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The Internet of things (IoT) is due to become reality sooner rather than later. Instead of a handful of Internet-connected devices in the average home, we might see dozens. From thermostats to refrigerators to water meters to hot water heaters, these devices will soon be transmitting data to and receiving data from sources on the Internet.
As we gear up for the onslaught of the IoT, Holger Reinhardt, Product Architect at Layer 7 Technologies, has some thoughts on how we tackle the seemingly herculean task of maintaining security across the billions of devices that will eventually have active Internet connectivity. -- Paul Venezia
How will we secure the Internet of things?
As major players in IT and manufacturing converge technologies, enterprises will face a growing challenge to assure the validity and security of the data they share in a world of interconnected devices.
As IoT promises to transform every industry, organizations need to look beyond securing every endpoint. Given that we're talking about billions of devices, it's inevitable that some, even many, will be hacked. While vulnerabilities in connected consumer products like Nike+, Fitbit, and baby monitors get most of the public attention, exploits in industrial systems are less talked about -- and have much more serious implications.
What can an organization do to mitigate the risk of vulnerabilities in embedded devices? There's plenty of passionate debate about which protocol or technology is more secure. It seems each week yet another company offers yet another end-to-end IoT security solution.
If the past is any indication, those discussions will be rendered moot by the sheer number of potentially connected endpoints and the human inclination to chose convenience over security. If you need evidence, recall that an overwhelming number of e-commerce sites are secured only through HTTP basic Auth over server-side SSL. Or have a look at the most recent survey of the sorry state of password policies of leading cloud providers.
A practical perspective
I consider myself a realist when it comes to security. The only secure IoT product is a "thing" that is not connected to anything and has no user. Remember that it was a USB stick, not the Internet, that was used to breach physical network isolation in the Stuxnet case.
We don't need yet another technology to tackle the security challenges of IoT. Instead, we should be looking at the way we design and build products. Have you ever known product designers, developers, or architects to do insecure things like store passwords in plaintext or use hard-coded passwords under the guise of convenience for users?
We should challenge ourselves to be creative and build reasonable, secure products that are easy to use. A good example for this secure-by-design approach is Apple's new fingerprint reader on the iPhone. Yes, it can be hacked like anything else -- but it's a big step up from using easy-to-guess passwords or no password at all (see this recent National Cyber Security Alliance/PayPal study, which finds that only one-third of users set a PIN on their phone). Its genius lies in making security inherent and pervasive.
There are well-known security best practices in existing technologies, which -- if applied consistently -- would eliminate or greatly reduce the vulnerability of connected things. Meaningful password settings, encrypted storage of personal information, using OAuth simple device profile or OpenID Connect rather than storing individual account information -- any of these would be a big step toward less vulnerable IoT.
Design with failure in mind
But no technology will ever stop a determined attack on any kind of system, especially in a massively distributed system like IoT. To deal with the risk of acting on compromised or manipulated data or unauthorized access, IoT systems should be designed with failure and breach in mind. Rather than pursuing (and promising) the impossible dream of secure endpoints, we should go with the best possible endpoint security and design critical decision-making processes to "trust but verify" through data correlation.
Credit card companies are a good example of that approach. While today's credit cards have some commonsense endpoint security features (such as chip or PIN entry), credit card companies are constrained by the fact that the use of the credit card cannot be too burdensome to its users. Instead, they rely on seamless strong authentication, risk analysis, and correlating user and past purchase data to detect fraud.
Consider the case of the Twitter incident back in the spring: A single compromised Twitter account caused the Dow Jones Index to fall by more than 100 points within minutes. Fast-forward to IoT and imagine that each Twitter account is a sensor (for instance, a smart meter) and tweets are the sensor readings. Further imagine that the stock market is the grid manager balancing electricity supply and demand. If we were to treat each data point from each smart meter as absolute truth, a potential attack on the smart meters could easily be used to manipulate the electrical grid and -- for instance -- cause the local transformer to blow up or trigger a regional blackout by creating a feedback loop.
IoT systems should be designed with the inherent assumption that data will get compromised or lost or corrupted. At the same time, they should not treat any endpoint as secure or any data set as a source of absolute truth.
Consider the source
What could a more resilient IoT system look like? It starts with realizing that not all data is created equal but has an inherent quality or weight inferred by the characteristics of the data source and how much it is trusted. Any algorithm using this data would need to not only take into account the literal data points but also to weigh the data based on the capabilities of its source, its identity, and the level of trust in its integrity. Think of it as "red-yellow-green" labeling of data as it is being received.
All the best practices and technologies needed to address these problems exist and can be applied today. It is a people (designer, developer, consumer) problem and a product design process problem -- not a technology problem.
What is stopping us from doing the right thing? Essentially, our legal processes have not caught up with technology. And they won't for as long as the lack of security merely inconveniences us rather than threatening us with loss of property -- or even life. Conversely, we're pretty good at applying security best practices in aviation because most serious problems with an aircraft in flight are inherently catastrophic. Let's hope the recent news of hackers accessing airplane flight control systems acts as a wake-up call for the industry.
Building connected products using existing technology with meaningful authentication, authorization and encryption settings is possible with little or no additional effort today. All it takes is the realization that security needs to be there by design and not by accident or afterthought.
New Tech Forum provides a means to explore and discuss emerging enterprise technology in unprecedented depth and breadth. The selection is subjective, based on our pick of the technologies we believe to be important and of greatest interest to InfoWorld readers. InfoWorld does not accept marketing collateral for publication and reserves the right to edit all contributed content. Send all enquiries to email@example.com.
This article, "To secure the Internet of things, assume failure," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
10 comments:
- brandi said...
Dangit, RG, why did you have to put up a pic of Benji. Now I am thinking of Goldie and now I am crying. I wish I could snorgle and cuddle Benji, too.
You folks have a very happy and fun and peaceful and safe and beautiful and tummyful Thanksgiving! Dangit, RG, now I am thinking of all the stuff BL must be making and my tummy is growling...
- November 21, 2012 at 9:22 PM
- speedyrabbit said...
and don't forget RG's cobbler Brandi!Happy Thanks Giving to you all!xx Speedy and Rachel
- November 21, 2012 at 11:10 PM
- Crafty Green Poet said...
sweet Benji!
- November 22, 2012 at 12:16 AM
- anonymous said...
Yes, he is. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
- November 22, 2012 at 6:32 AM
- The human said...
Ahhhhh so cuddle-able xxx
- November 22, 2012 at 9:51 AM
- Glenna said...
Happy Thanksgiving!
- November 22, 2012 at 3:40 PM
- bunnits said...
I echo CGP's words: sweet Benji!
How we do love our sweet bunnies.
I am thankful for all the bunnies, kitties, and dear blogging friends I've come to know through this silly, time-consuming activity.
- November 23, 2012 at 2:07 AM
- SixBunnies said...
So glad Benji is getting extra snuggles!
- November 23, 2012 at 6:51 AM
- Jade said...
Snuggy Benji is snuggy.
We're thankful for everyone and everybun at the HoR, too! Hope y'all had a very Hoppy Thanksgiving! :)
- November 23, 2012 at 3:12 PM
- anonymous said...
Oh, good grief, now we have to be grateful for a Broomer? Okay, okay...grumble...grumble...
- November 23, 2012 at 4:33 PM

subset: commoncrawl


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The average pay for an Information Technology (IT) Consultant with SQL skills is €40.00 per hour.
The average pay for an Information Technology (IT) Consultant with SQL skills is €30,000 per year.
|€17,030 - €295,898
|Total Pay (
XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).)
|€17,569 - €305,418
Job Description for Information Technology (IT) Consultant
Information technology (IT) consultants work for various organizations. Their job is to advise clients on how to use information technology, in order to meet their business objectives effectively and efficiently. They must be able to build and improve their clients' IT structure. They must be able to analyze and solve various IT problems. They must be familiar with desktop and server issues. They install and troubleshoot clients' IT hardware and software.Read More...
Most employers require that candidates have a bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, or other relevant fields. IT consultants may be required to have various computer-related certifications. They must be flexible since many organizations' computer systems run 24/7. They may have rotating shifts. They meet clients to determine their IT requirements. They must be able to travel to customer sites.
They discuss clients' requirements and define the scope of clients' IT projects. They must clarify clients' system requirements and specifications. They consult with clients regarding timescales and associated fees. They must have excellent presentation skills. They must have excellent oral and written communication skills. They must liaise with staff at all levels at their client's organizations and end users. They must document computer programs problems and resolutions. They must keep themselves up to date with various software and hardware technology. They are often required to take additional computer classes and go to workshops and conferences. They must be able to work in a team environment. They may be required to train and coach new or more junior IT consultants. (Copyright 2019 PayScale.com)
Information Technology (IT) Consultant Job Listings
Key Stats for Information Technology (IT) Consultant
9 %
91 %


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Translating web pages
Short Step by Step Guide
This little guide should only be used if you already know the background of translations: How our pages are generated, how to find out which translations are missing or outdated and so on.
In this example, we want to translate https://fsfe.org/contribute/spreadtheword.en.html into Spanish. Please click the images to enlarge the pictures.
- Scroll down the page which you want to translate and find "Source code" in the footer.
- Download the .xhtml file with "Save As..." in your browser or other tools (in this case https://fsfe.org/source/contribute/spreadtheword.en.xhtml).
Please open for each new page a new thread and add your two letter Language Code in the subject.
Write a short e-mail to email@example.com (you should already
be subscriber of this mailing list) and tell them that you start with
the translation.
- Open the downloaded file with a text editor (gedit, Kate, Mousepad etc on Free operating systems, Notepad++ on Windows).

Contribute
 should become

Colabore

Please change the two letter Language Code of the translated file from "en" to the one of your language (for example Spanish = "spreadtheword.es.xhtml").
Translate all english text outside the HTML tags into your language.
For example:
- Afterwards, please reply to your thread in firstname.lastname@example.com and ask other people to proofread your file. If everybody agrees, it will be uploaded by others on the mailing list.
Detailed guide: Understanding how the web pages are built
The web pages of fsfe.org are maintained as a set of XML files. The web server generates the HTML pages from these XML files automatically every ten minutes. Consequently, all editing of the pages is done in the XML files, and the HTML is never edited directly.
Every page on fsfe.org is named pagename.language.html (language being the two-letter ISO-639-1 code of the language, like "en" for English or "de" for German). The source files are named pagename.language.xhtml.
Some pages have a dynamic part. Apart from the fixed texts taken from the XHTML file, they include information from one or several XML files. Whenever such a page is built, the build system takes the translated XML files where available, and falls back to the English version of those XML files that have not yet been translated. This way, such pages can end up with parts of the text being translated and other parts still showing in English. Examples of such pages include the start page, the news page, and the events page.
Everybody can contribute translations
All source files (i.e. all XHTML and XML files) are publicly available for download, so everybody can spontaneously contribute a translation without having to register anywhere. However, whenever you start a translation and expect it to take longer, please write a short note to the Translators mailing list to avoid that somebody else starts to work on the same text simultaneously.
Contributing missing translations
If you have a page open in your web browser that has not yet been translated to your language, scroll to the end of the page, click on the Source code link and save the file you get there. You will get the English XHTML file. Rename the file to carry your language code instead of the "en" code, and open it in a text editor. Now, translate all text in the file that is outside the "<…>" marks; do not change anything inside these marks (the text inside the marks are XHTML commands that influence the structure of the resulting web page).
At the end of the file there will be a line saying . Immediately above this line, add a line saying <translator>your name</translator>.
When you are done, send the translated file to the Translators mailing list. Other members of this list can proofread the translation, and somebody on that list will ultimately post it to the server.
Updating outdated translations
If you have a page open in your web browser of which the translation is outdated (indicated by a note at the top of the page), scroll to the end of the page, click on the Source code link and save the file you get there. This file is the (outdated) translated version. Next, use the English link at the top of the page to jump to the English version of the page and click on the Source code link there, too. The file you get there is the (up to date) English version. Now you can compare both files and update the translation. Please notice that everything inside the "<…>" marks may not be translated.
Alternatively, you may also use the web-based source repository on the fsfe-web trac site to create diffs, and to see the latest updates for all source files.
When you are done, send the translated file to the Translators mailing list. Other members of this list can proofread the translation, and somebody on that list will ultimately post it to the server.
Finding out what needs work
There is an autogenerated list of all languages available. On that page, each language code is a link to a separate page that lists all outdated and missing translations for that language.
The list of outdated translations provides an extra feature helpful for updating: you can not only downlad the (outdated) translated file and the (up to date) English original; you can also view the changelog of both files, a protocol of all modifications done to the respective file. Comparing the two changelogs usually makes it easy to find out which parts of the original were altered since the translation was last updated.
This translation status page is also the only way to download the XML files that are built into the dynamic pages, like files containing news items or event entries.
Downloading the complete source file tree with subversion
If it is possible for you to use subversion, you can also download the complete source file tree at once. Please see the FSFE webmaster information page for detailed instructions.


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Porn Company Offers Miley Cyrus a Million Bucks to Direct a Movie
Miley Cyrus' don't-give-a-you-know-what attitude has earned her a professional offer she doesn't need or likely doesn't want.
GameLink, an adult online retailer, has offered the star a million bucks to direct a porno movie, citing her empowered, 21st century woman persona, her child star past and her unapologetic way of expressing her sexuality as reasons for wanting her to lens a film with full creative control.
TMZ posted the company's offer to Cyrus. Did they really think she would accept just because they showered her with compliments?
Does sticking her tongue out, fondling herself with a foam finger and twerking make her ready to get behind the camera and direct a film, calling out for the money shot?
Hmmm, maybe it's not that shocking.
Cyrus is probably loaded anyway, so she doesn't need the cash that they are extending her way. Nor does she need to slum it at this point in her career, since 'Bangerz' is about to debut at No. 1 next week. This banger doesn't need to direct those who are banging.


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15 Pasta Salads to Make This 4th of July
Let's talk pasta salads. There are delightfully creamy versions with mayo, and there are garlicky ones with pesto. There are pasta salads made with couscous (tiny pasta!), and ones made with tortellini. But pretty much any way you bring a pasta salad together, it's guaranteed to be great. Picnic-ready and coming soon to a cookout near you, here are our top 15 pasta salads for your 4th of July party.
Roasted Garlic, Olive & Tomato Pasta Salad
You can't go wrong with a good, classic pasta salad, like the creamy one pictured above with smoked gouda and roasted red peppers. But we're food lovers, and that makes it hard to resist adding things like roasted garlic and pecans to our salads. Or swapping out classic macaroni noodles for pearl couscous or even gnocchi. Or nixing the creamy mayo for yogurt or a nice pesto instead.
The point being, pasta salad is a versatile dish. The recipes here take the idea of a pasta salad and push it to the limits. Take a look and see if you spot your new favorite pasta salad of the summer — or get inspired to create your own!
What's your favorite pasta salad right now?
- Couscous Salad with Cucumber, Red Onion & Herbs
- Pasta Salad with Smoked Gouda, Roasted Red Peppers & Artichoke Hearts
- Orzo Salad with Spinach Pesto, Olives & Feta
- Italian Macaroni Salad
- Roasted Garlic, Olive & Tomato Pasta Salad
Barbecue Chicken and Macaroni Pasta Salad
- Edamame & Cauliflower Pasta Salad with Feta
- Zesty Tortellini Salad
- Broccoli and Feta Pasta Salad
- Barbecue Chicken and Macaroni Salad
- Pearl Couscous with Mint and Pecans
Whole Wheat Couscous Salad with Cherries & Arugula
- Tortellini and Spring Vegetable Pasta Salad
- Gnocchi with Squash and Sweet Corn
- Orzo Salad with Rosemary Almonds and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Whole Wheat Couscous with Cherries & Arugula
- Cold Noodle Salad with Creamy Peanut Sauce
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)


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This post has been inspired by a recent exam grade that I have received for one of my classes. It wasn't absolutely stellar, but it didn't make me want to down cyanide pills (and the way this class is designed it is better that I chance having my slightly better than mediocre grade than take the comprehensive final). My experiences with assignments, grades, and exams in graduate school can only come from the experience of someone who graduated with a degree in journalism just a few years ago from Ohio State, so if anything that I write about applies to you then be fortunate that you are already one step ahead!
Undergrad was sort of easy for me. To be fair, the journalism program here isn't anything prestigious in the world of journalism like Fisher is in the world of business. I will say though that not everyone is a writer, so what I may have found easy a mathematician, engineer, or pre-med student would have struggled with. I was though very involved in student organizations and normally held down like 2 jobs, so I wasn't just a lazy bum. Anyway, being that I studied journalism, the majority of my assignments were papers done by myself. The majority of my tests were some kind of multiple choice, and my professors normally gave us some kind of guidance and direction to how to study. A lot of it was the regurgitation of theory (which I cannot stand), or memorizing some crazy rule from the AP Stylebook (the grammar rules of journalists).
Graduate assignments and tests are a whole new level of crazy.
- You are expected to know like an infinity more amount for a test. The amount you're expected to read and study is a lot more intense than what I had in undergrad.
- There really are not that many smaller papers, projects, or assignments. Normally it is one huge project or paper that you have to work on with a group of people. Group work occurred, but did not happen that often with me in undergrad (how many group news reports have you ever read?). Group work is the nature of Fisher though, because my friends in the undergraduate program would always
complaintell me about how many group meetings they had to go to. My teachers in undergrad would always comment on how everyone's schedules were so different that they tried to avoid group projects. I almost never had the same classes with the same people so this was true and difficult, but even when you have all your classes together it is still hard to coordinate the schedules of grad students.
- Because there are very few assignments, you really have to make sure that you don't screw up on an assignment or that could be your grade for the class. Professors will be willing to help you out, but they don't have structured mini assignments to make sure you're doing the reading that you're even more expected to keep up with in graduate school. It is nice to not constantly have to be tested on something….sometimes you just need to have a few days where you don't read anything because of other things going on and have a few days that you don't ever leave the library.
- I wrote a few papers where I was the sole author (if any) in graduate school. I NEVER wrote a group paper in undergrad (once again though journalism is kind of solo field). I am sure other graduate students write many individual papers, but due to the collaboration and teamwork of the business world many papers are done with others. Though it is good that you can split up that 25 page paper among 3 or 4 other people, but truth be told there have been quite a few times I have raised an eyebrow or rolled my eyes at some people's writing styles or overall lack of effort and would have rather had wrote the paper myself.
- The exams are a lot less straightforward. If you want a study guide, you better study and then make your own guide. You could be tested on literally anything that you have covered (no matter how obscure it appeared to be in class or in the text). Professors want you to know theory, but they also want you to apply in some kind of way or example (that either they make up or you have to make up). This may not be odd for some, but has been a challenge for me in spending time in remembering some particular thing and having an application to it.
- Exams also may lead to arthritis as well, because I would say at least 75% of the exams I have taken have been essay. Essay exams are always the hardest, because you can BS a paper or have a lucky guess on a multiple choice exam but you HAVE to know your stuff in these exams. There is no way getting out of this.
- Last thing I want to say is that a lot of professors in graduate school do not follow the standard midterm/final schedule that most of my teachers did in undergrad. Midterm and finals week are still stressful, but instead of having to worry about all exams I need to individually study for, I may have one paper, one exam, or one project due (that have due dates that all are annoyingly close to each other). For my Research Methods and Negotiations class, there was neither a midterm or final. The final was optional for Staffing and is optional for Collective Bargaining. With Staffing, the exam was factored in your final grade, and CB if you take the final than your midterm does not factor into your grades (both are comprehensive so it can be worse if you take the final). There was only one exam for my HRIS class. A lot of professors believe in different methods of learning than the dreaded test, but regardless these tests/projects/papers are worth a lot of your grade.
- There are a lot more presentations. Most of the presentations that I had to do in undergrad were individual, where most of mine in graduate school have been group (which you can have the same issues with group papers like someone really not contributing, reads straight from their slides, etc).


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I would like to bring up the history of the extra rooted hair head issue in MOTUC as well as a couple others for the female figures, as I feel it's extremely important to point out.
Before anyone gets all upset, this is for an EXTRA head, nobody wants to replace the plastic/rubber haired female heads, and ToyGuru has stated all figures will have plastic hair:
A: The 80's toyline had it which makes it nostalgic to PoP toy fans. They had them in the 80's that way and loved them and would love a throwback/nod to the vintage figures. Just how 80's MOTU fans desperately wanted, fought for and won a flocked and pine-scented Moss Man, Stinking Stinkor, possibly second-release flocked Panthor (see below quote) and more than likely a furry Grizzlor.
On August 1st, 2008 I started a poll about getting extra heads. It's hard to tell the *true* results as some people who hate PoP and have no intention of buying the figures could have voted, but the results were basically 50/50 out of 106 votes:
51 or 48.11% FOR an extra rooted head
55 or 51.89% AGAINST an extra rooted head
Poll was here: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...d.php?t=162007
[NOTE: If any more votes come in, please dis-regard them as the votes haven't changed for OVER a year. These were the official results and I'm unsure if I can close the polling.]
ToyGuru has told us many times they would do second heads for figures that absolutely need a second head or have a compelling reason for a second head. PoP girls have both: rooted will allow for up-and-down head articulation and is a throwback to the original toys.
Why no heads then?
TG says Mattel would have to change vendors, but in the exact SAME Q&A session he explains that they DID change vendors! Why would they not look for a vendor that can DO rooted hair if they had to switch? (see quotes and then I'll continue below).
From the EXACT same Q&A session:
All the women share Teela's body, have ONE piece outfits (possibly two-piece in future, see quote below), cannot ab-crunch or look up and down (because of no extra rooted head)...
It's the 25th Anniversary of PoP and we REALLY can't get an extra rooted throwback head so our figures can look up and down?!
I love Mattel and all the MOTUC figures we have received, but I am MASSIVELY disappointed in this and it needs to be fixed.
I am a subscriber, will continue to subscribe and buy every character in this line, but Mattel needs to show more love to PoP fans! Where's the fore-sight?


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Westchester, CA Moving Services
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- We can help with your LAST MINUTE Move!
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At Melrose Moving we are aware of all the hassle and headache usually involved with finding Westchester, CA moving services. So we made it our priority to enable our customers to have the easiest and most stress- free move possible, because we are an honest and reliable Westchester, CA Moving Service. Whether you're moving to Westchester, CA or moving from Westchester, CA, our team of dedicated, professional Westchester, CA movers will get you the Westchester, CA moving services you need, with ease.
We offer a wide variety of Westchester, CA moving services that are designed to get you from point A to point B with as little headache as possible. If you're in the process of searching for a moving service in Westchester, CA, give us a call today for a free estimate. You will soon see why we are the #1 Westchester, CA Service. Finding Westchester, CA Moving Services
We recognize that the search for a Westchester, CA moving service can be long and tedious, so we strive to make your exprience and search for a moving service in Westchester, CA, as easy as possible.
What type of Westchester, CA moving service is important to your Westchester, CA move?
We feel very strongly about upholding a high level of trust, so our clients know that they're going to receive top of the line service, with the best Westchester, CA services you can find. We have repeat customers who use our services multiple times, to fulfill their search for a Westchester, CA moving service.


text:
Contact: Holly
Phone: 707-963-9292
2929 St Helena Hwy
St Helena CA 94574
Since the release of our first vintage, we have been determined to produce the best wines we can, reflecting all the beauty and quality of this special place on earth. We rely on unmatched vineyard sites and classic winemaking techniques to create our 29 Estate, Aida Estate and CRU wines. Each of our wines are hand-crafted in small lots in our technologically sophisticated, gravity flow winery and caves in St. Helena.
For those of you who have visited with us and stood on our balcony looking southeast, you have seen the Mediterranean style house and beautiful vineyards of our neighbors, Clare and Cliff Abbey. We are pleased to announce that in late 2008, we acquired Clare and Cliff's property, including its 7 acres of cabernet sauvignon and 1 acre of cabernet franc vines. We look forward to sharing updates as we integrate this fantastic property into our portfolio and our wine production.
We invite you to explore Vineyard 29 within these pages. From our vineyards, through our winemaking process, to our wines, we look forward to sharing Vineyard 29 with you.


text:
Wonder Woman Retro Scoop-Neck Ladies' Tee
What makes you a wonder woman?
"Of all people, you know who I am... who the world needs me to be. I'm Wonder Woman.." -Infinite Crisis #1
We're in awe of our fellow wonder women in the geek community. We may not have a Lasso of Truth, but we're willing to stand up and speak it (or blog it) when others need us. We may not have super-speed, super-stamina, or super-agility, but we sure can juggle our work, our families, and our geeky passions. (Of course, it helps when some of them overlap!) We may not have indestructible bracelets, but we've got an indestructible spirit, and we will throw our tiara at you if you deserve it. Don't give us a reason, you hear?
This limited-edition scoop-neck tee features a retro Wonder Woman logo on the front and an explanation on the back for anybody who needs it. (Obviously not YOUR friends.) It's on a super-soft light blue fabric with distressed graphics that make it look like it's actually from the Lynda Carter era. The fabric is 50% cotton / 50% polyester. Note: Please reference the table below to choose your size.
|34 in.
|36 in.
|38 in.
|42 in.
|26 in.
|28 in.
|30 in.
|34 in.
|35 in.
|37 in.
|39 in.
|43 in.


text: Tasty illustration work from Melbourne artist Annita Maslov. You gotta love the pen and paper approach. It's so direct- you can almost feel the labor involved in every calculated line and stippled shadow. And Maslov's subject matter fits well with her inky media of choice. Dark and brooding, the images sort of require drawing's organic touch to stave off a cold, disconnected vibe. I'm pretty sure things would turn out okay if I never saw a vector skull presented as "art" again. If you're doing stuff like this, then, well, do it like this. Please.


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Design of High-Performance AVRs and Pre/Pros: A More Technical Perspective with Material Relevant to Stereo Preamplifiers and Outboard DACs
Following on Part I of this series, "AVR – Audio Video Receiver – Build Quality: Part I", here, in Part II, I dig a bit deeper into the performance of a single-chip Large Scale Integrated (LSI) analog AVR chip and introduce better solutions employing Small Scale Integrated (SSI) analog chips. Herein, I refer only to Pre/Pros, but everything discussed applies equally to AVRs. Pre/Pros tend to use analog SSI chips, while most AVRs use the LSI solution (see the chart in Part I of this article for the make and model numbers of the AVRs and Pre/Pros using the LSI chip). I carryover the term, AVR LSI, from the first part of this article and refer to AVR when I comment on products with power amplifiers.
The sections on electronic volume controls, op-amps, and CMOS-based signal switching are also relevant to the stereo preamplifier design. The section on circuitry interfacing to a DAC, digital reconstruction filtering, and jitter attenuation are integral to stereo devices with digital inputs.
Electronic Volume Controls that Enhance Performance
While AVR and pre-pro marketing focuses on the highest-resolution component – usually the DAC chip – an audio signal chain is ultimately limited by its lowest-resolution circuitry. Often, that is the volume control. The difference between the THD of the best IC-based volume control ICs (Integrated Circuits) and typical AVR LSIs (Large Scale Integrated Circuits) is 2.5 bits using measurements sourced from data sheets with the control set to unity gain.
In a traditional volume control, a fixed gain stage [typically 20-26 dB of gain] follows a voltage attenuator (potentiometer). The fixed-gain stage introduces significant noise and distortion. For most of the range of the volume control, the attenuation exceeds the gain. Under these conditions, the gain following the volume control is unnecessary.
In some older SSI (Small Scale Intgration)-based multi-channel products and stereo preamps using an electronic volume control, an obsolete IC was used. This old IC contained only one resistor ladder and was a direct replacement for the potentiometer. This part has been discontinued, favoring a more modern design discussed below.
In a modern electronic volume control, two resistor ladders are integrated on the chip. One is placed in the traditional position before the amplifier. The other resistor string is used to adjust the gain of the amplifier. With this topology the amplifier is wired as a unity gain buffer (0 dB), and has much lower noise and distortion than an amplifier required to provide a gain of 20-26 dB).
Only when the attenuator before the volume control moves to the unity gain position does the second resistor string become active to increase the gain of the amplifier above unity. The added gain, with its associated noise and distortion, only occurs when it is needed. The complete circuit is called a "Gain Optimized Volume Control". Since this circuit requires two resistor strings, whose dual operation must be coordinated, it is not realizable using a passive volume control.
An SSI option for high-performance volume controls consisting only of resistor ladders is readily available now. The latest part introduction is from New Japan Radio. The part (the MUSES 72320) is found in the $1000 stereo Emotiva preamplifier reviewed here in Secrets.
The JRC MUSES 72320, or the similar, recently introduced, Micro Analog Systems MAS6116, has four resistor strings to allow for one chip to be used in a stereo system. These chips are not used in current Pre/Pros whose internal design I am familiar with. Instead, high-performance, dynamic range optimized, electronic volume controls in Pre/Pros with SSI designs are from Cirrus and TI. In addition to the resistor ladders, these parts include an operational amplifier (one per channel) internal to the chip. The chips are available with two to eight sections. These parts started to appear in the early part of the last decade.
The eight-section Cirrus CS3318 consumes the same amount of current as the LSI AVR chips, despite having fewer than half the op-amps. Since the Cirrus 3318 only functions as a volume control, each op-amp consumes more silicon area. The Cirrus operates at a higher power supply voltage of ± 9V. This all translates into better performance. Using typical numbers, at unity gain, the Cirrus data sheet reports distortion as 0.00025% THD+N, while the data sheets for the LSI AVR chip report 0.001% for the same output signal swing. This is a 12 dB improvement at 1 kHz. In bits equivalent, we shift from 16.5 bits to 18.5 bits. With eight channels of volume controls, the Cirrus is more accurately called a "Medium Scale Integrated" Circuit (MSI).
The TI PGA4311UA is a four-channel component that has lower distortion than the Cirrus between 600 mVRMS and 2 VRMS. Two of the TI chips provide the volume control function for the eight channels. Since twice the TI chips are required, the pair is more expensive than the eight-channel Cirrus part. Worst-case distortion of the TI part with an output voltage of 2 VRMS is 0.004%. A single chip AVR LSI has a specified worst-case distortion of 0.02% at 2 VRMS at its output. This is five times the distortion of the TI PGA4311UA.
Secrets' Audio Precision measurements of multi-channel products using two versions of the LSI AVR chip (Renesas and Rohm) and the Cirrus CS3318 confirms the Cirrus chip has lower distortion at 1 VRMS. The distortion vs. frequency measurement stays flat with the Cirrus chip, but the Renesas starts to rise about 2 kHz, moving to four times the mid-band value at 20 kHz. Complete THD+N vs. Frequency was not available for the Rohm chip. The SNR measurements of the AVR with the CS3318 show at least a 1/2 equivalent bit improvement in comparison to the Renesas and Rohm chips.
Electronic volume control performance can be improved with two volume controls sections in balanced mode, but does so at twice the cost.
Balanced mode minimizes distortion and expands dynamic range of the volume control. The op-amp at the bottom left inverts the incoming signal and the Single Ended to Balanced Converter restores the signal to unbalanced mode. The balanced-to-single-ended converter consists of resistors and one op-amp. The Emotiva XSP-1 stereo preamp, mentioned above, uses a balanced volume control topology.
Secrets' measurements of the XSP-1 preamp shows improved distortion performance over the single ended Cirrus CS3318. Distortion of the Emotiva at unity gain was -106 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz at 2 VRMS with almost not change at 5 VRMS.
In theory a Pre/Pro with balanced outputs could have a completely balanced signal chain from the DAC output through the analog volume controls to the balanced output connections at the back of the unit. However, practical issues, such as the balanced signals becoming mismatched as they travel through the signal path, present a roadblock. In addition, common mode signals that accumulate as the balanced signal moves through the unit are not removed.
The engineer has many choices for a fixed build of material when designing an electronic volume control. For example, the cost of using two sections of a Cirrus CS3318 in balanced mode might be similar to using the MUSES 72320 single ended with high quality op-amps.
None of my service manuals for multi-channel products pointed to the balanced technique. The technique was adopted in the B&K Reference 70 which, unfortunately, never made it to production. Designed by the extraordinarily talented Ed Mutka, the Reference 70 was truly innovative.
The most elegant configuration for an electronic volume control uses current-mode switching with bipolar devices. An example is the Texas Instruments DAC8812. The voltage at the current switch remains constant at ground potential, which introduces far less distortion than voltage-mode switching where a tap is selected on the resistor ladder.
The resistors on the Texas Instruments DAC8812 have an added layer of deposited thin film metal to reduce distortion, but this adds significantly to the price of the silicon. The resistors in the other volume controls are made from material already deposited to make an IC with MOSFET transistors. Typically, these are polysilicon wires that form the gate of the MOSFET. Distortion in polysilicon resistors occurs when the resistance changes slightly as the voltage across the resistor changes. This is called the voltage coefficient of the resistor, which is a specification sometimes found in data sheets for discrete resistors.
The current at the output of the selected switches is converted back to a voltage by an op-amp circuit functioning as a current-to-voltage converter. This method is used in high-end two-channel products by Accuphase and Simaudio Moon, although they may use other options than the TI chip mentioned above. It is unlikely an affordable Pre/Pro could include this chip. See the example in this link to the Accuphase C-2120 Stereo Control Center.
Operational Amplifier Selection
As mentioned in Part I, some SSI op-amps (1 – 4 in a package) must be used around the single chip LSI AVR chip for anti-alias filtering (ADC) and reconstruction filtering (DAC). Unless otherwise noted in the chart, these are minimal cost op-amps such as the LM833 and RC4558. They were among the first practical audio op-amps, dating to the 1970s. Many other op-amp part numbers are found in service manuals. These are slight improvements on the original op-amps, where the improvements arose from advances in semiconductor processing technology. The incremental part cost is several pennies.
For 50% more cost per op-amp, the NE5532 can be used. This is a much more complex chip, allowing it to have dramatically lower noise and distortion. Confusingly, the single op-amp version of this chip is given the part number NE5534
Some DAC vendors supply a Printed Circuit (PC) evaluation board for designers to verify the performance of the DACs. Achieving optimal performance is very dependent on associated passive and active parts as well as PC board layout. If the DAC producer has developed an evaluation board for a given part, a PDF on its design will be on the website of the IC Vender. These application documents often provide measurements of the complete board that are more comprehensive than the information provided in the DAC's datasheet for the DAC alone. The IC vendor's evaluation board documentation provides details on how to get the best performance from a specific DAC and is an excellent place to go for more technical detail than I can provide here. Not all DACs from an IC vendor have evaluation boards.
An evaluation board for the vendor's top of the line DACs will include the op-amps that were determined to yield the best performance. Often, lower end op-amps are used in evaluation boards for less expensive DACs in the vendor's line. This is more consistent with the op-amps that will be used in the final product using the less expensive DAC. Typically, the NE5532 is used for all the vendor's evaluation boards except for the top end products. AKM uses the minimum price New Japan Radio NJM 4580 on the evaluation board it sells for it entry level DACs, and the expensive TI LME49710 for AKMs newest top of the line part.
The high-performance data converter manufacturer ESS provides measurements not only for the best available operational amplifiers, but also lower priced parts.
ESS reports performance of the DAC with the following op-amp in descending performance order (page 2).
Analog Devices AD797
National Semiconductor (now a TI subsidiary) LME49710, LM4562
Texas Instruments NE5534
Rohm 4560
Similar guidelines can be found in Douglas Self's Small Signal Audio Design text, published in 2010 by Focal Press.
ESS only recommends use of the minimal cost Rohm 4560 op-amp for use with its lowest priced DAC the ES9006.
The ESS op-amp ladder has a steep cost curve. Better chips than the NE5532 may be had at a premium at about five times the cost. The Analog Devices AD797, for example, is ten times the price of a NE5332. I have never seen it in a multi-channel product.
AVRs with the LSI AVR normally deploy the lower-cost op-amps for the anti-alias and reconstruction filtering functions, though a couple use the NE5532. Pre/Pros built with SSI chips use the NE5332 or better performing op-amps exclusively. The note section in the chart in Part I identifies products with this op-amp.
Op-amps on the next rung of the ladder may be found in some SSI-based Pre/Pros, but only in segments of the signal path where the designer anticipates maximum benefit to performance. They are too expensive to be used exclusively in a multi-channel product. Other op-amps that are more expensive than the NE5532 may be utilized by some engineers, but these are not the units on the next rung of the ladder. Doug Self finds the op-amps between the rungs do not provide a significant advantage.
In some sections of an SSI-enabled Pre/Pro, a very high input impedance of the operational amplifier may be desirable. This requires an op-amp with FETs in the differential pair. No DC bias current can be present in an op-amp with a FET input. Selection of the op-amps for this application is best left to another article. All the operational amplifiers discussed above have bipolar inputs.
Power supply regulation is very important for optimal DAC performance. The ESS application note shows how different op-amp buffers for the analog power supply can make a difference to the THD and SNR of the parts. The application note points out the ESS analog output stage is very sensitive to the op-amp buffer. This is a result of how the output stage works in comparison to other DAC topologies. This is not an issue as long as the AVR or Pre/Pro designer uses the required parts and not low-cost substitutions. Yamaha reduces the output impedance in this stage by adding a transistor to the NE5332, and preceding it with an independent Ricoh R1172 voltage regulator.
The AKM evaluation board documentation sited above shows a complex local regulator which uses more than 25 parts. Such a complex local regulator would not be found in a Pre/Pro but perhaps an expensive two-channel product.
Evaluation boards for Analog Devices, Cirrus, and Wolfson use high performance single chip IC regulators. I don't give the part numbers or attempt to rank the single chip regulators in this report. Consistent with the use of minimal cost op-amps in AVRs, the voltage regulators will also often be of lower quality then what the DAC designers would like used for optimal performance.
If a cheap op-amp is used for current to voltage converter function when a current-mode DAC is specified, the performance inherent in the DAC will likely be lost. In my survey of AVR service manuals, I found companies that use a current mode DAC from TI or ADI have an NE5532 or higher-grade op-amp for the current-to-voltage converter. Some units then revisit op-amps of lesser quality for other sections of the circuitry. The current-to-voltage converter is discussed in more detail in the next section.
Unfortunately, ESS has no control of what the vendors actually use. Board photos of the new Pioneer AVR (SC-LX57), using the ESS ES 9016, show a bottom grade NJM 4570 op-amp used for the I/V and the balanced-to-single-ended converter.
Differential and Current Mode DACs
In this section, block diagrams for the analog electronics after the DACs are shown. The first diagram is for a balanced voltage mode DAC which has two outputs that are in anti-phase to each other.
The figure above shows how the output of differential voltage mode DAC is converted to a single ended signal using a balanced to single ended converter.
Distortion is reduced for two reasons:
- Subtracting these signals yields a single ended signal of twice the magnitude providing increased dynamic range.
- Even order distortion components in the individual signal, if correlated, will be canceled when the signals are subtracted.
The balanced-to-single-ended converter block is the same as the one shown in a previous figure of a balanced volume control.
In addition to the op-amp and resistors, additional reactive components may be added to form the Low Pass Filter (LPF) for the removal of high frequency, out off band energy, which occurs in the digital sampling process. More on this subject is discussed below.
Another method to reduce distortion at the output of the DAC is to transmit the signal in the current domain as shown in the figure below. In the chart from the previous part of this article, it can be seen the best current-mode DACs are superior to voltage-mode DACs for minimizing distortion.
In the current domain, the signal out of the DAC does not move in amplitude.
The green circuit block between the DAC and the balanced-to-single-ended converter converts the current flowing at the DACs output pins to a voltage. This is a current-to-voltage converter, often abbreviated as I/V converter. The circuit consists of an op-amp and a resistor in the feedback loop
Internal op-amps are absent in the typical current-mode DAC; instead, only switched current sources are present because it is difficult to integrate a high performing op-amp in the CMOS process technology.
Moving the op-amp outside the DAC permits an IC process technology designed for analog circuits to be used. The analog process technology provides improved noise performance and reduced distortion. The ability of the analog process to safely operate with a 30V power supply, rather than the 5 volts of power for the DAC, improves the signal-to-noise ratio.
Additional reactive components may be found as part of the I/V stage. These components create a low-pass filter for removal of out-of-band energy. This is typically a first-order (6 dB/octave) filter. The balanced-to-single-ended converter can provide a second-order (12 dB/octave) filtering function. By placing the poles of both filters optimally, a third-order (18 dB/octave) filter Butterworth filter is in the signal path.
Multiple DACs Combined to Produce a Single Channel Output (Mono Mode)
Multiple DACs assigned to one channel can improve the signal-to-noise ratio and, in some cases, reduce distortion. The concept was discussed in Part I of this article, but I am presenting the block diagram for the first time. Mono mode is typically used only for DACs at the top of the IC vendor's line.
Connection for a current mode DAC in mono mode simply involves attaching the leads at the output of the DACs together. This configuration allows the currents to add together and flow into the current-to-voltage (I/V) converter.
Connecting all the DACs in a mono mode configuration doubles the number of DACs for the complete Pre/Pro. Some multi-channel products use the mono configuration for the left and right channels only.
ESS DACs contain up to eight single DACs in one chip. It is possible to expand the concept by tying four of the DAC's current outputs together to form a stereo DAC or even tying all eight together to form a mono DAC.
All the application information I looked at for TI DACs with current mode outputs, on the TI website, showed circuits in which each current output of four individual DACs were converted to a voltage before the summation process to mono. The current outputs were never directly shorted. This requires two added I/V converter stages. The topology is applicable to any current-mode DAC. The TI evaluation board documentation below shows the technique:
Accuphase developed an interesting circuit to operate with the ESS octal DACs extending the concept shown in the TI application note. For stereo, there are four DACs per channel, but they do not sum all inverting (or non-inverting) current outputs together. Instead, Accuphase connects pairs of current outputs together. Two I/V converters are needed to convert the current output pairs (four I/V converters in total for the balanced signals). According to Accuphase, "A combination of current summing and voltage summing is used, for optimized operation."
Accuphase does not produce multi-channel products. It is unclear if the complex topology Accuphase uses will be used in multi-channel products using ESS parts. Since the performance improvement is likely small, this circuit would be used only with the top of the line ESS DAC.
Stereo DACs may have a digital pin that puts the DAC in mono mode. Often, the LPCM digital data to the second DAC is inverted when the DAC is in mono mode.
The current pins are configured so the DAC with the inverted data has the pins of opposite polarity connected. This ensures the current levels are doubled when the extra digital inverters are introduced into the digital LPCM stream.
Assuming correlated distortion exists between the two channels, the process of inverting the LPCM data and then connecting the current pins as shown in the figure above, may cancel correlated distortion. This is only feasible with closely-matched DACs in the same package. Data sheets I have examined do not indicate the distortion is reduced in mono mode when connected as shown above, suggesting the reduction in distortion, if any, is small.
The connection is free to the designer, since the digital inverter and its activation are done internal to the DAC chip. No reason exists not to use the configuration even if the distortion improvement is small.
DACs with the internal digital inverters do report the expected improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. The SNR is unchanged regardless of which current summation topologies is selected to create the mono DAC.
A voltage-mode DAC can be configured for mono mode. It is not possible to short the pins together as with the current-mode DACs. Since a voltage mode DAC has a low output impedance, connecting voltage outputs is similar to shorting them. The same issue occurs when one tries to parallel a pair of batteries.
For the voltage-mode output mono DACs, the balanced-to-single-ended converter must be modified so that it will perform the summation of the two in-phase voltage signals from the DAC and the two out-of-phase voltage signals from the DAC. In its simplest form, this added task is assumed by the same op-amp that performs the balanced-to-single-ended conversion. Since this change is at the circuit level of the balanced-to-single-ended converter, I am not showing a figure. The schematic of the Wolfson evaluation board documentation shows the complete circuit of a voltage output DAC in mono mode:
Like all voltage mode DACs, no I/V converters are required in the mono mode configuration.
A more complex topology to create a mono DAC distributes the balanced-to-single-ended conversion task among three op-amps. This topology is sometimes called double-balanced.
In a double-balanced DAC, all electronics of a stereo DAC are present, including a separate balanced-to-single-ended converter for the left and right channels. The output of the left channel single-ended converter produces the in-phase signal, and the right channel single-ended output produces the out-of-phase signal with the LPCM digital input inverted. Finally, an additional balanced-to-single-ended converter combines the outputs of the two preceding balanced-to-single-ended convertors.
An example where the double balanced approach is useful is an AVR with 13 (11.2) DACs. If only seven (5.2) channels are required, each DAC switches to mono mode except the DACs assigned to the subwoofer. The additional balanced-to-single-ended converter switches into the signal path of each DAC IC, creating five mono DACs from the ten stereo DACs. These balanced-to-single-ended converters (five in total) and the suite of balanced-to-single-ended converters already in place form the double-balanced topology.
The topology is compatible with current-mode DACs if four I/V converters are added. I have not supplied a figure for this configuration.
A single 9.1 AVR can operate as 7.1 with the left and right channels configured as double-balanced. An Integra product offers this option.
Quasi Current-Mode Interface for ESS DACs with a Single Operational Amplifier
An ESS DAC achieves its best THD performance when directly connected to a current-to-voltage conversion circuit (I/V) made with an op-amp section. The ESS DAC, which has balanced outputs, requires two op-amps for its current-to-voltage function. A third op-amp supports the balanced-to-single-ended converter. An identical three op-amp topology is required for DACs which have current outputs for each channel discussed above.
Traditional current-mode DACs embedded within an AVR cost at least $1,800 (refer to the chart in Part I). The combined cost of the high-performance DACs and two op-amps per channel cannot be absorbed in lower-priced AVR.
If the output pin of a current-mode DAC is shorted, its output current will flow through the short. Alternatively, when the output pin is an open circuit, the output, uselessly, moves to a power rail. The current-to-voltage converter represents a short circuit to the current-mode DAC. As the name implies, the output voltage is proportional to the DAC current.
A voltage-mode DAC has a small output impedance. In turn, the value of the voltage at the output pin is unaffected by a load provided above about 2 kOhm. The balanced-to-single-ended converter typically has a higher input impedance. Only one op-amp is needed to perform the balanced-to-single-ended operation. As discussed above, the best voltage-mode DACs have higher distortion than most current-mode DACs.
The ESS DACs use a different output stage topology. One way to model the output pin as a current source is to have it in series with a resistor with an approximate value of 780 ohms. If the output pin is shorted, the current flows through the current source into the short, and no current flows in the resistor. When the output pin is open, a voltage will appear. The voltage is found by Ohm's Law. If the current source has a value of 1 mA, then a value of 780 mV is at the output. The value of the resistor on the integrated circuit varies slightly with the voltage across it. This is the resistor's voltage coefficient which was discussed in the volume control section above. This change adds undesired distortion.
To reduce the distortion, ESS engineers have devised a novel single op-amp balanced-to-single-ended converter for the DAC. The design takes advantage of the internal resistor in the ESS DAC, using it as part of the converter. With this special circuitry, the voltage variation at the ESS output pin is reduced by ¼ compared to an open circuit. Less swing implies lower distortion.
ESS DAC distortion rises above that reported in the chart in Part I when the DAC is connected to a single op-amp circuit. The best performance requires three op-amps. AVR and Pre/Pro designers that want to replace a voltage-mode DAC with an ESS DAC of equivalent cost may use the single op-amp solution to maintain a constant external cost count. The high SNR of the ESS DAC and its ability to reject jitter are unchanged. The chart in part I identifies AVRs that use the Quasi Current-Mode Interface with an ESS DAC with note #3.
Yamaha uses this circuit in all of the current products with ESS DACs, including the top of the line CX-A5000 review soon to be published in Secrets. In the time domain, a 24 bit sine wave -90 dB below full scale shows low noise around the waveform. The distortion performance of the CX-A5000 is disappointing, although measuring at the output does not allow identification of the source as the circuit above or the single chip LSI AVR that follows in the CX-A5000.
Part III of this article series will be: An Introduction to Asynchronous Sample Rate Converters (ASRC) for Jitter Reduction and Introduction to Digital Filtering of an LPCM Signal and DAC digital filter performance. Some of this material is also covered in my review of the HK 990.
There will also be new material that includes building a Pre/Pro with pre-designed boards and methods to perform low distortion switching with SSI CMOS IC blocks. In addition, there will be a more detailed view of the internal signal flow in the LSI analog AVR chip, identifying the sources of sub-standard noise and distortion performance.


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ITEXPO attendees can schedule a free, one-on-one consultation on-site with Bandwidth.com, Broadvox, Media5, ShoreTel, Intertex Data AB and/or Ingate Systems for a personalized assessment of their specific network deployment. Get advice, suggestions and solutions to your individual installation needs.
Contact email@example.com to schedule, or visit Ingate at room 9C at the Austin Convention Center at ITEXPO.
See you there!
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ITEXPO attendees can schedule a free, one-on-one consultation on-site with Bandwidth.com, Broadvox, Media5, ShoreTel, Intertex Data AB and/or Ingate Systems for a personalized assessment of their specific network deployment. Get advice, suggestions and solutions to your individual installation needs.
We've announced the schedule for the new "Unified Communications: SIP Trunking, Video, Collaboration and More" seminars at ITEXPO. UC adoption is on the rise. We're addressing the key questions with these educational sessions, free to all ITEXPO attendees.
Speakers include Avaya, Bandwidth.com, Broadvox, Commetrex, Dialogic, FaxCore, GrandStream, Ingate Systems, Intertex Data AB, Media5, Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC), ShoreTel, The SIP Center, The SIP Forum, Texas A&M University, Unified Communication Interoperability Forum (UCIF) and VOIPSA.Continue Reading...
Essential reading on SIP, Ingate's new e-book is a resource guide on SIP trunking, SIP security, VoIP, Unified Communications and more.
A case study illustrating the ROI of SIP trunking achieved by Kool Smiles, a children's dental management practice with offices across the US, is included.
Topics covered in the e-book include:
• What is the SIP protocol?
• The Basics of SIP Trunking.
• What is NAT?
• SIP Trunking: Bring your Own Bandwidth
• Managed SIP Trunking Service Providers
• The Role of an Ingate in a Managed Services Environment
• What is SIPconnect?
• SIP Security
• Routing Rules and Policies
Download "What is SIP Trunking?" for free: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmc/whitepapers/white-paper.aspx?id=4562&title=What+is+SIP+Trunking%3f+eBook
Unified Communications is transforming the 21st century enterprise, fueled by the exponential growth of SIP trunking, which lowers operating costs, delivers rapid ROI and feature-rich-applications. UC implementation rates doubled from 2010-2011 according to CDW's third annual Unified Communications Tracking Poll.
To address the need for information on the what, why and how of UC and SIP trunking, we are revamping the popular ITEXPO seminar series to offer the new Unified Communications: SIP Trunking, Voice, Video and More at ITEXPO West 2011, September 13-15, 2011.
The seminars are free to all ITEXPO attendees.Continue Reading...
The new standard, t.38, was first deployed in 1998. The first phase of the deployment targeted intra-company use. Continue Reading...
This morning at the SIP Trunk-UC Summit at ITEXPO Matt Vlasach of Unwired Revolution discussed supporting remote workers in "SIP: Unifying the Distributed Workforce." In this case study he described how the Ingate enables a connection to the Microsoft Lync which transforms the Lync TCP packets to UDP so they can be delivered to the ShoreTel servers and to Paetec SIP Trunking services. It also protected all the Unwired Revolution network assets.
ROI in Two Years: Matt described that the payback for the enhanced service model was less than two years and the return on investment was more than adequate to meet the requirements of the company.
The next steps are to integrate this with CRM and to support mobile VoIP and then to communication enable business processes for the customer.
Matt offered 5 tips for evolving to UC:
1. Make sure the customer LAN and the WAN is UC ready minimizing jitter, delay and packet loss
a. Use a networking monitoring tool or service to evaluate the network on a hop-by-hop basis to see where issues may be encountered
2. Use SIP and find a reputable service provider than can offer quality of service
3. Understand how people work and communicate
4. Evaluate multiple UC vendors and be willing to have a multi-vendor solution
5. Phase in the deployment and use an implementation specialist
"SIP is the glue for Unified Comms and Ingate makes it all work for interoperability and security," he concluded.
The SIP Trunk-Unified Communications Summit is in full swing here in sunny Miami Beach at ITEXPO. We're blogging live from the SIP Trunk-UC Summit. If you're attending the show stop by the Summit in room A208 – you don't want to miss Aastra, ShoreTel, Broadvox, VOIPSA, EarthLink Business, Qwest Business just to name a few of our panelists – all of whom are leading visionaries in SIP, SIP trunking and UC.
This morning our panelists for the Town Hall Meeting engaged in a very lively discussion about what Unified Communications really means.Continue Reading...
Interoperability is becoming a central topic at the SIP Trunk-Unified Communications Summit at ITEXPO. The Unified Communications Interoperability Forum and SIP trunking leader BroadSoft will both be speaking, which tells me that Unified Communications is gaining traction significantly and that interoperability is becoming a key issue we must address.
Cloud-based UC is also being recognized as a unique alternative to on-premise service - both have benefits, and the BroadSoft presentation will help delineate the opportunities for both. Cloud-based SIP trunking offers all the know-how for back-end implementation and ongoing updates, maintenance etc. Continue Reading...
SIP trunks are fueling interest in, and adoption of, Unified Communications. That's why at the ITEXPO in October, in LA, we're debuting the new SIP Trunk-Unified Communications Summit, to showcase the close relationship between these two services. We're developing a program that helps demystify Unified Communications, just like we did for SIP trunking, and provides you with a roadmap - the information you need to know, now -- on the what, why and how of UC.
SIP trunking is still a focus, so look for some innovative programming on that front as well. Continue Reading...
Are you headed to warm Miami Beach next week, for the ITEXPO? Join Ingate and the leading voices in SIP trunking for the "SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know" seminars - free for all ITEXPO attendees.
This season we have some exciting new sessions:
Session for Carriers with J. Arnold & Associates. The SIP Forum and Other Leaders
A new session, "Just for Carriers: SIP Trunk Intensive Workshop," will feature an in-depth analysis on SIP trunks to address the unique needs of this audience.


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2001 November 30 - December 1 Adelaide Information Literacy: the social action agenda -how is information obtained, interpreted and used for social action? The Fifth national Information Literacy Conference. ALIA Information Literacy Special Interest Group and University of South Australia. Library. Contact: Irene Doskatsch <firstname.lastname@example.com> http://www.library.unisa.edu.au/events/ilconf2001.htm
2001 November 29 - December 1 Espoo, Finland 3rd e-ICOLC (International Coalition of Library Consortia in Europe) http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/finelib/eicolc.html
2001 November 29-30 San Antonio, Texas CNI Fall Task Force meeting.Coalition for Networked Information. http://www.cni.org/tfms/2001b.fall/index.html , Project Briefings. (US)
2001 November 19 Melbourne Digital Continuity: A Forum on the Role of Australian Universities. http://www.swin.edu.au/lib/DigCon2001.htm - Presentations Contact Derek Whitehead on 03 9214 8333 or Sally Zanic on 03 9214 firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com
2001 November 15-16 Carlton, Victoria OZeWAI 2001 (Australian web content accessibility information) http://www.sunriseresearch.com.au/ozewai_2001/
2001 November 9-10 Atlanta, Georgia, USA ACM Symposium on Document Engineering. SDE '01 will be held in conjunction with the 2001 Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM '01) http://www.documentengineering.org/
2001 November 5-7 Washington, D.C. Electronic Book 2001: Authors, Applications, and Accessibility. NIST and NISO http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/ebook2001/
2001 October 28-31 Indianapolis, Indiana EDUCAUSE 2001: An EDU Odyssey. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com | http://www.educause.edu/conference/e2001
2001 October 22-26 Tokyo, Japan DC-2001 International Conference on Dublin Core and Metadata Applications 2001. http://www.nii.ac.jp/dc2001/
2001 October 22 London Measuring up to expectations?: Usage data and electronic journals. UK Serials Group. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com://www.uksg.org
2001 October 22 London Collected Wisdom managing resources and enhancing access through collection-level description. Collection Description Focus, Briefing Day 1. ULOLN http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cd-focus/events/bd1/
2001 October 18-20 Adelaide Someone Special:issues in the development of person specific libraries, archives and collections. University of South Australia, The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library http://www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au/library/
2001 October 12-13 Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, Mesa, AZ ECURE 2001: Preservation and Access for Electronic College and University Records Presented by Arizona State University, with the generous support of the Coalition for Networked Information; the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; and our contributing sponsor Bell & Howell Information and Learning http://www.asu.edu/it/events/ecure/
2001 October 10-13 Noosa, QLD Learning Technologies 2001 Conference. Hosted by TAFE Queensland Videolinq & LearnTel http://www.videolinq.qld.edu.au/Conference/2001/learning_technologies_2001.htm
2001 October1-5 Ljubljana, Slovenia 7th Interlending and Document Supply International Conference. Seventh Conference organised jointly by the National and University Library, Ljubljana and the IFLA Office for International Lending. http://www.ifla.org/VI/2/p6/oct01.htm
2001 September 26-28 Sydney Computing Arts 2001: Digital Resources for Research in the Humanities. http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/Arts/departs/rihss/drrh.html
2001 September 25-28 Sydney Developing Global Capacity through International Education. 15th Australian International Education Conference. IDP Education Australia http://www.idp.com/conf2001/
2001 September 24-27 Sydney Education Odyssey 2001: the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia forum. The Forum will be jointly hosted by The University of Sydney and The Open Training and Education Network(OTEN). http://www.oten.edu.au/odlaa/
2001 September 15-18 Newcastle upon Tyne First International Conference on Human Aspects of the Information Society. http://is.unn.ac.uk/imri/Conference2001/Call_for_Papers.htm
2001 September 3-3 Rockhampton, Queensland Globalisation and Tertiary Education: Impacts, Responses, and Implications for the 21st Century. AAIR Forum 2001. 12th Annual International Conference of the Australasian Association for Institutional Research (AAIR). http://www.aair2001.cqu.edu.au/
2001 September 2-6 Port Stephens, NSW CAUDIT-EDUCAUSE Institute. http://www.caudit.edu.au/caudit/institute/institute2001/
2001 September 2-4 Gold Coast Moving Online II: Conference -2001. http://www.scu.edu.au/moconf/
2001 August 16-25 Boston, USA Libraries and Librarians: Making a Difference in the Knowledge Age: 67th IFLA Council and General Conference. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com | http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla67/index.htm
2001 August 16-17 Boston IFLA 2001 - Preconference on Library Consortia. [proceedings now available] http://www.nelinet.net/conf/ifla/ifla.htm
2001 August 12-16 Pittsburgh, PA Meaningful Measures for Emerging Realities: 4th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services. IFLA Satellite preconference. http://www.arl.org/stats/newmeas/northumb.html
2001 August 9 Canberra Australia: A Knowledge Culture? National Scholarly Communications Forum Round Table No 13 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/aah/nscf/nscf_RT13.htm
2001 August 8 Canberra Grounds of Inquiry: The Structures of Scholarly Communication in Australia. National Scholarly Communications Forum Round Table No 12. http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/aah/nscf/nscf_RT12.htm
2001 August 6 22 University of Maryland University College, Md, USA Faculty Ownership of Course Material in the Online Classroom http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/workshop_ipacademia/descriptions.html#ownership
2001 July 26-27 National Museum of Australia, Canberra Humanities & Social Sciences Summit: Australian Humanities & Social Sciences in the Twenty-first Century http://www.anu.edu.au/cce/humanities/
2001 July 24-25 Melbourne Copyright for Education Institutions: the impact of the Digital Agenda Amendments. The University of Newcastle and Victoria University http://www.newcastle.edu.au/copyright_seminar/index.htm
2001 July 8-13 Glasgow Digitisation Summer School 2001 for Cultural Heritage Professionals. The Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute, University of Glasgow. http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/DigiSS01/
2001 July 5-7 Canterbury, UK ELPUB2001 - "2001 in the Digital Publishing Odyssey" ICCC / IFIP 5th International Conference on Electronic Publishing. http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/mbv/PrintMedienTech/elpub2001/elpub2001/
2001 July 3-7 London LIBER 30th Annual General Conference: New alliances, new services. Association of European Research Libraries" (LIBER - Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche) http://www.kb.dk/guests/intl/liber/conf/2001/london.htm
2001 June 28 Roanoke, VA, USA (W1) Visual Interfaces to Digital Libraries - Its Past, Present, and Future. JCDL - The First ACM+IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries. http://vw.indiana.edu/visual01/jcdl.html
2001 June 26-27 London Developing the Marketplace- organised by Procurement for Libraries (formerly named National Group on Consortium Purchasing by Academic Libraries). http://lupc.procureweb.ac.uk/Events/Libraries%20Conference/LibrariesConf2001.html
2001 June 14-21 San Francisco American Library Association Annual Conference http://www.ala.org/alaevents/alaevents_home.html
2001 May 28 - June 1 Delft Stratum Continuum of Information: the 22nd IATUL conference. International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL). http://www.library.tudelft.nl/iatul/
2001 May 20-23 Gold Coast, Queensland EDUCAUSE in Australasia 2001: The power of 3. Contact: Conference Organiser, Martin Lack firstname.lastname@example.com | http://www.gu.edu.au/ins/its/educause2001/
2001 May 1415 Canberra AccessAbility Workshop 2001. Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts http://www.dcita.gov.au/commsconf/access_about.html
2001 May 11 Hong Kong JULAC Seminar: Electronic Resources - Consortial Initiatives. Presentations now available. http://www.cityu.edu.hk/lib/JULAC_Seminar.htm
2001 May 3-4 Washington, DC & September 22-23 Seattle New ways of listening to library users: Tools for measuring service quality: an Association of Research Libraries seminar. http://www.arl.org/libqual/events/listen/
2001 April 25-26 Washington, DC Invitational Workshop on Networked Reference Services. National Information Standards Organization (NISO) [Papers and presentations available at] http://www.niso.org/netref.html
2001 April 21-25 Coffs Harbour AusWeb01: the seventh Australian World Wide Web conference. http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/
2001 March 30 London Is there Life after E-prints?: Survival strategies for publishers. The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers http://www.alpsp.org/s300301.htm
2001 March 27-29 Cape Town, South Africa Globalisation and Higher Education: Views from the South. One of its key focuses will be Australasia.hosted jointly with the Education Policy Unit, University of the Western Cape, and in association with five higher education institutions of the Western Cape, the Association of Commonwealth Universities and UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education. http://www.srhe.ac.uk/southafrica/globalHE.htm
2001 March 22-24 CERN, Switzerland Workshop on the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and Peer Review journals in Europe. http://documents.cern.ch/AGE/current/fullAgenda.php?stylesheet=&ida=a01193 Documents now available.
2001 March 22-24 California Fourth International Symposium on Electronic Theses and Dissertations. http://library.caltech.edu/etd/
2001 March 20 London E-Books 2001. Sponsored by LITC, South Bank University, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) / DNER, Dawson Books. http://litc.sbu.ac.uk/ebooks2001/
2001 February 26-27 London E-Commerce and the Future of Journal Subscriptions. The Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries. http://www.subscription-agents.org/conference.html
2001 February 16-18 Tempe, AZ ARL/OCLC Strategic Issues Forum: Rethinking Academic Library Performance in the Digital Age - http://www.oclc.org/institute/strat_forum_acad.htm
2001 February 15-16 Washington, DC Forum on Library Statistics and PerformanceMeasures. National Information Standards Organization (NISO) http://www.niso.org/stats.html
2001 February 9 Brisbane Copyright: the Challenges of New and Old Media. http://law.anu.edu.au/centres/acipa/seminars/Nov2000.pdf
2001 February 9-15 Washington, DC American Library Association MidWinter Meeting http://www.ala.org/alaevents/alaevents_home.html
2001 February 9 Brisbane Copyright: the Challenges of New and Old Media. http://law.anu.edu.au/centres/acipa/seminars/Nov2000.pdf
2001 January 16-18 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Australia Information Online 2001 Conference & Exhibition. Sponsored by the Information Science Section of the Australian Library and Information Association, Contact: Online 2001 Secretariat, Tour Hosts Pty Ltd, GPO Box 128, SYDNEY NSW 2000, Tel: + 61 2 9262 2277, Fax: + 61 2 9262 3135 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com | http://www.csu.edu.au/special/online2001/
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Entry Fees & Methods of Payment
Entry fees for all categories in The 2019 International Business Awards are summarized in a PDF document which you may download here:
A separate fee is required for each category in which an entry is submitted. No refunds will be made after 10 May 2017.
Entries submitted after 8 May will be assessed a late fee of $55 (per entry) in addition to the entry fee, but will not be penalized in any way in the judging.
Acceptable Methods of Payment
- Credit Card: American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
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TORONTO -- John Gibbons was hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays for the second time Tuesday, returning to a team that just invigorated its roster after a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins.
"I never would have guessed this could happen," he said at a news conference.
Gibbons managed Toronto 2004-2008 and had a 305-305 record, making him the third winningest manager in franchise history.
He succeeds John Farrell, who spurned Toronto for his dream managing job in Boston. Gibbons, however, takes over a very different team from the one Farrell managed.
The surprise announcement came a day after the Blue Jays completed a mega deal in which they acquired All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from Miami. Toronto agreed to the trade last week and Commissioner Bud Selig approved it Monday. The Blue Jays, extraordinarily busy in this offseason, also announced the signing of free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera.
"Who wouldn't want to be here?" Gibbons said. "The front office has put together a legitimate contending type team."
Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos had said he wanted someone who was familiar with the organization and city. Anthopolous was an assistant GM when Gibbons managed Toronto. Gibbons joins Cito Gaston as managers serving two stints with the Blue Jays.
His best season was in 2006, when Toronto went 87-75 to finish second in the division -- the same season he had a well-publicized blowup with players Shea Hillenbrand Ted Lilly.
Gibbons most recently managed the San Antonio Missions of the Texas League (AA) in the San Diego Padres' organization last season. He also had three seasons as the Kansas City Royals' bench coach.
Gibbons joined the Blue Jays' coaching staff in 2002 as a bullpen catcher and was promoted midseason to first base coach. He served in that capacity until replacing Carlos Tosca in 2004. Before joining the Blue Jays the first time, Gibbons spent 11 seasons working with the New York Mets.
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Maths Teacher, Wirral
Closing date:
Contract type: Full Time
Contract term: Supply
Suitable for NQTs: Yes
Vision for Education are pleased to be recruiting for a Maths Teacher for a comprehensive secondary school based in Wirral. The school is the heart of the local community and prides itself on having a curriculum that inspires a lifelong passion for learning. The school has recently been graded as 'good' in all areas.
The position will be across Key Stages 3 - 5. It is a full-time opportunity and will commence in January 2019. The successful candidate must be fully qualified to teach within a Secondary environment and have experience offering Maths up to KS5. This is a temporary role and expected to last until Easter in the first instance but could potentially continue until the end of the academic year. Applications from experienced and newly qualified candidates are welcome.
The successful candidate will:
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- Have a resilient character, a strong personal drive and a dynamic teaching approach
To apply for this position, you must hold Secondary QTS. In order to apply for this position, you will need to submit your CV immediately for consideration via the Apply button below. If you have a query about the role, please call our Liverpool branch on 0151 363 2266.
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It is essential that your hold a valid and recognised teaching qualification with at least six weeks recent experience of teaching in the UK. We are also required to contact your past schools for a reference. All positions are subject to an enhanced DBS check. If you feel you have the qualities and drive we are looking for please apply directly.
Contact Vision for Education Ltd
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|Topic Review (Newest First)
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jon
Date: 2/28/2009 2:15 pm EDT
Let me re-phrase that...
What I had stated was, "The following has been taken off their website" which sounds like they removed it from their website.
The information I stated was, obtained from their website.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Chris
Date: 2/27/2009 9:39 am EDT
Great research!
Sounds like you're ready to go.I still would used the Insulayment rather than Quiet walk.It's firmer and will support the tile better. Quiet Walk and Insulayment are made by the same company and use basicly the same materials for each product. I will check but I'm sure it's okay to use.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jon
Date: 2/26/2009 7:28 pm EDT
I am not sure where I got that pad thickness of 3/8 but anyway; here is more info on the panels.
I would be using QuietWalk underlayment as it has been approved for use with these heat panels.
To ensure the temperature does not exceed 84 or 115 degrees, all I need to do is install a thermostat, right?
The following has been taken off the their website .
Environ II panels are less than 1/16 thick. The power supply cord is ¼.
Environ II panels are made of a pattern of a fixed-resistance heating element, sandwiched between two layers of aluminum foil laminate.
The aluminum foil that forms the outer casing of the panel provides several advantages:
Heat generated by the heating element wire within the panel rapidly spreads through the foil, creating a large plate at an even temperature.
This also helps to prevent heat build up under chair and table legs, as the natural tendency of the foil is to draw heat away from a hot spot.
It is waterproof, thus protecting all internal wiring and connections within the panel;
It is rigid, yet still sufficiently flexible to make for ease of installation;
|Avaire Archive
Author: Chris
Date: 2/26/2009 3:50 pm EDT
I've worked with the Warmly Yours product a few times and it's less than 1/8" tick and if a product like Insulayment was installed over it and the floor was properly prepared I'm sure you would be okay installing Avaire tile over.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jonathan
Date: 2/26/2009 1:48 pm EDT
I have heard of the WarmlyYours brand, but I do not have their technical specs. Perhaps I misunderstand, but if their pad is truly 3/8" (0.375") thick, I think that would be too thick for use under the Avaire system. The QuietWarmth brand product is 0.11" thick, or less than 1/3rd of a 3/8" pad.
Generally speaking, if the heating system is designed for use under laminate wood flooring, which cannot be exposed to temperatures more than 85F, it will be compatible with our system. One concern would be the wire thickness and composition. With QuietWarmth, the wires are attached to the pad which provides some protection. If a raw set of wires were installed directly under our tile over a rough concrete surface, over time I'd be concerned about the "grid" under our system "pinching" the heating wires and wearing through the wire insulation. With QuietWarmth, we don't have that concern because the pad protects the wires, and the wire composition is actually a fiber and not a metallic material.
I will review the WarmlyYours system to determine whether or not it is compatible with Avaire.
Thank you for considering Avaire and for your excellent question!
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jon
Date: 2/24/2009 11:06 pm EDT
Upon further research I have learned that the Environ II heat panels are acceptable to use with Quietwalk underlayment.
I assume then that, after installing underlayment under the Avaire tiles, the finished floor will be ok? It wont be to soft or unstable and will not affect the grout?
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jon
Date: 2/22/2009 7:51 pm EDT
Thank you Journeyman for your information, I think I will just install a wall heater for the added heat, and use rugs. I do not want to compromise the integrity of the tile.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Journeyman
Date: 2/21/2009 8:21 pm EDT
Not totally familiar with what pads are available for laminate floors. I think 1/8" is typical. But, the 3/8" you mentioned would be pretty thick for hard tile I think. The plastic trays (Avaire) may be the saving-grace in that scenario, just don't know for sure.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Jon
Date: 2/21/2009 6:37 pm EDT
I am not exactly sure, but is pad used under laminate flooring real thin, like 1/8"? They say it is used under laminate flooring as well as carpet.
|Avaire Archive
Author: Journeyman
Date: 2/21/2009 5:12 pm EDT
You should seek those guarantees from the WY people. I personally don't see how the grout would hold up under those circumstances. The Avaire grout is flexible only to a small degree. I would also be a little concerned about point-impacts to the tile over a soft pad such as the one you are suggesting. Point-loads from furniture legs may also be a concern under those circumstances.
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Weeeeee! I started the day with a nasty migraine, took half a percocet, and, for those that have listened to this show for awhile, you know that things get goofy when I get … under the influence. Weeeee!
First of all, have you gone over to The City Weekly to vote for The LEFT Show yet? Hmmm?
Remember, in OCTOBER, when The LEFT Show broke the latest chapter of the Skulduggerous Adventures of Johnny Swallow? We'll be talking about that some more, among SO MANY other, interesting stuff!
We talk about SPACE and SCIENCE – because we're not Republicans! The President takes his forth oath of office today (think it through, it'll come to you) and Utah is about to pressured by the Feds to "make changes" – but, no one's really all that loud about it … yup, not guns.
Speaking of guns, crazy about guns, and morons with guns, we also have letters from morons about guns, and a little more gun stuff. Oh, then I lose my shit and start yelling at Sgt. Jake … for REASONS! Guns and slavery, too! The LEFT is dumb on guns, too!
We read the 23 Executive Orders that President Obama signed that don't restrict your 2nd Amendment Rights, not one little bit, you reactionary, purposefully ignorant, knee jerk, chuckleheads. LISTEN AND LEARN!
Start your two day countdown to a brand new Bat Sh@t Crazy with Jason Williams, folks!
#104 – The LEFT Show – Percocet Begins


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