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Many markets this morning experienced whipsaw action, with news of a Cyprus agreement initially providing some positive impetus to "risk-on" markets such as equities and oil. However, once the trading day got started, the major markets reversed course, as review of the Cyprus deal did not provide enough strength for the equity and oil markets to keep pushing higher. To us, it truly seems like the Eurozone debt situation is certainly not over, and could potentially get worse, as more countries debt levels are found to be unsustainable. MAY13 crude oil had a big spike higher once it hit the $95 level, but then quickly sold off to below $94.50.
Natural Gas continues to be on a buying run, with the market trading positive today, almost hitting $4. APR13 Nat. gas is up $.017 today to $3.94. We believe this market has a floor of support at around $3.70, and would not be surprised to see it find solid footing above $4.
The Euro currency is down more than 100 ticks today, with the JUN13 futures trading below 129, at 128.68. We believe from a technical standpoint, the Euro could be ripe for a big down day. We think the Euro could hit 127 very soon, it seems as though the concern over the Euro debt situation might build.
We focus more on the JUN13 E-mini S&P 500. Our big line in the sand for the short term is 1550. This is a big volume level and price level as well. Today, the market punched above 1550 to hit a new 2013 high right above 1560, but then sold off sharply. The Cyprus news was not enough to keep the market higher. The market is now down 9 points to 1543. Since the market is below our level of 1550, we hold bearish views for the short term. We think the market will test its recent low of 1539. If the market stays below 1539, which would potentially occur if the Europe situation gets worse, we see the next target to the downside as 1510.


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2010 ISS Blue Chip Panel: A "Perfect Storm" (Part 2)
By Scott Landstrom, SCI Consulting
"The Perfect Storm" is a modern-day metaphor for a rare combination of events that create a rare, unusual or unique outcome. On January 12, 2010, at the annual SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS), attendees experienced a "Perfect Storm" as a unique Executive Panel session focused on "The Structural Evolution of the Semiconductor Equipment Industry." Five of the top six revenue firms in the North American equipment industry participated. The panelists were:
Instead of posing the questions to the panelists directly, I recruited luminary thought leaders to pose key questions via recorded videos. Following the analytical approach championed by Harvard professor Michael Porter, these eight luminaries challenged the panel with key inquiries regarding the evolving equipment industry, and the many business model challenges to ongoing competitiveness in this sector. The luminaries who asked questions were:
- Jim Morgan – former CEO and COB of Applied Materials
- John Osborne – current Board member Amkor
- Paul O' Neill – former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
- G. Dan Hutcheson – CEO, VLSI Research
- Danny Ainge – president, Boston Celtics
- T.J. Rodgers – COB and CEO Cypress Semiconductor
- George Needham – COB, Needham and Co.
- Bob Boehlke – former CFO, KLA-Tencor
I organized and moderated the panel, and Michael Wright, CEO of AISI Inc., was the co-moderator. Highlights of the executives' analyses are presented below. (Note: This article is Part 2 of a two-part series. To see Part I, please click here).
Luminary # 5: Mr. Danny Ainge
General Topic: Historically, the United States semiconductor industry, like the National Basketball Association, has benefitted from an international flow of skilled labor, relocating to the U.S. that has enriched the "talent" in its ranks. For the semiconductor industry, this "brain drain" in our direction from overseas is being forecasted by some experts to reverse over the next 3 to 5 years, with 200,000 skilled technically trained workers projected to relocate back to China and India alone. How will the semiconductor equipment sector deal with this "reverse brain drain" as talented management and technical ex-pat staff relocate back to their home countries, potentially damaging the competitiveness of the U.S. equipment sector in the process?
Overall Summary: All panelists seemed to be in agreement that this trend is real, and that the magnitude of the projected "reverse brain drain" was probably in the right ball park. It was brought up that while the bulk of the semiconductor device manufacturing has migrated to the Pacific Rim, accelerating this process for device manufacturing related workers, the country with the largest share of overall semiconductor equipment industry revenue is still the U.S., so the argument was raised that international talent that wants to be at the epicenter of this sector should be attracted to work here. The point was also made that as U.S.-based equipment firms become more international in their site strategies, which is clearly happening, their ability to compete for talent in those regions, and either immediately or eventually station them in their home nation, should inherently increase as a direct result. The role that Washington should be playing on the national competition to attract international talent, versus the role that Washington is playing, was mentioned several times in a critical light by a number of panelists. While the U.S. government has been making it increasingly difficult for skilled, educated immigrants to obtain work visa's, it was stated that competitive nations like India are actively marketing/recruiting their foreign-based skilled workers to return to their native country, and offering incentives in some cases to do so. Despite these obstacles, several panelists commented on the issue of not underestimating the ongoing cultural allure of working in Silicon Valley, in particular, as a fairly unrivaled combination of technology assets, cultural awareness and sensitivity. Moreover, the compensation scale of the U.S. was brought up as being the most lucrative in the world, translating to the best locale for skilled international workers to build a "nest egg."
Selected Panelist Quotes:
Randhir Thakur: "As someone who has immigrated to the U.S. to work here myself, let me start by saying I have worked in India, Europe, and the U.S., and find this to be unquestionably the best, most accepting environment for an ex-pat to work within. Secondly, we must recognize that countries such as China and India are actively putting in place incentives to attract these talented professionals to return to their cultural roots, so that translates to us needing Washington to respond in ways that make it easier for international talent to work here, not harder, which has been the recent history. Moreover, from an international "hire and retain" perspective, multinational firms such as Applied Materials, with both geographic and served markets diversity, are uniquely able to both recruit and relocate international technologists while keeping them within the firm, versus largely domestic competitors. This provides opportunities for multi-nationally sited firms to identify outstanding talent in-situ, recruit and position them for a work assignment phase within the U.S., and then relocate back to their native country— all without leaving the company."
Rick Hill: "There's one characteristic of the American culture which makes this a very different place to work. It's especially noticeable here in Silicon Valley. In our workplace environment, there's no inherent hierarchy in our business structure: it's ok to be different, or as in the Japanese expression, "to be the nail that sticks up". Rather than being "pounded down," Silicon Valley is really a meritocracy where it's the value that you bring to the table that matters, not the way or the style in which you do it. Most other countries are not that accepting of behaviors outside of the group's norm. So, I think it's our tolerance in this area that will continue to be a competitive advantage and will draw the best and the brightest to work in the United States."
Rick Wallace: "This issue is more germane to our country's competitiveness than our industry's competitiveness, because this industry has learned to adapt and respond to this trend with a more international footprint and approach. Domestically, however, I think we have lack of focus on the long-term ramifications of this issue here at home. Congress is great at worrying about the next election, but not the next generation, meaning specialized and very important issues— such as how we continue to attract and retain international talent as productive and contributing members of the U.S. economy for the long term— often get little or no mindshare in Washington.
(Post ISS Addendum – Rick feels strongly about this specific subject, and wished to add the following: "Further, this 'brain drain' issue is a much bigger competitive threat to my colleagues in small- and medium-sized businesses here in the United States, who rely on highly educated, specialized talent for innovation. This is a big problem in the long term, because it presents a threat to our country's future competitiveness. Because of this, I am a proponent of efforts to reinvigorate science and engineering education here in the United States, which will enrich the technical depth of our own home-grown talent pool and foster future generations of innovators to sustain U.S. competitive leadership in the global economy.")
Steve Newberry: "While it is clear that our country, and our specific industry, needs to do a better job of marketing against international competitors for global executive talent, I think there may be a larger issue that we may be missing here. On one hand, we are certainly competing with other international semiconductor industry firms for such talent, and face all the issues discussed. Conversely, we are presented with "cross-industry" competition for the "best and the brightest" that— at least in my mind— is an even bigger issue. Whether it is SEMI, or the SIA, we need to do a much better job of laying out the allure and technical challenges still remaining in this sector, versus other industries such as Clean-tech and Solar."
Luminary # 6: Mr. T.J. Rodgers
General Topic: One of the key components to the economic aspects of Moore's Law has been periodic shifts to larger wafer size. In the last transition to 300 mm, there was a combination of negative factors that collectively resulted in this transition being hailed as a "train wreck" for the equipment industry. Besides taking nine years of "stops and starts" to finish, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of wasted R&D, the net share of the value apportionment allocated to the equipment industry set a new historic low. Many process equipment firms maintained wafer-per-hour unit throughput in their 300 mm version tools, resulting in 2.6X the total square centimeters of silicon capacity delivered, yet were only able to achieve a 30% price premium in their ASP's over the 200 mm tools, effectively cutting the CAPEX dollars per square cm of silicon in half. How is the equipment industry going to protect against a similar, draconian experience when the industry shift to a 450 mm wafer size?
Overall Summary: There was wide agreement that the "stop/start" nature of the 300 mm transition was brutal, and led to R&D inefficiencies, and that the value apportioned to the Equipment industry was a fraction of historical levels during past wafer size transition nodes. It was pointed out by several panelists that this value that was not allocated to the equipment industry was also not retained by the wafer manufacturing customer base, but was instead passed down the value chain to the end market consumer, so there were "value apportionment" issues that negatively effected both equipment and device sectors. Additionally, it was mentioned that the overall general problem is R&D efficiency, and that 450 mm is just one key cog of this larger, comprehensive business model problem facing equipment manufacturers: the skyrocketing costs of the R&D required to keep technological pace with "Moore's Law." Further, it was pointed out that this may be the first wafer size transition that the majority of the device manufacturing market can not afford to implement, which could create substantial inefficiencies in the pace of technological development of equipment, should it be necessary to support a bifurcated platform development effort for two wafer sizes concurrently. Finally, there was healthy skepticism by nearly all panelists that the current business model of "who will fund" the transition in a manner that allows equipment firms to derive a positive ROI for their investments in a 450 mm transition, is simply not either in place, or within view, at this juncture.
Selected Panelist Quotes:
Rick Wallace: "As it stands today, I don't see any of the constituencies involved in a 450 mm transition who are willing to fund it. And, I don't believe there is an equipment firm in the sector that can generate a reasonable ROI for investing in 450 mm organically given the current value proposition and environment. Additionally, the industry has to move as a complete tool set, or the transition makes no sense, so if even one critical equipment segment does not see the compelling value to invest in 450 mm, the whole transition falls apart. Additionally, from a risk perspective, given what happened in the 300 mm transition, an equipment company can either be early, on time, or late with a wafer size transition, and two out of three of those are costly outcomes. That said, I do think there is a compelling argument to be made for the industry to take a consortia approach in the 450 mm wafer size transition, which could enable companies to collaborate on roadmaps and transition timing as well as share the funding to help minimize the financial risk to any individual company. "
Steve Newberry: "I think there were some unique circumstances that resulted in the 300 mm transition being a productivity bonanza for our customers, and those factors are highly unlikely to be duplicated at 450 mm. Not only were many tools increasing raw silicon area processed by 2.6X, but equipment reliability and availability both were substantially increased at that time. Moreover, the ability of customers to more quickly "ramp to volume" was dramatically improved and shortened. Each of these three factors improved Fab capital asset productivity, and efficiency which had a negative influence on equipment SAM following that transition. 450 mm will obviously see a dramatic increase in silicon area processed per tool, but I think any improvements in those other areas will not be nearly as dramatic, and I would be surprised in the price premium for 450 mm over 300 mm was not closer to something in the 60 to 70 % range, so the negative SAM effects will likely not be nearly as great for this wafer size transition, whenever it occurs."
Dave Dutton: "I contend that the larger threat to the equipment industry is not the specific issues around value apportionment for the 450 mm transition, but the overall threat of the steadily rising cost of overall R&D. Generating a sufficient ROI argument for taking on challenges that approach the limits of physics, while selling into a marketplace that has seen the number of new fabs drop to a fraction of historical levels is the "big picture" problem. Figuring out how to fairly divide the investment necessary for 450 mm, and how to subsequently apportion the value it brings, is certainly a huge issue, but it is a sub-set of the overall R&D cost-vs.-returns issue."
Rick Hill: "I think people are tending to overlook some of the structural elements of this potential transition. If the equipment industry moves in lock-step to achieve 450 mm -- which is the only logical way it can work— then those customers who can't afford to build a 450 mm fab (which is the majority of the market) will be left behind as the equipment suppliers re-target their R&D spending towards the new platforms. If companies try to "split" their development efforts while facing the unprecedented challenges of 22 nm technology and beyond, we could see the overall pace of progress of Moore's Law decline. So I think there are some underlying issues that make this particular transition even harder to generate a sensible ROI while delivering an advanced technology roadmap."
Luminary # 7: Mr. George Needham
General Topic: One of the key metrics that Wall Street applies to specific industries or stocks is called the "PEG Ratio". Basically, it is the P/E ratio over the earnings growth rate, and one general, "ball park" rule of thumb has historically been that, in the long term, you deserve a P/E multiple equal to your earnings growth rate, in percentage terms. Consequently, a long-term earnings growth rate of 20% would merit a P/E of 20X earnings, while a similar earnings growth rate of 30% would merit a 30X P/E ratio. Consensus estimates on the end chip market growth CAGR have dropped from the mid-teens throughout most of the 1980's and 1990's, to something roughly half that level. Consequently, if the industry's earnings growth rate dropped proportionally to the top line's diminished pace, we would see P/E multiples at half historical levels seen in the historical "peak" cycles. Will such decreased stock valuations occur, due to concepts like the PEG ratio, or are there reasons investors should value the semiconductor equipment industry more highly than the above logic would indicate?
Overall Summary: There was general acknowledgement that, absent other business model changes, a top-line revenue growth rate dropping in half would flow to the earnings line, and produce a much more sobering valuation model for the industry. However, the panelists were fairly united that the specific metric represented by the PEG ratio was, if not inapplicable, certainly not as influential a metric as it may have been in previous chapters of the industry's development. Moreover, the problems represented by the "time constant" of looking at a long term earnings growth rate in an industry that is prone to hyper-growth, followed by massive downward "resets" was challenged, with an assertion being made that such long term metrics are inherently over-optimistic during a "down cycle", and over-pessimistic during an "up cycle". Moreover, a number of points were made that the "absent other business model changes" clause is demonstrably false, as the industry as a whole has become more asset-light, more operationally efficient, and better at supply chain management. The cumulative result of these fundamental business model changes has substantially increased the level of cash generation realized by this sector at a given, "top line" revenue level. Additionally, several panelists pointed out that in this day and age of much more constrictive accounting standards, with many non-cash expenses being assessed against earnings, that a "cash is king" mentality has emerged over a focus on either GAAP or non-GAAP earnings levels, as investors value free-cash-flow as the superior metric of corporate performance over EPS.
Selected Panelist Quotes:
Rick Hill: "First of all, you have to determine the "risk-free rate of return" before you can set performance metrics, such as P/E ratio, for the entire market. Everything in the market is determined on a basis relative to alternative investment vehicles. If interest rates are very low, as they are today, then the emphasis towards the equity markets will drive "acceptable" P/E ratios up, regardless of the steepness of the earnings growth curves. Secondly, I think that comparisons within an industry of faster vs. slower earnings growth play a central role in determining which firm deserves a higher P/E multiple. However, I think that comparing metrics such as PEG ratios across industries is much more problematic."
Steve Newberry: "The modern day sophisticated investor is much more focused on what the net-free-cash-flow is, what the return on invested capital is, and how well a company can "harvest" it's position during an up cycle to continue to add cash to the balance sheet, then they are concerned about EPS. The reason is that the earnings metric has several non-cash expenses inherently associated with it with today's financial accounting standards, and expense protocols. If you analyze the performance of the top firms in the industry on a cash generation basis, with their new asset-light business models, you will find they were able to do a much more efficient job of generating net-free-cash in the last peak cycle than in any previous cycle. Finally metrics like the PEG ratio which focus on long term growth rates can be misleading in a cyclical industry that experiences hyper-growth phases, followed by revenue 'reset' phases, inherently being either too optimistic or too pessimistic depending on the phase of the cycle, diminishing the usefulness of such a ratio as an investment metric."
Rick Wallace: "I think comparing where we are as an industry versus the situation in the 1990's is unfair, because I would argue that "Tech," in general, had a different investor profile in that time, and investor analytical metrics that were very useful in that period may not be nearly as applicable to a more mature industry. We are more disciplined in terms of what we will invest in, because there is always a new "bubble" to chase, if you are not careful. We are also sounder in terms of our operational business models, and I agree that generating cash is where the rubber meets the road in terms of what is of vital importance on a going forward basis."
Luminary # 8: Mr. Bob Boehlke
General Topic: Over the past decade, what Michael Porter defines as the "concentration ratio," constituting the share of the buying volume of the top four customers collectively, has gone from 27% to over 65% in the semiconductor equipment industry. What this means is the top four customers in the equipment buying market now constitute almost two-thirds of the equipment CAPEX. Porter argues that there is an inherent shift in pricing power away from the producer (equipment industry), and toward the buyer (chip industry) with the development of such large, powerful, and increasingly shrewd buying entities. How will the semiconductor equipment industry maintain their gross margins and achieve EPS objectives in the face of such a dramatic shift in price negotiation power towards these increasingly powerful mega-customers?
Overall Summary: There was zero dissent from the validity of Porter's model that projects that a larger, more concentrated buyer base will, in fact, have significantly more price negotiation power. The concept of seeking meaningfully differentiated IP positions which uniquely solve customer problems, and then to continue to evolve these differentiated positions was repeatedly mentioned. The clear "first line of defense" against unreasonable pricing power is obviously meaningful and high-value differentiation against all other competitors, and the IP and "know how" necessary to maintain such differentiated positions. There was a fairly visceral dialogue around the concept of customer's attempting to "diffuse" unique equipment technology and "know how" to other equipment suppliers, reducing the differentiated position and bargaining power of the firm being "diffused," and the ethics of whether such practices were "fair game," or not. The consensus was that such practices are distinctly not "fair game," and cross over the line from "hardball negotiation" into unethical practices. Significant dialogue centered around the concept of the ability to self-assess a firm's value proposition, as it stacks up against competitors, and knowing when to "hold the line" against unreasonable pricing pressures not consistent with the value being delivered.
Selected Panelist Quotes:
Mark Jagiela: "We don't face nearly the same type of concentration ratio in the 'back end' segment that the 'front end' does, with our top ten worldwide customers only constituting roughly 30% of the market collectively. Having stated that, one of the key issues that arises with the evolution of such powerful customers is the attempt to 'commoditize' your product and technology, and we saw Intel try to do that in test some years ago, where they attempted to create an open standard architecture for test, essentially trying to make test a 'fungible' commodity. Needless to say, from an innovation perspective, and from a perspective of a company that has IP to protect, it is not possible to participate in such a strategy and still maintain a proprietary position."
Rick Wallace: "The only viable strategy to combat these pricing pressures is to be a 'moving target.' The most defensible position you have is to continue to evolve your technology, capability, or value proposition, and as long as that matters in the industry, to me, these areas represent the only sustainable differentiation. The moment such unique capabilities lose emphasis, if the design node advancement pace was to diminish, for instance, then the industry is clearly at risk, and the weak 'members of the herd' will definitely get picked off. So the question becomes: 'How do you continue to go to 'higher ground' and innovate in areas that make a tangible, high 'value-added' difference to your customers, and be simultaneously very shrewd about not undertaking tasks that they can do more effectively themselves?"
Steve Newberry: "Sophisticated customers in any mature industry are usually pretty good at attempting to deny that suppliers have unique and meaningfully differentiated positions, which aids them in attempting to effect price erosion. One of the keys to combating this power is through understanding the totality of the comprehensive value of your product and service offering through competitive data gathering and truly understanding your customer's needs and priorities. You have to know your value components, and how they add up against competitive alternatives, whether those value terms consist of technological capability, speed to ramp yield, ability to provide unique field support, the strength of your technical team to quickly and thoroughly understand customer problems and challenges, etc. Only through understanding the totality of your value, how it stacks up against competitors, and how it meshes with the customer's key requirements can you hope to "hold the line" against unreasonable pricing demands."
Randhir Thakur: "We have to look at this as an overall "supply chain" issue. In situations of aggressive customer bargaining strategies, the best leverage tactics are built around clear and advantageous product differentiation. Product differentiation can be amplified through process integration learning. Further, early and very intimate collaboration with customers to fully comprehend their future requirements and to align our technology roadmaps with their needs can help our industry become more R&D efficient, which as mentioned earlier, is an increasingly large cost component at 22 nm and beyond. While customers may be pressuring us at the 'top line,' we need to continue to become more efficient in managing our cost structures so that reasonable profit margins can be achieved."
To read Part 1 of this article, please click here.
(Author Scott Landstrom runs a strategic consulting practice that specializes in advising CEOs on strategy formation, revenue growth engines, and liquidity events. His email is: email@example.com.)
March 2, 2010

subset: commoncrawl


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If you require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff at any time. For your benefit, we have customer assistance packs at all Park Receptions as well as in Martin's Bar & Restaurant and Highlands End Leisure Club. These contain useful items to assist you, such as large print menus, pen & paper and magnifying glasses. Access statements are also available, please contact us for a copy. Some parks accommodation may be more suitable for those with disabilities please ask.
It is illegal to smoke or use e-cigarettes inside enclosed public buildings. Customers MUST also refrain from smoking or using e-cigarettes in the hire accommodation and glamping units.
When you arrive, please ensure you read the safety advice about the West Dorset Coastline. Also, please note that for your security CCTV is operated on the parks at key locations and buildings.
The use of Drones on our Parks is not permitted in accordance with the Drone Code issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. Drones must not be taken off or landed on land owned by West Dorset Leisure Holidays and must not be flown within 50 metres of people, vehicles or buildings.
With the constant improvements on the Parks, the brochures, other printed material, the websites and photographs may become out of date or inaccurate. They are provided for general marketing and information purposes only and cannot be relied upon by any person as being complete or accurate. All prices are correct at the time of publication. However, we reserve the right to alter or amend our published prices so long as you are notified before booking. Our published tariffs include VAT at the applicable rate. We reserve the right to amend our prices to reflect any change in the rate or VAT or if any new taxes, levies or duties are imposed on your holiday. Special offers are subject to availability and can be withdrawn without prior notice. Only one offer can be used on a booking and must be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added retrospectively.
You must observe the conditions of the Site Licence, a copy of which is available in every Park Reception.
- a) Neither WDLH nor any employee servant or agent shall be liable for any loss of, or loss or damage to any property including tents, awnings motor vehicles and motor cycles or the like or any death, injury, loss or other damage, directly or indirectly sustained by or occasioned to any person unless caused by our negligence.
If you commit a material breach of these Terms & Conditions which is not capable of remedy then we may cancel your booking on such notice, if any, as is reasonable. A material breach of the quiet enjoyment or comfort of other people staying on the Parks is one example of such a case. If you commit any other breach of these Terms & Conditions which is capable of remedy then we may give you a written notice to remedy the breach within such time as is reasonable in the circumstances. If you fail to so do we may then cancel your booking on such notice, if any, as is reasonable.
"WDLH" is short for West Dorset Leisure Holidays, the trading name for West Dorset Leisure Holidays Limited, Highlands End Farm Caravan Park Ltd, Graston Copse Holiday Park Ltd, Sandyholme Holiday Park Ltd and any associated companies.


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Doctor Who: Series 5 Volume 1 (UK - DVD R2)
The Wilson Bros want to exterminate Dolby Surround New-Who discs...
Change is a funny phenomenon. All things must end and change is inevitable. Change has long been a part of Doctor Who; from the moment that William Hartnell laid down on the floor of the TARDIS console room and regenerated (or as it was then 'renewed') into Patrick Troughton, audiences realised that few things in Doctor Who were ever going to remain a constant.
When David Tennant announced in late 2008 that he intended to bow out of the show at the end of the series of specials in 2009, the massive fan-base that he had built up were aghast –Tennant took over from Christopher Eccleston at the end of the first series, and the BBC were completely taken by surprise at just how phenomenally popular he would become. Kids loved him, chicks dug him and there was a genuine niceness to the character that was seemingly missing from Eccleston's take on the Doctor. As well as Tennant leaving the show, executive producer Russell T Davies, along with producers Julie Gardener Phil Collinson, had also decided that it was time to move on, so when Doctor Who came back for a new full series, there would be many differences afoot.
The BBC took the unusual task of unveiling the new actor to play the character nearly a full year before he would appear on television. Speculation had put three actors in the frame and the public was almost frantic to see who was going to step into David Tennant's trainers. On the third of January, 2009, twenty-six year old Matt Smith was officially announced as the Eleventh Doctor, much to the consternation of hard-core fans, who were not impressed by the young age of Smith and even less so by his appearance, which many people liken to a certain character in a Mary Shelley novel, or—more cruelly, Rocky Dennis…
Over the course of the year, the negativity only seemed to build against Smith and very little seemed to leak out whilst production was underway. Only little clips recorded on camera-phones and the odd audio excerpt found their way into the public domain, and these were still muddying the waters of opinion. Confidence started to build when Smith's costume was unveiled, as it showed some of the more unconventional aspects of the character—which hadn't really been seen since Paul McGann played the Doctor—nd echoed Patrick Troughton's outfit.
During the final moments of The End of Time Part II, which was broadcast on New Year's day, 2010, British audiences got their first official glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor, but many people had their doubts about Matt Smith's portrayal during the final scene, as it seemed to echo the manic nature of the Master's regeneration near the end of series three. Thankfully, this was merely a result of the regeneration, and the Eleventh Doctor finds his feet almost from the outset of series five.
Karen Gillan was brought onboard to play companion Amy Pond. There are some who would point out that whilst RTD was accused of having either a Welsh agenda or a gay agenda during his time on Doctor Who, others have started to accuse new executive producer Steven Moffat of having a Scottish agenda. Could this be merely a product of an overactive imagination, or is there an ounce of truth in it? Either way, the casting of Gillan was a masterstroke, as she embodies everything that is good in the best companions and also adds a few nice little touches of her own into the mix—oh, and she also does the best bug-eyed look of astonishment or horror since Anneke Wills.
Other changes that have taken place include the Doctor getting a new sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS having a complete overhaul, including a new exterior that looks remarkably like the one seen in the Peter Cushing Amicus… sorry Aaru films. There is also a new logo (which incorporates the TARDIS into the logo) and a new and slightly more sinister version of the theme, which we aren't great fans of. Also, we want to go on record as saying that the concept of the TARDIS being repeatedly hit by lightning bolts in the time vortex is remarkably childish, but now we'll get on to looking at the episodes themselves…
The Eleventh Hour
Following straight on from The End of Time Part II, The TARDIS is plummeting towards Earth, with the newly-regenerated Doctor hanging by his fingernails on the threshold of the door. The TARDIS inevitably crash-lands in a back garden in the rural community of Leadworth near Gloucester in 1996, and a little girl named Amelia Pond takes the Doctor inside and attempts to feed him the foods that he craves in his post-regenerative state.
The Doctor enchants young Amelia and notices that a strange crack in her bedroom wall is the protrusion into our dimension of an escaped convict who goes by the name of Prisoner Zero. The Doctor disappears in the TARDIS, off in search of Prisoner Zero, promising Amelia that he would be back in five minutes—but young Amelia learns a hard lesson that five minutes is relative to the Doctor and she does not meet him again until more than a decade has passed. The adult Amelia—now calling herself Amy—has spent much of the intervening time obsessing about the mysterious 'Raggedy Doctor' who made such an impression on her as a child and now works as a kissogram. After an initially bad reaction, with Amy knocking out the Doctor and handcuffing him, she teams up with him to save Earth from Prisoner Zero.
The Eleventh Hour was written by new Executive Producer—we refuse to use that naff US term 'Show-Runner'—Steven Moffat, who was responsible for some of the best stories from New-Who (the best of which was probably the series three 'Doctor-lite' one, Blink) and he certainly gets series five off to a fresh start. There are many instances of Moffat's twisted ability to take seemingly mundane things are distort them into fantastical or sinister concepts—the crack in Amy's bedroom wall is an ingenious variation on the monster-under-the-bed chestnut—and Moffat's humour runs through the script like a stick of seaside rock.
Matt Smith effortless confounds his critics by turning in an assured performance that recalls some of the more whimsical aspects of previous Doctors, specifically Patrick Troughton, and is certainly capable of pulling off the more dramatic aspects of the role. When the Doctor finally pulls himself together after his regeneration—and after a montage of all the previous Doctors—he confronts Prisoner Zero and Smith is pretty impressive at that.
Karen Gillan is very good as the adult Amy Pond; Steven Moffat has created one of the most believable companions in New-Who. Pond is a woman who has learnt to fend for herself and is intelligent and resourceful; she retains the sense of wonder from her childhood and has a desire to see the universe. Oh, and she also does a fabulous bug-eyed look of horror and/or surprise.
Special mention must go to actress Caitlin Blackwood, who portrays the young Amelia Pond—she is just wonderful to watch and she plays off Matt Smith so well that you can really see something of the future chemistry that the characters will have.
The Eleventh Hour is a great introduction to Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat's tenure on Doctor Who. The extended running time (it clocks in at around an hour) gives the story more time to breathe and allows Smith more time to develop the character—in stark contrast to Tennant's first story, The Christmas Invasion, where he spends most of the time comatose. The Eleventh Hour is not without its flaws—the whole 'silence will fall' motif that runs through this series seems somewhat forced (Moffat has used a cryptic three-worded phrase before 'count the shadows', anyone?) and the confrontation with Prisoner Zero was somewhat by-the-numbers in terms of its writing rather than performance, but it was nice to see brief clips of all the previous Doctors to help tie the original series and the new one together.
The Beast Below
The Doctor and Amy materialise aboard the Starship UK, a vast interplanetary craft that contains the remnants of the United Kingdom, who escaped deadly solar flares in the 29th Century.
Whilst investigating the reasons behind a crying child, the Doctor and Amy realise that all is not what it seems, especially with the sinister Smilers, who appear to be protecting a secret from the population of the ship. Whispers of the 'Beast Below' cause our heroes to start investigating and they discover that something very large and awfully angry is lurking in the bowels of the vessel, but they realise that all is not what it seems and that the Doctor and Amy realise that they have an opportunity to put right a cruel wrong.
The Beast Below—personally speaking, of course—is probably the weakest of the three stories in this set. Written by Steven Moffat, much of it seems as though it has been done before in New-Who and science-fiction in general. The whole concept of an alien environment that has twisted shades of the present day was seen in the series one dog The Long Game and the idea of an alien life-form being tortured by humanoids in order to serve them was almost identical to the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot story, Encounter at Farpoint.
An idea for Doctor Who that had been kicking around since the early eighties was entitled Song of the Space Whale and had been rejected and re-pitched several times before being buried. It would appear that the idea finally found someone who had an interest in such a concept and was included in Doctor Who after thirty years.
Whilst on their travels, Moffat introduces the future head of the monarchy, and she isn't white—no problem with that, and that's not a particularly great leap, seeing as our present monarchy is Teutonic in origin anyway. Liz Ten as she is known is largely kept aboard as a figurehead with little power of her own. Liz Ten, like the present one, is kept around in order to maintain the status quo and allow the population of the Starship UK to have someone to look up to and help them to forget the grim situation they are in. It is later revealed that even the reigning monarch has to vote every now and again, and that with the help of the Doctor and Amy, things are to change forever aboard the Starship UK.
Steven Moffat has crafted a script that was a sly satire of the election that was just around the corner when this story was broadcast. Everyone aboard the ship has to vote every five years—in one of the many voting booths on the starship, they are shown a video and afterwards to choose to forget what they have just seen and have their memory wiped and live in blissful ignorance or to protest against what they have just seen. During many elections, the UK tends to forget events immediately prior to the election and want to just maintain a state of ignorance, but that's just us venturing into potentially dangerous political areas.
The performances are still good here—Smith is still either consciously or subconsciously channelling David Tennant, but is beginning to make the part his own by having his Doctor seemingly firing on too many cylinders when walking into a situation and exploring any and every tangent before making an informed guess as to how to handle things. Gillan is also very good, but is shouldered with the burden of being the prime mover in terms of the story, jumping in and making the crucial decisions, rather thantThe Doctor; this is a theme that reoccurs in this series and it is a curious one; the Doctor is a nine hundred year old being who has travelled in time and space and gained the wisdom of the ages—to have someone realise something critical that he hadn't noticed once or twice is fine, but to have this happen repeatedly begins to make the central character look weak or idiotic. Matt Smith is walking a fine line in his characterisation of the Doctor—a bumbling Doctor who is somewhat accident-prone or can be viewed as a fool by his adversaries is one thing, but by taking away the strength of character to resolve situations and foil his enemies himself is quite a serious misstep so early on into this incarnation.
We know that there are many people who found the following story to be the weakest in the set, but we personally think that The Beast Below has that dubious honour—it flows along reasonably well until the monarchy is introduced and the concept of an habited environment on the back of an animal has been done before (Terry Pratchett) and the animal being tortured for the good of the humans it serves has also been seen previously ( Star Trek: The Next Generation), then the freshness that it started with quickly runs stale.
Victory of the Daleks
Following on from the end of the previous story, the Doctor materialises in war-torn London at the request of Winston Churchill (Ian McNeice), who announces that one of his chief scientists, Professor Bracewell (Bill Patterson) has perfected devices—known as Ironsides—that will help Britain win the war against the Nazis.
The only problem is that the Ironsides are actually Daleks, but they appear to be subservient to the British government— 'I am your sold-ier!', they constantly inform them. Churchill's stubborn streak means that he is more interested in the possibility of defeating Hitler and his forces than he is in listening to the pleas of the Doctor about regarding the evil nature of the Daleks.
Eventually, the Doctor realises that the whole thing has been a ruse in order to lure the last of the Time Lords to the last of the Daleks and bring about the birth of a new generation of Skaro's most infamous residents. These Daleks, when completed, could spell certain doom for the human race and the universe in general, unless the Doctor can stop them.
There is much to like about Victory of the Daleks—it was written by Mark Gatiss, who also penned one of our personal favourite New-Who stories, The Unquiet Dead—and there are themes, both subtle and blatant, that illustrate the obvious love that Gatiss has for the period. Gatiss seems to have taken his inspiration from Patrick Troughton's first story, Power of the Daleks, which featured the characters masquerading as servants to a group of unsuspecting humans, whist keeping their true nature a secret until they had been able to reproduce themselves and go on a bloodthirsty rampage of conquest. At one point—which both of us knew he was going to say—the Doctor mentions a 'final end' for the Daleks, which was a reference to the climax of Troughton's Evil of the Daleks.
There are also numerous things to dislike about this episode—the redesign of the Daleks is probably the main thing; one can only imagine that the main reason for seriously screwing with the best part of half a century's design history was purely to bring about a whole new wave of merchandise that the BBC can milk for years to come. The new Daleks look awful, as though a dodgem car had mated with a Mini-Cooper, giving the thing a hunchback (or should that be 'hatchback'?) and towering over anything and everything—there are shades of the idiotic 'bigger is more scary' mentality that was brought to the Cyber-King in The Next Doctor. Looking like a dodgem car is now somewhat appropriate, as back in their first story, it was established that the Daleks originally ran on static electricity...
Another problem this story has is that although the portrayal of Churchill in the script was pretty faithful, actor Ian McNiece was completely miscast in the role, transforming Churchill from being somewhat portly to being morbidly obese in a manner that would have elicited blood, toil tears and sweat merely from attempting to climb a flight of stairs—a feat that would have been easier for the Daleks to do in pre-McCoy Doctor Who.
Veteran actor Bill Patterson give a great performance as the would-be inventor of the 'Ironsides', giving a much greater depth to the part than most other actors would have and making the somewhat dubious climax slightly more palatable than it would have been otherwise.
The concept of Spitfires in space certainly seemed like a good idea, but it loses something when transferred to a moving, visual medium. Hammer Films used to drum up interest in forthcoming projects (not to mention as a way of trying to potentially snare financing) by coming up with a concept and then making an elaborate poster for it—as Hammer was being left behind by contemporary horror such as Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist, one act of desperation was to produce a poster for a film provisionally entitled 'Zeppelins vs. Pterodactyls'; you get that same kind of vibe with this story, combining two completely unlikely opposing forces against each other, only here you had WW2 Spitfires going up against a Dalek mothership.
Where the show seriously shoots itself in the foot comes during the climax, when one character is revealed to be something other than human and that this character could potentially destroy many, but destruction could be averted if he can get in touch with his humanity. It's as cheesy as hell and really takes the edge off what was a pretty enjoyable episode.
Oh, we would be remiss in our duties as reviewers if we failed to point out that the review copies put out by 2Entertain are missing the 'next time' teasers on all three episodes. According to the good folks at the gallifreybase forums, the MD of 2Entertain was unaware of the changes and would be 'looking into it'. If these omissions are going to be on the release copies, then it's bloody annoying as the previews of the next episodes are a staple of New-Who and it would be depriving the fans if they were taken out.
Doctor Who is now being shot in Hi-Def and there is a general upswing in sharpness, even on the SD copies. (We would have reviewed the Blu-ray release, but it was not possible for us both to be furnished with Blu review discs). Colours on the 1.78:1 anamorphic image are very strong and pleasing on the eye; the blue colour hue of The Eleventh Hour and the red motif of The Beast Below look very nice indeed. Victory of the Daleks has a more processed, muted look to it—more than likely to give something of a period feel to the story—but looks pretty impressive all the same.
Oh dear—same old story with New-Who on SD. You are disappointingly presented with a plain old vanilla Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. If you run it through an amp that can allow you to select a decent DSP, then it will sound better, but it's certainly no substitute for a proper discrete 5.1 soundtrack—we guess, as always, they'll be saving it for the inevitable box-set in November. We're rankled that the Blu-ray copies have a DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, but SD doesn't even have Dolby Digital 5.1.
In order to get Doctor Who fans to buy the vanilla discs, 2Entertain are making them so that they aren't completely bare-bones. What you have on this disc is the first part of a series of featurettes entitled The Monster Files, examining a particular adversary on each disc.
The first of these featurettes looks at—appropriately enough—the Daleks. This ten-minute examination of the new-look Daleks has clips from the show, popular tunes to underscore the intent and congratulatory interviews with the cast and crew where everyone interviewed slavishly raves over the new Dalek designs and tries to win over the more hard-bitten fans. In fact, it's essentially a cut-down Doctor Who Confidential Cut-Down (it's mentioned on the end of the featurette).
When it was announced that Russell T Davies was leaving Doctor Who, there were many who rejoiced, and that Steven Moffat replacing him was almost like the coming of the messiah. The reality is that Doctor Who is continuing as usual, albeit with very superficial changes and that things are little better or worse than they were under Davies.
Matt Smith and Karen Gillan are both great actors and the chemistry that they share is great fun to watch. Doctor Who will always have it's good and bad stories, so just enjoy the good ones and let the bad ones wash over you without getting so worked up that you have a stroke whilst you post furious on an internet forum about it. Doctor Who is back and it's in a safe pair of hands.
Review by Wilson Bros
General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children
Disc Details
Release Date: 7th June 2010
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Single side, dual layer
RCE: No
Video: PAL
Aspect: 1.78:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Subtitles: English
Extras: The Monster Files
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Adam Smith & Andrew Gunn
Cast: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Bill Paterson, Ian McNeice
Genre: Sci-Fi
Length: 155 minutes
6Review Guide
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Rating: 5.0/5 (Total votes: 1)
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text: Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 Enterprise Edition enables application integration within and between organizations through the universal standard of XML. Companies can easily build distributed business processes that integrate applications and partners, as well as quickly establish reliable, secure trading relationships with customers and key partners over the Internet. BizTalk Server 2000 lets organizations leverage open standards and specifications to integrate disparate applications independent of operating system, programming model, or programming language. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/biztalkserver/takeact/beta.asp to download (for free) the BizTalk Server 2000 Enterprise Edition Beta.


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Gordon LassiterNew York Yankees
Shortstop | Ht: | Wt:
|Yankees | Lassiter agrees to terms
Sat, 16 Aug 2008 08:02:26 -0700
The New York Yankees have agreed to terms with SS Gordon Lassiter, their 27th-round selection in the 2008 MLB Draft, according to The Associated Press. He received a $675,000 signing bonus.
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There is no optimal scenario for constructing the Phillies outfield this late in winter. Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. conceded as much Monday when he suggested it is likely the team will use what it has.
The risk is obvious; the Phillies could spend $1.5 million on their starting outfield while devoting $19 million to two relief pitchers. Of the current outfield quintuplet, only Ben Revere has ever logged more than 500 at-bats in a single season.
Amaro said the best-case scenario is pitting unproven players against one another with hopes that competition creates a viable outfield. Domonic Brown will receive every chance at earning a role as an everyday player. Health will always be an impediment until Brown shows otherwise.
The likeliest spot for a platoon situation is left field, where any combination of John Mayberry Jr., Darin Ruf and Laynce Nix could form. Mayberry and Ruf both bat righthanded.
Mayberry, if anything, is an ideal platoon partner. His .868 OPS vs. lefties over the past two seasons is 22d in baseball among hitters with at least 300 plate appearances. His slugging percentage (.534) is 12th best. Used correctly, Mayberry could be a powerful part of a combination.
The only issue is this: The Phillies faced 53 lefthanded starting pitchers in 2012. Over the last five seasons, they have faced an average of 48.8 lefty starters per season. So if Mayberry strictly plays vs. lefties, he could expect approximately 50 starts with the platoon advantage.
Where will the other 112 come from?
Some of it could be Mayberry, if he is the hot hand. His 2012 splits, however, suggest that is poor usage. Mayberry made 51 starts against a lefty and 56 against a righty in 2012. His OPS was 153 points lower vs. righty starters.
Oddly enough, the Phillies could hitch their outfield fate to Darin Ruf, a player not thought of highly among front office officials and scouts until late last season. No one knows if Ruf has the offensive skills to face major-league pitching on a daily basis or the ability to regularly play left field.
Ruf hit both lefties and righties during his torrid minor-league season. Ruf has a 1.188 OPS vs. lefties and .869 OPS vs. righties over the past two minor-league seasons. Whether that can translate is the great unknown.
Nix has been used almost exclusively against righthanded pitching in his career (1,701 of his career 1,927 plate appearances are vs. righties). He is a career .253 hitter with a .744 OPS against righties. Again, the concern with Nix would be health. He has required time on the disabled list in three of the last four seasons. He missed 63 games with a calf strain in 2012.
And, as Amaro intimated Monday, this could all be a makeshift situation until a better option presents itself in a midseason trade. The Phillies should enter 2013 with enough flexibility to make such a move.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.


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The top 10 books on Apple's iBookstore
July 2, 2013
The iBookstore's Official Book Charts for the week ending July 1, 2013:
1. "Inferno," by Dan Brown (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)
2. "Second Honeymoon," by James Patterson & Howard Roughan (Little, Brown & Company)
3. "This Man," by Jodi Malpas (Grand Central Publishing)
4. "Entwined with You," by Sylvia Day (Penguin Group US)
5. "World War Z," by Max Brooks (Crown Publishing Group)
6. "And the Mountains Echoed," by Khaled Hosseini (Penguin Group US)
7. "Beneath This Man," by Jodi Ellen Malpas (Grand Central Publishing)
8. "Beautiful Day," by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown & Company)
9. "Damaged 2," by H.M. Ward (Laree Bailey Press)
10. "Fifty Shades of Grey," by E. L. James (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group)


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News: Science/Tech
After Stem-Cell Breakthrough, the Work Begins
Now that embryonic stem cell research may no longer require the destruction of human life, is it just a coinicidence that the NY Times is emphasizing how far scientists still have to go to develop successful treatments? READ MORE >
News: Science/Tech
Is John McCain reconsidering his Stem Cell position?
The moral issues at stake are far from simple, to be sure, but Senator McCain's rationalization of embryo-destructive research is nonetheless simply wrong... In November 2007, two teams of researchers ... successfully transformed normal human skin cells into what appears to be the functional equivalent of embryonic stem cells, without the need for embryos... Asked by a voter in late January if the new advances might cause him to reconsider his stand on President Bush's stem cell funding policy, Senator McCain replied, 'I have not changed my position yet.' It is time he did." READ MORE >
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Vibe is everything. Vibe is the mood, the company, and even the flavors. If you're looking to experience great Virginia craft beer in an ultra-cool setting, you might check out this list – and please – add to it with your opinion of what makes a great sip-and-savor craft beer experience.
Breweries with Outdoor Seating and Great Views
1. Legend in Richmond is situated on the south side of the James River. Their deck has umbrella patio tables and an unobstructed view of the downtown Richmond skyline. Evenings are beautiful.
2. Blue Mountain in Afton also has umbrella patio tables, but their view is reflected in their name. Settle in with a pizza of fresh local ingredients and a cold Full Nelson Pale Ale to appreciate the blue mountains on display.
3. Devils Backbone Basecamp is in Nellysford, just down the road from Blue Mountain, thus sharing a very familiar view. The grounds at DBB are expansive, as they play host to festivals and other large events from time to time. And they have an awesome bar area, too.
4. Also in Nellysford is Wild Wolf, but their set up is like a little town square. The biergarten has a koi pond with a waterfall and a gazebo overlooking it, all situated beneath a magnificent old tree. The on-site restaurant serves up scratch-made delights that you can enjoy on the wrap-around porch, if you desire. The mountain views are outstanding; just see the photo above!
5. Old Bust Head in Vint Hill has a brand new beer garden – complete with a pergola for shade – to go with their brand new tap room. It's a happenin' place, with live music and a lively crowd, plus you never know when beautiful macaws or baby goats may drop by. Be sure to read the label on your bottle as each beer name is tied to a local tale, which the label explains. I wonder if Vixen Irish Red's story might make me blush …
Restaurants with a Great View Serving Virginia Craft Beer
6. Bubba's Restaurant and Crab House is a waterfront restaurant just off the Lynnhaven Inlet in Virginia Beach. It's situated such that you can enjoy the sunset on one of the decks and sip a Virginia craft beer with your delicious straight-from-the-sea fare.
7. Catch 31 is also a Virginia Beach restaurant, and you'll find it right on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk. Toes in the sand? They can be within just a few steps.
8. The Waterfront Market in Old Town Alexandria is perched right on the Potomac River. The views are immense and Port City is cold on tap!
9. Stony Creek Tavern at Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke has Virginia craft beer on tap, sweet views, and quite the story to tell, too. Did you know the beloved film, Dirty Dancing, was filmed at Mountain Lake Lodge? Now you know.
10. In McGahyesville, Massanutten's Fareways Restaurant and Lounge offers a Tuesday night Beer Lovers' Dinner, a five-course pairing that includes details from the chef as well as from the resident beer expert. If you're not into beer tasting at quite that level, you can still enjoy a craft beer anytime at Fareways with a view of the Mountain Greens Golf Course.
11. Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill offers a great view of the Clarendon / Courthouse neighborhoods of Arlington, and the rooftop truly is a fun place to be. At least two Virginia brews are on tap for your sit-sip-savor enjoyment.
12. Supper is a brand new Southern restaurant located in the trendy neighborhood of Ghent in Norfolk. The comfort food will beckon your return, but it may be the knowledge of rooftop dining that draws you in. The Norfolk skyline glistens not too far away and the tapped Virginia craft beer is cold.
13. Continuing with the rooftop theme, try Postbellum in Richmond. Don't go for the view on this one, but the overall feel. The space includes a long bar, TVs, pub and patio tables, booths (!), and lights strung above. There's plenty of room and an unobstructed view of blue skies or stars, whichever your preference.
Breweries Cloaked in History and a Story to Tell
14. James River Brewing in Scottsville is located in a 19th century tobacco factory alongside Mink Creek, a tributary to the James. The tasting room has a rustic, down-home feel with timber accents and barrels for tables. Out back, by the creek in the beer garden, you'll find a wooden swing in the shade, waiting for you to linger with a Green Eyed Lady.
15. Jefferson Street Brewery is housed in the same Craddock Terry shoe factory as the Craddock Terry Hotel in Lynchburg. Learn a little something about the history of the facility while sampling the latest suds.
So where do you go for a great Virginia craft beer? Leave a comment to tell us about the best vibe you've found and why it's great.
Virginia is for Lovers.
Request a Travel Guide or see the eGuide.


text:
Jane W. S. Liu, Real-time Systems, Prentice Hall, 2000.
Additional handouts and reference texts will be announced.
COURSE COORDINATOR: Peter Dinda
COURSE GOALS: This course will focus on the design of computer systems that must or should provide timely responses. Automotive control, avionics, streaming media, and games are real-time systems. In addition to traditional hard real-time concepts and design, we will also explore soft real-time systems and distributed real-time systems. This is a project-oriented course. Students will develop a real-time system composed of small single-board computers and hand-held computers.
- Required: CS 343 or similar operating systems experience
- Required: Familiarity with ANSI C systems programming
- Recommended: Familiarity with micro-controller based design
- Introduction to general real-time concepts
- Deterministic guarantees, stochastic guarantees, and best-effort behavior; hard and soft real-time systems
- Limitations of general purpose operating systems
- Tasks, task sets, dependencies, and resources
- Admission control and scheduling problems
- Rate monotonic analysis
- Offline analysis and the creation of cyclic executives
- Synthesis methods and tools for embedded systems
- Real-time operating systems
- Earliest deadline first scheduling
- Priority inversion
- Interrupts
- Real-time networking (Tenet, ATM, WFQ, etc)
- Distributed real-time systems in the small (CAN, etc)
- Distributed real-time systems in the large (RT CORBA, RT Java, etc)
- Adaptative real-time systems
Students will use single-board computer and handheld computer development environments in teaching laboratory.
Homework assignments and laboratory assignments to be announced.
- 50% Projects
- 10% Homework
- 20% Midterm
- 20% Final exam
COURSE OBJECTIVES: When a student completes this course, s/he should be able to
- Formally specify tasks, their constraints, and dependencies;
- Use rate monotonic analysis (RMA), to determine whether a set of independent tasks will meet its timing constraints;
- Create a custom cyclic executive for a constrained set of tasks that minimizes the overall resource costs;
- Program an embedded system with your tasks and executive;
- Understand and use tools ease the implementation of embedded hard real-time systems;
- Understand how general-purpose real-time scheduling algorithms such as earliest deadline first (EDF) schedule tasks, both period and aperiodic, to meet their timing constraints;
- Understand how to combine bounded interrupt times, EDF, full preemption, priority inheritance, and admission control to achieve hard real-time performance in a general purpose operating system;
- Understand how networks can provide hard and soft real-time guarantees;
- Understand how distributed real-time systems are designed and built on top of OS-level and network-level real-time primitives; and
- Understand how adaptive distributed real-time systems can provide some degree of real-time behavior even when such primitives are unavailable.


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Tristan MacManus To Star In Nikki Lorenzo's New "Work That Charm" Video
Aww, I'm loving this news. Above Tristan MacManus is pictured with musician and actress Nikki Lorenzo and RJ Mitt. Nikki posted the photo at her twitter account with news that her new "Work That Charm" music video will be released on Christmas Day! Fun! *can't wait to see what they've done for it!


text:
ST. LOUIS (AP) - The St. Louis Cardinals declined their $9.5 million option for next season on pitcher Jake Westbrook, who was not on their postseason roster after battling elbow and back injuries much of the year.
The 36-year-old Westbrook, who was 7-8 with a 4.63 ERA, gets a $1 million buyout.
The sinkerballer appeared in 21 games, all but two of them starts. He was barely used late in the year and got the start in the season finale as a nod to his contributions, working one scoreless inning.
Westbrook is 105-103 for his career. He was 36-32 with a 4.27 ERA in three-plus seasons with St. Louis.


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Note: It's Pearl Harbor Day. Believe it or not, Barack Obama and George W., oceans NEVER protected us. We honor the service of the men and women who fought and died in World War II, especially on this day "that will live in infamy."
The people our President-Elect surrounds himself with have always been of grave concern to me. We know so little about this man, yet we were supposed to trust his judgement over Hillary's in the primaries, and McCain's in the General Election. Why? Because he made a speech against the invasion of Iraq in 2002.
That speech was supposed to outweigh the fact that his friends are neoliberals, racists, misogynists, homophobes and domestic terrorists, and that he has consistently failed to adhere to liberal/progressive principles when he is forced to act instead of just speak. He did not filibuster, or even vote against, telecom immunity from being prosecuted for warrantless wiretapping, as he promised. (Hillary voted against it, keeping her promise.) He did not take public financing, as he promised; in fact, he raised about $500 million online during his 21-month campaign. Despite the ludicrous spin the Post puts on it, that money didn't come from "small donors." We know that Obama's online donation system did not verify names and addresses, unlike Hillary's or McCain's, which would not allow donors from overseas, or who posted phony names and addresses, to give them money. Thus, those donors who gave $80 or less multiple times (as the Washington Post story admits, the average Obama donor gave more than once) could have easily gone over the $2500 personal donation limit by simply logging in with many different names and addresses. Moreover, Obama is not required to disclose the names of anyone giving less than $200 to his campaign. How conveeeeenient, as RiverDaughter would say! The bottom line is, someone has bought Obama, and we don't know who it is because no one will investigate where it all came from. So much for the Obamabot spin that Obama is a populist figure.
President-Elect Obama is no longer saying he will "end the war" in Iraq. He has moved the frame on abortion from "safe, legal and rare" to "in consultation with their families and pastors" and has nominated the anti-freedom Tom Daschle as head of the HHS, rather than a staunch pro-freedom advocate like Governor Janet Napolitano. Furthermore, what did Joe Biden mean when he predicted Obama was going to make unpopular decisions we would hate, and that the world would test Obama when he came into office?
What have we on the leftish side of the spectrum done by allowing ourselves to be fooled by this cipher into giving him the most important job in the world? Why did we let this happen to our country? Why did we elevate supposedly "inspiring" speeches over action?
And speaking of speeches…we now have a little insight into Obama's 27-year-old chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau. Which is he – a neoliberal, racist, misogynist, homophobe or terrorist? If you guessed "misogynist," you're right! Here he is, showing the same respect to a cutout of Hillary that Obama and his cohorts have shown to the real Senator Clinton.
If you genuinely think this is no big deal, what if it were a cutout of Michelle Obama?


text:
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March 12, 2010
Media Contact:
Trey Williams
DSS Employees Donate More Than $13,000 for Children in Haiti
- Louisiana Department of Social Services (DSS) Secretary Kristy Nichols today announced that employees from across the state contributed $13,860 for Save the Children, a non-profit organization working to address the critical needs of children and families affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
"The devastating earthquake in Haiti reminded many at DSS of the struggles Louisiana has faced during natural disasters in recent years," said Nichols. "Our employees wanted to help provide relief and refuge for the most vulnerable victims of the earthquake."
In order to provide a opportunity for DSS employees to come together and make a difference as one, the agency began a fundraising drive for Save the Children, an agency that works in the United States and around the world to ensure that children in need grow up safe, educated and healthy and better able to attain their rights.
"Our employees recognized the similarity between our mission to keep children safe, help families and individuals become self-sufficient and provide safe refuge during disasters and the work of Save the Children," said Nichols.
Nichols said that the connection between the two organizations goes even further. Save the Children worked in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina to provide furniture, materials or small grants to help 17 child care centers in New Orleans reopen or stay open, serving 3,400 children in total.
Save the Children's efforts in Haiti have provided lifesaving food, water, shelter and medical supplies in the aftermath of the earthquakes. The agency also has set up Child Friendly Spaces in shelters and camps designed to protect children as they recover from the suffering they endured and witnessed.
More recently, Save the Children accepted the United Nations' request to coordinate efforts to reunite separated children with their families. The organization deployed child protection teams to camps, shelters and communities in the earthquake zone to ensure the safety of children and to identify, register and to assess the needs of children without parental care.
In addition, the humanitarian agency recently began work to provide classroom tents and supplies so that children in quake-affected areas can return to school.
Save the Children has assisted children and families in Haiti for more than 30 years.
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text:
On this day (Aug. 12) in 1861, Confederate Gen. Ben McCulloch (1811-1862) proclaimed to the people of Missouri that his victory over the Federals at the Battle of Wilson's Creek opened the way for their state to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.
McCulloch further declared that Missouri "must be allowed to choose her own destiny." He claimed that Missouri Unionists would be protected, but "you can no longer procrastinate. Missouri must now take her position, be it North or South."
President Abraham Lincoln had appointed on July 21, 1861, Gen. John Charles Fremont (1813-1890) to command the new military Department of the West. Upon learning of field commander Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's inglorious defeat at Wilson's Creek, Fremont declared martial law in St. Louis, issued a startling proclamation that announced the death penalty for all Confederate guerrillas caught behind Union lines, confiscated the property of Confederate sympathizers, and freed the slaves of all Confederate activists.
He then dashed off to Lincoln an insulting and even insubordinate "demand" for more troops for his seemingly beaten Unionist, largely militia, army. Lincoln, upon receipt of Fremont's "demand' for immediate support, wired back to the panicking Fremont that the Union debacle at Wilson's Creek was not, in fact, a disastrous defeat but rather a relatively minor setback.
For this obvious and irritating insubordination, and especially for his infamous proclamation, Lincoln, on Nov. 2, 1861, relieved Fremont as commander of the Department of the West.
Also on this Aug. 12, Lincoln issued a presidential proclamation that he hoped would boost northern morale after the disastrous Union defeat at the July 21, 1861, First Battle of Bull Run (called Manassas by the Confederates), and the Aug. 10, 1861, setback at the Battle of Wilson's Creek (called Oak Hills by the Confederates). The proclamation designated the last Thursday in September "as a day of humiliation, prayer, fasting for all the people of the nation."
Missouri, of course, was one of the four slave states (the others being Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky) that did not join the 11 Southern states that seceded and established the Confederate States of America. However, as a border slave state, Missouri was deeply divided on whether to stay in or out of the Union.
Of interest, Missouri Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson favored secession and steadfastly refused Lincoln's call for Missouri to provide troops for the Union Army. Instead, he mobilized the Missouri militia for Confederate use.
During the entire ensuing Civil War (1861-1865), there was what could be considered civil war in Missouri. After Gov. Jackson's failed March 22, 1861, attempt to lead the state out of the Union, Missouri divided into two opposing armed groups: 1. Unionist faction led by Gen. Lyon (1818-1861), and 2. Secessionist faction led by Gov. Jackson (1806-1862).
For more than three years, there was almost constant guerrilla warfare between these two largely militia groups in Missouri, during which thousands of people, mostly civilians, were killed or wounded.
In addition to constant guerrilla fighting, there were two relatively major battles fought in Missouri and in nearby northern Arkansas: 1. the Battle of Wilson's Creek (Aug. 10, 1861), which in reality was a minor Union defeat; and 2. the Union victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas (March 6-8, 1861).
The Union victory at Pea Ridge led to complete Union control of Missouri and ensured that Missouri would remain in the Union. Interestingly, despite strong secessionist sentiment in Missouri, more Missourians joined the Union army (about 109,000) while only some 30,000 fought for the Confederacy.
• Crystal Lake resident Joseph C. Morton is professor emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University. Email him at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text: This course highlights the importance and role of software product management. It also provides an overview of the specialization, as well as its goals, structure, and expectations. The course explains the value of process, requirements, planning, and monitoring in producing better software. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to: - Relate software product management to better software products - Recognize the role of a software product manager - Reflect on how Agile principles will improve your own projects