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St Cloud State University reclassification
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Think about what career is best suited for you, and where you want to study. Request more information now.
Info concerning St Cloud State University reclassification, and registering for elective discussion sections and seminars. Which college degrees give you the best chances of entering a successful career path after graduation? Concentrating on St Cloud State University reclassification, for example, may give you additional focus in the admissions selection process. Check with the admissions office for assistance with prerequisites, course registration deadlines, and college degree program requirements. Please use the form above to request admissions info for St Cloud State University.
Transfer students experience another pathway towards admissions. In fact, nearly half of all current undergraduate students begin their education by attending a community college. By far, the most common transfer path is students moving from two-year community colleges to four-year institutions, although there is considerable movement between four-year colleges well. Many private schools actively seek out transfer applicants to fill their classes.
The quality of classes, combined with low-cost tuition, encourages many high school graduates to continue their education at a community college. In most states, community colleges have transfer agreements in place with dozens of public and private universities. In fact, among all students in the US who earned a bachelor's degree, almost 1/3 had supplemented their college education with classes from a community college. Beyond major requirements within the admissions department, you may consider Indian Springs School placement exams for complementary electives to your primary course of study.
Assistant Director, Admissions
Florida International University
Monitors Admissions staff performance, providing timely feedback and all necessary training to ensure qualitative and quantitative objectives are achieved in..
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UC San Diego
The Admissions Officer participates in interdepartmental and systemwide meetings regarding the admission of students to the University as appropriate.
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North Carolina Central University
The person should be an energetic and enthusiastic individual who will articulate admissions policies and procedures to students, parents, and counselors.
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Green River Community College
Experience in transfer or admissions advising. Green River College is a tobacco free campus. Resume At this time, Green River College is not sponsoring for H1-B..
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FLEX COLLEGE PREP. Since that time, FLEX has expanded to include a multitude of other services, including academic and college admissions counseling.
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Compilations / Mixes / Remixes / Reissues
EPs / Cassettes / DVDs / Mini-Albums / Singles
Asamisimasa Plays the Music of Øyvind Torvund: Neon Forest Space
Øyvind Torvund's idiosyncratic vision is well-served by his collaborators on this collection of four works by the Norwegian composer (b.1976). The first one of note is obviously Asamisimasa, a five-member ensemble founded in 2002 whose avant-garde sensibility clearly aligns with Torvund's and who bring his eclectic material to life with assiduity and verve; the second is artist Marc Bell, whose colourful illustrations translate the wildness of Torvund's music into visual form on the release's packaging. Unusual juxtapositions abound in the four illustrations in a way that mirrors the composer's own freewheeling musical conceptions.
Asamisimasa, whose 2012 debut album Pretty Sound highlighted the music of Danish composer Simon Steen-Andersen, consists of keyboardist Ellen Ugelvik, clarinetist Kristine Tjøgersen, cellist Tanja Orning, percussionist Håkon Stene, and guitarist Anders Førisdal. On paper the line-up appears straightforward enough, yet the group's approach, characterized as a collision of traditional and left-field playing, is unusual. Conventional instruments commonly rub shoulders with junkyard sounds and field recordings, with Stene adding everything from an electric drill and toy laser gun to the group's clarinet-guitar-piano-cello mix. Like Torvund, Asamisimasa is comfortable threading folk, industrial, experimental, and chamber music into its ever-mutating soundworld. Joining the quintet on the recording are trombonist Torild G. Berg, violinist Karin Hellqvist, and, fittingly, Torvund himself, who adds noise generator, feedback, and cassette recorders to three of the four pieces.
During the five-part Wilibald Motor Landscape, guitars, harpsichord, clarinet, and cello collide with vehicles roaring down motorways, the staccato rush of tape and instrument sounds moving so fast the piece begins to resemble a collage of fragments. One section is marked by the contrast between the slow wheeze of the instruments and the Doppler-esque sounds of cars racing by; elsewhere, Tjøgersen and Orning contribute clarinet and cello solos, the natural timbre of their instruments offset by barrages of noise clattering around them. As raw and adventurous is the seven-part Neon Forest Space, wherein Asamisimasa plays along with the sounds of nature and attempts to replicate it in its own playing. With bird chirps and animal noises quietly filling the air, the ensemble's instrument sounds creak and woozily moan as if in response to the creatures' invitation. In the eighteen-minute Plastic Waves, the juxtaposition is between the natural and the industrial worlds, things created by nature versus by human hands; alternating between noise splashes and restrained moments, the piece puts Ugelvik's piano at the forefront, but there's space made for Førisdal's Hendrix-ian guitar, too.Of the four works presented, it's Wolf Studies that's perhaps the most memorable, not only due to the incorporation of actual recordings of wolves but also by the way Asamisimasa's playing imitates the creature's howl and cry. The merging of the two parts makes for an engrossing listen, and Torvund's music in this case feels less like a jarring juxtaposition of extreme contrasts than a coherent fusion of different yet related elements. At one point, Stene's drum brushes and percussion seem to mimic the rapid trot of an attacking pack, while the cello's groan suggests the dying vocalizations of an animal caught by a wolf. In speaking about avant-garde music in an interview, Torvund said, I don't have any answers, but I believe in freedom. If no specific conclusions are necessarily reached on this hour-long collection, artistic freedom is certainly on full display throughout.
November 2015

subset: commoncrawl


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johanna van zanten
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In Others' Words: Fear
"If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try." ~ Seth Godin (1960-), American author & public speaker
The more times I read this quote, the more I like it.
I kept much-too-close company with fear for too many years. Wasted a lot of time letting fear decide what I did — or didn't — do.
And then I started shoving back when fear tried to push me into a corner. And I discovered that fear backed down.
Imagine that.
Some of my fears toppled more easily than others. Heights? I'll probably never love 'em, but I'll still tackle water slides when I'm at a water park with my kiddos. For a lot of years, I didn't like flying. Now? Well, I still pray that there's no turbulence — and then I get on the plane and go. Too many places to visit, too many people to see to waste time sitting at home being afraid.
I have no desire to bungee jump — yep, I'll admit to being afraid — but I also think I'm smart too. Skydiving? Check back with me on that one.
Here's what I love about Seth Godin's quote: He challenges me — you too — to turn an "I can't" into an "I can't believe I did it!" He doesn't double-dog-dare-you. He suggests giving that thing you fear a try. So, no guilt if you think about it and decide not to.
But before you decide to pass on the opportunity to push past fear, ask yourself this: What are all the different kinds of good that would happen if I did this?
In Your Words: When you read today's quote, what scary "I can't do that!" thing came to mind? What would it take for you to do it? Or if you'd like to share a time when you did that "can't do it" thing, I'd love to hear about it — and everyone else would too!
0 I like this!
35 Comments
October 1, 2012, 12:54 am /
Beth, I love this. I agree, when you give fear a big hard push, there is often a lot less resistance than we thought! It's getting up the courage to push, though, isn't it? You've challenged me to take a look at some of the things I fear and maybe, just maybe, I'll start giving them a push, one at a time 🙂
October 1, 2012, 5:10 am /
From 1985 until 2008, it was "I can't go back on the mission field."
2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 proves I CAN!!
And because of the short wave radios I will carry and have carried, 1280 people will have heard the Gospel.
Our teams have brought in enough radios to the extremely isolated villages in Bolivia, that anywhere from 600,000 to 900,000 people have heard about Jesus.
October 1, 2012, 6:19 am /
Mine are more relationship-based. Having that conversation. Finally confronting. All that good stuff. Those kinds of things are scarier for me.
~ Wendy
October 1, 2012, 6:55 am /
I would like to do more speaking by traveling, but I'm terrified of driving in heavy congestion and going places alone ie flying. However, I have faced that fear when I flew to Denver all alone, well me and God, and it was an amazing experience. But…I'm scared to do it again. 🙂
October 1, 2012, 8:45 am /
Jessica, if you fly to Denver again, you have friends nearby to meet you on that side (Beth, me, others? :)).
October 1, 2012, 7:31 am /
Ooh, this post is making me think, Beth. I think I have to agree with Wendy…fears in my life tend to be more "Ahh, what would happen if I really confronted that person?" or "Yikes, what if I say what I REALLY think?"
October 1, 2012, 8:23 am /
Beth – great challenge for a Monday.
Right now, I'm in the process of chopping 15000 (thousand, not hundred) words. But it started out at 25000 and I'm already down 10,000 in 10 days. Do it afraid? Yeah. Is my baby going to look the same after I've shaved off all her extra parts?????
I've learned that God if faithful, whether I step out in faith or not. When I do step out, it's usually harder at first… but in the end, the benefits are so worth it. When I don't, it may seem easier at first (Hey, this ain't so bad, I think I can handle this….), but inevitably, I grow bone-weary, I get world-filthy, and I struggle with despair and hopelessness. And I end up having to trust Him anyway!
Thankfully, He's the God of 2nd and 3rd and 4th and more chances!
October 1, 2012, 8:27 am /
I totally have to agree with Wendy and Melissa. Too often I don't speak up when words need to be said, when no one else is speaking truth.
And skydiving. Definitely skydiving. If I ever did that, I don't think I'd have to be afraid of anything again because I would have conquered something I deemed impossible. Hmmm….got me thinking, Beth. 😉
October 1, 2012, 8:42 am /
Bungee jumping or sky diving. No way. Not now. Not ever.
But other things that scare me, I'll usally make myself do it…like public speaking or trying something new.
October 1, 2012, 8:48 am /
I'm not an adventure-seeker by nature. But, I am learning that adventure can be good for the spirit. I tried rock climbing a 30′ chimney in my early twenties (many years ago!), and rapelling down. Rapelling always scared me. I loved it! Sky diving still scares me, but I'm opening up my mind to consider trying it. Someday.
Relational fears are bigger. I don't like confrontation. I had an altercation with a loved one not too long ago, and I discovered I'd rather run away than deal with the situation. Talk about coward. There has been communication, but not resolution, in my mind. Right now, I'm praying and leaving it in God's hands. Which is where it needs to be.
I'm rambling. Sorry.
October 1, 2012, 9:09 am /
I definitely get more afraid of interactions with people (like Wendy and Mel mentioned above). I HATE confrontation. Hate it. But sometimes, when done with grace and mercy, it's the best thing we can do.
October 1, 2012, 9:21 am /
Fear is often overcome in the company of those who cheer us on.
October 1, 2012, 9:46 am /
This week for me it's snorkeling. I love it, but forgot to breathe sometimes & didn't know mask makes bottom look closer than it is so that when you try to stand, you can be glubbing salt water if you don't breathe right. And currents are fairly strong in Hawaii. But yesterday was golden–got it right (I'm sure w/ God's help) and absolutely loved the experience–I also knew when to quit, which is progress for me. And oh, the beautiful things I saw…. I don't let many outward tangible things frighten me–I make myself do them and grow because I'd seen to many people who let fear rule.
October 1, 2012, 10:56 am /
What came to my mind as a I read the quote is how true Seth's statement is. I've wrestled with fear for most of my life, but the Lord's been pushing me to face my fears in recent years. Not all at once, of course, but a little at a time, as I'm able. He's helping me overcome them. Not overnight, but over time. Being willing to step out in faith, knowing the Lord understands my fears and will uphold me as I face them gives me courage to do so.
October 1, 2012, 11:18 am /
Interesting how different we view that quote, Beth. We share a fear of heights, so you'll understand that nothing anyone says will ever get me to tight rope walk. The more I read his quote, the more I want to head for the nearest railing and latch on with a death grip. But that's only in a physical contest. When it comes to risk-taking in ministry, reaching the lost, or exploring the truth of Scripture, then sign me up for Bible bungee jumping. 🙂
October 1, 2012, 12:07 pm /
Beth, I share many of the same fears you have, including planes. But I overcame it to go to Dallas, and I'll overcome it next week to see you in CA! 🙂
October 1, 2012, 12:45 pm /
To be honest, losing weight came to mind… It's not that I'm afraid of it, I'm afraid of how it will change me and/or the embarassment of failure. BUT, I have started working on this and I'm focusing on maintaining my temple which is what God requires of us. With Him as my pilot, I'm taking it one step, one meal at a time!
October 1, 2012, 4:56 pm /
I think taking more risks in my writing. It's scary, but exciting all in the same turn.
October 4, 2012, 4:48 pm /
The idea of blogging and social media once seemed scary! 🙂 So that quote resonates with me in regard to dreams and goals. But not with bungee jumping or sky diving. Very scary, but I really don't have an interest in it. I do however want to ride on a zipline–going to attempt that next month!!
October 18, 2012, 10:17 am /
I hiked the Grand Canyon, just sayin'. Next, a hot air balloon ride. Our son saw it on my bucket list and gave us tickets. Someone may have to shove me in the basket, but I'm going. Thanks for the encouragement, Seth and Beth.


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I am a big fan of raw seeds for building strength and increasing your energy. These crunchy beauties pack a powerful nutritional punch! I eat seeds almost every day. Raw seeds provide our bodies with tons of life giving nutrients in a small energy filled package. I have many seeds that I enjoy on a daily basis but today I want to share 3 Of My Favorite Super Seeds For Strength And Energy.
Raw seeds are one of my favorite foods to enjoy because they completely satisfy my hunger without weighing me down or making me tired. Raw seeds are versatile and can be enjoyed in many different ways. Many raw seeds do contain enzyme inhibitors which protect them from germinating or sprouting until the right conditions are met. Soaking raw seeds in water will remove their enzyme inhibitors and make them easier to digest.
Sprouting the seeds after soaking turns them into a living food and boosts their nutritional content which is so amazing! If you include more living foods into your weekly diet, it will make a difference in your health.
My 3 favorite seeds for boosting your strength and energy include hemp, pumpkin, and chia seeds.
Hemp Seeds
Hemp seeds are one of my favorite super seeds because of their great nutty taste and amazing nutritional profile. Hemp seeds are protein rich and contain all the essential amino acids.
Hemp has 26 minerals including sulfur, calcium, magnesium, silicon, potassium, and zinc.
Hemp seeds are a sustainable crop and a good source of essential fatty acids with the perfect balance between omega-3 and omega-6.
Enjoy hemp seeds on their own or use in smoothies, on top of hot cereal, in salads, made into hemp butter or hemp milk, and in raw chocolate treats.
Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds or Pepitas have a crunchy texture and savory taste that is hard to resist. Pumpkin seeds provide your body with protein, phytonutrients, magnesium, zinc, iron, antioxidants like beta-carotene, B vitamins, and the amino acid tryptophan.
Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber and contain oleic fatty acids, along with omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids.
Enjoy pumpkin seeds on their own, in trail mix, in smoothies, made into pumpkin seed butter or pumpkin seed milk, on top of hot cereal, on top of yogurt, and in salads.
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are a nutritional powerhouse. In the Mayan language chia stands for strength. These tiny super seeds are hydrophilic or water loving and can absorb many times their weight in water which makes them extremely hydrating to the body.
Chia seed's high level of nutrients helps build strength and endurance which makes them the perfect food for physically active people and athletes.
Chia seeds contain protein, all the essential amino acids, calcium, magnesium, antioxidants, potassium, B vitamins, high amounts of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, and soluble fiber which make these seeds a potent superfood. Chia seeds have a mild taste and crunchy texture that turns into gel when added to a liquid.
Enjoy chia seeds in smoothies, in puddings, in kombucha tea, in sauces, in fruit kefir beverages, in fresh vegetable juices, in homemade jams, on top of hot cereal, in salad dressings, in cookies, made into chia butter, on top of yogurt, and in salads.
I hope that this information will convince you to try these super seeds and reap all the health benefits they provide.
Here's some of my favorite recipes using these seeds.
Kale Apple Salad with Pineapple Hemp Dressing
Pumpkin Seed Spread
Lemon Blueberry Chia Seed Pudding
If you like this article and would like to contribute to the conversation, please take a moment to leave a comment.
Important Note
If you are eating really healthy foods but still having issues with your health and chronic inflammation, you need to find out if you have sensitivities or intolerances to the foods you're eating. The foods which we put into our body on a daily basis can either help protect against sickness, inflammation, and aging or increase it.
That's why it's important for everyone to make food and lifestyle choices that enhance your health. The Alcat test that we offer is a very reliable way to find out exactly what foods, food additives, medicinal herbs, functional foods, food colorings, molds, and chemicals you have sensitivities to so you can eliminate them from your life and start to heal. Feel free to contact us if you want to learn more about this fantastic test.
Join our holistic community by signing up for our email updates, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and pin with us on Pinterest to get all the latest healthy recipes, health tips, event notifications, and information on increasing your energy, strength, and immunity with healing whole foods and holistic lifestyle solutions.


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PhonePad won't run directly under OS X - yet. But it can run under Parallels on a Mac. In the screenshot below, PhonePad is running under Windows 8.1 and Parallels, on an Apple MacBook Pro with OS X Mavericks. It is connected to a Windows server in Remote…
Yes, PhonePad will run fine under Windows 8, as well as Windows 7, Vista and even XP. Here's a screenshot of PhonePad running under Windows 8.1, under Parallels, on an Apple MacBook Pro, which is running Mac OS X Mavericks.
Learn more.


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What do you think you will be doing ten years from now?
I am going to make this a quick post, because it is late.
I have no idea what I will be doing in 10 years!
However, I can tell you what I want to be:
That would be this:
Be Fearless!
Ahhhh not being afraid is crucial … when I think about my future I am filled with fear and anxiety…
Yes, 10 years from now, heck tomorrow, right now I want to be fearless!
What am I afraid of – EVERYTHING – Why?
I don't know
Fear creates a false reality
It cripples – perhaps it is my crutch
Regardless it has to end and it will
I will learn how.


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THE Chancellor began his Budget speech by introducing the idea of an aspirational nation and ended by modifying the great staple of British politics – the hard-working family – so we now have the aspirational, hard-working family.
Set against a very challenging economic backdrop including a further downward forecast in growth by the Office of Budget Responsibility, this was never going to be a classic give-away Budget. What will it mean for our mythical family?
It seems clear to me that the Chancellor's belief is that he can best help families by focusing on business growth and private-sector job creation. The question is, did he get it right?
His first effort is a cut for firms in National Insurance Contributions (NIC), which are seen by most employers as a jobs tax. From April 2014, all businesses and charities should be able to save up to £2,000 NIC each year, a move which should ease the burden of taking on new people.
He also aimed for growth through lower corporation tax. With a further cut in the main rate to 20 per cent from April 2015, the UK will have the lowest level of company tax in the G7.
The reduction in corporation tax to such a competitive rate is clearly aimed at encouraging more inward investment and maximising the amount of tax collected from companies that are currently based here. The recent high-profile cases of multinational firms paying tax on their "British profits" in other jurisdictions could be stemmed, with many perhaps motivated to locate more of their business here in the UK. With the impending introduction of the new Patent Box as well, giving a 10 per cent tax rate for profits attributable to patents and similar intellectual property, should we really be looking at the UK as a tax haven?
The cut in the main rate of corporation tax also raises an interesting question for small, one and two-person firms: with a 20 per cent tax rate, what is stopping them from operating as a limited company?
From September 2013, a new arrangement to encourage employee ownership of business could also prove beneficial to economic growth. The measure will exempt the profit made by individuals on the disposal of employee shares from capital gains tax (CGT), up to a maximum of £50,000. Alongside this, the employee will not have to pay the income tax and NIC due on the first £2,000 of company shares when they are acquired by the employee. In essence, there is a real opportunity here to share in the growth of your company, completely tax-free.
Successive chancellors have sought to encourage greater investment in research and development activities and the scheme is to be improved. While many larger companies have had access to a regime that allowed them to reduce their tax bill through R&D expenditure, many SMEs without tax to pay have been frustrated by a technicality which excluded them from claiming cash repayments for their qualifying R&D. The new 10 per cent "above the line" credit should allow all smaller companies to secure cash support for R&D.
There are also measures that will help genuinely new businesses, which are vital if the UK is to generate serious economic growth. The new Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), set up last year to encourage new company formation, offered up to 78 per cent tax relief for a qualifying investor. This was by a combination of 50 per cent income tax relief and what was thought to be a one-off opportunity to exempt other gains – typically taxed at 28 per cent – from tax by reinvesting in the SEIS company. This additional capital gains tax reinvestment relief is now to be extended for a further two years, with up to half of the gain available for exemption.
In what seems to be a direct appeal to hard-working families concerned about a perceived lack of fairness in the tax system, new announcements on avoidance measures and consultations were also included in this year's Budget. While many might welcome the principle behind this, we don't yet know how these proposals will work in practice. For example, there was a reference to partnerships and how they are used to avoid tax. Unless measures are very carefully targeted, these could affect innocent family firms. This type of measure, if introduced, could run the risk of undoing some of the benefits to small business from the more positive proposals in the Budget.
As ever, the Chancellor had a difficult balancing act. Time will tell if he got it right and if voters from hard-working, aspirational families will support his party at the next General Election.
• Simon Burton is director of tax at Johnston Carmichael


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The Tell City Knights of Columbus Council 1172 would like to thank the entire community for the support of our annual Tootsie Roll Drive. The many volunteers from Council 1172 stood in the rain for two days, but were successful in reaching a monetary value of more than $3,500. These donations will be contributed equally to the programs for mentally challenged citizens of Perry County.
The Perry County Parks and Recreation Department would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people and organizations that made our 5-kilometer run-walk event successful.
A total of 92 runners and walkers participated this year.
Why do Tell City residents need to celebrate with firecracker bombs year-round? Being a stroke victim, even the smallest noises make me anxious and nervous, so I am sure those noises affect seniors as well.
As I am only in my mid-50s, these types of firecrackers affect small-breed dogs, also. I have a mini Shitzu who tries to hide and even the thunder jacket I bought for her does not comfort here.
So is it necessary to celebrate with such loud fireworks for such a long time?
By DAN COATS
U.S. Senate
In Indiana and across the country, concerned citizens are losing more and more faith in their government. Sadly they have every reason to after a series of recent scandals and broken promises under this administration.
Congress must take this growing trust deficit seriously. Most Hoosiers I visit with are skeptical of any action taken right now in Washington.
By VINCE LUECKE
Independence Day is behind us and that means another Schweizer Fest is just around the corner.
Mid- to late-summer weeks are a busy time for many of us with vacations, back-to-school preparations and, for many, 4-H fair events. However, Schweizer Fest is the county's largest festival and nearly all of us take part in one way or another.
I have two requests. First, I' d like you to dust off that photo album.
At the June 17 meeting of the Tell City Board of Works and Safety, residents of the 200 and 300 blocks of Ninth Street gathered to ask for help. Speeding has become a major problem in their neighborhood, they said, and a very dangerous problem, especially when there are several children that live on the street and elderly residents as well.
Lee Hamilton, Center for Congress
For those of us who think and write about democracy, few things are more appealing than a book about how to make it work better. My shelves groan with them. They contain a lot of good and helpful ideas for how to make government and civil institutions stronger and more effective.
But over time, I've concluded that as complicated as democracy's workings might be, one thing matters above all else: effective leadership. It might not guarantee results, but without it, nothing much happens.
Vince Luecke, Editor
It's human nature to be curious when big news events occur, whether large fires, drug labs or storms like last week's tornado.
But I don't know why so many people put themselves and others in danger by trying to get first-hand views. There are too many sightseers and police – especially when they just arrive on the scene – don't have time to cordon off the scene or shoo away spectators.
Copyright © 2018
The Perry County News is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Perry County, Indiana, and the surrounding area.


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We spend a lot of time talking about tools that are great at coordinating large numbers of system images. We do not spend a lot of time talking about how we coordinate the disparate groups involved in delivering software to users even though we talk about how crucial that dimension is.
SO, let's put our gearhead sensibilities to tools that theoretically help us do that. Please come prepared to talk about:
– How you track work across different teams
– Are you using the same tool, different but integrated tools, or not so much
– How do you coordinate rhythms between teams
– What do you do to segregate tasks that truly are unique to one team or another.
– How you are planning on making it better
Speaker: group
Date/Time: 2/26/14 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Venue: Bazaarvoice, 3900 N. Capital of TX Hwy., Austin, TX 78746
To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/10677924961.


text:
Refractive Surgery
If you have a refractive error, such as short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia), astigmatism or presbyopia, refractive surgery is…
Advanced Cataract Surgery
In their initial stages cataracts can be treated with stronger prescription glasses and an adjustment in the brightness of lights. However, these are…
Glaucoma cannot be cured. It can be controlled and requires lifelong treatment. Treatment available depends on the nature and severity.
Diabetic Retinopathy
Treatment for diabetic retinopathy depends on the stage of the disease. In early stages other than regular monitoring, treatment may not be required.
General Eye Screening
A detailed eye screening package includes a comprehensive list of tests and clinical examinations (including dilation of the pupil) done by …
Childhood Eye Treatment
Clinical trials by Singapore National Eye Centre and Singapore Eye Research Institute have shown that low-dose (0.01%) atropine is…
Age-related Macular Degeneration
As most patients experience no symptoms or pain during the early stages, regular preventive check-ups and early diagnosis is important. Book…
Coming Soon
Atlas Eye Specialist Centre is a Singapore-based ophthalmology specialist centre.
Coming Soon
Atlas Eye Specialist Centre is a Singapore-based ophthalmology specialist centre.


text:
Just thought I'd give you a note that my local Christian Bookstore, Heritage House (www.heritagehousechristian.Com) in Brockton, MA has given me a release date of November 30th for the Heartbreak & Triumph DVD. Just wanted to let fellow HBK fans in MA know about the date.
WWE has told the creative department that there are no plans for a Ric Flair return. As previously reported, Flair and Vince McMahon had an unsuccessful meeting on 9/20 at Titan Towers to resolve their issues.
According to data released by WWE, this year's Summerslam drew a few thousand PPV buys short of last year's figure, which was 541,000 buys for Summerslam '06.
Have a news tip? Attended an event and want to send a live report?


text:
Warnings issued for thunderstorms moving across New Mexico
Sep. 30, 2017
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities are warning of hail, heavy rain and possible flash flooding from thunderstorms parading across New Mexico.
The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings Saturday afternoon for parts of Rio Arriba County in northern New Mexico and Bernalillo and Sandoval counties in central New Mexico.
The warning areas included Albuquerque and stretches of Interstates 25 and 40.
Forecasters said to expect hail damage to vehicles and wind damage to roofs, siding and trees.
The warnings cited hail up to an inch diameter and wind up to 60 mph.
A flash flood watch covers much of western and central New Mexico from Socorro northward.


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|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|Apr 29, 2008
|Filing date
|Oct 17, 2002
|Priority date
|Jun 21, 2001
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Michael Joseph Magnotta, Derron Keith Newland, Frank Clifford Perkins, III, Joseph DiFonzo
|Original Assignee
|Michael Joseph Magnotta, Derron Keith Newland, Perkins Iii Frank Clifford, Difonzo Joseph
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (47), Referenced by (24), Classifications (38), Legal Events (5)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This is a Continuation Application, which claims the priority of Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 09/886,812 filed on Jun. 21, 2001 now abandoned.
This invention relates to billing systems, and more particularly to a telecommunications billing system for prepaid accounts.
Commercial billing systems comprise postpaid and prepaid solutions. In a postpaid solution, the system will track any financial transactions (billing events), calculate the applicable charges for the billing event, and bill the subscriber for such charges at some future time. Because the subscriber is billed at a future date (thus allowing more time for processing), these systems have traditionally been more complex and more flexible than prepaid solutions.
In a prepaid system, the subscriber will pay a certain amount to the enterprise prior to using the service. Traditionally, prepaid solutions are less sophisticated than postpaid solutions. When a billing event is processed, the system will lock the entire balance of a user's account until the call is completed or torn down. Financial transactions (i.e., billing events), which occur against the account, are tracked in near real-time. At completion or tear down, a transaction is created to debit the Account Balance appropriately. In other words, the balance is updated after the transaction is complete. Therefore, current prepaid solutions do not charge the subscriber until the call is completed. But to be effective, prepaid solutions must update the Account Balance/Available Balance of a subscriber very close to the termination of a call. While this process has been relatively effective, several issues still persist. The enterprise wants to do everything possible to prevent a subscriber from incurring a debit balance. This is a particular issue in the mobile phone industry as more and more prepaid rental/disposable phones are utilized by persons who do not want to pay monthly fees for mobile access or by persons who are not approved for a mobile account because of credit problems.
More sophisticated systems will check the Account Balance before processing the billing event. Then, as the charges are being calculated in near real-time, these systems will compare the current charge to the Account Balance/Available Balance at predetermined intervals. If, during one of these "spot-checks," the current charges exceed the Available Balance, these systems will tear down the billing event. At least two issues still exist with even these sophisticated systems. First, there is a greater chance that the Available Balance will be exceeded with these systems, as it is impractical to check the balance every second of the transaction. Second, as more and more applications are offered over mobile devices (Internet access, e-mail, phone calls, etc.), systems which lock the entire balance for a single event cannot effectively process multiple concurrent transactions.
The vendor wants to do everything possible to prevent a subscriber from incurring a credit balance. Subscribers want to be able to utilize their mobile devices to accomplish more and more functionality. The invention of the present application provides these benefits.
The invention of this application comprises a system and method for determining an account's available funds prior to processing a billing event, reserving discrete amounts of the account's available funds, monitoring the billing event until the reservation amount is depleted and then requesting additional reservation amounts as needed. If the current reservation amount exceeds the account's available funds, the system has the ability to calculate/choose a lower reservation amount or stop a call in progress (mid-call tear down) and prevent a subscriber from exceeding their current balance. The system and method further allows users to simultaneously/concurrently transact multiple billing events (i.e., a subscriber may download a file from the Internet via their mobile device while carrying on a telephone conversation with a business associate). The invention of this application provides the benefits described in the background by providing a method for reservation-based prepaid billing, an architecture for practicing reservation-based prepaid billing, and computer logic coded on a computer-readable medium for implementing reservation-based prepaid billing.
The Method
A computerized method for processing prepaid events comprises determining a reservation amount for an event and determining whether an Available Balance of an account associated with the event is sufficient to allow the processing of the reservation amount. If the Available Balance will allow the processing of the reservation amount, the method includes processing the event and tracking the event against the reservation amount until the event terminates or the reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum. Generally, the Network Element will conduct such tracking. Then, the method includes completing the processing of the event. In general, the Available Balance will not be sufficient to process the reservation amount if the Available Balance is less than the reservation amount determined for the event. Depending on the account involved, however, the method may allow processing so long as the Available Balance is within a certain tolerance of the determined reservation amount or according to alternate criteria.
As the prepaid event is tracked, the reservation amount is depleted as charges accumulate for the event. This ensures that the Account Balance is not overrun by unexpected charges while the event is in process. Even more sophistication is introduced with the ability to request/receive continuations.
As tracking proceeds, if the amount reserved reaches a predetermined minimum, the method includes requesting/receiving and processing an additional reservation amount. The Network Element then tracks the event against the additional reservation amount until the event terminates or the additional reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum. These two steps ("requesting an additional reservation amount" step and the "tracking the event against the additional reservation amount" step) are repeated until the event terminates or until the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to process the additional reservation amount. In general, the predetermined minimum will be the lowest amount which will allow/support the processing of one Unit of Measurement, (i.e., minutes for duration based rating and bytes for volume based rating) for the event. This predetermined minimum, however, may be otherwise defined by the enterprise or by the rating system.
Another advantage of the prepaid reservation-based rating system is that it allows multiple events to be transacted concurrently. Because the entire balance is not reserved (unless necessary) for a given event, the method allows for the processing of additional reservations for additional events. Therefore the computerized method comprises concurrently processing at least one other event.
The method may determine a reservation amount for an event in at least two different ways. First a reservation amount may be defined by the enterprise. The method is triggered by receiving an initiation message, for the event, encoded with the event-type. The method may retrieve the reservation amount from a cache proconfigured according to the enterprise's specifications. Alternatively, the reservation amount for the event may be contemporaneously calculated by the method. Alternative embodiments may code the reservation amount in the initiation message.
Calculating a reservation amount for an event may comprise the following steps. First, the method involves retrieving a set of event parameters (event parameters may optionally include event type, event time, event date, event location, subscriber/account identification, etc. or some combination thereof) from the initiation message or a preconfigured database. Next, the system determines a Unit of Measurement associated with the event type (i.e., bytes). This information may be stored or encoded on the initiation message or a preconfigured database. Next the minimum number of said Unit of Measurement desired to process the event type are passed to the reservation amount. For instance, if the event is a voice-based phone call, the applicable Unit of Measurement would be minutes and the minimum number of such Unit of Measurement may be defined as three (3) minutes. The particular values chosen are related to the business interests of the particular enterprise involved.
A preferred embodiment comprises an additional layer of accuracy by re-rating the entire event for each continuation and termination. When processing the event, the method involves generating an Event Record for the reservation amount determined. With each continuation request, the prior reservation/Event Record is reversed and a new reservation request is generated representing both the already expended value of the prior reservation and the unused value of the additional reservation amount. This way if the rating variables change mid-event and the reservation-based rating of the event is inaccurate, such inaccuracies are corrected by reprocessing the event each time a continuation request is processed.
For instance, one embodiment of the invention comprises a method for processing prepaid events comprising determining a reservation amount for an event and determining whether an Available Balance of an account associated with the event is sufficient to allow the processing of the reservation amount. If the Available Balance will allow the processing of the reservation amount, the method includes processing the event. The processing step further includes the steps of generating an Event Record for the reservation amount. Then the method involves tracking the event against the reservation amount until the event terminates or the reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum. If the prior reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum, an additional reservation amount is requested. If approved, the prior reservation is backed out and a new reservation amount is assigned a value equal to the combined additional reservation amount and the prior reservation amount. A new Event Record for the new reservation amount may then be generated. The event is tracked against the new reservation amount until the event terminates or the new reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum. These steps (reversing step through the repeating step) are repeated until the event terminates or the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to process the additional reservation amount/request. Once the event terminates or the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to process additional reservations, the method involves completing processing of the event.
This method introduces more accuracy because it is possible that the cost generated from actually rating the event may exceed the cost predetermined by the reservation rating. By backing out the prior reservation and generating a new reservation, which includes the elapsed portion of the event and the additional reservation amount, greater accuracy is ensured.
The Apparatus
The invention further comprises an architecture for practicing reservation-based prepaid billing. A system for processing prepaid events comprises a processor programmed to process the reservation request in response to a message from a Network Element, access an account associated with the event, determine a reservation amount, determine whether an Available Balance associated with the account is sufficient to allow processing of the reservation amount and complete processing of the event. If the Available Balance is sufficient to allow the processing of the reservation amount and the event has not been terminated, the processor sends a message to the Network Element from which the request originated indicating whether the event may proceed and, if so, for what reservation amount, (more specifically, whether the requested amount or a reduced amount is approved). The Network Element tracks the event against the reservation amount until the reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum, the Network Element requests additional reservation amounts and tracks the event against the additional reservation amounts until the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to allow processing of the additional reservation amounts. Once the Available Balance is exhausted, the processor completes processing of the event by sending a message refusing additional reservations to the Network Element and the Network Element completes processing of the event.
Another example of a system for processing prepaid events may comprise an intelligent server (Network Element), a Gateway, a router and a processor. The Network Element/intelligent server receives an event, generates a reservation request or an initiation message for the event, and sends the reservation request to a Gateway. The Gateway formats the reservation request (i.e., BIR format), and sends the reservation request to a router. The router sends the reservation request to a processor. The router further monitors the load on the various processors to maximize the efficiency of the system (load balancing scheme). Finally, the processor is programmed to access an account associated with an event; determine a reservation amount; determine whether an Available Balance associated with the account is sufficient to allow processing of the reservation amount and, if the event has not been terminated, process the event. Processing the event includes sending one or more messages regarding such processing to the Network Element via the Gateway. The Network Element tracks the event against the reservation amount until the reservation amount reaches a predetermined minimum, then the Network Element may request additional reservation amounts (which are processed by the processor) and the Network Element tracks the event against the additional reservation amounts until the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to allow processing of the additional reservation amounts. The system completes processing of the event. In the preferred embodiment, the processor should be configured to concurrently process at least one other event.
In a preferred embodiment, all of the elements of the system (Network Element, Gateway, Router, Processor) may be multiplied to scale a given embodiment of the invention to handle a greater number of events/subscribers/activity and thereby produce a more efficient system.
Computer Readable Medium
The invention further includes computer logic coded on a computer-readable medium for implementing prepaid reservation-based billing. Specifically, a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing this method comprises receiving a reservation request, accessing an account associated with an event, determining a reservation amount for the event, determining whether an Available Balance associated with the account is sufficient to allow processing of the reservation amount, and completing processing of the event. Typically, a reservation request will be made according to a particular Unit of Measurement (i.e., bytes or minutes) rather than a monetary value. If the Available Balance is sufficient to allow processing of the reservation amount, the logic sends a message to the network indicating that the event for a specific reservation amount may proceed. The logic may also facilitate additional reservation requests until the Available Balance is no longer sufficient to allow processing of the additional reservation amounts.
The accompanying drawing incorporated in and forming part of the specification illustrates several aspects of the present invention. In the drawings:
For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made in detail to the present exemplary embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawing. Specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended toward such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.
Definition of Terms
This invention addresses the issues, discussed above, with real time prepaid rating including preventing the exceeding of Available Balances and processing concurrent events. To help ensure that activities do not exceed a prepaid subscriber's balance, prepaid systems rate events prior to allowing/processing the event to determine if a sufficient balance is available to pay for the event (balance verification). An exemplary embodiment of the invention uses caching to achieve very high volumes (95% of all calls within 100 milliseconds and 98% of all calls within 150 milliseconds). An exemplary embodiment of the system will also support over 10 million subscribers and facilitate approximately eighteen million call attempts and termination messages per day. The invention, however, may be scaled to service any size subscriber base or activity flow.
In an exemplary embodiment, a portion of an account's balance will be 'reserved' when an event is approved by the system. The Available Balance will be decremented by the reservation amount until the event is complete. Following event completion, the event may be re-rated and the Available Balance will be adjusted based on this final calculation. In an exemplary embodiment, caching is used to support faster response times for the event approval. An exemplary design of the system may use three or more caches: a Guiding Cache, an Account Balance Cache and the Account Reservation Cache. Another embodiment may use a fourth cache called Subscription Cache. The Subscription Cache may store the services and other special information about an account's configuration. In alternative embodiments, one or more of these caches may be combined or eliminated.
Event Records are, preferably, not committed until event completion/termination. Furthermore, an exemplary embodiment provides interface points to support the committing and rolling back of charges (i.e., a dropped call or other reversal of charges) to the Available Balance for the processing of additional reservation requests, credits, and free units.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention also concurrently processes multiple events for the same subscriber account (e.g., a voice call and a MP3 download) by reserving only portions of the entire Available Balance (the entire balance is not reserved for an event except where the entire Available Balance is necessary to achieve an event allowance). This allows subsequent reservations for another event to be concurrently processed.
Referring to
In an exemplary embodiment, the system should be designed to support rating for three types of subscriber accounts: reservation-based prepaid, non-reservation based prepaid (post-call prepaid), and/or post-call. The router (300) sends the request to the appropriate SBMF (350) via a socket connection (5). The SBMF (350) enqueues the request internally. It (350) sends the requests to a processor/rating engine (400) when the processor/rating engine (400) requests another message from SBMF (350) (6). The rating engine (400) reads the request from the SBMF (350), processes it, and sends the response back to a SBMF (600) with the appropriate identifiers so that the response may eventually be delivered to the appropriate Network Element. The message from the Gateway (200) (7) contains the SBMF domain (600) to route the request back to. If sufficient Available Balance exists, the event is processed and the Available Balance is reduced by the reservation amount. The "meter" runs on the reservation amount, at the Network Element, until an event termination or an event continuation message is generated and processed by the system. If subsequent reservations are requested but not available, the event is torn down.
The SBMF (600) enqueues the response internally. It sends the response to the Gateway (200) when the Gateway (200) requests the response (8). The Gateway (200) formats the SSR from the Rating Engine (400) into the Network Element's response format and sends the formatted SSR to the Network Element (100) that originally generated the initiation message (9). Whenever an event is completed or torn down, the Available Balance is updated (10) with any unused portion of the reservation amount.
In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the following system components, processes, and logic interact to produce the benefits of the invention.
Event Setup
In an exemplary embodiment, the system is configured to accept an event setup request or initiation message. Initiation messages may also be received during an event, for example, at the start of the second leg of a three-way call. A switch within the system receives an event. The switch may be associated with another Network Element. Either the switch or the Network Element will uniquely identify the event by incorporating a SessionID (preferably type long) and ElementID (preferably type char) in the event initiation message.
In one exemplary embodiment, the event initiation message may be configured to comprise an indicator of the event type. The event initiation message does not typically include other parameters, such as a reservation scheme (comprising multiple reservation amounts arranged in a preferred order) and/or a reservation direction indicator (indicating a direction—greater or less than—an initial preferred reservation amount may be subsequently modified to achieve a more optimal reservation). The rating engine is pre-provisioned with these parameters based on predetermined criteria (i.e., type of event, Available Balance, et cetera).
The Network Element may send the event initiation message to a Gateway to be formatted into a preferred record format, preferably BIR format. The event may also include event date, event time, event volume, and event duration information.
The Gateway will forward the BIR to a router for further processing. In an exemplary embodiment, the router will access the subscriber's account number via a cache (Guiding Cache) to determine the correct rating process for that account and event combination. The router may use a key (i.e., last two digits of account number) to determine which type of subscriber account is associated with the event so that it can be correctly processed.
Router-Guiding Cache
The Router may be configured to examine the BIRs and route them from the Gateway s to the appropriate rating process by referencing the Guiding Cache. In an exemplary embodiment, this is accomplished by querying a Guiding Cache comprising account numbers and their associated account types and keys (some customer identifier such as e-mail address, phone number, etc.). Additional caches may be configured to comprise other subscriber/account identifying information. In an exemplary embodiment, the query is performed using the event type and a key (such as the customer's e-mail address, phone number, etc.) to get the account number which is then input into the BIR. The query will determine which rating process should be utilized to determine if the system should allow an event. The account type and other subscriber-identifying information may be appended to the BIR prior to further processing. Other identifying fields include Account Number, Subscription Id, Effective Date, Expiration Date, International Mobile Subscriber Identity, Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network, User Id (i.e. for Internet login), and Domain Name (Refers to SBMF Domain Name/Id). When Available Balances are updated for a given account, the routing mechanism will use part of the account number to separate transactions. This will allow the system to scale as more accounts are added and more machines are needed to handle processing because events are routed based on account number.
SBMFs may bridge the Gateway, the Router, and the rating processes. The Router may be configured to receive BIRs from specific SBMFs but transmit messages to any SBMF that interfaces with the system.
Rating Engine
Reservation Based Prepaid Rating Engine Startup
In an exemplary embodiment, one or more rating engine processes connect to a SBMF interface between the Router and the Rating Engine. These processes pull messages from the Router according to their capacity. The Rating Engine will load certain database tables which specify preconfigured enterprise variables relating to specific events or accounts. The Rating Engine will preferably create an object (as used in object-oriented programming) for processing an event (Event Object). Finally, the rating engine will initialize an Account Balance cache and the Account Reservation cache.
Reservation Rating
On event initiation, the event is rated, according to algorithms coded in systems known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The cost of the rating is stored in the Usage Cache and in an Event Record.
The event is not committed or stored in the master database until a termination message is received. Therefore, the rating system must backout the current reservation and rerate the event when either a call continuation or call termination is received. In one possible embodiment the backout may be accomplished through the use of a cookie. A cookie is an object or information, which is stored in memory, for future use. The cookie may comprise information similar to that comprising the Event Record or information that is the negative of the Event Record.
The Rating Engine pulls the originating and terminating parameters for each event and the subscriber's attributes to calculate the maximum event size for the subscriber. The Rating Engine will access the Account Balance Cache and the Reservation Cache to determine the Available Balance (Available Balance may be provided as either a total amount available or only a reservation amount available). Its primary use is to enable the Rating Engine to determine if a reservation request is supported by the Available Balance. The Rating Engine will determine if the incoming event can proceed and for how long. To process the calculation, the Rating Engine will either use the preferred reservation parameters provided by the enterprise in a preconfigured database or it will calculate reservation parameters based on certain attributes of the event including event type, account number, and more. The Rating Engine will also consider factors such as whether any account thresholds have been crossed. If the requested reservation cannot be processed, the Rating Engine will find the maximum allowable/preferable duration, if any, for the Available Balance. If the event is permitted to proceed, the cost will be recorded in the Usage Cache but not committed until event termination.
The Account Balance Cache, in conjunction with the Account Reservation Cache will determine if an event may continue by comparing the balance currently available for this account against the cost of the current event. Once a user attempts an event, a pre-defined or calculated event cost will be rated. This cost is compared to the Available Balance. If the cost is greater than the Available Balance then the system will determine if the reservation request can be scaled down to allow for a lower cost that can be covered by the Available Balance. If it is determined there is sufficient balance to allow the event to be placed (Balance−Reservation Amount>=0), the cost of the event will be added to the reservation amount field in the Account Balance cache and a record will be created in the Reservation cache whose fields include the cost of the event (in the reservation amount field) along with a unique transaction id for the event.
Once an event completion record is received, the complete Event Record will be rerated. This final cost will be subtracted from the original reservation to determine if some of the reservation must be returned to the Available Balance in the Reservation Cache. The Account Balance and the Usage Cache will be updated accordingly. The Reservation Cache will contain a list of Event Record entries. The SessionID of the event and ElementID will uniquely identify each Event Record for purposes of adjustment and rollback/backout on receipt of a termination message or if the event aborts. This Reservation Cache is also used to store attributes of in-progress events. An in-progress event is defined as one that has not received a termination message. Event Records stored in the Reservation Cache may include the account number (type long) for the event charges; reservation amount (type double)—balance currently reserved for a given event; Reservation Quantity (long)—the total Units of Measurement/duration reserved for the event; the starting reservation quantity (long); type of rating Units of Measurement (char); prepaid subscription ID; event creation date/time; last updated date/time—this may be used for error recovery, i.e., to determine if an event has been outstanding too long without a termination event; and any additional parameters that may be necessary to permit a rollback of the pseudo record.
Once the Rating Engine completes an initial rating of the event, it sends the Gateway a message (SSR) that either approves or denies the event. The Gateway conditions the message (SSR) into a format that can be read by the Network Element. Using various identifying factors, the Gateway sends the message (SSR) to the originating Network Element.
Rating of Request
An architecture that uses a 32 bit address space should preferably reserve 2.5 GB of address space for storage of data for all caches which will be accessed by a given process. There exists the capability to partition the Guiding Cache as needed to efficiently support any number of Accounts. The Rating Engine will access the Account Balance Cache, the Reservation Cache, the Usage Cache, therefore, the combined size of the caches should preferably not exceed the preferred reserved address space. This exemplary embodiment assumes that no more than 20% of subscribers will have events concurrently in progress on average.
In an exemplary embodiment, the system will comprise computer executable instructions to initiate a reservation based prepaid event. The computer executable instructions may exist on any kind of computer memory including floppy disks, hard disks, CD-ROMS, Flash ROMS, nonvolatile ROM, RAM and equivalents thereof. One exemplary embodiment includes the following logic:
Further Processing
The Rating Engine will preferably support at least three message types: Initiation Messages; Continuation Messages (Reservation-based approach); and Termination Messages. Event Initiation, Continuation and Termination messages all preferably comprise the following information:
The SBMF domain to route the request back to. This is the SBMF domain that originally received the request from the Gateway.
Header record from the Gateway. The header record may comprise the following information: Event Type, Account Number, Subscription Id, Effective Date, Expiration Date, International Mobile Subscriber Identity, Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network, User Id (i.e. for Internet login), and Domain Name (Refers to SBMF Domain Name/Id).
The unique id of the event based on SessionID of the event and ElementID.
Gateway sequence number
Gateway date and time
BIR Record comprises information used for rating. Each BIR Record could be different depending on the event that is being rated. The Rating Engine uses the following information from the BIR record (This is not a complete list):
Account number, subscription id, event code (used to determine the reservation amount and reservation units), Network Element Reservation request amount and units (minutes, bytes, etc.). If not supplied, the Rating Engine will determine this information and send it back in the Response record. These values are typically not used for Termination messages.
If the prepaid subscriber has a price plan that supports free minutes, the billing system will take into account these free minutes while calculating the Available Balance for the subscriber.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention accepts continuation requests (i.e. subsequent reservations). The continuation request triggers new event record comprising the current duration and a new reservation amount. The rating engine backs out the previous reservation and then rates the new event record. Rating of the continuation request mimics the rating of an initial reservation as described above. The rating engine then updates the Available Balance. Event continuation and event termination scenarios may require a rollback of the rating residual contained in various data structures and caches. An application programming interface may be designed by one of ordinary skill in the art to accomplish this functionality.
In an exemplary embodiment, the system will comprise computer executable instructions to process a continuation request for a reservation based prepaid event. One exemplary embodiment includes the following logic:
An exemplary embodiment of the invention will also notify the Network Element to trigger a Whisper Message to the subscriber/subscriber prior to event setup to indicate how much balance is available to complete the event. This may be accomplished by setting certain flags in the SSR which indicate the type of balance limit (type varchar) that is imposed by a threshold (credit imposed balance limit, prepaid billing limit, and courtesy balance alerts); threshold identifications (type varchar) (indicating which threshold has been crossed and how the system should react such as SMS initiation, whisper message, and account hotlines); threshold percentage/amount deviation (type number or varchar) permitted before a restriction limit crosses its threshold; threshold calculation indicators (type varchar) which indicate the type of calculation to perform on a restriction limit to determine the threshold (whether it is a fixed dollar or percentage based threshold); and threshold accuracy indicator, which indicates how accurate the balance must be before a threshold action is performed so that an account does not receive erroneous processing.
Concurrent Events
An exemplary embodiment of the invention permits the initiation of a concurrent event. Because only a portion of the Available Balance is reserved for an event, additional reservations may be processed for concurrent, different events. This will also support multi-user accounts where more than one subscriber is initiating events at the same time.
Event Termination
Whenever an event is completed or torn down, the billing system will preferably receive a Service Completion Record from the Network Element. This signals the billing system that the event is complete and that the Available Balance and various caches may be updated and committed.
The billing system will provide the ability to accept the event completion record. On call termination, the backout cookie for the prior call initiation or call continuation is provided along with an event record with the full duration of the event from the event initiation (the Network Element preferably provides the end date and time of the event on termination messages). The system will receive event termination messages from the Network Element for all events initiated by the Network Element. This includes dropped calls and busy calls (subscriber dials number, Network Element verifies balance, called number is busy). The system will receive an event termination message at the end of the second leg of a three-way call. If an event termination is never received, then the appropriate caches are released and the event is not billed according to techniques known in the art.
Once the Service Termination message is received for the event, the complete event is rerated. On completion of rating this event the event record is submitted for storage along with updates to the various balance tables and summary records including Available Balance.
Although postpaid systems may process records in a batch, prepaid records are preferably processed as soon as they are acquired. In an exemplary embodiment, a record is written in a flat file immediately after it has been processed. Then a BLOB creator reads the record, categorizes it by partition, creates a BLOB file and dispatches the record for further downstream processing according to methods that are commercially available and known in the art.
A special case occurs when an event is canceled. If an event is canceled (where a reservation is requested but the event never starts, i.e., if a subscriber dials a wrong number, receives a busy signal, or some other error occurs), the event may be rated as an event of zero duration.
In an exemplary embodiment, the system will comprise computer executable instructions to process a termination request for a reservation based prepaid event. One exemplary embodiment includes the following logic:
Modifications may be made in the exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|Jun 3, 1977
|Oct 24, 1978
|Utility Verification Corp.
|Telephone call metering device
|Nov 28, 1978
|Mar 11, 1980
|Cselt-Centro Studi e Laboratori Telecomunicazioni S.p.A
|Pay-telephone station with deferred collection
|Jun 30, 1978
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|Telease, Inc.
|Method and system for subscription television billing and access
|Feb 1, 1984
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|Method and system for subscription television billing and access
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|Sloan Joseph W
|Prepayment metering system using encoded purchase cards
|Mar 27, 1987
|Jun 14, 1988
|Treat John M
|Telephone call monitoring, metering and selection device
|Dec 19, 1990
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|At&T Bell Laboratories
|Method and apparatus for the billing of value-added communications calls
|Aug 25, 1992
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|Cellular Technical Services Company, Inc.
|Cellular telephone system with remote programming, voice responsive registration and real time billing
|Sep 21, 1994
|May 14, 1996
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|Real time information system for cellular telephones
|Aug 30, 1994
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|Call center management system
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|Telemac Cellular Corporation
|Mobile phone with internal accounting
|Jun 2, 1995
|Dec 17, 1996
|Linkusa Corporation
|Call-processing system and method
|Oct 15, 1993
|Dec 31, 1996
|Link Usa Corporation
|Call-processing system and method
|Jun 6, 1995
|May 27, 1997
|Linkusa Corporation
|Real-time billing system for a call processing system
|May 16, 1996
|Jul 29, 1997
|Automated interactive bill payment system
|Mar 31, 1995
|Nov 25, 1997
|Cellular Development Systems
|On demand real time telephone billing equipment
|Jan 22, 1997
|Feb 3, 1998
|Automated interactive bill payment system using debit cards
|Dec 23, 1994
|Feb 24, 1998
|Freedom Wireless, Inc.
|Security cellular telecommunications system
|Feb 2, 1996
|Jul 21, 1998
|Telefonaktiebologet Lm Ericsson (Publ)
|System and method for real-time billing in a radio telecommunications network
|Nov 1, 1996
|Oct 6, 1998
|Ericsson, Inc.
|Recyclable cellular telephone and method and apparatus for supporting the use of a recyclable cellular telephone within a cellular telephone network
|Oct 24, 1995
|Oct 27, 1998
|Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson
|Communications service billing based on bandwidth use
|Nov 15, 1995
|Dec 29, 1998
|Freedom Wireless, Inc.
|Prepaid security cellular telecommunications system
|Aug 27, 1996
|Feb 2, 1999
|Linkusa Corporation
|Real-time billing system for a call processing system
|Oct 7, 1997
|Feb 9, 1999
|Telepay, Inc.
|Automated interactive bill payment system using debit cards
|Jan 4, 1996
|May 11, 1999
|Smarttalk Teleservices, Inc.
|Method and apparatus for prepaid phone card activation and billing
|May 23, 1997
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|Mci Communications Corporation
|Method and system for toll charge and rate inquiry service for portable numbers
|Nov 21, 1997
|Jul 27, 1999
|Lucent Technologies Inc.
|Toll call rate provider
|Mar 25, 1997
|Sep 28, 1999
|Northern Telecom Limited
|Pay as you communicate call center
|Jun 4, 1997
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|International Business Machines Corporation
|Method for part procurement in a production system with constrained resources
|Aug 30, 1996
|Nov 16, 1999
|British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
|Charging for usage of a telecommunications network
|Oct 21, 1997
|Nov 23, 1999
|At&T Corp.
|Universal telecommunications services account
|Oct 2, 1997
|Nov 23, 1999
|Samsung Telecommunications America
|Method for integrated billing in an integrated wireline-wireless system
|Oct 29, 1997
|Dec 28, 1999
|Lucent Technologies Inc.
|Method for accommodating multiple calling cards during a single call in a telecommunications network
|Aug 20, 1996
|Jan 18, 2000
|Link Usa Corporation
|Call-processing system and method
|Nov 26, 1997
|Feb 8, 2000
|International Business Machines Corporation
|Real time billing via the internet for advanced intelligent network services
|Jul 21, 1997
|Feb 22, 2000
|National Telemanagement Corporation
|Prepay telecommunications system with unregistered roaming call processing
|Jan 7, 1998
|Mar 7, 2000
|National Telemanagement Corporation
|System and method for a prepaid bundled telecommunications account
|Feb 4, 1997
|May 2, 2000
|National Telemanagement Corporation
|Prepay telecommunications system
|May 23, 1997
|Jul 11, 2000
|Mci Communications Corporation
|Method and system for providing immediate audio or data response billing information to a user
|Oct 10, 1997
|Jul 18, 2000
|Cellular Development System
|On demand real time telephone billing equipment
|Jan 20, 1998
|Dec 5, 2000
|Freedom Wireless, Inc.
|Security cellular telecommunications system
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|Freedom Wireless, Inc.
|Prepaid security cellular telecommunications system
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|Nortel Networks Limited
|Method and system for dynamically updating rate center information
|Jun 16, 1999
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|Ronald J. Menelli
|System and method for providing expense reports to wireless service subscribers
|Feb 27, 1997
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|Real-Time Billing, Inc.
|Real time subscriber billing system and method
|May 21, 2001
|Sep 13, 2001
|Freedom Wireless, Inc., A Nevada Corporation
|Prepaid security cellular telecommunications system
|May 14, 2001
|Aug 8, 2002
|Bekkevold Jesper Edelbo
|Controlling setup or continuation of a call charged from a pre-paid group account
|Citing Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|May 25, 2005
|Aug 24, 2010
|Oracle International Corporation
|Personalization and recommendations of aggregated data not owned by the aggregator
|May 25, 2005
|Mar 29, 2011
|Oracle International Corporation
|Techniques for analyzing commands during streaming media to confirm delivery
|Oct 30, 2007
|Sep 27, 2011
|United Services Automobile Association
|Systems and methods to deliver information to a member
|Jul 3, 2003
|Dec 20, 2011
|Nokia Corporation
|Communication system
|Apr 20, 2006
|Sep 4, 2012
|Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
|Network billing
|Sep 26, 2011
|Oct 23, 2012
|United Services Automobile Association (Usaa)
|Systems and methods to deliver information to a member
|May 25, 2005
|Jan 29, 2013
|Oracle International Corporation
|Platform and service for management and multi-channel delivery of multi-types of contents
|Jun 26, 2006
|Oct 15, 2013
|Oracle International Corporation
|Techniques for correlation of charges in multiple layers for content and service delivery
|Jul 22, 2008
|Oct 22, 2013
|Bridgewater Systems Corp.
|System and method for usage analyzer of subscriber access to communications network
|Oct 9, 2003
|Nov 5, 2013
|Convergys Information Management Group, Inc.
|System and method for revenue and authorization management
|Oct 23, 2012
|Jun 24, 2014
|United Services Automobile Association
|Systems and methods to deliver information to a member
|Dec 10, 2010
|Aug 19, 2014
|Johnson Controls Technology Company
|Battery backup systems and methods for vehicle phone systems
|Aug 15, 2014
|Feb 23, 2016
|Arvind Gidwani
|Demand based encryption and key generation and distribution systems and methods
|Jun 23, 2014
|Jul 5, 2016
|United Services Automobile Association
|Systems and methods to deliver information to a member
|Apr 2, 2014
|Aug 30, 2016
|Amdocs Software Systems Limited
|System, method, and computer program for rerating customer events in parallel with executing one or more open sessions in a consumer telecommunication network
|Jul 3, 2003
|Jul 29, 2004
|Elena Lialiamou
|Communication system
|Oct 9, 2003
|Aug 5, 2004
|Convergys Information Management Group, Inc.
|System and method for revenue and authorization management
|Apr 20, 2006
|Nov 16, 2006
|Mark Syrett
|Network billing
|May 25, 2005
|Nov 30, 2006
|Oracle International Corporation
|Techniques for analyzing commands during streaming media to confirm delivery
|May 25, 2005
|Nov 30, 2006
|Oracle International Corporation
|Platform and service for management and multi-channel delivery of multi-types of contents
|Jul 22, 2008
|Jan 28, 2010
|Bridgewater Systems Corp.
|System and Method for Usage Analyzer of Subscriber Access to Communications Network
|Aug 12, 2010
|Dec 22, 2011
|Infosys Technologies Limited
|Method and system facilitating an end-to-end solution for one or more service offerings
|Dec 10, 2010
|Jun 14, 2012
|Johnson Controls Technology Company
|Battery backup systems and methods for vehicle phone systems
|Jun 2, 2014
|Dec 9, 2015
|Alcatel Lucent
|Multiple validity time management
|U.S. Classification
|455/406, 725/7, 379/111, 379/112.01, 725/6, 725/5, 379/114.01, 379/117, 455/405, 725/2, 455/407, 725/1, 725/4, 725/3, 379/91.01, 455/408, 379/115.01, 379/116
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|Oct 31, 2011
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4
|Apr 23, 2012
Owner name: CONVERGYS CMG UTAH, UTAH
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|Apr 26, 2012
Owner name: CONVERGYS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC., OHIO
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:CONVERGYS CMG UTAH, INC.;REEL/FRAME:028110/0237
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|Mar 27, 2014
Owner name: NETCRACKER TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INC., OHIO
Free format text: CHANGE OF NAME;ASSIGNOR:CONVERGYS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT GROUP INC.;REEL/FRAME:032538/0017
Effective date: 20120716
|Oct 14, 2015
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 8


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These cute party animals can't wait to celebrate with you! This collection of 29 clear stamps features a deer, a bear, a fox, and lots of party accessories and sentiments to match.
This stamp set coordinates perfectly with Party Animal Lawn Cuts custom craft dies.
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[Cake] 3/8"W x 7/16"H
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Made with care in the USA!


text:
- Home
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- Contact Us
Mark your calendars now for Saturday, April 7, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. when the Wetlands Discovery Center will present the Good Earth Market on the grounds of our future home located at 112 Library Drive, Houma, LA 70360 next to the Courtyard Marriott. This event is a celebration for garden enthusiasts with booth spaces available to vendors from all aspects of the gardening industry.
The Good Earth Market will include educational programs and demonstrations, fruit and vegetable vendors, plant sales, garden related merchandise, and market vendors.
We invite you to consider becoming a part of this event. Good Earth Market Vendor Application 2018. Booth space is limited, so please apply today. Applications will be accepted from now until all spaces are filled, but a late fee will be charged after March 6, 2018. If you have any questions, please contact us at 985-580-7289 or email your questions to email@example.com.


text:
Like THE WAY, WAY BACK, the film distributor of BLUE JASMINE is using a platform releasing pattern for Woody Allen's latest written and directed movie..
BLUE JASMINE opened in just a handful of major market movieplexes a month ago where it scored one of the biggest per screen averages for an independent movie this year.
Sony Classic Pictures then added additional markets and screens each subsequent week where the so-called per screen averages continued to perform extremely well.
And this weekend Woody's annual cinematic contribution opens in the Kansas City market, but just on a handful of screens.
Translation: In limited runs here as well.
I know for a fact that a lot of people—especially here in flyover land—don't really care much about seeing Woody on the screen. And maybe would prefer not to. So let me set your minds at ease, Allen's not IN it. He just wrote the screenplay and directed it.
Kinda like what he did with MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
So what is BLUE JASMINE all about and what can you expect?
For one you'll witness a (probable) sure bet Oscar nomination performance by Cate Blanchett for her riveting portrayal of Jasmine, a egocentric New York socialite married to high finance genius Alec Baldwin.
The problem being—he's a crook.
When Baldwin's house of cards collapses and the government takes everything that's left, our well-heeled Manhattan princess finds herself completely down and out. Yet unwilling to accept reality.
Think Ruth Madoff after Bernie dropped the bomb
Now what? Her only possible option is to head west to San Francisco and move in with her sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins) whose lifestyle is the complete opposite to everything Jasmine had been used to.
Making matters worse, Ginger has two noisy kids in her apartment, not to mention her blue-collar ex-husband Augie, played to perfection by Andrew Dice Clay.
Can Jasmine reinvent herself?
Maybe, but not until coming to terms with the here and now. And not until she lays off the Xanax and vodka she's relying on to cope.
All while flirting on the edge of a total nervous breakdown.
I guess you could call it a comedic drama. Or better, a tragedy presented in a series of flashbacks to the good old days and told to perfection in 98 neurotic minutes of frazzled screen time.
Also on board for this psychological road trip are Bobby Cannavale, Louis C.K. and Peter Sarsgaard as Jasmine's new, widowed man in her life. But for how long?
Yet when all is said and done it's Cate Blanchett's brilliant performance that this film is all about. I highly recommend it.
BLUE JASMINE scoring a delusional B+ grade.
(Reviewed at Glenwood Arts Theatre)
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES every Friday morning at 6:40 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. on NewsRadio KMBZ


text:
Telescopic Belt Conveyor Principles
Caljan Telescopic Belt Conveyors make short work of unloading loose-loaded cargo. Whatever your goods are moved in - vans, 40 ft containers or anything in between - you can find a Caljan Telescopic Belt Conveyor that matches your needs.
Installed close to the dock door, a number of steel sections are built one inside the other and stored in a base section. This means that the conveyor doesn't occupy a great deal of space, when not in use.
When the vehicle to be unloaded (van, truck, trailer, container etc) pulls up to the door, the operator extends the telescopic belt conveyor to the required length, extending a little more as the vehicle empties out, so that the cargo (sacks, boxes, tyres etc.) can be placed on the conveyor belt by the operator using very little effort. All items are transported by the belt along the telescopic conveyor to another conveyor in a system, or the items are off-loaded to a pallet.
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If the telescopic conveyor is equipped with hydraulic movement, the operator can raise or lower it, ensuring that the goods are moved at a comfortable & ergonomic height. Functions such as articulating belt or operator platform enable the operator to move even cumbersome items, e.g. tyres with little effort.


text:
Hi! I am a software consultant and a freelance writer, with a keen interest in writing, blogging and helping people shed inhibitions, fears and facing life head on. Super mom to a 9-yr old boy, a homemaker and wife among others, are a few of the numerous roles I play everyday.
Life Studio aims to be an all encompassing lifestyle e-magazine for life savvy women, with information on Parenting and Kids, Home Improvement, Health and Beauty, Recipes, Interior Design and more…
We have just one life. Make the most of it.


text:
There has been a lot of speculation about Bipasha Basu not promoting her upcoming film Humshakals. While Sajid had maintained silence on the entire matter, stating that Bipasha would join in later. But the actress did not take part in the promotions at all. This raised a lot of questions, to which we finally have the answer.
while the entire cast are marketing the movie with great gusto, Bipasha's absence does n't seem to be affecting them at all. Director Sajid Khan tried to clam down media by saying that she is unwell but it didn't took him much time to change his statement which says, "the reason for not joining us is best known to her but we're okay with that".
Guess, Bipasha got too miffed with his statement and that's why she took to twitter to state her version of the fight. Bipasha wrote, "This is 2 put an end to all d discussions around my absence for Humshakals promotions. I take full responsibility of getting into this film only on the basis of trust, but after dubbing for my character in the film, as am professionally committed to do so ,I am ...extremely disturbed by the end result of the same. In these circumstances I honestly did not know how to promote the film and that's why I thought it was better to stay away."
Whatever be the reason, the actress without blaming any individual person has wished the team all the best. "I am confident that the film will be true to it's genre and will be a full entertainer..... Bcoz of the ppl involved.I wish fox star studios with whom I had the biggest hit Raaz3 and Vashu Bhagnani who is a wonderful producer ...all the best. Wish all my costars Saif @Riteishd Tammanna Esha Ram Kapoor and the technicians all the best too. Sometimes certain journeys cant be completed n this is one of them- no 1 to be blamed, combination of things that made me disrupt my journey", tweeted Bips.
Let's check out the reason for her tiff with Sajid Khan and the controversies she has got her self into...
Reason One
Bipasha Basu broke her silence on the issue and said she was not satisfied with the end result and hence has decided to stay away from the movie.
Reason Three
The actress not only accepted a higher pay than Esha and Tammanah but a meatier role as well. She was also said to be promised an exclusive promo along with Saif Ali Khan.
Reason Four
Two hours later, expressing her upset mood the actress quoted, "Movies are our life. They are made by efforts of lots of people! I can never be against a film! As an actor ur role can disappoint u at times."
Reason Five
The actress's sequences have been cropped down to minimum in comparison to her junior co-artists namely Tamannaha and Esha Gupta.


text:
Robert Horry was UNBELIEVABLE last night!. In a good game punctuated by the freakish inconsistancy of Tim Duncan's free throw shooting and Tony Parker's inability to take care of the ball for San Antonio, Robert Horry added the final exclamation point with yet another clutch three (5 of 6 for the night!) to steal game 5. Not to mention that he did it after tweaking his left shoulder on a monstrous weak hand dunk over Rip Hamilton just a few minutes before. Good thing he shoots his threes right handed.
Monthly Archives: June 2005
Getting Back To VIM
I spent some time increasing my vim (vi improved) knowledge today since Ubuntu doesn't come with a gui-based editor (like KDE's kate) installed by default (and like weblogging software I'm always curious to try something different). I first used the venerable vi editor something like 14 years ago in an introductory Computer Science class, but I didn't really appreciate its arrow key independance at the time. Now I wish all text editors gave you a way to move around quickly without taking your fingers off the home row. It definitely bugs me when I have to shift my right hand down to the arrow keys on my Powerbook.
Vim has some pretty nice built-in functionality, but you have to work a little bit to expose it and it definitely requires effort to get the hang of it (for a nice basic tutorial try
vimtutor from the command line). On MacOS X and Ubuntu it's basically configured in vi compatibility mode out of the box with most of the cool things like syntax highlighting turned off. It took me a while to figure out the easiest way to activate things, but it ended up being fairly simple:
mv /usr/share/vim/vim62/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc will copy a basic vim configuration file into your home folder that will activate vim's cool improvements the next time you launch it.
Of course once I had syntax highlighting, auto indenting and other cool things working in vim, I immediately became irritated by the default tab spacing. Eight spaces per tab is simply too much text real estate for me, three or four is a lot more reasonable and pleasing to my eye. I turned to vim's ample built-in help and eventually came upon a solution I was happy with, but it took me much longer than I would have preferred. Many programmers prefer their tabs to actually be written as a certain number of spaces so that code formatting remains constant across editing environments and vim has a couple different tab space settings to support this. For simplicity's sake I prefer my tabs to be tabs and my spaces to be spaces and after quite a bit of searching I determined that required adding three more lines to the end of my
.vimrc file:
set shiftwidth=3
set tabstop=3
set noexpandtab
Much nicer. With mytab issues conquered, I'm still trying to find a vim syntax coloring setup that I'm completely happy with, but I'll save that for a later post. Stay tuned.
Ubuntu-ized iMac
I decided to put Ubuntu PPC through its paces today at work on a first generation rev. B iMac with 288MB ram and a 266Mhz G3 processor. Unsurprisingly it runs quite well and comes with a lot of useful apps installed out of the box. I was impressed with Gnome's built in terminal server client; connecting to a variety of campus terminal servers was quite painless and very responsive. In some ways I find myself liking Gnome more than KDE, but I can't really give a definitive reason why at this point.