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Spread the love
Here's your December gardening guide for North America's USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 3-10. If you don't know what USDA Plant Hardiness Zone you live in, check the map here to find out. We've left off zones 1–2 (far-north Alaska) and zones 11–13 (small section of the Florida Keys, the Pacific coast between L.A. and Mexico, and Hawaii) since zones 3–10 cover 99 percent or more of the gardeners in the U.S.
Zone 3
- Check your leftover seeds and make a list of what you need before ordering.
- Order seeds and plants early to avoid substitution.
- Take cuttings from fruit trees for grafting in April. Wrap the twigs in a wet paper towel, seal the wrapped twigs in a plastic bag, and store the bag in the freezer until spring.
Zone 4
- Organize your seeds: Discard those that are too old; then make a list of seeds to order.
- Order seeds of onions, geraniums, and other slow-growing plants now so you receive them in time to start indoors next month.
- Draw your garden plan.
- Check the condition of your gardening equipment.
- Build a garden trellis.
- Surprise your friends by harvesting Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips from the garden during a January thaw.
Zone 5
- Start seeds of pansies, snapdragons, and hardy perennials.
- Replenish your supplies, including seed-starting mix and organic fertilizers.
- Where there isn't much snow cover, push back any plants that have "heaved" out of the ground because of freeze-thaw cycles.
- Start a collection of scented geraniums by taking cuttings from a friend's plants.
- If you're growing geraniums indoors in pots, cut back leggy stems by about half, re pot the plants in fresh soil, and then set them in a cool, bright window.
Zone 6
- Study the "skeleton" of your landscape and decide where to put new structures, such as pathways and arbors.
- Keep bird feeders well stocked with favorites, such as black oil sunflower seeds.
- Discard old seeds for the garden; mail orders for new seeds.
- Create a computer database of your garden plants with notes on performance.
- Rake heavy snow off shrubs.
- Start seeds of pansies, dusty miller, browallia, begonias, snapdragons, and delphiniums indoors under lights.
- At month's end, start seeds of onions, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower indoors under lights.
Zone 7
- On mild days, remove winter weeds, such as wild onions and chickweed.
- Sow seeds of Shirley poppies (Papaver rhoeas) for bloom in May and June.
- Sow larkspur seeds directly in flowerbeds where you want them to grow; look for blooms by midspring.
- Indoors, start seeds of perennials or slow-growing annuals, like coleus and geraniums, beneath lights.
- Start seeds of cabbage, early lettuce, and at the end of the month, broccoli.
- When onion and cabbage transplants are available at the garden center, select the best ones, then plant them in the garden beneath a row cover.
- Near the end of the month, weed the asparagus bed and strawberry plot, then feed the plants and renew the thinning mulches.
Zone 8
- Shop local nurseries for asparagus roots, strawberry plants, and fruit trees.
- Cover root crops still in the ground with an extra layer of mulch.
- When cold temperatures are predicted, protect transplants of onions, cabbage, broccoli, and chard with a row cover.
- Sow beets, carrots, radishes, cress, bok choy, and garden peas directly in the garden; cover the planting rows with dark compost to warm the soil.
- Sow seeds of herbs, such as dill and parsley.
- Sow seeds of annual flowers (delphiniums, snapdragons, and larkspur are good choices) anywhere you want flowers for cutting or as a background for other plants.
- Top-dress lawns and garden beds with compost.
Zone 9
- Use the weather to your advantage: Observe the location of standing puddles left by winter rains; note where you need to improve drainage for plants.
- Finish pruning fruit trees, vines, and bushes.
- Sow seeds of geraniums, peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant in pots filled with a peat moss/vermiculite mixture; set the pots on a sunny windowsill or beneath lights until it's warm enough to plant them outside.
- In the garden, "scratch in" wildflower seed mixes and California poppy seeds; plant nasturtium seeds a bit deeper.
- Set out transplants of pansies, calendulas, and primroses.
- As the soil warms, plant carrots, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, parsley, and Asian greens.
- Harvest carrots, radishes, and Brussels sprouts—sweetened by frost.
Zone 10
- It's the dry season—water vegetable plants, nondormant tropical plants, and bedding plants regularly.
- Spray compost tea on roses and bromeliads.
- Mulch peas to extend the harvest.
- Sow pumpkins and winter squash directly in the garden; start cucumbers and watermelons in pots.
- Sow quick-maturing varieties of carrots, broccoli, cabbage, coriander, parsley, and dill.
- Plant heat-tolerant chicory, lettuce, and Swiss chard in shade so that they stay cool when the weather warms.
- Snip off flowers of tropical fruit and young citrus to save their strength while they grow; bring the flowers indoors to perfume the house.


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It is with great sadness that Apple has reported Steve Jobs has passed away.
In a brief and concise statement, Apple's board of directors provided a statement;
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
The Apple homepage has changed, in memory of the late visionary, Steve Jobs. It is a sad day for all.

subset: commoncrawl


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Suffering and the Sovereignty of God
Now, perhaps I am just coming from a different place theologically than Piper (actually, I know I am), but I find the notions that God "designs" people's cancer and that cancer is a "gift from God" to be offensive. What is more, I find that Piper's proof-texting of Scripture to be troubling. In the book of Job, God does allow "the adversary" (הַשָּׂטָ֖ן, hasatan) to inflict Job, and his so-called friends did see his suffering as from the hands of God and due to his own sin. But, in the same way it is fallaciouss [sic] to see all suffering as the result of sin, so it is not the point of the book of Job to then attribute all suffering to the direct agency of God. Similarly, his series of proof-texts for his second point are perhaps relevant to part of his point that cancer is not a "curse." But saying that cancer is not a "curse" is not the same as saying it is a gift.
Williams goes on to say, "Perhaps I am wrong, or at least biased by my own personal experiences. Whether or not you agree with my perspective (which I would readily admit I have not developed in any detail in this post), one thing we can all agree on is that we should pray."
I think a few things need to be said about Williams' article.
- Williams clearly is speaking out of his own existential view of God. He states this explicitly twice in his article. Thus, when he calls Piper's use of Scripture proof-texting, he does so rather ironically, offering very little exegesis of the text, yet seemingly demanding that Piper do so himself, lest he be prooftexting.
- He offers no definition of proof-texting. Should we conclude that everyone knows what this means? From the context, it appears that Williams definition is simply, "using the text to defend one's argument." While I admit that I do know what proof-texting is, I don't think that is at all what Piper is doing. Had he done so, he would merely have quoted or referenced the text, not offered a brief, but substantial exegetical note.
- Williams seems to suggest that Piper is speaking "off the cuff" here, or rather, that Piper is presenting a view that he desires not to try to defend. However, that anyone familiar with John Piper knows that his intention here was merely to point the reader toward Scriptures he has previously thoroughly exegeted. Williams could have done a little research and found that Dr. Piper has numerous articles on his website about suffering and the sovereignty of God, as well as an entire sermon series on Job, in which he further exegetes this passage to which he refers.
- Williams offers no counter position other than his own experience and a Hebrew "lessonette" that does little to truly contradict Piper's "proof-texting." Williams himself admits that he has not explained his own position in any detail and that at best his offering was based on his own personal experiences.
So why do I feel the need to make these particular points about Williams article? It is simply because Rhett Smith makes the absurd comment that while he has seen blogs this week which have articles posted that both agree and disagree with Piper on God's role in cancer (and suffering in general), this is "the best post that [he has] seen on this issue this week." He has got to be kidding -- really! Now, while I agree that Williams ending paragraph is wonderful (he closes by calling for everyone to pray for Dr. Piper and to contribute to various cancer-fighting agencies), I think that Smith's judgment is impaired by his own personal theology, which is what I think is the problem with all those who espouse positions consistent with Open Theism. Though I don't have the time today to discuss open theism, I hope to have an article up on this movement, its implications, and resources you can obtain regarding it either tonight or by Sunday. Suffice to say, I believe open theism is a deadly theology that robs God of His sovereignty in order to give man what he most desires -- libertarian free will (hence, his rebellion at the Fall that continues today), something that Adam gave up at the Fall and we have never possessed because of his act (now, before you get all hyped up, notice the word "libertarian" as opposed to simple "free will" -- here is a brief article that is helpful in delineating between the two). Our wills are now in bondage to sin, only to be freed by the grace of God though the death of Christ.
I fear that Rhett Smith and others like he and Tyler Williams are hijacking classical Christianity in hopes of not being offended by God, and keeping others from being offended by Him as well and all this without laying out much more of a defense than one's own experience and feelings). God has never desired that we defend Him in regards to His own culpability for man's suffering. In Isaiah 53:10 (an undoubtedly Messianic passage), the prophet clearly states, "But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand" (NAS). And Luke records these words from the early disciples in Acts 4:25ff: "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'- 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." Both Isaiah and the early disciples are unconcerned about whether they, Jesus, or others are offended that the Father would have brought about the death of His own Son. They are only worried about one thing -- communicating the truth they find in the Scriptures and revealed to them through the Holy Spirit. Friends, if Christ could endure suffering as a righteous man, by the Hand of God, shouldn't we be able to accept the discipline that comes from that same loving Hand (Hebrews 12:4-14), knowing that it is indeed for our good, as Dr. Piper has pointed out?


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For the one who loves to be well > Purchase a Gift Certificate
Exclusive offers on top-rated treatments and best-selling products > Specials
Bergamot, Vetivert, Patchouli.
Hand blended, this luxurious, nourishing body balm harnesses the spirit-lifting properties of pure flower essences and is the perfect concentrated moisturizer for long-lasting supple skin. The base of our blends - a combination of Grape Seed oil, organic Golden Jojoba Seed oil, and Vitamin E - is immediately soothing and hydrating. This rich balm is deeply conditioning for the skin. A post-shower essential, it instantly soothes any dryness, is quickly absorbed and deeply replenishes the skin.


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Anti-Trump forces have a back-up plan in case their efforts to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination fail: Give delegates the power to choose his running mate, NBC News reported.
The proposal, backed by the group "Free the Delegates," would change "rule 40" — a bylaw guiding how delegates choose the president and vice president's nominations, giving delegates a say in Trump's running mate.
Expected to be debated in rules committee meetings in Cleveland this week before the Republican National Convention, the proposal is a safety valve in case Trump nominates a Democrat or moderate Republican.
U.S. & World
And there is a precedent: When Sen. John McCain considered then Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2008, many viewed Lieberman's abortion record unacceptable that they threatened to vote him down in a floor fight if nominated.


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
Paul Navazio was appointed Woodland City Manager in April, 2012. He previously served as Assistant City Manager for the City of Davis, where he was originally hired as Finance Director in 2004. Previously, Mr. Navazio served as the Budget Manager for the City of Berkeley from 1998 to 2004, and Budget Director for the City of Oakland between 1992 and 1998.
Prior to transitioning to local government, Mr. Navazio served two years as a Fiscal and Policy Analyst with the Legislative Analyst's Office in Sacramento, California, and he began his professional career as a Senior Financial Analyst for Hewlett Packard.
Mr. Navazio holds a Masters in Administration (Finance and Public Policy) from the University of California, Davis, and earned his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Rochester (N.Y.).
For more information, please email the City Manager's Secretary.


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Missouri hunters take 8,500 turkeys in October
November 10, 2012 at 10:33 AM
The Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri turkey hunters reported taking nearly 8,500 birds last month, a 20 percent increase from October 2011.
The state Conservation Department says southwestern Missouri's Webster County led the way with 225 birds taken. Neighboring Laclede and Greene followed closely.
Conservation officials say the outlook is good for the upcoming spring turkey season. That's after a string of seasons in which Missouri's turkey population struggled because of wet weather that can be difficult for ground-nesting wildlife.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.


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Employers often request that college graduates have "real world" experience, and internships are one of the best ways to achieve that.
Internships provide an opportunity to experiment and pursue careers that match your academic and personal interests.
Internships Are Important Career Builders
Internships can give you your firsthand on-the-job experience. Choosing an ideal internship program goes a long way in launching your career. However, it's important to make sure that the internship you choose matches your academic and personal interests.
Let's go through a few things that can help you find your ideal internship.
Define Your Internship and Career Goals
An internship is a great tool to help you define your career goals. For example, are you interested in investment banking? Try to get an internship with some banks with strong investment components. Are you interested in social activism? You might consider an internship with a local or state politician or you could seek out a charity or an activist group like Greenpeace.
If you are interested in art, then an internship with an art museum or advertising agency may be perfect. Internships are useful since they give you excellent exposure and the chance to explore new and exciting career fields.
Ask yourself why you want to do the internship. What do you want to gain from it? It could be a lot of different things such as gaining entry into the organization, networking and learning the field.
Be clear about the type of company you want to do your internship with. Organizations are of different sizes and shapes, from Fortune 500 to not-for-profit.
Choosing the right company can make a lot of difference when you are ready to write your resume.
Choose an industry that best suits your needs. Even when you know exactly what you want to do, you can still be uncertain about the type of industry that best suits you. Interning helps you identify this or clear up misconceptions that you may have about yourself.
Where and when do you want to intern (geographically)? Do you want to do this during a summer break or do you want to devote a whole semester or year to it? Decide this before you begin your search for an internship.
Internships are usually unpaid, although some pay is associated with some of them. In this matter, you are expected to be thoroughly professional. Financial constraints may be a deciding factor in your choice of an internship.
Search for the Internship of Your Choice
It is important to set aside enough time to locate and apply for rewarding internships. Work with a career counselor, speak with faculty members, review career resources, check out the classified ads for potential employers, and check with college alumni; these are some of the best sources for internships.
Internship programs are highly competitive. Treating this as a job and following up after the interview will benefit you. Create a good resume and covering letter. Polish your interviewing skills. Follow up after the interview. Be persistent but not annoying to land the internship you want.


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Dr. David Messenger reviews medical content for Healthwise, a nonprofit organization with a mission to help people make better health decisions. Dr. Messenger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Program at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
MD: Queens University, Kingston, ON, 2002
Residency in Emergency Medicine: Queens University, Kingston, ON, 2002–2007
Residency in Critical Care Medicine: Queens University, Kingston, ON, 2006–2008
Emergency Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Critical Care Medicine, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
Queens University, Kingston, ON:
This reviewer reported no financial conflicts.
Last Revised:
March 15, 2012
Healthwise Staff
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


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Search Results
Report Three Culture Practices For Long-Term Customer Centricity
Advanced Level: Culture Practices For CX TransformationNovember 30, 2018 | Samuel Stern
Very few companies have truly customer-obsessed cultures that can create and sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Those that do got there by innovating. These culture leaders realign...


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In order to maintain our server to watch HD video, we would like you to support us by turning off adblock while watching anime on hotanime.me. We commit to set banner ad only but not popup ad. Sorry for the inconvenience, hope for your supports. Thanks you!!!
This anime has been categorized as for 'Adult (R18)', therefore may contain intense violent, blood/gore, sexual content
and/or strong language that may not appropriate for underage viewers. So if you're under the legal age of 18, please go back.


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The Fat is a compact car in Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961.
Based on the Fiat 500, the Fat — the name "Fat" simply being "Fiat" with the "i" removed — is designed as a compact city car similar in size as the Bug.
Like the Bug, the car is considered a low-end vehicle in the game, although it features average performance. Due presumably to its lighter weight, the car's underwhelming engine is able to perform better, resulting an average top speed, excellent acceleration (the best alongside those of the Myni and Voxel Concept) and good handling. Its grip, however, is below average, and the amount of damage that the car can soak up is 20% less than the vast majority of vehicles in the games (similar to the Myni, suggesting size is a factor). The base value of the car when imported is also low: £200 (in mint condition).
Full of body and flavor; fleshy.


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The "Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" trailer has debuted and resembles a couple of the young adult thrillers that have recently debuted at the box office.
Screen Gems is no doubt looking for a hit with the adaptation of Cassandra Clare's best-selling novel starring Lily Collins ("Mirror, Mirror") as Clary Fray, following the releases of "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Host" — which opened to underwhelming domestic hauls of $7.5 million and $10.6 million, respectively.
"Mortal Instruments" follows the story of a New York City teenager whose life is turned upside down when she discovers she's actually a member of a half-angel warrior race called Shadowhunters.
Also read: How 'Safe Haven' Made Things Ugly for 'Beautiful Creatures' at the Box Office
Things go from weird to worse when her mom, played by "Game of Thrones" star Lena Headey, gets abducted, leaving Clary to team up with a handsome, hooded Shadowhunter Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) to track her down and fight lots of mythical creatures (werewolves, warlocks, demons) in the process.
The question: Can any of the upcoming young adult studio tentpoles replicate the success of "Twilight" and "Hunger Games?" Post-"Twilight" audiences appear to be growing tired of this particular Hollywood trend of of pitting a young Hollywood onscreen couple against the supernatural. But maybe more teenagers on summer break will bolster tickets sales when "Mortal Instruments," the first entry in an aspiring blockbuster franchise, hits theaters on Aug. 23.
Watch the trailer and judge for yourself:


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conservative precisava de um novo design de página da web e criou um concurso na 99designs.
Um vencedor foi selecionado entre 19 designs enviados por 17 designers freelancers.
We need a compelling home page redesign for an author who is getting people to sign up and participate in the creation of his next book.
Final deliverable is an uncoded web site template design in a layered PSD file.
Create an attractice site that sells.
Desired Color Scheme:
see description
Desired Style:
see description
Accepted File Formats:
layered PSD file
The primary goals of the site are:
1. Get people to register (name and email) to hear free calls about the book
2. Upsell registrants to purchase recordings of those calls
3. Receive submissions for interviews
Current web site:
The new home page copy will include all the copy that currently appears on that site. (submission doesn't need to include all of that copy ... placeholder text may be used)
There is a small photo of the author that should be incorporated:
One site that the client likes is:
It would be nice to maintain a strong sales presence but also have the added affect of a nice design.
The branding and colors should match the following site:
1- Home page
* Includes copy, audio player, form to join email list, and links to other
* Footer needs link to http://www.CCULearning.com
We only need a home page template, but that template should be flexible enough to be used on other pages such as:
* Checkout (integrated with 1ShoppingCart ... there should be a header that could be pulled and used here)
* survey response form with approximately 12 fields
* Register to listen to upcoming interviews page
* Download recordings and transcripts page


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Posting this magical podcast a few days early because I'll be out of town on our regular Sunday to release it. So... Merry Christmas? This week's movie is "RUNAWAY" - a Mark Heiliger favorite - and wonderful cheeseball action affair that you've likely never heard of. It's got Tom Selleck and, well, what else do you need to know? Oh yeah, and it's written & directed by none other than Michael Crichton. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
http://www.np2k.com/podcast/episodes/TH ... UNAWAY.mp3
Performers of note: Tom Selleck, Cynthia Rhodes, Gene Simmons, and Kirstie Alley.
Chad & Mark's Untitled Podcast #3 - Runaway
The heart of 2k. Back again, since 1999... give or take a few restarts.
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White Boards
Meeting Rooms
Projector available for set up
Sound System
Rock Springs offers three styles of lodging in accommodations which range from rustic cabins to modern hotel style lodges with a variety of pricing options. Rooms may accommodate one to 20 people with set-up based on one of the three housing styles.
Check-in time is 4:00 pm. Check-out time is 11:00 am.
Food Service
Rock Springs offers a variety of nutritious meals. The Food Service Director is responsible for selecting the menu. Guests with special dietary needs should view our policy and fill out our food allergies and restrictions form: Allergy Request Form.
Groups must confirm meal counts at least 14 days prior to their visit. Guaranteed minimums will be charged as stated in the contract; any number above the guarantee will be charged at the appropriate rate. Standard meal times are breakfast served at 7:30 a.m., lunch at 12:00 p.m. and dinner at 6:00 p.m. Adjustments to meal times may be arranged. Meals are generally served for 30 minutes; to assure fresh, hot meals, groups are expected to be in line and ready at meal service time. Our meals are normally served buffet style; guests may return to the line for seconds and will return their dishes, eating utensils and glasses to the cleaning station when they are finished eating.
Normally private dining is not available; groups at Rock Springs come together in the Dining Room for their meals. Groups who want a private meal or are interested in having a program during their meal need to notify the Center staff in advance to avoid any conflicts, additional fees may apply. Refreshment breaks can be scheduled with Rock Springs 4-H Center. A variety of food and drinks can be made available to your group.
Conference Facilities
Conference rooms are available for 10 to 400 people and a variety of setups can be accommodated. Audio-visual equipment is available and installed in most meeting places. Wireless internet is limited, but available. Communication about the reservation will be between a group-identified coordinator and Rock Springs administrators. The
group coordinator will be sent a contract packet to include pricing per person and a tentative invoice. This person will be responsible for check-in, communication between the group and Rock Springs while the group is on grounds and check-out. The group coordinator will also be expected to pay the final invoice with one check prior to departure.
Facility Use
Rock Springs 4-H Center and the Kansas 4-H Foundation's mission is to serve the state of Kansas in developing positive youth development programs. With this goal in mind, the following usage policies should be followed while on Rock Springs grounds.
Safety of all guests is one of our highest priorities. In order to ensure safety, ATV's and other recreational motorized vehicles are prohibited at Rock Springs 4-H Center. Guests are welcome to bring bicycles, strollers, etc. Our request is that our guests be cognizant of all other guests when using this type of equipment.
Pets or domestic animals are not allowed at Rock Springs. If it is determined pets are on grounds with a group, you will be asked to remove the pet and the group will be invoiced $100.00 per pet per day the group is on grounds, plus any applicable cleaning fees. Please notify Rock Springs in advance regarding the need for service animal usage.
Alcoholic beverages are not sold or served by Rock Springs and are prohibited without prior approval. Usage application will be required to be on file in advance of the group's stay. Groups with approved alcohol use must keep beverages in meeting spaces/housing only. No Alcohol is allowed outside of these spaces. Rock Springs is a Tobacco Free Facility.
The use of tobacco products and e-cigarettes is strictly prohibited.
Rock Springs 4-H Center is a private facility that makes its home in a three county area. In order to comply with local regulations and for the safety of our guests, all fireworks are prohibited from use on grounds.
Rock Springs Staff will document any damages that take place during a group's stay. The group coordinator will be notified and any repair cost will be the responsibility of the group and will be reflected in the final invoice. Rock Springs is your home too! Please help us keep it in the best shape possible!
Failure to follow any of Rock Springs 4-H Center policies may result in additional charges in fees or penalties.


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The main applications of factor analytic techniques are: (1) to reduce the number of variables and (2) to detect structure in the relationships between variables, that is to classify variables. Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a data reduction or structure detection method (the term factor analysis was first introduced by Thurstone, 1931). The topics listed below will describe the principles of factor analysis, and how it can be applied towards these two purposes. We will assume that you are familiar with the basic logic of statistical reasoning as described in Elementary Concepts. Moreover, we will also assume that you are familiar with the concepts of variance and correlation; if not, we advise that you read the Basic Statistics topic at this point.
There are many excellent books on factor analysis. For example, a hands-on how-to approach can be found in Stevens (1986); more detailed technical descriptions are provided in Cooley and Lohnes (1971); Harman (1976); Kim and Mueller, (1978a, 1978b); Lawley and Maxwell (1971); Lindeman, Merenda, and Gold (1980); Morrison (1967); or Mulaik (1972). The interpretation of secondary factors in hierarchical factor analysis, as an alternative to traditional oblique rotational strategies, is explained in detail by Wherry (1984).
Confirmatory factor analysis. Structural Equation Modeling (SEPATH) allows you to test specific hypotheses about the factor structure for a set of variables, in one or several samples (e.g., you can compare factor structures across samples).
Correspondence analysis. Correspondence analysis is a descriptive/exploratory technique designed to analyze two-way and multi-way tables containing some measure of correspondence between the rows and columns. The results provide information which is similar in nature to those produced by factor analysis techniques, and they allow you to explore the structure of categorical variables included in the table. For more information regarding these methods, refer to Correspondence Analysis.
Suppose we conducted a (rather "silly") study in which we measure 100 people's height in inches and centimeters. Thus, we would have two variables that measure height. If in future studies, we want to research, for example, the effect of different nutritional food supplements on height, would we continue to use both measures? Probably not; height is one characteristic of a person, regardless of how it is measured.
Let's now extrapolate from this "silly" study to something that you might actually do as a researcher. Suppose we want to measure people's satisfaction with their lives. We design a satisfaction questionnaire with various items; among other things we ask our subjects how satisfied they are with their hobbies (item 1) and how intensely they are pursuing a hobby (item 2). Most likely, the responses to the two items are highly correlated with each other. (If you are not familiar with the correlation coefficient, we recommend that you read the description in Basic Statistics - Correlations) Given a high correlation between the two items, we can conclude that they are quite redundant.
Combining Two Variables into a Single Factor. You can summarize the correlation between two variables in a scatterplot. A regression line can then be fitted that represents the "best" summary of the linear relationship between the variables. If we could define a variable that would approximate the regression line in such a plot, then that variable would capture most of the "essence" of the two items. Subjects' single scores on that new factor, represented by the regression line, could then be used in future data analyses to represent that essence of the two items. In a sense we have reduced the two variables to one factor. Note that the new factor is actually a linear combination of the two variables.
Principal Components Analysis. The example described above, combining two correlated variables into one factor, illustrates the basic idea of factor analysis, or of principal components analysis to be precise (we will return to this later). If we extend the two-variable example to multiple variables, then the computations become more involved, but the basic principle of expressing two or more variables by a single factor remains the same.
Extracting Principal Components. We do not want to go into the details about the computational aspects of principal components analysis here, which can be found elsewhere (references were provided at the beginning of this section). However, basically, the extraction of principal components amounts to a variance maximizing (varimax) rotation of the original variable space. For example, in a scatterplot we can think of the regression line as the original X axis, rotated so that it approximates the regression line. This type of rotation is called variance maximizing because the criterion for (goal of) the rotation is to maximize the variance (variability) of the "new" variable (factor), while minimizing the variance around the new variable (see Rotational Strategies).
Generalizing to the Case of Multiple Variables. When there are more than two variables, we can think of them as defining a "space," just as two variables defined a plane. Thus, when we have three variables, we could plot a three- dimensional scatterplot, and, again we could fit a plane through the data.
With more than three variables it becomes impossible to illustrate the points in a scatterplot, however, the logic of rotating the axes so as to maximize the variance of the new factor remains the same.
Multiple orthogonal factors. After we have found the line on which the variance is maximal, there remains some variability around this line. In principal components analysis, after the first factor has been extracted, that is, after the first line has been drawn through the data, we continue and define another line that maximizes the remaining variability, and so on. In this manner, consecutive factors are extracted. Because each consecutive factor is defined to maximize the variability that is not captured by the preceding factor, consecutive factors are independent of each other. Put another way, consecutive factors are uncorrelated or orthogonal to each other.
How many Factors to Extract? Remember that, so far, we are considering principal components analysis as a data reduction method, that is, as a method for reducing the number of variables. The question then is, how many factors do we want to extract? Note that as we extract consecutive factors, they account for less and less variability. The decision of when to stop extracting factors basically depends on when there is only very little "random" variability left. The nature of this decision is arbitrary; however, various guidelines have been developed, and they are reviewed in Reviewing the Results of a Principal Components Analysis under Eigenvalues and the Number-of- Factors Problem.
Reviewing the Results of a Principal Components Analysis. Without further ado, let us now look at some of the standard results from a principal components analysis. To reiterate, we are extracting factors that account for less and less variance. To simplify matters, you usually start with the correlation matrix, where the variances of all variables are equal to 1.0. Therefore, the total variance in that matrix is equal to the number of variables. For example, if we have 10 variables each with a variance of 1 then the total variability that can potentially be extracted is equal to 10 times 1. Suppose that in the satisfaction study introduced earlier we included 10 items to measure different aspects of satisfaction at home and at work. The variance accounted for by successive factors would be summarized as follows:
In the second column (Eigenvalue) above, we find the variance on the new factors that were successively extracted. In the third column, these values are expressed as a percent of the total variance (in this example, 10). As we can see, factor 1 accounts for 61 percent of the variance, factor 2 for 18 percent, and so on. As expected, the sum of the eigenvalues is equal to the number of variables. The third column contains the cumulative variance extracted. The variances extracted by the factors are called the eigenvalues. This name derives from the computational issues involved.
Eigenvalues and the Number-of-Factors Problem
Now that we have a measure of how much variance each successive factor extracts, we can return to the question of how many factors to retain. As mentioned earlier, by its nature this is an arbitrary decision. However, there are some guidelines that are commonly used, and that, in practice, seem to yield the best results.
The Kaiser criterion. First, we can retain only factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. In essence this is like saying that, unless a factor extracts at least as much as the equivalent of one original variable, we drop it. This criterion was proposed by Kaiser (1960), and is probably the one most widely used. In our example above, using this criterion, we would retain 2 factors (principal components).
The scree test. A graphical method is the scree test first proposed by Cattell (1966). We can plot the eigenvalues shown above in a simple line plot.
Cattell suggests to find the place where the smooth decrease of eigenvalues appears to level off to the right of the plot. To the right of this point, presumably, you find only "factorial scree" - "scree" is the geological term referring to the debris which collects on the lower part of a rocky slope. According to this criterion, we would probably retain 2 or 3 factors in our example.
Which criterion to use. Both criteria have been studied in detail (Browne, 1968; Cattell & Jaspers, 1967; Hakstian, Rogers, & Cattell, 1982; Linn, 1968; Tucker, Koopman & Linn, 1969). Theoretically, you can evaluate those criteria by generating random data based on a particular number of factors. You can then see whether the number of factors is accurately detected by those criteria. Using this general technique, the first method (Kaiser criterion) sometimes retains too many factors, while the second technique (scree test) sometimes retains too few; however, both do quite well under normal conditions, that is, when there are relatively few factors and many cases. In practice, an additional important aspect is the extent to which a solution is interpretable. Therefore, you usually examines several solutions with more or fewer factors, and chooses the one that makes the best "sense." We will discuss this issue in the context of factor rotations below.
Principal Factors Analysis
Before we continue to examine the different aspects of the typical output from a principal components analysis, let us now introduce principal factors analysis. Let us return to our satisfaction questionnaire example to conceive of another "mental model" for factor analysis. We can think of subjects' responses as being dependent on two components. First, there are some underlying common factors, such as the "satisfaction-with-hobbies" factor we looked at before. Each item measures some part of this common aspect of satisfaction. Second, each item also captures a unique aspect of satisfaction that is not addressed by any other item.
Communalities. If this model is correct, then we should not expect that the factors will extract all variance from our items; rather, only that proportion that is due to the common factors and shared by several items. In the language of factor analysis, the proportion of variance of a particular item that is due to common factors (shared with other items) is called communality. Therefore, an additional task facing us when applying this model is to estimate the communalities for each variable, that is, the proportion of variance that each item has in common with other items. The proportion of variance that is unique to each item is then the respective item's total variance minus the communality. A common starting point is to use the squared multiple correlation of an item with all other items as an estimate of the communality (refer to Multiple Regression for details about multiple regression). Some authors have suggested various iterative "post-solution improvements" to the initial multiple regression communality estimate; for example, the so-called MINRES method (minimum residual factor method; Harman & Jones, 1966) will try various modifications to the factor loadings with the goal to minimize the residual (unexplained) sums of squares.
Principal factors vs. principal components. The defining characteristic then that distinguishes between the two factor analytic models is that in principal components analysis we assume that all variability in an item should be used in the analysis, while in principal factors analysis we only use the variability in an item that it has in common with the other items. A detailed discussion of the pros and cons of each approach is beyond the scope of this introduction (refer to the general references provided in Principal components and Factor Analysis - Introductory Overview). In most cases, these two methods usually yield very similar results. However, principal components analysis is often preferred as a method for data reduction, while principal factors analysis is often preferred when the goal of the analysis is to detect structure (see Factor Analysis as a Classification Method).
Let us now return to the interpretation of the standard results from a factor analysis. We will henceforth use the term factor analysis generically to encompass both principal components and principal factors analysis. Let us assume that we are at the point in our analysis where we basically know how many factors to extract. We may now want to know the meaning of the factors, that is, whether and how we can interpret them in a meaningful manner. To illustrate how this can be accomplished, let us work "backwards," that is, begin with a meaningful structure and then see how it is reflected in the results of a factor analysis. Let us return to our satisfaction example; shown below is the correlation matrix for items pertaining to satisfaction at work and items pertaining to satisfaction at home.
Factor Loadings. Let us now perform a principal components analysis and look at the two-factor solution. Specifically, let us look at the correlations between the variables and the two factors (or "new" variables), as they are extracted by default; these correlations are also called factor loadings.
Rotating the Factor Structure. We could plot the factor loadings shown above in a scatterplot. In that plot, each variable is represented as a point. In this plot we could rotate the axes in any direction without changing the relative locations of the points to each other; however, the actual coordinates of the points, that is, the factor loadings would of course change. In this example, if you produce the plot it will be evident that if we were to rotate the axes by about 45 degrees we might attain a clear pattern of loadings identifying the work satisfaction items and the home satisfaction items.
Rotational strategies. There are various rotational strategies that have been proposed. The goal of all of these strategies is to obtain a clear pattern of loadings, that is, factors that are somehow clearly marked by high loadings for some variables and low loadings for others. This general pattern is also sometimes referred to as simple structure (a more formalized definition can be found in most standard textbooks). Typical rotational strategies are varimax, quartimax, and equamax.
We have described the idea of the varimax rotation before (see Extracting Principal Components), and it can be applied to this problem as well. As before, we want to find a rotation that maximizes the variance on the new axes; put another way, we want to obtain a pattern of loadings on each factor that is as diverse as possible, lending itself to easier interpretation. Below is the table of rotated factor loadings.
Interpreting the Factor Structure. Now the pattern is much clearer. As expected, the first factor is marked by high loadings on the work satisfaction items, the second factor is marked by high loadings on the home satisfaction items. We would thus conclude that satisfaction, as measured by our questionnaire, is composed of those two aspects; hence we have arrived at a classification of the variables.
Consider another example, this time with four additional Hobby/Misc variables added to our earlier example.
In the plot of factor loadings above, 10 variables were reduced to three specific factors, a work factor, a home factor and a hobby/misc. factor. Note that factor loadings for each factor are spread out over the values of the other two factors but are high for its own values. For example, the factor loadings for the hobby/misc variables (in green) have both high and low "work" and "home" values, but all four of these variables have high factor loadings on the "hobby/misc" factor.
Oblique Factors. Some authors (e.g., Cattell & Khanna; Harman, 1976; Jennrich & Sampson, 1966; Clarkson & Jennrich, 1988) have discussed in some detail the concept of oblique (non-orthogonal) factors, in order to achieve more interpretable simple structure. Specifically, computational strategies have been developed to rotate factors so as to best represent "clusters" of variables, without the constraint of orthogonality of factors. However, the oblique factors produced by such rotations are often not easily interpreted. To return to the example discussed above, suppose we would have included in the satisfaction questionnaire above four items that measured other, "miscellaneous" types of satisfaction. Let us assume that people's responses to those items were affected about equally by their satisfaction at home (Factor 1) and at work (Factor 2). An oblique rotation will likely produce two correlated factors with less-than- obvious meaning, that is, with many cross-loadings.
Hierarchical Factor Analysis. Instead of computing loadings for often difficult to interpret oblique factors, you can use a strategy first proposed by Thompson (1951) and Schmid and Leiman (1957), which has been elaborated and popularized in the detailed discussions by Wherry (1959, 1975, 1984). In this strategy, you first identify clusters of items and rotate axes through those clusters; next the correlations between those (oblique) factors is computed, and that correlation matrix of oblique factors is further factor-analyzed to yield a set of orthogonal factors that divide the variability in the items into that due to shared or common variance (secondary factors), and unique variance due to the clusters of similar variables (items) in the analysis (primary factors). To return to the example above, such a hierarchical analysis might yield the following factor loadings:
Careful examination of these loadings would lead to the following conclusions:
Wherry (1984) discusses in great detail examples of such hierarchical analyses, and how meaningful and interpretable secondary factors can be derived.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Over the past 15 years, so-called confirmatory methods have become increasingly popular (e.g., see Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1979). In general, you can specify a priori, a pattern of factor loadings for a particular number of orthogonal or oblique factors, and then test whether the observed correlation matrix can be reproduced given these specifications. Confirmatory factor analyses can be performed via Structural Equation Modeling (SEPATH).
Factor Scores. We can estimate the actual values of individual cases (observations) for the factors. These factor scores are particularly useful when you want to perform further analyses involving the factors that you have identified in the factor analysis.
Reproduced and Residual Correlations. An additional check for the appropriateness of the respective number of factors that were extracted is to compute the correlation matrix that would result if those were indeed the only factors. That matrix is called the reproduced correlation matrix. To see how this matrix deviates from the observed correlation matrix, you can compute the difference between the two; that matrix is called the matrix of residual correlations. The residual matrix may point to "misfits," that is, to particular correlation coefficients that cannot be reproduced appropriately by the current number of factors.
Matrix Ill-conditioning. If, in the correlation matrix there are variables that are 100% redundant, then the inverse of the matrix cannot be computed. For example, if a variable is the sum of two other variables selected for the analysis, then the correlation matrix of those variables cannot be inverted, and the factor analysis can basically not be performed. In practice this happens when you are attempting to factor analyze a set of highly intercorrelated variables, as it, for example, sometimes occurs in correlational research with questionnaires. Then you can artificially lower all correlations in the correlation matrix by adding a small constant to the diagonal of the matrix, and then restandardizing it. This procedure will usually yield a matrix that now can be inverted and thus factor-analyzed; moreover, the factor patterns should not be affected by this procedure. However, note that the resulting estimates are not exact.


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It's Good To Gather Moss: A Young Artist On Missing 'Home'
British singer-songwriter Dan Croll was barely out of his performing arts college when he won a national songwriting award and a sit-down meeting with none other than Sir Paul McCartney. This song, "Compliment Your Soul" is from Croll's debut album, "Sweet Disarray." It's full of cheeky pop and infectious harmony.
DAN CROLL: (Singing) Yeah, I just want to compliment your soul...
CORNISH: Dan Croll goes on the road this month, but before he took off, we asked him about one song that means a lot to him. It's called "Home," and he says it was inspired by his days as a broke student, coming home after an ill-advised and ill-prepared-for winter weekend getaway to Berlin.
CROLL: My dad picked me up from the airport and took me back to my home in Stoke-on-Trent. And it was just - kind of pulling up outside of my house, just my dad taking me in and walking through the door and there being like, this beautiful wood fire burning and a nice, hot meal on the table, and just like lovely carpets all over the place. And it was just amazing to just kind of get back home, really.
CROLL: (Singing) When the cold shakes my bones, it's the rug that warms my soul. It's the textile to the skin, and the sensation alone feels like home...
I was just really hit by that sense of how much I love home, and how grateful I am for having this roof over my head and this family here, and everything. So as soon as I go back to Liverpool, back to my guitar, I just started writing this song. And it came to me really quickly.
CROLL: (Singing) When you're down and you're alone it's the train that brings you home, and your mother, brother, sister, father, waitin' at the door. It's so sweet...
CORNISH: You painted this very warm picture of your home in Stoke-on-Trent and yet I read that in Liverpool, you lived above a bordello. Is that true?
CROLL: A bordello, I think we - yeah, we just call it a strip club.
CORNISH: OK. I thought to say - I gave it a very romantic name.
CROLL: You did. Yeah, I wouldn't give it that romantic - it doesn't deserve that name. But yeah, I did. I was on holiday and forgot that the tenancy of my flat ran out and my flat mate was like, we're going to have to find somewhere new. You're going to have to trust me with wherever I get. I was like, oh, God. And he sent me this email saying, I found this fantastic place. It's really cheap, right in the city center. And I was like, cool, can you send me some pictures? And he sent me these pictures. Oh, yeah, it looks really nice. It's good. Nice work.
CORNISH: Were there beautiful women hanging out in the photo, just kind of by the door?
CROLL: I wish. I wish. It just looked like a very clean, nice place to live, and I thought, great! I can remember getting back to Liverpool with all of my bags and furniture and everything, and pulling up in the van outside the strip club and him standing outside just being like, yeah, we live right above this. How cool is that? I was like, oh, man. And so I had to put up with stripper music for a few years kind of leaking through the floors and stuff. It was quite funny.
CORNISH: I don't quite hear the influence.
CROLL: Thankfully not, no.
CORNISH: A lot of pop stars out of the U.K., people talking about them springing out of these same kind of well of neighborhoods in London. And do you have a kind of point of pride in calling somewhere else home?
CROLL: Definitely. I do. Yeah, I think there's a lot of pressure on musicians to move straight down to London. And you're kind of told from peers that you've got to live in London if you want to make it, and everything like that. But I really love Liverpool, and I live well there. I've got a lot of friends and family there, you know. I feel very proud that I've managed to get this far by living in Liverpool.
I like London, don't get me wrong, but it's just quite claustrophobic for me, and I love the kind of openness to Liverpool, yeah.
CORNISH: You've been on the road a lot and opening for, you know, huge bands - like the American band Imagine Dragons. When you're traveling like this, does this song take on some significance; like, as you get farther and farther away from home?
CROLL: Yeah, I do. I do get a bit homesick on the road, especially if it's like, a long stint. Just towards the end of the tour, it starts to get to you that you're kind of just living out of a suitcase, and you're always in a van; and you're in a hotel room, but you're in a hotel room only long enough to kind of chuck some new clothes on and get out of there. You don't kind of - I've actually started to try and hang up my clothes in the wardrobe so it feels a bit more home-ly.
CORNISH: Oh...
CROLL: But that's - that sounded really sad then. You kind of gave me a sympathetic aww.
CORNISH: Well, I'd be worried if you said: I have to - I raid the mini bar.
CROLL: No, none of that. I can't afford those mini bars. But yeah, I do miss home and it's definitely a nice song to listen to, to remind you of what is back home.
CORNISH: Well, Dan Croll, thank you so much for sharing the stories behind the song. We really appreciate it.
CROLL: No problem. Thank you very much for having me.
CORNISH: Dan Croll - the song is called "Home." It's off his new album, "Sweet Disarray."
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Christoph Schwärzler
Director Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, Bombardier Transportation
Christoph Schwärzler has been leading the Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy at Bombardier Transportation since May 2010. Along with the development of strategic initiatives, he manages CR performance by teaming-up with cross-functional and industrial networks.
Christoph has over 20 years of experience in international business. This was built on degrees in mechanical and industrial engineering from the Technical University of Munich, University of Hagen and Bristol University.
In his spare time, Christoph engages in mentoring and community projects at Lions Clubs International.
"We joined forces with operators, with competitors, but also with suppliers and the vision to create not only transparency in our industry sector but also promote proactively to many stakeholder groups in sustainability practices, share those practices and ultimately continuously improve performance in this area."
Watch the video on the main Let's Talk Industrial Ecology page where Christoph Schwärzler was a guest speaker.


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Holby City Season 21 Episode 37 () - Watch Online
Holby City, stylised as HOLBY CI+Y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999. The show follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional Holby City Hospital, the same hospital as Casualty, in the fictional city of Holby, and sometimes features the occasional crossover of characters and plots with Casualty.The show's first executive producers were Mal and Johnathan Young, who were succeeded by Kathleen Hutchison from 2003 to 2004, Richard Stokes from 2004 to 2006, McHale from 2006 to 2010, Belinda Campbell from 2010 to 2011, Johnathan Young from 2011 to 2013, and Oliver Kent from 2013. The series won a BAFTA in 2008 for Best Continuing Drama, and consistently draws over 5 million viewers per week on BBC One.
Holby City Season 21 Episode 37 () Links
Do not miss the latest episodes of all the hottest TV shows you enjoy watching. They are waiting for you here at Watchseriestv.tv. You can watch the episodes that have been updated the most recently, but you can also go back to some older episodes that you missed or want to see again. There is a grand collection of popular TV shows and all their seasons are included, with all the episodes they contain that are neatly arranged so you can find everything you want to see with a lot of ease.


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Aurora GOP mayoral candidate Ryan Frazier is set to hold a reception fundraiser with national political commentator and author Dick Morris later this month.
The fundraiser coincides with Morris' visit to Denver for the Centennial Institute's Western Conservative Summit 2011 in Denver.
Morris was a longtime conservative adviser to former President Bill Clinton, but his role with the White House ended in controversy when it was revealed he had an ongoing liaison with a prostitute. He now has a syndicated column with the New York Post and is a regular contributor on Fox News.
In 2010, Fraizer, who is an Aurora City Council member, ran a failed attempt at a U.S. House seat to Ed Perlmutter. The fundraiser will be held in Littleton, and tickets range from $50-$150.


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1944 : Anne Frank and her family arrested by Gestapo1944 : Anne Frank and her family arrested by Gestapo
On this day in 1944, a German-born Jewish girl and her family, who had been hiding in German-occupied Holland, are found by the Gestapo and transported to various concentration camps. The young girl's diary of her time in hiding was found after her death and published. The Diary of Anne Frank remains one of the most moving testimonies to the invincibility of the human spirit in the face of inhuman cruelty.
She was born Annelies Marie Frank, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on June 12, 1929. Her father, Otto Frank, a businessman, moved his wife and two daughters to Holland early in the Hitler regime. After the German invasion and occupation of the Netherlands, the Franks were threatened with deportation to a forced-labor camp and so went into hiding. They spend the next two years, from July 9, 1942, until August 4, 1944, in the back of Otto's food products warehouse, along with four other Jews. Gentile friends and neighbors smuggled in food and other supplies.
Acting on a tip from Dutch informers, the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police), discovered the Franks and arrested them. They then transported them to the Auschwitz concentration camps in Poland in September. Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany a month later. There Anne died of typhus, in March 1945, not long before the camp was liberated by the Allies.
Otto Frank was found, still alive, in Auschwitz by the Russian troops that liberated the camps there (Anne's mother had died in January). Friends back in Holland who had searched the Franks' former hiding place found a stash of personal papers; among the collection was Anne's diary, which described her emotional and intellectual development during the two years spent eluding detection by the Nazis. Otto had it published in 1947 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into more than 50 languages and adapted for stage and screen. The most memorable line remains: "In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart."
The Franks' hiding place, on the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam, has been turned into a museum.
From: www.History.com


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Storage Soup: FalconStor settles case
Storage Soup's Dave Raffo has the latest on the settlement agreed to by FalconStor after the SEC charged a group of company employees with bribery.
EMC World 2012: What were the highlights?
So we've returned fresh from the long holiday weekend, and spent part of today talking about EMC World.
Our senior news director, Dave Raffo, tackled live reporting from the event, filing stories from the conference that covered when EMC CEO Joe Tucci talked about the futures of hybrid SSD and cloud storage, as well as what EMC mentioned – and left out – during its announced upgrades for Data Domain and Avamar 6.1, and even some of EMC's upcoming projects, such the flash card-equipped Project Thunder appliance and XtremIO's all-flash array. And Dave talked with executive editor Ellen O'Brien about the conference in the latest episode of our Storage Radio podcast.
Meanwhile, site editor Andrew Burton was in the trenches with conference attendees and experts, and filmed interviews with IT pros about their concerns about SSDs and cloud, experts' thoughts on EMC's "flash everywhere" SSD strategy and the latest news involving VCE's Vblock infrastructure package as reported by executive director Rich Castagna.
But what did you learn? What was surprising about EMC's announcements, and what was expected? Doesn't matter if you attended EMC World or kept up with the latest news on SearchStorage.com – let us know what you thought of this year's conference in the comments below!
Is Symantec's Backup Exec update really so terrible?
Over at SearchDataBackup.com, Dave Raffo reports on an Internet revolt of sorts (or at least, teeth-gnashing) over the newest version of Symantec's Backup Exec 2012.
Or, as one commenter wrote on the Symantec forum:
"I was going to post my negative views and my findings on the new product (besides the UI) but after reading some of these posts, I would feel like kicking a man when he is down, I'll wait for R1, this vesion is full of bugs is not just the UI or the selection list things. change is good… but damn!!!"
At the risk of over-simplfying the complaints, it sounds like the issue is that changes to the UI were meant to make Backup Exec easier for new customers and incorporate new tech, but they have proven to be, uh, a challenge for some existing users so far.
So is Symantec handling the criticism well? Deepak Mohan, SVP of the company's information management group, told Raffo that:
"We're finding new customers love the interface. There's a fraction of existing customers saying they want the old stuff, they don't want to move to the 21st century. They don't have the time to spend learning the new interface."
Okay, maybe not the most diplomatic way of handling it. But Symantec is clearly trying to push ahead with innovations in the storage space, as company CEO Enrique Salem told SearchDataBackup.com earlier this week.
And the company points out in the Backup Exec story and on the comment board that the changes were made with input from customers. And those changes had to be made, because of new features such as support for cloud, dedupe and virtual backups.
And, well, customers using a new product need to take time to read the instructions.
So what say you? Is this a problem with BE 2012, or just some people who need to read the instruction manual. Tell us in the comments below.
But seriously, are the changes *that* bad?
Will Oracle-friendly DD Boost make admins snap up Data Domain appliances?
With news this week of EMC extending its Data Domain Boost (DD Boost) software to Oracle's Recovery Manager, we cracked open some champagne here at Data Defenders and cheered that it was about time.
Just kidding, we didn't cheer. But, the move to integrate backup software with the applications it is designed to protect was definitely interesting enough for a quick "hmm, neat idea" over a cup of coffee here at the office.
Our senior news director, Dave Raffo, wrote:
EMC first unveiled DD Boost two years ago as a way to speed backups by offloading part of the data deduplication process to the backup server. DD Boost already supported EMC's NetWorker and Avamar, as well as Symantec's NetBackup and Backup Exec backup software. Now EMC is extending that capability to one of the applications that enterprises need to protect. EMC's goal is to get more database administrators (DBAs) using RMAN to back up to Data Domain appliances.
Dave also tells us that when DD Boost is used in concert with RMAN and Data Domain, the Oracle product can manage Data Domain replication with catalog awareness, plus take advantage of Data Domain's dedupe and other functionality.
So we're asking: will this kind of integration make you take another look (or maybe a first) at Data Domain appliances? What do you think of this kind of backup software/application integration in general? Cool idea? Who cares? Tell us in the comments below. I know this blog gets rowdy; keep it civil.
Symantec's 'Honey Stick' experiment: Finders of lost smartphones likely to dig through data
How honest is the average person when they find a lost smartphone?
Symantec's Kevin Haley tells us it's not just whether they return it, but whether the finder starts digging through personal and business data you have stored on the device, as well.
In a blogpost at Symantec's website, Haley describes an experiment where the company intentionally scattered 50 phones in several cities to learn whether they'd be returned and if the data on them would be left alone. Haley wrote that the devices could be monitored remotely, and were loaded with faked corporate and personal data.
So what happened when the phones were found?
Most were accessed by their discoverers, who tried to dig in to the simulated personal or corporate info, some of which was rigged to look like salary information or a remote network access app, wrote Haley.
Also, apparently there are still a lot of people out there who believe in the schoolyard chant "finders keepers, losers weepers" even with a device loaded with the name and contact information of the owner, according to Haley.
The post includes a lot of good tips for organizations to follow in case a mobile device is lost — you should definitely check it out.
Coraid SAN "verified" for use with Veeam backup product
Coraid Inc., announced a "technology alliance" partnership with Veeam Software this week, including the news that Coraid's Etherdrive SAN product is verified for use with Veeam's Backup & Replication v6.
According to a statement from Coraid, the partnership allows customers of its SAN product to use Veeam for backing up and replicating data at an off-site location for disaster recovery, and operate an entire virtual machine from an image-level backup.
Veeam's Backup & Replication v6 offers backup for VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, includes built-on dedupe and compression and other abilities.
A short time ago in a place very nearby…
Toigo Partners International proudly presents: STORAGE WARS.
Spectra: Buy LTO-5 now, swap for LTO-6 later
Spectra Logic announced a program this week allowing buyers of its LTO-5 tape drives to swap the units for LTO-6 machines expected to be released later this year.
Spectra says for some of its tape libraries – including the T200, T300, T680 and T950 – the LTO-6 standard allows the company to boost capacity from LTO-5's 3 TB to a compressed 8 TB of storage, plus increase data transfer rates from 280 MB per second to a compressed 525 MB per second.
They will also be equipped with native 8 gigabit Fibre Channel interfaces that are also compatible with 2-, 4- and 8 gigabit FC switches and host bus adapters. The company's T120 and T150e libraries will offer either 8 gigabit Fibre Channel or 6 gigabit SAS interfaces.
The company said their LTO-6 machines will be compatible with the older LTO-4 and LTO-5 tapes, and will operate with Spectra's BlueScale library management software.
IDrive announces online backup for 'unlimited' number of PCs, mobile devices
California-based IDrive Inc., this week announced an update to its online backup service will cover an "unlimited" number of PCs, tablets and mobile devices.
According to IDrive, business customers can store 50 GB for $9.95 per month or $99.50 for the year, and that cost includes "priority customer support." Other business options include 100 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB in storage, which are also available in monthly and annual pricing packages.
For home customers, the service stores 150 GB for $4.95 per month or 500 GB for $14.95 per month. The backup service also offers a free option with a 5 GB storage limit.
The service offers support for Windows PCs, Mac OS X, Android and Apple's iOS, plus the company says it stores up to 30 earlier copies of archived files, and they don't count against a customer's total storage limit.
It also offers common features like 256-bit AES encryption, continuous data backup and data restores, and 24-hour customer support.
IDrive says it has about 800,000 subscribers for its storage products.
A company changes its incomprehensible new name back to its old boring name!
Deciding that a bunch of random letters and numbers don't say "backup vendor" to their customers, Seagate Technology LLC's i365 backup division switched its name back to its old "EVault" moniker last month.
The new (old) name – officially EVault, A Seagate Company, though they "informally" go by the more proletarian EVault – continues the love affair many IT vendors have for pasting an "I" or "E" before a brand name.
That's a practice that started in the late 1990s when some marketing people knocking back Zima in the midst of a Seinfeld/Friends/Fraiser marathon decided that an extra vowel sound was needed for tech companies to be "with it" and has become less cool every second ever since.
So why go back? Let i365 EVault's press release explain:
EVault is a strong name. The EVault name conveys many of the benefits important to you. EVault stands for electronic vault. Digital data goes in, and it stays put until you need it back. Secure. Reliable. Simple. Efficient. It's what people ought to know about our backup and recovery services. Now it's in our name.
EVault is a strong brand. The EVault name is well known and well liked by data protection professionals, and we want to leverage that more. By retiring the i365 name, we make it simpler for everyone to remember who are and what we do. And we're free to focus on building a single, world-class brand.
EVault is who we are. Fact is, since 1997, EVault has always been who we are—the backup and recovery experts.
We're EVault—still your backup and recovery services experts.
[Edit: emphasis theirs.]
Of course, dumping the i365 name also saves their marketing people a lot of work to distance themselves from a well-publicized data backup failure involving the Parish of Orleans District Court last year.
At the time, the court's IT staff blamed an update from i365 Evault that wiped out some of the court's real estate records, while a company executive blamed the court staff in an email. A subsequent investigation didn't clear up who exactly was to blame for the lost records, but the court stuck with i365.


text:
How did Leicester do in the window?
Ins and Outs
Players in: Matt Upson (Brighton, free), Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa, free), Leonardo Ulloa (Brighton, undisclosed), Esteban Cambiasso (free agent), Jack Barmby (Manchester United, free), Ben Hamer (Charlton, free), Danny Simpson (QPR, undisclosed), Tom Lawrence (Manchester United, undisclosed), Nick Powell (Manchester United, loan)
Players out: Zak Whitbread (Derby, free); Lloyd Dyer (Watford, free), Sean St Ledger (released), Marko Futacs (released)
PREMIER LEAGUE: Arsenal | Aston Villa | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Hull City | Leicester City | Liverpool | Man City | Man Utd | Newcastle | QPR | Southampton | Stoke | Sunderland | Swansea | Tottenham | West Brom | West Ham
Summing up the transfer window
It's a 7/10. The usually poker-faced Nigel Pearson will be visibly ecstatic to have landed top target Cambiasso, though perhaps a tad downbeat to see James McArthur pick Crystal Palace over Leicester.
I would gleefully rate the Foxes transfer dealings at 11/10 had they snared Jermain Defoe, who was allegedly open to a speedy return to England after Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen got axed. Still, considering the Harry Redknapp link, Queens Park Rangers were probably favourites to land the ex-England striker. Plus, if the form of record eight million-pound signing Ulloa continues, Leicester won't need to worry about goals.
It is also encouraging to see Pearson bring in a number of 'Fergie fledglings' from Manchester United this summer. Forward Lawrence and midfielders Barmby and Powell never quite broke into the first team under Ferguson or his successors, but the trio will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Matty James and Danny Drinkwater, who both turned into highly successful Old Trafford castaways.
Another point worth emphasising is that Leicester managed to hang on to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and playmaker Andy King despite interest from AC Milan and Sunderland, respectively. King won't start every week, but he is the club's record midfield goal scorer, and with Drinkwater and James both struggling with early-season knocks, the Welsh international is still a key figure.
Best piece of business
Undoubtedly Cambiasso's arrival. Ulloa has been in rich early-season form, but his eight million-pound fee means he can hardly be termed a bargain.
Cambiasso, on the other hand, comes with a CV that includes Real Madrid and Inter Milan, plus 52 caps for Argentina. He is actually his country's most decorated footballer, with 23 different winners' medals, including the 2010 Champions League under Jose Mourinho at Inter.
The 34-year-old will offer protection to the back four, particularly away from home and, as importantly, looks totally fired up for a relegation dogfight. Considering Pearson landed him on a free, after a pretty lengthy transfer saga, 'Cuchu' (which means "old man") was an extraordinary coup -- one that should lift the whole club.
Worst piece of business
I just don't see what Upson adds. The obvious answer is Premier League experience, but that's what coach Kevin Phillips is there for. Plus, all the top-flight experience in the world is irrelevant if your legs have gone. Upson has lost his pace and, to make matters worse, is currently out for three months with an ankle injury. Liam Moore and Wes Morgan are doing just fine without him. Neither seems fazed by the step up in class. On 20,000 pounds per week, Upson is essentially just eating up the wage bill. The only saving grace is that his move from Brighton was via a free transfer.
What remaining issues are there?
Leicester could still do with another striker, but what Premier League club couldn't? Ulloa can't singlehandedly fire the Foxes to safety, and David Nugent managed just six Premier League goals in his last top-flight spell with Burnley.
Chris Wood's physicality and Jamie Vardy's boundless energy will cause defenses some problems off the bench, but I am not confident in either one's ability to score week in, week out. Meanwhile, Gary Taylor-Fletcher -- the footballer who preseason forgot -- should just hang up his boots. If he manages more than two Premier League goals, I will be Filbert Fox for the day!
Who can help in January?
Omar Abdulrahman. The surprisingly unheralded 'false No. 9' -- who is currently playing with ex-Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan at United Arab Emirates side Al Ain -- is easily the most talented Emirati footballer on the planet, and yet, despite a trial at Manchester City after London 2012, he hasn't moved on to a bigger club.
Abdulrahman reminds me a bit of David Silva: versatile, with a delightful first touch and a really intelligent football brain. I remain staggered that a top European club hasn't tempted the 22-year-old away from the U.A.E.
Speaking of Manchester City, forgotten winger Scott Sinclair would also be a wonderful signing, albeit in an area in which Leicester are already quite strong. Then, given my scathing attack on poor, old Upson, Leicester could also use another centre-back. It is a shame they didn't re-sign the ever-popular Sol Bamba from Palermo, although I wonder whether the fiery Ivorian would prove a liability in the Premier League.
Honestly, though, I would gladly miss out on all these names if Defoe miraculously decides Leicester is for him. If he doesn't, though, perhaps Blackburn's Jordan Rhodes could be a viable option.
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text:
Franz Fudd needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 13 designs submitted by 9 freelance designers.
Redesign is required for a professional Accountancy practice.
CBD Accounting
Accepted File Formats:
layered PNG or PSD
Requirements are that the design should look modern, fresh, professional with the knowledge that there will not be a huge amount of pages or content to fill up a typical browser space. Green is the main color that this firm uses for its letterheads e.c.t. however we acknowledge that it is not a very 'web friendly' color so splashes of green will be sufficient.
This accounting practice are located in downtown Sydney, Australia however they would like to appear large and professional.
A good guide on navigation and other site elements can be seen at their current web site can be viewed at: http://www.cbdaccounting.com.au


text:
OpenID is a burgeoning standard for identifying and authenticating yourself on the web. You do this by identifying yourself not with a standard username and password, but with a URL. This URL points to a web page that verifies that you are, in fact, you.
A number of third-party sites offer OpenID URLs to their users, including LiveJournal, AOL, and Technorati. But some people do not like to be beholden to third parties for something that may turn out to be a central part of their online identity, and they'd rather host their own.
An easy way to do that is with an open source PHP identity server called phpMyID.
What You'll Need
- A web server running PHP
Installing phpMyID
Download the latest source from http://siege.org/projects/phpMyID/. Create a subdirectory in your web directory called phpmyid. Place the files MyID.config.php and MyID.php in that directory, setting their ownership to the web user, if necessary.
In your web browser, go to http://yourwebserver/phpmyid/MyID.config.php. The page should display.
This is an OpenID server endpoint. For more information, see http://openid.net/ Server: http://yourwebserver/phpmyid/MyID.config.php Realm: phpMyID Login
If you click the Login link, it'll prompt you for a username and password, which you haven't yet configured yet. To do that, you need to come up with a username and password, then create an MD5 hash of them.
To do this at a Unix command line with OpenSSL, feed the username and password you want to the md5sum utility in the format username:phpMyID:password. Replace "phpMyID" with the realm from above if your realm differed:
echo -n "username:phpMyID:password" | md5sum
The output will be a 32-character hexadecimal hash that looks like:
You must memorize this — Ha, only kidding. Just copy it and be ready to paste it.
On Windows, feed the same username:phpMyID:password string into the MD5 hasher you're using.
Now open the file MyID.config.php in a text editor. Near the top are two lines:
'auth_username' => 'test', 'auth_password' => '22a204f0bf622e4a35f3d71304378ca9
Replace 'test' with the username you chose, and replace the 32-character hash that's there with the hash you just generated.
Now when you click Login, enter your new username and password into the prompt. If you did everything correctly, it should tell you "You are logged in as username".
Using It
Now, to use this as your OpenID, you'll need a URL that points to it. Choose an HTML page under your control — say, the front page of your site — or create a new one. Add these two lines inside the head of that page:
<link rel="openid.server" href="http://yourwebserver/phpmyid/MyID.config.php"> <link rel="openid.delegate" href="http://yourwebserver/phpmyid/MyID.config.php">
Now, when you want to authenticate, simply give that page's URL. It'll prompt you for your username and password and then authenticate you.
Further Reading
For additional details, read the phpMyID README file. This file is also available in the downloaded package.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.