text:
A New Document Management System
newdocms is a proposal for a new and radically different way of managing your documents in KDE. It is a move away from the now over 30-year-old hierarchical file system towards a meta-data-based document retrieval system. A 0.1 preview has now been released along with a description and screenshots (typical, newdocms, save, open, results -- the GUI isn't all that pretty at this point). Although not yet ready for production use, newdocms has the potential to really change the way users interact with their computer. Herein lies a challenge to the Open Source community in general, and KDE in particular, to take a step ahead of the competition in a truly innovative way. Should newdocms be a standard part of a future KDE release?
Nice, very nice. However, everybody knows that the Single Directory System is the wave of the future. :-)
PS Don't forget to vote here [linuxformat.co.uk] too! Everybody at GNOMEDESKTOP already has.
By anon at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: hmm
However, everybody knows that the Single Directory System is the wave of the future.
All too true, unfortunately. I cringe every time I walk by a cubicle and see every document the user ever worked on sitting on their desktop. They don't even bother with wallpaper because you can't see the desktop through the icons.
By David Johnson at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: hmm
Interesting, but I don't think I'm quite ready to buy into a Single Directory system quite yet. :-)
I do think the ability to store meta-data for files is an excellent idea. I would love to be able to browse the filesystem and have a document's meta-data pop-up in a tool-tip, or be displayed as a column in konqueror's detailed view.
I also love the idea of the special 'Search Folders' (persistent queries in BeOS, VFolders in Evolution?), coming in kmail (KDE 3.2), where the 'Search Folders' are dynamically updated (based on your original search criteria) each time new messages arrive or are deleted. It would be awesome if this could be extended to the filesystem using files' meta-data!
Example: In my digital photo collection, if I store meta-data about who is pictured in each photo, then I could create a 'Search Folder' of pictures of my Aunt who lives across the country. And every time I added another picture of my Aunt, it would magically appear in her 'Search Folder'. I could have a 'Search Folder' for pictures featuring myself too, and a picture of my Aunt and I together would show up in both 'Search Folders'. It wouldn't matter if photos were .jpg or .png or whatever. When she came to visit, I would show her her Search Folder (probably not the best example, but it was the first to come to mind :-). I could continue to organize my photos into regular folders like "Texas_Vacation_2002" or "Work/Joes_Farewell_Lunch".
You could this with music files; basing the 'Search Folder' on style, hard, soft, artist, etc., or with documents, perhaps you have a 'Search Folder' for KDE, it could contain graphics files, presentations, spreadsheets, plain text files, HTML, etc. all about KDE. I don't know how feasible such a system would be, but I would love to see it!
Anyway, good luck on the project! Its nice to see new ideas.
By David K at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Very interesting, it is indeed a fresh and intuitive take on things are organized.
However, I can see serious problems with users who are used to a simple preview of the document, organized by directory. While entering a concept name and shortcut keyword are nice for searching later, many people will find this unnecessarily complicated. It is unlikely that most people would take full advantage of such a system and would end up preferring how things currently are.
By Scott MacDonald at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Complicated
I agree. The users I see occasionally will use directories to organize their work, but usually don't bother. And once their (and this goes for myself as well) finished with a document, they usually have no need to open it up again, but keep it in the off-chance they need it. So in other words the "Recent Documents" feature found in most products is pratically good enough.
But I know my grandfather could use something like this. He has saved about more then 10 years worth of documents. If he had been organizing them in this way the whole time, those documents would probably be more useful.
By Ian Monroe at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Complicated
If you read his description, you would have noticed that users can simply save their docs without attributes, yielding a perfect "Recent Documents" structure, i.e. the docs are organized "save time descending".
By Robert at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Do we want this? YES!!!
Of course we want this, it is overdue. Managing the bookmarks in a HFS is
By Peter at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Do we want this? YES!!!
I guess a thing like
vi `newdocscm About:whatever`
then showing posible results should work.
By Shulai at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
I find it usefull especially in the area of education. It is a sort of LCMS (Learning Content Management System) simplified but more practical because catalogation (tagging) happens a the beginning of document creation and not in a second step.
By Giovanni Di Guardo at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
What the desktop is missing
I think it is a very interesting project you have done. You are absolutely right that HFS is a dead end if you want to organize data. Having tried to work at a 200+ people company using one fileserver for storing all data about customers and projects it has really been proven to me. But simply keeping track of the files on your home computer is also a major job.
Some small points about your implementation:
- I couldn't find it in your writing but do you follow any kind of standard when cataloging metadata? Most of the attributes you mention fits perfectly into e.g. The Dublin Core Initiative ( http://www.dublincore.org/ ).
- Personally I would miss not being able to catalog my files both by metadata and by filesystem hierarchy. maybe I have missed something in your description, but I couldn't see if it was possible.
Great job! Looking forward to seeing it grow - this could be a really great addition to the the desktop. As you mention this concept is mostly used in major CMS systems but try to have a look at Zope/CMF (http://cmf.zope.org) which implements some of the concepts and is both Open Source and free as in free beer :-)
By Thomas Olsen at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius ;-)
*Yes*, I'd like it for KDE as an option for sure!!
Hell, hierarchical databases are so very dead for a park full of reasons. Time to send them HFS for companion.
However, there's not only KDE and Gnome. What about gv, emacs, acroread, and the infinite bunch of shell commands that take files as argument?
By Hafer at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius ;-)
Hm.. I'm prgramming in Java (and on Windowze...) so i won't be able to deliver this myself, but, hey, it should be fairly easy to program a small console application that interfaces with the document management system and delivers e.g. a list of native filenames when supplied with metadata attribute values.
for i in `newdmssh attrib1=value1 attrib2=value2` do;
Wouldn't that be cool?
Another approach would be to program a fully functional bash or sh extension that has some native commands and/or globbing tricks to allow interfacing with the doc. mngmt. system.
By Robert at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius ;-)
Maybe some kind of virtual filesystem:
Every (virtual) subdirectory is a query on the results from the parent directory.
By Roland Schäfer at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Re: This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius ;-)
that's it.
a virtual filesystem is great. (and to be done in not that much time).
but id prefer no special characters in the interface
consider acroread (or any other commercial software made without a good toolkit) . i won't count on the ability to quote these characters.
and all those unix tools, acroread, realplayer, opera...
By ibotty at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Re: This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius ;-)
towards other metadata filesytems.
having one api to bind them all in the lands of unix will help unix in general.
By ibotty at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Nice concept. If made user friendly and intuitive it could be a real killer. I'd really love to see something like this that works, and works well. Something which can quickly and easily bring the data to you.
I think this should become a standard part of KDE, but I think the current model should also be available for those who would prefer to use it. Also, the system would have to be compatible with the way the current file system works so that files created in kde apps can be accessable with other apps etc.
By Joel at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Offtopic: run vim on middle button click
sorry for an offtopic question, but does anyone
Thank you!
By Alex at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Offtopic: run vim on middle button click
By rinse at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Offtopic: run vim on middle button click
By Philippe Fremy at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Files stored on a server?
How well would this work if the files were stored on a central server?
I realize that this is a very early implementation, but getting too wrapped up in making it simple for one user to use could end up making it impossible to use for more than one user and that would be a shame.
IMHO this would be most usefull in companies where different people will need to share access to a large amount of documents.
There are two points to this post:
2) Please keep the SQL/database interface separate, it would be a great loss
It would be very nice if you could install a company-global filesystem simply by creating a database instance on the enterprise database box and a coda/nfs/smb/whatever filesystem and then start the metadata-server pointing it at the directory and the database instance.
You would probably also need some sort of replication of the metadata or a disconnected (laptop or whatever) user would be SOL.
I don't know if including the actual file serving in the metadata-server would be a good idea, it would make setting things up much simpler, but it could also mean replicating a lot of work...
Anyway, this seems to be a very cool idea, good luck!
By Flemming Frandsen at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Files stored on a server?
if using a (virtual) filesystem approach (as suggested above)
By ibotty at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Re: Files stored on a server?
I am in need of du\ocumentation on compiler technics or with construction of processing,utility programme,liberary file
By moses at Tue, 2005/12/06 - 6:00am
Great Inovation, but problematic GUI
I think, this is the sort of inovation that "Linux/UNIX on Desktops" is missing. Something new, not a copy from Windows or MacOS.
Maybe it is time to learn C++.
By Hubert Krause at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Doesn't look easy to me...
Most users (read: Windows users and traditional Unix users) are all used to the HFS. In order to use this system, you must learn something new. We all know "average users" don't want to learn, they just want to get the thing to work. Won't this get lots of resistance from users?
Maybe this new way is "better", but I doubt it will succeed until users change their attitude and are willing to learn.
By Stof at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Doesn't look easy to me...
Hi Stof
I doubt that those users understand the HFS, they just memorized what to click when they want to open or save something. I have ~100 Users, and most of them expect that a double-click on an icon on their desktop will show them the files on the server even when they are not connected to a network - the whole concept of (network)drives, home directories and shortcuts is not really understood by most of them. So, the new approach _does_ force them to learn something new, but it is not that they would have to learn to think different - they have the chance to learn something sensible instead of learning a click-sequence by heart. So, if this could be made option in KDE - go ahead.
By Peter at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
I think the author is unaware of all the other work on metadata over the years. This is nothing new in itself, but it work be great if KDE could get some user friendly metadata support in the open and save dialogs.
*But*! You don't have to remove file names just because you introduce metadata. Filenames are there for a reason. They make interoperability so much more important, because they are a least common denominator between file systems and because they serve as a unique global identification (which is human readable and pronouncable).
I don't want to dis the author for being an enthusiast and actually producing code, but I get the impression that he hasn't learned from history yet. So read up on all the work concerning metadata over the years! There's lots and lots of it and many good thoughts has been thought on the subject. (I think ArsTechnica.com had a good overview perhaps a year ago?)
Summing up:
Use filenames (and treat is as a metadata field)!
Stick to a standard metadata layout!
Look at file systems with metadata! (Especially reiser4!)
By Jonas at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Think about names
A great resource for thinking about file names and paths is located at the W3:
It's quite easy to read and is not as heavy as W3 specs are. Also, for anyone implementing a metadata scheme, I highly recommend all of the documents listed under the Semantic Web section of http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Overview.html
Someone above pointed out the similarities to the Dublin Core project. I would like to add that anyone developing this system or intested in Metadata representations also check out:
By pos at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Am I reading correctly, W3 recommends people to omit the file extension? o.O
>>The last element of the path, "html" is not strictly necessary with most servers, as at least some servers will, given a URL of "readthis" , serve up the data from a file which is called "readthis.html". Here the student is making it difficult for himself later to change the format or formats in which the file is available, without at least some confusion. Suppose, for example, that he later decides that the information is worth providing in audio format for blind readers. The CERN server can easily be configured so that clients specifically requesting audio formats in preference to HTML can be served as preferentially whereas more normal clients will get the HTML. So, here again is a part of the path which may be later regretted.<<
By Datschge at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
This can overcome a long term desideratum
Well designed and implemented, newdocms would contribute an important an innovative part to future versions of KDE.
"Well designed" comprises the consideration of teh following needs:
Nice additional features:
By Georg at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
a very intelligent and highly effective idea. I only have a couple of comments:
- the project, as it has already been said, badly needs a different GUI, so intuitive as to require no extra information at all about how the system works. Now, this system makes it possible. For instance, next to a preview of the file to be saved, there would be several drop-down lists answering questions like: what type of document is it? about what is it? and so on. There would already be a list of possible answers: photo, music and son, this is of capital importance. It is absolutely necessary that the basic category tree is ALREADY present - believe me, if the user had to provide its own category tree, 90% of them would not come up even with document -> photo. Of course advanced users could extend and modify the given category tree, but it must be there and must be standard (the dublin one is an excellent proposal). The same of course, would hold for the open dialogue
- did you notice how this technically and conceptually very simple proposal does much more to change the way we interact with compters than the whole slicker nonesense put together?
By fred at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
nice, but should be as an option
im sure this features will rock. but im not sure im ready to lose my traditional file system.
maybe they could be use together, or we may need tool for reverting back
By Mathieu Jobin at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
think Google
I want to push the overall goal just a bit further. What if I didn't have to think about organizing my data at all? For example, "save" doesn't need any kind of dialogue box and "open" works like Google. Save just puts it somewhere and an indexer looks at it and collects whatever it needs to enable a simple query based open. When I want to "open" something, I get a single text field where I type whatever I want and I get back a list of results I can browse, or I can further refine the query.
Perhaps this is simple and too naive. However, I have spent many hours trying to explain the concept of hierarchical folders to my wife and my father and something like this would eliminate this hurdle. Anyone can use Google.
By soderic at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: think Google
"and "open" works like Google"
Sure, nice, but you shouldn't forget that Googles usefulness hinges heavily ont the pagerank system. How do you intend to do that without links between the documents?
By Anonymous Coward at Wed, 2003/01/15 - 6:00am
Yes, really innovating but...
But doesn't seem too similar to the new windows file system?
I'm not an expert, but the concept is the same: http://news.com.com/2009-1017-857509.html
By trukulo at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
It is as complicated
as hierarhical file system and it requires a lot of work to get things organized. It can be useful for libraries, universities etc. but not for the end user. Database concept is great when somebody else do the work for you and there where is a huge amount of entries.
I don't have thousands of documents and will never have them. I periodicaly do some cleaning in my apartment and throw old documents into the thrash bin. Everyone does it. I also periodicaly clean up my computer for garbage and old documents. And I can easily find the documents I need. Not a big deal.
When I want to search for some documents that interest me I do gg: in Konqueror. Even if you do your own database localy (which is a huge job) there will always be a bigger and better database stored on internet.
Database approach is as much complicated as hierarhical file system if you have many documents with similar or same attributes: then they don't fit to an open window, you have to scroll down or click on the next page and next page etc. Many of you have tried to search for a book(s) at a local library database and got a thousands of entries.
There is nothing wrong with hierarhical file system when you keep it clean. Database concept gets hierarhical as well when you get too many results. And here is the problem: when you have a few documents you can easily find them, but when you you have too many of them you need an amount of time to find them no matter if you use a hierarhical file system or a database. (see the screenshot of Save - in save dialog there is an option called 'Edit category tree' - so even here there is a 'tree' and you have hierarhical system inside)
Some people say that adding attributes is great because you can for example categorize your mp3 files by genre, author, album and year. And my question is: Is it so difficult to create appropriate directories and then create playlists out of them?
By the way, this story has already been discussed on Slashdot (the author of newdocms Manuel Arriaga posted it to Slashdot).
'The filesystem paradigm has been around for a long time, litterally thousands of years, because it works, it is easy, and it is how people think.'
ACNeal on Slashdot
By antialias at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
Moreover KDE3.1 can know acces META Informations of the files (jpeg, gif, mp3, ogg, video,...) and you can use kfind to search for them.
For example I can go into my mp3's directory an search file with meta data containing Madonna and I can found all Madonna's mp3.
Just test kfind of KDE3.1 and test "Properties" of different files in konqui to understand what I am talking about :)
By Shift at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
The hierarchical filessystem is a restriction in man machine-interaction.
I *have* thousands of documents and will *ever* have them. I never do some cleaning in my computer and i don't throw old documents into the thrash bin. And I don't want to be forced to do so. Everyone does it (No!). It is hard for me to find the documents I need. It is a big deal. I'm very dissatisfied that finding documents on the local disks is soo slooow compared to search engines on the web.
Data based approch can be partly automated by content aware assistants that gather metadata or physical features (colour vs black&white, resolution) from the documents (e.g. metatags in html), from open databases (CDDB, ID3-Tags). Other helpers: using templates and a list of "recently used storage constellations". It's a matter of GUI-Design.
>Some people say that adding attributes is great because you can for example >categorize your mp3 files by genre, author, album and year. And my question is: >Is it so difficult to create appropriate directories and then create playlists >out of them?
>Database approach is as much complicated as hierarhical file system if you have >many documents with similar or same attributes: then they don't fit to an open >window, you have to scroll down or click on the next page and next page etc. >Many of you have tried to search for a book(s) at a local library database and >got a thousands of entries.
> It can be useful for libraries, universities
> but not for the end user.
By Georg at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
Human thinking is more associative than merely hierarchical.
That's funny, because when you look at human beings manipulating real world documents (books, letters, etc), you'll find that they use a hierachical system by and large. Books go on a book shelf. Magazines go in a magazine rack. All the old love letters go in a frilly box labelled "love letters". Take a look at an office an you'll see file cabinets, drawers, and folders.
Associative metadata is good, but not at the expense of the hiearchy. Metadata is great for making new "views" of the data, but they shouldn't be the "model".
By David Johnson at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
So tell me, how would you store your books associative in a 3d space (where a book can only be at one place at a time)?
I know some people like Yahoo's hierarchical webindex, but I guess Googles associative index is far more popular...
By André Somers at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
'The hierarchical filessystem is a restriction in man machine-interaction.'
No. It is a requirement for a man-machine interaction. As I pointed before: do a search in any database or search engine and the results will be presented hierarchicaly. Scroll down, next page. What do you get? Another file manager/browser inside the database dialog. And when you do search in Google you get castrated hierarchy - links organized in pages and pages are named 1,2,3,4,5... Can you see or guess what is on the page nr. 10? No.
'Human thinking is more associative than merely hierarchical.'
You are right. Human thinking is more associative, but that is a problem. We forget things, and therefor we use hierarchical system for organizing things. Associative thinking is not powerful enough because we forget or better said suppress things.
' I *have* thousands of documents and will *ever* have them.'
Some people collect Barbies, and some do collect documents ;-)
'It is hard for me to find the documents I need.'
If it is hard for you to find the documents you need, you really don't need them. Otherwise you will know where did you put them. We remember only things we are really interested in.
'What do you do if you want to access your mp3s in another "sort order"?'
I move them around. I create another playlist. I know where my ogg files are, I know who the artist is, and I know what the genre is. Because I am interested in exactly that kind of music I have stored on my computer.
By antialias at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: It is as complicated
> If it is hard for you to find the documents you need, you really don't need them. Otherwise you will know where did you put them. We remember only things we are really interested in.
No. If you will never remember nor be reminded of a document, then and only then you do not need it. If you however at some point in time do recall the existance of a document it is normal not to remember where it is. A good
By KDE User at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am
Some replies...
As the author of the article (altough it got edited quite a bit after posting), I would like to address some of the questions raised. Note: I am not the author of newdocms, nor am I affiliated with it.
The idea is of course not completely new, there have been other attempts to make something like this. This project is very new though, and has received many, many suggestions for enhancements allready. He is open to suggestions, and is well aware that there are flaws in the way the system behaves at the moment. Still, I share his belief that the basic idea is very valid.
A lot of the questions raised above are answered by just really reading the site. I urge everyone interested to do that, before critising the idea based on the screenshots. A few comments though:
By André Somers at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Thoughts on this...
I think the idea is good, but the implementation isn't.
Perhaps this would be a better way (off the top of my head):
Instead of a flat tree of unique numbers for storing those files, why not just let the user store the file like usual, and then be able to edit the meta-data (through properties dialog, maybe even on the SAVE dialog).
You could have the files' meta-data stored in meta.db for each directory.
And then when you want to do a search (or open) the dialog could have a "search meta-data" option. You select /Documents/ and do all the searches you have presented.
This has many advantages:
1) You can use command line tools on those files without them needing to be modified and it would be much more simple to "kedit my_diary_1_02_03.txt" then seeing 124321341.txt at a command line.
2) Someone mentioned about fileserving earlier. This keeps everything right for Samba and the like. And client "meta-data aware" apps can use the meta.db while others can be on Windows and still get reasonable use (if thats what you call it ).
3) It also means that SHOULD some simple minded user delete meta.db, that not everything is lost.
This is a project for KDE and GNOME to work together on for it to be an advantage for Unix/clones.
Hope this gets implemented :-)
By Geoff Rivell at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Recommendations and wishes
- Powerful tools for ex- import
By Georg at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Great... but don't go it alone
I definitely think some FS abstraction concept like this is really necessary for Joe User... how many people's parents actually touch "My Computer" on their Windoze boxes? And this seems like a good way about it, but I do have one concern: that KDE will go it alone. That it will have a great system like this, but it will mash up the real file system in some way that it's unusable in any non-KDE app... like bash. Because if they're all to be found in $HOME/.kde/share/Newdocms with names like kword-01.09.03-12.kwd or something, it will be incredibly not useful outside a KDE open file dialog. Maybe a suite of command-line utilities or something is the way to go. I'm just afraid of a system that requires 100% KDE and hinders leaving it... that seems very anti-trust-like.
Just my $0.02.
By Joe Theriault at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Great... but don't go it alone
Perhaps you could generate a nice filename out of the metadata, even with a hiearchical structure. For example, if I save this webpage, it would be stored as, for example "~/webpages/fora/KDE/unknown/Great... but don't go it alone.html", thus "~/type/category/subject/author/title".
By Daan at Tue, 2003/01/14 - 6:00am
Re: Great... but don't go it alone
Great idea! Probably impossible to do though.
By Anonymous at Tue, 2003/01/14 - 6:00am
of course we want it
In fact everyone agress that it can be a good idea. The advantage of the open source model is that even if the majority doesn't want it, the minority that is interested in it can develop it. Just do a wonderful job and everyone will use it. This kind of things can send linux light years from windows and allow more intuitive uses of our computers and is in the direction of high-level semantic interactions with them.
Show us that it works and rocks !
By socialEcologist at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Offtopic: (not so much) .app Folders for Linux
Is there somewhere a discussion about .app Folders on Linux?
Because we are talking about inovation - has anyone seen how easy
You can install the most applications by just drag and drop them to
THIS would be a great inovation too.
By Mike Mitterer at Wed, 2003/01/08 - 6:00am
Re: Offtopic: (not so much) .app Folders for Linux
the way you describe those app folders, there are some disadvantages:
this is why you dont have all libraries in anApp.app/.
nevertheless, on unix where most admins have a package management system, you dont need the
but there are other advantages.
there are many others...
nevertheless, i dont think kde will use frameworks and app bundles in the near term.
By ibotty at Thu, 2003/01/09 - 6:00am


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text:
Sitting In Chairs Is Not Zazen (part one million and seven)
My interview on conscious.tv is up. But it's kind of hard to find. First you have to go to this page:
Then you'll get a screen that looks like this:
See how I've circled where it says "traditions" and put an arrow showing where it is? Click there and it takes you to another page and on the top of that page on the right hand side you'll see my interview. Click on me and enjoy! Or go to this convenient link and see if that works http://bcove.me/5evkpoh3. I'm embedding it at the bottom of this page, but I'm using a new program that I'm not totally sure about.
Today I am in Antwerp, Belgium. I caught the intercity rail out of Brentwood, Essex yesterday, changed to the Hammersmith & City tube line at Liverpool Street station, arrived at King's Cross/St. Pancras, made my way to the Eurostar line, took a train under the English Channel and soon arrived in Bruxelles Midi station. There my friend Isabelle and her sister Melissa picked me up and drove me to Antwerp with a quick stop for some frietjes covered in mayonnaise and ketchup.
This weekend I'll be running two events in Antwerp; a talk on Saturday and a day of zazen on Sunday. Information can be found at http://www.rsyoga.eu/. Go to that page, then click on "workshops," then click on "12-13 November 2011 - Brad Warner - Antwerpen" and it's all there in plain Dutch.
Last weekend I led a day of meditation in Brentwood, Essex. Let me tell you a little about that.
The Brentwood Meditation Group has been active since 2004. They have a lot of regular members who come each week to share silent meditation in a sort of ecumenical style, not tied to any particular tradition. Most of their members sit on chairs.
I was invited as a guest of this group to present what it is that I do to them. In this case, the fact that people were sitting on chairs was shoganai as we say in Japan. It can't be helped. It's just the way things are. What can ya do? Shoganai is a very useful and utterly untranslatable phrase.
In other words, I wasn't about to go in as a guest and tell a group who'd been practicing in some way that they couldn't do the thing they do the way they'd been doing it for years.
But I did tell them that sitting in chairs was not zazen. Zazen is a physical practice. To sit in a chair and call it zazen is incorrect. It's not that sitting on a chair will lead you to Satan and cause your eternal soul to burn forever in Hell. It's not evil. It's just not zazen.
It's like yoga. If you went to a yoga teacher and bent over slightly at the waist then told him, "THIS IS DOWNWARD FACING DOG! IT'S MY DOWNWARD FACING DOG! I DO MY DOWNWARD FACING DOG MY WAY!" Your yoga teacher would probably inform you that bending slightly at the waist is not downward facing dog. The position yogis call downward facing dog looks like this:
If you were really, really stiff your yoga teacher would work with you until your downward facing dog looked less like a slight bend at the waist and more like the photo above. But until you got into something at least a little like the photo, no decent yoga teacher would call that downward facing dog. It's not.
In the context of yoga it's easy for people to understand the difference between the two. But people tend to think of meditation as a mental activity. They tend to believe that the posture is just arbitrary, and that they can do zazen in any posture they like. They often tend to think that anyone who says otherwise is somehow taking away their inalienable right to do what they chose. But that's not true. Nobody's trying to take away your rights.
It's just that zazen looks like this:
You don't have to do the full lotus posture. Let me say that again since everyone seems to miss it when I say it:
You don't have to do the full lotus posture.
But you do need to be sitting on a cushion with your knees on the floor. Sometimes you can put extra cushions under your knees. You can also use a seiza bench, although I'm not the biggest fan of those. But that can be zazen too.
If someone really cannot do anything closer to zazen than sitting on a chair, well then that's shoganai too. They can sit on a chair. Tonen O'Connor, of the Milwaukee Zen Center is one of the best zazen teachers in America. She's had extensive knee surgery and she sits on a bench that's been modified to give her something close to the traditional posture (it's not a chair, though). But she's a special case. Maybe you are too. I don't know.
I do know this, though. I'll whisper it since it tends to make people mad when I say it.
(Sitting on a cushion with your knees on the ground is not that hard.)
There's a lot of bullshit cliches about the difference between Eastern and Western people. But one of the cliches that's not bullshit is that Western people are addicted to comfort. We really are. We bitch and whine and winge whenever our comfort is compromised. Most of the people I see who claim they can't sit zazen on a cushion fall into this category. They're just being big babies about it. They need to man-up (or woman-up or transgender-up) a little. It's just not that gosh darn difficult.
But I cannot enter your body/mind and know for sure whether you're really one of those very rare people who absolutely cannot sit on a cushion or if you're just one of those extremely common people who can do it but refuses to try. There's no way in the universe I can ever be 100% certain. Only you can know that.
Some people worry about those poor unfortunates who can't sit on the floor on cushions because of health issues or whatever. But y'know what? Every time I've spoken to someone who had honest health issues that prevented them sitting on cushions we've always managed to find a way. And the people who worry about hypothetical others that can't do it pretty much never are those people. Perhaps being the champion of hypothetical others isn't so important a job. They tend to be better spokespeople for themselves in my experience.
So this weekend in Antwerp and next weekend in Manchester, England I will be allowing people to sit in chairs if they insist upon it.
I'll be glad to have their participation.
I won't be mean to them or shout at them or tell them they're doing something wrong.
I don't bite.
I always allow people to do what they want as long as it doesn't disrupt others.
People sitting on chairs will be welcome to be with us and share in the experience in their own way.
But they won't be doing zazen.
Not a big deal. It just isn't zazen if you sit on a chair, unless there really honestly is no other way you can do it. That's all.


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In today's environment of agile software development, it is critical to make sure that developers and test engineers have as many test environments as they need to produce the best quality software with the fast time-to-market. One important question is knowing how much dev and test infrastructure is necessary.
Given the variability in demand for test environments throughout the software development process, the answer is not straightforward. This article outlines a framework, based primarily on queuing theory, that will help estimate not only how many test resources are needed, but also the cost of not having enough. It then establishes the concept of a dev/test infrastructure "efficient frontier" and illustrates how to optimize the software development process in terms of the correct amount of capacity. It also explores the impact to this efficient frontier by the introduction of the public cloud as a viable development platform.
Variable Demand + Fixed Supply = Big Problems!
Let's start by taking a qualitative look at the problem. Anyone who has developed software is familiar with the fact that as you reach a project milestone or sprint, you need more test environments because there are more code commits coming in. After that point, the need for testing resources decreases, then picks up again as you reach your next milestone or sprint (Figure 1). This phenomenon is what leads to the variability of demand for test environments. However, enterprises typically have a fixed supply, meaning there are only a certain number of test environments available for a given development team. As a result, just when the team needs test environments the most, they often don't have enough. Developers and test engineers end up waiting for access to test environments, and sometimes if the wait is too long, they end up not testing enough, hoping that QA will find any issues in their code. This causes all kinds of problems later on in the cycle. Projects get delayed and code quality is not as good as it could be. Often, issues are found only in staging or production, when they are harder and more expensive to fix
Figure 1.
Another issue that is related partly to the scarcity of test capacity infrastructure is that test environments often don't look like production environments (back in 2006, Martin Fowler coined "Test in a Clone of the Production Environment" as one of the principles of continuous integration). If there is limited capacity, developers and test engineering teams "cut corners," use mocks, stubs, and other simulation techniques to do the best job that they can given finite resources. This again manifests itself in the form of poor quality code, adds an additional burden on the QA team, and results in finding issues too late in the cycle.
The trade-off is shown in the graph in Figure 2. Too many dev/test environments, and the enterprise would have wasted capex (capital expenditure) and opex (operating expense) because the environments will be sitting around idle most of the time. Too few environments, and it will negatively impact the productivity of the development team and lead to developers waiting and not testing enough which has a direct cost impact. The key is to find the optimal point, or the lowest total cost to the organization.
Figure 2.
Quantifying the Dev/Test Infrastructure Efficient Frontier
We can apply queuing theory to quantify this phenomenon. Think of code commits coming in at a certain rate (arrival rate = λ commits per hour) and test environments that can process the code commit at a certain rate (service rate = μ commits per hour). A code commit is routed to a test environment immediately if the environment is available (and so the developer doesn't have to wait), or the commit is stuck in a queue if all test environments are servicing other commits until one of them frees up (in which case, the developer has to wait).
With this framework, illustrated in Figure 3, we can calculate the average time a developer spends waiting and the average utilization of the test environments. Hence, we can compare the cost of the test environments versus the cost of developers waiting for a given number of test environments.
Figure 3.
To illustrate this concept through a numerical example, let's make some assumptions (based in part on my observations of our own application development processes at Ravello, the company where I work).
General assumptions: Say you have a small team of 10 developers and test engineers who are developing additional features for your application, and your application is currently 300,000 lines of Java code. From your experience, the project will take approximately 12 months and will involve roughly 5,000 code commits (assuming the process involves a centralized source control with commits to mainline only). The application itself runs on 7 virtual machines: 2 Web servers, 2 application servers, 2 database servers, and a message queue. In addition, the production environment has a few network elements like load balancers, firewalls, and routers. As far as possible, you would like all testing (except unit testing) to be done on environments that are as close to the production environment as possible.
Figure 4.
Development process assumptions: Currently, your organization follows a process where developers do unit testing on their local machines and then commit their code. This triggers a build, which is smoke tested on a scaled down version of the production environment (in order to save on cost). If it passes, it goes to the integration-testing phase that is done in a larger environment. If that passes, then it is queued up to be system tested nightly with other commits.
Everything is good on an "average" day: Under normal conditions, the development team has a commit rate of λ = 4 commits per hour. Integration tests take 12 minutes, which means that the service rate μ = 5 commits per hour. From our M-D-s queue simulation, we can derive the amount of time that developers would wait on average for a given number of test environments. The results of the simulation are shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Now we can simply translate developer waiting time into cost by assuming each developer is paid $150K per year. In addition, we can also calculate the marginal cost for each additional test environment. This allows us to plot our efficient frontier, illustrated in Figure 6.
Figure 6.
As you can see, the optimal point is 2 smoke test environments, 2 integration test environments, 1 system testing environment, and 2 manual QA environments. Any more capacity, and we would have paid too much. Any less, and the cost of developers waiting would exceed the marginal cost of a new test environment.
Reality Bites: Version Day Mayhem
In reality, the assumption of 4 commits per hour is misleading (see the commit log in Figure 7, based on an actual Ravello log). As you can see in the sample commit log, the commit rate peaks to 20+ commits per hour close to release time (end of sprint); and often, it's even higher than that. At Ravello, our commit logs have shown a peak of 27 commits per hour.
Figure 7.
As a result, in our conceptual framework, the "demand curve" shifts to the right. And, the optimal point shifts to the right, which means that we need more test environments (Figure 8).
Figure 8.
If we had the earlier number of test environments for the average case, it would have led to developers waiting for access, substantially decreasing efficiency and throughput of our application development team. Developers wouldn't test enough because of the long wait, thus beginning the suboptimal process of just checking in code and hoping that QA will uncover any serious issues.


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Progress Software has acquired Cincinnati-based Modulus for its PaaS hosting, deploying, scaling, and application monitoring technologies. Modulus focuses on data-intensive apps using Node.js and MongoDB.
The Modulus Node.js and MongoDB cloud platform works for this new kind of cloud app that developers are being told they need to build; i.e., one that is constantly monitored and optimized at all times.
The Modulus platform is said to be suited for real-time mobile, SaaS, social, and big data apps that run across "distributed device bases" that have to handle floods of data requests — but that are, at the same time, capable of performing with built-in performance monitoring and analytics.
The Modulus platform is offered both as a hosted service and can also be deployed in public, private, and hybrid clouds as well as in an on-premise infrastructure. Modulus Enterprise is the first and only enterprise Node.js PaaS available as a licensed product.
Henry Wasik, CEO at Joyent, a leading cloud provider and corporate steward of Node.js, said, "Modulus is an important partner in the Joyent and Node.js ecosystems and we are helping developers create and deploy today's most demanding real-time web and mobile applications with a platform designed for rapid scale, efficiency, and performance."
James Governor, cofounder of industry analyst firm RedMonk, said, "Designed for high-scale applications, Node.js is growing explosively, and is making an impact on enterprise IT. Progress is acquiring the Modulus PaaS as an on-ramp to reduce deployment and management hurdles associated with Node.js."
Phil Pead, president and CEO, at Progress, said, "Node.js and MongoDB are increasingly at the core of the next generation of apps being developed by enterprises to better understand and interact with their customers. The Modulus capabilities are a perfect complement to the Progress Pacific PaaS platform and allow us to provide businesses and ISVs with an unmatched range of leading edge app development and deployment technologies."


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ORNL Review Archive
Science and Security
- Editorial: Science and security
- To the Point: ORNL welcomes new lab director and deputy for science, bacteria breaks down methylmercury, and neutrons and an elusive quantum state
- National Security at ORNL: The science behind national security, new marching orders: Fast-attack submarine officer and F-35 test pilots among those with one-year assignments at lab, eye of the beholder: Identity science comes of age, have you seen these genes?
- Focus on Computing: Titan digs deep with 3-D map of Earth's interior, virtual laser lab simulations create new insight
- Infographic: The promise of exascale computing
- Focus on Nuclear: Nuclear startup aided by high-performance computing
- Focus on Cybersecurity: Guarding the grid: Exploring methods to protect critical infrastructure
- Focus on Neutrons: Start your engines: Neutrons get a look inside a running engine, neutrons zero in on elusive magnetic Majorana fermion
- Focus on Biology: Neutrons provide the first nanoscale look at a living cell membrane
- Focus on Physical Sciences: More efficient turbine engines trace roots back a quarter century, small nanoparticles have surprisingly big effects on polymer nanocomposites
- Eugene Wigner Distinguished Lecturer: Thomas Friedman
- Why Science? Young researchers explain
- Time War: ORNL, Rickover and the nuclear Navy
Fundamental science at ORNL
- Editorial: ORNL is fundamentally strong
- To the Point: 'Mouse House' inspires breakthrough research, automation aids space fuel production, and nickel-78 is 'doubly magic'
- Fundamental Science at ORNL: Fundamentally strong: ORNL dives into basic science ... Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility: Tackling big questions with computation ... Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences: Small worlds, big discoveries ... ORNL's Neutron Science User Facilities: Neutrons unlock the mysteries of materials
- Focus on Neutrons: Neutrons and quantum spin liquids: Exploring the next materials revolution
- Focus on Neutrinos: Lab in a gold mine looks at matter– antimatter imbalance
- Infographic: Why is there matter?
- Focus on Data: Cancer research accelerates via deep learning
- Focus on Nuclear: ALICE experiment re-creates the universe's first split second ... Superior supercomputer parallelism for subatomic particle research
- Focus on Physical Sciences: Quantum materials promise exciting technologies for energy and electronics
- Eugene Wigner Distinguished Lecturer: Yuri Tsolakovich Oganessian
- Researcher Spotlight: Batteries and fertilizer: A conversation with ORNL chemist Gabriel Veith
- Why Science? Young researchers explain
- Time Warp: Liane Russell, pioneer of fetal rad safety
Big opportunities at the nanoscale
- Editorial: Big opportunities at the nanoscale
- To the Point: Spallation Neutron Source turns 10, tennessine joins the periodic table, and a happy accident advances ethanol production
- Tiny Scale, Giant Accomplishments: Exploring the 2-D nanomaterials frontier ... high-impact MIT research comes to ORNL ... Oak Ridge company to produce graphene in mass ... skilled researchers using advanced microscopes
- Focus on Computing: ORNL system unites imaging and computing in search for new materials ... team uses Titan to improve fission modeling
- Infographic: New technologies to make your home more efficient
- Focus on Imaging: Seeing through concrete
- Focus on Neutrons: Neutrino experiments explore the unknown with ORNL expertise, equipment
- Focus on Physical Sciences: Scientists find a cheaper way to extract uranium from seawater ... Speedy ion conduction in solid electrolytes clears road for advanced
- energy devices
- Focus on Nuclear: Indispensable nuclear modeling software gets a makeover
- Eugene Wigner Distinguished Lecturers: Brad Filippone ... Charles Holliday
- Why Science? Young researchers explain
- Time Warp: Weinberg takes a flier on computing at ORNL
Of Scale and Science
- Editorial: Of Scale and Science
- Features: Now, The Science ... Where None Have Gone Before ... Cross Pollination ... Imitating Mother Nature ... An International Affair ... Instruments of Change ... Unconventional Understanding ... Doubling Down
- A Closer view: Ian Anderson
- Research Horizons: Heal Thyself
- Awards: And the Winners Are. . .
America's 10 Energy Challenges
- Editorial: Solving the Big Problems
- Features: Both Directions at Once ... Becoming Part of the Process ... Anxiety Attack ... Food or Fuel? ... Too Much Gas ... The Nuclear Option ... Breaking the Grid Lock ... What's In Store ... Inexhaustible ... Protecting from the Unthinkable
- A Closer View: Thomas Zacharia
- Research Horizons: Bionic Science ... Breaking the Law
- Awards: And the Winners Are. . .
American Science Takes the Lead
- Editorial: A Vision Realized
- Features: The Gamble That Paid ... Kraken Rising ... Superconductivity from Supercomputers ... Going Underground ... Hotter Than The Sun ... The Performance Police ... Doubling Fuel Efficiency ... Invisible Means of Support
- A Closer View: James Hack
- Research Horizons: Cosmic Cauldrons
- Awards: And the Winner Is ...
Addressing the World's Energy Challenges
- Systems Biology: Advancing at a Breathtaking Pace : Editorial: Unraveling Life's Molecular Mysteries ... New Tools of Analysis ... First, the Questions ... Sequencing The First Tree Genome ... Pathways Underlying Disorders ... Piloting The Pipeline ... Neutron-Rich Mecca For Biologists ... A Clean Mouse Research Lab ... A Return On Investment ... Providing Access to The Best Biological Tools
- A Rich Past: Pioneer of Biological Research ... ORNL's Unsung Discovery
- Profile: Tuan Vo-Dinh: Inventor and Mentor
- Research Horizons: Guiding Light ... Another World Record
- Awards: ...and the Winners are...
Addressing the World's Energy Challenges
- Editorial: Regaining America's Leadership in High-Performance Computing ... Leadership-Class Computing for Science
- Scientific Discovery: Biology: Uncovering Secrets of Living Cells ... Climate and Carbon Research: Glimpses of Global Warming ... Fusion: Progress Through Computation ... Materials: Exploring and Modeling 21st Century Materials ... Astrophysics: Simulating Supernovae ... Chemistry: Tomorrow's Molecular and Nanoscale Devices
- Partnerships, Systems, Services, Support: Center for Computational Sciences: A Leadership-Class Facility ... Partnerships: Joining Hands to Address National Problems ... Networking: Linking America's Laboratories ... Software Tools: Scalable Systems Software for Terascale Computer Centers ... Future Computing Technologies: Pathfinders for Ultrascale Computing ... Visualization: New Ways to Understand the Data ... Industry: A Critical Connection
- Awards: ...and the Winners are...
Back To The Future: Nuclear Energy Research
- Features: Editorial ... Nuclear Power And Hydrogen Production: Fabricating Fuels ... Future Reactor Materials: Can the Next Generation Take The Heat? ... Future Reactor Materials: A Revolutionary Reactor Concept ... Uranium Enrichment: Coming Full Circle ... Nuclear Waste: Recovering Fuel From Waste ... Nuclear Safety: Staying In The Comfort Zone ... Nuclear Fuel: Getting Credit ... Reactor Power In Space: Shooting For The Moons ... Reactor Power In Space: Ahead Of Their Time
- Groundbreaking Science: New Horizons In Science Briefing ... Carrying Your Weight ... Defining The "Machines Of Life" ... Nanofluidics And The Artificial Cell ... Imitating Nature ... Tiny Detectors ... A Neutron Microscope ... Neutron Clues ... Uncovering The Evidence ... Bone Diaries ... From Exotic To Extinct ... Protein Folding Gone Awry ... Unfolding The Answers
- Profile: Jeff Wadsworth: New Director, New Directions
- Research Horizons: Cyber Science ... Modernizing The Grid ... ORNL's Impact On Big Bang Research
- Awards: And The Winners Are...
State of the Laboratory Features
- Hot Wire: A New Foundation for Superconductors
- Unlocking Electronic Gridlock: ORNL's Search for the Winning Combination
- Atomic Balm: Finding Hope in Isotopes
- ORNL's War on Crime, Technically Speaking
- Life on Earth: Why Biodiversity Varies
- Biosensors and Other Medical and Environmental Probes
- Hybrid Lighting: Illuminating Our Future


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Sound system is not the top of the line. At 120 mph there is little la k of true road feel. I replaced the water spray mother, the factory engineers, had no mercy for the guy who would some day repair that part.
BMW 3 Series Ratings, Reviews and Analysis
Ratings & Reviews
This is a really reliable, and fun car. I have experienced few mechanical issues, and if you do come across any issue it could easily become a DIY project. Stay away from the dealer ship for repairs, use trusted INDY shops you will save a bunch of money.
The performance of the car is undeniable. However the interior both the seats and the trim including headliner are lacking in quality. Both sun visors have fallen off and the holes that anchored them have elongated to the point that they will no longer hold the securing screws. It is my belief that if BMW were to address these issues they would have a car that could well go 1,000,000 miles.
Tires are run flats which cannot be repaired if a nail gets caught it in. But the driving experience more than shadows that issue.
I feel great driving it and she looks sweet. Great MPG. Unfortunately, I purchased car used; so there are minor things that I would love to have seen/felt and drove when the car was brand NEW. Otherwise, the negative would be the cost of oil changes $100 and any parts, repairs and import labor cost.


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Blog: Parodi Lecture in Philosophy of Art: "The Distracted Exhibition. On Enchantment and Composting Archival Shreds." by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
This lecture by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev explores the question of the art exhibition as an embodied and "dis-tracted" archive(dis / trahere = to pull or to draw in another direction), and it focuses on how objects function in relation to the experience of witnessing – the artist's witnessing of the world, the viewer's witnessing of the artwork, and even the art object's witnessing of the spectacle within which it is caught and entrapped.
dOCUMENTA (13) was both an art exhibition, a process and a state of mind. With examples of artworks and projects created for dOCUMENTA (13), including Mario Garcia Torres, Rossella Biscotti, Claire Pentecost, Michael Rakowitz, And And And, Adrian Villar-Rojas and Dihn Q Lee.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev was the Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA (13) and is guest professor in art theory and practices at Northwestern University, Evanston and Goethe University, Frankfurt.


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Hamilton Barbados Printed Drapery Fabric in Natural. This fabric will ship directly from the factory. In most cases the fabric will ship in 1-2 business days. On rare occasions the fabric will be out of stock and could take 1-6 weeks for delivery. We will notify you if the fabric is out of stock and we will issue a full refund or you can choose to leave the fabric on order.
- Width: 56" (inches)
- Pattern Repeat in Inches: 27x27
- Note: The price is per yard in this listing
Fabric Brand / Designer:
Hamilton Fabric


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The first game was, of course, Skyrim. I've take a hit on some discussion boards for praising this game, but honestly, the only reason I can think not to like it is that you deliberately want to be contrary. Sure, there are things not to like about it, but to not like it as a whole? Do you like games at all?
The second was Dragon Age: Origins, and playing it has entirely been against my will. My wife, Irene, went and picked up Dragon Age II a few weeks ago, but she insisted on replaying Origins, and all its expansions, this time as a female PC, so she could marry Alistair. Much of my weekend was a fight with Irene about playing Skyrim longer versus stopping it for Dragon Age. First-world problems, I know.
I've had a curious reaction to Dragon Age. On the surface, it seems to have all the things I like about CRPGs--an original game world with lots of lore, memorable NPCs, copious dialogue options, loads of side quests--and yet I find it curiously soulless. Few CRPGs are brilliantly original in their game worlds--most are derivative of Dungeons & Dragons in some way--but Dragon Age more than most feels somehow...assembled. It has that characterless feeling of "master-planned communities" in the mid-west and west, where the streets are all arranged in a grid and there's a strip mall at every major intersection.
It's interesting to compare the two modern games in respect to their approaches to role-playing. In Dragon Age (like most Interplay and Bioware titles), role-playing is almost entirely through dialogue. You decide who you are and you speak accordingly. Someone says something and you get maybe five choices:
- The "good" option
- A slightly lamer good option
- The selfishly-evil option
- The psychotically-evil option
- Something to kill the dialogue in case you hate dialogue
A young girl approaches, crying. "I've lost Mr. Snuffles!" she wails. "If you can find him, I'll give you these five shiny pieces I found in my da's desk!"
- "I'll do it! And don't worry about the gold. Use that to buy more bread for your family." [Morrigan disapproves]
- "I'll see if I can get to it."
- "Sure, I'll find Mr. Snuffles. But why don't you go home and see if you can find some more shiny pieces first?"
- "I'll take those 'shiny pieces' off your corpse!"
- "Go away, kid."
Again, this is normal in a lot of games from these developers and publishers, but it just feels so much more formulaic in Dragon Age. While I generally like dialogue, I agree that basing role-playing and quests around it forces you along a limited selection of paths. Dragon Age way overdoes it both the dialogue and romances for my tastes, anyway. The fact that I like both doesn't mean I want to spend 20 minutes reassuring Leliana that she's good in the sack.
In Skyrim, on the other hand, role-playing is based on how you interact with the game world--on what you do rather than what you say. The dialogue options, though better than in Oblivion, can't hold a candle to Dragon Age. More than once, indeed, I've found myself forced into accepting quests because I had no dialogue option to tell the quest-giver to sod off. In one city, knight asked me to accompany him into a haunted house and started me on a path where the only option to get the quest off my quest board was to beat a helpless priest to death with a rusty mace.
But what happens in between the dialogue in Skyrim is priceless. In Dragon Age, no matter how you role-play, combat and exploration go the same ways. You fight the same enemies in the same places for the same results, and all that matters is your overall motivation. Skyrim offers essentially limitless possibilities in combat and exploration. I'm just outside a bandit chief's room and I need to get a key off him. I could:
- Snipe him with a poisoned-soaked arrow
- Sneak up behind him and try to slit his throat
- Sneak up behind him and pickpocket the key
- Use an invisibility potion to walk up next to him and then let him have it with lightning blasts from both hands
- Summon a wave of skeletons
- Send a follower to take care of him
- Lead him outside and use a "shout" to send him spinning off a nearby cliff, then take the key from his corpse
- Lead him to the nearest guard outpost and let them deal with him
- Get him to chase me into a room full of his bandit friends, then use my "rage" scroll in the room, causing everyone to attack each other
The only way they could make it better is if I could talk to the bandit chief before attacking him, then try to persuade or bribe him for the key. Unfortunately, the game features two types of NPCs: those that you can talk to, and those that come charging at you, swords drawn, the moment they see you. Dragon Age usually has dialogues even when combat is inevitable.
Aside from combat, role-playing in Skyrim manifests itself in doing things like running from animals rather than killing them, ambushing every wandering Thalmor patrol you find, happily stealing from jarls' palaces but not the homes of townsfolk, and of course choosing to specialize in certain skills. The game doesn't generally acknowledge any of this, so you're essentially role-playing for yourself, which I guess some people find lame.
If you're curious about the third and fourth games I was spending time on, well, they're the ones this blog is supposed to be about. If you haven't been following, last Wednesday, I decided I couldn't get any further in Wizard Wars because of copy protection issues, only to have Skirie immediately find the information I needed. I had done a GIMLET and everything. So I spent some more time trying to win that game, and I determined that knowing the ingredients that go into certain spells means nothing if you can't find these ingredients. I visited every territory several times, ending up no further than I was on Wednesday. I'll keep trying.
The last game was Wizardry V, and I confess I devoted the least time to it. I got hung up a bit on the character creation process, which I will detail in the next posting, and I barely got out of the gate.
Travel has again made both Skyrim and Dragon Age impossible this week, so I should have some more stuff on Wizardry V and maybe Wizard Wars for the next few days.


text: Here_you_see_it,_now_you_don't_04 The homes of Badgery's Creek are slowly demolished to make way for Sydney's proposed second airport. Sited by the Australian Federal Governments 40 years ago as the location for Sydney's Second Airport the small rural community will soon not exist as the slow removal of its resident's, the livestock and their homes nears completion. This is an ongoing project about the landscape seen through the gaze of locals, the loss of a community, the failure of decision makers to see the importance of food sustainability in close proximity to a major city but also of the acceptance of progress.


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Brenner Children's pediatric emergency department has moved back to its original location. Learn more
In order to help protect patients, family members and health care workers from the spread of COVID-19, no visitors are allowed at any of Wake Forest Baptist Health's outpatient or inpatient facilities, except in certain situations.Learn moreMore COVID-19 Updates
A smile is the facial expression that most engages others. With the help of the teeth — which provide structural support for the face muscles — the mouth also forms a frown and other expressions that show on your face.
The mouth also plays a key role in the digestive system, but it does much more than get digestion started. The mouth — especially the teeth, lips, and tongue — is essential for speech. The tongue, which allows us to taste, also helps form words when we speak. The lips that line the outside of the mouth both help hold food in while we chew and pronounce words when we talk.
With the lips and tongue, teeth help form words by controlling air flow out of the mouth. The tongue strikes the teeth as certain sounds are made.
The hardest substances in the body, the teeth are also necessary for chewing (or mastication) — the process by which we tear, cut, and grind food in preparation for swallowing. Chewing allows enzymes and lubricants released in the mouth to further digest food.
Here's how each aspect of the mouth and teeth plays an important role in our daily lives.
The entrance to the digestive tract, the mouth is lined with mucous membranes. The membrane-covered roof of the mouth is called the palate. The front part consists of a bony portion called the hard palate, with a fleshy rear part called the soft palate. The hard palate divides the mouth and the nasal passages above. The soft palate forms a curtain between the mouth and the throat, or pharynx, to the rear. The soft palate contains the uvula, the dangling flesh at the back of the mouth. The tonsils are located on either side of the uvula and look like twin pillars holding up the opening to the pharynx.
A bundle of muscles extends from the floor of the mouth to form the tongue. The upper surface of the tongue is covered with tiny bumps called papillae. These contain tiny pores that are our taste buds. Four main kinds of taste buds are found on the tongue — those that sense sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes. Three pairs of salivary glands secrete saliva, which contains a digestive enzyme called amylase that starts the breakdown of carbohydrates even before food enters the stomach.
The lips are covered with skin on the outside and with slippery mucous membranes on the inside of the mouth. The major lip muscle, called the orbicularis oris, allows for the lips' mobility. The reddish tint of the lips comes from underlying blood vessels. The inside portion of both lips is connected to the gums.
There are several types of teeth. Incisors are the squarish, sharp-edged teeth in the front of the mouth. There are four on the bottom and four on the top. On either side of the incisors are the sharp canines. The upper canines are sometimes called eyeteeth or cuspids. Behind the canines are the premolars, or bicuspids. There are two sets, or four premolars, in each jaw.
The molars, situated behind the premolars, have points and grooves. There are 12 molars — three sets in each jaw called the first, second, and third molars. The third molars are the wisdom teeth, thought by some to have evolved thousands of years ago when human had larger jaws and ate mostly raw foods that required extra chewing power. But because they can crowd out the other teeth or cause problems like pain or infection, a dentist might need to remove them.
Human teeth are made up of four different types of tissue: pulp, dentin, enamel, and cementum. The pulp is the innermost portion of the tooth and consists of connective tissue, nerves, and blood vessels, which nourish the tooth. The pulp has two parts — the pulp chamber, which lies in the crown, and the root canal, which is in the root of the tooth. Blood vessels and nerves enter the root through a small hole in its tip and extend through the canal into the pulp chamber.
Dentin surrounds the pulp. A hard yellow substance, it makes up most of the tooth and is as hard as bone. It's the dentin that gives teeth their yellowish tint.
Enamel, the hardest tissue in the body, covers the dentin and forms the outermost layer of the crown. It enables the tooth to withstand the pressure of chewing and protects it from harmful bacteria and changes in temperature from hot and cold foods. Both the dentin and pulp extend into the root.
A layer of cementum covers the outside of the root, under the gum line, and holds the tooth in place within the jawbone. Cementum is also as hard as bone.
Humans are diphyodont, meaning that they develop two sets of teeth. The first set of 20 deciduous teeth are also called the milk, primary, temporary, or baby teeth. They begin to develop before birth and begin to fall out when a child is around 6 years old. They're replaced by a set of 32 permanent teeth, which are also called secondary or adult teeth.
Around the 8th week after conception, oval-shaped tooth buds consisting of cells form in the embryo. These buds begin to harden about the 16th week. Although teeth aren't visible at birth, both the primary and permanent teeth are forming below the gums. The crown, or the hard enamel-covered part that's visible in the mouth, develops first. After the crown is formed, the root begins to develop.
Between the ages of 6 months and 1 year, the deciduous teeth begin to push through the gums. This process is called eruption or teething. At this point, the crown is complete and the root is almost fully formed. By the time a child is 3 years old, he or she has a set of 20 deciduous teeth, 10 in the lower and 10 in the upper jaw. Each jaw has four incisors, two canines, and four molars. The molars' purpose is to grind food, and the incisors and canine teeth are used to bite into and tear food.
The primary teeth help the permanent teeth erupt in their normal positions; most of the permanent teeth form close to the roots of the primary teeth. When a primary tooth is preparing to fall out, its root begins to dissolve. This root has completely dissolved by the time the permanent tooth below it is ready to erupt.
Kids start to lose their primary teeth, or baby teeth, at about 6 years old. This begins a phase of permanent tooth development that lasts over the next 15 years, as the jaw steadily grows into its adult form. From ages 6 to 9, the incisors and first molars start to come in. Between ages 10 and 12, the first and second premolars, as well as the canines, erupt. From 11 to 13, the second molars come in. The wisdom teeth (third molars) erupt between the ages of 17 and 21.
Sometimes there isn't room in a person's mouth for all the permanent teeth. If this happens, the wisdom teeth may get stuck, or impacted, beneath the gum and may need to be removed. Overcrowding of the teeth is one of the reasons kids get braces.
The first step of digestion involves the mouth and teeth. Food enters the mouth and is immediately broken down into smaller pieces by our teeth. Each type of tooth serves a different function in the chewing process. Incisors cut foods when you bite into them. The sharper and longer canines tear food. The premolars, which are flatter than the canines, grind and mash food. Molars, with their points and grooves, are responsible for the most vigorous chewing. All the while, the tongue helps to push the food up against our teeth.
During chewing salivary glands in the walls and floor of the mouth secrete saliva, which moistens the food and helps break it down even more. Saliva makes it easier to chew and swallow foods (especially dry foods), and it contains enzymes that aid in the digestion of carbohydrates.
Once food has been converted into a soft, moist mass, it's pushed into the throat (or pharynx) at the back of the mouth and is swallowed. When we swallow, the soft palate closes off the nasal passages from the throat to prevent food from entering the nose.
Proper dental care — including a good diet, frequent cleaning of the teeth after eating, and regular dental checkups — is essential to maintaining healthy teeth and avoiding tooth decay and gum disease.
Common mouth and dental diseases and conditions — some of which can be prevented, some of which cannot — are:
Reviewed by: Kenneth H. Hirsch, DDS
Date reviewed: July 2015
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CA Supply Chains Act
As a global leader in Outdoor Power Equipment, our corporate policy is to ensure we conduct business in a way that respects human rights and values. We respect human rights by ensuring non-discrimination in our personnel practices. We comply with the laws of the communities in which we serve.
MTD does not employ children or support the use of child labor. We believe that people should work because they want or need to, not because they are forced to do so. MTD prohibits the use of slavery and human trafficking. We require our suppliers to comply with MTD's policy. If a supplier fails to comply with our human rights requirements, especially in the areas of slavery and human trafficking, we will take appropriate action, which can include canceling all contracts and notifying local authorities of any suspect or confirmed illegal activity.
To that end, MTD is reviewing our existing supply chain policy to ensure that our supply chain is free of any products of forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and slavery. This policy will require direct suppliers to certify that materials incorporated into the product comply with the laws regarding slavery and human trafficking of the country or countries in which they are doing business. Our policy will also develop a more formal approach to auditing suppliers, maintaining internal and external accountability standards and procedures and will provide company employees and management, who have direct responsibility for supply chain management, training on forced labor, child labor, human trafficking and slavery.


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3 Heart Map - Wedding Print
We don't have many reviews here yet, but we have plenty on Etsy!
This print makes the perfect unique gift. Choose any locations in the world! We have a vast resource of maps to use, so even small towns are no problem.
- If customized you will receive a digital proof within 1-5 days from purchase.
- Unframed prints ship 1-3 days after design is approved.
- Framed prints ship 6-10 days from art approval.
Please enter text as you add the item to your cart with the following information:
- The city to be featured.
- Any text changes or names to be featured.
About Framed & Canvas Prints
- Art is professionally framed with top quality, eco-friendly materials.
- Canvas is premium archival grade stretched on a wood frame, 1.5" deep.
- Framed and canvas orders ship within 6 to 10 days after art is approved.
Please note the scale of the map in the photo -- yours will likely be the same scale, so if your town is small please realize it may look small on the map! Maps vary in appearance; most are vintage mid-century.
When will I get my print?
Unframed orders usually ship within 2-7 days
Proofs will be sent within 0-3 days. Be sure to reply to your proof email promptly for faster shipment!
Can you feature { your } cities or { your } text?
Yes! Any cities can be featured (worldwide), and I can change any and all text!


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RICHLAND TWP, Clarion County — No one was injured but a wrecked truck shut down traffic on the Emlenton Bridge on Interstate 80 for about an hour early this morning, authorities said.
The truck driver, whose name was not immediately known, was eastbound on I-80 about 2 a.m. when his tractor-trailer crashed into a Jersey barrier
The concrete barrier was installed to separate lanes of traffic as part of a bridge and road renovation project. The bridge spans the Allegheny River and links Clarion and Venango counties along I-80.
The four-lane highway across the bridge is reduced to one lane in each direction during the construction project.
State police had to close the bridge and detour traffic following the accident to allow a wrecker to tow away the disabled tractor-trailer.


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Heeled Lace-Up Bootie
The Fit Expert
Tanya from our Calgary store says:
The Bartoli fits true, but people with longer toes may want to go up half a size, and the lace-up is great for those of us with a high instep!
Imagine your favourite bootie - the Giulia boot, but better! So bring on the tights, skinny jeans, or the dress you've been waiting to wear because the perfect accompaniment is finally here. The soft Baccarat Patent leathers, soft rubber soles, and with a 2.5" (5.5cm) leather wrapped heel; The Bartoli is so comfortable you almost, almost... feel guilty for skipping school so early in the semester. Your Love Makes Me Sing.
Half sizes available.
Instagram @fluevog #vog_bartoli
Tanya from our Calgary store says:
The Bartoli fits true, but people with longer toes may want to go up half a size, and the lace-up is great for those of us with a high instep!
Love my Bartoli! Durable, confortable and beautiful! After 10 years still in love!
Changed the rubber heel 3 times as I wore them everywhere. Walked the streets of NY with them, A night in Vegas, a whole shopping expedition in LA. They are so comfortable that I could even wear in cold or rainy days.
Their nonslippiry sole helped in those rainy days in Seattle and cold days in Australia.
I highly recommend this boots! Great with jeans and dresses. Yu can wear them for work, night out or casual wear.
They last me 10 years! thanks #fluevog! So time to get a new pair! (Just need to find my size )
style and stability in a heeled bootie
Beautiful and tragic
Only issue is chafing at the back of my leg where the grabber tab is sewn onto the boot. Long socks is a must or bandaids on the skin to prevent blisters. I have worn them 6 times without relief. I still love them...but the issue is inconvienent...
Bartolis - so fantastic
These are my first, and I couldn't be happier
Love my bartolis
best ever
Love this design, but sad the heel is broken
I regret nothing!
Five compliments in two wearings!
What I would do for a a pair of Fluevogs
In October 2012 I saw a colleague with a pair of Bartolis on.
Since October I have been idolizing the Bartolis via the webiste.
In December 2012, I decided to treat myself to a pair for my birthday.
Plan A: Go to SF Grant Ave store and pick up a pair after a work meeting on 12/21
Plan B: Meeting was cancelled so I ordered the Bartolis via 2 day shipping. My boots were suppose to arrive on 12/20 but did not. UPS says they attempted to deliver but no one was home. Wrong! I had been home all afternoon and evening waiting for my beloved Bartolis.
Plan C: Boots were to be delivered on 12/21 and I had an all day meeting so I(regretfully) decided to authorize leaving the package on my front porch, hidden. UPS tracking stated they delivered my package @ 11:55 am. Guess what? When I arrived home at 5:00 pm no package! I checked all around the outside of the house and I checked with all of my neighbors, still no package.
Plan D: I drove down to SF Grant Ave store and bought the last pair of Bartoli's in Wine! This is what I would do for a pair of Fluevogs!!
Amazing boots
I have bunions and these boots are SO comfortable - I'll get that out of the way first.
But the style is amazing. They look cute with leggings, or boot leg pants, or skirts or jeans. They are so striking and people continue to notice and compliment them years later.
I like the red because I can dress down every other part of my outfit and just throw on these boots and voila, I've got a look.
I've worn them so much that they are a bit scuffed and I'm going to polish them up because they are keepers for sure.
So elegant !
Super Booties!
Je suis du même avis que la botte droite est plus étroite que la gauche??
Cependant, mes autres chaussures Fluevog sont très confortables et uniques.
my vogs
my favourite!
A bit of breaking in needed on the top edge but they will be well worth the wear.
One hot shoe!
The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes
Amazing boots!
These started an Operetta trend...
Best boots ever!
There's something true in your saying that Fluevogs are soles for the soul...you really do feel special wearing them.
Shades of Awesomeness
So BEAUTIFUL!
Oh wow!
Best Thing I Own!
Third Pair
Bought these today
Beautiful Boots
Operetta Bartoli
Heels I Can Wear
I love that it feels like these shoes were made for me personally. I am totally smitten with my two purchases. Thanks, John!
Soooo comfortable
Super comfy super cute
I can't wait for my next trip to Vancouver. At least so that I can ogle the rest of the shoes until my bank account can accomodate another pair.
Oh Yeah!
I have a bad habit of occasionally scraping my big toe against the opposite boot when I walk. Most boots get scratched up right away, but not these! The soft sole against the leather upper is like an eraser - the mark just rubs away!
I am so thrilled with these boots - they are awesome.