text:
Whip up an exciting new look for your walls-quicker and easier than ever. Borders bring character, color and detail to a roomlifting it to a refined level of style that reflects your personality and flare. Specialty coffee drinks encompass this border in warm jewel tones. Contains Microban Antimicrobial Product Protection which inhibits bacterial odors and stains, mold and mildew. Durable, moisture resistant solid vinyl material is great for high traffic areas.
- Pre-pasted, requires no additional adhesives or activators
- Scrubbable-durable enough that it can be scrubbed with the use of moderate pressure and a damp cotton cloth or sponge
- Peelable vinyl
- In order to ensure that you can complete your project with product from a common dye-lot, it is recommended that you order 1 extra roll at the start of your project, if you reorder extra paper at a later date, a matching dye-lot may not be available
- If you are placing a reorder requiring a specific dye-lot of a pattern please call home depot customer service at 800-430-3376 for assistance
- If you reorder extra paper at a later date, a matching dye-lot may not be available
- click here to view this pattern in a room or to order a sample. (wallpaper samples are 8 w x 10h, border samples are a 12 length of actual border.)
- Wallpaper samples are not returnable

subset: commoncrawl


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Website Developers in Rohini
We are Website Designers and Website Developers in Delhi. And to facilitate our services to our website related services near you we are opening a small but responsibe website design studio in Website Developers in Rohini.
We provide high quality website designing services in Website Developers in Rohini. We create professional, business, corporate websites with innovative and high resolution images and texts to make your website more attractive and trafficking.
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At web authority india, We work to expanding your business and client base,while at the same time, decreasing your work-load in a cost-effective way. Our Website Developers in Rohini meets all needs of various businesses, as well as different types of stakeholder relationships and interactions within business, and have, therefore, been structured accordingly.
We encourages client participation at the various levels of website development, thus allowing a free flow of ideas along with the fulfillment of our ultimate goal - satisfied customers across the world.
Our Customer Support Services ensure continued interaction with clients to meet their growing and/or changing needs, as well as tastes, as businesses evolve and expand with time. We believe in sustaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our clients around the world.


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Staple ut1411852 illuminate jumper. Fabric: 40% polyester, 30% acrylic, 20% polyamide, 10% wool. Care label: warm hand wash. Occasion: casual style: yummy mummy,everyday girl suits shape: pear,hourglass,curvy,rectangle,apple


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Muhammad al-Baqir
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Muhammad ibn 'Alī al-Bāqir (676 - 743 AD) (Arabic: محمد ابن علي الباقر ), was the fifth Twelver Shī'ah Imām, grandson of Husayn, and second generation grandson of Muhammad. He was given the title "Baqir al-'Ulūm" ("revealer / splitter of knowledge and wisdom"), due to his ample knowledge of religion and his enthusiasm to teach to other people. Muhammad al-Baqir became a teacher, and he is remembered for his knowledge in both religious and judicial matters. His son, Jafar al-Sadiq was also a student of his.
General subjects[edit]
- Take the good speech from whoever said it even if his practice was not accordingly.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.75, p. 170
- The parable of a man greedy of this world is the parable of the silk worm: the more it winds the thread round itself the farther it becomes from salvation, until it dies of grief.
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī - Book of Faith and Infidelity, vol.3, p. 202 & vol.2, p. 316
- Being sociable and affable with people brings kindness and friendship.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 306
- There is no strength higher than overcoming carnal desire.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.75, p. 165
- How beautiful it is when goodness succeeds badness; and how unappealing it is when evil succeeds goodness.
- Muhammadi Reishahri, Muhammad (2010). Mizan al-Hikmah. 3. Qum: Dar al-Hadith.
Knowledge and wisdom[edit]
- Learn knowledge and science from him who teaches it, even if he doesn't practice what he preaches.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 299
- There is no pain worse than ignorance and lack of intelligence.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 165
- Opposition of one's desires is the sign of the highest level of wisdom in a human being.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.78, p. 164
Wisdom in religion[edit]
- On the Day of Judgement, God will interrogate people according to the wisdom he has granted them.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.1, p. 106
- Knowledge and science is the fruit of paradise; in times of threat it is one's ally, in exile it keeps one company, and in solitude it is one's intimate friend and companion.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.78, p. 55
- The person who teaches one chapter of guidance to the people will have a reward similar to all those who would act upon it, and nothing would be lessened or subtracted from the reward of those who practise it; and the one who teaches a chapter of misguidance, he will have the burden similar to each one who acts upon it, and nothing will be lessened from their burden of sin.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 297
- The virtue of knowledge is more lovable with Allah than the virtue of worship. The best (thing) in your religion is piety.
- Al-Khisal, p. 4
- Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi (1999). "His traditions from the Prophet". The Life of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir.
- Consider the world as an abode where in you have dropped down for an hour, then you have got to leave it and go ahead; or (suppose it is) like the wealth which you lay hands upon in a dream and become over-joyed and glad. Then you wake up to find yourself empty handed.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 287
- Whoevers tongue utters the truth, his practise becomes purified; and the one whose intention is decent and good, his sustenance increases; and whoever adopts good attitude and decent behavior with his family, his life span lengthens.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 295
- Three things destroy a man: considering his own deeds to be really great, forgetting the sins that have been committed, considering his own opinion to be the highest.
- Al Khisaal. vol.1, p. 112
- Fasting is a shield against (hell) fire. Charity and dole remove and finish sin, as does the remembrance of God in the midnight.
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.2, p. 23
- The scholar whose knowledge is made use of and benefited from, is worthier and more virtuous than seventy thousand worshippers and adorers.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 294
- Beware of sluggishness, annoyance and impatience, since they are the keys of all the evils. The person who commits sluggishness and slackness never at all discharges any rights (obligations); and the one who gets annoyed and restless, does never at all remain patient over the right (God's decree on him).
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 295
- Indeed, the most terrifically sorry of all the people on the day of resurrection, will be the servant who defines and shows the way of justice to the people, while he himself opposes it.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 298
- Being religious equals being extremely loving, and being extremely loving equals being religious.
- Muhammadi Reishahri, Muhammad (2010). Mizan al-Hikmah. 2. Qum: Dar al-Hadith.
- Goodness to parents, and paying visits to ones own relatives, will ease the accounting on the Day of Judgement.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.74, p. 86
- Indeed, when a man earns wealth from a haraam (prohibited source) - neither Hajj, nor Umra, nor strengthening of his blood kinship, is ever at all accepted or approved. By God, Almighty.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.75, p. 375
- Indeed, faithful is the one who - when pleased and glad, his pleasure does not make him enter into sin and falsehood; and when unhappy and angry, his anger does not oust him from the world of righteousness; and when he gains power, his power does not make him commit excess, nor opression, nor make him go for a thing upon which he does not have any right.
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.2, p. 234
- Two kinds of my community have no share in Islam. (They are): the extremists and the fatalists.
- Al-Khisal, p. 71
- Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi (1999). "His traditions from the Prophet". The Life of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir.
- There is no servant except that there exists a white spot upon his heart. So when he commits a sin, a black spot arises into that white spot. Then when he repents, this black spot moves away. But if he continues on committing sins, the blackness of this spot increases till such time that it overwhelms and overrides the whiteness. When the whiteness is all covered over (by the blackness), the owner of it (the heart) does never at all return towards beneficence and goodness. And This is what God means when he says: "Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like a rust upon their hearts." (Qur'an, 83:14)
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.73, p. 332
- There are three hinges out of the completion of values, of this world and the here-after:
- 1) Forgiving the one who has committed excess and aggression against you.
- 2) Joining the one who cuts off relations and ties with you.
- 3) Forbearance and tolerance for the one who committed a folly, and showed poor behavior and misconducts towards you.
- Ibn Shu'ba al-Harrani, Tuhaf al-'Uqul, p. 293
- I admonish you regarding five things:
- 1) If you are wronged, do not commit wrong doing to others;
- 2) If you are betrayed, do not betray anyone;
- 3) If you are called a liar, do not be furious;
- 4) If you are praised, do not be jubilant;
- 5) If you are criticised, do not fret and think of what is said in criticism - if you find in yourself what is criticised about you, then you are falling down in the eyes of God; when you are furious about the truth, it is a much greater calamity then your falling down in the eyes of the people. And if you are opposite of what is said (in criticism) about you, then it is a merit you acquired without having to tire yourself in obtaining it.
- Majlisi, Bihārul Anwār, vol.75, p. 162
- By Allah no one is our Shī'ah except that he has piety for God and obeys him. They (the Shī'ah) are not known and recognized except for their humility, modesty, fear of God, trustworthiness, plenty of remembrance of God, fasting, service, kindness to the parents, looking after the poor neighbours and afflicted people, mentioning them with nothing except goodness and beneficence; and they are the trustees for their tribes in all the affairs.
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.2, p. 84
- The person who loves for the sake of God, and detests and despises for the sake of God, and gives for the sake of God, is among those whose faith has achieved completion.
- Muhammad Kulayni, Usūl al-Kāfī, vol.2, p. 124
- The believer does not spend an expense more lovable with Allah than saying the truth during consent and anger.
- Al-Khisal, p. 60
- Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi (1999). "His traditions from the Prophet". The Life of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir.
- Whoever has three qualities or one of them will be in the shade of the throne of Allah: He should treat people with justice. He should do nothing unless he knows whether it pleases or angers Allah. He should seek no fault in his Muslim brother until he frees himself from that fault. For when he frees himself from a fault, he finds another fault in him. It is enough for the person that his own self diverts him from the people.
- Al-Khisal, p. 78
- Baqir Shareef al-Qurashi (1999). "His traditions from the Prophet". The Life of Imam Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Baqir.


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FIRST LEGO League Challenge & Season Info
Celebrate the 30th season of FIRST with FIRST® LEGO® League INTO ORBITSM.READ MORE >
Find Teams & Events in your area. Our high-tech spectator events are a unique melding of STEM principles and exciting competition. Join us and experience the ultimate Sport for the Mind™. Events are free and open to the public.
FIRST Volunteers agree: it's easy to get started, and impossible to stop! Whether you have a weekend to help, want to mentor for a length of time, have technical or non-technical expertise, there is a volunteer role suited to your unique interest.


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a. It was co-suffering love for sinful mankind that accomplished redemption. The juridical understanding was that Christ took upon Himself God's wrath.
b. If Christ had descended to hell after his spiritual suffering, but without the Cross, would anyone be able to imagine the depth of those sorrows and to understand the inner union of His soul with the whole of human nature?
c. If there were on Christian who knew only of the Savior's spiritual suffering and another who knew of His physical torments, the latter would likely mourn His death with greater compunction.
d. This is because our nature is so coarse that it is very difficult for it to enter into the concept of the purely spiritual torments of Christ.
e. Christ's bodily suffering and death were primarily necessary so that believers would value His spiritual suffering as incomparably greater.
f. Christ's cleansing Blood, saving Cross, life-giving Tomb and healing wounds are all expressions and images which are substituted fro the general concept of Christ's redeeming Passion. We are far from insisting that the only meaning of our Lord's bodily suffer and, in particular, of His crucifixion and death was to provide the faithful with a way of conceiving His spiritual grief.
g. It may be objected that such an interpretation is unheard of.
h. Salvation is our conscious process of perfection and communion with God; therefore, the truths of revelation united with it should be bound to out inner experience and not be allowed to remain as if completely incomprehensible mysteries which we do not understand.
i. The author is convinced that the explanation of the truth of the doctrine of redemption which have been here expounded is in accord with the teaching of the Church, but is even more firmly convinced of the Church's infallibility so that, if it were proved that this explanation does not coincide with her teaching, he would consciously renounce his views on this dogma.
- What do you make of the accusations leveled against this essay that: a) it introduces a novel doctrine into the Church; b) that it underemphasizes Christ's human fear at Gethsemane; and that c) it shifts the locus of Christ's redemption from the Cross to Gethsemane? How would Metropolitan Anthony himself reply to these charges?


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Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot
Also known as Thoth Tarot, Crowley Thoth Tarot, Toth Tarot
The striking, fascinating artwork in the classic Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot was conceptualised by the famous occultist and Golden Dawn member, Aleister Crowley, and created by Lady Frieda Harris. This edition of the deck has 80 cards, which includes three versions of the Magus card.
Created by
Aleister Crowley,
Frieda Harris
Tarot Deck - 80 Cards - US Games 1978
Read reviews of the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot
Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot review by Bayati
In spite of the bad rap this deck sometimes receives (perhaps because it is preceeded by the reputation of its infamous creator), for me there is no other deck that provides me with such profound clarity and accurate guidance in readings. Though I own and have read several other decks, for the past three years, this is the only deck I use for readings.
When I saw this the complete deck for the first time in a local Metaphysical store, its flaming intensity scared me. There is a richness and complexity to it that both attracts one to its bold beauty and causes the same aversion the eyes feel when looking at the sun. Just as the eyes can't handle the intense rays of the sun, in my earliest tarot studying days, I wasn't quite ready for the Thoth.
A month later, I broke down a... read more reviews.
Similar Decks to Aleister Crowley Thoth TarotTheme: Golden Dawn, Occult, Thoth-Inspired
Category: Available Decks, Extra Major Arcana, Popular Tarot Decks
Creator: Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Pocket Edition by Frieda Harris Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot Pocket Edition, The Complete Tarot Kit by Aleister Crowley
More About These CardsName: Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot
Alternate Names: Thoth Tarot, Crowley Thoth Tarot, Toth Tarot
Creators: Aleister Crowley, Frieda Harris
Publisher: US Games 1978
Deck Type: Tarot Deck
Cards: 80
Major Arcana: 24
Minor Arcana: 56
Deck Tradition: Crowley Thoth
Minor Arcana Style: Thoth-Based
Suits: Cups, Swords, Wands, Disks
Court Cards: Princess, Prince, Queen, Knight
Major Titles: The Fool, The Magus, The Priestess, The Empress, The The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Adjustment, The Hermit, Fortune, Lust, The Hanged Man, Death, Art, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, The Aeon, The Universe
The Fool is 0
Strength is 11
Justice is 8
Card Size: 2.76 x 4.33 in. = 7.00cm x 11.00cm
Card Language: English
Card Back: Non-reversible
Back Design: Multi-coloured rosicrucian cross on a checkered background.
Companion Material: 48-page companion booklet with this edition.
Learn more: Join the study group in the forum.
More Decks on Aeclectic
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Robert Kresky
Reported by 9NEWS.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – A coroner's report shows that a Colorado Springs man who was shot and killed by police during a chase suffered 14 gunshot wounds, 7 of them in his back.
Police say 23-year-old Robert Kresky was killed on Dec. 4 after they saw him driving a stolen vehicle and he refused to pull over.
Officers chased him for about five miles. The pursuit ended when Kresky crashed into a police car.
Police said Kresky was shot during a foot chase after he got out of the car and started running, and they apparently though he was armed.
According to KRDO-TV, police have not commented on the shooting because that is standard procedure for any open investigation.
Police say the officers involved in the shooting are no longer on administrative leave.


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Norton AntiVirus 2013 is a powerful tool for detecting and eliminating all types of malware.
The most obvious change in the new edition is the revamped interface. The basic look and feel is the same, but the interface has been rearranged to optimise it for touch (and installing the system on Windows 8 will give you protection via a Metro app), and support for hardware acceleration improves responsiveness. Initially it feels a little odd - there are buttons without tooltips, which left us momentarily confused - but it only takes a moment to learn the basics and we soon felt at home.
Protection improvements see more rapid updates of the Insight file reputation database. The latest version of SONAR system now works in Safe Mode to detect even brand new threats by their behaviour. And the program can also work with new Windows 8 technology which enables it to launch earlier in the boot process, so better protecting you against rootkits, malicious drivers and similar threats.
And in a relatively minor (though still useful) tweak, Norton AntiVirus 2013 actually downloads and installs Norton Power Eraser for you. And as a result, if a scan completes, and you follow the "If you think there are still risks, click here" link, you're not left to sort things out yourself: you're able to launch Norton Power Eraser with a click to (hopefully) find and remove any particularly stubborn threats.
The other addition this time is what Symantec call "Bandwidth Monitoring", which they say "will help consumers avoid costly data overage fees by limiting non-critical updates on bandwidth sensitive networks". This seems to be represented by a new setting (Settings > Network > Network Security Settings > Network Cost Awareness) which allows you to set a policy to govern how the program uses a particular network connection. Options are "No Limit" (do what you want), "No Traffic" (don't use this connection at all), or "Economy": if this is some expensive 3G connection, say, Norton AntiVirus 2013 will use it only to download the most critical program and virus definition updates.
Put it all together and the new release represents a very significant improvement for Windows 8 users, more of a gently incremental change for everybody else.
Build 20.4 adds these fixes/changes:
- Fixed compatibility issue with Malwarebytes.(link)
- Fixed an issue where Safe web annotations were not appearing for google.com (US Google only) (threads 1 , 2, 3, 4).
- Corrected issue where Intrusion Prevention was showing as off (stays on) if you opened Norton Antispam from Outlook.
- Norton Zone widget has been added to the main product page (English Only).
- Norton Safe Web widget has been removed from the main product page (Safe Web will remain as part of the Browser).
- Fixed visiblity of buttons in high contrast mode.
- Fixed an issue where the Scan Items tab scroll bar was not appearing
Norton AntiVirus 2013 reserves its most significant updates for Windows 8 users, but there are smaller improvements for everyone else and if you're interested in the program then it's still worth a look.


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When the public sees the logo of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) displayed inside a veterinarian's lobby, they might assume the vet is in good standing with the non-profit agency.
The BBB, though, allows a select group of professions, including veterinarians, to be members, but will not process consumer complaints against them. If the public reviews a veterinarian's profile, for instance, on the BBB's website to find out if disputes have been filed, it may say "the Bureau processed no complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period," and "Based on BBB files, this company has a satisfactory record with the Bureau, which means the company has been in business for at least 12 months, and properly addressed matters referred by the Bureau."
Yet that may not be true.
Dick Eppstein, president of the northwest Ohio Better Business Bureau, said the agency doesn't process disputes against veterinarians, doctors and lawyers because "we're not experts in things like that."
Although they can be members of the BBB, consumer complaints against these professions should be filed with professional review boards, not the BBB, he said.
"They know a lot more about most of these specialties than we do," he said.
It would be unfair, he added, to exclude them from joining the BBB just because consumers can't complain about them.
"They can join the Better Business Bureau, because, as near as we can tell, they are ethical and well-established," said Eppstein.
"We don't get a lot of complaints on them - we get a very small number. One thing you learn is that there are two sides to every story. You know only what each side tells you. They'll give us their position, what they recall happening, as opposed to the customer's, and the stories differ so dramatically, that you know someone in the industry or profession is going to have to sit down and look over the records and the treatment, in the case of a vet or physician. It's a very technical thing sometimes," he said.
"If we started receiving a pattern of complaints on a doctor or veterinarian, we would keep an eye on them. Even though we couldn't rule on anything, we would contact the state and say we're very concerned about these five complaints we just got in a two month period," said Eppstein.
Why allow some professions to join the BBB if the agency does not consider customer disputes against them?
"Many times, professionals who are established join the BBB voluntarily because they want to support what we're doing," said Eppstein.
"They want the community protected against fraud, and they support us to do that. In other words, they're not just displaying the BBB logo to say, `You can trust me, I don't get complaints.' But it says, `I'm a doctor or veterinarian who believes in the purposes and principles of the BBB,"' said Eppstein.
He has no concerns the public may feel misled when viewing these professionals' profiles on the BBB website that says they've had no complaints in the last 36 months, even though there may have been.
He acknowledged the public has a "certain level of comfort" when seeing the BBB logo displayed in members' offices, knowing they can check their profiles before doing business with them. Yet he remains staunch in his refusal to process public complaints against veterinarians, which may give consumers a false sense of security when viewing their profiles on the BBB website.
"I don't know any way around that. To say to a physician or veterinarian they can't join the BBB and put our logo up in their lobby, or that we're going to rule on complaints about how they stitched an abdomen, neither of that works for us," said Eppstein, whose son is a surgeon.
Conflict of interest
Eppstein is doing a disservice to the public by allowing such a policy, according to Dr. Dennis Garrett, a professor of marketing at Marquette University. Garrett called it "inconsistent and contradictory" for the BBB to allow a company to be a member of the BBB, but "not hold it accountable to the same standards as other member organizations."
"This case does highlight the challenges of the BBB system in that each of the 120 local BBB offices in the U.S. has considerable latitude in establishing its own policies and procedures," said Garrett, who also serves on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau.
Other BBB offices, he said, may choose to consider disputes against medical professionals and attorneys. He believes complaints should be noted in their BBB files.
"Over the years, this issue has been the main criticism leveled against the BBB by its critics," said Garrett. "Namely, because the BBB is almost totally reliant on member dues for its financial survival, critics argue that the BBB is reluctant to `come down hard' on member companies when complaints are lodged against them."
Credit cards
Charging your veterinary bill to your credit card? Better think again. Credit card companies will not consider chargeback disputes, even if you can prove negligence, malpractice, or services your pet never received. You're stuck with the bill.
MasterCard, for instance, will not issue chargeback "for any sort of medical diagnosis or negligence," according to a local MasterCard chargeback specialist. MasterCard follows the rules of dispute set forth by MasterCard International.
"The rules themselves are in books that are many volumes thick," said the specialist.
MasterCard has a customer advocate line at 1-800-MC-Assist.
Peer review
The Ohio Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA), which represents veterinary interests, has a peer review process pet owners can participate in if they have a complaint against a veterinarian.
Participation is limited to pet owners who have not yet filed a lawsuit, nor a complaint with the Ohio Veterinary Medical Licensing Board, which disciplines veterinarians and renews or revokes their licenses.
Jack Advent, executive director of the OVMA, said veterinarians and pet owners are interviewed during the process.
"The OVMA Peer Review Committee is designed to assist both parties in mediating non-medical disputes between a veterinarian and client," he said. "We receive, on average, 10-12 requests per year, and where both client and veterinarian are receptive to understanding the other's position, most have a successful outcome. From the initial request, it typically takes 60 to 90 days to come to a resolution."
Findings are non-binding.
A complaint form can be downloaded off the Internet. For more information, contact the OVMA at 1-800-662-OVMA, or 614-486-7253.
Licensing board
The Ohio Veterinary Medical Licensing Board is the regulatory agency for the practice of veterinary medicine. It can discipline veterinarians and veterinary technicians for violating rules governing the medical care of pets.
Heather Hissom, executive secretary of the board, said there are no time constraints for pet owners to file complaints, though veterinarians are required to keep medical records for only three years.
The board meets regularly to consider complaints. The minutes of previous meetings, which lists the receipt of complaints stretching back to 2002, is on the board's website at www.ovmlb.ohio.gov. There is also a search engine that discloses the names of veterinarians who have been disciplined by the board.
For more information, contact the board office at 614-644-5281, or e-mail at email@example.com.
Features Editor Tammy Walro contributed to this report


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Longevity has a way of creating objectivity. If you're around something for an extended period of time, you learn how it functions and what will happen to it in the course of events. I guess that's a way of saying that after three decades in this business, I've begun to see some things that impartially lead me to believe other things. In other words, I'm bold enough (or dumb enough) to say what I think is going to happen. I've been studying this industry for the past five years. What I've seen leads me to think that thousands of health club owners and managers hold six misconceptions that are likely to annihilate their businesses within two years:
They still believe in the "build it, they will come" theory of business.
They practice as though their primary business is a rental agreement (as in members are renting space and equipment use).
They think that programming is for the bigger clubs.
They trust that low pricing is a short-term fad.
They suppose that retention is not really as big of an issue as everybody thinks it is.
They believe that the fitness membership marketplace is expanding.
Let's address these theories one at a time:
The theory that if you build it, they will come: It's as dead a horse as can possibly be. The people in this industry living this theory are the big-boxers, the mid-price specialists and the value-pricers mostly in the hundred or so communities in the United States that comprise about one-third of our population. Independents cannot compete at this level and shouldn't try.
The theory that members rent space and equipment: That is the message perpetrated by most health clubs today. It's known as "selling memberships." Most club entrepreneurs think that people actually want to buy memberships. They don't. It's not the membership that's attractive; it's the hope of changing their lives that drives consumers. Facility owners need to grasp that one, quick.
The theory that programming is for bigger clubs: A lot of you think that you can get away with offering members a brief introduction to equipment and a cursory fitness assessment and then send them on their way, trusting that they will have enough self-motivation to keep themselves in the game. They won't. The average member is a low-level three on the self-motivation scale and will stop exercising in your club within 90 days, according to exercise adherence expert Dr. Jim Annesi. The over-40 market, which now comprises nearly one of every two members, wants different and better education, progression, experience and entertainment. If you don't provide it, they're gone. Get smart.
The theory that low-pricing is a short-term fad: Wrong. Take a look at American consumers. With the exception of the elite, high-end population (served by the elite, high-end clubs), fitness buyers are now relating lower price with ultimate value. A recent survey published in this magazine showed that for nearly one-third of the people surveyed, price was the dominant factor in considering a membership purchase. It's time to wake up, folks.
The theory that retention is not really a big issue: Wrong again. Advertising brings in far less walk-in traffic today, sales closing numbers are still under 50 percent, the average pure cost of a new member is more than $100, most clubs have fewer members than they had three years ago, and attrition still hovers at 40 percent or more annually. If you really get that last sentence, you realize that one of the few ways to keep your business in the black is to concentrate on holding on to current members.
The theory that the fitness membership marketplace is expanding: No, it isn't. It has been almost stagnant for three years. We're stuck on 41 million U.S. members, but the facility marketplace continues to grow, expanding during the same period by more than 30 percent. That means that there are 8,000 more competitors vying for the same market share. Not a healthy scenario for increased business.
Of course, I've been trying to tell you this for a while. Now that the public numbers support it, it doesn't mean that anybody's going to listen. Except maybe your competitor.
Michael Scott Scudder owns and operates MSS FitBiz Connection, an online-based club consulting and training service. Scudder can be reached at 505-690-5974 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Holland Bar Stools - MBsktTexsSt - Texas State Basketball Mirror
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Questions about Holland Bar Stools - MBsktTexsSt
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The Perfect Way To Show Your School Pride, Our Basketball Mirror Displays Your School'S Symbols With A Style That Fits Any Setting. With It'S Simple But Elegant Design, Colors Burst Through The 1/8' Thick Glass And Are Highlighted By The Mirrored Accents. Framed With A Black, 1 1/4 Wrapped Wood Frame With Saw Tooth Hangers, This 15'(H) X 26'(W) Mirror Is Ideal For Your Office, Garage, Or Any Room Of The House. Whether Purchasing As A Gift For A Recent Grad, Sports Super Fan, Or For Yourself, You Can Take Satisfaction Knowing You'Re Buying A Mirror That Is Proudly Made In The Usa By Holland Bar Stool Company, Holland, Mi.
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Great Northern Kitchen and Bath is proud to present this decorative rectangle mirror, by Holland Bar Stools. The MBsktTexsSt is made from premium materials, this Rectangle Mirror offers great function and value for your home. This fixture is part of Holland Bar Stools's decorative Collection, so make sure to check out other styles of fixtures to accessorize your room.
The Holland Bar Stool Company's logo "Kiss of Quality" stands for the pride we take in our products and services. It is a constant reminder that nothing but the best will do. From the raw parts to the finished product, our utmost attention is focused on detail to ensure that our products will be guaranteed to please the customer. Holland Bar Stool Company is based in Holland, Michigan, where we manufacture and ship our products. Our merchandise is constructed from the finest solid Red Appalachian Oak or solid hardwood maple for the wood products, and high quality plating grade steel for metal products. Our metal stools have an oven baked powdercoat finish that is extremely durable and long lasting, while our wood is finished with the finest catalyzed lacquer in the industry. We offer a variety of sizes: 18? chairs, 24? counter stools, 30? and 36? bar stools, a number of finishes for both wood and metal products, and a huge assortment of upholstery options. We offer custom heights, custom wood finishes, and since we have our own upholstery department C.O.M.'s are always welcome. We can also supply to you, free of charge, custom literature for your showroom. We make doing business with our company as easy as possible. Our average lead-time for QuickShip items is 7 days, and we have no minimum order! In essence, we are your inventory allowing you to save on valuable warehouse space and inventory investment. All of our products are normally shipped via Federal Express; we even drop ship directly to your customer if requested. Whether for residential or commercial use, we are sure to have something for all settings and applications. Our offerings are sure to please.
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"Should I buy opals as an investment?" "Are opal a wise investment?" The answer to this is really yes — and no — depending on your approach to purchasing.
In these days of such a volatile world economy, we all share uneasiness as to just what might prove to be a "hedge" to our security. It is difficult to receive a meaningful and definitive counsel on any investment. Investments whether for stocks, bonds, real estate, business ventures, gemstones in general — or opals specifically, all have many factors in common, i.e.: "Is the particular choice of good value relative to other choices?" "Are you buying while the market is low?" "Have you searched for and found a competitive, informed, and reliable broker (or dealer in the case of opals)?" "Is your dealer trained and experienced to enable him to competently advise you according to your particular needs?"
When considering opals as an investment, it is wise to approach the idea as you would any other investment — thinking the whole investment concept through. "What do you hope to achieve?" "When and how do you want to convert your investment?" "If you intend to sell, do you have a plan for selling them?" "Will you change them from rough to cut stones or from cut stones to finished jewelry?" Such conversions add value by your applied skills and if you do have these skills and the shop equipment to increase this value to your purchases, do not neglect to add this "asset" in your evaluation of your proposed investment plan.
Perhaps, as is more usually the case, you will not be planning to sell your opal investments, but rather have the pleasure of them as gems and leave them as a part of a family jewelry estate for the continuing enjoyment of your family and heirs.
You may wish to do as many other of today's craftsmen are doing — convert the rough opals to gemstones, or the gemstones to custom crafted jewelry and sell it. If this is your plan, you will no doubt soon have a business venture on the way, and opals are a 'sure fire' seller! However, we can talk about such business objectives another time. This does not fall under the investment category.
Once you have decided that opals are worthy of your investment program, you will need an effective approach as to which opals to buy.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Buy the best you can afford! If there is one word of advice about prudent opal buying this is it! Remember, opals have value because of their beauty and rarity. These two factors usually combine — the most beautifully is usually most rare — and the price therefore climbs proportionately. But the fine opals, the beautiful, the exceptional gem will always be sought after and retain its value. It is better to have a one carat gem of fine quality than a bagful of low quality 'opal in name only' stuff. In seeking to buy so that value is stable and increases, this principal should be your guiding light.
2. Specialize You will have a more valuable investment if it is in a single form. It may take you some time to Zero in on your opal — it may turn out to be black opal, jelly, crystal, or boulder. It might be Australian or Mexican, rough or cut stones. You might know more about and have better opportunities to buy opal in finished jewelry — perhaps antique opal jewelry (there are some real prizes there!); maybe only specific items, say, ladies rings or pins or snuff bottles. Whatever your opal interest is, find it as early as possible and become a specialist in that opal!
3. Confer with as many qualified and experienced dealers as you can! Remember, dealers have had to be successful buyers or they wouldn't still be in business. Profit from their mistakes. They have surely made them and will gladly steer you away from those pitfalls. This, by the way, is a bonus factor which you rarely find in most investments: Your stock broker need never have had a personal investment in stocks, or particularly the one he is advising for you; the real estate broker may, or may not, own real estate such as he suggest you buy.
4. Study Opals! Expose yourself to opals in every way possible. Join a gem and mineral club. You most certainly will meet others with an avid opal interest, and knowledge to share. Contact the American Opal Society, which is devoted exclusively to opals and they accept associate members from any place in the country. They have an ever increasing bank of information — films, opal bibliography, newsletter, etc. Attend gem shows at every opportunity — opals invariably are in full evidence at the shows! Read about any aspect of opal you can. There have been numerous books devoted to opals, from the mining, the gem aspects, the cutting and the history, and their use in handcrafted jewelry. Any information will increase your opal investing ability. If it does nothing else, it will give you a broader appreciation of the opal.
So the 'yes' and 'no' of it turns pretty much on your contribution (in addition to your pocketbook) to your opal investing. If you buy without a planned approach to it you will likely not have a wise investment. If you make planned investments out of your personal knowledge you could well be glad you chose opals!


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forbes, ND
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How Automatic Budget Cuts Could Affect South Dakota
SIOUX FALLS - The White House compiled the numbers from federal agencies and its own budget office. The numbers reflect the impact of the cuts this year. Unless Congress acts by Friday, $85 billion in cuts are set to take effect from March-September.
As to whether states could move money around to cover shortfalls, the White House said that depends on state budget structures and the specific programs. The White House did not have a list of which states or programs might have flexibility.
- About $1.16 million in funding for primary and second education, putting around 20 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 1,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 10 fewer schools would receive funding.
- About $1.78 million in funds for about 20 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
- Aid to help about 90 low-income students finance the costs of college as well as work-study jobs for about 10 students
- Head Start: Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 200 children education.
- About $1.15 million to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste
- $735,000 for fish and wildlife protection
- About 1,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed
- About $900,000 would be cut to operate Army bases in the state, and about $1 million to fund Air Force operations
- About $37,000 for law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives
- About $216,000 in job search assistance
- Child care for as many as 100 disadvantaged and vulnerable children
- $65,000 for vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis, affecting about 950 children
- About $122,000 to help the state respond to public health threats such as infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events.
- About $250,000 to help prevent and treat substance abuse, meaning about 100 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs.
- About $34,000 for health departments in the state, resulting in around 800 fewer HIV tests.
- About $16,000 for services to victims of domestic violence, affecting about 100 victims.
- About $214,000 to provide meals for seniors.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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BSU Catalog Home | Graduate Science Program | All-University Courses and Descriptions
6040 CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF DEMONSTRATION APPARATUS (2 credits) This course is designed to provide students with skills to develop apparatus which they may use in a classroom setting. The students will develop several projects for demonstration purposes or for laboratory use.
6110 SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (2 credits) Examines the role of science and technology in today's society. Although the problems and the solutions may be complex with significant politics involved, the focus of the course is to examine the role and responsibility of science in dealing with these issues.
6120 PHYSICAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS I (2 credits) A laboratory based course that focuses on the process of science. The focus is on science process the areas of measurement, simple error analysis, and basic concepts of physics through laboratory exercises. The primary concepts of physics emphasized are kinematic motion and forces. The inquiry method of investigation is stressed throughout the course.
6130 PHYSICAL SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS II (2 credits) A laboratory based course that focuses on the process of science. A continuation of Physical Science for Teachers I. The focus is on science process the areas of measurement, simple error analysis, and basic concepts of physics and chemistry through laboratory exercise. The primary concepts of physics emphasized are electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics. The inquiry method of investigation is stressed throughout the course.
6210 METEOROLOGY FOR TEACHERS (2 credits) This course involves basic atmospheric sciences including the physical principles that drive weather systems. Teaching materials include computer software, weather maps, weather instruments, and Internet links will be featured. Lecture and laboratory format.
6220 ASTRONOMY FOR TEACHERS (2 credits) This course will involve the basics of Astronomy along with instruction in the use of materials to teach Astronomy at grade levels K-12. Instructional materials will include star charts, celestial spheres, computer software, and telescopes. Lecture and laboratory format.
6250 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (2 credits) The course will discuss the topic of pollution and the effects on the environment and the role of science in this area. The topic could range from the effects of global warming to the pollution effects of nuclear power on the environment. A term paper will be required as part of the course. Lecture and laboratory format.
6300 USING COMPUTERS TO TEACH SCIENCE (2 credits) A laboratory and discussion based course that focuses on the role of computers in teaching science. Topics include and introduction to computer hardware and peripheral components, evaluation of science software and hardware, how to use the Internet and the World Wide Web in science teaching, and creation of home pages and Web sites. Materials will include MPLI and CBL data acquisition systems, and video analysis software and hardware.
6350 COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN STATISTICS (3 credits) An examination of several computer-based packages for statistical analysis, focusing on selection of appropriate statistical procedures, processing by computer, and interpretation of results.
6920 DIRECTED GROUP STUDY: SEMINAR IN SCIENCE EDUCATION (2 credits) Supervised group study of research and advances in science and science education.


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Pinterest Interest!
Pinterest Interest! is a single-issue zine published April, 2013 by Kari Tervo.
Pinterest Interest! was published in California, U.S.A. and is 24 black-and-white pages in a quarter-size format. The zine explores Pinterest from top to bottom: the editor looks at what's on Pinterest and thinks about why it's there, reveals Pinterest's top topics, and talks about some Pinterest characteristics that annoy her. Plus, she offers some potential innovative uses of Pinterest, and answers your burning question: Is there porn on Pinterest?
Pinterest Interest! is a 24-Hour zine. The 24-Hour Zine Thing is a challenge in which a zine must be produced, from concept to final product, in 24 consecutive hours. It is usually completed in July, which is International Zine Month. Tervo produced Pinterest Interest! on April 14th and 15th, 2013. Kicking things off with an hour of research at 4 pm, followed by a nice three-hour nap, she completed the zine at about 6 am the next day. Finishing touches were complete prior to the 4 pm deadline, but a tired Tervo glued on some of the pages crooked. She reserves the right to fix these at a later date.
The 24-Hour Zine Thing requires that creating a 24-Hour zine be a challenge beyond the time constraints. As such, Tervo's goals with Pinterest Interest! were: to experiment with a new format (size, layout), to explore Pinterest from basic (what's there) to conceptual (why it's there) levels, and to create an interesting and informative zine.
Kari Tervo also publishes the zine Shards of Glass In Your Eye!, now up to 13 issues.
Kari's contact information was incorrectly printed. The correct e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
Bookstores Carrying Pinterest Interest!
Los Angeles: Seite Books
Libraries Carrying Pinterest interest!
Chain House Zine Library (Los Angeles)
Uno Foto Mobile Zine Library (San Diego)
- email@example.com.
- Kari Tervo, P.O. Box 7831, Beverly Hills, CA 90212


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U.S. News
Texas Health Department May Alter ADAP Rules if Program Goes Into Deficit
August 11, 2003
The Texas Department of Health has developed a contingency plan to revise eligibility requirements for the Texas HIV Medication Program, the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, to overcome a budget deficit the program may face in coming years, the Houston Chronicle reports. Health officials project that the ADAP have an $11 million deficit in two years, even though the state Legislature recently increased the program's budget to $44.6 million (Ross Hughes, Houston Chronicle, 8/7). The federal-state ADAP program provides free or low-cost medication to low-income HIV-positive individuals. Many state ADAP programs are experiencing financial trouble due to high demand for the drugs, soaring prescription costs and state budget shortfalls (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/12). The four new potential rule changes would only apply to new enrollees, according to the Chronicle. The possible rule changes, which would be phased in as needed, may include:
Back to other news for August 11, 2003
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.


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To be the great North American opera company for the twenty-first century, uniquely placed to provide an indispensable cultural service to the city of Chicago and the nation. To be recognized globally for our world-class artistic excellence and innovation, for engaging and inspiring large and diverse audiences, and for the quality and relevance of the enrichment that we offer to communities throughout the Chicago region.
To make a significant and groundbreaking contribution to the development of our art form. To achieve growth and longevity through fiscal responsibility and increased financial capacity.
We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the development of the art form of opera by:
Producing and performing consistently thrilling, world-class opera, with a balanced repertoire that encompasses core classics, lesser-known masterpieces, and new works.
Creating a diverse, innovative, wide-ranging program of community engagement and education activities that reaches the widest possible public.
Developing exceptional emerging operatic talent.


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Chiang Mai Thai & Sushi Bar offers bold and authentic flavors of Thai
and Sushi located in beautiful downtown Clearwater. Our talented, experienced
chefs create authentic Thai and Sushi entrees using fresh ingredients and traditional
recipes. Exotic sauces and flavors intermingle
on your plate creating an exciting
taste journey you can experience only in our restaurant.
Catering ~ Party Reservations ~ Gift Certificates !!
Contact Us At: (727) 461-0414
415 Cleveland Street
Clearwater, FL 33755
We are open:
Monday - Friday: 11:30 am - 3pm & 4pm - 10pm
Saturday: 4pm - 10pm
Sunday: 4pm - 9pm
Metered parking is available on Cleveland Street and additional parking is in the rear entrance.
We Accept Visa, Mastercard, and Entertainment Cards
Stir-fried rice noodles in our tangy, sweet Pad Thai sauce with eggs, bean sprouts, and scallions. One of our favorite House specialties!
Melt in your mouth, savory House peanut sauce served over a bed of broccoli.
Variations of seafood and fish with every enjoyable, delightful bite.
© Copyright 2009 - 2013 Chiang Mai Restaurant


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Purification rite, any of the ceremonial acts or customs employed in an attempt to reestablish lost purity or to create a higher degree of purity in relation to the sacred (the transcendental realm) or the social and cultural realm. They are found in all known cultures and religions, both ancient and modern, preliterate and sophisticated, and assume a wide variety of types and forms.
Concepts of purity and pollution
General concepts
Every culture has an idea, in one form or another, that the inner essence of man can be either pure or defiled. This idea presupposes a general view of man in which his active or vitalizing forces, the energies that stimulate and regulate his optimum individual and social functioning, are distinguished from his body, on the one hand, and his mental or spiritual faculties, on the other. These energies are believed to be disturbed or "polluted" by certain contacts or experiences that have consequences for a person's entire system, including both the physical and the mental aspects. Furthermore, the natural elements, animals and plants, the supernatural, and even certain aspects of technology may be viewed as operating on similar energies of their own; they too may therefore be subject to the disturbing effects of pollution. Because lost purity can be re-established only by ritual and also because purity is often a precondition for the performance of rituals of many kinds, anthropologists refer to this general field of cultural phenomena as "ritual purity" and "ritual pollution."
The rituals for re-establishing lost purity, or for creating a higher degree of purity, take many different forms in the various contemporary and historical cultures for which information is available. Some purification rituals involve one or two simple gestures, such as washing the hands or body, changing the clothes, fumigating the person or object with incense, reciting a prayer or an incantation, anointing the person or object with some ritually pure substance. Some involve ordeals, including blood-letting, vomiting, and beating, which have a purgative effect. Some work on the scapegoat principle, in which the impurities are ritually transferred onto an animal, or even in some cases (as among the ancient Greeks) onto another human being; the animal or human scapegoat is then run out of town and/or killed, or at least killed symbolically. Many purification rites are very complex and incorporate several different types of purifying actions.
Ritual purity and pollution are matters of general social concern because pollution, it is believed, may spread from one individual or object to other members of society. Each culture defines what is pure and impure—and the consequences of purity and pollution—differently from every other culture, although there is considerable cross-cultural overlapping on certain beliefs. Cultures also vary greatly in the extent to which purity and pollution are pervasive concerns: Hinduism, Judaism, and certain tribal groups such as the Lovedu of South Africa or the Yurok of northern California in the United States seem highly pollution-conscious, whereas among other peoples pollution concerns are relatively isolated and occasional. Even within the so-called pollution-conscious cultures, attitudes toward the cultural regulations may vary considerably: the Yurok, on the one hand, are said to consider their purification rituals to be rather a nuisance, albeit necessary for the success of their economic endeavours; but Hindus, on the other hand, seem to incorporate and embrace more fully the many regulations and rituals concerning purity prescribed in their belief and social systems.
Pollution is most commonly transmitted by physical contact or proximity, although it may also spread by means of kinship ties or co-residence in an area in which pollution has occurred. Because purity and pollution are inner states (though there usually are outer or observable symptoms of pollution), the defiled man—or artifact, temple, or natural phenomenon—may at first show no outward features of his inner corruption. Eventually, however, the effects of pollution will make themselves known; the appearance of a symptom or disaster that is culturally defined as a consequence of pollution, for example, may be the first indication that a defiling contact has occurred. Common cross-cultural, human symptoms of pollution include: skin disease, physical deformity, insanity and feeblemindedness, sterility, and barrenness. Nature also may become barren as a result of pollution; but, on the other hand, the natural elements and magical or supernatural forces may run amok as a result of pollution.
In general, the vital energies of man, nature, or the supernatural, as a consequence of pollution, may become either hypoactive or hyperactive. The vital energies may tend to operate in a manner that leads toward decline, loss of potencies and fertility, and death; they may also, however, tend to operate in an opposite manner that leads toward excess, increase and perversion of potencies, and chaos. Both of these tendencies presumably contrast with the tendencies of a state of purity, although the properties, symptoms, or consequences of purity rarely are explicitly defined in cultural ideologies, in contrast to the wealth of detail elaborated on the consequences of pollution.
On the whole, purity seems to be equated with whatever a culture considers to be the most advantageous mode of being and functioning for achieving the paramount ideals of that culture. Thus, throughout most Asian religions (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Taoism), purity is equated with calmness (physical, mental, and emotional equilibrium) in keeping with the ideal goal—at least for religious adepts—of achieving spiritual transcendence or liberation. In contrast to such Asian religions, groups whose dominant cultural orientation is pragmatic and this-worldly, such as the Yurok, often equate the state of purity with vigour and quickness of mind and body.
Purity and pollution in relation to religious concepts
Concepts of purity and pollution may tend to merge with several concepts of religion: the sacred, sin, and the forces of evil.
Pollution and the sacred
The consequences of contact with both the sacred (the transcendent realm and objects infused with transcendent qualities) and the polluted may be identical, although the reasons for the consequences in the two cases are quite different. The dangers of contact with the sacred may arise from the belief that the gods are offended by pollution; they will punish a person who defiles a sacred precinct or object (for example, in Buddhism and many other religions, a menstruating woman who enters a temple or shrine). The gods may even punish an entire village or tribe for such an offense. To come into contact with the sacred is also viewed as dangerous because the sacred is highly powerful or "charged" with energy; thus, one must be properly strengthened (usually by purification) for the encounter. If one is not thus strengthened, he will be overwhelmed. Although contact with the sacred may have negative consequences for a person, this is not because the sacred is polluting. On the other hand, the dangers of encounter with a polluted person (e.g., an "untouchable" in India) or object (e.g., feces, in most cultures) arise directly from the pollution that passes from that person or object to oneself.
Pollution and sin
Purity and pollution beliefs may become incorporated into a religious morality system in which pollution becomes a type of sin and an offense against God or the moral order, and purity becomes a moral or spiritual virtue. Thus, for example, in the Old Testament, the pollution of birth must not only be cleansed by symbolic or ritual gestures; it must also be atoned for as a cultic sin that offends the sacred precincts of the Lord. In general, the more universalistic religions—Christianity, Buddhism, and Islām—seem to de-emphasize true pollution concerns, and to subsume them within their frameworks of moral and religious beliefs. Both the Qurʾān of Islām and the New Testament of Christianity show a sharp decrease in rules of specific pollution avoidances (e.g., fewer food prohibitions) compared to the Old Testament. Similarly, the sacred texts of Buddhism stress the unimportance of specific avoidances and rituals (in implicit contrast to the multiple and detailed purity regulations of Hinduism) and the necessity for cultivating one's spiritual and moral development instead.
Pollution and the forces of evil
Ideas of pollution are often closely associated with beliefs in demons, sorcerers, and witches. All of the latter may be viewed, in part, as personifications of the powers of pollution. People in polluted states are believed to be dangerous not only to others because they may spread their pollution, but they themselves are often thought to be in danger of attack by demons, who are attracted by the defiled person's impurities (see also angel and demon).
Categories and theories of pollution and impurity
Categories of pollution and impurity
Four major categories of what various religions and societies have regarded as polluting or inherently impure phenomena may be distinguished. Virtually any type of impure person, object, or state (as defined in various cultures) may be assigned to one of these four categories, or may be shown to have symbolic associations with one (or sometimes with several) of these four sets.
Physiological processes
The functions of the human body are, for the most part, universally considered polluting, although all functions are not considered polluting in all cultures. The intensity with which the various processes are abhorred also varies from culture to culture. The list of polluting organic processes and things includes menstruation, sexual intercourse, birth, illness, death, and all bodily excretions and exuviae (urine, feces, saliva, sweat, vomit, blood, menstrual blood, semen, nasal and oral mucous, and hair and nail cuttings). Associated with this category symbolically may be various persons, animals, natural objects, sense-related objects, and professions: women in general (because they menstruate), pregnant women, prostitutes, and widows (the latter because of their additional association with death); pigs, dogs, and other scavengers because they eat or associate with excrement and garbage; carrion-eating animals because of their association with death; leftover food, because it has come in contact with saliva via the fingers or utensils that have touched the mouth, or because it may visually resemble vomit or the undigested contents of the stomach; pungent vegetables or spices (such as garlic, onions, and leeks) and strong-smelling meats or fish because they cause foul breath odours; food in general because of its ultimate state as excrement; certain professions because their members are required to handle corpses or bodily exuviae; and things associated with lowness—the entire body below the navel, the feet, the hem of the garment, the floor or ground—because most bodily excretions derive from the lower part of the body.
Violence and associated processes
A second major category of polluting phenomena involves violence and all associated aspects. This entire category may be reduced to beliefs in the polluting nature of blood and death, but the extensive development of various ideas connected with violence pollution merit its being classified as a separate category. Violence pollution involves a wide variety of activities: murder, hunting, warfare, physical fights, quarrelling, cursing or speech that is considered foul, aggressive language, lying, and various aggressive human passions (e.g., greed, anger, and hatred). Various phenomena considered polluting in one culture or another may be placed in this category because of their symbolic associations with violence: Satan, demons, witches, predatory ghosts, and the practice of black magic; alcohol because it stimulates aggressive impulses; carnivorous, predatory, and aggressive animals; meat because of the act of slaughtering the animal; certain professions because their members manufacture weapons or kill or fight for a living.
The third major category includes strange, unusual, or unclassifiable phenomena: (1) certain events of nature (e.g., comets or lunar or solar eclipses); (2) unusual deaths (e.g., death by lightning); (3) unusual births (e.g., twins or other multiple births, breech deliveries, miscarriages, or stillbirths); (4) physical deformities, especially sexual deformities (e.g., monorchids [men possessed of only one testicle], hermaphrodites, or eunuchs); (5) speech defects and voices appropriate to the opposite sex; (6) unusual developmental sequences (e.g., children who cut their upper teeth before their lower); (7) anomalous animals or types of plants that have features of several species; (8) viscous substances that seem neither solid nor liquid; (9) persons in liminal (threshold or transitional) categories or states (e.g., persons undergoing initiation rites, strangers, or captives); (10) persons not considered fully in control of their faculties (e.g., children, drunken persons, the insane, or the mentally or physically handicapped, such as cretins); and (11) perversions of social relationships, especially sexual, that a culture generally considers to be normal (e.g., adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, incest, births of children to unwed parents or as a result of adulterous relationships, or the breaking of vows of celibacy by monks or nuns). That pollution results from a confusion of classification rules may explain beliefs that certain objects must not be mixed lest pollution result. The Old Testament prohibition (also found in certain African groups) that meat and milk should not be mixed with one another or the prohibition in the Vedas (ancient Hindu scriptures) against carrying water and fire at the same time are examples of attempts to maintain classificatory purification rules (see dietary law).
Social classifications: classes and castes
The belief that the lower castes pollute the upper castes has been explicit in India, where a true caste system has existed. These lower castes, to some extent, are considered polluting because they engage in professions that have been or are associated with the physiological processes or with violence. Many lower caste occupations (e.g., pottery making or basket weaving), however, do not have such associations, and thus the categorization of pollution attached to all lower castes cannot be so explained. Outside true caste systems, there are de facto systems of racial or ethnic hierarchy, in which certain races or ethnic groups are considered to be inherently lower than others. In most such systems, the notion that the lower groups pollute the higher is not stated explicitly in terms of pollution; the language of racial or ethnic prejudices in such systems, however, is often strongly reminiscent of pollution concepts—e.g., that the lower groups are "dirty," have peculiar bodily odours, engage in sexual promiscuity or perversions, are "animals," or are violent and dangerous. Relations between the dominant race or ethnic group and the subordinate one often resemble the relations between upper and lower castes in India. In such social systems, eating together and intermarriage generally are not condoned, and segregated neighbourhoods and public facilities to maintain minimal physical contact are encouraged by law or custom.
Theories of pollution and impurity
Though these four major categories indicate the great diversity of phenomena considered polluting cross-culturally, no one culture considers every item noted in these categories as polluting. Furthermore, within a single culture, not every item considered polluting is necessarily polluting to every member of the society, because the connotation of pollution often is dependent upon the occasion and on the status of a person. The pollution of death, for example, may be confined to those who have actual contact with the corpse, the immediate family of the deceased, certain categories of kinsmen, or all members of the village in which the death has occurred.
The rules dictating avoidance of certain groups or individuals because of the threat of pollution may be seen as means that a society has at its disposal for emphasizing its important social categories. Thus, in the case of death, if relatives on the father's side but not on the mother's side are considered polluted by the death, it may be theorized that this is one of the society's ways of emphasizing the greater social significance of the patrilateral relatives in the kinship system. Sociologists and anthropologists, on the one hand, tend to stress such social implications of pollution rules. On the other hand, some psychologists, philosophers, and theologians are more interested in explaining what there is about polluting events and processes (e.g., death and menstruation) in themselves that would result in their being considered polluting in so many cultures.
Two general theories have been proposed in relation to these emphases or questions. The first theory derives primarily from psychoanalytic theories developed by Sigmund Freud in which the quest for sexual, excretory, and aggressive pleasures are viewed as instinctual drives in man that are repressed or greatly limited in the socialization of the individual. Hence, because many of the phenomena viewed as polluting cross-culturally are related to these concerns, pollution fears are interpreted as projections or symbolizations of these repressed instincts. The second theory that attempts to explain the specific content of pollution-belief systems (as opposed to the social effects of those beliefs) maintains that, in a very broad sense, things are considered polluting by virtue of their relationship to cultural classification. This theory holds that everything considered polluting in any culture either is anomalous in relation to basic cultural categories or is positioned at the extremities—i.e., the margins—of major conditions or situations of individual or social existence. Birth and death, for example, are at the margins of an individual's life, and the lower castes are at the margin of society.
Both of these theories, however, contain certain problems that may be resolved by subsuming them under a more general theory. The theory derived from psychological considerations is regarded by many scholars as being too narrow in scope because it ignores many types of pollution data; the theory based upon cultural classification, because it is capable of such broad interpretation, loses its coherence as a theory. A more general view incorporates these two theories within a single more fundamental one based on denial. Thus, pollution fears might be interpreted as symbolizations of any material that is denied full expression—psychologically, culturally, or socially. The Freudian theory, emphasizing the psychoanalytic notion of repression of instinctual drives, thus becomes significant in interpreting the first two categories—physiological processes and aggression (i.e., violent emotional processes). The classification theory, which emphasizes cultural attempts to ignore or suppress phenomena that do not fit its cognitive-classification schemes, then becomes significant in interpreting the third category of polluting things—anomalies, unusual occurrences or types of persons, and "mixings." To account for the fourth category, involving the fear of lower castes, classes, and ethnic groups as polluting, the sociopolitical notion of oppression may thus be introduced. All these concepts—repression, suppression, and oppression—are related to the notion of something or someone being forcibly prevented from expression; that is, of being under some sort of pressure. This idea suggests why polluting things are viewed as threatening and not simply as interesting peculiarities of the world, because things under pressure are volatile, liable to escape, or capable of erupting at any moment.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
biblical literature: Purification lawsWith chapter 11 begin the regulations on ritual cleanness and uncleanness, starting with animals and other living things fit and unfit to eat—the basis of the famous Jewish dietary laws. Then come the uncleanness and required purification of women after childbirth, skin diseases,…
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nature worship: Water as an instrument of purification and expiationWater is viewed as an instrument of purification and expiation, especially in arid areas. Cultic acts in such areas generally take place only after lustrations—sprinkling with water or immersion in it. The same view holds true for entry into new communities or…
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More About Purification rite13 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
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importance in
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- In caste: Jatis
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Jaclyn Swedberg is the Playboy Playmate for April 2011. Jaclyn Swedberg has dodged mortar fire while playing war games in the Mojave Desert. She has sped around in a rally car like Danica Patrick. And she has hung 10 in the ocean blue au naturel. "I've decided that anything I have the opportunity to try, I'm going to try," says our Miss April, whose daredevil exploits have been captured by Playboy TV cameras for the show Badass, a naked nod to Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of pranksters. (Jaclyn will soon be found rappelling down treacherous mountains for Playboy TV's new summer series Playboy Trip Patagonia, which follows four up-for-anything femmes in Argentina.) And yet Jaclyn, a southern California girl two years away from a degree in broadcast journalism, still appreciates life's quieter moments. "At home I'm reserved," she says. "My favorite things to do are read and bake peanut butter cookies. If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll make a carrot cake." In fact, she considers posing for the pictures before you her most daring feat. "Appearing in the magazine not only made me shed my clothes but also allowed me to shed my shy exterior for good. I'm going to give this everything I've got!"
download her images
here too


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|Watermelon Sculpture
|Pristine Beach in Cancun
|Relaxing on the beach in Cancun
I am looking forward to sampling some of Cancun's AAA five star restaurants. I enjoy seafood, fresh squeezed fruit juices, as well as fruit and vegetable smoothies.
|Chefs preparing fresh seafood
Last year I won a 5 day vacation to a resort in Cancun. I am so looking forward to returning again this year.
|Janice at Moon Palace Resort
My favorite experience at the resort was the unlimited room service and breakfast in bed.
|Mexican Breakfast in Bed
No all this gourmet breakfast is not for me. My roommate also enjoyed the luxury of complimentary unlimited room service.
|Fish, Bacon and Eggs with Fruit
Ah! Let's not forget the beautiful view of the sparkling blue water, and the warm tropical sun bathing our bodies.
|Ocean View
Yes, I am so ready to flee the Chicago winter and head to Cancun for some sun, fun, and healthy five star dining.
|Janice with Chef
The State Department reports positive travel news for the Yucatan Peninsula and Quintana Roo. Deals to Mexico abound, scoop one up and escape to a tropical vacation with excellent five star dining options.
Are you ready to join me?
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Bryan Fuller, creator/executive producer of NBC's "Munsters" reboot "Mockingbird Lane," says the project is now officially dead.
He revealed on Twitter the other day: "I tweet with a heavy heart. NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support."
Work on the project began two years ago and, after some delays, a $10 million pilot episode was shot in June with Bryan Singer directing.
Though visually stunning, the network didn't think the concept worked. To offset the cost, they aired it as a Halloween special in October where it pulled in an average 5.4 million total viewers.
Further scripts were written, but now the NBC heads have made the final decision not to proceed. Fuller will now turn his attentions to other projects, including the currently filming straight-to-series "Hannibal" on the same network.


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Muzaffarabad: Road conditions are a daily challenge for the World Food Programme (WFP) food deliveries in Pakistan-administrated Kashmir. Claude- Andre Nadon, a Canadian mountain guide from the UN Office for Projects Services (UNOPS) went on a road assessment mission for the WFP with his colleague, a Pakistani mountain guide, Rehmat Ali.Today our main objective is to assess the two major road links for the relief community out of Muzaffarabad - the Neelum and the Jhelum roads. Before any trip, we always make sure that they pack their 4x4 truck with enough food, water, warm clothes and sleeping bags just in case another landslide or rock-fall blocks the road and they end up stranded for a few days. That is exactly what happened a few weeks ago to Saeed and Jawed, two of the 25 Hunza mountain guides working with us, doing assessments throughout the earthquake affected areas. They were working near Panjkot, in the Neelum valley, when, after three days of rain, major landslides erased parts of the road. They were stuck in Panjkot for five days. After every rainfall, the Neelum road becomes too dangerous to travel on. Even after the Pakistani army has cleared the road of major debris for the hundredth time since the earthquake, constant rock-falls pose a major threat. A heavily damaged vehicle on the side of the road, waiting to fall even lower towards the river, is a reminder of the dangers that threaten every traveller. Rock-falls Today traffic was not interrupted. Local buses and jeeps were speeding through, avoiding as best they could the rocks falling from higher up. People are in a hurry, because they know at any time the road could again be blocked for a few days or even weeks. Then they would have to carry food or other important items on their backs for long stretches. We stopped at Patyka, 20km out of Muzaffarabad, not wishing to travel any further into the Neelum valley. With many stories of accidents due to rock-falls or landslides, we do not want to push our luck. So we stopped at a roadside tea shop and got detailed information from people who have just travelled the entire length of the valley. We are looking for any information that might help the WFP and the other UN agencies to deliver their precious cargo. On a day like today, most of the distribution will be hampered by the poor conditions of the road. We then head back to Muzaffarabad and continue the assessments on the Jhelum road. 'No warning' So today, nothing to report. The rain has not set off any more landslides. Not yet anyway! The problem is that it can happen any time. Just a few days ago, the vehicle of one of our colleagues was hit by a giant rock on this same road. He was killed instantly. Since this tragic accident, guides from the UNOPS are all the more anxious when they travel on these roads. Rock-falls and landslides give no warning! Landslides are indeed a major worry at the moment. Road access is extremely bad in the earthquake area in particular in the Neelum and Jhelum Valley, where the UN Department for Security and Safety has in the last week logged more than 70 landslides. Mudslides usually occur after a few days of heavy rain. But rock- slides happen all the time. 'Kashmiris say they occur every year but this year is particularly bad, the landscape has been made fragile by the earthquake and the aftershocks continue to destabilise the slopes' explains a UN field security officer. Last week and several months after the tragic event of 8 October, an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale with its epicentre 20km north of Muzaffarabad shook the soil once more. But the worse may be still to come. 'Dangerous' Landslides are expected to occur with more frequency and severity, particularly following the snow melt in March and during the monsoon rains in July and August. According to the International Landslide Centre at the University of Durham and the Landslide Observatory at the University of Maryland, there will be an increased risk of slope failures during the monsoon season and many of these will be large scale and destructive. Two weeks ago, one small landslide alone resulted in 14 fatalities. 'The situation changes by the hour, it is difficult to always have a complete picture, the landslides are very dangerous,' says Mathieu Bastien, a mountain guide from the UNOPS, also conducting road assessment missions for the WFP around Muzaffarabad. It will take years to restore the roads, particularly the secondary and tertiary routes that link the most remote communities. The arterial roads will be cleared by the Pakistani Corps of Engineers but subject to recurrent slides. Without helicopters, assistance to the most remote places will be difficult or even impossible. 'Lifeline' WFP plans to assist about 670,000 people through food-for work, food for training and asset creation projects, in the most remote areas of Kashmir. The neediest of them will receive food aid until the next harvest in October and November 2006. WFP's helicopter operation, which has been a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people during the winter months, is running short of funds. The operation, with a reduced fleet, still needs $24m to sustain until the end of August when it is hoped that most of the agricultural inputs, tools and equipment for recovery will have been strategically positioned. 'Some people believe that if the helicopters stop tomorrow, we will just continue the deliveries by truck, this may not be practical in all instances. The road situation is just too dangerous and roads are often blocked,' says Aslam Khan, head of the WFP office in Muzaffarabad. When the roads are blocked, helicopters are the only way to deliver the volume of tools, the seeds, fertilisers and the construction material that people in the remote villages will need to resume their lives. 'Road conditions and helicopter availability will determine the speed of the rehabilitation process,' explains Michael Jones, the WFP country director. If people originating from the mountain communities are not assured of access to food and other essential items until the harvest in October, they will most certainly stay in tented camps. 'The cost of providing this assistance in camps will exceed three fold,' says Jones. 'And prolonging people's stay in the camps will also postpone return, recovery and reconstruction.'
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Posts TaggedmyBalsamiq
Wireframing and mockups have become the de rigeur in today's world of web and app development — it's a process that keeps communication clear and helps everyone (clients, designers, developers, and even UX folks) get on the same page on a project. One of the best tools for the job is Balsamiq, a suite of apps and plugins that encourage rapid yet detailed wireframe creation, sharing and collaboration.
Today we'll take a look at the suite's newest app, a web app named myBalsamiq. It's packed with features that not only make prototyping easy for designers, but also allow coworkers and clients to share feedback and discuss ideas effortlessly. And hey, it looks like it might even be fun to use. Let's sign up for an account and see how it works.


text: On Sat, 19 Feb 2005, Mark Hahn wrote: > > As our Dean of A&S recently remarked, if there aren't any checks and > > balances or cost-equity in funding and installing clusters, they may > > well continue to grow nearly exponentially, without bound (Duke's > > I find that most faculty who have compute needs (and funding) will > seriously consider buying into a shared facility instead. that's our > (SHARCnet's) usual pitch: let us help you spend your grant, and we'll > give you first cut at that resource, but otherwise take all the pain > off your hands. most people realize that running a cluster is a pain: > heat/noise, but more importantly the fact that it soaks up tons of > the most expensive resource, human attention. do you want your grad > students spending even 20% of their time screwing around with cluster > maintenance? > > not to mention the fact that most computer use is bursty, and therefore > very profitably pooled. a shared resource means that a researcher > can burst to 200 cpus, rather than just the 20 that his grant might > have bought. and after the burst, someone else can use them... A model that we have emulated at Duke, actually, and I mean emulated literally. You'll recall that we had that offline discussion about your share cluster operation a few years ago -- that was a fairly important component that I took into various discussions with provosty-level folks that led ultimately to the creation of Duke's CSEM. So we owe you a debt of gratitude, and possibly even a beer (standard compensation for cluster support services on list, is it not:-). However we, like many institutions, are not pure anything -- the high-cycle-consuming departments (including physics, but also CPS, chemistry, statistics, biology, econ) still run their own clusters, although individuals with BIG needs are encouraged to join the campus grid project and share their unused cycles. I feel like we're likely in a gradual and purely voluntary transition to a point where this model will ultimately dominate and perhaps even become universal because of the various economies of scale. Frankly, even where people DON'T participate in the sharing of resources there will have to be colocation, as physical space with adequate infrastructure is both scarce and expensive. So physics may become part of the campus grid, etc, although the way things look now there will continue to be a half dozen separate server-class spaces all over campus for the hardware. I actually feel that this "decentralized centralization" is a good thing -- we have historical reasons to strongly mistrust overcentralization of resources at Duke. One gets economies of scale, perhaps, but at the expense of permitting empire builders in the bureaucracy entrench and start to dictate policy, often to groups who are a hell of a lot smarter and cost effective when left to their own devices. I mean, we'd still be using mainframes if it were up to the folks that run centralized mainframe compute centers. Hell, at Duke I believe we still ARE running some mainframes. Beowulfs themselves are another example of an innovation that could only have come about from the bottom up. So we're trying to operate according to a model where individual enterprise and innovation aren't squelched and "power" (planning and control) aren't totally centralized, but we still can centralize primary infrastructure (the network, the main server rooms) and help coordinate the planning and operation and sharing of cluster resources without trying to dictate them. This isn't as difficult as it might sound, at a University. All the faculty are innately mistrustful, cynical, and jealous of control, and at the same time tend to be really bright and recognize the benefits of cooperation on some issues. We've also been blessed for the last 5-8 years with some really good people in Arts and Science Network Administrators group (from Melissa Mills as the assistant dean at the top, through the actual sysadmins down to, well, me:-), at the Provost level (leading to the birth of CSEM), and in the Office of Information Technology (OIT, which runs the campus network and student/academic computing). When you have enlightened leadership that ISN'T empire building, things are good and even if you try something and it turns out to be wrong it doesn't matter -- you just fix it or try something else and move on. > > to hold them, the power to run them, and the people to operate them, all > > grow roughly linearly with the number of nodes. This much is known. > > well, operator cost scales linearly, but that line certainly does not > pass through zero, and is nearly flat (a 100p cluster takes almost the > same effort as a 200p one.) Yeah, yeah, yeah -- it's an irregular scale with flat patches and a minimum buy-in. However, the discussion concerns the planning of a 1000 node, 2000 CPU cluster, and at that point I think you can start to talk meaningfully about the number of nodes per support person in planning discussions where you recognize that you CAN'T run 1000 nodes with the same effort as 100 nodes. The hardware support component most definitely scales per node, and that large a cluster could eat a person alive with hardware maintenance as the cluster ages or if you hit a bad patch. Hardware support is in some sense the scale limiting resource for a well-designed cluster (whether you provide it locally or contract it out), especially now that PXE, yum, etc have made it possible for a single person to install and maintain 1000 nodes on the SOFTWARE side of things. But to avoid going into all this is why I used the word "roughly". Perhaps I should have said "in the limit of a large number of machines". > > Finding out isn't trivial -- it involves running down ALL the clusters > > on campus, figuring out whom ALL those nodes "belong" to, determining > > ALL the grant support associated with all those people and projects and > > here at least, the office of research services sees all funding traffic, > and so is sensitized to the value of cluster pooling. the major funding > agencies have also expressed some desire to see more facility centralization, > since the bad economics of a bunch of little clusters is so clear... Yes, ditto here as well, with exceptions as noted above. Although granting agencies can swing both ways -- they like to see resource and cost sharing, but they are also jealous of resource "ownership" and don't want to fund project A (including cluster) and then find that that cluster has been hijacked by project B, possibly run by somebody else entirely. There's also a WIDE range of what the different agencies view as reasonable "cost sharing". What Duke has tried to do is use a thoughtful model and not a one-size-fits-all plan with mandatory participation. The one thing that I think Duke still really needs is the detailed CBA of existing cluster operations. I suspect that they'd find that they are remarkably efficient as is, but I'm not certain. As always, a pleasure to read what you write. rgb > > regards, mark hahn. > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > -- Robert G. Brown http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/ Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305 Durham, N.C. 27708-0305 Phone: 1-919-660-2567 Fax: 919-660-2525 email:rgb at phy.duke.edu