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THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web
I had discussed SQL Server parallelism in Oct 2010, with my thoughts on the
best settings for: Cost Threshold for Parallelism (CTP) and Max Degrees of Parallelism (MAXDOP) in
Parallelism Strategy and Comments.
At the time, I had intended to follow up with detailed measurements.
So now a mere 2 years later, here it is.
The general thought was that CTP should be raised from the default value of 5,
and MAXDOP should be changed from unrestricted, on modern systems with very many cores,
and most especially on systems with Hyper-Threading.
However reasonable each persons ideas/suggestions are, nothing is better than hard data.
The interest is in the smaller queries that can have a parallel execution plan.
With the default Cost Threshold of Parallelism setting,
we are trying to find queries with the lowest plan cost and lowest actual cost (which point to different queries)
that have a parallel execution plan.
(I will details on index seek later).
The test system is now a 2-socket Intel Xeon 5670 six-core 2.93GHz (32nm Westmere-EP) with Hyper-Threading enabled
(a total of 24 logical processors).
Some references are made to test results on an earlier system
with 2 x Xeon E5430 quad-core 2.66GHz (45nm Core 2) without Hyper-Threading.
The test data is built using the TPC-H data generator, initially employing derivatives of the Part table.
At scale factor 10, the Part table is 2M rows, about 285MB, 55 rows per page or 149 bytes per row.
The derived tables have 2 additional 4-byte integer columns, size 301MB, 52 rows per page or 157 bytes per row.
The smallest hash join on the modified Part table that results in a parallel execution plan occurs at around 100,000 rows.
Lets first examine the non-parallel plan.
The three major components of this plan are the outer and inner source index seeks, and the hash match.
The Stream Aggregate is small to the major components.
The IO cost of a 1.42 corresponds roughly to a range scan/seek of 15MB (IO cost 1 is 10.5MB).
The actual logical IO is 1931, very close to the values of (1.42446 - 0.003125) * 1350,
and includes a few upper level index LIOs.
Below are the Hash Match and Stream Aggregate details.
Note that the Hash Match has the largest cost of all operations in this execution plan,
and the entire cost is in the CPU element.
The 2 index seeks operations have their cost mostly in the IO element, with only 7.1% in the CPU.
Below is the parallel Hash Join execution plan at DOP 2.
The Outer and Inner Source index seeks have identical costs so only the first is shown.
As covered in Cost Based Optimizer Parallelism I
the CPU cost is reduced by the degree of parallelism,
but the IO cost does not change, which I call a saturated IO model.
The Hash Match details above and the Stream Aggregate details below at DOP 2.
Both operations have cost reduced by the degree of parallelism as both elements
have their costs entirely in the CPU portion.
The Parallelism operation, as its name implies, only occurs in parallel execution plans
adding cost 0.0285.
The cost structure of this operation is proportional to the number of rows,
which implies that high row count queries are less likely to have a parallel execution plan
as the cost of reconstituting threads may outweigh the formula benefit of parallel operations.
The second test query is a loop join.
A parallel execution plan occurs at around 8000 rows for high degrees of parallelism.
At DOP 2, this occurs around 10000 rows, which will be used for test purposes.
The non-parallel loop join plan is shown below.
The outer and inner source operation details are shown below.
Note the inner source subtree cost of 29.0264, based on number of executions 10000.
The CPU component should be 10000 * 0.0001581 = 1.581.
Then the IO component is 29.0264 - 1.581 = 27.4454,
which is approximately equal to 8782 * 0.003125.
This is an estimate of the number of physical IO for 10000 executes.
The assumption is that some of the pages would have been previously loaded into memory
during the execution of this query, but not yet evicted.
There are 38465 leaf level pages in both tables.
The alternate plan for this query is a hash join with a scan on the inner source table.
In this plan, the table scan would have IO component 28.5, CPU 2.2
and the hash match would contribute another 9.
So it would take another 35% more rows before the loop join plan would naturally
shift to a hash join at DOP 1. At higher DOP, the hash join cost is reduced proportionate to DOP.
The Nested Loops and Stream Aggregate details are shown below.
The Nested Loops is only 0.14% of the overall plan cost, and the Stream Aggregate even less.
Below is the parallel loop join query plan at DOP 2.
The parallel outer and inner details are below. Note the very minor reduction
in outer source CPU from 0.155756 to 0.150178.
There is no change in the inner source operation, not even the element attributed to CPU.
The Nested Loops and Parallelism details are below.
In the parallel plan, there is a CPU reduction of 0.005 from the outer source,
0.0209 from the Nest Loops, and 0.003 from the Stream Aggregate,
to just ever so slightly overcome the Parallelism cost of 0.0285.
The total plan cost for the non-parallel loop join is 29.23 and the parallel plan cost is 29.229.
If this model was even remotely accurate, we should ask why bother to switch to a parallel plan
for such a minute gain.
It turns out that the SQL Server parallel execution plan cost estimate is nothing close to the true
cost structure, which raises a completely different set of questions,
starting with: how can SQL Server be expected to generate good parallel (or not) execution plans
if the cost model is completely different than the true cost structure?
Below is the hash join performance in rows per sec (left vertical scale),
and (worker or CPU) cost in micro-sec per row (right vertical scale), both versus degree of parallelism.
Hash Join 100K rows versus Degree of Parallelism
At DOP 1, the performance is just over 1M rows/sec, scaling well to DOP 4,
levels off for DOP 6-12 at just over 4M rows/s, then jumps again at DOP 14.
The peak gain from parallelism is 6.646 speed up at DOP 20 over DOP 1.
The cost is just under 1 us per row at DOP 1, rising as high as 2.6 us per row at high
DOP, more so if HT is involved?
At DOP 1, the query execution time for 100K rows is 95ms.
It appears that at DOP 2 and 4, the individual threads are running on logical processors
in different physical cores, hence the excellent scaling.
At DOP 6-12, some of the logical cores are on the same phyical cores.
Hyper-threading does improve performance to a moderate degree in SQL Server
depending on the operation.
(I worked on a custom b-tree search engine with no locking protection.
The scaling was essentially linear regardless of physical or logical cores from 1 to 24 threads.
This may seem fantastic, but it does make sense because a b-tree search is just serialized memory accesses.
Fetch a memory location, which determine the next memory location to fetch.
The first memory access must be complete before the next can be issued. The core clock rate for 3.3GHz is 0.3ns. Memory access latency is 50ns for local node, 100ns for 1 hop remote node, corresponding to 150 and 300 CPU-cycles respectively.)
If this assessment is correct, then it would suggest the proper strategy for the SQL Server
engine in parallel execution plans is to allocate 1 worker thread from a logical processor
on each physical core, perhaps allocating from the cores on the same socket before
proceeding to the next socket.
Only if the desired degree of parallelism is greater than number of cores should two logical
processor be allocated from any single physical core, and this should only occur in
unusual circumstances.
The next level of sophistication would be to match thread assign with memory alignment, so that the majority of memory accesses are to the local node. This might require partitioned tables (with hash key partitioning?).
This effort would be hugely complicated, and only applicable to special circumstances,
but a true fanatic would not be deterred.
Below is the performance and cost structure for a hash join on the full table of 300MB and 2M rows.
The cost per row is higher 1.495 us per row at DOP 1, rising to 3us at high DOP.
However scaling is better with a peak speedup over DOP 1 of 11.35 and the peak rows per sec
is also higher than the previous query.
Hash Join - 2M rows versus Degree of Parallelism
I am not sure why the cost per row in this query is higher for the full table over the limited range of 100K rows.
There was no tempdb activity in either case.
One speculation is that the hash join intermediate results remain L3 cache (15M), and results in lower access
time than off-die memory accesses.
A test with small and large merge joins, also exhibits the same behavior.
Is it possible this is due to local and remote node memory locations?
Life is not simple on NUMA systems with HT.
Just to be sure, the same full table scan query was tested on a 3GB 20M row table, as shown below.
The DOP 1 cost and performance was about the same, slightly lower actually at 1.376 us per row.
The scaling was better with peak speedup at 14.95 and peak performance at nearly 11M rows/sec.
Hash Join - 20M rows versus Degree of Parallelism
Both full table hash joins (300MB and 3GB) demonstrate that parallel execution plan scaling
is better for larger queries.
Below is the Loop Join performance in rows per sec and cost in usec per row
for a query of 10000 rows on the 300MB tables.
Notice that performance peaks at DOP 6 and degrades at higher DOP.
The peak speedup over DOP 1 was 4.4.
Loop Join - 10K rows versus Degree of Parallelism
The cost at DOP 1 is 1.827 usec per row.
For 10000 rows, the execution time is a mere 1.8 ms (correction) 18ms.
That this query benefit from parallel execution at all is amazing.
Of course it also raises the serious question as
why SQL Server should go to the effort of a parallel execution plan
for a query that runs in 1.8ms 18ms.
This is due to the antiquated IO based cost model and the default CTP setting of 5.
Based on the 100K row hash join hash with plan cost just over 5 and actual query time of 95ms,
we might consider Cost Threshold for Parallelism around 25,
making the theshold at around 0.5 sec.
However, based on the 10K rows loop join with plan cost 29 and actual query time of 1.8ms,
CTP of 25 would point to a 50K rows loop join with actual execution tim 10ms. (OK, it was late)
However the 10K row loop join at plan cost 29 runs in 1.8ms!
The disparity between Loop and Hash join model and actual cost does allow a good strategy
for the Cost Threshold for Parallelism setting without a complete overhaul of the SQL Server
cost model. And this is not something the SQL Server team seems to be will to tackle.
Another possiblilty is for the Cost Threshold for Parallelism setting to only
consider the CPU element of the plan cost.
Too bad we do not have access to source code to investigate this.
The outer and inner source tables were populated
and indexed in a manner such that for this loop join, each row from the outer source joins to a row
in a different page of the inner source table.
When the rows join to consecutive rows in the inner source table,
the cost per row is even lower at 1.33 usec per row.
Below is the Loop Join performance and cost for 100K rows on the 3GB tables.
Performance continues to increase for higher DOP.
The peak speedup over DOP 1 was 8.26.
Loop Join - 100K rows versus Degree of Parallelism
In examining the CPU usage during the tests, it was evident that in some cases,
only one logical processor of a physical core was used.
In other cases, both logical processors on some cores were used.
This leads to the uneven scaling versus DOP.
Another point interest is throughput with parallel execution plans
is supporting concurrent sessions.
The figure below shows performance in rows per sec at various DOP settings
versus number of concurrent sessions.
The results based on the number of queries completed in a 10-sec windows.
Since the single session DOP 1 query run-time is 100ms, this should be reasonably accurate.
Hash Join Performance (rows/s) by DOP versus # of Concurrent Sessions
SQL Server parallel execution plans are great for a single session,
even for queries that run in so short a time that parallelism should have never been considered.
However there are definitely issues with parallel execution in throughput tests.
Loop Join Performance (rows/s) by DOP versus # of Concurrent Sessions
It is stressed that the queries used in the tests above run in 95ms and 1.8ms 18ms respectively
at DOP 1. So it is not surprising that there are significant throughput issues
in attempting concurrent parallel execution with such minuscule queries.
I present these as examples because they are among the smallest queries for which
SQL Server engages parallel execution with the default settings.
This is because the default setting are seriously obsolete.
The original setting that targeted a 5 sec threshold for parallel execution on a Pentium Pro 166MHz
(I think this a 0.8um or 800nm design)
does not work well on modern microprocessor at 3GHz and 32nm design.
That said, SQL Server does have issues with concurrent parallel execution throughput
on properly sized queries. So some effort here would be helpful.
But the priority is below index on hash key, and parallel write operations.
The initial release neglected the simple index seek test
Below is the performance and cost characteristics for a simple index seek
aggregating 1 float type column for 350K rows.
The cost per row is 0.1734 usec at DOP 1.
Considering that the hash join test above does 2 index seeks and summed 2 float columns,
we could speculated that the cost of the bare hash join is
0.952 - 2x0.1734 = 0.605 usec per row.
Below is the characteristics for a simple index with only COUNT(*).
The cost is now only 0.0783 usec per row.
This implies that the float type column sum costs 0.095 usec per row.
The bare index seek cost of 0.0783usec per row also amortizes the cost of the page access.
At 52 rows per page, the full page cost including rows is 4.07usec.
Previously, I had assessed that the bare page access cost was 1us on the Core 2 platform.
The Westmere processor is more powerful and mostly importantly,
has significantly lower memory round-trip time.
So I am expecting the bare page cost on Westmere to be less than 1usec.
It might seem that we a quibbling over fractions of 1usec.
But we need to consider that 1us on a modern microprocessor in 2-3,000 CPU-cycles,
and this on a processor core that can execute multiple intructions per cycle.
Those of you with very good friends on the Microsoft SQL Server engine team
might persuade them to show you the source code and compiled binary/assembly.
Even without looking source code, it is clear that there are not nearly that many
instructions to touch a page, row and column.
The CPU-cycles are spent in the lock mechanism and the memory-round sequences.
This is why there significant differences between a traditional database engine
with all data in-memory and the "in-memory" database engine that have
completely different data organization.
It might better to refer to traditional database engines as page-row structures
and the new stuff column-oriented structures.
See my blog
SIMD Extensions for the Database Storage Engine
for my thoughts on an alternative solution.
It is definitely clear that the default settings for Cost Threshold for Parallelism (5)
and Max Degree of Parallelism (0 - unrestricted) are seriously obsolete
and should be changed as standard practice on SQL Server installation.
It is not clear there is a single universal best value for Cost Threshold for Parallelism.
I think the more important criteria is that there should not be a high volume of
concurrently running queries with a parallel execution plans.
Whatever the plan cost of the high volume queries are, the CTP should be set above it.
Of course, the other important objective is to reduce the plan cost
of these high volume queries, assuming this correlates to improved actual query execution time.
The strategy for Max Degree of Parallelism is also unclear.
Before the advent of multi-core processors, a good strategy was to disable parallelism
on transaction processing systems.
It was also critical in the old days to ruthlessly enforce the restriction of only pure transactions too.
Today, we have 32-40 powerful cores on transaction systems,
and almost everyone runs complex queries on it.
So parallelism is good.
Ideally I would like to restrict MaxDOP to the number of physical cores
on a Data Warehouse system, and less than that on a transaction system.
I would also like to get great scaling with parallelism.
But because SQL Server does not balance the threads to one logical processor
per phyical core, this strategy does not work.
So this is something the SQL Server team needs to address.
I will make continued updates on this on my website www.qdpma.com in the topic
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The cost model is seriously outdated. It seems that changing it would not be a huge effort as just a few constants need to be tweaked. The fundamental formulae are still correct.
I guess the cost model could be parameterized easily on CPU throughput, sequential IO thoughput and random IOs/sec. Jsut three numbers that are easily benchmarked.
Just wondering if this post was triggered by Adam's talk last week at the Pass Summit. He mentioned that the I/O costing was based on late 90's hardware and not today's.
tobi: figuring out what new cost model should be is not a big deal. What MS is afraid of is the implications of changing the old model that everyone has already got acustomed to, however out of date.
I suggest leaving the existing model as default, with the option of enabling the new model. There is Trace flag 2301 (see http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ianjo/archive/2006/04/24/582219.aspx) but this is a special for TPC-H and is not widely used? Still I would like a new model that can be enabled.
Chris: I mapped the SQL Server query optimizer cost model in 2002 (for version 2000, and later versions 2005 and 2008) this link says 2004, but that was the 2nd revision, overwriting the original.
see also
and of course, my web site has the slidedecks from SQL Server Connections 2003, CMG 2004, and HP World
Absolutely incredible! Thanks so much for investigating this.
One of things I've always been wondering is how much impact does the number of NUMA-Nodes have on query performance together with MaxDOP.
When we changed from G6 HP-Servers to G7 HP-Servers (4-Socket), the runtime for our jobs was nearly cut in half. Of course the G7 have more cores, but we stuck with MaxDOP=4 and we also don't have a great deal of parallelism included in our jobs.
Could you shed some light onto this situation, possibly with a post like this? It seems that going from 4 NUMA-Nodes to 8-NUMA-Nodes explodes performance.
Thanks lots.
Reiner, sorry I did not see your comment, please email if you are need a reply to an old post.
In 4-socket, I think HP skipped G6, going from DL580 G5 to G7. The G5 would have been Core2. The 300 series had a G6 for Nehalem-EP processors. By the time 4-socket Nehalem-EX was out, the 300 went to G7 on Westmere-EP, so I think HP just wanted people to Consider the 500 series contemporary with the 300. There would have been a huge difference between the Nehalem over the Core 2 processors. There should been only a small improvement in Westmere over Nehalem core-to-core.
Going above 4-socket, especially with 8 or more cores per socket can get gains, but I think it will require careful assessment in the ability to use high parallelism.
Lots of great detail!
You'll be glad to know that a number of folks are recommending changing the cost of parallelism on systems... speakers at PASS Summit and Microsoft PFEs :)
I'm a bit concerned with 3 things, though:
1. I see people suggesting changing the COP more often than I see building a distribution of query executions at the various cost ranges. Pick a number that's too low for the system, and it just won't have an effect. Probably more of a concern on DW/DSS systems than OLTP.
2. If the COP is changed, care must be taken to consider artificially low cost plans that may be forced to serial. I'm thinking about something like queries that heavily use tables with ascending key clustered index, without trace flags 2389 and 2390, and maximum histogram range_hi key lower than maximum clustered index value AND lower than range of query interest. If a really bad plan is forced due to estimatedrows=1 but it is executed in parallel... well, it'll suck but suck in parallel. If COP is now above that poor cost estimate, the query would suck in serial - probably longer than it sucked in parallel. :)
3. I like to make sure that before changes to MAXDOP and COP, systems have been evaluated for spinlock contention and CMEMTHREAD waits within NUMA nodes/scheduler groups. So many doggone cores in these new CPUs, and with the query memory allocation bottleneck by default at the NUMA level, its not too hard for a workload to start racking up benefits from trace flag 8048.


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learningtocount said:As for surrendering two 8's never do that always split them. As far as surrending 16 made up 10-6 9-7 or ther combinations against an ace I like that play.
learningtocount said:As for surrendering two 8's never do that always split them. As far as surrending 16 made up 10-6 9-7 or ther combinations against an ace I like that play.
nc-tom said:He is one of our "special" posters. .
learningtocount said:As for surrendering two 8's never do that always split them. As far as surrending 16 made up 10-6 9-7 or ther combinations against an ace I like that play.
nc-tom said:Security Risk you are going to need to be mello when reading LTC posts.He is one of our "special" posters. You will see that if you review some of his other posts.
Security Risk said:Yes, I have seen his other posts. I just thought instead of simply saying "you're wrong", I would give him the chance to defend himself and say where he got his information from. He reminds me of players at the table offering me "advice."
NYB said:Only place I ever play that offers surrender is the AOL nightly tourneys.
I'm under the impression you should surrender any 16,including 2 8s,against a dealer 10.Am I mistaken?
NYB said:I'm in Vegas fairly often,but play at Cortez,Vegas Club,Slots of Fun,Wild West and until recently Imperial Palace.I perfer double deck and am still not a regular green chipper.From walking thru most of the casinos you mention,their lo stakes games suck as badly as Harrahs do. Its their $100 games that are pretty good.Or am I mistaken. Will be there Dec 11th for a few days.Staying at Harrahs,but only playing some VP and 3 card poker there.
NYB said:IP had a nice DD game for a few months last year S17,DOA,DOS.Penetration wasn't very good though. But as I usually stay at Harrahs while on the strip,it was the closest decent game. Its long gone now,replaced by 6-5 carnival games.How is TI or Mirage?Where are their good games? I doubt I'll get down to MB.
I'm pretty sure the week of the 11th is very slow,so stakes should be low.
This isn't a real gambling trip though,so I only have an hour or two a day.
End of Jan. I'll be playing 8-10 hours a day for the week.
ihate17 said:If you count, Mirage will more likely evaluate you (they evaluate from the eye) on the double deck game after seeing a strong spread. On the shoe game your play will probably be ignored unless something catches their attention.
Knox said:What do you consider a "strong spread?" Seems to me 1-5 would be strong enough for a $25 DD game. Strong enough to make money, but strong enough to get pit attention also? I was thinking I might go 2 hands x $75 next time I play there on high positive counts.
Knox said:Hey folks:
Been away a while, I see that my thread lives on though!
I will be in Vegas this Saturday and Sunday night. I'd be interested in some team play. I want to try out a new system for beating the 3-card poker blackjack sidebet. It is beatable. I'd like to play at 6-deck table with another counter, any system will do. That way we would each know when to up our bets and place the sidebet. If not I will have to do one or the other, or attempt to keep a (gulp) dreaded side count with a true count conversion, while playing regular KO!
Anyone interested/available, PM me and we can exchange cell numbers.
Also interested in continuing the discussion on best games in Vegas. My priority is 6-deck, best available game with the sidebet I mentioned. I am staying at the Hilton again, last time I was there it was $10 min and H17. I saw the discussion about the game with S17, DAS, ls. Unfortunately, I lost my arse last time under those conditions at Grand Vic (Cinci area). That darn negative variance!
Knox said:Hello all, I am still alive and well despite my extended absence.
The negative variance is when you do everything right and still lost 10 or 20 hands in a row, thereby ruining your session and possibly your whole trip. Meanwhile, the little old lady across the table stays on all hard 12-16s and wins every hand! Every time the count is really positive, she get blackjack or pair of 10s, you get a 10 and a 6. That, my friend, is negative variance. Another example would be the deck is very rich in tens, but the dealer keeps pulling a card out of his arse and making every hard 14-16. This random variance gets worse with more decks.
Regarding Cortez, I love the place. I was able to spread from $25-$85 on their single-deck game for hours with no problem, even got a nice comp offer in the mail. I would have like to spread bigger, but I don't want to get barred from the place. I am willing to sacrifice some to keep my welcome there.
stainless steel rat said:Things must have changed there in the last year or two. Last time I played the "el kotex", $25 to $100 drew more attention than a stark-naked playmate walking down the aisle...
(not talking about shoe games of course.)
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subset: commoncrawl


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Readings in the Jayakhya-samhita 2
OCHS Library
Professor Gavin Flood
Thursday, 14 May 2009 - 11:00am
The Jayakhya-samhita is one of the three gems of the Pancaratra or tantric Vaishnavism. This early medieval text contains material on cosmology, ritual, and the construction of mantras. The seminar will focus on selected chapters.


text:
Prison Planet.com
Sunday, September 27, 2009
In the photo here, we see an LRAD mounted in the rear of a militarized police vehicle driving through the back streets of Pittsburgh terrorizing the residents. Note the child on the curb holding up his hands to block the sound of the terrorist device. He's obviously with al-Qaeda.
In videos posted on Infowars, we can see that demonstrators and on-lookers — and the majority of them seem to be on-lookers — are not engaged in violence or are they a threat to the police (who are outfitted in black Darth Vader military gear).
The use of the LRAD in Pittsburgh during the G20 Mafia confab is the first use of the device in the United States. It was first used against Iraqis disgruntled over the occupation of their country by U.S. military forces and trigger-happy contractors. It was tested on the killing ground of Fallujah and is used in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. The LRAD device was on hand at protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City but not used. It was used extensively in the client state Georgia against opposition protesters in Tbilisi in November 2007.
U.S.-outfitted Georgian cops use LRAD against demonstrators.
In the coming months, we will likely see the LRAD terror weapon used against an increasing number of demonstrators as the economy tanks. Pittsburgh was a beta test.
This article was posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 6:19 am


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PLYMOUTH – Celebrate the holidays in downtown Plymouth Friday as the Kiwanis Club hosts its annual Christmas tree lighting from 5 to 9 p.m. Activities includes a parade, road race, visits with Santa and a luminaria display.
5:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Tractor rides on North Street
6 p.m.: Parade begins from Town Square to Shirley Square.
6:15 p.m.: Tree lighting and start of Winter Lights 5K Road Race immediately after parade ends
6 to 8 p.m.: Meet and greet with Santa at the Plymouth Center for the Arts on North Street with arts and crafts, ornament decorating, children's face painting and refreshments
6 to 7:30 p.m.: Plymouth South High School marketing students' annual Lights of Hope luminaria display at Plimoth Grist Mill to benefit BID-Plymouth hospital's Cancer Center.


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Overshadowed by the announcement of another baby - or feotus - as it may have been, Australia has celebrity baby news of its own.
Antonia Kidman, 42, has given birth to a baby boy after going into labour three weeks early.
Alexander Norman Kidman Marran was born on Monday morning in Sydney while father Craig Marran, 44, was at the couple's home in Singapore.
The birth - details of which are being held for a WHO magazine exclusive this Friday - is Kidman's sixth, giving siblings Lucia, 13, Hamish, 11, James, 9 and Sybella, 5, from her first marriage to Angus Hawley, and Nicholas, 22 months, from her current relationship, a new baby brother.
"It is with great delight Craig and I are thrilled to advise that Alexander Norman Kidman Marran arrived safely in the early morning of the 3rd of December weighing a healthy 3kg", Kidman said in a statement.
"Alexander caught us by surprise arriving earlier than anticipated with Craig and Sybella jumping on a flight from Singapore and arriving this morning.'
It is undertsood the self-confessed one-time "worker bee" has opened up to WHO magazine about "rationalising" having six children, saying if she was still a career woman in Sydney, she "just couldn't do that."
The family is now looking forward to spending Christmas together, the couple said. "Alexander's brothers and sisters are all excited ... We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes at this special time in our lives."
Overshadowed by the announcement of another baby - or feotus - as it may have been, Australia has celebrity baby news of its own.


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Islamic cleric in Gaza rejects Israel's existence
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A prominent Islamic scholar making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip declared Thursday that Israel has no right to exist and voiced his support for rocket fire on Israel, giving a boost of legitimacy to the militant Islamist Hamas rulers of the Palestinian territory.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi is the latest of a few high profile figures visit Gaza, boosting the Hamas effort to break its international isolation. The U.S., EU and Israel brand Hamas a terror group, while the rival Fatah, which rules in the West Bank, enjoys Western backing.
Al-Qaradawi issued the strongest anti-Israel declarations of any of the visitors to date. "This land has never once been a Jewish land. Palestine is for the Arab Islamic nation," said al-Qaradawi, a Qatar-based cleric made famous by his popular TV show and widely respected in the Muslim world.
"The rockets made in Gaza are more powerful than the (Israeli) occupation's rockets," he added. Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 following several days of fighting against the rival Palestinian faction Fatah. Since then, Hamas militants have launched thousands of rockets into Israeli towns. Israel carried out two punishing military offensives, one in the winter of 2008-2009 and another late last year which killed the chief of the Hamas military wing.
Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, but imposes a maritime blockade and controls the flow of goods coming from Israel into the territory. Gaza's Hamas rulers and their backers still refer to Israel as "the occupation," referring to Israel's control of the West Bank and reflecting a belief that the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East is an illegitimate occupation.
The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, condemned al-Qaradawi's visit, saying his presence is cementing the rift between the two Palestinian factions. Fatah and Hamas have tried to reconcile their differences in recent years but failed. Western leaders have demanded that a unified Fatah-Hamas government must recognize Israel and agree to enter peace negotiations. Hamas has refused.
The emir of Gulf state of Qatar also visited last year, and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he'll visit by the end of the month, despite a U.S. plea that he delay the trip in order not to harm efforts to broker a reconciliation between Turkey and Israel.
Al-Qaradawi arrived in Gaza late Wednesday to an enthusiastic welcome by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and his Cabinet ministers. They hosted the cleric Thursday in a tent set up on the site of the prime minister's office, which Israeli warplanes demolished in 2009.
Category: Arab uprising


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11 September 2010
Icy-hot packs for my little ones
My go-to help is an ice pack. We had one of those gel ones, but it started leaking. I saw an idea for using a small rice-filled bag as both an ice pack or heat pack as needed. (Sorry I lost the bookmark where I saw it!) So, I decided to make one for each child.
I pieced the flannel tops from scraps that I had in a bag, trying to reduce my stash before moving. The backing was sewn right sides together on three sides. I turned the bags right side out, and then filled the bags half-full with plain rice...and a secret ingredient.
I added a chai vanilla spice tea bag, not that I drink tea. Rather because I dislike the smell of mircowaved rice. The type I bought had a small staple which I removed.
I then sewed the bag closed.
I now keep these bags in the freezer, ready for the next hurt, however minor. They will stay cold for about 10 minutes. If you have sore little muscles, you can heat the bag in the microwave for about 15-45 seconds, depending on your appliance. Test to make sure it is not too hot before you place the bag on yourself or your child. Thus, icy or hot, depending on the need.
What small things do you do to comfort your kids when they get the inevitable bumps and bruises of childhood?
Featured on Craft Gossip!
Linked to Under the Table and Dreaming, and House of Thrifty Decor.
16 happy thoughts:
- Melissa said...
I like how sweet they are pieced like that.
- 11 September, 2010 08:44
- Stephanie said...
Those are really cute and so useful.
- 11 September, 2010 10:32
- Kara @ Mine for the Making said...
LOVE these!!! THanks for shaing!
- 11 September, 2010 11:32
- Celeste B. said...
These are some of my favorites! We always have a few in the freezer and a few waiting to be heated. My Mother-in-law gave me the idea to have a cover over it so that if it gets dirty you can just wash the cover. TFS!!! PS - I love the material you used - super cute. :)
- 11 September, 2010 13:44
- Anne said...
These are sooo much classier than the plain-ol' bag of rice I keep in my freezer - no pretty cover, just the bag of rice as it came home from the store. I like your version with the tea bags MUCH better!!
I linked to your tutorial over at Craft Gossip Sewing:
- 11 September, 2010 19:54
- Joyce said...
We've made these out of flannel and filled with flax seed. Super easy project for the beginner sewer (kids). I like how you pieced yours together though....they're super cute! I also never thought of adding a tea bag. How long does it last?
- 11 September, 2010 20:32
- Unknown said...
I'm thing about making a slightly bigger one for the length of my neck. Would it. Work to put a zipper in the end so it can be emptied and washed and the tea bag changed as needed?
- 11 September, 2010 20:55
- chris said...
Erika, I have made similar bags large enough to cover my sore abdomen after giving birth. You could make them in almost any reasonable size. For my larger ones, I actually made the bag out of muslin and then made a felt slip cover that I could remove and wash. I've also seen some made from a large tube sock, which would be the prefect size for necks. Good luck and if I can help any more, let me know.
- 11 September, 2010 21:08
- chris said...
Joyce, I'm not sure how long the tea will last. I'm hoping for a while since it spends most of the time in the freezer. I had heard from a friend that it helped everything smell better so I decided to try it. I'll be sure to post an update as I experiment. I will say it's a bit strong, and would do half a bag for the smaller rice packs from now on.
- 11 September, 2010 21:09
- G's Creative Korner said...
They are so adorable, and what a great idea!
- 12 September, 2010 00:23
- Laura @ House of Thrifty Decor said...
Very cute. I could have used these when I had my knee surgery. Way better looking than the ones you buy at the store. I hope you can stop by my blog today for my Show Off Sunday Party. I would love for you to share this project with my followers. Thanks :)
- 12 September, 2010 09:38
I've read somewhere that you should put a little bowl of water in the microwave because the herbs could catch in fire as they become dryer. Chai is a great scent thank you for the idea.
- 12 September, 2010 10:01
- Sarah said...
They are awesome - gotta make me some of them! Thanks for tutorial :)
- 12 September, 2010 23:31
- Laura @ House of Thrifty Decor said...
Thanks for stopping by my Show Off Sunday Party. I look forward to seeing you next Sunday!!
- 15 September, 2010 15:43
- nkitkat said...
wow what a nice idea, they are super cute :-)
- 23 September, 2010 12:05
- MegO said...
U should place your 'packs' inside of a sealed Ziploc bag then place in the freezer. if u don't u could b getting moisture in your 'packs' which leads to moldy rice (Not good!lol).
- 02 May, 2013 19:40


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Mr. Lung, Superstar
I'm a day early but these things are rarely exact. No one really knows for sure if Jesus was born 2,012 years ago, for instance. But I can tell you for sure that Jeff was born 33 years ago as of tomorrow. I just hope that Jeff doesn't decide to follow in Jesus' footsteps. See, after disappearing for 30 years between his birth and the start of his ministry, Jesus managed to piss off the entire Roman Empire and the Jewish elite in three short years and get himself killed.
I don't want to say the allusion is exact but for the past three years Jeff has been pissing off the MLB empire and the baseball elite (including getting kicked off Barry Zito's Twitter feed). So far there have been no threats against Jeff's life but MLB is sneaky like that.
It's a day early but happy birthday Mr. Lung. And please, beware of crowds bearing palm fronds. You know what happens a week later.


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Florida - A record of 70 points for the longest tie-break in professional tennis has been set at a Futures event when Monaco's world No 636 Benjamin Balleret beat unranked compatriot Guillaume Couillard 36-34.
"We haven't been able to find a tie-break that went longer than this," the International Tennis Federation said on its Twitter account on Tuesday of the marathon tie-break which took place on Sunday.
The record may not be official because of the lack of a chair umpire.
The previous record for the longest tie-break in a singles match was 38 points. It was reached three times, the latest in 1997 when Goran Ivanisevic beat Greg Rusedski in the decisive set of their encounter at the Queen's tournament in London.
Grand Slam winners Bjorn Borg and Andy Roddick have also won 38-point tie-breaks during their careers.
Balleret and Couillard established the mark in the first set of their qualifying third round game at the Plantation Future event, the lowest category of professional tennis.
Balleret, 29, reached a career high of 204 and in 2006 he played 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer in the Monte Carlo Masters while Couillard, 37, represented Monaco in the principality's Davis Cup outing against Morocco last April.
Balleret won the match 7-6 (36/34), 6-1 as Couillard eventually wilted.


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Not a lot of people would know or even realise the presence of a castle in the little village of Camrose.
It is highly likely that, if present day residents of Camrose, even those who were born and bred there, were asked for directions to the castle, a high percentage wouldn't have a clue where or whether it existed.
It may surprise them to know there is one; it is still there, though heavily disguised, and it has quite important associations with a noted medieval priest and scribe and a bloody revenge killing in the dim and distant past.
To set the scene, Camrose is a quiet little village some four miles north-west of Haverfordwest as the crow flies, which in recent years has become a popular dormitory for commuters working in the town.
It has a 14th century church dedicated to St Ismael, two chapels, if you add Wolfsdale United Reformed a mile away north-north-east to Lebanon Baptist Chapel just outside the village, a large mid-18th century mansion, a 19th century farm and a mill of the same age on an older site, still with its overshot wheel but now converted into a house. It also has a country store selling a wide range of farm and country products and equipment, which is owned by a family whose concrete products business is situated a mile or so outside the village, and a workshop run by a highly skilled engineer who can fix anything from a clock to a tractor. The Georgian Mansion is Camrose House, in the trees across the millstream south of the church. It was built by a long-established member of the local gentry, Mr Hugh Webb-Bowen, whose family had settled in the area in the early 14th century at Roblinston and Wolfsdale. The antiquarian and historian Richard Fenton referred in 1811 to a visit he made to his friend Hugh Webb-Bowen at Camrose House. So now the mystery of Camrose Castle is solved. Fenton states: " Almost in front of the house between it and the brook, and adjoining his gardens, stands an immense tumulus, or tumulus-shaped mound, now converted into a shrubbery, with spiral walks round it." He adds: "I strongly suspect it to have been a tumulus, or one of those elevations on which a wooden or other temporary castelet might have been perched to guard this pass. If a tumulus, it is perhaps the largest in the kingdom but Silbury Hill." Pevsner describes it as "a Norman Motte" north-west of the house.
Fenton says that Giraldus Cambrensis, the medieval priest and writer, diverted to Camrose on his way to St Davids with Archbishop Baldwin on his Welsh itinerary promoting the Crusade in the 12th century. It is said that Giraldus went through Camrose to see the place where his forebears had wreaked savage revenge on the men of Roos (or Rhos) for the death of a kinsman of Giraldus.


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Just because Maroon 5 is busy getting ready for their North American tour doesn't mean it's all work and no play. In fact, it's quite the opposite. In a recent interview with David Letterman frontman Adam Levine explained how he came to take part in a late night jam with Prince.
"I had a jam session party at my house in LA," Adam recalled. "I called all my friends and was like, 'Let's play music in my living room. I'll set it up, it'll be great.'"
Adam knew Prince's assistant and decided to extend the invitation to Prince.
"Turns out he wanted to hang out. So he came over," he said. "He came with his band, it was kind of like a Prince movie. Here he is with his bass player, drummer, keyboard player."
Adam said it's a night he'll never forget. Embarrassed because it wasn't an elegant party (they were having nachos), Prince didn't seem to mind and once he arrived asked if he could play.
"His band takes over and starts jamming in my living room," he said. "Something breaks and he stops and he says, 'Let's go to my house. The jam session will continue at my house. Bring all your friends.'"
"So we go to his place and jam and play music until 6 a.m. and I kid you not, at the end of the night he did offer us pancakes," Adam said.
Quite the night, Maroon 5 just might be recreating this experience while on the road with friends Neon Trees and Owl City.
Stoked to be back out with @neontrees … Got to see them nightly when JJAMZ was opening 4 them, they are siiiick live
— James Valentine (@jamesbvalentine) October 22, 2012
In an interview with CBS Local, guitarist James Valentine explained just why the band decided to embrace pop music on their latest release.
While you wait for them to come to your city and experience the band perform Overexposed live watch Maroon 5 play in an intimate setting from the Red Bull Sound Space at AMP Radio on Tuesday, October 30 at 1 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT.
-Annie Reuter, CBS Local
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Cowboys are calling 2014 a once-in-a-lifetime market. Record-high prices were established with regularity through the first seven months of the year, and the fundamentals suggest there is more to come. Feeder cattle and calves went on a three-month-long rally that saw prices increase by 35%. After a short breather, they started climbing again.
Two weeks after recording all-time record high prices at $157, feedyard managers were turning down bids of $162 the third week of July. The gamble paid off later in the week as packers were forced to up the ante to $165 to $166 in order to keep the pipeline flowing. The following week cattle feeders were asking $170.
Price realities. All of this made a lot of people nervous. With fed cattle selling in a range where high-priced feeders sat three weeks earlier, what's a reasonable price for feeders? And how can we hedge new cattle that carry a breakeven above $170?
Cattle feeders are justified in their worries, as a year ago they were deep into red ink on every animal they shipped. One feeder wondered, "If you know how much money can be lost on $160 per cwt. feeders, just think how much can be lost on $260 feeders."
More worrisome, however, is the looming reality that retailers will be forced to significantly raise beef prices. At what price point does consumer demand begin to waver? We can't know for sure, but what we do know is that our resources for stimulating that demand are sorely limited.
Drought and herd liquidation drove cattle numbers to levels not seen since Harry Truman was president. That phenomenon delivered the record prices we've enjoyed all year and will likely keep margins for all segments solidly in the black the next few years. But those dwindling cattle numbers also reduce beef checkoff collections.
Locked in to a $1-per-head assessment, fewer head sold means there are fewer checkoff dollars for research, promotion and consumer education. It's been an ongoing problem for the staff at the Cattlemen's Beef Board for the past several years. They have fewer dollars to work with than when the program started more than a quarter-century ago, and those dollars only buy about 50% of what they could in 1988.
CBB has cut and pared their budget, but many worthy programs just can't be funded. With retail beef prices headed higher this fall and CBB coffers nearly empty, we shouldn't expect significant promotional help for beef, though we'll likely need it.
The solution, of course, is raising the checkoff. Several states have successfully increased their state checkoff recently, and national survey data shows approval for the national checkoff exceeds 70%. That would suggest the climate is favorable for efforts to increase the money into our industry's only self-help program. Are you willing to help? Talk to the staff of your state beef council. It's past time to raise the checkoff.


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Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable Reference library
Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable is dedicated to the history, culture, and mythology of the Emerald Isle. With a stunningly eclectic array of more than 6,000 entries on words, phrases, names, titles, people, events, and places, it is an invaluable work of reference. And in the great tradition of Brewer's, it is guaranteed to intrigue, inform, and delight lovers of the arcane, the esoteric, and the unexpected.
A work of nearly 900 pages in print, now available for the first time digitally, the uniquely wide-ranging and addictively browsable Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable takes you on a fascinating journey around the island of Ireland. From Pearse to Paisley, the Floozie in the Jacuzzi to the Hags with the Bags, Kerrygold to Kerry jokes, and Beckett to Boyzone, it is a cabinet stuffed with Irish curiosities of every conceivable variety.
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Much loved for its wit and wisdom since 1870, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable takes you on a captivating adventure through its trademark blend of language, culture, myth and legend. As Susie Dent explains in the foreword, Brewer's "is not a straightforward dictionary, nor is it an encyclopaedia. It is, in fact, unlike any other reference book that exists, anywhere." This nineteenth edition encapsulates all the charm and wit that characterise its predecessors and maintains the standards of scholarship and eclecticism that have long been its hallmark.
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A Dictionary of Abbreviations Quick reference
This online-only Dictionary of Abbreviations, exclusive to Oxford Reference Online, includes over 100,000 abbreviations and acronyms in alphabetical and numerical order, including the world's airports, airlines, currencies, astronomical signs and symbols, atomic numbers, and stocks codes, as well as computer, country, financial, medical, military, police, publishing, railway, scientific, technical, transportation, and United Nations abbreviations and acronyms, not to mention European food additive numbers!
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Over 3,400 entries
A revealing guide to the richness and colour of the Australian language, this fascinating work records a distinctive, inventive slang and provides a unique insight into Australian life and culture. First published in 1978, this dictionary includes the earliest and most recent colloquial coinages including words and idioms drawn from a wide range of sources. Each entry features relevant context e.g. origin and derivation, and enduring colloquialisms have as many as ten citations from original works. This fifth edition features an expanded introduction and contains over 300 new entries. In addition, more than 900 of the previous entries have been revised and updated.
Encyclopedia of Rhetoric Reference library
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Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms (3 ed.) Quick reference
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This dictionary features the entertaining histories behind hundreds of eponyms, such as bowdlerize (from the censorious Thomas Bowdler), bikini from the atoll, and the Salisbury steak, a dish of hamburger and brown gravy named after James H. Salisbury, an English physician who promoted a diet of ground beef. There are hundreds more - discover to whom we owe the terms hooker, sideburn, zeppelin, the cardigan sweater, pamphlet, robot, and argyle socks.
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Old School
April 24, 2014 6 Comments
The silliness of Major League Baseball was captured in one single moment last night on the mound at Fenway Park. The umpiring crew surrounded Michael Pineda as crew chief Gerry Davis examined New York Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda after the accusation from Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell that Pineda had pine tar "all over his neck".
Of course, there was pine tar. Pineda was cheating. He was subsequently ejected in the 2nd inning to the dismay of Yankees manager Joe GIradi. No one is too shocked or outraged. This is Major League Baseball. Wake us up when something newsworthy happens, right?
It is a cliché to call any type of backwards thinking Neanderthal-like but that's what Major League Baseball is. Aside from FIFA, there isn't a league in the world that is more behind the times than the MLB. Despite the abundance of statistics that is so pervasive in the game these days, the old school mentality from managers, coaches and commentators still dominates many aspects of the way the MLB operates.
Michael Pineda and pine tar-gate is a microcosm of everything that is wrong with baseball yet the MLB is about as active as a Prince Fielder in the off-season in changing the game for the better. Pineda was put on "unofficial probation" after camera's caught him using pine tar in his April 10th start against the Red Sox with no regard for discretion or subtlety. Pineda did not care and neither did the Red Sox apparently.
Pineda's use of pine tar on April 10th was about as discreet as a pot smoker on 4:20 but the umpires didn't do a damn thing about it because no one brought it to their attention. It's part of the large unwritten "code" in baseball that pitchers use a variety of foreign substances to help them on the mound.
Don't ask, don't tell.
For some reason, everyone involved around the game of baseball accepts it for what it is. There isn't a sport where cheating is more universally recognized and allowed within the confines of the game than baseball.
The substance abuse problem among pitchers is the MLB's version of the don't ask, don't tell policy and it is just the tip of the iceberg. While America's pastime has been surpassed by both football and basketball in the last decade, Bud Selig and Major League Baseball have sat back and watched it happen. Wilfully blind to the plethora of issues that need to be addressed. They foolishly allow the game to be subjugated to the "this is how the game was always played" old school mind-set.
Coming up with solutions to the game, any game, is America's true greatest pastime. Everyone thinks they have the answers, if only someone would listen to them.
However, some of the fixes needed in the MLB are so obvious, a six-year-old child could figure out what the right thing to do is. Even a first-grader knows the difference between right and wrong, and a number of problems in the MLB simply have to do with enforcing the rules.
In this post-steroid age, scoring runs are at an all-time low in the MLB but the league continues to give the pitcher every advantage possible. This isn't 1964 anymore. Blatant stupidity/laziness from guys like Michael Pineda should not be the only cases where enforcement of the rule should occur. The don't ask, don't tell policy regarding pine tar, sunscreen or any other foreign substance is as nonsensical as it gets.
Hitting is harder than ever with constant defensive shifts, 95mph fastballs as common as the cold and guys like Pineda given mostly free rein to do whatever they want to the baseball on the mound. Nevertheless, we have the old school commentators like Buck Martinez and Joe Buck clamouring that the strike zone needs to be more liberal than it already is to speed up the game.
Make hitting harder to speed up the game? Fixing one problem by exasperating another is not how you go about improving anything.
If baseball could learn anything from football and basketball, it's that more scoring is the goal. Bud Selig, or anyone who works at Major League Baseball for that matter, has yet to get the memo. In 2013 and 2014, the amount of runs scored per game in the MLB has not been this low since 1992.
The most frustrating aspect of this is some of these problems are as simple as ensuring umpires do their jobs and carry out the rules properly. Don't allow pitchers to use foreign substances. Don't allow pitchers to throw strikes three inches off the plate. Don't allow pitchers to take over 30 seconds in between pitches.
I doubt Bud Selig has any trouble sleeping, but if he ever lies in bed at night wondering why they're losing out to the NFL and NBA, maybe he should realize that not many people can handle three to four hours of pitching dominance.
Michael Pineda and pine tar-gate, in itself, is not all that interesting. Pineda will get suspended, come back and probably do it all over again. Nothing will change as a result of this story. Major League Baseball will continue to stand idly by as the NFL and NBA surpass them in every possible way.
The issues the league faces are not complicated. Any small child could understand what needs to be done. Enforce the rules.
But then again, that would be too easy.
Agree? Disagree? Reply in the comments section below or e-mail me at email@example.com
Also, you can follow me on twitter @chrisrossPTB and I will happily return the favour.


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Fraser Lake city is located in British Columbia, Canada
You can search for the Fraser Lake BC postal codes by its streets and block numbers
Fraser Lake Area Code is 250/778 and Time Zone is Pacific (GMT -08:00).
Fraser Lake Postal Code - British Columbia
Fraser Lake Postal Code is a six-character string that forms part of a postal address in Canada. Like British and Dutch postcodes, Fraser Lake - BC postal codes are alphanumeric.
The first three characters (alpha-numeric-alpha) of the postal code which represent a geographic area in Fraser Lake.
The last three characters denote a Fraser Lake local delivery unit (LDU). An LDU denotes a specific single Fraser Lake address or range of addresses, which can correspond to an entire small town, a significant part of a medium-sized town, a single side of a city block in larger cities, a single large building or a portion of a very large one, a single (large) institution in Fraser Lake, British Columbia, such as a university or a hospital, or a business that receives large volumes of mail on a regular basis
If you want to send a mail to Fraser Lake City, you should use the corresponding Postal Code.
Fraser Lake Postal Code MAP
Fraser Lake Postal Code - CA Streets Postal Codes
Fraser Lake Postal Code Lookup
City: Fraser Lake
Fraser Lake Area Code: 250/778
Fraser Lake, BC - Time Zone: Pacific (GMT -08:00)
State: British Columbia
State Abb: BC
Fraser Lake Elevation: 676
Fraser Lake Population: 54769
British Columbia Postal Code: related postal codes
View more British Columbia postal codes


text:
The German engineered Volkswagen Jetta is a nimble, dependable car aimed at the younger generation of drivers as well as singles and college students. The new Jetta sedan is a great choice for small families as well. The cars are safe, dependable, and have great gas mileage.
If you're looking for a replacement engine for your Volkswagen Jetta, then look no further. GEX International handles a complete line of brand new factory replacement Jetta engines for just slightly more than the cost of a rebuilt with our same famous warranty. And best of all, because these Jetta engines are NEW, there is no core or core charge to contend with. And the engines on this page come with a 36 month or 36,000 mile warranty. When you add it all up, you'll find that they are very competitively priced.
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text:
This page printed from http://www.wisdomofforgiveness.com. All material © Victor Chan.
the book | reviews | Amazon reviews | Dalai Lama | Victor Chan | FAQ | feedback
[The Wisdom of Forgiveness is] a surprisingly easy
and wholly engaging read, a rich story rather than dense teachings weighted down by abstruse
Buddhist terminology. Through the eyes of Victor Chan, friend and confidant of His Holiness,
we are invited to become intimately acquainted with the Dalai Lama. We follow the leader of
the Tibetan people as he travels extensively [and we] join Chan as the proverbial fly on
the wall, gaining privileged access into the public and private world of one of the greatest
men of our times...
—J. Massey: Amazon.com


text:
In this episode of OperaTalk, Dr. Nicolas Reveles discusses Gaetano Donizetti's comedic opera "The Elixir of Love" or "L'elisir d'amore," in which a con artist convinces villagers that a bottle of wine is a love potion.
What better place to discus the powerful effects of wine than at a winery? Reveles visits the beautiful Hacienda de las Rosas Winery to illustrate just how enchanting wine can be.
Donizetti had written hit operas before, including "Anna Bolena," an historic opera about one of King Henry the 8th's wives. But Reveles says that none came close to the success of "The Elixir of Love."
Donizetti was in the midst of writing four operas in one year when he was commissioned to write a new one for the Teatro Cane Bianco in Milan. He wrote "The Elixir of Love" in just six weeks and it gained such popularity, it was the most performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848.
Learn more about this classic opera in "The Elixir of Love-San Diego OperaTalk."
Check out other programs in the San Diego OperaTalk series!


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restaurants set up and producing reliable financials.
As an accounting and tax professional and former IRS Field Agent we can meet any of our clients personal or business compliance needs. The biggest need in the SME market (our target market) is understanding the integral relationship to accounting and taxation. Good accounting leads to good (minimized) taxation. Our customized chart of accounts captures the data (fringe benefits) necessary to minimize tax liabilities.
I have worked with Complete Controller for a couple of years now and with Complete Controller doing the bookkeeping it makes it very easy for me to knock out the Tax Returns.
Additionally, I have been meaning to write you to give you praise on Candy and Amy. Any time there's even a hint of an issue I know Amy has it handled. It's also been really great working with Candy these last few months; she seems to be very well organized. Thank you!
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text:
Susan Yelavich is an Associate Professor of Design Studies in the School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons. She has also taught at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy, and The New School's Democracy & Diversity Institute in Wroclaw, Poland. Her current research explores the parallels between design and literature (the subject of her next book), design and culture, and the relationship between textiles and architecture. Yelavich is the author of numerous articles and books, including Design as Future-Making with Barbara Adams (2014), Contemporary World Interiors (2007), Pentagram/Profile (2004), Inside Design Now (2003), Design for Life (1997), and The Edge of the Millennium: An International Critique of Architecture, Urban Planning, Product and Communication Design (1993). She is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome (2003-2004).
architectural criticism,architectural history,cultural studies,design criticism,design history
Intensive 3: Charrette (Spring 2020)


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Special parts motorbike Arrow
Exhaust muffler silencer PRO-RACE NICHROM stainless steel homologated ECE with db-killer Arrow
Code: 71608PRI
Available in 5-10 working days
€ 300,00 -18% € 246,00
Non-EU customers do not pay VAT (you will pay the VAT in your own country upon receipt of the goods in accordance with local taxation).
Exhaust muffler silencer PRO-RACE NICHROM stainless steel homologated ECE with db-killer
Pro-Race silencers design comes from the first prototypes made for MotoGP. Pro-Race silencers are built putting together a conical-shaped part (the main body of the silencer) with a cylindrical ending section (ø98mm) and these are available in titanium or nichrom (a stainless steel alloy). The silencers are secured to the bike by means of mounts welded to the main body, their cone-shaped design provides a reduction of dimensions and weight, but it also reduces the overall volume of the exhaust, thus limitating noise damping capabilities and the application on bigger or demanding engines. Pro-Race silencers are available both in a street legal and racing version, with removable baffle.
- Silencer material stainless steel
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- Silencer mounting welded mount
- Homologated ECE
- Db-Killer YES
€ 300,00 -18% € 246,00


text:
Laser Therapy
Laser therapy is a therapeutic procedure for your pet that helps to reduce painful symptoms associated with certain conditions and aids in regenerating new, healthy tissue. Cold laser therapy, also called Class IV laser therapy, is a noninvasive procedure using a beam of light travelling at a specific frequency to generate heat, which stimulates cells and increases blood flow to the affected area.
Disorders that respond best to Companion Laser Therapy:
- Pain Relief
- Wound Healing
- Arthritis
- Back Pain
- Trauma
- Infections or Inflammation
- Sprains, Strains & Fractures
- Allergies
- Post-Surgical Healing/Pain Relief
- Degenerative Joint Disease
- Lick Granulomas
- Geriatric Care
- Dermatological Conditions
- Periodontal Disease
- Gingivitis
- Hip Dysplasia
- And more...
Your pet will find this type of therapy relaxing, as the specialized frequencies of light help to produce endorphins which can act as pain killers and stress-reducers. A typical treatment can last between 3 -20 minutes, depending on the size of your pet and the location and intensity of your pet's pain or inflammation.
Laser therapy does not require sedation or shaving your pet's fur, meaning that your pet can have multiple treatments within a single day or week. According to the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, there are no adverse side effects, as this specialized laser therapy does not burn or cut your pet's skin.
A veterinarian will examine your pet, take x-rays if necessary, and prescribe a treatment plan individualized to your pet's needs. Help your pet get back to his happy, healthy self quickly with laser therapy!


text:
Subliminal Forces (Cassette, Tonspur Tapes, 1991, Germany)
1. Ambrosia
2. Unconscious Confusion
3. Sonitus 1
4. Caelum
5. A Mystic Smile
6. This Wonderful Sadness
7. Abditus
8. Memento
"This tape is dedicated to the Sub-Conscience!
For best effects use headphones and play at high volume!
Recordings made July 1990-January 1991.
Thanks to Stefan Schwab.
..like a waterfall in your mind..''
Headphone music, anyone?
download here:
Maeror Tri - Subliminal Forces
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Maeror Tri
Posted by soundhead at 10:07 PM
4 comments:
Please remove the 2 Monoton's LP.
They are available through ORAL_records : www,oral.qc.ca
- March 23, 2009 at 8:54 AM
- soundhead said...
- March 23, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Coincidentally, this was also posted over at No Longer Forgotten Music too. It's GREAT!!
Any chance that you might also have (or know where to find) "Mind Reversal" by Maeror Tri?
Thanks for doing this great blog!
- March 23, 2009 at 9:30 PM
is there a chance for Das Kombinat / Notstandskomitee posts re-uploads?
there were problems with z-share and i couldn't get it there...
thanks for all:)
- March 25, 2009 at 5:06 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Larry Leung / EPA
A farmer moves on a flooded path to check his aquatic farming ponds in Hepu township in Xiangshan county, Zhejiang province, China on August 8, 2012. Typhoon Haikui, the third hitting China in a week, landed in Hepu early on Wednesday.
AFP - Getty Images
Rescuers help evacuate residents from their homes in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province on August 7, 2012, ahead of Typhoon Haikui.
Reuters reports — Typhoon Haikui struck China on Wednesday, packing winds of up to 68 mph, prompting officials to evacuate nearly 2 million people and grounding hundreds of flights to and from Shanghai and other cities.
More than 1.5 million people in the eastern province of Zhejiang and 252,000 residents of outlying parts of Shanghai were evacuated after Haikui landed early in the morning, causing flooding and stranding hundreds of people, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Continue reading.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
AFP - Getty Images
A car drives beside a fallen road sign in Xiangshan, Zhejiang province on August 8, 2012, after Typhoon Haikui made landfall.
A rescuer carries a woman to a safer area in Taizhou, Zhejiang province on August 8, 2012.
People walk in a rainstorm brought on by Typhoon Haikui on Aug. 8, 2012 in Shanghai.
Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter


text:
Use of Incentives to Engage Drug Users in HIV Therapy (Incentives-1)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01526421
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 3, 2012
Last Update Posted : December 20, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the current standard of care for treatment of HIV infection, is highly effective when taken appropriately. Before starting this treatment, a person must be aware of their HIV status and present to a clinic for medical care. They then undergo screening procedures (medical assessment and laboratory tests) to determine whether they are eligible to receive HAART, i.e. whether HIV treatment is necessary and safe for them.
In many urban centres including Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, there is a high rate of HIV infection among users of illicit drugs. However, HIV-infected drug users often do not present to the medical system and complete the process necessary to start HAART. Given the known benefits of HAART, new strategies are required to increase rates of HAART initiation in this group. Contingency management (CM) is a strategy to affect behaviour by providing a reward (e.g. money) to reinforce the desired behaviour. CM has been used with success in other areas of medicine (e.g. smoking cessation, weight loss) and in the drug using population, but has not been established as a means to improve HAART uptake.
The proposed research primarily seeks to assess the effectiveness of monetary-based CM in engaging HIV-infected drug users in HAART programs. Drug users identified through outreach will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to one of two arms; participants in one arm will be offered a monetary-based reinforcer to participate (n=150) and participants in the second arm will be offered no reinforcer (n=150). Participation involves reporting to the study site for formal study of eligibility screening, consisting of clinical evaluation, medical history and laboratory testing required to determine eligibility to receive HAART. Participants randomized to the reinforcer arm will receive gift cards at the completion of screening procedures.
Our hypothesis is that drug users offered a monetary-based reinforcer will be significantly more likely to complete HAART eligibility screening than those not offered a reinforcer.
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infection
|Other: monetary reinforcer
|Not Applicable
HAART eligibility screening entails presenting to the study site within 2 weeks of pre-screening, undergoing laboratory testing and providing a medical history, and returning for results within the subsequent four weeks. Any potential subjects who appear to be acutely intoxicated will be asked to return the next day or at a later date or time of their choosing. All participants will be asked to return for their results within four weeks after screening. Subjects will have 70 mL of whole blood collected by venipuncture by a trained study nurse. Laboratory tests will include HIV confirmatory testing (antibody and Western blot), CD4 cell count and plasma HIV-1-RNA level (plasma viral load; pVL), Hepatitis A, B and C serology, pregnancy test for women of child-bearing potential, complete blood count (CBC) with differential and platelet count, chemistry profile (creatinine, urea and electrolytes), and transaminase levels (ALT, AST). All participants will also have a medical history taken and undergo a physical examination. Recorded data will include subject gender, age, ethnicity, race, area of residence and living arrangement (categorized as homeless/on the street, unstable [defined as living primarily in a single room occupancy hotel, boarding room, or transition house] or stable). Additional features which will be recorded will include nature and frequency of illicit substance use, and participation in other cohort studies or methadone maintenance programs. All clinical past medical history and co-morbidities and laboratory data will be recorded for assessment of subject HAART eligibility.
All subjects who return for the results, whether HAART-eligible or not, will have their laboratory results explained to them and will be counseled as to a recommended course of clinical care by the study nurse. Those eligible for HAART will be offered enrollment into Part II of the study. Those not eligible for HAART will be invited to re-evaluate their eligibility for antiretroviral therapy at yearly intervals through the study site. Once 150 subjects have been randomized to each of the two study arms (total n=300), recruitment will be temporarily halted and statistical analysis will determine whether the reinforcer resulted in a significant and clinically relevant increase in the proportion of subjects who complete HAART eligibility screening.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|301 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Role of Contingent Reinforcement in the Engagement of and Retention of Drug Users in HAART Programs - Part 1
|Study Start Date :
|February 2012
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|September 2012
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|September 2012
|Experimental: monetary reinforcer
Other: monetary reinforcer
Participants randomized to the reinforcer arm will receive gift cards at the completion of screening procedures.
Other Name: contingency management
|No Intervention: no reinforcer
- the proportion of drug users undertaking clinical and laboratory screening to determine eligibility for highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). [ Time Frame: 6 weeks ]HAART eligibility screening entails presenting to the study site within 2 weeks of pre-screening, undergoing laboratory testing and providing a medical history, and returning for results within the subsequent four weeks.
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|19 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Age 19 years or older
- Self-reports as having used illicit drugs within last 3 months
- Self-reports known or at-risk for HIV infection.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Unable to provide informed consent due to severe mental or physical illness, or substance intoxication at the time of interview
- Has lived in the greater Vancouver area for three months or less (as a means to enhance participant retention)
- Pregnancy
- Receipt of antiretroviral therapy within the last 12 months
- Known history of gambling addiction.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01526421
|Canada, British Columbia
|St. Paul's Hospital, VIDUS study office site, 342 East Hastings
|Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
|Principal Investigator:
|Mark Hull, MD
|University of British Columbia
|Principal Investigator:
|Julio SG Montaner, MD
|University of British Columbia
|Responsible Party:
|University of British Columbia
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
H11-00592 ( Other Identifier: UBC/Providence Health Care REB )
1R01DA031043-01 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|February 3, 2012 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|December 20, 2012
|Last Verified:
|December 2012
Antiretroviral therapy, highly active
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases


text:
Sunday School – 10:00 am
Worship Service – 11:00 am
Bible Study – 12:15 pm
Wednesday Bible Study - 6:30 pm
12859 Martin Road Spur
Northport, AL 35473
It seems awful early in the reign of Saul to read of his high point, but this is it. The people are being attacked by the Ammonites. As a result, God angers Saul into reacting and ultimately winning a great battle. Following this, Saul's kingship is firmly established. We hope this lesson is a true benefit to you.


text:
Educators Play an Important Role in Census 2010
Who counts? The ones who get counted, that's who.
With the 2010 U.S. Census just around every corner in every neighborhood in America, it's time to get ready. Educators have a very important role in making sure that families are informed about the importance of the count and that Census-takers get accurate information, especially in "hard to count" areas.
Last fall, your school should have been sent information from the Census about its 2010 count and "Census in Schools" (CIS) program. Inside the packets are materials to be shared with families, as well as lesson plans. Educators should make sure that those materials are actively promoted and distributed.
"How would you like to get a 10 to 1 pay-off guaranteed?" NEA Executive Committee member Len Paolillo asked educators at NEA's Representative Assembly in July of 2009. "If we work as an organization to make sure everybody is counted, it'll pay off for the next 10 years," through equitable funding and specific program support.
You might already know that Census figures are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts but that's not all they do. "Federal dollars for our schools and students are allocated based on the number of people in each school district," Paolillo said. "The federal government allocates over $300 billion each year $300 billion! to states and communities based on Census data. Over 10 years, that's an amazing $3 trillion."
In all, the Census numbers impact more than 50 federal programs, especially Title 1 and special education grants, and college tuition grants and loan programs.
Although the actual count doesn't begin until March, when the Census mails 130 million forms to every household in America, work already is underway by the Census and its partner, NEA, to publicize the need for a fair and accurate count. As authorized by the NEA Representative Assembly, NEA specifically will be working to target assistance to schools near "hard to count" census tracts, especially where families might not speak English, and it also encourages state and local affiliates to become "Census partners."
In the meantime, educators should check out the Census in Schools Web site where you can learn more about the Census, but also find lesson plans, maps, historical data, plus coloring pages, quizzes, word finds, and more.
- Census in Schools
- Fill In Our Future
(A Campaign of AAPI Action)
- Census 2010
- Census Bureau


text:
I love olives. Ever since I was a little kid, I would simply fish them out of whatever container they were in and eat them. To be honest, I still do that now. I can't cook with olives or even have them around unless I just accept that I'm going to be playing, "one for the recipe, one for me". Unfortunately, you can't grow olives in New England, so it's one of the items I buy from various sources across the world. They're little luxuries. However, Lindsay Olives is making a good olive, more widely available these days.
Lindsay Olives is not sponsoring this post, nor am I getting anything in return from them for this. I'm simply a recipe developer who wanted an entry into their "Love this Recipe" Contest.
Lindsay Olives was a sponsor at Eat, Write, Retreat in D.C. last month. A food blogging conference I was lucky enough to attend. It was there I was introduced me to the new line of Lindsay Naturals. Their olives (black or green, I used green today) that are packed with water and sea salt, and that's it. In general, I'll pick up olives from little local specialty stores in my area, which is great. However, it can get pricey on occasion and if I'm picking up staples at the grocery store, or if you're in a place in the country where the supermarket is your only option, these olives are fantastic, and a good choice.
I use olives in a multitude of ways, but as some kind of snack is, in general, my favorite way of consuming these lovely little things. The husband, however, is a fan of dip. Let's be honest again here, so am I. I'm a dip kind of gal. I tend to go overboard now and again, I have a problem with willpower when it comes to these dishes. So when I heard Lindsay wanted all their consumers to come up with recipes using their olives, I was so game for a dip.
This dip is simple. It uses things you probably have on hand and you can also adapt it to your taste. I served it up with tortilla chips, but I think pita chips, or a good bread would compliment this one perfectly. I do not take any responsibility if you eat this in one serving.
Creamy Olive and Feta Dip
Serves: In my case, 1, but it makes a pie dish's worth or an 8x8 baking dish's worth
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped sweet onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 block (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 6 oz. can green olives (or about 2 cups of olives), sliced
1 teaspoon capers (optional, I like the saltiness they add)
1 teaspoon good-quality balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large saucepan or skillet (even a dutch oven would work), heat olive oil over medium heat. Once warmed, add your onions and cook until softened (about 3 minutes). At this point, add your garlic, stirring to make sure it doesn't brown and turn bitter. Cook for another 30 seconds or so.
Now, put your softened cream cheese into the pan. Using whatever utensil you're stirring with, break it up into chunks so it melts faster. Once it melts down to a stirrable form, add your heavy cream and stir to combine everything well.
Next, you're going to add your olives, capers, balsamic vinegar, and oregano. Stir until everything is coated and well incorporated.
Finally, take a pie dish or 8x8 baking dish, and transfer your cream cheese mixture to it. Sprinkle the top with your feta cheese.
Pop into the oven and bake 30 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve with your dipping vessel of choice.