text:
OmegaT has an inline spelling checker. This feature makes use of the spelling dictionaries used in LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org. Dictionaries are available for a large number of languages.
New spelling dictionaries can be installed from within OmegaT in the Options > Spell Checking dialog. In this dialog, select or create a dictionary file folder on your hard drive. This is the folder in which the spelling dictionary files will be placed. (Do not confuse this folder with the "dictionary" folder in OmegaT projects.) Then select the URL (website address) of an online repository from which to download the dictionary or dictionaries, and paste this URL into the "URL of online dictionaries" field. A list of repository URLs is provided below.
URLs of repositories of spelling dictionaries:
In the Options > Spell Checking dialog, select or create a dictionary file folder on your hard drive.
Obtain the .dic and .aff files of the dictionary you wish to use, and place these files in this folder.
Besides being available from the repositories above, spelling dictionaries are available as part of LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org installations. LibreOffice and more recent versions of OpenOffice.org now use the "extensions" format for these dictionaries, in which the files are supplied in a a zip archive with the extension .oxt. To use spelling dictionaries in this format, rename the file extension from .oxt to .zip and using a zip archive application (such as WinZip) to extract the .dic and .aff files.
The names of the files must correspond to the language code of your target language as defined in the project properties dialog (Project > Properties). For example, if you have selected ES-MX (Mexican Spanish) as the target language, the dictionary files must be named es_MX.dic and es_MX.aff. If you only have a Bolivian Spanish dictionary available, with the file names es_BO.dic and es_BO.aff, you can rename these files es_MX.dic and es_MX.aff, and the spelling dictionary will work. (It will, of course, check for Bolivian rather than Mexican Spanish!)
Check that spelling checking is enabled in the spelling checking dialog.
If the automatic installation process does not work: check that your Internet connection is working; if so, try a different repository URL. Check that you have write permissions for the spelling dictionary folder you have selected.
Check that the .dic and .aff files for your language are present in the spelling dictionary folder, and that their names correspond to the target language code.
Copyright Marc Prior 2009-2011


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Milwaukee man sentenced to life in prison for killing neighbor
John Spooner convicted of killing Darius Simmons
A Milwaukee man convicted of shooting and killing his 13-year-old neighbor will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.
The jury considered John Spooner's case in two phases. First, it found him guilty of shooting and killing 13-year-old Darius Simmons. Then, the jury decided he was not mentally ill at the time of the shooting.
Simmons' mother went to the sentencing Monday with her pastor and a message of peace.
"I have no hatred for this man. I will pray for him," Patricia Larry said.
She asked the judge to sentence Spooner to prison for what's left of his life for killing her son, but while many went there hoping to hear Spooner say he was sorry, he chose to lay blame.
"May God forgive you Ms. Larry for your lying and cheating and stealing," Spooner said.
Spooner blamed his incarceration on her and her sons, who he claimed tormented him.
"Ms. Larry, she knew those kids were going to rob my house, the sick old man next door," Spooner said. "Why did they do that to me? They screwed up my life. How much can a guy take?"
Spooner, 76, claimed Simmons was stealing guns from his home, and Spooner told the court he was angry when he shot the teen. Police did not find any stolen guns in Simmons' home after the shooting.
"I feel sorry for Darius. He had nobody that loved him enough to teach him to go straight," Spooner said.
At the end of the sentencing, Spooner's attorney asked the judge to consider special protection for Spooner while he's in prison because of the racial overtones of this case. The judge denied that request.
Simmons' mother left court without taking questions. Her attorney said it was a difficult day.
The family has filed a wrongful death suit against Spooner.

subset: commoncrawl


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After spearheading the push to secure Manatee County funding for a new concession building for Manatee East Little League at Lakewood Ranch Park, League Board Member Allen Steinfeld still faced a $30,000 shortfall.
That's when he approached Neal Communities' Pat Neal and asked him to take a tour of the current concession area. And after Neal saw the mud-filled accommodations and dilapidated trailer, he pledged the money needed to get the new building started.
"We're longtime residents and raised our own kids here," Neal said. "Providing facilities that encourage kids to get involved in sports is paramount to a community's success – kids who are involved in sports are more likely to be achievers in school and other aspects of their lives. It was just the right thing to do."
Steinfeld said Neal's final $30,000 completes a dream for the league and the community.
"The combined efforts of the board members, Manatee County, small business owners and parents of the little leaguers demonstrate how a community can come together to make an important project for kids and their families a reality," he said.
The new Manatee East Little League Concession Building will include restrooms, storage space and ample space for concession sales, of which a percentage goes back to the Manatee East Little League. Staffed by Manatee East Little League Board and family members, the facility not only will benefit the players, which total between 200-400 kids depending on the season, but also their families and other visitors who use the park.
Total cost for the new building is estimated at $150,000, with $100,000 committed from Manatee County thanks to the support from County Commissioner Donna Hayes and Manatee County Parks and Recreation. In addition, another $20,000 was raised through fundraising programs, East County families, board members and other individual and corporate contributions.
"The new concession building project is another important example of how public and private enterprises can effectively work together to come up with a solution for a much-needed facility," Hayes said. "Kids, baseball and supporting youth and other important sports programs are vital to our community, both from an economic as well as quality-of-life issue."
Construction, to be performed by J.K. Fowler General Contractor Inc., is planned to commence within the week. Michael Otis, from CPA Construction Inc., was instrumental in organizing the process with the building contract and Manatee County. Scheduled completion is by the end of January 2010, in time for the opening of the 2010 Spring Season, which begins mid-February.


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The face of Obamacare speaks out
The mysterious, smiling woman who graced the HealthCare.gov home page for much of its troubled rollout has gone public, saying she wants to stand up to "cyberbullying" she has faced when the website went live.
"They have nothing else to do but hide behind the computer. They're cyberbullying," the woman who asked to be identified as Adriana told ABC News. "I'm here to stand up for myself and defend myself and let people know the truth."
Before the rollout, Adriana contacted the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees implementation of the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Adriana wanted to have free family photos taken and she said in exchange for that, the administration could use them on its health website. While she knew her picture would be used on the site, she told ABC she was not prepared for the backlash.
PHOTOS: Obamacare online glitches: 25 great quotes)
"Like I said, it was shocking. It was upsetting. It was sad. We were having a hard day when we read all this," she said. "And in a way, I'm glad that my son is not old enough to understand, because you know whatever happens to you, it hurts them too."
She said it was a "relief" when her image was replaced last month with icons of different ways to enroll. The administration said the website was changed to highlight the ways to enroll, not to remove her picture. They have refused to identify her.
Adriana is a wife and mother to a 21-month-old son who lives in Maryland, she said. Her husband is a U.S. citizen; she is Colombian, has lived in the U.S. for six years and is applying for citizenship.
She said she is now able to laugh the whole thing off.


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The Social Democrats have bought a CZK 5 million debt of lawyer Zdeněk Altner, with whom they are locked in a legal dispute, and launched distraint proceedings against him. A spokesperson for the party said this would improve their position with regard to Mr. Altner, to whom they have been ordered to pay a huge sum. Mr. Altner's legal representative said the move would not impact the case between his client and the Social Democrats, while the lawyer himself described the move as base. Earlier this year the Social Democrats were ordered to pay Mr. Altner CZK 377 million in connection with his representation in a case surrounding the party's headquarters.
The Czech tennis player Karolína Plíšková was beaten in the final of the UK's Eastbourne tournament on Saturday by Dominika Cibulková of Slovakia. The 5-7 3-6 defeat denied Plíšková her second WTA title of the season and despite reaching the final at Eastbourne she is set to remain at 17th in the world rankings.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says Europe may pay an excessively high price for his UK counterpart David Cameron's pledge to hold an EU referendum in order to unify his Conservative Party prior to elections. Speaking a day after the UK's vote to leave sent shockwaves around the bloc, Mr. Sobotka said that would had happened was not the end of European integration – just the end of the UK in the EU. The Czech leader said the main thing now was agreeing co-existence with Great Britain under conditions advantageous to the Czech Republic; the priority is ensuring the maintenance of smooth exports and good conditions for Czechs working in the UK, he said.
The Czech Republic is likely to join the prestigious Ariane and Vega space programme run by the European Space Agency at the start of July, the Czech News Agency reported on Saturday. Finance Minister Andrej Babiš has pledged to provide financial backing, saying he wished to support the country's orientation in the aviation and space industries. Czech firms and researchers are expected to take part in the development, testing and production of parts for the Ariane 6 launch vehicle, whose first test flight is scheduled for 2020. A spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Transport said the country would come on board once the move had been approved by existing ESA members.
An express train crashed into a shunting locomotive at Brno's Main Train Station on Saturday morning. The train was not carrying passengers at the time. The train's locomotive derailed after the driver went through a signal, crashing into the shunting locomotive and causing injuries to its driver. Czech Railways officials put the damage at around CZK 3 million.
Forecasters have warned of major storms in the Czech Republic on Saturday. After record-breaking temperatures on Thursday and Friday, heavy downpours, hailstones and wind storms are expected to hit between 3 PM and 3 AM. Bohemia will be most affected with storms also likely in parts of Moravia and Silesia slightly later. Temperatures of up to 36 degrees Celsius should then fall to between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius, meteorologist Štefan Handžák told Czech Radio.
Parts of Prague Castle were closed on Friday evening for the birthday party of Martin Nejedlý, chief advisor to President Miloš Zeman. The head of state was among the well-wishers at the event hosted by Mr. Nejedlý, who headed a Czech branch of Lukoil, at the Queen Anne's Summer Palace and adjacent Royal Gardens. They had never previously been rented out for a private or commercial event, Novinky.cz reported. Also in attendance at the party were cabinet ministers, two former prime ministers and the Russian ambassador.
Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who is on a two-day working visit to Austria, met with the country's Chancellor Christian Kern on Friday. Mr Kern said after the meeting that the talks were dominated by Britain's decision to leave the EU. The Czech Prime Minister stressed that it was essential for the central European countries to strengthen good mutual relationships, especially in view of Brexit. The two politicians also discussed European issues, the migrant crisis, transport infrastructure and energy security.
Police seized over 107 kilogrammes of pervitin last year, the largest amount in the history of the anti-drug squad and twice the amount seized in the previous year, according to the annual report by the National anti-drug headquarters quoted by the Czech News Agency on Friday. The police also took hold of over 655 kilos of marihuana and over 120 kilos of cocaine. According to experts, the illegal drug business is fuelled by growing demand for pervitin in neighbouring countries. In recent years, the large-scale production of pervitin has been dominated mostly by Vietnamese gangs, which aim at exporting the drug abroad.
The tropical heatwave that arrived in the Czech Republic this week has been breaking temperature records around the country. More than 15 monitoring stations on Thursday recorded the highest ever measurements for the day. The highest temperature, 32.9 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Žatec. Meteorologists have warned that the heatwave will be followed by heavy storms, which are expected to arrive in the country on Saturday afternoon and could be accompanied by hail and torrential rain.


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Drug information provided by: IBM Micromedex
Cyclosporine injection is given together with a steroid medicine to prevent the body from rejecting a transplanted organ (e.g., kidney, liver, or heart). It belongs to a group of medicines known as immunosuppressive agents.
When a patient receives an organ transplant, the body's white blood cells will try to get rid of (reject) the transplanted organ. Cyclosporine works by suppressing the immune system to prevent the white blood cells from trying to get rid of the transplanted organ.
Cyclosporine is a very strong medicine. It can cause side effects that can be very serious, such as high blood pressure, kidney problems, or liver problems. It may also decrease the body's ability to fight infections. You and your doctor should talk about the benefits this medicine will do as well as the risks of using it.
This medicine is to be given only by or under the direct supervision of a doctor.
This product is available in the following dosage forms:
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For this medicine, the following should be considered:
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Appropriate studies on the relationship of age to the effects of cyclosporine injection have not been performed in the pediatric population. However, no pediatric-specific problems have been documented to date.
Appropriate studies performed to date have not demonstrated geriatric-specific problems that would limit the usefulness of cyclosporine injection in the elderly. However, elderly patients are more likely to have high blood pressure or age-related kidney, liver, or heart problems, which may require caution and an adjustment in the dose for patients receiving cyclosporine injection.
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are receiving this medicine, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is not recommended. Your doctor may decide not to treat you with this medication or change some of the other medicines you take.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines may cause an increased risk of certain side effects, but using both drugs may be the best treatment for you. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of this medicine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:
A nurse or other trained health professional will give you this medicine. This medicine is given through a needle placed in one of your veins.
This medicine is usually given 4 to 12 hours before organ transplantation. Then your doctor will switch you to the oral (by mouth) form of Sandimmune®.
It is very important that your doctor check you closely while you are receiving this medicine. This will allow your doctor to see if the medicine is working properly and to decide if you should continue to receive it. Blood and urine tests may be needed to check for unwanted effects.
This medicine may cause a serious type of allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. The most serious signs of this reaction are very fast or irregular breathing, gasping for breath, wheezing, or fainting. Other signs may include changes in color of the skin of the face, very fast but irregular heartbeat or pulse, hive-like swellings on the skin, flushing of the face, and puffiness or swellings of the eyelids or around the eyes. If these side effects occur, get emergency help at once.
Check with your doctor right away if you have any of the following symptoms: blood in the urine, change in the frequency of urination or amount of urine, difficulty breathing, drowsiness, increased thirst, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, or swelling of the feet or lower legs, or weakness. These may be symptoms of a serious kidney problem.
Hyperkalemia (high potassium in the blood) may occur while you are receiving this medicine. Tell your doctor right away if you have the following symptoms: abdominal or stomach pain, confusion, difficulty breathing, irregular heartbeat, nausea or vomiting, nervousness, numbness or tingling in the hands, feet, or lips, shortness of breath, or weakness or heaviness of the legs. Do not use supplements or salt substitutes containing potassium without first checking with your doctor.
Check with your doctor right away if you have pain or tenderness in the upper stomach, pale stools, dark urine, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, or yellow eyes or skin. These could be symptoms of a serious liver problem.
This medicine may increase your risk of getting skin cancer or cancer of the lymph system (lymphoma). Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about this risk.
This medicine may increase your risk of developing infections. Avoid being near people who are sick while you are receiving this medicine. Wash your hands often. Tell your doctor if you have any kind of infection before you start using this medicine. Tell your doctor if you have ever had an infection that would not go away or an infection that kept coming back.
This medicine may increase your risk of developing rare and serious virus infections, such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and polyoma virus-associated nephropathy (PVAN). The BK virus may affect how your kidneys work and cause a transplanted kidney to fail. Check with your doctor right away if you are having more than one of these symptoms: bloody urine, a decreased frequency or amount of urine, increased thirst, loss of appetite, lower back or side pain, nausea, swelling of the face, fingers, or lower legs, trouble breathing, unusual tiredness or weakness, vomiting, or weight gain.
While you are being treated with cyclosporine, and after you stop treatment with it, do not have any immunizations (vaccines) without your doctor's approval. Cyclosporine lowers your body's resistance and there is a chance you might get the infection the immunization is meant to prevent. However, it may be especially important to receive certain immunizations to prevent a disease. In addition, other persons living in your house should not take oral polio vaccine since there is a chance they could pass the polio virus on to you. Also, avoid persons who have recently taken oral polio vaccine. Do not get close to them, and do not stay in the same room with them for very long. If you cannot take these precautions, you should consider wearing a protective face mask that covers the nose and mouth.
In some patients (usually younger patients), tenderness, swelling, or bleeding of the gums may appear soon after treatment with cyclosporine is started. Brushing and flossing your teeth, carefully and regularly, and massaging your gums may help prevent this. See your dentist regularly to have your teeth cleaned. Check with your medical doctor or dentist if you have any questions about how to take care of your teeth and gums, or if you notice any tenderness, swelling, or bleeding of your gums.
Grapefruit and grapefruit juice may increase the effects of cyclosporine by increasing the amount of this medicine in the body. You should not eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice while you are receiving this medicine.
Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal (e.g., St. John's wort) or vitamin supplements.
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor or nurse immediately if any of the following side effects occur:
Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Portions of this document last updated: Sept. 01, 2020
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/cyclosporine-intravenous-route/proper-use/drg-20067296
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No bail: Abshire pleads poverty in first court appearance
After spending nearly three weeks behind bars, accused wife-killer Eric Abshire was forced to wait seven hours past his scheduled hearing time before he was led into the Orange County Circuit courtroom at around 5pm on Thursday, January 6 for his first appearance in what appears already on its way to becoming a lengthy legal process.
Wearing handcuffs, leg shackles, and the orange-and-white-striped uniform of the Central Virginia Regional Jail, where he has been held since his December 17 arrest on first degree murder and perjury charges, the 36-year-old Abshire painted a bleak picture of his finances as he asked Judge Daniel Bouton for a court-appointed attorney.
Standing erect and speaking in a steady tone, the former dump-truck operator said he worked full-time until his arrest, and he denied having any assets, including a vehicle. His checking account balance, he said, is $120. (As previously reported, Abshire–- who allegedly attempted to secure $300,000 of his late wife's life insurance proceeds–- declared bankruptcy in May 2009.)
Judge Bouton appointed Charlottesville attorney Charles Weber and agreed with the prosecutor by denying Abshire's bail request, ordering Abshire to remain behind bars until his tentatively scheduled February 4 arraignment at which the charges against him will be formally read. (Directly indicted by a grand jury, Abshire will not get a preliminary hearing.)
During the approximately 15 minutes Abshire spent in the courtroom, the family of Justine Swartz Abshire, whom Abshire is charged with murdering, sat expressionless, staring intently at the man they have long believed caused his 27-year-old wife's death. Her body was found on a dark road in November 2006 death, ostensibly the victim of a hit-and-run.
"I was struck by what a pointless tragedy this whole thing is," says the victim's father, Steve Swartz. who says he was overwhelmed by the "many, many layers of damage and hurt" that have rippled through both families.
Swartz, speaking the morning after the hearing, was accompanied in the courtroom by his younger daughter and her husband.
The Swartzes have long expressed their belief that Abshire, a former Marine, lied about the night he says he discovered Justine's body lying on Taylorsville Road. A beloved kindergarten teacher at Culpeper's Emerald Hill Elementary School, Justine was also working toward a master degree at UVA.
"I just feel such sadness," Justine's sister, Lauren, said before the hearing.
Several members of Abshire's circle were also present in the courtroom. His brother, Jesse, who is one of the four named defendants in a civil suit filed by Justine's family, left the courthouse immediately at the conclusion without offering comment. However, the grandmother of Eric's two daughters says she was only there for one reason.
"My granddaughter asked me to come and be here when her daddy came out," said Jaye Morris, breaking into sobs as she stood outside the building.
"My heart breaks for the Swartzes, " said Morris, "but my heart also breaks for my grandchildren."
Morris is the mother of Allison Crawford, the Martha Jefferson Hospital nurse who, after Justine's death, alleged "family abuse" and won a two-year protective order against former domestic partner Abshire. Crawford is accused in the Swartzes' civil suit of conspiring with Abshire and others to cause Justine's death. Crawford, not present in court, has denied any involvement.
As the shackled Abshire was led from the courtroom on his way back to jail, he turned briefly and looked out into the gallery to focus his gaze on Crawford's parents and sister. Just before exiting, Abshire stopped once more to look back, pressed his lips together and made an expression of anguish before disappearing through a door accompanied by a bailiff.
10 comments
Being directly indicted by a grand jury doesn't impress me much. While there's several reasons the Commonwealth would proceed like this, one of those reasons is the concern that the Commonwealth might feel as if they don't have enough evidence to have a General District Court judge certify the charges to a grand jury.
In other words, which "rubber stamp" did the Commonwealth feel was going to easier to obtain based on their evidence, that of a judge after a preliminary hearing, or that of a grand jury?
It will be a very long process. And I doubt if Abshire has the $75,000 to $100,000 required to hire a good attorney. Most people don't nowadays.
un known,
None of the comments posted are directed towards his children, you are in fact the one who brought them up. If you think everyone should just stay out of it, then you should possibly take you your own advice. My only hope is that justice is served and that the person/s/ responsible are held accountable.
i think every one needs to stay out of this. this man has 2 kids and they have the right to protect there dad and they are getting hurt byall meens yes this is wrong for what he did but leave the mother and there kidds out of it. please do so these kidds are terrified to see whats going on with there dad. now when they go in a store people say to them your dad is amurder?????? how would you feel if your in a store and somebody says that to your kids ?????
UN Known,
I think the public has a right to display outrage. If we didn't, generations to come may feel this was the norm. Re- is correct. No one mentioned the children but you. My heart goes out to both families.
I wouldn't place much faith in any court appointed attorney unless they are compensated much better than they used to. If Abshire is guilty, this doesn't bother me much. But if he is innocent, he should have the best attorney money can buy.
Did it ever occur to you, Gasbag, that the Commonwealth used a special grand jury in order to get testimony (under oath) from individuals with knowledge of the incident? Where do you think the perjury charge came from?
Not sure where you are going with this. No flavor of grand jury is going to rubber stamp anything unless individuals with knowledge of the incident offers some type of testimony, either verbal or documentary.
Where did the perjury charge come from? I don't know. Did a witness or the suspect commit perjury? It's not unusual for the testimony of a witness to contradict the prior statements of the suspect. This doesn't mean the suspect lied. Witnesses often lie if it's in their best interest (this includes cops).
another wonderful animal, in human being clothing. I am certain that neighbors and witnesses who knew this was going to happen will come forward. Another case of no one speaking up to stop this type of atrocity.
Abshire has been given a quite competent court appointed attorney. Buddy Weber will do a good job for him.
The purpose of the special grand jury is to give the prosecutor a chance to question under oath, with the power to compel answers, everyone involved. This is a power that federal grand juries always have -- to really investigate. Most state grand juries (ones that are not "special" grand juries) do no investigating. They hear from one police officer who summarizes the evidence, including hearsay and other inadmissible things. Rarely does a state grand jury hear from anyone other than the lead investigator on a case.
Eric Abshire must have been called as a witness and must have testified under oath about something that the prosecutors could prove with hard evidence was not true. They don't get a perjury charge against you for a "general denial." For example, if they ask him, "Did you kill her?" and he answered "No," they won't indict him for perjury. If they ask him, "Did you make a telephone call at 12:30 AM," and they have a cell phone record showing that he did, that could be the basis of a perjury charge. We won't know until Buddy Weber starts filing motions just what it was that he said that they are saying is undeniably and clearly not true.
his azz will rot in jail or live the rest of his life in prison


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For most of us, buying a car -- yes, even a used car -- is one of the biggest purchases we'll ever make.
Sure, a shiny new vehicle is the dream. But the reality often is a dinged pre-owned ride bought with the hope that it will not turn into a nightmare of won't start, needs a new timing belt, wipers not working and warning lights all aglow.
Of course, there's no way to be 100 percent sure that you won't have trouble as soon as you drive off the lot. However, there are steps that will reduce your risk and make the whole transaction less scary.
The Internet has made it easy to do your homework in deciding on a year, make and model and figuring out market value -- a key number when you're negotiating a price.
Websites to help research choices and locate available cars include autotrader.com, edmunds.com, kelleybluebook.com and cars.com (which is partly-owned by Tribune Co., publisher of this newspaper).
Pay special attention to the reliability rating for the year and model of car you're thinking about.
The Chicago Tribune's retired veteran auto columnist Jim Mateja, cars.com editor-in-chief Patrick Olsen and Brett Berk, who writes about cars for Vanity Fair agree on basic precautions before you buy.
Have it checked out by a mechanic you trust
"If you give him $100 he might save you $10,000," says Mateja. (Mechanics generally charge $25 to $100 to check out a vehicle.) "This is a must. If the seller refuses to allow this, don't buy," says Berk.
Also a must: You, not the seller, choose the mechanic.
If problems are found, use that information in negotiating a price. But, "Don't be discouraged if somebody finds some problems. After all, it's a used car. Find out how serious the problems are and how fixable, and how much they'll cost," Mateja says.
"Better than just saying this and this and this is wrong," says Olsen, "Say, 'New tires are going to cost me $600. Can you meet me half way?'"
Drive it
"With the radio off, listen to what it sounds like. Are there squeaks and ticks?" asks Olsen. Press, pull, yank, turn every knob, button and gauge. "Make sure they work because once you buy it, it's too late," says Mateja.
"Is it slow to brake? Difficult to turn? Turning too quickly or slowly? Is there smoke coming out of the exhaust?" asks Mateja.
Also examine the body in daylight for rust, scrapes and scratches. Shopping on a clear winter day? Don't forget to test wipers and air conditioning. Even in summer, turn on the heat. Put in a CD or tape to make sure the audio system is OK and that all the speakers work.
Check the trunk for a jack and a functioning spare and any signs of mildew or water damage.
Ask for a Carfax report
Although they're not foolproof, a report by carfax.com is likely to reveal whether the car has been wrecked, flooded or salvaged, and other red flags. If the dealership won't provide one, get the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and order one yourself for $34.99.
Based on condition, mileage and Kelley Blue Book, offering 20 percent below asking is a good starting point. "This is the thing everyone fears but the worst a person can say is 'no,'" Mateja says. There's nothing wrong with a lowball offer, he says. "If they're asking $8,800, I might start at $6,500 or $7,000."
On the other hand, "If anyone jumps on your 20 percent (below asking price), I'd make sure my mechanic had seen it," says Olsen. That old maxim is operative here: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Can't stand the bargaining process? Choose a dealer like CarMax which promotes a no-haggle policy that eliminates the stress and confusion of the negotiating process.
Be prepared to walk away
Don't fall in love. There are plenty of other used cars out there.
Also …
•Buy at the end of the month. Especially at larger dealerships, sales staff are rated on whether they meet monthly sales quotas so they're especially eager to make a deal at month's end, says Olsen.
•No title in hand? No deal! "Don't go with, 'I'll give it to you later,'" warns Olsen.
•Buying from an individual seller who "you'll never see again" can leave you with little recourse if the car is a lemon, says Mateja.
•Certified used cars are often more expensive but less risky.
•Handing over actual cash is never a good idea and a cashier's check from the bank is as good as cash. You probably can get a better deal by offering to pay that way instead of financing, says Berk.
Not sure about the dealership? Check your local Better Business Bureau for complaints and whether they were resolved satisfactorily.
For most of us, buying a car -- yes, even a used car -- is one of the biggest purchases we'll ever make.


text:
Schools may consider closing Monday because of bitter cold
The dangerous cold temperatures could cause school closings Monday.
Megan Jensen walked her daughter to school Thursday, but if weather predictions of possibly 40 below wind chills early next week come true, both plan to hold up at home.
"That's really cold, and I don't think that they should be allowing school that day," Jensen said.
VIDEO: Schools will have to decide whether to close Monday
But Sara Wolf, who is a mom and a teacher, said she doesn't care how cold it gets -- she and daughter Sophia plan to be in the class room.
"Children will be inside at school where I'm teaching, and she'll be coming to school because she needs her education," Wolf daid.
This is the dilemma school administrators are taking into the weekend. Brown Deer Superintendent Dr. Deb Kerr said they're going to cross that bridge when they get to it.
"We've made some plans to have, like, shipments of food in earlier by the end of this week just in case we don't have school Monday, but it's just being ready for what could come," Kerr said.
"We have policies when the cold hits," Glendale-River Hills school administrator Jim Beckmann said.
Beckmann said it's too early to make the call now, but closing may be a necessary consideration.
"If there is a sustained 25 below zero temperature we consider closing schools, is it's a sustained wind chill of 45 below or more we consider closing schools," Beckmann said.
Many of the suburbs take their cue from Milwaukee and a spokeswoman for Milwaukee Public Schools said they will monitor the situation, and if they do decide to close, parents will get plenty of notice.
People can check for school or business closings here.


text:
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XL flooring is a distributor in the LVT flooring, with their flooring installed in countless residential and commercial spaces. XL's commitment to innovative design, unrivaled quality and 100% customer satisfaction has been the driving force of their business from the beginning and will continue to be moving forward.


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MLS and USA soccer star Landon Donovan has announced his retirement from the professional sport. The all-time leading scorer in USMNT soccer history will retire at the end of this season.
Donovan published the following letter to explain his decision:
After careful deliberation and after many conversations with those closest to me, I have decided that this will be my last season as a professional soccer player.
I don't write these words lightly and this day carries mixed emotions for me. I am sad to leave a profession that has brought me so much joy. I will miss all of the teammates who helped me create so many incredible memories on-the-field, and who I have shared many wonderful experiences with off-the-field. I will miss my coaches, at both the club and national team levels, who have helped me develop throughout my career and helped make me the player I am today. However, after spending half my life as a professional soccer player, I also am excited to begin a new chapter and pursue other opportunities that will challenge me and allow me to grow as a person.
There are so many people I want to thank who have inspired me, guided me and helped me on this incredible journey. I simply could not have accomplished what I did during my playing career without an overwhelming amount of support from my family, my friends and many others. I plan to express my gratitude to everyone in a more detailed manner at a later date; however, for now, I want to single out the fans. You are the lifeblood of this sport and, without you, none of us would be fortunate to call ourselves professional soccer players in MLS.
I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have played a role in the remarkable growth of MLS and US Soccer during my playing career. And while my career as a player will soon be over, rest assured I will stay connected on many levels to the beautiful game.
As we enter a transformative time for the sport, I will do everything I can to help the continued growth of soccer in the United States. I look forward to making a difference, pursuing my passions and meeting all of you along the way in this next phase of my life.
With gratitude,
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text:
Flu hitting pregnant women hard
Doctor says flu vaccine safe for expectant women
New numbers just released from the state's public health department show a worrying trend.
Ten people have died statewide from the flu since October and two of them were expectant mothers.
VIDEO: Ten people die statewide of flu
Dr. Alison Ring, an Ob-Gyn at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital, said she's concerned considering we're only in the middle of January and flu season lasts until May.
"We are only about halfway through the flu season, so we have a lot more of the flu season to get through before we see where those numbers go," Ring said.
Across the state, nearly 850 people have been hospitalized.
In the city of Milwaukee, the Health Department reported 185 people have been hospitalized, and more than 10 percent were pregnant.
Most of those expecting were not vaccinated.
"The flu vaccination should be part of routine prenatal care for all pregnant ladies. We know that it's the best way to protect pregnant ladies from the flu," Ring said.
Sarah Matt, of New Berlin, is pregnant with her second child and has never been vaccinated despite her doctors recommendation.
"I decided that it's just not worth the risk to the baby, and putting something inside of me that's foreign. Plus, I very rarely get the flu," Matt said.
Ring said the vaccine is safe for a developing fetus and offers maternal immunity to the baby up until six months after birth.
She also said it's a misconception someone can get the flu from the flu vaccine.
Ring said getting the flu vaccine now still offers great protection. She also recommends good old-fashion hand-washing and other good hygiene habits.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention right now there is widespread flu activity in 40 states, including Wisconsin.
The highest concentrations are in the south-central United States, from Missouri to Texas.
More than 3,700 flu patients have been admitted to the hospital since the beginning of October.


text:
Single row 2 pin male header, 2.54mm, Gold plated. The pins on both sides of the header are 3.0mm long. This connector has been designed to join two PCBs, by soldering a PCB to both sides of the connector.
This connector is used to solder iMod Modules onto a board, as shown in the pictures below.
To pay via PayPal Express Checkout, go to Cart! Paying via this method is very fast, no sign in or registration is required. Your address information at PayPal is used.


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I like to call this spot the Subway Section because it's reminiscent of view from the subway platform outside of Shea Stadium where you could peek into the stadium. These photos are taken from just behind the right field scoreboard, next to the entrance to the Excelsior level inside corridor. You can watch replays on one of the televisions directly to your left.
It affords you a view right into the Pepsi Porch as well and if you look down, the World's Fare Market concourse. In my eye this section includes the walkway to the Pepsi Porch, which doesn't afford much in the way of real viewpoints of the game, but still offers a tease as you walk between sections.
Here's a shot of the original "Subway Section" from Opening Day 2007.


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Introduction to VoltDB
Use an in-memory, high performance database with Java code
Over the course of the last few years, a new class of database management system has emerged referred to as NoSQL. These data stores were designed to overcome the difficulties in trying to scale traditional relational databases to handle the kind of data loads that some applications have to handle—think Amazon, for example. This scalability is achieved at a cost: NoSQL systems are typically not ACID-compliant (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability); they are eventually consistent, broadly meaning that given a certain amount of time all updates to data will eventually propagate through the system. This is not desirable for certain types of applications.
Legacy relational database management systems used for online transaction processing (OLTP) do provide consistency guarantees—they are ACID-compliant—but are much more difficult and expensive to scale. Research also shows that they aren't particularly efficient: The CPU spends approximately 10% of its time retrieving and updating records and the remaining 90% handling tasks such as buffer management, locking, latching, and logging.
Traditional relational databases such as MySQL and most of the NoSQL systems store their data on disk. VoltDB stores everything in main memory. You can make significant performance gains if you can avoid going to disk—accessing memory is an order of magnitude faster than going to disk! The cost of RAM today is significantly less than it used to be and coupled with the advent of 64-bit computing, you can equip a standard, off-the-shelf server with hundreds of gigabytes of main memory.
A VoltDB database is comprised of a number of partitions spread over a number of sites (servers). Each partition running on a site is single-threaded which eliminates the overheads associated with locking and latching in a typical multi-threaded environment, and transaction requests are executed sequentially.
NoSQL databases—as the name suggests—don't use SQL for their query language. For example, MongoDB queries are expressed in JSON. Both Riak and CouchDB support making queries using map/reduce functions. VoltDB does use SQL as its query language, which is an advantage in the sense that most developers who have used a database will be familiar with SQL. The same cannot be said about the query interfaces offered by some NoSQL databases.
Access to data stored in VoltDB is through stored procedures that are written in the Java language; the SQL statements are embedded in the stored procedure. One advantage of executing SQL queries from within stored procedures over protocols such as JDBC is that each transaction requires only one trip between the client and the server. This eliminates the latency associated with making multiple calls across the network between application and database.
Two versions of VoltDB available: an open-source community edition and a paid-for enterprise edition. This article focuses on the community edition. Some features are only available in the enterprise edition and those features will not be covered here.
Getting started
To try out some examples in this article, you will need to download and install VoltDB. The version used in this article is version 2.5 of the community edition.
VoltDB requires a 64-bit Linux-based operating system; it also works on Mac OSX 10.6. You will also need to install the Java Development Kit (JDK 6). You can use Eclipse to edit source code. See Related topics for a link to the download page and the full list of system requirements.
Alternatively, Amazon EC2 and VMware images are available for download, which will get you up and running in no time.
VoltDB is distributed as a gzipped tar archive so once you download
it, unpack it with the command:
$ tar -zxvf voltdb-2.5.tar.gz -C ~/.
In this instance I chose to install it in my home directory, which is fine for development purposes, but you can unpack it into a directory of your choosing.
Once unpacked, add the bin directory to your path:
$ export PATH=$PATH:~/voltdb-2.5/bin.
The bin directory contains a number of commands that will be useful later on when you deploy the sample application.
Next, download the source code that accompanies this article. Unzip it into a directory of your choice. The example application will focus on the employees of a fictitious company, Acme Inc.
A typical VoltDB application consists of the following files:
- A project definition file (project.xml) that contains information such as what stored procedures are available, the location of the database schema file, partition information, and so on.
- A deployment file (deployment.xml) that contains information such as the number of sites per host.
- The database schema (ddl.sql).
- Source code, for example: stored procedures and client.
I cover each one in more detail throughout this article.
To import the project into Eclipse, open up Eclipse and then do the following:
- Select File>New>Project.
- Select Java Project from Existing Ant Buildfile then click Next.
- Check the box Link to the build file in the file system.
- Select build.xml as the Ant build file from the directory where you just installed the example application then select Finish.
If you want to create your own application, VoltDB provides a tool to generate a skeleton project for you; it was used to generate the folder structure for the application that accompanies this article.
Listing 1 shows how to invoke it.
Listing 1. Generating a skeleton project
$ cd $HOME/voltdb-2.5/tools $ ./generate app acme $HOME/Projects/app
The tool takes a number of arguments in this order:
- The name of the application
- The package name (for the Java code)
- The location where to create the project
Run the command in Listing 1 and look in the newly created folder. You will see that the tool generated a skeleton project containing the files that are needed to build a VoltDB application.
Stored procedures
As mentioned in the introduction, data access is achieved using stored procedures that are written in Java code. Like a traditional RDBMS, you still have to write SQL queries to get the required data from the appropriate tables. It's just done from within a stored procedure. Each invocation of a stored procedure is a transaction; stored procedures are committed if they are successful, otherwise they are rolled back.
Because of the serial nature of transactions it's important to remember when creating a stored procedure that they should execute as quickly as possible; otherwise they will block other transactions waiting to run. For example, avoid tasks such as sending email or performing complicated analysis on data in the stored procedure.
Listing 2 gives an example of a stored procedure that inserts an entry into the employee table.
Listing 2. Adding an employee (AddEmployee.java)
@ProcInfo ( partitionInfo = "EMPLOYEE.EMAIL: 0", singlePartition = true ) public class AddEmployee extends VoltProcedure { public final SQLStmt addemployee = new SQLStmt( "INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?);" ); public VoltTable[] run(String email, String firstname, String lastname, int department) throws VoltAbortException { voltQueueSQL(addemployee, email, firstname, lastname, department); voltExecuteSQL(true); return null; } }
A stored procedure must extend the class
VoltProcedure and implement the
run method, which in this case inserts an
entry in the employee table using the arguments passed in to the method.
Selecting, updating and deleting follow a similar pattern.
Before calling a stored procedure, the application needs to create a connection to the database. When creating a connection, specify the name of the host where the database is running; if you run a cluster, you can specify any of the nodes in the cluster. Listing 3 shows how to create a connection to the database.
Listing 3. Connecting to the database
// Create a client and connect to the database org.voltdb.client Client client; client = ClientFactory.createClient(); client.createConnection("localhost");
Once you establish a connection to the database, you can
query the database. The code in Listing 4 shows how
to call the
AddEmployee stored procedure, which
adds some entries to the employees table.
Listing 4. Inserting employees (Client.java)
client.callProcedure("AddEmployee", "email@example.com", "Wile", "Coyote", 1); client.callProcedure("AddEmployee", "firstname.lastname@example.com", "Larry", "Merchant", 2);
Notice that the name of the procedure to call
AddEmployee) matches the name of the Java
class that implements the stored procedure.
As you can see from the
AddEmployee stored
procedure, SQL is used to query the database. VoltDB only supports a
subset of SQL. If you want to migrate an existing application to
VoltDB you might have to rewrite some of your SQL queries.
See Related topics for links to pages that
describe the subset of SQL that VoltDB does support.
The SQL statements in a stored procedure must be declared in advance but you can use bind variables in queries. You can run ad hoc queries against the database at runtime, for example, a SQL query with dynamic fields, by calling the @AdHoc system procedure (see Listing 5). It is not recommended as the queries are not optimized and are executed as multi-partition transactions which can impact performance.
Listing 5. Executing a SQL statement at runtime
String tableName = "EMPLOYEE"; VoltTable[] count = client.callProcedure("@AdHoc", "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM " + tableName).getResults(); System.out.printf("Found %d employees.\n", count[0].fetchRow(0).getLong(0));
Finally, stored procedures must be declared in the project file (project.xml). If you open up the project file that accompanies this article, you will see a number of entries that look like Listing 6.
Listing 6. Declaring stored procedures in the project file
<procedures> <procedure class="acme.procedures.AddEmployee" /> ... </procedures>
The other important part of a stored procedure is the annotation @ProcInfo that tells VoltDB about how the data is stored in the database. This is referred to as partitioning and will be discussed next.
Partitioning refers to how table data is distributed across the cluster; each row in a table is stored separately across partitions. Tables are partitioned based on a primary key that is specified by you, the developer. The primary goal of partitioning is to have as many queries as possible run on a single site.
Just like with stored procedures, you must also declare partition information in the project definition file. For example, the entry shown in Listing 7 indicates that entries in the employee table are partitioned on the email column.
Listing 7. Entries in the employee table are partitioned on the email column
<partitions> <partition table='EMPLOYEE' column='EMAIL' /> ... </partitions>
Referring back to the stored procedure that inserted an employee into the database, the annotation on the stored procedure looks like Listing 8.
Listing 8. Annotation on the stored procedure
@ProcInfo ( partitionInfo = "EMPLOYEE.EMAIL: 0", singlePartition = true )
This tells VoltDB to use the email column of the employee table as the partition key and that it is the first argument that is passed to the run method. Zero-based numbering is used when referring to arguments. It also indicates that the entry is located on a single partition.
The key that is chosen to partition the data is important because queries that don't use the partition key will be executed across multiple partitions; queries that run on a single partition free up the other partitions to execute other queries (in parallel) that results in greater throughput.
For example, assume that you decide to partition the employee table
using the employee's EMAIL (the partition key). The following query will
run on a single partition:
SELECT FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMAIL = "email@example.com";.
As the email address for each employee is unique, there is only one
employee with the specified email address. However, if a query uses a
field that is not the partition key, the query will be executed across all
partitions (a multi-partition query), which will result in lower overall
SELECT EMAIL FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE LASTNAME = "Smith".
This is because several employees might have the last name of "Smith"—it's not unique—so all partitions will have to be queried.
For this reason, first come up with a set of queries (and how often they are executed) then partition the tables accordingly so that as many queries as possible execute on a single site.
Replicated tables
In addition to partitioning tables, you can also replicate tables across all sites. For example, add a table to the schema to record the departments that exist in the fictional company Acme Inc. The table definition (ddl.sql) looks like Listing 9.
Listing 9. ddl.sql
You also need to add a column to the employee table to refer to the department of the employee.
The department table is an ideal candidate to replicate across all sites because—at least in this article—you have a small number of departments in the company and it's mostly read-only. By replicating the table instead of partitioning it, you can answer queries such as "What's the name of the department where the employee with the email address 'firstname.lastname@example.com' works?" by executing the query on a single site. You can avoid the need to do a join across multiple partitions—recall that the employee data is partitioned on the employee email field.
See EmployeeDetails.java in the source code that accompanies this article for an example of a query that does a join against the department table.
To tell VoltDB to replicate a table and not partition it, you must exclude the name of the table from the partitions section of project definition file (project.xml) and declare the @ProcInfo annotation on the stored procedure like Listing 10.
Listing 10. Declaring the @ProcInfo annotation
@ProcInfo ( singlePartition = false )
This results in a replicated table rather than a partitioned table.
Running the application
To run the application that accompanies this article, first
compile the source code and build the runtime catalog. In the root of the
project folder, run the command:
$ ant compile.
This command will compile the source and build the runtime catalog (acme.jar).
To start the database, run the command in Listing 11 from the root of the project directory.
Listing 11. Starting the database
$ voltdb start \ leader localhost \ catalog acme.jar \ deployment deployment.xml
Alternatively, you can compile the source, build the runtime catalog, and
start the server all in one go by running the command:
$ ant server.
Now that the database server is running, execute some queries against
it. Open up a new terminal window and from the project directory, start
the client application:
$ ant client.
This will start the client that will run some queries against the database. Take a look at the code that implements the client (Client.java) to see what it does.
Once the database is running, stop it by shutting down each node in the cluster individually. As the application in this article is only running on the local machine this is not a problem—you just do Control-C from the terminal window where the database was started. If you have a cluster containing several nodes, shutting down each one individually is rather cumbersome. VoltDB provides an @Shutdown procedure that will shut down the entire database cluster for you (see Listing 12).
Listing 12. Shutting down the database (ShutdownClient.java)
try { client.callProcedure("@Shutdown"); } catch (Exception e) { // An exception is expected here as // when the database server is shut down // it breaks the database connection to the client. System.out.println("Shutdown request has been sent."); }
To stop the database, open up a new terminal window and run the following
command from the project directory:
$ ant shutdown.
Note: The shutdown task has been added to the build.xml file for this article. If you are not using the code that accompanies this article, you will have to add it to your build file.
D Is For Durability
This section will discuss how VoltDB achieves durability and show how you can backup your database to prevent data loss in the presence of failures.
As mentioned in the introduction, VoltDB is ACID-compliant. The durability requirement (the "D" in ACID) means that when a transaction is committed, it will remain so even in the presence of power outages or system failures. In other words, you'll still have your data.
It's worth mentioning how VoltDB achieves durability given that it is an in-memory database. If the database shuts down for whatever reason, all the data will be removed from memory; memory is, after all, a volatile storage medium. VoltDB uses snapshots to save data.
A snapshot is exactly what its name implies: A snapshot of the data stored in the database at a given point in time. It's possible to configure VoltDB to automatically create snapshots at fixed intervals and persist them to disk. In the event that the database shuts down for whatever reason, you can use the snapshots to return the database to the state it was before it shut down. To do this, open up the deployment file deployment.xml in the project directory and edit it to resemble Listing 13:
Listing 13. deployment.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?> <deployment> <cluster hostcount="1" sitesperhost="2" /> <paths> <voltdbroot path="/tmp" /> <snapshots path="/tmp/autobackup" /> </paths> <httpd enabled="true"> <jsonapi enabled="true" /> </httpd> <snapshot prefix="acmesave" frequency="2m" retain="3" /> </deployment>
Listing 13 instructs VoltDB to create backups in /tmp/autobackup every two minutes and to retain the last three snapshots; older snapshots will be removed when the limit specified by retain is reached. In practice, snapshots ideally are saved to a networked mounted location (using NFS) to ensure they are stored in a different location.
Save the file then restart the database. Up to this point snapshots haven't been enabled so all the current data—added when you ran the client—will be lost. You need to reload the data by running the client again once the database is up and running again. After a couple of minutes, the folder /tmp/autobackup should contain snapshots of the database.
Shutdown the database again but this time use the recover option when you start it. When you enable snapshots and specify the recover option, VoltDB will automatically restore the database to its previous state by using the last snapshot found in the snapshots path. Note, however, that if you attempt to start the database using the recover option and no snapshots are found, it will not start.
To tell VoltDB to restore the database to its previous state, run the command in Listing 14.
Listing 14. Telling VoltDB to restore the database
$ voltdb recover \ leader localhost \ catalog acme.jar \ deployment deployment.xml
If you run the client again (ant client), this time it should find a total of five employee records. When snapshots were not enabled and the database was started, the total number of employees was zero the first time the client ran.
Example: VoltCache
Now take a quick look at a real application built on VoltDB: VoltCache.
The VoltDB distribution comes with some examples, one of which is VoltCache. VoltCache is a key-value store, implemented on top of VoltDB, and can be accessed through a memcached compatible API—memcached is a popular distributed caching system. Two steps are required to get it up and running.
First, start the VoltDB application. To start the server, execute the command in Listing 15.
Listing 15. Starting the server
$ cd ~/voltdb-2.5/examples/voltcache $ ./run.sh server
This will build the source code, if necessary, and start VoltDB. Next, in
the same directory but from a different terminal window, run the
$ ./run.sh memcached-interface.
This will start the application that mimics the memcached API (text protocol); it listens on port 11211, the default port for memcached servers.
Listing 16 shows an example telnet session where you
associate the key
foo with the value
bar and then retrieve it again.
Listing 16. Example telnet session
$ telnet localhost 11211 set foo 0 60 3 bar STORED get foo VALUE foo 0 3 0 bar END quit
Alternatively, you can use one of the many memcache client libraries that are available.
The source code for the application is included in the VoltDB distribution so have a look at it to see how it works.
VoltDB is an in-memory database that offers scalability without compromising on data consistency. This article briefly discussed some features of VoltDB. You can explore more features such as exporting live data, asynchronous procedure calls, and the JSON API, which allows direct integration of VoltDB with a web application.
Downloadable resources
- PDF of this content
- Article source code (voltdb-source.zip | 7KB)
Related topics
- See available downloads on the VoltDB site.
- Read an in-depth article looking at the pros and cons of VoltDB.
- This link describes VoltDB's system requirements.
- Read an Introduction to VoltDB's JSON API and how to implement asynchronous procedure calls.
- The list of supported SQL statements are here and DDL statements here.
- Read the article Simulating Auto Increment in VoltDB to see how to simulate auto-increment in VoltDB.
- Evaluate IBM products in the way that suits you best.


text:
Without Gay, Grizzlies lose to Thunder 106-89
Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook added 21 points and nine assists and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat Memphis 106-89 Thursday night in the Grizzlies' first game since trading away leading-scorer Rudy Gay.
Memphis struggled mightily in the first half and trailed by 26 in the third quarter before a mini-implosion by the Thunder that featured Westbrook getting benched after a dust-up with his teammates.
It still didn't provide a big enough opening for the Grizzlies, who were playing short-handed while waiting for trade acquisitions Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye and Ed Davis to arrive and pass physicals.
Jerryd Bayless led Memphis with 23 points. Zach Randolph missed his first 10 shots and wound up with nine points and 19 rebounds.
The Grizzlies were already short on numbers after dealing away reserves Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby for Jon Leuer about a week earlier and with Quincy Pondexter out with a sprained ligament in his left knee.
That left just nine healthy players for Memphis, and Leuer didn't get into the game until it was out of hand in the final 5 minutes.
Just when Oklahoma City seemed to be firmly in control, Westbrook started sniping with his teammates after a possession when he posted up along the left side of the lane and eventually got called for a turnover when Bayless stuck with him on defense for 5 seconds. Westbrook then spiked the ball twice while gesturing toward Thabo Sefolosha and Durant that they needed to get open better.
He then hollered toward coach Scott Brooks on the bench.
Memphis followed his outburst with 10 straight points to make it a game again - with Westbrook getting an early hook during the stretch and heading down the tunnel to the locker room.
Brooks finally put him back in the game to start the fourth quarter, after Memphis had pulled to 77-67 in the final minute of the third quarter. Westbrook hit a pull-up jumper and set up Kevin Martin for a 3-pointer in transition on consecutive possessions to bump the lead back up to 86-69 with 9:32 remaining.
That all but ended the Grizzlies' comeback bid.
Memphis had been one of only three visiting teams to win at the Chesapeake Energy Arena this season, but that was before the two trades aimed at avoiding the luxury tax.
From the start, the depleted Grizzlies were no match for the Thunder at full strength.
Returning home for the first time after a six-game road trip, Oklahoma City connected on its first nine shots to move ahead and then tacked onto the lead after the streak stopped. Martin's 3-pointer from the left wing pushed the advantage into double digits for the first time at 27-16 with 2:41 left in the first quarter.
Nick Collison had a two-handed slam and Durant converted a three-point play after being fouled on a right-handed jam during a string of nine straight Oklahoma City points early in the second quarter, and the lead ballooned to 24 by halftime. Memphis shot just 26 percent while matching its season-low with 34 first-half points while the Thunder made 61 percent and scored 58 points against what has been the league's stingiest defense.
NOTES: Gay was the Grizzlies' franchise leader in games played (479), minutes (17,338) and steals. He was second in points (8,562). ... Durant picked up his eighth technical foul of the season with 7:54 in the third quarter, after getting the ball stripped as he made a move to the basket. ... Oklahoma City's 9-for-9 start from the field was its best since relocating from Seattle in 2008 and the best in the league this season.


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Bugatti has finished building the 400th Veyron, which happens to be one of the three Grand Sport Vitesse Jean-Pierre Wimilles of the six-part edition Les Légendes de Bugatti. That means you should hurry up with that transaction, because they will only make fifty more.
Since its launch in 2005, Bugatti has sold 300 coupes including the Veyron 16.4 with 1,001 horsepower and the Super Sport with 1,200. An additional 100 of the planned 150 roadsters found their homes too, leaving just 50 models left to buy.
The 254 mph limited edition roadster cost someone in the Middle East $2.91 million, excluding taxes and transport of course. A real bargain considering that it even comes with a license plate, unlike a certain Pagani in the same price range.


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Related Suppliers
A properly designed high-speed, single-screw extruder (HSSSE) can significantly boost the processing capability of a small-diameter machine for a wide range of applications. That was the conclusion of a study conducted by Davis-Standard LLC (D-S), Pawcatuck, Conn., and presented at the Society of Plastics Engineers ANTEC 2012 meeting last April by John Christiano, D-S's v.p. of processing technology. D-S unveiled its first high-speed extruder at NPE2012, which was co-located with ANTEC in Orlando, Fla.
High-speed twin-screw extrusion systems have been the norm in compounding since the 1990s, when a handful of machine builders introduced super-fast, high-torque designs. In single-screw extrusion, however, high-speed technology is far more common in Europe than North America.
Featured Content
The D-S study investigated the extrusion characteristics of an HSSSE to determine whether it was suited to several different extrusion applications including sheet, fiber, and extrusion coating. This article reports on the results related to sheet extrusion, looking at how PP and HIPS grades performed at high speeds.
The extruder used for the study was a 2.5-in., 40:1 L/D extruder equipped with a 500-hp motor. Screw speeds up to 1200 rpm were evaluated.
The extruder was "highly instrumented," Christiano's paper remarks. Specifically, D-S's Thermatic Temperature Control system was used to control the barrel temperatures and measure the heat flux in each zone of the extruder. Eight pressure transducers were located along the barrel at approximately 5 D increments to measure axial pressure generation along the screw. A pressure transducer and exposed-junction melt thermocouple were located in the discharge adapter of the extruder in order to evaluate the output and processing thermal stability of the melt.
A valved adapter and a 30-in.-wide coathanger die with a 0.050-in. die gap was utilized for all of the sheet trials. A 4 D static mixer was installed between the valved adapter and the die. A two-stage, moderate- to high-intensity screw design was used for processing sheet-grade PP and HIPS.
The data recorded at each operating condition included the extruder output, melt temperature, motor power consumption, and pressure at the discharge of the extruder. Pressure readings were recorded with a data-acquisition system at a rate of 50 Hz. The processing stability was evaluated for each material by monitoring pressure variation and melt temperature variation vs. time at the discharge of the extruder. The melt quality of the extrudate was inspected visually as it exited the die. The screw speeds examined ranged from 400 to 1200 rpm for each of the materials.
The suitability of the HSSSE for each application was judged by comparing its performance with a predefined set of parameters that are commonly used for each application, notably feeding consistency vs. screw speed or linearity of specific output (kg/hr-rpm) vs. screw speed; acceptable melt temperature range; and required process stability. Process stability was evaluated by monitoring pressure variation, as an indication of output consistency, and melt temperature variation in time, as an indication of thermal homogeneity. Melt quality was inspected visually for defects exiting the die.
In the PP sheet test, output rate increased linearly with screw speed. There was a slight increase in the specific output rate at 800 rpm; however, at 400 and 1200 rpm the value was constant. The relatively constant specific output throughout the processing range indicates that the solids conveying zone of the screw was operating efficiently. The variation in specific output of less than 1.8% over the desired processing range is well below the required feed-rate consistency criteria. Overall, throughputs reached up to 2200 lb/hr, approximately nine times greater than what would be expected from a conventionally designed extruder of the same size.
Melt temperature increased at higher screw speeds, but remained in an acceptable range. The melt temperature increased from 437 F at 400 rpm to a maximum of 477 F at 1200 rpm. The thermal process stability remained in the desired range at up to 800 rpm.
At 1200 rpm, the melt-temperature fluctuations increased to 36° F. The variations in pressure at the extruder exit were in the range of ±2% of target. Most sheet extrusion systems have extruders equipped with melt pumps to handle this level of pressure variation.
Visual inspection of the melt curtain at 400 and 800 rpm showed excellent melt quality. The visual melt quality of extrudate declined at 1200 rpm. A melt disturbance was observed in the sheet exiting the die. Overall, the performance of the HSSSE for processing a sheet grade of PP was acceptable at screw speeds up to 800 rpm.
Specific rate for the HIPS sheet extrusion material was lowest at 400 rpm and reached a maximum at 800 rpm. The peak specific output at 800 rpm was 10% above the average specific output, and the value at 400 rpm was 10% below the average. Melt temperature increased with increasing rpm. The upper limit of melt temperature was reached at 800 rpm. Melt temperature increased from 453 F at 400 rpm, to 477 F at 800 rpm. This exceeded the maximum temperature limit by 36° F.
The HIPS sheet grade was processed within the design parameters at up to 2425 lb/hr. D-S contends that higher output rates are possible with further screw-design optimization to improve melting and mixing.
The thermal process stability remained in the desired range. Melt-temperature fluctuations remained below 33° F over the entire processing range. This indicates good thermal homogeneity. The variation in pressure at the exit of the extruder remained in an acceptable range for all of the operating conditions.
Visual inspection of the melt curtain at the 400, 800, and 1200 rpm showed excellent melt quality. Overall, the performance of the HSSSE for processing sheet-grade HIPS was acceptable up to a screw speed of 800 rpm. The maximum melt temperature was exceeded above this screw speed. To ensure consistent output and reduce the thermal gradient in the melt stream exiting the extruder, a melt pump and static mixer are recommended.
A lower intensity screw design is required to control the melt temperature above 800 rpm. Further optimization of the barrel temperature in the solids conveying zone could help to reduce the variation in specific output at the different screw speeds, the study noted.
Get Smarter on Extruder Sizes
Processors tend to recommend a much larger extruder than what's really necessary for the job and the capabilities of the downstream equipment.
Six Rules to Keep You Out of Trouble In Foam Sheet Extrusion
Thermoplastic foam extrusion has proved advantageous to processors. But six essential rules are commonly overlooked.
How to Fix Vent-Flow Problems
Putting one or two vents between the feed throat and die is a good way to remove moisture, trapped air, and other volatiles from melted plastic as it moves through an extruder.


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Top 10 pro athletes charged with murder
BOSTON -- Oscar Pistorius wasn't the first, and he probably won't be the last, either.
The "Blade Runner" has gone from worldwide hero to murder suspect with charges he shot and killed his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp
As the case winds its way through South African courts, it gives us yet another opportunity to revisit the growing list of professional athletes to stand in front of a judge and answer to their crimes.
In fact, murder has rocked the professional sports world all too often, with cases involving athletes from the United States to Japan.
Below are 10 of the most attention-grabbing cases involving professional athletes accused of murder.
1. Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson -- American football player
(CNN/AFP/Getty Images)
O.J. Simpson plays football for the University of Southern California, where he wins the Heisman Trophy in 1968. He is the first draft pick for the NFL in 1969, and is the 1973 NFL player of the year. He plays in six Pro Bowls throughout his 10-year career. After his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, are found murdered in 1994, O.J. Simpson stands trial for both homicides. Simpson assembles a "dream team" of lawyers, and is acquitted of criminal charges on Oct. 3, 1995, though he is convicted in civil court. In 2008, Simpson is convicted on a 2007 charge of kidnapping and armed robbery, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
2. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter -- American middleweight boxer
(AFP/Getty Images)
Rubin Carter, a professional middleweight boxer and member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, is arrested in 1966 for multiple homicides. He is convicted in 1967 after matching the description of a witness and sentenced to three life terms in prison. In 1985 his conviction is overturned and he is released from prison after a judge rules that he had not received a fair trial. His life inspires the Bob Dylan song "The Hurricane" and a movie starring Denzel Washington.
3. Hiroshi Ogawa -- Japanese baseball player
(Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)
Hiroshi Ogawa, a retired pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball, is convicted of murder in the first degree. According to the prosecution, Ogawa, 43, was heavily in debt and demanded money from the housekeeper of the chairman of an industrial waste plant. When she refused, he burglarized the house, stealing 1.75 million yen ($20,000), and drowned the housekeeper, 67-year-old Kazuko Nishiuchi, in a nearby lake. On Sept. 29, 2005, he is convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
4. Bruno Souza -- Brazilian soccer player
(Domingos Peixoto/AFP/Getty Images)
Brazillian Bruno Souza, star goalkeeper of the celebrated Flamengo soccer club, is accused of arranging the killing of former lover, Eliza Samudio, a Brazilian model and mother to his child. "You don't know what I am capable of -- I'm from the favela," he is alleged to have told her. According to the police, she was beaten and murdered by a former police officer, before parts of her were fed to dogs. The case has gripped Brazilian TV viewers, and is the latest in a series of troubling links between soccer stars and criminal organizations. He remained in jail early in 2013 as his trial continued.
5. Rae Carruth -- American football player
(Paul K. Buck/AFP/Getty Images)
From 1997 to 1999, Rae Carruth is an NFL wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. In 1999, his girlfriend Cherica Adams, eight months pregnant with his child at the time, is the victim of a drive-by shooting. She places a 911 call claiming that Carruth had driven in front of her and stopped his car while another vehicle stopped alongside her and the passenger shot her. Adams dies a month later, though their child survives. The Panthers release Carruth from his contract, and after a brief stint as a fugitive, Carruth goes on trial. He is convicted and sentenced to 18 to 24 years in prison.
6. Eric Naposki -- American football player
The hulking linebacker who played for the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts is serving life in prison for his role in a murderous love triangle. Naposki shot 55-year-old Willian McLaughlin six times at close range so his girlfriend, Nanette Packard, could collect life insurance worth $1 million, The Associated Press reported. McLaughlin died in 1994, but it wasn't until technological advancements allowed prosecutors to rexamine evidence and charge the duo with murder. Packard was also convicted of murder.
7. Robert Rozier -- American football player
Just to prove this isn't a new phenomenon, Rozier admitted to killing seven people as a member of "The Brotherhood," a black supremicist cult founded by a man named Yaweh ben Yaweh in the 1980s. It was Yaweh who encouraged his Temple of Love followers to kill a "white devil." Rozier testified against Yaweh and earned his freedom through witness protection. However, he ended up back in jail for forgery.
8. Gavin Grant -- English football player
In a London housing project, Grant killed a rival as part of an ongoing dispute over drug money in 2004. He was an up-and-coming soccer player with a seemingly bright future who tried to turn his life around when police charged him with murder years later, BBC said.
9. Mike Danton -- Canadian ice hockey player
Nobody died in this instance, but the case is too bizarre to exclude. Danton was playing with the St. Louis Blues when police charged him with conspiracy to commit murder, according to The Canadian Press. He tried to hire a hitman who later turned out to be a police officer. Danton has alternately said his target was his agent, David Frost, or his estranged father. He served several years in prison before earning his release. His hockey career eventually took him to Sweden and Slovakia.
10. Evangelos Goussis -- Australian-Greek boxer
A paid, underworld assassin now serving life in prison for two murders, Goussis is also a former Olympic boxer.


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Gem Ponies have a ability which I need some clarification on.
Eternal Hope: Gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against fear and despair effects. Once per day, after rolling a natural 1 on a d20, re-roll and use the second result.
The reroll, is that for any roll or just saving throws against feat and despair?
Eternal Hope
Have Pathfinder or Ponyfinder rules questions, ask here!
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Re: Eternal Hope
Any d20 on which you rolled a natural 1.
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Help us get to over 4,000 biographies in 2018.
If you know of a past magician not listed in MagicPedia, start a New Biography for them or Email us your suggestion.
Difference between revisions of "MagicPedia Development"
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Cite Extension Added! (Brad, 09/16/2008)
Cite Extension Added! (Brad, 09/16/2008)
== MagicPedia vs. Wikipedia==
== MagicPedia vs. Wikipedia==
Revision as of 20:06, 16 September 2008
A page dedicated to discussing and directing the development of MagicPedia. As MagicPedia grows, managing the structure and delivery of content will become more and more important. As a community it is important to use this space to point out organization flaws or suggestions to the rest of the community.
Use this space as a forum only limited to MagicPedia, as items become fixed and repaired, place a strike-out line on those comments instead of deleting.
Use this page by creating a head for each topic and commenting as a sub-topic, for example: ''==Discussion Point== ===Response=== (Signature)
Brad, can you add the MediaWiki Cite Exentions?
Cite Extension Added! (Brad, 09/16/2008)
You can see directions for use on MediaWiki
MagicPedia vs. Wikipedia
I just wanted to give my thoughts on the differences between MagicPedia and Wikipeida. I believe difference is in the audience. Magic articles in Wikipedia are articles by laymen for laymen whereas MagicPedia is by magicians for magicians. Jpecore 14:59, 16 July 2008 (EDT)
Editor/Organizer Needed
I am trying my best to add information and keep it organized, but I don't always understand the process of linking and organizing categories and sub-categories. It would be very helpful if someone more knowledgeable in wiki-speak than I am might act as a resource to answer questions about how to link or organize topics, or perhaps review additions from time to time and edit them. Right now, this project is small and simple but soon it will become very large and complex, and now is the time to organize the way it should grow. Spellbinder 12-15-07
- I'm pretty good with wiki. I also follow the "Recent Changes". If you need any help just let me know. You can always put something in the "discussion" page of the article you have in question or in my user talk page. I've been trying to use the wiki Help:Categories as much as possible, since they automatically create lists for you like Category:Biographies Jpecore 08:03, 22 December 2007 (EST)
I've been pushing for a stricter code for organization. (Particularly since I set up the wiki. It's my hope that this place and additions to the MagicPedia help section will point the way toward better organization. I guess I personally default to following style established by WikiPedia. Bradmagic 21:27 25 December 2007 (PST)
Compiled Biographies
It has come to attention that some biographies are being divided into multiple pages. For example, Paul Harris had a biography page and had two linked pages, Paul Harris Tricks and Paul Harris Books. Correct style should hold those minor pages into the overall Paul Harris biography page.
October 25, 2007: Issue discussed, resolved. Pages can be separate, but at least well interlinked. (bradmagic/10.23.2007)
Needed Pages, Needed Categories
It might also be notable that our Wiki has a built in Wanted Pages section as well as a Wanted Categories. These can be a good guide to where the Wiki can also move toward. (Bradmagic 10.25.2007)
Amazon.com template
Is anyone working on an Amazon.com template that will link to books by isbn number, but also use the genii id so that genii will get credit for the sale?
- Not a direct link (and it doesn't use genii id, but if you just put "ISBN" followed by the isbn-number then MagicPedia automatically create a link to a page for doing lookups. See Erdnase for example.
Upload KML files?
Is there anyway to modify the upload files tool to allow for us to upload KML (google maps) files? Jpecore 15:44, 20 December 2007 (EST)
Genii Forum topic?
Would it be useful to also have a Genii Forum top on WikiPedia to promote specific pages and to request help?