By Dr Michael Baker

Dr Michael Baker
mbaker@pobox.com
+44 20 7193 3216

Table of Contents (for this proposal)

• Overview
• About the Author
• About the Market
• Competition
• Marketing
• Table of Contents (for the book)
• Chapter Summaries
• Sample Chapter
• Prepublication Endorsements
• Appendix
  • CV / Resume
  • Writings and Publications
  • About CSEM-BMP

Overview

Saving Our Bacon, Strategy Elements for a Global Transition to Working Within Environmental Limits, or Saving Our Bacon for short, is a working title. It will provide a simple and short guide to sustainability, what it is (and is not), why it’s important, and will concentrate on how it could be brought about by the world’s largest companies. It will be of interest to all who are concerned about the future, from CEOs and board members of the world’s largest businesses to students. It will provide a “good news” approach to what is arguably the single most pressing issue of our age – how to equitably and continuingly provide for the world’s population (currently all 7 billion of us) while working within environmental limits. Apart from opening and closing chapters, each chapter of the book will outline an element that could be part of a global strategy to move the world’s economy to working within environmental limits. Such strategy elements include a Sustainability Framework (similar to the UN Framework for Climate Change) and Measuring Sustainability.

Dr Baker has been concerned with the issues covered by this book since reading the Club of Rome Report, “Limits to Growth” in 1974. He spent many years undertaking research on energy and related issues at The Open University. Subsequently he was instrumental in setting up a community that was dedicated to establishing a self-sufficient lifestyle. Dr Baker has designed and built a passive solar home and planted hundreds of trees. Dr Baker’s daughter now lives in his home in the Adelaide Hills that provides all of its own services with the exception of a telephone line.

Since 2002 Dr Baker has worked with Professor Ross King in running CSEM-BMP, a management training and development centre that specialises in sustainability, and has a vision of business being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

An aspect of developing this proposal will be to seek out “experts” and celebrities willing to endorse the book.

About the Author and his Platform

Dr Baker has had a presence online since the mid 1990s when he established Electronic Frontiers Australia, an online civil liberties organisation. Subsequently he has developed websites, including his own (www.michael-baker.com), has a blog (Dr Baker Comments) and has established himself on social networking sites:

• Dr Baker is on Facebook
• Dr Baker is on LinkedIn
• Dr Baker is on Twitter
• Dr Baker also has other online profiles as listed on his website (www.michael-baker.com).

Dr Baker intends to develop drafts of each chapter for Saving Our Bacon online, probably on his blog. Doing so will considerably increase his writer’s platform.

Note to self: For suggestions on developing a writing platform see: www.be-a-better-writer.com/writing-platform.html

Dr Baker studied at the University of Glasgow where he obtained a BSc with First Class Honours in Civil Engineering and went on to receive an MPhil in Town and Regional Planning. It was while studying for the latter that he read the Club of Rome Report, “Limits to Growth” which changed the course of his life. He spent the next year looking for a way to make a difference to the many environmental issues that the world was (and still is) facing. This included applying for jobs with the then recently established UN Environment Programme and Environment Canada, and visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth in Wales.

In 1975 Dr Baker joined the Energy Research Group at the Open University in Milton Keynes where he undertook research in many aspects of transport and energy and obtained a PhD in 1981. His PhD thesis was on Problems in Long Term Foresting and Planning.

Following work as an Analyst Programmer with The Open University and then in private practice, Dr Baker migrated to Australia in 1986. He moved to the Adelaide Hills in South Australia where he played a major role in setting up a community that was intent upon establishing a self-sufficient lifestyle which included Permaculture design and passive solar houses. Dr Baker designed and built his own passive solar house and planted hundreds of trees.

Since 2002 Dr Baker has worked with CSEM-BMP where his is now Joint Programme Director. CSEM-BMP is a management training and development organisation that specialises in Sustainability. Dr Baker’s responsibilities with CSEM-BMP include courses on Life Cycle Assessment, Energy Management, and Disaster Management and Preparedness.

About the Market

Saving Our Bacon is for those who want good news stories about, and the how to of, achieving sustainability, that is a world that will work within environmental limits. It will be of interest to all who are concerned about the future, from CEOs and board members of the world’s largest corporations to students.

The potential size of the market can be judged from the popularity of some of the similar titles listed below.

In addition to the titles listed below, the Guardian runs a Sustainable Business section

Competition

Similar titles include:

• Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,021 in Books
• The Limits to Growth: The 30-year Update – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 13,074 in Books
• The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy: skills for a changing world – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 17,819 in Books
• Making Sustainability Work: Best Practices in Managing and Measuring Corporate Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,446 in Books
• Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 123,927 in Books
• The Principles of Sustainability – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 127,114 in Books
• Capitalism as if the World Matters – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 166,943 in Books
• The Daily Globe: Environmental Change, the Public and the Media – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 224,529 in Books
• An Introduction to Sustainable Development – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 238,763 in Books
• Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 258,077 in Books
• The Sustainable MBA: The Manager’s Guide to Green Business – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 263,023 in Books
• Global Challenges: Furthering the Multilateral Process for Sustainable Development – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 304,987 in Books
• Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 370,456 in Books
• Sustainable Development: An Introductory Guide – Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 692,863 in Books

[Amazon Bestseller Rankings as of 15 May 2012.]

However the proposed book will take a “good news” approach that will show how the world’s major businesses could lead the required transition and will be written in the author’s unique style.

Marketing

By developing this proposal and drafts of each chapter online, a potential fan base will be developed before the book is published. After publication a social media campaign will be run, and blog and other articles about the book will be published.

Table of Contents (for the book)

1. Preface
2. Introduction
3. Stern type reviews of major environmental issues
4. Establishing the Environmental Limits
5. A Sustainability Framework
6. A UN Sustainability Treaty
7. Ten Sustainability Leaders
8. Acid Test of Sustainability Measures
9. Certified Sustainable™
10. Books on Sustainability Management and the Sustainability Transition
11. National Sustainable Business Councils
12. A Global Sustainable Business Council
13. Business lead/run Cap and Trade Schemes
14. REACH Supply Chain Information Exchange
15. A Global Sustainability Compact
16. A Mechanism to Make Unsustainable Businesses Uneconomic
17. Model Sustainability Laws and Regulations
18. Embrace the Time Scale of the Markets
19. 20 people in 20 Corporations That Can Face the Issues
20. Older People Have Something to Offer
21. Draining the Ice Caps
22. Businesses Doing It Alone
23. Wrap up – A Global Strategy

Chapter Summaries

Preface

The Preface will provide some background on the author, on CSEM-BMP and how the book came about.

Introduction

The Introduction will point out that Sustainability requires more than a response to Climate Change. There are some 15 to 20 major issues that have to be addressed in the very near future. A purist and a pragmatic view of sustainability will be covered.

The CSEM-BMP approach to causing the required sustainability transition is to have business be part of the solution instead of seeing it as part of the problem.

Summaries for the remaining chapters appear in the sample chapter below.

Sample Chapters

Preface

This book contains a good news story, but first the bad news. There are 15 to 20 issues that need to be dealt with immediately. Any one of these issues has the potential to trigger events that will devastate our ability to provide for ourselves, and of our children to provide for themselves, and of their children to provide for themselves and so on.

The good news is that we can take coordinated action on all of the issues. However it won’t happen of its own accord. We will have to cause it to happen. Some of the elements of what is needed include:

• Stern type reviews of major environmental issues;
• Establishing the environmental limits;
• A sustainability framework;
• An acid test of sustainability measures;
• A global sustainability compact; and
• Embracing the time scale of the markets.

Business can be part of the solution, it does not need to be part of the problem.

Most of the suggestions contained in this book could be undertaken by business on their own, and could be started now.

Long-term investment funds, such as pension funds, will in-time (if they have not already) wake up to the desirability of causing a global transition to working within environmental limits. Without it the value of their portfolios will fall over time as the devastation caused by ignoring the issues take hold.

However they will need tools. Some may say that they have tools already, but are they fit for purpose? If every company in the global economy was assessed by the tool in question and found to be sustainable, would the resulting global economy be sustainable? If yes, then that tool is fit for purpose. As of yet I know of no tool that has been subjected to this “Acid Test”, let alone passed it.

Another component of the global financial system that is already seeing the desirability of tackling at least some of the issues is the insurance industry.

That is enough on what the book is about for now. You may want to know a bit about me first.

In about 1974 when I was studying Town and Regional Planning at Glasgow University I read the Club of Rome Report, “Limits to Growth”. This caused me to reassess the course of my life. For the next year I looked for a way to make a difference to the many environmental issues that the world was (and still is) facing. This included applying for jobs with the then recently established UN Environment Programme and Environment Canada, and visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth in Wales.

In 1975 I joined the Energy Research Group at the Open University in Milton Keynes where I undertook research in many aspects of transport and energy and obtained a PhD in 1981. My PhD thesis was on Problems in Long Term Foresting and Planning.

In 1983 while on a skiing trip I met Steve Stevenson who introduced me to the Hunger Project who’s goal was to cause the political will to bring about the end of hunger by the end of the century. While working with the Hunger Project I first met with Ross King.

Following work as an Analyst Programmer with The Open University and then in private practice, I migrated to Australia in 1986. I moved to the Adelaide Hills in South Australia where I played a major role in setting up a community that was intent upon establishing a self-sufficient lifestyle which included Permaculture design and passive solar houses. I designed and built my own passive solar house and planted hundreds of trees.

Since 2002 I have worked with Professor Ross King in CSEM-BMP where I am now Joint Programme Director. CSEM-BMP is a management training and development organisation that specialises in Sustainability. My responsibilities with CSEM-BMP include courses on Life Cycle Assessment, Energy Management, and Disaster Management and Preparedness.

Many of the items in this book were identified in a conversation that Ross King and I had in his kitchen. We were sitting at his table and asking ourselves: “What does the world need?” Some of the answers we came up with were:

• To realise the scale and consequences of the imminent ecological crisis
• A holistic vision of responding to the environmental crisis. If the issues of the environmental crisis, such as climate change, are tackled on their own, the chances are that at least one of the major issues will be missed, which will get us into nearly as much trouble as if they had all been missed.
• To wake up to our power to solve problems
• To realize the general futility of war and aggression for problems of lack
• To realize the limitations of techno-fix
• To respect and reinstate the profession of management and leadership
• Highly competent sustainability leaders – able to appreciate the possibilities of organisations getting it right
• Transition / breakthrough for particular organisations
• Centrality of leadership – need for comprehensive, general approach
• Not to get caught in this need or that need
• Transformed individuals
• Leaders who are quite beyond personal temptation
• For people to be able to talk about multiple environmental issues without being labelled or labelling themselves as green crazy people
• A way forward that does not involve connecting with / contacting / enrolling / organising 7 billion people
• A Kick Up The Backside
• Urgency
• Examples of Corporations that have achieved the Sustainability Transition

Following our identifying the need for urgency I started developing a short video presentation, entitled “Act Now“. The script and illustrations of which were:

Limits to Growth and subsequent updates have pointed out that we live in a finite world.
It also pointed out that the longer we delay a transition to sustainability (that is living within the limits) the lower will be the sustainable level of output that future generations will be able to achieve.
More recently, the Stern Review has demonstrated that the longer we delay tackling climate change, the greater will be the cost.	The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be. Stern Review, Executive Summary p ii
To achieve a global sustainable economy we have to tackle, in the immediate future, perhaps 16 other major issues as well as Climate Change. Taking the precautionary principle, we should act now, rather than later, because later may be too late.	The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be. Stern Review, Executive Summary p ii
To move the whole global economy onto a sustainable basis within a short period of perhaps five years of the remaining window of opportunity, the first pioneering corporations need to be sustainable within the next year.
To borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill: Action This Day!	Action This Day!

Most of the other answers to our question “what does the world need?” have been expended as chapters of this book along with a few ideas that have emerged since our discussion. The chapters in this book cover:

Stern type reviews of major environmental issues

There are perhaps 17 major environmental issues, of which climate change is but one. Each would benefit from a review of the type, size and rigour of the Stern Review on the costs and timescales of responding to climate change.

Such reviews would help provide a real grasp of the ecological clock / window of opportunity. They would help answer questions such as:

• Where are we now?
• What is the size of the window of opportunity to tackle this issue?
• What are the consequences of missing?
• What needs to be done?

Establishing the Environmental Limits

We need to establish what the environmental limits are for each of the major issues: locally, regionally, globally. Establishing and continuously reviewing the limits would be an important part of a Sustainability Framework.

A Sustainability Framework

Similar to the UNFCC but covering some 15 to 20 major ecological issues with a mechanism to add more issues without having to negotiate a new treaty each time.

A UN Sustainability Treaty

This could be related to, or part of a UN Sustainability Framework. To promote the idea of a UN Sustainability Treaty it would help to have a Model UN Sustainability Treaty.

Ten Sustainability Leaders

10 large corporations, one in each of the 10 major sectors of the global economy, each of which could achieve sustainability and inspire the rest of that sector to follow suit.

Acid Test of Sustainability Measures

There are already several measures of sustainability. Ideally they should each pass the acid test: If every entity in the global economy was assessed by the measure in question and found to be sustainable, would the resulting global economy be sustainable? If yes, then that measure is a good measure of sustainability.

Certified Sustainable™

A scheme (or schemes) to certify that a process, facility, or whole organisation is operating sustainably. Such scheme(s) should pass the Acid test of Sustainability Measures.

Books on Sustainability Management and the Sustainability Transition

There are already many books on the subject. This chapter will briefly review the parts that some of these can play in achieving a global transition.

National Sustainable Business Councils

Associations of businesses who are sustainable, or committed to becoming sustainable in a very short timescale. The councils could promote the benefits of becoming sustainable and assist their members to make the transition. Already existing councils of this nature are reviewed and compared to the ideal using the “Acid Test” (see above).

A Global Sustainable Business Council

Like the National Councils, open to global corporations, who are sustainable, or committed to becoming sustainable in a very short timescale, plus the National Councils. As with National Councils, already existing councils of this nature are reviewed and compared to the ideal using the “Acid Test” (see above).

Business lead/run Cap and Trade Schemes

There are multiple environmental issues that could be addressed by Cap and Trade Schemes. Given the time scales involved global businesses may be able to create a framework for such schemes in a shorter time period than that required for the negotiation of multilateral treaties. To be effective each of the businesses taking part would have to establish a differential pricing scheme between customers who are part of the scheme and those who are not.

REACH Supply Chain Information Exchange™

This item is Euro-centric. Under the REACH regulations every seller of goods is required, on demand, to supply information about all of the components of the items they sell. To meet such demands they need to in turn make those requests of their suppliers, and so on up the supply chain. These requests for information could be automated if there were a standard format to record the required information and the information were placed in a database before the requests were made. Competing companies could provide a service to sellers and manufacturers provided their databases were inter-operable.

A Global Sustainability Compact

A Compact with teeth. Membership would only be open to those who have a demonstrated and measured commitment to becoming sustainable in a short period and remaining so.

A Mechanism to Make Unsustainable Businesses Uneconomic

In the long term the market will tend to favour those who are sustainable over those who are not because they are more profitable. However in the short term, given the now short window of opportunity for the world to transition to a sustainable economy, it may be advantageous to create an additional mechanism to make unsustainable businesses uneconomic.

Model Sustainability Laws and Regulations

Such models could be used to encourage nations and states to require all organisations within their jurisdictions to become Certified Sustainable™ within a given (short) time period and to only trade with Certified Sustainable™ organisations outside of the jurisdiction.

Embrace the Time Scale of the Markets

Rather than complain that the market is short sighted and prevents the adoption of long term strategies required to achieve sustainability, embrace the short time scale of the markets. We only have a short window of opportunity left, so we now need to act swiftly anyway.

20 people in 20 Corporations That Can Face the Issues

In a global corporation led transition to sustainability, only the leaders of the leading corporations need to be able to face up to the issues involved. How you pick the number of people required could vary. The important point is that the number required is very small. Particularly compared to the numbers who would have to face up to the issues to get political parties to embrace all of the issues and subsequently have national governments take action.

Older People Have Something to Offer

With age comes wisdom. This is one of the key messages of the BIOSS levels model. It is also recognised in many traditional societies that have a council of elders. This needs to be understood by any corporation that is going to make a successful transition to ecological sustainability. The capability required to undertake the strategic thinking required is most likely to be found in people who have had a lifetime of development. That is in those who are near (or past) the end of their working lives.

Draining the Ice Caps

The only technical fix covered in this book. One of, if not, the major causes of the acceleration of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets towards the se is melt water. If melt water was intercepted before it left the surface and/or pumped out from beneath the ice sheet it may be possible to greatly slow the rate of Ice Cap melting and so of sea level rise.

Business Doing It Alone

The Business lead/run Cap and Trade Schemes (see above) are an example of Business Doing It Alone. Most, if not all, of the strategy elements suggested in this book that require international treaties or agreement could be implemented, or at least approximated, by business doing it alone. For example businesses could establish and fund an independent institute that they would charge with establishing and reviewing the environmental limits.

Wrap up – A Global Strategy

Each chapter of this book has described what could be an element of a Global Strategy for how the transition to true ecological sustainability of the entire global economy could be made.

Introduction

This chapter will cover:

• The bad news – some 15 to 20 issues, if not addressed in the very near future, could cause major disruption to our way of life.
• The good news – there are solutions, many outlined in this book.
• The issues we face are more than climate change.
• A purist point of view on sustainability – zero extraction, zero emissions.
• A pragmatic approach – a sustainable economy can use non-renewable resources, but at ever diminishing rates, so that the resources never run out.
• Transitioning to a sustainable economy, one that works within environmental limits, will require changes.
• The required rate of change may be beyond the political process to deliver.
• With less constraints than those imposed by the political process, business can still take decisive action, and be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

When this chapter is drafted a link will be provided here.

Prepublication Endorsements

While drafting chapters for the book, pre-publication endorsements will be sought.

Appendix

CV / Resume

See www.michael-baker.com/cv/

Writings and Publications

See www.michael-baker.com/cv/publications.php

About CSEM-BMP

CSEM-BMP is a management training and development organisation that specialises in Sustainability. Further details can be found on the CSEM-BMP website.

Most of us recognise and respond to threats subconsciously and do so very fast.  However not all threats can be perceived that way.  Some threats are more long term.  Their perception requires careful weighing up of evidence using intellectual instead of instinctual processes.

I’ll call  these threats and threat detectors type A and type B.

While type A threats need to be dealt with immediately, with type B threats there is time to for those who perceive them to communicate both the threat and possible ways to avoid it to others.

As individuals type A threat detectors will have a better chance of survival in a hostile environment with many immediate threats such as predators.  However groups that have some type B threat detectors will survive better than those that don’t in a hostile environment that also has longer term or periodical threats such as floods, fires, droughts etc.

Both types do better in a group that contains both than on their own.  In a group they protect each other from those threats that they are individually not so good at protecting against.

Threats exist not only from the external environment but also from others in a group.  While type A will tend to recognise and act on those threats at an unconscious or instinctual level, type B will tend to recognise and act on those threats consciously.  Such behaviour by type B being intelectual has to be learnt.

At least to the extent that social behaviour is the avoidance of threat in a social setting, type A will instinctively know how to act, whereas type B will have to learn how to act in each new social situation.

Given that type B threat detection is an intellectual activity, those with higher intelligence will tend to be better at it.  As a consequence type B threat detectors will have evolved and tend to be more intelligent than type A threat detectors.

With the range and types of threat that we have had to deal in our evolutionary past those groups with mainly type A and a few type B threat detectors have survived over those with more type B threat detectors.

Here I’ll make a leap that I am not qualified to make, but I’ll do it anyway.  On the basis that  type B threat detectors have to learn social behaviour and tend to have above average intelligence, I posit that type Bs are currently diagnosed or labelled as having Asperger’s syndrome.

Given the current nature of the threats that we currently face the world would be better of if more of us had Asperger’s.

I’d welcome any feedback on the above.

Here is my reply:

The error in Mr Love’s comments on today’s Feedback needs to be corrected.  Mr Love stated “there is no such  thing as slash”.

It would be more correct to say “there is no such thing as forward/slash”.

Before the advent of the operating systems CP/M, MS/DOS and then M/S Windows everyone was happy with slash (/) and backslash (\).

However backslash is used so frequently in Windows paths (filenames) that some think they need to say forward/slash when they are actually referring to slash, so that it is not confused with backslash.

My plea is that BBC return to normal usage and only use the terms slash and backslash.

Do away with the aberration of forward/slash.

One of my distractions for the past couple of years has been playing Series of Tubes. This is a networking puzzle gadget by Wei-Hwa Huang that can be be added to a Google personalised home page.

Series of Tubes can also be played at
http://weihwa-puzzles.appspot.com/gadgetpage?g=series_of_tubes.

The Pieces – head, cross, tee, elbow & straight

The Series of Tubes game board consists of a number of squares in which there are tubes [, , & , ] and heads []. There are four types of tube – a cross [] which connects to the four adjacent squares, a tee [] which connects to three adacent squares, a straight [] and an elbow [] which both connect to two adacent squares.

Make all the users happy!

At the start the pieces are in random positions and one (tube or head) is coloured green.

Any piece that is rotated so that it is connected to a green piece also turns green.

The object of the game is to “Make all the users happy!” That is to rotate pieces until there is a pathway between all tubes and they all turn green.

Options – wrapping, size, marking yellow

Series of Tubes also has a number of additional options or features.

By default the pieces at the edge of the board only connect to adjacent pieces. For example any straight piece at the edge of the board has to run along that edge (as in the completed puzzle above). However there are options that allow for games in which the top edge of pieces at the top of the board can join to the bottom edges of pieces at the bottom of the board, and similarly for left and right edges. This is called wrapping.

The size of the board can also be altered. My current favourite is a 25 by 25 board with wrapping on both top-bottom and left-right.

As an aid to solving the puzzle, the background of individual pieces can be turned yellow.

Strategies

While my current favourite game is 25 by 25 with wrapping, I’ll illustrate strategies on a 10 by 10 game with wrapping.

Identify “fixed” pieces

There are four situations in which the correct orientation of pieces can be determined without reference to the orientation of any other piece.

Crosses are fixed

Crosses can not be rotatated, so their orientation is fixed.

Straights perpendicular to two heads

All pieces must be joined to all other pieces, so an arrangement of pieces consisting of one or more straight pices with a head at each end is invalid. Consequently if there are two heads with only (one or more) straight pices between them, then all of those straight pieces must be perpendicular to to the line joining the two heads.

Head with heads on 3 sides

The rotation of any head that is surrounded on three sides by other heads is fixed.

Combination heads & straights

The fourth case is a combination of the second and third cases. The rotation of a head is also fixed if it is surround on three sides by heads or by straights that are fixed because they are between the head in question and another head.

Rotate adjacent pieces

Once pieces who’s orientation is fixed purely due to their nature or location on the board has been determined, it is possible to determine the orientation of some adjacent pieces.

Straights adjacent to fixed pieces

The orientation of any straight adjacent to a fixed piece can be determined. It is either:

1. parallel to the fixed piece if that piece has no opening adjacent to the straight, or
2. perpendicular to the fixed piece if the fixed piece has an opening adjacent to the straight.

Adjacent fixed pieces with matching number of openings

If the fixed pieces adjacent to a piece have the same total number of openings on their adjacent sides as that piece has, then the orientation of that piece can be fixed. That is the orientation of:

1. a head adjacent to a fixed opening;
2. an elbow (or straight, if not already fixed by application of the previous strategy) adjacent to two fixed openings; or
3. a tee adjacent to three fixed openings

can be fixed.

Semi fixed elbows

The orientation of an elbow adjacent to one fixed opening is semi-fixed in that it can not have an opening opposite the fixed opening. Consequently any strategies that require no opening can be applied to the piece on the opposite side to the fixed opening. Equally any tee adjacent to wall (a fixed piece with no opening) is semi-fixed in that it must have an opening opposite the wall. Consequently any strategires that require an opening can be applied to pieces on the opposite side to the wall. This strategy can also be applied to a chain of adjacent elbows.

Tee with back to wall

Any tee adjacent to a wall, that is a fixed piece with no opening facing the tee must face away from that fixed piece.

Fixed elbows

Any elbow that is in a corner between two fixed pieces can be fixed. It will either be between:

1. two openings, in which case it will face the two openings; or
2. two walls, in which case it will face away from the two walls; or
3. a wall and an opening, in which case it will face the opening and away from the wall.

Adjacent fixed openings

Where there are adjacent openings on fixed pieces and those openings are joined by a fixed path, then the orientation of the two pieces adjacent to those openings can be fixed. Elbows and tees will face way from the other opening, because if the faced the other opening they would join (if the other piece were an elbow or tee), or leave an un-joinable opening (if the other piece were a stright or head). This is because loops and open ends are not permitted. We alrady have strategies for heads or straights adjacent to the openings.

Corridors

Once a fair number of pieces have been fixed, corridors of unfixed pieces one piece wide are sometimes formed. When they do, and there is an end to the corridor, then all the pieces in the corridor can be fixed. Also if there are two heads in the middle of an open corridor then they can be fixed (as they can not face each other) and every piece in both directions down the corridor from these two can be fixed. [This later case not illustrated.]

Repetition

In this example the solution can be found by repeating these strategies until all pieces have been fixed.

Other strategies

Other strategies [which were not needed in this example], include:

Multiple heads aginst a wall

Where several unfixed heads are in a line adjacent to a wall (fixed pieces with no openings), then the heads in the middle must face away from the wall.

Heads in a corner

Where two adjacent unfixed heads are against a wall, and one of the heads is in a corner between two walls, then the one in the corner must face away from the walls and the other head.

Semi-fixed elbow and two heads

When an elbow is semi-fixed to a head and one option is to join the other end of the elbow to another head, then this position is not valid, so the elbow must point in the other direction.

Adjacent fixed pieces with matching number of closed sides

If the number of closed sides of fixed pieces adjoining a piece is equal to the number of closed sides that piece has, then the orientation of that piece can be fixed. [This strategy was suggested to me by Lars Huttar. It is the opposite of the "Adjacent fixed pieces with matching number of openings" strategy (which is a generalisation of "Fixed elbows a.") and this strategy is a generalisation of "Fixed elbows b."]

Multiple Solutions

Some games have multiple solutions. In most cases this occurs when four or six adjacent pieces can be placed in different positions and still produce a valid solution (all users happy).

In other games a loop corridor will appear around a central island and the pieces in the corridor can face in either direction around the corridor to produce a valid solution.

Occasionally a larger number of pieces will not be fixed and there will be multiple possible solutions.

In the process I have had to re-install WordPress and all of the plugins that I use.

If you would like to know more about my experiences, leave a comment and I may be persuaded to write more extensively on the subject.

A search turned up over 400 results.  There are fewer plugins that are tagged “twitter”, but even these amount to 259.  In attempt to find the “best” I extracted details of all 259 and placed them in a spreadsheet.  I then eliminated all those with an average user rating of 4 or less, and those that did not look relevant.  The rest I sorted on the product of average user rating and number of downloads to find the most popular and highly rated twitter plugins.

The top 20 are listed below:

Twitter for Wordpress

Twitter for WordPress displays yours latest tweets in your WordPress blog.
Downloads: 149,778
Average user rating:4.4

Twitter Widget Pro

A widget that properly handles twitter feeds, including parsing @username, #hashtags, and URLs into links. Requires PHP5.
Downloads: 56,705
Average user rating:4.3

TweetMeme Button

Adds the TweetMeme button into your posts and RSS feed.
Downloads: 40,940
Average user rating:4.7

WP to Twitter

Posts a Twitter status update when you update your WordPress blog or post to your blogroll, using the Cligs URL shortening service.
Downloads: 36,992
Average user rating:4.8

Pretty Link

Shrink, track and share any URL on the Internet from your WordPress website. Create short links suitable for Twitter using your own domain name!
Downloads: 35,264
Average user rating:4.3

Tweet This

Adds a  Tweet This Post  link to every post and page. Shortens URLs. Can automatically tweet new blog posts. Highly customizable.
Downloads: 37,701
Average user rating:4.1

Twitme

This plugin allows you to automatically post your new posts on the twitter website.
Downloads: 23,053
Average user rating:4.2

WordTwit

WordTwit is a plugin that utilizes the Twitter API to automatically push a published post to your Twitter account as a tweet.
Downloads: 17,302
Average user rating:4.8

Tweetable

Integrate Twitter with your WordPress blog. Automatically tweet new posts, display your latest tweet in your sidebar, etc.
Downloads: 17,422
Average user rating:4.6

Wickett Twitter Widget

Display tweets from a Twitter account in the sidebar of your blog. As seen on WordPress.com.
Downloads: 12,997
Average user rating:4.7

MyTwitter

MyTwitter allows users to display their recent Twitter updates (tweets) on their blog and update their status through the Options page.
Downloads: 13,555
Average user rating:4.6

Digg Digg

Integrate  Digg Button ,  Reddit Me Button ,  Dzone Button ,  Yahoo Buzz Button  and  TweetMeme (twitter) Button  Into Wordpress Content.
Downloads: 8,989
Average user rating:5

Tweetbacks

Show tweets that mention your post as “tweetbacks” in your comments section.
Downloads: 12,231
Average user rating:4.2

Twitter Friends Widget

Displays your Twitter friends with their profile images in the sidebar.
Downloads: 7,103
Average user rating:5

TwitterCounter

Integrate TwitterCounter.com badges on your blog to display the number of followers you have on Twitter.
Downloads: 6,946
Average user rating:5

Subscription Options

Adds subscription option icons for your RSS Feed URL; your FeedBurner Email Service URL and your Twitter Stream URL. Totally user-defined.
Downloads: 9,249
Average user rating:4.1

@ Reply

This plugin allows you to add Twitter-like @reply links to comments.
Downloads: 7,223
Average user rating:4.5

Twitter Friendly Links

Your very own TinyURL within your OWN domain! If you DO promote your blog posts in Twitter, then you MUST make your links look cool!
Downloads: 8,547
Average user rating:4.1

SimpleTwitter

SimpleTwitter displays the most recent twitter post (tweet) for a given user. The tweet is cached on the webserver for a number of minutes.
Downloads: 6,350
Average user rating:4.7

BackType Connect

The BackType Connect Wordpress plugin lets you show related conversations (from Twitter, Digg, FriendFeed & more) inline with your own comments.
Downloads: 5,331
Average user rating:5

Other than changes to page URLs, the major change has been moving all of my news articles (such as this) to my blog.

Once I have found new homes for my two remaining typo3 clients I’ll be able to turn off typo3 and concentrate on Sustainability Consulting.

After a short while I started looking for anyway to setup Office 2007 with the classic User Interface that Office had had up until Office 2003.

My prayers were answered when I found pschmid.net’s Ribbon Customizer which comes in two versions, Professional and Free. Both versions include Classic UI tabs which you can add to Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2007.

Since installing the Free version I’ve been able to use Office again.

There is a useful post on Cnet News on Changing the default folder view in Vista. This in turn points to detailed instructions on HOW-TO: Disable Automatic Folder Type Discovery.

While I don’t like the image, and won’t be putting it on my front page, it is gratifying to know that I must be doing something right as far as promoting my own website is concerned.