text:
I would suspect (I haven't used this particular version) that its niche is the same as RedHat/SuSE. It aims to be a Linux distribution mainly for business use, with a specific emphasis on Windows compatibility.
That said, I would like to see how Xandros reacts to the Novell/Microsoft deal. With Novell poised to take the lead in Windows compatibility, it seems that Xandros is fading into another "me-too" Debian based distro.
Techworld is one of many that is already looking at Xandros as a possible challenger to Windows Vista"
I am one of the very few slashdotters that have publicly said that Xandros, Freespire and especially Xandros are one of the best distros out there. I even contributes a few days ago that these distros actaully work as advertised.
What came out of that contribution was being touted as one who had contributed flamebait!
Now, with this view from Techworld, I feel very happy inside. This makes me wonder why there is all this hype about K[U]buntu, which is dogged with all sorts of bugs. Thanks once again to the folks at Xandros.
This makes me wonder why there is all this hype about K[U]buntu, which is dogged with all sorts of bugs.
Ku/Xu/Ubuntu is free as in beer. Of course, Freespire is as well, but they have the "we used to be Lindows and the community turned its back on us" gorilla on their back to this day. They've made good strides and I've suggested it as a Windows replacement to a few family members.
Another thing is that Ubuntu has pretty successfully taken most of the ideals of the Free Software movement and made a pretty
RE:(1) — Did you happen to try adept [ubuntu.com]?
Personally, I use original-flavor Ubuntu. (Gnome) I understand KDE is regarded as a more powerful environment, but it certainly has its flaws.
The kUbuntu documentation is very informative regarding some of the basic functions. (even afte
This seems to be my reply-don't-mod day....
If an enterprise already has a Windows environment, why would they be interested in upsetting everything and installing new Linux workstations? I'm not saying Linux can't perform, but keep in mind that if things are running smooth already, the least of their costs are going to be Windows client licenses.
If we grant your assumption that things are indeed running smoothly, then there's no reason to change. But in my experience with Windows, I've yet to see a place
It came installed with Mozilla and not Firefox. This is where the road back to Win2K/Xp stared. Looking thorugh their software repository I searched for Firefox and it wasn't there. So I check the forums. I found a post about installing Firefox. Well it was about 7 pages at that time. Reading through the first two showed me that no way in hell was I going to go through all the admin mumbo jumbo just to install Firefox. I was too lazy from trying out several destop distros that day.
Anyways I went back to windows cause it just works. Now before I get flamed by the "You're just too stupid to run Linux" fanboyz, know that I've ran/run and setup Slackware 10.1 and FreeBSD 6 web servers at home with no problems so my techincal abilities/curiosities are above the average computer user but what had to be done to install Firefox on XandrOS was just retarded and this is what keeps a steady supply of new users away from Linux. Most joe/jane average computer user has no problems finding/installing and configuring software preferances but thats if its provided for them through an installer.
Why wouldn't you just install Firefox on Xandros the same way you'd install it on Windows? Sure, there's an "unzipping" step, but if you went through all the effort to install an OS you can handle double clicking on a tarball and hitting the "extract to..." button.
NEWSFLASH! This distro is NOT for you. It's not developed for you, it's not designed for you, it's not intended for you. You want to game? Use Windows [for now], or buy a console.
If graphics hackers are so smart, why can't they get the bugs out of fresh paint?


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Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
From the Wires
Basilea's novel oncology drug candidate BAL101553: data presented at international conference demonstrate dual mode of action
By: Marketwired .
Nov. 6, 2012 02:03 AM
BASEL, SWITZERLAND -- (Marketwire) -- 11/06/12 -- Basilea Pharmaceutica AG / Basilea's novel oncology drug candidate BAL101553: data presented at international conference demonstrate dual mode of action. Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) reported today that new research data on its innovative anti-cancer drug BAL101553 are being presented at the 24(th) Symposium on "Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics" taking place in Dublin, Ireland, from November 6 to 9, 2012, hosted by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
BAL101553, a highly soluble prodrug of Basilea's BAL27862, is a novel small molecule agent targeting microtubules, the intracellular structural network essential for cell division. BAL27862 has demonstrated broad anti-cancer activity in preclinical models of human cancer resistant to conventional microtubule-targeting drugs such as taxanes or vinca alkaloids. BAL101553 has potential for both intravenous and oral administration. The injectable form is currently being tested in a phase I study in patients with advanced solid tumors.
BAL101553 has a dual mechanism of action (poster/abstract #421) with direct activity against drug-resistant cancer cells and a pronounced effect on eliminating tumor blood supply. In animal models, short-term treatment of tumors led to a dramatic reduction in tumor cell growth and viability, associated with almost complete eradication of functional tumor blood vessels. Importantly, blood vessel function in normal tissue was not affected. Vascular disruption activity was also shown in an in vitro model that mimics capillary formation.
Further data supporting the unique anti-cancer profile and mode of action of this novel agent were generated in collaboration with the group of Diane Braguer of the Aix-Marseille University, France. Details of distinct effects on microtubule biology are presented (poster/abstract #422). These show that BAL27862 blocks tumor cell division by altering microtubule dynamics in a unique way as compared to conventional microtubule-targeting agents.
Dr. Laurenz Kellenberger, Basilea's Chief Scientific Officer, commented: "Resistance against established drugs is a major challenge in cancer therapy and necessitates the development of new oncology drugs with novel mechanisms of action to overcome such resistance. The dual mode of action of BAL101553, attacking tumor cells that are resistant to other agents as well as disrupting blood vessels of the tumor underlines its promising profile as a potential new agent for the treatment of refractory human cancers."
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ |Posters on BAL101553/BAL27862 | |to be presented in poster session "Tubulin-Interacting Agents"| |on November 8, 2012 | | | |Dual mechanism of action of the novel microtubule-targeting | |drug BAL27862 (active moiety of the prodrug BAL101553): | |targeting tumor and vascular cells - F. Bachmann, H.A. Lane; | |poster #421 | | | |Antitumor activity of BAL27862 (active moiety of the prodrug | |BAL101553) is associated with the generation of short | |non-centrosomal microtubules - A. Rovini, S. Honoré, N. | |McKay, F. Bachmann, H.A. Lane, D. Braguer; poster #422 | +--------------------------------------------------------------+
For further information please visit www.ecco-org.eu/ENA.
About Basilea
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Through the fully integrated research and development operations of its Swiss subsidiary Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd. ("Basilea") the company focuses on innovative pharmaceutical products in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and oncology, targeting the medical challenge of rising resistance and non-response to current treatment options.
This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.
Press release (PDF): http://hugin.info/134390/R/1655161/534808.pdf
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Basilea Pharmaceutica AG via Thomson Reuters ONE
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
These pellet classifiers feature quick-disconnect discharges that invite the frequent, thorough interior cleaning of the discharge chute required to help prevent batch-to-batch cross-contamination. Incorporating a proprietary thumb screw design, the quick-disconnect discharge may be quickly and easily removed and reinstalled in seconds with no tools. Originally developed to speed cleaning in product changeover for contract processors, packagers and manufacturers, the quick-disconnect discharge supports the sanitary production of foods, beverages, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and other products and aids in compliance with FDA, HACCP, and CGMP requirements. The quick-disconnect discharge chutes are included as standard on the entire line of Witte classifiers. The vibrating classifiers separate on-spec pellets from material that is oversized, undersized, or otherwise off-spec. Plastic resin, fertilizer, pet food, fish feed, and pharmaceutical ingredients are among the most commonly pelletized products.
Witte Company, Inc., Washington, NJ 908-689-6500 www.witte.com
Witte Company, Inc.
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Technical Problem With This Chapter?
Author: MyGinevra
Story: Ginny's House
Part: 01 - Family Planning
Rating: Teens
Setting: DH-interview
Status: Completed
Warning: None
Reviews: 10
Words: 8,785
Updated: August 27, 2009, 3:47am
01 - Family Planning
Author's note:
When I finished The Hog's Head I did not intend to write any more Harry Potter fan fiction, but the red-haired siren called once more, and to date I have never been able to resist my Muse. Ginny's House is a sequel to The Hog's Head, but if you did not read it there is enough back-story contained in the narrative of this story to explain almost everything. The only item I could not easily work in that might confuse non-HH readers, is the presence of Madame Olympe Maxime at Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She came to the school from Beauxbatons in the middle of Ginny's seventh year, after the original DADA teacher, an obnoxious Auror named Morequest Pester, imploded (figuratively speaking) and had to be replaced mid-term. Madame Maxime seems to have put the infamous curse on the position to rest, because she has now lasted into her sixth year at Hogwarts.
Many people encouraged me to write another HP fic. One in particular also edited it, Jim aka The Seeker. He is the editor par excellence. In addition, Paul (bransfolly) Britpicked it and also gave freely of his advice as a professional writer. Without those two, this story would be much less than I hope it is.
I also have to thank Anne, who is still keeping me from being embarrassed by my high-school French. Finally, Amy and Marlee, thank you for all your cheerleading.
I dedicate Ginny's House to Aunt Gladys, my #1 fangirl, who died last February at 81.
Ginny sat on the grass, not too far from Hagrid's cabin, late on a warm spring afternoon. She was hunched over with her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them, listening to the tinkling and splashing of water cascading in the fountain behind her. Her cheek rested on her knees and her eyes were closed. She could also hear the cooing of two doves perched in the rowan tree growing next to the fountain.
She lifted her head and turned to look back at the castle. A happy tingling filled her up, and she saw Harry striding down the lawn. He waved and she smiled and waved back.
She leaned over and kissed him as he plopped down next to her. "Hey, sweetie," she greeted him. "Did they set the date?"
"July first next year," he grinned. "Ron's promotion will be the same day. He and Hermione are coming on Friday for dinner to celebrate."
"Oh, Harry! That's wonderful! We can start to make plans!"
"Right. I talked to Stan before I came up here, and he doesn't see any problem with buying the inn next summer. Harriet's due in October, so by the summer they'll be able to handle it."
Harry meant The Hog's Head Inn, which he himself had bought six years ago, two days after the Battle of Hogwarts. He wanted a place for himself and Ginny to be together while she finished her last year at school. He had to renovate it, of course, since it had been a dump and hangout for petty criminals for decades. Stan Shunpike became his barman, but after Harry joined a new Auror training program at the Ministry of Magic, Stan took over running the inn. Stan later married Harriet Smythe, a waitress at The Three Broomsticks.
Part of the inn's renovation was a three–room flat on the second floor, and during the first year that Harry lived there it had been a place of refuge and romance for him and Ginny. They had intended to move into a house after their wedding the following July, but life has a way of changing even well–laid plans. Harry was being groomed to become Head Auror, and Ginny had tried out for and made the all–witch Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team. Harry became engulfed in training to become an Auror and in all the political and administrative intricacies of running a department in the Ministry. Ginny's role on the Harpies grew with every passing match as her skills blossomed and her passionate spirit infused the whole team. Her popularity with fans grew, too, and soon, as one of the best Chasers in the British and Irish League, she became as well–known and popular as her husband.
Weeks, months, and years slipped by, and the small flat over The Hog's Head became cozier and more comfortable, if a little crowded with the accumulations of five years of marriage. Besides, as Ginny often said, she liked being as close as she could to her sweetie.
Now, sitting on the Hogwarts lawn at the end of a lovely day, listening to the sounds of the fountain, Ginny was silent. She looked at the fountain and then at the doves. They had built their nest on a branch a dozen feet up, and the female was sitting in it. Ginny knew from Hagrid, who checked the nest every day, that there were three eggs.
She leaned her head on Harry's shoulder and he put his arm around her. "I knew you'd be here," he said.
Ginny sighed. "It'll be six years next week. I wanted to spend some time here alone. It'll be too crowded on the second."
The fountain marked the spot where Elizabeth Derby, a fifth–year Ravenclaw, had died during the Battle. Ginny had found her here, horribly wounded, her face mutilated, her limbs broken, and had held her hand in the last moments of her life. The fountain was a memorial to all students who had been killed. It was magical, filled with colorful fish and beautiful water lilies. Water fell out of two cupped hands held aloft above the basin. Flowering vines grew up around the white marble pedestal and around the basin. The fountain and the rowan tree had been created by Ginny and four Hogwarts professors, and the fish, the flowers, and the doves would live there as long as Hogwarts stood.
Ginny liked to spend time here when the weather was fine. The sounds of the water and the doves were soothing. Sometimes Hagrid or another professor or a curious student would stop by and they would sit in silence for a while, but mostly she sat or lay on the grass alone. She didn't even want Harry there at these times.
Today he had expected her to be at home when he got home from work because he was bringing big news: the date he would officially become Head Auror of the Ministry of Magic, the job he had been preparing for these past five years. But he could tell that something was on Ginny's mind, something that Harry couldn't see clearly. He knew it was not Elizabeth Derby or something to do with the Battle, but Ginny was not letting him see what it was.
They shared a connection, a link between their minds and their hearts, that opened up every thought and every emotion; it allowed them to be with each other in engulfing intimacy. They often did not have to speak in order to communicate, especially about strong feelings or an important thought.
But along with total intimacy came the need to hold things back, to keep from hurting the other with a strong reaction, or when they needed privacy. Minor annoyances were not a problem; after five years of marriage they both knew each other well enough not to be bothered by a tub of ice cream left to melt on the kitchen counter, or a wad of long red hair clogging up the shower drain.
They handled problems like those with magic. But right now, sitting on the Hogwarts lawn in front of the magical fountain, something more important was bothering Ginny, and Harry sat quietly without trying to intrude.
Her hand rested on the grass, and he put his over it. She looked at him, and instantly he knew what she was thinking. A fraction of a second passed, and Harry looked away.
"I don't like the idea. In August you could be three months along and still playing."
"You don't know that."
"You will be playing. There's no way they won't pick you. And what if you got hit with a Bludger? Can't we wait three months?"
"I only got hit in my stomach once, ever, and that was five years ago at my tryout," she frowned.
They looked at each other and were silent again as the conversation went back inside their minds. Another fraction of a second ticked, and Harry got up; they had decided. He gave his hand to Ginny and pulled her up. They hugged.
"April's a good month to have a baby," Ginny said as they walked away from the fountain with their arms around each other. "But if we start trying on the first of July, we'll have to go at it hot and heavy."
He smiled down at her. "Maybe you'll finally wear me out."
"What are you talking about, Potter?" Ginny pulled away from him with a look of mock indignation. "Don't you remember Paris last year? You couldn't walk for a week."
Harry laughed and pulled her back. They strolled through the tall pillars of the castle gate and continued on past the Hogsmeade train station, up the High Street, past The Three Broomsticks, the post office, and Honeydukes. Passing Zonko's Joke shop, they glanced in the window but didn't see George or Angelina. They went around The Hog's Head and up the back stairs to their flat.
* * * *
What concerned Harry about Ginny's becoming pregnant that summer was the Quidditch World Cup. The tournament was in August in Ireland, home of the two–time champions. The manager of the British National team, Philbert Deverill, who had moved over from managing Puddlemere United, would be choosing the team members any day now, according to the Daily Prophet.
Ginny was First Chaser for the Harpies, and Harry and everyone else thought she was a cinch to make the National team. She was the current league scoring champion, and a sure bet to win it again this year. She and the Harpies' Second Chaser, a feisty former East–Ender named Ginger Beale, had led the team to two straight league titles.
Over their meal that evening Harry and Ginny talked about having babies and what names they liked. When they went downstairs to the inn, as they usually did after dinner, they saw George and Angelina sitting at a table near the front door. George waved and they went over and joined them.
"Congrats!" George held out his hand and Harry shook it. "Let me buy you a drink and be the first to attempt a bribe of Britain's new Head Auror."
"Thanks," said Harry. "I don't drink, but you're welcome to try gold. And how the hell did you find out?"
"I have sources, my lad. As for bribing you with gold, I draw the line at that. Honestly, how corrupt do you think I am?" George grinned. "Seriously, it's brilliant news. And little brother's moving up with you, right?"
"He'll be my Chief Assistant. And did you hear? Saliyah's becoming the first director of Intermagic," Harry said, referring to Saliyah Ushujaa, Kingsley Shacklebolt's wife and Head Auror since the first days after the Battle of Hogwarts.
"The international magical police bureau?" Angelina asked. "I thought that someone from the States was getting that job."
Harry shook his head. "People are soured on the Yanks at the moment because of that Muggle war. Damn," he frowned. "I really hate politics. Thank Merlin for Kingsley. He knows all the right buttons to push and all the right hands to shake. He just keeps smiling, and of course it helps to have a voice that can overpower everyone else's on the planet."
"It wasn't just Kingsley," Ginny said. "Sal knows a few tricks herself. She really wanted that job."
"I imagine there were a few conversations behind the bedroom door at the Shacklebolt residence," George said with a grin.
Angelina frowned at him. "She deserves the job, and I don't think her competence has anything to do with her living arrangements."
"Just kidding, as usual," George said with a slight roll of his eyes.
Angelina grinned at Ginny. "Weren't you going to teach me that bat–bogey hex?"
"Now, now!" George put his arm around Angelina. "Ginny's way too busy with Quidditch to be teaching you stuff like that. Aren't you?" he looked at his sister hopefully.
Ginny laughed. "The season ends on Friday, so I will have some free time, and if Angelina does, too..."
"No, wait!" George held up his hand. "What about the Cup team? You'll be starting that soon, right?"
Ginny reached across the table and patted his hand. "Relax, Brother. No one would dare to hex you; your history of retaliation is too well known. But no one's told me anything about the Cup team. Deverill hasn't talked, and there are at least four other Chasers who —"
"No way!" Harry, George, and Angelina cried at the same time, and all four of them laughed.
"You are way too modest, Sis," George said. "The sports writer at the Prophet predicts that you'll be First Chaser, and he's supposed to have all kinds of inside information."
"I know, I read that article," Ginny said dismissively. "Herbert Hailfellow, he's the worst Quidditch writer I ever read. I could write a better Quidditch piece with my eyes closed. He interviewed me and Ginger last December, remember? All he wrote about was how nice we looked in our uniform robes. He's a bloody lecherous old git."
"Blimey, I didn't realize you liked him that much," George said.
At that moment the front door opened and two young witches walked in, obviously identical twins. They had curly, light brown hair; their complexions were fair and their blue eyes danced as they swept the dining room. They were wearing school robes sporting the Gryffindor colors and crest, but instead of regulation blouses and neck–ties, they wore tee shirts with the logo of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes blazoned across their chests.
The twins were Emma and Claire Athair, Muggle–born sixth–years who had started at Hogwarts in Ginny's seventh year. They became fast friends with Harry and Ginny during that school year, and had also started working with George when he and Lee Jordan bought the old Zonko's building and re–opened it as a branch of the Diagon Alley joke shop. The girls distributed advertising and operated a small joke outlet in the sixth–year boys' dormitory in Gryffindor Tower. They were also Beaters on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, following the tradition of the Weasley twins, and their enthusiasm for the defense had led to Gryffindor's winning it's first two matches of the year by shutouts.
They were standing right next to the table where Harry and Ginny sat with George and Angelina, and didn't notice them at first. But Emma glanced around and grinned. "Hey, Boss," she said to George. "Who's minding the shop?"
"Chico. He can almost speak English now, so I figure he's perfect for the job."
"Is he there by himself?" Claire asked.
George raised his eyebrows. "Now why do you want to know that?" Chico Tomás was an immigrant from Argentina who had come to Britain six months ago to work for the local Hogsmeade building contractor, Tony Trostle. Tony had done the renovations on the inn for Harry; he had also led the villagers who had attacked the Death Eater army from the rear at the crucial moment during the Battle of Hogwarts. He liked to hire immigrants, but George had taken a liking to Chico after he had come to do some work at his and Angelina's home, which was a few miles outside the village. Now Chico was an employee of Zonko's and had shown an interest in learning English from Claire.
Claire blushed and George laughed. "Pull up a chair, both of you. I know you two don't go to bed early, and Seńor Chico will be at work for a while."
"I wasn't planning to stop by there," Claire insisted. "We knew you'd be here, so we came directly."
"Can I go see him if you aren't?" Emma said with a sly grin. "I'll tell him I'm you."
Claire scowled. "Ha, ha, he knows the difference."
"So," Harry cut in, "is this a new school policy, letting sixth–years out on weeknights?"
Emma glanced around and lowered her voice. "We told McGonagall we were conducting a sociological survey of attitudes in Hogsmeade toward the school."
"It's a cover we invented a month ago in History of Magic," Claire added.
"That's why we're wearing robes," said Emma.
"But we really needed to talk to George," said Claire.
Ginny was listening with an amused expression. "Why not send a message? You both have owls that roost in your room."
The twins' owls, Rosie and Mocha, were the offspring of Harry and Ginny's owls, McPherson and Bailey. By now several generations of Barn owl descendants were living at Hogwarts. Rosie and Mocha were from the first clutch of eggs that Bailey had laid five years ago.
Both twins looked askance at Ginny. "You of all people are asking why we don't stay at school?" Emma said. "As I recall, you had about twenty–five detentions our first year because you were off the grounds hanging out and otherwise occupying yourself with a certain green–eyed lad."
Ginny laughed. "It was only four, and besides, I was helping to bring criminals to justice."
"Well, times are better these days," said Claire. "We don't have any Death Eaters to fight, so instead we sell jokes."
"A much more worthwhile activity," said Harry.
"So what's on your mind?" George asked.
"Two Hufflepuff second–years had to go to the hospital wing this afternoon," said Emma. "I think one of the Skiving Snackboxes got jinxed. The Puking Pastille started working from the other end. It wasn't pretty."
George frowned. "I wonder if Chico got them mixed up with Reverse U–No–Poo. Someone needs to inspect the inventory. We might need a product recall."
"I'll go check it out with him." Claire jumped up and headed for the door.
"I'd better help," said Emma. "It sounds like a big job."
"I can handle it." Claire tried to close the door behind her but Emma put her foot between the door and the jamb.
"But can you handle him?" Emma pulled on the door, and finally Claire gave up and the two girls left together for Zonko's, up the lane and across the High Street from the inn.
Ginny shook her head. "What a pair."
"Did you hear what they did to the statues in the Ministry?" Harry asked.
They all looked at him. "You mean the Fountain of Magical Brethren?" Ginny said.
After the defeat of the Death Eater regime five years ago, the hideous black statue in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, Magic Is Might, was replaced by statues of four children — two girls and two boys — holding hands. The models for the girls were the Athair twins.
Harry nodded. "No one noticed at first because the magic they used was so slow. But they charmed the statues to grow. Now they look like they're around thirteen years old. No one can figure out how to stop it. It's hilarious. They had half the Ministry up there yesterday, all these pompous wizards and witches from the Improper Use of Magic Office waving their wands, and no one could get rid of the spell."
"How do you know it was the twins?" Angelina said. "It could have been anyone."
"Ron saw them hanging around the fountain during the Easter holiday. It has to be them."
They all chuckled, and George looked at the clock over the bar. "Time to get going, love," he said to Angelina. "It's a long walk back to the house."
"Then why don't you Apparate?" she said. "That's what I'm going to do."
"You're not being very romantic." George put his arm around her. "Come on, let's take a slow stroll arm–in–arm through the moonlit vale."
"Okay, lover boy," she smiled and took his arm. "You sweet–talked me into it. Good night." She waved to Harry and Ginny as they left.
Harry watched them go and took Ginny's hand. "He seems to have gotten over a hump. He's lost that melancholy air he used to have."
"You're right. It's really nice to see him getting back to being George, after all these years."
They sat in silence for a few moments, until the kitchen door opened and the house–elf Kreacher shuffled into the dining room. The old elf was moving a little slower and his shoulders were a little more stooped than when he had become Harry's elf, but he refused any of Harry's pleas to take some time off. He was the only waiter in the inn aside from Harriet. Ginny had told Harry long ago that the work was what was keeping him alive, in addition to threats from their other house–elf, Winky, that if he went and died she would revive him in order to beat him back to death with one of the ladles that always hung from a rope belt around her waist. Kreacher had scowled but didn't argue.
Winky had been disowned by the Crouch family, but Harry had rescued her from her despair when he offered her the job as cook for the inn, at the same time he had hired Stan as barkeep. Winky had gratefully accepted, and now she was the Potters' second house–elf.
Kreacher approached the table where Harry and Ginny sat. He bowed and his huge bat–ears brushed the floor. "Miss Winky is asking Mistress Ginny Potter if she wants her usual breakfast in the morning." He reached up and adjusted the red cap on his head, the gift that Harry had given him making him a free elf.
"Tell her no, Kreacher," said Ginny. "I have to be in Holyhead at five in the morning. Winky doesn't have to get up that early."
Kreacher bowed again and shuffled away. They watched him go over to the bar.
"I hope he'll be okay when we move out of here," Ginny said.
Harry looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean, move out of here? Stan doesn't want to move into the flat."
It was her turn to stare at him. "I mean when we move someplace with more room. A year from now we might have a child. Where's it going to sleep? In the bathtub?"
Harry blinked and looked away. Stan and Harriet were both behind the bar chatting with customers and pouring drinks into some glasses sitting on a tray. When they were done, Stan leaned over the counter and handed the tray to Kreacher, who shambled off to a table of customers in the back.
Harry turned back to Ginny. "But a little baby doesn't need all that much space. He can sleep in our bedroom for a couple of years."
"Harry!" Ginny looked worried and a little upset. "When you have a baby, you still need some privacy for yourself. I won't mind if he — or she — sleeps in our bed for a while. My mum did that with all of us, and she always said it made us closer." She paused and giggled. "Maybe too close sometimes. But why on earth wouldn't we get a bigger place? We've always talked about it, and the flat is filling up. There's junk everywhere."
Harry glanced at two witches sitting at the next table. He knew them well — they were regular customers, and pleasant enough — but now they were openly staring at him and Ginny with eager looks. When Harry stared back they quickly turned their heads and pretended to talk to each other.
"Come on, let's go upstairs." He finished off his butterbeer and pulled Ginny up. They said goodnight to the Shunpikes and walked into the kitchen. Winky was sitting on a stool next to a counter polishing silverware. Her eyes moved as she watched them cross the room to the back door.
"Harry and Ginny Potter has a good night's sleep!" she called to them. "House–elves is never making big decisions in the middle of the night."
They paused at the door; Ginny smirked and Harry shook his head. "Goodnight, Winky, and what big decisions do house–elves ever make?"
"Harry Potter would be surprised if Winky told him what they was."
"No, I probably wouldn't." Harry glanced at Ginny with a grin. "But you're always asleep and snoring very loudly whenever I'm down here in the middle of the night."
Winky smiled sweetly, bowed, and resumed her polishing.
They trudged upstairs and Harry lit a fire. Their cozy sitting room had a thick red rug in front of the fireplace, a love seat behind the rug, and several comfortable chairs around the room. Several bookshelves lined the walls, filled with books about magical law enforcement, spells, Dark Arts, and Quidditch. Three broomsticks stood in a rack next to the fireplace. A large picture window looked out over an open field behind the inn; a lone elm tree about thirty feet away was just visible in the light from the window. Beyond the field, too far away to see in the night, a rail fence and a lane led past farm houses with lights glowing from their windows; George and Angelina were walking home on that road.
On the other side of the parlor was a closed casement window. Harry went and opened it and a moment later a large Barn owl flew in and landed on a perch just inside. McPherson clucked a few times and pecked at a sack of owl treats hanging next to the perch. Harry gave him a handful and stroked his back.
He turned as Ginny came in from the little kitchen that opened off one end of the parlor. She was carrying tea service on a tray and set it down on the red rug. Harry joined her and they leaned back against the love seat, sipping a blend called Magical Moments and watching the flames.
The silence that followed was typical of their private conversations. Their thoughts and their feelings were completely open to each other. They spoke out loud because they loved to hear each other's voice or when they wanted to slow the conversation down, but they didn't need it to communicate.
After a few moments of silent intimacy, Ginny took another sip, set down her cup, and spoke. "We need a house. We need a place that will be a home for us and our children. You never had such a thing, but I did."
Harry sighed. "It's just... it's just that there are so many memories here. I —"
He stopped in mid–sentence; it was as if his mind had hit a brick wall. Ginny turned a baleful eye on him. "Memories? Of course there are memories, good ones and bad ones. Sweetie," her voice softened and she touched his cheek. "There will always be memories wherever we live. I love the memories we have of this place. Do you remember that I wanted to stay here after our wedding? I wanted us to be close together, so that all I had to do to touch you was reach out my hand. I still want that."
"No, you silly lad," she laughed. "There are no buts." She got up on her knees and faced him, taking his hands in hers. "There will be children. I said at our wedding that our children would come from inside me, and believe me, I can't wait to start trying. We're moving on, love, in the biggest way that anyone can move on. There will be another human being who will be one hundred percent dependent on us for everything, including love."
"Well, yeah, of course..."
Ginny sat back on her haunches. "And love includes a home. A proper home, not three rooms over a pub."
Harry sighed again and looked around. He had built this flat almost six years ago for Ginny. The fireplace was a copy of the one in the Burrow; the bedroom with its elegant four–poster was their sanctuary, their place of supreme closeness and joy; the elm tree in the back was the roost for their owls. There were photographs on the mantel of their wedding, his parents, his godfather, and all of Ginny's family, including Fred.
Harry peered at his parents' picture; he had taken it from the album that Hagrid had given to him at the end of his first year at Hogwarts, one of the first photos he had ever seen of them. His father smiled at him, but his mother had a different expression, and when he looked from her to Ginny he realized that it was the same one his wife was wearing.
Ginny glanced at the photo and giggled. "See, the mother–in–law agrees with me."
Harry smiled. "I can't fight two of you. Okay, we'll look for a house. When should we start?"
Ginny leaned forward and took his face in her hands. She kissed him and sat back. "After the tournament. I just decided I'm going to resign as soon as we win the Cup. I won't go back to the team; I want to stay home with our baby."
"Resign!? For good? Merlin! And now you're certain that you'll be picked?"
"Herbert Hailfellow says I will, and who am I to argue with the best pervy Quidditch writer in Britain?"
Harry leaned against the love seat. He took her hand and Ginny looked at him expectantly from under her eyelashes; they both knew what the other one wanted. They took their teacups into the kitchen and strolled back to the bedroom with mutual thoughts filled with anticipation of the night.
* * * *
Ginny awoke well before dawn the next morning and went into the shower. Harry got up a few minutes later and stumbled yawning into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. A copy of the Daily Prophet wrapped in a mailer lay on the kitchen table, and Harry smiled when he saw Molly Weasley's handwriting on it. Whenever she sent them a newspaper or magazine, it contained either an article about himself or Ginny, or else a discount coupon for something that Molly thought they should hurry out and buy, like underwear or toilet paper. And sometimes she had even circled an advertisement for a crib or a pram.
Harry ripped off the envelope and opened the newspaper. There were no interesting stories on the front page, only Ministry gossip and a brewing scandal about cauldron imports again. He turned to the sports section on the back page.
"Ginny!" he shouted, and ran into the bedroom. He heard the shower running and dashed into the loo. He threw the shower curtain back and Ginny looked at him with a full head of shampoo about to run down into her eyes. He shoved the paper at her. "The Cup team! Look! You're in! They announced it last night! Second Chaser!"
Ginny grabbed the newspaper and stared at the headline as water spattered over it. Molly had circled in red ink, National Team Selected. Below it the subhead read, Power and quickness in the attacking line with Donahue, Weasley, and Brandon augur a plethora of goals. "Weasley" was underlined in red three times.
She grinned and gave it back to him. "Mum sent it, right?" She put her head under the water and started rinsing her hair.
"Right," Harry answered. "I'll put it on the bed for you."
Ginny finished showering, and Harry showered while Ginny got back in bed and drank coffee and read the story. Harry joined her in a few minutes. It was a routine they followed on mornings when they were both leaving early for work; it gave them a few more minutes together in their favorite place.
"The Seeker is Forrester Salinger of Chudley," Ginny read. "Gwenog's First Beater and Pastorini's the other. That's a surprise, but I guess they're going for quickness at all positions." Gwenog Jones was captain of the Harpies, and this would be her third World Cup tournament. "Keeper is Jim Leyting from Wigtown. That's bloody brilliant, he's the best in the league, no doubt."
"The papers were calling for you to be First Chaser. I guess it doesn't matter much, but how come you're Second? You're scoring champion, for goodness sake."
"I don't care," Ginny shrugged. "I suppose it's league politics. Danny Donahue is a sweet flyer and he's been in the league eight years longer than me. He deserves the first spot."
"So what do you think?" Harry was reading over her shoulder with one hand around her back and his chin resting on her shoulder. "Do you have a shot at the Cup?"
Ginny nodded. "We do. We're going to score a lot of goals and Forrester's at the top of his game. I think we'll be the favorite."
Harry squeezed her waist. "This is going to be fun. Do you know what the schedule is, who you'll be playing?"
"I'll try to find out today. What time is it?" She glanced out the door into the sitting room where she could see the clock on the mantel. "Time for work." She paused and looked at him quizzically. "What's wrong?"
In the excitement Harry had managed to keep to himself the fact that he was having second thoughts about moving from the flat. "I need to think some more about moving. I'm not saying I don't want to, but I don't think I'm used to the idea yet. Let's talk about it again, okay?"
"Sure," she said, but with some obvious irritation.
"I promise we'll settle it by the weekend. But it wasn't fair. I just had a few hours to think about it. It's too big a deal to decide so fast."
Ginny chewed her lip for a moment, but the furrows on her forehead disappeared.
"That's true. We'll take our time, okay, love? I know we'll make the right decision."
Harry laughed, and Ginny couldn't help from joining him. "No, I will listen to reason," she said. "You're right, it's too important to decide quickly."
They kissed, got out of bed, and dressed. Harry donned his Auror robes and Ginny put on a pair of jeans and a Harpies tee shirt. They ate a quick breakfast, and Ginny took her two brooms from their rack next to the fireplace — a Firebolt 21 that was her seventeenth birthday present from her parents, and an Ion One, her wedding present from her entire family and still the fastest model on the market. She went into the fireplace first and Harry followed a moment later. When the green flames died, the flat was quiet.
* * * *
Ginny stepped out of the fireplace in the club house of the Holyhead Harpies. She knew what was coming, but the screams and shouts that greeted her still startled her. A dozen grinning, laughing witches surrounded her. She was hugged and pummeled; a few of them planted kisses on her face. The most boisterous celebrant was a small witch, almost as petite as Ginny, with brown hair and a cocky smile.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Ginger Beale cried over and over while she whirled Ginny around. "I tol' Deano this mornin' that I 'ad a feelin'. It's in the bag, I says, from the very beginnin'. Bloody 'ell, Gin, this is brilliant!"
Ginny laughed with her. They held each other at arm's length and looked at each other for a moment, their eyes sparkling.
Ginger and Ginny had tried out for the Harpies on the same day, near the end of Ginny's final year at Hogwarts. They had become fast friends almost instantly, despite the huge difference in their backgrounds. Ginger grew up in a tough London neighborhood and had barely heard of Hogwarts; she learned her magic on the streets. Her mother had always been the sole support of the family, and her father had been killed in a drunken duel when she was only twelve. Ginger had moved out of the East End five years ago when she became a Harpy, and for the past three years she had been living with Dean Thomas, who she met at Ginny's wedding.
Ginger had arrived at Holyhead on the day of their tryouts with an obsolete broom that her brother had "found" for her, but her toughness and natural ability had won her the last open spot on the squad. Now she and Ginny were the Second and First Chasers, and their talents had led the Harpies to two consecutive British and Irish League championships; they were about to make it a hat–trick if they beat Kenmare later in the week.
Ginny shook hands and took pats on the back from the rest of the players and coaches who were gathered around, and she and Ginger went into the locker room to change into their practice robes.
"Where's Gwenog?" Ginny asked. "I didn't see her."
"She's already out at the pitch. I guess she's used to it," Ginger laughed. "But, Gin, I never thought I'd see a day like this. I'm so 'appy for you. 'Ow did 'Arry feel?"
"He was the one who saw it in the papers and showed it to me." She looked around; nobody else was in the locker room, and she lowered her voice. "I'm resigning from the team as soon as the tournament's over. Harry and I are going to try to have a baby. Keep it to yourself, okay?"
Surprise followed by chagrin appeared on Ginger's face. "Well, that's bigger news than gettin' picked for the National team. Bugger me, Gin, 'ow're we gonna win another championship without you?" Then she smiled. "Merlin, what am I sayin'? Congratulations! That's wonderful!"
"Shh!" Ginny glanced toward the door. "I don't want to say anything before the last match. We just decided yesterday. Harry's promotion is going through a year this July, and we want to have the baby before then."
"Will you stay in 'ogsmeade? You're not gonna 'ave a kid in that tiny flat, are you?"
Ginny's brow creased. "He doesn't want to move. He can be as stubborn as he bloody well wants, but I'm not having my baby there. I want a proper home for it, and I want it picked out before winter."
They looked up as more players came in. The team was boisterous; everyone was excited about having two starters on the National team, and they were also looking forward to the season's finale and another first–place finish. Soon they began leaving the clubhouse and heading down to the practice pitch located about two hundred yards away. Ginny and Ginger joined Samantha Semonova, a dour witch who was the Third Chaser. She rarely smiled, but no one noticed when she was flying. She was relentless and immovable on the attack, a perfect complement to Ginny and Ginger's lightning–quick thrusts.
They talked about the upcoming match. It had been almost fifty years since a team had won three championships in a row, and they all knew that they would never get this chance again. Kenmare was not strong, but no one could ever predict what the Golden Snitch would do in a match, so they wanted to run up as high a score as possible.
Gwenog Jones was waiting when they walked onto the pitch. She came right over to Ginny and wrapped her in a hug. "I've never had a teammate with me in the Cup," she said. "This is brilliant."
"I want to know all about it," said Ginny. "Did they announce the groups yet?"
"We're with Finland, Spain and Togo. That should give us a clear shot into the knockout round." She gazed out to the west, across the nearby Irish Sea. "My guess is that we'll practice here, it's so close to Ireland. Too bad you don't live around here."
Ginny was puzzled. "Why? What difference does it make where I live? I'll just Floo home during the breaks."
Gwenog shook her head. "You can't Floo or Disapparate during the tournament. They don't want people going back home. There have been too many problems and scandals with jinxes and crap like that. They say it's for our own protection, but they want people close by so they can watch us. We'll charter a Muggle boat to take us back and forth." She grinned. "The Games and Sports folks at the Ministry didn't think of that. But you'll be sacked if they find out you Floo'd back to your home."
Ginny looked the other way, to the east. There was a pleasant wizard inn not far away, within easy reach by rented automobile or even by broomstick. She had stayed there once or twice when Harry was not at home and she didn't feel like being so far away from Holyhead while she was alone. Maybe she and Harry could let a room there for the four weeks of the tournament. There was a problem, though, with the village where the inn was located: Godric's Hollow. Harry had refused to go near it ever since the Christmas that he and Hermione had almost been caught and killed there by Voldemort.
* * * *
About two hundred miles away, Harry was sitting behind his new desk in his new office on the second level of the Ministry of Magic. Several large trays of pastries sat on the desk, put there by him for the crowd he had asked to join him. Ron sat next to him, squeezed against the wall, listening to the conversation but doodling on a parchment; a plate stacked high with Danish and crullers was perched in his lap. The other people in the room were also old friends, including members of Dumbledore's Army who were now Aurors: Seamus Finnegan, Ernie Macmillan, Katie Bell, Parvati and Padma Patil, Susan Bones, Justin Finch–Fletchley, Dennis Creevey, and Anthony Goldstein.
They and several others, all of them jammed together in front of and next to the desk, had been in the first class of the Auror training program that Kingsley and Saliyah had begun in the fall of 1998. That program was the most important part of the Minister's visionary plan to re–make the Ministry of Magic, and he had always known that Harry Potter would be one of the keys. Harry had built a cadre of followers who trusted, respected, and loved him. It had begun with Dumbledore's Army, and continued through the trials and battles that followed the death of the old Headmaster and Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry. The loyalty of his little band was shown during the Battle of Hogwarts when they all returned to fight; two had died and others had been injured.
But the thing that had sealed the bond between Harry and his people, that made the bond unbreakable, was the sacrifice that Harry had made when he walked into the Forbidden Forest to seek death. No one ever talked about it, but no one forgot it. It had created a fierce, almost savage loyalty. Kingsley had anticipated that, and he had no compunction about using it for what he believed was the just cause. He believed in his vision of the wizarding world, and he believed in Harry Potter.
Now Harry sat in a stuffy, windowless room with a dozen of his best friends. He had moved into this office that morning and hadn't had time yet to order a magical window. Until today he hadn't had an office; he was Saliyah Ushujaa's assistant and he did all his work in her office. But when they had announced the date for Harry's promotion to Head Auror, Kingsley decided that the importance of the position, if not Harry's needs, dictated that he have a space of his own.
Harry was answering a question from Ernie. "I don't have any plans to change any part of the organization. Sal and I worked together to get us where we are, so I'm completely comfortable with it. Nothing is etched in stone, of course. What we need will dictate what we do."
He didn't want Ernie to get cranked up; he was hard to stop once he got on a roll. But even if not many people in the department would want Ernie to lead them, there was no one more dependable. The only person Harry would trust more at his back was Ron.
"If you have any ideas, Ern, we'll sit down later and talk about them," Harry added. "For right now I just wanted to let you all know that everything's official, and that I want everyone in this room to move up with me."
Seamus spoke. "Harry, is anything big going on that you can tell us about? If some of us are going to take over departments, won't there be things we need to know?"
"Yes," said Harry with a grin. "Dung announced his retirement, and we need someone with a lot of free time to sort through his booty."
Everyone chuckled. Mundungus Fletcher had been working for the Auror Department as an unofficial, undercover, all–purpose snoop who knew everything there was to know about the wizarding underworld. It helped that he had a very soft spot in his heart for Ginny Potter, the result of kind treatment at her seventeenth birthday party. On several occasions Harry had been able to appeal to Fletcher's limited sense of honor because of that soft spot.
"So who's going to be the official snitch now?" Seamus asked.
"We're working on it," Harry replied.
"But we can't say anything yet," Ron said, looking up from his doodling and a raspberry Danish. "Besides, we're trying to talk him into staying on as a consultant." The chuckles were louder this time.
They talked for another half hour about Harry's new job and other goings on in the Auror Department. When everyone had left, Ron moved around to the front of the desk, leaned back in his chair, and put his feet up on the desk. Harry glanced at the shoes and Ron quickly put them down.
"Sorry, mate," he said sheepishly. "Hey, at least I waited until they were all gone."
Harry laughed. "That's alright. Just keep them polished, and be sure to scrape off the dog dirt first."
Ron grinned. "How's Ginny?" he asked. "I think even Hermione will want to go to the matches. Do you know if there's a schedule out yet for the tournament?"
"I don't know. Mum sent a copy of the Prophet to the flat this morning with the article on the back page circled in red. Usually she only does that if there's a sale on nappies."
Ron snorted. "She sends us those, too."
Harry was silent for a moment, and Ron looked at him. "What is it?"
Harry frowned down at the desk. "She wants to move."
"From your flat? Out of those spacious quarters? Imagine that."
Harry gave him an annoyed look. "I like it there. If we had both wanted to move right after we got married, I would have jumped at it. I mean, a lot of great things happened there, but so did a lot of bad things. But now I like it. I like being able to drop in downstairs when Tony's there, or Ros, or George. I like being near Hagrid, and..."
He paused. "And the Tomb. It makes me nervous when I go away for too long. I don't like leaving it unguarded."
Ron knew that by "it" Harry did not mean the White Tomb itself; he meant the Elder Wand. But it was no longer Harry who was master of the wand, it was Ginny. During the first year that Harry lived over the inn, there had been a series of incidents orchestrated by Dolores Umbridge, who hated Harry more than she hated being locked up in Azkaban. She had surprised him inside a house outside of Hogsmeade and taken his phoenix wand, but Ginny had been there under the Invisibility Cloak and had disarmed the witch a moment later. So now Ginny was mistress of the Elder Wand.
They had not told anyone except Ron and Hermione, who had performed a complicated Obliviate on Umbridge. She would be in Azkaban for the rest of her life because she had killed at least seven people in her obsession to get Harry, but now she would never know how she had got there.
"For God's sake, mate," Ron exclaimed, "you can't spend the rest of your life watching over the damn thing. It's safer there than it would be in Gringotts. Let it go. Besides, even if someone did manage to break in and take it, they couldn't use it against you or Ginny. You've already proven that."
"Yeah, I know." Harry looked morosely at the desk. "But I'm trying to think of reasons not to move."
"Ah." Ron's eyebrows went up. "It's starting to become clear. Ginny has a reason for wanting to move other than she keeps knocking into you on her way to the loo."
Harry smiled in spite of himself. "We're going to start trying for a baby."
Ron said nothing; he just looked at him.
"Well, we are!" said Harry. "She's going to quit the team right after the tournament." He got a dreamy look for a few moments. "It'll be nice to have her at home. Half the time when I get home from work she's still down there practicing or else the team needs her for some nutty fundraiser. Last month they were in Diagon Alley and she had to dress up like a Golden Snitch because she's the smallest one on the team."
"I saw that in the paper," Ron chuckled, but he still didn't respond to Harry's announcement. Harry waited, but Ron just continued to look at him with an interested, slightly amused expression.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Harry finally gave up and spoke.
"About what? I'm already an uncle three times," referring to Bill's children Victoire and Dominique, and Percy's daughter Molly. "It's getting boring."
"You bastard!" Harry threw a jelly donut at him. Ron ducked and it hit the door behind him, stuck there for a moment, and oozed to the floor. Ron grinned, jumped up, reached across the desk and pulled Harry into a hug.
He pounded Harry's back. "This is brilliant! Did you tell anyone else yet?"
Harry grinned back as he Scourgified the purple mess splattered on the door and floor. "No, and I don't even know if she wanted you to know. Please don't tell Mum or Dad or anyone else, and especially don't tell George. He'll start inundating us with jokes for the kid, and the place is already too cluttered, there's junk everywhere..."
Ron just nodded as Harry trailed off. He shot Ron another annoyed look. "Okay, so we need more room. I can get Tony to add on a storeroom or something."
"I'm sure he'd do a top–notch job." Ron kept nodding.
"Will you stop bobbing your head like that," Harry said peevishly. "You look like you did when you got jinxed in the Department of Mysteries."
"Okay," Ron nodded, and Harry picked up another donut. Ron leaned over and snatched it from him. "Don't waste good food," he mumbled as he stuffed it into his mouth. "Face it, mate, you need a bigger home. If you like Hogsmeade so much, build one there. You have enough gold to do whatever you want."
"What I want is things to be calm. I hated moving into here from Sal's office. I like things to be nice and steady."
"Well, you already married Ginny, so there goes that idea."
Harry smiled and sighed. "So true, so true." He looked at the clock on the wall, and at Ron with concern. "Are you okay? The cafeteria opened for lunch ten minutes ago."
"I'm fine," Ron grinned as he stood and reached for a cheese Danish. "In my new position as Chief Assistant to the Head Auror I need to act dignified as befits my rank."
"I'm not Head Auror and you're not Chief Assistant for another fourteen months, so you can cut the crap."
Harry followed his friend into the crowded corridor. They joined the stream of wizards and witches on their way to lunch.
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text:
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - "They told us the components they found in the house were used for that," Allen Graham told us. "And they would recommend me, before I moved in, to clean the whole thing."
Allen Graham's mother owns a rental property in Somerset, where he, his wife, and their three young sons now live. The former tenants were arrested for making meth in the home.
In Kentucky, meth labs are rated on a four tier system by the Kentucky Division of Waste Management. Tier one is the least amount of contamination, and tier four means a mass production lab was found. Investigators rated Graham's home a tier three, meaning meth was cooked there for an extended period of time, possibly for months. And because of that, the house needed a lot of decontamination before it was safe to live in.
Brenda Smith also lives in Somerset, just beyond the airport heading out of town. A tier one meth lab was found in the apartment where she now lives.
When we asked what her landlord did after the meth lab was found, Smith told us, "She could have rented it, but we felt better about going in and cleaning it, so that's what we did."
What did cleaning a meth lab mean for Smith? "I just went in, I done some work on it, she paid me for it, and my sister moved in," she said.
Jerome Crowe owns and operates a mobile home park in Lexington, where in May a tier one meth lab was found in a vacant trailer.
Crowe faced the same problem as other property owners do when meth labs are found contaminating homes. "I can't call up Rosie's Maid Service and have them come and do it," he said.
The dangers of meth labs, both active and post-cook, are well known -- one police official we spoke to compared cooking meth to bomb-making. But people who live in homes where meth was made don't always know what must be done to clean them and make them safe to live in again.
When we spoke to police about how they make sure that these meth homes are cleaned, the response was surprising. "Is there follow up and is it all disposed of properly?" said Lieutenant Scott Blakely, who's with the Lexington Police Department's narcotics unit. "I don't know."
It was other agencies' jobs to know. "We don't clean it up," he stated. "We only neutralize it."
There are agencies that oversee the aftermath, and police departments place a sign on the door of the meth house, to notify that a lab was found in the building.
Those signs are supposed to stay up until a state-certified contractor has cleaned the home to strict standards, on penalty of criminal charges. But that isn't always what happens. "We've had them immediately take the signs down when we leave," Blakely said.
What makes the sign important is that it spells out clearly what property owners are expected to do to move forward, sell the property, or rent it to tenants.
Property owners have several options when it comes to what happens next. "The first option is to have the home decontaminated by a certified contractor," said Kim Greenidge, with the Department of Waste Management. "The second option is to have the home demolished. The third option is to do nothing."
'Doing nothing' actually required doing something … or telling someone. "The laws that are in place right now require disclosure," said Greenidge.
What that means is that if the owner intends to sell the property or rent it out, they must tell the prospective buyer or tenants that the home was host to a meth lab, and no certified contractors have cleaned it. The sign also has to stay up. If it doesn't, and the home's former status isn't disclosed, the owner faces criminal penalties that include a Class A misdemeanor for taking the sign down, and a Class D felony for taking it down and not telling the occupant.
But those penalties are rarely enforced, and it all comes down to resources, and whose job it is to keep tabs on these homes.
"Without the resources to local entities, it's very hard to hand-hold and to watch every single property to make sure they follow and do the right thing," Greenidge said. "Hopefully in the future there will be stronger local ordinances to require items such as this to be followed more closely."
"He just told the landlord that we had to let the renters be aware of what had taken place here," said Smith, referring to the officer who responded to the lab found in her apartment.
Smith said her landlord even cut her a deal to clean out the contaminated apartment she and her sister now call home.
"A hundred dollars," she said, pleased with the result of her work. "A hundred bucks. And she lets me live here."
We spoke to police about the cautions they take when they encounter a lab, and they are stringent. They wear a full-body protective gear called a Tychem suit, which is the base level, bare-minimum protection for law enforcement when they go anywhere near meth lab clean-up scenes. They also use respirators that filter the air in the home. But the people who did the cleaning themselves had no such protection.
"I didn't wear no mask," said Smith. "We kept all the windows open, and the door open."
"I confirmed with the sheriff's department if I could strip it out," Graham said. "And they said sure, as long as I wore a mask and things like that."
We asked Graham if he had tested his work, to be sure he cleaned his home out properly. He said he had not.
But police said that just wasn't enough to be safe, and it certainly wasn't enough for the average person to clean a home to the point where it was free of harmful chemicals. "Those fumes permeate the residence where it's being cooked," Lieutenant Blakely said. "It permeates the fabric, it permeates the walls." And as for the long-term ramifications, Blakely said, "We don't know what the entire effect of all those chemicals are, but we know it's not good."
State officials say that if the home is going to be lived in again by anyone, the best, but not required method is to find a certified contractor to clean it.
"The contractor is trained on how to do this," said Greenidge. "And a person without that training could be exposing themselves to hazardous dangers."
"I've gotta go with one of these companies," said Crowe, referring to the list of certified contractors given to him by the state. "I learned a long time ago, if you do it the right way, the right way is the only way."
But Lieutenant Blakely was understanding of why some people chose to go the riskier route, and clean it themselves. "The reason why they probably don't [use a contractor] is that it's expensive," he said. "You know, a typical response for us is probably around ten thousand dollars. It probably costs equally that much to clean it up."
But cleaning it up without a contractor is still costly, and won't make the home as safe as it needs to be to rent out, sell it, or even just take the sign off the door that states a meth lab was found there.
"It still cost us around $7,300 to replace the sheet rock, painting, and all those things," said Graham, while his young son played on the grass behind him.
The fact is, whether it cost $100, $7,300, or $10,000, there's one right way, and plenty of wrong ways, to make sure your home is safe for life after the lab.
"You have to take responsibility for your property," Blakely said.
Crowe acknowledged, "We'll survive, we'll go ahead and do what we have to do."
Others echoed his dogged outlook, including Brenda Smith. "I just hope it doesn't come back up on our mountain."
Greenidge did tell us cities can adopt their own ordinances that require more of property owners, beyond state law, regarding cleanup and requiring certified contractors.
The city of Richmond adopted one such ordinance back in February of this year.


text:
LOS ANGELES — Comcast's $16.7 billion deal to buy the remaining half of NBCUniversal ahead of schedule represents a resounding vote of confidence in the future of TV, even as the growth of Internet video reshapes the entertainment landscape.
The decision was driven largely by Comcast Corp.'s belief that it would end up paying substantially more for General Electric Co.'s remaining 49 percent stake if it had waited until 2018, as had been envisioned in 2011 when the nation's largest cable TV provider acquired majority control of NBCUniversal.
''We didn't have to do this now. We chose to do it,'' Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said in a Wednesday interview on CNBC. ''We're bullish on the businesses we're buying.''
Shares of both Comcast and GE increased Wednesday following the late Tuesday announcement.
The flagship NBC network, once seen as the deal's albatross, has been on a turnaround. Broadcast TV revenue rose 5 percent last year, even after excluding the Super Bowl and the Olympics. Theme parks, the Universal Pictures movie studio, and pay TV networks such as USA and SyFy have grown, too.
As the advertising market has rebounded with the economy, so have the fortunes of NBCUniversal and other media companies like CBS Corp. and ABC owner The Walt Disney Co. That made the latest transaction seem like a savvy one at a relatively modest price.
''I think the television business has turned out to be much more powerful as an advertising medium than people were thinking five years ago,'' said Jonathan Taplin, a professor specializing in digital media at the University of Southern California. ''Comcast made a really smart move in believing that TV would continue to be a really important part of the advertising picture for years to come.''
When the deal was first disclosed in late 2009, NBC's audience ratings were sagging badly, raising doubts about the future of the broadcast pioneer that once boasted stars such as Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and Tom Brokaw.
More recently, though, NBC has bounced back with a new hit in ''The Voice'' and has a consistent ratings leader in ''Sunday Night Football'' during the fall and early winter. By last fall, NBC could boast for the first time in a decade that it was drawing the most viewers in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic prized by advertisers. Overall, NBC still ranked behind CBS and ABC, but at least it was no longer bringing up the rear in fourth place, as had been the case for several years.
Higher ratings translate into more advertising revenue, even though Comcast gets two-thirds of its revenue as a cable-TV and Internet access provider. NBC's improved success from TV shows also figures to bring in higher licensing fees from the Internet video services run by Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
NBC's turnaround is one of the main reasons Roberts wanted to take complete ownership of NBCUniversal now.
''We thought that we would have to pay more later,'' Roberts said in an interview Tuesday with the Associated Press.
The deal, expected to be completed by the end of March, values NBCUniversal at $34 billion, not including $5 billion in debt. That's about 13 percent higher than two years ago, when Comcast's investment valued the company at about $30 billion, also excluding debt.
Several analysts said Wednesday that Comcast got a great deal. Analyst Matthew Harrigan at Wunderlich Securities said GE ''mispriced'' the $16.7 billion deal.
But Comcast's chief financial officer, Michael Angelakis, said Wednesday that GE got a good deal as well, adding that GE gets a lot of cash to invest elsewhere. In a separate call, GE finance chief Keith Sherin said the company thought it was ''an attractive exit price.''
Complete ownership will let Comcast benefit more from the rising price of sports rights and other TV programs. It avoids solely being in the uncomfortable position of passing those costs onto customers.
Besides buying the rest of NBCUniversal, Comcast agreed to pay GE another $1.4 billion for other assets that include one of New York's best-known landmarks, NBC's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.


text:
Arsene Wenger is prepared to gamble on the right player this summer when he targets quality over quantity to strengthen Arsenal's squad.
Wenger has denied that Germany striker Lukas Podolski is close to joining the Gunners in an £11million deal having undergone a medical. But the Arsenal boss admitted he is ready to scour the transfer market in his quest for high-quality additions to the squad.
"Quantity-wise we will not do a lot. Quality-wise certainly, and we will take a gamble if we find top, top quality of course," he said.
Copyright (c) PA Sport 2012, All Rights Reserved.
Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: https://www.givemesport.com/writeforgms


text:
Jerry Dubner, of Atlanta, was in the final stretch of the Boston Marathon when the bombs exploded.
Despite being next to one of the explosions, Dubner was not injured. He spoke to CBS Atlanta's Katie Brace by phone.
Dubner said he was closing in on the finish line when he saw the first explosion ahead. He said about 10 seconds later, the second bomb exploded next to him.
"I was a little off to the right-hand side of the road, fortunately. If I had been on the left-hand side of the road, I'd be in the hospital right now. I saw people lying on the ground and blood. The last thing they needed was someone to go over and gawk, and so I just got out of there as quickly as I could," said Dubner. "The race officials were telling us to hurry down the course and I did exactly as I was told."
It was Dubner's 21st consecutive Boston Marathon. He said usually it's a celebration of accomplishment for all the runners.
"To have something like this happen, especially so close to the finish line, is shocking," said Dubner.
He said as he's learned more about Monday's events, this year's race brings very different emotions.
"It was scary, it was. I consider myself fortunate that I wasn't injured, and my thoughts and prayers go out to the people and their friends and family," said Dubner.
Dubner said he got his stuff and went directly to his hotel room. He said a lot of people are on edge. Dubner flies back to Atlanta on Tuesday.
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|2011-11-16, 00:26
|Link #501
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 29
I liked this episode. Content was strong. Actually, while Kanade might serve as our (the audience's) key into the traditional merits of Karuta, I would say that Tsutomu in this episode was even more relatable.
We know that Taichi pretty much got dragged into taking Karuta seriously by Chihaya and Arata. But Tsutomu here is a stranger by any angle. Despite being factually wrong when he loudly assumed there were no professionals in Karuta, truthfully the question he asked, "What merit does Karuta have for me?", still stands in general. A person would not really pick up the game just for supposedly "improving" their memory.
The theme of this episode is self-actualization. What draws Tsutomu to the club this time is not the game itself, but the people who will challenge him to strive towards it. The heart which comes to drive both Tsutomu and Taichi, as self-aware "losers", in contrast to Chihaya and Arata, is desire rather than passion. If, through Karuta, Chihaya's story will be to discover herself, then Tsutomu and Taichi's story will be to be reborn in it.
Regarding character backgrounds, although I'd agree with "ostracized", I would not really categorize Tsutomu's circumstances as "bullying". Socially, out of the rest of the cast, the character I would say Tsutomu was most similar to would be, indeed after all, Kanade, as people who lacked modes of self-expression whereby they could be able to communicate their values to others.
Heh. Between each of the "main characters" introduced thus far (though, again, Chihaya/Taichi/Arata's physical beauty reflects their status as the "main" main characters), there are already many points of comparison and contrast.
Anyway, one character aspect I liked which this episode highlighted is that intelligent people often tend to naturally be very self-limiting. Because they are so focused on the world around them, paradoxically they have a strong tendency to fixate on what they can't do rather than what they actually can. Both Tsutomu and Taichi are like this. In fact, the capacity to avoid failure can engender an overpowering fear of ever experiencing it. One of the things I will look forward to in this series is how throwing themselves into the real life realm of triumph and loss will turn them into genuine human beings.
|2011-11-16, 00:33
|Link #502
Anime-Only Viewer
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: USA
After World War II, Japan and its infrastructure was in disarray. Society at that point needed people to do their job, almost like a hive concept, in order to rebuild society. People were expected to accept what duties were assigned to them, and the job they have. They had to conform to social needs of society, and they cannot publicly complain about it, which is an expression of "wa" or social harmony. The expression of wa has been around for a long time. Hence, anything that does not conform to the harmony of society is often rejected.
You can read more on Japan society here: Society
As for bullying in High Schools in Japan, it has to do with conformity. If you stand out, you get bullied. Another of the reasons they give for bullying is that the students themselves do not see much of a future for themselves. The economy is bad, and your chances for great success is low.
Anyway, you can read more about it here: Bullying
|2011-11-16, 02:26
|Link #503
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Age: 29
Those are neither the words nor the expression of someone who's feeling bullied/remotely suicidal. Yes, bullying exists in Japan and there are structural/societal reasons for it. Yes, Japan's suicide rate is also extremely high due to pressure to perform scholastically. It's true that awareness of that "need" to get ahead economically was part of what Tsutomu used to rationalize/encourage his own alienization. However, the social forces you are referring to have not imposed themselves upon him externally. He's not being bullied, and he's not being put under scholastic pressure. Tsutomu chose to focus on studies and alienate himself from his classmates himself; someone truly being ostracized would've been a thousand times more aware of/grateful for the social refuge the Karuta club offered. Tsutomu is not a victim, and the anime doesn't portray him as one; if anyone could have been said to be showing real conformity to the standards of Japanese society, the one person most clearly doing that in that class was Tsutomu himself.
|2011-11-16, 03:45
|Link #505
Haters Gonna Hate
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: UK
Age: 27
|2011-11-16, 05:11
|Link #506
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Austria
I'm late.
This show plays up both the competition angle, and the belonging angle. Episode 7 has now brought the student ranking (latent in Taichi from the get go) into the spot light. And it has, for the first time, touched upon jealousy. Tsutomu faces Taichi, who blocks his goal of being best with (apparantly) little effort, and he even has friends, and people admiring him. In the face of Taichi, Tsutomu can no longer lie to himself: he's always known that people won't magically like him if he becomes #1 (at whatever).
So, in the end, how do you balance the need to compete (ingrained in public student rankings, for example) with the need to belong? One false step, and people start talking about you rather than with you. What to do? Strive for mediocrity?
Nope, the show gives us outsiders with a clear desire to excell. Of the characters we met so far, only Arata seems to have the desire to excell at karuta (being acquainted with it intimately from very early on). It's a stand in for Chihaya; and it's a training camp for Taichi (winning feels nice, so here I practice actually working for a win). Unsure about Tsutomu, so far. For Kana the competition is (so far) a tangent for her own desire, which is to share the beauty of traditional values.
So karuta, as a game, is basically a "site" where you can practise to reconcile winning with society building: you'll want to win, as that's the nominal point of the game. But you also want the club to succeed, and maybe club members go to national turnaments (and it stops there, because there's little interest in karuta outside of Japan --> best of the world). Basically, you can always displace competition one step upwards: compete within the club, but support each other against opponents from elswhere...
You reconcile competition with belonging, by placing yourself into a context of greater competition upwards in complexity, so even losing you gain a benefit from a "friend" winning. This is why the "best of Japan = best of the word", which sounds incredibly stupid and empty to me personally, makes absolute sense in the context of the show. If that were all, we'd just re-affirm the basic inspirational cliché: if we all do our best, we can be proud of our ("club", "school", "family", "country"). And the dark side of this is the fear of dragging the group down...
Here's where the show balances the tournament system very well with school and family life. Note, for example, that Arata will - in all likelihood - be neither a club member nor a student at that school. He'll be - probably - a tough opponent, but only connected to Taichi/Chihaya, not to the other club members.
I'm probably still not making much sense, as I have to think things through some more. There are plenty cross references I have set my eyes upon. For example: Chihaya joining the "Track-club" to meet people, but then unintentionally blowing off the class mate who invites her has echoes with Kana joining the archery club to be able to wear traditional clothes (and thus not being all that interested in archery, which rubs her team-mates the wrong way). Then look at Kana joining the karuta club with the same motivition, but this time out in the open and with Chihaya's approval (~ "doesn't matter why you like karuta, you like it as I do"). I think that's the direction I'd have to think about tradition <---> integration: as a practise ground for competition as integrational rather than destructive conflict.
I don't know how to put this, but from watching anime and Japanese movies, and from some theoretical texts I get the impression that Westerners tend to think of society as Venn diagrams, while Japanese tend to think of society as concentric circles. If that metaphor has any merit, it might make sense to view karuta as a point of growth. You practise living inside karuta until you transcend it. A western solution to a similar problem would involve "expanding your horizon". Notice how that happens, too, but within the context?
It's like... personalities rippling outwards in ever greater circles - and many people with similar problems joining together to make greater ripples. Still thinking.
@bullying: Depends on your definition of the term, whether ostracisation is bullying or not. There are good reasons for including it, but also reasons for excluding it. I'm sort of exhausted now, so I'm not going into this in detail. But basically, whatever you call it, you have two distinct situations:
A) A specific group of people seeks out an outsider to torment him/her.
B) A diffuse crowd of people is excluding an outsider and whispering rumours behind his/her back.
I've personally had severe problems with A, but only negligible problems with B). It seems that (B) is one of the recruiting grounds for tormentors (but not the exclusive one). Not sure about the situation in Japan, though. (I'm Austrian - little country in the European Alps next to Switzerland and Germany).
|2011-11-16, 05:11
|Link #507
You are Reading this!
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: In the study room
I hope the club will not be a gathering place for 'unique' people. But the OST throughout sounds very motivational, I have to say. However, any game or topic of interest can be used as catalysts for creating and strengthening bonds between friends.
|2011-11-16, 07:58
|Link #508
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Germany
Taichi get + points for ep 6!
He know he cant never beats Arata but he will still try! Same as for Chihaya, he knows that Arata hold a special place in Chihaya heart but he is still trying to win her because he loves her.
|2011-11-16, 08:37
|Link #509
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 31
Re-watch the flashback near the end of the episode (18 min in or so). Deep down, he desires to be accepted by others and that is part of the reason he immerses himself in his studies. He thought if he became number one, people would be forced to acknowledge him.
|2011-11-16, 10:23
|Link #510
Senior Member
This is why I'm inclined to view Tsutomu as being a victim of bullying, much like how Arata was during the flashback portion of the show.
Dawnstorm is right that there's two types of bullying (if you choose to categorize the second type as "bullying"). The one I think westerners are most familiar with is where a specific group of people seeks out a vulnerable outsider to torment him/her. But in Japan, I'm getting the impression that the more common type of bullying is when a diffuse crowd of people is excluding an outsider and making jeers behind his/her back.
The "Japanese" form of bullying is less problematic in many ways in that it probably tends to come with less physical abuse and less annoying pranks. However, it's worse in the sense that it's trickier to stand up against and put a stop to. To stop the "western" form of bullying, you can either appeal to the majority of students who aren't part of the bullying group and try to get their help, or you can courageously stand up to the bully/bullies yourself.
But how do you stand up to a diffuse crowd of people? How do you appeal to a third party if there's no third party there?
My view on Tsutomu is that deep down inside he's very lonely, and has a need for a greater sense of belonging in the world. I think he has no real interest (at least yet) in the game of karuta, but being sincerely wanted to be part of a club - Not simply as a "warm body" to fill out five members but as a full-time contributing member - does appeal greatly to him.
Tsutumo doubted Chihaya's sincerity in this episode, but not the value of her offer if it was sincere. I think that Tsutumo felt that Chihaya's offer was "too good to be true". He felt that nobody would want him to join their club as a real member. I think that Taichi's words convinced Tsutumo that the Karuta Club was sincere in wanting him to be a member; not just anybody at all, but him specifically.
|2011-11-16, 13:28
|Link #512
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
|2011-11-16, 14:41
|Link #513
Seishu's Ace
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kobe, Japan
I don't think that the common thread among all the kids in this show is bullying so much as outsider status. I don't disagree that elementary Arata and Desktomu suffered a form of bullying, but more than anything all of the characters - with the notable exception of Taichi - are somewhat isolated because of their quirks. Even beautiful Chihaya appears to have no close friends of her own gender, largely because she's an oddball of the first order.
The irony is that Taichi, while superficially the most "normal" and certainly the most popular, is arguably the most unhappy kid of the bunch. He's mastered the art of fitting in, in a way none of the others have, but it's brought him no satisfaction. He silently pines for Chihaya and constantly derides himself for what he sees as his shortcomings. The journey here isn't for the freaks and geeks to find happiness by becoming popular like Taichi - it's for him to become happier by letting go of his insecurities and following his heart, even if it means he's not as popular or "successful".
|2011-11-16, 16:46
|Link #514
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 31
His distrust of Chihaya was very realistic. It's only natural to react this way when you're almost completely isolated from others and the prettiest girl at school suddenly approaches you to recruit you in her club. I would have thought something was fishy too. Thankfully for him, Chihaya's no ordinary beauty. I love how forceful she was, even going as far as to carry him out of classroom against his will
The last member might break the pattern though, since I think he's the rival of Arata we saw in the flashback.
|2011-11-16, 20:56
|Link #515
One-Eyed Dragon
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NJ, USA
Lol Chihaya dragged Tsutomi all the way with his desk. Wow Taichi actually beat Chihaya. Glad had he overcame his past feelings, just like the feeling Tsutomi currently feels. Lol at Taichi throwing the desk. 1 more to go.
|2011-11-16, 21:02
|Link #516
Guess what time it is?
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Age: 32
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
|2011-11-17, 03:36
|Link #518
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Australia
Tsutomu, dropping your desk and leaving it behind is great symbolism and everything but in the end, you're still gonna need that when you go back to class .
This show is really pleasant to watch. The preparations for Arata's inevitable return to karuta is going on well and the side characters being introduced have their individual charms. It was nice that Taichi got serious for once and managed to beat Chihaya. Wonder what kind of person they'll be getting as their fifth member? Hopefully someone Chihaya doesn't have to forcefully drag to the club this time.
On a side note, the beginning of the main bgm theme is starting to annoy me for some reason...
|2011-11-17, 09:33
|Link #520
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Age: 56
|josei, karuta, madhouse
|Thread Tools


text:
At the 2013 Common Platform Technology Forum, recently held in Santa Clara, CA – the alliance members announced their new roadmap, accelerating the new manufacturing processes in a bid to set the pace of the industry.
As you can see in the roadmap below, the Common Platform members will accelerate the introduction of new manufacturing processes. The 20nm Planar LPM is getting introduced over the course of this year, but next year will see the adoption of FinFET transistors with the 14XM process, and that will continue with the 10XM process in 2015.
According to Jean-Marc Chery, CTO of ST Microelectronics, there's a level of annoyance with the way how Intel named its 22nm FinFET process, while in fact those transistors are closer to the 26nm process. Naturally, if you are in semiconductor industry, you know that all of these numbers are quite "wide off the mark", and the way how industry calculated the transistors no longer works when 3D transistors, or FinFETs are involved. This was confirmed by Warren East,
Common Platform confirms 14XM on track for next year and the launch of 10XM process in 2015.
Thus, Common Platform decided to continue naming its processes with the industry standard, but they are making a clear distinction that their 14XM and now the 10XM are "14nm and 10nm FinFET transistors on a 20nm or 14nm process". There is a particularly good reason for this, as we are approaching to boundaries of modern lithography, before the whole industry makes the jump to EUV (Extreme Ultra-Violet) process.
In a conversation with the executives inside of semiconductor industry, we were told that "we are at the beginning of new process wars," our source said under the condition of anonymity. "ARM awoke the manufacturing giant and now they will have to deal with the increased power the new ARMv8 architecture brings. (Google) Nexus 10 is the best example as it runs at 9 Watts during the benchmarks, and you can practically have a low-power (Intel) Ivy Bridge processor for that amount of power. Nobody expected that from an ARM-based processor." Furthermore, the source that designs products based on ARM and x86 architectures told us "There are plenty of choices but the key lies with the silicon. The key differentiator no longer lies with the price, but with the experience that a device can provide. Industry learned that with Apple."
In conclusion, we can expect that in 2014 and 2015 we are going to start seeing processors manufactured in 14XM (20nm FinFET) and 10XM (14nm FinFET) from the Common Platform Alliance facilities in New York State, Dresden, Austin and South Korea. Given that the members such as GlobalFoundries have hundreds of clients, don't be surprised to see a whole new generation of low-power SoC's from AMD, Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, STMicro and many others.


text:
Hearing declines with age for many reasons. To see how nutrition might affect hearing, doctors in one study eliminated those who might have lost hearing due to infection, disease, trauma, noise or ear-damaging drugs.
Researchers tested 126 apparently healthy men and women, aged at least 60, and found that those with hearing loss in high frequencies—the type most common with age—or speech frequencies, had blood folate levels about one-third lower than those with normal hearing. People with more vitamin B12 also tended to have better hearing than those with lower B12 levels.


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Forumwarz is the first "Massively Single-Player" online RPG completely built around Internet culture.
You are currently looking at Flamebate, our community forums. Players can discuss the game here, strategize, and role play as their characters.
You need to be logged in to post and to see the uncensored versions of these forums.
|Anyone got the Insane Clown Posse .moar file?
I'm willing to pay at least 15 million for it! I'm sick of wasting my visits spading and will pay any amount of Flezz needed to get the blasted thing. I don't care how much it costs, just put it up for sale.
|Posted On: 05/07/2010 11:50AM
|View ILLBREAKYOUDEAD's Profile | #


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Caroline C. (Bayer) Boone, 92, of 4777 McKenzie Road, Chambersburg, Pa., passed away Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in the home of her daughter, Nancy.
Caroline C. (Bayer) Boone, 92, of 4777 McKenzie Road, Chambersburg, Pa., passed away Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in the home of her daughter, Nancy. Born March 8, 1920, in the Wayne Heights area of Washington Township, Franklin County, Pa., she was the daughter of the late Samuel S. and Grace (Snowberger) Bayer. Mrs. Boone was a graduate of Washington Township High School with the Class of 1938. She and her husband, the late Mr. Russell L. Boone, were married March 8, 1946. They moved to their McKenzie Road address in 1985. Mr. Boone passed away April 17, 2009. Mrs. Boone was a homemaker who worked with her husband on the family farm on Fetterhoff Chapel Road, Chambersburg. She was a member of Old German Baptist Church, Falling Springs Congregation, Chambersburg. Mrs. Boone is survived by a daughter, Nancy A. Sullenberger and her husband, Gene of Chambersburg; a son, Stephen R. Boone and Adriana Hernandez of Homestead, Fla.; two grandsons, Brent E. Sullenberger and his wife, Melissa and Philip L. Sullenberger and his wife, Darlene; one step-great-grandson, Sterling Nowakowski and his wife, Janice; one sister, Mrs. M. Jane Boone of Waynesboro; and a number of nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by two grandsons, Kevin Boone Sullenberger and Scott Russell Sullenberger; one brother, Granville Bayer; and two sisters, Lula Bailey and Catherine Brechbiel. Services will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012, in Old German Baptist Brethren Church, Falling Spring Congregation, 2580 Spring Road, Chambersburg. Burial will follow in the adjoining church cemetery. The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in Grove-Bowersox Funeral Home, 50 S. Broad St., Waynesboro. The family kindly requests the omission of flowers.


text:
With Special Guests Brent Berry y Tambien
As Eric Hutchinson journeyed toward the making of Moving Up Living Down, the delightfully witty and supremely wise follow-up to his hit debut Sounds Like This, he developed a very simple rule regarding new songs.
"I traveled so long and got to see so many people and places," he says. "And sharing music with the fans every night got me thinking: The best concerts are when people sing along with me. So for the next one, what kind of songs do I want people singing with me? What kind of songs do I want people dancing to?"
Get ready to sing and dance.
Road-tested in every setting from a converted garage in Salt Lake City to the 30,000-seat Calgary Saddledome, from San Diego to Dubai, the artist and songs alike bear a playful confidence that was boosted along the way. As the Washington, DC-raised singer, pianist and guitarist traveled the world over the course of several years, word of mouth about his irresistible songs and engaging presence brought out consistently growing concert crowds. That helped turn the song "Rock & Roll" into an international hit (certified Gold in the U.S., Platinum in New Zealand, Norway and Australia) and the album hit No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, ultimately selling more than 250,000 copies. The songs "OK, It's Alright With Me" (top 5 on AAA radio) and "Oh!" also caught fire, helping push total single sales past the million mark.
On Moving Up Living Down, all of Eric's ever-widening musical embraces are brought into play, from the exuberant folk-pop bounce of "Watching You Watch Him" (the first single, which debuted on the season premiere of ABC-TV's "Grey's Anatomy") through the reggae lilt of opener "Talk is Cheap" through the soul grounding of "The Basement." The music is tuneful and rhythmic. The lyrics are engaging and reflective. Comparisons, as always, are tough, but you wouldn't go wrong thinking of a spectrum that includes Paul Simon, the Beatles and Stevie Wonder, all integrated into a truly Hutchinsonian whole.


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|9 years ago :: Feb 25, 2009 - 4:50PM #1
For millennia shamans have worked in the "seen" and "unseen" worlds, those realms accessible through an altered state of consciousness. We recognize that the universe is alive, conscious, and filled with spiritual power. Join us here in discussion of how to connect with this Web of Life; converse with us on how to each further our shamanic practices, as well as in discussion of how we as modern shamanists can meet our needs and those of others. Join us as well to speak of historical and indigenous shamanisms. Be thee welcome here.
I always remember that for every word typed there is a real person sitting behind the keyboard.
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|8 years ago :: Mar 07, 2010 - 12:41PM #2
Please be advised that this is the Shamanism Support Board -
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