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Journal: How to reduce unwanted wars
But you can still have leaders lead the frontline in spirit.
Basically, if leaders are going to send troops on an _offensive_ war/battle (not defensive war) there must be a referendum on the war.
If there are not enough votes for the war, those leaders get put on deathrow.
At a convenient time later, a referendum is held to redeem each leader. Leaders that do not get enough votes get executed. For example if too many people stay at home and don't bother voting - the leaders get executed.
If it turns out later that the war was justified, a fancy ceremony is held, and the executed leaders are awarded a purple heart or equivalent, and you have people say nice things about them, cry and that sort of thing.
If it turns out later that the leaders tricked the voters, a referendum can be held (need to get enough signatories to start such a referendum, just to prevent nutters from wasting everyone elses time).
This proposal has many advantages:
1) Even leaders who don't really care about those "young soldiers on the battlefield" will not consider starting a war lightly.
2) The soldiers will know that the leaders want a war enough to risk their own lives for it.
3) The soldiers will know that X% of the population want the war.
4) Those being attacked will know that X% of the attackers believe in the war - so they want a war, they get a war - for sufficiently high X, collateral damage becomes insignificant. They might even be justified in using WMD and other otherwise dubious tactics. If > 90% of the country attacking you want to kill you and your families, what is so wrong about you using WMD as long as it does not affect neighbouring countries?
Journal: Lock in on Windows XP instead of chasing Vista 1 1
If we hijack the Windows bandwagon from Microsoft, then Microsoft will be like a BIOS vendor when it comes to Windows. Anyone remember "IBM compatible PC"?
If almost everybody stays with XP and DirectX 9 and doesn't move on to Vista, then Windows XP+DX9 could become a defacto standard that even Microsoft can't get rid of! Just like Intel can't get rid of x86 - they tried and failed with their Itanic, and when IBM tried to switch to MCA.
Then the jobs of people doing Wine, Crossover office, Cedega and more become a lot easier - they have a fixed target instead of multiple moving targets.
Be realistic and ignore the fanboys out there, there are many valid reasons for wanting Windows. XP will continue to make a good substitute for Vista, unless more and more people start switching to Vista.
But there is no Linux substitute for Windows yet, BUT if enough people stick to XP, it becomes far more likely for there to be one.
Just a look at Vista will tell you that Microsoft is no longer improving things significantly or meaningfully, so we might as well freeze Windows, and be able to spend more time and resources on innovating elsewhere.
So everyone, start telling Dell, HP et all to preload and sell XP instead of Vista, and tell your friends to insist on XP instead of Vista.
There are already other valid reasons to prefer XP to Vista, for example: A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
Journal: Video games don't kill people
Journal: don't feed trolls. don't feed trolls. 4 4
Especially anonymous cowards.
But when they're so bored as to browse my slashprofile for material before trolling and are as STUPID to think any occultist is wiccan...
Damn moderator status and -1 browsing!
Journal: Right now, all I can say is, "Wow."
I was given the priviledge of seeing the first sub-orbital, commerical, manned flight. SpaceShipOne.
The entire experience just blew my mind.
Journal: The rebirth of a webpage...
All those of you who didn't ID me already on orkut, I'm messing up the Dec 20th reference.
In college I had a webpage. And things were fine. Graduate said college and no more webspace. Buy two domains (one because it came with the webspace and the other because I didn't trust the webspace provider to let me retain the primary domain name I desired). Now I have happy private email again. Except for the web contact points. Which get spammed mercilessly. To addresses I don't even have set up except under catch all.
Why do I still have catch all on? Because I found out that my bank sent my financial details to a different account in that domain because of an email address slip-up.
Back to my original mind thread. I don't have webpages set up now. The pages from my college years aren't really applicable and I'm not even sure I want to put out the information in that format again.
I attempted at a light webpage: links I want to keep track of, wines that I enjoy, and a statement about the RIAA. That last one was definitely a mistake as the statement turned into an essay discussion on why they are shooting themselves in the foot and making us pay for the hospital fees.
So still no personal web pages.
Then something like Orkut comes along. I'd love to direct people to my personal web pages to find out more about me rather than post everything and anything on orkut. But then they'd have my domain name. The smarter ones would be able to link my domain to other places as it is not a widely used name. So the idea is to friend link so that I can lock that information. Well, Orkut has a history of leaking information, my email for example. It isn't so bad having my email visible here, but with a real name and photo attached, you're just asking for trouble in giving one more piece of information.
Back yet AGAIN to the thread I wanted to get out. How do I start up my web pages again such that they're scalable? Another reason I have the two domains is so that I can have one with my IRL identity intact and family update friendly and the other with more of my esoteric pursuits (and that would have my religous monogomous family at odds with me) but not my real name nor my gender.
Journal: Who are the real thieves?
If I copy something I do not deprive the owners access to their original/copy.
Whereas if I steal something I deprive them of access to it.
In fact, introducing more restrictive copyright laws or increasing copyright terms could arguably be closer to stealing (than copying), as it does reduce/remove the public's access to things that once would have rightfully been theirs.
So who are the real thieves?
Journal: Power coding eve
It's 4:50AM PST. I've been up since 9AM. I've been coding since 10:30AM. Despite starting this morning with an allergy induced migrane (which drove me home in case the OTC drugs failed and I had to take something stronger), I have been coding solid. Okay, that may be a slight exageration. It takes between 6 to 10 minutes between my compiles and I am trying to optimize an ancient piece of code. In the time that it takes to compile, I have occasionally had the free time to make something to eat, quickly confirm with my mother what I am buying my brother and sister for Christmas, find out that the insurance company is closed so I don't discover why they sent me two differing health insurance cards, and writing the first ever (if I can actually get it out this year) of my Yule Greeting letters.
See, I am what many would call pagan. I'm not any of the top five religions and have beliefs that some would call faith based and I would not since I believe they have a root in science as yet undiscovered. Many of my relatives are blissfully ignorant of my non-Christian (since most of them are Christian) beliefs. Since I am most decidedly not Christian, I am quite aware of many adopted traditions that are "pagan" in origin. In any case, I have decided not to reference Christmas explicitly seeing as it is merely a time when work is shut down so I have time to spend with my family... and the traditional gift giving. And censored anything that might tip the more devout that I am heathen-like.
Many of my relatives are also not aware of the notion that people dating often share the same house these days. Yet another omission.
Other than my mother, I am pretty much the only computer geek in the family. All my friends that I would normally write to would understand my humor. I find myself trying to explain what a pre-IPO company is to the relatives and wonder if they will stare at my sarcasm html tags
Since misery loves company (or shared burden is lessened the more that carry.. take your pick), I'm wondering what your holiday censorships are.
Well, I've just found 6 more items I can optimize in the code, but since I have to check the delta on each of them with proprietary compilers and language, that will likely take over another hour and I think it is time for a long nap break
Journal: the new PC term: "undocumented" immigrants 3 3
Um, isn't "without legal authorization" the equivalent of "illegal?" Let's take a look at Merriam-Webster: "not according to or authorized by law." Looks pretty damn equivalent to me. Just like on a military base, if you do not show authorization (even if you have it) then you are not permitted entry and doing so may have a number of guns trained on you instantly. Remind me not to hire Thomas Brill if I need legal representation. And possibly to recommend him to my opposition.
Today was the first time I ever even heard a valid argument for granting a license to an illegal immigrant: because with a drivers license you are able to register a car and more illegal immigrants would obtain a license specifically so that their cars will not be confiscated for lack of registration. Because we all know that a license and taking tests doesn't automatically make you a safe driver or even one who obeys the laws as Bustamante would have you believe. I can look out on 101 and 280 where the average speed is 15 miles above the speed limit to get any example.
I think that offering licenses opens up a whole new area of possibility for fraudulent id and identity theft. I'm not worried so much about terrorists and frankly consider them a scare tactic into getting lots of freedom-eroding legislation signed (though I believe that they are more likely to get ID in California because of something like this). I think that offering a state service to people who already don't and won't ever pay taxes is yet another drain on the economy.
I hear about that lawyer from the same sfgate article thinking that the illegal immigrants he represents *deserve* to be compensated because the plaintiffs consciously decided to take a ride without a seatbelt.
A "mean-spirited change to the driver's-license law in 1994?" I'm tired of people bring race into this argument and using it for political agenda. I'm tired of hearing opponents say that prop 187 was mainly to try to keep the Latino population out of California. I'm sick of hearing politicians say that they support non-emergency services for illegal immigrants while campaigning.. especially when they were against them during regular office.
I'm a Seattle, WA, USA born citizen. My family is full of legal immigrants. My workplace is full of legal immigrants. My SO is on an H1-B. I'm sick and tired of other people trying to skirt laws and get privileges that law-abiding people are having such a difficult time even obtaining.
And Georgy, when are you going to reply to my email about this issue? I'm an absentee voter. That means I'm 80% likely to vote according to staticics. And I'm voting sooner than others because I'll be out of the state during election week.
Journal: Ping pong in bullet time! 1 1
Journal: Mom's got a mod case
My mother, over 50 years in age, software engineer from day 1 at a job, has a plexiglas case with blue neon lighting.
When I first saw mod cases, I thought, "Cool!".. Then I realized how odd they would look in places not completely done in the same type of motif. And it certainly looks odd on my parents thick hardwood table with various other computer miscelania scattered around it.
My mother has always been getting the 2nd best just after it was marked down due to new things coming out and then upgraded her purchases to top of the line once I was employed and out of the house. Part of it is because she is a gadget geek. Another part I'm sure was because my Dad, 3 years her senior, was not getting a high enough refresh rate on his FPSes. I never suspected my mom would go for something flashy like a modded case. Then again, I never thought my dad would get into FPSes when I watched him struggle with jumping in the learning part of Halo for a month.
Journal: Scary 1984 dream last night... 3 3
Not of neon colors and big hair, but of the Orwellian kind...
I drempt that everyone had a microchip embedded in them. I was one of the few that had escaped having one. My luggage was exhaustively searched and mussed up by screeners as I tried to board a plane. Other people could get immediately waved through with the magic of a wand chip reader.
Some reporter was trying to interview passengers and then have her henchman swipe a reader to get the identification of the person making comments much to the commentator's discomfort. When she tried to get me to comment, I declined and the guy tried to read me but since I didn't have a chip, he couldn't. I lied saying that I had a dampener and that I should be allowed my privacy and anonymity while flying. I was suddenly pursued for identification.
I desperately tried to get away from them and get on board my plane but there were undercover operatives everywhere. I went to a boarding area where you had to have a ticket to get past to get away from the reporter, but some old guy there insisted he was with me and tried to get me to check in my luggage (assumedly so they could go through it again to try to find some identifier). I ran away from him to get on board a differing flight and yet another guy tried to board with me and tried to buy a ticket on the spot to get on an already over booked flight claiming he was with me. While I was insisting that I did not know him and tried to board my flight, I noticed that the luggage I had been carrying was missing. I frantically searched for it and in the middle of such, woke up.
I was very unhappy with this dream where want for privacy made you a target for investigation and am reminded of articles in the news of people who did not want to be identified by drivers' liscenses were subject to both greater scrutiny and sometimes not even allowed to board.
Journal: better than thou...
Is condescension nature or nurture? I've certainly run into it a lot lately.
Experience 1: Watching anime with acquaintances. Remarked that the episode just seen was one of the most depressing ever. Someone else quipped that Evangelion was more depressing. I asked why he thought that because I certainly couldn't remember anything comparable to what I'd just seen. His answer: "If you don't think it was less depressing, then you didn't understand it."
What did I do to get such a snobby response? This retort didn't give episode nor theme example. Maybe he could have been right, but after a comment like that, I'm hardly likely to bother with his opinion again. Good quote to summarize my feelings by Jane Austin:
"Elinor agreed to it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition."
Experience 2: I commented recently that I stopped reading CNN a long time ago not only for their lack of good news, but the fact that they didn't even appear to run their articles through a spell checker. Not a grammar checker, a spell checker. We're talking words split randomly and letters reversed at will of typing and this is a professional site. No sane checker would get through that. Yes, I'm OC enough that I bothered to check.
The actual comment is here:
I guess some people feel that their typing is professional and get uptight about any comment as to such.
Experience 3+: I get a lot of people thinking I'm a guy due to my nick. Little do they realize it is just my actual name hashed through the Speak 'n' Spell code. And you'd think they'd look a little further and wonder why a guy would choose to have an email with the name "Luthien" in it as well (maybe they haven't actually read LOTR). Because of the masculine sounding handle (or so I'm told.. I disagree, but I've had the nick since age 6 so I'm biased) I get a lot of "male" attacks when someone disagrees that ran along genitalia size. At least it is better than the RU hot come ons when I use some other nicks. But some of the slashdot comments reflect someone thinking they are obviously in the superior, especially with a comment directed toward me along the lines of, "You'll understand when you hit puberty." For Christ's sake, mapping their age to mine, I not only hit it before them genetically, but I seem to still be ahead if they're going to spout that crap.
So I'm curious about what other slashdot women do (and on more than just slashdot): do you inform them of their fuckwit status or do you take Jane Austin's route?
On a more disturbed note, I find politicians doing the "I'm in command so my paid information on this topic is better than your college education," route. And this is after it takes them 6 months to get back to my letters.


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New York City has figured out the food truck value, and now Melbourne has too. We're pretty sure that over the next few years you'll be able to get pretty much every kind of cuisine from a mobile diner.
The Melbourne original though (aside from Mr Whippy, we guess) is Beatbox Kitchen. Founded a couple of years back by Raph Rashid, Beatbox Kitchen is pretty much that: a food truck that looks like a giant boombox – but it also drives around to different places around Melbourne each meal time. All you do is follow Beatbox Kitchen on Facebook and/or Twitter to find out the locations and times.
But let's talk food. Pretty easy: it's great. The burgers are super simple, but really tasty. And they don't scrimp on ingredients. (i.e.: pickle lovers needn't worry.) And for dessert: an ice-cream brownie. This is Americana comfort food, on the move.

subset: commoncrawl


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I give this project an A because it solves the problems of fans that attend comic cons. Solving someone else's problem goes a long way towards a successful crowdfund.
If you have been on the floor of your favorite convention and you get a text from a friend saying "Hey you gotta check out this booth!!!" and just cant find it? Having trouble with finding a schedule for a panel you want to see? Let's say your were a huge Firefly fan, and you wanted to get that picture with some of the actors, but were either too late, or couldn't find the right photo area? This is exactly why he designed the Con Centric app. We've all had that moment at a Convention and have had no idea where to go or who was there. Hoping against hope you hop on your phone begging their wifi to work long enough to get you on their website in order to hunt around to find their panel schedule and a list of exhibitors. Had you downloaded Con Centric, this situation could've been avoided. Con Centric is designed to update panel schedules as they're amended, It's also designed to update exhibitor lists within context of the convention floor so you know not only who is there but where they are as well. With several key features being developed, they are going to help independent artists become a center of the convention too. It's also designed to allow user to check into a convention. Letting you know who else is ready to amp the fun factor by about a million. Also included are art and photo contests and scavenger hunt opportunities. Who knows, If you talk to Robert Downey Jr. about getting some schwarma with Ashley Johnson you may have just won a scavenger hunt and made your dreams come true. All by using Con Centric.
Grab your app here!


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If pomposity is a Superman-like barrier to entry into jazz, drummer Matt Wilson is its Kryptonite, a firm believer that if you play music honestly, you'll attract the right listeners. This week, Wilson's quartet — saxophonist Jeff Lederer, cornetist Kirk Knuffke and bassist Chris Lightcap — released "Gathering Call," a new album for Palmetto Records with guest pianist John Medeski, who'll join them for a gig at Old Lyme's Side Door on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 8:30 p.m.
Wilson spoke to CTNow about "Gathering Call," what it's like to play for presidents and the secret of putting together great bands. [This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.]
CTNow: What was it like to play at the White House?
MW: It's pretty deep. You can reel off any famous venues — Village Vanguard, or whatever — but when you mention the White House, most people know that place. It was fun, really exciting.
CTNow: What was the scene like?
MW: Former President Carter was there, President Clinton, Secretary of State Clinton. It was a state dinner for the president of China, who was visiting. Barbra Streisand was there. I had never had the opportunity to play with Herbie Hancock before, so I finally got to play with him. We rehearsed a little bit, just ran through some stuff. But it was pretty in-the-moment. Herbie's definitely an in-the-moment kind of person. It wasn't too scripted. The sound from the piano was something I'll never forget. Hopefully I'll get to do it again.
It's remarkable how small the rooms are in there. The East Room, where we played, is really not that large. We got to look around the house a little. It was pretty loose, actually, once we were inside… What was really unique was when I left the soundcheck, I walked out the front door of the White House, where you see the press people. Usually there's a little area where they are, the curved driveway. I walked right out on to the sidewalk out that door. So everytime I see that on the news, I'm like, "Wow, I've walked down there."
CTNow: When did you first play with John Medeski?
MW: He's one of the first musicians my wife and I heard when we moved to Boston in 1987. He had a very unique approach and sound, and I met him soon after that. John's not only an incredible musician, his instincts are always so in place, his sound, his enthusiasm. He always opens things up in a really unique way, and he always swings, which is amazing. The breadth of what he's capable of is astonishing and admirable.
I wanted to document having [cornetist] Kirk [Knuffke] in the band now, and I thought [having Medeski participate] would be a really great way to make a different record with that band, and also to get him to react to a band feeling. John's one of the most malleable people. You can put him in the middle of any situation and he'd be able to express himself and be himself and still lift the proceedings.
CTNow: You're in the business of putting together musicians and creating bands. What's the secret? When you bring John Medeski into a quartet that's been playing together for awhile, how do you know it's going to work?
MW: I don't really know. Most of the time, it's about intent. There's trust there. Everybody is there for the same purpose, and that's to play the song and to welcome the common ground, which is where everybody contributes to that sound in the middle, that "soup." Everybody's playing their part. They're on their own, but the ultimate aspect is what happens collectively. I surround myself with musicians who have those principles. It's not like, "Oh, I'm going to solo like crazy over this. Check me out!" There's that form of ego of jazz, which is okay too. But I'm interested in people who can really connect all the musicians together and reach out.
It was pretty easy to do on this particular date with [saxophonist] Jeff [Lederer], Kirk, [bassist] Chris [Lightcap] and John. They'd never played with John before, so even right off the bat it felt great. What's fun about John Medeski: these guys had just met him, but within five minutes you feel like you've known him your whole life. That's true of all the guys in this group, actually. The outlook makes a big difference. You pick people because you trust what they do. I don't tell them what to do. You give them direction or you inspire them or whatever. But they're there because they know what to do. You never know what's going to happen, and that's the joy of all this. That's why it's so much fun.
I think that's been a barrier between the performer and the audience. The unexpected is a little less there, or a little less apparent. Vulnerability is key to a performance. I don't care what flavor of performance it is. When you're vulnerable, you're welcoming people in.
CTNow: You've talked about getting rid of the "moat" between the front row of the audience and the band itself.
MW: Musicians on the stage offer and receive sound. That's what we're doing: we're offering something and we're receiving it simultaneously. To me, all riveting performers do that. A lot times that's just being natural. The other way of looking at it is: if the music is so explicit that it doesn't give the listener an opportunity to hear it and create their own imagery of what's happening then you're not really welcoming them in either. The best way to do it is, if there's joy happening on stage with what's going on, I think the people will like it. If it looks like the people on stage don't want to be there or if it seems that there's not that kind of joy and enthusiasm and communication happening that celebrates the moment, they aren't going to be welcomed into it either, no matter how accessible stylistically — a dirty word in my house — we think the music is. I think people sense that honesty and vulnerability just about more than anything else. I find that to be pretty true. You can really bring people in.
CTNow: You want to pick players who feel a sense of joy when they're performing.
MW: Yes, and also when they're not performing. That's a big difference. I'm very fortunate not only with these bands that all of them are sincere and friendly. A lot of times, these are folks who are overjoyed and happy just to be there, just having the opportunity to do this. It's something we all dreamed of doing, and now we have the chance to do it. We weren't stars at 19 or 20. We put some time into this, which is another great thing about right now, with this band. These guys all have their own vision too, and that's really healthy to have that happening. What makes great bandleaders are people who are great side people, and what makes great side people are people who are bandleaders. They feed each other. We're also interconnected outside of these ensembles.
CTNow: Everyone seems to know each other.
MW: With jazz, I think it's out of necessity. There is no one group that works so much that you're dedicated to that one ensemble. One of the great skills a musician can have is the ability to immediately feel like something's a band, even if it's the very first time you're playing together. There's no break-in period. In this day and age, we don't have that luxury of long tours or extended gigs, where the music can build itself. You immediately have to feel that the first time you play together, you're a band. I really pride myself on that being one of my strongest things that I can contribute to a situation.


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Originally written on Backyard Sports Blog | Last updated 2/7/13
Joe Flacco was called out by his own dad for being a boring person, but this story gets him some street credit for sure. He had a diabolic plan to save the Ravens' bacon just in case San Francisco's Ted Ginn broke free on the last play of Sunday's game. Well, a diabolical and stupid plan. "If he starts to break it, go tackle him," Flacco told [tight end Dennis] Pitta, as caught by NFL Films microphones. "Really?" Pitta replied. Yeah, really. Flacco appeared to be stone serious. "I don't know," Flacco said. "I mean, what else … what could they … I don't know. They might be able to give him a touchdown on that, but I don't know." Flacco then went to his offensive linemen and told them the same thing. "Hey, if he breaks it, if he busts it for some reason, tackle him, go tackle him," Flacco said. "I don't know what the rule is on that, but…" USA He wanted to tackle him in the middle of the play??? Sounds like a movie to me. Anyone seen the replacements recently? Flacco has been the center of attention ever since the Super Bowl victory for the Baltimore Ravens, some have even called him the best QB in the league, I'm going to call him an evil genius for this comment. No way this wouldn't have worked right? Tackle him before he gets a touchdown and all they can do is throw a flag right?? Then they would have to run another play and score again. Pure genius. Check out our Home Page for more stories and follow us on Twitter and Facebook
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The Global FlyFisher - The Largest and Best Place to go for Online Fly Fishing and Fly Tying
GFF Videos
Chasing Sea Trout
In this episode of FLY TV, Niklaus Bauer and Daniel Bergman do some really cool sea trout fishing in the archipelago of Stockholm. Except catching lots of nice sea trouts, Niklaus and Daniel also run through their equipment and give us a few great tips for sea trout fishing. Enjoy!
Submitter:Martin Joergensen
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When you think of Hollywood, you probably think of California -- but Florida has its own city of Hollywood between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Considered an "All-American City" by the National Civic League, the city was founded in the 1920's by a man who wanted to build his "Dream City in Florida."
This builder, Joseph Wesley Young, was also the inspiration and force behind one of the busiest ports in the country, Port Everglades.


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By all accounts from the news programs this morning, the Royal Wedding went off without a hitch.
The dashing prince and his loverly princess bride locked lips twice from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, much to the delight of thousands of Brits and some anglophiles in the crowd.
The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge even took a spin around Trafalgar Square on their way to Clarence House in a vintage Asto-Martin with Willie behind the wheel.
Very cool.
Couldn't do that in the states without a bubble top on the car and Secret Service agents running alongside of the sports car.
Will and Kate went through all the traditional royal monarchy malarkey before they got to do their own thing at an after-reception party.
Things overheard at that party after everyone got totally sloshed:
1. "Now that it's legal, her friends don't have to warn her 'Katie, bar the door!' "
2. "Oh blast! Elton John has new lyrics to 'Candle in the Wind.' "
3. "Looks like that space shuttle back in the states isn't the only rocket that's going to launch today."
4. "The queen just mooned me!"
5. "That's not liquor Prince Philip is drinking, it's embalming fluid."
6. "Why isn't Prince Harry wearing pants?"
7. "Not another pint for me, bloke. Camilla Parker Bowles is starting to look hot."
8. "I never drink and drive. I always take a cab. In fact it's here now —- and both of the doors are open. Oh, wait, that's Prince Charles."
9. "Wedding, smedding. I only RSVP'd because I found out Mr. Bean was going to be here."
10. "William only decided to get married because the pick-up line 'do you want to see the family jewels' wasn't working anymore."


text: I got a 1/10 E Revo a few weeks ago. Replaced a few things. I hated the short run time so I went to my local shop and we switched to the lipo batteries. 7.4v 2S 5000mah 35C. Ran it one night at the track, ran awesome. Next day I went to run again and noticed it didn't seem as fast, then it just stopped. I fried both Titan monster 550 motors. I had another set, put them in and the same problem. I'm being told it could be my gearing. I'm running 19t/68, I've been told that I should be running the stock 17t. What's your thoughts? Not to sure if I want to go brushless just yet, For now I just want a good running truck at the track.. Someone please help, I'm going back to the shop tomorrow and I want to make everything right. They're gonna replace my motors at no charge but while I'm there, I'd like to get everything fixed the right way.


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Foil Grilled Taco Chicken
RV Cooking Show host Evanne Schmarder goes grilling with the Kraft Video Cooking Challenge. Watch, make and enjoy this deliciously simple Kraft Foil-Pack Taco Chicken. Check it out, leave a comment and give it a rating - it is all good!
|Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
|1 Pound
|Taco seasoning mix
|1 Teaspoon (Taco Bell Home Originals)
|Red potatoes
|1 Cup (16 tbs), thinly sliced
|Shredded cheese
|1⁄8 Cup (2 tbs) (Kraft Mexican Style 2% Milk)
|Thick and chunky salsa
|1⁄8 Cup (2 tbs) (Taco Bell Home Originals)
|Knudsen sour cream
|1 Tablespoon
|Canola oil
|1 Tablespoon
|Green pepper
|1 Tablespoon
Sprinkle chicken with seasoning mix. Place green peppers and potatoes on center of each of 4 large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top with chicken, cheese and salsa.
Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and both ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside.
Put in the outdoor grill for 25 to 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Cool for 5 min. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening. Top with sour cream.
Recipe Summary
Difficulty Level:Easy
Preparation Time:15 Minutes
Cook Time:25 Minutes
Ready In:40 Minutes
For most Mexican food freaks what more can be interesting than chicken cooked with taco seasoning! In the video Chef Evanne uses exclusive Kraft products to make a perfectly grilled chicken. Perfect for a simple everyday meal or for outdoor barbecues!
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Foil Grilled Taco Chicken Recipe Video


text: I almost got screwed by this. Me and my wife were at a friends house feeding their cats while they were away for the weekend. I turned on the TV to ESPNNews to get an update and it said PPD. So I thought that was it. WHen I got home about 10 I came to REDSZONE to see when they had rescheduled it. I thought maybe a DH today or tomorrow. I clicked on the game thread and there it was. In the 2nd inning. So I went downstairs and turned it on and watched the rest of the game. Thank goodness for REDSZONE or I would have missed a great comeback! BTW the bullpen was great again last night!Originally Posted by Eric_Davis


text:
Agrium Inc. (AGU)
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Agrium (AGU)
Q1 2013 Earnings Call
May 09, 2013 11:30 am ET
Richard Downey - Vice President of Investor/Corporate Relations
Michael M. Wilson - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Charles Victor Magro - Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President
Richard L. Gearheard - Senior Vice President and President of Retail Business Unit
Ronald A. Wilkinson - Senior Vice President and President of Wholesale Business Unit
Thomas E. Warner - Vice President of Retail Distribution and President of Crop Production Services Inc
David J. Tretter - Executive Vice President of Procurement and Executive Vice President of wholesale sales of UAP Holding corp
Joel Jackson - BMO Capital Markets Canada
Kevin W. McCarthy - BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division
Ben Isaacson - Scotiabank Global Banking and Markets, Research Division
Jacob Bout - CIBC World Markets Inc., Research Division
Michael Picken - Cleveland Research Company
Adam Samuelson - Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division
P. J. Juvekar - Citigroup Inc, Research Division
John Chu - AltaCorp Capital Inc., Research Division
Paul D'Amico - TD Securities Equity Research
Donald Carson - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP, Research Division
Tim J. Tiberio - Miller Tabak + Co., LLC, Research Division
Brett Wong - Piper Jaffray Companies, Research Division
Christopher S. Parkinson - Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division
Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Agrium First Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded.
Previous Statements by AGU
» Agrium's Management Hosts 2013 Annual General Meeting (Transcript)
» Agrium's CEO Presents at 2nd Annual BofA Merrill Lynch Global Agriculture Conference (Transcript)
» Agrium's Management Presents at Goldman Sachs 17th Annual Agribusiness Conference (Transcript)
Richard Downey
Thank you, operator, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Agrium's 2013 First Quarter Conference Call. On the phone today to review and discuss our results is Agrium's leadership team, including Mr. Mike Wilson, President and CEO of Agrium; and Mr. Chuck Magro, our Chief Operating Officer.
As we conduct this conference call, various statements that we make about future expectations, plans and prospects contain forward-looking information. Certain material assumptions were applied in making these conclusions and forecasts, therefore actual results could differ materially from those contained in our forward-looking information. Additional information about these factors and assumptions are contained in our current quarterly report to our shareholders, as well as our most recent Annual Report, MD&A and Annual Information Form filed with Canadian and U.S. securities commissions, to which we direct you.
I will now turn the call over to Mr. Mike Wilson.
Michael M. Wilson
Thank you, Richard, and welcome to everyone joining us today to review Agrium's first quarter results and our outlook for our business. We're going to change things up a little today. I'll cover the general introduction and closing. And Chuck Magro, our Chief Operating Officer, will cover operations.
As the leading provider of crop inputs to growers in 3 continents, we, like our farmer customers, are keenly aware of the extent to which variable weather patterns can impact our businesses. And also, just how important it is for us to work with them to get crop inputs in a timely, efficient manner in order to maximize yields and returns. The past few months are a good example, as conditions have been challenged due to the wet, cold spring across North America, which is resulting in one of the latest starts to the spring season in history, while at the same time, drought conditions have impacted the Australian market.
Under these conditions, Agrium still achieved a record adjusted EBITDA of $351 million in the first quarter of 2013. We delivered net earnings of $1.03 per share after accounting for nonoperational items and also generated a solid $355 million in cash flow from operations in the first quarter. This strong performance is another clear demonstration of the value associated with the successful execution of an integrated strategy, with Wholesale and Retail both achieving their second-highest first quarter EBITDA on record. Additionally, our business is well positioned to capitalize on the pent-up demand from growers across North America and as we look forward to the busy months ahead.
We also announced this morning our intention to execute a share repurchase program for up to 5% of total shares outstanding. This is another example of Agrium's continuing commitment to providing strong total shareholder returns, as well as our confidence in the outlook for the Agrium's business. We believe that we can continue to deliver value-added growth across the crop input value chain, while at the same time, delivering significant returns of capital to shareholders in the form of both dividends and share repurchases. We continue to close on smaller value-enhancing Retail acquisitions this quarter, adding 17 facilities with annual sales of approximately $100 million. You will recall that we were also very active in completing these smaller scale acquisitions in 2012 as we acquired a total of 59 Retail locations, with sales of approximately $477 million last year.
The operating cost and depreciation expense associated with these facilities acquired in 2012 were the primary driver of our increase in Retail selling expense this quarter. And given the fact that the majority of the acquisitions were made in North America, we expect these assets to make a strong contribution to the earnings profile in the second quarter and beyond.
As you saw last week, the Canadian Competition Bureau approved the sale of the minority interest in the Medicine Hat nitrogen facility. We estimate the sales value of that asset on a gross basis at approximately $1 billion, and received approximately $939 million in cash last week pertaining to this transaction.
With regard to Agrium's purchase of the rest of Viterra's Agri-products assets, we have received approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and anticipate that we will close that portion of the deal soon. We continue to work with the Canadian Competition Bureau and expect to close this larger part of the transaction in due course as we work through the regulatory process. We look forward to fully integrating this significant Retail business into CPS after the busy spring season is complete. As a reminder, an amount equal to the after-tax operating cash flow from the Viterra Retail operations from March of last year to the time of closing will be applied against the purchase price.
Read the rest of this transcript for free on seekingalpha.com


text:
I'd Like the World to Buy a Coke: The Life and Leadership of Roberto Goizueta
Wiley, Mar 6, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 360 pages
Robert Goizueta created more stockholder wealth than anyone in history. Here's how he did it...
The late Roberto Goizueta helped catapult the successful but stagnant Coca-Cola into the world's most powerful brand and one of the greatest generators of stockholder wealth in history. At the time of his death, he was hailed in papers around the world as one of the most innovative and successful CEO's of our time. Yet little is known of this corporate maverick. This is his story.
From inside the book
34 pages matching York in this book
Page ii
Page 315
Where's the rest of this book?
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I'd like the world to buy a coke: the life and leadership of Roberto GoizuetaUser Review - Not Available - Book Verdict
A fascinating and readable chronicle of how a lowly chemical engineer rose through the ranks to become the CEO of Coca-Cola and then proceeded to transform the giant company into a truly global brand name, tripling the corporation's size. Read full review
Review: I'd Like the World to Buy a Coke: The Life and Leadership of Roberto GoizuetaUser Review - Goodreads
Loved it. Really interesting man. Read full review
Cuba Castro and Coke
Flight to the Top
The Spanish Inquisition
11 other sections not shown
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advertising Allen analysts anchor bottler asked Atlanta Journal-Constitution Austin Ayoub Belen Bergin Beverage Boss bottling operation brand Buffett Burson Business Week called campaign capital career Casteleiro Castro chairman chief executive Cisneros Coca Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola Enterprises Coke executives Coke's Coke's marketing Coke's top Cola Columbia Pictures company's corporate Creative Artists Agency Cuba Cuban deal Diet Coke Don Keough Dyson early earnings Enrico ex-Coke formula Frazier global Goizueta and Keough Goizueta knew Goizueta told Goizueta wanted Havana Herbert Hollywood Ivester Ivester's Kuok launch Lupton major McCann meeting Millard million move movie needed never Olguita Olympics Ovitz Payne Pepsi Pepsi-Cola percent plants president push Roberto Goizueta Sealey sell Sergio Zyman share Shillinglaw soft drink strategy studio success talk taste took Vincent Warren Buffett Wilson Woodruff papers York Zyman


text:
Need to Deny Technician No Longer w/IT But Still Accessing ServiceDesk
We have an employee who is no longer part of our group. They are still with the company. They have tickets from the past that they worked and because of that they have permissions to access and comment on them. We need to remove this employee's ability to access the tickets they have permissions on, but still keep their user account active (because they are still part of the company and may need to have tickets created for them as end users).
Any suggestions on a good way to handlie this situation?
Thank you.
Comments 5 Comments • Jump to latest comment
can't you just go into security/account mgmt and specifically deny them everything? or move them to the everyone group instead of IT/helpdesk/etc? might also depend on how (or if) you linked AD with the SMP accounts/groups - may have to move the user in AD first, then force update in the console.
If a Connect post helped you out, be sure to click "Mark As Solution" or the "Thumbs Up" button to let other users know about it.
I did try both of those you mentioned, but it did not work.
I ended up locking the account and setting the password to expired. This prevents them from logging into the system.
I orginally tried disabling their accout, but that of course took them out the affected user list.
It looks like the problem has to do with the fact that because they were given permissions on some tickets (due to having tasks assigned to them), they were able to continue commenting in tickets (even though they have no business needs to do so).
You are correct that the issue is caused to old permissions being set when the employee was a ServiceDesk engineer.
The below query will show which incidents the user can edit. You will need to update the CanEdit permission from the ReportProcessPermission table to be 0 to prevent the user from editing the tickets in the future.


text:
Updated 11/13/2013
Comfortably warm Bagolo, with its contemporary Murano glass sconces that are never too bright, welcomes clientele of all ages and lifestyles. It's a very pleasant place for a drink or even a snack, but it is the ambience and its position in the beautiful campo—and not the food, drink, or service—that are exceptional.
Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio, Santa Croce 1584, Venice, Veneto, 30135, Italy
Entertainment Details:
Updated 11/13/2013
No Thanks


text:
Can I get this thread closed please?
Hello everyone,
I have some herbie parts that I'm selling. They are as follows:
Herbie helmet
Herbie pants
Herbie shoes
Make your offers!! Don't ask me what I want or how much, since I have no real idea. I don't want anything that has come out since June.
I will look at all offers, and let everyone know.
Thanks to everyone and good luck!


text:
Love this placePosted on 03 / 25 / 2011
I am a meat eater and usually like to have meat in my food. The food at this place is so full of flavor, I do not miss not having meat at all. We eat there about once a week. My wife is a vegatarian and she love the fact that there is no meat being cooked near her food. We say they have the best food in Austin and never get tired of eating there. The owners and their family are so very nice. We now consider them as our friends and love to go by and say hi and eat their fantastic food. Everything there is good. We are trying everything on the menu during our lunch outings there and have not been disappointed yet. I had the Aaloo Tikki today and it was incredible. The evening specials are so delicious that we sit there eating and are always saying "Mmmmmmm" throughout the meal. The prices are great as well.
Cons: None really.


text:
With our continued focus on ethics and compliance in every area of our business, we are proud to announce that Cartus' Supply Chain Management recently passed its annual global ISO 9001:2008 accreditation in all three regions: the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA. The global audit comprised two phases; first was the submission of our detailed Quality Manual and Procedures guide for rigorous examination, followed by a one-day, onsite audit by inspectors at each of our Danbury, Singapore, and Swindon service centers.
Tag Archives: APAC
Cartus Passes Annual Supply Chain ISO Accreditation
Top 6 Job Transfer Destinations in Asia
In response to an on-the-spot survey Cartus conducted at the ERC Worldwide Conference in Shanghai in April, relocation and human resources professionals ranked Singapore the No. 1 spot in Asia for a dream job transfer.
Attendees were asked: "If you could accept a job transfer anywhere in Asia, where would it be?" The top six dream job destinations in Asia were:
1. Singapore (29%)
2. Hong Kong (26%)
3. China (19%)
4. Japan (10%)
5. Thailand (5%)
6. Australia (4%)
Relocating to Asia: Planning and Flexibility are Key to Home Finding
Activity and rental prices in residential housing markets throughout Asia continue to grow, according to our most recent Market Watch reports on China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Whilst the residential market in China slowed around the Lunar New Year Holiday, particularly in Shanghai and Beijing, activity picked up quickly due to the opening of several new residential complexes and the continuing demand by expatriate families, especially in the high-end apartment range. In Chengdu, key infrastructure projects continue to attract leading international companies, adding extra buoyancy to current market conditions.Â
Both the Singapore and Hong Kong governments have taken steps in the past [...] Read More
Welcoming the Year of the Snake | Cartus Celebrates Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, also known in China as Spring Festival, begins on February 10 and marks the transition from the Year of the Dragon to the Year of the Snake. Amongst the 12 symbols of the Chinese zodiac, the snake represents prosperity, gracious morality and great wisdom.
Of all the traditional Chinese festivals celebrated around the world, Chinese New Year is the most elaborate, colorful and important amongst the Chinese community. Cartus employees in Asia will be ushering the Year of the Snake in a range of activities with their family and loved ones.
Talent Mobility in APAC | Worldwide ERC's Workforce Summit, Shanghai
Cartus is once again a proud sponsor of Worldwide ERC's annual Global Workforce APAC Summit, this year entitled Talent Mobility in APAC. The event takes place March 22-23 in Shanghai's Pudong Shangri-La Hotel and is the largest relocation and mobility conference in Asia. More than 450 delegates will take part in educational sessions, trade exhibitions and networking opportunities.
Cartus has been a leader in Asia, helping more than 250 clients with over 4,000 moves into, out of, and within China. This year, we are proud to be moderating two sessions in Shanghai featuring esteemed panels of industry leaders in the region.


text:
We did massive letter writing and postcard writing."
Now challenging the project or raising concerns about its cost or feasibility which some critics and media reports have done means doing battle with Pak and the Chinese American community, a substantial voting block. So Mayor Gavin Newsom, Sup. Peskin, and other top elected officials support the project.
At the San Francisco Planning Commission meeting held Nov. 15, David Chiu, a commissioner on the Small Business Commission (and candidate to succeed Peskin as District 3 supervisor), said he was "really looking forward to this project moving forward" but would like to see more detail in the SEIR about the process for relocating small businesses.
Commissioner Michael Antonini "strongly advised" extending the subway as soon as possible to North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf and all the way to the Richmond, arguing the current terminus in Chinatown doesn't make long-term sense. But few at the hearing argued the project shouldn't be built.
According to the SEIR, traveling from Fourth Street and King to Chinatown on the Central Subway would cut up to 12.4 minutes from the journey in 2030 from the bus time projection of 17 minutes to less than five minutes in one subway alignment alternative.
Four "Alignment Alternatives," or designs for how the subway will be built, are laid out in the SEIR, which was released for public review Oct. 17 and made the subject of three community workshops and a Planning Commission hearing.
Options range from enhanced bus service and no subway to one that includes some surface rail along Fourth Street (with a new station at Moscone Center) to an option with more of the route underground and Chinatown stations in various spots.
Once an alignment plan is chosen, the SFMTA will vote on the final design next year. And if things go smoothly, construction on the project could start in 2010 and service begin in 2016.
Also from this author
High-rises use energy in ways that single-family homes don't


text:
May 15, 2014
Well made, great colour, very warm
February 25, 2013
Excellent. out and about on a bike a lot and live on the coast, so needed an item that would cover all bases, so to speak, and this does that extremely well.
seems to have been designed by someone who spent a lot of time outdoors and who had experienced a lot of poor jackets.
a lot of pockets (seriously), a snug fitting hood, and you've got yourself a jacket that should last a long long long time.
only downside (and i really am scraping the barrel to find one) is i'd prefer "pop" fasteners to velcro (over the top of the main zip) but that's a personal preference.
We would have preferred a large in this jacket however it was such good quality at a price so settled for extra large.
February 15, 2013
Fantastic value, you could kit yourself fully for the ski season here....will be back:-)
February 14, 2013
This is an amazingly warm , no draughts like a walking duvet.
great colour.
plenty of pockets which is very useful
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Automated software provisioning based upon a set of role definitions for a user of a configurable device such as a computer or personal digital assistant. The present invention may be realized as an enhancement or extension to currently available software distribution tools which are used to distribute software to remote and local machines, and to permit unattended software installation and maintenance. The invention provides role-based software provisioning which automatically distributes the appropriate software programs and updates to computers that are owned by users based on the role of each user, thereby avoiding the need for intensive manual efforts to determine which computers need what software. The invention may also be interfaced to a License Management system in order to accomplish automatic recovery of unused software licenses, and to obtain permission for installing new licenses, based on user role changes.
1. A method for automatically provisioning a networked device with one or more software programs comprising the:
associating with a first user and a first networked client device at least one computer-readable user-organizational role definition file, containing at least one software package identifier according to an organizational role to be performed by said user;
initializing said first networked client device for use in said organization by said user for said user-organizational role by installing one or more software packages on said networked client device according to said software package identifiers in said user-organizational role definition file;
storing said user-organizational role definition file on or in said associated first networked client device using a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol directory service protocol such that said user-organizational role definition file is modifiable by said first user using said networked device, and such that a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server may monitor status of said user-organizational role definition file;
subsequent to said initialization of said first networked client device, providing on-demand reconfiguration responsive to detection of modification by said first user of said user-organizational role definition file through monitoring by said Lightweight Directory Access Protocol server by:
reevaluating software package requirements of said first networked client device with respect to said first user's modified role definition;
installing on said first networked client device via said Lightweight Directory Access Protocol one or more software packages required by said first user according to a modified first user's organizational role as reflected in said modified user-organizational role definition file; and
uninstalling from said first networked client device via said Lightweight Directory Access Protocol one or more software packages no longer required by said first user according to a modified organizational role as reflected in said first user's modified user-organizational role definition file; and
recovering one or more licenses by a license management system corresponding to said uninstalled software packages such that recovered licenses may be reassigned to second and subsequent users of second and subsequent networked client devices during repetition of said steps of initialization and providing on-demand reconfiguration.
This invention was not developed in conjunction with any Federally sponsored contract.
Not applicable.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/864,392, filed on May 24, 2001, by P. D. Griffin, et al., which is commonly assigned, is incorporated by reference, in its entirety including figures, to the present patent application
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and system for provisioning and de-provisioning software and resources assigned to a computing system based upon the organizational role of the user of the computing system.
2. Background of the Invention
Modern enterprise computing environments include a variety of networked computing devices such as servers, gateways, desktop clients, and pervasive devices including personal digital assistants ("PDA") and pocket PC's. Within a company's or organization's computing resources, there may be literally thousands of these devices at any given time, usually with one user assigned to each device.
So, for example, a particular member of an organization or company employee may have a desktop computer or PC assigned to him or her, usually located on his or her desk in his or her office. Additionally, this member or employee may also be assigned a PDA, as well as a laptop computer for use in telecommuting or during business trips.
Each of these devices will have a variety of hardware and software resources installed on it, some of which may be a part of a "standard" or "company wide" configuration, and other parts of which may be dependent on the member's or employee's function in the company or organization. For example, a company may adopt Linux as their company-wide operating system, so both the laptop and desktop PC's may be configured with a version of the Linux operating system along with some utility programs to allow them to access the company's wired or wireless networks. Additionally, the employee may have a job description which will require him or her to draft documents, and prepare budgets, so both the laptop and the desktop computers may be configured with IBM's Lotus WordPro™ word processor application program, as well as Lotus 1-2-3 ™ spreadsheet application. Further, assume that this employee or member is involved in sales, so a contact management application program may be provided on the desktop and laptop computers, as well. The PDA may also be configured with "filters" or "readers" for the word processor, spreadsheet, and contact management file types, as well.
Now consider a second employee or member of the same organization who has a different job description, such as a technical support engineer. This person's computers would receive the company-wide options, such as the Linux operating system and networking components, but would not necessarily need the contact management application or the spreadsheet program. Instead, this second employee would need a Java ™ programming suite, such as IBM's Visual Age ™ suite, and a client program to remotely access a trouble ticket database.
In some organizations and company's, there is a manual process for configuring and maintaining these types of computers. As a new employee or member is added to the group, a person within the Information Technology ("IT") group is responsible to select the appropriate computer platforms, to select the appropriate application programs, and to install each program manually. Then, as the user's job function changes (e.g. he or she moves to a different department, is promoted, etc.), someone within the IT group must manually change the software configuration of the user's computers (e.g. laptop, desktop, PDA, etc.). Additionally, each time an application program is upgraded, the IT group must manually apply the upgrades to the user's computer(s), as well as re-install all of the application programs each time a computer is replaced or repaired. Even worse, most of these installation and upgrade actions require the IT professional to be physically colocated with the computer being modified, which may require substantial travel to support a geographically distributed work force.
This manual process can be onerous even to a small group or company, and can be paralyzing to medium and large size enterprises. The record keeping requirements can be substantial in order to manage licenses (e.g. manage a company's investment in software products), proliferate new application program installations, provide upgrades, and "swap out" computers for newer or more powerful systems.
To answer this problem, several companies have developed enterprise configuration management ("CM") tools which allow an IT department to manage the software configurations of a wide variety of networked computers from a centralized and remote location. One such CM tool is IBM's Tivoli Configuration Manager. Other tools with similar objectives are provided by Computer Associates and BMC Software.
Then IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager can help a company or organization gain total control over their enterprise software and hardware using its software distribution module which allows an IT department to rapidly and efficiently deploy complex mission-critical applications to multiple locations from a central point. Following initial deployment of systems, the Tivoli CM inventory module automatically scans for and collects hardware and software configuration information from computer systems across the managed enterprise. The software deployment lifecycle has many steps, and Tivoli CM allows IT departments to manage the systems from packaging, planning and administration to delivery, installation and reporting.
Tivoli CM provides a function known as "multicasting", which can significantly reduce network bandwidth usage, and which can help in an environment where there are slow speed links between locations (e.g. reaching wirelessly networked devices or systems located through a slow bridge). Using multicasting, software distribution time is independent of the number of targets, as each software package is only sent across the network once.
Tivoli CM also supports pervasive computing devices with integrated support for Palm Computing's PalmOS™, PocketPC's, and Nokia Communicator devices. This allows an IT department to update the configuration information and software on these devices using the same tools with which desktop and server systems are managed. By gaining control over the growing number of pervasive devices being deployed for business applications across the corporate enterprise; IT administrators do not need to learn to use a separate, specialized tool for managing these pervasive computing devices.
Tivoli CM also includes Enterprise Directory Support, which allows IT administrators to leverage organizational information stored in enterprise directories in order to determine a set of targets for a software distribution or an inventory scan. This allows software distribution and inventory operations to be targeted by specific users, and administrators can store information about users in a single location.
Additionally, Tivoli CM provides secure management of systems outside a corporate firewall through supporting secure software distribution and inventory operations through firewalls. Environments that have multiple levels of firewalls are also supported, which reduces security exposures inherent in managing in an extended enterprise environment, and allows a IT department to extend their management systems to support a company's or organization's customers and business partners, as well.
All of these management functions are conveniently provided through Administrative Consoles which run under a popular operating system such as Microsoft Corporation's Windows operating systems. By providing a single administrative console for both software distribution and inventory operations, and requiring only a single log-on for access to all IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager administrative tools, improved operational efficiency and ease of use for administrators are realized.
However, there still remains a primarily manual task of determining which software application programs and modules should be provisioned onto which computing systems based upon the intended user or "owner" of each system. While these types of configuration management systems greatly simplify the distribution, updating, uninstalling, and inventorying of a list or set of application programs for each computing system within the managed enterprise, they do little to help the IT administrator identify the proper application programs which should or should not be provisioned onto a particular computer or device.
The present invention automates the task of software provisioning using directory services such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ("LDAP") directories and Software distribution tools such as IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager using role-based criteria for user associated with each system to be provisioned and managed. Role-based software provisioning simplifies IT management and offers an automated solution to deploy software based on user roles.
The present invention may be realized as an enhancement or extension to currently available software distribution tools from various system management companies such as Tivoli and Computer Associates. These software distribution tools are used to distribute software to remote and local machines, and to permit unattended software installation and maintenance. These system management tool providers, however, view the managed computer resources purely from the management perspective, thereby leaving the task of determining which specific software programs are to be configured on each user's computer up to human IT administrator.
Our new role-based software provisioning automatically distributes the appropriate software programs and updates to computers that are owned by users based on the role of each user in the directory, thereby avoiding the need for intensive manual efforts to determine which computers need what software.
The following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the figures presented herein provide a complete disclosure of the invention.
The present invention is preferably realized in conjunction with a software configuration management tool such as IBM's Tivoli Configuration Management system, or a similar tool such as those offered by Microsoft Corporation or Computer Associates. Alternatively, or in addition, the present invention may be realized in conjunction with a role-based security and access system, such as the one described in the related and incorporated patent application, or in conjunction with a role-based identity management system.
Suitable Computing Platforms
It will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be realized as a software or firmware product being executed by one or more suitable computing platforms. Therefore, we first turn our attention to characteristics of suitable computing platforms for the present invention.
With reference now to the figures,
In the depicted example, the distributed data processing system (100) may also include the Internet with computer network (101) representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use various protocols to communicate with one another, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ("LDAP"), Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("TCP/IP"), Hypertext Transport Protocol ("HTTP"), Wireless Application Protocol ("WAP"), etc. Of course, the distributed data processing system (100) may also include a number of different types of networks, such as, for example, an intranet, a local area network ("LAN"), and/or a wide area network ("WAN"). For example, a server (102) may directly support a client (109) and network (110), which incorporates wireless communication links. A network-enabled phone (111) connects to the network (110) through a wireless link (112), and a personal digital assistance ("PDA") (113) connects to the network (110) through a wireless link (114), too. The telephone (111) and the PDA (113) can also directly transfer data between themselves across a wireless link (15) using an appropriate technology, such as Bluetooth ™ wireless technology or an InfraRed Data Arrangement ("IrDA"), to create so-called personal area networks or personal ad hoc networks. In a similar manner, a PDA (113) can transfer data to another PDA (117) via a wireless communication link (116).
The present invention could be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms;
Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in
In addition to being able to be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms, the present invention may be implemented in a variety of software environments. A typical operating system may be used to control program execution within each data processing system. For example, one device may run a UNIX™ operating system, while another device contains a simple JAVA ™ runtime environment. A representative computer platform may include a browser, which is a well-known software application for accessing hypertext documents in a variety of formats, such as graphic files, word processing files, eXtensible Markup Language ("XML"), Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML"), Handheld Device Markup Language ("HDML"), Wireless Markup Language ("WML"), and various other formats and types of files. Hence, it should be noted that the distributed data processing system shown in
While the present invention will be described with reference to preferred embodiments in which object-oriented applications are utilized, the invention is not limited to the use of an object-oriented programming language. Rather, most programming languages could be utilized in an implementation of the present invention. In the preferred embodiment, though, Java Naming and Directory Interface ("JNDI") application programming interfaces ("APIs") are used to provide naming and directory functionality to system management functionality written using the Java programming language. The JNDI architecture consists of an API and a service provider interface ("SPI"). Java applications use the JNDI API to access a variety of naming and directory services, while the SPI enables a variety of naming and directory services to be plugged in transparently, thereby allowing a Java application using the JNDI API to access those services, which may include LDAP, Common Object Request Broker Architecture ("CORBA"), Common Object Services ("COS") name service, and Java Remote Method Invocation ("RMI") Registry. In other words, JNDI allows the system administration functionality of the present invention to be independent of any specific directory service implementation so that a variety of directories can be accessed in a common way.
It should also be noted that the present invention may be implemented, in part or in whole, using a distinction of client functionality versus server functionality. In other words, the data representations of objects may be manipulated either by a client or by a server, but the client and server functionality may be implemented as client and server processes on the same physical device. Thus, with regard to the descriptions of the preferred embodiments herein, client and server may constitute separate remote devices or the same device operating in two separate capacities. The data and application code of the present invention may be stored in local or distributed memory.
Role-based Software Provisioning Architecture
The CM Server (22) is also equipped with a Directory Service (29) protocol, as described in detail in the following paragraphs, which allows it to locate any user's computer, files or directories which are connected to the computer network (21), to modify those files and directories, and to receive notifications (e.g. "events") when certain files and directories on those systems are changed by other computing processes.
Additionally, the CM Server (22) is enhanced to include our new role-based CM auto-provisioning logical processes (27), preferably including one or more standard user roles (28) which can be used to assist in defining a new user's role model, as described in further detail in the following paragraphs.
According to this architecture, each user of a plurality of users (User 1, User 2, . . . User N) is supplied with one or more computing systems such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, and/or a pervasive computing device (e.g. PDA, WAP-enabled wireless telephone, PocketPC, etc.) (24, 25, 26). Virtual users may also be defined to "own" a community resource such as a server or gateway system.
Each of these user's computing devices is enhanced to include a directory service client (200, 202, 204) product matching the directory service protocol (29) of the enhanced CM Server (22) so as to allow the CM Server to find each of the devices (24, 25, 26), receive notifications from the devices, and make changes to those devices' files and directories. It is important to note that with selection of the appropriate directory service or directory protocol, a wide variety of computing devices (24, 25, 26) can be incorporated and maintained by this architecture, including, but not limited to, systems running Microsoft Windows ™ operating system variants (e.g. 95/98/2000/NT/XP/CE, etc.), PalmOS™, IBM's OS/2, Sun Microsystem's Solaris, UNIX, Linux, or even server-class operating system such as IBM's OS/390 or AIX. Further, a mixture of these types of devices may be configured and managed by a single CM Server system, as well.
Each of the user devices (24, 25, 26) are also enhanced to include a user role (201, 203, 205) which defines the user's needs for software applications, as described in more detail in the following paragraphs.
In a general sense of operation, each computing device within the enterprise is assigned a single user or owner, where each user may own one or more computing devices. For simplification of implementation, we restrict each device to having just one assigned user, but with additional logic, it is possible to extend the present invention to allow multiple user's for a single computing device.
Each new user is assigned one or more "roles" which determine his or her computing needs, typically based upon his or her job description or position within the company or organization. This determines an initial set of software programs and utilities (e.g. a initial software package) to be installed on each of his or her computing devices by the CM Server.
When a user's role changes, the CM Server receives notification of the change via the directory service, reevaluates his or her software needs based upon his or her current role definition(s), and updates the software, provisions new software, or de-provisions (e.g. recovers unused licenses) as necessary. As the preferred embodiment includes or incorporates a highly capable CM Server, all of this provisioning and configuration management can be performed remotely and on a scheduled basis.
Directory Services and Protocols
A directory service or directory protocol allows a networked computer to find or locate any other suitably equipped computer, and to potentially copy or modify the files, folders and directories on that other computer, regardless of the hardware or operating system of the two computers, through a commonly adopted or implemented protocol. One computer can be a relatively sophisticated device such as a desktop PC or web server computer, while the other computer can be similarly sophisticated or less sophisticated such as a PDA or PocketPC.
There are several known Directory Service protocols available for use in the present invention, including the Internet Engineering Task Force's ("IETF") X.500 protocol, and it's widely-adopted subset known as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ("LDAP"), which is defined in the IETF's Request for Comments ("RFC") number 1777. A version 3 of LDAP is defined by RFC 2251, which includes enhanced security features. X.500 and LDAP are well known in the art, as their standards (e.g. the RFC's) are readily available to the public any may be generally implemented without license or fee.
Additionally, there are a number of suitable alternate Directory Service protocols and products available in the market such as Microsoft Corporation's Active Directory, Novell's Network Directory Service ("NDS"), and Sun Microsystem's Java Naming and Directory Interface ("JNDI"). Many of these alternate Directory Services incorporate part or all of LDAP or X.500 (e.g. "comply with" the RFC's), but also include some proprietary or non-standard functions as well. Widespread adoption of such products as Active Directory, NDS, and JNDI has given rise to them being referred to as "open" or "standard" by those skilled in the art, but in reality, most of these products require a license to use.
As such, our preferred embodiment uses any suitable directory service protocol, and especially LDAP through incorporation of JNDI. In the present description, we therefore provide details with respect to an embodiment employing LDPA an JNDI, but it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that other directory services and directory protocols may be used as well.
LDAP directories have become ubiquitous in the enterprise IT environment, and as such, our invention leverages the functionality they provide. The LDAP directories are the primary user repository in many enterprises. These directories also contain resources information such as computers and printers. The directories are very efficient in storing and retrieving user and resources information and the relationship that exists between users and resources.
LDAP is a software-based protocol for enabling anyone or any networked system to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as computer files and devices in a network. These resources may be located on the "public" Internet, or on a corporate intranet. LDAP is a subset of X.500, a broader standard for directory services in a network. Many vendors of software have adopted LDAP or have made their products compliant with LDAP, including IBM, Cisco, Microsoft and Novell.
In a computer networked environment, a "directory" indicates where in the network something is located. The domain name system ("DNS") is the directory system used on TCP/IP networks such as the Internet, which relates domain names to a specific network addresses. If a domain name is unknown, a directory service such as LDAP allows a person or system to search on other criteria. For example, as shown in
JNDI ("Java Naming and Directory Interface") is one available programming paradigm which supports both LDAP client and server functions in the Java environment, and as such, is an aspect of our preferred embodiment. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that other programming paradigms support LDAP functions as well, and can be alternately used to realize the present invention.
JNDI, which is part of the Java Enterprise application programming interface ("API") set, enables Java platform-based applications to access multiple naming and directory services, some of which are LDAP functions. JNDI allows developers to create portable applications that are enabled for a number of different naming and directory services, including: file systems; directory services such as LDAP, Novell Directory Services, and Network Information System ("NIS"); as well as distributed object systems such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture ("CORBA"), Java Remote Method Invocation ("JRMI"), and Enterprise JavaBeans ("EJB").
JNDI allows an LDAP client to register as a "listener" to events posted by LDAP event sources. When a watched file or resource on the LDAP event source changes (e.g. is modified, deleted or added), the event source device sends an event notification to all registered "listeners". For example, as shown in
For our purposes, the present invention employs event notification to know when a user's role has been changed. As shown in
Configuration Management Systems
In general, the various CM systems available on the market operate on similar concepts and functional arrangements. Shown in
Turning to
According to our preferred arrangement, each organizational department is optionally provided with a departmental gateway (55, 56) through which a plurality of user devices (24, 25, 57, 58) are accessible using the directory service protocol (e.g. LDAP in our preferred embodiment). In this arrangement (50), the normal functions of the CM Server such as new device configuration, installation of application programs, updating of application programs, and de-installation of application programs can be accomplished in the usual manner.
As shown in
User Role Definitions
Also as previously discussed and shown in
For example, Table 1 shows an example of a model role definition (28) for a technical support specialist, while Table 2 shows an example of a model role definition (28) for a sales person, whose software needs have been previously described.
As can be seen from Table 1, an undesignated (e.g. new) technical support person would normally be configured with certain programs for his or her laptop computer (e.g. an IBM ThinkPad) and his or her Palm PDA.
Table 2 shows a different configuration of software to be loaded onto new devices (e.g. a laptop and a PDA) for new sales persons. These examples are shown in a markup language format such as eXtensible Markup Language ("XML"), but could equally well be implemented in binary, text, or other formats.
To effect assignment of a user role to a specific device during initial configuration, the role-based CM logic must assign a user name or other identifier (e.g. user number, employee number, etc.) to the model role definition, allow the IT administrator to modify the model role definition through the administration console, and then to download the role definition into the appropriate machine(s) as needed. For example, in our preferred embodiment, only the portion of the role definitions which applies to a particular device is downloaded into that device's LDAP directory, such as only downloading the laptop definitions to a laptop computer, and only downloading the PDA definitions to a PDA device. Alternatively, though, the entire user role definition may be stored in each device assigned to a user which would allow polling of any of the user's device to obtain a full description of all of the user's devices.
Also, during initial configuration of each device, the appropriately designated software packages as listed in the role definitions, are prepared and remotely installed by the CM Server onto the user's devices in the conventional manner.
After initial configuration, an IT administrator may retrieve a user's role definitions from one or more of the user's devices using the directory services, modify the role, and re-download it to the device(s). Or, the user may modify his or her own role definitions, which would trigger an event notification and appropriate software changes, as described in the following paragraphs.
Role-Based CM Logical Processes
Turning to
In one manner of starting (61) the role-based CM logic (60) such as by invocation by an IT administrator, if (62) a new user is being defined, the administrator is allowed to pick a "standard" or predefined role definition (28), such as the salespersons' or technical support specialists' role as previously described. The administrator may modify the role definitions as needed, or create an entirely new role definition, using as suitable editor such as an XML editor. This role definition is then stored for later download to the user's device(s) along with the indicated software packages during initial installation.
If (64) the user already has a defined role but a new device is being added for the user (e.g. the user has a new PDA but previously had a desktop PC configured), the logical process allows the new device to be configured (65) with the software packages as indicated by the role definitions for that user, including downloading of the role definition into the user's device(s), until all the devices (67) have been properly configured.
If (69) the role of the user is to be changed, then the IT administrator is provided an opportunity to consult the existing role definitions and modify them for that user (600), followed by reconfiguring (65) the software applications on each device which is affected by the role change (e.g. uninstalling a package, upgrading a package, or installing a package), until all the devices (67) have been properly configured.
Upon receipt of a change event notification via the directory service protocol (41) as a result of a user's change to his or her own role definitions (or as the result of a remote administrator changing the role definitions), the change to the role is automatically analyzed (600) with optional administrator review, followed by automatic reconfiguration (66) of the affected devices until all the devices (67) have been properly configured.
In keeping with the periodic inventory functions of the conventional CM Server systems, these logical processes may also be automatically initiate periodically as well, allowing all of the user's devices to be periodically automatically reconfigured to have only the software packages needed according to their current roles.
Additionally, in keeping with the license management and recovery functions of the conventional CM Server systems, the logical processes of the present invention will assist in automatically recovering unused software licenses due to user role changes which otherwise would go wastefully allocated until the next manual inventory of that user's software configurations.
Integration to Role-Based Security Systems or Identity Management Systems
As previously mentioned, the present invention may alternatively be implemented in conjunction with available role-based security and access systems such as the system described in the related patent application, allowing role definitions of such a system to be utilized in the automatic configuration of user's devices. It is within the skill of those in the art to adapt the presently described embodiment to this alternate embodiment when provided with the description contained herein.
Integration of License Manager Server
According to another aspect of a preferred embodiment, a license management server such as the Tivoli License Manager ("TLM") (59) shown in
Tivoli License Manager is a well-known system, often employed in conjunction with the Tivoli Configuration Manager system, which provides a comprehensive software asset management function for organizations large and small. TLM tracks the number of owned or leased software licenses, where they are deployed, and how many are unused. When a new computer is configured with one or more software packages, TLM can take the licenses out of available inventory and record them (500) as being installed on the new computer. If a software package on a computer is uninstalled, TLM can "recover" that license, putting it back into available inventory. Using TLM, an enterprise can more efficiently manage their investment in software licenses, avoid over spending on unnecessary licenses, and comply with copyright and end user license agreement ("EULA") provisions. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art, however, that alternate license manager systems and platforms may be used in place of the Tivoli product without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Turning to
The present invention may be realized in a variety of forms, programming languages, methodologies, and operating systems on a variety of computing platforms without departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention. A number of example embodiment details have been disclosed as well as optional aspects of the present invention in order to illustrate the invention, but which do not define the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.
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