About Us
Anything you don't already know about us is really probably none of your business. I suppose we can divulge a little, however...
Nate was born on December 31st, 1981. Mandy was born on July 2nd, 1982. We did a bunch of stuff that really isn't relevant, then met online (yahoo! personals) sometime in March 2004. On April 19th or 20th, depending upon who you listen to, we started dating. Late that same year, we were engaged, and got married on August 20th, 2005. A few months later, Mandy was pregnant (wow, that was easy!). The third member of our herd, David Eugene Powers was born July 17th, 2006. After a somewhat rocky start, he's adjusted to being a member of the herd. We live in Spokane Valley, Washington, and hopefully will continue to live here forever.
About Zippers
A zipper (zip fastener or zip in British English) is a device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric together. It is widely used in clothing, bags and suitcases, purses, tents, sleeping bags and other textiles.Alternatives that are also frequently used are buttons, Velcro, laces, buckles, and safety pins.
The bulk of a zip consists of two strips of fabric tape, one permanently fixed to each of the two flaps to be joined, and each carrying tens or hundreds of specially shaped metal or plastic teeth. Another part, the slider, which is operated by hand, rides up and down the two sets of teeth. Inside the slider is a Y-shaped channel that pushes the opposing sets of teeth together or apart, depending on the slider's direction of travel. The friction of the slider against the teeth causes a characteristic buzzing noise which is probably the origin of the name zip.
Some zips have slides on both sides, allowing one to vary not only the size, but also the position of the opening.
Applications of zips in clothing:
* to connect and disconnect the left and right front side
* to widen an opening to allow the garment to be put on / taken off
* to open and close pockets
* for attaching/detaching a hood and legs of trousers
* for decoration
Zippers cost only a fraction of the total cost of the garment. However, if the zipper fails, the whole garment is wasted. Therefore, it is very important to choose a very good quality zipper, even if it costs a few cents more.
About Herds
A herd is a large group of animals. The term is usually applied to mammals, particularly ungulates. Other terms are used for similar phenomena in other types of animal. For example, a large group of birds is usually called a flock (this may also refer to certain mammals as well) and a large group of Carnivora|carnivores is usually called a pack. In addition, special collective nouns may be used for particular taxa: for example a flock of geese, if not in flight, is sometimes called a gaggle. However in theoretical discussions in behavioural ecology the generic term "herd" is used for all these kinds of assemblage. A herd may also refer to one that tends and cares for such groups (e.i. shepherds tend to sheep, and goatherds tend to goats, etc.).
When an association of animals (or, by extension, people) is described as a "herd", the implication is that the group tends to act together (for example, all moving in the same direction at a given time), but that this does not occur as a result of planning or co-ordination. Rather, each individual is choosing behaviour that corresponds to that of the majority of other members, possibly through imitation or possibly because all are responding to the same external circumstances. A herd can be contrasted with a co-ordinated group where individuals have distinct roles. Many human groupings, such as an army detachments or sports teams, show such co-ordination and differentiation of roles, but so do some animal groupings such as those of eusocial insects, which are co-ordinated through pheromones and other forms of animal communication. Conversely, some human groupings may behave more like herds.
Why do animals herd?
The question of why animals group together is one of the most fundamental in sociobiology and behavioural ecology. As noted above, the term "Herd" is most commonly used of grazing animals such as ungulates, and in these cases it is believed that the strongest selective pressure leading to herding rather than a solitary existence is protection against predators. There is clearly a tradeoff involved, since on the one hand a predator may hesitate to attack a large group of animals, while on the other a large group offers an easily detected target. It is generally believed that the most important protective factor is risk dilution - even if a predator attacks the herd, the risk for any individual that it will be the victim is greatly reduced. In the case of predators, it is often unclear whether the term "herd" is appropriate, since there may be some degree of co-ordination or role differentiation in group hunting. Predator groups are commonly smaller than grazing groups, since although a pack may be more effective at pulling down prey than a single animal, the prey then has to be shared between all members, so that the weaker animals will often be better off hunting smaller prey on their own.
A herd is by definition relatively unstructured. However, there may be one or a few animals which tend to be imitated by the rest of the members of the herd more than others. An animal taking this role is called a "control animal", since its behaviour will predict that of the herd as a whole. It cannot be assumed, however, that the control animal is deliberately taking a leadership role. Control animals are not necessarily, or even usually, those that are socially dominant in conflict situations.
Domestic herds
Domestic animal herds are assembled by humans for practicality in raising them and controlling them. Their behaviour may be quite different from that of wild herds of the same or related species, since both their composition (in terms of the distribution of age and sex within the herd) and their history (in terms of when and how the individuals joined the herd) are likely to be very different.
Human parallels
The term herd is also applied metaphorically to human beings in social psychology, with the concept of herd behaviour. However both the term and concepts that underlie its use are controversial. The term is often used carelessly and applied to a range of situations that have little in common either with each other or with the behaviour of animals in herds. It will be clear from the discussion above that the correct usage would be for situations where apparently organised behaviour results from a group of unco-ordinated people acting in imitation of one another.
The term has acquired a semi-technical usage in behavioral finance to describe the largest group of market investors or market speculators who tend to 'move with the market,' or 'follow the general market trend.' This is at least a plausible example of genuine herding, though according to some researchers it results from rational decisions through processes such as information cascade and rational expectations. Other researchers, however, ascribe it to non-rational process such as mimicry, fear and greed contagion. "Contrarians" or contrarian investors are those who deliberately choose to invest or speculate counter to the "herd".
