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Updating AnandTech's 2013 Mobile Benchmark Suite (RFC)by Jarred Walton on 1/29/2013 9:45 PM EST
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- Gaming
- Laptops
- Ultrabook
- Benchmarks
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Dman23 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkYou should also be using GLBenchmark when testing GPU performance on mobile products! The Kishonti guys do truely create Great cross-platform analysis tools for Windows and Mac and Android products. Please include these. Reply
Dman23 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkAlso, I should add that you should use their CLBenchmark Suite for comparing the computational performance of different platforms using OpenCL. Reply
Dman23 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkAlso, if you are trying to make your mobile benchmark suite platform-agnostic, you should seriously consider a game that is available on multiple platforms (i.e. Windows and Mac) for a more apples to apples comparison on gaming performance such as The Witcher 2, Borderlands 2 or Batman: Arkham City. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkWe're not trying for platform agnostic. Mostly, gaming tests on other platforms would only tell us how well optimized the game is for other platforms, which is more of an OS/gaming question than a laptop question. Reply
Dman23 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkWhy wouldn't you want to be platform-agnostic? What is the point of doing Windows-only gaming tests if the idea is to test all mobile platforms including Android and OS X??
Also, based upon your "gaming tests on other platforms only tell us how well optimized the game is", why have gaming tests at all?? If you truly believe that statement, then basically your saying the gaming tests in general are rigged and it "only tells us how well optimized that game is" for that platform.
Come on now, just because hardcore gaming is my predominant on the Windows platform, doesn't mean you should exclude other mobile platforms such as OS X or Android/Chrome. Stick to Anandtech's tradition of providing a very comprehensive, unbiased review process and either provide a more apples-to-apples comparison of gaming performance using cross-platform games or don't include it at all if you believe that gaming benchmarks are rigged to begin with. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkBe reasonable. First, most of the games we test are only available on Windows. Of the games that we test that are available on OS X, past indications are that OS X performance is far worse than Windows performance on the same games. So, either OS X is poorly optimized for gaming or the games are poorly optimized for OS X. Until that changes, why continue to try and compare apples and oranges? I figure people already know the limitations of OS X in regards to gaming (and if OS X doesn't support games well, Linux is even lower down the hierarchy), and unless/until that changes there's no sense beating a dead horse and wasting the time of our reviewers.
This is not to say that we won't add GLBenchmark or CLBenchmark, but I'll leave gaming tests on OS X to Anand and Vivek when/if they run such tests. Reply
Dman23 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkFirst of all, who says they don't support gaming on OS X? If that were the case, then they wouldn't even bother with implementation of a whole online-platform Game Center in the first place, let alone integrate it into the OS itself!! And like I said before, they have a whole bunch of high-end games like Bonderlands 2 and The Whitcher 2 that work great on Apple's current mobile platforms, not to mention a whole myriad of other good games that they sell on the App Store or you can purchase via Steam.
Look it, I get it. Your probably a Windows user that thinks in order to measure high-end gaming performance or be a high-end mobile gamer, you have to use Windows. This is completely untrue. That may have been true 10 years ago but not today. All these mobile products from Apple, Dell, Hp, Lenovo, Acer, etc. all use similar graphics chipsets and processors from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia. This is why it is important to provide cross-platform gaming performance when reviewing each product as a measure of what strength and weaknesses each of them have.
If your going to have a Gaming Performance section in your reviews for mobile products such as laptops / tablets, you should include games that are available on all mobile platforms! This includes Chrome, Mac OS X, and Linux. (Hell, even games that are only on Windows and Mac OS X would be a good first step.)
If your not willing to implement that because you think it is a "waste of time" to compare ALL major mobile platforms and just have a section SOLELY on Windows gaming, then you should (like I've said before) either think long and hard about having a section on gaming performance, as a way to diagnose the strength of a mobile laptop / tablet or update the title of this post to "Anandtech's Mobile WINDOWS Benchmark Suite" because you sure aren't trying to provide an unbiased benchmarking suite that compares and contrasts other platforms and products.
Btw, your argument that gaming performance is poor on Mac OS X, as a basis of not doing cross-platform gaming performance, is really short-sighted. The whole point of reviewing a mobile product and the platform that it's based on is to understand the strengths and weaknesses on that said product/platform. And who knows, by exposing the weaknesses of said platform when it comes to gaming in either Chrome or Mac OS X, it will provide an incentive for the company to improve upon those weaknesses. Isn't that really the whole point of reviewing products at a sight like AnandTech, so that down the line that company can improve upon the weaknesses that AnandTech has exposed??
I guess I'd like to end with by not providing these cross-platform comparisons, you are doing a disservice to the readers of Anandtech and in my view, watering down what makes AnandTech great...in that it covers ALL major platforms / products and provides Comprehensive benchmarking suites across all products. (To much the chagrin of fanboys who only want to hear about their "favorite" platform, while dismissing / degrading other platforms and products.)
Jared, I hope you take these suggestions to heart because I would hate to see AnandTech become more of a platform-centric site (i.e. HotHardware, etc.) instead of a platform-agnostic site, which is what makes this site so unique and great! Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkYou're talking to the guy that does all of the Windows laptop benchmarking. The point is to benchmark games that are relevant and new, so if we only choose games that are available on all platforms we inherently limit us. I've already ruled out Borderlands 2 as a game that's not particularly demanding on hardware, not because it's a game that's available on other platforms.
Ultimately, I'm going to create a list of games for our laptops reviews, and if the games are available on OS X and Anand wants to run them, great. I'm not going to ask our other editors (e.g. Dustin) to do extra work benchmarking games that aren't meaningful to most users just to make for cross-platform comparisons.
There are really only a couple non-Windows laptops to consider, all of them from Apple, so what you're talking about is having MacBook reviews run as many gaming tests as possible. That's fine and I hope they will do that when it comes time for another MacBook review.
Or to put it another way, I wouldn't expect Anand to not run Final Cut Pro or iMovie tests (or anything else he wants to test) just because those programs aren't available on Windows. The fact is, the vast majority of games are still Windows only affairs. Steam is changing that (slowly), and we might even see Steambox push stuff onto Linux.
Right now, this is about testing the majority of laptops. Overlap with tablets will occur in some areas, and likewise with MacBooks, but it's impractical (e.g. a waste) to try to only test cross-platform offerings. I could have put "Windows" in the title, but I figured that should have been immediately apparent from the context of the article. Reply
Notmyusualid - Saturday, February 02, 2013 - linkAgreed.
We game on Windows. Please continue testing games mostly on Windows.
But I did enjoy the Anand article, which compared Linux / Windows gaming performance I must say.
But regardless, I don't need the headache of using a *Nix operating system any more than I'm required to. And I can just imagine how buggy gaming under Linux would be...oh, and with Crossfire too? I'd cut my wrists. Reply
aryonoco - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkSince most tablet and smartphone benchmarks are JS benchmarks, I think it would be good to include at least one JS benchmark here as well, to put thins into perspective.
I nominate Mozilla's Kraken for this, relatively complex to be meaningful on a laptop, but it should still be very easy to perform and very repeatable. Reply
HibyPrime1 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkThey're trying to get away from JS benchmarks on mobile, I don't think introducing them on another platform is a good idea. Not to mention JS performance on any non-atom/bobcat laptop is more than adequate.
The problem is JS on full voltage x86 CPUs is basically just a browser benchmark, not a hardware benchmark.
I'd like to see cinebench 10 come back. It's by far the most reliable indicator of single threaded performance I've seen - you see almost perfectly linear scaling with clock speed in a given architecture, and comparisons across architectures almost always show what you would expect.
11.5 is just as reliable as far as I can tell. The problem is 11.5 numbers aren't comparable to 10 and for the most part only Cinebench 10 numbers exist for older processors that people are looking to upgrade. Reply
mayankleoboy1 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkIf you plan to use any JS benchmark, use the Google Octane one only. It is the most comprehensive and most real world becnhmark, as agreed by both Mozilla and google developers.
Kraken, Sunspider are obsolete and optimized in every major browser.
Robohornet, Robohornet Pro are a joke, which google and moz avoid. Reply
Blacksn0w - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - linkI would like to see a battery test when doing mobile gaming, really any game would probably do, just to give an indication of how long I would be able to do gaming disconnected from the mains, e.g. during a long commute, airplane or train ride.
Really no other background tasks should be run at the same time, as the scenario probably excludes access to any reasonably fast internet connection. Reply
QChronoD - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI agree that vanilla minecraft isn't the most demanding of games but adding a few graphics mods can bring most systems to their knees. It's still probably one of the more popular OpenGL games, and the fact that its running on java makes it a good test for single core performance.
Optifine, GLSL Shaders and a 128x pack drops the performance on my i7-920 & GF560 from ~80 to ~30. I would imagine that with a more extreme shader (adding godrays, motion blur and DOF) and 256x or 512x pack would start to stress a 680 or 7970. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkWe've discussed this in the past, but basically we don't benchmark heavily modded games -- for one, mods are seldom optimized well for all platforms/configurations, and for two it just opens up a huge can of worms. Besides, the number of people playing Minecraft with tons of demanding mods is pretty trivial in comparison to the number playing the largely stock Minecraft. Reply
ltcommanderdata - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI suggest Max Payne 3 as a RAGE engine proxy for GTA V, which should be of interest to a lot of people. Despite all the angst over whether GTA V is coming to PC, if history is any indication, since it'll be launching for consoles in the spring, it'll be out for PC before the end of the year.
Unigine Heaven could be of some use as a multiplatform benchmark supporting Windows, Mac, and Linux and testing the status of OpenGL drivers vs DirectX drivers in Windows.
F1 2012 is the latest EGO engine game and it's system requirements are slightly higher than Dirt Showdown.
Bioshock Infinite could be something to look forward to.
For OpenCL benchmarks, are the new OpenCL filters in Photoshop CS6 suitable as a benchmark? Reply
riddler9 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkUE3 Epic Citadel was just released and it has a benchmarking mode too. This benchmark looks like a hardcore gaming benchmark. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkErm... are you talking about the version for iOS and Android? Because this article is specifically about laptop/desktop testing. Plus, it sounds like only the Android version will have benchmarking support -- I've heard Apple isn't all that keen on authorizing apps with benchmarking ability, though perhaps that's just an urban legend. Reply
dananski - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkTo be fair to riddler9, I often get confused by the use of the word 'mobile' on this site to refer to devices such as laptops, as opposed to 'mobile phones'. I suppose it's a British thing - "Can I nab yer mobile fer a minute? Gotta ring me nan."
Reading the article before posting helps though ;-) Reply
karasaj - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI know you briefly mentioned it, but please add heart of the swarm when it is out! If you're curious of the best way to test it, throwing an army against an army at maxed (2v2?) lategame would be best. It's a better indication than anything from single player (I don't remember how you did it last time though) Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkThat's the problem: if HOTS is anything like the first SC2, the playback mode will require you to view the whole battle to get to the benchmark portion. Still, it can be done if that's the only way to do it. We actually did a variety of tests with SC2; one was single-player, but several were multiplayer with lots of units later in the game. The ones with lots of units were even more CPU limited, and I think Anand mostly used them for CPU testing. Reply
IanCutress - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkHey Jarred, a C++ AMP benchmark would be great. It would automatically run on the most powerful AMP device on the machine (either multi-dGPU, dGPU, iGPU or CPU) and can provide a comparison point for testing GPU/AMP simulations while on-the-go. Have a look at the C++ AMP example site at MS, and run the n-body simulation in MultiAMP mode (it will default to the best mode regardless of dGPU, iGPU, CPU or SLI/CFX) with a fixed number of bodies. Either take FPS or GFLOPs, and it only takes 5 seconds to get a result.
Ian Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkIs there a pre-compiled version available? Seems like you've used this before, so can you send me your binary? Reply
Rick83 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkEspecially with mobile devices, it can be important to protect data from physical theft, which is where encryption comes in.
On laptops used in most businesses, this is obligatorily activated.
What's important to know then, is
1) does the standard installation provide an easy way to encrypt? (built-in HDD/SSD supports encryption, Bitlocker easy to set up (TPM present), pre-installed software offering encryption capability)
2) how does this modify some of the I/O + CPU-heavy benchmarks (or how many CPU-cycles are lost in a max-I/O situation)?
3) how does a standard (dm_crypt would be one choice, bitlocker or truecrypt alternatives ) encryption algorithm perform on the device?
An additional battery life test would be nice to see (encryption on vs off) but as those take a lot of time to run, I wouldn't want to impose that upon anyone.
Point number 3, arguably the most important, is very simple to test - set up a bootable USB key (in the dm_crypt case) with a Linux system that performs the benchmarks, writes the result into the benchmark database, and then reboots. All it takes, is some free disk space on the integrated storage, so that it can perform write-benchmarks (ideally RAW, as otherwise the NTFS driver might have a minute impact on the results, but a bit file, loop-mounted as a block-device would also work. Reply
DanNeely - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI'd be interested in if TPMs are available in any consumer systems too. I haven't seen them mentioned anywhere; but when they're conspicuously absent on Dell's Latitude pages I'm not sure if I can draw any conclusions from that.
This is of interest to me because Truecrypt doesn't fully support Win8 yet and bitlocker's usability is badly degraded without a TPM. Reply
Death666Angel - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI'm not sure if that is completely relevant to this benchmark thread, but I would be very interested in seeing low wattage CPUs (35W quad, 17W dual) be tested for their turbo capabilities. This could be done using any number of torture tests or extremely high setting games (to be more "realistic", although torture programs would point to realistic results down the road when the laptop is a year old and starting to build up dust in grim in the cooling system). You would run these tests, record performance metrics and clock frequencies. This way we can see how the cooling system handles the load and how the limited TDP range allows for simultaneous GPU/CPU turbo modes. :) Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkThis of course would be more a test of the laptops using these CPUs than of the CPUs themselves I think. With enough cooling, 17W and 35W chips should be able to run at near-max Turbo constantly, but in most Ultrabooks and smaller laptops they can't do so because the cooling is insufficient. I've got the ASUS UX51VZ to review still, and that's definitely something I'll look at. Reply
Death666Angel - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkYeah, I realize that the test I proposed is not strictly a component test but more of a platform/OEM test. :) Still, very interesting and with many components being equal in a lot of laptops these days, very important for purchasing decisions. Looking forward to your review! :D
But wasn't there an article even here on AT where it showed that even with sufficient cooling Ultrabook ULVs did not reach both the max GPU and max CPU turbos because of their limited TDP capacity? Or is it really purely thermal limitations? I also remember reading that in AMD ULV chips (A8-4555M, A10-4655M especially), the limited TDP (19/25W) limits the turbo modes of the GPU/CPU, that there is a trade off between the two. That is why, especially in CPU intensive games, an A8-4555M with a small discrete graphics card can be better, even if the dGPU would be inferior to the iGPU, because the CPU part can turbo higher with the iGPU part being off.
Wow, I hope I made myself understood. :D Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkYes, you're correct. If you try to run HD 4000 and the CPU at full load (e.g. playing almost any game), the 17W TDP comes into play. My best estimate is that the CPU cores in a ULV IVB processor can draw around 15W and the HD 4000 can draw around 10W, so something has to give. Oddly, even though the HD 4000 showed clocks around 900MHz (just 20% lower than the max), actual performance was down more like 20-40% from standard voltage IVB mobile chips, indicating the clocks reported by HWiNFO may not be accurate. Reply
Death666Angel - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkThanks for the follow up on that! :D
Yeah, I'd be very interested in articles that could tackle those things with laptops. I'm in the market for ultra mobile (13.3", below 1.6kg) laptops or even tablet/laptop hybrids. Nearly all reasonably priced options have ULV processors (most Intel, some AMD). But gaming is still an important thing for me, although not top priority. I don't need to be playing the latest Hitman @ full res. But getting playable rates with Portal2/CoD4 comparable games in non-lowest settings is something I would like very much (currently I have an i3-330UM and used that for some gog.com stuff... worked okay).
Especially with Intel pursuing faster and faster iGPUs while continually reducing the power envelope, I think it is important to put their feet to the fire so to speak.
Looking forward to seeing those kinds of things! Keep up the good work you are already doing! :) Reply
Nexing - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkSo far, the Professional Audio world has been completely sided in this regards. Latency-wise computers and more so notebooks have presented problems not yet properly addressed by manufacturers.
Dawbench's test is widely utilized -particularly- by live acts and nowadays by Djs going pro, but nowhere to be seen at the computer side, hence missed at manufacturers radar scope. I do hope and expect Anandtech helps to bridge this too longstanding gap. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkGiven the need for additional software besides just the DAW Bench files, this is probably too much to coordinate -- we'd need professional software (that most likely none of us have used). Is something like DPC Latency Checker sufficient, or is that too simplistic? Reply
Nexing - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkDPC is the ONLY way to start configuring a laptop that has been already bought and implemented...
And it only shows latency peaks over a time line. Most available solutions are in the area of disabling running services (antivirus, bluetooth, Wireless, and the rest not connected with the actual performance) or sequential tweaking of preferences and options of the involved software. Lastly continuing by disabling Plug-ins or reducing the load of musical layers because the actual notebook cannot actually handle what is been put through... and it usually shows it wtih dropouts, clicks or BSODs.
In these times that laptops achieve C9 latencies at 1600 Mhz with 16GB or more RAM, where we may access to a new lower floor of ns latencies by way of responsive SSDs, regular computer users that visit these technical websites cannot image that OVERALL latencies reach way over 5ms from pressing a MIDI controller button to a Firewire or USB out (not even counting the extra Lat introduced by the required external soundcard)... and easily exceed that figure, commonly several times. numbers that affect performing musicians
As it is so far, as computer buying segment, we mostly opt for MACs to reduce those critical risks at the midst of a musical performance. Or if we are Windows users, we buy notebooks with expresscard connectors to have the choice to solve the last stage Lat problem commonly introduced by certain USB/Firewire chipsets.
//Basically the problem is that there is nowhere to find a public bench or a standard that shows those latency numbers for commercially available notebooks. On the contrary, latencies for high end soundcards are standard in their specifications, but one cannot perform without the other and we have no way to know before buying what performance we will get.
I understand that this is a complex task, as i am sure specialized Studio or Pro Audio communities will gladly help to approach the needed standards. So far there has been no communication to fill the computer-Prof Audio gap, just unilateral efforts like Dawbench,... It would be of the interest of quality manufacturers, users and reviewers. Reply
Agustin - Thursday, January 31, 2013 - linkHey Jared, if you are planning to do the test bench with W8, you will have a problem, if you check the DPC latency you will find that in W8 the latency is ALWAYS at 1000 us, which is highest value that you can achieved if you want a pleasant experience with your sound system, this is something that Microsoft implement on purpose in the kernel of windows 8 to reduce the power draw from the CPU especially in tablets. its not represent a problem for the common user, and the only way to reduce the DPC value is to stress the CPU to the max and the values will drop drastically to the order of 2 or 10 us
Rightmark audio analyzer is another program you can use to check the dB the integrated chip can deliver
And Sorry for my english Jared, Im from Argentina, Santiago del Estero Reply
ToTTenTranz - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI think Skyrim should be tested with some of the quality enhancement mods.
In my opinion, it doesn't even make much sense to play Skyrim in a PC without using mods, since it will provide a generational leap in image quality.
Just go to the Steam Workshop, choose the top 5 IQ mods and list them in the benchmark description. It should be easy to reproduce for any reader.
I think XCOM and Orcs Must Die 2 should only be present in benchmarks for iGPUs and low-end discrete GPUs (if there will ever be such a thing in the future).
I don't think it would be very interesting to see 300 FPS in XCOM when testing the higher-end Geforce GTX 78x and Radeon HD89xx. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkWe've commented on this in the past (and above I made a short comment in regards to Minecraft mods), but the short summary is: no way. Simply making a game more demanding isn't the goal; the goal is to test popular games the way most people will play them. On laptops, we're already running a couple tiers down from desktop GPUs in terms of performance, so making a game even more demanding (and often overflowing the limited VRAM with some mods) just doesn't make sense.
As for Orcs Must Die 2 and XCOM, your opinion is duly noted. It looks like they won't make the cut, which means we're still looking for a good strategy game or two to add to the list. Reply
bostontx - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI love the Civ5 benchmarks, since it is one game that seems to stress both CPU & GPU. Also, it's my go-to game when I'm bored at the airport or at my hotel on the road. As laptop graphics get better, the play ability should increase in the later stages of the game. Reply
powerarmour - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkCatzilla please :) Reply
IanCutress - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI find the Catzilla final score is too heavily influenced by the 'load time', which is for whatever reason part of their score calculation. This means that an odd read due to cache or other factors can impact the score a fair bit. I'm tempted to use it in my motherboard reviews when multi-GPU is sorted and I upgrade the drivers, although I'd be using the CPU+GPU score result, not the 'final score'. Reply
dragosmp - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkIn the last year frame time testing has developed into a pretty useful tool to asses the overall performance of a system. Primarily it has been used for graphics cards testing, but it can be used just as well for CPUs. It should be an excellent test for laptops since it would asses how smooth is the frame rate delivery of the overall system including the CPU, GPU and driver(s).
My opinion, and hopefully it's shared, is that within a given time it's better to test a few representative games thoroughly for FPS and frame time than more games only for FPS.
My choices: no 3DMark, only games: Farcry 3, Dirt 3, Civ 5 (late game sym) and Skyrim. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkAs noted in the article, I primarily include 3DMark because I can't go back and retest most of the old laptops -- they're sent back when we finish the reviews. Thus, it's good to have at least a few graphics tests that give us an estimate of graphics performance over a long period of time. Besides that, 3DMark is extremely easy to install and run, taking less than an hour to complete several runs of each version, and it can be automated (start, go make lunch or write something, come back and it's done).
As for thoroughly testing a few select games rather than less in depth testing of more games, we'll see what others think. In the past, the general consensus has been "more more more" to both games and testing. I think cutting down the list to a few titles just encourages companies to highly optimize for those titles and ignore all others, so I'm strongly opposed to such a course. Reply
Alkapwn - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkOne of the things I would like to see done is some sort of bechmark on how well the device handles full workloads before generating enough heat it throttles itself on the GPU/CPU side.
On the various notebooks and portables I've tested, I ran Prime95 and Furmark, or Intel's tool, or some combination of stress test tools to see how long it takes to go from room temperature idle to CPU/GPU throttle temperatures.
Great laptop designs handle heat well, were as others do not. Reply
mrdude - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkDitto. I'd definitely urge you guys to pay closer attention to throttling and TDP limitations as chip makers push the bounds of performance in smaller form factors. When comparing competing laptops and devices with similar hardware, the cooling is likely to be the biggest determining factor with respect to performance differentiation. Reply
slashdotcomma - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI would be interested in seeing WiFi performance say 25', 50', and 100' or whatever distance is deemed valueable. I find that WiFi performance even with the same chipset varies based on mobile device's wireless antenna and placement. I know typical reviews show 2.4GHz speed and 5GHz, but it would be nice to know what to expect from the antenna strength too. Reply
IanCutress - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkHopefully Jarred has access to an open field and it never rains :) I would have to go around to the 20+ flats in the local vicinity and ask them all to turn off their microwaves and home WiFi. Reply
JarredWalton - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkBingo, Ian. Not only do I not have a great testing location (there are at present nine 2.4GHz networks in range of my house), but we have other editors in different locations with different testing equipment (routers) and environments. I think the best we can do is to do a short test or two at "ideal" range (less than five feet) and at a moderate distance of 25 feet from the router, with the understanding that results aren't really comparable between reviews. Reply
Boogaloo - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - linkI'd like to see dwarf fortress benchmarks on mobile devices. Most laptops have sub-par graphics performance but decent to good processors these days, and dwarf fortress is obviously almost entirely CPU (and apparently memory bandwidth) bound. All laptops should be capable of running it at least decently, but it really hammers your CPU once the fort population rises up above 100. It's a good game that can produce a meaningful benchmark on any laptop, not just the ones with good dedicated graphics. Reply


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Inhabit's sale is 30 percent off new men's and women's fall items. Free shipping on purchases over $150.
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Hoodie Boodie has 50 percent off the entire site!
AMI Clubwear
On Cyber Monday AMI Clubwear's site is 50 percent off.
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Save 60 percent off on amazon.com on select sweaters and fleece for women, men, kids and baby.
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Free ground shipping and 75 percent off orginal prices. Orders placed before noon on normakamalicollection.com are entered to win a gift card worth $100.
Health, beauty, accessories, shoes and more up next!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Oakland County Parks and Recreation is has 11 park locations to make holiday cleanup easy and environmentally friendly by offering to recycle Christmas trees.
The free recycling event begins Dec. 26, 2012 and runs every day until Jan. 13, 2013.
You can recycle your Christmas tree at Addison Oaks in Leonard, Catalpa Oaks in Southfield, Glen Oaks Golf Course in Farmington Hills, Groveland Oaks near Holly, Independence Oaks in Clarkston, Lyon Oaks in Lyon Township, Oakland County Market in Waterford, Orion Oaks in Orion Township, Red Oaks Golf Course in Madison Heights, Springfield Oaks in Davisburg, and White Lake Oaks Golf Course in White Lake.
Independence Oaks and Orion Oaks will have extended Christmas tree recycling from Dec. 26, 2012 to Jan. 27, 2013.
Tree drop-off is free.
All decorations, plastic, tinsel and wire must be removed from trees prior to arrival. The program is self-service, and assistance in removing trees from vehicles is not provided.
Copyright 2012 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Supervisors Endorse Plan to End Homelessness
Fairfax County Office of Public
12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 551
Fairfax, VA 22035-0065
Oct. 20, 2005
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
Endorses New Initiative to End Homelessness in 10 Years
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday strongly endorsed the creation of a new strategic plan to end homelessness in the county within 10 years. To focus public and private attention on the issue, the board also directed that a summit be held in the near future.
The plan, which is being developed with broad public input by the county's Council on Homelessness, will be delivered to the board for approval next summer. Consistent with national efforts to end homelessness, the plan will be the county's first comprehensive strategy to end homelessness. It will emphasize prevention and intervention as the solution, as well as ways to provide housing and social services.
Besides pushing for a strategic plan, the board has pursued the preservation of affordable housing stock, including setting aside one cent of the county's real estate tax for this purpose. Affordable housing is one of the board's top six identified priorities.
Homelessness largely remains a hidden problem in Fairfax County, unlike many jurisdictions in the metropolitan Washington area. However, the county's homeless population has totaled almost 2,000 people for the past several years, according to the council's annual report. Today, there are more than 300 families, 700 children and 800 single adults who are homeless. Many of these individuals have chronic disabling conditions that contribute to their being homeless.
The 17-member Council on Homelessness is composed of county residents and representatives from local nonprofits, businesses and faith communities. The council is charged with engaging the community to end homelessness and examine the problem with a long-term, strategic perspective. The group also makes policy and budget recommendations to the board, as well as submitting an annual report.
For more information about the council, development of its 10-year plan or the summit on homelessness, please contact Bill Macmillan, Department of Systems Management for Human Services, at 703-324-4657, TTY 711, or visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dsm/cpch/cpchdefault.htm.


text:
A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
J.C. Burbank's Residence, Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN. Engraving of the house from An Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Minnesota, by A. T. Andreas, 1874.
J.E. Schroggins, salesman for Watkins' Remedies of Red Wing, posed with his horse-drawn buggy, Red Wing, c.1900.
J.R. Watkins Company, Winona, 1956. Photographer: St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press.
J.R. Watkins Company, Winona. Administration building in foreground, c.1945.
Jack Baker and James Michael McConnell apply for a marriage license in Minneapolis, 1970.
Jack Baker's poster for Student Body President campaign, 1971.
St. Paul gangster Jack Peifer, c.1936.
Jack-o'-lanterns covered in snow during the Halloween Blizzard, 1991. Photograph by Richard Sennott, RPA, Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Jacob Brower, 1897. Brower was a surveyor who was instrumental in forming Itasca State Park and became the park's first commissioner. Photographer unknown.
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
Minnesota Historical Society • 345 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55102-1906 (Map) • 651-259-3000 © .
Send questions or comments to mnopediamnhs [dot] org. View our Privacy Policy.


text:
Synology at CES 2013: DSM 4.2 and the ioSafe N2by Ganesh T S on 1/10/2013 5:00 PM EST
6 Comments
Back to Article
wicketr - Thursday, January 10, 2013 - linkWhere the hell is their DS213j? It's been over 18 months since the DS212j came out. Reply
ganeshts - Friday, January 11, 2013 - linkI think it has been replaced by the DS213air. The DS213 is available. Reply
Solidstate89 - Thursday, January 10, 2013 - linkI am absolutely ecstatic from what I've seen of the DSM4.2 update. No way in hell I'm installing a Beta OS onto my NAS, but the addition of Amazon Glacier backup, better Package Management and the ability to set up your own RADIUS server are all quite exciting. Reply
creed3020 - Friday, January 11, 2013 - linkI just updated my DS212j to 4.1 but 4.2 looks a much bigger step up then 4.1 was to me coming from 4.0.
The new package center is definitely needed but what they missed talking about here was Synology creating a paid app environment within the package center. Now will now be apps that can be purchased and a AV solution is first of these paid apps. This new feature opens opportunities to monetize apps on a NAS. This is the first I've heard of this in the industry! Reply
hankdu - Friday, January 11, 2013 - link"The apps also get some updates with DS Video expanding mobile platform support" does this mean the app will become available on Android?
That would be nice. Reply
carminus - Thursday, February 14, 2013 - linkBit late to the conversation but check this out: http://mikebeach.org/2013/01/08/synology-releases-...
I am not thrilled about myds either. It reeks of cisco/linksys. Reply


text:
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison appears to be taking a lesson out of the playbook of his buddy, Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Ellison tantalized Wall Street this summer with promises of a "major database innovation" to be announced this month, presumably during the company's annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, which starts Sunday.
[ For more news from Oracle OpenWorld 2008, check out InfoWorld's special report. ]
"It is going to be a very big and important announcement for us, so we are not standing still in database," Ellison said.
Oracle is releasing its first-quarter earnings Thursday, and executives could reveal more tidbits during the accompanying conference call.
At the same time, Oracle has been more secretive than normal, presumably to build interest in this upgrade, the R2 (release 2) of its year-old 11g database.
The number of companies invited to the beta program is smaller than in years past, sources said. Those who did participate uniformly declined to reveal details about R2's features via their blogs or to reporters.
Moreover, in at least four cases, information about 11g R2 that was posted to the Web by Oracle or outside bloggers has been taken down, though evidence in Google's search cache often remains.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Paul Vallee, CEO of The Pythian Group, an Ottawa, Canada-based database services provider. His company was not invited to participate in the 11g R2 beta, despite having participated in every other recent one, he said.
An announcement about 11g R2 is expected at OpenWorld, though several bloggers and commentators (see here and here) say the upgrade to the market-leading database is unlikely to be available until 2009.
So, what new features will arrive in 11g R2?
An Oracle spokesman declined a request for comment. But based on information gleaned via Web-based research, analyst interviews and Oracle's own prior statements, Oracle 11g R2 should include improvements in the following, somewhat overlapping areas:
Grid computing
Oracle Database is probably the most feature-rich database around, rivaled only by IBM's DB2. Yet, it possesses what some analysts consider an Achilles heel -- its lack of true grid capabilities.
Oracle Database, along with Microsoft's SQL Server, Sybase's Adaptive Server Enterprise, and a few other relational databases, was built to have a "shared everything" architecture, said independent database analyst Curt Monash.
Typically in that design, one instance of an application is spread across multiple CPUs or servers, which shares a common pool of memory and disk storage. The advantage is that users can "scale up" their applications quickly if demand arises, added Pythian's Vallee.
"You can take an application from Windows to an IBM Z mainframe with literally no code changes," he said.
The downside is that Oracle's RAC (Real Application Clustering) does not easily allow multiple instances of the Oracle Database to be coordinated and run in parallel on hundreds or thousands of cheap PC servers. That sort of MPP (massive parallel computing), which Monash calls a "shared nothing" architecture, has been the trend for almost a decade, especially among Internet companies with huge datacenters, such as Google.
Not everyone agrees that shared-nothing architectures perform better than shared-everything ones, such as Oracle's. Kevin Closson, a performance architect in Oracle's Systems Technology Group and former CTO at storage vendor Polyserve, vehemently defends the "shared everything" approach in his blog.
But the net result is that Oracle "is way behind in the 'scale-out' world," Vallee said. "MySQL is eating its lunch in terms of Internet-scaled deployments."
The irony is that Oracle added the "g" to its database name starting with version 10, released in 2003, in order to imply the product's grid-worthiness.
Oracle is aware it is behind. At the launch of 11g in July 2007, Andy Mendelsohn, Oracle senior vice president for database server technologies, said, "We're doing a lot of work in grid technologies for the next release, which will make grid infrastructure even easier to adopt."
Oracle has already brought out new grid features through acquisitions, such as its purchase of Tangosol in 2007. It will have a number of sessions at OpenWorld on the Coherence product acquired from Tangosol.
It will also hold a session entitled "Oracle Grid Computing 2.0: A Preview" on Monday.
Monash isn't convinced that Oracle will make the overhaul to its shared-everything architecture that he says is needed, but others who claim to have been briefed are more positive.
"We the database people will be living in the new Grid 2.0 era," wrote H. Tonguc Yilmaz in his Oracle blog.
"The changes to RAC (Real Application Clusters) and the grid as a whole are very exciting," wrote 'Grumpy DBA' blogger Jay Caviness in July, in an entry that was deleted sometime after mid-August. Caviness, in an e-mail today, said Oracle asked him to take down the post, saying he was bound by a confidentiality agreement and could not comment until the official announcement of 11g R2 database.
Clustering and storage management
There's more concrete evidence, however, for improvements in the narrower area of how 11g R2 physically stores data.
According to a presentation last year by Oracle vice president for database product management, Mark Townsend, 11g R2 will include the ability for "plug and play clustering." That means the ability to quickly bring additional servers or hard disks online without needing to rewrite, reboot, or load balance.
According to information posted by Oracle service provider, Burleson Consulting, "there are some super-important changes to storage management in Oracle 11g release 2."
The new features in Oracle's ASM (Automatic Storage Management), include the ability to take snapshots of data for backup purposes, rebalance I/O, place data in faster parts of the disk, and unify the storage management, according to Burleson.
The Web pages on ASM were deleted sometime after Sept. 4. Oracle did not contact Burleson Consulting to remove them, according to Robin Rademacher, operations manager at Burleson Consulting, nor did the firm remove them because they were inaccurate.
"We knew they weren't supposed to be published yet, that's why we took them down," she said via phone today. "We built them as placeholders knowing that R2 would be coming at OpenWorld."
Database acceleration
Oracle officials are also scheduled to discuss a "new database accelerator" during three OpenWorld sessions Sept. 25, as well as in a separately titled technical overview session later that day.
The frequency "sort of implies that we're talking about an actual new product here rather than just a marketing exercise," wrote Mark Rittman of Rittman Mead Consulting, a U.K. Oracle data warehousing and BI (business intelligence) specialist, on his blog.
"Supporting ever-larger databases, with ever-increasing demands for getting 'answers' faster and faster requires a new way to approach the problem," a description of the technical overview session, boldly subtitled "query processing revolutionized," reads in part. "This session looks at the intersection of database, data warehouse, and storage solutions that will deliver on these requirements."
Rittman speculated that the accelerator has something to do with Oracle's Optimized Data Warehouse initiative and possibly also involves partitioning, OLAP, ASM, or "some new 11gR2 feature that [Oracle executives] Chuck Rozwat or Andy Mendelsohn will announce earlier in the week."
A person familiar with Oracle's plans confirmed Rittman's speculation that Oracle plans to announce important initiatives in data warehousing appliances, storage, and query acceleration.
The sessions are scheduled on the last day of OpenWorld, a day after Ellison's keynote address, entitled "Extreme. Performance."
Chris Kanaracus is a reporter for the IDG News Service. Lucas Mearian of Computerworld contributed to this story.
This story, "OpenWorld nears, some info on Oracle 11g R2 database emerges" was originally published by Computerworld.


text:
- An Irish government report published evidence of state funding and regulation of the Magdalene laundries — commercial operations that never paid wages to inmates. Prime Minister Enda Kenny did not issue a full state apology.
- Patti Waldmeir went to help migrant workers trying to get home for Chinese new year, but found they didn't need her because "this most traditional of holidays is increasingly falling prey to package tour mongers, who unaccountably think people should enjoy their time off work (preferably in Bali or Paris), rather than spending it listening to relatives fight and elders ask when they plan to procreate.
- Europe's ambitions to launch transatlantic trade talks have been disappointed by Washington's reluctance to commit to negotiations.
- Lev Grossman buys himself a personal drone and looks at how they are transforming work as well as wars.
- Ezra Klein examines the intricacies of the filibuster: " No President in American history has seen his initiatives filibustered with anything even approaching the frequency with which the tactic has been used against Obama."
- Xi Jinping has a new admirer who follows him so ardently that they are scooping even the state media.
- STYLE FLASH: beards are the new black in the Arab and Muslim world — Ashraf Khalil explains why facial hair is more than just a style choice.
© The Financial Times Ltd 2016 FT and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.


text:
|Chop and Stir
|cooking, cooks, family, food, recipes
Alex, Cheryl, and Mike are building Chop and Stir to share our favorite recipes and techniques with our food friends. We hope that these blog posts will inspire you to cook and eat together as a family at home, and invent recipes of your own. By alumnus Mike Shwe.
|Modern Beet
|cooking, farming, food, food politics, recipes, thoughtful eating, vegetables
Modern Beet is about Thoughtful Eating--knowing where your food comes from, how and by whom it is grown, how it affects your body, and the politics that might affect it. Every entry features a recipe that highlights a topic discussed in the post, and all recipes have an emphasis on locally grown and seasonal foods.
|cookbooks, cooking, cooks, food, recipes
Molly Wizenberg, author of "A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table," posts recipes and photos.
|Our Life in Meals
|cooking, family, food, home chef, recipes
One couple, one kitchen, and one over the top food adventure!
|Panini Happy
|cooking, food, recipes
Recipes, tips and tales from the panini grill
|Silverkeys Writes
|art, crafts, food, photography, writing
I blog first and foremost about my writing -- about being an English major, writing poetry, participating in campus arts events, and applying to grad school -- but my posts also serve as a showcase for my various creative projects in other areas...photography, recipes, bento lunches, papercraft, embroidery, drawing and painting, and a smattering of other assorted handicrafts.
|Simply Recipes
|cooking, culinary, food, recipes
A food blog, focused on home cooking using whole ingredients.
|Sodium Girl
|cooking, food, low salt, nutrition, recipes, reduced sodium
Mind-blowing low-sodium recipes and pretty pictures of food.
|Sweet Peas & Stilettos
|baby, charitable giving, eco-friendly, family, family travel, food, green home, modern moms, shopping, working moms
Provides quick and easy links to the best online resources for modern moms and busy moms everywhere. Topics include, eco-friendly and natural products for family and home, top of the line baby essentials, luxury family travel ideas and inspiration, resources for working women, information about charitable organizations focused on issues relevant to women and children, the best online shopping and much more. I like to celebrate small companies, the arts, women in business, all things chocolate and of course Stanford alumni led businesses. By alumna Alissa Lewis.
|The David Packard Life
|busy, food, funny, international, life, returning student, weightloss
Life as a graduate student, who came back for graduate school from work, who can't cook, who can't drive, who can't get used to having a reduced social life, no money and a roommate - all over again!
|The Gourmet Project
|cooking, food, recipes
By day: mathematician. By night: food blogger. I am cooking my way through the 1293 recipes in The Gourmet Cookbook, and blogging about it!
|Treat a Week
|dessert, food, recipes, sweets
Original recipes for global sweets, brunch treats and other eats. By alumna Aly Kassam-Remtulla.
|Vinography: A Wine Blog
|food, reviews, san francisco, sommelier, vinology, wine
Alder Yarrow's wine and food adventures in San Francisco and around the world.
Notice: Blog authors are solely responsible for the content of the blogs listed in the directory. Neither the content of these blogs, nor the links to other web sites, are screened, approved, reviewed or endorsed by Stanford University, the Stanford Alumni Association or any Stanford-affiliated entity ("Stanford"). The text and other material on these blogs are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or information of Stanford.


text:
Just learning john the ripper.
I'm confused by a number of things. I have read much of the documentation and web sites but cannot seem to see some answers I'm looking for.
When I type the following command while john is running I get the following.
# john -status -status=john
guesses: 0 time: 8:20:31:52 0%00% (3) c/s: 4068
I don't know how to interpret this but it looks like nothing is happening. Although I know it is.
When I press the space bar on the terminal window it does give me the current PW its tryng. If I cat the .pot file it show me some passwords or if I use the show command.
So I asume it is working. How do I interpret the out put of the status line.
I started the program with the simple command, john mypassword, it cracked the admin password on my home linux computer quickly, however the rest of the passwords its taking its time on.
I dont see anything in the documentation on the process its taking in this mode. Is it walking down the config file and just doing each of the cracking modes.
I'm confused on which mode its using if no mode is supplied. This might be usefull to know if you want to stop it at some point and then change from the "john mypassword" mode to some specific mode eg wordlists.


text:
THOUSANDS of pounds of jewellery was stolen after two houses in south Worcestershire were broken into on Thursday, May 1.
The first incident happened at a house in Drakes Bridge Road, Eckington, near Pershore between 8.30am and 3.30pm.
Thieves broke into the building by smashing a window in a French door and opening it from the inside, carrying out a thorough search of the property and stealing an unknown amount of jewellery.
A 21-year-old man was arrested in connection with the break-in and has since been released on bail.
The second burglary took place in Old North Road, Kempsey, between midday and 2.30pm the same day when thieves used a tool of some sort to force open a rear door.
They searched a number of rooms and stole a several thousands of pounds worth of jewellery including a gold ring with a silver pearl, a ladies gold watch on a gold chain, a gold chain with green stones along it at two inch intervals and an opal bracelet with a solid gold band.
Police believe the burglaries may be linked and have appealed for anyone with any information to contact them.
Officers would particularly like to hear from anyone who saw a small blue car – possibly a Fiat – with learner plates in the vicinity of either of the two properties last Thursday.
Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting incident number 404-s-010514 or 351-s-010514.
Information can also be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via crimestoppers-uk.org.


text:
Hot Links! Wrastlin' Hugh Jackman!
Plus: 32 hot guys smiling, Emmys photobombs, and more!
-Lucia Peters
Question: Would you rather be rich or famous? You can only pick one! (Buzznet)
Hugh Jackman in a wrestling ring? Yes please! (Celebuzz)
Snacktime for Jennifer Garner and Violet! (CelebrityBabyScoop)
32 hot guys smiling. Melt. (The Berry)
Angelina Jolie and Knox hit up Legoland. Can we come too? (Celebuzz)
Jackie Collins dishes on how she writes her steamy sex scenes. (YourTango)
And the award for Best Photobomb of the Emmy Awards goes to… (TheGloss)
Gee whiz! Beyonce thinks pregnancy is just funnest thing ever! (CelebrityBabyScoop)
So you're a music junkie, eh? Well, do you own these 30 albums? Because you definitely should! (Buzznet)


text:
Note: This item is more than four years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
Print – Plain Text – Permalink
News Release
Media Contact: TPWD News, email@example.com, 512-389-8030
Jan. 24, 2013
TPWD Proposing Changes to Fishing Regulations
AUSTIN — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is proposing fishing regulation changes on two largemouth bass fisheries in East Texas, a clarification of fish harassment rules and new possession rules in state waters for aquatic resources taken in violation of federal regulations in the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).
TPWD staff presented on Wednesday proposed amendments to the 2013-14 Statewide Recreational and Commercial Fishing Proclamation to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission. The recommended changes include:
Modifying existing regulations for largemouth bass on two East Texas reservoirs, Lake Jacksonville and Lake Kurth.
On Lake Jacksonville, the proposed change would remove the 18-inch minimum length limit for largemouth bass. The five fish daily bag for bass would be retained, but anglers would be allowed to retain two largemouth bass less than 18 inches in length as part of that five fish bag.
For Lake Kurth, the proposed change would establish a 16-inch maximum length limit on largemouth bass, with a temporary retention of bass 24 inches or greater for weighing purposes and/or submission to the ShareLunker program. Anglers would be allowed to harvest five largemouth bass less than 16 inches in length.
Defining parameters of handfishing for catfish and listing restrictions to aid in public understanding and enforceability, specifically regarding prohibition of the use of devices, such as poles, sticks, boxes, and pipes to aid in handfishing.
Adding Canyon Lake Project #6 in Lubbock to special regulations for catfish and devices restrictions.
Clarifying the definition regarding possession of fish to indicate possession limits do not apply once the resource has been processed and reached final destination.
Clarifying the definition of fish harassment to note It would be unlawful to use any vessel to harry, herd, or drive fish by any means including but not limited to operating any vessel in a repeated circular course, for the purpose of or resulting in the concentration of fish for the purpose of taking or attempting to take fish.
Removing prohibitions concerning possession of red drum and bonus red drum tags.
Adding provisions regarding enforcement of federal regulations in state waters. The proposed change would make it a violation for a person to possess an aquatic wildlife resource taken in the Exclusive Economic Zone (federal waters 9-200 miles out) during a closed season provided by federal law; within a protected length limit or in excess of the daily bag limit established by federal law; or with any gear or device prohibited by federal law; or without a required license or permit required by federal law.
Comments on the proposed rules may be submitted by mail or e-mail to Robert Macdonald: firstname.lastname@example.com, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin, Texas 78744. Comments may also be submitted through the department's Internet web site and at upcoming public meetings to be scheduled around the state.
TPWD Statewide Public Hearings
Publication — Permission is granted to publish, in whole or in part, any news releases on this page.
Print — A print-friendly version of the news release shows only the release with font sizes set to the browser default.
Plain Text — Plain text versions of TPWD news releases are provided for copying and pasting into editing software.
To copy text into an editing software:
- Click a Plain Text link to display the plain text page in your browser.
- Select all.
- Copy.
- Paste in a document in your editing program.
Permalink — This is a direct link to the news release, omitting the navigation context from the URI.
English/Spanish — News releases posted in both English and Spanish have one of these links.
If you have any suggestions for improving these pages, send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com and mention Plain Text Pages.
(5.4.16 i)


text:
OTS Podcasts
We're on Facebook
Bookstacks Tweets
- The theme is "mod." The DJ is "Walton." The time is NOW. Join us for a couple of hours groovin' and sippin' martinis maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Awe… 4 years ago
- Footlight Confidential with Lauren Weyland - May wp.me/pdzVB-xI 4 years ago
- RT @Kghia: Science Fiction Saturday @ 2pm PDT @ Bookstacks Pub. Slurl: tinyurl.com/crelusr plurk.com/p/ijzpdi 4 years ago
- RT @Kghia: Author Cassandra Curtis is reading from her new novel, Compulsion @5pm. She writes erotica, so the reading is ... http://t.co/UT… 4 years ago
- February Events at Bookstacks wp.me/pdzVB-xh 4 years ago


text:
Your silence is screaming
Moments when an entire workplace stops, silently absorbing a public message, are rare. One such moment crept up on us today at the NSVRC as we tuned into the broadcast of Judge Louis Freeh making a statement on the findings of his investigative report into Penn State and Jerry Sandusky's ongoing sexual abuse of children at campus facilities.
Watching, listening, gulping, and grimacing, we watched the whole of the broadcast on our local news station. At the end, we had to postpone phone training to take some time to process. Several people stayed together, using the space to air reactions, feelings, and responses. Our social networker for the day expressed that she was at a loss for how to address this in a positive and prevention-focused way. Facial expressions ranged from stoic to shocked to anger to disappointment to sadness. The conversation reflected the same.
We bounced around in our conversation. Some addressed the failure of university systems to respond to reports of sexual violence. Others discussed fear and frustration of parenting in an environment where it seems impossible to entrust your children to caretakers or educators. Many lamented the lack of compassion for the people who are most affected by violence and pain over the missed opportunities for intervention.
What I've come to is that we have a pervasive cultural and institutional problem that's racking us. It should not take tragedy, crisis, or gross negligence to draw attention to harmful issues within our institutions, organizations, or communities. What do choices like the ones made at Penn State and countless other organizations say about the way we value children? Consistently, our culture blames, bashes, criticizes, and silences people exposed to violence and abuse.
No person should fear losing their job as a result of doing the right thing to protect a child from rape. The "consequences of bad publicity" hold no candle to the impact of child sexual abuse. Any institution that chooses silence is shouting that sexual violence will be tolerated here.
Thank you for finding the words that I think many of us struggled to find today. There is a sense of bittersweetness to the experience of collective grief--comfort in knowing one is not alone, but also a heaviness to being a witness to others who are struggling to make sense of what seems incomprehensible. I am hopeful that through collective grief comes collective action, for everyone, everywhere who is realizing that we need to start talking about sexual violence, not only because there can be legal ramifications to silence, but simply because we owe it to each other to create happy, healthy, and safe environments free of all forms of violence.
Taking the time to grieve in cases like this is so valuable. The strength and support gathered from friends, family and colleagues makes the work so much easier for me! Thanks for your comment.


text:
Color Coded Lyrics for Dal★Shabet's "B.B.B. (Big Baby Baby)"
Author: lightaheadi
Just your unaverage everyday girl that has an obsession for KPOP :)
She got that Something. You're not enough for me, stop baby. You may seem chic but your eyes are shaking as you look at me. You need to work on it some more (TVXQ-Something)
Color Coded Lyrics for TVXQ's "Something".
Maybe you felt guilty at my guess. I caught you off guard and you're so out of it. Why, are you scared all of a sudden? Let go of my hand, don't lie to me! (Girl's Day-Something)
Color Coded Lyrics for Girl's Day's "Something".
Look carefully at what I'm going to do now. If it's you, I don't care about saving my body. Just say the name, whoever it is. I will bring them all here. Tick tock tick tock, may it all be fulfilled (VIXX-Voodoo Doll)
Color Coded Lyrics for VIXX's "Voodoo Doll".
Still hating you, who has let me go. My frigidly cooled heart is still. Missing You, Missing You, Missing You, Missing you, Missing You (2NE1-Missing You)
Color Coded Lyrics for 2NE1's "Missing You".
Put your hands up like the country's been liberated. Run like you'll twist your ankles. Shake it like you have a spasm. Everyone sing along, Ringa-Linga-Ring, Ringa-Linga-Ring (TaeYang-Ringa Linga)
Color coded lyrics for TaeYang's "Ringa Linga".
I hear the breathing. My body is melting down. I can't take it I can't hold it in. I'm running out of breath. I can't think straight. I can't control it. I'm losing control. What's wrong with me? Hurry hurry boy. I want you (miss A-Hush)
Color Coded Lyrics for miss A's "Hush".


text:
You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"I am so happy with my invitations. The quality of the paper is great...weighty and perfectly textured. The design is so elegant. The only thing I would say is that they are smaller than I expected but I was reading that's that is a good thing as it saves on postage! Service was also prompt and a pleasant experience."
"I love my invitations! This was a simple yet elegant way for me to invite my guests to our wedding. Our picture on the invitation came out beautiful. I love how I was able to print on the front and back of the reception card, making it easy for both myself and my guests. Highly recommended for a simple, chic, and elegant girl!!"
"Absolutely beautiful. It was really easy to customize the wedding invite. My designer did a great job of brining my ideas to life. I really wanted to be able to include our parents in the invite and the designer came up with a great solution and moved a few things around. The invite is exactly what we wanted. Thank you so much!"
"Our invitations arrived recently (sooner than expected) and look absolutely beautiful! The design requests we submitted were perfect and really helped to make our invitations unique."
"My color theme for my wedding it a variation of purples and this invitation was just perfect for it. The quality is also great! Delivery was amazingly fast! I am very satisfied with my finished product and would definitely recommend them to anyone."


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In Monday's special column, "My Take -- Victory is Obama's," I made a couple of predictions. First, that President Obama would win and that he'd get at least 290 Electoral votes. That one wasn't so tough to figure if you just looked at the available information. From the reaction I got (mainly from the fact-free zone), you would have thought I was saying that Martians would land this week. The other forecast that I made, which I've been reiterating since September, is that the market would sell off "on the news" after rallying for months "on the rumor." So, the market is selling off. No big shock.
I highlighted a couple of downside targets for the pullback. The first one, the .382 retracement of the rally off the June lows in the S&P 500 weighs in at 1395 and that was easily exceeded Wednesday. The second one still hasn't been tagged and I suspect it will be before this shakeout is over. That's the 50% retracement of the rally off the June lows and it occurs at exactly 1370.63. The low so far of 1381.28 (as of 1:30 p.m. EST) has been within striking distance. I still am allowing for a pullback to that level, and, if it is seen, I will add to my positions. Just for the record, that doesn't mean I will be 100% long at that level. I am currently invested up to a maximum of 55% (I added to positions Wednesday after selling into Tuesday's pop). If the S&P 500 reaches that next downside target, I may increase my exposure (in the Aggressive Growth Accounts) to 65%, depending upon the action.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, also bears watching as it has just tagged its 50% retracement level at 12,848. The low so far has been about 12 points lower at 12,836 and it has bounced off that level. Now we'll see if this area holds. Remember, it was the Dow, not the S&P 500, that called the recent lows on Oct. 25 and again on Oct. 26 as it made a neat double bottom right at its .382 retracement at 13040. Maybe it will be the Dow, which again marks the bottom. Maybe.
Apart from these index plays, I am also sticking my neck out a bit on Apple (AAPL) here, though I know it could fall further. I am watching the intraday action and I like the fact that during the midday selloff, it only broke the morning lows by a few pennies while the indices were collapsing to lower lows by a good margin. I have to allow for the filling of the May 21 gap at the $530 level. That's an important level. If broken, it is headed for a test of the May 18 low at $522. In either case, I won't be thrilled to see such a drop, but as I am generally short the December $500 and $480 puts, I can handle a pullback to that level. My December call spreads won't fare as well.
The action in the Volatility Index (VIX) is a bit disconcerting. I'd prefer to see evidence of a bit more panic out there. The VIX still hasn't exceeded its recent highs at the 19.65 level. That's not great news. But somewhat better news is that the market is becoming oversold again. The McClellan Oscillator settled at -87 Wednesday on the oversold side of neutral. It would have been well into oversold territory if it weren't for the sharp pop in bonds, which artificially held up the NYSE AD line. If the market closes in this area with the S&P 500 off about 10, it should certainly be below the -100 oversold threshold, though it must offset the pop in bonds.


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Stuff that has lead up to current designs and stuff that has just been left to die.
263 Comments - Linear Discussion: Classic Style
Geh, i'm not very good at this. Lets see if i can get the hang of it.
Yay! It worked. This was the ultimate version of a stonesque version of lechuck with tusks.. don't know what we were thinking. Just nuts.
Leading up the the tusks.
Is that an alternate LeChuck? It looks awesome. It has a very menacing vibe.
EDIT: Now that you mention it, though, the tusks are a weird fit for LeChuck. By the way, I noticed that there are a few other newly uploaded concepts.
Anatomy of a Pirate: http://vip.telltalegames.com/files/monkeyisland/ryanconcepts/slide_anatomyofapirate_sm.jpg
Guybrush Thumbs: http://vip.telltalegames.com/files/monkeyisland/ryanconcepts/Guybrush_thumbs_sm.jpg
LeChuck Beards: http://vip.telltalegames.com/files/monkeyisland/ryanconcepts/lechuck_beards_sm.jpg
Oh, I'm really interested in this, concept art and the material-that-never-made-it are usually very interesting (and so far it delivers, what a weird but cool design ). Looking forward to future updates.
Yea, Lechuck just kind of lacks personality in this way. Lipsync would have been pretty simple though..
The tusks are an interesting idea, as is the stone motif, but if you squint a bit the horns make him look like a bunny.
Jesus Christ, this is awesome. He looks totally insane. I agree that the new version looks better, but man, I just fell out of my chair laughing at the ridiculously high level of evil LeChuck has achieved there. He looks like he's really enjoying being the scourge of the seven seas.
I can't wait for the early Guybrush-designs!
The tusks are an interesting idea, as is the stone motif, but if you squint a bit the horns make him look like a bunny.
Yeah, we noticed that too... which is part of the reason he doesn't look like that anymore! Bunny LeChuck is not very menacing!
This is awesome, my favorite part of video games is the concept art. Alot of the time you dont see stuff like this until years later, or never.


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• sally •
Pronunciation: sæ-lee • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: (Often used with forth) 1. To suddenly rush out aggressively, to sortie. 2. To set out confidently on a trip or other venture.
Notes: This verb may be used as a noun as in: After the futile sally, the commander gave his troops a rest. Today's word is not to be confused with the given name Sally, which originally was a nickname for Sarah. Also, remember to change the Y to I before any suffix beginning with an E: sallied, sallied, but not those beginning with I: sallying.
In Play: Today's Good Word implies leaving and entering into a new venture: "When the boss asked for a volunteer to take customer complaints, Ben Dover sallied forth to offer his services." There are overtones of self-confidence and adventure that attach themselves to this word: "As soon as they arrived, the children sallied forth to explore the house of their grandparents."
Word History: Today's Good Word from Middle French saillie "a rushing forth", a noun concocted from past participle of saillir "to leap, rush forward". French inherited this word from Latin salire "to spring, leap (out)", ultimate source of English salient. (Things salient jump out at you.) Another English word coming from this same Proto-Indo-European root is somersault. It was originally an old Provencal compound noun, sobresaut, made up of sobre "above, over", the Provencal result of Latin super "over, above" + saut, from Latin saltus "a jump, leap". Old French borrowed this version of the word as sombresault at which point English borrowed it, and simplified the consonant cluster MBR to just M. (We must all now sally forth and thank Gene DuBose for spotting today's Good Word and suggesting it.)


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A preceptorship is an intensive training course in a subspecialty area of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery which will be open to graduates of dental schools recognized by the World Health Organization. The course will be full time.
Length of Preceptorship
The preceptorship will be offered in 12-week modules, and applicants can take up to four modules at the discretion of the director(s). This means that a preceptorship can last anywhere from three months to 12 months but cannot be longer. The course is full time, and outside activities that interfere with the program are not permitted. There is a one-time, non-refundable application fee of $250 USD. You may pay by credit card (MC, VISA, AMEX) or by check - please make checks payable to UC REGENTS. If accepted into the program, the tuition fee for each module is $4,800.
Status of Preceptors
Preceptors will be continuing education students registered through the Continuing Dental Education Department of the University of California San Francisco.
International preceptors who require visa sponsorship will be supported on the J-1 Student-Non Degree visa. For information on the J-1 Student Non-Degree visa, please visit the UCSF International Student and Scholars Office website at https://isso.ucsf.edu/node/386 [1] or send e-mail to email@example.com [2].
Subspecialty Areas Offered for Preceptorship
- Dental implantology
- The management of temporomandibular joint disorders
- Hospital dentistry
- Orthognathic and reconstructive surgery and the management of obstructive sleep apnea
- Other areas by arrangement
Course Outline
Preceptors will be full participants in the didactic program offered by the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. This consists of the following:
- Tuesday morning 7:00am to 10:00am - Service meeting, Grand Rounds, clinicopathological correlation, risk management and practice management, and Journal Club.
- Tuesday 12:00pm to 1:00pm - Obstructive Sleep Apnea Meeting.
- Thursday 8:00am to 9:00am - Multidisciplinary Implant Conference.
- Thursday 12:00pm to 1:00pm - Multidisciplinary Orthognathic Treatment Planning Conference.
- Friday 7:00am to 8:00am - Multidisciplinary Trauma Conference at San Francisco General Hospital
Preceptors will observe activities in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics and will be involved in diagnosis and treatment planning of patients with problems within the area covered by their preceptorship. Preceptors may assist with patient care activities but cannot be the lead clinician.
All preceptors will be assigned a specific mentor, who will be responsible for the overall planning of activities, and under this mentor, they will carry out a specific clinical or basic science research project of their own which must be submitted prior to leaving the program. At the discretion of the mentor, the preceptor may become involved in the specific research activities of the mentor themselves or of other faculty or research staff.
A certificate of attendance is awarded upon successful completion of the preceptor program. This certificate is not the same as the postgraduate program certificate awarded to full-time postgraduate students in specialty programs as a qualification for recognition by the American Dental Association, nor is it considered in the United States as evidence of advanced study or recognition of specialty training.
Number of Positions
2 - 3 preceptors per module
Program Status
This preceptorship program is not accredited by any national or local accreditation body, but on completion of the program, preceptors will be issued with a certificate of completion issued by the Continuing Dental Education Department of the UCSF School of Dentistry.
Admissions Criteria
- Academic achievement
- English language proficiency
- Personal Statement
- Confidential reports
- Reason for seeking education in oral and maxillofacial surgery
- Outstanding interpersonal strengths


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so this is an interesting concept that'd i'd like to discuss the ins and outs of. firstly, i rarely capitalize when i type online, so be forewarned.
secondly for those who do not have access to the book Libris Mortis to be able to reference it i will be including a copy of the original feat which explains it. i created this thread because i plan on using a couple of feats that deal it which can be found in Tome of Necromancy (3.5e Sourcebook)/Necromancers with Style and wanted to see if i could get some knowledgeable feedback on my concerns with it. so let's get started.
the following is the orginal feat as it appears in Libris Mortis
the following list is of problems i foresee with how this interacts with other elements of DnD gameplay that are not expressly explained here.
- 1. Do undead/constructs/corpses give off any light at all? (undead perhaps a sickly light or something)
- 2. Does this 'normal light' behavior mean that a creature with lifesense would be blinded in a crowded area? (Effectively how staring at a large number of torches in close proximity, or one large bonfire could reasonably blind someone who looked too long.)
- 3. Is this life-light affected by magical darkness, or would it effectively let someone travel through magical darkness without much hindrance so long as a medium sized or larger creature accompanied them?
- 4. What are the lighting radii for creatures smaller than medium?
- 5. Do creatures take penalties and/or lose bonuses while trying to hide from a creature with lifesense, since they appear to be 'glowing'?
- 6. Does the bright illumination suddenly cut-off after the radius limit? Can it then be seen if you're not within that radius? Most illuminating items or effects in DnD have rules for tiers of shadowy or lesser illumination extending past the normal, brightest lighting range, but no such thing is listed in the original text.
- 7. Do creatures that have been altered by a Flesh to Stone spell or similar effect radiate any illumination, since while they are/were a living creature, and are not dead, they do not appear to be alive when viewed from spells such as deathwatch?
these are the problems i would like to see discussed here if at all possible. --Azerinth 19:12, November 28, 2009 (UTC)
- The feat isn't open game material. We are not allowed to post it. Sorry --Ganteka Future 02:34, November 29, 2009 (UTC)
- i see, sorry about that. i didin't realize that particular bit of game material wasn't postable, my bad.--Azerinth 08:49, November 29, 2009 (UTC)
- There are two 3rd edition lifesense abilities I've found (no lifesight, though the internet claims that's a spell from some Dragonlance book which might be a completely different edition); the feat you mentioned from Libris Mortis, and the MM Dread Wraith ability by the same name. Since the former is a feat and the latter is a special quality, and the ToN feats give "Lifesight as a Special Quality", it's the safe bet that the Lifesight mentioned there is the Dread Wraith's Lifesight ability. Given that this one's well-defined in pretty much all cases and the feat one... isn't, you should probably go with that anyway. Quantumboost 03:57, November 30, 2009 (UTC)
- i see, that version is much easier to understand. thanks--Azerinth 18:12, November 30, 2009 (UTC)
- If everything fails, you can always take option 7 and simply manifacture a creature ability around the deathwatch spell, which, to recap, allows you to distinguish living creatures, undead and whatever is neither living nor dead (such as constructs), and even - within rather strenuous and impractical limits - how close/far a creature is from death. While it is debatable whether constructs even pop up on this mode of perception, there are plenty of ways to incorporate such elements mechanically. I tried to do a similar thing with theremal imaging here, and I have seen some kind of electromagnetic perception somewhere as well, which visualizes electrical discharges within a creature or closed system. Anyway, this might or might not be too much sensory ability to give to certain characters at certain level, but hey. If a wizard can do it... --Sulacu 17:29, January 7, 2010 (UTC)
- i see, that version is much easier to understand. thanks--Azerinth 18:12, November 30, 2009 (UTC)


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|On Air Now:
|Coast to Coast with George Noory
Coming Up:
Joe Thomas in the Morning
What: SOUP, a public dinner to provide a micro-grant for a creative project
When: Doors at 6:30pm. Meal starts at 7:00pm.
SOUP, a seasonal public dinner series to support creative projects in
During the meal, community members make short presentations about their creative projects in need of funding. Attendees participate in a dialogue about the proposals over a nourishing meal with ingredients donated by the Local Food Hub in handmade bowls by local artists from City Clay.
Then, each attendee will enter a voting booth built to choose one project to fund with the money raised from the meal that night. We'll award the grant to the winner of the most votes right away. Consider SOUP an experiment in civic engagement and a chance to play a role in supporting creativity in our community.
The first ever Charlottesville SOUP took place on January 14, 2013 at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative. A grant of $1,045 was awarded to the Charlottesville Textile Cooperative, which used the funds to buy a loom. The first event sold out and we had to turn away more than 200 people at the door.
Anyone with a creative project in the arts that can be shared with
Similar efforts are taking place around the country. Charlottesville SOUP was inspired by our friend Kate Daughdrill, a former resident of
SOUP is officially hosted by New City Arts. Support generously provided by City Clay, Festive Fare, Charlottesville Day School, Local Food Hub, Greenies, Tami & Michael Keaveny, Olivia Branch, and The Haven.
To learn more, visit www.charlottesvillesoup.com.


text:
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M University police found missing student and Aggies wide receiver, Thomas Linze Johnson.
Police department officials said Johnson was found safe in Dallas early Thursday morning. Officials said they would provide a news release with more details later Thursday.
Johnson, 18, disappeared Monday. He was last seen leaving his residence in College Station around 5 p.m. Johnson is from Dallas.
His mother told ESPN.com that her son has not contacted her since his disappearance. She headed to College Station after he was reported missing. She said she had no other information.
"People were definitely worried about him," Texas A&M student Tyler Kubala said. "There was a little bit of tension, but I think now that he's been found, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.
From his first game this year, the college freshman has proven to be a contributor to the Aggies.
Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin released the following statement.
"We are pleased and relieved to find T.J. Our foremost concern is for the health and well-being of T.J. I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and efforts in locating him."
No explanation has been given for Johnson's disappearance.
The timing was unusual because the eighth-ranked Aggies have a game this week at Kyle Field, and his disappearance comes just days after A&M's huge win over then top-ranked Alabama. Johnson had three catches in that game.
Copyright 2012 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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1. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?budone Feb 13, 2012 1:33 PM (in response to marken)
Sounds like you may be turning the phones ringer down while it is in your pocket. If like other devices, the volume buttons will adjust the ringer.
2. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?marken Feb 13, 2012 3:55 PM (in response to budone)
Thanks, but it is not the volume keys. I holster my device.
3. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?DaisyP_VZW Feb 21, 2012 12:04 PM (in response to marken)
Thanks, budone, for your reply.
Hello marken,
I have researched the issue you're experiencing with the volume on your device and this is not commonly reported. I recommend you select a different standard ring tone to set as your default ringtone and then retest. You can do this by going to: Sounds> Volume> Select Sound and Alert Profiles> Select the profile to change> Press the Menu key and select Edit> Select Phone> Ringtone> Press Menu and Save. I also ask that you make sure there are no items obstructing the device speaker such as cases and covers. Let us know if you continue to experience this difficulty.
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
4. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?shajithm Mar 26, 2012 11:46 AM (in response to DaisyP_VZW)
I am having the same issue. Over the last couple of weeks. my phone will not ring. I have the sound profile set right and I have the volume turned to 10 ( highest level). I can see a call come in and the phone will just not ring.
5. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?StreetDocRN Mar 26, 2012 2:12 PM (in response to shajithm)
Have you tried a battery pull? Sometimes that might get things back in working order. Let me know if this works for you.
6. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?shajithm Mar 27, 2012 8:36 AM (in response to StreetDocRN)
Battery pull does not change anything. Still no ringing.
7. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?StreetDocRN Mar 27, 2012 2:54 PM (in response to shajithm)
What version of device software are you running? The latest is 18.104.22.168. If you have not updated your device's software, that may resolve your issue. Other than that, you may need to perform a device wipe and reload your software.
8. Re: Why won't my Bold 9930 ring?AdamE_VZW Mar 29, 2012 7:11 AM (in response to shajithm)
Good morning! I'm sorry for the issue you are experiencing with the ring audio. You've done a great deal of troubleshooting. I do recommend that a "device wipe" be performed to return the phone to the factory settings. This wil eliminate the potential of software issues causing this error. Please follow the steps to back up your contacts and information in the same link as above.
Thank you!
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport


text:
The long wait for snow on the peaks of the Snowy Mountains came to an end on Sunday with meteorologists predicting perfect conditions for snow making and further falls this week.
Weatherzone meteorologist Max Gonzalez said around 20 centimetres of snow fell on the peaks of Thredbo on Sunday with another 15 centimetres falling at Thredbo.
Mr Gonzalez said both the Sewllyn Snowfields and Charlottes Pass recorded a good covering of snow with favourable snow making conditions in coming days.
"Temperatures dropped below freezing on the alps overnight which means the snow cannons could fire and add to the fresh snowfall," he said on Monday.
The snowfall is expected to continue on Monday with Mr Gonzales predicting around 10 to 15 centimetres of fresh snow to fall on the resorts throughout the day.
"We'll also see a high pressure system moving across the Snowy Mountains in coming days bringing clear skies and low temperatures, which should keep overnight temperatures low and allow for further snowmaking," he said.
"If you're looking for an ideal time to visit the Alps then Tuesday and Wednesday mornings would be the best time."
Perisher spokesman Richard Phillips said the weekend snowfall meant the resort could finally open runs for skiing and snowboarding.
"We got around 20 centimetres of snow on Saturday night which allowed us to open the V8 run on front valley for the first time this year," he said.
"We've got snow showers at the moment and we've had good conditions for snow making in recent days so conditions are certainly improving on the mountain."
Thredbo spokesman Luke Kneller said the snowfall was long overdue but definitely a good start to winter which had gotten the resort staff excited.
"There was close to 20 centimetres right up the top of the mountain," he said. "We've still got no skiing or boarding yet but we're pretty confident we'll have the cruiser chair lift area open in a few days."
Temperatures at Thredbo did not come above zero degrees on Sunday, after a top of just 1.1 degree on Saturday. Perisher's top temperature on Sunday was 2.2 degrees, after a maximum of 3.2 degrees on Saturday.
National Parks and Catchments regional manager Brett McNamara said snow also fell on Mount Ginini and Mount Gingera in the Namadgi National Park on Sunday morning.
Snow on the Brindies today . Here's the white stuff on Mt Gingera. Pic courtesy @ACT_Parks Winter has arrived. pic.twitter.com/iovZxls9LR — Tim the Yowie Man (@TimYowie)
June 15, 2014
"This year's first snow of the season has come exactly one month later than last year's, but the wait has only made rangers more excited," he said.
"It is fantastic to see the tops of the Brindabellas covered in a light blanket of white once again, providing a stunning backdrop to the nation's capital."
Mr McNamara said the snowfall highlighted how quickly conditions could change on the mountains and the importance of being prepared when venturing into Canberra's hinterlands.
"A sudden change in weather may result in heavy rain, sleet or snow that could make some roads unpassable," he said.
"While there are currently no road closures in place, I urge people to exercise caution on rural roads including Mount Franklin Road and Boboyan Road."
Mr Gonzalez there was a chance more snow could fall on the Alps next weekend with another high pressure system pushing through on late Thursday and Friday.