text:
FOREVER PLAID Plays Hale Theatre, Now thru Feb 6
The hilariously charming hit musical Forever Plaid will take you on a trip to the fifties with Sparky, Jinx, Smudge and Frankie, a fictional 1950's boy band. The group was tragically, and inconveniently struck down before their first big gig. "The Plaids" will be brought back to earth to take the stage one last time. Forever Plaid will run from January 8th to February 6th.
This critically acclaimed musical celebrates the precision harmonies and well choreographed moves that were the epitome of 1950's traditional values, home and harmony. Forever Plaid showcases the upbeat music made popular in the 1950s by artists and groups such as Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, The Four Lads and The Ames Brothers. It also includes such hits as "Catch A Falling Star," "Sixteen Tons," "Crazy 'Bout Ya Baby" and "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing." This hilarious production is fun for the entire family.
When first presented at the Hale Theatre in 2007, this internationally acclaimed show was a sell-out, turning away eager audiences nightly. In 2010, Forever Plaid made its return to the Hale stage with roaring applause. The smooth music of "The Plaids" will be making its second encore to Gilbert with all-new staging but bringing along the same energy that delighted audiences the first round.
Directing and choreographing the show is Cambrian james. Cambrian brings with him numerous AriZoni awards for his impeccable directorial skills and diverse choreography. Cambrian was last seen in Hale Theatre's production of Annie where he not only directed and choreographed, but starred as Daddy Warbucks. Cambrian's recent awards include three AriZoni's for best director, best choreographer, and best overall production for Hale Theatre's production of Crazy For You in May of 2012.
"Forever Plaid is a musical for all ages to enjoy and experience together," says Director Cambrian james. "For many people the music will evoke fond memories of the 1950's and for others it will be like discovering this musical genre for the very first time.
Award winning actor, Jere VanPatten, who played Jinx in Hale's 2007 Forever Plaid will be making a return. Jere has appeared in over 50 shows around the valley and is represented by the Leighton Agency.
The multi-talented cast of Forever Plaid will also feature Hale veterans Michael Sackett as Frankie, Tedd Glazebrook as Sparky and Brent Graham as Smudge.
"Forever Plaid is one of those shows that you can see over and over again and never get tired of it. Somehow the music of that era is like ice cream. It is such a treat. You can't have enough of it," says owner and producer David Dietlein.
The show runs January 8th to February 6th 2013. Show dates are Monday and Tuesday at 7:00PM and 2:00PM on Wednesday's. Prices are $10 for children(ages 6-18), $24 for adults. Reservations may be made by calling the box office at (480) 497-1181 or by visiting our website at www.HaleTheatreArizona.com. Hale Centre Theatre is located in Gilbert at 50 West Page Avenue, 85233.
Photo Credit: Daniel Sontag


text: MRF distributions are payable in cash or, pursuant to the fund's dividend reinvestment plan, reinvested in additional shares of the fund's common stock. If you participate in the plan, you will receive the equivalent in shares of the fund as follows: (1) if the market price of the shares on the payment date of the dividend or distribution is equal to or exceeds the fund's net asset value, participants will be issued fund shares at the higher of net asset value or 95% of the market price; or (2) if the market price is lower than net asset value, the plan agent will receive the dividend or capital gain distributions in cash and apply them to buy fund shares on your behalf in the open market, on the New York Stock Exchange or elsewhere, for your account. If the market price exceeds the net asset value of the fund's shares before the plan agent has completed its purchases, the average per-share purchase price paid by the plan agent may exceed the net asset value of the fund's shares. This would result in the acquisition of fewer shares than if the dividend or capital gain distributions had been paid in shares issued by the fund.XAA, MXA and MXN distributions are payable in cash or, pursuant to the funds' dividend reinvestment plans, reinvested in additional shares of the funds' common stock. Under each fund's plan, fund shares will be purchased on the exchange on which the fund is listed or elsewhere on the open market. During certain periods, each fund may pay distributions at a rate that may be more or less than the amount of net investment income actually earned by the fund during the period. Each fund will provide a notice, as required by Section 19(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. Any such notice will provide information regarding the estimated amounts of the distribution derived from net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. Such notices will be for informational purposes only and the amounts indicated in such notices likely will differ from the ultimate federal income tax characterization of distributions reported to shareholders on Form 1099-DIV after year end.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
STATEHOUSE (Feb. 5, 2013) — State Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek) honored Tippecanoe County Medal of Honor recipients today, calling for part of an Indiana highway to be dedicated to U.S. Army Lt. William P. Thompson, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. David M. Shoup and U.S. Army Master Sgt. Thomas E. McCall.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 15 urges the Indiana Department of Transportation to rename three one-mile sections of the Hoosier Heartland Corridor in Tippecanoe County after the veterans. Hershman's resolution calls for renaming the one-mile sections nearest to Greenbush Cemetery, Battle Ground and Spring Vale Cemetery, for Lt. Thompson, Gen. Shoup and Master Sgt. McCall, respectively.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs voted 7-0 to approve SCR 15. Three members of the Tippecanoe County Veterans' Council came to the Statehouse to testify in support of it, including former U.S. Navy Officer Tim Hilton, former U.S. Marines Private Dennis Walker and former U.S. Army Specialist Jim O'Brien.
"This is just a small measure of our gratitude for the service these men provided to our county, our state and our country," Hershman said. "Their extraordinary valor and bravery do credit to Tippecanoe County."
The Medal of Honor, established in 1861 by an act of Congress, is the nation's highest military honor. Thompson, Shoup and McCall are three of more than 3,400 service members who have been awarded the Medal of Honor since its creation.
"As we complete an investment in the future of our state with construction of the Hoosier Heartland Corridor, it is important that we acknowledge our past and the sacrifices which, in part, made this possible," Hershman said. "Renaming parts of the Hoosier Heartland Corridor after these Medal of Honor veterans will serve as a daily reminder of this history for local drivers."
Hershman has worked on the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor economic development project since 1992. All construction is expected to be finished by late 2013.


text:
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Security Council: Statement by Ambassador Berger on Protection of Civilians
(Security Council: Statement as delivered by Ambassador Berger in an Open Debate on Protection of Civilians)
"Thank you, Mr. President,
it is a pleasure to see you chair this high- level debate and the high number of delegations taking the floor shows how important it was to organise this open debate.
Germany aligns itself with the statements delivered by the European Union and by Switzerland on behalf of the Group of Friends of the Protection of Civilians. We welcome the Presidential Statement and the establishment of a standing reporting procedure.
Mr. President,
Many of us recall a photograph that went around the world very recently. It is that of a small boy walking down a street, directly staring at dozens of slaughtered men whose bodies were found in a river near Aleppo. This is just one example of the horrors that children continue to face each and every day in Syria and the psychological trauma that this war will have on a whole future generation.
The civil war in Syria is intensifying and as we heard from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the pain and suffering which it inflicts on the civilian population continues to increase in scale and scope. The war has moved into the major cities. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians, especially against women and children, often caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide impact in densely populated areas, remain the most appalling aspect of the Syrian conflict.
According to the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, the disproportionate and indiscriminate killing of children in the course of military operations may amount to war crimes.
In Syria, boys and girls are being bombarded in their neighbourhoods. And we recall that the Syrian uprising itself was triggered by children in Dara'a being subjected to torture, some of them for weeks.
Schools and hospitals must be zones of peace, where children are granted protection even in times of conflict, as stipulated in Resolution 1998. Yet, in Syria, the UN has documented Government attacks on schools and the denial of civilian access to hospitals. In some cases, also anti-government armed groups have targeted school buildings. During her recent visit to Syria in December 2012, the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict learned from the Syrian Government that at least 1.300 school facilities have been damaged since the outbreak of violence.
In Syria we are also witnessing the devastating consequences that deliberate attacks against hospitals, health workers and ambulances have for the sick and wounded in general. All parties responsible for targeting medical personnel, punishing medical personnel for performing their duties and attacking or misusing the Geneva Conventions' emblems need to know that such acts constitute a war crime.
We remain convinced that accountability for such grave violations must be ensured. In this context, we wish to recall that States from all regions of the world have put before this Council a request to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Thank you, Mr President."


text:
Given TonyD's track record on breaking NBA stories (Brad Stevens, Andrew Bynum signing), I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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Given TonyD's track record on breaking NBA stories (Brad Stevens, Andrew Bynum signing), I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel
"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
I'm not sure if this will actually happen. He wants to go to a contender. I don't see us as being contenders.
It's exactly right. You play to win and you don't play to tank. So we should play the year out with our current roster with the highest expectation possible. That's what "you play to win" means and it's what happened in 2011. We could have not made the playoffs but who knows? You play to win. If you win and a another star emerges, celebrate and adjust your strategy from there. If you lose, celebrate and take the higher draft picks. You never and no body should do a one year rental to just make yourself probably 5-8 wins better. It rarely worked out in the past with any team. Even with Lebron's miami team, all those two-hundered-year-old supporting cast were not one year rentals and you do that kind of short-term rental when you are sure you are chasing Championship.
I hope and think this signing is not gonna happen. It just doesn't make sense. Be true to our team and play to win and hope for the best. We don't aim to tank, but if we do lose with our team, we will happily take the higher picks and select a talented young play to play alongside George or pair it with one of our core players for a bigger trade. WE will have much more options. No stupid one year rentals that leads us nowhere but to fewer options in the future!
Tonight, all flags must burn, in place of steeples.
Autonomy must return into the hands of the people.
If so, it provides more resources to grow your players.
Fighting for a playoff spot IS part of a team's growth. Better to get some of that growth under their belts in the year without PG than to simply tell them (by action if not by words) that it's just an extended practice year and winning doesn't mean anything.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...
"I had to take her down like Chris Brown."
-Lance Stephenson
I hope there's a dunk and layup only clause in his contract. I don't want to see that jump shot 😳
I like how we have people saying that finishing 8th hurts our future and believe being the 8th seed is pointless.
Last time we were 8th seed, it helped transform Indy into title contenders and become the only team from the East aside from Boston to win multiple games in a series against Miami over the past four seasons. Pacers had 3 chances against Miami and won 8 games(12 losses). To put that into perspective, the rest of the east had 9 chances against Miami and won 9 games(36 losses). Only 6 wins if you don't include the Celtics.
Making the playoffs is good for experience, good for team morale and could help to lure future free agents. I'll take that over our team believing they suck and can only win with PG. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I rather enjoyed the Pacers-Bulls series last time we were the 8th seed. With competent refs, we probably win that series. Almost won the series regardless. For the record, this team will finish higher than 8th imo.
I've posted about Marion since the day after Paul got injured, so yeah I hope this happens.
And come on guys, we'd be stealing Marion away from LeBron and the Cavs. Doesn't that count for something?
Pacers 2013: 1st
Pacers 2012: 3rd
Pacers 2011: 3rd
Pacers 2010: 8th
Pacers 2009: 10th
Pacers 2008: 9th
Pacers 2007: 9th
Pacers 2006: 9th
Pacers 2005: 6th
Pacers 2004: 6th
How is it that our future will be ruined this time around should we finish around 8th instead of tanking when that's essentially what was happening for years prior to building the current roster. People who would rather finish 9th instead of 8th... I'm out of words.
Last edited by TOP; 08-12-2014 at 09:14 AM.
INDIANAPOLIS - Pacers President Larry Bird and Head Coach Frank Vogel are expected to talk about Paul George's recovery process at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
George suffered a terrible leg injury last week.
George will also have a very different look when he returns to the team.
He's changing his jersey number from 24 to 13.
George petitioned the NBA for the number change.
He says he's also buying all of the number 24 jerseys that are still on store shelves.
Posted: Aug 12, 2014 6:11 AM EDTUpdated: Aug 12, 2014 6:19 AM EDT
Could Marion be an effective way to help keep West's minutes down, and allow us to play small better?? Cope/Rudez as our scorers at the SF Miles as our SG??
Marc Stein@ESPNSteinLineabout 33 minutes ago
Indy IS trying to wedge its way into contention for Shawn Marion and Larry Bird did meet Monday with Marion, but Cavs remain in lead for now
Read more: http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html#ixzz3ABRKKxDB
Can we change the thread title for now? I'm not one for censoring, but maybe this is a good time for the update.
Sloan's spot, but with exemption money won't the Pacers be over the LT unless they get rid of Scola?
Why was the thread title never changed in the first place lol.
Come on 6-8 seed in the east is a lot easier than trying to get a top 5 pick this year.
If he left without an agreement from our "closer" Larry Bird, chances are he's going to Cleveland.
looks like he is at the airport
#hoodswag http://t.co/btSDM9G2F7— Shawn Marion (@matrix31) August 12, 2014
It's being reported that he met last night with the Pacers.
Hmmmmm....appears he's at the airport. Either they agreed on a deal and it isn't reported or he's leaving without one.
Sounds like Tony and some others may have jumped the gun. Doesn't mean it still can't happen though.
Stop quoting people I have on ignore!
Yea looks like the gun was jumped
Look at who has been drafted at the 12 and who has been drafted at the 15 spot the last few years.
013 draft
12 Adams
15 Adetokunbo
012 draft
12 Lamb
15 Harkless
011 draft
12 Burks
15 K Leonard
010 draft
12 Henry
15 Sanders
Teams at 15, who made the playoffs, drafted better players than a #12 lottery team. I'd rather make the playoffs and still have an opportunity to draft a good player. My guess is ownership and the FO feel the same. Object is to cut as much lost revenue as possible fielding a playoff team.
Let's no forget the Pacers got Granger and Hibbert at #17.
THIS! 1000 times. Hoping for insane luck in the draft (when the team is not nearly top ten pick bad anyway) is a waste of time. If this team is gonna improve with PG it's going to be through free agency (and smart late drafting).
Any scenario that hinges on the team getting bad enough to pick in the top ten (still largely a crap shoot) is one where Paul George doesn't even stick around and the team gets stuck in the rebuilding cycle for years upon years.
"As a bearded man, i was very disappointed in Love. I am gathering other bearded men to discuss the status of Kevin Love's beard. I am motioning that it must be shaved."
- ilive4sports
What free agents do you think we will be attracting, we can't even get Shawn Marion to come here, even by offering him 4 million more than the competing team. Honestly we really got luck with West coming here, when he did.
Also when is PG really planning on leaving this team? Who even knows how he will be when he comes back?
Why so SERIOUS


text:
2003 Deep Impact Powerboats Inc Values, Specs and Prices
Dedicated to the construction of heavily customized performance vessels since 1998, Deep Impact Powerboats Incorporated is a Miami, Florida based marine manufacturer. Consisting of power from multiple outboard motors, Deep Impact Powerboats Incorporated vessels are said to reach over 85 miles per hour. Everything from deck layout, color to potential powerplant is the choice of a buyer.Read more Read less
Select a 2003 Deep Impact Powerboats Inc Model
(2008 - 2002)


text:
What do you do when you need an entire outfield, another starter, a bullpen, catching depth, and starting pitching depth (according to your own general manager)? Furthermore, to do it you have, reportedly, only $7 million to spend, since the $15 million deferred of Jason Bay's $21 million owed in 2013, and the $8 million saved on David Wright thanks to the structure of his contract extension, appear to be badly needed by ownership for other purposes?
Meet Collin Cowgill. The Mets gave up Jeffry Marte, who was not the plan at third base unless there'd been some kind of King Ralph scenario involving David Wright and Wilmer Flores.
Cowgill is the kind of player who doesn't get much of a chance, undersized, right-handed, plays all outfield positions but not distinguished at any of them. Still, that's exactly what Mets need. All of their outfield possibilities right now- the three best, amazingly, are Lucas Duda, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Mike Baxter- all have a problem hitting lefties.
Cowgill, if he hits like he did in 2011, would be a huge asset for the Mets. His numbers were way down in 2012, and it makes me wonder why. There's enough of a shift across the board that an injury seems likely, but I haven't gotten any word of that yet.
Regardless, Cowgill is a good bet to be given every chance to make the Mets out of spring training. He's a potential solution, given his skill set. And he's nothing close to a good bet, but the hope is that he can create, with one of Baxter, Duda or Nieuwenhuis, a useful platoon at one outfield spot.
That leaves two more, if we assume Nieuwenhuis can make enough contact and Duda can perform passably in the field, and the Mets can find two more right-handed hitters.
Sandy Alderson still has some work to do. But a healthy Cowgill will go a decent way toward helping.
Here, don't think about that. Think about this.
We're going to be spending a lot of time during Mets games in 2013 closing our eyes and pretending we're either in the future, or in Binghamton.


text:
TRISTAN ROBBINS won the National Junior Road Race Cycling Championships at the Ryedale Grand Prix weekend.
Robbins sprinted clear of rivals Nathan Draper and Tom Bayliss to win in wet conditions on a circuit around the Ampleforth area on Saturday.
The Ryedale Grand Prix men's crown went to Richard Handley, of Warrington, yesterday. He finished seven seconds clear of Mike Cuming, with Russ Downing third.
The 93-mile race is part of the British Cycling Elite Road Series.
The women's Ryedale Grand Prix and Road Series winner was Nicola Juniper, with the Junior Championship going to Beth Hayward.


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A POLICEMAN from Bridgwater who has run four London marathons is planning his next gruelling fundraising challenge.
PC Tony Freeman (pictured), of Bridgwater police, is preparing to cycle the London Surrey 100 – Olympic route of 100 miles – starting at the QE11 Olympic park on August 10 and finishing at the Mall (Buckingham Palace) in aid of CLIC Sargent.
He told the Mercury: "It's only the second year it has taken place. I did it last year and it was a challenge because I hadn't done much cycling before. I was a little apprehensive, but it was enjoyable in the end.
"Last year I raised £1,000 for CLIC and I'd like to raise that amount again this year.
"My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer about two years ago and was given the all-clear eight months ago.
"Lots of people know someone with cancer and I thought a cancer charity for children would be a good cause."
Tony, who was in the Royal Marines for 12 years, has been fundraising most of his life and has raised over £12,000 in the last ten years for various charities, such as Help for Heroes.
He added: "I've always been involved with fundraising. I've run four London Marathons and some half marathons. I don't really train that much, I just go running occasionally.
"I also run an under-13s football club at Bishops Lydeard, I'm a parish councillor and I volunteer for a local youth club. I just like helping people."
To sponsor Tony visit the Justgiving site and search Tony Freeman1 or make donations via Bridgwater Police Station.


text:
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Style(s): JW5839B4


text:
Intel Xeon 3.6 2MB vs AMD Opteron 252 Database Testby Jason Clark & Ross Whitehead on 2/14/2005 8:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- IT Computing
97 Comments
Back to Article
Visual - Thursday, July 07, 2005 - linkthe intel board that you used, you listed it as SE7620AF2. there is no such thing though, so is it a typoed SE7520AF2 or a yet unreleased board? Reply
kaka - Saturday, February 19, 2005 - link??,OPteron is better than xeon!! Reply
Fluff - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkBut in future it would be handy to touch upon extra features such as differences in remote management, what happens if a cpu fails, if memory fails is there hotswop. As these probably affect a decision as well as performance.
I believe that people benefit from the sort of technical analysis and simulated real world that Anandtech does but in addition the other factors such as up-time and manangement would be nice to know.
If a cpu fan / stick of memory fails on a database at the weekend and no one is there to hear the alarm what do the various platforms do?
If a cpu fails on a dual opteron does that mean it loses all the data attached to that cpu? Does the same happen on a xeon? Will a Xeon keep going with just one - chipkill?
I'm not sure if this is outside the scope of Anandtech.
Jason Clark - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkHans, you are correct in that they wouldn't be using non supported memory. But, since the board was pre-production and at the time of testing there were no "recommended' memory modules, we had to go with what we had. Word is our issues were bios related and a new bios should address it.
Cheers Reply
Jason Clark - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkHans, fair enough on the next article we'll include it for those curious. Reply
Jason Clark - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkViditor, we tested with 8GB of memory using PAE and AWE support in SQL. When 64bit versions of sql and windows 2003 are ready we'll be all over it. Reply
Viditor - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkBTW, for some Linux spec results, check these out...
Sun Fire V20z server (2xAMD Opteron processor Model 252, SLES9) with PathScale EKOPath Compiler Suite: SPECfp2000 -- 2036, SPECint_rate2000 -- 40.4, SPECfp_rate2000 -- 46.5.
The Sun Fire V40z server with PathScale EKOPath Compiler Suite (4xAMD Opteron processor Model 852, SLES9): SPECint_rate2000 76.7, SPECfp_rate2000 -- 87.1.
The Sun Fire V20z server (2xAMD Opteron processor Model 250, SLES8): SPECfp_rate2000 37.2.
IBM eServer OpenPower 710 (2x1.65 GHz Power5, Linux): SPECfp_rate -- 40.2.
IBM eServer p5 510 (2x1.65 GHz Power5, AIX): SPECint_rate2000 -- 33, SPECfp_rate2000 -- 43.2 Reply
Viditor - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - linkJason...
I see you are retesting the HT, but I haven't seen a comment from you about testing 64bit with large memory (>4GB). Is this something you just aren't prepared to do right now?
Cheers... Reply
Viditor - Thursday, February 17, 2005 - link"I read viditor comment that said as single"
Yup...very sorry prd00...my bad!
"Which is why we aren't going to provide information like that, as it isn't relevant to the target audience or the purpose of the article"
Fair call Jason, but as this is a beta bios, it might be an important data point...
sleepless - "Looking at the configuration you show Opteron 250 with a 252. Did you have a problem getting another 252 Opteron for the test?"
They built 2 test platforms, 1 with dual 250s and 1 with dual 252s...or so I assume (after my last mistake I take nothing for granted)...:-) Reply
sleepless1 - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - linkLooking at the configuration you show Opteron 250 with a 252. Did you have a problem getting another 252 Opteron for the test? Reply
Hans Maulwurf - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - linkYes, but IBM would not use memory that is not on the recommanded list of the mainboard, at lest I hope so.
And it is possible that the boad sets very high latencies for the memory you used. So I think it is an important information especially when using memory that is not recommanded. Reply
Jason Clark - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - linkHans, let me ask you this. When someone in an IT dept. calls Compaq, Dell, HP or IBM for a server do you think they ask them what the memory timings are set at? The answer is no. Which is why we aren't going to provide information like that, as it isn't relevant to the target audience or the purpose of the article. We're trying to educate the IT folks on what platform does what on certain workloads and IT related tests.
Cheers. Reply
prd00 - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - linkReply
Hans Maulwurf - Wednesday, February 16, 2005 - linkJason,
you do not have to play with the memory timings to report them. Reply
dm - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkdanidentity, i guess you're right when you mentioned about 5pages of reply ;)... Reply
prd00 - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkSorry, missed your comment Jason.. I read viditor comment that said as single. So, in Dual setup, Xeon is more powerful now ;). Then, Xeon must be faster in single.
I am waiting for 64 bit one ;) Reply
prd00 - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkWow.. single??
On single setup, I already knew that Xeon is powerful. Right now what we are lacking is a TRUE SERVER BENCHMARK. Not just single vs single. I can safely recommend Xeon since a few months ago on single setup, but right now, most of our customers are asking about DUAL SETUP. Some are looking in QUAD setup. Single is useless in server environment. For databse server, 9 out of 10 are looking for 2p setup
So, what I am really looking are database benchmark on single, dual and quad setup, and also how does it scale. Which platform best suited for 2p and 4p, and which one has better upgrade future (i.e. by adding processors), and until what point.
So, like, Xeon is good for 1p, but on 2p Opteron is better, while more than 8p we can consider Itanium instead for database server.
Kind of conclusion like that. Reply
Jason Clark - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkZebo, because this is a server test. You don't play with memory timings/overclocking in servers. We used default memory timings that the Tyan board set for the memory. I linked to the manufacturer specs on the memory which identifies its SPD rating. The only thing we're investigating at this point is the 1GHz HT issue in the bios. Reply
PrinceGaz - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkIt's certainly a change from the usual Opteron beating Xeon in almost all server tests reviews, and all the more so because you say they were both dual CPU systems (I was under the impression while reading they were only single CPU servers being compared).
It just goes to show how much difference the benchmarks that are run, how well the systems are set up, and any other things we never know about, can influence results.
I'm glad Intel is coming out ahead in some tests on AT, maybe you should make them come out ahead on desktop stuff too as that might encourage AMD to drop the prices on the higher rated E0 revision Athlon 64 processors sooner rather than later :) Reply
Zebo - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkJason how comw you did'nt say mem timings nor speed or if 1T or not? I've never seen a review from AT without this. Reply
Carfax - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkSheesh, the workstation benches still aren't up? :(
More people are interested in the workstation benchmarks than database I'd wager because it's a better showcase for the new enhancements.
How long will we have to wait? Reply
Jason Clark - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linksnorre, proper? It is proper in terms of the Windows world since 64 bit DOES NOT EXIST :). If you want to see 64bit linux coverage as said in these comments and in the article view the linux section or Johans work in the IT section.
snorre - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkI'd like to see a proper Xeon DP 2M vs Opteron 252 review, since MS SQL 32-bit benchmarks are only of limited interest. When will we see this?
Are there any proper Opteron 252 reviews out there?
semo - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link#70, you said it. it's the cost. cost is my killer.
sure ddr2 costs more than ddr but i hate upgrading my whole setup just to get new momory. right now i'm running a pc133 setup and cannot upgrade even if i wanted to (and believe me... i want to). i know that low latency is what the hammer architecture wants but doesn't regitered memory increase latencies... and what is registered memory anyway? Reply
Jason Clark - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkThere was a few questions about single or dual in here, I had answered that but to clarify all testing was DUAL processor. Reply
Jason Clark - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkOne thing to remember with the Tyan bios is it is pre-production. We'll post info as soon as we have it. Reply
Jason Clark - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkWe're working with Tyan on the 1GHz HT issue, if we get a new bios that supports it we will re-test and post our results..
Cheers. Reply
Viditor - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link"i'm interested in number cruncing and games and rendering, i.e. a workstation not a server"
Why would you not want registered memory then? Contrary to popular opinion, it does not affect the speed...only the cost.
For gaming, dual systems are no help at all (unless you're running a game server) with todays software. For professional rendering, you absolutely WANT registered memory!
DDR2 would actually be no speed increase at all for AMD64 systems, and none yet for Intel systems. Not until the memory speeds get much higher will we see any benefit from DDR2...
XDR is also not a good match for the AMD chips because of the high latency. AMD chips are NOT bandwidth constrained but ARE latency sensitive (meaning that increasing memory speeds does very little, while increasing latency makes them much worse).
The only real issue of registered memory is the cost, and if that is the problem I would suggest a high end A64 939 SLI board (e.g. Asus A8N-SLI), and upgrade to dual core in September or so... Reply
semo - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linki'm interested in number cruncing and games and rendering, i.e. a workstation not a server. unforutnately the integrated memory controller of the amd hammers are both their strengths and weaknesses.
it's only upto amd whether we can have unregistered, ddr2 or maybe even xdr memory i guess Reply
Viditor - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link"is it possible to have a dual proc setup without using registered memory?"
Technically yes...but registered memory is what's preferred for servers because it is more securely accurate. All Opterons use registered memory...
Platforms for the Athlon MP use non-registered memory, and a very few of the Xeon platforms do as well... Reply
semo - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkis it possible to have a dual proc setup without using registered memory? Reply
Proton - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link"We did a revamp of the tool itself, which is more performant on high volume queries."
Please read this article...
"More recently, we've seen the word "performant" start its crawl into the everyday vocabulary of devspace. It is used to mean "highly performing." It's also not a word. When something provides information, it's informative. It's not "informant." The word "performant," if it existed, would be a noun—not an adjective. But it doesn't exist, so if you do see it in print, remember that it's not really there.' Reply
ceefka - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link#15 Jason, let me rephrase that#10: "However compact"... That would do it more justice ;-)
I didn't thank you for the effort you and Ross put into this, did I? Your article came out together with the announcements of AMD. Hot stuff! How much time/sleep did you really have? Reply
Viditor - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link"What memory timings?"
Good question...
"is it dual vs Dual or single vs single"
single vs single, 32bit Reply
prd00 - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkWait... I think I miss something here.. is it dual vs Dual or single vs single? Reply
Zebo - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkWhat memory timings? Reply
Viditor - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - link"I don't know if it fixes the IOMMU issue or not"
As far as we know, it doesn't. The Smithfield is a desktop part, so that is to be expected...large quantities of memory aren't yet necessary for the desktop.
"Now this is interesting. Somewhere were Intel comes out on top by a big margin"
(grin) Only the most diehard AMD fan would deny Xeon's capabilities...
For a 1 or 2 CPU server that is used for low-end database serving or webserving, the new Xeon is excellent in 32bit (the CPU of choice)!
As the next few months grind ahead, we will see quite a few scenarios on review sites. My own suppositions are that
1. In a 1 or 2 single core Opteron system there is almost no bandwidth constraint. This is evidenced by the lack of change with the 25% HT increase to 1GHz. That said, we might see significant changes in 4 and 8 way systems, especially as dual cores come on-line.
2. We still have no reviews of these two platforms in 64bit using >4GB of ram. I suspect that Opteron will be much more effective there...
3. When Intel releases their mp Xeon Nocona, I suspect that 4 and 8 way Opteron systems will blow their doors off...my rationale is that the 1GHz HT links and AMD's MOESI cache protocol gives them a huge advantage in scaling processors. Reply
Staples - Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - linkNow this is interesting. Somewhere were Intel comes out on top by a big margin. Reply
fitten - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkBTW... there is a new chipset (or some new chipsets) being released soon along with the Smithdale CPU. I don't know if it fixes the IOMMU issue or not, but it might be worth a look... Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link"no mention in any of the access scenarios is described as 32bit..."
Oops...yes it does.
"Some devices, such as a large majority of PCI cards cannot directly access memory above the 4GB point" Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link"DMA operations initiated by a peripheral device that does not directly support 64-bit addressing will have performance issues"
I'm not sure you are correct in this...I believe the issue is
"physical addresses above 4GB (32 bits) cannot reliably be the source or destination of DMA operations"
I found another article that explains my concern quite well...
"Unlike the Itanium, which is solely a 64-Bit processor, these chips have the ability to run in both 32-Bit and 64-Bit mode. Some devices, such as a large majority of PCI cards cannot directly access memory above the 4GB point. To solve this, the software has to ensure the physical memory address is below the 4GB point. AMD solved this solution by using a hardware IOMMU, which is effectively a "bounce buffer" or look-up table of physically memory addresses corresponding to a virtual address that is given to the incompatible hardware, allowing it to use memory above the 4GB barrier.
Intels solution isn't quite as elegant. If a device needs to access memory above the 4GB point, the data is just copied from wherever it is, to a fixed location below the 4GB point. This takes time and can reduce performance. In extreme cases we have heard there could be as much as 30-50% decrease in performance on the Nocona platform"
This does not appear to be a 64bit driver issue to me as no mention in any of the access scenarios is described as 32bit... Reply
Accord99 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkIt's an Intel thing I think, for why they don't have an IOMMU. Even their chipsets for the Itanium 2 don't have one while HP and SGI's chipsets do. Or perhaps Intel just wants (and has the power to force) peripheral manufacturer's to make proper 64-bit devices and drivers. Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkOIC what you are saying...and yes, it's a problem with the chipset. Of course that is exactly what I said in the first place...
"Because there is still no hardware IOMMU on Xeon chipsets"
The big question is, why hasn't Intel fixed this?
I can only assume that it is a design problem for them that is inherent to EM64T...
I can't imagine that they would just let this slide on their chipset development.
What that problem is, I have no idea...I would just like to see what effect it has on system function. Reply
Accord99 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkThe linuxhardware article supports what I'm saying, DMA operations initiated by a peripheral device that does not directly support 64-bit addressing will have performance issues. Server-level peripherals typically support 64-bit addressing and it is not a problem with the CPU, or the EMT64 instruction set, it is a problem with the chipset. It does not affect the Xeon's ability to addres flatly >4GB of memory. Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI don't believe I do...
I have read that post before, and I don't see your point.
Try reading this article to understand what I'm saying:
"Software IOTLB — Intel EM64T does not support an IOMMU in hardware while AMD64 processors do. This means that physical addresses above 4GB (32 bits) cannot reliably be the source or destination of DMA operations. Therefore, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 2 kernel "bounces" all DMA operations to or from physical addresses above 4GB to buffers that the kernel pre-allocated below 4GB at boot time. This is likely to result in lower performance for IO-intensive workloads for Intel EM64T as compared to AMD64 processors."
Although this shouldn't affect people that run with under 4GB of memory, this is an important point to note. If you do ever need the extra memory, you may take a performance hit. Unfortunately, we do not have over 4GB of DDR2 memory here today so we will not be able to test how much of a hit you would take if any"
The bottom line is that many believe (including myself) the physical addressing will be a significant problem, and many (including you) don't.
That's why I have requested that AT do an actual test...nothing like reality to settle a discussion...:-)
BTW, thanks for correcting my typo... Reply
Dubb - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link/taps fingers impatiently waiting on rendering benchmarks...
which hopefully include (hint hint)
mental ray
renderman Reply
Accord99 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkYour understanding of the IOMMU is wrong. Please refer to this thread:
Also, the Xeon supports 36-bits. Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkAccord99 - "The IOMMU is only used for peripherals that don't support 64-bit addressing"
The IOMMU is a memory mapping unit sitting between the I/O bus and physical memory. While the memory controller of the Xeon can address 64bit, it uses PAE to do so because current chipsets only address 32 bits. The on-die memory controller for AMD64 chips address 40 bits...
Accord99 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkThe hardware IOMMU has no impact on the Xeon's ability to flat address >4GB of memory. The IOMMU is only used for peripherals that don't support 64-bit addressing, ie USB 2.0 cards, EIDE controllers, soundcards, some network controllers and will reduce IO performance for these devices. High-end 64-bit SCSI controllers, gigabit network controllers and newer SATA controllers all support 64-bit addressing and run at full performance. Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkOne other request (if it's possible)...
Just so we can get a well-rounded view on the results, is it possible for you to do a Solaris/Oracle and Linux/MySQL (or Linux/Postgres) test?
I realise that I'm asking a lot, but if you have the time...:-) Reply
Zan Lynx - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI see Viditor explained what he really wanted. That was my first comment and by the time I'd filled out all the forms and received the email with my password he had already explained. Sorry. Please ignore me. Reply
Zan Lynx - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkViditor, the test hardware used 8GB RAM for both the Xeon and Opteron systems according to page 2. Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkJason - Let me expand on my request...
Because there is still no hardware IOMMU on Xeon chipsets, I believe they must use PAE for 64bit addressing over 4GB, however Opteron doesn't have this problem and can address directly up to 128GB.
I would very much like to see the results of a comparison on the same testbed you used for this article (8GB Ram) to compare and see how much this effects performance as this seems a very typical model to me.
Cheers! Reply
Viditor - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkJason - Very well done test and article!
I too would be very interested in a 64bit Linux (or even Windows Beta) test with that configuration...
One of the things I am anxious to see is Xeons reaction to >4GB of ram on its performance. There are still NO results (that I have seen) with that configuration.
Cheers, and thanks for the article. Reply
sri2000 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkSomeone mentioned adding other database functions to provide different kind of stresses. How about using SQL Server Data Transfromation Services (DTS) to perform a variety of mass imports/exports from the test database?
You could also perform some Full-Text searches mixed in with the regular queries on appropriately indexed tables - though those are really disk intensive rather than CPU-intensive (though the CPU usage does spike significantly when these queries are run).
I also wonder if adding queries which hit Views in addition to regular tables would affect anything, the result being that you're essentially running nested queries (though this doesn't likely reflect the type of usage seen in your forums, which was the basis of this test).
By the same token, having queries that use wildcards, user functions, sub-queries, etc (rather than just simple selects & inserts) will also add complexity to the searches & might affect the results.
Marlin1975 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkLike someone else pointed out, when will you do some test to see what the SSE3 did for AMD.
Also what were the temps on both of the NEW Cpus. Haveing hundreds of them in a server room can cost a arm and a leg to keep cool, so I think temps do matter here. Reply
fitten - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link#39, we don't need to point out that 64-bit Intel P4 Xeons have been out and available for a while even though WindowsXP64 isn't available yet. You can run the RC WindowsXP64 on those and on Opterons/Athlon64s. Reply
rgb - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI don't think the BIOS of the test machine was adapted to Revision E Opterons.
I adapted LinuxBIOS to the Rev E stepping last week and the 1 GHz support is really the easiest thing (was already present in revision D processors). Changing the HT speed while the operating system is running is _very_ difficult. It requires a reset or LDTSTOP on both CPUs for the new frequency to be effective, so this is normally done a boot time in the BIOS. I guess ntune does not really change the HT frequency.
In addition Revision E has a number of errata fixed which result in improved performance (for example Errata 94).
The most important point is the new memory controller mode that reduces the DRAM bank conflicts. It improves STREAM benchmarks scores around 30%. This modes has to be automatically enabled by the BIOS, so please rerun the benchmark on a mainboard that supports Rev E processors.
Quanticles - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI'd really want to see tests run on Linux, even if it is 32-bit. There are too many Windows programs that are tailored to Intel processors.
I dont need to point out that Microsoft is delaying the 64 bit version of Windows until Intel has their 64 bit processor come out. If they're going to delay like that then I wonder how well the Opteron will preform on it. Reply
Phiro - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkJason: Ignore all the 64-bit idiots. Please keep supplying 32-bit sql benchmarks for a LONG time - in the real world 99.5% of production dbs are running on 32-bit sql servers and that number will remain quite high for a long, long time no matter how fast 64-bit takes off. Reply
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkbthomas, read page 1 please. We focus on the window side of the house and there is no released 64bit OS or SQL server yet.
Quanticles, the only measure we has was ntune which reported the HT bus running at 1GHz. Dual configuration for all tests.
Quanticles - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkDid you check to make sure the HT bus was actually running at 1 GHz with an o-scope?
Where you running these systems as 1P or 2P? I got the impression that you were running the tests as 1P systems and then was making recommendations on 2P systems.
bthomas - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkGeez. Nobody is mentioning the fact that the Opteron is running on a 32-bit OS in these tests.
Yeah, its basically a wash under these conditions, but so what..the real test would be under 64 bit. DB applications/servers are supposed to really thrive in the 64-bit realm. Why didnt you test under a 64 bit OS/DB software like Linux/Postgres|MySQL/etc ?!?
rivieracadman - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI forgot to ask; Does the 152 offer SSOI or is it still SOI. From the power ratings I can guess it's still SOI. Just curious ... Reply
chucky2 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI like how vendors cripple the AMD offerings...sometimes ever so slightly, other times largely. Take a look at the two HP offerings listed out at the end of the article and tell me which one you'd like to buy? For $900 extra, I'll give up whatever performance benefit I'd see for the managability any day.
Not AMD's fault...it's the vendors... :(
Chuck Reply
Fluff - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkWas NUMA enabled on 2003 Enterprise Edition for the 252?
Did it make any difference?
This was not made clear in the article.
Unless /PAE is the equivalent. Reply
mlittl3 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkFor those of you who are interested in what opterons will be made using 90 nm and 1 GHz hypertransport, here is the link on amd's website.
Sorry it is so long but there is a lot of scripting for filtering results on the page.
To summarize, Opterons 242 (1.6 GHz) to 852 (2.6 GHz) are being updated to the new die process and HT bus.
I would like to recommend to the author of the article to include a reference section at the end of every review to relevant websites for more information. This would be similar to the reference section in the article from Johan. The above link should go there as well as any links to more indepth architecture info on both AMD's and Intel's websites. Just a thought. Reply
skiboysteve - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkthat extra period at the end of post #28 made what would have been a normal statement entirely creepy as hell... Reply
snorre - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkIt would be more interesting with an update to these articles:
"The true test that remains, however, is a test comparing AMD's Opteron to Intel's Itanium 2. Intel was not very receptive to the idea of doing a head-to-head; not out of a fear of losing, but out of a desire not to lend AMD any credibility by showing that the Opteron is indeed a competitor to the Itanium 2. While we do believe that the Itanium 2 in its 128-way configurations is definitely out of the Opteron's league, in the 2-way and 4-way configurations that we are interested in comparing, the two are absolutely competitors.
Whether Intel is looking to supply us with an Itanium 2 system or not, we will make that comparison."
We're still waiting... Reply
SpaceRanger - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI'd love to see it Jason.. Reply
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkAn article we are contemplating is desktop parts in a SQL test, and web. Lots of folks in smaller orgranizations and even medium to some extent build their own boxes.
Interesting? Reply
Regs - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkThanks for Clarifying me #24. For some odd reason I'm thinking about the differences between the branch predicator of a A64 and Intel and I got in over my head.
But you are right about the cache, spatial and temporal locality. Reply
rivieracadman - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI would suspect that the raw speed of the Xeon coupled with the larger cash to reduce latency would make the Xeon perform well in any benchmark that was both threaded and delt with small data sets, such as reads, queries, and searches. On the other hand, the Opteron due to its lower memory access overhead, and shear bandwidth, would do better in areas with large data sets such as data transfers, data recovery, and large complex calculations. If this is correct, which you have pretty much confirmed, then I would suspect that the Opteron would do better in the web server tests as long as the pages served were larger then say 15K. Not that this is any magical number, but the Xeon would have to pull from memory more at this point.
As for the HT bus. I wouldn't think you would use the entire 1Ghz bus on a database benchmark. You really need to perform some workstation benchmarks to fill the bus.
Since everyone else here is adding to the wish list. I would like to see a real world combined query, read, change, write benchmark. I think the Xeon does better when searching and reading because of its shear speed, but the Opteron would do better when a record is altered and resubmitted to a database. This is more of a real world example in my opinion, and since both are architectually diffrent, it would allow for both CPUs to show their true colors in what would be considered every tasks. Reply
blckgrffn - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkHaving repetitive data is what having cache is all about, the long pipelined architecture of the P4 needs the large local cache to minimize time-expensive ram lookups to compensate for the time-expensive deep pipe operations that get tossed when mis-predicted. So, the 2meg cache could help the prescott in many places and is not limited only to SQL. I think that we can probably look at the the EE P4's and get a feeling for what the new prescotts will bring to the table, but we can hope that all of those additions that were made to the Prescott core are allowed to shine with more cache present. Reply
fitten - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link#9, this was a server benchmark test. Servers are about stability and such. Anyone who overclocks a critical server (database, etc.) should be fired on the spot.
They may do overclocking tests in the workstation review that was mentioned. Reply
Ross Whitehead - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link#20 - I agree the AMDs instructions/clock count is high, but we were surprised that the 25% increase in HT did not provide any measurable difference.
Regs - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link*Their IPC counts are higher*
Need more coffee Reply
Regs - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link#11 - I doubt there will be a performance gain for games with just added cache. The problem with the prescott is it's low IPC core and leakage. Anyways, Apps on the desk top use a lot of repeatedly used data arrays with similar instruction sets. So why would the CPU core benefit a larger L2 cache for games when it's just going to be the similar type of code it just processed?
#16 - AMD's are not bandwidth starved. Their high instructions per clock count are higher. So the pipeline is a lot shorter which means it does not run a risk of pipeline stalls if it was not fed enough data from the bus unlike the Intel. Reply
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkmickyb,
Quad 3.6 Xeon systems don't exist as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong. Quad Xeon systems are still the 400MHz FSB Xeons that are clocked at most 3GHz. Reply
mickyb - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkThe Intel XEON has always been competitive. You guys are thinking about gaming. I would like to see 4 way perforamnce and see a graph on benchmarks compared to number of CPUs. AMD has previously done well in this area. Reply
bob661 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link#14
The difference is the 2xx can go up to 2 CPU's and the 8xx can go up to 8 CPU's. That's it. Reply
Ross Whitehead - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkR3MF, we plan to discuss w/ AMD and Tyan the lack of benefit the 1 GHz HyperTransport provided.
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkceefka, meager? 3 of the most popular uses of a database? If there is something you think we are missing, please reveal ;).
We'll work on a web article asap. Reply
ksherman - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkis it just me, or did you take the best Xeon and put it against a mid range Opteron? what about the 8xx series? what is the difference between 2xx and 8xx? Reply
blackbrrd - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkSeems Intel just turned the table again. What about webserver performance? Reply
blckgrffn - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI meant on the desktop, which is why the PM doesn't really count, sorry I wasn't more clear on that... Reply
blckgrffn - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkI hope that the upcoming prescotts with 2meg L2 cache show similar improvements across the board - not because I am Intel fan, but really AMD hasn't had much in the way of direct competition from Intel lately (the PM doesn't count)
Every benchmark has been: The 3000+ AMD64 is better than nearly any P4 for gaming performance, and if you really want to win all the benches but one or two, shell out for the fx-55... kind of boring, really :) Reply
ceefka - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkHowever meager the benchies, it proofs my point that a company should mix and match according to their needs and not just stick with one or the other because their supplier says they shoud buy this or that.
We have lots of financial data and scans, tables etc. going here, so a 4-way Opteron can be justified to sit between a few Xeon boxes for other apps. Unfortunately we're in the Intel comfort zone and browsing through accounts, scans and tables is therefore tedious. Reply
R3MF - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkjust because i'm awkward -
i'd like to see a comparison between a:
> FX55 (2.6GHz) & O252 (2.6GHz)
> nF4 Ultra & nF4 Pro (abit wln8+)
> 2x 512MB DDR500
> 2x 300GB Max10 NCQ
> 6800 Ultra
in order to see whether the core enhancements in the new Opteron make a difference........?
am i asking for too much? :p
gordon151 - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkYeah, this article needs to be re-written because the Opteron doesn't crush Xeon. These numbers are dubious! Reply
danidentity - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkJason, I hope you're ready for about 5 pages of comments pointing out the flaws in your testing methodology and another 5 pages demanding you re-do all the tests because the Opteron didn't destroy the Xeon.
Fair warning. ;) Reply
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkTiamat, yep corrected. Thanks Reply
Tiamat - Monday, February 14, 2005 - link"Dual core Opterons will be socket compatible with existing 950 pin sockets that support 90nm (95W/80A)."
Correct me if I am incorrect, did you mean 940 pin? If not, I have not seen any 950 pin sockets on the market...
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkAileur, we'll get right on it. Reply
Jason Clark - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkThey are coming soon :) Derek Wilson is going to deliver those. Reply
Aileur - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkIm afraid youre gonna have to redo this whole article since the opteron doesnt wipe the floor with the xeon, and this is unacceptable. Reply
Carfax - Monday, February 14, 2005 - linkCan you please do some Workstation benchmarks?
It is rumored that AMD enhanced the SSE2 units aswell as added SSE3 support, and I want to see if it's true. Reply


text:
• independence •
Pronunciation: in-dê-pen-dêns • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural)
Meaning: 1. Freedom from outside influence or control, self-regulation, self-governance. 2. Having sufficient income to support yourself and your family, self-reliant (financial independence).
Notes: Independence, of course, is the noun derived from the adjective independent. The adjective also has an adverb, independently, a common enough word in our vocabularies. Today those of us in the US celebrate the proclamation of our independence from Great Britain in our aptly named Declaration of Independence. The document declaring that independence was signed just down the road from alphaDictionary's home (Lewisburg, Pennsylvania) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. You will find biographies of all 56 signers linked to this page, which also contains the Declaration itself.
In Play: Although politically independent, the US finds itself more and more economically dependent on the rest of the world: "As fossil fuel consumption continues to increase, the US needs to find alternative ways back to the energy independence it once enjoyed." While nations and other political entities often strive for independence, so do individuals: "Well, son, while I like your poetry, I doubt that it will lead you to financial independence."
Word History: Independent is composed of in- "un-, not" + dependent. Dependent is the thinly disguised present participle, depend-en(t)s, of the Latin verb dependere "to hang from, depend". This verb is made up of the prefix de- "from" + pendere "to hang". The root pend- in this word is a variant of the root in the Latin adverb pondo "by weight" from which we snitched English pound. Pondere "to weigh, ponder", the Latin verb from this noun, is also the source of English ponder, in case you haven't already guessed. Today is a wonderful day, by the way, to ponder all the benefits of the independence and freedoms we enjoy every day.
Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
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- Dr. Goodword
- Site Admin
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• The Good Dr. Goodword
From the film "Holiday Inn," here are the lyrics to the song Bing Crosby sang for the Fourth of July:
I couldn't find an audio to share, so you'll have to watch the movie, I guess.
-Freedom! Freedom
-Here comes the Freedom Man
On this day of independence
On this Independence Day
Listen to an American troubador from the U.S.A
I'm singing a song of freedom
For all people who cry out to be free
Free to sail the seven seas
Free to worship as we please
If the birds up in the trees can be free
Why can't we?
I'm bringing a song of freedom
To all people wherever they may be
Free to speak and free to hear
Free from want and free from fear
Sons of freedom far and near who agree
Sing with me
That all God's people shall be free.
I couldn't find an audio to share, so you'll have to watch the movie, I guess.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.
- Grand Panjandrum
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- Location: Texas
Bing Crosby Freedom Song
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.
- LukeJavan8
- Grand Panjandrum
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- Location: Land of the Flat Water
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text:
Diplomacy and Democracy in the Muslim World
The Christian Science Monitor says Obama needs to follow up his rhetorical overtures to the Islamic world with concrete policy shifts. "Hard policy choices lie ahead that are bound to inflame Muslims and non-Muslims, depending on the path taken. Should the US talk to Hamas? Should it cease antiterrorism airstrikes on Pakistani soil, as most Pakistanis want? How should it proceed with Iran?" The Monitor says Islamic societies will have to make adjustments themselves, by undertaking reforms based on "principles of self-government, liberty, and individual rights."
But in an op-ed in the same paper, Walter Rodgers, a former CNN correspondent, argues that the U.S. must scale back its global ambitions to match its declining power, and that means acknowledging that "the Western democratic model has no appeal to much of the Arab world. … It's time to lower our geopolitical sights and end America's unrealistic crusade. We shouldn't expect 'them' to want to be like 'us.'"


text:
ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - When you buy a new computer you know it's important to wipe your old one clean. The same goes when you upgrade a phone. But when you trade in a car, chances are you don't erase your navigation system or your garage door codes.
In fact, 5 on Your Side's Leisa Zigman put that theory to the test and the results are so concerning, local and state car dealers are responding.
With the help of Dave Sinclair Ford and Dave Sinclair Lincoln, staff popped the hoods of used cars with navigation systems and left us the keys. In car after car, we found a flashing home icon with an address.
"It's obvious this person is out in Ballwin a lot, and Wildwood," said Dave Sinclair, Jr.
One car's "favorites list" showed us a Catholic girls school and a home in a million dollar subdivision. We wiped it clean.
Another car listed two favorites; a Kirkwood steak house and their home address. We deleted that too.
Of the 12 cars we examined on the lots, nine had identifying information, and five pinged us with home addresses.
"I wouldn't have thought of it unless you had told me about it and we're going to change our process now," said James Sinclair, president of Dave Sinclair Lincoln and Ford.
For the next part of our experiment we drove to a home listed on a car's navigation system. The garage door codes were still plugged in. And so, with the door wide open, we went to warn the homeowner about our consumer test.
According to national reports, the bad guys looking to rob you already know this trick. We're not revealing a new way to steal, but a way for consumers to fight back.
Maria Clements wouldn't open the door because she is so protective of her children. We called her from the car and explained the story and then she greeted us saying, "Yeah, it freaks me out to think someone can just come into your house after everything you do. I got the alarm system and you are unlisted and you are doing all these things and just one thing like that. They're brilliant too, that is what they do for a living. The crooks? Yes!"
That was all James Sinclair needed to hear.
"I'll make sure it happens locally and at the statewide association that we notify the dealers that this is something you ought to add to your check list to wipe any navigation, garage door, wipe the codes out for the next buyer," he said.
How to wipe your GPS clean
Desi Desiderio installs GPS and other electronics at his Rolling Sound store in Jacksonville, Fla. He said the easiest way to erase your personal data from your GPS is to reset the system.
"It is not difficult," said Desiderio, "It is very simple."
How simple? Go into the main menu of the system, under settings, and it will give you the option to reset. Don't be afraid: Click the button to reset. Confirm you are erasing the data. In seconds, your navigational device is wiped clean.
"At that point it is going back to factory settings," said Desiderio.
When it is down, the system does not even recognize that you were there.
"There's nothing left in the system," he said, "it is like I was never here."
It is a very simple process and he said something everyone should do.
"When you're trading in your car, just be mindful of what you're leaving behind," said Desiderio, "because you never know what the next owner is going to do with that information."
How to remove the garage door opener code from your car
On some vehicles it's as simple as holding the 1 and 3 buttons down for five to ten seconds. The light will blink slowly and the quickly. At that point the codes are wiped clean.
You can also check with the garage mechanic because not all codes are programmed the same way or better yet, if you have your manual look for re-setting instructions.


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quote:Originally posted by Guest4377No surprise the Habs beat the Canucks with this bet. Montreal has George Parros on their team, one of the league's perennial moustache leaders!
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It only took them about 150 years, but the state of Mississippi, has ratified the 13th amendment banning slavery. As it turns out, the film Lincoln contributed to the move.
After watching the critically acclaimed film, Dr. Ranjan Batra, of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, was inspired to take a deeper look into the amendment. Batra, a native of India who became a citizen in 2008, watched the film in November, and was curious about the next steps taken in banning slavery. He found that within a year, 27 of the then 36 states, ratified the amendment by the end of 1865.
Mississippi was one of four states rejecting the measure, waiting until 1995 to even attempt to make the change. However, a bill for the ratification —introduced by Sen. Hillman Frazier—was never made official since the U.S. archivist was not notified, despite it being passed in the state's House and Senate.
Batra alerted friend, Ken Sullivan, to his investigation. Sullivan remembered the 1995 resolution, and contacted Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hoseman, sending him a copy of the original paperwork. On Feb. 7, the documents were made official by the Federal Register. "We finally got it right," Hoseman said.
Now, 148 years later, Mississippi has officially banned slavery in the state.
Better late, than never.
Photo: Libary of Congress


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There is an interesting article in the New York Times titled The Fading Sounds of Analog Technology talking about the end of analog noises produced by now vintage products. Sounds such as dial tones and cassettes rewinding are fading away. Interestingly, we still reference many old analog sounds in our day to day language.
"We're losing the dial tone, too. Cellphones don't have dial tones. Only landlines do, and those are rapidly disappearing. And without the dial tone, how will movie producers ever indicate that someone's hung up on a character? (Even though that was an unrealistic depiction to begin with.) Funny thing is, we're replacing these sounds mainly with… nothing! What's the sound of broadband? Of rewinding a CD?" – David Pogue, NYTimes.com
Read the full NYTimes article: click here
photo credit: m kasahara


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MUSIC lovers flocked to Malvern on Saturdays to enjoy an afternoon of live music, thanks to the volunteer organisers who put on the annual West Fest.
And this year's event was certainly a summer success, with the sun shining down on revellers all afternoon while some of the finest performers from the local music scene provided sounds both mellow and rocking.
Headlining on the main stage were popular favourites Black Heart Angels, who topped a line-up that also included Boy and Bicycle, Clumsy, Hump da Bump, the Matt Woosey Band and Miss Pearl and the Rough Diamonds.
The main stage took turns with the acoustic stage, which hosted sets from talents such as Appleby Kinsey, Flatworld,
Lounge Toad and the Malvern Hillbillies.
And the Andy Dakin stage, which was added to the event last year in memory of one of West Fest's founders, provided
a venue for various community acts, including the Chase jazz band, children from West Malvern's own primary school, and performers from the Malvern Cube community centre.
There was plenty to do as well as listen to music, with stalls selling crafts or promoting local good causes, and lots of entertainments and games for children.
And for those who got hungry, local traders provided delicious fare ranging from doughnuts to burgers, while tipplers enjoyed the West Fest Ale, created specially by Malvern Hills Brewery.
John Brook of West Fest said: "I think we had about the same number of people as last year, about 2,500, and it was a really good festival. All the bands play for free, and we want to thank them and all the volunteers who make it possible.
"This year we had for the first time the Seventh Malvern Scouts organising the car parking and we want to thank them for doing a sterling job."


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Typing In RiddlesMystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
Detective Larson gazed around the cluttered dingy apartment. The aging famous columnist Max Worthington had been fatally stabbed. His agent, Roger, had called the police when Max failed to submit his column to the newspaper.
Max's body was draped over his manual typewriter. The detective glanced at the paper in the typewriter. It appeared to be the writer's column. The victim's head rested on the keyboard and had apparently hit random keys causing the last line of the article to be followed by "49t34 w5qgg3e j3". The detective was surprised to see that Max had used a typewriter rather than a computer. Roger, Max's agent, explained that Max found it therapeutic to pound the keys on his typewriter, and despised computers.
Out of a list of acquaintances provided by Max's agent, the detective questioned the following people.
Marisa had been separated from Max for the last year and a half. Although initially the split had been amicable, lately things had gotten nasty about the latest division of their assets. Max was willing to give Marisa the mansion and a generous lump sum payment, but wanted to draw the line at the excessive alimony being demanded by Marisa's lawyer. Marisa was living in the mansion and had a generous pre-alimony settlement and an extremely attractive new boyfriend.
Jillian was Max's current girlfriend. She definitely was a looker and by all appearances was extremely high maintenance. She was also the spring in this May/December romance. Although crying, she was devastatingly attractive in her designer dress. She had a Gucci bag, wore emerald and diamond jewelry and on her wrist a new Rolex. The detective suspected her grief was for the loss of her "gravy train" and not for the deceased.
Max's brother, Gerald, had been dating Marisa when Max had stolen her away. Gerald still held a grudge and blatantly told the detective that "he was glad his brother was dead and good riddance". He hinted that he might try to win Marisa back, now that his brother was dead.
After a brief investigation an arrest was made. Who did the detective arrest?
AnswerThe detective arrested Roger, the agent. After looking at the paper in the typewriter, the detective realized that the last line on the news column contained the phrase "roger stabbed me". (49t34 w5qgg3e j3) Max had managed to type the message after being stabbed, but his fingers were positioned one line too high on the keyboard, when he typed his final message.
Apparently Max had planned to terminate his association with Roger and in a fit of anger, Roger had stabbed him.
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Dooley Noted Podcast: September 24, 2013
Published: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 1:01 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 1:01 p.m.
Subscribe with iTunes | Stitcher Radio | Download
Pat looks back at week four of the 2013 college football season.
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


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Mini Apple Strudels Recipe
- 1-1/2 cups chopped peeled tart apples
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 sheets phyllo dough (14 inches x 9 inches)
- Butter-flavored cooking spray
- Confectioners' sugar, optional
- In a small bowl, combine the apples, sugar, walnuts, flour and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface (keep remaining dough covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel to prevent it from drying out). Spray with butter-flavored spray.
- Fold in half widthwise; spray again with butter-flavored spray. Spoon a scant 1/3 cup filling onto phyllo about 2 in. from a short side. Fold side and edges over filling and roll up. Place seam side down on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat.
- With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slits in tops of strudels. Spray strudels with butter-flavored spray. Bake at 350° for 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if desired. Yield: 6 servings.
Reviews forMini Apple Strudels
My Review
Average Rating
"These Apple Strudels have been a huge hit! I used Splenda instead of sugar and pecans instead of walnuts both times I've made this recipe. They are so easy to make. I melted butter the first time, but used spray the second...so much easier/faster! The second time I had leftovers and froze them...enjoyed them 2 weeks later and they were as good as the fresh strudels...couldn't tell the difference. This means I can make them in advance of having guests and enjoy a tasty treat with no prep work during their visit...love it!"
"This was great - everyone enjoyed it and thought I spend hours in the kitchen (but I didn't)!! Will make it again soon."
"I'm from Germany and on year I visited Salzburg. In a restaurant I had a chance to ordered Strudel with Vanilla sauce. The Strudel was just swimming in the sauce. It also was so filling that I could had it for a whole meal. All I can tell you, it was yummy, yummy!!!"
"Not made it yet"
"I'm excited about receiving your recipes & trying them."
"This is a really good, easy & healthier option for desert. Instead of sprinkling with powdered sugar, I sprinkled cinnamin & regular sugar on top."


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Final Report Guidelines
Starting with grantees who will have applied for the October 15, 2017 decision round, we will require all NEA Foundation grantees to:
- Submit a headshot of themselves
- Complete a brief survey about their grant halfway through the grant year
- Submit a digital final report, including multimedia
You'll find more information on all of these materials in our Grantee Communications Toolkit.
The final report must include three basic parts: 1) a narrative of your accomplishments, 2) a financial accounting of expenditures, and 3) a collection of additional learning materials. Please address in your report all of the items listed below. Failure to submit this report will make you and your partner(s) ineligible to receive a grant from the NEA Foundation in the future.
- Approximately how many students directly benefitted from this project?
- How many educators were directly involved in this project?
- What were the measurable goals for your Student Achievement Grant? Did you modify those goals? If so, why?
- What did students learn from the project? Describe how you evaluated the student outcomes.
- Describe other major results of the grant.
- What do you consider the most successful aspects of the project? If barriers arose, please describe them and the actions you took to address them.
- How have you extended your project to faculty and students beyond your own classroom or courses and what have been the results?
- How has this project strengthened the overall curriculum?
- Have you encouraged your colleagues to apply for a Student Achievement Grant?
- (Optional) Please provide any suggestions you may have for the NEA Foundation's future design of the Student Achievement Grants.
Learning & Leadership Narrative
- How many educators directly benefitted from the professional learning within the duration of this project?
- Approximately how many students directly benefitted from the professional learning within the duration of this project?
- What was your greatest accomplishment?
- What are the lasting results of your work, both anticipated and unanticipated? Consider specifically any effects on student achievement and on your practice.
- What was the reaction of your colleagues, students, and others to your activities?
- What kinds of challenges did you encounter in the course of the work, and how did you address and/or resolve them?
- What would you have done differently?
- Have you encouraged your colleagues to apply for a Learning & Leadership Grant?
- (Optional) Please provide any suggestions you may have for the NEA Foundation's future design of the Learning & Leadership Grants.
Financial Section
- In a Word, Excel, or PDF attachment, provide a description of each expense, the amount expended on each item, and the amount and source of any matching funds.
Additional Materials
- All Student Achievement Grant recipients are required to send at least five (5) student thank you notes. The letters will be used to highlight your work in NEA Foundation outreach and communications efforts.
- We strongly consider all grantees to include multimedia materials that correspond with the grant project. Videos, photos, PowerPoint presentations, audio recordings, etc. are welcome. These materials may be submitted as attachments (there is a 10 MB limit to these attachments) or may be emailed or mailed to the NEA Foundation's Grants Manager.
- Your final report should also include copies of any materials developed in connection with the grant project (e.g. lesson plans, presentation handouts, examples of student work, etc.) and any press clippings you may have gathered. You may email or mail these materials to the NEA Foundation's Grants Manager.


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A NURSING home in Kempsey has won a prestigious accolade for the quality of its care.
The Lawns Nursing Home in Main Road has been commended in the Gold Standards Framework (GSF), joining more than 400 homes across the country recognised for providing compassionate and high-quality care to residents as they reach the end of their lives.
The awards assess a number of areas including bringing down hospital admissions by providing residents with the care they need in-house as well as levels of family satisfaction and savings for the NHS
The homes manager Carol Harris said she was "delighted" to have received the award.
"We have always prided ourselves on the excellent care we provide our residents," she said.
"GSF has helped us formalise this and take out care to the next level, ensuring that residents enjoy their lives receiving the high quality care they want in their chosen place right up to the end."


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45 Express — By Capt. Bill Pike
Cutting Horse
|The Davis 45 Express is an honest, hardworking sportfisherman with the quick, agile moves of a cow pony.
A couple of years ago, at the end of a business conference with a dude-ranch theme, I spent a dusty afternoon in Arizona herding cattle. Except for having a hard time "sitting a saddle" the next day flying home to Florida, the experience was excellent and extra-enjoyable on one count: The young cutting horse I rode for the afternoon was so smart, fast, and flat-out fun to handle that I hated to see the whole extravaganza end. I could have just kept on ridin', I guess. Next stop: Mexico.
Funny how things work out. Although at the time it seemed highly unlikely I'd ever get to enjoy an adventure like that again, a recent test drive of a prototype Davis 45 Express turned out to be a virtual dead-ringer. I may have been herding whitecaps in the Gulf Stream near Islamorada rather than steers in the desert, but the speed, panache, and rollicking good fun of the ride was exactly the same. Not only did the Carolina-flared Express track bullet-straight and bone-dry through head, side, and following seas at planing speeds (including a respectable top end of 36.5 mph), but she also evinced slow-tempo handling characteristics verging on ballet, rodeo-style.
Backing down on a fish, for instance. To simulate the fast moves a major-league hook-up sometimes calls for, I centered the Express's rudders, slammed my butt against the wheel for moral support, filled each palm with a polished-stainless single-lever engine control and "just got awwwwnnnn with it," as we say in the South. The head-snapping agility of the Express in reverse blew my mind. In fact, according to the Northstar 952XD color display on the dashboard, I had the boat backing down at a mindboggling rate of 6 knots at one point, with nary a drop of solid water coming over the transom, hardly any squat, and the Ritchie compass spinning all over the place--north, south, east, and west--thanks to one outrageous S-curve after another. Yeeeeehawwww!
There are reasons for all this, of course. Topping the list is the precise placement of the longitudinal center of gravity (LCG), a job Davis subcontracted to Virginia-based naval architect and marine engineer Don Blount. An LCG that's positioned to perfectly relate to lifting forces at planing speeds engenders good balance, says Blount, and good balance helps prevent bow steering, enhances tracking, and imparts cornering poise and mannerliness. Another important factor is the savvy design and placement of the boat's running gear, a realm of engineering that covers everything from determining the shape and location of rudders to choosing the number of blades on props. The years of experience and boatbuilding acumen that Davis brings to this arena contribute to the lithe quickness of the Express and also helps preclude handling problems like inordinate speed losses and the tendency to stall or hop sideways in high-speed turns.
This article originally appeared in the January 2003 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.


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Find a furniture store in GERMANY. On Designbest you can find a list of all the stores either selling design furniture and/or offering a worldwide interior planning service along with a turnkey service.
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HOUSTON - A southwest Houston woman claims she has donated plasma more than once in order to pay her electric bill.
"I have donated plasma to keep the air conditioning going," Patience Lacordia said.
Lacordia claims Acacia Energy has charged her excessive fees, refuses to send her a statement and will not allow her to switch electric providers.
Acacia Energy disputes many of the issues raised in this report. It's full comments are at the end of this article.
The Better Business Bureau of Houston has rated the company an "F" for an alleged series of unanswered complaints related to customer service and billing issues.
"That 'F' is not common right now. The market has been cleaned up and this is sticking out," Houston BBB Chief Executive Officer Dan Parsons said.
During a recent seven-month period, The Public Utility Commission logged more than 50 complaints against the company, according to a log of utility commission complaints.
Lacordia claims she has been "hung up on" several times while speaking with representatives at an Acacia Call Center. Local 2 Investigates witnessed one event where the line disconnected when Lacordia asked about switching providers.
"Everything in this house has been pawned in order to pay a light bill. There's a place down the street called 'The Biomat.' I was going to "The Biomat' to donate plasma in order to pay the electric bill," Lacordia said.
Local 2 Investigates Joel Eisenbaum email correspondence with Acacia Energy, full text of company responses
Eisenbaum: "Acacia Energy has an 'F' rating with the BBB in Houston. The majority of the filed complaints are unanswered by your company. These complaints are for customer service and billing issues. The PUC in Texas also notes complaints."
Company Response: "Acacia Energy has a policy of responding all complaints in a timely fashion. We currently have on record 5 BBB complaints that were received, processed and responded to. Acacia Energy transferred its day to day operations office from Houston to Spicewood, TX recently. (Houston remains open for Human Resources and basic Admin only.) In the process of reviewing your inquiry, two additional complaints from May 29 and June 11 were found that have not been processed or responded to. This was due to an error during the transition. We take complaints very seriously and our intent is always to review and resolve issues quickly. Acacia Energy will immediately review and respond to the two open complaints. Further, Acacia Energy will verify and change the address and contact name on file with the BBB. At this time we are not aware on any complaints with the BBB or the PUC that have not been responded to promptly. "
Eisenbaum: "How do you explain the bad BBB rating? Why have you not worked to resolve these issues?"
Company Response: "Given that we only have on record seven complaints with two open (don't get Acacia wrong, we want zero complaints!) and have done business with tens of thousands of customers over 2 years, we did not know we had a bad rating with the BBB and are concerned and disappointed with such a low rating given the small sampling. We take this very seriously and will contact the BBB immediately to investigate the reason for the bad rating and what can be done to the resolve this. We have never been contacted by the BBB to inform us of the rating issue. But again, we will resolve this immediately. "
Eisenbaum: "Customer **** acct # **** states she does not receive a formal bill displaying usage, only text messages alerting her to replenish her prepaid account. She believes she is being overcharged with various fees and penalties. And she states she is hung up on by customer service when asking about what is necessary to switch providers. We witnessed one such incident."
Company Response: "Customer *** is on a AMS prepaid plan and has been on this plan since January 25, 2012. Per PUC regulations this type of plan does not generate a formal bill for energy usage. Per the PUC regulations, customers are contacted electronically whenever their balances fall below an estimated 7 days of remaining usage. These messages may be delivered via email, text message or voice mail. Ms. **** agreed to receive notifications via text. Should Ms. **** ever have questions regarding her account she can request a statement of usage and payment (SUP) to be sent to her via mail or email. Further, Acacia provides details of all account charges by day via the website, which any customer can log onto with the account # and PIN #.
"As outlined in the Terms of Service sent to Ms. **** and available on line at acaciaenergy.com, Ms. **** may be charged certain event driven fees such a disconnect fee or reconnect fee. In reviewing her account, we have noted that Ms. *****'s account has been disconnected 9 times due to the inability to maintain the required positive account balance as outlined by the PUC and our PrePaid Disclosure Statement she received. We have not found any fees on her account outside the fees charged for events per the terms of service.
"During the course of Ms. ****'s tenure with Acacia Energy she has requested, and Acacia Energy has granted, 14 separate Deferred Payment Plan arrangements allowing her to keep her services on via these payment arrangements. As part of these arrangements and as approved the the PUC, when a Retail Electric Provider (Acacia Energy) gives a customer a deferred payment arrangement they are allowed to place a "switch hold" on the customer's account. Anytime a customer enters into such an arrangement, a full disclosure is reviewed and recorded with the customer and a copy of the terms that are agreed upon are mailed to the customer. This process allows the REP to protect themselves from customers leaving without paying the monies advanced to the customer, which the customer in turn uses to keep their power on. This program encourages a REP to extend payment assistance to customers that might not otherwise be able to receive such benefits.
"In order for any customer who has a deferred payment balance to switch providers they simply must pay off the balance of the deferment only in full and the switch hold is immediately released. In the case of Ms. *****, she current has an outstanding PUC complaint stating that her switch hold has not been released. A review of our records show that this is not the case. Each time Ms. **** has paid off a deferment with Acacia Energy her switch has been released. In the event Ms. **** opens another deferred payment plan a new switch hold will be issued on the account. She recently entered into a new deferment with Acacia Energy on 6/20/12 for $42.25 and only owes $16.50 to pay it off and remove the switch hold once more.
"Acacia Energy is utilizing a full service, third party, call center with an excellent record of service. We have no record of any of our reps hanging up on Ms. *****. If someone hung up on her we would resolve that immediately. This is not acceptable. If Ms. ***** can provide us with the call day and time, or even the phone number she called from, Acacia will request those recordings, listen to them, and take appropriate action. We apologize if she ever has had that experience. If you personally witnessed a call with a hang up, we will need the date and time of the call and the number you called from and we will pull that recording as well."
Eisenbaum:"What will you do in her case. if anything?"
Company Response: "If Ms. ****'s goal is to remove the switch hold that is currently in place on her account, Acacia Energy will, with her approval, close out the deferred payment plan and remove the switch hold. It should be noted that if we close the deferment, Ms. *** will need find a new service provider quickly or make sure her account with Acacia Energy maintains the proper account balance to remain active.
"We welcome any further feedback or questions you may have. We take customer service extremely seriously and we fully intend on following through on each of the concerns you noted.
"We thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide you with these responses."
If you have a news tip or question for KPRC Local 2 Investigates, drop them an e-mail or call their tipline at (713) 223-TIPS (8477). Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Welcome to the AZ News Roundup for April 18th
This week we are focusing on events in Arizona. Some are coming up soon and others have already passed with great success.
Tempe Company to Host "Green" Earth Day Event
In celebration of Earth Day, Renewal by Andersen of Phoenix will host its third annual in-store Earth Day event on Saturday April 23, 2011 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its Tempe, Ariz. showroom. The event will include refreshments, activities, product demonstrations and "green" building education. The company will be offering special "energy saving green window package upgrades" and gifts along with a limited time zero percent financing offer. Read More >>
Phoenix Pet Expo offers tips for attendees and their pets!
Pet lovers in the Phoenix area should get their four-legged friends ready for the 2011 Phoenix Pet Expo, Saturday, May 7th, at University of Phoenix Stadium. This free indoor event attracts thousands of pet lovers looking to enjoy a day out with their furry, feathered or reptilian pals! Read More >>
Infiniti of Scottsdale's First Trackdays Event of 2011
Speed was the name of the game April 3rd on the Firebird's East Track for Infiniti of Scottsdale's first IOS Trackdays Event of 2011. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for racing performance-inspired cars, and approximately 65 Infinitis and 85 Infiniti of Scottsdale customers showed up to our event with family and friends! Registration for the next event is already open. Read More >>
Infiniti of Scottsdale supports the Scottsdale Culinary Festival
Infiniti of Scottsdale was proud to sponsor this year's Scottsdale Culinary Festival, where over 24,000 people enjoyed food, fun, and, of course, two beautiful Infiniti cars from Infiniti of Scottsdale! One of this year's parties at the Culinary Festival was the annual Eat, Drink & Be Pretty event. Read More >>
The Fine Arts String Orchestra to Serenade Moon Valley on May 13, 2011
On May 13, at 7 p.m. at Shadow Rock UCC in Phoenix, the Fine Arts String Orchestra — directed by Brett Robison — presents works of Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Whitacre. Scottsdale Musical Arts is a performing arts organization in the Phoenix area. Read More >>
Happy Easter!


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