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GPSOLO July/August 2009
Pit Bull Bans: The State of Breed–Specific Legislation
When animal control officers in Kansas City, Kansas, seized Mike and Amy Johnson's dog Niko in 2007 for violating the city's ban against harboring pit bulls, it took eight months of legal wrangling and a DNA test on Niko before the city agreed with what the Johnsons and their paperwork had been saying all along—that Niko was a boxer mix. During that time Niko waited in an animal control kennel, separated from his family, losing weight and fur, and picking up a cough. It's hard not to draw comparisons between the Innocence Project, which has used DNA evidence to free from prison hundreds of wrongly convicted persons, and the case of Niko the dog. The case of the wrongly accused Niko and his eight–month imprisonment for being judged as something he was not provides a good illustration of many of the controversies currently surrounding the topic of "breed" bans, also know as "pit bull bans" or "breed–specific legislation" (BSL).
What Problems Prompted BSL?
Dealing with dangerous dogs is a problem that has perplexed communities for ages, leading some of them to resort to passing laws banning certain breeds perceived as especially prone to dangerous behavior, usually after a well–publicized attack on a human. In fact, a spokesman for the KCK Kennels where Niko was held said the ban is there to protect people, adding that a pit bull had attacked and killed an elderly woman about a year before Niko was seized. These efforts to purge certain breeds are perhaps the easiest ways to attempt to reduce the probability of an attack by simply reducing the mere presence of certain types of dogs in a community. Other communities place restrictions on the owners of certain breeds without completely banning the breeds.
The American Kennel Club (AKC), the nation's largest dog–breed registry, does not recognize a "pit bull" breed per se. The AKC–recognized breeds most commonly included within current BSL are Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, and Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Also frequently included are Rottweilers, Chow Chows, Mastiffs, and Presa Canarios. But the focus of public and government concern has not always been pit bulls; in the 1970s the concern was over German Shepherds, and in the 1980s, Doberman Pinschers.
Who Has Passed BSL?
Hundreds of municipalities of all sizes and geographic locations throughout the country have adopted BSL. (One of the most comprehensive, up–to–date lists of BSL jurisdictions can be found at www.understand–a–bull.com.) Still other towns are repealing existing bans, such as Edwardsville, Kansas, which removed its pit bull ban after the nearby Niko case ended.
In 2009 new statewide BSL bills were introduced in Hawaii, Montana, and Oregon, where there are two BSL bills pending. One would ban "pit bulls" from Oregon unless a person has obtained a permit within 90 days of the bill's passage; the other would require minimum liability insurance coverage of $1 million for pit bull owners. Although other jurisdictions, as well as insurance companies, have also implemented provisions requiring minimum liability insurance coverage for owners of certain breeds, Oregon's bill may be the first to cross the million–dollar threshold if it passes. Because some dog owners will be unable to obtain such insurance owing to the cost or the nature of their dog, these requirements act as an indirect restriction on ownership of certain breeds.
Interestingly, 12 states have passed laws prohibiting the passage of BSL by local governments: Florida and Pennsylvania (although bills are currently pending to repeal this prohibition in both states), California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Like the other 11 states, California has ruled that no specific dog breed mix shall be declared potentially dangerous or vicious as a matter of breed, but it does allow BSL related to mandatory spay/neuter programs, meaning it requires dogs of certain breeds to be "fixed." The city of Denver has perhaps the most tortured history with BSL. Denver passed BSL in 1989, but the Colorado State Legislature outlawed BSL in 2004. Denver later reinstated BSL after the city challenged the state's BSL prohibition, and a judge ruled that Denver's BSL could be allowed to stand as a home rule exception.
Just two weeks before President George W. Bush left office, the U.S. Army issued a memo detailing pet policy changes for privatized housing on military installations; the memo bans American or English Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Rottweilers, Chow Chows, Doberman Pinschers, and wolf hybrids as well as a host of other pets and exotic animals including reptiles, rats, hedgehogs, ferrets, and farm animals. The policy, which went into effect immediately, grandfathers in existing pets and contains a clause allowing for certain exceptions but lists no criteria for the exceptions. Some military families have lamented online and in the media that the nature of military service requires frequent moves from base to base, making the grandfather clause nearly meaningless. The Obama administration has promised to look into the military's breed ban but has not yet rendered an opinion on whether it would be allowed to stand.
BSL in the Courts
Court cases challenging BSL have focused on constitutional concerns such as substantive due process, equal protection, and vagueness. Most BSL will survive the minimum scrutiny analysis allowed by the due process clauses of the Constitution's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments because there is no fundamental right at issue. This analysis requires that the law being challenged must be rationally related to a legitimate government goal or purpose. Because state and local jurisdictions enjoy broad police powers, including protecting the public's safety and welfare, courts have not had trouble finding that BSL is rationally related to the goal of protecting the public from allegedly dangerous breeds.
Challenges based on equal protection arguments are similarly difficult to sustain. Here courts are looking at whether there is a rational purpose for treating pit bull breeds differently from other dog breeds. Dog owners have attacked the rational purpose requirement by arguing either that BSL is over–inclusive, because it bans all dogs of a breed when only certain individuals within the breed have proven to be vicious, or under–inclusive, because many types of dogs have injured people and the BSL fails to include those other breeds. However, again under minimum scrutiny review, BSL will survive as long as the government can establish that the BSL is rationally related to its purpose, even if the law is found to be over–inclusive or under–inclusive.
Claims that BSL is unconstitutionally vague have brought dog owners mixed success. Procedural due process requires that laws provide the public with sufficient notice of the activity or conduct being regulated or banned. Here owners of pit bulls or other banned breeds argue that the breed ban laws do not adequately define just what is a "pit bull" (or other banned breed) for purposes of the ban. Another argument is that the laws are too vague to help the dog–owning public or the BSL enforcement agency—such as animal control or police—to be able to identify whether a dog falls under the BSL if the dog was adopted with an unknown origin or is a mixed breed. In the Niko case it took a DNA test to resolve this issue, after which the charges based on the BSL were dropped.
Enforcement Issues
Enforcement of BSL naturally leads to the question: Who determines whether a dog is one of the banned or regulated breeds, and what is the procedure for that determination? Surprisingly, in places such as North Salt Lake, Utah, the city manager has sole authority to make that call. In other places it is the mayor or animal control officers. No special training in breed identification is required. Some jurisdictions have passed their BSL legislation without any input from a veterinarian, presumably the type of expert most capable of identifying dog breeds. Attorney Ledy VanKavage has spent the last decade studying BSL and is considered one of the country's foremost experts on the subject. She is now general counsel for Best Friends Animal Society after working for years as the senior director of legislation and legal training for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). She calls BSL "breed discrimination laws" and asserts that with the advance of DNA analysis for dogs becoming more available, the days of mere "canine profiling" and arbitrary enforcement are numbered. VanKavage believes that because the government has the burden of proving that a dog is one of the breeds banned or regulated by BSL, cities will have to seriously weigh whether they should pony up the high cost of DNA tests or simply give up trying to enforce BSL.
Is BSL Effective?
Extensive studies of the effectiveness of BSL in reducing the number of persons harmed by dog attacks were done in Spain and Great Britain. Both studies concluded that their "dangerous animals acts," which included pit bull bans, had no effect at all on stopping dog attacks. The Spanish study further found that the breeds most responsible for bites—both before and after the breed bans—were those breeds not covered by it, primarily German Shepherds and mixed breeds.
One of the few known instances in which a breed ban's effectiveness was examined and reported on in the United States occurred in Prince George's County, Maryland, where a task force was formed in 2003 to look at the effectiveness of its pit bull ban. The task force concluded that the public's safety had not improved as a result of the ban, despite the fact that the county had spent more than $250,000 per year to round up and destroy banned dogs. Finding that other, non–breed–specific laws already on the books covered vicious animal, nuisance, leash, and other public health and safety concerns, the task force recommended repealing the ban.
In a different study looking at dog bite data, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Veterinary Medical Association together produced a report titled "Breeds of Dogs Involved in Fatal Human Attacks in the US between 1979 and 1998," which appeared in the September 15, 2000, issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Among its findings, the study reported that during this 20–year period, more than 25 breeds of dogs were involved in 238 human fatalities. Pit bull–type dogs caused 66 of the fatalities, which averages out to just over three fatal attacks per year, and Rottweilers were cited as causing 39 of the fatalities. The rest were caused by other purebreds and mixed breeds. At the time the report was released, Dr. Gail C. Golab, one of the study's co–authors, was quoted as saying, "[s]ince 1975, dogs belonging to more than 30 breeds—including Dachshunds, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and a Yorkshire Terrier—have been responsible for fatal attacks on people."
The authors noted that the data in the report cannot be used to infer any breed–specific risk for dog bite fatalities, such as for pit bull–type dogs or Rottweilers, because to obtain such risk information it would be necessary to know the total numbers of each breed currently residing in the United States, and that information is unavailable.
A 2008 report on media bias by the National Canine Research Council (available on their website at http://nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/dog-bites/dog-bites-and-the-media/audience-interest) compared the type of media coverage given for dog attacks that occurred during a four–day period in August 2007 with intriguing results:
- On day one, a Labrador mix attacked an elderly man, sending him to the hospital. News stories of his attack appeared in one article in the local paper.
- On day two, a mixed–breed dog fatally injured a child. The local paper ran two stories.
- On day three, a mixed–breed dog attacked a child, sending him to the hospital. One article ran in the local paper.
- On day four, two pit bulls that broke off their chains attacked a woman trying to protect her small dog. She was hospitalized. Her dog was uninjured. This attack was reported in more than 230 articles in national and international newspapers and on the major cable news networks.
It is not a stretch to see how such news coverage could influence calls for breed bans from the frightened public and its legislators.
Options Beyond BSL
The National Canine Research Council has identified the most common factors found in fatal dog attacks occurring in 2006:
- 97 percent of the dogs involved were not spayed or neutered.
- 84 percent of the attacks involved owners who had abused or neglected their dogs, failed to contain their dogs, or failed to properly chain their dogs.
- 78 percent of the dogs were not kept as pets but as guard, breeding, or yard dogs.
Stephan Otto, director of legislative affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, notes that "if a person keeps a dangerous dog to guard their drugs or property or for fighting purposes, they'll just switch to a different breed and train that dog to be dangerous to get around a breed ban. The BSL accomplishes nothing in those cases."
VanKavage points to all of the above factors as reasons for communities to focus on "reckless owners" rather than singling out specific breeds to be regulated, and she recommends improving dangerous dog laws generally, addressing the above factors without singling out any breeds. She cites St. Paul, Minnesota, and Tacoma, Washington, as both having passed model laws in 2007 that target troublesome pet owners.
The ASPCA has proposed a list of solutions for inclusion in breed–neutral laws that hold reckless dog owners accountable for their aggressive animals:
- Enhanced enforcement of dog license laws, with adequate fees to augment animal control budgets and surcharges on ownership of unaltered dogs to help fund low–cost pet- sterilization programs. High–penalty fees should be imposed on those who fail to license a dog.
- Enhanced enforcement of leash/dog–at–large laws, with adequate penalties to supplement animal control funding and to ensure the law is taken seriously.
- Dangerous dog laws that are breed neutral and focus on the behavior of the individual dog, with mandated sterilization and microchipping of dogs deemed dangerous and options for mandating muzzling, confinement, adult supervision, training, owner education, and a hearings process with gradually increasing penalties, including euthanasia, in aggravated circumstances such as when a dog causes unjustified injury or simply cannot be controlled. ("Unjustified" typically is taken to mean the dog was not being harmed or provoked by anyone when the attack occurred.)
- Laws that hold dog owners financially accountable for failure to adhere to animal control laws, and also hold them civilly and criminally liable for unjustified injuries or damage caused by their dogs.
- Laws that prohibit chaining or tethering, coupled with enhanced enforcement of animal cruelty and fighting laws. Studies have shown that chained dogs are an attractive nuisance to children and others who approach them.
- Laws that mandate the sterilization of shelter animals and make low–cost sterilization services widely available.
Recently, VanKavage revealed that Best Friends Animal Society has developed an economic analysis tool (view it at their website, www.bestfriends.org) that would help cities determine the potential fiscal impact of enforcing BSL versus having a good non–breed–specific dangerous dog law in place. Armed with this tool, cities can now consider cost as one additional factor to weigh before deciding to enact BSL.
National animal organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association, Humane Society of the United States, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Best Friends Animal Society, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the American Kennel Club, and the National Animal Control Association all oppose BSL. Otto sums up their position this way: "If the goal is dog–bite prevention, then dogs should be treated as individuals under effective dangerous dog laws and not as part of a breed painted with certain traits that may not be applicable to each dog. By doing so, owners of well–trained, gentle dogs are not punished by a breed ban, while dangerous dogs of all breeds are regulated and may have their day in court to be proven dangerous."
As an example, consider the 2007 Michael Vick dogfighting case in Virginia, in which 50 of the former pro football player's fighting dogs were seized and about to be euthanized according to conventional wisdom that dogs trained to fight to the death are too dangerous to humans and other animals and cannot be retrained. However, in an unprecedented move, the court agreed with amicus briefs filed by animal welfare groups and appointed a special master, animal law professor Rebecca Huss, as a guardian for the dogs to oversee temperament evaluations to be done on each dog by a team of behaviorists. As a result, only one dog was destroyed owing to temperament; the other 49 were saved and shipped to rescue groups, where they were rehabilitated and are now enjoying media attention as service dogs and beloved companions. Time will tell whether this unexpected outcome successfully turns on its head the argument that fighting dogs or certain breeds of dogs are inherently dangerous, untrainable, hopeless.
The number of places passing breed bans and prohibiting breed bans continues to fluctuate widely. Perhaps the most accurate way to sum up the state of BSL in the United States today is to say the laws are controversial, generating both howls of protest and vehement support wherever they have been considered.
Dana M. Campbell has a solo practice focusing on animal law and employment rights, provides legal work for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and teaches animal law as an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School. She may be reached at email@example.com.


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Sending to UK makes me nervous. I've lost a couple of packages going there. They need to get their act together there. Even my UK customers tell me their own Royal mail sucks donkey ass.
Given where morale is headed in the USPS system, I can only hope that the postal police will keep that kind of behavior in check in the US.
One of my funnier experiences with the (generally awesome) German postal system was sending a gift package to my god-daughter over there... except it didn't arrive... instead, the mother got a notice to pay up... long story short, the Droid at the customs hall took a look at the contents listed on the customs form, noted "gift", read it in German (in which case you're shipping 'poison') even though the package came from a English-speaking country and items shipped internationally are always declared in English, and decided that a duty applied. A terse letter from the mother regarding the English-reading skills of the droid in question unlodged the package without the need for duty payments. Naturally, without comment.
...kudzu in the SE of the USA, the cane toad in Australia...

subset: commoncrawl


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You know it has been a bad year when you drive by a cotton field in the fall and are not sure if it has been picked.
That was the kind of cotton year it was in 2005 in the San Joaquin Valley, a stark contrast to module-busting 2004.
Long time cotton consultant Lowell Zelinski told Central Coast Cotton Conference in Shell Beach, Calif., it was not only a year of stark contrast to the season before, but also a year of considerable variability in the valley.
Zelinski, director of the annual California cotton conference on the coast, said he monitored fields planted just days apart, but by July looked like their planting dates were separated by weeks, seemingly without explanation.
"I had two fields planted four days apart. On July 10 one field was 10-inches tall and two weeks from bloom. The adjacent field was in full bloom at the same time," said Zelinski.
Much of the problem went directly to lousy spring planting weather that was clearly the reason fields that yielded four bales in '04 eked out just 2.5 bales in 05.
To compound the problem and in contrast to the cool spring, July was hotter than the tip of a Roman candle on the 4th of July. When it's hot, cotton doesn't pollinate. However, pollen sterilization may have been a bigger problem than most SJV growers realize.
Zelinski says scientists generally agree when temperatures exceed 80 degrees at night, cotton suffers from sterility.
"Everyone knows SJV cottons do not travel well across the Cotton Belt, and I think warmer temperatures elsewhere have a lot to do with that," said Zelinski.
Zelinski believes the temperature threshold may be only 70 degrees when SJV cotton varieties experience sterility problems.
More susceptible
"SJV varieties may be more susceptible to temperature variability," said Zelinski. Seed counts of only five to six per loc this season versus the normal 9 to 10 may be testimony to Zelinski's theory
When the SJV heat spell broke in '04, cotton began setting more fruit. However, just as quickly as it turned hot, it turned cool. "We set a big crop in August and September, but there was not enough heat after that to finish the crop and we had a high percentage of bolls half done."
It was a costly lesson in weather. "Good-yielding years are cheap to grow and poor yielding years are expensive to grow," said Zelinski.
The reason for the big '05 bills was insects, according to Pete Goodell, regional University of California IPM advisor.
Thrips took squares early in '05 and "that almost never happens," said Zelinski. The weather even played havoc with weed control, precluding Roundup ground applications due to wet ground. Many resorted to air and the result was the highest level of drift complaints in recent years.
It was a lygus year with the late rains and continued weed growth, but Goodell said control measures were usually good. Kern County's lygus problems were worse than other areas.
There were more mites and aphids later because all the beneficials died. Pacific and Two-Spotted were the later mite species. The hot weather exasperated the mite problems.
Worms were a problem and some growers got a look at the first Bollgard Acala for the valley. It works on small worms, but Goodell said "when you have snakes cross the road" from alfalfa field, Bt cotton will not stave off problems.
"Whiteflies and aphids in the fall were not as bad as everyone expected from high aphid populations earlier," said Goodell. "However, whiteflies were a huge problem in the desert cotton growing areas." Desert problems were reportedly attributed to very high populations reducing amount of time a pesticide application held insects in check.
There were concerns that they may be another sticky cotton problem from late season whiteflies, but Goodell said he does not expect that to be a problem in the San Joaquin Valley cotton now moving to the textile mills. "However, there may be some sticky cotton from the edge of urban areas.


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text:
asexual act where a man is about to ejaculate and runs to his patner(who is not expecting it) and ejaculates in her pussy.
Bob was {jerking off} in behind Barbra while she was watching TV. When he felt the need to cum he ran up to her and puts his penis in her vagina and {cumed} and he yelled warm welcome.
by mr dude67 June 02, 2012
The act of hugging someone tight and then urinating in your pants.
Sarah has a thing for pee, so she asked me to give her a warm welcome.
by C for proof November 02, 2014
A warm welcome is when you go to the master bathroom,turn off the water to the toilet,flush all the water out,take a dump,wipe your ass,then put the used paper between the pages of a magazine,or trashcan.turn the water back on,turn on the heater,and lock the door behind you.
Me and Jethro were at Flo's party the other night,she ran out of food and drink,so Jethro decided to leave her a Warm Welcome as a reminder to get it right next time!
by bigeasyone September 13, 2009
To unexpectedly leak in ones trousers
She gave me a very warm welcome
by Chevvers March 27, 2008


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Preview: USC takes on Oregon
Game 8: Home, We're Coming Home Again
On Homecoming Saturday, can the Trojan defense hold up well enough to let the offense find a way to knock the top-ranked Ducks from their perch?
The USC Trojans (5-2, 2-2 Pac-10), ranked No. 24 by the Associated Press, celebrate their Homecoming game on Saturday, October 30 against the Oregon Ducks (7-0, 3-0), ranked No. 1 by the AP, USA Today and Harris polls and No. 2 in the BCS, at 5 p.m. (PDT) in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and in front of a split-national ABC television audience. It is the 57th meeting between the two schools, with Troy holding a 37-17-2 edge. The Trojans have won four of the past six meetings, including a 44-10 rout in the last Los Angeles meeting (2008). However, the Ducks throttled the Trojans, 47-20, on Halloween 2009 in Eugene, on their way to a Pac-10 championship and Rose Bowl appearance.
A week ago, the Trojans rested after handing California a 48-14 drubbing on Oct. 16 at the Coliseum. Matt Barkley tied the school's single-game TD pass record with five (all in the first half), as USC rolled up 602 total yards against what had been a stellar Bear defense. The 42-0 halftime deficit was the largest in the history of the Cal football program. In Oregon's last outing, on Oct. 20, the Ducks rolled to a 60-13 victory over UCLA in Eugene. Oregon totaled 582 yards against the Bruins in just 21 minutes of possession time, as sophomore quarterback Darron Thomas had a career passing night, throwing for 308 yards and three touchdowns.
Trojan Coach Lane Kiffin (12-8 career collegiate head coaching record; 5-2 at USC) is in his first season at USC, after serving as the head coach at Tennessee in 2009. He also coached the Oakland Raiders in 2007-08, after spending the preceding six seasons as an assistant at USC. Oregon headman Chip Kelly is in his second season in Eugene (17-3, 12-1 in Pac-10 games). Under Kelly, the Ducks became the first Pac-10 team not known by the initials "USC" to earn a Rose Bowl berth since Washington State in 2002, and his breakneck-paced offense is the talk of college football.
Oregon Offense
Kelly, along with offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, has brought a revolutionary pace to the Ducks' zone-read offense. Last year, the scheme made a star of then-QB Jeremiah Masoli (since exiled to Mississippi after being kicked off the team for criminal problems), and it's doing the same for Thomas in 2010. The differences between the two quarterbacks: size and passing ability. Thomas has more of both. He's averaging 6.4 yards per carry and has completed 61 percent of his passes - 17 for touchdowns against just five interceptions. He's a true dual threat and has grown immensely in the seven games he's served as starter. Senior back-up Nate Costa is a more-than-capable alternative should Thomas struggle or go down. In limited duty this season, he's completed 75 percent of his passes and is a threat as the holder on placekicks, in the same vein as Trojans' second-string QB Mitch Mustain.
Thomas' top target has been senior Jeff Maehl, a solid possession target who has a 28-game reception streak and has grabbed 39 passes (six TDs) so far in 2010. Senior D.J. Davis and sizeable junior Lavasier Tuinei are the other starters, and have combined for 43 catches and two scores. True freshman Josh Huff has stood out as a fourth outside target, with 13 grabs and three TDs. As usual, the Ducks have a solid threat at tight end, with junior David Paulson racking up 14 catches, a 19.5-yard average and three scores.
However, sophomore running back LaMichael James, who also encountered some legal issues in the offseason, has been the Ducks' true offensive star. James, a Heisman Trophy candidate, leads the nation with 161.8 yards rushing per game. He averages more than seven yards per carry and has scored 11 touchdowns on the ground (one receiving). His next 100-yard game will break the school record for career 100-yard rushing outings. All of this has come after serving a one-game suspension in the opener. When lightning-quick reserve sophomore Kenjon Barner had to sit out the UCLA game because of injury (he's questionable for this week), senior Remene Alston did a fine job, rushing for 75 yards and three scores.
If all those skill position players are making national names for themselves, it's the experienced offensive line that's truly the key to the zone-read offense. Not only is the group opening holes for the running attack, but also Ducks' quarterbacks have been sacked just twice in 2010. Seniors Bo Thran (LT), Jordan Holmes (center) and C.E. Kaiser (RG) are the group's leaders. Junior Mark Asper (RT) and sophomore Carson York (LG) are the other starters, and junior Darrion Weems has started five games as a utility man. The Ducks' linemen are often interchangeable to Kelly - Thran has started at both guard and tackle this season, while Weems has started at both tackle spots and York at both guard spots.
Oregon Defense
Longtime Duck defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti oversees a veteran group that is intent on pressuring quarterbacks (19 sacks, second in the Pac-10) and forcing turnovers (25 takeaways in seven games and a fantastic +12 turnover margin). While the Ducks' other defensive stats seem impressive at first glance (15.9 points per game allowed, 331 total yards per game), Oregon has played much of its schedule against some of the worst offensive teams in the nation. But in games against competent (or better) offenses - Stanford and Arizona State - the Ducks' high-risk, high-reward defense allowed a total of 1,115 total yards and 62 points. So, just who is this Jekyll-and-Hyde unit that gives up big plays almost as often as it makes them?
Up front in their 4-3 set, the Ducks have a solid eight-man rotation, featuring starters Kenny Rowe, a senior, and Terrell Turner, a junior, at the ends and seniors Brandon Bair and Zac Clark at the tackles. Bair (31 stops, 13 for loss including three sacks) and Rowe (28 tackles, a team-leading four sacks) are the leaders. The second string, though young, sees plenty of time, with junior Brandon Hanna and sophomore Dion Jordan at ends and redshirt freshmen Taylor Hart and Wade Keliikipi at tackles. Jordan has made the most noise with 17 tackles.
The Ducks' linebacking corps features two of the team's top defensive playmakers - senior middle backer Casey Matthews and his classmate on the weak side, Spencer Paysinger. Matthews is third on the team with 35 stops, but he also has 4.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. Talk about filling up a stat sheet. Paysinger has 36 tackles, including two sacks. On the strong side, junior Josh Kaddu has been less flashy, but plenty effective, with 21 tackles. The depth here also sees the field plenty, as senior Bryson Littlejohn (MLB), sophomore Michael Clay (WLB) and redshirt freshman Boseko Lokombo (SLB) have 61 tackles between them.
The Ducks' secondary, lit up by Arizona State and abused at times by both Stanford and Washington State, is an interesting anomaly. While they've struggled mightily at times, they are responsible for 10 of Oregon's 13 interceptions, and junior rover (strong safety) Eddie Pleasant is the team's leading tackler with 37. Sophomore free safety John Boyett has 34 stops and two picks, while senior cornerback Talmadge Jackson III has 33 tackles and an interception. At the other corner, junior Anthony Gildon started the first six games before an injury before sophomore Cliff Harris replaced him in the lineup last week. Harris - as a reserve and nickel back - has been a big-play machine, with 21 tackles and a team-leading four interceptions. Junior Javes Lewis and senior Marvin Johnson also see time at safety.
Oregon Special Teams
Sophomore placekicker Rob Beard has been solid, making all 40 PATs and all six field goal attempts. He's also been decent on kickoffs, notching eight touchbacks and helping hold the opposition to an average start of the 22-yard line. Sophomore punter Jackson Rice has been solid, averaging 42.5 yards per boot, and opponents are averaging just one yard per return. Barner was handling kick returns until his concussion against Washington State, but now that duty has fallen to Huff. Barner was also part of the league's most dangerous punt return tandem - Harris has returned three punts for scores and Barner took one 80 yards for a score earlier in the season.
USC Offensive Gameplan
It's hard for anyone to question the improvement of the USC offense from the 2009 campaign. After impressive performances against Stanford and Cal, the Trojans now rank seventh nationally in total offense (494 yards per game), sixth nationally in pass efficiency and No. 14 in the nation in scoring (37.4 points per game). The Trojans' balance has been outstanding, with USC rushing for 213 yards per contest and passing for 281. The emergence of Barkley (20 TD passes, four INTs - none in the past three games) has been aided by the explosion of freshman receiver Robert Woods, who has five TD grabs in the past two games.
So what to do with an Oregon defense that is undersized but fast up front, and susceptible to big plays - but just as likely to make one - in the back four? Amazingly, USC's offensive gameplan might be more predicated on the Ducks' offensive talent than anything their defense has to offer. The Trojans should expect to move the ball against Oregon's defensive unit, whether on the ground or through the air. But keeping the quick-hitting Duck offense off the field for long stretches seems to be crucial to the Trojans' chances of springing the upset.
I see USC running the football, early and often, against the Ducks. Even UCLA's offense had some limited success early in its defeat a weekend ago by lining up and running it right at the Ducks - and Stanford, Arizona State and Tennessee all had success running the football against Oregon. This means plenty of opportunity for Marc Tyler and Allen Bradford. However, the Trojan passing attack has become too potent to overlook, especially if Oregon tries to stack the box against USC's rushing attack. Barkley must maintain the cool he's shown in recent weeks and avoid forcing passes. The Ducks' defense thrives on turnovers - ASU's seven turnovers were the absolute difference in an 11-point loss to Oregon, and Stanford's three red-zone turnovers again spelled the difference in that shootout.
USC Defensive Gameplan
Well, it ain't gonna be the Tampa-2, that's one thing for sure. Monte Kiffin, in comments earlier this week, clearly knows his NFL creation is not built to stop the Ducks' gimmicky rapid-fire attack. And, aside from helping create a touch of confidence, it's hard to take much from USC's solid performance against Cal's up-and-down pro-style attack. A season ago, the Ducks ran circles around the Trojan defense - one that was statistically better than this one. Who can believe that the Trojans will suddenly find a way to slow, let alone stop, the Ducks and their point-a-minute offense?
If the Trojans are to have any success, two things must happen: the front four will have to find a way to get a push upfield against Oregon's veteran line. For all the talk of fast pace, the zone-read is actually fairly slow to activate from the snap. The reason Thomas and James are so effective in it is that the Oregon offensive line has been stellar at creating the time they need to work their trickeration. Second, USC's linebackers and safeties must play heads-up, assignment football. They can't "try" to be playmakers against Oregon - only by playing true to their assignments will they avoid embarrassment and actually make plays.
Expect USC to take some measured chances as well early, run blitzing from various locations, while the ends hold their corners against Thomas and James. If it's effective early, the Trojans will likely continue throughout. A year ago, Monte Kiffin had some success against Florida's zone-read offense while at Tennessee. I imagine his gameplan will look somewhat similar to that one. He will also likely try to steal some of Ohio State's successful strategy from the Rose Bowl, when the Buckeyes stymied the Duck offense. Will that work with this set of players? There's no way to find out except to play the game.
The Pick
This game could look a lot like the USC-Stanford game a few weeks back, except at hyperspeed. Both offenses are clearly better than the defenses they are facing. What USC can't do is get caught up in the Ducks' pace, especially if Oregon takes the lead. Rushing around on offense and trying to get those scores back will lead to the kind of mistakes that the Duck defense feasts on.
The turnover battle in this game is even more important than normal. Oregon's defense reminds one of USC's great defenses in the middle of the past decade in just one way - forcing turnovers. The 10 turnovers they forced against Arizona State and Stanford basically saved the Ducks, even with their potent offense. If Oregon gives up the kinds of yards they have against solid offenses in 2010 and doesn't force the turnovers that have been so crucial to its success, the Trojans will have a huge opportunity to pull the upset. Remember, though the Ducks blew out USC in the fourth quarter in Eugene a season ago, USC trailed just 27-20 with six minutes remaining in the third quarter - it's not like the Trojans can't go score-for-score with the Ducks for long periods.
While the Ducks are 6-1 in the seven games they've played against USC when ranked higher than the Trojans, USC's seven wins against top-ranked opponents is the second-most in college football history (Notre Dame, 8). With the bright media lights shining upon the Los Angeles Coliseum again this Saturday night, can the Trojans bring back some of that 2002-08 magic? If they run the football effectively, get 5-6 stops on defense and don't turn the ball over, it's quite possible. However, in the end of a high-scoring battle, the Duck offense will have just a little too much for the USC defense.
Oregon 45, USC 38
Tom Haire has been writing for USCFootball.com for 10 years. He is the editor of a monthly trade magazine in the advertising industry. He grew up watching USC dominate the Pac-10 and the Rose Bowl and ended up a Trojan journalism school alum ('94). He's traveled from Honolulu to Palo Alto to South Bend to New York to Miami to watch college football, and has also covered the Pac-10 for both PigskinPost.com and CollegeFootballNews.com. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Alachua County health officials say they've detected three human cases of West Nile virus.
Health department director Paul Myers told the Gainesville Sun Tuesday that red flags were raised when the three people tried to donate blood and there were "indicators" that they could be infected with the virus.
Myers says all three have reported certain symptoms associated with West Nile virus. They're awaiting results of blood testing, which should be in sometime next week.
He told the newspaper that antibodies indicate there is an infection, but it's not known whether it's a recent infection or a past one.
The virus was detected in sentinel chickens in Alachua County on Sept. 20. The county remains under a mosquito-borne illness advisory that began Sept. 27.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Lopez out a few days with a bruised left wrist
Lopez out a few days with a bruised left wrist
Feb. 20, 2013
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Javier Lopez squatted like a catcher to set a target for Madison Bumgarner. Then he reacted like a catcher who took a foul tip off a hand.
Lopez will miss up to a week after Bumgarner's warmup pitch hit him squarely on the top of his left hand during practice Monday.
"It hit flush on the wrist," Lopez said. "We were working on a split-change-curve combination, basically a change."
The San Francisco Giants' left-hander showed off the injury Wednesday. The seams of the baseball were clearly visible on his hand.
"Nothing is broken," Lopez said. "I'm definitely not going to rush it. I wasn't going to throw anyway and this gives me another reason."
Giants manager Bruce Bochy was not too concerned about it and did not think it would put Lopez behind schedule.
"He's going to need a few days," Bochy said. "He's pretty sore."


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Ilene H. Lang, Retired President & CEO, Catalyst, will participate in a summit that unites leaders in the media, advertising and marketing, information, education, and healthcare communications industries. The annual event, which is hosted by DeSilva+Phillips, will focus on the impact that emerging trends will have on the future of the media industry. The summit is invitation only.
DeSilva+Phillips 12th Annual Dealmakers Summit 2014: New York
In Person
Speakers Bureau
Date & Time
6 February 2014
6 February 2014
8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
New York, NY
Price: Free


text:
Published by: Dracon Fournier
Resolution: 2000x2000px
Category: Chair, More >>
Published at: Friday, February 09 2018 18:52:42
If you want comfort and relaxation then a Lazyboy chair is certainly one piece of furniture that you should invest in. Often regarded as the ultimate lads chair, the Lazyboy is a highly comfortable chair that is available for both indoor and outdoor. Consider the body type of the person who will use the chair. If you are buying for a good number of employees, make it a point to choose chairs that you think can accommodate most body types even if you are only planning to purchase standard office chairs.
The Lazyboy recliners have a very adjustable reclining mechanism so that the user can position the chair in the way they find most comfortable. The numerous styles and designs of Lazyboys now available means there is Lazyboy furniture to fit into any surrounding. The Lazyboy big man recliner is ideal for individuals who are taller or larger than average. With adjustable seat heights and high back rests this model is excellent. In addition, storage armrests can hold refreshments or accessories like television remote controls.


text:
September 22, 2008, 3:00 pm
Urban leaves Brothers Redevelopment
Housing counselor Zachary Urban is leaving Brothers Redevelopment Inc. to work for the Colorado Division of Real Estate.
Urban, who was largely responsible for the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, will be the division's director of communications and operations. His last day at Brothers is Oct. 3.
Shannon Peer, Brothers' housing counselor manager and president of the Colorado Housing Coalition, will take over from Urban.
Next Post »
« Previous Post


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 30th Nov 2006 22:28 UTC, submitted by Phil Mellor
"Last month, I thought I left RISC OS. After 19 years of using Acorn or Acorn-derived computers, my love affair is no longer. I sit here writing this on my Mac Mini, and very happy I am with it too. My Iyonix lies abandoned - still sitting under the desk here, but not connected. And not actually used for some time. And it's weird - because, in some strange way, I thought I would be using RISC OS forever. In January 2005, I said: 'There's people who annoy me on the RISC OS scene, and I still wouldn't think of leaving. The nice people more than cancel it out, and besides - I just couldn't really do without using RISC OS.' So what changed?"


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Disaster-Related Contracts
M0002 Industrial/MRO Supplies and Equipment
Please note that the contract award to replace contract #72605 for Industrial/MRO Supplies and Equipment (M-0002) will not be accomplished prior to the current contract's expiration on 04/30/2011. It is anticipated that there will be a delay of approximately two (2) weeks before the new contract is posted.
It is suggested that client agencies place PO's by COB 04/29/2011 against the current contract or procure materials on a limited basis via the Delegated Purchasing Authority (DPA).
Further postings will be provided as necessary to update you concerning the Industrial/MRO Supplies and Equipment.


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This is the forum to discuss What's Best" in medical news that is useful for helping to make health care decisions as well as informing members of new advances in medicine and health sciences
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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Oh, My Beloved Software Firewall, protector of all my treasures and secrets, why do you let me down so? After all the advertisements and promises of security and protection, you are so easily fooled! I would tend to believe that you were a naive child instead of a stalwart sentry.
Despite much of the publicity to the contrary, whether that be on the Internet or elsewhere, many of those Software Firewalls you depend upon to protect you from the nasty deviants, may not be as secure as we are led to believe.
Someone didn't hack into my home network (yet that I have detected anyway). However even while some of the free versions of Software Firewalls are suppose to be standing guard, it would be a trivial matter if my security relied solely upon those firewalls. I guess the tired old adage, You get what you pay for, most definitely applies in this case.
This won't be a step-by-step guide on how to exploit software firewalls. So don't expect to be able to take this information and bypass those firewalls without being detected. Additionally, you will still need to have a thorough understanding of the OSI Layers, TCP/IP, Protocols etc., and their interaction with the firewall drivers. Anyway, so off we go...
1. Some Vulnerabilities.
While tinkering with these vulnerabilities, I found myself reflecting back in the day when we would work some magic with: Relyt@play: #nc -1 -p (some port number) -e /bin/sh or for the Windows command line commandos: C:\>nc -1 -p (some port number) -e cmd.exe. Of course we didn't do any harm, but changing your buddy's prompt and leaving him a message about what you could have done sure was fun! Nowadays, seems the fun has given way to wreaking havoc and destruction. Anyhow here's some of the ways they are accomplishing their dirty deeds.
Tucked away in your clandestine state, we are told that you will nobly examine all packets. Well every day must be Halloween, because as long as you see a mask that you are accustomed to seeing, you'll let almost anything pass!
Packet Filter: Spoofing packets with an address that appears to come from within your own network (private address, etc.). Trivial with packet building software.
Process/Application Filter: piggyback deviant process (code) to a common process accepted by the firewalls. Pick one...in essence; the common process will execute the code of the deviant process simultaneously. Another easy method is to mask deviant code to fool the firewall or even disable it.
As soon as the user gives trust to an executable, he also gives trust to any processes that has been created from that executable...The firewall trusts a certain process as long as the executable that created it remains the same. (www.phrack.org/show.php?p=62&a=13, Using Process Infection to Bypass Windows Software Firewalls; by rattle)
TCP/IP: Data can be hidden in several of the fields of the headers. Such as Sequence Number, Acknowledgement Number, IP Addee, etc. (See Sedative Section)
Camouflaging Applications: make it look like something that is normally accepted by the rule sets of the firewalls. Normal Web traffic is an outstanding example of this.
Steganography, Watermarking, etc. Malicious programs can be transmitted, in a passive existence, meaning they cannot automatically execute. However Stego does offers a convenient place to store the payload while awaiting use.
WWW Reverse These shell programs are difficult to detect due to its semblance of normal Web Traffic.
Direct Data Exchange - Interprocess Communications:
Debasis Mohanty <mail_@_hackingspirits.com>
Date: 29.09.2005
Subject: Bypassing Personal Firewall (Zone Alarm Pro) Using DDE-IPC
...I found that a very old flaw still exists in many latest versions of desktop based firewalls. It is possible for a malicious program to bypass a desktop based firewall by using DDE-IPC (Direct Data Exchange - Interprocess Communications) which enables an un-trusted program to communicate with the attacker or access internet via other trusted programs...
[Full-disclosure] Zone Labs response to "Bypassing Personal Firewall (Zone Alarm Pro) Using DDE-IPC"
Zone Labs Security Team security at zonelabs.com
Fri Sep 30 00:43:00 BST 2005
Zone Labs response to "Bypassing Personal Firewall
Affected Products:
...Zone Alarm free versions lack the Advanced Program Control feature and are therefore unable to prevent this bypass technique...
Firewar: Can remotely disable firewalls. Written by Paolo Iorio www.paoloiorio.it/fw.htm
It is a security exploit which can disable the protection of your active firewall!
FIREWAR is available in two versions:
1) A standalone application that can be executed locally by any user,
2) An ActiveX (included in a Web Page) which can disable your firewall when you visit a site!
2. Sedative Section.
A. TCP Segment Format and Size:
Source Port (16bit), Destination Port (16bit),Sequence Number (32bit), Acknowledgment Number (32bit), HLEN (number of 32bit words in the header) (4bit)), Reserved (6bit), Code Bits (6bits), Window (16bit), Checksum (16bit), Urgent Pointer (16bit), Option (0 or 32bit), Data (variable).
B. UDP Segment Format and Size:
Source Port (16bit), Destination Port (16bit), Length (16bit), Checksum (16bit), Data (variable)
C. IP Datagram and Size:
Version Number (4bit), HLEN (number of 32bit words in the header) (4bit), Type of Service (8bit), Total Length (header & data) (16bit), Identification (16bit), Flags (3bit), Flag Offset (13bit), TTL (8bit), Protocol (8bit), Header Checksum (16bit), Source IP (32bit), IP Options (variable), Data (variable).
3. Nuts and Bolts of Many Software Firewalls.
After perusing the posts (up to the end of page 4) of the Purpose of personal firewalls? thread and gleaning the information of value, I really didn't get the feeling that some folks were implementing those Software Firewalls based upon a clear understanding of the firewall's functionality. So thought I'd break out the crayons and scribble something up.
Located somewhere between the receptacles on the back of your computer that lead to the Internet and those ever useful applications we rely upon so much; lies the hope and trust of many a Internet User. That object of trust is the Software Firewall. Though they have many brand names, differing popularity, some pretty interfaces, and so on, in essence most of these mystical creatures are actually only packet and/or process/application filter implementations. That's correct. And worse, using only a couple of drivers to protect your treasures from the ever present evil souls running loose on the Internet. Anyway, back to functionality.
A. Application/Process Filter Functionality.
Allows network connections for approved applications and attempts to block unknown/deviant applications. Driver strategically located between an application/process and the Routing (transport) Protocols.
Google for more information.
B. Packet Filter Functionality.
Allows or Denies packet access based on packet header information. Usually only IP Addresses, Ports, Flags, and Network Protocols. Driver strategically located after the protocols drivers and the NIC driver and/or between the Routing Protocols and Physical Layer.
Packet Filtering: A basic ACL firewall operating at the Network or Transport level. (by Catch)
Google for more information.
4. Great! So what do we do now?
Coming Soon!
- Cisco Networking Companion Guides First & Second Year; Cisco Press
- Secrets of Computer Espionage, Tactics and Countermeasures; by Joel NcNamara
- Hiding in Plain Sight, Steganography and the Art of Covert Communication; by Eric Cole
- Various Authors and Sites mentioned in the text.


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Hamilton Library will open on Saturdays beginning October 20
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Teri Skillman, (808) 956-8688
Events & Communications Coordinator, Library Services
Events & Communications Coordinator, Library Services
Posted: Oct 17, 2012
Chancellor Tom Apple and the UH Manoa Library announce the extension of library hours at Hamilton Library for the 2012-13 academic year. Chancellor Apple has articulated the importance of the library in the academic institution as the heart of the organization that supports all schools, colleges and departments.
Chancellor Apple and other Manoa campus administrators worked together to secure one-time funding to provide Saturday access to Hamilton Library until the end of the Spring semester in 2013.
Beginning this Saturday, October 20, 2012, through May 11, 2013, Hamilton Library will resume open building hours on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Library will provide services for circulation, general reference, computer support (CLIC Lab) and business counter operations. There will be no specialized reference services such as Asia, Hawaiian, Pacific, Science and Technology nor Government Documents at this time.
The Library will be closed during holidays and "Manoa Green Days" in the winter. See building hours, holidays and closed dates below.
Hamilton Library's Saturday Hours:
Building Hours 9:00 am. - 5:00 p.m.
Business, Humanities, and Social Sciences Reference Desk 12:00 noon - 5:00 p.m.
Circulation Desk (Checkout) 9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Microforms Service Desk 9:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Business Office 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon (refer to Sinclair Library Business Counter 12 noon - 4:30 p.m.)
Hamilton CLIC (Computer Lab) 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (staffed by ITS)
Closed Saturday dates:
November 24, 2012 Thanksgiving weekend
December 15, 22, & 29, 2012 Manoa Green Days, winter holiday
January 5, 2013 Manoa Green Days, winter holiday
March 30, 2013 Spring break
The Library will continue to work with UH Manoa administration in an effort to secure ongoing funding to the Library's base budget to make sure Saturday access continues in future academic years.
For more information, contact Teri Skillman at 956-8688 or email@example.com.
For more information, visit: http://library.manoa.hawaii.edu/


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RESISTANCE GENES PRE-DATE ANTIBIOTICS by "millions of years" according to a report in ScienceNOW 25 Sep 2002. One reason antibiotic resistance spreads so rapidly is that bacteria carry resistance genes on small loops of DNA called plasmids, which they can pass to other bacteria. Many evolutionists have claimed that resistance genes moved from the main chromosome in bacteria onto plasmids in response to humans using antibiotics. Molecular evolutionists at University of Rochester, New York studied different bacteria that carry penicillin resistance genes in order to work out when the gene was moved off the bacteria's main chromosomes and onto the plasmids. They came to the conclusion that the genes "were mobilised from the chromosome to plasmids on at least two independent occasions that occurred millions of years ago."
ED. COM. Note that this study assumes antibiotic resistance genes already existed irrespective of when they were moved around the bacterial genomes. The scientists who did this study are therefore admitting antibiotic resistance is an inbuilt feature of bacteria and has not evolved since humans have been using antibiotics. In fact, scientists gave up believing antibiotic resistance arose by mutation 30 years ago when plasmids were first discovered and shown to be the means of rapid spread of antibiotic resistance. Why then is antibiotic resistance still used in text books as evidence of evolution?


text:
About SCM
Santa Clara Magazine is provided free of charge to alumni and friends of Santa Clara University. Alumni begin receiving the print edition of SCM after graduation. Parents of current students receive the magazine as well. If you're a parent of an SCU grad and would like to continue receiving the magazine, let us know. And if you live outside North America and would like to receive the print edition of SCM, let us know as well.
The magazine (USPS# 609-240) is published quarterly, February/March, May/June, August/September, and November/December, by the Office of Marketing and Communications at Santa Clara University.
E-mail us:
Santa Clara Magazine
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Santa Clara, CA 95053-1505
Update your address information for receiving the magazine right here online.
The diverse opinions expressed in Santa Clara Magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the official policy of Santa Clara University. Copyright 2011 by Santa Clara University. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
The print edition of Santa Clara Magazine is printed on paper and at a printing facility certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). From forest management to paper production to printing, FSC certification represents the highest social and environmental standards. The paper contains 30 percent post-consumer-recovered fiber.
About SCU
Santa Clara University is a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley. Santa Clara offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate programs in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's degrees in a number of professional fields, law degrees, and engineering and theology doctorates. Distinguished by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master's universities, Santa Clara educates leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion grounded in faith-inspired values. Founded in 1851, Santa Clara is California's oldest operating institution of higher education. Read more about SCU.
Summer 2011
See all articles from this issue
Law at 100
A century of legal education at SCU.
What do investors really want?
A renowned behavioral finance expert reveals how our desires shape our actions when it comes to investing.
Mission Matters
Water, water everywhere
Ed Maurer has a well-earned reputation as an expert on sustainable water resources development.
State of the University
"Strategic agility" to do life-changing work.
Bronco Profile
Tree still stands tall
The nickname that Dennis Awtrey '70 earned at SCU doesn't require much explanation.


text:
by Betsy Smith
Nerium International offers unique opportunities to Brand Partners who dream of owning their own business!
Looking for a way to earn extra income? Nerium has it all! Join Nerium and immediately you have access to amazing training that can be done at your convenience from your very own website.
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Well, here at Nerium we keep it all very simple. Our sampling program allows you to let your friends, family and anyone else try Nerium AD for FREE. No SALES tactics.
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If the answer is yes, continue.
Second question: How much better than what you are using would something have to be for you to try a 5-day FREE sample?
Nerium AD is clinically proven in independent testing to be 10 times more effective than anything out there currently.
Give your friends a bottle to try for 5 days. Make sure they take before pictures, and your business is off and running.
If only 1 out of 6 buys your product your inventory will be restocked for FREE. And with your new bottle, repeat the same two questions again with 6 more friends.
It is as simple as that. Ask about our guarantee too. WE guarantee you will make at least $5,000 in a year or we will pay you the difference.
Want more info? Call me at 847-431-3536 or firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Search terms
when screen size matters
Big screen, great features: With its large screen and great performance plus SmartManage for remote, LAN-based monitor management and low power consumption, the Philips 190S5 delivers convenience and an outstanding return on investment. See all benefits
Unfortunately this product is no longer available
Response time measures signal reaction speed in milliseconds. On/off response time measures the time required for the screen to turn from completely white to completely black and vice versa. Fast on/off response time improves display of text. Gray-to-grey response time measures the average time of transition between several sets of random gray levels - Lower numbers mean faster transitions. Faster is better because a fast response time eliminates visible image artifacts that could dampen your experience when viewing fast moving images or objects.
sRGB is an industry standard that ensures the best possible match between the colors displayed on your screen and those in your printouts.
SmartManage is a system for monitoring, managing and checking status of display devices as well as delivering remote support to users who experience difficulties - all accomplished over a LAN.
Reduction of the electrical power required to operate a device.
Small apertures built into the display's frame for use with a locking device that secures a display to a fixed object for added protection against theft.
For graphics monitors, the screen resolution signifies the number of dots (pixels) on the entire screen. For example, a 1280-by-1024 pixel screen is capable of displaying 1280 distinct dots on each of 1024 lines, or about 1.3 million pixels.
An embedded power supply is a power adaptor built into the body of a display device that replaces a bulky external power adaptor.
A unified industry standard for wall mounting IT equipment set by the Video Electronics Standards Association.


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It's that time again: Since 2003, SQL Server Magazine has invited SQL Server professionals to submit their most creative solutions to technical problems to the annual SQL Server Magazine Innovators contest. Our winning entries this year—one grand prize, three runners-up, and two honorable mentions—show yet again that SQL Server pros are a resourceful, technically adept bunch and emphasize the prominent position that development has in the SQL Server pro's skill set. The solutions, though diverse, highlight SQL Server's value as a tool for providing essential business information.
Grand Prize
Ermedin "Dino" Selmanovic, BI Solution Architect
Moore Stephens Consulting, London
[email protected]
Intelligent Install
When Ermedin "Dino" Selmanovic and his eight-member development team at Moore Stephens Consulting, a UK-based firm specializing in developing custom applications for the insurance industry, proposed a business intelligence (BI) solution for a client two years ago, their real challenge wasn't choosing the solution's components, as The Challenge was using the components together. Microsoft provides a strong set of BI tools for SQL Server. Furthermore, says Dino, "We're 100 percent Microsoft, in terms of the solutions we provide—which tend to be SQL Server, Microsoft Analysis Services, SQL Server Reporting Services, and the ProClarity suite of products \[which Microsoft recently acquired\]." Dino and the Moore Stephens team proposed a solution that combined all these products to provide business and analysis reporting functions for the client. "On top of that, we needed to somehow integrate Analysis Services cubes, Reporting Services, and the ProClarity products—ProClarity Desktop Professional, ProClarity Analytics Server, and ProClarity Dashboard Server—into one portal that could be accessed internally as well as by the third parties that sell the products that the client provides," says Dino.
The integration aspect proved to be a tricky part of implementing the solution. The development team needed to write code to integrate the separate pieces of software so that each time the developers updated the solution—for example, to produce new reports or replace certain old views with new ones in response to the client's request—all the software components could communicate with each other seamlessly.
Even more problematic was the installation itself. When Dino and his team finally had the first version of the solution ready for the client to evaluate, Dino realized that the manual process of releasing a new version of the solution was impractical. "The manual release process took five or six of us two to three days to put together," Dino explains. "The release process required an extremely high level of coordination and control and had a risk of human error. We couldn't afford to jeopardize all the good work we'd done in the development phase—as well as the client's respect for the solution—by releasing the software in this way."
The team decided to automate the process of installing new releases of the BI solution by developing an application called bIntelligent Installation Manager, which the team wrote using Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and C#. All the objects for the different software components that comprise the BI solution are stored in the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe version-control system. When a new release is ready for distribution to the client, the application retrieves the objects from Visual SourceSafe and packages them into an installation file on a CD-ROM, which also includes installation instructions. The Moore Stephens team then sends the installation package to the client site, and the client simply configures and executes the installation package to deploy the release.
bIntelligent Installation Manager provides two key benefits, says Dino. First, "the effort required to actually release a version of a solution is cut down to half a day for one person as opposed to two or three days for four to six people." But the best part, Dino says, is that the bIntelligent Installation Manager ensures "the consistency of a valid release, because we minimized the human-error factor. We prepare the release, package it, release it ourselves internally and test it, and make any changes, if needed. Once we sign off on the release form, it goes out to clients, so we know that whatever we pass on to the client is valid."
These benefits were especially notable in the solution's early versions, when Dino's team needed to release weekly updates in response to the client's numerous change requests. "For the first three or four months, it was a volatile change-management environment," says Dino. "At the time, we had something like 150 to 200 different reports and views, and every week the client was changing the existing reports, adding new reports, or removing some of the reports that they decided they didn't need." Over time, the client settled on a stable set of requirements for the BI reporting it needed from the solution, and the number of releases has decreased drastically.
Dino says that Moore Stephens is currently upgrading the bIntelligent Installation Manager solution to enable it to take data from various insurance-industry sectors and provide a standard set of analytical and reporting views. "We actually sent out the first version of the \[updated\] Installation Manager a few weeks ago to a customer in Oklahoma," says Dino. The latest version of the installation solution is also customizable. "If a client, say, needs only cubes and not the Reporting Services options, we can disable Reporting Services and just package the cubes," says Dino. "The solution we delivered was designed, developed, and delivered successfully thanks to a great team effort. The main driver was a determination to produce something that will be reusable and that benefits our customers."
Michael Metcalf, Database Administration Team Manager
Wilmington Trust, Wilmington, Delaware
[email protected]
Self-Service Development Testing
For Mike Metcalf, database administration team manager for a Delaware financial services company, keeping his databases secure and available is the highest priority. Mike and his four-DBA team manage more than 60 servers (including 45 production servers) running more than 270 SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2 databases. Because of the sensitive nature of the data his company works with, his team doesn't allow developers who work for the organization to run SQL Server jobs in any of the organization's database environments—not even on development servers. This policy lets Mike and his team keep a tight rein on data access, but it can be frustrating for developers, especially when they need to run SQL Server jobs to test the applications they're writing.
Mike explains that about half of the applications that his company uses are developed in house, so developers are constantly writing scripts and stored procedures that they need to test. "When the developers needed to run ad hoc jobs, they had to go through one of the DBAs. My team and I weren't always at their beck and call to run a job, which sometimes led to frustration for the developers, plus time wasted waiting and frequent demands for elevated rights."
To solve the problem, Mike created the dbaSelfService database, which contains permitted users, the validated jobs (with ID numbers) that they're allowed to run, and stored procedures to make it work. When a developer wants to run a job, he logs in to the database and executes a stored procedure against Query Analyzer to see a list of the jobs that he's allowed to run. The stored procedure matches the logged-in user's ID to its list of allowable IDs, then matches the user's ID to the list of jobs that user is allowed to run.
When the developer chooses to run a job, the job name is put into a holding queue table. An sa-owned job runs every minute and queries the holding queue table for any waiting jobs. If the sa job finds any entries, it runs them. The user who executed the job gets an email notification when the job starts. The user can also see job information that's written to a log table.
Because Mike created the tool strictly for use by his team, he trained developers to use it over time. When a developer would bring a job to Mike's team to run, the DBA would show the developer the new tool and walk him through using it. The response from developers has been positive—so much so, that a couple of months ago, the team started using it for a production application. Mike explains, "One of our Web apps needed to be able to kick off a stored procedure that performs a user-initiated data load. The self-service database gave us the functionality to automate the data load."
One of the keys to the solution's success, says Mike, is its built-in security. "All our developers have to log in with Windows credentials, so people can log in and get access to run their own jobs but not anyone else's jobs. To keep everyone honest, we also have an audit table to keep track of what jobs each person executes and to show that the jobs actually get executed."
Mike enjoys his work and appreciates his team members, so he's glad he could create a solution that makes their jobs easier. "I don't necessarily consider myself a guru about all aspects of SQL Server, but I'm pretty handy. I try to solve things first and figure out what I need before I go looking for it. Occasionally I get lucky and find a better way to do whatever I'm trying to do." (For more about the creativity that makes Mike an innovator, see the sidebar "Last Rites for a Beloved Server.")
Matt Mitchell, Network Analyst
Alpena Regional Medical
Center, Alpena, Michigan
[email protected]
Taming the Scheduling Monster
Matt Mitchell describes himself as "network analyst by trade, and a DB developer by hobby." But Matt's enthusiasm for database programming has trickled down into his IT job with Alpena Regional Medical Center, where, he says, "for me every project uses a database because I love creating solutions with databases." Matt, who has previous experience developing Web-based database solutions, jumped in to tackle the challenge of computerizing a paper-based system of scheduling logs that nurses and staffing employees at the medical center used for bidding on overtime shifts.
Until fairly recently, multiple copies of paper vacancy logs (lists of shifts that needed to be filled) were circulated around the nursing units. Nurses signed up for vacancies, and the completed logs went to the staffing office where staffing employees had to reconcile the various logs, then award overtime based on a complex set of labor-union rules. Matt sought to develop a system that made the bidding process fairer to the nurses by letting them access vacancy information from a central Web site and made it easier for staffing employees to fairly and accurately award the vacancies.
Matt's solution consists of an ASP.NET Web application front end containing separate areas for the nurses and staffing personnel, a SQL Server 2000 database that contains vacancy information and the status of bids (awarded or not), and a simple reporting capability. "The ASP.NET Web application accesses SQL Server with ADO.NET using the System.Data.SqlClient namespace," Matt explains. A short subprocedure in the Web application establishes a connection to the SQL Server database that contains the vacancy information and stores the connection as a SqlConnection object. Then a procedure creates a SqlDataAdapter object that uses one of the stored procedures or views included in the database as its SELECT statement. Finally, code in the application uses the SQlDataAdapter object to fill a DataSet object. "Since I'm not a full-time programmer, the nice thing about ADO.NET is that I don't need to know a lot about the intricate details of accessing data from a SQL Server database. All I need to do is establish the connection, create a data adapter, and fill my dataset by using the data adapter. ADO .NET handles the rest," says Matt.
The main Web page, which the nurses view, has a drop-down list for selecting the unit(s) to check for vacancies. Nurses log in to the Nursing Vacancy Log by using their Active Directory (AD) account information, then simply click a button to bid for a vacancy, and the system records the date and time of their bid. When staffing employees log in, they see a screen for setting up the schedules that will have vacancies available to the nurses, entering the vacancies, and approving the bids.
Interestingly, Matt first used Microsoft Access for the database, then switched to SQL Server. "When I begin implementing a SQL Server database design, I always start by creating an Access Project file and selecting the Project (New Data) option. Access is a nice tool for creating tables, establishing relationships, and creating the database diagram, and the familiarity of this program makes it easy for me to get started," he says.
The third part of the solution, a reporting capability, was already available. "On our intranet server, we run SSW Access Reporter.NET for IIS, software that lets us serve up Access reports in PDF format to our intranet Web applications." The Nursing Vacancy Log has only one report—a bid approval report. Matt designed the report in Access, then added an ASP.NET page that invokes the Access report.
Although Matt's system hasn't gone live yet (its release was delayed because of a job change in the staffing office), Matt received positive feedback from the staffing coordinator about his solution, and nursing staff have all trained and completed a practice exercise using the system. Even so, the benefits are evident. "The time spent reconciling vacancy logs and awarding bids becomes negligible, and nurses no longer have to hunt down a vacancy log or leave the unit to visit the staffing office," says Matt.
Ayad Shammout,
Lead Technical DBA
CareGroup Healthcare System,
[email protected]
Comprehensive Server Monitoring
Although he's a DBA, 18-year IT veteran Ayad Shammout has an all-inclusive perspective on Windows technology. "I don't want to isolate myself only on the SQL Server database, because I know that SQL Server relies on Windows, Windows relies on networking, and so on. I've forced myself to understand other technologies, background processes, and dependencies, so if I encounter a problem, I can easily isolate or diagnose it," says Ayad.
Ayad's big-picture approach to technical problem-solving served him well in developing a solution that reports a plethora of system metrics. IT staff at CareGroup use such information to gauge the health of SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000, and Windows servers across the organization as well as for capacity planning and auditing.
Initially, Ayad developed his system to monitor the status of CareGroup's approximately 400 SQL Server databases and 30 SQL Server instances. "I want to go to one place and access specific information about all my databases, rather than logging on to individual servers," Ayad says. To obtain such data, IT used to retrieve data from SQL Server system objects, such as database data and log-file sizes on all SQL Server instances, then output that data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. "It took IT a long time to \[create the spreadsheet report\], and if in a month or two, we needed to get an update, we had to do that work all over again."
Ayad began building his centralized reporting system by creating a master repository database on a SQL Server instance. The repository would store data about every SQL Server instance, database, object, and user in CareGroup's environment. Ayad created a linked server connection to all the SQL Server instances so that the stored procedures could pull data from them and put it in the repository database. Then he extended the system to collect Windows system information from all Windows servers via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). The data-collection jobs run nightly or weekly on the servers, depending on which data they're gathering.
After data is in the repository, IT can use Reporting Services to view the data. "We can get a complete overview of a specific user," says Ayad. "For example, you can look up one user, and from that user drill down and see that the user has access to this particular server and database, has read-only permissions to one table, and has read-write permissions to another table."
IT has come to depend so heavily on Ayad's server-reporting system that he's moving the database to a cluster server to ensure that it's available 24 X 7, even during planned outages for maintenance. Ayad says that CareGroup's IT has investigated third-party tools that perform similar system-reporting functions but found none as complete as his. For example, "a tool might report all the server properties but doesn't work as comprehensively with the SQL Server databases. So we might end up running different \[third-party tools\] to get all this collected information. My solution saves money and the hassle of working with different tools. We own it and control it, so we can keep developing and adding." In fact, Ayad is currently customizing the solution to collect data from Oracle databases on CareGroup's UNIX servers and network data from Windows servers and network switches.
Honorable Mention
Edward Bond,
Database Analyst
Baylor Health Care System,
[email protected]
Automated Medical Coding
After developing an automated procedure-coding system for Baylor Health Care System, veteran DBA Ed Bond probably knows more than many healthcare professionals about invasive-cardiac– and peripheral-vascular–procedure codes. Traditionally, medical coders manually derive the correct codes for more than 300 distinct cardiac procedures from documentation entered in a patient's chart. Missing information often prevents coders from entering the correct codes. The hospital asked Ed to assess whether automating the coding and enhancing electronic charting could eliminate such errors.
Ed first researched charge coding, which took several months, then developed algorithm specifications for all the codes and wrote the application. Data entered into a patient's chart via the hospital's computerized system is sent to the server via FTP. ParserQC, the Visual Basic (VB) utility that Ed wrote, monitors the FTP folder on the server and retrieves data as it appears. ParserQC parses the information necessary to derive codes from the charted notes and temporarily stores the data in a Microsoft Access database. The utility checks for required information, derives the charge codes from information stored in a SQL Server database, produces the patient reports for the medical record, and stores the derived data in the SQL Server database.
After using the new system for more than 18 months, Baylor Health Care System has greatly improved the accuracy of complex cardiac procedure coding. Doctors like the system because they no longer need to dictate procedure reports; ParserQC derives reports from the charted information. Lab staff spend less time manually deriving charge information and have less paperwork to process. "The system has decreased costs associated with charge coding, increased revenue \[by reducing the number of rejected insurance claims\] and accuracy of patient billing, and enabled clinical staff to spend more time on patient care," says Ed.
Honorable Mention
David Stoltz, Information
Management Programming Manager
Sacred Heart Hospital,
Allentown, Pennsylvania [email protected]
Sacred Heart Gets a Pacemaker
For several years, Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, had been having trouble with "bed flow," the process of admitting patients, transferring them within the hospital, and eventually discharging them. The process used was intensely manual, involving many phone calls between nursing staff and administrators looking for available rooms and beds. Bottlenecks in the process plagued the system further; if you couldn't find the person who could answer your question, you were stuck. To solve the problem, the hospital asked David Stoltz to design a solution that the entire staff could access easily.
David explains, "We wanted to design a visual solution—a 'bed board'—that people could access through a Web-based application. Although all the patient information we needed was already in our IBM AS/400, querying that system was far too slow."
To speed queries, David's team used SQL Server 2000 along with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 Web server and ASP technology to design an intermediary database for processing the necessary data. David created a DTS package, stored procedures, and tables to store the patient, room, and bed information in a SQL Server database. The DTS package connects to the AS/400, creates a transaction, then queries all the needed bed data and stores it in the database. This process runs once a minute, so the Web application is always current.
The SQL Server database ended up at just 3.63MB. The front-end Web page queries SQL Server instead of the AS/400, processing more than 60 stored procedures and code in less than one second—a dramatic improvement over direct queries to the AS/400, each of which took 45–50 seconds. This improvement means the new Web-based, visual front end gives hospital staff a bird's-eye view of the entire hospital's bed status, so nursing units can communicate with the admissions department—and vice versa—through the application.
The solution has been a great improvement for the hospital, says David. "Beds are cleaned faster, admissions can admit patients faster, it has improved unit communication and process flow, and there's better accountability among the staff." You can see a sample screen from the application at http://www.shh.org/images/bbs_ss.jpg.


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This series of ten lessons has been developed to teach students about local and global water issues. They are based on NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission. The activities are done largely outdoors and include scientific data... (View More) collection and analysis and integrate technology. Many of the lessons involve data collected based on protocols from the GLOBE Program. Each lesson is designed to take one hour; the lessons build on each other, but can also be used independently. Each lesson topic includes a lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation, student capture sheet and capture sheet answer guide. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $5 - $10 per group of students
Each lesson or activity in this toolkit is related to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The toolkit is designed so that each lesson can be done independently, or combined and taught in a sequence. The Teacher Implementation Guide provides... (View More) recommendations for combining the lessons into three main strands: 1) Lunar Exploration - These lessons provide a basic introduction to Moon exploration. Note that this strand is also appropriate for use in social studies classes. 2) Mapping the Moon - These lessons provide a more in-depth understanding of Moon exploration through the use of scientific data and student inquiry. The lessons also include many connections to Earth science and geology. 3) Tools of Investigation - These higher-level lessons examine the role of technology, engineering and physics in collecting and analyzing data. (View Less)
Materials Cost: $1 - $5 per group of students
Latitude and longitude impact climate. Students will learn this first hand by researching the climate for a specific 10° x 10° quadrant of the country. Students will download data sets on both temperature and precipitation for their quadrant and... (View More) will determine averages for each of those factors. Using that information, students will construct a climatogram (a climate diagram). After analyzing the climatogram, students will prepare a poster and give an oral presentation. The influence on their quadrant's climate of additional factors such as elevation, topography and solar intensity will also be considered. Note: This lesson involves several activities. Following the recommended sequence and timetable, the lesson could take six to ten 50-minute class periods. It is possible to reduce the time commitment by modifying the activities. This lesson uses student- and citizen science-friendly microsets of authentic NASA Earth system science data from the MY NASA DATA project. It also includes related links, extension, an online glossary, and a list of related AP Environmental Science topics. (View Less)
Materials Cost: Free


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