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Posts Tagged 'sketching'
Windows Phone has been growing steadily since its launch in late 2010. The OS has great features and is capable of being among the top 3 players of the smartphone business.
There are already some really good and well-designed apps on the Marketplace. Every developer wants to make a unique app which is different from the others, yet very useful and attractive to get many downloads hits on the Marketplace. Design of your app plays a vital role in the download of your app. Surely, each one of you has a plan on how to go about the designing of your app so as to make it as user-friendly and dynamic looking as possible.
While designing, creating Windows Phone Mock Ups or Prototyping is an important step in designing your WP7 app. Mock ups or Prototypes help you in deciding on the appearance, navigation, task flows, and custom controls for your app.
Developers might also want to just create wireframes to pitch for an app development proposal – this again requires you to create Windows Phone Mock-ups to showcase your idea to the clients/others.
There could be many more reasons for developers to want to create mock-ups for their apps.
Yalla Apps has found some Windows Phone 7 Mockup and Wire framing resources that might help our developer/designer community. These are excellent collections of prototyping, sketching and mockup tools for your Windows Phone.
We hope our designers cum developers find these useful 🙂
- Implementing Windows Phone Application Design
- 20+ Windows Phone 7 Mockup and Wire framing resources
- Windows Phone 7 Wireframe Template
- Windows Phone 7 Mobile Wire framing Stencil
You can also simply Bing 'windows phone 7 mockups/prototyping' or 'wireframe resources/software/tool' – the results are just too many!


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As three of the main creative forces behind the (always lowercase) anticon movement, cLOUDDEAD's why?, odd nosdam and doseone are used to melding mild psychosis onto disarming hip-hop beats.
And what better way to rush towards your imminent suicide – for upcoming album, 'Ten', will be their last – than by causing grown, bearded men in trucker hats the world over to weep and not quite know why?
The childish lyrical delivery of 'Dead Dogs Two' belies some serious lateral thinking, but it's a buzzing bassline that will reach inside and strum on various internal organs. Oh, and there's a Boards of Canada remix to keep the electronica kids amused too, with a frenzied but simultaneously relaxed wind up of the title track.
'Ten', meanwhile, may prove to be a bridge too far in the abstract stakes when it emerges in March, but until then, this is the sound of your weird life put to a beat.
10Adam Anonymous's Score

subset: commoncrawl


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Gimme A Break
This story appears in the December 1998 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Sometimes the rewards of business travel seem few and far between. There's the ever-present benefit of accumulating frequent-flier miles, the occasional free trip, and maybe an upgraded hotel room from time to time. But one place most business owners who travel regularly don't look for a dividend is on their tax returns, according to Jeff Schnepper, author of How to Pay Zero Taxes (McGraw-Hill). "There are a lot of things that get overlooked," he notes.
Such as? Perhaps the single most glossed-over deduction, says Schnepper, is your car. Or, more precisely, your cars. Many entrepreneurs will deduct only one of the personal automobiles they use for business travel, even though they may use a second one for work as well. Schnepper says it may be more cost-effective to write off a percentage of one car and a percentage of another instead of basing your deduction on one car only. The government also allows you to deduct depreciation and numerous other expenses, such as maintenance costs or even the price of an audio entertainment system, in certain cases.
Other travel deductions include:
- The cost of a working vacation, as long as the primary reason for the visit was business.
- Meals and entertainment--not just for a client but for anyone who is a potential client or who's going to refer you to a client.
- A home office. Don't forget temporary offices in vacation homes or condominiums--anywhere you may have worked.
Christopher Elliott is a writer in Los Angeles and a columnist for "ABC News Online."
Need A Lift?
Business travelers hit the slopes.
The sight of the snow-capped Rockies or Sierras beckoning from a distance is proving too much for corporate travelers to resist. After a long business trip, a growing number of entrepreneurs are heading for the hills for a snow-packed vacation to take advantage of cheaper airfares that mandate a Saturday-night stayover.
According to the National Ski Areas Association, Alpine resort visits during the 1997-98 season increased by about 3 percent to an estimated 54.1 million. Ski resorts such as Colorado's Breckenridge and Keystone--each just over an hour away from Denver--are courting corporate travelers with ski-free/stay-free packages and other off-season specials.
Even big-city hotels are getting in on the act. At the Broadmoor hotel, an upscale 700-room property in Colorado Springs, Colorado, "There are people who stay here for a few days on business and then go to the mountains for the weekend," says Broadmoor's Mark Klein. The hotel's concierge staff can help guests find transportation, ski equipment and even a good slope-side restaurant.
Day-trippers should expect to spend anywhere from $70 to $100 per day for transportation, meals, rentals and lift tickets, while business travelers who want to make a weekend of it should factor in lodging costs as well, which can run anywhere from $90 to more than $200 per night.
Road Notes
- CalendarDirect, a new feature from Biztravel.com that allows frequent travelers to download their travel itineraries onto their electronic calendars or personal information managers, is available at no cost to members who purchase a ticket from the company's site (http://www.biztravel.com).
- The Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston has installed what's believed to be the first speech-driven automated telephone attendant in the hospitality industry. Called Pure ReQuest, it allows callers to be transferred to any guest, staff member or hotel department simply by saying the name. It's expected to significantly cut the amount of time callers spend on hold.
- Starting December 5, Midwest Express Airlines is adding nonstop weekend service between Omaha, Nebraska, and Orlando, Florida. The new service is an addition to the carrier's daily connecting service to and from Orlando via Milwaukee.
Contact Sources
The Broadmoor Hotel, 1 Lake Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80906, (719) 577-5777
Investor.Com, 224 Mimosa Dr., Cherry Hill, NJ 08003-1344, (609) 424-5372
Midwest Express, http://www.midwestexpress.com
Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston, (617) 806-4082, firstname.lastname@example.com


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Calling for him to drop out of the race is futile for establishment Democrats. Weiner has his own money, so he doesn't need the party endorsement. In fact, many people win without their party offering support at the primary stage of the game.
What would Anthony Weiner do if he dropped out of this race? He is not going to get an appointment with the Obama administration. He would most likely not work on a possible Hillary Clinton presedential campaign.
Maybe he could get a teaching gig at Columbia University as a visiting professor, but even that seems out of reach. He has to stay in this race because, well, why not?
Some people are surprised by the support that he gets on the campaign trail. Weiner is very similar to Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky on the Republican side of the aisle in the U.S. Senate. The analogy is awkward, but when partisan voters see a person "standing up" to the other party, they see their guy.
Personal scandals and even odd policy stances are not as important as someone who shouts back, and Anthony Weiner shouts back. He still has support, although I would argue that a lot of it might be stuck in Queens.
Anthony Weiner gets applause because he gives certain people a sense that he has their backs, even if a lot of it is rhetoric. He is the guy that got Youtube to ban those videos produced by terrorists. Important policy? Not really, but he shouted back on that, and people in the outer boroughs eat that stuff up.
Anthony Weiner is still not out of the woods in this campaign. Bill Thompson is the opposite of Weiner; he does not shout back, not often anyway. Thompson does not draw fire-and-brimstone support, but that is his biggest strength. He brings a sense of adulthood to a very important race.
Thompson is a good closer in that he gets the votes when they count. Remember how far behind he was against Mike Bloomberg in 2009? He almost won on Election Day.
Here are two candidates, one under the radar and one well above it. This column has focused a lot on Bill Thompson in the last few months, and for good reason. I still think he is the hidden favorite to be the next mayor of New York City. If the election were held today, many in the Democratic Party would get behind him, even if they do it quietly.
Lew Simon's HOV Lane
Southeast Queens City Council candidate Lew Simon wants to bring an HOV lane to the busy Cross Bay Blvd/Woodhaven Blvd. artery that runs from the Rockaways up to Queens Blvd.
He says that such a lane, open to vehicles of three passengers or more, would be a way to cut down on traffic. This idea does, however, assume that people can travel with others. In other words, people with the same work schedules could definitely take advantage of such a lane. The question is whether there are enough three-passenger groups to make it feasible.
Any idea that aims to reduce traffic is worth looking at. Analysts would have to see how successful this has been wherever it has been tried. I do not see a lot of people utilizing an HOV lane on that stretch, but commuters in lower Queens may react differently.


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We just love this tape; it gives our craft projects and packaging that special touch.
Easy to use and tacky, the washi paper tape adheres well, but can be re-positioned while crafting. Add to cards, tags, gift boxes - so colorful and fun! Try our paper boxes and cups and embellish for gifts!
15mm x 10m (.59" x 10.5 yards); black blossoms on hot pink background.


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Does any one try green coffee before? Is it good for health, especially for weight loss as mentioned in the link?
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text: Tag: hire CategoryaccountantsAirports and TravelAttractions- lifestyle- sports venuesaudio visual servicesbanks and financial services- insurancebuilders and architects- bathroom renovations- British Paving | UK Paving contractors- car mechanic- carpenters- carpet cleaning- carpets- concrete suppliers and tradesmen- facilities management- Garage Doors- garden rooms UK- kitchen design- landscapers- painters and UK painting contractors- plumbers- resurfacing- Skip Hire- uk locksmiths- window cleanersbusiness management consultants- Team BuildingCar Hirechauffeurdentistdog walkingecommerce solutionseducation- tuitionEmergency Servicesfashion- designer labelsflooringFood Nightlife- catering- fast food- Restaurantsfurniture- furniture hire- storagehome shopping- artificial lawnlegalLondon PhotographymanufacturingMedia- Marketing- web design agenciesmedical- doctors- hearing solutions- pharmacy- physiotherapists and chiropractors- stairliftsPubsreal estate agentsremovalists- piano removalssecuritysecurity doorsshopping centres- hair salons- markets- supermarketstourism- castlesultrasonic equipmentUncategorizedvehicle registration SearchSearch Search By Distance Within 10 miles Within 20 miles Within 30 miles Within 40 miles Within 50 milesIs Featured? Yes SearchSearch View: Grid 1View: Grid 2View: Grid 3View: Grid 4View: Grid 5View: List No listings were found matching your selection. Something missing? Why not add a listing?. No Records FoundSorry, no records were found. Please adjust your search criteria and try again. Google Map Not LoadedSorry, unable to load Google Maps API.


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What are some Classic Summer Scents?
So, yes it is true… summertime is here. Well, I guess that technically you can say that summer has officially been here for about 3 weeks, however, my mind is just now registering summer! So, what does this mean? Well, for me this means having an endless supply of popsicles in my freezer, tons of extra band aids for my 5 year old who is learning to ride her bike without training wheels, and bug spray, citronella candles, and a fly swatter on my mom made tool belt… all ready at a second's notice. To my kids though, summertime means one thing: Fair time!
Can't you just see it in your mind; the glowing neon lights of the amusement rides, the endless masses of people crowding the walkways, the hurried parents chasing their little ones as they squeal and shriek at all of the excitement taking place all around them. But more than any of this, the one thing that stands out in my memory is the aroma. And, I am not talking about the livestock barns here; I am talking fair foods.
Just intoxicating… the thought alone brings a huge gaping smile to my face. So, in preparation of the wondrous yearly celebrated event of an American Summer Pastime, here are Natures Garden's Fair Time Fragrance Oils!
Apple Butter Caramel fragrance is an amazing combination of the following fragrance notes make apple butter caramel fragrance truly fantastic: McIntosh apple, steamed milk, pure sugar, caramel candy, toffee pudding, apple butter, fresh nutmeg, vanilla bean, and soft musk.
Apple Butter Pie is an amazing fragrance that reminds us of our grandma's southern baking while on trips to Tennessee. The perfect arrangement of tart pie apples, apple butter, evaporated milk, cinnamon, and buttery, flakey pie crust.
Apple Crisp fragrance is the aroma of a red juicy apple combined with buttercream and cinnamon with a base note of a baked oatmeal cookie.
Apple Dumpling fragrance is the aroma of freshly-baked apple dumplings. This fragrance begins with top notes of red candy apples, and pears. Middle notes include nutmeg, clove, cardamom and freshly ground cinnamon bark. Base notes include dry notes of vanilla, and hazelnut.
Apple Pie Original Fragrance: Although we have many apple scents to choose from, this Apple Pie has been with us since we started making candles. This scent is not the same as our Hot Baked Apple Scent, as this one has more of a cinnamon "kick" to it.
Blackberry Jam Fragrance: A well-rounded blend of ripe and tart blackberries with base notes of vanilla and fresh greenery. Great for making candle pies!
Blue Cotton Candy fragrance– An airy sweet cotton candy fragrance with fruity notes of strawberry and raspberry, laced with caramel swirls and hints of nutty almond sweetened with vanilla.
Blueberry Cobbler Fragrance: Top notes of butter and juicy blueberries with a background of freshly ground cinnamon bark and warm vanilla.
Buttered Popcorn Fragrance: Delicious aroma of freshly popped popcorn with rich creamy butter.
Candied Apple Fragrance An irresistible blend of juicy apples, rounded out with notes of sweet plums and ripened strawberries; enhanced with a splash of lime, orange zests, with sharp green notes.
Caramel Apple Fragrance: The aroma of a big red juicy apple dipped in warm, buttery caramel.
Caramel Popcorn: Delicious aroma of freshly popped popcorn with rich creamy buttery caramel.
Cherry Crumb Pie Fragrance: A combination of sweet black cherries and sour cherries with a base note of a freshly baked southern flake crust.
Chocolate Fudge: A truly decadent temptation without the calories! Rich, dark chocolate swirled with ribbons of buttery caramel and vanilla creme, sprinkled with toasted almond slivers and creamy hazelnut.
Cinnamon Buns Fragrance: A spicy cinnamon accord with warm nutty undertones along with the aroma of fresh baked bread.
Cola Fragrance: The aroma of carbonated coca cola! You can actually smell the carbonation!
Cotton Candy Fragrance: A blend of fresh strawberry and French vanilla.
Dreamsickle Fragrance: A Refreshing iced orange popsicle with a creamy vanilla filling.
Fluffy Pink Candy fragrance oil: A fascinating blend of juicy bubblegum, cotton candy, juicy apples and pears blended together with sugared candy lemon drops meshed with crushed Madagascar vanilla.
Fresh Fruit Slices Fragrance: Fruit salad of orange, strawberry, apple and grapes; sprinkled with shaved coconut.
Funnel Cake fragrance oil: This quintessential state fair treat is a yummy combination of fried dough sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon and the delicious taste of nostalgia.
Granny's Pecan Pie Fragrance: An aroma of fresh southern pecans smothered in a pralines and butter sauce, with a baked crust.
Our Honey aroma is sweet, yet slightly bitter. A fantastic natural aroma to add to your line. Great for soy candles. Use by itself, or for mixing creative new scents for you line.
This is the most wonderful Hot Baked Apple Pie fragrance we have found! The aroma of fresh cut granny smith apples, smothered in butter, cream, and cinnamon, with a background of fresh baked crust.
Iced Cinnamon Rolls Fragrance: The wonderful aroma of fresh baked cinnamon rolls with buttery icing. One of our best selling fragrances!
Lemon Sugar Fragrance: A Fresh Duplication. Remember the taste of childhood lemonhead candy? This fragrance takes it up a notch with citrus top notes of real lemon, and warm base notes of vanilla and sugar.
Maple Walnut Fudge Fragrance: Sweet temptations are recreated with this blend of nut and fudge tones. A hint of tangerine lifts the signature of toasted walnut, as rich maple balances with the nutty accord. Cinnamon warms the blend and a hint of chocolate creates a gourmand effect. Vanilla sweetens the confection.
Mr. Pepper, MD Fragrance Oil: Smells similar to Dr. Pepper Soda. A blend of spicy orange and cherry notes with hints of toasted almond, clove and cinnamon create a totally unique fragrance.
Mt. Dew Type Fragrance: Soda with a jolt, this classic lemon/lime fizzy pop is so good you will swear you can smell the caffeine and feel the bubbles tickle your nose.
Incredible, bubbly peach top notes collide with green notes and white musk to create this peach smoothie masterpiece! Natures Garden's Peach Smoothie fragrance begins with top notes of ripened peach and cranberry; followed by middle notes of bergamot and jasmine; sitting on base notes of green notes and white musk.
Raspberry Lemonade fragrance oil: The mouth-watering combination of ice-cold lemonade, sweet, juicy raspberries; with a unique twist of natural lavender and white musk.
A very true-to-name fragrance oil. The refreshing aroma of a Rootbeer soda.
Sea Salt Caramels fragrance begins with top notes of sweetened creamed butter and sea salt; followed by middle notes of caramel; sitting on base notes of vanilla, maple, and sweetened condensed milk. Smells edible, unfortunately it is not.
Sticky Licky Buns fragrance oil: Vermont maple syrup, sweet honey blended with soft butter, sweet apples and wet pecans blended in a wonderful batter sprinkled with cinnamon and baked to perfection.
Strawberry Preserves Fragrance: Wonderful aroma of sweet ripened strawberries with notes of raw sugar cane.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Fragrance: Southern baking comes alive! The aroma of sweet fresh strawberries mixed with sour rhubarb marmalade, with a base note of flaky pie crust. Very unique!
Strawberry Shake Fragrance– Sweet memories are made when you smell this delightful combination of vine ripened strawberries combined with notes of juicy orange and peach nectar. Green leafy florals and vanilla add just a hint of sophistication to a childhood favorite…strawberry shake!
Strawberry Shortcake Fragrance: The aroma of buttery vanilla cake with notes of freshly sliced strawberries, with base notes of rich vanilla cream.
Toffee Apple Crunch Fragrance: The aroma of a granny smith apple with creamy, buttery caramel; dipped in crunchy toffee chips.
Tooth Fairy Taffy Fragrance Oil: Luscious blend of confectionary Sugar paired with Fruit Syrup of Wild Berry, Orange Crush, Black Cherry & Tangerine are molded into Vanilla Taffy create a sweet tooth, Bubble Gum dream!
Vanilla Wafer Fragrance: A time honored recipe of sweet simplicity and goodness; creamy, fresh churned butter, Tahitian Vanilla beans and pure cane sugar toasted to perfection, are all that is needed to create this truly yummy fragrance.
Watermelon Fragrance: A fruit blend of melons, peach and strawberry with a hint of vanilla.
Watermelon Taffy fragrance begins with top notes of watermelon, lime, lemon, and bergamot; followed by middle notes of marigold, sweet, juicy melon; with base notes of white musk and vanilla.
Zucchini Bread Fragrance: Classic sweet bread and spices of cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg are blended with garden fresh zucchini to craft this yummy homemade treat.
Oh, just imagine the possibilities with all of these delicious smelling fragrance oils. Even though fair time will be starting in just about a month, it is never too late to excite your family members with the scents of fun, amusement, and good ole fashion family time!
Fragrance & Fun for Everyone
Inspire, Create, and Dominate!
Sparkles!!! Nicole
(Corporate Manager of Natures Garden Candle Supplies)


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A Story with a Twist: The Making of a Holiday Card
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
What does it take to make Vistaprint's annual holiday card collection?
The synopsis: Around nine months, 50 people – including researchers, strategists, trend specialists, designers, art directors, illustrators and more – thousands of customer samples, endless curiosity, inspiration and creativity, and an important twist.
The Full Story: Find out from the team themselves and get to know some of the faces behind the scenes.
What's your favorite card this year and why?
There were so many amazing designs to pick from, but I loved this design because it's playful and simple and of course gives me a reason to show off my best friend—my dog Lola.
Customer Strategy Lead
I love the direction the designer took with this design and the decorations really stand out against the background, which is not a typical Christmas color.
Content Writer
I absolutely love this holiday card design by Joanna. It stood out to me immediately. I haven't seen anything else like it in the market. The bold emerald watercolor texture is so uniquely beautiful!
Mary Ellen
Creative Director
I like the varied typographic styles used. The way these lock up the phrasing and the fun style make this this one my favorite from this year's collection.
Designer & Art Director
The unexpected colors and beautifully illustrated fruit make this card standout. I love the way Jon, our designer, took traditional elements and executed them in a very modern way.
Creative Manager & Trend Specialist
"It's all about the emotion of sharing."
Getting into character: Knowing what customers love
Understanding the lead characters is key to any good story. For the Vistaprint holiday card collection, that means stepping into the customer's shoes.
How do you figure out what our customers are looking for?
Alyssa: Every January we start looking at how customers reacted to last year's collection, what people were searching for and any trends in how they used the cards. For example, we might see people uploading pictures of their wedding, new baby or family vacation. Understanding the important life events customers want to share helps us create cards they'll love.
Do you get inspiration from friends and family?
Alyssa: Definitely. It's funny because I think my sister and mom are really stylish, but the things that appeal to them in holiday cards aren't always what I would expect. So it helps me take a step back and think of other customers. Also, my sister had a baby last year and when I looked at our customers' searches, I found that "baby" was a top keyword! These insights inspire you to dig deeper into things.
How does Vistaprint cater to customers around the world?
Rich: Cultural awareness is an important part of our design process. This involves listening to feedback, watching how customers use our cards and being aware of different festive customs, like sending New Year's cards in France. We're lucky to have translators from all over the world who can help us understand cultural nuances and help us cater to all our customers.
Setting the stage: Trend spotting
We're all influenced by the things we see around us. So, to create card designs that delight, it's important to be aware of what's on trend.
What is trend research and what does it involve?
Jen: Trend research is taking a deeper look at the aesthetics of popular culture. We pull from a range of resources such as fashion, interior, surface and print design, paying attention to colors and patterns. I find lots of inspiration looking at home décor accents like rugs, pillows and wall art. Plants are a great example of this. Succulents, ferns and traditional botanicals are everywhere right now; people love to bring the outdoors in and you'll see lots of this reflected in our collection.
What other trends will we see in this year's holiday card collection?
Mary Ellen: Bold metallic textures, winter botanicals and minimalist designs with a lot of white space and simple typography. We did some beautiful art-inspired brush stroke patterns, a few designs based on interior design trends with geometric shapes, as well as some simple rustic backgrounds.
Does Vistaprint introduce new trends? Or is it more about delivering what customers are looking for?
Mary Ellen: We love to push the barrier, while still being true to what customers want. We'll do some more traditional cards, then be a little more experimental with our more trend-forward designs. We don't always know if it'll work, but we'll try it anyway!
Putting pen to paper: Designers get to work
So, the team has gone through months of research and planning, but the story has only just begun. Now it's time for the card collection to start coming to life.
How do the designers get inspired?
Mary Ellen: Once I receive the brief, I do a bit of my own research and pull together any ideas I've been collecting while out and about; then I'll start sketching by hand.
Brian: A few of our designers will also paint on canvas using traditional methods such as watercolor, or acrylic, then scan in their artwork for digital rendering.
How do the designers work?
Brian: Once I receive the brief, I do a bit of my own research and pull together any ideas I've been collecting while out and about; then I'll start sketching by hand.
Mary Ellen: A few of our designers will also paint on canvas using traditional methods such as watercolor, or acrylic, then scan in their artwork for digital rendering.
How personal is the design process?
Jen: I think the creative journey always feels personal. Our designers have a lot of passion for what they do, which makes them great artists. But they also know how to balance that with the customers' needs.
The big twist: Customers get creative
The best endings are the ones you can't predict. And an essential part of the design process for Vistaprint holiday cards is making sure customers can finish the story their way, so they can give cards that feel truly unique and personal.
So much thought and creativity goes into each card. How do you leave room for the customer to add their personal touch?
Mary Ellen: That's one of the most important pieces: creating these beautiful cards, but also allowing customers to manipulate them. For every card, we create multiple color groups and make certain elements removable. Some people want the entire card to be a photo of their family, with a simple "Merry Christmas" greeting. So, we make sure they can move the text around to make it work.
Brian: Ultimately we're designing for customers, so it's essential they're able to express themselves in a way that feels personal to them.
What's it like seeing what customers do with the designs?
Jen: It's so great to see someone take your card design, make it their own and know that they felt proud to send it to their family and friends. Christmas is such an emotional holiday, so it's a great thing to be able to be part of that experience.
Mary Ellen: Some people just make a few small changes and it looks beautiful, while others completely transform the card. And that's great too. We're really just giving them a starting point for inspiration; then they can do with it what they will!
What's your favorite part of making the card collection?
Jen: I just love the creativity, thought and planning that goes into creating our collection.
Alyssa: My favorite part is seeing how the trend research informs and inspired the designers. It's fascinating to see how the designs come together based on the information in our brief.
Rich: Seeing a brief you've written flourish into the design you had originally envisaged but better. It's also great to see a new design you helped create appear in the top selling templates for that year.
Brian: I really enjoy taking all the trend research and turning it into something customers will want.
Mary Ellen: While I enjoy the whole process, there is nothing better than seeing the final product. A truly cohesive collection created by dozens of designers is a remarkable thing!
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So Long, Hookville: Breaking loose from the velvet rut
I like to claim that I was blackmailed into coming to Charlottesville. The real story, of course, is that when it came time to make that pesky decision about college, my folks knew me better than I did (and were also well aware of what it would take to overcome my generally mulish obstinance). So it was off to UVA for young James.
I don't necessarily see my first year as the halcyon days of collegiate euphoria. Sure, I had a good time– a great time, in fact– but I never knew quite what to do with myself. I was too self-conscious to revel in frat parties and found the enforced sociability of on-Grounds activities considerably over the top. The Corner was fun, but, well... it was the Corner.
Then I met a girl, and with her, I met Charlottesville.
She had a car, but we also both had bikes and pockets full of transfer tickets. It was through the heady clichés of puppy love that we discovered each other and the city we lived in; we rode buses just to see where they'd go, and we biked Downtown just to get her a glass of chai that she could've enjoyed at any number of coffee shops along the way.
We went to Mono Loco and the Jeff like it was our job and made out under the coal tower like we were still 14. Then we realized that we didn't actually like each other, and our courtship gracefully faded to irrelevance. The memories I treasure are of a love affair with a city, which has continued unabated.
It's easy enough to draw a map of what makes Charlottesville home. I don't think I'll ever have a piece of pizza that lives up to Christian's or find a sushi restaurant that approaches Tokyo Rose (ambiance affects the taste buds, didn't you know?)
Blue Hole might be my favorite swimming hole of all time, and although I'm a mountain boy by birth, the Piedmont's gentle verdant allure isn't lost on me. I've always loved the Courthouse area of Jefferson Street by night and the Rivanna Trails by day; they're obviously not coming with me when I leave.
While I'm moving to a city where there's independent cinema aplenty, I'll be sad to leave OffScreen and Vinegar Hill. Outdoor gin and tonics won't taste as good without Más, Miller's, or Orbit, and grocery shopping won't be the same without Reid's. I can't help but already miss that typewriter shop on West Main that I've never been in, and there's even a special place in my heart for the unequivocally chillest post office of all time&emdash; University Station, where Wayne and Danny's calm, courteous conversation makes the pilgrimage to post a letter a delightful endeavor.
Sure, there have been some changes since I've been around, but all in all, Charlottesville's not so different. Trax shut the doors, and Starr Hill opened; the Corner Bodo's still claims it's "coming," and the Outback Lodge still won't go away. The University's digging big holes and putting bigger things in them; so's Coran Capshaw.
What hasn't changed– what I suppose we all hope won't change– is the intangible character of the people here, more essential than its attendant landmarks and vastly harder to define. While some would have you believe that Charlottesville has huge undeserved pretension of urbanity and sophistication, I choose to see it as a certain sense of civic satisfaction.
We like where we are, and we like it that others do too; we can make the place better, and we're working at it. We're big enough to sustain great restaurants, good music, and all the trappings of citified life but small enough to be manageable and welcoming. When you make a friend in this town, six more come along; hospitality's in.
It's been termed "the velvet rut." Half of my friends claim to have coined the phrase themselves, so no one's getting credit for it here, but it's an apt expression&emdash; this town's full of comfortable habits, soft and smooth and tough to abandon. It pulls you in and won't let you go, whether you like it or not&emdash; they don't call it The Hook for nothing.
And yet, here I am, breaking the silky bonds of Charlottesville. Friends, enemies, and those who have no idea who I am, stay behind, keeping a proverbial seat warm while Charlottesville's languid meander continues.
In the meantime, I get to re-experience what it feels like to go on a first date with a city again. Will it be love at first sight? Will it be a slow crescendo of passion, or fits and bursts of dislike? I have no idea how the romance will stack up, but there's only one way to find out.
I once read an essay claiming that you can't consider yourself a resident somewhere unless you've lived there for five years. As it happens, when I skip town, I'll have been here for exactly five years and three days– making my "legitimate" residency only slightly lengthier than a slumber party. But it's been a fun little sleepover, the kind that breeds those shiny, sticky memories that make a place home.
James Graham has been one of the Hook's top freelance writers. Having penned everything from beverage-fueled nightclub prowls to an exposé of why the Corner Bodo's won't open its doors, he now puts down his pen and moves to Brooklyn. We think (and hope) he'll be back someday.


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Nashville, Tenn. - Tennessee State University Athletics Director Teresa Phillips and President Dr. Portia Holmes-Shields announced on Friday morning that assistant coach Travis Williams has been tabbed to be the 16th head coach for the Tigers men's basketball program.
Williams, a native of Tifton, Ga., served as an assistant for previous TSU head coach John Cooper during the last three seasons. Cooper left on April 6 after accepting the head coaching position at Miami (Ohio).
Williams helped restore a winning attitude to the Tigers' program. The Big Blue recorded just nine wins in 2009-10, while improving to 14 victories in 2010-11. Last season, the Tigers completed a 20-13 mark - the most for any TSU program since 1978-79. It also marked the school's first winning season in 16 years.
The 2011-12 campaign gave Tennessee State its third NCAA Division-I postseason appearance with an invitation to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Tigers fell to eventual CIT Champion Mercer, 68-60, in the first round.
"We are very pleased to have retained Travis Williams as our next head men's basketball coach," said Phillips. "Coach Williams is committed and has been a successful Division I student-athlete. He has coached on a variety of levels, so he brings a plethora of experience to this job. He understands the importance of relationship building and will continue to make TSU basketball a significant entity in the Nashville area."
"I am truly humbled and grateful for this opportunity to serve as the 16th head coach at TSU," said Williams. "It's with great honor and pride to serve Tennessee State University and the Nashville community. I will strive to represent TSU in a first class manner at all times by working hard and expecting my student-athletes to do the same. Our goal is to ensure our student-athletes graduate, while maintaining their competitive intensity and desire to win the OVC Championship."
In 2004, Williams received his first head coach appointment at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. He led the Wildcats to a pair of winning seasons during his tenure. Williams led FVSU to an 18-12 record during the 2006-07 campaign. At the conclusion of the season, the Wildcats ranked 10th in the Division II South Region poll, making it to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship game. FVSU's 18 wins were the most since the 1998-99 season.
After a three-season stint at FVSU, Williams served as an assistant for one season at Mercer University (2007-08). That season, Mercer defeated No.17 ranked University of Southern California.
Williams' coaching resume includes stops as an associate head coach with the Southern Crescent Lightning of the World Basketball Association (2004) and an assistant position at Chicago State (2003-2004).
From 1999-2003 he served as assistant at his alma mater Georgia State. During his tenure with the Panthers, the program produced three conference regular season championships and one conference tournament championship. While at GSU, the Panthers defeated two Top-25 teams (No.15 St. Josephs and No.23 Georgia) and produced an upset over No. 6 seed Wisconsin in the 2001 NCAA Tournament marking the first 20-win season in school history, finishing 29-5.
In 2001-02, the Panthers had another 20-win season and advanced to the final game, bowing out by a single point in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Championship game, receiving a bid to the NIT Tournament.
Williams hosted "In the Loop", an all-access cable sports show covering all levels of athletics throughout central Georgia. He has also served as a motivational speaker and educational consultant with his "If You Believe, You Can Achieve" Power Hour series.
Williams is currently a member of National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Black Coaches and Administrators Association (BCAA). As a player, he scored more than 1,000 career points at GSU. He graduated with a Bachelor's in business management in 1995 and a Master's in Sports Administration in 1999. While in college at GSU, Williams interned with the National Football League (NFL) Players Association as a research intern.
He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. and the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville. Williams is married to Nikkya Williams. The two celebrated the birth of their daughter Teagan Loure' Ann on Nov. 3, 2011.


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Fried ants?: Hiding out saves a few
Q. If ants march into the microwave, will their goose be cooked? D. Matthews
A. Another way to ask this, At a concert hall, can you hear equally well from all the seats? Certainly not, because wave interference patterns create dead spots in the hall. Hold that thought.
A woman wrote in to The Guardian of England to say that when removing some well-cooked food from her microwave, she noticed ants crawling around inside the oven. With all the warnings about radiation leaks from ovens that are not well shielded, how did totally unshielded ants manage to survive?
One thing working in the ants' favor is that they don't have much liquid in their bodies, so the microwaves– which cook meats by heating their water content– would act more slowly on ants than on people. That could buy the poor ants some time to save themselves. But how?
By seeking out the dead spots, naturally. Microwave ovens have them just like concert halls, creating those annoying cold pockets in cooked foods. The ants probably are quite uncomfortable when they are bathed in microwave radiation, so they try to get away. If they find a dead spot they feel better, so they stay there and survive.
Q. When one's marriage goes up in smoke, what else likely goes up with it? Hana Lohr
A. Some 40 percent of married adults say they are very happy compared to only 23 percent of never-marrieds and even smaller proportions of the divorced and separated, says Hope College's David G. Myers in Intuition: Its Power and Perils. The married are also healthier and have a better chance of living longer. And more: Marriage predicts economic thriving and lower risk of child poverty. Marriage matters, but we're increasingly unlikely to marry and live happily ever after. For once the giddy euphoria goes, if steadier "companionate love" does not take its place, a "cold, loveless truce" may follow, or worse.
Yet none of this stops marriage license applicants from assessing, when asked, their own chance of divorce as 0 percent. "When in love it's hard to imagine being otherwise," says Myers. But that's intuition speaking.
Better to follow statistical guidelines, upping your odds of marital success by dating someone of similar age, background and beliefs, dating for a while first, only marrying after age 20, getting educated, and having a stable income, etc.
The ways of the heart wedded to those of the head.
Q. Frequently curious flyers, do you know what airport runway 9 signifies, 9L alongside 9R, whether a plane generally takes off with or into any wind, how the cabin is heated to compensate for the frigid air at 6 miles altitude, what the colored lights mean alongside runways, the desired angle of the plane's glide path to touchdown, and the color of the "little black box" recording data in case of a crash? C. Lindberg
A. Answers Ira Flatow in Rainbows, Curve Balls and Other Wonders of the Natural World Explained: Runway 9 goes off at 90 degrees from North compass direction, or East; runway 27 goes off at 270 degrees, or West; 9L and 9R both go East left and right of each other; takeoff is into the wind to reduce required groundspeed and runway distance; no cabin heating is required but cooling via air conditioners certainly is or the pressurizing air coming off the engine would cook the interior; runways are outlined in white lights, taxiways have blue lights, red lights signal end of runway; 3 degrees is the typical glide path coming in, with the pilot watching the lights at runway's end which will appear white over white at too-steep an approach, red over red if too shallow, and red over white just right; and the little black box is really orange for ready visibility amid tragic rubble.
So now you know and know and know...
Q. Cruel practical joke: Several boys in a class singled out an "unattractive" girl, then one after another took turns asking her out. They figured this unexpected attention would blow the girl's mind. Did it? –Sluggo
A. By the fifth or sixth mock date, they found the girl had changed. She started wearing her hair differently, carrying herself with more poise, and talking more directly and assuredly. She had begun, in short, to live up to the billing the boys pretended was true of her, who now found themselves competing for her attentions.
This is the classic "self-fulfilling prophecy," say John M. Darley et al. in Psychology, the tendency of people to live up to others' expectations (or presumed expectations) of them, not only in the area of looks but in learning ability and classroom performance as well.
Send Strange questions to brothers Bill and Rich at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Co-Founder, CEO: Sinclair Schuller
Apprenda is a serious PaaS player with a platform that lets businesses leverage their infrastructure to build a self-service cloud application platform. Its open PaaS stack support for .Net lets businesses manage their Windows-based applications on any infrastructure. The company also recently added support for Java.


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Opening times, location and the waste taken at Northallerton HWRC.
North Yorkshire
Opening times
Open everyday except Wednesdays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day.
- April to September - 8.30am to 5pm
- October to March - 8.30am to 4pm
Please allow enough time to unload your waste before the site closes.
Charges for waste
All residents are charged for the disposal of hardcore, rubble, plasterboard and tyres. There are also charges for some commercial waste.
Restrictions on vehicles
There are restrictions on the vehicles that can use our centres. Residents using commercial or commercial-like vehicles, charities and voluntary organisations need to register their vehicles.
Items accepted here
Find out which items you can deliver to our household waste recycling centres.
Finding Northallerton household waste recycling centre.
Further details are available in our household waste recycling centre user guidance leaflet (pdf / 346 KB).


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As a company dedicated to the real-time location and temperature monitoring and safety of perishable and high value shipments in transit, we understand the importance of data. Whether it's the temperature of produce driving down the road, the location of a potentially life-saving shipment of medicine, or the security of high value merchandise, we provide real-time, continuous information utilizing the latest technology, and delivery of alerts to your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
Today we are helping to shape the logistics industry with innovative services and new tools. Contact us and we'll show you how we can help you too — and what it means to be protected by Locus Traxx Worldwide.


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With Ganymede, Micronaut takes the experience of the Chicago underground electronic music scene to a new level. Stuttering breakbeats, deep ragga bass, and a thick layer of distorted synths, winding guitar lines and obscure samples all compete to take the listener on a tour of the heavy side of electronic music.
CD and Full Album Download purchases come with a free download of Micronaut: Slinky
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Micronaut: Callisto
Callisto marks Chris Randall's fifth genre-spanning sojourn in to the back streets of electronic music under the Micronaut banner. Mostly up-tempo, partially eccentric, and definitely danceable, Callisto is a distilled history of Micronaut in one album.
Micronaut: Europa
A brooding and introspective piece of melodic electronica, Micronaut's fourth album is dark and cinematic, with twisting synth lines and disjointed drum-beats vying for attention amid a thick bed of drones and found sound.
Micronaut: Io
Io finds the common ground between breakbeat and trance with a generous dose of NASA thrown in for good measure.
Micronaut: Micronaut s/t
Building from a space-like ambience to a dance floor frenzy, Micronaut's debut album is most commonly refered to as music for sex and dancing!
Micronaut: Pasiphae
Pasiphae features seven new IDM-influenced ass-shakers from Micronaut.
Micronaut: BASIC
BASIC features four new songs in the genre-spanning style that Micronaut is known for.
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The big day is here! Emmy time is the Super Bowl, New Year's Eve and Festivus for TV lovers, and it's important to make the ceremony a memorable one. Two things are absolutely necessary to make watching the Emmys at home enjoyable: good speeches and good drinks. That's why when TV Guide learned that Everbar, a hip hotel bar inside Hollywood's Everly Hotel, had concocted a menu of drinks based on Emmy-nominated shows, we knew what we had to do.
First, we had to GO DRINK THEM, obviously. Honestly, that should have been self-explanatory. And second, we needed to have some pre-Emmys fun by bringing along someone who could show the potential winners how to truly slay their speech. Enter Karamo Brown, culture expert on the Emmy-winning Netflix series Queer Eye, who was down to come raise a glass to Game of Thrones, The Handmaid's Tale, Stranger Things, Westworld andGLOW-- while also giving the speech that each of the winners should make if they take home a statuette Monday.
Emmys 2018: See the Full List of Nominees Here
Check out Karamo's speeches in the awesome video above, and be sure to tune into the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on NBC. If you have a cable login, you can stream the Emmys on NBC.com or the NBC app. If not, you can stream via Hulu with Live TV.


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Geez...where do I begin?
Hey kids. My name is Jenn. I'm an Ohio transplant in the concrete jungle that is Los Angeles. I didn't want to like L.A., but it has indeed grown on me over the past four years. I'm an actress. I'm look like I'm about 15 year old, so most of my gigs are playing hormonal teens on TV. It pays the bills. I dabble in stand-up comedy, and love improv.
I secretly aspire to one day be a master vegan chef. Or maybe not so secretly. I work at one very ass-kickin' vegan restaurant called Jax Vegan Cafe.
Now that you know a little about me, here's what you, lucky reader, can expect from my blog:
- Detailed accounts of my [mis]adventures in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
- Vegan recipes and reviews of restaurants I visit.
- My rants.
Happy reading :)


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Congratulations on deciding to train for Sun Run 2013.
Here are a few tips to ensure you have a successful start: 1. Be honest about your current fitness level.
Walk10K: Whether you are just starting out or already an avid walker, the Walk10K program will include a comfortable progression of distance and change-of-pace sessions to progress from 45 minutes of walking to completing a 10K.
LearnToRun10K: Perhaps you'd like to learn to run but either haven't had success in the past, or just aren't sure how to begin. If you haven't been running for three months or longer, this is the program to start with. Using a combination of walking and running, you will slowly and comfortably progress to being able to safely WalkRun a 10K.
Run10KFaster: This program will introduce change-of-pace running with progressions in distance and intensity to help you complete your 10K more comfortably than you ever have before. You should already be running easily three times a week for 30 minutes at a time.
2. Be patient. Most people tend to do too much, too fast, too soon.
3. Stick to the schedule, no more and no less. It's a successful program.
4. Make sure you have good supportive shoes when you start the program.
5. Stay at a nice easy talking pace. If you can't string a few sentences together in conversation, you're going too fast .
6. It's your arm action that sets the pace and maintains your rhythm.
7. Keep a logbook and record your success. This will keep you motivated.
8. Do a dynamic warm-up. This gets the circulation going.
9. Stretch afterwards in your cool-down. This will help prevent injury.
10. Invite a friend or canine to follow the program with you.
11. Remind yourself why you walk or run: It's fun and enjoyable. It's excellent for heart health. It builds healthy bones.
For more on Sun Run InTraining and SportMed RunWalk, go to SportMedBC.com and facebook.com/ sportmedrunwalk.


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The Future of Pickups: Upcoming Trucks for 2020 and Beyond
When hybrid pickups were tested a few years back, nobody seemed to know about them. The Silverado 1500 hybrid and F-150 hybrid were taken out of production around 2013. It appears that, since then, manufacturers have focused on producing lighter-weight trucks instead of trucks with alternative fuel sources. But it feels like consumers are getting sick of driving Priuses to save money and protect the environment. We want options and manufacturers have taken note. Soon, there will be more fuel-type variety than ever before. And we'll be seeing some interesting new designs, as well.
New Ram "Rampage" Pickup
Rumors abound about what Ram's next pickup will be. There's no small pickup in the Dodge product line, nor is there one in the Ram line. There must be one coming. Many suspect it will be something like the Fiat Strada. In fact, pickuptrucks.com spied something that looks a lot like the Strada while it was being tested. We can expect this vehicle to be inexpensive because it's small and it's a Ram. Car and Driver reports that the Rampage will probably have a small turbocharged engine and have an asking price of around $17,000. There's nothing quite like it in the US now. Nobody knows if it will actually look like the Strada or when it will hit showrooms.
New Sierra and Silverado Hybrids
Not to be outdone by Ford, Chevrolet and GMC are producing new hybrids with "eAssist" in order to test them in the market.


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Windows Azure is Microsoft's platform for building cloud-based applications. Since its first appearance, Windows Azure has offered a wide range of software services beyond pure computation, including storage, service bus, and access control. The APIs for these services enable companies to create ad hoc applications and host them in some Microsoft data centers using a pricing model that best suits their business needs. According to the classic taxonomy of cloud computing, Windows Azure falls in the category of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud solutions.
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From a business perspective, PaaS is just one side of the matter. A PaaS service binds you to some operating system and runtime environment. You can exert a limited degree of control over the runtime environment.
But what happens if you want to maintain total control over the software runtime environment (as you would in a traditional on-premise scenario) and just rent the infrastructure (such as equipment and virtual machine)? For a long time, such an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) scenario hasn't been an option in Windows Azure, and companies couldn't buy cloud space from Microsoft just to host a LAMP application. The only way to deploy a solution on Windows Azure was to build a new application using the .NET Framework and cloud-specific services, storage solutions, and frameworks.
Recently, however, Microsoft extended Windows Azure by adding a few loudly requested services on top of the platform virtual machines and websites. In doing so, Microsoft made its platform a lot more flexible and gave cloud architects the ability to build solutions that combine infrastructure and platform services. As a result, you can now bring an existing LAMP or Node.js web solution to the Windows Azure cloud and even build hybrid solutions that are partly on-premise and partly cloud-based and that use a variety of server technologies.
Windows Azure Virtual Machines
Windows Azure Virtual Machines (WAVM) allow you to create a virtual machine on a cloud host and move an existing virtual hard disk (VHD) there. You can pick up an existing disk image from a Microsoft provided gallery or deliver your own customized image. You have full admin rights and can remotely manage your virtual machines at will. Virtual machines can be equipped with a variety of operating systems, including Windows Server and a few Linux builds, based on versions of OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and a few others.
Without beating around the bush, the real breakthrough here is the opportunity to deploy a Linux-based image on the Microsoft cloud. I have personally helped a few customers assess how to integrate cloud storage and services in their applications and, in a few cases, we had to quickly and ruthlessly rule out Windows Azure because the client's application was half done (or just finished) and there was no time and/or budget to adjust or rewrite it for the PaaS requirements of Windows Azure. In my opinion, opening the Windows Azure cloud to Linux and to user-defined virtual machines represents a smart move that adds more credibility to the platform as a whole. With WAVM, you can now consider Windows Azure a full-fledged cloud platform and evaluate it with a focus on the benefits it can bring to your business rather than first checking whether it can even serve your own business needs.
Windows Azure Websites
In some circumstances, you may not need to create and deploy your own virtual machine in the cloud. Sometimes, all you need is the ability to quickly create a website based on the Microsoft web server stack and quickly deploy it to the cloud, where it just works and is easy to manage and scale. Windows Azure Web Sites (WAWS) makes it easy to create such websites from Visual Studio 2012, then deploy them automatically to the Windows Azure cloud in a variety of ways. In particular, you can deploy from Git, TFS, or even via FTP. Likewise, you can access log files for your website via FTP or through a provided command-line tool.
WAWS doesn't end there, though. More and more Web applications result from a mix of server-side frameworks such as Node.js, PHP or perhaps WordPress, Umbraco, or DotNetNuke. You need to set up all these frameworks when you deploy. If you are going to deploy to the cloud, either you create a virtual HDD (or VHD) or you use the WAWS services. WAWS, in fact, comes with ready-made templates in an extensible gallery that work for popular CMS tools, a variety of server frameworks, and databases including MySQL.
However you build your website, regardless of the technologies and server applications you employ, you can likely deploy it to the Windows Azure cloud in a greatly simplified way and in the context of guided procedures.
There are many ways to approach the cloud. One is building from the ground up (or significantly restructuring) an application to live and operate in the cloud. In this regard, Windows Azure works well because it tightly integrates with the rest of the Microsoft stack. In many other cases, though, you just need a high-scale environment, elastic enough to fit your frequently changing needs. This IaaS approach to the cloud has been the first form of cloud computing to appear. And it wasn't addressed by Microsoft for years. Instead, customers with a classic ASP.NET or Linux-based application they wanted to "cloud-ify" had to look to other vendors such as Amazon.
The Windows Azure Virtual Machines addition is more of a necessary step to stay in the market than a way to offer more development power to customers. The bottom line is that Microsoft is catching up and recovering from a vision of the cloud that has been too partial for too long.
In other areas, Microsoft is moving bigger pieces of flagship products to the cloud such as TFS and Office. And the SkyDrive file system is boldly gaining ground and development support. It seems that a clear company-wide strategy is taking shape at Microsoft: Offering everything through the Windows Azure cloud except those few things that just need an "old-fashioned" desktop application running locally. This is what's really new with Windows Azure.
Dino Esposito specializes in Microsoft technologies and contributes frequently to Dr. Dobb's.


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John Hebeler is a division scientist at BBN Technologies. Andrew Perez-Lopez is a Software Engineer at BBN Technologies. They are co-authors of Semantic Web Programming.
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the de-facto architectural standard for many small and large distributed solutions. Its growing relevance is reflected not only in the bevy of rich services the SOA stack offers, but also the variety of available implementations, many of which are open-source. Yet SOA remains challenged in several areas dealing with scale, growing complexity, diverse knowledge management, and the inherent dynamics of large, distributed systems. These challenges unnecessarily constrain SOA solutions causing them to fall short of their ultimate potential.
Semantics can help. Semantics form expressive, useful computing abstractions or concepts that address these challenges and strengthen the SOA mission to use and leverage complex information and services across an entire enterprise or the globe.
In this article, we examine adding semantics to SOAs through four examples, each contributing in different ways yet adhering to the SOA standards and goals. Two examples illustrate "SOA-ize" semantic services and the other two "Semantic-ize" the SOA. All contribute to improving the scope and capabilities of what is possible with a SOA solution.
SOA Struggles
SOA exists as a set of standards and services that form a dynamic distributed service fabric that provides a step forward into distributed computing possibilities. The interface standards allow services to interact despite fundamental platform differences. SOA and services is analogous to the World Wide Web (WWW) and documents -- the WWW exists as a set of standards that allow document contributions based on many technologies and techniques all following the same document standards. SOA attempts to do the same with services. Whereas WWW standards unleashed a world of information, SOA attempts to unleash a world of services. However, services can be much more complex and temperamental than documents (and documents themselves have gotten pretty complicated). The SOA stack addresses some of this complexity by integrating a set of management services. The vastness and richness of the network services can easily overwhelm a SOA solution even with a powerful stack of services.
Theoretically, a SOA implementation can exist at a variety of levels from a small solution integrating a handful of services up to a large, dynamic solution integrating thousands of services. In practice, SOA strongly leans to the former -- integrating a few, well-controlled services. Yet the real power and possibilities require a much bigger leap into the thousands. That leap incurs a multitude of challenges including service complexity, information complexity, and service management complexity.
Services are the fundamental building blocks of a SOA solution. Service complexity refers to the degree of sophistication associated with the tasks the service actually accomplishes. Whereas a document is merely a bunch of organized words, services do things -- potentially very complex things. Additionally, they are dynamic. Services are often bound to the objects that drive their behavior. But these objects themselves can limit the ultimate complexity of the overall application. Objects or instances are bound to their creating class and often that class is static. Attributes and relationships are typically also bound to the creating class. Too often in object oriented software for services, there is little analysis of the object structure as the underlying data model. Is it consistent? Is it logical? Is it cohesive? These answers are left solely to the programmer, and the hard-coded software. Complex behavior frequently yields complex code -- often unreadable code. Some tools exist to help externalize this inherent complexity but most do not. Programming languages can also limit the complexity and thus the power of individual services. SOA solutions integrate multiple services, which, of course, compound this phenomenon.
Information processing is often at the heart of a SOA solution or almost any computer solution -- information is the "crown jewels" of computing. Just as the complexity of services stands as a challenge to SOA system designers, so too does information complexity. Most data technologies incorporate limitations that force the information to reside in multiple places and to be reassembled to produce the desired results. A typical way of addressing this data distribution issue is with XML. Databases, combined with business logic, produce data elements that can form the desired answer in XML. XML is a step in the right direction, but it struggles with complex relationships and dynamic constraints. The actual meaning of the data, the information, is separated in the document and in the XML schema, or even worse, the schema of the database back-end, and therefore very difficult to manage. These limitations of the information format and knowledge representation force all of the services in the enterprise, which should be focused on business logic, to handle a higher degree of complexity just to get started. This, of course, further aggravates the service complexity challenge outlined above.
SOA solutions enable the dynamic integration and collaboration of multiple services. This requires service management -- and this can be very challenging. In a real sense, the integration of services forms new, more complex services. We examine three aspects of service management:
- Service abstractions
- Service registration
- Service dynamics
Each represents a major aspect of service management.
Service abstractions describe the services. The richer and more complete the abstractions, the more easily the service is found and properly used. Most SOA services exist as low-level or simple abstractions. This low level forces the programmer to take up the slack and really understand the service beyond the simple abstraction descriptions. For example, say a software developer determines the need for a service, like a catalog lookup. Given a high-level abstraction like "catalog lookup" the developer would, in an ideal SOA world, find a service and be able to integrate it easily into an application at that high level. However, as we in the real world know, to take advantage of the catalog lookup service, a SOA service too often requires inspecting complex APIs defined in Web Service Description Language (WSDL), which identifies particular end point names, the numbers and types of variables, and return values for each supported method. Even those detailed WSDL descriptions, however, do not describe how the parameters serve the method, the purpose of the method, or any expectations with regard to errors and performance. This forces you, the programmer, to invert your development process in an unnatural way. Instead of finding a service that matches the needs of your application, you must design your application to match the requirements of the services. In other words, the services don't really serve your specific need, they serve their own needs in their own particular way. You must call and use the service according to the service's usage patterns and not your own. Of course, all of this is moot if you design all the services, or if all of the assumptions are shared by every service, etc -- but that is extraordinarily limiting in terms of the services that your application can exploit, and is really contrary to the goal of large-scale SOA. The key is inverting this perspective and enabling a service to align with your system's needs. Thus, your SOA system accesses the services or aggregation of services at the level of abstraction that makes sense to your needs. This is somewhat analogous to views for a relational database. This service view must also accommodate similar services, failed services, and so on. Ideally, you just want your overall system to operate correctly and not have to change drastically to accommodate the specific syntax or other dependencies of a particular service implementation.
Service registration remains a real challenge for SOA. How can you compose the best SOA without full knowledge of what services are available and how to interact with them? The Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) standard has fallen short of realizing its larger goals. The inherent complexity of using XML to represent such rich knowledge has produced an unwieldy solution that befuddles many developers. Many SOA solutions now register their services in hand-carved proprietary solutions or use no UDDI implementation at all, and some even try to use a Wiki. This is a direct blow to the scale of SOA efforts. A quick look at programmableweb.com illustrates this problem. This site lists thousands of web services, yet only a handful are used to support almost all the mashups and the vast majority of mashups use only two or fewer services (with a 40% chance that one of these is Google Maps). Sadly, most offered services are not used in any mashups. This situation could be the result of inadequate services but it is more likely due to the inability of developers to find and utilize the services they want.
For SOA to work properly, a service registration system must clearly describe and search a vast array of different service offerings available in the given SOA. These requirements demand a solution that is more than just a common set of syntaxes. Explicit syntax agreements are important, for without them nothing would work. However, determining a common syntax (or set of syntaxes) only allows exact matches or at best a basic category search. This works fine for services that you control (and name) but does not stand up to the challenge of integrating services that originate and evolve from many sources. Actually, for services you create, the registry is not even that important -- you already know the descriptions. However, large-scale integration needs much more than a common syntax -- it needs a common semantics. Capturing the information about what a service is and what it does and communicating that information effectively in an automated way remains a key challenge for large, dynamic SOA implementations.
Service abstractions and registration contain another inherent challenge -- dynamics. Over time, services change -- that is a simple rule, and they usually change for the better. Traditional SOA techniques often create brittle connections to services that may break on the slightest change to the service. Again, this is no trouble if you develop and control the services, but again, that is contrary to SOA's goal. This inhibits the use of services to two types: those that you control or those that are so big they will never (or at least very rarely) change. This set describes only a small fraction of the available services, and requires that SOA applications have regular, and often significant, maintenance. Without better ways to deal with the dynamics of web services, the growth of an SOA solution will remain stunted and more costly.
These SOA struggles result in a reduced awareness of what is available, a limited capacity to compose services, and a diminished exploitation of valuable services due to uncontrolled changes. In an ideal world, SOA could seamlessly link services around the globe, but these factors significantly threaten that vision.


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Calgary Flames officials have said there has been significant water damage to the event level of the Scotiabank Saddledome. They will need to wait for the water to recede before they can assess the full extent of the damage. Restoration planning is currently underway.
Calgary Flames, Hitmen and Roughnecks employees are being asked to not attempt to go to the Scotiabank Saddledome until further notice.
The Calgary Flames have released photos of the damage done to the inside and surrounding area of the 'Dome.


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This was published 7 years ago
What went wrong with Click Frenzy?
There is no excuse for a site going down when hit with foreseeable traffic, argues Mark Randall.
It's fair to say that the hype around Click Frenzy turned sour last week. The website went down when millions of Australian shoppers tried to hop on, resulting in a lot of unhappy people and negative publicity.
Many of the online stores, despite not receiving the click-through traffic they expected from Click Frenzy, went down themselves when people hit their sites directly. Some retailers though, like Terry White Chemists (disclosure: they are hosted with Rackspace) planned well, and were able to cope with the huge spike in traffic.
There are now even reports that the passwords of registrants to the one-day sale were exposed on the site.
While Click Frenzy did a great job at generating interest in the lead up to the sale, its hosting decisions left a lot to be desired. With the affordability, capacity and flexibility of cloud hosting, there truly are no excuses for your site to be going down when you get a foreseeable surge in traffic.
Almost all of the problems that happened with Click Frenzy this week came down to IT mistakes. But every single problem was avoidable. Easily avoidable. This was not a failure of technology, but a failure to understand, plan, and use technology properly.
What can an online retailer do to ensure its cloud costs are manageable, while also being able to cope with huge spikes in traffic?
It comes down to three fairly simple factors; three reasons an online store would crash under a heavy load.
Firstly, the site has to have adequate capacity to handle the influx of new visitors. Obviously that is difficult to provision with in-house infrastructure, which is why most e-commerce sites now go with external providers and their cloud solutions. Because you're renting the capacity from a trusted partner, you can tap into it whenever you need to increase that capacity. An online store's main advantage over its bricks rivals is that it is open 24/7 and convenient. If you start closing down because you've chosen the wrong provider, you're eroding that competitive advantage. Whichever cloud provider an online retailer goes with, they need to have enough scale to grow with them, both short and long term.
Secondly, you need to be closely monitoring what is happening in terms of your infrastructure, the site, its applications, and all the different layers. If you're not closely monitoring it, you won't be prepared for high traffic events and you'll inevitably be responding to it after the fact, when it fails, rather than scaling as you see the traffic start to spike. It's almost like preparing for a tornado to hit. The sites that went down last week were definitely not monitoring activity adequately in the lead up to the start of Click Frenzy.
Thirdly, you need to automate as much of your cloud management as you can. This basically means you enable the site to automatically scale up and down the amount of cloud resource and capacity your application needs. Doing this, as well as ensuring you have adequate capacity, along with close monitoring, will mean any sites attempting to do big one day sales like this will not crash under the pressure.
None of this is rocket science in 2012. As I said, there was no failure of technology here. This was a failure to understand, plan and use technology properly - ironically an accusation that e-tailers and technologists usually throw at our traditional retailers.
Mark Randall is the director at cloud hosting provider Rackspace Australia & NZ.


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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will become the 10th Republican governor Monday to publicly support bringing federal Medicaid expansion dollars to their states in a bid to extend health insurance to hundreds of thousands of working poor.
Corbett, who was expected to make the announcement after a brief afternoon tour of Harrisburg Hospital's emergency room, is a conservative and a staunch critic of Medicaid who sued to overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
Corbett will insist that the deal he is seeking — similar to one already being sought by Iowa and Arkansas — does not amount to a Medicaid expansion. Under that format, the PPACA Medicaid expansion dollars would pay the premiums for newly eligible adults to get private insurance in a new health care marketplace instead of being used to expand the tradition Medicaid coverage that typically pays lower reimbursements to doctors and hospitals.
Corbett's embrace of the money comes after heavy pressure by a broad coalition of Democratic lawmakers, labor unions, hospital executives, advocates for the poor, the NAACP, the AARP and the Republican-controlled state Senate. Critics say he has dragged his feet on the issue for too long.
The federal Medicaid expansion dollars become available Jan. 1. But it is not yet clear whether the Obama administration will agree to Corbett's conditions, and the Corbett administration has yet to submit a request for approval to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, Corbett's public welfare secretary, Beverly Mackereth, has said that the administration will probably need until 2015 to negotiate and prepare for a Medicaid expansion plan, even if Pennsylvania agrees to accept the dollars.
Questions surrounding that kind of plan include who will pay the difference if private insurance policies are more expensive than Medicaid coverage, how to administer such a concept and how those private plans will reflect Medicaid guarantees of certain benefits and limits on cost-sharing, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors in Washington.
Supporters of an expansion were wary ahead of Corbett's announcement, calling it a step in the right direction, but questioning whether Corbett was really committed to accessible and comprehensive health care for the poor.
"It is really unfortunate that … we've had to bring this governor kicking and screaming to do the right thing for hardworking Pennsylvanians," said Neil Bisno, the president of SEIU HealthCare Pennsylvania, which represents public and private-sector health care workers.
The 2010 federal health care law had required states to go along with the Medicaid expansion as a way to ensure more residents have health insurance and that hospitals see fewer uninsured patients and need less financial assistance. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the federal government could not force states to expand Medicaid, effectively making it a state-by-state decision.
Other Republican governors who support a Medicaid expansion include those in neighboring states: Chris Christie in New Jersey and John Kasich in Ohio.
Corbett, who is unpopular in public opinion polls as his 2014 re-election campaign gears up, is heavily criticized by Democrats and advocates for the poor for his health care policies. Since he became governor in 2011, enrollment in both Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program has shrunk, while he shut down a state-subsidized health care program called adultBasic for about 40,000 lower-income adults.
See also:


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Time for another reminder about NO car seats on top of shopping carts.
I love this article: http://carseatblog.com/10985/shopping-carts-eeek-what-not-to-do-with-your-infant-carseat/
"I see this ALL. THE. TIME. I know you must see it too. Perhaps you're even guilty of this yourself. Here's why it's such a concern and what you can do to reduce the risk of your baby being seriously injured in a fall off a shopping cart.
The problem: Infant carseats aren't designed to be secured to the top of a shopping cart. Most carseat manufacturers specifically prohibit using their seats this way but that warning is usually buried along with 30 other generic warnings in the instruction manual so it doesn't get much attention. Plus we're a monkey-see, monkey-do society, so many parents think this is a perfectly acceptable practice.
The issue is that the carseat isn't strapped in or snapped onto the cart. It's just perched on top. Sometime it's perched in a way that's fairly stable but more often than not, it's just teetering on the top with little support. One good bump and that seat (with baby inside) is going to topple. If baby is old enough to kick, grab or try to sit up – that increases the chances of falling. If the baby is old enough to kick, grab or try to sit up and the harness straps are loose, or worse yet – not buckled at all, that greatly increases the chances of a fall. And if you have a preschooler shopping with you – the chances of baby toppling off the cart just increased ten-fold. In case you haven't noticed, little kids like to push the cart, climb on the cart and hang off the sides of the cart as soon as you turn your back. The cart isn't the most stable object on 4 wheels to begin with, so adding a toddler or preschooler into the equation can be a recipe for disaster.
The Easy Solution: Don't do it.
The Reality Check: You gotta put the little critter somewhere and wearing him or her while you're trying to shop isn't always practical or convenient. Here are some suggestions for making a trip to the store a little less hazardous for your baby.
Try wedging the infant seat sideways into the toddler seat of the cart. Different carts have different dimensions so it may be possible in some carts but not in others.
Place the infant seat in the main portion of the cart and drag an extra cart around with you if you need to do a big grocery shopping. I've BTDT so I know what a pain in the rear this is – but it's doable. And it certainly beats a trip to the ER where you'll have a lot of explaining to do while they examine your baby for serious head injuries.
Take advantage of carts that have built-in infant carriers. Just remember to buckle your baby in nice and snug. And I highly suggest a receiving blanket to cover the surface before putting baby down.
Use common sense! If the seat is poorly supported (as in the picture above), don't leave it that way! Nothing you're going to buy at Costco or Target or ShopRite is worth risking your child falling off the cart face first.
Way back in the late 90′s when DS1 was a toddler, I saw a woman's baby fall off the cart at the drug store. I can still remember the sound that kid's head made when it hit the floor. She scooped him up and ran out with him while the store manager ran out after her. I don't know what happened after that but I remember being really upset by what I had just seen (and heard). It stayed with me and from that day on I was always super-conscious about how my kids were secured in shopping carts. However, I am obviously in the minority because far too often I witness dangerous baby in shopping cart situations. Sometimes I'll say something – in the nicest way I can, of course. But giving unsolicited advice to strangers can be more dangerous than playing in New Delhi traffic, so usually I just keep quiet. And blog about it instead. Feel free to help spread the word!"


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I don't know how the British use that expression, but in AE Are you through with the phone means the same thing as Are you finished using the phone.
Interested in Language
I learned from somewhere that British and American have different interpretations on this sentence.
British thinks whether someone succesfully gets through the line whereas American asks if someone has finished using the phone. Is that the case ?
Is it better to avoid using such vague sentence ? Or it is not vague, just my poor understanding of it :P
I don't know how the British use that expression, but in AE Are you through with the phone means the same thing as Are you finished using the phone.
In my experience, "Are you through with the phone?" is not commonly heard in BE. We usually say "Have you finished with the phone?". Sometimes we also use "Are you done with the phone?"
I've also heard "Are you done using the phone?" but I'm not sure where I have heard it (maybe on TV)!! :)
Shane, an English professor once told me that he was uncomfortable with ' are you done ... ' instead of ' Have you finished .... ' . He said British people don't identify with Americans over this phrase ' are you done... '. That is why I feel surprised to see that ' Are you done with the phone ? ' is a common sentence in England :POriginally Posted by shane
IMO, I think it's becoming common because of TV. Much of British TV is from the US (as well as Australia & New Zealand), and so our exposure to AE is pretty constant. It's only natural that after some time, people will start using it.Originally Posted by whl626
Of course, traditionally speaking, BE doesn't use it (and some people don't like hearing it), but AE and BE are slowly getting mixed up with each other nowadays, and so the fine line between these two styles of English is becoming finer. ;)
I certainly wouldn't have a problem with a British person saying "Are you done with the phone?" to me. :)
You Americans and British have no problems with each other. But it is indeed a problem to outsiders :P. Because we try to understand English through sentence structure and grammar analysis. It makes our head spin at times on how to interprete things. And I keep trying to figure out ways to overcome this very problem.
Maybe some kind of reform on the present educational level towards the studying of English is necessary :P
Language is a constantly changing thing, which is one of the things that makes studying it so difficult.


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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) P.J. Hairston scored 15 points in his first career start to help North Carolina beat No. 20 UNLV 79-73 on Saturday.
Dexter Strickland added a season-high 16 points for the Tar Heels (10-3), who led by 15 points in the first half and by nine at the break. But UNC had to turn away a second-half surge by the Runnin' Rebels (11-2) to earn the program's 63rd straight home win against nonconference opponents.
Freshman Anthony Bennett had 15 points and 13 rebounds for UNLV, which led by a point briefly in the second half but spent most of the game in catch-up mode. Katin Reinhardt and Anthony Marshall each added 15 points for the Runnin' Rebels, who also got Mike Moser back from an elbow injury after a four-game absence.
Hairston started in place of Reggie Bullock, who sat out with a mild concussion suffered in Thursday's practice.
Hairston finished 5 for 10 from the field and hit two 3-pointers, but the 6-foot-5 sophomore turned in a strong overall performance that included four rebounds, four steals and two charges taken. He also knocked down two free throws with 28.5 seconds left that made it a two-possession game after the Runnin' Rebels had closed within 76-73.
Strickland added two more free throws with 4.7 seconds left.
James Michael McAdoo shook off a poor first half and finished with 13 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who shot 51 percent for the game and scored 18 points off 17 turnovers by UNLV.
The Tar Heels fell out of the Top 25 after a loss at Texas and hadn't played since a 34-point home win over McNeese State three days before Christmas. They looked sharp and active early in this one, frequently getting hands in passing lanes or stripping the ball to build the first-half lead.
Then, after UNLV had closed within one midway through the second half, the Tar Heels put together a 7-1 spurt to re-build some of its lost early cushion. McAdoo scored a tough basket over Bennett inside, then freshman Marcus Paige followed with a jumper over Khem Birch.
Two minutes later, freshman Brice Johnson went up in traffic to rebound a missed shot from Strickland and score on a putback that made it 71-64 with 4:40 left.
Strickland hit a jumper near the foul line that barely beat the shot clock for a 74-68 lead with 1:30 left, though the Tar Heels couldn't close it out until those final seconds.
Moser, a 6-8 junior averaging about 11 points and eight rebounds, hadn't played since dislocating his right elbow at California on Dec. 9. He was hurt when his right arm bent awkwardly under an opposing player as the two dived on the court for a loose ball.
He recently returned to practice, entered this game at the 13:28 mark of the first half and knocked down a 3-pointer over J.P. Tokoto just before halftime to bring the Runnin' Rebels within 39-30. It was his only basket of the game.


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Kubota is committed to manufacturing groundbreaking products of global engineering excellence and the highest quality. Kubota's New Product Limited Warranty exhibits the confidence we have in our product and Kubota's commitment to customer satisfaction.
As part of our commitment to quality and reliability, Kubota Canada provides comprehensive warranty coverage for your new Kubota product.
Warranty coverage on your Kubota product starts upon delivery of the product. Kubota Canada Ltd. warrants all parts (except as listed), implements and replacement parts to be free from defects in materials or workmanship during the warranty period.


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Learn German free
German is one of the world's most widely spoken languages. It is is spoken in countries such as Austria, Switzerland and Germany, and is the most commonly spoken language within the European Union. It is a useful language for business and commerce purposes, as well as for travel. Unsurprisingly, many people wish to acquire the language for leisure or business purposes. But is learning German for free possible?
Language Websites
Many websites offer the possibility to learn German for free. Some courses are hosted by reputable websites and offer the novice their first free German lessons. However, most of these websites cater for absolute beginners. Once language learners have reached a level beyond that of a beginner in the language, they will quickly find that they have outgrown the resources offered by the site. Despite this, a free website can be a useful way for someone who has never encountered the language before to gain a basic familiarity with the language. A downside of learning German for free from a website is that there is no option to receive personalised instruction or tailored feedback.
Social Networks
You can learn German for free on social network sites. This is a very useful method to increase confidence in the German language. However, social networks do not provide free German lessons. It is difficult for those learning German for free to receive instruction in the basics of the German language from social network sites. The use of social networks to learn German is much more appropriate for those who are experienced German conversationalists. For them, social networks offer great opportunities to further practise the language. Unfortunately, it is not such a good platform to learn German for free in a structured manner.
Native speakers
Those learning German for free could enlist the help of a native speaker of German. An experienced German speaker who is willing to communicate either in person or by email is ideal. They are able to assist with free German lessons and provide timely feedback. However, only very few learners of a foreign language are in the fortunate position of having a native speaker as a friend who is also willing to invest the amount of time required to help you learn German for free.
Learning German with Babbel
Babbel does not provide free German lessons, but it is very competitively priced. You have the benefit of being able to learn at your own pace – from the level of the complete beginner to the very advanced. Babbel's multi-media platform has combined all the advantages of learning through website or social media and you can learn "on the move" through a variety of Babbel Mobile applications. The system includes a 'review manager' to tailor the learning process to your individual needs. You benefit from having a German speaking 'friend' online in the form of the Babbel community. With Babbel, you won't learn German for free, but you will learn German in a way that incorporates all the advantages of modern techniques of language learning. And you can test the first lesson of each course for free.


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Just delete it...soul19 wrote:sorry about the double post
If you want to loop and unhook, get the 9m Screamer instead of the 10m. The 9m is much quicker and more responsive. But the 10m boosts more (and will rip your arms out if unhooked).ShredThaGnar wrote:Looks like they are doing just fine on the screamers. I saw the judge but i wasnt to crazy about it. Thanks for the info and the videos. Should be picking up a screamer real soon!
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Reclast (zoledronic acid): Drug Safety Communication - New Contraindication and Updated Warning on Kidney Impairment
AUDIENCE: Endocrinology, Pharmacy, Patient
ISSUE: FDA notified healthcare professionals and patients of an update to the drug label for Reclast (zoledronic acid) regarding the risk of kidney failure. Cases of acute renal failure requiring dialysis or having a fatal outcome following Reclast use have been reported to FDA. The revised label states that Reclast is contraindicated in patients with creatinine clearance less than 35 mL/min or in patients with evidence of acute renal impairment. The label also recommends that healthcare professionals screen patients prior to administering Reclast in order to identify at-risk patients.
The Reclast Medication Guide for patients is being updated to contain information about the risk of severe kidney problems. In addition, the manufacturer of Reclast will issue a Dear Healthcare Provider letter to inform healthcare professionals about this risk.
BACKGROUND: Risk factors for developing renal failure include underlying moderate to severe renal impairment, use of kidney-damaging (nephrotoxic) or diuretic medications at the same time as Reclast, or severe dehydration occurring before or after Reclast is given. The risk of developing renal failure in patients with underlying renal impairment also increases with age.
These labeling changes are being made to the Reclast label only, although zoledronic acid, also sold as Zometa, is approved for treatment of cancer-related indications. Renal toxicity is already addressed in the Warnings and Precautions section of the Zometa label. Dose reductions for Zometa are provided for patients with renal impairment.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Reclast is contraindicated in patients with creatinine clearance less than 35 mL/min, or in patients with evidence of acute renal impairment. Healthcare professionals should screen patients prior to administering Reclast in order to identify at-risk patients. Healthcare professionals should also monitor renal function in patients who are receiving Reclast.
Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of these products to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program:
Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
Download form or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit by fax to 1-800-FDA-0178
Read the MedWatch safety alert, including links to the Drug Safety Communication, including a Data Summary, and prescribing information, at: