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.

My immediate question was, how can I get into a mastermind group? A quick search on google for Mastermind Group threw up:

How to Create and Run a Mastermind Group by Karyn Greenstreet

A good description of what a Mastermind Group is and reasons to join one. This is a promotional page for a $12 downloadable ebook on How to Start a For-Profit Mastermind Group.

The Master-Mind Group, The Programme for Business Owners & Mangers

Promotional site for 12 month programme starting February 2008. Cost £297+VAT.

Forum Thread: Mastermind group, thinktank, brainstorm?

Erik of SPiN asked for groups in UK on 17 April 2006. SPiN appears to have gone out of business, but there is an echo on the web archive – http://web.archive.org/web/20060428020132/http://www.usspin.com/. John Wilkes of theinfoproductprofessionals.com replied 22 November 2008 suggesting a Mastermind Alliance group starting in February 2009.

From the Web Archive of the SPiN website: The idea of masterminding and mastermind groups was made popular by Napoleon Hill in his book Think & Grow Rich. They provided a downloadable PDF of Think & Grow Rich. [There appear to be many copies on the web: see the results of google search for thinkandgrowrich.pdf]

Mastermind Group Resources Blog

A blog on Mastermind Groups run by Evan Carmichael who also runs Mastermind Groups in Toronto. One or two posts per week.

Online Marketing Mastermind Group

A London based Mastermind Group with online marketing focus with free online membership for those not able to attend in person.

Bernadette Doyle’s Client Magnets, How to Attract Clients Like a Magnet

Promotional page for Bernadette Doyle’s coaching and mentoring programme – costs £50 per month or £500 per year.

Meet and Grow Rich: How to Easily Create and Operate Your Own “Mastermind” Group for Health, Wealth, and More by Joe Vitale

Described by Eruditor as: “A practical guide to creating, profiting, and growing your business with your own mastermind group. It is suitable for those who want to succeed in various businesses.”

Chris Cardell’s Wealth Mastermind Group

Promotional site for Chris Cardell’s Wealth Mastermind Group. A group with impressive benefits that provides both training, support and access to the “best Entrepreneurial minds on the planet”. Curently costs £295+VAT per month.

Did Napoleon Hill’s Mastermind group work because those involved were never actually communicating with each other?

Introductory article to a discussion thread on ecademy.

The Results Academy

Home page of The Results Academy. No direct reference to Mastermind Group but there is a page on their website (Mastermind Group) that contains an invitation to join their free membership area.

As a result of this initial research the following occur as items to persue:

• Obtain [done] and read Think & Grow Rich.
• While being in a Mastermind Group looks desirable, I already have a group of friends and colleagues who could act as my Mastermind Group. So do I want to be more proactive with this group, or should I find an external group to join?
• If I join an external group should I join:
  • A commercial group, severl listed above?, or
  • A non commercial group? or
  • Start my own?
• What would I want to achieve from membership of a Mastermind Group?

Are you a member of a Mastermind Group? Whether you are or not, what would your answers be to the above questions?