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Verification based on the Verification Methodology Manual (VMM) is a proven methodology for implementing block-level verification environments. Leveraging the block-level verification components at the system level provides significant improvement in verification quality and reduces the time required to meet coverage at system level. A system-level testbench brings a host of challenges that need to be addressed, including runtime, randomization quality, system memory management, multiple register access interfaces, clock domains and
random stability. Block-to-system reuse methodology should be simple and scalable.
For a system-on-chip (SoC) with proprietary cores and system interfaces, coding an assembly language test that can exercise different modes of each peripheral component is not a scalable solution. Also, this doesnot fit well with the VMM-based flow, where there are several simulation threads accessing the peripheral together. For example, at the time that a peripheral is being configured, another thread may be reading
from the same register space to check the interrupt status. This behavior cannot be modeled in an assembly test, where we have only a single instruction stream per core. The methodology replaces the core with a bus functional model (BFM) directly driving onto the system interface bus. Each block testbench is handled in different threads and can access the respective peripheral components. Usage of the VMM register abstraction layer (RAL) ensures that the block-level testbench undergoes minimal behavioral change when migrating to system level.
A system testbench needs to program the system components as per the peripheral requirement. For example, a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) block will need the direct memory access (DMA) engine to be configured and memories initialized before transmitting. Since the system architecture is common for allperipherals, it makes more sense to provide a uniform platform and utility tasks that can configure the system as per the peripheral requirement. The multi-layer architecture ensures system support for each of the peripheral components. Each layer implements randomization and ensures maximum system and peripheral coverage.
The environment is optimized for performance by supporting thread management, conditional compilation and plug-and-play support for block-level testbenches. This means having a bottom-up approach where the block level needs to adhere to a basic, but broad, set of guidelines to ease integration.
This article describes the traditional method used in system-level verification and how the new approach improves it, explaining the layered architecture with an overview of the advantages it presents. Techniques to improve runtime with proper threading and memory management are described, as well as methods to overcome issues of large compilation time using separate compilation and multi-core compilation techniques. Finally, the article will touch on how this testbench avoids random stability issues using VMM record/playback method and supports test dumping in assembly formats.Design details
The design considered here is a complex, general-purpose SoC containing multiple cores, an interrupt controller, a large set of proprietary peripheral modules, L1/L2/L3 memories, memory controllers, DMA engines and several intellectual property (IP) blocks. Some blocks can access system memory through inbuilt DMA engines. Others use system DMA engines to access memory. Even though not shown explicitly, there are several layers of arbitration between a peripheral and memory.
The chip also has multiple clocks, power domains and a system crossbar for arbitration as shown in the simplified representation in Figure 1. The external pins are shared across several peripherals using a multiplexing scheme.
Figure 1 - Design overview
Verification challenges at system level
System-level verification aims to verify the different combinations of system configurations along with peripheral
modes. This reveals many interesting cases, of which a few are listed below:
• Are we exercising modes of the peripheral with all possible modes of system configuration that may affect it?
• Is anything missing on the connectivity that might be visible once under a particular configuration of system/peripheral?
• Are all modules hooked up to the proper clock domains?
• Are there any bandwidth issues in the system when multiple peripheral devices contest for system resources?
• Does each DMA/peripheral have read and write access to the entire memory space?
• Are all registers within the system accessible?
• Are traffic patterns being generated, which would validate that the system really supports the use cases?
• Has the block assumed a behavior that is not valid on the system, or is the block seeing a behavior for which it was not designed?
Verifying each of the above cases using directed tests is not viable for such a complex SoC due to the large number of combinations involved.
Using block-level VMM testbenches will provide good coverage at system level, but when the number of blocks goes up, a whole new set of challenges arises.
• System programming should be related to the peripheral mode. For example, the DMA needs to be programmed in memory-write mode for a peripheral in receive mode. System configuration information is
encapsulated within the peripheral transaction classes when the block-level testbench operates at system level. This layered approach provides a common methodology, which is implemented across all blocks.
• Large numbers of block sub-environments and threads running together will definitely slow down the simulation. Careful thread management is required to make sure that only active testbenches consume CPU cycles.
• A huge testbench and a complex design will cause massive compilation time, which is a severe development bottleneck. Advanced features of the tools have to be explored to overcome this obstacle.
• The register access mechanism has to be common across block and system testbenches. VMM RAL provides just the right solution, eliminating any issues when the physical interface for register access changes between the block and system levels.
• Reproducing the test case that caused the failure is a must for validating the fix.
Multi-layer framework
The testbench components operate at different layers. The layered architecture shown in Figure 2 enables block-to-system reuse and plug-and-play capability at system level. The different layers starting are described below, starting from the bottom.
VMM register abstraction layer
This layer handles the RAL-based register read and writes. The RAL plays a significant role in promoting block-to-system reuse of testbenches. The testbench is made independent of the physical bus protocol.
High-level RAL transactions are converted to physical layer transactions inside the RAL access layer. Physical layer transactions describe the physical protocol (e.g., APB, AHB, and AXI). The physical layer uses the
transactions provided by RAL access layer to drive the bus signals.
System component layer
This layer manages all system components, such as DMA, memories and interrupt controllers. The layer is analogous to a software API and provides a set of tasks, objects, protocols and guidelines for managing the system. For example, a request of n data items is translated to proper DMA programming and memory initialization with required data, as well as handling of the DMA interrupts. The layer also adds data checks
to verify data paths and indicates interrupts to the peripheral layer.
Peripheral layer
Block-level subenv is managed by this layer. It also synchronizes system events like interrupts and configuration with the block-level subenv.
Figure 2 - Layered architecture
This section elaborates on how the layered architecture is implemented and discusses other aspects that prove valuable in system-level verification.
Core agnostic testbench
The cores used in most SoCs are either fully verified or are used with minimal changes. Even if the changes are significant, their verification requires completely different approaches when compared to system-level verification. Therefore, it was decided to keep core verification separate from system verification. The testbench replaces the core, and directly drives into the system as shown in Figure 3.
This approach provides much more controllability and capability to support block-level VMM testbenches without changes and enables faster simulation due to reduced design overhead. It also allows coverage graded assembly tests to be generated and run on the real core.
Figure 3 - Core replaced by BFM
Base class change from block- to system-level
The base class is transformed from vmm_data to a system-level base class as shown in Figure 4.
The base class chosen for the transformation is the one most closely related to the peripheral and system configuration. It should have parameters that affect the system configuration. These may include the peripheral direction and all interrupts that have been enabled. System features are now embedded inside this transaction class. In other words,the system layer is inserted into the generation stage; the coding style is illustrated in Example 1. A few noteworthy advantages include:
• Additional constraints can be added onto the random system-level classes to relate peripheral modes with the system modes, so the same set of classes can be used in block and system testbench without any code change.
• Use of VMM data macros ensures seamless change of class hierarchy.
• A unique peripheral_id identifies the peripheral within the system.
• The register functions within the system base class and usage of vmm_opts ensure that the code change is not required when the interrupt changes or the pad pin position is changed. This proves very effective in porting the testbench across projects and supporting multiple instances of the testbench in system.
Example 1 – Coding style for peripheral base class
Figure 4 - Base class change
Integrating and managing sub-environments
In the traditional VMM-based flow, all block-level sub-environments are added inside the top-level environment. Configure, start, stop, etc. of the subenv will then be called from vmm_env. This flow presents certain issues:
• The top-level environment gets cluttered for a large set of sub-environments
• Mixing up of initialization tasks of all sub-environments causes portability issues
• There is interdependency between sub-environments and performance degradation
In the new approach, the block-level sub-environments are instantiated hierarchically within the top-level VMM environment, as in the traditional flow. The difference is that the management of the sub-environment is taken up by a xactor derived from a common system-level class. The xactor forms the interface layer between the
peripheral layer and the system component layer. This xactor phases the sub-environment as it was in the block level. Also, system-level tasks are called from within the xactor to configure system component support
required by the peripheral. System interrupt notifications received within this xactor are passed to the block testbench by notifications or function/task calls. The advantages of this approach are:
• The top level is freed from the task of initializing sub-environments.
• Usage of VMM xactor iterators can provide plug-and-play capability. Once an xactor is instantiated, connectivity and consensus will be automatically added. The only change at the top level for instantiating is reduced to calling the constructor of the xactor and the sub-environment.
• There's more portability for the testbench since the entire phasing of the sub-environment is completely within the xactor.
Example 2 shows sample code for implementation of the peripheral xactor:
Example 2 – IO xactor implementation
Example 3 below demonstrates how adding the IO to system vmm_env is greatly simplified. There is no need to connect channels or start/stop the xactors. These will be done by VMM xactor iterators, which look for derived classes of the system xactor base class.
Example 3 – Xactor plugged into env
End of test is decided upon by the state of the system, as well as the peripheral state dictated by the consensus passed from the sub-environment. The testbench looks at the consensus status of all active components before ending the test.
Specifying cross relations
Using VMM multi-stream scenarios is an efficient way to specify relations between peripheral transactions of
different types or modes within the same peripheral transaction. Since all transactions are derived from a common base class, as described earlier, they can be passed through a common framework. A router class
(derived from vmm_broadcast) routes the transaction to the respective transactor, which will process the packet. This flow is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5 - Transaction flow
The router callbacks can also drop/modify packets as required. Modification would be needed when pins are shared across multiple blocks using a multiplexing scheme. In this case, a transaction that has a conflicting pin can be dropped. Since the router is aware of the transactions generated, it can decide to call start_xactor() for only those peripherals that will be active in the test, thereby avoiding unnecessary threads.
Functional coverage
Functional coverage is added for each system component. This ensures a good cross relation between the block and system function coverage. Since the block transactions and xactors are reused, functional coverage from block-level testbenches can be reused at system level.
Pipelined RAL access
For a multicore system, where any core can access the peripheral registers, there is no direct method to specify the core on which the peripheral operates during RAL read/write. An indirect approach is to specify the core via the data_id field of the read/write task, but the disadvantage is that this usage of data_id cannot be enforced on block level environments that may come from different sources.
Another solution is to randomly map the transactions to any one core; however, all transactions to a block must use the same core interface. This approach can be refined by making the assignment non-random. However, there is still a lack of efficiency since RAL access task execute_single() can take only one transaction at a time, even though multiple interfaces are available. The pipelined RAL is switched on to optimize the interface usage by allowing all to be used together.
Memory management using VMM-MAM
For an IP block with its own DMA engine, system memory has to be directly configured. This will require allocation of memory segment. Using the VMM Memory Allocation Manager (MAM) for system memory
allocation prevents conflicts between different blocks trying to access memory and helps in block-to-system reuse. By changing the memory pointer, the block testbench can access different system memories while
running at system level. The VMM-MAM also allocates random regions with required memory alignment.
VMM record/playback
Transactions can be recorded using the VMM record feature. This helps save a test case and play it back even when the testbench has undergone several changes. Without a record, the test may not hit the same scenario with the seed if thread ordering has been changed.
Test dumping using RAL callbacks
Configurations that are done dynamically can be printed out into assembly language format by appending RAL callbacks. This will generate a static version of the test being executed. The callbacks can be plugged in before the configuration starts and removed once the configuration is done as shown in Example 4 below.
Example 4 – RAL dumping example
Fine-tuning performance
Performance is an important aspect for any system-level testbench. The huge increase in the size of the design
database coupled with the use of netlisted components reduces compile time performance as well. So the testbench implements several features to optimize compile and runtime performance:
• VCS separate compile: Separately compiling the design and testbench provides a significant advantage during testbench development. The design need not be compiled if only the testbench has changes. Packages can also be specified as a separate partition. The comparison is shown in Table 1.
• Pre-compiled tests: With vmm_test, the user can pre-compile all tests and select required one with +vmm_test=<testname> option. vmm_opts can be used to specify further runtime options.
• Conditional compilation: Specific testbenches alone can be enabled by using Verilog defines. This helps to reduce testbench compilation time while working on individual blocks. It also enables subsystem verification at system level. The usage of VMM xactor iterators helps in simplifying conditional compile usage.
• Thread management: The sub-environment and the xactor handling it are enabled only when the peripheral is used in the test. This ensures that only useful threads are active during simulation
• Sparse memory models: The memory models used are associative arrays, sparse arrays (using the VCS sparse pragma) or PLI-based to reduce runtime memory usage. Usage of profiler helps point to potential memory issues.
Table 1 - Comparison of normal and separate compile
Since the design under verification was very complex, a block-to-system reuse methodology is needed to leverage the efforts undertaken at block level. Advanced features of the VMM-based methodology were utilized to build a scalable architecture for the testbench. Setting up such a testbench was challenging. With VMM library support, this task was simplified and streamlined in a couple of months. The platform has integrated more than six block level testbenches, and added assertions and monitors for several more. Each block-level testbench was developed by an independent team. Legacy non-VMM testbenches were also
incorporated with ease. Continued refinement of the flow has provided a stable verification platform for future generations of the design. The built-in test sequencer is also able to dump out a meaningful assembly language test, which can be run on the real core. The testbench also leverages advances in simulation technology to maximize the available CPU cycles while reducing development time by compile time reduction.
J Bergeron, E. Cerny, A. Hunter, A. Nightingale, Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog
VMM user guide
VMM register abstraction layer user guide
VMM primer - Memory allocation manager
VMM primer – Performance Analyzer
Synopsys, VCS documentation
About the authors:
Ashok Chandran is a Senior Design Engineer at Analog Devices. He has been associated with Analog Devices for the past 3 years and has worked on design and SoC level verification in the Blackfin DSP processor design group at Bangalore.
Sajeev Thomas is a Senior Technical Lead at Analog Devices. Has been associated with Analog Devices for the past 10 years and has worked on design and verification of various Blackfin and SHARC DSP processors.
Saj Kapoor is a Senior Engineering Manager at Analog Devices. He has been working with the DSP design group in Bangalore, India since 1995. During this time he has worked on multiple Blackfin and SHARC DSP products.


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The Webster Bible (WBT) | New International Version (NIV) |
13 I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings: I will pay thee my vows, | 13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you-- |
The Webster Bible is in the public domain. (The Webster Bible Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |

subset: commoncrawl


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Get Ready for Holiday Social Engagement Now
Posted by Emily Riley on November 2, 2009
If you have holiday marketing plans that include a social media campaign, you're not alone. Between viral videos for new products, Facebook communities for fans, and tweets for midnight sales and other deals, every product marketer out there has something planned. What this means is that you've got a lot of competition and a lot of clutter to shout over. So how can you rise above the pack?
Start early! You should already be listening to what consumers say they want for Christmas. See what the buzz is on budget/economy conversations as well as product or brand specific ones. This way, when you do start talking, you'll be saying the right things and answering the right questions. You should also already have looked at last years' search patterns and started bidding on the appropriate keywords for this season. Don't forget to send some of that traffic to your social media as well as your own home page.
Enable better functionality through social! The New York Times wrote about Best Buy'sholiday social media. Not only do they have Twelpforce on Twitter, they have new Facebook features that let friends ask each other what they should buy from Best Buy's product catalog.
Work with your valued partners! Mall conglomerate Jones Lang LaSalle will be tweeting on behalf of their retail partners to let customers know about last minute or unpublicized sales throughout the holiday season. Check out your own partner's plans and see what you can do to maximize their success.
If you have any social media plans that will put you ahead of your competition, let me know, I'll be writing about who I think the winners are this December.
re: Get Ready for Holiday Social Engagement Now
Emily,We have got lots of plans. Q4 is critical sales quarter for us. Launched a Double Cashback Program and have a lot to say about it via social. Earn double Cashback Bonus up to $1000, includes any online merchant.Hot Deals on ShopDiscover is coming back as well. These are limited quantity, sought after items. We learned a lot from our sell outs last year. Twitter, Facebook and our Blogs will be in high gear. But the biggest news will come in January! Stay tuned.SteveP.S. I've got the troops scratching their heads over your attribution report. They are taking it as a challenge. Don't be surprised if you phone rings soon.
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This is a syndicated post from Saint Jude Chapel. [Read the original article...]
GOD, loving Father, you are always by me when I need you. You wait patiently when I stray. You never tire of forgiving me when I contradict your Holy Will. You sustain me even when I am foolish enough to think that I do not … (187)


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Oct 18, 2012 10:19 PM by Dave Hovde
Interesting weather changes continue for the Central Coast, after starting the week with record highs the temps finally backed off a bit Thursday and more cooling is expected as low clouds develop into Friday morning. Highs Friday will be ine 60s and 70s for the coast and lower 80s in interior valleys.
The leftovers from former hurricane Paul continue to brush the area with some SE winds and clouds (especially for southern areas) and higher humidities. This is a temporary feature as a developing trough from the Pacific NW will drop into the area into the weekend for increasing NW winds and cooler temps and the return of the marine layer as well.
Weekend temperatures look similar from Friday into Saturday however Sunday will see the coast drop into the 60s and interior valleys fall into the 70s for highs.
Tuesday and Wednesday a stronger low pressure system will drop through the trough and bring heavy rain to the Pacific NW and showers to the Central Coast when the associated cold front passes through.
Offensive or inappropriate comments are subject to removal. To report a comment, please e-mail us at email@example.com, and include the name of the story and information on the comment.
Thank you! KSBY.com
3 hours ago


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- Hotel Details
- Member Reviews
- Photos
Ivbergs Hotel Premium
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Ivbergs Hotel Premium is situated in the western side of Berlin, seven and a half kilometres away from Berlin Tegel Airport. Other cultural monuments worth visiting include Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag.
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Ivbergs Hotel Premium Berlin provides 24-hour front desk, tour assistance, airport transfer and parking. During leisure, visitors can browse the fashionable stores at the famous KaDeWe before taking a relaxing stroll around the lush gardens of Tiergarten.
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Connect to other sites within the UBM Medica Network
Heroic Doctor's Heart-Wrenching Letter
For this young physician in India, reading an article on physician suicide was "the best thing" in his day. There is one thing, he says, that keeps him moving forward.
Alcohol: The Forgotten Factor in Prescription Drug Overdoses
A new study found that alcohol was involved in more than 20% of both opioid- and benzodiazepine-related deaths reported to the Drug Abuse Warning Network in 2010.
I Made a Difference...
I made a difference in a student's life.
Multitasking Makes You Stupid
The neuroscience is clear—you can't possibly get good at multitasking. It's a myth. Rather than keep trying to improve the "skill," why not try something different. Read on . . .
Pain, Sleep, and Opioids
Difficulty with sleep is a common problem for people with chronic pain. Plus, it is well known that while pain medications cause sedation, they can also disrupt normal sleep cycles.
Good Medicine Is What Does Work, Not What We Think Should Work
I treated my young patient with asthma "by the book" and alienated his mother as I did so. I didn't have the time to really listen to what she really needed from me.
NSAIDs: Are We Being Careful Enough?
Deaths from opioid overdoses routinely claim headlines but nearly as many fatalities are caused each year by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Who's tracking trouble under the radar?
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text:
Win An iCarly Script Cover Signed By One Direction
One Direction is guest-starring on iCarly this Saturday, April 7 and to celebrate, we're giving you the chance to win the episode's script cover, signed by all five guys. Yes, that's right all five guys have touched, held and signed it. In the episode, "iGo One Direction" Carly learns that the guys of 1D are going to appear on her web show. She's super pumped (obvi!), but then, Harry gets too sick to perform. You'll have to watch to see what happens!
Click here to enter to win the signed script cover. We're giving two away! Watch One Direction on iCarly Saturday, April 7, 2012 at 8 PM ET/PF on Nickelodeon.


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March 8, 2007, 9:00 AM
By James Lee Burke
Cool Daddy pinched his temples like he was struggling not to hurt the feelings of dumb white people such as ourselves. "Let me strap it on you, boy. I thought maybe she was leaking info about me to the cops, so I had a detective get ahold of her phone records." Then he mentioned the name of a powerful man he said Kitty Lamar had phoned repeatedly at Sun Records. "I don't know what you done to her, but she fixed yo' ass good."
The only sound in the room was the vibration of the electric fan. Eddy Ray's eyes looked like brown pools that someone had filled with black silt.
"He was lying," I said when we were outside.
"You're the one who told me Kitty Lamar was a Judas. You cain't have it both ways, R. B."
"I'm going out west," I said.
We were in traffic, headed toward Eddy Ray's house in the Heights section of north Houston, oak trees sweeping by us on wide boulevards where termite-eaten nineteenth-century houses with wide galleries sat gray and hot looking in the shade.
I couldn't believe what I'd just said and the implication it had for my friendship with Eddy Ray. He finally lit the cigarette he'd been fiddling with since Cool Daddy's office.
"Am I invited?" he asked.
"Nobody can help you, Eddy Ray. You don't think you should have survived the war, and I think you're aiming to take both of us down."
"Sorry to hear you say that." He flipped the dead paper match into the traffic.
I got out of the Hudson at the red light and went into the first bar I could find. Lone Star and Jax beer might seem like poor solace for busted careers and lost friendships, but I figured if I drank enough of it, it would have to count for something. And that's exactly what I did, full tilt, for the next six months.
I picked watermelons in the Rio Grande Valley and rode a freight train west and cut lettuce in El Centro. I played Dobro for tips in bars on East Fifth Street in Los Angeles, followed the wheat harvest all the way to Saskatoon, and ended up on Larimer Street in Denver, where I met Cisco Houston and played as a guest on his syndicated radio show right before he got blacklisted.
I saw the country from the bottom side up. I may have married a three-hundred-pound Indian woman on the Southern Ute Reservation, but I can't be sure, because by the time I sobered up from all the peyote buttons I'd eaten, I was in an uncoupled boxcar full of terrified illegal farmworkers, roaring at eighty miles an hour down Raton Pass into New Mexico. And that's what led me to one of those moments in life when you finally figure out there are no answers to the big mysteries, like why the innocent suffer, why there's disease and war and all that kind of stuff. I also figured out that what we call our destiny is usually decided by two or three casual decisions, which on the surface usually seem about as important as spitting your gum through a sewer grate.
I crawled off the boxcar at the bottom of the grade in Raton when the sun broke above the crest of the hills and the entire countryside looked soaked in blood, the arroyos deep in shadow, the cones of dead volcanoes stark and biscuit colored against the sky. I could smell pinion trees, wet sage, wood smoke, cattle in the pastures, and creek water that had melted from snow.
I could smell the way the country probably was when it was only a dream in the mind of God.
I found a bar by the railway tracks but didn't go in. Instead, I walked down to a caf� built out of stucco, networked with heat cracks, where a bunch of Mexican gandy dancers were eating breakfast. I had one dollar and seven cents in my pocket, enough to order scrambled eggs, a pork-sausage patty, fried spuds, and coffee, and to leave a dime tip.
While I sipped coffee, I thumbed through a three-day-old copy of an Albuquerque newspaper. On an inside page was a story about none other than the Greaser. I had read enough stories about the Greaser's career to last me a lifetime, but in the third paragraph was a statement that was like a thumbtack in the eye. According to the reporter, the Greaser had left Sun Records at least a year ago and had signed a managerial deal with a guy who used to be a carnival barker.
"You okay, hon?" the waitress said to me. She was a big redheaded woman, with upper arms like cured hams and perfume you could probably smell all the way to Flagstaff.
"Me? I'm fine. Except for the fact that I'm probably the dumbest sonofabitch who ever walked into your caf�," I said.
"No, that was my ex-husband. There's some showers for truck drivers in back. It's on the house," she said. She winked at me.
"Hang around, cowboy."
Life on the underside of America could have its moments.
Five days later, I climbed down from the cab of a tractor trailer and walked four blocks through a run-down, tree-shaded neighborhood to Eddy Ray's house. He had scraped up a pile of black leaves and moldy pecan husks in his side yard and was burning them in an oil drum, his eyes watering in the smoke.
I dropped my duffel bag on the gallery and sat down in the glider and waited for him to say hello.
"It's me, in case you haven't noticed the man sitting about ten feet to your rear," I said.
"I got your postcard from the Big Horn County Jail," he said, fanning smoke out of his face.
I didn't remember writing a card from jail, but that wasn't unusual then. "Remember when I told you Cool Daddy Hopkins was lying about Kitty Lamar?" I asked.
"I do."
"Know why you wouldn't believe me?" I said.
"Not interested."
" 'Cause Cool Daddy fooled me, too. I thought Kitty Lamar had stuck it to us. Know why I thought that?"
He leaned on a rake handle, shutting his eyes, maybe hoping
I'd be gone when he opened them again.
" 'Cause I had a grudge against her from the first time we heard her sing," I said, answering my own question. " 'Cause I didn't want her coming between us."
I let my eyes slip off his face. He picked up a huge sheaf of compacted leaves and dropped them into the flames. Thick curds of yellow smoke curled into the tree limbs overhead. "So what's changed?"
"When Cool Daddy told us Kitty Lamar had been bad-mouthing us at Sun Records, the Greaser had already been gone from Sun. Kitty Lamar didn't know anybody at Sun. The only person she knew there was the Greaser. Besides, why would people at the record company want to hurt us? Sun doesn't do business like that."
"You're sure about this?"
"I read it in the newspaper. Then I called the reference lady at the public library to check it out. The Greaser has been managed by this carnival barker or freak-show manager or whatever he is for the last year."
Eddy Ray sat down on the steps, his back to me. His face and arms were bladed with the sunlight shining through the trees. He rubbed the back of his neck, like a terrible memory was eating its way through his skull.
"What's wrong?" I said.
"The Greaser called up and asked me to send him a demo. He said he'd take it to a studio for us. He said he'd always thought my voice was as good as Johnny Ace's."
"What'd you do?" I said.
"Told him he was a hypocrite and a liar and to lose my phone number."
At least I wasn't the only one in the band with a serious thinking disorder.
"Seen Kitty Lamar?" I said.
"I heard she was singing in a lounge in Victoria."
I pushed the glider back and forth, the chains creaking, the worn-out heels of my cowboy boots dragging on the boards.
"I'm not gonna do it," he said, looking straight ahead at the yard.
"Do what?"
"What you're thinking. She can ring or come by if she wants to, but I ain't running after her. Will you stop playing on that glider? You're giving me a migraine."
"You got that 45 rpm we recorded on the amusement pier in Galveston?"
"What about it?"
"I paid half of the four dollars it cost to make it. I want to take my half to Victoria and let Kitty Lamar hear it. Then I'm going to send my half to the Greaser."
I said that to piss him off good, which sometimes was the only way you got Eddy Ray outside of his own head. He went inside the house and came back out with the 45. It was wrapped in soft tissue and taped around the edges, and I knew that Eddy Ray hadn't given up his music.
"Does Kitty Lamar still paint her toenails?" I asked.
" 'Cause I always thought they were real cute."
He stared at me as though he'd never seen me before.
And that's how our band came back together, and that's how
"The Oil Driller's Lament" went on the charts and stayed there for sixteen weeks. But Eddy Ray Holland and the Gin Fizz Kitty from Texas City were never an item again. That's because she married R. B. Benoit, Dobro-player extraordinaire, also known as myself, in a little Assembly of God church in Del Rio, Texas. The church was right across the river from the Mexican radio station where, on a clear night, the Carter Family and Wolfman Jack beamed their radio shows high above the wheat fields and the mountains, all the way to the Canadian line, like a rainbow that has nowhere else to go.
What To Read Next


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Sony HD Digital Cinematic Sound 735 Watts 7.1 Channel 3D A/V Receiver With IPhone & IPod Playback + Yamaha Natural Sound Custom Install In-Ceiling 2-Way 120 Watts Speaker (Set Of 6) With 1 Tweeters & 8 Woofer + 100ft 16 AWG Speaker Wire
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Experience true sound with LPCM, Dolby trueHD, ProLogic IIz & dts-HD master audio codes
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Overall Rating: (Full Reviews Product) List Price: This Product is available at AMAZON for the best Price |


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The card stock paper has a consistent, smooth surface that enhances ink holdout and printability. This is a durable paper that is thick, they're ideal for the things that are the strong point of any business: brochure, cover, tab, file folder and business form; also perfect for menus of all sorts.
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Select () or exclude () categories to narrow your recipe search.
As you select categories, the number of matching recipes will update.
Find exactly what you're looking for with the web's most powerful recipe filtering tool.
I come from a proud tradition: a long line of women who hate to cook. But we all do.
Plus I like to eat tasty food.
Cooking style: find a recipe, note the ingredients then toss them in and add and subtract.
Units of measure: smidgeon, pinch, glop, goosh, spritz, dash and teaspoon
Recipe I'm known for: Stuff (browned ground beef with.... stuff)
Meat and potatoes


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Massive Attack – "United Snakes" by United Visual Artists. Starts simple, then gets bonkers. I've gotta get deeper into Open Frameworks…
If you've got an iPhone, go check out QuadCamera by artandmobile. Honestly one of my favorite apps, although it's killing me that it's not running on iPhoneOS 3.0 yet. (An update has been submitted to Apple, and patience is wearing thin….)
I've been experimenting lately with fluid and smoke simulations in Softimage. The latest version of the software uses a tree-based system called ICE that allows the creation of very complex particle and deformation effects using a graphic interface.
The problem with creating fluids or smoke using particles is that it takes a tremendous amount of particles to create a realistic effect – into the millions – which results in an extra-ordinary amount of point data as well as requiring a fair amount of memory to simply render a single image. Computers keep getting faster, and we keep finding ways to push them to an absolute limit…
Considering this, it makes this spot for Audi ever more impressive. Design and effects are by INFECTED, for the agency kempertrautmann/Hamberg.
Quite simply, this is insane + beautiful stuff. Additionally, the making of video is worth your time as well.
Font Shop announced FontShuffle, a typeface catalog + search app for the iPhone. (It allows you to shuffle the options by shaking the phone.) The iPhone got a little more awesomer today.
Search Flickr by color at Idée.
If you're getting tired of the psychedelic light show that is your screen saver, give the soothing and free Wordclock a try.
Number 70: Your updater sucks. Make it, perhaps, suck less.
from Dear Adobe.
In Adobe's defense, John Nack pulls the curtain back a bit.
Out of all the applications on my iPhone, Starmap is the one that provokes the most wonder. There's something truly amazing about looking at the stars with a small database of the sky in front of you, then realizing that the light from one particular star has been traveling 250000 light years to reach your eyeballs. Best $10. app I've ever bought by far.
Spore is finally out today, after years of work. You should buy it because it's cool, and because I directed the main titles to the game along with a documentary "The Making of Spore" that comes with the extra-fancy "Galactic Edition".
Word of the day – "Guilloches", which are the geometric patterns typically found on money, diplomas and other official paper.
Ministry of Type has been busy plugging nasty looking formulas into the Mac application Grapher to create images like the one above, and there's also Excentro as a stand alone app.
I'm now off to start my own currency.
via Kottke
The first in what will likely be a series of ultra-specialized graphic apps, iStache will put your choice of moustache on any picture you feed it. For example:
(Sorry Neil)
Here you go (only for OS X): iStache (link found on Daring Fireball.)
You can get Shake (Apple's pro compositing software) for $499. now, down from $2999.
The catch – it seems like they're either doing a MAJOR overhaul, or coming out with a completely different compositing software in the future, as they're notified people on maintenance contracts (us) that they'll either refund the remaining time on the contract, maintain simple email support if we keep the contract, or we can buy the source code (and a 5000-seat license) for $50K. In the email from Apple, they state "no further software updates are planned as we begin work on the next generation of Shake compositing software". My guess: a ground-up re-write, and they don't want to induce that potentially big change (and the time it will take to create) on the pro users, since it will likely disrupt post-production pipelines.
It's not the easiest software to use – steep learning curve – but tree-based compositors like Shake are the best way to learn and understand compositing. At $499., even if it is dead-end software, it's a really good app. We use it every day.


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In dealing with trampoline layouts that have a ton of spring and bounce, we not only have to look at controlling the inbound flight and initial impact of the dice on the table, but we also have to fully consider the outbound reaction and travel-distance after they hit the backwall.
Think about all the times you've throw on bouncy tables when the inbound dice-flight looked absolutely perfect. Both cubes flew through the air in perfectly matched mirror-like formation and continued that way even after they first hit the table. In fact, think of all the times when both dice emulated each other in faultless synchronicity and impacted the backwall together in what looked like a flawless textbook throw…only to witness each of them to ending up with an entirely different rebound path and distance from the backwall (and to each other)…and with a totally different, facially-and-axially-mismatched random outcome.
Let's try to resolve the rest of that bouncy table dilemma right now…
Backwall Rebound Distance and Straightness
Upon release, both dice should be flat and square to both the table-surface itself as well as to the backwall.
That means the dice should be perfectly horizontally level with the table and vertically square with the backwall. There is an excellent discussion of precisely how to do this on each and every toss that you make on your practice-table at home and how to accurately transfer that skill to the real-world tables titled Current Practice...Future Profit - Part Nine
By hitting the backwall squarely, the dice should roll STRAIGHT BACK.
If they are moving IN ANY OTHER DIRECTION than straight back, then they are NOT hitting the backwall squarely, or they are hitting the wall too far up into the alligator-pyramids and letting it RERANDOMIZE your up-until-now-DERANDOMIZED throw.
If the dice are rebounding at any other ANGLE than straight back, then the dice are not IMPACTING SQUARELY in relation to either the table surface or to the backwall...or both.
In most cases the cure is pretty simple:
The bottom-plane of both dice have to be thrown perfectly horizontal to the table surface.
If the dice are tilted to the left or right to any degree; then their first impact with the table is going to send them towards the backwall in an off-kilter orientation (if both of them get there at all). Then, once they hit the backwall, that orientation will almost always be random or at least not facially or axially coordinated (which in my book is as close to random as "damn" is to swearing).
Equally, both dice have to be thrown square to the backwall and they have to be released from your hand in a perfectly square manner too. That means that one die cannot lead or lag behind the other, and they both have to have exactly the same spin-rate as the other.
As well, both dice have to follow the exact same flight-path trajectory. If one die is flying slightly higher or lower than the other, then its initial touchdown point will be a little different from the other, and by the time both dice hit the backwall and rebound from it, they will be completely out of synch, and therefore they will no longer be acting in mirror-like formation to each other…and the outcome will most likely be random.
Tied in with all of that is the amount of throwing-energy with which the dice hit the backwall. If the dice are bouncing off the backwall then rebounding and traveling more than 4 or 5 inches from the backwall or from each other; then you are throwing them WAY too hard for the ULTRA Low, Slow, and Easy Toss to work properly or perform with any level of consistency.
The idea behind the ULTRA LS&E is to TAME a bouncy table with refined subtlety, so a hard throw that tries to beat it into submission simply WILL NOT WORK.
Acute finesse is the rule, not the exception in terms of conquering these layouts.
Trust me, you will not lose your virility nor will your patriotism be called into question if you use a nice and gentle toss…especially if it produces some winning payouts.
A low-energy, low-trajectory, low-spin toss that is horizontal to the table-top and square to the backwall is what most super-bouncy tables need…and REWARD.
Mistakes Are Magnified, But Uniformity is Rewarded
When players first encounter any of these super-bounce, ultra-jounce trampoline tables, they are almost always surprised to find that a slight toss defect that they could normally get away with on a regular hard, soft-neutral, or unresponsive-dead table; is magnified and exaggerated on these ones.
For example, if your dice-release normally imparts a tiny little bit of wobble (that is almost imperceptible unless you practice with a laser or DiceDoc's two-dice-glued-together DiceBarrel); many less-bouncy table-surfaces are somewhat forgiving and the dice will still remain on-axis and in-phase to each other despite that slight release-point defect. However, that very same toss on these bouncy tables may see one die fly off in a totally unexpected direction as soon as it hits the table or rebounds from the backwall, while the other one goes into a death-spiral spin that lasts for what seems like minutes; or before it even hits the wall, it just flops over dead like a Hollywood stunt dog.
Needless to say, ultra bouncy tables magnify your mistakes and turn small errors into what appear to be major throwing blunders. These tables will either force you to get back to the very basics of what dependable dice-influencing is all about…or they'll drive you completely nuts.
The choice is entirely up to you.
Though you can get away with a fairly sloppy toss on a lot of tables, especially the dead, neutral and unresponsive ones; bouncy tables will take you to task on each and every toss that isn't near-perfect.
There's a benefit to that though.
To my mind, bouncy tables can make you a better, more technically-honest, more consistent dice-influencer in that you have to ensure that every toss is flat and horizontal to the table-top, and square and parallel to backwall.
Bouncy tables teach you how to meter, gauge and regulate every element within your grip-pressure and finger-alignment, your muscularly-harmonious toss-motion, your smoothly-coordinated release-point and follow-through, your spin-rate, your throwing-energy, your flight-path trajectory, your initial target-area, and the proper vertical and horizontal orientation of your entire toss.
In other words, bouncy tables can help you become a much better player…faster.
That is, you either master your grip-pressure, finger-alignment, toss-motion, release-point, spin-rate, throwing-energy, flight-path trajectory, initial target-area, and the proper orientation of the dice quickly…or you'll continue to lose money nearly every time you pick up the dice.
Needless to say then, the side benefit of mastering your throw on these super-trampoline tables is that when you take your game back to a normal layout, I can pretty much guarantee that your basic toss will be flatter, straighter and technically purer than it ever was before you conquered these ultra bouncy tables.
In Part Six, I'm going to show you a couple of other things you can try on these tables if everything else fails.
Until then,
Good Luck and Good Skill at the Tables…and in Life.
The Mad Professor
Copyright © 2007-2008


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Good News Translation (GNT) | New International Version (NIV) |
38 As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. | 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. |
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission. (The Good News Translation - The Holy Bible Online) | Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online) |


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From Homosassa/Inglis - Take US 19 to SR-44 turn east. Approximatley 2.5 miles on the right (just past Publix shopping center).
From Inverness/Lecanto - Take SR-44 west of lecanto. Approximatley 3 miles on left (just past Winn Dixie shopping center).
First Service: 9:00 AM
Second Service: 10:30 AM
Both services offer Contemporary Praise and Worship and relevant preaching. We welcome all visitors and would love to see you Sunday!!!
Gulf To Lake Church 1454 N. Gulf Ave. Crystal River, FL 34429 Office (352) 795-8077 Fax (352) 795-6670 email: firstname.lastname@example.com
BIBLICAL in Content - AUTHENTIC in Nature - GRACIOUS in Attitude - RELEVANT in Approach


text:
Laura Reynolds
Private Instruction - Oboe
Office Location: Green Music Center
Office Phone:
E-mail Address:firstname.lastname@example.com
Office Hours: By Appointment
What I Do at SSU
I teach private instruction in Oboe and English Horn.
My Bio
Laura Reynolds has been an active chamber and orchestral performer in Northern California for over 20 years. She is principal oboist with the California Symphony and a member of the Santa Rosa and Marin Symphonies. Ms. Reynolds performs regularly with a number of other regional orchestras and is a recurring substitute with the San Francisco Symphony, where she was acting English Horn for the 2003-2004 season. She has also performed with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Virginia Symphony and has most recently appeared as soloist with Symphony of the Redwoods (2012) the Sault Symphony of Ontario, Canada (2010) and the California Symphony (2010).
Ms. Reynolds is a chamber music enthusiast and is a member of the wind trio Trois Bois and formerly a founding member of Citywinds, a San Francisco based woodwind quintet dedicated to performing music by living composers. A native of New York State, she started her formal musical training at age 7 with piano lessons, and at the suggestion of her musician father, first picked up the oboe in the summer before 4th grade. Ms. Reynolds received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Harry Sargous, and her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, under the guidance of Bill Bennett. During her collegiate years, she attended the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Sarasota Music Festival and the Bach Aria Festival and Institute at Stonybrook. She won her first orchestral position, with the Santa Rosa Symphony, just after graduation and has twice appeared as a soloist with Maestro Jeffrey Kahane.


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For more information on our Tiny Tots programs and setting up a tour please call the director for the program you are interested in. We like to make sure the program is a great fit for parent and child.
Tiny Tots Preschool |
Tiny Tots Kinder Prep |
Director: Rhonda Granlund (650) 949-2203 647 North San Antonio Road Los Altos, CA 94022 |
Director: Sara Callahan (650) 947-2885 97 Hillview Avenue (Room 14) Los Altos, CA 94022 |
If you have general questions please call Leea Guy at (650) 947-2890. |


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This was a baby shower gift to a good friend for her first born. She was expecting a baby girl. I used a couple of charm packs and did a "dissapearing 9-patch" in a different way than the traditional way. Completed circa October 2007.
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SHARE Supporting research on Affordable Care Act implementation at the state level. | RWJF DataHub Visualize state-level data on key health and health care topics. |
State Profiles
We are currently in the process of updating the State Profiles web tool. In the meantime, the most current estimates related to health care access and insurance coverage can be found on the following pages:
State-Level Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance, A State-by-State Analysis
This report examines national and state-level trends in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) and the factors that influence ESI. Trend analyses examine the time period from 1999 to 2011 and use data from the Current Populuation Survey (CPS) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component (MEPS-IC). The report examines national and state-level changes in ESI both overall and along several dimensions: by family income, policyholder vs. dependent status, employer/employment characteristics, and premium costs.
Two-page state profiles are available for each state along with the comprehensive 50-state report.
2013 State and County Insurance Coverage Estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS)
This page provides estimates of insurance coverage for all states and the District of Columbia from the American Community Survey (ACS), with 50-state comparison maps and tables available for the time periods of 2012 to 2013 and 2010 to 2013. The 50-state comparisons examine private coverage, public coverage, coverage overall for all ages, and coverage overall for children.
Two-page state profiles are available for each state and the District of Columbia, along with county-level information for all counties with populations of 65,000 or greater, for the time period of 2012 to 2013. These profiles consider coverage overall and coverage by age, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, education, work experience, household income, and poverty level.
State and County ACS Coverage Estimates, 2009-2013
This page provides tables that contain state and county health insurance coverage estimates for the pooled years 2008-2012. These estimates come from the 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) via the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder (AFF) tool. These estimates pool together 5-years of data to produce reliable period estimates for areas and subgroups with smaller populations.
The State Health Access Profile is a comprehensive profile of access to health care in the states that goes beyond indicators of health insurance coverage. SHADAC researchers identified and assembled indicators that measure state resources that enable access to health care for residents.
The State Health Access Profile includes 16 measures that...
- have underpinnings in theoretical or empirical literature;
- are readily available in the 50 states and DC; and
- are likely to be provided consistently in the future.
To see the data for a specific state, click on the map below. A table comparing all 50 states on all of the measures is also available in PDF and Excel formats. A description of the data sources and methods is available here.


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I've been trying to make sense of what Bernhard Kohl's positive test means for a couple of days now. Near as I can puzzle it out, here's what I've got: it's good that Kohl got busted because we unmasked yet another doper. But it's bad because the background of his positive test suggests cycling has a lot further to go to clean up. And, there's still no clear signal on whether the sport is heading up, or down in that respect.
The standard refrain this past July when Manuel Beltran tested positive was, "OK, whatever. The guy's old-school. He's probably been psychologically dependent on doping for years and, now, he's probably out of the sport forever." When Riccardo Ricco tested positive, there was lots of hand-wringing because, at just 24, he was supposed to be part of the "new" generation that rejected doping. That was too easy by half.
Ricco might've been 24, but mentally, he belonged to the same school as Beltran. Here was a guy who idolized and patterned his career after Marco Pantani, after all, to the point of trying to nickname himself and hiring Elefantino's old soigneur (which might've been a logistical move as much as a stylistic one, given that Roberto Pregnolato appears to have been part of both riders' efforts to skirt anti-doping rules). And Ricco was far from an isolated case for his team, what with Piepoli's positive and, before that, Iban Mayo's.
Kohl, though, was both young (just 26) and rode for a team that outwardly expressed a clear anti-doping stance. Gerolsteiner was the only non-French member of the Movement Pour un Cyclisme Credible, a team organization committed to clean racing. Hans Holzcer talked a good game, at least, although his efforts admittedly fell short of going much past that and he obviously lacked control over his riders.
More to the point, though, is what Kohl tested positive for: CERA, a third-generation form of EPO that had been thought to be undetectable. Like his teammates, Kohl was effectively in a contract year since Holzcer hadn't found - and likely wouldn't - a replacement sponsor for Gerolsteiner. So with the pressures of turning in a good show at the Tour and getting a contract, maybe he doped. Maybe he'd been using all along, I don't know. The point is, he picked a drug he thought was undetectable. He doped because he thought he wouldn't get caught.
There are, by all accounts, a lot of pros today who are riding clean. The question is how many of them are riding clean because they understand it is the only path forward, and how many are riding clean simply because they fear getting busted if they dope?
We'll always need the threat of punishment to keep athletes from seeking an advantage, just as there are punishments for breaking the law. There will always be people who assume the rules do not apply to them and will try to game the system. But at the same time, criminal penalties aren't what keep most of us from knocking over ATMs or boosting cars. What does is social contract. Ethics. We don't steal because we understand that stealing is wrong. Laws, in turn, are usually built around ethics, not the other way around.
This, not the criminal justice system, is what keeps civilization moving forward (justice is just the safety net). In bike racing, a purely punitive motivation not to dope isn't really sustainable. It will last only as long as riders can't beat the tests. Once a new technique or substance comes along that can evade detection, we're right back to square one.
To survive, the sport must be contested by people who ride clean not out of fear of the consequences if they don't, but because their value system places that on the same level - or even above - winning. Right now I don't see this philosophy prominently displayed on many teams.
Even some of the teams running anti-doping testing programs do so with a kind of aggrieved air that they must because there is no trust left in cycling anymore and so we'll undergo this - endure it - to show we're clean. If we must. But the results of these programs are by and large off limits to the press and public, giving rise to the question of how legitimate they are - how much is just public relations? Garmin-Chipotle has been the subject of most of that criticism, ironically because they're the only people really willing to talk about it. People slag on David Millar's jailhouse conversion (look, if it were cynical, then he's doing a damn fine job of hiding it over the past three years) or Jonathan Vaughters' continual media appearances, to portray whole "clean team" thing is just a PR program.
There's definitely a strong PR component to it and Garmin got a lot of mileage out of being so accessible to the press. But there were risks involved too. Garmin is still the only team that has released information that could have hurt them. When I got Christian Vande Velde's test results, for all he and the team knew, Michael Ashenden was going to proclaim that there was clear evidence of manipulation, and I was going to print that. They had no control over the conclusions I and Ashenden drew from the data, or how it would be used. That story, which published online during the Tour's third week as Vande Velde was solidifying his fifth fourth-place overall, could have been an instant neutron bomb to the entire team. And as much as I may personally like JV and his riders, I like cycling and truth even more. If I had come across clear and convincing evidence that there was something funky going on, I'd have said so. That was a risk that they couldn't control, but they still took it. No one else - not CSC, not Columbia, Rock, BMC, Astana, anyone - has gone that far. (CSC releases anonymous data, but the information is so opaque it borders on useless. I appreciate that they offer them, but let's not pretend you can actually learn anything from graphs that look like bird's nests.)
As well, when you talk to some cyclists about doping, there is the same tired, aggrieved attitude. "If I must," if they even do answer questions (some will not answer doping-related questions; others, like Erik Zabel, barely talk to anyone at all, for any reason - at least he's consistent). At CSC's pre-Tour press conference, the likeable, quotable Jens Voigt lamented the press' fixation on the scandal side of doping. "Why can't the approach be, 'Hey, good for cycling; we caught another bad one?" he asked.
News alert, Jens: It's not up to me. It's up to you and your fellow pros. I'm not an opinion-maker in the pro peloton. I'm not a team manager who can stand up and say, "Look, we're going to give you every legitimate tool we can to help you win. But we also understand we won't win all the time. And we don't expect you to." So far, only a rare handful of teams and managers out there are espousing this philosophy. And one of them - one of the best and brightest and the first to explore longitudinal testing - was just forced to shutter his team because few companies these days want to make a PR investment that looks as dodgy as a Lehman CDS contract. That's not Roger Legeay's fault or Thor Hushovd's. That's Ivan Basso and Tyler Hamilton and Michael Rasmussen's fault. And, yes, Bjarne Riis' and Theo de Rooij's as well.
Maybe Kohl is one of the last of the guys who was still so incredibly stupid he didn't get it. Maybe most pros these days realize that the order today has shifted and you can't merely try to be smarter than the testers. I see some encouraging signs of that, like when Sebastian Lang says he's glad his teammates got caught, or when Robbie Hunter rails against his own teammate's stupidity.
But after every one of these moments, I wonder if Kohl's attitude isn't as rare as we'd like it to be. Pro cycling has been on notice for years now that it cannot afford more screwups. And yet seven riders at the Tour apparently still didn't understand this. They didn't understand that the world has changed, and it is no longer in a mood to suffer fools like Kohl, or Ricco, or Stefan Schumacher, who put their own egos and accomplishments above all else.
People get tired of the scandal. They get tired of wondering how many stage wins (four) and top 10 placings (one) and jersey competitions (one) have to get re-written, of how much of what they cheered for was just so much pharmaceutically enhanced fiction. Eventually, they're just going to stop watching, stop paying attention, stop caring.
We've had 40-plus years of cops and robbers, of hoping a punishment model would be sufficient enough to enforce good behavior. It's not working. In fact, maybe it never did. But there's an opportunity here that we've never had before. It's right in front of the riders, and it's up to them to grab it, because no one can do this for them. It's time to do the right thing because it's the right thing. Here's the choice: Kohl's positive can be either one of the last gasps of a toxic era as it dies, or it can be yet another low point on a long decline that ends only when the last team closes its doors, and the last race is cancelled.
Which is it going to be?


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Last year researchers at the institute published results in a peer-reviewed journal showing bananas did just as well as sports drinks for people during and after exercising.
Two groups of Appalachian State cyclists consumed either sports drink or half a banana and water every 15 minutes during a 2-3 hour simulated road race.
In addition to measuring performance between the two groups, blood samples were taken before and after exercise and studied for sugar levels to determine performance and recovery.
The results showed there was virtually no difference between the two groups.
"The body processed the fuel the same way," Gillitt said. "We didn't think bananas would be better, but being the same is amazing because sports drink makers spend millions (of dollars on them)."
He said many high performance athletes aren't enthused about drinking what amounts to sugar water, but they like the results, and now they have an alternative.
There's no reason a retailer couldn't market bananas next to the sports drinks in their stores, Gillitt said, and it can apply to 10 year-olds playing soccer, not just high performance athletes.
Pineapples up next
Another study Gillitt is looking forward to is testing the blood benefits from bromelain, which is a compound found in pineapples.
He said bromelain has long been thought to have anti-inflammatory properties and aids in digestion, but no studies exist showing it.
"The pineapple world needs that bridge between 'we know what's in it' to 'we know how it affects human health,'" he said.
One tool he can use is called a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 950 machine. He said it's one of the two most powerful such machines in the world which performs similarly to an MRI machine on people, but the NMR is for imaging food.
"I'd like to image bromelain and then see how it acts in the blood," he said.
The NMR 950 is an example of another of the Dole institute's goals, which is to house some of the world's best science equipment and then use them to attract the most talented scientists.
Gillitt said it's working.
He said this fall, the institute plans to open lab space for other companies in the core lab building, which could include desks, sinks, storage and equipment to run trials, in addition to all the other equipment at the facility.
And Gillitt said Murdock donated land on the campus to the city of Kannapolis for its city hall and a 400-seat auditorium. which should begin to be built in early 2014.
Gillitt says of his boss, who spends time in his office at the institute about 10 times a year, "His belief in science drove us to be here."


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'neuroscience' posts
A blood test to diagnose depression
Researchers at Northwestern University (Redei et al., 2014) have developed a blood test that ...
Getting the most out of your appointment
I was recently asked if I could provide advice on how patients could get the most out of their Swedish Multiple Sclerosis Center visits. In reality, I think most of us have been patients at least once in our lives. The list of tips I provide is comprehensive. However, critical information may be missing. If you notice omissions, please respond with your own advice in the comments since we can all learn from each other.
One of the most important MS life survival lessons is that we are all part of the same team. As a member of that team, our goal is to equip you with the knowledge and skills to live your life to the fullest. This starts with the MS Center visit. Where you go with the information, is all part of our journey together:
What is ALS and why did it inspire ice bucket challenges at Swedish?
Employees of Swedish Cherry Hill Outpatient Rehabilitation and Neurology Departments took the plunge and participated in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness of ALS and funding for ALS research. (Click here to see their video on Facebook.)
Before the ALS clinic team takes the ice bucket challenge
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), most commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease", is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which affects the motor neurons responsible for voluntary movements and muscle power. As the disease progresses, individuals living with ALS may lose their ability to move and control the muscles of their extremities, torso, head and mouth which can make completion of basic activities such as walking, eating, talking and even breathing very difficult.
Unfortunately, the disease has no cure and only one medication has been approved for the treatment of ALS. Research is making strides towards understanding the underlying physiology and genetic makeup of the disease. Because of ...
Treatment options for hemifacial spasm
Hemifacial spasm is usually more common in women. The most common cause of hemifacial spasm is ...
Drug treatment and weight loss restores vision in a blinding disorder linked to obesity
As many as 100,000 Americans suffer from a disorder called pseudotumor cerebri or idiopathic intracranial hypertension that can cause permanent blindness and chronic headaches. The disease primarily strikes obese women of reproductive age with symptoms of daily headaches, visual symptoms including transient blurring or blindness, double vision, and pulsating noises in one's head. Up to 5-10% of these patients may have permanent visual loss due to optic nerve damage.
A recent national trial funded by the National Institute of Health's National Eye Institute has shown that a common water pill, acetazolamide, combined with a moderate but comprehensive dietary and lifestyle modification plan can restore and preserve vision in women with this disease. I was one of the local investigators for this trial along with Dr. Eugene May.
The symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri are thought to be due to high spinal fluid pressure around the optic nerves and brain due to impaired reabsorption of spinal fluid that is continuously being produced within the brain. This results in chronic headaches and swelling of the optic nerves that can lead to permanent blindness if left untreated. Patients typically are ...
Supporting patients with Parkinson's Disease
Swedish is proud to partner with the APDA to support research, education, programs and services that stay in our community to benefit those living with Parkinson's Disease.
Pituitary Tumors: Diagnosis and Management
The Swedish Pituitary Center at the Swedish Neuroscience Institute is one of the country's largest centers for treating disorders of the pituitary gland – including pituitary tumors. The center brings together endocrinologists, neurosurgeons and radiation oncologists to offer a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis and treatment of these tumors.
Tumors in the pituitary gland are quite common and many of them are so small they may go undetected throughout life. Although 99 percent of pituitary tumors are benign, the associated symptoms can be
debilitating, especially with hormone-secreting tumors. Regardless of the type of tumor, individuals with pituitary tumors may experience headaches, blurred vision, impotence/infertility, and mood changes.


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memphis grizzlies
Knicks Player Tweet of the Tweet
JR Smith gets this weeks Knicks Player Tweet of the Tweet, referring to his run in with Jerryd Bayless.
Michael (@delacmi1) scours twitter all week to find our Knicks player Tweet of the Week every Monday morning.
6-1 Is Still Really Good
We knew the Knicks had to lose eventually. At least the Knicks first loss was to the Grizzlies who are playing the best basketball in the league and now have the leagues best record as well.
Once again the energy was playoff atmosphere. The effort on both ends was unbelievable. Carmelo held his own for the most part guarding Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph and Rasheed Wallace looked like 2004 Rasheed.
Jerryd Bayless and JR Smith got into it late in the 2nd quarter and everything began to go downhill. Continue reading
Episode 96: A Week in Review
We're back. Jay has been working insane hours this week so we haven't been able to do a show until tonight. That means we have FIVE Knicks games to review. We also do the top five things the Knicks need to change. Voting has begun on our contest, so please support all of those who have entered. Dwight Howard broke an NBA record. We debate whether ABA records shoudl count. This is relevant in regards to Kobe who will become the 6th or 8th highest scorer of all time very soon depending on this debate. Download Episode 96
Western Conference Predictions
Jay's Picks
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. Los Angeles Lakers
5. San Antonio Spurs
6. Los Angeles Clippers
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Portland Trailblazers
Last Place: Continue reading
Episode 66: The Week in Review
We talk about the last weeks games including the 3OT Grizzlies/Thunder game, the elimination of the Atlanta Hawks, and Miami eliminating Boston. Download Episode 66
Episode 64: Game 2's; the Upset Edition
We talk about the 2nd round series between the Bulls and Hawks, Celtics and Heat, Grizzlies and Thunder and Mavs and Lakers. Download Episode 64


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A recent poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times found that almost half of those surveyed would favor the state's regulation of online poker if the promised $200 million yearly would benefit education and public safety.
However, the other half expressed concern that addicted gamblers may set a bad example on today's youth and increase the number of problem gamblers. The poll questioned 1,002 registered voters in the state, which is a small sample size considering California is the most populated state in the U.S. with over 37 million residents.
"The state of California is the leading Internet gaming market in the world,'' said Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), who proposed online gambling legislation in February along with State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). "The only thing is, we make no money and we have no [consumer] protections for our citizens who play.''
The Golden State's budget deficit of over 9 billion prompted Wright and Steinberg to introduce SB1463, the Internet Gambling Consumer Protection and Public-Private Partnership Act of 2012. But concerns of the state's tribal casinos and cardrooms has required the bill to be amended to address certain issues, such as the lofty $30 million licensing fee and the requirement that the fee be paid within three years.
Lawmakers have three more months to push SB1463 through the legislative process, as the session is scheduled to conclude on August 31. Failure to pass the proposal in that time will require legislators to begin anew in 2013.


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About | Projects | Docs | Forums | Lists | Bugs | Get Gentoo! | Support | Planet | Wiki
Peter and company, It is important for you to understand that we, releng, are in the process of 2008.0 right now. As such, it probably is not fair to knowingly push our buttons given that we have entered the execution phase of doing this work now. Gentoo folks, users and devs alike, felt it was important to focus on getting 2008 out and in quick order. This is where our time investment should be going. The call for features is closed and our direction is clear. We know what we are going to build and deliver. I encourage you to find a way to constructively spool your input; and it should probably be aimed at post-2008.0. This rag-tag releng team is stressed to its limits to meet deadlines. If you feel so strongly about Gentoo and want to advocate for users, please join and begin to contribute to that extent. This is how the current team members got started. Regards, =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Scanned with Copfilter Version 0.84beta3a (ProxSMTP 1.6) AntiVirus: ClamAV 0.91.2/5686 - Mon Feb 4 15:13:58 2008 by Markus Madlener @ http://www.copfilter.org -- firstname.lastname@example.com mailing list
Updated Jun 17, 2009
Summary: Archive of the gentoo-releng mailing list.
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Ghillie Suits as Low as $49.95 Plus Shipping!
You have come to the right place. On this site you will find free building plans for a variety of deer hunting stands. And, as you read at the very top of this page, all the plans are free!
My newest deer hunting box stand (shown left) has a shooting height of 15ft and has two levels for safely climbing and bring up gear. Also, this box blind could serve well as a two level parent-child stand for a youth hunt.
My 4ft by 4ft 12-ft high box hunting stand is portable, has components that fit inside a full size truck or van bed (with topper closed!), and may be assembled on site by one person! And it only costs about $150 to build! Take a look at the plans for this box deer blind!
We have plans for a ladder-type deer stand that may be moved from tree to tree and may also be transported inside a truck topper or even a minivan. This hunting stand is not only portable, it is inexpensive!
In addition we have plans for an elevated weather-proof box deer hunting stand that will protect you from the weather and cold. The Easy Tree Deer Stand is perhaps the cheapest and easiest hunting stand you can build - check it out! Also we have plans for an easy ground blind that also costs very little and offers some nice concealment.
And some unique deer blind plans posted here are for a back-packable, portable ground blind with a chimney that hangs from a limb, as shown below. You won't find it at a sporting store, but you can build it. See my plans for this deer hunting blind that sends your scent 15 feet into the air.
In addition to deer stand plans, I will be including tips on food plots, info on game cameras, and other deer hunting topics and tips in future updates. And just recently I added plans for a homemade hunting blind seat. Also take a look at my site Deer Hunting Basics!
Hope you can make good use of the plans. And tell your friends!
Click Ctrl D to Bookmark This Page! Tell Your Friends! Click on The Share Button =>
Copyright 2011 Michael Sakowski Questions or Comments? Email Me! Links to Other Hunting Sites Privacy Policy


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2 hours ago
Friday, March 23, 2012
1 comment:
- AnonymousMarch 24, 2012 at 11:07 AM
Please lift your feet so I can vacuum. Thanks. Higher please. Higher... - Montana Cowboy
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Tillsonburg Tube Inc., Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada, has acquired Tunnel Tech, LaSalette, Ontario.
Tunnel Tech will retain its name, and the company will continue to offer three-season Multi Bay high tunnels as well as the newer gothic, or peaked roof, tunnels, says Kathleen Fouse, who heads sales and marketing.
The firm's logo has been modified, and the website is undergoing a face lift.
A new management team, led by acting president Keith Prince, will drive the company moving forward.
Tillsonburg manufactures the steel components that are used in the tunnels.


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Reviewed Banana Cream Pie with Caramel Drizzles and Chocolate Sauce
Jun 11, 2011 in Food Network Community Toolbox on FoodNetwork.com
"I followed the custard for this recipe to detail. I tasted it along the way and...it was still DELICIOUS. The custard itself could have been a dessert. It was for my sister's birthday and she wanted regular pie crust so I used store-bought and ended up getting two pies out of it instead of one. Everyone loved it. I'll definitely make it again. ""


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30,655 Dojo and growing
Helping people find Dojo since 2004
Currently online: 246 Visitors
Most of these Martial Arts Studios, clubs and gyms offer Karate classes for kids or Self Defense classes for children, men and women in Johnstown area. If you are looking for classes or lessons near your address in Johnstown, please use the following search box and see a list of Martial Arts Schools, clubs and organizations near you.
See Martial Arts Schools and classes in places around Johnstown, Nebraska: Ainsworth, Wood Lake, Long Pine, Meadville, Midvale, Cleveland, Bassett.
If you are associated with a Martial Arts School in Johnstown, please list it with dojolocator.


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FYI there is also a pin trading meet on the same day at Westfield Disney Store in London from 10am til 1pm so it fits nicely together!! Details are on the facebook page for United Kingdom Disney Pin Traders
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FYI there is also a pin trading meet on the same day at Westfield Disney Store in London from 10am til 1pm so it fits nicely together!! Details are on the facebook page for United Kingdom Disney Pin Traders
Looking like 9 confirmed and 4 possibles at the moment :thumbs:
BTW, area now reserved from 1pm to 2pm at C'est Ici (at Kingly Court) for our little gathering....and seeing as it's a special occasion ;) we can treat ourselves to cakes and drinks from Candy Cakes....warning...do not look at this link if hungry!!! :cookie: www.candycakes.com
Oh why did I look??? I know have a list of three cupcakes I want! Red velvet, peanut butter and coconut cream - the mind boggles! :dizzy:
Did I say I was bringing hubby Tom, cos I am! :cookie:
Hi Emma
Just to let you know that it will just be me at the meet - Matt checked his work rota and has been scheduled in for that weekend. I guess I will have to eat cupcakes for the both of us!!
Can't wait to meet you all on the 15th! Well done for organising this, sounds fab!:yahoo:
It's going to be funtastic. :bouncy: :wave:
I was wondering if we should wear name badges, with our forum/everyday names on? :) (Mainly because I have a memory like a sieve... :lol: )
Whilst we're all chatting away here about the UK Meet next month, I wondered if any of you attending are Vinylmation Traders? I bought some more Vinyls today at the Disney Store in Southampton and have got a double from the Animation #1 series - Phil from Hercules. Would any of you be interested in trading on the Saturday we meet up? If any of you would like Phil for your collection, just PM me and I will put him to one side for whoever asks first. FYI, Phil will come in his box, in his foil wrapper and with his collectors card (still sealed in the plastic wrap). Cheers.
I dont collection vinylmation... shock horror I know I have been really good resisting them so far!
Hi all, me and Kerrie just booked train tickets (how much :omg: ) so we'll see you all in a few weeks :)