text:
As a DBA working at a global financial services company, I face a tough task each year – making sure that SQL Server hosts around the globe change time correctly whenever there is a Daylight Saving Time (DST) event in the US or EU (luckily AS does not observe DST for now). Incorrect time on a server that hosts trading databases screws up transactions and irritates end users. However, to create such a general script, we need to consider all the time zones in the US and EU, and their individual DST starting and ending dates. To make things even more complicated, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the dates for DST in the US. Beginning in 2007, DST starts three weeks earlier and ends one week later. Therefore, the task to verify time becomes more critical. As you might know, although Microsoft stated the Windows DST patch did not require a reboot (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928388), in some cases, hosts just did not change time on the new dates without the magic of a reboot. With all this being said, we need a script that can be re-used every year to report the wrong time on any SQL Server hosts. The script I am going to show you takes the year 2007 as an example. If you want to use it for another year, you simply need to change the values of five variables in the script that represent the DST changing dates in the US and EU for that year.
Our script dstcheck_global.ps1 takes only one parameter – current Eastern Standard Time (EST). This is very convenient for the companies that are headquartered in the east coast, for example, NYC. However, our script can be used for any company as long as you know the current EST time. To compare the local time you get from any SQL Server hosts with this standard time, we need to know four things.
1. The normal time difference between the time zone of the SQL Server and the Universal Time (UT). Because the SQL Server data engine gets its time from the operating system, the bias value under the registry key HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlTimeZoneInformation is the normal time difference in minutes.
2. The DST observance or non-observance at the time zone. We can determine this based on the StandardName value under the registry key HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlTimeZoneInformation. This value has the name of the time zone. If the time zone observes DST, then the actual time difference is the normal time difference (bias) minus 60 minutes.
3. The normal time difference between the EST and the UT, which is 5 hours (300 minutes).
4. The DST observance or non-observance at the EST. We can compare the given EST time with the DST starting and ending dates in the EST. In our example of year 2007, at 1:59am EST on 3/11/07, clocks sprang forward to 3am. At 1:59am EST on 11/4, clocks fell back to 1am. Therefore, if the given EST time was after 3am on 3/11/07 and before 1am on 11/4/07, then we assumed the EST observed DST. However, if the given EST time was after 1am but before 2am on 11/4/07, then it could be either that clocks in EST were going to fall back to the normal time or they had already fallen back. Our script then needed to ask a question "Does DST end in EST?". Depending on the user's response, we could decide if the EST observed DST or not. If the EST observed DST, then the actual time difference between the EST and the UT is 240 minutes. If not, then it is 300 minutes.
Once we know these four things, we can calculate the accuracy of the local time of a SQL Server.
If the local time is correct, then:
UT = EST time + EST time difference
= local time + local time difference
In our script, the given EST time is stored in a variable $baseEST, and the EST time difference in $ESToffset. The local time is retrieved from the SQL Server using the getdate() function. The actual local time difference is stored in a variable $actualbias. Therefore,
UT = $baseEST + $ESToffset = getdate() + $actualbias
However, if the local time is off, then the inaccuracy from the correct time is:
$diffminutes = $baseEST + $ESToffset – getdate() – $actualbias
We also need to include the execution duration of the script because going through hundreds of SQL Server instances can take tens of minutes. The EST time is given at the beginning of the execution and is no longer accurate after the script runs for, say, 20 minutes. The execution duration is stored in a variable $elaspedminutes. Therefore,
$diffminutes = $baseEST + $ESToffset + $elaspedminutes – getdate() – $actualbias
For example, when $baseEST was '2007-10-27 20:00', EST observed DST and $ESToffset was 240 minutes. We got a local time '2007-10-27 19:10' from a Chicago SQL Server instance after the script ran for 20 minutes. The actual time difference on the Chicago SQL Server host was 300 minutes because CST observed DST too. Therefore, the inaccuracy of the Chicago time was:
$diffminutes = DateDiff('2007-10-27 20:00', '2007-10-27 19:10') + 240 + 20 – 300
= 10
The Chicago time was 10 minutes behind the correct time.
Our script allows a 30-minute inaccuracy, i.e., if the local time is less than 30 minutes behind or ahead of the EST time, then it is considered ok. Therefore, if the absolute value of $diffminutes is less than 30, then the SQL Server passed the check. Otherwise, the server is reported as an exception. If you need a better accuracy, you can simply change this "if" statement in the script.
if (( $diffminutes -gt 30 ) -or ( $diffminutes -lt -30 ))
Our script gets a list of SQL Server instances from a serverfile.txt file. We put the file and the script dstcheck_global.ps1 in the same directory, for example, C:UsersYanDocumentsDST.
PS C:> Set-Location C:UsersYanDocumentsDST
PS C:UsersYanDocumentsDST> Get-ChildItem
Directory: Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreFileSystem::C:UsersYanDocumentsDST
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
—- ————- —— —-
-a— 2/10/2008 11:00 AM 10587 dstcheck_global.ps1
-a— 2/10/2008 11:13 AM 6212 serverfile.txt
A sample of the server file is shown here.
PS C:UsersYanDocumentsDST> Get-Content serverfile.txt
To run the script, type:
PS C:UsersYanDocumentsDST> dstcheck_global.ps1 -baseEST '2007-10-27 20:05'
Directory: Microsoft.PowerShell.CoreFileSystem::C:UsersYanDocumentsDST
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
—- ————- —— —-
-a— 2/10/2008 11:21 AM 0 dstcheck.exception.1696
After the script executes, look at the exception file dstcheck.exception.1696 for any exceptions. If there are exceptions, then the file looks like this:
PS C:UsersYanDocumentsDST> Get-Content dstcheck.exception.1696
Cannot connect with lnhost02LNINSTANCE2,7001
nyhost04,1433 is 44 minute(s) behind
Please note that the script is intended to verify time before or after DST events. It should not be executed while a DST event is occurring. Otherwise, some servers may be falsely reported as an exception.
For this year 2008, you just need to change the values of these five variables to reflect the DST changing dates.
$ESTDSTStart='2008-03-09 03:00′
$ESTDSTEnd='2008-11-02 01:00′
$ESTDSTEndChange='2008-11-02 02:00′
$GMTDSTStart='2008-03-29 21:00′
$GMTDSTEnd='2008-10-25 21:00′
This article has presented a solution to verify time on SQL Server globally after DST events. The accompanying script can be reused every year with minor changes.


text:
Chambre Oscure (2010)
Born in Saône-et-Loire, Cyril Bonin took courses in Fine Arts in Mâcon, then studied Decorative Arts in Strasbourg and finally took a one year DESS course focused on synthesis of images. He worked for a small video production company for two years, while also doing illustration work. He made his comics debut at the publishing house Casterman with the 'Fog' series, a series about the crimes of Jack the Ripper in 19th Century London, which he made in cooperation with writer Roger Seiter from 1999 to 2004.
In 2005, he illustrated the first album in Frank Giroud's 'Quintett', a series about a French unit in the Balkans in 1917, of which each episode is drawn by another artist. In 2009 he created the one-shot 'Quand souffle le Vent' with writer Laurent Galandon at Dargaud. He became an allround author with his series 'Chambre Obscure' (Dargaud, since 2010), and with the one shot tales 'La Belle Image' (Futuropolis, 2011) and 'L'Homme qui n'existait pas' (Futuropolis, 2012).
Quintett - Histoire de Dora Mars

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Home
- Government
- Departments
- Municipal Court
- Deferred Disposition
Deferred Disposition
Request for a Deferred Disposition
You may wish to request deferred disposition (probation) for your citation to keep a moving traffic offense off your record. Requests for deferred disposition must be made in person or through the mail (Motion for Deferred Disposition). You may appear at the court clerks office to obtain a court appearance date or submit a court date request. Deferred cases are suspended for a period of time set by the judge. You will be required to pay a fine as a special expense fee in order to receive deferred disposition and receive no other violations during your deferral period.
Deferred Disposition Requirements
In order to request deferred disposition, you will be required to do the following:
- Appear within 20 days from the date of offense in person or writing
- Submit a written request for deferred disposition
- Enter a plea of guilty or no contest
- Waive your right to a trial by Judge or jury
- Pay the fine and court costs as a special expense fee
- You must not have received any citations with the City of Sansom Park in the past 6 months
- You will be on deferred for 30-180 days. As long as you do not receive another citation and pay your fees, the citation will be dismissed and not appear on your driving record.
Offenses not Qualified for Deferred Disposition
- Speeding 21 miles per hour or more over the limit in a regular zone
- Speeding 11 miles per hour or more over the limit in a school zone
- Speeding in a construction zone with workers present
- Speeding 15 miles per hour or more in a construction zone with no workers present
If you fail to comply with the conditions or requirements ordered by the judge, a conviction will appear on your driving record. You may contact the court office to obtain the amount due for deferred disposition.


text:
Exposure to the chemicals in everyday objects poses a hidden health threat
By Patricia Hunt | October 11, 2011
CUPPA DISRUPTERS: Chemicals in disposable cups may mimic hormones Image: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images
Susan starts her day by jogging to the edge of town, cutting back through a cornfield for an herbal tea at the downtown Starbucks and heading home for a shower. It sounds like a healthy morning routine, but Susan is in fact exposing herself to a rogue's gallery of chemicals: pesticides and herbicides on the corn, plasticizers in her tea cup, and the wide array of ingredients used to perfume her soap and enhance the performance of her shampoo and moisturizer. Most of these exposures are so low as to be considered trivial, but they are not trivial at all—especially considering that Susan is six weeks pregnant.
Scientists have become increasingly worried that even extremely low levels of some environmental contaminants may have significant damaging effects on our bodies—and that fetuses are particularly vulnerable to such assaults. Some of the chemicals that are all around us have the ability to interfere with our endocrine systems, which regulate the hormones that control our weight, our biorhythms and our reproduction. Synthetic hormones are used clinically to prevent pregnancy, control insulin levels in diabetics, compensate for a deficient thyroid gland and alleviate menopausal symptoms. You wouldn't think of taking these drugs without a prescription, but we unwittingly do something similar every day.
An increasing number of clinicians and scientists are becoming convinced that these chemical exposures contribute to obesity, endometriosis, diabetes, autism, allergies, cancer and other diseases. Laboratory studies—mainly in mice but sometimes in human subjects—have demonstrated that low levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals induce subtle changes in the developing fetus that have profound health effects in adulthood and even on subsequent generations. The chemicals an expecting mother takes into her body during the course of a typical day may affect her children and her grandchildren.
This isn't just a lab experiment: we have lived it. Many of us born in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol, or DES, a synthetic estrogen prescribed to pregnant women in a mistaken attempt to prevent miscarriage. An article in the June issue of the New England Journal of Medicine called the lessons learned about the effects of fetal human exposures to DES on adult disease "powerful."
In the U.S., two federal agencies, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, are responsible for banning dangerous chemicals and making sure that chemicals in our food and drugs have been thoroughly tested. Scientists and clinicians across diverse disciplines are concerned that the efforts of the EPA and the FDA are insufficient in the face of the complex cocktail of chemicals in our environment. Updating a proposal from last year, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey introduced legislation this year to create the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011. If enacted, chemical companies would be required to demonstrate the safety of their products before marketing them. This is perfectly logical, but it calls for a suitable screening-and-testing program for endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The need for such tests has been recognized for more than a decade, but no one has yet devised a sound testing protocol.
Regulators also cannot interpret the mounting evidence from laboratory studies, many of which use techniques and methods of analysis that weren't even dreamed of when toxicology testing protocols were developed in the 1950s. It's like providing a horse breeder with genetic sequence data for five stallions and asking him or her to pick the best horse. Interpreting the data would require a broad range of clinical and scientific experience.
That's why professional societies representing more than 40,000 scientists wrote a letter to the FDA and EPA offering their expertise. The agencies should take them up on it. Academic scientists and clinicians need a place at the table with government and industry scientists. We owe it to mothers everywhere, who want to give their babies the best possible chance of growing into healthy adults.


text:
CloudU Notebooks is a weekly blog series that explores topics from the CloudU certificate program in bite sized chunks, written by me, Ben Kepes, curator of CloudU. How-tos, interviews with industry giants and the occasional opinion piece are what you can expect to find. If that's your cup of tea, you can subscribe here.
Over the past handful of years I've commented on a seemingly disconnected bunch of areas: the rise of cloud computing, the forced re-design of how enterprises work, the focus on more project-specific teams, dispersed workers … the list goes on. In the last 12 months of so I've seen these formerly disconnected areas converge together into one topic area – call it Enterprise 2.0, SoMoLo (social, mobile, local), the Social Enterprise or whatever; it is starting to look consistent – the need for an organization to be more nimble in reacting to external and internal factors; the need to meet employees' demands in terms of how and where they want to work; and the desire to unlock data from both inside and outside the organization. You get the picture.
All of these desires are delivered, at least in part, by the cloud – cloud brings a level of agility that allows organization to be more nimble than before. Cloud powers workers in disparate geographies to collaborate on projects. Cloud enables the mobile provisioning of mass information in new ways. Cloud makes insights into vast stores of data more readily obtained.
If cloud is the enabler of this dramatic shift in the way organizations, then the API (Application Programming Interface),is the glue that holds it all together. APIs have an integral part to play in delivering all this agility. Want to give your employees access to data inside legacy systems? An API strategy can help with that. Want to tie together two discrete applications in ways that deliver a specific need? APIs are the glue that binds. Want to set up some cloud infrastructure that lets you scale and deliver in a utility fashion? It is APIs that sit behind much of that.
Given this critical, yet often unheralded, role that APIs play in all of this, it was interesting to read an article by 3Scale CEO Steven Willmott recently. The article is well worth reading in its entirety, but essentially Willmott puts the case that the so-called "App Economy" is in fact better titled the "API Economy." As Willmott says:
Mobile applications have become the driving force of transformation on the Web, creating not only whole new categories of software, but also creating new ways of consuming content and accessing services.
Much of Willmott's article focuses on the massive growth of consumer APIs. At the same time however he touches on the fact that there are a number of vendors (including, of course, his own company) that are solely focused on enabling the realization of an API strategy by organizations. These companies do the heavy lifting which allows an organization to focus on the strategy behind their API strategy rather than the mechanics of actually deploying an API. It is this latter trait that makes these companies, and the rise of the API, of such critical importance for enterprises.
I am reminded of an interview I did a couple of years ago with Christian Reilly, an IT executive at Bechtel, the largest construction and engineering company in the world. When talking about cloud as a trend, Reilly was quick to remark that for him, and by extension for many existing enterprises, "cloud" wasn't a strategy per se, but rather a way of delivering an outcome. Oftentimes this outcome is quite simply the unlocking of existing data, the provisioning of that data across multiple platforms and services and the ability to integrate that data with data from other sources.
The API is the common thread across all of these desires, and it is for that reason that enterprises need to think about their API requirements sooner rather than later.


text:
Thursday, January 21, 1982
Pix #1 - An up-to-date view of East Center, south side, from the north-south alley to end of the business district. Hiser Realty is on the right and Touch of Class on left. The numbering system for that are is 129-131-133.
Pix #2 - The same location as Photo No. 1 but dating back to earlier days when Eissler's Buggy and Wagon Shop was there, later to be replaced by Cook Carriage Co.
Pix #3 - shows Fancy's Sign Shop at No. 132.
Author's Note: Today's article is the third installment in a series about East Center Street.
An up-to-date picture by the RT photographer (Photo No. 1) was necessary to start today's article, since none were available except Photo. 2.
Photo No. 1 shows the only two business places that exist on the south side of the street in the area east of the north-south alley.
In the photo on the right is Hier's Realty Office now occupying the building were Bud Gross' B & J Hamburger Shop was for a number of years. "B & J" stood for Bud and June, the man and wife team who operated the popular eating place. They set up shop in about 1939.
The other building next to it was built by Bud's father-in-law as a barber shop.
What occupied that space in earlier years?
There were two other buildings there within my remembrance. Occupying the majority of the land was Cook Carriage Co., one of the last in Fostoria to make and repair carriages. In later years, they were forced to paint cars and repair canvas tops to stay in business.
The buildings shown in Photo No. 2 is where J.J. Eissler had his buggy and wagon shop, the same ones where Cook Carriage Co. operated later. The buildings shown in the photo must have been altered for Cook since it does not have the same appearance your author recalls.
Cook Carriage Co. was formed in 1917 by C.G. Cook, father and two sons William and Harry, also Charles Stewart and H.M. Hahn. The Cook's had all been associated with Peabody Buggy Co. in Fostoria.
Fred Eissler, son of J.J., operated the shop previous to Cook Carriage.
The Cook Carriage Co. burned Feb. 4, 1939.
The other building which stood where the Touch of Class Beauty Salon is today was the residence of Dan Fell (No. 133) and also a rooming house run by him. It was destroyed by fire at the same time as Cook Carriage Co.
Therefore, the business numbers for that area and the businesses which occupied them were:
No. 129 -131: J.J. Eissler Buggy & Wagon Shop; Cook Carriage Co.o
No. 131: B & J Hamburger Shop; Three R's Restaurant; Hiser Realty; Martin Real Estate; Wollam-Hiser, Inc.
No. 133: Dan Fell, residence and rooming house; Clay Anderson, Barber Shop; Robert Horner Barber Shop, Fostoria Heating Co., furnaces; Greer Lock & Key; Colonial Beauty Inn; Touch of Class Beauty Salon.
The opposite side of the street, starting at the north-south alley, had a variety of businesses and second floor residences.
The only old photo available to illustrate that area is No. 3, which shows Fancy's Sign Shop at No. 132, operated by Merritt Lee Bowman, father of John, of Two Guys Barber Shop. "Fancy" as Bowmans was most commonly known, is on the right in the photo, with Harry J. Seeebon on the left. When the photo was taken in about 1936 or 1937, "Fancy" had just decorated the delivery truck for Seebon's business.
Photo No. 1 is an up-to-date shot to help readers place the various business places and names. There were a variety of types of businesses which are listed below. It is always dangerous to single out certain ones for special mention, but I'll take my chances.
No. 132 was where Frank Copley had his bicycle shop when I was a boy, and that was an important place for everyone owning a bike or planning to buy one. Copley was a public spirited citizen. He not only fixed flats and did other bike repairs at a resonable cost, but he was instrumental in staging bike races for kids. He also urged kids to decorate bikes and enter parades in town. I believe he also furnished the unicycle which Albert Clary learned to ride and perform on in parades and at the YMCA.
The other business place I want to mention in Runnel's Shoe Store at No. 136, where the Driftwood Bar is now. The shoe store was a man-wife operation until his death, then she continued for a number of years. Not too many years ago their advertising sign on the east side of the building could still be distinguished, even though aged by the weather. I delivered the Review to that shoe store, as I did to other places on East Center. Mrs. Runnel's name must have been Elizabeth, because she was known as "Lizz". In her later years, she lived at 134 W. Jackson St.
Here is the list of the numbering system for that side of the street and businesses and people who lived in second-floor residences.
No. 128-130
O.H. Riley & Sons; Fostoria Implement Co.; East Center Street Garage; G.W. Smith, proprietor; Emerson's Garage, Inc.; Herman G. Warren, garage; Miller Auto Repair; Robert Hallman, car wash; Service Garage, R. Hallman and H.D. Warren; Nash Sales-Service, Carl Gillig, proprietor; Goodyear Service Store; Tom's Tire - Auto Supply.
No. 128 1/2
(All residences): J.R. Ferguson, Frank Walton, Albert Evens, C.C. Monro, Mrs. Emma bodkins, Mrs. M. Hollopeter, H.S. Imboden, Mrs. Ada M. Hunt, William C. Daniels; Thomas J. Lane, John Parker, R.D. Croninger, Norman Deer, L.D. French, A.W. Smith, Lee Valenti, A.E. Lewis, Otto G. Van Atta, Park Peter, Mrs. Mary Newlove, Rosa Banks, Donald C. Peltier, Jos. Esposito, Jas Lind, Jas. a. Gregory, Frank Mall, Louis Saiter, Herman Beckman, Roscoe Lewis, Rosa Bloom, Leonard C. Russell, George Hunt, Eugene C. Kromer, Carl F. Gillig, Alvin Cole, Mrs. Angie Fisher, Claire Hile, William B. Beach, John J. Thompson, N.C. Johnstone, Edward L. Hushour, Wayne Druyor, Clinton Smith, William Everding, James Whittinger, Kenneth Ellison, Ronald Sheets, Paul Heckathorn, Roy Milliron, Agnes Yoder, George E. Ward, G.C. Cook, Cletus A. Dalzeith, Wilbert L. Reed.
No. 132
Copley's Bike Shop; John K. Hadded Co., propelled bicycles and motorcycles; John W. Brown, second hand store; LeMar Cook Upholstering; Ace Painting & Glass; Lily's Cake Decorating & Supply; Fancy's Sign Shop; Taylor's Appliance and Service; J.V. Glass Shop.
No. 132 1/2
(All residences): Russell Holopeter, William Aber, Baker Searles and Mrs. Sadie Scholidon.
No. 134
L.O. Wade Storm buggy Co.; National Auto Supply Co.; Netzel's Feed Store; Harry G. Deane Sign Painting; Rusty & Fancy Studio; Fairmont Creamery Co. Cream Station, Newhauser Hatcheries; Marietta's Beauty Shop & Sportswear.
No. 134 1/2
(All residences): R.L. Gillum, Mrs. G.W. Yeager; Orin E. Trumbo, Clarence A. Host, Mrs. Mildren H. Lewis, Frank Gheodore, Akron Quickie, Herman H. Babb, and Ober Ferguson
No. 136
Runnel's Shoe Store; buckeye Dress and Apron Factory; Aaron J. Peter Sheet Metal Works & Furnaces; M.E. Murphy Shoe Repair; LeMar Cook Upholstery; Shank's Used Furniture; Driftwood Lounge.
No. 136 1/2
(All residences): G.A. Panyard, Mrs. Ella Case, Ella Sherman, William R. Robinette and Lloyd Windson.
No. 138 1/2
Lord & Shirk, plumbing and heating (in rear behind residence)


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A number of online stores are having post-Christmas sales on video games for the PC and Xbox 360. A few examples:
Amazon.com: Year-End Deals in Video Games
A number of Xbox 360 deals, including Assassin's Creed 2 for Xbox 360 ($40, usually $60) and Halo 3: ODST ($45, usually $60).
Direct2Drive Year-End Blow-out (and a UK version)
This is all PC. The best one, perhaps, is Mirror's Edge ($5, usually $20) but there are many others.
Also PC only:
Space Siege - 75% Off
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box - 75% Off
The Orange Box - 50% Off
Prey - 85% Off
Killing Floor - 75% Off
Toys R Us Sale: buy 1, get 1 'half off' after Xmas (Joystiq)
Toys R Us will feature a "buy one, get one half off" game sale on all console and some Nintendo DS software starting the day after Christmas (that's December 26) through January 2, 2010. The sale covers all Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, and PS2 titles, along with Nintendo DS games that are $20 or less.
Walmart offering unbeatable $259 Xbox 360 bundle (Geek.com)
For $259 you get:
- Xbox 360 Arcade console
- Xbox Live 12-Month Gold Card
- Walmart Spark eGift Card with $50 value
- Two free games from the following choices:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Forza 3
- Need for Speed: Shift
Walmart is also giving you the option of upgrading the bundle to include an Xbox 360 Elite for an extra $99 bringing the price up to $358.
Is this the best Xbox 360 deal out there at the moment? I work that out to be a $40 saving and then another $50 to spend for free with the eGift card giving a total saving of $90.
Grab it from the Walmart online store while it's still being offered.