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This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/450,618 filed Nov. 30, 1999.
The present invention is directed generally to computer networks, and more particularly to network traffic management.
Networks interconnect hosts using a variety of network devices, including host network adapters, routers, switches and hubs, each of which include network interfaces for interconnecting the various devices via cables and fibers. Applications send data over a network by submitting it to an operating system, after which it becomes network traffic. Network devices generally use a combination of hardware and software to forward network traffic from one network interface to another. Each interface can send and receive network traffic at a finite rate, and if the rate at which traffic is directed to a network interface exceeds the rate at which the network interface can forward the traffic onward, congestion occurs. Network devices may handle this condition by queuing traffic in the device's memory until the congestion subsides. In other cases, network equipment may discard some excess traffic to alleviate congestion.
As a result, applications sending network data experience varying latency or traffic loss. Applications generate traffic at varying rates and generally require that the network be able to carry traffic at the rate at which they generate it. In addition, applications differ in how tolerant they are of traffic delays in the network, and of variation in traffic delay. For example, certain applications can tolerate some degree of traffic loss, while others cannot. As a result, different applications have different requirements regarding the handling of their traffic in the network.
Network Quality of Service (QoS) refers to the ability of the network to handle network traffic such that it meets the service needs of certain applications. To this end, network QoS requires fundamental traffic handling mechanisms in the network, the ability to identify traffic that is entitled to these mechanisms and the ability to control these mechanisms. The fundamental traffic handling mechanisms that comprise a QoS enabled network include the capacity of interfaces to forward traffic, the memory available to store traffic in network devices, (until it can be forwarded), and mechanisms internal to network devices that determine which traffic gets preferential access to these resources. The requirements of applications for handling of their traffic are expressed using the QoS related parameters of bandwidth—the rate at which an application's traffic must be carried by the network; latency—the delay that an application can tolerate in delivering a packet of data; jitter—the variation in latency; and loss—the percentage of lost data.
Because network resources are finite, there are parts of the network wherein resources are unable to meet demand. QoS mechanisms work by controlling the allocation of network resources to application traffic in a manner that meets the application's service requirements. Devices that provide QoS support do so by intelligently allocating resources to submitted traffic. For example, under congestion, a network device might choose to queue traffic of applications that are more latency tolerant (or did not specify their latency tolerance to the network) instead of traffic of applications that are less latency tolerant. As a result, the traffic of applications that are less latency tolerant can be forwarded immediately to the next network device. In this example, interface capacity is a resource which is granted to the latency-intolerant traffic, while device memory is a resource that has been granted to the latency-tolerant traffic.
In order to allot resources preferentially to certain traffic, it is necessary to identify different traffic and to associate it with the resources it requires. This is accomplished by recognizing separate traffic flows within the network and by defining traffic handling parameters which apply to these flows. Devices identify packets as belonging to one flow or another. In order to invoke QoS mechanisms, it is necessary to communicate to network devices the information necessary to associate packets with flows, and a description of the handling that should apply to traffic on each flow. This is achieved through various signaling means and device configuration.
One QoS signaling protocol is RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol), which works over TCP/IP. RSVP applications can use RSVP messages to request quality of service from the network and to indicate QoS requirements to the network and to peer applications. RSVP is suited for use with IP (Internet Protocol) traffic. As currently defined, RSVP uses Integrated Services (Intserv) semantics to convey its QoS requirements to the network. Since RSVP operates at a layer above TCP/IP, it is largely independent of the various underlying network media over which it operates. Therefore, RSVP can be considered an abstraction layer between applications (or the operating system) and media-specific QoS mechanisms.
RSVP messages follow the path of the traffic for which resources are being requested, whereby messages arrive at the devices whose resources will be utilized by a successful reservation, i.e., by admission of a flow. This provides admission control based on the current resources available in the affected devices, that is, RSVP-aware devices understand the applicability of RSVP requests to their specific media, and are able to accept or reject the messages based on their resources and ability to support the requests. This end-to-end nature of admission control contrasts with top-down QoS mechanisms, which assign resources (or admit flows) based on statistics and heuristics of anticipated traffic paths.
Standard RSVP messages typically carry a quantitative description of the relevant QoS traffic in parameters referred to as token-bucket parameters (in Intserv semantics). Traffic generated by multimedia applications can easily be quantified in this manner. Another aspect of RSVP is that it is oriented towards relatively long-lived flows, as RSVP effectively signals to set up a 'circuit' between sender and receiver. There is inherent overhead in this process, and as a result, RSVP is better suited for 'session-oriented' applications that exchange QoS data between fixed endpoints, and less suited for applications that exchange bursts of data between frequently changing endpoints (such as web browsing). Thus, for example, RSVP, using the standard token-bucket model of Intserv, is well suited to multimedia applications such as IP telephony and video serving, which tend to generate relatively long-lived flows with easily quantifiable traffic patterns.
However, standard RSVP/Intserv is not suitable for other types of applications that are unable to quantify the resources they require from the network. Such "qualitative applications" include, for example, ERP or database applications, such as SAP, SQL server accesses and transaction processing applications. Such applications tend to generate sporadic bursts of traffic that are difficult to quantify in a manner that is useful for admission control. Since the required resources cannot be quantified, network nodes cannot determine whether sufficient resources exist to accommodate an application's traffic and standard Intserv style admission control cannot be applied. As a result, such programs cannot benefit from the existing QoS mechanisms that are centered on quantitative-based parameters.
Briefly, the present invention provides a system and method that enables quality of service to be based on qualitative factors. To this end, RSVP signaling is extended to allow RSVP messages to be identified as qualitative, and to pass qualitative information with the RSVP messages. RSVP-aware network devices such as routers and switches (and attached policy management systems) in the message path analyze the qualitative information and apply policy based thereon to perform admission control and allocation of resources based on qualitative factors. Network resources may be granted or denied based on an evaluation of this qualitative information against some administrator-defined policy rules, for example, based on the relative importance of the application and/or the particular type of operation pending, the typical pattern or type of data for which the application is requesting resources, and so forth.
A sub-application flow identifier may be used to provide finer-grained qualitative information, such as to identify what type of action an application is requesting. For example, transaction processing, database retrieval operations and print data requests may all be requested by the same application, yet require different network resources (or affect the network resources in different ways). The sub-application identifier provides the network devices with additional, finer-grained information about an application's request (that may not be available by alternate means) so that the device may make a more informed policy decision on admitting or denying the request, and regarding the resources which will be allotted to the corresponding traffic in network devices relative to other network traffic.
The present invention also provides a mechanism for aggregating flows of qualitative applications by integrating RSVP and differentiated services (diff-serv) via a DCLASS object returned in an RSVP message. The DCLASS object includes a diff-serv codepoint (DSCP). This indicates to upstream senders how they should classify and mark transmitted packets on the corresponding traffic flow in order to prioritize the application's traffic. Selection of the DSCP for placing in the DCLASS object is based on a policy evaluation, which may evaluate qualitative factors against policy for each request. For admitted requests, the application's host machine, or any upstream sender, may mark the packets with the appropriate aggregate class information via the DSCP. Packets are then regulated according to the DCSP, by diff-serv capable routers, for example, which also may change the way in which packets are marked.
Other advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing a computer system into which the present invention may be incorporated;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram representing an RSVP network and PATH and RESV messages for quantitative signaling according to the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram representing an RSVP/diff-serv network wherein a DCLASS object is added to an RSVP qualitative return message in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a representation of a data structure used for qualitative signaling in RSVP messages in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a representation of a data structure used for communicating qualitative parameters in RSVP messages in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a block diagram representing an RSVP/diff-serv network wherein an RSVP message is intercepted by a network node and a DCLASS object returned thereby to the sender;
FIG. 7 is a representation of a data structure used for qualitative signaling in returned RSVP messages in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is representation of a data structure for a DCLASS object suitable for adding to an RSVP message in accordance with one aspect of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a block diagram generally representing an exemplary RSVP/diff-serv network in operation for qualitative signaling.
Exemplary Operating Environment
FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a personal computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures and the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a conventional personal computer 20 or the like, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit 21. The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read-only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system 26 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the personal computer 20, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 24. The personal computer 20 may further include a hard disk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 31 such as a CD-ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the personal computer 20. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer readable media which can store data and programs that are accessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs) and the like may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.
A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an operating system 35 (preferably Windows® 2000), one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37 and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor 47, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.
The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 49. The remote computer 49 may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the personal computer 20, although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, Intranets and the Internet.
When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 is connected to the local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
Standard Quantitative RSVP/Intserv Signaling
By way of background, as represented in FIG. 2, in traditional quantitative RSVP/Intserv message signaling, the information exchanged is per-flow information, wherein a "flow" in RSVP refers to a particular conversation between two endpoints in a network 58, such as a sender (transmitter) node 60 and receiver node 62. RSVP/Intserv messages carry very specific classification information, which enables RSVP-aware devices (e.g., 64-66) in the network to separate traffic into flows associated with individual conversations and to assure that each flow gets the treatment agreed to by the approval of the RSVP/Intserv request. An advantage of such a "fine-grain" classification is that rogue traffic flows cannot steal resources from legitimate traffic flows, either accidentally or maliciously. A disadvantage of fine-grain classification is that network devices are required to maintain more state and to apply more processing power than would be required in the case of coarser-grain classification.
Two significant RSVP messages are PATH and RESV. As generally represented in FIG. 2, in RSVP signaling, an application 68 (via the operating system 35s) on the sender node 60 sends a PATH message 70 to describe the data the application will be transmitting to follow the path that the data will take. The path to the receiver 62 is typically through network devices, such as the devices 64-66, which are typically (but not necessarily) routers or switches. RSVP-aware devices 64-66 in the data path intercept the PATH messages, and for RSVP/Intserv signaling information in the PATH message, establish state for the flow described by the message 70.
Standard RSVP/Intserv messages carry information 72 specifying the service level required from the network 58 for the flow, along with classification information specifying how the network 58 can identify traffic flow, quantitative parameters 74 describing the traffic on the flow, (e.g., data rate, and so forth), and policy information 76 (e.g., who is requesting resources for the flow). Classification information is conveyed using IP source and destination addresses and ports, while a service level is specified from a set of Intserv defined service types. Quantitative traffic parameters 74 are expressed using a token-bucket model specified by Intserv. Policy information 76 typically contains information identifying the user requesting resources, which may be used to subject the request to policy tests in order to verify (e.g., to a policy server 80 with a policy database 82) that the requester is entitled to the requested resources.
In quantitative RSVP signaling, when the PATH message 70 arrives at the receiver 62, if a receiving application 84 is interested in the traffic flow offered by the sender node 60, the receiver 62 responds with a RESV message 86. The RESV message 86 winds its way back towards the sender 60, following the path established by the incident PATH message 70. As the returned RESV message 86 progresses toward the sender 60, each RSVP-aware device (e.g., the router 66) verifies that it has the resources necessary to meet the requested QoS quantitative requirements. If the device does, the RESV message 86 is allowed to progress further. If it does not, the RESV message 86 is rejected and a rejection is sent back to the receiver 62. In addition, RSVP-aware devices (e.g., 64) in the data path may extract policy information from PATH messages and/or RESV messages, e.g., for verification via the policy server 80 against network policies stored in the policy database 82. The device 64 may thus reject resource requests based on the results of such policy checks by preventing the message from continuing on its path, and sending a rejection message.
When requests are neither rejected for resource unavailability nor for policy reasons, the incident PATH message 70 is carried from the sender 60 to the receiver 62, and the RESV message 86 is carried from the receiver 62 to the sender 60. In this event, a reservation is referred to as an installed reservation. An installed reservation indicates that the RSVP-aware devices 64-66 in the traffic path have committed the requested resources to the appropriate flow and are prepared to allocate these resources to traffic belonging to the flow. This process, of approving or rejecting RSVP messages is known as admission-control. When a resource request is admitted, network nodes install classifiers that are used to recognize the admitted traffic and policers that are used to assure that the traffic remains within the limits of the resources requested. This works well for quantitative applications such as IP telephony and applications communicating video information because it is easy to quantify the resources needed to handle the amount of data. However, in making a reservation, a significant amount of state is thus required in the networking devices in the path to support the per-flow traffic handling used in quantitative signaling.
Qualitative RSVP Signaling
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, signaling for network quality of service QoS has been extended to carry qualitative information. Network QoS for qualitative applications is provided to enable network devices to prioritize and otherwise manage applications that cannot readily quantify the resources they require from the network. Thus, in contrast to quantitative services, which reserve a specific quantity of resources, QoS for qualitative resources attempts to optimize the use of available resources without quantifiable reservations. Instead, the application uses RSVP/QoS signaling to identify itself and the type of operation it is requesting, and defers to the network to prioritize it in some manner relative to other traffic, based on a policy evaluation of the various qualitative data provided to the network. One way in which qualitative traffic may be prioritized based on the policy evaluation is to classify it into one of a limited number of classes, whereby an aggregate traffic handling mechanism implemented in the intermediate network devices may prioritize the application's packets relative to other packets, as described below.
To obtain qualitative QoS in a network 88 using RSVP signaling, as represented in FIG. 3, an application 90 on a sending host 92 issues a request for network services (via a Winsock2 Application Programming Interface (API) call to the operating system 35s) to send a qualitative request 94 (in a PATH message). In keeping with the present invention, the RSVP protocol has been extended for requesting qualitative services, such that the request includes the type of service requested, the name or identity of the application, and the name or identity of a sub flow of the application.
Using the information provided by the application 90, the operating system 35s composes the RSVP request message 94, and therein provides an object or the like including the user identity (e.g., Kerberos encrypted) and other information (e.g., IP addresses and ports) by which the relevant traffic flow can be recognized by network devices 96-98.
Various details for accomplishing qualitative signaling in RSVP are generally represented in FIGS. 4-6. As shown in FIG. 4, an RSVP sender (e.g., the sender 92 of FIG. 3) constructs an initial RSVP ADSPEC object 100 specifying Service Type Qualitative in DWORD eleven (11), (wherein in FIG. 4, the DWORDS are numbered from one (1) to eleven (11) down the left side of the object representation 100). Note that service type qualitative may also be specified in DWORD two (2). Also constructed is one or more policy object data structures, including an object 102 (FIG. 5) or the like that provides qualitative parameters.
As represented in FIG. 4, the RSVP ADSPEC object 100 for Qualitative Service Type includes a message header and a default general parameters fragment, followed by a single fragment denoting Service Type Qualitative. The following TABLE 1 corresponds to the ADSPEC object 100 of FIG. 4 and sets forth a substantially complete ADSPEC supporting (only) Service Type Qualitative:
|Dword 1: Message
|(a) Message header and version number
|(b) Message length—10 words not
|including header
|Dwords 2-10:
|(c)—Per-Service header, service number
|Default general
|1 (general)
|(x)—Global Break bit (NON_IS_HOP
|general parameter 2)
|(d)—Length of General Parameters data
|block (8 words)
|(e)—Parameter ID, parameter 4
|(NUMBER_OF_IS_HOPS general
|(f)—Parameter 4 flag byte
|(g)—Parameter 4 length, 1 word not
|including header
|(h)—Parameter ID, parameter 6
|(AVAILABLE_PATH_BANDWIDTH general
|(i)—Parameter 6 flag byte
|(j)—Parameter 6 length, 1 word not
|including header
|(k)—Parameter ID, parameter 8
|(MINIMUM_PATH_LATENCY general
|(l)—Parameter 8 flag byte
|(m)—Parameter 8 length, 1 word not
|including header
|(n)—Parameter ID, parameter 10
|(PATH_MTU general parameter)
|(o)—Parameter 10 flag byte
|(p)—Parameter 10 length, 1 word not
|including header
|Dword 11:
|(q)—Per-Service header, service
|number 6 (Qualitative)
|(x)—Break bit for Service Type
|(r)—Length (0) of per-service data not
|including header word.
Since ordinarily there are no service specific parameters associated with the qualitative service type, the associated ADSPEC fragment is empty and contains only the header word. Network nodes may or may not supply valid values for bandwidth and latency general parameters. As such, they may use previously defined default/unknown values.
Note that standard RSVP rules for parsing ADSPEC service fragments ensure that the ADSPEC will not be rejected by legacy network elements. More particularly, these rules state that a network element encountering a per-service data header which it does not understand should set a break-bit to indicate that the service is not supported and should use the length field from the header to skip over the rest of the fragment. Also, note that it is likely that it will not be possible for hosts or network nodes to generate meaningful values for DWORDS 5 and/or 7(bandwidth estimates and path latency), due to the qualitative nature of the service. In this event, defined default/unknown values should be used.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, and, as represented in FIG. 5, the RSVP sender 92 also includes with the qualitative request message 94 the object 102 providing qualitative parameters including application and sub-application identifier information. The application identifier enables network administrators to manage QoS based on application type, for example, to establish a policy that prioritizes certain applications (e.g., payroll) over others (e.g., games).
Moreover, in the object 102, additional finer-grained application-related information beyond that of application identifier may be provided in a qualitative service-type message. To this end, in one implementation, a hierarchical structure is provided for the attributes carried in the application policy elements. More particularly, the highest level of the hierarchy specifies the application name (identifier), and the next level specifies a version. At the next level or levels, an arbitrary number of sub-application attributes may be specified as represented in FIG. 5. These sub-application identifiers provide finer-grained information that may be used to determine policy.
By way of example, a sub-application identifier may inform a policy server 80 (admission control element) as to the type of operation to which it corresponds, e.g., a database retrieval request, a transaction processing request, a request to print data, and so forth. Based on this information, the policy server 80 may make an informed policy decision on whether it can allow the request, and/or how to classify and prioritize the request relative to others, particularly other qualitative requests. For example, print data requests can generally be handled in a low priority, high latency way, whereas a transaction processing request may time out at the application if delayed too long. Thus, using one or more sub-application identifiers, a well-behaved application can specify the operation it is requesting, whereby the policy server 80 can admit or deny the request, and if admitted, determine an aggregate classification for it, as described below. Using the above example, if the network is highly congested, the network device may be able to queue a print request, but will have to deny (or highly prioritize) transaction processing requests. As can be appreciated, other factors such as the user identity and/or the application identity may be used to determine whether to deny or highly prioritize among transaction processing requests.
Sub-application identifiers may be application dependent, that is, each application identifier has a number of sub-application identifiers associated therewith that each have a meaning only with respect to that application. Other sub-application identifiers may be global across applications, i.e., application independent, for example, by having some value that means the same thing regardless of which application is sending the request. For example, 'print data' has a meaning that many applications could share, and thus is a suitable candidate for a application-independent sub-application identifier.
FIG. 5 shows how this application information is put into policy element information inside a qualitative message. Generally, application policy elements have a policy elements type (P-type) of AUTH_APP (value 3). Following the policy element header is a list of authentication attributes. The first authentication attribute should be of the A-type POLICY_LOCATOR (value 1), and the sub-type should be of type ASCII_DN (value 1). The actual attribute value is formatted as an X.500 distinguished name (DN), representing the application name, version number and sub-application attributes. The second authentication attribute should be of the A-type CREDENTIAL (value 2). The sub-type of the CREDENTIAL attribute is of type ASCII_ID. The actual attribute value is an ASCII string representing the application name, (e.g., XYZ.exe) as shown in FIG. 5.
In one implementation, the policy locator attribute for an application policy element uses the string "APP" for the application name, "VER" for the application version number and "SAPP" for the Sub-Application identifier. For example, "APP=SAP, VER=1.1, SAPP=Print" is a policy locator that is conformant to this naming convention.
It should be noted that the simple policy element does not guarantee that the element is indeed associated with the application to which it claims to be associated. In order to provide such guarantees, it is necessary to sign applications. Note that typically, the application policy element will be included in an RSVP message with an encrypted and authenticated user identity policy element. Thus, a level of security is provided by trusting the application policy element only if the user policy element is trusted. RSVP integrity considerations apply to the message containing the application policy element.
Returning to FIG. 3, the ADSPEC object 100 is added to the RSVP qualitative request message 94 created at the sender 92. When composed, the RSVP qualitative request message 94 is sent by the sender 92 towards the receiver 104. An admission control agent (Policy Enforcement Point, or PEP) 96 in the network 88 intercepts the message and extracts information describing the requesting user, the requesting application, and the requested service. Note that as described below, an RSVP message comprising qualitative information may also include a request for quantitative services, in which event the message will also include the quantity of resources required, which the PEP 96 will also obtain. Each PEP and (optionally) a policy decision point (PDP) 110 connected thereto may use this information to locate and process a network policy (e.g., in a data store 112) that should be applied to the flow described. Note that information from the PDP 110 is typically cached in the PEP 96 to optimize performance.
If the RSVP qualitative request message 94 is admitted by the PEP 110, the RSVP message may continue along its path towards the receiver 104, where additional PEPs/PDPs (e.g., 98 and 114) may process it for admission or rejection. If the RSVP message 94 is not admitted, the PEP that denies admittance sends a rejection back towards the sending host 92, and the sending application 90 is notified of the rejection. Thus, in general, PEPs, in conjunction with PDPs, extract policy information from RSVP qualitative signaling requests and compare the information against information stored in a policy database or directory. A policy decision is made based on the results of the comparison.
Instead of (or in addition to) applying policy, intermediate nodes (e.g., 97) may report the message information to a top-down provisioning server 116 or the like. This signaling enables qualitative applications to be dynamically considered with others and the network topology when administering the network and allocating resources. For example, an administrator can evaluate how many qualitative flows are going through each node, and limit resources accordingly, in real-time, top-down provisioning.
If admitted by each network node, the qualitative request message 94 reaches the receiver 104, which may respond by sending an RSVP qualitative return message 1061 (a RESV message) back towards the sender containing a FLOWSPEC object 108 that also specifies that it is requesting Service Type Qualitative. It should be noted however, that a qualitative request message 94 need not reach the receiver 104 in order for the sending application 90 to take advantage of network Qos. Instead, as represented in FIG. 6, a node (e.g., one of the PEPs) may act as a proxy and return a RESV message to the sender, not as a rejection, but as the return message, along with additional information (e.g., a DCLASS object, also described below) that facilitates QoS for the qualitative application 90. For example, as represented in FIG. 6, a sender S may send a qualitative request (shown via the arrow labeled with circled numeral one) which is passed through a first node N1 (arrow labeled two), but is terminated by the node N2. The node N2 adds a DCLASS object DO (e.g., in accordance with some applicable policy) and returns the DCLASS object DO to the sender S via the first node N1 (arrows labeled three and four). As described below, DCLASS object is used for classifying flows for aggregate traffic handling thereof. The sender S thus receives a response without the receiver R or nodes beyond the node N2 ever being involved. Advantages of this include a relatively quick response to the sender 92, and also that the receiver's application 118/operating system 35R need not be capable of returning an RSVP signaling message to the sender 92. A disadvantage is that network topology awareness is lost by not communicating over the full path, losing or at least compromising the ability to perform real-time, top-down provisioning, whereby there can be no reliable guarantee of service over the entire path.
The format of an RSVP FLOWSPEC object 108 (e.g., originating at the receiver 104 or a intermediate node acting as a proxy) requesting Qualitative service is shown in FIG. 7 and in TABLE 2 below:
|Word 1
|(a)—Message format version number (0)
|(b)—Overall length, e.g., 1 word not
|Word 2
|(c)—Service header, service number 6
|(d)—Length of qualitative data, 0 words
|not including per-service header
The value of 6 in the per-service header (field (c)), indicates that Service Type Qualitative is being requested.
Because the FLOWSPEC object 108 identifies the message as qualitative, PEPs along the return route may intercept the return message 1061 and apply admission control on the return path based on qualitative considerations. If admitted, PEPs may allocate specific resources to the relevant traffic flow at this time, but normally PEPs do not for qualitative messages. Instead, it is ordinarily a significantly better use of network resources to assign the traffic flow to an aggregate traffic handling mechanism.
One aggregate traffic handling mechanism by which network elements may apply QoS policy is Differentiated Services (diff-serv). Diff-serv is an aggregate traffic handling mechanism that uses the type-of-service (TOS) field in IP headers of packets to classify packets and apply specific queuing or scheduling behavior based on the results of the classification. Unlike Intserv, which uses very fine-grain classification to identify (a practically unlimited number of) individual flows, diff-serv classifies to a limited number of QoS 'behaviors.' To this end, diff-serv defines a set of per-hop-behaviors (PHBs) which are supported by diff-serv capable routers. PHBs define a behavior that is to be applied to packets passing through the router. Individual flows are thus aggregated into the smaller set of behaviors, whereby diff-serv alleviates the per-flow work associated with Intserv, and also eliminates the overhead associated therewith, including the significant and expensive state maintained on network devices to support installed RSVP/Intserv reservations.
To specify the PHB that is to be applied to the packet, a subset of the IP header's TOS field is named the DS-field, and packets in the diff-serv network carry a code in this field that specifies the PHB that is to be applied to the packet. Routers process packets as they arrive, directing them to the appropriate queue, per the PHB code in the packet's header. For example, one PHB is the expedited-forwarding (EF) PHB. This behavior is defined to assure that packets are transmitted from ingress to egress at some limited rate, with very low latency. Other behaviors may specify that packets are to be given a certain priority relative to other packets, in terms of average throughput or in terms of drop preference, but with no particular emphasis on latency. Typically, but not necessarily, PHBs are supported by different queues within the router/switch.
As a result, routers within the diff-serv network essentially need not store any flow/RSVP state. Instead, nodes are typically provisioned to classify (using TOS bits) arriving packets to some small number of behavior aggregates (e.g., high, medium or low priority) and to treat them accordingly. This provisioning tends to be 'open-loop' in the sense that there is no signaling between hosts and the network. Instead, the network administrator uses a combination of heuristics, measurement and experience to provision the network devices, with no deterministic knowledge of the volume of traffic that will arrive at any specific node. To this extent, Diff-serv QoS mechanisms are better suited for qualitative applications than traditional RSVP mechanisms. By way of example, a transaction processing application such as SAP tends to generate sporadic bursts of traffic that are difficult to quantify in a manner that is useful for admission control. Using the present invention, the request message is advertised as qualitative and also provides a user ID, application ID and sub-application ID. Based on this information, an RSVP-aware device may distinguish this SAP-related request message from other messages and thereby grant or deny resources based on policy information. Thus, in applying diff-serv mechanisms to manage qualitative traffic, network administrators need to anticipate the volume of traffic likely to arrive at each network node for each diff-serv behavior aggregate and provision accordingly. If the volume of traffic arriving is likely to exceed the capacity available for the behavior aggregate claimed, the network administrator has the choice of increasing the capacity for the behavior aggregate, reducing the volume of traffic claiming the behavior aggregate using admission control, or compromising service to all traffic arriving for the behavior aggregate.
In addition to provisioning, network administrators also need to deal with the classification, i.e., the policy that determines the code for marking each packet's IP header. Note that classifying based on other fields in the packet's IP header (i.e., source/destination address/port and protocol), referred to as MF classification, may be less efficient due to changing information over time, and imposes a management burden.
In diff-serv, to mark the packets, a DCLASS object 120 (FIG. 3) is appended to the RSVP return message 1062 to be returned to a sending host 92. The DCLASS object 120 includes a diff-serv codepoint (DSCP) 122 that the sender 92 should include when submitting packets on the admitted flow to the diff-serv network 88. For example, the DSCP 122 may indicate whether the packets should be queued in high, medium or low priority queues, among other possible classifications.
The DCLASS object 120 is formatted as shown in FIG. 8. At present, only six bits of the DCLASS field, i.e., the DSCP 122, are meaningful for aggregation/classification. Note that to provide backward compatibility, the Class-Num for the DCLASS object 120 is chosen from the space of unknown class objects that should be ignored and forwarded by RSVP nodes that do not recognize it.
To add the DCLASS object 120, as the return message 1061 arrives at the PEPs (e.g., 98) and/or other admission control agents (e.g., 97) that are RSVP enabled, each of these network elements makes a decision regarding the admissibility of the signaled flow to the diff-serv network 88. If a network element (e.g., 98) determines that the request is admissible to the network 88, the network element may decide which diff-serv service level (or behavior aggregate) is appropriate for the traffic represented in the RSVP request. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the element 98 adds the DCLASS object 120 including the DSCP 122 with an appropriate value for the behavior aggregate, to a modified (appended) return message 1062. The appended return message 1062 is then sent towards the RSVP sender 92. Note that in order to decide whether a given RSVP request is admissible in terms of resource availability, one or more network elements within or at the boundary of the diff-serv network needs to understand the impact that admission control would have on specific diff-serv resources, as well as the availability of these resources along the relevant data path in the diff-serv network. In order to decide whether the RSVP request is admissible in terms of policy, the network element may use identity objects describing users and/or applications that may be included in the request. As described above, the router 98 may act as a PEP/PDP, and use data from a policy database 124, directory or the like to aid in this admission control decision.
Admission control in routers thus may use quite sophisticated mechanisms in making the admission control decision, including policy considerations, various intra-domain signaling protocols, results of traffic monitoring and so on. Diff-serv thus allows PEP/PDPs to affect the volume of traffic arriving at a node for any given behavior aggregate, and enables the PEP/PDP to do so based on possibly sophisticated policies. Note that a network element may terminate RSVP signaling in either direction, in which event it effectively provides admission control to all regions of the network (including the receiver 104). If the network element determines that the RSVP request is not admissible, it returns an error message, in which event no DCLASS object is provided to the sender.
By adding a DCLASS object to a returned RSVP RESV message, applications can benefit from quality of service by offering to insert the flow into an aggregate traffic handling class. At the same time, via classification according to the differentiated services code point, much of the overhead associated with RSVP signaling is eliminated. If a DCLASS object is returned, it notifies the sending host operating system of the appropriate DSCP mark to be applied to the packets transmitted on the traffic flow. Subsequent packets transmitted on the relevant traffic flow are marked with the appropriate DSCP by the sender's operating system. This enables intermediate diff-serv network devices to prioritize the packets according to their DSCP. Note however that packets that do not have an associated DSCP when coming into a network node may be marked by that node with an appropriate DCSP mark, although senders should refrain from marking traffic corresponding to rejected conversations. Moreover, note that upstream nodes may modify a DSCP received with a packet, e.g., to override the DSCP as needed. Thus, for example, an upstream sender may mark a packet with a lesser (e.g., corresponding to a lower priority) DSCP, or refrain from sending traffic on the conversation altogether.
Assuming that the flow was admitted, once marked, network devices are prepared to handle traffic on the relevant flow. Network devices may recognize the admitted flow specifically by the classification information provided or alternatively, by the DSCP in transmitted packets. The network devices now apply traffic handling mechanisms (in the form of PHBs) to guarantee appropriate QoS for the traffic flows.
Note that qualitative service does not preclude applications from offering both a quantitative service type and qualitative service type at the same time. For example, a telephony application may benefit from a quantitative service, but may be able to adapt to a qualitative service. By advertising both, such an application is primarily requesting installation of a reservation based on its quantitative parameters, but rather than simply denying a non-admissible quantitative request, the network should secondarily attempt to admit the request via its qualitative parameters. Note that for an application advertising its support for both, network policy still decides which service type to provide.
FIG. 9 shows an example of an RSVP/diff-serv network operating with a qualitative application such as SAP. In FIG. 9, the (SAP) client 130 has initiated a transaction with the SAP server 132. A TCP connection is established.
The SAP server 132 sends out an RSVP PATH message, represented in FIG. 9 via the arrow labeled with numeral one (1). For example, the PATH message may include information specifying that the service type equals "Qualitative" service, the application identifier equals "SAP-R3" and the sub application identifier equals "SAP-R3-GATEWAY."
The switch 134 in subnet S1 (e.g., an Intserv network) intercepts the PATH message and hands it to a QOS Policy Manager (QPM) 136, i.e., a PDP, as represented by the arrow labeled two (2). The QPM 136 looks up policy that determines an appropriate DSCP corresponding to the message's application and sub application identifiers. For this message, the QPM 136 looks for policy matching the application identifier ("SAP-R3") and the sub application identifier ("SAP-R3-GATEWAY"). The QPM 136 returns the result of the policy evaluation to the switch 134, as represented in FIG. 9 by the arrow labeled three (3).
If a match is found, a RESV message is generated in the switch 134 and sent back to the SAP server 132, as represented in FIG. 9 by the arrow labeled four (4). The RESV message includes a DCLASS object that specifies the DSCP, e.g., a DSCP corresponding to SAP and/or the sub application identifier. When the RESV message arrives at the SAP server 132, the server's operating system extracts the DSCP from the DCLASS object of the RESV message, and starts marking the traffic on that flow with this DSCP.
SAP traffic marked with this DSCP enters Router R1, as represented in FIG. 9 by the arrows labeled five (5) and six (6). Via the DSCP, the Router R1may prioritize this traffic above best effort traffic over the link 138 to Subnet S2, e.g., a Diffserv network.
As can be seen from the foregoing detailed description, there is provided a method and system via which qualitative applications may benefit from network quality of service. RSVP signaling may be used to communicate qualitative information including sub-application flow identifiers that provide fine-grained qualitative information. Diff-serv may be used with RSVP to classify RSVP requests for aggregate traffic handling.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form or forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.


text:
Rick Ross Gets Cazal Logo Face Tattoo
Ricky Ross is the latest rap artist to put a tattoo on his face.
A recent photo of Ross revealed a the logo of eyewear bran Cazal tattooed under the rapper's left eye.
Gucci Mane, Yung LA and Game are other notable rappers that used their face for tattoo art space in recent memory, but this isn't the first face tattoo for Ricky Rozay.
He also has the Maybach Music Group logo tattooed on the left side of his face.
Take a look at Ross' newest tattoo below.
comments – add yours

subset: commoncrawl


text:
How Stanford Built a Humanoid Submarine Robot to Explore a 17th-Century Shipwreck
Exclusive photos take you through the first mission of Stanford's diving robot
Exclusive photos take you through the first mission of Stanford's diving robot
Google DeepMind's artificial intelligence AlphaGo is a big advance but it will not get us to strong AI
Robots break all the time, and if they could just deal with it themselves, we'd all be a lot happier
Belgium's top nuclear regulator and an independent corrosion expert say all nuclear pressure vessels should be inspected after flaws are detected at two Belgian power plants. The NRC is unmoved.
A new law in France will make eco-friendly features a requirement for commercial construction
President Hollande follows through on vow to slash nuclear's contribution of power generation by 2025. Renewables will fill the gap.
Whistleblowers say the waste is in the hundreds of thousands of euros a year; hospital administrators put it at "only" €30,000 annually
The robot will go on sale for less than US $2,000 next year
The British and French have swapped nuclear energy postures
Also: Tesco accidentally discounts wine to accompany previous cheese pricing mistake; Ford owners are still unhappy with sync system; Hawaiians almost miss a tsunami warning


text:
As amazing as JERFing is, for those of us with leaky gut or auto immune disease, sometimes it's just not enough. It's a common story to start eating paleo/primal expecting miracles to happen and when they don't, hands get thrown up in the air and we wonder why we bothered. This was me several times over before I found out what I'm about to share.
Unfortunately, many of the most innocent and natural foods can cause a flare up of symptoms: inflammation, nausea, stomach pain as well as achy joints, insomnia, skin reactions, headaches, digestive distress and mood disturbances. Often times we are so used to feeling like crap we don't even recognise that we are having such reactions. Certain compounds in foods cause the body to go into overdrive, recognising these compounds as invaders, it attacks. Not only the offending compounds, but eventually its own cells too – that's how leaky gut, if left untreated, can progress to an auto immune disease.
Enter, The Autoimmune Protocol.
This starts with a traditional paleo diet - taking out all grains, including so called health grains like quinoa, all flours and gluten free treats. Ditching legumes (and probably a lot of extra gas), taking out all dairy as well as anything in a package with a long shelf life and a whole list of weird ingredients you can't pronounce. This is strict paleo, no cheats. But wait, there's more, those offending compounds I mentioned? Let's explore…
Potato, tomato, eggplant and sweet/hot peppers (including paprika and chilli powder)…These bad boys belong to a family of foods called nightshades. There are over 2000 plant species in this family but the list here is so small because most of them are poisonous, deadly nightshade and tobacco being two common examples. Nightshades should be avoided due to their high content of lectins (a sugar binding protein which is a protective mechanism in a plant that resists digestion), saponins (a glycoalkaloid that stimulates an already overactive immune system) and capsaicin (a very strong stimulant - ever rub your eyes after cutting chillies!?)
Nuts and Seeds
Nuts and seeds have a few things going against them, lectins (mentioned above), pyhtates (which are binding and effect digestion), they're high in omega 6 (too much omega 6 without omega 3 is inflammatory) and they're commonly known as one of the top allergens (people with leaky gut and auto immune disease are more prone to allergic reactions and food sensitivities). Many nuts are high in FODMAPS too (see below) which can be problematic for those with ailing tummies. It's important to note that seed based spices, coffee and cocoa are in this category as they are seeds *sad face*.
Excess Fructose/High FODMAPs
Frementable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and Polyols, FODMAPs, are short chain carbohydrate molecules that are often implicated in IBS. Many people with digestive distress have absorption issues with these compounds. They provide a feeding ground for bacteria in the intestine and also decrease the amount of water in the colon. This can result in gas, pain, bloating, cramping and a change in bowel frequency. If the gut is already compromised breaking down FODMAPs will be harder, and the symptoms more pronounced. Here's a great paleo friendly list if you want to explore FODMAPs. Even if you don't have leaky gut, reducing FODMAPs in your diet could help with other digestive issues.
What's for breakfast? Unfortunately it's not eggs! Eggs are also one of the top allergenic foods. The egg white provides protection from microbial attack as the embryo grows, and it does a whole host of complicated things to ensure its safety. (If you want to geek out on this process head over here). The main compound is lysozyme, this very easily crosses the intestinal barrier of even the healthiest people heading straight into the blood stream where it binds to other proteins and gets up to mischief.
As if all that wasn't enough to drive you crazy, you'll need to ditch the alcohol too if you're serious about your gut health. Long story short alcohol directly increases your already leaky intestinal wall and damages the gut lining - tough love, no ways around it.
JERFing in a nutshell (Just Eat Real Food)
What is A Leaky Gut
What are Nightshades?
Spices on the Autoimmune Protocol
Pros and Cons of Coffee
FODMAPs Cheat Sheet
Why not Eggs?
The Paleo Mom
Autoimmune Print Out Guides
Autoimmune eCookbook


text:
A. Inez (Crawford) Harris
b. Sept. 3, 1909, Alto, N.M. Territory
d. no date
w/o Lewis Edward Harris
(m) Sept. 10, 1929
d/o James L. & Beulah Crawford
Site # D/078/-
Contributed on 8/31/11 by jlwight
Email This Contributor
Record #: 81612
On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arizona, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this genealogy archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.
Submitted: 8/31/11 • Approved: 6/23/14 • Last Updated: 3/25/18 • R81612-G81611-S3


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Summer is the perfect time to take a road trip. Kids are out of school, the weather is (usually) good, and there's thousands of fun places to visit all over the country. Now National Geographic Kids has two super cool guide books to help kids enjoy the adventure and learn along the way.
The Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas features each state with a map, 5 neat things to do there, fun facts, the animals that live there, and funny quirky things that make each state unique. There's also games and fun ideas that help pass the time.
National Parks Guide U.S.A. contains information on the favorite national parks of our country with interesting photos and facts. It's organized into sections by each part of the country so it's easy to search for parks where you're traveling.
Nathan is 9 years old and he loves maps and this kind of thing so it was perfect for him. He has spent literally hours pouring over the information in these two books. I asked him which book was his favorite and he said he liked the National Park book best because it has lots of places he wants to go one day, particularly Yellowstone National Park.
Each book is packed with information, but it's not so detailed that it's boring for kids. And the beautiful photos add a lot.
The U.S. Road Trip Atlas has detailed information about each state, including roadside attractions and 5 Cool Things to Do. I love that they included fun facts, like our own state of New Hampshire's Brake For Moose signs along the road. Now the signs say "Hundreds of collisions each year" but when I was a kid, they used to state the number of collisions. They stopped doing that when they realized this was scaring tourists.
These are excellent books, whether it's simply for fun, education, or a road trip and I highly recommend them.
Check out the National Parks by National Geographic App too!
Buy It:


text:
Caption Contest #39: Dream High 2!
Caption Me!What crazy situation must JYP always find himself in? Find out, on DramaFever! (You can also check out season 1 - the first series that started it all!)
The winner will be announced on February 10!
**Update**: This contest is now closed. Thanks for participating!


text: Katherine Heigl is set to star in Universal Pictures' parenthood comedy "Knocked Up," which Judd Apatow is set to write and direct. Heigl, who can be seen in ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," is taking over the lead female role from Anne Hathaway, who recently left the project. She joins a cast that already includes Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann, all of whom appeared in Apatow's directing debut, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."


text:
Meet Betty Anne Waters, real life heroine of the movie Conviction, at Steppin' Out with the Innocence Project of Florida in Miami on April 5th
TALLAHASSEE, FL (March 28, 2013) — For ten years the Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) has fought to free innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, often for decades. On April 5, 2013, at Miami's Four Seasons Hotel, the statewide organization will celebrate its 10th anniversary with its annual fundraising event, Steppin' Out with the Innocence Project of Florida. This year's theme is Wrongful Convictions: A Family Matter.
"Wrongful convictions leave a tragic impact on more than the individuals who are sent to prison," said Seth Miller, IPF's Executive Director. "They can be devastating for families who lose their loved ones."
The evening's special guest, Betty Anne Waters, who inspired the movie Conviction, will receive the Frank Lee Smith Innocence Award, named for Florida's first DNA exoneree who died on death row 11 months before the State agreed to his testing in 2000. Ms. Waters spent many years obtaining both a college and law degree so she could prove her brother's innocence. She will be recognized for her inspirational work and continued efforts to correct injustices caused by wrongful convictions.
Also in attendance will be William Michael Dillon, Florida DNA exoneree and recording artist, who will perform several original songs written during the 27.5 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned before his release in 2008.
The public is invited to join the Innocence Project of Florida at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami on April 5, 2013, at 6 p.m. for cocktails, a silent auction, dinner and an opportunity to meet several of the men released through DNA testing.
"Our goal is to celebrate these men who have been exonerated and the families who stood by them," said David Rothman, Miami attorney and IPF's board chairman.
For more information about IPF, or to purchase tickets for Steppin' Out, visit their website at www.floridainnocence.org or contact Jackie Pugh at firstname.lastname@example.com You can also pre-bid on several auction items online at IPF's web site.
About the Innocence Project of Florida
Last year IPF processed more than 1,000 requests for assistance from inmates and their families. They are currently litigating dozens of cases with hundreds more in various stages of review and investigation. Proceeds from Steppin' Out will provide critical funding for litigation efforts, including staff attorneys, document collection and review, investigation, expert witnesses and DNA testing.
While IPF's primary goal is to find and free innocent people in Florida's prisons, the organization has also worked with the state's legislature to address issues important to the wrongfully convicted. In 2006, IPF successfully advocated to remove a mandatory deadline for filing post-conviction DNA claims.
The 2006 law also extended the right to post-conviction DNA testing to those who had pled guilty, a tacit acknowledgment that some pleas are for reasons having nothing to do with guilt. Many enter pleas to avoid harsher sentences such as life without parole or the death penalty, and some falsely confess due to mental impairment or an inability to withstand lengthy interrogations.
In 2008, IPF's advocacy helped pass a compensation bill that provides $50,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration, full tuition for a college or university in Florida, expungement of the wrongful criminal record and refund of fines and attorney's fees, if any, associated with the wrongful conviction. As of today, three individuals have been compensated under the law, including DNA exonerees, James Bain and Luis Diaz.
"The money I received has helped me rebuild my life and move on from my wrongful conviction," said James Bain, an innocent Florida man who spent 35 years behind bars.
Florida has released 13 men after DNA testing proved their innocence. These men collectively spent 259 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.


text:
[Angelic Designs] [Lillith] Dark Porters Chair (Innocence)
This utterly gorgeous chair is part of a set made by Angelic Designs for Ostara's Altar which opens on Saturday 20th March and runs until the 6th of March. Ostara's Altar is a softer side dark style themed shopping market in Second Life.
The spring thaw brings forth the Goddess Ostara. Pay homage to her altar at Dark Passions Events next themed event. This time we shall bring forth a soft yet magically dark side of spring. All designers are welcome but priority will be shown to those that dabble in the dark arts of witchcraft, pastel goth, NuGoth, Victorian, magic, whimsical and spookiness in general.
Landmark to follow
This Chair is full of singles and couples animations for everyone and comes in PG and X-Rated versions in three different colourways, Skull can be turned on and off - This is one gorgeous chair you need in your life - Be ready for the weekend!
Ostara's Altar - 20th of March and April 16th 2017
7 Deadly s[K]ins - Wednesday NEW STYLE OMEGA HUD for the FACE and BODY, Chestnut NEW FOR THE SKIN FAIR - The HUD's new styling is fantastic, makes it easy to use whether you buy a single or the fat pack of stylings for the skin, Far and above the best skin HUD in my opinion!
The Skin Fair starts on the 10th to the 26th of March and 7 Deadly s[K]ins will be on Sim #2 just near the landing point
There is currently lots going on at the 7 Deadly s[K]ins Main store so check in here too -> 7 Deadly s[K]ins MAINSTORE
* Stelloane Hot Babe body Maitreya
* Stelloane Hot Babe boots Maitreya
These come in Belleza (All), Slink (Both) and Maitreya (Shown) and has a HUD to control the colours offering 5 colour choices in the fat pack options. Temptation Rocks!
* Stelloane Hell Babygirl horns - With Colour change HUD which can change the Horns, Flowers, and Leaf giving multiple options to suit your desire!
-BOD- Devil Tails EyeShadow
The Darkness Chamber Fair - 11 March to 1 April 2017
Dark Passions - Koffin Nails - FatPack - Pastel Tips
Dark Passions - Koffin Nails - Omega HUD - Pastel Tips
Event Price: 100L - Singles - Slink, Maitreya & Omega, 275L - FatPack
MBA Bi-Monthly Event
.Olive. the Cutie Hair - FATPACK
Cutie Loot - March 2017
Cutie Loot HQ - https://cutielootsl.wordpress.com/
Zibska ~ Darlin ~
**RE** MoonFlight Bracelets
^;^CaTwA^;^ Catya BENTO HEAD
^;^CaTwA^;^ Mesh Eyes Pack
^;^CaTwA^;^ Main Store
Maitreya Mesh Body - Lara - Body and feet
[MANDALA] STEKING_EARS_Season 5
Slink AvEnhance Hands Female Multipack - Bento - Free Upgrade
The pictures were taken with CalWL Windlight


text:
Legends eyeing response at Ware
29 September 2015|Tottenham Hotspur
The Spurs Legends side will look to bring their regular season to a close in winning fashion this Sunday (October 4) at Ware FC.
The team of ex-White Hart Lane favourites will be taking on The Angel Veterans in the final match of their 2015 campaign.
Kick-off will be at 2pm with tickets available on the day. The full address of the venue is: Ware FC, Wodson Park, Wadesmill Road, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 0UQ.
Three goals in the final 16 minutes saw the Legends slip to defeat against a Tony Gay Select XI at Thurrock FC in Essex this past Sunday (September 27).
Darren Anderton's free-kick had seen the lads take a 2-0 lead, but the introduction of a number of past and present professionals in the second period tipped the balance in the hosts' favour and the Legends ended up on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline.
Former midfielder David Howells watched on from the dugout, with the first half a quiet affair – the centre-half pairing of Stuart Nethercott and Justin Edinburgh keeping the home side at arm's length.
Anderton picked out striker Micky Jarrett to fire the Legends ahead from the right side of the box just five minutes in, while goalkeeper Gareth Howells dived low to his right to keep out a long-range effort just beyond the half-hour mark to keep his side in front.
Anderton tried a similar shot at the other end within 60 seconds, forcing the goalkeeper to tip the ball around his left-hand post – and it was he who doubled the Legends' advantage four minutes into the second half, his low free-kick going through the defensive wall and creeping beyond the keeper.
The Select XI hit back two minutes later, though, as Steve West nodded home following a cross from the right, although the Legends went close to restoring their two goal lead when Anderton broke through the middle within 60 seconds – he had options left and right in Edinburgh and Mark Gower (pictured, above), he went for the latter, but Gower's fierce drive from the angle was beaten away by the keeper.
The Legends' goal came under siege after that, with Mark Falco heading off the line following a header from a corner, with keeper Howells then making two fine saves in as many minutes to keep the hosts at bay.
Gower went close from the left side of the area at the other end, but the equaliser came in the 71st minute as Aaron McLean forced the ball home after a scramble in the area.
Howells made another low save but was powerless to prevent Leroy Griffiths from tucking home the rebound as the Select XI took the lead three minutes later, with Anderton left frustrated in his attempts to haul the Legends back on level terms in the moments that followed.
His free-kick from just outside the box crept under the wall but was stopped on the line by the keeper, while he was denied again by the custodian five minutes later as he ran onto Gower's right wing cross and pulled the trigger at the first time of asking.
The hosts completed the scoring in the closing stages, though, as Bertie Brayley turned in the box and fired home on 83 minutes before Tony Gay netted from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game after defender Brian Statham was adjudged to have committed a foul as he collided with an attacker just inside the area.
Spurs Legends: Gareth Howells, Andy Edmonds, Justin Edinburgh, Kevin Watson, Stuart Nethercott, Brian Statham, Mark Gower, Darren Anderton, Trevor Wilkinson, Micky Jarrett, Mark Falco. Substitutes: Glen Southam, Micky Southam, Aaron Chinery.


text:
Watch Friday Night Lights Connie Britton Get Increasingly Concerned for American Horror Story Connie Britton
Mrs. Coach, meet Vivien Harmon.
Few characters this television season have had to put up with the level of terror, physical pain, and all-around misery that Connie Britton's Vivien Harmon has experienced in nearly every episode of American Horror Story. Cheating husband? Check. Miscarriage followed by demon baby? Yup. Living in a haunted house and getting raped by the ghosts there? Sadly, check. Kinda made us want to reach into the TV and give her a big hug. Since that's silly and impossible, we began to imagine the next best thing: Tami Taylor's kind eyes and sweet drawl comforting Vivien. But is there such a thing as too big a problem for Mrs. Coach to take in stride? As you'll see in the following Vulture video match-up, as Vivien's problems get more and more absurd, eventually even Tami would have to get out of the house, y'all.


text:
Understanding the VIX
The above chart is pretty self-explanatory: the VIX index (a weighted composite of implied volatilities of various index options) at these levels in the past has led to a market decline. The reasoning we have explained before: as investors get complacent they sell options, either trying to earn some premium (thinking stocks won't move much) or through "lifting" hedges (selling out puts they no longer believe they need). Complacency is the opposite of fear and is normally associated with "over-investment".
The story is more complicated than this however. The skew is still not overly flat and longer term options have not come down as much as options out to the end of the year. This indicates some "concern" exists after the elections and into 2005 and 2006. Perhaps this is warranted as more debt from corporations is due later in 2005 and 2006; that process may prove painful if rates rise. Again, the equity markets are inextricably linked to the U.S. bond market and the dollar.
A last observation is that option prices are still higher than actual volatilities: the spread between option prices and actual volatilities are about average. Actual SPX volatilities are near historic lows, trading between 9% and 11%.
The structure of the options market is indicating two things: current high complacency in the short run and in the long run, any declines in the market are unlikely to be a crash scenario (exogenous of a major macro event or a significant decline in the bond markets) like 1987. Rather, declines will be more muted and difficult to maneuver.
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text: The HBC Community is a mastermind group – a coming together of 450+ like-minded people to help one another achieve common goals and grow. We aren't an agency: we are a community. The HBC Group is the perfect gathering for small and big bloggers alike. As long as you can prove you have a blog / Instagram account, and are passionate about health and wellness, you'll always be welcome in our community.


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Cedar LRM, which provides insightful views of marketing and sales data, is built to act as an integral solution to address the needs of both the SMB and VAR Channel environments.
Marlborough, MA (PRWEB) May 11, 2014
BMI Cloud Solutions today announced its sponsorship of SuiteWorld 2014, NetSuite's annual user conference for customers, partners, media and industry analysts, being held May 12–15 in San Jose, Calif. NetSuite's SuiteWorld 2014 conference is slated to be the largest-ever gathering of the fast-growing NetSuite community, with an expected 6,000 attendees coming together to inspire, connect with one another and to share business transformation best practices for getting the most out of the world's leading cloud ERP suite.
"BMI is excited to be a sponsor of SuiteWorld 2014 and to demo our Cedar Lead Record Management System (LRM)," said Marcel Matte, CEO of BMI Cloud Solutions. "Cedar LRM, which provides insightful views of marketing and sales data, is built to act as an integral solution to address the needs of both the SMB and VAR Channel environments."
BMI Cloud Solutions' Cedar LRM provides touch tracking, data validation, duplicate prevention, robust campaign summary, geo-targeting, change logs and electronic nagging, providing increased visibility into marketing and sales activities.
To learn more, visit us at booth 202 in the SuiteWorld Expo at the San Jose Convention Center.
About SuiteWorld 2014
SuiteWorld is NetSuite's annual conference, being held at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. on May 12-15 for customers, users, partners, developers, media and industry analysts. Attendees of SuiteWorld join the full strength of the NetSuite ecosystem to learn and explore, network face-to-face, and help shape the next evolution of cloud computing services.
For registration and additional details, please visit http://www.netsuite.com/suiteworld. To join the SuiteWorld conversation on Twitter, please use #NSW14.
BMI Cloud Solutions provides cloud based business solutions to help growing companies gain efficiencies and visibility across their entire organizations. We manage data into logical information views that enables our clients to gain visual insights resulting in better decisions. To achieve these results, we've partnered with best-in-class cloud based business solutions software companies – offering the following solutions: NetSuite Cloud-based Accounting, CRM, and ERP Suite; Pardot Marketing Automation Software, IQity for Process manufacturing and now Cedar for Lead Record Management, http://www.bmicloud.com.
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service marks of NetSuite Inc.
Company Contact:
Jessica Hurley
BMI Cloud Solutions. Inc


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese wages rose 0.2 percent in October from a year earlier after adjustment for inflation, the labor ministry said on Friday, marking their first rise since December 2016 in a sign a tight job market may finally be leading to higher salaries.
The data will be welcome news for the government, which has been urging companies to spend their massive cash reserves on wage increases to help spur consumer spending.
The Bank of Japan has been asserting that the tightest job market in four decades will push up incomes and eventually help consumer inflation reach its target rate of 2 percent.
Wage earners' nominal cash earnings rose 0.6 percent compared with the same month last year, up for a third straight month.
Special payments, which include bonuses, slipped 0.5 percent year-on-year in October, the data showed.
Regular pay, which determines base wages, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier.
Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, increased 0.2 percent.
To view the full tables, see the labor ministry's website at: here
Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Jacqueline Wong


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People trying to lose weight often make mistakes weight loss , making it lead to weight gain . Here are 5 common mistakes that weight loss should be avoided at all costs.
1 . greed cinnamon benefits
It may be error loss the most common that people weight walking for weight loss. Considered one of the most deadly sins , greed often leads to excessive weight gain . So if you think you can regularly enjoy a serving of your favorite food that contains a lot of calories when you diet , you're probably making a big mistake walking for weight loss .
Ask Jane Kirby, who is the author of the diet book for dummies ginger benefits .
" People who follow a low carbohydrate diet people might think, " walking for weight loss I can eat all overlapping with ham and Swiss cheese dipped in mayonnaise I want. No, you can not . It's party, party , party cinnamon benefits .
" So , avoid eating too much, too often , even when it means that you eat food containing walking for weight loss less carbohydrate or fat free ingredients.
2 . Not enough care to count calories cinnamon benefits
Always remember that when you want to lose weight , you must consume fewer calories than you can use. Therefore walking for weight loss , it is always counting calories , if you still want to lose weight. Consider this . Just leave a gym and head followed by a dinner ginger benefits .
Do you know an earthquake foam milk or sweet sports drink may provide more calories walking for weight loss you burn at the gym?
3 . Eat less food cinnamon benefits
Having too few calories is as bad as overeating walking for weight loss. This can put you at increased health due to impaired metabolism risk. Metabolism is a process in which cells burn food you eat into energy walking for weight loss .
For more information, please visit this site: https://quickweightloss02.blogspot.com


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For far too long, the need to feed the family forced me to live in a distant place. Although it was south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it wasn't the real South (which my wife and I moved back to as soon as we could). In that distant place, however, we learned many lessons. One was how to get folks to recycle effectively and efficiently.
At first there was a single, privately run recycling center in the county seat, about 10 miles from our home. Once in a very great while, we would load the car or truck with recyclables and haul them there, but it was just too easy to throw the stuff away. (Can you find the recycling center behind Asheville Pizza & Brewing? Do you know how far that is from Barnardsville?)
Then the schools started teaching our children about recycling, and they in turn began pressuring us to sort our "stuff" into separate containers. By that time, the county landfill had special bins for recycling, so whenever we had a load of paper and plastic and glass, it was off to the landfill, where they took recyclable material at no charge.
Next, both the contracted trash haulers and the city government started picking up garbage and recyclables once a week (in a clean truck, I would add). Since there was no tipping fee for recycling, the contract guys also benefited. It was in their best interest to haul as much recyclable material (which cost them nothing to dump) and as little garbage (which they had to pay to dump) as possible. And for homeowners, it was easy. Sure, we now had two trash cans instead of one; but for most of us, that was no big deal.
By the time we left the northern South in 1999, our county was generating roughly equal amounts (by weight) of garbage and recyclables. Think of it — recycling had halved the amount of garbage, which means we had doubled the life of the landfill. And given the high price of land, that meant a substantial savings of our tax dollars.
Fast-forward to Asheville, where recycling appears to be working marginally at best. According to Asheville-Buncombe VISION's "Community Progress Report 2005," the city's waste stream consists of 76 percent trash and only 24 percent recyclables (also by weight). Yet the report notes that Asheville residents recycle a larger percentage of their trash than any other municipality in Buncombe County. The report goes on to say: "Countywide, the recycling rate is 11.5 percent, which is one of the highest in the state. Statewide, the recycling rate is 4.2 percent." Folks, that's pretty dismal!
Yet city residents pay extra for curbside recycling ($5 per month, added to our water bills; and those who recycle more than the allotted two bins' worth per family must pay an additional fee). We also pay for landfills, since we, too, live in Buncombe County. And the question is, how soon will we have to buy another piece of very pricey land onto which to pitch our waste?
Buncombe County residents outside the city face a different situation. Their trash haulers are required to pick up recyclables for free if they're put out in blue bags. But some folks resent having to buy the bags (which are themselves trash), and a number of county residents have told me they've seen recyclables pitched in with the trash (though a GDS spokesperson assured me that their trucks have two compartments: a big one for trash and a small one for recyclables. In any case, the data attest that as a group, county residents are not doing a whole lot of recycling.
Even with disincentives to increase their recycling, Asheville residents outperform those in other Buncombe County communities, and Buncombe is one of the top recyclers among North Carolina's 100 counties. So let's put our heads together and figure out how to push Asheville forward, bring the rest of Buncombe County along with us, and then show North Carolina how it's done! If Asheville can be the leader and the teacher in so many other areas, surely we can learn to do it in recyling as well!
In part II, I'll talk about what doesn't work, what does — and how we can tell if we're making progress.
[George Keller is an adjunct professor of physics at UNCA. Besides his involvement with Asheville-Buncombe VISION, he's the webmaster for RiverLink and also serves on the Asheville Civic Center Commission.]


text: I was wandering on #freebsd and #openbsd some days ago and was pretty much amazed when people did not like GNU way. Then I read FreeBSd and OpenBSD FAQs and foud that BSD folks are very keen on replacing any GPLed code in their system with newly written BSD licensed code. OpenBSD even says that GPL is acceptable as last resource.Full story »


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Glee preview: A Very Glee Christmas
Gleeks will approach Glee with mixed emotions this week -- ecstatic because it's an all-new episode and lost because it's the last before the winter break begins. Whatever will we do without Glee?
Glee celebrates the holidays this week with a brand new episode dedicated to the jolly old man himself. That's right, break out the egg nog and start a fire because A Very Glee Christmas packs all the holiday spirit into one magical episode, as Finn (Cory Monteith) tries to spread holiday cheer despite last week's surprising break-up with his leading lady Rachel (Lea Michele).
Will our favorite McKinley High lovebirds end up under the mistletoe and will Brittany ever learn the truth about Santa? Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and Brittany still believes in him.
With so much uncertainty surrounding our beloved New Directions, one thing is definitely for sure during this holiday season: Sue Sylvester has no intention of giving anyone other than herself a gift for the Secret Santa exchange.
A Very Glee Christmas will feature the musical pairing of Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) singing the classic Baby, It's Cold Outside while New Directions sings their very own spirited version of Merry Christmas, Darling.
Check out SheKnows' clip of Glee's A Very Glee Christmas and don't worry, our favorite glee club will be back before you know it. February isn't that long to wait, is it?


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For inspiration, Tarun Tejpal's second novel, 'The Story Of My Assassins', draws heavily from his own challenging days at Tehelka, the defense-deal sting operation, communalism, the Bhagawad Gita (which seems to be every contemporary Indian writer's current fetish) and Bollywood and it shapes up to be one heck of a rollicking read.
It is a huge challenge to the reader, as it is continually disheartening,
depressing and gloomy; offering no hope at all in the end, but by golly, a story of so much misery and hopelessness has never been this heartfelt, passionate, engrossing and beautiful.
The nameless protagonist, a journalist, is informed by the police of a foiled plot to assassinate him. Five suspects are rounded up, jailed and put on trial. But the journalist's firebrand 'social-reformer' mistress, Sara, smells a government conspiracy and thinks that the suspects are victims themselves, victims of their own pathetic and degrading circumstances as well as that of the corrupt collusion between selfish politicos in power and the entire state machinery, which is twisted and turned for profit by the self-conserving political class. She decides, with the help of a couple of smitten lawyers, to investigate the matter herself. The action then serializes to the back stories of the five suspected assassins before closing in on the truth about the attempted assassination.
As we are taken through the lives of the five assassins, we meet our own countrymen that we never meet in real life. People who, like many millions of Indians, are born on the fringes, and silently die there. People who suffer the worst forms of degradation, poverty and state apathy. People who therefore either lose the will to live altogether or murder, kill, rape and steal for the most flimsy and insubstantial causes. People who have absolutely no hope, from the moment they are born to the moment they succumb to their wretched circumstances. The five assassins, Chaku, Kabir M, Chini, Kaliya and Hathoda Tyagi are all such people, each a victim of the everyday violence and horror of an India that exists outside the realm of urban sensibilities. Unlike Balram Halwai, these are no 'White Tigers', and in that respect 'The Story Of My Assassins' is easily the more definitive 'other' India book, even more so than either Mr. Adiga's, Mr. Chandra's or Mr.Swaroop's. At one point, Chaku's father hopes that his son's birth will somehow uplift him from penury, but as Tejpal poignantly points out, "in the end it is always just one more mouth to feed". While structured as a mystery thriller, this is in fact a simultaneously disturbing and moving social and human drama that deserves serious attention.
But this is not where the list of qualities ends. Tejpal's characterizations deserve special mention. Each character in the novel is well etched, distinct, real and memorable. The feisty mistress Sara, the self preserving elitist and Kafka-quoting Jai (the protagonists' business partner), the well meaning policeman, Hathi Ram, the protagonist's spiritual counselor, 'Guruji' (whose oblique wisdom is as the same time confusing and enlightening), the typically wily, but drunk on 'money-sex-power' Delhi power-broker, Kapoor Sahib and indeed the selfish, almost nihilistic protagonist himself are all spot on. They all have their indigenous and quirky wisdoms. Sample this — when the protagonist asks the journeyman police officer Hathi Ram if he would like another cup of tea, Hathi Ram responds thus —"One cup is friendship. Two is intimacy. And that is always reductive.
As friends we talk about big things, philosophical things and national affairs. But in intimacy we will talk about wives and bosses and the price of milk and vegetables, and we will become small men obsessed with small things. So no more tea, my friend, no more." It is also to Tejpal's credit that he manages to infuse a sardonic sense of humor into the proceedings, a necessary trait while dealing with a stark subject such as this. Almost every page offers something genuinely funny, which makes the reader smile and wince at the same time. While taking us through the early years of Kaliya and Chini, boys who grow up on the platforms of Delhi, Tejpal, incredibly, even manages to make death a subject of much mirth.
What Maximum City was to Mumbai, 'The Story of My Assassins' is to Delhi specifically and the Hindi heartland in general. Delhi is cut open and all its veins and sinews are opened for viewing, resplendent in all its colors, particularly red, the color of power and blood, and exposed as a city where the nexus of politics, religion, goons, money, industry and power is at its strongest. Tejpal's observant eye encompasses both grandeur and destitution alike and brings the city, its people and their idiosyncrasies alive amongst the pages like never before in recent memory.
The only trivial objection one can possibly have with the author is that he takes on a multitude of issues, trying to deal with practically everything that is wrong with the country. But the final product still manages to avoid being flippant or preachy.
This wonderfully textured tour-de-force is easily worthy of your bookshelf and it is bound to get better with every subsequent read. India has many realities and here is a chance to look at the more 'real' ones, the ones which don't get played out in 'chutterputter' English, the ones which get no media air time, the ones which make our country what it is.
Abhishek Chatterjee also blogs at A Secret History
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Comments (2)
Generic, Bomb, Scare, Squad, SFPDSan Francisco bomb squad investigates report of suspicious package (CBS)
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A San Francisco bomb squad responded to a report of a suspicious package in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood Sunday afternoon.
The package, which turned out to be someone's suitcase, was reportedly left unattended near Laguna and Hayes streets at about 12:10 p.m., San Francisco police Sgt. Danielle Newman said.
Both streets were blocked off and residents in the area were temporarily advised to shelter in place.
A police bomb unit was called to the scene, which was in the process of being cleared at about 12:35 p.m.
Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
37.776465 -122.426299


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Dahlicious Dress Up Day is fast becoming one of the biggest fancy dress events in the school calendar and if you're stuck for a costume idea, we're here to help!
A Roald Dahl costume is a must but how do you possibly choose your favourite character when there are so many brilliant ones?
Luckily for you, we've sieved through all our Roald Dahl fancy dress for this year's best costume ideas. So whether you're a teacher or a parent looking for ideas for your child, take a look at the list below for inspiration.
Dahlicious Dress Up Day costume ideas for children
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate is the ultimate Roald Dahl book and there are so many iconic characters to dress up as. From the fabulous Willy Wonka himself to the admirable Charlie Bucket, either of these costumes would be your golden ticket to Roald Day Day success!
And if you'd like to theme your whole Dahlicious Dress Up Day around Willy Wonka, take a look at our Charlie and the Chocolate Factory party ideas.
Matilda and Mrs Trunchbull
Good girl Matilda and the infamous Mrs Trunchbull make a brilliant group costume for best friends. Not only is the book an absolute classic, you can have loads of fun getting into character!
A Mrs Trunchbull costume like this is great value and even comes with a stick-on monobrow! And as for the studious Matilda, make sure you complete a costume like this with a book and a plastic lizard for props!
The Enormous Crocodile
He's the crocodile who tells all the other animals he eats children and another Roald Dahl classic. A onesie like this would make the perfect costume and you could even turn the story into a fun game of hide and seek with all the other children hiding from the crocodile!
Oompa Loompas
They're Willy Wonka's famous factory workers and a great value costume choice for Roald Dahl Day. Just don't forget a green wig like this to complete your costume!
Transforming your child into the Big Friendly Giant couldn't be easier than with a BFG costume like this – complete with giant ears and a trumpet for blowing dreams into children's minds!
Homemade Fantastic Mr Fox mask
Dressing up doesn't have to cost a fortune. If you're looking for a cheap DIY costume idea for Dahlicious Dress Up Day, how about our easy Fantastic Mr Fox mask? All you need is an old cereal box, some acrylic paint and our free printable stencil.
It's really quick and easy to make and you can make your costume look extra slick with a smart jacket and a shirt!
Have we given you enough inspiration to get started on your Dahlicious Dress Up Day costume? Head over to our shop to browse our full range of Roald Dahl fancy dress.


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Instructors' Biography
Our dance instructors are highly skilled and trained to help you learn. Hailing from around the world, our teachers are actively competing, award-winning professionals and gifted educators.
Many of our teachers have degrees in the fine arts and all have passed rigorous exams given by the Imperial Society of the Teachers of Dance and the Fred Astaire Curriculum Certification.
To find out more about an instructor and to view their performance videos, please click on the images below:
Studio Management
Dance Instructors


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The feelings that lead some men to investigate remains of antiquity and search into their origin, dates and purposes, are similar to those actuating lofty minds, when not satisfied with the surface of things, they inquire into the source and origin of every thing accessible to human ken, and scrutinize or analize every tangible object. Such feelings lead us to trace events and principles, to ascend rivers to their sources, to climb the rugged sides of mountains and reach their lofty summits, to plough the waves and dive into the sea, or even soar into the air, to scan and measure the heavenly bodies, and at last to lift our eyes and souls to the Supreme Being, the source of all.
ical evidence of spoken modern languages, fragments or children of older primitive languages, ascends by their means to equal antiquity; both combining, therefore, to complete the history of mankind, where annals and traditions cease to lead us or are quite obscure: these combined bring more certainty to the scrutinising mind than the mere physical features of men, and their complexions, so fluctuating and mingled. But neither of them solve the question of the actual original Cradle or Cradles of mankind. If indeed monuments and languages of various parts of the earth were quite different, and the features or colors of men likewise distinct there, we might suppose there could have been several species and cradles of men: but it is not so, features and languages are so variable and mingling in our own times, and so diversified every where, as to baffle and preclude complete insulation. Monuments are also after all so much alike in many remote parts, that although divisible into styles of various ages and