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June 2017
Executive Summary
Organizations of all sizes require an infrastructure for their Oracle Database deployments that provides high performance and enterprise-level reliability for transactional online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads. Oracle Database is a leading relational database management system (RDBMS). It has a large installed base that is now running on outdated hardware architecture that often no longer provides the levels of performance and scale that enterprises require. With the Cisco HyperFlex™ solution for Oracle Database, organizations can implement Oracle databases using a highly integrated solution that scales as business demand increases. This reference architecture provides a configuration that is fully validated to help ensure that the entire hardware and software stack is suitable for a high-performance OLTP workload, enabling rapid deployment of Oracle databases. This configuration meets the industry best practices for Oracle Database in a VMware virtualized environment.
Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform all-flash storage
Cisco HyperFlex systems are designed with an end-to-end software-defined infrastructure that eliminates the compromises found in first-generation products. With all-flash memory storage configurations and a choice of management tools, Cisco HyperFlex systems deliver a tightly integrated cluster that is up and running in less than an hour and that scales resources independently to closely match your Oracle Database requirements. For an in-depth look at the Cisco HyperFlex architecture, see the Cisco white paper Deliver Hyperconvergence with a Next-Generation Platform.
Why use Cisco HyperFlex all-flash systems for Oracle Database deployments
Oracle databases act as the back end for many critical and performance-intensive hungry applications. Organizations must be sure that it delivers consistent performance with predictable latency throughout the system. Cisco HyperFlex all-flash hyperconverged systems offer the following advantages, making them well suited for Oracle Database implementations:
● Low latency with consistent performance: Cisco HyperFlex all-flash systems, when used to host the virtual database instances, deliver low latency and consistent database performance.
● Data protection (fast clones, snapshots, and replication factor): Cisco HyperFlex systems are engineered with robust data protection techniques that enable quick backup and recovery of applications to protect against failures.
● Storage optimization (always-active inline deduplication and compression): All data that comes into Cisco HyperFlex systems is by default optimized using inline deduplication and data compression techniques.
● Dynamic online scaling of performance and capacity: The flexible and independent scalability of the capacity and computing tiers of Cisco HyperFlex systems allow you to adapt to growing performance demands without any application disruption.
● No performance hotspots: The distributed architecture of the Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform helps ensure that every virtual machine can achieve the storage I/O operations per second (IOPS) and make use of the capacity of the entire cluster, regardless of the physical node on which it resides. This feature is especially important for Oracle Database virtual machines because they frequently need higher performance to handle bursts of application and user activity.
● Non-disruptive system maintenance: Cisco HyperFlex systems support a distributed computing and storage environment that helps enable you to perform system maintenance tasks without disruption.
Oracle Database 12c on Cisco HyperFlex systems
This reference architecture guide shows how using Cisco HyperFlex systems can provides intelligent end-to-end automation with network-integrated hyperconvergence for an Oracle Database deployment. The Cisco HyperFlex system provides a high-performance, integrated solution for an Oracle Database environment.
The Cisco HyperFlex data distribution architecture allows concurrent access to data by reading and writing to all nodes at the same time. This approach provides data reliability and fast database performance. Figure 1 shows the data distribution architecture.
This reference architecture uses a cluster of four Cisco HyperFlex HX220c M4 All Flash Nodes to provide fast data access. Use this document to design an Oracle Database 12c solution that meets your organization requirements and budget.
This hyperconverged solution integrates servers, storage systems, network resources, and storage software to provide an enterprise-scale environment for Oracle Database deployment. This highly integrated environment provides reliability, high availability, scalability, and performance for Oracle Virtual Machine (VM) to handle large-sale transactional workloads. This solution uses two Oracle VM configuration profiles to validate performance, scalability, and reliability. Oracle VM uses the Oracle Enterprise Linux 7 operating system for the best interoperability with Oracle databases.
Cisco HyperFlex systems also support other enterprise Linux platforms such as SUSE and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). For a complete list of virtual machine guest operating systems supported for VMware virtualized environments, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.
This reference architecture document is written for the following audience:
● Database administrators
● Storage administrators
● IT professionals responsible for planning and deploying an Oracle Database solution
To benefit from this reference architecture guide, familiarity with the following is required:
● Hyperconvergence technology
● Virtualized environments
● Solid-state disk (SSD) and flash storage
● Oracle Database 12c
● Oracle Automatic Storage Management
● Oracle Enterprise Linux
● Oracle Database Scalable Architecture
This reference architecture uses two different Oracle virtual server configuration profiles to validate the scale-up and scale-out architecture of this environment. Table 1 summarizes the two configuration profiles. By using two different configuration profiles, additional results and performance characteristics can be observed. The Oracle Medium (MD) and Large (LG) profiles are based configurations commonly used in many production environments. However, this architecture can support different database configurations and sizes to fit your deployment requirements.
Table 1. Oracle server configuration profiles
Oracle Medium (MD)
Oracle Large (LG)
Virtual CPU (vCPU)
Virtual RAM (vRAM)
Database size
Customers have two options for scaling their Oracle databases: scale up and scale out. Either of these is well suited for deployment on Cisco HyperFlex systems.
Oracle scale-up architecture
The scale-up architecture shows the elasticity of the environment, increasing virtual resources to virtual machines on demand as the application workload increases. This model enables the Oracle Database to scale up or down for better resource management. In this model, customers can grow the Oracle MD virtual machine into the Oracle LG configuration with no negative impact on Oracle Database data and performance. The scale-up architecture is shown in Figure 2.
The distributed architecture of the Cisco HyperFlex system allows a single Oracle database running on a single virtual machine to consume and properly use resources across all cluster nodes, thus allowing a single database to achieve the highest cluster performance at peak operation. The Cisco HyperFlex shared infrastructure enables the scale-up Oracle architecture to evenly distribute the workload among all Oracle Database instances running concurrently. These characteristics are critical for any multitenant database environment in which resource allocation may fluctuate.
A Cisco HyperFlex all-flash cluster supports up to 16 nodes, with the capability to extend to 32 nodes by adding 16 external computing-only nodes. This approach allows any deployment to start with a smaller environment and grow as needed, for a "pay as you grow" model.
Oracle scale-out architecture
The scale-out architecture validates the capability to add Oracle Database instances within the same cluster to support scale-out needs such as database consolidation to increase the ROI for infrastructure investment. This model also enables rapid deployment of Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) nodes for a clustered Oracle Database environment. Figure 3 show the scale-out architecture.
Oracle RAC is beyond the scope for this reference architecture. This document focuses on single-instance Oracle Database deployments and validates different sizes of Oracle VM and the use of several virtual machines running simultaneously.
Solution overview
This section describes how to implement Oracle Database 12c on a Cisco HyperFlex system using a 4-node cluster to provide 1-node failure redundancy. This reference configuration helps ensure proper sizing and configuration when you deploy Oracle Database 12c on a Cisco HyperFlex system. This solution enables customers to rapidly deploy Oracle databases by eliminating engineering and validation processes that are usually associated with deployment of enterprise solutions. Figure 4 presents a high-level of the environment. During the validation and testing phases, only virtual machines that are under test are powered on.
Solution components
This section describes the components of this solution. Table 2 summarizes the hardware components of the solution. Table 3 summarizes the HX220c M4 Node configuration for the cluster. The software components used for this solution are described in Table 4.
Table 2. Hardware components
2 × Intel Xeon processor E5-2690 v4 CPUs at 2.60 GHz
24 × 16-GB DIMMs
Cisco FlexFlash SD card
2 x 64-GB SD cards
Boot drives
Configured for housekeeping tasks
Configured as cache
6 x 3.8-TB SSD
(960-GB SSD option also available)
Capacity disks for each node
VMware vSphere 6.0 U1B
Virtual platform for HX Data Platform software
Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform software
Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform Release 2.1(1b)
Table 3. Reference architecture components
Cisco HyperFlex HX220c M4 and M4 All Flash Node servers
Cisco 1RU hyperconverged nodes that allow cluster scaling in a small footprint
Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects
Fabric interconnects
Table 4. Software components
Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform
Data platform
Oracle Enterprise Linux
OS for Oracle RAC
Oracle Grid and Automatic Storage Management (ASM)
12c Release 2
Automatic storage management
Oracle Database
12c Release 2
Oracle Database system
Oracle Orion
Benchmark suite
Oracle Silly Little Oracle Benchmark (SLOB)
Workload suite
Hardware components
This section describes the hardware components used for this solution.
Cisco HyperFlex system
The Cisco HyperFlex system provides next-generation hyperconvergence with intelligent end-to-end automation and network integration by unifying computing, storage, and networking resources. The Cisco HyperFlex HX Data Platform is a high-performance, flash-optimized distributed file system that delivers a wide range of enterprise-class data management and optimization services. HX Data Platform is optimized for flash memory, reducing SSD wear while delivering high performance and low latency without compromising data management or storage efficiency. The main features of the Cisco HyperFlex system include:
● Simplified data management
● Continuous data optimization
● Optimization for flash memory
● Independent scaling
● Dynamic data distribution
Visit Cisco's website for more details about the Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series.
Cisco HyperFlex HX220c M4 and M4 All Flash Nodes
Nodes with flash storage are integrated into a single system by a pair of Cisco UCS® 6200 or 6300 Series Fabric Interconnects. Each node includes two Cisco® Flexible Flash (FlexFlash) Secure Digital (SD) cards, a single 120-GB SSD data-logging drive, a single SSD write-log drive, and up to six 1.2-TB SAS hard-disk drives (HDDs) or up to six 3.8-terabyte (TB) or six 960-GB SATA SSD drives, for a contribution of up to 22.8 TB of raw storage capacity to the cluster. The nodes use Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v4 family CPUs and next-generation DDR4 memory and offer 12-Gbps SAS throughput. They deliver significant performance and efficiency gains and outstanding levels of adaptability in a 1-rack-unit (1RU) form factor.
This solution uses four Cisco HyperFlex 220c M4 and M4 All Flash Nodes for a 4-node server cluster to provide 1-node failure reliability.
See the Cisco HX220c M4 All Flash Nodes data sheet for more information.
Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects
The Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects are a core part of the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS), providing both network connectivity and management capabilities for the system. The 6200 Series offers line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and Fibre Channel functions.
The 6200 Series provides the management and communication backbone for the Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers and 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis. All chassis, and therefore all blades, attached to the 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects become part of a single, highly available management domain. In addition, by supporting unified fabric, the 6200 Series provides both LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within the domain.
The 6200 Series uses a cut-through networking architecture, supporting deterministic, low-latency, line rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports, switching capacity of 2 terabits (Tb), and bandwidth of 320 Gbps per chassis, independent of packet size and enabled services. The product family supports Cisco low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric capabilities, which increase the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. The fabric interconnect supports multiple traffic classes over a lossless Ethernet fabric from the blade through the interconnect. Significant savings in total cost of ownership come from an FCoE optimized server design in which network interface cards (NICs), host bus adapters (HBAs), cables, and switches can be consolidated.
Software components
This section describes the software components used for this solution.
VMware vSphere
VMware vSphere helps you get the best performance, availability, and efficiency from your infrastructure while dramatically reducing the hardware footprint and your capital expenses through server consolidation. Using VMware products and features such as VMware ESX, vCenter Server, High Availability (HA), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and Fault Tolerance (FT), vSphere provides a robust environment with centralized management and gives administrators control over critical capabilities.
VMware provides product features that can help manage the entire infrastructure:
● vMotion: vMotion allows nondisruptive migration of both virtual machines and storage. Its performance graphs allow you to monitor resources, virtual machines, resource pools, and server utilization.
● Distributed Resource Scheduler: DRS monitors resource utilization and intelligently allocates system resources as needed.
● High Availability: HA monitors hardware and OS failures and automatically restarts the virtual machine, providing cost-effective failover.
● Fault Tolerance: FT provides continuous availability for applications by creating a live shadow instance of the virtual machine that stays synchronized with the primary instance. If a hardware failure occurs, the shadow instance instantly takes over and eliminates even the smallest data loss.
For more information, visit the VMware website.
Oracle Database 12c
Oracle Database 12.2 provides massive cloud scalability and real-time analytics, offering you greater agility, faster time to business insights, and real cost advantages. Designed for the cloud, Oracle Database enables you to lower IT costs and become more agile in provisioning database services, and it gives you the flexibility to elastically scale up, scale out, and scale down IT resources as required. New innovations in Oracle Database 12.2 include:
● Massive savings for consolidated and software-as-a-service (SaaS) environments with up to 4096 pluggable databases
● Increased agility with online cloning and relocation of pluggable databases
● Greatly accelerated in-memory database performance
● Offloading of real-time in-memory analytics to active standby databases
● Native database sharding
● Massive scaling with Oracle RAC
● JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) document store enhancements
For more information, visit the Oracle website.
Note: The validated solution discussed here uses Oracle Database 12c Release 2. Limited testing shows no issues when Oracle Database 12c Release 1 and 11g Release 2 are used for this solution.
Solution design
This section describes the architecture for this reference environment. It describes how to implement scale-out and scale-up Oracle Database environments using Cisco HyperFlex HX220c nodes on all-flash SSDs for Oracle transactional workloads.
Storage architecture
This reference architecture uses an all-flash configuration. The HX220c M4 All Flash Nodes allow eight SDDs. However, two are reserved for cluster use. SDDs from all four nodes in the cluster are striped to form a single physical disk pool. (For an in-depth look at the Cisco HyperFlex architecture, see the Cisco white paper Deliver Hyperconvergence with a Next-Generation Platform.) A logical data store is then created for placement of Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) disks. The storage architecture for this environment is shown in Figure 5. This reference architecture uses 3.8-TB SSDs. However, a 960-GB SSD option is also available.
Storage configuration
This solution uses VMDK disks to create Linux disk devices. The disk devices are used for the ASM disks to create the ASM disk group. Table 5 describes the ASM disk groups for this solution.
Table 5. Oracle ASM disk groups
Oracle ASM disk group
Stripe size
Oracle database disk group
Oracle database redo group
Virtual machine configuration
This section describes the Oracle Medium and Oracle Large virtual machine profiles. These profiles are properly sized for a 300-GB Oracle Database instance. Table 6 describes the Oracle VM configurations.
Table 6. Oracle VM configuration
Details for Oracle MD
Details for Oracle LG
VM specifications
8 × vCPUs 64 GB of vRAM
16 × vCPUs
96 GB of vRAM
VM controllers
1 × LSI Logic Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) controller
3 × Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) controller
1 × LSI Logic SCSI controller
3 × PVSCSI controller
VM disks
1 × 200-GB VMDK for VM OS
4 × 100-GB VMDK for Oracle Data log
2 × 50-GB VMDK for Oracle Redo log
1 × 200-GB VMDK for VM OS
4 × 100-GB VMDK for Oracle Data log
2 × 50-GB VMDK for Oracle Redo log
Oracle Database configuration
This section describes the Oracle Database configuration for this solution. Table 7 summarizes the configuration details.
Table 7. Oracle Database configuration
Oracle MD
Oracle LG
Data files placement
ASM and DATA DG
Log files placement
ASM and REDO DG
Redo log size
Redo log block size
Database block
Network configuration
The Cisco HyperFlex network topology consists of redundant Ethernet links for all components to provide the highly available network infrastructure that is required for an Oracle Database environment. No single point of failure exists at the network layer. The converged network interfaces provide high data throughput while reducing the number of network switch ports. Figure 6 shows the network topology for this environment.
Storage configuration
For most deployments, a single data store for the cluster is sufficient, resulting in fewer objects that need to be managed. The HX Data Platform is a distributed file system that is not vulnerable to many of the problems that face traditional systems that require data locality. A VMDK disk does not have to fit within the available storage of the physical node that hosts it. If the cluster has enough space to hold the configured number of copies of the data, the VMDK disk will fit because the HX Data Platform presents a single pool of capacity that spans all the hyperconverged nodes in the cluster. Similarly, moving a virtual machine to a different node in the cluster is a host migration; the data itself is not moved.
In some cases, however, additional data stores may be beneficial. For example, an administrator may want to create an additional HX Data Platform data store for logical separation. Because performance metrics can be filtered to the data-store level, isolation of workloads or virtual machines may be desired. The data store is thinly provisioned on the cluster. However, the maximum data store size is set during data-store creation and can be used to keep a workload, a set of virtual machines, or end users from running out of disk space on the entire cluster and thus affecting other virtual machines. In such scenarios, the recommended approach is to provision the entire virtual machine, including all its virtual disks, in the same data store and to use multiple data stores to separate virtual machines instead of provisioning virtual machines with virtual disks spanning multiple data stores.
Another good use for additional data stores is to assist in throughput and latency in high-performance Oracle deployments. If the cumulative IOPS of all the virtual machines on an ESX host surpasses 10,000 IOPS, the system may begin to reach that queue depth. In ESXTOP, you should monitor the Active Commands and Commands counters, under Physical Disk NFS Volume. Dividing the virtual machines into multiple data stores, or increasing the ESX queue limit (the default value is 256) to up to 1024 can relieve the bottleneck.
Another place at which insufficient queue depth may result in higher latency is the SCSI controller. Often the queue depth settings of virtual disks are overlooked, resulting in performance degradation, particularly in high-I/O workloads. Applications such as Oracle Database tend to perform a lot of simultaneous I/O operations, resulting in virtual machine driver queue depth settings insufficient to sustain the heavy I/O processing (the default setting is 64 for PVSCSI). Hence, the recommended approach is to change the default queue depth setting to a higher value (up to 254) as suggested in this VMware knowledgebase article.
For large-scale and high-I/O databases, you always should use multiple virtual disks and distribute those virtual disks across multiple SCSI controller adapters rather than assigning all of them to a single SCSI controller. This approach helps ensure that the guest virtual machine accesses multiple virtual SCSI controllers (four SCSI controllers maximum per guest virtual machine), thus enabling greater concurrency using the multiple queues available for the SCSI controllers.
Another operation that helps reduce application-level latency is to change the amount of time that the virtual machine NIC (vmnic) spends trying to coalesce interrupts. (More details about the parameter can be found here.)
esxcli network nic coalesce set -n vmnic3 -r 15 -t 15
esxcli network nic coalesce set -n vmnic2 -r 15 -t 15
Engineering validation
This section describes the methodology used to test and validate this solution. The performance, functions, and reliability of this solution was validated while running Oracle Database in a Cisco HyperFlex environment. The SLOB test kit was used to create and test an OLTP equivalent database workload.
The test includes:
● SLOB profile of 70 percent read and 30 percent write operations
● Testing of scale-up options using different virtual machine sizes and multiple virtual machines running simultaneously
Test methodology
The test methodology validates the computing, storage, and database performance advantages of Cisco HyperFlex systems for Oracle Database. These scenarios also provide data to help you understand the overall capabilities when scaling Oracle databases.
This test methodology uses the SLOB test suite to simulate an OLTP-like workload. It consists of 75 percent read and 25 percent write I/O distribution to mimic an online transactional application
Test results
This section describes the results that were observed during the testing of this solution. To better understand the performance of each area and component of this architecture, each component was evaluated separately to help ensure that optimal performance was achieved when the solution was under stress.
Single Large virtual machine test
This test uses a single Oracle Large virtual machine configuration. Disk-level performance was captured at both at the virtual machine and Cisco HyperFlex levels. The test duration is 60 minutes with 128 users. Figure 7 show the application-level performance for this test.
Table 8 shows a summary of the performance.
Table 8. Application-level performance
Average IOPS
Average Latency (ms)
Scale testing using Medium virtual machines
This test uses four Medium Oracle virtual machines to show the capability of the environment to scale as additional virtual machines were used to run the SLOB workload. Scaling is very close to linear. Figure 8 shows the scale testing results.
The aggregate performance for all the virtual machines matches the performance of the single Large virtual machine in the first test. This feature gives you the flexibility to partition the workload according to the needs of the environment.
Concurrent workloads test
The concurrent workloads test uses three Medium Oracle VM instances to test the solution's capability to run many Oracle instances concurrently. The test ran for one hour and revealed that this solution stack has no bottleneck and that the underlying storage system can sustain high performance throughout the test. Figure 7 shows the performance results for this test. Cisco HyperFlex maximum IOPS performance for this specific all-flash configuration was achieved while maintaining the low latency. Note that the additional IOPS come at the cost of a moderate increase in latency.
Additional workloads can be added to this test, but at the cost of slightly higher latency. Figure 9 and Table 9 show the results of the concurrent workload test.
Table 9 Concurrent workload test summary
Average IOPS
Average latency (ms)
This test demonstrates the unique capability of the Cisco HyperFlex system to provide a single pool of storage capacity and storage performance resources across the entire cluster. You can scale your Oracle databases using the following models:
● Scale the computing resources dedicated to the virtual machine running Oracle Database, thus removing a computing bottleneck that may be limiting the total overall performance
● Scale by adding virtual machines running Oracle Database or use the additional performance headroom for other applications
Cisco is a leader in the industry. Our extensive experience with enterprise solutions and data center technologies enables us to design and build an Oracle Database reference architecture on hyperconverged solutions that is fully tested, protecting our customer's investment and offering a high-level ROI. Cisco HyperFlex architecture helps enable databases to achieve optimal performance with very low latency, features that are critical for enterprise-scale applications.
Cisco HyperFlex systems give us the design flexibility to engineer a highly integrated Oracle Database system to run enterprise applications that use industry best practices for a virtualized database environment. The balanced, distributed data-access architecture of Cisco HyperFlex systems supports Oracle scale-out and scale-up models that reduce the hardware footprint and increase data center efficiency.
This solution delivers many business benefits, including the following:
● Increased scalability
● High availability
● Reduced deployment time with a validated reference configuration
Cisco HyperFlex systems provide the following benefits for this reference architecture:
● Optimized performance for transactional applications with little latency
● Balanced and distributed architecture that increases performance and IT efficiency with automated resource management
● Capability to start with a smaller investment and grow as business demand increases
For more information
For additional information, consult the following resources:
● HyperFlex white paper: Deliver Hyperconvergence with a Next-Generation Data Platform: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-series/white-paper-c11-736814.pdf
● Cisco HyperFlex systems solution overview: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-series/solution-overview-c22-736815.pdf
● Oracle Databases on VMware Best Practices Guide, Version 1.0, May 2016: http://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/solutions/vmware-oracle-databases-on-vmware-best-practices-guide.pdf


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This letter is written in response to Kari Barrows' "Stress Test" piece ["Stress Test: Local Colleges Adopt More Holistic Admissions Policies," Feb. 24, Xpress] about local colleges and universities that are reducing the amount of emphasis placed upon standardized admissions tests. Kudos to these institutions for taking this bold stance — it symbolizes the educational world's realization that these assessments are not necessarily indicative of a well-rounded student's chance for academic success.
At Lenoir-Rhyne University's Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville, we're finding that the same is true for professionals who have completed their bachelor's degrees. Recently, Lenoir-Rhyne opted to waive admissions testing in most of its 10 local graduate programs. However, applicants must document work or other experience that predicts the level of dedication and skill necessary for master's degree studies. This has eased the admissions process for our applicants and, better yet, the quality of our student body has not been reduced by one iota.
Here's to boosting the importance of life experience and community involvement in gauging a student's potential. The sooner that we, as educators, buy into the fact that people cannot necessarily be categorized by standardized testing, the more nimble we will be in helping to develop whole persons.
— Michael M. Dempsey
Dean and Director
Lenoir-Rhyne University's Center for Graduate Studies of Asheville


text:
BSE Sensex index chart
FII buying, particularly during the early part of the week, pushed Sensex above all its three EMAs and into bull territory. DII selling ensured that the rally didn't progress too far. Slim hopes of an interest rate cut by the RBI were belied. The market seemed to have discounted the possibility in advance.
The index is consolidating within a large 'symmetrical triangle' pattern. Since the triangle has been tested twice on the upper side and twice on the lower side, a break out may happen soon. Triangles are unreliable about the direction of the eventual break out. An upward break out should be supported by a significant increase in volumes. A downward break out does not require volume support.
All three EMAs are beginning to converge together. A sharp move could follow. Will the index move upwards and break out above the triangle, or will it move downwards? Since Sensex is in a bear market, the move is expected to be downwards. But it is better to wait for the actual move instead of trying to outguess it.
The one year daily closing chart of the Sensex shows that the 200 day EMA is almost flat and moving sideways – indicating that bulls and bears are almost equally matched. Remember that it isn't necessary for an index or a stock to break out above or below a triangle – though a break out is a logical outcome. Some times, an index (or stock) may move sideways right through the apex of a symmetrical triangle – thereby negating the pattern.
Technical indictors are mildly bullish. MACD is touching its signal line, and both are just inside positive territory. ROC is barely positive, but above its 10 day MA. RSI is slightly above its 50% level. Slow stochastic has entered its overbought zone, but showing signs of turning down. The brief rally may be petering out.
NSE Nifty 50 index chart
A weak monsoon is threatening drought-like conditions in many parts of the country. In anticipation, some states have already started clamouring for central assistance. A drought will further dent the prospects of economic growth and lead to a spike in food inflation.
As if that isn't bad enough, oil prices have started rising again – putting further stress on India's balance of payments problems. With exports slowing down perceptibly, don't expect depreciation of the Rupee to reverse direction any time soon. It will take a long while before India can dig itself out of the current economic morass.
The weekly closing chart of the Nifty 50 index has been consolidating within a symmetrical triangle pattern since touching its Dec '11 low. Last week, the index closed above its 20 week and 50 week EMAs after three straight weeks of lower closes. But have a look at the volume bars. This week's volumes were less than the previous down week's volumes. A rally needs volume support, without which it may not sustain very long.
Weekly technical indicators are looking bullish. MACD is above its signal line and just about positive. ROC is rising above its 10 week MA in positive territory. RSI is trying to move above its 50% level once again. Slow stochastic has moved down from its overbought zone.
Bottomline? Chart patterns of BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indices are consolidating within large symmetrical triangle patterns. Break outs may happen in either direction from such patterns. It may be better to wait for the break out before plunging in feet first. India's economy is in a period of declining growth and rising inflation – a double whammy that may lead to stagflation. Stock markets don't thrive in such a situation. It is advisable to concentrate on less risky investment avenues.


text:
Yanny? Laurel? A Linguist Explains Why Half the Internet Is Hearing It All Wrong
It's that stupid black and blue dress all over again. I mean, white and gold? If you've been on social media at all this week, you've seen and probably participated in the debate over whether a digital voice is saying the word "yanny" or the word "laurel."
Believe it or not, the world is not gaslighting you—people are actually hearing the opposite of what you are hearing, and there is actually a scientific explanation for it.
Linguist Rachel Gutman offers up the most valid explanation we've heard yet.
"When you speak, you're producing sound waves that are shaped by the length and shape of your vocal tract, which includes your vocal folds, throat, mouth, and nose," Gutman said.
Presenting a spectrograph of the sound clip, she says resonant frequencies of human vocal tracts (formants) and can differ between males and females. But, wait—that still doesn't explain why people are hearing different things. Allow Brown University phonetician Chelsea Sanker to get us even closer to the truth.
According to Sanker, the voice in the clip is "not prototypical" of either word.
"The speaker's tongue isn't touching the back of their soft palate (the velum), as many American English speakers do when they say an l," Gutman explained. "The middle consonant is definitely not an n, Sanker said, but you might hear one because the vowel in front of it sounds particularly nasal. People who hear laurel are hearing a syllabic l in the second syllable, which has some similarities to the vowel sound at the end of yanny."
"Plenty of things could be influencing your interpretation of yanny/laurel," Gutman added, "including your dialect and whether you listened to the recording over a speaker or headphones. People have a tendency to try to match the sounds they hear onto real words that they've heard before, like laurel. But reading yanny first, since it appears on the left side of the poll, could have primed listeners to hear it over laurel."
Now that you kind of understand (it's still laurel), maybe you can explain this total curveball that surfaced because of the yanny vs. laurel debate: Is this toy saying "green needle" or "brainstorm"?
Now think of the opposite word and listen to it again to have what's left of your mind completely blown.


text:
Not all of the porn deals you find online are the best porn deals online. Sure, sites try and pass that stuff off as it is, but who wants a deal when it comes with site restrictions. Screw that! When this Gina Valentina scene came out at Cherry Pimps, I had to check it out. Fuck this 'free porn' shit. I wanted to see this minx with a smile on her face (covered in cum of course). But I mean, I wanted to save some cash too. Shit doesn't grow on trees.
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1 Session Workshop | Total of 3 hours [Exclusive one-time only event]
Love Scented Bag Charm but do not know how to go about doing it ? This class is perfect for you. Besides learning to make a Scented Bag Charm, you will also pick up the skills of basic embroidery when you sign up for this limited space course.
This is an introduction to basic bag charm making and embroidery.
No Prior Sewing or Embroidery experience is required. For ages 15 and above.
All Sewing Tools and Materials will be provided for the Workshop.
What You'll Learn:
- Basic hand-sewing techniques to join 2 pieces of mohair fabrics together
- The techniques of hand-embroidery of nose and eyes
- Attachment of the keys-ring to the bag charm
- Stuffing the cat-head
- Learn how to close the openings of the cat-head after stuffing
- Learn how to add fragrance to your bag charm with essential oils
What You'll Bring Back Home:
- Finished Lavender-scented Cat Bag Charm (approx: 9cm in width)
- Notes with templates will be provided after the workshop
Classes start on time, please arrive 5 minutes earlier if possible.
- Minimum 2 student signups.
- This course is not SkillsFuture claimable
Individual & group workshops are available to book on request, please enquire. We also offer workshops not listed & can tailor them to suit your needs.
Kindly refer to our class policies before signing up.
Lily is a graduate from RMIT, formally trained in graphic designs. She has been in handmade industry for almost 10 years and actively coaching trainees in sewing, calligraphy, wool felting, crochet and other handmade products.
Check her out at:
Website: www.lilyhandmade.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lilywithlove/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyhandmadesingapore/


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National school walkout: Dozens of local schools participate
Most walkouts are scheduled to happen at 10 a.m.
Most walkouts are scheduled to happen at 10 a.m.
Most walkouts are scheduled to happen at 10 a.m.
Students at several Cincinnati area schools stood up with their classmates Wednesday and walked out of school as part of a nationwide demonstration.
Wednesday marks one month since a gunman killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school.
For some, the 17-minute protests Wednesday were intended to put added pressure on Congress to approve gun control legislation.
Students from elementary- to college-level participated, and each had their own way of demonstrating.
Some held roadside rallies to honor the school shooting victims, while others are held demonstrations on school football fields.
Several archdiocese schools planned prayer services in place of protests.
The protests have drawn mixed reactions from Cincinnati area school administrators. Some applaud the students for taking a stand while others have threatened discipline.
So which schools are participating? Dozens of schools have notified WLWT of their walkout plans, including Forest Hills, Fort Thomas, Mason, New Richmond, Northwest, Oak Hills, Reading, Shroder, Sycamore, Wyoming and five schools within the Cincinnati Public Schools District.
"Our principals and school leaders will be working collaboratively with students to find ways that allow them to exercise their rights safely and with minimal classroom disruption," CPS Superintendent Laura Mitchell wrote in a letter to parents.
Several school administrators encouraged parents to talk with their children before school Wednesday to learn where they stand.
"Please talk with your child. See where they stand, hear their opinion. Honor their choice," said Jack Jose, principal at Gamble Montessori High School.
Several local universities has issued statements saying applicants will not be penalized for participating in the walkout, even if their high school issues a punishment.


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Full marks to St Joseph's Catholic Primary School for getting pupils to walk, cycle and scoot to school
Posted on: 16 July 2018
Pupils, staff and teachers at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Newton Abbot received the Sustrans Bronze School Mark award at a special celebration event.
The prestigious award is given to schools that have worked hard to bring about organisational, cultural and behavioural changes which help the school community choose to travel in more active and sustainable ways.
As part of the Devon Active Travel to Schools project which is delivered by Sustrans and funded by Devon County Council through the Access Fund, Sustrans has been working with staff, pupils, teachers and parents at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School for the past year to meet the criteria needed to achieve the award and to build on their successes in the future.
This included themed assemblies, Dr Bike days, playground bike and scooter skills sessions, active travel to school days, after school bike club and taking part in National events such as the Sustrans Big Pedal and inter-school challenges such as Leg it to Lapland. They were also part of a very successful street design road closure event held in March.
Helen Morse, the Sustrans Active Travel Officer for the school, said: "Both the staff and children at St Joseph's have worked incredibly hard to achieve this award and they've also had a lot of fun along the way. They have been really committed to new and more active ways of travelling to and from school and recognising the positive benefits that walking, scooting and cycling brings to their school community.
Headteacher Kelly Dunne said: "It is wonderful to celebrate the success of St Joseph's commitment to active travel. We have learnt so much through our work with Sustrans and have created a more sustainable model. We were delighted to welcome Andrei Burton to our school assembly, where we were presented with our Bronze Sustrans School Mark Award. We are very proud of the whole community but particularly our pupils who have worked hard to achieve this award. Our thanks go to Miss Hannaford, for leading this scheme in school. We are now closely looking at our next steps to silver!"
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for cycling, said: "Congratulations to everyone at St Joseph's in achieving this award. It's great to see pupils getting active to help improve their local environment and to stay healthy. The school has been really proactive in encouraging children and their parents to walk, cycle or scoot to school, so this recognition is very well deserved."
To celebrate all the hard work, Andrei Burton, one of the UK's most successful mountain bike trials riders, wowed the children with his incredible display of mountain bike skills.


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Dracula (1958 Hammer Film Productions Dir. Terence Fisher)
Castle of Death and Blood. Is there a story to that name?
After Universal got done running the bloodless vampires into the ground with 1945's House of Dracula, the last "serious" Dracula film from Universal, the character went into decline for a while. In fact, if you watch carefully you'll note that House of is an all in one affair and not really a Dracula movie at all. I probably wrote about this in my last review… which I haven't actually written yet, but I have a plan for when these are going to be posted see and I think I'll probably bring all this up then. Am I pulling back the veil too much? Can you see the man behind the curtain? Where was I? Oh yeah! After a while, the Brits noticed that no one was using this character and decided to give it a whirl over at Hammer, which was riding high after their Frankenstein movie had done so well. So they made their own Dracula movie, which was called Horror of Dracula when it was imported over here to avoid confusion.
Um… um… PASS!
This movie is the first time I remember seeing Dracula in color and they let you know it's in color right away by showing red blood (paint, it's clearly paint) splattering on a tomb marked "Dracula" in the opening title sequence. We don't keep up that level of gore though. This isn't a gory movie because it's still 1958. Before we get going, this also only has passing resemblance to the book or previous movie. If anything, this strays further than any other version we'll be talking about. It retains the Victorian setting though. We start the movie proper with John Harker showing up at Castle Dracula, reading aloud from his journal and looking for all the world like he's about to ask Jeeves to get him a nice gin and tonic before dinner. While he eats dinner, a young hottie in a dress that really displays the fact that they had different rules about cleavage in England shows up and asks Harker to help her because Drac is keeping her a prisoner. We also learn one of the first differences between the original book and this version is that Harker is here to work as a librarian. The castle also seems to be in Scotland instead of Transylvania. It just doesn't look Slavic to me. If anything, it looks like it's eagerly awaiting the sixties so that The Avengers can come and film an episode or two in it.
It's from the episode where Mrs. Peel wore a catsuit.
Harker isn't engaged to Mina, but to Lucy and he's not here to sell real estate but to whack Dracula. As Harker wanders around the castle, the girl in the low cut top comes and begs him for help again, using her nearly exposed breasts and her sultry eyes to lull him into coming close enough for her to bite. Yup! She's a bride and fellow traveler as they used to say. You'd think that anyone named Harker would learn about this whole thing at some point, but they never do. She and Drac get into what is commonly called a domestic disturbance while Harker looks on in typical dumb incomprehension. The natural courses of evolution should have wiped out the Harkers ages ago if you ask me. As proof to this, Harker passes out, gets up and goes right back to writing incriminating evidence in his diary.
Very different ideas about cleavage.
Harker then wanders off and looks for Drac's tomb, with spikes and hammer in hand, but as it's only 20 minutes into the movie he fails to kill Drac by focusing on the woman first. I restate my earlier comment about Harker intelligence. In a neat effect, after he's staked her, the woman turns into a withered old hag instead of the sexy young thing he started with. When Johnny boy runs to Drac's coffin he finds it empty and Drac at the top of the stairs. I choose this time to remind you about my thoughts on Harker evolution. I'll be reminding you about it some more in the next Dracula review. Seriously, boxes of rocks aren't so dumb as anyone named Harker.
I think you'll find my wallet is the one that says Bad Mother F***er on it.
But it's all okay because Peter Cushing then shows up Doctor Van Helsing, the greatest hero since Yukon Cornelius! And he's played by Peter Cushing, the only mofo that comes close to being as bad as Chris Lee. Dr VH searches the house of Drac and finds that all my thoughts about Harker are true. He was in a coffin, with teeth and all. Now we're not shown, but it's pretty well implied that Dr VH manned up and killed Johnny boy in a fit of anger at Harker's legendary stupidity. Side note: This is as good a place as any to mention that I really like the way early English color movies and TV used color in their productions. They were so excited to have color that they really exploited it. In America there was a split between naturalistic color and heightened reality color with only fantasy style stuff getting the heightened reality treatment. In England it was all heightened color those first few years, as far as I've seen. They calmed down later, but the first few years were great.
Dude makes a wine colored velvet sports coat look manly.
Anyway, it turns out that Drac followed Dr VH home and is macking on Harker's babe, which is Lucy Holmwood in this movie and she's the sister of Arthur Holmwood who is married to Mina Holmwood. Now Lucy is sick, because she keeps opening the window for vampires to get in and you know what sort of sicknesses they bring. Dr VH takes one look at her and gives the basic "Close the windows and stuff the room with garlic" advice he always gives and which is always promptly ignored by the first maid that comes along. You ever notice that? Dr VH comes in, demands garlic and closed windows and someone always comes in and explains that they opened the windows, took away the garlic, cut open the girl's veins, tore her shirt off, and wrote "fresh virgin blood here" on her chest, then wonders if that might have caused some of the later troubles. So… yeah, Lucy dies AGAIN! And then she starts biting children AGAIN! And they have to kill Lucy… AGAIN! Why? Because some damn maid can never EVER follow instructions. It's not like this is the first time this story is being filmed. Someone must have pattern recognition. I must say though, Peter Cushing's Van Helsing wins big points for complete and total badassery. He doesn't freak out when Lucy comes back from the grave and starts biting people. He just walks up, puts the cross on Lucy's forehead and never looses his cool or raises his voice. This is a Dr VH that never once flinches, not even when Vader decides to choke a bitch*. My man could out cool the Fonze.
Step off punk.
Holmwood and Dr VH go to look for Drac's trail while Mina is called away to the place where Drac actually is. How Mina is dragged away is also brilliant, as Drac sends a boy to tell her that her husband has a message. When they find her, she's covering up her neck and it's commented on that she looks pale. I shall now once again make my statement about the lack of pattern recognition in the people of Victorian Britain. I mean… damn! They do eventually figure it out and lay a trap for our vamp Drac, which he evades and almost kills Mina. These guys are seriously useless.
Yeah, the movie is only named after me, could I have one still?
Then the big climax comes. One of the maids explains she was told not to go to the cellar and Dr VH books it to the basement where he finds Drac's coffin. He leaves a silver crucifix, Drac walks in and runs out, and the chase is on! Good thing too, we've only got 5 minutes left. Dr VH and Holmwood chase Drac home, Drac tries to bury Mina sans coffin and then runs to his crypt. Clearly, Drac panicked at the end. He's not thinking about his next move, he's just reacting. A fistfight between DR VH and Drac ensues, then they break out the capoeira and then getting into wire-fu. The fight ends when Dr VH pulls the drapes down and lets the sun shine just as… what band sang that song? Anyway, the sun turns Drac into a big pile of ash, which blows away in the wind.
Dude even makes a fur lined over coat look masculine. Why are we not worshiping this man?
This movie isn't as great as some later vampire movies would be, but it sure set the stage for later movies. As much as I tease, this is really great for what it is and the time in which it was made. There are a lot of innovations in this movie that would follow in later movies, not least of which is the graphic onscreen death. I really like this one, I approve, even if it is a little silly by today's standards you can't ignore Lee's and Cushing's great performances.
And all that's left is a ring and some ash.
Next week, we'll leave the vampires behind for a bit and go for another classic.
*I have been subsequently informed that this happened in a different movie.
50 Degrees on the Graffiti Bridge Scale.


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Victor studied chemical engineering in Brazil and started to work for DNV GL as Technical Consultant, delivering risk-based methodologies (RAM, RCM, SIL and RBI). Passionate about technology, he moved to the software industry where, over the past 7 years, he has visited around 30 countries, met people from all different cultures and learned from their experiences. Victor has published 20 papers, 15 whitepapers, contributed with webinars and 110 blog posts with an average of 5,000 views per post. More recently, Victor is responsible for a growing number of digital products in Thales which are support by many service offerings. These new products are based on the latest technologies such as cloud computing and storage, IoT and Big Data Analytics.
- June 11: Delivering innovative solutions for rail services and operations
Digital Transformation for the Rail IndustryNo industry will benefit more from recent technologies than the rail industry. The rail industry must manage large amounts of assets, separated kilometres away from each other, typically under specific boundaries (i.e. country borders, areas of operation etc.) – this is the perfect storm for digital transformation in the rail industry. Digital Rail is happening today. This paper details how the railway industry will benefit from emerging and established technologies available in the market. The content will connect all the technologies described in the introduction and offer insights around how these technologies can be used to improve the decision-making in all sections within the rail industry.


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Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy has finally revealed that he has only two months left on his Zylofon Media contract.
In an interview with ZionFelix, the 'Top Skanka' hitmaker admitted he has a very short time to leave the 360 media outfit but was quick to add that Nana Appiah Mensah will always remain very close to his heart.
Stonebwoy joined Zylofon Music in 2017. Details of the contract were never made public but Ghpage.com discovered Stonebwoy signed a 4 years contract with the prestigious record label in Ghana owned by Nana Appiah Mensah aka NAM1.
Read also: Chioma is being "chopped" in London – Davido hypeman alleges
Watch the video below…
All was well with Stonebwoy at Zylofon Music until, his rival in the music industry, Shatta Wale was also signed unto the record label.
Read also: Shatta's godfather allegedly paid 4,000 cedis to Tema-based girl
Stonebwoy since then has never enjoyed comfort at Zylofon music since Shatta Wale joined because the artist managers at label such as Willi Roi and Bulldog who are very close friends of Shatta Wale made things extremely difficult for the Bhim Nation CEO.


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Here's a look at five incredible chefs in San Sebastián, who are mastering #TheArtOfPlating.
Serving a fixed menu of over 20 dishes, many consider Mugaritz to be much more than a restaurant. Perched up in the mountains of Errentería, close to San Sebastián, Mugaritz offers an immersive gastronomic experience where creativity, emotion and respect for the Basque tradition superbly intertwine.
One of the chefs who led the revolution of the New Basque cuisine in the late 1970s, Pedro Subijana has been a pioneer in creating imaginative dishes using local seasonal produce at his restaurant Akelarre.
One of the most highly regarded Basque young chefs, Daniel López offers Basque-rooted cuisine with international influences at his restaurant Kokotxa .
Innovation and technique are two adjectives commonly used to describe Trincado's cuisine. At his family restaurant –he is a third-generation chef – El Mirador de Ulía, he works to surprise diners with flavour and composition.
With eight Michelin stars under his belt, Martín Berasategui - firm believer that the road to success is hard work – is one of the most respected chefs in Spain. At his eponymous restaurant in Lasarte, just outside San Sebastián, he creates innovative dishes that have immensely contributed to elevate the Basque cuisine.


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SketchUp is a program that has revolutionized 3D modeling with its easy-to-use interface. In this workshop you'll learn how to create a 3D model of a conceptual subdivision from client sketches. The workshop will cover basic model creation and painting tools in SketchUp, and will also demonstrate how to work with SketchUp Components. At the end of the seminar, you'll see how the conceptual model can be styled with SketchUp's built in styles, rendered using the LuxRender Plug-In for SketchUp, and presented using SketchUp Layout.
Workshop Program
- What is SketchUp?
- Quick tour of the user interface.
- Model navigation tools.
- Basic geometry construction and painting tools.
- Using styles and scenes.
- Section views.
- Presentation with Layout.
- Rendering.
- My tools.
- Applications of 3D modeling for land surveyors.
Total workshop time is 4 hours.
Make sure you check out the videos on how architect Nick Sonder uses Sketchup.
- Sample SketchUp models for Little John's Creek North Development.
- Sample Layout files.
- LuxRender
- Make Faces Plug-In
- My Script Files
There is a post with links to videos, articles, and SketchUp extensions/plug-ins related to this workshop here.


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Squad news
03 Sep 2009
The case of Angel Lafita gave a new twist on Wednesday as the player traveled to Zaragoza although la liga hasnt gave a resolution about who owns his rights. Zaragoza hopes the player will be able to train with them in the coming days.
Angel Lafita is already in Zaragoza, the winger traveled by train to Aragon during the afternoon and it was expected to see him in the training camp of Zaragoza, but in the end he didnt show up. However, this new development is interpreted as Lafita is now accepting to be part of Marcelinos team no matter that la liga has not make any resolution about his case.
According to some information coming from Aragon, Lafita was upset with the way in which he was treated by Zaragoza, but as compensation, the authorities of the club decided to negotiate a new three-year contract with him, a deal that was including a raise in his salary (now 500,000 Euros), something that calmed the anger of the player.
For the moment Deportivo still arguing that Lafita belongs to the Galician club, la liga has communicated that both sides involved in the conflict have until next Tuesday to bring their allegations, and a resolution is not expected until the end of September, meaning that the player will surely miss the action on matchday 02 and even on matchday 03 of la liga.
Late on Wednesday, canaldeportivo.com published an article in which the Galician club was ordering Lafita to rejoin the training session within the next 24 hours. Depor was even menacing to take legal actions if the player doesnt return to La Coruña.


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Queen Grimhilde is the main antagonist of Disney's classic masterpiece Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). She is a cruel, wicked, vain, and evil queen, who wants nothing more than to see Snow White dead. Why? Because the Magic Mirror on the Wall told her that Snow White was the fairest in the land. The Queen sends her faithful huntsman to kill Snow White and place her heart in a box, but he couldn't bring himself to do the job and he told Snow White to run away. Because of the huntsman's failure, the Queen decides to take matters into her own hands, and she makes a potion to turn herself into an ugly old hag so she can give Snow White a poisoned "wishing" apple, resulting in one of the scariest transformation scenes in animation history. After giving Snow White the poisoned apple, the Queen is chased by the Seven Dwarfs, and falls to her death from a high cliff.
The Queen was voiced by Lucille LaVerne.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.


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Last week the boys and I put in yet more soaker hoses around the garden. It can get crispy dry around here! 50 feet each through the Fall Red and Fall Gold patches, and 25 feet through the black raspberries (note to self: check variety of black raspberries). I've been hooking up one hose set each night and leaving it on all night – it's that dry. The raspberries are loaded with fruit, but it won't be much of a harvest without water. The berries stay small and seedy or just drop off without ripening unless they have adequate moisture. All total we are up to 250 feet of soaker hose in the garden and raspberries and I have one more 50 footer to add. I'm also thinking about laying out a drip irrigation grid in the melon patch, as, as mentioned, it is crazy dry around here.
You'd think that living about 15 miles from one of the biggest freshwater lakes in the world that water wouldn't be a problem, but now we've had four years running with not enough rainfall through the summer months. When we bought this land back in 2004, I walked through prairie grasses that were as tall as I was. They haven't been that tall since. Plus, this year and last, it's been awfully cool in the summer months. It's generally more comfortable sleeping weather, sure, but the warm weather crops have really been suffering in the garden. Last year my harvest was way down – I didn't even have enough cukes to make pickles. This year, everything is just slow, and the germination rates on the cucumbers were very poor. I started tomatoes and the vine crops other than cucumbers inside, but the transplants are just creeping along. Hopefully – hopefully – we will get some rain soon, but in the meanwhile I'm doing what I can to keep everything going.
I have to admit, I don't like to put soaker hose through raspberries. My arms are scratched up well past the elbow (note to self: Put on long sleeve jacket and gloves before attempting to pull soaker hose through thorny canes – those openings in the patch are not as big as they look). (Additional note to self: working the soaker hose through the raspberry patch while it is tied to the end of a garden hoe does not work and does not keep arms out of the raspberries – see previous note.) I did put on a jacket and gloves for the second and third patches. I've been rotating through the hoses, watering one patch per night and letting it run all night. (Did I mention it is crunchy dry?) I water the garden during the day for an hour or two hours at a time because it's not quite as dry. It's not a good idea to make the hose runs longer than 100 feet or the pressure in the line can cause a blowout (been there, done that, with cheaper hose).
We start with a 50 foot coil of hose.
Pull it all the way through row one and stuff it into row two.
Repeat for row three and the last bit goes into row four.
Apply a double thickness of cardboard and more mulch between the rows (and more mulch in the rows) and hope all of the time spent leads to more of these.
Related Links:
Global Buckets – Two bucket do-it-yourself self-watering containers.
Soaker Hose How-To – From SavingWater.org, an illustrated guide to using soaker hoses.
Drip Irrigation How-To – From SavingWater.org, steps for planning a simple drip irrigation system.


text: I've made my burner out of 44 mm scaffold tube for the main diameter of the venturi , added three legs at one end 75 mm x 12 mm cut from same tube & welded back on to the major diameter . at the free ends I welded on a turned a 1/4 " thick walled ring x 1 inch long , big enough to easily allow a half inch galv steel pipe to slide though it for tuning the flame by 3/4 " long to slide over a halt inch galv steel water pipe & set a locking screw in a welded on nut into the side to hold the 1/2 tube in position The 1/2 " tube has had a steel plug with a 1.2 mm hole drilled in the end , TIG welded on at one end & a brass ribbed turned up hose connector brazed in the other end for the gas supply hose . The hose is gas tube crimped on at both the hose connection points . Assembled by sliding the !/2 " tube in the venturi assembly , putting the propane gas on via a variable pressure regulator & lighting it whilst the steel tube was held in the vice away from all flammable stuff inc the garage roller door . I slid the venturi assembly back & forth till I got a maximum tuned flame about 16 inches long by six inches wide , it roared like a Chieftain tank going full bore . That was all done a couple of months ago, the furnace was cast the same time & by now should have dried out considerable . I cast the refractory lining from refractory concretes around a galv 5 mm thick wire 40 x 40 mm square steel mesh former to help it stop splitting when heated & help it retain it's shape when hot .The furnace throat was made using some thick pliable plastic sheet rolled up round a Dulux 5 litre plastic paint can as it had no bottom rim to catch on when it was removed ......unlike a metal tin . Under the paint can I screwed a 1" nipple of polystyrene in tot he hole where the filler valve had been so as to allow exit of any metals should the crucible disintegrate Before doing the casting I found some tube that the 44 mm venturi would easily slip into so welded on an angled entry to the steel cylinder body so it touched through to the inner former plastic , again the steel tube has a simple welded on nut & bolt to lock the venturi into a set /known position . The former was removed a few weeks ago & I cleaned up any bits of crud with a bit of coarse glass paper Next step for me is to work out a way of placing the graphite crucible down in the furnace & still be able to lift it out when it's full of molten brass . I've also got to wait till I can afford another sack of furnace concrete to make the furnace lid as well as fabricate some form of rotating horizontally hinge mechanism as I don't fancy the idea of flipping back a red hot tank commanders hatch style lid .


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Beesybee makes it to Black Mountain Artisans
This weekend I took my roving over Black Mountain Artisans. If you are in the area of Point Reyes this place should be a must of your places to visit.Black Mountain Artisans carry a wonderful mixture of one of a kind handmade wearable art that goes from elegant, to funky "chic". They also cater wonderful fibers to knitters, spinners and felters and Marlie de Swart the owner (and a great fiber artist herself), has been focusing on getting a nice collection of artists mainly from the West Marin area. The quality of work is outstanding and Marlie will greet you always with a big smile. It is remarkable the wealth of artists that live in the area and Black Mountain Artisans offers a wonderful showcase for the local artisans.The store is located on the Main Street in Point Reyes Station and if you like one of a kind, wonderful textures, colors, in a friendly atmosphere, this is you place to stop.


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WWE has an opportunity at Crown Jewel with their wrestling booking PR and credibility to the Saudi Arabia shows. Plus, Wednesday night's makes a lot of sense for CM Punk in pro wrestling…but now it seems NXT could be the best fit for him.
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Episode 136 | October 26, 2019


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Honestly, how much can one person do in a day?
I guess we all know who lives here.
That is the cutest thing I've seen since the little one's top ponytail. Awww.
Teach him how to spell "Welcome Gran!"
I think it's code for "help me I've fallen down the steps and can't get up."
I love that he crossed the "M" in most of the ones I can see. I mean, it's just like a double A, right?
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Look I made a savory!! I'm a proud lil squid. Why a squid, I'm not sure, but I feel like squids are proud lil guys.
This whole dinner took 10 minutes to make! Feels good, man. I stopped making varied dinners for the loongest time because I didn't feel like making each portion, you know what I mean? So dinner would be just 5 servings of broccoli, or zucchini sauteed, or just tofu, but never much variety hah. I'm finding ways to quicken the process again and yay it's fun.
This is crispy tofu with sweet chili sauce, asparagus & green beans, and a basil garbanzo/lentil mix. The asparagus & green beans are made by submerging in water & microwaving 2-3 minutes. The bean mixture is actually from a frozen bag! So similarly, you just microwave it. It was sooo good.
The sweet chili crispy tofu is the most tedious portion, but so worth it. I've finally found the best way (I prefer) to cook tofu, and I want to share! This may be the simplest recipe I've posted, but hey. Iz very important.
Not too terribly much has happened this week. I did meet a lot of really cool people at a friend's birthday party, so I guess that's rare ha. haha. ha. but really. I also posted a video of the custom fangs I had made! You can check that out if you're interested in getting any made for whatever reason, or just curious to see. I lub dem. 2016 is definitely my year of realizing like…be 100% you and never apologize for who you are. Then you'll be surrounded only by people who accept that and are good to your well-being. It feels great. Good lesson, 2016, thanks. Only a month in, too!
I've also learned so far: NEVER get a London Fog from Starbucks. I went last night and tried to get one. Okay wait back up. I went to a small coffee shop a month ago for a coffee. But the barista convinced me to try a London Fog. What is a London Fog? Well, it sounded odd to me at first: Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, and vanilla. But he said if I didn't like it he would make me something else so sure I'll try it. I got soy milk, sugar free syrup. And it was amaaaaazing. And thus…my obsession began. I started by trying to make it at home with almond milk. But the froth level just wasn't there. And I just dream about it. I went to a franchise starbucks 1 week ago when I was out of town, but they didn't even have that drink. SO I went last night. The barista convinced me to try coconut milk. And it was awful – watery and no froth. I'm like yo can I get a different drink… this is watery and off. And he's like oh yeah I hate coconut milk. WHAT? WHY DID YOU SUGGEST IT. Anyways. I just gave up and got a cafe misto. So now I sit here, still yearning for a London Fog with it's yummy frothy froth top. Sigh…
Sweet Chili Crispy Tofu
- any portion of tofu you want (pictured is 1 serving – 3 oz)
- salt & pepper to taste
- sweet chili sauce
- Strain the tofu you want from all liquid. This step is probably the most important. You need to press the liquid out as much as possible. I go through several paper towels. You can choose to set something on top of the tofu, letting it strain for an hour or more, but I'm lazy and never think that far ahead. So press as much as possible before you cook it.
- Cut into small cubes or strips – doesn't matter. I like cubes.
- Spray a large pan with nonstick spray and cook on a low/medium heat. The sides will begin to lightly brown. Once it looks crispy to your liking, flip each piece individually, keeping track to make sure each one is indeed flipped.
- Repeat this process for every single side. It is tedious, but worth it. Sometimes I just do 4 main edges and leave the other two.
- Feel free to add salt and pepper while cooking – or any other spices!
- Once finished, remove from the pan and top with sweet chili sauce, evenly coating the tofu. Enjoy!
Master vegan baking with this specially outlined online course!


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11th European Conference on Games Based LearningSergio Ramos
Date: 5th – 6th of October 2017
Location: Graz, Austria
OrbEEt partner, Coventry University and the Serious Games Institute, will be representing the OrbEEt project and its game based learning interface at the 11th European Conference on Games Based Learning. The European Conference on Games Based Learning was established 9 years ago. It has been held in Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Norway to mention only some of the countries who have hosted it. ECGBL is generally attended by participants from more than 40 countries and attracts an interesting combination of academic scholars, practitioners, game designers and individuals who are engaged in various aspects of games-based learning and serious games.


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Today, Iowa gets to determine its Presidential choice for the GOP. This contest between the final seven candidates has been tough. After today, it promises to get even more intense.
Although I don't feel that the Iowa GOP caucus is truly representative of the majority of voters in that state, it nonetheless provides a strong impetus for the winner who will have an advantage going into the New Hampshire primaries on January 10th.
The Iowa caucus remains influential: Four years ago, in what some pundits considered an upset, Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton, and subsequently propelled himself into the White House.
But for the GOP in the last few months, polls have been teetering every which way.
It's impossible to tell who will come out on top until the counting is over, yet two candidates seem to be near the top, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, with the latter having gained momentum in the past few weeks.
The Des Moines Register, a Gannett newspaper, (as is the Courier News) has formally endorsed Mitt Romney, also my pick. But we'll see where it all turns out later this evening.
Born in Virginia, Santorum groomed his political life in Pennsylvania; and, although Romney was born in Detroit, he graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah, received both a law degree and an M.B.A from Harvard and, following college, he built his business and political career in Massachusetts.
New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie is a strong supporter of Romney and has been actively campaigning for him in Iowa.
Whatever one may say about the prolific number of GOP candidates – Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul (still a viable front-runner in Iowa), Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich are the other remaining five – this race has provided a thorough vetting for each and every one of them. It's not over yet.
Outwardly, the stage has been very still on the Democratic side, but both parties are quietly lining up their big guns. This is going to be a long, expensive and grueling presidential contest.
I hope there is as much vetting that will take place for the Democratic candidate as there has been and will continue to be for the one who emerges for the GOP.


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Using Language Effectively in Everyday Life
Ref: C2342739
Due to face to face teaching being suspended unfortunately this course is not currently available for enrolment.
We are launching a range of online courses shortly that may be of interest to you so sign up here to hear more.
This 7 week course is for anyone interested in language and how to use it more skilfully: effective communication with one another is vital for individuals, groups and societies to survive and thrive today. The course will introduce you to the fascinating social and psychological processes involved in human communication. We'll examine some common situations where communication is challenging, drawing on your own experience, and learn how difficulties can be overcome. You will become able to use the gift of language even more expertly and enjoyably, and pursue your personal interests in this marvellous faculty.
Course aim
This course will help you to appreciate how expertly you already use language, to understand the processes involved, and to communicate more effectively in a wide variety of situations
Do I need any particular skills or experience?
- You will need your own personal email address so that you're able to login to the WEA's digital learning platform: WEA Canvas. You will need to be able to understand how to follow URL links to pages on the internet. If you want to understand more about Canvas please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
- This course is suitable for beginners and improvers
- Students need a Level 1 qualification in English to join this course
- We will help you develop confidence in using some on-line learning materials and exercises, which will help you get as much as possible from the course, and add to your enjoyment.
By the end of the course I should be able to:
- Discuss how expertly I use language already
- Explain the main processes involved in human communication
- Describe and account for some common communication challenges, and explain one or more ways of overcoming these.
- Use my own communication skills more extensively and enjoyably
- Describe my main interests in language and communication and how I might pursue these
How will I be taught?
- The WEA's digital learning platform, Canvas will be used to provide resources or to support lessons, enable assessment, provide learner feedback and for other activities for individuals away from the course. If you want to understand more about our digital learning platform please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
- Most of your learning will take place in your class, but one or two sessions will be online using WEA's digital learning platform, Canvas, working by yourself or engaging with other students. If you want to understand more about our digital learning platform please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
- The WEA tutor will use a range of different teaching and learning methods and encourage you and the group to be actively involved in your learning
- You may be asked to undertake additional work in your own time to support your learning
- All classes will be face-to-face, but you'll also be asked to do some work between these, alone or with other students, using the WEAs digital learning platform (CANVAS).
What kind of feedback can I expect?
- You will be able to keep a record of your progress and achievement using photos, audio, text or documents uploaded into the WEA's digital learning platform, WEA Canvas.
- Your tutor will provide written, text and audio feedback recorded in WEA Canvas, WEA's digital learning platform.
- A range of informal activities will be used by the tutor to see what you are learning which may include quizzes, question and answer, small projects and discussion
- You will be encouraged to share your work with the group and discuss your learning
- There will be a number of tasks appropriate to your course such as written work, creating art or craft, video, photography or small projects. Some of these may be marked to help you progress
What else do I need to know?
- You will also need access to the internet outside of your sessions. You could do this using a smart phone, tablet, laptop or a desktop computer (at home or through a library etc.).
- You will need a personal email address to join the WEA's digital learning platform, Canvas so that you can receive resources, record your progress and achievement and to work with others and share ideas. If you want to understand more about our digital learning platform please visit: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
Pre-course work, reading and information sources
- You will have access to course resources and links to wider learning through the WEA's digital learning platform, Canvas: http://bit.ly/WEAonline
- You will be offered access to some of the course resources before the course begins, which will provide you with an introduction to the course.
What can I do next?
- Progress to another WEA course
- Become involved with the WEA in a range of voluntary work and other activities including campaigning as a WEA member
- Become involved as a volunteer for a WEA partner or another organisation
- Access the WEA What Next? booklet here http://www.wea.org.uk/learn-wea/what-can-i-do-next
Download full course information sheet
Due to face to face teaching being suspended unfortunately this course is not currently available for enrolment.
We are launching a range of online courses shortly that may be of interest to you so sign up here to hear more.


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I've designed two versions of the show - for Circle and WaterTower theaters - and although those two shows had the same text, same director, and most of the same cast, the two very different venues demanded different sets...
Boeing, Boeing at Circle Theare, Fort Worth, Texas
Photo courtesy of Circle Theatre
My first version of Boeing, Boeing... on a small thrust stage about 25' wide by 16' deep (in front of the proscenium), by 9' high. My idea here was that this was a penthouse/rooftop apartment with views of Paris, renovated by the architect-character .
Boeing, Boeing at WaterTower Theater, Addison, Texas
Photo courtesy of WaterTower Theater
This time the performance space was 38' wide, by 25' deep, by almost 30' high. (Almost 2 1/2 times the size.) Consequently, the architect's digs suddenly became a seriously grand Paris apartment.
But how many other ways can there be to design what's basically a box set living room with 6-7 doors?
So I thought I'd Google it myself.
Immediately, I found a fun video for a production of the show at Phoenix Theatre HERE. (Since these videos and photos are all copyrighted, I daren't display them: please click on the links. Though this ought to be "fair use" as criticism: compare and contrast, kiddies!)
Where my design impulse was to emphasize the '60s Parisian and architectural nature of this architect-character's apartment, the designer of the Phoenix Theatre's version, Richard Farlow, emphasizes the airplane motif and adds colored lighting and a piece of switcheroo-set-dressing-comedy to "decorate" his set for each stewardess. Clever!
Many other designers used a variation on French paneled walls, with the Hartford Stage's version by David M. Barber perhaps the most handsome example. French and - to a much lesser extent - 1960s seem to be the leading motifs. I'm surprised so few of these designs attempt any views of Paris; though, on my own sets, only selected seats saw any view since this is, basically, The Lotso Doors Taking Up All The Wall Play.
The Papermill Playhouse production - designed by Ray Klausen - besides many doors, had a neat silhouette of Paris above the apartment and nice moldings (though I kinda hate the typical-theater-railings).
A production in Melbourne used an elegantly curved-wall set, again all doors, no views.
I'm also a little surprised that no designer went nuts with the '60s. I had touches - the art, a few details and colors - but no one seems to have carried the period style much further. Possibly this is because of the price of large pieces of '60s decor?
Earlier posts on Boeing, Boeing: Rethinking a Design, Further Adventures of a Plan, Nice News, Pictures in the Paper, Art as Set Dressing, Critics


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Have an account?
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Cisco are teaming up with Libraries to make available free, self paced online courses which are part of the Networking Academy Portfolio. These courses are available to all Libraries and will provide citizens access to a range of topics, starting with the basics of getting online to the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cybersecurity. Courses require minimal intervention from Library staff. Enrolment is simple, it takes just 5 easy steps.
In line with the UK's Digital skills strategy we see Libraries as the heart of the community.
Digital skills is a journey, our courses guide students from the very basic digital literacy skills, to more advance learnings. Find out more information about the initiative here.
Students who complete our courses may wish to further their education. Institutes teaching our Career-ready courses can be located using our Academy Locater tool.
Any Library can join and become a Cisco Networking Academy. You can register here. For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Netacad‑in‑email@example.com.
The UK Government has recently introduced a new Computing curriculum for schools. Computing At School (CAS) has developed their own progressions pathway which is made up of seven topical strands and aligned to the National Computing curriculum. We have partnered with a team of teachers and University academics to deliver on the Networking and Communication strand.
As tech leaders, with over 20 years experience running Cisco Networking Academy, we understands first hand the networking skills the next generation will need to succeed. Coupled with our insight and expertise from leaders in the field we have prepared a course to make sure teachers are better equipped to deliver the curriculum to their classes.
With students itching to get their latest device hooked up to their home network, there has never been a more important time to teach networking fundamentals. Our courses content is openly available on the OpenLearn Create site.
Cisco's best kept secret – Packet Tracer. A fantastic network simulation and visualisation tool that simplifies the complexities of networking by helping pupils explore, discover and troubleshoot a variety of network environments.
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com
To access Packet Tracer schools will need to register as a Cisco Academy. By registering, you will also have access to course content, extra learning material/activities and access to CPD such as Python, C++, C, Cybersecurity and Linux
It's an exciting time in the digital world, and we're really proud to be extending our digital skills training to police forces


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an occasional journal wherein I write about my fascination with the color gray and sometimes add some photos.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Socks, socks and more socks
Then, about seven years ago, the demand for help with knitting socks began in earnest. So I got a book, Folk Socks by Nancy Bush, and taught myself the basics. I still reference that book a lot as well as Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks. Not that I don't have lots of other sock knitting books. But those I use mostly for patterns. And I do find bits of helpful information in other books and on-line, of course.
I can't get enough. Here are a couple of my currently active sock projects. You will probably recognize the Annetrelac sock from IK's Holiday 2007 issue. I'm having some problems with it. I managed to mess up on the final round of triangles and in trying to fix that problem I dropped some stitches. And it got worse. I may end up ripping back to the ribbing before this is all done. I'm using some Schaefer Anne that was gifted to me a few years ago. I like the colors but I'm having problems seeing some of the stitches, especially in the dark purple areas.
The other sock is a newish pattern on Ravelry called Harris Tweed. It's pretty easy and straightforward. The Sockotta yarn doesn't have much give so it's a little hard on these tired old hands. But at least I can knit these socks while I'm working. I should be able to fix any inevitable errors without too much fuss.
3 comments:
- Sue said...
Love th blue socks. The entralac socks look very difficult to knit. I dont even knit very many patterned socks although I have a few books which are a great help. Perhaps one day I will do more intricate patterns. I do hope your first sock turns out all right for you.
- mehitabel said...
I really love doing entrelac now that I've taught myself to knit backwards! Of course, I still don't love to knit socks, so those won't be going into my queue, but there may be some baby socks coming up one of these days. Just because they would look so cute on Little Missy A! At least your projects are "cool" in every sense of the word! (And I do love Schaefer colorways!)
- Bess said...
Ooo! July is sock month for me too. I'm so intrigued by those entrelac socks though I might just be tempted to start another pair....


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Zippered compartment, Two front zippered pockets, Organiser under the front flap, Adjustable shoulder carry handle. Product Materials: 600 Denier Nylon. Product Item Size: 36cm (W) x 31cm (H) x 9cm (D). Colours Available Appa: white, black, dark blue, blue, light blue, aqua, dark green, green, red, dark red, yellow, dark yellow, orange, purple, grey, dark grey, light pink, dark pink, khaki, brown, cream, silver. Colours Available Supplier: maroon, lime, steel.
Some products may be available Offshore with a lower cost and longer lead time. Please contact us on email@example.com to enquire about an Offshore option.


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Cheap Car Insurance for Teens as the Best Choices to Go
MLMFB.COM - When it comes to car insurance for teens, the chance is many insurance companies offer quotes with high rate. Teenagers are considered to have little driving experience, not to mention the fact that statistic shows high percentage of accidents caused by teens. Being risky, insurance companies charged more for insurance coverage.
However, it does not mean cheap car insurance for teens is impossible. There are some companies which offer quality coverage, at the same time offering discount for young drivers.
Best Cheap Car Insurance for TeensTo find the best insurance companies with best policy for teens, you need to make a small survey. Gather as much information about quotes to get the best possible deals according to your preference. Car insurance for teens should offer claims handling and quality coverage, and yet it does not come with high rate. If you are looking for cheap car insurance for teens, there are some choices to take into account.
GEICOGEICO is one of reputable insurance companies throughout the United States. It offers low rates to drivers with several choices of discounts. GEICO is considered best choice for young drivers for it has some advantages for good student, seatbelt use discount, and driver's education. This insurance company will also consider your vehicles including airbags, daytime running lights, anti-lock brakes, and anti-theft device. The more equipped your car, the more discounts you will get.
When it comes to coverage, GEICO covers basics and mechanical breakdown. You will also get accident forgiveness which refers to optional coverage which prevents your rate from climbing up because of first accident. Mechanical breakdown is considered beneficial as it will pay for any repair on your vehicles for wear and tear. GEICO is the only cheap car insurance for teens which offers this kind of coverage, allowing customers to put it into priority. In addition to GEICO offer, there is also Family Pricing Program. This is a program which allows teenage driver get their own policy so that they do not need to be on parents' insurance. At special rate, this program brings peace of mind both for parents and teenagers. It is not surprising GEICO is considered the best insurance company overall.
State FarmAnother option for cheap car insurance for teens is State Farm. Even though it typically does not offer rates as low as GEICO, State Farm deserves your consideration for some reasons. This insurance company is well-known for its reputation to serve excellent customer service. According to some surveys, the satisfaction rate from customer is quite high. It can be concluded that State Farm is worth choosing especially if you wish to have satisfying claim handling and interaction with the officer.
If you and your family already joined Nationwide, there is special offer that you should take into account. The company provides Family Plan that enables family members to share discounts. You are allowed to give specific discount to family member who does not qualify on their own.
Among best choices of cheap car insurance for teens, which one will you choose? Each company has plus and minus which can be adjusted to your needs. Set your preference and select one that meet your requirements.