text:
Introduction: Motorized Watergun

Picture of Motorized Watergun

Step 1: Materials/Tools

Picture of Materials/Tools

Utility Knife
Drill bits 7/8th, 1 inch, and 1\8th
Soldering Iron
Screw Driver Phillips
Vise Grip

Swiffer Wet Jet
Duct Tape
Water Gun
Wood 5.5 in. by 1.5 in.
Bamboo Skewer
Silicone Caulking
Length of pipe small diameter
2 liter soda bottle

Step 2: Take the Swiffer WetJet Apart

Picture of Take the Swiffer WetJet Apart

This is fairly standard. Remove all the screws. Most of the screws are phillips, but there are two that are security torx screws. Why these are there is a mystery to me. You will need some sort of pliers, a file, and plenty of elbow grease to remove them. I removed the two I had by filling the sides of the screws so that my mini vise grip could get a grip, and twisting them out.

Be careful when taking it apart. There are two very sharp needles on the inside where you insert the bottle of cleaning fluid. These needles are sharp and unforgiving. Also note that there is a tiny screw on the inside of the area where you insert the cleaning fluid. It is pretty hidden.

Keep all screws, springs, wires, and other objects. The most important part is the motor with the tubes, the button switch on the handle, and the tube with one of the needles sticking out of it.

Step 3: Build the Water Delivery System

Picture of Build the Water Delivery System

Take the motor and the air intake valve and push their needles through a Gatorade bottle cap. Be careful the needles are sharp. Then drill a hole in the cap of the 2 liter soda bottle. Make sure the hole is big enough for the tube to fit through. I used a 1/4th inch bit. Now you will cut open the soda bottle and place the motor inside.  Put silicone or some other adhesive around the bottle cap and around where the tube comes out.

Now you need to get an old water gun and take it apart. Remove the tube and nozzle from the water gun. Stick this into the end of the tube. This will help you get some distance on the water gun. Use silicone to secure the tubes together. Cut your pvc to length and silicon it to the cap and place some silicone around where the nozzle emerges. Make sure not to get silicone over the tip or it will not work.

Step 4: Reinforce the Bottle

Picture of Reinforce the Bottle

You will need to reinforce the bottle. I use a bamboo skewer. I cut the skewer in half and trimmed it to fit in the bottle. Then I taped the two pieces into a cross. I then secured the cross behind the motor using silicone. I also added duct tape around the edge of where I cut. This helps to keep water from getting in during a battle.

Step 5: Power and Firing Switch

Picture of Power and Firing Switch

Drill a hole in the bottom of the bottle using a 7/8th inch drill bit. This should accommodate the handle from the swiffer. Pull the wires from the trigger and solder them to the wires from the button trigger in the handle. Then solder the battery wires to your battery pack. Make sure you test it before you solder. If the wrong wires are connected the motor will go the wrong way and it will not work.

Once the wires are soldered you can secure the swiffer handle to the bottle using the silicone. I also secured the handle to the braces inside the bottle using more silicone.

Step 6: Make the Handle

Picture of Make the Handle

I used a 5.5 in. by 1.5 in. piece of wood. I drilled a 1 inch hole in the middle of the wood. Then I cut the foam handle section to about 5.5 inches. I also cut the long section of metal tube into two seven inch sections.

I drilled a hole large enough for a nail in the side of the tube. This is then nail into the wood. The foam handle is attached using duct tape. The entire piece is slid over the nozzle and attached using silicone.

Step 7: Decorate

Picture of Decorate

Now you will want to decorate your gun. Mine is made from so many different parts that I wanted to paint it to give it a more uniform look. I placed tape over the nozzle and I stuffed paper inside to keep paint from getting on the motor. I also took a picture my daughter made for me and used it to make a duct tape sticker. I cut the sticker out using a pair of scissors and a utility knife.  I placed the sticker on the front of the gun. I painted it using some plastic spray paint I had lying around. It only took about two coats.

Step 8: Begin the Soakage

Picture of Begin the Soakage

Now fill your Gatorade bottle and being the soakage. It will not have the range of most water gun, but it will shoot without stopping. Also since the water container is a gatorade bottle you can keep a few filled for quick reload. Have fun!

badmoonryzn (author)2013-10-13

For more power use an aftermarket windshield washer replacement pump. Most auto supply stores have them. I got one for 12 dollars. and it had fittings and wires for hooking it up. They are cheap and put out lots of water. You can come up with all kinds of 12 volt batteries from small to large depending on what you want to carry. I used a gel cell that was about 4x4x3 inches and it lasted over an hour. I got it used from a friend.

Milz2000 (author)2013-07-19

If you change the nozzle
On the gun will
It increase the range

ehudwill (author)Milz20002013-07-20

It might, but the nozzle is pretty small already.

Notquitepinoy (author)2011-10-17

cool idea, I like the pump mechanism in the swifter... I think this summer if I can find a savaged swifter I will make one of these

ehudwill (author)Notquitepinoy2011-10-18

Please post pics when you do.

pie R []ed (author)2011-10-17

How far does it shoot?

ehudwill (author)pie R []ed2011-10-18

About 10 feet.

Pettrocity (author)2011-08-04

Very cool.

ehudwill (author)Pettrocity2011-08-05

Thank you

ZoDo (author)2011-08-03

Nice job

ehudwill (author)ZoDo2011-08-05

About This Instructable

Bio: I am a former English teacher turned Interactive Media Instructor. I like to make, fix, and take apart. Few things are more fun than taking ... More »
More by ehudwill:Star Wars Lightsaber UtensilsMusical Activated Light Up Christmas TreeWireless Weather Indicator
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Introduction: Two-tier Dry Stack Garden Wall

Picture of Two-tier Dry Stack Garden Wall

This is our view for several months of the year.

So when spring and summer roll's all about the backyard for us.

We love working in the yard, and each year brings a new project. In fact, now that our kids are older and have busy schedules of their own, the yard has become "our vacation".

This year we took on a sloped hill next to our favorite sitting area. It was fairly naturalized and didn't offer much of a view...unless we had some hungry visitors (see above).

We've built short stacked stone walls in other areas of our yard, so Mr. D&D decided it was time to test our strength and cardiac output by building a two-tier garden wall.

Mr. D&D researched plenty of web tutorials, and this post describes the combined version that we came up with…as amateurs and hobbyists.

That said, there are also plenty of one-time stone walls near our house—some built by landscapers—that are now long, crumbled heaps of stone.

Step 1: Identify, Clear, and Prepare the Project Area.

Picture of Identify,  Clear, and Prepare the Project Area.

Mr. D&D got busy stripping away the brush and weeds, while Mrs. D&D nearly exhausted herself supervising and taking photos.

Next, we decided where the walls would go and dug trenches for them that were about 6 - 8 inches deep.

We lined the trenches with landscape fabric; filled them with bags of drainage stone until they were fairly level with the ground; tamped down the stone using the foot/stomp method; and folded the fabric over.

Step 2: Sort the Puzzle Pieces

Picture of Sort the Puzzle Pieces

The stones looked so perfect on the pallets…like all we’d have to do is just take off a row and put it into place. Foolish earthlings…

We loaded the stones into a dump cart many, MANY, MANY times (while reminding ourselves, btw, that we technically might already be eligible for AARP cards) and hauled them into the area where we were working. There was much complaining under the hot July sun.

As we unloaded the stones, we sorted them into piles: large-area stones, chunky thick pieces, skinny shims, medium sizes, and stones we thought were too-small-to-use (hold that thought, because they turned out to be pretty important and useful).

There was barely room to walk to the work area…tripping hazards were everywhere! Spread out before us were dozens of pieces of a 3-D jigsaw puzzle, and the next step was to assemble them into a wall…or two.

We ended up using about two and a half pallets of stone for this project, but having extra stones to choose from was VERY helpful (as it minimized bickering and accusations of stone stealing :) )

Besides, there's always someplace to put extra stone.

(FYI, it's only fair to say that I did NOT introduce the puzzle analogy to pander to the current Puzzle Challenge...I legit have this section in the original post, which preceded the contest...which offers an iPad...which I don't own.)

Step 3: Run a Line Level and Start the First Course

Picture of Run a Line Level and Start the First Course

We put stakes at each end (where possible) so that we could string line levels across the area.

These walls look so much nicer when they are somewhat level..."somewhat" being the operative word. Yards slope, ours does A LOT, and sometimes level isn't even possible.

But the guide string helps in selecting which rocks go where, and when a thicker one (or a stacked combination) might be needed.

Now we were ready to start stacking and building. We chose larger rocks with long edges to put in the front as our foundation stones, and filled in the back with other "puzzle pieces" of a similar thickness.

We placed them directly on top of the landscape fabric.

Although this is intended to be decorative, it is also a retaining wall, so we added vertical rocks every so often that are dug into the hill. Again, we're amateurs not engineers, but we think that will give us extra stability.

Step 4: Pea Gravel, Pea Gravel Pea Gravel

Picture of Pea Gravel, Pea Gravel Pea Gravel

After we'd laid out the first row, we filled in the back, again, with smaller stones (and sometimes with several).

If they were bricks, they'd all have thicknesses that are nice and even. Nature makes rock differently. You have to level things out a bit before adding the next course.

We accomplished that by adding pea gravel. This was a new step for us, and I loved how much easier and more stable it made things.

Note the changes in the photos for this section. The first photo shows a pretty sizable rock in front. We added a few small rocks to the back, but they were nowhere near the thickness of the big rock in front.

So we added a layer of pea gravel.

And when that area was level, we added another smaller rock to the back, which fit perfectly.

Then we added more gravel to finish leveling it with the front rock (if you haven't figured it out yet, I use the words "stone" and "rock" interchangeably).

We also used them as a stabilizer and leveler between the rocks. See that big rock toward the bottom of the last photo?

Can you see how varied in depth the stone is? Much higher in the front than the back?

This is one of the tricky things about choosing which rocks go where. Some are vastly different on the left than they are on the right (or front and back) the puzzle isn't just which stones to put next to each other. It's also "what will get stacked on top of what"?

That's why I loved the pea gravel so much. It really helped address that problem and minimized wobbly layers (which would otherwise eventually shift without the gravel.)

Pea gravel, pea gravel, pea gravel! And then, on to the next layer :)

Step 5: Just Keep Building

Picture of Just Keep Building

As hobbyists, we started and stopped in sections and worked both rows at the same time. Sometimes we'd get a little frustrated by a problem area on the right, and go work on a section on the left. Again, it was like a big, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

Having the extra pallets gave us more stones from which to choose, which minimized problem solving. But you still have to work with the stone you have...and sometimes you just have to make them fit.

Sometimes, when a stone was almost right, we were able to chop off pieces using a hammer...which was also a big help. (Can't do THAT with a jigsaw puzzle!)

Remember when I complained about the tiny and small stones when we were sorting all the rocks by size (in Step 2)? Well, they turned out to be very useful: as shims on the front...and as filler in the back.

Some of the smaller, weirdly shaped, and/or super thick chunks were very helpful bolstering the stones against the hill.

Again, keep using the pea gravel between the stones and on them, as necessary, to level the layers.

Step 6: When It's at the Desired Height, Cap It

Picture of When It's at the Desired Height, Cap It

When we first sorted, we'd set aside a layer of larger flat stones to cap off the top (once we were happy with the height).

And remember that line level we'd strung across the area? Well, after tripping over the string one too many times, we took it down. We did, however, extend the string occasionally to see how we were doing. It was level enough for us. :)

Step 7: Backfill

Picture of Backfill

We read varying tutorials with varying opinions on backfilling with drainage stone and/or placing a small perforated pipe behind the stone for drainage.

Each of our walls were only about 12" to 15" tall, and though there's a small possibility we may regret it and might have to address it later, we just backfilled with drainage stone in any major gaps between the wall and the dirt.

Then we backfilled the top area with soil, so any plant material could grow.

The wall has since been tested many times by visiting deer and has held up with no damage so far.

So...are you ready to see the finished product?

Step 8: Plant and Enjoy

Picture of Plant and Enjoy

We had a little more soil chopping to do to get ready to plant... but these photos show the finished area. (At least, "finished" for this year.)

If you'd like to see more photos, (as well as our in-progress chess garden) pop by (and kindly pardon the shameless plug).

pj200 (author)2016-08-20

your instructable reminded me of the famous poem ' Mending wall ' by Robert Frost

DustandDoghair (author)pj2002016-08-21

I went back and read the poem...lovely. Something I could spend more time rereading... Loaves and balls and balanced by a spell.... Thanks for directing me there!

jtpoutdoor (author)2016-08-19

nice work folks. Just a comment for future projects, your foundations need to be dug in, so your first layer of stone should top out at ground level, (yup that s another pallet of stone) otherwise you are likely to find you whole wall migrating down slope over time. You are right about never having enough shillies, or "keep your middlings up" as my old dry stone walling boss used to tell us, if you don't your wall will fall down.

Great tip, jtp! We keep learning... I'm sure there are more walls in our future; I'll keep that in mind :)

About This Instructable

More by DustandDoghair:Mirrored Tile OvermantelGallery Wall Photo LedgesSolar Chandeliers
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Re: [IP] hypoglycemia, need advice, help

one of the things that often works for me, is to set up some kind of
"code" before hand.... (i'll agree with my mom, or a friend) that if they
think i should test, because i'm acting funny, they'll say something like,
"Hey, Sweetie" or wahtever..... and even if i'm pretty out of it, i'll
check my bg, because i remember making the deal about it before hand...
even if i think that the person is completely off their rocker regarding
my blood sugar.....  don't know if that helps...

Jessica Elena Marder
email @ redacted

Insulin Pumpers website http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/
for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org


text:
[Message Prev][Message Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: [IP] Re: insulin-pumpers-digest V3 #17

>  I'm a little reluctant to fix something that is not
>       broken, but would
> like to hear about others'
>       experiences making that switch.  What specifically has been
>       positive/negative
> about switching?

About 90% of pumpers use Humalog in their pumps.
See: www.insulin-pumpers.org/about.shtml

It's fast. You can bolus as you eat rather than having to plan ahead.
If your high, you get down quick. If your low, its over quicker.

Michael <email @ redacted>
Insulin Pumpers website http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/
for mail subscription assistance, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org


text:
  [Message Prev][Message Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

RE: [IP] Paradigm

Does anyone know when the upgrade program will begin?
I received a letter about 3 weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything else. Was wondering how much I should order next time...

for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org
send a DONATION http://www.Insulin-Pumpers.org/donate.shtml


text:
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Re: [IP] site

Thanks Robin, now atleast i know Matt's not the only one who doesn't want to
insert anywhere else!  I cannot wait until Kevin is back in range!  I hope
you sleep tonight too!  I will be up off and on tonight myself, Matt is
fighting after wrestling highs,and i need to determine when he's spiking!
Jeezzzzzzz.........we are not alone, is the only good thing, we have each

for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org
send a DONATION http://www.Insulin-Pumpers.org/donate.shtml


text:
  [Message Prev][Message Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: [IP] Nightmares & Lows

When Joshua was dxd 5+ years ago the 'low' nightmares was something that his
endo told me about right from the beginning.  He said that if Josh complains
of having bad dreams (he was only 5 at the time) that it was a good
indication of a low BG during the night.

mom to Joshua
for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org
send a DONATION http://www.Insulin-Pumpers.org/donate.shtml


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Re: [IPp] Cornstarch (or cornflour here in New Zealand)

Check out Nite Bites - they are kind of like tootsie rolls and have
cornstarch in them to prevent night time lows.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Suzanne and Paul Clarke" <email @ redacted>
To: <email @ redacted>
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2003 12:11 AM
Subject: [IPp] Cornstarch (or cornflour here in New Zealand)

> Insulin Pumpers is made possible by your tax deductible contributions.
> Your donation of $10, $25, or more... just $1 or $2 per month is
> needed so that Insulin Pumpers can continue to serve you and the rest
> of the diabetes community. Please visit:
>     http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/donate.shtml
> Your annual contribution will eliminate this header from your IP mail
> Hi all,
> I read recently that cornstarch can be used to help stop hypos over
> night and such like as it is more slowly absorbed. I am wondering if it
> would help avoid highs due to a gluten free high glycemic breakfast
> The high hits about an hour after he eats the cereal. Often the bsl will
> shoot up to 14-15mmol/l (260-260), usually from a pre-breakfast level of
> around the 6-8mmol/l (110-150) mark - on a good day!! If I added
> to the milk, does anyone know if this would help avoid the quick spike in
> bsl by slowing down the absorbtion rate?  I have tried changing the
> to carb ratio but he then goes low later. I have tried increasing basals
> we get lows later also. I also wondered about giving the breakfast bolus
> about half an hour before he eats as I think the cereal hits the blood
> stream before the insulin kicks in, but I am liable not to remember to do
> so - have enough to remember as it is!! I hope this makes sense and that
> someone can let me know if my thinking is on the right track or not. I
> post this to the CWD list so apologies to those who get it twice.
> Cheers
> Suzanne, Canterbury New Zealand, mum of Michael 7, D dxd 08/99, coeliacs
> 04/00,pumping 04/02, Daniel 9, wife of Paul.
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact:
> HELP@insulin-pumpers.org
for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact:


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Re: [IPk] Re: Sunbeds

Could you use this as an opportunity to change your site? I would bolus a
certain amount before the session (possibly .1 unit or so less than my
basal rate for that hour, just to be safe), and then remove the set. After
a shower after the sunbed, I would insert my new set.

I think inufsion sets can take a lot of damage, but in this case I think it
would be best to change the set.

for HELP or to subscribe/unsubscribe, contact: HELP@insulin-pumpers.org
help SUPPORT Insulin Pumpers http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/donate.shtml


text:
Cloud SLAs keep pace with enterprise SaaSBy Charlie Alsmiller, CEO, Appterra

I recently spoke with an enterprise software company that had launched a “Cloud” initiative. Like so many others, ourselves included, they had flocked to the variety of services available from Amazon, Azure, Softlayer, Rackspace and others to “scale” their business using the latest cloud technology.

I have examined all these services in some level of detail, and have found them all to be very good when paired with the right job. In our business, we rely on our technology partnerships to help ensure 100% uptime for our customers. In turn, our customers rely on us for dependable service that allows their business to run smoothly. Downtime is a really big problem. As such, they expect us to write a fairly intense SLA (Service Level Agreement) into our contracts, because if we are down, they are down. There are usually substantial financial implications of downtime, and it’s important to ensure that all parties are fully “incented” to react quickly if a downtime situation arises.

As we all know, downtime has been a problem with many of the larger providers recently. I understand that downtime happens, but where this gets to be a challenge is in the SLAs of these firms. Are you willing to bet your business on this? Below is an excerpt from a leading firm’s Service Level Agreement, which is typical.

“XXXXXX will use commercially reasonable efforts to make XXXXXX available with an Annual Uptime Percentage (defined below) of at least 99.95% during the Service Year. In the event XXXXXX does not meet the Annual Uptime Percentage commitment, you will be eligible to receive a Service Credit.”

This firm goes on to note that the service credit will equal 10% of your bill for the affected period. Thanks.

I have a former customer that once calculated downtime costs for his business at $1000/minute. I also have a current customer that received EU 500/minute penalties for downtime in their ability to communicate and take orders from their customers. So, let’s run some quick math. 99.5% uptime translates into approximately four hours and 23 minutes of downtime per year, or around 22 minutes per month. In the case of my former customer, 22 minutes of downtime per month equals $22,000 of lost revenue. If a business pays $10,000/month for cloud services, they would only receive a $1000 credit for their loss. That’s not acceptable, and I can assure you, they won’t wait around for it to happen again – they WILL look elsewhere.

The bottom line is that while the outage will have financial impact, both in terms of lost revenue and SLA payouts, the major hit will be that of customer confidence. Any credits offered will be insignificant in replacing either revenue or customer perception.

As a SaaS company, we have a lot of moving parts — our network, hardware, operating systems, database systems, our code base, etc. All must work flawlessly together to ensure a great end customer experience. As enterprises seriously consider cloud services, take a cold, hard look at the Service Level Agreements and the real commitment to uptime that the supplier can provide. I think you will be surprised and choose your partner very carefully — which is why we chose Internap as our cloud hosting provider.

For more information about evaluating cloud providers, read the Cloud Hosting Buyer’s Guide.


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How to Block A Single Web Page on Mac

For one reason or another, you might find it necessary to block your Mac from accessing a particular web page instead of the whole web site. على سبيل المثال, you want to block a Facebook page from being viewed by your kids or others. Some Mac savvy citizens may suggest users modify hosts file on Mac to block web sites. ومع ذلك, you may find that editing hosts file does not work in blocking a single web page. It is only feasible for blocking web sites.

Is there any chance that I can block a single web page on Mac? Sure! You can trust in Aobo Filter for Mac! Aobo Filter for Mac will identify exactly what you want to block and take the accurate operation. To block a web page from your Mac, please follow the below tips in Aobo Filter for Mac:

Let’s take!/BlockSitesMac as an example. These steps will block the single Aobo Filter Mac Twitter page but won’t effect the other Twitter service.

Now you can hide your Filter for Mac, leave the blocked web page alone and enjoy customized Twitter. You can use this way to block any web page from visiting any browser on Mac.

العلامات: , , ,

الفئة: تصفية Mac مركز التعلم

المنتجات التي قد ترغب


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The Danish market is a perfect test market for new products and technologies.

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Denmark gives you high-tech production facilities and the highest worker motivation in the world.

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1.    Direct Membership assessments:  The Sponsoring Committee must carry out all assessments for Direct Membership and put forward recommendations to the Board in the usual way, using the application form supplied by Broomhills. The information should be acquired from the Director of Training at the Regional Institute where necessary.  Any information that is additionally required should be obtained during visits to the Group.  Final assessment interviews should be carried out by the Sponsoring Committee.

2.    Training:  When the Study Group training programme is satisfactory the Sponsoring Committee should begin to appoint Training Analysts within the group.

Seminars should be held at the Study Group, but it is accepted that they may not initially be of sufficient quality.  The Sponsoring Committee must carry out all selections and evaluations for progression and IPA Membership.  The Regional Institute may continue to assist with training and candidates may continue to attend the Regional Institute’s seminars.   The teachers from the Regional Institute will pass on evaluations of candidates to the Sponsoring Committee after the seminars have been completed.

3.    Changing Training Analyst from Institute to Study Group: New candidates in the Study Group should be allocated to a Training Analyst working within the Study Group and not with the Regional Institute.  The Sponsoring Committee, in consultation with the Regional Institute, must agree when the Study Group is ready for this to happen.  However it is important that the continuity of all existing candidates’ training analysis is preserved as much as possible and only changed if absolutely necessary.

4.    Training Analysts criteria:  Full Training Analysts must have five years of unsupervised psychoanalytic experience.  Temporary Training Analyst status may be given to assist the development of the group and to avoid excessive shuttle analysis, but this should be on a restricted basis, and these are not listed as TA in the IPA roster.  All restrictions must be specifically stated to the analyst prior to approval. The Sponsoring Committee must be content that all those approved for Training Analyst status (including those with restricted training status) are sufficiently qualified to do so.  All new Training Analyst applicants (both restricted and full) must be assessed and approved by the Sponsoring Committee – obtaining relevant information from the Regional Institute where necessary.

5.    Shuttle analysis: Training Analysts are not automatically authorised to carry out shuttle analysis. The Sponsoring Committee must assess all shuttle analysis proposals - obtaining relevant information from the Regional Institute where necessary. Shuttle analysis may only be approved if the development of a group requires it. Although it is assumed that Training Analysts in established institutes of Component or Provisional Societies are able to conduct shuttle training analysis, it is still important to assess the feasibility of the planned shuttle, the psychopathology of the patient, the patient’s adaptability, the proposed setting, the schedule and the number of sessions etc.

Those Training analysts who have been approved by the Sponsoring Committee or Institute for restricted Training Analyst status may not be authorised to carry out Shuttle Analysis.

Change log
First approved by the Board January 2015
*This change record is for background information only and does not form part of the Procedural Code. If there is any conflict between a statement in the Procedural Code and a statement in this change record, the change record will be disregarded.


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Takeyoshi Matsumoto Seikyo (Quiet Border)

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November 23, 2017

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Introduction to Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Introduction to Software Defined Networking

Webinar: 4.59 Instructor: 4.79 Materials: 4.63 more …

Register to access this free webinar

Webinar details

What is SDN? What is software-hardware disaggregation and whitebox switching and why are they relevant? Will SDN solve all networking problems? Is centralized control plane the answer to all problems we have today ... or is it just an useless overhyped concept? This webinar will explain the basics of Software Defined Networking and other related emerging technologies and concepts, and help you answer all the above questions.

If you’re CIO, network architect or designer working service provider or large enterprise environments, you'll find this one and a half hour webinar a must-have overview of Software Defined Networks and related technologies.

The webinar is sponsored by NIL Ltd. and thus free of charge – all you have to do to view it is to fill in the above form and answer a few questions on the follow-up page

About the Author

Ivan PepelnjakIvan Pepelnjak (CCIE#1354 Emeritus) has been analyzing OpenFlow technology and SDN ideas (and being pretty vocal about their shortcomings) since March 2011, resulting in a number of high-impact events, on-site SDN workshops for large enterprises and service providers, and vendor-sponsored webinars.

Ivan is the author of several SDN-related books, highly praised webinars, and dozens of OpenFlow and SDN-related technical articles published on his blog.

More about Ivan Pepelnjak

Delivery format

The Introduction to SDN is a 1.5-hour technical presentation. You can register for a live webinar session by filling in the form at the top of this page; we can also organize an on-site event, where the topics of this webinar are combined with in-depth discussion of other data center, OpenFlow or SDN topics that apply to your network.

Happy Campers

This section contains the feedback from the previous version of the webinar.

About the webinar

Thanks you so much for providing us with such sessions and i hope if we can meet someday

Mohamed Osama Saad Abosree
Your webinars are extremely useful for me. I'm interested in SDN, NFV and Future Network, therefore it's very helpful. I hope i can watch all of your webinar about aforementioned topics.
Anyway, Thank you so much for wonderful webinars
There are probably some pro's and con's but I would prefer having all the questions at the end. The reason I say that is beacuse sometime the rest of the audience (including me) does not understand the question or worse is not interested by a question => there is some waste of time.
Piret Benoit
I have significant experience in these areas, so I found the webinar to basic for my needs.
Curiously, your discussion of what networking does well (e.g. dest based fwding) and what it has great trouble with (e.g. traffic eng) may prove the most useful. It is usually pretty hard to know that sort of thing in advance.
jim warner
Excelent webminar!!!
Great research and information as always!
Yogesh Angrish
It was great to see the concepts in context the industry, point of view of ISPs etc.
Kurt Baumann
Ivan always provides interesting thoughts on current and future technologies. I have been a fan of Ivan from the first time I read his MPLS books many years ago.
Gregory Wendel
although there is sponsorship involved from NEC, there is still a critical look to all vendors regarding SDN and no specific recommendations are pointing to NEC.
Guido Maenen
Its good one,with the basics.
Manjunatha GH
Boris Khasanov
A good, and nicely cynical, introduction into the realities of SDN.
Kerry Thompson
Keep up the great work Ivan :)
Matt Rudkowski
I think you did an excellent job of choosing the material for this webinar.
Salman Naqvi
Upto the mark.Top Notch Ivan.
Chinar Trivedi
It was very down to earth and crisp content - I could indeed related to most of it.
Rik Herlaar
seesion : what is SDN
Well I would have liked to be told explicitely the reasons why companies use SDN.
From the webinar implicitely I would say ease of deployment (I assume it would be to have an easiness of deployment close to that of VM in public clouds fro customers) or to pay less to network device vendors and get functions and services closer to the need.
I would have appreciated to have it explicitely said because I can be mistaken or forget things.

On top of that, the indication I have listed seem to target more rather big companies in which the network is modified very often and thus for which ease of deployment is a critical feature.

being new to this I may have missed things of course.

As a whole very interesting session, with very interesting information, it's main drawback : it has a quality that is addictive to follow other sessions from ipspace but may be it is a compliment ? ;-)
Muchery Thibault
Very clear, in-depth coverage.
Saumya Hegde
Excellent webinar. I love the vendor neutral insight and the pragmatic views on the new technologies.
Omar Alhassane
I really enjoyed the Q&A and the way that you answered questions throughout the presentation.
Matt Richards
An excellent high level overview of SDN for people like me -- not a network engineer but familliar / work with network technologies
Russ Harvey
Excellent perspectives on SDN. Very refreshing to hear a vendor-neutral presentation on what SDN is and what it is not. I would highly recommend this session to anyone interested in SDN.
Patrick Watson
Very interesting and useful to learn the basic elements of SDN
This webinar cut through the bs of the current SDN hype. It was straight forward in its efforts to explain SDN. I would recommend this webinar to any individual wanting a current explanation of what SDN is not, and therefore what it has the capability of being.
Bryan Miller
Too much time is spent describing what SDN is not. I find it distracting.
Etienne-Victor Depasquale
A great overview of the technology
Rod Oliver
I have been following the blog and posts in IP Space for a few year now and I must thank Ivan for providing such a wonderful platform. I have shared his blogs with my colleagues and friends and will continue doing it.
Saravanan R Rajasekaran
The perspectives on SDN were well thought out and very informative. It was also nice to hear a vendor-neutral take on what SDN is (and what it isn't).
Patrick Watson
Very clear and concise introduction to SDN. I really appreciated the critical vision of sdn
Tiziano Tofoni
It rules SDN.
Claes Ferngren
You certainly heard about SDN and the buzz around it. Want to know what it means and what it does not mean?
Mohammad Salehe
Good explanation of what SDN is not :) Now I need to read the rest of the videos to know what it really is, appart of the abstraction for end-users.
Ivan is clearly an engineer's engineer. He has a superb ability to communicate subject matter concisely and, as a bonus, with a dry wit that makes his productions a delight to watch. I've already found opportunities to quote him; for instance re: the circumstance we all face once or twice a month "... because someone asked them to change the network or security setup on Friday afternoon after the deployment of a new application has been delayed for months." Anyone miss the BOFH days?

If you need a clear introduction to a networking subject, this is the place to find it. If you want in-depth examination of a subject, this is the place to find it. If you need some comic relief from someone who has been in your networking shoes... you get the picture.
David Joyce
It was very informative.
William Murray
What made me look into this was the fact that this webinar was free, and it's certainly a great start material for anyone who wants to know about SDN.
Miguel Goncalves

About the instructor

Spend less time on each slide; let attendees read material vs. going over every point on slide
One of the most knowledgeable network engineers/architects in the world!
Yogesh Angrish
I thought handled questions well (with a mid-course correction to move more to the end) on answering questions during the presentation vs at the end.
Doug Varney
Please have similar FREE webinars in future. :P
Chinar Trivedi
Very Good
Muchery Thibault
Very knowledgeable about anything to do with networking.
Crystal clear presentation style.
Saumya Hegde
I thought the tone and phrasing was very constructive and objective. I would not hesitate to ask a question during a presentation of his.
Matt Richards
I greatly enjoyed Ivan's presentation of SDN. It was very methodical and well organized.
Patrick Watson
Ivan number one !!!
Ivan clearly knew the material he was explaining to the attendees. Explanations were concise and to the point.
Bryan Miller

About the materials

Material was too basic for my needs.
Would have liked to see more detailed information on real world deployments.
Some "actions" don't happen down at the fwding plane but instead are done in software -- affecting performance. It would be nice to have some examples of this.
jim warner
Now I have resources and information to share with my co-workers in order to evalute the different SDN solutions in the market.
Very thorough.
Yogesh Angrish
I thought that the slides with "Do well/don't do well/don't do at all" or "Easy/Harder/Impossible" was very valuable in conjunction with the use cases (always like to see more use case examples).
Doug Varney
HI Ivan, these seminars are exceptional, blah blah. I know you have heard this enough. It would be great if you have a paid podcast channel that I could subscribe to for SDN based. This way it will automatically be downloaded and offline viewable. Thank you so much for all the hardwork.
Srinivas Ram
nice to see that the content is split around different modules. Also good that the slides can be downloaded as reference.
Guido Maenen
Materials are good enough, good collection.
Manjunatha GH
A few more technical details relating to real-life scenarios would help. Network engineers like to see how things work rather than hear speculation as to how they should work.
Kerry Thompson
While the material was not relevant to my current job it was explained thouroughly and was easy to follow along and digest.
Bryan Miller
Very informative. I would highly recommend to anyone who is trying to find out exactly what SDN is and what it can do.
Patrick Watson
I am impressed - in a good way - by your communication skills. Although SDN is not a subject I can apply directly in my work (at least for now), it certainly helped me to understand core concepts.
Miguel Goncalves

Attending @ioshints SDN, NFV and OpenFlow for Skeptics Webinar. Solid, realistic, and neutral information as usual.
Unsurprisingly @ioshints webinar on SDN, Openflow and NFV is very good--thanks for the good work Ivan.

You'll get

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text:
What Is Dawat-E-Tabligh

We glorify Allah ask blessings, peace for the noble prophet(saw)and his companions and those who follow him in upholding the cause of the right religion.

Dawat-e-Tabligh was first started by Hazrat Maolana Ilyas(ra) through his high devotion and perseverance to revive kalima, deen,sunnah etc. It was felt by him the then many deeni activities were going on around him(e.g.teaching in madrassa, khanka works)but the real dawat(invitation)of our beloved prophet(saw)is completely absent.He was so much worried about that no one was coming upfront to take up this big task which had been continued fully till prophet,s(saw) death.Maolana ilyas(ra)thought that kind of deeni activities is not enough to bring all people and make them join together in order to be practical muslims.So he first worked on the people who has no knowledge about Islam(Mewat-village town in India).Through his profound and continuous effort, slowly and gradually many scholars and personages among muslims showed great zeal and accepted this dawat and now we see a cohesive work is currently in progress for the propagation of Islam and the Islamic way of life.Ofcourse, many muslims in the world are able to understand what is Tabligh and they draw benefit from it.

Now, I would like to quote from Qur,an and Hadith in this regard:
"O you(followers of Muhammad(saw)):you are the noblest of peoples, in that you have been brought out (the benefit of)mankind.You enjoin the good and forbid the evil, and you believe in Allah."

"And it is but meet that amongst you there should be a group devoted to inviting people towards the righteousness and enjoining the good and forbiding the evil, and
it is the only those who do this that prosper."

"If you (come forward to) help (the religion of) Allah Taala, He shall help you and make you steadfast."

Chronology Of The Prophet Mohammad's (PBUH) Life

Year CE

Mohammed’s birth in makkah; the lonely orphan

Mother Amina dies,grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib becomes guardian, Followed two years by his Uncle Abu Talib.

First trading journey to Syria accompanying Abu Talib.

Marriage to Khadijah, First son Qasim born (599 CE ), dies aged 2 years.

Mohammed helps to rebuild the Ka’bah.

Angel Gabriel’s visitation to Mohammed in cave Hira First revelation,IQRA’.Khadijah,Ali,Abu Bakar and Zayd become Muslims.

Public preaching of islam begins.

First migration (hijrah) of muslim group to Abyssinia

Persecution increases.Mohammed family and followers are Boycotted by Makkans.

Year of sorrow: Khadijah and Abu Talib die. Mohammed’s preaching in Taif rejected

621/1 AH
Miraculous night journey and ascension through Seven Heavens.

Persecution and threats, preparation for departure to Yathrib.

The Prophet(s.a.w.s) migrates and is welcomed in Madinah.

New constitution declared for the inhabitants of the city.

Change in Qiblah from the furthest mosque in Jerusalem to KA’BAH in Makkah.fasting is Enjoined on believers;The Battle of Badr,a great victory for muslims.

Battle of Uhad,Muslim narrowly defeated.

Battle of Khandaq (the trench)-the long siege of Madina by 10,000 unbelievers

Treaty of Hudaybiyyah,peace terms between the Prophet (s.a.w.s) and the polytheists.

Letters sent by the Prophet(s.a.w.s) to Khusraw,emperor of Byzantium and other rulers inviting them to islam.

Conquest of Makkah by 10.000-stroong muslim army

General amnesty granted and Idols smashed.

Last pilgrimage of the Prophet(s.a.w.s).Revelation of the Qu’ran Completes.

Death of the Prophet(s.a.w.s)ص

At length, when they came to a valley of ants, one of the ants said: "O ye ants, get into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot) without knowing it."
So he smiled, amused at her speech; and he said: "O my Lord! so order me that I may be grateful for Thy favours, which Thou has bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may work the righteousness that will please Thee: And admit me, by They Grace to the ranks of Thy Righteous Servants."
-- Sura An-Naml [The Ant] (27):18-19

But then there are these Amazing Facts About Ants that in contradiction to the Qur'an, ants do communicate using smells, not modulation of sounds. Solomon could not have heard any talk since ants do not produce any.

Additionally, to imagine that ants communicate such sophisticated information as the Qur'an claims seems rather to belong into the land of fairy tales than science (e.g. an ant being able to distinguish between Solomon and a soldier).

Even though basically all communication between ants is through chemical signals, there are, however, a few subspecies of ants which do use some sound communication. But of what kind and complexity is it?

The use of vibrational signals is weakly developed in ants in comparison with communication by pheromones. ... Two forms of sound production have been identified., body rapping against the substratum and stridulation, the latter employing files and scrapers clearly evolved for a communicative purpose. ... [p. 255]
It has long been known, thanks to the experiments of ... that ants are nearly deaf to airborne vibrations but extremely sensitive to vibrations carried through the substratum ... [p. 257]

No evidence exists to rank the chirps of stidulation as anything more than simple unitary signals. In other words, ants do not "talk" by modulating sound through time. ... sounds ... do not appear to vary within species or within the repertory of one worker ant through time. ... stridulation in ants produces a monotonous series of chirps with limited meaning. [p. 257]

The signaling pattern is independent of the triggering stimulus. That is, the ants do not modify the drumming to identify the category of danger to the nest. [p. 256]

All the above is taken from:

Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson
The Ants
Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1990. xii, 732 p.,
ISBN 0674040759, Library Call Number: QL568 .F7 H57 1990

Chapter 7, pages 227-297 speak about communication. Page 228 gives a table of different signals in communication between ants. Of the 17 "messages" listed 14 are chemical, 2 are tactile, 1 is "chemical or tactile". In all the intensive studies of ants, "speech" (modulated sound of complex meaning) has never been observed.

When a live ant is marked with the chemical [one that develops in dead ants], i.e. sending the message that this ant is dead, the struggling ant is nevertheless taken by the others and carried out to the rubbish dump. Chemicals take the precedence over anything else. Surely no intelligent speech communication as claimed in this Qur'an passage. Action is blind reaction to the chemical message [pheromones]. (See From Gaia to selfish genes : selected writings in the life sciences, edited by Connie Barlow, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1991, 273 p, the chapter "From ants to anthropology" by E. O. Wilson, page 153-154.)

A recommendation I got: The great Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson has spent his life studying the captivating ants. See your local bookstore for his several works available on his studies of ants. If you live near a Barnes and Noble bookstore, they stock his books.

This verse is the only one in the Qur'an talking about ants and the information it conveys is wrong. The Qur'an only shows an understanding on the common level of other fables known from the same time in history.

The way to unite the Muslims on the truth
Division, discord and disputes have overwhelmed the Muslim ummah. How can we unite the Muslims in following good and do away with division and disputes?.

Praise be to Allaah.

The way to unite the Muslims on the truth and do away with division and disputes is to adhere to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and to persist in that and to advise one another to do so, and to cooperate in righteousness and piety, and to refer all disputed matters to the Book of Allaah, may He be glorified, and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and to refer to them for judgement in all things, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“O you who believe! Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allaah and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), if you believe in Allaah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination”

[al-Nisa’ 4:59]

“And in whatsoever you differ, the decision thereof is with Allaah (He is the ruling Judge)”

[al-Shoora 42:10].

“those of you (Muslims) who are in authority” are the scholars who have knowledge of the religion of Allaah and are known for good ‘aqeedah (belief) and conduct, and the Muslim rulers. If a dispute arises among them concerning any matter, it must be referred to Allaah and the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Referring to Allaah means referring to the Holy Qur’aan, and referring to the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) means referring to him during his lifetime and to his saheeh Sunnah after his death. What they or one of them rules is the ruling of Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted. What all Muslims, governments and people, scholars and rulers, must do is fear Allaah by obeying His commands and heeding His prohibitions, and referring to the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in matters concerning which they dispute among themselves, in obedience to the two aayahs quoted above, and in accordance with the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):

“But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission”

[al-Nisa’ 4:65]

“By Al‑‘Asr (the time).

2. Verily, man is in loss,

3. Except those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the truth [i.e. order one another to perform all kinds of good deeds (Al‑Ma‘roof) which Allaah has ordained, and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds (Al‑Munkar) which Allaah has forbidden], and recommend one another to patience (for the sufferings, harms, and injuries which one may encounter in Allaah’s Cause during preaching His religion of Islamic Monotheism or Jihad)”

[al-‘Asr 103:1-3]

“And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allaah (i.e. this Qur’aan), and be not divided among yourselves”

[Aal ‘Imraan 3:103]

We ask Allaah by His most beautiful names and by His sublime attributes to set straight the affairs of all the Muslims in all places, and to soften their hearts towards the truth, and to unite them in true guidance, and to grant them refuge from the tricks of the shaytaan and the plots of their enemies, and to guide their leaders and to appoint the best of them in authority over them, for He is All Hearing, Ever Near. End quote.

And Allaah knows best.

How to serve Islam
I want to serve my religion, what should I do?

Praise be to Allaah.

1 – You can serve Islam by having a correct resolve and sincere intention, for Allaah blesses an action that is done sincerely for His sake alone, even if it is little. Sincere devotion, if it becomes a constant feature of acts of worship and obedience, even if they are small or simple in the sight of the one who does them, makes them great in the sight of Allaah, so Allaah will forgive him for major sins because of that, as it says in the hadeeth about the piece of paper on which is written La ilaaha ill-Allaah.

2 – You can serve Islam by knowing the right way and following it. The Straight Path means following the way of our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) with regard to the principles, ways and means of da’wah and being patient in adhering to that, whilst treating people with kindness and compassion, because they are suffering from the disease of sin.

3 – You can serve Islam by making the most of all available means and circumstances. This is a great blessing, for all means are permissible except those which have been forbidden by Allaah. So we call people to Allaah by all means prescribed in sharee’ah, whilst paying attention to the evidence of sharee’ah and correct etiquette.

4 – You can serve Islam by giving precedence to that which is in the interests of Islam over your own whims and desires. Serving this religion means giving what is most precious of your money, effort, time, thought, etc. Have you not seen those who love sport (football or soccer) for example, how they devote their efforts, time and money to their beloved sport? But more is expected of you than that.

5 – You can serve Islam by following in the footsteps of the scholars, daa’iyahs and reformers, having patience as your companion and putting up with tiredness and exhaustion. For you are doing a great act of worship which is the mission of the Prophets and Messengers and those who follow in their footsteps.

6 – You can serve Islam by shunning laziness, weakness and apathy, for this religion is the religion of resolve, ambition and courage, and its call is only harmed by laziness or reckless ignorance.

7 – You can serve Islam by connecting your heart to Allaah and reciting a lot of du’aa’ and prayers for forgiveness, and persisting in reading Qur’aan. There is nothing that is more effective in cleansing the heart and refreshing the soul, and making it active and energetic so that it will not get tired or bored, than remembering Allaah much and drawing nearer to Him by means of obeying Him and doing naafil (supererogatory) acts of worship.

8 – You can serve Islam by forming bonds with scholars who practise what they preach, those who are known to be sincere and who are well established in jihad and supporting this religion. Marching under their banner and following their lead is very good and beneficial.

9 – You can serve Islam by organizing your time on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. There are actions which should be done every day, others which should be done every week, and others which should be done every month or every year.

For example, you should make da’wah to those whom you see every day and to those whom you see once a week. You may have a family gathering once a month, and there may be annual conferences, or journeys for Hajj or ‘Umrah once a year, and so on.

10 – You can serve Islam by paying it some attention and giving it some of your time, thoughts and money, and making it your main concern. So when you stand up, it is for Islam; when you walk, it is for Islam; when you think, it is for Islam; when you give, it is for Islam; when you sit, it is for Islam.

11 – you can serve Islam by hastening to contribute every time you find an opportunity to do good. Do not hesitate or delay or put it off. Atleast you visit some brothers everyday basis and talk about the greatness of Allah, eternal life(akheera) and risalat.

With what should the daa’iyah start calling people to Islam?
The Islamic groups here differ as to what the daa’iyee should start with – should they start with the imaani aspects of Islam, or the beliefs, or the morals? What matters do you think we should start with?

Praise be to Allaah.

It is prescribed to start with ‘aqeedah (belief, tenets of faith), as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and all the Messengers did, and because of the hadeeth of Mu’aah, [in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to him, when he sent him to Yemen]:

"You will come to some of the people of the Book. When you reach them, invite them to testify that there is no god except Allaah and that Muhammad(saw) is His Messenger. If they obey you in that, then tell them that Allah has enjoined on them five prayers every day and night. If they obey you in that, then tell them that Allah has enjoined on them Sadaqah (i.e. Zakaah) to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor among them. If they obey you in that, then exercise caution and do not take their best properties (as Zakaah). Fear the invocation (du’aa’) of the oppressed person, for there is no barrier between his invocation and Allaah.”

This is if the people who have no faith upon almighty Allah called are kaafirs. If, however, the people who are being called are Muslims, then they should be taught about the aspects of their religion of which they are ignorant and where they are falling short, so you should start with the most important, then the next most important, and so on.

A group of ten or twelve people with beddings on their shoulders, rosary in their hands, cap or turban on the heads, reciting verses from Holy Qur’an, faces shining with religious harmony, thinking for the welfare of Ummah, walking in absolute disciplinary manner, neither cursing anyone nor replying anybody’s nasty comments, no unnecessary discussion, just to the point, no showing off gesture. Some of them are affluent, while some are from downtrodden class. There are also doctors, professors, labourers, industrialists and villagers speaking different regional languages. Nobody is concerned about caste, creed, colour or status.

They only know that following their Ameer is their priority. Either their Ameer is black or has ugly face they have to follow their Ameer, which is the basic principle of their life. When they lift baggage on their shoulders they forget what class they belong to, whether they are Sardar of any tribe or an ordinary villager, whether they are professor and principal of college or they are doctor or businessman. At this stage all of them are servants, all of them are students, learning the principles of religion. They all live alike, sleep on the ground and offer prayers in congregation. There are also a few who do not know the Kalima-e-Tayyaba and other Ayaat, they do not know the procedure of ablution, which their companions are helping them learn. Nobody is making fun of them. The atmosphere is calm and quite and no tension prevails around. Some companions are sitting around listening to the speech of their Ameer. Some have gone out to preach the religion and convince those who are away from the religion. They are inviting them to come to the mosque and feel the pleasure of offering prayers. Those who are out on preaching mission, humbly saying Salaam to everyone they find on their way.

However, there are a few ‘so-called’ Muslims who are of the opinion that such clerics are unwanted people and their presence in the mosques is a burden. They try to throw away their beddings from the holy place to evict them. Not only this they also force them to get out of the mosques and in case of their insistence they kick them off.

A group of preachers was formed in a village in Kashmir. The group reached another village where dwellers claimed that they were the only heirs of the preaching of Holy Prophet. So, they kicked the group out of the mosque where they had stayed. There were some emotional youth in the group who felt insulted on this act of the villagers and sought the permission of their Ameer to reply the villagers in a befitting manner. They mentioned to their Ameer, “Hazrat! You are unaware of our past. People in the area were afraid of our personalities. We were a few but were heavy on whole village. People in this village are taking undue advantage of our politeness. The mosque is not the personal property of these villagers. We don’t need their permission to enter the mosque. Please allow us to show our strength."

Their request was turned down. The group lifted their belongings and stayed outside the mosque. They were so depressed and praying the Almighty Allah to put them on the right path. It was chilling cold but this group of preachers remained steadfast. No hardship could divert them from their actual mission. Later, they lifted their beddings and left the place to find a new area where they could preach peacefully. During their mission they came across to some miscreants who tried to mislead them by putting issues of different sects before them. However, they avoided such discussions and continued their mission.

A friend of mine, who was also among the preaching group, told me about his experience. He said, “It was the month of Ramadhan. We were out on a preaching mission. During the mission we came across some friends who gave importance more to the issues relating to the sectarian differences than the issues relating to the rapprochement. They said, we would accept your invitation of joining later on, but before that you must tell us whether there are eight Taraveehs or twenty. Those who were in the group, did not have enough knowledge about this issue, however, they replied, “Those who offer eight Raka’at Taraveeh and those who believe in twenty Raka’at of Taraveeh should continue with their faith. However, it would be better for us that we should approach those people who neither offer eight Raka’at nor twenty Raka’at of Taraveeh."

What a comprehensive reply was it. This reply teaches us a lesson that instead of indulging into controversy we should always prefer to find a way out. This strategy can lead us to a conducive atmosphere. This can help us do away many social evils. We can do away many differences with which the Muslims have been experiencing since centuries. But, what to say about those people who make such difference a source of their popularity. Their mission is to continue with such differences and mislead people on silly and baseless issues.

We must not forget that increasing number of faithfuls in the mosques and rapid increase in the strength of Madressah students is all because of these Tableeghi groups. They are Mobile Madressah. Teach people about right and wrong in the religion. May Allah bless these people and give courage and strength to them to continue with their mission. Ameen.

Islam provides many human rights for the individual. The following are some of these human rights that Islam protects.

The life and property of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred, whether a person is Muslim or not. Islam also protects honor. So, in Islam, insulting others or making fun of them is not allowed. The Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said: “Truly your blood, your property, and your honor are inviolable.”[1]

Racism is not allowed in Islam, for the Quran speaks of human equality in the following terms:

“O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and have made you into nations and tribes for you to know one another. Truly, the noblest of you with God is the most pious.[2] Truly, God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Quran 49:13)

Islam rejects certain individuals or nations being favored because of their wealth, power, or race. God created human beings as equals who are to be distinguished from each other only on the basis of their faith and piety. The Prophet Muhammad said: “O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person,[3] except in piety.”[4]

One of the major problems facing mankind today is racism. The developed world can send a man to the moon but cannot stop man from hating and fighting his fellow man. Ever since the days of the Prophet Muhammad, Islam has provided a vivid example of how racism can be ended. The annual pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah shows the real Islamic brotherhood of all races and nations, when about two million Muslims from all over the world come to Makkah to perform the pilgrimage.

Islam is a religion of justice. God has said:

“Truly God commands you to give back trusts to those to whom they are due, and when you judge between people, to judge with justice....” (Quran 4:58)

And He has said:

“...And act justly. Truly, God loves those who are just.” (Quran 49:9)

We should even be just with those who we hate, as God has said:

“...And let not the hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety....” (Quran 5:8)

The Prophet Muhammad said: “People, beware of injustice,[5] for injustice shall be darkness on the Day of Judgment.”[6]

And those who have not gotten their rights (i.e. what they have a just claim to) in this life will receive them on the Day of Judgment, as the Prophet said: “On the Day of Judgment, rights will be given to those to whom they are due (and wrongs will be redressed)...”[7]

[1] Narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #1739, and Mosnad Ahmad, #2037.

God has said in the Quran:

“Those who have disbelieved and died in disbelief, the earth full of gold would not be accepted from any of them if one offered it as a ransom. They will have a painful punishment, and they will have no helpers.” (Quran 3:91)

So, this life is our only chance to win Paradise and to escape from Hellfire, because if someone dies in disbelief, he will not have another chance to come back to this world to believe. As God has said in the Quran about what is going to happen for the unbelievers on the Day of Judgment:

“If you could but see when they are set before the Fire (Hell) and say, “Would that we might return (to the world)! Then we would not reject the verses of our Lord, but we would be of the believers!” (Quran 6:27)

But no one will have this second opportunity.

The Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said: “The happiest man in the world of those doomed to the Fire (Hell) on the Day of Judgment will be dipped in the Fire once. Then he will be asked, ‘Son of Adam, did you ever see any good? Did you ever experience any blessing?’ So he will say, ‘No, by God, O Lord!’”[1]

When someone converts to Islam, God forgives all of his previous sins and evil deeds. A man called Amr came to the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, and said, “Give me your right hand so that I may give you my pledge of loyalty.” The Prophet stretched out his right hand. Amr withdrew his hand. The Prophet said: “What has happened to you, O Amr?” He replied, “I intend to lay down a condition.” The Prophet asked: “What condition do you intend to put forward?” Amr said, “That God forgive my sins.” The Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said: “Didn’t you know that converting to Islam erases all previous sins?”[1]

After converting to Islam, the person will be rewarded for his or her good and bad deeds according to the following saying of the Prophet Muhammad: “Your Lord, Who is blessed and exalted, is most merciful. If someone intends to do a good deed but does not do it, a good deed will be recorded for him. And if he does do it, (a reward of) ten to seven hundred or many more times (the reward of the good deed), will be recorded for him. And if someone intends to do a bad deed but does not do it, a good deed will be recorded for him. And if he does do it, a bad deed will be recorded against him or God will wipe it out.”[2
The following are some comments of scientists[1] on the scientific miracles in the Holy Quran. All of these comments have been taken from the videotape entitled This is the Truth. In this videotape, you can see and hear the scientists while they are giving the following comments. (To view the RealPlayer video of a comment, click on the link at the end of that comment. For a copy of this videotape, please visit this page.)

1) Dr. T. V. N. Persaud is Professor of Anatomy, Professor of Pediatrics and Child Health, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. There, he was the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy for 16 years. He is well-known in his field. He is the author or editor of 22 textbooks and has published over 181 scientific papers. In 1991, he received the most distinguished award presented in the field of anatomy in Canada, the J.C.B. Grant Award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. When he was asked about the scientific miracles in the Quran which he has researched, he stated the following:

“The way it was explained to me is that Muhammad was a very ordinary man. He could not read, didn’t know [how] to write. In fact, he was an illiterate. And we’re talking about twelve [actually about fourteen] hundred years ago. You have someone illiterate making profound pronouncements and statements and that are amazingly accurate about scientific nature. And I personally can’t see how this could be a mere chance. There are too many accuracies and, like Dr. Moore, I have no difficulty in my mind that this is a divine inspiration or revelation which led him to these statements.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

Professor Persaud has included some Quranic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, in some of his books. He has also presented these verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad at several conferences.

2) Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson is the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Formerly, he was Professor of Ob-Gyn and the Chairman of the Department of Ob-Gyn at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He was also the President of the American Fertility Society. He has received many awards, including the Association of Professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology Public Recognition Award in 1992. Professor Simpson studied the following two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad:

“In every one of you, all components of your creation are collected together in your mother’s womb by forty days...”[2]

“If forty-two nights have passed over the embryo, God sends an angel to it, who shapes it and creates its hearing, vision, skin, flesh, and bones....”[3]

He studied these two sayings of the Prophet Muhammad extensively, noting that the first forty days constitute a clearly distinguishable stage of embryo-genesis. He was particularly impressed by the absolute precision and accuracy of those sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Then, during one conference, he gave the following opinion:

“So that the two hadeeths (the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) that have been noted provide us with a specific time table for the main embryological development before forty days. Again, the point has been made, I think, repeatedly by other speakers this morning: these hadeeths could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available [at] the time of their writing . . . . It follows, I think, that not only there is no conflict between genetics and religion but, in fact, religion can guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches, that there exist statements in the Quran shown centuries later to be valid, which support knowledge in the Quran having been derived from God.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

3) Dr. E. Marshall Johnson is Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. There, for 22 years he was Professor of Anatomy, the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy, and the Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute. He was also the President of the Teratology Society. He has authored more than 200 publications. In 1981, during the Seventh Medical Conference in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Professor Johnson said in the presentation of his research paper:

“Summary: The Quran describes not only the development of external form, but emphasizes also the internal stages, the stages inside the embryo, of its creation and development, emphasizing major events recognized by contemporary science.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

Also he said: “As a scientist, I can only deal with things which I can specifically see. I can understand embryology and developmental biology. I can understand the words that are translated to me from the Quran. As I gave the example before, if I were to transpose myself into that era, knowing what I knew today and describing things, I could not describe the things which were described. I see no evidence for the fact to refute the concept that this individual, Muhammad, had to be developing this information from some place. So I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write.”[4] (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

4) Dr. William W. Hay is a well-known marine scientist. He is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA. He was formerly the Dean of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA. After a discussion with Professor Hay about the Quran’s mention of recently discovered facts on seas, he said:

“I find it very interesting that this sort of information is in the ancient scriptures of the Holy Quran, and I have no way of knowing where they would come from, but I think it is extremely interesting that they are there and that this work is going on to discover it, the meaning of some of the passages.” And when he was asked about the source of the Quran, he replied: “Well, I would think it must be the divine being.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

5) Dr. Gerald C. Goeringer is Course Director and Associate Professor of Medical Embryology at the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Goeringer stated the following in the presentation of his research paper:

“In a relatively few aayahs (Quranic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development, such as classification, terminology, and description, existed previously. In most, if not all, instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

6) Dr. Yoshihide Kozai is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan, and was the Director of the National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. He said:

“I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in [the] Quran, and for us the modern astronomers have been studying very small pieces of the universe. We’ve concentrated our efforts for understanding of [a] very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts [of] the sky without thinking [about the] whole universe. So, by reading [the] Quran and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

7) Professor Tejatat Tejasen is the Chairman of the Department of Anatomy at Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Previously, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the same university. During the Eighth Saudi Medical Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Professor Tejasen stood up and said:

“During the last three years, I became interested in the Quran . . . . From my study and what I have learned from this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Quran fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means. Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth, which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible [as the] creator. This creator must be God. Therefore, I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger (Prophet) of Allah (God). Lastly, I must congratulate for the excellent and highly successful arrangement for this conference . . . . I have gained not only from the scientific point of view and religious point of view but also the great chance of meeting many well-known scientists and making many new friends among the participants. The most precious thing of all that I have gained by coming to this place is La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadur rasoolu Allah, and to have become a Muslim.” (View the RealPlayer video of this comment)

After all these examples we have seen about the scientific miracles in the Holy Quran and all these scientists’ comments on this, let us ask ourselves these questions:

· Could it be a coincidence that all this recently discovered scientific information from different fields was mentioned in the Quran, which was revealed fourteen centuries ago?

· Could this Quran have been authored by Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, or by any other human being?

The only possible answer is that this Quran must be the literal word of God, revealed by Him.

[1] Note: The occupations of all the scientists mentioned in this web site were last updated in 1997.

[2] Narrated in Saheeh Muslim #2643, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari #3208.

Note: What is between these special brackets {...} in this guide is a translation of what the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said. Also note that this symbol # used in the footnotes, indicates the number of the hadeeth. A hadeeth is a reliably transmitted report by the Prophet Muhammad’s companions of what he said, did, or approved of.

[3] Narrated in Saheeh Muslim #2645.

[4] The Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, was illiterate. He could not read nor write, but he dictated the Quran to his Companions and commanded some of them to write it down.

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Explore changing rice landscape

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Perfect weather not required to enjoy Mitchelville Beach if you seek birds

December 10, 2013 09:27 AM

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You’re Engaged!

Huge congratulations!!! It’s such a wonderful feeling isn’t? emotions all over the place feeling like you’re in one big loved up bubble? I still get all warm and fuzzy thinking back to the morning when my Mr proposed to me, it was so lovely. That’s been almost two years now and I’m very much in the throes of planning.

If you were to read my post about tips for the Newly Engaged” it’s one written by someone who was just perched on the top of something so much bigger.

So let’s update it!

Then: Well for starters set up a wedding only email, this is sooooo handy as when you start messaging companies/venues and all the other vendors it’s great to have them all in one place not getting lost or forgotten.

Now: Yes! Do this! You will want somewhere safe to put all the communications with suppliers and venues, Its so handy. If you don’t want to do that then make a folder in your current email, it saves so much time when you need to pull out a price list or re-print an invoice.

Then: The budget, this is an important one, everyone loves a wedding and wants it to be memorable but don’t go into a marriage with debt. And this is where the email comes in handy, for all those quotes you’ll be after.

Now: Still just as important, but this can be hard to do if you don’t know the cost of things. For example, Venues vary a lot in price depending on what you want and what you can afford, I’ve typed this topic out and deleted it again just trying to think of the best and quickest examples to give you, so you have an idea of costs. Yes you can do a wedding for under £5000 you will have to shop around but it’s doable. Hotels such as Ryde Castle and Lakeside offer good deals on wedding packages, Ryde Castle starts at £999* and Lakeside around £3750*… I’d say the biggest costs would be the venue and photographer, with photographer’s prices between £700 and £2000, you can find cheaper but do your homework. Social media really is your best friend, you will find the same names suggested time and time again there is a very good reason for this. Venues and photographers are the two things I booked as soon as I could. The good ones go quickly.

Then: A drafting of the guest list, while your wedding may be a while off, when we did this ourselves it became clear that we need a venue to hold a biggish amount, so no dreams dashed once walking around and finding out that venue only holds x amount.

Now: This will change so much other the course of your engagement but it’s still a really good thing to do, places to tend to have a max capacity for the ceremony but the reception more are allowed. There are a few venues on the island that only hold around 50 so it’s helpful to have rough numbers as it saves you looking at smaller venues.

Then: Picking a date, working out what month you want to wed will be handy as to when you really need to get on the ball with picking a venue, these and photographers tend to booked up well in advance especially for those summer months! – June July and August. Also, prices go up a smidge more for peak times. So, put that as a factor in your budget.

Now: I still suggest this one as well nothing add. Apart from if you know you want certain place or person book it as soon as you can.

Then: Always be on the same page. I’ve always believed that it’s the groom’s day as much as the bride. So when it comes to hosting one of the biggest events of your lives, be sure that its full of you both.

Now: My Mr has been super helpful, he’s been a part of the whole planning process. What I’ve loved most is all thesemonths he’s listened to me waffle on and then in those moments when we’re talking with a supplier he’ll mention something I’ve said and has had his own input on things, after all its our day so he can add and take as many things as I do.

Have fun!! Enjoy this and all the best with planning!!

*Image credits; top to bottom
Abigail Steed Photography
Oscar May The Occasion

Holly Cade photography
Adam Jervis photography

Wedding trends for 2017

It feels just like yesterday I was doing the same post about trends for 2016! How quickly a year passes!

So happy new year, I truly hope this year is filled with more laughter, more smiles and lots of happiness!

Heres just a snippet of what 2017 has in store

Colours: Pantone have named their 2017 colour  “Greenery” as colour of choice. And it’s already made its way into the trends of 2017.

Themes: This year seems to be about the world around us. Foliage in all its glory, be that woodland or tropical, marble and watercolours seem to be firm favourites.

Décor: There are some “here to stay” items such as jars, burlap and hessian that rustic look has a firm footing for weddings. Something a little different and that’s industrial style, so think cooper colour vases, venues with bare walls and simply decorated with globe/cadged string lights, metal candle holders, folding wooden chairs and even the use of little concrete items, such as plants holders.

Flowers: It looks as though just having greenery is going to be the bouquet choice,  it may seem a little lacking in the colour department but you can have a fab arrangement of different greens and the use of textures such as succulents, herbs, palms and grasses do a make a stunning combination, but also cascading bouquets look set to make a comeback.

Treats: Out goes (it would look like) the sweet buffets and in are cake tables, one big wedding cake isn’t quite enough these days, growing in popularity is having multiple cakes… more cake in my eyes is most welcome. Doughnuts! I saw plenty of these last year as go to options, they come in so many flavours, styles and toppings I think they are a great choice! The last few years naked cakes have been widely popular, but i think this next trend will become very popular, made hot by Anges de sucres these drippy cakes can be done any whichway you want! nothing is off limits, anything you like! Have a sweet that does it for you why not have that for decoration? Like macaroons have those adorn the side, heck even have popcorn or biscuits… I could go on and on, but go and have a browse on Pinterest and you’ll see something that you’ll like!.

But of course, whatever your style, interest or likes bring that into your big day!
Happy wedding planning!
Sharon xxx


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Pimlico stabbing investigation

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told Myanmar President Thein Sein that the United States would take steps to ease the longstanding U.S. ban on imports from the country, a major boon to the Southeast Asian nation as it emerges from years of political and economic isolation.

"In recognition of the continued progress toward reform and in response to requests from both the government and the opposition, the United States is taking the next step in normalizing our commercial relationship," Clinton told Thein Sein in a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

"We will begin the process of easing restrictions on imports of Burmese goods into the United States. We hope this will provide more opportunities for your people to sell their goods into our market," Clinton said.

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IT company Atos has ended its contract with the Government over controversial assessments of whether benefits claimants are fit to work. Disability campaigners have described the tests as "ridiculously harsh and extremely unfair".

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Atos 'remains committed to delivering services'

We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Government to allow us to exit this contract early and we remain committed to delivering essential services to the UK Government as a strategic supplier.

Our team will work hard to support transition to a new provider and we believe that we have reached a settlement that is in the best interests of all parties. We have supported and been flexible in implementing all the changes asked of us from the reviews of the Work Capability Assessment process.

– Ursula Morgenstern, Atos CEO

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