text:
Associated Press photo
Nationals Park is ready to host its first-ever postseason game.
Though there was legitimate optimism surrounding the Nationals when this season began, it took some time before the city fully bought into the notion this team could win big in 2012.
Indeed, six of the Nationals' first 13 home games this season drew crowds under 20,000 to South Capitol Street.
Slowly but surely, though, the town bought into this team. And by the time the Nationals were wrapping up the regular season — and their first-ever NL East title — a ballpark that had never been known as a particularly rowdy venue had turned into something not seen around these parts in a long time.
"It doesn't go unnoticed," first baseman Adam LaRoche said. "You could tell early on, it was almost more of a social gathering: Come out, nothing else to do, we'll just go hang out at the park. And now it's turned into some die-hard fans, some people probably skipping work and skipping school to come see the Nats. Our last few regular season home games, I think we're about as close to playoffRead more »
- LoveDaNats - Oct 9, 2012 at 11:47 PM
I cannot wait for this game tomorrow! I'm watching Giants/Reds right now……watching the rally towels and thinking we probably don't do that in DC. And then hearing they're passing out rally towels tomorrow. Ok. I'll wave one even though it doesn't feel like us. Or is that my lack of post season experience showing?
- MicheleS - Oct 9, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Still debating what to wear!!! Tomorrow is going to be so amazing! Kleenex is packed, so is the Maalox. This is going to be GREAT!!!
- Section 3, My Playoffs Sofa - Oct 9, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Bringing eyeblack Thursday …
- Ryan Eades - Oct 9, 2012 at 11:51 PM
I hope they so calling the Presidents Race the "main event." Bad enough under normal circumstances, but playoffs would be embarrassing.
- Ryan Eades - Oct 9, 2012 at 11:52 PM
Er, stop.
- Whynat - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:04 AM
Presidents as the main event = "tongue in cheek humor"A sense the fans are pressing. We just need to relax and play our game
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:05 AM
This is just superb:Take On Me at least we know the verse now
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:16 AM
In DC, darn its cold! Nats Park awaits. History!
- LoveDaNats - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:17 AM
@MicheleSThanks for the great article! I must admit I looked up the lyrics since I was one of the ones singing nonsense at the end. I hope a-ha does show up for the WS. How cool would that be?
- RickH - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:20 AM
See you at the ballpark! GYFNG!!!
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:22 AM
Ghost.. If you are in Georgetown.. Look for Bryce.. Apparantly he is out and about.Bryce Harper@Bharper3407Love Georgetown at night and the weather is unreal! #fall
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:23 AM
Yah, I know. He just tweeted our location. in seconds people spotted us.
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:24 AM
We are by Clydes.
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:24 AM
I just hope everyone keeps in mind that the Nats getting to this point most particularly with the best record in baseball is nothing short of a quasi miracle in a year with 2 other pretenders … its still quite the significant accomplishment.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:25 AM
Ghost.. there is an insider meet up in 312 tomorrow. 1 hour before the game
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:25 AM
I'll be hiding over by lock 1 of the C&O near the mule trail.
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:27 AM
Time to bike the old crescent rail road trail …
- A DC Wonk - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:27 AM
Over the year I've tried to explain why, as a former Mets fan, I was sick of and hated the Yankees. For a number of reasons.Just wanted to point out to anyone who's frustrated with the Nats 1pm playing time and MLB.com-only TV coverage — which is part due to the "conflicts" with the Yankees: imagine that happening nearly every day for 51 seasons.This is just a part of why Mets fans can't stand the Yankees.My 17-year and I will be at the park tomorrow!!
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:29 AM
Really, nice! I'm staying with a friend you know and hopefully get there early.
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:30 AM
Peric, let's meet up and I'll buy you a drink
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:31 AM
Wonk,Imagine that the Yankees had controlling interest to Mets media broadcasts. Imagine going to a Mets web site and finding Yankees YES logos, and old Yankees festooning it?Welcome to our world.
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:32 AM
Ok, gotta get off the phone. See you all tomorrow.
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:34 AM
Peric, let's meet up and I'll buy you a drinkNext trip. I brought the bike and it gets cold and dark fast. And its not as easy riding around as it is on the CC since the traffic there is almost negligible compared to DC!!! Yikes I still can't believe that built that monstrosity the InterCounty connector behind my old house and my parents! Yikes! The poor Northwest branch … all of that wild life …
- Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:39 AM
Stubhub ticket, check.Metrocard, check.Nats NL East champion T-shirt, check.Scorebook (with room for one game left!), check.Maalox, check.Bourbon, er, no.Bottled water, check.Peanuts, check.Fingernail clipper, er, haven't needed that for a month, no."Take on Me" lyrics memorized, check.Good night's sleep? You gotta be kidding.
- LoveDaNats - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:43 AM
@SunshineBobbyCome to the meet up tomorrow. I gotta shake your hand.
- baseballswami - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:44 AM
I am very disappointed in the time of tomorrow's game and the late notice of the time. The defending world champions? First post season game since, what 1933 in DC? Come on Major League Baseball. Typical Yankee crush. I will be completely off the grid during most of the game tomorrow and will be checking in as soon as possible, probably around 3. DVR will be recording. I know several people who got tickets and are just devastated that they can't possibly go. Thursday at four a tad better. Others don't have mlb network. I actually prefer their coverage. I hope the boys come out focused tomorrow. I just want to see them play good clean baseball, win or lose. Is the SF/Reds game still going on?
- LoveDaNats - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:49 AM
SwamiYes. Bottom of the 9th. Tied at 1
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:50 AM
Swami.. be forwarned of MLB coverage.. Costas is STL Homer and Kaat vs Strasburg (enough said)
- Steady Eddie - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:51 AM
Interesting factoid about the Reds ROY candidate Todd Frazier — apparently he's so invaluable to his team that he's gotten a grand total of 2 pinch hit ABs (no hits( in the Reds' first three games.Speaks a lot louder than all the Reds' PR apparatus about how important they consider him to the team's success when ALL the chips are down on the table.(Of course he contributed a lot to the Reds' season. You don't even get to be a serious ROY candidate if you don't do that.)
- Jimmy - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:51 AM
Just in case anyone is still looking for (face-value) buyers due to the game taking place in the middle of the day, I'm available and interested. And here is some food for thought: While I can't pay top dollar, I can substitute more Nats Fans per ticket than any other takers. As I mentioned last week, I'm a stay-at-home dad and both my kids are under two. That means if you sell me one ticket, I bring three Nats Fans to the game. Now that is return value.
- Unknown - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:54 AM
Looking forward to the big day tomorrow.
- JayB - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:56 AM
Yea….Maya and Martin are much better than Chapman…Rizzo sure knows his International Market….Oh and Cepedess he was not worth the money either……Love Rizzo but until he learns to admit mistakes and spend on Intl FA….this team will underachieve it's potential.
- Feel Wood - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:57 AM
Who will sing the anthem tomorrow? It better be D.C. Washington.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:58 AM
OY JayB.. Give it a rest. We tried on Chapman and layed out $$$$ Cinci put up more $$$$$$Also for those on twitter or facebook or email or whatever..Please contact MASN about the Nats Classics they show! I would rather see the 80 wins from last year or the 98 from this year instead of listening to Dribble.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:59 AM
Feel, I hope it is DC.. But I am going to get a little misty when Frank throws out the first pitch
- JaneB - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:03 AM
Ryan, I'm with you. THE MAIN EVENT IS THE GAME, not the stupid Presidents.I've already packed the car. Made a sign. Planned what I'm wearing. Imaginary Friends coming to the game! Let's meet each other and say hey up behind section 312 tomorrow! We'll be there at least an hour before the game, but I know many will leave for our seats FOR PLAY OFF BASEBALL by about 20 before 1:00. Free Maalox for all who show up. You're on your own for the bourbon. Though I'm hoping you won't need any.Last night I had a dream I had the wrong tickets and they wouldn't let me in. Woke up in a cold sweat. I have the right ones in the car right now. I'm giddy. See a bunch of you tomorrow. And WE WILL ALL be there tomorrow, whether our bodies are in the park or not.
- JaneB - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:06 AM
PS Maybe, just for tomorrow, we could lay off the dialogue about what someone should have done when, and what player we should have that we don't, and who should have been swinging away instead of bunting, etc.Let's ENJOY THIS DAY WE'VE WAITING SO LONG FOR.Yes, I'm shouting. I'm practicing for tomorrow.GYFNG!
- baseballswami - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:08 AM
Oh – I forgot about the mlb love fest for the cardinals. Greg Amsinger is a total homer for them. I can't stand Kaat – I suppose he will bloviate about Stras during the entire broadcast.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:11 AM
Xavier Nady making Nats fans proud with a K in the 10th. But the Giants take the lead on error by the 8 time gold glove award winner, Scott Rolen.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:16 AM
Costas may be a Cards fan, but he's a real pro, and a very good play by play announcer I think. And I think he likes the Nats too. His call of the Strasburg debut was great. So on balance, I like this team better than Dick Stockton and Bremle. We'll see how it goes. Fortunately, I'll be at Nats Park, so won't be able to get frustrated with the announcing.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:18 AM
Wasn't Xavier Paul in the Nats system this year?
- rogieshan - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:19 AM
Yeah, how on earth did the two Xavier(s) end up in the playoffs when they couldn't even bribe their way onto the Nats?
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:20 AM
Filling out my scorebook right now, while watching this amazing game between Cincy and San Fran. One out away from the Giants extending the series in Cincinnati.I've taken the day off tomorrow: sub plans are on the teacher desk, Thursday morning plans already in place.Clothes? Something red. I have no idea which player to promote. Maybe layers of Zimmerman and Werth underneath my old-style Nationals pullover jacket.I hadn't got that Christmas Eve feeling until I started reading these past two threads. Now I'm pumped. Hope I can sleep.
- Natslifer - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:21 AM
We've all been waiting for this day for so long. Here's to everyone waking up and soaking in everything and a big win for our boys – it's going to be a beautiful day for baseball.It struck me today that I've been following MLB since I was about 6 and the postseason has always seemed excruciatingly long. But now that I've been staring at our month-by-month record, it's interesting to see that it's just 11 simple games in a month to reach the top.Here's to the start of many of those wins in our future off of South Capitol.GYFNG!!!!!!!
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:22 AM
Giants win, and they play tomorrow, so there are three games on tap (at least). That makes our 1:00 start time a bit less pointless, perhaps. If there are four games on the schedule, then we'll be the first of a series, instead of a game the nation ignores because it's up against Judge Judy.
- rogieshan - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:23 AM
Hunter Pence looks like a player who came out of that cornfield in Iowa.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:24 AM
So who besides me uses the Bob Carpenter full-sized scorebook?How do you fill out all that peripheral information for a playoff game? I guess I'll come up with something reflecting the status of the ALDS and NLDS games so far.
- MPH-Rod - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:26 AM
Will there be standing room tickets avaliable thursday before the game?
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:26 AM
Ghost, if you talk to Bryce, ask him why the heck he's out in Georgetown the night before a big game if he has strep throat. Did you guys see he had a temperature of over 100 yesterday?
- Joe Seamhead - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:29 AM
Not a big Coco Chrisp fan, but man, he just robbed Fielder big time!
- LoveDaNats - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:29 AM
The optimism is wonderful! I was at a game last week when Bernadina came up to bat. Looking around at the "shark arms" all over the park, I said to my husband, "these are my people". He will be getting me professional help but I told him I don't have time until October is over.
- MPH-Rod - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:31 AM
Will there be standing room tickets avaliable thursday before the game?
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:32 AM
MPHRod.. Nats have the info here:Nats NLDS Info Kind of funny that Henry is coming to us for NLDS info
- JaneB - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:33 AM
Section222, how domyou know Bryce is in Georgetown?I also wonder if I can sleep. NatsJack, you're coming up here, right?
- do1teach1 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:33 AM
I can't thank Mark enough for this site, but I was disappointed to see him fall into the DC-won't-support-baseball-cult with this comment:"Indeed, six of the Nationals' first 13 home games this season drew crowds under 20,000 to South Capitol Street."Is this really fair Mark?We all know the weather was miserable in April. We all know the Nats faced teams with no national following, no following in DC, and in most cases, no following in their home cities:- Cincinnati. I've never seen one of their hats on the streets of metro DC.- Houston. Worst or second-worst team in baseball. I never saw a Houston hat in DC the year they went to the playoffs.Miami. Hated here and in Miami.Arizona. Yawn in DC, yawn in AZ.There is no doubt attendance and intensity increased as the Nats' season progressed. I just don't think it's fair to say we had lousy attendance on cold, rainy school nights in April against lousy or anonymous teams.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:34 AM
JaneB.. Bryce tweeted the location.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:36 AM
MPH-Rod — lots of standing room tix available on Stubhub for close to face value.
- alm - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:41 AM
Can't believe this is happening.Will probably get there when the gates open. What to wear – has to be red – Harper, Stras or Natitude playoff? Decisions, decisions…Come on, isn't it time yet>
- Constant Reader - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:47 AM
MicheleS … 312? Tell me more. I'm 312.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:49 AM
Constant.. JaneB has been putting out the Nat's Signal for a meet up in 312 tomorrow 1 hour before the game. Look at her posts in last thread
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:51 AM
Gallery picnic tables behind 312. Somebody PLEASE wear your bright red Nationals Insider hooded parka.(Well, we SHOULD have those!)
- A DC Wonk - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:53 AM
LoveDaNats said… @SunshineBobby Come to the meet up tomorrow. I gotta shake your hand.Where can I find info for the meet up?
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:54 AM
Looks like Frank Howard throws 1st pitch on Thursday
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:56 AM
Wonk.. 312 picnic tables 1 hour before game starts.. JaneB.. if you a reading this.. post the meet up info at the beginning of each thread.We still don't know if we will have a celebrity siting of Mark Z.. I would be thrilled if we saw Baby Z.. you know so we could get autographs of our future CF (he can be Drake's team mate)
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:57 AM
Fashion tips from IanIan Desmond@IanDesmond20If your sitting behind home plate field level I would appreciate it if you wouldn't wear white shirts. For those of u thinkin white out.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:58 AM
Visibility factor, no doubt. A white baseball against a white background is probably really, really hard to see.
- Manassas Nats' Fan - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:00 AM
I went set my DVR and my listing for MLB network says to be announced well i know what is showing but since not listed I cant set to record. Anyone know a work around?
- SonnyG10 - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:03 AM
See you at the game tomorrow folks. GYFNG!!!
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:04 AM
Thanks for mentioning that, Manassas. Alas, I don't have a workaround, but I was able to set up my FiOS DVR for the game just fine.
- Constant Reader - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:09 AM
Obviously I'm not reading constantly enough. My seats are in 312 (and have been since the place opened). I have to grab my 8-yr old out of school and catch the Metro, so I don't know if I'll be there in time to catch you folks, but I'll surely try.
- Gonat - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:10 AM
MicheleS, you are a wealth of info tonight!
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:13 AM
Gonat.. I took the day off from work so I can stay up and watch the A's (and sleep in a little for the Nats Game). the reaction of Nats Fans tonight have been hilarious
- Section 3, My Playoffs Sofa - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:16 AM
Yah, I know. [Bryce] just tweeted our location. in seconds people spotted us.Wait, you're with Bryce Harper?? Then who the heck is this guy with the eye black I've been talking to?
- A DC Wonk - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:16 AM
Thanks MicheleS for the info. I'll be able to get there before the game. Not sure if Wonk-daughter can get there by then, but I'll ask her! (Are we wearing anything special?)
- Gonat - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:18 AM
MicheleS, doubt I will make it early (booo). Hows about meeting after the game. Maybe Peric can meet us too.
- Manassas Nats' Fan - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:19 AM
Dave I guessed and got it. I manually set the time for 1 to 530 incsse extra innings. Then manually selected 859 whicj is MLB network. Then double checked and should be good to go.My buddy I sit with in 313 row J is sitting in 310 tomorrow.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:24 AM
Okay, Manassas, so you've got the NATS cheer going in 310, right? My son will be in 311, and he will be properly instructed in the particulars of the cheer.I will be in 220, trying to get it going down there in sync with 313.Anybody sitting down the 1st-base line in the Infield Gallery? Look toward 313 after every Nats score, and get your section involved.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:25 AM
Oh, sorry, just read your post properly, Manassas. So your friend is in 310. Well, he knows the cheer, right? Gotta spread the noise!
- Manassas Nats' Fan - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:43 AM
We cheer it amd even at home listen for it on the radio and cheer ir. Wish we could get it stadium wide. Easier to get the stupid wave then a real cheer. 310 will be doing as will my classroom.
- Steady Eddie - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:02 AM
Michele, where did you see that info about Hobdo? That is entirely awesome!!!! As a young teen, I was sitting down the third base line in then-DC Stadium for one of his white seat dingers. The ball was still going up when it hit about halfway up the upper section in the upper deck. Made me a DC Nats fan (wherever the franchise came from ) for life.I saw that Beast just tweeted that he was going to sleep now… Rest up, big guy! Love to see a Hondo-length granny (or any length granny) from you tomorrow!
- Gonat - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:08 AM
MicheleS said… Gonat.. I took the day off from work so I can stay up and watch the A's (and sleep in a little for the Nats Game). the reaction of Nats Fans tonight have been hilarious October 09, 2012 10:13 PM ____________________________________Loving the A's. A good underdog to root for!
- NatsNut - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:11 AM
I'm a little late catching up on today's posts and comments, but I love the enthusiasm here. I can't wait for our boys to see it tomorrow!Off topic, but man, is Bryce Harper a cliche MACHINE or what? Derek Jeter would be proud.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:12 AM
I'm really looking forward to the A's-Nats World Series.
- baseballswami - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:14 AM
Which one of you has the section that does the chanting after the Nats score? You can always hear it on tv. Loud and clear please – and hopefully often.
- Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:14 AM
LoveDaNats said…@SunshineBobbyCome to the meet up tomorrow. I gotta shake your hand.@LoveDa: I'll be there. Tall guy with straw hat. Trust me, I'll be the only one. My right hand will be extended. Be a pleasure. See you there.
- Dave - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:49 AM
That's section 313, swami. But they're just the leaders of it. Watch the guys in section 313 (short section in front of pressbox, with wheelchair pad in the back). They will give a visual signal when to do the cheer.Gotta get the whole Infield Gallery in on this.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:51 AM
swami, the cheer comes from Section 313, although others in the Infield Gallery are joining in now as well. There's one regular commenter who is in that section — Dave. It's great fun and seems to be spreading. Charlie and Dave have even commented on it.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 3:56 AM
Glad the A's won, but the downside is the game on Thursday will be at 4:07 pm. Oh well. Better than 1 pm.
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 4:21 AM
Let the drama unfold … 3 games at home.
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 4:38 AM
- peric - Oct 10, 2012 at 4:43 AM
Finally, Anthony Rendon started at third base and went 1 for 3 with a run scored in the Arizona Fall League today.
- Joe Seamhead - Oct 10, 2012 at 9:27 AM
Woke up at 4:00, can't get back to sleep. Oh, well.Will have plenty of time to sleep after November 1.Decided to drive today.GYFNG!!!
- Another_Sam - Oct 10, 2012 at 10:32 AM
I reluctantly admit that I didn't sleep so well last night.
- baseballswami - Oct 10, 2012 at 10:35 AM
There will be rare chances for me to check in today – worst timing ever. I will be with everyone in spirit – so hard to concentrate. Hoping for a game where all the guys are not superheroes, just themselves. That's enough.
- Steady Eddie - Oct 10, 2012 at 11:28 AM
222 — we still don't know re timing of Thursday game. If the Tigers win tonight, there is no Game 5 in that series on Thursday to keep our Game4 at 4 pm. So have to stay tuned 'till midnight tonight….
- Nats fan in NJ - Oct 10, 2012 at 11:54 AM
At my desk in the office, already cleared the calendar of having to be anywhere but in front of my computer from 1-4 this afternoon. Fortunately, my entire management chain is full of sports fans (Phillies, unfortunately) and they are understanding that I can't be disturbed.GYFNG!!!
- LoveDaNats - Oct 10, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I slept terribly. Is it too early to leave for the Park? And whats with WaPo's doom and gloom about the gridlock? They did that too before Nats park opened in 2008 and it wasn't as bad as advertised. It can't be any worse than opening day traffic. Let's hope.
- Feel Wood - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Dave said… I'm really looking forward to the A's-Nats World Series.So is Kurt Suzuki. He gets a ring no matter which team wins. Plus a full playoff share from the Nats and at least a partial share from the A's.
- Feel Wood - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:13 PM
And whats with WaPo's doom and gloom about the gridlock?They have to do that, since doom and gloom about late night Metro is no longer an option.
- Kiterp - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:16 PM
Parking in DC: $45Authentic Werth Jersey: $250Tickets to the Game: $500Sunny day, 1:07 first pitch, playoff baseball in DC: priceless
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:20 PM
I was also glad that the A's, and the Giants, won. Saw the middle/late innings of the latter but only the start of the A's game, which was going to run a tad bit late for me. Just emailed an old friend in the Bay Area about the wins. :-)So excited about the game today! We probably won't make it to the meetup on the dot at noon – depends on when my hubby can get away from work – but we do plan to stop in. I heard that there's no door prize for being FIRST, anyway.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:24 PM
Steady.. The Frank Howard stuff was on twitter, i think it was a local reporter,but not sure.
- MicheleS - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:25 PM
1A.. I hope that we get Lollipops and Pom Poms for showing up first
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Steady, that's what I thought about the start time too, but then I saw this on the Curly W Live blog, which I think is "official." (Doesn't mean they can't be wrong, of course.)If the A's win tonight, but lose on Wednesday ending their series, does Thursday's game time still change?By Brian on October 9, 2012 10:06 pm – ReplyBased on what MLB has said, no, time would remain the same.By Curly W Live on October 9, 2012 10:09 pm – Reply
- Ghost Of Steve M. - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:30 PM
Rise and shine! See you all there and if we are lucky enough to have cell coverage, post some comments!
- Sunshine_Bobby_Carpenter_Is_Too_Pessimistic_For_Me - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:38 PM
What a beautiful day for (playoff!) baseball!!See everybody at the get-together behind 312 at noonish. I'll be one of those with a bottle of Maalox in hand!Travel safely, and GYFNG!!!
- Faraz Shaikh - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:45 PM
I am going to be 'working' today so can't make it physically to Nats park. very excited about today.I want SF-Cin and Oak-Det to go game five so all four series can be clinched on the same day, Thursday. Nats, Giants, A's and O's all clinch. That would be awesome.
- Steady Eddie - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:53 PM
222 – Interesting re start time on Thursday. IF true, and who knows, I guess it would be that they don't want to reset start times less than 24 hours before the game starts. If so, it's too bad in that a later start allows more people to come more easily — my older daughter can make it to a 5 pm start but not 4 — and reduces the time for nasty shadows. Though maybe Det can use the early inning help — he generally throws lots of early inning strikes — until he settles in.
- Section 3, My Playoffs Sofa - Oct 10, 2012 at 12:55 PM
FS, that would be great, if only to watch the networks have a cow over seeing basically two markets, neither of them NY or LA, left playing.
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:02 PM
At which point we could all go into Nelson Muntz mode.
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Get me rewrite! At which point we could all go into Nelson Muntz mode.And where's my coffee?!
- A DC Wonk - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:10 PM
under face value ticketsA half-hour ago, Mrs Wonk got a standing room ticket for $28 (+fees) from Stubhub. Just now, I see there are still lots of them for under $40.
- A DC Wonk - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:13 PM
peric said… Let the drama unfold … 3 games at home.I'm hoping for just 2 (winning) games at home, so that Gio can start the next series
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:15 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
- Andrew L. - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:17 PM
I'm taking my 9 year old today and he had a hard time falling asleep and woke up at 6AM and said he can't sleep because he is so excited.I have to say I'm excited also! My son is wearing a red Ryan Zimmerman jersey and I'm wearing a red Bryce Harper jersey. Hope to see many of you there!
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:17 PM
It's also showing upper outfield gallery seats for today from $32-$35
- JaneB - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:20 PM
I got to sleep about 12:45. Woke up at 4:45. Did some work. Worked out. Leaving now! See you all SOOOOOOON! Sending love to all Nats and all Nats Fans, where ever you'll be watching, on whatever device you'll be watching. GYFNG!
- Scooter - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:20 PM
I'm very excited about the game, and also looking forward to seeing several of y'all.Sec3 and 1a, I'd love to gloat with y'all, but that would require my actually considering what the TV network managers want. Somehow I just can't bring myself to do that.
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:34 PM
btw, the rally kitteh stopped by yesterday afternoon, and again this a.m. I'm not saying, I'm just saying…
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:38 PM
And I'll be wearing a red interlocking DC polo and a red warmup jacket with script "Washington" on the back. Will also have an off-white, curly W giveaway cap with my trusty RFK exploding fireworks pin on it.Should we all start asking Mark what time the game starts now? I'm about bouncing off the walls here.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:41 PM
LOL 1a. "Are we there yet??"
- Scooter - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:44 PM
It's so nice to have this place. Where else can I admit that I just spent 18 MILLION DOLLARS for tickets to the NLCS — and people will be happy for me rather than calling for the Brute Squad to subdue me for my own good?
- John C. - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:49 PM
Geaux Nats! Will be heading to the park at 11:30 (I work in walking distance). Will be rocking Section 311, hoping to join in many NATS cheers today
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:50 PM
We're saving the Brute Squad for the Cardinals, Scooter.
- Section 222 - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Scooter, I keep telling myself that I'll get half of that 18 MILLION DOLLAR credit card bill back because Games 6 and 7 won't be necessary. Then I can spend the 9 MILLION DOLLARS that I get back on a couple of World Series tickets.
- natsfan1a - Oct 10, 2012 at 1:57 PM
Lineups on the Tweeter feed at top right. I sense a game thread coming on (also a Nats win, while I'm making predictions – hehe).
- Pete - Oct 10, 2012 at 2:31 PM


text:
Obama's nuclear policy is aimed at the wrong country — his own.
Missing the Target
Filed Under: FrontPage Tagged With: Administration, ally, America, anti ballistic missile, attack, Barack Obama, Cairo, deploy, Eastern Europe, fearsome weapons, Ghana, Gordon Chang, Iran, Kim Jong, missile, missile defenses, missile systems, Mongolia, Mr. Chang, navy warships, North Korea, nothing, NRP, Nuclear, nuclear bombs, nuclear posture review, number of nuclear weapons, President Obama, President. When, Russia, Syria, Treaty, U.S., US, weapons of mass destruction, World

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Veterinarians who make farm calls to treat equines currently risk prosecution under the federal Controlled Substances Act, but new legislation pending would amend that law to protect operators of mobile veterinary practices.
To continue reading this article, become a member of TheHorse.com.
It's FREE and you'll get full access to more than 20,000 articles, video, free reports & more.


text:
A review of Vocabulary, Vocabulary Reinforcement, Comprehension, Phrases and Expressions (Idioms), Advanced English and Interactive Teaching. This week, our topic is: Being On Time. A weekly program teaching basic English for adults and young adults.
live streaming schedule & on demand videos
09:00 am | NDE Board Meeting: October 2015 NDE Board Meeting |
02:00 pm | Nebraska Department of Education: November 2015 NDE Work Session |
09:00 am | NDE Board Meeting: November 2015 NDE Board Meeting |
02:00 pm | Nebraska Department of Education: December 2015 NDE Work Session |
09:00 am | NDE Board Meeting: December 2015 NDE Board Meeting |
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
Beef State: Genetics | As early as the 1870s, Nebraska ranchers knew that genetics were important. As their markets... | |
Beef State: Mechanization on Ranches | By 1925, beef production had been greatly reformed. Watch how the mechanization of ranches affected... | |
Beef State: Refrigeration & the Stockyards | Technology and innovation dramatically changed beef in the first quarter of the 20th century.... | |
Beef State: Richards & Land Fraud | Ranchers' refusal to remove their fences enraged President Roosevelt, who ordered legal action. In... | |
Beef State: Birth of the Omaha Stockyards | In 1882, Wyoming rancher Alexander Swan came to Omaha to convince investors to start a stockyards.... | |
Beef State: Widows & Orphans | Some ranchers acquired land by artfully using a provision of the amended Homestead Act that allowed... | |
Beef State: Homesteaders v. Cattlemen | Some Nebraska ranchers could use trespass laws to keep homesteaders from reaching their land,... | |
Beef State: Homesteaders | Life was quite grueling for homesteading farmers in Nebraska, a land with a relatively small yearly... | |
Beef State: Bartlett Richards | Because of the Blizzards of 1886 & 1887 and other reasons, large Nebraska ranches began to fade... | |
Beef State: Ranches | What did it take to be a Nebraska rancher in the late 1800s? Narrated by Peter Coyote. This segment... |


text:
Transfection Methods Overview
Cell Biology 101
Post-Transfection Analysis of Cells
Preparation of Primary Cell Cultures Video
Basic Cell Culture Introduction
Helios Gene Gun System Video
Biolistic Transfection Video
A choice of exponential or square waveforms. Both exponential-decay and square-wave pulses have been used very effectively for both electroporation and electrofusion. The shape of the electroporation wave can have a significant effect on the transformation efficiency for different cell types. The Gene Pulser MXcell system generates both exponential and square waveforms, enabling you to choose the waveform and protocol that will work best for your cells.
Exponential-decay pulse. When a capacitor, charged to a voltage V0, is discharged into cells, the voltage applied to the cells decreases over time in an exponential curve such that the voltage V at any given time t is given by V = V0e-(t/RC). In the special case where t = Τ, then V = V0/e. The value CR is known as the time constant of the voltage decay. The shorter the time constant the faster the decay.
Square-wave pulse. Truncating the pulse from a capacitor after discharging it into the sample generates a square-wave pulse. The pulse length is the time the cells are subjected to the discharge. During the pulse, the voltage again decreases by an exponential decay so that at the end of the pulse the voltage is lower than at the beginning. This drop in voltage is called the pulse droop and it is measured as a percentage of the initial voltage.
Optimize Your Resources
Use fewer cells and less sample — siRNA or DNA — by defining your parameters. Optimizing your electroporation parameters will ensure that cell viability and transfection efficiency are at their highest levels.
GAPDH mRNA levels in Jurkat cells postelectroporation.
A siLentMer Dicer-substrate siRNA duplex (GAPDH) or a scrambled negative control (NC) was delivered using the Gene Pulser MXcell system and Gene Pulser electroporation buffer, or a competitor's electroporator and cell line-specific buffer kit. Gene knockdown was measured by qPCR.
A, GAPDH mRNA levels 4 hr postelectroporation.
B, GAPDH mRNA levels 24 hr postelectroporation.
After 4 hr, >88% knockdown was obtained using the Gene Pulser MXcell system and Gene Pulser electroporation buffer, compared to only 31% knockdown using a competitor's system.
Gene silencing in SK-N-SH cells electroporated with either a siLentMer GAPDH siRNA or a siLentMer nonspecific siRNA assessed using real-time RT-qPCR. Cells (3 x 106/ml) were electroporated (20 ms square-wave pulse of 200 V and 2,000 µF) with 50 nM (A) or 100 nM (B) siRNA. Nonspecific siRNA (—); GAPDH siRNA (—). C, over 90% gene silencing was obtained in cells treated with 50 or 100 nM GAPDH siRNA () compared to cells treated with the corresponding concentration of nonspecific siRNA () (negative control). RFU, relative fluorescence units.
Time course of GAPDH gene silencing in Jurkat cells. Values were normalized to scrambled negative control (lime green); silencing of 88% of gene expression was observed in cells transfected with GAPDH siRNA (dark green).
siRNA delivery into neutrophils using a range of electroporation conditions. Neutrophils were electroporated using the indicated conditions in the presence of siRNA conjugated to Alexa Fluor 546, then imaged by fluorescence microscopy. MFI was used as an index of siRNA delivery into the cells. Under conditions below 300 V, transfection efficiency increased when capacitance was increased. RFU, relative fluorescence units.
The Transfection Protocol Online Library contains protocols obtained from the literature, developed by Bio-Rad scientists, or submitted by scientists like you. browse protocols to view our library and find your starting point.
Bio-Rad Laboratories has helped scientists deliver molecules into cells for over 35 years. Instruments, including the Gene Pulser® series of electroporators, the MicroPulser™ electroporator, and the Helios® gene gun and PDS-1000/He™ biolistic systems, have been used successfully to transfect prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, including plant and animal cells. These transfection instruments are cited extensively in the literature. Our chemically mediated methods include lipid-based transfection reagents — TransFectin™ lipid reagent for delivery of plasmid DNA and siLentFect™ lipid reagent for siRNA delivery.
Discontinued Product The Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system is no longer available. However, current users can order electroporation plates and cuvettes for their transfection applications.
Existing Gene Pulser MXcell systems can be used to electroporate as few as 105 cells by using a 96-well plate or as many as 106 to 107 cells in a 12-well plate or in a cuvette.
Alternatives to the Gene Pulser MXcell system for meeting your transfection needs include:
What is the education discount policy?
For more than 15 years, Bio-Rad has made science education a major priority. To support this effort, the company has implemented a discount policy that allows high school and college teaching laboratories to purchase kits, instruments, reagents, and other equipment at preferred prices.
How do I apply for the education discount?
If you are an educator at the high school or college level, visit our Education Discount Policy page to establish an education account number.
Sorry, an error has occurred. Please try again. If the problem persists, please call {0} for assistance.


text:
Start a new application to McKinsey, retrieve your draft application(s) or access or update your online account.
To ensure the security of your profile information, please re-enter your password.
Don't have an account? Register here.
Register to get full access to our articles and reports, including those by McKinsey Quarterly and the McKinsey Global Institute, and to subscribe to our newsletters and e-mail alerts.
Gain full access to articles and reports, including those by McKinsey Quarterly and the McKinsey Global Institute, and subscribe to our newsletters and e-mail alerts.
Sorry, something went wrong and we cannot reset your password right now. Please try again later.
Please enter the e-mail address you use to sign into your account.
Thank you.
If your e-mail address is associated with an account in our system, we have sent you instructions on how to reset your password.
"What's the next new thing in strategy?" a senior executive recently asked Phil Rosenzweig, a professor at IMD,1 1. International Institute for Management Development. in Switzerland. His response was surprising for someone whose career is devoted to advancing the state of the art of strategy: "With all respect, I think that's the wrong question. There's always new stuff out there, and most of it's not very good. Rather than looking for the next musing, it's probably better to be thorough about what we know is true and make sure we do that well."
Let's face it: the basic principles that make for good strategy often get obscured. Sometimes the explanation is a quest for the next new thing—natural in a field that emerged through the steady accumulation of frameworks promising to unlock the secret of competitive advantage.2 2. For a rich account of strategy's birth and growth as a field, see Walter Kiechel, The Lords of Strategy, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2010. In other cases, the culprit is torrents of data, reams of analysis, and piles of documents that can be more distracting than enlightening.
Ultimately, strategy is a way of thinking, not a procedural exercise or a set of frameworks. To stimulate that thinking and the dialogue that goes along with it, we developed a set of tests aimed at helping executives assess the strength of their strategies. We focused on testing the strategy itself (in other words, the output of the strategy-development process), rather than the frameworks, tools, and approaches that generate strategies, for two reasons. First, companies develop strategy in many different ways, often idiosyncratic to their organizations, people, and markets. Second, many strategies emerge over time rather than from a process of deliberate formulation.3 3. For a classic statement of the idea that strategies are more emergent than planned, see Henry Mintzberg, "Crafting strategy," Harvard Business Review, 1987, July–August, Volume 65, Number 4, pp. 66–75.
There are ten tests on our list, and not all are created equal. The first—"will it beat the market?"—is comprehensive. The remaining nine disaggregate the picture of a market-beating strategy, though it's certainly possible for a strategy to succeed without "passing" all nine of them. This list may sound more complicated than the three Cs or the five forces of strategy.4 4. The three Cs and the five forces are seminal strategy frameworks. The three Cs (competitors, customers, and company) were articulated by retired McKinsey partner Kenichi Ohmae in The Mind of the Strategist (McGraw-Hill, 1982). The five forces (barriers to entry, buyer power, supplier power, the threat of substitutes, and the degree of rivalry) were set forth by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter in Competitive Strategy (Free Press, 1998). But detailed pressure testing, in our experience, helps pinpoint more precisely where the strategy needs work, while generating a deeper and more fruitful strategic dialogue.
Those conversations matter, but they often are loose and disjointed. We heard that, loud and clear, over the past two years in workshops where we explored our tests with more than 700 senior strategists around the world. Furthermore, a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey of 2,135 executives indicates that few strategies pass more than three of the tests (Exhibit 1). In contrast, the reflections of a range of current and former strategy practitioners (see "How we do it: Strategic tests from four senior executives") suggest that the tests described here help formalize something that the best strategists do quite intuitively.
Most companies' strategies pass fewer than four of the ten tests.
The tests of a good strategy are timeless in nature. But the ability to pressure-test a strategy is especially timely now. The financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed made some strategies obsolete, revealed weaknesses in others, and forced many companies to confront choices and trade-offs they put off in boom years. At the same time, a shift toward shorter planning cycles and decentralized strategic decision making are increasing the utility of a common set of tests.5 5. For more on strategy setting in today's environment, see Lowell Bryan, "Dynamic management: Better decisions in uncertain times," mckinseyquarterly.com, December 2009; and "Navigating the new normal: A conversation with four chief strategy officers," mckinseyquarterly.com, December 2009. All this makes today an ideal time to kick the tires on your strategy.
All companies operate in markets surrounded by customers, suppliers, competitors, substitutes, and potential entrants, all seeking to advance their own positions. That process, unimpeded, inexorably drives economic surplus—the gap between the return a company earns and its cost of capital—toward zero.
For a company to beat the market by capturing and retaining an economic surplus, there must be an imperfection that stops or at least slows the working of the market. An imperfection controlled by a company is a competitive advantage. These are by definition scarce and fleeting because markets drive reversion to mean performance (Exhibit 2). The best companies are emulated by those in the middle of the pack, and the worst exit or undergo significant reform. As each player responds to and learns from the actions of others, best practice becomes commonplace rather than a market-beating strategy. Good strategies emphasize difference—versus your direct competitors, versus potential substitutes, and versus potential entrants.
Markets drive a reversion to mean performance.
Market participants play out the drama of competition on a stage beset by randomness. Because the evolution of markets is path dependent—that is, its current state at any one time is the sum product of all previous events, including a great many random ones—the winners of today are often the accidents of history. Consider the development of the US tire industry. At its peak in the mid-1920s, a frenzy of entry had created almost 300 competitors. Yet by the 1940s, four producers controlled more than 70 percent of the market. Those winners happened to make retrospectively lucky choices about location and technology, but at the time it was difficult to tell which companies were truly fit for the evolving environment. The histories of many other industries, from aerospace to information technology, show remarkably similar patterns.
To beat the market, therefore, advantages have to be robust and responsive in the face of onrushing market forces. Few companies, in our experience, ask themselves if they are beating the market—the pressures of "just playing along" seem intense enough. But playing along can feel safer than it is. Weaker contenders win surprisingly often in war when they deploy a divergent strategy, and the same is true in business.6 6. See Ivan Arreguin-Toft, How the weak win wars: A theory of asymmetric conflict, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Further reading:Anita M. McGahan How Industries Evolve: Principles for Achieving and Sustaining Superior Performance, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2004.
Philipp M. Natterman, "Best practice does not equal best strategy," mckinseyquarterly.com, May 2000.
Michael Porter, "What is strategy?" Harvard Business Review, November 1996, Volume 74, Number 6, pp. 61–78.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life, New York: Texere, 2001.
Know your competitive advantage, and you've answered the question of why you make money (and vice versa). Competitive advantage stems from two sources of scarcity: positional advantages and special capabilities.
Positional advantages are rooted in structurally attractive markets. By definition, such advantages favor incumbents: they create an asymmetry between those inside and those outside high walls. For example, in Australia, two beer makers control 95 percent of the market and enjoy triple the margins of US brewers. This situation has sustained itself for two decades, but it wasn't always so. Beginning in the 1980s, the Australian industry experienced consolidation. That change in structure was associated with a change in industry conduct (price growth began outstripping general inflation) and a change in industry performance (higher profitability). Understanding the relationship among structure, conduct, and performance is a critical part of the quest for positional advantage.
Special capabilities, the second source of competitive advantage, are scarce resources whose possession confers unique benefits. The most obvious resources, such as drug patents or leases on mineral deposits, we call "privileged, tradable assets": they can be bought and sold. A second category of special capabilities, "distinctive competencies," consists of things a company does particularly well, such as innovating or managing stakeholders. These capabilities can be just as powerful in creating advantage but cannot be easily traded.
Too often, companies are cavalier about claiming special capabilities. Such a capability must be critical to a company's profits and exist in abundance within it while being scarce outside. As such, special capabilities tend to be specific in nature and few in number. Companies often err here by mistaking size for scale advantage or overestimating their ability to leverage capabilities across markets. They infer special capabilities from observed performance, often without considering other explanations (such as luck or positional advantage). Companies should test any claimed capability advantage vigorously before pinning their hopes on it.
When companies bundle together activities that collectively create advantage, it becomes more difficult for competitors to identify and replicate its exact source. Consider Aldi, the highly successful discount grocery retailer. To deliver its value proposition of lower prices, Aldi has completely redesigned the typical business system of a supermarket: only 1,500 or so products rather than 30,000, the stocking of one own-brand or private label rather than hundreds of national brands, and superlean replenishment on pallets and trolleys, thus avoiding the expensive task of hand stacking shelves. Given the enormous changes necessary for any supermarket that wishes to copy the total system, it is extremely difficult to mimic Aldi's value proposition.
Finally, don't forget to take a dynamic view. What can erode positional advantage? Which special capabilities are becoming vulnerable? There is every reason to believe that competitors will exploit points of vulnerability. Assume, like Lewis Carroll's Red Queen, that you have to run just to stay in the same place.
Further reading:Patricia Gorman Clifford, Kevin P. Coyne, and Stephen J. D. Hall, "Is your core competence a mirage?" mckinseyquarterly.com, February 1997.
Michael J. Lanning and Edward G. Michaels, "Thinking strategically," mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2000.
Michael Porter, "The five competitive forces that shape strategy," Harvard Business Review, January 2008, Volume 86, Number 1, pp. 78–93.
Phil Rosenzweig, The Halo Effect and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers, New York: Free Press, 2007.
The need to beat the market begs the question of which market. Research shows that the unit of analysis used in determining strategy (essentially, the degree to which a market is segmented) significantly influences resource allocation and thus the likelihood of success: dividing the same businesses in different ways leads to strikingly different capital allocations.
What is the right level of granularity? Push within reason for the finest possible objective segmentation of the market: think 30 to 50 segments rather than the more typical 5 or so. Too often, by contrast, the business unit as defined by the organizational chart becomes the default for defining markets, reducing from the start the potential scope of strategic thinking.
Defining and understanding these segments correctly is one of the most practical things a company can do to improve its strategy. Management at one large bank attributed fast growth and share gains to measurably superior customer perceptions and satisfaction. Examining the bank's markets at a more granular level suggested that 90 percent of its outperformance could be attributed to a relatively high exposure to one fast-growing city and to a presence in a fast-growing product segment. This insight helped the bank avoid building its strategy on false assumptions about what was and wasn't working for the operation as a whole.
In fact, 80 percent of the variance in revenue growth is explained by choices about where to compete, according to research summarized in The Granularity of Growth, leaving only 20 percent explained by choices about how to compete. Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of the allocation of time and effort in a typical strategy-development process. Companies should be shifting their attention greatly toward the "where" and should strive to outposition competitors by regularly reallocating resources as opportunities shift within and between segments.
Further reading:Mehrdad Baghai, Sven Smit, and Patrick Viguerie, The Granularity of Growth: How to Identify the Sources of Growth and Drive Enduring Company Performance, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Mehrdad Baghai, Sven Smit, and Patrick Viguerie, "Is your growth strategy flying blind?" Harvard Business Review, May 2009, Volume 87, Number 5, pp. 86–96.
Stefano Proverbio, Sven Smit, and S. Patrick Viguerie, "Dissecting global trends: An example from Italy," mckinseyquarterly.com, March 2008.
The emergence of new trends is the norm. But many strategies place too much weight on the continuation of the status quo because they extrapolate from the past three to five years, a time frame too brief to capture the true violence of market forces.
A major innovation or an external shock in regulation, demand, or technology, for example, can drive a rapid, full-scale industry transition. But most trends emerge fairly slowly—so slowly that companies generally fail to respond until a trend hits profits. At this point, it is too late to mount a strategically effective response, let alone shape the change to your advantage. Managers typically delay action, held back by sunk costs, an unwillingness to cannibalize a legacy business, or an attachment to yesterday's formula for success. The cost of delay is steep: consider the plight of major travel agency chains slow to understand the power of online intermediaries. Conversely, for companies that get ahead of the curve, major market transitions are an opportunity to rethink their commitments in areas ranging from technology to distribution and to tailor their strategies to the new environment.
To do so, strategists must take trend analysis seriously. Always look to the edges. How are early adopters and that small cadre of consumers who seem to be ahead of the curve acting? What are small, innovative entrants doing? What technologies under development could change the game? To see which trends really matter, assess their potential impact on the financial position of your company and articulate the decisions you would make differently if that outcome were certain. For example, don't just stop at an aging population as a trend—work it through to its conclusion. Which consumer behaviors would change? Which particular product lines would be affected? What would be the precise effect on the P&L? And how does that picture line up with today's investment priorities?
Further reading:Filipe Barbosa, Damian Hattingh, and Michael Kloss, "Applying global trends: A look at China's auto industry," mckinseyquarterly.com, July 2010.
Peter Bisson, Elizabeth Stephenson, and S. Patrick Viguerie, "Global forces: An introduction," mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2010.
William I. Huyett and S. Patrick Viguerie, "Extreme competition," mckinseyquarterly.com, February 2005.
Richard Rumelt, "Strategy in a 'structural break,'" mckinseyquarterly.com, December 2008.
Data today can be cheap, accessible, and easily assembled into detailed analyses that leave executives with the comfortable feeling of possessing an informed strategy. But much of this is noise and most of it is widely available to rivals. Furthermore, routinely analyzing readily available data diverts attention from where insight-creating advantage lies: in the weak signals buried in the noise.
In the 1990s, when the ability to burn music onto CDs emerged, no one knew how digitization would play out; MP3s, peer-to-peer file sharing, and streaming Web-based media were not on the horizon. But one corporation with a large record label recognized more rapidly than others that the practical advantage of copyright protection could quickly become diluted if consumers began copying material. Early recognition of that possibility allowed the CEO to sell the business at a multiple based on everyone else's assumption that the status quo was unthreatened.
The insight deficit
A fresh strategic insight—something your company sees that no one else does—is one of the foundations of competitive advantage. It helps companies focus their resources on moves that separate them from the pack. That makes the following interesting: in a recent survey, only 35% of 2,135 global executives believed their strategies rested on unique and powerful insights. That figure was dramatically lower than the average—62 percent—for nine other tests we asked executives to measure their strategies against.
What's more, only 14 percent of surveyed executives placed novel insights among the top three strategic influencers of financial performance. One likely explanation: the widespread availability of information and adoption of sophisticated strategy frameworks creates an impression that "everyone knows what we know and is probably analyzing the data in the same ways that we are." The danger is obvious: if strategists question their ability to generate novel insights, they are less likely to reach for the relative advantages that are most likely to differentiate them from competitors.
For the complete survey results, see "Putting strategies to the test: McKinsey Global Survey results."
Developing proprietary insights isn't easy. In fact, this is the element of good strategy where most companies stumble (see sidebar, "The insight deficit"). A search for problems can help you get started. Create a short list of questions whose answers would have major implications for the company's strategy—for example, "What will we regret doing if the development of India hiccups or stalls, and what will we not regret?" In doing so, don't forget to examine the assumptions, explicit and implicit, behind an established business model. Do they still fit the current environment?
Another key is to collect new data through field observations or research rather than to recycle the same industry reports everyone else uses. Similarly, seeking novel ways to analyze the data can generate powerful new insights. For example, one supermarket chain we know recently rethought its store network strategy on the basis of surprising results from a new clustering algorithm.
Finally, many strategic breakthroughs have their root in a simple but profound customer insight (usually solving an old problem for the customer in a new way). In our experience, companies that go out of their way to experience the world from the customer's perspective routinely develop better strategies.
Further reading:Patricia Gorman Clifford, Kevin P. Coyne, and Renée Dye, "Breakthrough thinking from inside the box," Harvard Business Review, December 2007, Volume 85, Number 12, pp. 70–78.
John E. Forsyth, Nicolo' Galante, and Todd Guild, "Capitalizing on customer insights," mckinseyquarterly.com, August 2006.
A central challenge of strategy is that we have to make choices now, but the payoffs occur in a future environment we cannot fully know or control. A critical step in embracing uncertainty is to try to characterize exactly what variety of it you face—a surprisingly rare activity at many companies. Our work over the years has emphasized four levels of uncertainty. Level one offers a reasonably clear view of the future: a range of outcomes tight enough to support a firm decision. At level two, there are a number of identifiable outcomes for which a company should prepare. At level three, the possible outcomes are represented not by a set of points but by a range that can be understood as a probability distribution. Level four features total ambiguity, where even the distribution of outcomes is unknown.
In our experience, companies oscillate between assuming, simplistically, that they are operating at level one (and making bold but unjustified point forecasts) and succumbing to an unnecessarily pessimistic level-four paralysis. In each case, careful analysis of the situation usually redistributes the variables into the middle ground of levels two and three.
Rigorously understanding the uncertainty you face starts with listing the variables that would influence a strategic decision and prioritizing them according to their impact. Focus early analysis on removing as much uncertainty as you can—by, for example, ruling out impossible outcomes and using the underlying economics at work to highlight outcomes that are either mutually reinforcing or unlikely because they would undermine one another in the market. Then apply tools such as scenario analysis to the remaining, irreducible uncertainty, which should be at the heart of your strategy.
Further reading:Hugh G. Courtney, 20/20 Foresight: Crafting Strategy in an Uncertain World, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2001.
Hugh G. Courtney, Jane Kirkland, and S. Patrick Viguerie, "Strategy under uncertainty," mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2000.
Charles Roxburgh, "The use and abuse of scenarios," mckinseyquarterly.com, November 2009.
Commitment and flexibility exist in inverse proportion to each other: the greater the commitment you make, the less flexibility remains. This tension is one of the core challenges of strategy. Indeed, strategy can be expressed as making the right trade-offs over time between commitment and flexibility.
Making such trade-offs effectively requires an understanding of which decisions involve commitment. Inside any large company, hundreds of people make thousands of decisions each year. Only a few are strategic: those that involve commitment through hard-to-reverse investments in long-lasting, company-specific assets. Commitment is the only path to sustainable competitive advantage.
In a world of uncertainty, strategy is about not just where and how to compete but also when. Committing too early can be a leap in the dark. Being too late is also dangerous, either because opportunities are perishable or rivals can seize advantage while your company stands on the sidelines. Flexibility is the essential ingredient that allows companies to make commitments when the risk/return trade-off seems most advantageous.
A market-beating strategy will focus on just a few crucial, high-commitment choices to be made now, while leaving flexibility for other such choices to be made over time. In practice, this approach means building your strategy as a portfolio comprising three things: big bets, or committed positions aimed at gaining significant competitive advantage; no-regrets moves, which will pay off whatever happens; and real options, or actions that involve relatively low costs now but can be elevated to a higher level of commitment as changing conditions warrant. You can build underpriced options into a strategy by, for example, modularizing major capital projects or maintaining the flexibility to switch between different inputs.
Further reading:Lowell L. Bryan, "Just-in-time strategy for a turbulent world," mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2002.
Keith J. Leslie and Max P. Michaels, "The real power of real options," mckinseyquarterly.com, June 2000.
It's possible to believe honestly that you have a market-beating strategy when, in fact, you don't. Sometimes, that's because forces beyond your control change. But in other cases, the cause is unintentional fuzzy thinking.
Behavioral economists have identified many characteristics of the brain that are often strengths in our broader, personal environment but that can work against us in the world of business decision making. The worst offenders include overoptimism (our tendency to hope for the best and believe too much in our own forecasts and abilities), anchoring (tying our valuation of something to an arbitrary reference point), loss aversion (putting too much emphasis on avoiding downsides and so eschewing risks worth taking), the confirmation bias (overweighting information that validates our opinions), herding (taking comfort in following the crowd), and the champion bias (assigning to an idea merit that's based on the person proposing it).
Strategy is especially prone to faulty logic because it relies on extrapolating ways to win in the future from a complex set of factors observed today. This is fertile ground for two big inference problems: attribution error (succumbing to the "halo effect") and survivorship bias (ignoring the "graveyard of silent failures"). Attribution error is the false attribution of success to observed factors; it is strategy by hindsight and assumes that replicating the actions of another company will lead to similar results. Survivorship bias refers to an analysis based on a surviving population, without consideration of those who did not live to tell their tale: this approach skews our view of what caused success and presents no insights into what might cause failure—were the survivors just luckier? Case studies have their place, but hindsight is in reality not 20/20. There are too many unseen factors.
Developing multiple hypotheses and potential solutions to choose among is one way to "de-bias" decision making. Too often, the typical drill is to develop a promising hypothesis and put a lot of effort into building a fact base to validate it. In contrast, it is critical to bring fresh eyes to the issues and to maintain a culture of challenge, in which the obligation to dissent is fostered.
The decision-making process can also be de-biased by, for example, specifying objective decision criteria in advance and examining the possibility of being wrong. Techniques such as the "premortem assessment" (imagining yourself in a future where your decision turns out to have been mistaken and identifying why that might have been so) can also be useful.
Further reading:Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, New York: HarperCollins, 2008.
Dan Lovallo and Olivier Sibony, "The case for behavioral strategy," mckinseyquarterly.com, March 2010.
"Strategic decisions: When can you trust your gut?" mckinseyquarterly.com, March 2010.
Charles Roxburgh, "Hidden flaws in strategy," mckinseyquarterly.com, May 2003.
This test and the one that follows aren't strictly about the strategy itself but about the investment you've made in implementing it—a distinction that in our experience quickly becomes meaningless because the two, inevitably, become intertwined. Many good strategies fall short in implementation because of an absence of conviction in the organization, particularly among the top team, where just one or two nonbelievers can strangle strategic change at birth.
Where a change of strategy is needed, that is usually because changes in the external environment have rendered obsolete the assumptions underlying a company's earlier strategy. To move ahead with implementation, you need a process that openly questions the old assumptions and allows managers to develop a new set of beliefs in tune with the new situation. This goal is not likely to be achieved just via lengthy reports and presentations. Nor will the social processes required to absorb new beliefs—group formation, building shared meaning, exposing and reconciling differences, aligning and accepting accountability—occur in formal meetings.
CEOs and boards should not be fooled by the warm glow they feel after a nice presentation by management. They must make sure that the whole team actually shares the new beliefs that support the strategy. This requirement means taking decision makers on a journey of discovery by creating experiences that will help them viscerally grasp mismatches that may exist between what the new strategy requires and the actions and behavior that have brought them success for many years. For example, visit plants and customers or tour a country your company plans to enter, so that the leadership team can personally meet crucial stakeholders. Mock-ups, video clips, and virtual experiences also can help.
The result of such an effort should be a support base of influencers who feel connected to the strategy and may even become evangelists for it. Because strategy often emanates from the top, and CEOs are accustomed to being heeded, this commonsense step often gets overlooked, to the great detriment of the strategy.
Further reading:Derek Dean, "A CEO's guide to reenergizing the senior team," mckinseyquarterly.com, September 2009.
Erika Herb, Keith Leslie, and Colin Price, "Teamwork at the top," mckinseyquarterly.com, May 2001.
In implementing any new strategy, it's imperative to define clearly what you are moving from and where you are moving to with respect to your company's business model, organization, and capabilities. Develop a detailed view of the shifts required to make the move, and ensure that processes and mechanisms, for which individual executives must be accountable, are in place to effect the changes. Quite simply, this is an action plan. Everyone needs to know what to do. Be sure that each major "from–to shift" is matched with the energy to make it happen. And since the totality of the change often represents a major organizational transformation, make sure you and your senior team are drawing on the large body of research and experience offering solid advice on change management—a topic beyond the scope of this article!
Finally, don't forget to make sure your ongoing resource allocation processes are aligned with your strategy. If you want to know what it actually is, look where the best people and the most generous budgets are—and be prepared to change these things significantly. Effort spent aligning the budget with the strategy will pay off many times over.
Further reading:Carolyn Aiken and Scott Keller, "The irrational side of change management," mckinseyquarterly.com, April 2009.
Mahmut Akten, Massimo Giordano, and Mari A. Scheiffele, "Just-in-time budgeting for a volatile economy," mckinseyquarterly.com, May 2009.
Josep Isern and Caroline Pung, "Driving radical change," mckinseyquarterly.com, November 2007.
As we've discussed the tests with hundreds of senior executives at many of the world's largest companies, we've come away convinced that a lot of these topics are part of the strategic dialogue in organizations. But we've also heard time and again that discussion of such issues is often, as one executive in Japan recently told us, "random, simultaneous, and extremely confusing." Our hope is that the tests will prove a simple and effective antidote: a means of quickly identifying gaps in executives' strategic thinking, opening their minds toward new ways of using strategy to create value, and improving the quality of the strategy-development process itself.
Chris Bradley is a principal in McKinsey's Sydney office, Martin Hirt is a director in the Taipei office, and Sven Smit is a director in the Amsterdam office.
The authors wish to acknowledge the many contributions of McKinsey alumnus Nick Percy, now the head of strategy for BBC Worldwide, to the thinking behind this article.
We will not share e-mail addresses you provide. Privacy policy
Separate multiple e-mail addresses with commas (limit five).
Our business publication, shaping the senior management agenda since 1964.more
This article is part of a suite of content on the importance of testing your company's strategic direction. Explore the full package:
The material on this page draws on the research and experience of McKinsey consultants and other sources. To learn more about our expertise, please visit the Strategy Practice.


text:
SAVE 25% on select Travel Specials.
FREE SOFT FRINGE SCARF in Madison Garden Blush. Learn More. U.S. Orders Only
FREE SHIPPING on orders of $75 or more. U.S. Orders Only
Shop All New
Shop Shoulder Bags
Shop Travel Bags
Shop Wallets
Shop Bracelets
Shop Our Favorites
Shop All Sale
Carry this color and show your support for breast cancer research. Learn more about the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer.
This style can be Personalized! Learn more about Personalization
Yes, I'd like to Gift Box this item ($4.95 each).
This take-along tumbler is sure to bring a smile to your face every time you take a sip. Featuring one of our pretty prints sealed inside, it includes a screw-on lid and a coordinating straw.
23 oz.


text:
Kosher Soups
Lemon Parsnip Soup |
KosherEye.com Adapted from Gatherings Ingredients: 1 tablespoon oil Directions: In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add onion, thyme leaves, and lemon zest. Sauté on low heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add parsnips and potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour or until parsnips and potatoes are very soft. remove from heat. cool. Transfer soup to blender, or use a hand blender and blend until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with thyme sprigs before serving. Notes: Yield: Serves 4 - 6 Recipes: Soups, Parsnip, Meat or Parve, Kosher |


text:
Derry pharmacy robbed of pills
The robbery occurred just before 11 a.m. when a man presented a note to a pharmacy technician demanded the drug Percocet and fled the store at 52 Rockingham Road with the pills.
The white man was wearing a dark blue/black hooded jacket and a dark baseball-style hat. Anyone with information can contact Derry police at 432-6111.


text:
filter by Type
filter by Category
filter by Keyword
filter by Featuring
"Thank you for your great witness and ministry to Christ and His Church. I have enjoyed listening to Catholic Answers Live and your apologists for a number of years now. It has been very formative and inspirational in my journey towards becoming a well versed and devoted servant of Christ and His people on earth via His Church."
~ Andrew, Canada
1 result sorted by popularity
Radio Shows | Does Hell Have Levels? | 8/1/2008 6pm ET |
"The [secular] sense of right and wrong is so delicate, so fitful, so easily puzzled, obscured, perverted, so subtle in its argumentative methods, so impressionable by education, so biased by pride and passion, so unsteady in its course, that in the struggle for existence amid the various exercises and triumphs of the human intellect, the sense is at once the highest of all teachers yet the least luminous."
~ John Henry Newman, "Letter to the Duke of Norfolk", from the article on Morality by G. H. Joyce.


text:
Team Penske
2015 Overview
Roger Penske
Team History
Year-By-Year Highlights
Team Penske Facility
Team Penske Online
Contact Us
All Team Penske News
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Verizon IndyCar Series
V8 Supercars Championship
Racing Series
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Verizon IndyCar Series
V8 Supercars Championship
Brad Keselowski
Joey Logano
Ryan Blaney
Helio Castroneves
Will Power
Juan Pablo Montoya
Simon Pagenaud
Marcos Ambrose
Audio/Video Clips
Sponsor "Garage"
Sponsor Login
Press Box
Media Login
Hornish Starting 27th in Sunday's TUMS 500
October 26, 2012
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 26, 2012) – Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver Sam Hornish Jr. will start 27th in Sunday's TUMS Fast Relief 500 here at Martinsville Speedway. Hornish earned the spot on the starting grid after circling the shortest track on the Sprint Cup circuit in 19.669 seconds (96.273 mph) in this afternoon's qualifying session.
"Just not the lap that we were looking for with our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge," Hornish told Dodge SRT's Jimmy White. "We can't get the car stopped into the corner or else it's slow. We'll start towards the back and see what we can do on Sunday."
Crew chief Todd Gordon already had qualifying behind him and was focusing on the job at hand early Friday night.
"Yeah, we were all hoping for a little more today, but we'll take it and go from there," said Gordon. "We have two practices to get the Shell-Pennzoil Dodge dialed in tomorrow. The big thing on Sunday is that we have to be patient and work our way forward."
"Don't forget that we started 27th here in the spring race, too," said Gordon. "We were able to use patience and move on up into the top 10. We finished second with AJ (Allmendinger) driving after that wild last restart. You know something like that is likely to unfold again here on Sunday…that there will be a late-race restart. We just need to work ourselves up toward the front for the end of the race. If we can have everything in good shape and our brakes working properly, I am confident we can have another good finish here on Sunday."
Jimmie Johnson claimed the Coors Light Pole Award here this afternoon with a fast lap of 19.402 seconds (97.598 mph), just a tenth of a second off the track record. Brian Vickers was second in the No. 55 car with a lap of 19.415 seconds (97.533 mph). Kyle Busch (lap of 19.436 seconds/97.427 mph) was third, with Jeff Burton (19.443 seconds/97.392 mph) fourth and Denny Hamlin (19.445 seconds/97.382 mph) fifth.
Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola rounded out today's top-10 qualifiers.
Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, currently leading Johnson by seven points in the battle for the 2012 Sprint Cup title, starts 32nd here on Sunday. Keselowsi toured the tight little .526-mile Martinsville oval in 19.722 seconds (96.015 seconds) on his fast lap against the clock in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.
Saturday's schedule here at Martinsville Speedway features practice sessions from 9:30 a.m. till 10:25 a.m. and from 12:00 noon till 12:50 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV). Sunday's TUMS Fast Relief 500 has a scheduled 1:30 p.m. local (ET) starting time at the 0.526-mile flat track with tricky inside curbing in the corners. ESPN-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage of all the action.
All Team Penske News
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Verizon IndyCar Series
V8 Supercars Championship


text:
Penn College Adds to the Flavor of the PA Farm Show
Videos on YouTube are streamed through Adobe Flash player. If you're having trouble playing videos or viewing videos' closed captioning on YouTube, install the latest version of the Flash player.
If the instruction above didn't resolve the issue, refer to Google's YouTube Videos Won't Play page for additional troubleshooting suggestions.Trouble with closed captioning?
http://www.pct.edu Students and staff at Pennsylvania College of Technology contributed their talents to the 97th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. School of Hospitality majors prepared etouffee while the School of Natural Resources displayed a mini version of its hydroculture greenhouse. The college's talented representatives satisfied academic curiosity and culinary cravings!


text:
Prices and availability are subject to change from the time and date that you print this page.
4/28/2015 6:24:32 AM. For Customer Service, please call
Pickup Check store pickup options
fired up. Three bright vessels scale hi/lo in a tonal trio of handmade stoneware. Glossy red bottle, burnt orange pin and orange teardrop each sprout a single bloom, or group sans botanicals as bold objects of art.


text:
Remembering how small we are in the grand scheme of things, this cute design reminds us to give all we have to God, no matter how big or small. When you give your whole heart to God and trust Him completely, you can be confident in knowing that He will guide you and "make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5
Item No: 231127 |


text: 134 min | R From the creator of LOVE ACTUALLY, NOTTING HILL, and FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL comes this comedy about love and time travel. The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's Eve party, a man tells his son that the men in his family have the ability to travel through time. Tim can't change history, but he can change what happens in his own life — by winning the heart of the girl of his dreams. Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson, and Bill Nighy star in this delightful romance which discovers that, in the end, making the most of life may not need time travel at all.


text:
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Are there any other Octoberfest beers that you can recommend to try? Thanks.
The ESB thing is intriguing. Among the ale brewing yeasts, my favorite was #1968 London ESB Ale. It too had a similar taste to the Red Hook ESB. I wonder what it is about the bitter flavor that makes the crust taste so good. I also wonder if there is a bitter that you can purchase which would produce a similar taste. When I use the brewing yeast, there are no other beer byproducts in there because I propagate it in LME, so it's something about the yeast being used or the by products they produce that give this ESB flavor.
Sorry if I missed this but could one of you guys please tell me how to figure/work out the ratio when using these types of beers and ady yeast. I'm thinking I'll probably use all beer instead of water and then what...maybe 10% less yeast? I'm sure it will be trial and error but just thought ya'll might have a starting point for me...thanks.


text:
You must be logged in to add to
your Wishlists.
- Home >Weekly Planners >Harmony Organizer
The fresh and whimsical style of this new Day Runner organizer fulfills all of your organizing dreams!
- Ring size: 1" (7 rings)
- Magnetic Snap closure
- Internal Pocket, room for business cards and pen loop
- Binder Includes: 66 undated weekly planning pages, 12 undated monthly planning pages, 9 To-Do Pages, Note Pages, Birthday and Anniversary page, Hotel, airline, car rental, 800 Numbers, Area Codes and Time Zone information pages, Double letter tabbed address pages, note pad, zipper pouch
- Available as an Assortment of Berry or Dark Brown. Please indicate color preference in order comments on the shipping page. We will do our best to honor color requests.
- FORMAT Weekly
- PAGE SIZE 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"
- SIZE 8" x 9 1/4" x 1 3/4"
- BINDING 7 Ring
- STYLE Undated Planner Cover
- CLOSURE Snap
There is no licensing information for this product


text:
3D acceleration should work out of the box. If Compiz is working then you have 3D acceleration.
What does "glxinfo | grep render" give you ?
So I just recently upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx from 9.04, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to enable 3D acceleration for my card (Mobility Radeon x600). On 9.04, i found a tutorial on how to downgrade xserver and a few other things to allow the fglrx driver to work properly. I haven't tried that method on 10.04 yet, but from what i understand, it wont work anyway.
So my question is, how can get 3D acceleration working? Is there any way to get it working under 10.04? The only other options i could think of were to either downgrade to Ubuntu 8.04, switch to Debian (i read somewhere that fglrx drivers for my card will work with Debian Lenny), or even dual boot Windows XP.
And if it makes any difference, I only want 3D acceleration support for gaming. Right now, the open source drivers seem to be working well for everything else (video playback, compiz etc)
3D acceleration should work out of the box. If Compiz is working then you have 3D acceleration.
What does "glxinfo | grep render" give you ?
My bad, maybe i should've been more specific. I guess more than just having 3D acceleration work, I want it to work at full speed in terms of gaming. From previous experience, i've found that fglrx drivers are the only way to go, as far as gaming is concerned. I just downloaded tuxracer as a simple benchmark, and it ran extremely slowly.
By the way, the output was:
Thanks for the responsedirect rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI R300 (RV380 3150) 20090101 x86/MMX/SSE2 TCL
I'm a bit rusty on the details but that renderer string looks a bit dated. I think there should be a DRI2 string at least if you are running with KMS, which should be the default with Ubuntu 10.04...
... and if you are running with KMS then I think you have all the bits in place to start looking at the latest Gallium3D driver, which should get you higher levels of GL support.
Are you running with KMS at the moment ?
If you want to run fglrx then you will need to change distros. You might want to look at Kanotix (which AFAIK still runs the legacy fglrx nicely) or Ubuntu 8.04 / 8.10 (8.10 preferred except support has ended IIRC).
I actually turned KMS off because i had a serious issue with it. Anytime i tried to do anything, my computer would stutter. For example, I would open up the Applications menu from the panel, and it would stutter. I would go into another folder in nautilus, and it would stutter. It was pretty much unusable because it would stutter so often. I researched the problem a bit and the only solution i found was to turn KMS off. So thats what i did and now i don't have that stuttering problem
Ahh, OK. That explains the rendering string.
Not sure what the status of the stuttering is, specifically whether or not it has been reproduced on a drm developer's system yet.
Well, i finally broke down and decided to install Windows XP on a separate partition. It took me a while (windows doesn't seem to like ubuntu) but i think it will be worth it in the long run. This way i wont have to deal with unsupported drivers or WINE.
Just out of curiousity, is there any advantage to having KMS enabled? I have no idea what it is, and disabling it doesn't seem to negatively affect my computer.
It's sort of a two part answer. KMS on its own gives you a number of operational benefits, from a smoother boot (GPU comes up in high res graphics mode almost immediately rather than flickering through a number of mode changes as new drivers start up) to faster VT switch (no handoff between X and kernel drivers) and a simpler environment for suspend resume, which should result in more consistent suspend resume behavior on average.
The bigger advantage comes from the fact that KMS and GEM/TTM memory management were implemented together, in the sense that KMS was "the first customer" of GEM/TTM. Having a common kernel memory manager (GEM/TTM) allows a number of other new features to be implemented, mostly related to 3D functionality (GL 2.x and higher needs GEM/TTM and indirectly KMS) and better interoperation between 2D and 3D when compositing etc...
I'll be honest, most of that went over my head, but thansk for the explanation anyway. Hmm, maybe this explains why the xubuntu splash image (shown right before the GDM login screen) looked so low res after i disabled KMS.
You can get a high res console without KMS too. It's just a bit more work on Ubuntu since it doesn't do it by default. The trick is to pass the appropriate graphics resolution to the kernel VESA framebuffer driver in the Grub configuration.


text:
Returning Customers
If you are a registered user, please enter your ART portal username and password.
Puggles Leader Casual Uniform
Item# MV-PugsLdrShirt
Member Price [?]
$21.99 - $26.99
Non-Member Price
$28.55 - $34.95
- Sales Unit: each
- Material Type: Cotton-blend
Special Offer:
Overstock Sale!
A classic-style, cotton-blend polo shirt just for Awana Puggles leaders!
Appropriate for men and women, this comfortable shirt has short sleeves and an embroidered Awana Clubs Puggles logo. Allow for shrinkage during washing. Special sizes are not available. Also available in ladies cut.


text:
Hi: 12° Lo:4°
THIS is the man police are hunting for after a barman was stabbed in an Evesham pub and left with serious injuries.
Officers want to speak to 31-year-old Peter O'Shaughnessy about the brutal assault which took place at Chancers in Vine Street last Wednesday, December 19, about 11.25pm which saw a member of staff attacked with a knife.
The man was left with a severe wound to his hand and forearm and taken to hospital in a critical condition.
His attacker made off from the bar and has yet to be found despite a significant number of police officers searching for him overnight in the town centre.
West Mercia Police has now put a £500 reward on offer to anyone who provides information which leads to the arrest of Mr O'Shaughnessy who is originally from Liverpool.
But police reassured residents an armed assault of this kind was very unusual for Evesham and they believe it was an isolated incident that may have related to an altercation that took place earlier in the bar.
Detective Inspector Mark Loader, who is leading the investigation, said: "Our inquiries into this nasty offence have been fast-moving and we have received a lot of help from members of the public, for which we are very grateful.
"We need to find and speak with Peter O'Shaughnessy. We have information that he has been staying in Evesham for approximately ten days and has contacts in the town.
"He has a history of being involved in violent crime and we advise that if anyone knows or encounters O'Shaughnessy they should not under any circumstances approach or challenge him.
"If you are aware of his whereabouts, please contact West Mercia Police immediately on 999."
Any other information can be passed on by contacting the non-emergency police number 101 or this can done anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
1 Reptile contest in memory of Tom
2 Diggerland on the way to Evesham
3 Multi million pound revamp for Country Park
4 Five jailed over traveller murder
5 Free cycling event coming to Evesham
POLICE are asking for the public's help to
A FORMER Grenadier Guard has been named as
A HALF marathon which winds through the Vale
AN EVESHAM man is set for a life-changing
TWO leading ladies in British politics stopped off in Leamington ...
SIR Kenneth Branagh revealed how as an unknown 17-year-old in ...
A REDDITCH man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for ...
Visit the Worcester Observer website for the latest.


text:
- All Categories
- buy and sell
- X garage sales (81)
- New Brunswick
- X Moncton (81)
Distance [?] Use Distance Search to find Ads based on where you are and how far you want to travel.
Featured Ads:
- All Featured Ads
Additional Info:
- All Ads


text:
Previous Episode | Next Episode
Swirl! Shun's Final Nebula Storm
by Dave KochThis page has been viewed 9 times this month, and 176 times total.
- Knights of the Zodiac Cartoon Episode Guide
- Traditional Animation
- DiC Entertainment
- Animation Studio: Tôei Animation
- Cartoon Characters: Saint Seiya, Shiryu, Hyoga, Shun, Ikki, Andromeda Shun, Aphrodite, Athena, Camus, Cygnus Hyoga, Deathmask, Dragon Shiryuu, Mu, Pegasus Seiya, Phoenix Ikki, Saga, Shion, Shura.
- Voice Actors: Jeff Berg, Shane Bland, George Buza, William Colgate, Neil Crone, Stacey Depass, Katie Griffin, Tim Hamaguchi, Bill Houston, Tracey Hoyt; Full Voice Cast ...
- Written By Marshall Kesten, Randy Zalken, Andy Heyward, Michael Maliani.
- First Aired on May 28, 2005.
- Originally Aired on Cartoon Network (USA).
- Running Time: 30 minutes.
- Season: 1
- Color
- Japan / U.S.A.
Cartoon Summary:
We do not have a synopsis for this cartoon; why don't you send us one?
Cartoon Production Information:
An American import version of the original Japanese series "Saint Seiya." This is an edited version of "Uzumake! Shun Kyuukyoku No Nebula Storm." Part of the original... (more)
Cartoon Video:
Sorry, we do not have a video of Swirl! Shun's Final Nebula Storm. If you have one, or know of one on Youtube, Vimeo or any other site, Let Us Know
Submit Additional Information:
Do you have anything to add to this page? Have we made any mistakes... or do you have any additional information about Swirl! Shun's Final Nebula Storm? If so, we would love to hear from you. Please send us a quick note with your additions or corrections to this page, and we will make the corrections as soon as possible!
Cartoon Comments:
Do you love Swirl! Shun's Final Nebula Storm, or do you think it is the worst cartoon ever? Let us know what you think! Surely you have an opinion... so share what you think. Take a minute and post your own comments about this cartoon here.


text:
Yesterday, wearing baby G at the Summers Farm corn maze.
I've told you before about how E was born the loudest baby in the world and while we can probably just say now from the safe standpoint of distance that she was colicky, at the time we just thought she was loud. And incessant. And for fun, insomniac. We figured out when she was about two weeks old that if I wore her, she'd sleep. And sleeping meant no screaming. Suddenly, I was a babywearer.
We had received a secondhand Bjorn so that's where we started, but we only read the instructions after sticking her in it. The instructions said the baby should weigh at least eight pounds and she was nowhere close, so quickly I bought a Hotsling. After Bjorning and Hotslinging I also flirted with ringslinging and a beautiful wrap mei-tai but then I found my modified mei-tai, seen above, and I knew we had our system.
You know those stress balls that are sold by places like Brookstone and handed out at insurance fairs and motivational seminars? Those squishy foam things that are supposed to bring you enlightenment and peace of mind by their mere squeezability? Baby feet are like those stress balls. But better, obviously. There is no greater path to peace than a happy baby dangling weightlessly* in front of you, with one of his fat feet in each of your fists. Step, squeeze, step, squeeze. Baby squeal (of happy). Yum.
Teensy toes in the foreground, full-sized toes in the background.
*Yes, weightlessly. I mean, not without weight, just without any strain of weight. If I have G snugly in my mei-tai and it's tied properly and positioned well, his entire weight is carried on my hips. I have full arm movement and my shoulders don't feel any strain.
So with #1 babywearing was helpful because of colic. With #2 it was essential because it left me hands-free to avail myself of chasing #1. And with #3, well, for the first time ever I face the end of my baby-having. He's my littlest...and he's not that little. I'm keeping him close while I can keep him close.
Plus his sweaty head smells like marshmallow. And its smell under my nose is as calming to me as my nearby heartbeat is as calming to him.
(You should smell the head of a breastfed baby whenever you can. Seriously, marshmallow. Sometimes cotton-candy. My friend Father Goof calls it caramel. It smells sweet, unless I've eaten a lot of salsa, in which case it smells like garlic.)
It's good for the mama and it's good for the baby and it's convenient and it's peaceful and when he blows bubbles against my chin or practices grasping against the same pendant his sisters pulled I know he's happy and he's a great dance partner and I can whisper a thousand times "I love you" in his ears to carry with him into the years when he won't want to hear it from me and I can nibble on those ears, too, and squeeze his fat feet and pat his round bottom and hear him sigh with contentment, hhhlllyahhh in that high breathy silly baby way and who even cares about reasons for babywearing, just look at that happy drowsy, about to plop-against-me-and-sleep face:
he loves it there and I love him there. Why should he be anywhere else?


text:
Music Lessons and Instruction for All Ages
Your cart is empty.
"Grosse Pointe Music Academy has been incredible for my son, Zach, and I am continually impressed by everything they do. Grosse Pointe is so fortunate to have this in the neighborhood!" - Sharon Sparrow
Read more testimonials...
Grosse Pointe Music Academy
Phone: (313) 458-7723
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Address: 19443 Mack Ave.
Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236 (view map and directions)
New Location in Canton
Phone: (734) 418-0640
Email: email@example.com
Address: 5880 N. Canton Center Rd. Suite 425
Canton, MI 48187 (view map and directions)
Copyright © 2015 · Grosse Pointe Music Academy


text:
To discuss this game and more, head to our forums.
About the author:
Steve has been a Nintendo fan since the NES. He currently owns a NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, GameBoy, DS, DSi, 3DS, and 3DS XL. His favorite types of games are action platformers and multiplayer "party" games. Overall, he loves a game that is pure fun and pulls him in for hours, and if that can be shared with friends, it is even better.
Steve has been blogging for NintendoFuse since April 2008. He started off as an avid reader, and eventually was asked to jump on the team. Currently, he enjoys writing game reviews and sharing breaking news with the fans and readers. You will also find him on the forums as an admin.
Steve – who has written 2698 posts on NintendoFuse.
Pingback: The Bigs 2 - Wii Gameplay Trailer | Tech Monkey Wii()
Hi, I can't understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you help me, please
What is your plan for amiibo collecting?
View Results


text: To print this article open the file menu and choose Print. Click here to return to previous page Article published Nov 24, 2012 6-alarm fire strikes downtown LeominsterBy Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFLEOMINSTER A six-alarm fire severly damaged the old Columbia Hotel building, 65 Main St., last night in downtown Leominster. The fire was reported about 10 p.m. Firefighters from Fitchburg, Gardner, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Westminster, Devens, Ayer, Sterling, Shirley and Townsend arrived at the scene and provided coverage for Leominster stations. A rear portion of the three-story building collapsed. One firefighter was reported with minor injuries. No other injuries have been reported. Flames were seen shooting through the roof of the historic building, with smoke visible from Route 2. The building, formerly a hotel, houses apartments on its upper two floors, with businesses on the first floor, including Pizza Chef, Chelsea's Clothing Store and Edward Jones Investment Branch and Travel Agency. Order the Telegram & Gazette, delivered daily to your home or office! www.telegram.com/homedelivery Copyright Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp. |


text:
Tips on Buying Silk Plants
Keep beautiful flowers and plants in your home year-round when you buy silk plants. There's no watering or trimming involved, and you'll never have to worry about your artificial plants and trees wilting or becoming brittle. Whether you want stunning silk flower arrangements to display on your dining room table or artificial plants that can dress up your living room, the following suggestions can help you find the plants that work in your home. Read on for tips on buying silk plants.


text:
Please install Flash Player to enjoy this site.
You need to have Flash installed on your browser.
Just bought a TomTom Via? Download the user manual by clicking the "Download" button below.
Read about the most common manipulations for your device.
All you need to know about TomTom maps.
Learn how to solve the most common issues.
Check support site for more FAQ's