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This image is taken looking towards a region of the Galaxy in the Eagle constellation, closer to the Galactic centre than our Sun. Here, we see the outstanding end-products of the stellar assembly line. At the centre and the left of the image, the two massive star-forming regions G29.9 and W43 are clearly visible. These mini-starbursts are forming, as we speak, hundreds and hundreds of stars of all sizes: from those similar to our Sun, to monsters several tens of times heavier than our Sun.
These newborn large stars are catastrophically disrupting their original gas embryos by kicking away their surroundings and excavating giant cavities in the Galaxy. This is clearly visible in the 'fluffy chimney' below W43.

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and observe a moment of silence for the fallen.
9/11: TEN YEARS LATER – 8:00PM Sunday (CBS) You can do your best to avoid 9/11 anniversary programming this weekend, but chances are you will fail, even if you spend all weekend watching football. There are 9/11 specials and tributes all over the place, along with the live coverage Sunday morning on all networks of the anniversary ceremonies at Ground Zero, featuring the opening of the 9/11 Memorial, which is certain to be an extremely emotional moment. In primetime, your best bet is probably this update of Jules and Gedeon Naudet's 2002 documentary about rescue workers at the Trade Center site, hosted by Robert De Niro and featuring new interviews with some of the firefighters who lost their colleagues that day. Personally, I've avoided 9/11 anniversary programming for the past ten years because I was in Manhattan that day and don't particularly wish to relive it. But perhaps now is the time to go back and think about that day and let the past ten years soak in. I don't really know if I'll be able to stand it. ANTICIPATION: DIFFICULT!
CURIOSITY: WHAT'S BENEATH AMERICA? – 8:00PM Sunday (Discovery) Ooooh, I hope it's cash. That would solve everything! ANTICIPATION: PROBABLY DIRT!
ENTOURAGE – 10:35PM Sunday (HBO) Season 8 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" ends on Sunday night, followed immediately by the final episode ever of HBO's vacuous tribute to the modern, shall we say, gooshgag. I know, I know. To end it on 9/11 makes that day ten times sadder, but we'll get through it together, I promise you. ANTICIPATION: SO LONG!
TRUE BLOOD – 9:00PM Sunday (HBO) Season finale. Will there be blood and sex? Oh, you know it. ANTICIPATION: BLOOD AND SEX!
COWBOYS/JETS – 8:15PM Sunday (NBC) It's your first full Sunday slate of NFL games this season, with this as your Sunday Night nightcap. You got Tony Romo. You got Rex Ryan. You got 100 needless closeup shots of Jerry Jones. It's not a bad way to spend an evening. ANTICIPATION: FOOTBAW!
Weekend Watch List: 9/11, Ten Years Later
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and observe a moment of silence for the fallen.


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PSed version.
Screen shots of the 2015 Geyuan 2oz silver Medal.
Anyone notice the markings between the 2 lower birds on the water?They are on the die as well.
They are supposed to be the reflections of the pavilion. They do not look like such on the photo. Not sure how they will look in hand.
Frank, Can you confirm the woman in your picture is Teresa Teng?
Yes. That's her.
Geyuan Silver Census is showing at NGC
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August's cause of the month is The MTV Staying Alive Foundation. Find out moreRead news story
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You see how it looks a bit janky where the cables cross?
Silly me thought a C5B or C5F was a simple two over three cable. NOPE. Apparently you do something special. I have no idea how I missed this but I did…and I'm sad. Way sad.
After a few "MOMMA NOOOO!!!!"s to my Momma I calmed down. She said she'd finish the back the wrong way and just do the front correctly since no one will ever compare the two sides when worn.
I was a little unsure of doing that because I would know. I would know that I screwed up, that I thought I was a chart genius who didn't have to look at pattern notes, and that I was too lazy to rip back.
Fellow knitters would also know. And point. And laugh. And cry. (yes, yes I am a drama queen)
*sigh* The plan for now is to just continue the correct way. I did a little tugging and it looks like the janky crosses will be OK if I add a few pins when blocking.


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Jay-Z is just a man of the people.
And as if to prove it, H.O.V.A. hung out and chatted with an older lady named Ellen who has no clue who he was as he rode the subway to his final gig at Brooklyn's Barclays Center back in October.
The funny and touching exchange is part of a brief clip from "Life + Times"--a 24-minute documentary chronicling his role in the building of the arena-- that popped up online Tuesday.
U.S. & World
Jay-Z takes the subway to Brooklyn gig
During their conversation on the R train, Ellen asks Jay-Z if he's famous, to which he humbly replies: "Yes, not very famous, you don't know me...but I'll get there someday."
The rapper then introduces himself, and Ellen asks him what he does.
"I make music," he answers before explaining he's on his way to the final concert in his eight-night gig celebrating Barclays' opening.
If Jay was looking for some motherly approval, he definitely got it.
"I'm proud of you," Ellen said.


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In which issues concerning the profession of philosophy are
bitched griped about
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wacky Student Time: Conditionals
This causes problems. For one thing, it makes it hard for them to understand, in a general way, what in the hell is going on with things. It's as though they see the world as a series of fundamentally unconnected, independent occurrences. They see two facts sitting there by themselves, and it doesn't occur to them that they might have anything to do with each other—that they might be somehow connected. (And I find it very hard to believe that this accurately reflects how they see the world. It can't be that they don't see a connection between the drinking and the drunkenness, for example. They can't see the drunkenness as unconnected with the drinking. Can they? They can't.)
For another thing—and this is where the confusion really makes itself known—it causes problems when they try to explain how the philosophers we study defend arguments in which they employ conditional premises. Which is almost all of them. And it causes real trouble when they try to defend a conditional that comes up in the context of an argument in the form of modus tollens. In that case, they're trying to explain why some person thinks that "P and Q" is true, when they know that the very next thing is to explain why the same person thinks Q if false. They tie themselves into highly confused, contradictory knots.
Relatedly, students often find it hard to explain how to defend a premise when the student him- or herself believes that the premise is false. That is, they find it hard to explain why someone would think that P is true when they think (or maybe they even know) that P is false. I think this is closely related to the conditionals thing. They don't realize that you can use P even if you don't believe that P. Maybe there are interesting hypotheticals involving P; maybe Socrates believed that P; maybe reasonable people disagree about P. But they can't see it, or at least they act like they don't. If they believe that P is false, they find it impossible to consider what things would be like if it were true, or why someone else might disagree with them.
I think this is pretty strange. Right? I don't really remember when I learned that if/then sentences don't just mean that P is true and so is Q; that they assert some kind of connection between P and Q. But I think I don't remember because it's so obvious that this is what it means that I didn't find it noteworthy (or else it happened so long ago that I forgot about it). So, I guess the question is, how can these students be so oblivious to something that's at once so obvious and so crucial to understanding how the world works?
--Mr. Zero
26 comments:
I think it's more about how logic is taught than about students' obliviousness. You couldn't function in the world if you didn't get the basic gist of conditionals.
With philosophy, a lot of it is just word games to students (esp. non phil majors, which are the majority of students I teach), so they'll make mistakes often if they're not paying attention or don't particularly care or aren't thinking through the subject matter. But it's not that they don't 'understand' conditionals in general.
Talk to someone about something they care about (sports, parties, videogames, art, chemistry etc) and they'll be able to think through complex logical relationships. I think the issue is getting them to connect more with the material to see that they already know a lot about conditionals; they just haven't thought about it abstractly a lot.
*This is for students who are actually trying.
- February 20, 2012 at 11:30 AM
You're argument evidences some invalid assumption's. You say that "If they believe that P is false, they find it impossible to consider what things would be like if it were true, or why someone else might disagree with them". However, but some of they believe P is true. So it is shown to be invalidated, when he writes that he believes that P is false. Q.E.D.
- February 20, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Quick points:
1) To reason from a premise one does not endorse is a skill, or at least that's what some of the psychological literature suggests.
2) In ordinary English we don't often say "If P, then Q" unless we mean to convey something stronger than the material conditional. I've found this trips up a lot of students. You can tell them about denying the antecedent, they'll nod, recite it, and then botch the exam question. If fallacies have names, they've probably tripped up a lot of people.
I've had a lot of success in intro classes by explaining the principles (analogies to programming help for some), giving some examples, and then having them work through some basic problems in groups: tell me if it's valid, tell me if it's sound, etc. Drilling it in groups and then coming back as a class to discuss it seems to help them get it.
- February 20, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Terminology also trips up some people *a lot*. For them, logic and philosophy are like learning a new language and then we demand they construct and parse sentences in this new language after we just gave them the vocabulary.
--Or they're like English class where the topics are familiar but the approach is abstract and unfamiliar.
For instance, I don't think well with abstract, empty letters: ("If P then Q unless R for any person S at time T"). I can think through concrete examples faster to extract a logical concept.
Because all the students we teach know that a cat can't be alive and dead inside a box at the same time (and this is what makes quantum physics weird and cool). And they all know that if you win the lotto, you'll be rich, but just because you're rich doesn't mean you won the lotto.
Then again, US edu in general has dropped the ball on teaching this kind of abstract thinking and the critical thinking that could get a student to easily consider a line of argument whose conclusion they don't agree with. So it's not entirely on our shoulders.
*Occasionally, I find a student tripped up because they think that at the end of class there will be a "right" answer to whether (e.g) ethics are duty-based or utility-based, so there's that, too. They ask, "Ya, but was Aristotle right?"
**And some students think philosophy is like first grade art class where no matter what you say/think, it's special and unique and deserves a gold star.
They use the phrases "my opinion" and "I believe" a lot.
Again though, partly philosophers' and partly society's fault for not giving students a good working definition of philosophy. And partly students' fault if they're not paying attention or don't care.
- February 20, 2012 at 12:10 PM
Interesting. And sad. I have noticed these inabilities, but not their increasing frequency. It seems the problems have something in common: an inability to imagine. It's as though both their current belief state and the state of the world are frozen or crystalized or something such that they are necessarily that way. There is no other way they could possibly be.
I think understanding both of these as a failure of imagination allows one to invent exercises designed to overcome them. So, the inability to imagine in this context cannot be some generalized inability to imagine at all--or the world really is as bad as I sometimes think it is. Anyway, surely they have wishes, desires, predictions, etc. about the future and therefore can understand possibility v. actuality. The rambling point here, I think, is that perhaps there is something about being in philosophy class, class in general that shuts off their mundane abilities. So, an answer is to try to get those re-engaged. Maybe...
[renefan seems] The renefan seems to be on the fritz again.
- February 20, 2012 at 12:31 PM
I would conjecture that it might be the content of P and Q that is the culprit here, not necessarily the conditional itself. I don't think you need buy into the Evolutionary Pscyh module stuff to find plausible that philosophical conditionals might cause problems for the average student. I would try starting the students off with a few softballs. For example,
- If Jones is U.S. president, the Jones is a U.S. citizen.
Most of my logic students go along with this even though the antecedent is clearly false.
- February 20, 2012 at 12:44 PM
Students have all sorts of problems with conditionals. I haven't experienced too many cases of the one you mention, but there is one that has been increasingly common over the past couple of years.
I've read papers where students grant that if p, then q and also grant that p (and so, q). So it seems like these students understand how modus ponens works. However, these same students will go on to say something like "but it's just a hypothetical statement, so it doesn't show anything." I really don't know what these students think conditional statements are saying.
- February 20, 2012 at 12:58 PM
I have noticed this when I try to teach modus ponens. Students seem to have less difficulty with statements involving "all" and "only", though. This has led me to wonder whether syllogistic logic better approximates natural human reasoning than does propositional logic; I wonder if this has been explored by psychologists.
- February 20, 2012 at 2:11 PM
It's difficult to convince students that a conditional relation is not a relation of causation, but one of implication.
- February 20, 2012 at 3:45 PM
to follow up on Anon 11:30 AM: I always try convincing my students that they tacitly know the stuff or believe some of the stuff I am going to teach them before I teach it by using mundane examples. I do it to convince them that philosophy is real, and also to give them some initial confidence that maybe they will be able to understand what I am about to teach them. I don't know if it works :(
- February 20, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Since I just spent an entire class period today trying to get students to understand what an "implication" is, I am really, really relieved to see that others have had similar problems. I ended up starting with a similar softball approach as anon. 12:44, and then working up to more complex relations of implication (this is an intro to philosophy, not a logic class, so I need them to be able, at minimum, to speculate on the necessary consequences of a particular belief).
My experience has been that their first impulse is, as you suggest, to simply deny that an antecedent they don't like is true, instead of trying to anticipate the Q. Or, more often, they suggest that this not-P actually IS the Q. (The other day I said something like "Let's say you don't believe in souls; you just think that bodies are all there is--what other kinds of things would you think? The first response was "well, you'd need to have a soul.") And yes, it gets really difficult when we start seeing modus tollens arguments in the text. In those cases, I find that the response is almost always to claim that the philosopher "is just going in circles."
I'm pretty sure the answer is to show them examples of the ways in which they use this style of reasoning in their own lives, and then draw the analogy. But from this side of things, it is so difficult to get your mind around these sorts of arguments not making sense. In other words, teaching is hard.
- February 20, 2012 at 4:47 PM
I'm completely with 4:21.
It has been a number of years since I've taught first-year students, but there's a similar weird thing--essentially the same, I think--that I used to find striking as a TA in intro classes: a lot of students don't get that an author might write something in a book that the author doesn't think is true. Many students would report that according to Descartes there is an evil genius deceiving us about everything. Some would report that Descartes later contradicts himself by saying that God wouldn't allow us to be wrong about everything. In other words, many people can't handle dialectical writing, which lives on conditionality.
I've often gotten the feeling that many people don't just take whatever they read to be taken to be true by the author, but to actually *be* true. But if the Spinozan believe-first-then-evaluate view of belief-formation is true, then, well, in a sense, of course they do; what's distinctive of these troubling people is that they don't get to the "evaluate" part.
- February 20, 2012 at 5:32 PM
I think 12:31 is right that the problem is connected with a failure to imagine appropriately. But there's a flipside to this. Yes, if P is false, then we might need to pretend that P is true in order to determine whether "If P then Q" is true. But once students learn that lesson, then they sometimes get the idea that philosophy is all about imagining wacky things just for the sake of imagining wacky things. Only the chosen few understand that (a) we *sometimes* need to imagine that falsehoods are true--but (b) simply imagining that a falsehood is true isn't always philosophically productive.
- February 20, 2012 at 6:01 PM
Over the last four or five years, I've noticed that an increasing proportion of philosophers demonstrate an increasingly difficult time understanding how conditionals work.
After some research, this is totally reasonable. Lots of smart people have been unable to determine what a conditional is or how conditionals work. I'd guess that the students are in the same boat.
They'd probably be better off if we could figure some of this out! :)
- February 20, 2012 at 6:06 PM
I think that the holy grail of philosophy teaching is finding a way to help students understand the logical structure of views that they do not themselves accept, so that they can see what objections should bug them if they held those views, what further implications they should accept, and so forth. It is dark and sad that they are trapped within their own perspectives. And I fear that the folks who are in charge of instructing them have the least experience of what it's like to not be able to do this.
- February 20, 2012 at 6:07 PM
Cincinnatus C. writes:
"I've often gotten the feeling that many people don't just take whatever they read to be taken to be true by the author, but to actually *be* true."
This is my observation as well. But then something else happens in class. I assert "P" and students ask, "Are you saying P is true or only that you believe that P is true?"
- February 20, 2012 at 6:21 PM
1. Tell students the truth: there are a number of different conditional relationships: causal, definitional, stipulative, subjunctive, etc. Illustrate them.
2. Tell students the truth: the hook is a truth-functional interpretation of all such conditionals defined by the negation of the case that the antecedent is true and the consequent false.
3. Tell students the truth: the resultant material conditional yields two lines of the truth-table that show that false antecedents break the implication down, and so entail anything.
4. Tell students the truth: the truth-functional interpretation is competent to write binary code that makes their #@&*%$! smartphone work.
4. will impress them. One truth they can hold in their hands. And they know the value of that.
- February 20, 2012 at 7:22 PM
If it's true that Aristotle claimed that the mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a thought without believing it, then this is presumably a very old pedagogical problem. I know I've seen these problems a lot. The most memorable consequence: My saying, "I had a teacher who used to say that if we intend capital punishment to deter crime, we should hold executions in stadiums and make school kids watch," was once taken as evidence that I believe that schoolchildren should be made to watch executions. Oops.
One approach I've found helpful is to point out the connection between 'All F are G' and 'If something is F, then it's G'. This helps students see that 'If p, then q' is not "just a hypothetical statement that doesn't mean [i.e., assert] anything." Another approach is to say that conditionals are like promises: If I promise you to buy you beer if you help me move, I haven't said that I'll buy you beer, and I haven't said that you'll help me move. I'm just saying that there's a certain connection between the two things. But of course there are important disanalogies between promises and conditionals. (The promise analogy does help students understand the truth table for the material conditional, though.) I got the promise thing from an article in Teaching Philosophy some years back.
- February 20, 2012 at 7:34 PM
The connection between conditionals and all/only statements is tricky though. The problem with students failing to understand conditionals with false antecedents comes back in a big way with "All Fs are Gs" when there are no Fs. I have a hard time convincing some grad students of the truth of these.
- February 20, 2012 at 11:35 PM
If presenting the truth table for the material, it is also good to give an example where it is actually used in natural language, e.g., when we would say someone had lied to us in saying that they will take us to the park if it's sunny (a friend mentioned this way of doing it to me once). Only one, right? When the antecedent is true and the consequent is false. This kind of glosses over the messy details in a way, but it does help them not just dismiss the material conditional as a useless invention.
- February 21, 2012 at 2:48 AM
Most readers will probably have heard this example many times before, but I've found it the most effective way of getting students to appreciate why conditionals in classical logic are only false when the antecedent is true but the consequent false. Here goes (cribbed from Hurley's Logic book):
Suppose I tell you, "If you get an A on the final, you'll get an A for the course."
If you get an A on the final, and an A for the course, have I lied to you? (No.)
If you don't get an A on the final and you still get an A in the course, have I lied to you? (Still no.)
If you don't get an A on the final and you don't get an A for the course, have I lied to you? (No again.)
But if you do get an A on the final and you *don't* get an A for the course, then I've lied to you.
- February 21, 2012 at 7:09 AM
- Reid Atcheson said...
Math grad student chiming in. I see this error constantly when grading, students use the implication arrow to mean "therefore," and it's not just a commonly accepted idiom that math people just do either because they will turn right around and explicitly use the word "implies" for the exact same intended meaning.
It's such a common error that it is often ignored, I even see professors doing it. I think such bad habits are learned. Students suffer though when they are eventually asked to actually prove conditional statements (many theorems in math are of the form: A if and only if B), and since their notion of material implication is warped they end up trying to prove something totally different and failing.
- February 21, 2012 at 9:18 AM
A perhaps related phenomenon is that intro students, when presented with a counterintuitive view and some arguments for it, will not respond "huh, interesting", but "what a load of foolish nonsense!"
I've found that it is only the best students who can hold a thought like, "sure I think view X is false, but that is a good argument for it, how interesting"
- February 21, 2012 at 12:50 PM
One thing that was mentioned in a previous thread really caught my eye about what to do when you already have enough publications: spend time thinking about/showing in your materials how the publications fit into an innovative research program. (Thinking mainly of R1-type jobs here.) I don't really have a sense how common this kind of coherence is in the market and if people thinks it makes a big difference. Any thoughts?
- February 22, 2012 at 7:11 AM
Tell them to give you all the flowers that are on the table (make sure there are no flowers on the table) and after they've given you nothing, ask them whether they failed to do what you told them to do.
They didn't--they gave you "all" the flowers because there are no flowers.
That's worked for me in the past with at least some students.
- February 24, 2012 at 6:27 AM
Amusing and highly disturbing...I have encountered this as well
- March 7, 2012 at 5:14 AM


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Generally, if the cancer is found in distant lymph nodes, other organs or blood vessels, surgical resection will not be pursued. If this is the case, the doctors and/or nurses will discuss possible medical treatments and/or palliative procedures. Surgery may still be considered to alleviate some symptoms and make the patient more comfortable (see bypass) but not as a curative measure.
This depends where the tumor is located within the pancreas. The five parts of the pancreas are reviewed below. For a detailed explanation and illustrations of a particular surgical procedure, click on the name of the procedure.
Cancer in the Head, Neck or Uncinate Process of the Pancreas: The Whipple Procedure***
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Also visit our Laproscopic Surgery section.
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This semester the University of Baltimore is offering English 333, a.k.a. the pop history of zombies. Sadly, Spam and fruit cocktail hoarding does not appear to be on the syllabus.
The class is taught by Arnold Blumberg, the curator of Geppi's Entertainment Museum in Baltimore. Here's a snapshot of the curriculum:
Students will watch 16 classic zombie films (including "Zombi 2," in which a zombie fights a shark), read zombie comics and, as an alternative to a final research paper, have the chance to write scripts or draw storyboards for their ideal zombie flicks. [...]
The university isn't the first to jump in line with the lumbering undead. Columbia College in Chicago has offered Zombies in Popular Media for years, making several lists of the country's most bizarre courses in the process. At Iowa's Simpson College, students spent the spring semester collectively writing a book on "The History of the Great Zombie War." [...]
Though he's an all-inclusive zombie guy who makes fun of the geeks who'd fight you over rigid definitions, Blumberg does have a few prejudices. Frankenstein and other monsters constructed of human parts aren't zombies, for one. And the hugely successful Marvel Comics series that turned favorite superheroes into zombies? Well, that really bothered him.
So yeah, this is probably one of the few times in human history that Simon Garth will be considered part of a literary canon. As someone who once lived in "The City That Reads," may I suggest Baltimore Cemetery for storyboarding inspiration? That place is absolutely massive and ridiculously creepy.
[Thanks for the tip, Gugnir and Coffin Dodger!]


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I'll start with the quintessential '87 Topps rack pack: To kick things off, I got a Cal Ripken All-Star in the first of the 3 sections. With the exception of Tony Gwynn, the first third of the pack was pretty boring: The Ripken, Danny Gladden, Mike Boddicker, Mike Easler, Mitch Webster, Bob Walk, Mickey Hatcher, Keith Hernandez, Jeffrey Leonard, Jeff Reardon, Pat Sheridan, Gwynn, Steve Crawford, Vince Coleman, Damaso Garcia, Kal Daniels, Carmelo Martinez, Terry Forster. I never was a huge Gwynn or Ripken fan, so please excuse my lack of enthusiasm.
Did any of you guys know that Harold Reynolds led the Mariners in stolen bases for the 1986 season? I didn't either until I pulled the Mariners Leaders card from the top of the 2nd segment of the rack pack. I really feel a meeting on the mound is a poor photo choice for a team leader card—couldn't they have used a photo from one of Danny Tartabull's team-leading six triples!? Another pretty boring section here: Benny Distefano, Jeff Hearron, Kevin Romine, Moose Haas, Jamie Quirk, Gene Walter, Argenis Salazar, Bruce Bochy, Bob "Troy" McClure, Doug Drabek, Ken Griffey, Doug Sisk, Randy O'Neal, Bruce Sutter, Bob Shirley, Ron Hassey.
Shit gets kinda hyphy in the third section (thank God): Big Bad Rudy Law, Dennis Lamp, Kent Tekulve, Bud Black, Mickey Brantley, Jose Guzman, Harold Baines, Shane Rawley, Jamie Moyer and Ed Olwine are just filler between Ryne Sandberg , Dave Winfield, Cory Snyder – All-Star Rookie!, Roberto Clemente: Turn Back the Clock, Royals & Pirates Leaders.
A couple things come to mind here: why did Topps change it's Rookie logo? Especially on the 2007 cards where they're trying to recreate a retro feel? Did they really have to go two-tone gold? I'll take a weird yellow trophy of a bowl any day; ain't that right, Cory Snyder? The Turn Back the Clock card is pretty cool, but it pretty much just makes me wish I was opening a pack of '72 Topps instead of this budget '87 set. Oh well.


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The 2017 Colombia Gold Symposium is taking shape
Over at his blog, Paul Harris of The Colombia Gold Letter and organizer of the Colombia Gold Symposium updates us today on how this year's event, scheduled for November, is shaping up. We already know that Rick Rule is keynote speaker at the event (a decent catch) and now we have news that Atico Mining (ATY.v) and Red Eagle Mining (R.to) are sponsors and will offer site visits to participants this year.
If you're interested in attending, you can find out everything you need to know on those links. And as IKN is also a sponsor of this year's event, your humble scribe is bound to be there for the week as well (though that may well put you off the idea).
Angry Geologist does Arizona Mining (AZ.to)
And does it well. Go here.
The Friday OT: Prince at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
This brought a lump to my throat, it's one year ago that the world saw the headline "Prince dead" and the measure of his greatness is that nobody asked "who?" or "which Prince?", the one word was enough for global mourning to set in.
However we must celebrate his talent. He was a peerless live act and went way too soon but here's a reminder of how good he was on stage, the full ten minute opening act from the awards ceremony which includes a top Kiss and the best and I mean the very damned best version of Let's Go Crazy ever.
And once again, marvel at his world class guitar work, he was up there with any of them just on that instrument. Youtube here.
Mongolian Airlines, the exciting way to fly
From a pal, who sent this picture over with the note, "From the Mongolian Airlines website translated by Google":
Bless them forever. In the mood for an exciting flight?
Crapstone Mining's (CS.to) debt: Parsing The Pylot
Here are the comments of CEO Darren "Drop The" Pylot in today's NR just out that announces amendments to its credit facility. IKN explains what he's saying in the blue type.
"This extension of our current low-cost, flexible credit facility, gives Capstone significant financial flexibility (we were in the shit) and right sizes the facility to meet our current and anticipated operating requirements," said Darren Pylot, President and CEO of Capstone. "Our current drawn debt of approximately $300 million is comfortably within this amended availability (uncomfortably high) and we have a cash balance of over $100 million (which should frighten the crap out of you, because it was over $130m at the end of 2016).""We plan to apply free cash from operations to reduce debt to a sustainable level (our debt is currently unsustainable) at commodity prices that reflect bottom of the cycle prices (if today's price are at the bottom why did we hedge our production?), which will provide an additional cushion of undrawn credit," continued Mr. Pylot. "This effectively addresses financing risk over the term of the facility (we are financially risky), which we believe will correspond to a stabilization and gradual improvement in copper prices."
Further questions?
Asanko Gold (AKG) is now hiding data
If you remember back to April 13th, this humble corner of cyberspace noted the rumour about an upcoming faked geotechnical safety issue at Asanko (AKG) and its Nkran mine, something the company was planning to use in order to hide the fact that it was running out of mineral ore way before they'd previously promised (but on track with the K2 short thesis, strangely enough). We ended that post with these words:
"For an early signal that this is the plan, watch the Q1 and Q2 strip rates as well as any minority use of the stockpile."
Cut to April 18th and the AKG 1q17 production report (out while your humble scribe was on the road and visiting a different company's project) which you can find here. In it we see that yes indeed, the headline strip rate moved up sharply, from 4.6X to 5.5X. But Wait! There's More! Because their overall grade dropped as well (ugh) so if you adjust for that, their apples-to-apples strip rate was more like 6.25X in Q1, bigtime higher.
However the really funny thing in the 1q17 NR was that they didn't include any stockpile commentary or the stockpile data table. Yes AKG, of course it's mere coincidence that just days after the IKN post you decided that stockpile information was no longer worthy of market scrutiny and so you left it out for the first time ever in all your production NRs ever since declaring commercial production. Got something to hide, guys?
PS: AKG is down 10.1% since April 13th. Just sayin'.
Shrek Mining (TREK.v): Looking ugly there, Marin
If you knew what I knew about Red Eagle Mining (R.to)...
...you'd be buying the stock today, too.
PS: To answer a couple of mails and add to the cryptic feel, it's something good that's going to happen at the mine next week.
How to add breadth to the GDXJ: A proposal
Your humble scribe has been spending the morning catching up with market things after a couple of days on the road and reading up on the whole GDXJ snafu. The basic problem is that the ETF is getting to the stage where it threatens to collapse in on itself due to its own excess gravity, black hole style. When money flows into the ETF, is has to distribute that around its component part shareholdings and as a lot of these juniors don't have much market cap heft compared to the massive ETF NAV, we're now at the stage where GDXJ holds more than 10% of stock in many of its components and gets close to the all-important 20% in some of them.
So trouble's been brewing for a while and the VanEck solution, just announced, is to widen the number of companies included in the GDXJ universe. It's the obvious move but due to the fact that the big player needs liquidity in holdings as well as size, we're now into the weird-assed situation in which companies like Kinross, Pan American, Gold Fields, Buenaventura and a whole lot more like them are being added to the "juniors" precious metals ETF. Now you can call those companies a lot of names (and I often do), but "juniors" they are not.
Real juniors, ones outside the GDXJ universe, find themselves excluded due to size, float, price, market cap restrictions. That's something I also understand, you can't have GDXJ piling into a stock that trades 50k avg per day as its metrics will immediately go wappy. So here's a potential solution for some or other intrepid brokerage or insto (and I'd wager it would be extremely profitable for the first footer too). The framework can be summed up in three simple stages:
1) Create a whole bunch of "mini junior ETF" vehicles. You could do it by geography, e.g.:
- Canadian exploreco ETF
- Canadian junior producer ETF
- Asia exploreco ETF
- Asia junior producer ETF
- Latin America exploreco ETF
- etc
Or you could do it by metal:
- Copper exploreco ETF
- Copper smallcap producer ETF
- Uranium exploreco ETF
- etc
2) Then choose a bunch of smallcaps from each junior sub-sector and weight your ETF. These in effect become bundles of stocks that together, under a larger (but still small) ETF umbrella get the necessary size to become attractive to GDXJ as a part of its holdings.
3) The result is that after time GDXJ gets to broaden its share base and the money filters down into the junior section, instead of money theoretically destined for the junior mining world filtering up into midcaps. The type of cash flow that would benefit the mining industry at a grassroots level.
FWIW, I could see Sprott doing this.
In Vancouver, style beats substance every time
I am so impressed with the way that Arizona Mining (AZ.to) is trading today that this isn't really about AZ.to any longer, it's about the way in which the Vancouver industry goes about its business. We saw the substantive reaction to the PEA put from the company in the first two weeks of April, when first the NR on its contents failed to lift the stock then the filing of the full 43-101 PEA document to SEDAR caused serious people who read the real documents to turn their backs wholesale on this over-bloated and obviously flawed story, because even the Everything Is Awesome scoping study stage report couldn't hide the nasty facts that undermine the (ironically named) Hermosa zinc/lead/zsilver project*. And there are several.
But that doesn't mean a thing, because in the wonderful world of make-believe where junior mining resides, all you need is that powerful combo of 1) re-hashed news 2) breathless prose 3) sellside brokerages with sycophantic anal ysts and a whole row of people unafraid to make a lot of telephone calls and retail (the crop that never fails) will get led by the nose of "thought leaders", quickly come to your rescue and save your stock from moving further towards its true dollar value.
IKN salutes you, Vancouver financial professionals. Your mothers must be proud of you.
*Sorry to confuse your pathetically small brains, Warke fanboys and IKN haters, but all three metals must be named as zinc provides less than half of potential revenues.
Posting will be light on this blog for a couple of days
For secret reasons.
UK snap election
Political and personal preferences aside, that was one smart move by Theresa May.
Arizona Mining (AZ.to): How's the conference call going, guys?
That well?
I wonder who they're going to blame? Who are they going to spy on because their stock price is going down this time?
The IKN Weekly, out now
Labels: otto, the IKN weekly
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text:
- Description
- Reviews
Papillon Butterfly series is new to the Simple Is Beautiful Collection of Bling My Thing. A small butterfly crystal accentuates the playfulness of the design, where a beautiful crystal swirl subtly extends across the whole surface. With Amethyst color, the design appears vibrant and sassy. Ultra-clear, durable polycarbonate casing protects your iPhone while adding glamour. Fits any iPhone body colors.
• Case color: clear
• Surface: anti-scratch finish
• Swarovski® Crystals: Amethyst
• Individual crystal setting for every crystal ensuring excellent hold
• Designed for iPhone 6/6s (this products does not include iPhone 6/6s)


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Flyby Unit Preferences
Please use unit preferences in Flyby page (e.g. km and m) instead of only showing miles and ft.
Please use unit preferences in Flyby page (e.g. km and m) instead of only showing miles and ft.
Thanks for the request - this should be an easy one to fix. I will keep everyone updated if we can make progress on a unit preferences option for Flybys.
Damn straight! The other areas of strava let the user pick Metric or Ameridoodle units, why is the Flybys component locked into miles ?
Amen to that. Being locked in to miles and feet is plain stupid. At least allow the user to change to real cycling units (i.e. metric) in the flyby page. Other than that, thanks for the flyby feature!
I just up-voted this as it annoys me as well
why is the Flybys component locked into miles ?
This is a frustration for me too, Cant see why it would take this long to implement a fix
Please Strava
Me too, its impressive something that simple is not implemented yet.
And no official response instead. I will raise a support ticket for this.
Still waiting..
Everyone I know complains about this, but only 15 upvotes? seriously?
Someone with free time to init this request on change.org? ;-)
This is one of the reasons I use Strave to see altitude. Maybe it will by just a trail.
Other then that is is a good app.
Its ironic that the FlyBy tolerance is a metric measure :-)
"A (✓) means that this activity was a flyby with the primary activity. This means that the activity was within 50 meters of you at some point,..."
@Elle – we don't need a separate unit setting for Flybys, it should adhere to the general unit setting for Strava :-)
+50 and still waiting
Nearly 1.75 years from the date of request and acknowledgement but still no go ? ? ? ? R u serious ? ?
where is my km??
hi Strava, any chance we could get an update on this. I need to sort out a few bits of positional information for an app and using miles is not helpful at all.
Please allow us to change miles to kilometers on Flyby.
Please fix this!!!
Please fix this. Most of the world (all countries except except Liberia, Myanmar and the United States of America) use the metric system...
Please let us use kilometers and meters in flyby. Most of the world have no idea what feet and miles are ... including me!
More than one year with no official response. Last official response was "this should be an easy one to fix". 😂😂😂 Right now I'm replacing my 5 stars with 1 in the Strava score on Google Play. Let's see if in this way they treat it.
Strava .... it will be the easiest thing in the world to fix. PLEASE FIX IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????
Over two years and this still hasn't been fixed? Almost all of the world (95% of its population) uses the metric system. Please upvote the request!
..cycling world using metric distance.. Not to mention the UCI.. strava is this just not on your list of priorities?
"Obey the rules" ;-)
This is one of those weird ones where it literally couldn't be any easier for Strava to do it but they don't. Probably because it's only geeks like us who care and we're not making them any money.
Yes I support Flyby units should be metric.
It's 2019 now so can we say it will be fixed this year at least?
+77 still waiting
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This article is a guild information page for The Regiment of Feathermoon US.
The contents herein are entirely player made and in no way represent official World of Warcraft history or occurrences which are accurate for all realms. The characters and events listed are of an independent nature and applied for roleplaying, fictional, speculative, or opinions from a limited playerbase only. Guild pages must comply with the guild page policy.
Active: August 2006 - Present
General: Eszti Nightwing
Tuesday, 4 August 2020
" Didn't I tell you to stay out of my stash of Dwarven ale, Daquis? "
- Rahel Isera'duna
The Regiment is a guild found on the Feathermoon Role-Playing server of Blizzard's MMORPG World of Warcraft. We're a role-playing guild with a distinct military theme that revolves around our resolve to defend our homelands from the threat of invasion. We engage in raiding and are active in the Battlegrounds and Arena. The Regiment currently has approximately seventy members of various races, classes, and backgrounds. Nearly half of our members have reached level 70 and many of us have lower level alts.
We hope to provide players with a friendly and supportive community while enjoying the game in all three aspects: role-playing, player-versus-player combat, and raiding. The Regiment is currently recruiting; interested people should fill out an application to join The Regiment.
About The Regiment
The Regiment was formed August 2006. Shortly after its inception, the Shield of Dawn was amalgamated for operational purposes with The Regiment. Since then, this new regiment has served in Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley. During the most recent Battle of Tarren Mill, The Regiment provided two reconnaissance units and a squadron of troops to assist the Alliance in holding back the Horde forces situated there.
Almost ten months to the day of organization's inception and a mere day after a successful first raid on Karazhan, Daquis Tarendeth - co-founder and General of The Regiment - stepped down from his position. Citing a need to focus on other issues that detracted from his ability to perform his duties to his self-administered standard, Daquis left the guild. Eszti Nightwing, a kaldorei who had distinguished herself in the past both on the battlefield and in assisting fellow members, was promoted to the rank of General in his stead. Under her command, The Regiment underwent extensive restructuring and the echelon was streamlined to benefit the troops.
At the core of The Regiment is a group consisting of troops serving a lighter role. These light infantry skirmishers are lightly-armed and armored infantrymen who ride into battle but dismount to fight. They provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of The Regiment, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. They are considered elite units, since they require more training and the self-discipline to carry out the roles of light infantry as well as those of heavy infantry.
The Light Infantry of The Regiment consists of six companies that comprise two battalions. First Battalion is the militia unit of The Regiment. Mounted cavalry encompasses the Second Battalion.
Shortly after Daquis Tarandeth stepped down as General of The Regiment, the echelon was restructured in order to better service and rank the organization's troops. Rank is based on a combination of season, experience, contribution, and time with The Regiment. The premise behind the non-commissioned ranks is that each person automatically knows the rank that they should possess and can easily obtain each one by applying the required effort. It also rewards people for playing the game and leveling their characters. By obtaining a higher level and rank, new privileges can be gained.
A formal ceremony is to be performed upon reaching milestone ranks and upon being promoted to any NCO (Non-Commission Officer) or officer rank. The procedure for this ceremony has been documented and is performed by the Generals of The Regiment and in the presence of his or her fellow guildmates.
A newly invited member of the guild. Recruits are in a temporary probationary period during which all members of good standing are invited to interact and critique them. After two weeks, a Recruit can petition the officers to be promoted to the next appropriate rank, barring any negative feedback.
- All members will have this rank until they reach their tenth season.
- The Recruit rank is also used for members of The Regiment who are either inactive for an extended period without alerting an officer or who are not in good standing. During this time, they are on a probationary status and are once again under the scrutiny of potentially every guild member of good standing. If they fail to resolve whatever problem that resulted in their demotion, they may be removed from the guild.
- If a recently demoted member feels that the decision was unfounded or wrong, he may petition the Generals for a review. They may choose to either uphold or overturn the decision.
A member of good standing who is within seasons 10 to 29.
A member of good standing who is within seasons 30 to 39.
A member of good standing who is within seasons 40 to 49.
A member of good standing who is within seasons 50 to 59.
A member of good standing who is within seasons 60 to 69.
A member of good standing who is season 70.
Veterans serve as the elite units within The Regiment. They have demonstrated courage, valor, and self-sacrifice on and off of the battlefield and so have been awarded with this unique rank. Veterans exhibit a selflessness and willingness to serve that embody the ideals and mission of The Regiment.
- The Veteran status is granted to individuals who reach season 70 and have been a long-standing, contributing member of The Regiment. They have no extra rights, but have the responsibilities associated with seniority.
Aide de Camp
A member of any season that has been recognized as a valuable resource within The Regiment. Aide de Camps are tasked to serve as counselors to other members, offering both the depth of their knowledge and exhaustive skills to aid guild members. They are NCOs and have access to the Officers' Channel though they may lack other privileges granted to commissioned officers.
- In order to be promoted to the rank of Brigadier, a candidate should be at least season 60, be a consistently active member of the guild for at least a month, and be of good standing. Furthermore, he should have proven himself to be sufficiently knowledgeably about the game, whether it is about lore, game mechanics, or classes. If a member meets those three requirements, he may petition the Generals to meet and review his service record to determine his suitability for the rank.
- Aide de Camps possess invite privileges.
A Brigadier is a commissioned officer within The Regiment, though lacking the leadership powers of the Generals. They oversee day-to-day activities within the guild and may organize and lead events. They are also responsible for ensuring that members of lower rank have the rank appropriate to their season, activity, and standing.
- Brigadiers may be demoted by the Generals based on their conduct or activity to the appropriate lower rank. They may also step down from the position when they wish to do so.
- In order to be promoted to the rank of Brigadier, a candidate should be at least season 60, be a consistently active member of the guild for at least a month, and be of good standing. If a member meets those three requirements, he may petition the Generals to meet and review his service record to determine his suitability for the rank.
- Brigadiers possess invite and promote/demote privileges, as well as the ability to change the Message of the Day. Abuse of any of these powers will result in immediate demotion.
Generals are the leaders of The Regiment; there are five Generals at any one time. They create and implement policy, usually voting on each issue individually. Each General has equal vote and power.
- A simple majority is required in order to implement a new policy; Generals may abstain from a vote, but are strongly discouraged from doing so.
- In order to be a General, the individual must be at least season 60 and be a consistently active member within the guild for extended periods of time.
- Generals possess all privileges that can be obtained (minus those restricted to Guild Leader).
- One General is required to be Guild Leader in order to implement changes to ranks and perform similarly restricted tasks. Despite this difference, the Guild Leader possesses the same power and vote as the other Generals.
Oath of The Regiment
Recruits are expected to take an oath upon completing their training and achieving their new rank of Private. Their oaths are further renewed upon promotion to an NCO or officer rank. After the oath is administered, the appropriate response is, "So be it."
I, (state your full name), though of separate ancestry, do so join in brotherhood today. From this day onwards, I will combine my strength and purpose to perform my duty to The Regiment and protect the people of the land. Neither law, nor love, nor league of swords shall keep me from my duly appointed task. Let my brothers and sisters here today bear witness to my resolve. May the Light and man contemn whosoever fails this vow.
The Regiment seeks brave souls of all walks of life to fill our ranks. We accept members on the basis of personal merit with no consideration towards class, race, skill, or experience. Seasoned veterans and novices alike are welcome.
Please note that acceptance into The Regiment may require a brief interview unless you have a current member vouching for you; we have tried create a welcoming, friendly, yet diverse community within The Regiment and strive to maintain that feeling while acquiring new members. The interview is conducted in-game and should be considered in-character. Furthermore, it should be noted that we are a role-playing guild and anti-RP sentiment will never be appreciated.
The recruitment form on The Regiment website is a quick and easy way of attempting to contact us in order to join our ranks. The questions posed there will help expedite your review while giving us the opportunity to learn more about your character. Please put some thought into your answers.


text:
Volkswagen T-Roc Price in Vapi
Volkswagen T-Roc On Road Price in Vapi August 2020
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Volkswagen T-Roc Price FAQs
What is the ex-showroom price of the top petrol variant of Volkswagen T-Roc in Vapi?
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Disclaimer : The data/calculations generated herein is completely and solely based on the information/details provided herein in response to the questions specified by Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. on its ZigWheels.com Site is only for user's convenience and information purposes in Indian Currency.Read More
Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. does not guarantee accuracy, completeness or correct sequence of any the details provided therein and therefore no reliance should be placed by the user for any purpose whatsoever on the information contained / data generated herein or on its completeness / accuracy. The use of any information set out is entirely at the User's own risk. User should exercise due care and caution (including if necessary, obtaining of advise of tax/ legal/ accounting/ financial/ other professionals) prior to taking of any decision, acting or omitting to act, on the basis of the information contained / data generated herein. Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. does not undertake any liability or responsibility to update any data. No claim (whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise) shall arise out of or in connection with the services against Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. Neither Girnar Software Pvt. Ltd. nor any of its agents or licensors or group companies shall be liable to user/ any third party, for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss or damages (including, without limitation for loss of profit, business opportunity or loss of goodwill) whatsoever, whether in contract, tort, misrepresentation or otherwise arising from the use of these tools/ information contained / data generated herein.Read Less


text:
Detailed plot synopsis reviews of A Kingdom of Dreams
Chapter Analysis of A Kingdom of Dreams
Click on a plot link to find similar books!
Plot & ThemesTime/era of story - Ancient scotland Captor, in love with - Yes If one lover chases another... - he chases after her
Main Male CharacterProfession/status: - Prince/Nobleman/King Age/status: - 20's-30's
Main Female Character- a teen Profession/status: - student
SettingMisc setting - Fancy Mansion
Writing StyleWhat % of story is romance related? - 90% How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing - actual description of sex - Boob talk Focus of story - equally on two couples How much dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
Books with storylines, themes & endings like A Kingdom of Dreams
|The Warlord by Jaid Black
|Sweet Revenge by Lynsay Sands
|The Chase by Lynsay Sands
|Highland Wishes by Leanne Burroughs
|The Laird by Juliana Garnett


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The DePauw Named 'Newspaper of the Year'; Among 26 ICPA Awards
April 16, 2013
Student journalists working for Indiana's oldest college newspaper, The DePauw, won a total of 26 awards -- including twelve first place honors and recognition as Division III Newspaper of the Year -- at the Indiana Collegiate Press Association's annual awards program. The ICPA's 54th annual convention took place over the weekend at Indiana University - Bloomington.
More than 30 student publications compete in the contest. Division III includes non-daily newspapers at schools with enrollments of fewer than 3,000 students.
The DePauw's awards include:
- First Place - Division III Newspaper of the Year
- First Place - Best Themed Issue
- First Place - Best Breaking News Reporting: Joseph Fanelli, Chase G. Hall and Ellen Kobe
- First Place - Best Non-Deadline News Reporting: Chase Hall and Matthew Cecil
- First Place - Best Staff Editorial; Third Place - Chase Hall
- First Place - Best Sports Column: Michael Appelgate; Second Place - Joseph Fanelli
- First Place - Best Entertainment Story: Nettie Finn
- First Place - Best Sports Feature Story: Michael Appelgate
- First Place - Best Sports Page: Lizzie Hineman
- First Place - Best Feature Page: Margaret Distler
- First Place - Best Informational Graphic: Margaret Distler; Second Place - Margaret Distler and Franki Abraham
- First Place - Best Editorial Cartoon: Bob Allen
- Second Place - Best In-Depth Story: Joseph Fanelli
- Second Place - Best Entertainment Column: Adrienne Westenfeld
- Second Place - Best Special Issue
- Second Place - Best Sports News Story: Michael Appelgate and Ellen Kobe
- Second Place - Best Special Section Front/Cover: Franki Abraham
- Second Place - Best News Photo: Paul Fesenmeier
- Second Place - Best Feature Photo: Margaret Distler
- Third Place - Best Pullout/Wrap Section
- Third Place - Best Opinion Column: Sunny Strader
- Third Place - Best Overall Design
- Third Place - Best Sports Photo: Emily Green
A complete list of winners can be found here.
Founded in 1852 as Asbury Notes, The DePauw has a rich tradition of being the springboard for the careers of many of America's great journalists. Alumni of the student newspaper include "business journalist of the century" Bernard Kilgore and Kenneth C. Hogate of the Wall Street Journal; Eugene C. and Eugene S. Pulliam of the Indianapolis Star and Central Newspapers chain; Donald Maxwell, former editor of the Chicago Tribune; Robert Giles, former curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and former editor of the Detroit News; John McWethy, former ABC News Senior Pentagon Correspondent; and James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize-winning former front page editor of the Wall Street Journal, bestselling author and New York Times columnist. The paper is completely independent, and staffed and managed entirely by students. (photo: The DePauw staff at work in 1963)
Visit The DePauw online here.Back


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Preinstalled VOIP/Call Center Solutions
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 148
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I have a windows shared hosting on which I have deployed my wordpress blog. Now to icrese my page speed I am trying to cached few resources using W3C Total Cache
While trying to activate the plugin I am getting the following error:
E:\inetpub\vhosts\subhendu.info\httpdocs\blog/wp-content/dbcache could not be created, please run following command: chmod 777 E:\inetpub\vhosts\subhendu.info\httpdocs\blog/wp-content then Retry
I tried creating few directories using FTP but realized it wont be of any use as caching files also can not be placed dynamically.
I tried changing the chmod to 777 using FileZilla but getting the error:
500 'SITE CHMOD 777 wp-content': command not understood mostly because this is a windows hosting. Again I do not have to shell access to my server , I have to everything using FTP.
If there is no other way and I have to ask my hosting provider for support what shall I ask him? Does he need to grant RW permisiion to any specific users?


text:
International Students Visit With Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether
The fall semester hasn't officially started yet, but that didn't stop 13 of Augustana's new international students from receiving a lesson in civics and leadership this afternoon from Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether.
Augustana to Offer Fall Workshops
Scheduled from September through December 2011, the workshops apply toward undergraduate or graduate college credit and meet teacher certification/re-certification requirements as defined by the South Dakota State Department of Education.
Five Alumni to Receive Achievement Awards at Viking Days
Robert Amundson '61, Paul Harmel '72, Jayne Meyer '74, Dr. Jim Reynolds '65, and Dr. John Berdahl '99 will be honored for outstanding contributions to their fields of endeavor and for exemplifying Christian faith, community and service during Viking Days in October.
Swart, Gardner Receive Granskou Awards
Dr. William Swart, associate professor sociology, will use the award to will investigate the toll of the economic crisis on the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Shelly Gardner, assistant professor of business administration, will explore how to effectively blend online and classroom teaching.
Theatre Season Opens With 'A Lie of the Mind' Sept. 21
Hailed as Sam Shepard's richest and most penetrating play and directed by Augustana's own Jayna Fitzsimmons, "A Lie of the Mind" is set in an isolated cabin in rural Montana and explores the disturbing and dangerous tensions that separate two families.
Augustana Orchestra to Perform with Legendary Rock Band Kansas at Washington Pavilion
Augustana's 80-member student Orchestra will accompany 70's rockers Kansas at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, at the Washington Pavilion. The concert is part of the band's "Kansas Collegiate Symphony Tour," an initiative designed to raise awareness and money for collegiate music programs nationwide.
Werner Named Director of Augustana Institutional Research
Darla Werner, class of 1977, has been named Director of Institutional Research. In her new role, Werner will be responsible for gathering, analyzing, reporting and using internal and external data to inform and support institutional decision-making and strategic planning.
$900,000 Renovation of Granskou Hall Nearly Complete
When students return to Granskou Hall in the fall, they'll find freshly painted rooms with new carpet and drapes and a new, modern modular furniture design that includes two loft-style beds, two desks, double dressers, wardrobe closets and two upholstered chairs.
In the News: 'Foreign Students Finding 'Family' at Augie'
As Augustana gets set to welcome its largest-ever class of international students, the Argus Leader explores how the College's Host Family and Friendship Family programs ease foreign students into American life, and provide them with a local family they can call their own.
Forbes Lists Augustana Among 'America's Top Colleges'
A recent analysis by Forbes features Augustana as the highest-ranked undergraduate institution in South Dakota and lists it among the nation's best colleges and universities based on quality of teaching, career prospects, graduation rates and low student indebtedness.


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Seems like us Sirius subscribers are getting the short end of the stick.
When you add BEST OF XM you get a few extra channels plus the sports package but NOT BASEBALL. If you were an XM subscriber you get a few (better) channels plus sports INCLUDING FOOTBALL.
But the real kicker is that many Sirius channels were added to XM for NO EXTRA CHARGE! XM now has DOCTOR RADIO, SIRIUS XM STARS 1 & 2 (FORMERLY MAXIM),BLUE COLLAR, RAW DOG, FOXXHOLE, RADIO CLASSICS etc. As Sirius subscribers we got NONE of the XM lineup at all, not one channel!! Go to the XM website and check the channel lineup see how many channels they picked up from sirius and look at what Sirius subscribers don't get at all!!


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When Mia Coveny moved to Los Angeles in 2002 with her aspiring television writer husband, John, her immediate plans were to renovate their newly purchased 1930s-era Spanish-style home while selling period furnishings on the side. As John got his early writing career going, Mia focused on renovating four successive Spanish-style homes for sale within a five-year span. The market was booming, and she loved the challenge. She found that detail made those homes special, and her visual sense helped attract buyers. Those homes sold quickly and for top dollar.
The Covenys currently reside in their fifth renovated home, a Spanish-style home nestled in the hills of Los Feliz. Her own renovations led to referrals for renovation and interior design work. Mia's clients have been writers, actors and producers, busy, creative people looking to enhance the way they live.
Mia's passion for homes led her to become a Realtor. She sees potential where others may not. She brings knowledge, integrity, follow-through, creativity and a sense of humor to her interactions with clients.
Mia and her husband lived in Chicago for 13 years, where they renovated their first fixer, a circa-1874 Chicago landmark. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a BA in English literature and a minor in Art History.
Mia enjoys hiking and playing tennis in Griffith Park. She and John have a beloved English bulldog, Matilda, who holds the distinction of being one of the Dog Whisperer's toughest cases. She volunteers with the Connect Program in West Hollywood, which pairs elderly members of the community in meaningful friendships. Mia can be found many an early Sunday morning at one of Southern California's swap meets, hoping to snag an amazing light fixture or score a gorgeous bauble.


text:
Metal Primers & Finishes
The Owatrol metal primers & finishes range consists of products that assist with giving you the most premium finish to your metal care projects. From rust inhibiting paints, to rust prevention to glossy varnishes, there is something for everyone's metal care needs.
Not sure which product to use?


text:
New, Improved Web
Today's Best Tech Deals
Picked by PCWorld's Editors
Top Deals On Great Products
Picked by Techconnect's Editors
Like a child progressing into adolescence, the Web has entered a new era of sophistication. We used to spend most of our time just surfing the Internet--reading and downloading whatever we could find. Nowadays we're more likely to create waves ourselves by sharing our opinions, photos, and home videos; collaborating by text, voice, and video; or adding our own data to maps that span the globe.
The shift from consumption to participation is a critical change in the Web's evolution. It's now easier than ever to post photos, documents, and other files to a blog, or to publish content as a news feed. Many sites permit us to add keywords, or "tags," to our photos, videos, links, and other shared resources. For example, you might add the tags "Barcelona" and "water balloons" to a photo of a soggy day in Spain. Tagged files can meld with similar content from other contributors. Tags also allow audiences--either public or private--to search, group, and otherwise slice and dice our contributions. Naturally, we can use the same tags to discover interesting, funny, or beautiful content we might not have unearthed using a standard search engine.
Here's a sampling of the most useful and interesting sites and services of what some call Web 2.0. All promise to deliver the best Internet experience yet. (Many of these are run by fledgling companies or by individuals, so surfer beware.)
In this article:
Coupon Codes
Old Navy Coupon
20% off your first Old Navy Outlet purchase
Prettylittlething Coupon
Get 60% PrettyLittleThing coupon with newsletter sign up
Eastbay Promo Code
Save 15% off $75+ orders: Eastbay coupon
Express Coupons
Express promo code 15% off $30
eBay Coupon
New eBay coupon: Up to 15% off sneakers & apparel
Forever 21 Coupon
Get an extra 40% off Faux Croc crossbody bag at Forever 21


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On September 25, 2008, LARRY E. FORTH executed a Note in the original principal amount of $55,498.96. Time was made the essence of the contract and the Note contained a provision for the payment of attorney's fees if collected by law or through an attorney at law. In order to secure the payment of said Note, LARRY E. FORTH, O.D., executed and delivered to PEOPLES STATE BANK & TRUST a Deed to Secure Debt, recorded in Deed Book 335, Page 525, in the Office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Appling County, Georgia, conveying the following described property:
All that tract or parcel of land situate, lying and being in the City of Baxley, Appling County, Georgia, being bound: Northerly for a distance of 58 feet 6 inches by an established line as shown on the hereinafter referred to plat dividing from lands of M.E. and Pauline S. Long; Easterly for a distance of 41 feet 9 inches by an established line as shown on the hereinafter referred to plat dividing from lands of M.E. and Pauline S. Long; Southerly for a distance of 58 feet 7 inches by what is known as the Pace lands and Westerly for a distance of 44 feet 6 inches by lands of Larry E. Forth. Said tract of land is more particularly shown in accordance with a survey and plat therefrom by Allen T. Beach, Surveyor, dated July 16, 1968, which is made a part hereof for all purposes, a copy of which is recorded in Deed Book 134, page 160, Appling County, Georgia, deed records.
The above-described tract of land is Block No. 1 as shown on a plat by A.T. Beach, Surveyor, dated July 30, 1968, recorded in Office, Clerk of Superior Court, said county, in Plat Book 5, page 195. Said plat dated July 30, 1968 has shown thereon a driveway and parking areas, a walkway and alley. Grantee and his assigns are hereby granted for himself, his agents, patients and employees, the right to the use of said designated areas for driving and parking vehicles and walking thereon. Said use shall be a joint use with other owners and tenants of properties in the tract of property shown on said plat. Said driveways, parking areas and walkways shall not be obstructed by any building or structure and shall be left open for use as aforesaid.
This is the same property conveyed from Malcolm E. Long and Pauline S. Long to Dr. Wilton F. Davis dated August 8, 1968, recorded in Deed Book 134, page 159, Appling County, Georgia, deed records.
Street address: 205 N. Main Street, Baxley, Georgia
Because the said LARRY E. FORTH defaulted in making payment of said Note, PEOPLES STATE BANK & TRUST, pursuant to the provisions of said Note and the aforesaid Deed securing the same, has exercised its option and declared the entire balance due and collectible. Notice fixing the liability for attorney(s fees has been given according to the law.
Said property will be sold subject to any outstanding ad valorem taxes (including taxes which are a lien, but not yet due and payable), any matters which might be disclosed by an accurate survey and inspection of the property, any assessments, liens, easements, leases, encumbrances, zoning ordinances, restrictions, covenants, and matters of record superior to the Security Deed first set out above.
The property will be sold as the property of LARRY E. FORTH, O.D., who, to the best of the undersigned's knowledge and belief, is the party in possession.
The said Deed contains a power of sale, authorizing the Grantee, as attorney in fact for Grantor therein, to sell the property conveyed thereby in order to satisfy said Note, as well as subsequent advances, after advertising the same once a week for four (4) weeks in the official gazette of said County, and in accordance with said power of sale and by virtue thereof, PEOPLES STATE BANK & TRUST will sell the property above described at public outcry to the highest and best bidder for cash, on the first Tuesday in July at the place of public sales before the Courthouse door in Appling County, Georgia, and within the legal hours of sale.
The proceeds of the sale will be used as follows: (a) to pay the expenses of said sale; (b) to pay the sums secured by said Deed; and (c) the balance according to law.
As Attorney in Fact for
/s/ Stephen Rigdon .
Stephen Rigdon
Vice President
John R. Ferrelle, P.C.
777 Gloucester Street, Ste. 411
P. O. Box 1601
Brunswick, GA 31521
(912) 264-0209
6-8, 6-15, 6-22 & 6-29ch
gpn11 STATE OF GEORGIA COUNTY OF APPLING NOTICE UNDER POWER OF SALE
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Friday Night Magic
12/28/18 :: 6:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Every Friday Night we will offer two tournament formats: Standard Format and Booster Draft
Both events will begin shortly after 6pm. Feel free to pre-register for either event (providing we have not hit caps) anytime before 6pm on Fridays. You may call, stop in, or message us on our Facebook Page.
For your reference on what is legal to play in your standard deck, please visit Wizards of the Coast for build details and legal sets.
We will always strive to utilize the most current set for Drafting Purposes.
Standard will have an optional $5 buy in. Round one will begin at 6:30pm
Booster Drafts will have a mandatory $15 buy in. Drafting and deck construction will begin at 6:30pm


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Danielle Houghton — Babe of the Day
Danielle Houghton is a 19-year-old model and Hooters girl from Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Danielle is a little bit of a mystery, but we love that in a woman. She has a small modeling portfolio, and appears in some Hooters propaganda, but otherwise Ms. Houghton (also known as Danielle Hotin) doesn't have much of an online portfolio. She does have more than a few photos and each is better than the last.
If anyone has any info on Danielle, please let us know. Until then we'll be wandering around Whitewater, Wisconsin looking for her. There is probably a ton of other stuff to do there too right?
Location: Whitewater, Wisconsin | Height: 5′ 4″ | Weight: 118 lbs | Measurements: 34DDD-26-28


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High availability
High availability is a characteristic of a system. The definition of availability is
Ao = up time / total time.
This equation is not practically useful, but if (total time - down time) is substituted for up time then you have
Ao = (total time - down time) / total time.
Determining tolerable down time is practical. From that, the required availability may be easily calculated.
High availability system design approach and associated service implementation that ensures a prearranged level of operational performance will be met during a contractual measurement period.
There are three principles of high availability engineering. They are
1. Elimination of single points of failure. This means adding redundancy to the system so that failure of a component does not mean failure of the entire system.
2. Reliable crossover. In multithreaded systems, the crossover point itself tends to become a single point of failure. High availability engineering must provide for reliable crossover.
3. Detection of failures as they occur. If the two principles above are observed, then a user may never see a failure. But the maintenance activity must.
Modernization has resulted in an increased reliance on these systems. For example, hospitals and data centers require high availability of their systems to perform routine daily activities. Availability refers to the ability of the user community to obtain a service or good, access the system, whether to submit new work, update or alter existing work, or collect the results of previous work. If a user cannot access the system, it is - from the users point of view - unavailable.[1] Generally, the term downtime is used to refer to periods when a system is unavailable.
Scheduled and unscheduled downtime[edit]
|This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2008)
A distinction can be made between scheduled and unscheduled downtime. Typically, scheduled downtime is a result of maintenance that is disruptive to system operation and usually cannot be avoided with a currently installed system design. Scheduled downtime events might include patches to system software that require a reboot or system configuration changes that only take effect upon a reboot. In general, scheduled downtime is usually the result of some logical, management-initiated event. Unscheduled downtime events typically arise from some physical event, such as a hardware or software failure or environmental anomaly. Examples of unscheduled downtime events include power outages, failed CPU or RAM components (or possibly other failed hardware components), an over-temperature related shutdown, logically or physically severed network connections, security breaches, or various application, middleware, and operating system failures.
If users can be warned away from scheduled downtimes, then the distinction is useful. But if the requirement is for true high availability, then downtime is downtime whether or not it is scheduled.
Many computing sites exclude scheduled downtime from availability calculations, assuming that it has little or no impact upon the computing user community. By doing this, they can claim to have phenomenally high availability, which might give the illusion of continuous availability. Systems that exhibit truly continuous availability are comparatively rare and higher priced, and most have carefully implemented specialty designs that eliminate any single point of failure and allow online hardware, network, operating system, middleware, and application upgrades, patches, and replacements. For certain systems, scheduled downtime does not matter, for example system downtime at an office building after everybody has gone home for the night.
Percentage calculation[edit]
Availability is usually expressed as a percentage of uptime in a given year. The following table shows the downtime that will be allowed for a particular percentage of availability, presuming that the system is required to operate continuously. Service level agreements often refer to monthly downtime or availability in order to calculate service credits to match monthly billing cycles. The following table shows the translation from a given availability percentage to the corresponding amount of time a system would be unavailable per year, month, or week.
|Availability %
|Downtime per year
|Downtime per month*
|Downtime per week
|90% ("one nine")
|36.5 days
|72 hours
|16.8 hours
|18.25 days
|36 hours
|8.4 hours
|10.96 days
|21.6 hours
|5.04 hours
|7.30 days
|14.4 hours
|3.36 hours
|99% ("two nines")
|3.65 days
|7.20 hours
|1.68 hours
|1.83 days
|3.60 hours
|50.4 minutes
|17.52 hours
|86.23 minutes
|20.16 minutes
|99.9% ("three nines")
|8.76 hours
|43.8 minutes
|10.1 minutes
|4.38 hours
|21.56 minutes
|5.04 minutes
|99.99% ("four nines")
|52.56 minutes
|4.32 minutes
|1.01 minutes
|99.999% ("five nines")
|5.26 minutes
|25.9 seconds
|6.05 seconds
|99.9999% ("six nines")
|31.5 seconds
|2.59 seconds
|0.605 seconds
|99.99999% ("seven nines")
|3.15 seconds
|0.259 seconds
|0.0605 seconds
Uptime and availability are not synonymous. A system can be up, but not available, as in the case of a network outage.
Percentages of a particular order of magnitude are sometimes referred to by the number of nines or "class of nines" in the digits. For example, electricity that is delivered without interruptions (blackouts, brownouts or surges) 99.999% of the time would have 5 nines reliability, or class five.[2] In particular, the term is used in connection with mainframes[3][4] or enterprise computing.
In general, the number of nines is not often used by a network engineer when modeling and measuring availability because it is hard to apply in formula. More often, the unavailability expressed as a probability (like 0.00001), or a downtime per year is quoted. Availability specified as a number of nines is often seen in marketing documents.[citation needed]
The use of the "nines" has been called into question, since it does not appropriately reflect that the impact of unavailability varies with its time of occurrence.[5]
For large amounts of 9s, the "unavailability" index (measure of downtime rather than uptime) is easier to handle, which is also why such is used in e.g. hard disk bit error rates.
A formulation of the class of 9s based on a system's unavailability would be
(cf. Floor and ceiling functions).
A similar measurement is sometimes used to describe the purity of substances.
Measurement and interpretation[edit]
Clearly, availability measurement is subject to some degree of interpretation. A system that has been up for 365 days in a non-leap year might have been eclipsed by a network failure that lasted for 9 hours during a peak usage period; the user community will see the system as unavailable, whereas the system administrator will claim 100% uptime. However, given the true definition of availability, the system will be approximately 99.9% available, or three nines (8751 hours of available time out of 8760 hours per non-leap year). Also, systems experiencing performance problems are often deemed partially or entirely unavailable by users, even when the systems are continuing to function. Similarly, unavailability of select application functions might go unnoticed by administrators yet be devastating to users — a true availability measure is holistic.
Availability must be measured to be determined, ideally with comprehensive monitoring tools ("instrumentation") that are themselves highly available. If there is a lack of instrumentation, systems supporting high volume transaction processing throughout the day and night, such as credit card processing systems or telephone switches, are often inherently better monitored, at least by the users themselves, than systems which experience periodic lulls in demand.
An alternative metric is mean time between failures (MTBF).
Recovery time (or estimated time of repair (ETR), also known as recovery time objective (RTO) is closely related to availability, that is the total time required for a planned outage or the time required to fully recover from an unplanned outage. Another metric is mean time to recovery (MTTR). Recovery time could be infinite with certain system designs and failures, i.e. full recovery is impossible. One such example is a fire or flood that destroys a data center and its systems when there is no secondary disaster recovery data center.
Another related concept is data availability, that is the degree to which databases and other information storage systems faithfully record and report system transactions. Information management specialists often focus separately on data availability in order to determine acceptable (or actual) data loss with various failure events. Some users can tolerate application service interruptions but cannot tolerate data loss.
A service level agreement ("SLA") formalizes an organization's availability objectives and requirements.
System design for high availability[edit]
Paradoxically, adding more components to an overall system design can undermine efforts to achieve high availability. That is because complex systems inherently have more potential failure points and are more difficult to implement correctly. While some analysts would put forth the theory that the most highly available systems adhere to a simple architecture (a single, high quality, multi-purpose physical system with comprehensive internal hardware redundancy); however, this architecture suffers from the requirement that the entire system must be brought down for patching and Operating System upgrades. More advanced system designs allow for systems to be patched and upgraded without compromising service availability (see load balancing and failover).
High availability requires less human intervention to restore operation in complex systems, the reason for this being that the most common cause for outages is human error.[6]
Redundancy (engineering) is used to create systems with high levels of Availability (e.g. aircraft flight computers). In this case it is required to have high levels of failure detectability and avoidance of common cause failures. Two kinds of redundancy are passive redundancy and active redundancy.
Passive redundancy is used to achieve high availability by including enough excess capacity in the design to accommodate a performance decline. The simplest example is a boat with two separate engines driving two separate propellers. The boat continues toward its destination despite failure of a single engine or propeller. A more complex example is multiple redundant power generation facilities within a large system involving electric power transmission. Malfunction of single components is not considered to be a failure unless the resulting performance decline exceeds the specification limits for the entire system.
Active redundancy is used in complex systems to achieve high availability with no performance decline. Multiple items of the same kind are incorporated into a design that includes a method to detect failure and automatically reconfigure the system to bypass failed items using a voting scheme. This is used with complex computing systems that are linked. Internet routing is derived from early work by Birman and Joseph in this area.[7] Active redundancy may introduce more complex failure modes into a system, such as continuous system reconfiguration due to faulty voting logic.
Zero downtime system design means that modeling and simulation indicates mean time between failures significantly exceeds the period of time between planned maintenance, upgrade events, or system lifetime. Zero downtime involves massive redundancy, which is needed for some types of aircraft and for most kinds of communications satellite. Global Positioning System is an example of a zero downtime system.
Fault instrumentation can be used in systems with limited redundancy to achieve high availability. Maintenance actions occur during brief periods of down-time only after a fault indicator activates. Failure is only significant if this occurs during a mission critical period.
Modeling and simulation is used to evaluate the theoretical reliability for large systems. The outcome of this kind of model is used to evaluate different design options. A model of the entire system is created, and the model is stressed by removing components. Redundancy simulation involves the N-x criteria. N represents the total number of components in the system. x is the number of components used to stress the system. N-1 means the model is stressed by evaluating performance with all possible combinations where one component is faulted. N-2 means the model is stressed by evaluating performance with all possible combinations where two component are faulted simultaneously.
A survey among academic availability experts in 2010 ranked reasons for unavailability of enterprise IT systems. All reasons refer to not following best practice in each of the following areas (in order of importance):[8]
- Monitoring of the relevant components
- Requirements and procurement
- Operations
- Avoidance of network failures
- Avoidance of internal application failures
- Avoidance of external services that fail
- Physical environment
- Network redundancy
- Technical solution of backup
- Process solution of backup
- Physical location
- Infrastructure redundancy
- Storage architecture redundancy
The factors themselves are based on the work of Evan Marcus and Hal Stern.[9]
In a 1998 report from IBM Global Services, unavailable systems are estimated to have cost American businesses $4.54 billion in 1996, due to lost productivity and revenues.[10]
See also[edit]
- Fault-tolerant system
- Reliability, availability and serviceability (computer hardware)
- Reliability (computer networking)
- Reliability engineering
- ^ Floyd Piedad, Michael Hawkins (2001). High Availability: Design, Techniques, and Processes. Prentice Hall. ISBN 9780130962881.
- ^ Lecture Notes M. Nesterenko, Kent State University
- ^ Introduction to the new mainframe: Large scale commercial computing Chapter 5 Availability IBM (2006)
- ^ IBM zEnterprise EC12 Business Value Video at youtube.com
- ^ Evan L. Marcus, The myth of the nines
- ^ "Top Seven Considerations for Configuration Management for Virtual and Cloud Infrastructures". Gartner. October 27, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
- ^ Ulrik Franke, Pontus Johnson, Johan König, Liv Marcks von Würtemberg: Availability of enterprise IT systems – an expert-based Bayesian model, Proc. Fourth International Workshop on Software Quality and Maintainability (WSQM 2010), Madrid, [1]
- ^ Marcus, E.; Stern, H. (2003). Blueprints for high availability (Second ed.). Indianapolis, IN: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-43026-9.
- ^ IBM Global Services, Improving systems availability, IBM Global Services, 1998, [2]
External links[edit]
- Cisco IOS Management for High Availability Networking – Best Practices White Paper
- Homepage of the Dept. for Computer Science of the University of Leipzig
- Lecture Notes on Enterprise Computing University of Tübingen