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NEA Town Courier
Stories from Thursday, May 11, 2017
Jeffery Lynn Lorren (Obituary ~ 05/11/17)
Mr. Jeffery Lynn Lorren, age 57 of Manila, passed from this life Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro. Born in Blytheville on June 21, 1959, he was the son of the late Clarence Lorren and was raised in the Lost Cane Community. A lifelong Manila area resident, he was a 1977 graduate of Manila High School, and was a self-employed carpenter...
Deelie Irene Williams (Obituary ~ 05/11/17)
Deelie Irene Williams, age 82, of Manila, passed from this life Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at the Flo and Phil Jones Hospice House in Jonesboro. Born in Spruce, Mo., to the late James F. and Mary Bailey Arnold, she had lived most of her life in the Manila area. She was a longtime member of the Blackwater Baptist Church where she served in many capacities including song leader, Sunday school teacher, and church treasurer. She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Earl Williams...
Ruby Irene Ralph (Obituary ~ 05/11/17)
Mrs. Ruby Irene Ralph, 88, of Blytheville, passed away May 10, 2017, at the at the Methodist University in Memphis, Tenn. Born July 30, 1928, in East Prairie, Mo., she was the daughter of the late Lambert and Susie McNulty Myers. She was of the Pentecostal faith and attended the Heartland Church in Gosnell. She enjoyed gardening, flowers, watching the birds and butterflies, volunteering and loved to laugh...
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© 2020 NEA Town Courier · Blytheville, Arkansas


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Orchard Church of England Primary School
The school day starts at 8.50 am (doors open at 8.40 am and all gates open at 8.30 am). School ends at 3.15 pm (all gates open at 3.05 pm)
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Through our Computing curriculum we aim to give our pupils the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way in order to flourish. We want our pupils to be able to operate in the 21st century workplace and we want them to know the career opportunities that will be open to them if they study computing. We want children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want them to be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through our computer science lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience and problem-solving and critical thinking skills. We want our pupils to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens.
© 2023 Orchard Church of England Primary School.
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Tibetan Woman On Return From Delhi Tests Covid Positive
by Arvind Sharma
Dharamshala: A 63-year-old Tibetan woman from Phuntsokling Tibetan settlement in Dalhousie on Monday tested positive for COVID-19. She had been kept under institutional quarantine since she returned from New Delhi, one of India's coronavirus hot spots.
"It is the first case that we've had. The patient is currently under treatment at a COVID-19 care center at a Civil Hospital in Dalhousie," said Rapten Tsering, Tibetan Settlement Officer of Dalhousie.
With the woman having tested positive and the death of another Tibetan at Delhi, alarm has been sounded about the virus spreading among the refugee Tibetan community.
Officially, in India two Tibetans have died due to Corona so far. The first was A 69-year-old Tibetan man who died of Covid was from Dharamshala. He was tested & declared a Covid-19 patient after his death on march 23 at the Tanda Medical College. This Tibetan, who lived in Dharamshala, had returned from US on March 21. He took a taxi from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to McLeodganj.
"The second Tibetan Covid death was that of a 62-year-old Tibetan man, who died at Samyeling, the Tibetan settlement more commonly known as Majnu-ka-tilla in Delhi. Phuntsok Topgyal, a Tibeten official said, "this victim fell sick on May 29 and was subsequently admitted at Escorts Hospital on May 30 where he tested positive for the virus. He also suffered from the co-morbid conditions of diabetes and high blood pressure." Contact tracing has led to about 14 people" being quarantined at the Samyeling settlement, said the official.
A website tracking the spread among the global community of Tibetans who are living outside Tibet has recorded 213 Covid positive cases of whom 40 are active. The website also reports the death of 8 Tibetans and 165 patients who have recovered from the infection.
Many Tibetans have returned to their homes across India after travel restrictions were relaxed. A 2009 census by the Central Tibetan Authority recorded a diaspora of 127,935 Tibetans. Of them there were 94,203 in India; 13514 in Nepal; 1298 in Bhutan 1,298; and 18920 living in other parts the world.
Apart from Tibetan community, as of today evening (5 p.m.), Himachal Pradesh has registered an accumulative total of 389 Covid positive cases of whom 189 have recovered. So far the health authorities have confirmed death of 5 victims from the virus.
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience. He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI. In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
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Amidst a global pandemic and political unrest, our work with Rhode Island's most vulnerable children and families has been stronger and more impactful than ever. As we put 2020 behind us, let's take a moment to reflect on all that we, with the support of our community and our partners, have accomplished.
When March 2020 came, our lives and our work changed in ways none of us thought possible. Our staff, equipped with laptops and zoom technology, figured out how to work remotely, and in many cases balance homeschooling for their children at the same time. Our services did not stop. Through creativity and commitment to our mission, we were able to figure out how to meet the needs of our clients. While classrooms and home visits paused, virtual visits and support became the everyday norm.
We formed a COVID task force comprised of agency leadership and external consultants to help inform, develop and implement the many new safety-related protocols that were needed in order to successfully re-open classrooms and services for hundreds of children and families.
We formed a COVID response team, accessible to staff 24/7, to coordinate the implementation of decisions made by the Executive Team related to COVID while communicating and disseminating new and ever-changing information in a timely manner.
Our Policy Council and Board of Directors remained engaged and committed while guiding and supporting our work. Unable to meet in person since February 2020, our governing bodies convened virtually every month to provide operational oversight.
Early on in the pandemic, it became clear that our families were struggling at an alarming rate in order to meet their basic needs. Of particular concern was food insecurity. We responded by providing emergency assistance and meal distribution to hundreds of families. Thanks to the collaboration with our generous community partners, our dedicated staff delivered meals from local restaurants to families in need.
In an effort to deepen our anti-racism work, we invited staff to join together in discussions and listening to build upon the ways we can improve equity and inclusion across the agency and with the clients we serve. This work will continue in 2021 as we form a guiding group committed to leading these efforts.
Despite the challenges of 2020, we experienced much success. To name a few, we were awarded a new contract to improve access to high-quality infant-toddler child care in communities that need it most. Virtual graduation ceremonies were held for families in our Nurse Family Partnership and Healthy Families America programs. After two years of hard work, these families have taken the steps to ensure their children have a great start in life and an even brighter future. We also celebrated with a talented group of fathers who completed our Dad's Training Program allowing them to enter the workforce with new and marketable skills.
As the year came to a close our annual holiday drive was in high gear. Our team and our donors helped over 1200 families experience a joyous holiday in a particularly bleak year.
And let's not forget to mention we again won Best Places to Work!!!
We have accomplished so much, yet we have much more to do as we develop the leadership, fundraising, technology, community, talent, services, financial resources, and strategy necessary to continue as the innovative leader for vulnerable young children.
Dana Mullen, Chief of Programs


You are strategic, resilient, engaging with people and a natural self-starter. You have a passion for solving complex problems. If this sounds like you, this could be the perfect opportunity to join EPAM as a Senior Project Manager. Scroll down to learn more about the position's responsibilities and requirements.
Balance a sense of urgency with calm and confident demeanor.
Proficiency in Microsoft Project, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.


Not content to simply deliver on-field action shots or posed images, the product takes a much more relaxed approach. Many players are photographed in workout gear or street clothes. It being 1991, many of these fashions are extremely dated today, giving it even more character. The lighting and angle of the photographs vary greatly providing a unique look to the set.
Fronts use full-bleed photos. A small NFL shield and the product name are the only other design elements.
Card backs have the player's name, team and position. Instead of the customary biographical and statistical information, a quote from the player is used instead. This provides for a more personalized card that was designed to compliment the photography.
The 1991 Pro Line Portraits set was released as a single series with 36 packs per box and 12 cards per pack. The product was distributed through multiple retail channels including hobby shops and department stores.
The complete base set consists of 300 total cards, including 24 rookies. The most notable players are Ed McAffrey, coach Bill Belichick, Chris Zorich and Herman Moore.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Football also has a handful of basic inserts and one promo card. The insert cards are the Amhad Rashad Family, golfer Payne Stewart, Emmitt Smith and a mail-away Santa Claus. There's also a seven-card insert set focusing on the wives of popular players. Among them are Jennifer Montana, Janet Elway and Phylicia Rashad.
The inclusion of Stewart in the product was an attempt at cross-over appeal as Stewart had recently won that year's U.S. Open.
Ahmad Rashad, upon retiring from the NFL, entered broadcasting, working for both NBC and ABC. At the time, NBC's The Cosby Show was one of the highest rated sitcoms on TV. In a highly publicized event, Rashad proposed, on live TV, to the show's co-star Phylicia Ayers, who played Clair Huxtable. Again, the idea of creating the Rashad Family card as an insert, helped the product receive some mainstream press coverage.
The promo card of the Kansas City Chiefs' Derrick Thomas was distributed in advance of the product release to dealers and collectors.
1991 Pro Line Portraits Football maintains its relevance today for being the first set to deliver certified autographs of numerous Hall of Fame players. Instead of creating a different card set, the players autographed the back of their base cards.
While this sounds like a recipe for counterfeiting disaster, there is an easy way to spot pack-inserted cards. These cards are embossed on one corner with a seal that can be seen on both the front and back.
The autograph checklist is extensive, with 302 signers. In addition to the football players, the seven wives and Payne Stewart also signed copies of their cards. Santa Claus also "signed" a limited number of his cards as well. These autographed cards were randomly inserted into packs at a rate of between one and three per case.
The more notable players and coaches to have signed for the product include Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Jimmie Johnson, Jim Kelly, Emmitt Smith, O.J. Simpson, Troy Aikman and Dan Marino.
Despite a hefty print run, 1991 Pro Line Portraits Football was ahead of its time in many ways, most notably for the extensive autograph checklist. A fun product to open to this day, boxes can be found for at very reasonable prices. It's not a bad gamble for a shot at some of the autographs whose values still command good money.
There are two versions of the Santa Claus card. The base version is signed "Santa" and the another version is signed "Santa Claus" and is hand-numbered to 200.
I have this complete set without the autographs and all cards are in mint condition including the Spirit cards. I'm needing to find what it might be worth or where to contact a collector?
I collected heavily as a teenager, when this set came out. I got a 3 autographs, 2 coaches (Sam Wyche & Tom Flores) and a player who didn't make a real mark in the NFL (Tracy Johnson). Still, it was fun to find the autographs in the packs. I do have a handful of autographs from the set, all certified, signed on front (with the authentic marking on the card) from writing to players back in '91 and they sent me their authentic pro line cards. These included Chris Zorich, Bubby Brister, Ricky Proehl, Anthony Thompson, Michael Cofer, Thomas Everett, Rufus Porter, Eric Swan, Robert Awalt and Mike Schad. Always appreciated that.
I have a 1991 pro line not autographed, all cards are in mint condition, are they worth anything? my rating is 5 stars!!!!!
1991 Pro Line Portraits Signet Series Football Box-Auto Possible?


I'm currently on the 3-Day Under 80 KG program for the first time and enjoying it a lot! My question is, if you had experienced increased strength from the skill test in week 1 to the actual meet or if it was the same?
This would help me a lot to set the expectation and attempt selection for the meet!
The skill test is more meant like finding openers than maxing. You would be maxing if you weren't competing at the end of the period.


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The Fire & Rescue Services Association (FRSA) is an independent trade union in accordance with the Trade Union & Labour Relations Act 1992. We have no political affiliation and therefore all monies from union subscriptions are ploughed back into maintaining a first class value for money service.
While we reserve the right to undertake industrial action as an action of last resort, we refuse to use strike action as a means of progressing our arguments. Our members have never challenged the FRSA Executive to change this stance. Our members provide an emergency service in the same community in which they live and/or work which renders it unethical to take strike action against the very people who hold them in such high regard and are also their own friends, family and neighbours.
We are an organisation which fully understands the strengths of the RDS. Our commitment to the welfare of those employed on this duty system is our top priority and we need to be vigilant to keep RDS issues to the forefront of the national and local agenda as well as being fully supportive of our members when things go wrong.
We believe we are the best option, whether it is through ongoing lobbying on members collective behalf, representing you in disciplinary or grievance processes, or deploying our Legal Team to protect you if you are injured on duty.
Details of the Executive Board are available here.
Each FRS will have its own FRSA committee, for further details contact FRSA HQ.
Our rulebook can be viewed here.


MYX NEWS MINUTE: PRINCE & MERLE HAGGARD Remembered At American Country Countdown Awards - MYX | YOUR CHOICE. YOUR MUSIC.
Two music icons who recently passed away were remembered at the American Country Countdown Awards!


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ARMS CONTROL NOW -- Senior Russian, U.S. Diplomats Meet in Prague to Discuss Arms Control
Authored by Daryl Kimball, Kingston Reif, and Shervin Taheran on June 19, 2019
Senior Russian, U.S. Diplomats Meet in Prague to Discuss Arms Control
In the midst of a crumbling U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control architecture, the top arms control diplomats for each country met June 12 in Prague in an apparent effort to resume a stalled strategic stability dialogue. But it remains to be seen whether or when the dialogue will resume.
According to the State Department, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov met to "build on the discussions" held by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Sochi May 14. The department added that Thompson "raised a range of U.S. national security priorities and strategic security issues on which the United States would like to engage in a more constructive dialogue with Russia."
Ryabkov was more candid with Russian journalists, stating that the meeting was "a starting point" for further conversations and negotiations. Though the meeting did not produce an agreement on concrete work plans, Ryabkov said the meeting was "positive" and both sides recognized the importance of continued dialogue.
Though a list of specific items on the agenda was not released by either side after the meeting, a June 7 Russian news report quoted Ryabkov as saying that Russia intends to discuss "the [2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] New START Treaty, the prospects for the NPT review process, the situation with the [1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty] CTBT Treaty" as well as "the prospect of the appearance of strike weapons in space, the situation with the unlimited deployment of the U.S. global missile defense system."
The two sides also discussed the Trump administration's desire to pursue multilateral arms control talks with Russia and China. Ryabkov noted that while the idea is good in the long term, it also needs to include all member of the five recognized nuclear-weapon states, notably the United Kingdom and France.
Following a May 14 meeting in Sochi, Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov, Pompeo told reporters that the two countries "agreed that … we will gather together teams that will begin to work not only on New START and its potential extension but on a broader range of arms control issues that each of our two nations have."—KINGSTON REIF, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, and SHERVIN TAHERAN, research assistant
Labels: ARMS CONTROL NOW


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1. Medtronic
(Medtronic)
Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Projected 2024 sales: $38.9 billion
Projected 2024 R&D spend: $2.7 billion
2017 sales: $30 billion
2017 R&D spend: $2.2 billion
Medtronic appears set to hold its top spot over the next few years, according to Evaluate's predictions, driven in large part by its footholds in the cardiac device market, as well as investments and acquisitions in surgical robotics and technology. Although the medtech giant posted the smallest amount of growth in 2017 revenue compared to its rivals, at a mere 0.8%, its income crested over the $30 billion mark and accounted for 7.4% of all medical device sales.
By 2024, Evaluate expects that number to grow 3.8% annually to $38.9 billion, while its global market share dips slightly to 6.5%. In cardiology, however, Medtronic is on track to remain the leading heart device maker, with a share of at least 19.5% after pulling in $14.2 billion from the sector in 2024, up 3.2% from 2017's $11.4 billion in revenue.
And with its acquisition of the remainder of Mazor Robotics this year, Medtronic aims to merge the Israeli company's guidance systems with its implants, navigation and imaging products to offer an integrated suite for spine surgery with eyes on the long term. Calling robotic-assisted procedures "the future of spine surgery," Medtronic's Restorative Therapies Group said it expects the $1.64 billion deal to generate a double-digit return on investment within the next four years, with increasing contributions to follow.
Medtronic ended up paying about $1.3 billion for the remainder of the company, following previous investments in Mazor's work. The deal is expected to close in Medtronic's third quarter, ending Jan. 25, 2019.
Meanwhile, Medtronic spent and will spend the most on R&D: 2017's $2.2 billion is expected to grow about 2.8% annually, to reach $2.7 billion in 2024. According to Evaluate, despite the fact that most of the top medtech companies are expected to spend smaller percentages of their revenue on R&D in 2024 than before, the total market's R&D spend may increase by 4.5% each year.
RELATED: FDA expands use of Medtronic's 'artificial pancreas,' approves Eversense's implantable CGM system
When you're a company as large as Medtronic—competing in everything from artificial pancreas devices to spinal cord stimulation for nonopioid pain treatments—a bit of an identity crisis can be expected. That's how Bernstein analyst Lee Hambright described Medtronic's slight pivot in its messaging earlier this year, with CEO Omar Ishrak shifting focus away from his marquee pursuits of generating economic value and furthering globalization toward becoming a key leader in technology development, namely by "creating new therapies that result in new markets," as described in the company's June investor day presentation.
RELATED: Medtronic aims for 4% growth through consolidation, high-tech and direct-to-customer deals
There, Medtronic outlined a plan for 4% annual increases in revenue, backed by stronger investments in higher growth technology markets such as robotic surgery, neuromodulation, mitral valve replacement and personal diabetes devices. In the company's 2012 fiscal year, Medtronic's focus on these so-called growth markets made up less than one-quarter of its work compared to traditional markets. Today, they account for a little over one-third—and according to Ishrak's presentation in New York, the company's goal is to boost that proportion to 50-50 by FY 2022.
Up ahead, Hambright expects Medtronic to focus on smaller, complementary or bolt-on M&A deals focused on technology. Larger deals, such as its $50 billion buyout and inversion with Covidien in 2014 and 2015, pose financial and strategic risks.
In addition, Medtronic plans to save on its global operations by further consolidating its manufacturing—down from 92 sites a few years ago to about 55 in the next few years—and reduce its supply chain base by about 50%. Currently, the company maintains about 70 sites, with plans to employ contract manufacturing where needed.
And by transitioning more to direct-to-customer sales and joint ventures in international markets, Medtronic hopes to reduce its number of distribution centers and administrative facilities by 15% to 20%, helped along by automating some business processes and consolidating its customer service and call centers.
Book traversal links for 1. Medtronic
‹ Special Report—The top 10 medtech companies of 2024
2. Johnson & Johnson ›


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Darvish, injuries put big hurt on Oakland
By Joe Stiglich | Bay Area News Group, Mercury News
ARLINGTON, Texas — The hype surrounding Yu Darvish is legit.
Just ask A's outfielder Josh Reddick.
"He dominated the hell out of me," Reddick said after the A's 4-1 loss to the Texas Rangers on Wednesday.
Darvish, the Japanese right-hander who signed a six-year, $56 million contract with the Rangers over the winter, silenced the A's in the opener of a two-game series at Rangers Ballpark.
He limited Oakland to four hits over 72/3 innings and struck out seven, including Reddick twice on 94 mph fastballs. Darvish (6-1) ensured the A's would not set the tone they wanted in their first game this season against the American League West leaders.
But the A's have another problem.
Third baseman Brandon Inge is all but certain to join the disabled list with a groin injury that hasn't gotten any better. Inge missed his fourth straight game Wednesday, and when he tried to push himself in pregame running drills, he felt it "start to go again, so I shut it down."
"The smartest thing to do is go on the D.L., I guess, and try to get to normal," Inge said.
A's manager Bob Melvin said the team would make a decision Thursday on Inge's status.
Oakland (19-19) has gotten off to an encouraging start considering the bleak predictions for the team entering the season. But how many more injuries can the A's withstand?
Cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes and fellow outfielder Coco Crisp are already on the 15-day D.L. Now they're likely to be joined by Inge, who has four homers and 16 RBIs over his past six games and has added much-needed offensive thump since being signed April 30.
The A's couldn't generate nearly enough against Darvish, whose strikeouts were accompanied by chants of "Yuuuuuu!" from the sellout crowd of 46,370.
Jemile Weeks led off the game with a double and scored on Reddick's sacrifice fly to give the A's a lead. That was it, as Darvish allowed just one hit after the third inning.
He ran his fastball into the mid-90s and countered it with a breaking ball that floated in at 64 mph on one eighth-inning pitch.
"He's got a little bit of everything," Melvin said. "He cuts it, sinks it. He's got three different fastballs."
But that wasn't what had Melvin red-faced during his postgame media address.
A's left-hander Tommy Milone (5-3), who came in tied with Darvish for the most wins among major league rookies, pitched relatively well but was done in by Texas' four-run fourth.
Adrian Beltre's two-run homer gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead, but Milone was on the verge of escaping without further damage. With runners on second and third and two outs, Texas' Craig Gentry hit a routine grounder to third baseman Josh Donaldson.
Donaldson took too long gathering himself before throwing too late to get the speedy Gentry, and Nelson Cruz scored.
Elvis Andrus followed with an RBI single to left for a 4-1 Rangers lead.
"You've gotta get the ball and throw it across," said Melvin, about as ticked as he's been after a game. "Whether he didn't have his timing or whatever, it's a ground ball to third."
Donaldson did not deflect the criticism.
"I played with (Gentry) in the Dominican, I know he's fast," he said. "It's definitely a play that's got to be made for Tommy. That mistake right there led to two runs."
Such a play magnifies how badly the A's would miss Inge, a 12-year veteran, at third base.
It's unclear to whom the A's might turn at third besides Donaldson. Eric Sogard, who spelled Cliff Pennington at shortstop Wednesday, is hitting .138.
One option at Triple-A Sacramento is Adam Rosales, who is hitting a not-so-flashy .277 for the River Cats but has experience at third.
The A's fell five games behind the Rangers and have lost 13 of their past 15 against Texas.
Reliever Andrew Carignan was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to clear a roster spot for Travis Blackley, claimed off waivers from the Giants on Tuesday.


The Port of Arles is a small port in France. See below for a live map of ship positions in Arles, schedules for vessels arriving (port calls), the list of ships currently in port, a company register and a local weather forecast. Arles's LOCODE is FRARL.
Currently FleetMon does not receive live AIS signals and cannot show present vessel traffic. Are you based in or near Arles? See how you can help us improve live coverage.
The Port Calls Log shows a list of ships that have been detected in Arles by AIS and other sources. All ships are listed with actual time of arrival and actual time of departure. The list reaches back several months and can be easily searched by date, type of ship and name of the vessel.


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Every Single One Of These Olympic Mom Ads Made Me Cry
Erin Gloria Ryan
In the ramp up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, we can anticipate an influx of emotionally manipulative schmaltz designed to sell product, but this series of ads by Proctor & Gamble has somehow managed to overcome all of my anti-schmaltz defense mechanisms and made me cry like a toddler who just experienced her first ice skate wipe out SANS MOM.
There are dozens of these. Dozens. And they're all heartwarming, but just because it's cold outside and I'm assuming that most of you are reading this from safely inside, away from temperatures that could instantly turn your tears into ice rivers on your face, here are the two that really made me lose it.
UK skeleton sledder Shelley Rudman:
But this, about Paralympian Amy Purdy, really brought out the waterworks.
While my first response to videos by a company that claims to be a "proud sponsor of Moms" was to scoff (pedantic liberal thought vomit: if Procter & Gamble were actually a proud sponsor of moms in a real way that extends beyond these TV ads, they'd actively lobby for universal paid maternity leave and affordable childcare for working mothers and they'd be industry leaders in allowing P&G employees who happen to have families to have the flexibility they need to spend time with their children without sacrificing productivity at work, and they'd make sure that their products were free from chemicals that can give moms cancer. AND ANOTHER THING WHAT ABOUT THE DADS —- etc), the fact that P&G is far from perfect doesn't eclipse that the athletes who are about to compete in the Olympics have worked incredibly hard, and have enjoyed the support of incredible people. As we all have.
Go Olympians, and go moms.
Ari Schwartz: Dark Lord of the Snark
Yeah, I get that it's not a perfect statement, but good Lord to paralympians inspire me.
I mean, yeah, all high-performing athletes inspire me, but someone who competes at a high level in a sport without having the benefit of all four limbs? That's a kind of tenacity that just blows my mind. Every time my knee hurts or my calves cramp from too much training, I just have to think to myself, "there are people who don't even have the opportunity to have this problem who would kick your ass in training."
No excuses. None. People like Amy Purdy are leading the way, and I must follow.
Goddamn.


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Optimizing the Data Center for Today s State & Local Government
Download "Optimizing the Data Center for Today s State & Local Government"
Leon Short
1 WHITE PAPER: OPTIMIZING THE DATA CENTER FOR TODAY S STATE &.. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Optimizing the Data Center for Today s State & Local Government Who should read this paper CIOs, CISOs, IT Managers
3 Content Executive Summary Requirements for Data Center Optimization in State & Local Government Core Principles of Data Center Optimization in State & Local Government A Proven Methodology for Data Center Transformation Technology Solutions for Data Center Transformation Summary Appendix: Symantec Data Center Optimization Solution Matrix
4 Executive Summary Faced with mandates, budgetary pressures and mounting IT complexity, state and local governments have launched initiatives designed to significantly reduce the number of operational data centers. Most often this reduction is in the 75 percent to 95 percent range. NASCIO s State CIO Priorities for 2012 list Consolidation/Optimization as the number one ranking priority 1 under the Priority Strategies, Management Processes and Solutions" section. Second on this list is Budget and Cost Control. In the near term, many agencies and departments are being asked to adopt a zero-growth strategy for data center space and then begin reduction to take advantage of the potential cost savings and increased security and management capabilities that data center consolidation can offer. This report also ranked Virtualization first and Cloud Computing as third under the Priority Technologies, Applications and Tools section as the technologies that will provide the maximum leverage in attaining these goals. Symantec has solutions available today that directly address these priorities. There are several core principles fundamental to successful strategic data center optimization. Among them, storage optimization, ensuring 24x7 availability, accelerating virtualization, and cloud adoption and maximizing agility. To minimize risk, capture the cost savings, simplify IT complexity, and comply with mandates, government organizations need an approach that combines best practices with complementary technologies that address these core principles. This whitepaper provides an overview of key drivers for data center optimization in state and local governments, describes the core principles associated with data center optimization, and details best practices, methodologies, and technology solutions proven to derive maximum value from data center optimization initiatives. Requirements for Data Center Optimization in State & Local Government State and Local government s long-term data center consolidation efforts are well underway. Since budget cuts began to impact State and Local government back in 2008, identifying existing data center assets and formulating consolidation plans to significantly reduce the number of data centers has been an ongoing effort. Many agencies and departments have adopted a zero-growth strategy for data center space first before beginning data center reduction. Aiming to reduce the overall energy and real estate footprint of government data centers; cut the cost of data center hardware, software and operations; and, shift IT investments to more efficient computing platforms and technologies, has had far ranging implications for other State and Local government initiatives and mandates. Core Principles of Data Center Optimization in State & Local Government In order to capture the billions of dollars in cost savings and comply with government mandates, agencies and departments should consider pursuing data center optimization initiatives with a focus on four main principles. 1-NASCIO, State CIO Priorities for 2012, pg 1, October 26,
5 1) Optimize Storage The growing volumes of data that need to be stored, managed, and moved are taxing government infrastructures. A moratorium on expanding data center space and a need to save costs are forcing agencies to find alternatives to storage build out. Poor visibility to actual storage consumption and the inability to reclaim wasted storage leads to unnecessary purchases, which puts increasing pressure on IT budgets. Add to this the ever increasing amount of duplicate data that resides in a storage environment and the need to retain data for long term retention and it becomes clear action needs to be taken. Identifying strategies to increase utilization of existing storage, eliminate data duplication, efficiently archive data for long term retention, and rolling out thin provisioning are important priorities. State and Local Government data centers should consider taking steps to deploy solutions that can aid in centralizing visibility and control across physical, logical and virtual environments, gain higher efficiency from existing storage, identify and capitalize on wasted storage, and automatically and continuously reclaim and optimize storage. 2) Ensure 24x7 Availability Resiliency through a crisis situation is critical. Continuous and heightened threats due to natural and man-made disasters put national infrastructure and citizens at risk. Ensuring continuity of Government and 24x7 availability of systems are essential to national security. Downtime caused by human error and complexity of systems, lack of support for high availability and disaster recovery solutions in heterogeneous environments, cost of these operations and deployments, and difficulties associated with planning and testing without disrupting service are making it difficult to ensure 24x7 availability. Agencies and departments are demanding more stringent service level agreements from vendors and are seeking strategies for streamlined disaster recovery build out and testing. Government agencies should apply best practices and solutions that accelerate application and data failover, provide automated support for high-availability, disaster recovery and backups, consolidate and minimize standby servers, and eliminate unplanned downtime. 3) Accelerate Virtualization and Cloud Adoption The benefits of virtualization cutting costs, increasing flexibility and saving energy have been widely touted. As a stepping stone to cloud adoption, virtualization is gaining traction within government data center consolidation plans. However, the Symantec 2011 Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey found that concerns related to disaster recovery and the ability to maintain security and control over mission-critical data and applications are slowing adoption of virtualized/cloud environments. Identifying strategies to improve security of 2
6 the data center and storage performance in virtual machines (VMs), automate application recovery in VMs, and improve data governance through insights into unstructured data, are essential to confidently integrate virtualization and the cloud into data center optimization strategies. State and Local Government data centers should ensure that the following needs are met through a combination of processes and solutions that: 1. Centralize visibility and control across virtual and physical assets 2. Enforce security, backup and storage policies on VMs 3. Protect mission-critical data 4. Automate recovery across virtual and physical environments 5. Increase utilization and reclaim storage 6. Virtualize pooled storage and leverage dynamic tiering 4) Maximize Agility Heterogeneous infrastructure leads to a proliferation of disparate tools, manual processes, and a lack of visibility. Effective data center transformation requires the ability to manage change and increasing complexity more efficiently and quickly. Remaining agile in the face of operational complexity, manually intensive infrastructure projects, and an increased risk of unplanned downtime is a challenge. Identifying ways in which to enable agility through consolidation, visibility, automation, and standardization across the data center are essential. Government should consider applying practices and solutions that offer centralized control over IT infrastructure, reduce complexity through automation, proactively identify risks, simplify maintenance, provide end-to-end visibility, and support cross-team collaboration to minimize disruptions during migration. Optimizing the data center based on these core principles requires a combination of proven methodologies to minimize risk and costs and complementary technologies that can be leveraged across multiple, heterogeneous environments. A Proven Methodology for Data Center Transformation Data center optimization is often regarded as one of the highest risk projects that IT can undertake. State and Local Government agencies and departments need to identify partners with proven methodologies and a wealth of experience in minimizing risk and successfully transforming the data center on time and within budget. Symantec brings to every engagement a unique Data Center Transformation (DCT) solution framework, enabling cumulative benefits from a wide range of enterprise services and technologies. The DCT framework is comprehensive yet pragmatic, focused on addressing current priority challenges in IT while delivering sustainable improvement across and organization s data center environment from core infrastructure (servers and storage), through operation and administration, to ownership and management. Symantec applies a phased approach to the DCT process as indicated above. DCT is not a short-term fix but a strategic and holistic process that includes comprehensive assessments, architectural best practices, and innovative product enablement services. Using this framework, 3
7 Symantec takes many interrelated technologies and processes into consideration and optimizes them in a manner that yields dramatic improvements in the overall IT ability to manage cost, complexity, and performance. The DCT process consists of best practices in discovery, planning and implementation. Discovery. The process begins with a Project Definition Workshop to ensure all parties clearly understand the scope of the project. This is followed by an asset inventory, assessment of the current and desired future state of the architecture, as well as identification of methodologies that will be used and schedules and budgets that will be adhered to. Symantec has refined this phase based on auditing, profiling, and migrating over tens of thousands of servers and has developed processes and a collaborative toolset to facilitate the transition and reduce risk. Planning. Diligent preparation during the planning process ensures application availability requirements are met and provides clarity of impacts and dependencies. Symantec provides all aspects of the planning and pilot phase, from the development of the migration scheduling process and the schedule itself, to the design and validation of the migration processes. Using a Migration Lifecycle process based on interrelated elements Symantec achieves data center optimization in a controlled, consistent, and standard manner with minimum downtime and disruption. A pilot phase further minimizes risk by migrating a controlled number of systems and updating procedures as needed. Implementation. Leveraging a repeatable process, implementation follows eight steps based on work completed in the planning phase. These steps include: 1. Confirm migration with the server/application owner 2. Analyze risk involved 3. Create a plan for the actual preparation and migration 4. Prepare the migration 5. Perform backup 6. Perform the migration 7. Test and back-out if necessary 4
8 8. Handover to support Symantec and the client teams conclude the engagement with formal review meetings, documentation, and agreed next steps. Putting systems in place for ongoing tracking and reporting and to identify and manage service improvement plans ensure ongoing success. Technology Solutions for Data Center Transformation The Symantec Data Center Transformation methodology may be coupled with a range of Symantec software solutions that come into play depending on the specific data center principles a State and Local Government agency or department is focused on. Optimize Storage: Symantec is helping government clients optimize storage with solutions that reduce acquisition costs, increase utilization, eliminates backup data duplication, archives efficiently for long term retention, and leverage thin provisioning. Using Symantec storage optimization solutions allow clients to: Centralize visibility and control of heterogeneous servers, storage, databases, and applications across both physical and virtual environments. Implement a data protection solution that delivers end-to-end, global deduplication and offers seamless management through a single console. Archive data efficiently, future proof the way it is archived, and create a single instance to meet long term data retention requirements. Use storage more efficiently since it is not consumed at the time of provisioning, but rather at the time that applications write data. Discover wasted storage and reclaim unused storage into a shared storage pool, thereby increasing storage utilization, and reducing storage hardware and operational expenses. Transparently reclaim all unused storage by enabling automated reclamation during migrations and continuous storage optimization on thin provisioning-enabled hardware. Symantec data center optimization experts work with clients to recommend specific products from a range of offerings. Symantec offers solutions that offer comprehensive visibility and control over data center assets, support for thin provisioning enabled hardware, and automatic reclamation during migrations and continuous storage reclamation. See Appendix A. Ensure 24x7 Availability: High availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) solutions from Symantec help clients achieve their goals to reduce complexity, prevent downtime and accelerate recovery. Using these solutions allow clients to: Ensure the highest levels of data protection for mission-critical workloads while consolidating servers and minimizing standby systems. Provide visibility and orchestrate availability for a complete business service that may be composed of different applications and databases running on heterogeneous operating systems and virtualization technologies. Achieve cost-effective, automated, and accelerated application and data failover across any distance on any major platform or storage array. Reduce complexity with out-of-the-box HA/DR support for all major platforms, applications, databases, and replication technologies. Protect against unplanned downtime with HA/DR testing. Symantec and client teams work together to identify the best solutions from a range of products. Symantec is uniquely positioned with HA/ DR solutions that offer extremely wide and deep support for heterogeneous platforms, reducing or eliminating vendor lock-in. Additionally, 5
9 Symantec provides centralized management of all clusters across the enterprise, campus cluster support, and comprehensive, non-disruptive HA/DR testing capabilities. See Appendix A. Accelerate Virtualization and Cloud Adoption: Symantec virtualization management solutions help clients increase application awareness across virtualized environments, optimize VMs, and confidently transition to cloud environments. With these solutions clients can: Instrument the virtual data center and automatically update service-level processes in response to dynamic changes in resource allocation. Automate the discovery of VMs and enforce existing security, backup, and storage allocation policies. Ensure continuity of government by automating application recovery and failovers across virtual and physical environments. Virtualize pooled storage and leverage dynamic tiering and provisioning across heterogeneous arrays. Symantec works with clients to identify the right solutions from a range of products. Symantec offers the broadest and deepest range of solutions that work seamlessly across physical and virtual environments to centralize and standardize management of assets, as well as provide global visibility, ensure mission critical data protection, support application-level recovery, and test disaster recovery plans without impacting availability. See Appendix A. Maximize Agility: Symantec helps State and Local Government agencies and departments maximize agility with solutions that centralize management, automation, operations, and support non-disruptive change. Using these solutions clients can: Centralize control of storage and server infrastructure. Automate operations and complex tasks for storage, HA/DR, and multi-pathing. Identify risks and issues across the infrastructure with operational reporting. Simplify maintenance and installation processes. Gain end-to-end visibility of storage, server, and application environments. Bridge the gap between the server, storage, and applications teams by enabling these teams to identify dependencies and minimize disruptions during migration. Working with clients, Symantec recommends the most appropriate products from a range of offerings. Symantec offers solutions that can work across all hardware platforms, manage storage resources and availability configurations through a single tool, offer comprehensive visibility of heterogeneous hardware assets, and provide easy to install and use risk management capabilities. 6
10 Summary State and Local Government agencies and departments are at a critical juncture with their IT infrastructures. Government mandates and the potential for billions of dollars in cost savings are driving data center consolidation initiatives, yet data center optimization is often regarded as one of the highest risk projects that IT can undertake. Symantec Delivers High-Value Results 18% reduction of Direct Attached Storage Device (DASD) resources 20% reduction in application estate Facilitate migration governance Mitigate risk to thousands of applications Four core principles have emerged for successful strategic data center optimization storage optimization, ensuring 24x7 availability, accelerating virtualization and cloud adoption, and maximizing agility. Symantec has developed a strategic approach to address these core principles that combines a proven methodology in data center optimization with a portfolio of industry-leading solutions. With many years of success working with government clients, Symantec has a deep understanding of the challenges of State and Local Government data center optimization and has demonstrated results in minimizing risks, capturing cost savings, simplifying IT complexity, and complying with mandates. Appendix: Symantec Data Center Optimization Solution Matrix The table on the following pages map Symantec product offerings to key state & local government data center optimization principles. 7
12 9 Optimizing the Data Center for Today s State & Local Government
14 About Symantec Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage, and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Symantec has operations in 40 countries. More information is available at For specific country offices and contact numbers, please visit our website. publicsector_us Symantec World Headquarters 350 Ellis St. Mountain View, CA USA +1 (650) (800) Symantec helps organizations secure and manage their information-driven world with storage management, archiving, and backup and recovery solutions. Copyright 2011 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec Logo, and the Checkmark Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 4/
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and how to contribute to the remote mapping.
We wanted to let you know about our training and to share our enthusiasm .
you will like to share it, all the team will be really happy.
talking about the HOT Team and your amazing work.
Have a great day and thaks again !
We keep on moving !


text:
LIONHEART: Friday Snippets (9)
Here's today's snippet of LIONHEART.
This section continues Chapter Four, and includes a very short Chapter Five.
And as always, this is draft material and things are subject to editing (and possibly deletion), so please don't share.
~ Thea
Pre-order LIONHEART now!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Google Play
Chapter Four, concluded
I don't get it, she thought. When all the members of the Dark Court spoke about Oberon, it was with a combination of love, pain, and respect, as if he was some kind of missing goddamn hero. How could they love this? It felt like a monster contemplating a slaughter. Oh Shaw, what have you gotten yourself into now?
"Wow, do I feel welcome," she muttered.
The puck appeared to miss her tone of sarcasm completely. "You should. When Annwyn and the troops arrive, storms will rage through the city until ice shards drive through glass and midday will seem black as night. You will want to shelter in place when that happens."
Surprise took her over. "What's the difference between our arrival and theirs?"
"Me," Robin said simply. "Maybe because I was the last one he saw before he fell to his sleep. Maybe because he gave me orders that I'm supposed to follow. No one knows for sure."
The puck's odd wording snagged her attention. Fell to his sleep. It sounded ominous, like falling to his death. "Well, I'm glad I took you up on your offer to bring me. I had no idea just getting to him was going to be so difficult. What would happen if we split up?"
"I suggest you do not leave my side."
Oh, no worries about that. She had no intention of doing so.
By the time they came up to it, the palace was almost anti-climactic. It was, she decided, very palace-y— A large sprawl of a stone building with crenellations along the top, turrets at each end, and rows of columns and arches along the front.
A long scar along the ground that bordered the front of the building might once have been an operational moat. Now that area was nothing more than a frozen smear. The design seemed almost Moorish and looked both attractive and defensible.
Many years of doing her job had taught her one thing: to grab any chance she could at getting her needs met while she could. As they approached the building, she dug into a pack and pulled out a piece of jerky to chew while she considered what came next.
"Would you take me directly to him?" she asked.
The surprise was back in his voice as he said, "I thought we might rest? It has been a long journey for both of us."
"I know you're tired, and I am too," she told him. "But from everything I was told Oberon was supposed to be unconscious, yet his Power feels aware, and it appears to be reacting to stimuli. I would rather introduce myself to your king right away, in case he might be aware enough to take it in."
"He is asleep." The flat, uncertain note in the puck's voice persisted.
She explained, "Comatose patients can be more aware than people think. Sometimes they report hearing voices and conversations that occurred around them while they were in their comas. I would like to know if it is possible to get some kind of idea that Oberon has accepted my presence, because I don't want to be attacked by some freak of weather while I'm trying to sleep."
"You make a good point," he said after a moment. "We will go to see him straight away."
They had reached the wide, icy palace steps. When Robin drew to a halt, she slid off his back and dragged her packs off with her. Stiffly she bent to unbuckle them while the puck shapeshifted. As she pulled them apart, one of his thin strong hands came into view.
Wordlessly he took the pack that was the lighter one now that she was wearing the cloak. He had born her weight plus both packs through the night, so she wasn't about to complain. She straightened and shouldered the other one. Then she followed him into the palace.
Inside, it was grand and abandoned. Normally she would have poured over every detail with intense fascination. Now, she had neither the time or the energy. Grand hallways, wide stairwells, and corridors all went by in a blur.
The sense of being watched by the dark Power intensified until the tiny hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Every Wyr sense she owned was screaming: Danger. Run.
But she did no such thing. She followed Robin down a wide, richly appointed corridor to a set of double doors made of a glossy, very dark wood. She almost expected Robin to pull out a key. Instead, he merely turned the knob and pushed the door open to a deeply shadowed room.
Oberon was in there. She knew it. She could feel it in the goosebumps raising on her arms and legs. This was the culmination of her long journey.
Here, the presence of the dark Power was almost unbearably intense. It felt like a thunderclap about to break against her skin. She half expected lightning to shear across the dark interior space.
Robin was looking at her as if he expected her to do something. So she did.
Setting down her pack, she sat down carefully in the floor at the edge of the doorway. Then because she was who she was, she multitasked and pulled out a bag of the high calorie, high fat trail mix.
Shaking some into her hand, she popped it in her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she said, "Your majesty, my name is Dr. Shaw, and I have traveled a very long way to meet you. I am here to help you if I can, but I won't attempt to do anything against your will. If you understand what I am saying, please give me some sort of sign that you consent to an examination."
Then she paused. Nothing happened. Her wary gaze shifted sideways to Robin who had squatted by her side. The puck stared at he intently. She tilted the bag of trail mix toward him.
Slowly, his feral gaze never leaving her face, he reached into the bag and took a handful.
She turned her attention back to the shadowed room. "Sir, I have to ask you again, do I have your consent to examine you? Give me a sign, Oberon, or I'm going to go away. I was led to believe you were unconscious, but you've got too much raised Power to be completely unaware. I'll make things simple for you – do you want to live, or do you want to die? Because you're headed for death just fine on your own, and you don't need me here for that."
She ate some more trail mix while she waited. Mm, chocolate.
Disappointment made her shoulders sag. Okay then. Pushing to her feet, she said, "I'm going… going…"
Just as she was about to say gone, the unbearable intensity in the Power shifted. It didn't go away, but as she assessed it, at least it no longer felt like it was going to ram like a spike down her throat.
Suddenly magic arced like lightning, and light flared in round witchlights positioned around a spacious, richly appointed bedroom. The figure of a large man lay on the bed. His shape was a dark, heavy shadow against the crimson and gold bedcover.
She was going to ignore the fact that she had almost jumpted out of her skin. She and Robin stared at each other, eyes wide.
"All right," she whispered. "I'm going to take that as a consent to enter." Even as she spoke, an unusual case of anxiety attacked her. Stepping inside that room felt like walking into the open mouth of a giant.
"I will enter with you," Robin replied softly.
"Sure, okay," she muttered, unimpressed. Oberon liked Robin.
Pushing to her feet, she left her pack in the doorway and slowly walked inside.
Then lightning bolts hit her after all, as several realizations struck at once.
He was a big, hard behemoth of a man. It was difficult to tell with him lying down, but she thought he might easily be the size of one of the gryphon sentinels, if not larger. He sprawled in a casual pose on the massive bed, as if he had had just lay down for a nap.
She glanced around her at the rich, but plain masculine furniture and the luxuriously thick rug underneath. Her mind flashed through rapid calculations.
A fortnight in Lyonesse roughly equaled six months on Earth, and on Earth Oberon had been in a comatose state for two hundred years. Four times two hundred—that meant he had been unconscious in Lyonesse for eight hundred weeks.
It was silly to think Lyonesse might have fifty-six weeks to a year just because Earth did, she thought, but for the sake of compiling a completely useless statistic, let's say there were. Oberon had been in a vegatative state for almost fourteen and a half years.
The entire room, even Oberon, should be coated with a layer of dust, but everything was pristine. His muscles should have wasted, but they hadn't. He looked fit, vital, and his skin was deeply burnished. He had a mature, sensual face with a short-clipped beard, and thick, packed muscles wrapped around his long, masculine frame.
It was a hard face, a dangerous face, with an outrageously sensual mouth. The severe cold invaded even this room, but he wore nothing except a pair of black pants and black boots. A sprinkle of dark hair dusted the broad muscles of his chest and arrowed down to disappear into the hem of his pants.
Looking at him outside the sterility of a hospital examination room felt invasive and intimate. Every detail struck her like bullets and burrowed underneath her skin. She felt invaded just by looking at him.
But none of that delivered the sucker-punch.
That blow came when she took her first breath after stepping into the room. For the first time, she breathed in his scent and reeled.
Oberon was Wyr.
He dreamed of killing the bitch over and over again, caught on an endless loop.
Isabeau, Queen of the Light Court. Satan personified. She had a beauty like a rotten peach whose perfect, blush skin invited, but when you bit into the flesh poisonous worms spilled into your mouth.
He didn't want her merely dead. He wanted her utterly crushed, completely destroyed, and then violently executed. He wanted her aware of her own destruction so when she sank into that final darkness she would know she had lost everything she had ever cared about and everything she had ever wanted.
Just as he had.
His hands squeezing around her neck. His thumbs gouging out her eyes. His sword sliding into her body.
Somehow in his dreams, it was never really satisfying, never really enough. Never really finished. Somehow, she always slipped away to come at him in another fashion.
And so he had to kill her again while kingdoms fell and life devolved into a single sick feeling in the gut, because everything was always in a crisis, and all that remained was rage.
Until a woman started speaking to him.
At first it was meaningless background noise to his death-filled dreams. But then it intruded, and life gained a definition beyond that sick sense of crisis in his gut.
Now there was a second thing.
There was the sound of her voice. Her, the woman. He had never met her before, but suddenly she came to be there, and she spoke to him, the words calm, bright, and crisp.
Sometimes there was silence and the killing dreams returned, but then the woman came back. If he had been awake and really aware it would have driven him crazy.
Because she talked, and talked, and talked.
And talked.
Then he no longer dreamed about killing Isabeau. Sometimes, he dreamed about figuring out ways to shut that talkative woman up.
Copyright: 2018 Teddy Harrison LLC
DebbieH says:
Really really want to read this book. Thanks for the tease. Counting down! Love all your books.
Excellent snippet. Really want to read the book, on pre-order with BN. Thanks for all the amazing tales, looking forward to many more.
56 weeks?
Most years have 52 weeks…different earth, I guess!
I think this might be a typo. I'll know better when I'm going through copy edits this weekend. 😀
Njb says:
Ok, that was a cliff hanger. Can hardly stand to wait for the book to come out. Thanks for the snippet!
Thanks alot, really enjoyed the snippet. Great way to start the weekend. Can't wait for the book 🙂
Re-reading your entire Elder Races catalog in anticipation! Thanks for another wonderful snippet. Really makes my day, weekend and week! Love, love, love your writing.
Thank you for the little teaser! The ebook is on my pre-orderlist♀
DDragons says:
Love these snippets. The mystery continues to deepen with no illumination yet. I am wondering what allows him to maintain his body as if he had never slept and his room as if it had been cleaned just that day? A time capsule? Has time stopped in his room? She is extremely sensitive to him and it appears him to her if she can take his mind off of killing Isabeau just by talking. So how long did she talk and what is she saying, an incantation? A Wyr huh? So many possible ramifications to this. Thank you for giving us this story this way even though the waiting is bittersweet.
Mary P says:
Thank you for the new snippet.
Melissa Thomson says:
Love it when your sense of humour comes through as it did at the end of the snippet! Getting really, really anxious for the print book!
Patricia Sparrazza says:
Every Friday I look for this and Maud from Ilona Andrews. They make a wonderful day! Thank you so much!
Me too! It makes me take my time to savor rather than rushing through it.
Great teaser. The plot thickens! And the final sentence, I had to laugh. Much chaos will ensue I am sure. Eagerly awaiting Release Day.
Thanks for doing these snippets, they keep me smiling and can't wait for the full book.


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Q: Sql Server Cluster with multiple nodes Does it make sense to think about a failover cluster configuration where less than 50% of all included nodes are standby?
For example instead of setting up 4 two-node clusters where one is active and one is on standby on each cluster - doesn't it make more sense to create 1 cluster with 4 active nodes and two on standby/passive for failover? That makes a saving of 2 nodes in total.
Sure, there is a risk in case multiple nodes fail unplanned and have to share one of the previous standby nodes, but in case you decide to take that risk over provisioning the standby hardware resources?
Looking for "multiple node failover clustering" I couldn't find more on this.

A: Firstly, having 4 separate 2 node clusters with one FCI deployment in each seems to me to be a little extreme. The second model you describe does not really make sense to me. Instead of either deployment I would suggest running 2 Clusters of 4 nodes (you would need a witness for each) and consider one node in each as a dedicated failover node (i.e. that you install 3 SQL FCIs to each cluster).
Also you should try to deploy on Windows 2012 R2 because of its dynamic quorum and dynamic witness capabilities (2012 only had dynamic quorum) -which will help to maintain maximum uptime upon node failure.
As you will be aware, the biggest issue with not having enough dedicated failover nodes is that ultimately you are exposed to SQL co-existence considerations (such as setting the correct max-memory upon failover if shared with other SQL FCIs amongst other things). Furthermore in truly Highly Available environments you probably would not want to fail-back post failover (otherwise it is a further addition of down-time), so sharing dedicated failover nodes would probably necessitate failback of one instance (assuming two had failed over).
However, that said, all system deployments are a compromise and provisioning too many redundant failover nodes does not make sense and it is important to find the right balance between HA requirement and cost effectiveness.
As a general rule of thumb you should consider an approximate 1 dedicated (failover node) per (2 SQL FCI) 3 node cluster, 2 dedicated per (5 FCI) 7 node cluster and 3 dedicated per (8 FCI) 11 node cluster.
These figures are generous approximations from nearly 20 years personal experience of SQL Failover Clustering but obviously there are many other factors that can affect your design strategy.
p.s. There are some technical Clustering reasons why it makes sense not to deploy a huge number of cluster nodes so I would probably not go beyond a 5 node cluster anyway (and in that case I would probably still be happy with 1 dedicated failover node).

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