text:
Logos, buttons, icons, everything that used to be that little png, today can simply be the very same image but served as SVG.
Forget about feature detectionSeriously, I've tried them all ... ! The read only property complete doesn't mean an SVG is supported. In order to be sure, we should draw such SVG into a canvas but even doing so, we cannot be sure the result is that such SVG will be shown at all.
There is only one way to do it right for various reasons: hold your chair, here it comes!
The inline
To be sure that the browser will actually see something as meant and as soon as possible, we can use, trust, and recycle inline the
onerror handler
onerror handler granting backward compatibility with pretty much every old browser we know.
<img src="image.svg" onerror="Image.onerror.call(this)">That's truly it, unless you want to name the handler differently or set it on the global scope, same way we are supposed to set basic CSS inline per each page we serve, we could set basic JS too in the header and without needing a network connection at all
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <script>Image.onerror=function(){if(/\.svg$/.test(this.src))this.src=this.src.slice(0,-3)+'png'};</script>Bonus for such method is that we could always use it directly as DOM Level 0
onerror in case we need it, and we might also do eventually more with the event object, using as example
Image.onerror.call(this,event) per each inline invoke.
But why an inline error in 2015?Because around 95% of surfing browsers support SVG these days, and it makes zero sense to serve any other decoration or icon as png these days.
Accordingly, only if you would like to support old browsers too, you might decide to use above technique, if you don't care you can simply stick serving SVGs as Image
src too.
The inline
onerror handler is also the fastest possible way to react to problems instead of using
defer scripts, or even
DOMContentLoaded: the
onerror will beat any other technique granting best compatibility!
The technique is indeed meant as "gracefully degraded" experience, so that old browsers will still show the icon as png and don't bother serving 2X icons there, none of these browsers support retina displays.
SVG HintsFollowing a couple of hints regarding SVGs
- inline support is not as good as image source support, hence feel free to include SVG via <img> but don't inline them in the wild
- SVG as Image sources cannot be styled via CSS (and are slightly faster to be rendered because of this too, it's a bit like ShadowDOM in action)
- thousands SVGs are slower than thousands PNGs when it comes to raw rendering performance
- gzip/deflate compression to serve SVGs will make them not too much heavier than PNGs but will scale any screen and resolution (better for the cache too)
- if you have a
ViewBoxproperty but you don't have
height, the SVG might be rendered deformed in some browser (mostly WebKit based gotcha)
- if you use SVG external files as CSS url you won't have any possible fallback
- IE8, IE7, and IE6 works well with the suggested hint, but using png8 might improve even more the support (or actually with a fallback as GIF that would be universally recognized as such)
What about CSP?AFAIK CSP is incapable of granting well known inline handlers, even if you use correct sha, which is, for above code:
- sha1-KQlMcC5gY2yF2YJLHmj92eDINwM=
- sha256-fdsC+rLqqoTxcoa4lsSYSr9c4HaAmjb7eToXB2X/um8=
What About Web App Icons?I've honestly no idea why these days we have to write this pile of crap:
<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-64x64.png" sizes="64x64"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-192x192.png" sizes="192x192"> <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/png" href="/img/favicon-194x194.png" sizes="194x194">instead of just this:
<link rel="shortcut icon" sizes="any" href="/img/favicon.svg">Please complain with browsers vendors about such ridiculous nonsense, thank you!


text:
For a long time, I've believed that Microsoft should open up the source code to the .NET framework
– at the very least, the managed parts of the standard library, and preferrably most/all of the
unmanaged part of the framework and even the CLR itself. As Sun gradually works its way to
making Java more fully open source, MS should at least make the source available to the same
extent that Sun has made the Java standard libraries available for years. This is not the same
as making the framework an Open Source project, of course.
Reasons to open up the framework
Exploring implementation details
MSDN is generally very good, but every so often it's either ambiguous or just plain wrong.
Sometimes it makes sense for documentation to be ambiguous – it allows behavioural changes
later on – but sometimes you really need to know what the behaviour will be, even if you're
only guaranteed that behaviour for the current version. (At that point, a request for the
behaviour to be more fully specified is a good move.) Having the source code available
makes this exploration possible – as well as enabling those who answer questions about the framework
to give answers based on more than just experimentation.
Sometimes, it's just not clear why code is behaving the way it does. Much as I dislike having
to use a debugger, it's unavoidable at times. That's okay so long as you can actually debug
all the code which is in question. If a framework method is behaving in an unexpected manner,
it can be very hard to work out why. Being able to debug with symbols available has often been
helpful to me in Java, and I've often wished I had the same ability in .NET.
Understanding and reporting bugs in the framework
The .NET framework isn't perfect. Every so often, there are bugs, and that's completely
understandable. It would be frankly remarkable if the framework didn't have any bugs.
However, even when you think you've found a bug, it can be an awful lot easier to demonstrate
and reproduce in a guaranteed fashion if you've got the source code available. That can make it
easier for Microsoft to fix it, and it's also easier to work round it for the time being.
People are reading source anyway with Reflector
Lutz Roeder's Reflector is fantastic. It's
a disassembler/decompiler for .NET code. Admittedly it's the kind of tool that scares people
into obfuscating their code,
when it's usually an unnecessary hurdle which makes life harder for developers but not
that much harder for pirates. However, it means people can dive into the framework when they
need to. They can't debug into it, or read comments, or see local variable names – but they
can check out what's going on in a fashion. If MS cares about this sufficiently little that
they don't obfuscate the code, why not make it available in a more developer-friendly manner?
That leads me to what I suspect may be the other side of the argument…
Reasons not to open up the framework – and counter-arguments to them
Commercially sensitive code
It's possible that Microsoft have some really clever code in the framework. I'm sure there's
quite a lot of clever code there, actually, and I'm sure it took more man-hours to write
than I really want to think about – but I doubt that there's much in there which is
sufficiently novel that it would give competitors much advantage. If there is any
code in there which is so secretly wonderful it mustn't be discovered, it can still be read
with Reflector – unless it's been selectively obfuscated. If it can be selectively obfuscated,
no doubt it could be selectively left out of any source code distribution. I suppose that would
be painting a bit of a target, but it wouldn't be hard to check the class library for obfuscation.
Security-sensitive code
Maybe there are bits of the framework which really aren't as secure as they should be, and MS
is worried that if people can see how everything works, they'll work out how to crack it, too.
That's security through obscurity – and it's generally not a good idea. I really hope this isn't
the reason. (I'm kinda hoping this blog is being read by a few Softies who might be able to
explain what the real reason is.)
Unprofessional or negative comments
Developers can occasionally have a bit of a giggle in comments – and other comments may well
point out bits of code which need further work. Both of these could raise a few eyebrows in
manager-land, even if most developers would understand it's a normal part of life. There are
ways round this though – strip comments for the first "drop" of source code, then gradually
put them back in, for example. Leaving the useful comments in would be lovely, of course, but
code without comments is better than no code at all.
Performance/download/management worries
Downloading the source would take a long time. Downloading the symbols may take a long time.
You'd probably need a different copy of the binaries with debugging enabled (I can't remember
the details off-hand). You'd need to be able to pick whether or not you wanted to use the source
when launching a debugging session. All of these are things which would cost MS some time
to get right – but they're not that strapped for resources.
General paranoia
This sounds like the most probable reason in my view. Opening up source code makes managers
(and those above) nervous. Heck, it would probably make me nervous too. There are natural
fears about letting people see the details of code when they've been able to treat it as
a black box for a while. However, the benefits to developers are pretty huge in my opinion.
It's worth facing that fear and examining the issue carefully. It would probably be instructive
to see what Sun has lost through making the source code for most of their Java implementation available.
I'm not expecting to see MS open up the framework code any time soon. I think it's a pity,
but life's full of disappointments. Maybe people inside Microsoft are lobbying for it too – I
really don't know. Maybe I'm the only Java/C# developer who really misses having the code available
when working on .NET. Maybe you'll let me know in comments 🙂

subset: commoncrawl


text:
June 3, 2013
Housing staff to represent K-State at professional development summits
Several members of K-State's housing and dining services staff were selected to take part in professional development opportunities across the country this month.
Andy Thompson, residence life coordinator at Marlatt Hall, and Delcenia Collins, residence life coordinator at Haymaker Hall, were chosen to attend the James C. Grimm National Housing Training Institute, or NHTI, from June 4-8 at the University of Georgia. The institute is offered by the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International. It allows attendees to develop a personalized career development plan and participate in interactive learning and mentoring activities. Only 30 professionals with three to five years of experience are chosen to participate in the institute each year.
Sarah Frese, Ford Hall residence life coordinator, was accepted to the Regional Entry Level Institute, a four-day seminar offered by the Upper Midwest Region of the Association of College and University Housing Officers. The Regional Entry Level Institute, or RELI, which takes place June 3-6 at the University of Northern Iowa, is modeled after national institute but tailored to those with one to three years of residential life experience. Networking opportunities and skill-development sessions allow participants to return to work with a renewed focus and tools to help them meet their career goals.
Moore Hall resident assistant Scott Calovich will attend STARS College June 13-15 at the University of Minnesota. STARS, which also is offered by the association, was founded by former K-State housing and dining services director Charles Werring in 2003 as an educational experience for undergraduate students who are considering a career in housing or student affairs. Calovich earned one of 40-55 openings at this year's event.
"These opportunities energize and motivate staff members to assess their skill level and adjust to changing times and trends in the housing field," said Stephanie Bannister, associate director of housing and dining services. "The experience allows them to reconsider their previous goals and make strategic decisions about their advancement."
Each of these training seminars selects a group of experienced faculty from a nationwide pool of applicants to serve as instructors and mentors. Bannister has served as a member of the STARS College faculty since 2010, and was also one of 10 housing professionals from across the country to be chosen as faculty for the national institute this year. Nick Lander, assistant director for residence life, is one of 10 who will serve as faculty for regional institute.
"K-State has earned a national reputation for excellence in its housing services and that wouldn't be possible without the level of effort put forth by our amazing staff," said Derek Jackson, director of housing and dining services. "It's a tough job that doesn't end at 5 p.m. It's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the acceptance of these individuals into such programs as NHTI, RELI and STARS says a lot about their dedication and ability to succeed."


text:
Andrew Perchard
Showing 1-1 of 1 item.
The Deindustrialized World
Confronting Ruination in Postindustrial Places
Edited by Steven High, Lachlan MacKinnon, and Andrew Perchard
UBC Press
The Deindustrialized World opens a window on the experiences of those living at ground zero of deindustrialization and examines confrontations with the ruination of people and places on a global scale.
- Publication year: 2017
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text:
This tutorial shows how to create a Compute Engine VM instance running SQL Server that is optimized for performance. This tutorial guides you through creating the instance and then configuring SQL Server for optimal performance on Google Cloud. You will learn about a number of configuration options that are available to help you adjust the performance of the system.
This tutorial uses SQL Server Standard Edition 2014, so not every configuration option presented in this guide works for everyone, and not all of them provide noticeable performance benefits for every workload.
- Setting up the Compute Engine instance and disks.
- Configuring the Windows operating system.
- Configuring SQL Server.
This tutorial uses billable components of Google Cloud, including:
- Compute Engine high-memory instance
- Compute Engine SSD persistent disk storage
- Compute Engine Local SSD disk storage
- SQL Server Standard preconfigured image
The Pricing Calculator can generate a cost
estimate based on your projected usage. The provided link shows the cost
estimate for the products used in this tutorial, which can cost over 4 dollars
(US) per hour and over 3,000 dollars per month.
Before you begin
- Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.
Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.
In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.
Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.
Creating the Compute Engine VM with disks
To create a high-performance SQL Server instance, you must first create a VM instance with SQL Server and two persistent disks.
Persistent disks considerations
To select the type of persistent disks for your VM, review the following considerations:
A local SSD provides a high-performance location for
tempdband the Windows pagefile.
There are some important considerations to note when using a local SSD. When you shut down your instance from Windows or reset it by using the API, the local SSD is removed. This action renders the instance unbootable. To get the machine running again, you would need to detach your persistent disks, create a new instance with them, and then define a new local SSD. After startup you would also need to format the new disk and reboot. Therefore, you should not permanently store critical data on a local SSD, or power off the instance, unless you are prepared to rebuild it.
An SSD persistent disk provides high-performance storage for the database files.
SSD persistent disk performance is based on a calculation that uses the number of CPUs and the size of the disk. With 32 vCPUs and a 1 TB disk, the performance peaks at 40,000 read operations per second (ops) and 30,000 write ops. The total sustained throughput for reads and writes is 800 MB/s and 400 MB/s respectively. These measurements represent a summation of all the persistent disks attached to the virtual machine, including the
C:\drive. This is why you should create a local SSD to offload all the IOPS needed for the paging file,
tempdb, staging data, and backups.
To read more about disk performance, see Configure disks to meet performance requirements.
Creating Compute Engine VM with disks
To create a VM that has SQL Server 2014 Standard preinstalled on Windows Server 2012, follow these steps:
In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create an instance page.
For Name, enter
In the Machine configuration section, select General Purpose, and then do the following:
- In the Series list, click N1.
- In the Machine type list, click n1-highmem-16 (16vCPU, 104 GB memory).
In the Boot disk section, click Change, and then do the following:
- On the Public images tab, click the Operating system list, and then select SQL Server on Windows Server.
- In the Version list, click SQL Server 2014 Standard on Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter.
- In the Boot disk type list, click Standard persistent disk.
- In the Size (GB) field, set the boot disk size to 50 GB.
- To save the boot disk configuration, click Select.
Expand the Advanced options section, and do the following:
- Expand the Disks section.
To create local disks, click Add local SSD, and then do the following:
- In the Number of local SSDs list, select the number of local SSDs. You can add up to 24 local SSDs.
- To finish creating this disk, click Save.
To create additional disks, click Add new disks.
- Keep the Name field unchanged.
- In the Source type list, select Blank disk.
- In the Type list, select SSD persistent disk.
- To finish creating the second disk, click Save.
To create the VM, click Create.
Configuring Windows
Now that you have a working instance running SQL Server, connect to your instance and configure the Windows operating system. After that, you learn to configure SQL Server in an upcoming section.
Connect to your instance
In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.
Under the Name column, click the name of your instance,
At the top of the instance's details page, click the Set Windows Password button.
Specify a username.
Click Set to generate a new password for this Windows instance.
Note the username and password so you can log into the instance.
Connect to your instance by using RDP.
Setting up disk volumes
Create and format the volumes:
- From the Start menu, search for "Server Manager" and then open it.
Select File and Storage Services and then select Disks.
The local SSD is named
Google EphemeralDisk. Both the local SSD and persistent SSD are marked as having
Right-click the 375 GB local SSD disk named "Google Ephemeral Disk", and then select New Volume.
Proceed with the defaults and choose P: for the disk label, because this will be the paging-file disk.
When you get to the file-system-settings step, change the Allocation unit size to 8192 and enter "pagefile" for the Volume label .
Repeat the same steps above for the second SSD persistent disk, except with the following three changes:
Choose D: for the drive letter.
Set the Allocation unit size to
For details on selecting an allocation unit size, see Best practices for SQL Server instances.
sqldatafor the Volume label.
Fixing the
Failed to mount path - Invalid Parameter error
If you encounter this error, follow these steps:
- Click Close.
- Click the refresh disks icon in the upper right.
- Click the 500 GB persistent disk in the list.
In the Volumes panel, right-click the volume and then choose Manage Drive Letter and Access Paths.
Select D: for the drive letter.
Click OK.
Moving the Windows paging file
Now that the new volumes are created and mounted, move the Windows paging file onto the local SSD, which frees up persistent disk IOPS and improves the access time of your virtual memory.
- From the Start menu, search for View advanced system settings and then open the dialog.
- Click the Advanced tab, and in the Performance section, click Settings.
- In the Virtual memory section, click the Change button.
- Uncheck the box Automatically manage paging file size for all drives. The
system should have already set up your paging file on the
C:\drive, and you need to move it.
- Click C: and then click the No paging file radio button.
- Click the Set button.
- To create the new paging file, click the P: drive, and then click the System managed size radio button.
- Click the Set button.
Click OK three times to exit the advanced system properties.
Microsoft Support has published a additional tips for virtual memory settings.
Setting the power profile
Set the power profile to
High-Performance instead of
- From the Start menu, search for "Choose a Power Plan", and then open the power options.
- Select the High Performance radio button.
- Exit the dialog.
Configuring SQL Server
Use SQL Server Management Studio to perform most administrative tasks. The preconfigured images for SQL Server 2014 come with Management Studio already installed, but if you are using the SQL Server 2016 image you need to download and install it manually. After installation, launch Management Studio and then click Connect to connect to the default database.
Moving the data and log files
The preconfigured image for SQL Server comes with everything installed on
C:\ drive, including the system databases. To optimize your setup,
move those files to the new
D:\ drive you created. Also remember to create
all new databases on the
D:\ drive. Because you are using an SSD persistent
disk, you do not need to store the data files and log files on separate disk
There are two ways to move the installation to the secondary disk: using the installer or moving the files manually.
Using the installer
To use the installer, run
c:\setup.exe and select a new installation path on
your secondary disk.
Moving the files manually
Move the system databases and configure SQL Server to save the data and log files on the same volume:
- Create a new folder named
- Open a Command Window.
Enter the following command to grant full access to
NT Service\MSSQLSERVER:
icacls D:\SQLData /Grant "NT Service\MSSQLServer":(OI)(CI)F
Use Management Studio and the following guides to move your system databases and change the default file locations for new databases.
If you plan on using Report Server features, move the ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB files as well.
After you move the primary configuration database files and restart, you need to configure the system to point to the new location for the model and MSDB databases. Here is a helper script to run in Management Studio:
ALTER DATABASE model MODIFY FILE ( NAME = modeldev , FILENAME = 'D:\SQLData\model.mdf' ) ALTER DATABASE model MODIFY FILE ( NAME = modellog , FILENAME = 'D:\SQLData\modellog.ldf' ) ALTER DATABASE msdb MODIFY FILE ( NAME = MSDBData , FILENAME = 'D:\SQLData\MSDBData.mdf' ) ALTER DATABASE msdb MODIFY FILE ( NAME = MSDBlog , FILENAME = 'D:\SQLData\MSDBLog.ldf' )
After you execute these commands:
- Use the
services.mscsnap-in to stop the SQL Server database service.
- Use the Windows file explorer to move the physical files from the
C:\drive where the
Masterdatabase was located to the
- Start the SQL Server database service.
Setting system permissions
After moving the system databases, modify some additional settings, starting
with permissions for the Windows user account created to run your SQL
Server process, which is named
NT Service\MSSQLSERVER.
Granting the
Lock Pages in Memory permission
The group policy
Lock Pages in Memory permission prevents Windows from
moving pages in physical memory to virtual memory. To keep physical
memory free and organized, Windows tries to swap old, rarely modified pages to
the virtual-memory paging file on disk.
SQL Server stores important information in memory, such as table structures,
execution plans, and cached queries. Some of this information rarely changes, so
it becomes a target for the paging file. If this information gets moved to the
paging file, SQL Server performance can degrade. Granting the group policy
Pages in Memory permission for SQL Server's service account prevents this
Follow these steps:
- Click Start and then search for Edit Group Policy to open the console.
- Expand Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment.
- Search for and then double-click Lock pages in memory.
- Click Add User or Group.
- Search for "NT Service\MSSQLSERVER".
- If you see multiple names, double-click the MSSQLSERVER name.
- Click OK twice.
- Keep the Group Policy Editor console open.
Granting the
Perform volume maintenance tasks permission
By default, when an application requests a slice of disk space from Windows, the operating system locates an appropriately sized chunk of disk space, and then zeroes out the entire chunk of disk, before handing it back to the application. Because SQL Server is good at growing files and filling disk space, this behavior is not optimal.
There is a separate API for allocating disk space to an application, often
referred to as instant file initialization. Unfortunately, this setting only
works for data files, but you will learn in an upcoming section about log-file
growth. Instant file initialization requires the service account running the SQL
Server process to have another group policy permission, called
Perform volume
maintenance tasks.
- In the Group Policy Editor, search for "Perform volume maintenance tasks".
- Add the "NT Service\MSSQLSERVER" account as you did in the previous section.
- Restart the SQL Server process to activate both settings.
Setting up
It used to be a best practice to optimize the SQL Server
CPU usage by creating one
TempDB file per CPU. However, because CPU counts
have grown over time, following this guideline can cause performance to
decrease. As a good starting point, use 4
TempDB files. As you measure your
system's performance, in rare cases you might need to incrementally increase the
number of
TempDB files to a maximum of 8.
You can run a Transact-SQL (T-SQL) script inside SQL Server Management Studio to move the TempDB files to a folder in the `p:` drive.
- Create the directory
Grant full security access to the "NT Service\MSSQLSERVER" user account:
icacls p:\tempdb /Grant "NT Service\MSSQLServer":(OI)(CI)F
Run the following script inside SQL Server Management Studio, to move the TempDB data file and log file:
USE Master GO ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\tempdb.mdf') GO ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\templog.ldf') GO
Restart SQL Server.
Run the following script to modify the file sizes and create three additional data files for the new
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\tempdb.mdf', SIZE=8GB) ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\templog.ldf' , SIZE = 2GB) ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE (NAME = 'tempdev1', FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\tempdev1.ndf' , SIZE = 8GB, FILEGROWTH = 0); ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE (NAME = 'tempdev2', FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\tempdev2.ndf' , SIZE = 8GB, FILEGROWTH = 0); ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] ADD FILE (NAME = 'tempdev3', FILENAME = 'p:\tempdb\tempdev3.ndf' , SIZE = 8GB, FILEGROWTH = 0); GO
If you use SQL Server 2016, there are 3 additional
TempDBfiles to remove after you do the previous steps:
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] REMOVE FILE temp2; ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] REMOVE FILE temp3; ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] REMOVE FILE temp4;
Restart SQL Server again.
Delete the
master, and
tempdbfiles from the original location on the
You successfully moved your
TempDB files onto the local SSD partition. This
move carries some risks, mentioned earlier, but if they are lost for any
reason,SQL Server rebuilds the
TempDB files. Moving
TempDB gives you the
added performance of the local SSD, and decreases the IOPS used on your
persistent disks.
max degree of parallelism
The recommended default setting for
max degree of parallelism is to match it
to the number of CPUs on the server. However, there is a point where executing a
query in 16 or 32 parallel chunks and merging the results is much slower than
running it in a single process. If you are using a 16- or 32-core instance, you
can set the
max degree of parallelism value to 8 using the following T-SQL:
USE Master GO EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1 GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO EXEC sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism', 8 GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO
max server memory
This setting defaults to a very high number, but you should set it to the number
of megabytes of available physical RAM, minus a couple gigabytes for operating
system and overhead. The following T-SQL example adjusts
max server memory to
100 GB. Modify it to adjust the value to match your instance. Review the
Server memory server configuration options document
for more information.
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1 GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO exec sp_configure 'max server memory', 100000 GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO
Finishing up
Restart the instance one more time to make sure all of the new settings take effect. Your SQL Server system is configured and you are ready to create your own databases and start testing your specific workloads. Review the SQL Server Best Practices guide for more information on operational activities, other performance considerations, and Enterprise Edition capabilities.
Clean up
After you finish the tutorial, you can clean up the resources that you created so that they stop using quota and incurring charges. The following sections describe how to delete or turn off these resources.
Deleting the project
The easiest way to eliminate billing is to delete the project that you created for the tutorial.
To delete the project:
- In the Google Cloud console, go to the Manage resources page.
- In the project list, select the project that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
- In the dialog, type the project ID, and then click Shut down to delete the project.
Deleting instances
To delete a Compute Engine instance:
- In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.
- Select the checkbox for the instance that you want to delete.
- To delete the instance, click More actions, click Delete, and then follow the instructions.
Deleting persistent disks
To delete a persistent disk:
In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.
Select the checkbox next to the name of the disk you want to delete.
Click the Delete button at the top of the page.
What's next
- Load test your SQL Server instance.
- Review the SQL Server Best Practices guide.
- Explore reference architectures, diagrams, and best practices about Google Cloud. Take a look at our Cloud Architecture Center.


text:
9' ForeverTree Slim Carolina Fraser Fir
Forever Tree strives to offer Christmas trees that have the most realistic and natural appearance staying true to nature's creation. Our designs are modeled after traditional evergreens like the Fraser, Douglas, Noble, and Balsam firs. Most are molded directly from real trees, thus having a natural appearance. All are crafted with the utmost attention to detail, utilizing premium metal and the latest innovative features. Quality, value, reliability, and functionality are our priorities.
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*******************************************A slice of life - pith, zest and pits all******************************************
Sunday, February 08, 2009
What Brought You Here?
Then, someone who presumably wanted to know about the goodness of 'coconut oil for fingering blogspot' also made their way to my blog, again a second page result amidst more exciting ones. Guess s/he WAS looking for (or not entirely disinterested in) culinary advice.
It must have been an ornithologically-minded person who typed in 'What Do Crows Eat' and happened on this post. S/he must have been quite keen on the research, because I have tired of clicking on 'Next' after some six pages of results to see how fast the blog came up.
'What happened after dinner?' could have been a teaser for a murder mystery or a romance, but whoever wanted to know visited my blog too. Hopefully, they've learnt some useful lessons.
Someone who had 'too much tomato in my soup' was, in the sane order of things, probably bound to land in my blog, given its name and ingredients, but wouldn't have found any remedy. I'm a 'Slice-of-Life Chronicler', remember (heh heh!) and food is only a perspective, or an excuse, so those looking for tips and kitchen hints here may have been disappointed. Or may have stumbled on a great blog!
Beauty treatments are absent too, and so is health advice, as the seekers would have found when they asked 'Is kala chana powder good for my face' (I couldn't make out which page they landed on) or 'I enjoy curry but it makes me nauseous - what can I do to prevent this' and chanced upon this.
Oh yeah, blogging's fun alright! Yeah, I came alive when I came alive. That, dear readers, is also a 'keyword', though it is, in its unwittingly glorious pun-niness, a most evocative affirmation of how much I enjoy blogging.
On Blogging Humour Keywords Search Terms
40 comments:
ROTFL @ "coconut oil for fingering blogspot"!! What the heck were you blogging that for woman and what the heck were "he" looking for? ;DReplyDelete
Thanks for the smiles and laughs this Sunday evening. Just sat down after cleaning the living room and hauling the old couch to the garage. Phew! New stuff is coming on Tuesday! :)
Have fun.
ha ha ur blog is a target for all NON-food users. I just imagine how they would blamed you to pulling in ur page. They should add in their queries "no food"... Good analyse of ur queriesReplyDelete
haha so true Sra! You sure do have some hilarious ones here! Nice post!! The funniest one that I have had was "Chita's Hunt Video".... my Treasure Hunt event, and his/her abominable animal spellings have contributed! heeheheeee!ReplyDelete
As to the title of your post, I have only one answer, You! :)ReplyDelete
Ha, ha..... I guess all of us get our share of these most interesting search phrases.
Someone came to my page looking for a "picture of a Goan businessman"!! I didn't know they were a separate species.:D
Two of my latest ones are "I will bake bread" (sounds scary) and "cat&bread" (this is baffling!).
Actually its sad that keywords to my blog are very drab and ordinary, like names of dishes, mostly. But then again, I have never looked beyond the top 25. Who knows what gems lie beyond that, eh? ;_ReplyDelete
totally cracked me up :) nice way to start a monday!ReplyDelete
Asha, God! I wasn't using that phrase, it showed up in my stats! Only the search results told me what he (or she) could have been looking for. Enjoy your new furniture.ReplyDelete
Cham, target for all NON-food users? That made me laugh so much!
Dibs, "Chita's Hunt Video"- that's really funny. I heard that marketers pay good money even for common spelling mistakes, to ensure that typos don't drive surfers away.
Aparna, thank you.
Picture of a Goan businessman - It's not a stereotype that I know of. "I will bake bread" (really does sound scary, in its solemnity) and "cat&bread" - maybe pet food?
Nags, My stats show me these things as they are, haven't looked for top keywords
Raaga, Glad I could do that!
LOL :-))))ReplyDelete
Coconut oil for fingering blogspot??? What on earth made hime land on your blog???
ROFL! :-D :-D :-DReplyDelete
Like nags, all my keywords are usually all those non interesting ones and almost always related to recipes.
Very interesting collection :).ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/09/2009 6:54 PM
ROFL!!! All the search phrases are really funny, but "too much tomato in my soup" and nausea-inducing curry take the cake! You must make this a regular feature on your blog.ReplyDelete
What unique & funny keywords you get Sra... but with the smart, different captions & topics you come up with am not surprised.ReplyDelete
I just clicked you culnary advice page yeah and it again made me smile , i remember when i read the past when you posted it made me smile too.ReplyDelete
Actually i love your place as it is not just food, i love to read you travel posts too.
Ha HA..I go with Asha..the first one made me laugh out so loud!!!ReplyDelete
did you get any of those plaintive "could you please tell me how to make upma?" kinda things? they actually talk and plead with the search engine.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/10/2009 5:38 AM
LOL! How very interesting (and funny)!ReplyDelete
Paz ;-)
Jayashree, guess I have only myself to blame - one of my smart alecky post titles came up somewhere in that searchReplyDelete
Sunita,mine seem to be related to everything but recipes!
Musical, you bet! I'm looking out for the crazies everyday.
Mamatha, even I found these two v v funny. And I DO plan to make this a regular feature.
Laavanya,yeah, that's why I get these search words - more fun, no?
Happy cook, thank you, thank you, wish me luck that I travel more often and there will be more posts, I promise.
Varsha, They are funny, very funny.
Bee, LOL! Maybe a bit, or a lot, of politesse brings up better results, what do we know? :-) I've never had those, not that I've noticed.
Paz, yes, I'm going to check my stats more often from now on!
Oh this type of keywords are reflecting to our blogs. Hmmm going to check what is taking me to my blog......ReplyDelete
He he... that is too funny, Sra!! Thanks for the much neeeded laugh :)ReplyDelete
he he he he...ReplyDelete
ha ha ha ha...
ho ho ho ho...
Lubna, your keywords must be pretty straightforward! I try to be clever and end up with stuff like this!ReplyDelete
Vani, any time, wish i can unearth more stuff like this in future.
Sia, better than devil's dung, eh?
u should have added some ad hoc terms in this post just to direct hapless surfers.ReplyDelete
By the way, have u used sumac in onion salad? that's the easiest way to use it up..goes well with all other food.try this recipe.http://www.recipezaar.com/Turkish-Onion-Salad-241940
u are funny girl!ReplyDelete
oh no girl... devil's dung is unbeatable ;)ReplyDelete
You have some good ones there, Sra! :DReplyDelete
I come here usually for the witty, humorous posts. :)
Dear sra,ReplyDelete
It is exactly 9 months now since I visited any blog( including mine...ah, I noticed the SPCH badge..;-) ) and no, am not having a baby like the 9 months might sound..but it was simply too good a post to land on and get hooked onto blog hopping again...lovely read for a comeback....keep blogging...santhi
- Anonymous2/12/2009 11:32 PM
ROFL !!HahhahaahaReplyDelete
Goodness Gracious:-) Just last night i was going thru the keywords - something which i learnt to do very recently.. i shared with my husband & we were in splits. What an idea to follow that up....Thanks for the good laugh!
:D LOL @ kala chana on my face ;)ReplyDelete
You funny(punny) girl, fingering blogspot indeed !!!ReplyDelete
Mallugirl, I've never made onion salad :-) Will do now!ReplyDelete
Rajitha, thanks, I try :-)
Sia, wait till I discover something worse!
TBC, Thanks. I've been checking the stats more frequently than before, these gems seem to have petered out.
Santhi, that's great, get back to blogging soon, I'm all agog.
Soma, actually, it's been done before. Glad you had a good laugh.
A_and_N, funny, isn't it? Never heard of kala channa powder on anyone's face.
Sandeepa, this kind of post is exactly what fingering blogspot is!
Happy V day to you. I got a Godiva chocolate box but I don't like chocolates! :DReplyDelete
Don't ever get married to a nerd!! HeHe! Thought that counts of course! :)
(Go "there", I have posted some new photos)
Enjoy. We have plans to out for lunch later, just checking the comments.
:) Coconut oil for fingering? :) :) I just googled it and got stuck on the first page... :)ReplyDelete
Some interesting stuff!! I haven't checked up like this but after your post I am going to:) Came here yesterday but life called me back before I could comment!!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous2/16/2009 8:38 AM
Just laughing at this Sra -- most of my search terms are about baby squirrels and horsegram! ;)ReplyDelete
This post is a Perfect example for Blogging Humour!!ReplyDelete
I don't remember the exact words I used, but I once got tons of hits regarding a US basketball tournament... It is entertaining, isn't it?ReplyDelete
A humourous yet a thought provoking write up..:)..Lovely!!:DReplyDelete
Well,this blogger wanted to blog something(ready with a simple recipe) after a hibernation of two whole months and was seated confronting the dear ol' blogger post page(attemting to write something)..ending up blank(nothing flowing from her brains... )
Suddenly the grey matter reminds her of this blog..."why not go and read a few of her posts for that 'spark'...and true(holy brains!) she got ignited :)..
This happened yesterday(Feb 18 '09) night ISD 5:17 pm
Sorry for not landing here through any "Keyword" ;)(he he ..thankfully)..as she has this wonderful blog in her "Favorites" :)
Now Sra deserves a Tight Hug from Bharathy..Doesn't she?? :D!
Hilarious... who are these people??ReplyDelete
Asha, hi, just published my own take on V Day! ;)ReplyDelete
Sig, I can imagine ;)
Sunshinemom, so what did you find?
Linda, :-) and combinations of Michigan and stuff, I'm sure
Lavi, thanks. :-)
Katie, I identified another list today, coming soon.
Cynthia, you should see the gems I turned up today1
Bharathy, thankuthankuthanku, hugs to you too.
Mallika, I wonder if I really want to know! :-D
I moderate all my comments. So if you're a human spammer or a bot that can understand this warning, buzz off, don't waste your time here spamming.


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Among Darwin Ortiz' many fans, the only question is which of his card books is the best: Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table, Cardshark, or Scams & Fantasies with Cards. Now there is a new candidate: the aptly-named Lessons in Card Mastery.
This time the accent is on uncanny displays of card control. You'll display physical control by cutting to a selected card with just one finger, trapping two selections in a shuffled deck, displaying mastery at Texas hold'em, instantaneously producing an entire suit, making the deck sort itself into reds and blacks, and causing all fifty-two cards to rearrange into perfect suit and number sequence. You'll display mental control by diving cards under impossible conditions and memorizing a deck in a matter of seconds.
Again and again the cards obey your will like soldiers following the marching orders. These are effects that will convince any audience that you can do anything with a deck of cards.


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- An Older Miles Edgeworth (with glasses) as part of the Golden Series!
- 1st Edition Pin with "1st Edition" embossed on the back of each pin, and a "1st edition pin" foil stamp on the back of each card backing.
- Official Ace Attorney Collectible Pin
- Manufactured by Zen Monkey Studios
- Estimated 1.50" inches in width
- Golden enamel pin with epoxy finish and glitter ink.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Qualcomm showing signs of turning soft with age
New hardware hard to see at annual show'n'tell
Analysis There's more to learn from the absences at Qualcomm's annual showcase than from what's actually on the shelves, with colour screens and wireless charging pushed out by social networking and augmented reality.
Every year, Qualcomm Europe demonstrates its cutting-edge tech to network operators, media folk, and employees over consecutive days. But while last year the company announced it had started production of its Mirisol screens, and demonstrated WiPower wireless charging, both innovations were curiously absent this year, which instead saw social networking apps and cloud-based aspirations on your identity.
BREW-MP, Qualcomm's pre-emptive answer to Apple's closed ecosystem, barely warranted a mention, and despite lots of talk about web apps and AJAX, the WAC (a mobile-AJAX standards body, of which Qualcomm is a member) was entirely absent from the company's slides, words, or (we suspect) thoughts.
What was trumpeted was the first deployment of the recently acquired iSkoot, which is now aggregating social identities for Vodafone Spain. That probably bodes badly for Vodafone's 360 product, which is supposed to do the same thing, but Qualcomm painted it as a network-optimisation tool rather than an identity land grab.
Identity aggregators do reduce network traffic. Rather than running Facebook and Twitter clients on a handset, each of which connects to their respective servers, one has a single client which connects to a single server which in turn connects to the various social networks. That reduces network traffic, but it also puts one's identity in the hands of whomever runs that single server, which is why operators are so keen.
They're not the only ones: Samsung's Bada operates the same way, and third parties such as Cerulean Studios (of Trillian fame) also provide single-point convenience.
All joy with AllJoyn?
Even less typical for Qualcomm were demonstrations of AllJoyn: Qualcomm's open-source API for negotiating peer-to-peer connections between devices. Devices advertise a service, and other devices can connect to it, much like the Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol, only network independent (eventually – today AllJoyn only supports Wi-Fi).
AllJoyn was seen doing lots of cool things, like multi-player gaming and such, but the API is also available as a free download for Android/Windows/Linux for those who wish to bundle it with their own apps, at their own risk of course.
Qualcomm itself has thousands of patents related to peer-to-peer communications, but none have been thrown into the AllJoyn pot. One might hope that publicity alone would prevent Qualcomm from suing someone using the API it provided, but we wouldn't like to bet a business model on it and the company won't discuss how AllJoyn developers might protect themselves.
Considering that patents make up so much of Qualcomm's business you'd have thought they'd be keen to talk about them, but even when questioned directly the company is dismissive of the current patent battles besetting the mobile business, responding that they'll blow over in a few years and it's really no concern of Qualcomm's.
That attitude is forgivable, given that Qualcomm was the first to feel the impact of an ITC ban on imports – one that was enforced despite the company's direct appeal to the president. That patent spat (with Broadcom) cost Qualcomm more than £600m in 2009, but has indeed "blown over" with the industry continuing much as before except that every patent accuser now goes running to the ITC as well as the courts.
Having settled with its own rivals, Qualcomm can be forgiven for sitting back and watching the next level up slugging it out for a year or two.
But while Qualcomm's forays into software are very media-friendly – augmented reality showing trailers in place of DVD covers, and a gesture-based UI allowing control of a phone with a wave of the hand (using ultrasonic echo location on a prototype handset) – they also put the company into an ever-more patent-leaden field, and one where the barriers to entry are significantly lower.
When colour screens go dark
We asked about Mirasol and WiPower: two technologies that demonstrated so well but are curiously absent this year.
Last year we were told that 5.7-inch Mirasol screens were already in production, this year we're told (on enquiring) that they're still refining to get the product perfect. We've been seeing prototypes of Mirasol for two years now, and bloody impressive they are too, but until it can be reliably manufactured in quantity it's just vapourware.
Wireless charging technology WiPower seemed to be getting traction in January, as Qualcomm signed non-exclusive letters of intent with Duracell and PowerMat. But it turns out those letters were very non-exclusive, as the two parties have now teamed up without mention of Qualcomm, or WiPower.
Qualcomm's ARM-based Snapdragon system-on-a-chip continues to dominate in ARM-based devices; multiple cores, higher speeds and VoIP and IMS are both baked into the silicon in the latest version. But when asked about Near Field Communication – short-range radio links which would surely be a core business for Qualcomm – the company responded that it was waiting for standards and didn't want to commit.
Qualcomm has lots of cool things to show off, and it still makes money on every 3G handset sold. It even makes money on every 4G handset, only not quite so much, and across the range it looks as though the company is forgetting its hardware skills and becoming beguiled by how much easier it is to make software instead. ®


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Creative Synergy: Technology blurs the line of making
Published Apr. 11, 2014
Today's artists pair tradition with computer-driven methods
When inspiration strikes, jewelry artist Eunmi Han begins drawing an intricate sketch of the design idea using pencil on paper to meticulous detail. As she refines her drawing, the metalcrafts and jewelry graduate student from South Korea is ever mindful of the traditional techniques and tools that will help turn her idea into a work of art crafted from metals and recycled materials inside her Booth Hall studio.
To further the design process, she reaches for another tool—her laptop. Han uses a 3D modeling software program to create a virtual home for her future jewelry piece, using keystrokes and clicks on her computer to hone her design even further.
"When using the software, I have to be aware of how I will solder it and whether there will be hinges or other parts when the piece is more complex," Han said. "It's much easier to do that onscreen, which saves me time and materials."
Han is among the growing number of craftspeople embracing computer-aided design—more commonly known as CAD—and other technologies in their work.
Whether it's a computer-controlled mill for forming small objects out of hard wax in jewelry design; water jet cutting technology for glass, ceramics and other brittle materials; or high-tech devices such as CNC routers—computer-controlled shaping machines—in furniture design, technology is playing a vital role in fields that thrive on human creativity.
At RIT, School for American Crafts students and faculty are exploring ways to employ technology to enhance their projects. During the creative process, they walk a fine line when combining traditional ways with computer-driven methods. While incorporating technology can speed up their work, they endeavor to preserve their artistic integrity.
Craft is traditionally linked to manual processes, with the skillful hands of the maker at its core. As a result of the growing use of technology, however, the fine line between handmade craftsmanship and high-tech creativity is blurring.
"The nature of making, whether it's individually or on an industrial scale, is changing rapidly," said Robin Cass, administrative chair of the School for American Crafts in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences and a master glass blower. "Many of those involved in the manipulation of materials to create are seeking to engage with new technologies on their own terms. These are simply wonderful new 'tools' we can use to help envision and execute our ideas."
Furniture design revolutionized
Today, the mass production of furniture has dramatically reduced its costs. Technological advances in furniture manufacturing processes are not the only change in furniture making, however.
The introduction of the CNC router—a computer numerically controlled tool—has revolutionized the design and manufacturing process by using computer software to drive a mechanical system. A chair and its wood parts, for example, can be designed using CAD software, enabling furniture designers to create virtual 3D models. The component parts can then be cut to high tolerances on the CNC, in whatever volume is required.
3D printing is becoming a game changer in the making world. 3D printer machines build up layers of extruded material—including plastics, ceramics, metals and even a wood filament—one thin layer at a time using CAD software. Artists and designers are able to fabricate models of designs, and sometimes even the designs themselves, more quickly and less costly using the machines, making the printers an attractive option to both the individual artist and commercial firms.
While use of technology can speed up the design and fabrication process, Rich Tannen, a furniture design professor in the School for American Crafts, says it is important that the technology not disconnect makers from their designs.
"All good design starts by hand with a design brief and sketches beginning what should be a very intensive and sophisticated design process," said Tannen, who has written extensively about the use of digital technologies in furniture making. "Craftspeople need to have an intimate knowledge of materials and always be thinking about materials and process. "
Moyu Zhang, a Chinese student currently in her thesis year of earning an MFA in furniture design, has been a regular user of the CNC in fabricating wooden serving bowls, drawers and other pieces this semester, but admits that she sometimes feels "a separation" from her work when working with her designs on the computer.
"The CNC speeds up the process, but it doesn't have my imagination," said Zhang, who gained previous experience with digital technologies and design while working with architectural firms in China and northern Europe before coming to RIT. "I still do a lot of sketching. I think the CNC has had a huge impact on traditional craft, but in the end it doesn't change the importance of good design."
Fabiano Sarra, an artist-in-residence in furniture design from Greece, N.Y., recognizes the benefits of digital rendering when creating complex wooden pieces, but enjoys "the hands-on feel" he gets from using a hand plane or chisels in his work.
"I completely embrace the use of CNC and other technologies in my projects," Sarra said. "While technology is definitely opening up a whole new and different world of design, I have found that—no matter what you can do with the CNC—a good design is always key."
Global marketplace
Beyond the design process, technology will enable School for American Crafts students and faculty to forge international collaborations with students and faculty in China and Helsinki, where students are exchanging virtual critiques with their counterparts at RIT.
Cass recently secured with Jane Shellenbarger, assistant professor of ceramics, a Provost Learning Innovation Grant to purchase 3D scanning and printing equipment and implement student projects exploring how digital design and fabrication can be incorporated into the SAC glass and ceramics curricula.
"We are well positioned to offer a cutting-edge educational experience for our students because of our extensive resources on campus, our partnerships with industry, and our collaborations abroad with other colleges and universities," Cass said. "These are exciting times."
As social networks continue to make the world even smaller, makers now have a global marketplace at their fingertips.
"With Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, artists have access to the world as our audience and potential clients," said Mark Zeh, a second-year furniture design graduate student from Howell, N.J. "We no longer have to rely on the local economy for our client base. We can market ourselves and can be followed or found so much easier by so many more people."
At their most powerful, digital technologies for design and rapid prototyping use are not "short cuts" or ways to bypass hands-on skills, but rather a powerful new set of tools and skills that can only help artists and designers realize their creative visions.
"In the case of the School for American Crafts, we understand that we need to continue to embrace new technology—especially being here at RIT—and continue to understand how these new tools can enrich our curriculum and empower our students," Cass said.
Video/Web extra:
- To see a video about RIT's School for American Crafts, go to bit.ly/RITCraftsTech
- To see student work, go to http://bit.ly/1bvACFB and https://www.facebook.com/SchoolforAmericanCrafts.


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Popular Science
Popular Science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better.
Common terms and phrases
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NEW YORK — Toy maker Hasbro said Friday that its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of weaker-than-expected demand over the holidays. It plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to reduce expenses.
The stock dropped 3 percent Friday.
Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, whose brands include Monopoly and Nerf, has about 5,500 employees worldwide. A 10 percent workforce cut would put about 550 people out of work.
While Hasbro said consumer demand was softer than it expected over the holidays, the season was expected to be tough. This was in part because retailers were ordering inventory more cautiously.
In addition, stores such as Walmart, Kmart, and Toys R Us beefed up their layaway and reservation services to encourage shoppers to buy toys early in the season, which meant items may have been scarce later on.
The November and December holiday selling period is critical for toy makers because it can make up as much as 40 percent of their annual revenue.
Spokesman Wayne Charness said that the job cuts will all be this year and will occur globally, with no particular business groups targeted.
He said that the facility consolidations could result in some closures but was not specific about which plants would be affected other than to say no closures were planned in Rhode Island or Massachusetts in 2013. Hasbro has offices in 40 countries worldwide.
Chief executive Brian Goldner said in a statement that Hasbro created a plan during its fourth quarter to deliver $100 million in annual cost savings by 2015.
The company expects charges of about $37 million in 2012 and an additional $20 million to $30 million in estimated charges in 2013 related to its cost-cutting efforts.
Hasbro Inc. anticipates fourth-quarter revenue of about $1.28 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet predicted revenue of $1.4 billion. Unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates lowered results by $8 million.
Goldner said that demand over much of the holiday season was weaker than expected in the United States and some international markets.
For 2012, Hasbro expects adjusted earnings between $2.89 and $2.91 per share on revenue of approximately $4.09 billion. Unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates lowered revenue by $99 million.
Wall Street forecast earnings of $2.84 per share on revenue of $4.2 billion.
The company will report its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results on Feb. 7.
Its stock fell $1.14, or 3 percent, to close at $37.31 Friday. Its shares have traded in a 52-week range of $32 to $39.98.


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The giant dinosaurs had a problem. Many of them had narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. But how did they then grind their food? Until recently many researchers have assumed that they were helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of 'gastric mill'. But this assumption does not seem to be correct, as scientists at the universities of Bonn and Tübingen have now proved. Their research findings can be found in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society (doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3763).
What do you do if you do not have good teeth, and food is hard to digest? Some herbivorous birds which have a toothless beak, such as ostriches, solve the problem with what is known as a gastric mill. Their muscular stomach is equipped with a layer of horn and contains stones which help to break up, crush and thereby also to digest food.
Giant dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous period (200 million to 65 million years ago) such as Seismosaurus and Cedarosaurus must have had similar digestive problems. The animals, some of which weighed more than 30 tonnes, were the largest herbivores which have ever existed. Many of them had a very small head, in relation to the size of their body, and narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. At the same time, they had to digest enormous amounts of food for their rapid growth and the metabolism of their gigantic bodies. Smoothly polished stones, which were found in several cases at excavations involving skeletons of sauropods, are also interpreted as gastric stones.
However, Dr. Oliver Wings from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Tübingen, and Dr. Martin Sander from the University of Bonn have shown that this cannot at least be a gastric mill such as birds, today's relatives of the dinosaurs possess. Among these the ostrich is the largest herbivore. For their investigations, the scientists therefore offered stones such as limestone, rose quartz and granite as food to ostriches on a German ostrich farm.
After the ostriches had been slaughtered, the scientists investigated the gastric stones. It became clear that they wore out quickly in the muscular stomach and were not polished. On the contrary, the surface of the stones, which had been partly smooth, became rough in the stomachs during the experiments. The mass of the stones then corresponded on average to one per cent of the body mass of the birds.
'Whereas occasionally stones were found together with sauropod skeletons, we don't think they are remains of a gastric mill such as occurs in birds,' Dr. Sander comments. In that kind of gastric mill the stones would have been very worn and would not have a smoothly polished surface. Apart from that, gastric stones are not discovered regularly at sauropod sites. When present, their mass is, in relation to the body size, much less than with birds. 'In comparing these we extrapolate over four orders of magnitude, from an ostrich weighing 89 kilograms to a sauropod weighing 50,000 kilograms. This may seem a bit daring. However, within birds the range of body weight and corresponding masses of gastric stones also spans four orders of magnitude, from the 17 gram robin to the ostrich,' says Oliver Wings, who moved from Bonn University to Tübingen only recently.
Yet what else were the dinosaurs' gastric stones used for? The researchers presume that they were accidentally eaten with their food or could have been swallowed on purpose to improve the intake of minerals. But if the stones did not help to crush vegetable food, the sauropods' digestive system must have used other methods, since the decomposition of large amounts of material which is difficult to digest requires the assistance of bacteria in the digestive system. The smaller the pieces are, the better they can break down the food. Possibly, the scientists conclude, the intestines of the sauropods were formed in such a way that the food was retained there for a very long time, in order to improve the digestive process.
There is another group of dinosaurs, however, whose remains of gastric stones can be linked up with a birdlike gastric mill, according to Oliver Wings' research. From these dinosaurs known as theropods today's birds developed. The gastric mill could therefore have developed in the ancestral line of birds.
Dr Oliver Wings
Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Tübingen
Tel.: ++ 49-(0)7071-297-3057
E-mail: email@example.com


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|Photo of the Cherry Point reach, the proposed site of the coal terminal.
RE Sources receives no money from the settlement.
"In 2011, PIT violated the Clean Water Act and ignored local and national permitting requirements when it built nearly 5 miles of roads, filling or clearing nearly 3 acres of wetlands in the process," said Crina Hoyer, Executive Director at RE Sources. "Unbelievably, they also bulldozed and drilled in a registered Lummi historical site known to contain burial sites. They tell us to trust them, but PIT's leadership knew exactly what they were doing when they broke the law."
PIT's destruction of wetlands was part of a larger unpermitted geotechnical investigation project, authorized by PIT on property currently planned for the Gateway Pacific Coal Terminal. The data gathered by the geotechnical investigation supports project planning and design. According to evidence collected by RE Sources, PIT knowingly violated the law and attempted to cover up its actions in order to gain this valuable information.
"When dealing with an economically unstable commodity like coal, a few years can make a big difference in the profitability of a project. The information they gained will certainly help them expedite their proposal. This is a classic case of begging for forgiveness, rather than asking permission," said Hoyer.
Hoyer's statement is reinforced by a leading national expert on large-scale construction project management, Philip S. Lanterman. After conducting an in-depth analysis of the evidence, Lanterman stated "In my opinion, it is probable that PIT intentionally chose to proceed with the geotechnical investigation without necessary permits to obtain the expected economic benefit of securing the geotechnical information early in the project timeline, and PIT has actually received such benefit."
Lanterman further found that "PIT's efforts to ensure legal compliance of the geotechnical investigation were so far below the standard of care that, in my opinion, they evidence extreme recklessness as to legal compliance or, more likely, an intentional violation of the law."
SSA Marine, the corporate home for PIT, has decades of experience developing marine port facilities, including building new operations and providing engineering, port design, terminal construction and project management services. With so much experience in project construction, it is difficult to understand how PIT could simply fail to obtain 6 necessary permits before conducting this work.
According to RE Sources' attorney Richard Smith, "PIT acknowledged that they knew beforehand that permits or authorizations were required not only from the Army Corps, but also from Ecology and the County. They could offer no explanation for why they didn't get these, except that following the law 'fell through the cracks.' Then, their own wetlands consultant testified that she was 'appalled' by the destruction PIT caused. What does this say about how they are likely to conduct themselves in building and running a huge coal terminal?"
SSA's own internal documents show that, in the months leading up to the clearing, SSA had multiple exchanges with Whatcom County, the Department of Ecology, and the Army Corps of Engineers, discussing the permits and the processes needed to perform the clearing legally. Had SSA applied for the appropriate permits, the Army Corps would have been consulted on Clean Water Act permits, resulting in consultation with the Lummi and Nooksack Indian tribes about SSA's plans to drill and clear land in known Indian burial grounds.
The Whatcom County Council and a variety of state and federal agencies will, at some point, make a decision whether or not to approve permits for SSA's coal terminal at Cherry Point. Each of those agencies--the DNR, Ecology, Fish and Wildlife, and others--will be acting in the public's interest, in the public trust. SSA has demonstrated through its actions that it is willing to ignore, or forget, or willingly violate environmental laws, even at the earliest stages of this project. Hoyer concludes, "When SSA can't even comply with basic permitting requirements, how can we trust them with the complex elements necessary to protect human health, the Puget Sound, and the resources on which our community relies?"
Press Contacts
Crina Hoyer, Executive Director at RE Sources firstname.lastname@example.com, (360) 223-8678
Matt Krogh, North Sound Baykeeper at RE Sources firstname.lastname@example.com, (360) 820-2938


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Giancarlo Fisichella born January 14, 1973 in Rome, Italy, has enjoyed a long F1 career and has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari when he replaced the injured Felipe Massa in 2009, he remains Ferrari's reserve driver for 2010. Giancarlo has won a total of 3 F1 races in his career so far.
Giancarlo began his steps to F1 by racing karts as a youngster, in 1992 he took part in the Italian Formula Three championship finshing as runner up in 1993 and winning the title in 1994 taking wins at Monaco and Macau, however he was to leave open wheeled racing for a short spell in 1995 as he joined the Alfa Romeo team racing in the International Touring Car Championship. His first season in F1 came with the Minardi team in 1996, however the Italian team needed their drivers to bring funding with them and Fisichella could not offer this and he was replaced by Giovanni Lavaggi. Fisichella remained focused on securing another drive and for 2007 he joined the Jordan team where he would team up with Ralf Schumacher. Giancarlo impressed the team with some strong results including a podium in Canada and a 2nd place at a rain soaked Spa, it was performances like this that gave him a move to the Benetton team for 1998.
His time at Benetton was to be a bit mixed, in 1998 the team had lost their 'works' engines and were using re-branded engines from 1997 but despite this Giancarlo took 2nd place at Montreal and Monaco, he took his first ever pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix. The 1999 season was another up and down year for Benetton the highlight coming at the Nurburgring when Fisichella looked set to take his 1st win until he spun off in wet conditions. In 2000 Benetton once again struggled to make any real impact at the front of the grid although Giancarlo did score some early season podiums. In 2001 he was to be up against a new team mate as Jenson Button joined the team, and the team was also bought out and re-branded to Renault. But it was another disappointing season and Fisichella was to rejoin Jordan for 2002.
Just 7 points were scored for Giancarlo in 2002 as the Jordan team found it tough going with Honda engines and when Honda pulled out the team switched to Ford engines for 2003, this did nothing for the overall standing of the team but in 2003 Fisichella took his first win in F1 at the Brazilian GP. Battling with McLaren's Kimi Räikkönen amidst heavy rain and numerous crashes, Fisichella took the race lead on lap 54, soon before the race was red-flagged. However, he was demoted to second place on the podium, because Räikkönen was the race leader two laps prior to the red flag. Several days later, though, the FIA determined that Fisichella had already begun his 56th lap before the red flag, awarding the Italian his first F1 victory.
However Fisichella was on the move once again, this time to join the Sauber, Fisichella had made no secret of his desire to drive for Ferrari and he seen Sauber as an ideal stepping stone as Sauber were running rebadged Ferrari engines. Ironically he was to team up with Felipe Massa who would make his way to Ferrari before Fisichella despite Giancarlo outpacing him during the 2004 season. Fisichella was to remain at Sauber until 2005 when he moved back to the Renault team, the call from Ferrari never came.
He returned to Renault and faced up against Fernando Alonso, and it began well for Giancarlo as he won the opening race of the season in Australia but the season was to go the way of Alonso who seemed to have the much better pace and went on to win the 2005 title. But Giancarlo was a big part in the team winning the constructor's championship. 2006 was to follow a similar pattern for Giancarlo, despite winning from pole in Malaysia he failed to make an impact on Alonso who once again won the title. It was however the strongest season for Giancarlo as he finished 4th in the standings. Alonso was to leave the team for 2007 leaving Fisichella as the lead driver up against Heikki Kovalainen, however the form of the previous years seemed to have gone after switching tyres from Michelin to Bridgestone.
2008 and another new team for Giancarlo as he moved to Force India, who were in fact the former Jordan team. Fisichella enjoyed his 200th GP at the Monaco GP, but he was to finish the season pointless as the team struggled to make any impact on the grid, Giancarlo was to remain with the team for 2009. With the car now powered by Mercedes Benz engines it was a much better season for Force India and Fisichella was to take the teams 1st ever pole position at Spa, and went on to score their first points by finishing a very close 2nd to Kimi Raikkonen in the race.
Giancarlo was soon to realise his dream though, Ferrari were looking for a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa, and although the Maranello team initially gave the role to test driver Luca Badoer it was clear his performances were not up to the standard they expected. And on 3rd September 2009 it was announced that Fisichella would take the drive at Ferrari, his first race was to be at the Italian Grand Prix, quite a dream for many Italians. Fisichella remains as Ferrari's reserve driver for 2010 despite looking for a full time drive.


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Square financials: Tomb Raider, Hitman & Sleeping Dogs fail to hit sales targets
Tomb Raider has sold 3.4 million units in the last four weeks, which is still a failure in the eyes of Square-Enix's financial report. The company published a grim revision of its expected financials this morning, citing the poor performance of several titles as a key contributor.
I recommend that you check out our first report on Square's financial revision here, and our report on Square president Yoichi Wada's resignation as a result. It'll put the below into context.
Another part of the Square financial report has now surfaced, breaking down sales figures for each of its key releases for across the current financial year. Here's an excerpt of one presentation slide:
All three games have failed to hit their sales targets so far.
The report continued, "Despite the high critical acclaim, [the games] failed to meet each target. In particular North America sales force as ineffective, ending up with two-thirds of number of units sold in Europe.
"Moreover, price pressure was strong, which forced spending additional channel costs such as price protection."
Some would say 3.4 million units of Tomb Raider sold in four weeks is good considering the decline in some areas of the triple-a market.
What do you think? Should Square be concerned? Let us know below.


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IMF will contribute 1 billion euros to Cyprus bailout
The International Monetary Fund will contribute 1 billion euros over three years to the 10 billion euro bailout for Cyprus, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement on Wednesday.
Lagarde said she expected the IMF board to approve the funds in early May.
"A staff team of the International Monetary Fund has reached staff level agreement with the Cypriot authorities on an economic program that will be supported by the IMF jointly with the European Union and the European Central Bank," Lagarde said.
"A combined financing package of 10 billion euros is designed to help Cyprus cover its financing needs, including to service debt obligations, while it implements the policies needed to restore the health of the economy and regain access to capital market financing," she said.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Claire Davenport)


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I Can't believe things are still getting updated for Marathon!
Rubicon finally got updated to Aleph One:
Just been playing with new Cinema R10 Demo
Finally shiny advanced opengl in viewport!
mmm, no need to render again, will be nice to work with.
To say I've dropped the Diary ball would be an understatement... oh well.
I've been trying to photographically turn my living room into a 3D model:
Yeah, it looks gay, oh well. forget that! Don't ask how much time I wasted.. just dont...
I've started work conceptualising a filing helper/guide/wizard.
to say It's complex is an understatement, making complex things simpler is hard!
I have compiled all my UI related thoughts into a file called Dreams.
My Memory game widget (half stolen code but I made it cool)
All bloody day I've been watching this:
Every year I'm subjected to the awfulness that is Quicktime streaming, useless, slow, and down right frustrating as it continues to move the playhead while providing neither video of audio. Wont don't they just use progressive video download I don't know.
That aside, lets check my predictions:
"new 64bit Mac Tower with new case, most likely a derivation of the current case minus grill"
Correct, alas, the grill is still there 'yuck'
New to OS 10.5:
"iCal 3", yup
"iChat 4 with VOIP and better video support .mac only"
no VOIP yet but some interesting features that already exists via third party addon's like ChatFX
"Safari 3", no information here yet
"Spotlight 2 with keywords! and better tie ins with new Finder"
It may have keywords, I tm ay not, It's unsure, but things have been enhanced
"Finder 2", changes unsure yet.
"Some kind of virtualisation probably like Fast User Switch, not like WINE or X11"
Well, no mention here, but maybe that's there 'Top Secret' feature.
"Front Row 2", no details available here yet either.
"Vector UI" annoying absent, I was hoping a large focus would be here in order to get developers fixing apps NOW and not when It's too late.
In dreams:
"new File System, versioning/revision/history/rollback per file/folder"
Well it has a versioning system now, though not how id imagined it, not sure how practical this will be.
Time Machine:
And Space machine!!
I think overall, underwhelming, though I new it would be (being a pessimist)
The 'top secret' feature better be pretty amazing, though I doubt it is. They need to make huge changes to the way we deal with files in the Finder and a large UI overall to unify apps appearances with a move to vector. If I got both of those things I'd shut up and salivate, but otherwise, I'm left facing an update that will just fix a few things (hopefully everything) which... is grrreat and all, but certainly has no ground for them to start taunting Vista so much, it speaks of desperation.
I just pray to god they get this one right, cus It's possibly the most important release ever, it should be the coming of age we're all waiting for in the face of Vistas launch, and that kind of thing only happens every 5 years


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Saturday, September 25, 2010
Kadai Vegetable
I am always fascinated when someone says they created a recipe or rather,the new term recipe development.I can never do that for sure.All my recipes are either passed on to me by amma/mil or the ones I read up on the net,books or blogs.I salute those who create a recipe on their own successfully.Thanks to those,we can try them all sans the fear of failure.
I seldom deviate from a recipe when I am cooking something--too chicken for that.So it came as a big surprise to myself when I made this Kadai Vegetable which was actually going to be a Paneer based curry.
Halfway into the preparation,I thought of adding some vegetables since Ajay isn't too fond of Paneer.Then I thought of making into Kadai veg.Since I was already in the kitchen,didn't feel like logging in to the net and search,so I made it all up--nothing extra ordinary--just the basic ingredients put together with vegetables.I liked the taste immensely,even if I say so myself--very close to this one,in looks as well as taste.
So finally,I can say I half-created a recipe too-so what if you can find similar recipes?I cooked it without peeping into a book or my laptop--that by itself is satisfactory to me,hehe.
Kadai Vegetable
Onions - 2,medium sized
Green chilly - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Tomatoes - 2,medium sized
Cauliflower - roughly half of a medium sized one
Carrot - 1,sliced
Capsicum - 1,medium sized
Baby corn - 2-3,sliced
Paneer - 100 gms,sliced
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Cumin-Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Make a paste of onion,green chilly and ginger garlic-reserve.
Puree the tomatoes-reserve.
Boil about 4 cups of water with a tsp pf salt and a pinch haldi-when it comes to a rolling boil,add the vegetables except capsicum and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Strain and wash well with cool water-keep aside.
In a kadai add oil and splutter jeera-when it pops,add in the onion paste.
Saute for about 3-5 minutes.
Add the tomato puree,mix well and close with a lid-as it would splutter a lot.
Cook for 5-7 minutes.
Now add the masalas - red chilly powder,cumin-coriander powder,garam masala and haldi.
Add salt to taste and stir for a minute or two.
Add the kasoori methi,paneer and capsicum.
Add the rest of the vegetables and give a good stir.
Add about a cup of water and simmer for 5-7 minutes till the curry thickens.
Serve hot with rotis or pulao.
11 comments :
my husband too is not fond of paneer as he has milk intolerance. love your veggie version Divya. will make this for dinner tonight.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 25, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Lovely kadai vegetable...looks colourful and yet so yummy. I actually loved the kadai in which you have the subji in!!!ReplyDelete
Woww wat a droolworthy kadai vegetable, looks fabulous..ReplyDelete
I know kadai paneer. kadai vegetable is simply superb.. Congrats on ur own attempt.Now u have got the confidence of trying recipes on ur own i think ;)ReplyDelete
I love Kadai veg...its one dish i alwayz order in a restaurant but its never satisfying to eat d oil-floating gravies..Urs looks so healthy n delicious..Sure to try it out...Glad im following u!!ReplyDelete
Looking great, Divya!!ReplyDelete
Now u can salute urself too.. or say we to can :)ReplyDelete
Loved the simple curry without much a ingr... nd fuss :)
I love kadai anything. I think its very gourmet.ReplyDelete
I love kadai anything. I think its very gourmet.ReplyDelete
Lovely clicks and beautiful assortment of veggies, Divya.ReplyDelete
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