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Small Business Server
In this series of articles we will present a way to configure a Linux server to work in a mixed Windows/UNIX environment in a way that will scale well.
What not to do: Don't try to configure a system in a fastest way possible, migrations between configurations (for example: from flat files to LDAP, for both UNIX and Windows authentication) are not easy to do, are disruptive and in the end result make those 5 minutes of work you don't do now, hours later on.
This series of articles will show best practices to configure a Windows/UNIX mixed domain in a extensible way. What to do, how to do it and what not to do (and why).
Our server will support:
- Network firewall and NAT
- DNS and DHCP for hosts
- User authentication and management with LDAP
- File sharing with Samba, NAT and FTP
- Printing with CUPS (from UNIX) and Samba (from Windows)
- VPN service
You will need at at least 3 computers:
- An Archlinux domain controller (our Small Business Server)
- A Windows workstation or domain member server
- A Linux domain member workstation/server
While the workstations can be made up of an hardware that will make the OS work, server machines need a little more thought put into early on.
It's best to use a server worthy hardware, but Linux will work well on commodity hardware too. Things good to have:
- At least two disks for RAID (for a server that's the single most important thing)
- ECC RAM (ECC only RAM, not ECC Registered, is supported by most middle- and high-end main-boards, isn't much more expensive that normal RAM)
- hardware RAID isn't really necessary, Linux software RAID usually will give you better throughput (only very high IOPS are hard to achive, but then it's not commodity hardware any more), allow access to SMART data for HDDs, doesn't tie you to a controller, is much more flexible that even the most expensive hardware RAID controllers
- relatively fast processor
- lots of RAM (4GB as of 2010 is absolute minimum)
Basic configuration
Some features (easy backups, migration and Windows Previous Versions on Samba shares) require LVM running on the server.
When installing a new server put it on at least bare LVM, even if you plan to use single partition for whole system, this way, later on, you'll be able to migrate to larger HDDs or RAID without even rebooting the system.
GRUB needs a physical partition (or a RAID1 volume) to install to, so the basic configuration needs to be something like this:
sda +--------+--------+ |/boot |LVM PV | +--------+--------+
and like this for a 2+ drive setup:
sda sdb +--------+------------+ +--------+------------+ |/boot |RAID volume | |/boot |RAID volume | +--------+------------+ +--------+------------+


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Stasys Eidrigevicius
Stasys Eidrigevicius is the original visionary artist: the painter and illustrator. Around the world, and Lithuania in particular, his name became famous because of spectacular posters and children's book illustrations, which had grown with more than one generation. Exhibition is called Face on the Mask in order to name authors' creativity's reasoning, revealing the artist's unique way of thinking, attitude towards the surrounding reality.
The exhibition includes about 200 works created in 1974-2010. Oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, sculptures, masks, prints, drawings and photographs. Most of the works came from the artist's studio in Warsaw, the exposition of works from the Lithuanian Art Museum. The exhibition consists of three parts: Hazy, Melancholy and nostalgia and (I)mortal; these parts reflects S.Eidrigevicius output and characterizes his moods and modes.
Bio (for more visit artist page)
A medal of honour at the 6th International Biennial of Modern Ex-Libris in Malbork. Diploma in the Institute of Fine Arts in Vilnius in painting. Debut - the oil paintings Triptych with my Father, Mum and Aunt Elizabeth. He is appointed to work in school and he works as an artist in the Vilnius Philharmonic Hall.
First visit to Poland in response to the invitation of an ex-libris collector, Edmund Puzdrowski from Bydgoszcz. During his stay in Poland he visited Warsaw, Cracow, Zakopane, Auschwitz, Poznan, Gdansk, among other cities, taking keen interest in the modern art.
Studies in the Institute of Fine Arts in Vilnius at the pedagogie faculty. After the second year he specialised in painting, all the time participating in graphics classes. He took active part in students' theatrical undertakings, he belonged to the literature circle. First honourable mentions and individual exhibitions organised in his mother university: e.g. ex-libris exhibition (1970) and painting exhibition (1971), recognised as the best individual exhibition of the year.
Education in the S. Zukas Technical School in Kaunas, where he studied artistic design of leather. First attempts in the field of artistic photography and graphics (ex-libris). A diploma with honours for the design of leather book covers.
The Eidrigievicius family moves to Lepsiai village near Panevezys, where Stasys started his education, continued in Panevezys since 1960. Very early he showed artistic talents, noticed by his closest surrounding and the educators.
Stasys Eidrigevicius was born on July 24 in the village Medinskiai in the north of Lithuania, the second son of Leonard, of Polish decent, and Alfonsa. He spent his childhood in the countryside, in a large family circle. He was particularly attached to his mother.
2010 Gloria Artis Medal, Warsaw, Poland
2009 Doctor Honoris Causa, Vilnius, Lithuania
2009 Bronze Medal, Toyama, Japan
2001 National Art Award, Lithuania
2000 Order of Gedyminas, Lithuania
1999 Gold Medal, Katowice, Poland
1994 Gold Medal, Toyama, Japan
1993 Gold Medal, New York, USA
1991 Grand Prix, Bratislava, Slovakia
1990 Grand Prix, Belgrad, Jugoslavia
1988 Silver Medal, New York, USA
1987 Gold Hugon, Chicago, USA
1986 Grand Prix, Barcelona, Spain
Facebook PageF

subset: commoncrawl


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Web Content Display
Optimized Integration
Optimized Integration
Enabling businesses to achieve robust integration
Multiple target sources might store duplicate/conflicting information. Therefore, interaction of the different IT systems across the network might result in conflicting results. This kind of integration is tough to mend and expensive to fix.
Bring together information from multiple Active Directories through transactional process implemented through Identity Bridge.
- Management of multiple active directories can be completely remove.
- Optimized integration by breaking free of bridges to integrate with active directories.
- Achieve real-time identity information flow between multiple IdM setup.
Are connectors necessary for seamless integration of IAM technology with Cerner's system? If you are looking for a seamless interface between your identity and access management infrastructure and Cerner records, then it is crucial to use connectors. This will enable your organization to centrally manage personal records without the necessity to logging into Cerner directly. Cerner User Provisioning is taken care of by the connectors which provide error free integration of IAM technology. Connectors, such as Identity Bridge, work in sync with LDAP Virtual Gateway. These in turn provide an industry standard, enterprise LDAP v3 interface, which connects Cerner and the Identity management application that you might be using. Further, connectors are developed using SPML v2.0 interface. It supports Account management and Profile Management actions. It works even when EMR implementation of your organization is not configured with LDAP for authorization or authentication. Personnel management functions are completely automated by connectors such as Identity Bridge which many administrators of Cerner User Provisioning are currently handling manually on a per request basis. The connector can be used as a trusted virtual administrator which can provide lifecycle management securely. It also increases auditability of all user profiles. The deployment and integration of our out-of-the-box connector does not take more than a few days. This was possible only because of our standard access point. With standard access point, you can bridge cross platform technologies and vendors using connectors such as Identity bridge. You don't have to rewrite any connector integrators for integration. If you are wondering what will happen if your IAM objectives change, then you can simply alter your connector with your new objectives and that will serve your purpose completely. The connector can also be used to Create (add) account, View account, Enable account, Disable account, Manage passwords, and Change account along with Cerner user provisioning. Some benefits among many others of adopting connectors are: • Getting real-time policy & compliance auditing • Source environment data mining capabilities • Extended IDM governance capabilities • Enhanced performance • Support for IDM upgrades & migration activities • Act as a data repository to support data mining capabilities • Standard LDAPV3 interface • Lower TCO and increased ROI • Streamlined and automated IAM capabilities These above points are immensely important to eliminate complex developments, some of which could be costly ones. Also, it will help you in extending the ROI in your current technology investments. Using connectors can bring in efficiency in your healthcare organization. Integrating healthcare initiative with Health Information Technology can make your pace of work brisk. With automating most of your patient management system, you can focus more on core aspects related to your organization. You can emphasis on expansion of your services and manage your funds with a dedicated approach. Connectors can help your hardware and software to be used to the maximum extent possible, thus, giving you the room for better utilization of devices that you may have included earlier. It helps you scale up or down your requirements with the help of cloud technology. The patients and medical practitioners are also go


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Bailey House, the landmark agency that has provided housing and support services to people affected by HIV/AIDS for more than 30 years, has been awarded a $1.36M federal grant for its STARS (Success Through Accessing Rental Assistance and Support) initiative, a supportive housing program for homeless HIV-positive young adults, including LGBTQ individuals. Encompassing 53 apartments, STARS is the largest permanent supportive housing program in NYC for HIV-positive youth, including eight units solely for homeless transgender young adults. The grant is from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Department's HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS) program.
Regina Quattrochi, Bailey House CEO, stated, "This grant enables Bailey House to support its current program for homeless HIV-positive youth while also opening the door for future expansions to address the critical gap in services for this vulnerable population." Homeless youth, especially those who are also LGBTQ and/or HIV-positive, face an especially difficult time finding adequate shelter in NYC. Only 253 municipal shelter beds are available for the almost 4,000 homeless youth in NYC, while even fewer options are available for those living with HIV/AIDS. In response to the need for stable housing and care coordination for HIV-positive homeless youth, Bailey House launched STARS in 2009. The program provides housing and support to some of the most marginalized youth in NYC; many of its residents are struggling with substance use and mental illness, as well as homelessness and HIV. A HUD-SPNS (Special Project of National Significance) initiative, STARS originally consisted of 20 apartments. Because there is a significant dearth of services for homeless young adults of transgender experience, eight additional units specifically for transgender youth were added in 2012. STARS is one of the only programs in the city that provides permanent housing for the transgender community. In 2014, in recognition of Bailey House's success with the program, the agency was awarded another grant to provide permanent supportive housing to 22 additional young adults. Private funders for the STARS program include The Brian McCarthy Foundation, The David Geffen Foundation, The Palette Fund and The Rocking Moon Foundation.
Comments Off on Bailey House receives $1.36M Grant for Young Adult Program STARS


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Going the distance.
With technical marvels like Half-Life
2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Black
and White 2 looming large on the horizon, many of us knew the need to move to 64
Bit CPU Country was fast approaching. Crytek, a modest German developer, may have just pushed the clock forward a bit. Their newest tropical FPS, Far
Cry, doesn't actually require a 64-bit CPU, but it's just about as fancy as you can get.
Indeed, Far Cry actually makes a pretty strong case for an upgrade.
The single-player campaign is deftly built, running on a very innovative – and
resource hungry – game engine. And while the action and gameplay aren't wildly
original, it all comes together for an exciting 20 hours of spent gun shells
and wisecracks.
Speaking of which, you play as freelance mariner Jack Carver. Jack had hoped to collect some sizeable loot after escorting a lovely reporter named Valerie over to a secluded tropical Eden. But Jack's life quickly starts to suck when his boat is curiously attacked by mercenaries, at which point he is separated from his shapely employer. Left with little choice and even less cash, he decides to take on an entire island teeming with well-trained mercenaries in order save Val (and more importantly, to get paid!). It's not long before our square-jawed hero senses something ain't right – and that's when things get really creepy. Despite what some
may think, the story isn't quite movie material, but is reason enough to shoot up a lot of stuff.
After all, what's an FPS without the S? [Answer: MYST! – Ed.] This little shooter is replete with one intensive gunfight after the next. Essentially you run and occasionally sneak your way through lush, expansive outdoor areas, shooting, driving, boating and even hang-gliding your way to the next checkpoint. The few industrial indoor areas break up the low-level monotony and provide tense close-quarters battles. There is a bit of item acquisition along the way in the form of a few key cards, but the bulk of the gameplay relies on shooting relatively brainy enemies, both human and, well, let's not give anything away. Succinctly put, the gameplay is solid.
Still, there aren't really any new weapons seasoned shooter fans haven't seen before. You'll get your mitts on various types of automatic heat like the classic M4 Carbine, the super-fast P90, the standard MP and the brutal AG36 and OICW assault rifles, plus a rocket launcher, frag and flash grenades and several others munitions. One the best is the AW50 sniper rifle, really the only weapon to take advantage of the game's boasted 800-meter draw distance. With 4 or 5 levels of zoom, enemies can be dispatched from insane distances with this monster. It's pretty sweet.
But don't think the enemy is just standing around waiting for you to fatten them up with hot lead -these guys are on the ball and work together really well. The baddies will investigate questionable sounds and/or alarms. Some will seek cover and then come out shooting while moving to a closer point of cover, all under the protective cover fire from others in the group. They'll even toss grenades to root you out. Overhead, helicopters will lay down suppressive fire if you're spotted from the air. These guys just don't give up – I love it.
I also love the look. Far
Cry is a beautiful game, quite possibly the best looking shooter so
far this year. The engine, dubbed the CryEngine, really pushes the limits, sporting
all the geeky tech jargon one could ask for: dynamic lighting and shadows, dense
and meticulously detailed fauna, polybump mapping, advanced rag doll-style
character physics, motion-capture, destructible terrain, etc.
The game even gets its name from the engine's ability to render huge outdoor
areas, leading to some seriously long-distance gunfights (which come into play
more in the game's
multiplayer modes).
This, coupled with the game's audio feast, produces an intense and immersive
experience. The lush landscape is full of life; bullets "zing" by and change
sounds depending on the surface on which they strike. Birds can be heard flying
overhead, and the recreated Doppler Effect adds a great touch to incoming helicopters
and the sound of the islands' insect life buzzing in and out of your ears. A
visual and auditory smorgasbord, Far Cry nearly has it all.
missing is some real gameplay innovation. While the running and gunning is great,
it isn't revolutionary and plays out like any typical shooter from the last few
years. Enemies tend to spawn in the same areas, so memorizing these spawn points
after several play-throughs is usually how you make it to the next checkpoint.
The enemy A.I. is at times a little too good, when the slightest sound
can put an entire compound on alert. This is made a bit worse with no 'save anywhere' function,
so get used to replaying scenes a few times. Other small problems crop up: you
can't shoot from ladders, vehicles are poorly implemented and that awesome 800-meter
draw distance doesn't come up too often in the single-player game.
Instead, look to the multiplayer for long-range firefights, since players tend
to go for the sniper rifle and the zoom-enabled assault rifles. But even here
the game doesn't shine quite like it could have. Only three game types are
offered – Assault, Free-For-All and Team Deathmatch – and with each you get
a mere handful of maps. Hopefully, the included engine editor and design tools
will open the door to some "far"-out mods.
It's not gonna revolutionize the way you think of FPS gaming – that's a job for
Half-Life 2, we hope – but Far Cry will give
you a great 20-hour adrenaline shot in the arm. The impressive technology and
sheer fun lead to a good choice for FPS fans with hefty rigs.


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Background Abstract Green SeamlessA classic high leg style that comes with a low back as well for you to create your own beach wear.
Made from 90% Polyester, 10% Spandex
One Piece Design
Soft, stretchy, lightweight and quick drying fabric
Machine wash cold
Swimsuit is packed in a transparent plastic bag
Our editing software makes designing quick and simple
Designs imprinted using advance heat sublimation technique
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I've been spending the year assessing where enterprise architecture -- and SOA in particular -- are headed as we begin to leave the first decade of the 21st century. The good news: It's clear that EA and SOA are delivering real value to most businesses today. However as we'll see, there is also considerable room for performance improvement. Trying to map out the direction of these disciplines has resulted in quite a snapshot with many interesting details and nuances that I'll share here throughout the rest of the year.
More immediately of interest we can see some trends beginning to stand out clearly right now:
1) Modern software architecture, with SOA as the top-level organizing principle, seems to have more and more trouble keeping up with the rate of change in most organizations. Not only have the timelines and schedules of IT and architecture groups never aligned well with business activities, it's now becoming an endemic problem as I've shared experiences with architects around the world recently. There's a growing sense that the business is "pulling away" and despite enterprise architecture and SOA being intentionally proactive, the default stance is one of short-term reactive response and trying to "clean up afterward", an activity which few businesses want to pay for. In short, our traditional services delivery models seem to move too slowly these days to embrace business opportunities as they occur.
2. Consumption of SOA and service-based IT is still too low. Depressingly low in some cases. The early "field of dreams" approach to services that some organizations practiced (build them and they will come) combined with the proliferation of JBOWS (just a bunch of Web services) finally morphed at last in many organizations into more mature services landscapes with some actual governance. But now we see that the subsequent complexity, rarefied skills and tools, and additional constraints ended up stamping out a lot of SOA consumption at the edge. These days the evidence is beginning to mount (presented below) that a certain style of services -- combined with mechanisms that actively drive consumption and outfitted with real business models -- could address this. There are other emerging solutions to drive consumption of SOA as well. Without consumption and uptake, SOA cannot access the "return" in ROI. Systematic removal of the obstacles to participation in SOA is the goal in this view.
3. The focus on SOA still tends to be on the [over]engineering of seams and processes instead of removing constraints on the business and increasing ready access to value. We are still not providing good enough reach to our enterprise data, IT systems, or people. Despite heavy investments in IT for 30 years and the openness and interoperability intents of SOA, the majority of our enterprise data remains submerged and inaccessible to most business users, silos are still prevalent, and there still lacks the human dimension, the latter which can represent the use of more effective architectures of participation or the involvement of more than IT in the strategic development of SOA.
While important cross-cutting concerns -- like security efforts or the imposed siloed architectures of enterprise software suites (ERP, CRM, HRM, etc) or even turf boundaries (see Conway's Law) -- are also responsible for many of these issues, at the core seems to be a project-oriented focus instead of a product-oriented focus with SOA. This is not to say that good engineering is not important, but that we are too often aiming at the wrong part of the SOA tolerance continuum.
Looking to successful models of SOA for answers
As an industry it's also apparent that we have too few examples of good SOA to point to and use as reference models. Most success stories are behind the walls of other organizations that are just as inclined to keep the secrets of success to themselves. Best practices and effective approaches therefore are not always likely to spread when they should. In fact, it's fairly easy to argue that the evolution of SOA has often moved far faster in standards bodies than by validation of effective new ideas in the field that are only then adopted and standardized when they work well.
Interestingly, this means the openness and visibility of today's modern Web seems to provide living examples of what's effective at driving forward business results with SOA. By this I mean when it addresses the key issues around improving the response to opportunities and directly enabling self-service, all while remaining highly scalable and protecting users and data. While I've been writing about Web-Oriented Architecture (WOA) for some time now, it's in truth a parallel "track" for SOA that's evolved organically in the wilds of the online world to meet many of the same challenges that we have in our organizations today.
Related: Fixing Enterprise Architecture: Balancing the Forces of Change in the Modern Organization
Key to the story of WOA is that at least one critical feedback loop is present in online businesses that is much less evident in most SOA efforts today: Their business will fundamentally thrive or die based on the adoption of their services. Most new online businesses offer an API (the Web version of SOA) at the very outset these days and it's now common for the services themselves -- instead of the visual Web pages -- to be the dominant point of usage early on. Online firms offer APIs in easy to use formats and then market and evangelize them extensively precisely because there is an urgent need and these are the best ways to drive adoption. There is also more direct and immediate business value in this model since carefully measured use and consumption is the yardstick by which online firms are measured. It's also what they monetize, an entire area that's seriously underdeveloped in enterprise SOA for both internal and external customers. This is a yardstick that would change a lot of what we focus on in SOA.
Imagine how we might behave and prioritize our efforts if our success was largely based on the number of points and overall level of consumption of SOA services, internally as well as partners and customers. Unfortunately, as Joe McKendrick noted yesterday in "SOAs too big to fail", we may be increasingly isolated from that pressure as the business becomes more and more dependent on SOA. Ironically, this seems to be encouraging an organizational structure (which often is the IT department itself) that is isolated from market pressures.
How WOA can help SOA reach the next level of performance
While there are certainly many aspects of WOA that need to have an enterprise context added to them to work for traditional businesses, you can see from the visual above that a successful and capable service-based approach has emerged naturally side-by-side with classical SOA. At their roots, they both have great commonalities (HTTP, interoperability, and recombinant software), and some key differences as well. Intriguingly however, these often line up with many of the issues we're now seeing holding back the next level in business performance of SOA:
- Responding to change faster. Reducing execution chokepoints by making SOA more self-service (running your SOA like a business) by broader audiences in the organization.
- Increasing consumption. Using new service delivery models that make SOA the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to solve problems.
- Actively enabling access to value. Opening up broad access to data and people using models such as deeply linked REST-based data webs and open supply chains. Adopt browser-based approaches to consumption such as enterprise mashups tools and user distributable widgets that project the SOA across the organization.
We certainly don't need to throw away everything that we've done with SOA to achieve these performance improvements, far from it. However, we must change much of the focus on what we do and how we do it. There are also some key additions to technical approaches that will be required such as adopting enterprise REST, making IT systems more mashup friendly, and updating existing delivery models such as portals and intranets to be more malleable, self-service, and connected to SOA data and resources.
The bottom line: Since many of the very best examples of SOA that works are the models we seeing being proven out in large scale on the Web, we must learn as much as we can from them (and the price is right, even the most compelling lessons here are free.) While enterprise SOA will never be identical to Internet-based WOA, we can borrow the best ideas from the success stories that have emerged on the Global SOA (which is what I call the service-enabled side of the Internet).
We are also starting to see evidence that a more mature melding of Web-oriented service models with the enterprise is actually starting to happen. For example, an InformationWeek survey this year showed that on the technical side of the SOA/WOA stack, SOAP adoption appears to be dropping in enterprises (54% a year ago to a projected 42% in the next 18 months) while REST is on the rise (14% to 24% over the same time frame). The recent announcement of the opening up of EMML is also showing that WOA concepts around lightweight composite applications (mashups) have moved into SOA territory.
While emerging initiatives such as JBOSS's REST-* may or may not help with this transition, as more of the foundation of WOA is available in organizations, richer and more effective outcomes on the business side of the the WOA equation are possible as well. No doubt this will take years, but this evidence and others shows that we are already beginning to incorporate the lessons of WOA into enterprise SOA.
In an upcoming post, I'll look at emerging new SOA practices that are coming from other sources as well.
Note: I'll be holding a discussion on The Future of SOA and enterprise REST at ebizQ's SOA in Action on October 28th. Please register to participate today.
Are Web-based approaches providing insight to your SOA effort? Or are you getting effective new ideas from elsewhere?


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By Marilyn Henry
There already have been big discussions on the internet about Jonathan Jackson returning to his role as Lucky on General Hospital. Newer viewers who don't know his work are jolted; other long-time viewers are thrilled. I don't know whose bad
In the last few weeks, the show seems to have turned a corner. Good grief, did they lock mob-obsessed Guza in a closet and allow someone else to spin actual soap tales for awhile? Who knew it could happen?
taste decides the direction of the insulting promotional ads, in the vein of "The REAL" Lucky is back, or whatever. They got so much flack over Greenlee ads you'd think they would learn, but obviously TPTB are basically without taste.
That aside, I am loving having Jonathan back on the show. The character of Lucky has been stunted for so long. Suddenly what I'm seeing now is an excellent actor giving the part of Lucky some intensity, depth, naturalness and truth. Amazing. JJ makes the role rich, worth watching – with face, voice, body language.
Greg Vaughn was indeed handsome, but there was never a moment I believed he was Lucky Spencer. He was too old for the part, too unexpressive, and they wrote him as a stiff-necked, up-tight type, and not [Read more…]


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map projection
map projection, transfer of the features of the surface of the earth or another spherical body onto a flat sheet of paper. Only a globe can represent accurately the shape, orientation, and relative area of the earth's surface features; any projection produces distortion with regard to some of these characteristics. The particular projection chosen for a given map will depend on the use for which the map is intended. Some projections preserve correct relative distances in all directions from the center of the map (equidistant projection); some show areas equal to (equal-area projection) or shapes similar to (conformal projection) those on a globe of the same scale; some are useful in determining direction. Many map projections can be constructed by the use of a light source to project the features of the globe onto a piece of paper (although in practice one performs the operation mathematically rather than with a light); other projections can be constructed only mathematically. Projections are classified as cylindrical, conic, or azimuthal according to the method of projection with a light source; many projections that can be constructed only mathematically are also classified according to this system.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Other Projections
- Conic Projection
- Cylindrical Projection
- Bibliography
- Azimuthal Projection
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Maps and Mapping


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I ended up on YouTube, via hacker-news or somewhere else, to watch a lecture which made me realise what I have been going through.
Please watch the following lecture on \"The Psychology of Doing Nothing\" by Professor Helga Drummond. You can also read the transcript if you don't want to watch whole video.


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Since becoming an editor for DC Comics' mature readers Vertigo imprint in 1994, Axel Alonso has worked behind the scenes on some of the most distinctive comics of the past 20 years. His work editing books like Preacher and 100 Bullets at Vertigo grabbed the attention of Marvel Comics in 2000, and he took on a position at DC's top competitor reviving the Spider-Man titles and editing controversial books like X-Force and Rawhide Kid: Slap Leather. In 2011, Alonso was promoted to the position of editor-in-chief at Marvel, and he is currently overseeing the Marvel Now! relaunch that has proven a critical, commercial, and creative success for the publisher. He chats with The A.V. Club about making the transition from Vertigo to Marvel, the importance of creative risk, and what he sees for the future of the company.
The A.V. Club: Were comics a part of your upbringing at all?
Axel Alonso: I grew up in San Francisco, California. I was a young boy, meaning 5 or 6 years old, learning to read. I was introduced to comics by my grandmother who would walk me home from school every Friday, and would buy me a couple comic books at the five and dime. So every Friday I would pick a couple comics off the rack; I'd normally find a cool cover or flip through a comic book and see a cool fight, and that would be the one I would bring home. The concept of being only about Marvel or only about DC is completely ridiculous; I grew up reading everything. My favorite characters spanned even Charlton Comics, and I'm a big fan of Yang, the bald-headed kung fu guy. So I grew up reading comics like that. I gave them up as a teenager for a brief period of time and rediscovered them in college. I was on an Alaskan fishing boat—I would've been 19—and the boat I was on was subject to food-and-game inspection.
I found a stack of magazines and comic books that I had previously not looked at because there was no time. It was mostly pornography, but there were two comic books in there that had no cover, and it just turned out that they were two issues of the Alan Moore Swamp Thing. It was the story of a serial killer who remembered his victims from their eyes, and maybe it was the sleep deprivation from working on the boat, or maybe it was the way that life was on the water, but comics blew me away so I was convinced that I had missed out on six or seven years' worth of incredible comic books. And when I went back to school—I was in college at UC Santa Cruz—I went to Atlantis Fantasyworld, as the retailer is proud to say, and got all my first comics again. So I got back into comics again as a 19-year-old. I was big on punk rock, and during the period of time I didn't read comics, I got into that whole California SoCal punk scene. So artists like Raymond Pettibon, it wasn't a surprise that his art borders on comic book. I dabbled in a little bit of that stuff, so I was always into that weird, pulpy aesthetic when I got back into comics.
AVC: How did you get involved with Vertigo?
AA: I moved to New York after college and worked as a journalist, so I did a lot of reporting for the dailies, and I even worked for Editor & Publisher magazine briefly. I went to Columbia journalism school just because I felt like I hit a ceiling in journalism. I applied, they gave me a partial scholarship, so I went. When I got out of school, I entered into a job market that was worse than when I had gone to school. [Laughs.] I saw an ad in The New York Times that DC Comics was hiring editors. So, just out of curiosity I sent in my résumé, and I surprisingly got a call from an editor, the late Lou Stathis. He called me in because he had read an article I'd written and wanted to meet me. He knew my name, and it was just one of those things where if I had a common name, none of this would've happened.
We talked about everything, and in the article I guess one of the guys I quoted had indicted himself as an idiot, and Lou loved it because this guy had stolen his girlfriend. So I had a leg up on the competition, and he hired me on the spot. I wasn't even convinced I wanted to take the job, because the pay was so bad and it wasn't a lateral move for me. But I took the job, and I liked what Vertigo was doing. I guess the one thing for me at Vertigo is that as much respect I had, as much enjoyment I got as a reader from something like Sandman, I never felt that that was in my wheelhouse, in terms of references. I didn't think I would be a good editor for Neil Gaiman, I had nothing to contribute to that kind of book because I had never really leaned on fantasy or even dark fantasy. I liked horror and I loved pulp crime and I loved B-movies, so I looked to carve that kind of ground for myself at Vertigo. And that's what I ended up doing, a lot of books that people jokingly called the "gun in the mouth" books.
AVC: What lessons did you learn at Vertigo that you carried with you once you became an editor at Marvel?
AA: I don't think I would've ever been prepared to do superhero comics had I not worked for Vertigo. It was an invaluable experience, because I functioned doing genre work, doing stories. I work within very broad parameters. For me, Vertigo was not only a place I could develop my own editorial voice; I found a way to bring my own passion about art and politics to the table. And I think that helped me transition to Marvel when Bill Jemas, who was then the publisher of Marvel, came to me and asked if I'd come to Marvel. I was actually contemplating a job offer from a book publisher at the time, and they had made a very attractive offer. So when Bill approached me, I was kind of cocky and wasn't interested. I think that made him want me more. I remember him saying to me, "We've got a Spider-Man movie that has been optioned and is in preproduction, and it's going to come out in a couple years. I need you to come in here with a group of other people and make Spider-Man sell as much as we think it should in a diverse market." I told him, "You're crazy, I haven't read Spider-Man since I was 13." He sent me a bunch of Xeroxes of Spider-Man. "Read up, young man!" I think what Vertigo enabled me to do was approach comics purely as stories. That allowed me to look at Spider-Man as being an iconic mythological figure, and even if I didn't have deep-seated affection for him the way I did for someone like, say, The Hulk, I would be able to access him as a character and make decisions about who should write and draw him and understand what the mythology was about and respect that. Which is really what being an editor is about, especially with superhero comics.
AVC: There was a certain amount of risk involved in those first projects at Marvel like Amazing Spider-Man and X-Force. With X-Force, it was getting rid of the Comics Code, and with Spider-Man you had Aunt May finding out early in the run that Peter was Spider-Man. Do you think that it's important to have a certain level of risk when approaching a new project?
AA: Without a doubt. I know when I was hired by Bill to come to Marvel that he wanted me to take risks, he wanted his editors to take risks, and use their Rolodexes. Joe [J. Michael] Straczynski happened to be writing a book called Rising Stars at Image [Comics], which was my favorite superhero comic book at the time. He was someone I was very attracted to, but I didn't know if he had a sense of humor. Rising Stars was many things, but it wasn't funny. So I just gambled, but I thought Joe Straczynski would be a really good fit for Spider-Man, and when I was offered to take over the Spider-Man line I decided to keep Paul Jenkins on at Peter Parker: Spider-Man because he was telling young adult-friendly Spider-Man stories. It didn't wander into quite the dark terrain that I knew Joe would go, the more mythological terrain, and then I started that anthology book Tangled Web, to turn loose my Vertigo anthology collaborators and new guys on Spider-Man stories.
Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo doing Flowers For Algernon starring the Rhino; Eduardo Risso doing the Kingpin; Richard Corben doing The Hulk; the gay Rawhide Kid, which got more press than any comic book [up to that point]. The press around gay Rawhide was crazy, and one of my favorite moments was, I was in an IKEA, and a woman walks up to me like she knows me, I've never met her before, and she says, "Are you Axel Alonso?" And I said yeah, and she says, "I'm Cathy Renna from GLAAD." She's the [news media director] of GLAAD, and she says, "I just wrote an op-ed in the Daily News about how much I liked Rawhide Kid." And I thought she was going to say I was a homophobe or something like that, but she says, "I love that book, and what's so great about it is half my friends said, 'I hate that guy, he's so stereotypical,' and the other half said, 'I know that guy!'" I liked that book because that was one of those things [where] there were a lot of spears thrown at it, bullets aimed at it, people assumed things about it before they read it. Ditto with the black Captain America book, the Kyle Baker and Robert Morales book Truth. It's the Captain America mythology, and we just dug behind the curtain. A lot of people thought we were burning bridges. No, we're building bridges; this is about American history. This is a book that places Steve Rogers in historical context. This is about building bridges and looking behind the curtain, not looking to divide people.
X-Force probably stands as the book I'm most fond of to this day. Bill Jemas came to me and said, "I like what you've done on Spider-Man and Hulk. I'd like you to do an X-Men book." I said I never read X-Men, and he said, "Well just take a title, any title, and do something with it. Anything you want with it. There's no place to go but up." What happened was Peter Milligan was in town and we went drinking. I told him I took a title, X-Force, and we can do anything we want with it. Let's take a look at the mutant metaphor, the whole notion. I feel like if you've got wings, if you go walking down the street, let's say you go walking down Times Square, people aren't going to be terrified of you; they're going to want you to endorse their product, they're going to want to date you, they're going to want to fuck you, they're going to want to be you. And he sort of talked himself into doing it even though he had rejected me at the outset. By the end of the meeting, we beated out the entire first issue, which was predicated upon introducing a character as the central lead—the guy that you love, the Tom Cruise of the movie, heart of the book—and then gutting him like a fish and starting all over the next issue. We did the issue, the Comics Code rejected us on several fronts, and Bill said, "You know, I don't want to change this. Let's go without the Code. In fact, do we even need the Code?" The next thing you know, we've abandoned the Comics Code. It was just sort of an antiquated, unnecessary organization.
It was a lot of fun, and it was one of those things where I was grateful to Marvel for its flexibility in terms of allowing people to play with the mythology the way that they did. It's a much beloved book, and it's the first superhero comic book to be reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, and it received a stellar review. The comic before that was Maus, so it's a pretty significant moment, I was really proud of that. Also that Rawhide Kid was in The New Yorker, which I thought was very fun. To predate Brokeback Mountain and to find yourself there was pretty cool.
AVC: Were there any challenges in that transition from Vertigo to superhero comics?
AA: For starters, I couldn't have cursing and nudity. But part of it is, there were new challenges because you're dealing with characters who've been around for so long and they mean so much to so many people, generations of people, of all ages. When I was editing Preacher, I knew roughly what the demographic of reader was, and that was a creator-owned property, so I was there just to make sure that Garth [Ennis] didn't get DC closed down by the government. With Spider-Man, the challenges were finding ways to push the boundaries without alienating the core fan base, or finding a way through the books to make sure that there was a read for everyone. I always hoped that Amazing Spider-Man would draw one audience, Peter Parker would draw another, and Tangled Web would be for the most adventurous readers of all, people who may not give a shit about Spider-Man, but might be attracted to reading a story by the creator, whether it was Paul Pope or Eduardo Risso or Garth Ennis, people you wouldn't associate with Spider-Man, coming in and doing a story that took place in this world. Spider-Man is more a shadow on the wall than an actual character; he's rarely if ever the lead guy in his own book. Turning guys like Paul Pope and Darwyn Cooke loose on Spider-Man was a real pleasure.
AVC: How have your responsibilities changed since becoming editor-in-chief?
AA: As editor-in-chief I play much more of a macro role, so it's like being up above the globe looking down on it and seeing how all the nation-states fit together, and on occasion working the minutiae. So it's a very different challenge. I do very much miss line-editing. I'm currently line-editing one third-party book that I brought in, but I'm not line-editing any [Marvel] books right now. I haven't for some time, and it's a very different situation for me. I do miss the sensation of receiving a raw manuscript or pitch and working it right through to the end. But obviously I think I've got the coolest job in the world, because the buck ends with me when it comes to the Marvel universe. I have to make sure that the right decisions are being made. I find it an exciting period right now because I think Marvel is creatively prospering. We set a goal for ourselves to play a game of creative musical chairs with Marvel Now! That was one of the things I wanted to do, to shake up the creative pool, and we used Avengers Vs. X-Men, that big event, to put an endnote to what I thought we had done for the first 10 years of new Marvel under Joe [Quesada] and so on.
That's like my line in the sand, where we brought to a head some of the things we'd been exploring and then started the new themes in a new world in the aftermath. That started with Marvel Now!, which is the game of musical chairs, where creators who have enjoyed long, prosperous runs on titles—like Brian [Bendis] on Avengers—would switch and take on new challenges and new books. And the results have been great. We've had a creative resurgence, certainly a financial resurgence, and what excites me personally is the fact that now we're taking some of these characters like the Guardians Of The Galaxy and Nova, who aren't household names or cult favorites, and we're finding a way to make them more relevant to the reader. Guardians debuted as a No. 1 book. And as we said over and over, the Guardians and Nova, these cosmic characters will be major players in the event Infinity we're doing that Jonathan [Hickman] is writing. So what I like about this is the fact that there had been periods where we were just relying heavily on the top end of the catalog to drive our sales, but now we're spreading it thinner and we've got books like Guardians and Nova launching that are really hitting. I have no doubt that a year or two from now people will view the Inhumans the same way. They won't just be a weird little group of characters that a dozen people know and like. You can't ignore them at that point; they're too relevant to the Marvel universe to ignore.
AVC: What do you think have been the bigger risks that have paid off with the relaunch?
AA: I guess you have to start with the major franchises. I thought Brian Bendis would be a good fit for X-Men because he's talented in writing young characters, point-of-view characters, and ensemble work. Having been an X-Men group editor, I could imagine him coming in and owning these characters and creating a whole new dynamic among them and really making that aspect of the book what people are coming back for. Really, X-Men is 25 percent action, 75 percent soap opera, and he writes soap operas so damn well. There was certainly an element of risk; we knew going in that people were going to yell and scream and say how much they hated the idea, but obviously it's worked out and then some. I think the scope that Jonathan Hickman brings to Avengers is everything I hoped he would bring, and in fact the ideas that he had for Avengers were what positioned him to write Infinity, because all of the larger meta ideas he had bubbling in his brain come to a head in Infinity. So having him on the core franchise with the big ideas allows him to be someone to build larger stuff for everyone to partake of down the road. But there are also little surprises like what Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn have done on Deadpool. There's a real Deadpool resurgence going on between the core title and the Deadpool Kills… line that Cullen Bunn is writing and is a massive hit for us. Who would've thought that an indie writer and a stand-up comedian would find an audience like that for Deadpool? Obviously they were joined by Tony Moore for the launch, but I'm very happy with stuff like that.
AVC: What are some of the challenges of planning an event like Infinity and organizing the aftermath of those events?
AA: This is a unique industry, a unique medium, because when Seinfeld caps its 10th season and goes off into the sunset, or Friends—I never watched either of those shows, I despise both of them—but when those shows end, everybody raises the champagne glasses and says, "Wow, what an amazing accomplishment." But at the end of the day, they're doing maybe 25, 26 episodes per year over 10 years, and they're controlling one small universe, the Seinfeld universe, which is two rooms. It's five or six characters in an ensemble. In comics, we're trying to make sure that The Wire, The Sopranos, The Shield, and Game Of Thrones all can coexist, and that they all fit into some larger universe. It's like we have to find a way to coordinate it all for our readers so people understand that whatever the dwarf in Game Of Thrones is doing doesn't offset something Omar in The Wire is doing. That's the challenge. It's not a burden, but it's a challenge.
We do these big editorial retreats about four times a year where we get together, all of our core writers and editors, and we just start mapping things out, literally mapping them out, and seeing things line up, and it allows us to anticipate car crashes and stop them from happening. It allows us to be able to build things that we never expected would happen in the room, Frankenstein using his brain. It's a matter of working as a team to understand that we're all on the same team, and we're trying to make sure that all these microcosms can coexist and form a larger macrocosm, if that's a word. At the center of almost all the big core events we do is VP for Publishing Tom Brevoort, and he'll forget more about comics history than I'll ever learn. He's just one of those guys who has an encyclopedic knowledge of comics, but also seems to be aware of everything that's happening in the here and now as well to cut off any potential problems and make sure that all the plates keep spinning. He's invaluable and allows someone like myself to step back and take much more of a macro role of looking toward the future and seeing what can come out of the events rather than dwelling on the minutiae of what's going on in the present.
AVC: Comics are also unique in that the fans expect a level of interaction from the people that are in charge. You've had your CBR column for a few years now. You don't have film executives answering fan questions every single week. How important is fan interaction to you, and do you take into account what fans are saying in editorial decisions at all?
AA: Fan interaction is very important. This may sound like a contradiction, but by the same token an editor can't be swayed by fan hatred. If we made decisions based on what the Internet said, for instance, we'd all be out of a job. And actually I've known at least two writers who ignored my warnings or other editors' warnings, who were not equipped to read the Internet. Because [after] they read the Internet, they had those voices in their heads, they looked to prove everybody wrong, they looked to police people, and it ended up killing their careers. At the end of the day, you have to trust the voice in your head that you're telling a good story. You need to be able to stand up to those people who come at you and tell you you're wrong, that hate you for doing it and trust your gut, trust the people whose opinions most matter to you. Of course every once in a while, you might be wrong. But you can't be afraid to make that decision, you can't be afraid to get yelled at or have sharply worded essays about your work on the Internet or elsewhere. It doesn't work that way. That said, I love it when people come up to me at cons and talk with me. I've definitely never had anyone say anything as mean as they said about me on paper, for starters. But normally if they've got something negative to say, it's a good dialogue. It's a back and forth, not just someone in the basement typing furiously in the protection of anonymity; it's someone who really has an opinion and wants to talk with you right then and there in the whites of your eyes. [Fan interaction] is important, but you can't be shackled by it; you can't feel constrained by it.
AVC: How does Marvel go about recruiting new talent? Do you keep up with independent titles and DC books?
AA: We always keep an eye on the indie press to see people who have authentic voices emerging. Matt Kindt would be an example of that. Gerry Duggan, who's writing Deadpool, did Infinite Horizon. I was introduced to him and Brian Posehn through Rick Remender, and we were all talking and we said, "You guys are pretty funny, you should write Deadpool." And they said, "Hey we'll do that." It's no secret that we perpetually end up working with novelists. From Marjorie Liu and Gregg Hurwitz, we've worked with any number of novelists. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. But it starts with the indies. People that go out and make their own comics, the guy who does The Adventures Of Dr. McNinja [Christopher Hastings] did a couple of issues of Deadpool for us. People that go off and make [comics], that's what you do as an audition for the job.
AVC: Is there anything you can tease about Infinity, anything about the aftermath of that?
AA: With Infinity—and it sounds like bullshit but it isn't—this is the most Marvel universe event we've done ever. It's an event that will involve earthbound and cosmic heroes in ways we've never done before. In most of our events there's an inciting incident; in AVX there was the arrival of the Phoenix Force, and this celestial bomb is heading toward Earth and the heroes have a different opinion about what to do about it. Everything starts from there, but Infinity is one where there are a couple stories going on, both of which I think dovetail beautifully. So it's a very different reading experience. It will involve all of the Marvel heroes, and it will show once again how central the cosmic characters are for the future of our publishing and beyond.
In terms of what you can look for when we talk about the other side, we're going to have a new power player in the Marvel universe in the form of the Inhumans. This is a society of superpowered characters who are unlike anything in the Marvel universe. To me they are the outcasts' outcasts. Whereas Spider-Man or the Hulk were created by science, or the X-Men were the next stage of evolution, the Inhumans are genetic mistakes; there's a big existential "fuck you" at the core. They were created by an alien race as a weapon and then abandoned by that race when they didn't like what they saw, so they're left knowing that. They were meant to be powerful, but their gods have abandoned them. So what does this mean to have this happen? And if you know anything about their mythology, even the way they come about getting their transformation—if you're Spider-Man or Bruce Banner, you get bit by a spider or zapped by gamma rays and you turn into a superpowered being. You know you're a human, you're just powered. If you're a mutant, one day you wake up and you've got this strange new power. If you're an Inhuman, it's different because there's a rite of passage called Teregenesis wherein you willingly expose yourself to this vapor that will then show you who you are. Now that might be glorious, or it might not be, it could be pretty mediocre, underwhelming, but you do that. Sort of like a game of existential Russian roulette. You pull the trigger, and you have no idea what's going to come out. It could be a bullet, or it could be the most amazing thing. You don't know, but that's what you're doing. That's also relevant to each and every character who knows themselves to be an Inhuman or thinks themselves to be an Inhuman.
So look for them to be major players in the Marvel universe, and as we slowly integrate them into the Marvel universe and we see their potential numbers, there's a rich, dark history that precedes them. They predate superheroes and they predate mutants. So the question is where have they been and how are they organized and stratified? You're going to learn that there's not a lot of harmony among them. The Inhumans are ripe source material, and in gossip columns and elsewhere people have talked about the Game Of Thrones aspect, but frankly I think my favorite part of Game Of Thrones is the intrigue. I remember watching Game Of Thrones season one and going, "Wow, so much has taken place before this, but I don't feel like I picked up season four. I want to know more about these wars and the backstabbing. Tell me more." And that's what we're going to be doing with the Inhumans: You're going to learn there's so many of them, they're so powerful, they've been around for so long scattered here and there, and they don't all like one another. There's a whole secret history that we'll learn about, and it will affect everyone.
AVC: What are your goals for Marvel in the upcoming year and Marvel Now! Wave Two?
AA: Speaking of Marvel Now!, we're poised for a new round of titles that we'll be announcing soon, slowly, and like with Marvel Now! [Wave] One, we'll be rolling them out over a three- to four-month period so that people can process them, buy them at their leisure, build confidence in them. Like with Marvel Now! Wave One, look for some very eye-opening announcements. Look for us to take some chances with creator pairings. Look for characters people have wanted to see back in action. What I loved about Marvel Now!, if you look at it, with the exception of one book [Joe Keatinge and Richard Elson's Morbius: The Living Vampire], they've all stuck. We didn't launch all of these books, and then three or four months later 75 percent of them had new creative teams or 50 percent of them were gone and replaced by something new. They're all under steady direction, and that's because we believe in the writers and the artists. They're writer-driven, and we pair them with the right artist and the right rotation of artists so that the books can prosper. I think with Marvel Now! Wave Two, look for a lot more of that. In terms of the future, creatively, look for an expansion of the Marvel universe. Look for us to prove to readers how our catalog goes much deeper than The Avengers, the X-Men, Hulk. We go deeper than that. And without naming names, I will say look for the Inhumans to become characters who everyone in the Marvel universe knows and understands and wants to know more about, as we start to peel back the onion of what this society is, and show how powerful they are. They better take note of them.
Business-wise, and I guess this overlaps with creative, look for an expansion of our digital initiatives, what we're going with Infinite Comics and Project Gamma, which is bringing audio to the Infinite Comic. They're specifically created [for digital]; this is not just taking comic book pages and formatting it for a screen. This is writers and artists working to create a uniquely different way of telling and reading a comic book story. We're not afraid to take chances and make mistakes. Some will stick, some won't. Some experiments will work, some won't, but it will just help us to refine our game like practicing a sport or practicing piano. We have a weekly Infinite Comic starting up with Wolverine's series, and there's three more to come. And we're going to keep doing these as complementary events. We've brought in an audio component, which soon people will be able to experience.
So look for us to continue to pioneer how comics are being read, indeed how comic book stories are being told. Initially there was the comic panel, the little cartoon, and then it expanded to the comic strip, which was three to four images going in a horizontal line. That was the next stage of comic storytelling. Then someone conceived of the comic book page, and you had movement that went horizontal and vertical. Artists and writers considered the entire page, and people like Jim Steranko and Neal Adams pioneered how you look at the page. Then Chris Ware came along. But the last few decades we've existed in those parameters, in that frame, and that's changing now. We're not limited by it, and there are new ways of experiencing reading comics. I think that's something that's going to change: With the expansion of digital comics in terms of sales and popularity, I think it could be a game changer because of the way distribution will change content.


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An incredible device that will allow the performer to shoot a ball of fire 10 feet into the air while producing a loud bang, all at your fingertips.
Imagine pointing across the stage and firing a ball of fire toward an empty box only to have a rabbit or dove or even your assistant appear.
Imagine firing a ball of fire across the stage to ignite your dove pan. What ever your need is, if you need to draw attention to or away from something, this will do the trick.
Small, compact, easy to use and set. Uses common plastic caps (included) plus a small piece of Flash Paper Flash Pad (not included). Flesh colored with complete instructions.
Do you own this product? Write a review.


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Cannon Encourages Young Engineers to Develop Skills, Seek Mentors
An engineering education can be the foundation for a technical career or a path to leadership in high-tech companies, Mary Anne Cannon told hundreds of collegiate and professional members of the Society of Women Engineers at a recent regional conference.
Cannon, vice president of Quality and Environment, Health & Safety at Pratt & Whitney, delivered the keynote speech at the SWE Region F Conference in Springfield, Mass., on April 5. In her remarks, Cannon encouraged young engineers to focus on training, technical certifications and varied assignments to help manage their careers in the long term. Knowing the business, Cannon added, is essential for those whose professional aspirations include a leadership role.
"Today, you need to understand not just the technical aspects of the product, but also the competitive advantages and the business case for bringing it to market," Cannon said. "Cultivating leadership skills and business acumen, coupled with an engineering background, can lead to a rewarding career."
"The Society of Women Engineers strives to develop organizational and leadership skills and encourages technical and professional excellence supporting all women in all stages of their education and careers," said Andrea Karalus, a mechanical discipline chief at Pratt & Whitney and the SWE Region F governor, who attended the event. "This particular conference provided the opportunity for attendees to listen to successful female engineers, such as Mary Anne, along with other role models providing knowledge on career guidance, professional development and innovative advances. It was an inspiring and energizing weekend!"
Several members of the Pratt & Whitney Executive Committee have an engineering education, Cannon noted. "At Pratt & Whitney, I realized, engineering has become a base to launch other disciplines such as global supply chain, quality, technical career, etc., because it grounds you in our technical product."
The role of the engineer has changed, Cannon explained, and the workforce now needs more engineers who can solve and "avert" problems. Cannon urged the audience to develop time and project-management skills and to seek out mentors who can provide career guidance.
"Mentors are vital not just for their technical experience, but for helping to identify, plan for and navigate the specific paths available to you as you build your careers," she said.
It was less common for women to pursue technical careers when Cannon entered the field, and she said her SWE membership was "instrumental" in her early years as an engineer. Things have changed, Cannon observed, as more women pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
"Women are increasingly drawn to technical fields and we are succeeding in a broad range of roles, including leadership," she said. "At every level, women engineers now have a unique role and voice in the industry."


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Consultant Ophthalmologist
[lsup_random_image] [tag] [lsup_random_image] [lsup_random_article] A face-to-face interview is the toughest part of getting you a job. Further, if you are from a science or a medical background, the situation becomes worst. Science is a vast subject and you need to cover a great deal of topics before going for an interview. If you are a medical professional or a doctor then, you must know that a doctor's job involves competence, technical expertise, integrity and social ethics. Therefore, a medical job interview is considered to be one of the toughest job interviews. This article covers a few questions that are generally asked in course of a medical interview. You need to go through this list and prepare potential, impressive answers for them. The first question is the most commonly asked questions. I have mentioned an answer to it. 7. The day before your final exam, one of your family members has expired. How will you deal with this situation? How will you manage your studies in such a crisis? 8. A young woman suffering from AIDS comes over to your clinic and requests you not to inform her spouse about it. What will you do? 9. A 7 year old child is suffering from cancer. The kid's life expectancy is approximately five months. How will you tell her parents about it? So, these were some of the question you may encounter on the road to become a doctor. You should answer them in a composed manner. And remember, besides being a doctor, you are a human too! So keep up the dignity of this post. [lsup_random_image] [lsup_random_header_2] [lsup_random_article] [lsup_random_image] Prepare For Interview [lsup_random_header_2] https://medicalinterviewprep.co.uk/consultant/


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Threaded Plungers with Screwdriver Slotted Head and Ball
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Charges of killing two Indian fishermen has being facing by the two Italian marines facing, will be shifted to Delhi from Kerala and be under the 'custody' of the Supreme Court till the Centre constitutes a special court to hold their trial.
Clarifying its order hours after it passed the verdict on the plea of Italy government rejecting their claim that Indian courts have no jurisdiction in the case, the Supreme Court told that the marines will remain in Delhi and they will report to Chanakyapuri police station till the special court is set up.
It also said that their passport, which is under the custody of Kerala Court, will be handed over to the ministry of home affairs.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said that Italian Embassy will arrange for their stay and it will monitor their movements. It said that all the conditions imposed on them by the Kerala court, while granting them bail will remain till special court is set up.


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Rules of Animation
-Always practice movement the stick men are going to do before animate it watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEoUhlesN9E to help on walks
also if your character is flying, or has superpowers use references it always helps and if shooting a guns watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXbOU2_Yh7A.
-Have physics if a character falls have a little bounce.
-If a character is idle still animate them with little movement give them some life little details count.
-Frames also matter if a character is walking or crawling move them a little at a time if running move them fast.
-Don't work alone it's common sense that working with a team helps with errors and work time also if the character talks you have the team for that
-Have background music it give life into the world.
-You don't have to follow these rules you could do thing how it feels comfortable i'm for you. i'm telling you this is because this would help you most of the time but some of these rules would make this longer.


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With his constant attacks on their way of life, the British people, of all people, should hate Kevin Kline's classic Otto character from "A Fish Called Wanda"
But when PopcornBiz asked Kline if all has been forgiven between him and the English for playing that character, he surprised us by saying the English are actually big Otto supporters.
"They looooove Otto," says Kline of the English. "They love the movie."
"The English are the most self-deprecating race of men ever," he adds. "So they're really saying, 'Thank you for being critical of us.' "
"Everything is all about being terribly sorry," Kline says, speaking from the press day of his new movie "The Extra Man."
Ironically, Kline gave a similar cultural assessment during the 1988 movie. "I love robbing the English," Otto beams at one point. "They're so polite." It was one of the only printable comments about the English in the movie. He follows it up by being loud, stupid and overly-proud of America's military achievements -- qualities that don't exactly sell across the pond.
But they love him anyways.
Kline has moments of Otto in new movie "The Extra Man," especially when he drives like a blind-maniac through the streets of New York. It brought to mind Otto's famous shout of "A--hole!" everyone time he pulled out blindly during "Wanda."
Kline insists he's a much better driver in real life. "I'm very safe, never had an accident," he says. "And I don't shout obscenities out the window."


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Luxury 600TC Egyptian Cotton - King Fitted Sheet (40cm) - Dark Grey
Our Luxury 600 Thread Count Egyptian Cotton Bed Linen is available in a range of colours, sizes and types:
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Egyptian Cotton bedlinen worthy of a pharoah
Drift off with the divine smoothness of this timeless Egyptian cotton. We've woven a generous 600 threads into each square inch for a smooth, soft, luxury bed linen you'll adore.
Small wonder this is the go-to linen for our boutique hotel and interior design customers.
OK, so we don't know for sure that the ancient Egyptians slept under cotton sheets like these, but one thing's for sure; they'd probably have liked to. At an impressive 600 thread count and woven into a silky-smooth sateen, you can tell the quality of this bedlinen by its luxurious handfeel.
If you love this, you will love our Ultimate Bedding Bliss Bundle
Features and Facts
Sleep Like an Egyptian
Made with 100% certified Egyptian cotton fibres accredited by the Egyptian Cotton Association. Egyptian cotton is grown exclusively in Egypt on the banks of the river Nile. The warm climate and rich soil are perfect for growing the high quality, long staple length cotton fibres we all love in our cotton bedsheets.
Precious Threads
These extra long and strong cotton fibres create a smoother, softer and more durable yarn and fabric for an excellent quality bedlinen that will give you many years of comfortable sleep and happy mornings. This fabric is made with 4-ply yarns and a sateen weave for greater smoothness and strength.
True Story!
Would you believe that Egyptian Cotton cultivation began in an ornamental garden? It's true! A chap called Jumel spotted the beautiful cotton plants in a Cairo garden, and after looking at it a little more closely, realised that thanks to its long fibres it could be woven into a strong and fine cloth. He began cultivating it along the banks of the Nile and Egypt (and our bedtimes) have never looked back.
*Star Pupil*
We rigorously test our bed linen to make sure it has what it takes to supercharge your sleep. We pay particular attention to colour fastness, longevity and washability.
Technical details
|Fitted Sheet (Deep)
|Dark Grey
|Dark Grey
|King (Deep)
|150 x 200 x 40cm
|100% Egyptian Cotton
The Look & Feel
You Old Smoothy...
Woven in a sateen weave with plied yarns, this bed linen feels soft and silky smooth against the skin - you'll feel like Egyptian royalty!
You Want Luxe?
You're in the right place. The beautiful fabric used to make this bedlinen has a pleasing drape and a subtle sheen for a look of pure luxury that works beautifully on its own or as a blank canvas for your unique bedroom look.
Classic Style
This bedlinen range is finished with a 5mm wide silky marrow stich cording on the duvet cover, pillowcases and flat sheets. The duvet cover and Oxford pillowcases have 5cm borders. The fitted sheets are elasticated around the full edge of the sheet for a perfect fit.
Signature Ties
The duvet covers are fastened with tie closures so you don't need to worry about ironing around fiddly buttons. Pillowcases have an envelope closure for a neat finish.
Duvet collection
We're keen on recycling everythig we can so we're happy to collect your old duvet and recycle it for you. We assure you it won't end up in a landfill.FIND OUT MORE
Sleep School
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Sleep Trial
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The science behind it
Egyptian cotton is grown exclusively in Egypt on the banks of the river Nile. The warm climate and rich soil are perfect for growing the high quality, long staple length cotton fibres we all love in our cotton bedsheets.
These extra long and strong cotton fibres create a smoother, softer and more durable fabric for an excellent quality bedlinen that will give you many years of comfortable sleep and happy mornings. The fabric in this bedlinen is woven into a sateen weave that feels silky smooth for light and soft bedlinen.
1Pull back the coversKeep things healthy by pulling back your duvet to air your bed whilst you're getting ready for the day. This helps excess moisture to evaporate so your bed stays fresher and cleaner.
2Wash regularlyKeep your bed clean and fresh by changing and washing your bedlinen regularly. Once a week should do the trick. You can wash this bedlinen at 40°C, although we'd recommend you wash it at 30°C for a greener way to stay clean.
3Hang to dryDo your bit for our planet and dry your bedlinen by hanging it to dry out of direct sunlight. It will dry best on an outside washing line. If time or space is tight, this bedlinen can also be tumble-dried. You'll have fewer creases to deal with if you remove your bedlinen from the drier while slightly damp and then hang it to air dry.
4Steaming hotThis lovely bedlinen needs a bit of steam for a pristine finish. Better still, iron this bedlinen while it's slightly damp to kick away those creases.
5Check your detergentAlways use the best detergent for the product you are washing. If you're washing white bedlinen we'd recommend powdered detergents. If you're washing coloured bedlinen, we'd recommend you use a washing gel/liquid or a detergent suitable for coloured fabrics.
6Avoid detergents and stain removers containing optical brightenersThey create an optical illusion that changes the appearance of the colour. It's not just detergents that can affect your bedlinen; some creams and facewashes contain chemicals that will bleach your bedlinen, such as benzoyl peroxide. Suncream and bronzers can also stain your bedsheets; having a shower before bed to remove skin products will help your bedlinen stay looking good for longer.


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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
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- ArticleBig Mac attack for storage
- ArticleFirst look: iStora 4000 from Breece Hill
- FeatureHands-On Review: Tek-Tools Profiler Rx 3.5.2
- FeatureModular vs. Monolithic Storage: The Business Case
- FeatureEnd-user file recovery: bonus or bust?
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iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Hands-On Review: Tek-Tools Profiler Rx 3.5.2
Tek-Tools' Profiler Rx helps simplify storage management by giving you a quick picture of complex SANs. But it's not SMI-S compliant.
- Darryl Brooks, SANology Inc.
|Product snapshot
Discovering, monitoring and configuring devices on a storage area network (SAN) can be an arduous task, especially when the hardware and software come from a mix of vendors. Typically, storage administrators must become adept at using proprietary tools from various vendors. Dallas-based Tek-Tools Inc. hopes to ease this burden with its Profiler Rx storage management program. While it doesn't cover all of the bases, it touches enough of them to warrant consideration.
Profiler Rx 3.5.2 is an incremental upgrade that includes a Microsoft Exchange module. The Profiler Rx Server polls and receives agent status and event information from managed devices in a SAN. It uses database and Web servers to store and access its repository of information, which is used for reporting and notifying administrators of events that occur on the managed devices. Our tests focused on the e-mail, backup and SAN modules of Profiler Rx.
While Profiler Rx supports many devices and applications and other industry standards, it isn't yet Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) compliant. Tek-Tools indicated that an SMI-S compliant version is in the works and should be available in approximately nine months.
Profiler Rx consists of a Profiler Server, a MySQL data store and various Profiler agents that gather client data. A browser-based GUI displays the data, depending on the type of add-on modules and security groups that are configured. Supported browsers include Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher and Netscape 6.0 or higher.
The Profiler Server runs on Solaris 8 and 9, and Windows 2000, XP and 2003. System requirements include 512MB of memory and 1GB of disk space to accommodate the data store. Tek-Tools doesn't specify minimum CPU resources, but as the number of managed devices and Profiler agents increase, so should the number and speed of CPUs. The Profiler Server should be managed like a database server, with the Profiler agents serving as transactional processes. For our tests, we installed Profiler Rx on a Sun Microsystems E450 running Solaris 8 with 1GB of memory, two 400MHz CPUs and a 9GB disk.
To install the server binaries, SP-Server-352.tar must be copied from the installation CD to a temporary directory for extraction. One of the extracted files is install-server.sh, a script that installs Profiler Rx's binary and configuration files into /opt/TTIsp/storageprofiler by default; Tek-Tools recommends using this default directory. You will also be prompted to supply the MySQL database default password.
After installation and rebooting, Profiler Rx is started via links in the run command startup directories. The proper order for starting the application is to start the database first using /etc/rc3.d/S98storageprofiler-mysql start, and then the Profiler Server by issuing /etc/rc3.d/S99storageprofiler start.
|Easy navigation
Easy navigation: The Administrator's Console appears when you first log in to Tek-Tools' Profiler Rx. The main console screen shows a summary of managed storage, with details available by drilling down on specific items.
Next, you'll need to obtain a Profiler Rx Server license by sending an e-mail to Tek-Tools indicating the IP and MAC address of the NIC card over which you plan to monitor devices, and the types of devices (e.g., backup applications, switches and hosts) you'll manage.
To install the Profiler agent, copy and extract SP-Agent-352.tar into a directory on a monitored host. Executing the install-agent.sh script places the binaries and configuration files in /opt/TTIagent. The agent installation script requests the IP address of the Profiler Rx Server, and the port the Profiler Rx agent will use to communicate with the server. The default port 4319 should be used, assuming it's not being used by another application.
Like the server installation, a link (/etc/rc2.d/S99rmagent start|stop) to the startup script is installed in the local client's run command directory. Supported operating systems include Windows, Solaris, SCO, HP-UX, NetWare, Linux, AIX and Tru64.
Overall, installation was quick and simple. It took approximately 15 minutes to install and configure the Profiler Rx Server and agent. The login screen is accessed with a browser by typing in the URL http://profiler-server-name:9000, where profiler-server-name is the fully qualified domain name of the Profiler server returned by your naming service.
Usability and Interface
After login, the main administrative console appears, showing enterprise storage by the number of hosts being managed, how they're attached to storage (i.e., DAS, NAS or SAN) and their utilization percentages. Backup client and file system trends can also be quickly ascertained from the main window (see "Easy navigation").
Because Profiler Rx uses hyperlinks rather than menu selections, it's easy to drill down to specific information. For example, to view the profile of a managed host, you click on the number in the Hosts column that represents the number of hosts attached to their storage by a certain method (e.g., DAS). A pop-up box appears, itemizing the number of hosts by their respective operating systems.
An administrator can click on the operating system type to display a list of host names. Click on the host name, and Profiler Rx will display the host's performance metrics, storage utilization, file systems, assets and event correlation. That's quite a bit of information for just three mouse clicks.
More statistics can be gleaned by drilling down into the host monitor. Clicking on Host Usage shows the top five consumers of storage, the top five file types in use and related 30-day trend data by volume. Using this data, storage administrators can develop policies to control volume growth by file type or user. Profiler Rx uses agents to collect its data, but our tests showed that the agents did not hinder performance.
Less impressive is Profiler Rx's ability to consistently format the display. While navigating the application and running reports, data displays were not always well organized. The display was often jumbled, with overlapping data cells. However, refreshing the browser once or twice--sometimes three times--cleared things up.
|Exchange data details
Exchange data details: The optional Profiler RX Exchange agent collects detailed information about message file storage. The main Exchange console shown here displays overall storage use, along with the top five users and message stores.
Tek-Tools Profiler Rx is largely dependent on the simple the network management protocol (SNMP) for polling, trapping and correlating events on managed devices. Although SNMP is widely supported in the industry, Profiler Rx isn't currently SMI-S compliant because it uses its own MySQL database schema as a repository.
Here's a detailed look at Profiler Rx's features:
Backup reports. The backup agent is implemented by turning on a subagent once the operating system agent is installed and registered with the Profiler Rx Server. This allows you to monitor one or more supported backup servers and clients using user-defined groups. Grouping allows you to streamline your monitoring efforts by assembling, for example, all EMC/Legato NetWorker and SyncSort Backup Express servers into their own containers.
This setup allows different administration teams to monitor separate groups and compare success ratios to see what backup application is providing the best results. The backup summary includes information such as total gigabytes backed up, megabytes per minute and the success ratio of the clients. These statistics can be used as input for predefined reports called "Quick reports." Other canned reports such as "Successful clients by group" and "Failed clients by server" can also be used to determine trends over time.
Supported backup applications include CA ARCserve, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Legato NetWorker, StorageTek ACSLS, SyncSort Backup Express and Veritas NetBackup and Backup Exec.
Exchange agent. E-mail storage management has long been a pain point for storage managers. The sheer number of e-mail files often causes backup window problems, and the quantity and types of e-mail attachments pose potential problems as well. A storage manager needs a tool that can non-disruptively interrogate an e-mail server to discover storage utilization and performance metrics down to the user or mailbox level.
The Profiler Rx Exchange agent captures storage utilization information segregated by message store and storage group (see "Exchange data details"). Within each of these management areas, trending data about the message store and the names of the top five storage consumers are shown. In addition, the name, number, type and total size of all attachments are displayed in this top-level report and you can correlate system load averages (CPU, memory, disk MB/sec) with the number of mail users logged on at any particular time.
|Extensive SANstatistics
Extensive SAN statistics: Profiler Rx's SAN agent can collect performance statistics from arrays, switches, HBAs and tape libraries. This screen shows a performance report for a Brocade switch; to display similar information for other network devices, just click another entry from a device list.
SAN agent. The SAN agent can be implemented by configuring the SNMP agent on the managed device, or as a subagent that runs on a host connected to devices in the SAN (EMC implementation). The host subagent then updates the data store with status information polled or trapped from the monitored device. SAN devices may include disk arrays, tape libraries, switches and host bus adapters (HBAs).
The Profiler Rx SAN agent also lets you pool SAN ports into groups. This is a good way of associating applications to storage ports. For example, a number of switch ports representing HBAs configured in a four-node cluster could be grouped together and monitored for performance bottlenecks, as can the cluster's individual disks.
Depending on the hardware vendor's implementation of SNMP, different statistics will be uploaded to the data store. The data may include an array's LUN assignments or a switch port's status and statistical information. For example, Brocade switches report port status, WWN, Domain IDs and per-port performance numbers (see "Extensive SANstatistics").
The base license fee for Profiler Rx is $7,500; it includes one Profiler Rx Server, two operating system host add-on modules and 10 right-to-use licenses. Other add-on modules are variably priced; the Exchange module starts at $3,000.
Profiler Rx is a good Web-based, SNMP-managed application with a generous feature set. Its ability to interrogate an Exchange server for per-mailbox usage information, and to group storage resources into manageable, application-specific containers helps administrators proactively provision storage resources.
Profiler Rx's main disadvantage is that it's not SMI-S compliant. However, compliance may not be an immediate concern, especially if you're managing a large, heterogeneous enterprise and you need discovery and monitoring capabilities right now. In that case, you should consider Tek-Tools Profiler Rx.
Related Resources
- Storage Optimization Analytics: An Overview –Accenture


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The long-time-rumored Nokia EOS is getting closer to launch. Today we have a whole gallery of photos to show you, compliments to GSMarena and ViziLeaks.
As you're about to see, Nokia is about to (yet again) re-affirm its position as a maker of the best camera-phone out there. The camera sensor megapixel count is hidden (we see the mark "XX") but we do think this is the same (or better) 41-megapixel module the Nokia 808 PureView packs. Add a modern mobile platform like Windows Phone to the mix, and you get the best-ever camera smartphone.
Yeah, I think the "extreme" phones like these could help Microsoft grow its share in the smartphone market. Can't wait to try it out… Here are the mentioned photos. Enjoy!


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Discussion in 'E34 (1989-1995)' started by bcweir, Nov 29, 2009.
Wow, what a car. They made a big mistake in not producing that car. It is awesome. An absolute classic. Thanks for sharing that photo and link. It makes my head hurt thinking that they killed the project. I want that car!
I completely agree
I believe it would still be possible to build such a vehicle -- with enough money that is.
Basically, you're just lengthening the doors and modifying the rest of the sheetmetal. The car would still have the same interior room as the sedan because it's otherwise the same bodyshell.
I should point out that much more recently, Chrysler made a successful conversion of the 4 door PT Cruiser into a production model two door PT Cruiser convertible. It most certainly CAN be done.
A few years ago, I also saw a concept E32 touring wagon. BMW never actually produced for public consumption, but it was made with some E34 touring wagon parts. The whole thing looked factory. If you look up E32 touring, I believe you can still find a few pics of it.
I think the idea of a 5 series convertible is appalling, in exactly the same way that I think an M3 or M6 convertible is appalling.
Any convertible is appalling to me. Why? They're not allowed on the track.
Keep the M cars free from convertible-ness; it's not what they're meant to be for.
*prepares to get flamed from convertible purists*
(I have to admit though, that E34 M5 vert looks badass...)
Which is why this "free enterprise" thing is such a terrific thing
Some of us LIKE convertibles (myself included), regardless of whether they will ever see a track.
Perhaps when you are heading up the Car Police, you'll be in charge of what someone else can or cannot buy.
For the record, my 750iL has a factory limited top speed of 155 mph. The fact that it can do a buck-fifty doesn't by itself make the vehicle an ideal track car. My car's 4200 pound curb weight no more qualifies or disqualifies my vehicle as a track car any more than the presence of a solid or folding roof. However, for practical purposes, any 7-series would be a far from ideal track vehicle due to its size and weight. But just because a 7-series is too big and heavy to be a race car doesn't mean it shouldn't be available for purchase.
I happen to love my 7-series. That should be the only qualification for owning any BMW, M or otherwise -- NOT the vehicle's fitness for a race track.
I should also note that most open-wheel type race cars, such as CART, Indy and Formula One, have no proper roof, and are considered to be open race cars.
who says you need money?
but seriously that's an awesome car, I wonder if they still have the concept?
I suppose anything is possible.
You're going to need tools, metalworking skills, and body materials. I'm sure some cash is going to factor in somewhere -- even if only for some liquid refreshment from time to time.
I suspect they probably still do have the concept locked away in some warehouse. It would be a terrible pity to destroy such a beautiful vehicle. About the only reason I can think of that automakers destroy vehicles is if they are engineering prototypes for new powertrains under development or new safety systems that mandate destruction of the vehicle. That car presumably has only a modified body. Everything else looks factory on the car.
Another example is that I think GM still has the one prototype for the stillborn 1990 Pontiac Fiero that they trot out for shows from time to time. GM killed the Fiero after the 1988 model year, ironically on the same year they finally got the handling fixed on the car (GM went with a cheaper and less effective suspension design for the previous four model years).
That's a somewhat ugly chop job on what looks like a Honda Civic, though. I hope its just a work in progress
I would hope not. That thing is compromised, and is unsafe for road use in my opinion.
I think that thing would snap in an accident. That's what it looks like at least.
the roll cage looks like it goes all the way to the front, probably makes it a little safer
I've always wanted to sawzall the roof off of a car myself, might not be safe but it sure would be funny
I think "appalling" is a strong word for your dislike of an M car convertible. I can understand you want to have a slot (use) for those cars. However most people who purchase a new M car are not putting them to use on the track.
Your disdain for a 5 series (non M) convertible is also misplaced. I think it would be a neat limited edition. I have a 540 (yr 2000) sport, and it looks great, but as a convertible it would be a real stunner and a true collector car in a couple of decades.
This is a fun topic, and thanks for starting the thread. My head still hurts looking at the car, and knowing they killed it right before production. AAAAHhhhhhh......I hope that BMW kept that car, or let someone take it home and enjoy driving it.
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OPIA Restaurant, on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel at 57th Street and Lexington Avenue, is a great neighborhood hangout; it also attracts regulars from all over town, as well as hotel guests from all over the world. It's a happening place with great bar action every night of the week, but the ambiance is even more mellow and romantic on the nights when owner Antoine Blech sits down at the piano; his soothing French voice embraces the audience with a medley of French love songs, many he himself has composed. Antoine Blesh has been around the restaurant world for a long time, and he oversees Opia with a nonchalance that is both comforting and inviting. Antoine's voice is like the steak au poive… seasoned to perfection.
The dinner menu is to the point with a wide selection of appetizers and entrées. On one night, we sampled the fresh Maine Crab Cake on a French brioche served with a celery romoulade; a spicy Tuna Tartare served with avocado and sprinkled with fresh paprika; succulent and crunchy the Maya Shrimp a la plancha, grilled with fennel and olives .was succulent and spicy; and the signature Opia salad, a combination of bib lettuce, julienne carrot and celery root served with a white truffle oil dressing was crunchy and crisp. As an entrée I choose the Steak au Povre, served with haricots and frites; grilled to medium rare perfection, it was tender and juicy. My companion opted for the Seven Hour Lamb …a braised leg of lamb served with autumn vegetables and home made parpadelle pasta. It no doubt had been marinating for hours before it was cooked as both the aroma and delicate flavors permeated each bite... An array of sides was tempting: broccoli rabe w garlic, mac and cheese, potato puree with chives and one of their specialties, Rosemary truffle Opia frites.
The re's also a reasonably prices Sushi and Sashimi menu ; assorted fish rolls are priced from $12 to $18, and the Opia Sashimi tasting platter is ample for two or three people to share are a great alternative to a dinner entree.
Opia'a mellow French music and romantic ambiance sets the mood for an enjoyable evening; and regardless of what you order, you won't be disappointed. However, I must admit, Opia is even more inviting on the nights Antoine sits down at the piano and serenades me.
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