SyNet Systems

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

By Ryan Wallace

Staff Writer

A novelty of being an Anteater, this quarter I have been lucky enough to take an amazing course from a professor with his own name on one of our buildings, Professor Francisco Ayala. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s his name on our beautiful state-of-the-art Science Library.
The course is an upper-div philosophy of biology class taught by both Professor Ayala (giving a perspective on biology) and Professor Brian Skyrms (giving his perspective through the eyes of philosophy). It is easy to say that it has taught me much more than any other course here on campus. But last week in particular, the three-hour lecture had me thinking for every moment.
Taking kind of a loose interpretation of the lecture, I began to think about a concept called “Game Theory.” I’ll explain it in common terms, honestly because I can hardly understand the logistics otherwise. The basic idea is that philosophers have been able to model human interactions based on choices/consequences, and with great accuracy I have to admit.

But listening to the situations, I found that the models are unrealistically simple. Humans are complex, and when it comes to relationships, it seems that all reason goes straight out the window. So how can you model something that isn’t ideal? They’re smart, that’s how! But they neglect a lot of the complicating factors.

The models aside, the terms that this “game theory” introduced and the name itself inspired lots of thought during lecture. The idea of human interactions and relationships as a game is an accurate simplification of huge issues that complicate our lives like no other.

I’ll be honest, in high school I was too focused on relationships. Some might say too cynical, but over the past year or so, I have allowed myself to open up to the idea of relationships. Honestly, being a bio major, I like it when things make sense and what I’ve learned is that relationships — and ultimately the L-word LOVE — don’t. They are messy, heart-breaking and crazy, but it is an amazing feeling while it lasts. And sometimes they are just what you need to gain perspective on life. Sometimes they bring you close to those people in life that you never want to let go of.

But why are things so complicated in love, war and all relationships of the sort? The game theory introduces a concept of “handicaps.” These “handicaps” are actions that an individual can fake; a lie. Like in the animal kingdom, a handicap can be as simple as an aggressive call from a wimpy pup. They know they are going to lose, but lie and hope for the best. It’s the same thing that humans do. I would say in other terms that humans are handicapped by deception, but in any way it is meant, it is clear that lies complicate life in immeasurable amounts of ways.
Sometimes the lies are simple, like a “You look beautiful!” on a day when you couldn’t feel worse. Sometimes they change everything forever, like the “I love you!” that comes from the head not the heart; either way there is always a change.

Like a game, every one of our choices has a consequence that affects the structure of the game. With a choice to say hurtful words, one may inevitably change a relationship forever, or worse end one that was perfect to that point. And with our constant advancing technology, relationships are now complicated by the clicks of a computer, texts or even Facebook posts. A text can end a relationship, albeit a really crappy and spineless way to go, but it happens nonetheless — and it sucks!

Realistically, without being cynical, every relationship has a shelf life. Some of them are until death, and some only last a year, but they all end at some point — a defining moment that depends on the culmination of your choices and your lies. All relationships like the game theory eventually find a fixed point: an end.

So why bother with something that seems so trivial? Something that can be boiled down to a mathematical simulation? Something inhuman and inherently academic? The answer is because it isn’t something this simple. Philosophers model the situations, but they can never put into perspective the human component that makes everything so amazing. Sometimes the relationships hurt; we’ve all had our hearts broken I’m sure, but that isn’t a reason to abandon all hope.
Love comes in many forms, and although sometimes you can’t see it in the moment, it’s the broken hearts that give us the strength to move on. And honestly without the complexity of relationships and all of our handicaps, I can assure you that I would not have many friends. Let’s just say I used to be a bit of a jerk. But because my friends accepted the possibility of hurt from becoming friends with me, I have been able to surround myself with some of the most amazing people in the world! Sometimes it’s hard, with miles between you or sometimes just lies, but the relationships are worth it. Learn, Live and Grow — this is what the game is all about.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Have you ever thought about the importance of white space when you are reading text on a page? White space is the area on the page where there isnt any print or image. Its the space between the words and the space that makes up the margin. White space helps guide the eye and gives the text some breathing room so that you can focus on the words. Without white space, thewordsonthepagewouldbeverydifficulttoread.

White space is just as important in relationships. We have to give the people in our lives a little breathing room from time to time so they can recharge and be their best. If we are constantly together, constantly talking, constantly in each others faces, it opens the door for frustration and strife. In order to maximize the on time, we also have to have some off time because it helps us refocus on what is most important in life.

To make the most of our relationships, we have to be willing to give the people in our lives what they need, which may not necessarily be what we need. When I need to be refreshed, Joel doesnt tell me to go play kickball in the backyard with the kids. He doesnt say, Thats what I do, so you should do it, too. In the same way, when he needs to clear his mind, the last thing I would suggest is for him to go to the mall. Joel and I both know how important it is to be considerate of each others needs, so we make every effort to study and adapt to one another.

When you see your spouse after a long day at work, instead of bombarding them with all of your requests, be patient and give them some time to unwind. The same is true for children. They may not want to answer twenty questions the first minute you see them after school. Instead, wait until they have a snack and settle down, and then ask them how their day went. If you will look for the best opportunity and wait for the right time, you will have much more success and much less tension in all of your relationships!

Today, I encourage you to consider what others need and give them the space to recharge. Even Jesus had to take time to be alone and recharge. If Jesus needed down time, we can be sure that all of us need it, too. So embrace the white space and enhance your relationships!

(Luke 5:16, NKJV).

PASO ROBLES, Calif., Mar 13, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
IQMS,
a manufacturing
ERP software developer with an ongoing, proactive commitment to its
product and relationships, today announced a new customer experience
designed to offer unsurpassed access to information and support
assistance. Appropriately named MyIQMS,
the website furthers IQMS’ ongoing pursuit to provide exceptional
support and tangible benefits to its clients.

The new MyIQMS website features a wealth of information, including a
module-specific virtual learning environment that delivers a multitude
of step-by-step instructional videos to ensure IQMS users are
substantially trained and utilizing the EnterpriseIQ ERP software to the
fullest.

Maintaining a culture of accountability and transparency, the new MyIQMS
experience also encourages customer feedback with an area specially
designated for software enhancement requests. The IQMS user community
can submit development requests — all available for fellow user comments
and votes — then follow the changes through development, testing and
release.

Additionally, MyIQMS elevates customer service to the next level with an
area designed to help clients better track their support activities.
Directly from MyIQMS, users can create new support issues and add
events, sort by date and subject for open and resolved issues and access
all document TechNotes and software manuals from anywhere at any time.

Finally, the new MyIQMS customer experience includes a discussion forum
designed for clients to post questions or scenarios to the IQMS user
base to help solve their unique business requirements. In a tight-knit
community fashion, IQMS users can share files and reports while crowd
sourcing for user best practice advice.

Near future expansion to the MyIQMS website will include an interactive
store where IQMS customers can purchase software, licenses, hardware and
apparel. Clients can review specification sheets and sales videos of
products, as well as shop for IQMS-approved hardware such as scanners,
servers, scales, barcode printers and touch computers and monitors.

“The bonds that IQMS establishes with its clients are as equally
important as continually developing our product,” said Glenn Nowak, vice
president at IQMS. “The MyIQMS features, such as the training database,
software enhancement requests and other critical resources, create a
collaborative community that is of huge benefit to our clients.”

About IQMS

Since 1989, IQMS has been designing and developing manufacturing ERP
software for the repetitive, process and discrete industries. Today,
IQMS provides a comprehensive real-time MES
and manufacturing
ERP software solution to the automotive,
medical,
packaging, consumer goods and other manufacturing
markets. The innovative, single-database enterprise software
solution, EnterpriseIQ, offers a scalable system designed to adeptly
grow with the client and complete business functionality, including accounting,
quality
control, supply chain, CRM
and eBusiness. With offices across North America, Europe and Asia, IQMS
serves manufacturers around the world.

SOURCE: IQMS

IQMS
Daniele Fresca, Director of Marketing
805-227-1122
dfresca@iqms.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

For the past year, Restaurant.com has supported the Ferrazzi Greenlight Research Institutes interest in proving and enhancing some of the relationship ideas I first expressed in my book Never Eat Alone. The goal: to help virtually everyone open up and really connect over a meal: friends, families, significant others, clients and associates…

Available today, the results are being released as the Greenlight Dining Guides. Tests with Restaurant.com customer volunteers were not only informative to our research but moving to the soul, from the couple who went deeper on their anniversary dinner which lead them to live their dream of traveling the world to the Mother who found a way to reconnect with her increasingly recalcitrant teenagers over lunch, to the struggling entrepreneur who grew his business because he was able to truly engage and understand the needs of his largest client. Check out my video to get a better idea of how the guides work.

What relationship do you want to transform? Download these simple but effective free tips, which are specific to dining with significant others, colleagues, friends, clients, or family. To bolster our own primary research conducted with restaurant.com, our think tank enlisted a range of other specialists in the field of psychology, relationships and communication.

Dining with Friends

Dining with Clients

Dining with Colleagues

Dining with Your Significant Other

Dining with Family

You can read more about how the guides have already helped people at theDish.restaurant.com. Dont miss this chance to make your relationships richer, more robust, and more powerful for you. Let me know how it goes at www.keithferrazzi.com.

Keith Ferrazzi is the Author of Never Eat Alone and founder of www.FerrazziGreenlight.com which Builds Bridges for Human Understanding, Turning Vision Into Action.

Who knew that truth was out there?

Beloved for her longtime role as Agent Scully on The X-Files, Gillian Anderson reveals something unexpected in the April issue of Out magazine: The actress, 43, has had numerous romantic relationships with women.

PHOTOS: Hollywoods out-and-proud celebs

I was in a relationship with a girl for a long time when I was in high school, the star of an upcoming PBS adaptation of Great Expectations says nonchalantly. Yeah, yeah, she replies, confirming the lesbian romance. You know, Im old enough that I can talk about that, adding to the magazine that she had additional flings with other women.

Twice-divorced (to Clyde Klotz and Julian Ozanne) and now partnered with Mark Griffiths since 2006, the star has a 17-year-old daughter and two young sons.

PHOTOS: Hollywoods biggest LGBT supporters

Downplaying those past experiences with women in the chat, she explains, If I had thought I was 100 percent gay, would it have been a different experience for me? . . . Would it have been a bigger deal if shame had been attached to it and all those things that become huge life-altering issues for youngsters in that situation?

Continues Anderson: Its possible that my attitude around it came, on some level, from knowing that I still liked boys.

PHOTOS: 90s TV stars, where are they now?

Without specifying genders, she notes other early relationships in her wild, rebellious adolescence included a punk drug addict . . . [and] somebody who was way, way older than me. Everything that that kind of anarchistic attitude bringsthe inappropriate behavior it leads to-was how I chose to be in the world at that time, which was, you know, not what people did.

Wellman Report Underwhelms at School Committee

School Committee members and Lexington residents said they expected the independent consultants report, titled “Improving Professional Relationships in the Lexington Public Schools to go deeper into alleged morale issues.

Maybe youd like to give David Swanson a call and chat about Braise, the collection of farm-to-table culinary endeavors he runs. Good luck. Swanson can be hard to reach, and for good reason.

One moment he may be dealing with a delivery truck breakdown, the next moment he may be lining up a menu at his four-month-old restaurant, details of the upcoming morel hunt in May or the fourth annual Tour de Farms in September, a combined bike ride and tour of local farms. Both events are already sold out – an indication of the strong support for what he does.

A typical day for Swanson involves meetings with those who help run the RSA (restaurant supported agriculture – a co-op that brings local produce to member restaurants), cooking school (Braise to Go) and restaurant. Hes at the restaurant, 1101 S. 2nd St., in the afternoon working on the menu for that night – including baking the daily bread around 4 pm The restaurant work shuts down by 11 pm or midnight. Then he does office work. He gets home around 1 or 2 am

Yep, the days are long. Why do this?

If you are not genuinely moved after visiting and working with a farmer who has poured everything (he has) into his or her product, there is no hope for you, he says. It puts everything into perspective. Its having those relationships that sustain us all.

Swanson has worked in several French restaurants – including Le Titi de Paris while attending culinary school at Kendall College in Evanston, Ill., in 1992. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and worked as chef de cuisine at Sanford here in Milwaukee. Those stints reinforced his appreciation for fresh and local products.

My father always had a garden, and there is no beating the freshness of the food, he says. My mother was always an adventurous cook. . . . My grandmother taught me the virtues of working with a few quality ingredients, making rhubarb tarts from scratch.

Hes been working on the Braise concept since the early 1990s.

I wanted to have the freedom to create and work on ideas around food, he says. There is a disconnect that the average person has with their food.

His way of addressing this: Conducting a cooking class right in the farm field.

Teaching someone how kohlrabi grows, the seasonality and the varied cooking methods – it has a lasting effect.

Swanson envisions more collaborative efforts around food.

Hopefully, the biggest trend is that this wont be a trend any longer, he says.

Definitely a lot is true to life, Lena said of her source material. It definitely is a lot of experiences that I, my friends, my writing staff have had, and then taking some of that experience to their more dramatic conclusions. Its always nice when you can give a real-life experience a movie ending and tie up some loose ends you werent able to in the moment.

Speaking to the very realistic approach the show takes to womens sexual relationships with men (ie emotionless, friends-with-benefits-esque arrangements with not-very-worthy guys), Lena said she felt that its a subject that needs to be addressed, no matter how uncomfortable.

Its definitely going to evoke the feeling like, Why is this self-respecting woman doing this and if so, is she a self-respecting woman? But I do think that relationship statuses are becoming more and more ambiguous in our modern Facebook, texting, Twitter world, she said. And those relationships need to be explored because those relationships can be really interesting and can also be damaging, to have these relationships with someone who you dont understand how invested in you they are.

And while the show is about women, that doesnt mean that the men are off the hook or play wholly abhorrent individuals.

We really try to make an effort to make the male characters not cookie-cutter villains, but to really show theyre sweet and tough and strange, Lena said of the many suitors that come and go. Its just a lot of unformed people trying to come together.

Will you be watching Girls when it premieres April 15? Tell us why or why not in the comments and on Twitter!

Tags Girls, Lena Dunham, SXSW, Video

Peter and Jennie split after 11 years together, and experts tell HollywoodLife.com that the divorce will have MAJOR repercussions on their three daughters! Find out why!

After announcing today (March 13) the end of their 11-year marriage, Twilight star Peter Facinelli and his wife Jennie Garth say they remain dedicated to their three daughters — Luca, 14, Lola, 9, and Fiona, 5. But experts tell HollywoodLife.com that the divorce could make the girls afraid to fall in love! They explain how the couple can best handle the separation when it comes to their kids.

The bottom line is that divorce is the main reason why children of divorce are having a hard time finding love or maintaing relationships, Dr. Carole Lieberman, a celebrity psychiatrist and author of Bad Girls: Why Men Love Them amp; How Good Girls Can Learn Their Secrets says. They become afraid of marriage because they see how painful it has been for one or both of their parents.

Dr. Lieberman says the girls could sabotage future relationships or have trouble committing.

Yes, this will have repercussion on their love lives in the future, she explains. Especially since the marriage was 11 years. Even when it looks like your parents are going to be together forever, something can happen to make it not be together forever. They cant trust men because even though things might look good, theyll always be afraid that something will happen to ruin it.

Dr. Lieberman says Peter should make an extra effort to spend as much time as possible with all the girls equally to keep them from feeling abandoned or unloved.

Dr. Lawrence Balter, a top child psychologist, outlines five steps Peter and Jennie should take to make this separation as easy as possible on the girls:

• They need to sit down and talk to the girls about their plan.
• Next, spell out how this will change their lives, including living situations.
• Peter and Jennie should never argue in front of their daughters.
• The couple needs to shield their daughters from media coverage, speculation and gossip.
• Be sure to reassure the girls over and over that it wasnt their fault.

HollyMoms — What are YOUR tips to Peter and Jennie?

More Peter Facinelli:

1. Peter Facinelli Jennie Garth Split — So Sad
2. Breaking Dawn’s Edward Cullen Is ‘A Timeless Gentleman,’ Says Peter Facinelli
3. The Cullen Family At The Twilight Convention In Los Angeles — LIVE PANEL BLOG!

After the re-arrest of former News International boss Rebekah Brooks and her husband, Charlie, the papers point out their association with David Cameron.

The Guardian calls Mrs Brooks a personal friend of the prime minister, while to the Daily Mirror they are pals.

Cameron under pressure as friends are arrested, reports the I newspaper.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph says the development cast a shadow over the PMs arrival in the United States.

Depressing reflection

The papers also make a great deal of Mr Camerons special relationship with his host President Barack Obama.

According to the Guardian, the PM is being accorded the grandest Washington welcome of any world leader this year.

Several papers point out Mr Cameron was given the rare privilege of a flight on the presidents plane.

But the Daily Mail sees a depressing reflection on modern politics in the first agenda item being a £100,000-an-hour flight to watch a basketball game.

Water bills

Good news for anyone worried about all the talk lately of widespread droughts and hosepipe bans comes courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.

More than one million people, it says, will be supplied this summer with water from Britains first large-scale desalination plant in east London.

Not such good news perhaps comes from the Daily Express.

Greedy water firms, the Express says, are set to send bills soaring by 8% from 1 April despite rationing supplies.

DIY dilemma

Theres a lot of interest in our changing buying habits.

The Office for National Statistics has listed the 700 goods selected to work out the official inflation figure.

Developing colour film, glass casserole dishes and step ladders are this year replaced by porridge, takeaway chicken and tablet computers, says the Sun.

The Times wonders: What did for the step ladder, asking whether we have fallen out of love with DIY – or realised its safer to get a man in.