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2005-04-18 Intel Pentium D Dual core processor replacing Tejas. Smithfield is the Workstation / gaming implementation of Paxville, part of the Lyndon platform. Uses the LGA775 socket and the Glenwood and Lakeport chipsets. Based on the NetBurst / Pentium 4 architecture but without HyperThreading. Basically two Pentium 4 chips on one die.
Launched in Q2 at 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2 GHz named 820 ($241), 830 ($316) and 840 ($530) respectively.
Launched as 'Pentium D' and 'Pentium EE', where EE adds HyperThreading.
2006-01-05 Intel Presler 65 nm chip dual core chip including Vanderpool (a virtualization technology) to succeed Smithfield. Likely to run at 3.6 GHz and above. Previously known as Blue Pressler. Is in fact two Cedar Mill chips bonded together. Uses the i975X chipset.
2006-Q1 Intel Cedar Mill 65 nm processor Prescott-shrink, fill the gap between Prescott and Conroe. Said to be prepared for dual cores but will start off as a HyperThreading (dual threads) supporting single core chip. Newer info says that it is half a Presler. A value version with 512 KB of L2 cache, no HyperThreading and a slower bus is also rumoured.
2006-07-27 Intel Conroe Major redesign of the desktop chips based on the mobile chip Merom. Should use the same bus as Merom and Tukwila. Part of the Averill platform. Said to be used in future Macs. Will be named E6300 (1.86 GHz, 2MB, $210), E6400 (2.13 GHz, 2MB, $230), E6600 (2.40 GHz, 4MB, $315) and E6700 (2.67 GHz, 1066 MHz, 4MB, $529). A value-segment version known as Conroe-L will be introduced in 2007-Q2. Will also be used in Uniprocessor Xeon chips (3040, 3050, 3060, 3070)
2006-07-27 Intel Merom Mobile processor succeeding Prescott-M and Yonah built on a 65 nm process. Accompanied by the Crestine chipset. Recent rumours claim that Merom is a major new core design with multiple cores and, depending on version, 2-4 MB of cache, which will also form the base for the next desktop chip, Conroe. Said to consume about 45W.
Earlier said to launch in 05-H2 or 2007, prototype chips has been out since May of 2006.
Merom is part of the Santa Rosa Centrino platform, succeeding Napa. Said to be used in future Macs.
Bus speed to go up to 800 MHz in 2007-H1.
Will be named T7600, the T7400, the T7200 and T5600.


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DOWNERS GROVE – A Downers Grove man has been charged with residential burglary and theft for allegedly stealing several items from his neighbor's home several weeks after its occupants were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.
The DuPage County States Attorney announced Friday that Kenneth Harry, 43, of 6231 Park Ave., allegedly entered the former home of Thomas and Jennifer Smith without permission and stole several items from the home.
Harry appeared in bond court Friday morning where Judge Elizabeth Sexton set bond at $250,000 with 10 percent to apply.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 21.
Prosecutors allege that on several occasions between Aug. 28 and Sept. 17, Harry entered the former Smith home at 6211 Park Ave. and stole a snowblower, an amplifier and six Coach purses, in addition to other items.
He then allegedly pawned the items and kept the proceeds. Downers Grove Police uncovered the alleged thefts when the executor of the Smith's estate noticed some items missing from the home and contacted the police. Harry was taken into custody Thursday morning without incident, according to the state's attorney's office.
In all, Harry is charged with three counts of residential burglary, a Class 1 felony, and two counts of theft, a Class 3 felony.
He faces a possible sentence of up to six to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections if convicted.
The theft and burglary occurred several weeks after police believe Thomas F. Smith, 41, killed his wife, Jennifer M. Smith, 39, and then himself on July 19.
Both husband and wife died of multiple stab wounds, the DuPage County Coroner's Office said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Anybody mind if I take a detour from the usual fare this morning? After all, talking football after the NFL's divisional round is a heckuva lot more appealing than anything baseball has to offer right now. I mean, the A's are bracing to trade Mark Kotsay (big whoop!) to the Atlanta Braves (it should happen today); Roger Clemens' lawyers are lawyering (a tired story already), and Johan Santana is still a Twin (can't they get a move-on with that deal).
Anyway, the point is, baseball is a feeling a bit tired. I'll get back to blogging about the grand ol' game as the week goes on, but right now, what's standing out the most to me from the weekend was the press conference held by Terrell Owens after the Cowboys bit the bullet against the New York Giants on Sunday.
If you saw the clips of T.O. or read some of the accounts, then you're aware that the former 49ers wide receiver let loose a flood of tears in front of reporters.
The question: Was it an act?
I didn't see it as such. Now I know I'm not nearly as up-to-speed on the personalities in that league as I am in baseball, but it seems to me that Owens did a lot of growing up this season. He rarely griped about himself. There were no off-the-field theatrics. And he didn't throw any teammates under the bus.
In short, he seemed to grow up. At no point, did the Cowboys' season revolve around what T.O. was doing, and at no point, did T.O. take steps to make sure it would. Should give faith to the cynical — and I'm in that camp more than most — that athletes can change their stripes. Took T.O. longer than most to realize that the less he draws attention to himself, the better it works out for everybody, including himself. But at least he seemed finally to figure it out.
Listen to the various talk shows this morning driving to the office, and I was surprised to hear how many people thought it was a premeditated stunt on Owens' part, and that all he was showing were crocodile tears? Wonder how many of those were 49ers fans?
Anyway, figured it'd be an interesting place to start the discussion this morning while we waited for the Kotsay deal to come down. Tell me what you think.


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Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 30th Jan 2006 18:33 UTC
It's official: Dell doesn't have an exclusive deal with Intel, and has an open mind on using AMD processors in its products. So said company chairman Michael Dell last week when cornered by a Reuters reporter at the World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland. "Sure," he said when asked if the company might offer Opteron and/or Athlon-based machines. "We do not have an exclusive relationship with Intel."


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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
I got tagged by my buddy Michael Coles, aka Sergeant SQL to talk about how I "became" a geek. (I use quotes because I've really always been a geek.)
Back in the 9th grade (1968 for those of you counting) my math teacher asked if there was anyone in the class interested in learning how to program computers. My friend Bronis Vidugiris and I raised our hands, and I learned BASIC from a GE manual, then learned how to use a teletype machine with a paper tape reader/punch on one side and a 300 baud acoustic coupler on the other. We'd punch our programs onto paper tape, then dial the "mainframe", load and debug our programs, then punch the updated program back to a fresh tape when it was done.
After my attempt at being a theatre major failed I went to college and got a degree in Data Processing, while working as a nighttime operator at American Greetings, running 2nd Generation (transistor-based) NCR 315 Rod Memory Computers. (This is a long story best suited for an evening with my fermented beverage of choice.) That lead to years of being a programmer on mainframes using punched cards and COBOL, then working my way towards smaller systems - minis, then micros and to programming C on Unix based machines.
One of my engagements while a contract programmer introduced me to relational databases (Oracle 6, at the time), and the next one required Sybase. The latter company became my full time employer, and they switched from Sybase to Microsoft SQL Server in 1995, and I've been working with SQL Server ever since, in either a DBA or developer (or both) role.
(My personal life was not immune from computers, as I bought the TI-99/4A when it came out, then the Amiga 1000, and on to the Amiga 2000.)
So, to now continue the stories coming, I'd like to tag Aaron Bertrand and Paul Nielsen.
See you at PASS!
My first computer was a TI-99/4A as well. I then gradualted to an Atari 1024ST then a DEC Robin and finally an AT&T PC :).
Andy, that's great. I bought the TI because at the time I was a systems programmer (writing device drivers and communications add-ins and such) on the TI-990 business computer, and the TI-99 used the exact same processor chip as the 990. It was pretty amazing.
Funny headline, because I'm not a dork, really. Okay, who am I kidding? When introduced to new people,


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Goal-line technology is something that the world of football has been debating for years. Just off the top of my head I can probably think of at least four 'goals' that have been either given or not given over the course of the last 10 years, yet nothing has been done about how we officiate the game, nothing has been done to ensure there is not a situation by which officials can be sure if the ball has or has not crossed the line.
Until now.
Recently the English Premier League voted in favour of goal-line technology giving the contract to develop the system to sports giant Hawk Eye, the company which provides similar services to tennis and cricket.
The system will have seven fast-frame cameras located above and around each goal. These track the balls movement within the frame of the goal. If the software the cameras run on decide that the ball crosses the line the referee's watch will vibrate within a second of the ball crossing the line and can award the goal. Hawk Eye says that this system is "millimeter-accurate" and that they will provide definitive virtual replays to television outlets.
All of this sounds good on premise. No more 'did it cross the line' debates, no more goals will be missed like Frank Lampard's 'goal' versus Germany or if you want a closer example than that – Geoff Hurst's hat-trick goal in the 1966 World Cup final.
UEFA last season experimented with the officials behind the goal-line, who seemingly did nothing at all of any value, and have said that they will not be adopting the goal-line technology, a view that seems unlikely to change so long as UEFA boss Michel Platini has anything to do with it.
People have criticised UEFA for not implementing the technology into the Champions League given how important the games are, but UEFA want the game to be played without technology - and you know what? I agree with them.
Yes, I understand that goal-line technology is a good thing – not even I will argue that – but the potential ramifications of the decision to use this technology are essentially endless.
The FA's previous rhetoric for not using goal-line technology was that they wanted to keep the game the same from the grassroots level up to the professional level. The rules are the same for Yeovil Town Ladies to Wayne Rooney playing at Manchester United, to my friend Dave playing in a Sunday League team in his local park, to a few kids kicking a football around using jumpers for goalposts.
This is what makes football the global game that it is. Anybody can play it, understand it, and love it at the drop of a hat (or two jumpers, for that matter).
The next step from goal-line technology is to review things like offside decisions, penalty/free-kick claims, and even off the ball incidents, while the game is in play.
Richard Hawkins, Hawk Eye's creator, says that goal-line technology will not slow down the game, that the game will not become like rugby where there are multiple stoppages when the referee goes to the virtual referee to decide whether a try has been scored or not.
While Hawkins is right that football's introduction of goal-line technology will not slow the game down, the potential implementation of more technologies down the line, will. They'll have to.
You cannot review an offside decision in a second, you cannot review whether something is a penalty or not in a second and you cannot re-asses whether a player has dived in a second.
Major League Soccer in America is a prime example of how not to use technology in football. They do not use it during the games, but rather use television replays to retrospectively ban players who dive. To me this is a complete farce. Diving or simulation is part of the modern game, and unless you expect the officials to be able to see every little tug of the shirt, or elbow, or trip, then sometimes you need to go down to get the decision.
If you keep punishing people for showing the referee that they are being fouled – which, lets face it, has to be obvious, he only has two eyes and there are 22 players on the pitch – then you are going to need to need more technology to review everything that players protest about or you as the official are unsure of.
It never ends!
Historically, the introduction of technology into sport has slowed things down, and it changes how the game is played at the level that introduces the technology. The FA always have said that they want to keep the game the same at the grass roots level as the professional level and I have always respected that hard-lined approach that they took with it (unlike many other things the FA does).
Now that goal line technology is here, it is here to stay, but we must proceed with caution. Football is attractive to so many people because it is free flowing and fast, something that could potentially be lost by the inclusion of more technology further down the line.
That is why goal-line technology should scare you. It should scare you because it has essentially just opened Pandora's box, and there is no knowing what is going to come out of it.
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The Florida Highway Patrol, Bradenton District, will conduct a Comprehensive Roadside Safety Checkpoint (DUI Checkpoint) on May 25, 2012. The checkpoint will begin at 9 p.m. at 1502 North Brevard Avenue in Arcadia, Florida. The checkpoint will conclude at 2 a.m. on May 26, 2012. FHP sets up such details to proactively remove impaired drivers from the roadways and ultimately enhance the safety of the motoring public. Troopers conducting the checkpoint will monitor those who pass through to ensure they are properly licensed and driving sober.
Driving impaired from alcohol or drugs put everyone on the roadways in danger. Florida law considers a driver with .08 or higher Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) to be impaired. Drivers under the age of 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher are also in violation of Florida law.
The Florida Highway Patrol would like to remind everyone that *FHP (*347) dialed from any cell phone contacts FHP should you need to report an aggressive driver or require roadside assistance.


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In recognition of the Fourth of July celebration, outdoor recreationists can set up campTuesday and Wednesday, July 2-3 on some wildlife management areas that typically prohibit overnight camping those two days of the week.
This waiver applies to the following WMAs in western North Dakota and along Lake Sakakawea: North Lemmon Lake in Adams County; Bull Creek in Billings County; Alkali Creek and Spring Creek in Bowman County; Smishek Lake and Short Creek Dam in Burke County; Harris M. Baukol in Divide County; Killdeer Mountains in Dunn County; Camels Hump Lake in Golden Valley County; Indian Creek in Hettinger County; Audubon, Custer Mine, Deepwater Creek, deTrobriand, Douglas Creek and Wolf Creek in McLean County; Beaver Creek and Hille in Mercer County; Storm Creek in Morton County; Cedar Lake and Speck Davis Pond in Slope County; and McGregor Dam in Williams County.
However, regardless of the holiday, camping is still prohibited every day of the week at the following WMAs: Antelope Creek, Lewis and Clark, Big Oxbow, Ochs Point, Neu's Point, Overlook, Sullivan and Tobacco Garden in McKenzie County; Van Hook in Mountrail County; and Hofflund and Trenton in Williams County.
Camping restrictions at all WMAs are posted at entry points.
Outdoor recreationists also are reminded that fireworks on state wildlife management areas are prohibited.
Other WMA use regulations are available on the Game and Fish website, gf.nd.gov.


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Java had closures in the form of Anonymous classes. While it is true that lamda expressions will be much more concise, it is not correct to suggest that closures are being added with Java 8.
I often hear that Java "doesn't have closures." Since anonymous methods can capture variables within the scope of their declaration, they are closures.
I also frequently hear that Java is "interpreted," but that's a whole 'nother discussion.
That entirely misses the point. The conciseness is the entire point.
If I have a list of strings, and want to append ".txt" to each, using a for loop is just one more annoying piece of COBOLesque boilerplate.
fileNames = names.Map(n => n + ".txt");
That's what you want.
docFileNames = names.Where(n => n.StartsWith("Doc")).Map(n => n + ".txt");
You can understand what that does even though I just make up the methods. That's the damn point.
I find the following easier to know whats going on:
I don't understand that. I do understand:
Arraylist docFileNames = new Arraylist();
for (String name:names)
Java doesn't have closures and it won't have any in Java8 either. A closure isn't the same as a lambda. In a closure, free variables are stored by reference, and their changes are reflected in the closure. Java8 lambdas require all free variables to be final.
More to the point, it's not Java. It's Scala.
have other java applications that are designed to explore the limits of slab allocation and heap return in memory
You remind me of far to many C programmers I've met (and projects I've been on).
"Look I've reinvented that difficult plumbing built into C++ - my language is just as good as C++!"
"Yeah. How much time did that take? How many nightmarish bugs did you overcome?"
"Lots. And a few."
"Time well spent then, I'm sure, and my best wishes that there's not one last plumbing bug that you'll find in the field".
Different tools for different jobs. C++ isn't the right tool for much, but nothing else comes close for jobs that actually need the cruft that clutters C++. Taking over memory allocation is a perfect example. (Checking an object every time it's dereferenced to make sure it hasn't been freed or worse, re-used is another - man that's a stupid problem to solve in Java or C#.)
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
[a company puts COBOL on the cart]
Oracle Corporation with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
Java: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Oracle: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
Java: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Oracle: Yes he is.
Java: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Oracle: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
Java: I'm getting better.
Oracle: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
Java: I don't want to go on the cart.
Oracle: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
Java: I feel fine.
Oracle: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Oracle: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at Microsoft. They've lost nine today.
Oracle: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
Java: I think I'll go for a walk.
Oracle: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
Java: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[The Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences the Body with his a whack of his club]
Oracle: Ah, thank you very much.
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Oracle: Right.
The reason Java is still alive and well is not because it's a good language. It's not because Oracle does a good job patching security faults with it. It's not because it may be able to run most of it's code on any given OS that can run its VM.
The reason Java is still alive and well is because it is the OO language most schools, universities and colleges teach in their CS classes.
Uh huh. Maybe you're not old enough to remember PASCAL? Which was the overwhelming favorite of colleges and schools back in the late 80s and early 90s?
The reason Java is still alive and well is because it is the OO language most schools, universities and colleges teach in their CS classes.
Which is both a blessing and a curse. I went through my programming undergrad classes in the last round they offered C and C++. It worked out well because my employer needed those languages and for me to be able to learn others quickly, such as Java and C#. My experience with classes in C++ and lower level bit-bashing in C gave me the knowledge in being able to create custom libraries and handle oddly defined standard binary blobs, such as DTED data.
This same employer stopped looking at my school afterwards simply because Java was the dominant language. The graduates being churned out had knowledge of data structures and libraries, but knew very little of the ins and outs of binary data streams, binary blobs, memory management, and all those other things that you need in C and C++ that Java gives you for free.
Yes, it's good to have an approachable basis for such a complicated field as programming (computer science/software engineering/development/etc..). However, going from C/C++ to Java is a lot easier than the other way around. There's a reason my professor called Java a "Training Wheels Language"
Leaving aside its pros and cons, the biggest reason that Java initially caught on was Sun's marketing department.
Nah, it caught on because you could do simple stuff simply without whacking away in C or C++ and that it was cross platform at a time when attempting to do cross platform development usually meant you had to shell out for proprietary pile of stuff which locked you in. Java was good for backends as well where you had a lot of horse power to apply to its programs. Java was also good for universities to use in teaching programming, not that it made for good teaching.
Sun had a marketing dept? What were they marketing?
The reason Java is still alive and well is because it is the OO language most schools, universities and colleges teach in their CS classes.
I transferred and finished my degree at a different school than I started at. I knew they were a good school when they refused to transfer any credits for any class that was taught in Java.
Outside of Android - I believe use and acceptance is waning heavily. As a client-side web tool (where it got most of it's early predominance) it has been cockblocked by iOS, and is becoming overshadowed by native HTML5 (JavaScript) stuff. As a server-side tool it has been getting taken over by Ruby/Rails, Python and the stuff mentioned in the OP.
I don't think Java and Rails, Python, etc actually compete much. They're very different technologies.
Rails and Python are great when you don't have significant technical skills and just need to slap some shit together and throw in on a web server.
Java is better in areas where you need high performance and scalability, but it's also much more costly to do anything with it.
The smart thing to do is use Jython, JRuby, Groovy.
Then you can write in Java when the problem demands it, and in something more expressive when you're gluing it together. And you have access to all the thousands of libraries Java has.
I saw a JRuby presentation in which they said they expected JRuby to outperform native Ruby -- because the Ruby runtime is written by a few guys, whereas the JVM has half a campus full of incredibly clever people, just working on making it run Java Bytecode as fast as possible
Rails and Python are great when you don't have significant technical skills and just need to slap some shit together and throw in on a web server.
I've seen this from the other side. Java is a *great* language for the middle of the normal distribution. I'm not going to name the languages on the left side of the curve, because the point of this isn't to start a flame war, but if you have a large number of averagely competent programmers, then Java lets you (as architect/manager/etc.) have those programmers be productive for you, produce code that can be read in the future by the same segment of the population, and be reasonably sure the language will prevent them from making hidden catastrophic mistakes. Also there are a large number of existing tools that let you scale their work out both in depth and in breadth.
The alpha geeks employing Ruby, Python, modern Perl, erlang, etc. are usually at the right side of the curve, doing very efficient, agile, but abstract and terse stuff that takes exceptional (not heroic, just unusual) sysadmin skills to get to work on a grand scale.
Due to the nature of the available talent pool, it's natural to see projects start with the advanced scripting languages among the startup crowd and then migrate to the Java environment over time. Twitter would be a good example of this.
Twitter didn't switch to Java to take advantage of the mediocre "kind of a programmer" Java talent pool.
They switched because their "alpha geeks" couldn't make Ruby/Rails perform adequately for the amount of traffic they get.
Why didn't they switch to C++ and do it properly!
Because they needed it to be fast AND secure AND fairly bug free.
Because it would be a dozen times more efford in programming hours, because it lacks the relevant libraries, because the amount of capable C++ programmers is very low, because C++ is a dying language in the enterprise environment, because C++ is not truely portable across platforms, because in the end when it comes down to performance the C++ implementation (which costed you 5 times the money and 2 times the time to develop) will be only 5% faster than the Java implememtation.
And all arguments above will kill you when you plan to maintain it for the next 15 years.
I agree that Rails / Python are definitely the more small scale / personal project side projects type solutions out there. Yes they can scale, but I'd argue that they're not good at it.
Java SUCKS for small scale. EE containers are heavy and require a good set of knowledge to even take crack at a reasonable site, but once that painful layer has been passed, adding more and more to the service becomes as trivial as the business domain requires. The extra leveraging from well architected services and API's makes working on larger scale Java systems a dream in comparison to others (Currently working on a Java Web/Services project single deplyment EAR that's over 3 million source lines BEFORE all the libraries and server container features that we're also leveraging).
I'd also argue that outside of hosting, you can easily get Java based web service tools/servers/etc.. for 0 dollars. You can't find much Java hosting in the zero dollar number (Redhat's cloud Jboss 7 or the non-standard Google appengine being a notable exceptions) which may be an issue to some enthusiasts who don't do their own hosting.
As a server-side tool it has been getting taken over by Ruby/Rails, Python and the stuff mentioned in the OP.
I hope you are kidding here, because that is far from the case. Java is still the de-facto language for most server-side applications. RoR never outgrew it's hipster background. It has been 7 years since RoR had it's hype peak... The hype waned and RoR is still a rarity.
People don't understand the difference between Java the Language, Java the Virtual Machine (JVM) and Java the Browser Plug-in.
What do NetRexx, Groovy, and Scala have in common? They are all languages that are considered production stable running on top of the JVM. There are about a half dozen production ready languages that run on top of the JVM in fact. By running in the JVM these languages automatically pick up all sorts of performance and availability enhancements (JIT, Hotspoting, caching, etc.) the JVM offers. That's a lot of R&D the new languages don't have to invest in. It also allows new languages to be used in existing Java infrastructure with little to no change.
The reason this is all possible is because Java the language is just an abstraction that compiles to Java Op Code. Java Op Code is very stable. Since Java 1.0 all that's changed with the opcode is a couple new operations and couple deprecations. There's still around 100 codes total.
So why do people think Java is on the decline? Well the browser plug-in has been getting a bad name as of late. But that plug-in != Java. And frankly very few applications need a Java Plug-in. HTML5 and JS work just fine for the UI. It's not going to be a great loss if peopledisable it. You also get knee jerk reporting on this advising people to get all Java on their machines. Like it's somehow less secure than the VB runtime executors.
As far as jobs, I work in the java space. There's way more need than people to fill the need. I make extremely good money java programmer.
Java Op Code is very stable. Since Java 1.0 all that's changed with the opcode is a couple new operations and couple deprecations. There's still around 100 codes total.
This page [oracle.com] seems to indicate it's slightly over 200 in Java 7.
The JVM or the language?
It definitely doesn't help that the JRE installer tries to also install the Ask toolbar. Seriously? Even Microsoft doesn't try to install Bing with the
How am I supposed to take a platform seriously if the fundamental piece that has to be installed by all developers AND users to use it is doing the same sneaky things that half the crappy freeware on the internet is doing?
Just how much revenue does Oracle make from Ask anyway?
Larry Ellison is just another borderline personality disorder businessman who doesn't give a fuck about anything besides making himself richer and self-aggrandizement.
He and Ballmer should go to some private island and never be seen again.
The Windows JRE installer is an obnoxious piece of crap. Fortunately modern JDKs ship with something called the JavaFX Bundler, which makes native installers (exe, msi, dmg, rpm, deb) for each platform that bundles a stripped down JRE with the app, so there is no need to install the JRE or keep it up to date. If you are distributing consumer software or don't want to handle the problem of keeping JREs up to date, it's useful.
There are also tools that can eliminate the need for the JVM entirely, for instance by ahead of time compiling entirely to native (Excelsior JET is one such program), or alternative JVMs that sacrifice some performance for code size, like Avian.
I've heard the "Java can be faster than C/C++" many times, but have never seen benchmarks that back it up.
From your link:
The Mines Java Toolkit (JTK) is a set of Java packages and native (non-Java) code libraries for science and engineering.
In other words, there is C/C++ wrapped in Java. That may be a good idea for many applications, but it's not a measure of Java's speed.
Ye olde Computer Language Benchmarks Game [debian.org] has pure Java vs. pure C++. There is one test where Java is slightly faster than C++ (and even that advantage disappears depending on which of the four processors they tried). Otherwise C++ is up to 3x faster, and an average, from glancing at the graphs, of about 2x faster.
I tend to trust these benchmarks because anyone
Not just can be, it usually is faster. At least, once it's been JITed. We just ran some XML serialization/deserialization tests, and the java implementation was much faster than the C++ one...eventually. The first several hundred iterations it was slower, but after that the Just In Time compiler optimized it, and it easily won.
For long running computations, like scientific calculations for instance, Java is really good. The problem is we perceive how fast something is based on our wait time. Every time you boot a java applications it takes a long time for it to get started relative to a C++ applications. A quick command line java application might be orders of magnitude slower than a comparable C++ one. And that delay kind of permeates our intuitions about which is faster.
Formerly a FORTRAN-90/C++ shop.
Some of the big banks have been putting Java on top of COBOL backends. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.
There's certainly a lot of factory pattern stuff out there. But your comparison is a bit outdated. Now days development uses a lot of annotations, auto-wiring/dependency injection. If I need to roll out a web service that makes some DB calls it's not that big of a lift. Maybe a half a dozen classes to get the job done (including tests).
You know what's fun? When a so-called Java expert runs a PHP project...
Nothing but him bitching about how PHP sucks, and then discovering his code has factory factory factories in a central component that everything extended from (even when obviously unnecessary). And we wondered why we were having such performance issues.
Nothing but him bitching about how PHP sucks...
To be fair, it does.
Especially when you try to make it operate like Java.
I worked in Rexx on MVS and OS/2 in the early 90s. I'm astonished it's not dead and buried.
With Oracle doing everything possible to kill Java, it's shocking that Java serializes.
- Most CS programs train their graduates in Java.
- Java is pretty much the enterprisey middleware language these days. I've seen so many J2EE applications alive inside organizations doing mundane but vital tasks.
- Unless you're a web startup, Java is almost universally used for line-of-business application development. That ugly GUI that collects budget numbers from 500 databases and displays an "executive dashboard" was probably slapped together by an Accenture type outfit using offshore new grad coders and sold to companies for millions.
It's just too prevalent now for people to say, "Oracle sucks, we're porting everything to C#." I can definitely see a market for Java talent similar to the COBOL market 30 years down the road. People won't need millions of Java coders anymore, but they'll need older expert types to go untangle messes.
Java has had closures, with all the stuff that does to local variable lifespan, since Java 7. Lambda expressions are just syntactic sugar for writing small closures.
Disraeli was pretty close: actually, there are Lies, Damn lies, Statistics, Benchmarks, and Delivery dates.


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Manchester United can cope with their current injury crisis says Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Manchester United have the strength in depth to cope ahead of the Manchester derby.
Last Updated: 09/12/12 8:56am
Anderson, Nani and Antonio Valencia will all miss Sunday's Etihad Stadium clash through injury while Shinji Kagawa and skipper Nemanja Vidic remain on the sidelines.
However, Ferguson is unconcerned by the absentees and is confident in the quality of the players available to him.
"I know we have some injury problems but we are not short of a squad," Ferguson told MUTV.
"I have plenty of experience to bring in. I rested Darren Fletcher against Cluj on Wednesday and just brought him on for the last 10 minutes.
"Michael Carrick will be back in. I also have Ashley Young, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez.
"That is what big squads allow you to do. You don't have every player every week. Our supporters must recognise that.
"Over the years we have had injury situations. Every club gets them. Normally you work on 10% of your squad being out every week with some sort of injury.
"That is the situation we are in at the moment but it is not desperate by any means."
Victory would open up a six-point lead on the biggest threat to their Premier League title hopes as well as delivering a big psychological boost.
"The fact City have emerged over the last couple of years, and won the league last season, you know they are going to be our main competitors, so a positive result there would be a big boost," said Ferguson.
"They are playing similarly to last year. Early season last year they did very well. But as the season progressed they were in the same place they are now.
"They are still scoring late goals, which is a strong trait if you are going to win a championship.
"It shows you that they are not going to give in. They are dangerous in the last few minutes of matches, especially Edin Dzeko, when they bring him on, so they have certain traits that are easily identifiable."


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Futuremarks Benchmarks to Take Advantage of Physics Processor
Futuremark Corp., the developer of industry leading 3DMark and PCMark benchmarks, recently announced it had licensed AGEIA PhysX software development kit (SDK) in order to add physics benchmarking capability into its performance measurement tools.
Physics performance is becoming an increasingly important factor in games, and the AGEIA PhysX SDK will enable us to create reliable standards for measuring not only software, but also hardware accelerated physics, said Tero Sarkkinen, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Futuremark.
Currently it is unknown whether there is a separate software suit to measure physics performance, e.g., PhysicsMark, or Futuremark is going to integrate physics measuring tool into its popular 3DMark and PCMark product series.
Our testing methodology used to create Futuremark benchmarks is developed in close cooperation with PC technology industry leaders, and we look forward to working with AGEIA to enable extensive physics in our future products with the high levels of accuracy and usability that people expect from Futuremark, Mr. Sarkkinen added.
AGEIAs PhysX is the worlds first Physics Processing Unit (PPU), which offloads software physics processing from central processing units and graphics processing units to it. The architecture of the PhysX PPU is tailored for multi-threaded processing of vertexes, which allows game creators to develop detailed, soft and precise animation and simulation of movements, hair, clothing, liquids, fluids and other. Currently AGEIA PhysX is the worlds first and only dedicated physics processing unit, but the company expects more startups to offer similar technology.
In conjunction with its PPU, AGEIA also supplies NovodeX software, which helps game designers to utilise the power of multi-threaded PPU, or central processing units.
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Summer is Here! Central Library will close at 6 pm on Thursdays and will be closed Sundays until September. Enjoy!
Log in
The Malian duo Amadou & Mariam have been in nearly constant rotation on my ipod and home stereo since I became aware of their music with the 2005 release of Dimanche a Bamako. I knew little of the couple's inspiring story then, but responded immediately to the music they create. Singer Mariam Doumbia and guitarist/vocalist Amadou Bagayokothan, who are both blind, met at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako, the capital of Mali, 30 years ago and have been making amazing and infectious music ever since. Already huge stars in West Africa and Europe; in recent years Amadou & Mariam have gained a large following in the indie rock world where they have become a show stealing staple at large festivals, which has helped spread their popularity across the glode. The duo's latest title, Welcome to Mali, has received almost universal, and I would say very well deserved, critical acclaim and I can't stop listening to it. Even without the faintest clue as to what the lyrics of the songs are saying (the couple sings primarily in French), it is easy to hear why the global spread of Amadou & Mariam's hypnotic sound cannot be stopped.
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Music for: Kids, Teens & Tweens


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Hi! Nice drawings.
Please take a look at the rules you are allowed only one thread in the forum, and you must post all of your fanart there.
I'm consolidating your threads into one thread so please post all your new work here from now on!
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Hi! Nice drawings.
Please take a look at the rules you are allowed only one thread in the forum, and you must post all of your fanart there.
I'm consolidating your threads into one thread so please post all your new work here from now on!
Toohey:"We're alone, why don't you tell me what you think of me?"
Roark: "But I don't think of you."
hey good painting i like how you brought your own stlye to the picture, and they way you set the mood. great work!
Hello Hi once more!
So u think I'm crazy?
I think I am lol...painting with nail polish is absolutely crazy
Check this out ^^
Where are you people?
I'm waiting for your comments!
Paiting with nail polish eh?.. HOW UNIQUE! Doesn't turn out too bad. Nice jerry picture. One of my fav characters of all time.
That is unique. Good job. I like how it's kinda shiny.
that is one good painting. never thought pink was this hot. i can definitely see this hanging on my wall
Here's another one painted with creme caramel and jelly ^^ yummy!
What do you think?
i like all of your paintings. and you use original stuff. nice work.
keep posting your works!! n.n
This came out good. I actually think this is the best one of them all. The left leg looks a bit shorter and thinner than the right one, but that's nothing big.
This one is pretty boring in my opinion. It actually took me a while to really notice that they are flowers. But again, nice job with the background, the result is very smooth.
Overall you have a simple drawing style, but it's not half bad. :3
Last edited by Tira Misu; 05-07-2009 at 09:32 AM. Reason: please dont quote photos
that is pretty shiny the nail polish one, the taj mahal one doesn't look too bad.
To say is easy, To do that is hard... (Rurouni Kenshin)
I loved the innovation and both the arts are just one of a kind. Keep posting.
Here's one more
I was out of my mind when I drew this
I like your drawing Jerry ( if I'm right) are a god one
I loved urs new drawing. Its kind of colorful and neat one and feathers are nicely done.
How did you color that?
Please Help Me!
You're drawing's so cute^^
I wanna draw something as cute as that too.
Just hold your coloring pencil..move your hand to the left and the right and there it is you're coloring...lol just kidding (:
As a matter of fact its easy to do that. The main rule is 'same colores cant meet'
Color several separated sections with the same color then move to another color and do the same thing again and keep going with other colors till its all done (:
Thanks Ice Angel!!
What did you use in coloring that? Photoshop? Real Paint?
And what wakes me wonder is how do you do put monochromatic colors?
That's really amazing!
Draw more Can't wheit to se somethin more
its peaceful in the eyes nice work!
Lex Luger R.I.P
¦ Sexy Logo By Me ¦ R A R E R E N D E R ¦ Tutorial requests and PSD Requests open ¦ Tag Thread
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Student or Learner
Mr. A : Mr. B, I want you to be here within one hour. So take flight to come here.
Mr.B : No, Mr. A. I can't. I can took only bus or train and it will take some 5 hours to reach there.
Mr. A : Why?
Mr. B : Though I am now not badly off, as you know, I cannot afford to come there by flight but on bus or train. But I hope soon I will be better off as I am going to get my promotion next month. Then I will be able to come there by flight.
Are these sentences correct?
Please help me.


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PHOENIX (CBS Las Vegas/AP) — Dirty bathrooms, closed trails and longer lines at Grand Canyon National Park. Furloughs for thousands of civilian defense workers. Reduced health care access.
Across the state, Arizonans are bracing for federal spending cuts that will kick in due to the inability of President Barack Obama and the House Republican leadership to reach a compromise over a plan to reduce the national debt.
The White House estimates that 10,000 civilian defense workers in Arizona could be forced to take unpaid time off and 360 public school jobs would be put at risk because of the mandatory budget reductions known as the "sequester." Obama administration officials also said Arizona will see program cuts in children's vaccines, senior nutrition, student work-study jobs and assistance for victims of domestic violence.
"We shouldn't be making a series of dumb, arbitrary cuts to things," Obama said Friday after meeting with Congressional leaders.
Obama signed the order Friday night that will mandate a staggering $85 billion in cut spending by various government agencies, CBS New York is reporting.
Some cuts will be visible immediately, such as at the Grand Canyon, where park officials won't be able to hire seasonal workers to help with the expected jump in visitors during spring break season. That could mean no lecture programs, shorter visitor center hours, longer lines at entrance stations and fewer maintenance workers.
"There is a really good chance that you would see those impacts right away," said Maureen Oltrogge, a park spokeswoman. "If you don't have a clean bathroom, that's not the experience you want to have."
Federal employee furloughs could begin in mid-April. As those workers spend less on goods and services, private businesses might reduce their workers' hours. The slowdown would come as Arizona's vulnerable housing and jobs markets are gaining traction after years of gloom.
"In the short term, it is a yellow flag kind of warning," said Stephen Fuller, a George Mason University professor who has studied the potential effects of the budget cuts nationally and in Arizona. But if Congress doesn't act soon, "there will be less spending, and ultimately that will cost more jobs," he said.
Some of Arizona's high-profile losses could include $49 million in Army and Air Force operations; $52 million in loss pay for furloughed Department of Defense employees; $17.7 million in primary education dollars; $781,000 for job-search assistance; and $2.7 million in public health programs, including vaccinations for children and substance abuse assistance.
In Maricopa County, home to more than half of the state's population, 51 percent of the public health budget is paid by federal grants.
Border security would also take a hit. Arizona could see 1,000 fewer Border Patrol agents. Average peak wait times at the Nogales port of entry could reach up to four hours, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Social Security, Medicaid, Pell Grants, federal highway construction and school nutrition aid are exempt from the cuts.
Small and midsize defense companies would be especially vulnerable and could be forced to lay off workers or shut down, according to an analysis by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. More than 5 percent of Arizona's gross domestic product depends on federal defense spending, the council said.
"The economy is beginning to crawl back in Arizona and this could be a big blow," U.S. Sen. John McCain said at a town hall meeting outside Phoenix last week.
Tucson's Raytheon Missile Systems employs more than 11,500 people in Arizona, while aerospace giant Boeing Co. has nearly 5,000 workers.
Raytheon declined to comment on potential layoffs, but Boeing officials said the company has taken significant cost-saving steps, including consolidation and workforce redeployment.
Luke Air Force Base in Glendale has already taken steps to trim its spending. Its annual air show, which draws thousands of spectators, was canceled earlier this month, and noncritical services, training and travel has been curtailed. More than 850 civilian employees at the base face furloughs, according to a base spokesman.
At the Army's Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, federal employees are anxiously waiting for furlough notices.
"It's tough because it's something that we don't have control over," said Tanja Linton, the base's spokeswoman and one of the 3,300 civilian workers at the base facing a 20 percent pay cut. "It means a lot of big financial decisions, like new cars, vacations, any big expenditures are on hold pending some decision on whether or not we have to go through this."
If the cuts take effect, the base would have food to feed soldiers, but no civilian workers to prepare and serve meals.
"It might be a lot of MREs for a while," said Linton, referring to the prepared meals that are dietary staples in battle zones.
K-12 schools with disproportionate numbers of low-income and special education students would see the biggest cuts starting in July, when districts expect to receive funding for the new school year.
"Teachers aren't going to go to work on Monday and get a pink slip or anything like that," said Chris Kotterman, the state Department of Education's deputy associate superintendent for government relations. "But does it create a lot of uncertainty for employees of school districts? Certainly."
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


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The Star Wars: The Old Republic Website has details on a Guild Summit that discussed the future of the game, while this forum fosters discussion of the Summit and its revelations. This included an unveiling of features planned for "Legacy," the upcoming version 1.2 update for the Star Wars MMORPG. This trailer shows off some of that, and here's a description what this will include: "Game Update 1.2 – Legacy will include brand new playable in-game content including the 'Explosive Conflict' Operation, a new Flashpoint 'Lost Island' and Warzone 'Novare Coast.' The next major Game Update will also include a bevy of new features including the next evolution of the Legacy system, Player-vs-Player Warzone ranking, UI Customization, Guild Banks and more." They also announce the launch of a "Friends" trial, a limited time offer to allow active players to invite up to three friends to play the game for seven days.
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The following people were arrested on felony charges by law enforcement agencies in Davidson County, and, unless noted otherwise, were either placed in the Davidson County Detention Center or released from custody and are scheduled to appear in Lexington District Court on the date given:
• Briana Siu Pfonn Mak, 24, of 418 W. Sixth Ave., was charged with assault by strangulation, simple assault and damage to personal property, $1,772.50 secured bond, June 4.
• Christina Gayle Jackson, 33, of 811 S. Main St., was charged with felony possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor larceny and resisting a public officer, $5,000 secured bond, May 23.
• Deshay Lamar Woods, 25, of 215 Bellmeade Court, Danville, Va., was charged with simple possession of a schedule VI controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, carrying a concealed gun and possession of a stolen firearm, $5,000 secured bond, May 28.
The following larcenies more than $1,000 were reported to the Davidson County Sheriff's Office and the Lexington Police Department:
• Electronics, computer and televisions valued at $2,975 were reported stolen from a residence in the 200 block of Calvin Sowers Road between 7:35 a.m. and noon Tuesday.


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"Oh, Lord, thy sky is so big and my airplane is so small." — An aviator's prayer
And when your airplane is over the high seas far from a suitable alternate and something breaks — especially at night or in bad weather — the elements grow to seem immeasurably large and hostile.
But knowing exactly what to do in the oceanic airspace in which you're flying — to have trained for it as well as knowing the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) procedures by rote — will go a long way toward bringing things back into perspective and getting you and your passengers through. Implicit in this, especially in congested airspace like the North Atlantic, is executing the relevant contingency procedure while not endangering other aircraft with hundreds of souls aboard coursing alongside or below you.
That mandate comes with the territory, so to speak, and tends to represent more of a challenge to business and general aviation operators than to the airlines, which ply the oceanic routes and organized track systems on a routine basis and are backed up by significant company infrastructure. Except for the rare flight department that fields its aircraft internationally at least once a month, continuously reinforcing crew knowledge and proficiency in oceanic procedures, the majority of operators of long-range business jets may make an oceanic crossing only a few times a year.
Thus it is incumbent on these cockpit crews to not only be versed in procedural knowledge specific to the area of operation, communications, position reporting protocols and flight plotting, but also be committed to thorough preflight preparation for each mission abroad. When one also considers all the prerequisites ancillary to the flight — required documents, overflight and landing permits, customs and immigration requirements, destination aviation regulations, airport information, noise and curfew ordinances, handling agency coordination, aircraft parking and servicing, security, catering, hotel and ground transportation arrangements, etc. — it's a lot of work for a small operation. While the airlines and big business aviation operations have dedicated dispatching personnel to handle the workload, smaller departments do much of that heavy lifting on their own.
The importance of getting it right comes into focus when one considers that flight crews are responsible for their own surveillance in the non-radar environment that characterizes much of oceanic operations throughout the world. Because air traffic controllers cannot see aircraft when they're 200 sm from shore, a crew's navigation must be precise and the oceanic clearance, flight level and Mach number flown exactly as assigned to assure separation from other aircraft. And if an emergency occurs — say a worst-case scenario like a loss of cabin pressurization or the increasingly rare event of an engine failure — and the aircraft cannot maintain altitude, then the offset from assigned heading and subsequent descent must be flown exactly as stipulated in ICAO oceanic procedures (or the course of action specific to the relevant region or track system).
If cruising in an organized track system or on a diagonal published or random route above a track system, the importance of knowing the location of the tracks is critical in the event the aircraft must descend (or turn around and go back). This situational awareness and the necessity of informing oceanic ATC if a contingency must be executed are mandatory for maintaining safe operations.
Like I-95 at Rush Hour
In the North Atlantic Track System (NATS) alone, the heaviest traveled oceanic sector in the world, 1,200 crossings on average are made every day, 600 in each direction. According to Nat Iyengar, formerly with World Airways and currently a safety pilot in a major corporation's flight department, the amount of traffic encountered in the NATS on a typical crossing has to be seen to be fully appreciated.
"The traffic is so dense that on a clear night you can easily count up to 50 aircraft above, below and on adjacent tracks during your crossing," he said. "At any given time, the lights of as many as a dozen are visible around you. It's like a six-lane highway: Interstate 95 at rush hour!"
Thus, when an aircraft proceeds out over the North Atlantic, vertical, lateral and longitudinal separation must be precisely maintained for everything to work safely and efficiently. The responsibility for this interaction falls squarely on flight crews (and to a lesser extent on controllers hundreds of miles away).
Depending on projected traffic levels, the NATS consist of as few as four and can exceed 13 parallel tracks, all temporary routes "built" twice a day across North Atlantic airspace, their position determined by prevailing winds. (That is, the tracks are shifted either north or south to take advantage of the most favorable winds.) Eastbound tracks are laid out by Gander Area Control Center (ACC) and apply between 0100 and 0800 UTC (at 30 deg. west longitude), their westbound counterparts by Shanwick ACC, applying between 1130 and 1900 UTC (also at 30 deg. west).
Within the track system, traffic flows only one way, depending on the time of day, i.e., easterly at night, westerly during daylight hours. Typically, the "core" tracks will lie within the confines of Gander and Shanwick airspace, but when the system is built up to accommodate peak traffic loads, the northernmost track can nudge into Reykjavik/Shanwick controlled airspace and southernmost into New York/Santa Maria (Azores) territory.
Flight levels on the tracks are separated vertically at 1,000-ft. levels (RVSM was introduced in 1997, the first region in the world to receive it). Eastbound tracks consistently operate between FL 320 and FL 400, while westbound tracks are commonly set between FL 310 and FL 390. Currently, tracks are separated laterally by 1 deg. of latitude at each 10 deg. of longitude (as standard in Minimum Navigation Performance Specification airspace), resulting in distances between tracks varying between 50.5 nm and 60 nm. Meanwhile, longitudinal separation of 10 min. is maintained by assigned Mach number.
Sometime between 2015 and a future date to be determined, separation will be reduced to one-half degree latitude throughout the Organized Track System (OTS) to allow more capacity (i.e., additional tracks), ratcheting down distance between adjacent tracks to between 25.25 nm and 30 nm — and demanding even tighter adherence to procedures and required navigation performance. Likewise, longitudinal separation is scheduled to be reduced by 50% to 5 min. within the same time frame. We'll elaborate more on these changes and the equipage mandate necessary to meet them later on in this report. (But understand now that there is a big change on the near horizon in how aircraft will need to be equipped in order to operate on the NATS and other North Atlantic MNPS airspace.)
Out in the Pacific region on the Pacific Organized Track System (PACOTS), lateral separation between tracks has been reduced from 100 nm to 50 nm for aircraft operating between FL 290 and FL 410 with navigation equipment certified to RNP-10 accuracy and 30 nm for those meeting the RNP-4 standard plus equipage and approval for Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract (ADS-C).
The PACOTS are generally laid out south of the Northern Pacific published route structure, but depending on winds they may merge (i.e., if winds require that the PACOTS be moved north). Also traversing the vast Pacific Ocean are the Central Pacific published routes between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii and the Southern Pacific published routes between the West Coast and New Zealand and Australia. Finally, an organized track system runs between Japan and Hawaii but is rarely traversed by business aviation.
A related issue that especially concerns business aviation operators flying in oceanic airspace, especially on the track systems, is the ongoing tally of gross navigation errors (GNEs) and large height deviations (LHDs) attributed to general aviation. Per capita, or as a percentage of usage, general aviation error totals have shown little improvement over the last decade. This is a particular concern to both regulators and the business aviation community, given the forthcoming reduction in oceanic separation standards.
As the International Business Aviation Council's Peter Ingleton, who directs liaison between IBAC and ICAO, points out, ignorance of oceanic procedures and responsibilities on the part of operators is no excuse.
"There is a wealth of material on the ICAO website," Ingleton said. "In terms of preparing for the flight, all the material is there — the information is available. After that it becomes a question of professionalism and vigilance." Nevertheless, tallies of GNEs and LHDs, especially in the NATS, continue to remain fairly constant despite attempts through the years to educate business aviation operators of the criticality of remaining true to the assigned clearance stipulating track heading, flight level and Mach number.
(This is not to say that airline crews or even controllers don't make operational mistakes — the vast majority of which are committed by the airlines, by far the largest users of the track system — but it is generally conceded that especially business aviation operators need to do better, as the stakes for incompetence are so high.) "What you find in both airline and general aviation operations is that the preponderance of errors occurs because the flight crew follows the flight plan instead of the clearance — and that just keeps popping up," Ingleton said.
When Something Happens
Which brings us to our core discussion of oceanic emergency procedures, or in controller-speak, "contingencies." A contingency is a procedure, and in the oceanic operations context, those with which pilots should be knowledgeable and adept address emergencies, weather diversions, loss of communications and loss of long-range navigation capability. Note that there are general ICAO contingencies and, from those, others that are tailored for and apply only to specific regions and OTSes.
When something happens that is sufficiently serious to warrant a departure from the assigned route or track, the procedure is identical — a fact that not all pilots realize, as an assumption widely exists that the contingency applies only within an OTS. "It makes no difference whether you're on the tracks or not, the contingency procedures are the same," affirmed Dave Stohr, president of Air Training International, headquartered near Dallas. "The only place where there is a difference is operating above MNPS-RNP airspace in the North Atlantic region and having to descend through it. Other than that, the ICAO procedure is the same in each type of airspace."
If possible—that is, if the emergency does not require immediate action (e.g., an explosive decompression)—the first task, no matter where you are, is to coordinate with ATC and obtain a revised clearance. "Due to communication or time constraints, you may not be able to do that," Stohr said. "If you cannot take action with a revised clearance, the flight crew should then turn 45 deg. off the cleared route of flight. Whether left or right is the pilot's decision." Obviously, if operating on an outside track of an OTS, the turn should be made away from the track system, on a published route, away from the route system.
The crew is then to establish a 15-nm offset from the cleared route of flight, flying parallel to the tracks, either in the same direction of flow or the opposite direction, if it is necessary to turn back and the turn can be made without trespassing on adjacent tracks. As stated in the ICAO oceanic procedures, the aircraft is to be placed on an offset track "where other aircraft are least likely to be."
"If the aircraft can maintain altitude," Stohr explained, "when the aircraft is 10 nm off the cleared route of flight, the crew should then climb or descend as able, 500 ft. if at FL 410 and below or 1,000 ft. if operating above FL 410. If the nature of the problem is such that the aircraft cannot maintain altitude, then the pilot should minimize descent to the maximum possible while achieving separation from the cleared route of flight." Somewhere in this process, if communication is possible, the crew should advise ATC of the aircraft type and nature of the problem.
Crews should also be knowledgeable of the drift-down procedure for their aircraft type and have practiced it in a simulator. "The operating manuals for today's business jets describe drift-down procedures, where you trade altitude for range or distance," Stohr continued. "This enables the flight crew to minimize descent while clearing traffic for route of flight. You have to take into consideration the aircraft below you." This includes those that might be flying the Standard Lateral Offset Procedure (SLOP) 1 or 2 nm to the right of their assigned track. While all the traffic is going in the same direction in an OTS, on some random routes, it's bidirectional at odd and even flight levels, another justification for the 45-deg. offset procedure if descending.
Another detail demanding attention is to broadcast on 121.5 or 123.45 MHz the aircraft identification, flight level, position and intentions to alert other aircraft in the vicinity. And based on your calculated equal-time point (ETP) and assigned clearance (not the flight plan), decide early in the flight where you will go if a diversion is necessary. (See "Be Proactive" sidebar for a sample contingency checklist.)
If You Have to Turn Back
Turn-backs in or above an OTS require special consideration. Iyengar, who captains a Bombardier Challenger 605, and in another job also flew left seat in a Gulfstream 550 on many Atlantic transits, advises, "Always have a contingency plan and really know it in the event you're above the track system and have an emergency and have to descend. Know ahead of time which way you will have to turn if you need to go back.
"In business aviation," he continued, "many times we will fly across the Atlantic on a random route above the tracks, often against the traffic. So you have to be very aware of where the tracks are and have a plan on which way you will turn if you have a problem. The worst case scenario is that you will be flying diagonally across the tracks above FL 410 and have a problem that needs you to do either an emergency descent or a drift-down, and so you really need to know where the tracks are because you are going to want to go down between them. So always know where you are relative to them."
Stohr related a couple of tales of business aviation flight crews who were less than careful in managing their descents after experiencing emergencies. "A few years ago a business jet developed a pressurization problem requiring a descent. The crew proceeded direct Shannon and, in cutting across and descending through the tracks, caused a TCAS traffic advisory with two airliners and a resolution advisory for a third airliner.
"Another business jet developed a pressurization problem, as well," he continued, "and the crew turned to a heading of 015 and descended, causing TCAS advisories for several airliners. Contingencies are written so that they will put aircraft in a position where they are least likely to conflict with other aircraft, based on the oceanic structure." The moral is simple: Fly them as they're intended to be flown.
Iyengar "highly recommends" that when flight crews are receiving simulator training, to practice the contingency scenario and see how their aircraft perform and how they drift down. "Believe me, you will be surprised at how much lateral difference it takes to make a 180-deg. turn in case you have to go back to your origin or to reach your closest alternate. In the Gulfstream 550, depending on your weight, it will take 15 to 18 nm to make that turn."
He even provided a simulator training scenario, in this case for the G550: FL 430, ISA conditions, Mach 0.83, 66,000 lb. "With one engine failed and the other at full power, drift-down took 55 sec. to slow to Mach 0.78 and 31,900 ft., and 4 min. and 20 mi. to make a 180-deg. turn in the descent. At FL 290, it took 3.4 min. and 18 mi. to make the 180-deg. turn. If you are sufficiently high above the tracks, you have to immediately make the turn before descending through the tracks or, if not, you must descend through and below the track structure before making the turn."
So, based on your simulator experience, compile a plan of how you would pull off this maneuver if you ever had to do it. "You have to be on the ball and know what your plan will be," Iyengar said. Especially if having to descend from a random route above the tracks, "you are penetrating into a structure where there are a lot of other aircraft."
We ran this by trainer Stohr, who stressed, "If you need to go back, make sure you can make the turn within 15 nm; however, if you can't and overshoot the offset, continue the turn beyond 180 deg. to intercept it." Thus the turn off track would be immediately initiated and maintained until an intercept heading back to the 15-nm offset has been established. "The procedure specifically states that, based on the performance of the aircraft the 15-nm offset is expected to be overshot," Stohr explained. If operating within [the forthcoming] 25-nm lateral separation on the NATS, "extreme caution" must be exercised regarding now-opposite direction traffic on the adjacent track. Stohr also recommended that a climb or descent should be completed preferably before approaching within 10 nm of any adjacent track.
OK, so now you're backtracking. How are you going to navigate? "Invert the flight plan, if you have to reverse," Stohr suggested. "Use the FMS, if the one in your airplane has the capability to invert, or preload a reverse flight plan before the flight." Note: If you've been able to contact ATC to receive an amended clearance, then fly the new clearance.
Space prohibits a discussion of loss of communications and navigation and weather-deviation procedures, and readers are referred to ICAO and regional documents for full descriptions. The accompanying sidebar describes how to obtain these references plus relevant NATS documents supporting media.
How Common Are Diversions?
An examination of North Atlantic MNPS turn-back and diversion data from 2006 through July 2009 reflects the following:
Causes of diversions and turn-backs included medical emergencies, smoke in the cockpit, fuel pressure, hydraulic problems, engine shutdown, low fuel, navigation system failure, cargo fire, generator failure and destination weather.
Diversions and turn-backs in MNPS airspace occurred at a rate of approximately 12 per month through the period.
Approximately two to three times per month, a pilot was required to use published contingency procedures to make at least the initial maneuver to start a diversion or turn-back.
"The last time that I went through the data," a retired employee of a major aviation regulatory agency reported, "it shows that in the North Atlantic region, an emergency where an aircraft has to depart track or flight level either with or without ATC clearance occurs about 145 times per year. So, this is not uncommon."
However, a surprising discovery that emerged from the regulator's study was the number of medical emergencies requiring a diversion to an alternate with medical facilities, usually Iceland or the Azores. "Often, this means having to turn around," he said. "So you have to be aware that this is not uncommon where you have to move the airplane off the assigned course, either obtaining a clearance to do so, or if unable, falling back on contingency procedures designed to put the airplane where it is less likely to encounter another airplane."
Another common diversion results from en route weather. "The other thing in the same vein, of course — a regular occurrence in the West Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and certain areas of the Pacific — is where the aircraft has to maneuver around convective weather," the former regulator said. "Same deal: First stipulation is to get ahold of ATC, obtain a clearance and if you can't, revert to weather deviation procedures."
As already noted, some big changes are in the works regarding reduced separation standards on the NATS along with a commensurate avionics equipage mandate necessary to accommodate them. The precedent for this actually occurred in Pacific MNPS/OTS airspace shortly after the millennium, when lateral separation was reduced from 100 nm to 50 nm. "The standards for that are based on enhanced aircraft navigation, communication and surveillance capabilities," the former regulator, who has played a role in developing oceanic procedures, said.
Currently, an operational trial is in progress within the Gander and Shanwick Flight Information Regions (FIRs) testing 5-min. longitudinal separation, reduced from 10 min. The trial, scheduled to run either until March 2014 or until 5-min. separation is approved by ICAO, requires equipage with GNSS, CPDLC and ADS-C with an 18-min. reporting capability — in other words, the tripartite components of FANS 1/A supporting communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS), as hammered out by ICAO signatories in the 1980s and in increasing use over both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by the airlines and a handful of business jets.
In January 2012, a proposal to amend North Atlantic procedures in phases based on a mandate to require FANS 1/A equipage was approved by the ICAO Council. Groundwork for this will be laid with a second operational trial beginning Feb. 7, 2013, confined to two core tracks of the NATS between FL 360 and FL 390 reserved exclusively for aircraft equipped with the FANS package. On Feb. 5, 2015, this will be expanded to include so-far undetermined portions of North Atlantic MNPS airspace (outside the NATS), again only for FANS-equipped aircraft. Note that up to this point, these trials involve only equipage and not separation reductions.
Finally, lateral separation reduction from 60 nm to 25 nm by applying one-half degree spacing on the two core NATS tracks will commence with Phase 1 sometime in 2015 for FANS-equipped aircraft with RNP-4 approval. This will be followed by Phases 2 and 3, when both reduced lateral and longitudinal separation are extended, respectively, (1) throughout the entire NATS and (2) in all MNPS airspace in the North Atlantic region at dates yet to be determined (but assumed to fall before 2020).
At these points — or simultaneously, if the North Atlantic Systems Planning Group elects to implement Phases 2 and 3 at the same time, an option under consideration — all aircraft will be required to be FANS 1/A-equipped to operate on the OTS and published routes in the region.
Hardly Alone
Consider, too, the heightened responsibility that will be imposed on flight crews for enhanced situational awareness when these separation reductions go into effect. "The point is that, based on aircraft and ATC systems and other procedures, the separation standards are being ratcheted down," the anonymous former regulator said. "So pilots must be aware that they won't have as much airspace to play with as they used to, and if they have to divert, they'll have to be on top of the contingency procedures and in [data link] communication with ATC. The future is not static in terms of separation.
"We're talking about a situation where, based on technology, separation can be reduced," he continued. "This increases efficiency to manage aircraft, but it means they will be closer together. The future of the North Atlantic is that you're going to need satellite data link systems beyond 2015 in order to fly there. As we get closer to this mandate, everyone is going to have to be thinking about how they will execute the [emergency] contingency maneuver to get separation before making a turn back, if necessary."
But consider also that while the North Atlantic may represent the busiest oceanic airspace on the planet, only 50% of the traffic flies on the NATS. "On a random routing 1 deg. north of the tracks, these procedures would still apply," the ex-regulator said. "It may be 'random' but there still could be a lot of other airplanes in the vicinity — you can't assume that you're out there alone. You still need to take the offset from your cleared route if you experience an emergency. You could have an aircraft behind or in front of you — so remember that half of the traffic is off the track system."
And here's a caveat about which all international operators should be aware: Once the ADS-C component of FANS is mandated, a controller will be watching. "In a non-radar environment," the former regulator said, "way back when we were just beginning to talk about ADS and CPDLC, pilots would maneuver around weather and not inform ATC, but now with the new monitoring capabilities inherent in ADS technology, there is an automatic ATC alert when an aircraft deviates 5 nm from cleared track. It will make ATC aware of what's going on out there as never before . . . and it will be a revelation to the people on the ground that the airplanes don't always sit on the centerline of the track!" BCA


text:
Since we do have a special running our AP RACING products this month, I figured it would be fitting to give you 4 more reasons why AP RACING should be your first choice when it comes to Big Brake upgrades for your car.
Two year's ago, ROAD AND TRACK magazine featured an article that immediately struck a chord with me and I still read that article to this day. They compared the fasted production cars on the road (at that time) vs. their ALMS beefed up twins. What made this article so interesting to me is that the cars in the ALMS (American Le Mans) field are completely based off their production siblings. The ALMS cars use the same motors, drivetrain, and body parts as their street car siblings that come off the assembly line, just much more beefed up. In fact, some of the racecars actually have LESS horsepower than their street ready siblings, go figure.
Because the ALMS cars are restricted to use the factory drivetrain layouts, and body componenets (plus some aero components) as their street siblings, you can imagine how competitive this series can be. In order to gain an advantage on the guy next to you, you have to make sure your car uses the highest quality components in every area possible. Every part of the car has to perform at the highest level and this includes the brakes. I was shocked to see that 4 out of the 5 ALMS cars tested dumped their factory big brake options and ran AP RACING.
First up we will start with Team BMW…
The AP RACING big brake upgrade is actually a very popular upgrade with BMW enthusiasts who frequently track their vehicles.
Next up, we have Ferrari… yes Ferrari! The F430 GTC Michelloto team opted to ditch their factory Brembo option and go with an AP RACING J-Hook upgrade.
Lastly, we have the extremely competitive Team Corvette…


text:
Home > Grecourt
Gate > News Stories > 2010-11
Guide Offers Answers Not Found Elsewhere
Should I use his first name
or call him Professor Jones? Why does it seem like everyone
else is more comfortable speaking up in class? What should
I consider when emailing my professors?
These are some of
the questions you wont find addressed in the Student Handbook
or other official college information. Yet many students
will encounter these issues and others for which there are
no official protocols during their time at Smith.
To help
ease the way, the Center for Work and Life has produced an
online toolbox and a printed counterpart, called the iCanSmith pocket
guide, which offer advice and instruction to help students
feel more comfortable interacting with professors and tapping
into college resources.
I hope that this toolbox makes life at Smith feel easier for students to navigate, said
Jessica Bacal, director of the Center for Work and Life.
Bacals office plans
to distribute the iCanSmith booklets in students mailboxes this week as classes
begin, and posters and table tents will direct students to the online resource.
The online toolbox answers each
of the questions with multiple responses from faculty members,
as well as bulleted tips. In addition, Stacie Hagenbaugh,
director of the Career Development Office, provides video
responses to several of the topics and their pertinence to
future professional uses.
The toolbox and iCanSmith guide
grew out of interactions among Bacal, and other CWL personnel,
and students and faculty. We listen to students to get a sense of what would be useful to
themwhat new resources do they need in order to thrive at Smith and beyond, said
Bacal. The toolbox section on How to Apply for Smith Funding, for example,
was developed after hearing students say Funding at Smith is a secret, Bacal
explained. We thought, lets put it all online in a clear way, because its
not a secret at all!
Similarly, Bacal heard students
saying they wished to gain comfort with speaking up in class,
which inspired the toolbox section addressing the topic with
faculty advice, an extensive list of tips, and video testimonials
from students about their experiences.
Some of the toolbox
topics take up where a fall series of workshopspart of the CWLs Passport to Life at Smith seriesleft off, expanding
on the workshops by opening the topics to faculty feedback and multimedia responses.
Ideally, Smith faculty will
also become familiar with the online toolbox and its iCanSmith
counterpart, so that they can steer students to their wisdom
when questions arise about speaking up in class, how to make
positive connections with professors, how best to use office
hours, how and when to email professors, and others.
the answers, check the Work & Life toolbox.


text:
Christie to Set to Offer Sandy Rebuilding Advice
Property owners and towns in New Jersey will soon learn what the road to recovery will look like after Superstorm Sandy.
Gov. Chris Christie is expected to offer state guidelines on rebuilding standards Thursday. The guidelines would include where and how high to rebuild.
Christie will announce the "Hurricane Sandy Flood Map Regulations" in Seaside Heights. The town, which was featured in the MTV reality show "Jersey Shore" sustained substantial damage to its boardwalk during Sandy.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency last month released advisory flood maps covering 194 municipalities in coastal areas. Based on data gathered before Sandy, the maps show the risk of flooding is worse than believed when the current maps came out in the 1980s.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Jump to Content
Miscellany, A-Z 1923-1931, Undated
Brisbane, Arthur Apr. 4, n.y.
The Bulletin , Editor Nov. 17, 1925
California Historical Society Undated
California State Library, Historical Section July 2, 1923
California State Library , State Librarian July 5, 1923
The Daily Telegram Feb. 5, 1924
E. F. Houghton Co. , President Aug. 5, 1924
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery , Curator of Collection Undated
The Independence , Editor Undated
Louideck, Edward L. Jan 25, 1927
Mackay, Clarence H. Jan. 18, 1925
Markham, Edwin Feb. 15, 1923
Merrill, Clarence S. July 18, 1925
Miller, Joaquin and Juanita Jan. 24, 1924
Mills, Charles B. July 20, 1925
Naylor, F. Linden July 16, 1924
Nevada State Historical Society July 3, 1923
New York Evening Post , Editor of the Literary Review Mar. 17, 1923
Oregon Historical Society Jan. 31,1924; July 26, 1925
The Press Club of San Francisco Dec. 19, 1925
Reade, Frank R. Jan 21, 1924
Reardon-Lavery, Anita Dec. 19,1924
Ruxton, Robert June 13, 1925
The Sacramento Union , City Editor July 2, 1923
San Francisco Examiner , Editorial Rooms Jan 17, 1924
Schneider, George L. July 14, 1927
Smith, Grant H. Dec. 13, 1923
The Star Press , Manager Jan. 28, 1920
Thurston County Pioneer and Historical Society Mar. 17, 1923
Todd, Frank Morton June 20, 1923
The University of Washington , Librarian June 18, 1925
The Virginia Chronicle July 31, 1924
Wells, Gabriel Aug. 1, 1923
Drury, Marion 1871-1872, Undated
Drury, Newton Bishop and Aubrey 1918-1921
[Sisters]: Melissa and Celinda 1923-1924
Unidentified family correspondence
Miscellany, A-Z 1915-1937, Undated
Alameda County Development Commission Apr. 9, 1926
Ancient Order of Sciots, Berkeley Pyramid No. 30 Feb. 14, 1930
Bekeart, Phillip Baldwin Jan.19, 1931
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Dec. 16, 1915
Berkeley Country Club Sept. 12, 1923
Borst, Virgil Dec. 17, 1927; Dec. 18, 1929
California Historical Society May 12, 1923; June 29, 1923
City of Sacramento , City Librarian July 3, 1923
Cleaver, Lon Aug. 7, 1937
Contra Costa County. Office of County Recorder Nov. 26. 1924
Driver, M.B. Aug. 14, 1930
Dunlap, Boutwell Feb. 7, 1924; Mar. 8, 1928
E. F. Houghton Co. Aug. 12, 1924
Elder, Alfred D. July 21, 1924
Emslie Lorenz Mar. 3, 1932
Hutchinson, T.O. May 11, 1928
Irvine, Leigh H.(Leigh Hadley) Aug. 19, 1928
McWilliams, Carey July 19, 1928
Maxwell Park Company Sept. 30, 1925
Merrill, C.S. July 18, 1925
Minnesota Historical Society Dec. 30, 1932
Mt. Tacoma Club Nov. 26, 1924
Nevada Historical Society July 9, 1923
Nevada Reunion Committee Aug. 9, 1927; Aug. 11, 1928
Nevada State Library July 7, 1923
Oregon Historical Society Aug. 1, 1925
Oregon Pioneer Association Dec. 12, 1925
The Press Club of San Francisco Dec. 15, 1925
Reade, Frank R. July 11, 1923
Rearden-Lavery, Anita Undated
Richardson, F.W. Dec. 14, 1915
Ross, G.M. Nov. 4, 1925; Oct. 28, 1928
Schneider, George L. June 30, 1927
Seibold, Louis May 13, 1923; Jan.11, 1931
Smith, Grant H. Dec. 6, 1923
Staats, Redmond C. Sept. 12, 1928
The University of California. The Bancroft Library July 18, 1923
The University Press June 19, 1925
United States Senate. Committee on Immigration Apr. 25, 1928
Watt, Rolla Vernon Nov. 25, 1924
Wells, Gabriel Aug. 6, 1923
Woolery, Ruby F. June 2, 1926
Young, John July, 1931
Bagley, Clarence B. 1923-1930
Barry, James H. 1927
California State Library , State Librarian 1923-1931
Mortimer, W.J. 1926-1932
Letters neither to nor from Wells Drury
A-F, Miscellaneous
Abe Curry's Oddities
Aunty's Big Pension
Baldy Green
Baldy Green's Song
The Banshee
Berkeley's Prominence Due to Many Natural Advantages
A Blast Against Ambrose Bierce
Book Reviews
A Bucket of Dollars
Captain Jack - The Poet Scout
Colonel Brown of Virginia City Discourse on the Etiquette of the Free-Lunch Counter
Columbus Mining District
Comstock Days - and Nights
Decadence of Politeness in Drinking Customs
The Eureka Stage Robber
Extracts from newspapers, Virginia City, Nevada
Fair and Modjeska
The Famous Highwayman
First Birth in Reno
From a Comstock Editor's Scrapbook
G-N Miscellaneous
The Game Cook is a Genuine Gentleman
Geological Reminiscences
George H. Lowe - An Appreciation
Handling Wild Horses
How Senatorial Fights Are Fought in Sagey Nevada
John Mackay's Last Poker Hand
Judging the Hand of a Check Thief
Manager Pat Holland
Memorandum on the Files of the Virginia City "Territorial Enterprise," 1886-1972
Men Who Held Down Claims
Misplaced Titles
Nevada Stage Robbers
A Nevada Town With a Past
Nickanora Was a King
O-R Miscellaneous
Old Gillis' Pet Pig
The Passing of a Pioneer
Pilgrim Hazlitt and Others
The Prima Donna's Bow to the Comstock Boys
The Problem John Mackay Solved
Rich, Yet Poor
Robbed Again
S-W Miscellaneous
Sam Davis Fighter
Sam Wagner's Notice to the Public and His Fiends
A Second Robbery
Shelton's Blue Mare
Shacking Afray
The Stage Robber Captured
The Story of Sandy Bowers
The Stranger's Story
They Played It Wrong
Thin Racers Matched
Victory for Grubbs, Alias Dubbs
What Nevada Did for the Union
When I Struck the Comstock
Journalism in Nevada
Markham, Edwin— article by Wells Drury
Point Lobos and its Grove of Monterey Cypress
Advertising copy
Miscellaneous writings
Comstock Days and Nights —Notes and fragments
Miscellaneous story fragments
Photostats of Wells Drury stories
The Comstock Lode—clippings and tear sheets
What was happening on the Comstock 45 years ago today —clippings of series
de Quille, Dan— typed copies of correspondence to Dan de Quille
de Quille, Dan— typed copies of articles
Harte, Bret— photostats and clippings````
Joy, Oliver— annotated transcripts of his diary (2 copies)
Nevada— miscellaneous clippings
Oregon— miscellaneous clippings and ephemera
Oregon Trail
Piper's Opera House—notes and miscellany
Politics and Politicians—notes and fragments
Sharp, Milton— notes, fragments, and clippings on Sharp
Twain, Mark— tear-sheets and notes
Twain, Mark— clippings
Virginia City— articles
Washington— clippings and miscellany
Miscellaneous notes
Article and programs re speaking engagements of Wells Drury
Biographical notes on Wells Drury
Diaries of Wells Drury— 1922 and 1924
Material re Drury's membership in the Elks Club
Miscellaneous personalia of Wells Drury
Clippings on or by Wells Drury
Reviews and articles re Drury's An Editor on the Comstock Lode
Clippings of obituaries of Wells Drury


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 9th Oct 2012 22:01 UTC
Steve Ballmer's annual letter to shareholders makes it very clear Microsoft is at a point of no return - and in the middle of a transition into a hardware company. "This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves - as a devices and services company. It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses." Line. Sand.
Thread beginning with comment 538003
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Not line. sand.
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Tue 9th Oct 2012 23:07 UTC
RE: Not line. sand.
by earksiinni on Tue 9th Oct 2012 23:40 in reply to "Not line. sand. "
RE[2]: Not line. sand.
by Laurence on Wed 10th Oct 2012 13:01 in reply to "RE: Not line. sand. "
The beginning of the end of Rome?
That's been predicted almost as often as the year of the Linux desktop.
It will certainly be very interesting to see how things play out (as a curious observer, I doubt it will affect me personally as I run Linux at home and UNIX at work)
Edited 2012-10-10 13:05 UTC
RE[2]: Not line. sand.
by Sodapop on Wed 10th Oct 2012 14:32 in reply to "RE: Not line. sand. "


text:
Clearly, returning America to full-employment must be one of our top national priorities. It's our most important near-term challenge because we must have full employment to reduce safety net needs, raise tax revenues and improve the consumption needed to fuel our economic recovery.
Frankly, most economists believe only the return to a full-employment economy can prevent massive tax increases and spending cuts.
I have been critical of our president because of his lack of private-sector work experience (read: none). Frankly, I couldn't imagine anyone without real-world work experience leading the largest economy in the world, especially considering the great recession he inherited.
A recent Associated Press news article about our new health care law (Obamacare) pointed out that it requires employers to provide health insurance or pay a penalty for any employee working more than 30 hours per week. The article said this provision will inevitably result in many companies reducing as many workers as possible to 29 hours or fewer.
When I finished reading the article, I first thought about the obvious negative consequences. Then I had one of those "Eureka!" moments. It occurred to me Obamacare's mandate requiring employers to provide insurance for any employee working more than 30 hours might actually be a major blessing in disguise. Before you conclude that I've finally lost my final brain cell, please hear me out.
Today America has the lowest percentage of working-age citizens in the workforce since the early 1980s. We also have close to 23 million Americans either unemployed or severely underemployed. Our economy simply isn't creating enough new jobs to employ everyone who wants to or should be working.
Barack Obama keeps saying his administration has created 6 million new private-sector jobs in the past three years. I'm sure it's true; however, he fails to admit that our population has grown even more during this same time frame. Not even close to enough new jobs have been created to dig us out of the job-loss hole caused by the housing bubble collapse.
My Eureka moment: If this 29-hour work week becomes widespread, we will inevitably end up with larger numbers of workers to get work done. For example, consider an employer with 100 employees currently working 40 hours per week to get their work done. If you cut their hours to 29, what happens? Well, if you divide the total hours formerly worked by these 40 employees by the 29 hours they will now work, voila! It will require 138 workers to get the work accomplished — 38 new jobs!
The winners will be those who currently have no jobs. Of course, current workers, who formerly worked 40 hours, will earn less pay. However, that's no different than the coming health care system in which most of those now insured will inevitably pay higher fees in order to subsidize the health care costs for millions of uninsured who will soon have coverage.
As nutty as the idea of job-sharing may seem on the surface, the saving grace for this scenario may be the ongoing drop in the costs of most goods in our increasingly automated economy.
Productivity gains may result in an almost magical solution to a better future for the majority of Americans as the workweek shrinks, leisure time increases and basic needs are met. After all, who wouldn't love to work three or four days a week and still have most basic needs fulfilled? Certainly job-sharing with some shared pain has to be better than our unsustainable, expanding welfare state.
I'm not willing to proclaim President Obama a genius who looked at two problems, health care and unemployment, and saw an opportunity to fix both with one act. He clearly must have seen a future in which automation would make it impossible to create enough new jobs if we stick with our current 40-hour workweek model. However, I seriously doubt that he or anyone else in D.C. had this much foresight.
I doubt if we will ever know whether he and his advisers put these thoughts together. Maybe it doesn't matter. After all, as the old saying goes, "sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."
Whatever the case, it seems clear the most logical solution to create enough jobs in America will require shorter workweeks for most workers. I see no other likely strategy to make sure a higher percentage of those of workforce age are actually working, paying taxes and supporting their families.
Should we give our president full credit for coming up with one idea to fix two of our biggest problems? I'm thinking we'd better wait and see if it comes to fruition. If it works, though, I suspect we will see him at the front of a long line of credit-seekers. Hmmm — maybe I'll be second in line.
These are my opinions. What do you think?
Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.
An intentional solution for jobs?
Clearly, returning America to full-employment must be one of our top national priorities. It's our most important near-term challenge because we must have full employment to reduce safety net needs, raise tax revenues and improve the consumption needed to fuel our economic recovery.


text:
Tom Gettings has helped save land and water, build trails and expose thousands upon thousands of area residents to the wonders of nature in the Lehigh Valley. He is an accomplished photographer, a devoted family man and friend whose can-do attitude is as breathtaking as his nature photography.
He does almost everything well except for one thing: retire.