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Cases of West Nile Virus infection are on the rise in the U.S. Already over 1,100 cases and 41 deaths have been reported in 47 states. Though most cases of the infection are relatively mild, more severe infections can be life-threatening, particularly in the elderly.
West Nile Encephalitis, a viral infection that can cause swelling of the brain, was first seen in the U.S. in 1999. The disease is native to Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia.
Humans, birds and horses have died from the infection. It is therefore presumed that the disease came to America in 1999 through the importation of an infected mosquito or bird from the Middle East.
Infected birds carry the virus in their bloodstream. Mosquitoes that bite these infected birds can then pick up the virus and transmit it to humans by biting them. Many varieties of birds can harbor the virus, including crows, robins, sparrows, gulls, blue jays, hawks and falcons. Since 1999, there have been about 30,000 confirmed West Nile infections and over 1,200 deaths from the disease in the U.S.
Most infections occur in summer or early fall. Risk factors for West Nile infection are outdoor activity, lack of application of insect repellents and standing water around residential areas that serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. The peak time of day for mosquito bites is from dusk to dawn.
Since the cause is viral, many of the typical symptoms can be very general: fever, headache, body aches, neck pain, nausea and vomiting. About one in 150 infected persons will develop more severe illness with inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) and central nervous system. These people can develop behavioral changes such as irritability, confusion and disorientation, as well as muscle weakness or rigidity, or tremors. Persons older than 50 years old are at higher risk for developing severe illness.
To determine if someone has the disease, all of the signs and symptoms should be examined together. If the sick individual has the typical symptoms, it is mosquito season, the individual is 50-plus-years-old, and there has been confirmed infection in regional birds or unexplained bird deaths, then West Nile infection would be suspected. A blood test may then be performed to detect the virus.
Like most viral infections, there is no specific treatment for West Nile Encephalitis. Medicines to treat high fever and discomfort can offer relief of symptoms. Severely ill individuals may need hospitalization and observation.
The key is prevention. Insect repellents containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535 and the plant-based oil of lemon eucalyptus are all recommended by CDC. Repellents containing DEET or picaridin provide the longest and most effective protection against mosquito bites.
Use screens in windows and doors to keep mosquitoes outdoors. Get rid of standing water around your home. If standing water cannot be removed, use a mosquito larvacide (available at hardware stores). Finally, see your doctor if you develop unusual symptoms. No vaccine has yet been developed to prevent the disease in humans.
The content in this column is for informational purposes only. Consult your physician for appropriate individual treatment. Dr. Reynolds practices Family Medicine in Chesterfield.


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Construction work will commence this week on a new building for the United States Air Force Academy. The Center for Character and Leadership Development (CCLD) has been designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and will sit in the Air Force Academy's campus which was master-planned by SOM in 1954.
Once completed, the building will include a flexible gathering space, various breakout areas, seminar rooms, offices, a library, and the Honor Board Room, collectively amassing 46,000 sq ft. Targeting LEED Silver Certification, the building is due for completion in summer 2014.
During the design process, architects at SOM worked in partnership with Dr. Devin Della-Rose to ensure that the North Star (the symbol of the US Air Force Academy's core values) was always due north of the building at 39° latitude.
Roger Duffy, FAIA, Design Partner at SOM explains: "The CCLD asserts itself as a 21st-century campus icon, while also deferring to the discipline and rigour of the Academy's original plan. We're excited to be revisiting our work on this significant 20th-century landmark and contributing to its enduring position in the canon of American architecture."

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The work on this thesis was motivated initially by our research on the 2K operating system [KCM+00]. During the early phases of that research, we identified proper dependence management as a key factor in the development of robust operating system and middleware architectures. We begin this chapter describing dynamicTAO, a fundamental part of 2K, and explaining how the dynamicTAO internal architecture applies the ideas defended in this thesis.
Section 7.2 focuses on a Multimedia Distribution System we developed some years ago. It shows how we enhanced the system recently using the infrastructure for automatic configuration and component configurators to enable dynamic reconfiguration in the occurrence of failures.
In Section 7.3, we refer to systems being developed by other researchers that are applying some of the ideas presented in this thesis.
One of the major constituent elements of the 2K distributed operating system [KSC+98,CNM98,KCM+00] is a reflective middleware infrastructure based on CORBA. After carefully studying existing CORBA Object Request Brokers, we came to the conclusion that the TAO ORB [SC99] would be the best starting point for developing this infrastructure.
TAO is a portable, flexible, extensible, and configurable ORB based on design patterns. It uses the Strategy design pattern [GHJV95] to encapsulate different aspects of the ORB internal engine. A configuration file is used to specify the strategies the ORB uses to implement aspects such as concurrency, request demultiplexing, scheduling, and connection management. At ORB startup time, the configuration file is parsed and the selected strategies are loaded.
TAO is primarily targeted for static hard real-time applications such as avionics systems [HLS97a]. Thus, it assumes that, once the ORB is initially configured, its strategies will remain in place until it completes its execution. There is no support for on-the-fly reconfiguration.
On-the-fly adaptation is extremely important for a wide range of applications including those dealing with multimedia, mobile computers, and dynamically changing environments. To support this kind of dynamic adaptations, we developed dynamicTAO [RKC99,KRL+00], an extension of TAO that enables on-the-fly reconfiguration of its strategies. dynamicTAO exports an interface for loading and unloading modules into the ORB runtime, and for inspecting the ORB configuration state. The architecture can also be used for dynamic reconfiguration of user applications running on top of the ORB and even for reconfiguring non-CORBA applications.
dynamicTAO is our first complete implementation of a CORBA reflective ORB. As pointed out in [SSC97,SSC98b], a reflective system is a system that gives a program access to its definition and evaluation rules, and defines an interface for altering them. In an ORB, client requests represent the ``program'' to be evaluated by the system, the ORB implementation represents the ``evaluator'', and ``evaluation'' is simply the execution of the remote method invocation. A reflective ORB makes it possible to redefine its evaluation semantics.
dynamicTAO allows inspection and reconfiguration of its internal engine and allows ORB and application developers to specify reconfiguration policies inside customized subclasses of the ComponentConfigurator class. It exports an interface for (1) transferring components across the distributed system, (2) loading and unloading modules into the ORB runtime, and (3) inspecting and modifying the ORB configuration state.
The reification of dynamicTAO's internal structure is achieved through a collection of component configurators. Each process running the dynamicTAO ORB contains a component configurator instance called DomainConfigurator. It is responsible for maintaining references to instances of the ORB and to servants running in that process. In addition, each instance of the ORB contains a customized component configurator called TAOConfigurator.
TAOConfigurator contains hooks to which implementations of dynamicTAO strategies are attached. Hooks work as ``mounting points'' where specific strategy implementations are made available to the ORB. We currently support hooks for different kinds of strategies such as Concurrency, Security, and Monitoring. The association between hooks and component implementations can be changed at any time, subject to safety constraints.
Figure 7.1 illustrates this reification mechanism in a process containing a single instance of the ORB. If necessary, individual strategies can use component configurators to reify their dependencies upon ORB instances and other strategies. These configurators may also store references to client connections that depend on the strategies. With this information, it is possible to manage strategy reconfiguration consistently as we explain in section 7.1.3.
The dynamicTAO architectural framework is depicted in Figure 7.2. The Persistent Repository stores category implementations in the local file system. It offers methods for manipulating (e.g., browsing, creating, deleting) categories and the implementations of each category. Once a component implementation is stored in the local repository, it can be dynamically loaded into the process runtime.
A Network Broker receives reconfiguration requests from the network and forwards them to the Dynamic Service Configurator. The latter contains the DomainConfigurator (shown in Figure 7.1) and supplies common operations for dynamic configuration of components at runtime. It delegates some of its functions to specific component configurators (e.g., TAOConfigurator or a certain ServantConfigurator).
We minimized the changes to the standard ACE/TAO distribution by delegating some of the basic configuration tasks to components of the ACE framework such as the ACE_Service_Config (used to process startup configuration files and manage dynamic linking) and the ACE_Service_Repository (to manage loaded implementations) [JS97].
This architectural framework enables the development of different kinds of persistent repositories and network brokers to interact with the Dynamic Service Configurator. Thus, it is possible to use different naming schemes when storing category implementations and different communication protocols for remote configuration as described below.
We built the dynamicTAO components using the ACE wrappers [Sch93] for operating system services. Thus, dynamicTAO runs on the several different platforms to which ACE was ported.
dynamicTAO supports three distinct forms of reconfiguration interfaces. In general terms, they all provide the same functionality, but each of them has characteristics that makes it more or less appropriate for certain situations. A description of the interfaces follows.
We now use the DynamicConfigurator IDL specification presented in Figure 7.3 to explain the functionality of the dynamicTAO reconfiguration interfaces7.1.
The DynamicConfigurator interface specifies the operations that can be performed on dynamicTAO abstractions, namely, categories, implementations, hooks, and configurable components. The first nine operations in the interface are used to inspect the dynamic structure of that domain and retrieve information about the different abstractions. A category represents the type of a component; each category typically contains different implementations, i.e., dynamically loadable code stored in the Persistent Implementation Repository. For example, a category called Concurrency contains the three threading models that dynamicTAO currently supports: Reactive_Strategy, Thread_Strategy, and Thread_Pool_Strategy.
Once an implementation is loaded into the system runtime, it becomes a loaded implementation and can be associated with a logical component in the ORB domain. Finally, components have hooks that are used to represent inter-component dependence; if a component depends upon component , then this dependence is represented by attaching to a hook in .
load_implementation dynamically loads and starts an implementation from the persistent repository. hook_implementation attaches it to a hook in one of the components in the domain.
The next four methods allow operations on loaded implementations. It is possible to suspend and resume their main threads, remove them from the process, and send them component-specific reconfiguration messages.
upload_implementation allows an external entity to send an implementation to be stored in the local Persistent Repository, so that it can be linked to a running process and attached to a hook. Conversely, download_implementation allows a remote entity to retrieve an implementation from the local Persistent Repository. Finally, delete_implementation is used to delete implementations stored at the ORB Persistent Repository.
Consider now the scenario in which a user wants to change the threading model at runtime by using an implementation of the Concurrency strategy called Thread_Pool_Strategy. Assuming that the user wants to start with a thread pool of size 20, the required configuration steps are the following.
Figure 7.4 shows C++ code that uses the Dynamic Configurator to retrieve and print some information about the ORB internal configuration. The code obtains a reference to the DynamicConfigurator object through the ORB's resolve_initial_references() method.
Reconfiguring a running ORB while it is servicing client requests is a difficult task that requires careful consideration. There are two major problems.
Consider the case in which dynamicTAO receives a request for replacing one of its strategies () by a new strategy (). TAO strategies are implemented as C++ objects that communicate through method invocations. The first problem is that, before unloading , the system must guarantee that no one is running code and that no one is expecting to run code in the future. Otherwise, the system could crash. Thus, it is important to assure that is only unloaded after the system can guarantee that its code will not be called.
The second problem is that some strategies need to keep state information. When a strategy is being replaced by , part of 's internal state may need to be transfered to . Both problems can be addressed with the help of the TAOConfigurator.
Consider, for example, the three concurrency strategies supported by dynamicTAO: single-threaded reactive, thread-per-connection, and thread-pool. If the user switches from the reactive or thread-per-connection strategies to any other concurrency strategy, nothing special needs to be done. dynamicTAO may simply load the new strategy, update the proper TAOConfigurator hook, unload the old strategy, and continue. Old client connections will complete with the concurrency policy dictated by the old strategy. New connections will utilize the new policy.
However, if one switches from the thread-pool strategy to another strategy, we must take special care. The thread-pool strategy we developed maintains a pool of threads that is created when the strategy is initialized. The threads are shared by all incoming connections to achieve a good level of concurrency without having the runtime overhead of creating new threads. A problem arises when one switches from this strategy to another strategy: the code of the strategy being replaced cannot be immediately unloaded. This happens because, since the threads are reused, they return to the thread-pool strategy code each time a connection finishes. This problem can be solved by a ThreadPoolConfigurator keeping information about which threads are handling client connections and destroying them as the connections are closed. When the last thread is destroyed the thread-pool strategy signals that it can be unloaded.
Another problem occurs when one replaces the thread-pool strategy by a new one. There may be several incoming connections queued in the strategy waiting for a thread to execute them. The solution is to use the Memento pattern [GHJV95] to encapsulate the old strategy state in an object that is passed to the new strategy. An object is used to encapsulate the queue of waiting connections. The system simply passes this object to the new strategy, which then takes care of the queued connections.
It is interesting to note that, although the implementation of a reflective ORB is not the main topic of this thesis, dynamicTAO is associated with the novel ideas presented in this thesis in many distinct ways.
The dynamicTAO internal structure is reified and managed with the C++ implementation of the component configurator framework. Our implementation of the CORBA version of the component configurator was developed using dynamicTAO as the underlying ORB. Finally, we developed the Component Repository and the Automatic Configuration Service using dynamicTAO's DynamicConfigurator IDL interface depicted in Figure 7.3.
dynamicTAO is a good example of how the component configurator framework can be used to represent inter-component dependence and how software developers can use it to specify policies for safe dynamic configuration.
In [KCT+98] we describe the design and implementation of a flexible multimedia distribution system and demonstrated that it is possible to use the existing Internet to distribute low and medium bandwidth multimedia to thousands of simultaneous users. Our early experiments, however, pointed out to difficulties in managing such a large-scale system and keeping it available with an acceptable quality of service. It showed the necessity for a better support for dynamic reconfiguration, distribution of code updates, and provision of fault-tolerance for QoS-sensitive applications.
We addressed these problems in a new version of the multimedia distribution system [KCN00] built on top of the architecture presented in this thesis.
The multimedia distribution system's key element is the Reflector. It acts as a relay, receiving input data packets from a list of trusted sources and forwarding these packets to other Reflectors or to programs executed by end-users (also called end-user clients). The distribution system is composed of a network of Reflectors that collaborate with each other to distribute the multimedia data over local-area, metropolitan-area, and wide-area networks.
The Reflector is a user-level program that, at the application level, performs activities similar to those performed by network routers at the hardware level (which is where protocols such as IP-Multicast [Dee89] are implemented). Since it is implemented in software, not hard-wired into the router, the Reflector is more flexible, easy to deploy and evolve, and can be dynamically customized to users, applications, and environments.
Reflector data packets are encoded with RTP, a user-level protocol for real-time applications [SCFJ00] defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). RTP packets can be transmitted over different kinds of low-level transport protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP/IP, and IP-Multicast.
The Reflector Network topology is determined by each Reflector's configuration. This information specifies input and output connections, access privileges, maximum allowed number of users, etc. It is stored in a database controlled by the Reflector administrator. Figure 7.5 depicts a generic Reflector network that distributes two video streams in different channels. In this figure, two capture stations send their video streams to ``master'' Reflectors; the streams may traverse several ``intermediate'' Reflectors until they reach ``public'' Reflectors to which end-user clients can connect and receive the video streams7.2. All the Reflectors in the figure are initiated with exactly the same code. Using the Automatic Configuration Service described in Chapter 4, the system then customizes each Reflector according to their individual requirements.
In order to support different types of inter-reflector communication protocols transparently, the Reflector framework encapsulates the concept of a network connection into an abstract C++ class named Connection that defines the basic interface for all types of network connections used by the Reflector. This abstract class implements some of its own methods, but the majority of the connection-related code is implemented by its subclasses: TCPConnection, UDPConnection, MulticastConnection, and the like.
Figure 7.6 depicts a concrete example of a highly-heterogeneous Reflector network. In this example, the network distributes two audio-visual streams. The first comes from a mobile camera, mounted on a helicopter, that sends its stream to a ``master'' Reflector over a wireless link. This kind of link presents a high rate of packet loss not related to congestion, which makes protocols like TCP perform poorly [BPSK96]. Thus, it is desirable to use a protocol optimized for this kind of situation like, for example, WTCP [SVSB99]. The second stream is sent to its ``master'' Reflector through a dedicated ISDN line. To optimize the bandwidth, one can use UDP as the communication protocol since its overhead is lower than that of TCP and the link offers a low loss rate.
Continuing with the example, Reflector C sends its streams to Reflector D over the public Internet through a transatlantic satellite link. Even though this is a high-bandwidth link, its loss rate may be high, so it is more appropriate to use TCP. Reflectors B and E offer the multimedia streams to dial-up clients over conventional phone lines; Reflector B uses TCP while Reflector E, on the other side of the Atlantic, uses the VDP adaptive algorithm. Finally, Reflectors A and D introduce the video streams into two distant points of the global MBone and Reflector F uses multicast to distribute the streams in a local Ethernet network.
Selecting the appropriate protocol for each situation, the Reflector administrators improve the quality of service offered to the end-users, optimizing the utilization of the available network bandwidth and minimizing packet losses.
Most of the Reflector's code deals with objects of type Connection and is not aware of the Connection's underlying implementation. The actual connection type is specified when the connection is created and does not need to be known after that.
This approach allows programmers to plug in customized Connection subclasses by providing their own implementation of the Open, Close, Bind, Connect, Send, and Receive methods, adding specialized functionality.
In this manner, it is possible to incorporate, into the Reflector, Connection subclasses that implement different transport protocols (such as the VDP QoS-aware adaptive protocol for the Internet [CTCL95] and the xbind QoS-aware reservation protocol for ATM networks [CL99]). Developers also use this mechanism to implement Connection subclasses that perform various operations on the data, such as encryption, transcoding, mixing, downsampling, and the like). Finally, one can create composite Connection types by combining existing ones. For example, one can create a CryptoMulticast connection type - that encrypts the data and sends them out using Multicast - by combining a Crypto connection with a Multicast connection.
This technology was utilized in the live broadcast of NASA's JPL Pathfinder mission [GCE+97]. During this broadcast - which lasted for several months - more than one million live video sessions were delivered to dozens of different countries across the globe by a network of more than 30 reflectors spread across five continents. The Reflectors ran in five different operating systems (Solaris, Linux, Irix, FreeBSD, and Windows) and transmitted their streams over different kinds of network links. End-users could watch the video stream simply by pointing their web browsers to selected locations, causing their browsers to download a Java applet containing the video client. The applet connected automatically to the reflector, received the video stream, decoded it, and displayed it to the user in real-time.
During this broadcast, we experienced three major problems:
With this experience, we learned that a user-level Reflector system is, indeed, a powerful tool for managing large-scale multimedia distribution. It gives Reflector administrators tight control over the distribution, allowing for better control of the quality of service. It achieves that through the definition of the distribution topology, the selection of appropriate communication protocols, and the possibilities for limiting the number of clients according to the available resources.
We also learned, however, that it is important to provide better mechanisms for distributed code updates, dynamic reconfiguration, and fault-tolerance, which motivated us to develop the architecture described in this thesis.
The synergistic relationships between dynamic configuration and QoS are clear. Dynamic configuration allows the use of the best policies for each situation. For example, a mobile computer displaying a video clip to its user could use a protocol optimized for wireless connections (e.g., WTCP [SVSB99]) when the computer is using a wireless link, but dynamically reconfigure itself to use a TCP connection when the computer is hooked to a wired Ethernet connection.
However, if the reconfiguration process itself affects the quality of service negatively, it may not be worthwhile to do any reconfiguration at all. Going back to the example, if the dynamic reconfiguration to the TCP connection is so expensive that the video is interrupted for several seconds, it is better to keep using the wireless link, even when the wired link becomes available.
Therefore, while developing the new version of the Reflector system, our major goal was to deploy our architecture for dependence management to support dynamic configuration and fault-tolerance without affecting quality of service negatively.
To solve the problem of maintaining the Reflector instances up-to-date as the code of the Reflector program evolves, and to customize each Reflector according to its role, we used the Automatic Configuration Service described in Chapter 4.
The first major change we had to do in the Reflector implementation to accommodate the new design was the adoption of a component-oriented model. We reorganized the implementation of the Reflector program, breaking it into dynamically loadable components. Surprisingly, this proved to be not so difficult, thanks to the original object-oriented design of the Reflector that was based on loosely coupled objects interacting via well-defined interfaces. This component-based model facilitates the customization of the Reflector program at startup, allowing the use of the Automatic Configuration Service to select the components that are best suited for executing the Reflector in a given node. It also facilitates the dynamic reconfiguration of running Reflectors to adapt to changes in the environment and to install new versions of components on-the-fly.
Figure 7.7 presents a schematic overview of the Reflector bootstrapping process in which the Reflector configures itself with the help of our infrastructure.
At startup time, each Reflector contacts the CORBA Name Service to locate the Component Repository that is compatible with the operating system and hardware platform on which the Reflector is running (steps 1 and 2 in Figure 7.7). From the Component Repository, it retrieves its specific prerequisite specification file, which may contain information about its resource requirements and the list of components that must be dynamically loaded before the Reflector starts its activities.
The Automatic Configuration Service library (denoted as ACS in Figure 7.7) is linked to the Reflector process. Using the prerequisite file fetched from the Component Repository, the ACS requests the appropriate components from the remote repository (step 5), stores them in the local disk (step 6)7.3, and dynamically loads them into memory using the dynamicTAO facilities (step 7).
Once all components are loaded, the Reflector uses the resource requirement information in the prerequisite file to request the reservation of CPU and memory from an underlying QoS-aware resource management service. This communication with the resource management service (step 8) is the only part of the bootstrapping scheme that was not implemented in our prototype. QoS-aware resource management service can be provided by systems like SMART [NL97] or the Dynamic Soft Real-Time Scheduler (DSRT) [NhCN98]. In the latter case, DSRT can use the prerequisite specification to perform QoS-aware admission control, negotiation, reservation, and scheduling.
Next, the Reflector registers itself with the Name Service, so that it can be easily located by other system entities, and opens all the input and output connections using the specified protocols (steps 9 and 10). Although our prototype reads the information about the input and output connections from a local configuration file, it could be easily modified to retrieve this information from a file stored in the Component Repository.
Administrators of the Reflector system can look at the available broadcast and videoconference sessions by using a graphical user interface that interacts with the CORBA Name Service. For example, Figure 7.8 is a screen shot that illustrates the use of this interface. It shows three independent Reflector networks: the first called VirtualMeetingRoom that could be used for audio and videoconferencing, possibly divided according to interest groups; the second called News could contain several news channels; and the third called OlympicGames could contain audio and video broadcast channels related to Olympic events.
The administrator can also see that there are three available component repositories for three different kinds of architectures and can use the GUI to upload, download, and remove Reflector components from the repositories. Finally, the administrator can see that the OlympicGames network is composed of the five reflectors shown in the upper right-hand window. The CORBA IOR (Interoperable Object Reference) of the Reflector at delirius.cs.uiuc.edu is shown in the bottom right-hand window.
An important aspect of quality of service is that of reliability. It is difficult to ensure that the system will work properly in the presence of network failures, node failures, software failures, and temporary system shutdowns for maintenance. In addition, keeping the desired level of quality of service irrespective of all these disruptive events is a major challenge for modern QoS-sensitive systems. The Reflector architecture addresses this problem by using architecturally-aware dynamic reconfiguration based on the component configurator framework described in Chapter 5.
In multimedia distribution, the goal with respect to fault-tolerance is to maximize the system's availability without relying on redundant data transmission, which leads to waste of bandwidth. To achieve that, our prototype supports the dynamic reconfiguration of the Reflector inter-connections when failures occur. The distributed system has knowledge of its own structure and is able to establish alternative routes to deliver the multimedia streams to its users. Furthermore, whenever possible, the system performs these reconfigurations without affecting the quality of service perceived by its users.
In order to build an alternate distribution topology, the system must store enough information so that alternate routes can be found when failures occur. The question is: where to maintain this information?
We considered initially a solution in which all the information regarding fault recovery would be placed in a centralized database accessible by every Reflector. When a Reflector detects that one of its inputs failed or that it is silent for too long, it would contact a configuration server with access to the centralized database and request the address of a reflector from which it could receive the missing streams. The configuration server would return this information and contact , reconfiguring it to send data to . The advantage of this approach is that very little information is stored on the Reflectors, all the fault-recovery information and policies are centralized in a single location, facilitating the manipulation of this information by a single entity: the configuration server.
The second solution is to store fault-recovery information on the Reflectors themselves. That is, each Reflector would store, for each set of multimedia channels, a list of alternate Reflectors that could be used as backups. The advantage of this approach is that it does not lead to a single point of failure and does not impose an extra load on a possibly already overloaded configuration server. This solution may be more difficult to implement, but it tends to be more scalable.
We believe that the optimal solution to this problem is one that encompasses both models. On the one hand, each Reflector should have some knowledge about its local surroundings and should be able to perform reconfigurations by communicating with its immediate neighbors, without being a burden to the centralized configuration server. On the other hand, the configuration server should maintain global knowledge about the system topology. This centralized, global knowledge should be used not only as backup, in case the Reflector's localized information is not enough to keep the system functioning, but also to perform optimizations, such as dynamic changes in the network topology to improve the quality of service and promote load balancing.
Our architecture adopts the hybrid model described above. It distributes the knowledge throughout the Reflector network and makes each Reflector aware of its dependence relationships with other Reflectors. Thus, the Reflectors are able to make reconfiguration decisions by themselves, without relying on a centralized entity. In addition to this, the global system topology is maintained in the configuration service so that a Reflector administrator or an ``intelligent'' software module can perform global optimizations in the distribution network.
The prototype supports fault-tolerance by using a subclass of ComponentConfigurator to represent the dependencies between Reflectors. When failures occur, the system uses the dependence information to locate alternate routes and keep the system functioning. The ComponentConfigurator implementation stores the dependencies as a list of CORBA IORs, which allows for prompt communication no matter where the objects are located.
The subclass of ComponentConfigurator we use is called ReflectorConfigurator and contains the policies for reshaping the network topology in case of failures and encapsulates all the code to deal with these reconfigurations. This approach proved to be very effective in keeping a clear separation of concerns in the Reflector code. The classes that deal with the Reflector's normal operation are totally unaware of the ReflectorConfigurator and of any code that deals with reconfiguration. This clean separation also makes it easy to plug different kinds of ReflectorConfigurators to support different reconfiguration policies.
In this implementation, four kinds of events can trigger dynamic reconfiguration:
In the first two cases, the Reflector captures those events using signal handlers installed with the UNIX signal function or the Windows SetConsoleCtrlHandler function. In the UNIX implementation, for example, the administrator can kill a Reflector by pressing Ctrl-C on the terminal executing the Reflector, by sending a shutdown message to the reflector using a telnet connection, or by using the kill command. The Reflector captures the events generated by Ctrl-c, kill, segmentation faults, and bus errors by implementing signal handlers for the SIGINT, SIGTERM, SIGSEGV, and SIGBUS signals, respectively.
In the third case, the Reflector contacts the configuration service to retrieve its new configuration information and reprocesses it, reconfiguring its input and output connections.
Finally, the fourth case is the only one in which it is not possible to keep the client multimedia stream uninterrupted without relying on redundant streams to the same Reflector. The solution in this case is to detect when the input for a given channel has failed or is silent for too long and then locate an alternative input either by using the local list of alternatives or by contacting the configuration server.
Our current implementation focuses on supporting dynamic reconfiguration in the presence of the first two kinds of events. We now describe this process in more detail.
When an administrator (or other system entity) requests to kill a Reflector, the system executes a special event handler called abandonReflectorNetwork (). This handler takes the following three actions.
When a ReflectorConfigurator receives a FINISHED event from a source Reflector, it adds all the Reflectors in the list of sources of the finishing Reflector to its list of inputs7.4.
Conversely, when a ReflectorConfigurator receives a FINISHED event from a client Reflector, it adds all the Reflectors in the list of clients of the finishing Reflector to its output list.
Figure 7.9 shows a sample Reflector network where Reflector C has two inputs and two outputs. When C is killed and the reconfiguration process described above completes, the new configuration becomes the one in Figure 7.10.
In order to be able to carry out the reconfiguration without any glitches in the multimedia streams and without affecting the system quality of service, we had to adopt the multithreaded solution described in section 8.2.
When a Reflector starts its execution for the first time or when it is restarted after being shutdown for some reason, it executes an initialization process. In this process, in addition to performing the actions described in 220.127.116.11, it performs the following three actions.
Upon receiving a STARTED event from a new source Reflector, the client Reflector opens a new input connection to the new Reflector. If it is also receiving input from one of the sources of the new Reflector, it closes that input connection as soon as the data from the new source is available. An analogous process happens upon receiving a STARTED event from a new client Reflector.
These mechanisms allow the distribution system to recover its original topology after a faulty reflector restarts. Therefore, if the system configuration is the one in Figure 7.10 and the Reflector C recovers, then the configuration switches back to the one in Figure 7.9.
Note that we do not have an automatic mechanism for restarting faulty Reflectors. This requires the administrator's intervention, which seems to be natural since a Reflector goes out of service either because of an administrator's command or because of a failure in the system. In both cases, the administrator's attention is advisable. Alternatively, if desired, the Reflector can be added to the list of daemons that are executed by the operating system when a machine boots, eliminating the need for manual intervention when a machine crashes and restarts.
In section 8.2, we present the results of several experiments with the Reflector prototype. The performance evaluation shows that, with the help of our infrastructure for dependence management, the Reflector system is able to carry out dynamic reconfiguration of the distribution topology without any negative impact on the quality of service perceived by end-users. This dynamic reconfiguration provides a solid base for fault-tolerance.
In addition to the use cases described in section 5.4, three ongoing projects carried out by other researchers in our group are using the products of this thesis.


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Linda Lovelace led a very strange life. In 1972, she starred in "Deep Throat," widely considered the first porno to make it to the mainstream. (Little known fact: it apparently got a good review in The New York Times.) But years later, she said that her ex-husband, Chuck Traynor, coerced her into doing the movie—that he was abusive and had even held a gun to her head. She went on to denounce the entire porn industry. Linda's story would totally make a fascinating movie—which I guess is why, as we told you the other day, there are currently two in the works. The first is "Inferno," which recently replaced star Lindsay Lohan with Malin Ackerman. (The photo above is Lindsay's promo shot for the movie, before she was ousted.) The second is as-of-now untitled, but supposedly Kate Hudson and James Franco are in talks to star in it as Linda and Chuck.
Hollywood has often mined the porn industry—particularly during the '70s and early '80s—for material. In honor of these two Linda Lovelace movies, let's take a look back at some mainstream movies and TV shows about the porn industry.


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Web: www.cirschool.org
CISR requires Faculty Members
Who are articulate, brimming with ideas, willing to be innovative and desirous to be vehicles of change
Chinmaya International Residential School is affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi and International Baccalaureate, Geneva.
CIRS students have excelled in academics and co-curricular activities every year with several alumini now pursuing higher studies at prestigious institutions around the world.
Our teacher-student ratio is less than 1:9 and the class strength does not exceed 25. We offer a conducive; environment for professional, and personal development with opportunities for teacher training in India and abroad.
Now, due to growing demand, CIRS is increasing its student strength from 480 to 550 and is on a recruiting mission.
Teachers: CBSE Class V to XII and IB Diploma
Qualifications: Post -Graduates with B.Ed and rich experience in quality institutions
The School offers a superb quality of life, both at work and at home with furnished accommodation on its 100 acre campus. Remuneration Commensurates with talent and experience and will not be a bar for suitable candidates.
CIRS Team comprises eminent faculty members from all over India
Please download the CIRS Faculty Application from www.cirschool.org and send to
The Principal Chinmaya International Residential School Nallur Vayal Post, Siruvani Road, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 114, India Phone: 0422 261 3300 Fax: 2615725 Email: email@example.com


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Originally posted by limerickman Bush's foreign policy failures : 1.Capturing BinLaden : failed 2.Capturing Mullah Omar : failed 3.Creating Democracy in Afghanistan : failed 4.Creating Deocracy in Iraq : failed. 5. Acting on reliable intelligence reports prior to 11th September 2001 : failed. Other notable Bush policy errors : Anatagonised the majority of EU nations - ignored or vetoed the UN - ignored or vetoed the Kyoto Treaty Bush's economic policy : 1 :The value of the US Dollar has fallen by 35% since 2000. 2 : Nasdaq and Dow Jones indexes have collapsed against their 2000 values (DOW JONES was trading at above 10k and the Nasdaq was above 4k). 3 : US budget 2000 showed the USA in surplus to 200 billion US budget deficit at April 2004 is 500 billion dollars and growing. 4 : US employment actually contracted in the years 2001 - 2003. |
The economy is booming, unemployment is lower today than it was in the 1970's, 1980's, or 1990's. Even the much maligned manufacturing segment is taking off. In case you haven't noticed, the market is above 10,000 and the NASDAQ is also up, rebounding from the tech-bubble bursting in the late 1990's, the recession that started under Clinton's policies, and 9-11. Were not for the tax cuts, Clinton's recession would be continuing today.
The dollar was intentionally depressed to make U.S. goods cheaper on foreign markets, making them more appealing and easier to sell. No big deal.
In fact, none of your charges are anything worth bothering about. Bin Laden and Omar are non-issues. Democracy cannot be built in a day so your charges about Afghanistan and Iraq are simple-minded at best.
The intelligence about WMD was correct. 100% correct. In case you have had your head stuck in the sand, and from your wild pronouncements and yammering, it is obvious you have, check out some of the reporting by Syrians and Israelis that know exactly where Saddam's biological and chemical WMDs are buried in Syria.
All in all, limerickman, your response teeters between the pathetic and the laughable.


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I have already tried applying for a job (not seasonal, but regardless) at Disney and right now, there are little to no openings (I hear entertainment need people). Disney has been putting people on wait list, which is what I am on right now. So the sooner you get your name on there, the better. According to my roommate, Disney should start hiring soon for the holidays (October thru December). As for training, you are most likely are going to go through traditions, which involves training for your position, anyway. Make sure to check out The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies - Careers to see what positions Disney has to offer. As far as I know, they'll hire people within first, and then start hiring people off the waiting list. I wish I knew where I stand on this waiting list. I wouldn't mind if a bunch of people have dropped out, though, especially those before me. Anyway, that's the best I can say from my experience. Everyone whom I have talked to (that is a Cast Member) has told me to not give up and to just keep trying. So don't give up. The most determined go the farthest.
P.S. Welcome to the boards!!!


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Register your Voice!
California Voter Registration
It's quick, easy, and fundamental. Speak your piece and VOTE!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
Are there difference conceptions of civic learning?
Civic beliefs, attitudes, dispositions, and skills do not exist in a vacuum; they are part of a larger set of ideas about what is believed to be necessary for citizens to be properly engaged in public life. Which civic beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, and skills are considered essential depends in part on the definition of "good citizenship." There are at least three broad conceptions of citizenship:
Personal Responsibility. Develop good character. Obey the law. Don't infringe others' rights. Know the system, follow the rules. Vote.
Participation. Accept personal responsibility. Inform yourself about the issues. Engage in dialogue and deliberation with others, work toward a consensual judgment. Take action—individually and collectively, within institutions and within "public spaces."
Justice. Participate—but question, challenge, and act in order to bring about change—in social, economic, and political systems, structures, processes, beliefs, and behavior— when they violate people's rights, create or sustain unacceptable inequalities, or produce unacceptable harm.
In Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum, Rick Battistoni (Campus Compact, 2002) proposes five conceptual frameworks that relate to the participatory form of citizenship (number 2, above). Battistoni calls these frameworks "constitutional citizenship," "communitarianism," "participatory democracy," "public work," and "social capital."
As Battistoni notes, if we want to encourage civic learning throughout the university and across the curriculum, we need to make room for multiple perspectives as we deliberate their strengths and deficiencies. Ultimately, what's important is that we identify and promote the complement of skills and knowledge every member of a democracy ought to possess, especially ones that might connect to disciplinary goals or general education requirements. A broad, inclusive understanding of civic learning may help faculty make the connection between civic engagement and their particular scholarly disciplines.
But the way we conceive of civic learning remains important, because different understandings of this idea carry with them different ways of defining and responding to issues of democracy that are rooted in different fundamental values, needs, priorities, perceptions, world-views, etc. In view of the deep disagreement that at present characterizes politics in the United States, we should be clear about the assumptions embedded in different conceptions of civic learning and their political implications.
Constitutional Citizenship
The constitutional citizenship perspective begins with the individual and his or her rights and interests. The good citizen knows what rights are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and is committed to respecting them. He or she upholds laws made by the political and governmental institutions established in accordance with Constitutional provisions. S/he understands, moreover, that obeying the letter of the law is not enough. Citizens must develop attitudes and habits that predispose them to honor the spirit of the laws as well. In particular, citizens must exhibit a broad regard for the freedom of all persons.
The good citizen also understands that s/he has an obligation to participate in the public policy-making process to the extent necessary to help ensure that proposed laws are consistent with the Constitution; that institutions work as they are designed to, and that the interest-based preferences of citizens are expressed clearly to people's duly-elected representatives. Political participation (in the form of voting, joining interest groups, writing public officials, campaigning for candidates, and similar activities) is not a requirement, however; like most activities in a liberal Constitutional regime, it is a matter for free individual choice. Citizens have a fundamental right to disregard politics entirely if they so choose. Participation in the political and public policy-making processes is thus not part of the identity of the citizen or of the responsibilities or expectations associated with the role.
On this view, civic engagement is thought of as either voluntary involvement in governmental or political activities or voluntary community service motivated by a desire to ensure that Constitutional rights and principles are supported by a strong civil society that provides what government cannot (or should not). For faculty, reflection on this conception of civic engagement can provide a way to introduce ideas such as rights, obligations, freedom, consent of the governed, the social contract, individual versus society, private and public, voluntary versus compulsory, community and government, and so forth.
Communitarian Citizenship
Communitarian citizenship is in large measure a response to the perception that the Constitutional conception over emphasizes the ideas of the individual and his or her rights and interests, so much so that it has dangerously weakened the social fabric needed to support a democratic political order. The balance between individual rights and interests on the one hand, and on the other hand, our shared responsibility to promote the common good, has tilted too far in the direction of the former. In consequence, the web of mutually respectful, mutually supportive relationships among citizens has deteriorated. People increasingly see their moral obligations as confined to obeying the law and refraining from infringing the rights of others. Communitarians contend that this approach to citizenship and community is unsustainable. Citizens must maintain a broad consensus on the values and principles that hold their communities and society together, preventing social relations from breaking down into an untempered, power-based competition in which those with advantages of education, income, and skill continue to gain advantages that increasingly distance them from their less-advantaged compatriots, with the eventual result that respect for people's rights and freedom is undermined.
On the communitarian view of citizenship, civic engagement means working to mend, strengthen, and sustain social relationships based on reciprocal respect and obligation by reconnecting people with one another. In particular, encouraging relatively advantaged students to address the needs of their less-advantaged fellows helps them become aware of the consequences of allowing the social fabric to fray and impresses upon them the social necessity of promoting the well-being of all citizens, and hence the moral obligations citizens have to each other.
Participatory Democracy
Like communitarians, those who subscribe to a view of civic engagement as participation in democratic public life emphasize that rights must be balanced by responsibilities. The most fundamental, and most important, of these is participating actively in the making of decisions that affect our lives. A person who values her freedom and her individual personhood has to be concerned with the type of community and society she inhabits and with its condition. The individual can flourish only when social practices, institutions, and norms embody recognition of the importance to the individual of being able to live in a manner consistent with her values and priorities. Because practices, institutions, and norms shape the individual's values, opportunities, and even motivation, she has a personal interest in being able and willing to act so as to shape them. Personal autonomy is thus bound up with collective political action. Because government and the law are never truly neutral, but always privilege some values over others, citizens deliberating together about what will be binding on all of them is an essential component of both democracy and a regime of individual freedom.
From the perspective of participatory democracy, civic engagement must include participation in collective decision-making and action, because it's through such practical experience that people acquire the civic skills and attitudes they need in order to participate effectively in the public life of the community. Participation in public life doesn't require that they get into politics, as "politics" is usually understood. But whether it's in a classroom, or a neighborhood, or a community or campus organization, it does require that they talk, and listen, and make choices—together. In particular, we must improve the quality of our public discourse, changing the way we talk to each other and moving from recrimination to deliberation. We need to replace competitive browbeating with collaborative problem-solving.
Public Work
Public work shares with participatory democracy the critique of constitutional citizenship as overly privatized and a concern for involving all people in the decisions that affect their life in common. A distinction is drawn, however, between public and community. Community implies, or at least connotes, some degree of consensus and even homogeneity. But the citizenry consists of people with different experiences, perspectives, beliefs, needs, interests, and priorities. They have to come together to solve problems and meet challenges that affect them all. But they should not expect to see things eye-to-eye. They should expect to compromise and to continue to disagree. They should expect to cooperate sufficiently to respond collectively to the problem or challenge they face, but not more than that. Public work also suggests that citizens can accomplish certain things—can only accomplish them—by working together in a practical, mutually self-interested way. Many public goods can be created only through such cooperation.
Adherents of the public work perspective are inclined to be skeptical of traditional approaches to civic engagement, such as service learning, because they believe it reinforces an undesirable distinction between the charitable giver of aid and the helpless recipient of charity. They contend that everyone has responsibilities, everyone has power (especially when acting together), and everyone has a contribution to make. The relatively disadvantaged discover and learn to use their power by engaging in public work. The implication is that students should work together with community members on the basis of their shared interests and on the basis of political equality.
Social Capital
Tocqueville argued that the propensity to form and build networks of voluntary association was a key source of the success of American democracy because it countered the isolating, privatizing effects of individualism. In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam presented evidence of a steady and precipitous decline in Americans' readiness to join the types of associations of which Tocqueville spoke. This decline correlates with a similar decline in citizens' political activity, political knowledge, and attitudes of trust and efficacy.
From the "social capital" perspective, participation in public life and engaging in public work are desirable, but they need to be supplemented with efforts to re-build or strengthen networks of social connectedness so that members of communities can develop mutual trust and goodwill, a readiness to cooperate, a sense of shared responsibility, and similar positive interpersonal attitudes and dispositions ("social capital"). The voluntary networks and associations that social capital make possible constitute the "civic infrastructure" upon which democratic decision-making and action depend. Community service shows students why social capital and civic infrastructure are important and what it means to create and sustain connections with fellow community members.
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Join Maayan's Exclusive Membership Club and see all her great photo collection...More than 1300 stunning images, many never published before photos to see.A one time LOW lifetime membership fee, new photos added all the time.SPECIAL low price photo print offer plus FREE prints for members only. JOIN NOW!
The questions your Mom should ask!
It would be wise for "wannabe-model" hopefuls to follow some simple rules, especially when contacting somebody on the internet, as there is a lot of bad out there and you should be aware of this.
You will also notice that when Yulia contacted me by e-mail, I would only make arraignments with her Mom, not with the under age wannabe model.
I cannot stress enough, the importance of these safety rules, Yulia's Mom had this to say.
"I thought you could place another chapter to your on-line instructions for 'wanna-be-a-model', something like "Security tip", meaning to make an appointment in a popular place, full of people, to speak to people so that they will be able to remember some information about you, to wear something red or bright, eye catching, (I always put a red shirt on my boy when he is out for an excursion for teachers to pay attention), to let your family know at all times, about your schedule and the things like that".
For further advice please read our 'wannabe model' page.
But you know, although Mom is a very important part of the day, a "Wanna be Model", has to show some initiative.
This 14 year old teen bikini model Yulia, did just that and emailed me when she knew I would be in Israel, to ask for advice.
She told me she had that 'Special Look', but needed more shooting experience. This was lucky as I was looking for a new face for a beach shoot and this young teen model was just ideal for our website pages.
On the 'teen bikini beach shoot' location the weather was still hot but a little cloudy at times, it was almost the last of the Summer and the end of August. As you can see from the first two images of our "Teen Bikini Beach Shoot" with 14 year old model Yulia, the grey sky had turned the ocean into a magic backdrop. Lovely Images.
At a "Teen Bikini Beech Shoot" I have yet to meet a model's Mom as good as this, she was dedicated in seeing that her 14 year old 'Wanna-be a Model' daughter was on the right track for a modeling career.
The meeting had been arraigned
Mom had arrived with outfits and props for our "Bikini Beech Shoot" session and was constantly on hand helping model Yulia, taking care of hair styling and clothes.
If all "Teen Bikini Beech Shoot" models had a Mom like this, then their daughters chances of success in modeling are greatly increased.
I suggested that I could shoot some test shots of her, but first I wanted to speak to Mom to make the arraignments for the 'teen bikini beach shoot'.
Photographers please note: This is the only way you should proceed, especially if your shooting a young teen bikini model. You will also need a "minor Model Release" form which has to be signed by the parent or guardian in the case of a minor up to the age of 18, after the 'Teen Bikini Beach Shoot', or modeling session is over.
After our 'Teen bikini beach shoot', Yulia's Mom asked me what did I think about her daughters chance of more modeling work, this is what I replied in my e-mail:
"Having now reviewed the photographs I have this to add, tell Yulia that she inspired me to take great images. She is the closest thing to a professional model, that I've seen in weeks."
Yulia's Mom came up with the props for this fashion shoot and provided the tennis clothes for the above pictures.
Only one problem we were at the beach, ready for our 'teen bikini beach shoot' and miles away from the nearest tennis courts. So I said no problem we'll improvise and use the parking lot.
These images were shot first before we let our 'Teen bikini beach shoot' model loose on the beach, which was a good thing really, before her make-up was washed away by the ocean.
Finally: Thanks to our new 'Bikini beach shoot' model Yulia and a special thanks for Yulia's Mom for her help.
The end of the day of our beach shoot - "And another star was born"!
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Keeping you up in touch with new offers, info and updates, writing to you from time to time


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Hi Guys,
One of my clients wants me to do a large scale daffodil planting. I am wondering if any of you can recommend a good source that will be a better buy for me than going through a retail nursery. The wholesale houses, that I used to order from when I worked at the nursery, tell me its too late for me to place a bulk order. The nursery ordered theirs last jan so I know its a little late but its getting to be planting time so I'd like to hunt them down. Any Ideas?? thanks, deb |
Follow-Up Postings:
We did a late-season order of 4400 daffs from www.colorblends.com last year. Price was good, size, quality and customer service were great. Dave |
The big boxers and Costco usually have daffodils by the 100 pack for around $20. That's not a bad price. They might even be going on sale soon. |
I just ordered 1000 daffodils from van engelen on the web. . $467.00 plus shipping |
My favorite is Ednie. www.ednieflowerbulb.com |
www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com An excellent source of both fall and summer bulbs and a wonderful on line catalog. Becky was recently a guest on Martha Stewart. They are third generation bulb growers in Gloucester, Virginia. Also many rare and unusual varieties at both retail and wholesale prices. |
- Posted by sandy0225 z5 Indiana (firstname.lastname@example.com) on Fri, Nov 9, 07 at 21:53
vanbourgondien wholesale--kvbwholesale.com So far I've had good luck with their stuff. And their prices are great. |
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text: About Selkirk College For nearly four decades Selkirk College has measured its success in the accomplishments of its graduates. Join the thousands of learners who have chosen Selkirk College to assist in their achievement of success through education. Along with its University transfer and career programs, Selkirk College offers leading edge online and distance education programs. It is committed to providing life-long learning opportunities. Selkirk is a public-post secondary institution located in the beautiful southern interior of British Columbia. Surrounded by breathtaking rivers and mountains, the college offers world-class instruction, small class sizes, free tutorials, and a learning lifestyle that attracts students from around the world. Recognizing today's graduates are destined to operate in a more diverse, complex global community, the College programming is designed to introduce a gobal perspective and make learning accessible to all. Contact Current students: Please direct questions about your lessons, quizzes, assignments, and other course materials to your instructor or course administrator. You can use the course discussion areas for this purpose. If you have questions about accessing the online classroom, retrieving your lessons, changing your password, correcting your e-mail address, obtaining progress reports or completion letters, receiving an extension, or any other administrative tasks, visit our Help page. New or potential students: If you have questions about course content, prerequisites, requirements, follow-ups, or instructors, you'll find the information you need by locating the courses that interest you. Click the course title to review the course details. If you require any assistance with registration, please contact: Selkirk CollegeCommunity, Corporate and International DevelopmentDayna EssonBox 968Grand Forks, BC V0H 1H0CAPhone: 250 442- 2704Fax: 250 email@example.com


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Thu, Jan 16, 14 at 16:01
I am an amateur gardener in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'm starting to get catalogs from companies who sell plant bulbs, small potted plants and etc. Isn't it too early to start planting? PLEASE don't say it depends on the type of plant (though I'm sure it does), just please give me some general advice as to when I should start planting. The list of species I have in mind is fairly long, so I don't want to go through (and ask y'all to go through) each and every one. It was recommended to me that I contact a 'county agent' which of course means parish, here, I still could find no real resource that would answer my questions. I've yet to hear back from the LSU AgCenter, so please don't recommend that. Just some general knowledge would be MUCH appreciated! Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by louisianagal z7bMS (My Page) on Sat, Jan 18, 14 at 10:30
I'm from N.O. and the average last frost date is March 17 or so. That's when you can plant out more "tender" plants like tomato seedlings and annual flowers. Shrubs can be planted all fall/winter and so can trees and even roses. Bulbs can be planted depending on the type. Bulbs that bloom in spring like daffodils, plant them in fall and winter. You can plant them now. Bulbs that bloom in summer like gladiolus and lillies, plant them in springtime. LSU is good source of info, you might just try their website just search LSUAg home gardening or something like that. I always liked to go to the library and check out a couple books like Month by Month gardening in LA or other specific to LA books. Good luck and have fun! |
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Reviewed By Kathleen O (ANDERSON, SC) —12/29/2014 6:21 AM
Easy to install. Looks really sharp. Drove 250+ miles with no problems.
Reviewed By Graeme s (CARLSBAD, CA) Reviewed for a 2006 Toyota Tundra —10/19/2014 12:30 PM
I bought this product as I was going on a mtn bike trip and needed to take four bikes. I drove over 2000 miles with this and it fits the truck well and holds the bikes down snugly.I think if you need to pack a few bikes in your truck and you don't want them damaged then this works good.
Reviewed By Jeannine E (manasquan, NJ) Reviewed for a 2012 Chevy Tahoe —8/30/2014 7:54 AM
The SUP taxi passed the wife test. I was looking for something to carry our surfboards that was so easy the my wife would use it rather than jam the boards in the back. It works really well, she uses it every day. Price is great too.


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We've all stayed at nice a hotel during our vacation, but when's the last time you stayed at a hotel that was so special it was the vacation? The six Northern California hotels listed below offer that sort of experience. Yes, they're expensive, but you can't put a price on a lifetime of fond memories. So treat yourself and your partner to an early Christmas present this year and see what it's like to experience hospitality perfected.
Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur
I've been reviewing hotels for 20 years and I still haven't stayed anywhere that came close to the Post Ranch Inn experience. There simply aren't words in the English language to properly describe that ocean view. Typically a high-end hotel's goal is to impress you with an abundance of service, but the Post Ranch Inn does just the opposite—the management intentionally keeps contact with the staff to a minimum so you can wallow in romantic splendor while blissfully ensconced within your private cottage, soaking in the inherent beauty all around you that is Big Sur.
As a Northern Californian you have the rare opportunity to be within driving distance—and what a beautiful drive it is—of one of the top-rated lodgings on the planet, so don't let it alone, regardless of the cost. You have no idea how happy you can make someone simply by making a hotel reservation for two at the Post Ranch Inn.
Bernardus Lodge, Carmel Valley
We can't all be rich, but it doesn't mean we can't pretend once in a while. Just being in Carmel Valley is a pleasant experience, but when combined with a stay at the Bernardus Lodge, it becomes a momentous occasion. Bernardus Vineyards & Winery owner Ben Pon spared no expense getting everything just right at his hotel, from the generously sized guest rooms with stone fireplaces and king-size featherbeds with soft-as-silk Frette linens, to heavenly spa treatments and French-inspired Wine Country cuisine at the award-wining Marinus restaurant.
I've sent a lot of people here who've asked me where to stay for a special occasion, because I know they'll sigh with satisfaction the moment they enter the beautiful lobby and are immediately offered a glass of chilled white wine. With two tennis courts, bocce and croquet courts, a swimming pool, a full-service spa and salon, and a plethora of nearby wine-tasting opportunities, there's never a shortage of things to do—if you can ever get out of that bed.
Cavallo Point, Marin
You make plans to hike the Marin Headlands, then you walk into your gorgeous guestroom and realize, nah, I ain't going anywhere this weekend. I'm staying right here. Then you start taking photos of your guestroom, because it's exactly what you want your dream home to look like. Welcome to Cavallo Point, which was created by the same folks who dreamed up the Post Ranch Inn, so you know your stay here is going to be… special, and they don't disappoint. It's the tipping point of hotel perfection—spotless historic lodgings with modern appointments, phenomenal views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a superb restaurant and cozy lounge, a beautiful full-service spa, and a deep commitment to environmental sustainability.
The lodge also offers an interesting mix of classes and activities such as a cooking school, history walks, and art tours, allowing guests a rare opportunity to interact with the wonderful staff and come away with much more than a special stay by the bay. (Hot Tip: See out Hotel Deals section for a special offer to Cavallo Point.)
Meadowood, St. Helena
Whenever I stay at Meadowood I always make plans to visit the nearby wineries, and then I never do. It happens every time—I can never get myself to hop back in the car and leave this immaculate 256-acre wooded paradise. It has everything one could ever hope for in a luxury Wine Country resort: a secluded location, outstanding service, freestanding luxury accommodations, a challenging 9-hole golf course, tennis on seven championship courts, croquet on two international regulation lawns (with a full-time croquet pro on hand, so bring your whites), private hiking trails, a full-service health spa, yoga classes, two heated pools, two whirlpools, and an award-winning restaurant. Trust me: It will be with deep reluctance when it comes time to pack your bags and drive back home. Meadowood is that special.
The Carter Cottage, Eureka
Hotelier Mark Carter has built, with his own hands, the most romantic getaway cottage in California. It's a part of his Victorian empire that includes the stately Hotel Carter, Carter House, and Bell Cottage—all situated right next to each other. I still remember the first time I walked inside the Carter Cottage. "This… this is all mine?" Essentially it's a gorgeously designed mini-mansion with a huge chef's kitchen, two fireplaces, a grand bathroom with a whirlpool tub for two, a sundeck, and all the privacy you could ever hope for.
The Hotel Carter also the perfect place to stow your luggage as you visit one of the most romantic places I have ever been to on this planet: a visit in the fall season to Tall Trees Grove within the Redwood National Forest to watch the massive maples turn color amidst the tallest evergreens in the world. Call Mark and make this trip happen.
The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley
Let's cut to the chase: The Ahwahnee is one of the most beautiful and romantic hotels in North America. With its soaring lobby, cathedral-like dining room, outstanding views, and postcard-perfect location at the base of Yosemite Valley, it's a special-occasion destination if there ever was.
While its guestrooms and service aren't quite the caliber of the other hotels on this list, the moment you first witness the Ahwahnee in all her majestic glory—lightly dusted in snow against a backdrop of soaring granite cliffs—you won't care. And don't wait for warm weather: The Ahwahnee and Yosemite Valley are always best experienced in the crowd-free winter months.
If you have your own tips and recommendations on your favorite high-end hotels in Northern California that you'd like to share, feel free to add your own comments to our blog below. We'd love to hear from you.
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I'm having a patio redone using flagstone and before the flagstone is put down, I need to decide whether or not a water line should be run to the location of a new vase/pot fountain designed to look as it is constantly overflowing with water so the reservoir would keep filled automatically. It won't add that much cost compared to the total cost of the work done, but I still wonder if it would be worth it. Even though it would be more convenient to never have to fill the fountain manually with a hose, I wonder about the safety/reliability of having water pressure on all the time that would feed the fountain. If there was some kind of failure of the float that stops the water from continuously filling, it could flood the patio when I'm away. It may be just more complexity and more things to break. On the other hand it would be nice to not have to refill the water that evaporates away. I have never had a fountain before so I have no idea how often I would have to keep adding water and if I forgot to refill the water by hand and it went dry, I assume the pump would be damaged if it was running with no water. Anyone have experience with pros and cons of manual refilling vs having a waterline pressurized to refill constantly? |
Follow-Up Postings:
I generally won't do an autofill for a water feature. Your concern is valid, but I have another one that I've seen happen. If you get a leak in the fountain, you won't ever know about it - till the water bill shows up. We had a client who only got a water bill quarterly. It was ugly. Letting your pump run dry will kill it. You can either buy a pump with an auto shutoff, or you can buy an auto shutoff at a plumbing supply shop. The float goes in the water, and you plug the shutoff into the outlet and the pump into the shutoff. Fifty bucks will save a $200 pump. |
Maybe that will be best. It should be pretty easy to fill the reservoir with a garden hose. I assume I would not need to add water more than once a week or maybe even once a month and having an auto shutoff would prevent pump damage if for some reason it was not refilled on time.. My only remaining concerns are whether to get a remote switch to turn the fountain on and off as needed or just leave it running 24/7 even when there is nobody around to see or hear the fountain. I will not be out on the patio more than a few hours per week, Maybe an hour after work 2 or 3 days per week and occasionally for a few hours on the weekend. The winters here are mild with no frost "most" of the winter, but we do get several days during the middle of winter where it drops below freezing at night for at least a few days at a time, Low thirties to high twenties are common on January nights and temps dipping into the teens for a few nights per year during a cold snap is not unheard of. Would keeping the fountain running 24/7 during winter prevent water in the pump from freezing in those temps? |
- Posted by deviant-deziner Oh zone (My Page) on Sat, Aug 24, 13 at 12:24
I have a couple of fountains on project sites where they are never shut off. One fountain is 13 years old and we have gone through 3 pumps in 13 years . The automatic re-fill is connected to the irrigation system and does on 3 times a week. There is a tiny ball valve at the end of the feed line so we can adjust the amount of water that feeds the fountain. Works like a charm. 24/7 365 days a week. |
There are some variables that will affect the number of times per month that you will need to refill. I DIYed my water features and the bubbling rock which is very low to the ground with a 10 gallon reservoir needs monthly filling. The one that trickles over a concrete ball, also with a 10 gallon reservoir, sits higher and is subjected to more wind spray out and evaporation and has to be filled a couple of times per week. We also rarely get freezes. My pumps run 27/7 unless we have days that the temps do not allow a thaw out, sometimes an 'ice dam' can form on top of the rocks an water flows out instead of back into the reservoir. |
If it needs to be refilled more than once a week, I would rather just use an autofill. The landscape contractor was planning to install a dedicated waterline just for the fountain that would be on all the time, but I wonder if it can just tap into existing drip lines for the plants near it? Instead of the water to feed the fountain being constantly pressurized, it would only be able to refill the reservoir when the timer is set to water the plants. During the summer, the drip line timer comes on multiple times per day 5 days per week and during winter, it may be set to water only two days per week. |
The rock is decorative. It covers the grate that holds your heavy pot above the reservoir. Those are both really nice pots but if the water reservoir is all above ground, you will want the autofill option. Those appear to only hold a few gallons. |
This post was edited by pkponder on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 14:15
Wouldn't there be a reservoir holding more water inside the main body of these fountains? |
I don't have the specs on these fountains and there should be a full pot of water to achieve the infinity edge, but your pump will probably be pulling from below the pot. The water fills the pot and trickles down the outside of the pot. It is caught by the container under the pot (and under the rocks and support structure) where your pump picks it up and starts the cycle over. This is where it's critical to maintain the water level. Of course, that is merely what I am used to seeing. Maybe read the specs or ask the manufacturer for the exact details. |
This will be difficult to decide, I don't want to have to worry about leaks like the first person who replied said, but I also don't want to worry about burning out the motor if it runs dry. I also don't want to have to refill it with a hose more than a couple times per month in case I forget to turn it off before leaving town for a couple of weeks. Now I'm a bit more inclined to go with the autofill and take my chances that it may leak someday. The water flow rate should be too low to have any concern for it flooding the patio since the faucet feeding the line should only need to be opened a crack to provide enough water to cope with evaporation. Maybe there is a way to set the base so that it will be obvious if it develops a leak. |
It would be relatively easy to scuttle (or just shut off) a dedicated water line if you decided down the road that the risk of its leaking was greater than you wished to endure, or if it actually leaked. On the other hand, it would not be easy or cheap to add a dedicated line if at some point later you decided you'd prefer that option. I would not tie the fountain-fill line to a drip zone. Doing so would only mean that IF a leak developed, it would be intermittent and therefore possibly more difficult to detect. If the fountain placement will be on a hard surface, it would be fairly easy to spot a leak. |
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text: Welcome! The Southpointe Rink Rats' Board of Directors (BoD) is very excited to embark on another exciting year of youth hockey and we want to warmly welcome you to the Southpointe family for the 2012-13 season. As youth hockey continues to grow in our region we strive to grow our own association with discipline and care. Our values have remained the same. We focus on growing our players as individuals, having fun, and encourage themto challenge themselves on and off the ice. We strive to teach the fundamentals of hockey and provide a competitive environment with a family atmosphere and to ensure that our kids, who play hockey, learn to love the game of hockey. We have a special group of coaches and business managers and we are confident that they will provide the necessary guidance to keep us heading in the proper direction. This new season represents our first full implementation of the American Development Model (ADM) hockey for players at the Mite level. The ADM program helps us introduce the parts of the game that the younger players enjoy the most. Touching the puck more often, a playing surface that fits their size and skillset, and making new friends in a team atmosphere. We are working on a couple of different approaches for supplementing our player development this season including power skating and goalie development. Both programs will be implemented in-house using experts that will schedule coordinated visits with coaches during normal practice times. This approach allows for a level appropriate dedicated teaching of the specific skill. And eliminates those 5:30pm rush drives up to RMU! Most importantly, the strength of Southpointe Hockey is the continuing support of you, the Membership. Your feedback is important to us and we want to hear from you. Please use the website www.southpointehockey.org as an informational resource (Southpointe activities, notices, etc.) and to find contact information for Board members so that we can answer questions, concerns or field suggestions that will improve your overall experience. We have worked extremely hard to foster a family atmosphere and we want to bring all of the best ideas that come from you to the table. Looking forward to another great year for the Black and Red Carmen Ritacco President, Southpointe Amateur Hockey Association


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I just recently bought this game along with all of it's expansions. I'm due to play it for the first time this weekend with my nephew and had a couple of questions.
1. Am I reading the rules correctly when it states that you move two Voivodes during the same sequence? Each of the Voivodes in the pair have a move and an action during the same sequence?
2. If so, that means that two Voivodes with the Scretcha improvement can each heal Zor'ka during the same sequence? Zor'ka, with Irishka's R.U.R. and the two Voivodes with the Scretcha equipped, can heal 3 wounds per round?
I'm sorry if this has been covered before, but time is short and I don't have it to look for the answers. Any help or advice would be great! Thanks!


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Kyle Wiltjer after the win over Lipscomb. |
By KEITH TAYLOR, Winchester Sun
Kyle Wiltjer doesn't mind starting. He also doesn't mind coming off the bench. Either way, he just wants to contribute to his team's success on the court.
In a last-minute change of plans, Kentucky coach John Calipari opted against starting Wiltjer against Lipscomb and the sophomore guard delivered. Wiltjer recorded his first career collegiate double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds in the Wildcats' 88-50 rout of Lipscomb Saturday at Rupp Arena.
It was Wiltjer's second 23-point outing this season and the third of his career. In addition, Wiltjer tied his career in points and three pointers with seven shots from long range. As for his role off the bench, Wiltjer "didn't think too much of it" when Calipari informed him of not starting the contest.
"I just have to play my game, either if I'm starting or coming off the bench," he said. "When I got (in the game), I just wanted to get some rebounds and I was lucky enough to be open. Coach just told me to go in and be aggressive."
Prior to his performance against the Bisons, Wiltjer had made just 17 shots from long range and made just five in the previous six contests. He connected on 12 treys in the team's first three games of the season before delving into a slump. Despite the struggles, Wiltjer remained committed to his outside shot and added an emphasis on rebounding. He added that he "played better" against the Bisons.
"I'm just trying to get better every day," he said. "Being a shooter, you just try not to think about any of the previous games. You just go into the game and be confident and have the same approach every game."
Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said all nine of Wiltjer's attempts from behind the arc "appeared to be wide open."
"That wasn't the plan at all," Sanderson said. "He's been their best shooter for the year."
Wiltjer agreed with Sanderson's assessment of his performance.
"They really didn't close on me as hard, I don't think," Wiltjer said. "The shots were open and all week in practice, we knew they were going to be in a zone. I just had to be ready to shoot. It was a confidence boost to see some shots go in."
Calipari liked the way Wiltjer took advantage of his open shots, but was even more impressed with Wiltjer's double-digit outing on the boards. Wiltjer said the priority in the rebounding department was the result of his approach to blocking out.
"It was just working hard and having a mentally (to get rebounds)," he said. "I just wanted to get some rebounds and I did today. It just shows how impotant extra work is and hopefully we can just keep working hard every day and keep making strides."
Wiltjer's teammate, Jarrod Polson ,wasn't surprised by Wiltjer's showing against the Bisons.
"I don't think he really has lost any confidence," Polson said. "He has been shooting poorly the past couple of games but it's definitely good for us to see him have that stroke back. He made seven threes, but the better thing was his rebounding. He's been working on that, trying to get loose balls and rebounding. He definitely did a good job of that today."
Wiltjer isn't satisfied and wants the team to keep moving forward as the season progresses.
"We just need working, change as players and keep listening to coach (Calipari)," he said. "We just need to change the little things and keep working on it. It's definitely going to be a lot of work (over the next two weeks), keep working hard and we will become a better basketball team."


text:
475 Mr R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister, to Mr S. M. Bruce, High Commissioner in London
Cablegram 2649 29 May 1941 [1],
We are much exercised by the present position in the Middle East and I would like to put one or two points quite shortly to you.
The experiences in Greece and Crete indicate that the decisive factor is overwhelming air strength. This, if developed across the Mediterranean waters between Crete and Cyrenaica, may seriously affect movements of the Mediterranean Fleet, while the establishment of German air bases in Syria would threaten not only Irak and Palestine but the Suez Canal itself I know enough of the tank position to believe that large and rapid reinforcements over and above those recently and boldly sent through the Mediterranean are difficult. But what of aircraft? It is alarming to read of the enormous German preponderance.
Cannot large and urgent reinforcements of fighter planes go to the Middle East, particularly in view of the good production of these types in Great Britain and the not unsatisfactory reserves? Further, is it not possible to make some attempt at occupation of Syria by British Forces? No doubt there has been some reluctance to do this because of the possible effect upon American public opinion. But I am assured by Casey [3] on good authority in Washington that American opinion would applaud aggressive British action. Anything would appear to be better than allowing Germany to make her foothold in Syria sufficiently strong to enable a jump forward to be accomplished.
I again emphasise to you that Australia and New Zealand have a large stake of four Divisions in the Middle East, subject to deductions in Greece and Crete, in addition to their vital interest in the preservation of one of the great Empire bastions.
A defeat around the Suez would be a calamity of the first magnitude, and it appears to us that the most effective counter is in the air.
I know you will have been working on this like a tiger and that you are losing sight neither of Libya nor of Syria, but you will understand the strength of the feeling of my colleagues and myself on the matter.
Any information that we could have periodically as to air strength would be invaluable and would enable us to appreciate the position clearly.
I have given some emphasis to Syria because any real establishment by Germany in that country would mean the encirclement of Turkey and by cutting her off from external sources of supply would tend to make her powerless to resist Axis demands for the passage of troops and tanks into Palestine and Irak.
Notwithstanding our anxieties, I find my people here in good heart and determined to see the struggle through to victory.
Kind regards. [4]


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text:
Hospital Type: General Acute Care
Hospital Website: deltamedcenter.com
*This hospital has 81 practicing physicians. See Physician Directory tab for details.
Specialties:Anatomic Pathology, Cardiovascular Disease, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Diagnostic Radiology, Family Medicine, Forensic Psychiatry, Gastroenterology, General Practice, Gynecology, Hematology/Oncology, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology, Occupational Medicine, Ophthalmology, Optometry, Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, Orthopaedic Surgery, Podiatric Medicine, Psychiatry, Radiology, Sleep Medicine, Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Vascular Surgery
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