text:
Konrad Bayer
Eclectics & Heteroclites 6
Konrad Bayer and his fellow members of The Vienna Group took as their mission the reinvention of the post-war avant-garde in Austria after the destruction wrought by National Socialism. He — along with Friedrich Achleitner, H.C. Artmann, Gerhard Ruhm, and Oscar Wiener — developed a unique blend of philosophical speculation and poetic experimentation which incorporated bizarrely heterogeneous elements: the dark humour of Surrealism, the extravagances of German Romanticism, the fabulous conjunctions of alchemy, the linguistic precision of Wittgenstein.
One of the finest flowerings of this impassioned quest is the sixth sense, the novel Bayer had all but finished at the time of his suicide. In it he creates a metaphysical theatre of the word that wryly undermines the very language from which it is constructed. Time and identity are turned inside out in a series of elaborately interwoven episodes set against a backdrop of riots and cataclysms, labyrinths of stone or throbbing meat, and bucolic scenes populated by toyland figures… and not forgetting the inevitable bars of Vienna.
The drawings by Günter Brus were made especially for this edition.
Site contents Copyright © Atlas Press 1999-2019
BCM Atlas Press, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3XX, UK


text: Hi folks: [begin quick (shameless?) plug] Ohio Linux fest (http://www.ohiolinux.org/) will be running October 10-11th in Columbus OH. We are one of the sponsors this year. We were one of two talking about Beowulfery and HPC last year (had a JackRabbit there). Will be going (and having a booth with a delta-V and a few other goodies) this year. IBM, Sun, HP will be represented as well. If you would like to attend, a few of us are looking to put together an HPC/Beowulf/high performance storage BoF. Should be fun. I met 2 beowulfers there last year. The more the merrier though! [end quick (shameless?) plug] Joe -- Joseph Landman, Ph.D Founder and CEO Scalable Informatics LLC, email: landman at scalableinformatics.com web : http://www.scalableinformatics.com http://jackrabbit.scalableinformatics.com phone: +1 734 786 8423 x121 fax : +1 866 888 3112 cell : +1 734 612 4615

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A better deal for kids in the budget? Democrats and republicans Say 'yes'
Ann Challet | 1/8/2014, 9:53 a.m.
Special to the NNPA from New America Media June Jimenez of Silver Spring, Md. was pregnant when she was laid off from her job at a public affairs firm last year. She tried unsuccessfully for months to find a job and worried about losing her home.
"My mortgage is $1,500 a month and I only received $320 a week in unemployment," she says.
Her health insurance policy at the time didn't provide her with maternity coverage, and when she tried to purchase an individual plan, she discovered that she couldn't because her pregnancy qualified as a pre-existing condition. She qualified for Medicaid, which covered the cost of her pregnancy, including an emergency C-section.
But she found herself facing the possibility of having to choose among making her mortgage payments, paying for utilities, and buying food.
What sustained her, she says, was that by her sixth month of pregnancy she was able in enroll in WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children). She used WIC to buy food for her and her daughter for the next nine months.
Today Jimenez is working again, and her daughter Karanda is now almost a year old. "Without a doubt, Medicaid and WIC saved us," she says. "[Those programs] provided a crucial bridge for me."
At a congressional briefing last week, children's advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children, in conjunction with advocacy group MomsRising, presented the results of a nationwide poll that found bipartisan public support for protecting funding for children's programs in the federal budget.
The survey of 800 voters, commissioned by First Focus and conducted by polling firm American Viewpoint, found that strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans opposed cuts to programs like the ones that sustained Jimenez.
Voters were surveyed by landline and cell phone in the first week of December.
"Kids were affected significantly by the budget sequestration that took effect earlier this year," says Ed Walz, vice president of communications at First Focus. Cutbacks, he says, have disproportionately impacted programs serving children.
While some federal programs such as Social Security are mandatory, children's programs like WIC, Head Start (which provides early childhood services to low-income families, including education and child care), and K-12 education are funded through the appropriations process.
Head Start programs, for example, had to cut services for close to 60,000 children in the 2013-2014 school year.
According to the survey, three in four voters oppose cuts to K-12 education funding, including 87 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, and 71 percent of independent voters.
Voters specifically oppose cuts to early learning for young children by a ratio of nearly two-to- one (62 to 32 percent), including half of Republicans, more than three in four Democrats, and almost 60 percent of independents. Nearly two in three voters oppose cuts to Head Start.
Sheila Arias of Durham, N.C. says that when she lost her job as an interpreter, she couldn't afford to keep her daughter, Jaslene, who was two at the time, in daycare. Arias went to the local Children's Developmental Services Agency for help, and was told that Jaslene would probably qualify for Early Head Start.


text:
A new addition to any family is always welcome – especially when it's the next generation of Philips Avalon fetal monitoring solutions. Avalon now includes a wealth of technical advances in monitoring, measurement, and transducer technology that allow mothers to move about during labor during routine and high-risk deliveries. And with Smart Pulse technology, you can differentiate between maternal pulse and fetal heart rate without the need of an additional sensor like SpO2 and ECG, even when monitoring multiples. View the brief video featuring Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in the UK and Heidelberg Women's Hospital in Germany to learn more.
Discover how this innovative wireless solution and our obstetrical information system can deliver a rewarding experience for mom, baby, and caregivers.


text:
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tornados and Tombstones
It was about thirty years ago that my parents, my grandparents, my brother and I went to the Ozarks in Missouri. It was our first long vacation with my paternal grandparents. The guys rode in the front seat with Dad driving. That left three the girls in the back. We left Nebraska early one morning and managed to get most of the way across Kansas by evening.
Kansas was what prompted Grandma and Grandpa to get into an argument. Grandpa was always watching the weather and worrying about the early summer storms. He called them cyclones and Grandma, in the back seat, would nudge him on the shoulder and correct him by saying they were tornadoes. The comparisons and conversation would carry on for many miles with each trying to get the last work. Of course, once we started laughing, the conversation picked up in intensity. Fortunately we never saw a tornado or a cyclone.
Memories were made in the Ozarks, particularly at Branson, Missouri. We went to shows and water slides, amusement parks and lakes. It was the same every year, but with Grandma and Grandpa it was special. Once we were there they stopped talking about cyclones and tornadoes as the entertainment was better.
I can remember the trip back. We didn't go near Kansas for the fear we would travel the width of the state with cyclones and tornadoes discussed heatedly. Instead we drove north to Harrison County, Missouri. Mom, being the genealogist in the family, decided we should go to the Foster Cemetery and locate the graves on ancestors.
Grandpa became emotional when we found his great, great grandmother's tombstone. She was Anna Wells Gardner, born 1816 in Kentucky and died in 1882. Mom told us the story of how she became a widow at age 22 when pregnant with Grandpa's great grandfather. Anna took her young children to Iowa and then eventually to Harrison County.
I am glad we encountered tombstones of relatives instead of tornadoes or even cyclones. Those trips which would continue to Missouri and also to Colorado were great memory makers in my growing up years.
Posted by Growing up Genealogy at 5:01 PM
1 comment:
This is the best one yet, Susie. Brings back memories, as Mom and Dad were always "getting into it" about whether it was a tornado or a cyclone. I don't think the question ever got answered in 60+ years of their marriage. They are probably still talking about it! This went on all my life traveling and growing up with them. They are cherished memoiries! Keep up your blog, I love it-- Aunt CheriReplyDelete
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Thermoelectric Power Factor Calculator for Nanocrystalline Composites
18 Oct 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Terence Musho, Greg Walker
Quantum Simulation of the Seebeck Coefficient and Electrical Conductivity in a 2D Nanocrystalline Composite Structure using Non-Equilibrium Green's Functions


text:
A report strongly critical of NBA union executive director Billy Hunter, released Thursday by an independent law firm hired by the players, could lead to Hunter's ouster.
The investigation, authorized in April 2012 by the National Basketball Players Association, focused on Hunter's business practices, possible misuse of union funds and allegations of nepotism and conflicts of interest. It was conducted by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
The findings? Hunter did nothing that would rise to the level of "criminal acts." But he did violate "fiduciary obligations" to put the union's interests ahead of his own and "did not properly manage conflicts of interest."
The 469-page document, along with a 39-page executive summary, concluded: "Based on the findings of this report, the BPA should consider whether Mr. Hunter should remain as the Union's Executive Director and whether new and more effective controls should be enacted to govern the NBPA, its Foundation and its Executive Director, whoever that may be."
The independent review and financial audit sprang from union in-fighting that came in the wake of last season's lockout and eventual settlement. The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan also has been investigating NBPA business practices.
In a statement released late Thursday afternoon, Hunter said: "While I strongly disagree with some of the findings contained in the report, I am pleased it recognized that I have not engaged in criminal acts nor was I involved in misappropriation of union funds. … In my work for the NBPA, my priority has always been to promote the interests of the players."
Union president Derek Fisher – whose attempted ouster by the Executive Committee led to the Paul, Weiss investigation – issued a statement saying he looked forward to reviewing the report's findings and recommendations. "As there is an ongoing investigation by the Government as well," Fisher's statement read, "I hope that this is a chance for us to become an upstanding, strong organization with the sole purpose of serving the best interests of current and future players."
Amid tension stemming from the lockout – driven by accusations that the union conceded too much and splintering among the NBPA execs, rank-and-file players, some high-profile NBA stars and a group of elite agents – the Executive Committee voted 8-0 seeking Fisher's resignation. Fisher refused and instead asked for an audit of the NBPA's business practices. (Hunter's stance was that an audit had recently been done, was not necessary and would have cost the union as much as $400,000.)
The NBA declined to comment on the union matter.
Among the findings that could threaten Hunter's term with the NBPA:
- The union "never properly approved Mr. Hunter's current employment contract with the union" as required by its constitution and by-laws. Also, Hunter knew that his contract had not been approved, yet failed to disclose that to the Executive Committee and the player reps. [Hunter, in his statement Thursday, noted: "Regarding my contract … it was ratified by the NBPA Executive Committee and signed by President Derek Fisher. I believe the contract and extensions are valid."]
- Hunter received $1.3 million for "accrued but allegedly unused vacation time (146 days)" without providing an independent review of records or advice to the union on its obligation to make the payment.
- He involved family and friends in union business as vendors or employees, including daughter Robyn Hunter; daugher-in-law Megan Inaba; Prim Capital, a financial services company where Hunter's son is a partner, and the law firm Steptoe & Johnson, where daughter Alexis works.
- Hunter "created an atmosphere at the NBPA that discouraged challenges to his authority." It cited an instance in which former player and NBPA secretary-treasurer Pat Garrity was stopped by former general counself Gary Hall from talking about potential conflicts of interest.
Hall, who died in May 2011, curiously was the only union attorney involved in negotiating Hunter's contract. That contract paid him $3 million for the year that began July 1, 2011 and reportedly has three years remaining.
The report also was critical of some business decisions by Hunter and others within the NBPA that showed "poor judgment" or "display insensitivity to conflicts of interest." Among them:
- Hunter approved a pay of approximately $28,000 to cover personal legal fees incurred by Charles Smith, a former Executive Director fo the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
- He "spent union funds on luxury gifts for Executive Committee members, including nearly $22,000 for a watch he gave to Derek Fisher in June 2010."
- He made "questionable choices" when charging travel expenses to the union, pursued "atypical" business ventures as potential NBPA investments and ran the NBPA Foundation "without regard for its by-laws or governance standards applicable to non-profit entities."
Fisher, members of the Executive Committee and even player reps are cited in the report for not properly monitoring Hunter's activities or following union procedures. For example, Fisher did not put Hunter's contract to a vote, as required by the by-laws.
That contract pays Hunter approximately $500,000 more than NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith receives and double or triple what their MLB and NHL counterparts are paid. Hunter's salary jumped by $600,000 on the day the 2011-12 lockout began.
Now 70, Hunter assumed the role of Executive Director in 1996 and steered the NBPA through two lockouts that resulted in shortened regular seasons. He negotiated every NBA collective bargaining agreement in that time with the league's owners and familiar adversary, commissioner David Stern.
Prior to this involvement with the NBPA, Hunter played professional football for the NFL's Washington and Miami franchises and worked as a U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California at San Francisco.
The question now, as labor unrest in the NBA takes on a post-lockout meaning and tilts one way, is: Does he stay or does he go?
Or as the report itself asked, Should Mr. Hunter remain as Executive Director? Here is how it summarized, leaving the hard choices up to the NBPA's and Hunter's willingness to fight:
"The Player Representatives and the Executive Committee could decide that it is possible for Mr. Hunter to rectify the problems he has created and serve as an effective Executive Director in the future despite the issues of the past. Should they decide to permit Mr. Hunter to continue leading the Union, they may wish to retain independent counsel to negotiate a new employment contract…"
It continues:
"But the Union need not keep Mr. Hunter. If the NBPA's Player Representatives and Executive Committee members decide for any reason that the Union deserves a fresh start, they are free to do so. They may choose not to ratify or renegotiate Mr. Hunter's employment agreement, appoint an acting Executive Director and authorize a search for a new Executive Director."
TNT analyst David Aldridge contributed to this report.


text:
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text:
Also:I never said anyone had to change anything. That is not the principle of Dzogchen. Buddhists do not have to change being Buddhist, Xtians do not have to change being Xtians, Hindus do not have to change being Hindus, etc. If they are interested enough to practice Dzogchen, all they have to do is receive introduction and apply the practice, but they don't have change a thing.
also:That concept of "samaya breakers" only functions in the Buddhist world. This kind of thing is all completely relative.
So please excuse me if I take liberties, but I am only trying to do something akin to what Nagarjuna was so good at: look at a proposition and take it to it's logical extreme. In this case, along with other quotes and their context about Dzogchen being not Buddhist, being beyond cause and effect, as well as the two stages etc. I assume (correct me if I am wrong Malcolm) that you intend to contradict Guru Rinpoche's famous quote "My view is as high as the sky, but my attention to actions and their consequences is a fine as barely flour"username wrote:Like when Mariusz asked if a believer of other traditions denying emptiness can receive the whole of Dzogchen transmissions and go through the four visions while holding on to those contradictory beleifs. You said he can receive all of Dzogchen Transmissions.
Right, he can.
I recently watched a grotesque new film a friend-of-a-friend made documenting haitian voodoo gatherings..The Pierced Heart and the Machete... http://vimeo.com/42460771 pretty nutso stuff..possessions, zombies, many animal sacrifices...cool film but made me really happy I knew the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM to employ while watching. It reminded me of someone saying (hahaha I think it may have been you Malcolm) ChNN said to avoid the Candomblé Brazilian cults that have the same roots.. because he said they are worshiping gyalpos, so are pervaded with that energy... Now how does this work with all this rhetoric that any religion can come and study Dzogchen? Do you mean with ChNN, or just as an abstract concept? Because ChNN is very anti-dogyal, his book on Guru Drakpur is very explicit about this.. so NKT people and Voodoo people can all join Dzogchen Community and practice Guru Yoga of White Ah and reach realization, and keep their other beliefs? No prob? Sacrifice animals too? Am I missing something? I somehow don't think ChNN would agree with you here, but I am happy to be proven wrong.


text:
Bond 10 Minute Tests Non-Verbal Reasoning 9-10 YearsBy: Alison Primrose (author)Paperback
Out of Stock
DescriptionBond is the number one series for 11 plus practice, with over 45 years of experience. Written by expert authors Bond 10 Minute Tests offer timed continuous support for all 11 plus subjects from ages 7 - 12. Tried and trusted, Bond has helped millions of children achieve 11 plus success. - Bite-sized practice of all key question types Timed practice for ideal for revision and consolidation of core topics. - A puzzle section containing 5 puzzles Reinforce core Non-verbal Reasoning skills, introducing an element on fun into practice. - Answers and tips Handy pull-out section that can be removed easily. - Motivating progress chart Monitor progress and raise scores completing the chart after every paper. - Comprehensive parental advice Step-by-step support to help your child achieve 11 plus success. For 11 plus advice and other 11 plus practice resources visit www.bond11plus.co.uk.
Product Details
- publication date: 19/06/2008
- Format: Paperback
- Number Of Pages: 52
- weight: 118
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- Saver Delivery: Yes
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text:
John Legend Celebrates Womanhood in 'You & I' Video
Not only is John Legend celebrating his wife's beauty, but he's also appreciating the women around him in his new video for 'You & I.'
The clip is a beautifully shot piece that celebrates womanhood, inner strength, attraction and resilience.
The visuals begin with the singer's supermodel wife Chrissy Teigen entering her closet preparing for a night out, and from there you see women from all walks of life staring into the mirror, working out or just staring back at themselves looking reflective.
Mishka Kornai, the director, sheds light on the different ways women find their strength and the various obstacles they deal with daily. Even Laverne Fox, from the hit Netflix show 'Orange is the New Black,' and actress Tatyana Ali make brief cameos.
Legend should definitely be applauded for presenting a more realistic view of women in all their many forms.


text:
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale lightweight crew travels to Boston this weekend for the 46th Head of the Charles Regatta. The Head of the Charles, which is comprised of 60 events featuring 8,000 competitors, is the world's largest two-day regatta. The Bulldogs, whose varsity eight finished second behind the Yale heavyweights two weeks ago at the Head of the Housatonic, will enter three boats in two events, both held on Sunday.
Yale's first event of the day will be the lightweight four, held at 3:38 p.m. Last year, Yale's top four finished fourth overall but first among collegiate entries in an event won by the Ontario-based Don Rowing Club. As such, Yale will start fourth overall this year, behind New York Athletic Club and in front of Navy. Another Yale four will start directly behind the Midshipmen in the sixth position, one spot ahead of Georgetown. Also notable among Yale's competitors in this event are rival Harvard and the Iraqi national team, which is currently on a two-month trip to the United States.
In the lightweight eight event, which will begin at 4:02 p.m., Yale will look to improve upon last year's seventh place finish. The event includes at least one entry from every school in the EARC lightweight league, as well as entries from top Canadian colleges and several club teams. The Bulldogs will start in the seventh position between Cornell and Brock University of Canada.
A copy of the event schedule can be accessed here.
For live updates, follow @HOCR1965 on twitter.


text: On Tue, 22 Nov 2005, Srihari Angaluri wrote: > Also, I don't think you need a big cluster to prove that you have cluster > software. And I think that's what Microsoft was trying to do - prove that Really? Dang. I thought that was right in the charter. "Must have at least one big cluster running to prove that you have cluster software." Since a SMALL cluster can be run by carrying a floppy disk from system to system and starting an application off it (no kidding, been there, done that, even got decent scaling given that it was embarrassingly parallel). To be blunt, real HPC is all about scaling, and to MARKET scaling to a cynical and even hostile user base it really helps to have a big cluster running perfectly (where "perfectly" is pretty modest: without crashing every time you try to run a large distributed application for the few days of the conference/expo) . High Availability clustering, OTOH, is about convincing business people that you can support a usable server farm model and is as much about management interface and GUI as anything because "performance" is typically a pretty coarse measure. Even there it helps to have a largish cluster at what IS, after all, a giant sales bash. This said, what exactly is "cluster software"? On most clusters, it is PVM or MPI. On a very few, it is raw sockets (few because as you say, it is a lot easier to prototype and test distributed applications on top of a parallel library than it is to use Sockets). MPI almost certainly wins out overall because of portability, both across clusters and across the remaining big-iron hardware out there, and some of my friends would hurt me if I didn't also acknowledge that MPI-2 is second generation feature rich and efficient as well. To this one might fairly add batch/queue manager(s) (SGE, PBS), cluster monitoring software (ganglion, wulfware), cluster management software/distros) (warewulf, OSCAR, ROCKS), and cluster "operating systems" (Mosix, Scyld, bproc). However, any of these are on a minority of clusters individually, I think. Many clusters are "just" a pile of PCs with MPI or PVM running pretty much a single application. Is "cluster software" the moral equivalent of perl with threads and ssh? Well, yes, maybe, I did actually write a CWM article on using perl with threads and ssh to distribute an EP task and collect results. However, I would never call perl "cluster software" just because it now has internal thread support (permitting it to fork off and manage lots of independent subtasks) and is adjoined with ssh (permitting it to remotely execute those subtasks). In a very deep sense, the only "cluster software" that matters was invented by AT&T, UCB, and Sun Microsystems (and others too numerous to name, such as DARPA and Al Gore:-) a long long time ago. That would be Unix itself, integrated with a real, scalable routable network. It had user-transparent timeslicing and multitasking, interactive control features (a shell), and an open standards-based routed network that was >>scalable<< to 2^31 hosts or so even on a flat network, far more with routing. So forgive me if I am more than a bit cynical about Microsoft's efforts in this arena. Of course they are all about making money and maintaining their monopoly and all of that -- anything less would be an affront to their shareholders, and FAIR competition is a good thing anyway. However, anyone who has actually lived through the last 25 years of computing is aware that "fair competition" is something of an oxymoron in business in general and that using it in the same breath as the word "Microsoft" is openly ironic, or perhaps sarcastic. Let me be perfectly clear about this. What we will NOT see is Microsoft participating in the open cluster development process supported by this list. We will NOT see it contributed GPL tools written for standards-based compilers and libraries. We will NOT see a user-level applications development environment. We will NOT see free, we will NOT see cheap, except possibly where they "inherit" and deploy existing Open Source tools to get things started and gain market credibility. What we will see (peering into my crystal ball) is Microsoft targeting a very specific market -- very likely genetics research or some other NIH-funded, deep pocketed group of researchers who are Unix averse because they lack the skills and expertise to make a Unix-like system work and want everything to run from a Windows GUI and to dump all its output straight into e.g. Excel and Power Point. Here they will go head to head with Apple and turnkey linux/bsd cluster builders, but they have a decent chance of winning the market AND MAKING MONEY FROM IT because the problem is actually not that complex from an IPC point of view (and is more closely related to e.g. HA computing than, say, CFD or Monte Carlo) and because the people they will sell to will value a GUI and ease of use as much as they will value the actual speed and efficiency of the computations. The other thing they will leverage -- unfortunately quite successfully -- is their ability to deliver a kernel that is "happy" with shrink-wrapped proprietary device drivers, and their ability to offer lavish development support to makers of hardware devices to ensure that they offer drivers that work with their setup. I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft buying out one or more makers of high end cluster network hardware if they think they can get away with it on the antitrust side -- something that at first they probably can (noting that they already own and sell a variety of hardware devices and that companies like Sun and Apple clearly indicate that there is no FUNDAMENTAL problem with doing so). This will permit them to have a bit of fund jerking the card's ABI around in tune with THEIR driver but at the expense of any OS driver, once it has anything like a broad market. Or is this too cynical a picture for even my cracked crystal ball? Once they are entrenched in a real market with a real profit margin, they will "invent" "new" cluster software to use on the back end of their GUI -- something that is trivial to do, really, especially if you are DELIBERATELY reinventing the wheel so you can give it a proprietary API. They will use their market presence to push their product into new markets by giving it away (at first) and funding a few projects lavishly to win a place on the top 10 of the top 500 (much as Apple did a few years ago, and for the same reasons). Then they will try to use their new/proprietary back end and their "popular" cluster front end to pry some 60% of the cluster market away from linux and other unices, concentrating only on the profitable part -- the part susceptible to the argument that paying $100/node/year plus $5000/cluster/year (or more) in cluster-specific software support costs is a bargain as long as it means that they can "control" their cluster from a really coolio control panel at their desktop with their mouse without having to know how the damn thing works. They will (of course) include batch/queuing support, policy support, and so much more directly in this interface and it will, in fact, be fairly attractive. Might even stimulate some related efforts in the Open Source universe -- finally. The "hard" 40% of the market they'll leave to Apple (to avoid antitrust suits, at least for the time being) and linux in general. In five years if you look at any industry magazine catering to cluster users, it will look like Microsoft "invented" the cluster and that any cluster that isn't using Microsoft's clustering toolset (MCT) is bound to be slow, expensive to manage and debug, and hence costly beyond measure in a CBA. Mind you, this is their PLAN (I'm channelling somebody in their marketing department, not their engineering department). I think that it isn't quite half right. I think that if they push very hard, they are looking at 25-30% of the cluster market in five years time, and that while they will make money there (by focussing on low-hanging fruit with the highest potential profit margins and by inducing new customers who wouldn't otherwise have done clustering to do a cluster) they won't make MUCH money there because they'll find (to their chagrin) that several of their assumptions above are incorrect -- cluster builders DO tend to want to use standards based software, DO care about portability, most DEFINITELY do care about stability and performance, and DO care about cost. Unlike the situation with Borland International (whom they crushed in the software development market by a mix of underselling them and controlling the operating system on top of which the integrated compilers had to run) it is simply not possible to undersell a market where any cluster builder has -- among many other choices -- not one but MANY ways of building a cluster with zero software costs. And we're not talking shabby clusters, either -- clusters that e.g. install in a matter of a day or so, PXE install or PXE boot diskless, clusters that deliver bleeding edge performance with advanced networks and the ability to pay for and run ONLY commercially developed cluster applications if they pay for software at all. Because of this I expect that they'll find the market tough going, and it may even be a spectacular failure for them, one where they LOSE money for years and years. How many cluster builders buy RHEL or SuSE for their cluster OS, when they can use Scientific Linux, Centos, FCX, Debian, Mandriva -- for free? How many clusters use Scyld given bproc or OpenMosix for free, given warewulf or ROCKS? How many clusters are built by turnkey vendors rather than by the owners? How DOES the cost scaling work if you have to hire an MCSE from a highly competitive market AND pay for Microsoft rather than hire a linux/cluster SE (also from a highly competitive but less commercially lucrative market) but get to use free software with no per-node scaling of software costs, or if you compare turnkey clusters built on top of linux to turnkey (third party) clusters built on top of Microsoft products? Remember, per node costs EAT INTO THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NODES and hence to total compute power in aggregate FLOPS. For better or for worse, aggregate FLOPS "sells" in an ignorant marketplace. In order to "make money", Microsoft is going to need to be paid some percentage of the cost, per node, of a cluster. That percentage will need to be LARGER for small clusters than for big ones. If we assume that they'll need at least 5% of the per-node cost just to pay the marketing expenses of their products (a fair guess, I think) then a MS-based cluster will START OUT at 95% the maximum aggregate FLOPS of a linux or freebsd-based cluster using one of the free distros or cluster packages. There is market there. Scyld has customers, turnkey vendors have customers, some folks probably DO pay RHEL costs on clusters. People pay for commercial cluster applications, too, and those people will view paying "more" for a commercial OS to run them on (but with some interface bells and whistles) from a very different CBA perspective. However, the market is "in irons" to borrow an expression from sailing -- sailing into a wind, but without the forward momentum needed to properly tack, so one constantly risks being pushed backwards or into the reefs on either side. Scyld sailors (oops, baadd pun:-) can perhaps navigate these waters in a small and responsive craft. The largest tall ship in the Universe, however, offers a lot of surface area to the unfavorable wind and while its hull is ironclad, the reefs are unforgiving sharp teeth that lurk beneath the surface. Or to speak less metaphorically, Microsoft has >>never<< tackled a low margin marketplace without some form of leverage, and I have my doubts about their ability to establish themselves in a marketplace where the software margin is >>zero<< on, say, maybe 90% of all clusters. It leaves them arguing about opportunity costs and management costs versus up front software costs, an argument they've been LOSING pretty steadily in the server room with its ready supply of opportunity costs labor and its intolerance of bullshit for years now. I think they're gambling on the existence of a "desktop clustering market" -- small to midsized clusters run by single grant supported users from their plain old desktop -- plus the ability to make enough money from a few larger clusters to break even while they gain market visibility. I don't think they'll "lose" -- not immediately, anyway -- because they'll create new clients in the process even where they fail to win old ones away from linux. But they won't win, either. Not in HPC. rgb > they do have cluster software now, as opposed to talking in vacuum. From what > I heard, scalability and performance are not even in the picture yet because > this is the first version of the software, and not to mention what they > showed at SC was a beta. So, there was no need for a big rack there :) I > think in a way it better proves that they are more serious about this stuff, > rather than showing a big dead rack with one or two nodes running their > software really. Anyway, let me make my statements true by saying "I am > speculating." :) Heh, that was easy! > >> I had heard from some of the people at CTC that .NET was going to be very >> useful with clusters. I think it can work for some applications, but of >> course not all. > > Well, Java is equally easy for clusters too :) .NET is just another enabling > tool. It is interesting for Windows clusters because you can quickly > prototype and test distributed applications as opposed to writing apps in > traditional ways, like using Sockets. Plus, .NET is more friendly for Windows > because Windows Server 2003 and beyond have native .NET support in the OS. > However, .NET is not an MPI replacement (and frankly I don't think it ever > will be). > >> >> Thanks for your feedback. > > Thanks for having an open mind :) > > Srihari > >> >> -- >> Doug > _______________________________________________ > 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


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"We have to be creative with our customers and our drivers as well." Matthew "Bo" Bates, Vice President, The Evans Network
I'm a big admirer of fleets that look for new and different incentives to improve safety, especially during these tight times in the trucking industry. For it's not easy for a fleet to go out and set up rewards for drivers that drive accident-free when fuel is up over $4 a gallon and freight volumes are sluggish.
The Evans Network of Companies, based out of Schuylkill Haven, PA, gets my vote this time around for a neat safety award: a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Since 2005, the Evans Network randomly selects a winner for its grand safety prize (the Harley) from a select pool of eligible drivers - those with perfect driving records in a calendar year, as in no accidents, failed roadside inspections, etc.
"Each month of the year, eligible drivers are selected at random for various prizes, such as computers, digital cameras, apparel, bags, coolers, among many other items," said Kim Lorimer, director of safety for the Evans Network. "Drivers are eligible for our safety program by following all government rules and regulations, such as completing daily logs and inspections, and maintaining a record of no accidents or incidents."
Evans' grand prize winner for 2007 is Luis Alfonso, who believes being a safe driver should be "second nature" in this business. "Safety on the road for the protection of life and quality delivery of cargo is my most important responsibility when I get into my truck each day," he said. "This is the primary thought of every dedicated driver and the golden rule at Evans. To be honored for something that is second nature is extremely exciting. Now, I have to make time to enjoy my new motorcycle."
(Luis Alfonso plans to take his new Harley Davidson out for many a ride.)
Alfonso has driven for Evans out of its Jersey City terminal for since December 2006. A 10-year truck driving veteran, he came to the U.S. from Cuba and resides in Kearny, NJ, with his wife, Grisel, and his two children, Claudia and Albert.
"Luis's driving record demonstrates an outstanding commitment to safety and I'm proud our drivers value every phase of safety, just as Luis does," noted Matthew "Bo" Bates, vice president of the Evans Network. "Our safety incentive program was implemented in 2005 to reward drivers who always operate safely and to ensure our trusted and dependable service that our customers expect."
(That's Matthew "Bo" Bates on the right, giving Luis Alfonso the keys to a new Harley.)
I got the chance to talk with "Bo" Bates not too long ago about the state of the trucking business and from his perspective the market dynamics right now are not pretty. "The freight environment is certainly spotty and soft and that's lasted longer than I thought," he said. "We think pricing is going to be flat at least for the foreseeable future."
There are a ton of other issues, too: traffic congestion, anti-idling and truck pollution restrictions, tougher security requirements, etc. All of that adds more cost to trucking operations - cost that's hard to make up when rates are flat.
The Evans Network is a collection of six trucking companies - West Motor Freight, All Points Transport Corp., Hale Intermodal Trucking, Century Express, Evans Delivery Company and DM Transportation Management Services - that operates a combined fleet of over 1,350 tractors and 80 service centers nationwide. Those six different companies provide a wide range of services, too, everything from transporting intermodal containers and trailer drayage, truckload and flatbed services. All told, the Evans Network generated $150 million in revenues last year.
And that money wasn't easy to come by, as there's a lot of competition in all of those markets right now, especially for intermodal containers. "We're competing against local drayage operators and big intermodal fleets like J.B. Hunt and Schneider National," Bates told me. "How we compete is that we offer services across a very wide spectrum, with significantly more capacity at ports than most, and we sell our IT system, which gives the customer unified data in real time."
It also helps that the Evans Network has consolidate all the "back office" functions of the six carriers under its umbrella - billing systems, safety compliance record keeping, accounting, etc. - to make it more nimble while substantially reducing overhead. "That makes us a lot more efficient and helps us share freight more easily among our divisions," Bates noted.
But at the end of the day, it's the drivers - and the rest of Evans' combined staff - that makes the real difference. "We really try to keep a personal connection with drivers - to make sure we can be available if they have an issue," he said. "And I rely on a great team to get it all done. My time here at Evans is really all about developing people - finding the right players for our team."


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Wolves Exercise Options On Rubio, Williams
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Timberwolves have exercised third-year options on guard Ricky Rubio and forward Derrick Williams for the 2013-14 season.
Rubio averaged 10.6 points, 8.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game last season. He finished as runner-up in the NBA's Rookie of the Year voting and finished sixth in the league, and first among rookies, in assists last season. The second-year guard from Spain is recovering from surgery in March to repair torn ligaments in his left knee.
Williams appeared in all 66 games for the Timberwolves as a rookie, averaging 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. The second overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft out of Arizona finished fifth among rookies in rebounding and seventh in scoring last season.
The Timberwolves announced the move on Tuesday.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Material may not be redistributed.


text: On Thu, 2003-01-16 at 13:43, Dave Lane wrote: > Robert, > > >Read AMD's webpage(s) for their memory recommendations and follow them. > >AMD MP's in my experience are very sensitive, period, to just about > >everything in their engineering recommendations. Use an "approved" > >power supply, approved memory, approved motherboard. > > I'm beginning to believe that I want to start running away from AMD MPs! As long as you follow the recommendations, you can have a good experience. If you buy memory from PriceWatch.com (as I once did, never again), you get what you pay for. Your reward is excellent performance and stability if you do it right. The P4's have similar issues in terms of memory sensitivity. They are less sensitive on PS issues. They are more sensitive on the cooling issues (though they have built in protection which automatically drops performance if they get too hot). -- Joseph Landman, Ph.D Scalable Informatics LLC, email: landman at scalableinformatics.com web : http://scalableinformatics.com phone: +1 734 612 4615


text:
NEW YORK -- The sale of Crunch, New York, to New Evolution Fitness Co. (NEFC) and affiliates of Angelo, Gordon & Co. has been approved, Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro has learned.
The sale was approved in a hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. The formal order for the sale is expected to be submitted soon, says Shmuel Vasser, the attorney from Dechert LLP, which is representing Crunch.
"We expect the order to be submitted and signed shortly and the transaction to close by the end of the month," Vasser tells Club Industry's Fitness Business Pro.
NEFC was founded by Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley. Angelo, Gordon & Co. is the private equity firm that bought Crunch in 2005.Upon completion of the sale, Mastrov, the founder of 24 Hour Fitness, and Rowley, a former 24 Hour co-president, will serve as chairman and vice chairman of the board of directors, respectively, of Crunch.


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- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - FP2
Vettel heads Hamilton in FP2
- News:
Massa expects strong race performance
- News:
Some updates 'positive' - Ferrari
- News:
More pace in updated Lotus - Raikkonen
- News:
FP2 tempers Hamilton's optimism
- Race:
- Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Drivers:
- Jenson Button
- |
- Lewis Hamilton
- |
- Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel edged out Lewis Hamilton as the pair finished half a second ahead of the rest of the field in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Hamilton had once again set the pace during the opening part of the session on medium tyres, but when drivers switched to the softs as the floodlights took effect it was Vettel who took top spot with a 1:41.751. He was 0.168s quicker than Hamilton's best time on the soft tyres after the McLaren driver only went marginally quicker than his run on the medium tyres. Vettel also made the unusual choice of switching back to the medium compound tyres for his practice start at the end of the race.
Jenson Button was third quickest on a 1:42.412 as McLaren remained competitive, with Mark Webber a close fourth on a 1:42.466. However, Webber did not enjoy the smoothest session as his running came to a premature end with a cooling issue that manifested itself as a puddle of fluid in flowing from his car as it left the garage.
The Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Riakkonen were fifth and sixth fastest, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who seemed to struggle for one-lap pace despite a raft of upgrades on his car. His long-run pace was faster than the Red Bulls and McLarens, but so much so that Martin Whitmarsh was led to believe that the Ferrari must have been on a lower fuel load than its rivals.
Williams' Pastor Maldonado and Sauber's Sergio Perez resumed their usual positions at the slower end of the top ten, 1.2s off Vettel's pace but ahead of the Force Indias and Mercedes. Nico Rosberg could only manage the 12th fastest time and Michael Schumacher was 1.516s off the pace in 14th.
However, with fuel loads unknown the grid may well take a different shape after qualifying on Saturday evening.


text:
Now Viewing:
Product Highlights
The 190 g/m2 Inkpress Light Satin (24.0" Roll) features a bright white base (94% brightness) and a waterproof coating. The paper's light satin finish is designed for graphics as well as photo prints and provides a high level of ink absorption. Thanks to the paper's instant dry time, your prints can be handled right out of the printer worry-free. The paper is compatible with dye- and pigment-based ink systems and is compatible with Epson, HP, Canon, and other major printer brands. Free profiles for many printers are provided by Inkpress to ensure the best results with your printer.
|Basis Weight
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|25.0 x 5.1 x 5.0"


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Team Maggie Day 29 – Neely House and Maggie's New Address!
We've been chatting about the Neely House for along time, and looking forward to the day when Maggie was going to be discharged to the Neely House. Want to know more about it?
The Neely House at Tufts Medical Center is a bed and breakfast style home away from home for cancer patients and their families. It was created to fill an important need - to help pediatric and adult cancer patients and their families while undergoing treatment. The house is an environment in which families who stay there can talk with others in similar situations while being near loved ones in a warm, home-like setting.
The House is located within the walls of Tufts Medical Center, a world-renowned medical center for adults and children. The Cancer Center at Tufts Medical Center and its Floating Hospital for Children are among the finest medical institutions in the nation. The philosophy of Tufts Medical Center's cancer program is consistent with that of The Cam Neely Foundation - to provide leading-edge medical care with the highest level of compassionate patient care.
The Neely House is more than just a place to sleep. Families have the opportunity to talk with others facing similar situations while being with their loved ones in a non-clinical setting. After opening its doors in 1997 with eight beautifully designed, self contained apartments with all of the comforts of home, The Neely House expanded to sixteen private apartments in 2000 and now encompasses over 15,000 square feet, with two common kitchen areas and two living rooms. The space is designed to encourage group conversation or provide quiet corners for reading. Families can also enjoy the privacy of their own accommodation that features a kitchenette, private bath and a warm and homelike environment. All necessities such as laundry, telephone, answering machines, internet access, movie and reading libraries have been considered and are integral to the amenities available to families.
(Source - camneelyfoundation.org)
Maggie's New Address Is
The Neely House Attention: Maggie Rudnicki 750 Washington St Boston, Ma 02111
I know that Lauren, Maggie and the entire family have been thrilled with the volume of mail they have received. It's really kept their spirits high to hear from so many people from Maine and throughout the country! Please keep the letters and cards going!
We'll have more from Lauren later, it was a long night last night as the home health nurse was there until 9 PM going over the medicines, how to do the TPN, but when I asked Lauren how they slept, the answer was great! If you have ever slept in the hospital, you know you really don't sleep fitfully as there are the monitors and the nurses coming in to check vitals etc. Last night, for the first time in what has to feel like forever, there was no beeps!


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Tom2901 necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 16 diseños de 9 diseñadores freelance.
Shopping Vouchers
ShoppingVouchers is a UK based online money saving website - We offer discounts on a massive range of Online and High Street Retailers.
We're a young, fun, freindly and innovative company, that has been established for around 18 months.
Our target audiance is anyone who is looking to save money online, Voucher Code sites are an established way of doing this so we need to make our site stand out from the crowd with a really nice clean design.
We are targeting mainly a female audiance but not off putting to men (Around 60% Female, 40% Male).
We don't want to appear downmarket, but we also do not want to appear too exclusive.
The targets of this redesign are:
More flowing layout
Clean & fresh design.
Better arrangement of content
Maintain ALL current elements
Friendly & Guiding feel to the layout.
Professional and trustworthy design
Should be a redesign of the page http://www.shoppingvouchers.co.uk/v…cher-codes
You have a blank canvas in terms of layout, colours, navigation etc.
We're looking for a professional designer who can work with us on an ongoing basis to take our site to the next level.
This page shows the information for one of our retailers, it lists the relevent discounts and information for the selected store.
It is important that call to actions (click here to get discount etc) are clear and in good converting locations
Some competitng sites are:


text:
Apr 06,2009
Sustainable marketing focus of April's AdBite
by Bend Weekly News Sources
Making an Impact Without Leaving a Trace
BEND, Ore. -- It's a green world out there and only getting greener - in the environmentally sustainable way. In celebration of Earth Month, Advertising Federation of Central Oregon (AdFed) presents "Sustainable Marketing - Making an Impact Without Leaving a Trace," at the Thursday, April 23 AdBite, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., St. Charles Medical Center, Bend.
"For this extremely timely topic, we've invited a panel of experts to discuss how businesses and agencies can leave their mark on consumers, while reducing their carbon footprint," said AdFed's Cam Davis. "More importantly, they'll talk about how businesses can sustain themselves in the short term, while sustaining the planet in the long run. We'll cover everything from printing on all-recycled paper to marketing without using any natural resources at all."
Tickets for the luncheon are $10.00 for members and $30.00 for non-members and can be purchased online or by calling the AdFed hotline at 541.385.1992. Reservations are required by noon Monday, April 20.
"This will be an engaging conversation about how each of us can do more to green our marketing efforts," Davis said. "Come prepared to ask questions and win prizes for carpooling or taking public transportation to the event."
Davis adds that panel discussion will be led by Bend's Environmental Center's Katy Brice.
About the Panelists
Kierstin De West, Conscientious Innovations, Vancouver, B.C.
De West is the key strategic mind at Conscientious Innovations, a firm that has been developing brand and creative strategies based on consumer, cultural and marketplace insight for the last 12 years. An expert in the relationship between consumers, brands and sustainability, De West has worked as a brand planner at a number of high profile advertising agencies, helping build brands such as Hershey Foods and Unilever, and leading the successful repositioning of About.com before its acquisition by Primedia.
Michaele Grabenhorst, Visuality, Bend
For the past 21 years, Grabenhorst has thrived on an insatiable appetite to learn, while stewarding simple to ridiculously complex print and graphic design projects for companies, agencies and graphic designers throughout Central Oregon and the Northwest. Her two decades of print and graphic design buying have witnessed the end of the rubylith era to the
birth of the new age of printing and production and the mass exodus of paper manufacturers.
Chemynne Perlingeri, Mulch Design, Portland
As founder of Mulch Design, a Bend company that recently relocated to Portland, Perlingeri is dedicated to creating outstanding design campaigns that support sustainably minded businesses and organizations, social justice and positive local or global pursuits. In 2007, Perlingeriís efforts and leadership in Sustainable Business were rewarded by the Central Oregon Environmental Center, who chose her for their Green Spotlight Award.
About Ad Fed


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Rwanda is a fairly stable East African country, and relatively safe and simple to travel around in. Surrounded by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Rwanda is a land-locked country easily accessible from both Kenya by air, and Uganda by bus.
Not only is it the land of a thousand hills, Rwanda is also a country rich in flora, fauna and breathtaking green savanna.
The silverback mountain Gorilla, as well as birds and insects unique to the tropical forest of Nyungwe, call the country home.