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Hello, My name is Stephen R Wagner, and I am posting here because I have written a novel about a man fighting colon cancer (based on my own experience fighting colon cancer). I am posting here because I thought that it might interest you, if, for no other reason, than the simple fact that literature, and the public (in general) rarely seems to focus on such things.
I must warn you, it is an odd book, full of darkness and humor (though I believe that many of the best things in life are a complex blend of the two).
If you are curious, you may find a link to the audiobook version, on Amazon, here: http://a.co/2gMyr0Y
May you all be as well as you can.
Best regards,
PS. It has just occurred to me that I didn't think to include a sample of the book, which was foolish of me. To correct this, I am inserting the text from Chapter Sixty One, below. (The book largely consists of very short, somewhat absurd chapters).
Here is a truth that I will now tell you. I was somewhat amazed -not that I had survived - but that I had been injured.
That the slings and arrows cast down from the heavens should actually have found their mark.
That was what startled me.
To wake up with my rectum removed. They had gotten to me. I had, to one degree or another, been gotten.
It had always been my intention to win unconditionally. But, of course, things do not always work out as we intend them.
I was ready to suffer and experience pain, I was ready for nausea (oh, how I was ready for the nausea). But, foolishly, I had thought that I would escape permanent physical injury - that the lasting scars would only be emotional.
I thought that I would escape , but they had caught up with me - and maimed me.
That was what startled me.
To look up, after being hit, hands coated in my own blood, to realize that I had been hit.
My entire mission was in jeopardy.
That was what amazed me.
I have a seam that runs from my testicles to my sternum. You may feel (or think) that I have misspoken. That I should have said stitches or scar (depending on the time scale from the surgery). And you would not perhaps be considered technically wrong in this. But I think of it as a seam. A visible line, showing where parts have been joined, or rejoined. A visible marker showing how the fabric is held together. A hint as to the makeup of the whole, which hints at both strength and weakness. It is both a sign of damage and of healing. There have been damages. My seams are indicators of this. I am not afraid of them or made uncomfortable by them. I shall leave that to others.
So, we must ask, what has been lost? We have lost smooth, unblemished surfaces. And there is some sadness in that. There is a wonderful silent joy in drawing fingers idly over smooth surfaces. There is something to be said for that.
But I was not, in all honesty, ever that smooth to begin with.
Know where your seams are, know how the whole is put together. Be not ashamed of them.
I have been battered about, and sections of the ship have been lost and destroyed.* That they (the sections) may never be used again.
*Parts of the reactor have been cordoned off, with sealed (iron) doors, that the disease may not continue to spread from one compartment to the next. Entire sections of the craft will likely remain unusable, for forever. There are concerns, at times, among the crew, that the entire vessel is no longer sea worthy. The crew is not likely wrong in this, yet we continue to head out into deeper waters (beyond the safety of the bay), on patrols in enemy territories, as there is much still to battle. I would be lying, if I said that when I give the command to dive - when I give the command to dive and I hear the dive sirens sound throughout the hull of the ship (just before we submerge), I would be lying, if I said that I do not wonder, each time, if we shall make it back to the surface. It is not for me to say, whether or not I shall make it back to the surface again. I give the command to dive, and down we go, as there are things below the surface that I must take care of. You need not follow me (below the surface) if you are uncomfortable with this. But, dear reader, we could always use another good pair of competent hands below deck. Think about it, but do not think about it for too long, as I must proceed on, with or without you. As (your) captain, I am sworn inextricably to the missions themselves. Missions I may not lay idly aside: though the obstacles before us may seem insurmountable (as they indeed might be), and though the odds are not in our favor (as they are not). We persevere. We persevere simply because we are still here. Come and persevere with me. There is still fun to be had. If you are willing to have it.
For all my falling apart, do not think, for a second, that they have gotten through to me (with their darkness and their death). They need not get through to you, either.
You will likely want to know what it is like to have a permanent colostomy bag, but you are not comfortable asking. I will tell you.
It is a little bit awful.
It is not fully awful. It is a little bit awful. It is manageable, but not pleasant. It is a tiny bit awful. It concentrates and magnifies the processed un-pleasantries of life. In addition, you must come to terms with a complete loss of control, as to how and when things happen. Lastly, you must deal with the fact that you are wholly dependent, for the rest of your life, on very specific medical supplies that are not readily available at regular stores. They must be received in the mail, and you must have them with you at all times. Sometimes, I imagine what would happen, if the supplier stopped supplying. If there was a strike, or the factories shut down.
Or if they blew them up.
Eventually, I would have to fabricate my own bags. Wax and tape contraptions, adhered to my abdomen. The logistics would be messy and difficult to work out from scratch. This may seem dark to you. But if it does, then you have not delved deeply enough into the concept behind the statement. It is, in fact, anything but dark and despairing.
I am speaking of surviving pointed towards thriving. If you cannot see yourself through to surviving, you cannot survive. It is as simple as that. You must, to a certain degree, generate yourself in your own imagination. And you should try to make a point about having a little fun with it.
But it is manageable to have a permanent colostomy bag. I will tell you more later.
[End Chapter Sixty One]
Alright, now I'm done, and I shall leave you alone.


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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
versión On-line ISSN 2078-5135
versión impresa ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.102 no.7 Cape Town jul. 2012
Pretoria intervention saves E Cape health corruption-buster
Chris Batemans
Progressive disempowerment and provincial healthcare under-budgeting in the Eastern Cape almost forced the resignation of its corruption-buster chief, Dr Siva Pillay and his most trusted administrators last month. The political moves were directly responsible for thousands of healthcare workers going without pay or being underpaid, for five months.
National health minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, who head-hunted Pillay, and ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, intervened on the eve of a two-week resignation deadline Pillay and Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kieviet had agreed upon to try and resolve an internal deadlock.
Pillay, a former national parliamentarian and his political head, Eastern Cape Health MEC, Sicelo Gqobana, went head to head in a protracted power struggle that undermined service delivery, each accusing the other of 'sabotage', resulting in Pillay threatening to resign on 15 June unless he was given back administrative control - progressively bled from him over the last six months.
The South African Medical Association (SAMA) weighed in with an urgent court interdict demanding that all unpaid and underpaid doctors be immediately recompensed and that a moratorium on appointing new doctors be lifted. SAMA demanded that the health department be placed under full national administration to address what it said amounted to a dire management and healthcare-delivery crisis. This comes in spite of Pretoria this April having chosen to pilot a programme for proper procurement and monitoring by embedding in Pillay's department a high-tech national multi-agency work group, including the Hawks, Asset Forfeiture Unit and National Treasury.1 Proponents of the intervention boasted to Izindaba that it would cut fraud and wastage by up to 80%. Many of its members grew disenchanted and saw the in-fighting as white-anting their state-of-the-art anti-corruption and service delivery initiatives - but the national political intervention has now strengthened their hand.
Their intercession was inspired by Pillay's prior clean-up of a corruption hi-jacked department over the previous two years during which he fired or forced the resignation of more than 1 200 people, mostly health department administrative staff - some of them in pivotal senior infrastructure or finance positions where hundreds of millions of Rand were being pilfered annually. Several of the sacked top officials with provincial cabinet-level connections have since been waging a political campaign against him which at one stage led to a cabinet-ordered but ultimately baseless forensic enquiry2
Ominous warning nearly played out
Pillay was physically threatened by a silent gun-toting man in the deserted car park below his Bhisho offices around 9 pm on 25 January last year,3 releasing his two trained alsatians which chased the would-be assailant back into a waiting BMW which sped away, and verbally threatened by the husband of his sacked chief financial officer at the provincial legislature last April. He said the verbal threat included the man telling him: 'Don't forget this is Bhisho and some of what you sow, you shall reap. He told me the pit they were digging for me was getting deeper and deeper and when they buried me, nobody would ever get me out.'
From November last year Pillay's three core functions as health director general were shifted beyond his control (in all of which he made decisive changes which saved hundreds of millions of Rand and uncovered corruption). First his air and land ambulance rescue services were moved to the Transport Department, then provincial cabinet set up a Health Infrastructure Management Committee under Premier Kieviet, and finally the Human Resources for Health function, including PERSAL (the salary management system) was moved to the provincial treasury, resulting in 4 000 healthcare workers, including scores of doctors, going unpaid for five months. In a meeting with SAMA's angry public sector committee on 4 June, Health MEC Gqobana apologised profusely, vowing to donate his own salary should the few outstanding unpaid doctor salaries, bulk unpaid rural allowances and commuted overtime not quickly reach the doctors, whose daily living expenses were supplemented by colleagues and SAMA.
Budget hammer blow
Another blow to Pillay was via his provincial budget allocation, which many experts in the NGO, Section 27 and SAMA suspect was consciously and illegally set low. From inheriting a 2.8 billion deficit when he came in two years ago, Pillay was allocated R600 million in his first year and R700 million in his second - effectively a 2.7% decrease where every other department (except Transport) was given increases, some of them substantial. From January this year (when he was no longer in control of the healthcare PERSAL), the salaries of 4 000 healthcare workers were either underpaid or not paid, including 67 doctors (at least 47 of whom are permanent and the rest sessional). This led to a lunchtime doctor picket at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, a mass meeting and an aborted SAMA march on the Bhisho administrative headquarters.
Ineptitude aggravated workers
One former Pillay insider told Izindaba that the provincial Treasury had so little hands-on experience of healthcare worker payment that it had both incorrectly 'captured' doctors in new posts and, instead of the negotiated 22% rural allowance, paid them a mere R22.00 each, adding fuel to the collective fire. By the time of going to press most of the doctors had been paid and SAMA had withdrawn its interdict. Pillay admitted to Izindaba that the doctor non-payment was a huge embarrassment but without the PERSAL function, no deputy director generals for clinical services, human resources and no chief financial officer, 'it's a recipe for failure to tell me to fix it' A new internal task team, consisting of the Premier, Pillay's department, his MEC and Provincial Treasury will in future co-ordinate and monitor all planning with the premier agreeing to reign in Pillay and Gqobana should they deviate from agreed-upon goals and strategies.
It was reliably learnt that agreement was reached on critical areas which include provincial Treasury taking responsibility for all procurement tenders put out by the national Multi Agency Work Group, human resource under-budgeting (a revised organogram on posts and equitable distribution of healthcare staff, audited monthly), an overhaul of administrative procedures in disciplining and firing of staff (a major bone of contention between Gqobana, whom the unions ran to, and Pillay), function-based funding for the rationalised service delivery platform (a pet cost-saving project of Pillay's) and addressing a 'discordance' between human resource development and primary healthcare delivery. One of the first agreed-upon tasks of the new leadership team will be to advertise effectively for the pivotal empty senior posts in Pillay's department.
Mark Heywood, Director of Section 27 (including the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)), had harsh words for what he saw as the political undermining of a health chief intent on tackling a collapsing, sleazy health administration. 'It's been coming for a long time. I think the final straw for him was the doctors threatening to strike and many who don't know the truth holding him personally accountable. This is not about delivery, honesty, integrity and efficiency -the issues which ought to guide who serves and who falls in the health system; it's about good people getting squashed, and corrupt and inefficient people holding (on to) their positions. The people who pay for that ultimately are the users of the health system.'
A sign of things to come for the NHI?
Speaking when Pillay's resignation seemed inevitable, Heywood said that if Motsoaledi and Kieviet were not given complete free reign to deal with this (which he regards as a key test of political ability to back clean, more efficient administration), 'you can wave National Health Insurance (NHI) goodbye. The consequences of this to the health system will be as serious as AIDS denialism ever was. The NHI simply has to be built on a strengthening public health system not on a collapsing one'. Izindaba reliably learnt that Pillay's department negotiated an overdraft with provincial treasury to cover accruals and the R2.8 billion overdraft -which Treasury allegedly reneged on. The funding of the R1.51 billion capital was managed through 'top-slicing' (repayment by Treasury prior to disbursement to the health department) - meaning that repayment was made against a capital contribution the health department did not have. Heywood said that 'at the very minimum' the top sliced amounts (related to the overdraft) needed to be restored while crucial unfunded mandate issues needed redress. Negative growth in a budget was legally impermissible, let alone morally outrageous in a health context. Any future turnaround plan would only be effective if weaknesses in critical systems such as human resources and supply chain management were identified and fixed and endemic corruption eradicated, he added.
Dr Pophi Ramathuba, chairperson of SAMA's public sector committee, said 'the biggest mistake' was to appoint Pillay (also a member of the national Communist Party executive) as head of department instead of as a member of the provincial cabinet (Health MEC), with real political leverage. 'At the end of the day the relationship between him and his political head became dysfunctional - and we suffered. He was seen as undermining the politicians and they had to hit back. It seems he did not listen when they told him what to do. So they dealt with him and took away the PERSAL. That crippled him. They showed him that he's not the politician; they are. He was basically seen as too close to the Premier and not recognising the Health MEC.'
SAMA's acting chairman, Dr Mark Sonderup, said it was 'particularly disturbing that this issue (non-payment) has now arisen after the recent criticisms levelled at doctors by the department for allegedly not wanting to work in the province. We strongly condemn the chaos that resulted.' Ramathuba said the most chronic selfinflicted injury of the department would be newly qualified interns putting any Eastern Cape post as their last choice for community service this July, and all other qualified healthcare workers avoiding what appeared to be a dysfunctional and obdurate Eastern Cape public health sector in future.
1. Bateman C. Bhisho corruption busting now the national pilot. S Afr Med J 2012:102:274-276. [ Links ]
2. Bateman C. E Cape health chief hits back at 'jobs for pals' charges. S Afr Med J 2011;101:610-612. [ Links ]
3. Bateman C. Corruption busting a real health threat. S Afr Med J 2011;101:360-363. [ Links ]

subset: commoncrawl


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Happy Thirsty Thursday! Would you take a look at this sweet and sophisticated drink? Doesn't it look delicious? Well it tastes just as good as it looks. Today we are making Rock Candy Martinis.
Talk about easy to make! These three simple ingredients let you whip things up fast and enjoy almost immediately. Each sip will make you smile.
This aqua blue hue brings that tropical Caribbean water to you. Pretend you are on a tropical island taking in the oceanic view with beautiful rocks surrounding the beach. Then, imagine yourself soaking in the sun rays enjoying a blue stick of rock candy that is sold in those big, translucent glass jars in local candy shoppes. The image is picture perfect, which makes this drink such a fun candy cocktail!
2 oz. Hpnotiq
1 oz. Vodka
Splash of Pineapple Juice
1 Blue Rock Candy
Mix ingredients, shake well, and pour into martini glass. Add the rock candy stick for a fun decoration.
Enjoy this Thirsty Thursday with sophistication and style!
Photo and recipe courtesy of http://www.hpnotiq.com/recipes/roq-candy/, Rock candy photo courtesy of http://www.ohnuts.com/buy.cfm/bulk-candy/rock-sugar-swizzle-sticks/light-blue-crystal-cotton


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With the media attention on the big names in the election, how do you expect to win the nomination? Roland Green, DENVER
I have to do well enough in the first primary states to command the media attention that I would otherwise have to buy. That's why we in the second tier are all fearful of these compressed primaries. We can't afford to run in 10 states at one time.
What evidence would convince you that global warming is a serious threat to the planet? Jeff Young, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
I have no doubt...
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Daras: The Deputy Fuhrer is an authority on the genetics of racial purity. How do you classify this one?
Melakon: [regarding Spock] Hm. Very difficult. Note the sinister eyes… and the malformed ears. Definitely an inferior race.
Star Trek Patterns of Force 1968
"You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly.
Our programming does not permit us to acknowledge that any creature is superior to the Daleks
Doctor Who: Genesis of the Daleks 1975
Picking up from where I left off, when looking at some of the stories that I didn't bother to write about in the last few days I find there is a common thread.
From the calls for death of Climate "deniers" to NRA members to the "not to be taken seriously" assassination list of earth first including Brandon Darby there is a single basic connection.
It is the idea that the people who are thus targeted or critiqued are not worthy of the same courtesy and standards of behavior that those making said declarations would hold for themselves.
Thus any critique particularly public critique of Professor Erik Loomas is beyond the pale but Professor Loomas' connecting Sarah Palin with the Giffords shooting calling for the hunting down of Dick Morris to be skinned like a pig declaring for the world to see we need the heads on sticks of those who disagree is perfectly acceptable no matter what language he may employ or colorful metaphors used.
Now while members of the tea party, the conservative blogosphere and Republicans around the nation might object to this as a double standard, we obviously are forgetting that this type of thinking from our democrat friends concerning Republicans is simply an extension of science:
Scientists have found that people with conservative views have brains with larger amygdalas, almond shaped areas in the centre of the brain often associated with anxiety and emotions.
On the otherhand, they have a smaller anterior cingulate, an area at the front of the brain associated with courage and looking on the bright side of life.
It's the very same principle that another Democrat echoed describing republican opponents on another critical matter:
All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity
Being fanatics with a species of insanity, we don't understand why someone like Brandon Darby, who had the audacity to believe that bombing the GOP convention might not be the appropriate response to political disagreement, is clearly unworthy of standards of society, let alone the consideration for his acts that an Erik Loomas should expect.
And we of the right like Darby, being unworthy of the consideration for the standards or support of society due to our mental impairment, dare I say mental inferiority why stop there? After all, if conservatism is a form of irrational insanity that as some say, has "blood on their hands", what rights do conservatives have that should be respected by he left and the media culture that support them, particularly if these opinions lead to the violent death of women and children?
If such insanity could somehow be restrained, then the enlightened could solve problems from the economy to gun violence unrestrained. There is a precedent. In fact there's a whole Supreme Court ruling, one of the most famous rulings in American jurisprudence, made by some of the most educated and elite democrats of their time that can be looked to for guidance:
We think they are not, and that they are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States.
I don't see a single line in the constitution protecting the rights of the insane fanatics. Do you?
I know some might object to Democrats being connected these opinions of their party. Their resentment to some degree is proper, after all the left goes after the right irregardless of race. So what is the actual driver here? Well that's for tomorrow.
Update: Stacy McCain notes something at Occupy Rebellion that is relevant:
Andrew Breitbart was a career criminal who made it his mission to destroy people & their families. . . .
NO ONE linked to Breitbart has the right to ever claim their "victims" of anything. NO ONE linked to Breitbart has the right to ever "grieve" for anyone they know who died.
Stacy is stuck by this:
What is striking — and, in a weird ironic way, a tribute to Breitbart's greatness — is how this obsessive hatred has persisted even after Breitbart's death, so that now Rauhauser, "Occupy Rebellion" and others (most of them involved with the "Weiner Truther" cult) have transferred their "heroic hatred" to Breitbart's associates.
Stacy Stacy Stacy, you just don't get it. It's not obsessive hatred, Breitbart obviously doesn't have the right to be mourned because what he did and thought was obviously, as Dr. Stephens would diagnose, due to his insanity and any of us who wish to follow his example deserve no better.


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Erectile Dysfunction or Heart Attack/Stroke Risk: Which do you prefer?
Is erectile dysfunction (ED) associated with regular use of painkillers? A new study that focused on this topic resulted in a positive correlation being found between the two. While the findings certainly do not prove that the medication causes ED, they do raise questions that should be addressed in future investigations.


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George Zimmerman's attorneys stunned court observers Tuesday when they waived their client's right to a "Stand Your Ground" hearing slated for April that might have led to a dismissal of the charges in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin a year ago.
However, the defense lawyers didn't say whether they would waive the immunity hearing outright. They left open the possibility for that hearing to be rolled into Zimmerman's second degree murder trial. Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch captain in his Florida subdivision, shot and killed the teen, who was visiting a house in the area.
The move allows the defense more time to prepare for the trial this summer, but also raises the stakes.
Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law entitles a person to use deadly force if he believes his life is threatened, and absolves them of an obligation to retreat from a confrontation, even if retreat is possible.
In recent weeks, the Zimmerman defense has suffered several legal setbacks. Judge Debra Nelson has ruled in favor of the state that Zimmerman's bail conditions should not be loosened, and that Trayvon Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump was not required to sit for a deposition about his interactions with the state's most important witness, a young woman who was the last known person to speak with Trayvon Martin before his death on February 26 2012.
It was the defense's legal maneuvering which put Judge Nelson on the bench in this murder trial. Last summer Zimmerman's team successfully argued that the previous judge, Kenneth Lester, was unfit to preside over the trial after a caustic bail ruling where he blasted Zimmerman for misleading the court about his financial situation.
Zimmerman contends that he shot and killed the 17-year-old Martin after the teen confronted him as he walked to his father's girlfriend's house. Were Judge Nelson to have accepted his account under Stand Your Ground, all criminal proceedings would have immediately stopped, and Zimmerman would have walked free.
But another unfavorable ruling by Nelson could have been interpreted by jurors as a sign of guilt. Waiving the hearing could also prevent the prosecution from picking apart Zimmerman's testimony.
Before the April hearing was waived, Zimmerman's defense set out to attack the credibility of witness 8, arguably the key witness in the upcoming trial.
Defense attorney Donald West asked the court for more information about the allegedly false account she gave attorneys. According to records obtained by ABC News she was on the phone with Martin as his confrontation with Zimmerman began. She claims he told her that he was scared of a strange man following him.
The state admitted that witness 8 lied when she stated that she did not attend Martin's funeral because of a medical issue and that there are no medical records to support that claim. The defense wanted Nelson to question prosecutors about how they first learned that this claim was not true, but Nelson refused.
The defense also asked for law enforecement biographies of both Zimmerman and Martin, in particular Martin's social media history. "It's time and money to get some of the information here and we are running out of both," said West.
In an earlier hearing the judge ruled that Zimmerman's defense could subpoena Martin's social media history but the undertaking is timely and expensive. Authorities agreed to hand over the documents to the judge so that she could review them and determine if the defense should have them.


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The bookseller of Baghdad
Chip Rossetti has a lovely profile of one Baghdad's most prominent booksellers in the trade website Publishing Perspectives:
This is part two, on the current situation:
In a region where import restrictions and government censors made the free flow of books a rarity, and in an era before the internet, Qasim Al-Rajab's devotion to hunting down books and making them available earned him the nickname of shaykh al-kutubiyyin (the shaykh of booksellers.) Loyal customers also dubbed him al-Fihrist-"the Index" — partly for his prodigious memory and partly in homage to a famous 10th-century Baghdad bookseller, Ibn Nadim, who wrote a well-known bibliography of the same title. Between 1960 and 1972, he also published a regular journal-cum-catalogue, al-Maktaba (The Library), which featured articles and announcements about major new books published elsewhere in the world. Qasim Al-Rajab also launched a project of reprinting editions of medieval Arabic texts. That meant getting hold of rare manuscripts in academic libraries in places as far as London, Leipzig and Leiden and then publish modern editions in Beirut, India and Pakistan, where printing costs were cheaper. He would also occasionally print them, as well in Iran, which was known then for its good printing technology and for having state-of-the-art presses. In all, he published around 200 books, including editions of 1001 Nights and medieval works of Arabic travel literature.
This is part two, on the current situation:
Then came the American invasion in 2003. With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, books began to be imported into Iraq again, but that new freedom came with a price: "People were importing certain types of books and getting killed for it. At the time, mainly in 2004 and 2005, people were eager to get books that had been banned in the time of Saddam Hussein." The rising sectarian violence was reflected in the importation of inflammatory literature — both Shi'ite and Sunni — into Iraq. "Some dealers approached importers from Iran, and they introduced to the market very extreme kinds of books. On the other hand, other booksellers were bringing in books from Saudi Arabia — extremist literature on the other side." The violence and sectarianism were a far cry from the bookselling environment Qasim Al-Rajab had once known: "In his time, my grandfather would sell books by Christians, Jews, Sunnis, Shia. Bookselling then was very different from the sectarian situation post-war," said Ibrahim.


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Main navigation | Main content
New graduate students have arrived, and orientation is August 19-30th.
Some of the highlights are:
- Introduction to the Department, Monday, August 19th, 9:00 a.m., in Room 435
- The Graduate Written Exam Part I, Tuesday, August 20, 9:00 a.m., Room 150
- The Graduate Written Exam Part II, Wednesday, August 21, 9:00 a.m., Room 150.
- T.A. Orientation will be held August 22-24, 26-30th.


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This chapter describes how Enterprise JavaBeansTM (EJBTM) technology is supported in the Oracle GlassFishTM Server. This chapter addresses the following topics:
For general information about enterprise beans, see Part IV, Enterprise Beans, in The Java EE 6 Tutorial.
The Web Profile of the GlassFish Server supports the EJB 3.1 Lite specification, which allows enterprise beans within web applications, among other features. The full GlassFish Server supports the entire EJB 3.1 specification. For details, see JSR 318.
The GlassFish Server is backward compatible with 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 enterprise beans. However, to take advantage of version 3.1 features, you should develop new beans as 3.1 enterprise beans.
The GlassFish Server provides a number of value additions that relate to EJB development. These capabilities are discussed in the following sections. References to more in-depth material are included.
Another feature that the GlassFish Server provides is the read-only bean, an EJB 2.1 entity bean that is never modified by an EJB client. Read-only beans avoid database updates completely.
Read-only beans are specific to the GlassFish Server and are not part of the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v2.1. Use of this feature for an EJB 2.1 bean results in a non-portable application.
To make an EJB 3.0 entity read-only, use @Column annotations to mark its columns insertable=false and updatable=false.
A read-only bean can be used to cache a database entry that is frequently accessed but rarely updated (externally by other beans). When the data that is cached by a read-only bean is updated by another bean, the read-only bean can be notified to refresh its cached data.
The GlassFish Server provides a number of ways by which a read-only bean's state can be refreshed. By setting the refresh-period-in-seconds element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file and the trans-attribute element (or @TransactionAttribute annotation) in the ejb-jar.xml file, it is easy to configure a read-only bean that is one of the following:
Always refreshed
Periodically refreshed
Never refreshed
Programmatically refreshed
Read-only beans are best suited for situations where the underlying data never changes, or changes infrequently. For further information and usage guidelines, see Using Read-Only Beans.
The pass-by-reference element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file allows you to specify the parameter passing semantics for colocated remote EJB invocations. This is an opportunity to improve performance. However, use of this feature results in non-portable applications. See pass-by-reference in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
The EJB container of the GlassFish Server pools anonymous instances (message-driven beans, stateless session beans, and entity beans) to reduce the overhead of creating and destroying objects. The EJB container maintains the free pool for each bean that is deployed. Bean instances in the free pool have no identity (that is, no primary key associated) and are used to serve method calls. The free beans are also used to serve all methods for stateless session beans.
Bean instances in the free pool transition from a Pooled state to a Cached state after ejbCreate and the business methods run. The size and behavior of each pool is controlled using pool-related properties in the EJB container or the sun-ejb-jar.xml file.
In addition, the GlassFish Server supports a number of tunable parameters that can control the number of "stateful" instances (stateful session beans and entity beans) cached as well as the duration they are cached. Multiple bean instances that refer to the same database row in a table can be cached. The EJB container maintains a cache for each bean that is deployed.
To achieve scalability, the container selectively evicts some bean instances from the cache, usually when cache overflows. These evicted bean instances return to the free bean pool. The size and behavior of each cache can be controlled using the cache-related properties in the EJB container or the sun-ejb-jar.xml file.
Pooling and caching parameters for the sun-ejb-jar.xml file are described in bean-cache in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
One of the most important parameters of GlassFish Server pooling is steady-pool-size. When steady-pool-size is set to greater than 0, the container not only pre-populates the bean pool with the specified number of beans, but also attempts to ensure that this number of beans is always available in the free pool. This ensures that there are enough beans in the ready to serve state to process user requests.
This parameter does not necessarily guarantee that no more than steady-pool-size instances exist at a given time. It only governs the number of instances that are pooled over a long period of time. For example, suppose an idle stateless session container has a fully-populated pool with a steady-pool-size of 10. If 20 concurrent requests arrive for the EJB component, the container creates 10 additional instances to satisfy the burst of requests. The advantage of this is that it prevents the container from blocking any of the incoming requests. However, if the activity dies down to 10 or fewer concurrent requests, the additional 10 instances are discarded.
Another parameter, pool-idle-timeout-in-seconds, allows the administrator to specify the amount of time a bean instance can be idle in the pool. When pool-idle-timeout-in-seconds is set to greater than 0, the container removes or destroys any bean instance that is idle for this specified duration.
GlassFish Server provides a way that completely avoids caching of entity beans, using commit option C. Commit option C is particularly useful if beans are accessed in large number but very rarely reused. For additional information, refer to Commit Options.
The GlassFish Server caches can be either bounded or unbounded. Bounded caches have limits on the number of beans that they can hold beyond which beans are passivated. For stateful session beans, there are three ways (LRU, NRU and FIFO) of picking victim beans when cache overflow occurs. Caches can also passivate beans that are idle (not accessed for a specified duration).
The default transaction timeout for the domain is specified using the Transaction Timeout setting of the Transaction Service. A transaction started by the container must commit (or rollback) within this time, regardless of whether the transaction is suspended (and resumed), or the transaction is marked for rollback.
To override this timeout for an individual bean, use the optional cmt-timeout-in-seconds element in sun-ejb-jar.xml. The default value, 0, specifies that the default Transaction Service timeout is used. The value of cmt-timeout-in-seconds is used for all methods in the bean that start a new container-managed transaction. This value is not used if the bean joins a client transaction.
You can create multiple thread pools, each having its own work queues. An optional element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file, use-thread-pool-id, specifies the thread pool that processes the requests for the bean. The bean must have a remote interface, or use-thread-pool-id is ignored. You can create different thread pools and specify the appropriate thread pool ID for a bean that requires a quick response time. If there is no such thread pool configured or if the element is absent, the default thread pool is used.
Normally, all entity bean updates within a transaction are batched and executed at the end of the transaction. The only exception is the database flush that precedes execution of a finder or select query.
Since a transaction often spans many method calls, you might want to find out if the updates made by a method succeeded or failed immediately after method execution. To force a flush at the end of a method's execution, use the flush-at-end-of-method element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file. Only non-finder methods in an entity bean can be flush-enabled. (For an EJB 2.1 bean, these methods must be in the Local, Local Home, Remote, or Remote Home interface.) See flush-at-end-of-method in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
Upon completion of the method, the EJB container updates the database. Any exception thrown by the underlying data store is wrapped as follows:
If the method that triggered the flush is a create method, the exception is wrapped with CreateException.
If the method that triggered the flush is a remove method, the exception is wrapped with RemoveException.
For all other methods, the exception is wrapped with EJBException.
All normal end-of-transaction database synchronization steps occur regardless of whether the database has been flushed during the transaction.
The EJB Timer Service uses a database to store persistent information about EJB timers.
The EJB Timer Service in GlassFish Server is preconfigured to use an embedded version of the Java DB database.
The timer service is automatically enabled when you deploy an application or module that uses it.
You can verify that the timer service is running by accessing the following URL:
The EJB Timer Service configuration can store persistent timer information in any database supported by the GlassFish Server for persistence. For a list of the JDBC drivers currently supported by the GlassFish Server, see the Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Release Notes. For configurations of supported and other drivers, see Configuration Specifics for JDBC Drivers in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Administration Guide.
To change the database used by the EJB Timer Service, set the EJB Timer Service's Timer DataSource setting to a valid JDBC resource. If the EJB Timer Service has already been started, you must also create the timer database table. DDL files are located in as-install/lib/install/databases.
Using the EJB Timer Service is equivalent to interacting with a single JDBC resource manager. If an EJB component or application accesses a database either directly through JDBC or indirectly (for example, through an entity bean's persistence mechanism), and also interacts with the EJB Timer Service, its data source must be configured with an XA JDBC driver.
You can change the following EJB Timer Service settings. You must restart the server for the changes to take effect.
Minimum Delivery Interval - Specifies the minimum time in milliseconds before an expiration for a particular timer can occur. This guards against extremely small timer increments that can overload the server. The default is 1000.
Maximum Redeliveries - Specifies the maximum number of times the EJB timer service attempts to redeliver a timer expiration due for exception or rollback. The default is 1.
Redelivery Interval - Specifies how long in milliseconds the EJB timer service waits after a failed ejbTimeout delivery before attempting a redelivery. The default is 5000.
Timer DataSource - Specifies the database used by the EJB Timer Service. The default is jdbc/__TimerPool.
For information about the asadmin list-timers command, see the Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Reference Manual.
This section provides guidelines for creating session beans in the GlassFish Server environment. This section addresses the following topics:
Information on session beans is contained in the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v3.1.
Like an entity bean, a session bean can access a database through Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) calls. A session bean can also provide transaction settings. These transaction settings and JDBC calls are referenced by the session bean's container, allowing it to participate in transactions managed by the container.
A container managing stateless session beans has a different charter from a container managing stateful session beans. This section addresses the following topics:
The stateless container manages stateless session beans, which, by definition, do not carry client-specific states. All session beans (of a particular type) are considered equal.
A stateless session bean container uses a bean pool to service requests. The GlassFish Server specific deployment descriptor file, sun-ejb-jar.xml, contains the properties that define the pool:
For more information about sun-ejb-jar.xml, see The sun-ejb-jar.xml File in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
The GlassFish Server provides the wscompile and wsdeploy tools to help you implement a web service endpoint as a stateless session bean. For more information about these tools, see the Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Reference Manual.
The stateful container manages the stateful session beans, which, by definition, carry the client-specific state. There is a one-to-one relationship between the client and the stateful session beans. At creation, each stateful session bean (SFSB) is given a unique session ID that is used to access the session bean so that an instance of a stateful session bean is accessed by a single client only.
Stateful session beans are managed using cache. The size and behavior of stateful session beans cache are controlled by specifying the following sun-ejb-jar.xml parameters:
The max-cache-size element specifies the maximum number of session beans that are held in cache. If the cache overflows (when the number of beans exceeds max-cache-size), the container then passivates some beans or writes out the serialized state of the bean into a file. The directory in which the file is created is obtained from the EJB container using the configuration APIs.
For more information about sun-ejb-jar.xml, see The sun-ejb-jar.xml File in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
The passivated beans are stored on the file system. The Session Store Location setting in the EJB container allows the administrator to specify the directory where passivated beans are stored. By default, passivated stateful session beans are stored in application-specific subdirectories created under domain-dir/session-store.
Make sure the delete option is set in the server.policy file, or expired file-based sessions might not be deleted properly. For more information about server.policy, see The server.policy File.
The Session Store Location setting also determines where the session state is persisted.
This section discusses restrictions on developing session beans and provides some optimization guidelines.
For stateful session beans, colocating the stateful beans with their clients so that the client and bean are executing in the same process address space improves performance.
The following restrictions on transactions are enforced by the container and must be observed as session beans are developed:
A session bean can participate in, at most, a single transaction at a time.
If a session bean is participating in a transaction, a client cannot invoke a method on the bean such that the trans-attribute element (or @TransactionAttribute annotation) in the ejb-jar.xml file would cause the container to execute the method in a different or unspecified transaction context or an exception is thrown.
If a session bean instance is participating in a transaction, a client cannot invoke the remove method on the session object's home or business interface object, or an exception is thrown.
A read-only bean is an EJB 2.1 entity bean that is never modified by an EJB client. The data that a read-only bean represents can be updated externally by other enterprise beans, or by other means, such as direct database updates.
Read-only beans are specific to the GlassFish Server and are not part of the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v2.1. Use of this feature for an EJB 2.1 bean results in a non-portable application.
To make an EJB 3.0 entity bean read-only, use @Column annotations to mark its columns insertable=false and updatable=false.
Read-only beans are best suited for situations where the underlying data never changes, or changes infrequently. The following topics are addressed in this section:
Read-only beans are best suited for situations where the underlying data never changes, or changes infrequently. For example, a read-only bean can be used to represent a stock quote for a particular company, which is updated externally. In such a case, using a regular entity bean might incur the burden of calling ejbStore, which can be avoided by using a read-only bean.
Read-only beans have the following characteristics:
Only entity beans can be read-only beans.
Either bean-managed persistence (BMP) or container-managed persistence (CMP) is allowed. If CMP is used, do not create the database schema during deployment. Instead, work with your database administrator to populate the data into the tables. See Chapter 10, Using Container-Managed Persistence.
Only container-managed transactions are allowed; read-only beans cannot start their own transactions.
Read-only beans don't update any bean state.
ejbStore is never called by the container.
ejbLoad is called only when a transactional method is called or when the bean is initially created (in the cache), or at regular intervals controlled by the bean's refresh-period-in-seconds element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file.
The home interface can have any number of find methods. The return type of the find methods must be the primary key for the same bean type (or a collection of primary keys).
If the data that the bean represents can change, then refresh-period-in-seconds must be set to refresh the beans at regular intervals. ejbLoad is called at this regular interval.
A read-only bean comes into existence using the appropriate find methods.
Read-only beans are cached and have the same cache properties as entity beans. When a read-only bean is selected as a victim to make room in the cache, ejbPassivate is called and the bean is returned to the free pool. When in the free pool, the bean has no identity and is used only to serve any finder requests.
Read-only beans are bound to the naming service like regular read-write entity beans, and clients can look up read-only beans the same way read-write entity beans are looked up.
For best results, follow these guidelines when developing read-only beans:
Avoid having any create or remove methods in the home interface.
Use any of the valid EJB 2.1 transaction attributes for the trans-attribute element.
The reason for having TX_SUPPORTED is to allow reading uncommitted data in the same transaction. Also, the transaction attributes can be used to force ejbLoad.
There are several ways of refreshing read-only beans as addressed in the following sections:
Invoking any transactional method invokes ejbLoad.
Use the refresh-period-in-seconds element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file to refresh a read-only bean periodically.
If the value specified in refresh-period-in-seconds is zero or not specified, which is the default, the bean is never refreshed (unless a transactional method is accessed).
If the value is greater than zero, the bean is refreshed at the rate specified.
This is the only way to refresh the bean state if the data can be modified external to the GlassFish Server.
By default, a single timer is used for all instances of a read-only bean. When that timer fires, all bean instances are marked as expired and are refreshed from the database the next time they are used.
Use the -Dcom.sun.ejb.containers.readonly.relative.refresh.mode=true flag to refresh each bean instance independently upon access if its refresh period has expired. The default is false. Note that each instance still has the same refresh period. This additional level of granularity can improve the performance of read-only beans that do not need to be refreshed at the same time.
To set this flag, use the asadmin create-jvm-options command. For example:
asadmin create-jvm-options -Dcom.sun.ejb.containers.readonly.relative.refresh.mode=true
Typically, beans that update any data that is cached by read-only beans need to notify the read-only beans to refresh their state. Use ReadOnlyBeanNotifier to force the refresh of read-only beans.
To do this, invoke the following methods on the ReadOnlyBeanNotifier bean:
public interface ReadOnlyBeanNotifier extends java.rmi.Remote { refresh(Object PrimaryKey) throws RemoteException; }
The implementation of the ReadOnlyBeanNotifier interface is provided by the container. The bean looks up ReadOnlyBeanNotifier using a fragment of code such as the following example:
com.sun.appserv.ejb.ReadOnlyBeanHelper helper = new com.sun.appserv.ejb.ReadOnlyBeanHelper(); com.sun.appserv.ejb.ReadOnlyBeanNotifier notifier = helper.getReadOnlyBeanNotifier("java:comp/env/ejb/ReadOnlyCustomer"); notifier.refresh(PrimaryKey);
For a local read-only bean notifier, the lookup has this modification:
Beans that update any data that is cached by read-only beans need to call the refresh methods. The next (non-transactional) call to the read-only bean invokes ejbLoad.
For Javadoc tool pages relevant to read-only beans, go to https://glassfish.dev.java.net/nonav/docs/v3/api/ and click on the com.sun.appserv.ejb package.
Read-only beans are deployed in the same manner as other entity beans. However, in the entry for the bean in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file, the is-read-only-bean element must be set to true. That is:
Also, the refresh-period-in-seconds element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file can be set to some value that specifies the rate at which the bean is refreshed. If this element is missing, no refresh occurs.
All requests in the same transaction context are routed to the same read-only bean instance. Set the allow-concurrent-access element to either true (to allow concurrent accesses) or false (to serialize concurrent access to the same read-only bean). The default is false.
For further information on these elements, refer to The sun-ejb-jar.xml File in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
This section describes message-driven beans and explains the requirements for creating them in the GlassFish Server environment. This section contains the following topics:
This section addresses the following configuration topics:
A message-driven bean is a client to a Connector inbound resource adapter. The message-driven bean container uses the JMS service integrated into the GlassFish Server for message-driven beans that are JMS clients. JMS clients use JMS Connection Factory- and Destination-administered objects. A JMS Connection Factory administered object is a resource manager Connection Factory object that is used to create connections to the JMS provider.
The mdb-connection-factory element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file for a message-driven bean specifies the connection factory that creates the container connection to the JMS provider.
The jndi-name element of the ejb element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file specifies the JNDI name of the administered object for the JMS Queue or Topic destination that is associated with the message-driven bean.
The container manages a pool of message-driven beans for the concurrent processing of a stream of messages. The sun-ejb-jar.xml file contains the elements that define the pool (that is, the bean-pool element):
For more information about sun-ejb-jar.xml, see The sun-ejb-jar.xml File in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Application Deployment Guide.
You can control the following domain-level message-driven bean settings in the EJB container:
Initial and Minimum Pool Size - Specifies the initial and minimum number of beans maintained in the pool. The default is 0.
Maximum Pool Size - Specifies the maximum number of beans that can be created to satisfy client requests. The default is 32.
Pool Resize Quantity - Specifies the number of beans to be created if a request arrives when the pool is empty (subject to the Initial and Minimum Pool Size), or the number of beans to remove if idle for more than the Idle Timeout. The default is 8.
Idle Timeout - Specifies the maximum time in seconds that a bean can remain idle in the pool. After this amount of time, the bean is destroyed. The default is 600 (10 minutes). A value of 0 means a bean can remain idle indefinitely.
For information on monitoring message-driven beans, click the Help button in the Administration Console. The Monitor tab is accessible from the Application Server page.
Running monitoring when it is not needed might impact performance, so you might choose to turn monitoring off when it is not in use. For details, see Chapter 8, Administering the Monitoring Service, in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Administration Guide.
This section discusses the following restrictions and performance optimizations that pertain to developing message-driven beans:
The message-driven bean pool is also a pool of threads, with each message-driven bean instance in the pool associating with a server session, and each server session associating with a thread. Therefore, a large pool size also means a high number of threads, which impacts performance and server resources.
When configuring message-driven bean pool properties, make sure to consider factors such as message arrival rate and pattern, onMessage method processing time, overall server resources (threads, memory, and so on), and any concurrency requirements and limitations from other resources that the message-driven bean accesses.
When tuning performance and resource usage, make sure to consider potential JMS provider properties for the connection factory used by the container (the mdb-connection-factory element in the sun-ejb-jar.xml file). For example, you can tune the GlassFish Message Queue flow control related properties for connection factory in situations where the message incoming rate is much higher than max-pool-size can handle.
Refer to Chapter 8, Administering the Monitoring Service, in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Administration Guide for information on how to get message-driven bean pool statistics.
Message-driven beans, like other well-behaved MessageListeners, should not, in general, throw runtime exceptions. If a message-driven bean's onMessage method encounters a system-level exception or error that does not allow the method to successfully complete, the Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v3.0 provides the following guidelines:
If the bean method encounters a runtime exception or error, it should simply propagate the error from the bean method to the container.
If the bean method performs an operation that results in a checked exception that the bean method cannot recover, the bean method should throw the javax.ejb.EJBException that wraps the original exception.
Any other unexpected error conditions should be reported using javax.ejb.EJBException (javax.ejb.EJBException is a subclass of java.lang.RuntimeException).
Under container-managed transaction demarcation, upon receiving a runtime exception from a message-driven bean's onMessage method, the container rolls back the container-started transaction and the message is redelivered. This is because the message delivery itself is part of the container-started transaction. By default, the GlassFish Server container closes the container's connection to the JMS provider when the first runtime exception is received from a message-driven bean instance's onMessage method. This avoids potential message redelivery looping and protects server resources if the message-driven bean's onMessage method continues misbehaving. To change this default container behavior, use the cmt-max-runtime-exceptions property of the MDB container. Here is an example asadmin set command that sets this property:
asadmin set server-config.mdb-container.property.cmt-max-runtime-exceptions="5"
For more information about the asadmin set command, see the Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Reference Manual.
The cmt-max-runtime-exceptions property specifies the maximum number of runtime exceptions allowed from a message-driven bean's onMessage method before the container starts to close the container's connection to the message source. By default this value is 1; -1 disables this container protection.
A message-driven bean's onMessage method can use the javax.jms.Message.getJMSRedelivered method to check whether a received message is a redelivered message.
The cmt-max-runtime-exceptions property is deprecated.
This section describes the transaction support built into the Enterprise JavaBeans programming model for the GlassFish Server.
As a developer, you can write an application that updates data in multiple databases distributed across multiple sites. The site might use EJB servers from different vendors. This section provides overview information on the following topics:
The Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v3.0 requires support for flat (as opposed to nested) transactions. In a flat transaction, each transaction is decoupled from and independent of other transactions in the system. Another transaction cannot start in the same thread until the current transaction ends.
Flat transactions are the most prevalent model and are supported by most commercial database systems. Although nested transactions offer a finer granularity of control over transactions, they are supported by far fewer commercial database systems.
Understanding the distinction between global and local transactions is crucial in understanding the GlassFish Server support for transactions. See Transaction Scope.
Both local and global transactions are demarcated using the javax.transaction.UserTransaction interface, which the client must use. Local transactions bypass the transaction manager and are faster. For more information, see The Transaction Manager, the Transaction Synchronization Registry, and UserTransaction.
The EJB protocol is designed to give the container the flexibility to select the disposition of the instance state at the time a transaction is committed. This allows the container to best manage caching an entity object's state and associating an entity object identity with the EJB instances.
There are three commit-time options:
Option A – The container caches a ready instance between transactions. The container ensures that the instance has exclusive access to the state of the object in persistent storage.
In this case, the container does not have to synchronize the instance's state from the persistent storage at the beginning of the next transaction.
Commit option A is not supported for this GlassFish Server release.
Option B – The container caches a ready instance between transactions, but the container does not ensure that the instance has exclusive access to the state of the object in persistent storage. This is the default.
In this case, the container must synchronize the instance's state by invoking ejbLoad from persistent storage at the beginning of the next transaction.
Option C – The container does not cache a ready instance between transactions, but instead returns the instance to the pool of available instances after a transaction has completed.
The life cycle for every business method invocation under commit option C looks like this.
ejbActivate ejbLoad business method ejbStore ejbPassivate
If there is more than one transactional client concurrently accessing the same entity, the first client gets the ready instance and subsequent concurrent clients get new instances from the pool.
The GlassFish Server deployment descriptor has an element, commit-option, that specifies the commit option to be used. Based on the specified commit option, the appropriate handler is instantiated.
An administrator can control a number of domain-level Transaction Service settings. For details, see Configuring the Transaction Service.
The Transaction Timeout setting can be overridden by a bean. See Bean-Level Container-Managed Transaction Timeouts.
In addition, the administrator can monitor transactions using statistics from the transaction manager that provide information on such activities as the number of transactions completed, rolled back, or recovered since server startup, and transactions presently being processed.
For information on administering and monitoring transactions, select the Transaction Service component under the relevant configuration in the Administration Console and click the Help button. Also see Chapter 21, Administering Transactions, in Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 Administration Guide.


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Date: July 29, 1997
On August 2, 1995, President Clinton signed E.O. 12968, Access to Classified Information. This Executive Order established a uniform Federal personnel security program and tasked the Security Policy Board to coordinate and recommend policy directives for U.S. security policies, procedures and practices.
In March 1997, President Clinton approved the Investigative Standards recommended by the Security Policy Board. This Federal Investigations Notice provides a summary of the access level requirements and the scope changes for our investigative products.
Executive Order 12968 and the Security Policy Board have mandated minimum requirements for the scope of the investigations used to grant access to classified information. In accordance with those mandates, OPM plans to adjust the scope of investigation for the Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI). In addition, OPM is developing three new products, the SSBI-PR, Access NACI, and the NACLC.
Coverage for the various parts of the SSBI have changed. Specific adjustments include:
Employment coverage has been reduced from 10 to 7 years. All employments during the coverage period will be verified with personal coverage obtained for employments of 6 months or more.
Personal coverage will be obtained for all education attendance during the last 3 years. Direct or collateral personal coverage will be provided to verify any primary education activities during years 4 through 7.
The coverage period for residence has been reduced from 5 to 3 years. All residences during that period will be verified.
Law enforcement coverage will remain at 10 years for all locations of employment, residence, and education of 6 months or more.
All former spouses divorced within the last 10 years will be interviewed.
Four references with social knowledge of the subject that collectively spans the last 7 years will be obtained.
Coverage of financial records will be reduced from 10 to 7 years.
The basic coverage period for this investigation is from the date of the last investigation, usually 5 years. This new product includes:
Personal coverage of the current or most recent residence of 6 months or more.
Personal coverage of all employments of 6 months or more during the scope; verification of all claimed employment, regardless of duration.
All former spouses divorced since the last investigation will be interviewed.
A search of Treasurys Financial Data Base (FINCEN).
The NACLC will be used as the initial investigation for contractors at the Confidential, Secret, and L access levels. It will also be used as the reinvestigation product for both contractors and Federal employees at the same access levels.
This new product includes:
Basic National Agency Checks (Security/Suitability Investigations Index, Defense Clearance and Investigations Index, fingerprint classification, and a search of the Federal Bureau of Investigations investigative index).
Credit search covering all residence, employment, and education locations during the last 7 years.
Law Checks covering all locations of residence, employment, and education during the last 5 years and to all locations of admitted arrest. If 35-day service is requested, all law checks will be scheduled by Record Search. If 75-day service is requested, law checks will be scheduled by a combination of inquiry and record coverage. (See Service Availability below for additional information about law checks).
The Access NACI (ANACI) will be used for the initial investigation for federal employees at the Confidential, Secret, and L access levels. Executive Order 10450 mandates the NACI as the minimum investigative standard for all employees in the Federal service. The new Executive Order does not abolish or supersede E.O. 10450.
The ANACI will consist of the NACLC as outlined above, as well as the additional residence, education, and employment coverage as currently contained in OPMs standard NACI product.
As always, an agency may request a higher level investigation than the minimum standards require. Therefore, OPM plans to implement the appropriate modifications to MBI, LBI, and BI products when requested for a position requiring access.
Note: On all initial investigations, the responsibility of verifying the subjects date and place of birth rests with the employing agency (by requesting a valid copy of the subjects birth certificate). Agencies can continue to have OPM verify birth information by using an extra coverage code of "L" when requesting the investigation. OPM will continue to verify citizenship status for anyone born outside the U.S. but claiming U.S. citizenship.
The SSBI will continue to be available in 35, 75, and 120-day time frames. The standard service for SSBI-PR investigations will be 120 days.
The NACLC and ANACI will be available in either 35 or 75-day time frames. Advance results of NACs and law records checks will be provided on expedite 35-day ANACIs. Law checks will be scheduled differently for these products, depending on the service requested:
35-Day Service
All Law Checks will be scheduled as expedite record searches completed >by field staff.
75 Day Service
Law Coverage will be attempted by written inquiry whenever possible with expedite record searches conducted at non-responsive or admitted arrest locations.
OPM will continue to offer case-by-case expansion to resolve issues with the Reimbursable Suitability or Security Investigation (RSI). An RSI consists of a focused investigation
to provide additional information to resolve issue(s) developed on an individual. The RSI should be requested in situations where an agency needs additional information to resolve issues that fall outside the scope of the investigation, or to establish a history or pattern of behavior. Since pricing is based on the work needed to resolve issues, the RSI provides agencies with additional cost savings. The RSI product is easy to request; for additional information please refer to Federal Investigations Notice 93-4 , dated June 14, 1993.
The implementation date for these products will be October 1, 1997. In the near future, OPM will issue a Federal Investigations Notice concerning billing rates for FY 98. As in the past, OPM will continue to provide our customer agencies with information and assistance for requesting this new product line. If you have any questions concerning the new access requirements or products, please contact your Security Appraisal Officer at 202-606-1042 or the Program Services Office at 724-794-5612.
Richard A. FerrisAssociate Director for Investigations
Inquiries: OPM-IS, Oversight and Technical Assistance Division, 202-606-1042OPM-FIPC, Program Services Office, 724-794-5612
Code: 736, Investigations
Distribution: SOI/SONs
Notice Expires: Until Superseded
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Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Arts and Sciences
Graduate Research
One-three-six semester hours.
This course enables graduate students to actively participate in the process of scholarly inquiry. The research topic is chosen by the student with the approval of the supervising professor prior to registration. This course may be repeated but not to exceed 12 semester hours. These hours do not count towards the student's major degree plan. Prerequisite: Graduate standing, SOCI 5321 or permission of instructor and department chair.
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Daniel Kutcher-180º North East Novel
At Design Interviews
(Excerpt) Interview with Daniel Kutcher : Frank Scott: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?. Daniel Kutcher : My main aim to tell the story of what happened in a way so that the reader can get the best idea of what it was like for me. At some points throughout, I didn't feel like words could express exactly how I was feeling or what was going on at that particular moment in time, so I decided to include elements of art and graphic design to help convey those feelings. .Frank Scott: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?. Daniel Kutcher : My main focus was always to tell the story the best way possible. I wanted the reader to be able to enjoy the journey as much as I did as they read through the text and saw the accompanying visuals. .Frank Scott: What are your future plans for this award winning design?. Daniel Kutcher : My plans are to try to talk to different kinds of publishers to see if there would be a way for it to reach more people and see what kind of response it receives. .Frank Scott: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?. Daniel Kutcher : From start to finish it took me around four years to complete this project. I had to find time aside from making a living to work on this, so it was mostly weekday nights and weekend mornings (aside from a year and a half period near the start when I was freelancing and in general had more time). .Frank Scott: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?. Daniel Kutcher : I was inspired to apply all the techniques that I had learnt until then into telling this story. I also hoped that it would stretch me further as a designer and take me places I hadn't yet explored. .Frank Scott: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?. Daniel Kutcher : For the moment I'm interested in hearing what a publishing house would have to say about the production possibilities of the book and then I'll take it from there. .Frank Scott: What made you design this particular type of work?. Daniel Kutcher : It slowly developed over time. At first it was going to be a series of photos and a small amount of text about some parts of the journey. Then I decided to combine the text and photos into a book. Finally I decided to incorporate the elements of design into the piece as well. .Frank Scott: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?. Daniel Kutcher : No, not on this project. .Frank Scott: Who is the target customer for his design?. Daniel Kutcher : Anyone who is thinking of starting or has been on a similar journey and wants to get a taste of what an experience like that might be like. .Frank Scott: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?. Daniel Kutcher : I haven'.[ End of Excerpt: Read complete interview with Daniel Kutcher on 180º North East Novel at design-interviews.com ]
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Season Opening
Our camping season is from early July until late August. For 2017 this is from Fri July 7th with our last night on Tues 29th August.
Location and getting here
Can we have a campfire?
The campsite is strictly a NO CAMPFIRE site but BBQs are OK
Are you dog friendly?
Well behaved dogs are welcome on the campsite and in some of our pre pitched Eurotents.
Do you have electric hookups?
No, not for those bringing their own tents but...
Our Ethos & Policies
Overstrand Campsite is created to reflect what we would have liked when camping with our own family within the natural confines of only being open for two months.
Can we bring a caravan or campervan?
No, we do not have planning permission for camper vans, motorhomes or caravans.
Do we accept groups?
Groups, older and younger are usually welcome at Overstrand Campsite especially if you understand that the group needs to fit to the campsite, not the other way round.
Arrival and Departure
For customers pitching their own tent arrival is from 12 noon and check out is by 11 am. Pre pitched Eurotent customers may check in from 3pm and must check out by 10.30am.
What pitch will I get?
Pitches are only allocated shortly before your arrival but you can make a special request which we will try to satisfy if we can.
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Norfolk's official tourism website
Attractions and Information around the North Norfolk area which includes Overstrand.
Norfolk Tourist Attractions Association. Promoting tourism in Norfolk. Great days out in Norfolk. Things to do in Norfolk
North Norfolk tourist information website, providing a guide for visitors to this area of Norfolk.
Norwich is steeped in atmosphere and peppered with unique architectural treasures. Come to Norwich and experience it yourself!
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The Ten Commandments of BirthdaysI turn 44 next week. I'm not going to raise a fuss, or be embarrassed by my advanced age. If anything, I see it as evidence that I'm doing everything right. It also gives me some insight to the proper way that birthdays should be celebrated. So here are my Ten Commandments of Birthdays.
1) Thou shalt not be an old poop and refuse to acknowledge thy birthday. Everyone has one, so it's no use pretending you don't. You're already getting older, and ignoring your birthday won't make that stop. Also, you may say you don't want to draw attention to yourself, but then go through the year shrieking, "I DON'T WANT TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY! I DON'T WANT TO CELEBRATE MY BIRTHDAY!" Please know that this attracts way more attention than sucking it up and smiling and thanking people for one day a year.
2) Thou shalt be happy about surprise parties held in thy honor. In addition to not being an old poop about your birthday, you also can't whine about surprise parties people throw. They're doing it out of love. To grumble and say you hate surprise parties is your way of saying, "I don't really appreciate you people, or the fact that you think highly of me." It's ungracious and makes you look like a baby.
3) Thou shalt get a real birthday cake. This is your special day. You only get one of these per year, and you need to celebrate it in real style. Don't weenie out and stick to your diet. One piece of regular cake won't kill you.
4) Thou shalt covet real presents, not things thou needeth, especially for work. I've known self-employed freelancers who got writing software, construction workers who got tools, and home makers who got cleaning equipment — all stuff they asked for. Ask for something that you would never buy for yourself, but you've secretly wanted, not toiletries and socks.
5) Thou shalt not buy presents for kids who do not have birthdays. If you're celebrating a son or daughter's birthday, don't get a present for a sibling just so they don't feel left out. No kid really wants to share their birthday with anyone else. For one whole day, they get to be the center of attention, and they don't want their spoiled sibling stealing the spotlight. I have never met an adult who didn't resent sharing their childhood birthdays with another kid who whined just because he wasn't getting any presents.
6) Thou may choose thine own birthday cake flavor. It doesn't matter if no one else likes, say, cherry chip cake. The birthday holder's choice trumps all, and everyone else has to deal. No one else gets to whine and complain that they don't like that. Otherwise, the birthday holder is free to whine and complain about that person's choice. However, the birthday holder shalt not be a royal pain and choose something they know everyone will hate.
7) Thou shalt show appreciation for all gifts. Whether it's something you already have, didn't want, or don't know where you'll ever use it, you will show graciousness and gratitude for everything you receive. Whether it's a pair of socks or a magazine subscription to a hobby you haven't had since you were 12, you will smile, thank the giver, and return the thing later when everyone has gone home.
8) Thou may bear false witness about thine age once thou art over 60. Everyone reaches a point in their life where they're free to lie about their age, and 60 is as good a number as any. If you look younger than 50, then you can lie and say you're that age. If you look older than 60, lie and say you're the age you look, so no one looks shocked and says, "jeez, you look like hell."
9) Thou shalt not lump birthdays and major holidays together. Anyone who has had the misfortune of being born in November through January quickly learns to identify the cheapskates in their family. They're the people who give one present that's supposed to cover both a birthday and Christmas. Winter birthday kids always miss out on half the loot that the summer birthday kids get, and it really bothers them to have to share a birthday with Jesus, even if his is 30 days later.
10) Thou art entitled to making a big deal out of thy birthday. Never feel like you're bragging by telling people it's your birthday. It's the best day of the year, and should be a national holiday. Everyone has one, so this isn't something that some people get while the less-fortunate don't. Be proud, and tell people, "hey, it's my birthday today."
We all have a limited number of birthdays, and a limited number of times to feel like the coolest kid in the city. Enjoy your birthday and celebrate the specialness of the day. I know I will.
I've registered on Amazon.com, and my favorite color is blue.
My book, Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (affiliate link), is available on Amazon.com, as well as at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores. I wrote it with my good friend, Kyle Lacy.
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Opinion Columns & Blogs
Ruben Navarrette: Parody stupid, not racist
Here's a debate that strikes a familiar chord.
When do song lyrics that are meant to be entertaining hit a sour note and become offensive?
Many conservatives think rap music crosses the line.
In 1990, Republican officials in Broward County, Fla., declared obscene an album by the group, 2 Live Crew, and sheriff's deputies arrested members of the group after a performance.
In 1992, the rapper Ice-T released an album featuring the song "Cop Killer," which President George H.W. Bush called a threat to police officers.
After law enforcement associations boycotted his record label, Time Warner, Ice-T pulled the song from the album.
During those skirmishes in the culture wars, you would hear liberals defend the creative process, praise the First Amendment, and dismissively tell anyone who was offended by vulgar lyrics to "get over it" and develop thicker skins.
Now those on the left have the chance to show us how it's done and walk it like they talk it.
And it's all thanks to "Barack the Magic Negro," a cheeky parody of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" that pokes fun at the jealousy and resentment that older black leaders initially exhibited toward Barack Obama.
Did you catch that?
This is not a song that makes fun of Obama -- as some might assume from media reports -- but rather one that makes fun of those who claimed that Obama was not being black enough or appreciative enough of the struggles of those who came before him.
Mimicking the voice of the Rev. Al Sharpton, the song -- which first aired on Rush Limbaugh's radio show -- starts off:
"Barack the Magic Negro lives in D.C.
The L.A. Times, they called him that 'Cause he's not authentic like me.
Yeah, the guy from the L.A. paper Said he makes guilty whites feel good.
They'll vote for him, and not for me 'Cause he's not from the hood."
The "guy from the L.A. paper" is Los Angeles-based writer David Ehrenstein, who penned an op-ed piece that ran in the Los Angeles Times on March 19, 2007.
Describing himself as "an African-American whose last name has led to his racial 'credentials' being challenged," Ehrenstein wrote that, besides running for president, Obama was also "running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination -- the 'Magic Negro' ... (who is) there to assuage white 'guilt' (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history."
The only hiccup, Ehrenstein wrote, was "criticism (white and black alike) concerning Obama's alleged 'inauthenticity,' as compared to such sterling examples of 'genuine' blackness as Al Sharpton and Snoop Dogg."
Why is Obama magic?
Because like the dragon in the 1960s folk song, Obama is -- according to Ehrenstein -- not real.
Instead, he's "like a comic-book superhero" -- "the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes.
If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him."
That's radical stuff.
It's basically a message to white folks that just because they've accepted Barack Obama doesn't mean they're off the hook for more than 200 years of oppression and discrimination against African-Americans and other minorities.
That's not the kind of thing you'd normally hear from the Republican National Committee, which finds itself embroiled in this controversy after Chip Saltsman, a former chair of the Tennessee Republican Party who is running for RNC chairman, sent fellow Republicans a CD that included "Barack the Magic Negro."
It was a boneheaded thing to do, if Saltsman really wants to lead a party that has managed to scare off or tick off just about every color in the rainbow and now finds itself with an ever-shrinking base of white rural voters right about the time that Census figures are telling us that whites are just three decades away from becoming a statistical minority.
But it wasn't racist.
The racism is coming from those on the left, and their simpaticos in the media who twisted this story to fit the narrative of a GOP hostile to minorities.
That story line lets the Democratic Party look progressive by comparison -- which allows it to rest on its laurels instead of doing its part to improve race relations.
That's how it is in the game of racial politics.
Conservatives are often held to higher standards while liberals skate by on what we might call -- to borrow a phrase -- the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Reach Ruben Navarrette at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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