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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Privatisation - sell to the Maoris
National is in a bit of a bind over this as it sadly promised no sales of state assets in its first term. If Bill English is looking at fobbing off a few shares it may take a year or so to arrange it so National can then put it on the agenda in 2011. As I've said before, they should sell shares in SOE's to the Maoris.
What does this achieve?
First, it gets Maori investing in key assets. Second, the profits stay in NZ. Third, selling shares is not selling an asset. Finally, the best thing it does is it gets a chunk of the treaty money back into government coffers so reduces the overall amount paid in treaty settlements!
On all four counts it's perfect politics and perfect sense. The Gnats can let Maori own some key assets (like here ) and thereby assist in Maori self-determination and win some Maori votes; Labour can't wail about the profits going offshore; they also can't wail about selling off state assets (selling shares is not selling the asset); and the rednecks get some of their money back.
Bill, no charge for this advice. You now owe me one. I'll hold you to it.
Bernard Madoff - regulation is the answer
But why didn't the powers at be regulate the industry by making it illegal to commit fraud or steal money? That would have stopped him.
Obama should act immediately by passing laws making this kind of carry on illegal.
Not a test case
A District Court judge and police say the prosecution of a man who insisted he had flicked his son's ear, only later to be convicted of punching the child in the face, was never a test case for child smacking laws.A punch is a violent act and deserves a prosecution and a conviction. A smack for corrective purposes is not a violent act and should not result in a prosecution and a conviction.
The case was widely seen as a test of the anti-smacking laws because Mason publicly claimed that he had done no more than administer a flick on the ear.
But Christchurch District Court Judge Michael Crosbie said the matter would have been dealt with in exactly the same way before the introduction of the smacking legislation.
"It remains a case of an assault on a child, as it would have prior to the legislation being enacted," he told Mason at sentencing.
"You don't accept the facts but you do say that in hindsight you should have been able to manage the situation in a calmer manner and not reacted in the way you described."
Judge Crosbie said a discharge without conviction was not appropriate. "It is clear the jury found there was a punch and you admitted as much to the police."
The Judge knew the difference. Therefore this guy would have been convicted under the old section 59. If that is the case why was it changed again?
Making the weather forecasts sexy, scary and political!
Yankees please stay!!
Crap celeb endorsements of our time
Apparently, it's worth the carbon footprint of sending a boat around the Pacific Islands so that Castle-Hughes can hear old codgers claiming the weather was much better when they were kids, or witness the strangely localised effects of "sea level rise," because she's encouraging the Islanders to hassle John Key about the next Kyoto round when he visits.
"Greenpeace ... are using celebrities like Ms Castle-Hughes" (a direct quote!) to promote govts commiting to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2020. I'm not sure why this unrealistic figure was chosen over others (why not 80% by 2015?), but the previous Kyoto round should have taught Greenpeace something by now: getting govts to sign agreements is one thing, getting them to abide by them is another.
I don't actually have strong views either way on climate change (unlike my wife, who's a scientist and therefore has very strong opinions on the politicisation of scientific opinion going on in this area.) For one thing, I don't have the necessary skills to interpret the research (and given the politicisation of that research, you bet it needs interpreting). It certainly seems straightforward that if we continue putting CO2 into the atmosphere at the rate we are, it will cause changes and those changes are unlikely to be pleasant ones. Set against that though are various equally straightforward factors such as:
1. People won't voluntarily make drastic changes to their lives without some clear and present danger to force it.
2. Govts are accountable to the people, and their performance is measured to a great extent on the state of the economy. If responding to climate change = putting a serious brake on the economy, forget it.
In other words - if climate change really does start to have a clearly demonstrable and indisputable effect, then we might see some action. Before that? Nuttin.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Ban the Burka!!!
Vegetarianism and celebrities make you fat!!
Welfare reform
Which brings me to the other way of thinking. ACT pointed out many times last year in the lead up to the election that the Labour government had overspent in the approximate amount of $60-$80,000.00 per household over the nine years it was in power. That is, they spent over and above the rate of inflation per household and starved families and workers of this approximate amount. If government spending had been at inflation plus population change, on average each family would have had that cash in their pocket.
Now you can debate all you like about whether they would have spent it or saved or retired debt with it, all of those options aren't bad. Spending it helps the internal economy, and saving it or retiring debt is very useful in New Zealand's overall context. And if it was spent on boats or cars or TV's then when the tough times hit they wouldn't have it to help their families. But that's their problem, not mine. And that last sentence is the crux of the issue: who's problem is this? At the end of the day we are all responsible for ourselves, and if the large majority of us make sensible and wise decisions with our money then collectively, as a country, we will be better off.
Here's the thing about welfare and hits on the problem as discussed by Danny Watson. Sure, if you can't pay the bills their should be a safety net. No one would argue otherwise. But what about the guy on nett $130K with per annum expenditure of nett $100k with 3 kids and a wife who doesn't work? Shouldn't the State pay him $2K per week to help him out, which is what he needs to pay the mortgage and feed the kids etc. If not, why not? What's the difference between this guy and someone on nett income of $35K per annum with no kids and nett expenditure of $33K? At face value the only difference is they need less to survive on. But who judges that? The politicians? No, that's bullshit they they should.
Arbitrary rules do not take into account individual circumstances which is actually what Susan St John and Keith Rankin argue. They're actually correct. So to rectify this we should just keep more of our money because only us, as individuals, really know how much we need to live on and need to support our families. That's why we need a cap on government spending, a cap on rates, a flatter, simpler tax system and more money in our pocket.
But I didn't read those solutions in the St John/Rankin thesis. And I didn't see any assistance in Peter Dunne's "worthwhile" contribution to the issue:
"Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said an update of the welfare system would be a "massive undertaking".What a feeble response from a feeble minister. The sooner the government ships him to the US the better.
"The system has grown haphazardly over many years. [Revision] is not going to happen this year [or] next year. It will happen over a long period.
Wish I Was Still There.
We stayed at our favorite 'el cheapo,' Beachside Resort which is owned and operated by Kiwis Phil and Jane. A fabulous but simple menu with extremely reasonable prices. You must go there. The best fish curry and chicken curry ever. A pleasant air conditioned room for two for around NZ$75 per night and NZ$7 gets you anywhere you want to go in a beat up local cab. Exchange rate currently is 0.75.
Beats the hell out of paying $350 per night at Denarau. We talked to some people who took up one of the 'red hot specials' offered for Denarau. You know the story. Discounted airfares and accommodation. What they didn't tell you was that you can't afford to eat and drink there once you arrive. $60 for a sirloin steak and the cheapest bottle of wine is $60!!!!!!! BTW the hotel buys them in for $13 per bottle.
There were severe floods in January and since our first annual visit in 1992, I have never seen the roads in such a state of disrepair. A taxi driver told us the government has no money to repair them.
We went to the Aussie butcher in Nandi and stocked up on rump steak, bacon, smoked ham, Italian sausages, breakfast sausages, chicken drumsticks - about $80 all up. Flew across to the time share and froze some steak, drumsticks and sausies. That did us for the whole week, along with 2kg of the best rice I have ever tasted.
Now what about the politics of the joint?
Nowhere did I hear a bad word about Commodore Bainimarama. We know a number of businesspeople in the Nandi area and their commentary was revealing along with that of taxi drivers, hotel staff and local roadside stall holders. There is widespread anger and it is directed not at the local regime but at New Zealand and Australia.
The local tourism industry has been crucified by Australia's and New Zealand's intemperate and malicious adverse travel advisories. Adolf and The Cook visited seven resorts while we were there and in our judgment occupancy on average was around ten to fifteen percent. It's hard to calculate but we think that in the Nandi /Coral Coast area alone, probably five thousand full time jobs have been lost.
The truth of the matter is that people visiting Western Fiji are no more in danger than they would be visiting Takapuna or Bondi. (For that matter, neither are those visiting Suva.) When The Cook told her sister in WA that we were going to Fiji the silly bitch asked "Are you sure you'll be alright with all the trouble over there?"
That's the level of irreparable damage which has been done to the livelihoods of ordinary Fijians by our two countries' outrageously irresponsible behaviour. The propaganda has worked.
Since the Commodore took power, corruption in the public service and elsewhere has subsided if not disappeared. Why? Because Fiji is an inherently violent society and people know that if they are caught they will have the shit kicked out of them. It is NOT New Zealand.
Corruption at all levels was estimated to be adding between 25% and 30% to the cost of just about EVERYTHING. For example, you would wonder how it could be that a coastal piece of prime residential land would be quietly rezoned commercial and opened up for resort development. No hearings, no objections. Still wondering? Oh well, it just so happened apparently that the prime minister of the day suddenly became the owner of two choice blocks in a resulting subdivision.
None of Adolf's contacts in Western Fiji could recall ever seeing anyone from New Zealand's High Commission during this past two or three years. It appears our government only hears the opinions of those who are on the insiders' list in the Suva beltway. John Key and Murray McCully are being hoodwinked by left leaning bureaucrats. I'm told our loud mouthed ex High Commissioner (personal friend of Helen Clark) was running around Suva bad mouthing the regime at every opportunity. She was explicitly warned that if she continued she would be asked to leave. Journalists Dreaver and Field were described to me as 'trouble makers.'
There is evidence of huge investment in tourism in the Nandi area. God knows where the people will come from but it appears the capital is flowing in from India and Communist China. Certainly makes the fools from Bridgecorp and Hanover look like the amateurish crooks they are. One rumour doing the rounds is that the Commodore has been offered US$300 mil by the Chinese government. That would be very tempting were it not for the price tag. Residency for between 4,000 and 7,000 selected Chinese immigrants. Selected by China not Fiji, of course.
We met a Fijian school teacher and his wife. He asked us what we thought of the devaluation. It became apparent he was confusing the devaluation of the currency with the reduction of public service salaries by three percent some months earlier. When I asked him if he would prefer to have no job rather than 97% of his previous salary he shuffled his feet and chose to be employed.
You see, now that much of the corruption has been rooted out, he is actually better off financially but of course his Labour affiliated union would not want him to know that. Adolf has seen corruption in Argentina and Brazil. Believe me, the Bainimarama remedy is far more palatable than the South American version which usually involves revolutionaries with AK47s shooting up all and sundry.
Interesting times. Mike Moore is right.
My prediction is that unless John Key and Kevin Rudd wake up very soon indeed, they will be too late to prevent a sea change in the political landscape of the South Pacific. China will have it's Pacific based aircraft carrier and all for less than one tenth the cost of the USS Reagan, while New Zealand's prestige and influence in our neighborhood will have been permanently damaged.
More PC Nonsense
However, this caught my eye a few minutes ago.
The first reaction of any prudent insurer will be to decline or load any application from a person who is unwilling to divulge the information sought. Insurance is a privilege, not a right, Madame Schroff.
Less prudent insurers will take on these substandard risks and, as a result, the number of disputes at claim time will increase as information comes to light after the event which should have been available before.
Premiums will rise to cover the additional risk as those who refuse to disclose all information required will find their behaviour brings with it substantial cost. It goes something like this.
Client Joe Nurk, age 52, non smoker
Offer of terms:
Life, standard rates plus 50% premium loading;
Trauma, standard rates plus 150% premium loading;
Income Protection, decline.
Upon release of full medical history, these terms may be reconsidered.
If you don't like it, take your lousy business somewhere else.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
California one month away from bankruptcy
Remember my post on the union-inspired collapse of General Motors? The same factors are at play with California.
The governor readily admits that he sees the crisis as a chance to make big changes to government -- to "reform the system," he said Friday -- with proposals he has struggled to advance in the past.Yep, wonderful things those unions. First they engineered the downfall of GM, now it's California. New Zealand ain't that far away.
Among them: reorganizing state bureaucracy, eliminating patronage boards and curbing fraud in social services that Democrats have traditionally protected. The governor also would like to move past the budget crisis to reach a deal on California's water problems that has so far eluded him.
In past years, his plans ran into opposition organized largely by well-funded labor groups and Democrats, who say his proposals are really meant to strangle government. Now he is newly armed with negotiating power over Democratic lawmakers desperate to preserve state programs.
Back on the governor's demand list is a plan to cut the pensions received by state workers, which unions have stymied before but which he thinks may gain traction with a cash-strapped public. Schwarzenegger also views this as an ideal time to once again target growth and fraud in the state's multibillion-dollar in-home healthcare program, which employs 300,000 unionized workers.
His agenda includes anti-fraud efforts and tougher enrollment requirements for the state's food stamp programs, efforts that advocates for the poor say are designed to discourage people from participating. In his radio address, he said the state and counties could get by with a "fraction" of the 27,000 workers now handling eligibility for Medi-Cal and food stamps by using Web-based enrollment.
Schwarzenegger has revived plans to allow local school districts to contract out for services like school bus transportation and lawn maintenance, a proposal favored by the GOP but despised by school employee unions.
Hat tip: PM of NZ.
Michael Jackson Tribute
The top 5 musical artists of my generation that I believe had the most impact are (in no particular order): Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Bono, Sid Vicious, Mick Jagger.
So, after all that, here he is again singing You Are Not Alone live in Korea. If you're real lucky you might even get Sid Vicious singing "Friggin in the Riggin" if I can find it.
Rocking on.....
Trevor Rabin, Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Tony Kaye, Allan White, Steve Howe, and Rick Wakeman. The ultimate YES, (in my opinion).
Pretentious?? Absolutely!
But these buggers can sure PLAY.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Adolf is gonna shit when he gets back from Fiji.
Enjoy PM...
For Barnsley Bill
Not only for BB, either - feel free to drool all you like...
Not because I suspect BB is short of incredibly hot and well-armed alien babes to look at, mind you (well, no more so than the rest of us, anyway) - just adding to the discussion here.
Freemarket families???
But why did I come? Was it because I was obligated to or was it because I wanted to?
Actually a bit of both.
But it all raises something Rick Giles of ACT on Campus has been thinking about.
I hope he doesn't kill me for mentioning the issue, but Rick has been thinking about 'freemarket families."
Now, if I got it right, the concept is as follows.
One friend of his lamented that his sister treat him badly because she was his sister and consequently could get away with it.
But friends could not treat the mate badly because they were more in a freemarket , so they would be dumped if they did.
Rick's idea was to treat family members more on freemarket principles.
For them to remain part of the family, they had to treat him better. And him having greater choice over the issue, was very liberating. It meant he did not have to put up with 'their crap' if that was the case.
Because he could drop them, they would raise their standards and better meet his needs. And he would do the same.
Thus, in wider use, we would see families acting better to each other because they could be dumped just like bad friends.
Thus, parents would not be mean or cruel to their children and vice-versa.
Anyway, I think that is pretty much what he was saying.
In some respects, the idea does have merits, especially if it does encourage families to be better to each other.
But can families be treated as some kind of commodity to be traded. Yes, there is free choice in friendships, but isn't it the blood ties that make families different.
Rick is right in that there does need to be better harmony in many families, but I am usure whether this 'freemarket' is the right way to go, even if in every other sphere, the freedom of choice does deliver better standards all round.
We have heard much about how the freemarket might damage families, but what policies can be developed from its principles to help families work better?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Fuck Michael Jackson, Steven Wells, Psycho Milt and Gooner. Farrah is dead.
Had the poster, and as I have mentioned elsewhere I am still amazed I did not manage to pull my guts right out.
Fuck Steven Wells and Psycho Milt, Jackson is Dead!
RIP Michael Jackson - Gone Too Soon.
Fuck Michael Jackson - Steven Wells is Dead
Read the piece in the Guardian and laugh. The one about refs had me in fits. And whatever you do, don't miss this tour-de-force in the face of imminent death. A sample:
And when the fluid drains out of your scrotal sac, guess where it goes next? Can you?
That's right, for about a week I sport a huge, fluid-filled fringe under the head of my penis, making it look like some weird skinhead Gila-lizard from hell. I tell every male I meet about this.
They are all, without exception, appalled. One says:
"Cancer victim or not, if you don't shut the fuck up right now, I'm going to punch you."
Microsoft. Wankers.
The ongoing computer saga.
New laptop is 6 days old.
I was nervous about Vista, we have all heard and seen the horror stories. The laptop has been working briliantly and I was beginning to relax, downloaded open office, installed myob and made it work. Itunes is going great.
But then I did something that everybody advises against.
I succumbed to the automatic update prompt. 483 megabytes of download later. I have no sound. It is telling me that all my device drivers are upto date, but still no sound.
Windows update should be called; "We are going to snap it off in your ass".
Bill Gates you suck, so does your mate Paul Allen. A plague on all your houses.
And HP can suck my hairy arse as well.
I have tried to find a phone number to call, but we all know how that will end. Some pubescent Indian will but-but down the phone and I will smash the computer into a pile of plastic.
I could take it down to Noel Leemings but all I will get from them is the phone number. And again, I do not want to lose half a year on hold after dialling 0800 WEDONTGIVEAFUCK
ANy ideas?
Berlusconi: not so much "user of prostitutes" as "rapist."
"Conquest" used in this sense, gentle reader, means essentially that Berlusconi finds sex the most satisfying when women who didn't actually want to fuck him end up with him inside them anyway. Down here in less romantic territory, we have a different name for that than "conquest."
State Houses: Sell the buggers!!!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The drug driving law
People who drive when their judgement and reactions are impaired by drugs are a danger to themselves...," Mr Joyce said.From John Stuart Mill's harm principle:
"...the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant...[i]n the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign."Discuss.
The corrupt cosy cartel of buggins turn government
Barnsley has been thinking about it too, which is why I got the inspiration for this post.
What difference has National made to the country? Is the new government living up to its promises?
Certainly there has been much disappointment over John Key's stance over the smacking bill and the cancelled taxcuts.
But by and large the government remains popular. And the country seems to plod on as before.
Now, as I have just arrived in Britain, a country engulfed by political scandals and troughery, what about our own corruption?
The corruption we heard so much about during the Helengrad years.
Remember the talk that we should have a Corruption Commission to investigate the activities of our former Liarbour government. Whale Oil, for example, was most vociferous about having one.
But now peace has broken out from National, even if Liarbour fights back with 'honey traps' and Mata Haris snaring old and randy goats.
In the meantime, we have Philip Field fighting for his life, but we hear relatively little on this, with the story tucked away in a quiet corner of the NZ Herald.
Granny is pushing on the MPs expenses issue but it appears to have forgotten about the other scandals of the Helengrad years. As for National, it is unusually quiet.
But hang on, those charges of corruption are unprecedented. It is the first time that we have had a sitting MP and government minister facing investigations and charges like this. Wasn't he Associate Justice Minister too? Surely this adds to the seriousness of his situation?
For the first time, New Zealand has politicians behaving they would in some third World banana republic.
Yet, we shrug it off with little fuss. Did we get so used to scandal during the Helengrad years when its government had more 'gates' than the largest country station.
And what of Helen Clark herself. No re-opening into the way she stole Election 2005 with the pledgecard money. And then as she left office for the UN, Investigate uncovers how she bought her job with taxpayer dollars by ramping up the country's contributions in election year, just in case she lost!
And what about Michael Cullen? Here's a man who squandered the most benign economic conditions in a generation and showed his fiscal incompetence with the purchase of Kiwirail. Has he behaved honestly and ethically? Yet National buy him off with plum jobs at NZ Post and welcomes Uncle's appointment to the UN.
Was government all about buggins turn? We have had nine years of Liarbour, now it's time for nine years of National. National will scratch the backs of Liarbour grandees and give them a secure retirement and when Liarbour is in power again, it too will look after the departing National ministers.
What an incestuous duopolistic arrangement!! What a cosy cartel!!
But hang on? What about the corruption? The scandals, etc, etc. We forget the talk of Liarbour sleaze and all those gates, we forget our outrage at those scandals, we forget about our earlier demands for a Corruption Commission.
Instead, we just get on with government, you scratch our back and we will scratch yours. You keep quiet about our scandals and we will forget yours.
And so the genteel political and economic decline of New Zealand continues....
Turning ortholdoxy on its head over immigration
The increase has been attributed to a rush of applications ahead of tougher rules that would extend the average waiting time for a citizenship from the present five to eight years.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Death by a thousand cuts, thanks to the beancounters
Some weeks back I enjoyed a fine lunch put on by a global company who was expanding its operations in New Zealand.
Many other journos were there and there were the usual talks about the state of the market.
One respected business title is seeking staff I was told, but they only want newbies to intermediates, so they can pay them just $30-$40k a year.
Of course they never think to ask whether an old timer might work 3-4 days a week for such a sum, one who is perhaps skilled enough to produce more and better work than the newbie in half the time!
And there's another well respected title that is not replacing staff who leaves, regardless of the impact on the quality of the publication. The recruitment freeze continues.
Soon after, I had coffee with a guy who had been in publishing for more than 30 years.
He had been made redundant by a large corporate because he disagreed with the direction of the company, and the recession gave the perfect excuse to pay him off.
The old timer wanted the small provincial weekly to have a solid focus on 'community news'. He wanted more than just filling the white space between the ads with recycled press releases.
However, real news costs, and the publishers aren't keen to pay for it, no matter how much it might cost them in the long run in not having it.
I guess many of the readers of this blog have decent incomes, incomes so beloved of advertisers.
So imagine how damaging it would be for you to stop reading certain titles.
Indeed, I have heard so many of you say you have stopped reading certain titles because you disagreed with their left wing politics or the tabloidization of the papers, that they contained too much fluff.
So here is an idea, one that may help you save your favourite papers from rampant costcutting.
If you are thinking of cancelling your subscription, before you do, tell the editor or general manager of your newspaper or magazine.
And please do it in large enough numbers that it will be clear to the beancounters that costcutting doesn't work and in fact reinforces a spiral of decline.
Of course, you think having gone down this route so many times before that they might have learnt by now!
I wuz provoked, yeronner
The Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act
But what is the issue all about? For me it's about the State leaving parents alone and getting out of our households. I mean a smack is neither here nor there in terms of a corrective tool. No, it's not about that for me, I've never smacked my daughter. But there are plenty of daughters, and sons, in Aotearoa who need a good smacking every now and again.
But the more I look at the new section 59 (below) the more I find the whole issue utterly ridiculous bacause under subclauses (a) to (d) a smack is permitted in three occasions of preventative behaviour and one occasion of normal behaviour incidental to parenting, which subsection (2) instructs us is not a smack for corrective purposes.
At the end of the day a smack for correction is prohibited but a smack for prevention is permitted. If a child constantly plays up then that child can be smacked under subsection (c) as long as parents tell the child "that is to prevent you behaving like that again", rather than "that is to correct you for behaving like that".
The question therefore is concerned with changing the word "prevention" to another word "correction" and deleting subsection (2).
The difference is not worth $9 million bucks, and I'm still voting "No".
Parental control
(1) Every parent of a child and every person in the place of a parent of the child is justified in using force if the force used is reasonable in the circumstances and is for the purpose of—
(a) preventing or minimising harm to the child or another person; or
(b) preventing the child from engaging or continuing to engage in conduct that amounts to a criminal offence; or
(c) preventing the child from engaging or continuing to engage in offensive or
disruptive behaviour; or
(d) performing the normal daily tasks that are incidental to good care and parenting.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) or in any rule of common law justifies the use of force for the purpose of correction.
(3) Subsection (2) prevails over subsection (1).
(4) To avoid doubt, it is affirmed that the Police have the discretion not to prosecute complaints against a parent of a child or person in the place of a parent of a child in relation to an offence involving the use of force against a child, where the offence is considered to be so inconsequential that there is no public interest in proceeding with a prosecution.
Been there done that , now we've lost the map..
Now I have been interested in space exploration since I was about 5 years old and can remember sitting up with my Dad listening to liftoffs of Gemini missions on the Voice of America short wave service.
I also recall the excitement as a 9 year old of listening to man's first moments on the moon, and the drama of the Apollo 13 recovery. All stirring stuff indeed.
So it was with interest that I read last week that NASA has sent two probes to the moon as part of their new program to return men to our satellite by 2020 which GWB announced in 2004.
In 1961 after only two manned suborbital flights, JFK committed the US to that marvellous goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth before the end of the decade", and as we know in 1969 this was achieved.
Eight and a bit years is all it took. All they had to do it with was Werhner von Braun's V2 knowledge, their own PhDs armed with slide rules and log tables, and no computers with any more power than the average cellphone of today.
By today's standards they knew bugger all about the environment in space, orbital mechanics was a science very much in its infancy, and they didn't even know if the lunar surface could support the weight of a space craft.
Yet NASA essentially started from scratch and went on to get the job done. Sure there were tragedies along the way. Lives were lost, notably the crew of Apollo 1, near misses were a regular occurence, Gemini 8 and Mercury Redstone 4 spring to mind, and equipment failed with monotonous regularity but the goal was met despite the cost.
So why will it take the same agency 16 years to repeat the performance??
This question is even more pertinent when one realises that NASA are not going to be using some new propulsion system or a craft that resembles the USS Enterpise. The vehicle they have in mind, the Orion, is simply a scaled up, and souped up version of Apollo.
The computers of today which will be used for engineering design and onboard stuff are many degrees of magnitude ahead of their sixties ancestors and our experience in space time is now measured in thousands of man hours but we still have to allow double the time to achieve the same goal?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The State of Britain
Terrorists find their paradise!!
Polls show Americans oppose closing the prison, with some feeling unsafe should the inmates be be jailed in their own states.
Lost for an opinion, for once
On the one hand, it would be great to see the Iranians overthrow the ugly totalitarian theocracy that's blighted the place since overthrowing the previous blight in 1979. And on the other hand, we're constantly quacking on to people in the Middle East about how democracy is, but the moment a vote doesn't go our way we're wanting to see the violent overthrow of the winners.
On the one hand, it's certainly plausible that Ahmadinejad's govt rigged the ballot ridiculously in his favour. And on the other hand, it's also plausible that middle-class liberals in Tehran genuinely have no idea how popular Ahmadinejad's rule is in rural areas and among the proletariat - ie, it's entirely possible that Ahmadinejad did actally win the vote.
I guess on the whole I'm going with "Screw the finer details of democracy, just overthrow the dictatorship already" - but also don't think they've got much chance of actually doing it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Feeding the pigs: Why Liarbour MPs are the top troughers!!
David Farrar has sparked some uproar with his promise of a series of articles on MPs' pay and their allowances.
His pledge follows the controversies over MPs rorting expenses in Britain and over the recent Mt Albert by-election in New Zealand.
David wants something more balanced than we might get elsewhere.
Now, Peter Cresell at Not PC, calls MPs the country's highest paid beneficieries.
Cactus Kate notes how MPs say they are paid in comparison with jobs in the private sector, but Cactus looks at various MPs and questions how they might have fared in the private sector. For some, it does not look good.
Indeed, as we look at the dishonesty or otherwise of our MPs, such relativities might explain something, like why Liarbour MPs tend to be the most dishonest top troughers, both here and in Britain.
It is because they realise how poor their prospects would be in the private sector that they think they better rort all they can while in parliament.
Adolf at No Minister always recalls an interview given by the wife of an Australian Prime Minister where she says they will be honest because they don't need to steal money. I guess when John Key is worth $50 million, we likewise have nothing to fear from him.
This might also explain why Uncle Helen stole election 2005 with the pledgecards and why she boosted New Zealand's donations to the UN every election year, as was reported by Ian Wishart.
Uncle Helen was feathering her nest, knowing that times would be hard otherwise. How much might our academic PM earn in the private sector? Not much , considering how much she pissed them off, so she had to sucker up to the UN! And if the taxpayer paid, and helped buy her her job, all the better!
And why did Michael Cullen sell out to John Key over NZ Post??, so he could earn more than he would have in the private sector.
Yes, the lack of earning capacity of Liarbour MPs in the private sector does explain a lot, doesn't it?
Fall of Helengrad fuels immigration surge??
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Yep, pretty accurate
and confirm I am right and everyone else is wrong.
My Political Views
I am a right social libertarian
Right: 7.18, Libertarian: 4.72
MahareyFail. or Massey learnicating.
Massey, excellence.
If you are strugling to understand why this pic is here you should probably not visit again. Perhaps crayons and a few sheets of paper might be more your thing. Or maybe you could enrol in a course at Massey. Might I suggest English for morlocks.
Lack of posting lately is due mainly to the fact that my trusty old IBM thinkpad has been suffering with an overload of toast crumbs. After being on the critical list for a few weeks it finally succumbed this morning and I now have a hastily bought shiny new HP laptop
Tiananmen 2: Let the killings commence!!!
The big story of the day is obviously Iran and Fox News has it live.
Iranian troops are amassing with analysts talking of a new Tiananmen-style massacre.
Already there are unconfirmed reports of 150 dead.
Charles Krauthammer said on Friday that the Iranian government has been considering one, and much depends on possible reaction from the West.
Politics professor Daniel Drezner says he fears the Mullahs will turn to mass murder to stay in power.
The One Who Must Not Be Mentioned on this blog has toughened up his words a little.
We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
Anyway, this is an unfolding story, with blogs like Little Green Footballs and Gateway Pundit especially offering comprehensive coverage.
In the meantime, TOWMBM has cut funding for democracy programmes in Iran, and above is a young man being shot by Iranian forces.
So now things are hotting up, how shouldwe in the West respond?
Hat tip: Gateway Pundit, Little Green Footballs
Will Key and National be drowned by the 'noise'?
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Bring on the meat pies, and the KFC!!!
People who are a little overweight at age 40 live six to seven years longer than very thin people, whose average life expectancy was shorter by some five years than that of obese people, the study found.
Clash of the dinosaurs!!
YES, NO or Cul de Sac
Friday, June 19, 2009
All the muck in the world won't harm National!!
Here's an idea for you Pita?
Tall tales from the top troughers
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Earth calling John and Phill.....
John Key says:
"I do think the question is a bit ambiguous and could be read a number of different ways,"
and phil goff says:
"The question implies that if you vote `yes' that you're in favour of criminal sanctions being taken against reasonable parents - actually nobody believes that."
Well gentlemen, if that's your take on what is to me a fairly simple question, then I suggest you both go and see the the GG and hand in your resignations.
No not suggest, how about I DEMAND.
Because if you, who are responsible for creating legislation, find that question, misleading or ambiguous, or whatever, then you are obviously well below the intellectual level required to carry out your roles.
Also John says:
"There's only been the one now documented case and I'm satisfied that the law is working."
This statement is as misleading as any ever made by clark and whats more I think Key knows it.
The obvious retort is: "How many people have had the police on their doorstep, or been put through a CYFS investigation, or been left wondering whether they'll be charged and / or have their families split up, simply for doing what they believe is in the best interests of their families and could do so without fear of criminalisation before bradford's social engineering was legislated?
I'm sure there are more than a few but it'll take an OIA request to get the numbers. Might be worth a crack, but I bet I don't get an answer before the referendum


text:
"A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" - West Side Story
Clip: Season 46 Episode 9 | 5m 30s
Isabel Leonard and Jessica Vosk sing "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" from "West Side Story" also performed by Tony Yazbeck and other Broadway artists.
Aired: 12/28/18Video has closed captioning.
Buy Now:
Problems Playing Video?
GREAT PERFORMANCES is made possible by the Irene Diamond Fund, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Rosalind P. Walter, The Agnes Varis Trust, The Starr Foundation, Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Lenore Hecht Foundation, Abra Prentice Foundation, The Lewis Sonny Turner Fund for Dance, Jody and John Arnhold, Anne Ray Charitable Trust, and PBS.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Serena Williams is celebrating down under -- for the fifth time.
The tennis great defeated Belgian star Justine Henin to win her fifth Australian Open title since 2003, adding one more piece of hardware to her ever-expanding trophy case.
Williams, 28, defended her 2009 Australian title against Henin, winning in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
She lost the Open in 2008 but won in each previous odd-numbered year since 2003, taking home the 2003, 2005 and 2007 titles in Australia.
Williams, a 12-time Grand Slam singles champion, competed in the tournament alongside sister Venus Williams, who was upset by Chinese player Li Na in the quarterfinals. Serena Williams defended Venus' honor in the semis, knocking the Chinese player out in straight sets.
Henin, herself a seven-time Grand Slam winner, quit professional tennis after the 2008 Australian Open while still holding the No. 1 ranking. She announced last fall she would rejoin the sport.


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Everyone these days is being asked to think outside the box. Ya know, come up with new and fresh ways of looking at the same 'ole thing, see things from a non-traditional perspective, be creative, inventive.
So I thought, why not me? I can do that.
And so I've a few new millennium suggestions for the Research and Development arms of the world's big drug companies, like, both of them, or whatever the total is now. I'm aware that R&D doesn't get the big funds that Public Relations and Marketing enjoys, but I feel confident that these ideas, if well-funded and nurtured along with tender loving care, will make another trillion, minimum, because they'll be meeting the needs and desires of consumers on the front line like me.
I'll begin with an idea involving the emotions, and work my way through the five senses as a means of exploring this issue in a thorough, systematic, yet imaginative way.
Check this out -- "protexan" -- pronounced "pro-tuh-zan." What is it? It's my plan for a new combination drug, a protease inhibitor fused with Xanax. This new drug will make you feel blissed out, a little loopy maybe, kinda toasty and giggly, and you won't really care that your kidneys are failing, or that you can't see your shoes anymore from that paunch. Hey, it's just more of you to love! And because you will quickly become addicted to this innovative new super drug, your 100% perfect compliance will leave your doctors gasping, the marketing guys creaming, and the bottom line growing. Everyone wins.
Sight. We like to see beauty, we don't like to see ugly, right? According to Vogue, "beauty is in," so let's work on the color palette here, shall we? My current (dis)array of pharmaceuticals range from a sterile white, very Helmut Lang on a bad day, to a rather repulsive shade of beige, a horrific sort of bland. Let's make them pretty! Let's infuse character and style and life, let's do like fashion does and create "color stories" to go along with our HAART. For those days when I'm feeling nautical, I'll don a sailor suit and I'll pop the pills in seafoam and salt grey. When I'm feeling bold and confident, I'll break out the shoulder pads and have my orbs in fire engine red, which, by the way, is the new black, and when "tease" and "tarty" are my watchwords, I'll throw down my prescription in sheer, not quite transparent, but almost. Naughty! Designers interpret the same outfits in different shades, you can get a toaster in any color you want, why can't Glaxo give me Agenerase in paisley? I have so much that would go perfectly with, and for those of us who are more style-challenged, we can have a Martha Stewart-style creature do a hit show educating us all on how to mix and match our meds for a truly lovely presentation.
Sound. We associate special times in our lives with songs. Whenever I hear Cher's "Half Breed," I think of the six-year-old me doing that very number dressed in one of my mother's slips, a long towel or blanket wrapped around my head for Cher hair, lying vampishly atop my dresser and expertly lip syncing "... the white man always called me Indian squaw ..." as my brother Kevin gamely sat in front of a half-opened drawer and pretended to be Sonny playing the piano, bless his heart. Let's transfer that warm fuzzy to our pill bottles. They could be programmed somehow (let someone else figure that out) to play our favorite song when we open the cap. It could be "Half Breed," Al Green's "Love and Happiness," "God Bless America," the Kate Smith version, "Muskrat Love," or an instant classic from that scrappy little pop vixen Britney Spears. And it could be changed ad nauseum, just like your answering machine message. Ker-ching! Ker-ching! I think we got a hit on our hands here. Hear! Hear!
Taste and Smell. I don't know about you, but my pills stink and they taste bad, like sewer chemicals. They stink going in and they stink coming out, and not just in the poopy way, but also in our sweat and on our breath, as I was horrified to discover when my boyfriend mentioned he can smell it on my skin, and he can taste my triple combo when we make out. He says he doesn't mind, but how nice would it be if he could smell and taste something scrumpdiddlyicious, like a double whopper or a pan pizza, or something minty and refreshing, or even Listeriney would be okay. There are several ways to go about this one. The drugs could be bonded with a Tic Tac sorta deal, so they'd taste wintergreen both going down and when you're breathing heavy. Or they could come with nostalgia tastes/smells, like raw onions atop a grilled burger on a lazy summer afternoon, or warm Tollhouse cookies. Or they could smell like CK1 or some sporty fragrance -- don't know how they'd correspondingly taste, but it could be worked out. The mind reels with the possibilities. Clean! Fresh! Sexy! Delicious! Mouth watering!
Touch. The importance of this sense cannot be underestimated. Again, things either feel good to us, or they feel bad. I don't particularly care for how my horse pills feel, their waxy, gelatinous texture is high on the ick factor in my palm, going down, and I really don't like how they make me feel on the inside either. Now this recommendation is what they call "really out of the box," but I hope you stay with me, as I hope the R&D goons do as well, because this has the potential to be real big. I was supping on falafel with another heavily treated visionary recently when we stumbled upon an inspiration for a new delivery method for our mounds of meds. Why, we thought, don't we take all our pills for the day and have them formulated into a sort of dildo/suppository kinda deal. We'd simply insert the dosed dildo in the morning and the drugs would be time-released throughout the day. Hello! Please sir, may I have another? Of course, we realized that we are "versatile" gay men, and our good feelings may not, in fact, be everyone's good feelings, but hey, straight men have prostates too, umkay? Right? Learn to love them! The gals, who don't have a prostate, can have nice times with their booties too I'm sure, so why not? And just maybe since the drugs won't be absorbed in the stomach anymore, we'll have no more tum tum troubles. Who can complain?
I don't know, but I hazard to predict a lot of happy faces and record-breaking compliance with this innovation. And with the others of course. Now it's time to advance to go and start working on the execution of these proposals. As a matter of fact, I just happen to be sitting on a prototype this very moment. That's me, smiling all the way to the patent office.
To read more of Jim Pickett's columns, click here.


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July 14, 2011
Snow White
Outfit Details:
Troubador Maxi Dress – c/o Spotted Moth
hat – Gapbag – c/o Rebecca Minkoff
La Curva sandals (on sale right now) – c/o Blowfish Shoesvintage glasses – Guvnor's Vintage (got them fitted with prescription lenses at LensCrafters the other day)
If I had a dollar for every time someone has said, "B**** thinks she's Snow White," I would have a dollar. But if I had a dollar for every time I actually did think or wish I was Snow White, I could make it rain. I haven't yet taught my animal crew how to clean but rest assured, I am working on it.


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This tutorial will be on how to draw a Gothic cross. I know some of you are wondering what a Gothic cross is. Well to tell you the truth I'm not sure but I do know what I can tell you about this fashionable cross that has taken Gothic culture by storm. This image of the Gothic cross looks a whole lot like the Celtic cross which is too bold with a circle in the background and markings engraved on the front. A Celtic cross is nothing more than a regular cross with a ring surrounding the mid part. This is the symbol of Celtic Christianity, but the symbol does have much older pre Christian background. Crosses that look like the Celtic cross and the Gothic cross, created a big Celtic art population. This particular cross has other names labeled to it such as High cross, the Irish cross, and the cross of Iona. In places like Ireland and Great Britain, there are a bunch of up right looking crosses that where created and displayed as early at the 7th century. Now, most of these crosses have inscriptions engraved in them or special designs that symbolize certain aspects of the individual's life. In Cornwall there are old surviving crosses still standing such as St Pirans cross at Perranpth, as well as the island of Iona, Wales, Ireland, and Hebrides. There are also stone crosses that resemble the Celtic cross in Scotland as well, but these types of crosses are similar to the Anglo Saxon cross. In Irish myth Saint Patrick combined the symbol of Christianity (which is the cross), and the symbol of the sun to give a feeling of importance to the pagan followers by combining the two symbols to form the idea of life giving properties of the sun, and having the strength from god all in one. This image of the Celtic cross has been transformed today to symbolize ones individuality by most of the Gothic culture. Although it shows the awareness of faith it also shows the independence and a rebellious part of life. There are so many beliefs and religions around the world, to label it and call it false or true is not for us to say. All we can do is accept each others differences and not be judgmental of people that are different, because all in all we all are the same, we are human. In this tutorial I will show you "how to draw a cross" or "Celtic cross" step by step. The instructions are easy to read and understand. You will soon be on your way to drawing your very own cross of your choice.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


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BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
- FeatureDAS: The last bastions
- TipMidrange arrays get a makeover
- FeatureStorage sidles up to SUSE
- FeatureHIPAA spurs interest in replication
- FeatureiFCP vs. FCIP
- FeatureE-mail retention basics
- FeatureIs the time right for optical storage?
- ArticleEMC expelled over maintenance fees
- ArticleDirectors take on more tasks
- FeatureSurvey Says: Mixed-disk tiers not for everyone
- FeatureNew backup strategies
- FeatureStorage spending report
- FeaturePerformance indicators to help you hone your storage environment
- FeatureStorage Bin: Not invented where?
- FeatureVirtual appeasement
- FeatureSnapshot: Snapshots for data protection
iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Directors take on more tasks
The competition among director-class products has never been more intense. If you're considering directors for the first time, or re-examining your fabric strategy, here's what you need to know.
- Phil Goodwin, IDC
The competition among director-class products has never been more intense. If you're considering directors for the first time, or re-examining your fabric strategy, here's what you need to know. (This article orginally appeared in the June 2005 edition of "Storage" magazine.)
In the early days of storage networking, Fibre Channel (FC) switches with four to 32 ports served the needs of most organizations. When requirements scaled beyond 32 ports, switches were connected using inter-switch links (ISLs). This architecture gradually evolved into a so-called "core-to-edge" fabric, with larger switches in the "core" and smaller switches at the "edge" of the storage infrastructure. Data directors were reserved for "monolithic" implementations, usually focused on the mainframe.
Indeed, it's the mainframe environment from which data directors (also called channel directors) evolved. In the open-systems world, these products are called director-class switches, but the architecture is the same: More than 128 ports in a single package (frame) designed to offer high, predictable performance and at least 99.999% system availability. The core-to-edge architecture offers the advantages of incremental growth, but becomes problematic when ISLs become too numerous and latency becomes a problem. However, director-class products cost 25% to 50% more per port to implement initially because of the base cost of the frame and additional redundant hardware features. For IT organizations considering directors for the first time, or those re-examining their fabric strategy, three questions must be answered:
- Under what circumstances does it make sense to use core/edge switches, and under what circumstances should directors be used?
- Does it make sense to implement a heterogeneous fabric to get the "best of all worlds"?
- What are the key technology differentiators that should be considered between vendors?
Differentiating directors
Several key differences distinguish directors from switches. The first criterion is the number of ports. Although some 64-port devices are referred to as directors, most directors start at 128 ports. Second, directors have "non-blocking" architectures, meaning that all ports can operate at full speed simultaneously. In contrast, the internal communications of a switch are "oversubscribed" when the aggregate speed of the ports exceeds the internal bandwidth of the device. Third, directors should be capable of non-disruptive upgrades, including firmware updates. If a device must be taken offline for an upgrade, it can't deliver the 99.999% online objective of most directors. The impact of taking hundreds of ports offline for an upgrade is unacceptable to many organizations. Finally, a director should be able to isolate faults to a specific zone without impacting ports in other zones.
The competition among director-class products has never been more intense than it is now. Presently, four vendors compete in the director market: Brocade Communications Systems Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Computer Network Technology (CNT) Corp. and McData Corp. (McData is in the process of completing its acquisition of CNT, which may occur by the time this article goes to press. CNT spokespeople weren't available for comment due to regulatory restrictions.)
Brocade. Brocade's roots are planted in the core/edge switch market it has dominated for a number of years. Its original director, the SilkWorm 12000, in many respects didn't meet the director definition (e.g., no hot code load initially and 64-port domains linked with ISLs). But the SilkWorm 24000 does, with 128 ports and non-blocking, full duplex throughput; it also uses a mesh architecture internally. Brocade boasts a unified product family from the eight-port SilkWorm 3250 edge switch up to the 128-port SilkWorm 24000.
Cisco. Similar to Brocade, Cisco groups all of its products as a unit, called the MDS 9000. The high-end director, the MDS 9509 Multilayer Director, has 1.44 Tbps non-blocking mesh throughput. Up to 224 ports can be housed in a single chassis, with up to 672 ports in a single rack. Cisco claims its chassis are designed to last 10 years, with upgrades facilitated by swapping out modules. Modules are the essence of the Cisco architecture, and may include FC, iSCSI, Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and multiprotocol routers.
CNT. CNT's top product is the UltraNet Multiservice Director (UMD), which features 5 Tbps non-blocking throughput with 512 ports at 4 Gbps per port. CNT refers to its architecture as a low-latency, single-stage core. Recently, however, McData, which is in the process of acquiring CNT, announced that to eliminate redundancy across the McData and CNT product lines, the UMD and FC/9000 directors will be discontinued. In addition to the UMD and FC/9000, CNT also offers the FC/FICON director with 256 1 Gbps or 2 Gbpsports, as well as the CD/9000, an ESCON channel director.
McData. McData markets its products as elements in a three-tier architecture. Its Tier 1 director, or backbone, is the Intrepid 10000, with 1Tb/sec of active non-blocking throughput for up to 256 ports and scaling to 1,024 ports. The Tier 2 Intrepid 6000, packs 140 ports in a single frame and 420 ports in a single rack. McData's directors are based on a crossbar architecture, which McData describes as providing direct, port-to-port connectivity for guaranteed throughput. Tier 3 includes McData's Eclipse and Sphereon edge switches.
Managing large SANs
SANs with more than 1,000 devices are certainly not commonplace, but they aren't unheard of. SANs with hundreds of devices are becoming common, and these large configurations introduce a variety of problems. The "any-to-any" nature of SAN architectures poses a threat to information security and increases management complexity. Of these, security is perhaps the most significant.
Most security threats in a SAN environment come from within the organization. IT groups shouldn't fall prey to a false sense of security just because storage is behind the firewall. Ports can be intentionally or inadvertently exposed to the outside, and unscrupulous admins can look for unencrypted passwords. Thus, issues such as password encryption, authentication and proper "hard" and "soft" zoning must be addressed. Each director vendor has well-developed security within its own fabrics. Brocade offers Secure Fabric OS, Cisco has the Intelligent SAN Security Suite and McData offers SANtegrity Security Suite. However, each solution is proprietary and won't interoperate with the others. The ANSI T11.3 security standard will eventually solve this problem, but it's not widely adopted; mixing different vendors' switches in the same fabric is often not advisable.
Connecting SAN islands improves management and availability (see When to move to a director, this page). While SAN islands were once the norm, most companies have consolidated, or are planning to consolidate, their SANs. This capability is enabled by functionality referred to as "Layer 3" switching. In the IP world, Layer 3 provides inter-LAN routing. Similarly, Layer 3 SAN switches facilitate routing between SANs. Obviously, security is a key component. Brocade's SilkWorm Router Module is a separate device on the fabric, as is McData's Director Service Module. Cisco's Multiprotocol Services Module plugs into the 9509 chassis, thereby reducing the number of devices in the fabric.
The flip side of linking SAN islands is dividing large SANs into logical entities that are more manageable and secure. Each vendor has its own architecture to do this: Brocade has the Logical Storage Area Network (LSAN), Cisco has Virtual SAN (VSAN) and McData has Director Flexible Partition (DPAR) (see Director differences).
Brocade LSAN. The LSAN can be thought of as a "many-to-one" approach that combines SANs using the Router Module. Thus, the SAN can be managed as one large entity or multiple smaller entities. The Router Module acts like a firewall and prevents faults from propagating between SANs.
Cisco VSAN. The VSAN can be thought of as "one to many." Specifically, one large SAN can be broken into multiples by partitioning directors, switches or fabrics. Resources can be shared across VSANs (called Inter-VSAN routing), and faults can be isolated to VSANs. VSAN technology has been adopted by ANSI as the T11.3 standard, but Cisco is the only company that supports it. VSANs can encapsulate non-Cisco products, but basically treat them as dumb devices.
McData DPAR. With DPARs, a fabric can be divided into SAN units that can be isolated from one another. McData also prescribes a process where DPARs can be used to transition from SAN islands to a unified fabric.
Virtualization and other buzzwords
For this article, virtualization is defined as "abstracting the storage infrastructure from the app so that storage becomes a 'service' to the app." As such, virtualized storage must have the intelligence to manage the location, data protection, replication and service-level delivery. As more intelligence resides in the fabric, key apps will include heterogeneous data replication, backup and recovery, storage management and data encryption. Fabric vendors don't provide these storage apps, but rather the hardware platforms they run on. Virtualization is also available from other third-party devices, usually on Microsoft Windows- or Linux-based appliances. Data encryption is also available, again using separate appliances. But the additional appliances complicate SAN deployment, use expensive ports, create additional points of failure and introduce more management software. Through the end of this decade these apps will reside on intelligent director-class switches.
An example of an application moving to the fabric is Cisco's recent announcement of its Network-Accelerated Serverless Backup (NASB), based on the Xcopy standard. With NASB, the backup data stream moves directly from disk to MDS 9XXX to tape without passing through the backup/media server. As a result, processing overhead is greatly reduced and backup speeds are increased. Only the meta data is passed to the media server for cataloging. Although NASB improves backups, it doesn't always improve restore operations. The restore data path still requires the backup/media server in most cases. The exception is volume restores using either CommVault Systems Inc.'s Galaxy or Computer Associates International Inc.'s BrightStor ARCserve. In all other cases, the restore process will see no resource reduction or speed improvement.
Falling prices
Competition for directors and fabric switches is driving per-port prices down at a rate of 40% to 50% annually. The market for intelligent devices is really a two-horse race: Brocade's SilkWorm Fabric Application Platform (AP) and Cisco's MDS 9000. Although McData has made some strategic acquisitions and partnerships, it doesn't currently sell an intelligent fabric device of its own. Presently, the list price for intelligent ports is around $4,000 per port, while the list price for conventional products is approximately $1,500 per port.
Cisco's intelligent switch architecture, called Network-Hosted Storage Applications, is based on a Storage Services Module that resides in the MDS 9509 frame. This module can have as many as 32 ports. The Brocade SilkWorm Fabric AP is also a blade, with up to 16 ports that reside in the 24000 director. The race is on for each vendor to attract as many OEM partners as possible. OEM qualification is a significant task and successful completion offers a substantial time-to-market advantage for the director vendor. Cisco has been qualified by IBM Corp. for its SAN Volume Controller, by Veritas Software Corp. for Storage Foundation for Networks and by EMC Corp. for Storage Router virtualization software. Brocade has also landed EMC, as well as Hewlett-Packard's VersaStor product. Eventually, both platforms will be supported by all OEM vendors.
Emerging technologies
All vendors will have 4 Gb ports available in the second half of this year. The good news is that 4 Gb technology is backward-compatible with both 2 Gb and 1 Gb technology. Thus, inclusion in the fabric will be nondisruptive. Moreover, 4 Gb modules can co-exist in director-class frames along with lower-speed modules. Of course, when mixed ports connect, the two modules will negotiate down to the speed of the slowest device.
The bigger buzz, however, surrounds 10 Gb technology. Storage managers might logically ask whether they should invest in 4 Gb now, when 10 Gb may be right around the corner. The answer is "Yes," because 10 Gb is a disruptive technology. That is, 10 Gb ports can't connect with slower ports. For the next two to three years, 10 Gb implementation will be limited to internal bandwidth to the director; indeed, some products already use it. 10 Gb may also be implemented for ISLs. Where five 2 Gb ports can be "trunked" currently to provide 10 Gb throughput between switches, a single 10 Gb ISL would obviously reduce the port consumption by 80%. But 10 Gb technology may never be implemented at the port level because non-disruptive 8 Gb technology may be available by 2007/2008 and 16 Gb technology by 2010/2011. Some highlights from product-specific roadmaps include:
Brocade. Expect expansion of the 24000 to 256 ports, the development of a Layer 3 router blade and a fabric application blade. Brocade will also continue to enhance its fabric management software.
Cisco. Although Cisco will continue to enhance the scalability and throughput of its directors and switches, expect Cisco to continue to differentiate itself by bringing network management tools to storage based on its IP networking experience.
McData. Near term, McData will be fully occupied with the integration of CNT's product line. Expect McData to continue to enhance its position in very high-performance director applications. The company will also begin to compete more vigorously as a virtualization platform in the second half of 2005.
About the author: Phil Goodwin is president of Diogenes Analytical Laboratories Inc. in Boulder, CO.


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Sorry to all the arachnophobia if this tutorial scares you! Anyway here is the tutorial on how to draw a realistic creepy, crawly, spider. By the way spiders technically are not insects so I guess I will just put this in the realistic category.
DragoArt members upload artwork and drawing tutorials! They are also allowed to leave comments on tutorials, profiles, etc. Many more features, as well; it's way better than just being a boring guest! Register Now!


text:
The Perseids have arrived. Widely recognized as the largest and most dependable meteor display of the year for the Northern hemisphere, the first reports of Perseid meteors starting popping up early this morning, but activity is expected to increase in the days ahead, peaking in the (very) early morning hours of August 12.
Unlike last year's Perseids, which had to compete with the glare of a full Moon, this year's display arrives while the Moon is a waning crescent, which should make for much better sky-gazing. Here's everything you need to know to witness as many meteors as possible.
Avoid light like the plague
Mike Brown, the man who killed Pluto, likes to say that the Moon is his nemesis, because it washes out his view of the celestial bodies in the night sky. And while you may not agree with Pluto's demotion, you'd be wise to take Brown's experience to heart; when you're looking for meteors, the Moon is your enemy — even when that Moon is a waning crescent.
But city lights, street lights, house lights, flashlights, any lights can be just as bad. You've already got the moon and your surroundings giving off tons of it, so don't blow it by checking your indiglo watch out of habit and for god's sake don't look at your phone.
If you're in the country, go find a big open field. If you're in the city, get out if you can. If you can't get out, try to find a high point.
Taking all these things into account can amount to a huge difference. The images featured here help illustrate the effect that light pollution can have on your stargazing experience. The bottom photo was taken in Orem, Utah, a major metropolitan area with around 400,000 people. The top photo was taken in Leamington, a rural Utah town, about 75 miles southwest of Orem, with a population of just 217 people. The difference is staggering. Give it a little forethought, and you can vastly improve your experience; the Clear Sky Chart website has a great list of optimal viewing locations organized by state, so go check it out.
Once you're all settled in, give yourself at least 20 minutes for your eyes to fully adapt to the dark. How do you know if your eyes have adapted? A good rule of thumb says if you can see all the stars in the little dipper (you should count 10) you'll see plenty of meteors. If you can't spot all 10 it's not a big deal, that's just under optimal conditions.
Know when and where to look
The best hours for catching the Perseids are typically between midnight and dawn on the mornings of August 11th, 12th and 13th, with activity peaking on the morning of the 12. That being said, the Moon will be rising during predawn hours this year, so you might want to keep your eyes peeled for meteors starting in the late evening.
You can also use NASA's Fluxtimator to help you calculate the best time to be looking skyward. The Fluxtimator even takes your viewing location (i.e. whether you're observing from the city or the countryside) and the brightness of the Moon into account, just be sure to adjust date and location information accordingly.
As for where to look, that depends on who you ask. Some people will tell you to look towards the radiant, where the shooting stars will appear to emanate from (for the perseids this is near the constellation Perseus), but bear in mind that meteors' trails tend to be shorter the closer they are to the radiant. Your best bet is to probably just look straight up, or to face away from the moon, keeping in mind that meteors can appear anywhere in the sky.
If you'd like to join local experts, try looking for your neighborhood astronomy club, and find out whether they'll be setting up a telescope you can peek through with friends. And if there's no local club, you can alwaysjoin NASA's live, online chat about the shower.
Bring the right stuff
Bring a reclining lawn chair, a blanket, some pillows, a coat in case it gets chilly — whatever you need to get comfortable and still keep your eyes on the sky. Don't try to stand. Standing and looking up may seem like a decent enough idea, but eventually your neck will get tired, and the second you take your eyes off the sky is invariably when the brightest meteors of the night will go blazing by — it's like a code that all meteors live by.
You shouldn't really need a telescope or binoculars, because you'll want to keep your eyes on as much of the night sky as possible. Bring something to snack on, but nothing you have to look at to eat. And finally, bring some good company, so you have somebody to "ooh" and "ahh" with while stargazing on this beautiful summer night.


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The directors of BRUSE Real Estate, Bevan & Theon Bruse, are proud to say that the BRUSE name has been associated with real estate for three generations. Sydney Bruse operated as a Real Estate Agent for many years in the Payneham and Marryatville districts of South Australia. His son Bevan, grandson Theon and Bevan's wife Jill have kept the Real Estate name alive in the Real Estate industry. To add to the BRUSE name, in 2011 Bevan and Jill's daughter Saffron Bruse re-joined the family business as The Manager of the Property Management department.Bevan originally joined his father in the real estate industry at the young age of 20, and in 1991 Bevan joined Brock Partners Real Estate when the company commenced. Bevan's son, Theon Bruse, joined Bevan at Brock Partners Real Estate, until they decided to open the BRUSE agency.
The Bruse office is active in selling property and has a medium size property management portfolio. Positioned on Greenhill Road, at Toorak Gardens just opposite all the banks and Burnside Village. This prominent position has excellent car parking at the rear of the building, making it easier for buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants and clients to call into the office.


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CHICAGO – Love is a powerful enough force to transcend any obstacle that you may put in its path.
Darrin Patin
Theater Review: Brown Paper Box Company Hosts a Monumental 'Speech & Debate'Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 19, 2018 - 2:07pm
CHICAGO – "Speech & Debate," the latest production from the mighty Brown Paper Box Company, continues their tradition of thinking outside that "box" in presenting storefront theater that makes a statement and a difference. "Speech" goes inside America by showcasing the outsiders… those who create art because they can't get it right in real life. This non-equity Chicago stage play premiere is finely tuned and wonderfully acted, and runs through March 4th, 2018. Click here for more details, including ticket information.


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Click below to filter your search results
Committee Opinion Number 532, August 2012
(Replaces No. 387, November 2007 and No. 322, November 2005) (Reaffirmed 2018)
ABSTRACT: Although improvement in long-term health is no longer an indication for menopausal hormone therapy, evidence supporting fewer adverse events in younger women, combined with its high overall effectiveness, has reinforced its usefulness for short-term treatment of menopausal symptoms. Menopausal therapy has been provided not only by commercially available products but also by compounding, or creation of an individualized preparation in response to a health care provider's prescription to create a medication tailored to the specialized needs of an individual patient. The Women's Health...
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
409 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2188
Mailing Address: PO Box 96920, Washington, DC 20024-9998


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The Small Crossbody Rucksack in Vintage Check
$1,560.00 $1,560.00
All orders will be fulfilled by Burberry Limited and shipped from the UK. When you place your order, you accept Burberry's Terms and Conditions and confirm that you have read our Privacy Policy.
Size Guide
Use the Size Guide to choose the best fit for your measurements.
In this window, you can find out the shipping and returns options for the selected item.
In this window, you can contact customer service for further assistance.
- Inspired by military archive bags, our timeless backpack in Vintage check, updated with an additional strap for crossbody carrying.
- 16 x 11 x 26cm/6.3 x 4.3 x 10.2in
- Min. shoulder strap length: 95.5cm/37.6in
- Max. shoulder strap length: 110.5cm/43.5in
- Outer: 100% polyamide
- Trim: 100% calf leather
- Back panel: 100% polyamide
- Lining: 100% polyamide
- Rolled leather top handle
- Detachable, adjustable shoulder straps
- Three exterior zip pockets, interior slip pocket, interior zip pocket
- Buckle, press-stud and drawcord closures
- Hand-painted edges
- Polished metal hardware
- Made in Italy
Item 80067251


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Into the Amazon
Season 30 Episode 1 | 1h 52m 55s
Into the Amazon tells the remarkable story President Theodore Roosevelt's journey with legendary Brazilian explorer Cândido Rondon into the heart of the South American rainforest to chart an unexplored tributary of the Amazon.
Aired: 01/09/18
Expires: 01/08/21Video has closed captioning.
Buy Now:
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Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Consumer Cellular. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.


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Atomic Cowboy, Denver Biscuit Co. to open new place in Crimson Canary space
That was fast. As reported in Westword, the Crimson Canary is closing down in the Baker neighborhood on South Broadway, after 18 months of serving old-school red-sauce Italian food.
The space didn't sit for long – here comes Drew Shader, the guy behind Fat Sully's New York Pizza, Denver Biscuit Co., and Atomic Cowboy. He opened a Fat Sully's nextdoor to the Canary this year, at S. Broadway and Maple, and now plans to erect a Denver Biscuit Co. and an Atomic Cowboy in the Canary space.
Sorry to see you go, Canary, and good luck to you, Biscuit and Cowboy.


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REDD: North-South Agreement for New Emissions Reduction Mechanism
High level event on forests and climate change supports emissions reduction mechanism
In an unprecedented display of cooperation between developed and developing countries on climate change, eighteen Heads of State gathered at UN headquarters in New York to publicly express their commitment and support for REDD—Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing counties.
They asserted that the new climate change agreement to be negotiated in Copenhagen must address in an effective and equitable way the role of forests as a mitigation option.
Following the previous day's Summit on Climate Change, and in advance of the critical Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen taking place this December, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened leaders and dignitaries from developed and developing countries to dialogue and publicly support REDD. After remarks by Secretary-General Ban, Presidents and Prime Ministers from Africa (Republic of Congo); Asia and the Pacific (Papua New Guinea); Latin America and the Caribbean (Guyana); industrialized countries (Australia, Norway, Sweden), and World Bank President Zoellick took the stand to support progress and actions on REDD. Statements by other high ranking officials included Bangladesh, Belgium, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Indonesia, Japan and the People's Republic of China also underlined their commitment.
The event marked the largest gathering of countries to date on the issue of REDD, with the participation of over 80 countries and over 150 dignitaries and leaders from international and non-governmental organizations, academia, think tanks and the private sector from around the world concerned with climate change and forests.
"This convergence of world leaders highlights a positive, growing momentum in support of REDD and signals how this mechanism may be feasible from a technical, financial and collaboration perspective," Secretary-General Ban said about the event. "While drastic reductions in fossil fuel-related emissions are crucial in addressing climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use is pivotal to the overall equation."
Participating developing countries expressed their willingness to undertake significant cuts in deforestation and forest degradation, provided that they receive sufficient financial support. Secretary-General Ban highlighted global emissions can be substantially reduced by preventing deforestation.
A report by the Informal Working Group on Interim Finance for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (IWG-IFR) estimates a 25 percent reduction in deforestation could be achieved with a financial commitment of 15-20 billion Euros ($22-29 billion) by 2015.
Deforestation and the degradation of forests are responsible for just under one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world's cars, trucks, ships and planes combined. In addition to storing over one trillion tons of the world's carbon, forests provide for essential human needs, including adaptation. Yet under the current Kyoto Protocol, developing countries cannot receive credit for the social and environmental benefits their forests provide. The absence of rewards for maintaining forests means they continue to be cut, burnt and degraded. A REDD mechanism, that will be discussed during the climate change negotiations this December in Copenhagen, proposes to change the perverse incentives that make forests worth more dead than alive.
The UN-REDD Programme, a collaborative partnership between FAO, UNDP and UNEP, supports countries to develop capacity to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to implement a future REDD mechanism.
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[Now Hiring!] Teach in China with confidence! EF English First offers airport pickup upon arrival, 2 weeks' free hotel accommodation, and an Onboarding Program designed to help you settle into your new classroom & city. Free flights paid upfront to many locations. Now interviewing!
Posted By: EF English First
Date: Thursday, 30 January 2020, at 7:22 a.m.
Work at English First. Travel and teach in China.
Vacancies in 60+ Cities Across China - Now Interviewing - Competitive Packages
EF English First is currently seeking English teachers to teach abroad at our Online, Kids & Teens or Adult schools. Join our academic team of over 2,400 teachers in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and many other cities across China. Classes range in size from one-on-one lessons to workshops of up to 16 students. The key responsibilities of our ESL jobs include planning and delivering lessons using EF's award-winning ESL courseware and evaluating student progress. Schools have internet access and are equipped with computers, Interactive Whiteboards and iPads. Teachers have access to on-going professional development, certification courses and training modules and invited to participate in company-organized networking, social and cultural events. PACKAGE UP TO 16,400 RMB PER MONTH
Salary 13,000 - 15,500 RMB monthly, based on qualifications Performance Bonus Up to 1,950 RMB per month after 6 months for teachers who work at our Kids & Teens schools Flight Allowance Monthly flight allowance plus upfront flights for many locations Salary Advance 12,000 RMB (available) Visa Sponsored legal Z work visa Health Insurance Provided, choose from three packages Vacation 10 paid annual leave days plus 11 national holidays Onboarding Airport pickup upon arrival, free hotel accommodation during your first two weeks Training Sponsored accreditations including Trinity CertTESOL, Cambridge TKT, Trinity DipTESOL and DELTM Other perks Free Mandarin Chinese lessons, weekly EF sponsored social events, teacher advantages discount program, job rotation program JOB REQUIREMENTS
Education A Bachelor's Degree Certification A TEFL Certification (EF TEFL sponsorship available) Contract Length The ability to live abroad for at least one year Citizenship To meet China's legal visa regulations, you must be a citizen from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. Other Must be able to obtain a clear background check ABOUT EF ENGLISH FIRST
EF English First is the world's leading privately owned education company. Founded in 1965, EF operates in over 50 countries around the world. We have vacancies for teaching positions across China so if you prefer the fast paced city life like Shanghai, or want to be immersed in the more traditional culture of a smaller city, we probably have the position for you. We have both Kids & Teens schools and Adult schools in over 60 Cities in China.
Brand new openings all across China. Package up to 16,400RMB. Teach kids, adults or online. Positions filling quickly. Apply now for early consideration.
Official Language Training Supplier to 7 Olympic Games
Winner of the Best Companies to Work For in Asia Awards 2019 by HR Asia
National Five Star Gold Teacher Team Award from Sina.com
Recipient of the China Charity Festival's Innovative Charity Award
Holder of 2 Guinness World records
Copyright © 2016 EF English First Ltd. All rights reserved.
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This week's Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne exhibition has seen Oracle make some admirable announcements with regard to the Java roadmap. But as a whole, Java has been arguably somewhat overshadowed by Larry Ellison's gung-ho America's Cup winning bravado and general presence. Unperturbed by the big man's keynote hogging antics earlier this week, one or two smaller Java purists have managed to highlight their developments and new product announcements.
Among the Java cognoscenti making waves this week is JRapid, a neat little development team with offices in California and Buenos Airies. The company used this week's conference to launch version 1.0 beta of its rapid development cloud platform for Java developers.
Claiming to offer a route to creating cloud-ready, enterprise applications up to five times faster than on conventional platforms, JRapid can be used either online through its web-based designer or through Eclipse using the JRapid plug-in for Eclipse -- thus enabling developers to keep their desktop synchronized with the cloud.
According to the company's development team, the secret sauce behind JRapid is its code generator which automatically generates all the layers of the application.
"JRapid allows Java developers to build enterprise applications with forms, listings, reports and charts. What makes JRapid different from other products is that it lets developers create powerful applications -- not just the usual CRUDs -- with an impressive user interface, lots of add-ons, automatically generated business intelligence functionality and everything necessary to run in the cloud with just one click," said Matias Bagini, founder and CEO of JRapid Corp.
Applications built with JRapid use the traditional Java web stack -- HTML, Ajax, RESTful Web Services, POJOs, Hibernate, MySQL/Oracle/PostgreSQL/etc -- and run on any standard Java application server. Developers can deploy applications built with JRapid on their own servers or use JRapid cloud servers running on Amazon Web Services.


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We know you can choose from a number of dealers that sell vapor cleaning systems—so why should you choose us? We truly believe 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com is your best shopping source because we have the highest quality Italian-made products and because we provide a user-friendly atmosphere with a knowledgeable staff that is devoted to making your purchase hassle free—as well as saving you time and money! Don't let advertising fool you. If a company advertises that you are buying "direct", "factory direct", "not from dealers", or words of similar meaning, maybe you should ask a few questions. If you are buying direct that means you are ordering directly from Italy, not from a U.S. dealership or importer taking delivery from Italy. The only way we know that you can bypass a dealership is to become an importer yourself. But you will have to get a license and be prepared to buy in quantity.
Advantages To Shopping With 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com
Online Ordering
There are no forms to fill out and fax. You don't have to call during certain hours, and you don't have to drive to a store only to find it out of stock or too busy to answer your questions. At Vapor Systems, you can place your order 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using a shopping cart with secure checkout. All you have to do is sit back and wait for your state-of-the-art vapor system to arrive.
Real Prices
Many traditional retailers publish low-ball prices in their catalogs then charge extra for shipping, credit cards, etc. Some even expect you to order without knowing the price of shipping. At 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com, you will always know your true cost when you place an order. That's because everything is included in our price, including shipping in the continental U.S.
Ready-To-Ship Inventory
In stock & ready to ship! Unlike many of our competitors, 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com maintains sufficient products in stock so you can be guaranteed fast shipping. And to insure your convenience, each 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com product that leaves our warehouse is inspected for quality assurance.
Expert Sales Advisors
Standing by to help make steam cleaning shopping easy. Our helpful expert Sales Advisors are ready to answer your questions and offer advice.
We at 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com take pride in offering the best vapor cleaning systems on the market. We make it easy for you to find the "right" system for the right job. Whether it's for your home or your business, we have what you need to start cleaning right away. Our selection includes the totally redesigned Reliable Steam Cleaner Line, the Steam Vapor Vac, the Ladybug 2150, 2200S, XL2300 and the Super Vapor 6i.
Product Information
Our website is more than pictures. We provide all the necessary resources and information you need to help you make an informed decision on which cleaning system is best for you.
1-800-GO-VAPOR.com offers it's customers nothing less than first class service. We respond to most emails within a few hours, 7 days a week. Call us at 1-800-GO-VAPOR.
Because our business is totally "dot.com" we do business only on the Web. We are not distracted by running a retail outlet or catalog business. This means we are constantly updating and improving our site. It won't be months out of date like many you see. It also means that we are focused on serving you by answering emails and shipping quickly.
Page Loading Time
Many websites don't understand how to minimize the time to load graphics. 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com does! Your time is valuable and nobody wants to sit and wait. So we keep it simple! Our Web graphics and colors were specially chosen to speed up page loading.
Competitive Prices
Compare us with ordering elsewhere and you will find 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com offers very competitive prices. Additionally, we will save you money in other ways. For example, we offer a free $50 Shell Gas Card with each order over $1,000. And we double this if you pay by certified check or money order.
First Class Support
Unlike other retailers, 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com offers it's customers first class support. From video tutorials to in-depth troubleshooting guides, our support system is unparalleled.
1-800-GO-VAPOR.com will not give your name, shipping information or email address to an outside party or business. Please read our Privacy Policy.
Your order is safe with our secure online service. All credit card transactions are currently conducted by Authorize.Net, one of the most respected and reliable online systems for credit card processing. However, we understand that security remains the primary concern of on-line consumers. So if you feel more comfortable, we offer payment by certified check or money order.
For more information about 1-800-GO-VAPOR.com, click on About Us.


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Air Force Fighter Pilot Toddler Costume
Up we go, into the wild blue yonder! Your little one will have fun dressing as their favorite Top Gun pilot hero.
Air Force Fighter Pilot Toddler Costume by Rubies Costume
You can dress just es like the Air Force pilots! Authentic style flight suit with pockets, zippers, patches, and cap.
Toddler size 2T-4T.
|Availability & Delivery
|Inventory is updated regularly and will be shown with any sizes/items out of stock indicated with estimated time of arrival (ETA) noted when available. Not all manufacturers provide inventory data and even in stock items can be sold out without notice. We will notify you of any out of stock items as soon as possible or you can contact us in advance of placing your order to verify availability.
|*Average Delivery:
|This is the average, estimated time for delivery within the USA and is subject to availability, seasonal sales volume, and other unforeseen delays. If you must have an item by a specific date, be sure to include that date in your cart comments when checking out. Deliveries outside the US will take an additional 10-15+ days based on destination country and customs. International deliveries may have additional import duties, taxes, or fees imposed before delivery that we cannot charge or estimate - contact your local customs office for information.


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Must-have Camping Essentials and Supplies at Sportsman's Guide's at low prices. Shop for Camping Accessories, First Aid Kits, Portable Toilets & Showers, Ropes, and many other camping supplies for the lowest prices, guaranteed. Save on top brands such as Coleman, Coghlan's and more.
Check up often for great deals on what you need to get your camping party into the wild and back again. Also, don't forget to check out these articles from the Guide Outdoors for helpful hints and tips for a successful camping trip: "Camping 101: A Campfire For Every Purpose." Learn safety techniques and survival skills as well. If you have children or grandchildren you can't miss "Camping 101: Tips For Helping Lost Kids Become Found".


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Jul 12, 2011 | ISBN 9780307590732
"Saints Preserved is not a stuffy historical account or pious index of which relics are where. Craughwell has a marvelous sense of humor that shines in his breezy – and fascinating – descriptions of the relics, their provenance and the relic-enthusiast subculture, if you will" – Cathleen Falsani, The Huffington Post
"Craughwell's exhaustive catalogue extends through the Eastern and Roman churches to include items referenced in scripture; it relates their histories and known locations, and provides entertaining yet respectful hagiographies of the men and women whose faithful lives have inspired such reverent interest in all they have left behind. This is a marvelously-researched resource that should become a classic entry to a seeker's spiritual library, and yes, I do recommend it!" – Elizabeth Scalia, The Anchoress blog
"Long before there were cameras and videos to record for posterity, relics had become the visible reminder of great, heroic and holy lives—remembrances of heroes of the faith. Saints Preserved: An Encyclopedia of Relics gives an account of the lives of those heroes and provides renewed inspiration for Christians everywhere who face many of the challenges that were a part of the lives of the saints." —Cardinal Donald Wuerl, co-author of The Mass and author of The Catholic Way
"Relics are an often misunderstood part of the Catholic devotional life. Derided as either superstitious or just plain 'gross,' they are in fact an important reminder of the physicality of the saints. The saints were not mythical creatures or legendary personages, but flesh-and-blood men and women who walked the earth, ate and drank, wore clothes, wrote letters, and lived entirely human lives. Thomas Craughwell's new book provides readers with a comprehensive guide to the most important relics in the church and where they can be found, and venerated. His book is simply one of a kind." —James Martin, SJ, author of My Life with the Saints and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.
"Honoring relics was one of the distinguishing marks of early Christianity. A practice rooted in Scripture, it was a universally popular devotion. Thomas Craughwell helps us recover this important element of our tradition. He shares a fascination born of love, the deep familial love that made a family of the first-century Church, and can renew our sense of family in the Church of the twenty-first century." —Mike Aquilina, author of The Fathers of the Church and Roots of the Faith
"Sacred Scripture tells us that, 'Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His holy ones' (Ps. 116:15). These holy men and women, boys and girls, whom we know as saints, are therefore precious to the Catholic Church. Thomas J. Craughwell has rendered an honorable service to the Church and the world with his new book, Saints Preserved—a lively and captivating account of 300 resplendent saints and their holy relics, which we venerate with devotion to this day.
—Patrick Madrid, author of Search and Rescue and Does the Bible Really Say That?


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//Godfidence Tweets 2011-01-09Posted by Jason
Jan 9
- News Flash: We had the Fisher family annual budget review, and no tears were shed. First time in history. #
- I feel quite foolish quibbling over pennies when I met a man today who woke up with a skunk in the tent where he lives. #Godhelpme #
- Bureaucracies never do what they were created to do but only that which will perpetuate their own existence. #
- RT @JohnPiper: Marriage. The roots are deep. The covenant is solid. The love is sweet. Life is hard. And God is good. #
- Next year, I am unboxing all fo my kids toys then wrapping them, I am pulling out all of the directions for the games. #
- Today my first website will officially go down. I have terribly mixed feelings. #
- Act Like Men registration opens Jan. 11! You don't want to miss it. http://fb.me/Euz2f9X1 #
- Do I take the tougher more rewarding road that I may not complete or the easier but less rewarding road. I think I answered my own ? #
- Make sure you know OTC meds now require prescription if you want to use your HSA or FSA, thank you Mr President. #
- The new White out Mt Dew taste remarkably like Sprite, 7up and all others in that vain. 🙁 #
- Just found my first legit use for a torrent. #
- Daddy/daughter date begins in approx 2 hours. I can't wait. #
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