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Digital Signal Processsing
Bell Labs hits 10Gbps broadband over copper
Parameters for selection of a processor — part 2
Processors suitable for digital control range from standard microprocessors like 8051 to special purpose DSP processors, the primary difference being in the instruction sets and speed(s) of particular instruction(s), such as multiply. Standard microprocessors or general purpose processors are intended for laptops, workstations, and general digital data bookkeeping. Naturally, because digital control involves much numerical computation, the instruction sets for special-purpose DSP processors are rich in math capabilities and are better suited for control applications than the standard microprocessors or general purpose processors.
Processors, such as those found in microwave ovens have a broad range of requirements. For example, the speed, instruction set, memory, word length, and addressing mode requirements are all very minimal for the microwave oven. The consequences of a data error are minimal as well, especially, relative to a data error in a PC/laptop while it is calculating an income tax return. PC's or laptops, on the other hand, require huge megabytes of memory, and they benefit from speed, error correction, larger word size, and sophisticated addressing modes.
DSP processors generally need speed, word length, and math instructions such as multiply, multiply-and-accumulate, and circular addressing. One typical feature of signal processors not found in general purpose processors is the use of a Harvard architecture, which consists of separate data and program memory. Although separate data and program memory offer significant speed advantages, the IC pin count is higher assuming external memory is allowed because instruction address, instruction data, data address, and data buses are separate. A modified Harvard architecture has been used which maintains some speed advantage, while eliminating the requirement for separate program and data buses, greatly reducing pin count in processors that have external memory capability (almost all have this feature).
While thinking of control versus signal processing applications, in the former, we often employ saturation and therefore absolutely require saturation arithmetic; whereas in the latter, to ensure signal fidelity, in most signal processing applications the algorithms must be designed to prevent saturation by scaling signals appropriately.
The consequences of numerical overflow in control computations can be serious, even destabilizing. In most forms of numerical computation, it is usually better to suffer the non-linearity of signal saturation than the effects of numerical overflow.
For most control applications, it is advantageous to select a processor that does not require much support hardware. One of the most commonly cited advantages of digital control is the freedom from noise in the control processor. Although it is true that controller noise is nominally limited to equalization noise, it is not true that the digital controller enjoys an infinite immunity from noise. Digital logic is designed with certain noise margins, which of course are finite. When electromagnetic radiation impinges on the digital control system, there ia finite probability of making an error. One of the consequences of digital control is that although it can have a very high threshold of immunity, without error detection and correction it is equally likely that the system will make a large error as a small one — the MSB and the LSB of a bus have equal margin against noise.
In addition to external sources of error-causing signals, the possibility for circuit failure exists. If a digital logic circuit threshold drifts outside the design range, the consequences are usually catastrophic.
For operational integrity, error detection is a very important feature.
I hope to compare, if possible, some families of Digital Control processors here, a bit later.
Nalin Pithwa
Digital Control of Dynamic Systems, Franklin, Powell and Workman.
Convolution Video
Bilinear Transformation via Synthetic Division: The Matrix Method
(Authors: Prof. Navdeep M. Singh, VJTI, University of Mumbai and Nalin Pithwa, 1992).
Abstract: The bilinear transformation can be achieved by using the method of synthetic division. A good deal of simplification is obtained when the process is implemented as a sequence of matrix operations. Besides, the matrices are found to have simple structures suitable for algorithmic implementation.
Davies [1] proposed a method for bilinear transformation using synthetic division. This method can be quite simplified when the synthetic division is carried out as a set of matrix operations because the operator matrices are found to have simple structures and so can be easily generated.
Given a discrete time transfer function , it is transformed to in the s-plane under the transformation:
This can be sequentially achieved as :-
The first step is to represent the given characteristic polynomial in the standard companion form. Since the companion form represents a monic polynomial appropriate scaling is required in the course of the algorithm to ensure that the polynomial generated is monic after each step of transformation.
The method is developed for a third degree polynomial and then generalized.
Step 1:
(decreasing of roots by one)
Given (a_{3}=1) (monic)
Then, where , ,
In the companion form, obviously the following transformation is sought:
and and
Performing elementary row and column transformations on A using matrix operators, the final row operator and column operator matrices, and , respectively are found to be and .
Thus, .
In general, for a polynomial of degree n,
and , where both the matrices are .
and , and B is also .
Where , where .
Now, the transformation is sought respectively. The row and column operator matrices and respectively are : and .
and are found to have the following general structures:
and , both general matrices and , being of dimensions .
is lower triangular and can be generated as : , where and so we get
, where , and .
Similarly, is lower triangular and can be generated as :
, where
Thus, when A is the companion form of a polynomial of any degree n, then gives in the companion form.
Step 2:
(scaled inversion).
Let where , , .
The scaling of the entire polynomial by ensures that the polynomial generated is monic and hence, can be represented in the companion form.
The following transformation is sought:
The row and column operator matrices and respectively are:
In general, and , where both the general matrices and are of dimensions .
So, we get , which is also a matrix of dimension .
Step 3:
, with (scaling of roots)
If , then .
The following transformation is sought:
and .
The row and column operators, and , respectively are:
, and
In general, , and , where the general matrices and are both of dimensions
Step 4:
(increasing of roots by one)
For the third degree case, the following transformation is sought:
and and ,
where , , .
The row and column operators and are :
In general, , and , both the general matrices and being of dimensions .
Where and , where and is a lower triangular matrix where .
In general, we have
and so on
Now, the transformation is to be achieved. The row and column operators, and , respectively are: and
In general, and , where both the general matrices and are of dimensions .
, a lower triangular matrix can be easily generated as:
; .
and , also a lower triangular matrix can be easily generated as:
; and when ; and
Thus, finishes the process of bilinear transformation. Steps 2 and 3 can be combined so that the algorithm reduces to three steps only.
If the original polynomial is non-monic (that is, ), then multiplying the final tranformed polynomial by restores it to the standard form.
III. Stability considerations:
In the plane, the Schwarz canonical approach can be applied as an algorithm directly to the canonical form of bilinear transformation of the polynomial obtained previously because a companion form is a non-derogatory matrix.
IV. An Example:
Similarly, and
Steps 2 and 3:
Step 4:
, , , .
, , ,
, so we get
The final monic polynomial is , and multiplying it by , that is, , restores it to the non-monic form:
V. Conclusion:
Since the operator matrices have lesser non-zero elements, storage requirements are lesser. The computational complexity should reduce for higher-order systems because the non-zero elements lesser manipulations are also lesser, besides lesser storage requirements. Additionally, the second and third steps can be combined giving a three step method only. Thus, the algorithm easily achieves bilinear transformation, especially, for higher systems compared to other available methods hitherto.
VI. References:
- Davies, A.C., "Bilinear Transformation of Polynomials", IEEE Automatic Control, Nov. 1974.
- Barnett and Storey, "Matrix Methods in Stability Theory", Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
- Datta, B. N., "A Solution of the Unit Circle Problem via the Schwarz Canonical Form", IEEE Automatic Control, Volume AC 27, No. 3, June 1982.
- Parthsarthy R., and Jaysimha, K. N., "Bilinear Transformation by Synthetic Division", IEEE Automatic Control, Volume AC 29, No. 6, June 1986.
- Jury, E.I., "Theory and Applications of the z-Transform Method", John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1984.
More on Motion Control and DSP
Introduction to the TMSLF2407 DSP Controller.
The Texas Instruments TMS320LF2407 DSP Controller referred to as the LF2407 in this article is a programmable digital controller with a C2xx DSP CPU as the core processor. The LF2407 contains the DSP core processor and useful peripherals integrated into a single piece of silicon. The LF2407 combines the powerful CPU with on-chip memory and peripherals. With the DSP core and control-oriented peripherals integrated into a single chip, users can design very compact and cost-effective digital control systems.
The LF2407 DSP controller offers 40 MIPS performance. This high processing speed of the C2xx CPU allows users to compute parameters in real-time rather than look up approximations from tables stored in memory. This fast performance is suitable for processing control parameters in applications such as notch filters or sensorless motor control algorithms where a large amount of calculations must be computed quickly.
While the brain of the LF2407 DSP is the C2xx core, the LF2407 contains several control-oriented peripherals onboard. These peripherals make virtually any digital control requirement possible. Their applications range from analog to digital conversion to pulse width modulation (PWM) generation. Communications peripherals make possible the communication with external peripherals, personal computers, or other DSP processors. Below is a brief listing of the peripherals onboard the LF2407:
The LF2407 peripheral set includes:
- Two Event Managers (A and B)
- General Purpose (GP) Timers
- PWM generators for digital motor control
- Analog to Digital Converter
- Controller Area Network (CAN) interface
- Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) — synchronous serial port
- Serial Communications Interface (SCI) — asynchronous serial port
- General purpose bidirectional digital I/O (GPIO) pins
- Watchdog Timer ("time-out" DSP reset device for system integrity)
Brief Introduction to Peripherals:
The following peripherals are those that are integrated onto the LF2407 chip.
Event Managers (EVA, EVB)
There are two event managers on the LF2407, the EVA and the EVB. The Event Manager is the most important peripheral in digital motor control. It contains the necessary functions needed to control electromechanical devices. Each EV is composed of functional "blocks" including timers, comparators, capture units for triggering on an event, PWM logic circuits, quadrature encoded pulse (QEP) circuits and interrupt logic.
The Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)
The ADC on the LF2407 is used whenever an external analog signal needs to be sampled and converted to a digital number. Examples of ADC applications range from sampling a control signal for use in a digital notch filter algorithm or using the ADC in a control feedback loop to monitor motor performance. Additionally, the ADC is useful in motor control applications because it allows for current-sensing using a shunt resistor instead of inexpensive current sensor.
The Control Area Network (CAN) module:
While we will discuss the CAN module in a later blog, it is a useful peripheral for specific applications of the LF2407. The CAN module is used for multi-master serial communication between external hardware. The CAN has a high level of data integrity and is ideal for operation in noisy environments such as in an automobile, or industrial environments that require reliable communication and data integrity.
Serial Parallel Interface(SPI) and Serial Communications Interface (SCI):
The SPI is a high speed synchronous communications port that is mainly used for communicating between the DSP and external peripherals or another DSP device. Typical uses of the SPI include communications with external shift registers, display drivers or ADC's.
The SCI is an asynchronous communications port that supports asynchronous serial (UART) digital communications between the CPU and other asynchronous peripherals that use the standard NRZ (non-return to zero) format. It is useful in communications between external devices and the DSP. Since these communications peripherals are not directly related to motor control applications, they will not be discussed in this article.
Watchdog Timer
The Watchdog Timer (WD) monitors software and hardware operations and asserts a system reset when its internal counter overflows. The WD timer (when enabled) will count for a specific amount of time. It is necessary for the user's software to reset the WD timer periodically so that an unwanted reset does not occur. If for some reason there is a CPU disruption, the watch dog timer will generate a system reset. For example, if the software enters an endless loop or if the CPU becomes temporarily disrupted, the WD timer will overflow and a DSP reset will occur, which will cause the DSP program to branch to its initial starting point. Most error conditions that temporarily disrupt chip operation and inhibit proper CPU function can be cleared by the WD function. In this way, the WD increases the reliability of the CPU, thus ensuring system integrity.
General Purpose Bi-directional Digital I/O (GPIO) pins
Since there are only a finite number of pins available on the LF2407 device many of the pins are multiplexed to either their primary function or the secondary GPIO function. In most cases, a pin's second function will be as a general-purpose input/output pin. The GPIO capability of the LF2407 is very useful as a means of controlling the functionality of pins and also provides another method to input or output data to and from the device. Nine 16-bit control registers control all the I/O and shared pins. There are two types of these registers:
- I/O MUX Control Registers (MCRx) — Used to control the multiplexer selection that chooses between the primary function of a pin or the general purpose I/O function.
- Data and Direction Control Registers (PxDATDIR): Used to control the data and data direction of bi-directional I/O pins.
Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) Port
The JTAG port provides a standard method of interfacing a personal computer with the DSP controller for emulation and development. The XDS510PP or equivalent emulator pod provides the connection between the JTAG module on the LF2407 and the personal computer. The JTAG module allows the PC to take full control over the DSP processor while Code Composer Studio is running. The schematic below shows the connection scheme from computer to the DSP board.
Phase Locked Loop (PLL) Clock Module
The phase locked loop (PLL) module is basically an input clock multiplier that allows the user to control the input clocking frequency to the DSP core. External to the LF2407, a clock reference (can be oscillator/crystal) is generated. This signal is fed into the LF2407 and is multiplied or divided by the PLL. This new (higher or lower frequency) clock signal is then used to clock the DSP core. The LF2407's PLL allows the user to select a multiplication factor ranging from 0.5X to 4X that of the external clock signal. The default value of the PLL is 4X.
Memory Allocation Space
The LF2407 DSP Controller has three different allocations of memory it can use: Data, Program and I/O memory space. Data space is used for program calculations, look-up tables, and any other memory used by an algorithm. Data memory can be in the form of the on-chip RAM or external RAM. Program memory is the location of user's program code. Program memory on the LF2407 is either mapped to the off-chip RAM (MP/MC-pin=1) or to the on-chip flash memory (MP/MC-=0), depending on the logic value of the MP/MC-pin.
I/O space is not really memory but a virtual memory address used to output data to peripherals external to the LF2407. For example, the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) on the Spectrum Digital Evaluation Module is accessed with I/O memory. If one desires to output data to the DAC, the data is simply sent to the configured address of I/O space with the "OUT" command. This process is similar to writing to data memory except that the OUT command is used and the data is copied to and outputted on the DAC instead of being stored in memory.
Types of Physical Memory.
Random Access Memory (RAM):
The LF2407 has 544 words of 16 bits each in the on-chip DARAM. These 544 words are partitioned into three blocks: B0, B1, and B2. Blocks B1 and B2 are allocated for use only as data memory. Memory block B0 is different than B1 and B2. The memory block is normally configured as Data Memory, and hence primarily used to hold data, but in the case of the B0 block, it can also be configured as Program Memory. B0 memory can be configured as program or data memory depending on the value of the core level CNF bit.
- (CNF =0) maps B0 to data memory.
- (CNF=1) maps B0 to program memory.
The LF2407 also has 2K of single access RAM (SARAM). The addresses associated with the SARAM can be used for both data memory and program memory, and are software configurable to the internal SARAM or external memory.
Non-Volatile Flash Memory
The LF2407 contains 32K of on-chip flash memory that can be mapped to program space if the MP/MC-pin is made logic 0 (tied to ground). The flash memory provides a permanent location to store code that is unaffected by cutting power to the device. The flash memory can be electronically programmed and erased many times to allow for code development. Usually, the external RAM on the LF2407 Evaluation Module (EVM) board is used instead of the flash for code development due to the fact that a separate "flash programming" routine must be performed to flash code into the flash memory. The on-chip flash is normally used in situations where the DSP program needs to be tested where a JTAG connection is not practical or where the DSP needs to be tested as a "stand-alone" device. For example, if a LF2407 was used to develop a DSP control solution to an automobile braking system, it would be somewhat impractical to have a DSP/JTAG/PC interface in a car that is undergoing performance testing.
More later,
Nalin Pithwa
DSP Processors, Embodiments and Alternatives: Part I
Uptil now, we described digital signal processing in general terms, focusing on DSP fundamentals, systems and application areas. Now, we narrow our focus in DSP processors. We begin with a high level description of the features common to virtually all DSP processors. We then describe typical embodiments of DSP processors, and briefly discuss alternatives to DSP processors such as general purpose microprocessors, microcontrollers(for comparison purposes) (TMS320C20) and FPGA's. The next several blogs provide a detailed treatment of DSP processor architectures and features.
So, what are the "special" things that a DSP processor can perform? Well, like the name says, DSP processors do signal processing very well. What does "signal processing" mean? Really, it's a set of algorithms for processing signals in the digital domain. There are analog equivalents to these algorithms, but processing them digitally has been proven to be more efficient. This has been trend for many many years. Signal processing algorithms are the basic building blocks for many applications in the world from cell phones to MP3 players, digital still cameras, and so on. A summary of these algorithms is shown below:
- FIR Filter:
- IIR Filter:
- Convolution:
- Discrete Fourier Transform:
- Discrete Cosine Transform:
One or more of these algorithms are used in almost every signal processing application. FIR filters and IIR filters are almost fundamental to any DSP application. They remove unwanted noise from signals being processed, convolution algorithms are used to look for similarities in signals, discrete Fourier transforms are used to represent signals in formats that are easier to process, and discrete cosine transforms are used in image processing applications. We will discuss the details of some of these algorithms later, but there are things to notice about this entire list of algorithms. First, they all have a summing operation, the function. In the computer world, this is equivalent to an accumulation of a large number of elements which is implemented using a "for" loop. DSP processors are designed to have large accumulators because of this characteristic. They are specialized in this way. DSPs also have special hardware to perform the "for" loop operation so that the programmer does not have to implement this in software, which would be much slower.
The algorithms above also have multiplication of two different operands. Logically, if we were to speed up this operation, we would design a processor to accommodate the multiplication and accumulation of two operands like this very quickly. In fact, this is what has been done with DSPs. They are designed to support the multiplication and accumulation of data sets like this very quickly; for most processors, in just one cycle. Since these algorithms are very common in most DSP applications, tremendous execution savings can be obtained by exploiting these processor optimizations.
There are also inherent structures in DSP algorithms that allow them to be separated and operated on in parallel. Just as in real life, if I can do more things in parallel, I can get more done in the same amount of time. As it turns out, signal processing algorithms have this characteristic as well. So, we can take advantage of this by putting multiple orthogonal (nondependent) execution units in our DSP processors and exploit this parallelism when implementing these algorithms.
DSP processors must also add some reality in the mix of these algorithms shown above. Take the IIR filter described above. You may be able to tell just by looking at this algorithm that there is a feedback component that essentially feeds back previous outputs into the calculation of the current output. Whenever you deal with feedback, there is always an inherent stability issue. IIR filters can become unstable just like other feedback systems. Careless implementation of feedback systems like the IIR filter can cause the output to oscillate instead of asymptotically decaying to zero (the preferred approach). This problem is compounded in the digital world where we must deal with finite word lengths, a key limitation in all digital systems. We can alleviate this using saturation checks in software or use a specialized instruction to do this for us. DSP processors, because of the nature of signal processing algorithms, use specialized saturation underflow/overflow instructions to deal with these conditions efficiently.
There is more I can say about this, but you get the point. Specialization is really all it is about with DSP processors; these processors specifically designed to do signal processing really well. DSP processors may not be as good as other processors when dealing with nonsignal processing centric algorithms (that's fine; I am not any good at medicine either). So, it's important to understand your application and choose the right processor. (A previous blog about DAC and ADC did mention this issue).
(We describe below common features of DSP processors.)
Dozens of families of DSP processors are available on the market today. The salient feature of some of the commonly used families of DSP Processors are summarized in Table 1. Throughout these series, we will use these processors as examples to illustrate the architectures and features that can be found in commercial DSP processors.
Most DSP processors share some common features designed to support repetitive, numerically intensive tasks. The most important of these features are introduced briefly here. Each of these features and many others will be examined in greater detail in this blog article series.
Table 1.
Fast Multiply Accumulate
The most often cited of DSP feature of DSP processors is the ability to perform a multiply-accumulate operation (often called a MAC) in a single instruction cycle. The multiply-accumulate operation is useful in algorithms that involve computing a vector product, or matrix product, such as digital filters, correlation, convolution and Fourier transforms. To achieve this functionality, DSP processors include a multiplier and accumulator integrated into the main arithmetic processing unit (called the data path) of the processor. In addition, to allow a series of multiply-accumulate operations to proceed without the possibility of arithmetic overflow, DSP processors generally provide extra bits in their accumulator registers to accommodate growth of the accumulated result. DSP processor data paths will be discussed in detail in some later blog here.
Multiple Access Memory Architecture.
A second feature shared by most DSP processors is the ability to complete several accesses to memory in a single instruction cycle. This allows the processor to fetch an instruction while simultaneously fetching operands for the instruction or storing the result of the previous instruction to memory. High bandwidth between the processor and memory is essential for good performance if repetitive data intensive operations are required in an algorithm, as is common in many DSP applications.
In many processors, single cycle multiple memory accesses are subject to restrictions. Typically, all but one of the memory locations must reside on-chip, and multiple memory accesses can take place only with certain instructions. To support simultaneous access of multiple memory locations, DSP processors provide multiple on-chip buses, multiported on-chip memories, and in some casesm multiple independent memory banks. DSP memory structures are quite distinct from those of general purpose processors and microcontrollers. DSP processor memory architectures will be investigated in detail later.
Specialized Addressing Modes.
To allow arithmetic processing to proceed at maximum speed and to allow specification of multiple operands in a small instruction word, DSP processors incorporate dedicated address generation units. Once the appropriate addressing registers have been configured, the address generation units operate in the background, forming the addresses required for operand accesses in parallel with the execution of arithmetic instructions. Address generation units typically support a selection of addressing modes tailored to DSP applications. The most common of these is register-indirect addressing with post-increment, which is used in situations where a repertitive computation is performed on a series of data stored sequentially in memory. Special addressing modes (called circular or modulo addressing) are often supported to simplify the use of data buffers. Some processors support bit-reversed addressing, which eases the task of interpreting the results of the FFT algorithm. Addressing modes will be described in detail later.
Specialized Execution Control.
Because many DSP algorithms involve performing repetitive computations, most DSP processors provide special support for efficient looping. Often, a special loop or repeat instruction is provided that allows the programmer to implement a for-next loop without expending any instruction cycles for updating and testing the loop counter or for jumping back to the top of the loop.
Some DSP processors provide other execution control features to improve performance, such as context switching and low-latency, low overhead interrupts for fast input/output.
Hardware looping and interrupts will also be discussed later in this blog series.
Perfipheral and Input/Output Interfaces
To allow low-cost, high performance input and output (I/O), most DSP processors incorporate one or more serial or parallel I/O interfaces, and specialized I/O handling mechanisms such as Direct Memory Access (DMA). DSP processor peripheral interfaces are often designed to interface directly with common peripheral devices like analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.
As integrated circuit manufacturing techniques have improved in terms of density and flexibility, DSP processor vendors have included not just peripheral interfaces, but complete peripheral devices on-chip. Examples of this are chips designed for cellular telephone applications, several of which incorporate a DAC and ADC on chip.
Various features of DSP processor peripherals will be described later in this blog series.
In the next blog, we will discuss DSP Processor embodiments.
More later,
Nalin Pithwa


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Baking soda is one of those ingredients everyone has in their kitchen. It is generally used for rising the dough while cooking, but many people don't know that it has numerous health benefits as well.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is produced by our body in order to regulate the pH levels of the blood and tissues. Sodium bicarbonate also regulates the oxygenation and balances the cell voltage, improving the electrical connectivity in the cells. Here are the main health benefits of baking soda:
1. Eliminates urinary tract infections
If you're suffering from urinary tract infections, you need to add a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water and drink the mixture right away. Baking soda will reduce your urine's acidity which is usually responsible for the pain you may be experiencing during urination.
2. Neutralizes stomach acid
Baking soda is an alkaline ingredient which can neutralize stomach acids and restore the pH balance of your gut. At the beginning of the 20th century, Dr. Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for the discovery of the fact that cancer cells thrive in an acidic environment and can't survive in an alkaline one. By alkalizing your body, baking soda can help you eliminate cancer as well.
To check the levels of hydrochloric acid in your stomach, you can do a simple test. Add ¼ of a teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz. of cold water, then drink the mixture in the morning before breakfast – if you burp within 5 minutes, the levels are just fine. If it takes more, the levels of HCL in your stomach are low.
3. Relieves heartburn
Whenever you're suffering from heartburn, all you need to do is drink a glass of water with ½ a teaspoon of baking soda in. This will bring you some much needed relief.
4. Relieves gout pain
Gout is an inflammatory condition that is caused by excess uric acid in the body. Luckily, the levels of this acid can be regulated by consuming a mixture made of baking soda and water, which will also reduce the pain.
5. Kidney disease
As we already mentioned, baking soda can balance the pH levels in your body. People suffering from kidney disease should consume baking soda and water in order to prevent metabolic acidosis and kidney failure.
6. Alleviates the symptoms of colds and the flu
As it's an alkaline ingredient, baking soda will regulate the pH level of your blood and neutralize toxins. According to Dr. Volney S. Cheney, baking soda can also be used to reduce the symptoms of colds and the flu.
7. Cancer
Several studies have proven that baking soda can increase the pH level of tumors and keep the healthy tissues intact, effectively treating the disease.
Besides these problems, baking soda can also be used against skin problems such as acne, nail fungus, dandruff and oily hair. Additionally, the ingredient can also improve your complexion, whiten your teeth and treat itchiness caused by infections.
Source: livingtraditionally.com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
West Ham boss stunned by the Bourne supremacy
PUBLISHED: 08:45 14 March 2017
PA Wire/PA Images
Hammers manager Slaven Bilic's side get kick up the backside they needed
Another trip, another bad start and this time, despite playing a team without a win all year, West Ham could not hold on to the point they had worked for.
It was a tough afternoon on the south coast. Bournemouth started like an express train, referee Robert Madley was determined to be the star turn and the home crowd really got behind their team.
The Hammers were second best for most of the game, it was the Cherries who seemed to want it more, but even then, West Ham were just a minute away from grabbing an unlikely draw.
"In the end, definitely we deserved to get something out of the game, but they played well and played with great aggression," admitted Bilic, who must be worried about his team's sluggish starts on the road.
"They missed two penalties too, so we were lucky we were only down by one goal. We even had situations to go 2-0 up, but didn't take them so we're disappointed."
This really was a crazy game. Two penalties, both a little dubious, and neither converted, while Mark Noble was booked for carrying out his role as captain and talking to the referee!
West Ham madly took the lead less than a minute after Josh King had fired his spot-kick wide and then as the game seemed to be slipping away from them at 2-1, subsitutes Sam Byram and Andre Ayew combined for the latter to show why he should be in the starting line-up.
But even then there was more drama with the same pair involved again. Byram dashed forward again, but when Ayew beat himself and fell over, the Cherries stormed forward through Jack Wilshere and within seconds, King had completed his hat-trick.
It was so reminiscent of Chelsea's first goal last Monday and shows just how susceptible the Hammers are to the break, but should they be caught on the break away from home?
"At that moment we went for the third goal, we lost too many players on that side and left it too open and you can't give them space on the counter attack."
Perhaps it was the kick up the backside that West Ham and more importantly Bilic needed.
For too long he has ignored the claims of Ayew and Byram, had players like Cheikhou Kouyate out of position, stuck with players like Sofiane Feghouli and Mark Noble, when the team needs freshening up.
By now, Reece Oxford should have played plenty of games instead of wasting his time on the bench at Reading.
Jose Fonte has not done the business so far and Oxford and James Collins should have been in the side. West Ham are not in danger of relegation, despite the manager suggesting otherwise, but not is the time to experiment a little with fresh talent.
Give Byram a run of games, give Edimilson Fernandes a go, they may make mistakes, but so are the players currently on the field.
Bournemouth were hungry for success on Saturday, they vitally needed the three points, but West Ham should have had the quality and the determination to combat that.
Are the flip-flops on already? West Ham say not, but for some the deck chairs are already out.
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Newham Recorder. Click the link in the yellow box below for details.


text:
For your common NBA basketball fan, enjoying a lineup of spectacular basketball is a beloved Christmas Day tradition.
Christmas basketball games regularly showcase the best teams in the league, highlighting the association's biggest superstars and some key rivalries. Although the Toronto Raptors have made the playoffs for five straight seasons, made the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016, and further raised their profile by acquiring a bona fide superstar in Kawhi Leonard, they will still be getting coal for Christmas this year.
The NBA's decision to overlook the Raptors yet again is particularly frustrating given the stellar performance of Toronto's team — currently on top of the Eastern Conference — and the actual lineup of contenders for December 25. The New York Knicks, currently sitting near the bottom of the East, will be playing for the umpteenth time on Christmas, almost exclusively due to tradition.
Another convention is to schedule a rematch of the finals from the same year. As with the last three years, that would mean a game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. But of course, LeBron James doesn't play in Cleveland anymore, which is why this year's Christmas Day lineup will feature a game between Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The only franchises remaining without a Chritmas Day game are the Charlotte Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Raptors were gifted with one game, way back in 2001.
Not to be forgotten, Christmas is a very personal and special day for a lot of players, coaches, and their families. Players acknowledge that December 25 games are a sacrifice, but also an honour and a privilege. Consider LeBron; after this year, he will have played in 13 Christmas Day games in his 16-year career. Kyle Lowry, on the other hand, never has.
On the topic, Lowry told the media, "I've always in my life wanted to play a Christmas game… It's never happened, but I've always had the opportunity to always be with my family on Christmas. It's a blessing to be able to not play, but at the same you always want that one time you play on Christmas… You get the special shoes. The Christmas jerseys. That's one I want to frame one day. Hopefully, I get the opportunity to do it."
There are five games on Christmas; that means that 10 teams play. If the NBA reasons that out of 30 teams in the league, the Raptors don't qualify as being in the top 10, then they're the ones on the naughty list this year.
Hopefully, a new generation of Raptors fans will get to see their team play on Christmas one day.


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Displaying items by tag: chinese dance
Artistic Director - Ms. Shin Yue Wang is an award-winning performing artist with more than 30 years of experience in stage productions and dance instruction.
Cheng Ying Ma is a famous Tibetan dance artist, is also renowned as a first-rank dance educator. Mr. Ma is from the Qing Hai Tibetan area. He has a reputation for being one of the best Chinese minority group dancer.
Jiang Duo 'Dora' graduated from Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2012, with a Major in Dance Performance. She achieved was Academia Excellence and received many scholarships during her school period. Dora was awarded the title "Outstanding Members of the Communist Youth League of Shanghai" by Shanghai Committee of the Communist Youth League of China.
Over 55 minority groups and 1 major group exist within the boundaries of China. Chinese Classical Dance has been influenced by Ballet and Modern dance, but its distinctiveness stems from its roots in Chinese Opera, Kung-Fu, and regional folk dances. Props, such as long silk sleeves, fans, handkerchiefs, hats, etc..., are sometimes used to add drama and intrigue. Its story lines come from Chinese Operas, History, Legends and Mythologies.
Sometimes students are ready for going deeper into the details of their personal development outside of group class. Private classes focus ONE on ONE coaching which will help in elimanating bad habits in the group class.


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On Aug 6, 2005, at 5:22 PM, Andrew Saunders wrote:
So even if you managed to build it entirely with free tools at some later date, this issue alone would relegate it to contrib until suitably free data is available - or at least, that's been the current practice for e.g. emulators such as zsnes which require non-free roms.
I still disagree as zsnes does not *require* non-free ROMs. One could write a free ROM, and one presenting the Debian logo is provided. It does not depend on any non-free system ROM to run correctly. There is also a bug report about this: #313137.
What's debian-legal's view on this? Kind regards, Philipp Kern


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Do you have a question? In recent years, our nutritionist has answered many questions from consumers and veterinarians. Check the box that relates to your question and find your selection at 'question and answer'
Can you not find an answer to your question? Send an e-mail with your question to your local TROVET distributor.


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Albert Lebourg was a French landscape painter who created an impressive body of work composed of more than 2,000 landscapes during his lifetime.Read More
Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship.Read More
André Hambourg was a French impressionist best known for his paintings depicting Venice, luminous seascapes, and charming beach scenes.Read More
André Minaux was a French artist, known for his paintings and drawings. He belonged to the New Realism, Impressionism, and Figurative Art movements.Read More
Anita Wong, an artist whose known for combining the ancient art of Lingan Hau and Impressionism explores the different ways individuals view art.Read More
Berthe Morisot was French Impressionist artist known for her paintings of boating scenes, garden settings, domestic interiors, and portraits of family and friends.Read More
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French landscape artist best known for his influence on Impressionist and Postimpressionist painting.Read More
Childe Hassam is a pioneer of American Impressionism and its most devoted representative. The artist is well known for his urban and coastal scenes.Read More
Claude Monet was a founder of Impressionism and the most productive practitioner of this movement's expression of perceptions before form.Read More
Dame Laura Knight was a British artist who worked in different techniques in the figurative, realist tradition, embracing English Impressionism.Read More
Diane Monet is an American contemporary artist known for vibrant landscapes, gardens and villages, painted in the impressionist-inspired style.Read More
Considered one of the founders of Impressionism, French artist Edgar Degas is best known for his paintings of ballet dancers.Read More
Edouard Manet (Édouard Manet) was a French painter, one of the first to paint modern life and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism.Read More
Jules-Émile Élisée Maclet was a French impressionist painter known for his Paris street scenes made after the First World War.Read More
Emile Boyer was a French artist who painted only landscapes, flowers, local figures and portraits, and did so in a Naive style.Read More
Eugene Louis Boudin was a French Impressionist artist, known primarily for his paintings of seas and skies.Read More
Eva Gonzales was a French painter who never exhibited with other impressionists but is considered as part of the group due to her painting style.Read More
Federico Zandomeneghi was an Italian impressionist artist, born in Venice, who unlike his grandfather and father, preferred painting to sculpture.Read More


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If the level of industry feedback on the Federal Government's measures to increase accountability and transparency for Refused Classification (RC) material is anything to go by, then it's safe to say ISPs have effectively chosen to filter out the exercise as a waste of time.
A mere handful of ISPs - Telstra, Optus, WBA and Internode – made public submissions to the Mandatory ISP filtering: Measures to increase accountability and transparency for Refused Classification material discussion paper.
In all, 174 submissions were received from groups such as the Internet Industry Association, Electronic Frontiers Australia, Microsoft Australia and Yahoo! Australia, according to Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy.
One CEO of a notable ISP, who requested anonymity, said that much of the industry's lack of response to the discussion paper could be attributed to "public submission fatigue".
"I wasn't directly aware of that particular request, and may not have been in a position to comment even if I had been," the CEO said. "Accordingly I have no view on the specific request for submissions concerned. We can't be everywhere at once."
The timing of the discussion paper - issued in December and closing for comment in February - was also partly responsible for the lack of submissions.
"It's also worth remembering that governments put out requests for submissions across the Christmas break when they need to (a) claim they consulted the community but (b) have no intention whatsoever of caring what they get back, because if they did, they'd ask when people weren't on holidays," the CEO said.
Primus Telecom CEO Ravi Bhatia said the company felt it didn't need to respond to the discussion paper.
"While we chose not to lodge a public submission at this time, we continue to closely monitor the debate and developments here and overseas," he said. "We will also be reviewing the submissions and remain fairly open on the ultimate solution."
Macquarie Telecom declined to comment on why it did not make a submission on the discussion paper.
iiNet did not respond to Computerworld Australia's request for comment on why it did not submit a response.
In their submissions, Optus and Telstra argued opposing sides on the question of whether or not to notify a user who has landed on a filtered website page.
In his submission, Mark Newton, a vocal critic of mandatory ISP-level filtering and network engineer at Internode, wrote that he did not support the involvement of the ACMA at any stage in the scheme's administration.
"ACMA have proven themselves to be incompetent at content regulation generally, and ought not be encouraged to do more of it," the submission reads.
Wireless Broadband Australia said in its submission that at all times the actual list of pages and/or sites on the refused classification list should be available for public inspection, together with the statement of why the site was included.
The submissions on the discussion paper can be read in full on the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy website
With reporting by Darren Pauli


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20 Kg Benferflex Anhydrite Tile Adhesive
Bulk Discounts:
Below are the available bulk discount rates for each individual item when you purchase a certain amount
- Buy 56 or above and pay only £24.95 each
Flexible Pourable Tile Adhesive for laying porcelain Tiles on Anhydrite Screeds without the use of a Primer
• Direct application without primer
• High flexibility • Ideal for heated screed
• Ideal for porcelain stoneware
• Ideal for large sizes
• Fluid consistency , laying without double gluing until 10,000 cm²
• Application thickness up to10 mm
• Low consumption
• Dust reduced
• Ideal for interior application
TECHNICAL FEATURES: BENFERFLEX ANHYDRITE is a powder adhesive composed of by calcium sulphate, aggregate with selected particle size, synthetic resins and special additives. Its formula has been conceived and developed for quick and sure laying of porcelain, ceramic and natural stone (moisture-stable), on fluids Anhydrite based screeds. Its nature allows the direct application without the need to treat the screed with a primer, the fluid rheology allows to laying without double gluing tiles with surface up to 10,000 cm ² , his reaction times allow grouting after 4 hours only.
APPLICATIONS AREA: For porcelain, ceramic and natural stone (moisture stable) laying on:
• Interior floors on calcium sulphate based screeds


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Thursday, February 07, 2008
Potential local impact of state budget cuts
As Governor Ted Strickland deals with projected budget shortfalls of between $733 million and $1.9 billion, reductions in department spending and possibly layoffs are being planned.
As counties are the local arm of state government, cuts in state department budgets usually impact county department budgets. Here is a recap of some of the planned cuts and how they may impact us in Lucas County.
Department of Job and Family Services
This department is looking at cuts of $67.5 million in FY08 and FY09. The department is hoping to absorb most of the cuts internally through attrition, early retirement incentives and potentially reducing 300-600 positions.
County departments are being asked to see what can be done internally as well. ODJFS does not want to mandate across the board cuts, but wants to see what county JFS departments can come up with first.
They plan to institute a 10% reduction in the child support state match. However, they will continue to move forward with expanding coverage for adult dental and increased rates for community healthcare providers. Planned increases in in-patient hospital reimbursement rates as well as recalibration rates for hospitals will be delayed.
Department of Aging
They have funding to continue core activities without service interruption, including new PASSPORT enrollment as well as funding for those on the waiting list for Assisted Living. Plans are for the governor to seek legislative approval to eliminate the 3% Medicaid reimbursement rate increase in FY09 for PASSPORT and Choices providers that was previously approved as part of the budget bill.
Department of Mental Health
Closing two psychiatric hospitals has already been reported, with some patients being shifted to units here in Toledo. This department plans to reduce staff and equipment and contract spending by 20% each.
Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities
In addition to internal cuts, they plan to move 150-170 people from developmental centers to Martin waivers, allowing for closure of some cottages in development centers.
One thing I must do is compliment the governor on the budget projection process. He and his staff looked at three scenarios: the economic picture staying the same - getting a bit worse - and getting bad. He's basing these cuts upon those projections. This is a useful and pragmatic approach that counties and cities should take as well. It would certainly put into perspective the serious implications such economic downturns have upon public budgets and would force people to prioritize necessities over niceties when it comes to public spending.
5 comments:
- Jay Ott said...
I agree with you that Gov. Strickland is to be complimented for these reductions.
However, what is the bigger picture here? I'd like to know how is it that what the governor is doing squares with what he is saying about Hillary Clinton?
Gov. Strickland endorses Hillary and he urges Ohioans to elect Hillary because she is the "best qualified candidate" and has "the best plan."
The governor seems to be making the necessary cuts in one area while advocating Hillary's plan which will expand government, take more money from people, whose honesty and integrity is questionable and has a very different view of what the role, the purpose, and authority of government is than what the founding fathers intended and wrote about.
- Maggie said...
now, now, Jay...there you go ... confusing the business of running a state with the politics of a presidential campaign. No logic allowed there...LOL!
- Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...
It is indeed refreshing to see a politician, any politician, willing to look at cuts, to solve an impending budget shortfall.
Do you think that we can get Governor Strickland to come to Toledo and to introduce our so-called leaders to the concept of cutting budgets?
- Maggie said...
That's funny, Hooda...
But I remember when Taft suggested some cuts and how all the Dems here locally howled about terrible he was cutting all these social service things...I'm waiting to see if we hear the same thing now that it's a Dem governor making the suggestions.
Not saying it's right, mind you...just more of the hypocrisy.
- Timothy W Higgins said...
I too would like to give the governnor credit for the reductions and for what appears to be a common sense approach to the budget problems of the state. However, his support of the Clinton campaign leads me to believe that all of this is simply his anticipation of a Democrat in the White House who will nationalize health care, relieving the state of these responsibilities.
In the compartmentalized thinking of politicians, if the money used is Federal and not State, then it's not his problem. It will be ours however.


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Birth Mother Services
At Caring for Kids, Inc. we want you to know that you don't have to face an unplanned pregnancy alone.
Our agency can offer you a wide range of birth mother services at no cost, whether you choose adoption, parenting or another alternative for your child. While making this important decision, you will be given time and supportive services so that you can weigh all of the factors involved. Please keep in mind that exploring your options with Caring for Kids involves absolutely no obligation from you.
You will be able to meet, at a time and place of your choosing, with one of Caring for Kids' Birth Parent Counselors, who will offer education and support throughout the entire process. Although it is not required, we encourage expectant parents to bring a friend, family member or someone else of their choosing to this meeting so that they feel at ease.
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Connect with us on our Caring for Birthmothers Facebook page!


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The Fine Print
What if Washington politics were no longer defined by partisan gridlock but instead by a cross-party alliance that forged solutions? The alliance would be unstoppable.
That's the premise of the new book "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State" by longtime political activist and five-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who contends that such a left-right alliance is not just the stuff of imagination but is actually emerging.
"On Capitol Hill, I'm seeing more and more in Congress, left and right," Nader told "The Fine Print." "It was a vote in the House over a year ago over the NSA snooping, it almost broke through … so we're beginning to see formulations that once they click together, they're unstoppable."
Nader was referring to a vote in July 2013 over a measure known as the Amash Amendment that would have curtailed the National Security Agency's ability to collect bulk phone call data. The measure narrowly failed by 12 votes, in part due to a concerted White House lobbying effort on Capitol Hill.
Nader expects there is going to be a growth of left-right alliances in Congress, pointing to the war on drugs and bank regulatory efforts as areas of possibly confluence. On the war on drugs, Nader said that the United States should entirely decriminalize and move to regulate all drugs in the same way alcohol and tobacco are regulated.
"Tobacco leads to the deaths of over 400,000 Americans, hard drugs lead perhaps to 8,000," Nader said. "People who are addicted should not be viewed as criminals. They should be a health problem, the way it is in alcoholism and tobacco."
But Nader qualified that the success of his envisioned left-right alliance is dependent on strong leaders. He said Sen. Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, has the potential to be a leader for the alliance, but added that he thinks the Kentucky Republican has certain shortcomings as a leader.
"He's a mixed bag, you know, he's evolving. He's broadening his issues that he's talking about and they're beginning to resonate," Nader said. "On the other hand … he has problems dealing with people."
Paul's "problems" aside, Nader predicted that he will be "the one to beat" in 2016 in a Republican contest that is also likely to also include Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. He also made it clear what he does not want to see in 2016: A Jeb Bush - Hillary Clinton matchup.
"You want a dull campaign? Try Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton in 2016," Nader said. "It'll only be exciting for people who are interested in dynasties and personalities."
Nader said he never tells anyone not to run for president but that he would oppose a Hillary Clinton presidential bid.
"She's turned into an international militarist," he said. "She's far more hawkish than Obama."
Nader suggested that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D – Mass., would be a strong alternative to Clinton, with her understanding of "corporate power," but said that Warren won't run because Clinton has "dried up" the prospects for other Democratic contenders to compete.
Nader has his own vision for who he'd like to be president and has even put forward a proposal of 20 billionaires who he encourages to run for president – a list that includes media mogul Oprah Winfrey and environmentalist Tom Steyer.
"That's where we're at now: 20 billionaires with some enlightened background and I said run. Run! Run as an independent," Nader said. "Just to shake up this two-party tyranny … So maybe one of them will run. We certainly have enough of them, don't we?"
When it comes to the current president, Nader said that Obama has violated the Constitution on several occasions and should be impeached.
"Oh, most definitely," Nader said when asked if Congress should bring forward articles of impeachment against Obama. "The reason why Congress doesn't want to do it is because it's abdicated its own responsibility under the Constitution."
Nader said the president's use of military force in Libya has been his most "egregious violation of the Constitution."
For more of the interview with Nader, check out this episode of "The Fine Print."
ABC News' Richard Coolidge, Gary Westphalen, Jim Martin, and Gary Rosenberg contributed to this episode.


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AMD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPUby Anand Lal Shimpi on September 16, 2009 12:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- CPUs
PAR2 Multithreaded Archive Recovery Performance
Par2 is an application used for reconstructing downloaded archives. It can generate parity data from a given archive and later use it to recover the archive
Chuchusoft took the source code of par2cmdline 0.4 and parallelized it using Intel's Threading Building Blocks 2.1. The result is a version of par2cmdline that can spawn multiple threads to repair par2 archives. For this test we took a 708MB archive, corrupted nearly 60MB of it, and used the multithreaded par2cmdline to recover it. The scores reported are the repair and recover time in seconds.
Par2 is healthily threaded so the Athlon II X4s continue to do well here. The Q8200 inches by the 620, but for all intents and purposes it's the same speed as the $99 fighter from AMD.
WinRAR - Archive Creation
Our WinRAR test simply takes 300MB of files and compresses them into a single RAR archive using the application's default settings. We're not doing anything exotic here, just looking at the impact of CPU performance on creating an archive:
The roles are reversed here, and all of the AMD architectures prove faster than their similarly priced Intel alternatives.
150 Comments
View All Comments
damage98 - Saturday, November 21, 2009 - linkI have an asus m4n78 pro mobo. Would the new gt240 be appropriate?
Thanks! Reply
Archer0915 - Friday, September 25, 2009 - linkWell I have put it through the ringers and this is what I came up
with: http://www.techreaction.net/2009/09/25/athlon-ii-x...">http://www.techreaction.net/2009/09/25/...-x4-620-...
This thing can smoke or at least keep up with the common PhII or Core 2 Reply
monkeyman1140 - Monday, September 21, 2009 - linkI'm kinda iffy about how this compatibility thing works, and it seems manufacturers aren't terribly interested in compatibility bios updates either, preferring you to fork over fresh cash for the latest mobos.
I'd like to put this in an older dual core system thats perfectly fine but its just not as fast as it used to be... Reply
flexy - Friday, September 18, 2009 - linkWhat version of Cinebench R10 are you using?
The 64 bit version or the 32 bit version?
G. Reply
ClagMaster - Thursday, September 17, 2009 - linkAnother well written article by Mr Shimpi on the latest AMD mainstream quad core offering. Article was brief and to the point with adequate benchmarking to support his claims. It's articles like this that keeps me coming back.
The i5/P55 is the mainstream processor par excellance to acquire for a major upgrade if you presently have an Intel rig. This is what I am going to upgrade to next year because I have a 3 year old Intel rig. By that time, there will be 65W Lynnfields available with P55 boards thoroughly debugged.
However, if you have an AM2+ motherboard in good shape with a 780G/785G/790X/790GX chipset with continuing BIOS support, then the Athlon II X4 620 is an outstanding upgrade from dual to quad core for $100-$120. This is a really good value for bargain or mainstream. Price:Performance ratio is better than i5 just on the basis of the CPU alone. Throw in a paid-for motherboard into the equation and it gets even sweeter. Reply
jtleon - Thursday, September 17, 2009 - linkGreat Article Anand - as usual!
Despite the other Intel Fanboy comments here, I take away from this that AMD is bringing Quad to the masses - and undercutting the competition at the same time.
Running an old Athlon XP as I write this, I am glad to see AMD resurrecting the Athlon name, and applying it to what may be their new bread & butter piece of silicon.
Clearly in a depressed worldwide economy, performance takes a backseat to price - AMD has an ace here with this design, in its 1st iteration, appears to have Intel over a barrel with regard to their inflated price structure. From the benchies here, the performance differences are almost imperceptible. Thus the Athlon II based boxes should jump off the shelves, leaving the other guys gathering dust.
Kudos to AMD - and Best of Luck on the next gen Propus.
jtleon Reply
Genx87 - Thursday, September 17, 2009 - linkThat X4 955 is being smoked for the most part by the i5 750. Intels basement i series processor. The i5 performs better, costs less, and consumes less power.
Why cant AMD get their act together? Ever since Core 2 Duo they have been on the wrong end in a bad way. Reply
the zorro - Thursday, September 17, 2009 - linkthat's false.
the results are biased because core i5 750 its overclocked at least 600 mhz.
phenom 955 beats core i5 750 clock by clock.
also when overclocked to 4 ghz core i5 temperatures are almost 100 C which is a failure.
also core i5 power consumption when overclocked skyrockets because of the integrated northdbridge.
Genx87 - Monday, September 21, 2009 - linkThat is really irrelevant to the avg user is it not? The avg user doesnt care how the processor achieves it power\performance. Only that it does. That is a design feature of the Intel chips that isnt in AMD. Bottom line is in the suites and everyday use AMDs top processor is often beat by Intels next gen entry level chip. Reply
silverblue - Thursday, September 17, 2009 - linkClock for clock? I don't think so. True, if the i5 didn't have Turbo, it wouldn't sprint ahead so far in single threaded applications, but the fact is it does and it's a legitimate technology. However, the 955 pulls closer, clock for clock, in multi-threaded tasks.
The i5 ships with a rather weak cooler. It's not suitable for heavy overclocking... but then again, if you want to do it right, you'd get an after-market cooler anyway.
Nothing that AMD has out now is better clock-for-clock than Core2 or Nehalem, no matter how much we'd like to believe there is. Reply


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About the Netherlands
The Netherlands is a country in north-western Europe. It is a very low and flat country, with about 26% of its area located below sea level, and only about 50% of its land exceeding one metre above sea level. Nearly 17% of the country's land area is reclaimed from the sea and from lakes.
Much of the country was originally formed by the estuaries of three large European rivers: the Rhine (Rijn), the Meuse (Maas) and the Scheldt (Schelde), as well as their tributaries.
The Netherlands has the 17th-largest economy in the world and has in fact played an important role in the European economy for many centuries. Since the 16th century, shipping, fishing, agriculture, trade, and banking have all been leading sectors of the Dutch economy. The capital city Amsterdam is the 5th-busiest tourist destination in Europe, it is also the financial and business capital, widely regarded as one of the world's leading finance centres. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX), part of Euronext, is the world's oldest stock exchange.
Amsterdam is famous for its canals, its port remains the second largest in the country and 5th largest in Europe. The City has a population of 1,351,587 in the urban area, and 2,410,960 in the metropolitan area.
The Netherlands is one of the world's ten leading exporting countries. Foodstuffs form the largest industrial sector. Other major industries include chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, trade, services and tourism.
Language - The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by the vast majority of the inhabitants and 90% of the total population are fluent in English, 70% in German and 29% in French.
Constitution and Regulatory Environment - The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848 and in 2010, The Economist ranked the Netherlands as the 10th most democratic country in the world.
The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces, each under a Commissioner of the King (Commissaris van de Koning), except for Limburg province where the position is named Governor (Gouverneur). All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), of which there are 388.
Because of the multi-party system, no single party has held a majority in parliament since the 19th century, and coalition cabinets had to be formed. Since suffrage became universal in 1919, the Dutch political system has been dominated by three families of political parties: the strongest of which were the Christian democrats; second were the social democrats; and third were the liberals, of which the right wing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is the main representative.
Government authorities supervise financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies and the financial system as a whole. De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) (the Dutch Central Bank) and the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) carry out this supervision which protects businesses and consumers who entrust their money to these institutions.
Currency - The Netherlands are part of the European Economic Area and are members of the European Union. As such they adopted the Euro as their national currency as part of currency union with the other member states.
Travel Links - Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam Centraal railway station.
Amsterdam is served by ten stations which cater for local and intercity travel. Amsterdam Centraal is also an international railway station with regular services to destinations such as Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Switzerland.
A high-speed train service between Amsterdam and London links the two cities in under 4 hours.
Whitmill Trust Company Limited through its partnership with DMS (Netherlands) BV is able to offer the knowledge, experience and professionalism required to take full advantage of the benefits that the Netherlands can offer.


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Chanel Diamond Forever bag
To those recessionistas out there (including myself) be prepare to open your mouth wide, really wide!
Chanel Diamond Forever handbag priced at USD261,000.
Close your mouth now!
Why it is so expensive:-
- It is adorned with 3.56 carats made up of 334 diamonds
– I learned from Kanye West video, people in Africa kill for diamond. I am not sure if they kill each other for this diamonds
- The 18 carat white gold hardware
– I don't wear gold, but my moms, grandma and aunties like it. White is like so in 2009!
- Rare white alligator skin
– It is easy to locate white supermodel but precious white alligator is the other story. The most beautiful skin alligators must die first
- Only 13 available worldwide
– some consider 13 is an unlucky number. But for me there is no such thing as lucky number. It is only a stupid, stupid thing to think 13 are unlucky! FYI. 5 of the bags will be available in USA.
- It is Chanel. They can put any price and people still will buy their products!
It will be available in December 2009. So start saving now!
image: handbagcomment.com
Yves St Laurent ribbon cluth
What a perfect bow!
Designers always come out with millions of ribbons inspired bags; some of them look like a real ribbon or man bow, some looks like 3 year old kids toy and some pure elegant, like Yves St Laurent ribbon clutch.
Just like a perfect origami, the black and silver ribbon is carefully wrapped the goldtone hardware and the result is an expensive clutch. Well honey it is expensive, at USD1,530 at net-a-porter. Expensive? Not really; considering you are carrying a piece of wrapping art.
Tumi Business Not for business bag!
Describe 'business class bag'…
The typical answer is it must be black, preferably leather or material like leather, formal and sometimes so stiff!
Definitely nothing like the above for Tumi Business Class bag. It is yellow, made from nylon, backpack, nothing normal and not stiff. It is fun! but unfortunately in my case that is the only best part.
I am not a backpack person so maybe what I'm going to say here will be on a bias mood.
I don't think I look good carrying this bag, especially if I am having a business meeting. My mind can't work to visualize me carrying this yellow thing on my back. It is fun but don't you think it is quite cheeky? Yellow backpack pair with a slack and tie?
If I ever carry this bag, it is for laptop and paper documents; that is only if I need to finish my work on the go. But I will definitely change to my formal, typical business tote for my appointment.
Don't you think it is too 'school boy' to carry backpack to business meeting? Backpack is definitely not for serious business people. It is a worst case scenario if the convicted is a woman. The most disastrous catastrophe scene about backpack is when I saw a 20-ish girl in baju kurung and tudung with a backpack on her back in a very important meeting! So tasteless….
Some say style is about breaking the rules, but I can't imagine myself breaking this rule.
Tumi Business Class Backpack that is NOT for business appointment at Tumi.
How to make a python bag
This is how to skin a python for a bag.
If you feel uncomfortable with these pics, you are normal.
But if you are think that all the python skin lovers that they are cruel but yesterday you queue to get Kentucky Fried Chicken rib and thigh, you are not normal.
Most of the designers are really aware about the environment. They don't just kill endangered animals and then parade it on the runway. The animals must be from a legal source like from a licensed breeder. Like in a case of crocs, in the wild, only 5-10% of crocodile eggs reach maturity (they lay about 50 eggs) but a farm survival rate is up to 85%.
There is even a law that the animal breeders must release 10% of the animals back to wild. The practice contributed to the repopulation of the animals.
I am really against killing the animals from the wild. But I think if the animals came from licensed breeders, I don't really against it. What you can do is to check before you can purchase your next croc bag. It is must be from a reputable brand and not from a suspicious shop; like Chanel or Birkin is expensive but the animals legally.
It is the same concept; you eat your fried chicken or steak, where you think they get the animals from? It is from a breeder's right? Same goes to the designer python bags and shoes!
Officer Victoria
Here come mummy… I mean army.
She did it again, this time at London, Heathrow and Milan Airport. Give your respect to Officer Victoria, before she took off her Loewe army-inspired dress and dance on your lap.
Victoria loves high fashion, and I do adore her but don't you think this is look like a stripper costume? The matchy-matchy outfit, the hat (I think that is from her Russian Vogue cover) and her hideous Valentino Glamourous tote, the only item that is not so tripper about this look.
Kids, don't try this at home, or airport, or mall or anywhere!
So not in a style radar….
Event: Malay wedding luncheon
Time at the wedding: 1.00pm to 2.00 pm
Venue: Community Hall
Guest: From those who carry Salvatore Ferragamo to Guess to someone in cheap sandal
Seat: I was seated at a VIP table
Weather: Typical Malaysian afternoon (hot, hotter, hottest)
Dilemma: From below pic, I am not sure if I dressed right yesterday! I am trying to be casual, but this is when casual go wrong. I end looking like a sick aneroxic boy in an oversized khakis pants. I should be careful next time!
Flip-ing Bag
I went to my besties crib, Jamsari and saw this cute, rare design Padini Bag.
The moment I saw it, I know it is mine! After almost 20 minutes persuasion, I finally managed to buy this bag. Let say he made a small profit from the transaction!
It is made from PU material but it looks like leather.
This 'flip-ing bag' is almost unrecognizable if we flip and un-flip it.
Flip it
Un-flip it
I carry it to office while I am in my slack, long shirt with tie (in my Diva without PMS pose)
During my casual outing at Subang Parade; the flip-ing bag pair with jeans, Nike top and fedora (in my Diva with PMS pose)
It works both ways!
Thanks Jem!!!
Emilio Pucci Miri Tunic
This time I changed a bit of the format. Usually it is always focusing on the bag, and I will suggest the matching shoes, dresses and other accessories but this time, the attention is this beautiful Tunic dress.
This tunic caught my attention because of its name, Miri. I just love it. I don't know why they named it Miri but one thing for sure I've been to Miri and me kind like love it. It is a very beautiful town and a place of the biggest cave in world, Niah. This tunic is everything about Miri and Niah, lots of trees, free and easy to look at. Made from silk, so expect something luxurious even you are in your most casual day.
Miri for GBP572.76 at net-a-porter
Bottega veneta woven top handle bag USD2100. Pre order yours at saks.
Banana Republic Jackson stretch cotton trousers USD89.
Modern vintage Janara Gladiator flat at bluefly for USD117.99
I was invited to a premiere screening of a movie called Sifu dan Tonga. The movie revolves about a couple of guy from a searching for a girl that had been kidnapped from their tribe. They are actually a tribe that from a group that ran into the woods during Japanese occupation in Malaya back in 1952. A greedy magazine editor kidnapped the girl to get money and to become a chief editor or something. In the end, the tribe defeated the bad guys.End of story.
I know I am really bad story teller, so if you want to know the rest of this 'adventurous' movie, go and watch the movie yourself.
Frankly, I am not really interested to tell you about the movie because I am not really into the movie. Well its like with that big names and that is what we get?
But the adventure began before the screening. There are not enough seats available. Even the actors running up and down searching for a seat! FYI, I am comfortably seat and watch the drama.
The most dramatic thing is some audiences sitting on the aisle! I can hear Fauziah Ghaouse said "I want to go back!" Poor Fauziah. But she is a star of the night. Fauziah looks very comfortable and young in a cute short white dress with a zebra print clutch. She looks 'quite' effortless. Adorable! Luckily she managed to get a seat.
Me (in TopMan shirt under vintage vest,Excel Polyster pants and Calvin Klein Jeans sling bag) with Fauziah Ghaouse.
I am not sure what brand but I juz love the shape and print. But if you like something like that, take a look at felicity or zappos
She is still beautiful. What happened to some believe that if you are pregnant, you are going to be really chubby? Not her. She is slim as ever. Pregnant? What you mean pregnant?
Erra is carrying something form LV Multicolore collection. Take cue from Erra and you'll get street wear in luxury mode. LV monogram multicolore at eluxury.
Azwan Ali and Ikram (who appear like 2 minutes in the movie), Nabil and Apek
Yusry, the man responsible for the CGI effect.
Both are rich but I really hope they can at least get a fashion stylist. Guys, this is your movie premiere. Why don't you wear something that is a bit different from your 'wet market' jeans and t-shirt?
Balenciaga Pleated Clutch
The thing that so make me so can't keep my eyes from this clutch is because of the structured pleated details. It makes this clutch looks so strong but at the same time not too overdone. The suede on leather makes this one of exclusive clutch. It is not wrong to pair this with soft material dress and if you want to an impact why think something manly like slim cut tuxedo?
Balenciaga pleated clutch bag for GBP495 at brownsfashion .
Carry the clutch with:-
Think Anne Hathaway at her best behaviour and you get a very feminine and demure dress from Isaac Mizrahi Sweetie pie Gown for GBP3,572.42 at net-a-porter.
Or think fierce Anne Hathaway and you get Vivienne Westwood jacket at GBP448.47 at net-a-porter.
Feminine dress must with the kiiller and most elegant and glamorous shoes I've ever seen. Jimmy Choo Presta metallic sandal GBP360.43 at net-a-porter.
Sparkle with Kenneth Jay Landver asymmetrical crystal necklace. GBP194.65 at net-a-porter. Note: this only applicable for the dress.
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House Sparrows And Starlings Are Super Competitors
Like it or not, house sparrows and starlings are super competitors; they were born to rule. From small introduced flocks, they have spread like an avian plague across North America, out competing many of our native hole nesting birds. The starling, in particular, has proven itself to be the master of nearly every native hole nesting bird it confronts. How and why have such European imports been so successful in competing with our native birds from such humble beginnings?
Aggressive, persistent, well-armed physically, and endowed with an unbelievable instinctive drive to procreate, they are formidable adversaries. Evolution has been kind to the house sparrow and starling and has created two of the most successful bird species known to mankind.
The house sparrow is about 5 inches long and doesn't look that intimidating. But looks are deceiving. The house sparrow is armed with a heavy, conical finch beak that can crush like a miniature vise. It is pointed and has a sharp edge used to crack seeds and inflict damage on weak bill birds like tree and cliff swallows and bluebirds. Swallows, in particular, have short bills with a wide gape. Their bills are relatively soft and rich in sensitive nerve endings. Such bills have limited crushing attributes and are no match in beak to beak confrontations with the vise-like grip of the house sparrow's bill. House sparrows can severely injure and even kill swallows and bluebirds by crushing their soft bills, pecking out their eyes, and literally scalping them.
Purple martins, though swallows, are a different proposition and can often successfully defend their nests from house sparrows even though the sparrows have more powerful beaks. The purple martin has a larger and stronger beak than other swallows as it is used to capture bigger insects like dragonflies and the martin is larger than the sparrow. Martins are aggressive in defending their nest sites and such aggression and size can matter, particularly when intimidating an opponent! At established sites where martins have strong site tenacity and greatly out number any sparrows that are nesting or attempting to nest, martins can often hold their own and even keep sparrows at bay; at un-established sites, sparrows can easily chase away any martins that may visit. The martin's larger size and aggressive behavior often initially intimidates house sparrows, particularly at established sites where martins have nested for many years. However, aggressive sparrows may eventually force their way into a martin colony and establish territory in vacant cavities. Martins are no match for aggressive sparrows in beak to beak confrontations as the sparrow's crushing beak is a superior weapon. Yet, house sparrows are often reluctant to battle with the larger martins at close quarters and martins often prevail in conflicts inside the nests. House sparrows mainly adversely impact martin colonies by clogging up houses/gourds with almost martin-proof nests. House sparrows build a nest that is compactly constructed and contains a narrow tunnel entrance that leads to the nesting chamber. Such a nest that is so tightly packed in a house compartment or gourd may readily exclude the larger martin from easily entering. Sparrows can evict martins by simply filling the house/gourds with their nearly martin-proof nests; no fighting necessary! Sparrows can build a nest in record time and will build it over a martin's nest when the martins are not there; in a few days the martins may not be able to enter their nest. At unmanaged colonies sparrows can seriously reduce the occupancy level by martins when the sparrows build their nests at will and no landlord removes them. Sparrows also sneak into unguarded martin nests and destroy eggs and kill recently hatched young.
The starling is about 8 inches long and is a virtual killing machine, an avian terminator. Armed with a dagger like beak, powerful long legs, sharp claws, and a muscular body, the starling is truly the super competitor. Purple martins, bluebirds, woodpeckers, house sparrows and other hole nesting birds are usually no match for starlings in combat at close quarters inside the nest cavity. On occasion, a determined flicker or other woodpecker will successfully defend its nest against starlings, but starlings usually reign supreme, particularly inside the nest cavity. Even large flickers are usually severely beaten by starlings in close quarter battles and I have seen screaming flickers hanging halfway out of a hole while a starling holds his victim from behind. Great crested flycatchers, in defense of their nests, will viciously attack and drive starlings away in open combat, but are no match in fighting starlings inside the nest. Starlings possess a killer instinct and will readily kill weaker birds, like purple martins, in ferocious battles inside the nests. The starling will grip the martin in its claws, hold it down, and savagely peck at the martin's head and eyes. Few martins can escape the raptor like clutches of the starling and they may be killed or injured. Starlings will also destroy martin's eggs and kill their young.
Starlings and particularly sparrows may remain in their territories year round and even roost in their old nests. I have seen chirruping sparrows on old martin houses in the dead of winter. Starlings and sparrows are usually looking for nest sites weeks before many native species are doing so and will claim them. By the time migratory native species have "returned home", many of their older nest sites have already been taken over by starlings and sparrows and they are firmly bonded and aggressively fight to hold the territory.
Starlings are intimately familiar with the nesting habits of woodpeckers and will "watch" a pair of woodpeckers excavate their nesting cavity. Fresh woodpecker cavities are a favorite nest site for starlings; starlings frequently "investigate" dead trees/limbs in search of woodpecker holes. As soon as the cavity is large enough, the starlings start attacking and harassing the woodpeckers until the woodpeckers are driven off. And there is a possible reason for the starling's "knowledge" of woodpecker nesting behavior as described below.
But there is more to the success of house sparrows and starlings in competing with our native hole nesting birds than brute force and aggression. They already had the genetic knowledge and behavioral mechanisms for competition in place when they were first released in America over 100 years ago. Think about the following. In their native home land of Europe and parts of Asia, both house sparrows and starlings have been competing for thousands and thousands of years with other hole nesting birds. And guess what? They have for the most part proven to be super competitors here, too! House sparrows out compete house martins and evict the weak billed martins from their mud-domed nests. House martins are similar in size to our tree and cliff swallows. However, house sparrows are not so successful in competing with the common swift which nests in holes. The common swift, though possessing a weak bill, is larger, aggressive and nearly as big as our purple martin and fights back. Interesting comparisons! Starlings may evict European woodpeckers, like the green and greater spotted woodpeckers from cavities. The green woodpecker is similar in size to our flicker and the spotted woodpecker is similar to our red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers. More interesting comparisons!
So it appears that house sparrows and starlings had thousands of years of successful competition with other hole nesting birds in their native home land of Europe and Asia. When they were introduced in North America, they adapted perfectly and applied their powerful physical weapons, aggressiveness, and genetic knowledge to compete with native hole nesting birds. What worked with European house martins and woodpeckers for thousands of years also worked with American swallows and woodpeckers. House sparrows and starlings are truly super and, yes, intelligent competitors and just did and are continuing to do what is naturally programmed in their genes–they are continuing their species in an incredibly successful manner.
The introduction of house sparrows and starlings in North America is a premier example of the folly of humans adversely impacting the ecology of an entire continent. North America with its diverse geography, huge territorial expanses, many urban/suburban locations, various climate ranges, and numerous potential nesting sites provides the ideal environment for house sparrows and starlings to breed successfully and expand their range. The North American environment, particularly the urban/suburban complexes, is similar in some ways to parts of Europe and Asia and these species were able to easily adapt and prosper. Our malls, fast food establishments, farms, golf courses, backyard bird feeding stations, and closely mowed lawns in suburbia and city parks are ideal environments for house sparrows and starlings. House sparrows look for scraps and dropped human food items around businesses while starlings use their long beaks to probe for invertebrates in the short grasses of lawns.
Though North America has predators such as Accipiter hawks, merlins, peregrine falcons, owls, and rat snakes, house sparrows and starlings were first introduced in more urban areas where such predators are not as common. From this urban base, house sparrows and starlings were able to breed successfully, build up a huge population, and gradually expand their ranges to other cities and towns with limited predation pressures initially. Of course, predators, particularly Accipiters, began to exploit this huge burgeoning prey biomass, but by then house sparrows and starlings were so entrenched and numerous, that predation would be unable to limit their numbers sufficiently to provide any ecological balance. The avian plague of house sparrows and starlings was able to spread and infect nearly all areas of North America through the sheer force of numbers and the various predators were unable to help keep this pandemic under control.
In their native home land of Europe and parts of Asia, house sparrows and starlings are preyed upon by sparrow hawks (similar to our sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawk), merlins (we have merlins, too), hobbies (extremely swift falcon, something like a miniature peregrine falcon), peregrines (we have them, too) and owls (we have great horned, barred and screech). This predator/prey relationship in Europe and Asia has evolved over thousands of years and a balance exists to a certain degree and helps keep house sparrow and starling population numbers in check.
Also, some European cavity nesters like greater spotted woodpeckers may nest later in the season to minimize competition pressure with starlings which typically breed earlier. And European woodpeckers will retreat to more wooded areas to nest and starlings do not usually breed in such locations. Some of our North American woodpeckers may be able to breed later after most of the starlings have finished nesting and this nesting behavior has helped flickers and red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers to a degree to nest successfully in starling infested areas. And red-bellied woodpeckers in particular will nest in forests which are often not favored by starlings.
European house martins will construct their mud-domed nests in dense colonies under roof overhangs of buildings and nesting in large numbers may provide insulation from competition from house sparrows though sparrows can still evict some martins but not all. Additionally, house martins can build new homes if their first ones are usurped by house sparrows.
And finally, house sparrows and starlings may be more subject to periodic significant population declines in parts of Europe which is smaller in geographical size than North America. Any species that is concentrated in a smaller area would probably be more vulnerable to widespread adverse environmental factors. Currently house sparrow and starling numbers are declining in Europe. Scientists speculate that changes in farming practices that reduce left over grain as a food item, new human house/building construction designs that eliminate potential "cavities" in roofs, and increases in sparrow hawk numbers have contributed to the demise of house sparrow and starling populations. Perhaps similar scenarios have occurred in the past to reduce house sparrow and starling populations periodically which has helped keep these species in balance with others in Europe.
We, as responsible purple martin landlords, must vigilantly eliminate both house sparrows and starlings from our martin colonies and not let these super competitors nest in our yards. They are highly destructive competitors that adversely impact our native hole nesting birds like purple martins, tree swallows, bluebirds and woodpeckers.
Steve Kroenke
House Sparrows And Starlings Are Super Competitors
Welcome to the internet's gathering place for Purple Martin enthusiasts
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300+ pairs of martins each season
300+ pairs of martins each season
This was a good read. And reminder of when I look into that cute face of the sparrow why I do what I do. Not to be fooled. I also think they adapt so well with eating people food nesting anywhere. Sparrows make their own cavitys in my pine trees with a bunch of nest material. And they will nest in close proximity to each other. On like the blue bird. I hate when I go threw a town of ran down houses and I see them nesting every where in whatever they can get in. I think all towns should have a trap. This needs to get on a voting ballot. Why are we as people not caring or doing anything? These birds are like cockroaches. And stray cats.
2008 first year 1 pair. 2009 3 pair. 2010 7 pair. 2011 20 pair . 2012 44 pair 280 eggs 210 fledged. 2013 67 pair. 2014?
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3216 Cross Rd Wayne Twp OH
Commercial triple net lease. 7000+/- sq ft centralized in Adams County. Minutes away from the county seat, State Route 32, and the Adams Cty Airport. Includes overhead door for loading/unloading. Property totals 14,000+/-sq ft, but would split to include a partition wall with separated HVAC systems. Signage is available for tenant. $1800/mo
Directions to 3216 Cross Rd Wayne Twp OH 45697: SR 32E TO SR 247S TO RIGHT ON CROSS RD. PROPERTY ON THE RIGHT. PREVIOUSLY EDMISTENS FURNITURE STORE.
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Huff Realty
Joseph T Brumley
Joseph T Brumley
Office: 513-474-3500
Phone: 937-217-5244
Phone: 937-217-5244
The data relating to the real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from the Broker Reciprocity program of the MLS of Greater Cincinnati, Inc. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than Comey & Shepherd Realtors are marked with the Broker Reciprocity logo or Broker Reciprocity house icon. The properties displayed may not be all the properties available through Broker Reciprocity.


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Good morning everybody I hope you a had a beautiful Valentine's Day. I know I did.
A few bloggers and I were called by Kristen Anulika owner of the blog http://Krizteeyn.wordpress.com , to be a part of her inspire week, to share our view on various topics that sometimes haunt our minds.
Each blogger has been asigned a topic and a day. The first post went up on the 11th of Feburary and it was by Officialnnamdiblog.com.
We have had 4 bloggers put up a post after him, including the blogger for day 5, which means we have had 5 posts up for inspire week .
To stay notified on each post for the week you can subscribe to Krizteeyn.wordpress.com and also follow her on other social media platforms.
Catch you all soon on day 6


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'Shakespeare in Love,' 'Deep Blue Sea' sweep onto DVD this week
A host of mid-level blockbusters and some serious classic films highlight the DVD release schedule for the week of Dec. 7.
Heading things up is Warner Bros.' special edition of the Renny Harlin-directed action feature "Deep Blue Sea" ($24.98 SRP). A sort of 1999 version of "Jaws," "Deep Blue Sea" features a group of scientists attempting to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease by experimenting on sharks. As the sea creatures are altered with enlarged brains, they begin to get uppity, and chaos ensues. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows and Thomas Jane. Warner's special edition includes a running commentary, behind-the-scenes documentaries and detailed storyboards and stills.
As expected, Disney has re-released its Academy Award-winning "Shakespeare in Love" ($39.99 SRP), this time in a deluxe, special edition. The Best Picture recipient at last year's Oscar presentation now features a pair of audio commentaries — one with director John Madden and one with cast and crew as well as deleted scenes and a spotlight on costumes. Unfortunately, this pattern of releasing and then re-releasing its films in special-edition format comes as a bit of a blow to Disney enthusiasts who find themselves having to buy multiple copies of a film in order to get all the added goodies. On the plus side, at least these special editions are actually seeing the light of day in the first place. You decide.
Director Mike Figgis' controversial "Loss of Sexual Innocence" ($27.95 SRP) will also hit shelves this week in a special-edition package. Debuting at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and starring Julian Sands, Saffron Burrows and Kelly MacDonald, the feature includes a running audio commentary by Figgis, as well as the original theatrical trailer.
The Disney animated classics continue to roll off the presses. This week, an old classic joins a newer one when "The Jungle Book" ($39.99 SRP) and "The Little Mermaid" ($39.99 SRP) hit video outlets. Both are presented in their proper aspect ratios (1.33:1 and 1.66:1, respectively) and are available only for 60 days. Unfortunately, neither includes any real extras and will probably have collectors shelling out additional cash at some point down the line when the real special editions finally hit the streets.
For those looking for a walk on the wild side, the seminal 1969 biker epic "Easy Rider" ($24.95 SRP) hits stores in a deluxe special edition. Starring Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, "Easy Rider" turned a generation on to the beauty of riding a big, loud Harley across America. Easily one of the most influential psychedelic films of its time, "Easy Rider" continues to impress filmgoers. Columbia/TriStar's special edition also includes a running commentary by actor/director Hopper, as well as the making-of documentary "Easy Rider: Shaking the Cage."
The filmmakers of today owe a monumental debt of gratitude to cinema's forefathers, not the least of which is silent-film icon D.W. Griffith. The grandfather of modern filmmaking was riding a high and powerful wave when he released his 1916 tour de force "Intolerance."
His 178-minute ode to man's brutality toward man throughout history was one of the most expensive and time-consuming projects ever attempted. Jumping between tales of injustice from four different moments in history (known as the Babylonian, French, Judaean and Modern stories), "Intolerance" proved to be far, far ahead of its time. While film scholars marvel at the detail and complex storytelling, the film proved disastrous at its time of release. Fortunately, in the 83 years since its box office flop, film lovers have come to embrace Griffith's tale of corruption and inhumanity as perhaps the most important work in early film history. Image Entertainment's special edition DVD of "Intolerance" ($29.99 SRP) includes the fully restored 178-minute version of the film, as well as deleted segments, publicity material and copyright registration frames.
From the classics to the notorious, home video will never be the same once documentary filmmaker Todd Phillips' ode to the late punk rock icon G.G. Allin hits stores this week. "Hated: G.G. Allin & the Murder Junkies" ($24.98 SRP) documents the performer's final U.S. tour after his parole from a Michigan prison on assault charges. With a wide (and amazingly fair) assortment of interviews with fans, former teachers and band members, as well as archival and concert footage, "Hated" paints a disturbing portrait of a man whose biggest claim to fame cannot even be printed on a family Web site. As controversial as its subject (upon word of Allin's lethal drug overdose in June 1993, several magazine reports began with the qualifier that "it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy"), "Hated" gives viewers a well-rounded introduction into a world most would rather not inhabit.