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Area of Expertise: Immunology, Behavior and Well-Being
Education: B.S. and M.S.E., University of Kansas; M.S. and Ph.D., Kansas State UniversityPost-doctoral Training: Kansas State University; United States Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service - Livestock Behavior Research Unit
Research Program
Purdue Center for Animal Welfare Science
(2006) Certificate of Merit. USDA-ARS.
(2005) Certificate of Merit. USDA-ARS.
(2004) Certificate of Merit. USDA-ARS.
(2003) Certificat of Merit. USDA-ARS.
Eicher, S. D. Animal feed composition and methods using the same. U.S. Patent No. 6939864. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Eicher, S. (2006). Age at Transport Effects on Behavioral Responses in Dairy Calves to Novel Stimuli.
Eicher, S. (2006). Animal Well-being and Dairy Production.
Eicher, S., Scott, K., Kunkle, W., & Arthington, J. (2006). Commingling and transport influenceon behavior of small groups of calves. Livestock Production Science.
Eicher, S. (2006). Effects of lairage during transport o innate immune functionof swine.
Eicher, S. (in press). Effects of prepartum milking on postpartum reproduction, udder health and production performance in first-calf dairy heifers. Journal of Dairy Science.
Harris, M., Pajor, E., Sorrells, A., & Eicher, S. (2006). Effects of stall or small group gestation housing on production, health and behavior of gilts. J. Anim. Sci, 102, 171-179.
Eicher, S. (2006). Mucosal immune response to a prolonged stressor in pigs.
Sorrells, A., Eicher, S., Scott, K., Harriss, M., Pajor, E., & Lay,, D. (2006). Post-natal behavioral and physiological responses of piglets from sows housed individually or in groups during gestation. Journal of Animal Science, 84, 757-766.
Eicher, S., Sorrells, A., & Cheng,, H. (in press). Short Communication: Behavioral and physiological indicators of sensitivity or chronic pain following tail-docking in dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci.
Eicher, S., McKee, C., Eicher,, S., & Carroll, J. (in press). Supplemental vitamin C and yeast cell-wall beta-glucan as growth promotants and immunomodulators during an endotoxin challenge in weanling pigs. Journal of Animal Science.


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My condolences to his children.
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For months the woman was repeatedly beaten and forced to have sex, and when police found her she pleaded with them to take her away from the Greenwood home.
Three Greenwood residents have been arrested and face human trafficking charges after investigators said they held two women against their will at their home in Homecoming at University Park, an eastside Greenwood neighborhood.
Gurdeep Singh Dhaliwal, 29, has been charged with human trafficking, while Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, 31, and Amarjit Dhaliwal, 65, were charged with aiding in human trafficking.
All three face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the felony charges, Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper said.
This is the first time anyone has been charged with human trafficking in Johnson County in at least 20 years and one of few times in Indiana, Cooper said.
"It's just an overwhelmingly sad, pathetic, tragic situation," he said. "It's hard to even get your mind around that this happens in our county."
In August, Greenwood police officers were called to a home in the 2800 block of Treehouse Pass. Officers were told Gurdeep Dhaliwal's wife, her sister and a 21-month-old child were being held in the house against their will. When police went to the house, the two women begged officers to take them away because they were afraid of their husbands, Gurdeep Dhaliwal and Kuldeep Dhaliwal, according to a Greenwood Police Department report.
Gurdeep Dhaliwal's wife told police she had come to the U.S. 13 months earlier as part of an arranged marriage to Dhaliwal and that the pair were married in September 2012. Within days after their wedding, she told police, her husband began hitting her and forcing her to have sex repeatedly. The day before police were called, he had slapped her in the ear, and she went to the hospital because she was in so much pain, the report said.
The woman told police she was afraid of Gurdeep Dhaliwal but couldn't get away from him because of his strength. He also would not let her leave the house alone, she said.
She told police he threatened to beat her or have her deported if she didn't do what she was told, including household chores and taking care of his mother, Amarjit Dhaliwal, the report said. She told police he also had dragged her down the stairs, beaten her with a mop handle and raised a large knife and threatened to cut her head off.
Gurdeep Dhaliwal's brother, Kuldeep Dhaliwal, who was married to the woman's sister, also forced his wife to care for their mother, she told police. Kuldeep Dhaliwal's wife told police she was beaten by her husband as well, the report said.
After the three were arrested, the two women and the 21-month-old were taken to a confidential protected location run by an organization that helps victims of human trafficking. Through the organization the women, who immigrated based on their marriage status, will be able to work with immigration officials to find a new place to live, Cooper said.
Gurdeep, Kuldeep and Amarjit Dhaliwal were taken to the Johnson County jail, and released on $50,000 bond.


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Monday, January 24, 2011
Baby, I'm Yours
The January theme is Baby Love:
We dare you to make a card, project, layout, or whatever fits your stamping style using this month's theme - Baby Love. The baby part could be for a new little someone...or a special someone. Play along for a chance to win some new Verve goodies! That's something everyone loves!
I answered the dare with a Cher-inspired, shabby Valentine for my dear husband ...
Find out more over on the Verve blog!
Stamps: Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Aqua Mist card stock, Basic Grey Capella dp, cardboard box
Ink: Ranger Pumice Stone Distress Ink
Accessories: Jotted Heart die, distressing tool, Martha Stewart heart border punch, My Favorite Things Rolled Flower Die-namics, Kaiser Bliss adhesive pearls, Recollections bling, Making Memories white acrylic paint, woven burlap trim/looped trim/crochet trim (sources unknown), Offray aqua satin ribbon, Maya Road trinket pin, Prima white roses
17 comments:
AMY!!!! You kill me with your creativity! This is absolutely gorgeous! i love the subtle colour and gorgeous GORGEOUS tenxtures! It is absafreakinlutely awesome!!!ReplyDelete
Wow, wow, wow Amy! This is exquisite! It feels antique but modern at the same time ... how do you do that!!!??? A truly inspirational work of art!ReplyDelete
Hugs, Danielle
GORGEOUS!!! Love all the details and the "story" behind the card!! You just mix everything perfectly!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 24, 2011 at 10:27 AM
OMGosh! This card is just so wonderful! I LOVE everything about it! The dimension of the hearts, distressing, lace trims, etc. Straight into my favorites file! Sue (suen)ReplyDelete
Beautiful design, Amy! That loopy lace is GORGEOUS with all the other wonderful details!ReplyDelete
This is so pretty! Great colors and distressing too!ReplyDelete
So lovely!!!ReplyDelete
This is just gorgeous Amy!! Love the shabby chic design and your colors!! Beautiful!! Your distressing and details are incredible!!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous Amy! Great colors!ReplyDelete
Gorgeous! Stunning! Shabby! Brilliant! Magnificent!ReplyDelete
Stunning, Amy! Simply gorgeous with each detail!ReplyDelete
Adorable Amy, so lovely ...ReplyDelete
Gorgeous!!! I love the shabby look and those colors are fab!! I am new to your blog and love everything I have seen you do. I just love your creativity!!ReplyDelete
Fabulous, love the colors, textures, the way you used the two laces, pretty flowers, all wonderful!ReplyDelete
So beautiful. Love the color combination and your embellies are wonderful!!!ReplyDelete
How stunning!!ReplyDelete
Your card is stunning, love the soft blues, the flowers, ribbons, lace and that rolled flower with the pearls, don't want to forget that touch of bling. Beautiful work.ReplyDelete


text:
Swedish Town To Move As Iron Mine Swallows It
City planners and architects began preparations to empty the town and build what they hope will be a new and improved version 2 miles away.
OK, as Greensburg rebuilds from the ground up, people in a town in Sweden are preparing to move their community a couple of miles to the east.
That be the town of Kiruna sits on the edge of an iron mine. Officials realized the mine would slowly swallow the community about 10 years ago, so they began preparing to empty the town and rebuild it - hopefully new and improved - two miles down the road.
INSKEEP: Work will include relocating more than 3,000 apartments and houses, a school and a hospital. An old church will be taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece.
GREENE: The move begins this spring but it's expected to take at least 20 years to complete. So for a generation to come, this will be a town in motion.
You're listening to MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
INSKEEP: And I'm Steve Inskeep.
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Make a Donation Today!Much of the work that Women Against Gun Violence does in the community is made possible by the generous financial support from individuals, foundations and corporations. Half of our annual budget is provided by public donations. Your generous support will assist our programs and their success.
To make an online donation or purchase tickets by credit card please use the Donate Now button (left button). You can also use Indiegogo, PayPal (right button) or mail in a check to the address below.
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WAGV #WearingOrange T-shirt
On Thursday, June 2, join WAGV and a broad-based coalition of organizations, community members and activists across the U.S. that believe we can all do more to save American lives from gun violence. Across the nation, people will be wearing orange to honor the lives and human potential lost each and every day to gun violence for National Gun Violence Awareness Day!
To show your support, purchase a WAGV #WearingOrange T-shirt (available in small, medium and large) for $12 including shipping and handling. Wear something orange, take a selfie, and share it online with the hashtag #wearingorange or email your selfie to email@example.com and we'll share it for you!
Commemorative Copper Bracelet
This beautiful commemorative copper bracelet supports Women Against Gun Violence and helps us to continue our life-saving work. For only $10 including shipping within the continental United States, your bracelet is engraved with the name of someone lost to gun violence and comes with a card that tells their story. Also included is a small cleaning wipe to keep your copper bracelet beautiful. Buy several and hand them out to your friends. Remember those we have lost to this nationwide epidemic. Every sale supports our work in preventing gun violence.
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My Name Is Sally Little Song
ISBN13:by Woods, Brenda
Questions About This Book?
Why should I rent this book?
Renting is easy, fast, and cheap! Renting from eCampus.com can save you hundreds of dollars compared to the cost of new or used books each semester. At the end of the semester, simply ship the book back to us with a free UPS shipping label! No need to worry about selling it back.
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Returning books is as easy as possible. As your rental due date approaches, we will email you several courtesy reminders. When you are ready to return, you can print a free UPS shipping label from our website at any time. Then, just return the book to your UPS driver or any staffed UPS location. You can even use the same box we shipped it in!
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Sally Harrison and her family are slaves on a plantation in Georgia. But when Master decides to sell Sally and her brother, the family escapes to seek shelter with a tribe of Seminoles who are rumored to adopt runaway slaves. After a perilous journey, Sallys family finds and joins the tribe. But while her father and brother easily adjust to Indian ways, Sally cant seem to find her place. Combining the poetry of Sallys songs with the heartracing tension of the familys escape, author Brenda Woods delivers a breathtaking story of a girl caught between worlds.
Author Biography
Brenda Woods lives in Los Angeles, California.


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Welcome to Family Wellness Centre of Connecticut
Your Waterford Wellness Center
Chiropractic Benefits Every Man, Woman & Child
This is an outstanding video explaining Chiropractic and why every man, woman & child on the planet should have their spine checked at every stage of life.Great Job Eddie & Michael.Posted by Chiropractic LifeCenter on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Family Wellness Centre of Connecticut was created by Doctors Frank Musante DC, MS and Kendra Becker, ND, APRN who envisioned a setting that would bring together holistic and conventional medicine. At The Centre, disciplines of Chiropractic care, Naturopathic care, nutritional counseling and sports rehabilitation are used in combination to elicit the best possible therapeutic outcomes for our patients.
Empowering Wellness
We have a Family practice with a comfortable environment for all ages. Families from all walks of life are warmly welcome from infancy through adulthood. Our goal is to serve families helping them maximize their potential. The absence of pain is not the absence of dysfunction. Someone does not need to be in pain to need care, only the desire to live life to the fullest. The Family Wellness Centre of Connecticut, Your solution to optimal health.
Initial visits include a history, physical examination, neurologic and orthopedic assessment. A personalized treatment plan is designed. Our first priority is to get maximize your healing.
The doctors of Family Wellness Centre of Connecticut pride themselves on providing the best care possible. At the Family Wellness Centre of Connecticut, the patient always comes first.
Our goal is to provide patients with the highest quality of care and to teach the skills necessary to maintain optimal health.
Come visit us and start feeling great!!
Call 860-572-7711 or 860-574-9093 to make an appointment


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Privatized housing offers options
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – A bulldozer tears down old construction in order to make way for the new at Hanscom. As a result of privatized housing, military members, DoD civilians, contractors, retirees and their families now have options when deciding to move on base. (Courtesy photo)
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Posted 11/18/2010 Updated 11/18/2010
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by Sarah Olaciregui
66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
11/18/2010 -
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass.
-- Base housing construction, to include new housing as well as remodeling, is more than halfway finished and officials at Hunt Pinnacle say they are on track to have everything complete by August 2011.
"With the project in its last phase, there are now many options available for people who want to move on base," said Kelley Casey, The Landings at Hanscom's community director.
It is important to note, according to Ms. Casey, that base housing is not just for Airmen with dependents. Military of all branches, with or without dependents, DoD civilians, base contractors and military retirees can also move here.
The transition from government-run to privatized housing at Hanscom began seven years ago, but the first steps toward housing privatization began in the mid-1990s with the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI).
Congress recognized that nearly half of the houses on Air Force installations were in dire need of renovations and repairs, and military funding could not cover the cost of renovating them or building new ones. Instead of budgeting billions of dollars for new houses and renovations, Congress incorporated MHPI into the 1996 National Defense Authorization Act. The initiative allows the Air Force to privatize the housing on all domestic Air Force installations.
As a result of privatization, a variety of choices and benefits have opened up for Airmen and their families.
"Hanscom is unique because we have options to offer," said Ms. Casey. "We have brand new homes which are spacious, state of the art homes leasing at the BAH [basic allowance for housing] rate. We also have some renovated homes with new appliances, kitchen cabinetry and floor coverings that rent at rates that reflect the local apartment market pricing."
Property management works closely with construction and has over 80 percent of the homes filled.
Since construction is nearing completion, most of the major inconveniences of living near a construction site have been minimized.
"One of the first questions we get from people interested in moving on base is, 'Will I have to move?'" Ms. Casey said. "We are happy that we have reached the stage of construction where we can finally answer no. Since the project began, about 250 families have moved so we could remodel those homes, but now the last of the 'forced moves' have been assigned."
Besides finishing up remodeling and new housing, Hunt Pinnacle will be installing new playgrounds, tot lots and many other amenities.
"Living on base offers so many advantages," Ms. Casey said. "You have the safety of living in a gated community. You're close to schools, the BX and commissary and you have no commute to work."
The Landings at Hanscom also holds many family activities in order to help neighbors get to know one another and build a sense of community.
"Across the Air Force, most bases have moved to privatized housing," said Ms. Casey. "This is nothing new, but we understand making the change is still not easy to go through. We're looking forward to next summer when construction is completed."
According to Ms. Casey, The Landings at Hanscom will continue to provide quality housing to Airmen, DoD civilians, retirees and their families.
"Privatized housing has been a great option for the military," said Col. Stacy L. Yike, 66th Air Base Group commander. "Privatization shifts the renovation, construction, operations and maintenance responsibilities of family housing to the private sector, which has the expertise to manage these housing assets. This allows Airmen to focus more on the mission with the knowledge that their family is enjoying quality housing in an excellent community. I encourage all of our Team Hanscom members to consider The Landings as a possible housing option."
For further information about Hunt Pinnacle, call the leasing office at 781-861-5062.
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Advanced Micro Devices climbed 8% as investors got excited about the chipmaker's advances in the global virtual reality systems market. In a press release this morning, AMD revealed new advances in hardware and software to make virtual reality more prevalent in the technology world, and it unveiled a new certification program for graphics processing units to simplify the adoption of virtual reality technology among consumers and developers. Advanced Micro says that it has about an 83% market share in home entertainment virtual reality systems globally, and virtual reality-capable gaming consoles powered by AMD technology are in millions of homes across the world. With key partnerships with makers of popular virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift, AMD's Radeon ecosystem is establishing itself as a first-mover in the virtual reality space
AMD CEO Lisa Su confirmed that this announcement slide speaks to three semi-custom wins in all. We know Sony is getting at least one of those thanks to PlayStation Neo news leaks. Who nabbed the other two?
During AMD's Q1 2016 earnings call on Thursday, executives from AMD estimated a 15 percent revenue increase in Q2 2016, plus or minus 3 points, and they cited three semi-custom system-on-chip (SOC) "wins" as the "larger driver" for that revenue. AMD estimates that these SOCs will bring in $1.5 billion in revenue "over the next three or four years." At least one of those three SOC deliveries will begin "ramping" in the second half of this year, with all of those SOCs launching by 2017.
The reason that news is interesting is because AMD's SOC products have mostly been the core components in small-form-factor games consoles in recent years, and major news leaks have connected one of those upcoming AMD SOCs to the "Neo" refresh of the PlayStation 4, which could launch as soon as October of this year.
AMD's CEO Lisa Su made it clear during the earnings call that these semi-custom wins were related to the gaming sector, describing "semi-custom business and gaming" as the "larger driver" of Q2's revenue growth. "If you think about the semi-custom business in the past few years, the third quarter is always the peak," Su told reporters. "It will be the peak this year, as well, but we're starting some of the ramping in the second quarter as we build to the stronger third quarter."
But who is purchasing those other two gaming-related SOCs? AMD remained coy when asked directly: "I don't believe we've gone through any detail about what those wins are," Su said in the call. "I'd prefer to let that come out as our customers are ready to launch."
One of those SOCs may very well land in Nintendo's upcoming console, which the company began publicly acknowledging in March of last year with the name "Nintendo NX." Nintendo only tapped AMD for a GPU with its Wii U console, but speculation of an incredibly powerful NX leads us to believe that Nintendo will dump IBM as a CPU provider and seek a more elegant, integrated SOC solution this time around, which AMD may very well provide. In addition, reports from last October speculated that this system would include "at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use." If that rumor bears out by the time the Nintendo NX is announced this year, this could mean that AMD has provided two distinct SOCs for both the Nintendo NX's primary console base and its portable, "separate-use" controller.
If that NX rumor does not bear out, however, that leaves us with an SOC that could land in a new, Xbox-branded console. According to Su's statements, any unannounced SOCs would land in "a different console or a new console," as opposed to "the current generation," so this wouldn't merely describe any AMD contribution to an "Xbox One Slim" model, but there's no telling at this point whether Microsoft would actually create an Xbox 1.5 console as a result. (Some sort of new Xbox hardware will definitely be revealed by this June, at any rate.)
Su told reporters to expect the Polaris GPU rollout in the "second half" of 2016.
AMD Licenses X86 to China JV
Deal may provide Zen technology for $293M
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Advanced Micro Devices will license technology to make x86 server SoCs to a China partner. A China investment firm will pay AMD $293 million for technology and design services that will enable a joint venture to build next-generation server SoCs for the China market.
The deal gives AMD a needed infusion of cash and a partner in the world's second largest and fastest growing server market. However details about the deal are scarce and could draw fire from Intel with whom AMD signed in 2009 a detailed patent cross license.
AMD's China partner is Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd. (THATIC), one of many financial holding companies with ties to China's Academy of Sciences (CAS). THATIC paid AMD about $52 million this quarter which triggered the company's need to provide information about the joint venture.
Little is known about THATIC or the joint venture which aims to remain secretive until it is closer to having products ready. The group is listed as one of many investment firms in which CAS has a stake. THATIC also has ties to Dawning Information Industry Co., Ltd. which has made world-class supercomputers based on x86 processors.
The deal is expected to be based on AMD's next-generation x86 architecture called Zen. Even AMD is not expected to ship Zen-based server chips in volume until next year. The joint venture is likely to take even longer to assemble a team, design and ship its SoCs.
An AMD spokesman said the joint venture's products "are expected to complement AMD's x86 server offerings." AMD will also receive royalty payments from the JV's future product sales.
The deal is the first fruit of a plan to start a licensing business that AMD's chief executive, Lisa Su, has been talking for several months. It is a much needed shot in the arm for AMD as its core business in PCs declines.
AMD has reported losses and declining revenues for several quarters. It laid off 5% of employees last fall and sold a majority stakeof a packaging plant to a China firm.
Despite the licensing revenue, AMD lost $109 million on revenue of $832 million this quarter. It surprised Wall Street by forecasting its revenues will grow 15% to $957 million in the next quarter, largely due to the beginning of a ramp of one of its three deals to make semi-custom chips for videogame consoles and it aims to break into the black later this year.
The upturn comes as Intel this weekannounced it will lay off 12,000 employees, in large part to compensate for a PC market it said will decline in high-single digits this year as it focuses on growth markets such as servers.
The China deal "is awesome -- I believe this is based around Zen and as such this is a huge endorsement for what AMD has with Zen," said Nathan Brookwood, principal of market watcher Insight64 (Saratoga, Calif.)
"No one's banking on AMD announcing blow out financial quarters anytime soon, in fact the question is whether Zen make it and this lays that to rest in a big way," said Brookwood.
More importantly, "now there will be indigenous China-based x86 server designs," he said.
Next page: IBM, Qualcomm feed China's CPU hunger
IBM, Qualcomm feed China's CPU hunger
China's server customers, including Web giants Alibaba, Baidu and Ten Cent may feel motivated to buy processors from a local suppler. The chips are the most expensive components in servers which represent one of the biggest costs for large data center operators who use millions of them.
The AMD deal comes as the U.S. recently placed restrictions on sales to ZTE, one of China's largest communications OEMs, for allegedly selling systems to Iran. In such a climate ZTE and other large China server makers may welcome a local supply of the key parts.
The AMD deal is similar to one struck in mid-January by Qualcomm around its upcoming ARM-based server SoC. In that deal Qualcomm and China investors are pooling $280 million to form Guizhou Huaxintong Semi-Conductor Technology Co., Ltd., based in an area where China has and plans to build large data centers who could be customers for its chips.
Initially the venture will sell chips Qualcomm designs and makes. Later it will design derivatives of its own for China customers.
It's unclear if AMD's venture has any ties to any of China's data center giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and Ten Cent. The trio defines hardware for its data centers through an effort called the Scorpio Project.
Separately, a China startup announced last year plans to develop its own ARM-based server SoC. Phytium Technology Co. Ltd., founded in 2012, will pack 64 custom ARMv8 cores running at up to 2 GHz into a 640mm2die made in a 28nm processor.
Two years ago, IBM licensed its Open Power processor to Suzhou PowerCore which is developing chips for China server markers. At an IBM event earlier this year IBM showed prototype chips and servers based on the PowerCore chips but neither company nor its customers attended the Silicon Valley event.
Microprocessors represent one strategic technology in which China long has been hungry to have a stake. Under its so-called Big Fund, China planners are also trying to develop or acquire memory chip technology.
The country is one of the world's largest consumers of semiconductors, in part because it assembles the lion's share of the world's computers and handsets. However it makes only a tiny fraction of the world's chips today, a fact that creates a trade imbalance more significant than its oil imports.
If the rising number of China processor alternatives gain a foothold it could be a major setback for Intel which has staked its strategy in part on growth in cloud computing.
In January, Intel struck a server-chip deal with Tsinghua University and Montage Technology Global Holdings, Ltd. Under the deal Tsinghua will design a co-processor module and software for use with Intel's Xeon server chips. Montage will sell the resulting products in the Chinese market, starting next year.
Intel might challenge the AMD deal, however the China partner apparently already has access to the technology. The Intel/AMD cross license was a five year deal that the companies failed to renew in 2015.
The license granted rights "intended to cover only the products of the Licensed Parties." The heavily redacted document lists a dozen exceptions to its terms, most of them not made public. Intel declined to comment on details of the patent agreement.
"All the technologies licensed [to the China joint venture] are AMD technologies and there are no encumbrances," said AMD's Su. "We have closed the deal and have started execution on it," she added noting she also doesn't see any regulatory issues. (Recently, U.S. regulators have increased their vigilance in turning down high tech investment proposed by China.)
AMD expects to get half the $293 licensing fees before the end of 2017. Su said the China deal is not exclusive, and AMD will pursue other license deals but no others are immanent.
— Rick Merritt, Silicon Valley Bureau Chief, EE Times Circle me on Google+
As part of the release of AMD's Q1 2016 financial results (more on that later today) the company is announcing that they are forming a new joint venture to develop x86 SoCs for the Chinese market. The hereto unnamed joint venture will see AMD pair up with Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd (THATIC), who is an investment arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The deal will, in a nutshell, see AMD provide the joint venture with x86 and SoC IP, along with significant engineering and other technical resources, while THATIC provides the remaining technical resources and the financing behind the venture. Overall the deal will net AMD $293 million from the licensing agreement, plus further royalties in the future.
As this is a fairly complex deal, I first want to jump into the technical aspects of the joint venture. In a brief call with AMD, the company made it clear that this is an x86 play for the Chinese server market, with AMD licensing/contributing their high performance x86 IP along with their SoC IP. AMD's GPU and ARM IP is not part of the deal, and at this time AMD is not specifying which precise x86 IP is part of the deal. However given the timing of the announcement and the necessary ramp-up for products, I believe it's very likely that the bulk of the x86 IP will be from AMD's forthcoming Zen x86 processor. Either way, this a very straightforward play towards expanding x86 server processor usage inside of China.
However what those products will be remains to be seen. While AMD is announcing the formation of the joint venture, their participation, and what they stand to gain, any actual product announcements are the responsibility of the joint venture. What AMD is emphasizing at this time is that this is a joint venture for high performance processors, that it is designed to complement AMD's existing server efforts, and that the SoCs will be leading-edge products. Just what a high performance processor is – and whether that means a multicore-heavy design or something using fewer, higher performing cores – will definitely be a burning question between now and the joint venture's own product announcements. Overall, at this point what AMD is describing does not sound like the joint venture will simply be developing cheaper, lower performing processors for the Chinese market.
More obvious of an answer however is why AMD and partner THATIC would want to enter into this agreement. China as a whole continues to heavily invest in modern semiconductor technologies, both on the IP side and the manufacturing side, as semiconductors have historically been highly profitable for the winner and a good proxy for other technology development. At the same time ongoing geopolitical issues have called into question whether China can truly trust processors designed groups in foreign nations, and as a result there's great incentive to design their own processors internally with security features specifically designed by and for the Chinese market.
As AMD does not develop much of their own security technology – they use ARM's TrustZone – this complements those needs well, seeing as how THATIC would need to contribute security technology anyhow. The end result is that this will allow the joint venture – essentially a Chinese entity – to design their own high performance x86 server SoCs to meet the performance, compatibility, and security needs of the Chinese market.
This comes as the latest event in AMD's efforts to further develop themselves into a full spectrum firm that develops processors internally and develops semi-custom designs alongside clients. The joint venture in turn takes it one step further, with AMD essentially providing IP to an outside entity and their semi-custom design, rather than the entity coming to AMD. At the same time the parallels with Intel's own efforts in the Chinese SoC market are significant. Intel's SoFIA program to develop Atom-based SoCs for China and other emerging markets by pairing up with Chinese SoC designers is quite similar in ambition, though aimed at the opposite end of the market.
For Reference: AMD's Most Recent Datacenter Roadmap
For AMD this represents a crucial opportunity to re-enter the server market. In the long run AMD sees a greater presence in servers and the enterprise as being key to their success, as the server market is overall much more profitable than the client market, not to mention growing at a time where the client PC market is at best stagnant. Going this route means that AMD can attempt to get back into the market without facing Intel entirely head-on, by providing a product (or rather the IP behind it) that Intel currently cannot. Meanwhile it also provides AMD some leverage in the long run for further increasing the sales of their own x86 Opteron processors; if the joint venture's x86 SoCs are successful, then AMD's job convincing other customers that their products offer the right mix of technology, performance, and cost will be all that much easier. This has been something of a challenge for AMD in recent years as Intel has largely sewn up the server market, and customers have become hesitant to leave Intel.
Meanwhile, one other technical detail we're going to have to wait on the joint venture itself to announce is where these products will be fabbed. AMD describes the venture as an initiative to produce leading-edge chips, which if taken at its word implies that the resulting chips would be produced on current-generation FinFET technology as employed by Intel, TSMC, and the Samsung/GlobalFoundries duoship. At the same time however, given the desire to produce chips specifically for the Chinese market, the joint venture may also want to use a Chinese fab. In which case it's not immediately obvious who they might use.
Also not immediately obvious is where this falls under the Intel/AMD x86 cross-licensing agreement. AMD has of course done their own research and says that this doesn't violate the agreement. However whether Intel agrees with that remains to be seen; it will likely take them some time to form their own legal opinion. In the meantime and at first glance, because this is a joint venture, it would appear that AMD is in the clear here as they aren't giving the technology to another business, but rather are using it as part of a new line of products they are developing, albeit in conjunction with an outside firm.
Finally, let's talk about the financials and other business aspects of the deal. Overall this is a pure technology investment for AMD; they are not putting any money into the joint venture, but they are contributing a significant amount of technology and technological expertise. It will be partner THATIC that supplies the funding for the venture, along with the remaining IP and expertise. Importantly, this means AMD doesn't have any financial risk in the joint venture, and should it not pan out then AMD doesn't lose any of their already limited financial resources.
On the up side however, AMD stands to gain significantly from the deal if it goes well. The initial joint venture licensing agreement calls for AMD to be paid $293 million – spread out over multiple payments that are contingent on the joint venture hitting certain milestones – while AMD will also receive royalty payments on future processors. At a time when AMD is still trying to pull back into the black, the agreement and promise of royalties is significant. And since the company already had a virtually non-existent presence in the Chinese x86 server processor market, while this deal does, from a practical perspective, limit AMD's ability to sell Opteron processors to China, a fraction of even a moderately successful product line would represent a significant improvement for AMD.
At this point we don't have any further information on when the joint venture will be announcing their first products, but we'll be keeping a close eye on the development of AMD's newest venture. Although China calling on AMD can't alone turn around the company's fortunes, for AMD this represents their best chance in years to get back into the server market, and re-attain the profitability that they badly need.
This was a reply from Matt, to an e-mail from a disappointed investor about the way the dilution was announced.
I apologize for disappointing you. I believe today's call was chock full of news about everything going on at the company. There were also scripted remarks about financing that were removed literally as I was speaking for legal reasons. It could not be helped. But it has since been released via press release. Definitely not what I intended. I am also sure many will be disappointed for our need to do this offering. Luckily, I will have a chance to address this in a presentation in just a few days.
by rockstarrick


text:
A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis
Given the rich history of hypnosis, it's surprising that few people actively practice it. There is no real difference between "hypnosis" and "self-hypnosis," as all hypnosis is really self-hypnosis: the former is guided with a therapist and the latter is self-administered. However, one can't be hypnotized without one's full participation - thus self-hypnosis is perhaps more valuable, since you can do it at home without paying the $100 an hour to a shrink.
Powers' A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis offers the basics of the techniques, explains what it is and is not, and how to perform it on oneself. It is a good book for learning the basics. Anything that affects the mind can be fixed or enhanced with self-hypnosis: learn to control fear, quit smoking, be more confident, lose weight, and strengthen your creative energies. That said, self-hypnosis isn't something you do once and are done. One must repeat the processes over and over to achieve results. And the first time is generally better done with a therapist (or a friend who you trust), because it will make all subsequent sessions of self-hypnosis easier. Hint: your first hypnosis session should include a suggestion that your self-hypnosis will be easy, natural and effective. Have fun!
Downloads on Classicly are completely free- these books are public domain.
We don't pay a cent, so neither do you.
Collin Cross
February 11, 2014
Well it was an okay guide but i never understood it
Ramachandran Muthiah
July 13, 2013
Excellent practical guide !!!
Sallie Garza
March 22, 2013
It was pretty use full.
David Davis
October 05, 2012
Hypnotism also can be useful


text:
urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog - Tags - clusters Platform Computing Blog 9 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 IBM Connections - Blogs urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-ce233aef-3e60-4f66-a0dd-ad7c9777e453 Hey you, get on my cloud! Gabor Samu email@example.com 2700060UA1 active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2015-10-05T09:00:00-04:00 2015-10-02T15:05:29-04:00

 Whether you're just looking up at the sky admiring the cloud formations, or bursting through cloud cover when taking off in a plane, you'll know that clouds come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. Like clouds in the sky, the number of cloud computing providers today is large and varied. Organizations that have selected a cloud provider on specific merit may be leveraging the resource for high-performance computing and given that many of these services operate on a per usage basis, getting the most out of the resources is crucial.

 IBM Platform LSF is a complete workload management family of products for high-performance computing. It provides a comprehensive set of intelligent, policy-driven scheduling features that enable you to utilize all of your compute infrastructure resources and ensure optimal application performance. Optional tools extend the powerful workload management capabilities and provide enhanced user productivity, operational and management reporting and scheduling efficiency.

 But did you know that Platform LSF has allowed organizations to build and connect clusters on a global scale long before the term cloud was fashionable?

 Cloud Ready

 Platform LSF includes as standard the capability known as MultiCluster. This capability allows organizations with multiple Platform LSF clusters to cooperate and load balance resources – globally. Using this technology, Platform LSF has enabled organizations to build clouds – whether public, private or hybrid - spanning countries, geographies since 1995!

 Let's put this into today's context where cloud provides an alternative to traditional on-site HPC infrastructure. Regardless of the cloud service provider you've selected – whether in a well known rainforest or mountain range, Platform LSF can be used to manage both hybrid, and off-premise clouds. In these scenarios, organizations will manage the installation and setup of Platform LSF to meet their specific needs. So really, Platform LSF has been cloud ready, long since before the term was fashionable.

 For those looking for a turnkey HPC Cloud solution including workload management, IBM High Performance Computing Services for HPC provides ready to use infrastructure for HPC workloads including either Platform LSF or Platform Symphony. This service includes the setup and ongoing management of the workload manager – irrespective if you are considering a hybrid or off-premise configuration.

 Have data, will travel

 So you've decided to leverage the cloud either to augment your existing, or replace outright your on-site compute capacity. With the exponential growth of data volumes that define the industry today, data movement in high-performance computing environments is a key topic. For example, if your organization has selected a hybrid-cloud model are compute resources either locally or off-site being tied up waiting for data to be transferred for processing? Or is time or disk space being wasted copying data if somebody else in the team has already moved it?

 Platform Data Manager, the latest member of the IBM Platform LSF family makes the movement of data intelligent in Platform LSF clusters. So whether you are operating a local cluster, or a cloud setup, Platform Data Manager helps to ensure that your data is in the right place at the right time, helping to reduce time to solution. Platform Data Manager achieves this through various advanced capabilities including automatic movement of job data out of band and automatic de-duplication of transfers and caching of data.

 Platform Data Manager is also available as part of the turnkey HPC cloud offering, IBM High Performance Computing Services for HPC. So whether you're building your own cloud or looking at a turnkey cloud solution for HPC, Platform Data Manager is available to help optimize cluster throughput.

 Learn more

 IBM Platform LSF

 IBM Platform Data Manager

 IBM High Performance Services for HPC

 Whether you're just looking up at the sky admiring the cloud formations, or bursting through cloud cover when taking off in a plane, you'll know that clouds come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. Like clouds in the sky,... 0 0 774 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-3b463616-0216-4022-8249-5fe97e32c91d IBM Platform Cluster Manager - how do you like your eggs? Gabor Samu email@example.com 2700060UA1 active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2015-07-07T14:08:35-04:00 2015-08-12T06:26:31-04:00
 Whether your HPC center is in Lilliput or Blefuscu, you'll appreciate the importance of a flexible and easy-to-use cluster management solution to empower your populations. Administrators need software that will allow them to easily setup, manage, monitor and maintain their infrastructure and ensure consistency for repeatable performance. With the varied workloads we see in modern HPC centers, ranging from traditional HPC to Big Data and Analytics, organizations may also consider building out heterogeneous environments, where different hardware types are used for different workloads. As the OpenPOWER Foundation grows and stresses the overall importance of workflows across the HPC Data Life Cycle - it's clear that when it comes to solutions for technical computing, it's no longer a one horse race.

 IBM Platform Cluster Manager is powerful, easy-to-use infrastructure management for today's scale out computing needs. The latest release of Platform Cluster Manager V4.2.1 now provides the ability to manage mixed computing environments - so whether you're running Linux on POWER Big-Endian or Little-Endian, the choice is yours. In fact, you can even build out and seamlessly manage a mixed infrastructure taking advantage of the latest IBM POWER8 and x86 systems.

 Leveraging xCAT technology, Platform Cluster Manager can manage clusters ranging from 'Lilliputian' in size all the way up to 2500 nodes. Platform Cluster Manager Advanced Edition supports the automated creation of multiple clusters on a shared infrastructure - allowing you to easily satisfy the business requirements of Lilliputians and Blufescans. For organizations with a single HPC cluster, Platform Cluster Manager Standard Edition provides the ability to quickly provision, run, manage and monitor a technical computing infrastructure with unprecedented ease.

 For users taking advantage of IBM POWER8 systems, Platform Cluster Manager can now provision PowerNV nodes as well as PowerKVM hypervisors, which provides greater flexibility in infrastructure management and optimization. Further enhancements in this release geared towards administrator productivity include IBM POWER8 energy, PowerKVM and enhanced switch monitoring

 So go ahead. With Platform Cluster Manager you can crack your eggs any way you like.
 Whether your HPC center is in Lilliput or Blefuscu , you'll appreciate the importance of a flexible and easy-to-use cluster management solution to empower your populations. Administrators need software that will allow them to easily setup, manage, monitor... 0 0 684 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-01dce529-dea3-44eb-ac1a-a8f248ae336d Create an Agile Environment for Diverse Big Data & Analytics and HPC Workloads Andrew Jolie email@example.com 270005A5NB active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2015-02-22T00:09:00-05:00 2015-01-19T10:27:34-05:00
 IBM® Platform™ HPC V4.2 is an easy-to-use High-Performance Computing infrastructure management software. It's advanced cluster and workload management capabilities are all accessible via an intuitive web-based user interface. Featuring refreshed workload management, MPI and cluster management enhancements, Platform HPC provides shorter time to system readiness, improved user productivity and optimal use of resources for reduced time to results.

 IBM® Platform™ Cluster Manager V4.2 provides the ability to provision, run, manage and monitor scale-out compute environments. For environments where only a single cluster is required, IBM Platform Cluster Manager - Standard Edition provides an easy to use, extensible web-based interface for management of the life cycle of the cluster including provisioning, and monitoring as well as software and hardware management.

 IBM Platform Cluster Manager - Advanced Edition automates the assembly of multiple scale-out compute environments on a shared infrastructure used by multiple teams. The software creates an agile environment for diverse workloads including big-data & analytics and high-performance computing. This allows administrators to resize clusters in real time according to business demands, resulting in increased resource utilization and reduced infrastructure and management costs.

 IBM Platform Cluster Manager V4.2 includes the following updates:

 Capability

 Standard Edition

 Advanced Edition

 Support for IBM POWER8 Big-Endian (Linux)

 Enhanced scalability; support for up to 2500 nodes

 IBM Elastic Storage monitoring

 Support for multiple-tenants

 Fully GUI driven cluster template designer

 IBM Elastic Storage cluster management

 IBM® Platform™ HPC V4.2 is an easy-to-use High-Performance Computing infrastructure management software. It's advanced cluster and workload management capabilities are all accessible via an intuitive web-based user interface. Featuring refreshed... 0 0 856 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-2e62be2b-71ce-4643-9f36-8ba6010d8d75 Deploy Hadoop Workloads on ready-to-run Clusters on the SoftLayer Cloud Andrew Jolie firstname.lastname@example.com 270005A5NB active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2015-02-17T12:30:00-05:00 2015-05-11T13:26:09-04:00
 On February 23, 2015 IBM announced the latest addition to the Platform Computing cloud services portfolio, IBM High Performance Hadoop Services. These new cloud services enable you to quickly and easily deploy Hadoop workloads on ready-to-run clusters on the SoftLayer cloud. The clusters come complete with bare metal SoftLayer infrastructure, a private network, and your choice of data center to ensure optimal performance and security. A dedicated, experienced Cloud Operations team configures, deploys, and supports the cloud-based infrastructure and software. This minimizes the administrative burden on your organization and eliminates the need to develop the skills to design, deploy and manage a Hadoop environment.

 IBM High Performance Hadoop Services provides you with instantly accessible Hadoop environments with the following benefits:

 Rapid access to Hadoop clusters in the cloud for both production use and development testing

 Optimal performance with bare metal resources

 Security through physical isolation and choice of data center location

 Reduced capital expenditure

 Minimal user and administrator overhead

 Easy adoption of public cloud technology and resources

 High-performance cloud offerings from IBM

 Speed and flexibility for big data and analytics technical computing

 Faster results with IBM Cloud Services

 Deploy technical computing and service-oriented workloads in hybrid and public clouds
 On February 23, 2015 IBM announced the latest addition to the Platform Computing cloud services portfolio, IBM High Performance Hadoop Services . These new cloud services enable you to quickly and easily deploy Hadoop workloads on ready-to-run clusters on the... 0 0 676 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-2db34ba1-cb91-4977-b208-148ca0d3172b How complete is your HPC cluster management solution? Gabor Samu firstname.lastname@example.com 2700060UA1 active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2015-01-29T14:43:58-05:00 2015-01-29T14:56:05-05:00
 It's 2015. What better way to start off the year then by looking at the latest release of IBM Platform HPC, a complete cluster management solution for High Performance Computing clusters. Whether you are searching for oil, predicting weather, or designing semiconductors, high performance computing is a necessity for competitiveness in the world today.

 If you are kicking the tires on a new HPC cluster for your business, there are many factors to consider - from sizing the system correctly to your needs, to ensuring the system has adequate power & cooling, and of course enhancing user productivity. Where the rubber hits the road is to ensure that you reap the most efficiency possible from the environment. Build it and they will come is not enough. It needs to be easy to setup, administer and use.

 Complete, turn-key, are terms which you will commonly hear when referring to HPC management software. Let's take a closer look under the hood to see why IBM Platform HPC is exceptionally complete!

 Standing on the shoulders of giants
 Platform HPC incorporates Extreme Cluster/Cloud Administration Toolkit or xCAT as its commonly known, for node provisioning, node management and hardware management. xCAT itself enjoys a long pedigree and has been used in some of the largest supercomputer installations in the world. The streamlined single installation of IBM Platform HPC automatically installs and configures xCAT. Note that IBM Platform HPC also supports automated installation of the head node via USB key.

 But it does not stop with cluster management. Once nodes are provisioned, an intelligent workload manager is required to keep the precious compute resources well aligned with business priorities. Platform HPC includes the powerful workload manager IBM Platform LSF - Express Edition for IBM Platform HPC. Platform LSF is automatically deployed to nodes at the time of provisioning and is immediately available to schedule work - without any extra configuration.

 Make it easy
 Platform HPC features an intuitive common web-based interface which is used to control all interactions with the cluster from both the administrator and user perspective. Gone are the days when you needed to run multiple commands to understand the status of nodes, switches, jobs as well as IBM Elastic Storage Clusters. This is all available, and more via the web-based interface.

 Administrators in Platform HPC are presented with a dashboard view of the cluster. This allows them to understand the utilization of the resources at a glance and to identify any abnormal conditions that may be impacting nodes for example.

 Introduce your users to productivity
 With the HPC environment humming along, we turn our attention to the users. Users have the option to utilize either the command line, or web-based interface for job management. The web interface provides an easy to use means of submitting and managing jobs. It even includes a number of templates for common commercial and open source applications out of the box which provide a tailored experience for job submission. Additionally, administrators can leverage the drag and drop application template builder interface to create custom templates for specific applications or business requirements. With easy to use templates, this not only makes users more productive, but also reduces the training needed to use the environment.

 Measure it
 Finally, any organization will be keen to understand the overall utilization of their HPC investment. Platform HPC includes historical reporting capabilities including both system resource and job related reports. With this, we can have a good understanding of the utilization of the environment over a period of time, as well as the relative job load.

 We've talked about how Platform HPC can help you to ensure that your HPC investment is productive in a short period of time. This is all thanks to a tightly integrated product which covers all aspects of the HPC cluster life cycle, with a focus on user productivity. Why not take a test drive?

 Resources

  HPC Clusters Drive Design Optimization
 Workstation to cluster migration guide

  HPC Workload Management Tools
 A Competitive Benchmark Study

 It's 2015. What better way to start off the year then by looking at the latest release of IBM Platform HPC , a complete cluster management solution for High Performance Computing clusters. Whether you are searching for oil, predicting weather,... 0 0 2350 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-9218770d-bf62-4fb5-bbbe-791925049bcc Ten ways that IBM Platform Computing can help you save money GORDON SISSONS email@example.com 270005C3MQ active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2014-03-05T09:53:07-05:00 2014-03-09T10:50:24-04:00
 Let's face it - IT infrastructure is expensive. This is especially true of the type of infrastructure used for clustered HPC and analytic applications.
 For people not familiar with distributed workload management, claims around cost-savings can sound fanciful, so in short this post I wanted to take the time to clearly explain some of the money savers.
 Here are ten ways that Platform Computing software can help you do more with less. For additional details on each savings opportunity download our recently published e-book on this same topic.

 1. Running applications more efficiently.

 While we often focus on topics like clock speed and bandwidth as measures of performance, in distributed applications latency is what matters. This is especially true as computers get faster. If I have a series of tasks where each executes for 2 seconds, but I spend a full-second getting each task scheduled to a cluster node, I've just lost 33% of my productivity and added 50% to my cost. Platform Computing schedulers avoid this pitfall by providing as low as sub-millisecond scheduling latency removing the "white space" between jobs and keeping infrastructure close to 100% utilized.

 2. Sharing infrastructure more liberally.

 Everyone appreciates the value of sharing, but in complex IT environments it is often easier said than done. Various technical barriers and concerns about ownership, security and SLAs can cause line-of-business owners to purposely spend more on replicated infrastructure just to avoid these risks. As an example, an organization may deploy one or more Hadoop clusters along with separate clusters for other distributed workloads because they are unable to consolidate the workloads onto a single cluster. It turns out that Platform Computing software is very good at sharing resources among diverse applications. It can protect resource ownership, automate service deployment, and facilitate lending and borrowing among tenants while guaranteeing resource access based on policy. More effective sharing means that organizations can often get along with less infrastructure while preserving service level guarantee.

 3. Harvesting idle compute cycles.

 With smarter workload scheduling, clusters can be made more efficient, but what about all of the other resources in the data center? During overnight hours or other periods of low activity, desktops, application servers, hypervisors and other data center assets may sit idle. The resource harvesting capabilities in Platform Computing schedulers allow applications to appropriately tap these idle cycles, stepping around business critical workloads and helping organizations get more work done while avoiding the need to expand the size of dedicated cluster.

 4. Accelerating application development and deployment.

 Developers know that building distributed applications can be hard. For this reason, they often deploy separate sandbox or test and development clusters for the express purpose of developing and debugging new applications. Platform Computing simplifies this process with a freely downloadable Developer Edition that simulates application behavior of a large-scale production cluster on a standalone computer or VM. This helps reduce the amount of infrastructure required for development while simultaneously reducing development time for a multi-dimensional win – better developer productivity, lower infrastructure requirements and faster time to market for new application services.

 5. Avoid storage costs due to avoidable data replication.

 For many organizations, globally distributed data centers are the norm. Teams across these centers frequently need access to remote data and make copies that can be referenced locally. This results in multiple copies of the same dataset introducing challenges with version control while requiring additional storage. Similarly, many organizations deploying Hadoop environments find themselves constantly copying data in and out of the Hadoop file system (HDFS) resulting in additional data replication. By deploying IBM GPFS, both of these problems are avoidable. Organizations can maintain a single global name space that exploits wide-area data caching to reduce total storage footprint without compromising performance. Also, GPFS allows both Hadoop and non-Hadoop workloads to share common datasets avoiding the need for redundant copies of data while accelerating workflows.

 6. Improving availability and guaranteeing SLAs.

 Downtime can be expensive. In application areas like Electronic Design Automation (EDA) or financial risk, cluster downtime can result in large numbers of professionals sitting idle and real costs in terms of opportunity or lost productivity. In this case of regulated environments, the failure to meet batch windows or reporting deadlines can result in SLA breaches and additional levied costs or penalties. Platform Computing schedulers incorporate a whole range of features to ensure that clusters almost never go down and that SLAs can be guaranteed thus avoiding downtime related risks.

 7. Slowing the rate of infrastructure growth.

 Many of the cost savers discussed above help firms get more done with less infrastructure. As environments evolve year over year, total costs including equipment, software licenses, power, cooling, facilities and personnel can be very large. Slowing the annual growth rate even by even a small amount has a cumulative impact that can result in dramatic savings over many years. By slowing infrastructure growth, organizations may find themselves able to defer or avoid major capital investments like data center expansions or new construction.

 8. Reducing management and personnel costs.

 In any data center personnel costs are significant components of overall IT spending. Because the Platform Computing software impacts operations as well as application development and maintenance, advantages related to life-cycle management allow organizations to manage larger environments with fewer personnel. Platform Computing products are frequently deployed in large cluster environments, and extensive work has been done in areas like manageability, diagnosability and sustaining capabilities to maximize management efficiency. This leaves organizations free to redeploy some personnel from operations into other roles more strategic to the business.

 9. Decreasing training and support costs.

 By providing easy-to-use interfaces for in-house and commercial applications that constrain usage based on role, application managers can significantly reduce training and support costs. To the extent that otherwise manual multi-step workflows can be automated and hardened, training and support costs can be further reduced. By automating workflows and ensuring their resiliency, problems associated with human factors can be minimized avoiding situations where expensive compute capacity is wasted due to improperly structured jobs or cases where deadlines are missed owing to errors in multi-step processes.

 10. Avoiding hidden or unexpected costs.

 The more capable and feature rich the offering, the less likely it is that sites will encounter down-stream issues that are disruptive to the business and require significant investment to address. Some examples of requirements that may emerge downstream could be the need to deploy new functionality like user-portals, data-aware scheduling solutions, session-oriented scheduling or the need to provisioning infrastructure on demand or cost-efficiently address peak periods by tapping a cloud-based service for overflow capacity. The breadth of the capabilities in the Platform Computing portfolio along with the wide range of applications supported mean that downstream surprises resulting in unforeseen costs are less likely to occur.

 To learn more about these and other opportunities to save money, Platform Computing has published an e-book on this same topic that provides additional details and references related to the cost savings opportunities described here.
 To get your complimentary copy of the e-book, please download it here.

 Let's face it - IT infrastructure is expensive. This is especially true of the type of infrastructure used for clustered HPC and analytic applications. For people not familiar with distributed workload management, claims around cost-savings can sound... 0 0 1555 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-1ce1bc8a-088e-4070-ab95-034dac8082d6 Can you address spikes in infrastructure demand quickly and cost-effectively? Louise Westoby firstname.lastname@example.com 27000550SJ active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2014-02-25T11:23:20-05:00 2014-02-25T14:33:19-05:00
 Your organization might have deployed a cluster or grid on site. But can these resources always meet your peak demands? For example, what happens when several large projects move into the same simulation and design phase at the same time?

 Simply adding hardware to address peak workload requirements, especially if they are short term, is probably not an option. Expanding the physical infrastructure can require significant time, expertise and budget. And the data center may already be maxed out on power, cooling and real estate. What's the answer?

 To address these challenges, at Pulse 2014 today IBM announced the IBM® Platform Computing™ Cloud Service, which provides ready-to-run clusters in the SoftLayer cloud that are optimized for compute-intensive technical computing and analytics applications. The Cloud Service comes complete with Platform LSF (SaaS) and Platform Symphony (SaaS) workload management software, dedicated physical machines and the support of the Platform Computing Cloud Operaions team.

 Organizations that have on-site clusters or grids can quickly address spikes in infrastructure demand by implementing a hybrid cloud. Platform Computing Cloud Service enables these organizations to forward workloads from local infrastructure to a Platform LSF or Platform Symphony cluster in the SoftLayer cloud, quickly accommodating demand without being concerned about security or performance. Because the same workload management software is being used locally and in the cloud, the user experience is seamless—users have transparent access to cloud resources that deliver the same experience as local resources

 Platform Computing Cloud Service also helps organizations that do not have a technical computing cluster on site but can benefit from the added performance and scale of clustered resources. However, companies that are currently using workstations for analytics, simulation and design likely lack the skills to deploy and manage a clustered environment. The skills barrier can be challenging. Domain knowledge is needed just to purchase the infrastructure—for example, to understand the types of servers and the memory-to-core ratio needed for different applications.

 Transferring workload from a workstation to multiple, clustered compute entities also requires a whole new way of thinking. And once a cluster is up and running, using it for the first time can also be challenging. With the Platform Computing Cloud Service, organizations can now access an application-ready cluster on a temporary basis in as little as a few hours, instead of the weeks or months it would take to acquire and implement a cluster in-house. They will also have the support of the Cloud Operations team, who have deep expertise in running compute-intensive application workloads on clustered resources.

 With powerful cloud-based solutions like these, your organization can easily meet spikes in infrastructure demand without the significant up-front costs of purchasing in-house infrastructure or the ongoing cost of managing the additional resources. You pay only for what is used, scaling cluster capacity up and down as needed. The bottom line: you increase your computing capacity and gain a competitive edge by doing more in less time and with less expense.

 For more information visit IBM Platform Computing Cloud Service
 Your organization might have deployed a cluster or grid on site. But can these resources always meet your peak demands? For example, what happens when several large projects move into the same simulation and design phase at the same time? Simply adding... 0 0 2339 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-057c5b3d-8458-4d01-bcec-e196d01958d5 Announcing IBM Platform HPC 4.1.1 Gabor Samu firstname.lastname@example.com 2700060UA1 active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2013-09-13T12:00:00-04:00 2013-09-13T12:27:52-04:00
 It's Friday 13th once again and whether triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) is on the agenda, don't let management of your technical computing environment become a nightmare!

 Announcing the release of IBM Platform HPC 4.1.1.

 IBM Platform HPC is comprehensive software for managing your technical computing environment. It simplifies cluster management and helps to ensure effective utilization of the compute resources, all through an easy to use web based interface. The intelligent workload scheduler embedded in the software allows prioritization of the workload execution at runtime and delivers improved overall system performance for technical computing users. Now embedded in IBM Platform HPC is well proven xCAT technology, which provides enhanced cluster provisioning capabilities.

 IBM Platform HPC is certified on IBM System x iDataPlex , IBM Flex System Servers, IBM rack-based servers, in addition to the recently announced IBM NeXtScale system. It also runs on and most generic x86-based hardware.

 Follow us at the Service Management Connect Technical Computing Community for forums and wikis covering IBM Platform Computing software offerings.
 It's Friday 13th once again and whether triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) is on the agenda, don't let management of your technical computing environment become a nightmare! Announcing the release of IBM Platform HPC 4.1.1. ... 0 0 1067 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entry-300dfe84-bbf0-4484-8200-5a2838530f52 Expanded Platform Computing portfolio for clusters and analytics Jay Muelhoefer email@example.com 2700052RJY active Comment Entries application/atom+xml;type=entry Likes 2012-10-03T16:07:07-04:00 2013-02-22T13:14:11-05:00
Summer is just ending and Platform Computing is announcing today its second major product launch this year and since joining the IBM family. IBM has embraced Platform Computing as a key component of their newly launch Technical Computing agenda to bring HPC technologies to mainstream business companies. If you are building a cluster or grid, IBM would like you to evaluate Platform Computing as the management layer to enable a scalable, high performance application infrastructure. This is especially true as more applications become compute and data-intensive – everything from simulations, analytics, MapReduce, CAE, risk management, fraud, pricing, etc. There is also an enormous explosion in emerging growth economies for Platform Computing as well. I just returned from a two-week trip through Southeast Asia, Japan and China. These are exciting times!

Our mission continues unwavering - IBM Platform Computing is widely viewed as the cluster, grid, and HPC cloud management software of choice for technical and high performance computing (HPC) environments. We want to become a standard architecture for mainstream businesses to accelerate the time to results for high performance applications. It's all about the applications, workload management, and resource management. Platform Computing products are used both to simplify the deployment, management, and use of small departmental clusters as well as to optimize deployment of complex applications and workloads in many of the world's largest environments (100,000+ cores).

The latest product releases and additions to the IBM Platform Computing portfolio further extend this value with; new features making the products easier to use, enhanced management features, and significant advances in scalability and performance. Read our launch article for more details and I've captured a few highlights below:

The industry-leading workload manager, IBM Platform LSF, is now architected for twice the performance, improved scheduling, and enhanced usability, as well as three time more scalability to more than 150,000 cores and two million pending jobs

IBM Platform Symphony provides low-latency grid management with improved usability and scalability including a new multi-cluster feature for managing isolated clusters as single Big Data and compute grid

IBM Platform Cluster Manager delivers cluster and HPC cloud management including new easy-to-use departmental cluster management and enhanced HPC cloud security, usability and flexibility

New Technical Computing solution for Big Data integrate Platform Symphony, BigInsights, General Parallel File System (GPFS) and systems platform to simplify and accelerate big data analytics

Enhancements to cluster and high-performance computing (HPC) cloud management improves time to results and can help streamline administration, and user productivity so organizations can concentrate on solving their business, product or scientific challenges.

There is a lot of new enhancements for existing customers as well as a continued expansion of the portfolio demonstrating a solid product roadmap and commitment to continue leadership in this market. For more information, please fill in our contact form and we'll get back to you very quickly.

You can also follow us on Twitter @IBMPlatform or me @jaymuelhoefer.
 Summer is just ending and Platform Computing is announcing today its second major product launch this year and since joining the IBM family. IBM has embraced Platform Computing as a key component of their newly launch Technical Computing agenda to bring HPC... 0 0 2466 urn:lsid:ibm.com:blogs:entries-ecd67bbb-d625-49f1-99a0-58ea161813d7 IBM Platform Computing Blog 2016-01-12T14:34:08-05:00


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For leaders and employees, it is important to clearly communicate all expected boundaries within a mutually agreed to parameter.
Building Brands
We all spend an incredible amount of time 'searching,' which draws to us to a reasonable and logical question to ask.
Designing brand value takes time to form, plant, nurture and secure locked-in loyalty among users who prefer your brand.
Knowing what customers are looking for helps you shape the most effective plan and can make your brand stand out from the rest.
Finding simpler ways to build your business is often the best strategy.
Our research and work with leading market firms found that leading-edge organizations take a corporate-wide integrative approach to implementing their strategic vision. They operate cross-functionally and serve as both a catalyst and innovator for change to the rest of the organization.
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Using credit cards to establish your credit history
Dear Experian,
I have been approved for two credit cards with two different limits and interest rates. One offers cash back rewards. I am trying to build my credit. Should I just use the card with the better terms, or should I use both?
Why it is important to establish credit when you are young
Dear Experian,
Why is it important to establish credit while you're young? If I don't establish any credit will it affect my future and why?
Moving from Canada to the U.S.
Dear Experian,
I moved to the U.S. in January 2012 from Canada. I obtained a Social Security number and got a secured credit card, and I was lucky enough to get a car loan. I have been paying both accounts on time every time. This all occurred in February and March and still I have no credit report. When can I expect to have a credit report? I tried today, and Experian is still not showing any information for me.
Application declined because credit score can't be calculated
Dear Experian,
I am trying to get a loan and am being denied because your company won't list a score on me. Why?
Individuals cannot report their own accounts
Dear Experian,
How do I submit payment history for an account not listed on my credit report, therefore, adding a new account?
Recent college graduate may not have a credit report
Dear Experian,
What should I do if I cannot be found in your system? I am trying to obtain a credit report since I have just graduated college and would like to start building credit.
Qualifying for new credit when you have no credit history
Dear Experian,
I have no credit score and am unable to get credit for a car loan. How do I get a credit score? I have my own apartment and am paying all utilities. Will that help? If so how long does it take, or where should I start?
Time is necessary before credit score can be calculated
Dear Experian,
My husband and I recently purchased a used car. He makes an annual income of $63,000 and I am a full-time, unemployed student. Because he had zero credit and I had student loans on creating a small credit score, we were only able to sign jointly for the car. He was told being the co-signer would be a great way to start earning credit. He's tried to get a credit card but continues to be denied for lack of credit. We've had the car now for four months and all payments have been on-time. We just ran his credit looking at refinancing the car to a lower interest rate and the account is there, but he still does not have a credit score. Our bank suggested contacting you to see how long it takes before he will begin earning a credit score.
Improving credit score without credit card
Dear Experian,
How can you improve your credit score if you don't have any credit cards?
Categories: Score Advice
Reestablishing credit after moving from Canada
Dear Experian,
I recently moved here from British Columbia, Canada, and when I apply for a credit card here you deny it because you say my credit information is not available. How may I make my Canadian credit record available to you so I may start a credit history here with an American credit card?


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judy woodruff
Thirty-four years ago today, John Hinckley tried to kill President Ronald Reagan.
Continue reading
Join Judy Woodruff in this first in a series of Facebook chats for journalism students featuring PBS NewsHour journalists. Continue reading
There is no way to prevent the disappointment of those nearest and dearest to you when they call and you are not there to answer the phone, their feelings of disappointment may be assuaged ever so slightly by this unexpected and delightful voicemail greeting from Gwen and Judy. Continue reading
The holidays are a busy time of year. But don't be the one who brings store-bought baked goods to your holiday party. NewsHour's got you covered. Continue reading
Throughout the 2014 campaign season, PBS NewsHour has been reporting on some of the most exciting races directly from the field. With a week left until Election Day, revisit some of our favorite segments alongside the producers and reporters who made them happen and experts who will tell us more about what's at stake in these contests. Continue reading
President Bill Clinton thinks that Vladimir Putin won't be able to deny the hit that U.S. and European sanctions will have on Russia, but his control of the media will enable him to hang on. In an interview with PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff, the former president said that sanctions will be felt because, especially because of the extreme concentration of wealth and power at the top. But, he said, the state media won't reflect the damage. Continue reading
The famous "Boys on the Bus"–the gaggle of reporters who covered the 1972 McGovern/Nixon race, memorialized in Tim Crouse's book of the same name–lost another member today. Longtime CBS and CNN correspondent Bruce Morton died Thursday afternoon in Washington after a battle with cancer. Continue reading
In a last ditch effort to steal Kansas from the Republican Party, Democrat Chad Taylor withdrew from the Senate race leaving Independent Greg Orman to challenge Republican incumbent Pat Roberts. Taylor, who was criticized for his weak ties to Kansas, sidestepped after recent polls suggested Orman was a more competitive candidate. Judy Woodruff speaks with Jonathan Martin of The New York Times about what the move means for the race. Continue reading
Ukrainian rebels softened their demand for outright independence at the talks in Belarus on Monday. Instead, they offered to respect Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for a measure of autonomy. Judy Woodruff joins The Christian Science Monitor's Fred Weir, reporting from Moscow, to discuss how rebels are gaining the leverage on the ground, and why a military solution has become elusive. Continue reading
Tensions in Pakistan are mounting in demand of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation. Judy Woodruff joins Husain Haqqani of the Hudson Institute and Moeed Yusuf of the United States Institute of Peace to discuss what's behind the unrest, the prospective violence that lies ahead and how the conflict bodes for Pakistani democracy, and its relations with the U.S. Continue reading


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Simic Signet by Mike-SassWatch
©2012-2016 Mike-Sass
Guild symbol image for Magic the Gathering
I am really digging the luminosity in your work, all that bounced and reflected light is really well done. Where did you study.
thanks! I guess study for this knowledge would come from painting still lifes, doing alot of 3-d rendering and lighting for video games and just observation of the real world.
Was this actually used on any products?
Have Wizards of The Coast gotten you to do any cards yet....Or is this one....I don't even know.
oh, yeah, I've done maybe about 10 cards, and this is one of them.
I've always wanted to do some art for them, and it's cool to sorta meet one of the artists
(Btw, love your stuff)
This is gorgeous!!!!!!
Am having trouble believeing that you didn't get many comments, it's a blood great bit of art!!
Love, love, looooove the colors on this. So vibrant and moody <3
I wish I could do something like this..
waaaaaaa awesomeeee i just love the design of the forest simbol!!!
I do like all the background detail you've put into it.


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Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves
House of Leaves
MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI'S House of Leaves opens with the ominous admonition, "This is not for you." After initially thumbing through the book I was prepared to agree. At first blush Danielewski's novel appeared to be an overdesigned hodgepodge of postmodern pretense. Seven-hundred-odd pages later, I can definitively report that the book is an overdesigned hodgepodge of postmodern pretense--and also a wholly fascinating endeavor.
House of Leaves combines the chills of the stock horror tale with a peek at what lies underneath, the fragility of our lives and our knowledge. Consistent with a philosophical examination of uncertainty, Danielewski uses three narrators: the home's owner, who makes a documentary that explores the house's horrors; a blind old man, who painstakingly dissects the documentary; and a tattoo artist's assistant who stumbles on the old man's research.
At the core of the story lies Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his companion Karen Green, who move into the Virginia house on Ash Tree Lane with their two children. The couple hopes to frolic in hearth and home after much time apart. Unfortunately, the place is not so much a haven as an Escheresque chamber of horrors with immense, black corridors and rooms that constantly shift and disappear. Navidson offers us his view of the strange happenings through his film documentary The Navidson Record. At this level, House of Leaves is not significantly different from the myriad pulp stories with similar plots.
Filtering our observation of the trials of the couple is the elderly blind man Zampanó, whose pseudo-academic manuscript offers his own analysis of The Navidson Record, backed by meticulously footnoted references to academic and pop authorities.
The story of the house on Ash Tree Lane repeats a third time through the writing of Johnny Truant, who stumbles upon the deceased Zampanó's manuscript and sets out to organize and comment upon it. To the confoundment of the obsessive Truant, Zampanó's thoroughly researched work seems to comment on a film that never existed.
These layered perspectives, like the shifting corridors of the house, offer no certainties. The cues we look for to suggest authenticity become blurred. First the reader is confronted with an impossible house that violates our common-sense experience of the world--much like the bizarre and theoretical particles on the frontiers of modern physics. Second, the reader is presented with Zampanó's work, which speaks of the Navidson film--a popular topic among intellectuals and media commentators, and seemingly an utter fiction. Zampanó must be a madman to write about a nonexistent film. But his sober efforts and supporting detail seem to offer us the solid framework of thorough research. Last, we are left with Truant, whose reliability becomes suspect when he justifies his embellishment as a means of escaping unpleasant truth: "Do I really want to know what happened there? In my experience, most people don't. They usually look away. My stories help them look away. Maybe they even help me look away....We all create stories to protect ourselves."
The disjointed layout of the book, which constantly plays with standard form (omitting characters, turning text upside down, showing one sentence on a page) initially seems gratuitous. But as the reader is drawn into the work, the form begins to mimic the content nicely.
By skillfully combining plot, multiple viewpoints, and form, House of Leaves is ultimately as entertaining as it is epistemologically provocative. The reader's experience might ultimately be just what Truant promises in his introduction: "No matter where you are, in a crowded restaurant or on some desolate street or even in the comforts of your own home, you'll watch yourself dismantle every assurance you ever lived."
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text: I am looking out for the speakers with the best of qualities. Actually I was having the iBall speaker and the thing here is that I am not able to decide which one is the best speakers for my system. I am looking out for the 5.1 speakers and that too under 10 k that is nothing but 10 thousand. So please let me know the best possible options available with their futures. I am eagerly waiting to have one confused. It would be good if anyone shares their experience with these speakers and also the performance of them. Any help regarding the same will be kindly appreciated.


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top rad hose cool fan is on t-stat factory new with new wtr pump & tmg belt new radiator but eng seem cool top hose gets hot when stat opens feel hot air from fan when top hose warm but this is intermit issue is there a problem with air pockets? or could this be a false signal due to electrical issue.
by dustytech in Duarte, CA on March 09, 2014


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Guest reviews
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Close to the Honolulu Zoo and the Waikiki Aquarium. Centrally located on Kuhio Avenue between Lewers Street and Royal Hawaiian Avenue, it's a 15-minute walk to Waikiki Beach, and a 10-minute walk to DFS Galleria duty-free shopping, International Market Place, Kalakaua Avenue, and Royal Hawaiian Shopping Centre. The hotel swimming pool, whirlpool, and sundeck offer relaxation, the small meeting room is convenient for informal gatherings and the on-site Patisserie cafe serves pastries, coffee, and sandwiches. There is a laundry/ valet service, ice machine and internet/ fax machine available. All rooms have air conditioning, alarm clock/radio, coffee maker, direct dial telephone/data port/voice mail, hair dryer, in-room safe (fee), iron and bo


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For some years now before the engine is warm the car has difficulty getting in gear, particularly in reverse. I suspect a transmission issue but we have been able to drive the car for 3 years without a repair.
by Angelo DeStefano in Angle Inlet, MN on September 11, 2013


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French supernatural drama "The Returned" had its U.S. premiere on Sundance Channel last week to considerable critical acclaim (see Indiewire's review here). The series is set in a small French town in which the dead have inexplicably returned to life, in some cases years after the originally passed.
The eight-part first season continues this Thursday, November 7th at 9pm with episode two, entitled "Simon," in which Camille (Yara Pilartz) finds that reintegrating herself back into her family may not be an easy feat and Simon (Pierre Perrier) tries to pick up where he left off with his former fiancée Adèle (Clotilde Hesme). As the returned struggle to piece together the years they lost, strange happenings seem to suggest their homecoming may be accompanied by something more sinister.
We've got an exclusive clip from the upcoming episode below -- take a look at Adèle receiving some bad news on a big day.