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MOORE, Okla. — A massive tornado flattened homes and destroyed at least two schools packed with children near Oklahoma City on Monday, sending rescuers and residents dashing to dig out buried survivors.
Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including 20 children, and officials said the death toll probably would climb.
As the injured began flooding into hospitals, the authorities said many people remained trapped. Rescue workers struggled through debris-clogged streets to reach the devastated suburb of Moore, where much of the damage occurred.
Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.
Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Workers tore through rubble amid reports that dozens of students were trapped.
Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage center in the parking lot.
James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching twister and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.
''About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,'' he said.
A man with a megaphone called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby.
At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off.
"Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled,'' Sergeant Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department, said by telephone. ''Neighborhoods just wiped clean.''
He said debris and damage to roadways, along with heavy traffic, were hindering emergency responders.
A spokeswoman for the mayor's office in Moore said emergency workers were struggling to assess the damage.''Please send us your prayers,'' she said.
Brooke Cayot, a spokeswoman for Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City, said 58 patients had come in by about 9 p.m. Another 85 were being treated at the Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City.
''They've been coming in minute by minute,'' Cayot said.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.
Fallin also spoke with President Obama, who gave Fallin a direct line to his office. He later declared the area a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.
Many land lines to stricken areas were down, and cellphone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said.
Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., said the tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m., 16 minutes after the first warning went out, and traveled for 20 miles. It was on the ground for 40 minutes, she said. It struck the town of Newcastle and traveled about 10 miles to Moore, a suburb of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City.
Pirtle said preliminary data suggested that it was a Category 4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which measures tornado strength on a scale of 0 to 5. A definitive assessment will not be available until Tuesday, she said.
Moore was the scene of another huge tornado in May 1999 in which winds reached record speeds of 302 miles per hour.
Destruction Monday spread over a vast area, with blocks upon blocks of homes and businesses destroyed. Residents, some partly clothed, picked through rubble. Several structures were on fire, and cars had been flipped over and stacked on top of one another.
Kelcy Trowbridge, her husband, and their three young children piled into their neighbor's cellar just outside of Moore and huddled together for about five minutes, wrapped under a blanket as the tornado screamed above them.
They emerged to find their home flattened, and the family car upside down a few houses away. Trowbridge's husband rushed toward what was left of their home and began sifting through the debris, then stopped, and told her to call the police. He had found the body of a little girl, about 2 or 3 years old, Trowbridge said.
''He knew she was already gone,'' said Trowbridge. ''When the police got there, he just bawled.''
Russell Schneider, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the risk of tornadoes throughout the region remained high.
An earlier storm system also spawned several tornadoes across Oklahoma on Sunday. Several deaths were reported.
Some parts of Moore seemingly emerged untouched by Monday's tornado. Bea Carruth, who lives about 20 blocks from where the storm struck, said her home and others in her neighborhood appeared to be fine.
Carruth had ridden out the tornado as she usually does, at her son's house nearby, the hail pounding away on the cellar where they'd taken shelter. Tornadoes have long been a part of life in Moore, she said, and a few times a year, in a well-worn ritual, she goes into her son's cellar when the sirens go off.
In 1999, the last time a storm this size struck, Carruth again was lucky and the home she lived in then was spared. She ended up buying an empty plot of land where a house destroyed by that tornado once stood.
Her house now sits on that plot.
''This is just awful,'' she said. ''It all just breaks my heart.''Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.


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2011 General Assembly Reports Available Online
The collected reports from the General Assembly at the 2011 Archdiocese Convention in Chicago are now available online in PDF format. Individual PDFs of each department's reports will be available shortly on Antiochian.org's organization and department pages.
Click here to download the full collection of reports (PDF, 12.5MB)

subset: commoncrawl


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What Chambers Can Teach Us
Whittaker Chambers is rightly remembered for his pivotal role in the electrifying Alger Hiss spy case. But as Richard Reinsch reminds us in the latest volume in ISI Books' acclaimed Library of Modern Thinkers, Chambers was more than just a government informant; he was a profoundly important thinker who grappled with the nature of modern man's predicaments.
Whittaker Chambers: The Spirit of a Counterrevolutionary shows that Chambers's thought posed—and still poses—a challenge to American conservatism and its typical focus on markets and small government. In his journalism, essays, personal correspondence with the likes of William F. Buckley Jr., and landmark autobiographical tome Witness, Chambers engaged more broadly, analyzing the fundamental question of who man is and the classical and spiritual foundations of civilization.
Defying conventional thinking, Reinsch argues that the former Communist spy may have been more right than wrong when he predicted that the West would lose the Cold War. While the Soviets' Communist system did of course collapse, the spiritual and philosophical sickness that Chambers identified, Reinsch suggests, has not been cured.
Additional Information
|ISI Books
|What They're Saying...
"It's taken over 60 years, but someone has finally written a great book about Whittaker Chambers."
"A solid merit to Reinsch's short study is to suggest the many ways in which Chambers still speaks to us with relevance and urgency…Reinsch's book is a thoughtful probe of Chambers thought and work…Chambers is above all a prophet of how, even in apparent victory, the West may fail in its true struggle by emulating Communism on every point…A fine study that will challenge and inform."
"A gap existed that needed to be filled. Richard Reinsch's Whittaker Chambers: The Spirit of a Counterrevolutionary is an admirable candidate for addressing that gap….Chambers's message…still rings true for today. Now, thanks to Richard Reinsch's insightful analysis of that message, Chambers may reach a new generation."
|Eligible for Readers Club Discount


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email from Marcelo Vieira, Maringa, in Brazil
Hello, Charlie! Your programme is fantastic. It is the nice World Music programme that inspired me to produce my own show on a local radio station two years ago. U r my inspiration! A couple of years ago I heard a song from Congo and I fell in love with it . Unfortunately I didn't understand when you mentioned its name, but now I know it's from Franco Luambo because I eventually found it!!! Could you please play it again? Its name is Infidelite Mado. Thanks!


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German sailors who served and ultimately gave
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How HIV Damages the Immune System
September 18, 2008
The basic structure of HIV is similar to that of other viruses (Figure 1). HIV has a core of genetic material surrounded by a protective sheath, called a capsid. The genetic material in the core is RNA (ribonucleic acid), which contains the information that the virus needs in order to replicate (make more copies of itself) and perform other functions. You can think of RNA as the set of rules the virus follows in order to live.
In HIV, viral RNA has a protein called "reverse transcriptase" that is crucial for viral replication inside T cells, white blood cells that help coordinate activities of the immune system. (The function of reverse transcriptase, which means "writing backwards," will be explained later when we discuss how HIV infects T cells.)
HIV, like all other viruses, has proteins that are particular to itself. These proteins are called antigens. Antigens have diverse functions in viral replication. In the case of HIV, a combination of two antigens, gp120 and gp41, allow the virus to hook onto T cells and infect them. These antigens are located on the surface of the virus. (Another HIV antigen is p24, an antigen of the core of the virus that is measured to estimate the amount of active free-floating virus in the blood of HIV positive people).
HIV Targets T Cells
T cells are the main target of HIV in the blood, and they act as the host that the virus needs in order to replicate. (However, macrophages, B cells, monocytes, and other cells in the body can also be infected by HIV.) The T cell has a nucleus that contains genetic material in the form of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) (Figure 2). The cell's DNA has all the information that the cell needs in order to function. The difference between RNA and DNA is that the former is a single strand of genetic material, while the latter is a double strand (Figure 3). This difference is crucial in the process of T cell infection by HIV.
HIV Takes Control of T Cells
Once inside the cell, the capsid dissolves, liberating the viral RNA and the reverse transcriptase. Now, in order to infect the cell, the viral RNA needs to travel into the T cell's nucleus (where it can change the cell's rules and convert it into a virus factory). However, for that to happen, an important transformation needs to take place.
Normally, the T cell's nucleus communicates with the rest of the cell by transforming DNA into RNA and sending it out of the nucleus. (In all the cells of the body, RNA acts as a messenger between the nucleus and the rest of the cell. The DNA makes RNA and sends it out to convey orders.) The genetic material's passport to leave the nucleus is to be transformed into single-stranded RNA. In the same fashion, the passport to enter the nucleus is to be transformed into double-stranded DNA.
Viral RNA needs to become DNA in order to start the replication process. Reverse transcriptase allows the RNA to borrow material from the cell and to "write backwards" a chain of viral DNA.
HIV Replicates
Once transformed, the viral DNA will travel into the T cell's nucleus and attach itself to the cell's DNA (a process similar to placing a "bug" in a computer software program). At this point, if the T cell is activated, it will start producing new virus instead of performing normal T cell functions.
Because it hijacks the "coordinator" T cells that help keep the immune system working, HIV is particularly devastating to immune health. In the process of replication, the virus destroys increasing numbers of T cells. The coordinator cells of an important part of the immune system are annihilated, leaving the body open to opportunistic infections.
This article was provided by San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It is a part of the publication AIDS 101. Visit San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Web site to find out more about their activities, publications and services.


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"Rescue your beloved princess through teamwork in this comic medieval battle royale. There's a catch, though - the other team has been feeding her magical cake, making her harder to escort back to your castle. Choose from five distinct character classes and switch at any time to best help your team. Charge head first into battle, heal teammates as they break through enemy lines, and upgrade your team and the castle defenses as you work with your team to save your princess. Download the game today!
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Could you please tell me if the structure and punctuation in this sentence is correct?
"Understanding the desire in students to achieve communicative competence, it is therefore, logical to focus on those strategies, which may have a potential benefit in the development of this area of foreign language learning."
Thank you very much
I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.


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Tuesday, October 26, 2010
I learned from the Armenian Shark that you can't 'unring' the bell - so might it not be more effective in a democratic and free-thinking society to ensure to the best of our abilities that, in the future, either the kind of damaging information revealed by Wikileaks isn't recorded so it can't be leaked in the first place (ignorance is bliss), or, more realistically, that our policy makers institute directives that compel the best possible behavior from our government representatives abroad, and that we actually hold ourselves accountable for following those directives and conducting ourselves according to the highest standards of enlightened liberalism? I mean, it's downright embarrassing to see former State Dept. advisers whining that Julian Assange should be declared an "enemy combatant." Apparently it's lost on them that this kind of extra-judicial, imperial hubris is what got us into this mess in the first place. Just compare:
"The government views the allegations very seriously," - Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen
"Here are some of the things the U.S. could do: Explore opportunities for the president to designate WikiLeaks and its officers as enemy combatants, paving the way for non-judicial actions against them." - Christian Whiton
The USA does not need an Official Secrets Act. Our government just needs to do the best it can, at home and abroad, to implement policies that are in the long-term national interest, which don't jeopardize our international standing and the legitimacy we supposedly enjoy as a bastion of democracy, unique in the world thanks to our American exceptionalism.
As Stephen M. Walt writes in the respected journal Foreign Affairs: "Realist that I am, I believe that human beings are more likely to misbehave if they think they can shield what they are doing from public view. For that reason, I also believe that democratic societies are more likely to adopt better policies when information is plentiful and when government officials cannot determine which facts are available to the public and which are not. Because its primary function is to make more information available on issues that concern us all, I therefore conclude that what Wikileaks is doing is on balance a good thing."
3 comments:
- Anonymous01 November, 2010 10:49
We're now in the age of Napster-like morals. The current state of technology requires a lot of self-control, and unfortunately, many people just do not have it. We give a 19-year old kid access to top secret databases containing material that could cause great damage to others, and you've essentially reduced our national security down to that lowest common denominator.ReplyDelete
I'm actually surprised that our intelligence community has not already put an end to the wikileak guy's life. Had this been the 1970's, we never would have heard of wikileaks by this point. The guy would have been dead already.
Very perceptive, Anon, and well-stated. Thanks.ReplyDelete
It IS very surprising that the US Army (or the intelligence community in general) thinks that what are effectively still kids have the ability to provide insightful or effective analysis of raw intelligence anyway.
As someone who succeeded at progressing very deeply into the hiring process for what was then known as the Directorate of Operations - but who ultimately did not receive a viable offer - I have more than just a passing understanding of the knowledge, skills, temperament and other intangibles expected of those kind of officers. And it was the right decision not to utilize me at that particular point in time because I simply was not ready. I realize that and can admit it to myself without bitterness now.
But, not without reason, at the time I considered myself to be exceptionally qualified, and was to some degree - but not completely. And that was after earning a social sciences degree summa cum laude, having won a graduate fellowship in public policy that accepted about 1.2% of its applicants, lived and traveled all over the world, represented my country in int'l competition and even mastered a foreign language - and I was still found wanting.
And yet the US Army gives a then-22 year old kid unprecedented access to classified databases and continues to employ him in that position even after his obvious left-leaning anti-American political sympathies became known to his immediate superiors, his sexuality was questionable and his disillusionment and disciplinary issues obvious?
What did they expect?
I half-suspect that the vehemence of the right's condemnation of Wikileaks, Assange and Manning stems from their embarrassment over ever having exposed the country to this kind of liability in the first place. As I implied in the original post, if the gov't is going to engage in actions that could be compromising if exposed, then they should, at the least, reduce the risk of that very exposure - not increase it by giving access to an entire history of (equally) morally-questionable policies to the very type of disaffected, anti-establishment outcasts most likely to find justification in the Napster-like morals to whine about what the military is up to.
How much do you want to bet that what Manning leaked, he did so not because he was motivated by great ideals and a social conscience, but out of anger, disillusionment, resentment and a desire to take revenge upon the "establishment" into which he could never fit?
- Anonymous01 November, 2010 16:43
the US is not a democracy...ReplyDelete
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Hi Everyone: As part of Burton Group's integration into Gartner, we are moving to the Gartner Blog Network (affectionately known as GBN).
You can follow me here: http://blogs.gartner.com/richard-jones/
Just to let everybody know, this will be my last post on the DCS blog.
<pauses briefly to allow the moaning, wailing, and gnashing of teeth to die down>
Ok, don't panic, I'm not disappearing from the blogosphere, just moving my blog onto the Gartner Blogging Network effectively immediately. So if you want to continue to see my thoughts, musings, and general ramblings on topics such as server design, blades, benchmarks, I/O virtualization, operating systems, cloud computing etc, just point your feed reader to:
Posted by: Nik Simpson
On Tuesday VMware and Salesforce.com announced their joint venture - vmforce.com. Both vendors offered informative blog posts about the announcement, and I recommend reading the following:
These posts are also worth reading:
The move makes sense for both vendors. VMware understands that existing as a virtual infrastructure platform for Windows applications – where Microsoft is a direct competitor – is a losing battle. Many vendors have tried and failed in their efforts to take down Microsoft. In the end, the problem for Microsoft's competitors was always the same – integration across the Microsoft stack would always win out. Paul Maritz realizes this and understands that without challenging Microsoft's dominance in the application space, VMware will eventually succumb to Microsoft as the preferred virtual infrastructure platform for Windows applications. Partnering with providers such as Salesforce.com is a logical move for VMware. The more VMware can help Salesforce.com and Force.com pick up customers, the more they may see Microsoft's dominance in the application space erode. This isn't a strategy that plays out overnight, but over the next 10+ years. Along the way, I expect VMware to partner with key Microsoft rivals such as Google. Such a move is too sensible for both companies not to happen at some point.
For Salesforce.com, the VMware partnership and integration with VMware's SpingSource Spring Framework offers the potential to bring in a large number of new customers. In addition, the combined VMforce.com solution utilizes VMware vSphere backend infrastructure. As standard cloud API and data models emerge over the coming years, close alignment with VMware should remove concerns of VMforce.com being perceived as a niche solution, and will be one that leverages known and trusted back end virtual infrastructure. This is important when you consider factors such as regulatory compliance. Large enterprises turning to the cloud are wary of lock-in, and the more providers can offer secure solutions that are compatible across numerous cloud solutions, the more likely enterprises are to invest.
While I like the move, there are still many unanswered questions. For starters, making it easy for Java developers to run complex application stacks in the cloud is a good start, but what about the .NET developer ecosystem? If VMware and its competitors want to take market share from Microsoft, they're going to have to entice .NET developers to come their way. I have said for some time that I see Azure evolving to be both a cloud and on-premise solution. So in time Microsoft will be offering even more compelling reasons to to come their way or stay with them, and Microsoft's competitors will need a very good answer to counter. If VMware succeeds with "Open PaaS"," they may have the answer – a Java-based PaaS platform with choice on par with VMware's vCloud ecosystem (1,000+ providers).
It's also important to note that VMforce.com is not a pure infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) play. You can't package any app as a VM and deploy it to VMforce.com. Instead, the solution is positioned to support Java apps, a Force.com backend database, and leverage VMware vSphere plumbing. As a joint venture, VMware couldn't get into IaaS for the simple reason that it would position VMware as a competitor with the providers in its vCloud ecosystem.
Finally, if you go back to Steve Herrod's original post on the VMforce.com announcement, I couldn't help but focus on the fact that "Open PaaS" was placed in quotes. In the past, I have asked vendors if some of their "features" should be in quotes, insinuating that a particular feature was a bit misleading. If you've been in IT long enough, you already know that "open" is a relative word, with openness subject to the number of supported vendor or provider alternatives out there. In the case of VMforce, "open" does not have to imply open source, but rather a defacto standard for PaaS with a large choice of provider solutions.
The following statement from Steve Herrod's post alluded to VMware's plans for Open PaaS.
One thing in particular mention here should strike you … we will wholeheartedly enable deployment of these cloud portable applications to clouds that are not based on our underlying vSphere virtualization technology. This support is a key aspect of openness and will enable a broader and more competitive ecosystem of compatible Spring PaaS offerings. And this in turn will be the reason why developers will bet on Spring-based applications for maximum flexibility. Stay tuned as you'll see many more announcements around this very soon.
Steve is implying that apps deployed to VMforce.com can be moved to non-VMware infrastructure without a Force.com backend, which I mentioned earlier when discussing Open PaaS. If VMware succeeds with VMforce and gets numerous other providers to support Open PaaS along the way, they will have a serious alternative to Azure, and one that is devoid of provider lock-in.
As James McBride once said, the details always tell the story. Right now, we have a story. Whether or not the story will be remembered depends on the details. Give us standard APIs, application models, metadata sets, security frameworks, and modernized service-level definitions that apply to emerging cloud-based architectures, and we have a very compelling story. So far, the book on VMforce.com has a nice cover, but the meaningful content remains a mystery.
With the postponement of Catalyst Europe, I had the opportunity to virtually attend the Microsoft MMS conference keynotes on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. MMS has long been one of Microsoft's best conferences, and this year didn't disappoint. I'm not going to rehash the major announcements, but you can read the full details in the following Microsoft System Center team blog posts:
As I had done in previous conferences, I commented throughout the keynotes via twitter. Here is a summary of my take on Bob Muglia's Tuesday keynote and Brad Anderson's Wednesday keynote.
Overall I was very impressed with the conference keynotes. System Center Service Manager and Microsoft's increasing integration of the Opalis software are two areas to watch. Muglia's talk about standard service delivery models also leads me to believe that Microsoft is poised to aggressively go after the cloud provider space. The release of Microsoft's Dynamic Infrastructure Toolkit and growing number of partners in Microsoft's Dynamic Data Center Alliance (DDA) is proof of that. What did you think of MMS 2010? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yesterday, an eagle-eyed reporter at EE Times noticed an interesting job on offer at Microsoft in its BING Autopilot group. According to the job ad, Bing Autopilot is responsible for designing the infrastructure behind Microsoft's Bing search platform, and as part of its duties the group evaluates new technologies with solid state disk (SSD) and ARM processors specifically referenced. Microsoft looking at SSD technologies doesn't come as big surprise (if you aren't looking at SSD, you need to get with the program), but the mention of the ARM processor has certainly turned some heads.
In years past, Microsoft has been associated almost exclusively with the x86 server platform, yes there have been ports to other platforms (I've personally seen Windows on MIPS, Alpha, PowerPC, and CLIPPER) but they've all died a pretty rapid death with Itanium being the latest casualty. There has been speculation about Microsoft doing something with ARM going back at least a year but this is the first concrete indication of their interest, so the question has to be asked, what does Microsoft want ARM for?
If you look at how search engine infrastructure is built you can get a good idea. Search engines are invariably built on scale-out principles with hundreds or more likely thousands of individual servers working in concert to deliver search results. More interestingly, these servers tend to be relatively weak in terms of CPU power, they're not using 4-socket 128-thread monsters, for the most part it's cheap and cheerful two-socket servers with an emphasis on power efficiency and small form factor, which is where ARM comes in. ARM may not be fast compared to the latest Intel and AMD processors, but it's wickedly efficient in terms of power consumption which brings two benefits:
What Microsoft no doubt wants to know is whether using ARM in the servers that power Bing would allow them to maintain or increase performance within a given data center power foot print. For example, if ARM enables Bing to process 10% more search requests for the same amount of power, then that's a potentially big win.
As a footnote, if you're getting excited about the possibility of Windows running on an ARM-based netbook, don't hold your breath. First, we know next to nothing about the underlying software for Bing, the OS platform may not be Windows at all, it could be a kernel specifically designed to support search operations, or horror of horrors it might even be LINUX ;-) Second, even if it is Windows underneath Bing, there's no guarantee that work done to support Bing would ever make it outside Microsoft data centers.
Posted by: Nik Simpson
Everything looks like a nail, a truism that ASHRAE (The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has just demonstrated in its advice to data center operators on how to achieve greater cooling efficiency in the data center (see ASHRAE Standard 90.1). In ASHRAE's opinion, the way to achieve data center cooling efficiency is through the use of various economizer techniques (air-side, water-side …) to reduce the amount of energy used by the cooling plant. Unfortunately, this is a rather narrow view of the problem, focused on the stuff that ASHRAE members do best, i.e. air-conditioning and chilled water plants. The ASHRAE standard has now drawn a universal thumbs down from some of the largest data center operators (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Digital Realty Trust, DuPont Fabros Technology and Nokia) who issued a joint statement urging ASHRAE to re-think it's position.
The truth is that economizer are just one approach to achieving more efficient energy usage and the best approach will vary based on a host of factors. For example, one company might favor widespread adoption of server virtualization as a way to reduce energy consumption, while another might be able to scavenge energy from the waste heat produced by the data center and use it heat buildings. Both approaches lead to more efficient use of energy without requiring the use of economizers. The problem with ASHRAE's approach is that there is a danger it will get built into building construction codes and potentially restrict innovation in the data center. James Hamilton's blog entry on the subject (see here) does an excellent job of describing the problems of such a restrictive definition.
Posted by: Nik Simpson
Funnily enough, the week turned out to be so busy that I never got around to talking about AMD's Opteron 6000 series. The main changes vs. the previous high-end Opterons are:
All this adds up to a rather different view of the how the commodity server market will develop. AMD is putting it's faith in sweet spot of the market, large 2-socket servers and cheaper 4-socket configurations, with an emphasis on power efficiency. Given AMD's desire to get a larger percentage of the commodity server market this makes a lot of sense, A few extra percentage points of market share in the 2-socket market will do much more good for their bottom-line than complete ownership of the 8-socket and above market.
The wisdom of AMD's decision to cede the 8-socket and above market to Intel's Xeon 7500 series remains to be seen. On the one hand, historically this market has been tiny, for several reasons:
On the other hand, Intel's Xeon 7500 removes at least two of the reasons, reliability and cost, by borrowing the reliability features of Itanium and enabling OEMs to build "cookie-cutter" 8-socket configurations that can support 1TB of memory with 8GB DIMMs.
Footnote: At launch, AMD didn't offer any VMmark numbers, leaving that job to their OEMs who will no doubt have something to say on the matter when they officially launch their AMD-based offerings later this quarter.
Posted by: Nik Simpson
Microsoft will not support Itanium processors with future releases Windows Server according to the Windows Server Division blog. So Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last release of Windows on Itanium, with support ending in July 2013 (extended support continues to 2018). It's no coincidence that this announcement comes in the same week that Intel announced the Xeon 75xx family which brings the Itanium's reliability features to the x64 commodity server platform (see here for more information). For Microsoft, reliability was the only thing that Itanium had going for it, the number of Windows licenses sold on Itanium is negligible compared to the x64 business. So the decision to drop Itanium was probably a relatively easy one.
For the Itanium platform, the news is bad, but not disastrous, at least for now. The vast majority of Itanium processors go into systems running HP-UX, so losing Windows support isn't the end of the world. The problem is that Microsoft isn't the only vendor abandoning the Itanium platform, Redhat made a similar decision at the end of 2009, announcing that it would not support Itanium on the 6.0 release of Redhat Enterprise Linux (see here). That leaves only Novell (Suse Enterprise Linux), HP (HP-UX, OpenVMS), and Groupe Bull (GCOS) in the operating system business for Itanium. There are other LINUX distributions that support Itanium, but none of them have much in the way of enterprise ready credentials. Of those operating system platforms, only HP-UX and OpenVMS actually require Itanium. GCOS and SEL are both supported on x64 processors, which will probably hasten the end of support on Itanium now that x64 can match Itanium for reliability.
So HP is likely to be the last man standing in the Itanium systems business, but the new features and scalability of the 75xx Xeon beg the question, "will HP adapt its Itanium hardware to support the Xeon 75xx and port HP-UX or OpenVMS to the x64 platform?"
Technically, adapting the Integrity Superdome server platform probably isn't that hard. The 93xx Itanium and 75xx Xeon processor families share the same memory controller and quick path interconnects, simplifying the task considerably, and porting HP-UX and OpenVMS to new architectures is nothing new. Right now, I expect that HP is at least taking a look at this and talking to some of their larger customers and independent software vendors to gauge their reaction. The big question for HP is whether those customers and ISVs would find jumping ship to Power or SPARC to be a more palatable alternative than following HP to Itanium-less future?
Posted by: Nik Simpson
In my previous post on Novell's answer to Elliott Associates unsolicited offer, I indicated that I'd talk about Novell's assets that many may not be considering.
For those of you following the (yet another) SCO vs. Novell UNIX copyright trial, the verdict came down in Novell's favor yesterday (again). Novell's ownership of the UNIX copyrights is just one asset of many to discuss. A comment to my blog came from Otto: "The big problem, IMHO, is that Novell owns the Unix patents. If Elliott Associates sells those to, let's say, some hyper-aggressive monopoly it could cause the Linux community still more pain." It's not just a hyper-aggressive monopoly to be feared, it's any company looking to make a buck. This brings up the subject of patent trolls.
Elliott Associates would be interested in recouping its investments in Novell, and would sell assets to the top bidder – regardless of who that was. Novell not only owns the UNIX copyrights, but has a number of patents that prove very important in the software industry. It must be noted that with patents, it's not the number, but the quality of individual patents. It only takes one extremely good patent to inflict a sales halt on a multi-billion dollar product line if that patent were to fall into the wrong hands. There are individuals and organizations that make their business in collecting patents from failed companies and then using those patents to extract royalties from deep pocketed vendors. These are patent trolls.
Novell has key patents in many areas, but most importantly in the areas of directory and identity services, operating system kernels, file services and systems, document management, and collaboration. You can bet that the large software and hardware vendors in the IT market have their legal departments watching closely what is transpiring with Novell. They would all prefer that Novell remain an independent company that they can partner with. Savvy vendors have already struck partnerships with Novell and understand the value and protection it brings to their businesses.
For the sake of the IT industry, let's hope that Novell stays independent, or is acquired by a friendly vendor.
[Posted by: Richard Jones]
Apparently Intel and AMD don't care about poor analysts trying to get their content completed by the end of the quarter, as evidenced by their decision to launch major server processor refreshes (AMD, Intel) on consecutive days this week. Needless to say there has been a vast amount of coverage from web pundits already, so I'm not going rehash it in detail.
Instead I'm going to focus on things that should matter to anybody buying servers this year. First, lets look at Intel's Xeon 75xx and 65xx processors with respect to:
I'll look at the AMD Opteron 6000 in a later blog.
Virtualization is one of the few workloads that really make sense on these new processors, and judging by the numbers, they really do deliver. Using VMware's VMmark benchmark, Intel claims a top score of 71.85 @ 49 tiles using 32-cores (4 x 8-core processors) on an IBM System X3850 X5. To put that in perspective, the previous best 32-core result topped out at 31.56 @ 21tiles on HP ProLiant DL785 using 8 x 4-core AMD processors. The result also trounced a 64-core result (48.23 @ 32 tiles) using 16 of the previous generation Intel XEON processors. That's a hugely impressive result for a 4-socket system!
This release drives the final nail into Intel's aging "Front Side Bus" (FSB) memory architecture that dates back the mid-1990s. The FSB architecture had all the processors connected to a common memory controller (AKA "Northbridge") so that each processor competed with its peers for access to a common pool of memory, thus becoming a bottleneck for performance. The new processors have integrated memory controllers supporting up to 16 memory DIMMs for a total of 64 DIMMs on a 4-socket server (512 GB with 8GB DIMMs), or 32 DIMMs on a 2-socket server ( 256 GB with 8 GB DIMMs).
In the past, x86-based servers have have used a unsophisticated approach to error handling; tell the operating system that something horrible happened and keel over in a heap on the floor. The new Xeons take a very different approach that allows the hardware and operating system to react in a much more flexible way to errors. For example if an unrecoverable memory error occurs, the operating system can look at the error and simply map that memory location out of use, or kill the process (or virtual machine) that is using the affected memory location. In effect, Intel has blurred the line between it's own high-end Itanium architecture and Xeon, which is good for Xeon, but not so good for Itanium.
The new Xeon architecture can be used to build 8-socket servers with off-the-shelf components (sometimes referred to as a "glue less design"). But they don't stop at sockets, the Xeon 7500 family in combination with third-party developed memory hubs is designed to support configurations as large as 256 sockets (4096 threads) with 16 TB of memory! The combination of a highly scalable architecture and high system reliability has the potential to put commodity server architectures into direct competition high-end RISC architectures. For a glimpse of where the future of scale up architectures may lie, see SGI's Altix UV announcement.
Posted by: Nik Simpson
Novell officially turned down the purchase offer of $5.75/share from Elliott Associates in a letter and press release this past Saturday. So what does this mean for the software company?
The rejection comes as no surprise. Any board would value their company more and would want top dollar. Note in the letter that: "Novell's Board is committed to enhancing value for Novell stockholders and believes that an exploration of alternatives is in the best interests of the Company and its stockholders." And that the paths they are pursuing to enhance stockholder value "include, but are not limited to, a return of capital to stockholders through a stock repurchase or cash dividend, strategic partnerships and alliances, joint ventures, a recapitalization and a sale of the Company."
In short, Novell is saying: "Come on Elliott – or anyone else out there – you can do better than that!" However, I think this is exactly what Elliott was hoping would happen. Start a bidding war. But most people would think that Novell isn't worth that much, but that's where they are making a mistake. Novell has more assets and than most people realize – and most importantly, in ways that most people don't realize. I'll blog about those in an upcoming blog.
Novell is open to any tactic to increase shareholder value, but they know not to jump at the first opportunity. Most of these negotiations and possibilities will occur under the covers. So what do I think should happen to Novell? I've told Novell executives on a number of occasions that they need to find the right technology company (not investment firm) to merge with or be acquired by. Novell continues to produce great technology, but they have never been able to market themselves out of a paper bag. Even during the years I was there, each new chief marketing officer (CMO) came with glorious plans to improve Novell's image. That was the root of the problem, the Novell brand isn't bad, it's just become irrelevant. The analogy I like to make to help people understand is that they need to think of how the IT world regarded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the mid 1990s. It was known as a great technology company with excellent mini-computer systems, but the needs of the market shifted making them all but irrelevant. The same thing has happened to the Novell brand: regarded with thoughtful awe from a past era. The company needs to surface its technologies under a different more relevant brand today. Note: Novell has done this with some products (eg Platespin Orchestrate was originally going to be called Zenworks Orchestrator but they latched onto a more modern relevant brand for that product) – but the crux is they need to lose the Novell name for new technologies and products. The name needs to go down in the history books and remain revered for its past legacy.
Tell me what you think should happen to Novell?
[Posted by: Richard Jones]
For many years, one of the common factors in x86 servers has been a graphics subsystem characterized by the cheapest graphic chip the vendor could find to put on the motherboard. The logic (if you'll forgive the pun) behind this was simple; you don't buy servers to run graphics intensive applications, that's what workstations are for! However, 2010 is shaping up to be different with two applications for graphics cards helping to make the case for graphics in the server.
The first of these; high performance compute clusters with graphics cards used to accelerate math calculations applications is not entirely new. NVIDIA has been pushing it's CUDA program language graphics cards for at least 18 months with ATI/AMD expected to join the fray this year. However, the second application; accelerating graphics for virtual desktops is very new, with Microsoft's announcements related to it's RemoteFX protocol setting the stage for the use of high-performance graphics in servers (see here for more on RemoteFX). One of RemoteFX's capabilities is the ability to use host-based graphics hardware acceleration to offload the graphics processing needed to support hundreds of Windows 7 virtual desktops (RemoteFX may support Vista as well, but I'd be surprised if they back-port the capability to Windows XP).
If Microsoft is successful with RemoteFX, then the real question will be how will graphics cards be integrated into today's server platforms, and it's not as simple as you might think. Today's hi-end graphics cards have a number of requirements that largely rule them out for use in servers:
So off-the-shelf graphics cards aren't good fit for servers, and have components that aren't needed at all such as the ability to send graphics out over VGA or DVI connections. If things are difficult for conventional rack mount servers, they are much worse for blades where the restrictions on power and physical space are even greater.
My bet is that we'll need something a bit different if this type of hardware acceleration is going to take off. Here's what I think we'll see:
The external graphics engine may also be a good place to make use of multi-root I/O virtualization that can share the graphics engine between multiple servers. Anyway this is certainly going to be an interesting space to watch as desktop virtualization becomes a mainstay of enterprise desktop strategies.
Posted by: Nik Simpson
There are some physical things in life that I like to associate with as part of my identity. My Jeep Wrangler is one of them. My laptop is not. How I live and work is not defined by a physical compute device, but rather by my online identity. Email, Twitter, accessing documents and meeting notes on SharePoint, tracking client engagements in Salesforce, evaluating and testing virtualization solutions in my lab – those are all part of my day. My PC? It's just what connects me to my online work space and personal space. Sorry Latitude D820, but you mean nothing to me.
From talks with colleagues and clients, I know I'm not alone. My device doesn't define me, and certainly doesn't hold all the data and applications I need to do my job. So what does all this have to do with Microsoft licensing? Well in my opinion, they're getting it.
I'm not going to rehash much of the excellent commentary already out there on yesterday's Microsoft announcement. See these posts for more background information on the Microsoft announcement:
As Simon noted in his blog, VECD licensing is going away and the right to run a desktop OS as a server-hosted virtual desktop is now included with Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA). For devices not covered by SA, organizations can purchase Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) licenses at a cost of $100 per device per year. Furthermore, Microsoft's license transfer restrictions still apply. So if you want to license a virtual desktop for external contractors, you can assign a VDA license to each contractor system. If a contractor completes a project and leaves, you can re-assign the license to another contractor's device (you just can't reassign the license more than once per 90 days).
Simon also mentioned that "extended roaming rights" is the big deal in the announcement, and it is. While not perfect (Simon describes the issues), it's a step toward licensing a desktop for a user and not a device (sure technically we're still talking about device licensing, but the user can access his desktop from a myriad of personal devices). So let's call it an alpha release of per-user licensing. Does a per-user model solve all of our problems? No. But organizations want it offered as a choice, and it's good to see that Microsoft is listening to their customers.
Looking past the good news that came out of yesterday's announcement, considerable work remains. Microsoft has still not addressed the service provider market. Considerable clarity is still needed for licensing virtual desktops on shared infrastructure. For example, if a user needs a Windows desktop for a week, he essentially has to pay for 90 days worth of licensing. Why? Even with VDA, the service provider technically has to associate the VDA with the subscribers physical device and can't transfer it for another 90 days. The result is that desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) is far more costly than it should be. This problem will grow once companies like HP, IBM, and Dell offer client hypervisors, and look to offer services where user desktop VMs are automatically replicated from their personal system to the cloud. Again, this takes us back to a physical device not defining the user. For the IHVs, they get the opportunity to sell additional services to make up for the low margins they see on hardware sales. Sooner or later Microsoft will have to address this issue, and let's hope it's sooner.
On the support side, Microsoft's internal application teams need to step up and offer clear support statements for the leading client and application virtualization platforms. Officially supporting App-V would be a nice first step. The push for Microsoft client applications to fully support the major client virtualization solutions must come from the top. I'm hopeful that Microsoft's key executives will make that push.
Finally, let's not forget that even with SA, Windows Server OS licenses cannot be virtualized (without mobility restrictions). Instead, most large enterprises have to upgrade to Data Center edition licenses (for practical purposes) for the sake of virtualizing. I talked about this issue extensively in this post, so I won't repeat the details here. If lifting licensing constraints for client virtualization is good, I'd argue that doing the same for servers would be even better, especially if you look at the amount of servers already virtualized today.
Microsoft customers – you're voice is being heard. Now's a great time to pat Microsoft on the back. However, it's not time to back off. Keep communicating your licensing needs to Microsoft. It's clear that they are listening, and taking steps to make your life easier.
Yesterday was a huge day for desktop virtualization. Microsoft shared it's vision for the virtual desktop, corrected its past mistakes, and showed off its bright new future.
Right from the start Microsoft showed that it had been listening to its customers' feedback. As of July 1st Microsoft is rolling Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) into the Windows Software Assurance (Windows SA) program. This means that anyone with Software Assurance can deploy desktops locally or in the data center at no additional cost. At the same time Microsoft is extending the remote access rights so that remote isn't tethered to a single PC in the primary users' home. This awareness of the fact that users want flexibility around when and where they work is the key element that has been missing from Microsoft's virtualization strategy since day one.
If this wasn't enough, Microsoft is introducing a new desktop virtualization license called Windows Virtual Desktop Access (Windows VDA) costing $100 per year per device and aimed at organizations who are using endpoints that do not have a Windows SA license – Contractors PCs, devices that are do not run Windows (e.g., thin-clients, smart phones and Apple Macs) and yes, PCs with OEM licenses. Hang-on, isn't that just the same as the old non-SA VECD license? More or less, yes; it's certainly cheaper, although at $100 per year not by much. What's more important is that Windows VDA is now a first-class citizen in the Microsoft licensing hierarchy with all the benefits of Software Assurance (e.g., 24x7 support, upgrade/downgrade rights), and as a desktop virtualization license it gets the same extended roaming rights offered to the a full member of the SA club.
While dropping the VECD tax will draw the headlines, it's that second change from offering remote access from a single home PC to offering extended roaming rights from any non-corporate endpoint that is the more far reaching change. Aside from the flexibility this change offers the thing that I think is most important is that this is Microsoft's first step to user based licensing of the desktop operating system. One OS license, one user, and as many (remote) desktops are you want.
Admittedly there are still a few kinks to iron out with the VDA licensing model. Most notably there is a problem with the way that Microsoft handles the difference between "corporate" and "non- corporate" devices. Microsoft defines a corporate device as one that was bought by the organization. Any non-SA eligible endpoint owned by the organization that needs to access a virtual desktop must have its own Windows VDA license. Which, kind of makes sense until you start to move away from desktop devices and down to smart phones; at which point it gets ugly fast. This isn't anything to do with functionality; you can do a lot with the right smart phone today. It's more a matter of the intersection of policy and accounting.
Looked at from a personal perspective, my iPhone is MY iPhone (it's non-corporate), but my colleague's Blackberry was bought by Gartner (it's corporate). They both do the same job more or less; I get better apps, he can type faster. But when we look at using them for remote access it gets very messy. I will be able to take advantage of my laptop's Windows SA license to access my desktop virtualization from my non-corporate device, but my colleague can't use 'his' Blackberry to access that same environment, without an additional VDA license. Of course we could avoid this by giving him $100 and telling him to go and buy his own phone but that's not the point is it? Still, with a couple of months to go before the July 1st launch it's possible that we will see further changes to address this flaw.
Microsoft is also looking at extending this roaming usage rights policy to MS Office. This is huge and in more ways than one. Microsoft has been very slow to act to do anything to acknowledge that its applications will be deployed on desktop virtualization platforms. By acknowledging this, Microsoft would be taking a big step to address concerns about the current lack of support by application vendors for desktop virtualization. If Microsoft licenses Office so that its licensing terms match those used in a desktop virtualization environment, we can reasonably assume that formal support will also be offered, and where Microsoft leads others will follow.


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Covers composite distribution deadend insulators made of a fiberglass-reinforced resin matrix core, polymer material weathersheds and metal end fittings intended for use on overhead lines for electric power systems, 69 kV and below. Mechanical and electrical performance levels specified are requirements for new insulators.
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text: A Salami that is similar in taste and appearance to a Neapolitan Salami is a Cervellatine Salami, which is another type of Neapolitan Salami from Italy. Cervellatine is made with lean pork and lard that is seasoned with salt, pepper, and red wine before being stuffed into a lamb's casing. Characteristic of the Neapolitan Salami, the Cervellatine sausage is also long, round in dimension and may be slightly smaller than many other varieties of Neapolitan Salami. Both the Neapolitan and the Cervellatine provide an enjoyable Salami to serve as spicy snacks, appetizers or luncheon meat, as well as being a tasty salami to add as an ingredient in numerous pasta dishes.


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October 09, 2012 12:00 ET
REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwire - Oct. 9, 2012) - The Government of Canada is supporting a project to help youth in Regina gain the skills, knowledge and experience they need to enter and succeed in the job market. Tom Lukiwski, Member of Parliament for Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, today participated in an event organized by the Regina Work Preparation Centre.
"Our government's top priorities are job creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity," said Mr. Lukiwski. "The Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy is helping youth develop the skills and gain the experience they need to get jobs now and prepare for the workforce of tomorrow."
The Regina Work Preparation Centre received over $68,000 from the Skills Link program to help youth overcome barriers to employment, which was previously announced by Mr. Lukiwski in July. Skills Link is part of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy (YES).
The participants in the Regina Work Preparation Centre project are attending skills workshops on topics that include team building, computer skills and effective communication. Participants will then gain hands-on experience in areas such as the skilled trades, sales and administration through work placements with local employers.
"Work Prep is excited to once again partner with the Government of Canada to provide youth in the City of Regina with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience as they move towards success in their long-term employment goals," said Ashley Boha, Youth Employment Services Manager, Regina Work Preparation Centre. "This unique program will support youth as they work through their challenges to find sustainable employment."
With an annual budget of more than $300 million, YES helps youth, particularly those facing barriers to employment, obtain career information, develop employment skills, find jobs and stay employed. YES includes the Skills Link and Career Focus programs and the Canada Summer Jobs initiative, which creates thousands of job opportunities for students every summer.
Economic Action Plan 2012 is providing an additional $50 million over two years to enhance YES through a new initiative that will connect young Canadians with jobs that are in high demand and help them develop tangible skills and gain work experience.
The additional funding will be delivered through two Calls for Proposals-one for Career Focus and one for Skills Link. The Calls opened on September 5 and will close on November 2. Organizations across Canada are invited to apply. Information is available at servicecanada.gc.ca.
Youth employment programs are part of the Government of Canada's broader strategy to create an educated, skilled and flexible workforce. The Government underscored its commitment to this strategy in Canada's Economic Action Plan. A key component of the Plan is to create more and better opportunities for Canadian workers through skills development. To learn more about Canada's Economic Action Plan, visit actionplan.gc.ca.
The Government of Canada is helping youth plan their careers, learn new skills and find jobs through enhanced online services available at Youth.gc.ca.
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This news release is available online at: actionplan.gc.ca.
The Youth Employment Strategy is the Government of Canada's commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace.
Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment, including youth who are single parents, youth with disabilities and youth in rural and remote areas, to develop the skills and gain the experience needed to find a job or the confidence to return to school.
Career Focus provides funding to employers to hire young post-secondary graduates to give them career-related work experience and help them acquire skills to transition into the job market.
Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.
To learn more about Canada's Youth Employment Strategy and other youth employment initiatives, please visit Youth.gc.ca.
Marian NgoOffice of Minister Finley819-994-2482Media Relations OfficeHuman Resources and Skills Development Canada819-994-5559
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01-30-2012 05:50 AM - edited 01-30-2012 09:41 AM
I was wondering under what circumstances the Power on and HDD passwords for Thinkpads could be circumvented. I'm bringing this up because even when I have these two passwords set, you can do a restart of the laptop, which bypasses those two checks.
The scenario I'm wondering about is if an up and running Thinkpad was taken, would it be possible to restart the machine with a linux distro in the tray, reset passwords and then reboot back to windows. I'm not especially worried if the Thinkpad is physically turned off because I know the power-on and hdd passwords will kick in. I'm more concerned about a Thinkpad where a user is accustomed to just leaving the thing on all the time.
I take care of IT issues for a small business and I'm implementing this level of security on the laptops. I want to be able to tell the owner that as long as strong passwords are used and a person doesn't have them written down on a sticky taped to the Thinkpad, if it's stolen no-one is getting into the hard drive.
Haiku welcome to the forum,
good question, asking it the other way around would also have resulted in you being quoted from the froum rules;
No posts shall include instructions or directions intended to subvert security measures, including passwords, locking mechanisms, fingerprint scans, etc, nor shall any posts provide descriptions to the location of, nor direct links to content related to these topics.
We can advise you to refer to the Hardware Maintainance Manuals for the systems concerned, having read the information, (which is basically the same for all ThinkPads), you should hopefully be a little more enlightened.
The power on password is definitely the weakest of all the passwords along with the Windows user password, HDD passwords are very safe. More discussion and information on HDD passwords can be found in this thread.
There's no way to make a computer 100% safe, it would be lying to presume otherwise, but there are soft and hardware solutions which get pretty close depending on the level of security you require e.g proximity sensors is one idea which could be used if a running system is stolen, Remote Disable is also another possibility.
For the scenario you mention, booting from a Linux disc, firstly the HDD password will need to be entered at startup, secondly you could remove the option to boot from optical, usb drives and any other options you care to exclude in BIOS, lock the BIOS settings having set a Supervisor password (SVP). This would result in the person trying to gain access having knowledge of the SVP in order to be able to change the boot order and becaue of the HDD passwords they would need another sinilar system and also need to know the HDD password.
Hopefully that answers some or most of your questions, but please avoid the obvious forbidden discussion.
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Yeah sorry about that, it was a difficult question to ask "correctly". That is a good point though about restricting devices from the boot order within the BIOS.
Thank you.
Short of replacing the motherboard they are not going to bypass the BIOS password. HDD passwords can be bypassed with a low level format, however that will take the data with it. If the HDD does not have built in hardware encryption it could still be possible to recover data from it in the event of theft, although this will take some skill. For this reason HDD passwords are best used with hardware encrypted drives (that's what they're really for).


text:
Product Highlights
This item is noncancelable and nonreturnable.
Formatt Fog Filters are excellent filters when you want to recreate the effects of natural fog. It generates a soft glow and flare - producing a warm romantic tone. A natural fog causes lights to glow and flare. Contrast is lower, and sharpness may be affected as well.
If you think of a perfume atomizer, that is what a Fog Filter will resemble. Like tiny droplets in the air, they create a soft image that is useful when you need to recreate the effect of humidity in a tropical scene.
Formatt Fog Filters are also available as Double Fog Filters. Double Fog Filters do not offer the same diffusion as traditional Fog Filters. They are slightly weaker in effect.
Formatt, a company with three generations of professional filter-making experience produces every filter to the highest technical standards. The finest materials, together with state of-the-art production technology have resulted in a standard of optical excellence unmatched anywhere else.
Note: Fog Filters are available in densities from 1/8 - 5, with 5 having the strongest effect
|6.6 x 6.6" (165 x 165mm, 3mm thick)
|Filter Factor
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|Mimics the effect of atomized water droplets in the air
|Nature, outdoor scenics
|Color Temperature
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|Schott-Desag B270 Crown Optical Glass
|Front Filter Thread Size
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|Packaging Infobsrxcuvezqvzeuaauwefxacr
|Package Weight
|0.6 lb
|Box Dimensions (LxWxH)
|2.0 x 2.0 x 2.0"


text:
New Delhi: Newcomer Himanshu Soni, who will be seen essaying title role in `Buddha`, says he has given his everything so that viewers remember him as the onscreen Buddha even after the saga goes off air.
Like many others, Himanshu left his hometown Jaipur and went to Mumbai to pursue acting. Nothing happened immediately and it was just six months ago that lady luck smiled on him.
"I went to Mumbai two years ago (in 2011). I had to struggle a lot. It`s true that Mumbai is a city of dreams, but it started working in my favour six months ago when I gave the audition for `Buddha`," Himanshu said.
"I was called for the look test and finally I got selected. It was a dream come true for me. After the show, I want people to remember me as the onscreen Buddha," he added.
To be aired on Zee TV, `Buddha` is being made my industrialist B.K. Modi.
After being shortlisted, the 24-year-old claims that he started doing his homework.
"I started doing meditation, went through books about Buddha, read his preaching. Then, one day I was called for the look test and got selected. It was a dream come true and I feel I have been able to do justice to my character," he said.
With a degree in M.Com from the University of Rajasthan, he wanted to pursue further studies, but couldn`t resist the temptation to wear grease paint and face the camera.


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Jimmy.whited needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 387 designs submitted by 116 freelance designers.
Windhaven Insurance Company
Windhaven Insurance Company and affiliates are auto insurance providers in multiple states. We are trying to blend a nautical theme (which is common in insurance) and reinforce the concept of protection. I've thought about having a circle around the W protecting it from the wind. Other ideas which would bring up the thoughts of protection from the wind would be great considering we're based in Florida. Windhaven is a unique name that I would like to have as a standalone without the word "insurance". We are a fast growing family company as well.
Our company markets through independent agents across the state so it's more of a B to B opportunity. In our market there is no significant brand recognition. I would like to be able to push into new markets. The new logo will assist us in new markets in new states.
I would like to retain the blue and gray color scheme or something around that but I am open to other colors. More subtle colors work in my industry. However, saying that I am willing to be bold but not too bold. I want to have a logo that I can put on shirts, caps etc.
Competitors I like:
However I do not want to focus on the road only like infinity. We cannot use their colors
I like this company but our name is too long
I do not like the swish
I hope I have provided enough info
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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There are a number of reasons that individuals take the time to fully bring back 1969 ford mach mustangs for vehicle programs and individual pleasure. One of the main reasons individuals invest so much time, energy, and money bring back 1969 ford mach mustangs is the power that is contained in that certain mustang model. The engine upgrades that were readily available during the launch of the 1969 ford mach mustang for sale in Sumner ME changed the mach mustang from the typical household vehicle into a racing enthusiasts dream.
Production of the Mustang began in Dearborn, Michigan on March 9, 1964 and the automobile was introduced to the general public on April 17, 1964 at the New York World's Fair. It is Ford's third oldest nameplate presently in production. After it was seen on television and in print it was wanted by every blue blooded American. Everyone wanted to be the first to buy A mustang in Sumner ME.Original sales forecasts predicted less than 100,000 devices for the very first year. This mark was surpassed in three months from rollout. Another 318,000 would be sold throughout the design year (a record), and in its very first eighteen months, more than one million Mustangs were constructed.
Buy Vintage Ford Mustangs
All of these were VIN-identified as 1965 models, however numerous changes were made at the standard opening of the brand-new model year (start August 1964), consisting of the addition of back-up lights on some designs, the introduction of alternators to replace generators, and an upgrade of the V8 engine from 260 cu into 289 cu in. In the case of a minimum of some six-cylinder Mustangs fitted with the 101 hp 170 cu in Falcon engine, the rush into production consisted of some uncommon peculiarities, such as a horn ring bearing the 'Ford Falcon' logo beneath a trim ring emblazoned with 'Ford Mustang.' These attributes made sufficient difference to warrant designation of the 121,538 earlier ones as "1964 1/2" model-year Mustangs, a difference that has endured with perfectionists. Mustangs For Sale in Sumner ME are easy to find now with online shopping.
The 1973 OPEC oil embargo brought with it more strict pollution laws and the desire for fuel-efficiency. This was also the first time in vehicle history that the Huge 3 were needing to take on imports. The new Mustang II was smaller than the very first variation but, due to the additional equipment required to fulfill brand-new United States emission and safety regulations, was much heavier than the first design. Performance was minimized and in the first year only 385,993 cars were offered.
Second generation Mustangs for sale in Sumner ME were offered between 1974 and 1978 and readily available in a coupe and hatchback variation. 1979 the Mustang was revamped a 3rd time. This time it was based upon the bigger Fox platform and the interior was truly large enough for four people. The trunk was larger and so was the engine bay. The body designs readily available included a coupe, hatchback and in 1983 a convertible. In 1979 the Third generation Mustang functioned as an Indianapolis 500 rate car and Ford built 10,478 commemorative reproductions. The third generation Mustangs were produced from 1979 to 1982.


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The CA vote has been counted and verified, and it is with great pleasure that I can announce the entries to the Foundry Stamp Competition that will now receive the public vote:
Option A
Option B
Option C
Option D
The choice was incredibly difficult, as the field was packed with a variety of ideas and talent. The variety of ideas that seeps from the foundry never ceases to amaze me, and is one of the things that makes Conquer Club great
Thank you to everybody who took part - all of the other competition entries are contained in the spoiler below. The voting has so far been anonymous [/size](I am the only person who knows who all the entries belong to) - I will leave it to the designers of unsuccessful entries to take credit for their work as they see fit
Happy Bananas, and Happy Voting!!
The Cartography Assistants are pleased to announce
The Foundry Stamp Competition
As Easter draws near, we'll be bringing some new life to the Foundry with a revamp of the foundry stamps! If you choose to take part, you will have the chance to have your images stamped onto every map in the Foundry during the period they're active!
Competition Rules
- Your entry should comprise 4 separate images: Draft, Graphics, Gameplay and XML. You may also include Forge and Quench stamps, although these will not form part of the official competition.
- The stamps should be generic, and not refer to individual CAs. The emphasis should be more about the foundry process than the map-stamper.
- The current stamps are 150x150px. There is no rigorous size restriction, but needless to say they should not be too large.
- The colour scheme of each stamp should be broadly similar to those currently in use: Draft=Pink/Red, Graphics=Blue, Gameplay=Green, XML=Yellow/Orange/Brown.
- Save your stamps as PNG images with a transparent background.
- Host your files using Photobucket or some other file sharing program, and PM a link to MrBenn by 23:59 GMT on April 19, 2009.
- The Foundry Staff will select a shortlist of finalists, and a one-week public voting period will be held to determine the winner.
- This is not a joke or an April Fool


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Mariners grow through adversity in 2013
SEATTLE -- A 2013 season that was expected to be another step forward in the Mariners' building process hit more hurdles than was anticipated as Seattle endured its eighth losing campaign in the past decade.
There were some positive steps for the Mariners -- outstanding pitching from Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, offensive boosts from veteran hitters Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez, continued production from young third baseman Kyle Seager, the arrival of promising position prospects Brad Miller, Mike Zunino, Nick Franklin and Abraham Almonte, and even a late-season tease from premier pitching prodigies Taijuan Walker and James Paxton.
SEATTLE -- A 2013 season that was expected to be another step forward in the Mariners' building process hit more hurdles than was anticipated as Seattle endured its eighth losing campaign in the past decade.
There were some positive steps for the Mariners -- outstanding pitching from Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, offensive boosts from veteran hitters Kendrys Morales and Raul Ibanez, continued production from young third baseman Kyle Seager, the arrival of promising position prospects Brad Miller, Mike Zunino, Nick Franklin and Abraham Almonte, and even a late-season tease from premier pitching prodigies Taijuan Walker and James Paxton.
But those gains were offset by setbacks that led to a losing record for the third straight year of manager Eric Wedge's regime and fewer wins than the club achieved in 2012, with Wedge announcing in the closing days of the campaign that he would not return next year.
"We're a completely different team now than we were in Spring Training," Wedge said at season's end. "We're not that team anymore. We haven't been that team in a long time. With really turning it over and having all these young kids in the bullpen and rotation and from a position player standpoint, it's tough to go out and compete the way you want. But that's what they did. They competed and learned each and every day."
Expected offensive improvements from veteran outfielder Michael Morse and catcher Jesus Montero never materialized, injury woes again eliminated center fielder Franklin Gutierrez for much of the year, shortstop Brendan Ryan was benched and then traded in September after hitting below .200 for a second straight season and youngsters like Michael Saunders, Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak had more ups and downs than hoped for as core players in the rebuilding plan.
The offense produced the most home runs of any Mariners club since 2000, but that didn't translate into an increase in scoring, and the team still ranked at the bottom of the American League in batting average.
With Hernandez and Iwakuma leading the way in All-Star seasons, the pitching staff kept the club in most games. Hernandez joined Detroit's Justin Verlander as the only active Major League pitchers with five straight seasons of 200 innings and 200 strikeouts. And Iwakuma was sensational in his first full season as a starter in the Majors as he posted better numbers than even Hernandez and was strong from start to finish, capping his year with 23 consecutive scoreless innings and one of the lowest ERAs in the league at 2.66.
But inconsistency in the back end of the rotation and in the bullpen proved troublesome. Seattle's relievers had the second-worst ERA in the AL, closer Tom Wilhelmsen lost his job in midseason and by year's end the group was relying on a number of youngsters with limited experience.
"We're all included in the team and we win together and we lose together," said Ibanez. "You know there was some disappointment on our part. I think we're a better team than we played this year."
A number of youngsters gained experience across the board as the midseason youth movement brought aboard a new middle infield with Miller and Franklin, a backstop of the future in Zunino, a promising setup man and closer combination of Yoervis Medina and Danny Farquhar and some eye-opening starting talent in Walker, Paxton, Brandon Maurer and Erasmo Ramirez.
Walker debuted with five innings with no earned runs and just two hits in Houston on Aug. 30 in Houston and Paxton allowed just one earned run in his first two starts, including six scoreless innings at St. Louis in his second start on Sept. 14, and finished up at 3-0 with 1.50 ERA in four outings.
The frustration of 2013 seemed to be about how close the club was to turning the corner, without quite getting there yet. The team set a franchise record for most extra-inning losses in a season and had the most walk-off defeats in the AL. It went 9-20 in one-run losses on the road and repeatedly seemed to just lack the one timely hit in a key situation needed to change a game, and ultimately, a frustrating season.
"We had that one big winning streak at one point," said Smoak. "We just need to maintain that attitude day in and day out. If you pitch and play good defense and score a few runs, we've got a chance to win a lot of ballgames. There were a lot of games we got walked off this year. There were a lot of games we lost in the other team's last at-bat. If we turn those around it's a different ballgame. It's something we'll all learn from and be ready for next year."
Record: 71-91, fourth in the AL West
Defining moment: The Mariners picked up four tough losses in a row in Cleveland in mid-May in a brutal series that kicked off an eight-game losing streak, dropping Seattle from 20-21 to 20-29 after it had just won big series against the A's and Yankees and seemed to be gaining some momentum. But two extra-inning losses and a couple bullpen implosions against the Indians proved tough to overcome as Seattle then got swept in a short series in Anaheim and lost twice to Texas. And the team never got closer than four games under .500 the rest of the way.
What went right: Hernandez and Iwakuma provided Seattle one of the premier one-two punches in baseball, both earning All-Star bids and pitching well throughout the year. … Looking to add some punch to the lineup, the club added some power hitters and moved the fences in at Safeco. And the Mariners wound up with their most home runs since 2000. … Ibanez was signed as a part-time player and veteran leader, but wound up providing a productive bat and led the team in home runs at age 41. … Seager again showed he's one of the bright young third basemen in the league with a second straight solid season at the hot corner. … Looking to the future, the club unveiled some extremely promising arms in late-season callups Walker and Paxton and also got a very solid year from Medina.
What went wrong: The team the Mariners broke camp with in April after a strong Spring Training never seemed to get off on the right foot. Gutierrez lasted just three weeks before going on the disabled list with a string of issues that wiped out most of his season, Morse got off to a torrid start but then fell off dramatically after the opening month and wound up being traded in August, Ryan and Ackley both hit around .200 for the first few months before losing their jobs and Montero didn't hit or defend well and was sent to the Minors and eventually suspended in the Biogenesis case. … The back end of the rotation struggled much of the year as veterans Joe Saunders, Aaron Harang and Jeremy Bonderman were inconsistent and injuries to youngsters Danny Hultzen and Ramirez limited or eliminated their ability to step in. … The bullpen didn't live up to expectations as Wilhelmsen struggled and lost his closer's job, Stephen Pryor got hurt and missed almost the entire season and hard-throwing Carter Capps couldn't find much consistency.
Biggest surprise: Farquhar began the season in Tacoma and was largely an unknown reliever obtained in the Ichiro Suzuki trade in July 2012. But the 5-foot-9 right-hander wound up as the Mariners closer by midseason after getting an early promotion to the bullpen and then showing such promise that he was called on to replace Wilhelmsen in early July. Despite only three games of Major League experience before this year, the 25-year-old proved to be poised and potent and was impressively consistent in save situations the final three months.
Hitter of the year: The Mariners traded for Morales to add a veteran bat in the middle of their lineup and the 30-year-old designated hitter delivered with a strong season at the plate. Morales led the team in batting average and RBIs and was a consistent producer with runners in scoring position.
Pitcher of the year: Iwakuma established himself not only as a valuable starter in his first full year in the Mariners rotation, but as an All-Star hurler and one of the premier right-handers in the AL. It's not easy to outshine Hernandez, but Iwakuma had superior numbers and stayed healthy and consistent through the entire campaign.
Rookie of the year: Miller stood out among a strong crop of first-year players as he stepped into the lineup in late June and provided an offensive spark as a leadoff hitter who could run, take the extra base and provide some occasional pop as he did with three two-homer games. While many of the rookies endured expected highs and lows, Miller remained pretty steady throughout his initial campaign and showed natural leadership at the critical middle-infield position.
Greg Johns is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregJohnsMLB as well as his Mariners Musings blog.


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Enthusiasts get unbelievable PC performance with new AMD FX-9000 Series Processor
The new 4.4GHz FX-9370 features the "Piledriver" architecture, is unlocked for easy overclocking and pave the way for enthusiasts to enjoy higher CPU speeds and related performance gains. Additionally, these processors feature AMD Turbo Core 3.0 technology to dynamically optimize performance across CPU cores and enable maximum computing for the most intensive workloads.
Still unlocked for your overclocking pleasure, and still the only 8-core desktop processor around. Unmatched multitasking and pure core performance with a new architecture. AMD FX Processors unlock maximum, unrestrained processing performance for extreme responsiveness you can see and feel. Experience unmatched multitasking and pure core performance with the industry's first 32nm 8-core desktop processor. Get the speed you crave with AMD Turbo CORE Technology to push your core frequencies to the limit when you need it most. Go beyond the limits of maximum speed. But the best part of all? You'll get all this impressive performance at an unbelievable price. You'll be asking yourself "what competition?" in no time.
Maximum Performance
Innovative Architecture
Industry Leading Price Per Performance
This CPU does not come with a Heat Sink/ Fan.


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The Chemistry of ThingsActivity by Paulo Ribeiro-Claro | added on Jan 24, 2011 | Portugal
Sponsor(s): "Ciência Viva"/ "Science Alive" National Agency (Portugal)
A series of 26 short movies for TV and internet, 26 radio programmes, and 26 newspaper supplements to weekly reveal the underlying chemistry present in day-to-day life.
The mutimedia project "The Chemistry of Everyday Things", will be aim to reveal the underlying chemistry present in day-to-day life and show how recent developments in
Science contribute to the welfare of Society. "The Chemistry of Everyday Things" will be available on TV and radio, in newspapers, online, and as tablet PC application.
This project is proposed by the Department of Chemistry of the University of Aveiro and will be supported by the "Media Ciência" programme of the "Science Alive" National Agency (approved on January, 2011).
The project includes:
- 26 short episodes (about 2-3 minutes) talking about the chemistry of "everyday things", for weakly TV broadcast and internet diffusion.
- 26 radio appointments on the same subject, developed from the above episodes.
- 26 newspaper supplements (weakly distribution) with the same general thema, but including figures, curiosities, experiments and so on.
- A dedicated web page, presenting all the material above, complemented with relevant scientific and technical information.
- ipad application with the same contents.
Find it at: http://www.aquimicadascoisas.org/en/
|celebrating chemistry
|general public
Great Job!!
Best regards since Domincan Republic!
Want to submit your own activity or comment?
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Join the IYC Network


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A Fashion(ish) Blog from an ordinary mom, who happens to also be a teacher and a runner. Stay for a bit, why don't ya?
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Thrifty Thursday - All About Maurices
21 comments:
- rlutz said...
Loving those leopard shoes! Great maxi skirt and how you styled the shirt over it!!
- July 28, 2011 at 3:21 PM
- Whitney said...
Maurices, huh? Interesting...maybe I haven't given the Maurices near me a decent try. I love the professional clothes that they have--but I'm supah picky about what I'll pay that much for. I suppose that (when I return to the shopping world) I will make a visit.
Love these looks, by the way.
- July 28, 2011 at 3:24 PM
- Style Journey said...
You look great in both outfits! I especially like the olive green with the leopard. Duh, I haven't tried that combo yet :)
When I saw Maurices pieces, it got me wanting Reese's pieces, lol!
- July 28, 2011 at 3:25 PM
- Melissa said...
I love these! That green dress is fantastic and I'm totally in love with those wedges. I love the top too!
We don't have a Maurice's anywhere near here. I've never seen one! So sad!
- July 28, 2011 at 3:29 PM
- Megan Mae said...
Ohmygoodness those leopard flats are tooo cute. Love them with that olive dress. We had a Maurice's move in a town away, but I've never been.
- July 28, 2011 at 3:43 PM
- Meagan said...
I absolutely love a good deal! I always buy things on sale and a lot of times can find things for about the same price I'd pay for secondhand. Love your wide belt!
- July 28, 2011 at 7:08 PM
- Claire said...
i'm so in love with that olive dress, crochet belt and animal prints shoes on you! looks great with the jewelry and the nails are perfect!
- July 28, 2011 at 8:34 PM
- B.Inspired said...
WOW....Maurices has come a long way since my undergrad days! These are some pretty fab finds you scored and I am LOVING that dress!
- July 28, 2011 at 9:35 PM
YES! The leopard flats rock!!
- July 28, 2011 at 11:58 PM
- oomph. said...
i need me some maurices! that first outfit is a total score, and it's gorgeous! love the olive dress...and ugh the leopard shoes?? LOVE.
- July 29, 2011 at 4:18 AM
- Keely said...
Isn't the Maurices clearance rack the best! Both looks are so pretty! I love the olive and the fuchsia skirt.
- July 29, 2011 at 10:27 AM
- Fashion Confessions of a Mommy said...
Love the first dress. It is so pretty and looks great with the waist belt and necklaces.
- July 29, 2011 at 11:10 AM
- Marella said...
Amazing outfits!
- July 29, 2011 at 11:22 AM
- Julie said...
Love the styling of the first look! The cheetah shoes are a terrific unexpected bonus! Your waist is teeny tiny! Jealous, um YES:)
- July 29, 2011 at 5:23 PM
- Sweet Momiji said...
I LOVE Maurices! They do have amazing sales! I love each piece you've shared! Especially the first look.. the belt and shoes are awesome!
Being thrifty is what I strive for. :)
- July 29, 2011 at 6:16 PM
- MONKEYFACE said...
Thank you for the link to Maurice's! I'd never heard of them before but those flats of yours were all the advertising I needed..
- July 30, 2011 at 9:42 AM
- Rhoda said...
Let's talk about how I used to live by Maurice's and now... I don't. :(
Let's talk about how I love that dress and I love that it was $10!
And let's talk about how I just bought those same black wedges in your second picture. :)
Lovin' your style girly!
- July 30, 2011 at 2:04 PM
- Aquí said...
LOVE your pink maxi! I really want to find one. Can't believe you thrifted it. I really like the yellow nails too, that bit of shimmer makes it!
- July 30, 2011 at 2:08 PM
- Bonnie said...
That olive dress is just lovely. I have always wanted to find an olive dress of my own, but I can't seem to find the right one. Boo face. I need to look harder!!
Twitter: @GlamKitten88
- July 31, 2011 at 4:16 PM
- Tara said...
Such a beautiful dress! I love a good olive green, especially paired with the brown belt and yellow accessories. And you definitely can't go wrong with some leopard print thrown in :)
- August 1, 2011 at 4:01 PM
- Mongs said...
two great outfits! I've to say it again, you're good with colors and they always look so chic on you. The dress as a maxi skirt is a fantastic idea! I like the olive dress, it fits you prefect!
- August 2, 2011 at 10:05 AM


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After the VMAs, Gaga sat down with Ellen — who is vegan — and attempted to rationalize why she was wearing a hat, dress and shoes made of meat.
Quoth the lady:
"It's certainly no disrespect to anyone that's vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I'm the most judgment-free human being on the Earth. It has many interpretations, but for me this evening it's [saying] if we don't stand up for what we believe in, if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones."
Ellen then presented the singer with an ensemble made from leafy veggies.
None of it makes any sense, but since Katy Perry usually has dessert covered, all we need now is a stiff drink to wash it all down.
Lady Gaga is Victorious at the VMAs! [Ellen]
Lady Gaga Explains Why She's Wearing Meat [PopEater]


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Home : RCS Foundation : On-line Donations & Event Registration
Rochester Community Schools Foundation is an independent, nonprofit 501(c) 3 working in partnership with Rochester Community Schools. Your gift goes directly to the district, according to your designation, or as an undesignated gift. All gifts are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. Please use the Donation Form below or donate online.
To make your secure, on-line donation, or to register for an event, please click on the link below. You will be given the opportunity to select where you would like to designate your gift.
Please click here to donate online.
You may also use the form below to mail your donation to the RCS Foundation. Thank you.


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cum and see how i get these girls to get freaky!
check out the cute girl who answered my ad this week for a new roommate. i just love it when they show up trying to find a cheap place to stay cause they don't have very much money. i always point out the part in the ad where it says price is negotiable. that always gets there attention so i tell them about my rent free program where the pay with there ass instead of cash. she was all for it and she gave us a show i won't soon forget. just check out these pics and enjoy!!!
get instant access to all my roommates today!!!
cum and check out what these sexy girls are willing to do


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Hello All,
I have a VB6 program which uses MSComm to do RS232 communications to a radio
transceiver. Operation on Win 7 and XP has been very stable until this week. We
started noticing that on Win 7 systems, commands sent to the MSComm Port
sometimes never get to the radio or there are larger than before delays. This
happens on two different systems at different locations. The program still
operates normally on Win XP.
I am wondering if a recent Windows Update on Win 7 might have altered the MSComm
Control or the virtual Comm Ports. I noticed that yesterday when I launched the
Visual Basic Development System, there were numerous warnings about Registry
connections and several Controls used in the program were not loaded.
Fortunately, after exiting the Develop Environment and starting again, the
Controls all loaded.
Has anyone seen evidence that Microsoft has broken VB6 programs on Win 7?
Thanks. -ko6no-