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Australia’s Top Books from the Past 5 Years

We love award seasons…especially when it’s celebrating Australian literature…and the 2018 season is about to start.

Each year the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) are held recognising excellence across the book industry, uniting authors, publishers and retailers in celebration of a collective passion for sharing stories and ideas. The awards showcase the extraordinary power of Australian stories to capture a worldwide audience and we thought we’d share the winners from the past five years.

Settle in and get ready to explore the amazing worlds of some great Australian authors…

2017 Winner

The Dry by Jane Harper

The Gold ABIA for Book of the Year and ABIA Fiction Book of the Year went to Jane Harper for her internationally acclaimed novel, The Dry and the film option rights have been snapped up by Reese Witherspoon’s Pacific Standard.

Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn’t rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty. Policeman Aaron Falk returns to the town of his youth for the funeral of his childhood best friend, and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount and suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke’s death threatens to unearth. And as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past and why he left home bubble to the surface as he questions the truth of his friend’s crime.

2016 Winners

Gold ABIA for Book of the Year

Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski

Magda Szubanski’s childhood in a suburban migrant family was haunted by the demons of her father’s life in wartime Poland. At nineteen, fighting in the Warsaw resistance, he had been recruited to a secret counter-intelligence execution squad. His mission was to assassinate Polish traitors who were betraying Jewish citizens to the Nazis. The legacy of her father’s bravery left the young Magda with profound questions about her family story. As she grew up, the assassin’s daughter had to navigate her own frailties and fears, including a lifelong struggle with weight gain and an increasing awareness of her own sexuality. With courage and compassion Szubanski’s memoir asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on.

ABIA Fiction Book of the Year

The Patterson Girls by Rachael Johns

How can four sisters build the futures they so desperately want, when the past is reaching out to claim them? When the Patterson daughters return home to Meadow Brook to be with their father after their mothers death, they bring with them a world of complication and trouble.The eldest sister, obstetrician Madeleine, would rather be anywhere but her hometown, violinist Abigail has fled from her stellar career, while teacher Lucinda is struggling to have the children she and her husband so desperately want. The black sheep of the family, Charlie, feels her life as a barista and exercise instructor doesn’t measure up to that of her gifted and successful sisters.Dealing with their bereft father who is determined to sell the family motel, their loves old and new and a series of troublesome decisions don’t make life any easier, but when they go through their mother’s possessions and uncover the shocking secret of an old family curse, they begin to question everything they thought they knew. A warm and wise novel about secrets revealed, finding your soulmate and the unique bond between sisters.

2015 Winners

Gold ABIA for Book of the Year

52 Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

Andy and Terry’s incredible, ever-expanding treehouse has 13 new storeys, including a watermelon-smashing level, a wave machine, a life-size snakes and ladders game (with real ladders and real snakes), a rocket-powered carrot-launcher, a Ninja Snail Training Academy and a high-tech detective agency with all the latest high-tech detective technology, which is lucky because they have a BIG mystery to solve – where is Mr Big Nose??? Well, what are you waiting for? Come on up.

ABIA Fiction Book of the Year

Lost & Found by Brooke Davis

At seven years old, Millie Bird realises that everything is dying around her. She wasn’t to know that after she had recorded twenty-seven assorted creatures in her Book of Dead Things her dad would be a Dead Thing, too. Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and has not left her house since her husband died. She sits behind her front window, hidden by the curtains and ivy, and shouts at passers-by, roaring her anger at complete strangers. Until the day Agatha spies a young girl across the street. Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven when his son kisses him on the cheek before leaving him at the nursing home. As he watches his son leave, Karl has a moment of clarity. He escapes the home and takes off in search of something different. Three lost people needing to be found. But they don’t know it yet. Millie, Agatha and Karl are about to break the rules and discover what living is all about.

2014 Winner

Gold ABIA for Book of the Year and ABIA Fiction Book of the Year

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman is getting married. He just doesn’t know who to yet. But he has designed the Wife Project, using a sixteen-page questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver. Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also fiery and intelligent and beautiful. And on a quest of her own to find her biological father—a search that Don, a professor of genetics, might just be able to help her with. The Wife Project teaches Don some unexpected things. Why earlobe length is an inadequate predictor of sexual attraction. Why quick-dry clothes aren’t appropriate attire in New York. Why he’s never been on a second date. And why, despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love: love finds you.

2013 Winner

ABIA Fiction Book of the Year and ABIA Fiction Book of the Year

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper’s island. It holds a dead man – and a crying baby. The only two islanders, Tom and his wife Izzy, are about to make a devastating decision. They break the rules and follow their hearts. What happens next will break yours.

You can follow the 2018 award season here with all of the titles that are on the ABIA’s Longlist.

Interested in seeing which books get the most popular vote on Booko each year?  Here are the most clicked books for 2017, 2016 and 2015.


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Proud to be Chinese American

What they say about opinions—everybody’s got one—is why I’ve been reluctant to voice my own. But in the midst of cynical, derisive, Other-ing coverage of the Olympics, the know-it-all attitudes about democracy and environmental consciousness constantly declared by my fellow Americans, and the shrill, divisive allegations of “shill” at the slightest hint of nationalism, I’m starting to reach the end of my rope.

China’s wrongs make a long list… Sudan, Tibet, the Three Gorges Dam, human rights, the environment, air quality, state-controlled media, restrictions on free speech and freedom of the press, the Cultural Revolution…. You’d have to live under a rock to avoid these valid complaints registered as China seeks respect in the global community.

But I’m skeptical that, unless you’re a politician or a writer for the New York Times, your carping bothers China more now than before. This is a country with 5,000 years of history and culture, and a very recent revolutionary past. How pompous it is to think that the PRC would just adopt Western ideologies if the blogosphere disses it enough. China has undergone massive changes in the past few decades, and I hope that its forthcoming changes will do more good than harm. Still, my fellow Americans seem to lack the most basic knowledge about Chinese history, people, and culture, and in place of the willingness to participate in a true discourse with Chinese people, I’ve witnessed major cynicism.

What bothers me most about this suddenly pervasive criticality of China’s policies is the colonial subtext that Westerners are more advanced; we know better.

But are we more advanced?

Americans committed frightening acts of environmental devastation during our Industrial Revolution. In the process of becoming a world superpower, we’ve deforested our own “land ‘wooded to the brink of the sea'” (as described by Pilgrims quoted in Barbara Freese’s Coal: A Human History, 103), fraught our American cities with the “‘frightful infliction'” of coal smoke (Freese 149), and created horrifying Burtynsky-esque quarries.

But that’s all in the past, you might argue, Now, we recycle, eat organic goat cheese and drive hybrid cars! But the fact is, while air quality may have improved, we’re continuing to do exceptional damage to the atmosphere: North America is responsible for 46.4% of carbon emissions in the world, and has been consistently responsible for far more carbon emissions per capita than any other region.

So we want China to do as we say, not as we do. We want China to stop burning coal to manufacture cheap goods, but we can’t stop buying stuff. We want China to improve the quality of life for its migrant workers, but we can barely mobilize our own representatives and workforce to hold American corporations with cut-throat practices like Walmart responsible for treating workers decently, much less negotiating higher standards among overseas manufacturers. We want China to improve its human rights record, yet our own government refuses to adhere to the Geneva conventions at Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Bay, or in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program (see A.C. Thompson’s and Trevor Paglen’s Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights).

Seems hypocritical to me.

“The” Chinese

The Olympics coverage also brought to light how some Westerners have a habit of saying “The Chinese” to connote a monolithic race, a country of bicycle-riding, uniform-clad, ageless Orientals, where everyone is blessed with “ancient wisdom” but ignorant of, say, the effects of pollution.

It sounds positively Borg-like. In Star Trek,

The Borg were a pseudo-race of cybernetic beings, or cyborgs, from the Delta Quadrant. No truly single individual existed within the Borg Collective (with the possible sole exception of the Borg Queen), as they were linked into a hive mind. Their ultimate goal was perfection through the forcible assimilation of diverse sentient species and knowledge. As a result, they were among the most dangerous and feared races in the galaxy.

If this doesn’t sound like the fictionalization of a stereotype of inscrutable Asian Communists, I don’t know what does. If I sound bitter, it’s because I’ve witnessed firsthand how a casual conversation among Americans can move from steel manufacturing to Chinese coal to dog-eating in 30 seconds flat.

However, I’ve been to China, and I can testify that China is more diverse than most Americans expect. There are, in fact, ethnic groups. There are regional dialects, cultures, even cuisines! Also unlike the Borg, people think for themselves.

I could do without the perception of homogeneity, as well as the condescension of Chinese culture and people—such as my neighbor’s singalong to the Chinese national anthem, with only the words “ching” and “chong.”

Uneven Criticality

I could also do without MSNBC’s broadcasters trying “weird” food, since with all of the criticisms lodged against China, you’d think there would be more critical thinking on Americans’ own tourist gazes.

The tourist gaze seeks out visual representations that reinforce difference, based on one’s values, culture and identity. In other words, you only see what you want to see. I saw this borne out in my visit to China: Maoist propaganda was widely available, but only in tourist areas. Clearly, a state and a populous are two different entities. I, for one, would not wish to be lumped into the same group as our current presidential administration, yet many Americans find no problem lumping together the Chinese state with Chinese people.

The extent of the wolfish savoring of Chinese difference seems especially clear in the coverage of the lip sync flap. I believe this news item was lambasted beyond reasonable proportions because it suits very old American perceptions of Chinese people — corrupt, manipulative and untrustworthy. As Bret Harte wrote in his 1870 poem, “The Heathen Chinee”, Chinese people are peculiar for their “ways that are dark / And for tricks that are vain.”

An example of the offhandedly derisive coverage; in this author's blog, the lip syncing flap warrants a judgment of China as a whole. SF Examiner.

Of course, it is completely hypocritical for Americans to cast judgment. Americans have been known to be superficial and manipulate because of it, too: Remember Zelma Davis lip-syncing Mary Wash’s part in C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat”? And we don’t spare children from our media culture either: it’s not a stretch to imagine that the freakish longevity of the obsession with JonBenét Ramsey is abetted by her doll-like image in pageant photographs. How easy it is to be critical of China, rather than actually do something to reform our own standards of beauty, and the way women and girls are valued.

The Rugged Individualist

With erudite disdain characteristic to the New Yorker, George Packer (“The Only Game in Town,” New Yorker Magazine, August 25, 2008) wrote about the opening ceremonies

Was this a front, or had the government realized that the patois of mushy togetherness is now a lingua franca, not least in commercials, and thus well worth acquiring? On every seat was a sack of goodies, and we were duly taught to rattle our drums, wave our Chinese flags, shake our funky light sticks….

I understand Packer’s skepticism of the Chinese government, but really, sometimes a glow stick is just a glow stick. Relax! Is putting aside one’s individuality and cynicism to show unity with people from around the world at the Olympics breaking your moral compass? That’s like attending a youth conference and trying to look cool by not participating. What’s the point?

Americans, it seems, can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that Chinese culture has always emphasized group identity (family, village, and, yes, the state) before individual identity. To a jaded journalist, waving a glow stick feels uncomfortably like being a mindless shill in the grand machinations of the PRC. But I imagine if a Chinese person believes that the Olympics is biggest thing to come to China in his or her lifetime, waving a glow stick is a way to be part of a group bigger than one’s self, village, and even, one’s state—an exhilarating opportunity for people in a society that’s been closed for so long.

There was a time not too long ago when China-bashing was reserved for job protectionists, Ford/Chevy owners, and pro-Tibet movements; that seems like the good old days. I’m afraid, though, that now that the tongues have been unleashed, the economy worsens, and the American Century twilights, much more mindless China-bashing is in store. I know my fellow Americans don’t take their freedom of speech for granted, but I wish they’d be a little more thoughtful and curious about the world with it.

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Web Disk for iOS

cPanel’s Web Disk feature allows you to easily manage your cPanel account files beyond what can be accomplished via FTP/SFTP or the file manager. In many cases, you can even have the account’s data show up as a local folder on your computer, making it very familiar to work with. With cPanel’s free Web Desk iOS app, you can also achieve this same connectivity from your iOS devices. Once you’ve downloaded the app, you can simply add the account that you wish to connect with.

Once you’ve saved your new server, you can simply select it to connect and you’ll immediately see the data that is on the account.

This interface allows you to perform all common tasks such as downloading, uploading, renaming, creating folders, etc. from the convenience of your phone. As iOS 11 is released with the new Files app, this should prove to be even more useful. Give it a try and let us know your thoughts!

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Showing posts with label FabFi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FabFi. Show all posts

Is Intel prepping up for 450mm wafer sizes?

Is Intel preparing to push the issue with regard to its desire to move to 450-mm wafer sizes? One analyst thinks so. While most equipment is nowhere near ready at this stage (development has been limited ), C.J. Muse, an analyst with Barclays Capital, thinks the No. 1 chipmaker could specify that its newly announced D1X development fab in Oregon will be 450-mm capable (meaning it can accommodate 450-mm processing when/if the equipment becomes available).

Considering that Intel, Samsung and TSMC have said in the past that they want to see 450-mm development fabs by 2012 (fat chance), Intel almost has no choice but to build D1X with enough space to accommodate 450-mm processing. While the chances of the tools being ready for 450-mm by that date are slim, Intel must at least plan for the contingency if the company wants to send the message to its equipment suppliers that it is serious about this. While the 450-mm ball is rolling to some extent (450-mm wafer specs are ready; handlers and interfaces may be also), the question is when the big gear like lithography, CVD, RTP, etch systems and others, will be ready. Don't be surprised to see Intel make a public statement about this fab being 450-mm capable as a way to turn up the heat and spur tool development by equipment vendors who have mostly been dragging their feet. [via: EETimes]

Building high-speed wireless in Afghanistan out of garbage

Volunteers in Afghanistan -- both locals and foreigners from the MIT Bits and Atoms lab -- have been building out a wireless network made largely from locally scrounged junk. They call it 'FabFi' and it's kicking ass, especially when compared with the World Bank-funded alternative, which has spent seven years and hundreds of millions of dollars and only managed its first international link last summer.


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Sponsored by..

Friday, 9 May 2014

HMRC spam / VAT0781569.zip

This fake HMRC spam comes with a malicious attachment:

Date:      Fri, 9 May 2014 12:47:49 +0530 [03:17:49 EDT]
From:      "noreply@hmrc.gov.uk" [noreply@hmrc.gov.uk]
Subject:      Successful Receipt of Online Submission for Reference 0781569

Thank you for sending your VAT Return online. The submission for reference 0781569 was
successfully received on Fri, 9 May 2014 12:47:49 +0530  and is being processed. Make VAT
Returns is just one of the many online services we offer that can save you time and

For the latest information on your VAT Return please open attached report.

The original of this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet
virus scanning service supplied by Cable&Wireless Worldwide in partnership with
MessageLabs. (CCTM Certificate Number 2009/09/0052.) On leaving the GSi this email was
certified virus free.

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for
legal purposes.

It says "On leaving the GSi this email was certified virus free" which (as you might suspect) is utter bollocks, because it comes with a malicious payload. Attached to the message is an archive VAT0781569.zip which in turn contains two identical malicious executables AccountDocuments.scr and VAT090514.scr which have a VirusTotal detection rate of 15/52.

This is part one of the infection chain. Automated analysis [1] [2] [3] shows that components are then downloaded from the following locations:

The malicious binary heap170id3.exe has a VirusTotal detection rate of 9/52. Automated analysis [1] [2] shows that this makes a connection to a server at (OVH, France).

The other malicious binary, b01.exe had a VirusTotal detection rate of 11/52. Analysis of this shows [1] [2] that it attempts to connect to several different email services, presumably to send out spam.

No comments:


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Monday, January 28, 2013

Perfection... Be In Your Pose

I've caught myself doing it... looking at that girl on the other mat rocking out her Warrior I and I'm struggling to twist my hips AND ground my back heel. I know there is no perfect pose but there beside me I'm reminded that she's a little closer, a little better than I. In yoga, we practice non-judgment and strive to look at ourselves and others with the eyes of awe and compassion.

My practice then moves to a place of balance… striving for the pose and allowing myself to be in my pose.  I make mistakes and I am not always in control on or off the mat. My head and heart know perfection is not something I can reach; however, my inner dialogue sometimes says otherwise. It’s not that these thoughts are always active, but they creep in. Sometimes I catch them as the “reason” for some of my actions or emotional spirals. With this awareness (thanks to my meditation practice), I am able to find the exit out of the spiral.

Humble Warrior
My reading consists of spiritual, philosophical and teacher type sources. The pattern I see over and over again... the authors seem to have it ALL together. So I share; we don't. I’m not perfect, and not all of my choices are the best.  I continue to try my best.  I teach from my own journey; sharing my challenges and intentions with an open and courageous heart. It is my intention that by telling my story, you can relate. Hopefully learning or taking an idea with you on your path. Together we move forward, past the illusion of perfection onto a path filled with lessons and equipped with the breath and tools of mindfulness.

As the Japanese philosophy Wabi Sabi suggests, beauty lies in imperfection. We live in a world filled with imperfection. Instead of that being our excuse, let’s make it our adventure. Be your best; strive for your best pose. Then enjoy it; let go of what should be or could have been. Appreciate where you are. Play with the ideas that are brought to you. Don't make the same old mistakes. Make new ones. We're going to make 'em, so let's learn something new as we do!  Know that you'll find your way to your best pose or position in life.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Good Savasana... Yoga Nidra

You know those days when you have a good savasana?  For me it's that sweet bliss that sometimes makes my head tingle and my whole body feel warm and free.  Yoga Nidra or yogic sleep is a practice that takes me to that place regardless of how I began.

Yoga Nidra is a meditation technique that, like other meditative practices, will guide you deep within to an inner radiance and deeper awareness independent of anything else.  Freeing you from anxiety, stress, fear and other feelings we label as icky.

In the yoga tradition, Yoga Nidra is a state of consciousness beyond meditation that is entered through exploration of the senses.  In the practice, it is not uncommon to fall asleep at different intervals.  Typically, this practice will contain five elements to help you arrive at this deep state of consciousness:
  • Breath awareness:  By focusing on the breath we are able to reduce the effects of stress and calm the nervous system.  This calmness creates a clear mind and inner balance.
  • Sankalpa or Intention:  This portion allows you an opportunity to set your personal intention or affirmation.  Living a life of intention helps you to be and share your best self.
  • Muscular relaxation through 61-points:  This section will help rid the body of unnecessary tension and stored emotion in the body at 61 points.  It allows the body to loosen and let go of sustained muscular contractions.
  • Chakra & energy awareness:  This section will open the chakras or energy channels of the body from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.  It will also help you feel your body as energy.
  • Yoga Nidra:  This state you will achieve a complete awareness neither denying emotions, thoughts and perception nor taking them for anything else.  It is a state in which we realize the subtle energies in the body that gives life to our physical, spiritual, emotional and mental well-being.
Here I will guide you through this beautiful practice.  Prepare yourself to be sweetly rewarded for being you.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Give New Meaning

Chances are you have one too; a day that carries the weight of a painful memory.  Maybe it's the anniversary of a death or ending of a relationship.  Maybe it's the day you received bad news or your life seemed to turn upside down.  Perhaps it is not a day but an object.  The other day I wrote about Choosing Your Focus.  This day we take it another step to give new meaning.

Today is the first anniversary of the finalization of my divorce.  Knowing this day was coming, I felt my sadness and disapproval of self grow through the week.  Emotions of being unworthy, unlovable and unwanted find me.  I know that I am worthy of good things including love; however, in my meditation, I become aware of my feeling unworthy.

Feel it to free it.  I feel the emotions in all their beauty and sometimes uncomfortable glory so that I may let them go.  Two sentences make it sound so easy... trust me it took lots of deep breaths and a few tears.  Then I chose; what meaning should this day have?  Thanks to a good friend who reminded me that this day is a celebration of me making the choice to give myself more.  That I am worthy of great love and desire.

So instead of this day being a reminder that one man did not fully share his love with me, it is a celebration of my worthiness and joy.  I give this anniversary new meaning.  Today I celebrate the love in all its depth.  Last year I tweeted, "Feeling the good in good bye."  Today, the good has come from giving this day new meaning.

Is there a day, an object or something else that you could give new meaning?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Drishti... Choose Your Focus

With a thirty minute commute, I can arrive to work to work frazzled or cheerful and at peace.  This morning reminded me the importance of my focus.  Heading West all I could see was a gloomy cloud covered sky.  Yet in the mirror I caught a glimpse of bright orange.  When I took a peek behind, I saw a vibrant, colorful sunrise.

On the mat, I remind us to choose our drishti or focus.  In some cases, we choose where our eyes rest but it's often the internal focus that makes the biggest difference.  Call them what you may... mind monsters, mental termites, tree branches for the monkey mind to swing on... they can all distract us from the beauty and joy that's right in front of us.  In fact, we can punish ourselves by pursuing these negative thoughts or acting in ways that go against our spirit's truth.

Don't get me wrong this morning I had a semi going 48 in a 55 and a school bus get in front of me.  Huffy was right there, but I chose my focus to be on the magnificence of the sunrise upon the fields.  Then the soccer mom cut me off on the interstate.  I caught myself wanting to shout a few words then looked to my East and redirected my focus.

Abraham Lincoln said, "If we magnified our successes as much as we magnify our disappointments we'd all be much happier."  Imagine if instead of complaining about what's left or sharing what's wrong with your day, you focus on what was good and what you accomplished.

On my commute, had I kept my head forward I would have stayed in the cloudy, gloomy mindset.  Since I kept my eyes open to all that was around me and chose my focus, I arrived at my destination filled with joy by the color and beauty that could only come from the divine.

Is there something you've been dwelling on, getting anxious or beating yourself up about?  After giving it the full attention it needs in this moment, will you change your focus?

And in case you were wondering... the picture is today's sunset.  I didn't take it while driving this morning.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Mindfully React

It's humbling to hear a friend share my words back to me.  I teach and write what I am learning and am surprised others remember what I have shared.  Even I, the professional breather, need reminded to take a deep breath and to let it go.

In debating my next move a friend asked me, "What good can come from this?"  My words back to teach me.  My inability to answer took me out of my head and away from my self-centered ego.  I was drawn straight to my heart.

This question gave me the opportunity to mindfully react or choose my response.  My rant debate included many ways of overreacting that would have served no one.  Chances are I would have regretted it and hurt others in the process.  If no good can come from words exchanged or actions completed, why say or do them?

Instead of my friend telling me what to do giving me advice, he asked the question that led me back to my intentions.  What good can come from this? Be the light, share the light, ignite and fuel the light of others.  Don't extinguish.  It was obvious what I should and shouldn't do.

My hope is that you'll find this question helps you or a friend mindfully respond and choose a path of love rather than fear, anger or revenge.  Next time you're plotting debating your next move take a deep breath and ask yourself, What good can come from this?

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Do It Today

My little sister Olivia, age six, came over for a sleepover a few weeks ago.  She picked up an empty journal and said let's write.  She didn't get caught up in the color of the pen or the design of the journal.  She just wanted to write.  On our way out the door to hike she said, "WAIT!  We need our journals."  Sure enough we stopped by the lake to write and trace leaves.  It was our fourth entry of the day.

Have you ever got caught up in the "how" that you never get to the "doing."  Like printing a recipe only to find it in a drawer or stack of papers 7 months later.  Or buying fitness equipment that only gets used by dust bunnies because you didn't have the perfect 30 minutes to workout.

I'm all for making and working towards SMART goals; however, sometimes our need for the perfect opportunity stops us.  We become the obstacle of our own success.  So let's stop that and do it today.  We can learn as we go.  Make the most of the little time or money we have and make it happen.  Little by little we'll get to that place we so wished we could have started at but let's not wait.  Let's do it today.


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Jack Gilbert

These two posts about Jack Gilbert are worth reading.

I took a poetry workshop with Jack during his year as writer in residence at Smith (1999-2000). It was my first year there, and I was still writing poetry (I don’t any more). I remember Jack as a quiet, slightly mischievous presence, already a bit frail but still sharp. He would casually mention poets he’d known, in a sort of “one time I was at a party and Allen Ginsberg said X to me” way — not name-dropping, just friends he’d had, people who had been important to him. If I remember rightly, he told us he’d been in love two and three-quarter times, or maybe it was three and three-quarters. I don’t know what he thought of my poetry, which is fair enough considering that I don’t know what I think of it, either, but I do remember the time he told me a poem was complete just as it was. I got the feeling that that was high praise from him.

I saw him once in my senior year at Smith; he was still living in Northampton. Another famous older male poet came to read — I can’t even recall who — and I ran into Jack after the reading was over. “Well, look at you,” he said. “All grown up. You look like an adult now.” I did look different; I’d grown my hair longer and lost some baby fat, though I don’t know if that’s all he meant. I think I thanked him for his class. Maybe I told him I was writing fiction.

He had a new book published in 2009, and now, apparently, he’s living in a nursing home in Berkeley and suffering from Alzheimer’s. He’s about 85 years old. I had just seen a mention of him somewhere, a few days ago, and thought for a moment about sending him a copy of Alcestis, just in case he’d want to see it. I don’t know if he would’ve remembered me even pre-Alzheimer’s, but I like to think that he’d be happy to see a former student published. I wish I’d had a chance to tell him how much I love this poem.

  1. I remember hearing about him at Smith, but didn’t know his poetry. There were some stunning pieces quoted in those blog posts. I definitely want to read more.

    ‘Dreaming at the Ballet’ made me think of Alcestis indirectly.

  2. It’s funny, I tend to like poems that are more formal than his poetry, but I like his stuff very much partly because I can imagine him reading it.

    Hee to “Dreaming at the Ballet.” Yes.

  3. I’ve been living under a rock, so I didn’t know Jack Gilbert existed. Finding his poetry through your blog today has helped unknot an old anger I couldn’t let go of. After reading your posts and The Compass Rose’s, I ran to pick up a copy of REFUSING HEAVEN. This is good medicine. Thank you.

    I like to think there is a place, an alternate reality, where we say and do all the things we meant to and timing is impeachable.

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2018/10/01 at 3:50 PM

Let’s be real, us girls love nothing more than getting our nails done and levelling up our nail game! We have been OBSESSED with the catwalk and all the looks that are coming in drippin’ hot. But the nail trend’s just keep on coming and we’re all for them! Fashion week has brought us statement queens with Gareth Pugh and loved up cuties with Jeremy Scott, and we are here to celebrate our fav nail trends this season!

Wild childs unite! Moschino brought us the ultimate clash of elegant silhouettes and marker pen re-work and it’s a whole new shmood. With bouji earrings, to sassy tights that statement was everywhere girl – even the nails! Grab a pen and release your inner child – we are 100% backin’ this up…

Up the fun, ‘cos work mode is OFF! Jeremy Scott brought us expression via a slogan series, never say never neon and ath-leisure awesomeness. The make up and nails got us vibin’ from dust till dawn with glittery lips to spice up your life and rounded pink tips to keep it quirky! We see you!

Holographic hottie! Kim Shui came thru drippin’ with asymmetric garments, powerful structures and visions of velvet. And it didn’t stop there – with glowing skin and super sleek ponytails, Shui finished the looks with holographic nails that screamed bad b*tch alert. We officially have FOMO.

Bling it up boo! GCDS brought us that good girl gone bad vibe, with metallic vibes, neon naughties and sweet like candy Pokémon prints. Loving the sweet life? Models were spotted with jelly baby nail art taking their looks from 0 to 100, real quick.

Send us nudes… Oscar De La Renta brought us the culture drippin’ collection full of crochet feels, printed favourites and wrap over silhouettes! It’s a subtle statement collection for all us not so basic, basic gals livin’ for an oriental inspired wardrobe! The nails are a nod to the gal that opts for less is more.

Missy Empire

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Branch News
March 4, 2019

MKM Mansfield is now open!

Mansfield’s one stop shop for Building, Timber, Plumbing, Kitchens, Bathrooms & Landscaping supplies is officially open for business. Branch Directors Adrian Arnold and Tony Daynes and the whole team are ready to bring the building trade and the general public the best builders merchant experience in the area.

They have put out all the stops for their opening launch, with free hoodies for the first 50 customers on opening day, DeWalt radios for the first 10 spending customers and competitions on the MKM Mansfield  Facebook page.

Meet MKM Mansfield’s team of friendly experts:

Tony Daynes – Branch director

Worked in the industry for 25 years.
Specialism – general building, civils and roofing.
Moved to MKM for the opportunity to work for an independent, fast growing company.

Adrian Arnold – Branch director

Started age 14 as a Saturday lad in yard – Jackson Building Centres. Moved up to counter.
Specialism – H/S building materials, general.
Worked in the industry for a number of years working for competitors.

Glenn Gordon – Showroom Designer
Joiner by trade but worked for merchants in various roles the last 17 years, specialising in areas such as roofing and trade.

Eddie Kowalski – External Sales Representative

Happy to help in sales of all building materials, specialising in brick matching.
20 years’ experience in building merchant industries.

Cliff Palmer – Heavyside Sales

Specialisms in self Build/Take-off Plans/Drawings.
Been in the industry all his working life

Lee Spalding – Senior Sales/Transport

22 years’ experience covering roles from sales to his last post as an area transport manager.
Joined MKM to work for independent without the constraints of national merchant.

Don’t forget we also offer a free, reliable local delivery service to help your projects run smoothly.

If you live in the area, it’s the perfect time to open a trade account with MKM Mansfield. Pop into the branch for a chat and to see how the team can best help you.


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Extensions in Firefox 64

Following the explosion of extension features in Firefox 63, Firefox 64 moved into Beta with a quieter set of capabilities spread across many different areas.

Extension Management

The most visible change to extensions comes on the user-facing side of Firefox where the add-ons management page (about:addons) received an upgrade.

Changes on this page include:

  • Each extension is shown as a card that can be clicked.
  • Each card shows the description for the extension along with buttons for Options, Disable and Remove.
  • The search area at the top is cleaned up.
  • The page links to the Firefox Preferences page (about:preferences) and that page links back to about:addons, making navigation between the two very easy.  These links appear in the bottom left corner of each page.

These changes are part of an ongoing redesign of about:addons that will make managing extensions and themes within Firefox simpler and more intuitive. You can expect to see additional changes in 2019.

As part of our continuing effort to make sure users are aware of when an extension is controlling some aspect of Firefox, the Notification Permissions window now shows when an extension is controlling the browser’s ability to accept or reject web notification requests.

When an extension is installed, the notification popup is now persistently shown off of the main (hamburger) menu.  This ensures that the notification is always acknowledged by the user and can’t be accidentally dismissed by switching tabs.

Finally, extensions can now be removed by right-clicking on an extension’s browser action icon and selecting “Remove Extension” from the resulting context menu.

Even More Context Menu Improvements

Firefox 63 saw a large number of improvements for extension context menus and, as promised, there are even more improvements in Firefox 64.

The biggest change is a new API that can be called from the contextmenu DOM event to set a custom context menu in extension pages.  This API, browser.menus.overrideContext(), allows extensions to hide all default Firefox menu items in favor of providing a custom context menu UI.  This context menu can consist of multiple top-level menu items from the extension, and may optionally include tab or bookmark context menu items from other extensions.

To use the new API, you must declare the menus and the brand new menus.overrideContext permission. Additionally, to include context menus from other extensions in the tab or bookmarks contexts, you must also declare the tabs or bookmarks permissions, respectively.

The API is still being documented on MDN at the time of this writing, but the API takes a contextOptions object as a parameter, which includes the following values:

  • showDefaults: boolean that indicates whether to include default Firefox menu items in the context menu (defaults to false)
  • context: optional parameter that indicates the ContextType to override to allow menu items from other extensions in this context menu. Currently, only bookmark and tab are supported. showDefaults cannot be used with this option.
  • bookmarkId: required when context is bookmark. Requires bookmarks permission.
  • tabId: required when context is tab. Requires tabs permission.

While waiting for the MDN documentation to go live, I would highly encourage you to check out the terrific blog post by Yuki “Piro” Hiroshi that covers usage of the new API in great detail.

Other improvements to extension context menus include:

  • browser.menus.update() now allows extensions to update an icon without having to delete and recreate the menu item.
  • menus.create() and menus.update() now support a viewTypes property.  This is a list of view types that specifies where the menu item will be shown and can include tab, popup (pageAction/browserAction) or sidebar. It defaults to any view, including those without a viewType.
  • The menus.onShown and menus.onClicked events now include the viewType described above as part of their info object so extensions can determine the type of view where the menu was shown or clicked.
  • The menus.onClicked event also added a button property to indicate which mouse button initiated the click (left, middle, right).

Minor Improvements in Many Areas

In addition to the extension management in Firefox and the context menu work, many smaller improvements were made throughout the WebExtension API.

Page Actions

  • A new, optional manifest property for page actions called ‘pinned’ has been added.  It specifies whether or not the page action should appear in the location bar by default when the user installs the extension (default is true).

Content Scripts

  • Content scripts can now read from a <canvas> that they have modified.

Private Browsing

Keyboard Shortcuts

Dev Tools

  • Extensions can now create devtools panel sidebars and use the new setPage() API to embed an extension page inside the devtools inspector sidebar.

Misc / Bug Fixes

Thank You

A total of 73 features and improvements landed as part of Firefox 64. Volunteer contributors were a huge part of this release and a tremendous thank you goes out to our community, including: Oriol Brufau, Tomislav Jovanovic, Shivam Singhal, Tim Nguyen, Arshad Kazmi, Divyansh Sharma, Tom Schuster, Tim B, Tushar Arora, Prathiksha Guruprasad. It is the combined efforts of Mozilla and our amazing community that make Firefox a truly unique product. If you are interested in contributing to the WebExtensions ecosystem, please take a look at our wiki.

9 responses

  1. Victor wrote on :

    These changes are great, I loved it! There is one little thing that I had hope would be tackled with this change that wasn’t: please, let me ctrl+f to search my installed extensions 🙁 I’m stuck with scrolling to search for them because ctrl+f behavior is overloaded.

    If there is a related bugzilla issue, it would be great to hear about it too 🙂

  2. This might get annoying but wrote on :

    When will we see APIs from XUL addons?

  3. happysurf wrote on :

    Please make the add-ons list centered in the screen because on big monitors is bad to see on all on the left.

  4. kjemmo wrote on :

    Still waiting for a toolbar API…

    Where can we see the planned APIs?

    It used to be here:

    But now I got no clue where to see the see when new APIs will be available.

    1. kjemmo wrote on :

      No one from Mozilla has a comment on this?

      Where can we follow the planning of new APIs? Or do we only know when they land in beta and not any sooner?

  5. chapatti wrote on :

    i think you should make make the add-ons list centered in the screen because on big monitors is bad to see on all on the left. please do this

  6. blackswan inc Bangalore wrote on :

    nice extensions,Still waiting for a toolbar API.

  7. Sarathi Incense wrote on :

    I am still waiting for a comment from mozilla’s official people

  8. MoodyMo wrote on :

    73 features wow!!!nice guys.


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Why You Always Get Sick When Spring Starts

The beginning of Spring should logistically be a time to celebrate. Temperatures are rising and the relentless snowfall of the past few months has finally ceased. But then you find yourself coming down with a cold, which doesn’t make sense because warm air is supposed to be healthier than cold air, right? Not at this particular time of year.

People are more likely to get sick during the beginning of fall and spring due to a variety of scientific factors. Getting a cold in the fall is at least understandable because temperatures have dropped significantly compared to the previous season. Spring is more of a mystery.

Your Immune System Is Already Compromised

If you have seasonal allergies, you’re probably used to feeling sick whenever there is a remotely noticeable change in weather. A common symptom of seasonal allergies is nasal inflammation, which makes you more vulnerable to infections for two reasons. The first stems from the amount of effort your immune system has to put in to stop your nose from swelling up and your eyes from tearing. When your immune system is excessively busy, it has less available resources to fight off infections, germs, or anything else that could make you sick.

The second reason is an outcome of the environment that is created by all this nasal swelling. In this state, your nasal pathways are actually more hospitable to viruses. So, when season allergies are in full-swing, viruses can easily make themselves a home inside your nasal pathways. Your nose is apparently a lot less appealing to virus during other times of the year.

Out With A Bang, In With A Sneeze

But spring colds don’t just effect people with seasonal allergies. The average person is more likely to get sick at the beginning of spring because the several drastic changes in weather that occur can irritate your throat and nasal pathways. These changes are related to temperature, barometric pressure and wind. Irritation weakens your immune system in general, which brings us right back to the increased vulnerability discussed in the previous section.

If it appears that an unusually large amount of people are getting sick this spring, it might be because this winter most certainly did not go quietly. The final weeks of winter 2018 graced us with a series of snow and rain storms, which suggests that the change from winter to spring will be more significant than usual. Larger changes in the aforementioned three elements of weather could very well make your throat and nasal pathways even more irritated.

Time To Go Outside!

Making you even more prone to getting sick at this time of year is your excitement over the rising temperatures. Think about it: You’ve just spent three months indoors because going outside was legitimately painful. So, when spring rolls around and temperatures jump back up to the 50s, you can’t wait to put on a t-shirt, a light jacket and go outside. What you might have forgotten is that it gets just as warm in the fall. But you wouldn’t go outside during a 50-degree day in the fall because it doesn’t seem that warm compared to the summer. See what’s happening? It’s not as warm as you think, and you’re much more likely to get sick in cold weather.

Spring Break Souvenirs

Not only does spring make you more vulnerable to colds, but there’s probably more viruses going around, too. Spring break typically takes place in mid to late March. It’s very common for people, especially children, to catch something on vacation and not find out they are sick until they get home. Their sickness is then more likely to spread to other people due to their weakened immune systems.

What Can You Do To Protect Yourself?

It’s important to remember that a natural change in weather is not the only reason so many people are getting sick. The fact that spring colds run rampant year after year suggests that not enough people are taking action to prevent colds: washing their hands, wearing scarves to cover their noses, and of course, regular exercise and healthy eating. You’ll be surprised at how effectively these fairly basic practices can boost your immune system and ward off cold-causing germs.

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son Archive

Don’t (Never) Change: On Holding On and Letting Go

Author: | Categories: Critical Essays No comments
Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve been aware of my inability to maintain a daily journal. Upon the birth of my child, when my life was instantly transformed and everyone around urged me to savor it, this shortcoming became ever more pernicious.

Review: RAPTURE by Sjohnna McCray

Author: | Categories: Book Reviews, Poetry No comments
Rapture Sjohnna McCray Graywolf Press; April 2016 72 pp; $16 Buy: paperback | Kindle “Father and Son by Window,” the opening poem in Sjohnna McCray’s debut poetry collection Rapture, has an ephemeral feel; the poem rises like a plume of smoke. “You sing, soft winds and blue seat,” it begins, a


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The Ripples of History in Howl

Author: | Posted in Personal Essays No comments

Black and white photograph of Allen Ginsberg in his later years

In 1980 I was attending grammar school and living behind the Iron Curtain. I strolled the streets of Budapest together with many youngsters, watched and pestered by the police for the sheer fact of our existence. One day, I got into a group that was heading towards Eötvös Loránd University. I vaguely remember that it was morning and I am not sure what gave me the right to be in the street. Perhaps it was summer, or I might have been ditching school for the day, to do something else, something much more important. A student who was the friend of a friend stole us into the building, straight up the stairs to a small lecture hall. The door could only be opened to a slit and we squeezed into the room, which was packed like a tin of sardines. I stood with a hundred others, pressed body to body. The impatience in the hall was palpable.

After a few moments, the door on the right behind the lectern opened and in came Allen Ginsberg, bald and black-bearded and wearing black rimmed glasses, followed by his constant companion Peter Orlovsky, who had long grey hair that he’d put up in a ponytail that hung down to his bottom; a young boy carrying a guitar; and Ginsberg’s Hungarian translator, István Eörsi, a lecturer at the university. Ginsberg unpacked his harmonium slowly and sat down in lotus position on top of the long desk at the front of the room. He started: “Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the forests of the night,” and the crowd chanted with him. I knew nothing about Ginsberg’s “Blake vision,” an auditory hallucination he had in 1948 when he heard William Blake reciting his poetry, but Ginsberg’s voice was mesmerizing, shamanic, and ultimately transformative. I was in bliss for the next hour.

Ginsberg’s prose-poems are heavily reliant not only on imagery but on repetition and an internal rhythm, which gives them a mantra-like power, mirroring his Buddhist faith. Many people indeed thought that Allen Ginsberg was a prophet—not of the Buddhist faith, but of freedom of speech.

Howl, Allen Ginsberg’s first volume of poetry was published in 1956 in San Francisco. This was the year when the Hungarian Revolution took place and was broken down by the Soviet Union. While people in Hungary were struggling to escape Stalinist terror, on the other side of the world Ginsberg was “howling” for personal freedom. Consequently, the manager of the bookstore that sold Howl was jailed and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the publisher of Howl via City Lights Books, was subjected to an obscenity trial in 1957.

Ferlinghetti was acquitted based on the First Amendment. In Hungary, in 1980, we still had no freedom of speech. Human rights were wholly disregarded. We admired the Beat poets, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, and Corso among them, for their freedom and willingness to criticize the American government.

Ginsberg had long admired Socialism, as his parents had been supporters of the Communist Party in the US. He told the story in his poem “America”:

America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere you have no idea what a good thing the party was in 1835 Scott Nearing was a grand old man a real mensch Mother Bloor the Silk-strikers’ Ewig-Weibliche made me cry I once saw the Yiddish orator Israel Amter plain. Everybody must have been a spy.

Perhaps this curiosity is what brought Ginsberg to Eastern Europe, but he had to have been disappointed. “Peter & I are back from couple months…Hungary-Austria-Switzerland-Germany—made little money but saw a lot—Red Lands not good, Hungary pretty dreary bureaucracy—I guess communism just doesn’t work,” wrote Ginsberg to a friend on a postcard.

When he visited, he brought his “life long sex-soul union,” Orlovsky. For us Hungarian youngsters, it was unfathomable that a gay couple could be open about their relationship. In truth, Ginsberg was open about his sexuality long before the gay liberation movement—at the time of the first publication of Howl, Ginsberg’s confessional poetic style was scandalous because he was queer and wrote about it, and because he sympathized with the Communist movement, and so his publisher was taken to court for “obscenity.”

I left Hungary in 1981, and never questioned that freedom of speech has always been a feature of the West. I have only recently learned of the blasphemy clause in the Irish Constitution that forbade anyone to say anything bad about God—a clause that was recently removed, granting Ireland’s citizens full legal access to free speech in 2018. Hungarians have the worst curses in their language on the planet, featuring God in sexual acts, so I grew up hearing people spitting blasphemes when they were angry. Nobody was taken to court for this, but God-fearing people avoided bad language; we all have a built-in censor made from our beliefs, upbringing, and self-imposed conventions. Howl, however, is the manifestation of the freedom of expression, suggesting that the writer should refuse inhibition and self-censorship, for all that is human should be celebrated.

Now I live in Ireland, where the Republic has seen three referendums in the past few years, which rapidly brought it up to the level of most European countries, regarding personal freedoms. The first one acknowledged same-sex marriage, the second repealed the abortion ban, and the third removed the blasphemy clause from the constitution. The opposite trend has been seen in Eastern Europe. Democratic Hungary had to endure an amendment of the constitution in 2011 that introduced “the protection of the unborn” and declared that while gay couples can register their relationship, marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. In 2013 Russia re-introduced blasphemy laws to stop the activity of Pussy Riot.

While freedom of speech is granted, then, in the western world, governments across the globe are still trying to enforce control, wherever they can. The internet has seen censoring, for example, mirroring the black-listing of books by Hungary in the twentieth century. Books like Animal Farm, 1984, Doctor Zhivago and even Gone with the Wind were deemed to be decadent or revolutionary—and we could not have more revolutions after the Russian Revolution of 1917, which was supposedly the best and most advanced in history. Hand-typed versions of these books were passed around in secret.

In the same way, Hitler’s Mein Kampf was banned from publication in Germany for forty years after the end of WWII. Since it is now in the public domain, you can find the text for free on many websites. Will reading the book feed “slothful ignorance”? The fear is justified. You only have to look at the conspiracy theories spreading like wildfire over the internet to see how inbred hate is in humans and how it can thrive on fear. When societies become polarized, dictators gain power.

Ginsberg, although he was completely apolitical, influenced the politics of the twentieth century with his poetry. A Polish friend, who gifted me my copy of Howl (which he had lifted from the US Consulate General in Krakow) after we met in a German refugee camp, attempted to tell my fortune in 1981: “All idealists become cynics with time.” This was not true for Ginsberg; neither is it true for me.


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Weird Houses Around the Globe

I love seeing the weirdness that some people come up with in home design. When I was house-hunting, I used to sit in the homes and marvel at the fact that the owners really honestly thought that their hideous decor was gorgeous! So I started looking for interesting houses from around the world and was not disappointed. Check them out – they are seriously strange!

This is known as “The Crazy House,” located in Tel Aviv, Israel. Believe it or not, that’s a single-family residence – 9 stories tall!

This funky-looking auto-shaped house,  designed by Mark Voglreiter in Germany, is highly energy efficient. I’d love to see what it looks like on the inside!
Builders working on the upside-down house in Poland had to take frequent breaks due to dizziness and confusion.
This stone house in Portugal has me singing the Flintstones’ theme song…
…while this French “bubble house” evokes visions of the Jetsons.
And finally, this Vietnamese guest house looks like it belongs in Disneyland:
Especially with the huge giraffe next to it.
What will people come up with next?!
Tell us about the craziest house you’ve ever seen!

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The Roompact Recap for Winter 2021

Thank You!

Welcome to 2021! A year that will hopefully be a bit more manageable than 2020. We appreciate your ongoing partnership and wanted to say thank you for all of the great work you do and all of the great work we’ve done together.

2020 was also a big year of change for Roompact. If you’d like to know more, read out year-end reflection.

Roompact ACUHO-I Summer Intern

Roompact’s ACUHO-I Summer Internship

Roompact is STOKED to be offering an ACUHO-I Summer internship for the first time. If you, or someone you know, wishes to apply, you must go through the official ACUHO-I process and adhere to all of the rules, dates, and deadlines they have in place to ensure it is a fair process for all. Head to their website to begin the process. Even if you aren’t interested in interning at Roompact, there are a number of incredible positions available–both in-person and remote.

We’re also hiring for a full-time position for a Full Stack Software Engineer. If you or someone you know is qualified, consider applying!

The GREAT Residence Life Roompact Office Set-Up Competition

Congrats to our winners!

The Great Residence Life Roompact Office Set-Up Competition is now over. Thank you to everyone who participated. Winners will be decided shortly and gift cards will go in the mail! Check out our entrants’ office set-ups:

Patrick Cunningham

Meet Our Newest Team Member

We’re happy to welcome Roompact’s newest team member, Pat Cunningham. Pat will serve as our lead software engineer and in addition to being an excellent programmer, he also has a background in university housing having served as a Complex Coordinator for a number of years at the University of Oregon. Learn a little bit more about Pat in this virtual introduction.

Curriculum Q &A

From The Blog

We’ve been adding to our Residential Curriculum Q&A Series. The newest ones include:

Other new blog posts:

7-Part series on “Residence Life Practice and the Coronavirus Pandemic”

  1. How Residential Curriculum Can Help
  2. Practicing Essentialism. What matters most?
  3. Leveraging Technology for Success
  4. How Text Messaging Can Help You Reach Your Students
  5. Are you doing Intentional Conversations? You probably should be.
  6. Are your students career ready?
  7. Real-Time Assessment Informing Real-Time Adjustments to Your Practice
ResLife Horoscopes - February 2021

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On Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 1:00 PM Eastern, we’re hosting a webinar with a conversation between two inspirational teachers.

Jen Louden (TeachNow) and Elizabeth Marshall (Book Breakthrough) will have an authentic conversation about what does it take to create an amazing course that speaks from your heart and to your audience.

Jen Louden is the best-selling author of 6 books, including the pioneering best-sellers The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Woman’s Retreat Book. Her retreats are world-famous. She’s the proud mom of a college freshman (How did that happen??), and the creator of the popular TeachNow course. You can sign up for free samples of TeachNow, including a Library of free resources and a live call on April 4th, here http://theteacherspath.com

Elizabeth Marshall is half of the team behind Book Breakthrough. What Jen has done for teaching, Elizabeth Marshall has done for books and publishing. Her course, Book Breakthrough takes you from idea to book.

Join us for this inspirational, motivational, and practical conversation.


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Tag Archives: orkut

Orkut now supports RSS feeds

Want to share your photos from Fotolog, Picasa Web Albums or Flickr? Have a blog on Blogger, WordPress or LiveJournal?

Now, you can add your blog, photos, events, bookmarks and more to your orkut profile. Add the website or RSS/Atom feed address and orkut will automatically import it and fetch new items.

For the layman, any blog/photoalbum of yours or any other website which supports RSS feeds can now be added to your Orkut account and be viewable through your Orkut profile.

Orkut scrap helper

Right now…when you have to reply someone you have scrapped, you need to open their profile, then their scrapbook, then enter your message and click submit.
With Orkut scrap helper, you can do it in just a single click. A small reply box appears next to every scrap on your scrapbook, where you can enter your message and click submit from your scrapbook itself. Very useful…gives some much deserved rest to our click obsessed fingers!


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Application virtualization, IoT and Cloud Computing, Blog of Sacha Thomet

I really like summer and as a scuba diver I like a lot thins what are under water.

But last week after a summer storm there was to much under water … our basement was flooded 🙁

I’m not routinely in the basement, just when I need to take up a bottle of wine or something out of the freezer.

Until last week our basement was poorly equipped by IoT, the only one what I do is that I measure the power consumption of the freezer. But that exactly saved me from more damage, I was alerted because the freezer started to consume 100 watt instead of the usual 45 watt. So I decided to sight what is wrong. The basement was already flooded with 40cm of water.

Now I’m prepared for the future, I have installed now a Fibaro Flood Sensor and integrated to my Smartacus Smart Home System . Now I can see earlier when water comes into the basement and I have the chance to power off the freezer and to alert somebody to exhaust the water. The installation of the leak sensor with smartacus is pretty easy.

I learned, when a Smart Home System is present – it definitely makes sense to have sensors for all possible issues.

My Smart Home – Chapter 3-1: Smartacus – non tinker solution? Unboxing and putting into operation

Beside of Citrix and virtualization topics I had already Smart Home and IoT topics in the past here on this blog. You can find  posts about smart switches and bulbs or about a smart switch combined with the LaMetric smart watch.

Recent weeks I wrote about my smart mirror and about Home Assistant, both are projects which require advanced IT knowledge and are only interesting for people with according skills and time for a DYO project. REST and Python should not be unknown words … Often I was asked “Sacha can you please also build this for me?” I have a full-time job, I have a family, I’m active for the Citrix community and sometimes I work in my free time as a Scuba Diving Instructor. So, I’m pretty engaged and I cannot spend time to do this for others. But in my opinion, everyone should have the possibility make his home smart.

Some weeks ago, Smartacus has come to my attention. This complete solution is pretty similar like the Home Assistant which I blogged about last week, it combines different components to one place. Smartacus is a product by Energie 360° and is developed for the market in Switzerland.

Compared with Home Assistant is Smartacus a commercial product for End-users, which don’t have the time or skills for a DYI project.

In December, I received my Smartacus Start package, in this post I write about the chosen components, the Unboxing and putting into operation.

Packages – the components

It’s possible to choose predefined packaged from Smartacus or to build an own individual set. Basically a  Smartacus-setup consists a central unit and one or more sensors and “actors”.

The central unit has connections to the local components and is connected to the “Smartacus-Cloud” in the Internet. But now I’m already way to technical, Smartacus is for End-users which won’t know too much about the tech.

If somebody don’t know what he need, it’s possible to talk with the Chatbot on the Smartacus web site. The Chatbot will help to choose what you need and fill up the shopping basket. A nice example how a Chatbot can help.

In reason, I don’t have a photovoltaic system and I’m living in a rented apartment I decided to start only with the radiator thermostat system and some added components.

This System would be definitely thrilling in an owned house with a photovoltaic installation.

I opened the package and immediately I remarked that Energie 360° and Smartacus are not boring people. Even I didn’t ordered the energy package, I received some personal energy for the time on which I install my Smartacus System. Some food and an energy drink …

I ordered the following components :

  • Central Unit
  • 3x Radiator thermostat
  • 2x Door- / Window Sensor
  • 1x Smoke detector
  • 1 Multi Sensor
  • 1x flush-mounted switch relay
  • 1x Switch und measure plug

Putting in operation

Central unit

To put the central unit in operation is an easy thing, just plug in the Ethernet cable to the switch or router, plug in the power cable in – and the physical installation is done.

After the Smartacus central unit is online you can login to the portal and configure your setup, the system will guide you through all steps.

I was in doubt to have another central unit in my network, I have already one for my Philips Hue and one for my WirelessTags. I thought another new device which needs power… but this time I was positively surprised, it consumes 7 Watt on start-up and 4 Watt in normal operation.

Integration of Smart Devices

The integration of new devices is simple, on the portal the binding of a new device is handled in three steps. The action which has to be done on the device is explained on the portal.

Formerly I had already radiator thermostats from another manufacturer, but those I removed after I found out that already a slightly touch demolish the installation.

This new radiator thermostats supplied by Smartacus are manufactured by Danfoss and are from the quality perspective much better and stable. The installation can be done in a few minutes:

My interim conclusion at this point:

+ very easy installation
+ high quality components
– Limited number of components by Smartacus

My Smart Home – Chapter 2: Home Assistant

After my smart mirror project which was exciting, I can still only see the values of the integrated sensors on the mirror. The problem that I can’t control my smart devices from one place still exists.

The conglomeration of smart devices in my home is very various, I need to work with something which is open for almost everything imaginable.

On Facebook, I saw a post of an acquaintance who adverted for Home Assistant ( Home Assistant is an open-source home automation platform running on Python 3. Track and control all devices at home and automate control. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi. (Home Assistant) is still in development but works already good. I’ve started with version 0.48 or so and now in December 2017 we are on 0.60.

First I started with on a Raspberry Pi 3, but then I’ve upgraded my Synology NAS and the new one is able to run Docker, so I moved my Home Assistant to a Container on my NAS.

I don’t write here now a post how to install and run Home Assistant, that you can find in Getting started on, the intention of this post is a short Intro for Home Assistant with some hints for the practice.

For there is also a mobile app, you can use the App if you are in the same network as your Home Assistant server or you have a VPN connection in this network. It’s also possible to expose the server to the internet, it contains all you need for that like duck dns and Let’s Encrypt. But I won’t do that for security consideration.

Devices and Components

Home Assistant has a very broad range of supported smart devices, I added the following devices to my system:

A short demo of how that looks on my environment:

Before I used Home Assistant I automated some of my smart devices with IFTTT, with I can now do that “On Premises”.

I created the following “recipes” for my home automation:

  • If the IKEA lamp in my living room turns on, also turn on the lights in my vitrine (LED plugged in a MyStrom Smart Plug):
  • If my UniFi controller doesn’t see any Wifi Mac address of the mobile phones of my family members, the automation “Away-Mode” turns on. This procedure powers off some Smart Plugs, bring my Sonos Player to pause, and all Hue lights will be turned off.

In contrast to IFTTT it’s possible with to combine things almost indefinitely. It’s possible to define so-called Conditions.

Helpful Hints

If you try Home Assistant and you start to create and modify your *.yaml files, really use a text editor which shows you invisible characters! Python is very fussy for syntax errors even when only an invisible character.

Make backup from your files before you modify it, this can help to avoid some frustration.

If you intend to add a MyStrom Smart Button, I found out that this doesn’t work currently if your Home Assistant Web GUI is protected with a password.

A big benefit of Home Assistant is that it’s an open system with a large developer community, there are many components integrated and it’s possible to integrate by your own.

The downside of Home Assistant is that’s currently not yet a solution for an Enduser without any IT skills. More and more it’s now configurable via Web GUI but without any IT knowledge, it’s impossible to manage it.

+ Command center for your Smart Home
+ Cheap
+ Interaction with your smart components is possible
+ many Components integrated
+ App for your mobile phone or tablet computer
+ – Open Source (Open to integrate other things, improve code vs Security)
– Not an End-user product
– Needs Maintenance

A short preview for my third Smart Home article, I will show you something which is also usable for End-Users without IT Knowledge. I know the readers of my blog are mostly IT Pro’s but I’m sure you have also friends who want to play the Smart Home game and have no clue how to start.

My Smart Home – Chapter 1: The Mirror

A colleague complained that he has a 22-inch screen which he doesn’t use anymore but he can’t sell it for a valuable price. So I said he can give me the screen for free and I would convert it to something cool, I had already an idea what I want to do with it …

My intention was to display some measurement data of my home which I collect with Netatmo or WirelessTag . Furthermore, I had the idea to supersede the paper wall calendar with a digital calendar. We use already Google calendar but my wife has the opinion that she needs a calendar not only accessible with a computer or a mobile phone, there must be also something on the wall to get faster an overview about the upcoming events.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall …

So I told my wife that I plan to install a monitor screen in our entrance area, honestly, the enthusiasm was very limited. I found out that the WAF – the wife acceptance factor for a monitor screen in the apartment is pretty low. So I needed another idea, accidentally I saw the  MagicMirror² Project which is the solution for my Software Plattform and also the word “Mirror” solves the WAF-Problem.

So there is now no more a monitor screen, instead, my project is a Mirror, a Smart Mirror to be precise. Behind the Mirror is a Raspberry Pi 2 located which is powered on 24/7, rather the power of the screen itself is controlled by a MyStrom Wifi Switch  in the early morning a motion detector turn the mirror on, at other hours in the day the screen can be activated with a push on a MyStrom Wifi Button. If the Mirror is powerless it looks like an ordinary mirror.

At the end this was how my prototype looks like:

It was a long journey and I invested a lot of hours until I was happy with the result of my project.

First I started to cover the screen with an acrylic glass laminated with a mirror foil. I was not satisfied with the result, I had inclusions of dust and air under the foil. Only the more expensive but high-grade real Spy-Glass from made me happy.

It was also difficult to decide which content should appear on the display.

Currently, my configuration shows this content:

Top left
– Date and Time
– Google calendar from my wife

Top right
– Weather forecast
– Hue Status
– Recent Calls (Fritzbox)

Bottom left
– Trello Task of our family

Bottom right
– Power meter of different Powerplugs (REST via MyStrom)
– battery state of charge of my EV

Bottom center
– Headlines of “Berner Zeitung” the local Newspaper (RSS)

Component List

  • 22″ Screen who has a Digital Input – Raspberry has only HDMI (I took an old one and removed the Case – on your own risk!)
  • Raspberry Pi & Power Supply
  • Spy Glass – I ordered on
  • Smart Plug (optional)- e.g. I have this one MyStrom Wifi Switch
  • Smart (IoT) Button (optional) – e.g. I have this one MyStrom Wifi Button.
  • Motion Sensor – e.g I have one from WirelessTag  (optional)
  • Some pieces of wood from your local DYO Store

(As Tools I used a hot glue gun, a saw, and some screwdriver )

The mirror definitely gives an added value, but it’s really only for DYO’er or Nerds … No Enduser-Friendly product. It also needs maintenance.
This is a device for consuming information but you cannot interact with your devices. Maybe in Some years possible with a “Touchscreen-Mirror”.

+ Added value in a Smart Home
+ Cheap
+ – Open Source (Open to integrate other things, improve code vs Security)
– Not an End-user product
– Needs Maintenance
– Only show information, no interaction with devices

IoT – ideology of technology | new MyStrom Smart Devices

Those who know me in person are aware that my life is not only controlled by Citrix technology, I’m also fascinated by Smart Home stuff and Internet of Things, IoT. Since years I use Philips Hue, Netatmo and other gadgets to make my life easier – or to solve problems which I won’t have without this Smart Home devices… Some of my neighbours believe that I have a girlfriend called “Alexa” and I’m very rude to her.

Anyway, I already wrote about the MyStrom Smart plugs in the article Control MyStrom smart plug by a trigger or Another LaMetric IoT script – power control .

The special thing about the MyStrom WiFi Switch is that they are only for Switzerland, we have here not the same wall sockets like they are common in Europe. For this reason in my point of view MyStrom is a niche product, even when it’s a very very good product.

Today I received a package from MyStrom with two very cool new products inside, the MyStrom Bulb and the MyStrom WiFi button. I have already similar products, for the Smart Bulb from Philips Hue and SengLed Boost. For the button I have currently an Amazon IoT button, which I have connected to IFTTT that I can trigger some things.

In this post I want to compare this new MyStrom devices to other existing devices on the market.

Comparison Smart Bulb:

myStrom WiFi Bulb

  • 39.- CHF (Color)
  • Color
  • E27

+ Has a HTTP Rest API
+ Show power consumption
+ great colors!
–  only 600 lm
– Bulb becomes pretty hot, 52,9°C after 30min test.

Philips Hue

  • 69.- CHF (Color)
  • 20.- CHF (White)
  • E27 and GU10 available (Update: Now also E14)

+ Use the ZigBee protocol
+ Up to 806 lm
– An additional device, called “Bridge” is required
– Colors not so saturated
– Range is limited, I was not able to have a Hue Bulb in my garage, why I added a SengLed Boost.
– Bulb becomes pretty hot, 62,5°C after 30min test.

SengLed Boost

  • 59.- CHF
  • E27

+ Works as an Wireless Wifi Repeater
–  only 470 lm

LED-Bulb E27 1000 lm White

  • 14.95 CHF (White)
  • Color also available  but not with 1000lm
  • Uses 12,4 Watt
  • Is compatible with Hue-Bridge after latest firmware and perhaps 3rd party Software

+ brightest and cheapest Bulb
– Bulb becomes pretty hot, on some parts 84,9°C after 30min test!

Conclusion: It really depends on your needs which Smart Bulb is the best for you, if you have already a Philips Hue ecosystems it makes no sense to Switch to MyStrom. But if you start on green field, you really have to consider to go for MyStrom. With MyStrom you have Bulbs, Plugs and Buttons from one brand. The MyStrom Bulbs are cheaper than Hue and for me very important every MyStrom device has his Webserver which allows you to toggle the power state. If you want o extend you Wifi Range, have a look to SengLED Boost Bulb, but wit this it’s not easy to toggle the light with something other than the existing app.

Comparison Smart Button:

MyStorm WiFi Button

  • 25.- CHF

+ Availible in Switzerland – for everyone (soon …)
+ Battery rechargeable
+ Native IFTTT compatible
+ 3 Push Patterns
+ Fast reaction time (< 2sec to toggle a Switch)

Amazon IoT Button

  • 19.90$

– Only for Amazon Prime customers
– Battery not replaceable
– Reaction time pretty long
+ IFTTT with an “special setup” possible
+ 3 Push patterns

Hue Tap

  • 69.-

– need the Brigde
+ No need for battery
+ 3 buttons

Hue Dimmer Switch

  • 29.-

– need the Brigde (?)

Conclusion: For most “Home-automater” the MyStrom Wifi button will be the best choice, the way to configure an AWS IoT button is an “advanced expierience”. I don’t like that the Amazon IoT Button has a non replaceable/rechargeable battery inside. If you have already a large huge Philips Hue ecosystem maybe the Hue Tap / Dimmer Switch is the best for you.

Use Octoblu with Amazon Echo as trigger to start A/C on Tesla Model S

It need’s a bit courage as a non native english speaker and with my hard swiss accent it’s maybe awkward … but I’ve done it … my first webcast … you cannot win without a risk 🙂

Goal: Use Amazon echo to start the Air Condition of the Tesla Model S.

21.6.2016, Update to this post:

It’s not so difficult to use Alexa without IFTTT in Octoblu, I just created a flow to ask Alexa what’s the battery level and she tell me the remaining battery in percent:

Details about how to integrate Alexa in octoblu look at this:  Use Alexa to kick off automations with Octoblu

By the way: If you don’t have a Tesla but you like to buy one,use my referral Link and safe 1000.- !

Control MyStrom smart plug by a trigger (ifttt or octoblu)

mystromSome weeks ago I bought my first smart plug from MyStrom. If you are living  in Switzerland you have only a limited choice of smart plugs because of the non EU standard plug (T13).

MyStrom is pretty cool because it mets almost all my requirement, there is a possibility to measure to power consumption within two rates (day and night), it’s controllable with the mobile phone app and there is a nice web interface.

But one thing I miss, I cannot react to triggers and power of the smart plug on a defined event. Like already in an earlier post mentioned there is a REST API which allows to control the plug from the internal network. (See Another LaMetric IoT script – power control)

Last day’s I just found the API documentation which allows to control the MyStrom out of the cloud:

So I have now all to connect this Thing to the Internet and react on a trigger.

Possibility 1: The everything imaginable way,
MyStrom and Octoblu

mystromlogo      +      ocoblu

If you are using Octoblu beta, which is currently available for everyone for free you can create very intelligent workflows to control your smart plug. You can react to twitter and power of or on depending what is twittered, you can power off your heater as soon a temperature is reached, you can stop charge as soon your device have a defined state of charge.

The Things you connect use with Octoblu are nearly infinite.

Octoblu is for advanced use, and to be honest I’m also on the learning phase! I do not describe here more details for this case. There are a lot of sample blueprints on .  Octoblu was acquired by Citrix in 2015.

Possibility 2: The easy way,
MyStrom and IFTTT

 mystromlogo      +      iftttlogo

This way is suitable for “Home use” and for people who only want to create a simple workflow where a trigger initiate for example a Power On or Power Of of the smart plug.

All what you need is a Control-Script on a Webserver with PHP on the Internet, and a IFTTT account.

How it works: The script is very simple, it just handle the  authentication process on the API, read the AuthToken out of the JSON answer and Push out the payload with the AuthToken. IFTTT just take the trigger and call the script with the username, passwort and the payload which you can build from the API

Example: I want to control my smart plug by twitter, if I twitter #lightsoff

Step 1:

Take this script and put it on your webserver:

V0.1 by Sacha Thomet,, 12-2015

This script can be used to control the MyStrom power outlet with IFTTT.
In IFTTT you need to take the MAKER component to make a web request.

The script must be called with 3 parameters:
- Your MyStrom username (email)
- Your MyStrom password
- the decided payload
 e.g. ../device/switch?on=true%id=64002D012305 to turn on your device with Mac 64002D012305

 Documentation of all API calls:
 Attention! You need to replace in your payload all "&" with a "%" !!

 [email protected]&password=mysecreatword&payload=

//create variables from parameter
$email = ($_GET["email"]);
$password = ($_GET["password"]);
$payload = ($_GET["payload"]);

//myStrom host with the parameters to gather the AuthToken
$host = "$email&password=$password";
$filestring = file_get_contents($host);

//format the AuthToken that only the token remain from the JSON Answer
$startpos = 0;
while($pos = strpos($filestring, "authToken", $startpos))
 $string = substr($filestring, $pos, strpos($filestring, "name", $pos + 1) - $pos);

 //echo $string. " ";
 $newstring = str_replace("authToken","","$string");
 $newstring2 = str_replace('"',"",$newstring);
 $newstring3 = str_replace(":","","$newstring2");
 $authCode = str_replace(",","","$newstring3");

 echo " AuthCode is $authCode
" ;

 $startpos = $pos + 1;

// Because & cannot submitted in a $_GET we subsitute it with a %
$correctpayload = str_replace("%","&","$payload");

echo "Full payload is: $correctpayload&authToken=$authCode";

$fullpayload = "$correctpayload&authToken=$authCode";
$payloadString = file_get_contents($fullpayload);

Step 2:

Create a recipe on IFTTT, use Twitter as Trigger and Maker as Action. In maker you create your request:

e.g. the payload to turn of the device with Mac 64002D012325 is:

The result should be that:

You create 2 of those recipies, one to Power On and one to Power Off

Now you can twitter you defined hashtags to control your smart plug.

Follow me on Twitter


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16 September 2012

Scotland and the Olympics

I am a bit fed up with the highly successful London 2012 Olympics being used as a political football to justify that Scotland should not be independent.

Let me put the Olympics into context. The Olympians and Paralympians, no matter what part of the UK they were from did an outstanding job. As a nationalist I was supporting Team GB. I would have preferred to support Team Scotland but I accepted the rules. I was particularly pleased to see Scottish athletes do so well and as a lad from Dunblane myself I particularly supported Andy Murray.

Turning now to the analogy which is often made between TeamGB in Sport and TeamUK in politics, let us remind ourselves of a few facts. During the period 1928 to 1996 TeamGB competed at the summer Olympics and yes we had The Union of 1707 backing us. During that period in which London hosted the games in 1948 the best gold total we managed was 6 in any of them. Better together? 16 Olympic games and as recently as 1996 we got ONE yes ONE gold medal. All this under The Union and "Better Together". We had stunning athletes - Sally Gunnell, Denise Lewis, Tessa Sanderson, Liz McColgan, Chris Boardman but just one Gold from 300 competitors and we had the Union and Better Together. None of it made any difference. One Gold. This year, 29 Golds. Same Union. Tories in power in 1996, Tories in power in 2012. The Union clearly made no difference. Where was it for our athletes between 1928 and 1996?

What made a difference was the National Lottery as a vehicle for raising money for sport and a ruthless focus on sports we were good at and likely to win medals at. You could say the union gave us the national lottery but I would argue this was not a prerequisite for raising money for sport - euromillions could do the same or shock horror the government could decide to fund sport adequately so that not only do we produce world class athletes but we encourage children to be interested in sport as part of an active healthy lifestyle rather than a diet of fish and chips and watching overpaid footballers on TV. What made a difference wasn't the union, it was there all during 1928 to 1996, it was putting an appropriate amount of money towards sport. Just as we had great athletes during those fallow years but poor facilities and funding holding them back, we have the same situation in Scotland now. Oil money wasted in England. Scotland's wealth wasted on Trident. Scotland's energy wealth having to fund illegal wars rather than investing in the Scottish economy, Scotland's future and Scotland's sport.

Scotland is predominately a left of centre political country, we have a different ethic than the predominantly right of centre England. This causes conflicts of priorities and holds us back, like the Team GB athletes were held back for 60+ years under the so called Better Together Union. It wasn't better for them then , it isn't better for us now. Scotland has its own priorities - an oil fund like Norway, renewable energy, a health service and educational system that is free. England has different priorities. Sure we have things in common, but together we are pulling in different directions and pulling us both down. That is why better together is a myth. Just as team GB turned itself around from one gold medal, Scotland and England will politically grow after separation and become more apart than they will achieve together. If there is one lesson from the Olympics it is not that the union made us stronger, it is that a proper sense of priorities and vision to bring them about made us achieve more. I believe Scotland has the right priorities - social justice, equality, opportunity, culture, economic growth and democracy. Only with independence can we take full advantage of these priorities and achieve our full potential and our vision. There is no vision coming from "Better Together" other than more of the same. More of the same isn't good enough, we can do more if we believe in better.

Support Yes Scotland. Play your part in taking Scotland forward as a confident nation and achieve something worthwhile to be proud of and tell your children and grandchildren about.

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Property Investment needs a plan – you know that already right, that’s why you’ve ended up here.

Where to start though… With property investment you can see the rewards which are attainable when things go well.

How, though, do you get from that stage of just thinking about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow to being a fully-fledged buy to let landlord?

What we tend to do at this stage is give a little disclaimer – we can’t guarantee that if you follow these steps you’ll become a property millionaire. If only it was that easy…

But whet we can do is give a few tips. At the House Crowd we have a pretty good record for investing in property and seeing returns. We’ll tell you more about us later, but first here’s what we would 2016

  • Look to spread risk

Spreading risk is one of the most important tasks for any property investor, yet it is also one of the most difficult to achieve, at least initially.

The rationale is this – when you only have one property if anything goes wrong you can find yourself in all sorts of trouble. Flooding or a storm could leave the property unlettable for a period, or you could have problems with tenants, or maybe it doesn’t realise the rental return you expected.

With nothing else in your portfolio to offset these problems, you can easily end up making a loss. Of all landlords with a single property, a quarter are either making no profit or a loss. Can you afford to be one of these?

Yes, when things go well with a sole property you might receive excellent yields and also see the property’s value rise significantly. However, you leave yourself open to potential problems.

To spread risk, you might need to think about the type of property you invest in. Depending on your finds, do you need to buy two or three cheaper properties and rent these out, rather than aiming to get one more expensive dwelling?

This might also impact on where you look to invest, which brings us to…

  • Consider where to invest

(there is a blog on this yet to go up, which this can link to as well)

We cover this topic in a separate blog – how to find the best place to invest.

There are tools out there which can help, showing the current yields for every postcode in the UK – you might not know whether Maidstone or Maidenhead is the better investment opportunity, but you can find out.Real Estate Crowdfunding USA

The key question though is whether you want to invest in an area close to home, or at least an area you know well, or are you willing to chase the best returns wherever they might be?

The best returns are unlikely to be on your doorstep, and property prices might be such that you cannot afford to buy multiple properties.

That suggests you should be willing to invest anywhere, or if not anywhere at least a reasonable distance from home.

However, this requires work and for you to do your homework. Let’s say you’ve found what looks like the perfect town – it’s not too far away, the property prices are appealing and the yields excellent.

But, how much do you know about this town? What type of tenant are you likely to attract, who is the town’s main employer, what happens if a major employer pulls out (for example is it a town perhaps overly reliant on one industry?)

You need to think carefully about where to invest, we pose some more questions in our dedicated blog. What is worth saying is that for many people, property investing is a full time job and treat it like one – spending many, many hours doing research. Just searching for areas on RightMove isn’t going to cut it.

  • Don’t rush in

One of the key aspects of a property investment strategy is to treat it like a job, even if you are not planning on it being your job it is jus that for many people.

The days of being able to just snap up any old property in the neighbourhood, rent it out and then perhaps sell it at profit have largely gone. If a property is worth having, i.e. it offers strong investment opportunities then you are unlikely to be the only person to have spotted its potential.

There are also the longer term trends to consider too – what do changes to stamp duty regulations mean for your potential returns and do they alter your approach?

Part of your strategy needs to be to just read as much as possible and also speak to existing landlords, local estate agents and others who can help. You can also do your research on any areas you might consider investing in, perhaps visiting them to get a feel for the area and to acquire some contacts.

You can also use this preparation time to get support in place – for example find reliable, affordable builders, plumbers etc. who can carry out repairs. If your tenants have a leak or faulty boiler, you want someone you know is reliable and charges a fair price, rather than having to rely on 24/7 support straight out the Yellow Pages.

Consider safety in numbers

Can you invest with others? If a group of friends, family or associates are looking to invest then you can share the research, utilise each others skills and of course call upon greater cash reserves – making it easier to jump straight to multiple properties.

This is also where we need to drop in our plug for the House Crowd. We are a crowd funded property investment platform – if you want to know more have a look round the site, but in short this is what we offer.

With the House Crowd, you are one of a number of people investing in a property, and so receive a share of the returns. For example, if you have £50,000 to invest, rather than this being the deposit on one property, it can buy five £10,000 shares in properties – you simply look through our portfolio to find properties of interest.

By investing this way, you benefit both through spreading risk, but also through investing in properties chosen by people with experience in property investment. Our buyers know the local markets and so find properties that should offer long term high yields.

If you want to learn more about the House Crowd, give us a call on 0161 667 4264.

The next steps…

The key things to consider are how are you going to spread risk, where are you going to invest (are there areas to rule out) and how much of the prep can you get out the way.

Whichever approach you take, we wish you luck. Put the work in and there are great returns to be had.


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“Ellie & Alicia” by Yeff & Hopper

On February 5, 2014 I gathered my good friend Harry Yeff (Reeps One) in my studio along with Alicia Jade and Ellie Thompson to create our 6th collaboration.

The photo shoot was a part of my larger project “The Illustrated“, but as Harry and me created more and work over the last two years, including a major part of his debut exhibition A.D.O. (London, March 2014), we decided to make a ‘sub-brand’ for all of our work together and call it “Yeff & Hopper”.

This time it was ink and paint on the skin but also a whole dedicated drawn background.
I took shots in my studio of Alicia and Ellie together and separately and we managed to run up to the roof of my building with Ellie to take some quick snaps before she freezes in the February London cold.

Check more of Harry’s work on Facebook: ARTMUSIC.

For print purchases / press inquiries please contact me directly on: therealbenhopper@gmail.com