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Interview: Paul Morrow

Paul Morrow runs one of the most informative sites on Baybayin. Below is my interview with him.

Christian Cabuay
What got you interested in Baybayin? I assume you studied the script on your own, what was the most challenging part?

Paul Morrow
It’s a bit ironic. I became interested in Filipino/Tagalog many years ago when I discovered that Filipinos used the Roman alphabet. At the time I thought Filipinos probably wrote in Chinese or some “bizarre” script like Tibetan. That’s how little I knew. But when I happened to see a dictionary at a friend’s house, I thought, “Hey, I can read this. I think I’ll try to learn the language.” Then, a few years later, I came across an article by Lope K. Santos about the baybayin in a book for students of Tagalog. I was surprised because none of my friends had ever mentioned to me that Filipinos once had their own writing system. When I asked them I about it, they didn’t know what I was talking about. This made me very curious so I tried to find every scrap of information I could about the baybayin.

Learning the baybayin was the easy part; the challenge was finding reliable information about its history and usage. All I had in the beginning were second and third hand sources, like school textbooks. This was the dark ages before the Internet.

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Upcoming projects

If you follow me on Twitter (, you may have noticed that my latest work has been more digital compared to last year. That’s because I spend a lot of time on my iPhone. 1.5 hours everyday on the train, might as well do something constructive. Over the last 5 months, there have been a few apps that compliment my brush style pretty well. Detailed reviews of these apps and how I use them to come later. in the meantime, you can check out this video of Baybayin on the iPhone.

As part of my this website, I’m featuring interviews with different Baybayin personalities. I ‘ve covered most of the known people online but, I’m facing issues finding people to interview in the Philippines. I do have an outstanding invitation for the curators of Bahay Nakpil. Does anyone have any leads?

Over the last 2 years, I’ve been working on putting some sort of Baybayin book together. About 8 months ago, I finally decided on a direction. I initially wanted the book focused on history, modern modifications and art but changed my mind because I didn’t want to simply repeat what Hector Santos and Paul Morrow have already researched. The focus will now be my Baybayin art. For proper context, there will be sections on history and modern usage.

I want to take part of every Filipino Festival this season but the reality is that I cannot afford to pay for the booth space for most of these events. Even if I split the costs, with my festival partner (Malaya Designs), it will still not be feasible. The problem is that this isn’t a business for me.  Although I have some art prints for sale and little knickknacks, I’m lucky if I break even. I believe that Baybayin should be part of EVERY Filipino cultural event just as much as the Philippine Sun and Star shirt and condo vendors. That said, I fully understand the capitalism andwill be working on a project that will give me presence at these events without me going broke. It may not happened this festival season, maybe next year.

Coming soon….
My day job is an Web Analyst and one of my job functions is user integration and documentation. Looking at the current Baybayin educational landscape, there’s a lot of great info out there thanks to Hector and Paul but it can be overwhelming to the newbie. It takes effort to read everything and filter out the crap. With the good info, there’s also inconsistent and some nonfactual material out there. The challenge is gathering all these moving parts and putting it in a clear and concise package. One of the best ways to leqar the script is via workshops. Unfortunately, workshops are limited to physical locations. Online workshops are limited by time constraints.

This summer, I’ll be launching a Baybayin course to hopefully address those issues.

Paul R. Verzosa's Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas – How Baybayin was named Alibata

I recently finished reading Paul R. “Verzosa’s Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas”. He’s the man responsible for coining the term Alibata. You might have read the quote that’s been re-quoted over and over again from Paul Morrow’s site:

In 1921 I returned from the United States to give public lectures on Tagalog philology, calligraphy, and linguistics. I introduced the word alibata, which found its way into newsprints and often mentioned by many authors in their writings. I coined this word in 1914 in the New York Public Library, Manuscript Research Division, basing it on the Maguindanao (Moro) arrangement of letters of the alphabet after the Arabic: alif, ba, ta (alibata), “f” having been eliminated for euphony’s sake.”

While that quote is accurate, it doesn’t tell the whole story as to why he did it. There wasn’t any explanation why he linked the script to Arabic but there were some interesting points that may give you an idea of his motive.

He writes about the origin of the word “Alphabet” and his seemingly admiration of of other cultures who have names of their alphabet.

The Japanese call theirs the KANA and HIRAGANA SYLLABARIES invented by a Budhist mon in 700 AD which are based on the simple Chinese symbols. The Hindus call their Sandskrit alphabet DEVANGARI meaning “THE CITY OF GOD.” (Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas pg 11 – Paul R. Verzosa – 1939)

Maybe one of his goals to rename the script was to uplift it. He does acknowledge that the writing was indeed called Baybayin by the natives.

The first Spanish conquistadores and missionaries who came to the Philippines after the death of Magellan in the Island of Mactan found that the Tagalogs used to write their spoken speech in their native system called BAYBAYIN, and equivalent of Alphabet; but he litteral meaning of Baybayin is TO SPELL OUT or SYLLABICATE.(Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas pg 11 – Paul R. Verzosa – 1939)

It looks like he wasn’t content with the generic term equivalent of Alphabet. He wanted something more majestic in order to perhaps give the Filipinos a sense of pride. Putting all that aside, it still doesn’t really explain why he chose Arabic as a base of the script. He does document that Baybayin is a direct descendant of Sanskrit.

Asia adopted the various simplified and popularized Sanskrit alphabet and handwriting, of which the Tagalog handwriting is its distant but direct descendant.(Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas pg 17 – Paul R. Verzosa – 1939)

The book is broken down in 3 parts:
Part1: Historical Background
Part2: The Structure of the Language
Part3: How to Read and Write

At the end, there were advertisements. Check out BPI. Mapua also had one as well.

Baybayin on hot bodies

It’s summer and time to show off your tattoos and abs.  Here’s some work I’ve done for hot bodies.

Kat Longa (Playboy model)
She liked the look of modified Baybayin on her back even if I tried to get her to go with traditional. How could I say no? Below is a photo of her wrist that says Ate (sister).

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Baybayin art the iPhone

Along with Baybayin, technology is a passion of mine. Thanks to the iPhone, I’m able to do both. Here’s a video of some the better painting applications I use to write Baybayin. While there are a lot of paint iPhone apps, there are the best.

If you like this, you might want to check out the Baybayin tutorial iPhone app. It only costs $0.99 and having a conversation with the programmer, the next release will have some great features.

Download video

Asian Heritage Street Celebration wrap-up

The 5th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration was yesterday in downtown San Francisco. I had a booth along with Malaya Designs. It was our 1st non-Filipino event. I’d have to say that the reaction was comparable to Pistahan at Yerba Buena last year. As always, we did free name translations on stickers for everyone. Although people didn’t really buy much, it was great to meet people who “know me” online. I also spotted my work on an ankle. Oh yeah, thanks to Christine from Suku Art for the impromptu CBS interview.

Hey! That's my handwriting


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New York headline from unassociated presses:

“Jets fall shy of their ‘Mark’ as they T’Blow it again!”

Brian, aside from the injury, how do you feel about the game?

Rex, and how do you feel about the game?

Photo of Rex after JJ Watt’s last effort ends the game:

First Some Glam:

With only a few seconds left in Monday night’s football game between the Houston Texans vs the New York Jets, it was Mark Sanchez on the field, NOT Timmy Tebow, who was desperately trying to plunge the final stake into the hearts of the Texans’ beastly Defense. Mark tried to send an air-expressed special delivery package as time expired, but the attempt was sWatted away. Accolades go to the best air traffic controller in the NFL for his stellar Defensive efforts. As JJ Watt was walking off of the field in victory, the camera zoomed in on him as he loudly proclaimed, “You can’t end a game by throwing over MY head!”
Jets grounded, Texans win to open the season with five victories. Score; Texans 23, NY Jets 17.

JJ Watt in action.

Big slaps of congrats on the back to a number of Texans. Owen Daniels proves how valuable he is, James Casey is yet again his dynamic self, and Kevin Walter still shows why he’s the number two Receiver on the roster with good reason.

High praises go out to JJ Watt, for his usual dominant consistent performance. But a grand tip of the hat to both Cornerbacks Brice McCain, and Kareem Jackson. As the first half of the game was ending, McCain made one of his two highlighted plays of the game. Brice was heads up on the play as he deftly pulled in a sWatted deflection falling right into his grasp. After catching the ball he ran 86 yards downfield to the 9 yard line. His next herculean effort was sacking the much maligned Sanchez with 2:11 left on the game clock.

Defensive Backs Brice McCain and Kareem Jackson

Once again Kareem Jackson made a spectacular contribution to a victory. KJ eyeballed a deflected pass attempt from Sanchez intended to Receiver Jeff Cumberland, then snatched that ball as eagerly as any parent ever caught a child falling from a bicycle. He secured and protected that rock as if his life depended on it! The ball was promptly downed on the 42 yard line with 1:51 remaining in the game. That did ease the tension for a few seconds, allowing Texans’ fans to exhale one sigh of relief, but the air wasn’t cleared until JJ Watt gave the Jets one final tip in how to seal a football game.

Namaste to you, Arian!

Kudos to Arian Foster who padded his stats on Monday night with his commanding performance by running the ball for 152 yards and one touchdown, leaving thousands of Fantasy Football players very happy campers.

Now The Slams:

What’s the solution, Joe?

Texans open the season 5 and 0, but where have you gone Joe Marciano? The Texans’ Special Teams unit allowed Jets Return Man, Joe McKnight, to catch the ball at the endzone and allowing him to run one hundred yards for a touchdown. Joe; I’m advising you to immediately go to your local hardware store, purchase some glue, a little bit of twine, bailing wire, fifty rolls of duct tape, then march your squad into the film room, slam that door tight, and then kick some butt! C’mon man, I thought that my HDTV was sputtering out on me as it made a distinctive sucking sound. Special Teams is the weak link of the Texans, Coach. Your guys looked good during the preseason, but this is the real deal here. Trindon Holliday hasn’t been the only reason why fans wince during your portion of the program. Trying as hard as we might do by yelling at the performance as it takes place doesn’t help matters much. But it’s better than putting a fist through a wall. Joe; were you hoping that McKnight was going to trip over one of those yardlines on the field? It rarely happens in the NFL.

Which brings us to the Texans’ largest concern of the evening. Brian Cushing left the game with an injury late in the second quarter. It was Jets Guard, Mark Slauson, who knocked Cushing out of the game. It wasn’t very long before he was seen walking dejected down the sideline on his way to the locker room. Reports have it that he was seen on crutches after the game. It’s unknown at this time how seriously he’s been injured. Head Coach Gary Kubiak stated, “It doesn’t look good.” Tim Dobbins wore the mantle after Cushing left the game as “next man up”.

More Jeers:

Gary, how do you feel about the Jets’ return for a TD?

Antonio Cromartie picks off a pass intended for Andre Johnson.

Matt Schaub did a respectful job as Quarterback, but his skill position team looked to be frequently out of place. Andre Johnson fell shy of his golden 10K record as Antonio Cromartie was shadowing his every move. Was Gary Kubiak simply using a diversionary tactic by running his star Receiver Johnson against Cromartie?

Caveats do go out to the Offensive Lineman for NOT allowing Matt Schaub to be sacked.

The Texans again finished a game by dominating the time of possession with 35:16.

Rex Ryan tried to outthink matters, but Tim Tebow’s efforts, Antonio Cromartie’s appearance on Offense, or an unsurprising onside kick tactic couldn’t put a ‘W’ in the win column for the dejected Jets.

There were enough miscues, or outright mistakes for all the Texans’ Coaches to tend to when all is said and done.

All in all, a victory does taste sweet!

~ OneTexFan

James Flynt

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 photo Fedel_VIP_promo_zpsa7ef5a1b.jpg

I recently caught up with Christian rapper FEDEL via e-mail to talk about his new album, the struggles of being a pastor’s kid, and fashionable headwear.

Sketch: First things first, how are things in Oklahoma City after the massive tornado? Were you or anyone you know immediately impacted by it?

FEDEL: My hearts goes out to all the people that were impacted. I know people that were close to the tornadoes path, but only by the grace of God, they were not effected. I perform in OKC a lot, so I have tons of friends out there. I woke the next day with such a heavy heart, and am praying for all those impacted.

Sketch: What’s with the the V.I.P. theme? I remember seeing your recap video from this year’s SXSW festival where you were even telling the folks handing out badges and checking people in that they were a “V.I.P.” Surely there were much bigger stars on your side of the booth than theirs.

FEDEL: Everybody matters and everyone is a “Very Important Person” (VIP) with a “Very Important Plan.” I wanted to remind people of their importance by pushing them toward what God has called them to do.

 photo fedel_clubdavid_zpsec967b0b.jpg

Sketch: The lead single from V.I.P. is somewhat of a flip of your “I Will Be” song from a few years ago. Why did you feel the need to give it a refresh?

FEDEL: Club David was a projected that propelled me into a new place. New fans and new relationships. they would see the “I Will Be” shirt on my table and ask what it meant. The quote: “I Will Be Everything They Say I Could Not Be” defines who I am as a person and artist, and I wanted V.I.P. to show my fans more of who I am.

Sketch: On this album and others you’ve talked about your frustrations with your father who was/is a pastor but left your family early in your childhood. How would you describe your relationship with him today? Has he heard some of your song lyrics? If so, how does he feel about them?

FEDEL: My family dynamic is a huge part of my testimony. I am a part of the majority of people who grew up in a imperfect home and music has become a way for me to let people know they are not alone.

Sketch: Finally, how do you get your caps to stay on your head? I swear they look like they’re at a 90 degree angle sometimes.

FEDEL: Lol…. I love caps… I love fashion!

To find out more about FEDEL visit

Jason Bellini


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Mom and Dad: Gunning for 90

If you think you’re going to live to a ripe old age, you’re probably right.

According to the Census Bureau and the National Institute on Aging, nearly 2 million Americans are 90 or older, and that number is supposed to more than quadruple to 8.7 million by midcentury.

That’s the good news and also the bad. According to the Census Bureau and the institute on aging (as reported by the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times):

People in the 90-plus population are more likely than the merely elderly to live in poverty and to have disabilities, creating a new challenge to strained retiree income and health-care programs.

Here are Mom and Dad in Miami a few years ago.

My folks are 87 and 88. I decided to ask them what they thought of this new trend.

Question 1: Is living to be 90 worth the associated health problems?

Mom (who has had heart problems and is recovering from a very painful broken hip) : Well, I’m almost there, so…

Dad (who has heart trouble, hearing trouble and survived colon cancer many years ago) :  Yes. There’s a lot of  joy in the later years.

Question 2: When you were 30, did you think you’d get this far?

Mom: No.

Dad: No.

Question No. 3: What are the joys and sorrows that come with old age?

Mom: The joys are being with your family and your spouse longer. The  sorrows are the aches and pains and losing people that you love.

Dad: The joys are seeing my grandchildren prosper and thrive. The sorrows are that the rest of the population does not have the same health insurance that we do.

Me: O.K, this interview is over.

Mom: See, Dad’s answers are much more thoughtful than mine. I think he gets an A and I get a C. And don’t quote me.

Claudia Feldman | Senior Reporter


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Baker Institute dinner honors L.E. and Virginia Simmons

Chairs Beth Madison and Isabel and Danny David welcomed a distinguished crowd of 330 to the James A. Baker III’s Institute for Public Policy’s 2015 Prize for Excellence in Leadership Dinner at a private Houston country club on Friday night.

After the VIP reception in a wood-paneled salon — guests included Rice University President David Leebron and Y. Ping Sun — the party moved into a ballroom for the main event. Baker Institute Founding Director Edward P. Djerejian took the stage to kick off the program, and announced that the evening had already surpassed its goal of $500,000 — reaching a grand total of $740,000 funds raised to benefit the institute’s Center for Health and Biosciences.

As guests dug into dinner’s final course (scrumptious lemon meringue served in martini glasses), Madison and the Davids introduced a video presentation highlighting the impressive accomplishments of honorees L.E. and Virginia Simmons. Djerejian then joined the couple onstage to moderate the conversation that followed; topics ranged from Virginia’s thoughts on the future of inner city education reform, their involvement with Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and the duo’s eponymous Family Foundation Collaborative Research Fund, which strives to solve challenging medical dilemmas by partnering with Rice University, Texas Children’s Hospital and the Methodist Research Institute Hospital.

Among the attendees: The Honorable James A. Baker III and wife Susan Baker, Charles and Anne Duncan, Congressman Peter Olson and wife Nancy Olson, Cal and Hannah McNair, Daniel and Patricia BreenPhoebe and Bobby TudorAnthony and Cynthia Petrello, Margaret Williams and Linda McReynolds.

Amber Elliott


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Klein shut out by Marcus

The Klein boys fell to Marcus 3-0 in the 5A state soccer final today. It was longtime Bearkats coach Allen Baker’s final game on the sidelines.

Check out the story.

Up next: The Brenham boys take on Del Valle for the 4A title at 6 p.m.

Elaine Sharpe


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Livestreaming coverage of Rick Perry’s announcement

Texas on the Potomac brings you livestreaming coverage of Gov. Rick Perry’s big announcement at Holt Cat in San Antonio.

The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CDT/2 p.m. EDT.

Watch — and while you’re waiting, feel free to vote in our TxPotomac readers’ poll on Perry’s future.

Rick Perry says he'll announce "exciting future plans" on Monday. What would you like him to announce?

View Results

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Richard Dunham


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Jimmy Fund Walk: Team Blisters for Bucks

—Catharine Zink
Junior Graphic Designer

On September 21, I joined my friend and team captain, Nicole Sweeney, and 8,800 other participants in the Jimmy Fund Walk along the Boston Marathon route to support Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s mission to conquer cancer.Nicole formed the team, Blister for Bucks, 7 years ago and has been walking every year since. This year our team raised $4,228 for Dana-Farber and the Jimmy Fund, bringing the 7-year fundraising team total to almost $20,000.

Nicole walks for many reasons, one of which is her cousin Chelsea (seen on the far left of the photo). Chelsea is only 19 and has been in remission from brain cancer for over 5 years now. After her surgery, doctors told her that she would probably never walk again. She has proven them wrong and this year was an official walker, making it 3 miles, mostly without her cane. I dedicated my walk to my sister-in-law, Noreen McLaughlin, who lost her battle with breast cancer a year and a half ago at age 42.

What a fun and memorable event it was! It was amazing to see so many people coming together to support such a great cause. Along with the 8,800 walkers, there were more than 1,000 volunteers, more than 350 Dana-Farber employees, and 35 sponsors on the course. We even saw Matt Light (pictured above), former New England Patriot, who hung out along the route just to cheer walkers on!

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Judge Rules Against Auto Repair Shop Whose Landlord Towed Away Customer Cars

Posted by Steve Silver on Mar 4, 2015 4:07:54 PM

 Fayetteville, GA—Augustine Nworah’s automobile repair business allegedly failed after his landlord Lana Infante towed away some of his customers’ cars during a dispute over unpaid rent. Nearly eight years later, his case against Infante and her property manager Deanna Davis also failed when Fayette County Superior Court Judge W. Fletcher Sams directed a verdict in favor of the defendants. Augustine Nworah v. Deanna Davis and Lana Infante (2009V-1108)

According to statements and evidence introduced in court, Nworah entered into a multiyear lease with Infante on May 1, 2007 for a facility in which to conduct his auto repair and sales business. The lease allowed Nworah to use ten parking spaces on the property for business purposes. The first year’s rent was $1,000 a month, with a 10% late fee.

Click Here FREE Georgia Trial Video Samples After the lease was signed, Nworah was late in paying the rent on multiple occasions, resulting in late fees. On September 14, 2007, Nworah had not paid the full amount of rent owed by that time, including late fees. On that date, Infante contacted a wrecker service that towed from the property several vehicles owned by Nworah and his customers.

Nworah’s attorney, Larry Stewart, acknowledged in his opening statement that the lease contained a provision that allowed Infante to tow Nworah’s cars away if he did not pay his rent. However, in Stewart’s view, that provision conflicted with other contractual provisions that gave Nworah additional time to pay past due rent, subject to late fees. By towing the cars, Stewart said Infante was literally “taking the engine out of the business… Instead of waiting to get paid like he told them he would and they promised, they took away his business, they took away every car he had.”

Defense attorney Tracy Waldop contested Stewart’s account of the towing of the vehicles. She stated that Nworah was in fact using more than the ten parking spaces allowed under the lease and that Infante had warned him and other tenants not to occupy more than the entitled number of spaces. She continued: “When Jen Rose Properties [the name under which Infante was doing business] came back to the property that night, the only person that had not removed his cars was Mr. Nworah. And so they started towing. ... They only took down to his limit that he was allowed in the lease.”

In granting a directed verdict in the case, Judge Sams did not reach many of the issues raised by the attorneys in their opening statements. Instead, he based his decision on the results of a dispossessory hearing to evict Nworah that was held in Magistrate’s Court several months after the vehicles were towed. In Judge Sams’s view the judgment in the dispossessory hearing was res judicata regarding Nworah’s subsequent lawsuit.

When contacted by CVN, Larry Stewart expressed his disagreement with the judge’s decision and his intention to file a motion for a new trial. In Stewart’s view, the dispossessory action was filed in the name of Jen Rose Properties, but, at the time, Lana Infante had not incorporated and was doing business as a sole proprietor. Stewart believes that, under Georgia law, the judgment obtained by Jen Rose in the dispossessory action thus was void.

Attorneys for the defense were unavailable for comment at the time of this article.

Related information:

Attorneys involved in the case include Larry Stewart of Lawrenceville's Larry Stewart and Associates for Augustine Nworah, and Tracy Waldrop of Fayetteville's Waldrop and Trite, representing the defendants.

Watch on-demand video of the trial as soon as it becomes available.

Not a Subscriber? Learn more about CVN's unparalleled coverage of top Georgia trials.

Topics: Commercial Law, Georgia, Nworah v. Davis


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China Glaze Summer Rain collection (Summer 2017)

New Release: China Glaze — Summer Reign (Summer 2017)

Collection: China Glaze 2017 Summer, Summer Reign

China Glaze’s new Summer 2017 collection is called Summer Reign. It consists of 12 new shades in bright and neon hues.

I certainly like the looks of Emerald Bae (ugh the name), Rosé My Name, and Summer Reign. The presence of gold and silver metallics, usually the bane of winter holiday collections, is a little befuddling! They do make the collection look a little like a beach/winter holiday mashup.

All Glammed Up
mint crème
Chroma Cool
silver metallic
Emerald Bae
deep green crème
Flame Boyant
classic neon red
High Standards
gold metallic
I Truly Azure You
aqua-blue shimmer
Rosé My Name
magenta shimmer
Simply Fa-Blue-less
deep indigo blue crème
Sultry Solstice
orange neon
Summer Reign
bright purple shimmer
Sun-Set the Mood
hot coral crème
Sunset Seeker
blood-orange neon

Happy Shopping!

11 thoughts on “New Release: China Glaze — Summer Reign (Summer 2017)

  1. I’m with you, Emerald Bae is pretty but the name makes me cringe. A lot. Summer Reign looks like it has the potential to be so super pretty, I hope it’s more shimmery than the picture makes it seem!

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Expresses – With Sun!

The Fog has lifted, and the Sun is out, allowing me to capture London Express Tying up in front of Thailand Express this morning. Hapag-Lloyd and OOCL run a shared Service, Hence the OOCL Vessels With Hapag-Lloyd “Express” names.

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The summary of Q1 2018 at i-systems

It appears that 2018 will be a year of big technological changes in e-commerce. The first quarter has already proven that. We invite you to read the summary of the first three months of the year.

New projects

The most interesting projects from the first quarter of the year, mainly concerned B2B solutions. One of them is the system for one of the largest importers and distributors in the Polish HoReCa industry. The second project concerns a company dealing with the production and distribution of chimney and ventilation systems. The scope of this system includes both B2B and B2C solutions.

Another of the key projects concerns the omnichannel solution for one of the well-known Polish brands, with approximately 100 offline stores located throughout the country. In January, work for the automotive sector has also begun. Details of the solutions will be published in the next quarterly summaries.

Trends in system development

A large part of the most important consumer ratings of online stores relates to time and quality of delivery. On the other hand, more and more often companies do not want to freeze revenues for storing products. Dropshipping meets those expectations. Dropshipping is a warehouse policy model in which the shipment of the order to the customer takes place on the side of the producer, distributor or wholesaler. While the role of the online store is focused on activities aimed at encouraging purchase, order acceptance and redirection of information to a business partner for the purpose of shipping. The adoption of such model has many benefits. It is a way to expand the offer of an online store with an assortment of many manufacturers, and also it allows it to reduce the costs associated with the storage and transport of goods.

In order to implement dropshipping in e-commerce, it is initially required to download information about products from the business partner’s website and to map them to the sales system. This process must be repeatable because the manufacturer’s product range changes. Then, data on categories, VAT rates and margins for individual products or entire categories are verified.

In addition to the standard solution, some brands implement and use the so-called reverse dropshipping. It means selling brand’s own products to other online stores, which are then selling them to the target customers. This sales policy is a good choice when the brand wants to exist on the foreign market through its partners.

Strategic development of the organization

Part of the company’s activities is aimed at people interested in working in i-systems. Among such activities, in the last three months, „Programming holidays”, for those who wanted to start an adventure with IT can be mentioned, along with the study visits. Recently, we hosted students from WSB in Chorzów and Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Katowice department.

Classes during "Programming holidays"

Classes during „Programming holidays”

In the last quarter, the company’s representatives were also present at industry events. These included E-commerce EXPO in Berlin and the E-commerce Trends conference. During those events, ideas and solutions have been presented that will have a major impact on e-commerce in the near future.

Internal projects for quality improvement

The Research & Development team is working on the development of Continuous Integration capabilities. Creating systems in this method allows faster launching of individual functionalities or even the entire systems. An example of such an action is the launch of a ticket booking system for Termy Bania, which took only a month.

We are also working on client’s transition to CI solutions. The Polish company – Dalia – decided to take such step.

Another project that is being developed, is a web application for an online store, built using Angular tools in RWD and PWA technology. The logic of these works boils down to making the storefronts independent of the server part. The aim of the activities is to increase the client’s positive experience by improving the efficiency of the system and enabling the easier introduction of new mechanisms. The web application is also built based on the Continuous Integration method.

Selected awards

In the first quarter, the company’s „hall of fame” expanded by two positions. The first of these was the nomination in the Mobile Trends Awards competition in the „m-commerce” category for a mobile application, created for the brand.

In addition, at the beginning of March, Inc. Magazine published a ranking of 5000 fastest-growing private companies in Europe. In this year’s ranking, i-systems was listed for the first time, with a growth rate of 183%. Details of the ranking can be found here.

Should you not miss the quarter summaries of i-systems development, we invite you to subscribe to the newsletter.

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Archive | Imagine North America RSS feed for this section
Wildlife encounters

Top wildlife encounters

There’s nothing we love more than watching wild animals going about their lives, unfazed by our temporary passing in their world. From the sounds of their calls to their quirky mannerisms and even at times their unique scent, tracking down wildlife requires you to have all your senses engaged. To celebrate World Wildlife Day, we’ve more »

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Grizzly bear

An insider’s guide to bear watching in Canada

In Canada, wildlife comfortably outnumbers people. Of all the outdoor activities that Canada offers, bear watching is one of the best and most rewarding experiences. There are many opportunities to spot native bears, particularly if you know where to look. While most people will only ever dream of getting up close and personal with these more »

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A stopover in Vancouver

Vancouver is a cosmopolitan city that provides the gateway to some of Canada‘s most spectacular landscapes and the wonderful wilderness of British Columbia. With so much to see and do there, our Canada expert Paul, guides us through some of the city’s highlights to squeeze into a stay. Vancouver is a vibrant, colourful, and bustling city full more »

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Black bear

Top 3 places to visit on Vancouver Island

We are really excited to have recently welcomed back Canada onto our portfolio. With abundant wildlife, spectacular landscapes and wonderful cities, there is so much to discover there. We asked Paul, our Canada specialist, to name his top three must-sees on Vancouver Island. There is a lot more to Vancouver Island than you think, whilst the more »

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The world’s most amazing places to sleep

Whether it be the sounds of the bush, the lapping of the ocean or the twinkling night sky that brings a place to life at nighttime, a world awaits after dark. With this in mind, we’ve shortlisted our favourite destinations where getting a good night’s sleep sits top of the bill. 1. Sleep under the stars in more »

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Welcome to Big Sur...

The Central California Coast

There is no doubt that the state of California is packed with stunning beaches, and the Central Coast is no exception, but what people often don’t realise is how much more there is to this enticing region than its golden sands. We recently sent our North America specialist Lucie out to visit the counties of more »

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Using ssh as proxy/tunnel between Mac OS and Linux

How to connect to remote computer with private key by using ssh:

#register private key
ssh-add ~/dev/Private/ludek_vodicka_dsa.openssh

#connect to computer and forward local port to remote computer and remote port

#connect to computer and create SOCKS proxy on port SOCKS_PORT

If your private key was created for Windows, it will probably not work on linux/mac. It’s necessary to convert it by using puttygen (on mac or windows). You need to open it by puttygen and choose “Save as openssh” from menu.

Additional resources

Why I am not using phpMyAdmin on production servers

Even though I find phpMyAdmin and similar tools useful I don’t like them on production servers. When I spent a lot of my time protecting website against SQL injection I don’t want to leave opened doors to access the database through phpMyAdmin. Many phpMyAdmin installations are not protected with HTTPS and just one login on a public or attacked wifi can lead to a lot of troubles. So I recommend to delete the phpMyAdmin installation from the server and start with a more comfortable and secured way to do the task.

SSH tunnel will give you the security you’re looking for. Start your Putty, load the session and configure tunnel:

Putty tunnel screenshot

I’ve selected port 3366 to be used on my local machine so it avoids conflict with my other installation. Now I can connect from any tool to MySQL database at localhost:3366. I prefer Netbeans IDE and MySQL Workbench which is also really great for server/user configuration.

Secure SSH with RSA/DSA key

We are using SSH a lot to deploy our projects and to do common maintenance tasks. If you are accessing your server many times a day you might find frustrating typing the password all the time. You can use private key instead. Here are some detailed articles about adding RSA key and configuring SSH daemon. Bellow is a summary of the basic steps for Windows users.

Putty which is a great alternative to the Linux tools. To generate private/public key you should use PuttyGen.exe. Run the application, click generate and follow the instructions. It’s a good idea to put your name into the key comment so you could easily recognize your public key in configuration files. You should also protect your key with a password.

PuttyGen screenshot

Copy the public key which is located in the big text field above Key fingerprint field. Append the public key into /root/.ssh/authorized_keys file (if you want to login as root). You might need to create this file if it doesn’t exist already. Click on Save private key button and save the key to a secured place. You can now use this private key to login with putty to the remote server. To make things more comfortable you can use an agent to store unlocked private keys in the memory while you are logged into your computer. Run this command after you login:

pageant.exe john_doe.ppk

Without any further settings you should now be able to login to the remote SSH without password. If everything worked as expected you can now disable password authenticated access to make your server more secure:

# /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PasswordAuthentication no

To load you key after you login to a Linux box (useful for deployment) insert:

# ~/.bash_profile
# include .bashrc if it exists
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
 . ~/.bashrc

keychain --clear id_rsa
. ~/.keychain/$HOSTNAME-sh

Now we have a little bit more secured but more comfortable way to use SSH.


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Logistics-ICON-Circle Red.svg
Distribution & Fulfillment
Material Handling.svg
Material Handling Equipment

Three Signs You Could be a Target of Transportation Theft

Posted by Mike Finn on Aug 13, 2015 12:32:00 PM

You could be a target of transportation theft in your supply chain if:

  • You have distribution centers in California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, or Tennessee
  • You ship full truck load or container loads
  • You use brokerage or contract services

Your options:

  1. Stop making good logistics decisions to try to be less of a target
  2. Prepare your supply chain

U.S. cargo thefts average 81 incidents per month. In 2011 there were 974 reported cargo theft incidents – 853 were full truckload or containers and 34 were facility burglaries. (Source: 2011 US Cargo Theft Report)

Kenco transportation

Theft strategies:

  • Deceptive Pick ups
    • Identity theft of truck drivers means easy access to your cargo in secure lots
    • Lumpers, look-outs, and others work as an organized team
  • Lower value loads with easy resale have less security procedures
  • Full and multi-truck and container loads make it worth their while and have more predictable routes
  • Thieves are aware that there is minimal law enforcement
    • Companies hesitate to report theft to avoid damage to their reputation or insurance rate increases
    • Jurisdiction is an issue
    • Criminals often avoid prosecution and sentencing

Due to minimal law enforcement, cargo is low risk, but high reward for thieves. A crime of opportunity, transportation cargo thefts can be prevented through active monitoring of in-transit shipments and building trust with supply chain partners.

What is the risk level of your routes?

See all of the thefts on your exact route, including how and when the thieves stole the loads. By entering in your route starting and ending location, you can see risk level and see details of previous thefts on that route. Click HERE to learn more about the tool.

Download the Most Comprehensive Collection of Warehouse Best Practices

Topics: Transportation
Mike Finn

Written by Mike Finn

Mike Finn is Senior Vice President of Transportation at Kenco, a leading provider of distribution, transportation, and supply chain intelligence solutions. He provides strategic direction for the transportation activities for Kenco’s integrated solutions. Previously, Finn was with Transplace for 15 years where he held positions of increasing responsibility within the sales and operations departments. Before his tenure at Transplace, he worked for JBHunt. His education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management in 1997 from University of Arkansas College of Business (Logistics & Marketing); and a Global Supply Chain Executive MBA from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.


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What is BS5867 / BS 5867 part 2 type B? type C?

Silk Fabric textile curtain material fr

BS5867 part 2 type B is a contract standard for fire retardancy for CURTAINS.

As an interior designer you do *NOT* need to understand the details of the test nor the performance criteria that needs to be achieved.

However interior designers are responsible for the project/installation and because this is a serious are concerning fire risk you DO NEED to:
– Be certain what standard is required for your project/installation;
– Know that you are specifying fabric that meets the appropriate standard; and
– Prove that the fabric you have installed is up to the job.

So here is what you need to do to achieve that, essentially what you need to do to do your job and to ensure you have covered the bases of your responsibility.

1. Determine the fire retardancy standards that need to be adhered to. This may involve contacting the local fire officer. Determine what documentation you need to provide them.

2. Liaise with your fabric supplier to determine if the fabric either:

– inherently meets the standards; or

– requires treatment.

Click To Read More Interior Design Articles
Click To Read More Interior Design Articles

3. On purchasing the fabric, specify the treatment required. You would say to the fabric company “Treat the fabric to the contract curtain standard BS 5867 part 2 type B, and provide me with documentation showing this has been done”.

4. What you have done now is to specify what standard of treatment has to be undertaken. By doing that there is no guarantee that the fabric will pass the appropriate test even though it has been treated to a standard where is should pass the test. Normally you will receive a document saying that the fabric has been treated to the standard. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT HAS PASSED THE STANDARD. You need to determine if you want your specific batch of fabric to be specifically tested (after treatment). For larger projects this will almost certainly be prudent to undertake. You will need to purchase additional fabric prior to treatment and engage the services of a fabric testing factory (not treatment factory). At the end of that process you will receive documentation stating that the fabric meets the required standard.

Here is related information on fire retardacy for contract upholstery (Crib 5, BS7176 BS5852) and durability of fabric for  contract and domestic upholstery. More…

The following test details are not normally required to be known by the designer:

Test method

A sample of the fabric, vertically held, is exposed to a small flame.

For type B (Hotels, etc) the ease of ignition is observed. It is also noted if the flame reaches one any edge of the specimen and/or if any burning pieces of fabric fall down.

For type C (NHS) the fabric is further analysed to see what happens once the flame stops but when the fabric still may be glowing.

NB: The fabric is tested before and after laundering
type B (12 wash cycles at 40°c)
type C (50 wash cycles at 40°c)

Test Performance Criteria

Type B Performance Criteria: The edges must remain completely intact and no burning debris should fall.

Share & Enjoy!

Like This!

  1. Hi,

    I have a client who has asked me to make some curtains for her property. It is her family home, however, she also hires it out via agents as a location house for photographic, commercial and film shoots.

    I am wondering if the BS Fire Safety Standards apply regarding FR treated fabrics in this scenario?

    Any advice would be gratefully received.

    Many thanks,

    Claire Morhall

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Everything you need to know about using laminates in your home!

Posted by Lamitak on Mar 4, 2019 7:39:17 AM

Featured laminate (on sliding door): Ermanno Marcello Walnut WY 5218D
Design and photo: Fuse Concept

Read More

Topics: Living Room, Design Tips, Cleaning Laminate, Choosing Laminate, Bathroom

What’s the best way to use laminates? Get the lowdown from design firm Ensemble

Posted by Lamitak on Feb 21, 2019 6:49:58 PM

Laminates might have been created as affordable substitutes for natural materials such as stone, marble and wood, but for designer Redzuan Abu Bakar, the creative director of interior design firm Ensemble, the material has far surpassed its humble beginnings. “In the past, laminates tend to look very ‘fake’ and people saw them as poor substitutes for natural materials, but now thanks to better technology, they have become extremely realistic-looking.” Adds the affable designer, “I’ve never regarded laminates as cheaper alternatives, I see them simply as materials that are really easy to maintain.”

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Topics: Design Inspiration, Interior Design, Design Tips, Designer Interview, Hotel Look

Clever ways to squeeze more space into your tiny bedroom

Posted by Lamitak on Nov 14, 2018 11:59:48 AM

Apartment sizes in Singapore are shrinking, especially those in newly built condominiums. These shoebox-sized living spaces might have one-, two, or even three-bedrooms, but it’s often the case that apart from the bed, you’re not going to be able to fit much else in one room. The solution lies in customising the furniture you need to maximise every inch of your (expensive) space. Often the ideas involve building up instead of sideways to fit everything you want – you might even be able to carve out extra storage space! Try out these ideas below, which not just work well, but look great too.

Read More

Topics: Design Inspiration, Interior Design, Wood-look laminate, Storage Cabinet, Design Tips, Bedroom, Hotel Look, small spaces

5 cool examples to show you why blue is the next big color trend to hit our homes.

Posted by Lamitak on Nov 8, 2018 11:11:04 AM

We’re feeling blue and loving it. The colour that dominated the runways for the Spring 2018 fashion collections in New York is finally making its way into homes. In fashion, the spectrum ran the gamut from powder to electric. However, for our spaces, designers have been embracing mid-tones as well as darker, more formal shades which go perfectly with wood grains and metallic accents such as brass and gold. In colour psychology, blue creates a feeling of calmness and serenity; its darker tones signal security, stability and sophistication. Whatever you feel about blue, there’s no denying the appeal of these following five spaces.

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Topics: Interior Design, Colour Trend, Wood-look laminate, Bedroom, Hotel Look, Study Room, kitchen

Design Talk: From Scandi style to modern luxury design themes – laminates are must-haves for Archive Studio to create amazing interiors.

Posted by Lamitak on Oct 30, 2018 10:03:42 AM

With more than 400 laminate designs in their current catalogue to choose from, Lamitak has got every look covered. Whether you’re hankering for a light and airy Scandinavian feel or a dark atmospheric vibe, there’s a laminate to help you achieve your dream home. Interior designers know this only too well, and laminates are an important component of their design arsenal. Lucas Yang of Archive Design uses laminates, in particular, Lamitak laminates, in all his projects, to help bring his designs to reality. “Laminates provide a nice smooth and even finish, and I use them to create different design concepts,” says Lucas. His two-year-old firm has amassed a pretty impressive portfolio of works so far, and we spoke to Lucas to find out how he does what he does best with laminates.

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Topics: Solid Colour Laminate, Design Inspiration, Interior Design, Living Room, Wood-look laminate, Design Tips, Designer Interview, Design Trend, Bedroom, Hotel Look, Fabric-look laminate, kitchen

This is Lamitak's most gritty industrial design yet. Find out more about the edgy Humboldt Street laminate

Posted by Lamitak on Oct 15, 2018 5:04:21 PM

Honest, authentic and raw. These were the qualities of a building cladding that captured our imagination as we travelled through downtown Portland in Oregon on our epic road trip. We loved the textures so much that it became the basis of a new laminate which bears the name of the location – Humboldt Street!

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Topics: Design Inspiration, Large-Format Design, Metal-look laminate, Industrial Look, laminate design, travel

Behind the design- We reveal the city which inspired the industrial vibe of Lamitak's Alma Patina laminate

Posted by Lamitak on Oct 1, 2018 1:57:14 PM

Anything can be an inspiration for design, even a rusted wall cladding. The basis for Lamitak’s evocative Patina range of laminates lies in downtown Portland, a pitstop on the Lamitak team’s epic road trip along the West coast of the United States.

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Topics: Design Inspiration, Living Room, Metal-look laminate, Bathroom, Industrial Look, laminate design

Here are 7 awesome cosy corners for some 'me' time -and the laminates to create them!

Posted by Lamitak on Sep 21, 2018 1:04:52 AM

Everyone needs some ‘me’ time once in a while, and you don’t even have to go out of your home to zone out and relax. Conjure up a cosy corner easily with laminates to set the look and cement the design with some choice furnishings. We suggest seven fabulous looks to get you started.

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Topics: Solid Colour Laminate, Design Inspiration, Interior Design, Living Room, Marble-look Laminate, Stone-look Laminate, Wood-look laminate

Behind the design - the Story of Lamitak's Wood-Inspired Rialto Pine laminate

Posted by Lamitak on Sep 14, 2018 10:34:24 AM

Travel has always been a wellspring of inspiration for designers, even laminate designers. Wherever the Lamitak team goes, we always keep our eyes open for visually arresting textures; but it is not often we can pinpoint the final design to a single location. However, in the case of the rugged wood-inspired Rialto Pine laminate, it was two locations, halfway around the world from each other, which motivated its design. We share the story of its creation.

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Topics: Design Inspiration, Wood-look laminate, laminate design, travel

Rock your home with these stone-inspired laminates from Lamitak

Posted by Lamitak on Sep 7, 2018 1:17:02 PM

Stone can be perceived as being cold, solid, even boring – but that is far from the truth. Being an organic material, it contains nuances of colour and texture that are delightfully individual. Weathered by the elements, rock surfaces take on a different character. However, stone is not seen as a suitable material for residential wall claddings due to the high cost of material, the challenge of installation, and the labour of maintenance. Now, this intriguing material can easily be a part of home decor, thanks to stone-inspired laminates.

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Topics: Stone-look Laminate, Bedroom, Hotel Look, Study Room, contemporary designs


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Pets Are Family Too!

The Genealogy Division at the Indiana State Library does not collect just published books and materials.  They also have a small but growing collection of genealogy manuscripts.  These collections contain family papers, research notes, and other items that cannot be put out on the shelves due to their fragile state or because they are boxes of loose papers.  However, these items are available to researchers and may be requested at the Genealogy Division reference desk on the first floor of the Indiana State Library.

Some of these collections even contain family photographs, such as this studio portrait of chow chows from the Jackman family collection:

Jackman chows

The advent of photography made it easier for people to visually document every aspect of their lives, including their pets.

In the interest of family history… and cuteness, the staff of the Genealogy Division would like to share a few of their furry family photographs:

1 Jack McFarland Duty
Jack McFarland Duty

2 Dwight Hans Dieter Shrute Ward
Dwight Hans Dieter Schrute Ward

3 Odessa Jane and Mosiah Ward
Odessa Jane and Mosiah Ward

4 Julius Caesar JC Dunn
Julius Cesar “J.C.” Dunn

5 Jasper Dunn
Jasper Dunn

6 Liam Bohr
Liam Bohr, the perfect pet for the apart-ment dweller.

Liam would like to invite all Indiana State Library blog readers to Genealogy for Night Owls, April 29th 4:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Indiana State Library!

This blog post was written by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317)232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at


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World of Learning 2017 reflections

 MySkillCamp participated at the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition 2017 in Birmingham, which brings together senior level buyers with leading suppliers of Learning and Development (L&D) products, solutions and advice.  This is a renowned annual 2-day conference which presents opportunities to discover the latest in digital L&D with live workshops, technology test drives, one-to-one consultations and conferences.

Why is the World of Learning essential?

  1. The most established event in the UK industry, with experience in delivering learning and training  suppliers to an audience of senior L&D professionals
  2. Held in association with the British Institute of Learning & Development
  3. Held in partnership with the UK's leading L&D print and online media
  4. The ideal gateway to the L&D marketplace

The Exhibition delivered ground-breaking products and concepts, as well as a treasure chest of knowledge and inspiration to visitors.  Here are a few offered by exhibitors and conference speakers:

L&D should be less film director more festival organiser.  Geoff Stead, Director of Digital, Cambridge University

Technology alone will fail.  Design meaningful user experiences instead.   Nick Shackelton-Jones, Director  Learning & Performance Innovation, PA Consulting Group

Line managers are rarely recognised as a crucial part of an L&D team, but they are crucial.  Andy Lancaster, CIPD Head of L&D Content

Identify what your learners, employees and partners need.  Then create not just a course but a learning journey for them.  Ian Escario, MySkillCamp

According to @TowardsMaturity research effective learners are purposeful, curious, sociable, proactive and adaptable.  Robin Hoyle, Author of Informal Learning for Organisations

Combine creativity with adaptation to create innovation.  Dr Fons Trompenaars, Consultant, Trainer and Author

In five years a third of human jobs in professional services firms will be replaced by AI.  We can't stop AI replacing people's jobs, but we can improve our adaptability and upskill our people to be ready for that future.  Louise Brownhill, PwC

The World of Learning 2017 is an essential event for organisations seeking to build successful digital learning strategies.  It showcased and delivered the most effective methods and solutions for successful learning results.

To learn more about how you can create and integrate your organisational learning into effective learning journeys and scale your training, contact Ian at

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Chief Operating Officer En charge de la gestion de l'entreprise et du management des équipes, Amandine est votre interlocutrice privilégiée pour vous conseiller et orienter votre projet de formation. En fonction de vos besoins ou de la nature de votre projet, vous serez mis en relation avec l'un de nos experts.

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Tackling the Bushbuck Trail in celebration of Tourism Month

Hiking the Bushbuck Trail were Doné Louw, Nomfuneko Mbete, Sizwe Ndlumbini, Jonker Fourie and Erenei Louw.

Port Elizabeth has some excellent short hiking trails that are perfect for a morning or day out in nature, yet are still within a stone's throw of the city.

As an outdoor enthusiast and avid geocacher, I've had the opportunity to do most of the trails around the city, with one of the exceptions being the Bushbuck Trail through the Island Nature Reserve. For this reason I was very excited when I got a call from Erenei Louw of Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) inviting me to join NMBT and the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency on a guided hike through the reserve in celebration of Tourism Month in September.

The Island Nature Reserve is located about 25km from Port Elizabeth and is accessed via Seaview Road. The reserve forms a subsection of the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve and comprises 480ha of indigenous Alexandria coastal forest boasting tree species such as Outeniqua yellowwood, white and hard pear, as well as white milkwood. Fauna includes small blue duiker, bushbuck, vervet monkeys and bushpigs, with more than 50 species of birds having been recorded.

The reserve offers five different trails of various lengths, and we decided to do a combination that had us cover a distance of about 10km.

Erenei and I were joined by Doné Louw of NMBT and our guides Nomfuneko Mbete and Sizwe Ndlumbini, who led us out at a brisk pace on a beautiful spring morning. Forests have a special place in my being, with the Tsitsikamma and Knysna forests being part of my soul, so walking off into this piece of coastal forest had me relaxed and unwinding from the first step.

It wasn't long before we saw movement in the milkwoods, and a sudden flash of scarlet red told us that we had spotted a Knysna turaco in the thicket.

To the observant hiker there are so much more than just the different indigenous trees to see – there are berries and fruit, colourful little flowers, spiders sitting in their dew-covered webs, and different types of moss and lichen.

As we were approaching halfway, Sizwe suddenly put up his hand for us to stop and be quiet. A bushbuck doe was standing not 20m away in the underbrush looking at us. Quite a shy antelope, it was a treat to spot one so close to us. She took one last look our way and casually disappeared.

Not long after that we got to our turning point at a trig beacon which, once you ascend it, gives a beautiful view of the Lady Slipper Mountain and surrounding area. The return journey was mostly downhill, and I couldn't help but laugh at my two slightly unfit companions who started to struggle a bit with cramps. It didn't stop them, though, and we completed the 10km walk (and found three geocaches) in just short of four hours.

I have to be honest and say that I was pleasantly surprised with what the Island Nature Reserve dished up for us – the trails are well maintained with good signage. Ask for a map and tree guide at reception to take with you when hiking the trails.

For those who don't like to hike, the Island offers beautiful grass-covered picnic spots and is one of the only public areas around Port Elizabeth that has proper braai facilities. Now that I have been there, I really want to go back with my family, and recommend it to anybody looking to get closer to nature.

The Island truly is a reserve that Port Elizabethans should be very proud of.

See some more photos of the Bushbuck Trail here.

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iModernize - The Profound Logic Software Blog

Converting RPG into Node.js - How does that work?

Posted by Jordan Antonoff on Dec 22, 2016 2:59:06 PM

We announced our latest solution - Profound.js - a few months back. Profound.js is a completely new way to modernize your legacy IBM i applications in to modern Node.js code. This is beneficial for a lot of reasons, including helping businesses find new development talent and avoiding costly migration projects.

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Topics: Node.js, Conversion Service, Profound.js, Proof of Concept

Subscribe to Blog Updates

....and get The 2019 State of IBM i Modernization survey for FREE!

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5 TED Talks that will get you inspired to be in love again

Why do fall in love? How do we fall in love? Why are men and women so different? How do we make relationships last? These are some of the most frequently asked questions by us all, and here are some of the best TED Talks that attempt to answer these difficult questions. Watch and be inspired because we all need love in our lives.

1.How your brain falls in love

2. Relationships are hard, but why?

3. Mars brain, Venus brain

4. Falling in love is the easy part

5. Why do we love? A philosophical inquiry

Feeling inspired yet? Begin your search for love at Single to Mingle now!


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Archive | Research RSS for this section

Dynamic Landscape of Fear

Lions with zebra kill

The Snapshot team have written another paper using the Snapshot data we all help to classify. The paper A ‘dynamic’ landscape of fear: prey responses to spatiotemporal variations in predation risk across the lunar cycle can be found at for those of you interested in reading the original.

Lead by Meredith Palmer the paper explores how four ungulate species, buffalo, gazelle, zebra and wildebeest respond to predation risk during differing stages of the lunar cycle. These four make up the bulk of the African lion’s diet in the Serengeti along with warthog. Of course warthog are strictly diurnal so are not affected by the lunar cycle as they are tucked up nice and snug in a burrow.

For the other four night time can be a stressful time. None of these animals sleep all night, they snatch rest here and there, keep grazing and most importantly of all keep a watchful eye or ear out for possible attack.

It has long been thought that prey species territory is shaped by fear and that animals have safe areas (where they rest, give birth, etc) and risky areas where they instinctively know predators may be lurking. These areas trigger a risk versus reward response as they often contain better forage/water etc.

What Meredith and the team argue is that this landscape of fear is very much dynamic changing not only with seasons and night and day but on a very much finer scale as influenced by light availability through the moon.

Lions find it so much easier to hunt during nights where the moon gives of least light. It gives them a great advantage to stalking close to their prey using the dark as a kind of camouflage. The prey species, on the other hand, are at a distinct disadvantage, they can’t see the stalker and even if they sense its presence they are reluctant to flee as this presents a great risk in itself if they can’t see.

Meredith and her colleagues took the data from Snapshot Serengeti to quantify nocturnal behaviour of the key species using the presence or absence of relaxed behaviour (defined when we classify a species as resting or eating.) They then overlapped this with data collected through Serengeti Lion Project on lion density and hunting success. This data enabled them to work out what areas where high or low risk to the prey species. Using a clever statistical program, R, the data was analysed to see if lunar cycle had any bearing on animal behaviour, in particular, predator avoidance.

They found that moonlight significantly affected the behaviour of all four species but in a variety of ways. As we mentioned before there is often a good reason to venture into the high risk areas and the trade off in increased risk of predation is a really good feed. Buffalo for instance don’t change their use of space so much but were found to form more herds on dark nights. It seems safety in numbers works well for buffalo. Zebra react similarly in their herding activity but are much more erratic when it comes to space use, moving around a lot more randomly keeping potential predators on their toes.

Each species showed an aversion to using high risk areas at night but, particularly wildebeest and zebra, were found to increase their use of these areas when the moons luminosity was higher and safety increased. It was noted that high risk areas where avoided more frequently in the wet season than the dry. The thought being that there is increased hours of moonlight during the dry season that the animals take advantage of. Perhaps too the drive to find enough good food is a factor.

This paper serves to remind us that although what we do at Snapshot Serengeti is fun it is more than just a way for us classifiers to pass the time. It really has a very significant role in science and that role is ever increasing.

Antelope Versus Oxen- The Case of the Eland

ser eland pair

Of all the antelope that we classify on snapshot Serengeti the eland is one of the most distinct. Its massive size, heavy set horns and swinging dewlap lends it a bovine appearance yet it is an antelope – all be it Africa’s largest. A member of the Tragelaphini family or spiral horned antelope the eland is closely related to kudu, nyala and bushbucks.

There are two species, the common eland (Taurotragus oryx) we are familiar with in the Serengeti and the giant eland (Taurotragus derbianus) found sporadically in woodland savannah across Central and West Africa. One thing to get straight is that giant eland are on average less bulky than their common cousins, the ‘giant’ refers to their horns.

At close to a thousand kilograms in weight a fully grown male eland equipped with a fortified neck and viscous hefty horns could prove a lethal adversary. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that most male interactions are highly ritualised and the real fighting only really occurs between males of near equal stature. It is an unusual trait in male eland that the neck, shoulders and dewlap continue to enlarge as the animal ages. They develop tufts of wiry hair on their foreheads and noses and a strange clicking in their knees develops that is audible quite some distance away. I remember once sitting in a clearing in the bush and hearing what sounded like multiple people cracking their knuckles whilst moving closer towards me. I could not even begin to imagine what was fast approaching me and began to get a little nervous, looking around for a tree to climb. I heard nothing else but the odd branch moving until out from the edge of the bush appeared a small group of eland. Much to my relief it was precisely these knee clicks that I had heard.

Although not a particularly fast running antelope eland are noted to be extreme jumpers. They are capable of leaping over three meters high from a standstill which to me puts to bed any lingering doubts that they are antelope not oxen.

As many of our snapshot images attest to they are often found in quite large herds, congregations 100’s strong are not unheard of. But all the same there is no real structure to the group. Herds can comprise all males, all females or mixed sexes and ages. They are highly interchangeable and very few bonds are formed. Even the sacred mother and calf bond is tenuous in eland society. Calves form crèches when they are a few days old and prefer to hang out away from the adults. They only suckle once or so a day and that can be the only time spent with mum.  Female eland will band together in defence of their young but as they are often out of sight of the youngsters this doesn’t happen too often. Instead young eland grow fast attaining 450kg in their first year.

Young eland creche

Although life seems good in these juvenile gangs and generally eland are long lived, mortality can be high in youngsters. Whilst studying leopard in South Africa we found eland was a common prey item, in fact we discovered three kills within a month of eland less than six months old and those were just the ones we found. Lion and hyena are also known to take their toll. There is no real synchronised birthing in eland herds with young born at anytime. I guess this means there is always a slightly younger, less savvy, youngster in the crèche that is easy prey for predators.

leopard with eland kill

Leopard with eland kill

Next time you find an image of an eland herd have a close look to see if you can work out if they are females (smaller with more slender horns), males or if perhaps it is a crèche.

Citizen Science Conference

Meredith giving a project slam Photo: Avi Baruch

Meredith has been busy this past week attending the Citizen Science conference in St Paul, Minnesota. She reports back that it was a fantastically stimulating conference that confirms the high esteem that citizen science has grown within the science community.

The yearly conference sees a diverse group of people from researchers, educators and universities to the likes of NGO’s and museums get together to discuss the use and promotion of citizen science. Although we at Snapshot Serengeti have been aware of its great impact for some time citizen science is now emerging and is recognised as a powerful tool in the advancement of research by many.

Those attending the four day event collaborated by sharing their varied experience and ideas on a variety of topics. The collection and sharing of data and how to impact policy was discussed. There was focus on how to use citizen science as an engaging teaching tool, how to bring citizen science to a wider audience and how to involve citizens more in research. Those attending brought their joint experience and expertise together to discuss how citizen science impact on science could be measured and evaluated. If you want to find out more about the conference then visit this link.

We sometimes forget when working away at classifying our stunning images on Snapshot Serengeti that there is a lot of tech going on that enables us citizen scientists to be of use to the scientists. Meredith gave what’s known as a ‘project slam’ essentially a 5 minute presentation about our work on Snapshot Serengeti  and how it has paved the way for helping other cameratrap citizen science projects. A quick look around Zooniverse will show just how many there are now.

The massive amount of data produced over several seasons through Snapshot Serengeti have allowed the development of a robust, tried and tested methodology that smaller projects would have taken years longer to develop. Just contemplate the work that went into developing interfaces, protocols, pipelines and algorithms for taking millions of classifications of untrained volunteers and turning them into a dataset which has been verified to be >97% accurate.

It is awesome to see that something we all find so truly engaging can translate into such serious stuff in the field of science. I think we, the citizen scientists, and the Snapshot team can be rightly proud of our work on this brand new branch of science

Snapshots From The Past

This weeks guest blog is from our moderator David Bygott who has been guiding us through Snapshot Serengeti images since the beginning.

I’ve been lurking here for years as a moderator, but Lucy Hughes invited me to come out of the shadows and tell you how I got my Serengeti creds.

As a country boy in England I was obsessed with nature and yearned to see more of the world’s wildlife. Reading “Serengeti Shall Not Die” by Bernard Grzimek, inspired me to go there. The dream took some years to achieve. First, I worked hard to get a zoology degree. Then, I wrote to anybody doing field research in Africa who might need a research student, assistant, or slave. I got lucky. A scientist, studying hyenas and wild dogs in Ngorongoro Conservation area, wanted me to work on her better-known chimpanzee project, which I had been following in the pages of ‘National Geographic’. Sounded good.

Thus in 1969 I pitched up at the camp of my new bosses, on the floor of Ngorongoro Crater. Ten days of getting to know Jane Goodall and her photographer husband Hugo van Lawick, and total immersion in African wildlife. Incredible nights of watching hyena packs run down wildebeest and tear them apart. Even a road trip into the heart of Serengeti.

A seed sown, my mind blown, I continued across Tanzania to the remote chimp camp at Gombe National Park on the beautiful forested shore of Lake Tanganyika. Here I spent 2 amazing years with a small team of young people, following the famous chimps through the forest and recording their behavior. Experiencing at first hand our closest kin was a life-changing experience for me.

David with the gang
Gombe 1970
Pat McGinnis?

David with a chimp group at Gombe, 1970

While at Gombe, I met more of my scientific heroes. Bernard Grzimek visited, so did Dian Fossey, and I travelled to Rwanda to see her gorillas. Jane’s doctoral advisor Robert Hinde came, and encouraged me to write up my fieldwork for a Cambridge PhD.

Two unexpected things happened at Cambridge. I met my wife, primatologist Jeannette Hanby. And we got to know Brian Bertram who had studied Serengeti lions for 4 years, following George Schaller’s pioneering work. Brian persuaded us that social carnivores were just as interesting as primates, and that there was still more to learn about lions. It was a change of direction, but we were tempted!

So in 1974 we joined the Serengeti Research Institute as lion biologists, thanks to support from the U of Cambridge. Our main mission was to census the lion population, as National Parks feared that lions were decreasing (they weren’t!). We also compared the lives of lions in different habitats (Serengeti Plains where prey abundance is seasonal, and Ngorongoro Crater where prey is always abundant). And we investigated lion pride dynamics – why do some individuals leave, and others stay?

Imagine being part of a community of scientists studying every aspect of the ecosystem. We had a house in the centre of Serengeti and a Land-rover to go wherever we wanted, and we spent our days and nights with the great tawny cats.

DB & lions & tent Feb 78

Sometimes humans and lions are attracted to the same campsites

It was remote, but fortunately we were both used to that. Every month we made a supply run – either to Arusha or Nairobi, each at least 200 miles away, mostly on dirt roads. This took 2 days each way, plus several days of shopping and socializing. We learnt a lot about fixing cars, often in beautiful remote settings with primitive tools.

 There was much less technology then. We had basic maps but no GPS, radio or mobile phones or internet. There were no computers, though we had cutting-edge hand-calculators. Radio-telemetry was in its infancy; we built our own radio-collars and darted and collared a few lions, but for most of our study we had no air support and ground-to-ground range was poor, so we had to rely on careful searching to find the lions – scanning with binoculars, driving, staying out at night to listen for roars. We identified the lions from natural markings and close-up photographs, on film of course. We developed a symbiosis with cheetah biologists, George and Lory Frame, photographing each others’ study animals whenever we saw them and trading ID photos to increase our sightings. We learnt as much as we could about what all our colleagues were doing, and often participated in ecosystem-wide aerial animal censuses.

We tried various methods of counting lions, including aerial and ground transects and individual recognition. The latter proved the most successful, but it was hard work to identify all the lions in our 1000 square study area. In addition, every second month we’d spend a week in Ngorongoro Crater. After finding as many lions as we could there, we would follow one pride for 4 days and nights, to observe their activity, range and hunting success. We did the same with a comparable pride living at Sametu on the Serengeti Plain. The story of the Sametu pride unrolled like a soap opera, and we couldn’t resist writing a book about them. “Lions Share” tells their story, but also incorporates much of what we knew about lion behavior and about the ecology of Serengeti. (Out of print, but look on Amazon).

Eventually we had to leave, and our friends Craig Packer and Anne Pusey took over the Serengeti Lion Project. Craig amazingly kept it going from 1978 to 2014, and Snapshot Serengeti is an offshoot of what has become one of the world’s longest running wildlife studies.

After writing up our 4 years of lion data, we returned to Tanzania in 1982 to work in conservation education; university teaching, producing guidebooks and interpretive displays, and guiding safaris. We built our home near Lake Eyasi, and experienced years of village life and culture clash, but that’s another story (in preparation). In 2003 we moved to Tucson, Arizona, but I still get back to Tanzania every year, mostly leading National Geographic Expeditions.

I’m organizing my own safari to visit Serengeti and other parks in February 2018. If you seriously want to see these wonderful animals in the flesh, send me a message!

Field Life

Nzunda setting up a weather station

Recently, as those of you who follow will know, I have been talking about the different people who work for the project in Tanzania. Reading about their daily lives working in ecology and conservation is about as close to visiting Africa as many of us will get. Their lives seem so fascinating I think because they are so different to most of ours (though that is a bit of an assumption of course!)

I talked to Ozward Nzunda, one of Dr Michael Andersons Tanzanian field assistants in the Serengeti. Michael’s project looks at vegetation and the interactions between herbivores and their savannah habitat. In order to study this a wealth of environmental data is needed and of course Michael, like many professors, is not based in the Serengeti. He relies on Nzunda to keep things running whilst he is not there. I asked Nzunda about his work and what it was like living in the famous Serengeti National Park.

He told me that most of his work in the field involves the collection of data from all over the study area. There are camera-traps that are checked once a month in order to down load the data and check for any maintenance issues. This is the data which we are busy classifying now on season 9.5. He must also collect weather and soil moisture data on a monthly basis in preset locations. He has to install the weather stations and soil moisture sensors and keep monitoring them until the data is collected. These jobs take up most of his time but he also has the unenviable job of keeping the project vehicles running. Tree and seedling surveys are done on a yearly basis.

So how does he manage all this and what does he think about it?

He told me that the days are long in the field, the drive to the study plots is long and so a lot of time is spent in cars and when you get to the study plots there is a chance you won’t be able to get out the car to do anything. Many a time he says, he has arrived to find lion sleeping or with a kill near his plot and is forced to wait for the lions to leave or move on to another plot. Of course so much time in the field also means he gets to enjoy seeing lots of game on a regular basis.

The study is a continuous study and that means that the data must be collected come rain or shine and in the wet season that means mud. Nzunda told me that the hardest part of the job is wet season driving when you can easily get stuck in the black cotton soils. The mobile signal is poor, as you can imagine, in the park and he has been forced to sleep in the car on occasions until help arrives the following day.

In fact he says they regularly camp out in order to visit the remoter plots and has some interesting stories to tell. Camping in an area with a full complement of wild animals is not for sissies! But on this particular occasion it was the ants that kept them awake. A swarm of biting ants invaded the campsite and had them jumping up and down, shaking out clothes and acting like mad men until they finally left. Itching and scratching they finally got to sleep only to be woken up a few hours later by a rampaging hippo careening between their two tents. Now a canvas tent is no match for a hippo but luck was on their side and the hippo kept running and didn’t return. He says he will never forget this night and they named the campsite “one eye open and one eye close” in honour of the fact no one really slept that night.

His family and friends think he is mad for working alongside wild animals, they think only of the risks but Nzunda loves the challenges field work brings and says that the Serengeti is a beautiful place to be.

Life in the field can be a little lonely. His family live almost 1000km away and he only see’s them about once a month if he is lucky. But they are all accepting of this and are happy. A good job is worth it. He prefers the park saying it is a very good place to live, far better than town where there is too much noise and pollution. He gets his fill of social once a month when he leaves the park to go on a shopping trip for supplies. The rest of the time there is a small shop that caters for the parks staff and resident researchers and the little community gets by fine.

Nzunda checking out the mud situation.

The Data Game

Team member checking a camera-trap

So we all know there are millions of images on snapshot Serengeti and that it is us citizen scientists who do all the work classifying them. The scientists can then get on with the task of figuring out what’s going on out there in the animal kingdom, hopefully in time to save some of it from our own destructive nature.

But… have you spared much thought as to how the images go from over 200 individual camera-traps dotted around the Serengeti to the Zooniverse portal  in a state for us to start our work.

Firstly the SD cards have to be collected from the cameras and as this is an ongoing study replaced with fresh SD cards. This is done about every 6 to 8 weeks. A camera traps batteries can actually go on performing far longer than this but as the field conditions can be tough you never know when a camera may malfunction. This time frame is a good balance between not ending up with months worth of gaps in the data and not spending every minute in the field changing cards.

The team are able to check about 6 to 10 sites a day so with 225 cameras in play it takes around a month just to get to each site. Mostly the cameras are snapping away happily but there are always some that have had encounters with elephants or hyena but actually some of the most destructive critters can be bugs, they like to make nests of the camera boxes. As well as checking the cameras themselves the sites need to be cleared of any interfering foliage, we all know how frustrating a stray grass blade can be.

Snake camping out inside the camera-trap

So with a hard drive full of all the data it then has to wait for a visiting field researcher to hand carry it back to the University of Minnesota, USA. It means the data is only received every 6 months or so but it is far safer than trusting the post. Once safely received it is up to Meredith to start the painstaking work of extracting the date time stamps. As sometimes happens there are glitches and she has to fix this by figuring out when the camera went off line or when capture events got stuck together. She says it is much like detective work. The images are then assigned codes and stored on the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute (MSI) servers.

Once it is all cleaned up and backed up it is sent to the Zooniverse team who then format it for their system giving new identifiers to each image. Finally it is ready for release to all the thousands of classifiers out there to get to work on.

So as you can see it really is a team effort and a massive under taking. It is no good collecting tonnes of data if there is no one with the time to do anything with it. I will take this opportunity again to thank you for all your help with the project. Keep up the good work.

Meet the People #2

Ingela showing camera-trap images to local Maasai

Photo: KopeLion

In my last blog I mentioned Ingela Jansson and the KopeLion project and promised to tell you more.

Ingela spent three years working for the Serengeti Lion project as a research assistant monitoring lions in the Serengeti National Park as well as the Ngorongoro Crater. Although working in the park was an amazing experience it was the work she did in the crater area that was to prove a more urgent calling. The very real conflict she saw between humans and lions persuaded her that if someone didn’t do something the Ngorongoro lions were headed towards extinction. And so KopeLion project was born in 2011.

The Ngorongoro conservation area was gazetted in 1959 and designated a multi use landscape. The pastoralist population were permitted to continue living there alongside the wildlife. Since this time the population has risen 10 fold and the once harmonious coexistence with lions has collapsed. Lions have disappeared from much of the area and the connection to the Serengeti lions is all but extinguished.

Enter KopeLion. The project aims to foster human – lion coexistence through community engagement, science and mentorship. One of the most successful outcomes so far is the recruitment of former lion hunters as lion protectors, we heard Roimen’s story last week.

But just how do you ‘engage with the community’ to try and change their minds about living with a dangerous predator. Well KopeLion do this in many ways. Firstly most of the employees are local which means they already have the community’s ear. To the Maasai their live stock are sacred so KopeLion spend a lot of time trying to reduce lion conflicts. They follow the model developed by Lion Guardians Ltd ( )by helping local herders to build sturdy bomas,  searching for missing livestock, treating injured livestock and warning herders when lion are nearby. The lion guardians or Ilchokutis are assigned an area of between 60 and 200km2 where they monitor lions or signs of lions scientifically. They also try to prevent young warriors or Morani from carrying out lion hunts. Part of their role is as mentors to the younger generation.

The Maasai still hold strong traditional beliefs and have strong community ties, recognising and embracing this is one of the reasons for KopeLion’s success so far on its mission to help humans and lions live in peace. The strong local ties mean KopeLion have won trust amongst the local herders and in 2016 they were able to stop more than 20 lion hunts from going ahead and have seen the evidence that their efforts are working in the fact that two of the monitored lion prides now show complete survival.

Ingela and her team at KopeLion are doing such valuable work that I urge you to head over to their incredibly informative website to read more about it.

The KopeLion team immobilizing a lion

Photo: KopeLion

The Challenges of Field Work

Hazard of the job; catching myself on camera-trap

If you have clicked through the seemingly endless captures on Snapshot Serengeti then you must have realized just how many cameras are snapping away out there in the Serengeti. Have you ever wondered who looks after those cameras?

Researchers sometimes go to extreme lengths to collect their data and not much deters them from their goal.

On a recent assignment working in Central African Republic I was tasked by our biologist to collect in an array of 40 camera-traps. The park was very large, the size of Wales and very remote, the nearest village was a 12 hours 4×4 drive away. It was also newly proclaimed and had little in the way of infrastructure like roads. Of course, Thierry wanted to survey the areas we didn’t yet know so obviously the cameras were nowhere near any of the smatterings of roads.

He presented me with a mobile phone resplendent with a mapping app which showed the camera trap locations overlaid with our rudimentary road network. I should really say temporal track system as these so called roads consisted of two tire tracks driven through the elephant grass and mud soon to grow over again in the coming wet season. The park consists of a mosaic of wooded savannah and tropical lowland rainforest so you are either struggling through 2 meter high elephant grass or deeply tangled riverine forest growth. Added to the physical challenges of working in the park was the fact of it harboring armed Sudanese cattle herders, poachers and Lord’s Resistance Army militia.

So equipped with the mobile phone, two trackers and 5 armed rangers off we went to collect the cameras. After three hours bumpy ride plagued with biting tsetse fly we got as close to the first camera as any road was going to take us. Using the phone to navigate I pointed us in the general direction praying that the battery would last. If it failed we would be completely lost with no landmarks. Two kilometers later we had narrowed down the camera location to about 20 meters and under the vigilant eye of the rangers myself and the two trackers began searching for the camera in the thick jungle tangle.

Rangers caught on camera-trap whilst on patrol

Once the camera was reclaimed it was bagged up and we set out for the walk to the next camera another kilometer or so away. The whole day was spent battling foliage and insects in the 40o c temperatures for a total of 8 cameras. We made camp for the night; the journey back to base was just too far with so many cameras still to collect. It took 4 days to collect half the array and it was with some relief that we trundled back into base camp having had no encounter with armed men.  A hot shower, something other than sardines to eat and the excitement of examining the camera-trap pictures was a just reward for all our foot work

The cameras were being used to assess what species were present in the park and as such were left up for short periods in small arrays. In the Serengeti however, there are 225 camera traps permanently running in an area of 1125 km2. Just think of the logistics involved with changing batteries, keeping vegetation trimmed back and changing SD cards. Our researchers work tirelessly to keep the project on its toes and over the next few months I will try to bring you their stories about the work we support from the comfort of our homes. We each have our part to play but together we are a team dedicated to furthering a scientific cause.

The Secret Life of Trees

This is another guest post by Drs. Tom Morrison and Michael Anderson  about the Snapshot Serengeti Special Edition and what their research hopes to uncover.

Seeing the forest for the trees

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped classified images at Snapshot Serengeti, both past and present. Without the continued help of this great online community, our research would come to a grinding halt! So thank you. A number of folks (and at least one giraffe) have asked about the new study currently up on Snapshot Serengeti, so here’s a fuller explanation of this work.

Photos from our newest Snapshot Serengeti Special Season come from a camera trap experiment in Serengeti involving friends and collaborators based at Wake Forest University (US), University of Georgia (US) and University of Glasgow (UK).

One of the exciting things about these new images is that they come from some of the more remote corners of the park, far beyond where past photos (Season 1-9) were (and continue to be) collected. So, keep an eye out for different species than past surveys. For instance in the north, you might see oribi, a small and elegant ungulate with a large dark scent gland below its eye. In the south, our cameras overlap the home ranges of some of the few black rhinoceros still living in the park, and we already know there are at least a few rhino images in our pile, like this:

We set these cameras at a slightly higher height (1.5 meters in most cases), which allows us to see species from new wider angles. Admittedly, this new experimental design makes animal classifications a bit harder because we can often see far into the distance. Our advice is to simply do your best, but don’t sweat it too much if you can’t figure it out. Better to see the forest than the trees.

Back to the research…

Speaking of trees, this new study is trying to unravel the secret lives of trees. We monitor hundreds of individually marked trees around the ecosystem and revisit them each year to measure growth, survival, disease and few other things. You may have noticed little cages in some of the camera trap photos (see giraffe above). These are part of our experiment and enclose four small native tree seedlings which we transplanted to the plots after growing them in a nursery for 6 weeks. In fact we planted over 800 seedlings around the ecosystem to study the relative importance of herbivory, fire and rainfall on seedling growth and survival. So, we need camera traps to monitor things when we’re not there.

For example, check out the following sequence captured on one of our game cameras in southern Serengeti involving one of our marked trees:

What’s amazing about this is that not only does an elephant kill an adult tree, he does it under 60 seconds. This tree is an Acacia tortilis, or the “umbrella acacia,” named for its characteristic flat top. Umbrella acacias are one of the most common trees in Serengeti and one of our main study species. Images like these help inform our study of trees, telling us how they died, or at least how many large herbivores were in the area to potentially kill and eat them. But this begs the question: if a tree falls in the Serengeti, will anyone hear it? At least we know that there’s a small chance that one of our cameras might see it.

Wander over to Wildebeest Watch!

Wildebeest Watch Home

Can’t get enough of these gnarly gnus? Head on over to our new spinoff project, Wildebeest Watch!

In collaboration with Dr Andrew Berdhal from the Santa Fe Institute, and Dr Allison Shaw at the University of Minnesota, we are taking a closer look at what the wildebeest are doing in the Snapshot Serengeti images to try and better understand the details of the world’s largest mammal migration.

Every year, 1.3 million wildebeest chase the rain and fresh grass growth down from the northern edge of the ecosystem down to the short grass plains in the southeast. We have a broad-scale understanding of where they are moving across the landscape, but don’t understand how they make these detailed decisions of where and when to move on a moment-to-moment basis. Wildebeest as individuals aren’t known for being particularly smart — so we want to know how they use the “wisdom of the crowd” to make herd-level decisions that get them where they need to go.

So while you’re waiting for more photos of lions, hyenas, and other sharp-toothed beasts, why not wander over to Wildebeest Watch to help us understand the collective social behavior of these countless critters?


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Top 3 Right Now: Abby @ the Arlington Library

This week we are featuring our brand new Teen Librarian for the Arlington Library: Abby! Looks like you are enjoying your new desk? But I don’t see any books yet! What are you loving right now?   Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard I love how easily the complex world of the blood-based society is unfolded […]

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Library Hack: My Library

Did you know that each Sno-Isle Library has a designated person in charge of all things Teen? It’s true. And you can learn more about your very own Teen Librarian by clicking on their avatar in the My Library section of the Sno-Isle Teens website.  This is also a quick way to see what teen […]

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Pandora Buys Pieces of Rdio

Pandora announced plans yesterday to purchase $75m worth of assets (technology, staff) from @rdio, which is filing for bankruptcy. The beleaguered Rdio was praised for its interface and usability as an on-demand streaming service, but could never quite compete on the scale of heavy hitters like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music.

The move signifies Pandora's entrance into battle royale for control of the on-demand streaming market. Music Business Worldwide has a full rundown on the deal and what it means for everyone else in the game.


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