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US 7010538 B1 Abstract A method and potential embodiment for processing streaming data records is described which provides facilities for defining and naming multiple input and output data streams (along with their related transformation, filtering, aggregation and other processing operations) using relational processing definitions, abstractions and techniques similar to those found in relational database management systems (RDBMS) and which is embodied as a set of communicating stream processing nodes. Whereas RDBMS process queries on a centralized processing node against historical stored data records, DDSMS process queries on distributed processing nodes against future flowing data records. The result is a Distributed Data Stream Management System (DDSMS) comprising a set of relational stream processing nodes that work and communicate together in concert to perform useful distributed data processing for a variety of applications such as service monitoring, alerting, message brokering and other applications.
Claims(18) 1. A method of managing and processing streams of data records over a data communication network means linking a plurality of data processing computing means comprising:
(a) providing a plurality of stream processing node means for consuming and generating streams of data records executing on said data processing computing means,
(b) providing a central configuration store means for holding configuration data describing the names of said streams, and describing relational stream processing operations and other configuration and definition data of said streams, and for holding configuration data of said stream processing node means, said central configuration store means executing on said data processing computing means,
(c) configuring said stream processing node means using a user-interface means to manage the configuration data in said central configuration store means, which in turn communicates over said data communication network means with a collection of said stream processing node means to effect configuration changes needed therein to maintain consistency of configuration data of said stream processing node means with respect to the configuration data held in said central configuration store means,
(d) generating with a translation means said relational stream processing operations from relational stream processing definitions input through said user-interface means and then storing said relational stream processing operations in said central configuration store means, after which said configuration store means communicates with said stream processing node means to effect configuration changes therein,
(e) communicating with external data generating means to create input streams for processing by said stream processing node means,
(f) communicating with external data processing means to consume output streams of said stream processing node means,
(g) transmitting using said data communication network means data records in the form of streams comprising sequences of data records each of which comprises a set of named data fields, said transmitting being from some of said stream processing node means to others of said stream processing node means in order to be further processed according to the definitions of the configuration data held in said central configuration store means,
(h) processing streams transmitted to the input of each of said stream processing node means and creating output streams from said stream processing node means, said processing being performed within each of said stream processing node means according to a set of relational stream processing operations by a relational stream engine means, and where said relational stream engine means has a plug-in management means for extending its stream processing capabilities,
(i) controlling said stream processing node means through a control interface means of each stream processing node means in order to control the execution of said stream processing node means,
(j) configuring said stream processing node means through a configuration interface means of each stream processing node means, and
(k) allowing each of said stream processing node means to interoperate with one another through said control interface means in order to control the transmission of records between said stream processing node means, whereby data records of said external data generating means are processed generating data records for consumption by said external data processing means according to the relational stream processing operations stored in said central configuration store means and using a plurality of said stream processing nodes means to perform said processing.
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Description 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the field of data management and data processing and describes a method of integrating application or service components and sources and consumers of data records, normally over data or computer networks. The sources of data might be software applications, hardware devices, sensors, or data streaming into files or databases, or transaction records or transaction logs. The data might relate to a wide range of industries such as stock market data in financial services, service health, status or usage records in telecommunications, or plant operating status in industrial automation to name just a few. In particular, the invention relates to ways and means of managing, viewing and processing streams of data records flowing between the elements making up information processing systems, and applications thereof. The concept of a relational data stream management system (RDSMS) is described and the invention is a specific method for performing data processing using a specific distributed RDSMS approach. 2. Description of the Related Art With the advent of the Internet, there are many new ways for designers of computer information systems to connect, integrate and manage the components of the information systems and computer applications. There are a number of university research projects (see web link http://www-db.stanford.edu/sdt/) which are, in the main, focusing on extending databases to allow for stream processing, treating RDBMS (relational database management systems) relations as infinite tables. The work so far published is focused on either extending relational databases (or other databases) to add streams capabilities (such as the STREAM project at Stanford University http://www-db.stanford.edu/stream/ which is not distributed and does not support the manageability or plug-in capabilities described below), or to devise ways of improving query performance and scheduling and the theoretical resource management challenges (predicting how much processing can be performed within given memory and other computing resources). There are also some papers looking (from a mainly theoretical perspective) at a few monitoring-style applications. This invention differs from the existing published work in a number of important ways. First, the focus here is on an invention, method or means for managing a distributed collection of relational stream processing nodes that work together as a single system to create a complete Distributed Data Stream Management System (�DDSMS�). This DDSMS operates as a single, manageable, extensible infrastructure, processing and managing multiple streams of records along with multiple views of those record streams including their routing across the network of stream processor nodes. It differs from other systems described by providing a novel combination of facilities, including an SQL interface (SQL is supported by most relational database systems today), and operating as a single system managed and configured from a central configuration server where the single system itself comprises a dynamically extensible set of interoperating stream processing nodes each of which supports a plug-in capability for dynamically extending the capabilities of the stream processing engines. Each node has not only input and output interfaces to support streams, but also has a control and a configuration interface to support dynamic external control and management of nodes, and to allow nodes to control the behavior of one another and interoperate with one another, with the goal of behaving and appearing like a seamlessly integrated single complete system. The system manages multiple sources and destinations for the streams, and covers specific business and technical applications thereof. Rather than concentrating on the design, method or means for a specific relational stream processing node, this invention focuses on how to design a whole DDSMS comprising a set of such or similar nodes with specific capabilities that are configured and work together as seamless complete system. In comparison with systems such as Aurora (see web references link earlier), this approach differs in its treatment of the distributed nodes as a seamless single system with a central configuration and management service, its support for a plug-in extensibility to allow specialization of the system for specific application domains, and its inclusion of control and configuration interfaces for each processing node. Finally, the invention includes a short list of applications of this DDSMS which offer novel solutions to existing problems, and offer compelling business value and clear advantages over existing approaches and solutions. A method and apparatus for a DDSMS (see earlier) is described. A DDSM comprises a set of communicating data stream processing nodes. We also describe a means for constructing stream processing nodes which are relational in their processing and querying behavior (they conform to standard relational processing logic and semantics as originally invented by Codd�see reference below), but which differs from some other approaches in that it does not include a persistent relational database element. In other words, it is not an extension of a relational database, but is rather purely designed for relational stream processing. In this approach, any data that need to be stored in a relational database or processed from a relational database are streamed out of the DDSMS to an external database (or databases) or similarly streamed into the DDSMS from external databases. In this way, a DDSMS architecture which interoperates with databases but which does not itself contain any database facilities for storing and managing tuples can be created using sets of such nodes. The invention of the overall DDSMS here allows for either kinds of relational stream processing nodes�either the one included as part of this invention, or others that are constructed as extensions to relational databases to support the necessary relational streaming operations described below. The method then describes various ways that the DDSMS can be used to solve business or technical problems relevant to the real world. These are distinct and differ from those described in external publications. FIG. 1�A diagram showing an example of a deployment of a DDSMS, with Stream Processing (SP) nodes, Central Configuration Store server (CCS) communicating with one another and with external computer applications by means of a computer data network. The cloud drawn represents the single, seamlessly integrated, complete management domain for the DDSMS. FIG. 2�A diagram showing the abstract architecture of an individual SP node made up of its component parts (subsystems). The four external interfaces to node are shown and labeled, along with internal and external data flows. The fat arrows indicate flows of data records, whereas the skinny arrows indicate exchanges of control data. If an object overlaps and is on top of another object, the latter represents a subsystem of the former. Data paths between systems and their subsystems are not shown and are implicitly assumed. A. System Overview 1. Terminology The Relational data model is based on the mathematics of relations and is derived from the seminal work of E. F. Codd [�A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks�, CACM 13, No. 6, June 1970]. So far, commercial embodiments of the relational data model have been realized as Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) such as Oracle and others. Academic work, led by the database research community world-wide, has recently focused on applications of the relational data model to streaming data records or tuples. These streams are modeled as (potentially) infinite data tables, often with timestamps on each row of data. A row corresponds to a record that arrives in real-time. In the below, the term �tuple� and �record� can be used interchangeably. A tuple is a relational term for an ordered collection of fields. An n-tuple has n fields. For example, a triple is the same as a 3-tuple, and has three fields. In the methods described in the claims of the invention the terminology used is �records�. This is because records are what most real world information systems process. Such records are represented as tuples when processed using the method of the invention. This will become clearer as the method and means are described. A Relational Data Stream Management System (RDSMS) is the similar to a Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS), but processes streams of data records rather than tables of data records. Relational operations are similarly applicable to streams just as they are when defined over tables (relation operations such selection, projection, joins, unions etc). This means that relational queries and processing operations, which are mathematically well defined, can be logically extended to have similar simple yet powerful mathematical meaning when applied to streams. Such relational stream operations have a declarative semantics, which offers key benefits in the world of data management. The declarative nature of their semantics allows one to define relational expressions that can be used to derive a new stream of records from an existing stream by describing what the properties are of the records of the derived stream, rather than by detailing exactly how to construct the new stream from the old in terms of the specific processing operations to be performed. In other words, the logical mathematical relationship between the new stream and the original stream is described, instead of the sequence of record processing operations one might perform in order to create the new stream from the old. Such mathematical (logical) semantics allows the rewriting of a relational expression with another equivalent perhaps simplified relational expression, while guaranteeing that the expressions are semantically identical. This is immensely useful in allowing for automatic query optimization, where a software optimizer can rewrite retrieval expressions into others that are identical but more efficient when interpreted by stream processing software. A single node RDSMS can be constructed as a superset of a conventional RDBMS that processes potentially multiple input data streams and generates potentially multiple output data streams along with the usual relational database tables. This describes the nature of the work performed at Stanford University [Jennifer Widen et al., http://dbpubs.standford.edu/pub/2002-41]. However, we describe here an invention of a RDSMS that it is not an extension of a RDBMS, processes only streaming data (it does not manage persistent tables) and additionally interacts with other RDSMS nodes, which together constitute a single integrated relational stream processing system. The stream processing is performed in what we call a relational Stream Processing (SP) node. A single SP node and its Configuration Store (see later) together comprise a RDSMS. If there are multiple SP nodes interoperating then we have a different invention, which we call a Distributed Data Stream Management System, which is the main focus of this invention. The main invention we describe is such a Distributed Data Stream Management System (DDSMS). A DDSMS comprises a set of relational SP nodes, and is managed as a single system to provide an infrastructure solution for processing streaming data over a large scale computer network with multiple and potentially distinct sources of and destinations for streaming data. The streams are routed across the relevant RDSMS nodes in order to perform the processing required, with potentially multiple concurrent streams of data crisscrossing the network of SP nodes. The DDSMS is relational in terms of its data processing, and its data can be viewed as flows of relational tuples. Tuples may contain fields which normally contain the same kinds of data types commonly found in a database (such as integers, floats, dates etc) and which might also be variable length or variable format types such as character strings, bit strings or other binary content (such as audio, video, or pictures, or other digitized data). 2. Comparison of DDSMS Model with RDBMS and RDSMS Models Whereas an RDBMS (relational database management system) and the newly emerging RDSMS each are usually single node systems (there is a server that processes a stream of queries or transactions and generates a stream of results), a DDSMS comprises a set of distributed SP nodes. These nodes interoperate in order to behave as a complete seamless system that achieves the data stream processing specified in its relational operations. Whereas creating Distributed DBMS entails overcoming the major technical challenges of synchronizing multiple databases over potentially large geographically separated nodes (and so never really have been successful in the marketplace), DDSMS are relatively straightforward to construct and work elegantly and efficiently. They work well because there is no shared global state to synchronize, and all the relational operations are side-effect free (i.e. truly declarative in nature). Relational operators operate on streams as inputs, leave those streams unaltered (to flow to other potential consumers), and then generate instead new streams as outputs which can in turn flow to other SP nodes. The specific techniques and architecture of the invention are described below. 3. Relational Data Streams First let us visualize a relation as a table of rows comprising the tuples of that relation, just as is found in a RDBMS like Oracle. The relational operators of Projection (selecting a columns from a table to create another table holding only those columns), Selection (retrieving rows that match certain criteria), Joining (where two tables are merged by matching on a common attribute that is defined as a given column), Union (merging two tables by set-theoretic multiplication of the tuple combinations) and other relational operations can all be readily re-interpreted to apply to record streams resulting in the creation of a new record stream. The records in the streams correspond to the tuples in a relation. Projection and Selection have a natural and obvious meaning when applied to streams. Projection filters out only the fields specified in the Projection specification and Selection filters out only the tuples that satisfy the Selection specification. Joins and Union also have an obvious interpretation, but we first need to add a time field. The notion of a time window is then introduced which is applied to any relational operations. For example, a Join operation might be defined over a time window of five minutes. The meaning is that the streams are joined only for matches of tuples made over the given time window. Such time windows can be specified to be Rolling or Paged. The former means that when an operation is applied over a rolling time window of say n minutes, only records whose time field lies within the last n minutes of the reference time of processing are considered. Hence a single tuple might participate in multiple successive operations, until it is too old to qualify for processing in what becomes the new current processing time window. For example, operations might be totals of tuples over the last 5 minutes. You can visualize a time window sliding or rolling over a series of tuples. In comparison, the paged time window pages over the tuples so that every tuple occurs in only a single time window. When totals of tuples are calculated over 5 minute paged windows, then you will get an aggregation of tuples with only a single aggregated output tuple for each 5 minute interval. In Paged time windows all time is chopped up into non overlapping time intervals and a record will always belong to only a single window�different from rolling windows where records belong to many different successive rolling windows. When two streams are Joined, records are matched using the join field (a field that must exist in all records to be joined) for records that lie within the same (specified) time window (based on the designated time-stamps of those records) and the result of each such match is the creation of a new output stream record comprising a union of the original fields of the constituent records. The nature of the match varies according to the type of Join. For example, in an Equi-join the matching comparison is simply equality (and normally the matching field is included only once in the output record since the values are identical). Other joins are also possible, such as �>�, �<�, sub-string and many others. Such Join operations have practical application such as in matching buy-sell transactions for a given financial instrument within a given time window given streams of buy requests and sell requests. Another application is pulling together all of the pieces of a commercial transaction (integrating data from multiple sources such as multiple service elements) and matching on a shared transaction id (or perhaps IP address) within a given time interval in order to create a complete, integrated transaction record. Records falling outside the time window are deemed to be either erroneous (to be processed externally later) or else are from separate distinct transactions. Such behavior is important in real-time decision making applications in many industries including financial services and telecommunications. An extended subset of SQL is the preferred language for representing the definition of streams, but graphical and other alternative ways of representing the definitions is permitted also in addition to SQL. The subset of SQL is given by the purely relational operations (all procedural and database state manipulations are omitted). The extensions are based on the incorporation of time windows. For example, a given SQL query might specify a stream which comprises two input streams joined by IP Address over a paged 5 minute time window. This would look identical to an SQL fragment for joining two input tables on the IP Address column, except that the time window value (5 minutes) and nature (paged rather than scrolled) must be either implicitly (through some default value or configuration parameter) or explicitly (a Window statement or some kind is added to extend the SQL language�hence an extended subset of SQL, a subset because there is no meaningful interpretations for the procedural and other database specific non-relational operations that are also part of the SQL language). 4. System Management, Set-Up and Configuration Streams in the DDSMS can have names, can have security access permissions (to allow particular users or applications or groups thereof to read the records of the stream) and are defined by a relational expression�a set of relational operators that operate on streams (as defined in the previous section)�which in turn might operate on other named streams. Such relational stream expressions can be nested (as in SQL for relational queries for RDBMS). The relation expression can also include the names of programs (or plug-ins) that can also generate streaming data (there has to be some way of generating the original sources of streaming data). The system normally comes with a set of useful such programs and plug-ins to stream data from and to relational databases, files, directories of files, and to encapsulate the outputs or inputs for other programs and applications (using operating system streaming primitives and redirecting inputs and outputs of such programs). The system is normally extensible, so that new plug-in programs can be written to extend the system dynamically. Plug-ins also can perform computational processing of tuples, consuming and generating tuple streams, thereby providing extensions to the usual relational operation vocabulary. Streams also have a location that corresponds to the host system that creates the stream. Where a stream is replicated for load balancing purposes, there might be multiple locations�but for each instance of the replicated stream (the location of which is resolved at connect time�i.e. when a user or application tries to read the stream) at any given time interval there will be stored somewhere in the DDSMS the identity of the host machine responsible for generating the tuples of the stream. Some implementations of the DDSMS might expose the identity of the host machine of a stream. Other more sophisticated implementations may hide the source machine, and alter it dynamically, in order to perform optimization of the stream processing by relocating the stream to another more favorable machine (favorable in terms of processing power, physical location, network bandwidth, utilization, disk or main memory capacity etc). Another example might entail breaking down a single stream generating operation into separate sub-streams that flow into one another, and then redistribute the work to different machines for each sub-stream. This might happen as the result of a sophisticated automatic or dynamic optimization operation. The DDSMS may support a method to perform Global Optimization to improve the system performance by analyzing the relational stream definitions and interdependencies, and by automatically rewriting the relational expressions (the stream definitions) with alternative, logically equivalent but more efficient definitions (in terms of execution). Such optimized relational definitions may include embedded directives that are used in the execution of the stream expressions and also that are used in distributing the stream definitions to the relevant SP nodes. The rewriting approach is modeled after similar relational rewriting procedures of relational databases, but reinterpreted in the streaming context, and with differing �cost functions� that evaluate the goodness of the optimization progress and of the rewritten expression. The optimization goal is to improve the performance of the DDSMS by breaking up the relational stream operations or definitions (which make up the definition of the stream or view) into component pieces that are allocated to different SP nodes. In this way, for example, streams might be aggregated close to their source, rather than transmitting every record across an expensive network only to then perform aggregation. The order and placement of the SP operations onto specific SP nodes can make a tremendous difference to the overall system performance. The optimization is performed in conjunction with a specified Optimization Policy and considers metrics available about the physical processing characteristics of the individual stream processors (SP nodes), and the computer infrastructure that is used to host and execute them (optionally including, without limitation, the speed and nature of individual computer systems such as system execution cost, clock speed, memory, number of processors, operating system, execution workload, also considering the bandwidth, speed or network connection costs, or network reliability, and the size, speed and cost of storage whether that be main memory or secondary storage). It also takes into consideration Optimization Constraints and parameters such as the maximum amount of time to spend on optimization. The policies include, without limitation, differing optimization goals either for the complete system or for specific streams such as maximizing total throughput, minimizing latency, minimizing cost, minimizing transmission or retransmission of data, minimizing or maximizing loads on specific computer systems or network links, or maximizing reliability. Such optimization optionally can be performed dynamically, whereupon the DDSMS would transparently (to the outside world) relocate and restructure streams from one SP node to others as the execution of the transformed relational stream expressions requires. The current status and location of the components of the stream are always held in the Central Configuration Store. The optimizer might perform factoring, where anonymous sub-streams are created and reused in the definition of other streams. Such sub-streams allow for efficient reuse of DDSMS system wide resources and can reduce transmission, retransmission and avoid redundant stream processing too. Streams implicitly have a defined structure in that the names, types and order of the fields in the tuples of the stream will be defined by the relational expression that makes up the stream. Each tuple comprises a set of self-describing data items called fields, which are essentially triples. Each triple has a name, type and value such as <Family, String, �Black�>. The allowed type definitions should match the conventions of RDBMS and SQL (types are called domains in SQL) to allow familiarity and easy integration. The names of all fields (or attributes�another term for the same thing) are held in a central configuration store, along with type definitions and stream definitions. The Central Configuration Store server (CCS) is a server that communicates with all nodes in the DDSMS. Each node comprises an individual SP node, which performs the stream processing consistent with its stream definition as held in the CCS. Each node caches its configuration data in case the central configuration store is unavailable. Any changes in the configuration store can be broadcast to all nodes, or else there are tools that allow a more controlled and selective dissemination of the changes made (to ensure that the resulting streams make commercial and consistent sense, as there might be dependencies within and outside of the system that need to be taken into consideration before such changes are more widely made). B. Architecture and Embodiment of DDSMS The architecture of one embodiment of a SP node is shown in With the data structured into batches this way, streams can be consumed and generated by the stream processing nodes tuple by tuple, and each receiving node can break down the tuple into self-describing data items, right down to the field level. The destination machines (for example, given by the IP address along with the TCP-IP port) for a stream at any given time interval can be determined from the current state of the cached configuration information. Any changes in configuration are disseminated by the CCS according to a configurable specified policy, which includes broadcasting all changes immediately. The stream processing nodes normally have a thread or process that continually listens to a known TCP-IP port for any configuration or other control information (such as starting and stopping) that might be sent (normally sent by the configuration server). This constitutes the Management Interface of the SP node. The Central Configuration Store server might be embodied as a RDBMS application, using a relational database to store the configuration information such as the stream definitions and machine location, access rights and the definition of all currently known field names and types. The central configuration server should normally be deployed in a high-availability configuration with a hot stand-by ready to take over upon any failures. All of the servers (stream processing nodes or configuration servers) comprise logical servers and might be mapped onto one or many computer servers or systems. In other words, there is the concept of the separation of logical servers from physical servers, to allow for different and changing physical deployments. This will make no logical difference to the processing, but will definitely impact the hardware deployment architecture. Individual nodes and servers in some embodiments may be able to take advantage of multiple processor computers in order to increase through-put processing capacity. As tuples enter the DDSMS, the system generates timestamps to label each tuple with the time of entry. The timestamps need to be of sufficient granularity to meet the needs of acceptable precision vis-�-vis the time window specification of the relational stream queries. Ideally, all timestamps should be based on international standard time code (such as UTC �Coordinated Universal Time) to avoid complications of comparing data from different time zones. Alternatives are permissible. Queries may specify that alternative fields should serve as timestamps (which might correspond instead to some time or key more pertinent to the specific application that is using the DDSMS). An example might be the record creation time at the record's original source, or perhaps the time of the original transaction etc). Timestamps of output records are derived from the timestamps of input records. They can be also explicitly defined (just as the other output fields are explicitly defined as a part of relational stream definition of the resulting output stream) or else a default policy can be set where the output timestamp is automatically created (often given as the earliest, latest or average of the input timestamps of the records contributing to the output record). In order to ensure time synchronization across all SP nodes standard techniques should be employed to synchronize machine clocks (such as using NTP and other well proven mechanisms). When the timestamp is given by an existing field, it should have numerical properties consistent with the windowing semantics applied to time, so that the window specification and queries are meaningful. For example, a record key which is a monotonically increasing quantity might make sense. Some embodiments of the DDSMS will include reliable retransmission of data between nodes. Each node buffers up its output streaming tuples, in case there is a need to retransmit the data. The amount of buffering is a configurable item and depends upon the amount of space required to store the tuples. The buffers optionally can be stored on disk to allow for potentially large amounts of data. There is a handshaking protocol in such system embodiments (operated over the SP node's Control Interface) that allows consuming nodes to indicate that they have received certain stream data tuples and have no further retransmission needs from the source (that is, to signal back to the sender that from its own perspective, it will never need again to seek retransmission of the tuple; this implies that the records will have in turn been passed on to another consumer downstream that has indicated they have been received and processed; this might in turn continue recursively downstream through other SP nodes). The handshaking is performed by one SP node with another through their Control Interfaces. The Control Interface might be physically implemented as part of the Input Interfaces or Output Interfaces, interleaved with the in the input or output transmission of record streams (interleaved somehow). These are physical alternative embodiments of the same logical design. The Control Interface is, however, a separate logical entity of the SP node. The stream generator, when it has received such acknowledgments from all consumers, will dispose of buffered tuples which are no longer needed. The SP node manages the output tuples in a Retransmission Buffer, holding all output tuples in that buffer until it is signaled that it is safe to now dispose of the tuples. Retransmission Buffers can be configured to be persistent, in which case the tuples are written to an output queue stored on disk or similar persistent media managed by the Persistent Store. The main memory space and disk space allocated for the Retransmission Buffers are configurable quantities and constrain the maximum number of tuples that can be stored before tuples have to be dropped. If a consumer fails, when it comes back to life, it transmits a �back alive� message to all stream suppliers, so that they can retransmit �unacknowledged� records�those that were not acknowledged as fully processed (in such a way as to be independent of a failure of the acknowledging node). One embodiment of such a recovery mechanism can also use Recursive Recovery, where a node can seek in turn retransmission of tuples from its suppliers, reprocesses those tuples and then streams the regenerated data out again in order to meet retransmission requests of external consuming nodes. This allows for more recovery scenarios and allows for reducing the buffering space of intermediate SP nodes (as they might be able, if necessary, to take advantage of other upstream sources of tuple supply�nodes further upstream). When tuples are transmitted, there should be a way of recognizing the identity of the tuple, in order to avoid processing duplicate retransmitted records. Such a scheme might utilize the timestamp of the record along with a unique serial number field, generated by the SP node. The SP node has to store sufficient information in order to be able to regenerate accurately any such record identification information, in such as way that consumers of retransmitted records can detect and remove duplicates. Embodiments of the system with such recovery mechanisms as record retransmission and Recursive Recovery allow for systems with very reliable data delivery, but which will take time to �catch up� while retransmitting or reprocessing data. Such systems are suitable for billing applications or applications where data loss must be minimize or eliminated (commercial transactions for example). Not all applications will need this capability. This capability complements other techniques such as hot standby processing nodes using high availability techniques. An embodiment might allow optional configuration of such recovery mechanisms, according to system throughput, reliability and solution cost goals. Reliable transmission can be disabled in order to reduce buffering space and speed up throughput, in which retransmission of tuples might not be possible. Similarly, Recursive Recovery would normally be an additional option to the more basic recovery mode of simple retransmission of tuples from the Retransmission Buffers. Tuples arrive through the Input Interface of the SP node and are buffered for efficiency to smooth out any fluctuations in arrival rate. If too many records arrive to be buffered safely, a message is sent back to the sender's Control Interface to signal it to suspend or slow down transmission. Similarly signals can be sent to resume normal transmission. The Retransmission Buffer of the sending SP nodes will hold tuples until the consumers are ready to process them. The tuples flow next to the Stream Engine, which executes the relational operations of the streams that are configured for that SP node. The tuples are presented to the relevant relational views and output tuples result. The Stream Engine manages a number of threads in order to take advantage of multi-processor computer systems, and will have differing implementation with differing levels of optimization and scheduling of stream operation execution. Indexing of stream definitions will be performed for cases where there are large numbers of streams present. This ensures efficient distribution of tuples to relevant stream operation executors or interpreters. The Local Optimizer allows optimization of the execution of stream definitions locally, allowing for techniques like compilation into natively executing code. The Stream Engine is effectively a virtual machine implemented in software that processes relational stream operations. The Thread Manager manages the pool of active threads and is effectively part of the Stream Engine. The Stream Engine responds to control commands that arrive through the Control Interface, and permit external entities to start, stop and reset the engine or specific streams, and other relevant control operations related to retransmission, recovery and relocation of streams. The stream definitions and other configuration information arrive through the Configuration Interface. The CCS can also send out specific plug-in processing execution modules to specific SP nodes to be dynamically loaded into the stream engines of those nodes. The loading and unloading of such modules is handled by the Plug-in Manager. Such plug-in modules represent executable code used to enhance the processing operations of the Stream Engine. This is to allow for additional or updated relational operations to be loaded without taking down the SP nodes concerned. It also allows for custom plug-ins to be written with an external plug-in development kit which allows system or application specific operations to be performed. For example, all physical communication with operating system files, streams, databases or applications is performed with such plug-ins, and can include data input, data output and data transformation operations. There are primitives supplied for iterating and otherwise processing tuples within the given time window specification and to similarly access and process the fields of those tuples. Plug-ins are managed through the CCS and are dynamically loaded, unloaded or replaced. A variety of programming language interfaces is supported. As the Stream Engine generates tuples of output streams, it passes the tuples one by one to the Retransmission Buffer manager which in turn passes them on to the Output Interface. From there they are transmitted, multicast or broadcast to the consuming SP nodes according to the configuration information of the stream (as sent by the CCS). C. Configuration and Management of Streams and Stream Processing over a Network using the DDSMS Configuration is performed by interacting with the central configuration store server. There are many embodiments possible (above an embodiment is described using relational databases). Streams can be defined as SQL expressions or views. Stream definitions can written in a language that is an extended subset of SQL, one which allows for the specification of time windows (see above) but which does not support the non relational SQL operations (of which there are now many in SQL including those for updating databases, imperative programming etc.). Alternatively, some embodiments may optionally offer a GUI based configuration of a �nodes and arcs� form, where nodes correspond to relational stream operators and arcs correspond to stream flows. Such a dataflow GUI is a natural way of representing the stream definitions. Other embodiments are also allowed to co-exist using alternative representations of streams and the stream processing operations, such as ones based on predicate calculus (where streams are defined in terms of logical predicates �Boolean expressions on records and their fields�that must hold to be true for each record that is treated as a valid record of the stream, cf. the membership predicate of a set definition). For example, the programming language Prolog can be viewed as offering one way of defining relations, and so in this context, could be readily used as the basis of streams definitions (another way of stating this is that predicate calculus's Horn clauses can be used to define streams). {For the so-called �data logic� subset of Horn clauses where there are no embedded functions inside the predicates, only atoms and variables, there is an equivalence in expressive power with relational calculus (relational expressions with projection, join etc) for defining relations. Such definitions can be readily translated from one representation to the other and hence can be executed by the same Relational Stream Engine of the SP nodes. Timestamps of output records are derived from the input records.} Configuration of the fields is straightforward, and follows the principles adopted by many other data dictionaries or RDBMS. Field definitions can be added, deleted or updated. The actual data of the field instance flowing through actual live streams will be unaffected by such changes once such data have been created. This is intentional and reflects the fact that the fields are essentially self-describing (see comments on fields' triples elsewhere). For configuration changes to take effect, they need to be communicated to the SP nodes through a set of provided commands. All editing of configuration data (including operating parameters, stream definitions, field definitions, plug-in executable module definitions including file name and nature of the executable such as executable format etc) is performed through a web-based user-interface, preferably with mechanisms to import and export configuration data in XML format in files in order to facilitate external management of different versions of the complete system configuration. This is useful for testing purposes and to allow reinstatement of earlier configurations following disasters. The CCS itself in some embodiments will also support versioning of configurations whereby an archive of different complete configurations is maintained. D. Applications of DDSMS DDSMS have many potential applications. First they can be used to process streaming records from distributed service components or elements to aggregate down, filter, and otherwise construct complete transaction records for analysis or billing. They have applications in billing for wireless and wire-line telephony, for data and other services. Secondly, they can be used for data preprocessing and collection in order to efficiently build databases and data warehouses, providing a real-time and much more flexible technology to replace today's primarily batch oriented ETL tools (Extract Translate and Load) such as the ETL products of companies like Informatica. Thirdly, they can be used to construct distributed peer-to-peer applications as an alternative to Message Broker technology. Message brokers allow applications to communicate through so-called �Publish and Subscribe� interfaces, passing data record by record. They have the disadvantage that they force people to program such services with what is often called inverted logic (also known as event processing logic) where the receiver program has to be written with programming logic that has to allow for the program to receive records of potentially any type and at any time. This is in order to allow for the occurrence of any type of event that might transpire at any time. State machines have to be written to keep track of where the program is in the overall lifecycle of processing data. DDSMS offer a number of advantages over Message Brokers. They allow multiple, differing views of data streams to be defined (much more flexible and powerful than just the �publish and subscribe� facility of Message Brokers, which itself is similar to sharing streams of a given name). The stream is, by nature, a sequence of records, and thereby allows for conventional non-inverted logic, where applications are written as structured loops processing the records as they arrive. There is no need to create a separate state machine, and structured programming techniques readily apply. Such programs are not normally interrupted by the arrival of the next record before the current record has been processed (unless the logic explicitly requires parallel execution using so-called unblocked I/O and multiple threads). DDSMS allow for powerful operations to define these views, with power and usefulness similar to RDBMS views. They allow for non-inverted sequential processing logic to process streams record-by-record. They allow for the benefits of efficiency and scalability that arise from designing a system around large volumes of streaming records. They allow the reliable transmission and retransmission of data, with a technology designed for coping with bursts in data arrival rates. Message Brokers typically have problems scaling beyond a few thousands of records per second. DDSMS should be able to scale to hundreds of thousands of records per second. Message Brokers typically drop records if they arrive in bursts. For example, at the time of writing, the RendezVous message broker of Tibco, according the FAQ on their current website (at the time of writing) will drop records after 5000 have been queued up in the input buffer of a RendezVous server. This is not uncommon. Recursive Recovery described above offers an effective solution to this data loss problem when coupled with the Control Interfaces of SP nodes. DDSMS have strong applicability for processing input data from sensors such as location based devices, environment sensors, machinery status sensors, plant equipment sensors, and those of engines, vehicles, and instruments. Such sources generate large volumes of data that need to be preprocessed into more manageable streams for consumption in many back-end applications such as monitoring, alarming, billing and analysis for real-time decision making. It is a suitable basis for building SCADA and other industrial automation applications. Other applications exist for network monitoring for all kinds of networks: electronic data, mobile, wireless, electricity, water, other utilities, highways, airways, railways and waterways�to be name but a few. The source of the data might be from SNMP MIBs (networking equipment standard) of instruments or devices, from other similar standardized protocols (e.g. CMIP), or held in proprietary structures or delivered by proprietary management protocols. Preprocessed data can be used for a wide range of applications including fraud detection, surveillance, service usage billing (both pre and post paid) and analysis applications. E. Alternative Embodiments There are many other potential embodiments of DDSMS, and several variations are described above. The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and equivalent arrangements will be apparent. Patent Citations
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text:
"I got these invites for my daughters 5th birthday. They are so nice and beautiful I know everyone who gets one will want to keep it for a keepsake!"
"This was exactly what I was looking for my daughter's birthday to get everyone for a showing of her favorite flick with this movie themed party invitation."
"This was the perfect invite for my daughter's 11th birthday. She's too old now for the cutesy invites and she's not a frilly girl, so this was perfect. I'm very pleased with the quality."
"The invitations were beautiful. My daughter loved them. 2 were a little damaged upon arrival other then that they were awesome."
"Absolutely gorgeous card - perfect for my daughter. Pink and chic, came quickly and customer service was super helpful. Preppy and stylish just like my girl!"

subset: commoncrawl


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foulab.org / August 2009 Workshops
August 2009 Workshops
By fx, on 2009-07-28 00:00
The following workshops will occur in August as part of Foulab's ongoing Thursday night workshop and presentation series. Everybody is welcome to attend, please register at workshops at foulab.org.
Arduino Jam
Thursday, August 13thCost: $15.00 suggested donation
An introductory workshop on the use of the Ardurino micro-controller for robotics development followed by an improvisational arduino jam. Please try to bring your own laptop (and Arduino if you have one!).
Basic Principles of Refrigeration
Thursday, August 20thCost: $15.00 suggested donation
An overview of the basic principles of refrigeration and the technology. Looking for the 411 on your AC? This is indisputably the coolest workshop we'll be doing all Summer.
Safe and Effective Operation of Power Tools
Thursday, August 27thCost: $15.00 suggested donation
The does and don'ts of power tool operation. Become intimately familiar with Foulab's substantial power tool arsenal. Discover once and for all why wearing eye protection and obeying safety protocols is a damned good idea.


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Gestapo chief Heinrich Mueller buried in Jewish cemetery in Berlin, report says
- From: AFP
- October 31, 2013
THE head of Hitler's Gestapo secret police and one of the organisers of the Holocaust, Heinrich Mueller, was buried in a Jewish cemetery in Berlin in 1945, a German newspaper has reported.
For 68 years, the fate of "Gestapo-Mueller" has been unclear but Bild, based on documents found by a historian, said he died at the end of the war and was buried in a common grave in a Jewish cemetery in central Berlin.
"Mueller didn't survive the end of the war," the mass circulation newspaper quoted Johannes Tuchel, head of the Memorial to the German Resistance, as saying.
"His body was interred in 1945 in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Mitte in a mass grave," he said.
Mueller was long rumoured to have survived World War II. Bild quoted a German BND foreign intelligence file stating that Mueller was in Carlsbad in the former Czechoslovakia in summer 1949.
But Tuchel told Bild that the secret services were wrong.
"Mueller's body was already found in August 1945 in a provisional grave near the former Reich's aviation ministry by a burial commando," he told Bild.
His body was dressed in a general's uniform, Tuchel said. "In the inner left breast pocket was, among other things, his service certificate with a photo," he went on.
Bild also printed a document it said was from the registrar's office in Berlin-Mitte showing Mueller was buried in the district's Jewish cemetery.
The leader of Germany's Jewish community, Dieter Graumann, reacted angrily.
"That one of the most brutal Nazi sadists is buried in a Jewish cemetery is a distasteful monstrosity. The memory of the victims is being treated here with contempt," he told Bild.
Mueller attended the Wannsee Conference at a villa on the outskirts of Berlin in January 1942 at which senior Nazis plotted the "Final Solution", a plan to exterminate all Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe.


text:
back to topProduct Description
The Ruffwear Quinzee insulated dog jacket wraps your pooch in lightweight warmth-perfect for breaks between activities in cold weather. Synthetic insulation keeps dogs warm in the coldest weather conditions. The jacket's 50% recycled polyester insulation helps keep your dog warm; its 40% recycled polyester shell material resists abrasion and snags. 3M Scotchlite reflective trim adds visibility in low light. Covered side-release buckles make getting the jacket on and off a breeze. Packs down into an integrated stuff sack.To determine the proper size, please refer to the sizing image at the top of this page. For instructions on how to measure your dog's girth (the widest part of the rib cage), click on the video in the Videos tab.


text:
Released: Aug 01st, 1998
Running Time: 80
Director: Frank Thring
Company: Pirate
Distribution Companies: Private U.S.A.
Judit, Vanda (I), David Perry, Suzy Q, Mirala, Natasha (I), Kristina (I), Nikki Anderson
Critical Rating: AAA 1/2
Genre: All-Sex
One of the best in the Pirate series. Could work for couples craving the harder-core. Women might like the handsome, uncut Euro-boys, plus the real boob factor.
Consistently strong sex, great camera work, and radically beautiful Euro-fraus with natural bodies dominate this high-quality fuck vid. Three vignettes of inconsequential intrigue —a mobster and some thugs, a burglar, a guy with car trouble— leads directly to first rate nasty girls, who quickly remove their clothes and go wild. Lots of leather, vinyl, and thigh-high boots. Six scenes, all of them anals, four developing into d.p.s, push this production into an "as good as it gets" situation. Every scene is completed with an extended face splatter where the girls stare into the camera, cocks in hand (usually two) and smile like they just blew out their birthday candles.


text:
sorry but used auto sales havent killed the car market.
I liked the Roulette analogy better.
how do we know that Microsoft would have had intelligent, Steam-like pricing when Sony's store is currently terrible?
MSRP increases in one region do not equate to MSRP increases in all regions.
As a manufacturer, you can't just tell a retailer, much less your biggest one, to frick off when you need them in order to reach your entire audience.
So they will still need retailers to sell their games.
Going from disk to digital should do the exact same thing yet they have resisted it.
I do have an interest in supporting developers and publishers that directly support my hobby with more games. $5 is nothing to me in the long run if it ensures we don't see another THQ go under. That creates less competition in the market place and the worse things get for us as consumers.
Sony consoles have interchangeable hard drives.
You can use any laptop HD on Xbox very easily. Youtube it. I imagine you could put an SSD in if you felt like it though I haven't searched to confirm.
You still don't get it.
You still don't get it. That extra $5 isn't going to the developer. They sell the discs to the stores (whether brick and mortar or online retailers) at a set wholesale price. The retailers then set the prices. If you want to pay more for the same product, go ahead, but don't expect the rest of us to hop on because you are stupid enough to believe some developers sob story propaganda.
When you buy a used game over a new game then that is one less copy the publisher and devs move and one less they get paid on.
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text:
Serotonin-deprived mice may be gay (or not)
A couple of days back I posted a link to Ed Yong's synopsis of the paper just released by Nature purporting to show that modulating serotonin levels in mice could have an effect on their sexual orientation. In short, low- or no-serotonin producing mice no longer discriminated sexually between males and females, mounting cagemates of either gender with equal vigor. There's really no point in re-summarizing the study as Scicurious has provided an excellent recap.
Here's a serotonin deficient mouse mounting first a male, then a female:
As the paper's authors themselves noted, one alternative explanation for the findings is that the loss of gender discrimination was a byproduct of a serotonin-regulated increase in sexual behavior rather then a change in sexual preference per se. Although the study showed that no serotonin mice didn't show increased sexual behavior towards solo females, they mounted close to 90% of the females in that condition, not leaving a lot of room to show an increase.
Furthermore, mice rely on pheromones to determine who is female and who's not. The depletion of serotonin might have had some effect on the peripheral olfactory system such that the mice couldn't distinguish the males from the females. The study did include a control condition which showed mice's olfactory systems were still at least somewhat functional (they could distinguish between sesame oil and air, and could still identify fox urine.) But maybe the difference between physiological levels of pheromone requires a level of sensitivity in the olfactory system that was lost in the serotonin-depleted animals. I'm not convinced that this explanation has been sufficiently ruled out.
Finally, on a more speculative note, serotonin is known to play a large role in regulating forms of social behavior including aggressiveness and social dominance, in a wide range of species from mice to humans. These animals were completely depleted of serotonin which should lead to significant changes in their social behavior. Past research has associated low serotonin with increased aggressiveness in mammals. Could it be that when male mice mount other males, they are doing something other than "getting it on"? (Male mice with normal levels of serotonin sometimes do mount male mice. Why's that?).
Although the study's findings are just the kind of topic that the mainstream media loves (anything involving sex), and they've responded with salacious headlines in kind, it seems prudent to interpret the results cautiously and await further work.
Baby-faced black CEOs
Having a baby face benefits black CEOs, says a new study from researchers at Northwestern University. Not only are black CEOs more baby faced than white ones, they are also judged to be warmer. Furthermore, baby faced black CEOs tend to lead more prestigious firms and make more money than mature-faced ones. Researchers suggested that a baby face is disarming and lessens the impact of stereotypical perceptions that blacks are threatening.
The research builds upon earlier work (Rule and Ambady, 2009; Zebrowtiz and Montepare, 2005) that showed having a baby face could be a liability for people seeking high leadership positions in government or private industry. Those studies looked exclusively at White males. The current study looked to examine whether these results would apply to, or differ in the case of, other social groups, particularly, black men.
The results showed that having a baby face benefitted black men in CEO positions compared to black men who were more mature faced in terms of both earning higher compensation and leading more prestigious companies. And although Black male CEOs with baby faces were perceived as being warmer than their white counterparts, they were also perceived as being less competent.
The implications of these findings are noteworthy for Black men aspiring to leadership positions in American corporations. As the researchers point out, White males often display competent leadership by employing angry and authoritative leadership styles (expressing anger, banging on tables, aggressively dressing down employees, etc…) High-ranking Black male leaders may not have this same luxury, having to resort to a more moderate and constrained style of leadership.
Botox isn't just skin deep
It's no secret that Botox injections can sometimes cause their recipients to become decidedly waxen faced. This presents a quandry for some Hollywood actors, who are under pressure to maintain a youthful appearance but still need to be able to convey emotion on their faces. Sadly, many seem to favor a wrinkle-free visage over faithfullness to their craft.
And there may be even more reason to avoid the Botox needle. A growing body of evidence is suggesting that not only does Botox affect our ability to express emotion, it actually diminishes our emotional experiences. This is due to the phenomenon of psychological embodiment, or, the notion that one's emotional experiences are not a product of the brain alone, but, rather, are modulated by feed back from the body.
A set of recent experiments have specifically examined the role of facial expression in the processing of emotion. One experiment had subjects read sentences describing pleasant or unpleasant situations while either holding a pen in their mouth (forcing them to smile) or in the lips (forcing them to frown). Participants processed sentences faster when the forced facial expression was congruent with the valence of the sentence, e.g. when smiling during pleasant sentence or frowning during unpleasant sentences. (This effect, and the facial expression produced by the manipulation, occured out of the conscious awareness of the participants.) Previous work has shown that reading words that describe emotions activates specific facial muscles: corrugator supercilli for negative words, and zygomaticus for positive words. These are the primary muscles behind frowns and smiles, respectively. In other words, voluntary activation of specific facial muscles led to downstream effects in emotional experience.
In a new study, researchers at University of Wisconsin- Madison wondered if the relationship would hold if those same muscles were involuntarily deactivated.
Enter Botox.
The Experiment:
Participants — recruited through area cosmetic surgery clinics and given $50 credit towards their Botox treatments — were scheduled for two sessions. In session one, participants read sets of happy, angry and sad sentences. After each sentence, they pressed a key on the keyboard to indicate they'd finished reading. After reading all of the sentences, participants were given a Botox injection. Two weeks later, participants came in for their second session, during which they performed the same reading task they'd performed in session one ( with new happy, angry and sad sentences).
The Results:
Participants took longer to read angry sentences in session two compared to session one. There was no difference for happy or neutral sentences. This result showed that denervating facial muscles impairs the processing of emotional language, and supports the idea of facial movement as a moderating factor in the bi-directional link between language and emotion.
On one hand, this finding might dissuade some people from going for Botox treatment. The idea of losing one's full emotional capacity seems a bit distasteful, conjuring up visions of emotional zombieism. On the other hand, the impairment is selective for anger. Could this be an unanticipated benefit? It might be nice to have one's experience of anger compromised, particularly for those prone with excessive anger problems. Might Botox not have a positive effect on one's mood (that is, above and beyond the effect of knowing one's forehead is as smooth as a babies rump?) I can just see the ad now: "Botox: It doesn't just make you look less angry, but makes you feel less angry." I'm certainly glad Peter Finch didn't Botox before his classic scene from "Network" (actors: note the anger lines in the forehead).
Go here for the paper, which includes some interesting speculation as to possible neural and psychological mechanisms.


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text:
Dokidoki Majo Shinpan!
Beating the game a certain number of times will unlock the following:
Unlockable How to Unlock Extra Episodes Beat the game once. Free Witch Check Beat the game twice. Survival Beat the game once. Contributed By: HaroFreak.
Know Something We Don't?
You can submit new cheat codes for this game using our Cheat Submission Form.
Have We Been Fooled?
If you see a non-working or fake code in the list above, let us know by using our Problem Submission Form.


text:
>Runner's World - My Event Ratings>
In short: Very friendly and rewarding. Organisers need a louder megaphone though!Date of review: November 29, 2004
In short: My first ever race - fond memories. Gotta love those steep bits!Date of review: October 12, 2004
In short: A great experience, just the right size field for a beginner, great atmosphere and organisationDate of review: October 10, 2004


text:
Kannan, TS and Panda, PK and Jaleel, VA and Ramachandra Rao, R and Roopa, HN and Mariappan, L and Cheluvaraju, Annamalai (2000) Synthesis, processing, sintering and characterisation of special ceramic materials. Metals Materials and Processes, 12 (2 & 3). pp. 161-180.
Full text available as:PDF - Published Version Download (2053Kb) |
Hydrothermal and carbothermal synthesis as specific material synthesis routes to obtain simple oxide powders (e.g. acicular ferromagnetic chromium dioxide and alumina in fine powder form) as well as composite oxide powders (e .g . alumina and zirconia) containing 13-silicon carbide whiskers as a second phase toughener have been extensively investigated and some significant results are summarised . Ceramic processing followed by reaction nitridation of silicon, silicon + silicon carbide and silicon + silicon nitride powder mixtures in various ratios have been studied and some representative results are presented herein . Synthesis of hydroxyapatite powder and its characterisation is also reported . Mechanical characterisation of some of these products have been studied and these are presented . An ascending thermal shock cum thermal fatigue test equipment fabricated for testing ceramic materials under
Item Type: | Journal Article |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | ceramic material, composite oxide powders, synthesis, processing, characterization |
Subjects: | CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS > Chemistry and Materials (General) |
Division/Department: | Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division, Materials Science Division |
Depositing User: | Ms Indrani V |
Date Deposited: | 25 Jan 2012 10:19 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jan 2012 10:19 |
URI: | http://nal-ir.nal.res.in/id/eprint/10277 |
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text:
Definition of blank
- intensifier / replacement term for a swear word, e.g. fuck.
That blanking car almost hit us!
Last edited on Aug 26 2009. Submitted by Walter Rader (Editor) from Sacramento, CA, USA on Aug 26 2009.
- to ignore someone.
Last edited on Dec 28 2009. Submitted by Walter Rader (Editor) from Sacramento, CA, USA on Dec 28 2009.
+ | Add a definition for this slang term |
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Slang terms with the same meaning
None found.
Slang terms with the same root words
Other terms relating to 'blank': | |
Definitions include: censored version of fuckstick. | |
Definitions include: to temporarily forget. | |
Definitions include: to forget; have one's mind "go blank". | |
Definitions include: to have non-functioning semen. |
How common is this slang?
I use it | (7) | ||
No longer use it | (2) | ||
Heard it but never used it | (6) | ||
Have never heard it | (8) |
How vulgar is this slang?
Average of 8 votes: 40% (See the most vulgar words.)
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Your vote: None (To vote, click the pepper. Vote how vulgar the word is – not how mean it is.)
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Link to this slang definition
To link to this term in a web page or blog, insert the following.
blank
To link to this term in a wiki such as Wikipedia, insert the following.
[http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/blank blank]
Some wikis use a different format for links, so be sure to check the documentation.


text: Izzy Teens - hot teens tube with gigabytes of xxx vids! You will get mouth water and cock rock-hard seeing everything what is taking place on our nice hot teens tube Izzy Teens! Some of your hottest fantasies about naughtiest teen girls would become reality with us! These teen bitches are sucking and fucking like professional sluts right before camera! The site updates constantly and that`s why you would always find fresh content with even more sexual teens!


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March 21, 2011 from 10am to 11am – Web Based Event Join us on March 21st to learn more about the Business Performance Makeover Contest. EGIA, BPI, and Efficiency First are inviting Home Improvement, Home Performance and Energy Efficiency Contractors… Organized by Stephen Michael Self | Type: business, performance, makeover, contest, overview
Home Energy Pros was founded by the developers of Home Energy Saver Pro (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy,) and brought to you in partnership with Home Energy magazine.
© 2015 Created by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.


text:
Home Page |
House of York, Charlotte Street, Birmingham | |||||||
About us | Jewellery Quarter | Birmingham | Local Places | Resident Pages | |||
Private | Contacts | History | Other Pages | Links | |||
All text, photographs and graphics are copyright of the House of York residents |
This page provides a list of pages available to everyone on the Public area of the site. Other pages in the Residents area are available to authorised residents of House of York. If you are a resident of ouse of York who would like access to the residents area please contact Jim Shead (see Contacts page) giving your name and apartment number. Note the Terms and Conditions that apply to residents using the site.
About the House of York Website


text:
Command Line Feedback from RVM and Git
If you're like me, most of your day is working in Git and RVM. I am frequently typing git branch
to remember what branch I'm on, and rvm gemdir
to remember what ruby version and gemset I'm using. With all those wasted cycles, there has to be a better way. And there is.
RVM comes with a built in shell prompt, and with a little magic you can combine that with git information. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc
export PS1="\[\033[01;34m\]\$(~/.rvm/bin/rvm-prompt) \[\033[01;32m\]\w\[\033[00;33m\]\$(__git_ps1 \" (%s)\") \[\033[01;36m\]\$\[\033[00m\] "
Then in the terminal as my daily workflow moves me between git branches and rvm versions (whether explicitly or by .rvmrc), the prompt will always keep me up to date with my context. (The command line uses colors that aren't shown in the snippet below).
ruby-1.9.2-p180 ~ $ cd projects/harvested/code/ ruby-1.9.2-p180 ~/projects/harvested/code (master) $ git checkout test-branch Switched to branch 'test-branch' ruby-1.9.2-p180 ~/projects/harvested/code (test-branch) $ rvm use 1.8.7 Using /Users/zmoazeni/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p334 ruby-1.8.7-p334 ~/projects/harvested/code (test-branch) $ rvm use 1.8.7@mygemset --create Using /Users/zmoazeni/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.8.7-p334 with gemset mygemset ruby-1.8.7-p334@mygemset ~/projects/harvested/code (test-branch) $
Try it out and see if you like it. It's been a big sigh of relief for me. Kudos to Chris Gaffney for the inspiration and for figuring out the git portion.
If you have trouble with the Git and/or RVM portions, make sure you have bash-completion installed. Git should install by default with homebrew, but you will need to put something similar in your ~/.bashrc
before the PS1 declaration:
[[ -r $rvm_path/scripts/completion ]] && . $rvm_path/scripts/completion # for RVM completion if [ -f `brew --prefix`/etc/bash_completion.d/git-completion.bash ]; then source `brew --prefix`/etc/bash_completion.d/git-completion.bash; fi # for Git completion
16 Comments
Chris August 02, 2011
This is most excellent my friend!
cole August 02, 2011
or, RVM will do the whole thing for you:
[[ -s "$HOME/.rvm/contrib/ps1_functions" ]] && source "$HOME/.rvm/contrib/ps1_functions" ps1_set --prompt ∴
truce tringsteen August 02, 2011
Very cool. Note: on Ubuntu with rvm 1.6.20 I had no .rvm/bin/rvm-prompt, but using .rvm/scripts/rvm works just dandy. Thanks for the tip.
Rob August 02, 2011 http://iblargz.com
Dude, you should use bash-it or oh my zhell with a proper theme.
For instance I run my shells with bash-it, I wrote my own theme:
It looks like this:
It shows me: [battery power] [ ruby version@gemset/branch [ dirty/clean ]] [ folder ] [ user ]
Wojtek Mach August 02, 2011
Nice one with the RVM.
BTW, as the prompt gets longer and longer (ex. while browsing gems) you might find my little utility, wdalias, useful: http://bit.ly/pMRRAY -
Robert Evans August 02, 2011 http://www.codewranglers.org
Thanks for the plug Rob on the bash-it framework. If you haven't already, you should submit your theme to my repo for inclusion. :)
Zach, I agree with Rob, you should try out either bash-it or oh-my-zsh. I've actually switched to zsh and have my own little framework setup for it – it's great to have info already parsed for you.
Oliver Ponder August 02, 2011 http://ponderdesign.nl
Hey guys,
Inspired by a peepcode screencast, I have one where it shows you what folder you are in, the branch and the time since last commit (up to 2 hours)
It's quite messy, but it works and is pretty cool/handy to see.
It looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/YhCHq.png
john Hinnegan August 02, 2011
Love it. Thanks. Have incorporated into my prompt (which is a hodgepodge of things clobbered together from around the net).
Here's my new look:
http://rookery9.aviary.com.s3.amazonaws.com/9242500/9242608_c0b5.png -
Seban August 03, 2011 http://blog.sebastiannowak.com
My workmate adds color at the end to see if there are some changes or it is clean state. Your prompt is very simmilar to mine, I drop Ruby patchlevel info
Ismael Marin August 04, 2011 http://www.nebulaideas.com
Wow, amazing, thank you very much Zack and everybody
Ismael Marin August 04, 2011 http://www.nebulaideas.com
Wow, amazing, thank you very much Zack and everybody
coderxin August 04, 2011
Works like a magic! Thank you!
Anthony Bouch August 04, 2011 http://www.58bits.com
Wayne E. Seguin has created something similar…
Daniel August 24, 2011
This is what I use to show the git branch in my console
Sean August 25, 2011
Cool! But just curious why the ruby version didn't show up in my machine until I used 'rvm use' command.
William Notowidagdo October 02, 2012 http://codeindsgn.com
In my case (brew installed git) I got this error
-bash: __git_ps1: command not found
I resolved this by source git-prompt.sh instead git-completion.bash


text:
March 2010
Turnbow released, other moves
Derrick Turnbow, who injured his right shoulder on Tuesday, was released early Wednesday morning.
Signed to a Minor League deal, Turnbow was bothered by shoulder tendinitis for most of Spring Training. On Tuesday against the Nationals in Viera, he threw 10 pitches, with just two strikes. On his last pitch, he winched in pain, and said afterwards that he feels he will be shut down for a while, if not need surgery.
Turnbow said he will spend a few days in Florida, before heading to his home in Nashville. He plans on visiting either Dr. James Andrews or Dr. Lewis Yocum. Turnbow is open to surgery.
"More than likely I'll try to have surgery and get it fixed," Turnbow said. "Unless it is something that is just going to take forever to come back."
Turnbow added that the Marlins said they were open to giving him another chance down the road, after he recovers.
In other moves on Wednesday, the Marlins optioned Jay Buente and Brett Sinkbeil to Triple-A New Orleans. Kris Harvey was optioned to Double-A Jacksonville.
Re-assigned to Minor League camp were Dan Jennings, Matt Dominguez, Matt Peterson, Chris Schroder, Chris Hatcher, Matt Dominguez and Ozzie Martinez.
— Joe Frisaro
Turnbow exits with injury
Derrick Turnbow was removed in the eighth inning after hitting a batter with a pitch.
The right-handed reliever, who is trying to make the Marlins as a non-roster invitee, favored his right shoulder on a day he struggled to throw strikes.
Turnbow walked Pete Orr on four pitches, and his sixth pitch to Danny Espinosa hit the Nationals shortstop.
Twice in the inning, Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez and trainer Sean Cunningham came to the mound. The second visit, Turnbow was removed for lefty Taylor Tankersley.
Turnbow has battled shoulder tendinitis this spring.
Eight of the 10 pitches Turnbow threw were balls.
In 2001, Turnbow suffered a broken right elbow.
"This pain is 10 times worse than that broken elbow," Turnbow said."Whatever it is, I'm going to be shut down for a while. My chance for the big league team is over, either way."
— Joe Frisaro
Hanley back, Stanton stays back
Hanley Ramirez is back in the lineup after resting a tight right groin. But prospect Mike Stanton was held back in Jupiter with a sore left elbow.
Stanton was initially scheduled to travel to Lake Buena Vista on Tuesday to face the Braves. Had he gone, two of the top three prospects in the game would have been together. Atlanta's Jason Heyward is regarded as the No. 1 prospect, with Stanton ranked No. 3.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Stanton is a little sore after his four at-bat performance on Monday against the Twins. The slugger had a two-run homer, and struck out three times.
Ramirez, meanwhile, was in the starting lineup against the Braves.
In other injury news, Cameron Maybin is running the bases on Tuesday in Jupiter. If he doesn't feel any discomfort, he could be back in the lineup on Wednesday. Maybin has been out since March 7 with a strained left groin.
Jorge Cantu, out since Sunday with flu-like symptoms, stayed in Jupiter on Tuesday. He is feeling better and may be in the lineup on Wednesday.
— Joe Frisaro
Marlins lineups for Tuesday
The Marlins have a split-squad day on Tuesday, with half the team in Viera to face the Nationals, and the other half in Lake Buena Vista to take on the Braves.
Hanley Ramirez, who missed Monday due to a tight right groin, was in the lineup against the Braves.
Jorge Cantu, who has been recovering from flu-like symptoms, stayed back in Jupiter.
Mike Lamb, meanwhile, was scheduled to start at first base against the Braves. But he was scratched with an upset stomach. Gaby Sanchez instead made the start.
Lineup vs. Nationals:
1) Jai Miller, CF
2) Brian Barden, SS
3) Dan Uggla, 2B
4) Logan Morrison, 1B
5) Cody Ross, RF
6) Brett Carroll, LF
7) Jorge Jimenez, 3B
8) Brett Hayes, C
9) Rick VandenHurk, P
1) Willy Taveras, CF
2) Willie Harris, RF
3) Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4) Adam Dunn, 1B
5) Kevin Mench, LF
6) Pete Orr, 2B
7) Danny Espinosa, SS
8) Wil Nieves, C
9) Craig Stammen, P
1) Chris Coghlan, LF
2) Brian Petersen, CF
3) Hanley Ramirez, SS
4) Gaby Sanchez, 1B
5) Ronny Paulino, C
6) Wes Helms, 3B
7) Scott Cousins, RF
8) Emilio Bonifacio, 2B
9) Josh Johnson, P
— Joe Frisaro
Stanton, Heyward set for Tuesday
It's not by coincidence that the Marlins are bringing Mike Stanton to Lake Buena Vista instead of Viera on Tuesday.
There is intrigue to see two of the top three prospects in the big leagues on the same day. So the Marlins are bringing their young phenom to face the Braves, who feature one of the brightest young talents the game has seen in years, Jason Heyward.
The Marlins have a split-squad day on Tuesday. Half the club is facing the Braves, while the other is taking on the Nationals.
According to MLB.com's Top 50 Prospects, compiled by Jonathan Mayo, Heyward is the No. 1 prospect in the game, while Stanton ranks third. Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals is second.
Both Stanton and Heyward are 20-years-old. Both were taken in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, and both play right field. A difference is Heyward bats left-handed, while Stanton hits from the right side.
Stanton has been the talk of Marlins camp, showing flashes of his power potential. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound former high school football, baseball and basketball star, connected on his third Grapefruit League home run on Monday. Stanton lifted an opposite field shot off Minnesota's Francisco Liriano.
All three of his blasts have been off big league pitchers. He also had an opposite-field liner off Bobby Parnell of the Mets, and a monster drive to left off Wandy Rodriguez of the Astros.
Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez says he frequently jokes with Stanton about Heyward.
"I say, 'Hey, you're the No. 3 prospect. Heyward is the No. 1 prospect in the Minor Leagues,' " Gonzalez said. "Early in camp, we were kind of taking it easy with Stanton because of his shoulder. I said, 'Heyward played again today.' "
Gonzalez says he hasn't ruled out keeping Stanton on the Opening Day roster. However, the odds are pretty strong that he will open in Double-A Jacksonville, and remain there at least a couple of months. A realistic callup date is about June 1. Don't discount the fact that the longer Stanton remains in the Minor Leagues, he prolongs starting his arbitration clock.
However, if he is tearing it up in the Minor Leagues, and there is a need on the big league club, the Marlins wouldn't rule out an earlier promotion.
What's impressed Gonzalez most about Stanton is his character.
"When you're dealing with young players, they have a tendency not to be focused," Gonzalez said. "To me, the way he has handled himself, he came in here trying to take someone's job. He didn't come here to just get looked at. This guy came in here looking to get someone's job."
First base coach Dave Collins is so impressed by Stanton, he told Gonzalez: "This guy may hit 25 homers and drive in 90 just trying to figure it out in the big leagues."
According to Gonzalez, Stanton's makeup is "off the charts."
In 2007, the Marlins actually had a chance to select Heyward. If they hadd, they could have had both of the young sluggers.
Heyward was the 14th overall pick, and Stanton was picked in the second round. With the 12th pick, Florida went with third baseman Matt Dominguez.
So what happened in 2007?
Even though the possibility existed to take Heyward, the reality is he may not have been an option, after all.
There were a couple of issues with Heyward at the time. Word around the league was the McDonough, Ga., native badly wanted to sign with the Braves, and wouldn't sign with anyone else. The feeling was if another team picked him, he would opt for college. So signability was a concern.
From a technical, playing standpoint, there were some minor concerns about Heyward's swing.
Heyward ended up signing for $1.7 million, which was for above the slot for that year. Dominguez, meanwhile, signed for $1.8 million.
Looking on it now, Stanton was a bargain. His bonus was $475,000.
— Joe Frisaro
(Photo courtesy of Denis Bancroft/Florida Marlins)
Lineup vs. Twins
The Marlins and Twins will play at 1:05 p.m. ET at Roger Dean Stadium.
With the game in a National League park, neither team is using the designated hitter. So Twins pitcher Franciso Liriano and Marlins right-hander Chris Volstad are in the lineup to bat.
1) Denard Span, CF
2) Nick Punto, 3B
3) Jason Kubel, RF
4) Brock Peterson, 1B
5) Delmon Young, RF
6) Wilson Ramos, C
7) Matt Tolbert, SS
8) Alexi Casilla, 2B
9) Francisco Liriano, P
1) Emilio Bonifacio, CF
2) Jorge Jimenez, 3B
3) Mike Stanton, LF
4) Dan Uggla, 2B
5) Cody Ross, RF
6) Gaby Sanchez, 1B
7) Ronny Paulino, C
8) Donnie Murphy, SS
9) Chris Volstad, P
— Joe Frisaro
Ross in lineup
For the first time since March 4, the Marlins Grapefruit League opener, Cody Ross is in the lineup to play the field.
Out with a strained left groin, Ross is scheduled to start in right field on Monday against the Twins at Roger Dean Stadium.
Last Saturday against the Rays in Port Charlotte, Ross had three at-bats as the designated hitter.
Not wanting to push it, Ross will get two at-bats and play the field for a few innings. If all goes well, he will again be in the field on Tuesday.
In other injury news, the team is targeting the weekend for the possible return of John Baker and Cameron Maybin.
Maybin, who has been out for a week with a strained left groin, is scheduled to test his leg by running the bases on Tuesday. Baker, who has been getting at-bats but he hasn't caught, is recovering from a strained right forearm muscle. His last hurdle will be throwing the ball to the bases on Thursday.
"Maybin, he's going to run the bases tomorrow, and we're shooting for this weekend," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Baker is probably about the same."
If Maybin returns by the weekend, Gonzalez feels confident that he will have enough chances to get his timing back at the plate.
"We still have got some time lef," Gonzalez said. "The biggest thing we want to know about are the at-bats. As soon as we get those Minor League games going, we can get him all the at-bats we want. We can lead him off every inning. I'm not worried about the time left."
— Joe Frisaro
West, Ceda optioned
The Marlins rotation is coming a little more into focus.
Left-hander Sean West, who has struggled with his command, on Monday was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans.
Sending West down trims a candidate for a rotation spot.
In another move, right-handed reliever Jose Ceda, who missed all of last year with a shoulder injury, was optioned to Double-A Jacksonville.
West has had difficulties throwing strikes. In a B Game on Saturday against the Orioles in Sarasota, the 23-year-old walked seven.
"[We want West to] just pitch and get his command down," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He came up and won eight games as a young pitcher last year. He will be back. There is no question in my mind. He's going to be a big part of our rotation."
Subtracting West from the mix, means the Marlins now have Anibal Sanchez, Chris Volstad, Andrew Miller, Rick VandenHurk and Hayden Penn fighting for spots. Another name to keep an eye on is Clay Hensley, who has big league experience.
The way the Marlins are talking, it appears Sanchez is a lock to be the No. 3 starter. Sanchez threw four scoreless innings on Sunday against the Mets.
"If Sanchez pitches the way we've seen in '06 [his rookie year], you've got something to work with,' Gonzalez said.
Josh Johnson and Ricky Nolasco are the Nos. 1 and 2 starters.
— Joe Frisaro


text:
Hey there fellow cosplayers and friends, If you enjoy my work you can find more at- https://www.facebook.com/saarkham?ref=hl - For My Joker cosplay https://www.facebook.com/SLdingdors - For all the other characters I work on http://masterdev777.deviantart.com/ - and for both my cosplay and art Thanks for checking me out! and If you like my pages on FB I shall return the favour :D
I'm Sen, Indonesian cosplayer :D Love to sing :) I cosplay since 2012~ find and follow me on : soundcloud : sen0v0 instagram : sen.plurinne Hope y'all like my Cosplay~ Let's be friend and enjoy cosplaying~~ ohohohooo~ Yoroshiku~~~ (/'v')/
hi, welcome to my cosplay account. i'm a boy but i feel like and want to be a girl, therefore i will mostly upload crossplays here. feel free to add or contact me on fb :3 [FB cosplay page] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Radjawolf-cosplay/435911946574199 [FB] https://www.facebook.com/tristan.dubois.948 have fun and see you, Nyan :3
Hiya! The name's Rin, actually I was born in (south) Jakarta, but I moved to Depok around January 2014. I'm 15 and still a newbie cosplayer, I'll do my best! o(>w<)o I speak Indonesian, English, and still learning Japanese. Oh, I love making new friends too! Yoroshiku nee, minna-san. X3
I have been cosplaying since 2007. I have improved so much since then. I am also the co founder of Neon United. A para para dance group. I also run my own cosplay prop and wig shop. My favorite cosplay that I have done so far would have to be Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler or Kuroshitsuji. His Black White version to be exact. Thanks for taking the time to read this.
We're a cosplay-dance group which portrays AKB0048 anime characters by one of a well-known Japanese idol group called AKB48. https://m.facebook.com/jcb0048?ref=bookmark
We are cosplay team from Indonesia. Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/oniichandame 3 Idiots member : Andy Phebe (Master) Taqii (Slave) Ryuki (Slave) hehehe XD Yoroshiku ne~
Hello I'm Indonesian Cosplayer :D I love Anime and Cosplay :D Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zenta/723699000997456 Deviantart http://zhendtha.deviantart.com/ CURE 363083 Yoroshiku Onegashimasu ^.^ ~ 好きなものを好きなだけ ~
hello !! (゚ω゚)ノ I'm Dango , Indonesian cosplayer (. ◕ ‿ ◕.) love onizuka eikichi , Sabaku no Gaara and Genjo Sanzo so much (っ ̄³ ̄)っ ~♡ Deviantart : http://tamakibaka.deviantart.com/ (〃'⊥'〃) よろしくお願い致します~ どうもありがとうございました~(≧∇≦)ノ *** you may find there are some of my photos were missing. yes, I did remove it for some reason but don't worry, I'll keep cosplay (. ◕ ‿ ◕.) keep support me (゚ω゚)ノ
Hello, I'm Takeo.. cosplayer from Indonesia. Please visit my other website account of my cosplay here : *curecos : http://en.curecos.com/profile/?ch=258606 *deviantart : http://takeoh13.deviantart.com Thanks for visiting..
Hi my names Uzo from Indonesia Im Cosplayer Tokusatsu From Semarang, Indonesia Twitter : @Uzos_affan instagram : http://instagram.com/uzos_affan Blog : http://uzoscosplayer.blogspot.com/ Cure No. 333996 http://ask.fm/Uzos_Affan Nice to Meet Ya!
Hi! I'm Feru Cosplayer from Indonesia (。◕‿◕。) I love watching anime and doing any random things Feel free to ask me anything! nice to know you! Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Fecchii Instagram : feruitaman Cure : 297214


text:
Janusz Szkurłat, pictured, shares how his life changed. "I'm very grateful and would like to [say] thanks for the gift. Thanks to the hearing aids I feel better during the competitions or training sessions, I have better contact with friends and colleagues. I am confident. I'm very glad that [the] aids are very small and do not bother me in my daily life. The best thing is that nobody notices I have them! Once more thank you!"
Two of our athletes from Poland found themselves in a situation many Special Olympics athletes encounter when they – like 1 in every 4 Special Olympics athletes worldwide – failed a hearing examination. Marcin Marcin and Janusz Szkurlat then had another shared experience: they received the follow-up care they needed quickly. The two had taken part in a free health screening at a Special Olympics Healthy Athletes clinic. Following the clinic, Special Olympics Poland worked with partner Hear the World Foundation to ensure athletes who had failed hearing examinations at the clinic received the follow-up care they needed. Miernik and Szkurlat both received hearing aids. "I would like to thank you for the hearing aids, which not only gave me confidence, increased sense of safety, but mainly greatly facilitated contacts in my work and with my friends," Miernik said. "You just gave me a chance for a better, more comfortable life. Thank you."
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