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This is Ghost WRighter. In our last episode of "Maybe Tomorrow" a fierce battle was waged in the Inland Empire. We saw the demented C.A. Demonicus licking his wounds at his over whelming defeat to The Judge. Since that time C.A. Demonicus, having been persuaded by his mindless minions called the Negatoids, decides to mount another ferocious attack upon The Judge and the kingdom of Berdoo. Wherever he journeyed C.A.
Demonicus was constantly surrounded by his three loyal lackeys. The first lackey was Bitterina.
The second lackey who possessed split personalities was known as Dr. Pouticus/Mr. Whine. The third lackey was the Malevolent Mistress Diarrhea from the land of Noise.
In his desire to expand the evil empire of Gloom-Doom C.A. Demonicus set out with his two of his three loyal lackeys to spread their vile message of despair and impending disaster. First they descended upon a cathedral where there new recruit, "Z", had a scheduled contest with Radioman. After persuading "Z" not to participate, they further infuriated the locals with bad attitudes and dubious actions.
Then they journeyed to the Home of Neighborly Service, where they proceeded to act very un-neighborly. At the Home, Bitterina was in rare form as she sparred with the Countess Marquezza.
Because of these confrontations ensuing conflicts erupted throughout the kingdom of Berdoo. Radioman went down to defeat at the hands of "Z" and his horde of fire breathing dragons. With the help of her immense ground force the Countess Marquezza prevailed in an intense clash with Bitterina.
In the final battle for control of the kingdom of Berdoo C.A. Demonicus was last seen, once again, licking his wounds at his overwhelming defeat to The Judge after suffering a bitter beat down at the hands of the people. There are still questions left to be resolved. Will "Z' fall victim to the allure of the Dark Side? Will Dr.
Pouticus/Mr. Whine and the Malevolent Mistress Diarrhea flush there ideas down the toilet with the rest of their crap? Will the demented C.A. Demonicus give up his foolish craving for power and control of the kingdom of Berdoo?
These questions and more will be answered in the further adventures of "Maybe Tomorrow."
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Dolt Piton
Arrow piton made by Bill "Dolt" Feuerer. Most of his pitons have a distinctive elongated eye. Circa 1960's.
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subset: commoncrawl


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MySQL へのお問合わせ | ログイン | 登録
[MySQL お問い合わせ窓口]
平日 9:00-12:00/13:00-18:00
Canada: +1-866-221-0634
Germany: +49 89 143 01280
France: +33 1 57 60 83 57
Italy: +39 02 249 59 120
Japan: 0120-065556
China: 10800-811-0823
India: 0008001005870
LONDON -- 22 February, 2008 -- MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, today announced that Yes Loans, the UK's number one provider of specialist unsecured loans, has now processed more than 1.7 million loan applications on top of the MySQL database. Yes Loans credits MySQL with supporting its phenomenal growth, and now operates its entire business on a MySQL Enterprise subscription.
Yes Loans offers a wide range of financial services, and specialises in helping those previously refused by other companies. Yes Loans arranges loans for tenants, homeowners, and anybody with credit difficulties such as CCJs, defaults or mortgage arrears. The company also arranges loans for the self-employed and those who have difficulty in proving their income. Yes Loans accepts over 90% of client applications. The company recently acquired Premiumstar and Blue Sky Personal Finance, moving all of the staff over to Yes Loans.
"We've experienced phenomenal growth since we began the company five years ago," said Matt Bruton, IT Manager for Yes Loans. "In 2003, we took 14,000 loan applications. Last year, we took 890,000 loan applications and the total value of loans applied for since 2003 now exceeds £7.6 billion. We previously used Microsoft Access, but it was incapable of handling our requirements as we grew, which is why we adopted MySQL as the backbone for our internal systems. It is absolutely critical to supporting our growth."
Yes Loans has implemented a scaled-out MySQL architecture, comprising six database servers. It also has an additional three servers under development, but not yet in production. MySQL now handles all of its company's data with the exception of its telephony 'dialler database' which uses Oracle. However, Yes Loans plans to migrate this application over to MySQL in the coming months.
"The reliability and scalability of MySQL is second to none," added Bruton. "In the past 18 months, the whole system has only had five hours of downtime, which was a result of a configuration error at our end. We've just surpassed processing more than 1.7 million loan applications through MySQL which is indicative of the reliability it delivers."
MySQL AB's expertise lies in helping users to cost-effectively manage explosive growth in their businesses through innovative database products and commercial services based on proven best practices. The company's database server is a recognized platform of choice for a modern "Scale Out" application architecture -- replicating multiple database servers on low-cost commodity hardware - as opposed to the traditional "Scale Up" approach of replacing systems with larger, more complex and more expensive infrastructure.
MySQL Enterprise is a comprehensive subscription, consisting of production-tested software, proactive monitoring tools, and premium support services.
MySQL AB develops and supports a family of high-performance, affordable database products. The company's flagship offering is 'MySQL Enterprise', a comprehensive set of production-tested software, proactive monitoring tools, and premium support services.
MySQL is the world's most popular open source database software. Many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations use MySQL to save time and money powering their high-volume Web sites, business-critical systems and packaged software -- including industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, Nokia, YouTube and Booking.com.
With headquarters in the United States and Sweden -- and operations around the world -- MySQL AB supports both open source values and corporate customers' needs. For more information about MySQL, please visit www.mysql.com.
"MySQL" and "MySQL Enterprise" are registered trademarks of MySQL AB in the European Union, USA and other countries. Other product or company names mentioned may be trademarks or tradenames of their respective companies.


text:
Mount Saint Mary College provides every student the opportunity
to study abroad.
Our programs provide students with a global education that goes
beyond the classroom experience. The Mount's study abroad
initiative is a response to the growing need for well-rounded
graduates with an understanding of international affairs and world
cultures. Studying abroad supports our students and broadens their
academic perspective, global awareness, and personal development as
engaged world citizens.
Go anywhere you can imagine! We can help you find the best semester or year-long program based
on your major or area of study. No matter your intellectual
journey, the Mount will offer you a variety of programs that will
meet your academic needs while you embrace the global adventure
Looking for a shorter period but still want to feel immersed in
the culture? Check out our very own Mount-sponsored summer programs
in 2015.
Florence is one of the most culturally and socially rich cities
in all of Europe, and is the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.
Earn MSMC course credits for art, psychology, math, science, and/or
London is one of the world's most beloved locales, a sophicated
cosmopolitan city with a vibrant culture and bustling economy. Earn
MSMC course credits for art, history, religion, English, and/or
For the first time ever, you can travel through Spain and visit
five different Spanish cities all in one month: Madrid, Granada,
Barcelona, and more! Earn MSMC course credits for Spanish,
economics, political science, philosophy, and/or nursing.
Since MSMC's inception in 1959, students have gone to numerous
countries for a variety lengths of time including:
We offer summer and winter break programs to England, Italy, Spain, France, Dominican Republic, New Zealand,
and China.
International Internships
We offer internships in fourteen different countries during the
summer through our partnership with CIS Learning
Abroad to places like Italy, Spain, Australia, South
Africa, Peru, Czech Republic, and Hawaii. We combine practical
work experiences with academic goals that will give you a competive
edge for the career you always imagined. Check out our
international internships.
Language Study
We are excited to announce our new partnership with
Education First! In our increasingly interconnected world, the
importance of knowing another language and culture is vital for
success. EF has partnered with the Mount to make language study
programs available during academic and summer breaks.
Seniors and Graduate Students
Do you regret not having studied abroad during your undergraduate
career? It's not too late to check out post-baccalaureate programs
in nursing, business, information technology, and government.
Eligible for HEOP funding? The Mount makes every effort to offer
you the complete undergradute experience. Come visit our office to
learn how your finanical aid package can provide you with an
exciting experience abroad.
The Office of International Programs reviews applications on a
rolling basis. Students may apply online or download an application
on our website. Apply now!
Emily Marmo, Director for the Office of International
(E) firstname.lastname@example.com
Ashley Knox, Study Abroad Coordinator
(E) email@example.com
Share this page
Opening Day 2015
Aug 30
Students move in on Sunday, August 30
First Day of Classes for Traditional Undergraduates
Aug 31
Welcome back to the Mount!
Office of International Programs
Mount Saint Mary College
330 Powell Avenue
Newburgh, NY email@example.com


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Will Gadd, a native of Alberta, Canada, became the first person to ascend the Niagara Falls.
It helps to have friends in high places. Except if you're Gabriela Dawson.In this exclusive sneak peek from Wednesday's episode of
The 40-year old north clarifier at the City of Geneseo's waste water treatment plant has seen better days.
1.) "The LEGO Movie"2.) "Mr. Peabody & Sherman"
St. Malachy's Church will host its 20th annual Winterfest. The event involves almost all of the parishioners as well as the students at St. Malachy's School. Event chairmen Tom and Mary Hughes call it a "labor of love."
Willard E. Walker, 93, of Geneseo died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, at Hillcrest Nursing Home. As per his wishes, cremation rites have been accorded. Private graveside inurnment services will be at North Cemetery in Geneseo. Vandemore...
Nancy L. Tieken, 67, of Geneseo died Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015, at her home. Per her request, cremation rites have been accorded and a private graveside inurnment will take place at North Cemetery in Geneseo. The Rev. Stephen Mueller will...
The Maple Leafs competed in the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference tournament and won matches against Sterling and Mercer County on senior night.
- Events Calendar


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2 September 2009A series of archaeological surprises has led Historic Scotland to extend this year's excavation at a Neolithic site on Orkney.
For further information


text:
Slow cooking in a crock pot? Look no further than our delicious and easy slow cooker recipes—from breakfasts to soups to dinners.
We love slow cooking because you can have home-style meals with a busy schedule.
A slow cooker heats food at a low wattage so you can be away from home all day working or running errands while your food cooks!
Slow cooking is also useful if you have guests or you are entertaining.
Slow Cooker Breakfasts
Bacon, Eggs, and Hash Browns Flan
Maple Cornbread with Sausage and Apples
Cinnamon-Raisin-Granola Bread Pudding
Slow Cooker Soups
Turkey Stock / Turkey and Wild Rice Soup
Slow Cooker Dinners
Corned Beef Brisket with Spring Vegetables
Apples and Pork
You may also enjoy our Dutch Oven Recipes which can be made in a slow cooker.
If you enjoy this recipe collection or have suggestions, please comment below or on any of the individual recipe pages. And submit your own recipes on Almanac.com!


text:
Almost one-fourth of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within two to three months of diagnosis, according to research conducted in the U.S.
Women with the greatest PTSD risk included black and Asian women as well as those younger than age 50 at diagnosis. The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
PTSD can occur after exposure to a traumatic event that threatens life or physical integrity, including a cancer diagnosis. Symptoms include:
- Recurrent, intrusive and distressing thoughts
- Physiological reactions
- Avoiding activities or feelings related to the traumatic event
- Trouble sleeping or concentrating
Some small studies have looked at PTSD in women diagnosed with breast cancer. Those studies had varied findings about how many women experience PTSD after diagnosis and possible differences across racial and ethnic groups.
Reason for the Study
The researchers wanted to determine if PTSD develops over time in women diagnosed with breast cancer.
They also looked at the relationship between PTSD and demographic characteristics, such as race or education, and clinical factors, such as cancer stage or breast surgery history.
Study Structure
Participants came from New York City, Detroit and northern California. The group was large, racially diverse and newly diagnosed with stage I, II or III breast cancer.
Information was taken over time, in three phone interviews.The first (baseline) interview happened about two to three months after each woman was diagnosed. Follow-up interviews occurred at four months and six months after diagnosis.
To identify symptoms, the interviewers asked questions based upon a standard, scientific PTSD screening tool. The researchers then measured the data collected.
Results were drawn from interviews with 1,139 women. The study showed:
- 23 percent of participants had PTSD at the baseline interview
- 16.5 percent had PTSD at the second interview
- 12.6 percent had it at the third time point
- Women diagnosed younger than age 50 had a higher likelihood of PTSD than did women diagnosed older than 50
- Black and Asian women had PTSD more often than did other racial/ethnic groups (women self-reported race/ethnicity)
- At baseline, 29.3 percent of Asian women and 28.2 percent of black women had PTSD, compared to 24.1 percent of Hispanics and 20.5 percent of whites
- By the third time point, 20 percent of Asian women and 23.6 percent of black women had PTSD, compared to 13.2 percent of Hispanics and 9.4 percent of whites
- Overall, 12.1 percent of participants had persistent PTSD, defined as occurring at two consecutive time points
- The researchers found no association between PTSD and clinical factors such as breast cancer stage, grade or hormone receptor status
Study Limitations
The study did not ask about prior traumatic life events or emotional problems, and both are known to predict for cancer-related PTSD. Also, most participants had health insurance, so results could differ in uninsured women.
What This Means for You
It's common to feel emotional distress after a breast cancer diagnosis. Sometimes that distress can be severe or frequent, causing you to feel helpless, fearful, angry or numb.
If you were recently diagnosed, you may have developed these symptoms soon after your diagnosis. Problems also can begin months later. Some women have PTSD, while others may become depressed or anxious. Although these feelings often resolve on their own, it can be very helpful to seek help from a professional. You might not have PTSD, but it's important to talk with someone who understands the emotional effects of a breast cancer diagnosis.Your providers should be able to recommend a social worker or other counselor who can help you.
This study shows that the chances of developing PTSD symptoms increase after a breast cancer diagnosis, especially if you are young or Asian- or African-American. In addition, as the researchers note, PTSD may alter immune activity, make it harder to follow treatment and cause other problems.That emphasizes the importance of talking with someone about your distress.
PTSD declines over time, but getting help early can reduce symptoms and improve your life.
N Vin-Raviv, GC Hillyer, DL Hershman et al. Racial Disparities in Posttraumatic Stress After Diagnosis of Localized Breast Cancer:The BQUAL Study, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2013; 105(8): 563-572.
This article was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number DP11-1111 from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


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Home > Bedroom > Bedroom Beds > Electric Adjustable Beds > Tempur-Pedic Adjustable Foundation with Therapeutic Massage
Tempur-Pedic Adjustable Foundation with Therapeutic Massage
Hundreds of relaxing positions and soothing massage—at your fingertips.
Adjustable base helps improve circulation, increase comfort and relieve stress.
- Hundreds of relaxing positions for your head and feet
- Rejuvinating built-in massage
- Wireless remote lets you control movement from the comfort of your bed
- Available sizes: Twin (38' x 74'), Twin Long (38' x 80'), Full (54' x 74'), Queen (60' x 80'), Split King (2 pieces, 38' x 80' each) and Split CA King (2 pieces, 36' x 84' each)
With the touch of a button on the wireless remote control, you can easily bring your head and feet into hundreds of relaxing positions. Read. Write. Use your laptop. Watch TV. Enjoy a rejuvenating massage. Or just drift off to sleep in the perfect sleeping position. You can do it all—and still enjoy the exclusive comfort of Tempur-Pedic®—with this adjustable bed foundation.
Use with your Tempur-Pedic® mattress (sold separately) to create the ultimate custom bed.
Now you don't have to choose between the pressure-relieving comfort of Tempur-Pedic® and the convenience of an automatic bed—you can have both, plus built-in massage. It even looks great, since the patented Wallhugger® design is streamlined and low profile, keeping you close to your nightstand while still providing secure support and infinite adjustability.
Compatible mattresses:
The OriginalBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The SymphonyBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The ClassicBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The DeluxeBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The RhapsodyBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The CelebrityBed by Tempur-Pedic™
The CelebrityBed Mattress requires the use of a Split Foundation.
What's better than a Tempur-Pedic® bed? An adjustable, massaging Tempur-Pedic® bed! Order yours today.
NOTE: Adjustable beds are not part of the 90 day guarantee and are not returnable.
Price includes the adjustable bed frame and motor only. Mattress sold separately.
IMPORTANT: Any individual who may be pregnant, has a pacemaker, suffers from diabetes, phlebitis and/or thrombosis, is at an increased risk of developing blood clots, or who has pins/screws/artificial joints or other medical devices implanted in his/her body should consult with a physician before using a massaging device designed for home use.
Tempur-Pedic Adjustable Foundation with Therapeutic Massage
Tempur-Pedic Adjustable Foundation with Therapeutic Massage
Our innovative products will provide you and your family with years of enjoyment. And with the Brookstone Protection Plus service and replacement plans, you'll have the added peace of mind knowing that if the unexpected does happen, we will simply repair or replace your covered product. Our enhanced coverage goes above and beyond the manufacturer's warranty, saving you time and money.
- 2-Year Service Plan $209.99
- 3-Year Service Plan $289.99
Shopping Cart


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I am starting to play a lot of top laners to get ready for my team when I stumbled upon Irelia. I just want to know if Mercury's Treads stack with her passive.
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Arqade is a question and answer site for passionate videogamers on all platforms. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Tenacity stack multiplicatively with other forms of Crowd Control reduction.
Since everything that provides Tenacity right now gives 35 Tenacity, Irelia with any of the CC reduction items will have the following stats
gbn's answer is correct. But I think it's helpful to show the details here.
Yes, according to League of Legends Wikia because Mercury's Treads provide Tenacity. The same would apply to the other Tenacity items too.
I haven't tested this...


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Numerous cycling tours have been organised in the Münsterland region on 28 April 2013 as part of SattelFest 2013 to mark the official start of the cycling season. The tour around Velen and Ramsdorf, for example, gives cyclists the chance to enjoy local restaurants offering delicious food and drink, warm hospitality and a countryside setting. Because of the variety of tours, it is also possible for families with young children to take part in the event.
Those who wish to experience the Münsterland region in all its diversity will discover a wealth of attractions, regional highlights and beautiful scenery on the Boxenstopp Route.
Suchen, Nachschlagen, Informieren. Hier finden Sie alles, damit Sie immer "auf dem Laufenden" sind.


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Comic 157
Link: Comic 157
Translations: http://www.beaverandsteve.com/wiki/images/8/8f/Finnishflag.png Finnish, http://www.beaverandsteve.com/wiki/images/5/52/Frenchflag.png French, http://www.beaverandsteve.com/wiki/images/5/57/Polishflag.png Polish, http://www.beaverandsteve.com/wiki/images/0/04/Danishflag.png Danish, http://www.beaverandsteve.com/wiki/images/7/79/Italianflag.gif Italian
Title: sock it to me - part 8
Date: February 20, 2006
Summary: Beaver and Steve find out the truth about the missing left socks.
Cast: Beaver, Steve, Xarlaxians, White Bird
Onomatopoeias used: "DAB!", "UNFOLD!", "BLORT!", "FWOOSH!", "LIFT", "PUT-OH!"
"Fin" style: Formed out of white left socks.
Number of panels: 6
Panel 1
Beaver: "But what do you need our socks for anyway?"
Steve: "And where did the delivery guy go..?"
Xarlaxian King: "The left socks of Earth are the richest source of the rare element chizanunium. It is the element which fuels our ships."
Panel 2
Xarlaxian King UNFOLDs a collection of alien pictures. All three characters are sobbing.
Xarlaxian King: "Without your socks we can never get home to see our families again! I miss them so much!"
Beaver: "Sniff! That's so sad!"
Xarlaxian King: "OK, we reproduce asexually so they are technically all my identical clones, but I miss 'em all the same..."
Panel 3
Beaver and Steve took off left socks, to reveal human feet.
Beaver: "Your story has touched our hearts - here are the last of our left socks!"
Xarlaxian King: "Oh! With these socks we will finally have enough fuel to return home!"
Panel 4
Washing machine/Xarlaxian Battle Cruiser takes off. Beaver and Steve wave goodbye. A bird watches surprised.
Steve: "Bye!"
Beaver: "Don't forget to write!"
Panel 5
A Xarlaxian is comforting the king, who is holding a white sock..
Xarlaxian King: "Oh boo-hoo I miss them so much..."
Xarlaxian: "There there..."
Panel 6
The Xarlaxians' faces turn into devilish smiles as they put on some white socks.
Xarlaxian King: "Ha ha! Earthlings are such suckers!"
Xarlaxian: "But they do make very good socks!"
Xarlaxian: "Mmm - toasty!"
Fun Facts
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text: Booked me ticket for the RAH this year , will be in a box with MRSH , Aardvark and probably a few others ! Know its a while to go yet but who else is planning to be in Bert's barn for the day ? Start saving money now and we'll be able to afford a pint on the day !!! (Thank the lord for Imperial College SU bar!!!). PS Mods - feel free to move if this would be better off elsewhere !


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Description: Proliant DL380 G5p X E5345 (2) Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5345 Processors 2.33 GHz80 Watt 1333 FSB SA-P400 DVD-CDRW-OPE Part# 433524-001
Overview:2 Dual Core Intel® Xeon® E5345 processors with 2x4MB Level 2 cache
Up to 32 GB PC2-5300 Fully Buffered DIMMs (DDR2-667) with 4:1 and 2:1 interleaving available online spare and mirrored memory capabilities
(8) small form factor (SFF) hot-plug drive bays to support Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) drives . Pre-Failure Notification on processors memory and hard drives.
CategoryProliant Server
Part Number433524-001
Products ID142817
[ Manufacturers Specs ]


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Chive, parsley, watercress and other herbs are added to mustard for both flavor and color.
A zesty mustard made by adding honey to a base mustard. It can be bought commercially or made at home by mixing the two ingredients. It is served with roasts and sandwiches; and added to beef dishes, stews, and casseroles. You can buy it online.
Continue To Page 6: Mustard Types Beginning With M
© Copyright 2005-2015 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are copyright of their respective owners.


text:
So I just finished reading Forest Gump a bit ago. I ran across it and had to read it. I had no idea that it was a book first. There is even a sequel called Gump & Company which I have started on.
The book and the movie have only a few similarities. Forest is the quite as lovable in the book. He even goes to space!


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|News » Archives
Volleyball continues A-Sun play at Jacksonville and North Florida this weekend
Thursday, October 14, 2010
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 12, 2010) - After splitting two matches at home this past weekend, the ETSU volleyball team continues Atlantic Sun play as they head down south to take on Jacksonville and North Florida on Friday and Saturday.
The Bucs will take on Jacksonville, Friday night at 7 p.m. before closing out the weekend against North Florida at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
ETSU heads into the weekend with a 16-6 overall recorded, including a 2-1 mark in the Atlantic Sun. They have won eight out of their last nine matches and are coming off a loss to Lipscomb and a victory against Belmont this past weekend. The Bucs lead the Atlantic Sun in total blocks (209) and blocks per set (2.58).
The Bucs are led offensively by freshman outside hitter Megan Devine (Kingsport, Tenn.), who leads the team and ranks eighth in the A-Sun in kills per set (2.83) and points (3.28). Senior outside hitter Erin Ryan (Davie, Fla.) follows just behind with 2.35 kills per set.
ETSU continues its blocking dominance at the net as they rank 33rd nationally in blocks per set (2.58). The Bucs feature two players that rank in the top three of the A-Sun in blocks per set, led by senior Alysa Long (Romulus, Mich.), who leads the league with 1.23 blocks per set. Junior middle blocker Jamie Stancliff (Advance, N.C.) follows close behind with 1.10 blocks per set, which ranks third in the league. The Bucs are a perfect 9-0 this season when recording 10 or more blocks in a match.
Defensively, junior libero Kiley Tamblyn (Torrance, Calif.) continues her stellar performance in her first season with the Bucs as she leads the team and ranks fourth in the A-Sun in digs per set (4.20).
ETSU's first opponent this weekend, Jacksonville, enters the weekend with a 10-10 overall record, including an even 2-2 mark in the Atlantic Sun. The Dolphins are coming off a 0-2 weekend where they dropped matches at Kennesaw State and Mercer. The Bucs are 4-6 all-time against JU as both teams split two matches last year, with each team winning on its home floor.
The Dolphins are led by Aidan Yeager on the offensive end as she leads the team in kills per set (2.71), while also leading the team in total blocks (64). Yeager ranks sixth in the league in points at 3.60 per set.
Freshman Kylie Jacob has already made a name for herself this year as she leads the A-Sun in hitting percentage (.378), while ranking second in the league in blocks per set (1.14). Kendall Courtney leads the A-Sun in service aces (.51), while ranking fourth in assists per set (9.79).
North Florida enters the weekend with a 4-15 record overall and a 1-3 mark in A-Sun play. The Ospreys dropped matches to both Mercer and Kennesaw State last weekend. The Bucs are 5-3 all-time against UNF and both teams split last season's series with each team winning on its home floor.
Sophomore Paige Pridgeon leads the attack for North Florida as she ranks third in the A-Sun in kills per set (3.80), while also ranking third in the league in points (4.22).
For more information on the ETSU volleyball team please go to ETSUBucs.com and click on the volleyball link. Also, be sure to follow ETSU Athletics on Facebook and Twitter.


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Jeannie Seely and Bill Anderson were there the first night — March 16, 1974 — when the Grand Ole Opry House opened its doors, welcoming fans and dignitaries, including President Richard Nixon.
Seely and Anderson — along with Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Diamond Rio and Clint Black — will be on hand this weekend when the Grand Ole Opry celebrates the venue's 40th anniversary. The Opry itself turns 90 next year.
"I wouldn't miss being here to help celebrate the Opry's 40th," said Shelton, a coach on NBC's talent competition "The Voice." "To me, the Grand Ole Opry is an artist, and I get to be one of its songs that night."


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Nb: infants must be under the age of 2 and
children must be under the age of 12 at the time of
Situated in Gressoney St. Jean, a short skibus ride from all the lifts and pistes of Monte Rosa, the hotel provides a great value base from which to access this excellent ski area. St. Jean has plenty to offer including a leisure centre, ice-skating rink, 30 km of cross-country skiing tracks and a traditional resort centre crammed with local shops, restaurants and little bars – ideal for some low-key apres-ski. The hotel itself is in an ideal spot just on the edge of the pedestrian centre and metres from the skibus stop. The hotel provides a high level of service and quality cuisine served in the typical local 'Walser' style. Rooms are particularly spacious and the public areas provide the perfect place for relaxing after a day on the slopes.
25 RoomsRooms for 2 people on half board sharing a room with double or twin beds, private shower or bath and WC. Some rooms can take a third bed and fourth bed. All rooms have telephone, safe, hairdryer, television and free WiFi coverage.
Iglu acts as a travel agent for disclosed principals/tour operators, further details
of which will be made available at the time of booking. Your holiday contract will
be bound by the tour operators terms and conditions.
Prices are shown for a basic room or unit, can be subject to change and are indicative
until time of booking. Please call on 020 8544 7114 for prices for other travel
and room options for this property.
Prices shown are per person per week based on maximum occupancy. Descriptions and
quality ratings are provided by the Tour Operator (or one of the Tour Operators
where similar holidays are offered by more than one supplier). We reserve the right
to make minor adjustments to the description or rating based on staff and customer
feedback. For payments by credit card, a 2.5% credit card charge (4% for AMEX) will
be added to your invoice. If you pay by a UK issued debit card, there is no charge.
All bookings are subject to a £5 per person Passenger Admin Fee charged by Iglu.com.


text:
The browser you are using is out of date and is no longer supported. To view and use this site correctly, please update your browser to the latest version.
26 June 2008Orkney World Heritage Site Ranger Service play host to family events this July, with opportunities for people of all ages to join in the fun and learn all about what the Rangers get up to.
For further information


text:
Cloud backup 101:
What it is & why you need it. »
The ins & outs of online backup for your family or home office computer.
Find out how to protect all the computers in your business – on just one plan.
Send SQL data & more to the cloud. Discover database and live application backup.
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We know our users love us, but will they vote for us? That is the question.
get plenty of fan mail from users whose data we saved — we restore over
10 million files every month. That's a lot of saved bacon. But do they
love us enough to give us their vote?
Every year, CNET runs the prestigious Webware 100 contest
— really an industry popularity contest where users get to vote for
their favorite applications. Over 5,000 companies got nominated by
readers of CNET's Webware site. In the end there were only 300
finalists. And after 630,000 votes, only 100 winners. Carbonite
was one of them. So thanks to all of you CNET readers out there who
voted for Carbonite. You didn't let us down, and we will never let you
— Dave CEO, Carbonite
I found this very well-done explanation of
Carbonite on YouTube. I don't know Cheryl Poirier, but she's very
talented and fun to watch. Cheryl, if you're listening, send me an
email! I'd love to thank you personally.
I thought I would share a nice letter that one of Kim Komando's listeners sent to her and that she forwarded:
" Dear Kim,
THANK YOU for repeatedly mentioning Carbonite.com! Our computer crashed
two weeks ago and we had to replace it. We were able to recover 99 gigs
of data that would have been lost if I hadn't heard your ad and nagged
my husband until he started the back up process with Carbonite about 9
months ago. - Cindi Johnston
Dear Kim,
THANK YOU for repeatedly mentioning Carbonite.com! Our computer crashed
two weeks ago and we had to replace it. We were able to recover 99 gigs
of data that would have been lost if I hadn't heard your ad and nagged
my husband until he started the back up process with Carbonite about 9
months ago.
- Cindi Johnston
you, Cindi, for the kind words. I've gotten to know Kim over the last
year and she's been a great spokesperson for Carbonite. I enjoy all our
other spokespersons, but how often do you run across a smart,
beautiful, blonde, self-professed geek with 4 million listeners? If you
aren't already a listener, she does a great show. Check her web site, www.Komando.com, for a station in your area. And in her Small Business Center , you'll find a podcast we recorded last time I was out visiting her.
Being a well-known technology guru is no
guarantee that you're not going to get slammed with the same PC
catastrophes that affect the rest of us. cNet's Don Reisinger learned this lesson
after doing a demo on how to take apart your iMac and replace the hard
drive. Long story short, after spending a significant amount of time
and money, he ended up losing most of his files. Here's Don's
conclusion for his readers: "I screwed up and it cost me money. Don't
let this happen to you. Make sure you back up your files."
consider myself to be pretty technically savvy, but a very similar
thing happened to me back in 2005. In fact, it was a major factor in
the decision to start Carbonite. Like most people, I had an external
hard drive and every so often I would back up my PC to the hard drive.
The problem, if you're like me, is that you do this religiously for a
while, and then the backups get less and less frequent. I travelled a
lot back then, and I didn't want to drag the hard drive on the road
with me because I didn't want to lose it. When I was home, I was too
tired or distracted to connect the hard drive and run a backup. When my
hard drive finally crashed, I discovered that it had been three months
since my last backup. Worse, I discovered that all the new folders that
I had created since originally setting up the backup had not been added
to the backup. So I lost nearly everything of value.
The reason
I find online backup so compelling (I truly love it) is that it works
ANYWHERE you connect to the Internet. So if I am sitting at Starbucks
in the Dallas airport, Carbonite is backing up my work. And I don't
know how many people are aware of this, but Carbonite was the first
company to offer unlimited backup for a fixed price. The reason we went
this route is so that the user wouldn't have to know where their files
were stored to add them to their backup. The backup just happens
Ed Baig of USA Today
recently wrote about how his own personal data loss as part of a larger
column on passengers whose laptops were destroyed in the US Airways
Flight 1549 emergency landing in the Hudson River. While Ed's data loss
wasn't as dramatic of those onboard flight 1549, he luckily was using
Carbonite and was easily able to restore his files. Carbonite's restore
process is fast — even over a residential DSL, you can get 20-30GBs
downloaded in less than a day. Because Ed was using Carbonite, his
files were available right away. No waiting to have DVDs shipped in the
mail or other similar kluges.
Has Carbonite saved your bacon,
personally or professionally? Let me know your story via e-mail at
David (dot) Friend (at) carbonite.com or in the comments.
I would like to further clarify two points with regard to Carbonite's lawsuit against Promise Technologies:
is what happened: The Promise servers that we were purchasing in 2006
and 2007 use RAID technology to spread data redundantly across 15 disk
drives so that if any one disk drive fails, you don't lose any data.
The RAID software that makes all this work is embedded as "firmware" in
the storage servers. In this case, we believe that the firmware on the
servers had bugs that caused the servers to crash. Carbonite
automatically restarted all 7,500 backups and more than 99% of these
were completely restored without incident. Statistically, about 2 out
of every 1,000 consumer hard drives will crash every week, so 54 of
these customers had their PCs crash before their re-started backups
were complete. Since they weren't completely backed up when their PCs
crashed, these customers were unable to restore all of their files from
Carbonite. Most of the 54 got some or most of their data back. We took
full responsibility for what happened and I did my best to call each of
these customers personally to apologize.
As a result of our
problems with the Promise servers, we switched to a popular Dell server
that uses RAID6 – an improved RAID that allows for the loss of 3 of the
15 drives simultaneously before you lose any data. This configuration
is in theory 36 million times more reliable than a single disk drive —
the chances of 3 out of 15 drives failing at the same time are almost
So far, Promise has refused to accept responsibility for
their equipment's failures, so now we are suing them to get our money
back. The Dell RAID servers have been flawless and we're extremely
happy with them. Dave Friend, CEOCarbonite, Inc.
On March 21, The Boston Globe reported that
Carbonite is suing Promise Technologies, a company that makes storage
servers that we purchased back in 2007. This lawsuit stems from an
incident that occurred over a year ago. The article (and subsequent
coverage by other outlets) references court documents which say that
Carbonite "lost the backups of over 7,500 customers." It is possible
that readers will walk away from this with the impression that 7,500
customers were unable to restore their files from Carbonite. This is
not the case. Let me explain.
All of the affected customers had
their backups re-started immediately and automatically. Statistically,
about 2 out of every 1000 hard drives will crash every week (about the
time it took to get most customers backed up again), so a small number
of these customers had their PCs crash before their re-started backups
were complete. These customers were unable to restore all of their
files from Carbonite. We took full responsibility for what happened,
and I did my best to apologize personally to each of these customers.
the techies who are reading this, what happened is this: The Promise
servers use a technology called "RAID" that spreads data redundantly
across 15 disk drives so that if any one disk drive fails, you don't
lose any data. In fact, the kind of RAID we use allows us to lose 3 of
the 15 drives simultaneously before you lose any data. This
configuration is in theory 36 million times more reliable than a single
disk drive — the chances of 3 out of 15 drives failing at the same time
are almost nil. The RAID software that makes all this work is embedded
as "firmware" in the storage servers that we buy. In this case, the
firmware had bugs that caused the whole server to crash.
that, in a nutshell, is what we allege in our lawsuit. We were sold
defective equipment and hence have asked Promise to refund our money.
So far they have refused to accept responsibility, so now we are suing
them. The Dell RAID servers that we started purchasing a couple of
years ago have been flawless and we're extremely happy with them.
I got an email this morning from a long-time user
complaining about our recent price increase: "It's great that you've
released Remote Access, but why does that justify a price increase?" As
you may know, we recently increased our yearly subscription fee by $5,
to $54.95. The simple fact is that the size of our average user's
backup is growing by about 3% per month. That's 36% more data every
year, and consequently we have to buy 36% more disk space and pay for
36% more bandwidth. Luckily the price of disk storage is also coming
down, so we can keep our price increase to just 10% after 3 years.
There's a new generation of less expensive 2TB drives coming out later
this year that should allow us to hold this price for quite a long time
— certainly several years. Meanwhile, we're still 10% less expensive on
an annual basis than the companies that are hawking $4.95/mo
Over the weekend we launched Remote Access — an
application that lets you access and download your backed up files from
any computer with a web browser. This is an application that I have
wanted personally for a long time. Last year I was on a business trip
to Hong Kong and discovered that a Powerpoint presentation I had put
together for one of my meetings had not gotten transferred to my
laptop. Luckily, I was able to use the alpha version of Remote Access
to download the presentation from the backup of my office desktop
computer. What a life-saver!
new feature is accessible to all Carbonite users from our home page.
Just click the new "Remote Access" tab in the upper right corner of the
screen. Once you enter your email address and password, you can
navigate through your backed up files and instantly download any of
I wanted to share some great press that Carbonite has gotten lately from the UK. First, Web User, a popular UK magazine, gave us the publication's top Gold Award and
5/5 stars. We beat out all the usual competitors for the Gold.
addition to the Gold Award at Web User magazine, we also got kudos from
The National Student Guide, Raising Kids, UK Family and
Sixtyplusurfers. The staff at Sixtyplusurfers are big fans of Carbonite
and have used the service themselves commenting: "I thoroughly advise
everyone to use Carbonite. Both myself and Murray [publication editor]
at Sixtyplusurfers subscribe to the service and would never be without
it. Constantly saving all your work, data, pictures and all your
important documents, the service is simple to use and unobtrusive."
We were also named by Tech Radar as one of the 15 best file synching apps on the planet at number seven.
It looks like yet another "storage in the cloud"
service is shuttering — Yahoo Briefcase will be closed down at the end
of March, including their paid service, according to an email from Yahoo. This announcement follows close on the heels of AOL's shutdown of xDrive.
similar services, even some that have gotten great reviews, appear to
be on life support. My take: there is no business model here. While
these services are cool, few people find them compelling enough to pay
for them. And the advertising thing hasn't worked either: there was
some thought that they could scan your backed up files and try to
figure out what advertising to target you with. Not a very attractive
idea to most folks.
So why are hundreds of thousands of people
willing to pay for Carbonite? Simple — we solve a real problem. The
cost and pain of having your hard drive crash and losing all your
financial records, business documents, wedding photos, and so forth, is
so high that people will gladly shell out $50 a year to have the
problem go away. Storage in the cloud, like Yahoo Briefcase, is not
really a backup system. Yes, if you're willing to work at it, you can
store files on Yahoo Briefcase. But they are not encrypted, updates are
not automatic, it doesn't just work continuously in the background,
there is limited capacity so you're always running out of space, there
is no client software to check the integrity of the backup, no visual
representation of what is backed up, no way to manage your bandwidth so
that the backup doesn't drag your computer to its knees, there is no
warning to tell you that your backup failed or is out of date, there is
no way to easily restore all your files, no help with migrating from XP
to Vista, and on and on. Storage in the cloud is, to some extent, a
solution looking for a problem. Look for other similar services to pack
it in over the next year.
External hard drives definitely have their place
for doing backups. But most people don't realize that inexpensive
consumer-grade hard drives fail just as frequently as the hard drives
built into their computers. And, if they are right next to your
computer, they will typically share its fate in the event of theft,
fire, power surges, etc. Now here's another thing to worry about:
firmware bugs.
IDG news service reported last month that several
models of Seagate's popular Barracuda and DiamondMax external hard
drives have faulty firmware that is causing the hard drives to "freeze"
under certain conditions. The article that I read refers to this
condition as "bricked," a term I hadn't run across before but which is
amusingly descriptive of what you can do with a frozen hard drive.
Seagate is a great company, so I'm sure they'll fix this problem, but
there's only so much you can do when there is a single point of failure.
I've said in the past, any single hard drive is going to be much more
vulnerable to data loss than the RAID arrays that Carbonite uses (which
are 36,000,000 times more reliable than a single hard drive because of
redundancy). So while external drives are a good and inexpensive way to
store big files such as ripped movies or TV shows, I wouldn't consider
them safe enough to store my irreplaceable photos or financial records.
Every so often I get a briefing from our
operations staff on data center statistics. Last week, I learned one
number that startled even me: as of Jan 20th, we had restored over 2
billion files for our customers. I assume that most of these files
would have been lost if they had not had Carbonite. Also, Carbonite's
restore process has been extremely reliable. You'd think with that many
files being restored that there would be some that are lost or corrupt.
While these kinds of problems occurred once in a while when we were
young, it doesn't seem to happen anymore. The RAID disk arrays that we
use to store your data are 36 million times more reliable than the hard
drive in your computer. That's one reason that online backup is far
more reliable than a cheap external hard drive.
But this
reliability has not completely eliminated restore issues. Even though
the Carbonite service works flawlessly, data restores are still an
issue with Customer Support. There are basically three problems: First,
some programs, notably Outlook and Quicken, don't automatically find
the restored files. So it's not uncommon for us to get calls
complaining that they did a restore and they didn't get their Outlook
file back. It is in fact there on your computer, but you have to go
into Outlook to connect to it.
The second problem is that
Carbonite defaults to backing up your Documents and Settings folder,
and all subfolders. If you stick files somewhere else, such as in your
Programs folder, they won't get backed up unless you tell Carbonite to
do so. This is true of any backup you do, whether online or using an
external hard drive or flash drive. If you don't back up the file in
the first place, you won't be able to restore it when your computer
dies. That's why we put the little green dots on folders and files – it
makes it easy to see what is backed up and what is not.
third problem relates to restoring files that were backed up from an XP
computer onto a new Vista computer. Vista and XP don't have the same
folders. We came up with a very nice "wizard" that helps you decide how
you want to migrate your old XP folders to your new Vista machine. If
you have to do this kind of restore, use the wizard! Some people just
ignore it and then their folders are all over the place and they can't
find them. BTW, Carbonite is still the only backup service that has
addressed this problem.
The Sunday New York Times had this little story
regarding one of the passengers on the US Air flight that crashed into
the Hudson River:
When US Airways Flight 1549 went into the Hudson River last month, it
gave William Wiley, an engineer at Software Associates, a new meaning
for the term "computer crash."
Mr. Wiley was on his way home to Johnson, Tenn., from the company's
headquarters on Long Island. He had years of work on his laptop,
carefully backed up on another laptop — but both were on the plane with
Now the two laptops are among approximately 50,000 passenger items that
a mortuary company has frozen, in refrigerated trucks, to preserve them
until they can be dried, cleaned and returned to their owners."
When US Airways Flight 1549 went into the Hudson River last month, it
gave William Wiley, an engineer at Software Associates, a new meaning
for the term "computer crash."
Mr. Wiley was on his way home to Johnson, Tenn., from the company's
headquarters on Long Island. He had years of work on his laptop,
carefully backed up on another laptop — but both were on the plane with
Now the two laptops are among approximately 50,000 passenger items that
a mortuary company has frozen, in refrigerated trucks, to preserve them
until they can be dried, cleaned and returned to their owners."
particular situation is not likely to happen to anyone, but you can
imagine innumerable similar circumstances. The more frequent event is
that someone breaks into your house or car and steals your computer and
the external backup drive sitting next to it. We hear stories like that
all the time.
In any event, the US Air story, like the California
wildfire stories last Fall, all mount up to a compelling reason to
backup online where the data is safe from all these hazards.
I found this question on Twitter. Short answer: Carbonite checks this
in the background using something called a checksum. As amazing as it
sounds, about every 90 days Carbonite goes through every one of the
roughly 25 billion files we have backed up and checks to make sure that
the file in our backup still matches what's on your PC bit for bit.
If you are still feeling nervous, try this: Pick any backed up file on
your PC (it will have a green dot on it if it's backed up with
Carbonite). Delete it. Now open the Carbonite Backup Drive from the
icon on your desktop. Find the file you just deleted – the status
column will say "Right-click to restore latest backup copy (Original
file deleted)." Right-click on the file, and select "Restore." In a few
seconds, you'll see a Carbonite pop-up saying that the file has been
restored. Go back to your C: drive and open the restored file. You'll
see that it's perfect. I'm sure this is true of every file on you've
backed up with Carbonite.
— Dave CEO, Carbonite
David Pogue recently posted an article regarding some online reviews from 2006 that were authored by, but not attributed to ,Carbonite employees.
As we were just emerging as a company at that time, we did not have
specific policies in place regarding employee engagement in reviews. In
2007, we put these policies into place to reflect our commitment to
disclosure and transparency online. Since that time, I believe
Carbonite employees have been scrupulous about following our policies.
Carbonite employees are quite active on the blogs and know that they
are to identify their Carbonite affiliation. We're making sure that any
old posts from 2006 are removed and apologize if anyone was misled
by them.
Last week, a user posted on her blog: Are there any real advantages to a Windows Home Server other than remote access and backing up multimedia?
One respondent said it was just a "NAS with a fancy menu." Even though
the blogger already has Carbonite, a NAS or some kind of local or
network backup can make some sense. I don't see Home Server as
competition. I see it as complimentary.
I was recently talking to one of our users who was concerned that his
initial backup was taking too long. Turns out he had over 200GBs of TV
shows that he'd recorded and he was backing them up on Carbonite. Using
his DSL connection, it's probably going to take him several months to
back up all that stuff and meanwhile his business documents (Word and
Excel primarily) are waiting in the queue and could be lost if his
computer crashed in the meantime. When I asked him how important the TV
shows were, his answer was "I really don't care about the TV shows. If
I lost them, it wouldn't be the end of the world."
My suggestion: If there are REALLY BIG files that have relatively low
value, back them up locally. If you have small files that are high
value, back them up on Carbonite. When the important files are safe and
sound, then you can back up the other stuff. Most people never bother
to learn how to select what they do and don't want to back up with
Carbonite. It's pretty simple (just right click on the folder with the
TV shows and select Carbonite – don't back this up). Local backup, of
course, is a lot faster than backing up over the Internet. But, as you
can see from the post about my son's fire, local backup does have certain limitations.
Think backing up to DVDs is a good idea? Not in the opinion of David
Pogue, the technology columnist for the New York Times. I hadn't
thought about this, but holy smokes! Here's an excerpt from his Dec. 10th post:
Jeez Louise. A conference organizer asked if I could put together a DVD
loop of my funniest Web videos, to play in the registration area while
attendees stand in line. No problem, I thought: I've got all of the
original iMovie projects backed up on DVD, in clear cases, neatly
arrayed in a drawer next to my desk. (My hard drive wasn't big enough
to hold those 50 videos a year.) Guess what? On the Mac I use for video
editing, most of the DVD's were unreadable. They're less than four
years old! … I know, of course, that home-burned DVD's, which rely on
organic dye that deteriorates with time, are nowhere near as long-lived
as commercially pressed discs. But man. Four years? Scared the bejeezus
out of me. I've been told by experts that the gold DVD blanks can
indeed last 100 years. Guess I'll be trying that next!
Jeez Louise. A conference organizer asked if I could put together a DVD
loop of my funniest Web videos, to play in the registration area while
attendees stand in line. No problem, I thought: I've got all of the
original iMovie projects backed up on DVD, in clear cases, neatly
arrayed in a drawer next to my desk. (My hard drive wasn't big enough
to hold those 50 videos a year.) Guess what? On the Mac I use for video
editing, most of the DVD's were unreadable. They're less than four
years old! … I know, of course, that home-burned DVD's, which rely on
organic dye that deteriorates with time, are nowhere near as long-lived
as commercially pressed discs. But man. Four years? Scared the bejeezus
out of me. I've been told by experts that the gold DVD blanks can
indeed last 100 years. Guess I'll be trying that next!
So even if you can find the DVDs (would surely be a problem in my messy
office) and they don't get scratched or destroyed, they may just be
completely unreadable. Another reason to back up online.
Following up on my comments on Microsoft OneCare, I'd be interested to
have you put on your wizard hats and tell me how the world is going to
view companies like Carbonite five years hence. One scenario is that
backup will be considered as part of the data security industry, and
will be merged into anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, and the like.
Another view is that backup will be one of a number of data
storage-related products, such as archiving, local backup, bare metal
restore, smart document storage, and so forth. A third scenario is that
backup is just such a big opportunity in itself (after all, there are
700 million Internet-connected PCs out there) that you can build a very
large company doing nothing but online backup.
The first scenario suggests that backup companies will eventually be
gobbled up by the anti-virus companies, just as Symantec acquired
Swapdrive (now part of the Norton 360 suite). The second scenario is
that backup is about storage, and the EMC acquisition of Mozy would
argue that direction. They are already making noises about bundling
backup with other storage products, such as Iomega. The third is that
none of these guys will have the focus to do a really exceptional job
at online backup, and well-funded pure-play companies like Carbonite
will build brand and distribution and a new category will emerge
dominated by pure-play vendors.
Anyone care to comment?
Microsoft announced yesterday that they were "throwing in the towel" on
their Live OneCare service which included a backup service. According
to the web site, "data are continuously protected—automatically backed
up on-schedule to a single location I specify."
This announcement comes on the heels of AOL shuttering its xDrive
backup service and several smaller competitors biting the dust.
Meanwhile Carbonite continues to grow at double-digit month-over-month
rates. And we think at least one of our "pure play" competitors is also
enjoying substantial growth. So what's going on here?
I think it's a matter of focus. Some vendors seem to think that backing
up your PC isn't enough. You ought to throw in anti-virus, firewall,
syncing PCs and mobile devices, sharing photos with friends and family,
and many other "features." Most of these products seem to be dead or on
life support.
Everyone knows they should be backing up their PCs. It's a big and
immediate problem. Most of these other features are things that the
user already has or are simply a "nice to have" for some subset of
users (often younger users who tend to not want to pay for such
things). When you have all these other features to sell, it dilutes the
important message that you need to be backing up your computer. And
because most of them have so many features to support, they don't do a
particularly good job at any of them. We're content just to do a
spectacularly good job at backup (if I do say so myself). In five
years, I believe half the world's PCs will be backing up online. If we
want to continue to be number one in this market, we really have to
focus and do a better job than anyone else.
I think Microsoft has found that their expertise at writing software
does not automatically translate into an ability to run a rock-solid
backup service. When we were out raising our first rounds of venture
capital a couple of years ago, I was told repeatedly by investors that
Microsoft was going to enter this market and crush us. What has been
demonstrated time and again is that if you focus on doing one job
exceptionally well and if you're motivated to the point where you're
life depends on it, no big corporation can keep you down.
According to a recently released survey by Compuware,
most data loss is attributable to either user negligence or malice.
Only 1% of data loss is due to hackers. I loved the headline on this
story: "3/4 idiots, 1/4 bitterness."
I have to confess to being part of the "idiot" crowd. Three weeks ago I
left my laptop sitting on my seat when I got off the train in New York.
I remembered it just in time to see my train, with laptop still aboard,
disappearing down the track. Except for occasionally recovering
individual files that I accidentally delete or overwrite, I haven't
actually had a PC disaster since starting Carbonite 3 years ago. So,
aside from the pain of having to buy a new laptop, it was fun to use my
own product to get everything back. I was really proud of how well it
What I don't see in the Compuware survey is data lost to hard drive
failure. For some reason this doesn't show up in the survey, even
though I will bet you that it tops all the other categories. We use a
LOT of hard drives in our data center, and our statistics show that
roughly 3% of all hard drives will fail each year. That's why we use
RAID arrays which are 36 million times more reliable than a single
drive. Google also publishes their disk failure rate, and it's roughly
the same as ours. Hard drives are a data disaster waiting to happen, in
our experience. That's why you need a LOT of redundancy in your data
storage architecture, as we do. We store our customers' encrypted data
on 16 drive arrays. We would have to lose 3 of the 16 drives
simultaneously AND your PC would have to crash all at the same time
before any data is lost. When you figure the odds of this happening,
it's very very close to zero.
I hope you never leave your laptop on Amtrak, but if you do, you'll be glad you've got Carbonite.