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5.a. Runlevels
Booting your System
When you boot your system, you will notice lots of text floating by. If you pay close attention, you will notice this text is the same every time you reboot your system. The sequence of all these actions is called the boot sequence and is (more or less) statically defined.
First, your boot loader will load the kernel image you have defined in the boot loader configuration into memory after which it tells the CPU to run the kernel. When the kernel is loaded and run, it initializes all kernel-specific structures and tasks and starts the init process.
This process then makes sure that all filesystems (defined in /etc/fstab) are mounted and ready to be used. Then it executes several scripts located in /etc/init.d, which will start the services you need in order to have a successfully booted system.
Finally, when all scripts are executed, init activates the terminals (in most cases just the virtual consoles which are hidden beneith Alt-F1, Alt-F2, etc.) attaching a special process called agetty to it. This process will then make sure you are able to log on through these terminals by running login.
Init Scripts
Now init doesn't just execute the scripts in /etc/init.d randomly. Even more, it doesn't run all scripts in /etc/init.d, only the scripts it is told to execute. It decides which scripts to execute by looking into /etc/runlevels.
First, init runs all scripts from /etc/init.d that have symbolic links inside /etc/runlevels/boot. Usually, it will start the scripts in alphabetical order, but some scripts have dependency information in them, telling the system that another script must be run before they can be started.
When all /etc/runlevels/boot referenced scripts are executed, init continues with running the scripts that have a symbolic link to them in /etc/runlevels/default. Again, it will use the alphabetical order to decide what script to run first, unless a script has dependency information in it, in which case the order is changed to provide a valid start-up sequence.
How Init Works
Of course init doesn't decide all that by itself. It needs a configuration file that specifies what actions need to be taken. This configuration file is /etc/inittab.
If you remember the boot sequence we have just explained to you, you will remember that init's first action is to mount all filesystems. This is defined in the following line from /etc/inittab:
si::sysinit:/sbin/rc sysinit
This line tells init that it must run /sbin/rc sysinit to initialize the system. The /sbin/rc script takes care of the initialisation, so you might say that init doesn't do much -- it delegates the task of initialising the system to another process.
Second, init executed all scripts that had symbolic links in /etc/runlevels/boot. This is defined in the following line:
rc::bootwait:/sbin/rc boot
Again the rc script performs the necessary tasks. Note that the option given to rc (boot) is the same as the subdirectory of /etc/runlevels that is used.
Now init checks its configuration file to see what runlevel it should run. To decide this, it reads the following line from /etc/inittab:
In this case (which the majority of Gentoo users will use), the runlevel id is 3. Using this information, init checks what it must run to start runlevel 3:
l0:0:wait:/sbin/rc shutdown l1:S1:wait:/sbin/rc single l2:2:wait:/sbin/rc nonetwork l3:3:wait:/sbin/rc default l4:4:wait:/sbin/rc default l5:5:wait:/sbin/rc default l6:6:wait:/sbin/rc reboot
The line that defines level 3, again, uses the rc script to start the services (now with argument default). Again note that the argument of rc is the same as the subdirectory from /etc/runlevels.
When rc has finished, init decides what virtual consoles it should activate and what commands need to be run at each console:
c1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty1 linux c2:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty2 linux c3:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty3 linux c4:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty4 linux c5:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty5 linux c6:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 38400 tty6 linux
What is a runlevel?
You have seen that init uses a numbering scheme to decide what runlevel it should activate. A runlevel is a state in which your system is running and contains a collection of scripts (runlevel scripts or initscripts) that must be executed when you enter or leave a runlevel.
In Gentoo, there are seven runlevels defined: three internal runlevels, and four user-defined runlevels. The internal runlevels are called sysinit, shutdown and reboot and do exactly what their names imply: initialize the system, powering off the system and rebooting the system.
The user-defined runlevels are those with an accompanying /etc/runlevels subdirectory: boot, default, nonetwork and single. The boot runlevel starts all system-necessary services which all other runlevels use. The remaining three runlevels differ in what services they start: default is used for day-to-day operations, nonetwork is used in case no network connectivity is required, and single is used when you need to fix the system.
Working with the Init Scripts
The scripts that the rc process starts are called init scripts. Each script in /etc/init.d can be executed with the arguments start, stop, restart, pause, zap, status, ineed, iuse, needsme, usesme or broken.
To start, stop or restart a service (and all depending services), start, stop and restart should be used:
# /etc/init.d/postfix start
Note: Only the services that need the given service are stopped or restarted. The other depending services (those that use the service but don't need it) are left untouched.
If you want to stop a service, but not the services that depend on it, you can use the pause argument:
# /etc/init.d/postfix pause
If you want to see what status a service has (started, stopped, paused, ...) you can use the status argument:
# /etc/init.d/postfix status
If the status information tells you that the service is running, but you know that it is not, then you can reset the status information to "stopped" with the zap argument:
# /etc/init.d/postfix zap
To also ask what dependencies the service has, you can use iuse or ineed. With ineed you can see the services that are really necessary for the correct functioning of the service. iuse on the other hand shows the services that can be used by the service, but are not necessary for the correct functioning.
# /etc/init.d/postfix ineed
Similarly, you can ask what services require the service (needsme) or can use it (usesme):
# /etc/init.d/postfix needsme
Finally, you can ask what dependencies the service requires but that are missing:
# /etc/init.d/postfix broken
5.b. Working with rc-update
What is rc-update?
Gentoo's init system uses a dependency-tree to decide what service needs to be started first. As this is a tedious task that we wouldn't want our users to do manually, we have created tools that ease the administration of the runlevels and init scripts.
With rc-update you can add and remove init scripts to a runlevel. The rc-update tool will then automatically ask the depscan.sh script to rebuild the dependency tree.
Adding and Removing Services
You have already added init scripts to the "default" runlevel during the installation of Gentoo. At that time you might not have had a clue what the "default" is for, but now you should. The rc-update script requires a second argument that defines the action: add, del or show.
To add or remove an init script, just give rc-update the add or del argument, followed by the init script and the runlevel. For instance:
# rc-update del postfix default
The rc-update show command will show all the available init scripts and list at which runlevels they will execute:
# rc-update show
5.c. Configuring Services
Why the Need for Extra Configuration?
Init scripts can be quite complex. It is therefore not really interesting to have the users directly edit the init script, as it would make it more error-prone. It is however important to be able to configure such a service. For instance, you might want to give more options to the service itself.
A second reason to have this configuration outside the init script is to be able to update the init scripts without being afraid that your configuration changes are undone.
The /etc/conf.d Directory
Gentoo provides an easy way to configure such a service: every init script that can be configured has a file in /etc/conf.d. For instance, the apache2 initscript (called /etc/init.d/apache2) has a configuration file called /etc/conf.d/apache2, which can contain the options you want to give to the Apache 2 server when it is started:
Such a configuration file contains variables and variables alone (just like /etc/make.conf), making it very easy to configure services. It also allows us to provide more information about the variables (as comments).
5.d. Writing Init Scripts
Do I Have To?
No. Writing an init script is usually not necessary as Gentoo provides ready-to-use init scripts for all provided services. However, you might have installed a service without using Portage, in which case you will most likely have to create an init script.
Do not use the init script provided by the service if it isn't explicitly written for Gentoo: Gentoo's init scripts are not compatible with the init scripts used by other distributions!
The basic layout of an init script is shown below.
#!/sbin/runscript depend() { (Dependency information) } start() { (Commands necessary to start the service) } stop() { (Commands necessary to stop the service) } restart() { (Commands necessary to restart the service) }
Any init script requires the start() function to be defined. All other sections are optional.
There are two dependencies you can define: use and need. As we have mentioned before, the need dependency is more strict than the use dependency. Following this dependency type you enter the service you depend on, or the virtual dependency.
A virtual dependency is a dependency that a service provides, but that is not provided solely by that service. Your init script can depend on a system logger, but there are many system loggers available (metalogd, syslog-ng, sysklogd, ...). As you cannot need every single one of them (no sensible system has all these system loggers installed and running) we made sure that all these services provide a virtual dependency.
Let us take a look at the dependency information for the postfix service.
depend() { need net use logger dns provide mta }
As you can see, the postfix service:
Controlling the Order
In some cases you might not require a service, but want your service to be started before (or after) another service if it is available on the system (note the conditional - this is no dependency anymore) and ran in the same runlevel (note the conditional - only services in the same runlevel are involved). You can provide this information using the before or after settings.
As an example we view the settings of the Portmap service:
depend() { need net before inetd before xinetd }
You can also use the "*" glob to catch all services in the same runlevel, although this isn't adviseable.
depend() { before * }
Standard Functions
Next to the depend() functionality, you also need to define the start() function. This one contains all the commands necessary to initialize your service. It is adviseable to use the ebegin and eend functions to inform the user about what is happening:
start() { ebegin "Starting my_service" start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /path/to/my_service eend $? }
If you need more examples of the start() function, please read the source code of the available init scripts in your /etc/init.d directory. As for start-stop-daemon, there is an excellent man page available if you need more information:
# man start-stop-daemon
Other functions you can define are: stop() and restart(). You are not obliged to define these functions! Our init system is intelligent enough to fill these functions by itself if you use start-stop-daemon.
Adding Custom Options
If you want your init script to support more options than the ones we have already encountered, you should add the option to the opts variable, and create a function with the same name as the option. For instance, to support an option called restartdelay:
opts="${opts} restartdelay"
restartdelay() {
sleep 3 # Wait 3 seconds before starting again
Service Configuration Variables
You don't have to do anything to support a configuration file in /etc/conf.d: if your init script is executed, the following files are automatically sourced (i.e. the variables are available to use):
Also, if your init script provides a virtual dependency (such as net), the file associated with that dependency (such as /etc/conf.d/net) will be sourced too.
5.e. Changing the Runlevel Behaviour
Who might benefit from this?
Many laptop users know the situation: at home you need to start net.eth0 while you don't want to start net.eth0 while you're on the road (as there is no network available). With Gentoo you can alter the runlevel behaviour to your own will.
For instance you can create a second "default" runlevel which you can boot that has other init scripts assigned to it. You can then select at boottime what defalt runlevel you want to use.
Using SOFTLEVEL
First of all, create the runlevel directory for your second "default" runlevel. As an example we create the offline runlevel:
# mkdir /etc/runlevels/offline
Add the necessary init scripts to the newly created runlevels. For instance, if you want to have an exact copy of your current default runlevel but without net.eth0:
# ls /etc/runlevels/default acpid domainname local net.eth0 netmount postfix syslog-ng vixie-cron # rc-update add acpid offline # rc-update add domainname offline # rc-update add local offline # rc-update add syslog-ng offline # rc-update add vixie-cron offline
Now edit your bootloader configuration and add a new entry for the offline runlevel. For instance, in /boot/grub/grub.conf:
title Gentoo Linux Offline Usage
root (hd0,0)
kernel (hd0,0)/kernel-2.4.25 root=/dev/hda3 softlevel=offline
Voila, you're all set now. If you boot your system and select the newly added entry at boot, the offline runlevel will be used instead of the default one.
Using BOOTLEVEL
Using bootlevel is completely analogous to softlevel. The only difference here is that you define a second "boot" runlevel instead of a second "default" runlevel.
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Thursday, March 22, 2012
Crafty Friend Needs Help!
***Edited 04/19/2012*** Angie update can be found here Thank you all so much!
***Edited 03/2302012***
***My heart is so happy knowing I belong to such a wonderful community. You all are truly amazing! Thank you all so much, from the bottom of my crafty heart :) For those of you who have asked gift cards are welcomed we have Michael's, Joann Fabrics, Archivers, and Hobby Lobby near us. Thanks again <3***
Hello all. Today I'm posting about personal things. Usually I keep it just crafty around here but today I am appealing to the crafting communities generous heart.
Like I said I usually don't do this so you probably don't know that my career of choice is being a dispatcher for a local police department. I dispatch for Police, Fire and EMS. As I'm sure you can understand this job can be quite stressful. In order to relieve my stress, I craft. As I'm sure many of you do too. My co-worker and friend Angie does as well. Well, she did until she lost everything in an apartment fire on Tuesday night. Thank God Angie, her two boys, and her mom made it out safely. Ang was able to grab two photo albums of the boys when they were babies and a laptop, that's it.
I would like to do a card drive for Angie. I would also like to ask for any kind of crafty donations you can make. She is an avid scrapbooker and card maker. If you have something that has been in your stash unused forever ( I know I do!) Angie could sure you use it. I know how devastated I would be to lose everything I owe, including my crafty stuff. I know it's just stuff but it's my relaxation, my oasis, from my crazy life. Now that Angie's life is nothing but crazy I sure would like to provide her with the tools to practice her beloved hobby.
Let me tell you a little bit about my friend. She is a single mother of two boys who works two jobs to support them. Anthony is a 14yo freshman and Christopher is a 18yo senior. The boys play many sports but their favorite is hockey. Angie travels with them for games, goes to their practices, fundraisers, and works very hard to afford their equipment, which is very expensive (thankfully it was in the garage during the fire). She is the type of friend who is always doing for other people, always putting them first. Sometimes I think she is super woman! She works her first job, gets off at 5:00pm, stops home makes sure the boys are eating/doing homework/or taking them to practice, drives to her second job (police station) and works until 11:30pm. Yet she still finds time to do for others and make it to mass every Sunday. I'm telling you all she is AMAZING!
Okay so here's the run down:
I'm looking for thinking of you cards and cards with cheery sentiments.
I would like to be able to give her the cards/goodies by April 7th so please have any donations to me by April 6th. If you can't meet the deadline but have a crafty donation send it anyway. I can always get it to her later.
Like I said Angie is both a scrapbooker and a card maker so literally anything you have I will take. She is especially sad about her Cricut so if you would like to make a monetary donation towards the purchase of a new cricut that would also be greatly appreciated.
Patterned paper, stamps, adhesives, plain card stock, ink, . . . .you all know what you use.
You can send it to: Kelly Latevola
I know this is a long post, and I thank you for staying with me :) Please keep Angie and her family in your prayers and share this post with your other crafty friends :) Thank you so much!
For those of you who are interested this is the photo Angie Sent me and a link to a news video
67 comments:
Kelly, this is coming at the perfect time! I have LOTS of crafty goodies to pass on. Most of it is new, never used!!! I'm so happy to have someone to give it to. I'm in Canada and will do my best to send the parcel (or maybe a few?) this weekend, but it may come a bit later...I'll share a link to your post on fb too. So many generous folks out there :)ReplyDelete
Can I also add that I hit enter to soon...I'm praying for her and her boys. Thank you for posting this. I'm honored to help such an amazing lady. xxReplyDelete
UGH!!!! How HORRIBLE!!! Found this on Facebook and am shainrg on mine as well!!!ReplyDelete
I have shared and will be sending stuff too!! So, so heartbreaking!! SO glad though, that they all made it out ok! They will be in my thoughts and prayers!!ReplyDelete
Enjoy Life~Javablustamper/Jacquie
That is one of my worst nightmares, that and a tornado, where all of my precious memories and work would be gone in an instant. I live in Ohio too and i will definitely get a box of goodies packed up this weekend for her.ReplyDelete
Found you via i {heart} papers FB post...I'll put some goodies together and sent them to you...What a great friend you are for doing this.ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
I saw this on i {heart} papers FB post and am a fellow cricuteer. I will send out a Fab Finds cart for your friend and I will see what other goodies I can send.ReplyDelete
Awww, this saddens me to read. I will put some crafty stuff in a priority mail envelope and send it out to you when I return from out of town next week.ReplyDelete
I can't even imagine....she's lucky to have you AND I'm putting together a box for you....I have stuff already started.ReplyDelete
Heard about this from Ribbon Carousel. I'll pull together a package of goodies and send it off to by Monday.ReplyDelete
A little something will be coming from Croatia! :) Thank God she and her family are ok!!ReplyDelete
I have a big box of items I've been hanging on to hoping to find someone who would use them...i'll be sending a box, or maybe even two, off to you early next week.ReplyDelete
I found this on Facebook. I just finished packing up some goodies for her and will mail them today.ReplyDelete
Just saw this on FB and my heart goes out to this amazing woman. I have a (barely) used Cricut Expression, tools and several cartridges that I will box up and send to you.ReplyDelete
You are a wonderful friend for doing this.
Saying prayers for them.
Saw this on FB through Ribbon Carousel, and I will be happy to send some things as soon as I get home from work! God Bless this amazing woman and her family, and also you, Kelly, for being such a good and caring friend.ReplyDelete
I also found you through IHP's FB post, I'm putting a box together right now!! My heart goes out to her, I think this is my greatest fear: a fire and not being able to get the critters and photos out in time! :( My heart goes out to her!ReplyDelete
I have only been stamping since May 2011 but I KNOW I have some supplies I can share!!!ReplyDelete
Terrible news but I am happy to share the items I have that I no longer use!! We are on spring break but will send it as soon as we return!ReplyDelete
WOW, this is definitely "Heartbreaking":( Even though I don't know you or your friend Ang, I think all of us crafty peeps must stick together!;) I will definitely contribute & I will also share this on my wall!ReplyDelete
Big HUGS to YOU & especially to your sweet friend who lost everything...
Kelly, this post came at a perfect time. I'm getting ready to move, and I was going to clear out a bunch of craft supplies. I'll put together a big box this weekend and put it in the mail to you on Monday.ReplyDelete
I can't even imagine what your friend is going through. You are so sweet to do this for her! I read about this on Twitter, I will put together a pkg of supplies for her and get it sent out by monday. Please give your friend a Hug for me!ReplyDelete
I will be getting a care package together to send you soon. I waas thinking about sending a gift card to Michaels or Joann's too, what stores do you have in the area? You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Supplies are on the way....and I posted on both my FB pages. Stefani (www.stylesbystefani.blogspot.com)ReplyDelete
I will get something out to you this weekend...I have a pleanty of stuff that i can send. I am so sad to hear this. I would also like to include a small gift card or something so she can start to get some stuff that she really wants back. What stores do you have near you?ReplyDelete
My heart goes out to Angie, my prayers too. I'll be sending some supplies - hope all the donations from around the country help to lift her spirits and help her see that crafty sisters all care for one another, especially when life throws us the uglies. Bless you, Kelly, for helping your friend. :)ReplyDelete
A box will be on its way next week.ReplyDelete
Oh no. How kind of you to help your friend. My stash is getting really overwhelming. In fact, I bid and won a big basket of scrapbooking goodies in my son's school's silent auction. There are things in it that I don't need. I will get some stuff together this weekend. I am also going to repost this so my FB friends will see it. Blessings to you and your friend.ReplyDelete
So very sorry to hear about your friend! My heart goes out toReplyDelete
her and her boys. I will send a card and some crafting goodies.
I am going to the Medina Stamp and Scrapbook Garage Sale tomorrow and will put a letter and basket at my table to see if I can get donations for Angie. I live in North Royalton, not far from Brunswick and then could drop of the things I have to you if that's possible.
Bless you for doing this,
I have shared this story with all my local scrappy sisters and am hoping this will help. I have a font cartridge (Jubilee) that I will send for her future Cricut. I will also look through my stash and may go on a little hunting trip at my LSS for some stuff...anything to help a fellow scrapper. Praying for her and her boys!ReplyDelete
I read this on FB on Emma's MCT and I needed to catch my breath beacuse it is horrible.My heart and prayers go out to her and her family.I will go through my stash and mail out by Monday.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMarch 23, 2012 at 4:21 PM
I would love to send some of my stash, too, but won't be able to mail it out until April 6th (waiting for payday).ReplyDelete
Hi Kelly.ReplyDelete
I am planning on helping out as much as I can. What a horrible thing that happened to your friend. I posted a discussion thread on Flickr and I know those ladies will help out too! Sending hugs!
I am in the process of re-organizing my craft room, so I will be sending a box to you.ReplyDelete
What an awesome friend you are.....I am not sure I can send anything but I will look thru my stuff and see what I may be able to send her......I have a ton of cards made up if it would be ok to send you some for her please let me know at email@example.com and I will get some to her...i go to many stampin up get togethers in my town so I have tons of cards that we make there. So I will be praying for her and her family that things will look up for her now and know so many of us craftee people want to help!ReplyDelete
I KNOW I have to purge, so I have a box I can put together. What a sweet friend you are to do this! How horrifying but thank God they got out safely! Sending my prayers and goodies your way. Hugs, MarcyReplyDelete
What a wonderful friend you are! I'm so touched by your kindness and also VERY happy to know that Angie and her family are all safe and sound!ReplyDelete
Fires are so scary ! Thank goodness they were not hurt!!
I'm going to work on a package to send off to you this week!
I know I have more than I need and this is a perfect way to help out someone else!!
I am sure I can gather some stuff together! How sweet of you to do this!ReplyDelete
Thank goodness, no one was hurt! My heart goes out to your friend and her family. She is lucky to have you by her side. I will definitely get something off to you, for her!ReplyDelete
Hi Kelly,ReplyDelete
I have a lot of scrapbooking/card products that I am not using and will send them to you for Angie. I am praying for Angie and her family. Take care and God bless.
Really glad I came across this on the Hero Arts Flickr group , (thanks to Barb). I'll go through my things over the weekend and box something up for Angie. It's just a really awful thing to happen to anyone! And God Bless you for being such an awesome friend to her! My thoughts and prayers go out to Angie and her boys!ReplyDelete
I got the post from Hero Arts on FB. So sorry for Angie and her boys. I'll be sending a box tomorrow morning!ReplyDelete
Shipped out a large flat rate box today..I'll track it to make sure it was delivered on time. Good luck. You're a great friend to Angie.ReplyDelete
My friends at Fiskateers, Fiskars online community, gave us your link to help your friend and I'm so glad. My heartfelt prayers and thoughts go out to Angie and her family, my thanks to you for being a special friend to her. Now...going to gather some goodies and get them mailed out to you pronto :)ReplyDelete
You are a wonderful friend. I am in the process of reorganizing my craft supplies and will put together some supplies along with a card within the next few days and ship it off to you.ReplyDelete
Donna Jean Eno
I have a box ready to send. Amongst other things, there are two copies of my book. One is for you and one is for her. You are a selfless friend. My heart celebrates you and goes out to Angie and her family at the same time.
I will also share the link on my facebook.
Nancy Curry
Oh how terrible! I have always said that if we had a fire, for everyone to please grab an album, if safely possible, and just start throwing them out the doors and windows! I saw this on facebook on the Scrapping Everyday Miracles Chit Chat group! I am going to box up some things that are in good condition that I am not good at using!!! Let her know I am praying for her and her family, and what a Miracle they all got out!!! here is my blog, if anyone wants to enter my 750 follower giveaway:ReplyDelete
Thank you for hosting this collection for your friend!!!
Roberta in NC
My box will go out in the mail on Monday. I may add another box too. Hugs and prayers for your friend!ReplyDelete
My thoughts and prayers are with your friend.. I will make up a box of goodies this week and send it!ReplyDelete
I have spent this morning gathering up some supplies and goodies to send. I will be mailing it (from MN) tomorrow. I really cannot imagine suffering a loss like Angie has and my heart goes out to her and her family. You're a wonderful friend to her. :)ReplyDelete
Getting supplies ready to send! You're almost in my backyard, so hopefully it'll arrive quickly!ReplyDelete
My thoughts and prayers are with Angie and her families. I cannot imagine all the suffering that she's going thru! You are a great friend!ReplyDelete
you are so great for doing this.... Will be mailing something out to you this week...ReplyDelete
Kelly, I have two large baskets to donate plus some drawers to hold stuff in. If you could contact me via my blog I'd love to drop them off. I'm in North Royalton, not far from you.ReplyDelete
Found this post thru the All Things Tim yahoo group -- i'm in the process of purging and would love to send you some goodies. What a wonderful friend you are.ReplyDelete
I linked over here from Jennifer McGuire's blog. I will keep Angie and her family in my thoughts. I have extra card stock and paper to send.ReplyDelete
Hey there! I had commented earlier and am FINALLY sending a package out! I am such a SILLY girl though, I failed to put a card in the box for her!! Darnit!! So, I will be sending it separately!! SO awesome of you to do this for her!! I hope she will be able to use some of the stuff I have sent!!ReplyDelete
ENJOY LIFE~Javablustamper/Jacquie
So sorry to hear about your friend. I am happy they All made it out. I too, have way to much stuff. So I would be happy to help. I will get a box in the mail this weekend. You are a great friend.ReplyDelete
So sorry for her, I sure will bedevastated as well to loose everything like that. thank god they're all safe. Can you send me your address, I'll send you some crafty things. I live far away (Belgium), so I doubt it'll be there on time, but you can give it to her later.ReplyDelete
Sorry to hear about your friend and I am grateful she and her family were saved. I will send something your way for her over the weekend.ReplyDelete
I will send a box this weekend. Glad to hear they are all safe!ReplyDelete
I forgot to add that I found this through The Lawn Fawn blog.ReplyDelete
glad to see your update. I sent you a message via facebook. I'll get something in the mail next week.ReplyDelete
I just filled out a card and am sending some Tim Holtz masks for her in the post tomorrow..ReplyDelete
Where is an update on the Angie story? I sent out a large flat rate box on 3-24-12 (it was delivered) and have yet to receive any kind of acknowledgement. Anyone else hear if their donations were received? Just a quick email would be nice.ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you so much for donating to Angie. I apologize if you were worried I didn't receive the box and were waiting on an email. I am so grateful for all the boxes Angie has received however it is far to many to ever hope to email everyone. Instead I have been keeping track of names and address in order to send out thank you cards since this seems much more personal to me :) If you would like to read the Angie update you can find it here: http://disp6194-kellyscraps.blogspot.com/2012/04/angie-update.html Thanks again!Delete

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Interim Welterweight World Championship with a unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated Selcuk Aydin in front of a hometown crowd on Saturday in the Showtime main event at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was a huge night for the Ghost, who emerged with a hard fought win and places himself right into the mix in the talented – and lucrative – welterweight division.
Right here, you can find a huge collection of Guerrero vs. Aydin pictures, a video recap of the event, quotes from the fighters and much more. Take a look.
Guerrero vs. Aydin Photos
Guerrero vs. Aydin Video Recap
Guerrero, who was moving up two weight classes after a 15-month layoff, was the more active boxer despite admitting having to shake off some rust in his return to the ring. The Gilroy, Calif., native threw and landed more punches while showcasing a surprising display of power and aggressiveness in an impressive debut in his new division.
"He's a strong guy," Guerrero said. "I want to take on the best and that's why we challenged him. It's my first fight back in a year and I took care of business.
"I believe in my talents and my skills. I stood with him a little too long, but I'm a fighter. Now you know I can take a shot at the welterweight division. Floyd Mayweather, you want this belt, its right here. Come and get it. "
Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO's) built an early lead over the Turkish Aydin (23-1, 17 KO's), who rallied with his powerful right hand in the middle and later rounds, but Guerrero, who fought with a second wind in the championship rounds, had built a steady lead and won by scores of 117-11 and 116-112 (twice).
"I think I did wrong, not the judges," Aydin said. "I could not do what I wanted to do. It's my mistake, I blame it on me. After the fourth round something happened with me. I saw double and I don't know why, but there's no excuse – I lost."
SHOWTIME boxing analyst and Hall of Famer Al Bernstein was impressed with Guerrero's performance.
"It was fairly remarkable that Guerrero was able to move up two weight classes after a long layoff and win a battle of attrition with a true welterweight," Bernstein said. "Aydin is not a stylist and has technique issues, but he is a powerful puncher and he made this an exciting fight."
In a fast-paced, exciting fight, Shawn Porter kicked off the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast with a hard-fought unanimous decision (96-94, 97-93, 98-92) victory over Alfonso Gomez in the 10-round welterweight co-feature.
The ShoBox: The New Generation alum proved too tough and durable for Gomez, who seemed unable to hurt Porter (20-0, 14 KO's), of Cleveland, Ohio, with his best shots. Porter, who landed 45 percent of his power punches compared to Gomez's 34 percent, dominated the middle rounds with effective body shots and powerful combos as Gomez (23-6-2, 12 KO's), of Guadalajara, Mexico, tired.
"He has a lot of heart," Porter said. "We came in here and we knew what to expect. I'm an aggressive fighter, my team knows that. If there's anything I can change it's that I come forward too much.
"I'm 20 and 0. I can do 10 (rounds) with no problem. I'm on my way up to 12."
In SHOWTIME EXTREME action, Hugo Centeno (15-0, 8 KO's), of Oxnard, Calif., kept his unbeaten record intact with a near-shutout eight-round unanimous decision victory (79-73, 80-72 twice) victory over Ayi Bruce (14-8, 8 KO's), of Albany, N.Y.
Undefeated British super middleweight prospect George Groves (15-0, 12 KO's) opened up the SHOWTIME EXTREME telecast with a bang with a brutal knockout at 2:15 of the sixth round over Francisco Sierra (24-6-1, 22 KO's), of Tepic, Mexico.


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Posts Tagged 'digital age'
Hiring in the Digital Age: What's Next for Recruiting?
By Jennifer Post, Business News Daily Contributor | October 13, 2017 Hiring has always been at the forefront of business owners' minds. After all, what is a business without employees? But hiring today looks very different than it did just a decade or two ago. The days of handing out resumes in person are all…Read More


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Welcome to our Country Store!
Lamers Dairy Country Store
8 am to 6 pm • SATURDAY: 9 am to 5 pm
Look For the Big Red Barn and Blue Silo
It is not hard to spot our Lamers Dairy Country Store from Hwy 441 in Appleton. Our store looks like a big red barn complete with blue Harvestore Silo. We are located right at Lamers Dairy so you are sure to find the freshest milk and other dairy products available. Exit on CE and find us behind Festival Foods and Lowe's. Come in through the door in the blue silo. Once inside, you'll be captivated by everything Lamers Dairy Country Store has to offer.
Watch The Bottling Process Through our 30 Foot Observation Window
Because premium quality rBGH-free milk from local family farms is what we are most known for, you'll find our full family of products at the Lamers Dairy Country Store, including our popular milk in returnable glass bottles. We are so passionate about the quality of our milk that we invite you to watch us bottle it through our 30 foot viewing window. You're likely to see our president, Mark Lamers, and his brothers, Joe, Tom and Tim working in the dairy themselves to make sure the Lamers Dairy milk you serve your family lives up to its Dairyland's Best name. Call for best viewing times.
100th Anniversary Mural Depicting the 100 Year History of Lamers Dairy
To celebrate our 100th Anniversary we commissioned artist Sheri Jo Posselt to paint a nearly 30 foot mural of the 100 year history of Lamers Dairy. You'll find it above our observation window in our dairy store.
Wisconsin Cheese and Wisconsin Products
You'll find one of the best selections of Wisconsin cheese around. Being a local business, we make a point of supporting other local companies. We carry hundreds of Wisconsin products from Soap Dance soap to VandeWalle's nuts. If you are looking for souvenirs from Wisconsin we have them too.
Cheese Boxes, Gift Baskets & Gift Certificates
We have hand selected the best Wisconsin has to offer in cheese, sausage and other delicious Wisconsin made gourmet products. Our gift boxes are sure to please family, friends, customers and clients. Give us a call or stop by our store to place your order. We can also make up custom gifts that are just right for you in a range of prices. NOTE: Expect shipping delays, carriers are not guaranteeing service. Also, prices and products are subject to change. Shipping is at your discretion. Thank you for your patience!
Delicious rBGH-Free Soft Serve and Hand Dipped Cedar Crest Ice Cream
Enjoy delicious soft serve made right here at the dairy from our award-winning rBGH-free milk and cream from small local family farms. Vanilla, chocolate and twist soft serve is available everyday at family friendly prices. Or choose a hand dipped cone from featured flavors of Wisconsin made Cedar Crest ice cream.


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Water safety threatened by North Carolina coal ash spill, group says
EDEN, N.C. – An environmental group Thursday challenged Duke Energy's assurances that drinking water from the Dan River in North Carolina and Virginia remained safe despite a massive spill of toxic coal ash that released a deluge of murky gray sludge into the river Sunday.
The Waterkeeper Alliance said its tests of water collected just yards from the spill site here showed dangerous level of toxins, including arsenic, chromium, lead, iron and other heavy metals. Arsenic levels in the samples were 35 times higher than the maximum containment level set by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water, the group said.
"The stuff flowing into the river out of that pipe is disturbingly high in toxins and laden with heavy metals," Peter Harrison, staff attorney for the alliance, said as he stood on the riverbank downstream from the spill site late Thursday afternoon. Tests were conducted by a certified lab in North Carolina, he said.
The samples were collected Tuesday, 48 hours after the spill was discovered, Harrison said. He spent two hours in a kayak on the river Thursday, collecting more water samples whose test results are expected in a few days.
The Waterkeeper Alliance called the ash spill the third-largest in U.S. history. The biggest was a 2008 spill in Tennessee that unleashed more than a billion gallons of ash slurry, destroying homes, flooding residential areas and polluting waterways.
State regulators said initial test results, released Thursday night, found no violations of state water quality standards for 17 heavy metals in most samples taken Monday and Tuesday. Copper levels were above state surface water standards, the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources reported.
Tom Reeder, director of the state Division of Water Resources, said tests of the water and river bottom sediments would continue. "The Dan River does not have a clean bill of health," he said.
Duke Energy spokeswoman Paige Sheehan, standing on an overlook above the spill site at the company's shuttered coal-fired Dan River plant, said company tests showed only traces of heavy metals within accepted safety standards for drinking water, fish and wildlife. Levels of arsenic, lead and selenium taken from water intakes at Danville, Va., and South Boston, Va., were less than two parts per billion – the lowest level that lab instruments can accurately measure, the company said.
Danville and South Boston are the nearest cities downstream from the spill, which Duke Energy said dumped between 50,000 and 80,000 tons of coal ash into the river after a 48-inch stormwater pipe ruptured beneath the ash basin. Some 24 million to 27 million tons of polluted water from the basin also poured into the Dan River, the company said.
The state of North Carolina, along with several environmental groups – including Waterkeeper Alliance – have sued Duke Energy over its handling of coal ash at the utility's coal-fired plants. The Dan River plant, closed in 2012, is one of seven Duke decommissioned coal-fired plants. Another seven remain in operation.
Sheehan said crews were still working Thursday to plug the leak, four days after the spill was reported. She said they had managed to stop almost all water seepage from the basin and most of the flow from the ruptured pipe.
"It's a very low flow and at times no flow," Sheehan said, gesturing toward workers, trucks and a crane at the edge of the coal ash basin near the river's edge.
Sheehan said the company has tested river water at 11 locations above and below the spill site, as well as near the spill itself. "There is no challenge to drinking water," she said. "Drinking water is absolutely safe downstream."
The Waterkeeper Alliance said levels of lead in its tests were far higher than levels recommended by the EPA to prevent contamination of drinking water. Dangerous levels were also detected for boron, manganese, zinc and iron, the group said.
"Duke could have avoided contaminating the Dan River and poisoning Virginia's water supplies if it had removed its toxic ash heaps years ago after being warned by EPA," said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance.
Erin Culbert, a Duke spokesperson, said the highest arsenic level in samples taken from the river Monday was 35.3 parts per billion – below the state surface water standard of 50 ppb. The highest test results for samples filtered to indicate levels that would be expected after water is treated for drinking were 3.43 ppb, well below the 10 ppb drinking water standard, she said.
Duke is also having water tested at municipal water intakes downstream and after water has been treated by municipal water systems. "Results in both areas look very good," Culbert said.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican and former Duke executive, visited the site Thursday and called the incident "a very serious spill," adding, "We need to get it under control as quickly as possible."
EPA officials began sampling water from the river Wednesday and sediment on the river bottom Thursday to determine the amount of ash that had settled there, said Dawn-Harris-Young, an EPA spokesperson in Atlanta.
Sheehan, the Duke spokeswoman, said hundreds of people were working at the spill site 24 hours a day, trying to come up with a way to plug the leak and to secure the pond.
Harrison, the Waterkeeper Alliance attorney, said water was still flowing from the ruptured pipe when he paddled near the site Thursday.
Culbert said at that site Thursday that efforts to deal with the spill could last for weeks.
Freaky 'frost quakes' boom and shake frozen Midwest towns
Junk mail misfire: Bank of America mailer calls woman 'a slut'
Winds of change: Floating power turbines envisioned off Oregon coast
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Key concepts
Have you ever wondered how a parachute works—or which design features are most important in slowing someone's descent? Parachutes come in many different shapes and sizes, but they work based on the same general principles. In this activity, you will test differently sized parachutes to see how changes in the size of the parachute affect flight. What do you think will work better: a bigger parachute or a smaller one?
In the sport of skydiving, a person jumps out of an airplane from a very high altitude, falls through the air, and releases a parachute to help the skydiver slow his or her way down and land safely on the ground. How does the parachute break the free fall so well?
As the skydiver is falling, the force of gravity is pulling the person and his or her parachute toward the earth. The force of gravity can make an object fall very fast! The parachute slows the skydiver down because it causes air resistance, or drag force. The air pushes the parachute back up and creates a force opposite to the force of gravity. As the skydiver falls, these "push and pull" forces are nearly in balance.*
• Heavy-weight garbage bag
• Scissors
• Ruler
• String
• Four pennies
• Tape
• A safe, high surface, about two meters from the ground. A good place may be a secure balcony, deck or playground platform.
• Stopwatch (accurate to at least 0.1 seconds)
• Cut open the garbage bag to make a flat sheet of plastic.
• Cut two squares out of the garbage bag. Make one be 20 centimeters by 20 cm (about eight inches by eight inches) and one be 50 cm by 50 cm (20 inches by 20 inches).
• Tie a knot in each of the four corners of each square.
• Cut the string into eight pieces that are 40 cm (about 16 inches) long each.
• Tie one end of each piece of string around each of the knots, positioning the string right above the knot.
• For each square, hold the center of the square in one hand and pull all of the strings with the other hand to collect them. Tie the free end of the strings together with an overhand knot.
• Securely tape two pennies to the end of the strings on each square. What do you think the purpose of the pennies is? Hint: you can try letting the squares float to the ground without the pennies first and see what happens.
• Your parachutes are now ready to test!
• Bring a stopwatch and the parachutes to the safe, high surface you found that is about two meters from the ground.
• Release the smaller parachute from high above the ground and time how long it takes for it to fall to the ground. Try this parachute two more times, releasing it from the same height each time. About how long did it take to fall on average?
• Release the larger parachute from the same height and time how long it takes for it to fall to the ground. Try this parachute two more times. About how long did it take the larger parachute to fall?
• Which parachute took longer to fall to the ground? Why do you think this is?
• Extra: Make some more parachutes out of differently sized squares from the garbage bag. Test out your new parachutes. Do you see a clear trend between the size of the parachutes and how long it takes them to fall?
• Extra: In this activity, you tested one variable—the surface area of the parachute—but there are a lot of other variables that affect how well a parachute works. Try this activity again but this time vary the material that the parachute is made out of (you could try nylon, cotton, tissue paper, etcetera), the shape of the parachute, the length of the string, the weight of the string, the load (by increasing or decreasing the number of pennies), or the height at which the parachute is dropped. How does changing one of these other variables affect how well the parachute works?
Observations and results
Did the larger parachute take longer to fall to the ground than the smaller parachute did?
How large a parachute is (in other words, the parachute's surface area) affects its air resistance, or drag force. The larger the parachute, the greater the drag force. In the case of these parachutes, the drag force is opposite to the force of gravity, so the drag force slows the parachutes down as they fall. Consequently, the larger parachute, with its greater drag force, takes longer to reach the ground than the smaller parachute. Although the force of gravity is greater on the larger, slightly heavier parachute than the smaller, lighter one, the relative increase in the drag force on the larger parachute is greater than the increase in the force of gravity.
*Correction (9/19/12): The last sentence in this paragraph, which erroneously described the effect of drag and gravity on the skydiver, was removed after posting.
More to explore
Calculating Drag from Aerocon
Skydiving from the Physics Classroom
Parachute Descent Calculations from Randy Culp
Parachutes: Does Size Matter? from Science Buddies
This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies


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Dear Visitor
Thank you for visiting my website! Here, you will find general information about myself as well as my connection to boardercross. I will also be posting racing results, photos, news, articles, and much more... so, check back often!
Enjoy my site and I look forward to seeing you at my next race!
All the best


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Women can add nine years to their lives by quitting smoking before the age of 40 but still face a 20-percent higher death rate than those who never smoked, a study said Saturday.
Published in The Lancet, a survey of nearly 1.2 million women in Britain showed that smoking throughout adulthood chopped on average 11 years off lifespan.
These results echoed the findings of earlier research conducted on men.
Among women who kicked the habit before the age of 40, the researchers measured an average lifespan gain of more than nine years compared with those who never stopped.
For those who quit before 30 the gains were even bigger — about 10 years.
"Whether they are men or women, smokers who stop before reaching middle age will on average gain about an extra 10 years of life," study co-author Richard Peto of the University of Oxford said.
But the paper warned this did not mean that it was safe to continue smoking until 40 before quitting.
"Women who do so have throughout the next few decades [of their lives] a mortality rate 1.2 times that of never-smokers. This is a substantial excess risk, causing one in six of the deaths among these ex-smokers."
In Europe and the United States, the popularity of smoking reached its peak among women in the 1960s, decades later than for men.
The Lancet study is one of the most extensive probes into the impacts of smoking on this generation of women, the first likely to have smoked substantially throughout their adult lives.
The research is part of a vast survey that enrolled 1.2 million women in the UK between 1996 and 2001. The volunteers were asked to detail their smoking history, and were followed for an average of 12 years.
The women were on average 55 years old when they signed up. Twenty percent of them were smokers, 28 percent ex-smokers, while 52 percent had never smoked.
The researchers found that the group of women who continued smoking had three times the overall mortality rate of never-smokers.
While the risks increased with the amount smoked, "Even those smoking fewer than 10 cigarettes per day… had double the overall mortality rate than never-smokers," warned the study.
It also cautioned against so-called "light" cigarettes, smoked by most of the women in the study.
"Low-tar cigarettes are not low-risk cigarettes and… more than half of those who smoke them will eventually be killed by them," the authors warned.
The key causes of death among smokers were chronic lung disease, lung cancer, stroke and heart disease.


text: It\u2019s been over a year since I last wrote about my security information and event management (SIEM) platform \u2014 and a lot has happened since then. Back then, I wrote, \u201cNow that my SIEM has been in operation for several months, I\u2019ve become completely dependent on it, not only for security monitoring, but also for overall awareness of my network.\u201dSince that time, I\u2019ve only become more dependent on my SIEM for keeping track of all the alerts being generated by my various security information, alert and log sources. At last count, I had 21 different systems feeding data into my SIEM, including intrusion-detection sensors on the network, malware detection on the network and individual computers, firewall logs, network device logs and flow data, and server logs. All this information has given me unprecedented visibility into threats on my network \u2014 and now is the right time to have that visibility.Looking at all the data breaches in the news over the last year (including the top 20 breaches I wrote about last month), one thing they all have in common is a lack of timely detection. In fact, most of the victims had no idea they were breached until the U.S. government\u2019s three-letter-agency watchdogs notified them. The attackers operated undiscovered for months on those networks before they were discovered. It\u2019s my belief that a good SIEM would have alerted those organizations to the attackers\u2019 activities, such as phishing, malware exploits, unauthorized remote access and data exfiltration. Certainly, my SIEM would do so.[ SIEM: Dead or alive? ]How can I have so much confidence in my SIEM? Because I use it every day, and it reliably alerts me to all of those threats. When I last talked about my SIEM, I mentioned that I was looking into third-party services to monitor it as well. Since then, I\u2019ve actually gone through three different monitoring services. The first two were disappointments, but the third is doing a really great job of escalating the important alerts while tuning out the false positives and less important data. I find threats on my network every day \u2014 usually malware, most often caused by poisoned Web searches that employees stumble across while doing personal searching. The poisoned search results usually fly right through the employees\u2019 browsers without their knowledge or interaction, resulting in infections that set off my alarms. When that happens, one of my team members pays a visit to the victim, confiscating the hard drive and offering advice on how to avoid infections in the future.I have a good, reliable SIEM technology that pays dividends every day. So what could go wrong?Too much information, that\u2019s what. Not coming out of the SIEM, but going into it. I have so much data pouring into my SIEM that it\u2019s actually overloading the network. My SIEM is fine \u2014 it\u2019s built to handle massive amounts of data flow \u2014 but the network bandwidth itself is becoming saturated by all the alerts and logs. Not only does this lead to complaints from our network engineer, but unreliable service as well. For example, some of the data flowing into my SIEM is in the form of \u201cspans\u201d from network routers and switches. These spans duplicate all of the traffic flowing inside my company\u2019s network, which is very useful for SIEM analysis. But when the network gets bogged down from too much traffic, the routers and switches automatically cut off the spans so they can focus on delivering network traffic. When that happens, my SIEM goes blind.What I\u2019m planning to do about this situation is to offload some of the traffic from the routers and switches onto a specialized data delivery device. The device I\u2019m looking at is designed to sit on the network and mirror the network traffic to my SIEM, so the routers and switches don\u2019t have to. It can also take log and alert data from some of my other sources and carry them directly to my SIEM, cutting down on network bandwidth.So while I now have too much of a good thing, fortunately the state of security technology has caught up to the problem. If all goes as planned, I can simply drop in the new device and hook it up to my SIEM without any trouble. Then I can add even more data to what I\u2019m already monitoring.This week's journal is written by a real security manager, "J.F. Rice," whose name and employer have been disguised for obvious reasons. Contact him at email@example.com. Join inClick here for more security articles.


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Recipe adapted from Loves to Eat
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup champagne
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg whites
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners (recipe yields about 22 cupcakes).
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of champagne combined with vanilla.
In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the batter then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Transfer batter to cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full. Bake approximately twenty minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool about five minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar
3 T champagne
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy, about three minutes. Add vanilla extract and about three cups of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed to combine. Add in champagne and mix on low to incorporate. Increase speed to medium and beat about one minute to whip frosting. If frosting appears to be thin, add additional powdered sugar as necessary to reach desired consistency. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.


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Products you see labelled with the "flower for peace" follow our values in helping support a more sustainable future. Keeping in mind brands which take into account of environmental, human and animal welfare, community-driven initiatives and cruelty free practices. Whilst not all our brands are in full bloom of reaching their sustainable goals, they are taking tangible steps in order to build a more sustainable fashion industry. EvolutionSK believes that together we can slowly but surely build a happier healthier planet! ESK packaging is 100% sustainable.Shop Now


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Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell
- Art Funded
- 1963
- Dimensions
- 44.5 x 37 cm
- Vendor
- J W Blyth
Mr J.W. Blyth lived in Kirkcaldy and ran a linen mill there. His house was filled with his large art collection and he lent a large number of the paintings to the gallery during his lifetime. He was gallery convener for some time and grandfather to Michael Portillo, former Conservative MP.
J.W.Blythe Collection.


text: Three factors have added up to a huge shift in the CIO role during the past five years\u2014and CIOs who ignore these put their careers in peril, says a new report by Constellation Research. First, consumer technology has out-innovated enterprise technologies, reducing the management influence of the CIO. Second, legacy systems implemented during the Y2K investment rush are hindering system upgrades. Finally, the pace of technology advancements has outpaced the ability to adopt. CIOs of the future will no longer oversee multimillion dollar IT projects and lead organizational change through technology adoption, says Constellation Research CEO and analyst Ray Wang. Instead, the CIO definition will be broader, demanding that CIOs deliver more business value, profitability and market differentiation.[For CIO magazine's latest research on the evolving CIO Role, see 2011 State of the CIO: IT Departments Are Fueling Company Growth Through Strategic Technology Investments] While next-gen CIOs will emerge from traditional technology backgrounds as well as business-leader backgrounds with technology expertise, the report says, current CIOs will need to master four emerging personas in order to compete in the new environment.CIOs who fail to evolve into these new roles, Wang says, will lose their functions to business teams. "Line of business executives are already starting to play CIO roles in many of the companies we work with," he says.The new CIO role will balance externally focused activities with internally focused ones, and embody equal parts technology savvy and business savvy. Some CIOs may bring to the table expertise in one persona, but top CIOs will strive to master all four, he says.[How CIOs Can Devise a Social Business Strategy] Here are the four new personas of the new CIO and the skills you need to succeed, according to the report.1. Chief "Infrastructure" OfficerMany CIOs are already familiar with this persona, according to Wang, and transitioning into it will be easy. These chief infrastructure officers focus on cost reduction, controlling 65 percent to 70 percent of the overall budget. Most projects prioritize keeping the lights on and managing legacy systems. These infrastructure officers tend to focus on the technology side and internal-facing activities, according to the report.Wang says that the chief infrastructure officer persona is becoming a core competency, but less and less attention is being paid to it.2. Chief "Integration" OfficerAlso predicted to be an easy transition, this persona is used to managing just 5 percent to 10 percent of the overall budget and must bring together various business processes, data, systems, legacy systems and newer cloud-based approaches. Chief integration officers tend to focus on both the technology side and internally and externally facing activities.3. Chief "Intelligence" OfficerChief intelligence officers manage 10 percent to 15 percent of the overall budget and strive to improve business user access to information, the report says. This persona tends to focus on the business side and internally facing activities, and strives to appropriately connect the right data to the right person at the right time on the right interface."As many of the infrastructure functions are being outsourced or handled in cloud environments, the persona of the chief intelligence officer is growing into one of the most essential," Wang says.4. Chief "Innovation" OfficerInvesting 5 percent to 10 percent of the overall budget, chief innovation officers must drive innovation on a shoestring, according to the report. This persona typically has a business background and "moves fast, fails fast and moves on.""The chief innovation officer is probably the toughest persona that CIOs will have difficulty adopting," Wang says. "This requires a good understanding of the business strategy as well as keeping up to date with a large amount of disruptive technology. Often times, these technologies are not covered in the market and require early adopter teams."As for core skills, Wang notes that next-generation CIOs will need the ability to:\n1. Quickly assess which disruptive technologies show promise for their organizations. \nLeading organizations will reinvest in research budgets and internal processes that inform, disseminate and prepare their organization for an increasing pace in technology adoption.\n\n2. Design next-gen business models. \nIT leaders must identify where these technologies can create differentiation through new business models, grow profit and deliver money-saving market efficiencies.\n\n3. Fund innovation through legacy optimization. \nIT budgets are expected to remain relatively flat through 2011. As a result, much of the disruptive technology and next-gen business models must be funded through optimizing existing investments.Kristin Burnham covers Consumer Technology, SaaS, Social Networking and Web 2.0 for CIO.com. Follow Kristin on Twitter @kmburnham. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Kristin at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Overcoming Obstacles - In Touch - August 8
In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley
August 8
Overcoming Obstacles
The Lord has a beautiful plan for each believer's life. But to thwart God's purposes, Satan sprinkles obstacles in our path.
There are many types of hindrances, such as a difficult boss, contrary family members, and financial trouble. Anything that blocks a desired goal can cause anxiety and great frustration. But remember that no obstacle can touch you without God's consent.
Consider Joshua's army, which was no match for Jericho's military. And the great wall protecting that city was an impossible barrier to cross. Yet God had promised the Israelites the land, and Joshua believed. He wasn't fazed by what seemed unconquerable. Instead, he acknowledged the Lord's power and sought His guidance.
Before Joshua even realized that God was at work, the Lord was preparing the city for destruction by instilling fear into kings throughout the region. Heaven's directions included an unlikely battle plan, but because Joshua obeyed, God's people triumphed.
Waiting can be difficult. And after a while, we might even begin to wonder if God will do anything at all—then it is easy to quit. But, as was true with Joshua, God has gone before us and is preparing the way. No matter how He chooses to handle the problem, His solution is always in our best interest.
Whenever you face an obstacle, you may experience great heartache. But even in the midst of pain, you can have full confidence in God. The most important part of each day is the time you spend alone with the Lord. He will encourage you with His love and give direction.
For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
And Listen to Dr. Charles Stanley at OnePlace.com!
Used with permission from In Touch Ministries, Inc. © 2019 All Rights Reserved.


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In his lecture on "Fairy Land" in 1883, Ruskin assesses these two paintings as "all we possess in which the accomplished skill of painting has been devoted to fairy-subject." Yet he continues in a less laudatory vein:
[T]he artist intended rather to obtain leave by the closeness of the ocular distance to display the exquisiite power of minute delineation, which he felt in history painting to be inapplicable, than to arrest in his own mind or the spectator's, even a momentary credence in the enchantment of fairy-wand and fairy-ring. [Works, 33.334]
Ruskin's critique of these works contains two provocative statements. First, he does not consider fairy painting to be history painting, which suggests that the critic, if not the artist, sees this kind of painting as a distinctive genre. Second, he criticizes Paton's work for its detailed realism and its deleterious effect on the fantasy of the imagery. From the defender of Pre-Raphaelitism, these remarks appear contrary to his famous advice to young artists in the first volume of Modern Painters about "rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning nothing." Yet Ruskin places his finger on the very problem of fairy painting as a viable academic subject and style at mid-century. Early Victorian fairy painters relied not only upon the approval but also the recognition of their audience of their subject matter. The citation of fairy scenes in Shakespeare's plays brought a special kind of response, because the Victorian audience brought along certain expectations, derived from both their theater experiences and their readings of Shakespeare, about what a fairy might look like or do. Thus Paton, in his youthful enthusiasm, overstepped the fine line between what cultural historian Martin Meisel identifies as "giving concrete perceptual form to a literary text (realization) [and] that of interpretive recreation (illustration)" (32). Ruskin, as representative spectator and reader, recognizes the artist's ability to construct a naturalistic fairy realm, yet calls into question the thoroughness of the delineation because it denies the spectator any chance to exercise his or her own imaginative excursions into fairyland. With the advent of Pre-Raphaelitism, the problem of investing fantastic subject matter with some kind of verisimilitude takes on a new imperative.
The formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood grew out of a dissatisfaction on the part of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), and John Everett Millais (1829-1896) with current academic practice and the perceived sterility of subject matter in contemporary Victorian art. The Brotherhood found some direction in their search for acceptable modern subjects in the technique of realism they found in their study of early Italian and Northern European painting before Raphael and in Ruskin's early writings about naturalism in Modern Painters. At the same time, these young artists, despite their disaffection with the Royal Academy, felt a sympathy with the work of certain older artists working in the 1840s, including Brown, Maclise, and Paton, who anticipated the Brotherhood's interest in revitalizing history painting through complex narrative schemes and an accurate use of historical details. Millais, in fact, was a close friend of Noel Paton's; they had met previously as students in the Academy schools (Noel-Paton, 12-13). One can see a rapid development from convention to experimentation in Millais's early career, which was characterized by a move from more traditional academic history painting to the new symbolic realism espoused by the Pre-Raphaelites.
One of Millais's early Pre-Raphaelite paintings, Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1849), represents his adoption of the new naturalistic style and, concomitantly, testifies to the popularity of fairy painting at the end of the 1840s. Commissioned by the dealer William Wethered, this work evolved from two earlier versions by Millais on the same subject: a pen and ink drawing (1848) and a small oil sketch (1849-50) (see Bennett, 503). The drawing reflects the influence of Dicky Doyle's wood-engraved style, while the loosely painted sketch has a darkly romantic air with the inclusion of a shipwreck in the background. A dramatic change occurs in the final painting, which contains the highly saturated colors and the meticulously observed details of the nascent Pre-Raphaelite style. The artist renders the scene with a strikingly pristine clarity, concentrating upon the strange meeting of the human traveler and his supernatural guide. Yet the figure of Ferdinand, the background foliage, and the green fairy group, dominated by Ariel, do not cohere. Millais's desire to accurately depict the surface detail of every form leads to a flat cut-out effect that emphasizes individual areas and creates a separation of one part from another. This effect can be seen most clearly in the awkward relationship of Ferdinand's head, modeled by F. G. Stephens, and his body, taken from Camille Bonnard's Costumes Historiques (See Warner). Wethered refused to purchase the finished painting, either because of the unusual naturalism of the piece or the dealer's disappointment with the grotesquely rendered sprites. Millais never painted another fairy subject.
Other Pre-Raphaelite artists suggested different ways to handle the fairy genre. Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) eliminated the fairies altogether in his painted version of Ferdinand and Ariel (1851). Hughes's conceit suggests the very personal nature of Ferdinand's confrontation with the fairy world; the Shakespearean protagonist cocks his head, attentively listening to the invisible Ariel's song. The work is meant to appeal to the audience's imagination, a clever ploy that allows the artist to avoid any censure for spoiling any spectator's expectations. The artist did engage the more conventional portrayal of the fairy ring in his illustration for William Allingham's "The Fairies," included in the poetry collection The Music Master (1855). Hughes evidently felt more at home with fairy subject matter in his illustrative works, returning to this imagery in fantasy works by Christina Rossetti and George Macdonald.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the most romantic of the Pre-Raphaelites, interpreted fairy themes in a wholly different way. He, like Hughes, contributed an illustration to Allingham's collection, for the poem "The Maids of Elfin-Mere." The poem describes the encounter of a parson's son with the world of the supernatural in the form of three sisters, who appear magically every night to sing to the lad and then, at the stroke of the "Eleventh Hour," disappear. His attraction proves so keen that he tries to keep them past their time on earth, unleashing a gruesome fate on the female trio. Rossetti concentrates on the eerie relationship between the crooning women and the spellbound man. In contrast to Hughes, Rossetti takes his image of the fairy from an alternative medieval tradition of the fey sorceress, the femme-fatale who enraptures men. He would continue this interest throughout his career in a series of sexually charged portraits of beatific, predatory, or victimized women. The popularity of Rossetti's imagery would sustain a wholly different kind of fantasy art in the Symbolism and Art Nouveau of the 1890s.
William Bell Scott (1811-1890) stays closer to the romantic tradition of the small cabinet picture in Cockcrow (1856), based upon Thomas Parnell's eighteenth-century poem "A Fairy Tale, in the ancient English style" (Johnson, 90-91) Scott's style also pays homage to the work of his older brother David, who had established in the 1830s a pictorial imagery of a private visionary experience associated with fairy phenomena. The younger Scott grafts the brightly hued Pre-Raphaelite style onto this more traditional visual conception of fairy behavior. As the sun rises, the fairy ring begins to unravel and the fairy procession disappears into the gradually lightening sky. Scott, in melding fairy mythology to poetic vision, chose a path more in tune with the direction of fairy painting after 1855.
This more intimate view of fairy life can also be found in the work of Frederick Goodall (1822-1904) and Robert Huskisson (1820-1861). Goodall's Fairy Struck (c. 1846) depicts the placid confrontation of two fairies with a mouse. The artist uses the transparency of watercolors to richly colorful effect, as the sunlight drenches the fairies' bower in a shimmering light. A more erotic mood inhabits Huskisson's The Midsummer Night's Fairies (c. 1847), which shows Oberon watching a sleeping Titania as belligerent fairies war with fauna in the foreground. The frame makes reference to the human protagonists in the play; the figures of Bottom, Hermia, and Lysander slumber on a ledge beneath the fairy scene. Both artists examine the minutiae of fairy existence, providing the spectator with the experience of eavesdropping on the daily life of these tiny beings.
Bennett, Mary. "An Early Drawing for 'The Tempest' by John Everett Millais." Burlington Magazine 126 (August 1984).
Johnson, Diana L. Fantastic Illustration and Design in Britain, 1850-1930, exhib. cat. Providence, RI: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1979.
Meisel, Martin. Realizations: Narrative, Pictorial, and Theatrical Arts in Nineteenth-Century England. Princeton University Press, 1983.
Noel-Paton, M. H., and J. P. Campbell, Noel Paton. Edinburgh: Ramsay Head Press, 1990.
Ruskin, John. The Works. Library Edition. ed. E. T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, 39 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1903-12.
Warner, Malcom. entry on Ferdinand Lured by Ariel, The Pre-Raphaelites, exhib. cat. London: Tate Gallery, 1984. 74-75.
Art to Enchant: The Development of Victorian Fairy Painting
- Art to Enchant: The Development of Victorian Fairy Painting -- Introduction
- Fairy Painting in the Romantic Era
- The Heyday of Fairy Painting
- Joseph Noel Paton's Contribution
- Fairy Painting after 1850
- Works Cited
Created 1997


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'Harry Potter' Trio Back Together to Film New Scenes for Theme Park Ride
If you shed a few tears as the credits rolled after the last 'Harry Potter' movie, then this news is for you. The main HP trio banded together once again to film new, never-before-seen footage for Universal Studios' latest and greatest theme park ride.
This is not a dream. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint — also known as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley — are "regrouping for one last adventure," MTV learned from Alan Gilmore, art director for the 'Harry Potter' movies and now the theme park ride.
Universal Studios Orlando will be opening the new ride, 'Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts,' sometime this summer in the already ridiculously cool theme park, 'The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.' If you weren't dying to visit before, we'd bet you are now.
The ride is inspired by the series' goblin-run Gringotts Bank, and as such will include a fire-breathing dragon and goblin bank tellers. And, of course, the new scenes filmed by the returning actors.
"It's all new, it's a brand new film," Alan shared, "and it's absolutely film quality, involving the film's team, a merging of the film team and the Universal production team."
Also playing a part in the reunion scenes are Warwick Davis as the goblin Griphook, Helena Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, and Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort — or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, as Alan insists on referring to him.
The director added, "I want to walk in, and feel like they're actually in London, or actually in Gringotts."
With all of the amazing details and thought being put into the project, it sounds like Alan and his team will hit the mark.


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The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally enforced these protections.
The government generally respected religious freedom in law and in practice. There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government during the reporting period.
There were no reports of societal abuse or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice.
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has an area of 7,827 square miles and a population of two million. According to the 2002 census, 58 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 2 percent is Muslim, and 2 percent is Orthodox Christian. Groups that constitute less than 1 percent of the population include evangelical Protestants, "other Christians," "other Protestants," "Oriental" religious groups, "other" religious groups, agnostics, and Jews. In addition, 3 percent of the population is classified as "believers but belonging to no religion," and 10 percent as "unbelievers/atheists"; 16 percent gave no reply in the census, and 7 percent are classified as "unknown."
The Orthodox and Muslim populations generally correspond to the immigrant Serb and Bosniak populations, respectively.
Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
Please refer to Appendix C in the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for the status of the government's acceptance of international legal standards //2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/appendices/index.htm.
The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally enforced these protections. The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion as well as inciting religious discrimination and inflaming religious hatred and intolerance.
The Religious Freedoms Act codifies the government's respect for religious freedom, legal status and rights of churches and other religious communities, rights of members, process of registration with the government, rights of registered churches and religious communities, and responsibilities of the government's Office for Religious Communities. The National Council (the upper house of parliament) challenged the constitutionality of the act shortly after it came into force in 2007. In June 2010 the Constitutional Court annulled provisions of the act relating to the payment of social security contributions for priests in hospitals and prisons, as well as provisions relating to registering with the government. The court gave parliament a period of one year from the ruling to change these provisions. Parliamentary action was pending at the end of the reporting period.
The constitution and military law provide for conscientious objection to military service based on "religious, philosophical, or humanitarian belief."
There are no formal requirements for recognition of religious groups by the government, and activities of religious communities are unrestricted regardless of whether they register with the government. However, religious communities must register with the Office for Religious Communities if they wish to be legal entities, a status that entitles such groups to rebates on value-added taxes. Religious communities must submit a basic application to the Office for Religious Communities providing proof that requirements are met as well as the names of the community's representatives in the country, a description of the foundations of the community's religious beliefs, and the organizational act of the church or community. The Office for Religious Communities did not receive any new applications during the reporting period.
According to the Office for Religious Communities, it has been government policy since 1991 to pay the social insurance contribution for clergy and other full-time religious workers that an employer normally pays. The Religious Freedoms Act directs the government to pay social insurance contributions for one religious employee per 1,000 members of a recognized religious community. However, in June 2010 the Constitutional Court ruled that the government could not make those contributions for priests working in hospitals or prisons.
At state-licensed schools the law forbids lessons with the goal of educating children in a particular religion and prayer meetings. The government partially finances teachers' salaries at religiously affiliated schools. Licensed schools may not display religious symbols, but students may wear religious symbols. At unlicensed private religious schools, religious lessons generally are mandatory.
The government finances small grants for recognized religious organizations.
Individuals can file informal complaints of human rights violations, including violations of religious freedom, by national or local authorities with the human rights ombudsman.
The government observes the following religious holidays as national holidays: Easter Sunday and Monday, Pentecost, the Assumption, Reformation Day, and Christmas. Members of religious communities whose important religious festivities do not coincide with those work-free days have the right to use their regular annual leave on their holy days.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The government generally respected religious freedom in law and in practice. There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the government during the reporting period.
By the end of the reporting period, the government had adjudicated approximately 99 percent of the 1,191 Catholic denationalization claims for properties--church buildings and support buildings, residences, businesses, and forests--that were nationalized after World War II. Catholic claims were only a small portion of the total number of denationalization claims (39,635), of which by January 2010 the government had settled 99.9 percent. The Ministry of Justice no longer tracks data for numbers of unsettled cases, because there are so few remaining cases.
At the end of the reporting period, there had been no restitution of Jewish communal and heirless properties confiscated or nationalized during and after World War II. In 2007, acting on a tender awarded by the Ministry of Justice, the Institute of Contemporary History researched a report on such properties. Also in 2007 the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) funded a separate report that was researched by two experts affiliated with the Institute for Ethnic Studies. The Ministry of Justice stated that the Institute of Contemporary History finished its report in spring 2008, and the WJRO finished its report in March 2010; neither report was published. The Ministry of Justice, the WJRO, and the Jewish Community of Slovenia met in March 2010 to discuss restitution after both reports were complete but had not begun negotiations by the end of the reporting period.
There were no reports of abuses, including religious prisoners or detainees, in the country.
Section III. Status of Societal Actions Affecting Enjoyment of Religious Freedom
There were no reports of societal abuse or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. Interfaith relations were generally amicable.
The government promoted tolerance and antibias education through its programs in primary and secondary schools and made the Holocaust a mandatory topic in the primary and secondary contemporary history curriculum.
On January 27, Prime Minister Borut Pahor attended "Shoah—We Remember," a memorial held in the country's only synagogue, in Maribor. On September 5, the Jewish community, supported by local government officials, held the fifth annual European Day of Jewish Culture festival. President Danilo Tuerk was the honorary patron for the celebrations held in Ljubljana, Maribor, and Lendava.
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. government discusses religious freedom with the government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights. The embassy continued to support efforts to reach a just and mutually acceptable solution to the question of Jewish property restitution.


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Feds: Neglect, Inaction Caused Michigan Oil Spill
By JOHN FLESHER and DAVID RUNK, Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - A Canadian company's failure to deal adequately with cracks in an oil pipeline and its slow response to a 2010 rupture in southwestern Michigan likely caused the most expensive onshore oil spill in U.S. history, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
Enbridge Inc. knew in 2005 that its pipeline near Marshall, a city 95 miles west of Detroit, was cracked and corroded, but it didn't perform excavations that ultimately might have prevented the rupture, NTSB investigators told the five-member board at a meeting in Washington.
Investigators also faulted Enbridge control center personnel for twice pumping more oil into the line after the spill began and failing to discover what had happened for more than 17 hours, when an employee of a natural gas company notified them.
The board voted to approve the findings and 19 recommendations for safety improvements after testimony concluded.
The NTSB doesn't have the power to regulate pipeline companies, but its safety recommendations carry significant weight with lawmakers, federal and state regulators, and industry officials. Results of its investigations sometimes are used in lawsuits.
The spill dumped about 843,000 gallons of heavy crude into the Kalamazoo River and a tributary creek, fouling more than 35 miles of waterways and wetlands. About 320 people reported symptoms from crude oil exposure.
Enbridge's cleanup costs have exceeded $800 million, which NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said was more than five times greater than the next-costliest onshore spill - a 2005 release of 991,788 gallons by Chevron Pipeline Co. That cleanup cost $150 million.
"This accident was the result of multiple mistakes and missteps by Enbridge," Hersman said. "But there is also regulatory culpability. Delegating too much authority to the regulated to assess their own system risks and correct them is tantamount to the fox guarding the henhouse. Regulators need regulations and practices with teeth - and the resources to enable them to take corrective action before a spill, not just after."
Enbridge officials said the company had improved its operations and training after the spill and would study the NTSB report to determine whether further improvements were needed.
"Safety has always been core to our operations. Our intent from the beginning of this incident has been to learn from it so we can prevent it from happening again, and to also share what we have learned with other pipeline operators," said Stephen J. Wuori, president for liquids pipelines.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last week proposed a record $3.7 million civil penalty against Enbridge.
Oil began leaking from a 6.5-foot-long gash around 6 p.m. on July 25, 2010. Even though alarms sounded repeatedly at the Enbridge control center in Edmonton, Alberta, staffers on hand misinterpreted them. Their failure to act reflected a culture of laxity about following company procedures, investigator Barry Strauch said.
"Learning about Enbridge's poor handling of the rupture, you can't help but think of the Keystone Kops," Hersman said. "Why didn't they recognize what was happening? What took so long?"
Patrick Daniel, Enbridge's CEO, said: "We believe that the experienced personnel involved in the decisions made at the time of the release were trying to do the right thing. As with most such incidents, a series of unfortunate events and circumstances resulted in an outcome no one wanted."
Investigators traced the rupture to moisture seeping beneath plastic tape on the steel pipe, causing corrosion. Instruments detected a series of corrosion and fatigue cracks in 2005, investigator Matt Fox said. Eventually, those cracks linked together to form the rupture.
Enbridge failed to grasp the significance of the cracks or to put together findings from separate tests of pipe wall thickness in a way that would have led them to dig up the pipe for a visual inspection, he said.
Deb Miller, 57, who lives near the Ceresco dam on the Kalamazoo River, watched parts of the NTSB meeting online.
"We know and realize now that our river is never going to be the same," Miller said. "What can we learn from this and share with the rest of the country so nobody has to go through what we went through?"
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Ariane 5 - Fifth launch of 2008
Yesterday evening, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher lifted off from Europe's Spaceport at Kourou, in French Guiana, on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits.
Lift-off of flight V185 took place at 22:44 CEST/Paris on 14 August (20:44 UTC/GMT; 17:44 UTC-3/Kourou).The satellites were accurately injected into the correct transfer orbits about 30 minutes later.
The payload comprised AMC-21, which will provide will provide 24 Ku-band channels of television and enterprise data distribution services over the USA, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and Superbird 7, which will provide 28 Ku-band channels of broadcast services and mobile terminal links over Japan, eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The payload mass was 8068 kg; the satellite masses totalled 7229 kg, with payload adapters and dispensers making up the additional 839 kg.
This fifth launch of the year keeps Arianespace and Europe's Spaceport on target for the seven missions planned for 2008 – the busiest year ever for Ariane 5.
Flight timeline
The Ariane 5's cryogenic, liquid fuelled main engine was ignited first. Seven seconds later, the solid fuel rocket boosters were also fired, and a fraction of a second after that, the launch vehicle lifted off.
The solid boosters were jettisoned 2 min 20 sec after main engine ignition, and the fairing protecting the payload during the climb through the Earth's atmosphere was discarded at 3 min 12 sec. The launcher's main engine was shut down at 8 min 54 sec; 5 seconds later the main cryogenic stage separated from the upper stage and its payload.
4 seconds after main stage separation, the engine of the launcher's cryogenic upper stage was ignited to continue the journey. The upper stage engine was shut down at 24 min: 44 sec into the flight, at which point the launch vehicle was travelling at 9438 metres per second (34 000 km/h) at an altitude of 547 kilometres and the conditions for geostationary transfer orbit injection had been achieved.
At 25 min 42 sec after main engine ignition, Superbird-7 separated from the launcher's upper stage, followed by AMC-21 at 29 min 56 sec.
Ariane 5 ECA is the latest version of the Ariane 5 launcher. It is designed to place payloads weighing up to 9.6 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit. With its increased capacity, Ariane 5 ECA can handle dual launches of very large satellites.
Provided by ESA


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Redheaded Hairy Texas Twink Auditions For Gay Porn And Jerks Off
Bentley Race is on vacation in the United States this week so instead of some hot Aussie cock we get some authentic Texas cock from the USA. Brian York is 23 years old and has been a fan of Bentley Race for a few years. When he heard that they were coming to his home town in Texas, he immediately got in touch with them to see if he could audition for them. Brian is a sexy redhead with lots of hair and a nice sized cock. He arrives at the hotel room and after a short interview is ready to take off his clothes for you and the camera. Brian shows off in his Aussiebum underwear before peeling them off and playing with his nice looking cock. It doesn't take Brian long until his cock is rock hard and leaking precum. He continues to stroke his hairy cock faster and faster. As he gets close to cumming, his body tightens up and he starts to moan. Cum starts flying out of his hairy twink cock landing all over the fucking place. What a fucking cutie and what a hot fucking cock he has! Make sure to check out his solo jerk off video.
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