text:
Going for gold at PIAA wrestling championships
Nathan Cheek
■ Weight: 145
■ School: Valley West (AAA)
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 40-4, NE-3
■ Coach: Drew Feldman
■ Accomplishments: Cheek made the leap into elite territory this season, taking home WVC and District 2 titles. Cheek lost a 1-0 decision in the regional quarterfinals, but bounced back with two one-point wins to punch his ticket to Hershey.
■ Best wins of the season: Ben Siegel (Tunkhannock, 3-2, WVC Tournament final, Jan. 5); James Palys (PME, 2-1, NE Regional consolation semifinals, March 1); Bobby Endy (St. Joe's Prep, 3-2, NE Regional third-place match, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Two of InterMat's top six are in this bracket, with Father Judge's Joe Galasso (23-0,
NE-1) on the top half. Cheek has a difficult opening bout versus CB East's Franceso Fabozzi (37-1, SE-1). He could compete for a medal, but breaking into the top three or four will be a tall order.
Cody Cordes
■ Weight: 160
■ School: Valley West (AAA)
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 40-3, NE-2
■ Coach: Drew Feldman
■ Accomplishments: Cordes went unbeaten versus District 2 competition this season. He competed at 145
last season, but the 15 added pounds and extra year of maturity has made Cordes one of the district's best wrestlers.
■ Best wins of the season: Kazim Bakhriyev (Scranton, 6-1, D2 Duals, Feb. 1); Mat Carr (Abington Heights, 2-1, D2 final, Feb. 22); Brody Keefe (Pleasant Valley, pin in 2:57, NE Regional semifinals, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Cordes opens up with a coin-flip bout against Central Mountain's Chad Reese (35-7, NW-2), a 2013 state qualifier. If Cordes upends Reese, the specter of InterMat's national No. 3 Garrett Peppelman (42-1, SC-1) looms. The Central Dauphin senior is a reigning runner-up and 2012 champion.
Jimmy Hoffman
■ Weight: 120
■ School: Hazleton Area (AAA)
■ Year: Freshman
■ Record & Seed: 39-6, NE-3
■ Coach: Keith Maurer
■ Accomplishments: Hoffman is the first WVC freshman since Austin Harry in 2011 to qualify for states. He won Most Outstanding Wrestler honors at the WVC Tournament and breezed to a district title.
■ Best wins of the season: A.J. Luton (GAR, 10-0, WVC Tournament final, Jan. 5); Greg Pascale (Abington Heights, 12-0, D2 semifinals, Feb. 22); Rui Evanitsky (Scranton, 5-2, NE Regional consolation semifinals, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Hoffman's reward for qualifying for states? A first-round date with Latrobe sophomore Luke Pletcher (39-0, SW-1), the nation's top-ranked 120-pounder. On the other side of the bracket is Parkland's Ethan Lizak (41-3, NE-1), a two-time state champion. If Hoffman medals, it would be an astonishing feat.
Connor Martinez
■ Weight: 170
■ School: Dallas (AAA)
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 36-9, NE-3
■ Coach: Mike Richards
■ Accomplishments: The perennially underrated Martinez came into his own this season, winning WVC and District 2 titles while occasionally bumping up to 182 for dual meets. He won four straight consolation bracket matches at regionals to crash the PIAA party.
■ Best wins of the season: Derek Dragon (Lake-Lehman, 5-4, WVC Tournament final, Jan. 5); Patrick Cooper (West Scranton, 2-1, D2 semifinals, Feb. 22); Noah Klingborg (Liberty, 3-1, NE Regional thirdplace
match, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Martinez drew the shortest straw of the tournament with a first-round matchup against Kennard-Dale senior Chance Marsteller (37-0, SC-1). The three-time state champion has a career record of 162-0. His closest margin of victory this season is seven points.
Ryan Monk
■ Weight: 285
■ School: Dallas (AAA)
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 40-2, NE-1
■ Coach: Mike Richards
■ Accomplishments: Monk was the only District 2 AAA wrestler to win a regional title, a victory that upped his winning streak to 33. He won both the WVC and District 2 titles with pins and 28 of his 33 non-forfeit
victories have come via the short route.
■ Best wins of the season: Saul Wilkins (GAR, pin in 2:36, Feb. 8); Kamron VanWert (West Scranton, pin in 6:49, D2 final, Feb. 22); Brandon Lance (Nazareth, 3-2, NE Regional final, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Monk's preliminary-round opponent is a fellow first-time state qualifier in Harrisburg's Andrew Brown (34-5, SC-3). The good news for Monk is that defending champion Thomas Haines (38-0, SC-1) of Solanco, who pinned him in 1:35 on Dec. 14, is on the other side of the bracket.
Derek Dragon
■ Weight: 170
■ School: Lake-Lehman (AA)
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 31-8, NE-3
■ Coach: Tom Williams
■ Accomplishments: Dragon is a two-time district champion with the brute strength to give most people a difficult match. He has 22 pins, including a few of the come-from-behind variety.
■ Best wins of the season: T.J. Cistrunk (Meyers, pin in 4:32, Jan. 8); Harvey Wood (N. Penn-Blossburg, pin in 2:59, NE Regional consolation semifinal, March 1); David Burke (Danville, 5-4, NE Regional third-place match, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: It won't be easy for Dragon, who will make his tournament debut versus North Schuylkill's Auston Hummel (38-3, SE-2), a repeat state qualifier. Hummel lost a 6-3 decision in the regional finals to Becahi's Nick Cortopassi (33-5, SE-1). Kane's Evan Delong (32-0, NW-1), a reigning state runnerup, is also on Dragon's side of the bracket.
Austin Harry
■ Weight: 132
■ School: Lake-Lehman (AA)
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 37-1, NE-1
■ Coach: Tom Williams
■ Accomplishments: Harry, a two-time state medalist, is making his fourth appearance in Hershey. He won his third consecutive Northeast Regional title last weekend and has a career record of 153-15.
■ Best wins of the season: James Palys (PME, 2-1 TB, Tunkhannock Kiwanis final, Dec. 28); Billy Poray (Coughlin, 13-4, WVC Tournament final, Jan. 5); Keith Batkowski (Montoursville, 4-2, NE Regional final, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Harry will face Biglerville sophomore Scott Cooper (37-9, SE-5) in the prelims. Harry has a favorable draw until the semifinals, where a potential match with Hanover's Ian Brown (35-0, SE-1) awaits. Brown defeated Harry via 5-0 decision in last year's third-place match. South Fayette's Mike Carr (40-0, SW-1) is the hammer on the bottom half of the bracket.
Charlie Johnson
■ Weight: 126
■ School: Wyoming Area (AA)
■ Year: Sophomore
■ Record & Seed: 36-5, NE-3
■ Coach: Steve Mytych
■ Accomplishments: Johnson wrestled back at regionals, winning a pair of two-point decisions to nab the final PIAA berth. He won his first District 2 title.
■ Best wins of the season: Bobby Hawkins (Coughlin, 10-6, WVC Tournament semifinals, Jan. 4); Andy Aguilar (Muncy, 5-3, NE Regional consolation semifinals, March 1); Brian LeBarron (Warrior Run, 3-1, NE Regional third-place match, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Johnson will open up against Reynolds junior Michael Bartolo (33-9, NW-2). If Johnson upsets Bartolo, his likely quarterfinal opponent would be Jefferson-Morgan's John Demaske (40-0, SW-1). The headliner is Becahi senior, InterMat national No. 4 and West Virginia recruit Zeke Moisey (40-0, SE-1), a two-time runner-up.
Saul Wilkins
■ Weight: 285
■ School: GAR (AA)
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 30-8, NE-1
■ Coach: Rick Simon
■ Accomplishments: The first-year wrestler has taken the WVC by storm, winning District 2 and NE Regional titles after a 2-3 start to his career. A football player, Wilkins' brute strength and agility have served
him well on the mat.
■ Best wins of the season: Kyle Krepich (Meyers, pin in 3:25, D2 final, Feb. 22); Jordan Troup (Bloomsburg, 4-2, NE Regional quarterfinals, Feb. 28); Dylan Brennan (Troy, 7-3, NE Regional final, March 1).
■ Scouting the Bracket: Wilkins has a winnable opening match versus Wes Bankus (43-13, SE-5). He could face returning state qualifier Jake Beistel (35-4, SW-2) in the quarters. The question is: when will Wilkins' lack of experience catch up with him? Defending state champion Sam Breese (32-0, NW-1) of Lakeview is on the opposite end of the bracket.
Northwest Area
Four athletes from Northwest Area wrestle for Class AA Benton as part of a co-op.
Alan Diltz
■ Weight: 106
■ Year: Sophomore
■ Record & Seed: 29-10, NE-2
Mike Stuart
■ Weight: 120
■ Year: Freshman
■ Record & Seed: 25-13, NE-2
Dominic Vitale
■ Weight: 152
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 36-10, NE-3
Logan Womelsdorf
■ Weight: 195
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 32-8, NE-2
Lackawanna Contingent
Austin Swoyer
■ School: Western Wayne (AA)
■ Weight: 195
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 38-9, NE-3
Mat Carr
■ School: Abington Hts. (AAA)
■ Weight: 160
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 31-2, NE-3
Jalen Palmer
■ School: Delaware Valley (AAA)
■ Weight: 132
■ Year: Senior
■ Record & Seed: 34-7, NE-3
Jared Wehrmann
■ School: Abington Heights (AAA)
■ Weight: 182
■ Year: Junior
■ Record & Seed: 41-3, NE-3
Giant Center, Hershey
Preliminaries (9 a.m.) 1st round consolations (12:15 p.m.)
Preliminaries (4 p.m.) 1st round consolations (7:15)
Quarterfinals (9 a.m.) 2nd round consolations (10:45 a.m.) Semifinals (6:30 p.m.) 3rd round consolations
4th round consolations (9 p.m.)
Quarterfinals (1:30 p.m.) 2nd round consolations (3:15 p.m.)
Parade of Champions (1:45 p.m.) Third, Fifth & Seventh Place Consolations & Finals (2 p.m.)
Semifinals (9 a.m.) 3rd round consolations 4th round consolations (11:30 a.m.) Parade of Champions (6:45 p.m.) Third, Fifth & Seventh Place Consolations & Finals (7 p.m.)
PCN will again televise the championships live. Class AA coverage begins at 1:30 Saturday with Class AA coverage slated for 6:30.
Staff Writer Evan Korn will have live updates at citizensvoice.com and on Twitter @CVEvanKorn
Jordan Wood (220)
School: Boyertown (AAA)
Wood (38-1, SE-2) made his season debut on Dec. 7 at the Bear Duals, where he wrestled at 285 pounds and pinned Dallas state qualifier Ryan Monk in 1:17. He went undefeated until the SE Regional final, where he lost a 5-2 decision to Coatesville's Michael Boykin (36-0, SE-1).
Chance Marsteller (170)
School: Kennard-Dale (AAA)
Marsteller (37-0, SC-1) has a career record of 162-0 and could become the 11th wrestler to claim four PIAA
titles. Also watch out for Solanco 285-pounder Thomas Haines (38-0, SC-1), another three-time champion
favored to win number four. Garrett Peppelman (160) School: Central Dauphin (AAA) Peppelman (42-1, SC-1) had the misfortune of running into Marsteller in last year's 160-pound final, where he lost a 17-5 major decision. Peppelman should claim his second state title in three years.
George Phillippi (120)
School: Derry Area (AA)
Phillippi (37-4, SW-1) is a sophomore and defending state champion who has only lost to the very best.
Jason Nolf (145)
School: Kittanning (AA)
Nolf (40-0, SW-1) has won two state titles in three years and has a career record of 172-1, the only loss coming in the 2012 PIAA semifinals. The Penn State recruit is InterMat's national No. 2.
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The reality I'm afraid is that Mclaren are so far of the pace that they have to try and design a stategy just to get some points, last weekend in China Button was just letting people past him to to do just that. It's not what I watch F1 for and Mclaren must be very embarrassed to be in this position. The likelyhood of them suddenly becoming super competitive is so remote that I would guess thay are already concentrating on next season. Whitmarsh won't admit it publicly until later in the season to save even more embarrassment.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Stones and mud-clods
whistled past my head as Mark Smith worked above me trying to find solid
"rock" which might hold a placement. I huddled under a small
triangular roof and marveled at the variety of buzzing and hissing
noises made by the falling debris. I also marveled at how much of the
small stuff drifted down my neck and funneled into my hammock.
Occasionally, Mark dislodged a sizable mud-pack which broke into several
large pieces. These big chunks screamed past and cluster-bombed the
trail, 500 feet below me, raising impressive clouds of dust. It was just
another day on the worst sandstone in
Climbing, #132 and #133, had featured articles describing Intifada as, "Perhaps the world's most severe aid route". Tales of A6 (a new rating), rotten rock, death anchors, and the thrilling prospect that the leader could pull the whole house down including anchors, had Mark and I itching with curiosity. Jim Beyer's climbs seemed the ultimate in aid-climbing difficulty. We echoed Greg Child's question, "Were his routes as extreme as he claimed?"
An eleven hour drive
brought us to
Next stop, Eric Bjornstad: author of Desert Rock. A guidebook author seemed like a good source for a topo. He too had a very helpful attitude, but stated that Beyer wasn't very good about supplying topos to his harder creations. While he couldn't give us any information (other than, "the east face of Cottontail"), he had some words of advice for us: "If you haven't climbed sandstone before, a Beyer route isn't a good place to start. His routes are the hardest in the world, and you'll really only have three options. You'll either ruin the route to bring it down to your level, you'll be disappointed in your own abilities and quit, or you'll end up dead." We assured him that we refused to do the first, and dearly hoped to avoid the other two.
A sense of impending doom pressed upon us. Many very credible people were backing Beyer's routes. Intifada could well be the death-route it was cracked up to be.
Mark and I had decided before making our journey that we were committed
to doing the route, no matter how hard it might be. We had talked at
great length about possible death-anchor configurations and how we might
improve our chance--without drilling. We had decided that if we had to
risk death-anchors to do the route, we would take whatever risks were
required. We wanted to see what A6 was really like. We were honestly
willing to die to find out.
Mark and I had decided before making our journey that we were committed to doing the route, no matter how hard it might be. We had talked at great length about possible death-anchor configurations and how we might improve our chance--without drilling. We had decided that if we had to risk death-anchors to do the route, we would take whatever risks were required. We wanted to see what A6 was really like. We were honestly willing to die to find out.
As we left Bjornstad's home, his words rang in our ears: "You guys will probably be disappointed." We pictured ourselves driving home in defeat, or being driven home in a box. We still knew very little about the route, but it already had the consensus of extreme difficulty.
Next stop, Kyle Copeland: quoted in Climbing #133 regarding Beyer's climbs, and local climbing guide. Eric had told us how to find Kyle, and explained that he would be our most likely source for a topo. Kyle seemed very suspicious of us. He asked lots of questions about our backgrounds and our intentions. When he found that we had almost no sandstone experience, he was aghast: "So you think you're going to go up and do Intifada as your first sandstone climb! Don't you think that's a little bold?" I guess this was supposed to shame us into tucking our collective tail between our collective legs and driving straight home. Our response was, "Yes."
Kyle didn't want to give us any information. Only when we repeated what
we had already heard and read did he agree that Intifada was the only
route on the East face of Cottontail tower. Kyle stated that Beyer
rarely made topos of his routes, thus he couldn't help us in that
regard. We left, and the air was heavy with the Wings of Steel syndrome.
Kyle didn't want to give us any information. Only when we repeated what we had already heard and read did he agree that Intifada was the only route on the East face of Cottontail tower. Kyle stated that Beyer rarely made topos of his routes, thus he couldn't help us in that regard. We left, and the air was heavy with the Wings of Steel syndrome.
We both spotted it at the same time—a small rotted sling about 70 feet up an orange arch! A lower-out sling? Somebody's aborted first ascent attempt? A bail sling from Intifada? We couldn't tell, but it was a start.
After an eight-hour investment of squints behind binoculars, we felt reasonably sure we knew where the route went. Where Beyer had driven pitons, mud was missing, leaving visible scars. The scars gave us a sort of "climb by the numbers" route. We knew we had to start here, climb over to there, then eventually up to there, etc. We were baffled by the last pitch, however. It appeared to be one of the better crack systems of the route, and ended right on the ridge where Brer Rabbit goes up. We turned again to our trusty Climbing #133, page 139, "He summarizes the delights of the last pitch as '38 hook moves, a crux of stacked blade tips in rotten flakes, and a lunge to the summit.'" "Now where in the world does he put those 38 hook moves," we wondered. We also knew that Beyer's new A6 rating demanded such a poor anchor at the start of the last pitch that any fall mid-pitch was virtually guaranteed to zip the pitch and then the anchor on the way by. But we saw big cracks and features all the way up to Brer Rabbit. And Bred Rabbit had bolt anchors. So where could the "death anchor" be?
We spent an entire day on the local boulders, playing with the most extreme aid placements we could conjure up. We hooked and headed and nailed and bird-beaked. The sandstone was remarkably resilient. Dinner plate sized, one inch thick sheets of dirt would expand and expand as we drove blades behind them. These blades withstood even hard bouncing. But, overdrive the pin just a little, and the entire sheet would flake off. We learned exactly how much to drive a pin to get the best placement without breaking the rock, but we also prayed to not be confronted with such flakey horror on the climb. Nevertheless, our aid-bouldering efforts reassured us that we could engineer our way up sandstone. We geared up to lead the next day.
I won (lost?) the coin flip which netted me the first lead: It appeared to require copperheads up a rotten seam facing a ground fall from 40 feet up. "Oh luscious," I thought, "Just what my two bad ankles need!" My only comfort was that I secretly believed that this would arrange the lead sequence to give Mark the last lead—the supposed A6 death pitch. Of course, we had half-jokingly quizzed each other, "Would you rather be the belayer at a death anchor, relying on the leader to not rip everything out, or would you prefer the sharp end, where at least you control your own destiny?"
I reached up and planted a copperhead in Beyer's first blown-out trench. We were surprised to see a line of trenches all the way up the seam, so it appeared that trenched heads in blank seams was the ethic in use on the route. One trenched head after another, many of them surprisingly good, took me to the orange arch, the rotten sling, and several pin scars. Taking this to be the anchor, I buried some good pitons and slung these together with a couple of nuts and Friends. This was a good anchor--provided the huge block which formed our anchor crack didn't decide to cut loose on top of us.
Several things about the pitch impressed me. First, many of the heads were very good. Some of them could be expected to hold falls. Second, Beyer must be a tall man, because he seemed to have at least six inches of reach on me judging by the distance between his trenches. Finally, because of Beyer's reach, I couldn't always reach his next trench. Amazingly, this proved to not be the problem I had feared it might be, because I found natural hooking which got me past these out-of-reach trenches. I realized that, on the first pitch at least, Beyer had bypassed natural hook placements, and had used the drill instead to trench heads which weren't needed. We rated the pitch A4. Had he hooked everything that was available, instead of trenching, Beyer would have had an A5 ground-fall pitch. Instead, Beyer appeared to have "brought the pitch down to his level".
The second pitch was outstanding. Beyer had used a line of stone inclusions which led from the orange arch across an overhanging area, ending in a tension traverse from a slung inclusion. As Mark slung the first imbedded stone he observed concave pockets which had obviously held other inclusions. These pockets were very shallow! The stones weren't help in place by much. The "Cobblestone Alley" traverse was exciting, but not technically difficult. We rated this pitch A3+.
At the second anchor,
Mark encountered our first major difficulty: a wasp's nest. Pounding
pitons four feet away from a wasp's nest gave Mark a bigger adrenaline
pump than had the pitch. A quick trip to
The third pitch revealed new points of interest about Beyer climbs. After a short section of tied-off blade tips I was able to reach a mud-choked crack. We had quickly learned that the mud produced by each rainstorm would flow down into the better cracks and choke them with sandy residue. The resulting mud-packs had to be removed to even see the configuration of the cracks. In this case of this crack after the blade tips, a little excavation revealed two excellent stopper placements. Given the evidence which placements leave on sandstone, it was obvious that Beyer had not used this crack. Baffled, I tried to figure out how he had gotten by the section without using the quite good crack. Then I saw it. About a foot below my stoppers was a blank corner without even a hint of a seam. Right in the middle of the corner was a perfectly round four inch deep hole. Drill marks on one wall of the corner and two grooves down one side of the hole told the story: this was a drilled angle. Why had Beyer drilled an angle within reach of a natural stopper crack? According to Climbing magazine, this climb was supposed to have no drilled protection or anchors! The previous climbing had been merely A3+; certainly not something that should scare one into drilling. Using only my A1 stoppers, baffled, I climbed on. Further up the pitch there were two additional drilled angle holes in blank rock, as well as at least four other highly suspicious looking pin scars.
The fourth pitch led Mark sideways across the wall for forty feet on hooks and heads: another A4 pitch. Every hook was a claw in a deep pit. These were VERY "enhances" hooks. The anchor consisted of Friends in a perfect crack and a huge slung horn. We wondered when the death anchors would appear. Beyer's A6 rating required at least two of them in a row, and we were about halfway up the wall, having found only bombproof anchors so far.
On the fifth pitch the first bat hooks appeared. There were two bat hooks going across the wall. From the second bat hook, I could easily reach a pitiful, sloped horn, which I slung. As I weighted it, the sling skittered down the slope, abrading the rock surface, and then it caught on a small ripple and held. I realized that my fresh abrasion marks, which had scraped off small crystals on the slope, were indication that nobody had used this horn before.
Second-looping this horn enabled me to reach an excellent crack, which took a perfect Friend. As I stood on the Friend, I was shocked to see a third bat hook hole on the face beside me. Hadn't Beyer stood on this horn as well? Hadn't he seen the horn? Why had he needed another bat hook to reach the crack? All the way up the route so far, we were finding heavy-handed use of the drill right next to perfectly good natural placements. Was Beyer counting these bat hooks as "hooks" and using them instead of good placements in order to artificially inflate the supposed difficulty of the route? Then why trench bombproof head placements next to natural hooking? We just couldn't figure it out.
My curiosity grew as I arrived at the anchor. There were two pin scars within a foot of each other. But the excellent part of the crack was at least six feet long. I was able to construct an anchor that could not pull under any conceivable force. Why had Beyer used only two pitons? Was this his idea of a "death anchor"?
On the sixth pitch Mark encountered the most technical climbing of the route so far. The fear of strings of blade tips and small heads was relieved by the occasional buried piton or good friend. More bat hooks appeared. We rated this pitch A4+, feeling that you might go up to fifty feet if something pulled, although the risk of that seemed relatively low. The sandstone was surprisingly resilient, and the heading was actually amazingly secure! We had found in our earlier aid-bouldering that alumaheads could be made to stick in totally blank corners on this sandstone, so Beyer's trenches provided locker placements.
On the seventh pitch, Beyer adopted some new tactics. Cleaning his alumaheads, he yanked the cables right out of the heads leaving worthless blobs of aluminum in his trenches. We had brought along a nail punch to get in underneath these blobs to pry them up and out. But from below, usually in awkward positions, many of these were simply impossible to remove. I had to dig new trenches in a few spots to get past some of his blobs, because he had trenched heads in such a wide-open "corner" that nothing would stick without the trenches. Left-behind, worthless blobs are one of my pet peeves. When you're cleaning a pitch, you are certainly in a better position to clean those blobs than whoever does the climb after you. If you can't get a head out without destroying the placement, leave it! Cables do rip out while cleaning; and in that case, take the time to remove your own blob. Seeing all the blobs that were so buried that the cables ripped without the head coming out made me laugh at the line, "...use of aluminum heads in soft rock.... provide all the security of walking on thin ice in a heat wave" (Climbing #133, p.139). Perhaps the "heat wave" was relative to absolute zero! We felt that the heading was extremely secure--certainly better than the strings of #0s we have seen on El Cap.
But, there were more of Beyer's "special" tactics in store. At the end of one copperhead seam was a blank area about eight feet across before another seam started. This was almost identical to the fifth pitch where Beyer had used his first bat hooks, so I started looking for the holes. Nothing. I went up and down my aiders carefully searching for some hint of what Beyer had done. Nothing. Dismally I turned my attention to the only feature I could reach on the entire blank section: a tiny flake. "No," I said to myself, "There's no way Beyer hooked that! Even good flakes lower down have been deeply modified or ignored." I took the nail punch and reached over. Rooting the tip of the nail punch around the top of the flake revealed the truth. In the wall behind the flake was a deep quarter inch hole--packed with sand!
I tried to duplicate any natural action which could have deposited sand in that hole. Loose flowing sand would not collect there. That section of wall was completely free from mud flows; it was some of the best rock on the route. Lower down on the route, not a single hole was filled in this fashion, even in places that were obvious mud flows. There is simply no way that hole could have naturally filled up. The only way I could get sand to stick there was to mix spit with dirt and pack it in with my fingertip. Every hole from there to the top of the climb was packed with sand. So, now we were playing a new game: try to find where Beyer went, while following a sabotaged route! This added much frustration and many hours to the rest of the climb as we painstakingly avoided adding holes to the route, while trying to figure out where Beyer would have drilled (and then filled).
Before we arrived at the seventh anchor, it had been the basis of many hours of discussion on our part. This would obviously be the last anchor on the East face. This must be the scene of the fabled death anchor. How bad would it be? How bad was the climbing above it? When I got under the small triangular roof, there were Beyer's usual two pin scars. But there was also a perfect Friend crack, a textbook stopper crack, and a beautiful blade crack. Before long I had an anchor consisting of many kinds of placements in three different cracks. I was thinking, "If you've got to worry about this anchor blowing, you've got no business being a climber!" The stage was set for the final pitch. If we were going to be risking ripping out an entire pitch, this would be the one.
Mark headed out under the triangular roof. His first placement, a #1 T.C.U. held initial body weight and then pulled when he had been on it for a moment. This fall onto the top anchor placement verified its integrity: it didn't even twitch! Putting the T.C.U.s to the back of his rack for now, Mark moved up on angles, as the scars revealed Beyer had done. One locker pin followed another. So far this pitch was shaping up to be A2. A straight-up shallow angle popped, rudely depositing Mark onto the next lower piton which held. Well, a fall from forty feet out on the pitch doesn't rip the pitch!
Finally, out about seventy feet, Mark came to a copperhead with a lower-out sling on it. Some work with the nail punch unearthed a deeply modified hook. Moving onto that, Mark's nail punch revealed the next hook. From there Mark could climb onto the ledge system leading left about twelve feet to the Brer Rabbit anchor. Our topo-less, connect the dots approach had succeeded in getting us up where Beyer had clearly gone on the East face.
We simply could not believe that was it! That was the whole route? The last pitch was only A3+! Nooooo, we weren't buying it. Where were the 38 hook moves? Where were the death anchors? Where was the A6? Where was the "thin ice in a heat wave?" We were convinced we must be missing something. Perhaps Beyer hadn't ditched the route into Brer Rabbit. Perhaps he hooked to the right up the ridge beside the bolt ladder. We believed that such a "pitch" would be the outer limit of contrived, the ridge being within 4 feet of the Brer Rabbit bolt ladder. But, the route had been amazingly contrived in many ways so far. So….
Mark spent over two hours looking everywhere--with his nail punch--to find any evidence of where Beyer had gone. By now we knew what to look for: drilled angles, trenches, sand-packed bat hooks, and deeply modified flakes the holes of which had been sand-packed. Nothing. Finally, in desperation, Mark tried to hook a very small natural flake. His voice betrayed his frustration: "Rich, there's just no way he hooked this thing. You know what he's been hooking on this route. I've looked everywhere, and it just looks to me like he ditched it into Brer Rabbit. But that can't be right because this pitch just isn't anything like the descriptions of it--and it's only seventy feet long anyway. If he weren't filling his holes, at least we'd have more certainty we aren't missing something, but I just don't think he went this way. After this flake, there's nothing! It's totally blank after this."
Mark hung a hook on the flake and stood on it. After two minutes, as Mark hung there trying to find another sand-packed bat hook hole, his natural flake gave up the ghost, shipping Mark back from whence he had come. This fifteen-footer was held by a straight-up-driven copperhead. Well, if you fall from halfway up the pitch, you can't rip it out!
We had a long discussion. With no topo, and with Beyer filling his holes, we simply didn't know what to do. Mark was now convinced that Beyer had not hooked the ridge. We decided that to be certain we had done the whole route, we would head back out right onto the face and go for a large mud-flow crack which lead to the next terrace higher on the ridge, which had another bolt anchor of Brer Rabbit. That would about run out the rope, and would give us every chance to find some evidence of where Beyer had gone.
It was very slow climbing. Before Mark could even see what kind of placement was needed, he had to dig pounds of dried mud out of the crack. Sometimes he had to dig more than a foot of mud-flow out of the corner just to see if a crack even existed. The sandstone that remained was extremely decomposed. It was a vertical beach! In many places the amount of mud was so daunting that Mark couldn't dig it out and simply drove a large bong straight into a mud-pack. The bong would be loose and finger-removable, but it would cam in place like a dead-man. The amount of debris Mark removed from that crack was astounding as I crouched under the roof for protection. Even the entertaining cluster-bombing of the trail far below got old as the hours wore on.
It took Mark twelve hours to cover that last eighty feet, which included eight hook moves--a third of the route's total. Finally he pulled up onto the higher terrace on the ridge and clipped the two-bolt anchor of Brer Rabbit. It was clearly easy free climbing above that anchor to the summit. Beyer could not have pushed his aid route any farther. If he had headed back onto the face higher up, we concluded several things: such a route would be the most contrived, ridiculous thing we had ever seen or heard of; without a topo, and given Beyer's sabotage of the route, it would be hopeless for us to find where he had moved back onto the face; and given the radical modification Beyer was doing on the route, and the featureless nature of the east face higher up, any aid climbing higher on the east face itself would have to be even easier and more contrived than the climbing we had already done.
We concluded that Intifada had ended on the lower terrace, and that we had actually added half a pitch of new climbing to reach the upper terrace. We could find no evidence that Beyer had ascended Mark's half pitch.
I joined Mark on the terrace, and we just looked at each other shaking our heads.
An eighty foot rappel took us back to the lower terrace. From there we rappelled the West face, establishing a nice rap-route with 3/8" bolts. One-hundred and sixty-five foot ropes are needed for the rap-route, but it goes from the lower terrace to the ground in three full-length rappels. We drove home remembering Bjornstad's prediction. In a strange sense, he had been right: we were disappointed.
When we returned to
When we returned to
Later, after the Hot Flashes account in Climbing #136 appeared (Climbing opted for that instead of publishing the above article--we were the Mad Bolters, after all), Beyer reportedly stated that he had indeed headed back out onto the East face from the upper terrace and that the famous crux pitch of the route was in fact this last pitch. He reportedly stated that we actually had not done a second ascent of the route, since we hadn't done "all" of it, and thus we were not credible to comment on the route.
Since these reports have come to me second or third hand, I await Beyer publicly stating the true story of the last pitch. One thing is certain. The route is not A6 as advertised, since there is not a single "death anchor" on the entire route. No matter what the last pitch consists of, it appears that it starts from a bolt ladder or bolt anchor. Unless, of course, Beyer simply traversed out onto the face, set up some ridiculous, unnecessary anchor just for the point of having his "death anchor" (although even this would not resemble what was reported in Climbing magazine), and then did some (maybe) hard (albeit extremely modified) climbing to the summit.
Whatever he did for the last pitch, it would have to be, as Mark and I had concluded while standing on the upper terrace, the most ridiculously contrived artificial difficulty ever. The last pitch would have to basically loop away from Brer Rabbit's bolts for twenty or thirty feet, and then rejoin Brer Rabbit somewhat higher. This would be a quick loop back out onto the East Face, heavily modified, for the sole purpose of "picking up some more difficulty," when there is no natural reason to do so and (with Beyer's sabotaging) no natural way to determine where to start picking up Beyer's "features" on the East face. The fact remains that Intifada is not an independent line, and it does not even stay on the East face once the features lead inexorably to Brer Rabbit on the ridge.
The bottom line is that Beyer has not been forthcoming about this route; he has not publicized a topo, he has intentionally made it as difficult as possible for another team to follow his "features," and to my knowledge he has not been willing to go on record to set matters straight.
Whatever Beyer ends up saying about where the route ended up, nothing changes the facts of what we found on the route: deeply enhanced hooking, trenched heads, bat hooks, drilled angles, and a sabotaged route in the form of intentionally filled holes to keep people from figuring out what to do and make the climb seem harder than it is. Of these facts I am certain. Since Beyer doesn't publish topos of his "harder creations," and since he insists on doing his routes solo, he can essentially claim anything he wants about his routes. However, with some effort, much like revealing his sand-packed holes, one can discover the truth.
Some forum threads and related info about our ascent of Intifada can be found at:
Supertopo--Intifada (links loop back to this page)


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Reathel E. "Rip" Byers
Reathel E. "Rip" Byers, 88, passed away Tuesday, March 12, 2013. He was a resident of Greenwood and a former longtime resident of Boonville.
Rip was born March 17, 1924, in Warrick County. He graduated from Tennyson High School in 1942 and served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1943 through 1945.
He worked for Peabody Coal in Lynnville from 1952 until his retirement in 1989. Rip was a proud member of the United Mine Workers of America Local 9926. He was a 57-year member of the Masonic Lodge, serving as past worshipful master of Strangers Rest Lodge 240 in Boonville.
In addition, Rip was a member of the Scottish Rite, the Hadi Shrine (Evansville), the Hadi Shrine Legion of Honor, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He also served as a longtime precinct committeeman for Boon 8.
Rip joined the Hemenway Presbyterian Church (Boonville) in 1951, where he was a loyal and active member. After his move to Greenwood, he attended Mount Auburn United Methodist Church and Center Grove Presbyterian Church.
Sports were important to Rip, both as a participant and a spectator. He was an accomplished baseball and basketball player. He received a scholarship offer from Butler University to play basketball but chose instead to serve his country in the Coast Guard. He loved to follow IU basketball and the St. Louis Cardinals.
He had a lifelong passion for horses. He paraded his many beautiful white horses all over the country for more than 45 years as a member of the Hadi White Horse patrol.
Rip is survived by his devoted wife of 63 years, Helen (Allen); daughters, Carol Byers (Jan Van der Brugge, his two children and his four grandchildren, Fiona, Allegra, Nic and Lilly), Pam Siefers (George Roach) and her son, Clint Byers Siefers; son, Jeff Byers (Diane) and their daughter, Lydia; sister, Brenda (Hart) (Gerrill) Rudolph; and brothers, Lynn Ralston (Gail) and Carl Ralston (Brenda).
Rip was preceded in death by his parents, Lenos and Bernice Hart; and siblings, Ervin Byers, Harold Hart, Charlotte Hart and Jim Ralston.
The funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Koehler Funeral Home, 304 E. Main St. in Boonville. Visitation at the funeral home will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Monday, with a Shrine walk-through at 6:30 p.m. and a Masonic memorial service at 7 p.m., and from 9 a.m. until service time Tuesday. Burial will be at Maple Grove Cemetery in Boonville, with military rites by the Warrick County Veterans Memorial Services.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions in the name of Reathel E. "Rip" Byers can be made to the Indiana Masonic Home Foundation Inc., 525 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis, IN 46204; or Hemenway Memorial Presbyterian Church, 124 E. Sycamore St., Boonville, IN 47601.
Condolences and any special remembrance may be made online at www.koehlerfuneralhome.com.
All content copyright ©2016 Daily Journal, a publication of AIM Media Indiana unless otherwise noted.
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Warmer air arrives in the Stateline as October begins, just days after concluding a chilly, wet September!
September's average temperature measured just 61.4°, which is 2.5° below normal. It's a reading that's earned September, 2011 the distinction of being the 22nd coolest September since records began here in 1906! This despite recording back to back 90s on the 1st and 2nd days of the month!
Rainfall-wise, the tides turned dramatically toward September's conclusion. When all was said and done, Rockford recorded 5.33" of rain in the month of September, making September, 2011 the 27th wettest in 106 years of records! If you were to take out the record 3.93" of rain that fell on September 26, believe it or not, it would have been the 11th DRIEST on record!


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Pokemon Java Kit
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November 14th, 2012 (5:04 PM).
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Nearby my feet.
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Nature: Calm
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I'll try out JRuby, I might be a better alternative than using the built in script engine. Anyways, I've been working c++ for a while. (so I can convince my dad to buy me visual studio instead of sitting with visual c++ express) Anyways, I'll get back to this soon, I do plan on working on this again in December.
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We should get him back here.
Tradition is great.
He usually makes a trek back to Ames every couple years. There are a few "old-timers" that get together with him when he is in town. He is living back Tennessee where we was a Heisman candidate. The practice field next to "The Berg" is called the Johnny Majors practice field.
Hit it hard, every yard
Well we need to celebrate this man!
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BOSTON For thousands of families in Boston, opening the mailbox has taken on a whole new level of significance this week.
It's mid-March, meaning any day now, a letter from Boston Public Schools is due to arrive. Parents will find out whether their four-or five-year-old child will start at one of the schools they've requested through the city's complicated lottery process.
For years the story has been that if a family isn't assigned to one of the handful of well-regarded public schools in the city, they face the decision of putting their child into a private school — if they have the means — or moving into the suburbs.
But there are other parents, such as Stefan and Ashley Lanfer of Jamaica Plain, who would like to change that story.
"We're willing to give it a shot," Ashley Lanfer said in an interview with Morning Edition's Bob Oakes. "We're not going to run scared just because some people say that the Boston public schools have all these challenges. We know that they have challenges, we're willing to be a part of the solution and try to make it work. We're not willing to throw in the towel before we've even started."
The Lanfers love where they live and they want to raise their two kids in the city and put them through the Boston public schools system. So they've done their research and tried to be smart about the system, and now all they can do is wait to see how it turns out.
Click the "Listen Now" button above to hear the full interview with Stefan and Ashley Lanfer.


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Do You Really Need ECC Memory for CAD Workstation Computing?
I recently read an article by an Intel product manager on the need for "ECC" (error correction code) memory in CAD workstations. From the article: "Corrupted data can impact every aspect of your business, and worse yet you may not even realize your data has become corrupted. Error-correcting code (ECC) memory detects and corrects the more common kinds of internal data corruption."
For some reason this triggered my memory of the sudden-acceleration Toyota Prius incident from 2010. The popular press latched on to the idea that cosmic rays were screwing with the electronics in the Prius. While theoretically possible, the probabilities of this were astronomically low. It did however, make for a great story and the FUD (fear uncertainty doubt) caused Prius prices to temporarily plummet and sales come to a crawl.
Back to ECC memory and CAD systems. Is there really a need for ECC memory in CAD or is it just FUD marketing to upsell hardware and make products sound more valuable than they really are? I decided to do a little research.
Who needs ECC memory and what is its role in professional & CAD workstation computing?
Naturally occurring cosmic rays can and do cause problems for computers down here on planet Earth. Certain types of subatomic particles (primarily neutrons) can pierce through buildings and computer components and physically alter the electrical state of electronic components. When one of these particles interacts with a block of system memory, GPU memory or other binary electronics inside your computer, it can cause a single bit to spontaneously flip to the opposite state. This can lead to an instantaneous error and the potential for incorrect application output and sometimes, even a total system crash. However, the theoretical chances of a single bit error caused by a cosmic ray strike on your PC or workstation's memory is fairly rare — only about once every 9 years per 8GB of RAM, according to recent data.
ECC technology — used as both system RAM, and in devices such as high-end GPUs — can reliably detect and correct these errors, reducing the odds of memory corruption due to "single bit errors" down to about once every 45 years for 8GB of RAM. Of course, just like everything else in life there are always tradeoffs. ECC memory is typically up to 10% slower and significantly more expensive than standard non-ECC memory.
Because the odds of a cosmic ray strike increase in direct proportion to the physical amount of memory (and related components) inside a computer, this is a real concern for large scale, clustered supercomputing and other environments where computing tasks often include high-precision calculation sets that can take days or even weeks to complete. In the case of supercomputer clusters, which often contain hundreds or even thousands of connected computer nodes and terabytes of memory, the odds of cosmic ray strikes on the system are much more likely — and much more costly. Restarting a week-long calculation on a supercomputer can cost a facility many tens of thousands of dollars in lost time, electricity and manpower —not to mention lost productivity.
But for even very beefy PC CAD workstation configurations with loads of RAM on board, you are probably not at imminent risk from problems caused by cosmic ray strikes and the resulting single bit errors. Over the course of your work, you are much more likely to endure system crashes or application hangs dues to failing components, power fluctuations and software bugs than due to cosmic ray strikes. Additionally, many applications in the desktop design and engineering space can actually endure a single bit error without negatively impacting the computing process or product. For example, if the color or brightness of a single pixel on a display monitor is changed due to this type of memory corruption on the system's GPU, nobody will ever see or notice it. There are many such examples of this type of error not really impacting ones everyday work.
This said, many leading technology manufacturers are enabling their high-end products with ECC memory for compute-heavy (especially clustered supercomputing) applications where the benefits of using error correcting memory outweigh any comparative speed/cost drawbacks. AMD for example, has engineered their new AMD FirePro W9000 and FirePro S9000 ultra-high-end GPU cards to include ECC memory which can selectively be enabled by the end user and used for many advanced computing purposes where rock-solid stability and protection from space rays is crucial.
- http://www.tezzaron.com/about/papers/soft_errors_1_1_secure.pdf
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECC_memory
- http://www.smartm.com/files/salesLiterature/dram/smart_whitepaper_sbe.pdf
Author: Tony DeYoung
Recommended Hardware for CAD, Part 1: AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit and Other Autodesk Applications
Here at CADspeed, we get a lot of questions about buying new hardware for CAD applications. While the answer to, "What CAD hardware should I buy?" varies widely based on the person asking the question, it always starts in the same place: with the requirements of the CAD software you plan to use.
Yet a list of minimum requirements can be, well, only minimally helpful in the quest for the right CAD workstation. Most CAD users need hardware that will not just meet the minimum specifications, but enable them to maximize their productivity.
CAD software developers know this, and they have a vested interest in making sure you get the bang for your software buck. So this series will explore recommended hardware for a variety of common CAD applications from the makers of the applications themselves.
We start this series with Autodesk, creator of 3D design, engineering and entertainment software that includes some of the most commonly used applications in the industry. Autodesk has developed a web site to help users find certified or recommended software for Autodesk applications.
The truth is, however, many CAD users don't use just one CAD software application. It's very common to use both AutoCAD and Revit on the same system, for example. The intriguing part of the Autodesk hardware site is you can select multiple products and find the common driver and hardware configurations that will work best for your system.
Certified vs. Recommended
On the Autodesk website, you'll see two terms that you need to understand: certified and recommended. "Certified" hardware meets Autodesk's minimum hardware requirements for the applicable Autodesk software product. At least one configuration (e.g., GPU + driver, or CPU + GPU + RAM + HD + BIOS) has passed tests designed to verify that the hardware supports the product's features.
"Recommended" hardware meets Autodesk's recommended system requirements for the applicable Autodesk product. At least one configuration has passed tests designed to verify that the hardware supports the product's features.
A "Recommended" or "Certified" rating is based on the test results for a graphics card and driver or a complete system. Clicking the link for a card or system will reveal the results of each individual component tests.
|Rating Description*
|Recommended – Meets Autodesk's recommended system requirements and has passed all Autodesk certification tests.
|Certified – Meets Autodesk's minimum system requirements and has passed all Autodesk certification tests.
|Component Test Results*
|Passed – When tested with this configuration, the hardware passed testing.
|Passed with issues – When tested with this configuration, the hardware has some minor problems or features that are not supported.
|Failed – When tested with this configuration, the hardware does not adequately support the product's features.
|No Results – This configuration has not been tested by the associated product.
* Test results are valid only for the tested combination of hardware and driver. Certified or Recommended status does not guarantee that the graphics hardware will operate acceptably with other drivers or configurations. Driver-specific test results are available for some hardware and can be found by clicking on a product name in the Hardware List.
Other Terms to Understand
Before using the Autodesk Certified Hardware site, you should understand a few other common terms to make sure you are getting the right results.
- Workstation—Graphics hardware designated by the manufacturer as workstation-grade, typically meaning it is designed to work with 3D CAD applications
- Consumer—Graphics hardware designated by the manufacturer for desktop or gaming level use, typically meaning it is not designed or recommended for use with 3D CAD applications
- Mobile—Integrated hardware normally found in laptops.
- Workstation Desktop—Desktop system designated by the manufacturer as workstation-grade, typically meaning it is designed to work with 3D CAD applications
- Workstation Laptop—Laptop designated by the manufacturer as workstation-grade, typically meaning it is designed to work with 3D CAD applications
- Consumer Desktop—Desktop system designated by the manufacturer for desktop or gaming level use, typically meaning it is not designed or recommended for use with 3D CAD applications
- Consumer Laptop—Laptop designated by the manufacturer for desktop or gaming level use, typically meaning it is not designed or recommended for use with 3D CAD applications.
- Tablet—Touch-screen device with integrated components.
The Hardware List page contains only the hardware products that Autodesk has tested for use with certain Autodesk applications. Autodesk tests a variety of hardware, but focuses primarily on hardware the manufacturer has indicated is workstation-grade and designed to work with 3D CAD applications.
Unless otherwise noted, Autodesk hardware certification tests are run on systems containing a single video card with a single monitor attached. Autodesk does not currently run certification tests on systems with multiple graphics cards installed or multiple monitors.
Author: CADspeed Editors
Multiple Display Support for CAD Workstations
The most compelling reason to install multiple GPUs is to drive multiple high-resolution displays. The secret's out that "multi-mon" is the single best way to improve your productivity. Anyone who's gone to two displays (or three — or more!) will tell you they could never go back to one. And more graphics cards can display more pixels across more monitors.
Which Graphics Card Works for You?
That said, you don't necessarily need to populate two cards to run two monitors, so pay attention to the cards you're selecting. NVIDIA's Quadro with nView and Mosaic technology can support two displays across most of the product line. A single high-end AMD FirePro V7900, with its Eyefinity technology, can handle four on its own, thank you very much. As such, if your performance demands have you buying midrange or high-end cards, you might get all the screen real estate you want with one card. But if you're much hungrier for pixels and screens than you are for polygons per second, you might consider two less-expensive, dual-monitor cards.
On top of multi-monitor support, you can use that extra slot to turn your workstation into a supercomputer. An exaggeration? Not to some. General-purpose computing on GPUs (GPGPU) technology is still evolving, but many of the applications that show the most promise are the ones of most interest to engineers and other CAD users: applications such as computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) and finite-element analysis (FEA). Simulation software developers such as ANSYS and Abaqus are porting code to harness GPUs to deliver big speed-ups — in many cases tenfold or even 100- fold increases — over CPU-only computation.
High-end graphics cards usually require more power than the 75 watts supplied by the typical x16 PCI Express interface. Workstation OEMs accommodate their extra needs via auxiliary power cables drawn from the supply. Some high-end and virtually all ultra high-end graphics cards are dual-slot thickness. They insert into one PCI Express x16 connector, but their thickness means an
adjacent x16 slot may be blocked and rendered useless.
Make the Right Choice
When purchasing a workstation online, the OEM's product configurator should let you know if the chosen card or cards will mate to the chosen system, with respect to power supplies and connectors, the number of available PCI Express x16 slots, and whether a dual-slot card has sufficient clearance. For example, when outfitting graphics on a smaller chassis that can't accommodate two dual-slot cards, chances are the OEM will only offer the option of two entry-level or two mid-range cards, both of which are single slot width.
For that matter, if you're perusing the latest flavor of entry level workstation, full-length cards may not have clearance lengthwise. Again, the online configurator should ensure compatibility, so you shouldn't have to worry about these issues.
Choose the Right GPU for Your CAD Workstation
A GPU manages how your computer graphics process and display and, thanks to parallel processing, is typically more efficient than a CPU. The GPUs that are best optimized for professional graphics-intensive applications, such as CAD, design visualization and analysis, are found in workstation caliber AMD FirePro and NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards.
Five Categories of GPUs
Such professional-caliber GPUs come in a variety of flavors for desktop as well as mobile form factors. In the more mature desktop arena, they tend to fall into five categories of add-in cards.
The first category is 2D GPUs. Professional 2D cards can manage some 3D processing, but are not optimized for regular or intensive 3D applications. They generally aren't well suited for CAD use.
For professional-level CAD work, you'll want a Quadro or FirePro 3D add-in card. Each of these product lines includes approximately half a dozen models that fall into the remaining four product categories, as defined here by Jon Peddie Research:
- entry-level: $350 or less
- mid-range: $350–$950
- high-end: $950–$1,500
- ultra high-end: $1,500 or more
There are always exceptions, but most buyers will want to match the performance and capabilities of the GPU with the rest of the system — that is, an entry-caliber card for an entry caliber workstation. Achieving good balance, where each component hits a performance level that is supported by the rest of the system, is the best way to maximize ROI for your workstation purchase and optimize your productivity.
Fortunately, most workstation OEMs today do this work for you, offering a subset of cards from AMD and NVIDIA that best match the capabilities of the model you've chosen.
Optimizing GPU Performance
Most graphics cards — and all performance-oriented models — slide into PCI Express x16 slots in the workstation. Graphics cards can be installed in open slots at the factory when ordering your new system, or anytime later if you buy a card off the shelf. A mid-life upgrade of your system with a latest-generation GPU can provide a cost-effective kick, for example if rendering becomes a bottleneck.
And unlike the machine that's at your desk today, your new workstation (unless it's a small–form factor model) will likely come equipped with at least two PCI Express x16 slots, able to accommodate two cards. Why would you want two (or more)? One reason is that multi-GPU technologies from NVIDIA (SLI) and AMD (CrossFire) allow the pairing of two cards (rendering alternate frames) to boost performance.
Buying a New CAD Workstation? Know Your Software System Requirements
Where do you begin your quest for the right workstation? This particular hardware search should start with your software.
Let's be real: Nobody relies on just one application over the course of a day. We're all bouncing between disparate tasks and windows. But for the majority of CAD professionals, there is one application — or maybe a couple — that consumes the bulk of your hours at the desk. What's the app that dominates your day? Got it? Now hit the web site of the software developer and find the minimum and recommended system requirements for your killer app. AutoCAD users can find this information at http://usa.autodesk.com/autocad/system-requirements.
Minimum is the Starting Point Only
In most cases, an application's minimum requirements set an extremely low standard, as the software vendors begrudgingly must address the least common denominator of the installed base. We don't recommend you follow these guidelines, but it's worth making a note of the minimum graphics, system memory and CPU requirements. On the other hand, it's highly likely that any new workstation on the market today will meet or exceed these numbers.
Certified Hardware
More interesting is the list of recommended or certified hardware. For SolidWorks, Dassault Systèmes (as of this writing) specifies a minimum of 1 GB RAM, but suggests 6 GB. Well, if you go with 1 GB, you'll be sorry — even 6 GB isn't necessarily the best choice, depending on your budget, and especially given the incredible amount of gigabytes/dollar that can be had today.
Similarly, Autodesk isn't going to stop you from running a PC gamer graphics card, but the company will tell you which cards are optimized for performance and built for reliability when it comes to supporting AutoCAD or Autodesk Inventor.
Increasingly, the only CAD-certified graphics cards are professional-brand NVIDIA Quadro and AMD FirePro. That's because software developers have consistently seen the fewest bugs and problems with cards that, like the system overall, have been exhaustively tested and tuned for professional workstation applications. In fact, the major CAD software developers will help you address issues related to running a Quadro or FirePro card, but they dedicate no support cycles to fixing bugs on consumer-class hardware.
AMD's Accelerated Processing Unit: Will It Make Your New CAD Hardware More Affordable?
It's about time. After a hiatus from its role as a viable alternative to Intel for workstation-class CPUs, AMD is back. Instead of its traditional server/workstation focused Opteron line, this time the company is — quite wisely — choosing to target the market with a combination CPU/GPU part, what AMD refers to as an Accelerated Processing Unit, or APU.
New to the market are two, professional-caliber versions of its recent "Trinity" part, workstation-branded as the FirePro A300 and A4320. And while having two such parts represents a drop in the workstation bucket, as compared to Intel's position, any new competition should only help CAD professionals find better products — or at least better deals on those products — in the future.
A New Strategy
While AMD has never given up plying its professional-brand FirePro GPUs in workstations, the same can't be said for professional-brand CPUs. After a promising start and a firm foothold in the market, AMD's CPUs are today, for all intents and purposes, absent in workstation platforms.
The company's Opteron processor began making significant inroads into workstation platforms back in the mid-2000s. With Intel's offerings at that time looking comparatively poor, Opteron steadily picked up workstation OEMs, but the end of 2003 having all major suppliers in tow with the exception of Dell. That increased OEM presence translated directly to increased market share, up to 4% of the overall market in mid-2006, and to a more 10% of dual-socket workstations shipped.
Then came the steady, inexorable decline, which by the end of 2011 left Opteron without any major OEM on board and virtually no market share. Truth be told, it wasn't like AMD was ignoring the workstation CPU market out of ignorance or incompetence. Rather, it was a case of triage. The company knows full well it doesn't have the wherewithal of its chief rival, Intel, and accordingly it's always had to be careful about which markets it targets and which it doesn't.
Competitive Pricing
And that begs a question: why now does AMD think it should invest its time and money marketing CPUs for workstations, when it didn't before? It's not like Intel's CPUs are struggling like they were back in 2005. Heck, more than ever, AMD is looking for arenas to sell CPUs that don't directly compete with Intel. No, AMD's renewed interest in workstation CPUs has more to do with its competitive positioning in GPUs than CPUs.
Ever since the CPU duo began building and marketing combination, all-in-one CPU+GPU parts (first with Intel's Westmere in 2010, followed by AMD's first Fusion parts), a unique opportunity fell into the AMD lap. As we've been pointing out for some time now, AMD now finds itself in the rare position where it can make a compelling, competitive case over both its chief rivals, Intel and Nvidia. Intel's reputation for performance graphics has been poor, and despite the company's largely successful attempt to boost its graphics profile (with 2011's Sandy Bridge and 2012's Ivy Bridge), AMD still owns the undeniable edge over Intel in graphics. Nvidia, meanwhile, which could argue graphics supremacy, doesn't have x86 technology, making it impossible to compete in the new CPU+GPU segment.
Pitching an ISV-certified, professional-caliber version of Trinity to workstation OEMs can be convincing, especially given which end of the market that part could play. The dominant and still fastest growing segment of the workstation markets is the Entry class, particularly the low end of that class … precisely where the cost-effectiveness of the integrated part can appeal. The capabilities of parts like Trinity and GPU-integrated Ivy Bridge aren't record-breaking, but they're too good for workstation-shipping CAD professionals too ignore … especially those on tight budgets.
And given Intel virtually owns the market, OEMs like Dell and HP ought to welcome an enthusiastic re-entry by AMD. After all, no business wants to be beholden to one supplier, even if it's a supplier of essentially infinite volume, like Intel.
What Does It Mean for CAD Professionals?
So after doing some comparison shopping, will you end up with a workstation with neither Intel nor Nvidia inside? Maybe, maybe not. But either way, you'll be much more likely to get the machine you want at a lower price, regardless of whose brand is on it. Because while Intel's been doing an impressive job as of late delivering the type of hardware professionals demand, any competition is welcome competition. And that not only benefits OEMs like HP and Dell, it should only help when it comes to keeping down IT costs for CAD.
New Accelerated Processing Units for CAD from AMD
AMD launched the AMD FirePro A300 Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) for entry-level and mainstream desktop workstations. Featuring AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology, the AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs are designed for CAD and media and entertainment (M&E) workflows.
AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs combine CPU and GPU functionality on a single chip to blend workstation performance and application-certified compatibility required to help keep design professionals productive in their work.
"Design professionals demand workstation-class tools that enable productivity and flexibility in their workflow, and the AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs enable workstation integrators and OEMs an exciting new computing platform on which to design and build powerful, entry-level desktop workstation configurations," said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Graphics.
According to the company, the AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs are the first single-chip processors capable of delivering the workstation-class visual computing performance required for advanced professional design workflows. The introduction of AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs is designed to allow OEMs and workstation integrators (WSIs) greater flexibility, enabling new workstation designs that help save space, are energy efficient, and have low heat and noise levels without compromising true workstation-class performance and reliability.
AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs were developed for the entry-level and mainstream workstation segments, providing a blend of CPU and GPU performance and industry-leading features to keep design professionals efficient:
- Support for AMD Eyefinity Technology for enhanced efficiency and immersive, multi-monitor productivity;
- AMD Turbo Core technology, where CPU and GPU performance are dynamically scaled depending on workload demands, effectively providing a more responsive experience;
- Support for horizontal display resolutions up to 10,240 x 1600 pixels, enabling large desktop spaces across multiple high-resolution display devices for advanced multitasking;
- Support for Discrete Compute Offload (DCO), allowing additional compute capability by using discrete AMD FirePro GPUs in parallel with APU graphics for extended GPGPU performance;
- 30-bit color support to enable image and color fidelity for advanced workflows such as color correction and image processing when using displays capable of 10-bit-per-channel operation;
- Dedicated UVD (universal video decoder/VCE, or video CODEC engine) media encoding hardware for faster "fixed function" GPU processing of H.264/MPEG4 files and other motion media formats when using compatible software, to free up CPU resources for other tasks.
Pricing and Availability
The AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs will be available in systems from a number of workstation integrators starting in August 2012.
|AMD FirePro A300 Series APUs
|APU Model
|CPU Cores
|CPU Clock (Max/Base)
|AMD Stream Processors
|GPU Clock
|AMD FirePro A300
|4 GHz / 3.4 GHz
|760 MHz
|AMD FirePro A320
|4.2 GHz / 3.8 GHz
|800 MHz
Author: CADspeed editors


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6JSC/BL/14 Revision of RDA 220.127.116.11.2
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General comments
Do not agree with premise stated on p. 3: "To address the problem, it is proposed that, when an access point represents a series of conferences that were all held in the same place, the location of the conference should be recorded as an attribute of the conference."
Recording attributes is already separated from building authorized access points, and the instructions about recording locations of conferences is addressed in 11.3.2. I would hope that a consistent location of an ongoing conference is already being recorded as an attribute of the conference! Kathy Glennan (talk) 14:53, 15 August 2013 (PDT)
I really need to defer to the expertise of those of you who work with conferences. Is this proposed change a good idea? Kathy Glennan (talk) 15:05, 15 August 2013 (PDT)
In the proposed change to 220.127.116.11.2, the second sentence should be marked as an exception. Kathy Glennan (talk) 06:59, 16 August 2013 (PDT)
I ran this by our NACO coordinator and he is very supportive, however, he suggested that providing the location attribute should be made a requirement in this circumstance. Adolfo R. Tarango, CRS Liaison, August 16, 2013.
Adolfo, I need more clarity about your comment -- which circumstance? Kathy Glennan (talk) 10:07, 16 August 2013 (PDT)
I think I like this proposal (but I don't have a lot of experience dealing with conference names so I am still wondering if I really understand all the implications that this proposal would entail). Not recording the location of a series of conference always held in the same place (unless there is a conflict), makes sense when looking at a long list of authorized access points that includes the name of the series and the names of individual conferences. I particularly like this instruction for conferences whose names include the name of the place where the conferences are held (like the example given Salzburger Festspiele). There are already some cases in the NACO authority file where the authorized access point for a series of conference, events, etc. follow this proposal indicating that for some people this would be a welcomed change (see, for instance, New Delhi World Book Fair; Tehran International Book Fair; Festival internazionale del film di Locarno: in all these cases, the location of the event has not been included in the authorized access point for the series' name)—Dominique Bourassa, CC:DA, Aug. 19, 2013


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Your body is made up of trillions of cells—but what do you really know about them? Take our lab quiz and determine your CIQ (cell identification quotient).
The First Neuron Drawings, 1870s
October 1, 2015|
Camillo Golgi's black reaction revealed, for the first time, the fine structures of intact neurons, which he captured with ink and paper.


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President Bush should have come clean about pre-war intelligence well over a year ago, when pressed on the matter prior to his election to a second term. Today in a speech he finally admitted:
"It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq...And I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming our intelligence capabilities. And we're doing just that."


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People in Greene County gathered Thursday evening to wrap up child abuse prevention month.
Singers from Greene County High School sang a hymn inspired by raising awareness for child abuse. Savannah Mooring and Ashlyn Doyle presented their award winning poem, angels in the sky.
Greene County Social Service Members say over 120-thousand children were reported being abused or neglected last year. Raising awareness and trying to help children is why director Christy Nash says this is close to her heart.
Nash says she hopes to save the lives of children. North Carolina reported 25 children died last year due to abuse or neglect by their parents of caregiver.


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Good move.
Suspect he's been brought back as they don't trust the driver feedback, he's quicker than both drivers so they'd do well to drop one.
QPR and flash arry are busy bankrupting Tony so not sure he can afford to drop a pay driver though


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Correction on my correction: Upon second thought, I've decided I will continue writing about the mayor's race. It's too important to ignore.
I screwed up in today's column on Matthew Falconer. I wrote that Matt wants to end defined pension plans for all county employees. His position is that he wants to end these pensions for all FUTURE employees, letting current employees keep them.
I happen to agree with him on this. Defined pension plans not only threaten to bankrupt local governments, but put the state at great fiscal risk.
Matt is telling people that I "deliberately lied'' about his position to turn county workers against him. This is incorrect. I don't write embarrassing fact errors into stories that I then will have to correct the next day in front of thousands of people.
I suppose I had a mental blackout on the pension as I kept going back over the column, perhaps because I included it among those things that I agreed with Matt on (Magic arena, spending splurge by local government, consolidation of services). Instead, I spent all my time obsessing over the stuff I disagreed with him on, which mainly centered on the cause of our economic problems, the tax burden in Florida and his plan to lower impact fees.
As for picking on Matt or targeting him, that also is way off track. Ask Rich Crotty, Buddy Dyer, Bill Segal, Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, Bill Nelson and so on. I have pounced on them much harder than Matt. I have zinged Jeb Bush when I thought he was wrong, and I think he was a very good governor. As any of my regular readers know, today's column certainly was not one of my bomb throwers.
In any case, I will refrain from writing any more about the mayor's race through the primary, and thereafter if Matt makes the runoff. But I will say this is shaping up to be the best mayoral race we've ever had. It is a toss-up. It is one of those rare times when voters have a variety of choices – Bill Segal, Linda Stewart, Teresa Jacobs and Falconer. We thankfully are not getting an anointed candidate, with the election a mere formality.
This is expected to be a low-turnout primary, particularly with Crist abandoning the Republican Party and therefore taking his race against Marco Rubio off the ballot. This is too bad. The Orange Mayor is the most powerful elected official in Central Florida. This race matters, a lot. Please pay attention and vote.


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I´ve been pondering on how to make my daily winter commute less cold and monotonous...
So I thought why not make it a workout and try to improve my strenght and raise the tempo a bit.
However my commute is not more than about 15 miles both ways so I thought intervaltraining?
I know I could just make it longer by taking a detour but currently I also go to the gym, run, and my job as mailman has me running up and down stairs a good portion of the day and since I also would prefer that life contains other things than exercise, making the commute longer is not really an option right now.
Call me lazy.
Note that It´s not an ambition of mine to become an elite cyclist.
I just want to be able to ride a bit faster.
Anyway, my question is if it´s possible to do some decent intervals and strenght training on the bike with only 15 miles a day?
And if anyone has a good idea on how a week could look like I´m all ears.
Any links or suggested reading would also be welcome.


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Defining the Enemy
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Yesterday I had an "aha" moment. I won't call it a woohoo, but perhaps you could say that. At work the book I was second proofing is based on Buddhism or zen, but it had some truth even if it is not my leaning. It presented the idea of identifying your top ten hits - your obsessive thoughts - aka defining the enemy (my term). Interesting idea.
I identified my main enemy.
I know, I know. You can identify. We all can. We call have feelings. We all hurt. Physical, mental, social. all kinds of pain bombards our senses.
When I physically hurt, I curl up into a ball within myself.
I find it nearly impossible to move (so I don't get the exercise I need to actually combat the enemy)
It makes me seek comfort - soft clothes, smooth sheets, cozy cats, cozy blankets,.... soft foods, comfort foods. Hey, wait a minute! Is that really going to help me here? NO. I have to find something healthy. A hot mug of tea. Mashed bananas or strawberries in yogurt instead of ice cream, or puddings, or macaroni and cheese. Ahhh. Haaa. So physical pain is connected to my tummy muscle. and my hand muscle, that connects it to my mouth muscle. End of story. Or is it. I try to bury the pain by feeding me. Oh what a vicious cycle.
Breathe. That is not just a sigh of relief. It can help to de-tense the tight muscles. Go with the flow. Identify the pain. Don't just try to drown it in food.
This morning I did one minute bicep curls with 1 lb. weights. One minute. Go me. Sigh. Sometimes it really is a minute by minute thing. I will try some more 1 minute exercises later. 1 minute at a time.
In defining PAIN as my enemy, I recognize that it is not always the enemy, it is also the alert system, kind of like that annoying buzz on the tv that happens when they test the warning system, in case this was an emergency... I always think, if it was an emergency, I probably would not have tv coverage. Just saying. So as I try to identify my pain, what did I do this time to make it hurt like this? I get swallowed up in the PAIN. It defines me, and I do not like it. I want to push the swallowing membrane of the pain, and rip it open, and throw it away and move on to new and better things.
Sometimes that is not going to happen.
I have been swallowing my way to new and bigger weighs, every time some thing hurts. Today I am going to listen to what my body is saying, accept it, and give it other comforts - the warm blanket, the smooth clothing, the cup of hot tea. I will work at relaxing my muscles instead of clenching them in pain and breathe.
I will not let the enemy define me.
Blessings - Sunshine (despite the high pollen count from the trees - rain will come eventually and wash that away)
I slept good last night, though Peaches did wake me again this morning.
The pain has it lesser moments where it evaporates.
Now for that hot cup of coffee and a bit of lunch.
book I was proofing
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I can understand where you are coming from. I deal with pain in my back sometimes and pain in my arms during the night. My doctor told me that i have to try and work through the pain with my arms if i want to keep the muscles. On days when it bothers too much I use lighter weights or resistance bands or just use your own body weight in exercises like kick boxing.
1123 days ago
Comment edited on: 4/27/2013 3:55:42 PM
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My late husband had extreme back issues, to the point that no surgeon would touch him - the guy that I married who happily moved major appliances couldn't even hold our second baby for a while. His chronic pain issues were lessons for us both, for fifteen years easily.
The two of you likely have nothing in common, but I can tell you what didn't work for him: pushing through the pain, and that was his natural inclination. All it ever resulted in was more inflammation and compression.
What did work: acupuncture and meditation. Both were about as far from his comfort zone as you could get, but I remember him walking out of the acupuncturist's office one day and saying that for the first time in decades he was pain free (it didn't last, but for the time that it did - until we ran out of money, because acupuncture of course isn't covered by BC/BS - he was a different person.)
One other thing that helped immeasurably was this book:
Good for you, for doing the work of thinking about what's going on with you, analyzing what helps and what doesn't help, recognizing that pain is not only a result and a symptom, but a messenger.
1123 days ago
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Love and Hip Hop Atlanta
Rich Dollaz Doesn't Think Erica Mena and Cyn Santana's Relationship Is Real (VIDEO)
It's Monday, February 3 and you know what that means… part one of the Love & Hip Hop Season 4 reunion special airs tonight on VH1! We're so ready to see the cast hit the couch with new host Mo'Nique and dish on what they thought about this past season — especially when it comes to the messy relationship that is Rich Dollaz, his ex-girlfriend/talent Erica Mena, and Erica Mena's new girlfriend, Cyn Santana. While we already know what's coming, in this new sneak peek we get a glimpse of Rich and Erica's explosive conversation over Rich's lack of respect for Erica's relationship with Cyn.
As you've seen this past season, Rich has been making moves on Erica, who's supposed to be dating Cyn. When Mo'Nique asks Rich if he thinks their relationship is real, Rich says he thinks it's all a game for Erica to get his attention.
"I'm a self-professed creep, you know I'll own it," Rich starts out, adding "I'm gonna test the waters and see what happens. So when I put it out there and you're receptive to what I'm putting out there, then no I can't really just think that your relationship is real, because if you're relationship was real, you would've shut it down."
Though Erica admits that she fell into the trap that Rich set up for her (and willingly kissed him sat on his lap, and possibly slept with him), she insists that her girlfriend Cyn is not a "prop" and that she's over him.
However, Mo'Nique (and co-star Tahiry) thinks the intensity of these guys' conversation is a clear indication that Rich and Erica's love for one another is far from done…
Love & Hip Hop Season 4 reunion special part 1 airs tonight, Monday, February 3, at 8 p.m. ET on VH1.
Do you think Erica Mena used Cyn Santana as a "prop" to get Rich Dollaz's attention? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: VH1


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Robert - RUN DUDE. Get as far away from Renault/new Lotus/Genii GP as possible while Eric Boullier is there. Boullier is a few stubbies short of a six pack - the guy couldn't manage a small group of 6 year olds on to a minibus.
I'd love to see him at Ferrari, but they wont take the risk - he needs to prove that he is race fit first.
Can we all just agree to ignore Boullier until he goes away?


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Images: Under Fire [Image 24 of 33]
Photo by Cpl. Paul Peterson
Lance Cpl. Brian Schaeffer, a Lakeland, Fla., native and rifleman with 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, watches as Marines from his company dash across a field during a firefight with insurgents near the Bari Gul Bazaar, Nad Ali District, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Dec. 4, 2013. Nearly 100 Marines and coalition allies engaged in a prolonged firefight with insurgents while patrolling the area to interdict Taliban movements and weapons caches and gather intelligence around the bazaar.
This work, Under Fire [Image 1 of 33], by Sgt Paul Peterson, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:12.04.2013
Date Posted:12.13.2013 11:48
Photo ID:1134054
Size:5.17 MB
Location:NAD ALI DISTRICT, AF
Hometown:LAKELAND, FL, US


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Focus on Reuse: Adaptive Reuse: The Movie
Reiss, Dale Anne, Real Estate Issues
This year, movie theater owners are expected to close hundreds more underperforming theaters across the United States. But not all of these properties have to sit dark and empty.
The real estate industry has a long history of breathing new life into seemingly 'dead' assets, most recently-and notably-in the adaptive reuse of surplus bank branches. The wave of mergers and consolidations in the financial services industry beginning in the 1990s and continuing today has resulted in a vibrant market for discarded bank branch assets and very creative adaptive reuse of these facilities. Bank buildings have been repositioned as retail shops, office buildings, Internet cafes, and even medical centers.
Now the real estate industry is faced with another major area of opportunity, one that will result in even more creative reuse of specialized buildings and also, perhaps, in the establishment of an entirely new industry for the 21't century.
The rapid growth of multiplex cinemas in the 1990s created a glut of movie theaters-leaving some theater companies struggling to survive. According to the industry's own trade group, the National Association of Theater Owners, between 1990 and 1999, the number of theater screens nationwide increased 56 per cent from 23,814 to 37,185.
But demand has not kept up with this increasing supply. In 1999, the number of theater admissions totaled 1.5 billion - the same number as in 1948. And the cost of operating theaters has risen even faster than ticket prices. Industry analysts conservatively estimate that as much as 15 percent of the 7,500 existing movie theaters in the U.S. will have to close. Many of these will be smaller, marginal theaters but even the major national theater chains are facing a major economic crisis that will require the closing of many of their theater properties. Recently, Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. announced plans to shutter 112 of its theaters-some 676 screens-nationwide. Loews is not unique; many other major chains will have to adopt similar plans.
The fact of these closings delivers two clear opportunities to the real estate industry. Clearly, the chains owning their own screens will have to adopt fairly aggressive disposition programs to move these redundant assets off their books and potentially recoup some value from their investment. As assets sitting on their books, these theaters are already tying up valuable capital. Disposition strategies will have to take into account the other portfolios sure to hit the market around the same time.
Other properties are leased from third-party owners. Several chains have already filed for bankruptcy, and in some cases are attempting to break leases and return the properties to the owners. So the issue of surplus theaters could have broad impact, encompassing not only the chains themselves but also other owners of theater properties. To the right real estate experts, these properties may no longer have value as theaters, but they could have value as other types of facilities. The good news is that since real estate is all about location, and these theaters typically are in prime locations in large population centers, the same theaters that once drew movie-goers could attract a diverse new base of consumers, like students, shoppers, or fitness buffs seeking a whole new range of goods and services. …


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Win $10,000 in Cash – Plus Two Chances at $1,000 Every Day on Air
All this month, we're giving away $10,000 right here on the site. Plus we're giving listeners two chances every day to win $1,000 (just listen all day for your cue to call, and when you hear it, be caller 25 at 1-877-854-WINS).
That's because we're obsessed with cash.
September VIP Winners Announced
August VIP Winners Announced
July VIP Winners Announced
June VIP Winners Announced
Rod Stewart Live in Las Vegas Contest Winners Announced
Congratulations to Douglas Zilisch and Ann Loughran — they have each won a trip for two to Las Vegas to see Rod Stewart at Caesars Palace.
Win Cash $10,000 Online Winner Announced
Congratulations to Bryan Luther — he's won $10,000 in our online Win Cash contest!
Win a Trip to Las Vegas to See Rod Stewart
This is your chance to fly to Sin City to see the one and only Rod Stewart!
Just enter below for a chance to win two tickets to see Rod's show on July 27th at Caesars Palace. We'll also fly you and a friend to Las Vegas and put you both up at a hotel for two nights.
12 Can't Miss Signs You're Going to Have a Terrible Summer
Summer. It's the most wonderful time of the year. The weather's warm, the grill is fired up and the kids are outside not bothering you. What's not to love?
Michael Buble Live in the Bahamas Contest Winner Announced
Congratulations to Sam Lairson -- he's the winner of our Michael Bublé Live in the Bahamas contest!


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If you've been planning to register for the League's upcoming Capital Conference March 20-21 in Lansing but have kept putting it off until you "have the time"...well, that time is running out fast! Online Registration ends Monday, March 12! This could also be the perfect year to enter the annual Community Excellence Awards! All you have to do is stand up at your Regional Roundtable and give a simple five-minute talk on the success your community has had with some unique, innovative program or project. Maybe it's a community effort, a new marketing campaign, a downtown revitalization project or a new operations system that makes your government offices run more smoothly. It could be anything! Don't be intimidated by the impressive slideshows and video productions you see during the final round at Convention -- you won't need to do anything right now except tell your fellow region members about your project. Then if you win your region, we'll send out press releases and help spread the word to your local media about your community's success. All because of a simple five-minute speech!
Then you'll have six full months to prepare to show off your best and brightest at the League Convention at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island! Can you think of a more perfect setting to tell the whole state about what your community has accomplished?
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text: 6 ways to get out of debt fast Need to get out of debt fast? Check out our expert tips for tackling your debt issues head on. By Jasmine Miller 2013-01-14 00:00:00 ©iStockphoto.com/Svetlana Damjanac When it comes to tackling debt, most of us know what to do: Spend less, save more. But if it were really that simple, Canadians wouldn't be so mired in red ink. Stephanie Holmes is a Nova Scotia-based financial advisor and author of Diffusing the Debt Bomb and $pent, who recognizes that there is no easy answer to any debt problem. Holmes offers small tweaks that will help you speed up your repayment and get out of debt faster. 6 ways to get out of debt:1. Pay bills every pay dayMost debt statements are due monthly, but most salaries are paid every two weeks. So pay part of every bill, every time you get paid. Benefit: smaller amounts feel more manageable and the chance of missing a payment (and incurring a penalty and more interest) is reduced. Automate bill payments so that you pay your creditors without having to write a cheque or log on to an online account.Ratchet it up a notch: Let's say your credit card minimum payment is $100. Pay $60 every two weeks and you'll make more headway with over payments you barely notice. 2. Change your debt structureWhen it comes to debt vehicles and the lending institutions that have extended them, "the fewest number possible means the least amount of effort and stress," says Holmes. If you want to get out of debt, get rid of the retail credit cards, since they have onerous interest rates compared to those from major lenders. Two credit cards should be enough; close the rest. You'll pay less in annual fees.3. Start a debt 'snowball' planMake a list of your debts (excluding your mortgage), starting with the smallest balance and ending with the highest. Make the minimum payments on all your debts, but make an extra payment on the one with the smallest balance. When that debt is paid off, divert the payment you were making on it to the next debt on the list. By the time you get to the second and third debts, you'll be making significant payments to the principal, which is the only way to actually eliminate a debt.Holmes recommends the website WhatsTheCost.com. "I love it," she says. "It's a neat little calculator that when you press 'solve', it gives you a table so you can literally see how fast you could pay off that debt." When a debt is paid off, close the account associated with it. The success of snowballing is based on the assumption that you can afford the minimum payments on all your debts. (If you can't, consider credit counseling.) 1 2