Technology Meets Flowers

Why do the Dutch continue to play a central role in the global production, sales, and distribution of flowers? What are the origin and history of the bulb and flower industry in the Netherlands? How are Artificial Intelligence (AI), complex algorithms, and modern distribution systems ensuring that fresh flowers reach their destination on time? This very entertaining and informative book introduces readers to the global flower business, and highlights the surprising factors that helped the Dutch become global leaders on the flower markets. The book reveals the complexity of the flower markets in terms of their ability to produce, transport, and deliver fresh flowers on a global scale. In addition, it explores how information advantage is created by blending business with technology, from robotized glasshouses to the use of AI-driven algorithms for flower production and distribution. In closing, the book presents lessons learned regarding the circular and digital transformation of the high-speed flower business and markets in order to deliver sustainable value for customers. Combining the light beauty of flowers with the harsh language of the digital universe is a masterfully executed task in this book, organized as a bouquet of algorithms, data science, and digital platforms. Mandatory reading for all those interested in the flower business as well as for those who want to know more about the perfume emanating from digital systems. Eduardo Diniz Professor and Head of the Technology and Data Science Department, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo, Brazil This unique book leads you through the bulb fields and auctions of the Netherlands, through history, logistics, auction design, and Internet technology, to draw lessons in business management from the study of flowers. With beautiful illustrations. A tour de force. John Kay Economist, Author of Radical Uncertainty and Greed is Dead, and Fellow, St. John’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom If you want to understand the impact of information and technology on a fascinat- ing industry, this book is a must-read. The author explains in a highly intriguing way how innovations propelled the flower industry from the sixteenth century till today. Whether you are working in the flower industry, a business student, academic, or just intrigued by the business behind flowers, you will enjoy this book! Martin Mocker Professor of Information Systems, ESB Business School, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany. Research Affiliate, MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research, Cambridge, USA

This "utterly spectacular" book weighs the impact modern medical technology has had on the author's life against the social and environmental costs inevitably incurred by the mining that makes such innovation possible (Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises). What if a lifesaving medical device causes loss of life along its supply chain? That's the question Katherine E. Standefer finds herself asking one night after being suddenly shocked by her implanted cardiac defibrillator. In this gripping, intimate memoir about health, illness, and the invisible reverberating effects of our medical system, Standefer recounts the astonishing true story of the rare diagnosis that upended her rugged life in the mountains of Wyoming and sent her tumbling into a fraught maze of cardiology units, dramatic surgeries, and slow, painful recoveries. As her life increasingly comes to revolve around the internal defibrillator freshly wired into her heart, she becomes consumed with questions about the supply chain that allows such an ostensibly miraculous device to exist. So she sets out to trace its materials back to their roots. From the sterile labs of a medical device manufacturer in southern California to the tantalum and tin mines seized by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to a nickel and cobalt mine carved out of endemic Madagascar jungle, Lightning Flowers takes us on a global reckoning with the social and environmental costs of a technology that promises to be lifesaving but is, in fact, much more complicated. Deeply personal and sharply reported, Lightning Flowers takes a hard look at technological mythos, healthcare, and our cultural relationship to medical technology, raising important questions about our obligations to one another, and the cost of saving one life.

The essential resource from Martha Stewart, with expert advice and lessons on gardening and making the most of your spectacular blooms Martha Stewart's lifelong love of flowers began at a young age, as she dug in and planted alongside her father in their family garden, growing healthy, beautiful blooms, every year. The indispensable lessons she learned then--and those she has since picked up from master gardeners--form the best practices she applies to her voluminous flower gardens today. For the first time, she compiles the wisdom of a lifetime spent gardening into a practical yet inspired book. Learn how and when to plant, nurture, and at the perfect time, cut from your garden. With lush blooms in hand, discover how to build stunning arrangements. Accompanied by beautiful photographs of displays in Martha's home, bursting with ideas, and covering every step from seed to vase, Martha's Flowers is a must-have handbook for flower gardeners and enthusiasts of all skill levels.

A cyberpunk thriller from Nebula Award winner Michael Swanwick that explores bioengineering, wetware, and the riddle of personality Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark is a recorded personality owned by corporate giant Deutsche Nakasone. When Rebel’s personality is uploaded to persona tester Eucrasia Walsh and burned into her brain, Rebel escapes the corporation and takes off across an exotically transformed solar system, hijacking Eucrasia’s body and becoming the most wanted fugitive in existence. A fast-paced technological thriller, Vacuum Flowers allows the reader to consider the implications of bioengineering while providing an entertaining and dynamic story. Reminiscent of the innovative work of Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, this high-tech work of science fiction carves out a niche all its own with themes as relevant today as when it was first published.

The sacred Flower of Life pattern, the primary geometric generator of all physical form, is explored in even more depth in this volume, the second half of the famed Flower of Life workshop. The proportions of the human body, the nuances of human consciousness, the sizes and distances of the stars, planets and moons, even the creations of humankind, are all shown to reflect their origins in this beautiful and divine image. Through an intricate and detailed geometrical mapping, Drunvalo Melchizedek shows how the seemingly simple design of the Flower of Life contains the genesis of our entire third-dimensional existence. From the pyramids and mysteries of Egypt to the new race of Indigo children, Drunvalo presents the sacred geometries of the Reality and the subtle energies that shape our world. We are led through a divinely inspired labyrinth of science and stories, logic and coincidence, on a path of remembering where we come from and the wonder and magic of who we are. Finally, for the first time in print, Drunvalo shares the instructions for the Mer-Ka-Ba meditation, step-by-step techniques for the re-creation of the energy field of the evolved human, which is the key to ascension and the next dimensional world.if done from love, this ancient process of breathing prana opens up for us a world of tantalizing possibility in this dimension, from protective powers to the healing of oneself, of others and even of the planet. Embrace the expanded vision and understanding that Drunvalo offers to the world. Coincidences abound, miracles flourish and the amazing stories of mysteries unveiled arise as the author probes the Ancient Secrets of the Flower of Life.

A behind-the-scenes look at the floriculture industry covers how cut flowers are bred, grown, and sold in the United States, discussing the historical roots of the industry and describing the attitudes of those involved in floriculture.

The former actress shares her sense of floral aesthetics, discloses the secrets of flower pressing, examines the portrayal of flowers throughout history in the arts, and discusses the use of flowers as beauty aids and home remedies

WW2 Codebreaking People and Places is the first volume of a series on a glossary of codebreaking, ‘People and Places’, brings to the reader an easily understandable account and listing, of those involved in collecting and analysing military intelligence, principally during the second world war. while some will be well known, such as Alan Turing, many others have made significant contributions to codebreaking but fail to attract the attention of the media for the most part. From an individual named ‘Wren’ who worked at a codebreaking outstation supporting Bletchley Park, to a mathematician who modified a codebreaking machine just prior to D-Day, to a ladies foundationwear factory in Hertfordshire that helped make machine components, these people and places now can be appreciated as to where they fitted-in within the overall picture of gathering, and processing enemy intelligence in wartime. The entries are cross-referenced to enable the reader to research as much or as little as they want, to dip-in to the glossary, to use it as a basis for further study, or just to learn a little more about the people that helped us win the war with our allied friends. .

A charming, uplifting debut novel—full of humor and depth—that has taken readers around the world by surprise. Everyone has a story to tell. But does Janice have the power to unlock her own? She can’t recall what started her collection. Maybe it was in a fragment of conversation overheard as she cleaned a sink? Before long (as she dusted a sitting room or defrosted a fridge) she noticed people were telling her their stories. Perhaps they had always done so, but now it is different, now the stories are reaching out to her and she gathers them to her ... Cleaner Janice knows that it is in people’s stories that you really get to know them. From recently widowed Fiona and her son Adam to opera-singing Geordie, the quiet bus driver Euan, and the pretentious Mrs. “YeahYeahYeah” and her fox terrier, Decius, Janice has a unique insight into the community around her. When Janice starts cleaning for Mrs. B—a shrewd and prickly woman in her nineties—she finally meets someone who wants to hear her story. But Janice is clear: she is the keeper of stories, she doesn’t have a story to tell. At least, not one she can share. Mrs. B is no fool and knows there is more to Janice than meets the eye. What is she hiding? After all, doesn’t everyone have a story to tell?