text: Palm-Size Power: Smith & Wesson M&P Shield Review G&A Staff April 25th, 2012 | More From G&A Staff Share0 Tweet Email Smith & Wesson's new M&P9 Shield now joins the growing crop of palm-size, slim-and-trim single-stack 9mms that have been appearing on the handgun market at a rapid rate over the past two years. It is the lightest and smallest 9mm personal-defense auto S&W has yet offered: only six inches long, 4½ inches high, less than an inch thick and weighing just 19 ounces. Based on the duty-proven full-size S&W M&P design, it will undoubtedly take a prominent place in the concealed carry world. Moreover, the new Shield is also available chambered in .40 S&W. Same size, same weight, same design, same price (MSRP $449). The only difference between the M&P9 Shield and the M&P40 Shield, in fact, is that the magazines for the M&P40 Shield hold one less round than the M&P9 Shield magazines. The M&P9 Shield comes with one semi-staggered flat-base seven-round magazine and one extended-base eight-round mag; the M&P40 Shield comes with one six-rounder and one seven-round magazine. Is That a Pistol in Your Pocket? When it comes to personal defense pistols in general, I'm pretty much like everybody else. As much as I appreciate bigbore cartridge power and as familiar and adept as I may be with a full-size Model 1911 .45 ACP or 4-inch S&W .357 revolver, those are probably not what I'm gonna strap on my belt or tuck in my waistband when I need to leave the house late at night for a quick trip to the local convenience store. In that situation (and in most daily-routine situations, actually) I'll be dropping something lightweight, compact and unobtrusive into my pocket, something that's nonetheless chambered for a cartridge with sufficient authority. Today, that's most likely a small, polymer-frame DAO 9mm. The new M&P9 Shield hits that sweet spot exactly—although I will be giving the M&P40 Shield a very close look as well. The Shield format is designed specifically for concealed carry, either in a compact, slim-line holster or a pocket or purse. It can serve either as a primary citizen-carry tool or a full-power, no-compromise backup for off-duty law enforcement officers. In mechanical design and operating features, it is simply a scaled-down version of S&W's full-size, double-stack M&P duty/service pistols. The only real difference between the larger M&Ps and the Shield—other than scale—is the Shield's slimmer magazines and the fact that its grip does not feature interchangeable backstraps. But the much smaller Shield still has the larger M&P's natural-pointing 18-degree grip angle and hand-fitting contour. This is very important from a practical point of view. Consider the key differences between a pistol like the Shield and the many somewhat smaller .380 pistols of similar configuration that are also extremely popular these days. While I'm not disputing the effectiveness of modern .380 Auto personal defense ammunition, I much prefer the shootability of a pistol such as the 9mm Shield, simply because its grip is slightly larger and easier to grasp. It has to be, because the 9mm cartridge is slightly longer than the .380 Auto and requires a deeper grip frame and action cycle. In addition, the 9mm's slightly sharper recoil requires more grasping surface (and weight) for controllability when firing. In fact, the only problem I have at all with the various tiny .380 pistols on the market is that I have to think very carefully about how I initially grab hold of them if I want to be secure in rapid/repeat-fire situations. Slightly larger slim-line 9mm pistols such as the Shield go more naturally into my hand than a little .380 and are much more "grab and shoot" for me. In size, the Shield actually comes about midway between pocket .380s and midsize double-stack pistols such as the M&P9 Compact and M&P40 Compact, but it is closer to the .380 and less obtrusive to carry than the compact double-stacks (which are essentially cut-down, full-size M&Ps). Also important to the shootability issue is the fact that each Shield comes with both a flat-base magazine and an extended-base magazine that holds one additional round. The flat-base magazine provides a two-finger grip with the little finger wrapped under the base of the magazine. The extended-base magazine provides a full three-finger grip. Most of the quality-made .380 pistols on the market are also offered with extended base-pad magazines as well, but the majority of them only provide a secure hook for the second finger rather than a full three-finger grasp. Even on ultra-concealable pistols, I prefer as much hand-to-pistol contact as I can get, and I have always found very little given away in practical concealment by the less than half-inch extra surface on a full three-finger-grip magazine base. A final aspect of the M&P Shield pistol's user-friendly shootability is its uniform short, crisp trigger pull, which again is the same mechanism as found on full-size M&Ps. Nominal trigger travel from rest is only .300 inch, and the reset stroke is only .140 inch. Nominal trigger pull weight is just 6½ pounds. This is one of the best, shortest and most crisp DAO-type trigger pulls on the market, and it puts the Shield into the same "trigger feel" family as the Glock, the Taurus 709 Slim, the Springfield XD and XDM and the full-size S&W M&Ps themselves—much different than the long-stroke pull and long-reset designs found on many other compact 9mms and most ultra-small .380 DAOs. [Show as slideshow] Full-Size Features Mechanically, the M&P Shield pistols utilize a double-action-only, striker-fired, locked-breech (recoil-operated) action with a manual left-side (right-hand) thumb safety, internal self-engaging firing-pin block and articulated trigger safety block to prevent discharge if dropped. There is no magazine-disconnect safety, and M&P Shield pistols will still fire with their magazines removed. The semiauto mechanism features a dual captive recoil spring/guide rod module. The grip frame is Lightweight Zytel Polymer, and the barrel and slide are stainless steel with a satin black Melonite 68 HRc finish. The backstrap and frontstrap of the grip (along with the surface of the magazine-release button) are aggressively stippled for a secure grasp in rapid fire, and the magazine button has just enough height for positive engagement without overprotruding. All edges, surfaces and corners on the M&P Shield pistols are beveled and rounded for ease of holstering, carrying and drawing. Barrel length on both the 9mm and .40 S&W versions is 3.1 inches. M&P Shield pistols also have "true duty" low-profile three-dot sights and feature a large square rear notch for quick and easy alignment. Both front and rear sights are drift adjustable for windage, and the rear sight has a locking set screw for stability. The dovetail-mounted front sight allows use of different heights for varied ammunition types. (Personal experience note: At 50 feet the maximum displacement between POI/POA from popular and common 9mm 115-grain loads to 147-grain loads including +P is only about 2½ inches—hardly enough to matter in an up-close-and-personal crisis.) Another advantage to the M&P Shield pistols compared with most diminutive .380 pistols (again, a personal view) is the fact that the slightly larger frame dimensions allow a design inclusion of a full-size slide lock and external slide-lock latch. I like knowing when my gun has shot to empty (I'm probably not counting rounds in an emergency situation), and I like being able to drop the slide on a fresh magazine with my firing hand still in position. There is a loaded-chamber view port at the rear top of the chamber for visual confirmation that the chamber is charged. The M&P Shield's heavy-duty external extractor design is also the same spec as full-size M&P pistols, again stronger than the extractors on many other ultra-compact pistols. What's Not to Like? I first handled and fired an M&P9 Shield during a visit to the S&W factory last February while filming segments for "Guns & Ammo Television." I was impressed by its controllability and comfort in firing and its quick-to-point accuracy. About a month later, back at PASA Park, I received a review-sample 9mm Shield and put it through my standard 50-foot carry-concealed accuracy and ballistic protocol (I see no reason to review small pistols of this type at any greater distance). As I have found with other short-barrel 9mms, there was very little velocity loss in going to a 3.1-inch barrel from factory-standard 4-inch test barrels (thanks largely to state-of-the-art propellant technology). At a defense-distance 50 feet, the group averages with five different varieties of premium personal defense ammunition loads from 115-grain to 147-grain (including +P) all came in well under three inches—basically tennis-ball diameter. And with both the standard flat-base magazine and the extended-base magazine I noticed no real difficulty in maintaining a secure grasp, though I still like the feel of the longer grip. I really wasn't even aware of the recoil. Admittedly, I shoot small pistols quite a bit more than most people, but there are a lot of small 9mms (and even .380s) out there that are simply no fun to shoot. Smith & Wesson fans who have been waiting impatiently for the company to join the growing ranks of ultracompact 9mm manufacturers no longer have to wait. And anybody in the market for a pistol this size for serious concealed carry defense needs to give both chamberings for the new Shield pistols a very close look. Find out about the price and availability of the firearm covered in this article at GalleryofGuns.com, where you will gain instant access to the inventory of Davidson's Inc., one of the nation's largest factory authorized firearm wholesalers. GalleryofGuns.com customers know instantly if the firearm is available and can select from offers presented by GalleryofGuns.com dealers in their area. The selected dealer then immediately ships the firearm via Federal Express. Perhaps best of all, guns purchased at GalleryofGuns.com are covered by Davidson's Guaranteed Lifetime Replacement Program Fast. Easy. Hassle-free. Share0 Tweet Email Load Comments ( ) Don't forget to sign up! Get the Top Stories from Guns & Ammo Delivered to Your Inbox Every Week To sign-up for our newsletter, check this box and submit your email address below. If you sign-up, then you acknowledge that your email address is valid, and that you have read and accept our Terms of Service Even More home-featured Show More Get the Guns & Ammo Newsletter FREE! Get the top stories delivered right to your inbox every week. To sign-up for our newsletter, check this box and submit your email address below. 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subset: commoncrawl


text:
What is PCCA?
PCCA is a complete resource for an independent compounding pharmacy's needs.
The company's members are more than 3,900 independent community pharmacists in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries around the world. PCCA was incorporated in 1981 by a network of pharmacists who recognized the need to help patients requiring customized medications. Those pharmacists became pioneers in the modern era of pharmacy compounding.
PCCA provides:
- High-quality fine chemicals and compounding laboratory equipment
- Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)-accredited training and education for pharmacists and prescribers
- A comprehensive staff of experienced consultant pharmacists, pharmaceutical chemists, and training personnel ready to serve their technical support needs
- A database of more than 8,000 proprietary formulas that have been pre-tested with PCCA's fine chemicals and are continuously reviewed and updated
- Unparalleled quality control and quality assurance for all products
PCCA has been an industry leader as the compounding profession has continued to flourish and advance, playing a vital role in the lives of patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists alike.
As a distributor and repackager of both Active and Non-Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for pharmacy compounding, PCCA is registered and inspected by the FDA and DEA. The company is licensed in the state of Texas and all other states where licensure is required.
A compounding pharmacist's mission is to serve patients with medications tailored specifically for them, those who for one reason or another have not been served by commercially available medications. In the same spirit, PCCA exists to help our member pharmacies successfully practice the art and science of pharmacy compounding through a variety of products and services designed especially for their practices.


text:
|Version 8 (modified by 7 years ago) (diff),
Using SIMD instructions in GHC
Goal: improve program running times by taking advantage of CPU's SIMD vector instructions.
How: by extending GHC to generate code using SIMD vector instructions and by modifying libraries as necessary.
This page describes the issues involved and a design for implementing SIMD vector support in GHC.
We are interested in the SIMD vector instructions on current and future generations of CPUs. This includes SSE and AVX on x86/x86-64 and NEON on ARM chips (targets like GPUs or FPGAs are out of scope for this project). These SIMD vector instruction sets are broadly similar in the sense of having relatively short vector registers and operations for various sizes of integer and/or floating point operation. In the details however they have different capabilities and different vector register sizes.
We therefore want a design for SIMD support in GHC that will let us efficiently exploit current vector instructions but a design that is not tied too tightly to one CPU architecture or generation. In particular, it should be possible to write portable Haskell programs that use SIMD vectors. This implies that we need fallbacks for cases where certain types or operations are not supported directly in hardware.
On the other hand, we want to be able to write programs for maximum efficiency that exploit the native vector sizes, preferably while remaining portable. For example, algorithms on large variable length vectors are in principle agnostic about the size of the primitive vector operations.
Finally, we want a design that is not too difficult or time consuming to implement.
Existing SIMD instruction sets
Intel and AMD CPUs use the SSE family of extensions and, more recently (since Q1 2011), the AVX extensions. ARM CPUs (Cortex A series) use the NEON extensions. PowerPC and SPARC have similar vector extensions. Variations between different families of SIMD extensions and between different family members in one family of extensions include the following:
- Register width
- SSE registers are 128 bits, whereas AVX registers are 256 bits, but they can also still be used as 128 bit registers with old SSE instructions. NEON registers can be used as 64-bit or 128-bit register.
- Register number
- SSE sports 8 SIMD registers in the 32-bit i386 instruction set and 16 SIMD registers in the 64-bit x84_64 instruction set. (AVX still has 16 SIMD registers.) NEON's SIMD registers can be used as 32 64-bit registers or 16 128-bit registers.
- Register types
- In the original SSE extension, SIMD registers could only hold 32-bit single-precision floats, whereas SSE2 extend that to include 64-bit double precision floats as well as 8 to 64 bit integral types. The extension from 128 bits to 256 bits in register size only applies to floating-point types in AVX. This is expected to be extended to integer types in AVX2, but in AVX, SIMD operations on integral types can only use the lower 128 bits of the SIMD registers. NEON registers can hold 8 to 64 bit integral types and 32-bit single-precision floats.
- Alignment requirements
- SSE requires alignment on 16 byte boundaries. With AVX, it seems that operations on 128 bit SIMD vectors may be unaligned, but operations on 256 bit SIMD vectors needs to be aligned to 32 byte boundaries. NEON suggests to align SIMD vectors with n-bit elements to n-bit boundaries.
SIMD/vector support in other compilers
Both GCC and LLVM provide some low-level yet portable support for SIMD vector types and operations.
GCC provides vector extensions to C where the programmer may define vector types of a fixed size. The standard C
* etc operators then work on these vector types. GCC implements these operations using whatever hardware support is available. Depending on the requested vector size GCC uses native vector registers and instructions, or synthesises large requested vectors using smaller hardware vectors. For example it can generate code for operating on vectors of 4 doubles by using SSE2 registers and operations which only handle vectors of doubles of size 2.
The LLVM compiler tools targeted by GHC's LLVM backend support a generic vector type of arbitrary, but fixed length whose elements may be any LLVM scalar type. In addition to three vector operations, LLVM's operations on scalars are overloaded to work on vector types as well. LLVM compiles operations on vector types to target-specific SIMD instructions, such as those of the SSE, AVX, and NEON instruction set extensions. As the capabilities of the various versions of SSE, AVX, and NEON vary widely, LLVM's code generator maps operations on LLVM's generic vector type to the more limited capabilities of the various hardware targets.
General plan
We need to implement support for vectors in several layers of GHC + Libraries, from bottom to top:
- code generators (NCG, LLVM)
- Cmm
- Haskell/Core primops
- Some strategy for making use of vector primops, e.g. DPH or Vector lib
Fixed and variable sized vectors
The hardware supports only small fixed sized vectors. High level libraries would like to be able to use arbitrary sized vectors. Similar to the design in GCC and LLVM we provide primitive Haskell types and operations for fixed-size vectors. The task of implementing variable sized vectors in terms of fixed-size vector types and primops is left to the next layer up (DPH, vector lib).
That is, in the core primop layer and down, vector support is only for fixed-size vectors. The fixed sizes will be only powers of 2 and only up to some maximum size. The choice of maximum size should reflect the largest vector size supported by the current range of CPUs (e.g. 256bit with AVX).
The portabilty strategy relies on fallbacks so that we can implement large vectors on machines with only small vector registers, or no vector support at all (either none at all, or none for that type, e.g. only support for integer vectors not floating point, or only 32bit floats not doubles).
The obvious approach is a transformation to synthesize larger vector types and operations using smaller vector operations or scalar operations. This synthesisation could plausible be done at the core, Cmm or code generator layers, however the most natural choice would be as a Cmm -> Cmm transformation. This approach would reduce or eliminate the burden on code generators by allowing them to support only their architecture's native vector sizes and types, or none at all.
Using fallbacks does pose some challenges for a stable/portable ABI, in particular how vector registers should be used in the GHC calling convention. This is discussed in a later section.
Code generators
We would not extend the portable C backend to emit vector instructions. It would rely on the higher layers transforming vector operations into scalar operations. The portable C backend is not ABI compatible with the other code generators so there is no concern about vector registers in the calling convention.
The LLVM C library supports vector types and instructions directly. The GHC LLVM backend could be extended to translate vector ops at the CMM level into LLVM vector ops.
The NCG (native code generator) may need at least minimal support for vector types if vector registers are to be used in the calling convention. This would be necessary if ABI compatibility is to be preserved with the LLVM backend. It is optional whether vector instructions are used to improve performance.
Cmm layer
The Cmm layer will be extended to represent vector types and operations.
CmmType describes the machine-level type of data. It consists of the "category" of data, along with the
Width in bits.
data CmmType = CmmType CmmCat Width data Width = ... data CmmCat -- "Category" (not exported) = GcPtrCat -- GC pointer | BitsCat -- Non-pointer | FloatCat -- Float
The current code distinguishes floats, pointer and non-pointer data. These are distinguished primarily either because they need to be tracked separately (GC pointers) or because they live in special registers on many architectures (floats).
For vectors we add two new categories
| VBitsCat Multiplicity -- Non-pointer | VFloatCat Multiplicity -- Float type Multiplicty = Int
We keep vector types separate from scalars, rather than representing scalars as having multiplicty 1. This is to limit distruption to existing code paths and also because it is expected that vectors will often need to be treated differently from scalars. Again we distinguish float from integral types as these may use different classes of registers.
Vector operations on these machine vector types will be added to the Cmm
MachOp type, e.g.
data MachOp = ... | MO_VF_Add Width Multiplicity
For example
MO_VF_Add W64 4 represents vector addition on a length-4 vector of 64bit floats.
Core layer
We need Haskell data types and Haskell primitive operations for fixed size vectors. In some ways this is a harder problem than representing the vector types and opertions at the Cmm level. In particular, at the Haskell type level we cannot easily parametrise on the vector length.
Our design is to provide a family of fixed size vector types and primitive operations, but not to provide any facility to parametrise this family on the vector length.
Syntax note: here {m} is meta-syntax, not concrete syntax
for width {w} in 8, 16, 32, 64 and "" -- empty for native Int#/Word# width for multiplicity {m} in 2, 4, 8, 16, 32
type Int{w}Vec{m}# type Word{w}Vec{m}# type FloatVec{m}# type DoubleVec{m}#
It has not yet been decided if we will use a name convention such as:
IntVec2# IntVec4# IntVec8# ... Int8Vec2# ... Int16Vec2# ...
Or if we will add a new concrete syntax to suggest a paramater, but have it really still part of the name, such as:
Syntax note: here <2> is concrete syntax
IntVec<2># IntVec<4># IntVec<8># ... Int8Vec<2># ... Int16Vec<2># ..
Similarly there would be families of primops:
extractInt{w}Vec{m}# :: Int{w}Vec{m}# -> Int# -> Int{w}# addInt{w}Vec{m}# :: Int{w}Vec{m}# -> Int{w}Vec{m}# -> Int{w}Vec{m}#
From the point of view of the Haskell namespace for values and types, each member of each of these families is distinct. It is just a naming convention that suggests the relationship (with or without the addition of some concrete syntax to support the convention).
Primop generation and representation
Internally in GHC we can take advantage of the obvious parametrisation within the families of primitive types and operations. In particular we extend GHC's primop.txt.pp machinery to enable us to describe the family as a whole and to generate the members.
For example:
paramater <w> Width 8,16,32,64 paramater <m> Multiplicity 2,4,8,16,32 primop VIntAddOp <w> <m> "addInt<w>Vec<m>#" Dyadic Int{w}Vec{m}# -> Int{w}Vec{m}# -> Int{w}Vec{m}# {doc comments}
This would generate a family of primops, and an internal representation using the obvious parameters:
data PrimOp = ... | IntAddOp | VIntQuotOp Width Multiplicity
Optional: primitive int sizes
The same mechanism could be used to handle parametrisation between Int8#, Int16# etc. Currently these do not exist as primitive types. The types Int8, Int16 etc are implemented as a boxed native-sized Int# plus narrowing.
Note that while this change is possible and would make things more uniform it is not essential for vector support.
That is we might have:
primtype Int<w># primop IntAddOp <w> "addInt<w>#" Dyadic Int# -> Int# -> Int# with commutable = True
data PrimOp = ... | IntAddOp Width
We might want to specify the values <w> and <m> range over in each operation rather than globally, or override it locally. For example we might want to support Int8 vectors up to size 32 but Double vectors only up to size 8. Or we might want to distinguish the native size or treat it uniformly, e.g.:
primtype Int# primop IntAddOp "+#" Dyadic Int# -> Int# -> Int# with commutable = True primtype Int<w># with w = 8,16,32,64 primop IntAddOp <w> "addInt<w>#" Dyadic Int# -> Int# -> Int# with commutable = True w = 8,16,32,64
Or we might want some other solution so we can use
+# as well as
addInt<8># since
+<8># as an infix operator is more than a bit obscure!
Sub-architecture challenges
TODO make sure we've made clear our proposed design:
- fixed native size vector per arch, not sub-arch, picked as max
- instruction selection is per-module via -msse -mavx
- worker/wrapper with common and specialised ABI including rationale for why this should perform well enough vs compiling everything with one ABI
Native vector sizes
In addition to various portable fixed size vector types, we would like to have a portable vector type that matches the native register size. This is analogous to the existing integer types that GHC supports. We have Int8, Int16, Int32 etc and in addition we have Int, the size of which is machine dependent (either 32 or 64bit).
As with Int, the rationale is efficiency. For algorithms that could work with a variety of primitive vector sizes it will almost always be fastest to use the vector size that matches the hardware vector register size. Clearly it is suboptimal to use a vector size that is smaller than the native size. Using a larger vector is not nearly as bad as using as smaller one: though it does contribute to register pressure. There is also the difficulty of picking a fixed register size that is always at least as big as the native size on all platforms that are likely to be used and doing so makes less sense as vector sizes on some architectures increases.
Note that the actual size of the native vector size will be fixed per architecture and will not vary based on "sub-architecture" features like SSE vs AVX. We will pick the size to be the maximum of all the sub-architectures. That is we would pick the AVX size for x86-64. The rationale for this is ABI compatibility which is discussed below. In this respect, the IntVec# is like Int#, the size of both is crucial for the ABI and is determined by the target platform/architecture.
So we extend our family of vector types with:
IntVec# IntVec2# IntVec4# IntVec8# ... Int8Vec# Int8Vec2# ... Int16Vec# Int16Vec2# ...
and there are some top level constants describing the vector size so as to enable their portable use
intVecSize :: Int
The native-sized vector types are distinct types from the explicit-sized vector types, not type aliases for the corresponding explicit-sized vector. This is to support and encourage portable code.
ABIs and calling conventions
For each CPU architecture GHC has a calling convention that it uses for all Haskell function calls. The calling convention specifies where function arguments and results are placed in registers and on the stack. Adhering to the calling convention is necessary for correctness. Code compiled using different calling conventions should not be linked together. Note that currently the LLVM and NCG code generators adhere to the same ABI.
The calling convention needs to be extended to take into account the primitive vector types. We have to decide if vectors should be passed in registers or on the stack and how to handle vectors that do not match the native vector register size.
For efficiency it is desirable to make use of vector registers in the calling convention. This can be significantly quicker than copying vectors to and from the stack.
Within the same overall CPU architecture, there are several sub-architectures with different vector capabilities and in particular different vector sizes. The x86-64 architecture supports SSE2 vectors as a baseline which includes pairs of doubles, but the AVX extension doubles the size of the vector registers. Ideally when compiling for AVX we would make use of the larger AVX vectors, including passing the larger vectors in registers.
This poses a major challenge: we want to make use of large vectors when possible but we would also like to maintain some degree of ABI compatibility.
It is worth briefly exploring the option of abandoning ABI compatibility. We could declare that we have two ABIs on x86-64, the baseline SSE ABI and the AVX ABI. We would further declare To generate AVX code you must build all of your libraries using AVX. Essentially this would mean having two complete sets of libraries, or perhaps simply two instances of GHC, each with their own libraries. While this would work and may be satisfactory when speed is all that matters, it would not encourage use of vectors more generally. In practice haskell.org and linux distributions would have to distribute the more compatible SSE build so that in many cases even users with AVX hardware would be using GHC installations that make no use of AVX code. On x86 the situation could be even worse since the baseline x86 sub-architecture used by many linux distributions does not include even SSE2. In addition it is wasteful to have two instances of libraries when most libraries do not use vectors at all.
It it worth exploring options for making use of AVX without having to force all code to be recompiled. Ideally the base package would not need to be recompiled at all and perhaps only have packages like vector recompiled to take advantage of AVX.
Consider the situation where we have two modules Lib.hs and App.hs where App imports Lib The Lib module exports:
f :: DoubleVec4# -> Int g :: (DoubleVec4# -> a) -> a
which are used by App. We compile:
ghc -msse2 Lib.hs ghc -mavx App.hs.
There are two cases to consider:
- if the function being called has an unfolding exported from Lib then that unfolding can be compiled in the context of App and can make use of AVX instructions
- alternatively we are dealing with object code for the function which follows a certain ABI
Notice that not only do we need to be careful to call 'f' and 'g' using the right calling convention, but in the case of 'g', the function that we pass as its argument must also follow the calling convention that 'g' will call it with.
One idea is to take a worker/wrapper approach. We would split each function into a wrapper that uses some lowest common denominator calling convention and a worker that uses the best calling convention for the target sub-architecture. For example, the lowest common denominator calling convention might be to pass all vectors on the stack, while the worker convention would use SSE2 or AVX registers.
For App calling Lib.f we start with a call to the wrapper, this can be inlined to a call to the worker at which point we discover that the calling convention will use SSE2 registers. For App calling Lib.g with a locally defined 'h', we would pass the wrapper for 'h' to 'g' and since we assume we have no unfolding for 'g' then this is how it remains: at runtime 'g' will call 'h' through the wrapper for 'h' and so will use the lowest common denominator calling convention.
SSE2 code calling AVX code
We might be concerned with the reverse situation where we have A and B, with A importing B:
ghc -mavx B.hs. ghc -msse2 A.hs
That is, a module compiled with SSE2 that imports a module that was compiled with AVX. How can we call functions using AVX registers if we are only targeting SSE2? One option is to note that since we will be using AVX instructions at runtime when we call the functions in B, and hence it is legitimate to use AVX instructions in A also, at least for the calling convention. There may however be some technical restriction to using AVX instructions in A, for example if we decided that we would implement AVX support only in the LLVM backend and not the NCG backend and we chose to compile B using LLVM and A using the NCG. In that case we would have to avoid inlining the wrapper an exposing the worker that uses the AVX calling convention. There are already several conditions that are checked prior to inlining (e.g. phase checks), this would add an additional architecture check. It may well be simpler however to just implement minimal SSE2 and AVX support in the NCG, even if it is not used for vector operations and simply for the calling convention.
Types for calling conventions
One of GHC's clever design tricks is that the type of a function in core determines its calling convention. A function in core that accepts an Int is different to one that accepts an Int#. The use of two different types, Int and Int# let us talk about the transformation and lets us write code in core for the wrapper function that converts from Int to Int#.
If we are to take a worker wrapper approach with calling conventions for vectors then we would do well to use types to distinguish the common and special calling conventions. For example, we could define types:
FloatSseVec4# DoubleSseVec2# FloatAvxVec8# DoubleAvxVec4#
Then we can describe the types for the worker and wrapper for our function
f :: DoubleVec4# -> Int
This remains the type of the wrapper, which also is still called f. If we compile the module with -msse2 or -mavx then we would get workers with the respective types:
f_worker :: (# DoubleSseVec2#, DoubleSseVec2# #) -> Int
f_worker :: DoubleAvxVec4# -> Int
Note that in the SSE2 case we have to synthesize a vector of length 4 using native vectors of length 2.
Now it is clearer what the calling convention of the workers are. What is the calling convention of the wrapper?
f :: DoubleVec4# -> Int
We have said that this is the lowest common denominator calling convention. This might be passing vectors on the stack. But on x86-64 we know we always have SSE2 available, so we might want to use that in our lowest common denominator calling convention. In that case, would it make sense to say that in fact the wrapper 'f' has type:
f :: (# DoubleSseVec2#, DoubleSseVec2# #) -> Int
This is a plausible design, but it is not necessary to go this way. We can simply declare types like DoubleVec4# to have a particular calling convention without forcing it to be rewritten in terms of machine-specific types in core.
But it would be plausible to say that types like DoubleVec4# are ephemeral, having no ABI and must be rewritten by a core -> core pass to use machine-specific types with an associated ABI.
Memory alignment for vectors
Many CPUs that support vectors have strict alignment requirements, e.g. that 16 byte vectors must be aligned on 16byte boundaries. On some architectures the requirements are not strict but there may be a performance penalty, or alternative instruction may be required to load unaligned vectors.
Note that the alignment of vectors like DoubleVec4# has to be picked to fit the maximum required alignment of any sub-architecture. For example while DoubleVec4# might be synthesized using operations on DoubleSseVec2# when targeting SSE, the alignment must be picked such that we can use
DoubleAvxVec4# operations.
It is relatively straightforward to ensure alignment for vectors in large packed arrays. It is also not too great a burden to ensure stack alignment.
A somewhat more tricky problem is alignment of vectors within heap objects, both data constructors and closures. While it is plausible to ban putting vectors in data constructors, it does not seem possible to avoid function closures with vectors saved in the closure's environment record.
We would wish to avoid forcing all heap object to have a stricter alignment since this could waste enormous amounts of memory to padding. We would wish to align only those data constructors and closures that have stricter alignment requirements. This would require runtime fixups for functions allocating heap objects with stricter alignment, and changes to the GC to preserve the alignment when moving heap objects around.
For functions allocating heap objects with stricter alignment, upon entry along with the usual heap overflow check, it would be necessary to test the heap pointer and if necessary to bump it up to achieve the required alignment. Subsequent allocations within that code block would be able to proceed without further checks as any additional padding between allocations would be known statically. The heap overflow check would also have to take into account the possibility of the extra bump.
GHC command line flags
We would add machine flags such as
-msse2 and
-mavx. These tell GHC that it is allowed to make use of the corresponding instructions.
For compatibility, the default will remain targeting the base instruction set of the architecture. This is the behaviour of most other compilers. We may also want to add a
-mnative /
-mdetect flag that is equivalent to the
-m flag corresponding to the host machine.
GHC does not support GPUs (and thus SIMD) so far, however support for vectors is planned.
See also
- SIMD LLVM A previous (LLVM-specific) iteration of this SIMD proposal.
- VectorComputing A previous proposal to make use of x86 SSE in GHC.
- Blog article about Larrabee and Nvidia, MIMD vs. SIMD


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Anyway, I digress. How important is fat, or the lack thereof, in relation to health and disease? Recent studies indicate that the extreme position of consuming very little fat can lower mood, and even lead to violence and suicide.
Reducing fat intake in those who are McDonald's junkies is certainly a worthwhile goal. Most members of the medical establishment, health writers in the media, and other fitness experts stress the importance of a reducing excessive fat intake. But, tipping the scale too much of the low end can lead you to the local health food store or pharmacy urgently groping for a bottle of St. John's wort.
"Alterations in mood after changing to a low-fat diet," was the title of the article published recently in The British Journal of Nutrition. Ten male and ten female healthy volunteers aged between 20 and 37 years of age had their mood monitored while reducing their fat intake. The amount of total calories they consumed remained constant. For the first month, each volunteer consumed a diet containing 40 percent energy as fat, and the second month half of the subjects changed to a low-fat die consisting of 25 percent of calories from fat. Changes in mood and blood lipids were tested before, during, and after the conclusion of the study. At the end of the second month, the volunteers who had remained on the 40 percent fat diet had a slight decline in anger and hostility while those on the lower fat diet had an increase in hostility. The researchers state, "The results suggest that a change in dietary fat content from 40 percent down to 25 percent of energy may have adverse effects on mood.
Another study released to the media in March got a lot of media attention through releases in Associated Press and Reuter's News Service. The findings, published in the March 15 issue of the American College of Physicians' Annals of Internal Medicine (128(6):478-487), were based on computer-database surveys of more than 30 peer- reviewed medical reports and analyses from the United States and Europe. The investigators discovered that men with blood cholesterol levels of less than 160 milligrams per deciliter had a homicide, suicide or fatal accident rate 50 to 80 percent higher than those with the highest cholesterol levels. Women with low cholesterol levels were nearly 30 percent more prone to violent death.
Dr. Beatrice Golomb, staff physician at San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California, said the findings suggest a link between low cholesterol and violent death. She said it is possible that low cholesterol is accompanied by a reduction in the brain chemical serotonin, which is believed to control violent behavior. ``We know that low-serotonin people are more likely to commit suicide, especially by violent means, and homicide,'' explained Golomb, who also works as a research professor of psychiatry at the University of Southern California.
Wells AS, Read NW, Laugharne JDE, Ahluwalia NS. Alterations in mood after changing to a low-fat diet. British Journal of Nutrition 79:23-30, 1998.
Comments: The importance of the amount of fat in the diet, the right proportions, the right fats, and so on will be debated for years and decades to come. I don't propose to have the correct answers, but until we learn more about this topic, I'm avoiding extremes. I don't count the grams of fat in my diet, but I do eat eggs two or three times a week, eat fish at least twice a week, have a soy drink and soybeans almost every day, and I try to limit the amount of whole milk, cheese, and butter. About once or twice a month I'll have chicken or meat.
In March of this year I attended the Natural Health Expo in Anaheim, California. One evening, I was having dinner with a few people who were attending the show. After my meal of halibut and vegetables, I ordered a fruit plate and I agreed with two other people at the table to split a chocolate cake in three portions. Well, this didn't sit too well with one of the health fanatics seated at the table. He observed, since I was a prominent physician in the health community, that I should be a good example by not eating the dessert. I told him that everyone has their own level of comfort in what how flexible they wish to be in their dietary choices, and I wasn't going to live my life based on how I thought people would react to what I ate. Many years ago I made the philosophical decision that I didn't want to go on the rest of my life never having a piece of pie or chocolate cake. I think having a piece of delicious dessert once in a while is perfectly acceptable compromise for me.
The type of fat we normally ingest has, of course, a lot to do with mental health than just the quantity of dietary fat intake. A good book on this topic is The Omega Plan by Artemis Simopoulos, M.D. and Jo Robinson (HarperCollins, 1998).
Dr. Golomb, is quoted in the above Reuter's article saying that low cholesterol levels may reduce serotonin levels and hence influence mood. I think another possibility that we should consider is that very low cholesterol levels could reduce the production of pregnenolone and other steroid hormones such as progesterone, DHEA, and the sex steroids. All of these hormones have an influence on mood and behavior.


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ECONOMY IMPROVES: The Conference Board's index of leading indicators increased in December from November 0.5 percent, suggesting economic growth may strengthen in early 2013.
SOURCES OF STRENGTH: Five of the index's 10 components showed improvement, led by a decline in applications for unemployment benefits, gains on Wall Street and an increase in applications for building permits.
OUTLOOK: The gauge is designed to anticipate economic conditions three to six months out. Economists said the December increase points to strength ahead, although they say orders to U.S. factories must improve for the momentum to be sustained.


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Jennifer Hudson & Chaka Khan to Perform Whitney Houston Tribute at Grammys
Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan will perform a tribute to late singer Whitney Houston at tomorrow night's 2012 Grammy Awards.
The ladies will hit the stage during the show to honor the singer who passed away at the age of 48 on Saturday (February 11), according to ET.
"I'm speechless…I'm in shock right now. Just pray for her and the family," Chaka tweeted after hearing the shocking news.
Whitney was expected to attend and perform at Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy gala tonight.
Also pictured inside: Jennifer attending a music preservation program on Saturday afternoon (February 11) at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.


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Views: 1174
Oh, that gave me a serious belly laugh at work. Jeez.
Sorry for the lack of focus -- new camera -- It's sitting on pavers on the right side but not the left. It doesn't look too out of plumb in this shot but it was maybe 1" from top to floor. The installer gets one brownie point for putting on a pipe-down but....this is soo bad.
Notice the duct tape around to protect the WH's finish from the strap which --- would have been better used around the dryer vent hose at least to seal it.
It should probably have had two straps for seismic hold down... and gas line looks like an opportunity for a small child to stand on and bounce. That is also questionable... some states require a flexible connection between the appliance and the gas line - for seismic reasons. It looks like the total length of the unsupported gas pipe might exceed four feet easily... and that should have been a code violation. (can we say KABOOM...)
I really can't tell from the first picture how the venting is hooked up... was the plastic bag part of their vent system? If so they may have suspected they had some kind of back draft problem... and tried to cure that with the bag? I can't imagine a mechanical permit was pulled to install the heater... a licensed person would not have done that... it had to be a DIY job.
This is also a powered vent hot water heater... nice electrical installation.... :-( at least there would be a source of ignition for the broken gas line...
One last comment -- click on pictures... the first picture changes when you click on it so you can actually see the blocking under one side.
Most gas hot water heaters are also supposed to be place about a foot above the floor -- such that fumes from a flammable source remain below the level of the pilot... this installation also lacks that....
As far as seismic activity -- this is PA not CA so no WH's have hold downs here...I don't like the gas line either but I think the reason why the WH is leaning is b/c they wanted to hook up to the existing line.
I agree with seeing an opportunity for children's play. I'll check the code on that.
The plastic bag had the operating manual in it -- it's not part of the installation ( incidentally, the installation manual was no where to be found) -- had to look it up on line. The new foil slinky hose connects to the existing 3" PVC running between the floor joists and out to the sidewall about 10' away.
Yeah -- you should have to have a master plumber change out a WH in this municipality but it kinda looks like someone was flying under the radar on this one. I think the WH power cord is plugged into the furnace outlet -- I forget just what was going on there...
Thx for the comment about the pictures -- I loaded 2 the first time and then couldn't find the second one so I loaded another one -- I'm still getting the hang of this software, I guess.
There's not room to put it up any higher than it is really. But I'll mention no flammables storage to the homeowners.
I'm pretty sure code would also require separate outlet for the WH... it should not be piggy backed off the breaker for the furnace...even though it is a low current device. Similar rules (some states) are for separate outlets for washer & dryers (even gas dryers).
I'd still check current codes about seismic ties for WH...the northeast and midwest has had earthquakes... and other disasters... so I suspect even the PA state buiding codes may require some kind of simple tie to the structure.
Since there is power going to the vent fan for the furnace... you should also check to see if there is a requirement for bonding the water pipes to the earth ground at the electric panel...
It's all better now. It's sitting plumb with glued PVC venting and the gas line is shorter, closer to the wall, and strapped to the floor joist above. And I checked the gas line from the basement wall where the meter is all the way to the furnace and WH -- no leaks.
Cool... a success story... without the fireworks...
Amen! -- you can say that again.
I have been in the HVAC trade since 1986. I have recently completed a Home or Real Estate Inspection course for the state of Texas. I was also a licensed HVAC contractor in CA, WI and Washington State and a inspector for the village in Illinois I lived in. In any case this water heater would have been "flagged" for multiple reasons. As already mentioned, the gas pipe not being supported, the length is not really the issue but the amount not supported is, the vent is absolutely wrong and as an inspector I would refer to the installation manual, and last but not least the seismic bracing. Most recommendations are for 1/3 from the bottom and 1/3 from the top for bracing installation. One thing to remember about real estate inspectors is, they are not inspecting for code. They inspect for safety and wear and tear. Obvious should be the key word in these types of inspections. If it is an obvious defect it will be brought to the attention of the buyer, but it is not required to be repaired.
My 2 cents.
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A Latin American delicacy with European roots, an empanada is dough wrapped around a tasty filling.
It is the specialty of the house at Papa Luna's owned by Simon Baer, who studied abroad in Buenos Aires between 2006 and 2008 before moving to the States, bringing the Argentinean delight with him.
Baer said he came to Pacific Beach to treat San Diegans to international fare and South American flair.
"Empanadas are baked turnovers, like a pirogi or a mini calzone that can be either sweet or savory," said Baer. "Every country has its own take on it."
Baer chose Luna ("moon" in Spanish) for his restaurant name because his menu staple is "half-moon shaped," and because he wanted "something everybody could read and understand that was easy to say and spell phonetically."
Papa Luna is as easy to say as its cuisine is to eat and transport, two keys to its growing popularity.
"It's a good food for Pacific Beach because empanadas are a handful that are easy to carry and walk with. They're very portable," Baer said.
Papa Luna's tag line is, "Latin American style, Southern California flavors."
That's exactly what you'll find at Baer's eatery.
"We do traditional empanadas and also do a Southern California take on empanadas," said Baer, offering his turkey empanada, which he described as a "Thanksgiving dinner all wrapped up," as one example. The empanada is filled with roasted turkey breast, mashed potato, stuffing and cranberry and served with homemade gravy.
There are empanadas for every meal and every taste, for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. Examples include a Philly cheese steak empanada with homemade cheese sauce, a "Sunny Goat" empanada with organic goat cheese, sausage and sun-dried tomatoes and a breakfast empanada with chorizo and scrambled egg.
There are even dessert emp-anadas with chocolate, banana, apple and raisin filling.
Open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekends, Papa Luna's also offers an array of unique salads, as well as gazpacho, a cold tomato Spanish soup.
"We do an empanada of the month," said Baer, noting customers offer their suggestions for monthly choices in a restaurant suggestion box and also through the restaurant's Facebook site.
"If [the suggestions are] popular enough, we'll keep them on the menu," he said, adding customers whose suggestions are picked also get to name them, like the current entry, the "Babaloo" empanada with plantains, black beans, roasted garlic and cilantro.
The empanada restaurant has a small patio and a few tables inside.
"It's a great alternative to pizza, burgers and burritos, which is why Pacific Beach is a good fit for it," concluded Baer, adding his restaurant is "happy to be an active community partner," having donated more than $3,000 to Pacific Beach schools since its opening.
For more information, call (858) 255-8875 or visit papalunas.com.


text: Nashville — The Farm Hands, the award winning Nashville Tennessee bluegrass quartet featuring Grand Ole Opry performers is coming Boonville. The band will be in concert Friday, February 8 at River of Life Assembly of God, 1430 West Ashley Road, in Boonville. Concert time is 7 p.m. The exciting Farm Hands Quartet consists of four gifted musicians and vocalists and features long-time Grand Ole Opry performers, Daryl Mosley and Tim Graves. Bass player and singer Mosley is a multiple-award winning singer/songwriter. For more than a decade, Daryl was a bass play/vocalist on the Grand Ole Opry. He has written songs featured on television shows like 'American Idol', 'Beyond The Glory' and 'The View', as well as several number 1 songs, including the southern gospel song of the year, "(Ask the Blind Man) He Saw It All." Playing the dobro is Grammy award-winner Tim Graves. During his more than 30 years of performing professionally, Graves has spent 20 of them on the Opry. He has toured extensively throughout the U.S. with his own group, and is the reigning Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America Dobro player of the year, a distinction he has held seven times Guitarist/tenor singer, Kevin Williamson was a founding member of the bluegrass bands Redwing and Shadow Ridge. He has played most of the major bluegrass venues in America as well as being a successful songwriter, having written several chart singles, as well a song on a Grammy nominated album. Banjo player Bennie Boling is an accomplished musician and right at home on several stringed instruments. This Tennessee native is also a successful songwriter, having songs recorded by Gene Watson, the Oak Ridge Boys and others. In addition to the Grand Ole Opry, the band performes on some of the most prestigious stages in America and tours over 150 dates each year. There is no admission charge for the concert.


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Jan. 13, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - For the second time in three years, UC Santa Barbara head coach Tim Vom Steeg earned the most prestigious honor a Division I coach can receive when he was named the National Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Friday evening. Vom Steeg brings home the honor after guiding the UCSB men's soccer team to the program's first NCAA National Championship.
In his eight seasons at the helm of UCSB, Vom Steeg has transformed a program that went 2-17-2 overall in the year prior to his arrival, to a Division I power and reigning national champions. In the first 33 years of the program's existence, Santa Barbara had never reached the NCAA Tournament, but has now made five straight postseason appearances under Vom Steeg's guidance, including two trips to the College Cup. A former player at UCSB, Vom Steeg owns a 13-3 overall record in the NCAA Tourney.
Vom Steeg earned the award in 2004 after his Gauchos led the nation and set a school record with a 21-2-2 overall record. After spending seven weeks with a No. 1 national ranking, UCSB received a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced all the way to the College Cup for the first time in program history. The Gauchos then dismantled Duke 5-0 in the semifinals to reach the championship match, where they tied Indiana 1-1 before falling in heart-breaking fashion, 3-2 in a penalty kick shoot-out.
Just two years later, Vom Steeg's Gauchos finished with a 17-7-1 overall record and returned to college soccer's final weekend unseeded in the tournament, completing a miraculous title run with a 2-1 win over UCLA in the finals December 3. The victory over the Bruins came less than 24 hours after Santa Barbara advanced past No. 2 seed Wake Forest, this time coming out on top in a penalty kick shoot-out, 4-3, in the semifinals. In what became very well documented during UCSB's postseason run, the Gauchos stood at just 7-6 on after a 1-0 loss at UC Riverside October 11. Vom Steeg got his team to respond and Santa Barbara proceeded to win 10 of its final 12 matches and claim the school's second national title -- the first since the men's water polo team won the championship in 1979.
Since the Big West Conference reinstated men's soccer in 2000, Vom Steeg has steered the Gauchos to four conference championships, including this season after finishing 7-3-0 in league play. Over the course of the past six season's Vom Steeg has produced four conference offensive players of the year, three defensive players of the year, three goalkeepers of the year, and three freshman of the year. Vom Steeg was named the Big West Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
The winningiest coach in program history with a career-record of 117-45-11 (.708) at UCSB, Vom Steeg has helped 10 Gauchos receive All-American honors in the last five years has coached over a dozen players that are currently playing professionally. He will return for his ninth season in 2007.


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And the Winner of Our GN'R Contest is…
Last month, we offered you the prize of a lifetime: The chance to see Guns N' Roses live in Las Vegas on Nov. 2, $500 to spend in Sin City, and blackjack with the band.
Now, we're excited to announce the winner of the contest.
Congrats to Timothy France of Elk River, MN!
We called Tim on the phone to let him know he won the trip.
"Yeah, that sounds excellent," Tim said.
Who is he planning to take with him to Sin City to see one of the rawest bands in rock history?
"I told my ma I'd take her with me." Alright, Tim – have fun!
GN'R are set to begin on an epic residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vegas, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 24.


text:
20 Machines for a DIY Civilization
Video: Open Source Ecology has released free plans for building tractors, brick compressors, and other essential machines. Why pay more for stuff that's designed to fall apart?
Build yourself. | Tristan Copley Smith from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.
- Fed up with Facebook's commercialism, four NYU students have created an open source, peer-to-peer alternative: Diaspora.
- From Kenya, an open-source solution for navigating chaos.
- Can we create the machines of modern life sustainably, cheaply, and close to home?


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2013 British & Irish Lions
Sheridan plays down Lions chances
ESPN Staff
December 15, 2012
Former England international Andrew Sheridan has enjoyed an injury-free run since swapping the Premiership for the Top 14 © Getty Images
Former England international Andrew Sheridan does not expect to make a return to the international stage with the British & Irish Lions next year.
The 33-year-old prop won the last of his 42 Test caps at the 2011 Rugby World Cup where the latest of a succession of shoulder injuries brought a premature end to his tournament. A subsequent move from Premiership side Sale Sharks to French Top 14 giants Toulon then appeared to end his chances of further international honours due to England's strict stance on not selecting overseas-based players.
However, a return to top form and a rare injury-free run has seen the loose-head tipped for a second Lions tour having tackled South Africa in 2009. But having seen England coach Stuart Lancaster adopt a youthful selection policy he acknowledges that his chances of forcing his way into the Lions reckoning are remote.
"I'm not an envious person and I don't get bitter,' he told the Daily Mail. "I'm a proud Englishman so I want England to do well. I knew the situation when I signed for Toulon. I know it is unlikely that they would pick people who are playing overseas. Even if I had stayed in England, Stuart Lancaster has looked to pick a younger side.
"My chances of playing for England again are remote. They've got a good batch of young props already performing well at that level. They would have to have quite a few injuries and find themselves really scraping the bottom of the barrel to get to me again! If I was asked, I wouldn't say no, but that is very unlikely. As for the Lions, I won't be involved in international rugby and there are good props all over Britain and Ireland, so that is highly unlikely, too."
The Toulon climate clearly agrees with Sheridan who has been able to put his catalogue of injury woes behind him with the help of the Mediterranean sunshine - much like his team-mate Jonny Wilkinson.
"I've played in all 17 matches so far,' he told the newspaper. "I've had the odd little niggle, but I'm getting old so that is inevitable! It's been great to get a run of games week after week, because I spent a lot of time in the previous three years on the operating table.
"That led to long periods of rehab, which were frustrating, so hopefully this period of playing consistently can continue. I can't say for sure why my luck has changed, but the climate helps. It's starting to get cold now though - I've had to cover up the pool and I haven't been able to go in the sea for a while!"
Toulon currently lead the Top 14 and will look to preserve their unbeaten start to the Heineken Cup against Sale on Sunday. But their success on the domestic stage could provide another barrier to the Lions tour for the likes of Sheridan and Wilkinson.
The Top 14 final is scheduled for June 1 - the same day as the first match of the Lions' tour in Hong Kong - and while leaving the selection door open, Lions boss Warren Gatland wants the squad to depart for Australia together.
"If we take the France-based players, our preferred option is that they are on the plane with us," said Gatland. "We know what a quality player Jonny is. He is out of international rugby but he is playing in a side that is winning, and he is definitely one we are keeping an eye on.
"The most difficult thing is we will be getting the squad together for almost the first time on the plane. But if you look at guys at Toulon for example, they could be playing in a final the same day as our first game in Hong Kong. So it is going to be difficult to integrate them and get them to be a part of the tour.
"It is not something we need to commit to now, and we will look at the strength-in-depth in certain positions, and injuries, but the idea is to have everyone on the plane together."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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The Ups-and-Downs and 'WOW' of the Honda Classic
~by Amy Lignor
For those who haven't missed a day, the Honda Classic certainly gave fans everything from anger to confusion to downright disbelief, as a pro golfer came from nowhere and took the title with a 'collegiate' smile.
The Honda Classic has moved so many times, this particular game's scoreboard of up and down players actually felt as if it mirrored how many moves the Classic has had. Originally played in Lauderhill, Florida, the Classic was moved in 1984 to Coral Springs, Florida. 1992 through 1995 saw the event held in Weston, Florida, before returning to Coral Springs. This was not the end of the moves; many places were hosts until 2007 came to pass. The PGA National Golf Club's Champion Course remains its home.
Not only is the Classic regarded as an event that golf fans and participants look forward to every year, but it's even more special because the great golfing legend, Jack Nicklaus, and his Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, is part of the background of this amazing contest.
The ups-and-downs continued each and every day of the Classic. Tiger Woods, the name everyone seems to want to talk about, had a good start. He was consistent, but finished well back of the leaders.
Solid tee shots started on the back nine for Tiger, with fans watching him make par on his first eight holes. The front nine, however, was not so pretty to watch – offering a double bogey on the second hole which basically took Tiger away from finishing below par. Instead, after the day was over, Tiger walked away at one over par with far, far more playtime to come. Which means…Tiger Woods came back and won!? Nope. Sorry. He not only didn't win; but he walked off the green and left the tournament on the very last day with back spasms.
The other name everyone was watching was Rory McIlroy, whose history in the Honda Classic is more than successful. After opening with a bogey-free 63, McIlroy looked as good as gold. Henley opened with five birdies and ended with a 64; and Sabbatini, McGirt and Donaldson – all past champions – claimed a three-way-tie with 65.
Zach Johnson really had ups-and-downs right off the bat, owning a 67 before hitting the water twice. However, all is never lost in golf, seeing as that he came back with gusto to achieve seven birdies allowing him back into the pack.
Days went by and it still looked as if it was McIlroy's time in the sun, yet again. This is the player who won two majors by eight shots each. A few great putts became part of his game, a few par saves for some excitement, and a birdie on the almost 500-yard 10th hole, before making more miracles on 11 and 12.
Yes, he has a bit of a background that's negative, but we won't talk about last year and the anxiety and anger that got to McIlroy back then. This is 2014, after all. So…McIlroy won!? Nope. Sorry. He didn't. Although he did not walk off the field (this was Tiger's year for that), he claimed second place.
What happened was this…first hole…4-man playoff…BAM! Russell Henley deflates Rory's ego, surprises many, and wears a smile so big and bright you could see it from the moon! Russell Knox and Ryan Palmer were also a bit upset and shocked, but what had looked like Rory's victory pretty much the whole way through, ended up in the hands of Henley who, before this, had only one PGA tour win.
It will be interesting to see what happens next.
Until Next Time, Everybody,


text:
Despite the fact both Outkast members Big Boi and Andre 3000 profusely insist there is no beef between them, Big Boi recently spilled a little tea...
Big Boi is promoting his new album Dangerous Lies and Vicious Rumors and when the Village Voice asked why 3 Stacks didn't have a feature on the album Big Boi replied,
"He could've been on any song he wanted to. I gave the motherf**ker about five songs, but I guess he was just too busy. He said he had to do some Gillette s**t. No for real. He said he had some contractual obligations."Ouch, considering Andre managed to fit in features for Rick Ross, T.I. and Frank Ocean this year.
Big Boi later tried to extinguish the fire but it was too late.


text:
About smartin
I can't agree that anonymous voting would be a good idea. If the guy I voted into office votes in a way I don't like, I damn sure wanna know about it.
Oh, give me a break, people.
We like blue buttons, but we hate green buttons? Just how childish can you be? It's a visual cue telling you that the messages are handled differently. If it were rounded corners and square corners, would you have your panties in a twist?
There are real problems in the world. This is a *phone*. Get over it.
You wrote:
"While it's true broadcasters are responsible for the majority of programming increases, ..."
Can you substantiate this allegation with publicly verifiable facts?
Obviously he's not a law professor, or else he might recall that Marbury v Madison (a case taught in L1) established that the Judicial branch (not the Legislative) has the right of review as to constitutinality of laws.
From the Complaint:
"KlearGear's underlying claim that John Palmer owed it money was based on
an online review that his wife Jennifer wrote in February 2009 criticizing KlearGear's customer
service after John placed an order with KlearGear in December 2008 and KlearGear never
delivered it. According to KlearGear, this critical online review constituted a violation of a "nondisparagement clause" in KlearGear's online Terms of Sale and Use that forbade anyone who did
business with KlearGear from "taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its
reputation, products, services, management or employees."


text: The preacher begins by reminding the audience about various forms of evil, the church's mission to help humans obtain heavenly rights and other topics from the previous week's sermon. After recapping last Sunday's sermon, the preacher uses the Word of God to answer the question, "How should Christians react to the afflictions they suffer in the world?" The three answers to this question are broken up into three different sections and explained in depth by the speaker.


text:
May 22, 1986
To: Vice Presidents, Deans, Directors and
Department Chairs
From: President Gail Fullerton
Subject: Compliance with Gift Processing Provisions of the Federal Tax Reform Act of 1984
The Federal Tax Reform Act of 1984 (the "Act") contains provisions which change the reporting requirements for persons making charitable contributions and for a donee organization which accepts noncash contributions. Accordingly, I have determined that the following procedures are necessary in order for the University to be in compliance with the Act.
Non-Cash Gift Processing
The Act requires a donee organization to process noncash gifts (equipment, supplies, software, patents, copyrights, nonpublicly held stock, books, artistic works, and real property) within certain time limits. Failure by either the donor or the donee organization to meet the documentation and submission deadlines of the Act may result in a disallowance of the donation by the Internal Revenue Service or an assessment of financial penalties against the donee organization.
In order to meet the various requirements of the Act, you and other University officials are responsible for assisting me in administering the gift regulations of the CSU Trustees and the Act.
Offer of Non-Cash Gift to the University
When a donor offers a noncash gift to the University, please contact the Director of Logistical Services (non-Library gifts) or the Director of the Library. They will assist you in preparing the necessary documentation required to accept the gift.
If the gift is valued at $500 or more, Part I of Form 8283 must be completed as illustrated on the attached sample. Please note that I will sign the Form.
The Director of Logistical Services or the Director of the Library will forward Form 8283 to the Director of Development for additional processing and preparation of my letter accepting the noncash gift on behalf of the Trustees as required by Section 42300 et seq., Title 5, Administrative Code.
When a noncash gift is valued at $5,000 or more, the donor must obtain, at his/her expense, an appraisal of the gift. The appraiser must complete Part III of Form 8283.
Form 8283 does not have to be completed when a donor offers nonpublicly traded stock whose current market value is $10,000 or less.
Sale of Gift
If the University sells the donor's noncash gift within two years after accepting it, the Director of Logistical Services must complete Treasury Form 8282, "Donee Information Return." Both the donor and the IRS must receive a copy of this Form. Please see the attached sample.
Completion of this document and its retention for IRS audit purposes will require the University to keep detailed information about when the noncash gift was sold, when the gift was contributed, exchanged or traded, and the amount received.
Compliance with the 1984 Federal Tax Reform Act will require your cooperation and willingness to provide complete information about the donor and the proposed noncash gift.
The Director of Development has overall responsibility for coordinating and interpreting the Federal Tax Reform Act's gift processing requirements.


text:
PARIS (AP) — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was cleared Monday of allegations that he illegally took donations from France's richest woman on the way to his 2007 election victory, his lawyer and an official said.
The announcement fanned speculation of a political comeback for Sarkozy, who lost the presidency to Socialist Francois Hollande last year.
Citing a lack of evidence, two investigating magistrates dismissed claims that Sarkozy had taken advantage of the frail state of Liliane Bettencourt, the L'Oreal cosmetics heiress who is now 90, the official in the Bordeaux prosecutor's said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn't permitted to speak to the media.
"I am delighted about this decision, which I expected," Sarkozy's lawyer Thierry Herzog told reporters outside the former president's Paris office. After leaving a private meeting on Monday at the main Paris mosque, Sarkozy nodded to cameras but did not speak to journalists.
Ten other people — including Sarkozy's former budget minister, Eric Woerth — are still expected to face trial next year on charges in the case that include alleged fraud and money laundering.
A former Bettencourt accountant told police she handed over 150,000 euros ($192,000) in cash that she was told would be passed to Woerth, who was Sarkozy's campaign treasurer for the 2007 presidential bid. That was well over the maximum allowed campaign contributions under French law.
After reports of the illegal campaign cash first surfaced in 2010, investigators gradually pieced together their case, coming closer and closer to Sarkozy himself. In March this year, he was handed preliminary charges, meaning that magistrates had reason to believe wrongdoing was committed. But after deeper investigation, the case against Sarkozy collapsed because of lack of evidence.
"The dismissal is good news, but I am not surprised because this case file was totally empty," said Patrick Balkany, a National Assembly lawmaker and longtime Sarkozy friend. "The surprise was that he was under investigation at all. Slapping preliminary charges against a former president is no small thing."
Sarkozy, 58, has drifted out of the political arena but polls show he's still popular among his fellow conservatives, whose UMP party is riven with infighting. He has been seen more often in public in recent weeks, prompting talk that he might run for president again in 2017.
While Sarkozy is off the hook in the so-called Bettencourt affair, his name has surfaced in other investigations.
Relatives of French victims of a deadly 2002 bombing in Pakistan filed a complaint in Paris last year against Sarkozy and two former advisers for allegedly violating a duty to secrecy in an investigation of the case. The Karachi car bombing killed 15 people, mostly French defense contractors.


text:
There are way too many good TV shows available to us today. We live in a world of modern riches, of an over-abundance of goodness so vibrant it's terribly easy to miss the good stuff. Embarrassing first world problem of the highest order, but still: a wonderful predicament to find oneself in. But mo-oooom, I can't go outside and play, or socialize with weird Uncle Kevin — there's just so much TV to watch, you see! Teevee: the future!
And lo, what good stuff is to be had on your premium channels! Though previous editors have regaled you with the delightful offerings on Amazon Prime and Netflix, I've decided to take a look exclusively towards television's rise to greatness: the premium network series. The oft-regurgitated line of thought on these past five years — that it is "The Golden Age of Television" — is largely thanks to the work of the pay-channels like HBO and Showtime.
Because they don't rely on ratings, premium networks have consistently and craftily pushed the envelope as to what could and could not be done with visual storytelling. Characters became more nuanced, stories unfolded rather than exposited to death, and a push for small screen viewers to, you know, actually pay attention to the detailed doings were all elevated here first.
Of course everyone has varying levels of binge-watching abilities, so we've taken the liberty of Goldilocking this one for you a bit: tailoring our picks to mini, moderate, and maximum helpings, ensuring you find the most efficient multi-episode viewing scenario that is just right for you. Besides, we love to enable your extreme binge-watching behaviors, Internet. So click on to see our picks.
The Mini-Binge
Lucky Louie, HBO
Not typically a fan of the multi-camera sitcom set-up, Louis C.K.'s first venture into the world of television was a ripper. For HBO it was a trial of the new, as the 2006 series' one-and-only 13-episode season was a departure in style and substance. With a wonderful supporting cast (Pamela Adlon, Jim Norton, Rick Shapiro, Mike Hagerty), the series' look at blue-collar living resonates more now than it did then (though that may be in part due to the omnipresent C.K.-ified existence we now live in). The ruminations on married living — a far cry from the subject matter of its FX sibling — still push and prod at the ideas seen in its later Louie draft. Still, the whole thing remains enjoyable to watch, and highlight the budding genius that is C.K.'s omnipresent brand of perfectly skewering humor.
Masters of Sex, Showtime
I simply cannot say enough good things about Masters of Sex. Far and away the best new series of 2013 (in my oh-so humble opinion), Michelle Ashford's take on the Thomas Maier book of the same name gives a wonderfully thoughtful and emotionally intricate body to the curious and compelling relationship of Dr. Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson, the sex scientists who ramped the world into the sexual revolution of the 1960s with their research on bodily sexual response. With a dream-team guest starring cast of Allison Janney and Beau Bridges, coupled with top-notch supporting performances from Annaleigh Ashford, Teddy Sears, and Heléne York — just to name a few — the whole thing leaps forward with such a careful and slow-burning brilliance, if you're not paying enough attention you may miss the undercurrents completely. With the finale airing this-coming Sunday (December 15), the whole series will be up on Showtime On Demand. It would behoove you to tune in immediately.
Ja'mie: Private School Girl, HBO
Chris Lilley's skewering take on spoiled, malevolent young girls is consistently able to find the funny, even when its antics border on painful painted with awkward abandon. And with only 3 episodes currently available, it's a quick way to catch up on a new series without feeling like you have to actually commit to any sort of serious sitting time. That way you won't feel so out of the loop while your friends are all calling each other quiche, so win-win.
Hunted, Cinemax
The Cinemax espionage series may not have gotten much buzz or praise in its premiere run, but it's a highly enjoyable for all of its twisty-turning spy-on-spy dramatic machinations. Sitting squarely on the shoulders of its star Melissa George, Hunted is bleak in many ways: the undercurrent of "oh you guys are really all just pawns, here, aren't you?" permeates everything from the visuals to the plotlines (hello, literal-and-actual-maze). Plus, the cast is wonderful: Several Game of Thrones actors show up, as well as the star of the soon-to-be FX series, Tyrant, Adam Rayner. There's mystery and intrigue for days here — thanks in part to the mysterious ethos surrounding Sam (George)'s origin story. For fans of sneaky spy tricks, Hunted's first season is worth a wee binge.
Family Tree, HBO
Family Tree is one of the more delightfully strange and endearing shows out there. The Christopher Guest series does a wonderful job luring the characters out slowly-but-assuredly as to endear their crazy to you. Chris O'Dowd stars in its 8-episode first season as Tom Chadwick, a young man who inherits a mysterious box from his aunt filled with the mysteries of his family history. Surrounded by best friend Pete and his sister Bea Chawick and her monkey puppet, Monkey, the whole of the series feels warm and inviting in its absurdity, and the characters bring a sort of charm to the whole thing that'll leave you feeling cozy and satisfied. Like a cup of really good hot chocolate, chockablock with hilariously untoward marshmallows in it.


text:
The jury in George Zimmerman's murder trial continued its second day of deliberations Saturday, weighing whether the neighborhood watch volunteer committed a crime almost a year and a half ago when he fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
SANFORD — The jury in George Zimmerman's murder trial continued its second day of deliberations Saturday, weighing whether the neighborhood watch volunteer committed a crime almost a year and a half ago when he fatally shot Trayvon Martin.
Jurors reconvened Saturday morning, deliberated for three hours and then broke for lunch. They resumed their discussions about 1 p.m.
Meanwhile, about two dozen people gathered outside the courthouse awaiting a verdict, with supporters of the Martin family outnumbering those there for Zimmerman. One man held a sign that read, "We love you George." A woman lay in the grass in a hoodie, her arms spread, in a re-creation of Martin's death.
Several pastors from Daytona Beach who were in Sanford awaiting the verdict called for peaceful protests.
"Hate has no place in this right now. Our nation is already too divided," said Pastor Monzell Ford of the Daytona Beach Black Clergy Alliance.
On Twitter, Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, shared what she called her favorite Bible verse: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
On Friday afternoon, as the jury began deliberations, police and civic leaders in this Orlando suburb went on national television to plead for calm in Sanford and across the country if Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, is acquitted. Martin was black.
"There is no party in this case who wants to see any violence," Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said. "We have an expectation upon this announcement that our community will continue to act peacefully."
Last year, people protested in Sanford and across the country last year when authorities waited 44 days before arresting Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder, but the jury also is allowed to consider manslaughter.
The judge's decision to allow that consideration was a potentially heavy blow to the defense: It could give jurors who aren't convinced the shooting amounted to murder a way to hold Zimmerman responsible for the killing.
To win a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification.
Zimmerman faces a maximum prison sentence of life for second-degree murder and 30 years if convicted of manslaughter, due to extra sentencing guidelines for committing a crime with a gun.
The sequestered jury of six women — all but one of them white — must sort through conflicting testimony from police, neighbors, friends and family members.
Jurors deliberated for three and a half hours when they decided to stop Friday evening. About two hours into their discussions, they asked for a list of the evidence. Their identities are being kept anonymous — they are identified only by number — but they revealed information about themselves during jury selection.
• B-51 is retired, not married and doesn't have kids. She has lived in Seminole County for nine years. She has worked in real estate and run a call center where she said she had experience resolving conflicts. When asked if Zimmerman did something wrong by following Martin instead of waiting for police, she said: "Yeah, I guess he did do something wrong."
• B-29 recently moved to Central Florida from Chicago. She enjoys watching the "Real Housewives" on television and works as a nurse in an Alzheimer's section of a nursing home. She said she hadn't paid much attention to the shooting. She said she has been arrested, but her case was disposed of. It's not clear why she was arrested or exactly what happened to her case, though she said she was treated fairly. She is married and has several children. A prosecutor described her as "black or Hispanic" during jury selection.
• B-76 is a white woman who has lived in Central Florida for 18 years. She manages rental properties with her husband of 30 years. She has two adult children, including one who is an attorney. She is involved with rescuing animals in her free time. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime. "Everyone deserves a fair trial," she said.
• B-37 is a white woman who volunteers rescuing animals. She is married to an attorney and has two adult children. She said she and her husband used to have concealed weapons licenses. During the last round of questioning, she said she had an issue with the type of weapons people are allowed to carry. She also thought weapons' training was inadequate for people seeking permits. "It should become harder," she said.
• E-6 is a white woman who is married and has two children. She has worked in financial services and has lived in Seminole County for two years. She is active in her church and involved with her children's school. During jury selection, she said she didn't know the facts of the case well.
• E-40 is a white woman who works as a safety officer and recently moved to Seminole County from Iowa. She describes herself as a football fan. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime.


text:
A light in the darkness; order amidst strife. Such is our calling.
Lumanar Archoni Creed
A century ago, the unstoppable legions of the Lumanar Imperium marched triumphant through the verdant fields of Sollanis. The glorious sons of Pathoria marched, fought, triumphed against all odds to bring civilization and enlightenment to the united hill tribes, and liberation from the fist of unjust tyrants to the people of Sollanis . A period of peace and prosperity befell the nation, shielded by the aegis of the imperium.
A century later, the green pastures of Sollanis lay parched and shriveled, a windswept wasteland. The people of Sollanis huddle in crumbling cities, forgotten by the Imperium, the land withering away around them. A mad king rules from the throne, with the Imperiums supposed blessings. The nation splinters and crumbles. The people grow restless, rebellious.
The knights and exemplars from the Concord Nations, joined in common hatred of the Imperium, heckle and bark at the doorsteps of the forgotten land. Their priests preach the name of the All-Seer in the streets, promising the embrace of epiphany to all who humble themselves in obedience. Old hatreds ignite, new kinships cement. Troubles brew, conspiracies ferment.
Sollanis will be forgotten no longer. Time has come for the imperium to shepherd its charges. Pathoria has need for heroes to shape and carve the oncoming tide. Great armies stir from their slumber, shambling onto stage in their slow, peculiar dance. War looms on the horizon civil war, _total war_.
Illuminar igni. Enlighten, with fire.
Pathorian War Church Dictum
Stability crumbles within Sollanis, a kingdom bordering the imperial province of Pathoria. Sollanis serves as a buffer state, separating the imperium from the belligerent forces of the Concord Nations. Some say Pathoria is to blame for the kingdoms unrest and disorder; others place blame with an incompetent king. Rumors stir about yet unseen forces at work, scurrying in the darkness at the biddings of the All-Seer, the deity revered by the Concord Nations.
Pathoria finds itself in a difficult bind. The Treaty of Ostia places Sollanis under the responsibility of the imperial province, but also allows the kingdom to retain autonomy. Direct political or military interference would almost certainly spark a war, likely giving the Concord Nations casus belli to join in open conflict. A delicate touch is required, and the Pathorian Senate assembles just such a team.
The player characters form the core of this diplomatic effort. The overt goal of the entourage will ostensibly be assisting Sollanis authorities in dealing with unrest. But politics is a subtle mistress. The source of instability within Sollanis must be identified and eliminated. Concord influence must be curbed and their machinations thwarted. Even the conduct of royalty should not be above scrutiny. In the end, war is but another form of diplomacy to Pathoria, and her legions stand ready to speak their piece.
Each player character should act (or pretend to act) with the interests of Pathoria at heart. This will likely mean they are born as sons and daughters of Pathoria, though other options are available.
Campaign Logistics
Pax Lumanum: Concordia is an RP-heavy 4e campaign weaving a multinational web of political intrigue with exploration and adventure. The setting is "low" magic, and the tone gritty and somber. If this is the sort of game you love, we are seeking 3 players with active and motivated characters to complete a party of 6. It will be played over Openrpg, on Saturday afternoons to evenings (likely 2PM through 9PM, EST). We will start on November 12.
The party currently consists of the following characters:
* Elric the Pathfinder (Sollanis elven ranger) - a good-hearted Sollanis native serving as a guide as he returns to his homeland
* Reina Greyleaf (Lofwyrran elven fighter) - manumitted slave whose fierce loyalty to her once-master finds her en route to Concordia
* Alkaia Aurelius (Pathorian human warlord) - a cool-headed military prefect from the Pathorian legions
For a balanced party, we recommend choosing from a blend of controller, striker and hybrid-leader roles.
Joining the Fun
To apply for the campaign...
1. Visit the campaign Wiki for setting information.
2. See Character Creation for rules.
3. Be sure to peruse the House Rules for the campaign
4. Contact me by posting here or through PMs. Feel free to ask questions about the campaign or the setting!
This is not "first come, first serve". The party will be assembled based on how well the characters fit into the campaign.
~ Pax Lumanum Wiki ~