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Data Management Solutions for Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint Collaboration
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EMC's data management solutions maximize your investment in Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint systems, providing a tailored data management and storage infrastructure that drives out cost, reduces risk, and provides continuous access to your data.
Mitigate service interruptions for Exchange and SharePoint while increasing hardware utilization rates by deploying active-active near continuous availability solutions from EMC.
Optimized data management for Microsoft Exchange Server and SharePoint Server
EMC can optimize data management of your Exchange and SharePoint environments through the implementation of a converged infrastructure, providing virtualization, networking, storage, and backup/recovery in one integrated solution.
The converged infrastructure can be used to automate the deployment of hosts and simplify the addition of storage, leading to significantly reduced operational costs. EMC's converged infrastructure maximizes utilization by providing a platform to consolidate and virtualize Exchange, SharePoint, and other data workloads. This solution allows IT organizations to respond more quickly and efficiently to the ever increasing demands for data and the need to innovate faster.
EMC's Converged Infrastructure Framework
The following EMC technologies can be used to create a converged infrastructure for Exchange and SharePoint:
- EMC VNX Series Storage Arrays -- bring scale, data protection, and performance to Exchange and SharePoint workloads
- EMC VMAX Enterprise Storage -- trusted, powerful, and unbeatable uptime, family of storage products
- EMC ViPR -- software-defined storage controller for policy-driven management and control of multiple storage devices, data protection, and applicatin data management
- EMC Storage Integrator for Windows -- accelerate Exchange and SharePoint storage provisioning with EMC's no-cost storage management suite
Technical Documents
- Reference Architecture: EMC XtremIO and Microsoft Exchange Databases
- Proven Solution: EMC VNX5400 Unified Storage 20,000 Users Virtualized Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
- EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Virtualized Exchange 2013
- EMC VNX Unified Storage for Microsoft SharePoint
- EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Microsoft SharePoint 2013
- SharePoint BLOB Storage Solution with Metalogix and EMC Isilon Scale-Out NAS
- Design and Implementation Guide: EMC Backup and Recovery Options for VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013
- Design and Implementation Guide: EMC Backup and Recovery Options for VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SharePoint 2013
- Design Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013
- Implementation Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with Microsoft Hyper-V
- Implementation Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with VMware vSphere
White Papers
- Accelerating Microsoft Exchange 2010 Performance with EMC XtremCache
- EMC Management Integration for Microsoft Private Cloud - EMC Symmetrix VMAX, EMC VNX, EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) for Windows Suite, Microsoft System Center 2012
- EMC Symmetrix VMAX Performance Review for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
- Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 and Lync Server 2013 Enhanced by EMC VNX with SMB 3.0 - EMC VNX, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013, Microsoft Lync Server 2013
- Microsoft SharePoint Server Best Practices and Design Guidelines for EMC Storage
- Top Reasons Why Customers Deploy Microsoft SharePoint on EMC VNX Unified Storage
- Top Reasons to Choose EMC Isilon and Metalogix for SharePoint BLOB Data Storage
Data protection and availability for Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint
EMC's Data Protection and Availability solutions will ensure that your data is available when you need it, even in the event of a catastrophic system failure. Exchange and SharePoint have become mission critical applications that must have near constant access to their data. These systems have become the primary tools used to communicate within and outside of an organization. You can ill afford to be without these systems or their data for any length of time. EMC protects your Exchange and SharePoint data and makes it available to you through a methodology we call, "The Data Protection Continuum". By utilizing best of breed data availability, backup, recovery, archiving, and discovery recovery solutions, you can rest assured that your organization's valuable Exchange and SharePoint data is fully protected and accessible.
EMC's Application Availability Solution
EMC MetroPoint brings active/active data centers into reality by protecting them equally with a third "bunker site". MetroPoint enables two data centers to function as one, while allowing administrators total freedom to perform upgrades, maintenance, and equipment swaps during production hours. It also facilitates complete disaster protection, at distance, for any or all business applications.
EMC's Application Data Protection Solution
EMC brings comprehensive protection for Exchange and SharePoint data during its entire life cycle. From hourly backups to operational recovery of databases or even individual Exchange messages or SharePoint content items, to indexing of content for litigation readiness to fulfilling policy-based regulatory requirements, EMC's Data Protection Suite offers value, functionality, and flexibility to protect your organization's most valued data.
The following EMC technology can be used to create the EMC Data Protection and Availability solution for Exchange Server and SharePoint Server:
- EMC Data Protection Suite -- Simplify the implementation of your backup & archival software
- EMC Data Domain -- Rapid backups, quick restores, efficient backup storage
- EMC VNX Local Protection Suite -- efficient data repurposing and data protection for Exchange Server and SharePoint Server
- EMC AppSync -- policy-based data protection and data repurposing software
To learn more about this solution, please review the following materials:
Technical Documents
- Design Guide: EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Enabled by EMC Next-Generation VNX and EMC Backup
- The Radicati Group, Inc: On-Premises Information Archiving – Market Quadrant 2013
- Solution Overview: EMC MetroPoint Provides Continuous Availability
- Continuous Availability for Microsoft Applications Using EMC MetroPoint
- Backup and Recovery for Microsoft-Based Private Clouds Leveraging the EMC Data Protection Suite
- EMC Backup and Recovery Options for VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013
- Top Reasons Why EMC Backup Is the Best Choice for Microsoft
- EMC Data Protection Suite
- EMC Data Protection Advisor
- Top 10 Reasons Why You Need SourceOne for Archive and eDiscovery
Related Offerings
EMC Documentum Connector for Microsoft SharePoint
Get work done faster while complying with industry and company standards.
EMC Replication Enabler for Exchange 2010
Integrate this no-cost plug-in to enable storage-based synchronous replication to support zero data loss for high availability and disaster recovery.
EMC SourceOne Archiving Family for Microsoft SharePoint
Improve SharePoint performance and scalability while reducing storage costs
EMC SourceOne Archiving Family for Microsoft Exchange
Reduce operational costs while enforcing email record-keeping policies and providing access to archived content for complete and accurate discoveries.
EMC VSPEX for Microsoft Collaboration Suite
Deploy a cost-effective, high-performing, and highly available private cloud infrastructure.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange
Accelerate deployment of a proven Exchange solution in your environment with detailed resources to help you design and implement solutions.
EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft SharePoint
Accelerate deployment of a proven SharePoint solution in your environment with detailed resources to help you design and implement solutions.
Protection Solutions for Microsoft
Achieve new levels of protection and efficiency in Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint and Hyper-V environments with EMC Backup for Microsoft solutions. Our solutions are fully integrated with Microsoft applications and leverage EMC market-leading deduplication.
Customer Profiles
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- The Essential Guide to Exchange and Private Cloud
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- Radicati Group: Benefits of Consolidating and Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint in a Private Cloud Environment
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by Debbie payne
(Kennard tx)
My female just had a litter if pups. All of the puppies has double dews on one foot but single on the other. I was told both parents were full blood
Comments for Dew claws
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Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Great Pyrenees Questions.
Nov 20, 18 10:16 AM
*UPDATE 2* Yuki is back up for adoption. She must go to a home with escape proof fencing. A large dog run would be suitable with a top on it. She is
Nov 14, 18 09:37 AM
*ADOPTED * AN UPDATE FROM THEIR NEW FAMILY We have had a great week here, started training off leash and learning to respect the front yard as a danger
Nov 10, 18 09:26 AM
*ADOPTED* This sweet boy now has a new home with teenagers and cats all of whom think he's a pretty great pup. The family has much Pyr experience so Harvard
Nov 08, 18 03:41 PM
I have two pyrenees 8 yr old male, 5 yr old female fixed they live outside with 3 goats I want to add my deceased boyfriend pyr to my home she is 6 yrs
Nov 05, 18 07:04 AM
*ADOPTION PENDING* Lincoln is the sweetest boy, full of love and thriving for affection, and a real combination of laid-back energy. He is a 13 month
Oct 31, 18 05:51 AM
approx. 2 yr old female weighs about 80lbs. Every three weeks for the past 3 months exhibits same symptoms: restlessness, vomiting, diarrhea, low energy,
Oct 30, 18 05:37 AM
I purchased a English Cream Golden Retriever but everyone tells me that he is a Great Pyrenees. He's white, 2.5 yrs old and weighs 105 lbs. He gained
Oct 29, 18 05:57 AM
*ADOPTED* It's final. This gentle giant grabbed his family's hearts. They have two cats. One is cat savvy and the other is not. They have taken much

subset: commoncrawl


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There are many reasons to love Kansas fans, but one of the best became apparent when I attended a charity event coach Bill Self had arranged for his foundation at which several college basketball voices were gathered to discuss the state of the game.
Along with Self, the speakers were Fran Fraschilla and Jay Bilas of ESPN and Blair Kerkhoff of the Kansas City Star. And, yeah, me too. Somewhere in the course of the evening — I apologize if you've heard me tell this story before — I had the occasion to ask the 500 fans in attendance if the Jayhawks' streak of consecutive conference championships had great meaning to them.
I'm sure more than 500 hands were raised, because some in the audience lifted both.
DECOURCY: Badgers eye top seed | Game getting cleaner | Smart's closing run
MORE: Make-A-Wish comes up big for UK fan | See the photos
KU beat Oklahoma, 83-75, to clinch a share of the Big 12 title and a run that strings to 10 consecutive seasons. It's the third-longest such run in Division I history.
The truth is this: to call that streak is a misnomer. A streak can be an impressive feat, but most are actually empty at their core. They amuse us, sometimes fascinate us. But if Joe DiMaggio had hit in 30 consecutive games, had an oh-for, then went 26 more before having another tough day, he would have contributed to about the same number of victories.
What Kansas is doing is not a streak. It is a dynasty. The roster has turned over how many times in that period? Not many of the star players remained four full seasons. Sherron Collins, the most underrated player in KU history, he did. But Cole Aldrich, the Morris twins, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush — they all left early. Xavier Henry stayed one year. It might be that way for a player or two on this season's team.
It is so easily forgotten now, as we enjoy the talents of freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid and appreciate the quiet consistency of power forward Perry Ellis, that KU lost all five starters from last year's Sweet 16 team, which entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed but fell to eventual national runner-up Michigan.
How good is Self? This is his 13th year as a high-major coach, starting in 2000-01 at Illinois. In the previous 12 years — since the NCAA selection committee shafted his last, brilliant Tulsa team with a No. 7 seed — he never has coached a team that earned an NCAA seed lower than No. 4. There have been five No. 1s, a No. 2, two No. 3s and four No. 4s. That's ridiculous.
We expect performances such as this from Self and Kansas, though because it's what they deliver, every year. That does not mean it is not extraordinary.


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grizzly wrote:you should see the looks i get from griz now-training is over until august-no more compititions to go to . he looks at me like(you sob get out here, load that damn cart and lets get working!!)he really enjoys the travel and people he meets at the events. the work is just what he has to do to get to travel ,stay in hotels, eat lavish food( hot dogs are his fav), and meet all his admirers. but he never grumbles - he's only barked once in his life!
mnp13 wrote:PittieLove wrote:grea pictures, i wish i could do that with Ivan
why can't you?
because my dog isnt pure, IWPA rarely comes to FL, and when it does what is the chance it will be near me. I CAN but i never get the chance
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text: Is there an AMD or INTEL optimized version of the ISSPL libraries? We have an application that I ported from an array processor from CSPI to a Beowulf system and it uses ISSPL. Right now, the ISSPL library I am using is just straight C code and doesn't contain any optimization for the Intel/AMD platform. Or, is it better to switch to another library, like Intel Kernel Math Library, or perhaps just use FFTw. It would be simplier if I could just find a standard ISSPL library for Intel/AMD. -- Cheers, Karl Bellve, Ph.D. ICQ # 13956200 Biomedical Imaging Group TLCA# 7938 University of Massachusetts Email: Karl.Bellve at umassmed.edu Phone: (508) 856-6514 Fax: (508) 856-1840 PGP Public key: finger kdb at molmed.umassmed.edu _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Albuquerque Hotel Refused Muslim Woman's Request to Wear Head Scarf, Federal Agency Charges
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – 704 HTL Operating, LLC and Investment Corporation of America, doing business as MCM Elegante Hotel in Albuquerque, violated federal law by subjecting a Muslim woman to religious discrimination and to retaliation for opposing the discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed on September 21, 2011.
In its suit, the EEOC said that the hotel failed to accommodate Safia Abdullah's request to work wearing a hijab, a head scarf worn by Muslim women for religious purposes. In addition, the EEOC alleges that the hotel either failed to hire Abdullah or discharged her because of her religion and/or because she engaged in the protected conduct of opposing discrimination, including requesting religious accommodation.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and retaliation for opposition to discrimination. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico (EEOC v. 704 HTL Operating, LLC and Investment Corporation of America Civil Action No. 1:11-cv-00845) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement through its conciliation process.
"We will vigorously prosecute cases of religious discrimination throughout our district, including claims that involve the employer's refusal to provide reasonable accommodation for an individual's religious beliefs," said Regional Attorney Mary Jo O'Neill of the EEOC's Phoenix District Office, which has jurisdiction over Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah. "We are particularly concerned when the accommodation requested is easy to provide and the employer appears to have reacted to myths or stereotypes about a religion."
The lawsuit asks the court to order the employer to provide Abdullah with appropriate relief, including back wages and compensatory and punitive damages, and a permanent injunction enjoining the company from engaging in any further religious discrimination or retaliation. The EEOC also asks the court to order the company to institute and carry out policies and practices that eradicate and prevent religious discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.
EEOC Deputy District Director Elizabeth Cadle said, "We will not tolerate religious discrimination or retaliation against employees who simply request the right to work with reasonable accommodation of their religion."
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.


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West Village, New York City Travel Guide
West Village and Greenwich Village Summary
- Great shopping -- a mix of local shops and luxury boutiques, and street stalls
- Tons of fun nightclubs, bars, and lounges
- Historic (and newly renovated) Washington Square Park, a hub for generations of artists and activists
- Historic architecture -- beautiful brownstones and cobblestoned streets
- Home of the Beats, Bohemians, Abstract Expressionism, and gay pride in New York City
- Art galleries, live music venues, and art house cinemas
- Most nightclubs have long lines and raucous crowds.
- Shops sell sex and drug paraphernalia in plain view.
- Unlike most of Manhattan, Village streets aren't an easy-to-master grid.
- Heavy traffic on the weekends, especially at night
What It's Like
Greenwich Village (of which the West Village forms a part), the maze of streets between Houston and 14th streets on the west side of Manhattan, is probably the most romanticized neighborhood in New York City. Immortalized in recent popular culture by shows like "Friends" and "Sex and the City," the West Village's quaint brownstones, cobblestoned streets, and sidewalk cafes offer a, well, village-like charm not found anywhere else in Manhattan.
Its history, of course, is far richer even than the Magnolia cupcakes for which hordes of tourists descend on the West Village every day. For more than 100 years, the neighborhood has been associated with Bohemian lifestyles, political activism, and avante garde and countercultural artistic movements. Landmark moments in the histories of jazz and folk music, abstract expressionist art, Beat literature, '60s radicalism, and the gay liberation movement all took place here.
Only wildly successful artists can afford to live in the Village these days, however, as real estate values have skyrocketed, perhaps even faster than those in other hot Manhattan neighborhoods. The late 1990s transformation of the Meatpacking District, formerly the site of some 250 slaughterhouses and meat packing plants, into a boutique- and restaurant-filled hipster paradise, was perhaps the final phase of this development.
Where to Stay
Hotel options in the West Village range from swanky hipster properties like the Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District to the century-old Washington Square Hotel, a great value option near the New York University campus.


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Set Your Fitness Goals. We'll Help You Achieve Them.
Join for free and you'll gain instant access to our tracking and reporting tools, expert coaching tips, and a free trial to our personalized training and nutrition programs.
Core Knowledge
Row - 1 Arm / 1 Leg Contralateral Dumbbell
Starting Position
- Standing on right leg, hinged over at the waist, holding a dumbbell with the left hand and a stable waist high surface with the right
- Left leg is lifted to form a "T" with your body
- Slide the left shoulder blade toward your spine and then lift the weight to your body by driving your elbow to the ceiling
- Return to the start position and repeat for prescribed number of repetitions
- Switch sides and repeat
Coaching Keys
- Move the shoulder blade, not the arm, to initiate the row
- Keep the elbow close to the body as it passes the rib cage
- Keep back flat
- Fire back glute to keep leg extended and your toes pulled to your shin
- Keep knee of weightbearing leg slightly bent
- Stand on the opposite leg as the hand doing the lifting
You Should Feel It
- Working your upper back, shoulders, and hips


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Home Features
- 6-panel interior doors
- 9' first floor ceilings
- Cable outlets at master bedroom and family/great room
- Ceiling fan pre-wire in family/great room and master bedroom
- Décora® rocker light switches
- Durable carpeting
- Schlage® chrome hardware for all interior doors
- Sherwin-Williams® interior paint
- Telephone outlets at master bedroom and kitchen
- Therma-Tru® 6-panel front door
- Great room
- Nook
- InSinkErator® 1/3 hp disposal
- Merillat® cabinetry
- Moen® Chateau® single handle faucet with hand spray
- Pre-plumbed for ice maker
- Stainless steel kitchen sink
- Whirlpool® dishwasher
- Whirlpool® electric range
- Whirlpool® microwave oven
- 100% ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances
- 14 SEER air conditioner
- 50-gallon ENERGY STAR® hot water heater
- Balanced air ducts for energy efficiency and comfortable living
- Cellulose blown insulation
- Energy efficient Low-E dual-pane vinyl windows
- Standard solar panel system
- Sterling® Riverton™ high efficiency toilet
- Cultured marble countertops and tub/shower surrounds in master bath
- Mirrored medicine cabinets in master bath and secondary baths
- Moen® Chateau® polished chrome faucet in all baths
- Vikrell® tub/shower surrounds in secondary baths
- Choice of architecturally designed exterior elevations
- Durable Boral® concrete roof tile
- Exterior coach light at garage
- Sherwin-Williams® painted exterior
- Covered porch
- Post-tension slab foundation
- 200 amp electrical service
- AQUAPEX® plumbing system
- Hose bibbs front and rear
- 10-year structural warranty
- 1-year workmanship and materials warranty
- 2-year mechanical warranty
- 5-year leak warranty
- Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Pulte Energy Advantage
Many of our homes offer energy-efficient features that can help reduce your home's energy consumption while maintaining everything you want in a new home. That's the Pulte Energy Advantage®.
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Style # 207210
Sparkling sequin details, sexy V-neckline and glamorous drape make this bebe cocktail dress a serious head-turner. Try it with a nude-hued pump and a embellished clutch to achieve a flawless evening look.
- 100% polyester
- Center back to hem: 34" (86 cm)
- Fully lined
- Invisible zipper
- Imported
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S


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Beowulf: Unrated Director's Cut (US - HD)
Gabe claws his way out of a monster's eyeball while screaming his own name
Based on the epic poem, Beowulf follows the adventures of the title character (portrayed by Ray Winstone) who comes to King Hrothgar's (Anthony Hopkins) Danish village to kill the tyrant demon Grendel (Crispin Glover). After the braggart Beowulf makes good on his promise he is dispatched to murder Grendel's evil mother (Angelina Jolie), but the malevolent she-demon has other plans for the arrogant hero.
Every time someone's attempted to deliver a fully successful adaptation of the ancient epic 'Beowulf' things have come up short. Either the adaptation is very loose, as in the case of John McTeirnan's 13th Warrior, or the adaptation entirely misses the point and lacks a suitable budget, as in the last two in name only adaptations. Robert Zemeckis didn't strike me as the man for this particular job, but my craving for an adequate adaptation of the story forced me to give the guy a chance.
My distrust of Zemeckis has to do with my general luke warm feeling towards his films, even the films everyone else loves like Forrest Gump and the Back to the Future series. Zemeckis' films are not bad films; they just don't do it for me.
The use of this new fangled motion capture technology is an interesting choice, one that helps Zemeckis to avoid too many unfair comparisons stylistically to Peter Jackson's action/fantasy altering trilogy. Zemeckis utilizes the technical advantages of having no camera or crew to worry about more effectively here then he did in his last mo-cap feature The Polar Express. He squeezes the virtual camera through impossibly small crevasses, he swoops across a several mile long valley in seconds, and he focuses on reflections without worry of catching the crew in the shot. The human characters still look uncanny—their lips never seem to sync appropriately, and their limbs move too smoothly—but these oddities are quickly assimilated once the story gets rolling. Besides, how else could portly Ray Winstone star as an Adonis with near supernatural powers?
The comparisons to the other super-manly and semi-animated feature of 2007, Zach Snyder's 300, are fair enough. Most folks will probably prefer the splattering red ink and simplistic black and white of Spartan swashbuckling, but the repetition and terrible narration got the better of me upon a second viewing. Beowulf wasn't as much fun on video where the wackiness of three dimensions is lost, but story, performances, and action doesn't lose too much bite. Though obviously a visually arresting feature, the film will likely find lasting success in its sense of humour and its genuinely frightening moments. Zemeckis' use of (fantasy illustrator) Frank Frazetta inspired imagery and comparisons between motion capture and rotoscoping technologies has led me to a more satisfying filmic comparison—producer Ralph Bakshi's 1983 animated film Fire and Ice.
The film's suspenseful elements shouldn't be a surprise to Zemeckis fans, but the sheer volume of graphic and horrific violence is something new to his repertoire. I have no idea how Beowulf managed to get a PG-13 rating for its theatrical release, as it was easily one of the flat out goriest movies I saw all of 2007. I didn't catch any major difference in the levels of violence between this 'director's cut' and the theatrical cut—both were as violent as all hell, much to my delight. The visual humour is a less impressive step for Zemeckis—the man that brought us the real life cartoons of Roger Rabbit—but keeping his tongue in his cheek is an effective way to deal with what is ultimately a very silly story. The joke is taken a bit too far during the attack on Grendel, where increasingly ridiculous objects obscure our hero's crotch. Come on guys, either put the guy in some underwear, or show us his bee-wolf wang and take the R-rating.
The less cartoony humour is likely attributed to co-writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery. Gaiman, who's work was also the basis for one of the most overlooked features of 2007, Stardust, is known for his whimsical takes on dark fantasy material. Avery's work with Tarantino on Pulp Fiction, along with his solo work on Killing Zoë and Rules of Attraction, have all been brutal but funny. The team cleverly deals with the original story's two act structure by dealing with its characters' one dimensional nature. By making the character a braggart and a failure on a moral level a new third act is created which more or less follows the same themes, and which leads us into the film's most spectacular set pieces.
And that's the film's most obvious problem, though there are some emotionally effective and genuinely funny moments, the whole thing comes down to a series of increasingly exciting action set pieces. Critics have rightfully made comparisons between the eerily computer animated film and video games. Anyone who's played a videogame in the last dozen or so years will recognize the cut scene to boss battle rhythm, but is this a valid criticism, or is Beowulf a valid comment on modern videogame entertainment? I'm not sure, but as technology and audience sophistication continues to grow I can't help but assume that his is the future of popular cinema, whether we like it or not.
Well, I'm not sure what most of you were expecting from a high definition release of an entirely digital film, but I was expecting perfection. It's nice to have one's expectations met. Beowulf pushes my aging television's specs to their limit. The disc's clarity is so severe that it causes injury to the film. The already eerily crafted characters appear almost plasticine. The textures of the creatures, on the other hand, are done great justice. The film's colour pallet is purposefully pretty limited per scene to either warm and shiny golds or glowing baby blues. Both pallets are bright and noiseless, and punch well when accentuated with blood reds. There isn't anything I can complain about here other then the fact that my television can't get any brighter and that one dead pixel looks larger then ever now.
All the fury of Viking fleets, angry sea monsters, screaming warriors, and thundering horses has never sounded this…relatively…quiet. We're talking relatively here, this isn't a failed mix, but when compared to other HD DVD Dolby Digital Plus mixes the overall volume level is noticeably quieter (I had rented Transformers the same day I got Beowulf in the mail, so I did an immediate check to make sure it wasn't a problem with my player, which it obviously wasn't). When I saw the film in theatres it just about blew my ears out, especially the scenes of Grendel's attacks, which became nothing but Crispin Glover's screaming at me through the front channel. This time I notice that the centre channel is again a bit overbearing on the rest of the mix, but not to any devastating effect. For some reason Zemeckis and his sound designers just seem to have preferred a dialogue heavy action film. Alan Silvestri's score (which is impressive and very 'Alan Silvestrian') could do with a bump up as well, though I'm assuming this was a decision made in the original mixing process.
I must apologize; my player is not hooked into any kind of Internet access, so I was unable to view any of the web-enabled extras on the first disc of this two-disc set. The rest of the 'In the Volume' picture in picture option worked fine though. There isn't any interview footage or commentary in the tiny screen, just a bunch of behind the scenes footage and rough animatic animation. Those that enjoyed watching the 300 green screen footage will likely have even more fun watching big movie stars wearing unflattering, skin tight scuba gear with grey dots all over their faces.
High definition disc number two begins with 'A Hero's Journey', a look at the 'filming' of this state of the art motion picture. The volume of work that went into this project is pretty mind boggling in technical terms, but when compared to the physical effort and manpower that goes into something like Lord of the Rings one can easily understand Zemeckis likes making special effects blockbusters this way. The first shock is how quickly the filming process is. Camera set-ups are reduced to mere minutes of sensor calibration, and set construction is timed to fifteen minutes or less. Zemeckis is able to get more then double the average amount of takes for a sizably budgeted feature. The featurette is amusing and informative, but runs under thirty minutes, which doesn't quite cut it in this information age. Okay, not really.
The featurette adds a special trivia mode which includes on-screen pop-up factoids and links to the disc's additional featurettes. The pop-up facts come hard and fast, so if you're trying to keep track of the featurette's dialogue and this additional text info it's a little overwhelming. The extra featurettes total ten, run about twenty-one minutes total, and can also be accessed via the main screen under 'The Journey Continues'. These are mostly brief, deeper looks into things touched on during 'A Hero's Journey'.
'Beasts of Burden' is a featurette covering the design of the film's monsters, Grendel, Grendel's mother, the sea monsters and the Dragon. I won't mince words here, Andy Sherkis' Gollum is the best motion captured performance ever, and probably will be for a long time, but hiring Crispin Glover to play the tortured monster Grendel verges on genius on Zemeckis' part. The physical manifestation of the creature is fantastically original and disgustingly realized. There is a touch of that Gollum patheticness, but overall the Old English spouting character is one of the film's strongest and most memorable elements. Grendel's Mother is something I'm not so fond of (I just don't get the liquid gold thing), but it's another memorable and original element, and is in keeping with Zemeckis' Frank Frazetta inspired visuals. Though very informative to the process and such, the featurette is a bit of a disappointment at only seven minutes, though it ends up being one of the longest extras on the disc.
Another group of featurettes starts with 'The Origins of Beowulf', which is another super short featurette that should've been longer. In about five minutes Roger Avery and Neil Gaiman run down their changes to the original story, and Zemeckis explains how he was brought onto the project. As a little aside, I'm not a very big fan of Gaiman's work on the whole, but I've got to say that I'd love to just sit and talk with the guy someday, he strikes me as unbelievably warm and good natured. 'Creating the Ultimate Beowulf' is one of the only places on the disc where the huge schism between actor Ray Winstone and the physical representation of Beowulf. Besides this it doesn't do much, at a minute and a half. It probably won't surprise anyone when I tell you that 'The Art of Beowulf' is about the art of Beowulf. This is more or less the only time that anyone mentions the fact that the film was originally meant to be seen in 3D, and otherwise covers some of the concept art and model work. It runs about five minutes.
'A Conversation with Robert Zemeckis' is an interview session as posed by USC students. This is the closest we get to a director's commentary track. The questions are super soft balls in the sense that they're obvious, but the answers are spot on. Zemeckis will likely be called all manner of bad names by various industry big wigs for his love of this approach to filmmaking, but I'm very impressed with his willingness to risk failure through experimentation. I'm looking forward to more of these from him (might I suggest an adaptation of Jeff Smith's 'Bone' comic series?). The talking head nature of the interview is visually dull (maybe it should've been spiced up with some behind the scenes or film footage), and runs about ten minutes.
The disc also houses nine deleted scenes and two alternate scenes. These are presented in rough digital pre-viz form, with very little detail, almost no sound effects, a temp score and what appears to be finished dialogue performances, with a few minor exceptions. One can't blame the filmmakers for cutting these scenes at such an early stage considering the cost of finishing them. The cuts are all appropriate for the films pacing, but none of them would've been wildly inappropriate if left in either (including yet another penis joke). The scenes run a whopping thirteen minutes.
Beowulf probably isn't your High School English teacher's idea of classic literary entertainment, but it's hard to deny the visceral effect. The technology hasn't made it to an entirely acceptable level just yet, but overrated filmmaker Robert Zemeckis shows successful growth in the format, and range as a director. It's forgettable and weak in sections, but a thrill for those in the right state of mind. The HD DVD looks unbelievable and sounds pretty good, but the extras aren't nearly as exhaustive or compelling as the back of the box might lead you to believe. My 7/10 film rating is a bit of a lie, I'd probably put it somewhere around 6.5/10 if I could.
* Note: The images on this page are not representative of the HD DVD edition.
Review by Gabriel Powers
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 26th February 2008
Discs: 2
Disc Type: HD DVD
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.40:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 English, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1French, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, and Spanish
Extras: A Hero's Journey: The Making of Beowulf, Beasts of Burden, Origins of Beowulf, Creating the Ultimate Beowulf, Art of Beowulf, Deleted Scenes, Trailer
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Robin Wright Penn, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Bilezikjian, Brice Martin
Genre: Adventure
Length: 114 minutes
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By: Dr Lynda Kelly, Category: Museullaneous, Date: 02 Sep 2010
The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers was launched on 16 August 2010 by the Australian Academy of Science, Canberra as part of National Science Week.
This report is worth a red. Here's what the Academy says about it:
Based on a series of key questions, this publication aims to address confusion created by contradictory information in the public domain. It sets out to explain the current situation in climate science, including where there is consensus in the scientific community and where uncertainties exist.
The Science of Climate Change: Questions and Answers was prepared by a Working Group and Oversight Committee made up of Academy Fellows and other Australian scientists with internationally recognised expertise in climate science.
The report can be downloaded from their website here.


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The number of U.S. families struggling with poverty despite parents being employed continued to grow in 2011 as more people returned to work but mostly at lower-paying service jobs, according to an analysis released today.
More working parents have taken jobs as cashiers, maids, waiters and other low-wage jobs in fast growing sectors that offer fewer hours and benefits, according to The Working Poor Project, a privately funded effort aimed at improving economic security for low-income families, Reuters reported.
The result is 200,000 more such working families - the so-called working poor - emerged in 2011 than in 2010, according to the report, based on analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 10.4 million such families - or 47.5 million Americans - now live just above poverty, which is defined as earning less than 200 percent of the official poverty rate, or $22,811 for a family of four.
Overall, nearly one-third of working families now struggle, up from 31 percent in 2010 and 28 percent in 2007, when the recession began, according to the analysis.
"Although many people are returning to work, they are often taking jobs with lower wages and less job security, compared with the middle-class jobs they held before the economic downturn," the report said. Read More.


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- AltCar Auto Show
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Auto Show: 2014 Detroit Auto Show
2015 Honda Fit: Detroit Auto Show
What Is It?
The all-new 2015 Honda Fit marks the beginning of a third generation for Honda's popular subcompact hatchback. Compared to the outgoing model, the latest Fit offers new styling, more power, better gas mileage and a long list of new features to bring high-end convenience to the subcompact segment.
On the outside, the Fit's styling is similar to its predecessor -- and that's not a bad thing. Think tall roofline, large glass structure, a short, sloping hood and a 4-door body with a large rear hatch. The Fit doesn't include many huge changes to its interior, either, though Honda says the subcompact offers significant improvements for increased refinement and a quieter ride.
But while the new Fit may look similar to last year's model, it offers a long list of updates under the skin. Some are mechanical improvements, such as a 130-horsepower 4-cylinder in place of last year's 117-hp powertrain. Despite the power bump, Honda says fuel economy should reach 33 miles per gallon city/41 mpg hwy -- a huge increase over the outgoing Fit's 28 mpg city/35 mpg hwy. Much of the boost is likely due to a new CVT automatic in place of last year's 5-speed, though drivers who want to shift their own gears can still specify a 6-speed manual transmission.
Beyond its powertrain updates, the 2015 Honda Fit will also include a long list of new features. Newly standard items include Bluetooth and a reversing camera, while new options include smart entry with push-button start, leather upholstery, heated seats, Honda's LaneWatch blind spot camera and the brand's HondaLink infotainment system.
How Much?
Honda hasn't released final details, but we wouldn't expect pricing to increase too much from today's figures. That means base prices will likely start around $16,000 for a Fit or $18,000 for a better-equipped Fit Sport.
When Can You Get It?
Spring or Summer 2014
Add It to Your Shopping List Because...
While the subcompact segment is highly competitive, Honda has done an excellent job combining fuel economy and practicality in its previous Fit models. The 2015 Fit looks to offer the same desirable combo, except with new styling, new features, more power and, most importantly, a fuel-saving CVT. We can't say if the Fit will unseat popular subcompacts such as the Ford Fiesta and Chevrolet Sonic, but we're certainly excited to find out.
Other Cars to Consider
Chevrolet Sonic -- Chevrolet's popular Sonic subcompact reaches the all-important 40-mpg threshold, though we expect the same from the latest Honda Fit. The Sonic also boasts an available sedan model, unlike the Fit, and exciting technology such as Chevrolet's MyLink infotainment system.
Ford Fiesta -- The tiny Ford Fiesta is a great competitor to the Fit thanks to an excellent interior, strong fuel economy and a practical hatchback body style. But the Fiesta is also offered as a sedan, and it touts a high-performance ST model for those who love to drive.
MINI Cooper -- If you value driving dynamics over practicality, the MINI Cooper may be worth a look as you consider your next small car. Pricing is higher, and the MINI loses two doors, but razor-sharp handling and exciting styling make the MINI hard to beat.
Used Honda Civic -- While Honda's larger Civic is certainly more expensive than the latest Fit, a pre-owned 2013 or 2014 model will narrow that gap significantly. The Civic offers similar fuel economy, more power and a larger interior that's better for those who often have to carry passengers.


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I think of all of my children as surprise babies. Sam was a surprise because he arrived after a single, spontaneous, "oh, who cares about birth control" afternoon. Henry was a surprise because we thought he'd show up just as easily as his brother had, but instead it took more than two years of concerted effort and medical intervention to coax him here. And Joe was a surprise because I conceived him right away, when we'd been expecting a long, Henry-like wait.
Still, there's a difference between the routine surprise that's inherent in attempts to plan a family and the shock that comes when a pregnancy is truly unexpected. And it's a shock that happens to many couples. According to a report by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that studies reproductive-health issues, at least 1 million married women in the U.S. become pregnant by accident every year.
But when you're in a happy and committed relationship, finding out you're pregnant by surprise doesn't have to be as difficult a situation as it can be under other circumstances. What veteran parents already know -- and new parents find out quickly -- is that each and every baby is a tiny miracle of individuality, and his unplanned conception is just the first of many surprises. Children spend their whole lives astonishing us with their talents, with their likes and dislikes, with their choices, with their very being. Which may be why so many parents refer to their surprise babies as "happy accidents."
"Oops" and "Uh-Oh"
Even so, the first reaction to an unplanned pregnancy is often disbelief. With my first pregnancy, I knew my husband and I had taken a chance when we skipped the condom on that lovely, sun-drenched spring afternoon when the air smelled like cut grass and the world seemed full of possibility. But when the home pregnancy test came back positive, I didn't believe it. I thought I must have misread the directions. Three tests later, I had to admit the truth: I was pregnant.
Like me, Linda of Hoboken, New Jersey, knew she'd taken some real chances with birth control when she went off the Pill at age 35 and played fast and loose with other methods. But she'd gone almost five years without getting pregnant, so a positive pregnancy test at age 40 took her completely by surprise. Her reaction, she says: "total disbelief and utter dismay. Those first few days, I was in such shock that if I'd miscarried, I might've thought it was a good thing."
"We just thought it was too soon to get pregnant again," says Matthew, whose second child, Julianna, was born a few days before their first, Jake, turned 1. "When Mary Kaye was pregnant with Julie and started feeling nauseated, we dismissed it as an illness," says the Roselle Park, New Jersey, dad. "I was literally walking out the door to refill her prescription for the Pill when she suggested I buy a pregnancy test instead."
Because her first two children were conceived after infertility treatments, Pia of Houston never considered that she might be pregnant again at 38. "I wasn't feeling well. I figured I had the flu and that I just couldn't kick it." It was her 10-year-old daughter who finally asked, "Are you sure you aren't pregnant?" Pia was. "How embarrassing," she says with a laugh. "At ten, she got it, but I was clueless."
Fear is also a common reaction. Lisa of San Antonio, Texas, was well aware that she and her husband, Michael, had taken a risk one evening. "We were practicing natural family planning, but one night we slipped." When she took the home pregnancy test on Michael's 24th birthday, Lisa says, "my heart was racing. We'd just gotten married four months before! There was no way we could be pregnant."
When Lisa gave Michael the news (by handing him the pregnancy test, saying, "Happy birthday, Daddy," and then bursting into tears), all she could think about was how they hadn't planned to have children for at least five years. "We sat on the bed, and all of a sudden I had a panic attack," Lisa remembers. "I started rattling off questions like 'How are we going to pay for this baby?' and 'Will we be good parents?' Everything just came spewing out."
Nashville mom Jess learned she was pregnant again when her first child was 6 months old. "I was afraid of everything," Jess remembers. "I was afraid we didn't have enough money, that people would think I was stupid for having another baby so soon. Mainly, though, I was afraid I couldn't handle it. I'd barely learned to be a mom at all. I was afraid I couldn't be a good one to two babies at once."
Moving to Acceptance
Sometimes it takes a while to work up enthusiasm for an unplanned baby. "We didn't have the kind of excitement we felt when we found out about Jake," says Matthew. "It wasn't until the first sonogram, and we saw the baby moving, that the excitement came back."
"It took me a long time to get over the shock," admits Pia about her unexpected third child, "probably up to the last month before delivery. I found myself actually apologizing to friends and family, as if it were taboo to have a third child past the age of thirty-eight."
Linda and her husband, Joel, took even longer to welcome the idea of becoming parents. In fact, true enthusiasm didn't arrive until the baby did. "Even after Anna was born, and I was very happy, for the first few days in the hospital, I was terrified," she says.
Fortunately, a wise doula she'd hired was reassuring and told the new parents they had good instincts. "She also said we had an angel baby," says Linda. "And that was all it took -- an experienced person telling me it was going to be okay, that I'd hit the jackpot. And, of course, by then I'd fallen so in love with my daughter that nothing much mattered after that!"
Counting Blessings
Falling in love with your baby, it turns out, is just one of the unexpected pleasures of an unplanned pregnancy. Among the others:
A larger role for Dad
The surprise of an unexpected baby can inspire a father or father-to-be to rise to the occasion in a way he never expected. Especially when this baby arrives on the heels of a firstborn or after a difficult pregnancy, a dad may have no choice but to roll up his sleeves and pitch in -- and find himself loving it. "Really, there's not as much stress as I expected," says Matthew of having two kids 12 months apart. "As we did with Jake, my wife and I have come to make a great team."
Linda, too, says Joel surprised himself by falling in love with Anna from the first minute. Today, he works nights and takes care of Anna while Linda works during the day.
A closer bond
Although an unexpected pregnancy can strain a struggling relationship, strong partnerships may thrive on the extra love a baby -- even an unplanned one -- brings. Lisa and Michael believe their unborn son has already brought them closer. "We've always been a strong couple, able to face many challenges," she says. "Our baby is our most amazing challenge yet, and we know we'll provide a loving home for him."
She now feels like a different person from the one who burst into tears at the sight of a positive pregnancy test. "Although a few fun trips have been postponed and money's tighter, we couldn't be happier. We have our health, a beautiful baby on the way, a great support network, and each other. How much better can life get?"
Bigger family, greater joy
"It's like my daughter wasn't intended to be, but she came anyway to make our lives richer," says Linda. "So I try that much harder not to take her for granted."
Anna of Homewood, Alabama, already had two young kids when she and her husband made plans to go away for their third anniversary. "In our rush to leave, we forgot the birth control," she says. The consequence -- having a third child before their fourth anniversary -- might have derailed others, but the couple came to realize they actually thrive in the chaos of closely spaced kids.
This sense that everything happens for a reason is a sentiment echoed by many parents of accidental babies. Ginna of Nashville was surprised by a fourth pregnancy. Now, with three grown kids and an 11-year-old, she looks back on her uncertainty about having another child and smiles: "My husband and I spent one night drinking too much wine, but we've spent the rest of our lives giving thanks for it."
Contributing editor Margaret Renkl was a surprise baby to her parents in 1961.


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Car Review
2014 GMC Sierra: First Drive Review
It's not often there's an all-new pickup. In fact, four years have passed since the arrivals of the 2009 Dodge RAM and 2009 Ford F-Series, the last all-new pickups to have come on the market. It's been even longer since there was an all-new GMC Sierra, which hasn't been redesigned in seven model years. Finally, the wait for a new truck -- and a new Sierra -- is over. We recently took the all-new 2014 GMC Sierra on a drive to see how it matches up to its rival full-size pickups.
Still Looks Good
On the outside, the Sierra puts a futuristic twist on its characteristic good looks. It's easy to tell apart from the old model, yet the features that made it distinct -- such as oversized fender flares and a large, muscular grille -- remain. In essence, it looks like a modernized version of the outgoing model, and that's a good thing. It's also easy to tell apart from its mechanical twin, the Chevrolet Silverado, giving GMC fans a more unique look than ever before.
A few minor details also enhanced our opinion of the truck's exterior. For example, we like the oversized running boards. They make it easy to climb in the truck, which can be a big problem considering its ever-increasing size. It's hard to fault the EZ Lift Tailgate for ease of use. But most important, we were impressed by the LED bed lights, which go a long way toward making it easy to load the pickup's bed at night or in dim lighting conditions.
Interior Upgrades
But while the exterior was heavily revised, we were more impressed with the Sierra's retooled interior. One major plus was the center-mounted, 8-inch LCD screen, which is positioned perfectly so you don't have to take your eyes far off the road to use it. The same is true of the LCD screen mounted in the gauge cluster. It's far better than the Sierra's former pixelated display. And we enjoyed the huge sunroof, though wind noise got a little loud.
We also loved the Sierra's gadgets. Compared to just a few short years ago, it's hard to believe a truck now has USB ports, navigation, in-vehicle apps and a center-mounted touchscreen. The only gadget we didn't enjoy was the voice control system, which we had trouble using for both navigation and audio functions.
Powertrain Pros
Our test vehicle was equipped with the 5.3-liter V8. That's the mid-level engine, as GMC is also offering a 4.3-liter V6 and a 6.2-liter V8. All three engines are new, and the 5.3-liter puts out 355 horsepower and 383 lb-ft of torque. That muscle was welcome, and the Sierra wears it well. The engine always lets you feel as though you're in command, and the 6-speed automatic shifts smoothly and responsively.
Beyond its powertrain, the Sierra rides and handles better than the old model. That's largely due to the new fully boxed frame, which clearly makes the truck feel more rigid and stable than last year's model. It also helps towing, as do the fully integrated trailer brakes. And we couldn't live without tow/haul mode, which takes the guesswork out of manually operating the automatic transmission when you'd rather be focusing on things such as guiding the pickup safely up a hill.
Overall Impressions
Our test Sierra was a 4-wheel-drive SLT All-Terrain model, and at $50,620 with shipping it wasn't cheap. But it wasn't more expensive than similar models from rivals. Overall, it's a great pickup that's improved in nearly all areas -- and we think it'll pose a strong challenge to competitors. We wouldn't expect anything less from the 2014 GMC Sierra.


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Gyms & Fitness Centers
Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center
Manassas, VA 20110703-993-8444
|Checkbook's Top Rating ()
- 55 Ratings
- 59% Superior Quality of instruction
- Compare 121 Gyms & Fitness Centers nearby
- "Great facility & staff but a bit pricey."
Read More Comments
Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center · Gyms & Fitness Centers
Facilities, Classes, and Amenities for Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center
- Indoor basketball
- Indoor swimming pool
- Racquetball
- Indoor running track
- Aerobics–cardiovascular
- Aerobics–step
- Aerobics–water
- Dance classes
- Senior fitness
- Spinning/studio cycling
- Stretching/flexibility/pilates
- Yoga
- Free daily lockers
- Free hair dryers
- Individual shower stalls
- Jacuzzi or Whirlpool
- Personal trainers
- Sauna
Costs for Illustrative Profiles for Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center
Membership Features for Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center
Consumer Ratings for Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center — 55 Ratings
Complaints for Freedom Aquatic & Fitness Center
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Gyms & Fitness Centers Articles
Options to Joining a Gym
A lot of fitness-club customers waste a lot of money on memberships they don't use. If you're thinking about joining a club, first compare the costs—and time commitment—of exercising at a club compared to the many other fitness options.
How to Compare Local Gyms
When comparing fitness clubs, consider several points, including what its members say, its location, membership fees, contract terms, facilities and equipment, classes, and amenities. Our ratings of area clubs will help you with these comparisons.
How to Get a Good Deal on a Gym Membership
Although it's easy to check on clubs' facilities and activities, finding the right membership option for you can be a lot more difficult.
Government-Operated Recreation Centers in the Washington Area
When comparing the offerings from fitness clubs, check the facilities at recreation centers run by local governments. Many jurisdictions offer fitness club-type facilities that are much less expensive to use than comparably equipped fitness clubs.


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Surging Islanders top Jets
Uniondale, NY – Frans Nielsen's power-play goal in the final minute of the second period snapped a tie game, and the New York Islanders scored twice more in the third en route to a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets at Nassau Coliseum.
Matt Moulson and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist in the win, the fifth in sixth games for a surging Islanders squad that moved into a tie with New Jersey for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race. Colin McDonald also tallied for New York, which received a goal from newly signed rookie Anders Lee in his NHL debut as well.
Kevin Poulin aided the cause with a 23-save effort that helped deal the struggling Jets a season-high fourth consecutive defeat.
Paul Postma accounted for both Winnipeg scores in his first career multi-goal performance, with Ondrej Pavelec stopping 34-of-38 shots in the setback.
With Washington downing Carolina on Tuesday, the Jets' lead over the Capitals for first place in the Southeast Division dwindled to two points.
Postma's second marker of the night put the Islanders down 2-1 just over six minutes into the second period, but New York moved back in front with a pair of tallies before the session came to a close.
Near the midway mark of the frame, Michael Grabner hit McDonald all alone at the doorstep of the net with a beautiful backhand pass that his linemate slid under Pavelec's pads to forge a 2-2 tie.
The Isles then capitalized on a hooking penalty to Winnipeg's Evander Kane near the end of the period to pull ahead. Pavelec kicked Mark Streit's long drive right out to Nielsen, who promptly fired the puck home from the right circle 28 seconds prior to the final intermission.
"We got pucks to the net and that was the big thing," said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano. "After two periods we had close to 30 shots and that's the one thing that we wanted to try to accomplish tonight."
It remained a 3-2 game into the latter stages of the contest, when an over- aggressive forecheck by the Jets created a 2-on-1 rush between Tavares and Moulson that ended in the latter's back-breaking goal with exactly two minutes left to play.
With Winnipeg having pulled Pavelec in the final minute, Moulson blocked a shot that started a Tavares breakaway for an easy empty-netter that sealed the win with 36 seconds to go.
Lee, signed by the Islanders to a two-year entry-level contract on Monday after just concluding a stellar collegiate career at Notre Dame, wasted little time making his presence felt. The 22-year-old gave his new team a 1-0 edge with a quick wrist shot that caught Pavelec off guard and went through the Winnipeg netminder's legs with 3:47 left in the opening period.
"I was just trying to get the puck to the net," Lee said. "I was so surprised. I just threw it on net, it happened to go in, and the boys came to congratulate me. It was pretty awesome. My head was spinning at that point. If it wasn't enough to be playing in my first game, that was really exciting."
The Jets answered less than two minutes later, however. Eric Tangradi skated up the right side and put up a shot that was blocked in front of the net, but Postma was able to blast the loose puck past Poulin to knot the score.
Postma got behind the New York defense for an easy tap-in of Chris Thorburn's pass at the 6:02 mark of the second to give Winnipeg its only lead of the night.
Game Notes
The win was the 78th for Jack Capuano as the Islanders' head coach, moving him past current Flyers bench boss Peter Laviolette for sole possession of third place in franchise history ... Postma entered the contest having notched just one goal in 29 career NHL games ... Streit and Brad Boyes each finished with two assists for the Isles ... New York improved to 13-3-3 when scoring the game's first goal this season and 17-2-2 when netting three or more goals ... Winnipeg defenseman Grant Clitsome sat out the game after taking a stick to the eye in Monday's loss to the New York Rangers, but fellow blueliner Mark Stuart returned to the lineup after missing six straight with an upper- body injury.


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Tips & Tricks: Getting The Most Out Of NuVJ
NuVJ empowers VJs to work with video the same way a DJ mixes music. With NuVJ, you can trigger images and video clips, add effects to them, mix them with the DJ-style crossfader, and tweak them to create unique and spectacular visual shows. The controller works seamlessly with other DJ gear and the software is compatible with Mac and PC.
OS 1.5 is a free download from numark.com/nuvj. It adds 22 new features to NuVJ's ArKaos software.
Beat-Reactive Video
One of the coolest tricks for NuVJ is to take the "booth out" or another output from the DJ's mixer or computer and feed it into the NuVJ's computer. Now NuVJ's Live Generators react to the beat of the music being fed in.
While this has always been possible with NuVJ, It's even more powerful now with an improved algorithm for frequency and beat detection.
The input volume slider at the top of NuVJ software can be extremely useful for balancing the signal being fed into your computer and you can use it as a quick way of cutting the audio sync on/off on the fly.
If you are working with a DJ and you want to run a cable between their setup and yours to sync your video to their music, make sure you've got the appropriate input chosen to reflect this in your sound preferences:
- Mac: Apple → System Preferences → Sound → Input → Internal Built-in mic or other third party audio hardware input
- Windows XP: Control Panel → Sounds and Audio Devices → Audio → Sound Recording → {Name of internal soundcard} → mic or Line In or Channel In
- Windows Vista: Control Panel → Sound → Recording → Analog Mix or Microphone
- Launch NuVJ 1.5 and add a Live Generator such as Pulsating Square 3 and slowly turn up your input volume control at the top
Play a track and you'll see the meters start moving. Fine-tune the sensitivity with the input control and you're off.
You will also find beat-sensing effects and animations that can groove along with the music, such as the Bass Zooms, which when mixed half way with the Master FX Mix, will create crowd-pleasing video pulses to the beat.
Masking and Keying
The new and advanced luminance and chrominance masking controls offer a powerful ability to key out, or punch out content behind the source. This can be useful for displaying the name of the club where you are performing, or the name of the show on the big screen over your visuals.
NuVJ's video interface incorporates layers. Deck A is the first or bottom layer. Deck B is the second or middle layer, and the middle video-preview window is the third or top layer. You can drag content to the middle preview window to act as a third video deck. The object you want to appear on top should be in Deck B.
Sticking to black and white content for now, add your favorite far-out video or animation to a cell in Deck A from your Files list. Add a Text animation to Deck B (found under Sources) and type in some text below.
Set the crossfader all the way to the right and choose the Text cell.
Tip: If you don't want to restart a loop, right-click the cell and ignore the menu it brings up. This will select the cell without restarting the loop.
Choose the Luminance option from the cell controls at the bottom of the screen. This enables black and white shade masking:
You will be presented with the following window:
The top markers control the precision of the mask – the amount. The bottom markers control the width or range of the mask. The secret weapon is the middle grayscale bar, which you can drag left and right and choose the shade to mask. You are masking out a specific shade or range of shades to the layer behind it in Deck A. Choose an appropriate shade to mask around to the visual in Deck A.
For instance:
In Deck A choose the shape:
In Deck B choose the Text:
Then choose the following settings from the lower half of the screen:
The resulting image will look like this:
Now you can experiment with the crossfader position to mix the two visuals. Experiment with the shade-bar position as this determines what shade to mask out. Here's a taste of what to expect if you flip the decks and apply a wide mask range to the non-text visual:
The settings here are:
Try the same basic effect with color visuals and experiment with the chromatic-radiance menu. You can use masking to create thousands of artistic, effectual, or wild outcomes. Here's another example: Try combining the Comic effect to the output preview, using the Lazery Lights on Deck A and your favorite video on Deck B. Then apply a high-contrast, low-brightness setting to the center frame. The squares will randomly be captured at varying colors creating a stained glass or comic book frame effect:
Slice and Dice
Have you ever found yourself reaching for a video clip in the file vault during a gig and realized that it's just way too long? NuVJ v1.5 has this covered too!
This is the new loop-point-selection tool for all video files loaded into NuVJ. Simply drag these points to the desired IN and OUT points prior to playing or even on the fly.
Put a Bow On It
With 22 new features, NuVJ OS 1.5 is a powerful package. And the price is right. FREE at the NuVJ Docs and Downloads tab.


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Photos: Naughty By Nature, Black Sheep, Rakim & More Perform At Masters of Ceremony Concert
While VIBE was honoring Nas for our 2nd annual VIBE Impact Awards in Los Angeles, some of hip-hop's other finest were getting together for a reunion concert on the other coast. New York City's Radio City Music Hall hosted the first-ever Masters of Ceremony concert on Friday night. With a lineup that included Naughty By Nature, Black Sheep, Slick Rick, Rakim, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, DMX, EPMD and Brand Nubian.
Check out photos of hip-hop's first coming hitting the stage in the gallery that follows.


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Skip to comments.A rare treat from nature: Perfect snow doughnuts
Posted on 03/18/2007 5:57:33 AM PDT by Renfield
"This is no joke. We did not build it," said Mike Stanford, an avalanche-control expert with the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT). "They are a natural occurrence in nature."
Stanford found frozen doughnuts of snow on the top of Washington Pass in the North Cascades this week when he was doing avalanche-control work.
At first he couldn't believe his eyes: Perfectly shaped doughnuts had rolled down the mountainside and frozen in place......
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Strange how they roll on flat land. The wind was very strong indeed.
It's Bigfoot's doing...;^)
Yum, powdered donuts!
I've wondered how man got the idea for a wheel, now I know.
I confess...I was just over there in the Cascades...I made them...They are real doughnuts...
Looks like a wintergreen LifeSaver.
If you look carefully at the photo...you can see 2 small
black objects, and a long orange "carrot" shaped object
in a path to converge with the snow donut. Notice also
a "beret shaped" thin slab of rock in the upper left hand of
the photo. converging....If you look at the large format image,
not published however, there are other snow rollers and
they will converge. Some donuts will superposition themselves
on top of the snow rollers. When all the disparate items
converge, well....it blows your mind.
And that junior, is how snowmen came to be. So you don't
have to make one, they form from natures bounty, water,
and energy. All the time, anytime, it is inevitable.
Not sure if this is the sort of thing for either of your ping lists, but I found it interesting.
I'm confused. Aren't natural occurrences supposed to only happen in nature? Unless, of course, it's an artificial natural occurrence, I guess. As I said -- I'm confused.
This sort of an article can be classified in a number of ways, but not the ones you chose. Consider the three suggestions I've given you.
I had to give up the Krispy Kreme ping list...
Very good!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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NABO - TRAYS (Set of 3) by Normann Copenhagen
A beautifully designed set of trays
Like, comment or show your love and get 5% discount!
Your discount will be applied.
The Danish designer Simon Legald has created a series of trays with a softly rounded silhouette and subtle details for Normann Copenhagen. Their design is clean and minimalist, in a friendly and naive expression. Nabo comes as a set of three trays of different sizes and colors.
The carefully considered details give each Nabo tray an individual character, and the variations among them make the series both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. The large tray has openings at one end, making it easy, for example, to brush away crumbs, and water runs off easily when you rinse it. The middle tray is ideal for storing oils and spices, for example, while the high edges of the smallest make it into the ideal serving tray for glasses and bottles or as a bowl, for example, for popcorn or fruit, or even a bread basket.
Simon Legald says: "I got the idea for Nabo one day when I was sitting down, drawing different shapes. I like the fusion of round and square, and so I began to think about what type of product that form would be suitable for. This led me quickly to the idea of a tray. I thought it was interesting how you could vary the few elements of an archetypal tray to retain similarity while the expression changes - a bit like neighbours in a residential neighbourhood where the houses have the same basic shape, but windows, doors, gardens and décor are different. "
Nabo is made in melamine and available in three different color combinations - a dusty green, a rich red and classic grey version. The trays are dishwasher-safe, making them practical for everyday use.
Material: Melamine
Dimensions: H: 6,8 cm x L: 43,4 cm x 23,4 cm
|Simon Legald
|Normann Copenhagen
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A woman suffered facial injuries and was taken to hospital after colliding with a tree while horse riding.
The incident happened at the Bissell Wood Equestrian Centre in Kidderminster at 1.05pm on Saturday and West Midlands Ambulance Service sent an ambulance, a community paramedic officer and the Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene.
A spokesman for the service said: "Due to the woodland location, crews had to leave the ambulance at the roadside and complete their journey to the patient on foot.
On arrival, crews found a woman, believed to be 30-years-old, who had collided with a tree whilst horse riding. She was assessed and treated on scene for a suspected fractured jaw and broken teeth.
After immobilising the woman, ambulance crews worked closely with the fire service to carefully transport her to the waiting ambulance on Deansford Lane before she was conveyed to Worcester Royal Hospital for further assessment and treatment."
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Departmental Website
The Africana Studies program at Eastern Illinois University provides a comprehensive examination of the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout the world. The vision of the Africana Studies program is to develop and impart an understanding of the experiences, history, and achievements of peoples of African descent. Encompassing both a major and a minor, the program also encourages students to participate in its study abroad program each summer.
History and Culture, Fine Arts (Art, Music, Theatre and Dance), Literature, Politics and International Development, Gender
Graduate Degree Opportunities After Graduation
African American, African, Africana, art, law, literature, music, computer sciences, history, international relations, political science, sociology, education, music, speech, communications, film, philosophy, business administration, public health, social work.
Course Catalog Listing
Typical Starting Positions
Teaching at Elementary, Secondary and Tertiary Levels; Social Services; Human Resources; Diversity Officers; Public Relations; Personnel Officers; Policy Analysts; Counseling; Higher Education Support Services; Insurance; Real Estate; Customer Relations; Management; Small Business; Health Care; Consulting in Urban Studies; Library Sciences; International Relations; Military Sciences; Family and Consumer Sciences; Public Administration


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FOXBORO, Mass. - The harsh reality of where the Ravens stand in the AFC was as unforgiving as the pelting downpour.
The Ravens' humbling 24-3 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots yesterday not only delivered a hit to their status among the conference's elite teams, but also struck a blow to their playoff chances.
Undone by a record-worst performance on offense and an equally forgettable tackling effort on defense, the Ravens (7-4) are now on the postseason bubble with five games remaining.
Assuming they make the playoffs - which is far from guaranteed at this point - their showing against New England (10-1) didn't offer much promise that it...


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|Fond du Lac, Wis.
|High School:
|Fond du Lac
2013 Season (Sophomore): Competed in the 55-meter and 60-meter dashes as well as the long jump and javelin throw...INDOOR: Recorded indoor season-bests in the 55-meter dash (7.24) and the long jump (5.82) at the Northern Athletics Conference Indoor Championships (Feb. 13)...Ran the 60-meter dash at the Karl Schlender Invitational (Jan. 19) in 7.93...OUTDOOR: Ranked second in the NAC in the javelin throw with his personal record toss of 42.89 meters at the NAC Outdoor Championships (May 3-4)...Leaped 6.20 meters (wind aided) at the Wisconsin Private College Championships (Apr. 27)...Placed fifth in the javelin throw (42.64) at the Wisconsin Private College Championships.
2012 Season (Freshman): Competed in the 55- and 100-meters, long jump and triple jump..Helped the men's team win the Northern Athletics Conference Indoor Championship...INDOOR: Had four top-19 finishes in the long jump...Posted a 13th place finish at the NAC Indoor Championships (Feb. 25) in the long jump (5.85m)...OUTDOOR: Had three top-16 finishes in the long jump...Placed 14th in the long jump (5.70m) at the Ted Haydon Invitational (Mar. 31)...Finished 12th in the long jump (5.75m wind aided) at the Cougar Invitational (Apr. 19-20)...Ended his season with a 14th place finish in the long jump (6.05m wind aided) at the NAC Outdoor Championships (May 4-5).
High School (Fond du Lac): An Honor Roll student-athlete all four years...Advanced to the sectional tournament in the long jump...Holds the school record in the long jump (20' 9")...Earned varsity letters in football, bowling and track & field.
Personal: Son of Brad and Sue...Has one older brother, Josh.


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Coughlan keeps Williams on the move
Mike Coughlan's arrival as chief engineer at Williams in June 2011 was a crucial step, if controversial given his chequered past, in turning around the fortunes of Formula One's faded former champions.india Updated: Mar 08, 2013 20:22 IST
If Williams come good this season, much of it will be down to a man who says he is "not a great fan of motor racing" and rates designing a five tonne armoured patrol vehicle as a career highlight.
Mike Coughlan's arrival as chief engineer at Williams in June 2011 was a crucial step, if controversial given his chequered past, in turning around the fortunes of Formula One's faded former champions.
Now technical director, Coughlan hopes the team's new FW35 car - the first under his full guidance - is good enough to move the winners of nine constructors' titles back up the grid and into the top five.
The team that won four drivers' championships in six years during the 1990s - through Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve - scored just five points in 2011 and finished ninth in a performance that ranked as their worst since the 1970s.
Last year they won the Spanish Grand Prix with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, finishing eighth overall, and now they hope to make further progress.
Much of the credit must go to Coughlan, the former McLaren chief designer who was banned from Formula One for two years in 2007 when a 780 page dossier of leaked Ferrari technical information was found at his home.
He has expressed remorse for involvement in that spy scandal, describing it as 'life changing', and Williams were happy to give him a chance to prove himself again.
"I have never in my career looked back, I have always looked forward," the interview-shy Briton told Reuters at the mention of a scandal that led to McLaren being dealt a record $100 million fine, although the sum was later reduced.
"I'm always keen to get on, to do well. I'm very competitive. I'm not a great fan of motor racing but I am highly competitive. I enjoy engineering, I enjoy working at Williams, I am very aware of the history of the family and name and team.
"I talk to (co-founder) Patrick (Head) almost daily and I'm desperate for us to do well."
Between leaving McLaren and joining Williams, Coughlan led a design team working on an armoured military patrol vehicle for use in hostile environments such as Afghanistan and also spent time in NASCAR with Michael Waltrip Racing.
The experience allowed him to see the sport in a more dispassionate light.
"If I look back at my period in early motor racing, there was so much emotion," he said. "We are much clearer now.
"Motor racing and Formula One especially has been guilty of being very insular, believing itself to be highly sophisticated almost to the detriment of every other sport. But I spent three years developing a military vehicle that was survivable and I learnt a lot doing that.
"When (former Williams chairman) Adam (Parr) first approached me I said 'I guarantee you I am a much better engineer than I was three years ago' because I'd seen other environments and how other people work."
Working on the military project and competing against rival bidders for the tender, he said, gave him "as big a buzz as motor racing"
"The highlight of my career was when a major-general said to me 'What you have done in terms of surviveability will save 200 kids lives'."
Arriving at Williams, with the engineering side in some disarray, Coughlan said he had tried to keep things simple.
"I didn't look at what was wrong. I just didn't have the time. I just said this is the way we are going to do stuff because this is what I know works," he recalled of his immediate approach.
"I am not fussy on everything we do, don't get me wrong, but there are a few key things which are important to me and which I know make performance.
"I don't have the time to sit here and go through whether your system for doing it is better than my system. I just said we're going to do it with my system because it's my arse."
The new car is a progression from the FW34, with the lack of major rule changes allowing the team to effectively see 2012 and 2013 as one extended project.
Maldonado was able to show the car's speed in testing, which was largely problem-free despite an initial flurry over 'illegal' exhausts that the team have since replaced.
"He was very comfortable in it... So I think generally we are optimistic about the progress we've made, we've made significant aerodynamic progress, and I think we look forward to the season," said Coughlan.
"I certainly feel more comfortable with this year's car than last year's."
Williams, through driver error and other failings, squandered points last season and they are determined not to repeat those mistakes.
At last year's Canadian Grand Prix, as one example, Maldonado picked up a five place grid penalty for a damaged gearbox after brushing the 'Wall of Champions' in qualifying. He could have been in the top 10 but instead started 22nd.
Coughlan said the team had spent a lot of time working on ways to protect the gearbox against such impacts in future.
"We felt as a team that there were several opportunities that we passed by on. It was actually some of the silly things in qualifying and also some of the engineering of the car, which we've addressed this year," he added.
"We believe that probably a true reflection of our car pace was fifth in the championship but the bottom line is that we didn't deliver on it. That's what we need to do.
"I think fifth is certainly achievable and that's our aim. we want to move into fifth and break into the top five."
First Published: Mar 08, 2013 19:48 IST


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ACPL Genealogy Center
Friday, Jun 14, 2013
by Delia
Whether you're coming to The Genealogy Center as a local resident or from two thousand miles away, preparing for your research time is vital to a productive visit. We've talked about what to bring, but doing your "homework" before even starting your journey will actually provide more solid research time.
What's your homework?
Check our catalogs and make lists of which books or microfilm you want to use while here. There is a guide to finding material in our catalogs that will help you get started. Gather titles and call numbers for books, and titles with roll or sheet numbers for microfilm sources. This way, when you arrive, you can immediately pull these materials for examination. But make sure you are really using our print catalog and microtext catalog. Sometimes visitors have titles and call numbers from other libraries that they have searched instead of ours, including the Family History Library and other public libraries for Allen Counties outside of Indiana, and are frustrated that the numbers are not the same.
Why are the numbers different from one facility to another? It's first important to know what a call number is. The simplest way to describe a call number is that it is the "address" where a specific book "lives" on the shelves. In the Dewey Decimal System (Dewey, for short), fiction is organized by author and biographies by the last name of the subject, but other material is organized by subject. There are large groupings of numbers from 001 to 999 signifying general subjects. For example, books with call numbers that are in the 500s are Science books, 700s are for the Arts, and 900s are for the Social Sciences, including history. Within the Arts classification, you have silk painting (746.6), ballet (792.8), and country music (781.6), for example.
Genealogical material can fit into several categories, such as church records (200s), cemeteries (300s), census (also 300s), business (600s), and history and biography (900s).
Confusing? Yes, it is. For people not steeped in the Dewey System, and to many of us who are, it is cumbersome, to say the least. Then add the fact that we now have more than a half million print volumes in The Genealogy Center, and it could have been extremely perplexing to have call numbers stretching from the 200s to the 900s.
Many years ago, however, the staff of the Genealogy Department and the catalogers for the old Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County created a modified Dewey System just for the Genealogy Collection.
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text:
Breaking Up With Hotmail
Why I'm ending my longest online relationship.
Hotmail and I go way back. I had an account there before Microsoft bought it for a reported $400 million at the beginning of 1998, which makes the free e-mail service my longest-running online relationship. There were others before Hotmail, of course. I had a CompuServe account, and an AOL address, and before that, way back in the days of my cyber-puberty, I had an MCI Mail account that was so slow you could almost read incoming messages as fast as they snaked their way onto the screen at 300 baud.
My promiscuous relationships have also included corporate mail accounts, usually via Microsoft Outlook. But using Outlook is like sleeping with a hooker at a convention and sending the bill to your boss. There's no real pleasure to be found in Outlook, no intimacy, only relief. Outlook exists to satisfy your corporate manager and the freaks down at IT, not you or me.
What attracted me to Hotmail? Well, she was free, and she wasn't Outlook. And she liked to go places! Like any whore, Outlook was pretty demanding, stipulating where and when we could connect. When not at the office, I could only see her via VPN and later, when she became obsessed with the danger of catching some virus from me, we could only hook up if I had a valid smartcard plugged into my USB to act as a prophylactic. Hotmail didn't care about that shit. Anytime from any computer was good enough for her.
A search through my old folders brings back memories of all the good times we had together. I remember when I bought ClipMate and sent the validation key to my Hotmail address. How about my registration for CRAYON newspaper? Boy, I haven't been to that site for more than a decade, and you know what? My username—my Hotmail address—and my password still work! It's so much fun to review all those Amazon transactions from the 1990s and recall the memories of a simpler time: a dozen books, those cheap Koss headphones, that Son Volt CD …
Somewhere along the way, Hotmail changed. I'll be the first to admit that I changed, too. When I asked Hotmail if it was OK if I started seeing other free e-mail services, she said she didn't mind. So I grabbed one from Go.com, another from Yahoo, and a second Hotmail address for Slate-related business. I flirted with the Outlook Express client, and much later Thunderbird. I even picked up an MSN address, technically a paid service but comped because Slate was then owned by Microsoft. Like all relationships, Hotmail and I had devolved into a love-hate-coexistence groove. I hated the fact that Hotmail put limits on how many e-mails I could store without paying. I hated the limitation on the size of files I could send. I suspect that Hotmail hated me because I wanted all she provided and more but wasn't willing to pay.
The beginning of the end came in mid-2004, when I wheedled an invitation to Gmail. Google's Web mail service wasn't about limits. I've saved practically every e-mail I've gotten on my Gmail account and have never come close to hitting my maximum. It's not like I ever fell in love with Gmail—even though I got two accounts there, too. I just compartmentalized. I reserved my Hotmail account for online shopping and software registration. I've got a million electronic receipts there, and I didn't want to bother changing my Amazon, Netflix, Go Daddy, Borders, Napster, and iTunes accounts to a new address. So I stayed, rationalizing my unhappiness. I'll bet the same has happened to you, too. They get their hooks into you and you can't break free.
Why was I unhappy? Hotmail, after all, had done a lot for me and never asked for much in return. Well, I just came to like Gmail better. It was svelte and fast and easily searchable while Hotmail was not. Also, Hotmail kept putting on weight with all of its new features—features that I didn't want. It also went through a bewildering set of name changes that spoke directly to its self-esteem problems: Hotmail became MSN Hotmail and then Windows Live Mail and then Windows Live Hotmail. Who do you think you're fooling, Hotmail? We all know you're the same broad we met back in 1996.
I have never been embarrassed to have a Hotmail address—something I can't say about my AOL account. In fact, I wouldn't be writing this today if Hotmail had stuck to being Hotmail. But no, these days it wants to stand between me and the entire Web, monitoring my every step. When I sign on to collect Hotmail, it immediately starts hectoring me to connect my account to Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. It implores me to "Share something new" with people in my network. It begs me to upload photos. Right now, the opening page of Hotmail is alerting me to the upcoming birthday of somebody I don't even know.
I must confess to having once been seduced by Hotmail's little sister, Messenger, which has also gone through more changes than the corner bank. But I've stopped seeing Messenger, too, because she keeps nagging me about having to upgrade. She insists on becoming my videophone, my social director, my file-transfer program, and my butler! She wants to know my mobile phone number, and man, I don't give that out to anybody. She seems incapable of understanding that I just want her to 1) be stable and 2) send instant messages! Quit with the airs, already! Now I use the Web client Meebo for all of my messaging needs.
So last month I ended the relationship. But like all failed modern romances, it's not a complete break. I've stopped sending outgoing mail from Hotmail and have rigged my Gmail account to siphon up all the e-mail that's still straggling in. Except for checking the junk folder of my Hotmail once a week, it's over.
I'd be lying if I didn't say that Gmail makes me feel younger and about 20 pounds lighter. But I've been around the block enough times to know that this relationship won't last forever. Earlier this year, Gmail expressed its neediness by pushing its Buzz feature on me without asking for my permission first. Every now and then, if I accidentally click myself from "invisible" to "visible," I start receiving unwanted Google Chat messages from people I've e-mailed once or twice.
I can see myself falling into old patterns, shouting at Gmail that I'm just too old to deal with the hassle. Maybe I just don't want another relationship. Can't my e-mail program just be my roommate?
Addendum, Dec. 2: Hotmail is taking my "Dear Jane" note well. She'll be OK. Anybody with "Hot" in their name isn't going to have trouble on the rebound.
Just leave me alone. Don't send e-mail to email@example.com and don't eavesdrop on my Twitter feed. (E-mail may be quoted by name in "The Fray," Slate's readers' forum; in a future article; or elsewhere unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.)
Track my errors: This hand-built RSS feed will ring every time Slate runs a "Press Box" correction. For e-mail notification of errors in this specific column, type the word Hotmail in the subject head of an e-mail message, and send it to firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Tartine Bread Fail :)
Hi all,
My first post here ;)
I tried to make the Tartine Bread and i failed miserably :D
Here is the result :
The dough got way to sticky so i could not make the folds and when i took it out of the bowl all the air came out because it was sticky and hard to handle :(
The dough was sticky from the beginning and i was hopening that it would change but did not. I am guessing the reason was the flour used so maybe i am going to try again sometime.
I used this flour (danish) :
I used machine to mix the incredients and i used the oven (without turning it on) and a bowl of boiling water to keep the temperature high so the dough could develop.
The bread is edible but :
1. It's extrmely flat but does have big holes of air.
2. The crust was great when it came out. Became soft after putting it in a plastic bag as expected.
3. The taste is rather sour, i am guessing the starter was not THAT young as it should be and maybe the temperature was to high in the oven so i should have not left it for 3.5h. btw the temp was around 35C.
Anyway i had to share it and yes i have read the links about the sticky dough here. I will try some of the suggestions.


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Arkansas' Young declares for NBA Draft
Fayetteville, AR – Arkansas sophomore guard BJ Young has declared for the 2013 NBA Draft, according to a press release from the school.
Young had submitted his name to the 2012 NBA Draft, but withdrew and decided to the Razorbacks. This past season, he averaged a team-high 15.2 points per game and also led Arkansas with 102 assists.
"I met with BJ and his father today and BJ expressed his interest to enter his name in the NBA Draft," said Arkansas coach Mike Anderson. "This is his dream and as a coach I encourage him to pursue that dream. I gave him the pros and cons of his decision and he chose to enter the draft. BJ has become a well- rounded player, leading us in scoring and assists, and he became a more active rebounder."
Young has been named to the All-SEC second team in each of his two seasons with the Razorbacks.


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Self-administered Drugs: Requirement Reminders
For those medications that are self-administered, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) members are required to use their pharmacy benefit and acquire the medication through a pharmacy provider. Self-administered drugs can include oral, patch and injectable products.
For your patients to receive benefit coverage, the covered self-administered drugs must be provided under their pharmacy benefit and not dispensed through the physician's office.
In January 2013, BCBSOK is planning to implement a system edit that will deny services submitted on professional claims for self-administered drugs that are covered under the member's prescription drug benefit. Denied service lines on the claim will receive the following message: "Self-administered drugs submitted by a medical professional provider are not within the member's medical benefits. These charges must be billed and submitted by a Pharmacy provider."
As a reminder, Specialty Pharmacy is the preferred specialty pharmacy for most BCBSOK members. To obtain specialty medications through the Specialty Pharmacy Program:
- Collect Patient and Insurance Information
Use the Specialty Pharmacy fax form or your own prescription form, along with your office's fax cover sheet. Be sure to include the physician's signature and any clinical data that may support the approval process.
- Fax Signed Forms to 866-203-6010
Specialty Pharmacy's team of pharmacists and benefit specialists will handle the details, from checking eligibility to coordinating delivery.
To help you determine the correct path for medication fulfillment and ensure that the correct benefit is applied, please refer to the Specialty Pharmacy Drug List . This list identifies those drugs that are approved for self-administration and covered under the patient's pharmacy benefit.
Pharmacy benefits and limits are subject to the terms set forth in the member's certificate of coverage which may vary from the limits set forth above. The listing of any particular drug or classification of drugs is not a guarantee of benefits. Members should refer to their certificate of coverage for more details, including benefits, limitations and exclusions. Regardless of benefits, the final decision about any medication is between the member and their health care provider.