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Brian Kernighan

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  (Redirected from Kernighan)
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Brian Kernighan
Brian Kernighan in 2012 at Bell Labs 1.jpg
Brian Kernighan at Bell Labs in 2012 photographed by Ben Lowe
Born Brian Wilson Kernighan
(1942-01-01) January 1, 1942 (age 75)[1]
Toronto, Ontario
Citizenship Canada
Nationality Canadian
Fields Computer science
Institutions Princeton University
Alma mater University of Toronto
Princeton University (PhD)
Thesis Some Graph Partitioning Problems Related to Program Segmentation (1969)
Doctoral advisor Peter Weiner[2]
Known for
Influenced David J. Malan[4][5]

Brian Wilson Kernighan (/ˈkɜːrnhæn/; born January 1, 1942)[1] is a Canadian computer scientist who worked at Bell Labs alongside Unix creators Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie and contributed to the development of Unix. He is also coauthor of the AWK and AMPL programming languages. The "K" of K&R C and the "K" in AWK both stand for "Kernighan". Since 2000 Brian Kernighan has been a Professor at the Computer Science Department of Princeton University, where he is also the Undergraduate Department Representative.[6][7]

Early life and education[edit]

Brian Kernighan speaks at a tribute to Dennis Ritchie in 2012 at Bell Labs.

Born in Toronto, Kernighan attended the University of Toronto between 1960 and 1964, earning his Bachelor's degree in engineering physics.[8] He received his PhD in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1969 for research supervised by Peter Weiner.[2]

Career and research[edit]

Kernighan has held a professorship in the department of computer science at Princeton since 2000. Each fall he teaches a course called "Computers in Our World", which introduces the fundamentals of computing to non-majors. Kernighan's name became widely known through co-authorship of the first book on the C programming language with Dennis Ritchie. Kernighan affirmed that he had no part in the design of the C language ("it's entirely Dennis Ritchie's work").[8] He authored many Unix programs, including ditroff.

In collaboration with Shen Lin he devised well-known heuristics for two NP-complete optimization problems: graph partitioning and the travelling salesman problem. In a display of authorial equity, the former is usually called the Kernighan–Lin algorithm, while the latter is known as the Lin–Kernighan heuristic.

Kernighan was the software editor for Prentice Hall International. His "Software Tools" series spread the essence of "C/Unix thinking" with makeovers for BASIC, FORTRAN, and Pascal, and most notably his "Ratfor" (rational FORTRAN) was put in the public domain.

He has said that if stranded on an island with only one programming language it would have to be C.[9]

Kernighan coined the term Unix and helped popularize Thompson's Unix philosophy.[10] Kernighan is also known as a coiner of the expression "What You See Is All You Get" (WYSIAYG), which is a sarcastic variant of the original "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG).[citation needed] Kernighan's term is used to indicate that WYSIWYG systems might throw away information in a document that could be useful in other contexts.

Kernighan's original 1978 implementation of Hello, World! was sold at The Algorithm Auction, the world’s first auction of computer algorithms.[11]

In 1996, Kernighan taught CS50 which is the Harvard University introductory course in Computer Science.[5] His students on CS50 include David J. Malan who now runs the course.[4]

Other achievements during his career include:

  1. ^ a b Lohr, Steve (31 October 2002). "To the Liberal Arts, He Adds Computer Science". The New York Times. Mr. Kernighan, 60, is a computer scientist
  2. ^ a b Kernighan, Brian Wilson (1969). Some Graph Partitioning Problems Related to Program Segmentation. (PhD thesis). Princeton University. OCLC 39166855.  (subscription required)
  3. ^ "C" Programming Language: Brian Kernighan - Computerphile on YouTube
  4. ^ a b Mendez, Cordelia F. (2014). "This is CS50". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on 2017-03-17.
  5. ^ a b Malan, David J. (2010). "Reinventing CS50". Proceeding of SIGCSE '10 Proceedings of the 41st ACM technical symposium on Computer science education: 152. ISBN 9781450300063. doi:10.1145/1734263.1734316.
  6. ^ Brian Kernighan author profile page at the ACM Digital Library
  7. ^ Brian Kernighan's home page at Princeton University
  8. ^ a b Dolya, Aleksey (29 July 2003). "Interview with Brian Kernighan". Linux Journal.
  9. ^ Budiu, Mihai (July 2000). "An Interview with Brian Kernighan".
  10. ^ a b c d McIlroy, M. D. (1987). A Research Unix reader: annotated excerpts from the Programmer's Manual, 1971–1986 (PDF) (Technical report). CSTR. Bell Labs. 139.
  11. ^ "Brian Kernighan – Hello World". Artsy. Artsy. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  12. ^ D is for Digital: What a well-informed person should know about computers and communications[ISBN missing]
  13. ^ Brian Kernighan and Alan Donovan (2015) The Go Programming Language[ISBN missing]

External links[edit]


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Love on My Mind (Freemasons song)

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"Love on My Mind"
Freemasons Love on My Mind cover.jpg
Single by Freemasons featuring Amanda Wilson
from the album Shakedown, Unmixed and Shakedown 2
Released 27 June 2005
Format CD single, digital download, maxi single, 12"
Recorded London, UK
Genre Disco house[1]
Length 2:59
Songwriter(s) Graham Stack, John Reid, Russell Small, James Wiltshire, Leroy Bell, Casey James

Freemasons singles chronology
"Love on My Mind"
(2005) Love on My Mind2005
(2006) Watchin'2006
Amanda Wilson singles chronology
"Love on My Mind"
(2005) Love on My Mind2005
"Electric Love"
(2006) Electric Love2006
Music video
"Love on My Mind" on YouTube

"Love on My Mind" is a song by English dance band Freemasons. It was released as the 1st single from their second studio album Unmixed and features vocals from British singer Amanda Wilson. The song's melody and some of its lyrics sample the 1979 hit "This Time Baby" by Jackie Moore. Additionally, it includes the lyrics from the chorus of the Tina Turner song "When the Heartache Is Over".[2]

Track listing[edit]

"Love on My Mind"[3]
No. Title Length
1. "Love on My Mind" (Club Mix) 2:47
2. "Love on My Mind" (King Unique Vocal Mix) 6:18
3. "Love on My Mind" (Radio Edit) 2:59
4. "Love on My Mind" (Dub Mix) 8:20
5. "Love on My Mind" (Sharp Boys Remix) 7:12
6. "Love on My Mind" (AFTC Mix) 7:30
7. "Love on My Mind" (King Unique Remix) 6:35

Chart (2005) Peak
Australia (ARIA)[4] 46
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 27
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[6] 14
France (SNEP)[7] 70
Ireland (IRMA)[8] 38
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[9] 26
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[10] 11

External links[edit]

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Lower Albert Road

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lower Albert Road
HK Lower Albert Road 18 bldg.JPG
The Main Wing of Former Central Government Offices at Lower Albert Road
Traditional Chinese 下亞厘畢道
The sign and address of the Main Wing of Former Central Government Offices

Lower Albert Road is a road on the Government Hill in the Central area of Hong Kong. It is named after Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria.[1]

The south major entrance of the Former Central Government Offices, where major officials worked until 2011, is located at the Lower Albert Road and was another common destination for protests after Government House of Upper Albert Road. The East and Main Wings of the Former Central Government Offices are on Lower Albert. The West Wing address is on Ice House Street.

Starting from the junction with Wyndham Street and Glenealy near the Fringe Club (Old Dairy Farm Depot), Lower Albert Road passes the Bishop's House and meets Ice House Street near Hong Kong Central Hospital. It branches Upper Albert Road beneath Government House and goes along the south side of Former Central Government Offices and ends in Garden Road near the terminus of Peak Tram.

As it is part of early development of Victoria City, some old ficus microcarpa are located beside the road.

See also[edit]

  1. ^ Yanne, Andrew; Heller, Gillis (2009). Signs of a Colonial Era. Hong Kong University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-962-209-944-9.

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 22°16′48″N 114°09′23″E / 22.279908°N 114.156311°E / 22.279908; 114.156311


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Mitsuru Fukikoshi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mitsuru Fukikoshi
Native name 吹越 満
Born (1965-02-17) February 17, 1965 (age 52)
Kamikita District, Aomori, Japan
Occupation Actor
Years active 1984–present
Spouse(s) Reona Hirota

Mitsuru Fukikoshi (吹越 満?, Fukikoshi Mitsuru, born 17 February 1965) is a Japanese actor.

Born in Aomori Prefecture, Fukikoshi moved to Tokyo at age 19 and joined the Wahaha Honpo theater troupe.[1] Since leaving Wahaha in 1999, he has appeared in many films and television dramas, while continuing to act on stage.[1] He works in both serious drama and comedy, and has often played police detectives.[1]

He starred in Sion Sono's Cold Fish.[2] He co-starred with Hideaki Ito in Takashi Miike's Lesson of the Evil.[3]

Personal life[edit]

In 1994, Fukikoshi married the actress Reona Hirota. They divorced in 2005 after having one child,[4] but then remarried in 2012.[5]

  1. ^ a b c "Fukikoshi Mitsuru interview". Engeki Life (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-01-15. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  2. ^ Schilling, Mark (4 February 2011). "'Tsumetai Nettaigyo (Cold Fish)'". The Japan Times.
  3. ^ Weissberg, Jay (9 November 2012). "Lesson of the Evil". Variety.
  4. ^ "Mitsuru Fukikoshi". Nippon Cinema. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  5. ^ 女優・広田レオナと俳優・吹越満、離婚から7年で復縁再婚. News Post Seven (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  6. ^ 草なぎ剛主演、連ドラ版『スペシャリスト』に夏菜＆和田正人が新加入 (in Japanese). oricon ME inc. Retrieved 2016-04-12.

External links[edit]


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OTC Markets Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Pink Sheets LLC)
Jump to: navigation, search
OTC Markets Group, Inc.
Industry Financial Services
Predecessor National Quotation Bureau, Pink Sheets, Pink OTC Markets
Founded 1913 (1913)
Headquarters New York City, New York, United States
Key people
R. Cromwell Coulson
(President, Chief Executive Officer and Director)[1]
Revenue Increase US$ 49.9 million (2015)[2]
Increase US$ 16.9 million (2015)[2]
Increase US$ 10.3 million (2015)[2]
Total assets Increase US$ 36.2 million (2015)[2]
Total equity Decrease US$ 17.5 million (2015)[2]
Divisions OTC Link ATS, Market Data Licensing, Corporate Services
Website www.otcmarkets.com

OTC Markets Group, (previously known as "Pink Sheets") is an American financial market providing price and liquidity information for almost 10,000 over-the-counter (OTC) securities.[3] The group has its headquarters in New York City. OTC-traded securities are organized into three markets to inform investors of opportunities and risks: OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink.

R. Cromwell Coulson
(President, Chief Executive Officer and Director)

The company was first established in 1913 as the National Quotation Bureau (NQB). For decades, the NQB reported quotations for both stocks and bonds, publishing the quotations in the paper-based Pink Sheets and Yellow Sheets respectively. The publications were named for the color of paper on which they were printed. In September 1999, the NQB introduced the real-time Electronic Quotation Service.[4] The National Quotation Bureau changed its name to Pink Sheets LLC in 2000 and subsequently to Pink OTC Markets in 2008. The company eventually changed to its current name, OTC Markets Group, in 2010.[5] Today, a network of over 100 broker-dealers price and trade a wide spectrum of securities on the OTC Markets platform.[5]

To be quoted on the platform, companies are not required to file with the SEC, although many choose to do so.[6] A wide range of companies are quoted on OTC Markets, including firmly established foreign firms, mostly through American depositary receipts (ADRs).[7] In addition, many closely held, extremely small and thinly traded U.S. companies have their primary trading on the OTC Markets platform.

Many foreign issuers adhere to the listing requirements of qualified foreign stock exchanges[8] and make their home country disclosure available in English.[9] There are also a significant number of U.S.-based issuers who are current in their reporting to regulators[10] such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or make available ongoing quarterly and audited annual financial reports through OTC Markets Group.[9] Many companies in the Pink market tier of the OTC categorization system do not meet the United States' listing requirements for trading on a stock exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. Many of these issuers do not file periodic reports or make available audited financial statements, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies. For these reasons the SEC views many of the lower-tier companies traded on OTC Markets as "among the most risky investments" and advises potential investors to heavily research the companies in which they plan to invest.[11]

OTC Markets Group designates securities in one of three markets to indicate the level of financial and corporate disclosure provided by the companies using its quotation system. Apart from the OTCQX market, which has rules that include financial requirements, the designations do not signify issuer quality or merit of any security. Designation is based on the level and timeliness of a company's disclosure and OTCQB and any of the Pink categories can include both high quality as well as speculative, distressed, or questionable companies. Investors are encouraged to use caution when considering many of these companies for investment.[10]

The OTCQX and OTCQB markets are considered 'Established Public Markets' by the SEC for the purpose of determining the public market price when registering securities for resale with the SEC in equity line financings.[12]

The OTCQX market includes both multinational companies seeking access to U.S. investors and domestic growth companies.[13] To be traded on this tier, companies must undergo a qualitative review by OTC Markets Group.[14] Companies are not required to be registered with or reporting to the SEC, but they must post financial information with OTC Markets Group. In addition, U.S. companies must be ongoing operations (i.e., no shells) and may not be in bankruptcy, while foreign issuers must meet the requirements of qualified foreign exchanges.[9][15] Additional oversight of OTCQX securities is provided by requiring every issuer to be sponsored by approved third-party investment banks or law firms, called Principal American Liaison (PAL) for non-U.S. issuers and Designated Advisors For Disclosure (DADs) for U.S. issuers.[9][13][15]

The OTCQB market contains a one penny ($0.01) bid price requirement "intended to remove companies that are most likely to be the subject of dilutive stock fraud schemes and promotions". Each company verifies via an annual OTCQB Certification, signed by the company CEO or CFO, that their company information is current, including information about a company’s reporting status, company profile, information on management and boards, major shareholders, law firms, transfer agents, and IR / PR firms. Investor confidence improves when there is more information about a company’s ownership structure, professional advisors and service providers. This certification will be required for any security newly qualified to be publicly quoted by a broker-dealer under SEC Rule 15c2-11, or when a Pink traded company becomes a current SEC reporting company, beginning May 1, 2014. International Reporting companies are also allowed to upgrade from Pink to OTCQB if they publish their 12g3-2(b) compliant disclosure online and verify their company profile. There is an annual fee for the OTCQB market of $10,000 per year and a one-time $2,500 application fee.[16]

Pink is an open market that has no financial standards or reporting requirements. The stock of companies in the Pink tier are not required to be registered with the SEC. Companies in this category are further categorized by the level and timeliness of information they provide to investors and may have current, limited, or no public disclosure.[17]

Pink Current Information[edit]

Companies submitting regular Quarterly and Annual Reports go into the Current category. This category can still include shell companies or development stage companies with little or no operations as well as companies without audited financial statements. Companies in this category must not only have Quarterly reports duly posted every three months, but most have Annual reports for at least the preceding two years on file.[18]

Pink Limited Information[edit]

Companies that have submitted information no older than six months to the OTC Markets data and news service or have made a filing on the SEC's EDGAR system in the previous six months are rated as having limited information. Companies that are unwilling or unable to meet OTC Markets' Guidelines for Providing Adequate Current Information with Quarterly and Annual Reports every three months, but which still submit information at least every six months, are in this category. These are often companies with financial reporting problems, economic distress, or in bankruptcy. These companies have a Yield sign on the OTC website.[18]

Pink No Information[edit]

This tier indicates companies that are unwilling or unable to provide disclosure to the public markets. Companies in this category do not make current information available via OTC Markets disclosure and news service, or if they do, the available information is older than six months. This category includes defunct companies that have ceased operations as well as "dark" companies with questionable management and market disclosure practices. Securities of publicly traded companies that are not willing to provide information to investors are considered highly risky. These companies have a Stop sign on the OTC website.

Caveat emptor - buyer beware[edit]

There is a public interest concern associated with the company. This may include a spam campaign, stock promotion or known investigation of fraudulent activity committed by the company or through inside information. During a spam campaign, any stock that is not in the Current Information category will also have its quotes blocked on otcmarkets.com.

Other OTC markets[edit]

The OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) is only a listing of securities that are also traded "over the counter" similar to the OTC Markets. The OTCBB as an exchange was closed by owner FINRA. OTCBB companies are required to file timely reports to a U.S. regulatory agency. Almost all OTCBB companies are now quoted via OTC Markets' OTC Link ATS because its fully electronic trading platform better meets the needs of automated broker-dealers.

Grey Market[edit]

Securities that are not listed on any stock exchange nor formally quoted on OTC Markets or OTCBB are considered to be in the Grey Market. Unsolicited transactions are processed independently and not centrally listed or quoted. Trades are reported to a self-regulatory organization (SRO), which then passes the data on to market data companies.

  1. ^ "OTC Markets Group Inc: CEO and Executives - Businessweek". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e "OTC MARKETS GROUP INC. 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). OTC Markets Group. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. ^ PETERSON, KRISTINA (October 20, 2010). "The Pink Sheets Tries to Change Its Colors". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  4. ^ "History of OTC Markets Groups". OTC Markets Group. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  5. ^ a b "History of OTC Markets Group". OTC Markets Group. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  6. ^ "OTC Markets 101 - Securities Lawyer 101". Hamilton & Associates Law Group. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  7. ^ Sharon, Justin (Aug 2, 2012). "In the Pink: OTC Stocks Offer Peril Along With Potential Profit". Minyanville. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  8. ^ "OTCQX | Qualified Foreign Exchanges". OTCQX INTERNATIONAL. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d "OTCQX Requirements & Fees". OTCQX INTERNATIONAL. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Learn — OTC Market Tiers". OTC Markets Group. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  11. ^ "OTC Markets Group Inc. (formerly known as Pink OTC Markets Inc.)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  12. ^ "The OTCQX and OTCQB are finally recognized as "Established Public Markets" by the SEC". Legal and Compliance LLC. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  13. ^ a b AVERY, SIMON (November 24, 2011). "Canadian firms try different route to U.S. investors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  14. ^ "Learn — OTCQX Admission". OTC Markets Group. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  15. ^ a b "OTCQX Requirements & Fees". OTCQX U.S. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  16. ^ "OTCQB New Listing Requirements". OTC Markets. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  17. ^ "Investopedia".
  18. ^ a b "OTC Markets".

External links[edit]


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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Qoo logo.svg

Qoo (クー?, ) is a non-carbonated beverage from the Coca-Cola Company. Originally introduced in Japan on May 28, 1999 in the Kyushu region and on November 12, 1999 in all of Japan after Coca-Cola executed the creation of a kid and teen-oriented beverage after a year-long initiative, Qoo is now available throughout much of Asia in a variety of flavors including grape and orange. As soon as Qoo was introduced, the white grape flavor was available at drink fountains in Japan as well at McDonald's as Coca-Cola pushed this drink to market in many places. In Germany, the product line was sold from January 2003 until November 2005. Additionally, Qoo White Grape is available in Japan in McDonald's fountain machines nationwide.

The name comes from the mascot's reaction to tasting the drink. The mascot was designed by Momoko Maruyama, who created Deko Boko Friends. The Jingle, for the original Japanese version, is sung by Londell "Taz" Hicks, an American now living in Japan who is best known for the AKB48 overture.

Qoo is transliterated in Chinese as 酷兒 (kùér). It evokes images of “cool kid” since 酷 () is a transliteration of the English word cool and 兒 (ér) means ‘child’ or ‘son’. However, in China and Taiwan, 酷兒 also happens to be the same transliteration as the English word queer referring to sexual orientation or gender identity.

External links[edit]


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10110Map mag.png

Southeast Asia

From Wikivoyage
Asia > Southeast Asia
Jump to: navigation, search

Southeast Asia is a group of diverse states between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, featuring cultures influenced by both India and China and hosting large communities of Overseas Chinese. The region includes Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, as well as very prominent Buddhist countries, and quite significant Christian, Hindu and Animist communities. Southeast Asia has long been a favourite corner of the world for globe-tramping backpackers, known for its perfect beaches, tasty cuisine, low prices, and good air connections.

Map of Southeast Asia.png
A tiny but rich sultanate in Borneo with an oil based economy
Home of the ancient city of Angkor, and still recovering from decades of war
East Timor
One of the world's newest states, a former Portuguese colony on the eastern half of Timor
The world's most populous Muslim country at 220 million inhabitants, in the largest archipelago nation, with over 16,000 islands (spanning three time zones)
The forgotten, but growing, country of the region, mountainous and landlocked, and becoming more popular on the backpacker trail
Multicultural country (including Muslim Malays, mainly Buddhist Chinese, mainly Hindu Indians, and many Orang Asli aboriginal people, especially in Borneo) that ranges from skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur to jungle-dwelling tribes in Borneo
Myanmar (Burma)
Ancient country whose history includes both an indigenous empire and being part of the British Empire, now emerging from isolation under a strict military junta and opening up to tourism
A unique fusion of the Asian traditions of non-confrontation and respect for elders combined with Spanish ideas of machismo, romance and sophistication (plus modern Americanization) , the largest Christian nation in the region, and second largest archipelago with 7,107 islands – most with beautiful tropical beaches and friendly smiles
Prosperous, clean and orderly island city-state, with a strong mix of cultures
Rich culture and cuisine with frenetic cities and chilled-out beaches making it a very popular destination with visitors returning time and again
Firmly marching down the road to capitalism as one of the world's fastest growing economies, and one of the more popular tourist destinations in the area

Disputed territories in the region are:

Aside from East Timor, the other ten nations listed above are members of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Nine of the most prominent cities in Southeast Asia include:

  • Bangkok — Thailand's bustling, cosmopolitan capital with nightlife and fervour
  • Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) — The bustling metropolis that has become Vietnam's largest city and the economic centre of the south
  • Jakarta — The largest metropolitan city in southeast Asia, and beautiful life in the evening
  • Kuala Lumpur — grown from a small sleepy Chinese tin-mining village to a bustling metropolis
  • Luang Prabang — a UNESCO World Heritage City known for its numerous temples, colonial era architecture, and vibrant night market
  • Manila — a crowded, historic, and bustling city known for its unique blend of cultures and flavors with many places to see and experience
  • Phnom Penh — a city striving to retain the name of "The Pearl of Asia", as it was known before 1970
  • Singapore — modern, affluent city with a medley of Chinese, Indian and Malay influences
  • Yangon (formerly Rangoon) — the commercial capital of Myanmar, known for its pagodas and colonial architecture

Other destinations[edit]

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Outside of major cities here are some of the most rewarding destinations:

  • Angkor Archaeological Park — magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire
  • Bali — unique Hindu culture, beaches and mountains on the "Island of the Gods"
  • Borobudur — one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world
  • Gunung Mulu National Park — fantastic limestones caves and karst formations
  • Ha Long Bay — literally translated as "Bay of Descending Dragons", famous for its scenic rock formations
  • Komodo National Park — the only home of the komodo, the biggest reptile in the world
  • Krabi Province — beach and water sports mecca, includes Ao Nang, Rai Leh, Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta
  • Palawan — an ecologically diverse and relatively unlogged island at the western fringe of the Philippines with some of the most rewarding diving and swimming sites in the world
  • Preah Vihear — cliff-top temple pre-dating Angkor Wat

Southeast Asia is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations, and for a reason. Some of the countries here have it all: a tropical climate, warm (or hot!) all year around, rich culture, gorgeous beaches, wonderful food and last but not least, low prices. While its history and modern-day politics are complex, most of it is also quite safe and easy to travel around in.

The region is also a very popular destination for retiring abroad, and several governments in the region offer special long-term visas specifically for retirees.

San Agustin Church in Manila, Philippines

Pre-historic Southeast Asia was largely underpopulated. A process of immigration from India across the Bay of Bengal is referred to as the process of Indianization. Exactly how and when it happened is contested; however, the population of the mainland region largely happened through immigration from India. The Sanskrit script still used as the basis for modern Thai, Lao, Burmese and Khmer has its roots from this process. On the other hand, population of the archipelagos of East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Malaysia on the mainland is thought to have come about through immigration from Taiwan and southern China.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, Southeast Asia was home to several powerful kingdoms. Some of the more notable ones were the Funan and the Khmer Empire in the Indochinese peninsula, as well as the Srivijaya, the Majapahit Kingdom and the Melaka Sultanate in the Malay Archipelago.

Southeast Asian history is very diverse and often tumultuous, and has to an important extent been shaped by European colonialism. The very term Southeast Asia was invented by American Naval strategists around 1940. Prior to WWII, Southeast Asia was referenced in terms of their colonial powers; farther India for Burma and Thailand, with reference to the main British colony of India, although Thailand itself was never formally colonised; Indochina referred to the French colonies of Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, while Indonesia and parts of maritime Southeast Asia were called the Dutch East Indies. Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore were known as British Malaya, while Sabah was known as British North Borneo. Sarawak, on the other hand, was the Kingdom of Sarawak, ruled by a British family known as the White Rajahs. Brunei was also made into a British protectorate, with the British taking charge of its defence and foreign affairs. The Philippines was named the Spanish East Indies during the initial period of Spanish colonial rule, and later came to be known by its current name in honour of King Philip II of Spain, a name which stuck even after the islands were transferred from Spanish to American colonial rule. East Timor was colonized by Portugal for 273 years, then occupied by Indonesia for 27 years before becoming the first nation to gain independence in the 21st century. This massive colonisation effort was fueled by the lucrative spice trade, which in turn encouraged heavy immigration of workers to support the harvest and sale of plantation crops like nutmeg, rubber and tea.

World War II was disastrous to Southeast Asia (see Pacific War for a detailed guide), and also saw the beginning of the end of European colonialism, as the European powers surrendered to Japan one by one in disgrace. By the end of 1942, the Japanese had conquered virtually the whole of Southeast Asia, with only Thailand remaining unconquered, as the Thais signed a treaty of friendship with the Japanese which allowed the Japanese to establish military bases in Thailand, and allowed Japanese troops free passage through Thailand. The Japanese occupation was a time of great hardship for many of the natives, as the Japanese took all the resources for themselves, and exploited and in many cases outright enslaved locals for their own gain. They were also for the most part more brutal than the Western colonial powers to people under occupation, especially towards the ethnic Chinese. However, the Japanese occupation convinced many locals that the European powers were not invincible after all, and thereby had the effect of helping the independence movements to gain pace after the end of the war.

After the war, the decolonisation process started in Southeast Asia, with the Americans granting independence to the Philippines in 1946, while the British granted independence to Burma in 1948, followed by Malaya in 1957 and eventually Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo in 1963, which federated with Malaya to form Malaysia. After some ideological conflicts, Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965 and became a sovereign state. In contrast to the relatively peaceful withdrawals by the British and Americans, the Dutch and the French fought bloody wars in an effort to hold on to their colonies, and earned humiliating defeats. Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949, and Indochina forced the French military to withdraw and separated into the three countries of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in 1954; see Indochina Wars. European colonialism came to an end in Southeast Asia in 1984, when Brunei was granted full independence by the British. Indonesia occupied East Timor in 1975 after it declared independence from the Portuguese following a coup in Portugal, and only left in 1999 following a United Nations referendum. East Timor was then occupied by a United Nations peacekeeping force, before finally becoming independent in 2002. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was devastating to parts of the Indonesian island of Sumatra (especially Aceh, which lost well over 100,000 people to the roiling waters), Thailand and Myanmar.

In recent years, Southeast Asia is acknowledged as having a relatively high rate of economic growth, with Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand often being called the "New Asian Tigers", and Vietnam also recording double digit growth rates. Nevertheless, despite being one of the most resource rich regions in the world (all Southeast Asian countries except Singapore are considered to be resource rich), widespread corruption means that poverty is still an issue in many countries, with much of the wealth concentrated in the hands of an elite few.

Portuguese influence in East Timor

Southeast Asia's culture is dominantly influenced by the Indians and Chinese as well as its colonizers, and also natives of the Malay archipelago. For at least two thousand years (and to this day), Southeast Asia has acted as a conduit for trade between India and China. Large-scale immigration, however, only began with the advent of the colonial era. In Singapore, the Chinese form a majority of the population, but there are substantial Chinese, Indian and other minorities, assimilated to varying degrees, across all countries in the region.

Thai, Burmese, Cambodian and Lao culture is heavily Indianized as well as Chinese-influenced in areas such as faith, folklore, language and writing. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are also influenced by the Indians, Malays and Chinese with a touch of Arab culture due to the large Muslim populations. Vietnam is the most Chinese-influenced. East Timor's culture is influenced notably by the Portuguese and the Malays. Singaporean and Filipino cultures are the most diverse: Singapore's is a mix of Malay, Indian, Peranakan, British, American and Chinese cultures while the Philippines is heavily influenced by American, Spanish, Malay, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese influences with less coming from India, Mexico and non-Iberian parts of Europe, making it perhaps the most Westernized nation in the region.

Southeast Asia is religiously diverse. Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are predominantly Sunni Muslim, while East Timor and the Philippines are predominantly Roman Catholic. Buddhism is the dominant religion in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, with Mahayana Buddhism being the dominant form in Vietnam, and Theravada Buddhism being the dominant form in the other countries. Singapore is unique in that it does not have a majority religion, though Mahayana Buddhism forms a plurality. However, religious minorities exist in every country. The ethnic Chinese minorities in the various countries practice a mix of different religions, including Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. Hinduism is still observed in parts of Indonesia, most notably Bali, as well as by a sizeable proportion of the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar. The southern parts of Thailand and the Sulu Archipelago of the southern Philippines are home to ethnic Malays who mostly practice Islam, and the Philippine island of Mindanao is also home to a sizable Muslim community. Christian minorities also exist in Indonesia, most notably in Papua, East Nusa Tenggara and North Sulawesi, as well as in East Malaysia, and in the border area of Thailand and Myanmar. In East Malaysia as well as more remote parts of various countries, various traditional tribal religions are widely practiced.

Southeast Asia is tropical: the weather hovers around the 30°C mark throughout the year, humidity is high and it rains often.

Tropical rainforests in Luzon, Philippines

The equatorial parts of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines, have only two seasons, wet and dry, with the dry season somewhat hotter (up to 35°C) and the wet season somewhat cooler (down to 25°C). The wet season usually occurs in winter, and the hot season in summer, although there are significant local variations.

In Indochina (north/central Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar), the seasons can be broken down into hot, wet and dry, with the relatively cool dry season from November to February or so being the most popular with tourists. The scorching hot season that follows can see temperatures climb above 40°C in April, cooling down as the rains start around July. However, even in the "wet" season, the typical pattern is sunny mornings with a short (but torrential) shower in the afternoon, not all-day drizzle, so this alone should not discourage you from travel.

Southeast Asia is also home to many mountains, and conditions are generally cooler in the highlands. In equatorial Southeast Asia, highland temperatures generally range from about 15-25°C. Some of the highest mountains in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Myanmar are so high that snow falls every year, and Indonesia and Myanmar are even home to permanent glaciers.

In Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and parts of Indonesia (notably Sumatra and Borneo) and the Philippines (notably Palawan), haze from forest fires (usually set intentionally to clear land) is a frequent phenomenon in the dry season from May to October. Haze can come and go rapidly with the wind.

English is a traveller's most useful language overall, although for longer stays in almost any Southeast Asian country except Singapore, picking up at least some of the local language is useful, and may be essential outside the cities.

The main language groups are:

  • Austroasiatic - Vietnamese and Khmer are spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia respectively.
  • Austronesian - Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Tetum and related languages are spoken throughout the island nations of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, East Timor and Brunei, and by a significant minority in Singapore. Malay and Indonesian are very similar to each other, and speakers of either language can generally understand the other.
  • Tai–Kadai - Thai and Lao are spoken in Thailand and Laos respectively. Both languages are mutually intelligible to a certain extent.
  • Sino-Tibetan - Burmese is closely related to Tibetan, and more distantly related to the Chinese family of languages. Mandarin is an official language of Singapore. Various Chinese dialects are spoken by the sizeable Chinese communities throughout the region.

The Chinese languages have a large influence, with Mandarin being an official language in Singapore and southern variants such as Cantonese and Minnan are spoken in ethnic Chinese communities across the whole region. In addition, due to centuries of Chinese cultural dominance, much of Vietnamese vocabulary consists of loan words from Chinese. South East Asia is a prime destination for China's rising tourist industry, and Mandarin is becoming more prevalent in order to cater for it.

Various Indian languages are also spoken by much of the Indian diaspora in the former British colonies of Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar, the most widely spoken of them being Tamil, which is one of the official languages in Singapore. Due to a long history of Indian influences in the region, many Southeast Asian languages, including Malay, Indonesian, Thai, Lao, Burmese and Khmer contain many loan words from Sanskrit.

Portuguese remains an official language of East Timor, and a Portuguese-based creole is still being spoken in some Malaysian communities.

English is an official language of Singapore, and a common second language in Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Myanmar.

Many people in Singapore can speak a creole of English known as 'Singlish' which borrows heavily from many other regional languages and has rather different grammar and intonations. It may sounds like an unrelated language to the native English speaker at first, but give it time and it will become clearer to you!

French is still spoken and taught in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, although its situation varies by country. In Vietnam, it is known by many older educated Vietnamese, especially those educated before 1975, though it has today been largely supplanted by English among the youths. In Laos, French is widely used among the educated populace and features on most public signage. In Cambodia, French is limited chiefly to urban and elderly elites and a handful of university educated students.

The other languages of the former colonial countries are generally not spoken so widely anymore or at all. You may notice English words in Malay, Dutch words in Indonesian and Spanish words in Tagalog (Philippines).

Get in[edit]

Southeast Asia's most visited countries, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, do not require visas obtained before arrival from most visitors. Cambodia, Laos, and East Timor offer visas on arrival at most points of entry. Vietnam and Myanmar require advance paperwork for most visitors.

Travellers to ASEAN nations (all nations covered in this article except East Timor) may need to be aware of the effects on visas. ASEAN citizens are entitled to visa-free tourist travel to other ASEAN countries, and agreements are in place with nearby nations such as China which affect visas in either direction. Visa-free travel may be for a shorter period than travel with a visa, limited to as little as 14 days. A common ASEAN travel area, similar to the Schengen Agreement for Europe, is planned but has not yet been implemented. Visitors from outside the ASEAN area still need to consult the specific visa requirements for the countries they are visiting. Business travellers may wish to take advantage of tariff reductions and other economic measures between the nations. For visitors, however, normal duty free limits on cigarettes, alcohol, perfume and the like, apply when travelling between them.

By plane[edit]

Check-in counters at BKK

The main international gateways to Southeast Asia are Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and Jakarta (Indonesia). Manila (Philippines) and Bali also offer relatively good connections to other cities outside the region. Hong Kong also makes a good springboard into the region, with many low-cost carriers flying into Southeast Asian destinations.

Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways are all known for their great service and safety records. Philippine Airlines is the oldest airline in this part of the world still flying under the original name. Rapidly expanding AirAsia flies out of its Kuala Lumpur hub and getting from one Southeast Asian city to another is often as easy as booking two separate AirAsia tickets and transiting through their Kuala Lumpur hub. AirAsia also operates several secondary hubs in Jakarta and Bangkok. In addition, budget flights can be booked through the Jetstar, Silk Air, Scoot and Tiger Airways hubs in Singapore.

Travellers to ASEAN nations are starting to benefit from the ASEAN Single Aviation Market policy, a gradual process of opening up the markets which is moving slowly but surely.

By train[edit]

The only railway line into Southeast Asia is between Vietnam and China, and on to Russia and even Europe. There are no connections between Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries yet, although there are plans for links through both Cambodia and Myanmar onward to the existing Thailand-Malaysia network.

By boat[edit]

Southeast Asia is a popular destination for round the world cruises, and many of them make several stops in Southeast Asia with the option to go for shore excursions. Popular ports of call include Singapore, Langkawi, Penang, Tioman, Redang, Phuket, Nha Trang, Ha Long Bay, Ho Chi Minh City and Ko Samui. In addition, Star Cruises also operates cruises from Hong Kong and Taiwan to various destinations in Southeast Asia.

Get around[edit]

With the exception of Singapore, public transport networks in Southeast Asia tend to be underdeveloped. However, due to reckless driving habits, driving is also usually not for the faint-hearted. Most of the time, plane, bus or rail travel tends to be the best way to get around.

By plane[edit]

Low-cost carriers are popular in Southeast Asia too

Much of Southeast Asia is now covered by a dense web of low-cost carriers, making this a fast and affordable way of getting around. Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are the main hubs for budget airlines in the area. The larger multinational budget airlines and most national carriers are respectable, but some of the smaller airlines have questionable safety records, especially on domestic flights using older planes. Do some research before you buy.

Services along the main Jakarta-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok business corridor are extremely frequent, with frequencies almost like a bus service in the daytime, meaning that competition is stiff and prices are low if you book in advance.

By train[edit]

Thailand has the most extensive network, with relatively frequent and economical (albeit slow, compared to most buses) and generally reliable services. The main lines from Bangkok are north to Chiang Mai; northeast via Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) to Nong Khai and also east to Ubon Ratchathani; east via Chachoengsao to Aranyaprathet and also southeast via Pattaya to Sattahip; and south via Surat Thani (province) to Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Tao and Hat Yai, through Malaysia via Butterworth, Kuala Lumpur, and Johor Bahru, to Singapore.

The networks in Indonesia and Myanmar are more limited and decrepit and perhaps best experienced for their nostalgic value. Cambodia's railways were badly hit by the civil war and have been going downhill ever since. The only remaining passenger service connects the capital Phnom Penh with the next-largest town Battambang, and takes longer to arrive than a reasonably determined cyclist. It is no longer possible to go all the way through Cambodia to Thailand by rail.

There are currently no high-speed rail lines, though one between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur is in the advanced planning stages, and initial preparations for construction are being carried out for a line between Jakarta and Bandung.

By boat[edit]

Ferries between Lombok and Bali

International ferry links are surprisingly limited, but it's possible to cross over from Malaysia to Sumatra (Indonesia) and from Singapore to the Riau Islands (Indonesia) and Johor (Malaysia). Star Cruises also operates a fleet of cruises between Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, occasionally venturing as far as Cambodia, Vietnam, and even Hong Kong.

Domestic passenger ferries link various islands in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines, but safety regulations are often ignored, boats overloaded and sinkings are not uncommon. Be sure to inspect the boat before you agree to get on, and avoid boats that look overcrowded or too run down.

By car[edit]

Getting around continental Southeast Asia as well as intra-island travel in the various islands of Southeast Asia by car is possible, but definitely not for weenies. While you can drive yourself around Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei without any major problems after giving yourself some time to get used to the relative lack of road courtesy, traffic conditions elsewhere range from just bad to total chaos. As such, it is advisable to rent a car with a driver, and not try to drive yourself around.

Traffic moves on the left in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, East Timor and Singapore, and moves on the right elsewhere.

Landscapes and nature[edit]

View of Mount Bromo and surrounding volcanoes, Indonesia.

From active volcanoes to spectacular coastlines, from pristine rainforests to equatorial glaciers, and from impressive rice terraces to great river systems. Southeast Asia has it all. There are fourteen natural UNESCO World Heritage sites in the region, with dozens more on the tentative list, and hundreds of national parks and otherwise protected nature areas.

Most countries in Southeast Asia have impressive mountain ranges. The highest mountains of the region (more than 5,000 m) can be found in the eastern end of the Himalayas in Northern Myanmar, but almost equally high are the mountains of the Lorentz National Park of Indonesia's Papua province, known for their equatorial glaciers. Another high mountain (almost 4,100 m), that is easier to reach and therefore popular for climbing, is Mount Kinabalu in the Malaysian part of Borneo. As Southeast Asia is on the Ring of Fire of the Pacific Ocean, there is a large number of (active) volcanoes, mainly in Indonesia and the Philippines. The highest volcano of the Philippines is Mount Apo. The Indonesian archipelago has more than 100 active volcanoes, with the most active one being Mount Merapi (most recent eruption in 2010), and the most popular tourist destination being Mount Bromo.

Bridge in the rainforest in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Tropical rainforests dominate the landscape in much of Southeast Asia, from the monsoon forests of the mainland to the equatorial evergreen rainforests of the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines. Some of the key rainforest national parks on the mainland include Khao Sok and Khao Yai in Thailand and Taman Negara in Malaysia. The rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo are known as the habitat of the orangutan. Many of the rainforests and other landscapes in Southeast Asia are home to (critically) endangered animal species, such as several primate species in Vietnam's Cuc Phuong area, the Javan rhinoceros in Indonesia's Ujung Kulon lowland rainforest, and the Indochinese tiger in several areas of Southeast Asia's mainland, notably the Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries. The Komodo National Park in Indonesia is home to the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon.

The Mekong river at Luang Prabang, Laos.

The key river of Southeast Asia, often called the lifeblood of the Indochina region, is the Mekong, that flows from China towards the South China Sea, passing five Southeast Asian countries on its way: Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam (the Mekong Delta). In Cambodia, the Mekong creates the unique ecological phenomenon of the Tonle Sap lake. Also in Cambodia, around the town of Kratie, river dolphins can be found. The second-longest river of the region is the Salween, flowing mostly in Myanmar. An interesting river is the subterranean river of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines, with 8 km in length possibly the longest underground river in the world. Apart from Tonle Sap, other large lakes in the region include the densely populated Inle Lake of Myanmar, and Indonesia's Lake Toba, that is actually a huge volcano crater. In several places in Southeast Asia, rivers and lakes are used for floating markets or villages, with famous examples including the floating villages surrounding Siem Reap (Cambodia), and the floating markets of Thailand including Damnoen Saduak and of Indonesia including Banjarmasin.

Geological formations and landscapes of interest are plenty in Southeast Asia. Prime examples include the karsts of Vang Vieng in Laos, the chocolate hills of Bohol in the Philippines, and the caves and grottos of Phong Nha-Ke Bang in Vietnam. Interesting coastal and marine landscapes include the limestone rock formations of Ao Phang Nga in Thailand, and ocean karsts at Ha Long Bay in Vietnam and Raja Ampat in Indonesia. More information on spectacular beaches (including for surfing) and underwater life (for diving and snorkelling) can be found in the Do section below.

Rice terraces at Banaue in the Cordillera region, Philippines.

In addition to natural landscapes, also many agricultural landscapes in Southeast Asia are spectacular. The key crop in most of the region is rice, with five Southeast Asian countries in the world's top 10 of rice producing countries. Some regions that are known for their stunning rice terraces include the Cordillera region of the Philippines, the region surrounding Sa Pa in Vietnam, and the Indonesian island of Bali. The cultural landscape of Bali, including the traditional subak irrigation system dating back to the 9th century, is on the World Heritage List. Other common crops in Southeast Asia include coffee, tea, rubber, sugar, tobacco, and a wide variety of tropical fruits. Famous regions with extensive tea plantations include the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, and the Puncak mountain pass area of Indonesia.

National Museum of Singapore.

All of the larger cities in Southeast Asia boast a range of museums, with the capital cities standing out. The region's most well-known culture and history museums include Singapore's National Museum (in Orchard) and Asian Civilisations Museum (in Riverside). Also most of the other capital cities have a National Museum focusing on the country's culture and history, including Bangkok (Rattanakosin), Jakarta (Central), Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Manila (Ermita), and Kuala Lumpur (Brickfields). Also in Brickfields, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia provides the largest collection of Islamic art in the region. The Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, also has several great culture and history museums, such as the Fine Arts Museum and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

Barbed wires at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Throughout the region, there are museums commemorating specific events in the regional and local history. This includes for example the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City on the Vietnam War, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh on the Cambodian genocide, the Aceh Tsunami Museum in Banda Aceh on the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed about 250,000 people (of which more than half in Aceh province), and the Resistance Museum in Dili on the struggle for independence of East Timor.

Among the key places to go for modern art collections are Singapore (for example the National Gallery in the Riverside district) and the town of Ubud in Bali, which boasts dozens of art galleries and museums.

Botanical gardens are plenty throughout the region. The most extensive and well-known among them include the Botanic Gardens in Singapore's North and West district, the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden near Pattaya in Thailand, and the Botanical Gardens of Bogor in Indonesia.

Archaeological sites and precolonial heritage[edit]

A diorama of a lady painting pots at the Ban Chiang Museum, Thailand.

Southeast Asia has a huge number of archaeological sites, ranging from the fossil remains of early humans of possibly more than 1 million years old, to great Hindu and Buddhist temples from the 8th to 14th centuries. Historic sights from the precolonial era are covered in this section, while colonial heritage is covered in the next section.

Three prehistoric archaeological sites in Southeast Asia are on the World Heritage List. The so-called Sangiran Early Man Site can be found near Solo in Indonesia, with fossils of early humans (related to the 'Java Man') that are estimated to be between 700,000 and 1,000,000 years old, possibly older. In Malaysia's Perak state, the Lenggong Valley contains four archaeological sites with tools, weapons jewellery and other equipment from various ages, and the 'Perak Man' skeleton. The archaelogical site of Ban Chiang near Udon Thani in Thailand contains among others red painted pottery, from about 4,000 to 2,000 years ago.

Stupas of the Borobudur temple, Indonesia.

Nowadays, Hinduism in Southeast Asia is mostly limited to the Indonesian island of Bali and the Indian communities of Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore, while Buddhism is concentrated in Indochina. However, from about the 4th to the 15th centuries, Hinduism, Buddhism and combinations were adhered by the vast majority of Southeast Asia, and this led to the construction of many Hindu and Buddhist temples across the region. Two world-famous Buddhist temples, and major tourist attractions, are Borobudur in Indonesia (8th-9th centuries) and Angkor Wat in Cambodia (12th century). Major Hindu temples include My Son (4th-14th centuries) in Vietnam, Prambanan (9th century; near the Borobudur temple) in Indonesia, Preah Vihear (11th-12th centuries) in Cambodia, and Vat Phou (11th-13th century) in Laos. All of these temples are World Heritage Sites.

Other key historic sights in Southeast Asia from the precolonial time (up to the 16th century) include the Sukhothai Historical Park in Thailand that used to be the capital of the Sukhotai Kingdom (13th-15th centuries), the Pyu Ancient Cities in Central Myanmar (2nd century BCE to 11th century), the ancient town and trading port of Hoi An in Vietnam (15th to 19th century), and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya in Central Thailand (14th century). Myanmar also boasts the archaeological sities of Bagan and Mrauk U, which were once the great capitals of ancient kingdoms of the Bamar and Rakhine ethnicities respectively, and each home to literally thousands of ancient temples. Near the city of Mandalay is Inwa, which served as one of the last capitals of the Burmese kingdom before it was conquered by the British. In Vietnam, two famous old citadels can be found: the 11th-century Hanoi Citadel, and the 14th-century Citadel of the Ho Dynasty in the Central Coast region. The Central Coast also boasts the city of Hue, the last capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, which continued to rule in name under French suzerainty until 1945.

Colonial heritage[edit]

St. Paul's Church in Malacca, Malaysia.

With the notable exception of Thailand, all Southeast Asian countries have been under (European) colonial rule for varying lengths of time between the 16th and 20th centuries. As a result, there is a considerable colonial heritage in the region, for example including fortifications, infrastructure, and architecture.

One of the key historic towns of Southeast Asia is Malacca, the capital of the Malacca Sultanate that was subsequently under Portuguese, Dutch, and British rule. Some of the highlights of Malacca include the Portuguese fortress A Famosa (1511) and St. Paul's Church (1521), and the Dutch Stadthuys (city hall, 1650). British colonial architecture can be found among others in Central Kuala Lumpur (such as the Government Offices built at the end of the 19th century) and in Singapore's Riverside area. Arguably the greatest concentration of British colonial architecture can be found in George Town and Yangon.

From 1619 to Indonesian independence, the capital of the Dutch East Indies was Batavia (present-day Jakarta). A huge number of colonial remnants can therefore be found in the city, ranging from the Batavia City Hall (built 1707-1710, now the Jakarta History Museum) in West Jakarta to the Neo-Gothic Jakarta Cathedral (built 1891-1901) in Central Jakarta. Also throughout the rest of the Indonesian archipelago, virtually every city and town has sights from the colonial time, such as the 17th century Fort Rotterdam in Makassar, the 18th century Fort Vredeburg in Yogyakarta, and many early 20th century Art Deco masterpieces in Bandung. Across the island of Java in the early 19th century the Great Post Road was constructed, enabling quick trade and development of the entire island.

The old town of Hoi An, Vietnam.

In the Spanish Philippines, a large number of catholic churches were built, with four baroque churches listed on the World Heritage List (among others the San Agustín Church in Manila's historic centre and the Miagao church in Iloilo). The historic town of Vigan is a Hispanic town well known for its cobblestone streets and unique mixed European-Oriental architecture. After the Philippines came under American rule, especially many civil government buildings were constructed.

The French colonial architecture can be found throughout former French Indochina. The former capital of Laos, Luang Prabang, is on the World Heritage List for its well-preserved blend of colonial and pre-colonial architecture. Similarly, the old towns of Hanoi and Hoi An in Vietnam have lots of buildings in French Colonial style, while its largest city, Ho Chi Minh City, is also home to several impressive French colonial buildings such as the Saigon Central Post Office, City Hall and the Saigon Opera House.

Other sights[edit]

Fireworks in Singapore's Marina Bay district.

There are dozens of cities with a population of more than a million in Southeast Asia, and many of these have impressive cityscapes. The main modern city of the region is Singapore, with especially the Marina Bay area having a recognizable skyline. However, also the other main cities have a large number of skyscrapers and office towers, notably Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City. The administrative capital of Malaysia, Putrajaya is a planned city with a surreal mix of modernity and tradition.

Brunei is the only country of Southeast Asia that is a sultanate, and the residential palace of the sultan, Istana Nurul Iman, is considered the largest palace in the world. However, it is usually not accessible for the public. Throughout history, numerous sultanates have reigned over several parts of Southeast Asia, with some of the most powerful ones being the Mataram Sultanate (of which the remaining sultanates of Solo and Yogyakarta are successors) and the Malacca sultanate. Sultan palaces and related museums can be found throughout the region, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

With Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia being majority Muslim countries, there are many mosques in the region. Prominent mosques include the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta (the largest mosque of the region, with a capacity of 200,000), the Blue Mosque in Shah Alam, and the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan.

War-related sights (apart from the museums mentioned above) can be found in most of the countries in the region. In Cambodia, the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh offer a reminder of the Cambodian Genocide. In Vietnam, there are many sights related to the Vietnam War, such as the Demilitarized Zone around the former border between North and South Vietnam, and the Cu Chi tunnel system. In Indonesia, there are numerous sights related to the War of Independence, such as the Monas national monument in Central Jakarta.

Visitors with an interest in military history can find many remnants from the Pacific War and the Indochina Wars.

Spotted Moray Eel in Sabang, Philippines

Water sports[edit]

Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia and Thailand, is well-known throughout the world for its traditional massages. While the conditions of massage parlours vary, those in major hotels in touristy areas are usually clean, though you would generally pay a premium for them. Nevertheless, prices remain much lower than in most Western countries, with 1-hour massages starting from around USD5–20.

  • Southeast Asian Games - Known in short as the SEA games, it is held every two years among the 11 countries of Southeast Asia in odd-numbered years. It is structured similarly to the Olympics, albeit on a much smaller scale, and also features several sports that are only popular within Southeast Asia such as sepak takraw (essentially volleyball played with the feet instead of hands, known for its spectacular overhead kicks), and silat (a Malay martial art). The last edition was held in Singapore in 2015, and the next edition will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017.

Every Southeast Asian country has its own currency except for East Timor. The US dollar is the official currency of East Timor, the unofficial currency of Cambodia and Laos, and (for larger payments) is widely accepted in some Southeast Asian cities. Euros are also widely accepted in the major cities, although rates are rarely as good as for dollars. Thai baht are widely accepted in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. As Singapore is considered to be the main financial centre of Southeast Asia, Singapore dollars would generally be accepted in major tourist areas if you're in a pinch (and are legal tender in Brunei), though the conversion rate might not be very favourable. Exchange rates for Southeast Asian currencies tend to be very poor outside the region, so it's best to exchange (or use the ATM) only after arrival. Alternatively, Singapore and Hong Kong have many money changers who offer competitive rates for Southeast Asian currencies, so you might plan to spend a night or two in transit for you to get your money changed.

A floating market in Vietnam

Southeast Asia is cheap, so much so that it is among the cheapest travel destinations on the planet. USD20 is a perfectly serviceable daily backpacker budget in most countries in the region, while the savvy traveller can eat well, drink a lot and stay in luxury hotels for USD100 per day.

Some exceptions do stand out. The rich city-states of Singapore and Brunei are about twice as expensive as their neighbours, while at the other end of the spectrum, the difficulty of getting into and around underdeveloped places like Myanmar, East Timor and the backwoods of Indonesia drives up prices there too. In Singapore in particular, the sheer scarcity of land drives accommodation rates up and you would be looking at more than USD100 per night for a four-star hotel.

Southeast Asia is a shopping haven, with both high end branded goods and dirt cheap street goods. The most popular city for shopping in Southeast Asia is Bangkok, although Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore all have extensive arrays of exclusive shopping malls stocked with haute couture labels. On the other end of the spectrum, street markets remain a part of daily life (except in Singapore) and are the place to go for dirt cheap or counterfeit items. Some towns like Chiang Mai in Thailand and Ubud in Bali, Indonesia are well known for enormous markets selling traditional artworks, and it's often possible to buy directly from local artists or have dresses, jewellery, furniture, etc., made to order.

Bargain in public markets and flea markets where prices aren't fixed. Southeast Asians actually will give you a bargain if you make them laugh and smile while naming your price; if they don't, try saying bye bye and smile and maybe the vendor might change his mind and give you a discount. When bargaining for simple things like watches, sunglasses, and shoes remember that these are often marked up hugely and, given some bargaining skill, can often be brought down to something like 20% of the asking price. If you can't seem to get them down to a reasonable price, then you're doing it wrong. See Bargaining for more tips.

As a general rule of thumb, if a price is not explicitly posted, you need to haggle for it. However even posted prices can often be haggled down as well.

Be humbled by the King of Fruits
For fans of street food, Southeast Asia is definitely the place to go. Street dining in Jakarta pictured

Southeast Asian cuisine reflects their diverse history and culture. It can be roughly split into continental Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) and maritime (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, East Timor), and even then still differs from area to area depending on cultural influences. The Philippines' food culture is the most varied due to their additional influences from Spain and America.

Street vendors or hawkers are a culinary cornerstone of the region, offering wonderful food at a very inexpensive cost; if you're scrupulous about hygiene, go for the char-grilled, deep-fried or boiled-silly options. Thai and Vietnamese dishes like the ubiquitous pad Thai and beef pho have been widely exported around the world after the Vietnam War, followed closely by Malaysian restaurants, but a common refrain is that they simply cannot compare with a fresh bowl served by the roadside. Singapore probably serves as the easiest introduction to street food, though Bangkok and Penang have the better hawkers, with Ho Chi Minh City not far behind.

Rice is the main Southeast Asian staple, with noodles of all sorts an important second option. It's common to take a rich soupy bowl of noodles or some congee (rice porridge) for breakfast. Roti canai in Malaysia, known as roti prata in Singapore, is based on the Indian paratha (flatbread) while Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos have a fondness for French baguettes courtesy of their colonial history, epitomised by banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich).

Love of the spicy chilli is also shared throughout the region, and many of its most famous dishes incorporate chilli whether as a core ingredient or as a separate garnishing, from Thai curries and tom yum soup to the Indonesian beef rendang to Malaysia's assam laksa to Cambodia's amok. The unsuspecting diner may end up downing glass after glass of water to try and quench the burning sensation, but the local advice is to drink hot tea instead. Asking the cook to tone down the spiciness will not always work, and often your eyes will water when eating an adjusted version even as nearby locals happily slurp down their meals. Chilli is just one of the many spices used in Southeast Asian cooking, with lemongrass, tamarind and cloves popular choices to lend strong aromatic flavours to dishes.

Living next to seas and rivers, seafood is a crowd favourite. Fish and prawns feature prominently, with fermented fish sauce and shrimp paste frequently used in everyday cooking, although shellfish such as Singapore chilli crab is much more expensive and usually saved for special occasions or enjoyed by the well-off.

Fruit is available everywhere in all shapes and sizes, and pretty much all year round thanks to the tropical weather. Mangoes are a firm favourite among travellers. The giant spiky durian, perhaps the only unifying factor between Southeast Asia's countries, is infamous for its pungent smell and has been likened to eating garlic ice cream next to an open sewer. Other distinctive Southeast Asian fruits are the purple mangosteen, the hairy rambutan and the jackfruit-like cempedak, whose exteriors hide juicy fleshy insides.

Rice-based alcoholic drinksThai whisky, Tuba, lao, tuak, arak and so on — are ubiquitous and potent, if rarely tasty. In some areas, notably the Philippines, rum is also common, made from the local sugarcane. As a rule of thumb, local booze is cheap, but most countries levy very high taxes on imported stuff.

Beerlao, the national beer of Laos

Beers are a must try in Southeast Asia, and are often very inexpensive. Check out San Miguel (Philippines), Singha, Chang beer (Thailand), Bir Bintang, Angker Beer (Indonesia), Tiger Beer (Singapore and Malaysia), Beerlao (Laos), Angkor and Angkor Stout (Cambodia). Lager is by far the most popular style, although stout (especially Guinness) is also popular and the larger cities have plenty of microbreweries and imported brews. Beer in SE Asia is primarily consumed by locals to simply get drunk, and not for taste. As such, by Western standards, most locally produced SE Asian beers are often of comparable quality to a low-end Western beers. Don't be surprised by the local habit of adding ice to your beer: not only does it help keep it cool, but it dilutes the often high alcohol content (6% is typical) as well.

Hampered by heavy taxation and a mostly unsuitable climate, wine is only slowly making inroads, although you can find a few wineries in central and northern Thailand, Bali, and Vietnam. Don't buy wine in a restaurant unless you're sure it's been kept properly, since a bottle left to simmer in the tropical heat will turn to vinegar within months. The exception is the former French colonies of Laos and Cambodia which have a respectable collection of vintages available in the larger cities of Vientiane and Phnom Penh.

Nearby Australia exports a good deal of wine to this region; it will be found mainly in high-end hotels or restaurants, though places catering to the budget/backpacker part of the tourist trade may have some as well. The cheap local restaurants generally will not have any.

Fruit juices and coconut water are widely available.

Stay safe[edit]

Generally speaking the traveller trail in Southeast Asia is perfectly safe, but there are low-level insurgencies in the remote areas of Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and East Timor.

Violent crime is rare in Southeast Asia, but tourists have been attacked in beach resorts in a few isolated but well publicised cases.

Opportunistic theft is more common, so watch out for pickpockets in crowded areas and keep a close eye on your bags when travelling, particularly on overnight buses and trains.

Major dangers are very poor road safety, as well as little or no oversight of physical activities such as white water rafting and bungee jumping.

In 2004 an Indian ocean tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people, with Thailand and Indonesia's Aceh province being severely affected. Many foreign tourists were injured or killed in this very rare yet very dangerous event.

While plenty of narcotics are produced, distributed and consumed around the region, most countries (especially Thailand and Singapore) have harsh penalties for possession of small amounts, and capital punishment for organized drug trafficking. Neither foreign citizenship nor bribes will save visitors from sentences.

This region travel guide to Southeast Asia is an outline and may need more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. If there are Cities and Other destinations listed, they may not all be at usable status or there may not be a valid regional structure and a "Get in" section describing all of the typical ways to get here. Please plunge forward and help it grow!


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Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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dagla (needs class)

  1. overcoat (garment)

This Swahili entry was created from the translations listed at overcoat. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see dagla in the Swahili Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) July 2009


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Building Your Customer Success Team: Knowing When to Specialize

In a fast growing start-ups, I’ve learned that these are the constants when leading a Customer Success team:

  • Change is the norm
  • Time is your enemy
  • Hesitation can be deadly

What does this mean and how does it relate to building out a Customer Success team? It means that you are always in a state of flux and you need to quickly adapt to an environment that is constantly changing around you. You need to make decisions and you need to make them quickly – even if they aren’t always the right ones. You don’t have a choice. You either evolve or die. You’re never catching your breath and you’re never letting down your guard. Your customers expectations are increasing and becoming more complex, your board and executive are scrutinizing any signs of churn and your Customer Success team is counting on you to keep a steady hand on the wheel as they tirelessly go over and above for customers and for you.

It’s in this environment that I recognized that a change in our CS team was needed and it was needed quickly in order for us to get to the next level.

Customer Success Managers Can’t Do Everything

Early on at Influitive, each Customer Success Manager (or Advocacy Coaches as we call them) performed multiple roles. Their primary role was to onboard new customers successfully, manage the ongoing customer relationship and own the renewal process. This structure had many advantages:

  • Simplicity for the customer. It’s simple for the customer as they have one person that they work with from the time that they sign their agreement until their renewal. Obviously this person may change over time but there’s less of a chance of information being lost when you’re working with the same person.
  • Simplicity for the sales team (and your entire company). Sales know that they are handing over the customer to a specific person who will take great care of a client that they worked hard to bring in. This simple hand-off is straightforward and easy for sales to explain to their prospective customers. The rest of your company from Development to Finance know who to go to when they need a representative for the customer.
  • Relationship building. The Customer Success Manager (CSM) really gets to know the customer on a personal level. Because they’ve been with the customer since they started, they’ve been able to see the transformation from before the customer started working with you and the state that they’ve ascended to. Typically, the customer success manager has played an instrumental role in this process and there is a solid relationship between the customer and their CSM.

In a perfect world, this seamless customer experience was ideal. We had a very successful onboarding program in place – why would we mess with it? Here’s the rub: Customer Success Managers can’t do everything. As your company grows, something is going to give if you maintain the same processes. Here are the problems with this model that we ran into:

  • Customer Success Managers were burning the candle at both ends. While the concept of being the customer’s single point of contact is ideal, when you have several deals that all close at the same time its puts tremendous pressure on the Customer Success Managers to onboard customers successfully as well as take the necessary time to provide adequate advice for customers on an ongoing basis and ensure that they renew. Something has to give and it typically meant that your veteran customers weren’t receiving enough attention. In addition, you’ll burn out your Customer Success Managers as they try and cope with the multiple responsibilities being thrown their way. Even when you have a strong company culture that will typically tackle anything that comes its way, there are limits.
  • We created unnecessary bottlenecks in the sales process. While it would be amazing if the sales team would evenly spread out the deals they close over the course of a year, most of their wins take place at the end of the quarter. At one point, we had to let the sales team know that we only had a few more slots open in the next few weeks for taking on new customers as the CSM team was over capacity. From Ben Horowitz’s book, The Hard Things About Hard Things, you don’t want to waste time trying to change a buying cycle that has existed for decades (possibly centuries) and will probably never change. You need to adapt and make it as easy as possible to take on new customers and get them rocking and rolling as fast as possible.

I knew that we needed to make a change and it was time to specialize the onboarding role.

Splitting out the Onboarding Function: Specialization

Change is always risky. The saying “if the wheel ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may be playing over and over again in your head but you need to see beyond this. When we decided to start up an onboarding function we identified these potential issues:

  • Broken telephone and dropping the baton. We were worried that as the customer was handed off from sales to the onboarding team and then to the CSM, there was a chance that we wouldn’t accurately capture all that we knew about the customer. In addition, a customer had a chance to fall through the cracks. To mitigate these risks, we created processes to ensure that we updated the CRM with the customer-success-specializationappropriate information about the customer and created specific hand-off points in the customer lifecycle to ensure that no one dropped the baton.
  • Inflated customer expectations. There is a major difference between what takes place in onboarding and what takes place after a customer has “launched” and has started to use our product on a regular basis. There is much more handholding during onboarding to ensure a successful launch. This role changes post-launch. To mitigate the risk of missed expectations we clearly defined the different roles that each team member plays (onboarding vs CSM) on the kick-off call with a new customer.

Once we knew we could contain these risks, we decided to proceed with this change and hire a new Onboarding Specialist and build out this new onboarding function. We needed to specialize this role so that we could:

  • Deliver a consistent onboarding process with a unified set of materials.
  • Ensure that the person with the right skills for this specific role was in place.
  • Focus on increasing efficiency and scalability of the onboarding process while improving the customer experience.
  • Allow Customer Success Managers to increase their capacity to manage a higher number of customers while increasing customer satisfaction and retention rates.

While we’re still in early stages of this transformation, we’ve seen some positive signs. Our Support team has seen a  decrease in the number of tickets submitted by new customers due to the improvement in the onboarding process, we’ve seen an improvement in the preparedness when it comes to customer renewal cycles due to the freed up time that CSMs now have and we’ve been able to achieve +83 NPS in this current quarter.

As always, we’ll remain vigilant in our goal of providing the best customer experience while being skeptical at any positive trend. All that indicates is that another major change will be needed to help us adapt to the next wave of growth that is on the horizon. And to that I say: Bring it.

How has your customer facing teams specialized their functions to meet the demand of your company’s growth? What has worked? What hasn’t?

Chad H.

For more updates, follow me on Twitter: @ChadTev

3 Comments Add yours

  1. paul swiencicki says:

    Great insights here chad..Thanks

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Bombus soroeensis

Broken–belted Bumblebee, Bombus soroeensis

Bombus soroeensis

It’s been many months since I last posted. One Monday morning I went in to work to find that someone higher up the food chain had decided to close our department – I’m now working freelance. Inevitably time has been short while I focus on my new enterprise (it’s gone rather well so far) but I have made time to continue to lead my monthly Beewalks on Salisbury Plain in Areas 15 on behalf of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Although the Shrill Carder Bee Bombus sylvarum has remained elusive we have encountered another rare bumblebee. From July we started observing specimens of what at first glance looked to be small Bombus terrestris or Bombus lucorum female workers but… the first yellow band on the thorax was just a little bit too lemony and the tail although predominantly white had a peachey tinge separating it from the black. Thinking it might be the Broken-belted Bumblebee Bombus Soroeensis we took photos (see photo of male above) and posted these onto the BWARS (Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society) Facebook page but at best the overall consensus was ‘possibly’.

On my next encounter, to get a positive determination, I kept a specimen so I could look at it in more detail under my stereomicroscope and key it out. I also allowed Marc Taylor who’d joined us for the day to take a specimen and after he’d examined the sting sheath confirmed he thought it was soroeensis. (Marc is a much more experienced amateur entomologist than I, particularly in regard to things like dissection). I was pretty sure it was too as features on the mandibles and antenna looked good but as I was coincidentally visiting the Natural History Museum in London the very next day I had the good fortune to get David Notton, Head Curator, Hymenoptera, to take a look and he confirmed it was indeed soroeensis. After a celebratory skip, hop and jump I agreed to donate my specimen to the museum for DNA research as the NHM has very few specimens from Salisbury Plain.

It’s rather scarce outside of Scotland and until fairly recently Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire was thought to have the only population of this species in southern England (although new records have come in from the Dungeness area where it was previously unrecorded). Most records from the Plain have come from further East around the Bulford area and we do not appear to have any records this far West in the Centre. But according to George Else who has been recording bees on the Plain since the early 80s ‘it is is very widely distributed over the Plain and locally abundant in a number of locations.’  I’m sure he’s right, it may just be that due to the difficulty in identifying it in the field it is simply under-recorded.

In regard to the photo, that must be a bit of a rarity too as the bumblebee (now confirmed as a male, B. soroeensis) is nectaring on Tuberous Thistle Cirsium tuberosum an even rarer perennial only found in one other location outside Wiltshire. The good news is this year we’ve found good numbers of Tuberous Thistle in Area 15.

4 Comments Post a comment
  1. Lovely photo, Marc; I like how the bee and the flower grab the eye together. Nice story too about the amateur entomological exploit. I hope the new venture keeps going well, and that you can find some time to sneak in a post here, now and again.

    November 9, 2015
  2. Thanks Michael, good to see you posting again.

    November 10, 2015
  3. jim KIRBY #

    Thanks for your E mails which I read with interest. I hope your freelance efforts work well for you.

    November 18, 2015

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Meetings and Events

International Entomology Leadership Summit: Improving the Human Condition through Insect Science
Orlando, Florida, USA
September 27-28, 2016
This Summit,  co-located with 2016 International Congress of Entomology, defined and prioritized Grand Challenges to which entomology can make a unique and powerful contribution. Click here for more information.

Summit on the Aedes aegypti Crisis in the Americas
Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
March 13, 2016
The first Grand Challenges Summit regarding the Aedes aegypti mosquito and the pathogens it transmits held during the Joint Meeting of the Brazilian Congress of Entomology and the Latin American Congress of Entomology. Click here for more information.

Grand Challenges Leaders Meeting
Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 16, 2015
Leaders of the Grand Challenges initiative met during the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America to discuss future plans.

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Happy landings, shininess

a few days ago I landed in Seattle, and I fell in love with the place.

Not least for the Seattle Center which includes the Experience Music Project – the EMP Museum – the most amazingly shiny building I’ve ever encountered – which I spent a good hour or so just circling and photographing while oohing and ahing.

Designed by Frank O Gehry, this extraordinary building has colours that seem to shift as you walk round, and the wobbly surface make for funky reflections. Get these…

And Chihuly Garden and Glass —oh my days!! —If you’re like me and get giddy on shiny things, this is a place that will make your heart sing!

Check back soon — I’ll post up the pics from there once I’ve filtered through them. (I took approx a gazillionty-hundred-and-twelve… watch this space!!)

2 thoughts on “Happy landings, shininess

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Lanny In Pieces

A game by Hilgames

Genre: Adventure
Country: CH
Edition: 2014

Lanny is a small planarian that lives inside an aquarium of a school. He is friends with a seahorse, Danny. One day, the aquarium managers discovers that there is a "planarian infestation" inside the aquarium, and decides to clean the aquarium, transfering all animals and plants to a new aquarium.

Lanny's friend love it so much they don't want to miss it in the new aquarium, so they give Lanny the idea to give pieces of himself to everyone so it can be "reglued" after the process.

Then starts Lanny's adventure through the old aquarium, trying to give everyone a small piece of himself.

Most of the animals at first be wondered that a planarian can talk, because it's the first time they've ever seen that, but end up accepting to carry a small piece of it (friends section), but some of them end up eating the small piece, and find him so delicious that they eat Lanny (foes section) - that's a game over.

Additionally, when swimming near the aquarium surface, Lanny may be caught up by a fishing net, another game over.

He needs to collect food in the way, so he can regenerate.

Gameplay: swim (keyboard arrows) and talk to other animals (space)


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, , , ,

Grid parity is the point in time when the price of electricity from solar power (or another resource) becomes equal to the price of electricity from the (fossil-fuel based) electrical grid.  Significant decreases in the price of installed solar in recent years has lead to grid parity in a number of countries as well as several states in the US.

According to the following map put together by the Union of Concerned Scientists, grid parity has already been reached or exceeded in 11 states in the US, and it is estimated that number will be up to 28 states by 2017:

It’s no surprise that sunny CA, AZ, TX are at grid parity given their high solar radiation levels, but its interesting to note that several northeast US states are also considered at grid parity, which likely reflects higher local grid electricity prices in those states than in other regions of the country.


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MC-159 Flo Yellow Plastisol Ink Colors

MC-159 Flo Yellow

  • $30.00

Multi-Tech LogoMulti-Choice is a plastisol ink for general-purpose screen printing on a variety of textile products. It can be printed on cotton, cotton/polyester blends, rayons and most open-weave and mesh nylon material. Multi-Choice also can be used for printing standard or hot split transfers, in addition to athletic printing. Multi-Choice is also fast-flashing. A variety of additives are available for use with Multi-Choice for special applications.

In fact, if you want just one ink to do everything, Multi-Choice is the choice. For example, with the addition of MSB-100 Clear/Soft-Hand Extender, Multi-Choice can achieve a "soft-hand" feel without affecting the cure time! You can also add our Puff Concentrate and have a true "puff ink" with the added advantage of being able to control the amount of puff desired. We even have an Athletic Additive that increases adhesion (without a two-part catalyst) and abrasion-resistance. For nylon jacket printing, the addition of a Jacket Catalyst will turn Multi-Choice into a two-part ink that really sticks.


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text: BEGIN:VCALENDAR BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20170426T123000Z DTEND:20170426T210000Z LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Doral Chamber of Commerce, 8181 NW 36 Street, Suite 21-A, Miami, FL, 33166, US SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:QuickBooks for Business Course In Spanish, Wednesday, April 26th, 2017 URL: DESCRIPTION:\n\nSeminar Presented by an experience QuickBooks Instructor. \nOur goal is to prepare you with the tools and understanding you need to take advantage of the power QuickBooks offers. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR


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Monthly Archives: June 2013

Volunteer Coordinator John Shuck celebrates 5 years at Evergreen Cemetery!

Five years ago this weekend, John Shuck decided to check out Evergreen Cemetery. As a fan of cemeteries and the history they contain, he hoped to clear away the overgrowth in a few weekends worth of work, but quickly realized … Continue reading

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I’m Still Here – Kinda, Sorta

Well, hello there, blog readers. I did not fall off the face of the internet entirely. I’ve started typing a few new posts, thought about even more in my head and have been reading along with some of you even though I’m not commenting like normal.

Last month the kids and I moved into a new townhouse about 25 miles away from the house I shared with Zachary. They still split their time 50/50 between the two of us, and I’m driving them to and from school in the “old” town each day they are with me.

The new place is quite a bit smaller than the house the kids still share with Zachary. No basement, either. As I think about the boxes still left at Zachary’s (how weird to call it his house instead of our house) that I need to bring here I freak out a bit wondering where those holiday decorations and old family memorabilia will go. I look forward to summer but question how the kids will fare without a huge yard to run in when they are with me.

The thing about a divorce is that nothing else in life slows down so that you can deal with it. It just runs right alongside you, laughing the whole time, “You thought you were busy before? Let’s throw some legal hassles at ya now and see how ya do!” I may need to pack and move and unpack and research new insurance policies and help my lawyer draft responses and figure out how to get the kids enrolled in a new school district and and and and and… but my kids still need their mother, my business still needs to run, I have the part time job I still work. I’m also interviewing for a new part time job at another restaurant since I don’t get enough hours at the first one.

Here are a few random facts I’ve learned this past month:

1. I have a ton of books. Like, a billion. Or maybe just hundreds. But it’s a lot and about half of them were in boxes in my basement I hadn’t touched in more than six years. College textbooks on literary theory, short story anthologies, poetry books written by my professors. And I can’t bear to part with any of them. Except The Help, Under the Dome and the Sookie Stackhouse series, among a few others. Those are definitely going.

2. I love 30 Rock. How have I lived my life without seeing this show? I’ve been watching it while I exercise or when I work at home and it’s awesome. In fact, after I hit publish on this I think I’ll help myself to a glass of wine and watch another episode. Long live Netflix!

3. I am still not good at dancing or Zumba. Still putting in the effort, though! You’d think after all this time tagging along with friends to the gym or to go out salsa dancing I’d have the moves down, but I may have to accept that I have no grace or rhythm. At all.

4. Budgeting when you don’t know what your expenses will be is hard. I don’t know how much to budget for gas because my driving patterns have totally changed. I don’t know how much to budget for groceries because I’ve never had my kids just 50% of the time before. I don’t know how much my utilities will be each month. I’m going to make sure I don’t gain a single pound because I don’t want to have to buy any new clothes unless necessary. I went thrifting and bought a bag full of (necessary) clothes for me and the kids for less than, I admit, I have spent on just one new shirt at the mall.  It’s going to take a few months in this new place with the new job to figure out my financial groove.

5. This winter is endless and that makes even die-hard winter fans grouchy. I do not love snow or cold, so you can imagine how absolutely blah this dreary weather makes me feel. Seriously, we just had record snowfall last Friday that canceled my kids’ field trips. It’s madness, and it needs to stop because I’m in need of some sunshine and the option to wear footwear that does not require socks.

6. Cooking for one is kind of a waste of time. When I don’t have the kids I usually eat oatmeal, eggs or a sandwich for dinner. Actually, I eat one of those for almost every meal when I’m alone. Anything that takes more than five minutes to prepare seems like overkill.

7. I have an odd compulsion to sign up for 5Ks. I think I’m up to four or five for this year. Never mind that I’ve never participated in an actual 5K before. As far as mid-life crises go, jogging slowly with throngs of others seems pretty tame.

So, there you have it.

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