Update 9/16/2014: It has come to my attention just this morning from the amount of increased traffic to this website that there has been an update written about Karan. It seems that the website for International Business Times, based in the UK, did a piece on Karan entitled “India: Karan Singh is World’s Tallest 5-Year-Old at 5ft 7in“. A few Indian news websites also got the news and wrote their own piece on the little boy. Currently, he is now 5 years old and is now at 5′ 7”.

Some Scientific Analysis On Karan Singh’s Final Projected Adult Height

First, let’s remember the case of Igor Vovkovinskiy. When Igor was around 7 years old, his mother moved from one of the Russian nations to come to the USA. Igor was already 6 feet tall. We can use Igor as a standard or reference basis. Igor now stands around 7′ 8.3″.

Karan was said to be 4′ 7″ at the age of 2.5 years old, but that was in 2010. Since it is now at the end of 2014, he should be actually closer to 6 years old, NOT 5 years old this year. Being 5′ 7″ at the age of almost 6 years old, suggests that he will probably end up around the height of Igor, and has the potential to be taller.

Medically, the way that the endocrinologists have traditionally done a calculation of a person’s height is to look at how tall a person is at 2 years old and then double that. I would guess that Karan was around 3′ 9″ – 4′ 0″ when he was 2. That means that Karan’s adult height would be around 7′ 6″- 8′ 0″, which agrees with the growth pattern projections as predicted by looking at Igor.

Some quick back of the envelope calculations

It is generally said that for the average healthy growing male, they grow on average about 2-2.5 inches per year, starting from the age of 6 until bone maturity. Since Karan is about 6, let’s assume that he can keep that type of rate of vertical growth for the next 10 years, until he is around 16 years old, which is usually when height growth in people naturally starts to taper off. This also takes into account the insane growth spurts seen around ages 11-14, when puberty sets in. So we did account for puberty into the calculation, and just averaged out the rates of vertical growth over a 10 year span. We are talking about a kid here who has an above average growth pattern. In the years between 2010 and 2014 he went from 4′ 7″ to 5′ 7″, which shows a 2.5 inches of growth per year. At his current height, he would be 67 inches. Multiplying 2.5 inches by 10 years, and adding it to the 67 inches. it turns out that it comes out to 92 inches, which converts to 7′ 8″ tall. (He might grow more after the age of 16, which will happen, but those extra inches are accounted for in the 2.5 inches multiplied by 10 years calculation.)

If we look at the extreme cases of human height, and how their growth pattern worked out, it seems that they keep on growing into their 20s. Yao Ming supposedly kept growing until he was 22-23. If a child develops gigantism, the excess GH can somehow increase the amount of time to grow, just like what happened to Tanya Angus and Sultan Kosen, who both ended up growing even when they were around 25-27. The stranger thing is that GH Therapy somehow has the exact opposite effect when researchers looked at it in the lab, and saw that bone maturity was being accelerated.

Since Karan is idiopathically tall in stature, he will probably keep growing until he is around 23-24. I personally predict that Karan, given his combination of genetics and lifestyle, will end up around 7’8″-7’11”. The real hindrance to his growth is the level of sanitation and healthcare in his country, being India. India has a history of sub-par sanitation conditions. The fact that the kid was given mostly sweets when he was a kid by his parents, instead of wholesome food high in protein foods and a lot of dairy means that Karan’s real growth potential has been stunted. If Karan was born and raised in a country like the Netherlands or Denmark, with a high consumption of dairy products and milk and a high quality of living standard, he probably would have shattered some serious height records and ended up around 8″1-8’3″ as an adult.

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To make things a little lighter today, I wanted to make a post about the tallest toddler in the world. Enter Karan Singh.

Back in 2010 a few articles was written about this boy wonder who was towering over other babies his age. At the time (Fall 2010) he was 2 and a half years old and stood a crazy 4 feet 5 inches. Of course one does not need to assume a pituitary gland condition isn this case. It appears that his height is all genetic. His mother is Shweatlana Singh, who has been billed as Asia’s tallest woman. However that fact comes into contention because on the website The Tallest Man she is listed and measured before at “only” 6’8″.  His father is 6ft 7in tall Sanjay Singh. Now that is a tall family.

Karan himself is nearly double the height of kids his own age and has the height of most kids at the age of 10. He was born at 13 lb and 24 inches. Compared these numbers to say Yao Ming’s numbers (12 lb and unknown height length) and one realizes that this kid is going to be HUGE. His mother already is stating that he will soon outgrow her. Being at his age and height, he appears to be constantly hungry always asking for food.

Here is a nice picture of his mother to the right . Very tall. What is a little concerning to me is whether this child is truly going to get to his true maximum height getting only the type of food and nutrition that is available in his native country. Shouldn’t a toddler like him who has the potential to become 8 feet tall naturally be given the best in nutrition, food, and medical care? I am a big basketball fan and would enjoy watching him play in the NBA in maybe 15 years. Whatever happens I would like to keep track of his growth progress over the years to see if his height potential is reached as his parents proclaimed.

From the video he does look extremely large.
Reference Link 1 – Reference Link 2 – Reference Link 3

So this little trick is not a real method or technique but more of a tip, a slight hack on the measuring process.

I found out about this trick while going through my obsessive height measuring days about 3 and a half years ago when I went through a 3-5 month period where the only thing I wanted to do or accomplish was to figure out way to add height. I would swim for 2 hours a day doing intense drills, eat a meal heavy in protein and fiber, go home and lie down, and sleep another 9 hours. That was my day and I would do stretching, and yoga, and everything to my body to make it stretch and elongate.

I even shaved my head to make sure the measurements were accurate. I was completely bald for over 3 months during that time. (I know, I should have gone out and gotten a girlfriend. I probably was driving myself crazy)

I bought a ruler that was exactly 6 foot in length, and made a light black horizontal line mark for where 6 foot was but after the edge of the ruler. That meant that If my head ever even touch the black mark in any way, my height had elipsed and reached the 6 foot mark.

A mark was made for 6′ 0″, also 5′ 11.5″ line , and then a 5′ 11″ line. I knew that if the tip of the middle of my head ever crossed that 6 foot black horizontal line mark, I was over 6 foot. I noted that every morning when I woke up, the tip of my head clearly passed that point. I was 23-24.

I remember when I was 20-21 and I had come back home from college for the Summer and was getting measured by my mother on height in the morning right after I woke up. She noted that I was around 5′ 11.75″ . She smiled and joked that I was almost to the 6 foot mark. I didn’t like that.

So fast forward 3 years and I am trying to get myself that extra 1/4th of an inch to prove to my mother that I was over 6 foot. I would sometimes stand beside that door where the marks were and see how close I could reach those marks by moving my head or tilting my head. And this was where I had noticed the trick.

For most people, the shape and form of the skull is an oval but not completely the perfect shape. Apparently for most people, the back of the head skulls is slightly longer than the front part. The front part of the skull is not bulged out because the frontal forehead has to slide and slant down to reach the occipital bulges which is where our eye brows are.

This is the Frontal View of the Skulls. As you can see, the human body and head is symmetrical in almost everyway. Symmetry is a huge property that this universe exhibits. It seems that for every great force or phenomenon in the world, there is an equal and opposite phenomena that counteracts it and balances the universe out.

From this position, we can turn and twist our head and the top or tip of the skulls does not go up or increase in any way since everything is symmetrical.

This is a side view of the human skull. What you will see is that from the side, the human skulls does not show symmetry from the left side and the ride side if we drive a line or transverse plane that cut the skulls in half in the middle from top to bottom. The back of the human head is far larger and bigger than than the front part

The trick is that we can exploit this assymetry when we are in the process of measuring height. 

If we use  a few mathematical tricks to find the area center of this picture (using integration of curves of areas from calculus) which is 2-D, we can then put a pin through that point on the picture. Now, what happns if we then turn or twist or tilt the picture?

If we turn  the picture on the right in a clockwise direction, the tip of the head does no increase but decrease. However, if we turn the picture in the counter clockwise direction, the tip of the top of the head does increase.

And that is the trick. Of course we have only a limited degree of free the head can actually go through, like 90 Degrees. However, in certain positions and degrees that the head tilts towards, the back of the head which bulges out will indeed show that the tip of the head increase slightly. I personally have found that one should tilt the head about 45-50 Degrees away from the imaginary axis drawn through the spine of the body.

Of course this trick is more for the type of person who is obsessive with measuring themselves. With the right tilt of the head in the downward position, the back side of the head will rise up and give one another 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch. I got about an extra 1/8th (or more) of an inch increase in height when I simply just tilted my head down at the right direction with the right Degrees in angle.

If you wanted to potentially use this technique to add even more than say 1/8th of an inch, to say 1/4th of an inch, I would strongly suggest that you practice stretching, tilting, and rotating your head and neck on a regular basis. It will not only help with your skull and neck flexibility thus improve blood circulation, you can also theoretically (but maybe not actually) increase the length of your neck for added height by both decompressing the cervical/ neck vertebrate and tilting your skull in the right angle to add that needed extra 1/8 th – 1/4th of an inch

Now that is not a lot but if one is right at the edge of reaching a new height threshold, the trick just might push them over. I once managed to pursuade my Organic Chemistry teacher to give me 2 extra points on a final exam after coming into his office hours when the class was over and I managed to improve my B- stnading to a full B.

So, sometimes the smallest extra lift and increase in effort is what it takes to give us the needed boost to get us to reach our goals. Hopefully this trick is something you ca take with you the next time someone wanted to measure you.

Note: This trick will not work with everyone because everyone’s skull is different. For some people, the back of their head does not bulge out alot. Also, be careful when doing the twisting and stretching of the head and neck. I am not responsible for any exercises you decide to do and/or any injuries you might suffer because of my advice.  

I have already stated once that I used to be crazy about basketball, (and volleyball…and swimming) I also love to talk about height and how to grow taller. So I wanted to throw in an article about basketball and height, which is a related subject.

The purpose of this post is to ask the reader this “At what time during the day is considered one’s true height?“- HOW are we really measuring our height? – Should we standard the process to have some consistency?

We all know that one’s height changes throughout the day because of our back vertebrate and the disks compress and make us shorter as time continues. When we wake up after a long night of sleep, we go back to the highest height.

Lets look at the height of Lebron James and the height of Kevin Durant, two of the premier NBA players, if not the best basketball players on the planet at this time (Summer, 2012).

Let’s take a look at picture #1.

On the NBA site and on the individual team’s websites, the heights of Lebron James on the Miami Heat website is listed at 6′ 8″ at 250 lb. If you want to see the Reference, click HERE.

On the NBA site and on the individual tema’s website, the height of Kevin Durant on the Oklahoma City Thunder website is listed at 6′ 9″ at 235 lb. If you want to see the Reference, click HERE.

What I don’t seem to understand is why there seems to be such a large height difference between the two players in that picture.  I would guess that the two players seemed to have a 3-4 inch height difference between them. Let’s take into consideration the angles, the body positions, and the footwear.

Lebron James is standing closer to the camera so in theory he should look bigger due to the Law of Perspective. He does not. Both Lebron and Kevin are leaning towards the center of the picture, to the woman in the middle. However, Lebron seems to be leaning back a little while Kevin is leaning in.  Overall, they are both facing the camera .

Kevin Durant has a natural posture of stooping, but he still looks far bigger in that picture with his posture problem.

From a measurement of the average human head/skull, the distance from the horizontal line from the middle of the eyes to the top of the skulls is usually between 4-5 inches in length. From that picture, it look like that the middle horizontal line from Kevin Durant’s eyes line directly lines up to the tip of Lebron’s head. So, does that mean the Kevin is 4-5 inches taller than Lebron? What the hell is going on?

Let’s now do a better analysis

Refer to Picture #2.

From this picture we note that again  the two players seem to have a height difference far more than just 1 inch. If you don’t remember how big 1 inch is, either go find a measuring stick or ruler in your house. If you can’t even find that, look at the first part (endpoint) of your thumbs. That is about the length of an inch (assuming you are an average sized US male).

The height difference looks slightly less this time, removing the angle and posture problems that was involved in the last picture. We can say that the height difference between the two is more like 3-4 inches.

So how does the listings on the websites have such a difference between what the pictures say?

Let’s go to what the old measurements for the two players were. If we go to the predraft measurements, we see something strange. For the Predraft Express Website, click HERE.

The official measurements of Lebron James on the Dredraft Express Website are:

Rank Pick: 1st in 2003 by Cavaliers (Born 12/30/1984 – was drafted at age 18.5 years old) – Went directly to NBA from high cchool

Height Without Shoes: 6′ 7.25″

Height With Shoes: 6′ 8″

Weight: 245 lb

Wingspan: 7′ 0.25″

Standing Reach: 8′ 10.25″

The official measurements of Kevin Durant on the Dredraft Express Website are:

Rank Pick: 2nd in 2007 draft by SuperSonics (Born 9/29/1988 – was drafted at age 18.75 years old) – Spent 1 year in college

Height Without Shoes: 6′ 9″

Height With Shoes: 6′ 10.25″

Weight: 215 lb

Wingspan: 7′ 4.5″

Standing Reach: 9′ 2″

No Step Vertical: 26″

Maximum Vertical: 33.5″

From these number, we could argue that Lebron was only 18.5 years old when drafted so he could have grown the extra 3 quarters of an inch to hit 6′ 8″ as he is always billed. That is completely reasonable because guys have shown to be able to continue to grow in height even up to age 21-22. Given that most of the NBA players have amazing height genes and often have dramatic crazy growth spurts, it is definitely reasonable that he reached that height. But then, shouldn’t Lebron then be only 1 inch shorter than Durant? It doesn’t look like it. If the height difference between the two was really 1.75 inches, then it might be acceptable to go with that difference to explain the pictures. However, we are going with the opposite assumption. Lebron is 6′ 8″ and Kevin is 6′ 9″. So if we go with this arguement, what the hell is going on then with the pictures? Could it be that Durant also grew another inch (or more) since he was only 18.75 when he was drafted? It is likely but how come his height has not been adjusted on the teams website?

So let’s bring up picture #3

This picture may be the greatest example at how varied the human body can be. It is also a spectacular example of just how big these NBA players are compared to normal human beings. Kobe Bryant was billed at 6′ 7″ when he first came into the league at age 17, but he had big hair back then. He is now listed at a reasonable height of 6′ 6″. Dwayne Wade is listed in the league at 6′ 4″ and his predraft measurements show that he is 6′ 3.75″ without his shoes on. Given the these facts, and then looking at the picture maybe it is time to recognize the fact that Lebron James is really 6′ 8″.

If not, then there is only two other possibilities.

1. One, he is listing his height as himself in shoes, which makes him 6′ 8″ exactly as he is billed.

2. He is listing himself using his height during the morning, when he wakes up after sleeping. His height would have increased from the vertebrate decompression.

For me, who is slightly over 6′ 0″ when I wake up and slightly more than 5′ 11.25″ late at night, I understand that one’s height can change. For a person like Lebron who has a bigger body, that means that the variation in his height is probably a lot larger than mine. His height could possibly range form 6′ 7.25″ up to 6′ 8.5″ through out the day. It is totally reasonable to say that Lebron is indeed 6′ 8″ for much of the day. Of course, all of this height speculation on Lebron is assuming that Kevin Durant has not grown over his predraft measurement listed height of 6′ 9″.

So, if this NBA player is listing his height at his maxium height of the day, should I do the same? Should I claim that my height is 6 foot even though it is only that measurement for a short time during the day?

So then, we go back to the original real question this post is supposed to ask, “At what time during the day is considered one’s true height?” – HOW are we measuring our height? – Should It be changed or altered to have some form of consistently?

This will be one of the last posts which I express only my subjective opinions and ideas on the subject of height increase. The truth is that for me to even start and continue to work on this project which is looking for a way to grow taller and increase height after we have finished puberty and the growth plates have does require one to have something more than only science, rationality, and logic.

From the current scientific, rational point of view, there should not be any way one should be able to add height after one reaches the end of puberty when the epiphyseal plates seal and ossify with the adjacent boness. The general consensus by the medical community and specifically orthopedic specialists and endocrinologists is that puberty removes the cartilage which was the way we had been able to continue to grow and increase the length in our long bone.

There may be a few things we can do to gain 1 inch or even 2 inches like stretching, and yoga. Of course limb lengthening surgery has allowed us to literally manipulate our very bones to give us what we want.

However, what we are looking for directly goes beyond the accepted scientific theory. I may sometimes be quick to point out that a specific method uses theory and ideas that are pseudoscience, I also realize my own hypocrisy because I will have to shift my idea into the pseudoscience, the esoteric, and even the mystical practices to even allow for the idea that the idea of height increase is even possible.

I realize that I can not fully accept the rules that science imposes. The scientific answer to our question is a clear ‘NO”. I also realize that I can not fully accept in an crazy irrational theories and ideas because they don’t make any sense or have any real foundation in the sciences.

When I look at certain people whose profession is to debunk people who claim the supernatural like Derren Brown and James Randi, I realize that I must be very careful with my claims and beliefs too. Randi has left a $1,000,000 prize to any person who can show through a double blind test that any form of psychic or paranormal phenomenon exists still has not lost that $1 million yet in over 50 years. The UK mental magician Derren Brown has managed to go around the world using hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to influence people. His intentions has been to show the blind spots within us humans, and all the types of confidence tricks our ego plays on ourselves and all the ways that people use their own subjective biases to trick themselves into believing things or trusting in ideas that have no true objective basis.

My own way in this path is to explore all the options, and try my best to show which methods and techniues are the most feasible and most effective. I will not be afraid to state that some product being sold on the internet is a scam, whether it is because of bad intentions or because of a bad quality product.

The people on the camp who is all science and rationality will hate me because I still want to believe in the possibility and will be okay in continuing to search for an answer. The people in the faith camp will hate me because I am always trying to disprove the ideas and methods out there currently and use science to evicerate unwell thought-out theories and ideas. I will not tolerate fluff and “hand waving” communication.

On the other hand, lets us not forget that science and our own logic can not answer everything, or even some of the most obvious biological phenomena. If we consider the reason why we even go through senescence (biological aging), sleeping or yawning, nothing in the scientific literature can give a solid scientific explanation using the evolutionary model. If you don’t believe me just google the terms “sleep”, or “aging” ,or “yawning” into google and look for the scientific reason and you will realize that the scientific community can not explain these common events in our lives using the standard scientific model.

In addition, recent discoveries that was just decades ago believed to be impossible are now shown to be possible. The generation of new neurons, the growth of cartilage, the growth of teeth cells, the growth of human organs for transplants, the mapping of the entire human genome, the discovery of the first gene related to height, etc. One day it could very well be possible that I will not need to stand on that line that is right in the middle of believing in science or only going on faith and the spiritual and mystical stuff. I have a lot of confidence and respect for the sciences and as long as humans stay alive and do more research on our bodies , specifically genetics, the scientists and engineers of tomorrow may build a device that not only can make us taller, whether through stems cells or dna manipulation, they can also make us younger, regrow entire limbs, improve our memory and cognitive ability, and cure cancer.

You can grow taller by swimming if you consistently do that before you finish puberty and your growth plates have not closed. The constant exercise and mvement of the body develops strong muscles and actually does help release slightly more Growth Hormone than if one just was a couch potato. By how much one will increase one’s height if one takes up swimming is not determined.

However, even after you have finished puberty the exercise of swimming can possibly still increase one’s height by 0.25-0.5 inch if the swimming is done with intensity and is accompanied with rest and a light meal.

In general, the decrease in the amount of force being pressed down on you will be reduced significantly since the downward force of gravity will be redistributed along you in the front–> back direction when you are lying down face in the water and moving horizontally. The disks between the vertebrate will then have less load per square inch and they can decompress. The additional twisting of the ankles and the motion of the others joints like the knee and hips keeps the body nimble. The extension and movement of the arms and legs during swimming can also help improve flexibility and stretch the body. However, we must remember that the overall bone structure and bone lengths still have not changed or increased.

Although many other Height Increase Guides state that the breaststroke is the best stroke to use, I personally would actually say it is the butterfly stroke and backstroke. For the backstroke, the extension of the arms back behind your head, the arching of the back to expand your torso, and the need to consistently keep one’s head flat helps train oneself to learn to have a straighter back and neck position. For the butterfly stroke, the movement of the arms, the stretching of the back in both directions at a constant rate, and the movement of the legs keeps the body moving allowing for a degree of flexibility.

Note: Again, I would like to remind the person that I only gained 1/4th of an inch through 3-5 months of constant non stop swimming where I would often swim up to 2 hours a day. This included also sleeping on a flat surface, sleeping over 9 hours a day, and eating light meals each day. 

Of course at that time I had just finished my undergraduate degree and being lazy did not decide to get a job yet.

I know from personal experience that after I took up the exercise of swimming, I measured myself to be .25 (or sightly longer) inches taller. I was 22-23 by that time and had not grown in 3-4 years. The only explanation that I could make is that the types of swimming I was doing helped improve my posture and straighten my spine. Throughout childhood I had always had a slight slouch but that eventually decreased but the slouch still existed. After I started swimming, I found that my posture had changed and my breathing as far slower and deeper. My chest was often extended out and upward so I also gained an amazing amount of confidence.

In terms of fitness, the benefits were amazing. I went from 195 lb and 5′ 11.5″  to 185 and 6′ 0″ in the morning. I found that my torso had far more definition, my stomach shrank, a 6 pack “sort of” showed up, my lats expanded, and my body turned into a “V” shape . My neck slimmed down and my thinking became clearer.

I wanted to state that one should really think about taking up swimming even if there is not height increase because the other types of benefits are worth it.

What one learns from swimming in Masters Programs is the one wants to start with a warm up, then the core stuff, and then the cool down. One adjusted the number of laps does by the size of the pool. In the US, the most common size is pool that are 25 yards in length. The length the US measuring system does is by inches, feet, yards, and miles. There is 12 inches in 1 feet and 3 feet in 1 yard.

In other countries where the International Standard is done, length is measured by the log of 10. You have milimeters, centimeters, decimeters, and meters. The pools in a country like Canada, Australia, or France are all 25 metres.

There is 39.37 inches in a meter and there is 36 inches in a yard. So relatively, a yard is about the same length as a meter. When one swims the pools in other countries, one should notice that the pools seem to be slightly longer than the ones in the US (because they are by over 9%). In Olympic sized pools, the length is 50 meters. In general, one should want to focus on distance first and then work on intensity, then speed, for fitness goals.

For our goals of height increase, it is better to focus only on intensity first to allow for greater release of hormone and endorphin release. Then work on distance. The disks between the vertebrate does not decompress immediately after we enter the pool, but after maybe a few hours.

Today we review and analyze the Yoko Height Increasing Insoles. There are quiet a few websites that sell this product.

The claim by this product is that the increase in height is from using reflexology, magnetic energy, and acupressure. The theory is derived from the ancient Chinese theory of chi, which also created Acupuncture. There is supposed to be these chi meridian lines in the human body, which is similar to blood vessel pathways, but only more subtle. Scientists and medical researchers to date have not found any evidence to the existence of Chi or these chi meridian lines. However, the practice of acupuncture has been shown to improve and relieve chronic pain, nausea, and headaches. Whether the conditions get better because of a placebo affect or actually be acupuncture is still inconclusive. Getting back to the subject of the product, the meridian lines have certain areas and point on them that is supposed to correspond dot certain diseases and body parts. There is supposed to be a line for the heart, liver, bile, kidneys, etc.

The YOKO product has these points or areas in the insole that is supposed to stimulate the pressure point areas in the feet that correspond to the human pituitary gland. By stimulating that point, the energy channel can then tell the pituitary gland to release more growth hormone, HGH.

Somehow the practice of acupressure was transmitted to other countries. The YOKO product was originally created and manufactured in Japan but now I do note that the product is mainly sold from sites that are from India.

So how do you use the product? from the website www.yokoheightincreaser.in/

HOW TO USE YOKO

Yoko gives better results when the position of your foot in the insole is correct, so the most concave part of your foot must be placed on the most convex part of insole. To fit the foot in right position, cut away the extra part of the insole.

The better result of Yoko is derived by using it regularly. So wear it in your shoes where ever you go and walk.

20 to 30 minutes, two times (morning and evening) walking regularly daily would give the better result.

While using Yoko, you can do your normal activities but sportive activities (like basketball, jogging and stretch exercise) are much better.

It may be possible that you feel nothing or hurt a bit earlier while using Yoko but don’t worry, it takes a little more time to accommodate.

Never forget better sleep and enough rest while using Yoko, in a right posture.

The best advise is to be given is the diet. All Nutritional (protein, fibre, vitamin) food items (like fish, milk, eggs, meat, fruits and green vegetables) are must.

Me: I wanted to introduce you to this question posed on Yahoo Questions and answered by someone who had used the product before, at an age which they still wanted to believe and tried many different forms of methods without success. You can find the link to the question HERE.