Enhance Your Environment With These Home Improvement Ideas ...

Many people are not comfortable with home improvement projects. Stories of home improvement failures may make people avoid trying. Home improvement has a bad reputation as being too difficult to deal with. This article contains lots of simple ways to make improvements on your home.

If you are working on your kitchen or bath, don?t neglect to turn off your water. You never know when you might accidentally knock something out of place!

Does your home have a deck? If so, then you need to regularly inspect its water resistance. This can be done by pouring water over it after several dry, sunny days. Immediately use water repellent if you realize it is not. Seal the deck prior to winter to avoid long-term damage.

When planning a DIY home renovation, create a step-by-step schedule. Consult with a professional builder or contractor to be sure you have left nothing out. One missed step during the planning stage can result in shoddy work which can lead to a much more costly renovation project.

Walking around and observing your home will help you spot possible home improvement options. One type of example here would be noticing air leak problems. Once leaks are detected, it is simple to reinforce or replace insulation to fix the problem.

Tile can get worn down and begin to look old. Mixing a solution of water and vinegar can create a safe solution for most flooring. This will help mop your floors effectively. This will remove dirt and grime and make your flooring look beautiful again.

As stated in the introduction, there are many people that believe that it is impossible to improve their homes. Many people are unsuccessful at making home improvements. But, the fact remains that home improvement is within most people?s grasp. All you need to do is keep the ideas and advice from this article in mind.

For more real estate info, visit: Maryland mold remediation. Now you see that home improvement is not just a walk in the park. With some in-depth research and a lot of hard work, you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come. When you employ the tips mention here, you can tackle those home improvement projects in no time at all.

Source: http://thompsonportraitdesign.net/enhance-your-environment-with-these-home-improvement-ideas

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Low down-payments return as lenders ease rules

Diana Olick , CNBC.com ? ? ? 6 hrs.

As housing heads into the critical spring market, credit is finally beginning to thaw. Lenders are increasingly approving low down payment loans, and government sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae is buying more of them.

It is a noticeable shift from the last four years, when 20 percent down on a home purchase loan was the only game in the neighborhood.

"In general lenders have been willing to do more than they may have been willing to do in the past," said John Forlines, chief credit officer for Fannie Mae's single family business. "Our requirements have not changed significantly, but other parties taking risk, the lenders and mortgage insurance companies in particular, have been more flexible than they may have been in the past."

Fannie Mae will buy loans with as little as 3 percent down payment, but these loans require private mortgage insurance. During the worst of the housing crash, when the private insurers were sinking under billions of dollars in claims on defaulted loans, that insurance was tough to get.

The only low down payment loan left was through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)?the government's loan insurer. The FHA took on a huge share of the market, far more than it was ever meant to, and while that helped prop up the mortgage market in the short term, it was not sustainable, and the FHA took on huge losses.

Now, facing a $16 billion shortfall, the FHA has raised premiums and will raise them yet again next month. FHA loans are becoming increasingly expensive.

Read More: Housing Jobs Jump, Where Are the Workers?

Meanwhile, as the housing market improves, private mortgage insurers are starting to remove overlays on higher loan-to-value loans, meaning the percentage of the home value that is mortgaged. Low LTV's and high credit scores were the rule recently for the private insurers, but that may now be loosening, making these loans cheaper than FHA.

"FHA is certainly becoming more expensive," noted Craig Strent, CEO of Apex Home Loans in Bethesda, Maryland. "The increase in low down payments is reflective of first time buyers coming off the sidelines and entering the market. We're going to see more of this trend in the next couple of years as the economy improves and renters start to once again see the benefit of buying over renting. FHA has become more expensive and the mortgage insurance companies are the beneficiary of that, which is really not a bad thing as it means the private market is insuring the lower down payments rather than the government."

Read More: Home Buyers Are Back, but Where Are the Houses?

The stocks of mortgage insurers like MGIC and Radian spiked in the first months of this year, as home prices improved and FHA policy changes designed to shrink its share of the market were announced. There is currently a bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate to reduce the FHA's role, and in the House of Representatives a hearing is being held Wednesday looking at, "the competitive advantages the Federal Housing Administration has relative to private mortgage insurers and how those advantages contribute to the crowding out of private capital in housing finance," according to the House Financial Services Committee release.

Despite the advantages, FHA's share is already shrinking, as Fannie Mae's is rising. In the first quarter of 2012, loans with between 3 and 10 percent down payment made up 15 percent of Fannie Mae's business for home purchase loans (not refinances). In the second quarter it rose to 17 percent and in the third to 18 percent. Fannie Mae has not reported its fourth quarter yet, but that share is expected to rise again. While a credit thaw is part of it, as mortgage interest rates rise and fewer borrowers apply to refinance, lenders are simply looking for more business.

The banks are also catching their collective breath now after years of raging refinances. Record-low mortgage rates had borrowers refinancing over and over, and that left little capacity or need for the banks to take on more work in the form of home purchase loans.

With rates now rising to the highest level in six months, according to a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association Wednesday, the banks are seeing fewer refinances.

"Lenders, as traditionally happens, as they have more capacity, they might be willing to stretch their credit limits more," said Forlines.

Lenders may also be responding to clearer guidelines from Fannie Mae on how it will determine which defaulted loans it can force the banks to buy back. Banks had to buy back billions of dollars worth of bad loans during the housing crash due to failures in so-called "reps and warrants" (representations and warranties) on loans it sold to Fannie Mae.

They are also just responding to more business, particularly from first time home buyers who have been largely on the sidelines until now. Improving employment and more confidence in home prices are bringing these buyers back. Since first-time buyers tend to be younger, they may not have large down payments.

"More first time buyers are coming into the market now and we have seen this more in our pre-approvals in terms of comparing FHA vs. PMI," noted Strent. "Conventional options with PMI will become even more attractive when FHA premiums increase on April 1."

One wild card, however, is looming mortgage rules from Federal regulators that could require a minimum down payment for a loan to be considered a "qualified mortgage." Only these loans could be sold in full to investors; otherwise lenders would have to hold some portion of the loans on their books. Given new rules recently announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, industry organizations are lobbying heavily against that minimum down payment.

The idea behind the new mortgage regulations are to get lenders to have more skin in the game in order to prevent the reckless lending that brought on the housing crash. This as borrowers are apparently needing less skin in the game now to buy a home.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/low-down-payments-are-back-lenders-ease-rules-1C8846851

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Gurneys Automotive - Truck Accessories NH | Gurney's Automotive

Do you need truck accessories in NH, or installation of truck accessories? Gurneys automotive offers truck accessories in NH.

Trucks are more than just vehicles; they are crucial items in local businesses. As an auto repair shop, we aim to get you back on the road as quickly and cheaply as possible.

We take interest in just about anything that rolls. We take care of high end cars, cars of older models, and trucks. If you need repair work done, or assistance with truck accessories, come to our NH locations. We offer services from tire plugs to engine work. If you need auto repair in Nashua or Milford NH, we?ve got you covered as well.

Truck caps NH

Are you looking for a place to assist you with installing truck accessories in NH? We help our customers get truck caps set on the beds of their trucks. Customer service has always been our first and foremost concern here at Gurney?s Automotive. We want every single one of our customers who receives auto repair in NH to get excellent service.

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If you need truck caps installed in NH, we offer truck cap services at both of our locations. If you need a step installed, or even something as simple as roof rack truck accessories, we are the best auto body shop in NH.

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Our truck caps are guaranteed to pass NH state inspection. In fact, we offer NH state inspections at both of our auto repair shops! If you need tires in NH, or any extraneous truck accessories installed, we assure you the very best service.

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Do you need oil changed for your truck or large vehicle? We offer oil changes in NH at both our Nashua and Milford locations! Gurney?s Automotive offers oil changes to any and all vehicles.

If you would like to inquire about truck accessories in NH, feel free to give us a call at one of our two locations.

Nashua, NH ? 603-886-5800

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Or e-mail our auto repair shop for an appointment at appointments@gurneys.net.

Source: http://www.gurneysautomotive.com/gurneys-automotive-truck-accessories-nh

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Third Child on the Way for Mark-Paul Gosselaar

He and and wife Catriona McGinn "are thrilled to announce they're expecting their first child together in September," the Franklin & Bash star's rep tells PEOPLE exclusively.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/fmIBgMQYWsU/

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Door - make or buy?

The garage doors could be an interesting challenge when it comes to avoiding sag (obviously dependent on style).

I've been pondering a less grand build or buy project myself ... unique issues for me are size and weight. I have both dominos, so construction offers no challenge. I'm still undecided?

Source: http://festoolownersgroup.com/home-improvement-other-projects/door-make-or-buy/msg246507/

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Catholic newspaper draws rebuke from bishop

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? A newspaper known for unflinching coverage of the Catholic church scandal was rebuked by a bishop in its own backyard after calling for his ouster in a battle that illustrates tensions between U.S. bishops and groups that call themselves Catholic but aren't sanctioned by the church.

The National Catholic Reporter, an independent Kansas City, Mo.-based weekly, called for Bishop Robert Finn's removal or resignation in September, after he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Finn, leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, later wrote in an editorial in his own diocesan newspaper that parishioner anger is growing over the NCR's challenges to Catholic orthodoxy on topics ranging from the ordination of women to contraception.

In the last several years, church leaders have been trying to shore up the religious identity and mission of organizations that call themselves Catholic, including trying to bar groups from saying they have ties with the church if bishops believe the organizations stray from church teaching. Conflict over the issue intensified in the 2008 presidential election, when some Catholic advocacy groups backed Barack Obama despite his support for abortion rights.

Finn, who declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press, wrote in his editorial that a local bishop first asked the paper to remove Catholic from its name in 1968 ? "to no avail."

"In light of the number of recent expressions of concern, I have a responsibility as the local bishop to instruct the Faithful about the problematic nature of this media source which bears the name 'Catholic,'" Finn wrote in The Catholic Key. "While I remain open to substantive and respectful discussion with the legitimate representatives of NCR, I find that my ability to influence the National Catholic Reporter toward fidelity to the Church seems limited to the supernatural level."

Thomas Groome, professor of religious education at Boston College, said he was surprised Finn was "picking such a public fight." Finn is the highest-ranking U.S. church official convicted of a crime related to the sex abuse scandal. The misdemeanor charge stemmed from the case of an area priest who pleaded guilty in August to producing child pornography. Finn and other church officials knew about photos on the priest's computer six months before they turned him in.

Groome said the Catholic Church benefits from publications such as the National Catholic Reporter.

"There are all kinds of ways the church's position has evolved, and if that's to happen you need publications like the NCR that raises critical issues, controversial issues, and I think it does that respectfully with a sense of faithfulness to the church's core teaching," he said.

NCR, founded in Kansas City in 1964, has been widely lauded for its coverage of the church and garnered widespread recognition for its reporting on child sex abuse in the 1980s. The newspaper, which has a circulation of about 35,000 and is available online, has won several awards from the Catholic Press Association, including for general excellence for 13 straight years. The CPA, while independent, works closely with church hierarchy, according to Timothy Walter, CPA's executive director.

"We don't present official teaching, and we don't pretend to," said the newspaper's editor, Dennis Coday. "What we do is report on what's happening in the church. And part of what's happening is dissent and questioning, and that's what we report about. And that's why we remain Catholic and continue to call ourselves Catholic."

Coday said the question for the paper is: "Are we upholding the deepest values set out in the Gospel, the message Jesus preached?"

Finn is not alone in complaining about NCR, which has also called for the church to reverse its teaching on women's ordination and supported re-examining the church's approaches to contraception and sexuality.

Canon lawyer Edward Peters, the Vatican's expert witness in U.S. sex abuse lawsuits and an adviser to the Vatican's highest court, said in a recent blog post that Finn was "too kind" in his remarks about NCR and noted that other groups have stopped using "Catholic" in their names.

Peters said the newspaper has carried on "a steady tirade against ecclesiastical authority in general, and against numerous Church teachings in particular, for several decades."

"But the last few years have seen a shrillness that should discomfort even its dwindling number of friends," Peters wrote.

The tension between NCR and Finn likely won't resolve easily because it's tied to an ongoing battle over authority in the church, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

"The vision of the Vatican and the hierarchy is that the Catholic media should support and ... promote the positions taken by the hierarchy," said Reese, who was removed from his position as editor of the Jesuit magazine America in 2005 after it published stories on topics including gay marriage.

"But you know," Reese said, "many people in the Catholic media think that they should also criticize those positions or be a forum where there can be discussion and argument and dialogue on issues facing the church."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/catholic-newspaper-draws-rebuke-bishop-170352753.html

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Facebook brings a more personal touch to News Feed

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2013. Zuckerberg on Thursday unveiled a new look for the social network's News Feed, the place where its 1 billion users congregate to see what's happening with their friends, family and favorite businesses.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) ? Facebook has redesigned the main attraction of its social network to address complaints that its website has turned into a jumble of monotonous musings and random photos.

In an attempt to breathe new life into Facebook's News Feed, the company will introduce new controls that allow people to sort streams of photos and other material into organized sections.

With the makeover unveiled Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to turn the News Feed into something more like a newspaper tailored to the particular interests of each of the social network's more than 1 billion worldwide users.

Although Zuckerberg didn't say it, the overhaul also appears to be aimed at carving out more space to show larger and more dynamic ads within the News Feed as Facebook seeks to boost its revenue and stock price.

Previous tweaks to the News Feed have triggered howls of protest among Facebook's users. Hoping to minimize the grousing this time around, Facebook intends to roll out the changes in phases. It will probably be six months to a year before everyone who accesses Facebook on a personal computer sees the revamped News Feed, the company said. The facelift is likely to be more jarring for those who only visit Facebook on a PC because it incorporates some features already deployed in the social network's mobile applications for smartphones and tablet computers.

"They needed to freshen things up," said Brian Blau, research director of consumer technologies for Gartner Inc. "This should bring a lot of cooler things" into the News Feed.

The new features will enable users to choose to see streams of content that may feature nothing but photos or posts from their closest friends, family members or favorite businesses. Or they can just peruse content about music, or sports, as if they were grabbing a section of a newspaper. Other newspaper-like changes will include lists of events that users' social circles have flagged for the upcoming weekend and other summaries meant to resemble a table of contents.

By adding more personal touches, Facebook is acknowledging that the computer-generated formulas that it has been using to determine the content shown to each user have become less effective as the social circles within its network have widened to include a more diverse array of information.

"This gives people more power to dig deeper into the topics they care about," Zuckerberg said while discussing the makeover at Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters.

Facebook still intends to rely on algorithms to select some material to feature on the main part of the News Feed, much like newspaper editors determine what goes on the front page.

More space on the News Feed's front page and other sections space will be devoted to pictures and video in recognition of how dominant those visual elements have become on Facebook as smartphones and tablet computers equipped with high-quality cameras have made it easier to share snapshots and clips.

About 50 percent of the posts on News Feed include a photo or video now, up from 25 percent in late 2011, Zuckerberg said.

Bigger pictures also will give advertisers a larger canvass to make their marketing pitches. Facebook is hoping marketers will seize the opportunity to develop more creative ways to entice and intrigue customers so advertising can become a more acceptable fixture on the social network.

More than anything else, the changes are meant to make Facebook a more fun place to hang out. If it doesn't keep evolving, the site risks becoming an Internet has-been like other once trendy social networks such as Friendster and MySpace.

"This is all about keeping people engaged," Blau said.

Although Facebook's website remains one of the Internet's top destinations, there have been early signs that the social network is losing some of its pizazz, particularly among younger Web surfers who are starting to spend more time on other fraternizing hubs such as Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram, a photo-sharing site that Facebook bought for $521 million last summer.

A phenomenon, known as "Facebook Fatigue," was recently documented in a report from Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. The study found that about 61 percent of Facebook users had taken a hiatus for reasons that range from boredom to too much irrelevant information to Lent.

That's a worrisome trend for Facebook because the company needs to ensure that its audience keeps coming back so it can learn more about their interests and, ultimately, sell more of the advertising that brings in most of the company's revenue.

"I don't think it had turned into a crisis, but Facebook was probably seeing some internal data that was telling them they needed to do something," said Greg Sterling, a senior analyst for Opus Research.

Facebook has been struggling to find the right balance between keeping its fun-loving audience happy and selling enough ads to please investors who want the company to accelerate its revenue growth.

Wall Street seems to think the redesigned News Feed might be a step in the right direction. Facebook's stock gained $1.13, or 4.1 percent, to close Thursday at $28.58. The shares remain 25 percent below the $38 that they fetched in Facebook's initial public offering last May.

The mobile-friendly redesign of News Feed underscores the company's intensifying focus on smartphones and tablet computers as more of its users rely on those devices to interact on the social network.

About 23 percent, or $306 million, of Facebook's advertising revenue came from the mobile market during the final three months of last year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-07-Facebook-Event/id-ea1948b61ceb415b9ba08cfc634ad032

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Obama dines with GOP senators (CNN)

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Boehner: Capitol tours to go on under budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) ? If your public tour of the White House has now been canceled, House Speaker John Boehner says come visit the Capitol instead.

Boehner says tours of that building will continue, despite mandatory spending cuts that led the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service on Tuesday to announce that public tours of the White House will end, starting Saturday, until further notice.

The Republican speaker made the tit-for-tat announcement in a letter to his Ohio constituents on Tuesday, following news about the suspension of White House tours. His office released the letter on Wednesday.

"While I'm disappointed the White House has chosen to comply with sequestration by cutting public tours, I'm pleased to assure you that public tours of the United States Capitol will continue," Boehner wrote. He added that planning for the possibility of mandatory budget cuts, also known as sequestration, "has been under way for some time."

"Consequently, alternative spending reductions have been implemented within the Capitol complex to ensure public tours and other regular activities can proceed as they normally would," Boehner said.

Spending cuts that went into effect last Friday require that $85 billion be trimmed from the budget between March 1 and Sept. 30. The cuts were designed to force Congress and the White House to come up with a long-term plan to reduce federal budget deficits, but those negotiations so far have failed to produce an alternative acceptable to all sides.

The White House Visitors Office information line now informs callers that tours already planned will not be rescheduled. The free, self-guided tours can take visitors months to arrange through requests submitted to members of Congress or to embassies.

The Secret Service said uniformed officers normally assigned to White House tours will be reassigned to other security posts, noting that the reassignments will reduce overtime costs as well as potential furloughs that could have been required to meet the cuts in spending.

Separately, White House officials said planning continued apace for the annual Easter Egg Roll, scheduled for April 1. Free tickets have been distributed and more than 35,000 people were expected to join President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their family on the South Lawn for hours of sports and games, story-telling, cooking demonstrations and the traditional rolling of hard-boiled eggs.

___

Online:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours-and-events

U.S. Capitol: http://www.visitthecapitol.gov

Easter Egg Roll: http://www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-06-US-Budget-Battle-Capitol-Tours/id-110358c7586d4260b4f42e3bd5245d35

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Sincerely Stacie: Product Review: BYOU Magazine for Girls

BYOU ?Be Your Own You!? Magazine is a magazine for "tween" girls between the ages of 8-14. ?BYOU focuses on providing the message of positive self esteem and to empower them to become a positive force in tomorrow's world. ?BYOU offers a balance of entertainment (note Olivia Holt, teen star, on the cover), education, and fun that will hopefully make a long-lasting and powerful impact on the self-esteem of girls. ? BYOU features stories and information on current topics and challenges that girls face today (such as bullying, body image, and friendships), ?popular teen/tween celebrities who are positive role models and making a difference in the world, and throughout the whole magazine, offers a positive message. Our daughter, Reagan is 8 and when she saw BYOU Magazine arrive in the mail she immediately asked if she could read it. After both of us had a chance to read it, I asked her what she liked most about the magazine. ?Her favorite sections were:

• What it means to me to be your own you - Young girls from all over share their dreams and a little bit about themselves. ?
• Ask A & A Girl Talk - Allisyn and Audrey from Disney's "So Random" answer questions about friendships and life in girl world.
• B-Smart - Games, puzzles, and exercises to workout your brain
• Featured article with posters on Disney Channel star Olivia Holt.
• Fun Wintertime Crafts - Making a peanut butter bird feeder and a snowflake craft.

As you can see, Reagan really enjoyed the magazine and it got the "Mom Approved" stamp from me as well. ?It is brightly colored, engaging, and discusses topics in a positive and fun manner.None of the topics are over her head or "too old" for her to start to think about and discuss. ?It even allowed us the chance to talk about something I probably wouldn't have asked her about. ?I would definitely choose this over some of the other "teen" magazines out there now. ? ?

BYOU Magazine is available in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble across the US & Canada or available by subscription for $17.97/year at ?www.BYOUmagazine.com.

The February/March 2013 issue of BYOU Magazine is available now. ?It features Katherine McNamara, Disney Channel star, on the cover. ? You can also "Like" BYOU?Magazine on Facebook, HERE.

Thanks to BYOU Magazine for sending us an issue for review. ?I was not compensated in any other way for this review. ?This review is mine and Reagan's honest opinion.

Source: http://www.sincerelystacie.com/2013/03/product-review-byou-magazine-for-girls.html

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One million refugees have fled Syria: U.N.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - One million people have fled Syria's civil war, piling pressure on the country's neighbors who are struggling to support them, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday.

Around half the refugees are children, most of them aged under 11, and the numbers leaving are mounting every week, UNHCR added.

"With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ant?nio Guterres said in a statement.

"We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched. This tragedy has to be stopped."

Nearly two years ago, Syrians started trickling out of the country when President Bashar al-Assad's forces started shooting at pro-democracy protests.

The uprising has since turned into an increasingly sectarian struggle between armed rebels and government soldiers and militias. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed.

UNHCR said the number of Syrians quitting their country has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year with more than 400,000 - nearly half the total figure - since January 1st.

They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families, it added.

Most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt and some arrive in North Africa and Europe.

Lebanon - the country closest to Syria's embattled capital of Damascus - is the smallest of the country's neighbors but has received the most refugees.

Including Syrian workers and self-supporting Syrian families, one in five people in Lebanon is now Syrian.

Refugee flows into Lebanon have doubled to 4,400 a day in the past three weeks, UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley told Reuters in an interview.

But despite pledges of $1.5 billion by international donors for a U.N. response plan to help Syria's displaced, only 25 per cent has been funded, UNHCR said.

In Jordan, energy, water, health and education services are being strained to the limit, the agency added. Turkey has spent more than $600 million setting up 17 refugee camps, with more under construction.

There is no end in sight for Syria's civil war and international powers are divided over how to respond to it. Russia and Shi'ite Iran support their historical ally Assad while the United States and Sunni Muslim Gulf countries back the opposition.

Both Damascus and the opposition have said they will consider peace talks but no meetings have been arranged.

(Reporting by Oliver Holmes and Dominic Evans; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/one-million-refugees-fled-syria-u-n-070757565.html

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Before Chavez death, WH said it was looking for a "functional and productive relationship" with Venezuela (Washington Bureau)

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Even after death, Chavez gets choice of successor

Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gather in Bolivar square to mourn Chavez's death in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Supporters of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gather in Bolivar square to mourn Chavez's death in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cries as she holds a sign that reads in Spanish "I am Chavez" as Chavistas gather in Bolivar square to mourn Chavez's death in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

In this photo released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's Defense Minister Admiral Diego Molero, at the podium, gestures alongside other military leaders during a live televised message to the nation after the vice president announced the death of President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Molero announced that the military will remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of Chavez's death. (AP Photo/Miraflores Presidential Press Office)

A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez cries as she learns that Chavez has died through an announcement by the vice president in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Supporters of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez gather in Bolivar square to mourn Chavez's death in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the status quo at home and internationally. He polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Even in death, Hugo Chavez's orders are being followed. The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists' candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed that Tuesday, just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela as virtually a one-man show for more than 14 years.

It was not immediately clear when the presidential vote would be held.

Considerable funereal pageantry was expected to honor Chavez, the political impresario widely adored among Venezuela's poor for putting the oil-rich state in their service.

Seven days of mourning were declared, all school was suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected in this economically challenged and violence-afflicted nation for an elaborate funeral Friday. No date or place were announced for Chavez's burial.

Venezuela's constitution specifies that the speaker of the National Assembly, currently Diosdado Cabello, should assume the interim presidency if a president can't be sworn in.

But the officials left in charge by Chavez before he went to Cuba in December for his fourth cancer surgery in a little less than two years have not been especially assiduous about heeding the constitution, and human rights and free speech activists are concerned they will flaunt the rule of law.

Some in anguish, some in fear, Venezuelans raced for home and stocked up on food and water after the government announced Chavez's death, declining to say what exactly killed him. On Monday night, the government had said the president had been weakened by a severe, new respiratory infection.

Tuesday was a day fraught with mixed signals, some foreboding. Just a few hours before announcing Chavez's death, Maduro virulently accused enemies, domestic and foreign and clearly including the United States, of trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy. The government said two U.S. military attaches had been expelled for allegedly trying to destabilize the nation.

But in announcing that the president was dead, Maduro shifted tone, calling on Venezuelans to be "dignified heirs of the giant man."

"Let there be no weakness, no violence. Let there be no hate. In our hearts there should only be one sentiment: Love. Love, peace and discipline."

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential election and is widely expected to be the opposition's candidate to oppose Maduro, was conciliatory in a televised address.

"This is not the moment to highlight what separates us," Capriles said. "This is not the hour for differences; it is the hour for union, it is the hour for peace."

Capriles, the youthful governor of Miranda state, has been bitterly feuding with Maduro and other Chavez loyalists who accused him of conspiring with far-right U.S. forces to undermine the revolution.

Across downtown Caracas, shops and restaurants begin closing and Venezuelans hustled for home, some even breaking into a run. Many looked anguished and incredulous.

"I feel a sorrow so big I can't speak," said Yamilina Barrios, a 39-year-old clerk who works in the Industry Ministry, her face covered in tears. "He was the best this country had."

Others wished Chavez's departure had come through the ballot box.

Carlos Quijada, a 38-year-old economist, said that "now there is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen."

He said a peaceful transition depends on the government. "If it behaves democratically we should not have many problems," Quijada said.

Like most Venezuelans, he said his big concern is ending violent crime that afflicts all strata of society, from the poor who Chavez wooed with state largesse to the economic elite at the core of the political opposition.

Venezuela has the world's second-highest murder rate after Honduras ? 56 people for every 100,000 according to government figures, which nongovernmental groups say are understated.

Late Tuesday, the armed forces chief, Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, reported "complete calm" in the country.

But there had been several incidents of political violence.

In one, a group of masked, helmeted men on motorcycles, some brandishing revolvers, attacked about 40 students who had been protesting for more than a week near the Supreme Court building to demand the government give more information about Chavez's health.

The attackers, who didn't wear clothing identifying any political allegiance, burned the students' tents and scattered their food just minutes after Chavez's death was announced.

"They burned everything we had," said student leader Gaby Arellano. She said she saw four of the attackers with pistols but none fired a shot.

Outside the military hospital where Chavez's body was visited by loved ones and allies, an angry crowd attacked a Colombian TV reporter.

"They beat us with helmets, with sticks, men, women, adults," Carmen Andrea Rengifo said on RCN TV. Video images showed her bleeding above the forehead but she was not seriously injured.

Maduro and other government officials have recently railed against international media for allegedly reporting rumors about Chavez's health, although RCN wasn't one of those criticized.

After nightfall, several hundred people gathered at Bolivar Square, a symbolic place for Chavistas because it has a huge nine-meter-tall (30-foot-tall) statue of Simon Bolivar, the 19th century independence hero whom Chavez claimed as his chief inspiration.

Some arrived singing Venezuela's national anthem and holding up posters of Chavez.

One man began shouting through a megaphone a warning to the opposition: "They won't return." The crowd then joined in, chanting: "They won't return."

Chavez leaves behind a political movement firmly in control of a nation that human rights activist Liliana Ortega, director of the non-governmental group COFAVIC, describes as a badly deteriorated state where institutions such as the police, courts and prosecutor's offices have been converted into tools of political persecution and where most media are firmly controlled by the government.

Maduro, whose government role had grown after Chavez went to Cuba for treatment, was belligerent early Tuesday. He reported the expulsion of one of the two U.S. attaches, and also said that "we have no doubt" that Chavez's cancer, first diagnosed in June 2011, was induced by "the historical enemies of our homeland."

Maduro compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was "inoculated with an illness" and said a "scientific commission will prove that Comandante Chavez was attacked with this illness."

Chavez's inner circle has long claimed the United States was behind a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him, and he has frequently played the anti-American card to stir up support. Venezuela has been without a U.S. ambassador since July 2010 and expelled another U.S. military officer in 2006.

U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell rejected the assertion that the U.S. was trying to destabilize Venezuela. The claim, he said, "leads us to conclude that, unfortunately, the current Venezuelan government is not interested in an improved relationship."

Ventrell added that the assertion that Washington somehow had a hand in Chavez's illness was "absurd."

He hinted the U.S. could reciprocate with expulsions of Venezuelan diplomats.

Chavez rose to fame by launching a failed 1992 coup, but never groomed a successor and many Venezuelans find Maduro, a former union agitator and Chavez's intellectual inferior by bounds, lacking the political heft.

Some political analysts believe that has made him more inclined to go on the attack as the presidential campaign begins in earnest.

Javier Corrales, an Amherst College political scientist, said he was concerned about the "virulent, anti-American discourse" under Maduro. "It seems to me this is a government that is beginning to blame the United States for all its troubles."

"This is very dark," he said. "This is the most nebulous period, the most menacing that the government has been, and the actions have been pretty severe."

Those actions have included hauling into court last week a leading opposition politician, Leopoldo Lopez, to face charges of influence peddling in a 15-year-old case that his lawyers say has passed the statute of limitations.

Lopez, who calls the charges ludicrous, ran logistics for Capriles in the Oct. 7 election after the government barred him from running for office.

In the absence of Chavez, the government is more aggressively seeking "to selectively destroy" opposition activists, Lopez said.

In his case, Lopez expects to be burdened by considerable legal distractions as he helps try to dislodge the Chavistas from power.

___

Christopher Toothaker and Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia, and Luis Alonso and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Frank Bajak on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fbajak

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-06-Venezuela-Chavez/id-93ed3ddbce244b16be3fd743f7076291

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Speculation and Investment: Communicating the Differences in Style ...

Editor?s note: This is another response to the question posed here last week: what is the difference between investing and speculation? If you are compelled, we invite you to comment below, tweet us @cfainvestored, or reach out to us via email.

How do speculation and investment differ? Meanings of the terms in the professional money management industry reflect popular usage.

Outside of the industry, the term ?investment? communicates a sense of clarity or at least commitment: Someone is invested in a particular point of view. Likewise, the industry has come to view investing as applying a rigorous analysis that offers some level of certainty. Determining the value of an asset or a stream of future cash flows and basing buy and sell decisions strictly on the basis of these calculations has long been the domain of value investors.

The term ?speculation? suggests uncertainty, a guess, or even a gamble. In our profession, the term is often used to describe leveraged transactions or investment decisions based purely on the direction and momentum of prices. Speculation has often been derided by some of the most-respected members of our community. Benjamin Graham is attributed as saying, ?The typical experience of the speculator is one of temporary profit and ultimate loss.?¹

I?m merely stating the obvious when I say these terms have generally accepted meanings. Of course, the distinctions between the two terms within our industry are far from self-evident. Several approaches have been suggested to define the distinctions. Three worth considering are using (1) price history as the primary decision criteria, (2) the initial expected time horizon for holding an asset, and (3) whether leverage is involved. Unfortunately, none are useful in clarifying the distinction between investments and speculations.

Price History

Using price charts to make buy and sell decisions is generally considered the speculators? domain. But investors who use price movements in the investment decision-making process aren?t necessarily speculators. For example, some money managers use valuations to make buy decisions and may include stop-losses in their sell decisions. In the 1973 movie Magnum Force, Clint Eastwood?s character, Harry Callahan, declared ?A man has got to know his limitations.? As a risk management tool, stop-losses might help prevent severe losses if there is a mistake in an analysis or if an original investment thesis changes. If investors use stop-losses, they are using price history in their decision-making processes.

Time Horizon

Investors are generally thought to have longer-term time horizons, but speculators can have long time horizons, too. Some trend-following techniques that most people would classify as speculative are quite long-term oriented.

A case can be made that some short-term traders are investors. Although day trading and high-frequency trading are generally considered speculative by the public, some disciplined day traders rigorously back test their strategies, which are designed to achieve safety of principal and a satisfactory return.

Time horizon doesn?t differentiate speculators from investors.

Leverage

Most people accept that using leverage in a portfolio is speculative because it increases risk. Bridgewater Associates, the world?s largest hedge fund firm, asserts that using leverage can reduce risk. The firm?s All Weather investment strategy has earned about 10% annually over the past 10 years, soundly beating the 6% median annual return for all pension funds. Founder Ray Dalio recently said, ?Ironically, by increasing your risk in the bonds, you are going to lower your risk in your overall portfolio.?2 If Bridgewater can add leverage to decrease risk, then using leverage might not be a suitable dividing line between investors and speculators, either.

Other terms like ?momentum? and ?mean reversion? can likewise be shown to be ineffective differentiators between speculation and investing.

Where Is the ?There? There?

Gertrude Stein famously quipped, ?There is no ?there? there,? describing a place lacking real meaning or soul. Likewise, ?speculating? and ?investing? are simply not satisfying descriptors for the nuances in investing styles that have developed over the years. They are too broad to have much real meaning.

Perhaps what we need are more terms to describe the risks in different investment techniques. After all, Eskimos have many words for ?snow.? The term ?intelligent speculation? has promise in this regard. But even if more terms are coined, we might be challenged to keep up with the growth in new investment techniques.

Using investment style to describe return drivers may be a better way to communicate the risk profile of a strategy. One tool advisers can use with clients to illustrate how various strategies have produced different results is on the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) website. The AAII tracks 65 different investment strategies, organized by investment style, such as value, growth, price momentum, and insider buying. The AAII defines rules for each strategy and calculates monthly results for each. Of course, the strategies are really paper portfolios, so they are ?executed? flawlessly and exclude transaction costs. Despite the flaws, this presentation shows how widely returns can deviate from established benchmarks based on style.

It may take time before we are able to use the terms ?investing? and ?speculation? with precision to describe the merits of various investment strategies. In the meantime, improving our descriptions of investment styles might be a more effective approach.

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1. The complete quote is, ?Speculators often prosper through ignorance; it is a clich? that in a roaring bull market knowledge is superfluous and experience is a handicap. But the typical experience of the speculator is one of temporary profit and ultimate loss.?

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Please note that the content of this site should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute.

Source: http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/insideinvesting/2013/03/05/speculation-and-investment-communicating-the-differences-in-style/

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Israel Apartheid Week: a time where hatred is unleashed

Israel Apartheid Week: a time where hatred is unleashed

eretzyisrael:

Israel Apartheid Week can and must be challenged, so that the voices of hatred on campuses across the UK do not win. By doing this we ensure that Universities remain a place for academic freedom, and not hijacked by a small but vocal minority who treat Israel as the devil incarnate.

Short URL for this post: http://tmblr.co/Z3dyvxfcW_hZ

Source: http://deadbilly.tumblr.com/post/44669594339

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Planned Parenthood knocks NYC?s ?Cost of Teen Pregnancy? campaign

(NYC.gov)

Planned Parenthood denounced a new ad campaign aimed at sexually active teens, unveiled by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week, for shaming current and expectant teen parents and their children.

?The latest NYC ad campaign creates stigma, hostility and negative public opinions about teen pregnancy and parenthood rather than offering alternative aspirations for young people,? Haydee Morales, vice president of education and training at Planned Parenthood's New York office, said in a statement released on Wednesday. ?The city?s money would be better spent helping teens access health care, birth control and high-quality sexual and reproductive health education, not an ad campaign intended to create shock value.?

The "Cost of Teen Pregnancy" campaign?displayed in subways and bus shelters citywide?includes images of concerned toddlers with messages for their teen parents.

"Honestly Mom," one poster reads, "chances are he won't stay with you. What happens to me?"

"Dad, you'll be paying to support me for the next 20 years," reads another, noting that New York state law requires a parent to pay child support until a child is 21.

The public service announcements also instruct teens to text "'NOTNOW' to 877877 for the real cost of teen pregnancy."

[Related: NYC rolls out 'Cost of Teen Pregnancy' PSAs]

"This campaign makes very clear to young people that there?s a lot at stake when it comes to deciding to raise a child,? Bloomberg said in his weekly radio address on Sunday.

The effort, he said, will "let thousands of young New Yorkers know that waiting to become a parent could be the best decision they ever make.?

According to the health department, the city's teen pregnancy rate has fallen 27 percent in the past decade. But Morales said stigmatizing teens who have already become parents "has not been a part of what has led to this success."

In 2011, the city quietly rolled out a controversial pilot program that allowed teens access to the contraceptive drug Plan B?the so-called "morning after pill"?in some of its public schools without parental consent. (Parents could choose to exclude their children from access.) In 2012, officials expanded the program to 13 schools with hopes of implementing it citywide.

That program?dubbed CATCH, or "Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health"?is supported by Planned Parenthood.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/planned-parenthood-nyc-teen-pregnancy-psa-bloomberg-182816020.html

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Weekend news round-up: seeing clearly on Google Glass, new war ...

Weekend news round-up: seeing clearly on Google Glass, new war on copyright theft erupts

Google's Project Glass glasses

In our round-up of the weekend's top tech stories, we look at the row that has brewed up in recent days over what really are the factors behind Apple's success, a proponent of wearable computers and augmented reality tells Google some home truths, and the record industry and Hollywood have a new trick up their sleeves to catch copyright thieves.

The reality about augmented vision

Steve Mann, one of the earliest proponents of augmented reality who had used wearable computers to boost his vision, looked back on more than 30 years of wearable computing in an interesting article in IEEE spectrum.

Mann?s insights and experiences may come in useful for Google, which is attempting to mainstream wearable computing.

?I have mixed feelings about the latest developments. On one hand, it?s immensely satisfying to see that the wider world now values wearable computer technology. On the other hand, I worry that Google and certain other companies are neglecting some important lessons. Their design decisions could make it hard for many folks to use these systems. Worse, poorly configured products might even damage some people?s eyesight and set the movement back years.

?My concern comes from direct experience. The very first wearable computer system I put together showed me real-time video on a helmet-mounted display. The camera was situated close to one eye, but it didn?t have quite the same viewpoint. The slight misalignment seemed unimportant at the time, but it produced some strange and unpleasant results. And those troubling effects persisted long after I took the gear off. That?s because my brain had adjusted to an unnatural view, so it took a while to readjust to normal vision,? Mann wrote.

The internet, not just Steve Jobs, made Apple

Writing in TechCrunch at the weekend, Michael Arrington pointed to a series of debates about why Apple pretty much beat everyone else in the tech industry, but reasoned that Apple?s success up until now would not have been possible without the internet.

?Talking about Apple versus Microsoft without mentioning the internet and the browser is like talking about WWII without talking about the nuke,? Arrington wrote. ?Framing the conversation just in terms of open versus closed operating systems, the quality of the hardware or software or who the CEO was, is silly.

?Because without the internet happening there?s no way Apple would have succeeded.

?Before the internet all most people cared about was Office. And Office was really the only reason anyone wanted Windows machines instead of Macs,? he wrote.

Questions about Facebook?s sharing system emerge

New York Times tech columnist Nick Bilton took umbrage at an apparent anomaly in how shared links actually spread through Facebook and noticed a discernable difference in how one of his articles spread when he decided to sponsor the post.

Bilton, who counts the population of a small country among his fans on Facebook ? 400,000 and growing ? says that in recent months, reaction to his stories plummeted.

?Facebook proudly informed me in a message that 5.2 times as many people had seen my post because I had paid the company to show it to them. Gee whiz. Thanks, Facebook.

?This may be great news for advertisers, but I felt slightly duped. I?ve stayed on Facebook after its repeated privacy violations partly because I foolishly believed there was some sort of democratic approach to sharing freely with others. The company persuaded us to share under that premise and is now turning it inside out by requiring us to pay for people to see what we post.?

The forces behind Groupon

The Verge had a very good story analysing the working relationship between fired CEO Andrew Mason and his investor, mentor and now the new interim CEO of Groupon Eric Lefkovsky.

?When Lefkofsky met Mason, the latter was a young, ambitious entrepreneur working on his first company, a crowdfunding platform called The Point that was similar to Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. Lefkofsky saw something in Mason, and gave him several hundred thousand dollars to grow The Point. But after a few months, Lefkofsky became impatient. As Mason told Chicago Magazine, Lefkofsky ?started prodding me to figure out how The Point was going to make money.? Eventually The Point pivoted to become Groupon, with Mason as the brash young CEO, and Lefkofsky behind the scenes, controlling a huge percentage of the shares and voting rights.

?Groupon went on to become the fastest-growing company of all time, hitting a billion dollars in revenue in just 17 months.?

New offensive in war against copyright theft

BuzzFeed reported that a new offensive in the war against copyright theft has been launched by the RIAA and Hollywood that will see private online security companies troll the internet for file sharers and then inform their internet service providers.

?In 1999, the recording industry was valued at US$14bn. Today what it's worth is estimated at less than US$7bn - a difference the Recording Industry Association of America says is primarily due to pirating of copyrighted music.

?The new system is an attempt to combat that loss by identifying individuals who are pirating music, movies, and TV shows using peer-to-peer networks. It rats them out to their internet service provider, who in turn sends them an alert telling them they have been caught downloading illegally,? BuzzFeed reported.

Stay informed ? get daily updates on the latest happenings in technology directly to your inbox.

John Kennedy | |

Source: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/item/31712-weekend-news-round-up-seei

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Self-Organizing Organizations (For Real)

Posted by Emmanuel Gaillot on Mar 04, 2013

Enterprise Architecture,

Process & Practices

Topics

Open Space ,

Self-organizing Team ,

Group Communication ,

Culture ,

Leadership ,

Scrum ,

Distributed Team ,

Agile ,

Teamwork ,

Collaboration ,

Organization

Everyone and their grandmother in the Agile world raves about self-organizing teams and the value of self-organization. Yet very few are willing to push self-organization to the next step: to actually work without managers / coordinators / benevolent seniors, in short, without anyone (including you) telling their mate (including yourself) what they must do. There are reasons for this: self-organization is no picnic, it doesn?t work, and everyone knows it. We at /ut7 didn?t know better, and we took nothing for granted. So we?ve tried self-organizing. For real. And we?ve learned some lessons on our way about self-organization, and life.

It all started in July 2011 when we, the workers of /ut7, bought back our company and transformed it into a co-operative business. Or maybe it started earlier, in 2010 when some of us proclaimed the company under Permanent State of Open Space. Or maybe even earlier, when one by one, we heard about this company hiring agilists who'd like to apply what they knew and believed in at company-level. So much for certainties: in self-organized structures you never really know when and where things start.

/ut7 is a collective of seasoned agilists with a solid expertise in software programming, product definition, team dynamics and self-organization. Our clients invite us to come back because they love how we constantly deliver working software on time, no matter how desperate the case is. Our students return to our trainings because they understand we're fully dedicated to raise the bar of expectations when it comes to defining what a professional coder is. Our friends visit us and hang around because we open our space to them for free. And perhaps because we're nice people. Or because there's always beer in the fridge.

Our company fully belongs to the workers. They may decide for the future of the company, they can enjoy a substantial part of the benefits generated by their work, but they can't speculate on the value of the company itself and make profit by selling their share.

/ut7 is one of the rare companies in IT that consistently operates under principles of self-organization. But what is self-organization, at company level? Basically, it means that the company organizes itself according to the free will of each individual in the company, all of them freely choosing to co-operate for achieving some goals. Let's take a closer look at this.

The Law of two feet

Our core interpretation of self-organization is the state in which you feel while being in an Open Space Conference. In 2009, three of us were seasoned Open Space Conference organizers; some others had experienced at least one Open Space Conference, so it became an easy point of reference. And if we wanted to feel like in an Open Space, why not use that same framework in our workplace?

All meetings and activities in general (including doing administrative tasks and client work) are public and publicized. Anyone may attend and participate, or act as an observer. No activity or meeting is mandatory. While there is value to having something done, we find it more valuable to receive signals that nobody is motivated to do something, because it tells us we shouldn't pursue this path. This of course could mean that some critical, not-so-gratifying tasks may remain undone and hurt us in the long-term. On the other hand, it helps us to check frequently whether we as a group still want to make the company function or not. As long as we're here, it means we're still committed as a group.

To ensure that the company may keep honoring its various commitments to its clients, its partners and the French regulations, we work in pairs. Whenever we can, we rotate the pairs on regular basis, to keep a fresh eye on the context and to accommodate individual schedules. We do this both for administrative tasks and clients' work.

Once a week we hold a formal Open Space, with opening, marketplace scheduling and closing. We use it to discuss what needs to be discussed prior to making an informed decision and to exchange information. We also use it to share whatever drives our passion at the moment, usually in the form of production activities such as programming, writing articles or songs, cleaning up or playing games of all kinds, some serious, some not. Every now and then, we invite people from outside to participate to the Open Space, usually for half a day so that we still have time to discuss private matters.

We've put "The Law Of Two Feet" (or, as some of us say, Bipodocracy) at the core of our governance scheme. That is, if you're where you are, doing what you're doing, this means you're either learning something or contributing to the group.

How do we make sure no one is slacking off? The short answer is we don't. (The longer, more subtle answer is based on cultivating trust, communication and healthy expectations about others.) We trust everyone to do their best and to act for the good of the company. When someone does less than others, we say "from each according to his abilities." This is frustrating at times. This can be discouraging to the point that some may prefer to leave the group rather than accepting to do more while earning the same. When you are able to deal with it, though, you increasingly find happiness in what you do, regardless of what others earn (or don't).

You're not the boss of me

Our company has no manager. Long-term orientations are decided collectively, unanimously. As long as there's no consensus, we keep on discussing the options. Short-term decisions are handled under the principle that those who do, get to decide: what they'll do, how they'll do it, when, for how long and for how much. Others in the company, those who don't do a specific thing, might wish for other methods, higher production rates or better outcomes. They might express their frustration, bring up an alternative point of view, but in no way can anyone tell another what they have to do. The only way to (maybe) change the course of action is to participate in the doing of the task.

Which brings a tough challenge: how do you get stuff, any stuff done, when you are constantly torn between doing what you feel is the most important task at hand and fixing all the wrongs you see the others doing? How do you decide to try out something new, when a failure could financially impact the company? How do you make choices, when nobody is there to tell you what to do?

We believe at? /ut7 that everyone is equipped to make an informed decision about their work priorities since they're aware of the financial situation of the company. We have an open accounting books policy. Everyone at /ut7 can check to the cent what amounts we've collectively earned and spent, and consult a conservative estimation of future expenses and incomes. This, of course, includes salaries. Everyone is then free to derive from these numbers whatever metrics they see fit and act accordingly. The sole indicator that's been consistently measured and publicized over the last two years is the time we have left before money runs out, should we not sign any new contract.

And now you say: There is no coordinated action? No common goal? No shared vision? Just people acting as they see fit according to their own interpretation of how financially healthy the company is?

And you're right. We've given up with shared vision and common goals as we feel that they are largely over-rated. Shared vision is a cool thing to have, of course, as it speeds everything up big time. But developing a self-organizing group with shared vision exercises is going to hurt everyone. We know, we've tried it many times in many ways. It's easy to come to a shared vision in an environment where some boss tells you what to do or tells you where to go in the form of a long-term goal. However, when the sky is the limit, things get tougher. You need to go personal, to talk about what deeply matters to you and to accept what deeply matters to others. This is scary. You'll have to share your vulnerabilities and trust the other won't use them against you. This doesn't happen with the click of a switch. You have to practice this everyday until the fear of getting hurt isn't an obstacle anymore. Rushing to a shared vision state in the group will only lead to platitudes such as "we want to do great things that our clients will love and be glad to buy," and will lower everyone's morale.

Our biggest surprise was to realize that a self-organized company can actually function without a shared vision. As long as there's room for everyone to go where their two feet lead them, and as long as the company keeps existing, what else do you need? So, instead of focusing on shared vision, we've switched our attention to making sure everyone was getting positive outcomes from whatever was being done, and to solve situations where one suffers from negative outcomes. This is a time-consuming practice but it has proved itself to be much more efficient than setting a long-term goal that we would never quite manage to define.

This is still a risky path, though. In times of financial crisis, it's tempting to look for individual financial contributions, compare "personal rentabilities" and despise those who aren't putting in "enough effort." We've been there, and it can get ugly. The main problem is that it's not easy to measure the actual financial contribution of an individual. And while solidarity is cool to talk about, it's hard to live by. There's no easy answer to this. Education, patience and communication help. Equal wages helps. Doing things in pairs and switching pairs helps too. And sometimes it's still not helpful enough and you have to let go, and welcome someone else's frustration and do the best with it. Just as in life.

Find your own path

Self-organizing means believing there are no preconceived solutions on how to get and remain self-organized. Every self-organizing structure will have to come up with their own practices, adapted to their context and (most) possibly irrelevant to others. This comes as no surprise, when you think about it. If there were such thing as "the" way to self-organization teams wouldn't be self-organizing anymore, they'd merely follow the voice or the writings of enlightened gurus.

We've grown from three to thirteen employees in about a year, to shrink back to four in about two years. Try to run a self-organizing company with thirteen people, and you'll see what kind of mess you get into. Self-organization is incredibly hard. Partly because when you disagree with someone, no manager will jump in and tell how to settle the disagreement. It is tempting to "stay put in his or her corner and take no notice of the others." Still, all together, you have to run the company and while you may easily bypass minor differences of opinion, it is much harder to ignore what the others do when you believe it jeopardizes the company's future. Ironically enough, chances are high the others think the same about you. "Hell is the other people." You can't just ignore the others, when what they do makes you cringe. You can't either force them to stop.

Some felt they didn't get enough room to explore their own endeavors. They expressed their concern of not feeling represented in the orientations the company was taking. This is something tricky: you do want to accommodate everyone's passion, and it's hard to do so and not lose your own stamina. In the end, we've noticed that the people who weren't feeling represented were also the ones who had chosen to spend much of their time at clients' workplace or doing work from home. This had unbalanced the relationship between a core of workers, who was actively maintaining contact and communication, and others who were more peripheral to this core. We realized that this was a self-re-enforcing loop, which made it even harder to get back in touch with those who weren't feeling heard. Since then, we make sure that we allocate at least a day a week for face-to-face communication.

And thus, some of us have stayed, believing they could overcome frustrations, no matter what. And it looks like we're actually getting somewhere. The Law of Two Feet helps. Open Space is just a start, though. The four of us have a practical experience in coaching practices and therapeutic tools, mostly from the Virginia Satir's system. It helps us to face with difficult conversations with courage. One format we use weekly is Temperature Reading. It not only helps to express what matters to you, be they appreciations, angers and worries, puzzles, new facts and rumors, or hopes and wishes, but also to hear others express vibrantly what dearly matters to them, and to be in touch with your own liveliness in reflection.

Of course, this isn't as rosy as it may seem. Finding out collectively what you're good at, what you want to do, and how you're going to do it takes a significant portion of your time and soon money runs short. About a year ago, we've filed for the French equivalent of Chapter 11 of Bankruptcy Code. That was six months after buying the company back. We thought we had gotten to self-organization, but we'd mostly run out of money.

What is the point of putting so much effort in self-organizing, then? To some, to us at least, it is about living a work life more in accordance with your values such as freedom, responsibility, solidarity and self-improvement. When you're this kind of person, finding yourself a healthy place in the vast grimness of the actual work milieu, finding people who understand you, whom you trust and among whom you can develop your self, can become an end in itself. A healthy work environment, mutual help, the permission to experiment and maybe fail may become the main outcomes you want the company to produce. Problem is, by doing so you allocate time, money and energy to things the rest of the economic systems doesn't value much. Even if you're selling great products, it's just a matter of time before some other company copies you and does the same with a "better" optimization of their resources and becomes a tough competitor. It may feel warm inside, but it's a cold world out there.

Conclusion: you leap and the net appears

It's been a year since we've filed for bankruptcy and we're still there. Our clients have all supported us while fully knowing our situation. New ones have even come to us. Are we eventually doing better? It's always hard to figure out if this is success, finally, or just a strike of luck that will pass, or a miserable tragedy we fail to see for what it is. You go on the self-organization path and everyone tells you how it will never work, and who knows, they could even be right. But life doesn't work either, it always fails and still, it doesn't prevent one to try and do one's best. So you try and do your best at setting up a self-organizing company. And you never know if you've succeeded enough to tell others that it can actually work.

Eventually, self-organization stops being a goal you want to reach, and turns into the way you work and live. It's only one way of living among many others, but you know deep inside that this one fits you well. You practice it again and again, and it stops being practice. It's still less-than-perfect, but you've stopped striving for perfection. You find out you can live with the mess, the uncertainty and the frustrations.

And then something amazing happens. You realize that you manage to work out problems in the company with others, that you achieve goals you believed were beyond your reach. That you're getting more confident about your abilities and your self-worth. That you face tough decisions with courage and honesty. That you actually like waking up in the morning to go to work. That not only your work, but also your whole life has a meaning. That you're doing something that matters to you, and to a group of now intimate friends who support your growth. Fears, doubts, uncertainties are still there everyday but they're so familiar now that you don't let them prevent you from doing your best. You're proud of yourself, and of each one in the group.

And you start thinking. If this is something you could do with a small group, you the normal guy, with limited abilities, limited resources and a fair share of traumas, maybe others could do it, too. Working out their own solutions to their current problems, talking about their victories, about their doubts, about what it means to them to be human and alive. So you write about your experience, hoping it'll inspire others to start their own. And this, dear reader, is where the rest of the story begins, waiting to be written.

About the Author

Emmanuel Gaillot works as a team coach, (extreme) programmer, facilitator, trainer and systems jiggler. For the last 10 years he has been helping software makers to be better at, prouder of, and happier about the work they produce. A regular speaker at many conferences on Agility, Emmanuel also co-organizes the annual Agile Open France conference. He is one of the founders (and still assiduous member) of the Coding Dojo in Paris. Emmanuel works in Paris at /ut7, co-operative business he learns to hack with his fellow colleagues. He currently focuses his energy and passion on learning and teaching exotic languages, on shaping self-organizing structures and setting up co-learning spaces.

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Source: http://www.infoq.com/articles/self-organizing-organizations

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