text:
THE BUYBACK represents one of a handful of provisions in the peanut supply management program that the next U.S. Congress should address and modify to make the program fair to producers.
Limiting imports to current levels, adding a cost of production provision to quota pricing, and including country of origin labels on all peanuts also would help stabilize an industry that has lost a good portion of its earning potential over the past seven years.
Carlos Squires, Caddo County, Okla., peanut farmer and board chairman of the Southwestern Peanut Growers' Association, discussed these and other peanut policy issues recently with Southwest Farm Press.
"We've got to get something done about the buyback," Squires said. "We ought to get a bonus for quota peanuts this year because of poor crop prospects, but we will not because of abuses to the buyback provision."
The buyback allows farmers to redeem non-quota (additional) peanuts out of export channels and into the domestic edible market in years when drought or other disasters limit the amount of quota available.
The provision was designed to maintain supply stability in the domestic market and prevent shortages and spikes in prices. That's not how the provision works in real life, Squires said.
"Under the regulations, no one but the producer is supposed to receive profits from the peanut loan pool. But, for the past few years, growers have had to sign buyback agreements in the spring to fix a price on their additional peanuts. The shellers are getting the advantage."
Squires said shellers receive half the pool profit that would ordinarily go to the grower. "Shellers can turn non-quota peanuts into quota for $675 per ton. With the funds they get from the pool, they can cut that cost to just $575. It's a good deal for them."
The problem for growers is that additional peanuts that come back into the domestic edible market when no real shortage exists will displace quota peanuts. "We're especially vulnerable in the Southwest because we harvest after the other regions," Squires said. "By the time we take our quota peanuts to the market, there may be no place for them, so we have to put them into the loan and face the possibility of paying assessments."
That happened to Southeast farmers just last year.
SQUIRES SAID when drought hits one region, the buyback should be used to move non-quota peanuts from other areas into the domestic market to offset losses and maintain supplies.
"We don't want to do away with the buyback provision," he said. "It's a useful marketing and supply management tool. But we do need to change it."
Squires said springtime buyback contracts should be disallowed. "The provision will kick in at harvest if conditions warrant."
Squires also expressed concern that little competition remains in the peanut buying industry. "We basically have two companies buying 75 percent of the peanuts. That's a symptom of change that is sweeping agriculture. Concentration limits competition and it's a big issue that Congress needs to address."
Squires also wants to see cost of production used in establishing support prices. The peanut program included an escalator clause until revisions in the last law, seven years ago, eliminated it.
"We want a cost of production clause," Squires said. "If production costs increase, support prices go up; if production costs decline, we take a cut.
"But we need to go back for the last seven years and include what we have lost in that time."
Squires believes if a cost of production clause had been part of the last peanut program, quota peanuts today would be more than $700 per ton.
He justifies that figure because of significant hikes in diesel, natural gas and water costs over the past few years. Labor and equipment costs also have risen.
It makes sense, he said, to include production costs for all commodities, not just peanuts.
"We could be headed toward a situation with food similar to the energy crises we've faced," he said. "This country does not ever want to be in a position where it can be held hostage for food.
"Agriculture must be put on the same level as military spending. Both are vital to our national security."
Squires said government agriculture programs for years have done more to "subsidize consumers than to help farmers."
Imports also weigh heavily on peanut profit potential.
"We are going to see imports, especially with the world market becoming a dumping ground for cheap agricultural products," Squires said. "Trade is essential, but imports should not displace domestic production."
He favors a country of origin labeling regulation that would inform consumers where agriculture products are grown.
"That gives them a choice," he said. "And it's up to us to educate them on the differences in quality and safety of peanuts produced in the United States, compared to those produced in China and other countries."
He said NAFTA has not hurt the peanut industry as much as some feared but still poses threats. "It may not hurt as much if it's policed properly," he said. "Unfortunately, a lot of peanuts from countries not covered under NAFTA are finding their way into U.S. markets through Mexico. If Mexican peanut farmers produced all the peanuts that came through there last year, average yield would have been close to 9,000 pounds per acre in some regions. Trans-shipments could be a big problem."
He hopes to see some of these issues addressed quickly and is encouraged by early rumblings that indicate Congress could take up farm bill discussions next year.
"It's imperative that we begin to inform our legislators that we need changes," he said. He praised Texas Congressmen Charles Stenholm and Larry Combest and Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas for their long-time support of agriculture.
"They have done a good job keeping our programs alive," he said. "They will continue to be supportive but they have a lot of people to convince."
He said agriculture's next mission should be to inform the general public. Check-off funds approved in a referendum last year will be used to provide better public relations for the industry, he said.
"We have high expectation that funds from that program will help us inform the public about peanuts," he said. "We produce the safest supply of food of any country in the world, but farmers are not reaping the benefit of that achievement. We have to drive that point home."
Squires said farming is significantly more complex and expensive than it was when he started back in 1966, and he's concerned that few young people choose farming as a profession.
"It takes at least $1 million to get started, and when someone leaves a farm, it's usually too expensive to get back in. This country can not let farmers go out of business and prevent young people from coming back to the farm without a severe impact on the consumer.
"No country in the world is more blessed with natural resources than the United States," he said. But we need youth to be able to take over when this generation retires."


text:
President Obama has nominated a new treasury secretary. His name is Jack Lew. There are probably all sorts of very important ramifications to this particular selection.
But all anyone (Gawker, NY Mag, etc.) can talk about regarding it is Lew's hilarious signature.
For good reason.
His hilarious signature is going to be all over our currency.
And his hilarious signature is hilarious.
Somehow this collection of crazy loops is supposed to read as "Jack Lew":
Sky News producer Alan Strange put it best this morning: It's "like he's adding zeroes to the deficit."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Inspiration Software® uses research-based principles and strategies to develop and support our visual thinking and learning software for students and educators. The following information provides an overview of the research data that informs our approaches to providing software that improves learning performance. In addition, you will find white papers and reports that cover the role and benefits of visual thinking and learning in core curriculum areas and in addressing significant student needs.
Learn more about visual thinking and learning.
Visual Learning Improves Performance
Research to support the use of specific teaching and learning techniques has long been a key part of every educator's decision-making process.
Scientifically based research cited in the literature review demonstrates that a research base exists to support the use of visual learning techniques for improving student learning and performance in the following areas:
Review an executive summary of the report.
How Digital Tools Prepare Students for the 21st Century
The United States currently ranks seventeenth in the world on tests assessing science and math knowledge and skills, teachers report teaching science two or fewer days per week, and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects that by the year 2016, the United States will need an additional 15,600,000 information sector workers.
Download this research-based white paper today!
"The best learning occurs when real world problems are paired with real world tools for problem solving. As technology is an integral part of 21st century students' realities, these tools need to be digital to be relevant."
"Visual learning is the most effective tool for a teacher. Abstract math concepts become so much more vivid when students use Inspiration and InspireData. This paper is absolutely correct on the memory retention of students when you use visual mapping."
Telannia Norfar
Read more about how Inspiratiuon Software products support development of 21st Century Skills


text:
'Glee' Stars + More Attend Trevor Project Live Event
On Sunday, Dec. 4, many of the cast members from 'Glee' attended the Trevor Live event in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium. Darren Criss, Dianna Agron, Amber Riley, Kevin McHale, Harry Shum Jr., Damian McGinty and Jayma Mays represented the 'Glee' cast at the event, which was in support of The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project helps younger generations within the LGBTQ community by providing crisis and suicide prevention resources as well as promoting a message of love and acceptance to all.
At the event, Darren Criss tweeted, "So happy to be at the Trevor Project Live event tonight. Marvelous event for a wonderful cause." In addition to the 'Glee' stars, Fergie and hubby Josh Duhammel attended Trevor Live, as did former 'N Sync member JC Chasez, 'American Idol' champ Kris Allen, and former 'Idol' contestant Stefano Langone. Allen, Criss and Riley performed at the Palladium Theatre, as did a handful of other stars including Mary J. Blige and Miley Cyrus.
On the official Trevor Live web page, the event was described as an "irreverent night of music and comedy," and Lady Gaga was distinguished as the Trevor Project's special honoree. McHale, who like Criss has acted in PSA's for The Trevor Project, tweeted from the event: "Had an incredible time @trevorproject Live!!best event of the year! Such an incredible organization."
If you want to learn more about The Trevor Project, you can visit the organization's official website by clicking here. In the meantime, scroll through these pictures of the stars who showed up to support the wonderful cause.


text:
Tour of Flanders 2011
April 3, 2011, Brugge, Belgium, Road - UPT (ProTour)
Tour of Flanders 2011
It is estimated that over 800,000 people will line the roads for Sunday's Tour of Flanders, as one of cycling's true heartlands enjoys the biggest weekend of its calendar. 256km and 18 steep hellingen face the riders, as they battle the cobbles and the elements.
While all eyes will be on Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) on the start line in Brugge as he looks to win his second consecutive Tour of Flanders, home hopes will be carried largely by Tom Boonen (Quick Step). Twelve months ago, Cancellara simply powered away from Boonen on Flemish cycling's most hallowed ground, the Muur-Kapelmuur, and soloed regally to the win in Meerbeke, and the Belgian will be looking for revenge this time around.
Tour of Flanders preview | Tour of Flanders 2010 | Race History | Spring Classics


text:
The Orinoco River Delta
Best described by guests.
Great experience [TripAvisor - clouds111 - 25/09/2008]
"About a 2 hour boat ride up the Delta from the small airport. The campamento is perfectly located on the edge of the river. About 30 or so small wooden cabins which take take you straight back to nature. The rooms are 'open', the windows covered by a mesh to keep the mosquitos out and a palm covered roof. At night you lay on the bed with the sounds of the jungle outside and the twinkling lights of the fireflies in the trees.
Cabins have 2 single beds and own toilet and shower. Electricity goes off around 11pm but you are given candles, you should also take a torch just in case.
The paths to the main area are lit with flamed torches at night time. During the day you can spot all sorts of wildlife around the camp, keep your eyes open. The sun will most likely wake you up in the morning if it does stroll down to the reception area and watch it come up over the trees, the steam rising from the river and the locals over in their canoes starting their day.
From this lodge they will take on trips around the Delta including a short trek in the jungle wearing wellies (check yours doesn't have a hole it them, mine did!), pirana fishing and visits to the local Warao Tribe.
Food was good and drinks reasonably priced. The lodge also houses a school, teaching the children from the local tribes. Great experiance, sad it was only one night though!
"The nicest lodge in Orinoco" [TripAvisor - informaldehyde - 08/03/2012]
"Orinoco Delta Lodge is situated in a beautiful area and provides great possibilities for animal and bird-watching. It�s design is strikingly beautiful, just as the garden where individual cabins are. We were able to observe red howler and grey cappucin monkeys right behind the lodge! Swimming in a river with piranhas also added a lot of charm to our stay. Fresh river dolphins are very easy to spot. The owner, Anthony, is a very charismatic person who really cares about both his guests and environment. His project is very socially and ecologically responsible: he sponsored building a school for local indigenous kids and installed some sun batteries in the lodge. A beautiful place to visit for those who want to experience jungle and care about the places they go to."


text:
Jacks Edged By IPFW In Overtime
FT. WAYNE, IN -- The South Dakota State women's soccer team was edged by the Mastodons in Fort Wayne on Friday night, 2-1 in overtime.
After evening the score at 1-1 midway through the second half, Fort Wayne scored the game-winning goal six minutes into the first overtime.
The first half was rather quiet, as neither team put together serious scoring chances.
The game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
SDSU led in shots on goal (2-1), but trailed in total shots (6-4) and corner kicks (3-0). Fort Wayne was whistled for two offsides and five fouls, while SDSU was whistled for five fouls and no offsides.
Stephanie Krzywania led the Jacks with two shots, one on goal.
Elisa Stamatakis made one save in the first half.
Seven minutes into the second half, Fort Wayne rebounded and scored the game's first goal off of a free kick in the 52nd minute.
SDSU responded in the 64th minute when Diana Potterveld took a through ball from Christa Nyblom and evened the score. It was her third goal of the season.
At the 69-minute mark, Tina Ehrett entered the game at goalkeeper for Stamatakis, who was injured on a play in the box.
Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie.
By the end of the second half, Fort Wayne held the advantage in shots (15-9), shots on goal (6-5) and corner kicks (6-0). Fort Wayne was whistled for 10 fouls and three offsides, while SDSU was whistled for seven fouls and two offsides.
Krzywania, Potterveld, Nyblom and Dani Patterson recorded two shots apiece. Both of Potterveld's shots were on goal.
Ehrett made three saves in the final 20 minutes of the second half to preserve the tie.
The Mastodons attempted two shots in the first overtime period and the second found its mark.
The game was played in wet and cold conditions, as a front swept through Indiana.
SDSU dropped to 2-8-1 overall, 0-2-0 in The Summit League.
Fort Wayne improved to 5-6-0, 1-1-0 in The Summit League.
The Jacks complete the road trip on Sunday at Oakland. Game time is set for 1 p.m. (ET) in Rochester, Mich.
Courtesy: South Dakota State University


text: Parallels Posted by Dr Ben Still on July 17, 2013 • Comments (0) I have been lucky enough play my part in the construction of a cutting edge particle detector and I feel equally privileged to have played my part in the construction of the Covariance installation. The other weekend I went to visit Lyndall in Ely to play my part in constructing on of the hundreds of elements involved. While there I was surprised to see how much in common the construction of the installation had with that of a particle detector. After some thought though the parallels made perfect sense because they are a very real reflection of the core inspiration behind the piece. I tried my hand at constructing one of the hundreds of uniquely and intricately patterned Perspex discs that comprise the main installation. I found the accuracy with which the diamantes must be placed quite tricky and instead realised my calling lie in preparing the brass rods for the glass beads to sit upon. The micro industrial scale process Lyndall and her team of assistants are employing to create Covariance mimic that of my colleagues and myself when constructing the ND280 near detector for the T2K experiment. Thousands of individual elements are painstakingly hand assembled, over seen by an expert. Jigs and standardised methods ensure accuracy in the alignment of each piece. Soon will come the stage when all on the intermediary elements will be packaged and shipped to site for installation. The ND280 particle detector comprised of elements constructed by groups all around the globe and came together in the village of Tokai-mura in Eastern Japan. The discs for Covariance are travelling in boxes from Lyndalls home in Ely to Kings Cross, while the support structure and lighting will arrive on site direct from engineers. It will be the coming together of all elements that will make Covariance complete much that same as it takes international elements to complete a particle detector. I am extremely excited about Monday as I will be continuing this journey to completion when the main support structure arrives on site at the London Canal Museum. This is the most exciting part as the individual parts start to form the whole. It will take less time than installing a particle detector but the principle is the same – elements are passed down a hole and assembled underground into a complete piece. It is happening!


text:
This article offers solutions to problems you might experience when using the Xpreshon app with Xbox Live and your Xbox 360 console.
If the Xpreshon app is not functioning smoothly on your console, you may have a connectivity problem. See Troubleshoot your Xbox Live connection.
If your Xbox 360 console is not providing good-quality video or audio, see Xbox 360 audio or video problems.
If the Xpreshon app doesn't respond, delete and reinstall it. Here's how:
If the problem is not resolved, contact Xbox Support.
You may get one of the following error messages when you try to use the Xpreshon app.
Application errors
To resolve these errors, follow these steps:
Availability errors
To resolve the error, wait about a minute, and then try to watch the content again. If you keep getting the error, select a different program to watch.
Note Xpreshon is responsible for all issues relating to content in the app. To report a content error, contact Xpreshon at email@example.com, or visit xpreshon.com.
Thanks for your feedback!
Provide feedback for this topic
Would you like to contact Support regarding the "Troubleshoot the Xpreshon app on Xbox 360" issue you were reading about or a different issue?


text:
WOLFEBORO, N.H., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney, in an interview with Parade, suggested he has not released more U.S. tax returns because he does not want to publicize his religious contributions.
Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, was interviewed by the magazine with his wife Ann in late July at his summer home in Wolfeboro, N.H. Romney is a devout Mormon and served as the bishop of his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints congregation in Belmont, Mass., before becoming involved in politics.
"Our church doesn't publish how much people have given. This is done entirely privately," Romney said. "One of the downsides of releasing one's financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known. It's a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church."
The tax returns Romney did release for 2010 showed that a lot of his money is held overseas. He was asked if he would be willing to keep it in the United States.
"My investments have been managed for almost the last 10 years by a blind trust. A trustee decides where to put our money," Romney answered. "If I am president, my understanding is the same principle applies, that I may not direct any of my investments. I can't tell you what my investments might be because I won't make them. But I am happy to have every investment in the United States."
The magazine, a Sunday insert in thousands of newspapers across the country, plans to run a similar cover story on President Obama and his wife next weekend.


text:
- Latest Industry Standards
- High-end Work
- #1 in Chain Link Fence
- Maintenance Agreements
Understand just what to anticipate
You have to be well informed with regards to Chain Link Fence in Hardeeville, SC. We will not encourage you to come up with imprudent choices, since we know just what we are working at, and we ensure that you understand what to anticipate from the project. You won't need to face any unexpected surprises when you do business with Chain Link Fence Pro. Begin by contacting 800-313-5780 to talk about your work. Within this phone call, you will get your questions addressed, and we're going to arrange a time to initiate work. We are going to work together with you through the whole process, and our crew is going to arrive promptly and prepared.
Consider Chain Link Fence Pro for Chain Link Fence in Hardeeville, Wyoming
If you find yourself planning a project for Chain Link Fence in Hardeeville, SC, you'll find great reasons to work with Chain Link Fence Pro. Our company is the best option when you need the most efficient cash saving options, the best equipment, and the greatest rank of client satisfaction. Our company is ready to help you with the greatest working experience and competence available. Call 800-313-5780 to connect with Chain Link Fence Pro and consider your goals about Chain Link Fence in Hardeeville.


text: I have been a television professional and on air personality since 1987. My career began in Bozeman, Montana as the weatherman but new challenges arose sending me towards the mainstream spotlight as an investigative reporter. After more than 12 years of working in news I made the choice to chase my dream and in 1993 founded Wolf Creek Productions, an outdoors television company. Before coming to WJIM as host of the Steve Gruber Show, I hosted "Steve Gruber's Wild Life" for 5 years on an AM superstation reaching 38 states. Hunting, fishing, and the outdoors lifestyle are my passions and everything I do is for my three children, Alyssa, Madison and Landon.


text:
The Plymouth Arms
St. Fagans, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, CF5 6DU 029 2056 9173
St. Fagans, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, CF5 6DU 029 2056 9173
This Christmas, why not take a break from those pots and pans and let us do the hard work for you.
Enjoy 3 courses for £59.95.95
Once you've made a booking, simply complete the information about your booking below (including your booking reference), make a menu selection for each guest in your party, and then 'submit' your form and it will be emailed straight to us. If your booking is for more than 10 people, or you need to pre-order for Children, please phone the pub to arrange your pre-order.


text:
Popular Applications:
ECOS for Educators
Grant Opportunities
Secure Applications
TEAL Login
A - Z Index
Sign Up for Updates
TEA Correspondence
Home / About TEA / News and Multimedia
Published annually since 1991, the Pocket Edition reports a variety of state-level statistics. The topics include information on students, test performance and participation, graduation and college admission, attendance, graduation completion and dropout rates, accountability ratings, personnel, and finances.
Information contained in the pamphlets is compiled from data provided by the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) collection, the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report, the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR). and testing companies. For more information, contact the Division of Communications at (512) 463-9000.
The Pocket Editions for school years 1991-1992 through 2009-2010 are also available on the TEA website.Archived Pocket Editions
Additional copies of the Pocket Edition may be requested from the Publications by Title webpage that contains a link to the Publication Order Form.Publications by Titles


text:
Is this experimental unit the most powerful superconducting transformer constructed to date? It's already bringing sweeping changes to transformer and substation design.
A U.S. industry team of engineers and scientists, led by Waukesha Electric Systems (WES), announces an important breakthrough in electric technology by successfully testing a large (1MVA) experimental version of a new type of power transformer. The new, superconducting transformers will be smaller and lighter, having a much greater lifetime. Two differences in design make these new transformers revolutionary. First, it is designed with high temperature superconductor (HTS) materials instead of copper windings. Second, a relatively small refrigeration system replaces the large heat exchangers of the traditional oil-filled power transformer. When developed, the typical 30MVA HTS transformer will require approximately 200 lbs. of superconductor, which has insignificant electrical resistance, and therefore directly generates no heat. Compare this to the many thousands of pounds of copper required in a conventional transformer design. These copper windings are a major source of heating and electrical loss. For more information about the superconducting transformer, contact Sam Metha at WES, (414) 547-0121.


text:
ZZ Top Reveal Release Date, Tracklist and Title of New EP
You'll get to hear the full-length version of ZZ Top's new single 'I Gotsta Get Paid' next Tuesday (June 5), when they release the four-track digital EP 'Texicali.'
Along with the single, 'Texicali' includes the new songs 'Chartreuse,' 'Over You,' and 'Consumption.' Fans purchasing the EP will get a pro-rated discount on the purchase of the band's long-gestating full-length album when it is released. There's still no official title or release date for that project, by the way.
Guitarist Billy Gibbons insists the band is excited with what it has in store for fans. "We were itching to get some new music out before the full album release; making available these four tracks seems like a good way to accomplish that most expeditiously," explained Gibbons in a press release.
"Dusty, Frank and I are happy with what's been accomplished in the studio so we figured we'd provide some hot and tasty 'hors d'oeuvres' before the main course is served this fall."
In the meantime, ZZ Top is on the road headlining the Gang of Outlaws Tour, along with supporting acts 3 Doors Down and Gretchen Wilson. We're assuming there will be plenty of Jeremiah Weed at the concession stand.


text:
Saturday, August 31, 2013
6:42 PM | Posted by Abathyr Cog&Fleur | | Edit Post
NOTE: This isn't a complete list yet, but I'll be adding more as they get sent to me. They are in hunt order, and the slurls are included with each pic just in case you want to jump from here. The complete SLURL list can be found at the SLURL tab.
#3 ~Lantian
Gorgeous stained glass lantern
#6 Cog & Fleur
Renaissance outfits for male and female in dark purple
#7 Park Place Home Decor
This Renaissance Bench sits 2 people with a his/hers menu for selections.
The bench frame is mesh at 5 land impact with sculpt cushion and pillows for a total of 14 LI.
#8 Reliquia
#9 Kismet
#12 The Jewellery Exchange
Jewelry for men and women
#13 Montagne Noire
#16 Sweet Sorrows
#18 Jinxed Toys & Magic
The two versions of the wall will be included in the same box.
#19 MacMoragh and Muse
There are two hunt gifts: First from Aine -your next hint will be included in the gift.
The second is from Fenn will include the next LM
(I'm not sure the pics are in the right order)
#22 AdelleArts Manor Fashions
Outfits for men and women
#23 Always Eclectic
The hunt prize for the Renaissance Hunt is the Distinction Set in Silver shown below.
The identical set in Gold is on sale at the Always Eclectic tent at the Faire, or at the main store.
Two exclusive versions of the Elegance sets are available ONLY at the Faire tent and ONLY while the faire and hunt are going on.
#28 USC Textures
#29 House of ACCentaury
House of Accentaury
View of Accentaury: Procession 7
30 LOTTIE Garden & Home
Fantasy Pond
#31 Dandy and Niki Creations
#33 Pierre Ceriano
#37 [TF] - Tamiron Forge
Sherwood Forest Outfit
#38 Rainy Fey Creations
The prize is a pair of Lion Medallions, one small and dainty, one big and bold.
These solid gold medallions have been strung on thick wire, along with a few exquisitely engraved gold beads.
#41 Spyralle
Beautiful lantern with silver inlay
#42 GRSP (Ghostraven's Steampunk & Pirates)
The prize should you choose to find it is:
Horse and Cart (copy only) Motion activated vehicle. (what??) when you press forward the vehicle will move forward the horses will start to trot(move) sound is activated and the wheels will turn. when you stop moving forward they will stop. Arrow keys or wasd control forward backward left and right movement. PgUp or E, PgDn or C controls the Speed of the vehicle..there are three speeds to this vehicle.
Now working entirely in Mesh the prize is also a fairwell to sculpties with a lovely 32prim vehicle which takes advantage of sculpts ability to be script loaded... if you like this prize also check out the Gentleman's and Regal coaches at the store.
#47 Timeless Textures
Seamless Renaissance Textures
#48 Twelfth Night Designs
Men's Gift: Renaissance Ring
Women's Gift: Court Jester Outfit
Single Renaissance Bed - a single sleeper for a well-to-do Renaissance citizen - has a canopy for those who require protection from the insects dropping from the thatched roof.
Plenty of animations of course - eyes close when sleeping. Blanket operational too.
#57 The Bitten Prim
The prize is mesh, 1LI, and will be copy and Mod so that if people need to resize it to fit their space they can do so. Also includes a gift card!
#58 Zoe's Garden
The gazebo is the main hunt gift.
The 2nd picture shows the extra gifts that are available in a side hunt at the Zoe's at the Renaissance Faire.
#59 Watsoon Steampunk
#62 Evaki
Men's and Women's Outfits
#66 EBDesign - Elica Bowenford
for Robin and Marian
#68 HUDSON's Clothing Co.
HUDSON's Clothing offering a beautiful Antique Ruby Jewel Set for Women
and a Unique Renaissance styled Pendant for the men.
#69 Buccaneer's Restorations
Venetian Green Man Wall Fountain, Restored
Mixed mesh, 5 LI total, touch on/off water sound
#71 Goddess Fantasies
Outfits for men and women
#72 Keshiki Garden Center
Mini Renaissance Garden
#73 SANNA-SCIENCE and ART
#74 Lindy Modern & Retro Shoes
These are boots made from various hides that would have been worn in Europe during the Renaissance.
#79 Dionysia Designs
The gift box contains both prizes for each gender.
#80 Feyline Fashions
Outfits for men and women
#85 RVi Design
The gift is a set of 4 decorative archery targets in two sizes. The options are with and without arrows and the prim count (land impact) is 2 or 4 for each target, depending if they have the arrows or not. They are copy versions so you can have and use as many as needed.
#86 Cake Fox
Renaissance Patterns, eight fullperm seamless textures.
#87 ~*Sweet Revolutions*~
Roleplay Campfire with couple and single sits.
#88 Raggle Taggle Gypsies
2 new items from Raggle Taggle Gypsies! The lord's outfit includes 2 sculpted belts, green leather laced overtunic and embroidered brown silk tunic separately and together, and a pair of low-riding brown leather laced pants. The lady's outfit includes a one-prim belt, sheer green embroidered overblouse and black/green floral print blouse separately and together, a multilayered multiprint prim skirt in leafy prints, dark brown and green leather solids, and glitch pants.
#89 The Vintage Touch
The Renaissance Voyager's Trunk
Large, timeworn wooden trunk bound in rusty iron is lined with Renaissance-era map papers.
A wonderful storage solution for any Renaissance traveler, and it's only 2 prims!
#90 Rag Dollz
Royal Scribe Outfit for men and women
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Blog Archive
- 2019 (2)
- 2018 (3)
- 2017 (3)
- 2016 (3)
- 2015 (11)
- 2014 (14)
- 2013 (5)
- 2012 (19)
- 2011 (33)
- 2010 (21)
Some Blog Posts
Hunt Listings
Steam the Hunt
March 1-31st
(apps in January)
Silk Road Hunt
June 1st to 30th
(apps in April)
The Renaissance Hunt
September 1-30th
(apps in July)
March 1-31st
(apps in January)
Silk Road Hunt
June 1st to 30th
(apps in April)
The Renaissance Hunt
September 1-30th
(apps in July)
Powered by Blogger.


text:
DirectCertify COUK
In this new age, a lot of opportunities are gradually coming into the foray for candidates who have passed SAP Certification Training. This nature of certification is highly accepted throughout every corner of the globe. The certification proves to be an effective ingredient to pave a safe and secured future for modern day professionals related to the industry of information technology.
What is the value of SAP Certification Training?
SAP Certification Training offers ample solution for numerous IT professionals to demonstrate effective expertise over various functions of the industry. The certification validates a candidate's proficiency and ability to undertake effective solutions regarding latest SAP technology. The certification training even proves highly beneficial for visionary individuals who are willing to perform major role-related activities in the IT industry. Our certification program would help you to become proficient in managing major roles that are required in modern IT sector.
Pass SAP Certification program at initial stage to gain high stature in the IT world
Passing SAP Certification examinations at the very first instance that too, without ample preparation is almost an impossible step. It is essential to take great stride and hard preparation in order to pass the examination with good and appraisable grades to make a good impression on the authorities who would hire any candidate for effective positions in any IT industry.
Why should you choose out effective training module?
Our advanced modules offered through diretcertify, help candidates to undertake useful steps and tricks to prepare for their coming certification examinations. Start using our guidelines and test modules and increase chances to pass the examination with flying grades at the very first attempt itself. Our module answers and selective questions are concise on a scientific manner that would help you to get accustomed with the nature of question pattern that is laid down in the final test; thereby, help you to develop skill to attend most of them in shortest possible time.
We offer Easy Preparatory stage
We, at diretcertify, follow an effective method to prepare scientifically proven guidelines chalked down by SAP experts and even regularly update them. The guidelines even include advanced exercises related to real laboratory exercises intrigued with comprehensive questions and related answers, that would also expand your practical skills and knowledge that can be applied in real-time service period. We even offer these guidelines in pdf format that are easily downloaded and accessed through any device having the facility of Adobe Acrobat software.
Certain restrictions that might hamper the preparation process
Although we guarantee greater success rate in any IT oriented competitive examination, yet under several circumstances a number of obstruction might creep upon, hampering effective preparation. A few dampeners in this course of action may be cited as follows –
• Aspiring candidates may de disillusioned about the questionnaire that would be placed in front of them in the final examination center
• Although candidates might have an outline knowledge of what might come in the tests; yet, absence of relevant materials might hamper in getting prepared
• Passing with high grades require adequate, specified and effective preparation beforehand
Effective solutions
In case you are finding engulfed in several problems while effectively preparing to get good grades in SAP Certification Training program, resort to latest solutions offered in diretcertify.com. Check out certain essential aspects before choosing any program –
• Standards of program must be set according to SAP guidelines and up to the mark
• The provider should have a track record of proven success
• Definite guidelines and role client service should be available on a continuous basis
Getting assistance from diretcertify would help aspiring candidates get enriched skills and influence to become exceptional proficient to handle any prospective position in IT industry.


text:
Real Or Edited? Caught Slippin: Rick Ross Says Jay-Z & 50 Cent Inspire His C.O. Side
Funny slip up. He meant to say C.E.O. or is 50 playing games
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
's Introduction To Circumference (1929) Essay, Research Paper
"My business is circumference."
Emily Dickinson in a letter to Colonel Higginson, July 1862.
For some centuries English critics have been at work to revise or
apply the term metaphysical given John Donne and his school. The word does very
well, I think, if we use it of poetry, to describe a state of mind, not to designate a
system of thought with the exactitude of the philosopher or the scientist.* "Dryden
gave the term metaphysical to the odd terminology of Donne's poetic philosophy," says
Gosse, "and Johnson borrowing the suggestion, defined the school to describe not
Donne only, but all the amorous and philosophical poets who succeeded him, and who
employed a similarly fantastic language, and who affected odd figurative inversions. The
influence of Donne upon the literature of England," Mr. Gosse concludes, "was
singularly wide and deep, although almost wholly malign."
I have been attempting to collect into a book what may be considered the most malignant
of Donne's verses, together with others since his time, down to the present, which seem to
bear them a good comparison, not merely from the school commonly supposed to be
metaphysical, but from English and American poets generally. There are more poems of this
genre than poets; with many lyric and dramatic minds, the metaphysical is a mood
assumed for the moment, or one manner of approach, not a constant quality. Unless we agree
to use Donne as the measure of the metaphysical poet, and draw all others to scale, we
must admit to begin with, that in searching for the Metaphysical Poem we are only after an
abstraction. A long search, however, among many approximations, and repeated varieties,
gives a reader a certain knack at imagining the purest possibility of treatment, of which
the poems one encounters are only less acute designs.
I must state at the outset that I find only two genuinely metaphysical poets of the
first order of clarity in the entire span of our poetry. So far as an unscholarly
knowledge can contend, with the use of a definition that comes from a study of forms and
habitual choices of material, I find this kind of mind perfectly exampled only in John
Donne and Emily Dickinson. Dante, Goethe and Lucretius live in other languages.
"Metaphysical poetry," says Grierson, in his excellent introduction to Metaphysical
Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century, "in the full sense of the term, is a
poetry which, like that of the Divina Commedia, the De Natura Rerum and
perhaps Goethe's Faust, has been inspired by a philosophical conception of the
universe and the role assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence.
These poems were written because a definite interpretation of the riddle, the atoms of
Epicurus rushing through infinite empty space, the theology of the schoolmen as elaborated
in the catechetical disquisitions of St. Thomas, Spinoza's vision of life sub specie
aeternitatis, beyond good and evil, laid hold on the mind and the imagination of a
great poet, unified and illumined his comprehension of life, intensified and heightened
his personal consciousness of joy and sorrow, of hope and fear, by broadening their
significance, revealing to him in the history of his own soul, a brief abstract of the
drama of human destiny. 'Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge–it is as
immortal as the heart of man.' Its themes are the simplest experiences of the surface of
life, sorrow and joy, love and battle, the peace of the country, the bustle and stir of
towns, but equally the boldest conceptions, the profoundest intuitions, the subtlest and
most complex classifications and 'discourse of reason,' if into these, too, the
poet can 'carry sensation,' make of them passionate experiences communicable in vivid
and moving imagery, in rich and varies harmonies."
Johnson and Dryden described the seventeenth century poet as a man of learning who drew
on his knowledge for his phrases, symbols and comparisons, and who treated of matters
"beyond physics." The eighteenth century being unable when it made its
definition to know the work of Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Browning, and Blake, should
be pardoned for covering them all, and leaving, still, room for another kind of poet–in
no way defining a temperament that marks John Donne from John Keats. However, the
eighteenth century does have in mind something it has not defined. Taking Donne as an
example, it wished to describe a scientific sharpness and an angularity; a saltiness of
phrase designated by them as "wit"; and a coldness that made it possible for the
mind to probe itself, as it writes of itself, lavishly and unmercifully. All this was
concealed under the large word, learning. "Beyond physics" involved God,
the universe, and the soul's torments–psychological poetry.
Such a poet is born with a salty sanity in his bones. He will take neither (Keatsian)
sensuous assurance of life, nor (Miltonic) moral glory, nor a Poesque exit into madness.
What he needs to find is a thoughtful pattern for the universes need in him so pressing
that he is inclined to himself present the universe with that pattern when it is lacking.
Ideas being for this temperament as real as grass blades or locomotives, the poet's
imagination is always riding the two horses in the circus, Idea and Fact; they gallop neck
and neck in his work, he has a genius for both the concrete word and the dazzling concept.
In Donne's case the two horses got to galloping apart after a time–he saw that he finally
must take to one or the other. Religion and Philosophy fascinated his mediaevalism–a
grave-yard of ideas that might be dissected or shown to have a functioning structure. But
Science fascinated him too, Gallileo and Copernicus gave him the food his imagination
craved; from them, for a time, he constructed his new philosophies–having played at paste
till qualified for pearl–until the labor of putting raw science in relation to the
world's cultural knowledge got to be too difficult. Such a labor is not the work of one
man; a poet may only perform it with some group to pick and cull for him. And because
Donne had to have a coherent universe, even though a fictitious one, he went over to God.
Perhaps my definition will seem to my readers to cover a large number of poets still.
Shakespeare's mind lived in a metaphysical country and the image of its bigness casts a
shadow over all who have written since. But his dramatic and human gifts enrich on one
hand where his lyricism etherializes on the other, this faculty, so that we have it only
best expressed in speeches in the plays, in single ejaculations, unexcelled and
unravelled; and in the less musical sonnets. Milton, who had learning, and who did his
best in his mammoth fashion, to construct a scheme worthy of God and Man, lacks the wit
and the impudence and has none of the subjective sense that makes the dilemma of the
metaphysical mind. Pope and Dryden used metaphysical material. Pope delighted in changing
the shape of an idea into a metal ribbon. Dryden built a word cathedral of regular, formal
prosody. Keats is the clearest possible example of what a metaphysical poet is not. His
truth is in essence, not in pattern; he knows the substance of life to be sufficient; any
scheme was to Keats, extraneous. Whether this belief would have continued in him is a
matter for speculation–as he grew into his forties and fifties, the romantic philosophy
might have beaten itself out into a hardness and the meaning of design. The Eve of St.
Agnes is sensuous in the highest possible fulfilment.
Beyond a mortal man impassioned far
At these voluptuous accents, he arose
Beside this Donne's
Then since that I may know
As liberally, as to a Midwife, shew
Thy selfe; cast all, yea this white
linnen hence. . . .
is cold and mental, however human; curiosity is its deepest impulse.
Coleridge and Poe, with Swinburne, Rossetti and the rest of the noisy, windy, wild
young poets abandon the world of metaphysical exactitude for mad splendors–their poetry
is a kind of projected psychology; they show what the mind may feel and imagine if
inflated and elongated. The true metaphysician is subjective, but he wants his mental
stuff unstimulated; the complete abnormal does not interest him. Blake, fierce and tender,
who saw visions on English greens, made a lamb and a tiger with a simplicity and an
insight one step beyond the mind. Science, for him was a hellish invention against the
spirit of man. He says "Go winged thought, widen his forehead, " of the
negro–and means what he says. Metaphysicians do not mean what they say: they propose
possibilities; their world is all hypothesis compact. Making mind and emotion one, as no
one else but Keats has approximated, Blake says: "A tear is an intellectual
thing." The metaphysician is neither fierce nor tender, as was Blake. He is a stoic,
and has small joy in even that attitude.
Wordsworth and Shelley both meditate continually on man's destiny, the universe's
destiny, and cover much, with Tennyson, that Donne (our metaphysical measure) if a modern,
would attempt. But they separate themselves off by an attitude of worship; a lack of
saltiness and homeliness. When Wordsworth tried to be homely he wrote the Idiot Boy; when
Tennyson tried to be terse, he wrote In Memoriam which succeeds now and then in
being simple. When Shelley wrote the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty he filled it with
vague hues, full of desire, but as removed from the earth as a blowing cloud. Vague
nobility is not the metaphysician's favorite note. Wordsworth, Shelley and Tennyson were
all a little too bright and good for human nature's daily food. Donne's frank eroticism
which they lack makes a good beginning for the whole self–unities are essential–the
whole universe, the whole man. In the end God becomes his unity and to Him he speaks
curtly, as to an honored inescapable fact, with his own antagonistic majesty:
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it was done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin; through which I run,
And do run still; though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Browning most clearly has characteristics that link him with Shakespeare and Donne, and
give him the task of taking up the actual world as where they put it down. He has a rich
human variety, and an ability to ponder in all sanity the unravellings of the mind. He
wants his people dynamic, not anatomics, however: She had a heart somehow too soon made
glad, is too alive when taken in its context. Donne, or Shakespeare, only, of all
English poets, might have written, in Browning's place, The Light Woman. Splendid
and broad as Browning's blade is, at times it lacks the keen edge of the lightly acid
gentlemen, his two forbears. His dramatic monologues desert the nicety of metaphysical
tracing; first and last, (with noble exceptions) he runs to God a little too swiftly,
because of a lack of subtlety, I think, or a love of benignity.
For all these swift judgments exceptions abound; in the poet most foreign to this as a
constant state of mind, there are moods when the metaphysical comes uppermost. Blake,
Wordsworth, Browning all write approximates of what I would call the pure metaphysical
poem; and of their many poems I hope I have chosen the best for my collection.
But in either the welltrodden or the ragged by-paths of English-American poetry I can
only discover one mind whose predominant flavor is in Donne's world. Emily Dickinson,
nineteenth-century recluse, and the seventeenth-century Dean of St Paul's were both
attempting a revolutionary technique, and a plain homely grandeur. Neither quality has
been very well understood. That angularity complained of by Johnson and Dryden in Donne,
became the snare of Colonel Higginson's platitudes when he tried to give Emily
Dickinson helpful criticism. What these critics could not see was that both these poets
were deserting formal composition for the subtlest of all techniques–the form of an idea.
Critics have demanded an external lyric gloss of many poets who should have gone on
eliminating to the metaphysical extent. Ideas are irregular; they are beautiful in their
entire uniqueness as pure form when simply revealed as idea, not as some form of
expression. To give an idea no form but itself, to show it as organic by an inner music,
as if the bones of a skeleton were singing in their own rhythm–that is the technical
obsession of the metaphysical poet. Beside him every other poet becomes a little diffuse
and decorative.
Emily confessed her desire when she wrote to "scalp the naked soul." Few
poets would pretend to so little, or do so much. Where Donne allows his cerebral fancy and
his pedantry to spin out, past his climax (which so often comes in one line or two,
followed by a larger climax, not so acute) Emily says, making of one thought the design of
a poem:
The heart asks pleasure first,
And then excuse from pain;
And then those little anodynes
That deaden suffering;
And then, to go to sleep,
And then, if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The liberty to die.
Such a sharp knife has rarely flashed in literature. In the same world of the mind's
comment on the mind, find:
What fortitude that soul contains
That it can so endure
The accent of a coming foot
The opening of a door
Donne if anyone might have conceived:
Pain has an element of blank
The brain within its groove
Runs evenly and true.
The wit, the power to make an epigram which Donne's age so loved, is all in Emily
Dickinson. A poem made into a prose sentence reads as follows:
"Surgeons must be very careful when they take the knife. Underneath their fine
incisions, stirs the Culprit, Life!"
It is the same colloquial downright phrase that Donne so used, to say:
I am two fools I know
For loving and for saying so
In whining poetry;
If the unborn
Must learn, by my being cut up and torn
Kill and dissect me love; for this
Torture against thine own end is,
Racked carcasses make ill anatomies.
The mind of Emily Dickinson has the power of a microscope. To the small facts that fall
so well within a woman's knowledge she applies the enlarging gift of her imagination–with
the result that she does just what Blake wanted himself to do: She sees the world in a
grain of sand. She gives us universe in atoms, makes a death in eight lines wild and
gigantic as a dramatist of pure terror:
We noticed smallest things–
Things overlooked before,
By this great light upon our minds
Italicized, as 'twere.
The last stanza of this poem is perhap[s the most purely majestic writing done in our
Donne does not inspect Dickinson's minutiae—he tries to get the seen and the
unseen into one scope. He complains of science:
The new philosophy calls all in doubt,
The Element of Fire is quite put out;
The sun is lost, and the earth, and no man's wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.
And freely men confess that this world's spent
When in the Planets and the Firmament
they seek so many new; they see that this
Is crumbled out again to his atomies.
The mass of science, hinted by the half discoveries of his age, was so enormous that
Donne's mind could not put it in order. He needed order:
Poor soul, in this thy flesh what dost thou know?
Thou know'st thy self so little, as thou know'st not
How thou did'st die, nor how thou was't begot.
* *
We see in Authors, too stiff to recant
A hundred controversies of an Ant
And yet one watches, starves, freezes and sweats,
To know but Catechisms and Alphabets.
So we have Donne–a mind, said De Quincy, which gives us "thoughts and
descriptions which have the fervent and gloomy sublimity of Ezekiel or Aeschylus." A
mind religious because cosmological with neither real awe nor love for the God who was so
necessary to it;–irreverent, racy, actual and at times pedantic and fragmentary in the
Donne's collapse as a rebellious and worldly intellect–when by the voltage of his work
we are forced to conclude that he had more intensity, and cut of us a bolder facet than


text:
Seminary Participates in Westchester County's Pan-Orthodox Vespers Service
Sunday, March 14, 2011 • Off-Campus Event • By Deborah (Malacky) Belonick
The seminary community turned out in force for the 41st Annual Pan-Orthodox Vespers, sponsored by the Westchester Orthodox Clergy Fellowship and hosted by the Virgin Mary Antiochian Church in Yonkers. The service drew Orthodox Christians countywide to mark what is typically known in the Church's calendar as the "Sunday of Orthodoxy" or the "Triumph of Orthodoxy," a feast that memorializes the final defeat of iconoclasm and the restoration of icons in the Church, which occurred on the first Sunday of Great Lent in AD 843.
The seminary Men's Choir sang portions of the service, under the direction of Hierodeacon Philip Majkrzak. Seminary clergy Fr. Alexander Rentel, assistant professor of Canon Law, and Fr. Steven Belonick, chaplain, along with seminarians Frs. Photius Avant, Jason Blais, Lucas Rice, and Michael Sakran, concelebrated the service with priests and deacons from four other area Orthodox churches. Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, Adjunct Professor of Old Testament at St. Vladimir's, delivered the homily. Several seminarians, some with family members, also attended.
Triumph over sin, rather than triumphalism, marked the spirit of service. Reminding the congregation that the commemoration was "not a time to boast or to pontificate," but rather a time "to adhere to the faith of Scriptures," Fr. Paul in his homily especially focused on the duty of Christians to give alms and to extend mercy to the needy. "This is an opportune time," he said, "to imitate the Father of mercy, and to perform acts of mercy, first to the household of faith, and then to all."
After the service, Fr. Dimitri Darwich, rector of the parish, and his parishioners, extended a warm Middle Eastern welcome to visitors, by inviting them to a reception in the church hall. View a gallery of photos of the evening, by Deborah Belonick.


text:
Despite all of the hype surrounding the Stieg Larsson's acclaimed thriller, the film failed to make its mark at the box office.
studio MGM confirmed its big budget adaptation starring Daniel Craig
and Rooney Mara had performed 'below expectations', with a spokesman
saying it had made a modest loss.
The film, released last year, is
reported to have cost more than £55million to produce. Although it made
£145million worldwide, it is not clear how much was spent on marketing
and advertising, causing the loss.
The disappointing performance has even put the film's expected sequels in doubt.
MGM nor co-producers Sony Pictures has committed to making films of The
Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest,
which complete Larsson's trilogy.


text:
Quantum Field Theory
Symmetries and Phase Transitions — Strongly Interacting Systems — Quantum Vacuum Phenomena — Particle Physics Phenomenology
The quantum vacuum — though being the ground state of our world — carries a substantial amount of properties which are consequences of the ubiquitous quantum fluctuations. These properties can be probed, for instance, by strong electromagnetic fields or other external probes; for instance, boundaries give rise to the famous Casimir effect.
We investigate quantum vacuum phenomena which are or can become experimentally accessible in current or future experiments. In particular strong fields as they become available, for instance, at modern laser facilities are a promising tool to search for quantum vacuum phenomena. Our studies focus on understanding and predicting characteristic signatures of the nonlinear and nonlocal properties of the quantum vacuum. Moreover, we explore the potential of quantum vacuum experiments to search for "New Physics", i.e., so far unobserved hypothetical particles and interactions.
Contact: Prof. Gies, Prof. Wipf


text:
Product Description
To protect the cover of a completed Bare Book try our clear, self-adhesive book covers. These book covers are pre-cut to correct size insuring a proper fit, and have an adhesive that allows repositioning. Easy to use they will provide the final touch to protect your book projects. This cover to be used with book item 1601.


text:
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
About Me
- Name: Meghann Ormond
- Location: Wageningen, Gelderland, Netherlands
Meghann Ormond is Associate Professor in Cultural Geography at Wageningen University & Research. A human geographer, Meghann's research focuses on the intersections of transnational mobility, health, disability and care. She is interested in the transnational healthcare practices of economic and organisational migrants, 'medical tourists/travellers' and lifestyle migrants. Her work offers insight into how shifting visions and practices of citizenship and belonging transform social and economic development agendas and impact healthcare systems. For information on her recent publications, please visit: https://wur.academia.edu/MeghannOrmond
Previous Posts
- collage journal >> february 2008
- collage journal >> january 2008
- collage journal >> december 2007
- collage journal >> november 2007
- encounters
- remote world
- Tiger
- Lisboa
- asas
- language


text:
|General software and network General OS-independent software and network questions, X11, MTA, routing, etc.
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
Load balancing cluster.
Hi guys,
I'm not sure if what I'm gonna ask is too complex or possible to do, but here it is: I'm trying to create a load balance cluster but I really don't know where to start.
Here's what I'm trying to do: I want to create a load balance cluster for shared hosting. I work for a company where we have multiple shared hosting servers, but of course we can't have all of the customer in one single server, so once a server has enough customers, we have to use new hardware and also buy a new cpanel license (which isn't very cheap).
So my boss asked me if there's any way to create a cluster with multiple servers that will pretty much act as if it is a super computer. And by doing something like that we would only need one cpanel license and all we had to do was just add more servers to the cluster once we got more customers coming. This would pretty much be multiple servers working together as one super computer.
Here are my questions: What king of software/application would I need to use to develop something like that? Do you guys know of any how-to article that will teach me to develop a load balancing cluster?
Any help on this will be very appreciated!
P.S. This doesn't need to created using just *BSD. If you guys know this cluster implementation using linux (CentOS to be specific) I would be happy to know about it.
Thanks in advance!
bigb89, I am in a very similar situation of yours. As a hobby, I am building such a cluster.
The main problem here is cPanel. If you want to build such a cluster, you will need one cPanel license per node and then synchronize your nodes. This isn't very cool, knowing the cost of those licenses.
Anyway, the basic setup of a HP/HA Web hosting cluster is having two redundant load balancers (I recommend using PF and CARP for those) and a set of Web server nodes behind serving the pages with a common /tmp or a custom session store (you will need that your PHP sessions replicate from one node to another if one goes down).
After, if you want a MySQL cluster, it is another story...
I hope this is clear enough so you understand how it works and get started. If you need any help, feel free to post back here. I'm going to do my best to help you out with the best of my knowledge.
Good luck.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
I've had quite alot of experience building and installing HA load balancers using Linux variants, but I've yet to do so using BSD. HAProxy has FreeBSD and OpenBSD sources available, though, and is very reliable - so you might want to give it a shot. If you're interested in a Linux solution there's also IPVS.
Either way I suggest using a pair of load balancers in a failover configuration using sysutils/heartbeat (if using BSD).
For several of my production clusters I've used 4 identical machines where 3 of them are web servers (which are almost always FreeBSD) that are served to round-robin and the 4th is the master MySQL server (also usually FreeBSD). Typically I set up one of the web servers as the MySQL slave using replication.
And, in some cases, I've mounted the /www directory to each server from the MySQL server, so I can add new web servers to handle additional traffic.
You can always set up one machine with a scsi disk array attached, and use NFS to export (this will require you to have a private vlan with which to share the filesystems to the other machines... you wouldn't want to share them over the network that customer traffic is coming across).
So you can set up /www on the machine with the disk array and NFS export it, so that no matter what system the users log in to, the /www will always be the same.
Same goes for /home. Or maybe you can host them out of /home/$LOGIN/public_html or something similar.
On my set up I have a seperate filesystem /www, and /home/$LOGIN/public_html is a soft-link to /www/$LOGIN.
And the cost of cpanel licenses is staggering I know cpanel is extremely popular, but maybe you can look into ISPconfig (which runs beautifully on CentOS). It's free and gives most of the functionality of cpanel (But then again, in places where I do have access to cpanel I hardly use it, I find it too clunky for me... I'd rather be on the command line personally but not too many hosts allow this).
I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by fleeing the scene of the accident!
Thanks for the help guys.
This should give me an idea of least where to start.
I'm guessing that the only problem that I would still have is with the cPanel licenses for each node that I would use in the cluster like stukov mentioned. I'm gonna go to the cPanel website and ask the support team if there's any way to create such cluster using a single license.
You should search for nginx and memcached.
religions, worst damnation of mankind
"If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux, Linux would probably never had happened." Linus Torvalds
Linux is not UNIX! Face it! It is not an insult. It is fact: GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not UNIX".
vermaden's: links resources deviantart spreadbsd
Heartbeat is now in the OpenBSD tree. (Among other "cluster"ing systems, pls. define your understanding of "cluster".).
Clusters as "CPU sharing" still work best with the "old" Linux 2.4.* kernel (although OpenMOSIX stopped upgrading).
You also can run applications on one CPU while using another box to share files. Or boot a headless box and run processes on it. Or ...
what is your question?
da more I know I know I know nuttin'
Now here's the tricky part: if it is possible, I would like to have one single cpanel license running on that cluster (after all, it is supposed to act as single super computer) so that I wouldn't need to get a new cpanel license each time a single server had too much load. Instead I would just add more nodes to the cluster and therefore increasing its power.
Hey, I just stumbled on OpenSSI after reading lvlamb's post. Looks promising for you. I'm going to test this application in the next weeks. Very interesting.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
My understanding of Heartbeat is that it "steals" CPU time from any free or balanced CPU in the grid. The master runs the program whichever number of nodes are involved.
So, number of licenses are a matter of discusiion with the vendor: you have a quad core and one license only is kosher.
Obviously, you'd need other licenses if you build a failover redundant system.
You might look at Sun clusters (OpenSolaris Open HA still is a project), haven't looked deep enough in OpenSolaris to see how it works.
As suggested, Free- and OpenBSD have Heartbeat in the tree,
OpenBSD also has the ole IBM style PSSP http://openports.se/sysutils/clusterit
You might also look at http://idea.uab.es/mcreel/ParallelKnoppix/ (LiveCD) and is a 2.6.* kernel.
da more I know I know I know nuttin'
I haven't gotten the chance to poke around too much, but so far it seems like OpenSSI and OpenMOSIX is the exactly type of application/system that I'm looking for.
I guess that this whole time I wasn't perhaps looking for a "load balance cluster" but a "Single-system image or SSI cluster" as I found this term defined on wikipedia. So that could be the reason why I couldn't find the right application that needed when I did a google search.
One other thing that I did find interesting while reading about Single-system image on wikipedia, is that DragonFly BSD has SSI (Single-system image) as one of its long term goal.
Things should be very interesting for next couple of months (maybe less) as I'll be trying to implement a Single-system image cluster.
Please let me know if any of guys has ever done something like that. I would like know if its working for you.
Thanks once again guys! You really helped me out to know what I need to use.
I concede that I have misused the term "cluster" which is more appropriate for a system where a job, such as rendering or calculation, is distributed over several machines simultaneously to decrease the amount of time it would take to process. I think, in this case, it might be more appropriate to call them high-availability redundant servers or something related to traffic queuing.
dk_netsvil, cluster is a very large term for describing many types of systems. From wikipedia: "Cluster, a group of computers that achieve a common computation".
@bigb89: I have a few spare machines here. In the next week I'm going to try the SSI cluster with OpenSSI. I'll update you when I'll know more.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."
About 8 months ago I picked up a lot of 12 IBM eServers for the cost of shipping - I'm sure something similar is available at your favorite auction site. With the diminishing cost of those older 1U machines it's affordable for most anyone to put something together.
Another SSI cluster application that seems to be very good is kerrighed.
The only problem with kerrighed, is that it doesn't support hot node addition/removal (although they're planning to support that by November of this year) right now.
So OpenSSI still seems to be one the best SSI applications out there, even though it seems like they haven't released anything since 2006.
It's 4 years old now... and an old linux kernel (ugh...) but if you were looking at OpenMosix.... perhaps Cluster Knoppix is a possibility.
Network Firefighter
And I don't know how apprapro this may or may not be... but http://www.rocksclusters.org
A lot of high-end research facilities use this as their clustering solution... and it's up-to-date.
Network Firefighter
|Thread Tools
|Display Modes
Linear Mode
|Similar Threads
|Thread Starter
|Last Post
|Diskless Cluster
|FreeBSD General
|6th July 2009 12:20 PM
|Load balancing on fbsd
|General software and network
|28th December 2008 03:49 AM
|pf, hfsc and load balancing
|FreeBSD Security
|15th October 2008 10:08 PM
|freebsd cluster how to
|FreeBSD General
|18th September 2008 06:11 PM
|Mysql Cluster Questions . . Help!
|FreeBSD Ports and Packages
|3rd July 2008 01:06 PM


text:
Ladies Slippers
Ladies Slippers: Ladies shoes in Pakistan: Shoes can be categorized as an item of fashion, styling, comfort, and safety. The design of a good shoe pair, slippers or sandals may differ as per culture, function, setting, and occasion. Fashion plays its part in terms of heels, straps and general styling. Shoes have evolved significantly and the conventional materials used now have many additions which include but not limited to as plastic and rubber, our ladies shoes in Pakistan can gratify this statement. We at English Boot House have something in all ranges and something that goes well with any attire. We are a one-stop shoe and leather accessories shop for you and your family.
Our commencement was back in 1947 and being the predecessors of the shoe market has given us a leverage to entertain and maintain a wide variety of customers over time and provide the finest Pakistani shoes and Karachi shoes. Our strong foundation and familiarity with the field help us bring out the best of the best for our loyal and potential customers. Ladies have a strong inclination towards the right footwear and their shoes and our offerings include Ladies shoes in Pakistan, Ladies slippers in Pakistan, Ladies sandals in Pakistan and bridal shoes in Pakistan. We are proud of our heritage and if you're looking for the finest Karachi shoes and Pakistani shoes; look no further.
Ladies Shoes in Pakistan
ladies slippers: EBH brings forward a beautiful pair of Ladies slippers for all our valuable customers. The slippers are easy to wear and keep clean. Your comfort is our priority and our ladies slippers would be a very reliable and comfortable fit for you. Wear them daily or occasionally, your feet will always be relaxed. We have used the highest grade material and have kept our slippers well cushioned for daily wear. Our designs are updated as per the trends, so rest assured you are getting something in fashion and stylish. Place your orders at English Boot House and get good quality Karachi shoes and good quality Pakistani shoes.
Product Name: Ladies Slippers
Product Category: Women Slippers
- Type/Material: Artificial Leather
- Sole: Sheet
- Heel: 1"
Tags: Shoes for men, Formal Shoes, Formal Shoes Pakistan, Karachi Shoes, Pakistani Shoes, Ladies shoes in Pakistan
Do Check our Various assortments of Mens Shoes, Womens shoes or ladies shoes, Shoes for girls, and Shoes for boys. We also have leather accessories in stock so come down to our store or order on our page to find the best Pakistani shoes and best Karachi Shoes.
Terms and Conditions:
- Please do not accept deliveries with damages packaging
- If a product is found damaged please let us know. You can opt for a replacement within 30 days. The product should be unused.
- If the product is not as per your liking please let us know, and we will arrange all possible alternatives. For further information please check our returns policy.


text:
I have moved all KAC related announcements and news to the new section dedicated solely for KAC.
KAC related news has moved
News relating to the site or the community.
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Post Reply
1 post • Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


text:
Monday, January 14, 2013
Rethinking Math Homework
I've read Alfie Kohn (The Homework Myth).
I've read the counterpoints to his thoughts.
I do understand the importance of math practice, which helps solidify the process of understanding.
But 15 problems?
And the double method for every single problem?
How about this idea - Three problems one method, three problems the other method and then finish three more problems using the method that works best for you. That way, you have time to reflect on what works best for you.
Isn't that the point - we want to help students understand that there is more than one way to reach the solution. Let's help kids identify what works best for them, and encourage them to use that method.
7 comments:
How about one question, two methods, over a week... that's two questions a day. Once that nonsense is done with, then do some real math like figuring out how much paint you would need to buy to put three coats on the paintable surfaces of a selected room in the house. Much more interesting and also activates the multiplication skills just learned.
- 10:09 PM, January 15, 2013
- Karen Janowski said...
Love your thinking. So many options other than the drudgery of repetition with no purpose.
- 11:09 PM, January 15, 2013
- Liisa Suurtamm said...
I'm not sure which two "methods" the teacher wanted the student to use but I would hope my students would be comfortable with a variety of methods and choose the one that makes most sense to them and the numbers they are working with. Some methods for multiplication might work more nicely for different numbers. I would think the best homework would be a variety of questions where students can use whichever method makes most sense to them and then a follow up question asking them how they chose which method to use.
- 7:04 AM, January 16, 2013
- Mike Soskil said...
If the "problems" are not really solving anything that the student is interested in, nor anything that would be encountered in a real situation, then I suggest a different option: Find some better problems. And solving 1 worthwhile or interesting problem is worth 1000 lousy boring ones. In makelearn's example, I'd go one step further. Estimate how much paint would be needed to paint something (classroom, doghouse, paint over the swear words scratched on the bathroom stalls, whatever), and then have them actually paint it. The feedback they get from running out of paint or having 5 extra cans will be more valuable than any grade we could give them.
- 3:16 PM, January 16, 2013
Great thoughts - I am new to blogs and am enjoying reading these comments. I especially liked Lisa's comment about letting the student choose what makes sense to them.
- 12:48 PM, March 16, 2013
- John Peter said...
I would assume the simplest school assignment would be a spread of queries wherever students will use whichever technique makes most sense to them then a follow up question
- 5:23 AM, December 27, 2013
I am a math teacher and I never assign more than ten problems, maybe 11 for my gifted students. The thing is, at the high school level, you can believe that each problem is slightly different from the last, using the newly learned concept in a different way to enhance their understanding of the concept. I tell my students at the beginning of the semester to never expect to get 30 problems for homework. I only give them enough to check for understanding and to make sure they have the practice to solidify that understanding.
- 5:53 PM, October 24, 2014


text:
need a control for vc
Presupuesto $30-100 USD
I need a control called mgraphicbutton for vc as i bought a program that is missing this control please advise if you have it or where I can get it thanks
6 freelancers están ofertando el promedio de $44 para este trabajo
I can help you with your problem, but it seems to be a little abstract i would be needing more details about your program
Hello , I can make that object for you with vb6 ActiveX but please tell me more about your control. What you want?
Hi I am Puneet having more than 3 years exp in Microsoft tech including 3 years exp in VC++, C#,ASP.Net,VB.Net,SQL Server,MS Access.I have currently incorporated this (image buttons) in my current project and i think Más


text:
Home > News & Events > Wayland Press Release Archives > 2001 Press Releases > October 2001 > Wayland enrollment experiences 11% increase over last fall
Wayland enrollment experiences 11% increase over last fall
Wayland Baptist University experienced an 11 percent growth in student enrollment for the fall semester, according to official figures released today. Enrollment by credit hours grew by 3,448, or 9.7 percent.
A total of 5,781 students are enrolled on the 12 campuses that comprise the Wayland University system, up from only 5,198 in the fall of 2000. In Plainview, 1,019 students are enrolled in graduate and undergraduate courses, representing 7 more students than last fall.
Growth continues at Wayland's external campuses, which cater primarily to adult students returning to earn a degree or complete one. At those 11 campuses, the student population - which reflects both graduate and undergraduate students - grew by 13.8 percent with the addition of 576 students.
Individual campus breakdown by student enrollment and growth percentage is as follows: Anchorage, Alaska: 550, 6 percent; Fairbanks, Alaska: 230, 11 percent; Phoenix, Ariz.: 184, 10 percent; Sierra Vista, Ariz.: 124, 23 percent; Hawaii: 535, 29 percent; Albuquerque, NM: 77, 24 percent; Clovis, NM: 196, 20 percent; Amarillo: 177, 11 percent; Lubbock: 691, 23 percent; San Antonio: 1,400, 15 percent; and Wichita Falls, 598, 4 percent loss.
Official figures are based on a twelfth-day census, which is the last day to withdraw without record.


text:
Top Chef's ninth season finale took several solid steps toward redeeming a rocky season that's been more memorable in its bad moments than in its good. The opening montage set up an accurate portrayal of how I imagine most people would sum up our two contenders: We see clips of Sarah clashing with various Top Chef contestants before being wheeled off on a gurney following a near heatstroke, coupled with courteous Paul nailing challenge after challenge. In some ways this isn't fair—Sarah's an excellent chef, and as we're reminded by her team later, runs an outstanding restaurant here in Chicago. Her behavior, though, has often been so much louder than her cooking, and I found her so abrasive that I could hardly focus on the latter. So while I'm sure she garnered her fair share of praise throughout the season, it's far less memorable than her red-faced meanness.
I didn't go out of my way to vilify Sarah, though. I've been conditioned to think this way throughout a season that has focused more on creating melodramatic moments and slapstick shenanigans than it has on creating provocative culinary challenges for its chefs. The ridiculous constraints placed on the chefs this season, which culminated two episodes ago in making the chefs ski around for awhile for no reason, made cooking—the whole point of the show—an afterthought. It's hilarious to me that the judges agree that these two chefs "peaked at the right time." This season didn't allow for them to peak at any other time. Give the chefs a little inspiration and freedom, and they'll cook.
The elimination challenge tonight is no real surprise: The chefs must deliver a four-course dinner that represents the restaurant of their dreams. As far as inspiration goes, that's a huge, meaningful carrot. It's likely a menu they've been thinking about well before their Top Chef debut. But rarely does the finale come without a few wild cards.
First, there are the sous-chefs. Top Chef in seasons past has trotted out former contestants of varying caliber. Drawing loser chefs who've performed poorly can prove a handicap, and drawing a super-recently eliminated chef means he arrives with a fair amount of psychological baggage. Tonight's episode brought back a completely mixed bag of chefs: two professional chefs, a sea of previous contestants, and then a few whose faces look vaguely familiar from the first two episodes of the season, which were really just casting specials in disguise. How those chefs are divvied up is brilliant, though: instead of taking turns choosing, or drawing knives, Sarah and Paul must select chefs based on their quickfire dish. Sarah and Paul then have no one to blame but themselves for the sous-chefs they end up with, and it's exciting to see the eliminated chefs mess with any expectations we might have of them.
Enter hacky-cocky butcher boy, whose name isn't really worth looking up. (Okay, it's Tyler Stone, but even Bravo has deleted the bios of these guys from its Top Chef page.) He's the extreme example of the chef-you-don't-want-on-your-team; Tyler never even made it to judge's table. He was eliminated by Tom halfway through the challenge for his inability to cut a piece of meat properly, and it was such a soul-crushing moment for the smug young lad that it's probably among my highlights for the season. But the beauty of this challenge is that, hey, he could freakishly throw together a dish that could land him with Sarah or Paul. And he does! Almost. Sarah thinks she remembers his dish from Heather's restaurant menu and that Heather could be sending her a secret Chicago mean-girls sign by making it. Unfortunately for Sarah, she's dead wrong about this. Tyler Stone is behind door number three and risks wrecking her for the finale. Paul nails his choice out of the gate, selecting one of the master chefs. The rest of the chosen chefs are regulars from the season.
Next wild card: family. It takes the chefs out of "this world," as Sarah says tonight, and can throw the chefs emotionally. Take Kevin Gillespie's performance during the finale in 2009. He choked at the end, in part because he was going through a divorce with his wife and bringing his mother on during that time was distracting. Here, again, the producers couldn't have played it better. (How are these the same people that gave us the chef winter Olympics?) The family still makes the show. We get the same warm, fuzzy shots of them reuniting and the emotion this stirs in the chefs, but the chefs don't realize their family is there until they're well into service. It's not a distraction, it's just a nice surprise.
Final wild card: managing a staff, saying no to everyone. Some finales have been smaller in scale, but this one really does approach Restaurant Wars level. The chefs are cooking with a staff of four, serving 100 guests and judges. Having seen Sarah and Paul's performances during RW, during which they both behaved poorly from a management perspective, this could have been a difficult challenge for them. With Restaurant Wars, though, even though it's a team challenge, people are still primarily looking out for themselves. Here, neither Paul nor Sarah have any trouble stepping up and commanding when they know that's their role. And having learned from previous seasons of Top Chef, they know not to take too many suggestions from their sous-chefs on cooking techniques or style. Who knows, maybe Carla would have taken the win from Hosea in Season 5 if she hadn't listened to Casey and tried sous-vide for the first time. In any case, Paul and Sarah consistently listen to and then reject suggestions from their sous chefs. Smart.
Structurally, this finale had another thing going for it. Splitting the restaurants into two locations and two different seatings had a few nice effects. The chefs have no room to psych each other out, and more important, we get to see how consistently they're able to deliver their courses. When things go awry, as did Sarah's funkily textured polenta, she has time to correct it. This worked the other way around, too, with Paul over-firing his chawanmushi during the second round with no viable plan B. For menus, Sarah looks to combine her German roots with Italian for the night, and Paul served Asian-inspired plates.
Both chefs performed almost flawlessly, with the judges really nitpicking during the final rounds. Sarah's pickled beets weren't quite pickled enough; both had a slight hiccup of inconsistency between the two seatings. I'd have loved a little more footage from the judge's table—how, for example, do you judge food that's so incredibly different? They went course by course for awhile, but this certainly didn't come down to a scorecard. Sarah might have taken more risks during this final round, but Paul has consistently delivered excellent, carefully balanced food throughout the season. In the end we're not sure exactly why or how he edged out Sarah for the win. His dishes tonight might have not veered far from his own comfort zone, but he certainly pushed the chefs out of theirs, and he did surprise them. Consider the comment when they first sat down at the table—no meat on the menu! Winning these judges over with fish and eggs is a feat.
Going into the final moments of the show, I honestly thought it would be Sarah. The praise for her dishes seemed more gushing, especially for her pasta and dessert. The praise for Paul was a little more cautious, aside from Emeril's obsession with his broth or Hugh's love of his congee. Sarah might have been the safer choice, but Paul's certainly the better one. I'll start planning my trip to Austin now.
— I regret that I'd never heard "jam out with our clams out" before tonight. Thank you, Grayson. Thank you.
— Tyler certainly lived up to his villainy. So glad he didn't make the original cut.
— Best food ever during a Top Chef finale, says Tom, as he often says. Funny how the food seems to get better but the show's getting worse.
Top Chef's ninth season finale took several solid steps toward redeeming a rocky season that's been more memorable in its bad moments than in its good. The opening montage set up an accurate portrayal of how I imagine most people would sum up our two contenders: We see clips of Sarah clashing with various Top Chef contestants before being wheeled off on a gurney following a near heatstroke, coupled with courteous Paul nailing challenge after challenge. In some ways this isn't fair—Sarah's an excellent chef, and as we're reminded by her team later, runs an outstanding restaurant here in Chicago. Her behavior, though, has often been so much louder than her cooking, and I found her so abrasive that I could hardly focus on the latter. So while I'm sure she garnered her fair share of praise throughout the season, it's far less memorable than her red-faced meanness.