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O's hoping to squeeze potential out of young arms
Still-emerging pitching staff gives Baltimore reason for optimism
BALTIMORE -- The Orioles, who were eliminated from postseason contention in the season's final week, could arrive at Spring Training with more holes to fill than they had at the end of 2013.
But they also have reason for considerable optimism, thanks to a solid core and a talented -- albeit still-emerging -- pitching staff.
Yes, you've heard that line before in regard to Baltimore, which has spent the better part of the last five years trying to develop a rotation in the American League East from within. In that vein, new pitching coach Dave Wallace and new bullpen coach Dom Chiti may be the most significant additions in the Orioles' quiet winter, tasked to squeeze the potential and capability out of the O's young arms and do it in baseball's toughest division.
Positionally, the Orioles return nearly everyone from their record-setting defense, with Silver Slugger first baseman Chris Davis coming off a 53-homer season. Davis, who was one of five All-Stars for the O's, gives the team a threatening middle of the order along with Adam Jones, who is coming off his own career year. J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado -- who is recovering from knee injury -- are one of the best left sides of the infield in baseball, and the team's lineup, which could still use a designated hitter, is formidable.
But all that power, which also makes the club susceptible to high strikeout rates, will again be in vain if the club can't pitch. Gone is closer Jim Johnson, and the Orioles hope Tommy Hunter, along with a few new pieces, can revert the relief corps back to the fantastic form of the playoff team of 2012.
The rotation, which managed to get by in 2012 mostly because of the 'pen, has got to step forward. It's a big spring for lefties Zach Britton and Brian Matusz -- once considered part of the young "cavalry" of promising starters -- who will both compete for the fifth rotation spot along with Steve Johnson and top prospect Kevin Gausman.
The talent is there, but the O's -- who are still trying to add a veteran starter -- don't have time to wait. If their pitching can improve, they have a chance of making some noise this season, with the rotation competition the biggest storyline of a sure-to-be intriguing spring.
Will executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette's lack of moves this winter and his faith in the club's Minor League system pan out?
Pitchers and catchers report
Feb. 13
Full squad reports
Feb. 18
First Spring Training game
Away vs. Rays, Feb. 28, 1:05 p.m. ET
Opening Day
Home vs. Red Sox, March 31, 3:05 p.m. ET
Triple play: Three questions that need answers
1. With Johnson gone, who will be the closer?
Johnson's trade to Oakland was unpopular among fans and made worse by the Orioles' deal with Grant Balfour -- now with Tampa Bay -- falling through. Enter Hunter, widely considered the leading candidate internally and a power arm who has a big upside. Baltimore relied on Johnson for 50-plus saves each of the last two seasons, and Hunter will get the chance to prove he can step up and get the job done.
2. Will Machado be ready for Opening Day?
Machado said at last weekend's FanFest that he wasn't confident he would be ready to suit up March 31, telling reporters he would have a more clear timeline after he gets cleared to play. That deadline needs to be mid-March for Machado to have a realistic chance, and his rehab, which is well over a month ahead of schedule, will be closely monitored, but not rushed.
3. How will the rotation shake out?
It seems every spring the O's come to camp with a host of rotation hopefuls, and this year isn't any different. Chris Tillman is a lock coming off a breakout year, with Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez and Bud Norris all expected to be part of the Opening Day starting five. That last spot will be interesting, particularly with the club still looking to add a veteran starter. Internal candidates include Britton, Matusz, Gausman and Johnson.
2013 record
85-77, third in the AL East
Projected batting order
1. RF Nick Markakis:
.271 BA, .329 OBP, .356 SLG, 10 HR, 59 RBI in 2013
2. 3B Manny Machado:
.283 BA, .314 OBP, .432 SLG, 14 HR, 71 RBI in 2013
3. CF Adam Jones:
.285 BA, .318 OBP, .493 SLG, 33 HR, 108 RBI in 2013
4. 1B Chris Davis:
.286 BA, .370 OBP, .634 SLG, 53 HR, 138 RBI in 2013
5. C Matt Wieters:
.235, .287 OBP, .417 SLG, 22 HR, 79 RBI in 2013
6. SS J.J. Hardy:
.263 BA, .306 OBP, .433 SLG, 25 HR, 76 RBI in 2013
7. LF David Lough:
.286 BA, .311 OBP, .413 SLG, 5 HR, 33 RBI in 2013 with the Royals
9. 2B Ryan Flaherty:
.224 BA, .293 OBP, .390 SLG, 10 HR, 27 RBI in 2013
Projected rotation
1. Chris Tillman, 16-7, 3.71 ERA in 2013
2. Wei-Yin Chen, 7-7, 4.07 ERA in 2013
3. Miguel Gonzalez, 11-8, 3.78 ERA in 2013
4. Bud Norris, 4-3, 4.80 ERA in 2013
Projected bullpen
Closer: Tommy Hunter, 4 saves, 2.81 ERA in 2013
Setup man: Darren O'Day, 2.18 ERA in 2013
The new guys
LF Lough: Acquired in an offseason trade from Kansas City, the left-field job is Lough's to lose. The Orioles have coveted the athletic outfielder for a while and are optimistic Lough can fill the void left by Nate McLouth.
RP Ryan Webb: His two-year pact, made official at the Winter Meetings, didn't get a lot of publicity, but it could be a nice coup for the O's. A ground-ball pitcher, Webb was non-tendered by Miami, and Baltimore was among the first to call, giving manager Buck Showalter another potential late-inning option.
RHP Brad Brach: Another bullpen addition, Brach is part of a revamped Orioles relief corps that Baltimore hopes can return to 2012 form. He posted a 3.19 ERA over 31 innings in 33 relief appearances last season for the Padres.
C Johnny Monell: Acquired from the Giants at the end of November, Monell will compete for the backup spot to Wieters this spring. It should come down to him and local product Steve Clevenger.
INF Jemile Weeks: He was the player the O's got back from the A's in exchange for Johnson, and he's a candidate for the second-base job this spring. Even if he doesn't win that spot, Weeks could still make the club in a utility role and has a Minor League option remaining.
INF Michael Almanzar: A Rule 5 Draft pick from the Red Sox, Almanzar has some pretty lofty expectations given that each of the Orioles' last two Rule 5 Draft choices have stuck with the big league club all year. Baltimore likes his bat, although finding a position for Almanzar could be a bigger challenge.
OF Francisco Peguero: Part of a crowded outfield picture this spring, Peguero signed a Major League deal and is expected to compete for the fourth outfield spot.
Prospects to watch
RHP Gausman: He took his lumps as a rookie in the rotation, but found some success out of the Orioles' bullpen. Gausman will use the experience of his first full season this spring, where he is expected to compete for a rotation spot. While likely ticketed for Triple-A to start the year, Gausman could be a major factor for the O's in 2014.
Top Orioles Prospects
|Dylan Bundy
|Kevin Gausman
|Eduardo Rodriguez
INF Jonathan Schoop: The team's top position player prospect, Schoop had a coming-out party last season of sorts with a successful stint in the World Baseball Classic and a September callup. He is thought to be the second baseman of the future and ideally will start the season at Triple-A to get some more seasoning.
LHP Eduardo Rodriguez: A frequent name in trade talks, Rodriguez is an exciting young talent and, along with Dylan Bundy and Gausman, reason to be excited about the future of the Orioles' pitching staff. The 20-year-old lefty will again be one of the youngest players in big league camp.
RHP Bundy: He is coming off Tommy John surgery and told reporters earlier this winter that he's targeting a June return. That should make Bundy a viable second-half addition for the O's, potentially as a power arm out of the 'pen.
On the rebound
LF Nolan Reimold: He is recovering from his second consecutive season-ending neck surgery, a corrective procedure that has him well ahead of last year's rehab schedule. Out of options and still trying to prove that he can be a consistent everyday big leaguer, Reimold is a wild card for Baltimore. If he can stay healthy and showcase some of that power, he could be a major boost to the club's lineup at designated hitter. This spring could very well be Reimold's last chance to prove that.
RF Markakis: He is coming off the worst year of his career, and it was widely speculated that his health was a factor with three surgeries in the previous calendar year. Recovered and motivated, Markakis looks to be the club's leadoff hitter and is playing in the final year of his contract (with a pricey club option) looking to turn things around.
LHP Britton: Could he be this year's Tillman? The Orioles hope so. Britton is out of options and will fight for the fifth rotation spot in what could be his last stand in Baltimore. Britton has shown flashes of promise, but he has struggled with consistency at the big league level. If he can figure it out, the sinkerballer could help stabilize the rotation.
Long gone
2B Brian Roberts: He signed with AL East-rival New York Yankees, spurning Orioles fans with his comments that wearing the pinstripes was something he dreamed about as a kid. The Orioles never made an offer to the oft-injured veteran.
LF McLouth: He signed with the Nationals after Baltimore dragged its feet in exploring another comeback. Lough will look to pick up where McLouth, who added speed and athleticism, left off.
RHP Scott Feldman : A veteran innings-eater, the Orioles wanted Feldman back. Just not at the price the righty got from Houston, three years at $30 million.
RHP Jason Hammel: He had a career year in 2012, but struggled with injury and underperformance last season, and the Orioles never showed any interest. Hammel signed with the Cubs at the end of January.


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CS G 107: Program Design Paradigms
CS G 107 is the mandatory introductory course for students in the MS program. The course has two distinct objectives. First, it will ensure that all MS students have the same background in designing programs. This encompasses the entire design cycle, from problem analysis to the development of test suites. Second, the course will also introduce students to programming as a people discipline. Students will work in pairs, present code to panels, sit on review panels, and learn to cope with an evolving code basis. The course will require a serious commitment to practical hands-on programming from the student.
The course comes with a lab course, called CS G 108. Students must register for both courses to receive credit.
These and other frequently asked questions are answered in the FAQ list; see tab on the left.
|last updated on Tue Jun 9 22:21:18 EDT 2009
|generated with PLT Scheme

subset: commoncrawl


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One-Pot Spicy Sausage Skillet - smoked sausage, chicken broth, cream, pasta, rotel, cheese and green onions. Everything cooks in the same skillet, even the pasta! Quick recipe! Ready in 15 minutes! My husband asked for this 3 days in a row!
Our pasta was super spicy. I sent Chicken Legs to the grocery store and he bought Hot Rotel. Let me tell you, Hot Rotel is super spicy! Fortunately, we both like spicy food! I decided to splurge on calories and used Conech Smoked Sausage. It had great flavor and smelled wonderful cooking. Feel free to substitute smoked turkey sausage if you want to cut down on the calories.
This makes a ton. We saved the leftovers for lunch. I poured a little chicken broth in the container so the pasta wouldn't dry out when we reheated it. It was just as good leftover.
Spicy Sausage Skillet
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced into 1/4" slices
- 2 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 (10-oz) can Rotel tomatoes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 8-oz campanelle pasta (or penne)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions
- Heat olive oil over medium hight heat in a 12-inch oven safe skillet until hot. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned.
- Add onion flakes, garlic powder, broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover skillet. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until pasta is tender.
- Remove skillet from heat and stir in half of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.


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'Phantom' fleshed out for film
Phantom of the Opera News
Posted by:
Article Date:
February 4, 2005 |
Associated Press |
Publication/Article Link:
LOS ANGELES - "The Phantom of the Opera" required a makeover for his close-up.
In its journey from stage to screen, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical underwent some tailoring to mend the holes in the gothic love story.
For the nearly 80 million theatergoers around the world who have seen it since it debuted in 1986, here are some new things you'll see in the film:
The chandelier
In the play, the Phantom sends the opera house's massive chandelier crashing to the stage right before the intermission. Since films don't commonly have intermissions any more, Lloyd Webber said he proposed moving that famous moment to the end of the movie, which changes the climax of the story.
"It's a big change from the theater show if they analyze it, and I hope they don't," said the composer, who also served as screenwriter and producer. "What the Phantom's doing is destroying the whole world he loved by that one action. It's very different from what it is in the theater, which is a vague act of revenge toward Christine."
Authentic ages
The story involves the Phantom, a mysterious masked man, who manipulates the young opera-house chorus girl, Christine, by speaking to her from the shadows and pretending to be the ghost of her dead father. He then unleashes his rage when she falls in love with another man, her childhood sweetheart, Raoul.
Lloyd Webber, a fan of Joel Schumacher's vampire thriller "The Lost Boys," asked him to work as the musical film's director because he enjoyed the filmmaker's blending of song and action in previous movies.
"I said I'll do it on the condition that Christine be very young. She's supposed to be a teenager, and there's an innocence about this character so she must be young," Schumacher said.
For the film, the composer and director selected Emmy Rossum, who was 16 and turned 17 during filming as Christine, and Gerard Butler, who was 34, as the Phantom. On stage, the characters are usually played by much older actors.
"It makes her more vulnerable. I wanted the relationship with the Phantom to be more of a sexual, passionate, darker, more obsessive, more destructive relationship," Schumacher said. "She's in the spell of her dead father ... and who's this voice speaking to her? I think if she's older, you just want to smack her. 'Will you grow up please? There's no ghost here, girl.' "
Phantom history
How did the Phantom come to live in the underground lake below the Paris opera house?
Although the stage show doesn't answer the question, the movie includes a flashback sequence to put his past into perspective.
"I said to Andrew that movie audiences need whys and wherefores. 'Why? Who is the Phantom? How did he get there?"' Schumacher said.
Lloyd Webber said moviegoers will get a taste of "the backstory of the Phantom, what he was like as a little boy. That was fun."
It also explains the Phantom's relationship with Madame Giry, played by Miranda Richardson, the opera's ballet mistress, who is his protector and seems to be the only one who understands his motivations.
New songs
Minnie Driver, who plays the arrogant, devious soprano Carlotta, is a singer in real life - but not an opera singer.
Driver is the only cast member whose screen singing is performed by another person. "I wanted a comic actress for obvious reasons," Schumacher said. "It's played very broad, a character to make fun of. I haven't found too many opera singers who can make fun of themselves."
But Driver gets to show off her pipes with a new song Lloyd Webber and lyricist Charles Heart wrote for the closing credits, "Learn To Be Lonely," which has a more contemporary feel.
Lloyd Webber also wrote a new song for the Phantom to sing in the movie, but it was ultimately cut from the final version. Look for it on the DVD's deleted scenes.
"It just stopped the movie. It was a lovely song, and it was a sort of inner monologue of the Phantom's, and it was actually information we knew already, about his longing for Christine. But we know that," Schumacher said.
Hero on a white horse
The movie expands on the scene that opens the play, with Raoul as a frail old man who attends an auction of items from the now-defunct opera house. That sequence now extends to various points throughout the movie and supplies a twist ending not included in the play.
Patrick Wilson, who appeared on Broadway in the most recent revival of "Oklahoma!" and in the TV adaptation of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America," got the part of Raoul but said the character was written too thinly for the stage.
"Raoul's one of those roles where you're the third one down the cast list, the second guy. He's the solid guy," he said. "They wanted to make the movie more heroic, more energized, more passionate, so it only made sense to have Raoul more active and doing stunts. We gave him a real fight."
In the movie, Schumacher and Lloyd Webber said they wanted Raoul to be more dashing - a hero who literally rides on a white horse to save Christine and lock swords with the Phantom.
"I really wanted him to be a real person. I made him into an action hero here," Schumacher said.
Wilson said the movie manifests many of the things from the play that had to be imagined.
"You finally get to see the lair and the water. You finally get inside the Phantom's eyes and really see the passion in his eyes and the disfigurement and what he's fighting," he said. "You get to see all these things happening. The chandelier really falls and really explodes and really catches on fire. It becomes a very visceral experience."


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STANFORD / University's tree mascot gets the ax for drinking on the job against Cal / Female student had blood alcohol level of 0.15, police say
The Stanford University tree has been toppled for being drunk on the job.
The student wearing the costume of the legendary mascot was suspended from duty after UC Berkeley police observed her drinking from a flask during a Stanford-Cal basketball game last week, officials said Thursday.
"She was taking drinks inside the tree," said Kevin Klintworth, assistant athletic director at Cal. "The officers could see the flask through the costume."
Erin Lashnits, 23, a fifth-year undergraduate biology student, was given a breath test shortly after halftime of the Feb. 9 game at Haas Pavilion. Authorities said the test showed she had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent, nearly twice the legal limit for driving. She was cited for public drunkenness and told to leave the court but was allowed to watch the rest of the game from the grandstand.
Lashnits acknowledged that she was intoxicated but denied that she had a flask or that she had been drinking during the game.
"I apologize," she said. "I made a bad decision, and I wish I could take it back."
The defrocked tree, who plans to apply to become an astronaut and hopes one day to walk on the moon, said she could not believe the results of the breath test.
"I don't think these things lie, but I felt fine, and I was certainly able to do my job," she said. "I'd like to put this whole thing behind me. The last thing I want to do is hurt the Stanford band."
The band oversees the tree. Spokesman Sam Urmy said the incident began as a misunderstanding when Lashnits began prancing in the middle of the court, as she is allowed to do at Stanford, instead of confining her routines to under the basket, as Cal requires. That's when officers began observing her more closely, Urmy said.
"She wasn't doing anything offensive," Urmy said. "She was just jumping and dancing. The tree's movement is usually consistent with that of someone who's had something to drink."
The imbibing tree violated the terms of the band's three-year alcohol ban, which Stanford administrators imposed after band members got drunk on a notorious bus ride home from a USC football game in Los Angeles in 2003.
Urmy said the band would be picking a new tree next month. He said the band had relieved the tree of duty on its own accord, before the university took action.
"We wanted to take care of this ourselves," he said. "It's not that big a deal."


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Motion Controls
SCEA doesn't think it "makes sense," to do away with standard game controllers
Sony doesn't plan on ditching a standard controller any time soon, according to SCEA's Dr. Richard Marks.
Motion Controls headlines
Cage: "Party games" won't support motion creativity
David Cage has said motion controls will broaden public acceptance of videogames, but the titles must appeal to the masses for the controls to become mainstream.
Peter Moore: "We need be selective" with motion control experiences
Peter Moore has said that lessons learned with Wii will be the key to enabling EA Sports to reach new audiences with Kinect and Move.
EA Q4 FY2010 financials: We're "bullish" on motion control tech
EA's John Riccitiello said during the company's financial call to investors tonight that it's "bullish" on the new motion control tech from Sony and Microsoft.
Cohort Studios: The core will "come around" to new motion controls
Cohort Studios CEO Lol Scragg has said that once Move and Natal are released, the core player will come around to accepting the new tech.
"Many people are afraid or scared of gaming technology", says Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that Nintendo wants the public to embrace new gaming technology and no longer be a bit worried over what is new and different.
Watch Kevin Butler's Move video from the future
Sony's VP of Everything, Kevin Butler, has a new video up on YouTube chatting about Move, which was fully revealed at GDC last week. It's below the break, and makes you smile at least – maybe it also gives you a reason to buy it even if you already own a Wii. We have no […]
Tretton: Move is not meant to replace current controllers
SCEA bossman Jack Tretton has said that Move is not meant to replace current controllers, only to provide the consumer with options.
PS Motion Controls were initially wanted for Heavy Rain
Quantic Dream's David Cage has said that he initially wanted motion controls for Heavy Rain.
Report: Nintendo passed on Natal tech back in 2007
Looks like Nintendo bossman Satoru Iwata was shown Natal's tech at one point and passed on it due to latency and price-point reservations, according to CVG.
Naughty Dog "not interested" in Uncharted with PS3 motion controls
Naughty Dog's Evan Wells has said the firm will not be developing Uncharted-style with PS3 motion controls any time soon. Instead, he said that he'd rather create a game designed specifically for the system.
Motion Controls latest
SCEA doesn't think it "makes sense," to do away with standard game controllers
Peter Moore: "We need be selective" with motion control experiences
EA Q4 FY2010 financials: We're "bullish" on motion control tech
Cohort Studios: The core will "come around" to new motion controls
"Many people are afraid or scared of gaming technology", says Miyamoto
Naughty Dog "not interested" in Uncharted with PS3 motion controls


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wind (someone) round (one's) (little) finger(redirected from wind round finger)
wind (someone) round (one's) (little) finger
To gain complete control, dominance, or mastery over somebody; to make someone do whatever one wishes. The spoiled little brat has completely wound his parents round his little finger. Everyone accused her of winding the boss round her finger.


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Strange and frightening things befall the princesses of Grimms' Fairy Tales. The protagonist of "The Goose Girl" has her identity stolen and her single ally—a talking horse—sent to the knacker. Maid Maleen is locked in a tower until all her food runs out, forcing her to dig her way out. The queen of "Trusty John" agrees to sacrifice her children to bring her husband's servant back to life. It's grand to see that Willow, the runaway princess of Irma "Aimo" Ahmed and Allison Pang's gorgeous Fox and Willow follow in this tradition, dealing with murderous strangers and melancholy ghosts along her flight from a dark past.
Fox and Willow is a blend of dark fairy tale and manga-inspired epic, one that takes just enough trappings from each column to spin an engaging story. Willow is a kind-hearted princess on the run from something involving a mysterious man with a dark smile. Like the Goose Girl, Willow has an animal as her sole companion, though he's much more mischievous than the Goose Girl's Falada. Gideon is a fox spirit, one who usually takes the form of a red fox whose barking only Willow can hear, but who can also appear as a man with a pair of fox ears atop his head. On the run from the authorities, and with no means of acquiring food or shelter save for begging, Willow finds a mill and Jessa, a milliner's daughter who offers her a meal and a bed for the night. But Willow's gracious host may have less than hospitable plans for the girl and her fox.
Pang and Ahmed are careful to paint Willow as a plausible princess. She's strong-willed enough to have survived this long on the road without resorting to theft, but she's no well traveled adventurer. She doesn't know how to catch or find her own dinner, and she is so weary when she arrives on Jessa's doorstep that she is vulnerable to the other woman's wiles. We get hints over the long first arc that Willow will survive on the road not through physical strength or martial ability but thanks to her character and the skills she learned as a princess.
There's a touch of humor to the relationship between Gideon and Willow, who spar like an old married couple, but the fairy tale current runs clearly underneath. Ahmed's palette of soft pinks, browns, blues, and grays gives the comic a moody, dangerous edge, one perfect for deep and dark forests and ghostly visitors and strangers with bad intentions. It also makes for a nice contrast between this dark and dirty world and the bright but shadowed memories of Willow's past. It's going to be a delight to unravel the mystery of what cast Willow from her position of privilege, but based on the first 90 pages, it will be even more fun to see what other fairy tale horrors Willow and her fox will encounter.


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| March 27, 2013, 12:55 pm
Like many a fine idea, the Stanley Film Festival seems so obvious. Once you hear about it, that is. The inaugural installment of the three-day horror film fest is set to unfurl May 2-5 at the hotel made famous by Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," even though the chiller wasn't shot there.
Brainchild of Jenny Bloom and Katie Shapiro, the go-getting gals who launched the Denver Film Society's young professionals gathering known as the Reel Social Club, the Stanley FF kicks off with a party Wednesday.
That's tonight at the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 East Colfax. 5:30 p.m. eats and drinks. Then the fest struts its programming know-how with another Stephen King foray, "Carrie" (7:30 p.m.), and a fright-show from Mexico, "Come Out and Play" (9:45 p.m.)


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LexieFord video. All videos (4)LexieFord webcam
What I know for sure and can tell you is that I am a party girl all the way!Wherever is a party I am. I dream to go to Ibiza for a summer because I want to taste the vibe, feel the energy from a big place like that. But, if I have to choose one place to


text:
The Garage Sale Wednesday Sales
May 13 @ 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 1:30pm on Wednesday, repeating indefinitely
We are a small community business selling new and nearly new items for everyone. We sell donated goods of women's, men's and children clothing, toys and small household wares. There is something for everyone (though we don't sell white or electrical goods as of yet).
All the profits from the sale of goods get re-invested back in to the community. We put on a range of trips & events for the community and help out with local causes where we can.
So, why not pop along and grab yourself a bargain!


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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
- FeatureSnap Hints at Next-Gen NAS
- FeaturePST Files Spell Trouble for Storage Administrators
- FeatureStorage SLAs--get ready
- FeatureModernize mainframe storage
- FeatureSCSI Drives Bow Out of Capacity Race
- TipNext-generation NAS
- FeatureCaches with the Write Stuff
- ArticleOff-site copies on the cheap
- FeatureVeritas Dumps Bare Metal Restore for TSM
- FeatureMidrange Arrays Inherit High-End Smarts
- ArticleOptimize database storage
- ArticleInside the new Symmetrix
- FeatureTypes of Block Data Replication
- FeatureDefinitions
- FeatureVirtualization in the switch? Not so fast
- FeatureCan Brocade's SilkWorm 12000 take the pain out of expanding your SAN?
- FeatureSnapshot: Where do you store end-user files?
- FeatureThe iSCSI rollout--it's about time.
- FeatureMeasuring data storage utlization
- FeatureHot Spots: Storage services groups
- FeatureWhat's new with you?
iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Storage SLAs--get ready
Separating storage from servers means separate SLAs, too. Here's how to build one that can help control costs and manage service levels.
Mike Taylor's reaction to the idea of storage service level agreements (SLAs) is typical: They haven't hit his high-priority list yet, but he suspects that will change fairly quickly. "We really don't have formalized service levels for storage at this point," says Taylor, a storage administrator at Capital Blue Cross in Harrisburg, PA. "But I do see them coming."
Storage hasn't historically rated separate SLAs--with the huge exception of disaster recovery but Sept. 11 cast disaster recovery plans into high gear, and senior executives started paying attention. Moreover, storage technology has steadily grown more complex in the past several years, causing IT departments to consider the value of creating storage-specific SLAs.
Then there's the influence of storage service providers that use SLAs as part of the contracts they sign with clients. "The use of storage SLAs really accelerated in the late '90s as SSPs started selling," says Al Sporer, the global practice manager for operations management consulting at EMC. "We've seen the concept start to move to internal IT departments in the past couple of years."
|What rates an SLA?
Most importantly, CIOs and storage managers view storage SLAs as a tool to rein in storage spending. As the economic downturn drags on in many industries, CIOs need to cut costs. Storage--which many experts say can take up to 50% of an IT department's capital budget--has long fallen into the murky category of "necessary, but hard to track financially."
Small wonder, then, that storage expenditures have come under increased scrutiny. "Executives are beginning to ask why the bean counters can't account better for storage spending," says Dan Tanner, an analyst with the storage research group at the Aberdeen Group, Boston, MA.
SLAs aren't wholly about service--they're also about money. "If you apply cost to a policy, you've got the beginnings of an SLA," says Mark Friedman, the vice president of storage technology at DataCore Software in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
SLA challenges
Although corporate interest is being piqued by the notion of storage SLAs, issues clog the road to smooth implementation. It's all very well to sign agreements specifying applications will be backed up nightly, or disk space allocated within 48 hours of a request, but what's the point if IS can't fulfill the requirements of the SLA? For example, Jerome Wendt, a senior storage analyst at First Data Resources in Omaha, NE, envisions storage as an in-house utility. Regardless of what SAN your server is plugged into, "you should be able to call us and get storage," he says. But he can't currently guarantee this is going to happen, so won't make promises.
For storage SLAs to have teeth, they must work properly. The first step is to find out what the main challenges are in implementing storage SLAs. And then know what to measure and what services make little sense to measure.
At many companies, "If there are SLAs in place, they are so generic that they're useless," says Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group, a storage research company based in Milford, MA. Tanner agrees. "Companies using any sort of chargeback are using a more or less gross measure, maybe megabytes or gigabytes," he says. The end result is an SLA with no bite. He says, "If the backup SLA is, 'OK, I'll back stuff up,' what does that really mean? Users want to know that at x period of time--no matter what happens--they can restore applications within a certain level of time."
By making SLAs more granular, it's simpler to tie specific costs to each service level, which means that storage managers can give users better information about storage costs, and users can make more informed decisions. Duplessie gives a hypothetical example: "Let's say a department has 3TBs of data sitting on an IBM Shark. But in six months, that data hasn't been accessed. Does it really belong on the most expensive level of storage? The SLA should be written at a level of granularity to address this." For example, "If data isn't accessed within x months, IS can move it off the most expensive storage and put it on less expensive stuff."
At MasterCard International in New York City, for example, IT operates on a chargeback basis. By sticking with just a few storage vendors, Jerry McElhatton, the president of global technology and operations, says that lower costs lets him offer better service level agreements. "We provide a service and have service level agreements," he says. "And by having volume discount on storage purchasing we were able to eliminate multiple data numbers." That, in turn, made it easier for the group to stay within acceptable windows of service.
|Who cracks the whip?
It's an interesting conundrum. The people who measure for SLA compliance are the same people being held accountable for them. Most experts say, however, that the system works if both the user side and the storage side are working towards the common goal of driving down costs. For example, if storage services operate on a chargeback basis, storage managers are probably working towards specific cost cutting goals. It's therefore in their best interest to meet the SLAs, says Mark Friedman, the vice president of storage technology at DataCore in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. "You enforce SLAs best at the level of the cash register," he says.
Jean Banco, a product manager at Fujitsu Softek in Sunnyvale, CA, says the buck stops at the application manager. Here's why: "The application manager generally is the one to set service levels for the storage manager on the automated tools," she says. "They set up the storage requirements, the performance requirements, recoverability, security--the business-centric side of things." It's then the storage manager's responsibility to map those requirements to the physical storage environment, and the application manager is the one who tracks compliance.
SLAs that measure the wrong things
Router availability, storage availability and backup: All of these things are commonly found in SLAs, but storage managers who use them as the basis for SLAs are using the wrong yardstick, says Raymond Paquet, an analyst at Gartner Group. "At the end of the day, an SLA is composed of three words, and 90% of IS groups forget the first one," he says. "Most people define a metric and think that's the definition of the service. That's wrong. The first part is defining the service."
The bottom line is storage services should be things that are meaningful and impact the business. For example, "Storage availability isn't a service," he says. "As a business user, I don't care if storage is available or not. I want the application to be up."
Paquet advises IS groups to continue to measure and monitor such storage benchmarks, but only as internal measures. "I'd use them to hold the storage management group accountable within IS," he says. "The availability of underlying components are interesting to IT, but not to the business." So what would Paquet build storage SLAs around? The things that business people will come directly in contact with, he says: recovery and provisioning.
Richard Scannell, the VP of corporate development and strategy at GlassHouse Technologies, Inc., Framingham, MA, says SLAs are frequently unenforceable because storage managers don't implement policies and procedures spelling out how to accomplish the SLA. "No technology by itself can produce SLA compliance. It's how it's used by people, and a big problem is not defining processes and procedures that support SLA compliance," he says.
The problem, according to Scannell, is that it's difficult to define processes--"to say, here are the things to measure, and here's how to translate them into capital, expense and human requirements. As a result, the SLA is the equivalent of giving the CIO enough rope to hang himself with."
Mapping an SLA to reality Every line business manager will be the first to tell you their application is absolutely mission critical, but the truth is there will always be some systems that are more vital than others. But many application SLAs don't take that into account, and instead assign service levels that are overly high for a given application.
The trick is to find a way to get users to agree to lesser levels of service. Like Wendt, Scannell suggests to make the conversation about money. "Pass some of the responsibility back to the customer," he says.
Once a SLA is agreed upon then the fun begins: measuring its compliance. There's a bunch of SRM tools on the market that do a good job of collecting data from individual storage devices. However, Gartner's Paquet says, "There's no way to aggregate the data," adding, "Without a common data structure, how do you correlate the data?"
Wendt agrees, saying the heterogeneous technology environment of open systems storage makes it almost impossible to find a tool that will measure service level adherence across the enterprise. Wendt envisions software running a management console that lets him build customized data collection metrics on various aspects of the storage infrastructure. "I could have a script running in the background that would tell me when I was about to go out of the window of acceptance on a service level, but right now I don't have any automated way of collecting this data," he says. "A lot of measurement is still seat-of-the-pants, and that's no way to measure an SLA."
Aberdeen's Tanner says, "Tools managing things like storage, network resources, file services, database services are extraordinarily complicated, and there's no tool that does it all. The more sophisticated they are, the fewer vendors they work with." He says companies on the leading edge of storage SLAs have built their own tools.
Some of the better tools are coming from SSPs, many of which are struggling financially. According to Tanner, "SSPs have discovered that companies don't want to outsource storage, but they all have developed software that will let companies manage storage internally like an SSP." This includes being able to measure SLA adherence.
Sooner or later, most companies are moving to storage SLAs. First Data's Wendt says, "SLAs are definitely coming, and I need to start thinking about this."


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Lipsky has a lighter touch throughout...But as he finishes with the Constitution's first two articles, he loses some steam....Read the rest here.
Rakove, on the other hand, gains momentum as his book progresses. His writing becomes slyer, shedding some of its textbook quality. He also becomes more judgmental, a quality mostly missing in Lipsky.
Lipsky rarely makes ideological points and does not promote interpretive theories, whereas Rakove occasionally pushes back against originalism, the theory that the meaning of the Constitution was fixed at the time of its adoption.
The Marketplace of Ideas: Reform and Resistance in the American University by Louis Menand is reviewed by Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth in the Los Angeles Times. Menand
describes the evolution in this country of a model in which the college years have been kept separate from anything that resembles vocational or professional training. Defenders of either the "books everyone should have read" POV or of the "skills everyone should have acquired" have usually been stymied by "a superstition: that the practical is the enemy of the true." Menand's message here: It doesn't have to be this way.Continue reading here.
GAME CHANGE: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin is reviewed in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
And in blog news, a Military History Carnival is up at Edge of the American West. (A carnival is a round-up/synthesis of many related blog posts.) And Claire Potter has begun the incredibly helpful Sunday Radical Round-up at Tenured Radical.


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Eye Surgery
Eye surgeries can have positive, long-lasting and dramatic implications on the quality of your life. Imagine having the freedom to see well without the assistance of glasses or contact lenses. Imagine having crisp, clear vision that cataract formation has taken from you.
Your eye health is an important factor in your overall health. You should be getting regular eye check-ups – just as you would visit your regular medical doctor once a year. For children, vision exams should regularly be done as children's eyes change rapidly during their growth years. Whether you suffer from nearsightedness or farsightedness or any other eye condition, the overall health of your eyes will determine if you are a good candidate for eye surgery.
Eye surgery is generally performed
• To correct vision caused by myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism
• To remove visual obstructions such as cataracts or to repair eyelids that droop due to ptosis
• To reverse discomfort caused by glaucoma
• To replace a missing eye caused by congenital defects, trauma or disease with an orbital implant
Advancements in surgical procedures over the past twenty-five years have made it possible for surgeons to address these conditions with state-of-the-art techniques that ensure successful solutions thus saving vision as well as improving cosmetic appearance. Advancements in biocompatible substances as well as advancements in laser technology have enabled greater safety and successful outcomes for eye surgeries. This level of success has allowed more and more people to achieve better vision with a high level of confidence that their eye surgery procedure will produce their desired outcome.
Types of Eye Surgery
Corrective Eye Surgery
For the past three decades, three surgical procedures have dominated the corrective eye surgery sphere:
• Radial Keratotomy (RK) was a widely used surgical procedure in the 1980s to correct nearsightedness. This procedure changed the eye surface with radial-cut incisions. The long-term results were not successful for some patients, particularly those with high prescription strenths, and also resulted in night vision problems and glare among other issues.
• Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) was approved for use in the U.S. during the 1990s and was the first procedure to successfully implement lasers to remove eye tissue and is indicated for patients with thin corneal tissue.
• Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis (Lasik or Lasek) is the most popular corrective eye surgery procedure in use today. It achieves more accurate vision through the use of lasers which strategically ablates (or removes) eye tissue in order to adjust the cornea's focus.
Vision correction may also be achieve through the use of surgically implantable lenses. These are similar to contact lenses but are permanent and are particularly effective for very nearsighted conditions. During this procedure, natural eye lenses are replaced or supplemented with clear lenses with a different shape that correct vision.
Both PRK and Lasik are performed without general anesthesia and take approximately 15 minutes per eye.
Cataract Surgery
More than 50% of adults over 60 years of age will experience cataracts. Cataracts are a condition where the eye's lens becomes increasingly cloudy over time. This condition is not reversible, but it is treatable with cataract surgery. During the procedure, the cloudy eye lens is removed and a clear, artificial lens is inserted in its place.
There are three principle methods employed in cataract surgery which are
• Phacoemulsification – This procedure dissolves the cloudy cataract with ultrasonic vibrations administered via an inserted probe.
• Extracapsular – Used for very dense eye lenses, this eye surgery involves sutures and an extended recovery time.
• Intracapsular – Not often employed, this surgery entails the removal of the entire eye lens and surrounding capsule.
Glaucoma Surgery
Glaucoma is an eye condition that causes vision loss. It occurs when there is a build up of pressure in the eye usually when eye fluid does not drain out as quickly as it flows into the eye. While surgery cannot reverse vision loss from glaucoma, it can effect better drainage. Laser glaucoma surgery is used to open up the existing drainage system allowing fluids to flow out better. Conventional surgery can also be used to insert a new drainage canal to facilitate the drainage of more ocular fluid.
Lid Repair Surgery
Used chiefly for cosmetic reasons, lid repair surgery may be employed to fix droopy eyelids but also to repair eyelids that impede functional vision.
Orbital Surgery
Eyes that have been removed because of disease, or congenital defects or trauma require orbital surgery to implant artificial eyes and preserve facial structure. Advancements in the manufacture of artificial eyes have made it possible for bioceramic or silicone implants to look and move naturally.
Is Eye Surgery Right for Me?
Whether or not you are a good candidate for eye surgery will depend on many factors including your lifestyle, your vision goals, your health, your age and the recommendations of your doctor. Knowing that you are in the hands of an expert and talented surgeon and that technology has helped make eye surgery more effective and less risky are key factors in the growth of surgery over the past two decades.


text: This intermediate-level speaking course focuses on developing strategies for making oral presentations in formal and informal academic environments. Students learn about major speech types and accompanying organizational strategies, audience consideration, the use of non-verbal communication such as appropriate eye contact and hand gestures, developing effective voice control, methods of clarification, and fielding questions. Pronunciation is addressed as needed. Students also learn how to respond to and comment on others' presentations. Students give four to five oral presentations, with the possibility of doing a panel presentation. Presentations are videotaped and critiqued in small groups and/or individually with the instructor.


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- This event has passed.
STEAM / Game Saturdays
March 24, 2018 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 1:00 pm on Saturday, repeating until May 19, 2018
Join us every Sat. to work on origami, legos, Snap Circuits, coding, game playing and more. Kids under 11 should be accompanied by an adult.


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Two teens who committed four strong-arm robberies on a single night in Bethlehem have pleaded guilty to felony charges.
Danny Stafford Jr., 19, of Bethlehem admitted Friday in Northampton County Court to four counts of robbery, while his co-defendant, Johnnie K. Johnson, 19, pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy.
Police said that, in a little more than an hour on July 25, Stafford, Johnson and a third confederate pulled off robberies in which they accosted their victims on the street, punching at least one of them.
The crimes occurred in center city and east Bethlehem: on E. North Street; near Dellwood Street and E. Union Boulevard; in the 400 block of Main Street; and on the 1600 block of Jill Street, police said.
Stafford and Johnson were caught after police pulled over Johnson's car, which matched the description given by the victims, police said. Inside, officers found several purses, wallets and sets of keys.
Johnson, of Port Jervis, N.Y., faces sentencing May 17 by Judge Anthony Beltrami. Stafford is to be sentenced May 31 by Judge Michael Koury Jr.
Stafford's 15-year-old cousin was charged in juvenile court in the robberies.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Teens plead guilty to four Bethlehem robberies in one night
Two teens who committed four strong-arm robberies on a single night in Bethlehem have pleaded guilty to felony charges.


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In fact, the community of Monticello, which fought through one of the driest years on record for nine months, finished the water year with higher than average precipitation.
Before the monsoon season arrived in mid-July, San Juan County was suffering. Reservoirs were at low levels and ground water was almost non-existent.
Expressing grave concern over low water resources, the City of Monticello secured an emergency grant of more than $1 million from the Utah Community Impact Board. Two wells deep under the city are being drilled with the hope of finding a reliable source of clean water.
Monticello City officials outlined a goal to cut water use by 25 percent and the community was looking dry from the effort.
The monsoon rains arrived on July 10, and within a matter of weeks, flooding became as big of a concern as the drought had been earlier.
Week after week of heavy rains restored the ground water and brought a healthy green look to areas that had been barren.
The extended rain saturated the ground and resulted in flooding in many areas. San Juan County road crews were busy restoring roads that had been washed out.
Despite the good fortunes brought about by the rains, water storage in area reservoirs remains at critically low levels. The reservoirs remain at low levels and will need a heavy winter snowpack to refill.
Joe Ramey, of the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, CO, warns that the drought conditions are still of concern.
"Since 1950, there has not been a correlation of a wet fall to a wet winter," said Ramey in the Cortez Journal. "This is similar to the wet fall in 2001, which resulted in a dry winter in your area."
Lake Powell is 109 feet below its capacity, while Recapture Reservoir is several feet below the conservation pool, and Loyds Lake holds approximately 25 percent of its capacity.
Despite the fact that cutting water use by 25 percent is a daunting goal, the residents of Monticello responded. The rain cut much of the need to water lawns and gardens and by October, city water use had been cut by more than 25 percent.


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Basin Mountain Climber's Log
fossana - Apr 9, 2007 12:53 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004SC Day 4
Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed some with random chute with Joe D. Rescued fellow SCer on the descent.
mlarkin2002 - Oct 10, 2006 2:03 am Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004Dayhike via N. Slopes from Horton TH
Part of '04 Sierra Challenge. Nice climb featuring two interesting events; 1 stranded climber, and 1 impressive mountain lion near Horton Lakes. The climber was able to exit on his own with help from another in our group. The mountain lion.. well, I didn't stay around to see what it did after it chased some deer into a box canyon. I went the other way (quickly).
Diggler - Jul 21, 2005 5:11 pmRoute Climbed: E Couloir variation Date Climbed: 16 July, 2005
Started at a late 10.42. The first time I'd been near 13k' in awhile, so it took me awhile to get going. Various threatening-looking clouds kept me second guessing my decision to continue as well, until I stashed my hiking poles & crampons at a notch between the main peak & a minor buttress. Decided to start here instead of continuing up the steep garbage chute.
Went up the face from aforementioned notch (to the R of a prominent dihedral on the main face), somehow reasoning that I'd eventually meet up w/ the standard route. I didn't, & spent a lot of time route-finding. Sort of zig-zagged up the face on rock from good to crumbly shit. Mostly sustained 4th class, with a few places of 5.2. Heard thunder as I neared the summit, making me quite anxious.
Summited to discover that there was a storm over the Owens Valley. Enjoyed the views with a Sierra Nevada Summerfest & a smoke, before going down the standard 4th class route to the notch (rock quality definitely much better here). Incredible views of Humphreys & Tom, & even a good gander over to the Palisades! Wonderful peak.
Had a monster standing glissade down, albeit with a swarm of mosquitoes that I couldn't seem to escape. Glissaded all the way down to the bottom of the snow line (maybe a few hundred ft above the mineshaft). Could definitely see coming back to snowboard down! Great day in a beautiful part of the Sierra.
Samantha - Jul 11, 2005 10:51 amRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: July 10, 2005
Gained the summit on a gorgeous day. Had to downclimb the rock section for lack of anything we could rap off w/ confidence.
forjan - Jun 13, 2005 3:59 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 12, 2005
Climbed with Al Kwok and socalmtneer. We started early at about 2:30AM from the locked gate and so we had great cramponing on hard snow pretty much all the way to the top of the notch. I climbed the rock section up & down in 45 minutes. Spent 10 minutes on the summit perusing through the summit register and couldn't find Peter Croft's entries (guess I didn't look hard enough). Had a fun glissade down almost to the mineshaft area.
rdesota - Jun 8, 2005 9:29 amRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: June 6, 2005
Jim Wosnak and I started out at 8:45 am from the locked gate. Windy most of the way, but still a little warm. Made the top of the couloir by 2:30pm. The 4th class rock climb was enjoyable but very cold and windy with solid 4th class - maybe a couple 5th class moves. Downclimbing and one rappel led us back to the snow. We skiied from the top of the couloir all the way back to snowline - around 10,000 ft. and walked back to the car by 6:00 pm. Great day!
Zhenya77 - Jun 7, 2005 10:59 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 1, 2005
Starting at 3:30 am from the base camp (abounded mining cave) we reached the ledge of the Basin Peak by 8:00 am. The anticipated scramble to the summit ended up being a mixed rock and ice climb with lots of route finding. We reached the summit by 12:00 pm.
RSN473 - Jun 2, 2005 12:42 pmRoute Climbed: E Couloir Date Climbed: May 14, 2005
Almost continuous snow from the cars made this go a lot easier - until it got soft near top of couloir..........Made it from notch to cars in less than 1.5 hours thanks to an almost uninterrupted glissade.
Misha - May 31, 2005 1:00 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: May 29, 2005
Day (or shall I say night) hiked with Steve Larson. We found great snow conditions in the couloir on the way up. And what great scrambling to the summit!! While downclimbing the rock section, I took a wrong turn and found myself at the top of a cliff marked w/ fresh rappel slings. Not feeling like downclimbing vertical rock in mountain boots, I climbed up a bit, eventually found my way to the notch and plunge-stepped down the couloir. Burgers at Jack's marked a fine end to this great outing!
rhyang - May 15, 2005 12:00 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: 14-May-2005
Bivied in the mine, then climbed the couloir. Snow was firm until around 7:30am (the sun really started beating down).
Climbed the rock section unroped - probably class 4+ with some 5th-class moves thrown in for good measure. Spent a good bit of time getting used to the feel of my boots at that climbing level, downclimbing, pondering, etc. Encountered ice in some of the cracks, making for some interesting moments.
2 guys came up while I pondered, and broke out their rope (37m x 8.5mm double), harnesses, pro, etc. which they were able to use to rap off.
Descended the class 2 scramble, then down the chute Doug noted in the route page. Beware of melt-freeze ice / scree near the rock; I eventually elected to stay well clear of that and plunge-step down the snow gully, eventually contouring to the scree / snow gully opposite the couloir. Climbed about 500' or so on scree / talus (nasty), then glissaded the couloir, which by early afternoon was pretty soft.
Views were fantastic, and the day was perfect.
cottersnow - Feb 28, 2005 3:24 pmRoute Climbed: Basin Couloir Date Climbed: January 2004
Great mountain and much more fun in the winter.
Bob Burd - Oct 12, 2004 5:31 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: Aug 3, 2004
Day 4 of the 2004 Sierra Challenge. Climbed with Mark (PellucidWombat) and Michael Graupe on a very fun traverse up the East Couloir (ok, the couloir was a scree slog, but the class 4 above it was nice), over to S. Basin Peak, and on to Four Gables. The NE Ridge of S. Basin Peak had some great class 4 scrambling. Trip Report
stoneman5 - Sep 13, 2004 7:38 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: March, 2004
Snow conditions prevented summiting, but skiing was good, if a bit wet.
josephgdawson - Aug 13, 2004 3:01 amRoute Climbed: Northeast Chute Date Climbed: August 3, 2004
Took a route to the right of the East Couloir that did not look like such a scree slog. Class 3 and short class 4. Popped out on the summit ridge 1.5 miles north of the summit and tagged the peak from there.
"Bag it, tag it, sell it to the butcher in the store."
PellucidWombat - Aug 10, 2004 4:30 pmRoute Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: August 3rd, 2004
Day 4 of the Sierra Challenge. I took a bad fall in a chimney when a chockstone that I was standing on blew out - gouged my shin pretty bad. Luckily I still had the energy to do the class 4 ridge to South Basin Mountain and traverse to Four Gables!
tbnelson - Jun 10, 2004 1:31 amRoute Climbed: East Chute Date Climbed: May 2003
Summitted with my friends Garth and Gary. Got a little off route and did 5 short pitches of mostly fourth class with maybe a 5.6 move thrown in. Great climb. My first Alpine lead.
Matthew Holliman - May 24, 2004 1:51 pmRoute Climbed: East Chute (ascent) / North Slopes (descent) Date Climbed: May 22, 2004
Dayhike from Horton Lakes TH. Interesting scramble; my rock shoes proved indispensible today. The north slopes consisted of frozen snow when I descended--glad they weren't any steeper.


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I'm currently developing a c++ application using DevC++. It's a 3d graphics application and in some part I have to execute a Collision detection function in order to make objects recoil. I have however encountered a problem I have never seen. After compiling a demo application i execute it and see that either the collision detection or the collision response does not work as intended. Meaning that objects continue to move as they were non-solid (they pass through each other). Obviously thinking of an error in the code I try to execute the debugger, and I've noticed that running under the debugger (without setting any breakpoints) the application works perfectly! How is this possible?
I'm not looking for help in the actual programming, but I want to know if there is someone that can give me some direction for resolving this issue. What is different in the debugger? What is, in general, that is executed differently in the debugger with respect to the common executable? Has anyone had a similar problem before?


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My Conch : Favourite Piercing To Date
I'd been thinking for a while that I wanted a new piercing, and after having my lobes pierced twice on each side and then getting a helix at the top of one ear, I wanted something to fill the gap in the middle. My ear looked like it was missing something, and I felt that a new piercing was it!
I had a look around on the internet and waited for the little granulation on my helix piercing to disappear before settling on getting a conch piercing. I'd seen someone with one and thought it looked cool, and merrily coerced my mum into driving me to the piercing shop. She wasn't best pleased that I was getting another piercing, but agreed under duress to take me.
I got to the piercing place (Marks and Punctures, Aylesbury) and filled out all the necessary paperwork. I was nervous, but instantly relieved when I sat down in the room at the back that I was going to have the same piercer (Mark) that did my helix piercing (and has gone on to do all my other piercings since).
Mark came in, pulled on a pair of rubber gloves (Latex intolerance can make life interesting!) and began discussing what size jewellery I wanted. All of my current jewellery was a 1.2mm size, but because I wanted to be able to wear body spirals in my conch I decided a 1.6mm might be easier.
He pulled out a variety of coloured barbells in their sealed packets and I chose a dark blue titanium bar. He got all the equipment out in front of me (sterile needle, cork, numbing spray, lubricant to help the needle go through easier, marker pen, cleaning wipe), and told me to relax.
He cleaned my ear, and asked me where I wanted my piercing. Sods law that I choose the bit right in between two veins - (why is it when I get nervous, all my veins pop out and get in the way?!) - He said he was willing to pierce it, but it would be tricky and there was a risk he might catch the edge of one of the veins. He seemed confident enough that he could do it so I was quite happy to leave it up to his better judgement.
He got me to lie down, because he could see I was crapping myself, (What a girl!) and sprayed on some "numbing" spray. I use the word "numbing" loosely because it didn't actually take any of the pain away, just made my ear feel cold for about 2 seconds until the needle went through and then I remember thinking that it was hurting. After that i got a huge adrenaline rush and putting the jewellery didn't hurt any more or less than the actual piercing itself.
I sat back up, and felt a little bit nautious afterwards, because the pain felt quite "deep". It was more painful than my helix for example which just felt sharp and pinching. However, there wasn't any blood, and i spent pretty much the whole car journey home looking at my new piercing. I wasn't really aware of it the next day until I managed to catch it with my hairbrush - OUCH - but I quickly realised as long as I didn't lie on it, or catch it on anything, it seemed happy enough in itself.
2 weeks later I had to go into hospital to have a tonsillectomy, and they told me I'd have to take all my piercings out (much to my dismay), but I managed to sort out putting plastic PTFE jewellery through all my piercings to keep them open. (I didn't really want to go through another conch piercing, especially as it would be through scar tissue if I had it pierced again). The PTFE served me really well, as I don't heal particularly well from most piercings, so if you've got problems I'd suggest getting a PTFE bar instead of a titanium one.
I was really really ill after my tonsillectomy, so much so that I didn't really move for about a week, and was almost taken back into hospital. This meant that I didn't actually clean my piercing at all during the time i was healing from my tonsillectomy (about 2-3 weeks all in all). Not to be recommended under normal circumstances, but as I was so ill, it meant I was too ill to fiddle with it, catch it on anything or sleep on it (I was propped up due to my bruised neck).
All in all, it healed REALLY quickly, and without any complications/bumps or problems at all. It was literally healed completely within about 6 weeks. I have yet to have another piercing that heals that perfectly. 6 weeks is pretty good going for a cartilage piercing considering i've had other cartilage piercings take 3 months to heal and then still be temperamental for no apparent reason for another 6 months.
To anyone who's looking to get it done, yes it did hurt, but it wasn't unbearable, and as long as you leave it well alone except for cleaning, then you should have a gorgeous new piercing without much effort!
My conch was my favourite piercing when i got it, and is still probably my favourite to date.
submitted by: Linzi322
on: 05 April 2010
in Misc. Ear Cartilage Piercing


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Monday, September 29, 2008
Ticket giveaway to Maker Faire
I have 4 tickets to giveaway: 2 adult, 1 student, 1 youth. The event is Saturday 10/18 and 10/19 at the Travis County Event Center and Fairground.
To participate in the giveaway, just submit a comment to this post using the comments section below. This Friday, 10/3, I will randomly select a winner who will get all 4 tickets, valued at $75! I'll post the winner's name on Saturday and you can email me your address so I can mail you the tickets.
What is Maker Faire?
Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. From the event website: "In a nutshell, Maker Faire is a two-day, public gathering of tech DIY enthusiasts, teachers, students, tinkerers, hobbyists, inventors, science clubs, authors, manufacturers and retailers, print and broadcast media all coming together to share their projects. There will be scheduled performances, demonstrations, and an abundance of hands-on activities, all designed for an amazing and thrilling experience for those who attend!"
For more information on the event (maps, faqs etc...), visit their website.
17 comments:
- Etch&Sketch said...
Ohh.. Tickets to Maker's Faire. That would be lovely.
- September 30, 2008 at 1:07 PM
- Jenn Rodriguez said...
just moved to san antonio! we used to go to the one in the bay area, and we'd love to head out to austin!
- September 30, 2008 at 1:40 PM
- KT said...
I could put those tickets to good use... ;)
- September 30, 2008 at 4:17 PM
- Sommer said...
Just moved here from San Diego and would love to go to maker fair with my husband.
- September 30, 2008 at 6:56 PM
- Yolanda said...
Thanks for having the contest!
- September 30, 2008 at 8:38 PM
I would love to go! I was hoping to be a "maker" and do a demo booth but am helping to organize Ladies Rock Camp so I only get to attend, and I would so love to!!
- September 30, 2008 at 9:57 PM
- Leigh said...
I'm going anyway, but would love some free tickets! :D
- September 30, 2008 at 11:30 PM
- Unknown said...
those tix would definitely be used - missed it last year as we were out of town, but looking forward to it this year!
- October 1, 2008 at 12:30 AM
- Beth H said...
Hi, Laurie! Love those patchwork pillows - so pretty! great meeting you the other night. : )
- October 1, 2008 at 11:11 AM
- Unknown said...
I'd love free tickets... I'm newish to town and want to meet more crafty folks.
I could use either 1 student, 1 adult, or 2 adults (any combination)!
elizgarbs [at] yahoo [dot] com
- October 1, 2008 at 11:13 AM
I didn't go last year but I'm determined this year -- I can't miss Bizarre Bazaar!
- October 1, 2008 at 4:53 PM
- Debra said...
Thanks for offering these. I'd love to go.
- October 2, 2008 at 9:05 PM
- wendios said...
i'm totally crossing my fingers hoping we'll get picked for the tickets!
- October 3, 2008 at 1:37 AM
I am planning to go also, but still need tickets! Thanks! Can't wait!
- October 3, 2008 at 3:02 PM
hmmm... am thinking tix to the maker's fair would be fab. throw my name in the hat!!!
- October 3, 2008 at 8:41 PM
- Deirdre said...
Scarlet Fig- love the name!
Please Fairy Godmother, I would love to take my child to the Faire. If its not too late, please add me to the drawing.
- October 3, 2008 at 10:27 PM
- Carrie said...
I hope you haven't closed the comments yet and picked a winner. That would be sad! So I'm crossing my fingers that I still have a chance at the tickets!
- October 3, 2008 at 10:37 PM


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It doesn't have to end ... Immerse yourself in the Scotland of Jamie and Claire.
More Info Outlander Immersion Tour - May 8th, 2018 - 8 nights with Hugh Allison
Outlander Tour of Scotland - see where Jamie & Claire lived and loved (Small Group Outlander Tour - 7 people maximum)
Day 1 & 2 - GlasgowThe first 2 days are on your own. Arrive Glasgow and transfer to your pre-booked accommodations. Like most Scottish towns, Glasgow is a friendly city with a good selection of traditional music at pubs around town and very good shopping choices.
Day 3 - Journey begins - Film locations for Cranesmuir, Inverness, Sainte Anne de Beaupré's, and Castle LeochAfter a good nights sleep and a full breakfast, travel to Doune Castle, the film location for Castle Leoch with plenty of time to look around. The next stop will be the charming Royal Burgh of Culross. This was the film location for Gellis Duncan's Cranesmuir in the TV version of Outlander. Culross is a fascinating example of a town that time has forgotten. The Town House was built in 1626 and was the administrative center of Culross with a tollbooth and witch's prison. Next we will see Aberdour Castle which was used for Sainte Anne de Beaupré's monastery which Jamie flees to, after Wentworth; the castle's Old Kitchen and Long Gallery were used for filming. Then continue on to Falkland, the village that was used for Inverness in the Starz TV Series. Stop at the Covenanter Hotel and recall the hanging sign for "Mrs Baird's Guesthouse, est. 1865". Walk around the town and see the Falkland Parish Church and the Bruce Fountain where Frank saw the ghost. Overnight in Aberfeldy. B&B: Townhouse Aberfeldy (or similar)
Day 4 - The TV location of 'the Hill', 'Rent', Culloden Battlefield, and Clava Cairns Standing StonesToday we will journey to Loch Rannoch which looks like where Claire recited the poem in the TV series. And we'll see "the hill" where the filming of the standing stones occurred. (If you're lucky, like the October 2015 Outlander Immersion tour - you'll actually get to see the standing stones on the hill.) Next you'll travel on to the the 18th century village where 'Rent' was filmed and you'll be able to go into the hut where Dougal ripped Jamie's shirt down the back in the TV episode of Outlander. Next stop is the terribly serene Culloden Battlefield for a walk around the (paved) moors to see the Fraser clan stone and the memorial for all clans as well as an exploration of the new visitor's center. The final stop is Clava Cairns. Stand in the split stone like Diana Gabaldon on the back of her 'Outlandish Companion' book. Clava also has a large single stone like the one that Claire put her hands on in the TV series. Overnight in Inverness (the city that Clarie couldn't see the lights of which convinced her she really was in in a different time). B&B: Ballifeary Guesthouse (or similar)
Day 5 - Loch Ness, Glen Affric, Beauly & Beauly Priory, and 'Lallybroch' (from the book)Travel through the scenic highlands stopping at Urquhart Castle for a photo stop and continue down the shores of Loch Ness (where in the book Claire saw the Water Creature) before winding over verdant hills and valleys to Glen Affric. A walk through this glen will take you into the remains of the Great Caledonian Pine Forest like where Jamie and Claire wandered after their wedding. Lunch will be at the Storehouse of Foulis (a fully restored 18th century storehouse). Next visit Beauly, the seat of Clan Fraser, and Beauly Priory where Claire liked to go for solitude. We'll finish the day at 'Lallybroch' (a house that looks like the book version of Lallybroch) for a bit of tea and cake and a fun and informative weapons presentation by your guide. Back to Inverness for the night. B&B: Ballifeary Guesthouse (or similar)
Day 6 - Dundreggan, 'St Kilda', 2 Brochs, Ferry to Sky and Loch GarveBegin with a drive west through Dundreggan, where in the book, the story is told of the Farmer whose wife is stolen by the Fairies. As we reach the West Coast, we step lightly around the grave stones and look through the ruined chapel that Diana used as her inspiration for the Church of St Kilda. Driving over Mam Ratagan Pass will take us to see two of the best-preserved Brochs on the Scottish mainland. From Glenelg we will take the charming community ferry (if available) to the mystical Isle of Skye, and will hear some of the tales of the fairies that are said to inhabit that island. Returning to the mainland by bridge and traveling toward Inverness will take us along the shores of Loch Garve known from Outlander as the home of the water kelpie. Back to Inverness for the night. B&B: Ballifeary Guesthouse (or similar)
Day 7 - 'Lallybroch' (from the TV Series), two filming sites that were used for Fort WilliamEn route back to Edinburgh we'll visit the site used for Lallybroch in the TV series (if it is available this day). Next stop will be Blackness Castle which stands in for Fort William where Jamie was flogged in the TV version of Outlander. You'll be able to walk on the actual wall that Jamie and Claire ran along before they escaped Fort William. This castle is often called the 'ship that never sailed' because of it's prow shape that seems to be heading out to sea. The final stop will be the "majestic ruins of Linlithgow Palace, once a favoured royal residence of the Stewart kings and queens and the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots" which was used for the prison entrance and corridors. Overnight in Edinburgh.
Day 8 - Edinburgh - Costume Shop, Walking Tour of the Royal MileIn the morning we will be going to a costume shop to be outfitted with our period costumes for wearing on a guided walking tour of the Royal Mile. Our Outlander enthused tour guide will lead the tour down the Royal Mile pointing out all the places from the series including the World's End, White Horse Close and Holyrood. We'll end the day with a festive dinner wearing the clothes Jamie and Claire might have worn. Overnight in Edinburgh. B&B: B+B Edinburgh (or similar)
Day 9 - Edinburgh - End of TourBreakfast is included on this final day but the tour is over after breakfast. You may schedule your flight home for this day (or you may choose to extend your stay and see more of Scotland).
Hugh and I have worked together to design this tour and we will strive to see all of the places in the
list above but they are subject to change dependent on weather and availability and what we may see in upcoming episodes.
Calendar for May Tours


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The authoritative edition of Coriolanus from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:
Essay by Heather James
Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine
Visit Folger.edu for more resources, including overviews of each play, information about Shakespeare's world, and teaching modules.
William Shakespeare, 2009, Paperback, 400 Pages. ISBN-13: 978-0-671-72258-6.


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139 posts • Page 4 of 10 • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... 10<Previous topic | Next topic>
Stephanie Downing wrote:Hi Don,
Thank you for your message. Great news you'll be joining us in Denver
You don't need your laptop for the User Group Meeting as you won't have the files to follow along with the demonstrations. We do give all of the files and projects to all of the attendees on a USB stick with corresponding video's so that you can watch them following the meeting at your leisure whilst the files are in front you.
I hope this helps
gkas wrote: Anyone care to post any other helpful hints for us 'first timers'?
Tailmaker wrote:Take a break and skip a few to recover...
Anyone care to post any other helpful hints for us 'first timers'?
acurry wrote:I have requested information about the topics to be covered, sessions scheduled, etc. I am still waiting for this information.
zombolina wrote:Just booked for the seminar, but the Embassy Suiye rooms are now $380 per night!
Might there be anyone who has already booked that would like to share their suite? I'd be glad to pay half of your discounted rate!
TIP: If you are a Forum Member, write your Forum Username boldly on your Name Tag. It's a great way to "connect" with people you may know only by their username!
Users browsing this forum: doncraig, Google [Bot], Jan.vanderlinden, sharkcutup and 14 guests


text:
I'm really lost. How to change it. In XaAes, the change resolution menu item is grey. In teradesk, only the standard falcon resolutions ca be selected. On the firebee, there is modes.prg. Is there something similar exists for the SV?
A forum about Atari 16/32 computers and their clones. This forum is in no way affiliated with Atari Interactive.
Moderators: Mug UK, moondog/.tSCc., [ProToS], lp, instream, Moderator Team, Nature
jvas wrote:Yes, that works fine. It is just a pity, that there is no resolution change app for SV (except what is in TOS desktop)
jvas wrote:For the FireBee, someone has written "mode.prg". Maybe it could be modified/ported easily by someone who knows the hardware...
joska wrote:That "someone" would be me The FireBee resolution selector is 100% XBIOS dependant. It does not know anything about the hardware, but depends on information from XBIOS. FireTOS use a variant of the XBIOS extensions from Milan TOS. If Didier (or the SuperVidel developers) would implement the necessary SuperVidel XBIOS support then modes.prg would work without modifications.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests


text:
View original article on NHS Choices
Yes, medication for erectile dysfunction (ED), also known as impotence, is available on the NHS.
Yes, medication for erectile dysfunction (ED) is available on the NHS. It's available on prescription from GPs and specialists.
There were restrictions on who could have these treatments on the NHS until 2014, but some of these restrictions have since been lifted as cheaper medicines became available.
The following medications for ED can be prescribed on the NHS:
Of these, sildenafil is the most widely available on the NHS in England.
Branded Viagra, tadalafil (Cialis), vardenafil (Levitra) and avanafil (Spedra) aren't available on the NHS except in certain circumstances.
The branded ED medicines Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and Spedra are only available on the NHS for people with ED who have or have had:
They're also sometimes available on the NHS for men experiencing severe distress as a result of ED, but only after an assessment at a specialist centre.
If you don't meet these criteria, you can get these medicines on a private prescription from your GP. This means you'll need to pay the full cost of the medication. Prices vary, but on average four tablets costs around £20.
It's possible to buy ED medication over the internet, but you should be very careful doing this as there are many websites that offer fake medicines.
These medications aren't regulated and the ingredients in them can change from medicine to medicine. They could cause unpleasant side effects or may not be suitable for you.
It's best to see your GP before buying medicines online. They know your medical history and can discuss whether you might benefit from treatment.
If you choose to buy medication over the internet, ensure that:


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Democrats plan to filibuster Gorsuch
Special | 11m 32s
After several days of hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer announced plans to filibuster his nomination. Many Democrats remain frustrated by the Senate's refusal to move forward on President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland last year. Plus, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is planning to skip a NATO meeting next month.
Aired: 03/24/17Video has closed captioning.
Problems Playing Video?
Major funding for "Washington Week" is provided by Raymond James, Boeing, Babbel, the Yuen Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS.


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Buckeyes to play Oregon St, UNLV, drop Tar Heels
Ohio State has added home football games with UNLV of the Mountain West in 2017 and the Pac 12's Oregon State in 2018.
The Rebels come to Columbus on Sept. 23, 2017, and the Beavers will open the 2018 season on Sept. 1.
Those games fill the void left when Ohio State and North Carolina agreed to cancel a two-game series set for those years. The schools said conference realignment and the addition of a ninth Big Ten game starting in 2016 altered the original plans.
In addition, Ohio State and Boston College agreed to move their two-game series from 2020 and 2021 to 2023 and 2024.


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Mplus Home
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Poisson appropriate?
Mplus Discussion
Categorical Data Modeling
Stephen C Messer
posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:00 am
I have a 17-item, 5-point response format symptom checklist that I am using as my outcome measure with a large sample (n ~ 3000). The distribution is clearly non-normal, J-shaped as you would expect, but most of the sample endorses at least one of the symptoms at a non-zero level.
My colleague is trying to convince me that an "overdispersed Poisson" regression is the way to model predictors rather than OLS regression after some sort of non-linear transformation of the outcome to approximate normality. He is excited about an interaction that he reports. When I run the analyses using OLS or Logistic (after dichotomizing the outcome), it turns out that sure enough the main effects are significant, BUT the interaction is only signficant when run with the Poisson.
His argument is basically that the Poisson is "more appropriate, sensitive, and powerful"... But selection of the Poisson does not seem appropriate (rather possibly opportunistic) to me. I have used Poisson with rare events, like suicide counts or rates. Does the use of the Poisson seem appropriate in this context?
Thanks much!
Stephen C. Messer, PhD
Chief, Psychiatry Research Section
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:38 am
Given that the items are 5-category, treating the sum of them (which I assume is what's done) as ZIP does not seem all that natural to me. And, linear regression even after transformation does not seem appropriate either given the strong floor effects. Dichotomizing the sum seems alright, but loses a lot of information. I think you are right to be skeptical when only one modeling approach gives a certain answer. Trying other alternatives for triangulation seems wise. How about letting the dependent variable be a factor measured by 17 categorical items? That handles the non-normality and gives you power due to a parsimonious model. Can be done using ML or WLSMV in Mplus.
Stephen C Messer
posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:46 am
Thanks much!
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text:
The producers branch executive committee named producers Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz on Friday [25].
The documentary branch executive committee has also determined the individual nominees for four of its contenders:
The Gatekeepers – Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky and Estelle Fialon;
How To Survive A Plague – David France and Howard Gertler;
The Invisible War – Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering; and
Searching For Sugar Man – Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn.
The correct nominees for the fifth film in the category, 5 Broken Cameras, were announced previously.


text:
April is STD Awareness Month. Get tools to raise public awareness about STD prevention.
Medical professionals play a critical role in preventing STDs. Download information to help improve your practice.
STD prevention information for Spanish-speaking audiences.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30333, USA
800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) TTY: (888) 232-6348 - Contact CDC–INFO


text:
Inside iPhone 2.0 review series: the new iPhone 3G hardwareApple has significantly improved upon last year's original iPhone while extending many of the benefits of its newest model to existing users in the form of the iPhone 2.0 software update. AppleInsider's week-long "Inside iPhone 2.0" series will present a detailed analysis and review of the iPhone 3G, the 2.0 software, the App Store, and push messaging. This first segment looks at the iPhone 3G hardware itself, what's new and different, what's bad, and what's missing. A followup segment on hardware will look how the new iPhone 3G compares to other smartphones, and whether it's worth the upgrade for existing iPhone users.
Inside iPhone 2.0 series outline and publication dates:
Inside iPhone 2.0: the new iPhone 3G Hardware (Today)
Inside iPhone 2.0: iPhone 3G vs. other smartphones (Friday)
Inside iPhone 2.0: the new iPhone 3G Software (Monday)
Inside iPhone 2.0: iPhone OS vs. other mobile platforms (Tuesday)
Inside iPhone 2.0: the new iPhone App Store (Wednesday)
Inside iPhone 2.0: MobileMe push messaging (Thursday)
External new hardware features: the good news
Audio: In response to complaints that the original iPhone was too quiet and had only fair sound quality, Apple has improved the iPhone 3G's mic and speaker. The new model is considerably louder compared to the original iPhone; at half volume, it sounds about as loud as the previous design. Turned up all the way, the speaker plays back clear, crisp sound that's loud enough for listening to music while sitting at a desk without using earphones. The previous model was barely audible unless held close to your face.
The new speaker and mic now sit behind two small and recessed openings next to the dock connector (below, blown up in highly unflattering, close-up detail). Both are still mono, and still highly directional. If you inadvertently cover the tiny speaker opening on the bottom left corner with your finger (which is easy to do when holding it), you can block the sound almost entirely.
The new iPhone 3G also uses a standard, flush-mounted headphone port that is more broadly compatible with replacement headphones that use a right angled jack. The included headphones with built-in mic are the same as the original iPhone's.
Appearance: From the front, the new iPhone 3G looks nearly identical to the existing model. No new buttons, no smaller screen or dual cameras as predicted by rumors, just the same 3.5" 480x320 multitouch screen framed by a slightly more minimalist beveled edge that creates the illusion that the new iPhone 3G is wider. Like the iPod touch, the iPhone 3G now has a wider black margin around the screen. It still has the chrome edging of the original iPhone, but the shiny ring is subtly dialed back on the new model. It also now has a chrome finish on the previously black volume control, silent switch, and the top-mounted power button.
Size, Shape, & Feel: The new unit is two hundredths of an inch thicker in the middle, but thanks to its rounded back (now in plastic rather than aluminum) the device feels significantly thinner and more comfortable to hold. Plastic also conducts less heat than aluminum, so it feels warmer; the original iPhone's metal back wicked heat from your fingers, making it feel sterile and frigid. The round back also rocks slightly when set on a flat surface and poked at, but not to the extent of making it impossible to use as a desktop calculator.
While the original iPhone looked like a box with rounded edges and corners, the back of the new model is curvaceously rounded everywhere apart from its flat front. The original model's tight chrome framing and squared shape gave it the feel of a solid, narrow box. The new 3G's smooth, rounded back and looser chrome frame creates the illusion that it is wider and flatter, despite being essentially the same size.
Color: The polished plastic back, available in shiny black (for either the 8 GB or 16GB version) or in a polished white (with the 16GB version only), attracts smudges and fingerprints like the face of the existing iPhone, and looks like it will collect scratches like the mirrored aluminum back of original iPods, although so far it seems to be fairly resistant to scratching. The highly reflective, emo black is particularly bad at showing smudges and fingerprints, while the hipster creamy white version is quite good at hiding marks and subsequently looks a lot cleaner.
Weight: The new unit is two grams (.07 oz) lighter than the old one, in part because of the plastic rather than aluminum shell. Two grams isn't much (that's how much two dollar bills weigh), but along with the slightly more aerodynamic shape and its new materials, the shape and weight of the new iPhone makes it feel significantly lighter and more comfortable to hold, but also a bit less substantial.
Radio reception: The warmth and dropped weight from the plastic back isn't its only advantage; the iPhone 3G also gets slightly better mobile (and significantly better WiFi) reception. In areas where AT&T's service dropped off into a black hole of silence for the original iPhone (a common phenomenon around San Francisco), the new iPhone 3G reports maintaining a usable signal of a couple bars, although there are still dead zones to discover.
Using WiFi, the 3G unit not only had a wider usable range, but also was able to hit consistently higher throughput numbers at the same distance from the base station as an original iPhone, sending test files two to four times faster to web-based testing services. From outside the house, our iPhone 3G received 5 Mbit connectivity from an AirPort Express base station located one floor up and about 80 feet deep into the house through two partition walls, while an original iPhone in the same location could only manage a barely usable 1.3 Mbit.
On page 2 of 5: External hardware disappointments: the bad news; Unchanged hardware details; Fewer Included Parts; Camera; Bluetooth; and Battery replacement.


text: Cairo is a collection of looking glasses that I keep falling through. I discover layer after layer, each with its insights, possibilities and rules, yet the megalopolis just keeps on chugging along. It's much more of a people city than Paris or Amsterdam. Everything is connected through people. Everything can be done. Everybody knows somebody and each person knows everybody. It's as if there was this grand persona of gigantic proportions, a persona who lives in everyone and holds the whole city together.


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We are a cooperage dedicated to making high quality hand made white oak wine
barrels & kegs.
Our artisans are dedicated to ensuring only the highest quality and best
techniques are used in building our kegs / barrels. Enabling our
customers to enjoy the process of aging their wines, whiskey, and spirits at
Because we are a cooperage and not a reseller our professionals can help you
with any questions you may have as also we can custom built barrels to fit your
specific needs.
Please contact us by email:firstname.lastname@example.com
by phone:
Canada: 778.284.1277
(our prefer method of contact is email so we can correctly foward the inquiry and have a faster and more accurate response)
We usually ship orders within the first 2-3 days they are placed. As we also guarantee the delivery of your
order so should your order arrive damaged please contact us.


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A teacher in the Greece School District has resigned after a post on social media appears to show her using inappropriate language in the classroom.
A teacher in the Greece School District has resigned after a post on social media appears to show her using inappropriate language in the classroom.
A mother says her daughter took the photo while she was in Sharon Duffy's American Sign Language class at Greece Olympia.
On Tuesday the District confirmed Duffy is the teacher in the photo. In the photo you see her with a list of words on a smart board. The top word is vulgar and sexually explicit.
This all came to light when Mary Jo Norgaard posted the photo of the teacher on her Facebook page. She says her daughter took the picture. The photo was then shared Tuesday on the Facebook page of radio hosts Kimberly and Beck of 98.9 The Buzz.
Norgaard didn't want to appear on camera, but told us she was shocked at how offensive it was to her.
A statement from Greece School Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams, said the matter had been addressed immediately and that a resignation had been accepted from Duffy. Williams goes on to say:
"As educators, we are advocates for students, their safety and achievement and can expect to be held to high standards of conduct at all times. We thank those who brought this troubling matter to our attention. Anyone with concerns related to staff or students is encouraged to report them so they can be addressed immediately."
Tuesday night News10NBC went to Sharon Duffy's home to speak with her. When she saw us at the door, she turned away. She also did not respond to email requests earlier in the day.
Greece residents had to say about the allegations against Duffy.
"We're having problems with young kids at this point. Why are we going to teach them or bring that kind of discussion into a school place where they're supposed to be learning to be better people," said Jasmine Woods, Greece resident.
"I wouldn't expect her to resign. I know she made a mistake but I wouldn't even expect that out of her. I know she was a really nice lady. I really surprised by this whole situation," said Nick Oliveri, Olympic class of 2013.
Norgaard says she is scheduled to meet with the superintendent Wednesday afternoon to discuss this matter. We are not sure if that meeting is still on following Duffy's resignation.
Courtesy WHEC.com


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Concord High (CHS) Class of 2012 Alumni List
Help us Update the Concord High 2012 Class List by adding any names missing from the list below:
Registered Alumni
2012 Class List
Know Concord High Class of 2012 graduates that are NOT on this List? Help us Update the 2012 Class List by adding missing names.
Reunions and Concord High School News
More 2012 alumni from Concord HS Concord, MI have posted profiles on Classmates.com®. Click here to register for free at Classmates.com® and view other 2012 alumni.
The students that went to school at the Concord high school called Concord High School and graduated in '12 are on this page. Register to add your name to the class of 2012 graduates list.
If you haven't already, we also encourage you to register for free on this site. You may also want to check out the latest news and school memories.