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A guide to mdadm
Back to Converting an existing system Forward to Scrubbing the drives |
This page is an overview of mdadm. It is NOT intended as a replacement for the man pages - anything covered in detail there will be skimmed over here. This is meant to provide examples that you can adapt for yourselves.
Contents |
mdadm has replaced all the previous tools for managing raid arrays. It manages nearly all the user space side of raid. There are a few things that need to be done by writing to the /proc filesystem, but not much.
Getting mdadm
This is a pretty standard part of any distro, so you should use your standard distro software management tool. If, however, you are having any problems it does help to be running the absolute latest version, which can be downloaded with
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/mdadm/mdadm.git
or from
In the absence of any other preferences, it belongs in the /usr/local/src directory. As a linux-specific program there is none of this autoconf stuff - just follow the instructions as per the INSTALL file.
Do not use Neil Brown's version unless he tells you to do so - he is no longer the maintainer and it is not kept up-to-date.
mdadm has seven modes. You will normally only use a few of them. They are as follows:-
This is probably the mode that is used most, but you won't be using it much - it happens in the background. Every time the system is booted, this needs to run. It scans the drives, looking for superblocks, and rebuilds all the arrays for you. This is why you need an initramfs when booting off a raid array - because mdadm is a user-space program, if root is on an array then we have a catch-22 - we can't boot until we have root, and we can't have root until we've booted and can run mdadm.
This is the first of the two modes you will use a lot. As the name implies, it creates arrays, and writes the superblocks for arrays that have them. It also fires off initialisation - making sure that the disks of a mirror are identical, or that on a parity array the parities are correct. This is why raids 5&6 are created in degraded mode - if they weren't then any check of the raid would spew errors for areas that hadn't been written to.
A bit of a misnomer, this mode takes care of all operations that change the size of an array, such as changing the raid level, changing the number of active devices, etc.
This is the default mode, and is used primarily to add and remove devices. It can be confusing, as several options (such as --add) are also used in grow mode, most typically when adding a device at the same time as changing the number of devices.
Follow or Monitor
This is a relic of when superblocks didn't exist. It is used to (re)create an array, and should not be used unless you know exactly what you are doing. Because there are no superblocks, or indeed, any array metadata, the system just has to assume you got everything right because it has no way of checking up on you.
[TODO: Can you use this mode to create a temporary mirror, for the purpose of backing up your live data? No. Trying to build a RAID 1 with a device that is mounted, mdadm says "Device or resource busy", even with --force. If --force worked the backup would still be at risk of being inconsistent as some older writes to the device may not have finished and new writes may occur. The (degraded) RAID 1 must be built and placed between device and filesystem before going live, i.e. mounting the filesystem. After hot-adding the backup disk, the sync must be allowed to finish. Then, one of the disks can be failed and removed. The backup will be a device snapshot and as such still has a small risk of being inconsistent. This risk is a lot smaller than for a simple "dd" copy that would contain data from different points in time. Whether the risk is as low as with LVM snapshots depends on the exact RAID implementation, i.e. whether the data left behind will be a true point-in-time snapshot.]
This contains all the bits that don't really fit anywhere else.
Array internals and how it affects mdadm
Superblocks and Raid versions
The first arrays did not have a superblock, and were declared in "raidtab", which was managed by the now-defunct "raid-tools". This obviously could lead to a disaster if drives were moved between machines, as they were identified by their partition type. Adding a new drive could move the device names around and, relying on "raidtab", when the array was assembled it could get the wrong drives in the wrong place. Only linear and raid-0 were supported at this time, so there was no redundancy to recover from. mdadm still supports this sort of array with the --build option.
Presumably to fix this, the 0.9 version superblock was defined, stored at the end of the device. It's also referred to as the version 0 superblock, 0 referring to the internals of the superblock. However, it lacks support for most of the modern features of mdadm, and is now obsolete. It is also ambiguous, leading to sysadmin confusion, never a good idea. Arrays with a v0.9 superblock can be assembled by the kernel but again, if drives were moved between machines, the consequences could be disastrous as the array would be assembled incorrectly.
To fix this, a new version of the superblock was defined, version 1. The layout is common across all subversions, 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2. Autoassembly by the kernel was abandoned at this point - you must run an initramfs to boot off any v1 superblock other than a v1.0 mirror. v1 includes an array id which references the machine that created the array (eg ashdown:0) thus preventing drives being assembled into the wrong array (absent some pathological configuration).
Version 1.0 is also stored at the end of the device. This means that 0.9 can be upgraded to 1.0. It also means that, now that raid assembly is no longer supported in the kernel, the only supported way to boot from raid without an initramfs is to use a v1.0 mirror.
Version 1.1 is stored at the start of the device. This is not the best of places, as a wayward fdisk (or other programs) sometimes writes to the start of a disk and could destroy the superblock.
Version 1.2 is stored 4K from the start of the device.
Both 1.1 and 1.2 use the same algorithms to calculate the spare space left at the start of the device. Version 1.0 will leave 128K at the end of each device if it is large enough - "large enough" being defined as 200GB.
mdadm is unable to move the superblock, so there is no way of converting between the different version 1s.
There are also two other superblock formats, ddf and imsm. These are "industry standard", not linux specific, and aren't being covered in the 2016 rewrite.
These superblocks also define a "data offset". This is the gap between the start of the device, and the start of the data. This means that v1.2 must always have at least 4K per device, although it's normally several megabytes. This space can be used for all sorts of things, typically the write-intent bitmap, the bad blocks log, and a buffer space when reshaping an array. It is usually calculated automatically, but can be over-ridden.
All operations that involve moving data around are called reshapes, and require a temporary region (window) that can be written to without corrupting the array. One of the reasons for the v1 superblock and the data offset is to provide spare space for this. The preferred mechanism is to relocate the data up or down a few stripes, reading data from the live area and writing it into the window. Every few stripes, the superblock is updated, making the window "live" and freeing up the space that has just been relocated as the new window. This results in the data offset being shifted a few megabytes in either direction (which is one reason why you can NOT safely recreate a live array). If the system crashes or is halted during a reshape, it is assumed the window is corrupt, and the reshape can continue.
If the offset cannot be moved because there is no room or the superblock is v0.9, then a backup file must be provided, on a different partition. [TODO: Will changing the data offset prevent booting off a v1.0 mirror?] This has a whole host of downsides, not least that the reshape cannot restart automatically if interrupted, and that it requires twice as much disk io, as each stripe in turn needs to be backed up. At worst, it's easy to lose the array, because if the backup file is accidentally put on the array being reshaped, you get a catch-22. In order to mount the partition and access the backup file, the array needs to be running. But you can't start the array until after the reshape has restarted. And in order to restart the reshape, you need access to the backup file. When restarting after a crash [TODO: does it close cleanly in the event of a shutdown?] mdadm assumes the stripe being processed is corrupt and restores it from backup before proceeding.
Blocks, chunks and stripes
Changing these can be used to optimise the array. But the main way of doing so is to adjust the chunk size, the stripe size is controlled by the number of devices in the array, the linux block size is 4K, and the device block size is dictated by the hardware.
While not technically anything to do with raid, matching the linux and device block size is crucial. The device block size has been 512 bytes (half a kilobyte) since the days of 8" floppies, if not before. But as of now (2017) the standard device block size is now 4096 bytes (4K). Some drives are 4K only, and some have a 512-4096 conversion layer. Getting this wrong is one of the biggest performance killers at the device block layer - linux works in 4K blocks, and if linux thinks the drive starts counting 512-blocks blocks at 0, while the drive emulation starts counting at 1 (or vice versa), every time linux writes a 4K block, the emulation has to read 2 4K blocks, modify both, and write both back.
The chunk size is the number of consecutive blocks written to each drive. It's a multiple of the linux 4K block size. Note that some raids restrict your choice of block size. Raid-5 must be a power of two. Raid-0 doesn't care. Other raids may vary.
The stripe size is the number of chunks by the number of drives. The stripe includes parity and/or mirror information so the data stored per stripe is usually less than the size of the stripe.
You need to be careful when using these terms - just as block size may refer to linux or the device, the word "stripe" is also used in other ways. Inside the raid5 code it usually mean a page per drive. The word "strip" is also used to mean one page per device. So just make sure you are aware of context as it may alter the meaning.
Near, Far, and offset layouts
These layouts apply primarily to raid 10, but the concept also applies to other raid layouts. Raid 10 stores the same chunk repeatedly across several drives. The near layout writes N copies of each block consecutively across X drives so we get
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | ------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0x01 | 1 | 2 | 2 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : |
What is notable about this layout is that an array can be interpreted as several different variants of raid. If N == X, then this is also a raid-1 mirror. [TODO: Some online sources say that there is a difference is read performance between 2-disk RAID 1 and RAID 10.] But if N == X == 2, we also have a raid-4 or raid-5 array with one data drive and one parity drive.
Offset layout is similar, except instead of repeating chunks, it repeats stripes with the second and subsequent copies shifted
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | Device #4 | ------------------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0x01 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0x02 | 2 | 3 | 0 ! 1 | 0x03 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 0x04 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0x05 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : |
Like the near layout, this layout too can be reshaped. Looking at the code, though, it appears that adding new drives is not permitted, although this should not be too difficult to implement.
But any attempt to reshape a far array will be failed immediately.
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | Device #4 | ------------------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0x01 | 4 | 5 | 6 ! 7 | 0x02 | 8 | 9 | 10 ! 11 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | 0x10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0x11 | 5 | 6 ! 7 | 4 | 0x12 | 9 | 10 ! 11 | 8 |
The difficulty with a far array is that because the copies are all over the array, it can be difficult to retain redundancy while reshaping. The array is effectively divided into as many parts as copies are required, and then each part holds one copy, suitably offset to ensure that any individual block is not duplicated on the same disk. It will probably be very tricky to program a reshape, because it is very difficult to ensure that a change to one part of the array does not stomp over another part of the array.
"Grow"ing non-parity raid arrays
Raid 0
Raid-0 basically glues disks together. Adding a new disk to a linear array just extends the end of the array - the new space is tacked on the end of the array. Adding a new drive to a linear array is more complicated - because the data is spread across all the drives the array needs to be reshaped. With modern kernels and arrays, no backup file is needed as the new space will be used to store any necessary backup stripes. Also backup stripes will probably not be necessary as the data will be shifted up or down slightly within the devices that contain the array.
Removing a drive from a linear array is currently not possible. It would require moving all the data on or above the drive being removed out of the way to create a hole the size of the disk being removed.
For a striped array the data will need to be re-striped to move it off the disk being removed.
Raid-0 can be converted to raid-10, or to raid-4/5/6.
Raid 1
Raid 1 stores identical copies across all drives. As such, this has the simplest procedure for adding and removing drives. When a new drive is added, the data is copied across from one of the existing drives. When removing a drive, the drive can simply be deleted from the array.
Conversion to raid 4/5/6 is supported because a two-drive raid-1 is effectively a 1+parity raid-4/5, and raids 4, 5 and 6 differ solely in the number and placement of their parity blocks. The reverse transition is also possible, from a two-drive raid-5 to raid-1.
Raid 1+0
This is a raid 0, that is built up from raid-1 mirrors. As such, the individual raid elements can be grown or shrunk as above. There is also the inverted version, raid 0+1 which is a raid-1 mirror made from raid-0 arrays. Again the individual elements can be grown or shrunk as above.
Raid 10
Raid 10 is a special linux mode which stores multiple copies of the data across several drives. There must be at least as many drives as there are copies - if the two are equal it is equivalent to raid-1.
Far mode raid-10 is unique in that it scatters blocks all over the array, so it is very difficult to reshape and currently any attempt to do so will be rejected. It could be done if someone cares to code it.
Near and offset mode can have drives added and taken away. The array can also been swapped between near and offset modes, and the chunk size can be changed if it is within acceptable limits.
Conversion between raid-0 and raid-10 is supported - to convert to any other raid you will have to go via raid-0 - backup, BACKUP, BACKUP!!! The code does not appear to support conversion between raid-1 and raid-10 which should be easy for a two-device array.
"Grow"ing parity raid arrays
Raid 4
Raid 4 is rarely used. It really only makes sense if you have one fast drive (which you do not mind using for parity) and several slow ones. Each stripe consists of one or more data chunks followed by a parity chunk. The parity chunk is calculated using the XOR algorithm. If two bits being compared are identical, XOR returns 0, if they are different it returns 1.
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | Device #4 | ------------------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | P1 | 0x01 | 3 | 4 | 5 | P2 | 0x02 | 6 | 7 | 8 | P3 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : |
Raid 4 stores all the parity chunks on one device. Here P1 = 0 XOR 1 XOR 2, and P2 = 3 XOR 4 XOR 5. But because we have four devices (an even number) we know that P1 XOR 0 XOR 1 XOR 2 = 0, and likewise P2 XOR 3 XOR 4 XOR 5 = 0. If we had an odd number of devices, XOR'ing all the chunks together would give us all 1s.
This means that, should we lose any one chunk, we can easily recreate it by XOR'ing all the remaining chunks together.
It also means that, should we only have two devices, the data and parity chunks are identical, which gives us an array indistinguishable from a raid-1 mirror. It also gives us an array indistinguishable from a two-drive raid-5.
And mdadm will convert (with minor limitations) between raids 4, 5, and 6 without any difficulty.
Raid 5
Raid 5 is almost identical to raid-4. The difference is that the parity information is spread across all drives, not stored on just one. This spreads the load making the array more responsive and reducing wear on the parity drive.
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | Device #4 | ------------------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | P1 | 0x01 | 3 | 4 | P2 | 5 | 0x02 | 6 | P3 | 7 | 8 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : |
Raid 6
The principle behind raid-6 is the same as that behind raids 5 and 4. The details, however, are markedly different. Because raid-6 uses more than one parity block, we cannot use the XOR algorithm as it does not provide the necessary mathematical independence. Instead, we use a mathematical construct called a Galois Field. This is explained very well in a blog by Igor Ostrovsky [1].
The mathematics allows the calculation of an arbitrary number of parity blocks, but linux raid only uses two, which we call P and Q. As with raid-5, the parity blocks are scattered amongst the devices, but there are six ways of scattering them. There is a four-way combination of left or right, symmetric or asymmetric, or there is parity_0 or parity_n.
| Device #1 | Device #2 | Device #3 | Device #4 | Device #5 | ------------------------------------------------------------------ 0x00 | 0 | 1 | 2 | P1 | Q1 | 0x01 | 3 | 4 | P2 | Q2 | 5 | 0x02 | 6 | P3 | Q3 | 7 | 8 | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : | : |
Because we have two mathematically independent parities, that means we can recover our data if we ever suffer two independent errors. In other words, if we lose two disks we can recalculate the two missing blocks. Or, if we suffer random corruption, if only one block is affected we can calculate which block it is, and what the correct value is. Every extra parity block enables us to recover an extra piece of damaged information.
Raid 6 is the only raid level where mdadm may complain that it cannot carry out a conversion directly between levels 4, 5 and 6. This is down to the way the parity blocks are scattered amongst the devices. The reshape is almost certainly possible, but it may require doing it in a couple of stages rather than directly.
Assembling your arrays
mdadm --assemble --scan
This is the command that runs in the background at boot, and assembles and runs all your arrays (unless something goes wrong, when you usually end up with a partially assembled array. This can be a right pain if you don't realise that's what's happened).
Creating an array
Creating a mirror raid
The simplest example of creating an array, is creating a mirror.
mdadm --create /dev/md/name /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2
This will copy the contents of sda1 to sdb1 and give you a clean array. There is no reason why you can't use the array while it is copying (resyncing). This can be suppressed with the "--assume-clean" option, but you should only do this if you know the partitions have been wiped to null beforehand. Otherwise, the dead space will not be a mirror, and any check command will moan blue murder.
Creating a parity raid
Now let's create a more complicated example.
mdadm --create /dev/md/name /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 --level=5 --raid-devices=3 --bitmap=internal
This, unsurprisingly, creates a raid 5 array. When creating the array, you must give it exactly the the number of devices it expects, ie 3 here. So two of the drives will be assembled into a degraded array, and the third drive will be resync'd to fix the parity. If you want to add a fourth drive as spare, this must be done later. An internal bitmap has been declared, so the superblock will keep track of which blocks have been updated and which blocks need to be updated. This means that if a drive gets kicked, for some reason, it can be re-added back without needing a total resync.
A bitmap will be created by default if the array is over 100GB in size. Note that this is a fairly recent change, and if you are running on an old kernel you may have to delete the bitmap if you wish to use many of the "grow" options.
The raid by default will be created in degraded mode and will resync. This is because, unless all your drives are blank (just like creating a mirror) any integrity check will moan blue murder that the unused parts of your array contain garbage and the parity is wrong.
Growing an array
You should not lose data - mdadm is designed to fail safe, and even when things go completely pear-shaped, the array should still assemble and run, letting you recover if the worst comes to the worst.
Note also that, if you do not have a modern kernel, these commands may fail with an error "Bitmap must be removed before size/shape/level can be changed".
Adding a drive to a mirror
This will add a new drive to your mirror. The "--grow / --raid-devices" is optional, if you increase the number of raid devices, the new drive will become an active part of the array and the existing drives will mirror across. If you don't increase the number of raid devices, the new drive will be a spare, and will only become part of the active array if one of the other drives fails.
mdadm [--grow] /dev/md/mirror --add /dev/sdc1 [--raid-devices=3]
Upgrading a mirror raid to a parity raid
The following commands will convert a two-disk mirror into a degraded two-disk raid5, and then add the third disk for a fully functional raid5 array. Note that the first command will fail if run on the array we've just grown in the previous section if you changed raid-devices to three. If you already have a 3-disk mirror configured as two active, and one spare, you will need to run the first command then just change raid-devices to three. The code will reject any attempt to grow an array with more than two active devices.
mdadm --grow /dev/md/mirror --level=5 mdadm --grow /dev/md/mirror --add /dev/sdc1 --raid-devices=3
Removing a disk from an array
This will convert the mirror from the first section into a degraded three-disk mirror, and then into a healthy two-disk mirror. Note that using OpenSUSE Leap 42 I had problems reducing the device count to 2.
mdadm /dev/md/mirror --fail /dev/sdc1 --remove /dev/sdc1 mdadm --grow /dev/md/mirror --raid-devices=2
If ever you happen to have already removed a disk from a three disk mirror to a two disks mirror, use only the second line (grow) to fix the degraded mode (tested on openSUSE 42.2). It can be verified with:
mdadm --detail /dev/mdxxx
Adding more space without adding another device
You might not have sufficient SATA ports to add any more disk drives, but you want to add more space to your array. The procedure is pretty much the same as for replacing a dodgy device.
If you have a three-disk mirror, you can just fail a drive and replace it with a larger drive, and repeat until all your drives have been replaced with bigger drives. If you've only got a two-drive mirror, the earlier advice to get an add-in SATA PCI card or somesuch applies. Either add the new drive then fail the old one, or put the old one in a USB cage on a temporary basis and --replace it.
If you have a parity raid, then if you have a raid-6, again you can just fail a drive and then add in a new one, but this is not the best idea. If you don't want to place your data at risk, then for a raid-5 you *must*, and for a raid-6 you *should*, use a spare SATA port to do a --replace, or swap your old drive into a USB cage so you can do a --replace that way.
Once you've increased the size of all the underlying devices, you can increase the size of the array, and then increase the size of the filesystem or partitions in the array.
Managing an array
Changing the size of the array
Adding a new device to a mirror won't change the size of the array - the new device will store an extra copy of the data and there won't be any extra space. But adding a device to a parity array will normally increase the space available. Assuming we have a 3 by 4TB raid-5, that gives us an 8TB array. Adding a fourth 4TB will give us a 12TB array.
Assuming it's possible, adding a 3TB device would only give us an extra 1TB, as the formula for raid-5 is devices-1 times size-of-smallest-device. This is, however, unlikely to be possible. To do so, you would probably have to reduce the the size of the array to 6TB (--size=3TB) before adding the new drive (which would then increase capacity to 9TB).
Adding that fourth drive has increased the size of the array, which we can take advantage of by resizing the file system on it (see the next section). But what happens if we've added a 5TB drive to our three 4TB drives? Unfortunately, that extra 1TB is wasted because this drive is larger. So let's assume that rather than adding a fourth - 5TB - drive, we've actually replaced all 4TB drives to give us a 3 x 5TB drive. Unfortunately, we've still only got an 8TB array. We need to tell mdadm about the extra space available with
mdadm --grow /dev/mdN --size=max
The --size option tells the array how much of each disk to use. When an array is created it defaults to the size of the smallest drive but when, as here, we have replaced all the drives with larger drives we need to explicitly tell mdadm about the space. The "max" argument tells it, once again, to default to the size of the smallest drive currently in the array.
Note that there has been the odd report of --size=max not working. Make sure the kernel knows about the new disk size, as this was the problem - you may have to re-hot-add the drive or reboot the computer.
Using the new space
If the array was originally partitioned, the new space will now be available to resize existing partitions or add new ones. If the array had a filesystem on it, the filesystem can now be expanded. Different filesystems have different commands, for example
resize2fs /dev/mdN
Back to Converting an existing system Forward to Scrubbing the drives |


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Welcome to Asian Reflection
Asian spirituality and its impact on our world
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Islam's Modern Saint
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1890-1988) was leader of the Khudai Khidmatgars, a nonviolent Muslim army that took on the might of the British Empire with stunning success. Khan has deservedly been described as Islam's St. Francis, and will be recognised in history as one of the great Muslims.
Structure, Chance and Choice
April 2005
Abdul Ghaffar Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgars are an excellent example of the role of structure, chance and choice in shaping nonviolent religious militancy.
Three Peace Forces
December 2004
The Khudai Khidmatgars, Shanti Sena and Nonviolent Peaceforce are compared and contrasted in terms of their peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding roles.
Prisms and Prisons
November 2004
The influence of ethnoreligious nationalism and to a lesser extent religious fundamentalism on the nonviolent militancy of the Khudai Khidmatgars is examined in this brief essay, arguing that from the vast repository of Islamic tradition and ideas the Khudai Khidmitgars used Islam to give form to a forceful dimension of their nonviolent resistance and peacemaking work.
Development Revealed
September 2003
This essay uses the example of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and the Khudai Khidmatgars to explore the inclusion of the spiritual dimension in the teaching and practice of development. Selfless service, revolutionary organisation, and cultural change are examined in the context of drawing together love, power, and the intellect as a force for development. It concludes by calling for the use of a spiritual imagination as complementary approach to that of C. Wright Mills' well-known sociological imagination.
Bacha Khan in Afghanistan: A Memoir
June 2002
Written by a former member of the Pakistani Intelligence Services in Afghanistan, this memoir recounts details of Khan's life in Afghanistan after the partition of India. In addition to its historic significance, it also contains an incisive introduction outlining Khan's remarkable achievements in rising out of a stagnant society to be a leader of rare spiritual depth.
Two Islamic Soldiers
October 2001
Delving into the shadows of history, this essay explores the lives of two men in Afghanistan and Pakistan for insights into religion and the war in Afghanistan. These men, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and General Akhtar Abdur Rahman Shaheed, led two entirely different movements drawing upon religion before the Taliban. Their lives illuminate universal truths on the role of religion in nurturing peace and war.
South Asian Peace
Should Pakistan and India Bury the Hatchet?
August 2003
Artists and scholars share their thoughts on building peace between India and Pakistan.
The Superman
Sri Aurobindo reaches startling heights in this essay on human ideals, taking as a starting point Nietzsche's conception of the superman. His discussion of the interplay of love, power and knowledge combines the beauty of poetry with the wisdom of a timeless thinker.
Lamps of Wisdom
Renowned for their inspiring insights, these passages are glimpses into the underlying unity shared by Asia's spiritual traditions.

subset: commoncrawl


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As Greens blame coal miners and SUV drivers for contributing to firestorms that destroy houses, ponder that one man tried to reduce the risk of fires and cleared firebreaks on his property in WA in 2011 and is currently in jail for it, serving a 15 month sentence. Most of the cleared land had been cleared before in 1970 or 1983. This was mere scrubby regrowth. He was trying to separate his property from DEC (Dept of Environment and Conservation) managed land with a 20m wide fire-break. He is due out of jail sometime around Feb 10th, though his government minders have not even fixed that date (are they having trouble calculating "15 months"?) He had previously been jailed for three months in 2010 for a similar action.
This was true civil disobedience. He knew what would happen. He felt someone had to protest and I gather he felt that at 62 and without children or a wife to support, it was his duty.
Szulc cleared his land as a protest. He was in contempt of court, he is in contempt of the DEC.
Some will say that Maxwell Szulc is technically not in jail for clearing […]


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Get it while it's hot: Oye Lucky Lucky Oye is on Netflix instant!
Service announcement: if you are a Netflix user and haven't seen Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, run, don't walk, and watch it this very minute! I can't say enough good things about it and happily rank it my favorite film of 2008. The ever-changing list of Indian movies Netflix makes available for streaming is fascinating - who chooses? and why do things suddenly disappear off the list? Just as I was making time to watch Aamne Samne after Fairy Filmi Ending told me it was available, it was gone! Also available as of this very moment: Swades, Bluffmaster, Khosla Ka Ghosla, and Monsoon Wedding. Me, I'm going to re-watch Race just for some quality Akshaye and Saif scowling time and the cringe-worthy use of the Confederate flag in a cowboy dance number. Yippee!


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National Cemetery Administration
San Antonio National Cemetery
NCA marks 50 years (1973-2023) of serving America's Veterans, Service Members, and Families.
Learn more and watch NCA's 50th Anniversary Ceremony.
Visitation Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
Office Hours: Contact Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at 210-820-3891.
This cemetery has space available for cremated remains. We may be able to accommodate casketed remains in the same gravesite of previously interred family members.
Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces who have met a minimum active duty service requirement and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.
A Veteran's spouse, widow or widower, minor dependent children, and under certain conditions, unmarried adult children with disabilities may also be eligible for burial. Eligible spouses and children may be buried even if they predecease the Veteran.
Members of the reserve components of the armed forces who die while on active duty or who die while on training duty, or were eligible for retired pay, may also be eligible for burial.
The cemetery is located in the eastern section of San Antonio. From Interstate 37, take Commerce exit east and proceed to S. New Braunfels. Turn left and travel one block to Paso Hondo. Travel approximately ½ mile to the cemetery on your right.
Fax all discharge documentation to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417 and follow-up with a phone call to 1-800-535-1117.
For information on scheduled burials in our national cemeteries, please go to the Daily Burial Schedule.
This cemetery was accepted for listing in the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 1999.
For educational materials and additional information on this cemetery, please visit the Education section, located below.
Fresh cut flowers are permitted on graves year round. Flowers may be removed to facilitate cemetery operations such as lawn mowing and grounds maintenance.
Flower pick-up dates are posted on "Next Flower Pick-Up" signs posted at cemetery entrances. During flower pick-up dates all items, including flags, will be removed from graves and will not be retained. Persons who placed items on graves may recover those items from their loved one's gravesites prior to the scheduled pick-up dates.
In order to preserve the dignity of the cemetery, items placed on graves must be floral in nature.
NO GLASS or METAL of any kind is allowed. This includes but not limited to items such as statues, vigil lights, shepherd's hooks, breakable objects of any nature, and other commemorative items which are not permitted on gravesites. Items NOT PERMITTED on gravesites will be removed.
Fresh cut flowers are permitted on graves year round. Flowers may be removed to facilitate cemetery operations such as lawn mowing and grounds maintenance.
Artificial flowers may be placed on graves but may be removed as soon as they become faded and unsightly or interfere with grounds maintenance operations, particularly during the grass growing season.
All fresh cut and artificial flowers must be in plastic vases — no other containers are allowed. Plastic vases are provided at the cemetery and are located in receptacles throughout the cemetery and should be returned to the receptacles when no longer needed. The Cemetery provides plastic vases and are Federal property and should not be removed from the cemetery. Please limit to two vases per gravesite.
All flowers should be displayed in a manner so as not to completely cover the headstone. Floral items and other types of decorations may not be secured or adhered to headstones, markers or niche covers at any time. If found they will be removed.
Plantings are not permitted at any time. Potted plants are only permitted on gravesites 10 days before and 10 days after Easter.
Christmas wreaths or grave blankets are permitted on graves during the Christmas season from December 1st until January 20th of each year. Grave floral blankets may not be larger than 2 feet by 3 feet. Christmas trees of any kind ARE NOT permitted on the gravesites.
Cemetery trees, shrubs and/or any other plants may not be decorated with any ornaments of any kind at ANY TIME.
The Cemetery Director reserves the right to remove and destroy, without notice, anything left on graves that violates the intent of these policies/regulations, offends the sensibilities of the public, or the dignity of this cemetery, is an eyesore, or threat to the safety of the public or cemetery personnel.
Headstones are Federal property. Altering or marking by paint, marker, lipstick or any other means is considered vandalism and may be subject to penalty as defined in Title 38 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Sec. 1.218. There is security and law enforcement at VA facilities.
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery assumes no responsibility for items left on gravesites. Due to the open nature of the grounds, we cannot guarantee against theft, vandalism or the effects of nature. Anyone caught removing items from gravesites not their own will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Questions concerning cemetery floral policy should be directed to cemetery staff at 210-820-3891.
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
San Antonio National Cemetery is located in Bexar County, Texas. The Spanish first explored this region in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The town grew out of San Antonio de Béxar Presidio, which was founded in 1718 and the villa of San Fernando de Béxar, which became the capital of Spanish Texas in 1773. By 1778, the settlement had a population of more than 2,000, including Native Americans at the San Antonio de Valero Mission. Despite its status as a colonial capital, most visitors described the town as "miserable." Prominent factions in San Antonio aligned itself with Hidalgo's forces in the fight for Mexican independence. A number of Spanish government officials were subsequently captured and detained. Their victory, however, was short lived. After only one month, Royalist forces recaptured the city, killing and wounding much of San Antonio's population in the process.
During the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836, San Antonio was the site of several battles, including the siege of Bexar (December 1835) and the battle of the Alamo (March 6, 1836). With the establishment of the Republic of Texas in December 1836, Bexar County was organized and San Antonio was chartered as its seat. After Texas entered the Union in 1845, San Antonio experienced a period of rapid growth, as the city became a servicing and distribution center for the western settlement of the United States: a population of 3,488 in 1850 skyrocketed to 8,235 in 10 years. In 1861, local militia forced the surrender of the federal arsenal at San Antonio even before the state seceded on March 2, and San Antonio served out the Civil War as a Confederate depot.
The original national cemetery site, which was part of San Antonio's burying ground, was donated to the U.S. government by the city in 1867. The original deed was lost and the transfer never recorded, however. The city executed a new deed April 14, 1871, conveying approximately 1.89 acres of land to the United States. The first interments at San Antonio were the remains of Union soldiers removed from the city cemetery and outlying areas. Subsequent burials included unknown who had died on the western frontier. A total of 314 unknowns are buried in a common grave in Section H, marked with a monument inscribed "To the Unknown Dead."
San Antonio National Cemetery was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Monuments and Memorials
A monument dedicated to the Unknown Dead was erected at San Antonio National Cemetery by the U.S. government in 1912.
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Recipients receive the Medal of Honor from the President on behalf of Congress. It was first awarded during the Civil War and the eligibility criteria, medal design, and recognition on a recipients' grave marker have all evolved over time. There are 390 Medal of Honor recipients interred in VA national cemeteries.
» Medal of Honor recipients buried or memorialized here:
Private David Bennes Barkley (World War I). Texan David Bennes Barkley served in Company A, 356th Infantry, 89th Division, U.S. Army during World War I. On November 9, 1918, Private Barkley volunteered to swim across the Meuse River to reconnoiter the enemy's location, but when returning, he drowned. Private Barkley received the Medal of Honor in 1919 and his remains were on view at the Alamo in 1921. It was only in 1989 that Barkley was recognized as the first Hispanic Medal of Honor recipient. He is buried in Section G, Site 1302.
Sergeant William H. Barnes (Civil War). William H. Barnes was born at St. Mary's County, Maryland, in 1841. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 11, 1864, at Norfolk, VA, and served in Company C, 38th Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). During the Battle of New Market Heights, Virginia, on September 29, 1864, Private Barnes was among the first troops to enter the enemy works. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for this act of bravery. After the Civil War, Barnes and other USCT were stationed in Texas. Barnes was promoted to sergeant in July 1865, and after several months of detached service, he returned to post and contracted tuberculous. Barnes died December 24, 1866, and is memorialized in Section MA, Site 86.
Sergeant William DeArmond (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the U.S. Army, Company I, 5th U.S. Infantry, in recognition of actions at the Upper Washita River, Texas, September 9–11, 1874. DeArmond is memorialized in Section MA, Site 89.
Sergeant Frederick Deetline (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company D, 7th U.S. Cavalry, for actions at the Little Big Horn River, Montana Territory, June 25, 1876. Deetline died in 1910 and is buried in Section F, Site 921.
First Sergeant Henry Falcott (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company L, 8th U.S. Cavalry, for actions in the Arizona Territory, from August to October 1868. Falcott died in 1910 and is buried in Section F, Site 918.
Corporal John J. Givens (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the U.S. Army, Company K, 6th U.S. Cavalry, in recognition of actions at the Wichita River, Texas, July 12, 1870. His citation was awarded under the name of Given. Corporal Givens is memorialized in Section MA, Site 88.
Private John Harrington (Section F, Site 1012)
Private James Howard (Civil War). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company K, 158th New York Infantry, for actions at Battery Gregg, near Petersburg, VA, April 2, 1865. Howard died in 1879 and is buried in Section E, Site 889.
Corporal Henry A. McMasters (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the U.S. Army, Company A, 4th U.S. Cavalry, for his actions at Red River, Texas, September 29, 1872. McMasters died in November that year and is buried in Section D, Site 729.
First Sergeant James J. Nash (Spanish-American War). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company F, 10th U.S. Infantry, for actions at Santiago, Cuba, July 1, 1898. Nash died in 1927 and is buried in Section I, Site 1461-A.
Sergeant Solon D. Neal (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry, for actions at the Wichita River, Texas, July 12, 1870. Neal died in 1920 and is buried in Section G, Site 1323.
Private George W. Smith (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor posthumously for service in the U.S. Army, Company M, 6th U.S. Cavalry, in recognition of actions at the Wichita River, Texas, September 12, 1874. Smith died the next day and is memorialized in Section MA, Site 87
Private Simon Suhler (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, Company B, 8th U.S. Cavalry, for actions in the Arizona Territory, from August to October 1868. His citation was awarded under the alias Charles Gardner. Suhler died in 1895 and is buried in Section I, Site 1610.
First Lieutenant Lewis Warrington (Indian Wars). He received the Medal of Honor while serving in the U.S. Army, 4th U.S. Cavalry, for actions in the Muchague Valley, Texas, December 8, 1874. Warrington died in 1879 and is buried in Section A, Site 60.
Other Burials
There are 281 identified Buffalo soldiers interred here.
Second Lieutenant George E. M. Kelly, for whom Kelly Air Force Base was named. Lt. Kelly was killed in 1911 at Fort Sam Houston, the second U.S. Army aviator to lose his life in a military airplane accident. (Section A, Site 117-A)
Corporal Harry M. Wurzbach, a five-term U.S. congressman from San Antonio. One of the major thoroughfares of the city is named for him. (Section J, Site 274)
Gustav Schleicher, a German-born immigrant who became a Texas state representative and senator and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. (Section A, Site 140)
Brigadier General John L. Bullis, for whom Camp Bullis, Texas was named. He retired in 1905, the day after he was promoted to brigadier general. (Section A, Site 174)
Friday Bowlegs and several other Indian scouts are buried in Section F.
Friday Bowlegs, a Seminole and native of Florida, served as an Indian Scout in the U.S. Army during the Indian Wars. He was identified as having African-American heritage as well as American Indian, yet little else is known about him. Bowlegs died on July 16, 1902 (Section F, Site 1054).
Twelve Chinese civilian employees of the Quartermaster Corps are buried in Section H. Five of them are listed both as Chinese refugees and as Quartermaster employees. They accompanied the American Expeditionary Forces commanded by General John J. Pershing out of Mexico.
More than half of VA's national cemeteries originated with the Civil War and many are closed to some burials. Other sites were established to serve World War veterans and they continue to expand. Historic themes related with NCA's cemeteries and soldiers' lots vary, but visitors should understand "Why is it here?" NCA began by installing interpretive signs, or waysides, at more than 100 properties to observe the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011–2015). Please follow the links below to see the interpretive signs for San Antonio National Cemetery.
Visit the Veterans Legacy Program and NCA History Program for additional information. Thank you for your interest.


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Smith & The Magpie
Hoxton Hall A1 Wedding Welcome Sign
Discover our Worth The Wait Sign. Designed by our team to complement the stationery suite, this beautiful semi-custom sign is a pretty and elegantly designed piece, perfect to welcome guests into your day as well as keep as a stylish art piece memento.
Your sign is printed on a foam-centred board, sandwiched between two sheets of smooth white card. The matt lamination gives a soft finish, making for a sophisticated, modern look.
A1 Sign measures 594mm x 841mm, and is 5mm thick. Stand not included.
Personalised by us, for you, with your custom wording and choice of background and text colours.
A personalisation form will be sent to you post-purchase by a member of our team, within 1-2 working days. Once you have submitted your form, within 3-5 business days, you will receive ONE complimentary digital proof of your sign to approve. If needed, one round of minor revisions is also complimentary. Any additional proofs will cost £20 each.
The overall production and delivery time of your piece is highly dependent on the customer response rate to the form and proofs.
As a guide, please allow a minimum of 3 weeks from purchase to delivery (UK only, for International deliveries total time will be increased). If you need your signage sooner, please add the rush fee listing to your cart.
This total time can increase dramatically during our peak wedding seasons, so we recommend ordering well in advance to reserve your place in the production queue. You can then submit your text details 4-6 weeks before your wedding.
All of our stationery pieces are available to purchase online without needing to get in touch with us prior. Select the items you'd like from each collection, as well as the quantity of each piece and add to your basket. We recommend ordering your wedding day stationery as early as possible to ensure the design, printing and delivery can be completed on time, even if your wedding is a while away.
Once purchased we will be in touch with a personalisation form for each piece in your order via email, where you provide us with your text details. Custom colour selections can be chosen at this stage, from our range of 50+ ink shades. Once returned to us, our design team will complete a digital proof for each piece within 3 working days. We include two proofs within our pricing and any changes after such are subject to a design fee.
Once approved, we add your pieces to the print queue and aim to deliver within 7 working days via Royal Mail or DPD tracked courier services.
*Working days are Monday-Friday


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The Corporate Environment Makes a Difference
It is possible to increase the productivity of a company by making the corporate environment as pleasing and user-friendly as possible. It is important to concentrate on making the office space as functional, comfortable and professional as possible so that the company projects a professional look while allowing the people in the office as much comfort and convenience as possible.
Comfort is essential. Hire an expert on ergonomics to work with each of your employees individually to custom design the right environment for each person. Adjust height of chairs, distance to computer screens, add footrests, adjust lighting and noise level, so that each and every one of your employees can work un-hampered by discomfort. Remember to encourage employees to get up and walk around every hour for ten minutes to avoid repetitive movement disorders and back and eye strain.
Think about the best layout in your space with the number of employees in that space. Communally used equipment, like printers and scanners, should be located centrally, with easy access to everyone that uses that equipment. Position the desks, chairs, shelves, and tables so that they are easy to walk around. Try to maintain as much open space as possible while placing work teams or co-workers from the same departments together for easy communication and convenience.
Other things to think about are noise levels and using mobile furniture to more easily redesign and allow the company to grow more easily. Carpets, paneling and ceiling tiles can reduce noise levels greatly. Segregating employees that talk a lot on the phone or other noisier equipment or personnel can go a long way to reducing the noise level around the quieter employees, and help to improve productivity.


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Newbie from loughborough
Posted in Welcome.Skip To Latest
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We invite anyone involved in the courier industry to share their knowledge to other on the mtvan courier forum. If you're a member then sign in to post, if you're an owner driver or courier company then please sign up for free.
For more information on what you can discuss on our courier forum please see our courier forum guidelines.


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Charles Durning, Two-Time Oscar Nominee, Dead at 89
Charles Durning, one of the great character actors of the modern era, has passed away at the age of 89 from natural causes. If the name doesn't ring a bell, his work should as he's been a reliable supporting player in cinema and television for decades.
A World War II veteran, it took Durning a while to find his footing in Hollywood. Though he started in television, he was noticed by Brian De Palma, who cast him in 1970's 'Hi Mom' and in 1973's 'Sisters' and a number of pictures thereafter. But by 1973 he appeared in the Best Picture winner 'The Sting,' which guaranteed him work. And work he did, appearing over the next couple years in films like 'Dog Day Afternoon,' again for De Palma in 'The Fury' and in 'The Muppet Movie' as Doc Hopper, the man who wants Kermit's face (and possibly his legs as well).
He gave great performances in films that weren't always the best, from 'Brenda Starr' to 'Sharky's Machine,' from 'Solarbabies' to 'Tootsie,' from 'Dick Tracy' to his work with the Coen brothers in 'The Hudsucker Proxy' and 'O Brother Where Art Thou.' He could play straight and had a talent for police officers. but he was also excellent playing his comedic side, and often worked miracles in minutes.
The timing of his death is unfortunate as Durning has played Santa Claus five times over the course of his career.


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Fine Hardwood Floors in Prescott, Arizona since 1972
Looking for Hardwood Flooring services in Prescott? Come visit us at our showroom and browse through samples of some of the highest quality solid wood floors, as well as engineered hardwood floors. Since Mission Hardwood Floor Co. has installed approximately 20.000 hardwood floors in the greater Phoenix area since it was founded in 1972, we know which products work and which do not. Save yourself the money and stress of failing floors due to the harsh Arizona climate and purchase a worry free floor from Mission Hardwood Floor Co. All our solid floors come with a lifetime structural warranty, as do most of our engineered products. Also, all of our adhesives come with lifetime warranties for your peace of mind. Should our Showroom be too far for you to travel, we can bring you a selection of samples right to your home. You can inspect our samples in your setting and your lighting before deciding on a floor.
Skip the learning curve, come see Mission Hardwood Floor Co. today.
New Hardwood Floor Installation:
Mission Hardwood Floor Co. is, and has been installing fine hardwood floors in some of Prescott's most prestigious estates. We know the high standards and we cater to them. At Mission, we employ only experienced craftsmen who use the latest, most dustless equipment available in the industry. All the years of experience paired with high quality materials is what makes a Mission Floor a Mission Floor. Don't settle for less, come and see the difference yourself.
Hardwood Floor Refinishing and Recoating
For existing hardwood flooring in your Prescott home, Mission Hardwood Floor Co. offers a variety of repair/maintenance services. We can provide any service from a hardwood floor sand and refinish, recolor, repair to a basic buff and re-coating of your hardwood floors. Our experienced craftsmen will take care of any hardwood flooring need for you professionally and promptly. That is what Mission does since 1972.


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A faculty is a division within a university comprising one subject area, or a number of related subject areas. In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges (e.g., "college of arts and sciences") or schools (e.g., "school of business"), but may also mix terminology (e.g., Harvard University has a "faculty of arts and sciences" but a "law school").
The medieval University of Bologna, which served as a model for most of the later medieval universities in Europe, had four faculties: the Faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine, and finally the Faculty of Arts, from which every student had to graduate in order to continue his training in one of the other three, sometimes known as the higher faculties. The privilege to establish these four faculties was usually part of all medieval charters for universities, but not every university could do so in practice.
The Faculty of Arts took its name from the seven liberal arts: the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy). In German, Scandinavian, Slavic and other universities, the name for this faculty would more often literally translate as 'faculty of philosophy'. The degree of Magister Artium (Master of Arts) derives its name from the Faculty of Arts, while the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) originates within German education and derives its name from the German name of the Arts faculty.


text: As one of San Jose, CA premier florist, we offer a wide selection of birthday inspired flowers for your custom bouquet. We invite you to say Happy Birthday with our beautiful and unique selection of arrangements that are offered. Bloomsters takes pride in its ability to produce custom bouquets of a unique nature for our clients. As such, all bouquets seen on this website should be viewed as a general design concept that Bloomsters will follow to create your custom bouquet once your order is placed. Please feel free to view our substitution policy at the bottom of this page for further details. Please call us directly and place your order for a more custom look 408-268-5518.


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Should architects design for torture? Of course not. The answer seems so clear, so unequivocally in line with the contemporary image of the architect as a just shaper of the society, a creative world citizen serving both client and public.
When we switch the question around, however, and ask if architects should curtail their involvement in designing certain spaces associated with prisons, specifically spaces intended for execution and prolonged solitary confinement, the answer becomes murky. Client-side alliances and post-occupancy reporting complicate the architect's societal duty. Such restriction asks architects to take an ethical and human rights stance on ongoing practices that could be considered out of their control.


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Prior to discovering her true artistic talents, Stephanie Tantillo of Satori Fire Glass spent 18 years working in the pharmaceutical industry as a production supervisor, manager and technical writer. During this time she also enjoyed working on several major motion pictures and can be seen in films such as The Fugitive, Sleepless in Seattle and the remake of a Miracle on 34th Street.
Stephanie discovered her creative and artistic abilities through the inspiration of an incredible glass artist. She found several outstanding teachers to guide her into the processes of glass fusing. It was by applying what she had been taught and working with the media on her own that she has become proficient at the art of designing and creating glass jewelry. She has since become a skilled and passionate jewelry designer and glass artist. Her joy is in bringing the glass to life with the dramatic color combinations and elegant designs she creates. Much of her work is inspired by the colors of the ocean and her love of Hawaii.
For the past 10 years Stephanie has worked as a full time artist. Initially, she worked from her studio in the Phoenix Arizona area where she created and sold her fused dichroic glass and silver jewelry. In August 2008 she returned to the area where she was born in McHenry County near Chicago, Illinois. Stephanie continues to expand her art business through participating in numerous art fairs in the Midwest and most recently in Florida. Stephanie is known for creating the Satori Heart Collection and donates $1 from the sale of each heart to the Children's Heart Foundation.
Archeological evidence indicates that glass fusing can be traced back to the Egyptians (2000BCE). However some historians now say that the Romans who were prolific glass workers first developed the earliest fusing techniques. Modern technology has added spectacular color to this ancient art with the development of dichroic glass. Dichroic glass is created when thin layers of non-conducting metallic oxides are applied to conventional glass and processed in a high temperature vacuum furnace. Most pieces are a combination of dichroic, transparent and opaque glass.
Although much more sophisticated, the process of glass fusing remains basically the same as it did in ancient Egypt and Rome. The glass is cut and layered. The layers are then fused together in a kiln at temperatures that can exceed 1500°F. Once the glass has cooled it is removed from the kiln and shaped into the desired design using diamond grinders and saws. The piece is then returned to the kiln to be fire polished at a slightly lower temperature than the original fusing. To achieve the optimum look many pieces go through this process three to four times. Fire polishing is done to give the glass pieces an elegantly smooth and finished look.
Due to the nature of the glass, the fusing and finishing processes, each piece becomes a unique jewel reflecting its luminescent colors in the light. Finished pieces are then embellished with sterling or fine silver, semi precious stones or crystals becoming pendants, bracelets, earrings, hair adornments, rings and more. Satori Fire Glass jewelry is designed to be worn with the most casual to formal attire.
Follow Satori Fire Glass on Facebook.


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Ford Performance Crate Engines
Browse our performance Ford crate engines below. If you have a question or don't see the engine you are looking for, email us or call us at 1-800-275-7371 and we will be happy to answer your questions. We can build your engine to suit your needs, so please contact us if you would like a custom engine quote.
If you are looking for a stock replacement engine, be sure to visit our Replacement Ford Engines page.
Head Porting Means More Horsepower
Head porting is a process for shaping or enlarging the intake and exhaust head ports to raise combustion. This increases power and torque dramatically. By enlarging the intake porting , there is greater air and fuel mixture for ignition.
The flow bench tests the flow of that air and fuel mixture and allows us to maximize that mixture to raise power. It also gives valuable information for correcting any issues such as portal design.
Porting the heads should also increase miles per gallon . The principle is that if the volume of air is increased , while the velocity is decreased, the air/fuel mixture burns more efficiently. The volume and velocity for each port depends on the engine and cylinder head design.
This one process can enable an engine to achieve much greater power at a price that will almost pay for itself in fuel savings.
Ask Us an Engine Question
Please enter the information below to ask us an engine question or request a free quote. The Zip Code is required in order to determine your shipping cost. Please enter any special instructions, such as shipping or other relevant information. All orders placed outside of the United States must be paid by Wire Transfer. Please call 1-800-275-7371 for details, assistance, or to discuss your engine via the phone.


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New York Senator Charles Schumer has indicated that significant progress has been made in seeking to achieve comprehensive immigration reform early next year.
Schumer gave a lengthy interview to El Diario this week in which he made some very telling points about his strategy, as immigration reform becomes an issue on the agenda for the early months of 2010.
Clearly he is trying to achieve a fait accompli before the bill ever gets to the House or Senate floor. He is working closely with Senator Lindsey Graham to try and achieve that. (The following quotes are a Google translation form the original Spanish version that appeared in El Diario).
"The only way I can make this happen, is that when we announce the law, we are all together, immigrants, employers, trade unions, religious groups, evangelical, Democrats and Republicans, "Schumer said stating that negotiations between these groups have made considerable progress.
Schumer said that we must find a way to stop illegal immigration with an emphasis on the employer. Clearly this is his olive branch to the Republicans.
"The only way to stop illegal immigration is that employers do not hire them. We do not know the exact form this will take, but all citizens and non-citizens … should use a Social Security card with photo and biometric (fingerprint). Everyone will have to use the card when applying for a job and that will pass through a machine," he said.
"If the employer hires someone with no papers he will have a huge fine and possibly go to jail. This will cut illegal immigration by 90%, " the senator added.
It is also clear that Schumer will be insisting on a fine of some sort when illegals come forward to be processed for the amnesty – which, come to think of it, would not make it an amnesty as it would involve admitting a wrong.
That is tough talk from a Democratic senator, but shows that Schumer is not going to tolerate half-baked solutions to the issue that have no hope of passing muster in Congress.
Schumer also says considerable agreement has been reached on several categories of visas.
For workers with visas, he said: "We reached agreements in relation to which we do with high-skill workers, including agriculture jobs (like 2007), we have an agreement on temporary workers and we will maintain the quota of 65,000 H1-B visas, but that'll change … foreign professionals in fields as science, technology, engineering and mathematics," will likely get preference, he said.
Schumer will likely face most opposition from within his own party and from immigrant support groups for his tough version of immigration reform. However, to get President Obama on board he knows he will have to walk a thin line between such groups and the reality of the Republican hardline on immigration.
No doubt the idea of paying a fine when seeking a green card will be a big issue, but if the fine is not for a huge amount and if the person is then free to work legally it would be hard for the undocumented themselves to turn it down.
Schumer is talking sense and needs to be listened to. There is simply no chance that an immigration reform bill that does not crack down on employers who hire them and asks them to pay a fine can get through in the current climate.
The difference between the perfect and the good has never been more obvious. Immigration groups really need to rally behind Schumer's bill when it is published for them to have any chance at all to make life better for the undocumented.
The real fear is that the reflexive attitude that the bill is not good enough will take over. There is simply no reason why that should be the response.


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Worldprofit's Bootcamp Instructor George Kosch welcomed ALL Members to the training and especially to our NEW Silver members.
New Members: how to get started benefiting from your Silver membership services.
- Once you've selected your domain name, you will get a confirmation when your set up is completed.
- Then get started in the online bootcamp lessons as soon as possible.
- Advance to Lesson 3 in the online training lessons, follow the instructions to get your bonuses – these are valuable, don't miss out.
- Need Help? Submit a Support Ticket, TOP MENU click on SUPPORT.
Worldprofit's system is a comprehensive all inclusive business training and marketing platform. Learn at your own pace by following the online lessons geared to helping you learn about online marketing and how to use your Worldprofit member resources. Treat your Worldprofit business like that, a business. Be professional. be prepared to learn, put the time and effort into starting and growing it over time.
Use Worldprofit tools, software, advertising and training to grow any and all your online affiliate programs, to promote Worldprofit services, or those of our recommended vendors.
Training Topics, Updates and Discussion Points
- New products added to the PLR Product Vault ( you get all 275+ products FREE as a Silver or Platinum VIP Member)
-> Access: RIGHT COLUMN, Click on green ADVANCED MENU, select PLR PRODUCT VAULT. - Welcome to our newest JR Monitors in training – Earl Arthur and Anton Grantham – thank you for stepping up!
- APPLAUSE for our MONITOR TEAM – your honest, helpful faces in our LIVE Business Center are making ALL the difference!
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Landscape & Irrigation Services in Palo Cedro CA
Irrigation & Sprinklers
From a simple sprinkler head replacement to a full irrigation system installation, our specialists have got you covered.
Commercial Landscape
If your outdoor office space or building needs to be freshened up, we've got the tools and experience to get the job done.
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Is your yard getting a bit hairy? From weed control and management to a brand new landscape design, our team has the experience and skills to serve you.
Landscape Design
Thinking about adding a new water feature, or garden bed, our team will gladly partner with you to bring your dream to life.
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Has your fence been damaged, or maybe you're needing to install a new walkway. Either way, RLLC is prepared to help.
Lawn Care & Sprinkler Repair Palo Cedro
We are proud to offer the best landscape and irrigation services in the Palo Cedro CA area. With decades of experience, we've been faithfully serving the North State for years. Don't hesitate any longer and discover why Palo Cedro locals have been trusting RLLC for any and all of their landscape needs. Contact us today!


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It was the middle of a Moscow winter about four years ago when Marc Polymeropoulos was asleep in his hotel room until suddenly...
MARC POLYMEROPOULOS: I was awoken, you know, in the middle of the night. But I had just had incredible vertigo, dizziness. I wanted to throw up.
MCCAMMON: That's Polymeropoulos speaking with NPR last October. He was on CIA business in Russia, where he had just become the No. 2 official for clandestine operations in Europe.
POLYMEROPOULOS: I started this kind of incredible journey of seeing, you know, multiple doctors, multiple MRIs and CT scans and X-rays.
MCCAMMON: Doctors were not able to diagnose a root cause of his illness. Polymeropoulos isn't alone.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #1: American diplomats stricken with the mysterious and unexplained condition are now speaking out.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #2: Two hundred Americans have now come forward to report possible symptoms of the mysterious illness called Havana syndrome.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER #3: A possible Havana syndrome incident may be the reason Vice President Kamala Harris' trip from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed for several hours.
MCCAMMON: Many U.S. officials and their families have reported similar symptoms that are known as Havana syndrome because the U.S. government first publicly acknowledged cases reported by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials in Havana, Cuba. But cases have been reported in India, Austria and, just this week, at the Colombian Embassy in Bogota. Lawyer Mark Zaid has represented Polymeropoulos and several other former U.S. intelligence officials who've suffered such brain injuries. He says many of his clients feel the U.S. government wasn't taking their concerns seriously enough.
MARK ZAID: I have my concerns that the U.S. government is not doing everything that it needs to be doing to identify these cases both past and present in order to stop it from happening in the future.
MCCAMMON: He's been helping them seek recourse.
ZAID: We're looking for answers. The key thing first is we want to ensure timely and proper medical treatment, and then we want answers. We're tired of the subterfuge of the U.S. government hiding this information.
MCCAMMON: But now the U.S. government is taking steps to deal with this mysterious illness. Last year the U.S. State Department commissioned a report by the National Academy of Sciences, and this summer CIA Director Bill Burns told NPR helping victims and finding out what's causing this illness is at the top of his list.
BILL BURNS: And we are determined to get to the bottom of this.
MCCAMMON: And last week President Biden signed the Havana Act, which provides financial support to diplomats and other federal officials who've suffered brain injuries on the job. Mark Zaid, the lawyer, says the Biden administration's approach to addressing his client's mysterious brain injuries is encouraging.
ZAID: We will ultimately learn much more about it. I just don't know whether it will be in the next year or five years or 10 years, but it will happen.
MCCAMMON: Exactly how these brain injuries are happening is still a big unanswered question, a question a researcher working on that National Academy of Sciences report tried to answer.
DAVID RELMAN: To us, this was a very perplexing, very unusual syndrome with features that many of us had really heard nothing about before.
MCCAMMON: That's Stanford medical researcher David Relman. He headed the National Academy of Sciences' investigation into the so-called Havana syndrome. The State Department had asked them to look at three areas - the nature of the illness, the, quote, "mechanisms" that might explain how it happened and how it could be treated. The group reviewed a number of studies, reports and spoke to some of the patients themselves.
RELMAN: We spoke to about eight individuals, most of them having served in Havana but several from China. And we found that to be incredibly insightful for us.
MCCAMMON: What did you hear from them directly?
RELMAN: We heard about how the case began, how their experience occurred. And some of them told us some very dramatic stories about crawling out of the room and finding that everything resolved and in some cases then returning to find that everything resumed again back at the exact same spot. So it was this dramatic sense that everything was taking place at a particular spot. That something, for us, could not be explained by natural phenomenon that we had heard about.
MCCAMMON: And for those who haven't read your report, what is your team's best guess about what's going on here?
RELMAN: So we deliberately chose to focus on just a handful of mechanisms that had been suggested to us by work that had been published already or by suggestions from our sponsors. These included microwave radiation, chemicals in particular pesticides, infectious agents that might have been common in Cuba, which is where many of the cases that we looked at had taken place, and then finally psychosocial mechanisms. And the mechanism that we found most plausible was a form of microwave radiation that occurs in a pulsed or intermittent form.
MCCAMMON: Yeah, explain more. How would that cause these symptoms?
RELMAN: Well, there's still a lot of missing information and lack of molecular understanding of how this might occur. But we looked at a variety of reports in the open source literature. We looked at a number of studies that have been done looking at small animals that have been subjected to microwave radiation as well as cells in isolation. And we found circumstantial evidence that suggested that this form of microwave radiation in pulsed form might set up a certain form of pressure wave within the head that would then reverberate and cause damage to cells and pathways where normal neurotransmitters are communicating. And we believe, although we can't show with direct evidence, that this phenomenon could account for at least some of the clinical features that we heard about and read about.
MCCAMMON: And, Dr. Relman, we should note that the State Department still considers your team's conclusions from the report to be a hypothesis. How confident are you that microwaves are what's behind these symptoms?
RELMAN: We were not confident. And I have to be clear. We view this as plausible, but, again, we didn't have any direct evidence that this could explain the entire story for sure or even parts of it.
MCCAMMON: Would victims have to be intentionally targeted, intentionally hit with these microwaves?
RELMAN: We thought about what the various sources of such pulsed microwave energy might be. And, again, we were not familiar with or read into the exact circumstances of these cases, so we couldn't comment on the situational information that might have either supported or refuted this idea. But when we look at the world around us, we know there's plenty of microwave radiation. However, most of it comes in the form of a continuous wave - things like microwave ovens or cellphones. But we could not come up with an easy scenario in which these natural but less common pulsed forms of microwave radiation might have explained these cases. And that left us with this very sort of disconcerting notion that it had been produced deliberately by other actors whose purposes we really weren't in a position to fathom.
MCCAMMON: Before this syndrome - Havana syndrome was reported, how much was known in the medical community about these kinds of symptoms potentially being linked to microwaves?
RELMAN: Relatively little. As I say, we were able to find some literature. But, again, there just isn't a lot of reported literature in humans. But, you know, the bottom line is that this is still a perplexing story that still needs further investigation.
MCCAMMON: That's David Relman, the Stanford professor of medicine who led the U.S. government-commissioned report investigating the so-called Havana syndrome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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The Plan Nord/Le Nord Pour Tous is a plan by the Quebec Government to invest in and promote resource extraction projects in Northern Quebec. Le Plan Nord was originally proposed by Jean Charest's Liberal government in May 2011, and was presented as an economic development strategy to create job in quebec. When the Parti Quebecois replaced the Liberals in 2012, Le Plan Nord was simply slightly modified and re-named Le Nord Pour Tous. Under Le Nord Pour Tous, the quebec government plans to invest 1.368$ billion of public finds, from 2013-2018, into resource extraction projects and their associated infrastructure in Northern Quebec.
Le nord Pour Tous is not the purported 'solution' to an economic crisis, but is part of an ongoing strategy of colonization of nations within canada. Every river diverted and forest destroyed represents areas where hutning food, harvesting medicine, and passing this knowledge onto younger generation can no longer occur. In the words of Pishu Pilot, from the Uashat reserve (one of the territories within the scope of Le Nord Pour Tous), "The Plan Nord affects our territory, and when it affects our territory it affects tradition, culture, our language, our roots, and our history…Plan Nord is a plan that will destroy everything we are as First Nations people."
There has already been plenty or resistance to Plan Nord/Le Nord Pour Tous. One of the more memorable afternoons during the quebec student strike and associated generalized uprisings was the April 22nd disruption of the 'Salon de l'emploi du Plan Nord' in Montreal, where two demos converged to disrupt the functioning of day-to-day society and to wreak havoc on this promotional event for Le Plan Nord. In march 2013 two instances of sabotage, where a SOQUEM office in Chibougamau was vandalized and a poster which hindered access to the highway leading to the Renard Project mine, were claimed in solidarity with resistance to the Plan Nord. There has also been a more consistent resistance from the communities of Uashat and Mani-Utenam, who's territories would be directly affected by the creation of hydroelectric dams and associated infrastructures along the Romaine River. Resistance has taken the form of blockades of Highway 138 (the main highway in the region), hunger strikes, and Innu-lead demonstrations in Montreal.
The intention of this booklet is to begin to map out what exactly Le Nord Pour Tous is, what the extraction and development projects are, where they are located, who is responsible for them, and which communities are being affected the most immediately. This booklet is in no way complete; but we hope it was act as a good starting point for any further research.


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July 2009
We had the best honeymoon, the place is so relaxing and peaceful. All the staff are so friendly and welcoming we loved it fantastic food and the excursions were out of this world. Tiger rocks and is a great host. 2 weeks in paradise sums it up - we couldn't be happier. - 01.07.09 D&L/ UK
Thank you so much for making our 25 th wedding anniversary so special looking forward to seeing you all again you lovely people. - 02.07.09 M&L/ UK
We had a wonderful honeymoon we have never seen people so nice in my life. Unbelievable in the Edge restaurant - we met a nice guy Tu thank you very much. - 02.07.09 V&M/ Portugal
Yet again a wonderful time. Everyone was so helpful and Jowell had lots of ideas. Our trip to the orphanage was an exceptional experience. Thank you to Andrew and Kate and the whole of The Sarojin team for a truly memorable stay - 12.07.09 A&M/ UK
Honeymoon in a beautiful place. Great swimming pool, relaxing atmosphere and the best staff and most of all big smiles everywhere see you soon. - 12.07.09 A&C/ Portugal
Thank you so much for making the start of our honeymoon so special. All of the staff at The Sarojin are so kind and helpful. We had a truly magical stay. - 12.07.09 K&A/Ireland
Thank you so much for a truly fabulous time in The Sarojin. Everyone was so friendly and kind. You made our stay unforgettable. The hotel was heaven on earth. - 13.07.09 C&A/ Ireland
This holiday has surpassed all others by a thousand miles. The customer care and philosophy is the best I have ever experienced and it has made our holiday the most enjoyable ever. Thanks a million. - 13.07.09 F&M/ Ireland
Thank you to the staff at The Sarojin for making our stay here so enjoyable. We loved that the staff here seemed to really enjoy their work and to see them having fun and a joke around together. We particularly enjoyed the beach bbq and Thai theme night also the fruit carving session. It was a shame about the weather but we still managed to enjoy our luxurious suite and the beautiful grounds here. - 13.07.09 L&L/ Australia
We have had a wonderful holiday at The Sarojin everybody is so kind to us. - 15.07.09 E&A/ Denmark
Read more...
WOW best massage I ever had. The garden suite was just perfect and the staff so sweet on our honeymoon. Eggs benedict was so good and the bacon was perfectly crispy. What a pool and the sounds of the ocean are just enough to put us to sleep. Thank you a so much for all your help and considerations during our stay. We will be back when life gets to big and tough. - 8.07.09 M&T/ USA
Brilliant place, very relaxing staff superb and unobtrusive, food. Wonderful suite. Was great looking over the sunset from the plunge pool. Hope to be back soon. - 19.07.09 S&C/ UK
Thank you to all the staff who have made our stay very enjoyable - in fact the most enjoyable experience. - 25.07.09 A&C/ UK
It is the staff that really make The sarojin such a wonderful place, you are made to feel very special and with the magical atmosphere of the beautiful grounds. It truly was a holiday to remember. - 27.07.09 G&J/ UK
What an amazing place we both had such a lovely relaxing time. Thank you to all the staff who made our stay so special, Wan, Neng in reception, Jin at the spa and Mon and toy in the restaurant. Thank you also for the towel arrangements on the bed each day. Everyone made us feel so welcome. Just what we needed. - 25.07.09 T&J/ Australia
The Sarojin was the perfect place to spend our honeymoon. The staff were amazing. They made us feel right at home we had an opportunity to bike ride to rainbow waterfall and highly recommend the picnic lunch that was prepared for us - it was wonderful. Thank you again for your kindness. - 25.07.09 J&L/ USA
We had so much fun we will be back. Thank you for every thing. - 25.07.09 M&S/ USA
What a wonderful relaxing stay. The staff are incredibly considerate and friendly. I especially enjoyed the stretching class with Jowell in the mornings, what a perfect way to start the day. Thank you all for a fantastic holiday I will come back when the baby is born - 26.07.09 A/ UK
After 12 days of total relaxation at The Sarojin we have to leave this marvelous place – such a lovely holiday. Our first time in Thailand and we enjoyed it very much even our children Raomany(16) and Juliana (12) thanks for the great service. - 26.07.09 W&A/ Netherlands
Thank you for making our six nights here unforgettable. Staying here has been above and beyond anything we could have hoped for. Thank you for creating life long memories and hope to return one day. - 26.07.09 M&C/ Denmark
Thank you for this peace and tranquility. Thank you for the beautiful food and surroundings. Thank you for the warmth of your smiles and your kindness. Thank you for happy memories. Thank you to you all for everything. - 26.07.09 J&L/ UK
The Sarojin this was a dream come true. A sublime experience that is unforgettable. Life is richer from this stay and the moments shared. Thank you from the bottom of my heart you made magic happen. - 27.07.09 S&E/ UK
Our second stay just as enjoyable as our first thank you for all your heart felt love. - 28.07.09 H&H/ Japan
I have stayed in many hotels in my life and this is by far the best ever - staff amazing, food amazing, rooms amazing, beach amazing, pool amazing. A great stay sorry I could not stay longer. - 28.07.09 R&C/ Ireland
Thank you for such an amazing honeymoon. All the staff were amazing, the food fantastic and the grounds speak for themselves. We will defiantly be back. - 29.07.09 P&G/ Ireland
Thank you for a fantastic stay it has been truly memorable. All the staff have been exceptional and we have been looked after brilliantly. We hope to see you again very soon. The food has been Michelin star 1. - 29.07.09 C&D/ UK


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FAQs: Drums of War
What is the Drums of War?
The Drums of War is a game-wide competition that pits the game's Protectorate Factions (the ones on the left) against the Wrath Factions (the ones on the right). As players play games, the bars for each faction fill up. The first side to fill up to 10 bars wins that cycle!
Since there are 10 bars to fill, and there are only 4 factions per side, for any side to win, some factions will need to fill the bar more than once. Each time a faction fills their bar, it is denoted by a sword icon beneath their bar and the overall Drums of War count is updated accordingly.
What's in it for me?
The side that wins, as well as the top ranked players and contributors for each faction (including the losing side), also earn prizes when each cycle completes.
How do I contribute?
You can contribute just by playing games as your favorite faction! Every game you play will contribute to the scores for your faction and further the cause of your chosen side. If you win, you contribute even more!
When does it start?
The Drums of War is always running. The only exception is when a cycle ends and we stop the competition for a brief time to reset the system and award the winners.


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Axel Gutermuth, Feb 14, 2011
On December 14, 2010, the European Commission adopted revised EU competition rules for production agreements, research and development agreements, and other types of commercial cooperation agreements between competing undertakings. The revised block exemption regulations for research and development agreements ("R&D BER") and specialization agreements ("Specialization BER") and the revised Horizontal Guidelines entered into force on January 1, 2011. They replace the predecessor R&D BER, Specialization BER, and Horizontal Guidelines that were adopted in 2000.
While preserving the existing general approach for assessing such agreements under EU competition law, the revised texts significantly change the predecessor block exemption regulations and Horizontal Guidelines. The final revised texts also incorporate several improvements that stakeholders suggested in their comments on the drafts of the two block exemption regulations and the Horizontal Guidelines that the Commission published for public consultation in May 2010.
Even if not perfect on all accounts, the revised texts overall have to be welcomed as they provide a more coherent and clearer framework for the assessment of R&D and production agreements under EU competition law. They remedy many of the instances of legal uncertainty that arose under the predecessor rules and broaden the scope of the BERs, thus allowing companies more flexibility to structure their cooperation without running the risk of falling outside the safe harbor created by the BERs.


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Keratoconus is a terrifying diagnosis to those that have experienced it. To compound issues, many patients complain that they had poor initial treatment due to a lack of understanding about the disease. If proper treatment is not achieved, individuals may experience a rapid deterioration in their ability to see. This leads to a reduced quality of life. You can reduce the stress related to a keratoconus diagnosis and increase the benefits of treatment by understanding your treatment options.
Keratoconus is an eye disease that causes the cornea to thin and bulge. This bulge generally takes on the appearance of a cone. As light enters the eye, it becomes distorted by the cone causing vision abnormalities.
Modern research is connecting keratoconus with an enzyme imbalance in the cornea. This imbalance leaves the eye susceptible to oxidative free radicals. Keratoconus has also been linked to UV damage, excessive eye rubbing, poorly fitting contacts, and chronic eye irritation.
While your eye professional will have the best understanding of what treatment option is right for you, we have compiled ten of the most common treatments here.
Corneal Cross-linking (CXL) – There are two different types of this procedure, but they both introduce riboflavin to the cornea in order to strengthen the corneal tissue and stop the bulging from progressing.
Custom Soft Contact Lenses – Soft contacts are generally more comfortable to wear than gas permeable lenses. Recently, some contact companies have been able to create a contact specifically to correct the issues related to mild and moderate cases of keratoconus.
Gas Permeable Contact Lenses – Gas permeable lenses are a hard contact lens that physically forces the eye to adhere to the lens shape. This allows for the correction of keratoconus. The fit is often time-consuming and may take several different lenses to achieve the proper fit.
Piggybacking Contact Lenses – This method is used for individuals who require a gas permeable lens but cannot tolerate wearing rigid contacts. Piggybacking utilizes a soft lens placed on the eye first, and then a gas permeable lens is placed over the top. This offers the comfort of soft contacts with the rigidity and clarity of the gas permeable lenses.
Hybrid Contact Lenses – Hybrid contact lenses were designed specifically for keratoconus. This technology blends a rigid contact lens center with a softer edge, or skirt, of the contact
Scleral and Semi-Scleral lenses – These lenses are gas permeable lenses but cover a larger area of the eye than a standard rigid lens. These lenses don't put pressure onto the cone shape of the eye. The reduced pressure results in a more comfortable fit for patients.
Prosthetic Lenses – This lens is used specifically for patients that have very advanced keratoconus and have ruled out other options. The advanced scleral lens also doubles as a protective prosthetic shell. There are special requirements to qualify for this lens though, so check with your eye care professional if this is an option for you.
Intacs – These implants are surgically placed in the eye. They are a small plastic insert that is inserted into the eye, just under the surface. This option is also designed for patients who could not use other contact lens types.
Topography-Guided Conductive Keratoplasty – This treatment option is still being researched, but it uses the energy from radio waves and small probes to map the surface of the eye. This detailed mapping allows for an appropriate treatment plan for the patient.
Corneal Transplant – Patients with advanced keratoconus may no longer be able to tolerate a contact lens, or the different lens types may not be correcting the issues. This surgery removes the damaged cornea and replaces it with a healthy cornea.
There is hope for individuals with keratoconus. Even though the disease is degenerative, many patients report restored vision and improved quality of life when the appropriate treatment plan is in place. If you have been diagnosed with keratoconus or are having problems with your vision, see your eye care professional today.


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November 6, 2020
Final edits are now live !
After weeks of dropping teasers, Vans Europe and DIG BMX are excited to announce that the final edits from all 10 shops are now live and ready to be judged by you.
Created to support local BMX stores, their riders and their communities, The Circle is a brand new BMX filming competition where 10 BMX shops from across the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Russia will go head to head for the chance to win up to €20,000 in prize money.
After assembling their teams of up to 6 members with a mix of pros and ams, the crews have been working hard to film and produce their final edits. Our brief to them was pretty simple; stay local, be inclusive, be creative and engage their community, which ultimately is at the core of what The Circle is all about. The aim is to celebrate local BMX communities, everyone who contributes to their scene and ultimately what makes their BMX circle what it is.
The edits will be judged by the public but also by some of the most prolific names in the BMX world – including Dakota Roche, Alex Valentino, Peter Adam and Jon Taylor.
Voting is live from now (6th November) until Thursday 12th November, with the winners announced in a live one-hour online screening on November 14th. For more information on the live show and to cast your vote, head over to DIGBMX.com.
Participating Stores
Alans – Wigan, UK
Source BMX – Hastings, UK
People's Store – Cologne, Germany
Kunstform BMX – Stuttgart, Germany
Soulcycle – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bros – Lyon, France
BMX Avenue – Montpellier, France
360BS – Barcelona, Spain
IL Butta BMX – Pavia, Italy
Stress BMX – Moscow, Russia
Live Broadcast - 14th November 2020
The winning shop will be announced during the live online broadcast of 'The Circle', hosted by Andy Zeiss and Sebastian Hejna.
Four judges including Dakota Roche, Alex Valentino, Jon Taylor and Peter Adam will discuss each store's videos and give their final verdict.
Prize Categories
1st Prize - €10,000
2nd Prize - €5,000
3rd Prize - €2,500
Fan Favourite - €1,000
Best Trick - €500
Creative Vision - €500
Follow @vansbmx66 and @vanseurope on Instagram to learn more about the Vans BMX team.