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Some pillows are elegant, some are functional, and some are just pure entertainment. Our chubby little peppermint candy of a pillow, in fabrics from Verna Mosquera's new Pirouette collection for FreeSpirit Fabrics, is just that: jolly good fun! We spun alternating wedges of fabric into a darling pinwheel pattern ringed with poms... because you simply can't look at bouncy pom poms without smiling. This is a pillow that will brighten any surface it lands on. Today's our last day working with the vintage loveliness of Verna's new Pirouette - her ninth collection for FreeSpirit, which will begin appearing next month, December 2012, at participating online and in-store retailers.
This is a great project to practice sewing curves, attaching trims and making covered buttons. But even with all these great little touches, it's still a very easy project.
Three designers down... one to go! It's been a joy to work with FreeSpirit, Rowan Fabrics and Ty Pennington Impressions to create a slate of fast and easy, "do-it-in-a-day" projects during our Happy Holidays series. These are simple yet classic creations executed in gorgeous fabrics - perfect for holiday giving and decorating, but with a beauty that will last year 'round.
During our first week, you met Melissa White of Rowan Fabrics and her new Amelie's Attic collection. For Week #2, we paired up with Ty Pennington Impressions to feature Ty's new Fall 2012 Collection. This week, you've been experiencing the charming sweetness of Verna Mosquera's Pirouette. Coming up right after Thanksgiving, we bring you Alchemy from Amy Butler for Rowan Fabrics, using Rayon, Velveteen, Sateen Bliss and Cotton Laminates along with traditional Cottons.
In addition, for all of the projects in our series, Westminster helped us put together a handy Where to Buy Retailer Locator, giving you a fast and easy way to source the fabrics we are featuring from both brick and mortar stores in your area (the page is broken out by state) as well as online options.
Sewing Tools You Need
- Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome 3160QDC)
- Zipper foot
Fabric and Other Supplies
The yardage shown below includes extra to allow you to fussy cut all the wedges. If you do not feel your fabric requires fussy cutting, you can probably get away with just ½ yard of each .
- ¾ yard EACH of TWO coordinating 44-45" wide fabrics for the pillow wedges; we used Vintage Ticking in Ruby and Rose Wreath in Ruby from Verna Mosquera's Pirouette collection for FreeSpirit Fabrics
- 1¼ yard of lightweight fusible interfacing; we used Shir-Tailor® by Pellon
- 1½ yards of medium pom pom trim; we used white
- TWO 1½" covered buttons
- One 12" round pillow formor one small bag of Fairfield Poly-fil® fiberfill
- All purpose thread to match fabrics
- Button or carpet thread (optional, for sewing on buttons)
- See-through ruler
- Iron and ironing board
- Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
- Fabric pen or pencil
- Straight pins
- Tape measure
- See-through ruler
- Seam gauge
- Seam ripper
- Hand sewing needle
- Curved needle (optional, for sewing on buttons)
Getting Started
- Download and print the Pillow Wedge Pattern
IMPORTANT: This pattern is ONE 8½" x 11" sheet. You must print the PDF file at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page.
- Cut out the pattern along the solid line.
- Using the pattern as your guide, plan a fussy cut for each wedge so it has a nicely centered design.
- Cut out EIGHT wedge shapes from each of the TWO fabrics for a total of 16 wedges.
NOTE: Be sure to watch the grain direction of your fabric. Your pieces will have some stretch to them, so handle each one with care to retain its shape.
- Lay out the wedges in order for both the front and back of the pillow (the sides are identical). The two fabrics simply alternate around the pillow.
At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board
- Separate your wedges into two sets of four for the front and two sets of four for the back. In other words, two HALVES of what will be each finished circle. For each circle, you will sew one half, then sew the other half, then sew the two halves together.
- For the front of the pillow, select the first pair of wedges from your first set of four. Place them right sides together. Pin along one side.
- Using a ½" seam allowance, sew the wedge shapes together along one side.
NOTE: Because you are sewing wedges, you will have a point, like a little 'ear' at one end of each seam.
- Press the seam allowance together and towards the darkest color.
- Select the next wedge in the sequence. Place it right sides together with the sewn pair. Pin along one side. As above, align the bottom curved edges and let the top points overlap.
- Using a ½" seam allowance, sew the wedge shapes together.
- Press the seam alloance together and towards the darkest color.
- Select the final wedge in this first four-wedge sequence. Place it right sides together with the sewn trio of wedges. Pin along one side. As above, align the bottom curved edges and let the top points overlap.
- Using a ½" seam allowance, sew the wedge shapes together to complete your half circle.
- Press the seam allowance together and towards the darkest color.
- Repeat to create the second half in the same manner. Press both halves flat.
- Pin the two halves together along the center line.
- Sew together, using a ½" seam allowance to complete the full circle shape.
- Repeat to create the circle for the back side of the pillow.
NOTE: You'll notice that all the 'ears' from your various seams come together in the middle of the circle, which can make pressing a challenge. So how did we get our circle to lay nice and flat? It's a quilting technique called pinwheeling. Spread apart the center seam 'ears' so you can see the center seam. With a seam ripper, carefully rip out a few stitches in the center seam. Do this on both sides of the center seam. Once you've ripped out those few stitches, you can press the seams towards the darker fabrics and press the pinwheel open. It will lay very flat. This is, of course, an optional technique. We didn't include any photos here, because it was just a note in passing, however, we did photography the technique in our Round 'n' Round Pillow in Butterscotch & Rose.
- Place the finished front and back circles onto the fusible interfacing, using them as a pattern to cut out matching circles of interfacing.
- Following manufacturer's instructions, fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of both the front and back circles. This extra layer of interfacing helps keep your finished pillow (with its many seams) nice and smooth.
- Place the front pillow circle right side up on your work surface. Pin the pom pom trim around the entire outside edge.
- Machine baste the trim in place.
Sew front and back together
- Layer front and back right sides together, carefully matching all the front and back wedge seam lines. The poms will be sandwiched between the layers.
- Switch to a Zipper foot. Using an approximate ½" seam allowance, sew around the pillow, leaving a 5-6" opening for turning and stuffing.
NOTE: If you sew with the front of the pillow on top, on which the pom pom trim was original basted, you can use your basting as a guide to help you stay nice and close to the pom pom trim. The Zipper foot helps you keep a tight line of stitching.
- Turn the pillow cover right side out.
- Insert the pillow form or stuff the pillow with fiber fill through the opening.
- Fold in the raw edges of the opening so they are flush with the sewn seam and pin in place.
- Slip stitch the opening closed, hiding your stitches behind the pom trim.
Covered buttons
- Make two covered buttons using the leftover fabric from cutting out the wedges. We fussy cut ours from the Vintage Ticking stripe to create a pretty center feature. Then we stitched it on so the button stripe was at a diagonal to the wedge stripes. Also, we always add a small scrap of lightweight batting under our fabric for a smooth, curved shape to our covered buttons.
NOTE: If you are new to covering buttons, we have two tutorials, one using Covered Button Kits (what we did here) and one about Making Your Own.
- Thread a hand sewing needle with button or carpet thread. Hand sew one covered button to the pillow front and one to the back. Pull the buttons tight so they create a nice, tufted effect.
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation and Instructional Outline: Debbie Guild


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In order to find the cause of this issue, determine if the issue is when Sending or Receiving, Creating a Message, or General Slowness. You should first install the latest version of IncrediMail (click here) to restore any damaged or corrupted program files that may contribute to this issue.
Send/Receive Process is too slow - Large Messages stuck in Outbox or Server.
Please check your Outbox (Sending) or Server (Receiving) for large messages and remove them to complete the download.
* If this doesn't help, please click here for more Send/Receive Solutions.
Delay while Creating Messages - Disable the 'Typing Feature' using one of the following:
- In the main IncrediMail window, click the 'Tools' menu and then 'Options'. Under the 'Effects' tab, simply uncheck 'Play Typing Sounds'.
- In a New Message, click the 'Typing' icon. The Typing feature will now be disabled.
General Slowness/Freezing
1) Delete the Runtime Folder - This Folder contains Temporary files, and deleting it should help your IncrediMail run faster (it will be recreated over time):
- To delete your 'Runtime' folder, please click here
- Click 'Run' in the File Download dialog, click 'Run' again when asked to run the software and follow the instructions in the SupportUtil dialog.
2) Reset Internet Explorer (Instructions for IE9) - Please note that IncrediMail uses Internet Explorer components to work, so you will need to perform these steps in Internet Explorer even if it is not your Default Browser!
- Please first close IncrediMail completely from the Tray (right-click the envelope icon next to your Computer clock and click 'Exit').
- Open Internet Explorer, click the 'Tools' menu ("gear" symbol) and select 'Internet Options'.
- Select the 'Security' tab, make sure 'Enable Protected Mode' is NOT marked, and click the 'Reset all zones to default level' button.
- Select the 'Advanced' tab, click 'Reset ...'. After doing so, click 'Restore advanced settings'.
- Click 'OK' and close all Internet Explorer windows.
- Open IncrediMail and check if this helps.
3) Restart Windows using 'MSCONFIG' (Windows Vista/7) - Restart Windows with only the bare minimum of programs. This will determine if another program is causing IncrediMail to run slowly:
- Click the 'Start' menu and in the 'Start Search' dialog, type the word 'msconfig', and press on the 'Enter' key.
- In the 'System Configuration' dialog, select the 'Startup' tab and click 'Disable All'.
- Restart your computer.
- With only the basic programs loaded, please double-click the IncrediMail icon on your Desktop.
4) Restart Windows in Safe Mode (Windows Vista/7) - Restart Windows with only the bare minimum of programs. This will determine if another program is causing IncrediMail to run slowly:
- Restart your computer.
- Before Windows starts, press the 'F8' key on your keyboard.
- Select the 'Safe Mode (with Networking)' option from the 'Mode Select' menu.
- Check to see if IncrediMail runs correctly.
If you have tried all of these steps, and still have issues using IncrediMail, please create a New Post (with as much detail as possible) about the issue in the Technical Issues area of the Forum, and we will check the issue further.

subset: commoncrawl


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Most H5N1 deaths have occurred in East and Southeast Asia, including China, Cambodia and Vietnam.
In 2002, as many as 13 percent of Cambodian blood donors tested positive for the antigen of the Hepatitis-B virus.
Norodom Sihanouk, who is 90, has suffered from cancer, diabetes and hypertension and has made frequently, prolonged trips to China.
The virus has more than 40 types, Taing Tek Hong, a Florida-based physician told "Hello VOA."
Ieng Thirith would then be re-evaluated within six months to determine whether she is fit to stand trial, the court said.
Drugs such as crystal meth and ecstasy are now among the top three drugs of use in the 15 east and southeast Asian countries.
In 2010, the group had helped more than 1000 patients a day.
An estimated 4.5 million Cambodian women 15 and older are at risk of developing cervical cancer, and nearly 900 women died in 2008.
The chamber judges were split on whether she should be released from detention or moved to a hospital under detention.
About 400 residents gathered at the New Paradise Restaurant on Oct. 28, raising nearly $16,000 in donations.
Rights group claims that the acid attack throughout the country can reach to 40 cases in each year.
There are no reliable estimates of how many people are stranded in the scores of flooded communities in Bangkok and areas north.
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Previous media releases
RZB-Austria chooses UBS AG as its CLS third-party provider
Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB) is the 50th CLS third-party client of UBS. With this partnership, RZB and its subsidiaries will be able to execute and settle their cross-border foreign exchange transactions through the CLS global settlement system. In the current environment of rising fix costs and shrinking margins, CLS delivers a much-needed reduction in the marginal cost of doing business.
Vienna based RZB is the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, one of the country's leading banking groups. As a universal banking group it offers a comprehensive range of financial services. RZB itself is one of Austria's leading commercial and investment banks and a leading bank in Central and Eastern Europe. It also considers Central and Eastern Europe as its home market, where RZB operates a network of 15 subsidiary banks with more than 800 banking outlets in 16 markets of the region. RZB also has a strong presence throughout Asia and in the world's financial centers. It is one of the most active European FX traders, with a 24 hours activity in this business field.
RZB's Global Treasurer, Mr. Armin Steppan, commented, The quality of UBS's services and strengths in technology has given us the confidence to further increase our partnership. CLS marks the future of FX settlement and with UBS we made the right decision."
Martin Wiedmann, Global Head Foreign Exchange Distribution at UBS Investment Bank, Zurich said, This partnership underlines our capacity to implement sophisticated clients like RZB. As a leading bank in Austria and in Central and Eastern Europe, RZB is our perfect partner to develop an integrated "front to back" cash model."
CLS third-party services are a part of "UBS. The Bank for Banks.", a programme which offers banks and financial Institutions a wide range of modular services enabling them to concentrate on their core competencies and deploy their resources more effectively. At the same time, UBS can make optimum use of its own capacities and expertise to meet the needs of its clients. www.ubs.com/b4b.
For more information see: www.ubs.com/b4b Zurich/Basle, 14 January 2004


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4 March 2014 at 1.40pm | Comment on this article
Though Richard Strauss was raised in Munich and found his calling in Berlin, Dresden - the capital of the state of Saxony - was the city that was perhaps dearest to him.
It was at the Dresdner Semperoper that his operas Feuersnot, Salome, Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier all had their premieres. Their collective success cemented Strauss's relationship with the Semperoper, continuing with the first performances there of Intermezzo, Die ägyptische Helena, Arabella, Die schweigsame Frau and Daphne.
Strauss adored Dresden's baroque cityscapes, as well as its justly famous orchestra, the Staatskapelle. And the city was perfectly placed geographically, pulling people from across Central Europe to hear Strauss's new operas. Indeed their appeal was so potent that a special train was laid on from Berlin to Dresden for the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier in 1911. When Allied bombers destroyed the Saxon capital in February 1945, Strauss was distraught and it is believed that the razing of his three favourite cities - Munich, Dresden and Vienna - that prompted the composition of Metamorphosen in 1945.
View other posts in our weekly Richard Strauss A-Z series
2014 sees the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth. The composer will be celebrated at the ROH with stagings of Die Frau ohne Schatten (14 March-2 April) and Ariadne auf Naxos (25 June-13 July). Tickets for Die Frau ohne Schatten are still available. Tickets for Ariadne auf Naxos go on general sale 8 April.


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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
- ArticleBest storage products of the year
- FeatureSAN Newbie: Consolidation Easy, but Expensive
- FeatureAre You Liable for a Bad Disaster Recovery Plan?
- FeatureSan pioneer: start small, but smart
- FeatureQuantum Streamlines DLTtape Brand, Roadmap
- FeatureTen Things You Can Do With Virtualization
- FeaturePick the right SRM tool
- ArticleKiller serial: is ATA ready for the enterprise?
- FeatureWhere Will Innovation Come from in '03?
- TipKeeping laptop backups in sync: Part 3
- FeatureMuch Ado About NAS
- FeatureBare metal recovery
- FeatureiSCSI Builds a Bridge to Parallel SCSI Storage Islands
- FeatureHigh-End Drives: What Will You Use?
- FeatureThe networked storage project: moving ahead
- FeatureDeveloping a strategy for data archiving
- FeatureLTO might not be long for this world.
- FeatureDefining a storage services model
- FeatureWho should be charged with managing your SAN hardware?
- FeatureKeep your eyes open
- FeatureSnapshot: Who runs your SAN?
iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Pick the right SRM tool
With all of the SRM tools on the market, which one will work best for you? Here's how to decide.
Storage is usually associated with words such as overcapacity, over-allocation, unmanageability and far more colorful phrases are routinely uttered behind closed doors. But help is on the way: A new breed of storage resource management (SRM) tools has emerged to help organizations manage their storage more efficiently. But the glut of SRM products is a double-edged sword: picking the one that's best for your environment isn't easy. What's more, choosing the wrong product can cost your company dearly.
SRM design approaches can be broken down into two product generations and six broad categories. The first generation consists of the widely available device-centric and software-centric approaches, which reflect the vendor-specific nature of SRM tools today. The next generation's approaches are the network-centric, API-centric, standards-centric and application-centric approaches that reflect an emerging openness of products and the growing ability of SRM tools to work with other vendors' storage products.
Device centric
The device-centric approach starts with the premise that the SRM tool will communicate with the interface on an external storage array. SRM vendors adopting this device-centric approach generally are the same ones who already sell external storage arrays such as EMC, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), and IBM. These vendors' SRM agents communicate with their own storage arrays, providing higher levels of storage management functionality. This functionality ranges from basic storage reporting and visualization of the storage enterprise to more advanced functions such as asynchronous and synchronous volume mirrors, volume snapshots and performance monitoring and tuning.
Pros. While these options and functionality may also be available from the software-centric class of vendors, the device-centric approach differentiates itself in one important manner: It offloads the processing and management of these transactions from the individual servers to the storage arrays. There are two reasons why this solution works best for some environments. First, if software licensing is tied to server CPU speed, it prevents the software from chewing up CPU cycles. Second, if this functionality is needed, it may be achieved without the expense, management and ongoing maintenance of deploying software agents on all of the servers.
Cons. Gaining this functionality almost always requires the deployment of one SRM vendor's storage arrays to utilize their SRM tools. If this standardization on one vendor's hardware platform occurs, it essentially locks your company into this vendor's product line to continue to get this desired functionality.
To address this, most of the vendors in the device-centric camp are seeking to extend some - if not all - of these high-end features to their second-tier storage arrays. EMC is putting some of its high-end Symmetrix software features onto their Clariion arrays, and HDS is doing much the same between their 9960 and 9200 storage arrays. While these efforts may help to lower the cost to deploy high-end features such as mirroring and snapshots, they still don't offer the management of diverse hardware storage arrays some organizations need.
Software centric
In the software-centric approach, the software manages the storage regardless of which vendor provides the storage. The larger, more established vendors that have taken this approach include BMC Software, Computer Associates, (CA) and Veritas, with most startups also falling into this category.
Under this model, software agents are placed on the individual servers that communicate with a central storage management server. These agents communicate with the management server, monitoring and reporting back on the storage environment of the server on which they reside. Ultimately, the goal of this model is to enable the servers on which they reside to manage their respective server's storage resources based upon policies established and distributed to them by the central server.
|Wheeling and dealing: get the best SRM price
With so many storage resource management (SRM) products on the market and mergers and acquisitions constantly occurring, customers now have a strong negotiating advantage when purchasing SRM products. Frankly, anyone paying list prices for any of these products is paying too much.
Pitting one vendor against another is an age-old tactic to get a better price, but remember that a better deal from a competitor doesn't necessarily translate as a better solution, or the right product for your environment. It's essential to have a clear understanding of what your storage environment looks like and what you want it to look like before making a purchasing decision.
Making a careless or poorly researched SRM purchase could be costly. All the vendors offering these solutions are making their SRM tools highly proprietary and difficult to migrate off of. In addition, the SRM market is in flux: There are far too many products, and at this point there are no clear winners - small startups are trying to survive while larger, better-known companies are trying to improve market share. The bottom line? It's a buyer's market.
Not surprisingly, each of these vendors' software products reflects this software-centric design philosophy. CA's BrightStor, BMC's Patrol, and Veritas' SANPoint Control as well as many of the smaller SRM newcomers each use a central server to gather and report information from the software agents they deploy on the individual servers.
Pros. The upside to this approach is that a significant amount of storage information is collected, information such as storage allocation, utilization and even performance metrics. This can be invaluable information when trying to determine what tier of storage one wants to place the underlying data onto. This approach also isn't dependent upon the underlying hardware to gain many of the desired benefits.
Cons. SRM tools are rapidly evolving from passive to active. Currently, some SRM tools are passive - they only monitor and report on the storage for the servers on which they reside. But the next generation of SRM tools moves to actively managing the entire storage infrastructure based upon policies set in the SRM tool. This next step in SRM puts some of these vendors at a disadvantage compared to the device-centric model, especially in a SAN environment.
Without the ability to communicate with the underlying storage array, one wonders how existing manual tasks such as LUN security on the storage arrays and switch zoning on the different vendor's switches would be automated when moving storage between servers, especially if the SRM tool isn't currently communicating with these devices.
A number of software and hardware vendors have asked this question as well. They appear to be taking steps in a number of areas, resulting in changes in their next generation of products. These product design changes blend together the aforementioned device- and software-centric views.
This blending of these views reflects a crossroads in the life cycle of SRM products. At least that's what Charles Witt, a systems engineer with ProvisionSoft, Andover, MA, believes. Witt sees customers as not being satisfied with just monitoring and reporting on storage, and being unable to translate that information into action. As vendors make this transition in product design, they are emphasizing one of three general design paths to reach their ultimate SRM objective.
Network centric
One of three paths some vendors are following, this approach resembles the device-centric philosophy. One larger company that appears to have chosen this trajectory is Fujitsu Softek, based upon its recent acquisition of DataCore Software's virtualization source code. The network-centric approach is different from the device-centric approach in that the SRM agents interact with a new software layer created in the storage network. This software layer in turn manages all of the underlying storage arrays regards of the underlying storage vendor.
Pros. This approach prevents vendor lock-in and creates a common software layer between the servers and the storage arrays that the SRM tool communicates with. Fujitsu Softek believes this new network-based software layer begins to create a storage environment similar to what already exists in the mainframe world. In the mainframe environment, storage exists in two distinct classes: System Managed Storage (SMS) and non-SMS volumes.
System-Managed Storage (SMS) in the mainframe world allows the mainframe operating system to take over and automate management tasks that were previously performed manually. SRM seeks the same in the open systems environment. In this space, SRM server agents interact with this network-based software layer to create an SMS-like environment for all open-systems OS platforms wherever a SRM agent resided.
|Wheeling and dealing: get the best SRM price
An alternative approach to managing your storage is to buy more storage as you need it, and don't install as SRM tool. Of course, this approach flies in the face of what SRM tools were designed to do: prevent storage overallocation and overcapacity through proactive management. Yet in some shops, storage overallocation and overcapacity may still be the easiest and cost-effective approach for storage resource management.
In at least two circumstances, buying more storage makes sense. For smaller companies with rapidly growing storage needs, it may be cheaper to over allocate and overbuy than try to hire people to manage what they have. Further supporting the argument to buy more hardware is that SRM tools aren't cheap and pricing methods vary. List prices start at $200 per server for the agents with additional costs for the SRM management software and the physical server. Other vendors have pricing models that range from the amount of storage you have managed to the complexity of your storage environment. Costs will likely start at $10,000 and may exceed $50,000, assuming a deployment on 40 servers. Installation, management and ongoing software maintenance tacks on further expenses.
While SRM tools are being deployed to contain storage costs, the rate at which the cost of high-end, mid-tier and low-end storage is dropping, throwing more storage at the problem isn't an entirely illogical approach to solving the problem. Again, this tactic depends on each customer's environment and shouldn't be thought of as the recommended solution. But with the scarcity and relative immaturity of SRM tools, their rapidly changing nature, the lack of personnel with storage management expertise and the continuing drop in storage prices, one shouldn't discount the "just buy more storage" option.
Non-SMS volumes in the mainframe environment are essentially storage volumes on which limited storage management is performed. This network-based software layer benefits the open-systems environment since it gives a central point to introduce a basic level of storage management without respect to the server operating system or the requirement of deploying agents on all of the servers.
Not surprisingly, other vendors such as Veritas and IBM are looking at this approach, simply because it makes sense for the enterprise. Most active proponents for the adoption of this model are the same individuals who helped design and made this work in the mainframe environment. For example, the CTO and VP of Engineering at Fujitsu Softek, Nick Tabellion. He was one of the original designers and developers of SMS for IBM in the mainframe world and was brought in by Fujitsu Softek to develop a similar concept for them.
Cons. A couple of holes exist in the network-centric approach. First, while a new software layer in the network should in theory simplify the entire SAN design and architecture in a number of important ways, mostly importantly it does not give satisfactory end to end performance management in high-end environments.
While one may not initially view performance management as part of an SRM tool, in high-end environments storage and performance management are inextricable and you can not have one without the other. This network centric approach will not natively offer end to end performance management that's a by product of the next two approaches.
The other hole that exists for the network centric approach is that's it essential to have a common network based software layer. Without such a layer, it would appear unlikely vendors taking this angle would be able to provide the full functionality that their customers may want. So if your company did not plan to deploy this software layer, you should look beyond these vendor's SRM tools in light of the next two categories.
API centric
This philosophy probably reflects the most widely available next generation approach on the market today. In this design, the SRM tool communicates with the APIs available on the interfaces of each of the vendor's storage arrays. In so doing, this method removes much of the proprietary nature of managing the existing vendor storage arrays today.
Pros. This avenue would appear to make sense in environments where products already exist in a controlled growth environment or where change is not rapidly occurring. It also offers more in-depth reporting and management tools than the other two next-generation approaches. You may want to approach API-centric solutions with caution in environments that experience rapid or unexpected change or aren't well-documented, or if you don't need the depth of management and reporting offered by this solution.
Two vendors, CreekPath and EMC, have already publicly announced plans to deploy their technology using this approach. CreekPath has sought to achieve this by purchasing the APIs for each of the hardware vendors and then coding to the APIs provided to them. EMC, on the other hand, is offering API swaps, where they will freely give away their APIs to their storage arrays if the other vendor gives away their API's in return. So far, only HP has taken EMC up on that offer. So for the majority of vendors not sharing their APIs, EMC is reverse engineering the other vendor's storage arrays to get the code they need to do their job.
Cons. While on the surface, the API-centric approach may sound appealing, writing to each other's APIs is a costly and time-consuming process for vendors. One has to wonder how successful this product approach will be as storage array APIs change and storage arrays come and go. Also, with so many storage vendors in the market and CreekPath and EMC currently only having support from some of the big players (IBM, HDS, HP, and NetApp), users possessing older or newer generation storage arrays may be limited in the scale to which they can deploy this solution.
Standards centric
The standards-centric approach has started to generate interest and support from big and small players. In this approach, vendors code their products to a common set of standards that are present not just on storage arrays, but throughout the entire storage network that would be used to gather, analyze and manage data.
Pros. Standards provide a common interface that shortens the software product development life cycles. This common set of rules is exactly what small startups such as AppIQ are now betting on, while larger companies like EMC are using to hedge their bets. For companies like AppIQ, standards allows them to bring their products to market quickly since they no longer need to worry about the proprietary API's of each vendor's storage array. Plus with this standards-based approach, they will be able to mine data out of any standards-based device irrespective of vendor and give end users far more information on a single screen at a price point most companies can afford.
Cons. First, it is unlikely a standards-based approach will give end users all the information they want in every situation. Some users will need certain functionality that comes from the code of a specific vendor's equipment. Neither this approach nor the similar API-centric approach help to eliminate the complexities as the network-centric approach does. It still requires highly-trained individuals to interpret and understand the data being managed and reported on in this standards-centric approach.
However, there's no disputing this approach merits close attention. Bruce Nash of Fujitsu Softek believes standards-centric solutions may offer 70% to 80% of the storage information organizations may want or need. While it may not provide everything end users may want, this information is probably 70% to 80% more than they have now.
Application-centric approach
What's next? All indications are that the existing design paths discussed above will merge into a powerful new SRM suite with an application-centric approach that combines the best of each categories. In many cases, it's already happening. Today's SRM tools fit into various niches, but each product is starting to incorporated some elements common to the other categories (see "SRM-only vendors")
Make no mistake: It's the customers not the vendors who are driving this charge toward an application-centric design. Scott Shimomura, product design manager at Fujitsu Softek, and Scott Hansbury at Creekpath Software say their customers want end-to-end storage management and reporting. This end-to-end approach starts at the application level, goes through the storage network to the spindle level on the individual storage arrays.
As SRM products evolve, smaller vendors who have first-generation SRM products typified by passive storage management will be challenged to adapt their products to become increasingly active in storage management. Even large vendors will struggle to adapt their models to the more flexible model that will surely emerge. Vendors such Veritas and BMC will need to build more hardware capability into their legacy software-centric infrastructures, while the EMC's and IBM's of the world will need to introduce more open software designs into their device-centric approaches.
To help make this transition, the big boys will likely try to acquire some of the smaller companies that have technology they want. Sun just recently did this by acquiring Pirus Networks. It can provide the network-centric portion Sun lacked in their product suite. Veritas snatched up the Storage Reporter product from NTP Software, presumably to allow their SANPoint Control product to work on servers lacking Veritas' legacy software. IBM meanwhile offers DataCore's SANsymphony software and recently purchased TrelliSoft. Both of these are said to be interim solutions that IBM will offer until their full suite of products under their StorageTank initiative are ready to ship.
So as these SRM tools develop, choosing the best product for your environment will be difficult because of the constantly changing nature of the products. And we haven't even heard yet from big name computer companies that may enter the SRM space. While unlikely, it is not impossible SRM may follow the same path as it did in the mainframe world. What, for example, is to stop a Microsoft, Sun, IBM, Cisco or Brocade from entering this field with an SRM option, especially with so many small vendors looking to get bought out?
All these major players would have to do is buy a small company, add the new SRM functionality as part of their core OS package and they are in the SRM business. In fact, Brocade's recent purchase of Rhapsody Networks may indicate just such a move to incorporate more storage intelligence onto their switch. One would also have to think that with a portion of the intelligence of this application-centric approach moving into the network, Cisco could be a major player, especially with their army of engineers and dominance in the network, and their recent foray into the Fibre Channel space.
All this competition is good for the end user. As they mature, SRM tools will get better and better. As the market matures, the number of choices will drop and the winners will begin to emerge. What will define the winners are those companies who can successfully execute on the adoption and integration of these different SRM approaches into one robust application-centric solution.
Related Resources
- Focus on Storage in a VMware Environment –SearchConvergedInfrastucture
- Storage in a Virtual Environment: Expert Answers to 4 FAQ –SearchStorage.com
- Accelerating Time-to-Value: Fast-Growing Reduxio Implements Priority Engine to ... –TechTarget


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Rating claims on pay-to-play and income tax rates, tallying political ad rulings
The Truth-O-Meter this weekend found that former Gov. James E. McGreevey did not end pay-to-play on county and state contracts as he claims, and Senate President Stephen Sweeney isn't to blame for New Jersey's income tax rates. And with a week to go before Election Day, review our Truth-O-Meter tallies on political ads circulating around the state.


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In the ongoing debate about where managers should focus their attention, something has been missing: a focus on intellectual capital. Intellectual capital — the commitment and competence of workers — is embedded in how each employee thinks about and does work and in how an organization creates policies and systems to get work done. It has become a critical issue for six reasons:
First, intellectual capital is a firm's only appreciable asset. Most other assets (building, plant, equipment, machinery, and so on) begin to depreciate the day they are acquired. Intellectual capital must grow if a firm is to prosper. A manager's job is to make knowledge productive, to turn intellectual capital into customer value.
Second, knowledge work is increasing, not decreasing. James Brian Quinn has observed that the service economy is growing directly in service industries such as retail, investments, information, and food and indirectly in traditional manufacturing industries like autos, durable goods, and equipment.1 As the service economy grows, the importance of intellectual capital increases. Service generally comes from relationships founded on the competence and commitment of individuals.
Third, employees with the most intellectual capital have essentially become volunteers, because the best employees are likely to find work opportunities in a number of firms.2 This does not mean that employees work for free, but that they have choices about where they work and, therefore, essentially volunteer in a particular firm. Volunteers are committed because of their emotional bond to a firm; they are less interested in economic return than in the meaning of their work. Employees with this mind-set can easily leave for another firm.
Fourth, many managers ignore or depreciate intellectual capital. In the aftermath of downsizing, increased global competition, customers' higher requirements, fewer management layers, increased obligations, and pressures exacted from almost every other modern management practice, employees' work lives have not always changed for the better. In a recent workshop with sixty high-potential managers from a successful global company, we discussed careers. Of these managers (mostly in their thirties and early forties), 50 percent did not think that they would stay with the company long enough to retire, not because of lack of opportunity but because of the enormous stress and high demands. Within this group, 90 percent personally knew someone who had voluntarily left the company in the past six months because of the increased workload.


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1956 Ford F-100 - Marv's'56
First Love Rekindled
From the very first Ford pickup to roll off the assembly line in 1925, the most popular model to catch the attention of dyed-in-the-wool truck customizing enthusiasts is the '56 Ford F-100. The distinctive one-year variation on the '53-55 F-100 styling exercise has won over fans from the most hardcore of brand devotees. To the chagrin of Ford loyalists, because they brought their Chevy engines with them, even some Chevrolet fanatics have forsaken Bow Tie pickups to join the ranks of '56 F-100 owners.
The first time Marvin Sanders of Fallon, Nevada, became the owner of a '56 Ford pickup he bought it brand-new from the Ford dealer in Bishop, California, where he worked as a lot boy for a little over $1,700 while a teenager. Marv's spanking new '56 came equipped stock with a 272-inch Y-block and compound four-speed transmission but it wasn't long before Marv was at the vanguard of those who discovered the '56 F-100 was a natural-born target for customizing tricks. Among some of the modifications Marv made to his original '56 was to hang dual 27-inch glasspacks on which earned him a noise ticket the first night he drove it through town. The trusty Effie served Marv well until 1958 when he went into the service.
Years later, some around forty, Marv decided he would like to own another '56 Ford F-100 to use as his daily driver. The original-owner pickup Marv had located with a 223-inch OHV six-cylinder engine and three-speed transmission he knew wouldn't match the performance of his first '56, but it was a good start. The truck was shipped down to Marvin's old stomping grounds in Big Pine, California, where Jerry "Moon" Horton at Horton Brothers Auto Painting disassembled the F-100 down to the bare frame and worked his way back up. Every part of the small-window '56 was blasted down to the bare metal, and then preserved with an etching primer. From there Jerry went after the rust damage on the passenger side caused from years and years of rain water filling up through the vent louvers and collecting in the lower hinge pocket by meticulously welding in steel patch panels. With the welding completed Jerry moved onto metal finishing the area, and then sealed it back up with etching primer. When it comes to choice bodywork, Jerry Horton is known as an absolute fanatic. After months and months of intense labor the totally dismantled parts were ready for Jerry to spray in urethane enamel mixed to match Ford Klondike Yellow. As soon as the paint began to cure it was color sanded and rubbed out. Meanwhile back in Fallon, Marvin was on the phone to Dennis Carpenter, Mid-Fifties, and Sacramento Vintage Ford ordering polished stainless steel bumpers, chrome grille, door handles, mirrors, and emblems including the two denoting the '56's custom cab. On the interior of the cab the stock '56 bench seat was recovered with an upholstery kit from Mid-Fifties. A reproduction '56 steering wheel from Dennis Carpenter combined with power steering from Mid-Fifties eases the steering chores considerably. Marvin fabricated the brackets needed to adapt the power steering pump to run off of the inline engine's front pulleys.
Under the hood, the factory-original 223 received a mild overbore and enjoys slightly higher compression thanks to the head being shaved while the valve job was getting done. The induction is handled by a Holley one-barrel carburetor, which is stock, but the exhaust exits through a tubular header that help to give six-banger a healthy note that reminds Marv of his first '56. Inline six-cylinder engines are known for their bottom-end torque, and when combined with low rearend gears it adds up to some pretty good off-the-line grunt. Marvin installed 4.11:1 gears, which all factory overdrive Ford trucks came with in '56, and made sure the three-speed overdrive tranny he found was in tip-top condition before the driveline was buttoned back together. After investing around $45,000 to bring the '56 back to life, Marvin uses his '56 as a daily driver instead of having spent the money to buy a new vehicle he knows wouldn't last.


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The Best Recent Oscar Nominees You Probably Haven't Seen
Posted on Friday, February 24th, 2012 by Jordan Hoffman
The Academy Awards are this Sunday and if you are anything like me you have a. . .mild interest in watching. Competition in the arts is, lets face it, a little silly. The Descendants and Tree of Life are both about troubled families, and are both brilliant, but how on earth do you compare the two?
But still, but still. . . the films nominated for major categories are almost always worth taking a look at. And some of 'em may have slipped under your radar. Hence this week's feature on Recent Oscar Nominees You Probably Haven't Seen.
To help narrow our focus, I decided to only pick Oscar nominees from the last 20 years. Since I normally select eight titles (I've been consistent, in case you haven't noticed) I decided to do one from the Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Foreign Language and Animation categories. Sorry Best Original and Adapted Screenplays, we'll get you next time. Read More »


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tahoe1231 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 96 designs submitted by 34 freelance designers.
Symmetry Codeworks is a software development company that has been a small niche provider for several years. We are now dramatically expanding our business because of our success and are looking for a fresh look.
Symmetry Codeworks
Symmetry Codeworks is looking for a fresh exciting look for our new logo. It should reflect a professional, modern look. We are pretty wide open but would like the logo to somehow represent the symmetry piece. Final artwork will need to be submitted as EPS, JPG and preferrably Photoshop with layers. Please show a black and white version of the logo as well.
- A logo that looks good in both color and black and white.
- Gradiants
- lots of different colors (prefer that it be limited to 2 colors)
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Aging with HIV isn't just about caring for your body and your mind. There's also your soul -- that intangible quality that makes life worth living, even when the going gets rough. Check out this treatment plan for happiness!
"I was raised to believe I was an abomination in the eyes of God." So says Charlene Arcila, 51, who identifies as transgender and who is an executive assistant, prevention specialist, and site supervisor for the Philadelphia AIDS Consortium. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1983, Arcila has been through the worst -- multiple bouts with PCP pneumonia and thrush initially, and now arthritis and neuropathy, plus financial instability. "We've all had to take multiple salary cuts the past year," she says. (Federal budget cuts have hit AIDS agencies hard nationwide.) "If I didn't have faith in a higher being, I could understand how people could consider suicide."
Thankfully, Arcila does have faith, but it's not in the traditional, judgmental God she learned about growing up Baptist and Catholic. A few years ago, she was asked by the LGBT-friendly Unity Church of Christ to come preach -- Arcila is well-known in Philly's LGBT community for founding and speaking at the city's annual Trans-Health Conference -- so she did. "I preached about the eunuchs in the Bible, saying that transgender people today have the spirit of the eunuchs in them," she says.
Arcila couldn't believe a church could be so accepting. "At first I thought, is this for real?" she admits. But she came back and preached a second time. Six years later, she attends services every Sunday and is about to become an ordained minister.
"It gives me spiritual rejuvenation and growth," she says. "I see the Bible as a guide, not as the one right way. I don't take it literally."
Arcila's journey points to the tremendous importance of having a source of meaning in our lives. It doesn't have to come from a traditional house of worship. The important thing is to feel connected to people or communities beyond yourself. That plays a major role in reducing isolation and helping us get out of our own heads, gives us a framework for coping, and provides support when things get tough. Start this way:
Make a gratitude list. Even if your list includes not much more than being in stable health, having a roof over your head, and having enough food to eat, you're well ahead of many people in the world! Build your list from there: Loved ones who are there for you? Sources of fun and passion? Events that bring you pleasure? Looking at an actual list can make you realize how much you have to be thankful for.
Take a happiness inventory. Write down points in the day when you're happy. Meditating as you watch the sunrise? That daily chat with a relative or best friend? Walking your dog? Making your regular 12-step or other support group meeting? If you can't identify more than one point in the day when you're happy, it's probably time to add some new elements to your life. Let the adventure begin!
Reach out. You might start with a call to a relative or friend you haven't chatted with for a while. Laugh about something, catch up, and then make a plan for lunch, or dinner and a movie. Start weaving such mini-reunions into your life and you'll see how much it refreshes your spirit.
Join something. If you're struggling with depression, anxiety, life crises, or substance issues, talk to your doctor or someone at an AIDS agency about joining a therapy, support, or 12-step group. Coping with life's challenges is easier in a group. If you're simply lonely and bored, join something fun, like a local reading group, a community project, or a recreation team. Don't wait for others to put a plan together -- be the one who offers to organize things. It'll make you feel great.
Consider meditation or prayer. Recent research has shown that daily meditation can actually improve blood pressure and change parts of the brain that regulate stress, memory, and empathy for others. Don't know how? Just Google "how to meditate" or search to find a meditation center near you.
Don't forget activism. Everything we have today that keeps people with HIV/AIDS alive is at least partly the result of activism: The Ryan White CARE Act and ADAP, modern HIV meds, anti-discrimination laws. When you get involved with AIDS activism, you're helping yourself, but you're also helping others and tapping into the power of community. Start by finding an HIV/AIDS agency that has an advocacy or policy department you can work with. Visit sites including positivelyaware.com, housingworks.org/activism, blackaids.org and c2ea.org to stay informed and see how you can get involved. Or join an advocacy organization. ACT UP!
Follow Charlene Arcila's example. Not only is she connected to others via her job, her trans-health organizing, and her church, but she's also been going to 12-step meetings for over 14 years since she kicked drugs. "It all helps give me spiritual and mental balance," she says. That's not to say she doesn't know how to chill out. "My fiancé and I have a date night every Wednesday," she says. "And I often start the day with meditation, a bubble bath, and baby oil. I know how to pamper myself!"
|Tips From the Pros
Sean Strub, 55
Strub is the director of The Sero Project, which fights HIV criminalization laws across the country. He is also the founder of POZ magazine and the author of the newly released Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Survival. Here he shares his top five tips for surviving and thriving with HIV.
Be constructively skeptical; "conventional wisdoms" about HIV have changed over time. Educate yourself so you can make treatment decisions with confidence. Respect those with expertise, but trust your instincts, too.
Connect with other people with HIV; they can provide you support, help inform and empower, and understand what you are going through in a way no one else can.
Love will always be more powerful than any virus or treatment; you have as much right to love and be loved as anyone else. Sometimes an HIV diagnosis is a transformative wake-up call that leads to a peace and joy that might seem unimaginable.
Find purpose in your life that includes service to others, whether expressed through volunteer activities, your faith community, political activism, or helping an infirm neighbor. It is good for the soul and good for your health.
Forgive yourself and watch out for self-stigmatization; how we stigmatize ourselves is often far more damaging than how others stigmatize us.


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Two Four 6-Month Meal Plan Winners Announced!*
- "Lorna W."
- "Jennifer"
- "Trish Barton"
- "Sharon"
*If you think you might be one of these winners check your email because you will be receiving the prize details shortly.
A few months ago I introduced one of our wonderful sponsors, The Fresh 20. They offer a subscription service with weekly menu plans made entirely from fresh ingredients. Nothing's processed. Nothing's frozen. It's just 20 fresh ingredients used to create 5 delicious and simple weeknight dinners. And today they are generously giving away 6-month subscriptions to TWO lucky winners!
It's a lot of work to come up with healthy, easy, appetizing dinners every night so if you haven't been feeling inspired lately, consider letting The Fresh 20 do the work for you. They offer "classic," "gluten-free," and "vegetarian" meal plans at only $5 a month! Check out their website for more info at http://www.thefresh20.com/.
Giveaway: TWO 6-month menu plan subscriptions from the "The Fresh 20" valued at $30 each
Weekly menus from "The Fresh 20" include:
- Recipes for complete meals including sides
- Variety of cuisines to eliminate dinner boredom
- Seasonal ingredients
- Simple "classic," "gluten free" and "vegetarian" options
- Weekly prep guides to help you get organized
- Complete shopping list of fresh ingredients, nothing processed, no preservatives
- 5 weeknight dinners for around $75. That's $3.75 per meal!
- Custom recipes each week
- Balanced nutrition
- Recipes that feed 4 adults OR 2 adults and 2 children with leftovers
How to Enter:
To enter the contest please read and follow these rules…
- The contest is open to readers worldwide.
- To enter the contest, please leave a comment below sharing why you want to try "The Fresh 20" or if you are already one of their subscribers tell us what you like about it!
- Only one entry is allowed per person UNLESS you follow "The Fresh 20" on Facebook. If you are one of their Facebook fans (or become one) you are allowed two entries! You can just say that you "follow" on your second entry.
- The contest will end at midnight EST on Sunday, August 28.
- Two winners will be selected at random and announced on both the "100 Days of Real Food" Twitter and Facebook pages (as well as emailed directly so make sure your address is entered correctly in your comment below!). Each winner will have 3 days to respond before they are disqualified, and a new winner is chosen.
Please note: Your email address will not be shared or used for any other purpose.
Good Luck!


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- Access Digital Exclusives, Hit Shows, Live MotorSports and more!
- Ad Free - Stream Across Multiple Devices
- Cancel Anytime
Stay Updated Car news, reviews, and more!
$ 17,548
80 / 80 cu. ft.
The Lexus RX was the first luxury crossover to hit the market and, while a number of models have joined the market segment over the years, the RX350 is still one of the most recognizable and it is the best-selling vehicle in the compact luxury crossover class. With a reputation for reliability and safety, combined with modern styling and technology, the 2013 Lexus RX350 continues to adapt with the market in order to stay a half-step ahead of its competition. There are plenty of options available to customize the individual RX350, with Lexus pushing the F Sport Package which, in all reality, is worth nowhere near what Lexus asks for. The basic RX350 is a perfectly set-up vehicle that can be optioned into a great family vehicle without breaking the bank.
The RX gains Lexus' now-familiar spindle grille along with a chiseled front fascia and new headlamps with LED running lights. The license plate surround gets a chrome strip above it, and a power-opening and closing liftgate is now standard across all model lines. A redesigned steering wheel, center console, and standard USB port are new. The more aggressive F Sport model joins the lineup.
The exterior of the Lexus RX350 has changed little since its introduction, with sleek curves, a low profile, a severely angled rear liftgate, and with a car-like stance low to the ground. One of the few changes it has seen is this year's change to the corporate spindle grille, the hourglass-shaped front end that is making its way onto every Lexus model's fascia in time. The rear end has been tightened a bit, with certain lines brought out to mimic the shape of the grille. The RX350 still has a fairly low and blunt front end overall, and a decently high roofline with only the slightest raking towards the back. A Sport Appearance Package adds on a unique front bumper and halogen headlamps, as well as 19-inch wheels in the place of the standard 18-inch wheels. The F Sport Package gets the gear from the Sport Appearance package, and also adds unique grille inserts. Available exterior options include a power liftgate, a sunroof, and roof rails.
The inside of the Lexus RX350 is fairly spacious and appropriately appointed for a luxury crossover. The second row of seats is certainly not the roomiest in the class, but it is adequate for two adults or three children. Cargo capacity is very good, with 40 cubic feet behind the second row of seating and 80.3 cubic feet with the second row folded down. Unlike most of Lexus' line-up, cloth upholstery is the standard, but leather is an available option, and much of the trim is in soft-touch plastics, with ebony or espresso accents, although some of the silver trim borders on gaudy. The F Sport package allows for exclusive black leather upholstery.
The comforts and features inside of the 2013 Lexus RX350 are what is to be expected out of a Lexus. All accessories are powered, cruise control is standard, and both front seats have 10-way power adjustability. A nine-speaker sound system with a six-CD changer, satellite radio, iPod adapter, and Bluetooth connectivity is standard, while a 12-speaker premium system or a 15-speaker Mark Levinson sound system is optional. A seven-inch LCD display with a center console controller is optional, and it links up with a rearview camera, while it can be replaced with an eight-inch screen with a navigation system. A backseat dual-screen video system can be added for extra entertainment. The Lexus Enform system is standard and can run applications for information and entertainment, but it is rather complicated and unintuitive, and the Remote Touch controller needs too much effort and is more distracting than it is helpful.
The 2013 Lexus RX350 comes from a long line of safety standouts, as the RX line has received plenty of good crash test evaluations in the past. The standard safety features include electronic stability control, traction control, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist, and 10 standard airbags. It also has Lexus Safety Connect, a communications system with automatic collision notification and an emergency assist button. Optional safety equipment includes an adaptive cruise control system with a pre-collision warning system, and a rearview camera system. One of the safety faults on the RX is the large rear pillars that create blind spots to the rear.
The RX350 continues to receive good crash test ratings, with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety giving it ratings of ""Good"" in all categories, as well as a Top Safety Pick award. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has given the RX five stars in side impact and side-pole collision tests, with four stars for frontal-impact protection and four out of five stars overall.
The 2013 Lexus RX350 only has one available power plant, the 3.5-liter, V-6 engine that makes 270 horsepower and 248 lb-ft of torque, and this can only be attached to a six-speed, automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard, while a solid all-wheel drive system is available. An F Sport package can be had that adds an eight-speed, automatic transmission and, while it doesn't actually provide a performance increase, it does give the best gas mileage of all combinations. The front-wheel drive model gets up to 60 miles per hour from a standing start in 7.6 seconds, while the F Sport actually takes a few ticks longer due to the heavier weight of the all-wheel drive system. The top speed is a limited 112 miles per hour.
Handling is decent, although as the suspension is tuned more for ride than performance, the 2013 Lexus RX350 is not the most nimble vehicle on the road. Due to this tuning, the driver does not receive much in the way of feedback through the steering wheel, although the steering is responsive and precise. The F Sport package tunes the suspension, but any benefits of this tuning are lost through larger tires.


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When it comes to ornaments, I like ...
... onion domes.
Last year's Advent Calendar post:
Advent Calendar Day 12 - Volunteering: Teaching Old Church Slavonic to Third Graders
Monday, December 12, 2011
An Ornament a Day - Day 12
5 comments:
Oh, they are really pretty!ReplyDelete
Oh, I like them too! And I liked the dolls. I've got to do something like this some day. Meanwhille I am so enjoying your posts.ReplyDelete
Oh these are really wonderful! You have very unique ornaments . . . enjoying and looking forward to each new post, Greta!ReplyDelete
Carol - Thank you! They were on sale at our church festival and I couldn't resist them.ReplyDelete
Susan - Thank you - I could almost have a "Russia and Eastern Europe"-themed Christmas tree all by itself. The colors and the designs lure me in.
Jasia - Thank you!
Gini - The admiration is mutual - but you are so lucky to have older ornaments. I think my oldest ornaments date to the 70s.
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Way back in November, I made what looked like a pretty darn good apple pie. Hibernating in the corner of my freezer, Easter Sunday seemed as good a time as any to figure out how to bake a frozen pie in double-quick time in my TurboChef.
An easy 23 minutes later, the pie emerged from the oven, perfectly browned and utterly delectable. It's the ultimate combination - a slow day of cooking and a super speedy way to eat the results. Yum!
If you try the recipe, note that I have modified it with the addition of lemon juice and cardamom. The lemon juice adds quite a pronounced lemony flavour, which I love, but if you want something more subtle, try adding just a tablespoon. Also be sure to let the pie cool sufficiently so the juices "set". If you're baking in a regular oven, pop the pie in a preheated oven at 350°F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, check the pie and if the crust is browning too quickly, cover the top with foil (or even just the edges if that's what's really browning). Continue baking for another 30-40 minutes, or until the slits on top are bubbling.
My friend Jenny tells me about baharat, which sounds amazing. See her explanation below. Next time I'll try some of that to give this pie a spicy note.
For seasoning, in addition to a bit of lemon juice and sugar, I'm using baharat. Mine is from the Spice House in Chicago - the top note of this popular table seasoning from the Middle East (I'm all about ME cuisines this year) is very cinnamon/nutmeg, but the secondary note upon first taste is more complex, leaving one with a little kick that fits in with today's vogue for spicy desserts. Ingredients are: Tellicherry black pepper, coriander, cumin, Ceylon select cloves, Saigon cinnamon, cardamom, Spanish paprika and Chinese Tien Tsin chile peppers. Sounds weird, but really works.


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Yes it smells JUST like fresh cut grass! A great one for the men!
All of our premium bath bombs are handmade and hand cut. Our bombs average just over 4.5 ounces (Approx) each (About the size of a tennis ball)
Ingredients: Baking Soda, Citric Acid, Epsom Salt, Kaolin Clay, Olive, Sunflower, Coconut and/or Canola Oil, Sucrose, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Cocoa Butter, Essential Oils and/or Fragrance (Phthalate-Free), Water, Vitamin E. Some may include specialty ingredients such as sugar candies, cosmetic glitter, natural herbs, etc .
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The qctimes.com's FREE QC Varsity App for Local Sports keeps you up to date with exclusive local high school sports coverage and scores while you are on the go. Here's what you get: * Latest updates on All major prep sports from the Quad-City Times * Scores, schedules, stats and detailed rosters from the local Conferences* Stunning game action photos and video galleries * Pre-game information, in-game commentary and post-game analysis of your favorite teams* LIVE Twitter feeds with scoops and insights from our top sports reporters All for FREE! If you follow high school sports in the Quad Cities, then you need this app! Have questions or feedback on the qctimes.com's FREE QC Varsity App? Email us! We are always looking for suggestions on how to provide you the best experience possible. Also, don't forget to rate the QC Varsity App.
|作者:Lee Enterprises
|系统:Android 2.2.x以上


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'Horizontal dictionary'
Posted by Ward on June 25, 2004
In Reply to: 'Horizontal dictionary' posted by Lotg on June 25, 2004
: : : : When I did a lot of world travel, other men in the company (no, not me, ever) would talk about finding a 'horizontal dictionary' to help them with whatever language they were studying. This, of course, meant finding a member of the fair sex, who would be willing to provide extensive language and other local knowledge, advice, and counsel about a new country and its most intimate customs.
: : : : Too bad we didn't have the equivalent of the Phrase Finders site in those days, to give a wonderful alternative to that apparently difficult and tedious process.
: : : Would that then be "whorizontal"?
: : They were ususally not monetary arrangements, but were a version of 'girl in every port' types of relationships. Some lasted a long time and several resulted in marriages.
: Hmmmm - I won't ask where you obtained that piece of knowledge - mwahahaha!!!!
Goddess -- I heard that there were also Aussie dictionaries who taught the fine points of Oz. Not that I ever had the occasion, personally....
- Fine points? Lotg 25/June/04


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Find out how many Crossdressers live by Minnesota.


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USC coach Ed Orgeron said Sunday night he has not spoken to athletic director Pat Haden yet and does not know when the pair will discuss the Trojans' vacant coaching position.
The pair spoke briefly after the USC's 35-14 loss to UCLA at the Coliseum on Saturday night.
Orgeron said Haden told him to "go ahead and recruit and do what he needs to do" as he continues to perform duties as USC's interim coach.
"It was normal talk," Orgeron said. "All our coaches except myself were out on the road recruiting today. We've been getting a very positive response. I've been on the phone myself."
Haden said Orgeron would be considered for the job, although his chances probably decreased significantly after the Trojans lost to the Bruins.
Analyzing the loss
Asked what USC's biggest problems were against UCLA, Orgeron mentioned field position because of big kick returns by UCLA.
"We gave up too many yards and it put us behind the eight ball," Orgeron said.
He also criticized the Trojans' tackling and inability to down UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley.
"We let one person beat us," safety Dion Bailey said. "He's very elusive. Hundley was the problem."
Even though USC tailback Javorius Allen gained 123 yards, Orgeron said he was disappointed with the way the Trojans ran the ball.
"I also thought our run game would be a lot better," Orgeron said. "We struggled early."
Juniors to meet
Orgeron will start meeting with draft-eligible underclassmen today like wide receiver Marqise Lee, safety Dion Bailey, linebacker Hayes Pullard, defensive tackle George Uko, center Marcus Martin and cornerback Josh Shaw to discuss their NFL prospects.
"I'll have preliminary talks with all of them," Orgeron said. "And I'll meet with their parents."
Lee is expected to turn pro and be the Trojans' top draft pick. Bailey is also believed to favor turning pro.
Walker has surgery
Offensive guard Aundrey Walker, who broke his ankle against UCLA, underwent surgery Sunday, Orgeron said. Center Marcus Martin was carted off the field with a knee injury, but Orgeron said he did not know Martin's status. Linebacker Marquis Simmons left the Coliseum with his right arm in a sling.
No bowl talk
USC is projected to play in the Las Vegas Bowl, but Orgeron said he did not want to speculate on the Trojans' bowl plans. Orgeron was an assistant coach in 2001 when USC last played in the Vegas Bowl during Pete Carroll's first season as coach.
"That was a long time ago," Orgeron said.
USC's likely opponent in the Vegas Bowl is Fresno State.
Kessler gets emotional
USC quarterback Cody Kessler wrote an emotional response on twitter Sunday to criticism following the UCLA game.
"There's a lot of negative stuff out there ripping us, our effort, and our heart," Kessler wrote. "If you want to say we didn't play good then that's fine, but don't ever question our heart or say we don't care.
"Don't blame Coach O or any other coach either, if you feel the need to put the blame on someone, then put it on me. I'll take the blame."
©2013 the Daily News (Los Angeles)
Visit the Daily News (Los Angeles) at www.dailynews.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services


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THE 2000s
Fitted for the new Millennium
In the new millennium, demands on trucks and truck transport will be manifold. Although good transport efficiency and low transport costs remain the prime objectives, safety, ergonomics and environmental properties are all high-priority considerations.
When the Amsterdam Truck Show launched in February 2000, the visitors were pleased to view the European version of the Volvo NH12 for the first time - a high-tech vehicle, fitted for the new millennium.
This truck was propelled by the ultra-modern Volvo D12C electronically controlled, direct-injection diesel engine and could be delivered complete with Volvo Dynafleet 2.0, Volvo's IT tool.


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Read the original story in The Oregonian here.
40 years after Title IX: In their words
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance ...
Title IX, 40 years later: Teri Mariani, in her words
I was a sophomore at Portland State in the fall of 1971 when our volleyball team qualified for the national tournament. What an accomplishment -- and what a disappointment.
In those days before Title IX, we had to raise our own money. We did everything: Washed airplanes at the airport, gave tours of funeral homes, had bake sales. It still wasn't enough. We didn't raise enough money. We didn't get to go.
The hard part was that if any men's team needed to travel, they got the funding while we had to sit and watch.
It was really different for women then. We had the same uniform for volleyball, basketball and softball. In the early '70s at Portland State, there was only one entrance to the training room, and it was through the men's locker room. As a female athlete, if you needed to get treatment, you would call the trainer to meet you in the lobby, and he would put a paper bag over your head and lead you through the men's locker room.
Can you imagine that now?
At first, I didn't think much about whether it was fair. As women, we were so excited to have the opportunity to play that we didn't complain when the men's teams flew everywhere and stayed two to a room while we drove all over and packed four into a room. But in my second two years as an athlete at PSU, after Title IX had passed, I became a lot more aware of what was going on.
I became an advocate.
Things changed, but it was gradual. I coached at Portland State for 29 years, and I stayed because we had an athletic director, Roy Love, who believed in Title IX. It wasn't easy, though.
One of my jobs as a head coach of a female sport, and later, when I was the senior women's administrator, was to make sure our school treated female athletes fairly. There were a lot of battles behind closed doors.
Sometimes I felt like I was on an island by myself. There was a time I leaned toward filing a lawsuit. I didn't want to sue. Who wants to sue? But sometimes it felt like you had to make that threat to get anything done.
Luckily, when we moved up to Division I in the 1996-97 school year a lot changed. Now we had a Title IX plan in place to make sure we were compliant, and checks and balances to hold us accountable. And look at what that did -- just in the past five to six years, the growth of women's sports at PSU has been incredible. They put us on the map, and I feel so much pride because of it.
As a coach, sometimes I felt like my athletes took for granted all the luxuries they had, so every five years or so I would give them a little history lesson. They need to understand that as recently as 1991, when we had one of the best softball teams in the country, there were days that we practiced on a church blacktop parking lot because we didn't have a field.
Girls in sports today can't imagine there was a time when they didn't have opportunities, just like you and I can't imagine a time when women couldn't vote. Title IX opened doors for women like never before -- on and off the field. I wouldn't have had a career without it.
It's great that playing sports and being equal is so natural to today's generation. But we have to know our history. It's time to re-awaken people.
-- As told to Lindsay Schnell


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Hey, I need to do this quickly cuz I have lots of homework to do. Your gonna learn how to draw Piplup. It was requested by, guess who, the person who I always dedicate my pics and tuts to. J.M. well, have fun.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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The U.S. Agency for International Development recently announced additional assistance to Nigeria for development and AIDS relief.
Zimbabwe has a new president. Emmerson Mnangagwa was officially sworn in on August 27 following a ruling by the Constitutional Court declaring Mr. Mnangagwa the winner of the July 30 presidential election.
New data was released at the July 2018, International AIDS Conference demonstrating the HIV epidemic is coming under control in Namibia.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo will hold an election in December, hopefully leading to a peaceful democratic transfer of power for the first time in the country's history.
The United States is gravely concerned by credible reports of numerous detentions, beatings, and other abuses of Zimbabweans, in particular, targeting of opposition activists.
The U.S.announced over 1 billion dollars in private-sector deals during their recent mission to four sub-Saharan African nations.
Ethiopia has been suffering the effects of a devastating series of droughts, which began three years ago when the El Niño weather pattern caused higher temperatures in this country of 100 million people.
The people of Zimbabwe recently went to the polls to elect a new president, but the opposition said the results are fraudulent and has challenged the results in court.
As part of its efforts to combat HIV, the United States intends to provide up to $90 million to build secondary schools across Malawi and additional funding to provide youth friendly health services.
With support from United States Government through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Sierra Leone has launched an Ebola Database Family Reunification program.
The United States seeks to strengthen economic ties with Ethiopia and remains focused on supporting efforts to create a conducive environment for private sector growth.
This U.S. government foreign assistance program has helped Nigerians improve agricultural production, income generation, nutrition, and sanitation.
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Hi people!
Please tell me, where I can sell our VoIP-project (Asterisk-based)?
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Where I can do this?
Thank you!


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2019 HYUNDAI TUCSON Sport
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We Predict Which Party Down Cast Members Will Return Next Season
Party Down's second season has come to a close. Due to many of the show's actors jumping ship for better shows and unfinished story-lines, we're left wondering about the fates of our favorite team of TV caterers.
Which members of Party Down's catering crew will be back slingin' 'derves next season? We weighed each characters storyline and the actors other projects to try and figure out what we can expect in season three. If there is a season three. Oh, please let there be a season three!
Adam Scott as Henry
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 40-1
Let's be real here, people—Adam Scott was cast on Parks and Recreation alongside Rob Lowe—and the pair have already filmed a slew of episodes. Sparks flew between his character and Leslie (Amy Pohler) and we're all rooting for Leslie to finally have a great romance. In the scene above, Henry decides to audition for a role in an indie flick. We have a pretty good feeling that he'll get the role, finally become more than the "are we having fun yet" guy. He's said that he'll return for a few episodes, but beyond that—goodbye, Henry!
Martin Starr as Roman
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 2-1
Finally, Roman has figured out his "hard Sci Fi" masterpiece—all because he accidentially ate a 10th of an ounce of weed. I don't forsee Roman gaining instant success, he'll most likely struggle to get his script read throughout season three. Aside from some movie roles, Martin Starr's schedule looks pretty open and we're confident he'll be back.
Lizzy Caplan as Casey
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 3-1
The scene above makes it seem as though she won't be leaving the Party Down catering crew anytime soon. This season she had her "big break" being cast in a Judd Apatow movie—only to find out in the finale that her scene had been cut. Sadly, this scene mirrors real life because Caplan has just recently been replaced in the True Love pilot by Judy Greer. We think she'll be back, for lack of bigger and better projects.
Ryan Hansen as Kyle
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 2-1
Although Ryan Hansen has been cast on a pilot for the fall whose name escapes me (edit: it's NBC's terribly-titled Friends With Benefits), Ryan's failure to impress his audience at the reception makes it seem as though he'll be back next season at Party Down, slingin' 'derves and struggling to make it as an actor. Plus, we'd be sad if we lost the Roman/Kyle bromance storyline.
Ken Marino as Ron
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 1-1
Ken Marino will be back. How could he not be? He finally has a love interest (above) that's not a teenage tramp and a chance at advancement in the company! However, Ron's path has never been an easy one, and odds are high he'll have to struggle to get the job and the girl.
Megan Mullally as Lydia
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 3-1
Megan Mullally joined the cast of Party Down to replace Jane Lynch this season and we're hoping that she won't go anywhere! Like Ron, she's also been given a love interest—which makes us think she'll stick around. Of course, Megan Mullally is a busy lady between her broadway shows and "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" commercials. Our only (and very far-off) concern is that since her hubby plays Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec, she'll want to reprise her role as head of the Pawnee library and follow Adam Scott's shoes.
Jane Lynch as Constance
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 30-1
Constance got married in the finale—only to have her new husband drop dead as they drive away from their wedding party in the "just married" car. Turns out that her late husband signed the pre-nup as "Jack Shit" and Constance is instantly filthy rich—no more catering for her anymore! Plus, we all know she's much more appreciated on Glee. The fact that she came back for this entire episode makes us hope she'll pop back in for an episode next season.
Patrick Duffy as Patrick Duffy
Odds of sticking around for Season 3: 100-1
We know he won't be back next season—especially since he played Constance's burned ex-lover—but we can hope, right? Considering this comedic gem of a scene and his hilarious web show, we think he'd be a great addition to the show.
UPDATE: Within 12 hours of this post, the show was canceled by the evil people at Starz.


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Forms Jobs
For many years, the City of Winston-Salem's Sewer Use Resolution has allowed the City to recover expenses incurred for violations of the pretreatment standard or requirements. Violators are cited and assessed the city's costs which may include the following:
Receive E-Mail Notification When New Information is Posted on this PageAs a member, enjoy the benefits of MyCityofWS, including your choice of newsletters, and notifications about events and site updates. Login and Manage Your Subscriptions Now.


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Download PDF press release
Persian and Exotic Rank #1 and #2 For the Third Straight Year... and the Persian holds the Top Spot For Over 30 Years!
Busy cat owners who like the look of a Persian, but don't have time for daily grooming sessions, have made the Exotic second only to the Persian as the most popular cat breed according to the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) registration statistics.
Fans of the Persian understand why the Persian has been number one for so long. Their long flowing coat, coupled with a sweet, gentle, personality allows Persians to blend into most households once they are secure in their new environment.
Pictured: CFA's Best Persian for 2013, GC, BW, NW AOL Mambo, a black male, bred by Aleksejs Dergachovs, owned by O. Grin and A. Dergachovs.
Pictured: CFA's Best Exotic for 2013, GC, BW, NW Parti Wai Ex Jackpot, a cream spotted tabby & white male, bred and owned by Penni Richter.
The Exotic is bred to meet the Persian standard in every way with one very special exception: the coat. The thick, plush, short coat gives the Exotic a soft, rounded, teddy bear look.
The British Shorthair and Devon Rex have once again broken into the list of the top ten most popular breeds, replacing the Cornish Rex and Birman, who have been in the top ten a number of times over the past ten years.
This year, the British Shorthair is the top shorthair breed for the first time. The Brits are renowned for their calm demeanor, easy going nature and intelligence. The elf-like Devon Rex, with its pixie like face, big inquisitive eyes, large ears and short slightly upturned nose, makes a most likable pet.
Pictured: CFA's Best Maine Coon for 2013, GC, BW, NW Dewisplear Angel Time, a brown tabby & white male, bred and owned by Joel & Camelle Chaney.
Pictured: CFA's Best Ragdoll for 2013, GC, BW, RW Supurrrags Sonic, a blue lynx point & white male, bred and owned by Bill & Sue Shorey.
Pictured: CFA's Best British Shorthair for 2013, GC, BW, NW Truebrit St Louis Blue of Oz Creek, a blue male, owned by Leah & Ray Sturn, Colin & Jo Cornwall, and Doug & Kathie Von Aswege.
Get Meow Power and Subscribe to Cat Talk, the CFA's bi-monthly, print magazine that captures the many voices of the Cat Fanciers' Association.
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Fabiana Flosi bесаmе engaged tо Bernie Ecclestone whеn ѕhе wаѕ 35. Hе wаѕ 82. Thеу wеrе engaged in April оf lаѕt year. "We аrе officially engaged- аnd it's nоt gоing tо bе a lоng engagement either," Bernie said.They married fоur months later, in August оf thе ѕаmе year. Fabiana's engagement ring iѕ ѕаid tо bе worth $160,000.00! Thе wedding wаѕ held аt Bernie's home in Switzerland. Bernie аnd Fabiana mеt in 2009, аftеr Bernie hаd divorced hiѕ ѕесоnd wife Slavica,to whоm hе wаѕ married fоr 24 years. Thеу hаd twо daughters, Tamara аnd Petra, whо аrе nоt vеrу thrilled with thеir father's third wife. Fabiana wаѕ working оn thе marketing оf thе Brazilian Grand Prix. At thе timе ѕhе wаѕ in a … [Read more...]
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Product FAQs
General Information
Why use an electric space heater?
Heaters are used for energy savings and comfort. A portable electric heater can supplement a central heating system and actually lower energy bills. By using the space heater to heat just the room that is occupied, the central heating thermostat can be lowered.
How will using a heater affect my heating bill?
You would need to call your local electric company as rates vary across the country. Note that the amount of electricity used by the heater depends on the heat setting selected (wattage) and how often it is running. If a thermostat is used, the heater will only run when the temperature falls below the set temperature.
What is the overheat shut-off temperature?
It is the temperature at which the unit will automatically shut-off. The temperature range is between 149 to 265º F depending upon the model.
I would like to buy a heater that I can use as my main source of heat. Which model would you suggest?
Portable electric heaters are intended for supplemental heating. They are not intended to replace central heating systems.
Are space heaters safe to use?
Bionaire® heaters have various safety features and are approved by Underwriter Laboratories (UL) in the United States and CSA or CUL in Canada. As stated in the owner's manual, certain safety procedures need to be followed when using heaters to reduce the risk of fire, electric shock, and injury to persons.
What is auto shut-off and how does it work?
Auto shut-off helps prevent damage and risks if the heater were to overheat. As soon as the internal temperature of the heater becomes too hot, the unit will shut itself off. If the heater shuts itself off in an overheat situation, you will be required to reset the heater by following these steps: 1. Turn the heater to the OFF position. 2. Unplug the heater and wait 10 minutes for the unit to cool down. After 10 minutes has elapsed, plug the heater in again and operate normally.
Is it safe to use a heater near children or pets?
Heaters are used to produce heat and some models can be hot to the touch. Care should be taken when using a heater. This includes using extreme caution when a heater is used by or near children or invalids, or whenever it is left operating and unattended.
What safety devices do Bionaire® heaters have?
Depending on your unit, your heater may have Auto Shut-off, an Overheat Back-up fuse, Tip-Over protection, and Polarized, three-prong, or ALCI plugs to help reduce the risk of electrical shock. All of our heaters have safety devices and comply with UL safety guidelines in the US, CUL in Canada and GS/CE in Europe.
How are heaters rated?
Heaters are rated by the amount of heat that they produce which is measured in BTU's or British Thermal Units. The average peak output of an electric heater for 1500 watts is 5120 BTUs per hour.


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Hotel Le Sherpa Reviews
This is such a lovely hotel. The "Dad's Army" group (12-15 'mature' ladies & gentlemen) have been going there for some fifteen years; same week in January every year. Excellent hospitality and food. So convenient for the 3V - why go anywhere else?
Ian Williams
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