text:
Ozzie Guillen's recent musings on Castro reminded me of Marge Schott talking about Hitler twenty some odd years ago. There is no truth to the rumor that Peter Angelos called Jeffrey Loria looking to trade Buck Showalter to Miami for the Ozzard of Whizz (as Don Malcolm used to call Guillen.)
I was also reminded that I once wanted have a regular feature on this blog called "What Is Pastime Is Prologue", but it organically evolved in another direction. While I took a hiatus to work on my memoirs, New York and the rest of the country went gaga over Jeremy Lin. Remember that? Or has he already been forgotten like Darva Conger, the McDLT, or Herman Cain?
Some people were comparing Lin to Tim Tebow. I suppose that hypewise that may be true. Linsanity was similar to Tebowmania. But a more apt analogy for Tim Tebow might be Ichiro Suzuki circa 2001.They both suceeded at a lower level and there were questions about how they would do at a higher level. Tebow is a QB who doesn't pass well, but runs. Suzuki is a corner outfielder who doesn't slug but can play what the oldsters called scientific baseball. They're both throwbacks to an earlier era, in a way. Now, Tebow has a long way to go to be Ichiro, but he's more like Ichiro than he is like Lin (except for the Christianity part.)
Lin is more like Karl Spooner. Both are meteors who streaked over the New York sky. And both got hurt. If the Knicks hang around longe enough in the playoffs, he might return this year, but that Remains To Be Seen.


text:
After over 48 hours of panic over the allegations levelled by Shri Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption (IAC) against Shri Robert Vadra, the husband of Ms.Priyanka Gandhi and the son-in-law of Mrs.Sonia Gandi, the President of the Congress, the Congress has cooled down and worked out a strategy of tiring out the IAC in general and Shri Kejriwal in particular.
2. It is reported that the initial panic was triggered by Mrs.Sonia Gandhi herself which led to the unwise intervention of a number of senior Ministers in support of Shri Vadra and the tactless remarks of Shri Vadra in his FB.
3. After this initial spectacle of chicken-like panic, Ms.Priyanka Gandhi, who is concerned over the likely impact of the allegations and the subsequent crisis management on the credibility and political future of the family and the Congress, reportedly stepped in to calm down the panic.
4.A new set of crisis management advisers not haunted by memories of the old Bofors controversy against Rajiv Gandhi, took advantage of certain evolving characteristics of L'Affaire Vadra. Firstly, there has been no smoking gun so far. Secondly, there has been no paper trail. Thirdly, Shri Vadra's alleged involvement was with a listed company and not with shady individual businessmen, either in India or in the diaspora abroad. Fourthly, Shri Arvind Kejriwal, during his first two Press conferences, seem to have fired all his bullets without seriously hurting Shri Vadra. He does not appear to have any more unused bullets at his disposal. And, fifthly, by announcing beforehand that he would be exposing another prominent personality on October 16, Shri Kejriwal has set a trap for himself. Whether he targets another prominent personality or tries to re-use the same bullets against Shri Vadra, he will dilute the public focus on the Sonia Gandhi family.
5. Congress circles feel that the allegations made by Shri Kejriwal are nothing but re-cycled versions of allegations made by a national business daily earlier this year. Those allegations were not taken note of by the conventional media---print or TV----, but were noted and exploited on the Net by a group of NRIs, which has been carrying on a campaign against Mrs.Sonia Gandhi and her family and in favour of the Hindutva organisations. This NRI group kept the allegations re-cycled through various means and these have now been picked up by Shri Kejriwal and his IAC. It is claimed that in addition to these re-cycled allegations from the Net, there have been no new allegations in the charges levelled by Shri Kejriwal.
6. These Congress circles draw attention to the intriguing coincidence between the campaign against Mrs. Sonia Gandhi unleashed by Shri Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, on the issue of her foreign travel expenditure and the campaign against Shri Vadra over his wealth unleashed by the IAC group. They suspect that the same group of pro-Hindutva NRIs is the inspiring force behind both the campaigns.
7. The initial panic was also caused by the dramatic projection to the viewers by the TV channels of the charges made by Shri Kejriwal against Shri Vadra. This panic has also since subsided. They point out how the TV pendulum dramatically swung towards Anna Hazare during his fast in August last year and then equally dramatically swung away from him when there were signs of agitation fatigue in Mumbai where Anna went for the second stage of his campaign. They are hoping that the TV pendulum, which has swung towards Shri Kejriwal, would similarly swing away from him if he keeps re-cycling old allegations.
8. The new strategy of the Congress is to give a long rope to Shri Kejriwal and not to do anything in panic. Unless Shri Kejriwal is able to come out with a smoking gun or new evidence, this strategy might work.(12-10-12)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: email@example.com Twitter @SORBONNE75)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Puppy Linux Discussion Forum
Puppy HOME page :
"THE" alternative forum :
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
The time now is Fri 10 Jul 2020, 02:54
All times are UTC - 4
Forum index
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Additional Software (PETs, n' stuff)
JAVA apps for PUPPY run in JRE/JDK/OpenJRE/OpenJDK
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 6730
Location: Earth
Posted: Fri 29 May 2015, 20:16
Post subject:
Never used it, since 90s on dial-up, but
this site appears to get you started on FreeNet use in Linux/Unix
Get ACTIVE Create Circles; Do those good things which benefit people's needs!
We are all related ... Its time to show that we know this!
3 Different Puppy Search Engines
or use
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Joined: 05 Jun 2012
Posts: 1935
Location: Wisconsin USA
Posted: Fri 29 May 2015, 21:30
Post subject:
gcmartin wrote:
Never used it, since 90s on dial-up, but
this site appears to get you started on FreeNet use in Linux/Unix
Thanks. I should note that you have to use spot.
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Joined: 15 Apr 2011
Posts: 973
Location: El Salvador
Posted: Sat 30 May 2015, 00:48
Post subject:
I like Jdiskreport and Trupax
My blog |
| Github
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Joined: 05 Feb 2012
Posts: 2202
Location: London, England
Posted: Sat 30 May 2015, 19:41
Post subject:
JDK as a (big) package if anybody needs it.
The above link is the download location for this package for Puppy
Now hosted at Yandex Disk
Page may appear in Russian but there is a translate button
Oscar in England
Last edited by OscarTalks on Mon 08 Feb 2016, 22:41; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 29 Sep 2014
Posts: 15
Posted: Fri 21 Aug 2015, 03:40
Post subject:
This is character map I really like and use a lot.
It is GPL3 so I think that means I can post it here and host it.
Java Application: CharMap
Written by: Keith Fenske, http://www.psc-consulting.ca/fenske/
First version: Monday, 19 May 2008
Document revised: Saturday, 13 February 2010
Copyright © 2008 by Keith Fenske. Released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
and I hosted on my google drive site at
Make a folder for the contents of the zip (as it has no master folder), unpack the files there and click the CharMap4.jar file and it should open the GUI.
I have an old circa 2004 computer (which as I footnote ROCKS! With Puppy! Thanks, Everyone for making that possible!) and on it it takes about 5-10s to open (with JRE 1.
It works great and has a puppyistic interface - clean, straightforward, and does only what I want it to.
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Joined: 07 Feb 2010
Posts: 3635
Location: wales ... by the sea
Posted: Sun 13 Sep 2015, 12:23
Post subject:
nilsonmorales wrote:
I like Jdiskreport and Trupax
this just came in very handy .... i needed to find any empty directories in a group of 1400
did the job
Bionicpup64 built with bionic beaver packages
Xenialpup64, built with xenial xerus packages
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Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 12591
Location: Mer méditerrannée (1 kms°)
Posted: Fri 23 Oct 2015, 04:20
Post subject:
List available in french forum
Subject description: For french citizen hardly understanding shakespeare language.
Francophone, Musher0 a listé sa première cipaille sur le forum francophone
ici, here french spoken topic by Musher0
List available in french forum for french citizen hardly understanding shakespeare language.
Jampa tested
with a little help from Joe cocker
java -jar
744 Time(s)
YEs, Jampas speaks french, everything is translated !
1012 Time(s)
Passenger Pelo ! don't ask him to repair the aircraft. Don't use him as a demining dog .... pleeease.
Last edited by Pelo on Tue 07 Feb 2017, 05:59; edited 5 times in total
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Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 3910
Location: 500 seconds from Sol
Posted: Sun 13 Dec 2015, 21:20
Post subject: Couple of Noob Questions
Hi All,
Scanning the Graphics section I ran across LightZone which looked like an App worth adding. Reading the threads about LightZone indicated that to run it requires JRE (Java Runtime Environment). I lump (perhaps wrongly) such underlying applications as "frameworks". To run a Windows exe in Linux, requires Wine; some apps require python; others QT. In the absence of such underlying structures, an app which depends on their presence just hangs in mid-air, unconnected to the operating system. Underlying structure = framework. Maybe not the best choice of words.
Reading the LightZone thread, and following its links lead me to this thread on which Forum Members have graciously listed apps which they thought worthwhile together with links to sites were such apps could be obtained. Two attracted my attention, and I downloaded them. They arrived in the form of "jar"s.
In another "Framework" with which I have some experience, Wine, its loading as an SFS or installation of a pet usually provides the mechanism for calling applications which are to be run under it. Some "Wines" create a separate menu category so that any application you install using it will appear under that category. Portable-Wine does something like that: it creates a Menu entry under System named "Wine Windows Program Loader". Clicking that entry opens a "Window" to portable-wines false Drive_C/Program Files displaying all the EXE files. Selecting one opens the program. Even in the absence of Menu Entries, browsing to the false Drive_C/Program Files and clicking an executable [if the file-manager has received proper instructions] opens the program. Such EXE files can be dragged to the desktop, or called from a manually built application consisting of a bash script and desktop file.
AFAIK, QT and python aren't like wine. The applications which require those "frameworks" must provide their own desktop-files/Menu entries. Installation creates menu entries which, in the absence of their required "framework" just don't run.
So the question: How does the user of Linux call upon his OS to "execute" a "jar"? Is this like Wine, so that loading a JRE SFS, or installing a JRE pet creates a mechanism for calling the application distributed as a Jar? Or like python/Qt where the application must contain its own desktop-file/Menu entry?
Granted, java applications are intended to be "platform" independent. Being able to run under both Windows and Linux, if the requisite JRE is present, is one thing. Generating a Menu entry is another. Windows does it one way. Puppy LInux another. Many portable xp programs run fine under Wine: but if you want a Menu entry, you have to know how to create one. What's the situation with jars when their authors assume they would be run under Windows.
Second dumb question. How compatible
in practice
is backward compatibility? I note that JREs continue to evolve, and that several JRE-SFSes are available, such as jre1.7.0_65_5.7.0.sfs and JRE8u45Lin-i586.sfs.
I understand "backward compatibility" means that
in theory
applications which ran under an earlier version will also run under a later version. With Wine, that has been the case. Later versions almost always mean improvements --such as that more XP applications will run, or run more efficiently-- without loss of the ability to run applications which ran under earlier versions. Consequently, it is generally good practice to use the most recent "stable" version of Wine.
Does JRE have a comparable condition?
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I've avoided JAVA/JRE as the impression I had was that their cross-platform compatibility also presented security concerns. To what extent is that valid? Over-blown? Whatever?
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 6730
Location: Earth
Posted: Sun 13 Dec 2015, 21:39
Post subject:
Hello @Mikeslr.
You are very reasonable accurate in your "framework" references.
To run any .jar in ANY OS/smartPhone/etc, all that is required is that the OS has a JAVA installed.
So for example, if you have JRE1.8.xx installed, depending on the OS, you merely click the *.jar file in a filemanager and it will run.
In my past use of PUPPY Linux with a JAVA installed, in a terminal window I type
# java some.jar
where some.jar is the pathname of the java app you want to run.
Here's an example that just about every PUP admin would do, assuming they have a JAVA installed. It add an intuitive system utility to show all of the PCs and devices currently connected to your LAN:
Go to AngryIP.org
download a DEB for your PC (ie. 32/64 bit)
click it to install. It will put an Menu>Network icon in your system
click the icon
Hope this is helpful in showing that many JAVA developers are also Linux aware to make use of their tools easy to install and work within our systems.
Get ACTIVE Create Circles; Do those good things which benefit people's needs!
We are all related ... Its time to show that we know this!
3 Different Puppy Search Engines
or use
Last edited by gcmartin on Tue 09 Feb 2016, 16:13; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 16 Jun 2008
Posts: 3910
Location: 500 seconds from Sol
Posted: Mon 14 Dec 2015, 12:03
Post subject: Thanks for the Info
Hi gcmartin,
Thanks for the information. Very helpful.
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Joined: 14 Oct 2005
Posts: 6730
Location: Earth
Posted: Sun 27 Dec 2015, 15:05
Post subject: Developers can add JAVA to their distros at NO ISO impact
@Rerwin has put together a VERY complete JAVA PET which brings consistency to ALL PUP distros, no matter their base for building the PUP or the CPU the distro runs on (32/64bit). See the bottom on this thread's Opening Post.
The practical implication is that it places the selection in the hands of the user and it is positioned in the PUP's Menu for use in install or upgrade.
Excellent approach for PUP developers (the PET carries
NO discernible weight
to their ISO) and user's alike. This approach means nothing happens with JAVA in the user system until the user decides and starts it via the System's Menu.
Hope this is helpful
Get ACTIVE Create Circles; Do those good things which benefit people's needs!
We are all related ... Its time to show that we know this!
3 Different Puppy Search Engines
or use
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Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 12591
Location: Mer méditerrannée (1 kms°)
Posted: Mon 28 Dec 2015, 02:21
Post subject: java -jar xxxxxx.jar
Open "java -jar xxxxxx.jar' is the command i use (thanks to Musher0)
Lalaclick :
* Unique Playlist Philosophy
* Smart Zapping
* Easy File Copying
* Similar Artist/Genre Playlists
* Slideshow, Lyrics, ..
* Minimalism in Layout and Usage
* Research Support
* ..and more..
Passenger Pelo ! don't ask him to repair the aircraft. Don't use him as a demining dog .... pleeease.
Last edited by Pelo on Thu 23 Jun 2016, 07:14; edited 3 times in total
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Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 12591
Location: Mer méditerrannée (1 kms°)
Posted: Mon 08 Feb 2016, 21:21
Post subject: GCMartin merci for this topic
Subject description: A summary of java applis.
GCMartin merci for this topic, its'what we need.
A summary of java applis.
Java applis are nore not better than others.
The advantage : you store them on your Windows partition. Puppy Linux only need the Jre up do date and can keep its light weight... Windows as the stuff, Puppy is served quite free of MBs
Ejemplo : makagiga can be run by my Windows 7, by Wine, and by JRE (JRE is much betteer than Wine)
What is Makagiga ? A brand new ToDoList that needs JRE8
Its for fun, Puppy has Osmo as default. But French, and chinese too like a lot to change how to reach a function, to change meals in the menu.
Surtout moi. You eat Osmo, you will taste Makagiga, like a gourmet.
Take a glance here
Passenger Pelo ! don't ask him to repair the aircraft. Don't use him as a demining dog .... pleeease.
Last edited by Pelo on Thu 23 Jun 2016, 07:15; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 13 Aug 2011
Posts: 338
Location: France
Posted: Sun 10 Apr 2016, 06:40
Post subject:
New java version is available on the
ASRI édu
forum (32-bit and 64-bit package) :
Java 1.8u77 (PET)
Many apps are running on Java :
(or Freeplane) a mind mapper
an implementation of a computing environment called Logo
a dynamic mathematics software
an educative application to make exercices
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Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 12591
Location: Mer méditerrannée (1 kms°)
Posted: Sun 05 Jun 2016, 00:18
Post subject: Jukes or Jajuk, we shall debate
Jukes or Jajuk, we shall debate in french with my disc jockey in gâtineau, Canada.
I provide both jukes and jajuk on my jazzy Puppy, born yesterday
1028 Time(s)
Passenger Pelo ! don't ask him to repair the aircraft. Don't use him as a demining dog .... pleeease.
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text:
If you have been injured in a cycling accident and need legal advice call us immediately!
We have attorneys standing by to answer your questions.
Bicycle Accident Lawyers in California
In California, cyclists must follow the same basic traffic regulations as motorists. Just like motorists, a person riding a bicycle must exercise care and responsibility in traffic. Unfortunately, many motorists do not know how to properly share the roads with cyclists and accidents result. As the number of people riding bikes has increased, so has the number of traffic accidents involving cars and cyclists. In 2012, according to the NHTSA, 49,000 bicyclists were injured in traffic accidents in the United States and 796 were killed. A person on a bike is not protected by thousands of pounds of metal, if a collision does occur, the cyclist's injuries can be severe.
The most common theory of liability in a bicycle accident case is Negligence. If it can be shown that the driver was at fault, damages may be recovered. Other theories of liability may also be pursued such as unsafe road conditions, and product manufacturing or design defects. The specific facts of each case must be analyzed by an experienced attorney in order to determine the cause of the accident, the liability of the parties, and the appropriate damages.
You may also be entitled to compensation for the cost of repairs or even replacement of your damaged bicycle. If your bike is totaled (it cannot be adequately and fully repaired) by the accident then you are entitled to be compensated for the replacement value of your bike. Do not let insurance adjusters trick you into accepting a depreciated value for your bike.
Bicycle accident claims are subject to various Statutes Of Limitations which limit the amount of time you have to file a lawsuit. In order to protect your rights, you should immediately seek the advice of an attorney who has experience with bicycle accidents. If you were hit by a government vehicle such as a city bus, fire truck, police car, etc. you must immediately contact us as municipalities often have a shorter window in which to file a claim. It can be as short as 30-60 days.
Call one of our experienced bicycle accident lawyers for a free consultation 1 (800) 400-8742


text:
You'd think actually casting Mike Tyson in the first movie would have cleared Todd Philips and crew to make all the Tyson jokes they wanted, right?
Wrong. Apparently, they also need to get Iron Mike's tattoo artist on board.
S. Victor Whitmill (the "S" stands for "Savings"), the tat man who put the Maori-inspired design on Tyson's already terrifying face, is claiming he owns the copyright and didn't give his permission for Ed Helms' Dr. Stu to sport the exact same pattern.
U.S. & World
After he threatened a lawsuit, Warner Bros. agreed to digitally alter the design when the movie hits DVD and Blu-ray if some agreement can't be worked out with Whitmill beforehand.
No word on whether Whitmill plans on sharing the "agreement" with the Maori people.
Oh, hey WB - if you're looking for new face tat suggestions, look no further.


text:
Agile DevOps
Continuous software delivery in the cloud
Leverage an open Continuous Delivery platform
Content series:
This content is part # of # in the series: Agile DevOps
This content is part of the series:Agile DevOps
Stay tuned for additional content in this series.
When implemented effectively, Continuous Delivery (CD) embraces the DevOps philosophy of collaboration between traditionally separate teams: development and operations. CD is the automated implementation of the build, deploy, test, and release process. With CD, software is always in a releasable state. With every change to any part of the software system — infrastructure, application code, configuration, or data — a release candidate goes through a delivery pipeline where the software is created, environments are built, databases are constructed, tests are run, and software is deployed. Many tools make up a platform capable of moving the software system along this pipeline.
This article introduces an open source platform for CD called OpenDelivery, developed by Stelligent. OpenDelivery combines open source tools, a cloud infrastructure, and scripts. It supports the concept that the whole software system is code. The scripts are all versioned in a GitHub version-control repository. OpenDelivery uses the numerous tools listed in Table 1 to create the platform, and it supports Rails, Grails, and Java™ development on Linux™. In this article, I'll describe the basic steps for running the platform, using the delivery pipeline, and running jobs to provision environments and deploy applications.
Table 1. Tools used by the OpenDelivery platform
|Amazon Web Services (AWS) CloudFormation
|OpenDelivery uses CloudFormation — a template language for describing the provisioning of AWS resources — for the full infrastructure automation of Jenkins environments and the configuration of AWS resources for target environments.
|Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
|OpenDelivery uses EC2 for all its compute instances.
|Amazon CloudWatch
|OpenDelivery uses CloudWatch to monitor some basic performance metrics and sends Simple Notification Service (SNS) notifications when thresholds are exceeded.
|Amazon Route 53
|Route 53 is a highly available and scalable DNS that OpenDelivery uses to set domains to endpoints based on user preferences.
|Amazon SimpleDB
|SimpleDB is a NoSQL database that is highly available and scalable. OpenDelivery uses it to store pipeline configuration such as IP addresses and CloudFormation stack names.
|Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
|OpenDelivery uses SNS to send messages when it creates environments.
|Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
|OpenDelivery uses S3 to store ephemeral files used by the platform.
|Capistrano is a Ruby-based deployment-specific DSL that OpenDelivery uses to deploy applications to environments.
|GitHub hosts the OpenDelivery source code. Users of OpenDelivery must also use a GitHub account for their application code.
|Jenkins is a Continuous Integration (CI) server. OpenDelivery uses Jenkins as its platform for running all builds and deployments of application code, configuration, data, and infrastructure changes.
|Puppet is an infrastructure automation tool with its own domain-specific language (DSL). All of the infrastructure automation for the target environments is written in Puppet and called by CloudFormation.
|Most of the scripts that automate the pipeline are written in Ruby.
The three prerequisites for successfully installing the OpenDelivery platform are:
- CloudFormation: Sign up for AWS CloudFormation to gain access to all of the required services that OpenDelivery uses.
- GitHub: You must have a GitHub account. It's free to sign up with GitHub.
- Route 53: You need to set up a hosted zone in Route 53 for a domain that you own. This domain will be used in your OpenDelivery scripts to address the resources that are created as a part of the platform.
See Related topics for a link to the OpenDelivery Quick Start Guide. Be aware that in using OpenDelivery, you will be charged AWS fees for resource usage.
Provisioning the continuous-integration platform
The first step in setting up the OpenDelivery CD platform for your projects is to provision the Jenkins CI server in AWS. To begin, run the CloudFormation setup template. You will be prompted to enter the following parameters:
- ApplicationName: The CNAME prefix for the Jenkins CI environment you're creating. For example http://ApplicationName.domainname.com.
- GithubUsername: Your GitHub username.
- ProjectName: The name of your GitHub project. For example, if my project's GitHub URL is https://github.com/stelligent/continuous_delivery_open_platform, then my ProjectName is continuous_delivery_open_platform.
- Email: The email address where you'd like messages sent.
- HostedZone: The domain name you own and have created a hosted zone for in Route 53.
- GithubOrganization: The name of your GitHub organization. For example, if my project's GitHub URL is https://github.com/stelligent/continuous_delivery_open_platform, then my GithubOrganization is stelligent.
- GithubPassword: Your GitHub password for the GithubOrganization and ProjectName.
- KeyName: The name of your EC2 key pair. Do not include any file suffixes.
- InstanceType: The EC2 instance type. Use the default if you are unsure.
After you complete the wizard, the platform will take about 20 minutes to build. When it's done building, go to the CloudFormation Console and select the check box next to the stack with jenkinsstack in its name. Then, click the Outputs tab. Copy the value from the Domain key row and enter this value in your web browser to launch the newly created Jenkins CI server running in AWS. You'll see the initial Jenkins configuration, shown in Figure 1:
Figure 1. Initial Jenkins configuration after it's provisioned using CloudFormation
A CD pipeline
With OpenDelivery, a standard delivery pipeline is provided out of the box. It runs the StartDeliveryPipeline, Build, CreateTargetEnvironment, and DeployApplication Jenkins jobs in sequence. If any of these jobs fails, the pipeline fails and software is not deployed.
An example of a delivery pipeline — as represented in Jenkins — is shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2. Delivery pipeline as represented in the Jenkins CI server
In Figure 2, the software goes through three stages. First, after a build is run through a CI process, Jenkins runs any required setup using the StartDeliveryPipeline job. Then it creates a target environment with the CreateTargetEnvironment job. Finally, it deploys the application into the target environment as represented in the DeployApplication job. These three stages run as a unit of work in which if any of the jobs fails, the pipeline fails.
By establishing a delivery pipeline such as this, you assess a release candidate for risk — as more and more automated processes occur — with each step in the pipeline the software goes through. This means that once it successfully completes the pipeline, the release candidate could potentially be released to production if the business chooses to do so. You can also configure the pipeline to deploy to production.
Provisioning target environments
In the context of the OpenDelivery platform, environments are defined as the operating system on EC2 instances along with other provisioned resources — such as security groups, domain configuration, and storage. Once an environment is provisioned, software can be deployed to it. The Jenkins job that is primarily responsible for running the scripts that create these environments is the CreateTargetEnvironment job.
The delivery pipeline in OpenDelivery creates environments from scratch by
calling a CloudFormation template. The template executes Puppet scripts
puppet apply). (For more information on Puppet, see
"Agile DevOps: Infrastructure automation.")
Listing 1 shows the portion of the CloudFormation template that calls Puppet:
Listing 1. CloudFormation snippet from production.template that calls Puppet
"# Install Ruby 1.9.3\n", "rpm -Uvh /tmp/ruby-1.9.3p0-2.amzn1.x86_64.rpm\n", "# Install Puppet 3.0.1 from Rubygem\n", "gem install puppet --no-rdoc --no-ri\n", "groupadd puppet\n", "# Run Puppet\n", "puppet apply --modulepath=/home/ec2-user/modules /home/ec2-user/manifests/site.pp\n", ...
OpenDelivery provides these scripts in its GitHub repository. You can alter the standard scripts for the servers and configuration in use in your infrastructure.
Running deployments
Automated deployments run in Capistrano. You can use Capistrano to deploy to multiple types of development and OS platforms. These deployments are run from Jenkins jobs onto environments created from the CloudFormation and Puppet scripts described in the preceding section. The Jenkins job that is primarily responsible for running the scripts that run the deployment is the DeployApplication job.
The snippet in Listing 2 shows a Capistrano script that runs
preconfigure and
deploy tasks:
Listing 2. Capistrano snippet from deploy.rb that resets an environment and runs a deployment
task :preconfigure do run "cd #{deploy_to} && sudo rm -rf #{deploy_to}/#{artifact_name}" config_content = from_template("config/templates/s3_download.erb") put config_content, "/home/ec2-user/s3_download.rb" run "sudo chmod 655 /home/ec2-user/s3_download.rb" end task :deploy do run "sudo ruby /home/ec2-user/s3_download.rb --outputdirectory #{deploy_to}/ \ --bucket #{s3_bucket} --key #{artifact}" case when language == "rails" run "cd #{deploy_to} && sudo tar -zxf #{artifact}" run "sudo chown -R ec2-user:ec2-user #{deploy_to}/#{artifact_name}" end end ... case when language == "rails" after "preconfigure", "deploy", "database:configuration", "stripe:initializer", \ "bundler:install", "database:migration", "virtualhost:configuration", \ "whenever:set", "postconfigure", "restart"
You'll find additional Capistrano recipes in a subdirectory within the
directory named deployment in the OpenDelivery GitHub repository. In Listing 2, examples of these recipes are
stripe (stripe.rb) and
(virtualhost.rb). You can add, modify, or delete recipes based on your
deployment needs.
Continuous testing
The OpenDelivery platform includes essential Cucumber acceptance tests that run against the infrastructure (the CI and target environments) and deployments. These tests run every time that changes are applied to scripts that provision environments or run deployments from the CreateTargetEnvironment and DeployApplication jobs, respectively. The example in Listing 3 is from a Cucumber script in the OpenDelivery platform that verifies that certain server components are installed and operational:
Listing 3. Snippet from a Cucumber script in OpenDelivery (production.feature) that runs automated tests against an environment
Feature: Scripted Provisioning of Target Environment As a Developer I would like my target environment provisioned correctly so I can deploy applications to it Background: Given I am sshed into the environment Scenario: Is the proper version of Postgresql installed? When I run "/usr/bin/postgres --version" Then I should see "8.4" Scenario: Is the proper version of Apache installed? When I run "/usr/sbin/httpd -v" Then I should see "2.2" ...
You can modify or extend the supplied tests to test more environment or deployment configuration.
Build, deploy, test, and release with every change
In this article, you learned how OpenDelivery leverages open source tools and configuration to create a platform for continuous software delivery in the cloud, and how you can take advantage of the platform. Continuous delivery works best for development and operations teams that work together. The next installment talks about how to break down departmental silos and create cross-functional DevOps teams.
Downloadable resources
Related topics
- "Continuous Delivery in the Cloud" (Brian Jakovich, Stelligent, October 2012): A six-part series on creating a CD platform.
- OpenDelivery Quick Start Guide: Instructions for setting up the OpenDelivery CD platform.
- DevOps in the Cloud LiveLessons: Create a Continuous Delivery Platform Using AWS and Jenkins: Find out about Paul Duvall's video-training series on continuous delivery.
- Collaborative development and operations: Find out how IBM SmartCloud Continuous Delivery helps you deploy application changes from IBM Rational Team Concert into a cloud environment.
- Java technical podcasts: The cloud files: A series of interviews with the companies, people, and technologies impacting cloud computing today.
- OpenDelivery: Download the source code and templates for running the OpenDelivery platform.
- IBM Tivoli Provisioning Manager: Tivoli® Provisioning Manager enables a dynamic infrastructure by automating the management of physical servers, virtual servers, software, storage, and networks.
- IBM Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms: Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms provides high availability and automation for enterprise-wide applications and IT services.
- Evaluate IBM products in the way that suits you best.


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Fiona Apple
Fiona Apple is a sinewy piece of sweet meat with a husky voice and giant eyes. Fond of gin-soaked, speak-easy art-jazz, she made the unfortunate decision to become a recording artist of this type of music before she learned how to sing more than two notes. The two notes she could sing were lower than the piano's lowest note, so she also learned that instrument to make up for her incredible lack of vocal range. She is also bat shit nuts.
Personal Life[edit]
Apple was born in therapy. The doctor took one look at her and declared, "This one needs help" and referred her parents to a good psychiatrist. She was born into a relatively well-off entertainment industry family, so her mental health was doomed from the start.
Apple is beautiful and sexy if you like twigs with cookie-monster eyeballs and lips made of whale fat. Her sultry voice booms out like a vacuum cleaner with a failing motor, rounding out both of the notes she manages to squeeze out of her stick-figure gut with an odd combination of desperate urgency and mental-case paranoia.
She tops off her tuneless, jazz-bludgeoned caterwauling with piano keyboard pounding to match, making her "edgy".
Though she is an unmitigated loon, she has carried her instability well throughout her career, incorporating it into her mystique. It was a key factor, for example, in her baffling decision to use acclaimed half-sasquatch comic Zach Galifianakis in her video for the song "Not About Love".
Because Apple does not care whether or not people want to know how completely hatstand she is, deep down, she douses her lyrics with overly personal inner conflict that embarrasses and disturbs, which again makes her "edgy".
For instance, from the song Sullen Girl:
I wander the halls
Along the walls and
Under my breath
I say to myself
I need fuel
OK, WTF? She wanders up and down the halls, muttering to herself that she needs fuel. Yes. And that's when the men in white coats with the happy needles show up and bring her back to her little room.
First release: Tidal, 1996. Includes the hits "Criminal" and "Sleep to Dream" and a deceptive close-up cover photo that makes her seem almost attractive.
Second release: due to space constraints on the host server, this album title cannot be listed, 1999. We told you she is as mad as a bag of geese. She forgot to stop titling this album, so by press time, they just said "fuck it" and added three dots to the end of it. The title is a rambling, insane work of terrible epic stream-of-consciousness poetry that would worry you if you were her mother.
Third release: Extraordinary Machine, 2005. Somehow this record was Apple's highest-charting release, even though no one has ever heard any of the songs from it. Before it was released, her bat-shit
terrorists fans occupied the offices of Sony Music Entertainment carrying "Free Fiona" signs, thinking the company was holding it hostage for some reason.


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Another week has flown by and it's time for my latest Good News Friday post.
My first item is about a very unusual Egyptian: Maikel Nabil, a blogger, peace activist and human rights dissident amongst other things is visiting Israel, and he brings a message of genuine peace (via CiFWatch):
The word "bravery" is pranced around way too frequently these days, but a young Arab, in a country struggling to free itself from the yoke of tyranny – who defiantly promotes the causes of democracy, tolerance and peace between Arabs and Israelis deserves such recognition.
Liberal Egyptian blogger, human rights dissident, and peace advocate Maikel Nabil spent over 302 days in prison for criticizing the Egyptian Military after it took power in early 2011. Before he was released on Jan. 24, 2012 – after a "Free Maikel" Twitter campaign captured the support of millions worldwide, and after his 130-day hunger strike – Nabil was subjected to beatings, torture and other cruel forms of abuse.
Nabil believes there is a much greater degree of goodwill on behalf of Egyptians towards Israelis than what the media is reporting, and it would be fair to characterize his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories (sponsored by UN Watch) as a genuine "peace mission" aimed at dispelling myths about both Egyptians and Israelis – all of which makes the disruption of his speech at Hebrew University yesterday, by "pro-Palestinian activists" almost inexplicable.
Nabil believes that the Muslim Brotherhood-led government is indeed a step backwards for Egyptian democracy (and for Egyptian-Israeli relations), but he expressed confidence that the truly liberal values of the revolution will ultimately prevail.
"It might take 3 or 4 years", he told me, but a democratic Egypt which respects the human rights of all its citizens, secular and religious, will, he fervently believes, eventually emerge.
Finally, I'd highly recommend reading Nabil's blog post about Israel, also written while in an Egyptian prison, titled "Why am I pro-Israel", which provides a fascinating insight into the mind of the truly liberal activist, and should offer a glimmer of hope even to the most cynical among us.
I echo Adam Levick's recommendation to read Nabil's blog-post. His insight into what makes Israel tick and what is wrong with the Arab Middle East is highly impressive – as is the man himself. A true hero.
My next piece of good news is about a very unusual group of Olim (new immigrants) who just landed in Israel this week. Michael Freund, founder and chairman of Shavei Israel which assists lost tribes and hidden Jewish communities to return to the Jewish people) reports on the Aliya of 53 members of the "lost tribe" of Bnei Menashe from north-east India, joining the 1,700 members of their group who already living here:
This past Monday, as the Uzbekistan Airways flight began its descent to Tel Aviv, over 50 pairs of eyes looked out the plane's windows, anxious to catch a glimpse of their new home.
For more than 27 centuries, their ancestors had wandered in exile, clinging to the dream that one day, despite the odds, they would somehow be able to return. And now, at last, that age-old ambition was poised to become reality, as 53 new immigrants from the Bnei Menashe community of northeastern India came in for a safe landing at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Who says we don't live in an age of miracles? The Bnei Menashe are descendants of the tribe of Manasseh, one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel exiled by the Assyrian empire in 722 BCE. Despite being cut off from the rest of the Jewish people for so many centuries, the Bnei Menashe remained dedicated to their heritage, stubbornly cleaving to the faith of their forefathers. They observed the Sabbath and kept kosher, celebrated the festivals, practiced the sacrificial rites and even argued a lot among themselves, just as Jews have done since time immemorial.
Indeed, the Bnei Menashe never forgot who they are or where they came from, or where they one day dreamt of returning.
That fidelity is now being rewarded as their remarkable odyssey comes full circle and they make their way back to their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
THE 53 new arrivals constituted the first group of Bnei Menashe that Shavei Israel, the organization I founded and chair, has been able to bring on aliya since 2007, when the Olmert government inexplicably decided to freeze the immigration of these precious souls. But after five long and often lonely years of pounding the pavement as well as a number of bureaucrats' desks, we were able at last to persuade the powers that be to open the door once again for the Bnei Menashe.
In a unanimous and historic decision, the Israeli cabinet on October 24 passed resolution 5180, which formally restarted the aliya and granted Shavei Israel permission to bring an initial group of 274 Bnei Menashe back home to Zion. The 53 immigrants who arrived earlier this week were the first batch from among the 274, while the remainder will come here over the next month.
This is all being made possible thanks to some generous Jewish philanthropists in Europe and the United States, as well as some of Israel's Christian friends.
The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is covering most of the cost of the flights for the immigrants, while Bridges for Peace and others are helping to fund their absorption.
The new arrivals will join the 1,700 Bnei Menashe who are already living in the Jewish state, and have become an integral part of Israeli society.
The return of the Bnei Menashe to our people is a tangible reminder of the power of Jewish memory to overcome all obstacles, and the inevitability of Jewish destiny to prevail. Let anyone who doubts the power of the Jewish spirit take a moment to consider the wonder of it all.
A tribe of Israel, once deemed lost forever, is lost no more.
Read the whole very moving article. Bruchim Haba'im to the Bnei Menashe! Welcome to Israel. May you have an easy klita (absorption).
The last item for this week comes once again from Israel's amazingly inventive health and biomedical industry. An Israeli company has announced the successful trial of an implant to control epilepsy:
Much progress has been made in the treatment of epilepsy, but some forms of the condition, like "refractory epilepsy" cannot be treated by any drugs on the market today.
But Israeli company BioControl Medical (and its spin-off CerebralRx) recently announced the successful trial of FitNeS, an implant designed to treat epilepsy patients with partial onset seizures who do not achieve full seizure control with available prescription drugs.
BioControl, which already got the medical community's attention with their CardioFit implant, presented its findings at the American Epilepsy Society 2012 meeting in San Diego. In the five reported cases, the device was successfully implanted in patients and led to an approximate 50 percent reduction in seizures.
"The early results of treatment with FitNeS are very encouraging. Even at relatively high currents, we are seeing positive outcomes in efficacy and an absence of side effects experienced by patients," says Profesor Elinor Ben-Menachem, the physician monitoring the patients.
The FitNeS system was developed to offer a new treatment option for refractory epilepsy patients while delivering improvements over existing vagus nerve stimulation devices. In addition to its potential to increase stimulation efficacy and minimize side effects, the FitNeS system was designed to employ lower currents, minimize nerve damage through a unique nerve electrode interface, reduce current leakage through improved cuff isolation, and allow for safe and easy explant of the electrode if required.
Kol hakavod once more to Israel's brilliant scientists, working to make the world a better place for all humankind.
Shabbat shalom everyone!


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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
A perfect morning for a crisp walk...
The temperature is perfect. The fresh fallen snow is absolutely breathtaking, light and fluffy. The air is fresh. Branches on the trees are laden with sparkling jewels. Such a lovely way to start the day!
These opportunities don't present themselves very often, and when they do, it refreshes the soul and renews the spirits. I am thankful, very thankful!
Our book club met at our home last evening and watched "The Mistress of Spices" on DVD. Most of us had read the book as well. It was a great evening, filled with fellowship, laughter and tasteful delights made, of course, with spices! I think you would enjoy this book written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Happy Tuesday to all!
Posted by Journey at 10:40 AM 0 comments
Monday, January 10, 2011
How much is too much?
Okay ladies, I'm looking for comments on this post. I am in the process of picking our new lighting for my kitchen/dining room. I took down a 4 ft. section track lighting that was old and here when we bought this house. I had hoped to find another type of lighting that would provide lots of light for the food pantry and counters (without have to do additional work on the ceiling). Hubby thinks an 8 ft. section of mono-rail lighting would work. I'm wondering if that isn't a bit much. I am such a visual person! And I just can't convince him to buy it and hold it up while I decide whether I like it or not.....wonder why? Does anyone have any suggestions/comments?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by Journey at 9:24 PM 2 comments
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Snuggled by the Roaring Fire...
Have you ever had one of those wonderfully lazy days...two really productive days in a row and the best intentions for today. However, after sleeping in, fixing a light brunch, the hubby and I decided we were not going to be very motivated today. And I might add, we've been extremely successful! Cleaned out emails, organized files on the computer, send a few notes - all while snuggled under the afghan next to the fire and watching television.
We ended up pulling movies from the cabinet and are now watching "Mountain Men" with Charleston Heston and Brian Keith. Normally, it isn't a movie I would select. My memories of Charleston Heston involved a chariot. There have been a few entertaining moments. Both hubby and I have decided our fathers would have loved this movie. As a little girl, I spent many evenings watching John Wayne movies with my dad.
When my daughter comes home, we always have at least one "girls day" where we pick a classic...Thornbirds, Gone With the Wind, North and South, Dirty Dancing, P.S. I Love You, Coco Channel, etc. This year it was the Godfather trilogy.
Do you have any special movie memories?
Posted by Journey at 9:04 PM 1 comments
Thursday, January 6, 2011
It's a Wrap...
Posted by Journey at 1:58 AM 1 comments
Monday, January 3, 2011
My Responses to Meet Me on Monday
For the first time, I'm joining Never Growing Old: Meet Me on Monday to learn more about fellow bloggers. (One of my resolutions for 2011 is to post more regularly!)
1. Do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Yes, this year I actually made a list of resolutions.
2. What food item are you craving right now?
Ice cold, red, ripe, juicy watermelon.
3. When is your birthday?
September 25th
4. What were you doing an hour ago?
Playing Beezerwezzer with the family.
5. Last thing you cooked?
Lemon Chicken on the grill.
Posted by Journey at 1:18 AM 2 comments


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When in doubt just raid your crafts closet. On one such raid, I randomly cut up pieces of threads and started braiding them and braided those braids. By the end of it I almost had a necklace in my hands. A chain and a couple of jump rings later, I had just that- a brand new necklace !
This is how I went about it. Click here for step by step tutorial with pictures
Indian Girl


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Several branches of my Norwegian-American family began farming in Wisconsin before relocating to Minnesota. The Wisconsin Historical Society website has a fine example of a typical "America Letter," in which immigrants wrote home to Norway and explained all about their day-to-day lives, and in most cases, their newly found prosperity. Increasing population in 19th century Norway made it impossible for the country's agricultural production to support everyone, and only a chosen few had the opportunity to become land owners. When the earliest Norwegian emigrants left their homeland for American soil, many of them settled in Wisconsin. The excerpts below are from a letter written by Norwegian immigrants who settled in Dane County, Wisconsin during the 1840s. These reports from kin in America were eagerly awaited in Norway and widely circulated in the homeland communities. The main author of this letter is Gunder Asmundson Bondal, (pronounced "Boon-doll"), who arrived in Wisconsin in 1848 at age 44. His wife, Kari Evensdatter, also contributed to the letter. In 1854, five years after arriving in Wisconsin, the Bondal family wrote to siblings in Fyrsedal, Norway.[1] A reference to the slight bow, or submissive dip, that Norwegians offered to people of higher social or economic rank in the old country.
Dear Sisters and Brothers: We are firmly convinced that you have waited a long time for a writing and information from us in this, our foreign home. This step to find a way to this our farm on which we have settled was a chance course as over the ocean we went forward to take to this moral state. We left Crag 8 days after Santenhun Day and finally reached New York after 8 weeks and 3 days of sailing. . . We came to New York on December 1, at 6 o'clock in the morning. On the 2nd we left there at 6 o'clock in the morning and on the 3rd we were in Albany at 6 o'clock in the morning. The canal begins in the town of Albany and goes to the town of Buffalo. From there begins the long inland journey from New York to Koshkonong, it is called karskland in Norske. . . The way has been long, about 300 Norske miles. . . It is almost unbelievable how fortunate it has gone for us the whole time in the new world. There is no one of our ages here who have climbed upward as fast as we. Cattle is now high priced so the first thing each of us did was to sell cattle for 80 dollars each. We own 4 milk cows, 2 that are 2 years old, 2 that are 1 year old and 1 calf. 5 driving oxen, 10 hogs or swine, 20 chickens, 2 geese, and 5 sows. This fall we butchered 4 pretty big hogs. This fall we cut so much wood that we can sell a hundred dollars' worth. We had a desirable and fruitful year. It is not often that we have this much wood and it also has a high price. There are several here who have cut a thousand bushels of wood. . . The price per bushel is a dollar, and that is expensive. The new railroad has just been finished to Madison, which is 3 Norske miles west of here. And everything is expensive here that we need to work the land. We bought a plow to work up the new ground with for 12 dollars. . . A four wheeled wagon costs 61 dollars. One thrashing machine for 25 dollars. 2 iron spades for 2½ dollars. . . Animals or cattle are high priced. A cow costs from 15 to 20 & 25 dollars. For the very best is 30 dollars. . . A pair of horses cost 150 to 200 dollars. There are many horses here. All the different kind of good work tools here are so expensively made the Norske tools are like they were made by a child. All that man shall work with is made in a large factory that is usually driven by a steam engine. There are machines used to cut wood with. Some are called mower machines to cut hay with. Machines to saw wood with. Machines to thrash with. These machines are driven by horses. Wages vary with a year's time. In the summer, wages are 15 to 20 dollars for a month. In the Winter they are 10 to 13 dollars a month. . . Girls usually earn from 1 to 1.30 dollars to 1.50 for a week. The wage is the same both summer and winter. Their work is the same as a housekeeper in Norway. They have more respect for girls here than in Norway. When an American wants to hire a maid, he comes with a horse and carriage. . . And here it is so that a working man will never be from the husband's or master's table to eat whether he works for a shopkeeper or others. All shall be as highly respected. Yes, Americans are friendly and high-flightedness we cannot understand. We are so used to the proud Europeans who are haughty. . . . And one never sees an American with his hands at his sides as the foreigners do.[1] The land's riches and fertility is impossible for us to describe. . . The land is not flat but rolling. It is layered with hills and valleys and mountains, which are higher. These stretch for the most part north and south. . . Here the prairie has had cholera and it has ruled as in Norway. It comes to take control, and it has dominated. Cholera has been here on Koshkonong, but this fall it has not been here in these easterly places. Aadne has been sick with it 2 times and both times we cured him. We all have been in good health the whole time and have had better health than in Norway. I have not been this well for many years. . . . Kari also finds herself well satisfied. Now we do not want to go back even if we were the owners of the best farm in Moland. This we know you cannot believe. My wife has had 2 pregnancies since we arrived here. The first was in the year 1850 the 13 of April and then she delivered twins. One was named Grumund and the other Ole. Grumund lived just 10 days and then died. Ole is doing well. The other was born August 16 in 1853 and was baptized on the 25th. That one was given the name Tone in Baptism. All of our children are in good health, growing and thriving well. We do not want to forget to thank our Father in Heaven who cares for all in his creation every day of our lives. I would not advise any stranger or rich man to come here to this ground as those who have large estates would wonder at the beginning. But those who are good workers will go on because one has to work harder here than in the Fatherland... Here there is a great desire to go to California to look for gold. Thousands of Norske and Americans are going and coming back with hundreds of dollars in gold and money. Those who go there earn 100 dollars a month. Knut Olsen Porsgrund has big thoughts about going there. I think he will. Before, money for the trip was 300 dollars. Now it is 100 dollars. Now there is a faster way to get there. The [wagon] train is now finished to California. Those who are so inclined and are able to go there are merely fortunate. For me, Kari Evensdatter, I would like to kindly ask you who are there to greet my aged father if he is still living, and to all our sisters and brothers that we are living well and are with good health. From your devoted brother, Aadne Asmundson, I believe that I would advise you to come here to America and that you would find it better here when you shall acquire 100 dollars when you earn only 20 dollars in Norway. This I am well acquainted with. I can get a large contract for steady work and get money. Otherwise do as you think, but my advice is the best. Now we will go no further and must break off this our writing. With a diligent greeting to lovable and unforgettable sisters and brothers. And the same to all other relatives and known friends. Live well, and if we are not fortunate enough to see one another more in this world, may we all meet and go forward with gladness in the next. Write us a letter and tell of yourselves. Koshkonong in Wisconsin the 17th of January 1854.
Gunder Asmundson Bondal Aadne Asmundson Bondal Kari Evensdatter 1854


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In partnership with the Maguire Energy Institute, the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies had the privilege to bring Congressman Javier Treviño Cantú from Mexico to Dallas last Friday. Congressman Treviño is an elected official of the Mexican Federal Congress for the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), and has been well involved in Mexico's recent energy reformation process. His appearance gave scholars, government officials, business professionals, and even students some unique insights on the prospects and implications regarding the energy reform.
Congressman Treviño opened his discussion by analyzing three vital aspects: the current predicaments and objectives that the government of Mexico is aggressively addressing, the purpose and future of the new constitutional amendments that have been ratified, and energy trends that led to the necessity of implementing a novel energy reform. Specifics of the energy reform itself were also meticulously explained, showing that Mexico indeed has a viable plan for revitalizing the nation and entering the world economy as a major energy player.
Despite opposition from political actors and interests groups who wish to retain Mexico's old policy on energy, Congressman Treviño remains optimistic that the citizens of Mexico, and indeed the international community, will come to see these reforms as progressive and economically beneficial. Much thought and effort has been put into these reforms to ensure Mexico's future is secured, all while promoting transparency and anti-corruption policies. Although it is still early to feel the effects of the reforms, this feat has the opportunity to transform North America into an energy powerhouse. Indeed, the future is beginning to look much brighter for Mexico.
– Julien Teel, 2013 Tower Center Vaughn Intern
Julien Teel recently graduated from SMU in December 2013 with a degree in Political Science and International Studies. His research encompasses security and defense issues in East Asia, as well as analyzing the trilateral relationship between the U.S., Japan, and China. Currently, Julien is in the process of applying for Officer Candidate School in the Navy with the intention of entering as an Intelligence Officer. He eventually hopes to become a Foreign Area Officer in the Navy, formulating and promoting American foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region.


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Murray Hill and New Providence, N.J., 14 January 2013 – The Linde Group today announced that Dr. Art Shirley, will give a presentation at the European Unconventional Gas Summit on how Linde's energized solutions are helping producers increase the productivity and decrease the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing in the U.S. Dr. Art Shirley, head of Chemistry and Energy of Linde Gas will discuss how Linde's successful U.S. experience in the implementation of energized solutions that incorporate carbon dioxide or nitrogen can be applied to hydraulic fracturing in Europe. The European Unconventional Gas Summit will be held in Vienna, Austria, January 29-31, 2013.
Approaches using energized solutions can increase the overall productivity of wells over the entire lifecycle, while reducing the water needed for the fracturing process and minimizing environmental effects. Using real-life examples, Dr. Shirley identifies which wells may benefit from the use of energized fluids and key considerations guiding their use. Linde has decades of experience with the successful application of energized solutions in the production of hydrocarbons from unconventional sources such as shale.
"Many Europeans want to realize the benefits of the region's rich deposits of cleaner, more economical natural gas," noted Dr. Shirley. "Linde's extensive experience in the U.S. using energized solutions for hydraulic fracturing highlights their potential to increase production, improve economics and enhance environmental outcomes. In upstream processing applications, energized solutions can displace water and enable the production of hydrocarbons from unconventional reservoirs. We welcome the opportunity to share lessons from our North American operations at this timely conference."
For more information, visit www.lindeoilandgas.com.
For information on the European Unconventional Gas Summit, visit www.eug-summit.com.
About The Linde Group
Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2011 financial year, Linde generated revenue of EUR 13.787 bn. The strategy of the Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The Group is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.
For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com.
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Amy Ficon
Corporate Communications
Phone 908-771-1491
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E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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An Arlington County, Va., District Court judge set a July 18 trial date for a lieutenant colonel who ran the U.S. Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office and was charged with sexual battery over the weekend.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, maintained a stoic facial expression throughout his arraignment Thursday afternoon. He spoke only to answer that he does understand the charge against him.
Sheryl Shane, Krusinski's lawyer, pushed for a September trial date because the media attention focused on the case, but Judge Richard J. McCue rejected that argument and denied the request, News4's Mark Segraves reported.
U.S. & World
Shane told the judge the case is not as cut-and-dry as prosecutors would have people believe. She also said the case will last longer than one day because of the number of witnesses she plans to call and she asked for time to hire a private investigator.
Police allowed Krusinski to leave the courthouse through a private exit to avoid the media, but he went back in the courthouse and told police he wanted to walk past the cameras again, Segraves reported. Mobbed by reporters, Krusinski remained silent.
Krusinski approached a woman in a parking lot in the Crystal City area and grabbed her breasts and buttocks about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, police said. He was drunk, according to the police report.
The victim fought him off — leaving scratches on his face — and called police.
Krusinski was from his post, which he'd held since February, pending the outcome of an investigation. An Air Force spokesperson told Segraves Krusinski remains on active duty and has been moved to a new position within the same organization.
The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Depending on the outcome of the trial, Krusinski could face military discipline, including court martial. That decision is up to the secretary of the Air Force and won't come until after the civilian trial.


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Kinetik Racing Fins Parko Phase 4 XS/S Futures
Parko is one of the world most fluent and effortless surfers, and his fin needs to follow those characteristics. The basis of this template has been refined by Joel and his shaper over the years and has now been carefully integrated into both fin systems. The updated JP57 in Phase 4 construction combines Kinetiks most popular template's with a brand new construction to produce the worlds most elite performance fin.
The key development is the re-designed foil making the new Parko, lighter with thinner curve adding considerable speed, twang and agility to an already renowned outline. Vertical carbon strands enhance the new foil using Phase 4 construction, adding control from base to tip along the leading edge, this technique allows the back half of the fin to twist for additional acceleration out of turns. One last tweak was done by increasing the surface area of 3k carbon in the base offering added support and drive.
Carbo Tune is the absolute premium, high performance fin. The KR team have been instrumental in its development, with countless hours of test driving and fine tuning.
3K carbon fibre has been strategically placed to deliver a unique and precise flex pattern.
Light weight 6 mm Hex Core is the most proven and trusted weight reduction material available delivering the best flex and response.
Tech Specs
Front Fins:
- Base: 112.5 mm
- Height: 112 mm
- Rake: 125°
- Fin Area: 9150.29 mm²
Back Fins:
- Base: 112.5 mm
- Height: 112 mm
- Rake: 125°
- Fin Area: 9150.29 mm²
- Size: X-Small/Small
- Fins in set: 3
- Mount: Futures
If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase you may return it for a full refund, or exchange within 30 days of receiving your order.
Returns are easy! We understand that in some situations returns or exchanges may be necessary. We also want you to be stoked on your purchase. If you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase you may return it for a full refund, or exchange within 30 days of receiving your order. Items must be in new condition with original tags and packaging.
Please make sure your wetsuit fits before taking it in the water. We are not able to take returns or exchanges on used wetsuits.
Please reference our full Return Policy.


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|System: X360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: EA Tiburon
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: EA Sports
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Aug. 10, 2010
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-8
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Everyone
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Caleb Newby
Its time for that yearly ritual again. If youre a sports fan, you know the one. It often starts with a pang of sadness as you realize there is more of summer behind you than ahead. You start to pay attention to the football season as it nears. No, no, not futball, or soccer as us Yankees call it, though you may have enjoyed the World Cup for what it was. No, youre getting ready for American football. And, if you are a gamer of any sort, youre counting down the days until EA Sports releases its yearly behemoth that is the envy of every publisher, Madden NFL.
The Madden franchise is a cash cow for EA. Ever since obtaining the exclusive rights to the NFL brand in video games Madden has become a lock to sell millions of copies every year, making the jump from merely a yearly release to an event. Not many game series can claim that, particularly games on a yearly release time table. Yet for all its pomp and circumstance, there are very real criticisms of the series.
The biggest backlash against Madden are accusations of the yearly release being not much more than a glorified roster update. As in, supposedly, you are paying $60 each year for updated team rosters and incidental game improvements. The funny thing about this is, while it seems this is accepted as a near universal truth and a part of the series history, a quick look at the aggregate scores of past installments shows each game in the past decade tending to average roughly 85%, not bad at all for a game that supposedly only spits out incremental changes. Either the roster update criticism is a myth or reviewers and consumers alike get swept up in the hype during release each year. So, where does Madden NFL 11 stand, objectively? Is it a significant improvement on the series or largely more of the same?
Lets get down to brass tacks and state the obvious; Madden 11 is going to be like Madden 10 and all derivations before it. Its still NFL football. Any changes or improvements will hinge on either the off-the-field aspects or tweaks to the on-the-field gameplay.
Of the new features introduced this year, the one EA is pushing the hardest is the all-new GameFlow play calling system and the corresponding reduced game times. What GameFlow basically does is select a play for you without going into the famous Madden play select screen and instead going right back to the field. According to EA, this cuts down the average time of a game from sixty minutes to roughly thirty. That may be true, as there was definitely time savings to be had, but the game didnt seem to pass significantly faster than I remember before GameFlow. Maybe I selected my plays much faster than normal.
GameFlow plays can also be customized in playbooks for specific situations, allowing for multiple variations should you be looking for that kind of time investment. I was content to go with the default playbooks and accept what was called for me, though I could see the benefit of some adjustments. At the end of a winning game, I dont think there are too many NFL coaches who would keep running the ball when taking a knee would suffice. Not that I minded, as padding stats was just fine with me, but it was hardly realistic play calling. For such a pushed feature, GameFlow comes across as something that would be more of a secondary enhancement instead of the prime focus of how Madden is better than ever. Its certainly a nice option to have, and even better its not forced on you should you want to select your own play at any time during the game, but achieves the same result as the Ask Madden option from years past, with a few seconds extra time savings.
As for actual in-game changes, the big news is the removal of the sprint button, or at least its the big news to me. The sprint button has had a long history in the series, with a generation of gamers raised on hammering the x button every time they took control of the ball carrier. EA must have realized the redundancy of having a sprint button when thats all anyone was going to press. They removed it and put players on auto-sprint. Now, every button press has to do with spinning, stiff arming, and juking. Its a change that takes some getting used to (I still hold down the x button out of habit, which is the stiff arm command now) but it should go a long way to streamlining gameplay.
Graphically, Madden is looking as sharp as ever. Clipping seems to be at an all time low and player movement and momentum is more realistic than ever. For example, when taking control of a receiver running routs, making a hard change if direction isnt the flawless movement it once was; your wideout now needs to plant a foot and change direction more deliberately. Also improved is the offensive line blocking. Running up the middle doesnt resemble the mess it used to be a few years ago; instead actual viable holes open and your blockers seem more intent on opening a functioning gap. Even the pocket forms more naturally around the quarterback, allowing for more planting and throwing and less mad dash scrambling.


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NPR: What Radio Hosts Really Wear
Whether responding to breaking news, hosting a musical performance or interviewing heads of state, employees at NPR aim to dress appropriately for their roles. For the roughly 750 employees at the media organization's Washington headquarters, that can mean anything from shorts and sandals in the summer to tailored suits.
"You're going to dress differently if you're a White House correspondent than if you are shooting video or editing tape on the overnight," said Margaret Low Smith, senior vice president of news.
Scott Simon, host of "Weekend Edition Saturday," said he often gets teased by his colleagues for dressing up, whether it's because of his pocket squares or red socks, or for wearing a particularly voluminous coat in Afghanistan. "You can't let your standards slip just because you're in a war zone," he quipped.


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Aptare has released a new version of its storage resource management (SRM) app called StorageConsole 8 that adds SAN fabric component coverage.
SRM software fell into the doldrums a few years ago when it proved impractical to cover all the various Fibre Channel SAN arrays and fabric devices, filers and iSCSI storage network cards and arrays, and get resource usage data from them. Without a comprehensive cover of all the storage network devices, adapters and storage arrays the SRM apps couldn't provide an acceptable end-to-end picture of storage resource use. The suppliers fell away, with the lucky ones being acquired. HP nabbed AppIQ, for instance.
Aptare didn't start out as an SRM app developer. Instead it provided backup reporting, similar to Bocada, and has then expanded its reporting capabilities to the wider storage resource sphere. It has some 450 customers ranging from small and medium enterprises up to Fortune 500 corporations.
StorageConsole 8, which has been in development for two-and-a-half years, is meant to let sysadmins "proactively monitor their entire storage environment through one centralised Web 2.0 console," and does its job with an agentless design. Much of its two million new lines of code relates to SAN fabric device releases. It has also embraced HTML 5.0, with founder and CEO Rick Clark saying: "We're on the side of Steve Jobs," referring to Jobs' condemnation of Adobe's Flash.
What's new in 8.0? Aptare has added SAN fabric reporting with topology mapping, change management and performance reporting through interactive dashboards.
A main competitor is HP's Storage Essentials, the renamed and developed AppIQ technology. White says: "AppIQ is in theSRM 1.0 category; it's a fat client app and tries to boil the ocean. It requires agents on every host and different agents depending upon the domain being reported on. [Also] Storage Essentials has a quarter of our reporting capability."
Agents can be out of date a week after they are issued; the development of storage infrastructure components is so fast that there is a constant need to push out new agents. White mentions an oil company that switched to Aptare, saying HP was requesting an agent change every two-to-three weeks.
How does Aptare keep up? Clark said that with Aptare software the server executes CLI (Command Line Interface) instructions out to the storage environment, such as a QLogic HBA. If there is new QLogic firmware and the parsing breaks a rules engine in the software dials in to Aptare and pulls down a new version of the parsing rules. It's as if there is a parsing dictionary in the Aptare portal with parsing rules being distributed like anti-virus updates.
Clark contrasts StorageConsole use with its single pane of glass versus using multiple panes of glass from all the storage component vendors. But you can't dispense with the vendor's own management. Clark says: "Users wouldn't use StorageConsole to set up zoning in the fabric or a LUN in a NetApp array. You would use the vendor's own tools. We complement and augment the vendors' own tools, by providing over-arching report and management."
It looks like the SRM bet is being made again and that suppliers like Aptare are thinking that the storage world has become very much more complex in the last five years, with multi-core servers running apps in virtual machines which can transfer to other VMs in the same or different physical servers and need their storage access and quality-of-service to transfer with them. Today's world of virtualised, multi-core servers and SAN fabrics with thousands of ports, which are becoming virtualised, talking to thinly-provisioned and virtualised storage is becoming impossible to manage through multiple panes of glass.
Aptare's bet is that it can provide a better lens through which to monitor and manage virtual machine app-to-array-LUN storage resources than either system vendors like HP with Storage Essentials and individual vendors' tools for component management or overall management like NetApp's SANscreen. Waiting in the wings is VMware, which is likely to get its own SRM reporting and management capability at some stage. There's also Storage Fusion with its storage resource analytics in the cloud service.
It's all about the depth of the SRM tool, its component breadth and ability to keep up to date, its management usability and its ability to work with the hypervisors. ®


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A lot of people are commenting now that Star Wars isn't sci-fi because there's nothing about it that's actually scientific.
It's just futuristic fantasy, they say.
Star Trek tries to suspend your disbelief by maintaining an air of often-bogus scientific authority.
If you had true science fiction; you couldn't travel to another solar system within your lifetime. That's the science as we understand it.
Science Fiction would make for difficult, uncomfortable viewing and not escapism. Interstellar is an example of that. I very much enjoyed it but did not make easy viewing.
I think anyone that thinks it has to be hard sci-fi to be sci-fi is kidding themselves.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and declare yourself mayor of the alley two blocks behind your house. You OWN that piece of town, and you'll be darned if some hipster on FourSquare will knock you down. LET'S GO!
PROJECT RUNWAY – 9:00PM (Bravo – n NBC/Universal network) Last week's party store episode "Runway" was, to my mind, one of the best in the show's history and one of the best episodes of TV I've watched so far this year. While expanding the timeslot for a reality show usually means endless padding ("The Bachelorette"), stretching to 90 minutes has served "Runway" incredibly well. The show can really breathe now. We get little touches we never got before, like contestants talking to each other as their clothes go down the runway, and contestants in the backroom speculating on who's in the top and who's in the bottom. It's brilliant television, and the designs they came up with for such a weird challenge were extremely impressive.
Anyway, thanks to the expanded format, we've gotten to know a good deal of the field in just a handful of episodes. It's clear now that Gretchen is pure evil and must be stopped at all costs. I hate people who give unsolicited advice. Valerie is a delight and I hope she finally beats Gretchen in the end. Mondo looks like he's the lead signer of a Bay Area Weezer tribute band. And Casanova is fun to have around to mock. I don't even think he's a designer. I think he was just some homeless dude they pulled off the street. Tonight, the contestants have do dresses inspired by hats. Expect the Red Sox hat dress to be frayed and covered in old tobacco juice. ANTICIPATION: HIGH!
JERSEY SHORE – 10:00PM (MTV) The girls feel bad about keeping Sammi in the dark about Ronnie hooking up with every warm animal in sight (triple kisses for all!), so they decide to write her an "anonymous" letter telling her the truth. I have a copy of that letter:
OMFG Ronnie iz freakin' creepn out on u gurl!!! Sinseerly, Prez O-Bamma
No way Sammi can tell that Snooki and J-Woww spent three hours composing that. ANTICIPATION: JUICY!
YOU'RE WEARING THAT?!? – 10:00PM (WE TV) It's a new makeover show featuring mothers and the daughters they don't like to see walking out of the house in fishnets and a sports bra. ANTICIPATION: STRIPPERRIFFIC!
NIGHTLINE PRESENTS: SECRETS OF YOUR MIND – WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO – 10:00PM (ABC) This four-part special explores the complexity and fragility of the human brain, and how it controls our behavior. No doubt they'll be researching the ability of the brain to process news magazine special titles that are wayyyy too long. ANTICIPATION: INCEPTIVE!
PITCHMEN – 10:00PM (A&E) A former Marine aims to improve the common household flashlight. How about a full-size one that doesn't require D batteries? For real, those things are heavier than a baseball bat. ANTICIPATION: SHINY!
Thursday Watch List: Runway Hits Its Stride
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you stay at home and declare yourself mayor of the alley two blocks behind your house. You OWN that piece of town, and you'll be darned if some hipster on FourSquare will knock you down. LET'S GO!


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Update: The House voted 220-175 to approve the Patent Reform Act today. The Senate should vote on its version quite soon.
The Patent Reform Act looks on schedule for a vote in both the House and the Senate within the next couple of weeks, and companies are lining up to make their opinions heard. Google, for example, spelled out its position on Tuesday: it supports the legislation as a way to "defend against frivolous patent claims from parties gaming the system to forestall competition or reap windfall profits."
The problems are clear enough: patent infringement lawsuits have tripled in the last decade, patent applications are increasing faster than the number of patent examiners available to handle them, and the triple damages that can come with "willful" infringement scare many companies away from even examining the patents filed by competitors. Stir in the problem of "venue shopping" (*cough* Eastern District of Texas *cough*) and you have a recipe for some really bad patent borscht.
The Patent Reform Act has been in the works for years, and the bill is intended to fix many of these problems with the current system, which has not been substantially updated in almost 50 years. Over the last few months, the legislation has been substantially amended to address concerns from stakeholders and other members of Congress, and it now appears to be close to its final form. With votes expected soon, let's take a look at the major changes to the Act since introduction.
The Act will still switch the US from its current first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system like that used in the rest of the world. New in the bill now is a provision that will prevent this switch from taking place until Europe and Japan adopt a one-year grace period intended to prevent academics, small companies, and individual researchers from losing out on their inventions by being beaten to file by a large corporation.
Publication of all patents
"Submarine patents" could surface in the US long after they were first filed so long as inventors only applied for domestic patents. The Patent Reform Act will change this so that all patents will now need to be published, most within 18 months of first filing. An expected amendment could provide a bit more time for some filers to keep their work hidden from view, but the law should go a long way toward depth-charging submarine patents.
This was one area that concerned Google greatly. Under the current system, winners in some patent infringement suits could collect damages based on the entire value of the infringing invention, no matter how small a part the patent in question played. As Google puts it, "a windshield wiper found to infringe a patent should not spur a damage award based on the value of the entire car." The Patent Reform Act will allow judges to assign damages based on an "apportionment." Patent holders could collect damages only on the partial value of the infringing product.
Post-grant review
It used to be that there were two main ways to challenge a patent: litigation or a USPTO reexamination. Both were time-consuming and costly. The new bill provides for "post-grant review" during which companies can file petitions and present evidence in order to have newly-granted patents struck down. Such petitions must be filed within one year of the patent issue date (a "second window" for doing this has been eliminated from the Act).
Tax planning patents
Believe it or not, some tax preparers are currently trying to claim business methods patents on their proprietary strategies for reducing a client's tax bill. The Act would eliminate all such patents.
Venue shopping
Venue shopping would be curtailed under the Act by requiring most cases to be brought in the district where the plaintiff "resides" (or where a business is headquartered). This should help curtail the "Texas flood" of patent cases that have flowed into places like... well, Texas. Currently, patent holders can bring a suit against a company like Amazon or Google in any district where that company does business. For Internet companies, this can be any district in the US, and plaintiffs routinely seek out the most patent-friendly districts in which to file their cases.
We should know within a few weeks if these changes will find their way into US patent law, or whether the bill will be reworked once again to address concerns from patent-holding companies that the bill will lower the value of their IP.


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Kickstarter vs. Quirky: Startups Provide New Routes for Invention
You don't have to have lots of cash to make a gadget anymore.
August 12, 2012 -- It's one thing to buy a fun new gadget or accessory, another to think up an idea for one, and a whole other thing to bring it to market.
Even as actual production is increasingly outsourced, the companies that create your products are creation machines: design, research, engineering, marketing, testing, branding, legal, distribution.
However, two New York companies – Kickstater and Quirky -- have begun to help those who need help bringing gadgets to market. Their approaches offer very different paths to market.
Kickstarter: Crowdfunding for Entrepreneurs
Kickstarter focuses on crowdsourcing. The site has sections devoted to the arts: music, photography, fashion, film, theater. There's also a technology section, but it tends to focus on hobbyist endeavors such as MaKey, which allows you to activate actions on a PC by tapping on such non-digital items as a glob of Play-Doh or a banana. The real home for consumer gadgets is in the Design section, under Products.
Kickstarter projects, which must be approved by the site before being listed, are usually offered for about four to six weeks. During that time, the creators must reach a certain funding goal. If they don't, they get nothing. Some projects ask for a couple of thousand dollars, others $100,000 or more. Recently, the Pebble smartwatch, which can communicate with an iPhone or an Android device, raised a record $10 million.
Kickstarter projects offer a number of rewards for project backers, based on how much they pledge. In the Product Design section, this often includes a preorder of the product being developed. Payments are made via Amazon Payments, which, like Kickstarter itself, takes a percentage of the money raised.
Quirky: From Start to Finish
Like Kickstarter, Quirky, which describes its business as reinventing inventing, generates its product ideas from Website visitors. It also cooks up some internally and has trotted out a couple of tech-related devices. But while most of Kickstarter's projects are about the creative arts, most of Quirky's veer toward household items.
The major difference, though, lies in the level of expertise required. Kickstarter project creators are responsible for what they need to bring products to market. Kickstarter simply facilitates the raising of cash to fund those efforts.
In Quirky's case, all you really need to get going is an idea, perhaps enough drawing skill to visualize it, and $10 for Quirky's filing fee. If an idea is lucky enough to be picked by the community and pass Quirky's approval process, Quirky not only puts its in-house team of designers and engineers to work, but tries to get placement for it on the shelves of retailers who are Quirky partners. These include Bed, Bath and Beyond; Target; Amazon.com; and The Container Store.
For all this assistance, Quirky assumes the patents on the product, but pays a perpetual royalty to the inventor. Its biggest success story to date has been Pivot Power, a snaking power strip that avoids the problem of not being able to accommodate bulky wall wart AC adapters. Jake Zien, the developer and recent Rhode Island School of Design graduate, has been paid more than $285,000 by Quirky. Quirky also awards "influence points" to community members for voting on products, suggesting names and participating in pricing polls.
Buyer Beware
In either case, be prepared to wait as products often get iteratively redesigned and refined before they are put into final production. After receiving Kickstarter funding or the green light from Quirky, products can take weeks or months to be ready. In at least one Kickstarter case, a product that had attracted many pre-orders was abandoned and the inventor said he could not return the money, leaving backers out in the cold. Kickstarter, like eBay in its early days, takes no responsibility for enforcing delivery of pre-orders even after credit cards are charged.
On the other hand, many small companies and well-funded startups are turning to Kickstarter to help ease the financing burden and generate pre-orders for products that they would have created anyway. Quirky, in contrast, has abandoned pre-orders after trying them in the site's early days, but still has a long backlog of products to create. But it, like most Kickstarter project creators, works to keep customers up-to-date via posts and videos.
Because Quirky is generally reaching for a customer base with critical mass, the appeal of its products must generally be a lot broader and often more affordable than many of the more niche-oriented devices on Kickstarter.
But both companies open doors to a wide range of products that otherwise might have floated aimlessly, perhaps in the head of someone like you.
Ross Rubin is a tech industry veteran and technology analyst. He also writes a column for Engadget.


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Learn how to configure LoopEdge for remote access using these instructions:
Why Configure Remote Access?
Using a software-defined private network, LoopEdge Remote Access enables:
- Access to LoopEdge software, no matter where in the world it resides.
- Diagnose LoopEdge issues without requiring on-premise intervention.
Using the network's unique Node ID as a secure token, an end-to-end handshake between devices ensures a direct, secure connection.
Refer to the following sections on this page to configure remote access to LoopEdge:
Configure Cloud Connectivity
This procedure assumes that you already have created a LoopCloud Company and Project. Refer to the following documentation for instructions:
Overview of a Cloud Connector Configuration
The following high-level diagram illustrates the basic steps required to configure a cloud connector for enabling remote access to LoopEdge. Detailed steps are listed in this procedure.
Steps to Configure LoopEdge Cloud Connectivity
To facilitate this configuration, log in to both LoopCloud and LoopEdge so that you can copy and paste configurations to connect these platforms.
In LoopCloud
Create a LoopEdge Model by selecting the MQTT plain TCP connection. See Create a Device Model.
Note that the model's JASON schema includes a remote network parameter.
{ "mqttHostName": "%MQTT_HOST%", "mqttTcpPort": "%MQTT_TCP_PORT%", "mqttUserName": "%MQTT_USERNAME%", "mqttPassword": "%MQTT_PASSWORD%", "mqttClientId": "%MQTT_CLIENT_ID%", "mqttReqTopicName": "%MQTT_REQ_TOPIC%", "mqttRespTopicName": "%MQTT_RESP_TOPIC%", "mqttDataTopicName": "%MQTT_DATA_TOPIC%", "remoteNetwork": "%REMOTE_NETWORK%" }
- From the LoopEdge model, create a LoopEdge Device. See Add a Device from a Model.
- In the LoopCloud navigation panel, go to Device Mgmt > Devices to view the newly created device in the list.
In the device's Action list, click Status and select Activate.
NoteThis one-time-only code is valid for only 60 seconds. Be sure to take the following LoopEdge steps immediately.
In the Activation Code pop-up, click theicon to copy the code to the clipboard.
In LoopEdge
- In the LoopEdge navigation panel, go to System > Device Management.
- Under Cloud Activation, paste the activation code that is in the clipboard and click Activate.Unable to render {include} The included page could not be found.
A LoopEdge DataHub Cloud Connector automatically gets created, but is disabled by default.
- In the navigation panel, go to DataHub.Unable to render {include} The included page could not be found.
- In the Cloud Connector's Actions list, select Enable.
- In the navigation panel, go to System > Remote Access.
A network card shows the activated network.
Configure a Loop Network for Remote Access to LoopEdge
When you create this network, you can connect LoopCloud to LoopEdge devices, no matter where they reside in the world. Once configured, you easily can access and securely manage and troubleshoot your LoopEdge software without being co-located with the device.
- Before taking the following steps, complete the steps listed in: Configure Cloud Connectivity.
- You will need the Loop RemoteAccess application to set up a network.
Overview of Remote Access Configuration
The following high-level diagram illustrates the basic steps required to configure remote access to LoopEdge. Detailed steps are listed below the diagram.
Steps to Configure LoopEdge Remote Access
To configure this network, you will once again need to switch between LoopCloud and LoopEdge. In addition, you will use the Loop RemoteAccess application to get network node IDs.
In Loop RemoteAccess App
Copy the network Node ID.
This unique ID serves as a token to authorize the Loop platform to join the secure private network.
In LoopCloud
- In the LoopCloud navigation panel, click Remote.Unable to render {include} The included page could not be found.
- Click the + icon in the upper right of the window to add a member to the network.
- In the Add new member dialog, paste the Node ID that you copied from the Loop RemoteAccess service and click Save.
The node will be listed in the Remote Network list, as part of your network.
- At the top of the LoopCloud Remote Network window, click the
You will use this ID in the remote access service to join the network. This establishes the handshake between the private network and the Loop platform. icon to copy the network ID.
In Loop RemoteAccess
- In the RemoteAccess application, select Join Network and paste the network ID that you copied from LoopCloud.
In LoopEdge
- In the LoopEdge navigation panel, expand System and click Remote Access.
A network card will be displayed with an IPv6 address.Unable to render {include} The included page could not be found.
- Select and copy the IPv6 address from the displayed Remote Access network card.
To remotely access the LoopEdge device, enter the IPv6 address enclosed in square brackets into the address/search bar of a web browser.
This IPv6 address is the only address that will be used to remotely access LoopEdge.


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Committees are how we get our work done and steer our organization forward. These include:
This group implements the adopted Strategic Conservation Plan and coordinates with MtA2C Lands Protection Committee. Activities include educating interested landowners about conservation issues and working with developers and town boards on open space projects. We also maintain up-to-date maps of Kittery, showing conservation lands and important ecological information.
Membership: Karen Young, Chair, Christine Bennett, Kalle Matso, Rob Nichols, Clayton Smith, Heather Sullivan, Peter Whitman, Michael Landgarten
New land resources cannot be protected without necessary funds for acquisition. This group develops strategies to expand our financial capacity through fundraising and grant opportunities.
Membership: Bob Sheppard, Chair; Christine Bennett, Will Brewster, Ken Fellows, Wendy Pomeroy
A key need for any organization is to manage its financial health. This group prepares the annual budget and manages KLT's ongoing fiscal health and long-range sustainability.
Membership: Clayton Smith, Chair; John Fellows, Bill MacDonald, Rob Nichols
Outreach & Communications
If you've attended any of our events, you may have met some of us! We work to broaden KLT's presence in the community through events, educational programs, and volunteer engagement. We coordinate programs with the schools to create educational experiences and opportunities to educate the next generation about the value of nature and land conservation, and to engage families through their kids.
Membership: Cyndy Pawlek, Chair; Christine Bennett, Parkie Boley, Cindy Kuliga, Wendy Pomeroy, Gale Turner
One of the organization's responsibilities is to manage existing KLT properties. Stewardship members create boundary signage, provide annual property inspections, and work on invasives control. They maintain regular contact with landowners on easements and coordinate relations with the Town of Kittery with respect to Seapoint Beach.
Membership: Alex Dearborn, Co-Chair, Gary Mitchell, Co-Chair; Lauren Bizzari, Ellen Denny, John Fellows, Brett Fullerton, Steve Hall, Bob Morrison, Steve Ostrow, Clayton Smith, Gale Turner, Dan Vellucci