of -100 to +100. A CCI reading of +100 may represent overbought conditions, while readings near -100 may indicate oversold territory. Although the CCI indicator was developed for commodities, it has become a popular tool for equity evaluation as well.

Investors may be doing a portfolio evaluation as we head into the second half of the calendar year. Assessing results from the first half may help identify what went right, and what went wrong. Many investors may have missed the charge, and they keep hoping for stocks to retreat to go on a buying spree. Gaining a solid grasp on the markets may take years to truly figure out. Combining technical analysis and tracking fundamentals may provide a large boost of confidence to the investor. Being able to sift through the countless chatter may take some perseverance and extreme focus. Creating a winning portfolio might only be a few sharp trades away.

By Sherwood Contributor


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Jackson, Stefanie (Another Star)

Jackson, Stefanie (Another Star)
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Another Star by Stefanie Jackson

4x6' oil on canvas, unframed

Stefanie Jackson received her BFA from Parsons School of Design in 1979 and her MFA from Cornell University in 1988. She has taught drawing and painting in the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. Jackson’s dramatic paintings speak of the hardships of African Americans through her distinctive voice. The artist’s work references European traditions, African American music and literature, surrealism, social issues around race, and her life’s own narrative. Jackson has been the recipient of several individual grants from Georgia Council for the Arts and a Special Projects Grant from the National Endowment of the Arts. In 2002 Jackson became a recipient of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award in recognition of her life’s dedication developing artistic goals, regardless of other personal or financial responsibilities.

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A Personal Share | Buffalo’s Outer Harbor Playground

We took the boys to the Outer Harbor Playground for a quick trip to watch the sunset and check out the new park.  I brought along my big camera and had a blast watching them run and play and explore.  We will absolutely be going back soon!  Enjoy!  ~ Katie

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Preppers are Nucking Futs!

Everyone is a little crazy in some fashion or another.  However,  I think we can all agree that there are some preppers out there who are completely “Nucking Futs.”

I know this because, I’ve watched the nut-jobs on NatGeo’s Show called Doomsday Preppers and I’ve received my share of hate mail from some real tin-foil hat types. Complete with colorful language to make sure I get the point.

I’ve even had a Facebook prepper group with over 4,000 members put out a warning about my book.

Yes, you read that right- a warning.  Which I thought was pretty cool.  Not many people can say that their book was so insidious to a 4,000 plus member group of doomsday pereppers that it had to be banned.

Fear not logical minded intellectual preppers and survivalists.

I have good news!

There is a place free from the conspiracy theory, radical, anti this and that, the sky is falling, bologna we see on most prepper website channels and forums.

Most importantly they also have something that I hold most valuable in my survival mindset…A sense of humor

Go check out the folks at “In the Rabbit Hole Urban Survival Podcast”

What a breath of fresh air.

They are officially SHTF Art of War approved.

If you want to learn how the “Nucking Fut Jobs” are going to operate when the lights go out, you may want to pick up a copy of “The SHTF Art of War.”
Just click the image below.

Art of War Covera 1a1

One thought on “Preppers are Nucking Futs!

  1. Interesting. There again throughout history there have always been those people who just don’t get it. They are still round too. Politicians, Scholars, religious nuts, those who believe newspapers NEVER LIE. Ho hum, Isn’t life grand!

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Resources for the Best College Dorm

Dearest reader,

It’s that time of the year again when freshman, and some returnees, are buying everything they’ll need for the upcoming year. And who can blame them? With so many great deals going on, I was in the same place two years ago. But are you sure you’re buying exactly what you need? Read on to see multiple college pack lists that I have compiled here for you and make sure you have everything you’ll use.

Why Pack Lists are Important

Pack lists are so important. I have a slight memory problem, so if I don’t write something down I am probably going to forget it. Having the kinesthetic memory from either writing or typing down what you’ll need as well as having the visual reminder helps you keep track of what you need and what you may have already bought makes sure you have everything and that you don’t buy two of something.

Also, this makes it easier if you have a roommate. If you’re living in the dorms, you’ll probably have a roommate. By making a pack list for the upcoming school year, you can decide what you only need for yourself and what you and roommate could split up (she buys the futon and you buy the mini fridge). You won’t have duplicate items that take up space in your small shared space and you can cut costs.

When Should You Start Buying Dorm Items

I started stock piling stuff in my room as soon as I could. It makes me anxious when I don’t have what I’ll need, even if it’s a few months away. This also lets you keep an eye out for the best deals so you aren’t spending money needlessly if that comforter you have to have will go on sale in a week.

If you live in another state and worry about getting all your dorm items to your new school, you can send these items to your dorm or local postal office and have them hold it for you until you get there. You could also wait to buy the stuff once you get there. Stores around college campuses know that students will need specific things like shower caddies and command hooks, so they generally have sales on them during the time students are moving in.

My Top 8 Dorm Must-Haves

  1. Drying rack – If you have to pay for your laundry, then I would definitely recommend buying a drying rack. You have no idea how many times I had to lay my clothes all over my entire dorm room (over doors, bed posts, chairs, makeshift clothesline from yarn) in order to get them dry after the awful machines wouldn’t dry them all the way (so maybe I overloaded them a few times, but just maybe they shouldn’t charge me $2.25 per load when I’m already paying over $8,000 to live there).
  2. Shower shoes – A lot of dorms have community bathrooms, which means shower stalls. Shower stalls mean other people’s germs and possible infections and fungus you can get from the floors being very wet all the time. Invest in a pair of nonslip sandals or flip-flops and revel in the fact that you won’t have to deal with Athlete’s Foot two weeks into the first semester.
  3. Power strip/extension cord – Get at least one power strip and two extension cords. You’ll need them. Most dorms are decades old and don’t have the outlets you’ll need for all the technology we have now. Use your power strip for your desk, that way if you leave your laptop plugged in and there is a power surge it’ll be safe (most power strips have surge protection, which means they shut off when the surge comes through so it doesn’t make it into your devices).
  4. Basic medicines – Buy some cold medicine, cough syrup, cough drops, and pain reliever of choice. College campuses have thousands of students, faculty, staff, and visitors per day, and not all of them are as clean as you are. You will probably get sick a few times, and having these on hand before you get to that point will really help.
  5. Eye mask/ear plugs – I tend to get distracted very easily when I’m going to bed. Light from the window? I’m staring at it instead of trying to go to sleep. Someone outside in the hallway talking really loud? I’m eavesdropping on their conversation (I’m notoriously nosey). I love wearing my eye mask, even when I’m at home, because it makes me focus on trying to go to sleep and my own thoughts rather than looking around my room. And ear plugs are a must in the dorm. The walls tend to be thin and people are loud. You will probably have an 8 AM and your sleep is precious. Instead of going to class exhausted, buy ear plugs and an eye mask to help you sleep.
  6. Mini ottoman – I seriously loved my mini ottoman. I used it for extra storage, extra seating, and when my bed was raised it tripled as a step-stool. When I would eat in friends’ rooms, I would often make their mini ottoman my table. These are so useful and cute as well.
  7. Mattress pad – If you buy nothing else from this list, buy a mattress pad. It’s for you, not me, really. My freshman year I bought one from DormCo (listed below) and I really liked it, but by the end of the year it was flattening out. My sophomore year I bought a cheap memory foam one and I loved it so much, I honestly liked my dorm bed better than my bed at home.
  8. A strong fan – My freshman year I bought this really cheap pink fan from Walmart. It was awful. Instead of buying something super cheap, splurge and buy the better fan. If you don’t have air conditioning, you’ll need it, and you’ll save money in the long run because you won’t buy the cheap fan AND the expensive better one.

Best of the Best College Pack Lists

Pre-Pack for CollegeTips on how to start packing early for college so you don’t stress yourself out but are still ready for moving to the school dorms. I totally pre-packed for school, but it helped make sure I didn’t forget anything and it helped me from overpacking.

College Shopping List: Includes free printable version, divided into sections like bed, bathroom, room, closet, desk, ect.

12 Things You’ll Forget to Pack for College: Things people often forget but will find useful in the dorms.

Ultimate College Packing List for FreshmenList of items and reasons why you might need that item (that way if you know you aren’t going to use it you can scratch it off the list).

Extensive Dorm Packing List: Good for the student who is budget-conscious. I know I was, with no income and only my high school graduation money to get me into a dorm.

College Clothing Packing ListList of clothes you should bring and why. College students overpack for school, especially on clothes the first year. I was afraid of this so I actually under-packed clothes and had to have my mom send me my clothes through the mail!

First Aid Kit for College Students: What you need for your first aid kit. Guys, buy Band-Aids. I walked so much my freshman year that I had bloody blisters for the first few weeks. And buy a good pair of walking shoes.

Back to School ShoppingSchool supplies you’ll need. I was so lost when trying to decide what school supplies I would need for college. This will help you out in that arena.

Packing for College: Ultimate list of everything you could think of plus all that you haven’t. Seriously the ultimate list of dorm items to buy.

Where to Buy Dorm Supplies

Target – What don’t I love Target for? I love the books, the decor sections, the little dollar section which actually has some good stuff, their policies about nongendered toys and bathrooms. Target is a great place to get some cheaper dorm items so you aren’t spending a fortune and I think the company is really awesome as well. – DormCo is a website that is really good for some cheaper stuff. Their egg crate mattress pad is really good and I bought my shower caddie from them because it was the perfect size for me. Plus they are specifically targeting college students who live in dorms, so they have what you need. – Amazon is so amazing. The past two years my mom has bought me Amazon Prime as a Christmas present, so I have access to free two-day shipping on a majority of their products as well as music, TV shows, and movies. I have bought school supplies from there (when I was too lazy to go to Walmart) as well as a thin cotton blanket that I used for the entire year because it was cool in the summer and perfect with another blanket in the winter.

Follow me on social media!

Twitter              |              Pinterest             |              Instagram

Check out these posts also!

College Girl’s Guide to Winter Break

Fall Semester Goals

How to Beat First Day of College Nerves

3 thoughts on “Resources for the Best College Dorm

  1. This is so useful! I wish a reference list like this had been available when I was a freshman! I ended up bringing too much stuff (especially clothes) and our dorm was a bit cramped until my first visit home when I dropped off some unneeded stuff! I would also add that I love dorm shopping at bed, bath, and beyond – their stuff is beyond cute and I love shopping there (although they are a bit pricier)! Thanks for creating this awesome guide!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, Bed Bath and Beyond does have some great stuff, I completely forgot about them! I don’t have one near where I live so I only went there once my senior year when it was definitely too early to start buying anything. I’m glad you thought this was useful! I wanted a one-stop shop where people could go and have everything on one post (or that has all the resources in one post). Did I miss anything that I could add in?

      Liked by 1 person

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Preparing the Way for the Atheists

“Is it too much of a coincidence that the advance of atheism parallels the retreat of the church on the Trinity? The nineteenth century was the century where Marx dismissed religion as ‘the opium of the people’ and where Nietzsche declared: ‘God is dead.’ And it was the century that opened with its perhaps most eminent theologian, Friedrich Schleiermacher, making the Trinity a mere appendix to the Christian faith; it was the century that closed with his greatest successor, Adolf von Harnack, dismissing the Trinity altogether as a bundle of philosophical rot. Of course, the theologians weren’t feeding the atheists, but they were disarming the church so that the atheists could storm on without meeting much serious opposition. For if God is not a Father, if he has no Son and will have no children, then he must be lonely, distant and unapproachable; if he is not triune and so not essentially loving, then no God at all just looks better.” Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, p. 110-111.


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Question of the Day???

What do you get when you see two pink lines appear before you?

Tune in tomorrow with the answer. Or you can guess. he he

8 Responses

  1. Whoooooooo Hoooooo!

  2. I haven’t a clue. But, I am wearing an abundance of pink today….I’m just pink all over. lol

  3. hmmm…….wonder what it is

  4. *Smiling from ear to ear*

  5. Could it be?

  6. OHHHHHHHHHH! Are you kidding?

    Well, you just totally made my ENTIRE DAY!

    Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

  7. Bobbie!! Oh my goodness!! I think I know what it is!! Yes! I am now shouting!! Uncontrolably! With excitement! For you!! HUGS!! 😀

  8. I didn’t see this yesterday but I’ve very excited for you!!

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U/S update….

Well, we had the u/s, and Tori is measuring right on time and is about 3lbs right now. She didn’t move the whole time during the u/s so, the tech got slightly panicked and went and talked to the doc and she ordered a non stress test. She moved on that a lot, so much so that most of the time we had to chase her heartbeat. Then we just gave up because well, we couldn’t find it because she was rolling around in there alot. The doc looked at it and said well, this looks go… not too bad. I have to do fetal kick counts after I eat each day and if I don’t have 10 in 40 minutes then I am to go straight to the hospital. But, she moves all the time, I think she was just sleeping. As soon as Stacy scans the pics I will post them. So, finally after 2 1/2 hours at the doctor’s I am home. But, I am glad she was so cautious. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Pics to come later…..

Everyone have a great day!!!!

One Response

  1. I’m glad to hear that all is well 🙂

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One Game for the Right to Move On

What’s better than Game 7? One game, all out.

We’ll have two Game 7’s (three if the Caps can stretch Philly):

Boston at Montreal (Monday at 7 Eastern)
Calgary at San Jose (Tuesday at 7 Eastern)

These are definitely the sort of games to record and watch about August, when hockey is deep in hibernation and you’re climbing the walls.

The Flames, a band of dive-bar bouncers, dominated in Game 6 to earn another shot at the Sharks. Boston and Montreal traded late-third-period goals – five of them — in their Game 6. Until Marco Sturm scored the winner for Boston, no Bruin scorer – Phil Kessel twice, Vladimir Sobotka and Milan Lucic — was over the age of 20.

Kessel’s goals were highlight-reel quality. Christopher Higgins scored twice at crucial points for Montreal. Now, a brilliant season is on the line for Montreal. Boston is playing a high-energy, you-gotta-believe type of game.

“We have no pressure on us right now,” Boston defenseman Aaron Ward said. “We were not expected to be in this situation.”

There’s snow on the ground outside the Saddledome for Game 6, and it’s not melting. Before the anthems, the Saddledome is blanketed by a deafening Go, Flames, Go! chant from the crowd.

The Flames fly out of the chute and are outshooting the Sharks, 5-1. Robyn Regehr steps up with a hip check on Joe Thornton at the Calgary blue line. Thornton-Regehr has been as good a matchup as Mike Komisarek and Milan Lucic, a rivalry we should see for another dozen years.

San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic faces a Calgary 3 on 1 and intercepts the pass. But the Flames are still swarming. Kristian Huselius backhands a 15-footer at the net, and Owen Nolan swats in the rebound.

Devin Setoguchi makes a deadly accurate two-line pass but the Sharks can’t connect 2 on 1. Jarome Iginla makes a gladiator move to the net and puts the puck three-quarters of an inch wide.

Deep into the second period, the Sharks have played the same late-to-the-puck style. Daymond Langkow scores a second goal for Calgary. And there you have it, Flames 2, Sharks 0.

San Jose Coach Ron Wilson explained afterward that his team just didn’t have it. “For some reason we got beat in every category that you can categorize,” he said. “We didn’t have the sense of urgency that we need. We just didn’t get the pucks first.”

The Sharks had marched relentlessly toward the playoffs. Calgary had stumbled and tripped in. Montreal beat Boston eight out of eight during the regulation season. None of that matters now. This is the playoffs.

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What I would have done as a passionate to be at last night’s game. Instead, I’m thousands of kilometres away in Australia watching an online stream of such a low quality you have to guess where the puck is by following the red blobs.

Lew, that Montreal-Boston game Saturday was one of the most nerve-wracking I’ve seen in years. Reminded me of all the great Habs-Bruins games in the 1970s. All those end-to-end rushes, the bone-crushing hits, the Boston comebacks — what more could you want? Well, maybe Danny Gallivan doing the play-by-play in Game 7 of all the many “gilt-edged scoring opportunities” and the “splendid saves” by Tim Thomas and Carey Price.

You know that I hate (er, dislike) the Canadiens, but I believe Boston’s going to pull off the upset Monday: 3-2 with a goal late in the 3rd period.

I hope the Caps can force Game 7, too, but Ovechkin will have to step it up a notch for that to happen. Washington 4, Philly 3.

Funny feeling that Los Tiburones are going to lose Tuesday night. Another playoff disappointment for San Jose. Calgary 3, San Jose 1.

Any picks, Lew?

Habs-B’s Game 6 was without a doubt my favorite game of the playoffs so far. I yelled at each goal. Not only was it back and forth but they were pretty nifty, too. I’m thinking the Habs and Sharks just didn’t bring it because they knew they had room to fail. But at home in front of their own fans with their backs to the wall I think they get it done. Same for Philly. I don’t think they allow it to get to Game 7 in DC. They’ve been playing a brilliant game against the Ovechkins. Kimmo Timo is showing he belongs in the group of elite defensemen and Richards is just a winner. Great game plan, well executed. Did you hear that crowd in Calgary? How can you not be stoked/intimidated listening to that?


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Rangers to Send Two to All-Star Game

Rangers defenseman Marc Staal and goalie Henrik Lundqvist have been selected by the N.H.L. for the All-Star Game player pool, the league announced.They will go into the draft conducted on the Friday preceding the Jan. 30 game at Raleigh, N.C., and be chosen by either the Eastern or Western Conference captain.

It will be the second All-Star Game for Lundqvist and the first for Staal.

“He’s our backbone,” Coach John Tortorella said of Lundqvist, whose .923 save percentage was eighth best in the N.H.L. going into Tuesday’s games.

Staal, whose average ice time of 25 minutes 29 seconds leads the Rangers, said he hoped he would not end up on the same All-Star team as his brother Eric of Carolina.

“I don’t think I could handle being on his team,” Staal joked. “He’s too mouthy.”

Forward Derek Stepan was selected as one of 12 rookies to participate in the skills competition during the All-Star weekend. He was asked which skill he was looking forward to most.

“I would normally say shootout, but since I’m 0 for 4 this year, I don’t know,” Stepan said.


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Submission + - Cache Method to Improve Application Performance

An anonymous reader writes: I am currently trying to speed up some processes that slurp up and process some amounts of data from moderately sized databases of several 10's of gigabytes.

I am looking at one approach to build an object layer that will serve as a cache / mediator between the main database and the clients, but I see issues with lazy writing, data merging, and multi-user access.

I currently read data into screens from ADO recordsets, and write similarly. Therefore I am looking at some rewriting to make screens and related code run against my home-grown object layer.

What do people think of this approach, and what other approaches might be suggested? Since some screens include summary and computed information, being able to run SQL against the cache would be a benefit and save me writing some code.

Real Users never know what they want, but they always know when your program doesn't deliver it.


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Soccer Coaching Blog | Professional Soccer Coaching Advice

Turn crosses into goals

Arriving in the box in the right place at the right time is a particular strength of the world’s top strikers and attacking midfielders. Giving your players this ability will add to the potency of your team’s attack.

During your training session work on these things:

  • Are the attackers meeting the ball as it arrives or are they waiting for the cross? Perfect timing will make the defender’s job of marking almost impossible.
  • Ask the wingers to supply a variety of crosses at different angles, heights and speeds to encourage the attackers to make different runs.

Good build up play will allow wingers to exploit width, putting them in a position to get the ball into the box for your forwards to attack. This session shows your players how to turn these opportunities into goals by getting players on the end of crosses.

  1. Use an area the size of two penalty areas.
  2. One goal either side.
  3. Wingers start at either corner on one side of the area, attackers on the opposite side.

In diagram 1 the first winger carries the ball the length of the playing area and crosses the ball. Attackers set off just after and try to get on the end of the cross and score. The players join the back of the queue and the exercise repeats in the opposite direction.

In diagram 2 you can advance the play from diagram 1 by adding a pair of defenders. This will increase the pressure on the attackers to find a yard of space and on the wingers to improve their crossing accuracy.

  • The coach passes into the two attackers who combine to move the ball wide to the winger.
  • The attackers must then try to lose the defenders and score from the winger’s cross.
  • After attacking, you defend and the previous defenders break out to attack the opposite goal.

Keep the ball under pressure

By David Clarke

David ClarkeEncouraging your players to keep the ball for your team is a vital part of your training sessions. Different age groups need different levels to practice at – and I know some of you will have teams that are more advanced than others, so here are three different levels of exercise to practice possession soccer.

Make use of a simple 2v1 game

In diagram 1 the two white players pass and move around the square while the grey player has to try and win the ball. If he wins the ball he replaces one of the white players and the game goes on. To advance this game tell the white players they can only have 2 touches on the ball before they must pass. Once they have got the basics of the game add more players to make it a 3 v 2 or a 4 v 2.

Expand the play so you are using 10 players

Moving to more advanced exercises you can expand the play further like diagram 2. For this one use 10 players and an area 30 yards x 20 yards. Set it up so you have five attackers inside the area. Two more attackers – one on each of the longest sides of the area – can move up and down to support the play. Three defenders inside the area try to win the ball back.

They must win it back twice, then one of the three swaps places with an attacker – and the play continues.

Move it to a 6v6 game

You can then take it a stage further like diagram 3 where we have a 6v6. Go back to a square pitch either 30 yards x 30 yards or 20 yards x 20 yards depending on the age and ability of your players. You need to have a player from each team on each side of the square, with 2 from each side inside the square. The team that starts with the ball must keep it for as long as possible using team mates on the edge of the square.

The player who receives the ball on the edge of the square can either pass or run into the square with the ball and the player who passed the ball out has to take his place on the side of the square.

The team trying to win the ball can only use the two players in the centre until they win it – players on the edge of the square cannot tackle.
Key coaching points

  • A good first touch on the ball when receiving.
  • Play the ball first time whenever possible.
  • Count the number of passes to make it competitive.
  • Players should use the inside and outside of each foot.


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This article is for the WinForms developer learning WPF.

It introduces important new concepts, and lists differences, pitfalls & work-arounds.

Contributed to by those that have [or are still] taking that same journey.

If you are on that journey and know of anything that is missing, please add it to the article.

Or if your still searching, please return and add what you didn't find here! For the next weary traveler ;)

Leave "tutorial style specifics" out, but link to the best resources you found helped you.

Moving from Windows Forms to Windows Presentation Foundation can be a daunting and often confusing journey for even the most skilled developer. In fact the more hard core you are at Windows Forms, the more set in your ways you are in how to achieve the desired result. At first, many controls and events seem so similar that a WinForm developer can get started straight away, and produce results very quickly. However, it is then common to hit a brick wall, or unknown exception that, once researched, the answer is unfortunately to tear it all down and code it another way, the WPF way.

The Differences in Controls

The first resources you should read and bookmark are these essential resources from MSDN:

Filling the Control Gaps

You will see that some controls do not have a direct equivalent in WPF. However, there are many great solutions provided.

Here are the main, non-commercial sources:

Other Shared Feature Mapping

This is a list of other aspects of development that differ between WinForms and WPF.

New Concepts To Understand

Windows Forms was all about rigidly positioned Location.X and Location.Y.

WPF is all about flexible, adaptable Grids and Panels.

In WinForms you can use containers like SplitContainer and TableLayoutPanel to group and dock controls into areas of the window. Also, a few controls use the AutoSize property. But when you run the application and stretch the window out, the limitations are obvious. Which is why some WinForm developers just set Minimum and Maximum form size to the same.

When Windows Forms was conceived, there was not such a demand for different screen sizes and resolutions. With today's vast array of form factors and platforms, an application needs to adapt to many different screens and orientations. That is why WPF is much more powerful than WinForms. Controls are laid out in flexible containers, and layout changes can be responsive to change, like orientation from Landscape to Portrait may mean moving some controls from an outer column to a bottom row. This is something you must consider very early in design, or it will come back to bite you in production.

When picking up WPF, a WinForm developer will often adopt the Canvas as their first container, as controls within it have Canvas.Left and Canvas.Top to act as X and Y. Many early and basic tutorials use Canvas frequently. However, the WPF Canvas is rarely needed in most applications unless you have good reason to need absolute positioning, like a graph, chessboard or drawing application (see InkCanvas). The Grid control is almost always the first choice for most experienced WPF'ers. With the Grid you can chop up the page like a TableLayoutPanel, and it stretches in the same way. What is very different is how the Children (the controls contained within each cell) react to change.

Layout Basics

FPF child controls use HorizontalAlignment, VerticalAlignment and Margin. Parent containers usually have a Padding property. These combined make the application adaptable and attractive through a much better range of window sizes. A child control, can still be 'absolutely' positioned by setting HorizontalAlignment=Left and VerticalAlignment=Top, then setting the Margin.Left and Margin.Top (properties of Thickness). However, the default Alignment=Stretch, which when designing works best most often. The exception being Buttons and TextBoxes, which usually need at least a MinWidth.

The most important first step is to cut out your layout in terms of a Grid. For example, a Menu or RibbonControl may be in the first row or column, as discussed here. Then each 'cell' of that parent (LayoutRoot) Grid may have another Grid or StackPanel to group the next controls, then more within them. It is not uncommon to have StackPanels within StackPanels, within Grids, within Grids, etc, etc. It means when you stretch your window, everything just flows, it's a beautiful sight and a big delight to many a Winform mover.

Grid rows and columns are measured by GridLength and can be Star, Pixel or Auto sized. Autosizing is a powerful tool to help the UI adapt to changes. Auto will take as much space as it needs, but no more than it requires. Star is a percentage (or weighted number) which defines how much of the total available space it takes up, from the total of the other combined starred sections. This is a powerful concept new to WPF and needs a clear and early understanding.

Useful Layout Links

Data Manipulation

In WinForms, code was used to generate DataGridView.Rows and you could add extra rows and delete them and traverse them to extract the controls and their data. All very long winded and prone to bugs.

In WPF the emphasis is on separating the User Interface from the Data. Rows in WPF DataGrids are usually generated out of bound collections of data, automatically from DataTemplates and ColumnDefinitions, using the DataGrid's ItemsSource property.

WPF DataGrids have two states, read and edit. Data is automatically passed back through the bindings to the source data that is bound to it. This means you should work with the data, instead of traversing the control to extract data. This is particularly relevant to list controls like DataGrid and ListBox, because they use Virtualization to destroy rows that are not scrolled into view. This is a much better and simpler way to manage data and it much more testable. If correctly wired up, a simple "Create, Update, Delete" (CRUD) data browse add and edit application can be made with practically no lines of code at all.

Once fully understood, DataTemplates are one of the most powerful aspects of WPF that save heaps of development code, hundreds of "control creation" and "data shuffling" lines of code. This all means less mistakes, fewer tests, easier to understand code, faster deployment time and less maintenance.

Useful DataTemplate Links

MVVM - Developers and Designers in Parallel

The emphasis on "separation of the data from the UI" means an application can much more easily be re-skinned. It also means application developers and UI designers can work independently of each other, in parallel, which can mean twice as fast development. One of the popular design patterns for WPF is Model View ViewModel (MVVM).

The View (Page/Window/Control) 'consumes' the ViewModel, to produce controls shown on the user interface. The ViewModel is the interface between View and Model (data). The ViewModel is responsible for collecting the data and presenting it [through public properties] for the View to consume. Events are replaced with Commands. Styling, DataTemplates and Triggers give greater flexability to the designer, and keep all UI related 'business logic' in the UI.

For example, a [C#/] developer may expose a boolean IsReady property. It is up to the [XAML] designer how he consumes it. In one Control like the header bar, it may flash a green indicator. In the Window itself, it may trigger a new section to open. The developer can then free themselves from shuffling data in and out of controls, and concentrate on data and application/enterprise level business logic, and wraping tests around the ViewModel much better than messy methods in a code-behind file. As long as the developer and designer agree on which properties will be exposed, they can both work independently, with the designer using dummy data to produce his UI, while he waits for the real data to test his UI against.

Note that in teams which have no separate designers there is still a substantial development advantage from the clear separation of concerns mark up allows.  One substantial benefit afforded by loosely coupled View and Code is that automated testing of the code can be carried out without faking or mocking any UI.  Obviating testing via the front end makes writing BDD and or TDD tests far easier.  Such tests will readily run as "quick tests" so a developer can repeatedly write a test, change, test, fix and iterate without leaving  the development environment.

Naturally enough separation of concerns also offers it's usual benefits in terms of quicker development and easier maintenance of smaller pieces of code.

Be sure to read Josh Smith's superb article about MVVM and WPF.

Other Useful Data Related Links

Styles, Templates and Triggers

A very important concept to embrace in WPF is HOW controls are made.

This article is not to teach them, but to emphasize it's importance and provide some good starting references.

A Brief Overview

The visual element of a control is defined by it's ControlTemplate.

Elements in the ControlTemplate bind their properties to TemplateBindings, to properties of the control like VerticalContentAlignment or Background.

ControlTemplates have Triggers which can react to changes in control properties like MouseEnter, and affect other properties with setters, or Enter and Exit actions, like running a StoryBoard to animate a menu opening.

Property changes can be grouped into a Style. A Style uses Setters to change control properties. So you may have a "Red Button" style that sets Button.Background to Red.

As ControlTemplate is also a property of the control, Styles can define that too, and change it based on a DataTrigger.

Themes define the base controls. If Styling and Templating is [rarely] not enough, you can change the core Window control theme like Aero, or even define your own.

Useful Styling & Templating Links

Useful Trigger Links

Commands are an alternative to events like the Click event, but are also more specific, like "Copy, "Cut" & "Paste". Commands don't have to be handled by the code-behind, they can come from a static resource, or a binding from your ViewModel or business object. In WPF, you can define and reuse DataTemplates and ControlTemplates from Dictionaries. A button defined in a Template from another file cannot therefore have a Click event, if you don't know where it may be used, so the alternative is to use a Command, which simply travels up the normal binding (VisualTree) path, only when it needs to.

Useful Commanding Links

User Drawn Controls

The biggest thing to wrap your head around switching from Windows.Forms OnPaint() is recognizing that WPF drawing is retained and *updatable*. OnRender() might be better named AccumulateDrawingObjects(), because that's really what it's doing. For example, you can "draw" a DrawingGroup or RenderTargetBitmap into a DrawingContext during OnRender() and update it after OnRender() is complete, and WPF will efficiently repaint it in your UI.

Stepping back, WPF also offers many more options for how to paint a user-drawn control. Here are some of the choices:
  • Shapes
  • DrawingGroup, hosted in a FrameworkElement or UIElement
  • RenderTargetBitmap, set as a Source on an Image control, drawn to with DrawingVisual and DrawingContext
  • WrtieableBitmap, set as a Source on an Image control, drawn to with GDI System.Drawing.Graphics
  • CompositionTarget.Rendering event, for updating information per WPF rendering frame
A Shape is a retained geometric object. For example, instead of writing an OnPaint method which draws a rectangle every time a control is invalidated, Shapes allow you to create a Rectangle once and WPF manages redrawing as necessary. Shapes may be moved around or changed, and they may be animated with WPF Animations. Shapes also provide layout, input, focus, and event handling. However, Shapes are heavier weight than GDI drawing. You don't want to be creating and destroying thousands of them every frame.

A DrawingGroup is a set of retained drawing commands that can be updated *after* they are put into a DrawingContext during OnRender(). Where in Windows.Forms you would Form.Invalidate() and it would call your OnPaint() to repaint the data, in WPF your OnRender() is only called at the end of the WPF layout process. If you want to update your control's UI without an expensive re-layout, then create a DrawingGroup "backing store" for drawing commands, add it to the DrawingContext during OnRender() and update it whenever you like using DrawingGroup.Open(). WPF will take care of repainting your UI. If you only need to update when your control's layout changes, you can just draw directly to the DrawingContext.

RenderTargetBitmap can be added to a DrawingContext and updated *after* it's added. If for some reason you want to control the pixel size your drawing commands are rasterized to, this is a good option. However, in most cases you are better off using DrawingGroup as explained above.

WriteableBitmap is similar to RenderTargetBitmap, except you can create a GDI System.Drawing.Graphics context ontop of it. This is helpful if you have a complex bit of Windows.Forms drawing code you'd like to move over to a WPF control. You can also write on WriteableBitmap from multiple threads at once, if that's important. After writing the bitmap, one calls WritableBitmap.AddDirtyRect() to notify WPF of changes and cause it to re-composite the resulting UI.

CompositionTarget.Rendering is an event which fires once every WPF rendering frame, and can be used to update any of the above rendering visuals on a per-frame basis.

Animation allows developers to enhance user experience by making the UI more attractive and focussing attention on the most important thing which is changing.

Expression Blend is a very powerful and useful tool for WPF UI developers.

For many developers Blend is very different from the Visual Studio environment they are used to.  Blend can be somewhat daunting since it looks a "designer" orientated tool best left to graphic artists.  At some point, the developer will wish to learn how to extract templates from controls so they can understand how they work.

If you adopt Blend early, it will help you understand Templates, Styles, Triggers and Layout much faster. You can copy a template and see how a control is made, you can make animations with point and click and test your creations in real time and watch the storyboard get scripted for you.

The visual studio designer in more recent versions of visual studio is the same as Blend and will run the Window/Page/Control's constructor.  This can have implications to someone wishing to design even in visual studio because a clean constructor is necessary for the designer to work properly.  This is best explained by Laurent Bugnion in some of his videos where he describes writing for "blendability" and embodied in the MVVM Light  toolkit templates.

Say you are working on a control which uses an RSS feed.  Your RSS feed can load directly into your control within the designer, and you can work as shows live feeds - so long as it works using only objects supplied from that constructor.

Useful Animation Links

  1. Animation Overview - MSDN

Other significant articles on moving from WinForms to WPF


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Black beauty pow(d)er

Activated_charcoalHave you ever heard about activated charcoal?

No, it’s not the charcoal you use for drawing, but the medicinal version of it. It has the incredible powers to attract toxins like a magnet. It was already used in hospitals for specific treatments… but of course the beauty industry discovered it and found many new ways to benefit from it. Going from juices to face masks, toothpaste and facial cleansers.

I love the black masks because they clarify the pores and get rid of any impurities. The new beauty line of H&M has some nice face masks with activated coal in them. Soft baby skin guaranteed! Once a week, I also use the powder to brush my teeth with. You’re not going to get a blinding bright white smile with it, but your teeth will get a few shades whiter. And from time to time I treat myself with a Black Box 3-day detox from Detox Delight. Because beauty also comes from the inside out.

What about you? Will you be using one of these black beauty wonders any time soon?

  1. Origins – Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask to Clear Pores
  2. Beverly Hills Formula – Perfect White Black Toothpaste
  3. Lush – Dark Angels Face & Body Cleanser
  4. Detox Delight – Black Box 3-day Detox