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"Walking during labour was the only way I could deal with the pain. I walked the pain away. It felt great to be able to do this for myself. I felt in control. In my head I actually kept thinking, I'm walking away from the pain and leaving it behind." (Cathy)
When it comes to childbirth most midwives will tell you it's not something you can do lying down, yet this is exactly how many women still give birth in Australia.
Changing positions and moving about during labour and birth is as ancient as birth itself. Ironically it is only in the last couple of hundred years that women have been giving birth on their backs in bed. The first record of a woman lying down to give birth was in the seventeenth century when the mistress of the French King, Louis XIV lay down, so he could watch the birth from behind a curtain. Next came the invention of the forceps in the middle of the seventeenth century and before long birth in bed, rather than upright, in the traditionally used birth chair, became the norm. Sadly this was not done with women's best interests in mind. After several decades of research we are trying to reverse this trend.
Women who have given birth will be familiar with birth room chants like 'keep your bottom on the bed' and 'put your chin on your chest' or even worse 'take a deep breath and push, push, push.' It is akin to torture, some of the misinformation we give women. It would be far more helpful to advised women to get their bottoms off the bed, to get their chins off their chests and to follow the natural urges of their bodies. We are not only handicapping women from achieving their best, we are actually, often creating problems.
The way you position your body during labour and birth can make a dramatic difference to the way you cope with labour, the pain relief you require, how easily you give birth and whether you tear during the birth. Changing positions and moving around during labour and birth is ideal. Not only does this help increase comfort and reduce pain but it also distracts the mother and gives her something to do where she can feel in control. Changing positions and keeping off your back also helps maintain a good oxygen supply to the baby.
Changing positions during labour and birth changes the shape and size of the pelvis, helping the baby to move through the birth canal. The pelvis, which the baby has to pass through, is made up of movable bones connected by cartilage and ligaments that soften during pregnancy due to the effect of a hormone called relaxin. This softening allows movement to occur in the bones, which enables the pelvis to open as wide as possible when giving birth. It is also why women often suffer pelvic pain when pregnant. When a woman is in an upright or forwards leaning position the angles of the pelvis and internal dimensions change dramatically, helping the baby manoeuvre its way through. When the mother lies or sits on her bottom, her sacrum (lower back) is pressed up towards the baby's head. This causes her pain when the baby tries to move past the sacrum-hence the difficulty of actually keeping your bottom on the bed! But even worse, it narrows the outlet of the pelvis making it much harder for the baby to be born. Likewise, if the head gets through okay, then this reduced diameter can cause the baby's shoulders to be harder to deliver. This is known as shoulder dystocia and it is a serious obstetric emergency.
The other disadvantage of giving birth lying on your back is you are essentially pushing the baby 'uphill' and working against gravity. The perineum is more likely to tear, particularly when stirrups are used. Women also find it harder to deal with their contractions in this position because they are unable to rock their hips and use warm water and massage for pain relief.
There are four principle positions used for labour and birth. These are: squatting, kneeling, standing and semi sitting. However, more than forty different birth positions have been recorded around the world.
The best advice for women is to assume the position they feel most comfortable in. Where we give women lots of options such as mats and bean bags on the floor, birth stools and baths, we find they rarely want to birth on their back. Labouring in water (baths, birth pools) provides great support for all kinds of birth positions.
In early labour women often feel restless and want to move around and keep busy. This is fine as long as you don't overtire yourself before labour gets underway. If labour starts during the night, especially if it is your first baby, try and lie down (on your side) and get some rest. Encourage your partner to sleep because you will need them at their best to support you later. If you are too uncomfortable to lie down then try having a shower or a bath. Leaning over the back of a chair or kitchen bench and rocking your hips back and forth can be quite comforting. Some women spend the entire labour doing this. If your legs are feeling tired, get onto your hands and knees or kneel over a bean bag or exercise ball. Whatever position you are in it is always good to alter it every so often so, for example, your knees don't end up too sore when in a hands and knees position. Altering your position also helps to move the baby through your pelvis. As the labour progresses women tend to want move less.
Keeping active is a great way to make the birth faster and less painful for you. Walking is the most common thing women do during labour.
Standing or leaning forwards is a popular labour and birth position, especially if you are supported by your partner or a piece of furniture. This position allows you to support your weight but has the advantage of gravity. It also makes the contractions easier to cope with and makes them more efficient, helping to shorten the labour. It allows you to rock backwards and forwards to help with contractions. It also allows easy access for massage. Leaning forwards while being upright can help relieve back ache. Some women like to put their arms around their partner's neck and get them to rub their back. Swaying to music and breathing in rhythm can all help. Midwives call this the 'slow dance' position. Some women find it very comforting to place one foot on a seat and bend their knee and lunge forwards or sideways repeatedly during a contraction. This position can widen one side of your pelvis and is helpful in getting the baby to move its head into a better position. Climbing stairs if you have the energy has a similar effect. Standing can increase your urge to push and make second stage much faster. It is important to breathe rather that push your baby's head out when standing, in order to minimise tearing. Standing is so powerfully effective that you need to take the birth slow.
Many women find the all fours position (hands and knees), or kneeling forwards onto a chair or bed comfortable, especially if their legs are getting tired with standing. Leaning forwards helps to relieve back pain taking the weight off the baby's head and away from the spine. This is ideal if your baby is in a posterior position (back of the head against your back). Women can rock their hips in this position helping the baby manoeuvre through the birth canal. Back massages and hot packs are easy to use when women are on their hands and knees. This position is also kind to your perineum as it stops the baby's head pushing so deeply into the perineum (which happens when women are pushing on their back) and directs it out of the vagina. All fours and side lying are the best positions to birth in when you have haemorrhoids and/or pelvic pain.
Sitting astride a chair facing its back or sitting on a toilet seat or birth stool is another great position as it helps to open the pelvis up, maximises the effect of gravity but doesn't tire your legs out. If you put a pillow over the back of the chair you can protect your belly and have something soft to rest your arms and head on. Women often gravitate to the toilet seat in second stage. It helps them to open up the pelvis and also relax the pelvic floor without having to fear an 'accident.' Rocking back and forward on an exercise ball is also very comforting. Women use exercise balls to lean over, sit on or lean back on. Make sure if you are buying one that you get the right size for your height. Many labour wards and birth centres provide these balls now.
Squatting allows the pelvis to open to its maximum size and the woman benefits from the effect of gravity. This is often the position that really begins to move the baby down the birth canal during second stage, if progress is slow. Some women find this quite tiring and it is worthwhile practicing to squat before the birth and getting your partner to try and support you in this position. Birthing stools can help when women are too tired to squat on their own. Birth stools evolved from cultural practices of lap sitting or squatting for the birth.
Side lying is an excellent option for women when they feel too tired to assume upright positions and want to rest in between contractions. It is also a restful position in early labour when you can still manage to doze off in between contractions. If you have an epidural that is limiting your mobility then lying on your side is an ideal position. This position keeps the pressure off the back, allowing for the pelvis to open. It also seems to make the uterus contract more efficiently. This position is also ideal where there is still a little bit of cervix left towards the end of the first stage of labour and the woman is getting strong urges to push. It is easier to breath through the contractions on your side until the cervix is fully dilated and pushing can safely begin. Lying on your side is a great position if you have haemorrhoids or want to slow down a rapid birth. I encourage women who have had a bad perineal tear with a previous birth to use this position. Putting a pillow between your legs in when lying on your side can make it more comfortable for your hips.
Semi sitting is the position many women give birth in. It can be a good position if women get tired of standing or being on their hands and knees. Lying on your side, however, is a better option. Many women end up in a semi sitting position following an epidural or if their baby's heart rate needs to be continuously monitored with a machine. This is also the most common position if a forceps or vacuum is needed. The disadvantages are that sitting reduces the diameter of your pelvis. The oxygen flow to the baby can also be reduced in this position, particularly if you are not sitting upright enough. This position can be more painful because of the pressure on your sacrum. It is also harder to rock your hips and it limits access for massage and warm packs.
Your choice of position may be restricted if: you need an epidural; your baby's heart rate indicates that a change of position would help; you need to have the baby's heart rate continuously monitored or you need assistance (forceps or vacuum) with the birth.
It is important to remember there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to birth positions. Don't get fixed on giving birth in only one position because it might not be the right one for you and it might prevent you finding your ideal position.
1 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
Hello Dr. Dahlen...yes I like your article. I am not a mother but the thought occurred to me that every mammal on the planet gives birth using gravity... except humans. Animals walk around until the moment they are ready...some still stand some do lay on their sides depending on the mammal itself. I just wanted to find evidence that my hunch was correct and your experience, research and logic supports this. It seems birth in our civilized world is made easy for the doctors but not the woman endurng it. Good article thank you. Christina New Jersey USA Christina New Jersey USA Christina New Jersey USA


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yyr wrote:If you can play both In The Groove and Snake360 at the same time, I'll give you a cookie. =)
yyr wrote:But I'll remind you that Snake360 does have full support for Konami's DDR Universe pad! (Time to go back to YouTube?)
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Main Content
Opportunities For Giving
There are a number of ways you can make a gift to Southern, through the SCSU Foundation. Regardless of the method you choose, your gift will have an impact on our students, our campus, and the community at large.
Make a gift online now by credit card on our secure site. This is the simplest and
most direct way to give.
Mail your gift by check, made payable to: SCSU FOUNDATION
Southern Connecticut State University Foundation INC.
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Credit card gifts can also be made by calling (203) 392-7083.
Check to see if your employer matches gifts to Southern. Many employers often offer a matching gift program that enables donors to leverage the value of their gift considerably--often doubling or tripling the impact of the gift. Participation usually entails completing a form or calling a "matching gift hot line." Consult your employer's human resources department for additional information.
See if your employer offers a matching gift program.
Endowments can be established for something that has special meaning to you or you can contribute to an existing endowment of your choice. There are numerous opportunities to establish new named endowments, such as scholarships, professorships, and academic centers. Gifts to establish new endowments have specified minimum funding levels. For more information, please call (203) 392-5598.
Planned gifts, also called deferred or estate gifts, are ways for you to manage your affairs, plan for the future, and make a gift to Southern. Among the most common types of planned gifts are bequests (a gift by will), life insurance, charitable gift annuities that pay you income, and gifts of IRA and other retirement assets. Planned gifts also include trusts (testamentary, charitable lead, and charitable remainder), gifts of appreciated assets of property and bargain sales. Learn more.


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Classic Cruisers - 1948 Ford F-1
1948 Ford F-1
Dennis Calhoun
Dennis Calhoun of Brookfield, Missouri, wanted to share a few images of his homebuilt 1948 F-1 with us and we thought we'd share 'em with you. Dennis said that when he got ahold of this baby it was well worn to say the least; in fact all the sheetmetal was in pretty terrible shape.
The bottoms of both front fenders were gone, the back of cab had been cut with a cutting torch, and what was there was filled with dents and gashes. Even the inside of the cab was pretty much trashed (though he did say the doors were in pretty fair shape). There was no dash, the firewall looked like Swiss cheese, and the floor had 41 holes drilled in it. But with all that rust and damaged sheetmetal Dennis still tackled the job.
Dennis began by refurbishing the chassis, equipping it with completely upgraded steering and suspension, including a Fatman fabrications IFS and a Currie 9-inch held in place by a pair of ladder bars. He then built a balanced and blueprinted 552-cube, 460-based monster motor fitted with aluminum heads, a tunnel ram dual-quad setup, and a Billet Specialties True Trac system.
With the chassis and running gear taken care of, Dennis then turned his attention to the F-1's body and bed. The cab, front end, and bed were massaged into pristine shape, the rear window split, and the stock hood heavily customized. The bed floor was refurbished using the steel floor pan from a later-model Chevy pickup, and the cab interior was treated to a custom dash as well.
Dennis told us now that this two-year project has been completed he's getting ready to start his next project a 1956 F-100 with a 4-inch chop and channel.
If you have a Classic Cruiser and want to see it here, email at least six high-resolution photos and background info to email@example.com, or mail prints to: Classic Trucks, Attn: Jim Rizzo, 1733 Alton Pkwy., Irvine, CA 92606.


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Recently we brought you the story of Spirit, the retired Mars Rover. Now we bring you a tale from Atlantis. No, not the mythical city, but the recently launched NASA Space Shuttle. The voyage of Atlantis will be the last space shuttle mission from NASA. Will another shuttle ever launch from the famed Cape Canaveral launchpad? Maybe, if it's written in the stars.
However, that isn't stopping NASA from conducting its mission, one part of which includes testing a kit that converts urine into drinking water. Yes, you read that correctly. No, the Atlantis astronauts will not be drinking their own urine aboard the shuttle.
NASA tells us that the kit, known as the Forward Osmosis Bag (FOB) system, "convert[s] dirty water into a liquid that is safe to drink using a semi-permeable membrane and a concentrated sugar solution. FOB looks at the forward osmosis membrane in a space flight environment and compares its performance against ground reference controls." Water filtering technology is nothing new, but NASA is attempting this experiment in space, specifically in a zero gravity environment.
As reported by Wired, the International Space Station astronauts currently have their own pee-recycling machine that they convert urine from, but that system requires an external power source from the orbital laboratory to function. The new FOB system requires no external power source, just forward osmosis.
According to NASA, the process is simple:
"NASA's recycler will use a sugary solution injected into a semi-permeable inner bag, which is nested inside an outer bag. Dirty fluid that's pumped into the outer bag will slowly pass through the inner bag and into the sugary solution, leaving behind its contaminants. On Earth, the double-sack system makes about a liter of sports drink-like fluid in four to six hours."
The Atlantis astronauts will be testing the kit with samples of dirty water, not urine. NASA believes that this experiment could have major implications for the future of space exploration. For example, "a small forward osmosis device could be incorporated into new long-exposure EVA suits in order to recycle metabolic wastewater (i.e., sweat and urine) into drinkable fluid." Here on Earth there are more practical applications, such as providing clean drinking water to disaster victims and those in emergency situations.
While the thought of drinking filtered urine provides many with a certain ick-factor, the technology is available and shouldn't be pissed away.


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A brain tumor occurs when cells grow uncontrollably in the brain. Cancer occurs when cells in the body divide without control or order. If cells divide uncontrollably, they form a mass of tissue. The mass is called a growth or tumor. The term cancer usually refers to malignant tumors. These can invade nearby tissue and spread to other parts of the body. A benign tumor does not spread. But, it can continue to grow and press structures near it, causing symptoms.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
There are two main types of brain tumors:
There are two types of primary brain tumors:
Benign tumors – these begin in brain cells and do not spread to other organs or normal tissue.
Malignant tumors – these begin in brain cells and then travel to other parts of the body. They are cancerous.
A secondary tumor is a tumor that has spread to the brain from another site in the body. It is also called a metastatic tumor. All metastatic tumors are malignant.
Rare types of brain tumors, such as pituitary adenomas, neuromas, spinal cord tumors, and hydatid cysts, are not covered in this report.
The brain is in the skull. Abnormal growth of any kind takes up space and compresses normal structures. If the compression is localized, that part of the brain begins to malfunction. The location of the abnormality may be determined by the brain function that is no longer working properly. If the compression involves the entire brain, its blood supply is reduced and different symptoms appear.
Primary brain tumors are the second most common cancer in children and young adults. They are the third most common cancer in people between the ages of 15 and 34 and fourth at ages 35 to 54. They are less common in older adults, where metastatic tumors are more likely to occur.
Ionizing radiation and several hereditary diseases are the only known causes of brain tumors. The cause of the majority of primary brain cancers is unknown. Viruses and environmental factors may play a role. The causes of secondary brain cancers are the factors that caused the cancer at the site of origin.
Brain tumors disrupt brain activity, causing a deterioration in activity and function. Tumors may affect anything the brain does, from memory to movement. They may even irritate the brain enough to cause a seizure. Other complications include headaches or personality changes.
Brain tumor. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php. Updated May 28, 2013. Accessed June 4, 2013.
Brain tumor. National Cancer Institute website. Available at:http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/brain. Accessed June 4, 2013.
Last reviewed June 2013 by Mohei Abouzied, MD; Michael Woods, MD Last Updated: 6/5/2013


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Watch Smallfoot (2018) : Full Movie Online Free A bright young yeti finds something he thought didn't exist—a human. News of this "smallfoot" throws the simple yeti community into an uproar over what else might be out there in the big world beyond their snowy village.
|Subtitle Available
|Release Date
|Sep 20, 2018
|Animation, Family, Adventure, Fantasy,
|Production Company
|Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Animation Group, Warner Bros. Pictures, Zaftig Films
|Production Countries
|United States of America
|Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, Jimmy Tatro, Patricia Heaton
|Plot Keywords
|nepal, himalaya, ice, musical, yeti, snow, anthropomorphism, creature, based on children's book, 3d, plane crash,
Migo (voice)Channing Tatum
Percy Patterson (voice)James Corden
Meechee (voice)Zendaya
Stonekeeper (voice)Common
Gwangi (voice)LeBron James
Dorgle (voice)Danny DeVito
Kolka (voice)Gina Rodriguez
Brenda (voice)Yara Shahidi
Flem (voice)Ely Henry
Thorp (voice)Jimmy Tatro
Mama Bear (voice)Patricia Heaton
Garry (voice)Justin Roiland
Pilot (voice)Jack Quaid
Soozie's Mom (voice)Sarah Baker
Additional Voices (voice)Jonathan Mangum
Additional Voices (voice)Joel McCrary
Additional Voices (voice)Rick Zieff
Additional Voices (voice)Jonathan Kite


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SMUD will use the money to design, build, and test a concentrating solar power project. It works differently than solar photovoltaics.
The technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight and focus it on water to produce steam.
The steam will be fed into turbines at the natural gas-fired Cosumnes Power Plant to produce electricity.
Elaine Sison-Lebrilla with SMUD says the system must be feasible and economical.
"If it proves to be both then it's a good thing and we would move forward," says Elaine Sison-Lebrilla. "But its very critical that we know it's feasible both technically and economically for our power plant."
The concentrating solar power project would generate an additional 10 megawatts of electricity to help during peak demand.
It would also include energy storage technology to improve performance. It would take four years to complete.


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Richard "Dick" Beals died in Vista, California on Mya 29th, 2012. Beals, born on March 16, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan was an actor and voice dubber. He dubbed many voiceso over his long career, which spanned from the early 1950s into the present time. The 4' 7" actor specialized in doing the voices of young boys such as Davey in the "Davey and Goliath" cartoons and "Speedy Alka Seltzer". Dick was also the radio voice of Jim Reid on WXYZ's "The Lone Ranger" radio series.
Beals graduated from Michigan State University in 1949, where he majored in radio broadcasting and puppetry. He covered intramural sports and performed in weekly radio dramas for the campus radio station WKAR. Beals was also a member of the Michigan State cheerleading squad.
Beals was the cartoon voice for several characters including Baby-Faced Moonbeam in "Duck Dodgers", the title character on "Gumby", and various voices on "Roger Ramjet", "The Jetsons", "The Flintstones", and other cartoons.
BEALS, Dick (Richard Beals)
Born: 3/16/1927, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Died: 5/29/2012, Vista, California, U.S.A.
The Lone Ranger (TV) – 1966 [voice of Tiny Tom]


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Jewett Gallery and Skylight GalleryAfghanistan 1970-1975 - Images From An Era of Peace - Striking black and white pre-war 1970s photographs of Afghanistan by Joseph Hoyt depict people of all ages, landscapes and ancient ruins in a poor but culturally and historically rich nation before the start of conflict and turmoil. "The photographs in this collection reveal an Afghanistan very different from the one we hear about today. What we see in these images is not just an Afghanistan at peace, but a people and a country at peace within itself –a remarkable country and its resilient people going about their daily routines," said Hoyt. See full description of this event here.
Other Exhibition Areas in the Library
On the Yellow Brick Road: Market Street's "Sound Money" Parade, 1896 - 35,000 people marched down Market Street on October 31, 1896 in support of "sound money" and the gold standard, protectionism and William McKinley. This exhibition features political banners carried that day, along with press reports and political cartoons published in the months leading up to the November general election.
Exhibition: From November 1, 2008 through January 31, 2009, Main Library, Sixth Floor, San Francisco History Center, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove)See all past 2008 exhibitions for Other Exhibition Areas in the Library


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Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 6, by Edward Gibbon, [1788], at sacred-texts.com
By the arms of the Turks and Franks, the Fatimites had been deprived of Syria. In Egypt the decay of their character and influence was still more essential. Yet they were still revered as the descendants and successors of the prophet; they maintained their invisible state in the palace of Cairo; and their person was seldom violated by the profane eyes of subjects or strangers. The Latin ambassadors 41 have described their own introduction, through a series of gloomy passages, and glittering porticos: the scene was enlivened by the warbling of birds and the murmur of fountains: it was enriched by a display of rich furniture and rare animals; of the Imperial treasures, something was shown, and much was supposed; and the long order of unfolding doors was guarded by black soldiers and domestic eunuchs. The sanctuary of the presence chamber was veiled with a curtain; and the vizier, who conducted the ambassadors, laid aside the cimeter, and prostrated himself three times on the ground; the veil was then removed; and they beheld the commander of the faithful, who signified his pleasure to the first slave of the throne. But this slave was his master: the viziers or sultans had usurped the supreme administration of Egypt; the claims of the rival candidates were decided by arms; and the name of the most worthy, of the strongest, was inserted in the royal patent of command. The factions of Dargham and Shawer alternately expelled each other from the capital and country; and the weaker side implored the dangerous protection of the sultan of Damascus, or the king of Jerusalem, the perpetual enemies of the sect and monarchy of the Fatimites. By his arms and religion the Turk was most formidable; but the Frank, in an easy, direct march, could advance from Gaza to the Nile; while the intermediate situation of his realm compelled the troops of Noureddin to wheel round the skirts of Arabia, a long and painful circuit, which exposed them to thirst, fatigue, and the burning winds of the desert. The secret zeal and ambition of the Turkish prince aspired to reign in Egypt under the name of the Abbassides; but the restoration of the suppliant Shawer was the ostensible motive of the first expedition; and the success was intrusted to the emir Shiracouh, a valiant and veteran commander. Dargham was oppressed and slain; but the ingratitude, the jealousy, the just apprehensions, of his more fortunate rival, soon provoked him to invite the king of Jerusalem to deliver Egypt from his insolent benefactors. To this union the forces of Shiracouh were unequal: he relinquished the premature conquest; and the evacuation of Belbeis or Pelusium was the condition of his safe retreat. As the Turks defiled before the enemy, and their general closed the rear, with a vigilant eye, and a battle axe in his hand, a Frank presumed to ask him if he were not afraid of an attack. "It is doubtless in your power to begin the attack," replied the intrepid emir; "but rest assured, that not one of my soldiers will go to paradise till he has sent an infidel to hell." His report of the riches of the land, the effeminacy of the natives, and the disorders of the government, revived the hopes of Noureddin; the caliph of Bagdad applauded the pious design; and Shiracouh descended into Egypt a second time with twelve thousand Turks and eleven thousand Arabs. Yet his forces were still inferior to the confederate armies of the Franks and Saracens; and I can discern an unusual degree of military art, in his passage of the Nile, his retreat into Thebais, his masterly evolutions in the battle of Babain, the surprise of Alexandria, and his marches and countermarches in the flats and valley of Egypt, from the tropic to the sea. His conduct was seconded by the courage of his troops, and on the eve of action a Mamaluke 42 exclaimed, "If we cannot wrest Egypt from the Christian dogs, why do we not renounce the honors and rewards of the sultan, and retire to labor with the peasants, or to spin with the females of the harem?" Yet, after all his efforts in the field, 43 after the obstinate defence of Alexandria 44 by his nephew Saladin, an honorable capitulation and retreat *_0005 concluded the second enterprise of Shiracouh; and Noureddin reserved his abilities for a third and more propitious occasion. It was soon offered by the ambition and avarice of Amalric or Amaury, king of Jerusalem, who had imbibed the pernicious maxim, that no faith should be kept with the enemies of God. !_0005 A religious warrior, the great master of the hospital, encouraged him to proceed; the emperor of Constantinople either gave, or promised, a fleet to act with the armies of Syria; and the perfidious Christian, unsatisfied with spoil and subsidy, aspired to the conquest of Egypt. In this emergency, the Moslems turned their eyes towards the sultan of Damascus; the vizier, whom danger encompassed on all sides, yielded to their unanimous wishes, and Noureddin seemed to be tempted by the fair offer of one third of the revenue of the kingdom. The Franks were already at the gates of Cairo; but the suburbs, the old city, were burnt on their approach; they were deceived by an insidious negotiation, and their vessels were unable to surmount the barriers of the Nile. They prudently declined a contest with the Turks in the midst of a hostile country; and Amaury retired into Palestine with the shame and reproach that always adhere to unsuccessful injustice. After this deliverance, Shiracouh was invested with a robe of honor, which he soon stained with the blood of the unfortunate Shawer. For a while, the Turkish emirs condescended to hold the office of vizier; but this foreign conquest precipitated the fall of the Fatimites themselves; and the bloodless change was accomplished by a message and a word. The caliphs had been degraded by their own weakness and the tyranny of the viziers: their subjects blushed, when the descendant and successor of the prophet presented his naked hand to the rude gripe of a Latin ambassador; they wept when he sent the hair of his women, a sad emblem of their grief and terror, to excite the pity of the sultan of Damascus. By the command of Noureddin, and the sentence of the doctors, the holy names of Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, were solemnly restored: the caliph Mosthadi, of Bagdad, was acknowledged in the public prayers as the true commander of the faithful; and the green livery of the sons of Ali was exchanged for the black color of the Abbassides. The last of his race, the caliph Adhed, who survived only ten days, expired in happy ignorance of his fate; his treasures secured the loyalty of the soldiers, and silenced the murmurs of the sectaries; and in all subsequent revolutions, Egypt has never departed from the orthodox tradition of the Moslems. 45
The hilly country beyond the Tigris is occupied by the pastoral tribes of the Curds; 46 a people hardy, strong, savage impatient of the yoke, addicted to rapine, and tenacious of the government of their national chiefs. The resemblance of name, situation, and manners, seems to identify them with the Carduchians of the Greeks; 47 and they still defend against the Ottoman Porte the antique freedom which they asserted against the successors of Cyrus. Poverty and ambition prompted them to embrace the profession of mercenary soldiers: the service of his father and uncle prepared the reign of the great Saladin; 48 and the son of Job or Ayud, a simple Curd, magnanimously smiled at his pedigree, which flattery deduced from the Arabian caliphs. 49 So unconscious was Noureddin of the impending ruin of his house, that he constrained the reluctant youth to follow his uncle Shiracouh into Egypt: his military character was established by the defence of Alexandria; and, if we may believe the Latins, he solicited and obtained from the Christian general the profane honors of knighthood. 50 On the death of Shiracouh, the office of grand vizier was bestowed on Saladin, as the youngest and least powerful of the emirs; but with the advice of his father, whom he invited to Cairo, his genius obtained the ascendant over his equals, and attached the army to his person and interest. While Noureddin lived, these ambitious Curds were the most humble of his slaves; and the indiscreet murmurs of the divan were silenced by the prudent Ayub, who loudly protested that at the command of the sultan he himself would lead his sons in chains to the foot of the throne. "Such language," he added in private, "was prudent and proper in an assembly of your rivals; but we are now above fear and obedience; and the threats of Noureddin shall not extort the tribute of a sugar-cane." His seasonable death relieved them from the odious and doubtful conflict: his son, a minor of eleven years of age, was left for a while to the emirs of Damascus; and the new lord of Egypt was decorated by the caliph with every title 51 that could sanctify his usurpation in the eyes of the people. Nor was Saladin long content with the possession of Egypt; he despoiled the Christians of Jerusalem, and the Atabeks of Damascus, Aleppo, and Diarbekir: Mecca and Medina acknowledged him for their temporal protector: his brother subdued the distant regions of Yemen, or the happy Arabia; and at the hour of his death, his empire was spread from the African Tripoli to the Tigris, and from the Indian Ocean to the mountains of Armenia. In the judgment of his character, the reproaches of treason and ingratitude strike forcibly on our minds, impressed, as they are, with the principle and experience of law and loyalty. But his ambition may in some measure be excused by the revolutions of Asia, 52 which had erased every notion of legitimate succession; by the recent example of the Atabeks themselves; by his reverence to the son of his benefactor; his humane and generous behavior to the collateral branches; by their incapacity and his merit; by the approbation of the caliph, the sole source of all legitimate power; and, above all, by the wishes and interest of the people, whose happiness is the first object of government. In his virtues, and in those of his patron, they admired the singular union of the hero and the saint; for both Noureddin and Saladin are ranked among the Mahometan saints; and the constant meditation of the holy war appears to have shed a serious and sober color over their lives and actions. The youth of the latter 53 was addicted to wine and women: but his aspiring spirit soon renounced the temptations of pleasure for the graver follies of fame and dominion: the garment of Saladin was of coarse woollen; water was his only drink; and, while he emulated the temperance, he surpassed the chastity, of his Arabian prophet. Both in faith and practice he was a rigid Mussulman: he ever deplored that the defence of religion had not allowed him to accomplish the pilgrimage of Mecca; but at the stated hours, five times each day, the sultan devoutly prayed with his brethren: the involuntary omission of fasting was scrupulously repaid; and his perusal of the Koran, on horseback between the approaching armies, may be quoted as a proof, however ostentatious, of piety and courage. 54 The superstitious doctrine of the sect of Shafei was the only study that he deigned to encourage: the poets were safe in his contempt; but all profane science was the object of his aversion; and a philosopher, who had invented some speculative novelties, was seized and strangled by the command of the royal saint. The justice of his divan was accessible to the meanest suppliant against himself and his ministers; and it was only for a kingdom that Saladin would deviate from the rule of equity. While the descendants of Seljuk and Zenghi held his stirrup and smoothed his garments, he was affable and patient with the meanest of his servants. So boundless was his liberality, that he distributed twelve thousand horses at the siege of Acre; and, at the time of his death, no more than forty-seven drams of silver and one piece of gold coin were found in the treasury; yet, in a martial reign, the tributes were diminished, and the wealthy citizens enjoyed, without fear or danger, the fruits of their industry. Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, were adorned by the royal foundations of hospitals, colleges, and mosques; and Cairo was fortified with a wall and citadel; but his works were consecrated to public use: 55 nor did the sultan indulge himself in a garden or palace of private luxury. In a fanatic age, himself a fanatic, the genuine virtues of Saladin commanded the esteem of the Christians; the emperor of Germany gloried in his friendship; 56 the Greek emperor solicited his alliance; 57 and the conquest of Jerusalem diffused, and perhaps magnified, his fame both in the East and West.
During his short existence, the kingdom of Jerusalem 58 was supported by the discord of the Turks and Saracens; and both the Fatimite caliphs and the sultans of Damascus were tempted to sacrifice the cause of their religion to the meaner considerations of private and present advantage. But the powers of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, were now united by a hero, whom nature and fortune had armed against the Christians. All without now bore the most threatening aspect; and all was feeble and hollow in the internal state of Jerusalem. After the two first Baldwins, the brother and cousin of Godfrey of Bouillon, the sceptre devolved by female succession to Melisenda, daughter of the second Baldwin, and her husband Fulk, count of Anjou, the father, by a former marriage, of our English Plantagenets. Their two sons, Baldwin the Third, and Amaury, waged a strenuous, and not unsuccessful, war against the infidels; but the son of Amaury, Baldwin the Fourth, was deprived, by the leprosy, a gift of the crusades, of the faculties both of mind and body. His sister Sybilla, the mother of Baldwin the Fifth, was his natural heiress: after the suspicious death of her child, she crowned her second husband, Guy of Lusignan, a prince of a handsome person, but of such base renown, that his own brother Jeffrey was heard to exclaim, "Since they have made him a king, surely they would have made me a god!" The choice was generally blamed; and the most powerful vassal, Raymond count of Tripoli, who had been excluded from the succession and regency, entertained an implacable hatred against the king, and exposed his honor and conscience to the temptations of the sultan. Such were the guardians of the holy city; a leper, a child, a woman, a coward, and a traitor: yet its fate was delayed twelve years by some supplies from Europe, by the valor of the military orders, and by the distant or domestic avocations of their great enemy. At length, on every side, the sinking state was encircled and pressed by a hostile line: and the truce was violated by the Franks, whose existence it protected. A soldier of fortune, Reginald of Chatillon, had seized a fortress on the edge of the desert, from whence he pillaged the caravans, insulted Mahomet, and threatened the cities of Mecca and Medina. Saladin condescended to complain; rejoiced in the denial of justice, and at the head of fourscore thousand horse and foot invaded the Holy Land. The choice of Tiberias for his first siege was suggested by the count of Tripoli, to whom it belonged; and the king of Jerusalem was persuaded to drain his garrison, and to arm his people, for the relief of that important place. 59 By the advice of the perfidious Raymond, the Christians were betrayed into a camp destitute of water: he fled on the first onset, with the curses of both nations: 60 Lusignan was overthrown, with the loss of thirty thousand men; and the wood of the true cross (a dire misfortune!) was left in the power of the infidels. *_0006 The royal captive was conducted to the tent of Saladin; and as he fainted with thirst and terror, the generous victor presented him with a cup of sherbet, cooled in snow, without suffering his companion, Reginald of Chatillon, to partake of this pledge of hospitality and pardon. "The person and dignity of a king," said the sultan, "are sacred, but this impious robber must instantly acknowledge the prophet, whom he has blasphemed, or meet the death which he has so often deserved." On the proud or conscientious refusal of the Christian warrior, Saladin struck him on the head with his cimeter, and Reginald was despatched by the guards. 61 The trembling Lusignan was sent to Damascus, to an honorable prison and speedy ransom; but the victory was stained by the execution of two hundred and thirty knights of the hospital, the intrepid champions and martyrs of their faith. The kingdom was left without a head; and of the two grand masters of the military orders, the one was slain and the other was a prisoner. From all the cities, both of the sea-coast and the inland country, the garrisons had been drawn away for this fatal field: Tyre and Tripoli alone could escape the rapid inroad of Saladin; and three months after the battle of Tiberias, he appeared in arms before the gates of Jerusalem. 62
He might expect that the siege of a city so venerable on earth and in heaven, so interesting to Europe and Asia, would rekindle the last sparks of enthusiasm; and that, of sixty thousand Christians, every man would be a soldier, and every soldier a candidate for martyrdom. But Queen Sybilla trembled for herself and her captive husband; and the barons and knights, who had escaped from the sword and chains of the Turks, displayed the same factious and selfish spirit in the public ruin. The most numerous portion of the inhabitants was composed of the Greek and Oriental Christians, whom experience had taught to prefer the Mahometan before the Latin yoke; 63 and the holy sepulchre attracted a base and needy crowd, without arms or courage, who subsisted only on the charity of the pilgrims. Some feeble and hasty efforts were made for the defence of Jerusalem: but in the space of fourteen days, a victorious army drove back the sallies of the besieged, planted their engines, opened the wall to the breadth of fifteen cubits, applied their scaling-ladders, and erected on the breach twelve banners of the prophet and the sultan. It was in vain that a barefoot procession of the queen, the women, and the monks, implored the Son of God to save his tomb and his inheritance from impious violation. Their sole hope was in the mercy of the conqueror, and to their first suppliant deputation that mercy was sternly denied. "He had sworn to avenge the patience and long-suffering of the Moslems; the hour of forgiveness was elapsed, and the moment was now arrived to expiate, in blood, the innocent blood which had been spilt by Godfrey and the first crusaders." But a desperate and successful struggle of the Franks admonished the sultan that his triumph was not yet secure; he listened with reverence to a solemn adjuration in the name of the common Father of mankind; and a sentiment of human sympathy mollified the rigor of fanaticism and conquest. He consented to accept the city, and to spare the inhabitants. The Greek and Oriental Christians were permitted to live under his dominion, but it was stipulated, that in forty days all the Franks and Latins should evacuate Jerusalem, and be safely conducted to the seaports of Syria and Egypt; that ten pieces of gold should be paid for each man, five for each woman, and one for every child; and that those who were unable to purchase their freedom should be detained in perpetual slavery. Of some writers it is a favorite and invidious theme to compare the humanity of Saladin with the massacre of the first crusade. The difference would be merely personal; but we should not forget that the Christians had offered to capitulate, and that the Mahometans of Jerusalem sustained the last extremities of an assault and storm. Justice is indeed due to the fidelity with which the Turkish conqueror fulfilled the conditions of the treaty; and he may be deservedly praised for the glance of pity which he cast on the misery of the vanquished. Instead of a rigorous exaction of his debt, he accepted a sum of thirty thousand byzants, for the ransom of seven thousand poor; two or three thousand more were dismissed by his gratuitous clemency; and the number of slaves was reduced to eleven or fourteen thousand persons. In this interview with the queen, his words, and even his tears suggested the kindest consolations; his liberal alms were distributed among those who had been made orphans or widows by the fortune of war; and while the knights of the hospital were in arms against him, he allowed their more pious brethren to continue, during the term of a year, the care and service of the sick. In these acts of mercy the virtue of Saladin deserves our admiration and love: he was above the necessity of dissimulation, and his stern fanaticism would have prompted him to dissemble, rather than to affect, this profane compassion for the enemies of the Koran. After Jerusalem had been delivered from the presence of the strangers, the sultan made his triumphal entry, his banners waving in the wind, and to the harmony of martial music. The great mosque of Omar, which had been converted into a church, was again consecrated to one God and his prophet Mahomet: the walls and pavement were purified with rose-water; and a pulpit, the labor of Noureddin, was erected in the sanctuary. But when the golden cross that glittered on the dome was cast down, and dragged through the streets, the Christians of every sect uttered a lamentable groan, which was answered by the joyful shouts of the Moslems. In four ivory chests the patriarch had collected the crosses, the images, the vases, and the relics of the holy place; they were seized by the conqueror, who was desirous of presenting the caliph with the trophies of Christian idolatry. He was persuaded, however, to intrust them to the patriarch and prince of Antioch; and the pious pledge was redeemed by Richard of England, at the expense of fifty-two thousand byzants of gold. 64
The nations might fear and hope the immediate and final expulsion of the Latins from Syria; which was yet delayed above a century after the death of Saladin. 65 In the career of victory, he was first checked by the resistance of Tyre; the troops and garrisons, which had capitulated, were imprudently conducted to the same port: their numbers were adequate to the defence of the place; and the arrival of Conrad of Montferrat inspired the disorderly crowd with confidence and union. His father, a venerable pilgrim, had been made prisoner in the battle of Tiberias; but that disaster was unknown in Italy and Greece, when the son was urged by ambition and piety to visit the inheritance of his royal nephew, the infant Baldwin. The view of the Turkish banners warned him from the hostile coast of Jaffa; and Conrad was unanimously hailed as the prince and champion of Tyre, which was already besieged by the conqueror of Jerusalem. The firmness of his zeal, and perhaps his knowledge of a generous foe, enabled him to brave the threats of the sultan, and to declare, that should his aged parent be exposed before the walls, he himself would discharge the first arrow, and glory in his descent from a Christian martyr. 66 The Egyptian fleet was allowed to enter the harbor of Tyre; but the chain was suddenly drawn, and five galleys were either sunk or taken: a thousand Turks were slain in a sally; and Saladin, after burning his engines, concluded a glorious campaign by a disgraceful retreat to Damascus. He was soon assailed by a more formidable tempest. The pathetic narratives, and even the pictures, that represented in lively colors the servitude and profanation of Jerusalem, awakened the torpid sensibility of Europe: the emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and the kings of France and England, assumed the cross; and the tardy magnitude of their armaments was anticipated by the maritime states of the Mediterranean and the Ocean. The skilful and provident Italians first embarked in the ships of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. They were speedily followed by the most eager pilgrims of France, Normandy, and the Western Isles. The powerful succor of Flanders, Frise, and Denmark, filled near a hundred vessels: and the Northern warriors were distinguished in the field by a lofty stature and a ponderous battle- axe. 67 Their increasing multitudes could no longer be confined within the walls of Tyre, or remain obedient to the voice of Conrad. They pitied the misfortunes, and revered the dignity, of Lusignan, who was released from prison, perhaps, to divide the army of the Franks. He proposed the recovery of Ptolemais, or Acre, thirty miles to the south of Tyre; and the place was first invested by two thousand horse and thirty thousand foot under his nominal command. I shall not expatiate on the story of this memorable siege; which lasted near two years, and consumed, in a narrow space, the forces of Europe and Asia. Never did the flame of enthusiasm burn with fiercer and more destructive rage; nor could the true believers, a common appellation, who consecrated their own martyrs, refuse some applause to the mistaken zeal and courage of their adversaries. At the sound of the holy trumpet, the Moslems of Egypt, Syria, Arabia, and the Oriental provinces, assembled under the servant of the prophet: 68 his camp was pitched and removed within a few miles of Acre; and he labored, night and day, for the relief of his brethren and the annoyance of the Franks. Nine battles, not unworthy of the name, were fought in the neighborhood of Mount Carmel, with such vicissitude of fortune, that in one attack, the sultan forced his way into the city; that in one sally, the Christians penetrated to the royal tent. By the means of divers and pigeons, a regular correspondence was maintained with the besieged; and, as often as the sea was left open, the exhausted garrison was withdrawn, and a fresh supply was poured into the place. The Latin camp was thinned by famine, the sword and the climate; but the tents of the dead were replenished with new pilgrims, who exaggerated the strength and speed of their approaching countrymen. The vulgar was astonished by the report, that the pope himself, with an innumerable crusade, was advanced as far as Constantinople. The march of the emperor filled the East with more serious alarms: the obstacles which he encountered in Asia, and perhaps in Greece, were raised by the policy of Saladin: his joy on the death of Barbarossa was measured by his esteem; and the Christians were rather dismayed than encouraged at the sight of the duke of Swabia and his way-worn remnant of five thousand Germans. At length, in the spring of the second year, the royal fleets of France and England cast anchor in the Bay of Acre, and the siege was more vigorously prosecuted by the youthful emulation of the two kings, Philip Augustus and Richard Plantagenet. After every resource had been tried, and every hope was exhausted, the defenders of Acre submitted to their fate; a capitulation was granted, but their lives and liberties were taxed at the hard conditions of a ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold, the deliverance of one hundred nobles, and fifteen hundred inferior captives, and the restoration of the wood of the holy cross. Some doubts in the agreement, and some delay in the execution, rekindled the fury of the Franks, and three thousand Moslems, almost in the sultan's view, were beheaded by the command of the sanguinary Richard. 69 By the conquest of Acre, the Latin powers acquired a strong town and a convenient harbor; but the advantage was most dearly purchased. The minister and historian of Saladin computes, from the report of the enemy, that their numbers, at different periods, amounted to five or six hundred thousand; that more than one hundred thousand Christians were slain; that a far greater number was lost by disease or shipwreck; and that a small portion of this mighty host could return in safety to their native countries. 70
41 From the ambassador, William of Tyre (l. xix. c. 17, 18,) describes the palace of Cairo. In the caliph's treasure were found a pearl as large as a pigeon's egg, a ruby weighing seventeen Egyptian drams, an emerald a palm and a half in length, and many vases of crystal and porcelain of China, (Renaudot, p. 536.)
42 Mamluc, plur. Mamalic, is defined by Pocock, (Prolegom. ad Abulpharag. p. 7,) and D'Herbelot, (p. 545,) servum emptitium, seu qui pretio numerato in domini possessionem cedit. They frequently occur in the wars of Saladin, (Bohadin, p. 236, &c.;) and it was only the Bahartie Mamalukes that were first introduced into Egypt by his descendants.
43 Jacobus a Vitriaco (p. 1116) gives the king of Jerusalem no more than 374 knights. Both the Franks and the Moslems report the superior numbers of the enemy; a difference which may be solved by counting or omitting the unwarlike Egyptians.
44 It was the Alexandria of the Arabs, a middle term in extent and riches between the period of the Greeks and Romans, and that of the Turks, (Savary, Lettres sur l'Egypte, tom. i. p. 25, 26.)
*_0005 The treaty stipulated that both the Christians and the Arabs should withdraw from Egypt. Wilken, vol. iii. part ii. p. 113. - M.
!_0005 The Knights Templars, abhorring the perfidious breach of treaty partly, perhaps, out of jealousy of the Hospitallers, refused to join in this enterprise. Will. Tyre c. xx. p. 5. Wilken, vol. iii. part ii. p. 117 - M.
45 For this great revolution of Egypt, see William of Tyre, (l. xix. 5, 6, 7, 12 - 31, xx. 5 - 12,) Bohadin, (in Vit. Saladin, p. 30 - 39,) Abulfeda, (in Excerpt. Schultens, p. 1 - 12,) D'Herbelot, (Bibliot. Orient. Adhed, Fathemah, but very incorrect,) Renaudot, (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 522 - 525, 532 - 537,) Vertot, (Hist. des Chevaliers de Malthe, tom. i. p. 141 - 163, in 4to.,) and M. de Guignes, (tom. ii. p. 185 - 215.)
46 For the Curds, see De Guignes, tom. ii. p. 416, 417, the Index Geographicus of Schultens and Tavernier, Voyages, p. i. p. 308, 309. The Ayoubites descended from the tribe of the Rawadiaei, one of the noblest; but as they were infected with the heresy of the Metempsychosis, the orthodox sultans insinuated that their descent was only on the mother's side, and that their ancestor was a stranger who settled among the Curds.
47 See the ivth book of the Anabasis of Xenophon. The ten thousand suffered more from the arrows of the free Carduchians, than from the splendid weakness of the great king.
48 We are indebted to the professor Schultens (Lugd. Bat, 1755, in folio) for the richest and most authentic materials, a life of Saladin by his friend and minister the Cadhi Bohadin, and copious extracts from the history of his kinsman the prince Abulfeda of Hamah. To these we may add, the article of Salaheddin in the Bibliotheque Orientale, and all that may be gleaned from the Dynasties of Abulpharagius.
49 Since Abulfeda was himself an Ayoubite, he may share the praise, for imitating, at least tacitly, the modesty of the founder.
50 Hist. Hierosol. in the Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 1152. A similar example may be found in Joinville, (p. 42, edition du Louvre;) but the pious St. Louis refused to dignify infidels with the order of Christian knighthood, (Ducange, Observations, p 70.)
51 In these Arabic titles, religionis must always be understood; Noureddin, lumen r.; Ezzodin, decus; Amadoddin, columen: our hero's proper name was Joseph, and he was styled Salahoddin, salus; Al Malichus, Al Nasirus, rex defensor; Abu Modaffer, pater victoriae, Schultens, Praefat.
52 Abulfeda, who descended from a brother of Saladin, observes, from many examples, that the founders of dynasties took the guilt for themselves, and left the reward to their innocent collaterals, (Excerpt p. 10.)
53 See his life and character in Renaudot, p. 537 - 548.
54 His civil and religious virtues are celebrated in the first chapter of Bohadin, (p. 4 - 30,) himself an eye-witness, and an honest bigot.
55 In many works, particularly Joseph's well in the castle of Cairo, the Sultan and the Patriarch have been confounded by the ignorance of natives and travellers.
56 Anonym. Canisii, tom. iii. p. ii. p. 504.
57 Bohadin, p. 129, 130.
58 For the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, see William of Tyre, from the ixth to the xxiid book. Jacob a Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosolem l i., and Sanutus Secreta Fidelium Crucis, l. iii. p. vi. vii. viii. ix.
59 Templarii ut apes bombabant et Hospitalarii ut venti stridebant, et barones se exitio offerebant, et Turcopuli (the Christian light troops) semet ipsi in ignem injiciebant, (Ispahani de Expugnatione Kudsitica, p. 18, apud Schultens;) a specimen of Arabian eloquence, somewhat different from the style of Xenophon!
60 The Latins affirm, the Arabians insinuate, the treason of Raymond; but had he really embraced their religion, he would have been a saint and a hero in the eyes of the latter.
*_0006 Raymond's advice would have prevented the abandonment of a secure camp abounding with water near Sepphoris. The rash and insolent valor of the master of the order of Knights Templars, which had before exposed the Christians to a fatal defeat at the brook Kishon, forced the feeble king to annul the determination of a council of war, and advance to a camp in an enclosed valley among the mountains, near Hittin, without water. Raymond did not fly till the battle was irretrievably lost, and then the Saracens seem to have opened their ranks to allow him free passage. The charge of suggesting the siege of Tiberias appears ungrounded Raymond, no doubt, played a double part: he was a man of strong sagacity, who foresaw the desperate nature of the contest with Saladin, endeavored by every means to maintain the treaty, and, though he joined both his arms and his still more valuable counsels to the Christian army, yet kept up a kind of amicable correspondence with the Mahometans. See Wilken, vol. iii. part ii. p. 276, et seq. Michaud, vol. ii. p. 278, et seq. M. Michaud is still more friendly than Wilken to the memory of Count Raymond, who died suddenly, shortly after the battle of Hittin. He quotes a letter written in the name of Saladin by the caliph Alfdel, to show that Raymond was considered by the Mahometans their most dangerous and detested enemy. "No person of distinction among the Christians escaped, except the count, (of Tripoli) whom God curse. God made him die shortly afterwards, and sent him from the kingdom of death to hell." - M.
61 Benaud, Reginald, or Arnold de Chatillon, is celebrated by the Latins in his life and death; but the circumstances of the latter are more distinctly related by Bohadin and Abulfeda; and Joinville (Hist. de St. Louis, p. 70) alludes to the practice of Saladin, of never putting to death a prisoner who had tasted his bread and salt. Some of the companions of Arnold had been slaughtered, and almost sacrificed, in a valley of Mecca, ubi sacrificia mactantur, (Abulfeda, p. 32.)
62 Vertot, who well describes the loss of the kingdom and city (Hist. des Chevaliers de Malthe, tom. i. l. ii. p. 226 - 278,) inserts two original epistles of a Knight Templar.
63 Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 545.
64 For the conquest of Jerusalem, Bohadin (p. 67 - 75) and Abulfeda (p. 40 - 43) are our Moslem witnesses. Of the Christian, Bernard Thesaurarius (c. 151 - 167) is the most copious and authentic; see likewise Matthew Paris, (p. 120 - 124.)
65 The sieges of Tyre and Acre are most copiously described by Bernard Thesaurarius, (de Acquisitione Terrae Sanctae, c. 167 - 179,) the author of the Historia Hierosolymitana, (p. 1150 - 1172, in Bongarnius,) Abulfeda, (p. 43 - 50,) and Bohadin, (p. 75 - 179.)
66 I have followed a moderate and probable representation of the fact; by Vertot, who adopts without reluctance a romantic tale the old marquis is actually exposed to the darts of the besieged.
67 Northmanni et Gothi, et caeteri populi insularum quae inter occidentem et septentrionem sitae sunt, gentes bellicosae, corporis proceri mortis intrepidae, bipenbibus armatae, navibus rotundis, quae Ysnachiae dicuntur, advectae.
68 The historian of Jerusalem (p. 1108) adds the nations of the East from the Tigris to India, and the swarthy tribes of Moors and Getulians, so that Asia and Africa fought against Europe.
69 Bohadin, p. 180; and this massacre is neither denied nor blamed by the Christian historians. Alacriter jussa complentes, (the English soldiers,) says Galfridus a Vinesauf, (l. iv. c. 4, p. 346,) who fixes at 2700 the number of victims; who are multiplied to 5000 by Roger Hoveden, (p. 697, 698.) The humanity or avarice of Philip Augustus was persuaded to ransom his prisoners, (Jacob a Vitriaco, l. i. c. 98, p. 1122.)
70 Bohadin, p. 14. He quotes the judgment of Balianus, and the prince of Sidon, and adds, ex illo mundo quasi hominum paucissimi redierunt. Among the Christians who died before St. John d'Acre, I find the English names of De Ferrers earl of Derby, (Dugdale, Baronage, part i. p. 260,) Mowbray, (idem, p. 124,) De Mandevil, De Fiennes, St. John, Scrope, Bigot, Talbot, &c.


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So what is your favourite Missing Links song?
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Also, the European cassette release of Missing Links contained All About You and is therefore listed.
Two Different Views and Going Without will be listed in the Happy Landings Poll


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Early American writings that show that the public schools of today are quite different from the public schools of yesteryear.
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Correction Appended
Gary Bass is getting the band back together.
In the midst of the last Republican revolution in the mid-1990s, the founder of the advocacy group OMB Watch convened a group of safety, health and environmental advocates to join forces and oppose efforts by the GOP Congress to cut federal regulations. More or less, they succeeded.
This spring, Bass is at it again, drawing together a coalition of like-minded groups to fend off a series of similar deregulatory proposals moving through the new Congress, which has a GOP-controlled House. The group, called the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, includes many of the same organizations — and in some cases, the same people — that banded together 16 years ago.
Back then, Bass called the group Citizens for Sensible Safeguards. He testified in February 1995 that "we are concerned about a growing anti-regulatory mood that puts public protections second to free market considerations." Regulatory reform legislation drafted by the Republican Congress, he said then, was "little more than an anti-regulatory attack premised on the industry-led view that government regulations thwart competitiveness."
Today, Bass makes largely the same argument about bills introduced in the 112th Congress to curb regulations. "When the Contract With America was proposed, that was an assault on the notion of federal regulation," Bass recently told Roll Call. "That assault is reoccuring today as part of a general anti-government sentiment."
Several regulatory reform measures have sprung up already in the 112th Congress, including a proposal by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to create a commission to "sunset" federal programs and a bill by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) called the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act that would require Congressional approval of any new major rules written by federal agencies. Supporters of the measure said this is a proper system of Congressional oversight to ensure that rules properly reflect legislative intent and to curb unnecessary rules; opponents say it would make it almost impossible for an agency to implement a major regulation.
Bass and his coalition are targeting these measures as unwise and unwarranted attempts to block important health and safety standards. The coalition includes the Natural Resources Defense Council, the AFL-CIO, Public Citizen and a host of other labor, health and environmental groups that are reprising their roles from the Gingrich Congress in the effort to stop a GOP "regulatory reform" effort.
The group began forming just after the November elections and had its first formal meeting in March. It has funding from the Bauman Foundation; Bass is leaving OMB Watch at the end of June to work full time for the foundation, but he will continue leading the coalition as well.
In 1995, Wesley Warren was working in President Bill Clinton's White House, consulting with outside groups that opposed reforms by Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). "I worked with Gary Bass and the coalition, but I wasn't part of it," Warren said.
Now, as director of programs for the NRDC, Warren said the new regulatory reform battle is evidence that "there is nothing harder to kill in Washington than a bad idea."
Warren said Republicans are trying to "burden regulatory agencies with procedures that will be difficult or expensive to accomplish ... at the same time they starve the agency of resources to do their work." The combination will prevent agencies from issuing new rules even where they have legislative authority or obligations to do so, he said.
Scott Slesinger is now the NRDC's legislative director, but in 1995 he worked for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who took the lead in defending environmental regulations in the 104th Congress. Slesinger said, "In 1994, you heard the same arguments that you are hearing today: 'Your crippling regulations are going to put us out of business.'"
But he noted that the economy soared for most of the years since then, and when Republicans in Congress polled industry at the start of the 112th Congress for suggestions of what rules to eliminate, "most of the suggestions were about future rules" in areas such as banking and health care. "The current ones ... turned out not to be so bad."
Most of the Republican Members of Congress who took the lead on regulatory reform in the 1990s are no longer in office. But like Bass and his coalition of opponents, many of the regulatory reform advocates are the same folks who faced off on the issue two decades ago.
Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, just released the 2011 edition of "Ten Thousand Commandments," a report on regulatory costs that he has produced more or less annually since 1992. Crews said the attention on regulations has increased in this Congress because the number and costs of regulations have exploded as the economy has struggled to recover.
"Spending increases lead to an increase in regulation," Crews said. "When government grows and creates new programs — like the Department of Homeland Security, new spending at [the Federal Communications Commission], health care reform — all that spending translates into more government regulation."
James Gattuso, senior fellow in regulatory policy at the Heritage Foundation, said the regulation debate should begin with the view that the government should "be reluctant to regulate unless it is absolutely necessary."
Gattuso hosts long-running regular meetings of like-minded people from think tanks and Capitol Hill who are concerned about regulation. "We were into regulatory reform before regulatory reform was cool," he said last week. Gattuso, who was active in the regulatory reform debate in 1995 as a vice president at Citizens for a Sound Economy, which has since merged into FreedomWorks, said this new debate will benefit from having experienced players who can get beyond the "superficial side of it."
But Gattuso said the deregulatory crowd has seen an influx of new blood with the rise of the tea party movement. "The tea party is a new element that we didn't have before. ... They are intensely distrustful of government and generally believe that there is too much regulation."
Wayne Brough, vice president for research at FreedomWorks, said the tea party wave has created "a real opportunity" for regulatory reform for the first time in years and noted that many of the original reform proposals of 1995 never became law.
"After the '94 win in Congress, a lot of the groups thought reg reform would be a slam dunk ... and there would never be another bad regulation." Both things proved untrue, Brough said, and "this time I don't see the same exuberance."
But Bass said his group is also committed to a fight.
His coalition "will be doing the research, the rapid response, it will be doing the lobbying," Bass said. "We are not going to let all of these claims go unsubstantiated this time. ... We are not going to just sit back and take it. They may have more money than us, but we are also going to bring out the people who are affected by all this."
The bottom line, Bass said, is that regulation "is not the cause of economic calamity. In terms of mass layoffs as reported by employers ... weather has more impact than government regulation."
Correction: May 4, 2011
The caption accompanying the article misstated the origins of the group OMB Watch. The group was founded in 1983 and went on to lead the opposition to Republican regulatory reform efforts in the mid-1990s.


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Tjerk van Herwaarden presents Kim Goh with her Academic All-Ivy League award (photo Harvard Athletic Communications).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard field hockey team gave out its team awards to the 2012 recipients at its annual banquet hosted in the Murr Center lounge Sunday morning. First-year head coach Tjerk van Herwaarden handed out five team awards and also presented Major H certificates and gifts to the seniors in front of Harvard field hockey players, staff, friends and family.
Van Herwaarden, who flew back from San Diego where he is acting as the interim head coach for the USA Field Hockey Women's National Team, also presented senior Kim Goh with her Academic All-Ivy League award at the event. Goh was also one of two Crimson players selected to the All-Ivy League team in 2012, along with sophomore Caitlin Rea.
The Championship Lifestyle Award - Cynthia Tassopoulos
This upper classman demonstrates an elite level of quality of life academically, socially, athletically and spiritually, while exemplifying a championship lifestyle.
The Most Outstanding Field Hockey Player - Caitlin Rea
This player epitomizes the "world class" hockey player. She demonstrates the technical and tactical skills coupled with the heart of a champion.
The Unsung Hero Award - Rebecca Houser & Molly Stansik
This student athlete has persevered in times of adversity and has displayed courage while bringing positive energy to all team sessions. She has contributed daily to our successes as a championship team.
The Most Outstanding Student-Athlete - Kim Goh
This award is presented to the team's player who has displayed the most excellence on the field and in the classroom
The Freshman Award - Dina Sinno
This award stands for the player that has had the most positive impact on the season with her commitment, work rate and attitude on and off the field in her freshmen year.


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NB30 Pro sets a new standard for business-rugged
The latest trend in laptop PCs isn't being a laptop at all. Instead we have netbooks, laptops' tiny cousins, becoming all the rage.
The logic behind a netbook is that most travelers don't require the ultra-fast performance offered by full-sized laptops. For checking e-mail messages on the road, writing Word files, surfing the Web and other mundane tasks, a slower processor is all that's needed.
Samsung NB30
Pros: Durable case, hard drive protected from shock, portable.Cons: Slower performance than most laptops.Performance: CEase of use: AFeatures: B+Value: B+Price: $519
So for most people, the dainty power-sipping Intel Atom chips will do just fine. And that reduces the need for massive components to support the chip, such as batteries. You might not get the raw speed of a full-sized laptop, but most netbooks can get the job done at less than 3 pounds, a nice boon on weight savings. Some are even lighter than that.
The Samsung NB30 fits the netbook guidelines for the most part. Powered by an Atom N450 chip running at 1.66 GHz, it does what we have come to expect from a computer of this class. What separates the NB30 from the pack is that Samsung has taken steps to increase the durability of the unit beyond normal design parameters. That isn't to say that the NB30 is rugged in terms of Mil-Spec 810f. But it is a lot more durable than most netbooks, which tend to be on the fragile side, even for a technology product.
Looking at the NB30 as a laptop first, before we get into the rugged features, we found a decently performing system. It was able to get 215.4 on the Passmark Performance Test Version 7 benchmark, which, although low, is about average for a netbook.
We like to set a goal of at least 300 for systems that want to do anything outside of the norm, but 215 is close enough that you will be able to do things such as open Photoshop files. You just might want to go get a cup of coffee while they load. Also, the NB30 couldn't perform many of the 3-D tests the benchmark requires, so don't expect this netbook to do much else beyond 2-D business graphics. It has 128M of shared graphical memory and an Intel GMA2150 processor, hardly a heavyweight but adequate for most office tasks.
The NB30 we tested had 2G of memory, which seemed to be about the minimum needed to drive the Windows 7 Pro operating system. Sometimes even common tasks could seem a little slow. For example, trying to open the control panel occasionally resulted in a delay of between five and 10 seconds.
Not too surprisingly, the NB30 did quite well on our worst-case scenario battery life testing, where we constantly run a movie on the screen with the brightness and sound set at 80 percent. The movie clip played over and over again for 3 hours, 16 minutes before the netbook went dark. More common tasks and running with power-saving features active (we disable everything to run it full-out during the test) will likely net you even longer run times.
In terms of extras (not counting rugged, which we will look at separately), there were a few nice surprises. For one, the NB30 has a very crisp, LED-backlit 10.1-inch display with a native resolution of 1024 x 600. Everything on the screen was crisp. That is matched by an above average sound system, for a netbook anyway. The speakers are only 40 watts, but everything coming out of the NB30 is in HD audio, so it sounds great. And again, it's adequate for most tasks. We had no problem hearing our movie clip running from an adjacent room.
And we were happy to find three USB ports, a necessity for netbooks, given that extra devices are often needed to increase functionality. For example, it has no DVD drive, so if you need one, a USB model would be a perfect choice. You could plug one in and still have two USB ports available for a mouse and portable backup hard drive. There is also an SD slot which could come in handy if you are using a camera or smaller data device. A 0.3 megapixel camera rounds out the extra features. A 0.3 camera is nothing to write home about but is fine for most videoconferencing if all you are doing is talking to someone or showing still pictures close to the lens.
At first, we were a little concerned about the price of the unit, which retails for $519 as configured for our testing. But we know that rugged gear typically sells for more than comparable nonrugged equipment, so this is somewhat understandable. Samsung also said that government discounts were in place, though we don't have the details on that.
Usually, when we talk rugged we are dropping notebooks from 48 inches onto plywood over concrete, as set out in the 810f specification. But that didn't happen here. The NB30 isn't ready to enlist. It's just a bit more durable than a standard netbook.
The two main areas that make it durable are the shock-mounted hard drive and the special polymer case. The hard drive is a 2.5-inch 5400-RPM model, so nothing really special there. It is mounted in special shock-absorbing material, which can help in a fall. It also has a drop sensor that locks it in place quickly if it detects rapid motion, such as a sudden fall. We tested this sensor, and it worked fine, though we have also seen this on non-rugged notebooks in the past.
The plastic case has deep grooves carved into it that help to absorb the shock of a fall. The case seems to push out a bit from the actual frame of the netbook, so light to medium damage will presumably affect the plastic covering and not the vital components inside.
With the special case and the hard drive protection, our years of testing rugged gear tells us that the NB30 could almost certainly survive at least one moderate drop without losing any data. But because it's not actually rated as rugged, we didn't perform that test as the unit would have likely been damaged when doing so. But that's really the point. The case can take a cosmetic beating while protecting the data on the drive, if not the other vital components. The weight of the NB30 is 2.95 pounds, which is heavy for a netbook, but understandable because even light armor adds weight.
Factoring all that in, the $519 price tag isn't too bad. Even if there is only a low chance of the unit experiencing a fall, it's nice to know that, if nothing else, the data on the hard drive will likely survive. And that peace of mind is more than you will get with most other units in this class.
Samsung Electronics America, www.samsung.com
About the Author
John Breeden II is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
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ALGIERS (Reuters) - A total of 37 foreign workers died in a hostage crisis at an Algerian desert gas plant and seven are still missing, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday.
Sellal also told a news conference that a Canadian had coordinated the attack by Islamists on the site near the Libyan border.
"A Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack," Sellal said, adding that the raiders had threatened to blow up the gas installation.
Earlier an Algerian security source told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of two militants had identified them as Canadians, as special forces scoured the plant following Saturday's bloody end to the crisis.
Canada's foreign affairs department said it was seeking information, but referred to the possible involvement of only one Canadian.
Sellal said 29 Islamists had been killed in the siege, which Algerian forces ended on Saturday by storming the plant, and three had been captured alive.
American, British, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Filipino and Romanian workers are dead or missing after the attack, for which veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda.
A Japanese government source said earlier that the Algerian government had told Tokyo nine Japanese had been killed, the biggest toll so far among foreigners at the plant. Six Filipinos died and four were wounded, a government spokesman in Manila said.
Norwegian International Development Minister Heikki Holmaas also said his stepfather, Tore Bech, was among the missing and presumed dead. Bech was a manager at the site for the Norwegian energy company Statoil.
Sellal said the jihadists had planned the attack two months ago in neighboring Mali, where French forces began fighting Islamists this month.
Initially the raiders in Algeria had tried to hijack a bus carrying foreign workers to a nearby airport and take them hostage. "They started firing at the bus and received a severe response from the soldiers guarding the bus," Sellal said. "They failed to achieve their objective, which was to kidnap foreign workers from the bus."
(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by David Stamp)


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|By Jeremy Geelan
Article Rating:
|January 7, 2009 08:10 AM EST
Industry Leaders Discuss the Future of Cloud Computing - Click Here To Enjoy SYS-CON's Cloud-Specific Predictions Round-up
Every year SYS-CON polls selected members of the the Internet technologies (i-Technology) community and asks them to share their thoughts on what's around the corner in the world of i-Technology and Web-based enterprise. The main consensual themes this year were very clear. Cassatt Corporation's visionary CEO Bill Coleman, for example - famous in a former life for being the 'B' in BEA Systems - is adamant that 2009 is going to be The Year of Cloud. Belt-tightening by major IT-spenders not surprisingly was another recurring theme.
As early as 2004 Cassatt was outlining a roadmap to deliver on the promise of automating IT operations for on-demand computing and currently its angle, Cloud Computing-wise, is to focus not on public or external clouds but on 'Internal Clouds' so it's hardly surprising that The Cloud features in Coleman's set of predictions.
WILLIAM T. COLEMAN III, Chairman & CEO, Cassatt Corporation
Prediction #1: In 2009, it's all about "the cloud." Save money, move fast, and…ooops. Expect some problems. But remember, it's only Cloud 1.0. There's still work to do. Oh, and virtualization alone is not enough to make it all work.
Prediction #2: Google is the biggest and the best on the Net, but there is one problem: the whole world isn't just an ad. In 2009, Google meets the real world. Sorry, Google, but it's tough to have to compete when you are only the Yellow Pages.
Prediction #3: Social Networking. The world will discover in 2009 that "Wow, it really is a platform." It's my life, but on the network with my "friends." It really is who I am. Now we have to figure out if it can be monetized. Which, of course, means we'll see overinvestment in unproven business models in 2009, leading to another "bust" down the line.
Prediction #4: In 2009, identity becomes the fulcrum of security issues. It's an issue we finally realize that we have to solve, or we can expect a serious cyber-meltdown.
VIK CHAUDHARY, Vice President of Product Management and Corporate Development, Keynote Systems
Prediction: In 2009 millions of new programmers will enter the software industry.
Here's the basis for Chaudhary's prediction.
"In the 1980s, the software industry moved from mainframe computing to PC computing. Companies like Microsoft sprang up, creating software development tools that spawned a whole generation of programmers. Programmers didn't need to learn arcane programming languages like Cobol, or even have to master languages like C or C++ - they could program in 4GL languages like Visual Basic and SQLWindows. At this point, legions of programmers entered the workforce, as the bar to build applications was lowered.
In the 1990s, the same thing happened with programming languages like HTML and JavaScript, making it far easier for someone to build web sites and applications. In the 2000s, with cloud computing making it easy for programmers to build applications and allowing someone else deploy and manage them, there will be a new generation of programmers who focus on the application and less on the infrastructure. And it just gets easier and easier to be a programmer!"
The next set of speculations on the future come from industry veteran Jnan Dash.
JNAN DASH, Chief Strategy Officer, Curl
"Given the economic crisis and recession, there is belt-tightening by major IT-spenders," Dash says. "So what technologies will win? Anything that helps in cost savings. When the top line (a.k.a. revenue) stops growing, companies will attack the bottom line (a.k.a. cost)."
Here is his prediction for 2009:
"The much anticipated switch to web platform from client-server will start to take off in 2009. Call it enterprise RIA if you like. The question is not whether one should use Curl, or Flex or Silverlight. That's the wrong end of the argument - adopting technology for the sake of technology. The key question is - how do you justify such application modernization?
With over 400 enterprise class customers we have a lot of actual examples of Curl implementations providing real business savings. Unfortunately the details of these examples are mostly company confidential. Recently we have been detailing possible business savings based real customer cases but using example data. We find this helps in getting the discussion going on what the opportunity for savings could be. Here are three examples:
- Better Performance -The current application takes 90 seconds to perform a complex data visualization. If 1,000 employees perform this operation 50 times per day this is 1250 hours of wait time per day. If the visualization time is reduced to 1 second this saves 300,000 hours per year and at $20/hour that is more than $6M/year!
- Better Visualization - The current process to find error patterns in operational data takes 60 minutes and the department of 100 employees whose job it is to identify and fix these errors typically finds 600 errors a day. If good data visualization can reduce the time to find one error pattern to 10 minutes this would save 500 hours per day or 130,000 hours per year. At $20 per hour this is $2.6M in savings per year!
- Support Cost - The current client-server application must be updated 6 times a year to 10,000 users. Each update costs $5 in distribution and material costs and 15 minutes of end user time. A Web application would eliminate this cost and save approximately $600,000 a year."
CHRIS FLECK, VP of Solutions Development and Community Evangelism, Citrix Systems
Prediction #1: The iPhone goes Enterprise - The iPhone will gain rapid adoption in the Enterprise driven by user demands including executives, road warriors, and knowledge workers asking for access to any app ( including windows apps ) from anywhere. IT will increasingly support the effort based on new improved security capabilities and productivity gains ( including for themselves ).
Prediction #2: Corporate issued laptop model will be challenged - Companies looking to provide access to day extenders without the full expense and maintenance of a company laptop will increasingly adopt application delivery infrastructure like XenApp that can provide safe IT hosted application access from un-trusted personal PC's. In addition, companies will begin to pilot the BYOC ( Bring Your Own Computer ) model for knowledge workers seeking personal choice while reducing IT expense and support costs.
Prediction #3: Virtual Desktops grow beyond a niche - Improvements in user experience capabilities of VDI solutions combined with the reduced support cost model will drive increased adoption of VDI beyond the initial niche deployments.
Prediction #4: IaaS Cloud Providers are no longer just for web startups - The recent Windows offering by Amazon will validate the IaaS ( Infrastructure as a Service ) model as a viable platform for companies small and large looking to add test and targeted production capacity without capital and facility costs.
Prediction #5: Netbooks drive Servers, Clouds and Linux clients - The rapid adoption of Netbooks based on low cost and light weight convenience will increase the desire to run server hosted apps ( Web and Windows ). A significant number of the new mini laptops will be used for occasional use vs a primary PC which makes maintaining local apps and synchronizing data problematic. This in turn will help break the traditional model of running Windows apps installed on PCs and laptops.
Industry Leaders Discuss the Future of Cloud Computing - Click Here To Enjoy SYS-CON's Cloud-Specific Predictions Round-up
SCOTT LOWE, Blogger and Senior Engineer with ePlus
Prediction #1 - On virtualization: In 2009 we will see virtualization market leader VMware finally take the wraps off some very technologically advanced functionality, but growth will be much harder to come by than in previous years. Microsoft will gain market share at VMware's expense as the hypervisor increasingly becomes commoditized and moves closer and closer to being just a part of the server's firmware. I predict Citrix will continue to remain in 3rd place out of the three major virtualization vendors; their only bright spot will be VDI.
Prediction #2 - On cloud computing: Consumers will increasingly adopt cloud computing services, but enterprises will remain wary of moving applications into the cloud until some open standards around interoperability get finalized and adopted by the major vendors. Service providers will be forced to embrace multiple cloud computing platforms, like VMware vCloud and Citrix Cloud Center, in order to compete effectively, but the lack of management and interoperability standards will make it difficult, if not impossible, to fluidly move between the different platforms. Major cloud computing outages and/or security breaches will further spook the enterprise except in niche areas, such as those currently being served by SaaS vendors.
Prediction #3 - On enterprise IT: Organizations will adopt a private cloud architecture for internal IT operations, but will be much more wary about moving applications onto external clouds. There are too many questions around security, privacy, control, compatibility, and vendor lock-in. Virtualization will be the key building block of private enterprise cloud architectures, and "cloud storage" will start to see greater attention and coverage.
Prediction #4 - On server hardware: Both Intel and AMD will continue to push more and more virtualization support features into the hardware. One or both of them may even go so far as to introduce their own hypervisor, or perhaps license a small hypervisor to be embedded deeply in their chipsets. Eight core CPUs will be introduced. PCI Express-based I/O virtualization via MR-IOV will begin to see greater adoption.
Industry Leaders Discuss the Future of Cloud Computing - Click Here To Enjoy SYS-CON's Cloud-Specific Predictions Round-up
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