text:
|Slony-I 2.0.8 Documentation
|Fast Backward
|Fast Forward
Chapter 5. Appendix
- Table of Contents
- 5.1. Slony-I Administration Scripts
- 5.1.1. altperl Scripts
- 5.1.2. mkslonconf.sh
- 5.1.3. start_slon.sh
- 5.1.4. launch_clusters.sh
- 5.1.5. slony1_extract_schema.sh
- 5.1.6. slony-cluster-analysis
- 5.1.7. Generating slonik scripts using configure-replication.sh
- 5.1.8. slon.in-profiles
- 5.1.9. duplicate-node.sh
- 5.1.10. slonikconfdump.sh
- 5.1.11. Parallel to Watchdog: generate_syncs.sh
- 5.2. Frequently Asked Questions
- 5.3. Release Checklist
- 5.4. More Slony-I Help
- 5.4.1. Slony-I Website
- 5.4.2. Mailing Lists
- 5.4.3. Other Sources
5.1. Slony-I Administration Scripts
A number of tools have grown over the course of the history of Slony-I to help users manage their clusters. This section along with the ones on Section 4.3 discusses them.
5.1.1. altperl Scripts
There is a set of scripts to simplify administeration of set of Slony-I instances. The scripts support having arbitrary numbers of nodes. They may be installed as part of the installation process:
./configure --with-perltools
This will produce a number of scripts with the prefix slonik_. They eliminate tedium by always referring to a central configuration file for the details of your site configuration. A documented sample of this file is provided in altperl/slon_tools.conf-sample. Most also include some command line help with the "--help" option, making them easier to learn and use.
Most generate Slonik scripts that are printed to STDOUT. At one time, the commands were passed directly to slonik for execution. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a pretty large calibre "foot gun", as minor typos on the command line led, on a couple of occasions, to pretty calamitous actions. The savvy administrator should review the script before piping it to slonik.
18.104.22.168. Support for Multiple Clusters
The UNIX environment variable SLONYNODES is used to determine what Perl configuration file will be used to control the shape of the nodes in a Slony-I cluster. If it is not provided, a default slon_tools.conf location will be referenced.
What variables are set up.
$CLUSTER_NAME=orglogs; # What is the name of the replication cluster?
$LOGDIR='/opt/OXRS/log/LOGDBS'; # What is the base directory for logs?
$APACHE_ROTATOR="/opt/twcsds004/OXRS/apache/rotatelogs"; # If set, where to find Apache log rotator
foldCase # If set to 1, object names (including schema names) will be folded to lower case. By default, your object names will be left alone. Note that PostgreSQL itself folds object names to lower case; if you create a table via the command CREATE TABLE SOME_THING (Id INTEGER, STudlYName text);, the result will be that all of those components are forced to lower case, thus equivalent to create table some_thing (id integer, studlyname text);, and the name of table and, in this case, the fields will all, in fact, be lower case.
You then define the set of nodes that are to be replicated
using a set of calls to
add_node (host => '10.20.30.40', dbname => 'orglogs', port => 5437, user => 'postgres', node => 4, parent => 1);
The set of parameters for
add_node() are thus:
my %PARAMS = (host=> undef, # Host name dbname => 'template1', # database name port => 5432, # Port number user => 'postgres', # user to connect as node => undef, # node number password => undef, # password for user parent => 1, # which node is parent to this node noforward => undef # shall this node be set up to forward results? sslmode => undef # SSL mode argument - determine # priority of SSL usage # = disable,allow,prefer,require );
220.127.116.11. Set configuration - cluster.set1, cluster.set2
The UNIX environment variable SLONYSET is used to determine what Perl configuration file will be used to determine what objects will be contained in a particular replication set.
Unlike SLONYNODES, which is essential for all of the slonik-generating scripts, this only needs to be set when running create_set, as that is the only script used to control what tables will be in a particular replication set.
188.8.131.52. slonik_build_env
Queries a database, generating output hopefully suitable for slon_tools.conf consisting of:
a set of
add_node()calls to configure the cluster
The arrays @KEYEDTABLES, nvar>@SERIALTnvar>, and @SEQUENCES
18.104.22.168. slonik_print_preamble
This generates just the "preamble" that is required by all slonik scripts. In effect, this provides a "skeleton" slonik script that does not do anything.
184.108.40.206. slonik_create_set
This requires SLONYSET to be set as well as SLONYNODES; it is used to generate the slonik script to set up a replication set consisting of a set of tables and sequences that are to be replicated.
184.108.40.206. slonik_drop_node
Generates Slonik script to drop a node from a Slony-I cluster.
126.96.36.199. slonik_drop_set
Generates Slonik script to drop a replication set (e.g. - set of tables and sequences) from a Slony-I cluster.
This represents a pretty big potential "foot gun" as this eliminates a replication set all at once. A typo that points it to the wrong set could be rather damaging. Compare to Section 220.127.116.11 and Section 22.214.171.124; with both of those, attempting to drop a subscription or a node that is vital to your operations will be blocked (via a foreign key constraint violation) if there exists a downstream subscriber that would be adversely affected. In contrast, there will be no warnings or errors if you drop a set; the set will simply disappear from replication.
126.96.36.199. slonik_drop_table
Generates Slonik script to drop a table from replication. Requires, as input, the ID number of the table (available from table sl_table) that is to be dropped.
184.108.40.206. slonik_drop_sequence
Generates Slonik script to drop a sequence from replication. Requires, as input, the ID number of the table (available from table sl_table) that is to be dropped, and the ID of the set to which it is attached.
22.214.171.124. slonik_execute_script
Generates Slonik script to push DDL changes to a replication set.
126.96.36.199. slonik_failover
Generates Slonik script to request failover from a dead node to some new origin
188.8.131.52. slonik_init_cluster
Generates Slonik script to initialize a whole Slony-I cluster, including setting up the nodes, communications paths, and the listener routing.
220.127.116.11. slonik_merge_sets
Generates Slonik script to merge two replication sets together.
18.104.22.168. slonik_move_set
Generates Slonik script to move the origin of a particular set to a different node.
220.127.116.11. replication_test
Script to test whether Slony-I is successfully replicating data.
22.214.171.124. slonik_restart_node
Generates Slonik script to request the restart of a node. This was particularly useful pre-1.0.5 when nodes could get snarled up when slon daemons died.
188.8.131.52. slonik_restart_nodes
Generates Slonik script to restart all nodes in the cluster. Not particularly useful.
188.8.131.52. slony_show_configuration
Displays an overview of how the environment (e.g. - SLONYNODES) is set to configure things.
18.104.22.168. slon_kill
Kills slony watchdog and all slon daemons for the specified set. It only works if those processes are running on the local host, of course!
22.214.171.124. slon_start
This starts a slon daemon for the specified cluster and node, and uses slon_watchdog to keep it running.
188.8.131.52. slon_watchdog
Used by slon_start.
220.127.116.11. slon_watchdog2
This is a somewhat smarter watchdog; it monitors a particular Slony-I node, and restarts the slon process if it hasn't seen updates go in in 20 minutes or more.
This is helpful if there is an unreliable network connection such that the slon sometimes stops working without becoming aware of it.
126.96.36.199. slonik_store_node
Adds a node to an existing cluster.
22.214.171.124. slonik_subscribe_set
Generates Slonik script to subscribe a particular node to a particular replication set.
22.214.171.124. slonik_uninstall_nodes
This goes through and drops the Slony-I schema from each node; use this if you want to destroy replication throughout a cluster. As its effects are necessarily rather destructive, this has the potential to be pretty unsafe.
184.108.40.206. slonik_unsubscribe_set
Generates Slonik script to unsubscribe a node from a replication set.
18.104.22.168. slonik_update_nodes
Generates Slonik script to tell all the nodes to update the Slony-I functions. This will typically be needed when you upgrade from one version of Slony-I to another.
5.1.2. mkslonconf.sh
This is a shell script designed to rummage through a Slony-I cluster and generate a set of slon.conf files that slon accesses via the slon -f slon.conf option.
With all of the configuration residing in a configuration file for each slon, they can be invoked with minimal muss and fuss, with no risk of forgetting the -a option and thereby breaking a log shipping node.
Running it requires the following environment configuration:
Firstly, the environment needs to be set up with suitable parameters for libpq to connect to one of the databases in the cluster. Thus, you need some suitable combination of the following environment variables set:
SLONYCLUSTER - the name of the Slony-I cluster to be "rummaged".
MKDESTINATION - a directory for configuration to reside in; the script will create MKDESTINATION/$SLONYCLUSTER/conf for the slon configuration files, and MKDESTINATION/$SLONYCLUSTER/pid for slon to store PID files in.
LOGHOME - a directory for log files to reside in; a directory of the form $LOGHOME/$SLONYCLUSTER/node[number] will be created for each node.
For any "new" nodes that it discovers, this script will create a new slon conf file.
It is fair to say that there are several conditions to beware of; none of these should be greatly surprising...
The file layout set up by mkslonconf.sh was specifically set up to allow managing slons across a multiplicity of clusters using the script in the following section...
5.1.3. start_slon.sh
This rc.d-style script was introduced in Slony-I version 2.0; it provides automatable ways of:
Starting the slon, via start_slon.sh start
Attempts to start the slon, checking first to verify that it is not already running, that configuration exists, and that the log file location is writable. Failure cases include:
No slon runtime configuration file exists,
A slon is found with the PID indicated via the runtime configuration,
The specified SLON_LOG location is not writable.
Stopping the slon, via start_slon.sh stop
This fails (doing nothing) if the PID (indicated via the runtime configuration file) does not exist;
Monitoring the status of the slon, via start_slon.sh status
This indicates whether or not the slon is running, and, if so, prints out the process ID.
The following environment variables are used to control slon configuration:
This indicates where the slon binary program is found.
This indicates the location of the slon runtime configuration file that controls how the slon behaves.
Note that this file is required to contain a value for log_pid_file; that is necessary to allow this script to detect whether the slon is running or not.
This file is the location where slon log files are to be stored, if need be. There is an option slon_conf_syslog for slon to use syslog to manage logging; in that case, you may prefer to set SLON_LOG to /dev/null.
Note that these environment variables may either be set, in the script, or overridden by values passed in from the environment. The latter usage makes it easy to use this script in conjunction with the regression tests so that it is regularly tested.
5.1.4. launch_clusters.sh
This is another shell script which uses the configuration as set up by mkslonconf.sh and is intended to support an approach to running Slony-I involving regularly (e.g. via a cron process) checking to ensure that slon processes are running.
It uses the following environment variables:
PATH which needs to contain, preferably at the beginning, a path to the slon binaries that should be run.
SLHOME indicates the "home" directory for slon configuration files; they are expected to be arranged in subdirectories, one for each cluster, with filenames of the form node1.conf, node2.conf, and such
The script uses the command find $SLHOME/$cluster/conf -name "node[0-9]*.conf" to find slon configuration files.
If you remove some of these files, or rename them so their names do not conform to the find command, they won't be found; that is an easy way to drop nodes out of this system.
LOGHOME indicates the "home" directory for log storage.
This script does not assume the use of the Apache log rotator to manage logs; in that PostgreSQL version 8 does its own log rotation, it seems undesirable to retain a dependancy on specific log rotation "technology."
CLUSTERS is a list of Slony-I clusters under management.
In effect, you could run this every five minutes, and it would launch any missing slon processes.
5.1.5. slony1_extract_schema.sh
You may find that you wish to create a new node some time well after creating a cluster. The script slony1_extract_schema.sh will help you with this.
A command line might look like the following:
PGPORT=5881 PGHOST=master.int.example.info ./slony1_extract_schema.sh payroll payroll temppayroll
It performs the following:
It dumps the origin node's schema, including the data in the Slony-I cluster schema.
Note that the extra environment variables PGPORT and PGHOST to indicate additional information about where the database resides.
This data is loaded into the freshly created temporary database, temppayroll
The table and sequence OIDs in Slony-I tables are corrected to point to the temporary database's configuration.
A slonik script is run to perform SLONIK UNINSTALL NODE on the temporary database. This eliminates all the special Slony-I tables, schema, and removes Slony-I triggers from replicated tables.
Finally, pg_dump is run against the temporary database, delivering a copy of the cleaned up schema to standard output.
5.1.6. slony-cluster-analysis
If you are running a lot of replicated databases, where there are numerous Slony-I clusters, it can get painful to track and document this. The following tools may be of some assistance in this.
slony-cluster-analysis.sh is a shell script intended to provide some over-time analysis of the configuration of a Slony-I cluster. You pass in the usual libpq environment variables (PGHOST, PGPORT, PGDATABASE, and such) to connect to a member of a Slony-I cluster, and pass the name of the cluster as an argument.
The script then does the following:
Runs a series of queries against the Slony-I tables to get lists of nodes, paths, sets, and tables.
This is stowed in a temporary file in /tmp
A comparison is done between the present configuration and the configuration the last time the tool was run. If the configuration differs, an email of the difference (generated using diff) is sent to a configurable email address.
If the configuration has changed, the old configuration file is renamed to indicate when the script noticed the change.
Ultimately, the current configuration is stowed in LOGDIR in a filename like cluster.last
There is a sample "wrapper" script, slony-cluster-analysis-mass.sh, which sets things up to point to a whole bunch of Slony-I clusters.
This should make it easier for a group of DBAs to keep track of two things:
Documenting the current state of system configuration.
Noticing when configuration changes.
5.1.7. Generating slonik scripts using configure-replication.sh
The tools script configure-replication.sh is intended to automate generating slonik scripts to configure replication.
This script uses a number (possibly large, if your configuration needs to be particularly complex) of environment variables to determine the shape of the configuration of a cluster. It uses default values extensively, and in many cases, relatively few environment values need to be set in order to get a viable configuration.
126.96.36.199. Global Values
There are some values that will be used universally across a cluster:
Name of Slony-I cluster
Number of nodes to set up
name of PostgreSQL superuser controlling replication
default port number
default database name
a list of fully qualified table names (e.g. - complete with namespace, such as public.my_table)
a list of fully qualified sequence names (e.g. - complete with namespace, such as public.my_sequence)
Defaults are provided for all of these values, so that if you run configure-replication.sh without setting any environment variables, you will get a set of slonik scripts. They may not correspond, of course, to any database you actually want to use...
220.127.116.11. Node-Specific Values
For each node, there are also four environment variables; for node 1:
database to connect to
superuser to connect as
It is quite likely that DB*, USER*, and PORT* should be drawn from the global PGDATABASE, PGUSER, and PGPORT values above; having the discipline of that sort of uniformity is usually a good thing.
In contrast, HOST* values should be set explicitly for HOST1, HOST2, ..., as you don't get much benefit from the redundancy replication provides if all your databases are on the same server!
126.96.36.199. Resulting slonik scripts
slonik config files are generated in a temp directory under /tmp. The usage is thus:
preamble.slonik is a "preamble" containing connection info used by the other scripts.
Verify the info in this one closely; you may want to keep this permanently to use with future maintenance you may want to do on the cluster.
This is the first script to run; it sets up the requested nodes as being Slony-I nodes, adding in some Slony-I-specific config tables and such.
You can/should start slon processes any time after this step has run.
This is the second script to run; it indicates how the slons should intercommunicate. It assumes that all slons can talk to all nodes, which may not be a valid assumption in a complexly-firewalled environment. If that assumption is untrue, you will need to modify the script to fix the paths.
This sets up the replication set consisting of the whole bunch of tables and sequences that make up your application's database schema.
When you run this script, all that happens is that triggers are added on the origin node (node #1) that start collecting updates; replication won't start until #5...
There are two assumptions in this script that could be invalidated by circumstances:
That all of the tables and sequences have been included.
This becomes invalid if new tables get added to your schema and don't get added to the TABLES list.
That all tables have been defined with primary keys.
Best practice is to always have and use true primary keys. If you have tables that require choosing a candidate primary key or that require creating a surrogate key using SLONIK TABLE ADD KEY, you will have to modify this script by hand to accomodate that.
And 3, and 4, and 5, if you set the number of nodes higher...
This is the step that "fires up" replication.
The assumption that the script generator makes is that all the subscriber nodes will want to subscribe directly to the origin node. If you plan to have "sub-clusters," perhaps where there is something of a "master" location at each data centre, you may need to revise that.
The slon processes really ought to be running by the time you attempt running this step. To do otherwise would be rather foolish.
5.1.8. slon.in-profilesApache-Style profiles for FreeBSD ports/databases/slony/*
In the tools area, slon.in-profiles is a script that might be used to start up slon instances at the time of system startup. It is designed to interact with the FreeBSD Ports system.
5.1.9. duplicate-node.sh
In the tools area, duplicate-node.sh is a script that may be used to help create a new node that duplicates one of the ones in the cluster.
The script expects the following parameters:
Cluster name
New node number
Origin node
Node being duplicated
New node
For each of the nodes specified, the script offers flags to
libpq-style parameters for
PGDATABASE, and PGUSER; it is expected
that .pgpass will be used for storage of
passwords, as is generally considered best practice. Those values may
inherit from the
libpq environment variables, if
not set, which is useful when using this for testing. When
"used in anger," however, it is likely that nearly all of
the 14 available parameters should be used.
The script prepares files, normally in /tmp, and will report the name of the directory that it creates that contain SQL and slonik scripts to set up the new node.
This is drawn from the origin node, and contains the "pristine" database schema that must be applied first.
This "preamble" is used by the subsequent set of slonik scripts.
A slonik script to set up the new node.
A slonik script to set up path communications between the provider node and the new node.
A slonik script to request subscriptions for all replications sets.
For testing purposes, this is sufficient to get a new node working. The configuration may not necessarily reflect what is desired as a final state:
Additional communications paths may be desirable in order to have redundancy.
It is assumed, in the generated scripts, that the new node should support forwarding; that may not be true.
It may be desirable later, after the subscription process is complete, to revise subscriptions.
5.1.10. slonikconfdump.sh
The tool tools/slonikconfdump.sh was created to help dump out a slonik script to duplicate the configuration of a functioning Slony-I cluster. It should be particularly useful when upgrading Slony-I to version 2.0; see Section 4.6.2 for more details.
It dumps out:
Cluster name
Node connection information
Note that it uses the first value it finds (e.g. - for the lowest numbered client node).
Note that the subscriptions are ordered topologically, using tsort
It may be run as follows:
chris@dba2:Slony-I/CMD/slony1-2.0/tools> SLONYCLUSTER=slony_regress1 PGDATABASE=slonyregress1 bash slonikconfdump.sh # building slonik config files for cluster slony_regress1 # generated by: slonikconfdump.sh # Generated on: Tue Jun 9 17:34:12 EDT 2009 cluster name=slony_regress1; include <admin-conninfos.slonik>; # Draw in ADMIN CONNINFO lines node 1 admin conninfo='dbname=slonyregress1 host=localhost user=chris port=7083'; node 2 admin conninfo='dbname=slonyregress2 host=localhost user=chris port=7083'; init cluster (id=1, comment='Regress test node'); store node (id=2, comment='node 2'); store path (server=1, client=2, conninfo='dbname=slonyregress1 host=localhost user=chris port=7083', connretry=10); store path (server=2, client=1, conninfo='dbname=slonyregress2 host=localhost user=chris port=7083', connretry=10); create set (id=1, origin=1, comment='All test1 tables'); set add table (id=1, set id=1, origin=1, fully qualified name='"public"."table1"', comment='accounts table, key='table1_pkey'); set add table (id=2, set id=1, origin=1, fully qualified name='"public"."table2"', comment='public.table2, key='table2_id_key'); set add table (id=4, set id=1, origin=1, fully qualified name='"public"."table4"', comment='a table of many types, key='table4_pkey'); set add table (id=5, set id=1, origin=1, fully qualified name='"public"."table5"', comment='a table with composite PK strewn across the table, key='table5_pkey'); subscribe set (id=1, provider=1, receiver=2, forward=YES); chris@dba2:Slony-I/CMD/slony1-2.0/tools>
The output should be reviewed before it is applied elsewhere. Particular attention should be paid to the ADMIN CONNINFO, as it picks the first value that it sees for each node; in a complex environment, where visibility of nodes may vary from subnet to subnet, it may not pick the right value.
5.1.11. Parallel to Watchdog: generate_syncs.sh
A new script for Slony-I 1.1 is generate_syncs.sh, which addresses the following kind of situation.
Supposing you have some possibly-flakey server where the slon daemon that might not run all the time, you might return from a weekend away only to discover the following situation.
On Friday night, something went "bump" and while the database came back up, none of the slon daemons survived. Your online application then saw nearly three days worth of reasonably heavy transaction load.
When you restart slon on Monday, it hasn't done a SYNC on the master since Friday, so that the next "SYNC set" comprises all of the updates between Friday and Monday. Yuck.
If you run generate_syncs.sh as a cron job every 20 minutes, it will force in a periodic SYNC on the origin, which means that between Friday and Monday, the numerous updates are split into more than 100 syncs, which can be applied incrementally, making the cleanup a lot less unpleasant.
Note that if SYNCs are running regularly, this script won't bother doing anything.


text:
The sale of 3D printers and related materials is expected to balloon from $75 million this year to $1.2 billion by 2018, according to a new report.
Driving that surge from today's relatively low levels will be the entry of mainstream 2D printer companies such as HP and Epson to the 3D fray, Juniper Research noted in its report, "Consumer 3D Printing and Scanning."
Geometric objects displayed on the 3D printing design site Thingiverse, where CAD drawing are shared freely (Photo: Thingiverse).
The Juniper report says the entry of conventional printer companies into the market, along with the development of an strong ecosystem of software, apps and materials, will help convince consumers to start buying 3D printers.
"In order for 3D printing to successfully find a mainstream market amongst consumers, it needs to widen the applications available that integrate consumer lifestyle and drive a number of applications beyond professional printing," said report author Nitin Bhas in a statement.
While 3D printer shipments are at relatively low levels -- thus representing a limited opportunity in the medium term -- Juniper expects sales to increase significantly beyond the five-year period. Top 3D printer makers, like 3D Systems and Stratasys, agree that today there's stronger demand for professional 3D printers and materials.
According to Juniper, the U.S. and Europe are leading the rest of the world for consumer 3D printer adoption; hobbyists and early tech-adopters in those regions are driving that surge.
Retailers such as Staples and service providers like UPS are testing in-store 3D printing services to provide their customers an opportunity to use the technology without having to buy the hardware and related materials.
Juniper's report also notes that similar to the mobile device ecosystem, content will be critical to the success of consumer 3D printing.
"This can be achieved through the creation of an app or online portal for connecting to the cloud and enhancing the functionality of the 3D printer via content -- as already done by MakerBot via its Thingiverse and Digital Store," the report stated.
The Thingiverse website is the largest repository for sharing free 3D printing CAD designs.
Jenny Lawton, president of 3D printer company MakerBot, said there's been a lot of hype in the marketplace as of late and "no one knows what's going to happen."
"I think the consumer adoption trend is moving along nicely. There are reasons it might accelerate," she said. "This isn't the first time that a disruptive technology has gone from the professional marketplace to the consumer or the home. I think people are getting more comfortable that they can adopt the technology and it won't go away."
The Turbo Entabulator - a 3D-printable, fully mechanical computer whose CAD file is available for download on Thingiverse (Photo: Thingiverse).
Lawton pointed to video cameras, computers and 2D printers, which once were only found in business settings.
Academic settings, in particular, are also having a profound affect on 3D printer adoption rates as the machines are becoming ubiquitous tools in secondary schools and universities.
"It's a part of what [kids in college do]. Now, it's no longer alright to just become a mechanical engineering; you need to have skills in making 3D modeling and printing. That's a change," Lawton said. "The person who's leaving college now and going into the workplace is expecting to have access to that technology."
Lucas Mearian covers consumer data storage, consumerization of IT, mobile device management, renewable energy, telematics/car tech and entertainment tech for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Lucas Mearian on Computerworld.com.
Read more about emerging technologies in Computerworld's Emerging Technologies Topic Center.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Nyutabaru Airshow
Article Index
Nyutabaru, Sunday morning, 6h30… Masses of cars are already queuing to get on the parking places, and even the first enthusiast are on their way to the south side of the airfield, carrying their stepladders and camera equipment.
It is time again for the Nyutabaru Airshow, amongst Japanese fans regarded as JASDF's premier airshow. But unfortunately this year the highlight of every show, the colourful F-15s of the Aggressor Squadron have to stay on the ground due to a grounding of the whole F-15 due to a landing mishap the previous Friday at Komatsu.
Where? Nyutabaru Air Base, Japan
When? 06/12/2009
But nevertheless the show proved worth going, even if it was this year only for some Phantom action.
The gates open just in time for sunrise at 7am and give some time to stroll through the static display before the real start of the flight display at 9am. As an attraction for the locals this year even two US Marine Harriers and one F/A-18D took part in the static display and surely gave a good addition to the usual fleet of JSADF, JMSDF and JGSDF aircraft and helicopters.
But already before jet sound could be heard as pairs of UH-60 helicopters, T-4 trainers and F-4s performed their 'opening fly-bys'.
The static display and the nearby vendor's area was done in around one hour before I went to the south side of the airfield as well to get into a position for the flying display. Being there for some of the rehearsals the previous helped in finding a good spot.


text:
Blood Red Shoes' debut album, Box Of Secrets, feels like a long time coming: the duo, Laura-Mary Carter (vocals, guitar) and Steven Ansell (drums, vocals) got together back in 2005 following the dissolution of their then bands. Since then the Brighton-based pair have released a series of well-received dancefloor-friendly indie-rock singles, punchy and pulsing, but the long-player's always been kept in the shadows. Why?
Label issues, basically: long story short, V2 (the band's home) was absorbed by Universal, and subsequently the release of Box Of Secrets rearranged to fit an already hectic schedule. But now it's here, as good as: you can get your hands on the LP this Monday, April 14.
Ahead of the album's release, DiS invited Steven and Laura-Mary to run us through its tracks, one by one. And they have! Awesome. Enjoy this exclusive insight into Box Of Secrets…
'Doesn't Matter Much'
Says Steven: We wrote this about a year and a half ago now... it started really simply, we turned up at our practice space and this just came out straight away - Laura picked up the guitar and hit the main riff instantly and the drum part is the first thing I started playing to jam along with her. It didn't change much at all from that first jam really. A lot of people think the lyrics are "no no no, yeah, yeah" but actually the lyrics are "low low low", then "find a reason why". It's about feeling lost and confused, and let down by the people in positions of authority who think they know how to explain your life to you. The fact is that teachers and parents and all the rest of that grown up world don't really know shit about who you are and how best to live your life, and it's about seeing the holes in that, but also realising that once you reject that, you have no guidance to follow so you feel really confused about who you are and what you're supposed to do with yourself.
'You Bring Me Down' (originally available digitally via DiS)
Says Laura-Mary: The writing process to this is quite interesting. I was at my folks' in London for two weeks looking after their dog whilst they were on holiday and I came up with the verses to this song, with lyrics and melody. It's about the dead-end job I was in and how basically I just wanted to play music but everything seemed so impossible at the time for us to follow our dreams. On the phone Steve told me he had been going to the studio to play drums and had come up with a drum part he wanted to try out! So when we got together to practise we both played our bits we had written apart and they just worked together. It was really exciting; we then jammed around with it and the other parts just fell into place. Steve wrote the lyrics in the chorus. A lot of people think it's about feeling trapped in a relationship and that is partly true, but it's also about feeling trapped in a life but you would rather be doing something else! And time feels as though it is running out. It took us ages to get the melody right in the chorus because we kept singing out of tune. We recorded it for a single very soon after we wrote it and I remember struggling with it because it was so new. But on the album it's re-recorded with a much heavier sound and obviously it sounds like it's meant to now because we have played it live so much, we shaped it up and gave it a new lease of life that we felt it deserved.
Video: 'You Bring Me Down' (original version)
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(album version)
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'Try Harder' (BRS released two singles on the Try Harder label)
Says Laura-Mary: 'Try Harder' is a complete blur, I don't remember when we wrote it. I know it was in our studio and it started with that main riff (exactly how the song starts), Steve joined in and I guess it became a song. Sometimes when everything is so spontaneous it's hard to think back to how we wrote songs because there was no plan or direction - it just sorta comes out. The verse lyrics are Steve's and the chorus and "aaaa"s are mine. It's about people who change to fit in, think they are cooler than everyone else and basically try way too hard to impress.
'Say Something, Say Anything'
Says Steven: One of the last songs we wrote before we went to record the album, which is probably why it's one of our favourites. A good friend of ours called Boosterhead told me it sounds like a perfect combo of Blur and Sonic Youth, which to this day is my favourite compliment we've had. The beginning riff is in six repeats rather than eight which is something that us drummers (I think I can call myself that now) notice but if you ask Laura she doesn't care or know, she just thinks it sounds good. I think she has a thing about sixes because quite a few riffs she comes out with repeat in multiples of six. This is the only song we have where one of us wrote all of the lyrics, a special exception. I wrote them all right after my dad died from cancer in April 2007. It's just all the feelings and things that came into my head at the time and I tried to crowbar it into a lyrical shape when really I just wanted to scream over the whole thing until my throat bled. This was a fucking hard song to record and I'm thankful I'm a band with Laura-Mary because I don't think I could have done it without her around. In the loudest part the lyric is "how long can you miss someone?" and I did a take where I lost it and started crying but I forced myself to leave it in the final mix. It really fucks with my head because I feel really exhibitionist to keep that shit in but at the same time, when I hear music, I want it to move me with as much intensity as possible and I can't see how you can make the point any stronger than that.
Video: 'Say Something,Say Anything'
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'I Wish I Was Someone Better'
Says Laura-Mary: The main riff in this song was actually the same riff from the last song I ever wrote for my old band, Lady Muck. I played it in a rehearsal with Steve once and he got excited and was like, "What's that?" I explained that it was an old song, I started singing the song and Steve asked if we could use it. Why not! I wrote the song, Lady Muck never recorded it but I always liked the riff and thought it was kinda wasted not being used any more. We then improvised with it and it then went in a different direction completely and it worked! The melody was slightly changed and some added and then all the lyrics are completely different. It's not an ironic title; it really is a song about wishing you were someone better.
Video: 'I Wish I Was Someone Better'
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'Take The Weight'
Says Steven: I really like the name of this song, probably because it reminds me of a Hood song called 'The Weight' which I fucking love. Like most of our songs it's about frustration, anger, feeling trapped, wishing and knowing there should be more to life in general, and to your own life in particular. We stopped playing this live for a while in favour of playing the newest stuff on the album, but now we can play longer sets at our own shows, it's back in there. Our friends Peggy Sue and the Pirates pointed out that the vocal part in the middle is called a 'round' and we thought that's pretty neat, even though we wrote it by mistake because we both kept singing the part at the wrong time but we ended up liking the sound of it. When we recorded it, we overdubbed some really big muff-tastic all over the chorus, proper Nirvana style, and every time it kicked in our producer Mike Crossey would shout "Fuck off!" with a big grin. He seemed to like it when the guitars got really loud.
Says Steven: The oldest song on the album. We had a bit of a conundrum about whether to put this on, then we took a step back and thought about records we love, and we thought, if we weren't in the band, we'd really want and expect it to be on the album. So in that sense I guess it was a crowd-pleasing decision, eh? Sell-outs that we are. I'm glad though because we did this first take, live in a room, facing each other at about 3am after many many bottles of red wine and I think it has a really cool energy to it. Straight-up punk style, no messing about.
Video: 'ADHD'
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'This Is Not For You'
Says Laura-Mary: This was one of the last songs we wrote for the album. We came up with it in our rehearsal space in a jam (just like most of our songs) and I wasn't sure about it. So we kinda forgot it. Then one day we were like, "Oh yeah, what about that song we kinda wrote?" I decided it was alright after playing it again. I wrote the lyrics, Steve wrote the verse melody and I wrote the chorus melody. The lyrics changed from our demo version when we got to the studio to do the album. Mostly because I thought they didn't sit right and stuff was going on with me at the time that inspired the song's meaning. It's about a failed relationship really. It's about a time when you know when things aren't right anymore but you put it to the back of your mind hoping it will somehow resolve itself. It rarely ever does but you still hold some hope. I guess it's a kinda conscious denial. It's the most experimental song on the album, in terms of trying out layering of vocals and sounds. It's also our favourite song on the album. We were inspired by Queens of the Stone Age whilst recording this song.
'It's Getting Boring By The Sea'
Says Steven: We wrote this in about ten seconds, another one of those songs that seemed to fall out of the sky. I don't even really remember it happening, I just remember being at our practise space and jamming around for ages, then at some point something occurred and we both started grinning and the song was just there, pretty much fully-formed. The lyrics are a reaction to the dickheads who called us sell-outs or thought that we weren't 'punk' anymore because we wrote a chorus or a song you can dance to. In my mind there are two kinds of punk kids: the real punk kids who understand the nature of freedom, and punk kids for whom punk is a type of clothes, a hair colour and a certain type of band, and anything outside of those parameters is no longer 'punk'. That's a kind of restrictive idiotic point of view I just can't abide - it's the least punk thing since U2.
Video: 'It's Getting Boring By The Sea'
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'Forgive Nothing'
Says Laura-Mary: This was written really late and we didn't have any lyrics to go into the studio with except the chorus "NEVERMIND", which obviously is Nirvana inspired. We had all the melodies but I was stressing a lot about the lyrics in the verses. But one day after heated phone calls with someone they kinda just came out. The lyrics are quite cutting and mean, which seemed to sit right with the song. I'd been listening to a lot of Hot Snakes and QOTSA and I think one of the riffs must have been a subconscious influence from them. It's the new 'ADHD' in my opinion. The drums have the same kinda vibe, but this song sounds more rock.
'Hope You're Holding Up'
Says Steven: The first song we've ever had another person play on! We demo recorded our whole album ourselves on our own equipment before we recorded it for real, and on this song we tried out a violin part. Only we used a cheap keyboard string sound which sounded like The Killers or something... but we liked the melodic figure so we called up Harriet from Los Campesinos! and asked her to play it on the album. I'm really happy with it, it's like our attempt at 'Tonight, Tonight' by Smashing Pumpkins, ha ha. I like the fade-out ending because it gives a sense of something ongoing rather than really final last track.
Blood Red Shoes' Box Of Secrets is released on April 14; the band can be found on MySpace HERE. They play live as follows (further dates on MySpace):
9 London King's College
12 Bristol Thekla
13 Liverpool Barfly
14 Manchester Academy 3
16 Newcastle Academy 2
17 Aberdeen Tunnels
18 Glasgow ABC2


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The Bicycle Glossary keeps growing. Pages become inconveniently large.
We have split larger pages into smaller ones, but there may be external links pointing to the older pages.
For Ha- through Hi-, please go here and scroll down to the item.
For Ho- through Hy-, please go here and scroll down to the item.
It would be helpful if you let us know about links to the old address.
Feel free to let the site owner know too. If we are the culprits, one e-mail does double duty!
Sheldon Brown (1944-2008)
Harriet Fell
John Allen


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withdraw consent to be governed
To that I say, "I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request", or more simply "Hog Wash"!
Freedom From Servitude
If You Are Not Willing To Learn, No One Can Help You.
If You Are Determined To Learn, No One Can Stop You.
Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight.


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How the Government Blows Away the "Private Sector" in Delivering Services
Minneapolis will soon vote to shift nearly 180 privately owned bus shelters to public ownership following numerous complaints about the lack of maintenance and upkeep. When it does it will join the burgeoning ranks of cities that have discovered when it comes to public services, government knows best.
In the post-Ronald Reagan era, Americans take as indisputable that the private sector is more nimble and more innovative and the profit motive commands efficiency. But a mountain of evidence points in the other direction. The government is highly competitive. Indeed, privatized services often come at a higher price and lower quality.
The examples are legion. Medicare boasts a tiny overhead cost compared to that of private insurance companies. Federal unsubsidized student loans are cheaper and more flexible than private bank student loans. Private contractors cost Washington almost twice as much as federal employees for the same tasks.
Evidence of government excellence is equally abundant at the state and local level. In a growing number of jurisdictions governments are reassessing the value of privatizing services.
In the Public Interest reports that in 2010 the Hernando County, Fla., sheriff's office took over management of its jail from the Corrections Corporation of America after the CCA failed to adequately maintain the facility and engaged in practices that compromised safety and increased the chance of escapes and incidents of violence. The sheriff increased annual salaries of corrections officers by more than $7,000 to attract the highly qualified, significantly improved the quality of the facility and saved $1 million the first year of public operation to boot.
In 2011, Tulsa mayor Dewey Bartlett considered outsourcing many city services, including the maintenance of fleets, facilities and streets but had the good sense to open the bidding process to public workers. The public proposal was chosen over local and national firms for its significant taxpayer savings.
In 2012, San Diego sought to sell its landfill to a private corporation. Several companies submitted bids. Once again the city had the foresight to allow public service workers to submit a bid. The review board concluded the city would save money and get better service by keeping the operation of the landfill in-house.
In 2012, Illinois awarded the Maximus one of country's largest private social service providers a $77 million contract to review Medicaid eligibility. A 2013 independent investigation found errors in almost 50 percent of the cases. Illinois terminated the $77 million contract last December. One analysis found state employees would save Illinois more than $18 million annually while replacing unqualified call center hires with trained caseworkers.
Every year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation's eight districts solicit bids from private contractors as well as MnDOT's own striping division to paint lane stripes on every highway in Minnesota. Without fail, MnDOT's public striping crew beats the private competitors by a large margin.
Outsourcing not only tends to cost more and provide lower quality services; it also has unquantifiable but very real other costs. After Minneapolis outsourced its information management system to Unisys about 10 years ago it found it had lost much needed in-house expertise, including the ability to properly oversee the Unisys contract.
Last fall the Jonesboro Sun asked the CEO of Tiger Correctional Services, a company that contracts for jail commissary services with the Craighead County Arkansas Sheriff's Department for financial information that was public when the services were operated by that department. Tiger's attorneys asserted that because it is a private company none of the company's records were subject to public open records laws.
With regard to private military contractors, Major Kevin P. Stiens and Lt. Col. (Ret.) Susan L. Turley observed that, "Not only did the cost savings fail to materialize, outsourcing caused other tangible losses. The government lost personnel experience and continuity, along with operational control, by moving to contractors." Air Force Colonel Steven Zamperelli added, "Private employees have distinctly different motivations, responsibilities and loyalties than those in the public military."
One city shifting 180 bus shelters back into public hands is a minor development with a one-day news life. But it reflects a much larger story—that increasingly, governments are reevaluating the efficacy of privatizing public services.


text: You've perfected your cocktail list for your holiday party, the tree is trimmed, the menorah lit and the gifts are wrapped! Snow flurries and Christmas lights illuminate the magic in the air. With the holiday season in full swing it's time for parties, family and friends. It's a time to be thankful, and most of all, a time to give back. To think of others that are less fortunate than ourselves. With that said, we have great youth focused causes here for you to give back to, lend a hand, make a donation. Do what you got to do, just make it from the heart. More


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Home Page Chess Life Online 2009 February Kamsky Loses in Round Five
|Kamsky Loses in Round Five
|By GM Ian Rogers
|February 23, 2009
The night before the crucial fifth game of his Candidates Final against Gata Kamsky, Veselin Topalov had a quiet meal at a top restaurant on the highest hill in Sofia.
The world number one – having foregone the excitement of James Blunt's only Bulgarian concert date that night, held, like his match, at the National Palace of Culture - looked relaxed and chatted happily to a friend.
The restaurant staff was very pleased that Bulgaria's pride and joy had chosen their establishment to eat – so much so that when 'American Pie' came on the restaurant soundtrack just after Topalov had left, the bartender attempted to turn the unpatriotic song off. (Well, probably that was the reason - though it might just have been that he could not abide Chris de Burgh's cover version of the legendary song.)
In any event, Topalov arrived on Monday looking relaxed and determined and his first move, 1.e4, elicited some surprised gasps of "E chetiri" from the crowd.
Kamsky's French Defence was also a surprise – even more so for the world's best live text commentator Sergey Shipov on Crestbook, who had started the game with colors reversed and was trying to explain why Topalov would choose the French Defence!
Kamsky headed for a line with an isolated d pawn – passive but defensible (especially if your name is Korchnoi).
However the American began to drift, eschewing a chance to exchange queens and allowing Topalov to build up the pressure in peace.
Kamsky had fallen behind on the clock early but he still had 20 minutes left for six moves when he committed a horrible blunder – the worst of the match (although Gata believed it was comparable to his miscalculation in missing …Nexf4! in game 2).
Kamsky's brain explosion cost a pawn and the game, and he saved himself some trouble by losing a second pawn a few moves later.
Kamsky's manager Emil Sutovsky looked downcast, a change from his usual jovial manner. Earlier in the day Sutovsky had objected - in the friendliest possible way - to some of the negative connotations of his comments quoted on my previous CLO Sofia blog. "The Bulgarians have got the big things right here – the hotel and the playing hall are great."
Also, after the drama in Aeroflot yesterday, it is pleasing to report that it would be almost impossible for any form of cheating to take place in Sofia.
In fact the security at the National Palace of Culture is so tight that it borders on paranoia. The audience are carefully metal checked and no photographers or video journalists are allowed to be in the hall after the first five minutes.
The reason given was to avoid any hint of scandal by allowing an electronic device into the playing hall. Even members of the audience were explaining to a photographer that they did not want a scandal such as occurred in Elista to happen in Sofia.
Fierce and protracted arguments from photographers and FIDE representatives that the media should be allowed to cover the match action were finally trumped by the organisers presenting a copy of the match contract which gave them all media rights. The contract covered all media - a cease and desist letter to ChessBase yesterday has apparently had the effect today of ending ChessBase's live coverage of the match. (Luckily the match regulations allowed photos in the first five minutes.)
Yet, curiously, after the first time control of game 5, the security guards unexpectedly allowed a photographer into the playing hall. When other photographers tried to follow they were told that no cameras were allowed into the hall until the game had finished. "What about the first guy?" the photographers wondered aloud. "He's OK – he's Topalov's photographer." (An attempt to claim that Kamsky's official Chess Life photographer should also be allowed in fell on deaf ears.)
Topalov's official photographer undoubtedly obtained a happy snap of his player: after 55 moves and four hours, Topalov was probably humming James Blunt's lines "My life is brilliant!" while Kamsky could have moved along further in the song and paraphrased "Now it's time to face the truth - I will never win b3".
In any case, Kamsky resigned, to modest applause – probably the crowd was still stunned by Kamsky's rapid demise. As Kamsky resigned, a new crowd entered the Palace of Culture for a performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream in Bulgarian – James Blunt had moved on to Belgrade. Kamsky did not stay for the play, though no doubt he would have understood, in any language, Puck telling Oberon "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
Whether Kamsky's brain explosion on Monday will have cost him the match will be known soon – only three games remain. Kamsky will play with the white pieces on Tuesday and anything less than a victory will leave him in dire straits.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.Nxc6 Bxc6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.c4 Bd6
The first new move. Black wants to place his knight on e7 and on c5 the bishop can be vulnerable to a later Nb3.
10.cxd5 cxd5 11.exd5 exd5 12.0–0 Ne7 13.Nf3
White has a very slight advantage, typical of these lines, but the drawing tendency is high. "Boring would be fine for us today," admitted Kamsky's manager Sutovsky.
13...0–0 14.Qd3 Qd7 15.Rd1 Rfd8 16.Be3 a5 17.g3 h6 18.Bb6 Rdc8 19.Bd4
"I had some slight advantage after the opening but nothing special," said Topalov. "but after the exchange of bishops I had a lot of pressure."
"I don't know why he didn't just exchange queens with [19...Qf5 ," said Sutovsky, "and then it will be a draw. All the rook endgames will be a draw."]
20.Bc3 Bb4 21.Be5 Bd6 22.Rd2!
"Now [I have] the bishop exchange in a very improved version," explained Topalov. "My knight goes immediately to e5 and Black is very passive. That is the point [behind my last three moves]."
22...Bxe5 23.Nxe5 Qd6 24.Re1 Rc7 25.Qf3 Rf8 26.Kg2 Rb7
Sutovsky was not happy with this choice, preferring [26...g6 followed by 27...Kg7 and 28...Qf6.]
27...Qb4 0.33 28.Ree2 Qa4
Black's only active plan is to provoke a queenside weakness and then exchange a pair of pawns via ...a4.
29.b3 Qb4 30.Nd3 Qd6 31.h5 Rc7 32.Nf4
"I probably could have played better, rather than allow 32...d4," admitted Topalov.
32...d4 33.Re4 Nc6 34.Nd3 0.21 34...Rd8?! 0.21
34...Re7 would instigate an exchange which would move Black a little closer to a draw, although long hours of defense would lie ahead.
The pressure along the c file is very annoying and there is no easy way to neutralize it. However, just after Sutovsky refuted a dumb journalist's suggestion of 35...Nb4?? with 36.Nxb4 axb4 37.Rxd4!, Kamsky reached out and played...
Kamsky spent just a minute on this disastrous move and for the first time in the game he was ahead of Topalov on the clock. Unfortunately his position is about to collapse." I just blundered everything," bemoaned Kamsky after the game. "I completely forgot about 37.Rxd4! for some reason.
Kamsky head in hands, thinks for two minutes before recapturing.
36...axb4 37.Rxd4 Qf8?!
Played after 10 painful minutes working out that the rook endgame after [37...Qxd4 38.Rxc7 Qd5 39.Rb7 will be hopelessly lost."37...Qf8 was also a big mistake," said Topalov, " but I think objectively the position was already lost. However Kamsky's choice only makes matters worse.
38.Rxd8! Qxd8 39.Rxc7 Qxc7 40.Qa8+ Kh7 41.Qe4+ Kg8 42.Qxb4
These endgames are usually winning even with only one queenside pawn, so Kamsky would not have been criticized for resigning immediately.
42...Qc6+ 43.Kg1 Qc1+ 44.Kh2 Qc2 45.Qe1 Kf8 46.a3 Qb2 47.Qb4+ Kg8 48.Kg2 Qe5 49.Qg4 Qb2 50.Qc8+ Kh7 51.Qc4 Qxa3 52.Qxf7 Qb4 53.Qc4 Qb7+ 54.Kg1 Qf3 55.g4 1–0
In such a short match, this puts major pressure on Gata, who will play White tomorrow. Originally, CLO, like many websites, mistakenly wrote that Kamsky would get White in round five. As Macauley Peterson reported on his Chess.FM blog, the official website had the wrong information, and the players had both agreed in Dresden to switching colors after each game.
Root on a Kamsky comeback tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/24/09 at 8 AM EST. You can watch on the Internet Chess Club,the official website, or chessdom, where there will be live GM coverage.


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|July 8, 2011, known as "Collector Car Appreciation Day," will mark the
second commemoration in what will become an annual event to raise
awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays
in American society.
SEMA and its Automotive Restoration Market Organization (ARMO) and Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) councils announced July 8, 2011, as "Collector Car Appreciation Day." The date marks the second commemoration in what will become an annual event to raise awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays in American society. SEMA and its councils are now working to secure a congressional resolution to recognize the day's significance.
"Last year, the United States Senate helped launch the first national Collector Car Appreciation Day by passing Senate Resolution 513 at our request," said SEMA Vice President of Government Affairs Steve McDonald. "As a result, thousands of Americans gathered at car cruises, parades and other events to celebrate our nation's automotive heritage. As we move forward, SEMA's commitment to preserving and promoting the automotive restoration industry through its projects and programs is evident in this special day."
S. Res. 513 was sponsored by Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus members Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). Senators Tester and Burr have been strong advocates for the automotive hobby in Washington, and the resolution reaffirmed their understanding of the cultural importance of collector cars. The caucus is an informal, non-partisan group that pays tribute to America's ever-growing love affair with the car and motorsports. The caucus recognizes the integral role collector cars have played in fostering our nation's appreciation for the automobile's unique place in our history.
"On July 8, 2011, collectors and enthusiasts will host hundreds of events across the country," said Laura Bergan, ARMO chairman. "We will proudly partner with individuals, car clubs and businesses as they organize car cruises, club gatherings and other educational events to celebrate the day."
Rick Love, HRIA chairman-elect said, "The industry endeavors to preserve our nation's automotive heritage while providing well-paying, high-skilled jobs nationwide. Collector Car Appreciation Day is a singular tribute to this industry and the millions of hobbyists it supports."
SEMA will maintain a list of scheduled events to commemorate America's time-tested love affair with the automobile. Individuals, car clubs and business owners interested in publicizing events should contact Mike Dingell, director, SEMA Action Network (SAN) at 202/783-6007 ext. 38 or firstname.lastname@example.com. If you are unable to celebrate on July 8, SEMA encourages events to be scheduled throughout the month of July.


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Wednesday, October 4, 2023
OSH, Jan 28 2013 - Like most residents of her children's home in Osh, Nargiza is a part-time orphan. Her father disappeared when she was born and her mother works long spells in Russia. Nargiza has no siblings and doesn't know her grandparents. But she does see her mother from time to time.
"I live with my mother when she is in town," says the wide-eyed 10-year-old. "No one comes to visit me when my mother is in Russia. She says nobody gives us money and that is why she must go to Russia to work hard."
For many, the words "orphan" and "Kyrgyzstan", when said in one breath, conjure up stories of international adoption scandals, corrupt middlemen, and a moratorium on adoptions by foreign parents. But for sociologists and psychologists, the larger tragedy is that thousands of children with living parents are ending up in Kyrgyzstan's orphanages in the first place.
They are the so-called social orphans – the offspring of those who leave the country for long periods in search of work. With Kyrgyzstan's growing poverty, and widespread labour migration, the number of these children is on the rise, experts say.
According to her teachers, who agreed to speak only if the girl's name was changed, Nargiza regularly attends school, but the instability upsets her development.
"Nargiza's mother takes her home only occasionally. Being a single mother, most of the time she is in Russia looking for work," said Nargiza's teacher Zoya, who declined to give her surname in order to protect Nargiza's privacy. "The little girl still does not have a birth certificate, and her difficult situation negatively affects her school progress. She is quite reserved and does not socialise much with other children."
Government dysfunction has left many children to fall through the cracks, says Edil Baisalov, the recently appointed deputy minister of social development.
"Government social support to needy children is not organised," Baisalov told EurasiaNet.org. "The government does not deliver proper assistance to children in difficult situations. How can it possibly be that 10- to 12-year-old children in the 21st century do not have birth certificates?"
According to research conducted by My Family, a UNICEF-funded NGO in Bishkek, today over 11,000 children live in Kyrgyzstan's 117 children's homes, sometimes referred to as orphanages. Most are admitted for one of three reasons: the death of a parent (22 percent); a family's difficult financial situation (21 percent); or divorce (14 percent). Only six percent have no living parents.
Though Kyrgyz families, according to Baisalov, adopted over 1,000 kids in 2010 and as many in 2011, My Family says the number of institutionalised children is increasing with Kyrgyzstan's worsening poverty. The Kyrgyz National Statistics Committee reports that 36.8 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2011, an increase of 3.1 percent over the previous year.
Poverty is what's driving the labour migration. By many estimates, 800,000 Kyrgyz – or about 15 percent of the country's population – are working abroad in Russia and Kazakhstan, mostly doing menial labour like shoveling snow in Moscow or cleaning up in fast-food restaurants.
According to the World Bank, in 2011, the last year for which statistics are available, remittances totaled the equivalent of 29 percent of GDP, making Kyrgyzstan the third-most remittance-dependent country in the world.
"With the growing poverty in Kyrgyzstan, the number of social orphans is growing as well," said Nazgul Turdubekova, the director of Bishkek-based League for the Rights of the Child, an NGO.
Turdubekova says the government's 2011 Social Protection Strategy, which aims to provide financial help to children in low-income families, "does not work."
"There is no effective government programme to deliver social assistance to low-income families," she told EurasiaNet.org.
Moreover, statistics overlook the vast number of children living with their extended families, says Gulnara Ibraeva, a sociologist at the American University of Central Asia. "Considering the volume of migration, the real number of children living at relatives' is much higher" than any statistics show, Ibraeva said, warning that the family as an institution is "disintegrating".
"The life of the child has fallen in value. Children become a crushing burden for parents. The government does not care for children in need. It is a systematic failure. It is a systematic problem. We have several lost generations," said Ibraeva.
Turdubekova blasts the government for sending the lion's share of cash benefits to institutions, rather than to families in need, in effect making the institutions "compete" with families.
"The government uses most of its resources dedicated for needy children to finance children's homes, allocating 6,000 to 11,000 soms (126-231 dollars) per child per month; parents from low-income families receive only 500 soms (10 dollars) per month per child," Turdubekova said. "The difference between 6,000 to 11,000 and 500 soms is huge. Naturally, it turns out that needy families cannot compete with the government, and they are forced to take their children to orphanages."
Moreover, through waste or graft, the money sent to institutions is not wisely spent, Turdubekova said: "The child actually receives only 30 to 40 percent of the aid. The rest is spent to maintain buildings, for utilities and staff salaries."
Even if the funding were reorganised, it would probably do little to stem labour migration, and not help children like Nargiza. But it could make it financially viable for more parents to leave their children with relatives, which psychologists argue is usually preferable to state-run institutions.
Ibraeva, the sociologist, believes authorities must rethink their spending priorities. The government gives each family 1,100 soms as a social benefit at the birth of each child. But the amount paid as a "funeral benefit" at the death of a family member is much higher: Between 1,850 soms and 7,100 soms, for unemployed and employed, respectively.
"What is of greater value – birth or death? Of course, both are sacred, but as more money is spent on death, it appears death is more valuable in Kyrgyzstan," Ibraeva said.
*Editor's note: Hamid Tursunov is a freelance writer from Osh.
This story originally appeared on Eurasianet.org.
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University of Michigan
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University of Michigan
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Finding the equation for an ellipse when you're given information about the foci and the co-vertice. So if you remember your co-vertice is actually the end points of you minor axis, so vertices are the end point of your major axis, your longer axis, co-vertices are the end point of your minor or your shorter axis.
So what we want to do first is just sort of plot these points so we can see what we're working with. So I know that my foci are down the x axis six units let's use a different color, so I know that my foci are going to be here and over here and my co-vertices are up and down 8 on the y axis two, four, six, eight, two, four, six, eight.
So what we know is that our foci always lie on the major axis which tells me that my vertices, the end points of my major axis are actually going to be our here somewhere. So we know that it's going to be a horizontal ellipse because it's going to be wider than it is tall. The thing that we have to find now is what that major axis, what our x radius is actually going to be.
I know that my center has to be at the origin because the only way for our minor axis and our foci to be on perpendicular lines which our axis are, is for them to cross right at the origin, so therefore I know I don't have any transformations going on. So from that I can easily write that the equation for this is going to be x² over something plus y² over something is equal to 1. The y is over it's minor radius again it's a horizontal so the y is going to be over the y radius squared, y radius is the distance from the origin to the top of that axis, so this is just going to be over 8² or 64.
We now need to find out what this measurement is and we can do that using a relationship with a² minus b² is equal to c². A² is the major radius which is going to be the distance from the vertex to whatever that point is, that vertice is we don't know what it is. B² is the minor radius which we do know, which is just going to be this, so that's just going to be a² minus oops that's 8 isn't it? So yeah it's 8 up here so that's just going to be what I said minus 64 I'm confusing myself up here is equal to c² which is the distance from the center to the foci which is just going to be 6, so this is just going to equal 36.
Solving for a, add 64 over a² is equal to 100 which tells us that a is equal to 10. 10 then is going to be our major radius. So we're going to be center which at the origin out 10 units to find that vertice that end point of the major axis, so 10 is what we squared to put into our equation, so really all we have to do to finish this up is take this and we know we then have 10² underneath our x² term.
So interpreting our information when we're given foci and co-vertices, it be pretty similar if we were told the vertices as well except instead of plugging in for our b, we will just be plugging in for our a.


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All pictures this page Copyright © 1999 J Greely. Comment here.
Chicago turned sunny just in time for the Playmates to arrive. Coincidence, or something more? The recently-renovated Radisson O'Hare hosted another Glamourcon, and the show was so much fun we didn't really mind the hotel's complete lack of air-conditioning. [last update: 7/6/99]


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By Michael Steinberg
A recent poll of Southern California residents found that most of them want to keep the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant shut down . The poll also found that the residents don't trust its majority owner and operator, Southern California Edison, to keep safety as its first priority at the nuke plant.
" A strong majority of Edison customers want to keep San Onofre shut down and almost half don't trust Edison to put safety before profit," environmental group Friends of the Earth reported on October 1.
Friends of the Earth (foe.org) commissioned David Binder Research to carry out the poll. The company talked to 700 registered voters in the counties San Onofre provides electricity to.
The results: "58% of respondents said they oppose reopening the plant…Only 32% said San Onofe should reopen," Friends of the Earth reported.
The poll was carried out during September 15-17. The poll also found that nearly half of respondents don't believe Edison's slogan "Safety is our number one priority."
In addition, 56% of respondents " want California to reduce the use of nuclear power for energy, and "nearly three quarters expressed at least some level of concern about an accident at San Onofre."
FOE's Damon Mogien commented, "Edison's customers are not buying the company line. After a summer when the lights stayed on without San Onofre, a strong majority of Southern Californians know these crippled reactors can be replaced with clean and reliable sources of energy. And a significant number believe Edison's proposal to restart San Onofre is gambling with their safety."
Off the Charts
Earlier last month, the nonprofit group The Committee to Bridge the Gap released a study documenting the number of damaged tubes in San Onfre Units 2 and 3's steam generators, which caused the two nuclear reactors shut down in late January. The study was reported in the September 20 Pasadena Star News.
The group reported that tube wear at San Onofre was "off the charts compared with other US nuclear plants that have experienced similar problems." According to the Committee, for those nuclear plants, "the median number of steam generator tubes showing wear after one [operating] cycle is four."
But for San Onofre, Unit 2 had 1595 worn tubes , Unit 3 1806.
Also in the report was the "median number of indications of wear and tear on tubes after one cycle." For other nuclear plants it also is four. But for San Onofre, it was 4721 for Unit 2 and 10,284 for Unit 3.
Committee president David Hirsch, a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, commented, "They had relatively new steam generators that had been operating for about two years, yet San Onofre had hundreds of times more damage."
Of Edison's plan to restart Unit 2, which it is expected to submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission soon, Hirsch said, "That would be a big mistake. Unit 2 is seriously ill. It has the same underlying sickness that Unit 3 has. So this is very worrisome."
Edison's Jennifer Manfre responded, "It's important to note they are just counting up numbers rather than looking at the actual cause. We're plugging many tubes preventatively."


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Content-type: text/html
cc [ flag... ] file... -lrt [ library... ] #include <mqueue.h>
int mq_notify(mqd_t mqdes, const struct sigevent *notification);
The mq_notify() function provides an asynchronous mechanism for processes to receive notice that messages are available in a message queue, rather than synchronously blocking (waiting) in mq_receive(3RT).
If notification is not NULL, this function registers the calling process to be notified of message arrival at an empty message queue associated with the message queue descriptor, mqdes. The notification specified by notification will be sent to the process when the message queue transitions from empty to non-empty. At any time, only one process may be registered for notification by a specific message queue. If the calling process or any other process has already registered for notification of message arrival at the specified message queue, subsequent attempts to register for that message queue will fail.
The notification argument points to a structure that defines both the signal to be generated and how the calling process will be notified upon I/O completion. If notification->sigev_notify is SIGEV_NONE, then no signal will be posted upon I/O completion, but the error status and the return status for the operation will be set appropriately. If notification->sigev_notify is SIGEV_SIGNAL, then the signal specified in notification->sigev_signo will be sent to the process. If the SA_SIGINFO flag is set for that signal number, then the signal will be queued to the process and the value specified in notification->sigev_value will be the si_value component of the generated signal (see siginfo.h(3HEAD)).
If notification is NULL and the process is currently registered for notification by the specified message queue, the existing registration is removed. The message queue is then available for future registration.
When the notification is sent to the registered process, its registration is removed. The message queue is then be available for registration.
If a process has registered for notification of message arrival at a message queue and some processes is blocked in mq_receive(3RT) waiting to receive a message when a message arrives at the queue, the arriving message will be received by the appropriate mq_receive(3RT), and no notification will be sent to the registered process. The resulting behavior is as if the message queue remains empty, and this notification will not be sent until the next arrival of a message at this queue.
Any notification registration is removed if the calling process either closes the message queue or exits.
Upon successful completion, mq_notify() returns 0; otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error.
The mq_notify() function will fail if:
EBADF The mqdes argument is not a valid message queue descriptor.
EBUSY A process is already registered for notification by the message queue.
ENOSYS The mq_notify() function is not supported by the system.
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
|Interface Stability
mqueue.h(3HEAD), siginfo.h(3HEAD), signal.h(3HEAD), mq_close(3RT), mq_open(3RT), mq_receive(3RT), mq_send(3RT), attributes(5), standards(5)
Solaris 2.6 was the first release to support the Asynchronous Input and Output option. Prior to this release, this function always returned -1 and set errno to ENOSYS.


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The folks over at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have announced they're looking for someone to construct a compact, cylinder-shaped delivery device that can instantly expand into a large structure (web, wall, blockade or barrier) without human intervention. In other words, no assembly required.
The project is called "Block Access to Deny Entry" or "BlockADE." (Creative acronyms seem to be a source of pride for DARPA.) The agency envisions a container—0.3 meters in diameter, around 2 meters in length, weighing no more than 300 pounds—filled with a material and/or device that "provide expansion ratios of several orders of magnitude, while maintaining sufficient properties to block or slow access to a specified area (e.g., mechanical strength for solid barriers, stickiness or sharpness for web or briar-like barriers, capacity to self-weld or self-assemble, etc.)."
The other criteria is that it must be able to deny or slow access to someone with hand tools, such as saws, hammers, axes and shovels. Bonus points if the design allows for added functionality, including "ballistic resistance."
Have any ideas? Share them in the comments section, or send them directly to DARPA. Or Wayne Enterprises.


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