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The Magazine
Nov 27, 1995, Vol. 1, No. 11 • By JAMES HIGGINS
A recent and notable example: Japanese banks. By 1990 virtually every bond trader, salesman, and portfolio manager in the United States understood that the Japanese banking system was a house of cards; that purportedly ample capital ratios were built on ludicrously inflated asset values. All the market participants had gotten the joke, but the rating agencies hadn't. They were focused on nominal compliance with Bank for International Settlements capital ratios and other statistics that turned out to be irrelevant; so they were still giving triple-A ratings to a number of Japanese banks. The rating agencies apparently had not a care or a clue about the business practices that were leading these banks to hold at least $ 370 billion of bad loans.
I particularly remember trying at that time, as a mortgage trader, to sell one bond that was rated triple-A by virtue of a supporting letter of credit issued by the U.S. branch of a prominent Japanese bank. My colleagues and I knew from the outset that the deal would be a tough sell because of the undesirable letter of credit. One sales call was to a prominent west coast money manager. "In what trailer," came the money manager's withering reply, " is that branch located?" Other money managers were less caustic but equally -- and correctly -- dismissive of the triple-A rating. So it's not particularly surprising that a rating agency that didn't understand what was financially wrong with Japanese banks wouldn't understand what's financially right about a serious effort to balance the federal budget.
Finally, one must note the similarity between Standard & Poor's pronouncement and Treasury Secretary Rubin's rhetoric. Even the New York Times observed that Standard & Poor's warning "almost exactly parallels warnings issued recently by Mr. Rubin." Secretary Rubin wasted no time showing up on the network talk shows, waving Standard & Poor's "objective" caution.
Coincidence? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Mr. Rubin's former firm, Goldman Sachs, must deal with rating agencies every day. Perhaps Secretary Rubin's direct and indirect contacts at Standard & Poor's haven't all disappeared. The secretary should be called before Congress and asked under oath whether he took any steps, direct or indirect, to encourage Standard & Poor's to issue this warning. Telephone records should be subpoenaed if necessary. If it is established that Secretary Rubin did encourage Standard & Poor's statement, he should pay the same penalty that any other chief financial officer would pay if found encouraging a negative rating-agency report on his employer: He should be fired.
James Higgins has worked for eight years for primary dealers in U.S. government securities, most of that time trading securities rated by the major rating agencies.

subset: commoncrawl


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The european citizenship.
The citizenship, is very important. It's like if we are in a big fabulous community, we are like a big family. But we have to believe, to do what xe have to do for this european union.
In the european union, we haved one language who every country speak it's the english. This language is very important, because if we don't have any like language, we can't comunicate so it's very important.
IN the european union, we haved the same currancy the euro, but one of them don't use the european currency: the England. To have the same currancy it's very important, because we can travel and buy somethings in other country.
In the european union, is very good, because we can travel, work and study freedom in the european country, because we are freedom.
So i think the european union was a beautiful dream, and today is become a reality !


text:
Contra Bass Flutes in Key of A, G, F#
The Contra Bass Flutes have an exceptional deep and resonant voice. This allows creating songs in the different octave ranges and makes these flutes a great addition for performing and recording. They are a large flute with large fingering holes, requiring the skill of an experienced player.


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The new age of quarterbacks is leading to an exciting style of play, but it's also dangerous. RG3 is starting to learn that running recklessly could be more detrimental than good. Quarterbacks have the option to slide, but the young quarterbacks coming out of college spread offenses are programmed for the signal caller to run. RG3 took a hit to his knee from Haloti Ngata on a run out of the pocket, and maybe if he was more inclined to protect himself, he could keep the damage to a limit. It's a learning curve many mobile quarterbacks have had to adjust, Steve Young, Donovan McNabb, and Michael Vick as a few examples, with varying degrees of success, RG3 talked about the hazards of being a new age quarterback. "The injury has shown me a lot – just from a quarterback perspective," Griffin told reporters. "This game is not easy, but [the injury] did show me some things I can do to make the game easier for myself, easier on my body. Ironically, I've done a better job of protecting myself since the injury – sliding, getting down, getting all the possible yards I can and getting out of bounds. Sometimes, things have to happen like that for you to really, really grasp that. It's shown me a lot. I don't think I've ever rushed for 10 yards a carry in a game and I did that in this past game" according to Mike Florio of profootballtalkweekly.com. var switchTo5x=true; stLight.options({publisher:''});
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Abstract: Building the Data Warehouse:Getting StartedBYW. H. Inmon BUILDING THE DATA WAREHOUSE: GETTING STARTED"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"old Chinese proverb
Download the ebook
Building the Data Warehouse:
Getting Started
W. H. Inmon
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
old Chinese proverb
"Perfection is spelled P-A-R-A-L-Y-S-I-S"
Winston Churchill
In any large undertaking, getting off the mark to a good start is the first step toward
success. And getting off to a good start is certainly at the heart of the success of the
data warehouse environment. Nothing delays success and destroys momentum in the
data warehouse environment more than undue deliberation at the outset. The hallmark
of success in the data warehouse environment is iterative analysis, development, and
processing, and it is impossible to do iterative processing without first starting.
The entire mindset of the classical operational system and application developer is
dominated by the need for perfection of design and the need to gather ALL requirements
before design and development ensues. Such an attitude may well be proper for the
operational application environment where processes are run repetitively, and where
requirements can be divined before a system is built. But the data warehouse
environment is one where many requirements CANNOT be discerned until the data
warehouse is built and the data in the warehouse is available for analysis. Simply stated,
only SOME of the informational requirements of a corporation can be known before the
data warehouse is built.
For this reason, the data warehouse is built iteratively, in small, fast bursts of
development. And the first small, fast burst of development is not achieved by massively
studying and gathering large amounts of requirements before the first of development
starts. It is imperative that the data warehouse developer have the attitude of moving
quickly through the steps of design and development, even though it is known that the
processing and data requirements are not complete at the outset of development.
The data warehouse environment is built in an entirely different way than the classical
operational environment has been built. The classical operational environment has been
built on the system development life cycle - the SDLC - that requires that requirements
be identified, that analysis proceed, followed by design and programming. Next testing
occurs, and is completed by implementation. The SDLC is fine where requirements can
be known in advance. But the DSS analyst - who is the ultimate beneficiary of the data
warehouse - does not and cannot know his/her requirements. DSS analysts'
requirements are discovered in a trial and error manner - in a mode of discovery. There
is an entirely different mode of development that is required for data warehouse
The starting point for the design and development of the data warehouse environment is
the data model. Without the data model, it is difficult to contemplate building the data
warehouse. The data model acts as the roadmap for development.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 1
The data warehouse data model is built from the corporate data model. The Tech Topic -
Creating The Data Warehouse Data Model From The Corporate Data Model - describes
this activity in depth and will not be repeated here. In addition to the corporate data
model being factored into the data warehouse data model, the known and obvious
informational requirements of the organization are also factored into the data warehouse
data model. Usually these requirements are gathered by means of a "time box". A time
box is a limitation of time - from one week to six months - predetermined such that all
known and obvious informational requirements are gathered in that period of time. Once
the deadline occurs, the informational requirements are entered into the data warehouse
data model.
The reason why time boxing is important is that informational requirements gathering
can continue for as much time as is allowed. If there is no finite limit to the amount of
time that is allowed, then the informational requirements gathering process continues
indefinitely and the first iteration of the data warehouse never gets built.
The data warehouse data model consists of at least two major components - a high level
model and a mid level model. Figure 1 graphically depicts the data warehouse data
The high-level data model consists of the major subject areas (or "entities") of the
corporation. In addition the major relationships between the subject areas are also
included. The high-level data model is complete prior to the first iteration of data
warehouse development. The task of completing the high-level data model is not a
difficult or time consuming task. The mid level data model data model consists of keys
and attributes, and their grouping together. The mid level data model needs to be
complete only insofar as the mid level model must exist for those portions of the data
warehouse that will be built for the first iteration of design.
In order to build the first iteration of warehouse development it is necessary to have
selected the technology on which to build the data warehouse. Figure 2 shows that
technology must have been selected.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 2
The selection of data warehouse technology - both hardware and software - depends on
many factors, such as:
• the volume of data to be accommodated,
• the speed with which data is needed,
• the history of the organization,
• which level of data is being built,
• how many users there will be,
• what kind of analysis is to be performed,
• the cost of technology, etc.
Both hardware and software must be selected. The hardware is typically mainframe,
parallel, or client/server hardware. The software that must be selected is for the basic
data base manipulation of the data as it resides on the hardware. Typically the software
is either full function dbms or specialized data base software that has been optimized for
the data warehouse.
Other software that needs to be considered is the interface software that provides
transformation and metadata capability such as PRISM Solutions Warehouse Manager.
A final piece of software that is important is the software needed for changed data
capture, such as that provided by PRISM Solutions.
Another prerequisite to the first iteration of data warehouse design and population being
performed is that of the sizing of the data warehouse, as depicted by Figure 3.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 3
Figure 3 shows that a rough sizing of data needs to be done to determine the fitness of
the hardware and software platforms. If the hardware and software platforms are either
much too big or are much too little for the amount of data that will reside in the data
warehouse, then no iterative development should occur until the fit is properly made.
If the hardware and dbms software are much too large for the data warehouse, the
costs of building and running the data warehouse will be exorbitant. Even though
performance will be no problem, development and operational costs and finances will be
a problem. Conversely, if the hardware and dbms software are much too small for the
size of the data warehouse, then performance of operations and the ultimate end user
satisfaction with the data warehouse will suffer. At the outset it is important that there
be a comfortable fit between the data warehouse and the hardware and dbms software
that will house and manipulate the warehouse.
In order to determine what the fit is like, the data needs to be sized. The sizing does not
need to be precise. If anything, the sizing needs to err on the size of being too large,
rather than too small. But a rough sizing of the data to be housed in the data warehouse
at this point can save much grief at a later point in time if in fact there is not a
comfortable fit between the data warehouse data and the environment it is built in. The
estimate of the data warehouse data should be in terms of order of magnitude.
Of course, one of the issues that relates to the volume of data in the data warehouse is
that of the level of granularity of data. If too much data is likely to be built into the data
warehouse, the level of granularity can always be adjusted so that the physical volume
of data is reduced.
The informational requirements of the organization need to be collected by means of a
time box, as previously discussed. Figure 4 shows the typical means by which those
informational requirements are identified and collected.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 4
Typically informational requirements are collected by looking at:
• reports. Existing reports can usually be gathered quickly and inexpensively. In most
cases the information displayed on these reports is easily discerned. But old reports
represent yesterday's requirements and the underlying calculation of information may
not be obvious ay all.
• spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are able to be easily gathered by asking the DSS analyst
community. Like standard reports, the information on spreadsheets is able to be
discerned easily. The problem with spreadsheets is that:
• they are very fluid. Important spreadsheets may have been created several months
ago that are not now available,
• they change with no documentation whatsoever,
• they may not be able to be easily gathered unless the analyst creating them wants
them to be gathered, and
• their structure and usage of data may be obtuse.
• other existing analysis. Through EIS and other channels there is usually quite a bit of
other useful information analysis that has been created by the organization. This
information is usually very unstructured and very informal (although in many cases it
is still very valuable information.)
• live interviews. Typically through interviews or JAD sessions, the end user can tell
what the informational needs of the organization are. Unfortunately JAD sessions
require an enormous amount of energy to conduct and assimilate. Furthermore, the
effectiveness of JAD sessions depends in no small part on the imagination and
spontaneity of the end user participating in the session.
In any case, gathering the obvious and easily accessed informational needs of the
organization should be done and should be factored into the data warehouse data model
prior to the development of the first iteration of the data warehouse.
The first issue of design and planning for the first iteration of the data warehouse to be
developed is exactly how much data is to be loaded and what variety of data is to be
loaded. It is almost never the case that huge amounts of data are loaded as a result of
the first iteration.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 5
A general guideline for the loading of the first iteration is that:
There are many different ways to cut down the size of data without losing its
effectiveness. Figure 5 illustrates a few of those ways.
There are practically speaking, an infinite number of ways to subset data. What is a
meaningful subset depends entirely on who the first user of the first iteration of the data
warehouse will be. The data architect needs to ask the question - who will be the first
user of the first iteration of data. Now, knowing whom the first user is, what data would
be meaningful to them?
There is a careful line to be walked here. On the one hand the data architect must take
care not to put too much data in the first iteration of development. On the other hand
the data architect must take care not to include so little data that the spontaneity of
discovery by the DSS analyst is limited.
There are many functional arenas that informational processing may bear fruit in. But
there are some classical functional areas that over the years have borne more fruit than
others. Figure 6 depicts those functional arenas.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 6
The classical functional arenas that data warehousing has proven to be effective in are:
• finance. Finance data tends to speak directly to the executive. It tends to get right to
the heart of the corporation. In addition, finance data is relatively smaller, in terms of
volume, than other types of data for most corporations. For these reasons, finance is
a popular arena in which to build the data warehouse,
• accounting. Accounting is similar in most regards to finance data,
• sales. Sales data is always important to the corporation. Sales data is like finance
data in that it typically is compact, compared to other data. (Of course, for some
industries this is not the case,)
• marketing data. Marketing and sales data are closely related and both are central to
the health and success of the corporation.
These then are the classical arenas where data warehouse has found fruitful ground.
But, depending on the industry or the circumstances of the company there are some
other fruitful grounds as well. Some of these other frequently fruitful grounds include:
• actuarial processing (for the insurance and insurance related industries),
• process control (for the manufacturing industry),
• human resources, and so forth.
Another important decision that needs to be made for the building of the first iteration of
the data warehouse environment is that of the selection of the first subject area to be
implemented. Figure 7 shows this selection.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 7
The high level data model is useful in the selection of the major subject area that will
entail the first iteration of data warehouse development. The first, best option is to
select an entire subject area for implementation. But on occasion the major subject area
that is to be implemented is too large. So the next best option is to select a subset of a
single subject area for implementation.
In some industries (such as banking and insurance) it often times is not possible to
select a single subject area for first iteration implementation. In these cases it is
necessary to select a series of subject for implementation. Figure 8 shows this option.
When it is necessary to select multiple subject areas for first iteration implementation,
only a subset of those subject areas should be implemented. The importance of the data
model becomes very apparent in this case as the data model shows what can be
implemented without overlap or conflict.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 8
The different options that apply to the building of the first iteration of the data
warehouse are:
• implement a single subject area,
• implement a subset of a single subject area, or
• implement a subset of multiple subject areas.
After this point the steps of design for the data warehouse will be described. It should be
recognized that these steps are done for very small amounts of data - there is nothing
sweeping or grand in design that is implied here. Typically there are from five to fifteen
physical tables that will result from the design efforts that are being described. If there
are more than that, then the whole point of doing iterative design and development has
been missed.
After the subject area decision is made, the next task is to go from the data warehouse
data model into physical data base design. The first step in this direction is the
specification of physical attributes from the data model, as shown in Figure 9.
The specification of physical attributes includes the task of identifying keys and
attributes. In addition the physical specification for each key and each attribute is
created. At first glance the physical specification of the keys and attributes appears to
be an almost mechanical task; it is not.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 9
There is much consideration of:
• the end users understanding of the data,
• the format of the data as it resides in the legacy systems environment,
• the different legacy systems formats that must be consolidated,
• the volume of data that is to be created, and so forth.
After the physical characteristics of the data that will reside in the data warehouse is
determined, the next step is the identification of the unit of time that resides in each
unit of data warehouse data. In most cases the unit of time - year, quarter, month, day,
etc. - is appended to the key of the table. In a few cases, such as where full table
snapshots of data are taken monthly, the unit of time that identifies each occurrence of
data warehouse data is implicitly identified with the data warehouse.
Figure 10 shows that after the identification of the physical characteristics of data comes
the specification of the unit of time for each data warehouse table.
There is one consideration of design that is especially relevant and important here and
that is that the unit of time selected greatly influences the number of occurrences of
data. Selecting the unit of time of day implies that there will be many more records in
the data warehouse environment than if the unit of time of week were chosen, for
example. The design of the granularity of data is directly related to the specification of
the unit of time that resides in the data warehouse occurrences of data.
Once the unit of time has been specified, the next step in the creation of the first
iteration of the development of the data warehouse is to identify the system of record.
Figure 11 shows the identification of the system of record.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 10
Figure 11 shows that the system of record is the source data that resides in the
operational, legacy systems environment. The system of record is the data that is the:
• most complete,
• most accurate,
• most timely,
• has the best structural conformance to the data model, and
• is nearest to the point of operational entry.
The identification of the system of record is the most complex activity in the building of
the first iteration of data warehouse development. There are MANY circumstances that
must be accounted for in the specification of the system of record:
• multiple sources of data,
• no sources of data under certain cases,
• reformatting of data,
• summarization of data,
• conversion of data,
• recalculation of data,
• alteration of key structure,
• restructuring of data attributes,
• conditional merging of data, and so forth.
The data architect attempts to identify the system of record as accurately as possible.
But it is understood that if the system of record is incorrectly specified, that after the
first iteration of development is complete, that adjustments can (and will!) be made.
One of the aspects of specifying the system of record is that recognizing that there are
(at least!) two types of source of data - normal operational data bases and delta data
(i.e., "changed data capture"). Figure 12 illustrates these choices.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 11
Delta data is data that has been gleaned from the updates that have occurred to a file
since the last time a refreshment of the data warehouse was accomplished. Delta data is
used where there are very large files that undergo very little change from one
refreshment of the data warehouse to the next. Customer files are typically in this
Once the transformations have been specified, they are transferred to the metadata
infrastructure that sits above the data warehouse. Figure 13 shows this transformation.
The metadata contains a record of what the source data is, what transformations and
summarizations have occurred, and what the description of the data warehouse looks
like. The metadata then becomes the DSS analyst guide to what is in the data
warehouse and how it got there.
Subsequent to the specification of the metadata from the transformations that occur is
the activity of specifying the frequency of transformation. Figure 14 shows this
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 12
The frequency of execution of transformation depends on many things, such as:
• how much data will be transformed,
• whether a delta file is being used,
• the complexity of the transformation,
• the business need to see the updated data warehouse,
• the availability of the operational data,
• how frequently system checkpoints are being done,
• the amount of summarization and aggregation that needs to be done, and so forth.
At this point the DDL that does the actual definition of the data into the dbms is
executed, as seen in Figure 15.
The DDL of course specifies to the dbms the exact content and structure of data.
In some cases the DDL may have already been specified. If such is the case, then it is a
worthwhile activity to check that the DDL being generated by the first iteration of
processing is identical to the DDL that has already been produced. Figure 16 illustrates
this simple but very important check.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 13
If the DDL that the data architect has produced somehow does not match the DDL that
has already been defined to the dbms, then there MUST BE a reconciliation before any
other design and development ensues.
At this point in time, the transformations can be turned into code. Having an automatic
code generator such as PRISM Solutions Warehouse Manager turns this task into an
automatic and efficient exercise. Without PRISM Solutions Warehouse Manager this
activity is done manually and is anything but fast and efficient. Furthermore, given that
iterative development is the norm for data warehouse development, the automated
approach means that future maintenance will be done automatically.
One of the aspects of automated code generation is that of automated gathering of
legacy systems metadata. When legacy systems metadata can be gathered in an
automated manner, the process of defining the metadata to the transformation program
is streamlined, and the chance for error is greatly reduced than if the metadata were
captured in a manual fashion.
Figure 17 shows the turning of transformation into code.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 14
Concurrent with the production of code is the task of allocating space for the data
warehouse to reside on. Figure 18 depicts this task.
In some technologies the allocation of space is very straightforward. But in other cases
there are the considerations of secondary extents and the mapping of data across the
parallel environment. When secondary extents will be allocated, care should be taken so
• the secondary allocation will not occur until well into the data warehouse
development and population life cycle, and
• when secondary allocation occurs that the system programmer is alerted.
When mapping data to the parallel environment, care should be taken so that as much
growth as can be anticipated can be accommodated. Trying to reorganize data after it
has been physically loaded onto the parallel environment and mapped there is not a
pleasant proposition and should be minimized as much as possible.
Once the allocation of space has been made, the programs that have been created can
be put into execution and the data populated into the data warehouse. Figure 19 shows
the population of data into the data warehouse.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 15
Once the population of the data warehouse occurs, the end user - the DSS analyst - is
exposed to the data. Figure 20 illustrates the DSS analyst being allowed to access the
data warehouse.
Of course the end user needs tools for the access of data. The access of data may be
direct or may be indirect. In any case, the end user should be encouraged to explore the
possibilities of the access and manipulation of data in the data warehouse.
At this point the first iteration of development of the data warehouse ends. While there
have been many activities to do, there has been relatively little data and few types of
data to do the activities on. Furthermore, the design and development activities have
been "time boxed" so that progress is made, even if the progress is not entirely
complete. And while every effort has been made to create a good and serviceable
design, there is no intention of completeness or perfection. It is understood that errors
in design will occur and that those errors will be corrected in the second iteration (and
beyond) of data warehouse design and development.
The seeds of the second iteration of data warehouse development are sowed in the
completion of the first phase of development. An important and essential aspect of the
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 16
development life cycle is the monitoring of the end user for feedback. Figure 21 shows
this feedback loop.
The data architect listens very carefully to the DSS analyst to determine where
improvements to the data warehouse can be made. While the conversation between the
data architect and the DSS analyst is an ongoing one, the conversation that occurs as
the data warehouse is first populated is probably the most important. It is in the first
few uses of the data warehouse that the most poignant and the most valuable feedback
typically occurs.
The data warehouse is built under a very different life cycle than the classical
operational environment. The data warehouse is built iteratively - quickly and in small
The steps of development include such activities as:
• data modelling,
• selecting hardware and software platforms,
• sizing the data warehouse,
• collecting obvious and known informational requirements,
• determining meaningful subsets of data for initial loading into the data warehouse,
• selecting the most fruitful functional area for population,
• selecting a subject area for design,
• identifying physical characteristics of the subject area,
• identifying the unit of time for the data,
• identifying the system of record,
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 17
• determining whether delta data should be used,
• loading transformation data to metadata,
• specifying the frequency of transformation,
• executing DDL,
• creating code that embodies the transformations,
• allocating space,
• population of data into the warehouse, and
• turning the end user loose on the data.
©Copyright 2000 by William H. Inmon, all rights reserved Page 18
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Arizona State Sun Devils
ASU AD Ray Anderson: 'The love and the passion for Pat Tillman is palpable'
Tuesday marks the 10-year anniversary of Pat Tillman's tragic death in the line of active duty, and yet a decade later the former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals linebacker's legacy as a football player, soldier and first-class person can still be felt on both a local and national level.
No more so than in Tempe, where the former Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year starred on the gridiron for four years, captaining the Sun Devils to the program's second Rose Bowl appearance in 1996-97.
ASU athletic director Ray Anderson has only been on the job for a little over two months now, but as he revealed on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM's Dan Bickley Show with Vince Marotta, Tillman's presence is apparent just about anywhere he goes on campus.
"Obviously, the love and the passion for Pat Tillman is palpable," Anderson said. "You see it every place, literally every place in and around Tempe there is a tribute to Pat Tillman.
"To come into an environment as an outsider and see that he is coveted and embraced by everybody as a personal family member who sacrificed for his country and who was a representative of ASU, there's just a lot of pride, a lot of love, a lot of embracing for everything that is number 42."
Since Tillman's death in April 2004, the university has gone to great lengths to pay tribute and honor their former student-athlete.
From retiring his jersey to redesigning Sun Devil Stadium's south tunnel in his honor to renaming its veterans center with his namesake, Tillman remains close in the hearts and minds of all those who bleed maroon and gold.
But in Anderson's eyes, the greatest illustration of Tillman's impact might just be the annual race put on by his foundation, which has been hosted by the city and university every year since 2006.
"This weekend as you know is Pat's Run," said Anderson. "It's 4.2 miles and ends at the 42-yard line in the stadium. Just the details of that shows how important he is to everything in this community and Arizona State.
"I'm really proud to be a part of it and to be able to appreciate it, and frankly enjoy his memory as a real hero for this university."
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- Arizona State Head Basketball Coach Bobby Hurley Bobby Hurley talks about coming to Arizona State and what it's like recruiting in Arizona.
- Corona Del Sol Star Basketball Player Marvin Bagley III Marvin Bagley talks about winning the state title, recruiting, and shows off his musical talent.
- Ray Anderson, ASU athletic directorRay Anderson discusses the importance of scheduling major football opponents.
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95th Street
Robbery Suspect Surrenders After Standoff In Oak Lawn
Police in Oak Lawn said an armed robbery suspect has surrendered – after barricading himself inside a stairwell of a home this afternoon.
Man Shot And Killed In Jeffrey Manor
A 23-year-old man was fatally shot during a fight over a bicycle Friday night in the South Side Jeffrey Manor neighborhood, police said.
Key Alderman Plans To Join Businessman's Protest Of Lack Of Black Construction Jobs
The head of a powerful City Council committee was speaking out Tuesday, in support of Soft Sheen Products founder Edward Gardner, who has led a pair of protests over minority hiring for construction work.
Businessman Leads Protest To Demand Black Construction Jobs
Legendary South Side business owner Ed Gardner on Sunday was once again protesting the lack of black workers on local construction crews, leading about 1,000 demonstrators supporting his cause.
Prominent Businessman Leads Protest Over Lack Of Construction Jobs For Blacks
The 87-year old founder and former owner of Soft Sheen Products led a pair of protests in the Beverly neighborhood and Evergreen Park on Monday, over the lack of black workers on local construction crews.
Officials: Body Found In Lake Is Missing Oak Lawn Man
Officials confirmed the body of a man found Tuesday morning in a Cook County forest preserve is that of a missing Oak Lawn man whose car, wallet and cell phone were found Sunday at the preserve.
Man Shot At 95th Street Red Line Terminal; Boy Grazed By Bullet In South Shore
The busy 95th Street CTA Red Line terminal on the city's South Side turned into a crime scene overnight.
Man Meets Nurse Who Saved His Life After Heart Attack
An Oak Lawn man who survived a massive heart attack has finally met the nurse who performed life-saving CPR while on her lunch hour last fall.
Nurse Killed By Suspected Drunk Driver In Palos Township Crash
A nurse from southwest suburban Lockport was killed early Sunday when a suspected drunk driver struck her vehicle in unincorporated Palos Township.
CTA To Close South Branch Of Red Line For Five Months
The south branch of the CTA Red Line, one of the busiest on the system, will be shut down for five months next spring for a massive track overhaul, officials announced on Monday.
Red, Blue Line Delays Expected This Week
Late night Red and Blue Line riders should allow extra travel time this week as construction is expected to cause minor delays.
Missing 79-Year-Old Aurora Woman Last Seen On Chicago's South Side
Aurora Police are asking the public for help is locating a missing 79-year-old woman from the west suburb who was last seen on Chicago's South Side.
56-Year-Old Man Dies In Crash On Far South Side
A 56-year-old man died Tuesday afternoon when the car he was driving struck another vehicle head-on in the Far South Side Calumet Heights neighborhood.
Fire Chief, 6 Others Hurt When Fire Dept. SUV Hit On Way To Fire
A Chicago Fire Department official responding to a call Wednesday night ended up needing help himself.
Hit-And-Run Driver Kills 2 At 95th And Cottage Grove
Two pedestrians died overnight, after they were hit by a car at the busy junction of 95th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue on the city's South Side.
Owner Thanks Those Who Helped Bridal Shop Rise From Ashes
It's been a year since Eva's Bridal of Oak Lawn burned to the ground, and on Monday the owner said "thank you" to those who helped it rise from the ashes.
Several Injured When CTA Bus Hits Pole
Twenty-six people were injured Friday afternoon when a CTA bus struck a pole on the South Side.
Emanuel: Red Line Will Be Upgraded Now, Extended Later
If you're wondering why the $1 billion plan to remake part of the CTA does not include Mayor Rahm Emanuel's desire to extend the Red Line five miles south, officials say $1 billion is hardly enough for that project.
So Many Flies At Burger King, Inspectors Wouldn't Open Mouths
A Burger King on the city's South Side has been closed by the city, after inspectors found so many insects buzzing around that they were "afraid to open their mouths."
Outbound Dan Ryan Reopens After Crashes
Four people were injured in one of two crashes on the Dan Ryan Expressway and all outbound lanes have been shut down between 87th and 95th streets as crews respond.


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user experience, and to be able to place an order on our website, you must have
Holiday Weekend Special - We'll pay your sales tax on this item!
EXCLUSIVELY OURS! Slide your feet into the stylish comfort of the women's Zealand Azteca. A super soft, memory foam footbed molds to the shape of your foot to provide a personalized fit. The nylon webbing upper is fast drying and extremely comfortable, while the flexible rubber outsole absorbs shock and channels water for extra comfort.


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Awards and Recognition
Brown-Henderson Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award
The Brown-Henderson Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award, established in honor of the late Dean Emeritus James Seay Brown and the late Dean James M. Henderson, first dean of the College of Engineering, is to recognize an outstanding faculty member in the College of Engineering. This award will focus primarily on accomplishments which most closely reflect the mission of the College of Engineering, to prepare our graduates through a blend of education, research and service.
To be eligible a faculty member must be a full-time member of the College of Engineering faculty, must have been employed at TTU for the past three years, and must have not won the award in the past five years. The recipient will receive a plaque and a stipend.
Anyone within the College can submit a nomination. The Engineering Joint Council, the Engineering Development Friends and the Dean's Advisory Board are encouraged to present a nomination on behalf of their organization.
Nominations due by December 1, 2014
Kinslow Engineering Research Award
Established to recognize high-quality, archival publications by Engineering faculty members at TTU. Articles published during the 2013 calendar year will be eligible for consideration. Nominees must be the principal author. The selection criteria include both research innovation and research applicability.
Nominations due by December 1, 2014
Leighton E. Sissom Innovation and Creativity Award
Established to recognize scholarship, methodology, invention, technique, processes, or other unique contributions demonstrating creativity and innovation. Faculty, staff, and students in the College of Engineering are eligible for nomination.
Nominations due by December 1, 2014
Read more about these awards, find applications, past recipients and others here...
Outstanding Staff Award
Given each year in recognition of an outstanding non-faculty staff member from the College of Engineering.
Nominations due by December 1, 2014
Kaizen Award
Kaizen is a system of continuous improvement in which input from employees at all levels of an organization is welcomed; in our case, specifically looking toward ways to enhance the overall performance of the TTU College of Engineering or its departments. It involves an objective look at procedures as well as results in an in order to find ways to cut waste and increase efficiency and productivity. It is a positive problem solving method that enables employees to work smarter by making their jobs easier.
Nominations due by June 15, 2015
Safety Award
The College of Engineering Safety Award recognized the one (1) most outstanding safety related preventative action or suggestion.
Nominations due by June 15, 2015
- Bachelor of Science Best Paper Award
- Outstanding Senior Award
- Outstanding Senior Service Award
- Outstanding Innovation Award
- Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
- Rising Renaissance Engineer Spectrum Award
The faculty and staff here receive university pins for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years of service based on their years of service to TTU.


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Ecommerce presents a unique set of challenges for the food and beverage industry. Without the ability to smell and taste the products, companies must be focused on providing compelling product descriptions as well as striking visual imagery to elicit the same emotional response to food that a customer would experience in a traditional market or brick and mortar store. Join us for this webinar as we discuss how we've tackled these issues with our many food and beverage clients, including www.lobstergram.com. We'll discuss the buying behaviors of their customers and share thoughts about how we created an online experience that combines their unique brand story with buying events to increase conversion and revenue.
Key topics that will be included in the webinar:
- Understanding your customer and developing a site that is focused on their specific buying behaviors
- Leveraging creative design and product imagery to tell your story
- Capitalizing on your key season and creating ways to drive revenue during the "off-season"
- Developing key site features to increase conversion and AOV
- Optimizing for the mobile user with Responsive Design.


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Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power on May 9, 2012 to speak about the Department of Energy's emergency authority under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act and the proposed legislation intended to address the use of this authority and potential conflicts with other Federal, state and local laws and regulations.
The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability has released the Energy Infrastructure Events and Expansions Year-in-Review: 2011. This publication provides a summary of significant energy disruptions and infrastructure changes that occurred in the United States throughout 2011. The 2011 YIR is based primarily on information reported in the Energy Assurance Daily (EAD) between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.
Assistant Secretary Patricia Hoffman appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on April 26, 2012 to speak about the Department of Energy's role in managing weather related electrical outages.
On April 11, 2012, DOE Recovery Act funding recipient Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) celebrated a major milestone in the development of a regional smart grid in California: the installation of over 600,000 smart meters.
The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) has released the second issue of the Energy Emergency Preparedness Quarterly (EEPQ), designed to briefly highlight a few of the energy preparedness activities that occur each quarter.
An article in the March 2012 issue of the quarterly publication Metering International focuses on DOE's Smart Grid Investment Grant program, highlighting how the program is improving the reliability and resiliency of the US electric grid. The article examines the need to protect the grid and the benefits of modernization, including reduced demand, increased capacity, and faster recovery. OE's Debbie Haught, who oversees the SGIG program, and Joseph Palladino, who leads the analysis of the program, authored the piece. Metering International provides information on trends and developments in the industry.
Developers Will Compete to Create Apps Using Energy Data From Utilities to Help Consumers Reduce Energy Costs, Consumption
The Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability released a Federal Register Notice seeking information on questions related to permitting of transmission lines. The Request for Information focused on making the development times for generation and transmission more commensurate with one another. Public comments received are now available for review and downloading.
The Department released the April 2012 issue of the ARRA Energy Assurance Planning Bulletin (EAPB). The ARRA EAPB is issued quarterly to provide information on energy assurance planning resources, upcoming events, training opportunities, and important grant deliverable dates. This is the tenth issue of the EAP Bulletin; previous issues are available for download.
The Department has funded an effort at the Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) to investigate the requirements of an electric grid with high penetrations of sustainable energy systems and heavy reliance on cyber systems for sensing and communication. The goal of the effort is to stimulate discussion among the academic, industry, and government communities on what it will take to shape the future grid for the mid-21st Century. PSERC is offering a free, public webinar series that began in January and runs through May 2012 entitled "Issues in Designing the Future Grid." The webinars will focus on the information hierarchy for the future grid and grid enablers of sustainable energy systems.
Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability1000 Independence Avenue, SWWashington, DC 20585202-586-1411


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Cramer specializes in hypnosis for self-improvement including weight loss, smoking cessation, public speaking, sales performance and a wide variety of other challenges. Wausau Hypnotherapy LLC has been providing the Central Wisconsin area customized hypnosis services for nearly two years. To add to the already relaxing and therapeutic hypnotic experience, Alicia is relocating her private practice to Kristy Medo's building located on the corner of 6th Street and McClellan in downtown Wausau, WI.
The Salon, Spa & Fitness Studio is a private personal training studio that offers complementary services including therapeutic massage and nutritional coaching. Both Cramer and Medo are excited about the move. Medo says, "I am very pleased that Alicia D. Cramer C.Ht., will be adding her expertise to the scope of what we do within the same private building. Her skills will surely be an added benefit to all who will allow themselves to better their lives by working with her."
The timing is ideal given January is the most prolific month for starting a health and/or weight loss program. Cramer's Hypnosis Library for Weight Loss hypnosis audio program and her private coaching and hypnotherapy services have helped thousands of men and women transform their bodies and increase their confidence. Now, both Cramer and Medo's clients have the benefit of being exposed to each other's areas of expertise. The two have plans to collaborate on various projects and programs throughout the year to offer the Wausau area effective health and weight management solutions.
You can learn more about Wausau Hypnotherapy LLC at www.wausauhypnotherapy.com or about the Salon, Spa & Fitness Studio at: www.salonspafitness.com. New and existing clients may be eligible for exclusive pricing discounts or other special offers during the month of January.
# # #
Wausau Hypnotherapy LLC is owned and operated by Alicia D. Cramer C.Ht, cast member on the Living Consciously TV Show, author, speaker, business coach and professional hypnotherapist. Alicia offers high end coaching and hypnotherapy services.


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Author has written 8 stories for Gakuen Alice, Misc. Plays/Musicals, Sacred Blacksmith/聖剣の刀鍛冶, and Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン.
Hey there! It's Mya Katrina here, and I just wanna say hi! I'll tell you a little about me and I would love it if we could be friends!
I can cry easily, so don't tell me something that will upset me, and ANOTHER THING, I live in CA and I'm a really nice girl! I'm a tomboy, and I really don't care If you call me a name, just don't make it in a hurtful way. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ANIME. I have heard of many anime you probably know! I love music also, singing is my hobby. I'm a very honest person, but before I was 6, I would make you rich if you got a penny every time I told a white lie ^^;;
(in black)
I-pod arm holder:
Pyramid: Chapter 3
this is for my mom/sister/BFFAE MOMICA!! love you mommie~monica!
FRIENDS: Will comfort you when he rejects you.
BEST FRIENDS: Will go up and ask him, "It's because you're gay, isn't it?"
FRIENDS: Will be there for you when he breaks up with you.
BEST FRIENDS: Will call him up and whisper, "Seven days..."
FRIENDS: Helps you up when you fall.
BEST FRIENDS: Keeps on walking saying, "Walk much, dumb ass?"
FRIENDS: Helps you find your prince.
BEST FRIENDS: Kidnaps him and brings him to you.
FRIENDS: Will ask you if you're okay when you're crying.
BEST FRIENDS: Will laugh at you and say, "Ha Ha, Loser!"
FRIENDS: Will offer you a soda.
BEST FRIENDS: Will dump theirs on you.
FRIENDS: Will sit at the side of the pool with you at that time of the month.
BEST FRIENDS: Will throw you a tampon and push you in.
FRIENDS: Will help you move.
BEST FRIENDS: Will help you move the bodies.
FRIENDS: Will bail you out of jail.
BEST FRIENDS: Would be in the room next to you saying, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!"
FRIENDS: Never ask for anything to eat or drink.
BEST FRIENDS: Helps themselves and are the reason why you have no food.
FRIENDS: Call your parents by Mr. and Mrs. and Grandma, by Grandpa.
BEST FRIENDS: Call your parents DAD and MOM and Granny, GRAMPS!
FRIENDS: Would bail you out of jail.
BEST FRIENDS: Would be sitting next to you sayin "DAMN!" we messed up!"
FRIENDS: Have never seen you cry.
BEST FRIENDS: Wont tell everyone else you cried...just laugh about it with you in private when your not down anymore.
FRIENDS: Asks you to write down your number.
BEST FRIENDS: Has you on speed dial.
FRIENDS: Only know a few things about you.
BEST FRIENDS: Could write a very embarrassing biography on your life story...
FRIENDS: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing.
BEST FRIENDS: Will kick the whole crowds ass that left you
FRIENDS: Would knock on your front door.
BEST FRIENDS: Walk right in and say "I'M HOME."
FRIENDS: You have to tell them not to tell anyone.
BEST FRIENDS: Already know not to tell.
FRIENDS: Ask why you're crying
BEST FRIENDS: Already has the shovel ready to bury the loser that made you cry.
FRIENDS: Will be there to take your drink away from you when they think you've had enough.
BEST FRIENDS: Will look at you stumbling all over the place & say "Bitch drink the rest of that ! You know we don't waste!"
FRIENDS: comfort you when you fight with your boyfriend
BEST FRIENDS: go over to his house and kicks his ass
FRIENDS: Bail you outta jail
BEST FRIENDS: sit next to you singing the jail song
FRIENDS: Will pick out a cute chick-flick to watch with you on movie night
BEST FRIENDS: Will pick out "The Ring" for movie night then scare you in the process
FRIENDS: Will be embarassed when all goes silent and you start to sing the song that has been stuck in your head for days
BEST FRIENDS: Will be singing along with you
FRIENDS: Tell you to forget it when you say you want to vandalize a guy's house
BEST FRIENDS: best friends are the ones getting fined by the police with you
FRIENDS: Think your insane for jumping off a roof onto a trampoline
BEST FRIENDS: Are jumping with you
FRIENDS: come over every couple of months for a sleepover
BEST FRIENDS: are your weekend boarders
FRIENDS: are offended when you make fun of them
BEST FRIENDS: kick your ass and all's forgiven
FRIENDS: are shy around your boyfriend
BEST FRIENDS: will tease him till he blushes redder than a fire engine
FRIENDS: don't see you if you're sick
BEST FRIENDS: Are there when you're sitting in a bed under a blanket with a thermometer, book, and your phone
FRIENDS:dare you to scream into the street
BEST FRIENDS: dare you to go streaking
FRIENDS: call you retarded for running threw bleachers yelling "IT'S PICKLE TIME!"
BEST FRIENDS: are screaming and running with you
FRIENDS: Meet your boyfriend and say nice to meet you
BEST FRIENDS: Meet your boyfriend and scare the Hell out of him by threatening to break every bone in his body if he hurts you
FRIENDS: Will tell you they know how you feel
BEST FRIENDS: Will sit down and cry with you
FRIENDS: Ask nicely for your stuff
BEST FRIENDS: Just shout "GIMME"
FRIENDS: Wait to call you at a reasonable hour
BEST FRIENDS: Will call you at two in the freaking morning
FRIENDS: Won't let you do stupid things
BEST FRIENDS: won't let you do stupid things 'alone'.
«FRIENDS: Will take you to buy a pregnancy test
«BEST FRIENDS: Will stand right next to you screaming "NAME IT AFTER ME!"
FRIENDS: Will buy you lunch
BEST FRIENDS: Will eat yours
FRIENDS: will come and ask you to get a drink with her if some strange boy grabs you on the dance floor and you need an 'out'.
BEST FRIENDS: Will push herself in between you and the punk, wrap her arms around you, and say. "I'm sorry she's here with me, find your own date."
FRIENDS: Will not try anything that will embarrass you while near your crush.
BEST FRIENDS: Will cackle evilly and try to push you 'by accident' into him while standing next to him.
FRIENDS: Would read and ignore this
BEST FRIENDS: Would repost this crap
Did you know...
kissing is healthy.
it's good to cry.
chicken soup actually makes you feel better.
94 percent of boys would love it if you sent them flowers.
lying is actually unhealthy.
you really only need to apply mascara to your top lashes.
it's actually true, boys DO insult you when they like you.
89 percent of guys want YOU to make the first move.
it's impossible to apply mascara with your mouth closed.
chocolate will make you feel better.
most boys think it's cute when you say the wrong thing.
a good friend never judges.
a good foundation will hide all hickeys... not that you have any.
boys aren't worth your tears.
we all love surprises.
Now... make a wish.
Wish REALLY hard!!
Your wish has just been recieved.
Copy and Paste this into your profile in the next 15 minutes and...
Your wish will be granted.
Month Two
Month Three
You know what Mommy
Month Four
Month Five
You went to the doctor today.
Month Six
I can hear that doctor again.
Month Seven
Every Abortion Is Just . . .
One more heart that was stopped.
If you're against abortion, re-post this
In Loving Memory of The Columbine Students Who Were Lost. Please if you would, pass this around. I'd be happy if you could; don't smash this on the ground. If you pass this on, maybe people will cry. Just keep this in your heart for the people who didn't get to say "Good-bye". Now you have 2 choices, 1) Pass this on, and show people you care, repost as "Try Not To Cry" 2) Don't send it, and you have just proven how cold-hearted you really are
1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
7. My mother taught t me IRONY.
8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING.
18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
19. My mother taught me ESP.
20. My mother taught me HUMOR.
21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT.
22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS.
24. My mother taught me WISDOM.
25. And my favourite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
If you think the Coa-coa Puff Turkey Bird thing should go to rehab, copy this into your profile.
If you think Fred should just let Barney have the freaking' Coco Pebbles and stop chasing him, then copy and paste this in your profile
When life gives you lemons, squirt the lemons in Life's face
Boy, I didn't fall for you, you tripped me!
Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.
Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins. That way you'll be a mile away from him and you'll have his shoes.
You laugh, I laugh. You cry, I cry. You hurt, I hurt. You jump off a bridge, I get a paddle boat and save your stupid...
When it rains on my parade, I bust out the slip n' slide.
A loser is a window washer on the 44th floor who steps back to admire his work.
When someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles to frown about it but it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and punch the crap out of them.
Two things are infinite; the universe, and human stupidity... not so sure about the universe.
People like you are the reason why we have middle fingers.
The newscaster is the person who says "Good evening" and then tells you why it's not
Don't run in the school hall, gliding is more fun!
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?" That's a really good question...i wonder...
If you are obsessed with over 30 characters from books...copy and paste this on your profile.
The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.
The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll.'
Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?''
The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''
Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She left quickly.
The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.
Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.
'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas.
She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.'
I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.
But he replied to me sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.'
His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''
My heart nearly stopped.
The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.'
Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me.'
'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.'
Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check
'OK' he said, 'I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!'
Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!''
'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.''
'My mommy loves white roses.'
A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket.
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started.
I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.
Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl.
The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.
Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away.
I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.
She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.
I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine.
And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.
Now you have 2 choices:
1) Repost this message, or
If you are an absolute anime freak then copy and paste this onto your profile.
Remember When...
Her name was Auroura
Her dad was a drunk
Her only friend
She always talked to it
Until her parents
A bruise on her leg
But she grabs her bear
She sits in the corner
Such a bad life
Then one night
Then her mom suddenly
She thrusted the blade
The mom walked out
Police showed up
One officer slowly
It must have been bad
If child abuse makes you sick and you think it's horrible and should be
If you believe in Jesus Christ put this in your profile and don't just ignore this, because in the Bible it says if you deny me, I will deny you in front of my Father in the gates of Heaven
My Faith = Jesus
Weird is good, strange is bad, and odd is when you don't know which to call someone. Weird is the same as different, which is the same as unique, than weird is good. If you are weird and proud of it, copy this onto your profile!
If you think that being unique is cooler than being cool, copy this on your profile
if youve ever copied and pasted something to your profile, copy and paste this to your profile-
If you've been on the computer for hours on end, reading numerous fanfictions, copy this onto your profile, and add your name to this list: Danyan, Avatarwolf, Shifter-youkai, AkatsukiFan, Chocolate Chan, Staring.out.my.flooded.window, Sasura, The One And Only51, xia0 wenz, BeHiNd ThY HaZeL OrBs
If you got anyone addicted to Naruto in your life (includes your family and friends e.t.c) or any anime paste this on your profile
If you have ever had a mad laughing fit for absolutely no reason, copy and paste this into your profile.
Drugs are bad news. Spread the word.
Too many people are on crack. If you're not, copy this into your bio.
Too many people smoke marijuana. If you don't, copy this into your profile.
If you ever pushed on a door that said "Pull" copy this into your profile.
98 percent of teenagers has drank alcohol or done drugs. If you're one of the two percent who hasn't, copy this into your profile.
Ninety-eight percent of teenagers do or have tried smoking pot. If you're part of the two percent who hasn't, copy this, and paste it in your profile.
If you like chocolate as much as I do copy this in your profile. (impossible I love chocolate more than anyone )
92 percent of American teens would die if Abecrombie and Fitch told them it was uncool to breathe. Copy this into your profile if you would be in the 8 percent laughing their heads off at the others.! chya
30 of kids go to college. the other 70 either drop out or don't have the proper skills to. If you are on of the 30 that KNOW that your going to college put this on your profile and add your name to the list. EcoliandDahChihuahua, Gaara's-pandachan101, Evilfangirl, Feareth the Kitty,Monko25, leafninja345435, FrozenFyre , AkastukiFan, Chocolate Chan, Staring.out.my.flooded.window, Miss Romantic Roses, Sasura, xoxo Juliie, The One And Only51, xia0 wenz, BeHiNd ThY HaZeL OrBs
(\_/) past this to your page
Your One and Only Wish Do it one by one, don't look ahead! 1. Write the name of a person of the opposite sex. 2. Which is your favorite color out of red, black, blue, green, yellow? 3. Your first initial? 4. Your month of birth? 5. Which color do you like more, black or white? 6. Name of a person of the same sex as yours. 7. Your favorite number? 8. Do you like California or Florida more? 9. Do you like the lake or the ocean more? 10. Write down a wish (a realistic one). Are you done? If so, scroll down (don't cheat--) THE ANSWERS 1. You are completely in love with this person. 2. If you choose: Red: You are alert and your life is full of love. Black: You are conservative and aggressive. Green: Your soul is relaxed and you are laid back. Blue: You are spontaneous and love kisses and affection from the ones you love. Yellow: You are a very happy person and give good advice to those who are down. 3. If your initial is: A-K: You have a lot of love and friendships in your life. L-R: You try to enjoy life to the maximum and your love life is soon to blossom. S-Z: You like to help others and your future love life looks very good. 4. If you were born in: Jan.-Mar.: The year will go very well for you and you will discover that you fall in love with someone totally unexpected. Apr.-June: You will have a strong love relationship that will not last long but the memories will last forever. July-Sept.: You will have a great year and will experience a major life changing experience for the good. Oct.-Dec.: Your love life will not be too great, but eventually you will find your soulmate. 5. If you choose... Black: Your life will take on a different direction, it will seem hard at the time but will be the best thing for you, and you will be glad for the change. White: You will have a friend who completely confides in you and would do anything for you, but you may not realize it. 6. This person is your best friend. 7. This is how many close friends you have in a lifetime. 8. If you choose... California: You like adventure. Florida: You are a laidback person. 9. If you choose... Lake: You are loyal to your friends and your love. And you are very reserved. Ocean: You are spontaneous and like to please people. 10. This wish will come true only if you RE-POST THIS BULLETIN in one hour and it will come true before your next birthday


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[IDEA] Trip Planning Software - FEEDBACK WANTED
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Dr. Benny
Enjoying the Journey
Joined: Jun 2008
Location: Bay Area, California
Oddometer: 865
Originally Posted by
Lovin' it Strom
I haven't used any specific downloadable software, but have been using google maps and the Harley map, to plan my trips. The problems I have run into is I can't just enter in specifics, like saddle time and stop for lunch (places approximately 2 hours into the trip), or maybe I want to stop and hike for an hour at a waterfall. The available applications I am using don't account for that.
The difference is, a car app for cagers just gets you there, as fast and straight as possible. We usually don't ride the same way, to us it's the journey as much, if not more so, as the destination. Here is the difference I would like to see.
Thanks for the input Strom!
Motorcycle Mexico
- The easy way to prepare for your first motorcycle ride south of the border.
New Hampshire to Ushuaia 2009-2010
Dr. Benny
View Public Profile
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EDITORIAL: Dental pain awful for those who have no clinic options
For those of us with dental insurance, try to imagine for a moment having a painful, pulsing tooth ache, and having no insurance and no appreciable amount of money to stop the pain. You can't do anything about it — you can't even think straight. The only thing to make it worse is if it's one of your children with the bad tooth.
Finally, when it gets so nauseating that you can't stand it anymore, and the pain overcomes your pride, you will probably go to an emergency room, where costs are high but they will treat you even though you can't pay, at least for the foreseeable future. You know your costs may be passed on to paying customers at the hospital, but you just want the pain to stop.
Dental clinics for the needy have been lifesavers for some, although the clinics report long waiting lists. And now comes the difficult news that the Vanderburgh County Community Dental Clinic operated by the county Health Department is shutting down indefinitely Tuesday.
The Courier & Press reported lead dentist Sarah Stratton is leaving, and although the department had lined up several dentists to fill in part time during August, three staff members have now resigned.
Health Department officer Ray Nicholson said no one should blame the staff members, and he's right. They don't want to go from full time to an uncertain part-time schedule and future.
But that will leave 5,200 enrolled indigent patients at the closed clinic.
Courier & Press staff writer Jared Council reported as well that neither Impact Christian Health Center in Evansville nor the Tulip Tree Family Health Care clinic in Gibson County can meet their own needs. Jacqueline Duff, executive director of the Impact clinic, said her facility has about 600 patients served by volunteer dentists, and a 300-person waiting list.
The clinic opened in 2006 to relieve hospitals of dental emergency room visits. Deaconess Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center helped with finances through 2008, with contributions ranging from $280,000 to $70,000. County contributions have dwindled. Health officials say they can't meet their $100,000 contribution for next year. Consequently, they have asked the County Council to increase its contributions from $130,000 to $230,000. That comes from riverboat money. No decision is expected soon, although health officials are looking for other stakeholders and other options for next year.
This is a tough situation in tough times, with no one truly to blame. But the effort of those trying to restart a clinic for the needy is right and must go on. Meanwhile, just think about having a tooth ache and nowhere to get help, other than an emergency room.
Subscribe to the Courier & Press or The Gleaner
Need Help? Call us at 1-877-304-7771.
Monday-Friday: 6am-5pm / Saturday: 6am-11am / Sunday: 7am-Noon


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Alternative Names: Mou Hasamazu ni wa Irarenai♥, Mou Hasamazu niwa Irarenai, Mou Hasamazuniha Irarenai, Okkiku naru Fushigina Kusuri, Tight Encounters, もう挟まずにはいられない
Genres: Adult
Followers: 3
Artist(s): Kaiduka
Year: 2013
Status: 1 Volume (Complete)
Next: Mou Hasamazu ni wa Irarenai 1
Description: 8. Okkiku naru Fushigina Kusuri (Strange Growth Serum)The royal princess has always been well-behaved, modest and humble... Unfortunately, she is also very modest and humble when it comes to her body figure. And thus, dreaming of being attractive, she orders one of her servants who dubs as a doctor to develop a growth medicine....The medicine works, and the princess grows to a beautiful adult age.... Unfortunately there are some unexplored side effects to the medicine and the kind doctor is going to have to deal with them first hand.
|Sorry we don't have any chapters for this manga! Please try again later or read a different manga instead~


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No announcement yet.
NVIDIA Publicly Releases Its OpenCL Linux Drivers
new posts
GPU raytracing
Three years, max...Last edited by V!NCENT; 10-05-2009, 08:59 PM.
This, and articles it links to, are a good read:
Ray tracing is nice, but rasterisation isn't going anywhere.
This, and articles it links to, are a good read:
Ray tracing is nice, but rasterisation isn't going anywhere.
Of course nVidia doesn't want to go out of business and throw a shitload of R&D money and aquired IP and patents out of the window.
The point is that raytracing looks better and is a more sophisticated rendering technique that allows for more detail and truly round objects. The only downside to it is that it is more calculation intensive and so the only reason it is not mainstream is because desktop PC's do not have the calculation power yet.
People also say that you need an API and that's nonsence, since raytracing is extremely easy to code and takes less effort than coding a rasterising renderer. It is also cheaper to develop because with raytracing one is not bound to just one type of game engine. You can make one engine for an endless amount of different games.
I was about to make one in OpenCL but because there is no such good support yet so I decided to start making one in software for Haiku because it is extremely fast, easy to code for, and can later be optimised with OpenCL kernels later on as Gallium3D lands with HW acceleration for my ATI card.
You might want to quote the parts that talk about problems with ray tracing too. Otherwise you're just trolling.
PC Perspective: Ray tracing obviously has some advantages when it comes to high levels of geometry in a scene, but what are you doing to offset that advantage in traditional raster renderers?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: I'm not sure which specific advantages you are referring to, but I can cover some common misconceptions that are promulgated by the CPU ray tracing community. Some folks make the argument that rasterization is inherently slower because you must process and attempt to draw every triangle (even invisible ones)�thus, at best the execution time scales linearly with the number of triangles. Ray tracing advocates boast that a ray tracer with some sort of hierarchical acceleration data structure can run faster, because not every triangle must be drawn and that ray tracing will always be faster for complex scenes with lots of triangles, but this is provably false.
There are several fallacies in this line of thinking, but I will cover only two. First, the argument that the hierarchy allows the ray tracer to not visit all of the triangles ignores the fact that all triangles must be visited to build the hierarchy in the first place. Second, most rendering engines in games and professional applications that use rasterization also use hierarchy and culling to avoid visiting and drawing invisible triangles. Backface culling has long been used to avoid drawing triangles that are facing away from the viewer (the backsides of objects, hidden behind the front sides), and hierarchical culling can be used to avoid drawing entire chunks of the scene. Thus there is no inherent advantage in ray tracing vs. rasterization with respect to hierarchy and culling.
PC Perspective: Antialiasing is somewhat problematic for ray tracing, since the "rays" being cast either hit something, or they don�t. Hence post-processing effects might be problematic. Are there other limitations that ray tracing has that you are aware of?
PC Perspective: While the benefits of ray tracing do look compelling, why is it that NVIDIA and AMD/ATI have concentrated on the traditional rasterization architectures rather than going ray tracing?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: Reality intrudes into the most fantastic ideas and plans. Virtually all games and professional applications make use of the modern APIs for graphics: OpenGL(tm) and DirectX(tm). These APIs use rasterization, not ray tracing. So, the present environment is almost entirely rasterization-based. We would be foolish not to build hardware that runs current applications well.
PC Perspective: Is there an advantage in typical pixel shader effects with ray tracing or rasterization? Or do many of these effects work identically regardless?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: Whether rendering with rasterization or ray tracing, every visible surface needs to be shaded and lit or shadowed. Pixel shaders run very effectively on rasterization hardware and the coherence, or similarity, of nearby pixels is exploited by the processor architecture and special graphics hardware, such as texture caches. Ray tracers don't exploit that coherence in the same way. This is partly because a "shader" in a ray tracer often shoots more rays, for shadows, reflections, or other effects. There are other opportunities to exploit coherence in ray tracing, such as shooting bundles or packets of rays. These techniques introduce complexity into the ray tracing software, though.
PC Perspective: Do you see a convergence between ray tracing and rasterization? Or do the disadvantages of both render types make it unpalatable?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: I don't exactly see a convergence, but I do believe that hybrid rendering is the future.
PC Perspective: In terms of die size, which is more efficient in how they work?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: I don't think that ray tracing vs. rasterization has anything to do with die size. Rasterization hardware is very small and very high-performance, so it is an efficient use of silicon die size. Rasterization and ray tracing both require a lot of other processing, for geometry processing, shading, hierarchy traversal, and intersection calculations. GPU processor cores, whether accessed through graphics APIs or a C/C++ programming interface such as CUDA, are a very efficient use of silicon for processing.
PC Perspective: Because GPUs are becoming more general processing devices, do you think that next generation (or gen +2) would be able to handle some ray tracing routines? Would there be a need for them to handle those routines?
David Kirk, NVIDIA: There are GPU ray tracing programs now. Several have been published in research conferences such as Siggraph. Currently, those programs are roughly as fast as any CPU-based ray tracing program. I suspect that as people learn more about programming in CUDA and become more proficient at GPU computing, these programs will become significantly faster.