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Posted 12/06/2010 11:51:15 EST
Facebook isn't supposed to reflect real life; real life is. The friendship pages and these new features are beyond stalkerish. I want to use Facebook to communicate with people, not read about every d more »
Posted 10/14/2010 03:17:39 EDT
I just had the best burger of my life at Sel de la Terre (better than Bartley's). At $14, it's a steal compared to the other entrees and to these $20 burgers. more »
Posted 04/12/2010 03:33:46 EDT
God, who wrote/edited that casting call? Check out the misspellings of "Massachusetts" and "Wellesley" and usage of the wrong spelling of "cannons." You do NOT come from "all over"--you come from Reve more »
Posted 03/24/2010 11:27:02 EDT
I love Restaurant Week but only at certain restaurants (meaning the $50+ bracket). Last year, I went to Morton's for my mom's birthday and had the best Caesar salad (which I don't even normally like) more »
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subset: commoncrawl


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Oxford University Press Conducts Academic Survey of Twitter-Speak
Categories: Twitter
It was only a matter of time before the academic world got its grimy paws on Twitter. (The academic world would also repudiate that last sentence because worlds don't have hands.)
The good folks of Oxford University Press, under the guise of "work", have spent the past six months monitoring 1.5 million tweets. That is a lot of useless information about complete strangers. But since they are the folks who write the dictionary, there was a serious inquiry behind their Twitter-reading:
How badly do twits mangle the English language?
Read on to find out!
Although the most commonly-tweeted word is "the," just as it is in regular writing, the second most common twit-word is "I", which in the non-twit world, ranks down at number 10.
"No doubt this reflects on the intrinsically solipsistic nature of Twitter," the Oxford bloggers conclude. (Good use of those multisyllabic words, by the way!)
The researchers have discovered that tweets are more likely to have gerunds, and those gerunds tend to be words that describe experiences, like "watching", "trying", "listening", "reading" and "eating".
Tweets are also more casual than formal written speech, with greater use of "ok" and "fuck" (which OUP decorously records as "f***").
The OUP's tweet study by the numbers:
Total tweets = 1,496,981
Total sentences = 2,098,630
Total words = 22,431,033
Average words per tweet = 14.98
Average sentences per tweet = 1.40
Average words per sentence in Twitter= 10.69
Average words per sentence in general usage = 22.09
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MS VB Action
The girls middle school volleyball teams hosted the Lady Cameron Yoe Monday afternoon September 26th in the A. P. Kleinschmidt gymnasium. All teams played well, but 7B fell in two games 25-15 and 25-23. Emma Beard and Mckynze Jackson played well during the match, each with good serves.
8B fell in two games 25-10 and 25-15 as the team continues to struggle with their serves and movement around the court.
7A started out well, leading the first match at one point by 7 points, but hit a rough streak. In the second match, Madison Stefek and Magen Walch both had good serving streaks. The girls were able to return serves and move well, but again they came up short and fell in two games with identical scores of 25-21.


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There is some truth to this. Compare the herbal rights movement to the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement had a strong leader, maybe the most impassioned speaker in the history of mankind, and an organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which united a bunch of previously disconnected organizations. When civil rights were threatened, MLK and his supporters were on the scene engaging in nonviolent conflict.
There is no leader of the herbal rights "movement." There is no organization connecting all the disparate groups. When cities in Colorado boot out their existing dispensaries (yes, they can do that in our medical marijuana state), not even one person appears carrying a sign of protest. So, yes, there is a lot of apathy. That's the times. What students are protesting Special Forces being in 75 countries?
That's all going to change rapidly as a face of the movement emerges and an SCLC-like coalition is formed. Now let's address the voting bloc. Right now, the 150 million strong pro-pot voting bloc controls its own destiny - it just doesn't realize it. I think everyone will be shocked at how Republicans jump into the legalization game. Legalization is entirely consistent with free enterprise, a basic Republican tenet, as opposed to the perpetuation of the nanny state, a notion which is entirely democratic.
Once people realize who's really in control, and a dynamic, mediagenic personality shows the way, the forces of demonization and opposition will be routed at the polls. They are way outnumbered. This will not be a partisan issue like health care. Even Sarah Palin's all but come out in favor of pot.
All the herbal rights movement has to do is copy the civil rights movement - and a Marijuanamarch on Washington in the "sweltering summer" would get the job done if pot advocates are serious about legalization.
p.s. I agree with your point "activists" have not demonstrated they are serious yet. It is time to get faces out of vaporizers and onto the Capital Mall.
It's the circle of high life.
Paragraph one, you're probably right, and if I was your financial advisor, I'd steer you to marijuana futures if they existed (there are already marijuana stocks, btw). Get ready for ICANX - the International Cannabis Exchange, because it's coming.
Paragraph two, there's one big difference: I can't count all the families and couple I know who broke up due to alcohol. I don't know any who broke up over marijuana. Please don't misinterpret that to mean I endorse any kind of marijuana use, or that I'm saying there's no downside at all (which a lot of advocates will tell you). Everything in moderation, thanks.
Now we're getting into some creative marketing! Keep it coming.
I believe that was said about Ford when they started making cars in colors other than black.
"Let me clarify that I don't partake, but that I think marijuana should be legal. There are functional drunks, I'm sure pot-heads can be just as functional."
"Plus another way to pad my retirement portfolio off the misery of others."
---Umm . . . like how? And what misery is that?
"But the big picture has been missed here - an economic engine that could have provided great oppurtunity for many has been thrown in the lap of the few."
---A nice turn of phrase, but what does it mean? Does this look like a few?
"You will never see marijuana legal in the same sense as alcohol now."
---That is an opinion, not a fact, based on nothing. The pro-pot voting bloc is 150 million strong.
"In their rush to get high legally, pot heads put control of their cure all in the hands of the medical industry."
---The "medical industry" has no control over medical marijuana whatsoever. It is a shame that the words "medical" and "marijuana" are now joined at the hip. The crippling adjectives limits sales to a tiny fraction of what they could be. Now, a fair question to ask is: "Why did the pharmaceutical industry give up control of medical marijuana?" The answer is the demonization of "reefer," which began in the 1930's, is incredibly resistant to rational thought. Big Pharma will sell you all sorts of barely tested miracle drugs, but it balks at proven natural healer marijuana because it still has visions of sex-crazed pot hussies going on killing sprees and jumping off skyscrapers. This is after countless studies have disproved this bizarre notion for 80 years.
"If you think they". . .
---There is no "they."
". . . will give up control of a cash cow like weed, you've been smoking too much of it."
---Cash cow is correct, you got that part right. The medical industry will most certainly embrace cannabis products once prohibition is lifted. But it's all hands-off at present. Too controversial.
Just to clarify, I believe Willie's cooks its meats without sauce and adds it after cooking.
Here are a few comments on comments from out west . . .
"MLK would so be proud he empowered people like this... I guess in Cleveland this is what our future thinking is......" This would appear to be a facetious comment. However:
The "I have a dream" speech was delivered at the March for Freedom . . . and Jobs. For Dr. King, freedom meant nothing without economic opportunity. The freight train that is cannabis commerce is roaring down the tracks. You have a choice in Cleveland. You could stay down, crying in your beer about the Cavaliers. Or you can embrace the economic benefits and revitalizing power of full-on legalization, becoming a worldwide cultivation center and distribution hub as Norm Roulet has proposed. Why not rise up, setting an example for the entire world how to revitalize a moribund metropolis via cannabis commerce? The fact that this transformation has already begun, with the first volley fired by a local, minority-owned business, should be a great source of civic pride.
"I cant wait to watch the drug thugs on my corner attempt to roll up blunts with this BBQ sauce and have it dripping all down their arms and hands onto the ground and some addict trying to snort up the drippings off the concrete." Well, that's pretty holier-than-thou blunt! Your consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs this week added up to???
"Ok with me but wouldn't it set them up to arrest?" Read the article a little closer. "The pot-infused sauce made in Colorado can only be sold to people in Colorado." Sales will start in Cannarado, and spread to other medical marijuana states. It cannot presently be sold in Grohio. So it's all legal, or quasi legal, due to the many gray legal areas which have not been fully tested. Until federal marijuana prohibition is repealed, all cannabis law is transitional. That's another reason for Ohio to lead the way effecting full-bore legalization instead of wasting time becoming another "me too" medical marijuana state - you won't have to change your entire system when prohibition is repealed. Not to mention you won't be wearing a choke collar limiting you to 5% of the jobs that could be created, 5% of the cannatax that could be collected, and 5% of the contribution to GNP (Gross National Product).
"Circle of inner city life.....get high, get munchies, sleep....repeat..." Cute, but you're missing the significance. Try this: go to work at an industrial grow facility instead of collecting unemployment . . . lift yourself up by the bootstraps in a modern-day Horatio Alger saga . . . relieve ailments naturally . . . sleep a lot better . . . repeat.
"The government believes it makes more money fining/ jailing people now than it will regulating/ taxing it." You're not far off. That's because the DEA funds economists' studies to find out how much cannatax is available, and they have a vested interest in keeping these figures low. So no one in power really knows how much cannatax could be collected. Those of us who have delved deeply into the issue know it's around $75 billion out of the gate, with the game barely on.
"If pot loses its potency at high temperatures, then it's just wasted. What good is it?" The good folks at Organalabs have already considered that. The packaging might include two bottles: one non-activated sauce for those who prefer to cook with sauce as opposed to putting it on later (which I believe is actually how Willie's prepares their ribs), and another bottle with activated sauce to apply after cooking it. So much for that problem!


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Simple in shape but exquisite in its composition, this burled pioppo wood tray adds an exquisite, natural touch to the scene.


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Distinguished dance label Ed Banger Records is celebrating their 10th anniversary with the release of Ed Rec Vol. X, featuring contributions from Justice, Busy P, Breakbot, Cassius, Sebastian, and more. Out today, the 14-track collection is currently #10 and climbing on the iTunes Electronic Music chart, and earning critical acclaim with Mix Mag declaring it [cont.]
The excellent new Justice live album, Access All Arenas, is streaming on Spotify today. It's an 80 minute set recorded at Nimes Arena last year, with the duo reworking album tracks into an epic and visceral 14 song medley, breathing new life and fire into all of them.
HARD EVENTS—the world-renowned event and festival producer recognized for landmark festivals such as HARD Day of the Dead and the three-day electronic music cruise Holy Ship!!!—has today (April 23) announced the full line-up for the 2013 edition of HARD SUMMER, Los Angeles' biggest summertime music event. Returning this year for its sixth annual edition as [cont.]
French electronic music titans Justice have announced a new live album, Access All Arenas, set for release via Ed Banger / Because Music / Vice / Elektra on May 7th. The 14-track album is a recording of their show in the Nîmes arenas last July, offering a taste of the wild effervescence that makes this [cont.]
Boys Noize celebrates 100 releases of his self titled label, with remixes of both "XTC" and "ICH R U" by The Chemical Brothers and Justice, respectively. Original versions appear on his "Out Of The Black" LP, with the remixes hitting March 18th, including 12″ vinyl.
Fresh off a stint of global arena domination, internationally renowned electronic duo, Justice, have announced that a new five-song EP, Helix, is due out digitally on January 8th on Ed Banger/Because/Elektra/Vice. The EP's title track is an extended version of the song from the band's last full length Audio, Video, Disco in addition to exclusive [cont.]
- Alesso Signs To Def Jam And Releases "Tear The Roof Up" Single
- Kaskade To Release "Redux" EP
- Borgore Sets July 7th Date For "#NewGoreOrder" LP
- Deadmau5 Reveals Track Listing for 'while(1<2)' LP
- Deadmau5 Announces New Album 'while(1<2)' Set For Release June 17
- Questlove & Diplo Team For New VH1 Series, "Soundclash"
- DJ Dan – "Conjunction Funktion" [Remixes]
- A$AP Mob – "Hella Hoes (Thugli Remix)" [Free Download]
- Chris Lake – "Sundown (Chris Lake Remix)" [Preview]
- Flosstradamus – "Rebound" (feat. Elkka)
- Nicki Minaj – "Anaconda (Saint & Lambo Bootleg)" [Free Download]
- Deorro & D!RTY AUD!O – "Hit It" (feat. IE-Z) [Free Download]
- Ellie Goulding - "Goodness Gracious (The Chainsmokers Remix)"
Commented on by soundcloud.Com
- Dimitri Vegas, Like Mike, Diplo & Fatboy Slim - "Eparrei (W&W Remix)" (feat. Bonde Do Role & Pin)
Commented on by boogie bored
- Afrojack - "Forget The World" (Review)
Commented on by boogie bored
- DJ Dan - "Nothing But A Party" [Review]
Commented on by boogie bored
- Alvaro & Carnage - "The Underground"
Commented on by boogie bored
- Kelis - "Food" (Review)
Commented on by Hodges


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Posted at: 01/18/2013 12:44 PM
It's a heartwarming homecoming for twin girls who were joined at birth and recently separated in a marathon surgery. The girls are now sleeping in their own cribs back home in the Watertown area.
News10NBC has been tracking the progress of Amelia and Allison Tucker who are 10 months old.
Fire trucks escorted the twins and their parents to a welcome home ceremony in Belleville, Jefferson County Thursday night.
When Amelia and Allison were born, they shared a chest wall, diaphragm and liver. It took surgeons seven hours to separate them in November.
The doctor who lead the operation says the girls are expected to have full, independent lives.


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Workout move of the day: chest press
Many desire six-pack abs, whether you are a woman or a man. The secret lies in selecting the right exercise and giving your body the right kind of training, along with having regular healthy food. With the wide variety of fitness machines and equipments available nowadays, getting a muscular chest is no longer a distant dream.
Chest press is one of the most preferred ways to build a chiseled chest. A typical chest press session involves lying on a bench and slowly lifting your dumbbell, barbell or a bar to a 90-degree angle. Once your elbows reach the 90-degree angle, remember not to go any further. This will help you to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on the small anterior deltoid muscle, which is one of the leading causes of muscle tear. Then slowly bring the weight back to the starting position. For the chest press to be effective, it has to target the major chest muscles involving the upper and lower chest along with triceps and shoulders.
If you are going for a weight bench, opting for an adjustable weight bench gives you the best choice. Adjustable weight benches such as an incline weight bench can ensure optimal back support as the level of the incline can be adjusted to precise angles. This gives you the freedom to customize your workout. This could also improve your overall strength since an incline weight bench works the upper portion of the chest and deltoid. This is especially useful if you are planning to practice incline chest flyes or incline barbell bench press with a Troy barbell set.
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A good workout bench makes chest press workout an easy breeze. It adds to the fun, while taking the pain out of your workouts!
Guest Blogger: Nina


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Catalogue Number: 205-7349
- Classic game of Guess Who? designed like an electronic notebook
- 4 ways to play & 114 mystery faces to choose from
- Features electronic lights, sounds, & a timer for added excitement
Buy on Tesco Direct from:
Save £5.01
Earn 19 Clubcard points
Product Details
Get more out of the classic game Guess Who? with Guess Who? Extra. Designed just like an electronic notebook, Guess Who? Extra gives you extra games, extra faces and extra fun!
With its clever design, the game board folds back and stands up freely, and features electronic lights, sounds, and a timer for added excitement. With six different themed sheets of faces ready to slot in and four ways to play, you have plenty of mystery faces to choose from.
Requires 2 x AAA batteries.
Product specifications
Product specifications
Key Information
|Age Range
|3 years to 5 years
|Board game


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- Filed Under
Help is on the way to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development and humanitarian relief groups.
The Obama administration made an initial $100,000 available Saturday to provide basic health care, clean water and sanitation following the Philippines government's request for international assistance.
That figure is likely to grow as damage and humanitarian needs are assessed. ...


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Gordon W. Prange Collection
The Gordon W. Prange Collection is the most comprehensive collection in the world of print publications issued in Japan during the immediate post-World War II years, 1945-1949. The Collection comprises virtually everything published on all subjects during this period - books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, news agency photographs, posters, maps and related archival materials.
The contents of the Prange Collection once constituted the files of the Civil Censorship Detachment (CCD), an operating unit of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers' (SCAP) Press, Pictorial and Broadcast Division during the Occupation of Japan. Between 1945 and 1949, the CCD was responsible for reviewing all Japanese publications to identify violations of the Code for the Japanse Press (See this blog post). When violations were identified by CCD examiners, censorship action was taken. The Collection contains approximately 600,000 pages of censorship documents.
Welcome to the guide to English-language materials in the Gordon W. Prange Collection! Though the Prange Collection is known for its Japanese print publications, it also contains significant gift collections and English-language reports and documents. The reports and documents were shipped to the University of Maryland in 1949-1950 with the Japanese print publications. The gift collections have been acquired over the years by the University of Maryland Libraries. They include manuscripts, photographs and oral histories that document the personal and professional lives of Americans who served in Allied Occupied Japan.
Gordon W. Prange papers
Contact Us
The Gordon W. Prange Collection
Hours:9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday - Friday
Phone: 301-405-9348
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In today's online edition of the New York Times, University of Notre Dame philosophy professor Gary Gutting attempts a takedown of those who attempt to inject religion into secular political debates. His clear target is the religious right and the Tea Party who believe in limited government. Gutting writes that it is irritating to be confronted with "the irrationality of claims that distinctively modern questions about capitalist economics and democratic government were answered in the Bible 2000 years ahead of time," such as those by the conservative Christian group The Family Leader's Voting Guide.
Gutting has a point, but the problem with the piece–and much of the liberal disdain for conservative Christians and their Tea Party allies–is the same argument can be used to dismiss liberals who employ religious arguments on behalf of their own positions on the profoundly secular question of taxes, entitlements and the public debt. Coming as it did the day after the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced congressional efforts to cut back on entitlement spending as part of a solution to the debt ceiling crisis, the omission was an extraordinary example of bias. The religious left is just as guilty as those on the right of trying to depict God as being on their side of the aisle.
As even Gutting concedes, the last thing we should want is a "naked public square" in which persons of faith and faith perspectives are marginalized in our political life. The movements to end slavery and segregation in this country would be unimaginable without the religious fervor that was the greatest single motivating factor for those who protested those evils. So let's stipulate that both the left and the right have the right to invoke moral arguments on behalf of their priorities.
The problem arises when religious advocates distort debates about the proper rate of taxation or government spending into questions of religious principle. The Family Leader has every right to speak up on behalf of limited government as a moral imperative, just as the Catholic Bishops or the Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism have the right to argue that cuts to entitlement programs are immoral. But when such groups speak in the name of their faiths in such a way as to depict their opponents as somehow immoral or irreligious, then a line has been crossed. It is no more the duty of an evangelical Christian to choose one side in the debt ceiling debate than it is of a Catholic or a Jew to be on the other.
Gutting is correct to question Family Life's crossing of this line, but one is left wondering why neither he nor anyone at the Times thinks the same behavior is noteworthy when it is committed by far more influential groups on the left.


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Texas Politics
All Texas politics all the time from the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle
Yearly Archive for 2009
Bradley dodges question on Willingham case
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, asked Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley whether the Texas Forensics Commission under his leadership will hear the arson report prepared by Craig Beyler in the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Bradley said he believes it would be inappropriate for him to discuss the specifics of the Wilingham case, but he said […] [Read More]
Bradley's operating standards
The Texas Forensic Science Commission's new chairman, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, told the Senate committee today that he has proposed standards that he thinks the agency needs to employ in its investigations. Bradley said he believes the commission is limited in its investigations to studies of problems at crime labs. Bradley's standards: 1. […] [Read More]
Senate hearing has moment of silence
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, had the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice hold a moment of silence for dead soldiers, a clear reference to the murders at Fort Hood. [Read More]
White and Sharp among the top self-financing candidates
Houston Mayor Bill White and former Texas Comptroller John Sharp are both in the top five in the nation in the amount of self-funding for their campaigns so far, according to an article in USA Today. Both men are vying for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's yet-to-be-vacated seat in an election that currently does not […] [Read More]
Kinky Friedman at Willingham hearing
Dressed in his usual black cowboy outfit, Kinky Friedman showed up for today's Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing on the Cameron Todd Willingham execution. Asked why he was here, Friedman replied, "Justice." [Read More]
Senate hearing on Willingham case carried live
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing on the Texas Forensics Commission investigation into the arson techniques used in the Cameron Todd Willingham case will be carried by livestream from the Senate today at 10 a.m.: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/bin/live.php Willingham was executed in 2004 for an arson that killed his three daughters in 1991. Arson experts now say […] [Read More]
Democrats blast party-switcher, Republicans celebrate defection (UPDATE)
The Fort Hood shootings couldn't escape mention even at a political news conference today. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie, who blasted Rep. Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville for deciding to switch from the Democratic to the Republican party, opened this way: "Unfortunately, we are here on a day when our state and nation is mourning […] [Read More]
Mid-week rumblings in Texas Politics
Thompson the first casualty The Texas Governor's race has had its first casualty. Garland Therapist and Democrat Mark Thompson announced that he is dropping out of the race for Texas Governor because the field is too crowded. Thompson then announced that he is endorsing East Texas rancher Hank Gilbert. Thompson's announcement comes following a Univeristy […] [Read More]
Medina comes down on Hutchison
Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina went on the offensive against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison today in an op-ed she is sending to newspapers. Conservative and pro-choice rarely fall in the same sentence, unless you're referring to "conservative" gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison, of course. A long time Washington insider and clear adversary on pro-life […] [Read More]
Hutchison responds to U.T. poll
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign manager went on the offensive today to say the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll that showed Gov. Rick Perry with a 12 percentage point lead in the Republican primary was unreliable. For Terry Sullivan's full analysis of the poll, please read the extended entry. [Read More]
Show More


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Hold down Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key + mouseclick to select more than one option
|Avg. Dinner Entrée
|Greater than $25
|$18.01 - $25
|$12.01 - $18
|$7.01 - $12
|Less than $7
Posted by Thomas K. on 04/06/2015
Been coming here for years. Never had anything but a good experience. Easter brunch here became a family tradition, party of 6. Worst service experience anywhere in a long time and I feel compelled to call them on it.Waiter arrives and after we explain we've dined here many times he nonetheless goes on to tell us how much we ought to order. No thanks. Then he goes on to tell us we have to order everything at once which we politely decline to do. No, no, no. He INSISTS, and don't worry, he'll "pace it". Well, maybe it isn't him it is "management" insisting. We capitulate. Yeah right. Well not only did all the courses arrive within 30 minutes there were times when there wasn't enough room on the table to put the dishes. Asked the busers to please have the waiter come, he eventually saunters over after last course arrives and says. "Oh, would you like me to slow it down now?" I see some similar comments. I will give it another try but not for a while and if this is the new normal for Stanton I won't waste my time in the future. btw on another note, while I understand the reasons not to seat until the whole party has arrived, when its 5 of 6 and they say #6 is parking the car and there's an 80 year old woman in the party no matter how fabulous and 65ish she looks she is 80, you can seat them. Clueless, tone deaf and needlessly rude imo.
Posted by Ronnid on 05/13/2014
Unless you are a glutton for punishment, enjoy rude and obnoxious staff and mediocre food....do not go. Ours was a birthday party and 9 of the 10 people were there but they would not seat us. The poor birthday girl was stuck in traffic and called but they gave our table away- told us it would be a 2 hour wait - Then they finally put us up in the lounge. 10 people in a tiny area with benches- and a 2x3 table....we attempted to eat on our laps. The server was so rude- she actually picked up my coat and bag which were next to me and put them on my lap- nobody sat there the entire time I was there. The crowd was mostly groups of single women all looking at their phones like they had somebody to urgently chat with- nobody smiled or made eye contact- and nobody appeared to be having any fun. I could not wait to get out of there - and I would say it was my age but all the 30's friends that were with me felt the same way. It was so loud it was impossible to even speak to the person next to you. The food was ok- nothing remarkable enough to get me back to that place.
Posted by Mary waddelll on 08/04/2013
I will never go again. Music was way too loud for a older person. Very tight space. Had to wait until 11pm to be seated. Portions were quite small. Way over priced more like a kids portion. Service was slow.
Posted by viv on 04/28/2013
before I went there I read the reviews, some were great and some were bad, but I still went, I have to say that the food was unreal but the wine was BAD! pinto grigio that felt like if it was watered down, they should really serve better wine.
Posted by Suzanne S on 08/23/2012
Came all the way from England to eat here not dissapointed.The food and service was Fantastic,loved every mouthfull.Wish I lived in NYC would go all the time.A must go to place.Well done Chef Chris
Posted by anonymous on 08/20/2012
The Sunday brunch was pretty good (though on the expensive side) but the service was so rude that I will never return. We had to flag down our waitress to ask for coffee, another menu, etc and each time she acted as though we were such an inconvenience. The busboys grabbed plates off the table whilst we still had forks in hand and were clearly not done. I actually had to stop a busboy from grabbing a plate with several bites left on it and he gave me a really dirty look...am I wrong for asking him not to take food away while everyone at the table was still clearly chewing? I felt extremely rushed and won't be running back for $40 brunch from a rude wait staff.
Posted by anonymous on 04/15/2012
the food portions were very small for such a high price tag, granted i understand the concept of tapas but for the price youd expect a little more. i also found the menu to be all over the place, there was no flow or apparent theme. you go from 4 or 5 italian dishes to a mexican/central american dish to an american dish to an asian dish. if i want authentic tapas its not going to have eggplant parm and ravioli mixed up with spring rolls and sashimi. i couldnt figure out if it was mexican, asian, italian, american, steakhouse, greek/mediterranean or other. for a chef /owner who comes across as very critical of others i would have definitely expected more from him.


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An embedded controller disk-drive system including a microprocessor features writing and reading of compressed/decompressed data having an arbitrary length to a rigid disk drive in an efficient manner which is transparent to a host of the disk-drive system. A compression factor relating a size of a logical block to the number of bytes stored in a physical sector on the rigid disk is selected and stored in the microprocessor. The data string is compressed, whereupon the microprocessor generates a specialized table containing descriptor field information for each logical block. The descriptor field contains information on a physical block address corresponding to the location of the compressed data string, the length of the compressed data string, and also, for overflow data, linking sector information for linking the compressed data string between two or more physical blocks on the rigid disk.
1. A method of storing a logical block on a rigid-disk in a disk drive system by compressing said logical block prior to writing said logical block on said rigid-disk, resulting in a compressed logical block, wherein the compressed logical block can later be read, decompressed, and reconstructed, and wherein said method is transparent to a host computer coupled to said disk drive system, said method comprising the steps of:
selecting a compression factor based on an estimated ratio of a size of said logical block before said logical block has been compressed to an average size of said logical block after said logical block has been compressed;
formatting said rigid-disk with fixed sector lengths, said fixed sector lengths based on said compression factor;
compressing said logical block according to a compression algorithm;
generating a table containing descriptor field information associated with said compressed logical block, said descriptor field information containing a set of parameters which indicate a physical location where said compressed logical block is to be stored along with a length of said compressed logical block, said table generated by a processor; and
writing the compressed logical block on said rigid-disk.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said set of parameters includes a head, cylinder and sector of said logical block.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein if said length of said compressed logical block exceeds said fixed sector lengths, said set of parameters further includes linking sector management information for describing a sector location where overflow of said compressed logical block is stored.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said fixed sector lengths are comprised of 256-bytes.
5. In an embedded controller disk-drive system including a microprocessor and a compression/decompression coprocessor, a method of writing a compressed logical block to a rigid-disk physically formatted with fixed sector lengths, which is transparent to a host computer system coupled to said disk-drive system and wherein said compressed logical block can later be decompressed and reconstructed, said method comprising the steps of:
selecting a compression factor based on an estimated ratio of a size of a logical block before said logical block has been compressed to an average size of said logical block after said logical block has been compressed;
setting said fixed sector lengths as a function of said compression factor;
compressing said logical block from N-bytes to said compressed logical block using said compression/decompression coprocessor, said compressed logical block having M-bytes;
transferring said M-bytes of said compressed logical block to a buffer memory;
determining a length of said M-bytes of said compressed logical block;
entering descriptor field information into a table associated with said compressed logical block, said descriptor field information indicating a physical head, cylinder and sector where said M-bytes of said compressed logical block are to be stored, as well as the length of said M-bytes of said compressed logical block.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein if said length of M-bytes of said compressed logical block exceeds said fixed sector lengths, said descriptor field information further comprises linking sector management information for describing a sector location where overflow of said compressed logical block is stored.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein said table is accessed by a K-byte read of said microprocessor, wherein K is a number of bytes in said table associated with said descriptor field information for said compressed logical block.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein each of said fixed sector lengths of said rigid disk is comprised of 256-bytes.
9. An embedded controller system for writing a compressed logical block to a rigid-disk for storage thereon, reading said compressed logical block from the rigid-disk, and decompressing the compressed logical block read from the rigid-disk, and wherein said controller system is transparent to a host system of the embedded controller system, comprising:
a compression and decompression means for compressing a logical block, resulting in said compressed logical block, according to a compression algorithm and later decompressing the compressed logical block according to a decompression algorithm so that said logical block is reconstructed;
a buffer memory means for storing said logical block;
a microprocessor means for transferring said logical block from said buffer memory means to said compression and decompression means and for receiving information from said compression and decompression means corresponding to a length of said compressed logical block resulting from compression of said logical block by said compression and decompression means, said microprocessor means also storing a compression factor which is based on a ratio of a size of said logical block before said logical block has been compressed to an average size of said logical block after said logical block has been compressed, wherein a physically formatted fixed sector length of said rigid-disk is specified by said compression factor;
a table memory means for storing descriptor field information associated with said compressed logical block which indicates a sector of said rigid-disk where said compressed logical block is to be stored and a length of said compressed logical block;
controller means for transferring said compressed logical block from said buffer memory means to said rigid-disk.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein said descriptor field information comprises head, cylinder and sector information associated with said compressed logical block.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein if said compressed logical block has a length exceeding said physically formatted fixed sector length, said descriptor field information further comprises linking sector management information for describing a sector location where overflow of said compressed logical block is stored.
12. The system of claim 11 wherein said fixed sector length comprises 256-bytes.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/533,898, filed Jun. 4, 1990, now abandoned.
The present invention relates to the field of information storage on magnetic disk drives; more specifically, with ways of organizing compressed data onto a hard disk to increase the effective data density.
Data compression is a branch of information theory in which the primary objective is to minimize the amount of data to be transmitted. As applied to rigid magnetic disks, the aim of data compression is to reduce redundancy in the stored or communicated data, thus increasing the effective data density on the storage medium. Ultimately, this means that more information can be stored using data compression algorithms than could be stored if compression techniques were unavailable. In this manner, compressing data to be stored or transmitted reduces storage and/or communication costs.
Because data compression involves transforming a string of characters in some representation (such as ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) code into a new string (e.g., of bits) that contains the same information but whose length is as small as possible, various problems arise. The most important of these is related to the fact that it is virtually impossible to predict a priori the size of a compressed data record. In other words, when a data compression algorithm operates on a string of data having a length of N-bytes, there is no way of deducing ahead of time what the size of the compressed data record will be. All that is known is that the compressed data string will be (CR*N) bytes long, where CR is the compression ratio (usually <1, however, in some instances the compression ratio may be >1 so that the compressed data requires more storage than the uncompressed data). Thus, the unpredictable nature of the compression/decompression process creates certain difficulties in storing large volumes of compressed data efficiently on a hard disk drive. This is especially the case when the disk has been preformatted with a fixed-length sector size. In prior approaches using a preformatted rigid-disk having fixed-length sector sizes (e.g., 512 bytes), there is usually a one-to-one correspondence between the number of bytes of a logical block and a physical sector on the disk. Storing compressed data for a 512-byte logical block in a 512-byte physical block would result in large portions of unused memory on the disk.
A computer hard disk is basically a three or four dimensional object. The track, or cylinder comprises the radial dimension of the disk, the number of heads (i.e., the sides of the disks) represents the vertical dimension; and the number of sectors within a track is the third, circular dimension. How much data can be stored inside each sector (i.e., the size of each sector) is the fourth dimension. Most often, a hard disk is physically formatted such that the available storage area is divided into a plurality of equal-sized regions. By way of example, most hard disks are divided into a fixed set of 512-byte sectors. Logical formatting, on the other hand, is essentially the adoption of a disk to the standards of the operating system. From a logical standpoint, the operating system treats the hard disk as a one-dimensional object and the sectors of the disk as a sequential list of logical block addresses. The logical formatting therefore is the road map that the operating system uses to read/write data information from/to the disk.
When compressed data is written to a hard disk, the smallest logical block size available for storing that information is dependent upon the physical formatting of the disk. In most instances, this means that the compressed data is stored into 512-byte large logical blocks. But since the compressed data is normally much smaller than a 512-byte block, this conventional method of storing compressed data results in inefficient use of disk space. Basically, relatively large portions of the hard disk go unused and are unavailable for further information storage. By way of example, for a compression ratio of 2:1, a 512-byte data string is compressed to a 256-byte string. When stored in the standard 512-byte logical block on a preformatted hard disk, the result is 256-bytes of wasted memory space.
What is needed then is a way of storing compressed data information onto a formatted hard disk more efficiently. As will be seen, the present invention provides a method of structuring the storage of compressed data on a hard disk in an embedded controller environment. The present invention is beneficial for increasing the storage capacity of a disk drive by utilizing the efficiency of compressed data, adding flexibility, and for enhancing the operating performance of the disk drive system. Moreover, the present invention allows management of the data compression/decompression to be performed transparent to the host processor such that no change need be made to the host operating system hardware or software.
An embedded controller disk-drive system including a microprocessor and a compression/decompression coprocessor is described. The described system enables the writing/reading of compressed/decompressed data having an arbitrary length to a rigid-disk drive in a more efficient manner. Furthermore, the present invention permits data to be compressed/decompressed transparent to the host such that no specialized changes need to be made to the host hardware or software.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a compression factor most likely to result from the compression of a data string is first selected and is stored within the microprocessor. The compression factor most likely fixes the relationship between the number of bytes in a logical block and the number of bytes stored in the physical sector on the rigid-disk. Most rigid-disks are preformatted with a fixed sector length (e.g., 512-bytes).
Following the actual compression of the data string from an N-byte to an M-byte string (wherein M is normally<N), the microprocessor generates a specialized table containing descriptor field information associated with the compressed data string for each logical block. This descriptor field information contains a set of parameters indicating the particular physical block address where the compressed data string is to be stored as well as the length of the compressed data string. In the event that the compressed data string is larger than the physical block size available, the table also includes linking sector management information for linking the compressed data string between two or more physical blocks on the rigid-disk.
By way of example, during an overflow condition, compressed data must be stored across two or more separate physical block addresses. For such a situation the linking sector management information points to a new table entry (often located in a reserve partition of the table memory) which contains the appropriate descriptor field information indicating the particular physical block where the overflowed portion of the compressed data string is to be stored. Also included in the reserve table entry is the length of the overflow portion of the data string and any further linking information.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the embedded controller data compression system of the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates the compression process activity on the data buffer bus shown in the embedded controller of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 illustrates the data storage structure employed in the currently preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows the logical block address/head cylinder sector (LBA/HCS) table utilized in conjunction with the embedded controller system of the present invention.
FIG. 5 illustrates the LBA/HCS table of FIG. 4 further including main and reserve partitions.
FIG. 6 illustrates how the compressed data overflow is handled according to the presently preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates concurrent data transfer operation in the embedded controller of FIG. 1 for a single buffer scheme.
FIG. 8 illustrates concurrent transfer activity in the embedded controller of FIG. 1 for a dual buffer scheme.
An apparatus and method for efficient storage of compressed data on a magnetic disk drive system is described. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as device types, number of bits, attributes, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known elements have not been shown or described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.
With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a block diagram of the embedded controller data compression circuit of the present invention. The embedded controller system comprises a compression/decompression coprocessor 10 coupled to two address/data buses 22A and 22B, a microprocessor 12, and a dictionary memory 11. Coprocessor 10 is a single integrated circuit designed for use in mass storage devices such as rigid disks. At present, an I/C-105 compression/decompression processor manufactured by InfoChip™ Systems, Inc., (Santa Clara, Calif.) is employed. The purpose of coprocessor 10 is to receive address and data information from microprocessor 12, compress the data in buffer 14A and/or 14B according to an adaptive data compression algorithm, and finally transmit the compressed data information back to data buffer 14A and/or 14B along the appropriate bus (i.e., either bus 22A or bus 22B).
Eventually, the compressed data is transferred from buffer 14 for storage on the rigid disk. This is coordinated by the buffer manager 19 embedded within integrated controller 18. Integrated controller 18 comprises a SH350 integrated circuit manufactured by Cirrus Logic, Inc., of Milpitas, Calif. The purpose of controller 18 is to manage the data transfers between the host central processing unit (CPU) (e.g., Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), data buffers 14A and 14B, microprocessor 12 and the rigid disk drive. This function is largely handled by the buffer manager 19 which also initiates a refresh (RFSH) cycle. Bus ownership for busses 22A and 22B is governed by bus arbitration units 17A, 17B and 17C. Control of these bus arbitration units is supplied along a control line coupled to microprocessor (μP) 12 (e.g., control line 21 coupled to arbitration unit 17A). Data bus 22A and data bus 22B are also shown having address and data lines coupled from microprocessor 12 directly to LBA/HCS table memory 15 through arbitration unit 17B. This allows direct communication between LBA/HCS table memory 15 and microprocessor 12.
In operation, coprocessor 10 employs a completely adaptive data compression algorithm which constructs a dictionary as data is processed by the coprocessor's internal compression engine. This dictionary is stored in a dedicated dictionary memory 11, which in the currently preferred embodiment comprises a 32-K�8 memory. During decompression, that is the process in which compressed data residing in buffer 14 is retranslated back into its original form, the dictionary is reconstructed simultaneously with the data decoding. Although actual compression effectiveness is data dependent, file size reductions of 2-8 times are typically achieved using the embedded controller system of FIG. 1.
Compression/decompression coprocessor 10 relies upon an adaptive compression algorithm commonly referred to as the Lempel-Ziv algorithm. To better understand the operation of coprocessor 10 and the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, consider the following example.
Assume that an uncompressed data string a b a b c b a is input to coprocessor 10 for compression. To encode this input string, coprocessor 10 begins by parsing the input string into indexed substring elements as shown in Table I below. This information, along with the coded data is entered into dictionary memory 11 sequentially.
TABLE I______________________________________ ParsedIndex Substring Code______________________________________1 a o,a2 b o,b3 ab 1,b4 c o,c5 ba 2,a______________________________________
By way of example, the first parsed substring element is the character a. The character a is given an index of 1 and is coded as o, a as shown in Table I. According to the Lempel-Zil algorithm, the integer value represents the index number in the dictionary while the character is the last character in the parsed substring. Thus, each indexed parsed substring element can be represented by an N-bit code which is stored in dictionary memory 11.
Continuing with the remainder of the input string, the second character b is fetched, and as no preceeding parsed substring has this character, it is assigned an index value of 2 and is coded as o, b. Continuing with the input string, the next character a is fetched. In as much as the character a has previously been parsed (i.e., index 1) there is no output code and the next character in the string is fetched; character b. The input string is now a b and as this has not been previously parsed, that string is encoded as 1, b. The number 1 indicates the index for a previously parsed substring, while the last character in the substring is the character b. Similarly, the rest of the input characters are parsed as shown by entries 4 and 5. It is appreciated by practitioners in the art that larger input strings result in more redundancy, thereby increasing the compressibility of the data information.
Decompression involves the same process only in the reverse order. That is, previously coded information is read into coprocessor 10 which then regenerates a dictionary (e.g., such as that depicted in Table I) and utilizes it to reconstruct the original data string.
Normally, each of the data buffers 14A and 14B are partitioned into two distinct sections: the first section holding previously compressed data bytes, and the second, storing data that is next to be compressed. By virtue of the look aside architecture, microprocessor 12 needs to be heavily involved in the compression/decompression process. For example, microprocessor 12 may initiate a compression cycle on a data block by passing the data information through coprocessor 10 onto data bus 22A and 22B for storage in the portion of the data buffer reserved for uncompressed data. Coprocessor 10 then begins the compression process on a byte-by-byte basis. Ideally, the reading of uncompressed data and writing compressed (i.e., coded data) back to data buffer 14 occurs concurrently. This operation is illustrated in FIG. 2.
In a more general case, multiple data buffers 14A and 14B may be employed (along with additional arbitration units 17A through 17C) to allow concurrent writing to any source (i.e., communication between buffers 14A and 14B and controller 18 concurrent with the compression/decompression process). For such a situation, a read or write may be performed from the host or to the disk from buffers 14A and 14B simultaneous with the process of FIG. 2.
In FIG. 2, during a first time period T, a byte N is read from one section of data buffer 14 by coprocessor 10. Note that when byte N is read, it is in an uncompressed format. Coprocessor 10 then begins to generate the code for byte N. To maximize efficiency, the coprocessor writes previously encoded data back to buffer memory 14. If necessary, the coprocessor 10 reads the next data byte N+1 from buffer 14. In order to generate this code word these read and write cycles are timed to occur within an interval T, and if the compression/decompression process falls within a time period 2T, then coprocessor 10 may write the coded byte N to data buffer 14 at the same time that it starts to generate the coded for byte N+1. Thus, reading and writing of uncoded and coded data information to and from data buffer 14 takes place concurrently with the compression process to maximize data through-put.
According to the present invention, compressed data density is increased by altering the fundamental relationship between logical blocks and physical sectors on the rigid disk to thereby avoid inefficiencies in data storage. It achieves this by way of LBA/HCS table 15. Table 15 provides a way of associating, for every logical block of information, descriptive parameters--not only where the data is to be physically stored on the hard disk, e.g., the head, cylinder and sector (HCS) locations, but also the actual length of the data present and any linking attributes that might be needed to associate multiple physical sectors to a logical block. In essence, table 15 changes the nature of the directory format controlling how information is stored and retrieved to/from the rigid disk drive. Before the logical block descriptor information can be stored into table 15, the relationship between the number of bytes that are to be contained in a logical block and the number of bytes in a physical sector size must be determined. This is determined by choosing/setting the compression factor most likely (CFML) and storing this information in the microprocessor 12. The compression factor most likely is the best estimate of the average or typical size of compressed data in relation to the uncompressed data. For instance, if the original logical block were 512-bytes long and the compressed data usually ended up being approximately 256-bytes, then the user would set CFML =2:1.
It is important to recognize that typically the CFML figure defines the relationship between the number of physical sectors that will be used to store the compressed data associated with a single logical block onto a preformatted hard disk having fixed sector lengths. Consider the example shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, a 512-byte uncompressed logical block has been compressed by processor 10 down to 200-bytes in length. The example of FIG. 3, assumes a CFML of 2:1 so that for a logical block size of 512-bytes, the physical sector size is 512 divided by two, or 256-bytes. Thus, the 200-bytes of compressed data would fit within this 256-byte sector data field. Each physical sector contains an identification field 25, a data field 26, and a check field 27. The compressed data is written into data field 26 as shown by the cross-hatched region 29. The unused portion of data field 26 is indicated by region 28. The next logical block of compressed data may be stored in the next physical sector of the disk denoted by identification field 25', data field 26', and check field 27'.
Traditionally, the number of data bytes in a physical sector is equal to the number of data bytes in a logical block. By way of example, for a logical block of 512-bytes, the physical sector size would also be 512-bytes long. If the aforementioned 200-bytes of compressed data were to be stored in this 512-bytes physical sector, more unused storage space would result. This additional unused storage space decreases the storage inefficiency, and is the motivating reason for making this physical sector smaller.
Assuming a CFML of 2:1, note that the amount of logical data that can be stored on a track is increased by the same factor (i.e., by a factor of 2). This means that for a compression factor of 2:1, a logical track of data can now be stored in one-half the physical space. In other words, for the example discussed above, the disk volume now contains twice as much logical data. Theoretically, the increase in logical data storage is a direct function of the compression factor most likely to occur. This extra capacity is made available to the host system, except for a portion used as a reserved area to manage those logical blocks that do not compress to fit within a physical sector. All that remains is a way of keeping track of the number and location of the physical sectors associated with each logical block and the amount of compressed data in each physical sector. This is the function of LBA/HCS table 15.
With reference to FIG. 4, an example of the type of descriptive parameters stored within LBA/HCS table 15 according to the currently preferred embodiment, is illustrated. Entered into the first table entry location is the start cylinder address, which in the presently preferred embodiment is 2-bytes in length. In general, the number of bytes that must be reserved for the start cylinder address, start head address, start sector address, etc., entries in LBA/HCS table 15 is a function of the parameters of the physical disk drive machine. This means that the number of bytes needed to describe the HCS information associated with the logical block is dependent on the actual number of head, cylinders and sectors associated with the physical disk drive.
The first three entries of the LBA/HCS table hold the HCS information which indicates where the compressed data is to be stored on the disk drive. The fourth table entry contains the length of the data field. By way of example, for the data field length used in the example of FIG. 3, the fourth table entry would contain the binary code for decimal 200. It is important to store the data field length since the microprocessor must be able to differentiate relevant data from the vacant storage locations within a physical sector. Without this information, the microprocessor performing a read operation would be unable to determine what was uncompressed data and what is simply unused storage area. Table entries 5, 6 and 7 provide linking information which are used in the event that the compressed data does not fit within the physical sector size assigned to it. For instance, if the compressed data in the example of FIG. 3 were larger than 256-bytes in length (e.g., 300-bytes), then an additional physical block address would be needed to be designated for storage of the overflow information. This situation is explained in more detail below. In the event that the compressed data fits within the data field defined by the selection of the compression ratio most likely, then 0's are simply stored in table entry locations 5, 6 and 7. Anything other than a 0 in these table entry locations indicates that an overflow condition has occurred.
It should be appreciated that the length of the LBA/HCS table entries associated with a logical block is somewhat variable in length, in other words, additional descriptive parameters may be stored along with the basic essential information described above. For example, in FIG. 4, table entry 8 indicates a housekeeping entry which may be used for instance to indicate whether the data stored at a particular logical block is compressed or decompressed. In other applications, the housekeeping entry may be used to indicate certain defect information. Theoretically, there is no limit to the amount of additional parametric information that may be associated with a particular logical block. In so much as the LBA/HCS table can be very large (e.g., approximately 7.8 megabytes in the preferred embodiment) the architecture shown in FIG. 1 allows for a compressed version of the table to be stored in memory on an accrual bases. In other words, the LBA/HCS table generated by microprocessor 12 for managing the compressed data may itself be compressed to reduce the size of memory 15. Thus, by compressing the LBA/HCS table information, fewer memory parts are required. The attendant decrease in printed circuit board power and space can result in significant cost savings.
With reference back to FIG. 1, consider once again the operation of the embedded controller for a typical compression cycle. For purposes of this example, assume that a compression factor most likely of 2:1 is chosen and stored in microprocessor 12. Compression then proceeds in coprocessor 10 which reduces the data from an original uncompressed N-bytes stored in data buffers 14A and 14B to a compressed length of M-bytes again stored in buffers 14A and 14B. It is important to recognize that M may be greater than or less than N. Of course, under most circumstances M will be<N since the compression algorithm takes advantage of redundancy in the data. That is, highly redundant data will be greatly compressed.
After the compression cycle is complete, coprocessor 10 signifies that it is finished by sending an interrupt to microprocessor 12. At this point, microprocessor 12 reads the status of the compression/decompression chip and determines the length of the compressed data. The microprocessor then generates particular descriptor field information for the M-bytes of compressed data and enters that information in the table entries associated with the relevant logical block. By this process, the microprocessor has stored in table 15, the information it needs to manage the compressed data. After the LBA/HCS table entries for a particular logical block have been written, microprocessor 12 gives controller chip 18 the information it requires for writing the compressed data to the rigid disk.
As mentioned above, the present invention utilizes a linking sector management scheme for handling situations in which compressed data for a logical block does not fit within a physical sector on the disk. This would occur whenever the compressed data length exceeds the users best estimate of the compression factor (i.e., the compression factor most likely). To handle these "overflow" situations, the present invention employs reserve partitions in LBA/HCS table 15 and on the physical hard disk. This situation is depicted in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, arrows 37, 38 and 39 point to cylinder, head, sector address locations, respectively, located in the reserve table partition. Thus, the reserve table partition entries linked from/to the main partition denote the location and length of the overflow portion of compressed data written to the rigid disk. This overflow data is normally written to a reserved partition of the disk itself. Note that the reserve partition table entries, themselves, can also contain a link sector management information. This means that if the overflow compressed data itself exceeds the physical sector size, that the overflow will be extended to another physical sector. In other words, the linking process can continue until the reserved portion has been fully used.
FIG. 6 shows a situation in which a compression factor most likely of 2:1 is selected and the compressed data overflows into another physical sector. (Note that in FIG. 6, the overflow is shown in data field location 26', which immediately follows data field 26. As explained above, in most cases this overflow information will be stored in a reserve partition of the rigid disk rather than in the next physical sector.) In FIG. 6, data field 26 associated with a logical block is completely filled, as shown by cross-hatched region 29. For this situation, the LBA/HCS table entry for this logical block would have linking information which would point to the head, cylinder, sector associated with overflow data portion 35.
To better appreciate the differences between the single data buffer and dual data buffer schemes, consider the example provided in FIGS. 7 and 8. In FIG. 7, a single data buffer scheme is illustrated in which two data transfers may occur concurrently. In FIG. 7, transfers and/or compression/decompression (C/DC) processing occur in time intervals 40 through 44. By way of example, at time interval 40, a logical block N of uncompressed data is transferred from the host to buffer 14 along bus 22. Next, coprocessor 10 operates on logical block N to compress the data. This occurs during time interval 41. At time interval 42, buffer manager 19 again assumes ownership of bus 22 such that the next logical block of data N+1 is transferred from the host to data buffer 14 concurrent with a transfer of the compressed data for logical block N from buffer 14 to the rigid-disk. At time interval 43, coprocessor 10 assumes ownership of the bus and compresses the data associated with logical block N+1. At time interval 44, two concurrent transfers again occur: a host to buffer transfer of the next logical block sequence (i.e., logical block N+2), and a buffer to disk transfer of the compressed data for logical block N+1. Note that during time intervals 40, 42 and 44 buffer manager 19 has ownership of bus 22, while in intervals 41 and 43, coprocessor 10 assumes control of bus 22.
In the dual data buffer scheme of FIG. 8, three concurrent transfers may occur. In the dual buffer scheme of FIG. 8, two data buffers (e.g., data buffer A and data buffer B) are required along with two address and data busses associated with each of data buffers 14A and 14B.
At time interval 46, a logical block N of uncompressed data is transferred from host to data buffer A. Next, at time interval 47, the compression process commences on logical block N by using the bus associated with buffer A. Concurrent with this operation is the next logical block transfer, (i.e., N+1), from the host to buffer B. At time interval 48, three concurrent processes are taking place: a host to data buffer A transfer of an uncompressed logical block data N+2, a compression process operating on a logical block N+1, previously stored in buffer B, and a buffer to disk transfer on the compressed data associated with logical block N. Note that the three concurrent transfers are made possible by the use of dual buffers and dual data/address buses. This concurrency continues in time intervals 49 and 50 and beyond.
It will be appreciated by practitioners in the art that the apparatus and method of the present invention has very little overhead in terms of access to logical descriptor information. It can be shown that the access method for the logical block to head, cylinder, sector conversion has a constant modulo N relationship, where N is equal to the number of entries in the LBA/HCS table associated with a particular logical block.
Whereas many alternations and modifications of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after having read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that the particular embodiments shown and described by way of illustration are in no way intended to be considered limiting. For example, in alternative embodiments, the LBA/HCS table entries may contain additional or different information. In other instances, the embedded controller system of the present invention may be tailored or altered according to specific applications or system requirements. Therefore, reference to the details of the preferred embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the claims which themselves recite only those features regarded as essential to the invention.
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Shoots mini size marshmallows (not included). Magazine is dishwasher safe.
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Rainbow Bread in Saginaw???
@dogon Catholics do not worship statues, plain and simple.
I have no issues with Muslims as most are good people & are not violent. There are good and bad people of all religions & ways of life.
I will never understand how people can have the nerve to drive expensive cars, have other expensive assets of other kinds, and yet say they are in need of public assistance. They should give up the fancy car, the huge house, etc and then they can have their assistance. I'd rather see my tax money go to someone who is truly deserving of the help.
I didn't have to wear uniforms as I went to a public school, but I would have welcomed them as I was sometimes teased as I didn't have the in style clothes at times and often felt out of place because I wasn't dressed like my peers.
I have had to pay a certain percentage for my benefits from my pretax income and have had to do so for a long time. Why should certain professions be exempt from that?
I live near the area, and it is hard to make either type of turn there without being overly cautious. I think a stop light with or without a "Michigan Left" should be set up. Also there needs to be at the corner of River and Gratiot, the same type of stop light system like at Miller and Gratiot due to heavy traffic, and a lot of close calls I've noticed over the years too.
I am glad the little league did what it did. Parents do not make the choices of who makes an all star team, its the coach's choice. I am glad the bad behavior was not rewarded in any way. Other sports places need to take action like this when parents and spectators cause issues like this.
I am a graduate of Northwood University. No great paying job will be given to you when you are handed your diploma. You have to work for it, and work your way up the ladder.
My suggestions to the freshmen - go to class, pay attention, and do your homework.
My advice to the graduating seniors - go to the job fairs ; make sure your dress, speech, writing, andattitude show professionalism ; you will start low but you can go up from there with hard work.
I agree there. The more people that are working full time in steady work with decent benefits can also contribute to the economy in many ways & pay taxes too. If people are paid decently with good benefits, they are likely to be more productive but of course that is not always true as you will find the occasional person/persons that show up for work & do nothing/minimal to get by.
It is not always the dog with the issue. It is how the dog is trained and treated by its owner. Dogs can be aggressive regardless of size & breed. Dogs also need to be leashed when outside and supervised when around other people, and need not in harm's way to hurt others especially those who perform services like the mail people & utility workers.
I don't mind helping other countries when they are in need, but we need the money to start to fix things here first like our issues with jobs, education, and poverty.
Until the day arrives where public transport options are plentiful like in many large cities like Chicago or New York City, we will need to drive and demand will remain high. Even in the metro Detroit area, there aren't many options. I do not like paying the price for the gas either, and I work 5 days a week. We do need to find our own fuel options including alternate sources in the USA then we will not have to be 100% dependent on what we get from the Middle East for oil.
I am a non smoker, and appreciate the steps that are taken to allow those who choose to smoke to do so in designated areas. I just wish that people would make sure their cigarettes are picked up and placed in the appropriate receptacles.
I am glad a parent is recognizing that there is an issue with bullying. Teachers and others in the education profession need to recognize there are issues with many types of bullying. It will not 100% go away, but it can be nipped in the bud if kids learn to respect the differences of others like race, economic status, grades, clothes that are worn, etc. I was on the receiving end of some bullying as a kid, and certainly do not tolerate those who bully others for being different in any way.
There are good and bad union employees & management. Don't lump all good ones with the bad ones. Without the union movement in the 1930's, most would be still working for low wages, very long hours, and scarce if any benefits especially those in fields where there is a lot of union membership - auto industry, education, and skilled trades.
The governor and his administration need to find other ways to balance the budget. Education needs A LOT of improvement as many countries kick our backsides in the basic subjects testing and keep kids in school for more days in a year too. Many countries do testing during the school years to divide kids in various subject concentrations to either prepare them for a university education, the military, or a job training course. That could work here, and kids would get a better overall education.
Do the crime, do the time. I don't feel sorry for you one bit you vandal.
My father worked 30 years at a union job getting dirty and sweaty 5 or 6 days a week, for 30 years. He has earned his pension, and does not earn anywhere near $60,000 in a year in a pension, and things like 401k's were not emphasized till near the end of his time working.
Any dog of any size & breed can be bad if not trained properly AND not controlled by its owner with a leash. Muzzles should be a last resort.
I can't disclose what I make as it is in the private sector, but it is no where near $100,000 a year before taxes. My parents paid out a lot in taxes while employed, and do not need the worries of my father's pension being taxed. He worked anywhere from 40 to 70 hours a week in a factory to earn that well deserved pension & retirement. Governor Snyder and others should try living a year on the salary of a typical middle class family in Michigan often living from paycheck to paycheck.


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When talk-show host Oprah Winfrey handed a $1 million check last September to the principal of New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy, 200 students watched the broadcast from a church and celebrated with a brass band.
Lawrence Melrose, a ninth-grader with learning and emotional disabilities, sat next door in a school office. The staff was concerned his fighting and cursing could be an embarrassment, said Shelton Joseph, his great uncle. Because he has trouble communicating, Lawrence needed intensive counseling and speech therapy, which the school didn?t provide, Joseph said. He was repeatedly suspended and told he couldn?t take the school bus with other kids, according to his lawyer.
The education of 16-year-old Lawrence represents a common complaint about privately run, taxpayer-financed charter schools: They often exclude children with serious disabilities or deny them the help they need, violating federal laws.
?They left me,? Joseph recalled the boy telling him on the day of the Winfrey celebration. ?They left me out.?