Hello from David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms. 

Today, we’ll continue our look into the biology of the honey bee as we examine the bee’s antenna and we’ll talk about how another harsh winter has taught us more about successfully overwintering hives. Remember, if  you have trouble viewing photos or videos in this message sent to your Email, you can always go to our actual posting of these lessons and view them there: www.basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com
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Before we begin, let me tell you what we’ve been up to. This is the time of year when everything is running at full speed. In the winter April seems so far away. Then, suddenly we wonder where the time went, because we are only three weeks away from package bee pickups! And only 4 weeks away from when our first shipment of packages ship out.
For my 50th birthday, all my children went together and bought me an HD video camera and I’ve had a blast video taping bees! And it takes beautiful close ups too.
Here’s a bee working hard to bring in pollen. She’s flying in hovering for a good spot to land. If you click on the photo for a larger view you can see the pollen in her back legs. Here in central Illinois the bees started bringing in pollen around the middle of March. Maple trees and other trees are starting to produce for the bees.
I placed a video on YOUTUBE of bees collecting nectar and pollen from my maple trees. Which brings me to a point I’d like to make. I need your help. We are always seeking ways to promote beekeeping and one of the ways we are doing this is through YOUTUBE videos. Here’s how you can help. Sign up for our YOUTUBE Beekeeping channel. Just go to www.youtube.com/longlanehoney and sign up for our video subscriptions. It’s free. But more importantly, if you can view our videos then give them a high rating, it will push our videos higher up on the search engines on YouTube. That would be  a big help and you’ll benefit from learning through our videos. Thanks!
Here’s an example of our Beekeeping Video channel. Our most recent video demonstrates how to check your hive for sealed brood, eggs and larva.

And I also want to include a picture below to help you identify eggs in the cell. Click on the image to see the larger image. When you inspect a hive, you do not have to see the queen as long as you see 1 day old eggs. Here’s what they look like. You may need reading glasses or a magnifying glass to see them, but most people can see them with the naked eye. Notice the eggs, pollen, larva and sealed brood. I took this photo to help you become familiar with what to look for in the hive.
Before we get into our lesson today, I want to show you a beautiful hive that we are now carrying. Customers have always made special request and a frequent special order is for 8 frame hives, instead of 10. Everything is the same, but the hive is a bit more narrow, and of course each box contains two less frames. Recent studies show that 8 frame hives do slightly better than 10 frames. Probably not enough to switch over, but a slight advantage because bees prefer to build up and down over sideways.  So now we are making 8-Frame equipment regularly. Here’s a beautiful 8 frame set up we are selling with a pure copper top. It’s called a Copper Top Garden Hive. We have two of these available, so you must call in to purchase. 217-427-2678.
LESSON 72: The Antenna of the Honey Bee and Overwintering Success

Winter-Bee-Kind For Winter Feed For Bees

In The summer of 2011 we introduced our Winter-Bee-Kind after several years of studying overwintering hives. We could barely keep up with production they were in such demand. We still make them right here at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms but we've expanded our production methods to keep up with demand. So many beekeepers told us that these were the only thing that got their hives through the winter. This year, it's time for the 2014 production year. We even mix the sugar and pollen and right here and pour the candy into the Winter-Bee-Kinds. WHAT IS A WINTER-BEE-KIND? It is a one piece candy board that provides food, ventilation, upper insulation and an upper exit/entrance to help bees remain healthier during the winter. Someone said it insulates, ventilates and feed-i-lates. With the built in upper vent, you don't have to worry about snow covering up your hive's lower entrance. The bees can still go in and out through the top vent spacing. We avoid shipping Winter-Bee-Kinds in hot weather and start shipping each September-March. You can place our Winter-Bee-Kinds on your hive anytime, even in the winter. Because it goes on top of the hive in place of the inner cover, and you are NOT removing any frames, it can be placed on the hive in cold weather. Just do it fast. Open the top, remove the inner cover and place the candy side down and the vent slot toward the front of the hive and you're done. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kinds Some form of a candy board has been around for a long time. Beekeepers of long ago placed candy in their hives to provide enough food for their bees to survive the long months of winter. There are various mixtures and receipts for candy boards. Some are made with soft candy and some with hard candy. The end result is still the same. The bees will consume the sugar as they need it. We've always been concerned about the amount of condensation that can develop in the hive during the winter. The bees produce heat within their hive and as the temperature is very cold outside the hive, condensation will develop on the warm side, just above the bees on the inner cover or top cover. This condensation can accumulate and drop down onto the winter cluster of bees below. Bees can stay warm in the winter but they must remain dry. If this cold water drips down onto the bees, it can reduce their ability to keep their cluster warm. The insulation on our Winter-Bee-Kind helps reduce the excessive moisture and even puts some of that moisture to work, as it accumulates on the candy and makes it easy for the bees to consume the sugar. Thus, a Winter-Bee-Kind can help lessen two winter stresses, the lack of food and excessive moisture. We make our Winter-Bee-Kinds with sugar and a healthy amount of pollen powder. Many beekeepers make the mistake of only feeding their bees sugar in the winter, but the bees also need protein which they obtain from pollen. Our Winter-Bee-Kinds come with pollen mixed in with the sugar.. Click here to order your Winter-Bee-Kind today. We recommend that you place candy boards on your hive any time between Oct-March.


Commonly Asked Questions
Q: Which way does the candy face in the hive?
A: The candy faces down just above the winter cluster. Normally, this means that the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the brood box that contains the cluster. For example, if you overwinter your bees in a single deep hive body, the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on this deep hive body with the candy facing down toward the cluster. If you are using two deep hive bodies to overwinter, then the Winter-Bee-Kind would be placed on the top deep hive body. It is best to disregard the use of an inner cover, and simply place your top cover over the Winter-Bee-Kind.

Q: What about winter moisture?
A: Moisture can develop in the winter from condensation, a contrast of the heat the bees produce in the hive and the extreme cold temperature outside the hive. Condensation accumulates on the warm side, which means moistures collects on the inner cover or top cover above the hive. This can drip down on the bees and chill them during the winter. A Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of an inner cover and any moisture that develops from condensation aids the bees in consuming the candy.

Q: How long will a Winter-Bee-Kind last on a hive?
A: On average about 3 weeks. However, a colony that has ample stored honey may not consume the candy board as fast or not at all until they need it. A colony close to starvation may consume a Winter-Bee-Kind within a week or two.

Q: Since Winter-Bee-Kinds are placed or replaced on the hive in the winter, can I open the hive up on a cold day?
A: It is best to place the candy boards on a hive when the temperature is above freezing and try to place the candy board on and have the hive sealed back up within 1-2 minutes. It should not take over 1 minute. Do not remove any frames in cold temperatures, only place your Winter-Bee-Kind on and off quickly. If you can choose the warmest day during the winter, that would be best. Try to avoid very cold, windy or rainy days.

Q: How do I refill a candy board?
A: It is best to send back your candy board and we will refill it for $7 plus shipping. If you are a good candy maker, you can do it yourself.

Q: How do I get one with a pollen?
A: Our Winter-Bee-Kinds contain pollen as well.

Q: Can I make my own?
A: You can, but you must experiment, because you do not want the candy to be too hard or too runny. The exact mix depends on your altitude, heat source and other conditions so it will be different from one location to another.

Q: Why was some liquid sugar dripping out of my Winter-Bee-Kind when I received it?
A: It is the nature of candy boards to be a bit on the dripping side even though the top may be hard. Do not be concerned if you see liquid sugar dripping out of your boards when you receive it. It usually means it was left on end during shipment for a prolong period of time. The bees will clean everything up and enjoy this soft liquid.

Q: How much sugar is in one Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Approximately 5 pounds

Q: When do I put a Winter-Bee-Kind on my hive?
A: Any time! Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb are good months to place on the boards.

Q How often should I check my Winter-Bee-Kind?
A: Every three weeks, take a peek.

Q: Do you make Winter-Bee-Kind for 5 frame nucs or 8 frame hives?
A: Yes, check out our website to order, but carefully read the description to make sure you are ordering the correct size and type.

Q: Can the candy break loose from the board on the hive?
A: It rarely happens, but during extreme winter weather, the candy and separate from the board while on the hive. This is not a problem. The bees will continue to consume the sugar.

Q: When I place it on the hive, do I use my inner cover. Just how does it go on?
A: Winter-Bee-Kind takes the place of your inner cover. Simply place the Winter-Bee-Kind on the top of your upper hive body or super with the candy facing down, then place your top cover on top of the Winter-Bee-Kind. Be sure to use a rock or brick to make sure the wind does not blow your top cover off. There is overwhelming enthusiasm about our Winter-Bee-Kinds. Click here to order now.

First, let’s address overwintering of bees. Let’s face it…it ain’t easy getting bees through the winter. Get this into your head. Bees laugh at cold! Healthy bees have no trouble at all in the coldest of climates. They can and do survive the cold. But, if they have other stressors, like thracheal or varroa mites or a disease or lack of nutrition, they will struggle or perish in the winter.
Our approach, here in Central Illinois, is simple. 1) Adequate ventilation (open screen bottom boards) 2) Good food storage going into winter 3) Our proven queens that are winter hardy, 4) Reduce front entrance to keep mice out and 5) Some sort of wind block that is a couple feet away from the hive. To make my point, here’s one of our customers/students giving a play by play report of how he followed our advice and got his hives through a Kansas winter. Before I share his testimony, I want to make an observation about his photo. Notice how the grass is green around the black paper under his hive? Grass greens up faster the warmer it is.  I suspect the black paper under and around the hive assisted the overall “heat” of the hive and probably was a good thing. I’ll let Brian tell you the rest because his approach proves that it works!
Brian says… “Last fall I knew that I did not know what I should do to help my bee’s make it through the winter.  This is my first hive and was the first winter that I was going to try to take my bees through as a beekeeper.  Dave and Sheri both were very helpful with any questions that I had, plus I read and re-read all the lessons that they most graciously provide us for free.  I also went to my local book store and bought three bee books to increase my knowledge of my new found bee hobby. 
What I did to prepare my bee hive to support my bees as best as I could, was to put up a small wind break with a cheap tarp a couple of feet away on the north side of the hive to block the north wind.  I left the screened bottom board installed on the hive, as recommended by Dave and Sheri.  Then I took two wooden pencils and broke them in half.  I put one piece of the pencils in each corner on top of the inner cover, as I learned from one of the books that about one quarter to three eights of an inch between the inner and outer covers would help prevent condensation by improved ventilation.  I then placed the outer cover back in-place on top of the inner cover.  I installed the metal entrance reducer to keep mice out of the hive.  Walla, my winter preparation was complete.  What I learned through reading Dave and Sheri’s lessons, and confirmed through the books that I bought, was make sure that the bees had proper ventilation to prevent condensation within the hive, because condensation is a bee killer when it builds up and drips onto the colony, and is one of the major reasons a healthy hive will die out during the winter. 
I left one honey super installed, that was probably 70 to 80 percent full of honey for the bees just incase.  I also did not take any honey from them last summer since it was their first year, and I was afraid that they would need the food during the winter to remain strong.  I did not try to arrange frames in any order within the hive, since I do not understand that process.  When the bees were no longer foraging for food because there was nothing for them to forage, I put the feeder out for them with 2 parts sugar to1 part water on the warm days.  Basically any day that the weather forecast said a high of about 50 degrees.  What I found out from trial was that my bees did not eat the sugar water unless the temp hit 45 to 50 degrees with calm winds, and they were more active when it was sunny.  We, as most, had a pretty wet and snowy winter.  I have lived in Kansas for the last 25 years and this was the most snow that I can remember having.  Each time it snowed, I would go out to the hive and brush the snow away from the bottom of the hive on all sides.  I also removed the snow from around the pallet that my hive sits on to help increase the airflow through the bottom board.  I also made sure the entrance reducer was cleared of snow so the bees could come and go through the bottom of the hive.  At the end of January I opened my hive for the first time since early November, to see how the bees were doing.  To my surprise, I found they were doing fine and had moved up into the top brood box, I could not see any moisture in the hive, and I was happily surprised at the amount of bees I could see, however initially I was concerned at the amount of dead bees I cleaned out from the bottom board with a stick.  I have since opened my hive briefly two other times, once to put a pollen patty on and once to see if they had eaten the pollen patty.  So far they have not touched the pollen patty and I don’t if that’s because they don’t need it or it they just don’t like processed foods. 
In conclusion, with a little help from me and some great lessons from Dave and Sheri I have to give 90 percent of the credit to my lovely queen and her worker bee lineage, provided to me by Lone Lane Honey Bee Farms, because lets face it, I stayed inside where it was warm.
Thank you Dave and Sheri, I think I’m hooked.
Way to go Brian! Brian’s insight I know will help so many others in the fall as we prepare for winter. But remember what I say…Winter preparation starts in the spring by keeping your bees healthy all year!
THE BEE’S ANTENNA
When I was young, back in the 60s, my parents bought me a set of Radio Shack walkie-talkies for Christmas. My brother and I had a blast with those. We pretended we were astronauts, spies, and soldiers. Back then, they barely carried across the street even with an antenna that I remember being about 4 feet long. I remember I was terribly heartbroken when I went to retract my antenna in a hurry and it bent and broke. We tried to tape it and solder it, but it was done. That was my first experience with an antenna.
We still use antennas for communication. Even the satellite dish for our t.v. is technically receiving a signal from outer space.
Bees also use their antennae to communicate and gather data about their environment around them.
Where do honey bees spend a large amount of their time? In the hive, in a dark hive. Therefore they use their antennae for taste, smell and touch. They have one antenna on each side of their head. It is connected to the brain through a large nerve, a double nerve that transfers all data received. The antenna moves freely as it is set in a socket. This allows the bees to manipulate their antennae freely. Each antenna is full of tiny hairs, nodules and other sensory organs. While it is true that bees do not have ears like we do to hear, they use their antennae to hear. Actually tiny hairs on the antennae can detect tiny movements in the air caused by vibration. As you can see in the photo above (click for a larger image) the antenna is made up of segments, 12 in worker bees and 13 on drones.
It is not uncommon to see bees rubbing their antennae together to communicate, feed and share information. Honey bees are known to trap and encase other invaders in the hive, such as the small hive beetle. They will build a propolis jail house around a small hive beetle. However, the beetle uses its antennae to trick the bee into feeding it.Here’s a bee on my finger cleaning her legs and antenna.

Okay, for all of you who are waiting for a chance to receive something free…who doesn’t like free!  Call in on Monday morning starting at 9am sharp Central Time. for two free Beetle Blasters. These are neat little traps for small hive beetles. First 3 callers are winners.
Every beekeeper should have one or two of these in their hive just in case that beetle shows up. You fill it have full with vegetable oil and place it in the deep hive body between two frames. The beetle likes dark places and will run down into the oil and die. First three callers get two each. Call 217-427-2678. 9am sharp Central Time. Good luck.
Thanks for joining us today for another informative and entertaining talk about honey bees. Be sure to check out our Studio Bee Live Podcasts too: www.honeybeesonline.com/studiobeelive.html
And remember to please view and rate our Beekeeping videos.
We are looking for someone who is somewhat musically talented to work up a little song that we can play when you log on to our website, something to do with bees of course. If you’ve got a band or group, give it a shot!
Here’s our contact information:
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 North 1020 East Rd.
Fairmount, IL 61841
217-427-2678
WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/longlanehoney
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/longlanehoney
This is David & Sheri Burns reminding you to BEE-have yourself!
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A few weeks ago I had questioned the point and contribution of Dubai's Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, can potentially provide a fascinating and productive counter example. Meet Masda City - an eco-city in its early developmental stage, located 11 miles from Abu Dhabi. It is planned to be a zero-carbon city - with no cars and no skyscrapers, and it will utilize mostly solar energy. It is expected to be a compact walled city with about 50,000 inhabitants and a university. The price tag, $22 billion, is indeed high - but if this experiment of renewable energy works, then what a breakthrough! In fact, it is expected to host the headquarters of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). In addition, it is providing opportunities for Arab students to locally work in cutting-edge science & technology. The project started in 2006 and it is expected to be finished by 2014, though some sections will soon start habitation.

The architects are turning the desert's greatest threat - the sun - into their greatest asset. They have built the biggest solar farm in the Middle East to power the city and to offset the inevitable burning of diesel and baking of cement in construction.

They are also experimenting. One project involves a circular field of mirrors on the ground, all reflecting towards a tower in the middle.

That, in turn, bounces the light down in a concentrated beam about a metre (3ft) wide to produce heat and drive generators.

But I was told firmly not to wander over and feel the warmth, as it could fry me in seconds.

The international team of engineers have real pride in their work.

This is more than building to them, it is a lab bench with the freedom to get it wrong, and Masdar's chief architect Gerard Evenden loves the concentration of expertise: "What Abu Dhabi is beginning to generate is the Silicon Valley of renewable energy."

And here are some common sense measures for the city along with some ambitious ones:

Masdar will have to be low temperature and low carbon.

Part of the solution is apparent the moment you walk in. And you do "walk in" because this is a city surrounded by a wall, a defined boundary.

Unlike the upward and outward sprawl of Dubai or Abu Dhabi, Masdar is compact like ancient Arab cities.

Streets are narrow so buildings shade each other, and the walls and roofs of buildings will do their bit to shed heat too.

The vertical faces are dressed with screens which look like a terracotta mesh. They keep the sun out but let the breeze in.

And as architect Gerard Evenden says: "Lunar technology has begun to influence our thinking."

One idea being tested is using a thin foil surface covering, a gas or vacuum blanket, to keep the heat out. It is an idea dreamt up for a moon base.

To encourage a breeze, wind towers are being built, drawing draughts through the streets without using energy.

Masdar will still use electricity for gadgets, some air conditioning and, most crucially, to desalinate sea water but, when it comes to power, the city has a simple mantra: "Only use energy when you have exhausted design."

Okay - I'm a total sucker for space exploration and science fiction. So I'm totally sold now that they mention influences from Lunar technology. Yes, there will be a gulf (ha!) between planning and reality. However, I think this is the right direction to invest, even if for only experimentation. Hopefully this will not turn into a gimmick for the rich and the celebrities.

Read the full article here. Here is the official website of Masdar City (the videos are a bit erratic there).

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Much of the battle for Pakistan will be fought over the direction of the rising youth population of Pakistan. To make things worse, the education system has been a mess for quite some time. There is the Cambridge system for the elites, english-medium education for urban population and/or the middle class, urdu medium for the lower-middle class, and madrassas for the rest. The future prospects for a successful career strongly align in this particular descending order. The madrassas have gained a lot of attention in past decade or so for their possible role in radicalizing Pakistani youth and in providing recruits for suicide bombings. But the picture is more complex - and we need an effort to systematically understand the dynamics (please see an earlier post Madrassas vs private schools in Pakistan).

So here is an article in today's Washington Post that talks about a reform school near the Swat Valley in Pakistan, that is trying to provide education to those young students who were earlier under the Taliban. This is a small effort, but it goes to the heart of the problem:

At a new school tucked near the fragile peace of the Swat Valley, peach-fuzzed veterans of Taliban camps wear burgundy sweaters to math classes, counseling sessions and religion lessons, where they hear that Islam favors democracy over suicide. Teachers work in fear of militant attacks and of hardened students -- but also in hopes of de-radicalizing the gangly boys who make up a growing part of Pakistan's insurgency.

Analysts say there is an urgent need. Pakistan is home to the toxic mix of a significant youth population, few job prospects and a rising Islamist insurgency. Military officials say most suicide bombings are now carried out by males younger than 20. The 86 adolescents at this army-sponsored school are a drop in that ocean, a fact that its director, neuropsychologist Feriha Peracha, said she tries not to dwell on.

"It can have a ripple effect," Peracha said, as her students, ages 12 to 18, quietly took exams. "We are a time bomb if we don't do this."

Though child soldiers have toted guns in conflicts worldwide, international experts say their indoctrination and reform has been poorly researched. Organizers of this boarding school -- the first of its kind in Pakistan -- say it is providing a valuable, if small, window into the backgrounds of Pakistan's young fighters and the triggers that vault them into the hands of militants.

All of the students came to the school after being captured by the army, or were brought here by their families. Some had been trained by insurgent groups as slaves or thieves, some as bombers.

What is interesting about these students is the fact that they are not motivated by ideology nor were they brainwashed in any madrassas. Rather, many of them are just like troubled kids elsewhere in the world, and the Taliban (or whatever group wants to use them) find them and exploit them for their own purposes. They don't even know much about Islam or even about Pakistan:

More significantly, she and other teachers said, most of the boys are middle children who have been lost in the shuffle of large, poor families with absent fathers. Few had much formal schooling, many are aggressive, and most score poorly on educational aptitude tests.

In that regard, Peracha said they seem more like the juvenile delinquents she has counseled in Pakistan and Britain than religious zealots -- an observation that points to Pakistan's even more deeply entrenched problems of dismal schooling and profound poverty.

"The civil society and the rest of Pakistan, we didn't really react until it nearly hit Islamabad," Peracha said of the militant movement that last year seized territory located within 60 miles of the capital. "And we still aren't reacting [in] the education system, which is frozen in time."

That has created a vacuum that militants are increasingly exploiting. In lawless South Waziristan, poor boys attended an insurgent school painted with murals of the paradise awaiting martyrs, said Brig. Syed Azmat Ali, a military spokesman. In Swat, where the main Taliban leader rose to prominence through radio sermonizing, children were ill-equipped to challenge the notion that Pakistani troops were infidels who deserved death.

"They knew extremely little about the world or about Islam," said Mohammed Farooq, a Swat University vice chancellor and religious scholar in charge of Islamic education at the school for former militants. "They had just a superficial knowledge that we are Muslims and we have to fight America and their stooges."

He and Peracha said they believe the program, which combines tough love and discipline with a standard curriculum and regular counseling, is working. To assess the boys' risk levels, Peracha performs standardized neuropsychology tests and gently pries out their stories over several meetings.

Read the full article here. Pakistan needs a massive education reform. There are some fantastic individuals who have started up schools in some of the poorest parts of the country (for example read about Mortenson's schools here), but there has to be a bigger and more coordinated effort informed by research about the undercurrents madrassas and public school system. It is not going to be easy - but this may be essential for the future stability of Pakistan.

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Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, I'm pleased to be able to announce two scholarship programs for upcoming lean startup events.

The first, sponsored by IMVU, will provide free tickets to deserving companies who want to attend the  Startup Lessons Learned conference on April 23. I'm especially grateful to IMVU which is, after all, where I first experimented with many lean startup practices. Now the company is growing, profitable, and proving that lean startups can scale. Oh, and did I mention that they're hiring? It's an exciting time to join, as IMVU is poised for a year of explosive growth. What better way to learn how to build a lean startup than to see one up close and personal? Right. Scholarship: you can apply here until April 12.

I'm hopeful that other companies will step up and become scholarship sponsors, too. This conference will be the first of its kind: an opportunity to have a conversation about the future of the lean startup movement. We want everyone who can contribute to that conversation to be there, regardless of their ability to pay. To ensure that those who are regular contributors to the movement to be able to attend as well, I've given each Lean Startup Meetup leader a set of discount codes and a few half-price tickets to distribute to their members. Please get in touch with your local meetup if you'd like to learn more.

The second scholarship, sponsored by TechWeb, will provide free passes to the entire Web 2.0 Expo, including the Lean Startup Intensive on May 3. When I agreed to setup the Lean Startup Intensive this year, I required that it include a scholarship program for deserving startups who couldn't otherwise afford the price of admission. TechWeb has decided to expand this program to provide scholarships for the whole Web 2.0 Expo. You can apply here until April 15 or until they receive 100 submissions--whichever comes first.
 
I look forward to seeing many of you at these events. If you have any questions or are interested in becoming a sponsor, please get in touch.
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Hari-hariku sepertinya berubah sejak aku mendapat call dari AMINEF walaupun percakapan yang terjadi sangat singkat dan sang penelpon pada intinya hanya memberitahu bahwa akan ada pengumuman sekitar 2 minggu lagi dan bertanya, “Apakah anda masih berminat untuk ikut program ini?”
“Oh...tentu saja masih sangat berminat,” jawabku penuh semangat. Setelah itu, percakapan diakhiri dan telpon ditutup.  

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Over at Harvard Business Review, I've been building up a series designed to introduce the Lean Startup methodology to a business-focused audience. This is the first post that moves into making specific process recommendations for product development. Here's an excerpt:

The Startup's Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review

Every startup that achieves success eventually faces a critical moment — whether to speed up or slow down. It usually looks like this: the can-do attitude and high-bandwidth communication that characterized the first few iterations have produced magic. Everyone was in the flow; the team was hyper-productive. In many cases, they did the impossible, building a new product faster, cheaper, and better than anyone could have predicted. In the early days, chaos stayed under control. Duplicating efforts and stepping on toes was quickly resolved by short all-hands meetings. Firefighting was part of the fun of living on the edge. Defective prototype code was as often thrown out (because customers didn't want it) as it was fixed (when customers did). Hence, cutting corners often paid huge dividends. And with success came growth: in resources, staff and attention. And a certain amount of chaos reigned too.

But as the team gets bigger, early mistakes become more costly. Pretty soon, a soul-searching meeting ensues. 'Are we going too fast?' 'Will the addition of process kill our innovative culture?' 'Well-functioning teams just don't make these kinds of mistakes, right?'

This is the speed-up-or-slow-down moment.

Read the rest of The Startup's Rules of Speed - The Conversation - Harvard Business Review ...

You can view previous essays in this series here:

• Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science?
• Two Ways to Hold Entrepreneurs Accountable
• Beware of Vanity Metrics 
• For Startups, How Much Process Is Too Much?

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Assalamu'alaikum Warohmatullahi Wabarokatuh...

Ramai yang bertanya kepada saya. Ramai yang meminta kepada saya untuk mengemaskini blog yang semakin lama semakin bersawang. Dan dalam sedar tidak sedar, jumlah pengikut (google follower) Shoutul Ikhwah sebenarnya sudah mencecah 3 angka. Mungkin ramai yang menanti-nanti bilakah post seterusnya daripada insan bernama umairzulkefli ini. Atau mungkin yang telah bosan menanti.

Biarlah diri ini berkongsi. Mungkin ini kali pertama saya menulis dengan kata ganti diri pertama dengan para pembaca. Selama ini hanya berbentuk artikel-artikel dan cerita-cerita yang mungkin berkaitan dengan kisah hidup kita. Maka di sini teringin untuk saya kongsikan mengapa saya amat sukar mengemaskini blog tercinta ini.

Mengapa Tidak Kemas Kini Blog?

Ya, soalan cepu emas. Mengapa? Petamanya ingin dingatkan, entri ini ditulis bukannya kerana mahu membela diri, tetapi hanya mengharap difahami. Mungkin sedikit sokongan daripada mereka yang dekat dengan diri ini.

Jika dilihat, pola kemas kini blog saya mula meningkat bermula Julai 2009. Bermula saat itu saya mula berkarya sambil-sambilan sambil menulis sesuatu yang diminta oleh teman dan rakan seperjuangan, baik lelaki mahupun perempuan.

Tetapi pola kemas kini tetap tidak konsisten. Terkadang muncul idea, saya menulis. Terkadang walaupun idea banyak, tetapi tidak tertulis-tulis. Terkadang pula, idea tidak muncul-muncul. Namun apa yang boleh saya rumuskan, ada 2 sebab utama mengapa saya amat sukar untuk mengemaskini blog ini.

1. SibukYa, sibuk. Memang kesibukan itu boleh dijadikan alasan. Bagi yang mengenali saya, mereka mungkin faham. Malam-malam saya ke mana perlu saya habiskan.Sehingga perlu mencuri-curi masa untuk menulis. Kadang-kadang apabila mula menulis, tiba-tiba idea hilang ataupun diganggu sehingga tidak boleh meneruskan, maka tulisan tadi terbengkalai.
   
   Saya adalah jenis orang yang apabila mula menulis dan berfikir, perlu menyelesaikannya di saat itu, ataupun ia akan terbengkalai. Jika anda berkesempatan melihat ke senarai post saya, anda akan dapati banyak draft yang tidak dihabiskan penulisannya.
   
2. Daya PemacuDan ini yang saya rasakan penyebab utama. Kehilangan daya pemacu ataupun Driving Force. Saya hilang semangat untuk menulis. Jika dimuhasabah, bagaimana saya boleh menulis cerpen-cerpen serta puisi-puisi sebelum ini, semuanya dilalukan ketika saya berada di dalam 'excited state'. Atau dalam kata lain, ketika sedang bersemangat. Dan sumbu semangat itu tentunya keimanan.
   
   Keimanan adalah paksi. Seseorang yang dekat dengan Allah akan menjadi kuat. Kekuatan keimanan menjadikan seseorang yang lemah kuat menghadapi apa sahaja bentuk halangan. Seseorang yang kekuatan keimanannya melebihi kekuatan fizikal, dia akan mentaati Allah dalam segala keadaan. Walaupun sakit, dia akan bangun untuk solat. Walaupun pening, dia akan bangkit menyelesaikan tanggungjawabnya sebagai Muslim. Namun jika kekuatan fizikalnya melebihi kekuatan iman, maka segala yang dimilikinya sia-sia. Tenaga yang ada tidak mampu dimanfaatkan untuk jalan Allah. Badan yang gagah hanya untuk dibangga-bangga, malah lebih teruk lagi untuk bermaksiat di hadapanNya.

"Jadi umairzulkefli lama tidak menulis sebab kehilangan Driving Force?"

Mungkin ini yang bermain dalam minda para pembaca. Jawapannya mungkin ya, mungkin tidak. Tetapi boleh saya katakan, saya perlu kembali menata hati dan perasaan kembali. Mungkin tujuan hidup tidak cukup ikhlas. Mungkin amal tidak cukup benar. Ujian yang melanda diri banyak merapuhkan keimanan yang dibina selama ini.

Kehilangan teman seperjuangan.

Jatuhnya keputusan akademik.

Kehilangan kelancaran berkata-kata.

Kehilangan idea-idea bernas.

Kecenderungan untuk melakukan sesuatu yang sia-sia.

Ditambah dengan corak berfikir sorang 'Melankolis yang Sempurna' yang mudah tertekan tatkala tibanya ujian, saya sering menjadi tidak tentu hala dalam berbuat. Dan syaitan meniupkan idea-idea songsang agar diri ini sentiasa menganggap ujian-ujian ini adalah tandanya sudah tiada gunanya saya berubah.

Kesimpulannya, saya perlu kembali. Kembali menjadi umairzulkefli yang ceria, bersemangat dan berfikiran positif dan sentiasa mencintai tuhannya. Semoga saya kembali mencurahkan buah fikiran yang baik dan bermanfaat buat ummat. Mohon doanya.

Saya juga manusia biasa, banyak kelemahan dan kekuarangan. Cuba menjadi yang terbaik dengan mendekatkan diri kepada Yang Maha Tinggi.

Bantulah aku yang lemah ini Ya Rabb...

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The Huffington Post published an op-ed on the Startup Visa movement that I've been working on for some time. I've quoted from the article extensively below, but I hope you'll take a moment and read the whole thing. I believe we have a unique opportunity to pass the Startup Visa Act this year - if we continue to stay focused on delivering the message to lawmakers that this is something their constituents want. So, as a reminder, if this is something you support, please get involved. You can literally make a difference with as little as a tweet, by using 2gov at http://startupvisa.2gov.org/. Once you've done that, let us know if you want to do more. You can find a list of ways to get involved at StartupVisa.com. Thanks!

The New Startup Arms Race

America's future prosperity depends on our ability to maintain this lead. But today, it is getting harder and harder to maintain. A quick glance is the rear-view mirror reveals that other countries are catching up and at an alarming rate. Part of this is due to their determination to overtake us, but part is due to structural changes in the nature of entrepreneurship.

Startups are the lifeblood of our economy. In the past two decades, they have accounted for nearly all the net job growth in our country. Many of these companies are started by entrepreneurs, and are now household names: Google, Yahoo, eBay and Intel. But many more are true American success stories, out of the limelight, quietly creating jobs and securing our future.

Take the example of Indiana's Passageways. Paroon Chadha came to the US for his graduate education, and was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug immediately after school. He started Passageways Inc. immediately upon graduating, and has spent the last 8 years struggling to work around visa restrictions. Luckily for the rest of us, he was able to find his path to a green card, and now employs 24 Americans in West Lafayette, Indiana. For every success story like Paroon's, there are dozens -- hundreds -- of similar cases that end in failure.

Like other industries -- from publishing to automobiles -- entrepreneurship is in the process of being disrupted by globalization. The cost of creating new companies is falling rapidly, and access to markets, distribution, and information is within the reach of anyone with an Internet connection. The result is a profound democratization of the digital means of production.

[...]

If the next Facebook, Google, or Amazon begins in another country, the economic growth that it sparks will benefit us, too. But the jobs will be created over there.

The United States is locked in a new arms race for that most precious resource -- the future entrepreneurs upon whom economic growth depends. Substantial research shows that immigrants play a key role in American job creation. For example, over 25% of the technology companies founded between 1995-2005 had a key immigrant founder. These companies produced over $52 billion dollars in sales in 2005, and employed 450,000 workers that year. Similarly, 24% of all the patents filed in the US in 2006 had a foreign resident as inventor or co-inventor.

If we allow other countries to welcome these immigrants, support them and nurture them, we will lose out in this race. We will not lose on their products -- after all, most of them are global. We will not necessarily harm investors, either: as capital is increasingly global, they will be able to invest wherever good ideas are born. The cost will be felt in jobs -- thousands of new jobs that could have been created here, but weren't.

Read the rest of The New Startup Arms Race at Huffington Post. Special thanks to everyone who's helped advance this movement, especially Brad Feld, Shervin Pishevar, Dave McClure, Dave Binetti and Abheek Anand. And an extra special thanks to the volunteer copyeditors who reached out via twitter to help improve this piece.
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