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The special contribution of the Berlin SPARQL Benchmark (BSBM) to the RDF world is to raise the question of doing OLTP with RDF.
Of course, here we immediately hit the question of comparisons with relational databases. To this effect, BSBM also specifies a relational schema and can generate the data as either triples or SQL inserts.
The benchmark effectively simulates the case of exposing an existing RDBMS as RDF. OpenLink Software calls this RDF Views. Oracle is beginning to call this semantic covers. The RDB2RDF XG, a W3C incubator group, has been active in this area since Spring, 2008.
We believe this is relevant because RDF promises to be the interoperability factor between potentially all of traditional IS. If data is online for human consumption, it may be online via a SPARQL end-point as well. The economic justification will come from discoverability and from applications integrating multi-source structured data. Online shopping is a fine use case.
Warehousing all the world's publishable data as RDF is not our first preference, nor would it be the publisher's. Considerations of duplicate infrastructure and maintenance are reason enough. Consequently, we need to show that mapping can outperform an RDF warehouse, which is what we'll do here.
First, we found that making the query plan took much too long in proportion to the run time. With BSBM this is an issue because the queries have lots of joins but access relatively little data. So we made a faster compiler and along the way retouched the cost model a bit.
But the really interesting part with BSBM is mapping relational data to RDF. For us, BSBM is a great way of showing that mapping can outperform even the best triple store. A relational row store is as good as unbeatable with the query mix. And when there is a clear mapping, there is no reason the SPARQL could not be directly translated.
If Chris Bizer et al launched the mapping ship, we will be the ones to pilot it to harbor!
We filled two Virtuoso instances with a BSBM200000 data set, for 100M triples. One was filled with physical triples; the other was filled with the equivalent relational data plus mapping to triples. Performance figures are given in "query mixes per hour". (An update or follow-on to this post will provide elapsed times for each test run.)
With the unmodified benchmark we got:
Physical Triples:
1297 qmph
Mapped Triples:
3144 qmph
In both cases, most of the time was spent on Q6, which looks for products with one of three words in the label. We altered Q6 to use text index for the mapping, and altered the databases accordingly. (There is no such thing as an e-commerce site without a text index, so we are amply justified in making this change.)
The following were measured on the second run of a 100 query mix series, single test driver, warm cache.
Physical Triples:
5746 qmph
Mapped Triples:
7525 qmph
We then ran the same with 4 concurrent instances of the test driver. The qmph here is 400 / the longest run time.
Physical Triples:
19459 qmph
Mapped Triples:
24531 qmph
The system used was 64-bit Linux, 2GHz dual-Xeon 5130 (8 cores) with 8G RAM. The concurrent throughputs are a little under 4 times the single thread throughput, which is normal for SMP due to memory contention. The numbers do not evidence significant overhead from thread synchronization.
The query compilation represents about 1/3 of total server side CPU. In an actual online application of this type, queries would be parameterized, so the throughputs would be accordingly higher. We used the StopCompilerWhenXOverRunTime = 1 option here to cut needless compiler overhead, the queries being straightforward enough.
StopCompilerWhenXOverRunTime = 1
We also see that the advantage of mapping can be further increased by more compiler optimizations, so we expect in the end mapping will lead RDF warehousing by a factor of 4 or so.
Reporting Rules. The benchmark spec should specify a form for disclosure of test run data, TPC style. This includes things like configuration parameters and exact text of queries. There should be accepted variants of query text, as with the TPC.
Multiuser operation. The test driver should get a stream number as parameter, so that each client makes a different query sequence. Also, disk performance in this type of benchmark can only be reasonably assessed with a naturally parallel multiuser workload.
Add business intelligence. SPARQL has aggregates now, at least with Jena and Virtuoso, so let's use these. The BSBM business intelligence metric should be a separate metric off the same data. Adding synthetic sales figures would make more interesting queries possible. For example, producing recommendations like "customers who bought this also bought xxx."
For the SPARQL community, BSBM sends the message that one ought to support parameterized queries and stored procedures. This would be a SPARQL protocol extension; the SPARUL syntax should also have a way of calling a procedure. Something like select proc (??, ??) would be enough, where ?? is a parameter marker, like ? in ODBC/JDBC.
select proc (??, ??)
Add transactions.Especially if we are contrasting mapping vs. storing triples, having an update flow is relevant. In practice, this could be done by having the test driver send web service requests for order entry and the SUT could implement these as updates to the triples or a mapped relational store. This could use stored procedures or logic in an app server.
The time of most queries is less than linear to the scale factor. Q6 is an exception if it is not implemented using a text index. Without the text index, Q6 will inevitably come to dominate query time as the scale is increased, and thus will make the benchmark less relevant at larger scales.
We include the sources of our RDF view definitions and other material for running BSBM with our forthcoming Virtuoso Open Source 5.0.8 release. This also includes all the query optimization work done for BSBM. This will be available in the coming days.
About this entry:
Author: Orri Erling
Published: 08/06/2008 19:35 GMT
Comment Status: 1 Comments
Permalink: http://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/oerling/weblog/Orri%20Erling%27s%20Blog/1409


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Billionaire Warren Buffett has been buying a boatload of Apple Inc. shares, and on Saturday suggested he would buy even more shares at the right price.
At Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting, Buffett credited Apple with developing "extremely sticky" products to which consumers become attached and endorsed Apple's decision to buy back its own stock, saying it was the technology company's most productive use of cash.
"We would love to see Apple go down in price," Buffett said.
Berkshire is now Apple's third largest shareholder, behind Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc.
"I'm delighted to see them repurchasing shares," Buffett said, just two days after he revealed having bought 75 million additional Apple shares, and four days after Apple said it may repurchase $100 billion of stock. At the end of 2017, Berkshire had owned 165.3 million shares.
"I love the idea of having our 5 percent, or whatever it is, maybe grow to 6 or 7 percent without our laying out a dime."
And Buffett described it as a mistake that he never thought Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com Inc. made sense as investments for Berkshire.
US, China and trade
Buffett, 87, and his longtime partner and fellow billionaire Charlie Munger, 94, also took pointed questions on China, Wells Fargo & Co, guns, health care and their investment choices from shareholders, journalists and analysts at the more-than-six-hour meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
The questions also elicited views on politics from the "Oracle of Omaha" and Munger.
Buffett said it was unlikely that the United States and China would come to loggerheads on trade and believed the countries would avoid doing "something extremely foolish."
"The United States and China are going to be the two superpowers of the world, economically and in other ways, for a long, long, long time," Buffett said, and that any tensions should not jeopardize the win-win benefits from trade.
"It is just too big and too obvious … that the benefits are huge and the world is dependent on it in a major way for its progress, that two intelligent countries (would) do something extremely foolish," he said. "We both may do things that are mildly foolish from time to time."
The Trump administration has drawn a hard line in trade talks with Beijing, demanding a $200 billion cut in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, sharply lower tariffs and advanced technology subsidies, people familiar with the talks said on Friday.
Buffett suggested U.S. President Donald Trump should be an "educator-in-chief" on the invisible benefits of trade.
Munger, meanwhile, answered a question on steel tariffs imposed by the White House by acknowledging that U.S. producers are hurting.
"Even Donald Trump can be right on some of this stuff," he said.
Tax cuts, guns, cryptocurrency
Asked why Buffett was willing to do business with gun makers, he retorted, "I do not believe in imposing my political opinions on the activities of our businesses."
The billionaire investor said U.S. corporate tax cuts were good for shareholders but cautioned that the long-term effects of economic choices could be hard to gauge.
And Buffett predicted "bad endings" for cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, and said long-term U.S. government bonds were a terrible investment because inflation would consume their returns.
Cardinal sin
Buffett defended Wells Fargo and its chief executive, Tim Sloan, when asked when Berkshire would ditch the bank, one of its largest common stock holdings. Many shareholders applauded the question.
Buffett said the bank had committed the "cardinal sin" of incentivizing employees into "kind of crazy conduct." U.S. regulators imposed $1 billion of fines last month over lending abuses.
But he maintained that the bank was not "inferior," as an investment or morally, to its main rivals.
Berkshire owned $25.2 billion of Wells Fargo stock as of March 31, down 14 percent from year-end as a series of scandals weighed on the bank's reputation.
Wells Fargo investors last week gave strong backing to the bank's directors and executives on Tuesday, indicating confidence in its overhauled leadership to rebound.
Buffett addressed his alliance with another banker, JPMorgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos to tackle health care. Buffett said U.S. health care costs are a tapeworm on the economy, and he said the venture partners expect to name a chief executive within a couple months.
Cash stockpile
Buffett faces a challenge investing Berkshire's more than $108 billion of cash and equivalents, including for acquisitions, saying his "phone is not ringing off the hook with good deals."
Shortly before the meeting, Berkshire ended its more than year-long stretch of falling operating profit, while a new accounting rule caused the conglomerate chaired by Warren Buffett to suffer an overall net loss. Buffett said the net results were not representative of the business.
The accounting change required Berkshire to report unrealized losses in its equity portfolio, which totaled $170.5 billion at year end, regardless of whether it planned to sell those stocks.
Berkshire's net loss was $1.14 billion, compared with profit of $4.06 billion a year earlier.
But operating profit, which excludes investment and derivative gains and losses, rose 49 percent to a record $5.29 billion, or about $3,215 per Class A share, higher than the $3,116 per share analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Giddy shareholders
Shareholders have been enthusiastic about Berkshire, which sent out slightly more tickets to this year's extravaganza than in 2015, when an estimated 42,000 celebrated Buffett's 50th year at the helm. An even larger audience likely watched online via Yahoo Finance.
Outside the convention center, Berkshire shareholders lined up for prime seats in the middle of the night.
William Robertson, a Scotland native who fights fires and does forestry work in Switzerland, said he lined up 7½ hours before doors opened. This year's meeting is his third.
"It gets me first place in the queue, I think when people go to so much effort it shows Warren how important he is for us," Robertson said.

subset: commoncrawl


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Soldier Faces Hearing In Killing Of Deaf, Unarmed Iraqi Teens
By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
A U.S. soldier faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges he unlawfully killed two unarmed teenagers in an Iraqi battle zone.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barbera has been charged with several counts, including premeditated murder, and faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of the killings. The preliminary hearing, known in military parlance as an Article 32 proceeding, is being held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
The Army has been reluctant to comment on the case, which was pushed into the limelight in 2012 by an investigative report by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in which soldiers who served with Barbera said they were troubled that no legal action had been taken after the shootings.
Barbera was an Army paratrooper in March 2007, leading a Small Kill team on a reconnaissance mission outside the village of Asada in rural Iraq, 50 miles from the capital, Baghdad. Barbera and his team established a camp in a palm grove overlooking what they thought was a safe house used by insurgents who had been known to use boys as combatants.
The next day two boys were driving cattle toward the unseen soldiers, according to the reports of the incident. Barbera stood up and allegedly opened fire on the boys, who were later found to be deaf. They were identified as Ahmed Khalid Timmimi, 15, and his brother, Abbas, 14.
Some soldiers complained about the shootings, but no action was taken in the field.
Even after Army criminal investigators at Fort Bragg, N.C., recommended that Barbera be charged with murder and lying to officials about what happened, generals at the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg chose not to put him on trial. Instead, they gave Barbera a reprimand, promoted him to sergeant 1st class and placed him in charge of a larger unit at Alaska's Fort Richardson.
The Tribune-Review published its investigative report, "Rules of Engagement," about the killings and the aftermath in December 2012. The Department of Defense reopened the case in response to demands from members of Congress who read the report, which won multiple journalism awards.
Barbera is also charged with falsely telling superiors the Small Kill team came under insurgent attack and for allegedly making a threatening cellphone call to the wife of Tribune-Review investigative reporter Carl Prine.
AFP Photo/Noorullah Shirzada


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Academy Award® Nominee
A small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman , who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he'll have to take on ghosts,... View more >
Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leslie Mann, Anna Kendrick... View more >
Reviews Summary
Please Note: Reader Reviews are submitted by the readers of The BigScreen Cinema Guide and represent their own personal opinions regarding this movie, and do not represent the views of The BigScreen Cinema Guide, or any of its associated entities.
Aug 22, 2012
A weird little animated from the same people as "Coraline." The film centers on a kid named Norman who is an outcast by other people and fellow student because he has the ability to talk with ghosts. His ability could come in handly when a major theat hit his town; which involves a incident some 300 years ago and a group of zombies.I happen to like the movie. I also happen to Iike the kid Norman, whose is a stand out in the town and this movie. But what character that I love the most surpasses Norman and that's the little girl towards the end of the movie that Norman had a bond with.She's the best thing about this movie.
Aug 22, 2012
I brought the kids to see ParaNorman and we all liked it. It's a quirky little movie that doesn't try too hard to meet you halfway, you just have to like it or not.
It started off a little slow but picked up as it went along. It's not sugar-coated like Disney, but it is a movie the whole family can enjoy. It is very good, but you can see it now or wait until it comes out for rental. It was really good on the big screen. Enjoy.
Aug 23, 2012
We seen it in 3-D, was not worth it. I agree you either like it or not, we didn't.
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The Doors To A Palace
These are the brass ceremonial doors to Dar el-Makhzen, the royal palace in Fes, Morocco. They are never opened.
Palace Doors Details
A close up image of the brass ceremonial doors to Dar el-Makhzen, the royal palace in Fes, Morocco.
Riad Salam Fes
Riad Salam Fes is a restored guest house located within the medina (traditional old town) area of Fes, Morocco.
Fine Art From Fes
An image of designs on the walls of a rug shop deep in the souk (a traditional market with many shops, etc.) of Fes, Morocco. To give an idea of scale the area in the photo is about 9 feet (3 meters) high.
A Tannery In Fes (I)
These are vats used in the tanning process where the hides of sheep, goats, cows and camels are soaked on their way to becoming leather.
Tanning has long been an industry in Fes. Some of the vats have supposedly been in use for centuries.
A Tannery Of Fes (II)
A close up of one of the workers standing in one of the vats in the tannery of Fes, Morocco.
In The Souk
A photo from the souk (traditional market area) of Fes, Morocco. In it a fish seller in his tiny shop offers me a fish when he sees me point the camera in his direction.
Slippers For Sale In The Souk
Many colored slippers for sale in the souk (traditional market area) of Fes, Morocco.
Scarves For Sale in The Souk
A close up of scarves being sold in the souk (traditional market area) of Rissani, a town in eastern Morocco near Algeria.
Two Goats In A Tree
Two goats in the branches of an argan tree. They were lifted into the tree by their herdsmen because goats love to eat the nuts and leaves of these trees.
This was captured by the road between Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco.
A Monkey Of Morocco
A wild barbary macaque monkey photographed in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
The Atlantic Ocean At Morocco
Waves of the Atlantic Ocean reach the coast of Morocco at the town of Essaouira.
Essaouria, Morocco
The ocean flows beside the old fortifications of the town of Essaouria on Morocco's Atlantic coast.
Relaxing In Casablanca
Several young people relax outside the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. This mosque, which opened in 1993, is the world's second largest religious building after the mosque in Mecca.
The Water Seller
A candid portrait of a water seller in Casablanca, Morocco in traditional dress. He really was selling water but photos for tourists seemed to be a strong sideline.
An Evening In Marrakech
An evening photo of Jemaa el-Fna which is a very large square in Marrakech, Morocco which has been part of the city's life for centuries. During the day a large market for food, clothing, etc. is held there. As evening begins the activity in the square changes to include musicians, dancers, storytellers and many other forms of entertainment.
Old Versus New
Two horses face a motorbike in the city of Marrakech, Morocco.
The Triumphal Arch Of Volubilis
This arch was built to honor the Roman Emperor Caracalla and his mother in 217 AD. It is from the ruins of the town Volubilis which flourished when this area was part of the Roman Empire.
Rabat In Blue
The old area of Rabat, Morocco with its buildings painted in the area's typical blue and white color.
On Guard In Rabat
This man on horseback is on guard outside a very large walled area in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. The area, called Dar el-Makhzen, was once exclusively a royal palace but is now mostly occupied by Moroccan government buildings. The current king lives in his own private residence.
A Royal Guard Portrait
A Royal Guard at the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. He is wearing a largely red uniform which is what is worn in the winter months. White is worn in the summer.


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Your smartphone is an increasingly important battlefield in the ongoing war of the gaming consoles. Companion iOS apps for Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One aim to enhance the way you interact with your gaming system. These apps let you access your gaming achievements on the go, communicate with friends and even use your iOS device as a remote for your console.
In today's video, we'll give you a look at how the PlayStation and Xbox One SmartGlass apps compare.
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História da Mitologia/XXXIV
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Pitágoras, As Divindades egípcias, Os Oráculos[editar]
The teachings of Anquises to Eneias, respecting the nature of the human soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the pitagóricos. Pitágoras (born five hundred and forty years B.C.) was a native of the island of Samos, but passed the chief portion of his life at Crotona in Italy. He is therefore sometimes called "the Samian," and sometimes "the philosopher of Crotona." When young he travelled extensively, and it is said visited Egypt, where he was instructed by the priests in all their learning, and afterwards journeyed to the East, and visited the Persian and Chaldean Magi, and the Brahmins of India.
At Crotona, where he finally established himself, his extraordinary qualities collected round him a great number of disciples. The inhabitants were notorious for luxury and licentiousness, but the good effects of his influence were soon visible. Sobriety and temperance succeeded. Six hundred of the inhabitants became his disciples and enrolled themselves in a society to aid each other in the pursuit of wisdom, uniting their property in one common stock for the benefit of the whole. They were required to practise the greatest purity and simplicity of manners. The first lesson they learned was SILENCE; for a time they were required to be only hearers. "He [Pitágoras] said so" (Ipse dixit), was to be held by them as sufficient, without any proof. It was only the advanced pupils, after years of patient submission, who were allowed to ask questions and to state objections.
Pitágoras considered NUMBERS as the essence and principle of all things, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence; so that, in his view, they were the elements out of which the universe was constructed. How he conceived this process has never been satisfactorily explained. He traced the various forms and phenomena of the world to numbers as their basis and essence. The "Monad" or unit he regarded as the source of all numbers. The number Two was imperfect, and the cause of increase and division. Three was called the number of the whole because it had a beginning, middle, and end. Four, representing the square, is in the highest degree perfect; and Ten, as it contains the sum of the four prime numbers, comprehends all musical and arithmetical proportions, and denotes the system of the world.
As the numbers proceed from the monad, so he regarded the pure and simple essence of the Deity as the source of all the forms of nature. Gods, demons, and heroes are emanations of the Supreme, and there is a fourth emanation, the human soul. This is immortal, and when freed from the fetters of the body passes to the habitation of the dead, where it remains till it returns to the world, to dwell in some other human or animal body, and at last, when sufficiently purified, it returns to the source from which it proceeded. This doctrine of the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis), which was originally Egyptian and connected with the doctrine of reward and punishment of human actions, was the chief cause why the pitagóricos killed no animals. Ovid represents Pitágoras addressing his disciples in these words: "Souls never die, but always on quitting one abode pass to another.
I myself can remember that in the time of the Trojan war I was Euphorbus, the son of Panthus, and fell by the spear of Menelaus. Lately being in the temple of Juno, at Argos, I recognized my shield hung up there among the trophies. All things change, nothing perishes. The soul passes hither and thither, occupying now this body, now that, passing from the body of a beast into that of a man, and thence to a beast's again. As wax is stamped with certain figures, then melted, then stamped anew with others, yet is always the same wax, so the soul, being always the same, yet wears, at different times, different forms. Therefore, if the love of kindred is not extinct in your bosoms, forbear, I entreat you, to violate the life of those who may haply be your own relatives."
Shakespeare, in the "Merchant of Venice," makes Gratiano allude to the metempsychosis, where he says to Shylock:
"Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with Pitágoras, That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men; thy currish spirit Governed a wolf; who hanged for human slaughter Infused his soul in thee; for thy desires Are wolfish, bloody, starved and ravenous."
The relation of the notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from the reverse, led Pitágoras to apply the word "harmony" to the visible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to each other. This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the beginning of his "Song for St. Cecilia's Day":
"From harmony, from heavenly harmony This everlasting frame began; From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The Diapason closing full in Man."
In the centre of the universe (he taught) there was a central fire, the principle of life. The central fire was surrounded by the earth, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. The distances of the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to correspond to the proportions of the musical scale. The heavenly bodies, with the gods who inhabited them, were supposed to perform a choral dance round the central fire, "not without song." It is this doctrine which Shakspeare alludes to when he makes Lorenzo teach astronomy to Jessica in this fashion:
"Look, Jessica, see how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold! There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim; Such harmony is in immortal souls! But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in we cannot hear it." --O Mercador de Veneza.
The spheres were conceived to be crystalline or glassy fabrics arranged over one another like a nest of bowls reversed. In the substance of each sphere one or more of the heavenly bodies was supposed to be fixed, so as to move with it. As the spheres are transparent we look through them and see the heavenly bodies which they contain and carry round with them. But as these spheres cannot move on one another without friction, a sound is thereby produced which is of exquisite harmony, too fine for mortal ears to recognize. Milton, in his "Hymn on the Nativity," thus alludes to the music of the spheres:
"Ring out, ye crystal spheres! Once bless our human ears (If ye have power to charm our senses so); And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow; And with your ninefold harmony Make up full concert with the angelic symphony."
Pitágoras is said to have invented the lyre. Our own poet Longfellow, in "Verses to a Child," thus relates the story:
"As great Pitágoras of yore, Standing beside the blacksmith's door, And hearing the hammers as they smote The anvils with a different note, Stole from the varying tones that hung Vibrant on every iron tongue, The secret of the sounding wire, And formed the seven-chorded lyre."
See also the same poet's "Occupation of Orion"--
"The Samian's great Aeolian lyre."
Sibáris e Crotona[editar]
Sibáris, a neighboring city to Crotona, was as celebrated for luxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse. The name has become proverbial. J. R. Lowell uses it in this sense in his charming little poem "To the Dandelion":
"Not in mid June the golden cuirassed bee Feels a more summer-like, warm ravishment In the white lily's breezy tent (His conquered Sibáris) than I when first From the dark green thy yellow circles burst."
A war arose between the two cities, and Sibáris was conquered and destroyed. Milo, the celebrated athlete, led the army of Crotona. Many stories are told of Milo's vast strength, such as his carrying a heifer of four years old upon his shoulders and afterwards eating the whole of it in a single day. The mode of his death is thus related: As he was passing through a forest he saw the trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by wood- cutters, and attempted to rend it further; but the wood closed upon his hands and held him fast, in which state he was attacked and devoured by wolves. Lord Byron, in his "Ode to Napoleão Bonaparte," alludes to the story of Milo:
"He who of old would rend the oak Deemed not of the rebound; Chained by the trunk he vainly broke, Alone, how looked he round!"
Divindades egípicias[editar]
In one of Moore's "Irish Melodies" is an allusion to Harpocrates:
"Thyself shall, under some rosy bower, Sit mute, with thy finger on thy lip; Like him, the boy, who born among The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush, Sits ever thus,--his only song To Earth and Heaven, 'Hush all, hush!'"
Mitos de Osíris e de Ísis[editar]
Osiris and Isis were at one time induced to descend to the earth to bestow gifts and blessings on its inhabitants. Isis showed them first the use of wheat and barley, and Osiris made the instruments of agriculture and taught men the use of them, as well as how to harness the ox to the plough. He then gave men laws, the institution of marriage, a civil organization, and taught them how to worship the gods. After he had thus made the valley of the Nile a happy country, he assembled a host with which he went to bestow his blessings upon the rest of the world. He conquered the nations everywhere, but not with weapons, only with music and eloquence. His brother Typhon saw this, and filled with envy and malice sought during his absence to usurp his throne.
But Isis, who held the reins of government, frustrated his plans. Still more embittered, he now resolved to kill his brother. This he did in the following manner: Having organized a conspiracy of seventy-two members, he went with them to the feast which was celebrated in honor of the king's return. He then caused a box or chest to be brought in, which had been made to fit exactly the size of Osiris, and declared that he wouldd would give that chest of precious wood to whosoever could get into it. The rest tried in vain, but no sooner was Osiris in it than Typhon and his companions closed the lid and flung the chest into the Nile. When Isis heard of the cruel murder she wept and mourned, and then with her hair shorn, clothed in black and beating her breast, she sought diligently for the body of her husband. In this search she was materially assisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys.
They sought in vain for some time; for when the chest, carried by the waves to the shores of Byblos, had become entangled in the reeds that grew at the edge of the water, the divine power that dwelt in the body of Osiris imparted such strength to the shrub that it grew into a mighty tree, enclosing in its trunk the coffin of the god. This tree with its sacred deposit was shortly after felled, and erected as a column in the palace of the king of Phoenicia. But at length by the aid of Anubis and the sacred birds, Isis ascertained these facts, and then went to the royal city. There she offered herself at the palace as a servant, and being admitted, threw off her disguise and appeared as a goddess, surrounded with thunder and lightning. Striking the column with her wand she caused it to split open and give up the sacred coffin.
This she seized and returned with it, and concealed it in the depth of a forest, but Typhon discovered it, and cutting the body into fourteen pieces scattered them hither and thither. After a tedious search, Isis found thirteen pieces, the fishes of the Nile having eaten the other. This she replaced by an imitation of sycamore wood, and buried the body at Philae, which became ever after the great burying place of the nation, and the spot to which pilgrimages were made from all parts of the country. A temple of surpassing magnificence was also erected there in honor of the god, and at every place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples and tombs were built to commemorate the event. Osiris became after that the tutelar deity of the Egyptians. His soul was supposed always to inhabit the body of the bull Apis, and at his death to transfer itself to his successor.
Apis, the Bull of Memphis, was worshipped with the greatest reverence by the Egyptians. The individual animal who was held to be Apis was recognized by certain signs. It was requisite that he should be quite black, have a white square mark on the forehead, another, in the form of an eagle, on his back, and under his tongue a lump somewhat in the shape of a scarabaeus or beetle. As soon as a bull thus marked was found by those sent in search of him, he was placed in a building facing the east, and was fed with milk for four months. At the expiration of this term the priests repaired at new moon, with great pomp, to his habitation and saluted him Apis.
He was placed in a vessel magnificently decorated and conveyed down the Nile to Memphis, where a temple, with two chapels and a court for exercise, was assigned to him. Sacrifices were made to him, and once every year, about the time when the Nile began to rise, a golden cup was thrown into the river, and a grand festival was held to celebrate his birthday. The people believed that during this festival the crocodiles forgot their natural ferocity and became harmless. There was, however, one drawback to his happy lot: he was not permitted to live beyond a certain period, and if, when he had attained the age of twenty-five years, he still survived, the priests drowned him in the sacred cistern and then buried him in the temple of Serapis. On the death of this bull, whether it occurred in the course of nature or by violence, the whole land was filled with sorrow and lamentations, which lasted until his successor was found.
We find the following item in one of the newspapers of the day:
"The Tomb of Apis.--The excavations going on at Memphis bid fair to make that buried city as interesting as Pompeii. The monster tomb of Apis is now open, after having lain unknown for centuries."
Milton, in his "Hymn on the Nativity," alludes to the Egyptian deities, not as imaginary beings, but as real demons, put to flight by the coming of Christ.
"The brutish god of Nile as fast, Isis and Horus and the dog Anubis haste. Nor is Osiris seen In Memphian grove or green Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud; Nor can he be at rest Within his sacred chest; Nought but profoundest hell can be his shroud. In vain with timbrel'd anthems dark The sable-stole sorcerers bear his worshipped ark."
[Footnote: There being no rain in Egypt, the grass is "unshowered," and the country depend for its fertility upon the overflowings of the Nile. The ark alluded to in the last line is shown by pictures still remaining on the walls of the Egyptian temples to have been borne by the priests in their religious processions. It probably represented the chest in which Osiris was placed.]
Isis was represinted in statuary with the head veiled, a symbol of mystery. It is this which Tennyson alludes to in "Maud," IV., 8:
"For the drift of the Maker is dark, an Isis hid by the veil," etc.
ORACLES Oracle was the name used to denote the place where answers were supposed to be given by any of the divinities to those who consulted them respecting the future. The word was also used to signify the response which was given.
The most ancient Grecian oracle was that of Jupiter at Dodona. According to one account, it was established in the following manner: Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt. One flew to Dodona in Epirus, and alighting in a grove of oaks, it proclaimed in human language to the inhabitants of the district that they must establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan Oasis, and delivered a similar command there. Another account is, that they were not doves, but priestesses, who were carried off from Thebes in Egypt by the Phoenicians, and set up oracles at the Oasis and Dodona. The responses of the oracle were given from the trees, by the branches rustling in the wind, the sounds being interpreted by the priests.
But the most celebrated of the Grecian oracles was that of Apollo at Delphi, a city built on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis.
It had been observed at a very early period that the goats feeding on Parnassus were thrown into convulsions when they approached a certain long deep cleft in the side of the mountain. This was owing to a peculiar vapor arising out of the cavern, and one of the goatherds was induced to try its effects upon himself. Inhaling the intoxicating air, he was affected in the same manner as the cattle had been, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country, unable to explain the circumstance, imputed the convulsive ravings to which he gave utterance while under the power of the exhalations to a divine inspiration. The fact was speedily circulated widely, and a temple was erected on the spot. The prophetic influence was at first variously attributed to the goddess Earth, to Neptune, Themis, and others, but it was at length assigned to Apollo, and to him alone. A priestess was appointed whose office it was to inhale the hallowed air, and who was named the Pythia. She was prepared for this duty by previous ablution at the fountain of Castalia, and being crowned with laurel was seated upon a tripod similarly adorned, which was placed over the chasm whence the divine afflatus proceeded. Her inspired words while thus situated were interpreted by the priests.
Oráculo de Trofônio[editar]
Besides the oracles of Jupiter and Apollo, at Dodona and Delphi, that of Trophonius in Boeotia was held in high estimation. Trophonius and Agamedes were brothers. They were distinguished architects, and built the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and a treasury for King Hyrieus. In the wall of the treasury they placed a stone, in such a manner that it could be taken out; and by this means, from time to time, purloined the treasure. This amazed Hyrieus, for his locks and seals were untouched, and yet his wealth continually diminished. At length he set a trap for the thief and Agamedes was caught. Trophonias, unable to extricate him, and fearing that when found he would be compelled by torture to discover his accomplice, cut off his head. Trophonius himself is said to have been shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth.
The oracle of Trophonius was at Lebadea in Boeotia. During a great drought the Boeotians, it is said, were directed by the god at Delphi to seek aid of Trophonius at Lebadea. They came thither, but could find no pracle. One of them, however, happening to see a swarm of bees, followed them to a chasm in the earth, which proved to be the place sought.
Peculiar ceremonies were to be performed by the person who came to consult the oracle. After these preliminaries, he descended into the cave by a narrow passage. This place could be entered only in the night. The person returned from the cave by the same narrow passage, bat walking backwards. He appeared melancholy and defected; and hence the proverb which was applied to a person low- spirited and gloomy, "He has been consulting the oracle of Trophonius."
Oráculo de Esculápio[editar]
There were numerous oracles of Aesculapius, but the most celebrated one was at Epidaurus. Here the sick sought responses and the recovery of their health by sleeping in the temple. It has been inferred from the accounts that have come down to us that the treatment of the sick resembled what is now called Animal Magnetism or Mesmerism.
Serpents 'were sacred to Aesculapius, probably because of a superstition that those animals have a faculty of renewing their youth by a change of skin. The worship of Aesculapius was introduced into Rome in a time of great sickness, and an embassy sent to the temple of Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god. Aesculapius was propitious, and on the return of the ship accompanied it in the form of a serpent. Arriving in the river Tiber, the serpent glided from the vessel and took possession of an island in the river, and a temple was there erected to his honor.
Oráculo de Ápis[editar]
At Memphis the sacred bull Apis gave answer to those who consulted him by the manner in which he received or rejected what was presented to him. If the bull refused food from the hand of the inquirer it was considered an unfavorable sign, and the contrary when he received it.
It has been a question whether oracular responses ought to be ascribed to mere human contrivance or to the agency of evil spirits. The latter opinion has been most general in past ages. A third theory has been advanced since the phenomena of Mesmerism have attracted attention, that something like the mesmeric trance was induced in the Pythoness, and the faculty of clairvoyance really called into action.
Another question is as to the time when the Pagan oracles ceased to give responses. Ancient Christian writers assert that they became silent at the birth of Christ, and were heard no more after that date. Milton adopts, this view in his "Hymn on the Mativity," and in lines of solemn and elevated beauty pictures the consternation of the heathen idols at the Advent of the Saviour:
"The oracles are dumb; No voice or hideous hum Rings through the arched roof in words Deceiving. Apollo from his shrine Can no more divine, With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos heaving. No nightly trance or breathed spell Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell"
In Cowper's poem of "Yardley Oak" there are some beautiful mythological allusions. The former of the two following is to the fable of Castor and Pollux; the latter is more appropriate to our present subject. Addressing the acorn he says:
"Thou fell'st mature; and in the loamy clod, Swelling with vegetative force instinct, Didst burst thine, as theirs the fabled Twins Now stars; twor lobes protruding, paired exact; A leaf succeede and another leaf, And, all the elements thy puny growth Fostering propitious, thou becam'st a twig. Who lived when thou wast such? Of couldst thou speak, As in Dodona once thy kindred trees Oracular, I would not curious ask The future, best unknown, but at thy mouth Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past."
Tennyson, in his "Talking Oak," alludes to the oaks of Dodona in these lines:
And I will work in prose and rhyme, And praise thee more in both Than bard has honored beech or lime, Or that Thessalian growth In which the swarthy ring-dove sat And mystic sentence spoke; etc.
Lord Byron alludes to the oracle of Delphi where, speaking of Rousseau, whose writings he conceives did much to bring on the French revolution, he says:
"For the, he was inspired, and from him came, As from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore, Those oracles which set the world in flame, Nor ceased to burn till kingdoms were no more."
Ver também[editar]


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DALLAS (AP) -- A Dallas woman who beat her 2-year-old daughter and glued the toddler's hands to a wall was sentenced Friday to 99 years in prison by a judge who described his decision as a necessary punishment for a brutal, shocking attack.
Elizabeth Escalona did not immediately react as State District Judge Larry Mitchell pronounced the sentence at the end of a five-day hearing. Prosecutor Eren Price, who originally offered Escalona a plea deal for 45 years, had argued that she now thought the 23-year-old mother deserved life.
Mitchell said his decision came down to one thing.
"On Sept. 7, 2011, you savagely beat your child to the edge of death," Mitchell said. "For this you must be punished."
The beating left Jocelyn Cedillo in a coma for a couple of days.
Escalona's other children told authorities their mother attacked Jocelyn due to potty training problems. Police say she kicked her daughter in the stomach, beat her with a milk jug, then stuck her hands to an apartment wall with an adhesive commonly known as Super Glue.
Jocelyn suffered bleeding in her brain, a fractured rib, multiple bruises and bite marks, a doctor testified. Some skin had been torn off her hands, where doctors also found glue residue and white paint chips from the apartment wall.
Escalona pleaded guilty in July to one count of felony injury to a child.
Price said Escalona would be eligible to apply for parole in 30 years.
The prosecutor repeatedly sought to portray Escalona as a liar, a monster and an unfit mother. She forced Escalona Thursday to look at enlarged photos of the bruises her attack left on Jocelyn.
Price argued Friday that if a stranger had beaten Jocelyn the same way, no one would hesitate to give that person life in prison. Escalona had mishandled a "beautiful gift" of a daughter and failed to recognize what she had done, Price argued.
"The 45-year recommendation was for somebody who was going to take ownership of what she did, appreciate what she caused," Price said.
Sending her to prison for decades would protect her children's future, Price argued.
"You can give Jocelyn and her brothers and sister peace," she said. "You can give them peace, so that when they're sitting around the dinner table at Thanksgiving with their big family, they're not worried that their mother is going to come walking through the door."
Defense attorney Angie N'Duka asked for probation or a prison sentence shorter than 10 years. N'Duka argued that her client was a "train wreck" waiting to happen before the attack, the product of a broken home, abuse and a childhood that included illegal drugs and hanging out with gang members.
N'Duka repeated that she did not want to minimize the injuries from the attack.
"They are despicable, but then the question is, `What is justice for Jocelyn?'" she said, adding later: "Giving Elizabeth the opportunity to be a better mother, giving her the opportunity to get counseling services, will be justice for Jocelyn."
Escalona's five children, including Jocelyn and a baby born after the attack, are in the care of their grandmother, Ofeila Escalona.
Mitchell listened to both lawyers and took a short break before delivering his sentence.
The judge said he believed many of the allegations that Escalona was abused as a child. "And again, outside of the context of this trial, I think even the state would find you to be a sympathetic figure, because they prosecute people for what was done to you," Mitchell said. "But I can't consider that evidence outside of the context of this trial."
He then announced the sentence. A family member of Escalona began sobbing and screaming, "No!"
N'Duka told reporters that Escalona had asked afterward, "What about my children?"
N'Duka said the sentence was "way too harsh" and suggested the widespread attention her client's case had received contributed to the sentence.
"It's a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure on the parties," N'Duka said.
Price said afterward prosecutors decided to ask for a longer sentence after receiving more evidence they wouldn't have had if Escalona had taken a deal for 45 years.
"We feel like the judge listened very carefully to a very difficult week of testimony, and we feel like he did exactly what the evidence called for," Price said.
Ofelia Escalona had asked for leniency for her daughter. After the sentencing, she left the courtroom with a solemn expression, ignoring reporters' shouted questions.


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Via The Independent:
An unprecedented $14trn (£8.8trn) greening of the global economy is the only way to ensure long-term sustainable growth, according to a stark warning delivered to political and business leaders as they descended on the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday.
Only a sustained and dramatic shift to infrastructure and industrial practices using low-carbon technology can save the world and its economy from devastating global warming, according to a Davos-commissioned alliance led by the former Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, in the most dramatic call so far to fight climate change on business grounds.
This includes everything from power generation, transport, and buildings to industry, forestry, water and agriculture, according to the Green Growth Action Alliance, created at last year's Davos meeting in Mexico.
The extra spending amounts to roughly $700bn a year until 2030 and would provide a much-needed economic stimulus as well as reduce the costs associated with global warming further down the line, said Mr Calderon, who leads the alliance.


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'Bullion Logo' Business Card Holder / Credit Card Wallet (CH00001007)
Keep cards protected with this sophisticated and lightweight aluminium card holder. The snap shut lid features a design from one of our talented designers; a great way to stand out from the crowd. It's ideal for holding business, ID, travel and credit cards.
Height: 61mm
Width 93mm
Depth: 7mm
Holds approximately 20 business cards.


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We use our decades of experience working on high-end commercial and residential projects to deliver landscape construction services clients can truly rely on.
Valley Provincial offers landscape management and grounds maintenance services as clients recognise that any environmental scheme is only as good as its upkeep.
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Scientists translate sign language to text in pioneering phone software
The new software – the first of its kind in the world – has been developed for use on portable devices, such as smartphones, and will allow users to turn sign language into words. Users will even be able to customise the sign language to their own specific needs.
The Aberdeen University scientists behind the breakthrough claim the technology has the potential to transform how sign language users – from the profoundly deaf to those who have lost hearing in later life – will be able to communicate.
The Portable Sign Language Translator (PSLT ) has been developed by computing scientists at Technabling, a spin-out from Aberdeen University. The PSLT recognises sign language using a small camera which can be integrated in most mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet Pcs and netbooks, and then renders it as text displayed on the device's main screen.
Dr Ernesto Compatangelo, a lecturer in computing science who is director of Technabling, said: "The aim of the technology is to empower sign language users by enabling them to overcome the communication challenges they can experience, through portable technology.
"The user signs into a standard camera integrated into a laptop, netbook, Smartphone or other portable device such as a tablet. Their signs are immediately translated into text which can be read by the person they are conversing with.
"The intent is to develop an application – an "app" in Smartphone terms – that is easily accessible and could be used on different devices."
He said the PSLT technology had the potential to be used with a range of sign languages including British Sign Language (BSL) and Makaton. More than 50,000 people with speech problems use BSL as their first or preferred language.
Dr Compatangelo said: "One of the most innovative and exciting aspects of the technology, is that it allows sign language users to actually develop their own signs for concepts and terms they need to have in their vocabulary, but they may not have been able to express easily when using BSL."
The research is being funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to enhance the lives of deaf people with special emphasis in benefiting young people who are either in education or training.
A spokesman for Technabling said: "As a learning tool, the PSLT can be easily and effectively used by those who are learning to sign. So far, these learners needed a sign language expert in front of them to check that they were able to sign correctly. This is a problem, due to the scarce availability of sign language experts and to the consequent cost of such training.
"The PSLT can replace the human expert in many occasions, allowing learners to practice sign language whenever and wherever they like, driving costs substantially down."
A university spokeswoman said: "Scientists on the project are now encouraging sign language users from Aberdeen city and shire to get in touch to become involved with its ongoing development. It is anticipated that the technology will be available as a product by next year."


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Churches by Denomination
Orthodox churches practice a rich liturgical life and faithfulness to the apostolic tradition. Orthodox Christians believe that their Church has preserved the tradition and continuity of the ancient Church in its fullness, as opposed to other Christian denominations which have departed from the common tradition of the Church of the first ten centuries. Today Orthodox Church numbers approximately 300 million Christians who follow the faith and practices that were defined by the first seven ecumenical councils. The word orthodox literally means "right belief and right glory" and has traditionally been used to designate communities, or individuals, who preserved the true faith as opposed to those who were declared heretical. You can find an Orthodox church here at Church Angel .Com - the ultimate church finder.


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DTR Tournament Edition #79 - CVS2
20 Players
Double Elimination
- Capcom vs SNK 2
September 25, 2019 em 7:00 PM EDT
This is a free-to-enter tournament beginner bracket as requested by Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 fans in our community! We are in the heart of Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). There will be prizes!


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UCL Library Services help launch new Wellcome digitisation project
4 March 2013
UCL Library Services is working with the Wellcome Trust to collect together the papers of the pioneers of modern genetics through a new digitalisation project.
The project, which is named Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics, aims to provide a documentary record of modern genetics, not only from a scientific perspective, but also from political, economic, technological, social, cultural and personal viewpoints.
UCL has contributed over 80,000 images from UCL Special Collections, including digitised images of the papers of JBS Haldane and Lionel Sharples Penrose which will sit in the Wellcome Digital Library alongside the works of other key figures in modern genetics such as Francis Crick, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin and Fred Sanger.
In total, twenty archive collections relating to genetics research and biochemistry have been digitised. The content ranges in date from 1863 to 2008, and includes collections from UCL, Wellcome Library, Churchill Archives Centre, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, University of Glasgow and Kings College London.
As a result, more than 2.5 million images of diaries, notebooks, case studies, correspondence, research papers and published books are gradually being added to the Library website. This includes 1,600 key printed books on genetics and heredity and archives of 20 eminent geneticists, medical researchers and organisations.
Included in this list are JBS Haldane (1892-1964) and Lionel Penrose (1898-1972). Both were active in a critical era for genetics, making contributions to theoretical population genetics and genetics of mental deficiency respectively.
In spring 2013 the materials will be turned into range of features on the Wellcome Library website, including a history of genetics timeline, peer-reviewed biographies and overviews of each archive collection.
For more information, visit the Wellcome Library website here.


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OS X Snow Leopard seems to do nothing really new. And yet, it could be their most important OS since 10.0.0. Updated the Bad Stuff section.
Snow Leopard, as a follow up to Leopard, is almost absurdly insubstantial at first glance. The new operating system takes the same old boring, every day tasks like opening files, for example, and makes them happen subtly faster. But that performance is not being utilized by any third-party programs right now. And there are practically no new first-party programs by Apple. Nope, mostly just rewritten old ones and dozens of little interface tweaks. Some fanboys will ask, incredulously, "This is a new operating system?!" Those people are missing the point.
On deeper inspection, Snow Leopard's inconspicuous aspects—performance squeezed from underused CPU multicores/GPUs and basic UI tweaks—are found to be the kind of refinement generally reserved for virtuosity. These speed optimizations are deep, reminding me of when a master martial artist puts the entirety of his weight behind a strike (while a neophyte would flails his limbs like a henchman in a Bruce Lee movie). The little UI tweaks are no different than when a great sculptor's chisel works to remove everything non-essential during the final steps on a statue. Challenging 30 years of ever more bloated software tradition, the changes here are about becoming a more effective middleware between the media and the hardware, reducing friction while becoming more useful by, well, being lighter, less visible.
And if you think that's bullshit, well, I can't say you're completely out of your mind, but there's always the consolation that this OS upgrade costs about the same as a used Xbox game.
After some benching on a first-generation MacBook Air, an older MacBook Pro 15 and a pair of current-gen 13-inch MacBook Pros, it's clear that Snow Leopard is faster—sometimes drastically—but almost never in third-party applications. Some people like charts. If you feel like skipping them, here's a summary:
• In preview, where opening six 35MB 20,000-pixel-wide images of Tokyo's cityscape each took half the time in Snow.
• Safari's javascript processing, using Snow's specific tech, is about 40% faster—useful for all those Ajax-heavy websites we all use now.
• Time Machine backed up a 1GB dataset nearly 40% faster than on Leopard.
• There was no discernible improvement in non-optimized 32-bit programs: Photoshop testing and Handbrake DVD ripping times were identical. High-def playback on QuickTime 7 (not the new QuickTime 10 version) was identical in CPU usage, too.
• Synthetic benchmark results were interesting: The aging Xbench app, which tests everything from graphics to disks to memory, took a slight performance dip, implying older software may, too. Geekbench, a multicore optimized, newer benchmark available in both 32- and 64-bit saw a lift on Snow. But the test is only focused on theoretical CPU and memory performance, which may not translate into every day use.
Here's a video of those JPEGs cranking open in parallel, rather than serial, fashion:
Impressed yet?! You shouldn't be. Well, not by the act of opening images. But you definitely should once you realize what it really shows: Apple just pulled 2X performance out of my hardware, by software alone. Tada!
How is Snow Leopard Getting Faster?
There are three fundamental reasons for these performance increases: Better multicore processor support through what Apple calls GCD (Grand Central Dispatch—which we explain here); OpenCL APIs for utilizing the processing power in any graphics cards above the GeForce 8600 Series for video acceleration and general purpose computing; and they've rewritten almost all the applications that ship with Snow Leopard to run in 64-bit mode while taking advantage of GCD and CoreCL. So it's making processing for today's chips more efficient and easier for developers. And giving programs a way to utilize the power of the video card when it's not playing games. It also allows programs to run in 64-bit mode, the main theoretical advantage of which is to allow these programs to access more than 4GB of RAM on systems that have it. (More on all that at the bottom of the page.*)
Snow Leopard is efficient in other ways too. Install size is down to 10GB from 16GB, most of that weight shed by losing printer drivers and the PowerPC part of universal binaries. (Snow Leopard runs only on Intel hardware and downloads printer drivers it needs from the net, as you need them.) Installation is also quicker by about 30% on any given piece of hardware (consistent with the smaller install footprint). And in a move that can only be categorized as showing off, Snow Leopard can finish its installation if you accidentally power it down midway through.
But I'm digressing. The bottom line on performance is that the programs included with this operating system will do just about everything faster on modern machines that support those technologies—that is, most of the multicore Macs or those running Nvidia 8600 series video cards or higher. And not just a bit faster, but faster on the scale of 25 to 50% which means there's typically a good amount of latent processing juju in your video card and CPU. Great, but to be honest, it's a bit less impressive than it sounds in real life today, because all the basic system tasks happen fast anyhow. (When was the last time you sat around while a JPEG opened up?) Again, no other apps that use GCD or OpenCL are available from software makers outside of Apple. But if the theoretical gains are here to be had via easier programming methods, I'd bet those apps will come soon.
Interface Streamlining
There are 5 major changes in the UI:
Icons now scale, courtesy of a little slider on the bottom right of the pane, up to 512 pixels wide. It sounds wasteful, except that video files can be played directly from the finder window. Honestly, I don't prefer it more than the QuickLook (hitting spacebar to popup a quick preview window) in Leopard and carried over in Snow Leopard. I don't mind the option, but I have no use for this feature.
OS X's dock has been interactive for some time. You could drag a file to an icon there to somehow get the two to interact, but you could never use the dock to select which window instance of an app to use. Now clicking and holding (empty handed or with a file) triggers Expose, Apple's window management doohickey, for that particular application. Being able to quickly pop out an app's windows and then select the right one in a single step is terrific, but you still can't use Expose to quickly find the browser tab you want within a window. That's an increasingly big problem as the time spent in browsers goes up.
Expose itself has been improved, too. When viewing all the windows for one application in Expose's zoomed-out view, the items are now arranged in a grid instead of a single, impossible to read line, and each window has a text label. (That's helpful when you're trying to recognize a particular window amongst lots of similar looking—and rendered tiny by Expose—text documents or emails.) Minimized windows are also now shown at the bottom of the screen under a faint line dividing it from other maximized windows from the same application.
When Stacks made its debut in Leopard, the dock mounted quick file viewer was too twitchy to use. You'd try to move a file andit would snap close, offended you'd try to do anything but open a file. And the space was always too limited in fan or grid mode to display more than a few icons. Stacks improves on this by allowing scrolling in the Grid view, but by also adding a smart list view capable of showing numerous files at once. It's an improvement.
QuickTime 10
Putting QuickTime in this list is questionable, but aside from its acceleration, there are some major changes here. That is, as you mouse away, the video screen loses all borders and buttons, appearing like the video equivalent of an infinity pool or one of those ultra thin LCDs. The program has a new capture system for encording video and audio clips and even voice annotated screen capture sessions. It also borrows the trimming thumbnail line from iMovie '09. I love it.
Let's face it, in the big picture, calling these changes "major" is generous. But there are literally dozens of even smaller examples, all welcome, all reducing friction points in the OS's usage, eliminating clicks needed and making the OS less obtuse. You can read about all of these additions in the gallery below, or here on one page, if you're curious to read about them all. If not, take my word for it: They all make things better.
While it's not UI- or performance-related, one additional Snow Leopard benefit is free Exchange support, so your mail, address books and calendars can all sync through it. I don't work at a corporation, so I don't care, but you may.
Bad Things
What kind of sick fanboy would I be if I didn't mention the imperfections?
And Safari 4's ability to segment unstable browser plugins made itself useful when many more flash powered pages crashed in Snow Leopard than Leopard.
Other reviewers have discovered that Snow Leopard has disabled or quirk-ified some of their apps.
I've also noticed that Expose doesn't work as smoothly with spaces now. You sometimes select a window on another virtual spaces desktop and it won't bring the window up top.
If you've got some third part mission critical app that you need to run every day, you should double check its compatibility and wait for a new version before upgrading your OS. Look before you leap here. The OS isn't so radically new that you have to have it right this moment.
The changes here are modest, and the performance gains look promising but beyond the built in apps, just a promise. If you're looking for more bells and whistles, you can hold off on this upgrade for at least awhile. But my thought is that Snow Leopard's biggest feature is that it doesn't have any new features, but that what is already there has been refined, one step closer to perfection. They just better roll out some new features next time, because the invisible refinement upgrade only works once every few decades.
Uses latent multicore and GPU power to speed up
the apps it comes with by relatively huge amounts
Costs $30 to upgrade
Still haven't seen any third party apps
rewritten to take advantage of Snow Leopard's speed yet
No major new functionality might turn off
[Back to our Complete Guide to Snow Leopard]
*Performance Background: You May Skip This Section.
Today's chips have hovered in the 2-3.6GHz range for some time, with gains in theoretical processing power made by increasing the number of CPU cores on one chip and optimizing the silicon in those cores. Think about it as roof shingles: It's easier to protect your roof with lots of little shingles than one huge one. Unfortunately, the power afforded by the additional CPU cores has largely gone to waste, because it's difficult to write code that takes full advantage of multiple cores. The programmer has to write the application in a way that breaks down large problems into multiple smaller problems (called threads), each of which runs on a single CPU core. The application then becomes a traffic cop keeping threads in sync. If any part gets out of sync, the app crashes or hangs.
This problem is made more complex because many apps are written with a maximum number of threads in mind. While some workloads, such as video encoding or photo processing can take advantage of many cores innately, most need to have some work done to add support for more threads, so future-proofing has been difficult. I don't know if programming GCD is easier than straight-up multiple-core programming—we cover some of those details here—but the key here is that Apple's created a middleware that developers can write for, which automatically scales up to work with the number of CPU cores or other hardware in your system. The developer writes for GCD, while the system handles the gruntwork. Apple hopes more people will use this easier, more future-proofed way to tap into multiple-core power. Of course, no one has so far, except Apple programmers themselves. This explains why Finder, Preview and basically everything else that ships with Snow Leopard run faster. But in my tests, Photoshop, still a 32-bit program on the Mac and written without any support of GCD or OpenCL, showed less than 1% variation from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Still, as we can see from the system apps, there's potential here. And let's face it, the majority of us are not rendering Photoshop files all day, so this is performance you can put in your pocket today.
There's a story of efficiency here, too, however. Because GCD is better at managing resources, a program like, Mail, for example, shows less system impact (thread usage, cpu usage) while sitting idle in Snow Leopard, than on Leopard. When testing OpenCL's hardware acceleration, something Windows machines have had for awhile, by playing a 1080p trailer of James Cameron's awesome new Avatar movie, CPU usage dropped drastically when machines were using the 64-bit CoreCL and GCD supported version of QuickTime. Any modern machine can play 1080p video well, but here, we were talking about Snow Leopard causing the strain on the system to take total CPU usage from 30% to 16% on the 13-inch MacBook Pros. Other apps will eventually be able to use these GPU superpowers, but what Apple claims is the real potential for GPU processing is that OpenCL will let computers use video cards for not only 3D acceleration, video encoding, and heavy math, but more general computing tasks, too, because its written in a non-specific (C-based) programming language.
Furthermore, there have been a number of good articles questioning the speed benefits of 64-bit computing. Apple only goes so far to claim that math-based tasks benefit from the larger bus, but generally the only concrete advantage of 64-bit computing is the ability apps gain to manipulate over 4GB of RAM, a 32-bit limitation. Apple's dev docs go on to say that some apps will incur a penalty if going 64-bit. So, rewriting apps in 64-bit versions is not a surefire recipe for speed improvement.
In many cases, with many of the built-in apps, Apple attributes the performance improvements to all three core technologies above. That stuff that means not so much today, but might mean a lot tomorrow as GPUs get faster and CPUs gain more cores and there's already an infrastructure in place to take advantage of all that.
[Back to our Complete Guide to Snow Leopard]


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Bureau of the Public Debt Aids Savings Bonds Owners Affected by Flooding in Washington State
April 9, 1997
The Bureau of Public Debt took action to assist victims of flooding in Washington by expediting the replacement or payment of United States Savings Bonds for owners in the affected areas. The emergency procedures are effective immediately for paying agents and owners in those areas of Washington affected by the storms. These procedures will remain in effect through May 31, 1997.
Public Debt's action waives the normal six-month minimum holding period for Series EE savings bonds presented to authorized paying agents for redemption by residents of the affected area. Most financial institutions serve as paying agents for savings bonds.
Washington counties involved are Grays Harbor, King, and Mason. Should additional counties be declared disaster areas the emergency procedures for savings bonds owners will go into effect for those areas.
The replacement of bonds lost or destroyed will also be expedited by Public Debt. Bond owners should complete form PD-1048, available at most financial institutions or the Federal Reserve Bank. Bond owners should include as much information as possible about the lost bonds on the form. This information should include how the bonds were inscribed, social security number, approximate dates of issue, bond denominations, and serial numbers if available. The completed form must be certified by a notary public or an officer of a financial institution. Completed forms should be forwarded to Public Debt's Savings Bond Operations Office located at 200 Third St., Parkersburg, West Virginia 26106-1328. Bond owners should write the word "Floods" on the front of their envelopes to help expedite the processing of claims.


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Fiscal Cliff Could Force Hard Decisions
Depending on your point of view, if Congress and the newly re-elected Obama administration do nothing before the Jan. 1 deadline the looming fiscal cliff will result in at least one of the following nightmare scenarios.
Americans will face either unbearable tax increases that will bankrupt families and businesses alike, or ruthless spending cuts certain to leave our most vulnerable citizens abandoned and the country defenseless to its enemies. Or both.
Republicans have vowed to oppose any and all tax increases and to fight tooth and nail against the massive cuts to the defense budget demanded by sequestration, the fancy term for the mandated spending cuts set to take effect after Jan. 1 if Congress and the president can't agree on a deal to reduce the U.S. deficit.
Democrats support tax increases on the wealthiest Americans but oppose cutting social services under sequestration.
In all likelihood these hypothetical doomsday scenarios will disappear with a last-minute deal, probably some version of a temporary spending bill that once again postpones the need for hard decisions on tax reform and government spending.
To some that's a shame.
"Were on an unsustainable trend," said Michael Shedlock, an investment advisor at Sitka Pacific Capital Management and a widely-read economic blogger.
"All of this is unsustainable and we keep embarking down roads we know have failed in the past," Shedlock added. "What have we learned from the Internet bubble of the late 1990s and the housing and credit bubble of 2005-08? Nothing."
In other words, the fiscal cliff, even if it causes another recession, as many economists have predicted, poses a real opportunity for the U.S. to get its teetering fiscal house in order.
"All of this is unsustainable and we keep embarking down roads we know have failed in the past."
The fear is that a last-minute compromise that avoids the fiscal cliff but delays real action on tax and budget reform will merely perpetuate the deficit spending that has put the U.S. in a $16 trillion hole.
Current Fiscal Policies Worse Long-Term Than Fiscal Cliff
In a report issued earlier this month, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, while conceding that falling off the fiscal cliff would push the U.S. back into recession in 2013, said that leaving current tax and spending policies in place would be even more detrimental in the long run than sequestration.
According to the CBO, if "the policies that are currently in effect were kept in place indefinitely, a continued surge in federal debt during the rest of this decade and beyond would raise the risk of a fiscal crisis (in which the government would lose the ability to borrow money at affordable interest rates) and would eventually reduce the nation's output and income below what would occur if the fiscal tightening was allowed to take place as currently set by law."
If the tax increases and spending cuts take effect after Jan. 1 the CBO estimates the U.S. unemployment rate would rise to 9.1% by the fall of 2013, but then drop to 5.5% by 2020.
Here's a closer look at how we got here and what's at stake.
In August 2011, Congress and the president cut a last-minute deal that allowed the U.S. to raise its debt ceiling. The deal, which avoided a partial government shutdown and the possibility of the U.S. defaulting on some of its sovereign debt, created a "super committee" and charged it with trimming $1.5 trillion from the deficit over the next 10 years. The committee was given four months to accomplish that goal or sequestration -- mandated cuts -- would kick in in January 2013.
The committee failed, of course, and here we are, facing mandatory 9% across-the-board federal budget cuts and the expiration of a handful of tax cuts that the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based research center, estimates would raise taxes on American families by $3,500 in 2013.
Meanwhile, the budget cuts could slash as many as 2.5 million jobs in education, social services, and the aerospace and defense industries, to name just a few impacted sectors.
Tough Decisions Require Political Will, Courage
Not surprisingly, the potential cuts in defense spending have struck a nerve. But Shedlock, pointing to a recent study that showed the U.S. spends more on defense than the countries with the next 13 highest defense budgets combined, dismissed any suggestion that sequestration will leave the U.S. vulnerable to its enemies.
"Why does the U.S. have to be the global protector?" he asked. "How is it that the U.S. can afford to be the world's policeman? We're pulling out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Why do we need to increase defense spending?"
He answered his own question. Congress, he said, funds unnecessary defense projects for two reasons -- because the Pentagon wants them and because the projects often benefit their own districts and help them get re-elected.
Shedlock is hardly alone in suggesting that, for better or worse, a fall off the fiscal cliff might provide a much-needed wake up call, one that would place a sharp focus on the need for a long-term deficit reduction deal.
What's more, since the presidential election last week a handful of Democratic and Republican leaders have suggested that the impact of actual budget cuts, layoffs and tax increases could strengthen their respective bargaining positions in future budget negotiations.
But hard decisions on tax reform and spending cuts will require a level of courage and political will not encountered in any of the recent fiscal standoffs. And the smart money says neither trait is likely to emerge this time around either.


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Based on our exhaustive testing, it's clear that Velodyne's new Digital Drive Plus series of subs deliver as promised and even exceed some of their own output claims made to us. You stick a robust 15″ driver in an inert sealed enclosure with a hulking power amp and masterful servo and compressor, and you've got the receipt for good subwoofing which very few sealed competitors can compete with both in sheer output and pristine fidelity. The DD-15+ has proven to be a worthy successor to the venerable DD-15 that started the whole Digital Drive series nearly 8 years ago. The hefty price tag is about the only downside to this fabulous product which the end user must decide if it's worth forking over the cash to don the Velodyne name in their theater room. If I were their competition, I'd be worried that Velodyne has just put most of them in checkmate with this very impressive line of well engineered Digital Drive Plus subwoofers. Highly recommended!
Continue Reading @ Audioholics
Key Features:
|About Audioholics.com -Audioholics.com is the largest audited home theater A/V publication online with over 1.1 million monthly readers. Founded in 1999, Audioholics provides more in-depth non-biased professional reviews, tech articles, daily news, how-to's and buying guides than any other site of its kind. It empowers readers who are making purchases and inspires readers who are striving to maximize their A/V experience.


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|February 27, 2006
Olympus Corporation
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic)
|Olympus and Panasonic Announce Four Thirds System Digital SLR Cameras
Olympus Corporation (Olympus) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) have been engaged in joint development of cameras that comply with the Four Thirds System standard for interchangeable-lens-type digital SLR cameras, and will display the fruit of their labors at the PMA 2006 International Convention and Trade Show that starts today, February 26, in Orlando, Florida. Olympus will exhibit the E-330, a recently introduced product that incorporates jointly developed technologies, and Panasonic will announce development of the DMC-L1, its first digital SLR camera. A prototype of the DMC-L1 will also be exhibited.
The two cameras are the result of an agreement announced on January 13, 2005, under which Olympus and Panasonic agreed to jointly develop underlying technologies and key components, and promote the introduction of digital SLR camera products that take full advantage of the significant user benefits offered by the Four Thirds System standard.
The jointly developed mirror box unit and Live MOS sensor used in the two new cameras have significant implications for SLR performance, and have made it possible to develop products with capabilities that go far beyond digital SLR cameras of the past.
The mirror box unit integrates a quick-return mirror, viewfinder, and AE sensor, and effectively functions as the heart of the SLR camera. It was specifically designed and developed so that it could be used in both Olympus and Panasonic products.
The Live MOS sensor is a new-generation sensor that offers the high image quality of a CCD sensor and the low power consumption of a CMOS sensor, thereby making it possible to display Live View images on a digital SLR camera for an extended period of time. In addition, because the sensor features simplified circuitry, the distance from the microlenses to the photodiodes is short, ensuring improved response and higher image quality when light strikes the sensor at an angle.
Utilizing these advanced new devices, Olympus and Panasonic will continue to develop products according to their respective product strategies.
Olympus has already utilized these jointly developed components in the recently introduced E-330, which is the first interchangeable-lens-type digital SLR in the world to offer full-time Live View framing via a rear-mounted LCD monitor - a feat that until now was thought to be difficult to achieve. With its Live View capability, the E-330 is an epoch-making product that makes it possible for users to enjoy an entirely new style of digital SLR shooting.
As its first digital SLR camera, Panasonic has developed the DMC-L1, which combines the operating feel of an analog camera with Live View shooting and other ease-of-use features that are unique to digital cameras. By using the Live MOS sensor and proprietary Venus Engine III image-processing LSI, Panasonic has maximized the performance potential of both devices and successfully achieved the high image quality and high processing speeds that are critical to SLR camera performance. Following additional development efforts, Panasonic plans to introduce the DMC-L1 later this year.
By teaming Olympus's industry-leading SLR camera technology with Panasonic's advanced digital AV technology to offer Four Thirds System digital SLR cameras and a wide lens lineup, the two companies plan to offer camera enthusiasts a level of creativity and satisfaction have never experienced before.
For reference, market size forecasts for digital SLR cameras are shown below. (Source: CIPA; 2005 results and 2006~2008 forecasts for number of units shipped by manufacturers)
About the Four Thirds System Standard
The Four Thirds System standard defines design and development standards for digital SLR camera systems that fully realize the performance potential of digital imaging technology. Four Thirds System cameras use a 4/3-type image sensor that makes it possible to achieve the high image quality and high mobility demanded of SLR camera systems. In addition, the Four Thirds System defines an open standard for lenses and lens mounts that assures compatibility between bodies and lenses produced by various manufacturers participating in the standard.
- Press releases are company announcements that are directed at the news media.
- Information posted on this site is current and accurate only at the time of their original publication date, and may now be outdated or inaccurate.
- Company names and product names specified are trademarks of their respective owners.


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Sonnanstine and Corpas Off the Table
The Chicago Cubs have signed free agent pitchers Andy Sonnanstine and Manny Corpas to minor league contracts, inviting both to spring training.
While I don't believe either of them would have turned the Mets into a contender, I'm mildly surprised that neither wound up with an invitation to Port St. Lucie. To me they seemed to fit into the low-risk, low-cost, low- to medium-reward strategy that the Mets appear to be using in their scale-down phase of history.
As we discussed a few weeks back, the Mets are in dire need of starting rotation depth, and Sonnanstine was one of the lowest-cost options available. He's no Greg Maddux, but Sonnanstine does have experience and could have been helpful either stashed in AAA or slotted as a long man / spot starter. Who knows, with a good spring and a few breaks he might even have taken the #5 spot. I think a move to the NL will help the righthander, particularly in the first half of the season during his first go-around the league.
As for Corpas, he's never been a starter but he has had success as a reliever — including both as a setup man and a closer. He missed all of 2011 after Tommy John surgery and by all reports is back to nearly 100% health. Before his injury, Corpas threw a heavy 91-93 MPH sinker, wicked slider, and a decent change-up; he was more of a groundball guy but did get some swings and misses with the slider. In his career, Corpas has had his ups and downs — more downs than ups, actually — but again, he would have come cheap, he has some experience, and he would have provided the Mets depth in a place where they need some (the bullpen). Though, maybe Sandy Alderson has chosen to scrap the "sign pitchers coming off surgery" strategy since it wasn't too productive last winter.
What's your thought? Would you have liked to have seen the Mets sign either of these pitchers? Who else is left on the market that the Mets should consider — and can afford?
(And for those who say "ho-hum, why is this news?", I beg you to offer me a more interesting subject to write about that is at least loosely connected to the Mets — cuz I'm running out of ideas in this cold dark winter of discontent.)


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Assessing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using kidney filtration markers in blood is the standard means for determining kidney function, diagnosing kidney disease and measuring its progression. A higher filtration rate indicates healthy kidney function, while a lower rate points to various stages of kidney disease. A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the new CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR is a better predicator of risk for kidney disease and death compared to the most widely used method. The findings suggest that switching to the CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR could focus efforts more efficiently, and improve assessment of patient future risk and treatment of kidney disease. The study is published in the May 9 edition of JAMA.
GFR is calculated using a patient's age, sex, race and serum creatinine level, which is a measure of a molecular waste product in blood. More than 92 percent of labs in the U.S., use the MDRD Study equation developed in 1999 to estimate GFR. The test is conducted more than 300 million times per year. The CKD-EPI equation uses the same data as the MDRD Study equation to estimate GFR.
For the study, GFR estimates were broken into six categories, which correspond with various stages of kidney disease. A GFR of 90 or greater indicates healthy kidney function, while a GFR of 15 and lower indicates kidney failure and initiation of dialysis for many patients. The researchers compared GFR estimates using both calculation methods from data covering a diverse study population of more than 1 million participants.
"We found that the newer CKD-EPI equation for estimating kidney function consistently classified future risk better than the older MDRD Study equation. This was true for both mortality and need for dialysis, and across a wide range of studies and subgroups" said Kunihiro Matsushita, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant scientist with the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology.
According to the study, about one-third of patients with mild to moderate kidney disease (GFR of 30-89) were found to have a higher GFR category when the CKD-EPI equation was used compared to the MDRD Study equation. The same group also had a 1.3- to 2-fold lower risk of dying or developing end stage renal disease—even after adjusting for other factors that can affect kidney disease risk. A very small percentage of participants—less than 0.7 percent—moved to a lower GFR category using the CKD-EPI equation.
"The CKD-EPI equation took nearly a decade to develop based on as much of the world's data on measured kidney function as we could gather. It is gratifying to see that since its publication in 2009, several studies have confirmed that it estimates kidney function better than the MDRD Study equation and now we have conclusive evidence that this translates to better risk prediction" said Andrew Levey, MD, senior author of the study and Chief of Nephrology at Tufts Medical Center.
The article, "Comparison of Risk Prediction Using the CKD-EPI Equation and the MDRD Study Equation for Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate" was written by the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium, which includes more than 200 collaborators and data from 40 countries.
Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, MHS, the consortium principal investigator and professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology observed that "it is impressive how consistent that data are across such a wide range of studies including so many outstanding cohorts. Strong conclusions based on a comprehensive study are important in this area since a decisive transition to the new equation would minimize the time during which different labs report different equations." As of 2011, 4 percent of U.S. labs have switched to the new equation for estimating kidney function but these include two of the largest labs in the U.S. and these data should accelerate the trend.
Funding for the research was provided by the National Kidney Foundation.
Follow the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH.


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The U.S. National Security Agency has a cyberwarfare program that hunts for foreign cyberattacks and is able to strike back without human intervention, according to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
The NSA cyberwarfare program, called MonsterMind, uses software to look for traffic patterns indicating possible foreign cyberattacks, according to Snowden, quoted in a lengthy profile in Wired.
MonsterMind could automatically block a cyberattack from entering the U.S., then retaliate against the attackers, according to the Wired story.
Snowden, when he was working as an NSA contractor, was concerned that MonsterMind could lead to misdirected counterattacks. "These attacks can be spoofed," he told Wired. "You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?"
MonsterMind also creates privacy problems, because it would have to access nearly all the communications coming into the U.S. in order to work, Snowden told Wired. "If we're analyzing all traffic flows, that means we have to be intercepting all traffic flows," he said. "That means violating the Fourth Amendment, seizing private communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a suspicion of wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time."
A program such as Snowden described would raise major concerns, the American Civil Liberties Union said.
"The government has used excessive secrecy to prevent real debate over the wisdom and legality of many of its most sweeping surveillance programs," Alex Abdo, an ACLU staff attorney, said by email. "This newly described program is just another example of that secrecy. If the government truly is scanning all internet traffic coming into the United States for suspicious content, that would raise significant civil liberties questions."
The NSA declined to comment on MonsterMind, but called on Snowden to return to the U.S. from Russia. "If Mr. Snowden wants to discuss his activities, that conversation should be held with the U.S. Department of Justice," the NSA said in a statement. "He needs to return to the United States to face the charges against him."
In addition to MonsterMind, the Wired story alleges that NSA hackers accidentally shut down Internet service in Syria for a short time in 2012 when trying to remotely install an exploit in one of the core routers at a major ISP in the country.
NSA workers were attempting to gain access to email and other Internet communications in Syria, but the router was destroyed in the process of trying to compromise it. The NSA was worried Syria would discover the exploit, but apparently didn't, Snowden told Wired.
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.


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