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Come to think of it though, I tend to get this feeling almost every time I embark on a big canning project. Last year it seemed like a great idea to get 100 lbs of apples. But once I was in the midst of all of the canning, the 100 lbs didn't seem to be the greatest idea. Now that I've forgotten the pain and run out of applesauce, 100 lbs doesn't seem like too much after all.
It happened again with the strawberries. Once I started working on canning and freezing, I was definitely overwhelmed with all 50 lbs of strawberries. However less than a month later I'm wishing that I had had more to freeze.
Maybe the tomato canning will be overwhelming as well, but a few months later I'll probably forget how much work it was and wish I had planted more tomatoes. Needless to say, these 13 plants are going to keep me very very busy.
The other thing I worry about concerning the tomatoes is that in just over a month I'll be making my way down to Chile for about 2 1/2 weeks, and I'm not sure exactly what to do if my plants produce tons of tomatoes while I'm away. Maybe I'll be able to put my mother to work for me :)
In addition to the plants getting big, they are starting to make little tomatoes! Imagine that! It still amazes me when things actually grow and produce things- it's like magic.Check out my roma's. I planted planted 8 of these suckers since they are good for canning.
Here are my cute little cherry tomatoes.
And the big ol' beefsteak tomatoes.
I've got to say, I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed now after looking at those perty tomatoes. Think 13 plants is going to be enough? ;)

domain: agronomy


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NEW YORK – With the validation and commercialization of its blood-based colorectal cancer screening tests underway, multiomics firm Freenome is pushing its core platform into other areas of the cancer care continuum.
At the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in April, the company presented results from a study demonstrating that its ctDNA sequencing and informatics pipeline could identify predictive signatures of immunotherapy response that appear consistently across melanoma, lung, and kidney cancers and have the potential for use in patient stratification and monitoring.
The new data adds to the firm's earlier forays into advanced early and advanced cancer biomarker discovery, including a study presented at AACR in 2020 exploring whether pre-surgery cell-free DNA and circulating proteins could predict progression in non-small cell lung cancer patients after surgery, and an abstract at last year's American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting searching for biomarkers associated with response to the cancer immunotherapy nivolumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo).
Jimmy Lin, Freenome's chief scientific officer, said in an interview this week that while the company's first emphasis remains early cancer detection and screening, "there has been a lot of interest from pharma and biotech in using our overall multiomics platform for other purposes."
The recent AACR study was exploratory and performed in a small cohort: 21 patients with kidney cancer, 14 with melanoma, and 91 with lung cancer. As such, Lin said it should be viewed as a proof of concept that will require further validation in larger cohorts.
In the meantime, he said the data mainly paint a picture of how Freenome's cell-free DNA sequencing and artificial intelligence platform can glean new biomarkers and drive the development of novel clinical diagnostics in areas of great interest like immuno-oncology.
"What we showed is that we are able to start with whole-genome sequencing of cell-free DNA and actually make estimations of gene activation [to] then look at potential signatures," he said.
This methodology expands on technology Freenome has been developing for some time, with company researchers reporting in 2019 on a strategy to model gene expression based on cell-free DNA fragmentation patterns — gleaning the transcriptional state of the cells that are releasing their DNA into the bloodstream at any one time.
At that time, the investigators were interested in the potential to use this to aid early cancer detection. But one of the benefits of the company's platform, Lin said this week, is that it can analyze not only cancer signals but the full landscape of cell-free DNA, both tumor- and non-tumor-derived.
Although the currently available clinical tests for immunotherapy response prediction focus on signals associated with a tumor itself, the precision oncology research community has long hypothesized that because immunotherapy response depends on a complex interaction between a tumor and the immune system, combined approaches that measure both tumor-associated and innate immune factors would be needed to predict patient response with the highest possible accuracy.
Immune checkpoint inhibition has improved clinical outcomes for multiple cancers, including the three tumor types Freenome focused on, but despite this success, significant numbers of patients fail to respond robustly or at all. Meanwhile, although current biomarkers like PD-L1 expression and tumor mutational burden are predictive enough to meet the threshold for clinical adoption, they only explain some of this divergence in response.
"Because we're using whole-genome sequencing of cell-free DNA, we can actually do almost an estimated sort of expression analysis … by looking at what parts of genes are actually in the blood and which ones are protected and thus are not being expressed. Then we can look at these … potential immune or stromal signals that are related to immune checkpoint inhibition response," Lin said, describing Freenome's methodology.
In the study, the company identified 13 transcription factors and 269 genes, which they linked to ICI treatment resistance and response that were present across the 126-patient cohort. These signals indicated a potential pathway of resistance through JAK/STAT signaling and a possible signature of response linked to epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
"This was an exploratory study obviously, so the next step is to replicate that in a larger cohort and to do a prospective study to be able to validate these results," Lin said.
Realistically, developing such diagnostics would probably have to wait for the completion of Freenome's efforts in early colorectal cancer detection, where the company is racing several competitors, including Guardant Health and Exact Sciences.
According to Lin, the firm's prospective PREEMPT trial, which is intended to support a bid for US Food and Drug Administration approval, is going well. "We're still recruiting, but internally of course, we are also scaling up our efforts to be ready for not only reading out [the] trial but for commercial rollout of the test," he said.
The company shared some data from its AI-EMERGE trial earlier this year at the ASCO-GI meeting, showing that its blood-based test could detect not only early-stage colon tumors but also the high-risk precancerous lesions that are found and removed during colonoscopy.
Investigators analyzed blood samples from colonoscopy-confirmed advanced adenomas and negative controls, applying its analysis pipeline to derive a signal to differentiate the two. The resulting predictor showed 41 percent sensitivity and 90 percent specificity, a performance comparable to that of existing stool-based tests, the authors wrote.
Freenome CEO Gabriel Ott has said previously that the company expects to meet its goal of completing the PREEMPT trial by the end of 2021, and Lin said that with that pathway solidified, there is new energy to move on multiple new fronts.
"We built our company as platform-based, which means we can apply [our technology] to early cancer screening, but we can also apply it to many other indications, whether it's as we've shown now in terms of response prediction, [or in other ways] throughout the entire patient journey … so we're very excited [to continue to show] that the platform is flexible and robust and can be applied to multiple different problems beyond CRC early detection," he said.

domain: biology


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J.J. Abrams Confirms Final Cut On 'The Force Awakens'
J.J. Abrams, the director of The Force Awakens has confirmed that he has final cut. He sat down with Apple designer Jony Ive and Brian Grazer for Vanity Fair. Abrams also talked about how Disney aren't trying to "Disney-fi it"
“I cannot say enough about how Bog Iger and Alan Horn have understood this thing that is now part of the Disney company, they’re not trying to Disney-fy it, they’re not doing anything other than, I think, an incredibly smart thing, which is letting Kathleen Kennedy — who is a remarkable person and producer — run and lead Lucasfilm to a place where I think it wants to go.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18th. Watch the trailer below.

domain: entertainment


Wipe is a very simple program for removing various debris from the user’s computer. The program deletes unnecessary or, it would be more correct to say, unnecessary files, both in the operating system itself and in the target series of third-party programs that accumulate in the system and can take up a lot of space. Speaking of third-party programs, it is worth noting that Wipe supports 110 of the most popular applications and, traditionally for this type of program, has a certain emphasis on cleaning browsers.
From other programs to clean the system of garbage, Wipe is very simple. Unlike most cleaners, Wipe does not support any additional functions, except for searching and deleting unnecessary files. After starting, the program scans the system and gives a list of what can be removed with the possibility of choosing further actions.
Of course, you should not mindlessly delete everything that Wipe suggests – in this case, the user can be left without a browser history, system restore points, and program settings data, which, nevertheless, are not garbage at all. However, in general, the use of the program will save the system from the mass of the truly unnecessary.


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Ladies, here’s a good excuse to guzzle the next glass of beer — drinking it daily could stop your bones from going brittle, say researchers.
A new study by a team in Spain has revealed that the bones of women who drink beer regularly are stronger, making them less likely to suffer from osteoporosis which is common in females after menopause.
And, according to the researchers, the high level of silicon in beer actually slows down the thinning that leads to fractures and boosts the formation of new bone, the latest issue of the Nature journal reported.
“Silicon plays a major role in bone formation. Beer has been claimed to be one of the most important sources of silicon in the Western diet,” the researchers were quoted by the British media as saying.
Beer is also rich in phytoestrogens, plant versions of oestrogen, which keep bones healthy. Bones are made up of a mesh of fibres, minerals, blood vessels and marrow and healthy ones are denser with smaller spaces between different parts.
For the study, the researchers asked 1,700 healthy women with an average age of 48 about their drinking habits. They then underwent ultrasound scans of their hands, which showed the bones belonging to beer drinkers to be denser.
The women’s hands were chosen because the bones in the fingers are among the first to show signs of osteoporosis, a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of fracture.
Those who had less than a pint a day, whom the researchers classed as light beer drinkers, fared just as well as those in the moderate bracket, suggesting that even small amounts can boost bone health.

domain: news


Vancouver city council considering motion on 2030 Olympics bid
Feb. 28, 2010 file photo of Canada's Sidney Crosby celebrating after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime of the men's gold medal ice hockey game against the United States at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
VANCOUVER -- City council is scheduled to consider a motion today on whether Vancouver should make a bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics.
Coun. Melissa De Genova put the motion forward earlier this year but it was knocked off the agenda by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is back on the list for today and De Genova says it's an idea worth considering in light of the economic recovery that will be needed after the pandemic.
She says the motion is not a vote on whether to make a bid, only to explore the option.
If the motion passes, the city would write letters to the Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee and four local First Nations seeking input on a possible bid, as well as sounding out the federal and provincial governments on financial backing for the proposal.
Vancouver was the host city for the 2010 Winter Games.


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Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Bantam Classics)
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Violated by one man, forsaken by another, Tess Durbeyfield is the magnificent and spirited heroine of Thomas Hardy’s immortal work. Of all the great English novelists, no one writes more eloquently of tragic destiny than Hardy. With the innocent and powerless victim Tess, he creates profound sympathy for human frailty while passionately indicting the injustices of Victorian society. Scorned by outraged readers upon its publication in 1891, Tess of the d’Urbervilles is today one of the enduring classics of nineteenth-century literature.
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domain: literature


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It started when she was just a tiny kitten. Indiana didn’t want to sleep in her kitty bed on the floor, so she dug her tiny claws into the mattress and climbed her way to the top of the bed, where she could snuggle in my neck. But it didn’t stop there. What started as a means of being close to me at night became a ritual of scratching on my mattress every night when I tried to fall asleep.
Indiana wasn’t trying to be naughty. She was just enjoying her own little bedtime ritual. But this behavior was both ruining my mattress and keeping me awake at night, so I needed to find some easy fixes to keep us both happy.
If your cat is scratching on your mattress at night, there are several steps you can take to put an end to the destructive behavior. You can give your cat an appropriate scratching toy, remove any temptations, and take care of its claws.
This article will talk about different methods you can use to stop your cat from scratching your bed at night. But first, let’s take a quick look at why cats scratch so you understand where the behavior is coming from.
Why Do Cats Scratch?
Cats scratch for a variety of reasons. They scratch to remove the outer sheath of their claws and sharpen them. Sometimes they scratch to mark their territory. Sometimes they scratch when they are stretching. And sometimes they’re just bored!
Since cats are natural predators, they also tend to hunt at night. So if a cat scratches at night, she isn’t trying to be naughty. She’s probably just being a cat!
Don’t worry. There are a few things you can try to stop your cat from scratching on your bed at night so you can get your well-deserved rest.
Why Not Just Declaw Your Cat?
Declawing might seem like a good idea, but it isn’t pleasant for the cat. Declawing actually involves amputating the first joint of the cat’s toes. In addition, declawing can cause a variety of problems, such as surgical complications, difficulty walking, and emotional stress on the cat. Since it’s a cat’s natural instinct to scratch, it is just better for them to find ways to direct your cat to scratch appropriately. You can find more information on the dangers of declawing your cat here.
If your cat is scratching your bed at night, try some of these ideas to stop the unwanted behaviors. Remember, time and patience are crucial to finding the right solution for you and your cat.
What to Do If Your Cat Scratches Your Bed at Night
1. Find out what kind of scratching toys your cat likes best.
Like people, cats have their own personalities and their own preferences. The same goes for their scratching posts. Your kitty might be scratching on your bed because she just loves that feeling or even because she just loves you.
You might want to buy or borrow a variety of different scratching posts and toys and see which one your kitty likes the best. They may like wood, carpet, cardboard, sisal, or some other texture even better than your mattress! Some cats like to scratch on a vertical surface, while others prefer horizontal or even a combination. Regardless, you’ll probably need something long enough for your cat to stretch out on while scratching completely.
Get her a scratching post that she finds irresistible, and the problem will probably resolve itself. Our kitty liked a giant cat climber with lots of shelves, holes, and a variety of textures. She could climb, scratch, stretch and explore for hours on end, and she ended up leaving the bed alone.
2. Make her scratching post irresistible.
Your kitty might be scratching on your bed because her own scratching post just isn’t that interesting. And since you are on your bed, that makes for a lot of excitement when she scratches on it! But, on the other hand, she might just love the game when she wakes you up with her scratching, and you chase her off the bed.
Make your cat’s scratching post much more attractive to her. Add some toys, catnip, and treats to her scratching post so that it attracts your cat’s attention. Then, if she’s busy scratching on appropriate items, she won’t be bothering your bed or you.
3. Give your cat extra playtime and attention during the day.
For example, if your cat is scratching on your bed because they are bored and seeking attention, you might need to give your kitty a little one on one playtime during the day.
Bored cats can easily become destructive cats, so keep her entertained – and wear her out – with a fun play session in the evening.
You might try a laser pointer, wand toy, or even teaching your pet tricks such as how to fetch, roll over, and jump on command. A little bit of attention and some healthy treats might go a long way towards getting you some extra sleep at night.
4. Leave interesting toys and snacks around your cat’s play area at night.
Entice your kitten away from your bedroom at night by giving her a designated play area full of things she just loves. Create a cozy space with a kitty bed or hideout, a scratching post, exciting toys, and treats. You might look for toys that light up, bounce, sway, or vibrate when your cat interacts with them. This way, she can get her energy out without bugging you.
5. Lock your pet out of your bedroom.
If nothing else works, don’t be afraid to simply shut the door to your room. It might take a little bit of discipline on your part to keep the door closed, but it will spare you a lot of nighttime frustration. Bonus, you won’t need to replace your mattress, either.
6. Discourage your pet from scratching on undesirable items.
Sometimes, scratching has just become a nasty, habit and you need to remind the kitty that your mattress is not a good thing to scratch on.
You can do this by covering the mattress with plastic (when you’re not in it, of course), applying double-sided sticky tape to the ends where scratching occurs, or by taping sandpaper to the area temporarily until your kitty learns a more acceptable place to scratch. You won’t need to do this forever, just until your pet learns new and more appropriate behaviors. You can purchase pet-specific double-sided tape if you prefer, but carpet tape also works well. Some people find cats don’t like the feel of aluminum foil, which you could also tape over the scratched area.
7. Place appropriate and preferred scratching toys next to what you don’t want your kitty to scratch on.
For example, if kitty scratches at the end of your bed, try placing their favorite scratching post next to the spot. Next, put some double-sided sticky tape or aluminum foil over the spot where your cat is scratching. Then, when she finds her favorite scratching spot has been ‘foiled,’ she might just turn to the intended scratching post instead.
8. Trim your kitty’s nails.
If you are clipping your cat’s claws for the first time, you’ll want to go slow. It is ok if you only cut one or two nails the first time – it’s a learning process for you both. Be very gentle and offer plenty of treats and praise, too.
9. Try using claw protectors.
You can find them here. Claw protectors are applied to your kitty’s claws and will last for about 4 to 6 weeks. Bonus, they come in all colors to suit you or your kitty’s personality!
10. Cat booties.
If the claw protectors aren’t enough to keep your kitty from scratching, you might want to try cat booties. These little shoes fit over your cat’s feet, which will keep them from clawing on your mattress. However, it probably won’t be your cat’s favorite accessory, but it might stop the problem.
11. Pet Repellent.
Four Paws Keep Off! is a pet repellant spray that will help remind your cat to stay off of your mattress. However, it isn’t a perfect solution and might stain, so you’ll need to test a small area first. Also, as the website states, this product is best used in conjunction with training, so you’ll want to provide plenty of appropriate places to scratch if you use it. You can see the pet spray here.
12. Startle your kitty.
If you catch Whiskers in the act, you can startle him to stop the bad behavior. Never hit an animal! But if needed, you can clap your hands, firmly tell your pet “no,” or squirt them with water.

domain: pet


The Boston Red Sox have signed shortstop Stephen Drew to a one-year, $9.5 million contract, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports:
The Red Sox have an agreement with shortstop Stephen Drew on a one-year deal, league sources told CBSSports.com.
The Drew signing will allow the Red Sox one more year to develop slick-fielding youngster Jose Iglesias. Drew's deal is pending a physical.
The deal also includes a $500k performance bonus if he reaches 500 plate appearances on the season. Drew has averaged just 340 plate appearances over the past two seasons.
The 29-year-old Drew was a popular name in a thin market for shortstops -- drawing interest from the Athletics, Tigers and Yankees as well as Boston -- but it was unclear how much the lefty hitter would sign for given his down numbers the last two seasons and slow recovery from a serious ankle injury.
Following a solid 2010 season in which he hit .278/.352/.458 with 15 home runs, Drew fractured his ankle and required surgery to repair it. Since then, he has played two half seasons with not great offensive numbers, though he started to pick things up a bit in the second half of 2012 with the Athletics. Despite his improved numbers, Oakland decided to not pick up their side of Drew's $10 million mutual option for next season, leaving the lefty hitter to find a home in free agency.
The addition of Drew will allow the Red Sox another year to help bridge the gap until top prospect Xander Bogaerts is ready to take over at shortstop, and puts the Iglesias into a defensive substitution role that is probably more fitting for his skill set.


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elipsLife offers insurance to cover sickness, accident, disability and death. Many companies are faced by complex coverage issues that call for support by a flexible risk carrier. Whether these concern insurance issues related to the mobility of top managers, restructuring projects, mergers and acquisitions, converting a defined benefit scheme into a defined contribution scheme, securing company shares or guaranteeing vested rights - elipsLife has designed optimised risk transfer models for all problems.

domain: finance


text: Long-Term-Care Protection Strategies The slideshow presentation that you would like to view is too large for your current screen resolution. Click here to view to view the slideshow at full resolution. Launch Presentation » Have A Question About This Topic? Name Email Address Message Thank you! Oops! Related Content Exploring the Federal Student Grant Program In this article, explore the benefits of the Federal Student Grant Program. What Is My Current Net Worth? Use this calculator to estimate your net worth by adding up your assets and subtracting your liabilities. What Is a 1035 Exchange? 1035 exchanges provide a way to trade-in an annuity contract or life insurance policy without triggering a tax liability.


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Flood Cleanup In La Presa, California, 91902
Call 619-354-2439 For A Quote
Xpress Restoration of La Presa can provide you with a Flood Water Damage Clean Up Company in a moments notice after a disaster. With household flood cleanup technicians on call 24/7 no job residential or commercial is too much for us to handle. Give us a call at 619-354-2439 today to get started with your Flood Cleanup or other water damage cleanup.
Working with other Flood Water Cleanup Services companies in La Presa can be just as much of a nightmare as dealing with a Flood Cleanup itself! You don't know when they'll show up (or if they'll show up) and if they are capable of even handling your job. Skip the stress and call Xpress Restoration at 619-354-2439 for the most experienced and credible flood damage restoration service around!
Xpress Restoration is a Flood Water Cleanup Service with 24 hour Flood Cleanup support and many other water damage and cleanup services available for residential and commercial. Our staff are certified and experienced and will get your home or property back to normal after an emergency. Call 619-354-2439 to get your Flood Cleanup started in La Presa, CA, 91902.
Xpress Restoration is a household flood cleanup firm in La Presa, CA who understand how crucial it is to get the job started immediately. Theres no time to wait for other Flood Water Cleanup Services who might not even be capable of handling your flood or water damage cleanup so save the effort and headache and call Xpress Restoration at 619-354-2439.
Our Flood Cleanup Company is ready for your call 24/7 and we are able to take on any water damage clean up project you have. When you are experiencing water in your home or business we know that it can be a serious concern, the amount of damage that it can do becomes a major issue when it comes to cleanup. Our techs are fully dedicated to the job at hand and at Xpress Restoration of La Presa, California, 91902 have the expertise, certification and experience for all of your water restoration and cleanup needs. Give us a call at 619-354-2439 to get a live operator 24 hours who will be able to get a team out quickly to assist you in your emergency.

domain: geography


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Boosie Badazz has been struggling with cancer for a very long time now. While his fans are concerned about him, the rapper shared an update about his health through his Instagram account, which is private. He mentioned in the post that he is cancer free and added that God tests everyone's faith all the time. He continued:
"I was ready to see my cancer doctor/surgeon today but I was told he passed last year. Thank u Dr. Wood for always making me laugh when I was down u were the best."
Badazz stated that his surgeon once asked him why he was crying before the surgery, and he replied by saying that he was recalling all the wrong deeds that he committed in his life. Badazz wrote that the surgeon told him that God forgives everyone and that he had done more surgeries than the concerts where Badazz has performed until now.
Boosie Badazz was diagnosed with cancer in 2015
Boosie Badazz's diagnosis of kidney cancer was revealed in November 2015. He revealed the news in an Instagram post and requested everyone to pray for him. He added:
"Doctor just told me I have cancer on my kidneys. Prayer is power that's why I'm letting the world know prayfaboosie."
He had to undergo surgery the following month, and half of one of his kidneys was removed with a process called nephrectomy. The surgery cost around $90,000, and he was supposed to remain in cancer rehab for the next three weeks.
In an interview with XXL in 2016, Boosie spoke about the entire experience and how it began. He revealed that he woke up with some health issues, including stomach pain, and went on to visit a doctor who revealed after an MRI that he had cancer.
Badazz said that he was very confident on the day he went for the surgery and the reason was his surgeon. He said that he went to sleep, and when he woke up four hours later, he realized that everything was normal. Stating about the changes that he experienced after being released from rehab, Badazz said:
"I had lost 42 pounds, so right now I'm just working to get all the way back health. Right now, I'm healthier than I ever been. I'm back doing shows. I have more wind now than I had doing shows before I had cancer. So I'm in a good point in my life. I'm cancer-free."
Boosie Badazz is known for his hit albums and singles
Badazz has released 13 albums in his successful musical career. It started with his first album Youngest of da Camp in August 2000 and continued with Incarcerated, BooPac, Badazz 3.5, and more.
He has also released seven collaboration albums and several mixtapes. He released an EP titled Three Peat in September 2015. The artist is famous for his singles like Show 'Em, On That Level. Retaliation, Period, Turn the Beat Up, and others.

domain: celebrity


Published: 1/28/2013 9:01 AM | Last update: 1/29/2013 12:11 AM
Officials still looking for police impostorLYONS, Kan. (AP) — Kansas law enforcement officials are looking for a man who is allegedly impersonating a police officer while trying to cash fake checks.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement officials say they believe 45-year-old Robert Wayne Helms of Pittsburg might be connected to at least 25 cases.
In some instances, Helms flashes a fake badge and displays a gun. He has at least twice claimed to be a deputy from Adams County, which doesn't exist in Kansas.
The Kansas Department of Corrections lists Helms as an absconder, with past convictions for forgery, theft and kidnapping. Officials say he is considered armed and dangerous.
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Have you ever wondered how to grow oyster mushrooms at home, but you don’t know where to begin? Have you had some experience growing vegetables and want to try something new? Or maybe you just like mushrooms and would like to find a cheaper, fresher source. A simple solution is to buy an oyster mushroom grow kit.
What Is A Mushroom Grow Kit?
A mushroom grow kit provides you with all the necessary ingredients to grow your mushrooms. You can choose Morels, Oyster Mushrooms, Lion’s Mane, Reishi, and many other varieties.
Your mushroom grow kit will include a bag of growing medium (soil) that is called “substrate.” The substrate will also be “inoculated” or injected with the spores of the type of mushroom that you would like to grow.
Different mushrooms will have different procedures. But for the simpler grow kits, all you will need to do will be to tear a hole in the bag, add a little moisture and put the bag in a location with indirect light. In a few days or weeks, depending on the type of mushroom you choose, you will have beautiful mushrooms that are ready to eat.
Where Should I Start?
There are many types of mushroom grow kits, and they will allow you to grow all kinds of mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms are the easiest type of mushroom to grow, so they are a good choice for your first mushroom harvest. These mushrooms tend to be adaptable and can grow in many different conditions, and you can harvest them in as little as five days.
Oyster mushrooms are quite tasty. They are also high in protein, fiber, and many healthy minerals and vitamins, including vitamins B1, B3, B5, and B12, as well as vitamin C and vitamin D.
How Do I Use My Mushroom Grow Kit?
We recommend some oyster mushroom kits below Place your order and your mushroom kit will arrive soon.
Once your kit arrives, your next steps will depend on which type of mushroom kit you have purchased. The directions that come with the kit will describe the steps for growing your mushrooms, but the general process will be as follows:
- Punch a few holes into the grow bag (which contains the inoculated substrate) so that oxygen can get to the spores.
- Provide some moisture. The amount depends upon the mushroom type.
- Place the bag in a quiet, humid place away from direct sunlight.
The length of time that it takes for the mushrooms to grow will depend upon which type of mushroom you are growing. But Oyster mushrooms will usually be ready to harvest in a week or two.
Oyster mushroom grow kits generally a mushroom fruit block wrapped in substrate. All you need to do is to cut a hole in the fruit block bag and soak it in water for two hours.
Then remove it from the water and provide it with a humid environment to grow. If you live in a dry climate you can provide adequate moisture by placing the fruit block near a humidifier.
Within a week or so, “pins,” which are baby mushroom heads, will begin to grow.
Your mushrooms will be ready to eat when they stop doubling in size each day.
Recommended Oyster Mushroom Kits
Grow Your Own sells high-quality mushroom kits for many types of mushrooms. Their Oyster kit is one of the best on the market.
It is also easy. Cut a six-inch hole in the bag and then the bag in a humid area outside of direct sunlight and watch the mushrooms to begin to pin. Simple!
- Grow Your Own Oyster Mushroom Kit
Root Mushroom Farm Golden Oyster Mushroom Kit
Root Mushroom Farm is also known for high-quality mushroom kits. This Golden Oyster mushroom kit comes with detailed instructions and is also easy to use.
- Golden Oyster Mushroom Kit
Mushroom grow kits make it easy for anyone to grow mushrooms. They offer great value for your money compared to what you would pay for mushrooms at the store. And you will gain satisfaction as you cook and serve mushrooms that you grew yourself. Oyster mushroom grow kits are a good place to start, as it is particularly easy to learn how to grow oyster mushrooms. But over time you will learn how to grow other, more difficult mushrooms. Enjoy!
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Hardcover: 64 pages
Publisher: JRP | Ringier
Dimensions: 24 x 17 cm
Isabell Heimerdinger (b. 1967) has developed projects involving both stage and movie actors, including Udo Kier, Martin Glade, Bibiana Beglau, Wolfram Berger, and Dorothee Hartinger. In her works she investigates and questions the notion of acting.
Heimerdinger’s new book, “Four Films & True Stories,” gathers together her recent projects. The volume is conceived as two separate books bound together. The publication’s table of contents also reflects this organisation by assembling a text in the form of film reviews by Frédéric Paul in the first part, and an essay by Raimar Stange in the second.

domain: library


text:
I am now at a stage in my life where both my husband and I can plan new child free adventures together. I have always had a dog in my life as well as various other pets along the way and love the idea of meeting new people, animals and…
Why I want to house sit
Joining Trusted House Sitters combines our love of animals and the ability to visit and stay in new places. We are both busy people and cannot give our full love and commitment to a pet of our own at the moment so being able to 'adopt' a…
I have never done anything like this before but have always had a dog in my life and various pets at different times. I cannot commit to having my own pet at the moment so the idea of 'adopting' a pet when I can is fabulous.
Pet care experience
- Small pets
- Available on these dates — get in touch to find out if they can sit for you
- United Kingdom


Kari Jobe - Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) [Lyrics] - Music Videos
Embed kari-jobe 39292 views 2013-04-02T16:24:06 "Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest)" with lyrics by Kari Jobe (P) (C) 2013 Sparrow Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by EMI Christian Music Group
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The Manhattan Mini-DisplayPort to VGA Adapters help establish a fast and convenient connection between a media source equipped with a mini-DisplayPort and a VGA display cable. Ideal for presentations, retail displays and other uses, this single-cable solution keeps installations and workplaces neat and organized without an external power supply or complicated configuration. Durable white PVC jackets and molded boots with strain relief complement Macintosh systems and help ensure connections remain uninterrupted and steady.
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Each crawlerway is 2 m (7 ft) deep and covered with Alabama and Tennessee river rock for its low friction properties to reduce the possibility of sparks. In 2000, NASA unearthed and restored an Apollo-era segment of the crawlerway to provide access to a high-bay building in order to provide protection from a hurricane.
Kennedy Space Center has been using the same two crawlers, nicknamed "Hans" and "Franz",since their initial delivery in 1965. In their lifetime, they have traveled more than 5,500 km (3,400 mi), about the same driving distance as from Miami to Seattle.
The crawlers were overhauled in 2003 with upgrades to the Motor Control Center, which houses the switchgear and electrical controls of all of major systems on board, a new engine and pump ventilation system and new diesel engine radiators, and replacement of the two driver cabs on each vehicle (one on each end). As of 2003, each crawler had 16 traction motors, powered by four 1,000 kW (1,341 hp) generators, in turn driven by two 2,050 kW (2,750 hp) V16 ALCO 251C diesel engines. Two 750 kW (1,006 hp) generators, driven by two 794 kW (1,065 hp) engines, were used for jacking, steering, lighting, and ventilating. Two 150 kW (201 hp) generators were also available to power the Mobile Launcher Platform. The crawler's tanks held 19,000 liters (5,000 U.S. gal) of diesel fuel, and it burned 296 liters per kilometer (125.7 U.S. gal/mi). Due to its age and the need to support the heavier Space Launch System and its launch tower, in mid-2012 one of the crawlers was undergoing an upgrade involving "new engines, new exhausts, new brakes, new hydraulics, new computers," to increase its lifting capacity from 5,400,000 to 8,200,000 kg (12,000,000 to 18,000,000 lb).
* The overall length and width of the Crawler is 131 by 113 feet.
* The Crawler burns a gallon of diesel every 42 feet, or gets about 0.008 mpg.
* The water pump is a 75hp electric motor, and the cooling system holds 500 gallons.
* The Crawler has six mufflers, the heaviest coming in at more than 3,000 pounds.
* Two eight-cylinder White-Superior 1,065hp motors are used just for electric and hydraulic power.
* For power, the Crawler uses two 2,750hp, 16-cylinder Alco diesel engines to power sixteen 375hp electric motors.
* Just the Crawler itself, without the Shuttle, is still three stories high.
* Each track (or shoe) on the Crawler weighs 2,200 pounds-and there are 456 of them.
* The Crawler's fuel tank will hold 5,000 gallons, giving it a range of about 40 miles.
* The Crawler is wide enough to take up an entire four-lane freeway-all lanes in both directions.
* The instruction manual on how to start and warm up the Crawler is 39 pages.
* Although there are up to 30 people monitoring various systems, the Crawler can actually be driven by just one person.
* There is a speedometer on the Crawler-from 0-2 mph.
* From the vertical assembly building to the launch platform is a little more than 4 miles. The Crawler can make it in about a day.
* The Crawler's drive system (think rear axle ratio) has a gear ratio of 168:1.
* The Crawler has to tilt the 12-million-pound shuttle and platform at up to 5 degrees to keep it perfectly level on the way to the platform.
* A Crawler can move the slightest distance (for example, only 1/8-inch) if it needs to.
* Both Crawlers, combined, have traveled thousands of miles since being built.
The bus also took us to the Saturn V building, where they had a Saturn V rocket laid down on a platform, kinda like we saw in Huntsville a few years ago.
We also saw the Apollo 11 symbol,
They had set up the mission control room as it looked back in 1968, and it was real neat!


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Best Soup Restaurants In Baraboo, WI
Nov 23, 2017
Jen's Alpine Cafe & Soup Kitchen
Jen's Alpine Cafe & Soup Kitchen is a restaurant located in Baraboo, Wisconsin at 117 4th Street. This restaurant serves yogurt parfait, eggs benedict, hashbrowns, french toast, steak and eggs, mushroom swiss burger, and chicken chicken. They also serve cream cheese or peanut butter, sandwich special 11am-3pm, denver omelet, bruschetta, sausage (three links or two patties), breakfast pizza, and...
117 4th Street, Baraboo, WI, 53913
Panera Bread is a restaurant located in Baraboo, Wisconsin at 1300 Great Wolf Drive. This restaurant serves power almond quinoa oatmeal, tortellini alfredo, thai garden chicken wonton, asiago cheese, whole grain, chocolate chip bagel, and triple berry scone. They also serve candy cookie, cinnamon raisin swirl, kids vegetarian creamy tomato soup, kids new england clam chowder, summer fruit cup,...
1300 Great Wolf Drive, Baraboo, WI, 53913
More Soup Restaurants Restaurants Near Baraboo, WI
HuHot Mongolian Grill
HuHot Mongolian Grill is a restaurant located in Lake Delton, Wisconsin at 110 Wisconsin Dells Parkway North. They are open every day of the week. Krab Rangoons – Filled with Krab, scallions, and cream cheese and served with sweet & sour sauce. Crispy Eggrolls – Filled with pork and vegetables, lightly fried and served with sweet & sour sauce. Asian Potstickers – Filled with chicken and...
110 Wisconsin Dells Parkway North, Lake Delton, WI, 53940
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domain: food


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High School Dxd Season 5 Release Date Status, Cast and More Information!
Since its inception, CriticalHit has regarded High School DxD as a personal favorite. There’s no way around it. From Angels to Demons, this show has it all, making it one of the best modern supernatural comedies.
That’s why it’s so popular! Perhaps you’ve been considering a new season. Don’t worry, Season 5 of High School DxD is on the way! The release date for High School DxD is set for December 2021.
High School DxD Season 5 Release Date
The release date for High School DxD Season 5 is expected to be somewhere in October 2022. Although its release was originally scheduled for the end of 2020, it was postponed owing to the pandemic problem, according to the author of the novel on which the series is based.
High School DxD Cast
The narration High School DxD Season 5 will most likely have the same cast as previous seasons. The following voiceover artists have appeared in the series in various capacities and are slated to return in the upcoming fifth season.
- Yuki Kaji will give a voice to Issei Hyoudou, who is the main character of the series.
- Yoko Hikasa will act as Rias Gremory.
- Shizuka Ito will give a voice to Akeno Himejima.
- Azumi Asakura will act as Asia Argento.
- Jamie Marchi may reprise her role as Rias Gremory.
- Ayana Taketatsu will give a voice to Koneko Toujou’s character.
- Sean O’Connor will act as Kiba.
- Jad Saxton may reprise his role as Koneko.
- Kenji Nojima will play Yuto Kiba’s character.
- Christopher Sabat will give a voiceover to Ddraig.
- Lauren Landa will be playing Xenovia’s role.
- Fumihiko Tachiki may also voice the character of Ddraig.
- Risa Taneda may also voice the character of Xenovia.
- Chloe Daniels may play Asia’s voice.
- Phil Parsons and Rikiya Koyama can voice over Azazel’s character.
- Maaya Uchida and Kristi Kang can voice Irina Shido.
Yoshifumi Suede, a well-known director, will direct the fifth season of High School DxD.
High School DxD Season 5 Trailer
High School DxD Season 5 has yet to receive a trailer from AT-X, the uncensored original network. However, a trailer for the film is expected to be released soon.
High School DxD Season 5 Storyline
Yuma Amano slaughtered a Kuoh Academy high school student named Issei on their first date, according to the report. Issei aspired to rule over a harem. Rias Gremory, a third-year student, uses her talents to resurrect him, but Issei believes it was all a dream and wakes up the next morning.
Unfortunately, when he rises, another fallen angel attempts to assault him, and Rias presents herself as a demon who protected him.
Season 5 of the show will most likely be influenced by the Japanese light novel Volumes 11 and 12. Regrettably, we’ll have to wait until the series premieres to learn about the different problems Issei will face in the next episodes.
Season 5 Of High School DxD Is Gripping.
The current season of High School DxD is based on the novels volumes 9 and 10. Volumes 11 and 12 will serve as the basis for High School DxD Season 5’s story. In Season 5 of High School DxD, Issei faces several issues. The Middle-Class Promotion Test is a criterion for advancement in the middle class.
Next season, Issei will have to fight to find his relationship with Rias. Koneko was skeptical of Issei and Rias’ developing friendship in High School DxD Season 4, so Issei must be extra cautious with her now…
Issei may receive greater attention in the future season of High School DxD. He will gain power as a result of a part of his soul becoming the devil. Issei was also planning to depart Rias. He’ll figure out who he is…
The release date for High School DxD Season 5 is expected to be somewhere in October 2022. Although its release was originally scheduled for the end of 2020,
Now its time to end… stay tuned to journalworldwide.com for more future updates
Is DxD High School Over?
Not yet. High School DxD has many more seasons to come, so expect the next season shortly.
Is Season 5 Of High School DxD Coming?
High School DxD Season 5 will be released in December 2021. If COVID delays it again, it will arrive in early 2022.
Is High School DxD Getting The Fifth Season?
Yes, it will be dubbed into English from Japanese and subtitled like before.


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many small white flowers image by Maxim Petrichuk from Fotolia.com
Preserve your bridal bouquet or flowers from a special occasion forever by encasing them in acrylic. Acrylic resin has a glass-like finish when cured, protecting the encased material for years to come. Frame your encased flowers and display on a center table or mount on a wall for enhanced interest and appeal.
Prepare the room before working. Open all windows and doors to ventilate the area, with an exhaust fan if possible. Spread newspapers on the floor to catch drips and prevent any material from staining the carpet. Wear safety eyeglasses and a facemask to protect your eyes, nose and mouth from the strong fumes that arise when mixing the parts of the resin together. Wear rubber gloves when handling the resin.
- Preserve your bridal bouquet or flowers from a special occasion forever by encasing them in acrylic.
Follow label directions for pouring the required quantity from the bottles labeled as "Resin" and "Curing Agent" in a plastic bowl. Keep the size of your mold and the flowers you want to preserve in mind. Stir the mixture with a wooden craft stick until it is smooth, free of any bubbles and has a thick consistency.
Spray the mold with a thin coat of inexpensive mold release agent such as cooking oil to lubricate it and carefully pour half the prepared solution of acrylic resin into your mold. Allow it to dry for half the manufacturer’s suggested time so your resin is half cured.
Trim excess stem length from your small fresh or dried flowers, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch below each bloom. Depending on the size of your mold, you can separate petals of larger flowers and arrange them over the half-cured resin.
- Follow label directions for pouring the required quantity from the bottles labeled as "Resin" and "Curing Agent" in a plastic bowl.
- Depending on the size of your mold, you can separate petals of larger flowers and arrange them over the half-cured resin.
Pour the second half of the solution into the mold slowly and carefully to prevent the flowers from shifting their position. Place it in a safe place away from traffic, and allow it to cure for 12 to 24 hours.
Tilt your mold once the acrylic resin is fully cured and push it gently to loosen it. Make sure you place your other hand in front to catch it when it falls out of the mold. The flowers will have a glass-like covering that is not tacky but is hard to touch.
Wear an apron to prevent spills from ruining your clothes.
Molds can include chocolate trays, heat-proof plastic bowls or cups and glass jars.
Spraying oil on the mold lubricates it so the cured acrylic resin can slide out easily.
Use tweezers when arranging tiny petals on the resin.

domain: hobby


text:
Isis Falls on Concerns Over Abnormal Growths With Kynamro
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ISIS) fell the most in 4 1/2 years after U.S. regulators raised concerns about abnormal growths, some harmful, linked to the company’s drug for a rare genetic disease.
Isis, which is a partner with Paris-based Sanofi on the medicine, declined 22 percent to $10.27 at the close in New York, the biggest single-day drop since April 2008. The Carlsbad, California-based company had risen 82 percent in the year through yesterday.
In clinical trials, the growths, or neoplasms, developed in 3.1 percent of patients treated with the drug Kynamro and 0.9 percent of patients who took a placebo, Food and Drug Administration staff said in a report released today before an Oct. 18 meeting of agency advisers. The interpretation of the data is limited by a small sample size and a short treatment time, the staff said. The injection, Isis’s lead product candidate, helps lower LDL, or bad, cholesterol in patients who have very high levels, FDA staff said today.
“This imbalance in neoplasms will need to be assessed further in on-going and future studies and post-marketing (if approved),” FDA staff wrote.
The malignancies are a “new concern” and the reason for weakness in the shares, Eric Schmidt, an analyst with Cowen & Co. said in an e-mail.
The FDA is scheduled to make a final decision on the drug by the end of January.
Nine of the 23 growths in patients treated with Kynamro were malignant, according to the report. One of the two growths in the patients treated with placebo were harmful. There were a total of 749 patients who took the drug and 221 on placebo.
Kynamro, also known chemically as mipomersen, targets a disease known as homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia that causes abnormalities in liver cells responsible for clearing LDL, or low density lipoprotein, particles from the blood. The disease can lead to heart attack or death at an early age, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The FDA staff also said it is concerned about the treatment’s effect on the liver and that the harm can be mitigated with a risk plan that targets patients.
A risk plan would “support appropriate use of mipomersen, allowing it to be approved for use in the targeted patient population, a patient population with life threatening illness and limited therapeutic options,” staff wrote.
FDA staff yesterday said a plan to manage the risk of a similar drug from Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AEGR) supports its approval in adults with the genetic disease. The agency is scheduled to decide on the treatment, lomitapide, by the end of December.
Isis says its drug reduced LDL cholesterol by 25 percent in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia in two late-stage trials, compared with 3.3 percent for those on placebo. In four late-stage trials, 8 percent of patients treated with Kynamro experienced elevated levels of an enzyme that indicates liver damage.
People with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia can have cholesterol levels two to four times higher than normal and don’t respond to standard cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Pfizer Inc. (PFE)’s Lipitor. Isis and partner Paris-based Sanofi, France’s largest drugmaker, may draw $480 million in worldwide sales, Schmidt said. He has a neutral rating on Isis and owns Aegerion stock in a personal account.
Isis in a 2008 agreement with Sanofi (SAN) will get 30 percent to 50 percent of Kynamro profits based on drug sales. Isis may generate $183 million in U.S. sales in 2016 from Kynamro, according to the average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Edney in Washington at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at firstname.lastname@example.org

domain: medical


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If you are looking for some fun recipes to make with or for your kids, you've come to the right place. Find over 150 kid-friendly breakfast, lunch, snack, and dessert recipes that look as amazing as they taste.
Below you will find links to recipes that your kids will go nuts over.
Most of these projects are easy enough to make with your children. Kids will have so much fun helping you in the kitchen creating any one of these cute food crafts.
The best part is that the recipes themselves are tasty too. You won't find weird combinations of flavors just to make things look cute. I've found just the right decorations to use to create each and every snack or treat.
kid-friendly birthday party desserts
Make a child's birthday extra special by serving him or her one of these darling desserts.
Birthdays are the best time to create some cute food and I know kids of all ages will appreciate any of these birthday desserts.
- Birthday Candle Marshmallow Kabobs
- Mini Cupcakes in Shot Glasses
- Slumber Party Snack Wraps
- Rice Krispie Treat Birthday Hat
- Sleeping Bag Snacks
- Sugar Cone Party Horns
- Birthday Balloon Rice Krispie Treats
- Birthday Party Horn Cupcakes
- Birthday Balloon Breakfast Pastries
- Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Cake
- Funfetti Cake Pops
- Birthday Candle Cookies
cute animal cupcakes
Kids love cupcakes and animals so these cute animal cupcakes are the perfect dessert for just about any occasion.
Several of them are decorated using Reese's Cups which adds an extra level of deliciousness too!
- Reese's Cup Mouse Cupcakes
- Puppy Love Cupcakes
- Cat and Dog Cupcakes
- Teddy Bear Cupcakes
- Polar Bear Cupcakes
- Owl Cupcakes
- Unicorn Cupcakes
- Chocolate and Vanilla Bear Cupcakes (not pictured)
cute chocolate pretzels for kids
Decorating mini pretzel twists and pretzel rings is so much fun and most of the decorations are super easy to make using sprinkles, food coloring markers, candy eyes, and candy melts.
Which pretzel is your favorite? It's definitely hard to choose between them all, they are all so cute.
- Bunny Butt Pretzels
- Cookie Monster Pretzel Twists
- Olaf Pretzel Craft
- Penguin Pretzel Rings (see walrus pretzels too)
- Owl Pretzel Twists
- Polar Bear Pretzel Rings (see mouse pretzels too)
- Bunny Pretzels
- Unicorn Pretzels
- Elmo Pretzels
- Fish Pretzels
- Puppy Pretzels
- Teddy Bear Pretzels
fun rice krispie treats
Start by making the absolute best homemade Rice Krispie Treats (over 20 people taste-tested over 20 recipes to find the perfect cereal treat recipe) or use store-bought treats to make these cute Rice Krispie Treats.
- Black Cat Rice Krispie Treats
- Unicorn Rice Krispie Treats
- Penguin Rice Krispie Treats
- Fluffy Sheep Rice Krispie Treats
- Cookie Monster Rice Krispie Treats
animal rice krispie treats
Rectangle treats are fun to decorate but you can also cut the treats into ovals or circles or you can shape them using plastic molds.
Use homemade modeling chocolate to add decorations. It's easy to use and tastes like chocolate!
- Starfish Rice Krispie Treats
- Dolphin Rice Krispie Treats
- Polar Bear Rice Krispie Treats
- Teddy Bear Kiddie Pool Rice Krispie Treats
- Woodland Animal Rice Krispie Treats
decorated Nutter Butter Cookies
If your kids love Nutter Butter Cookies, they will have a blast creating these decorated Nutter Butters. The Pink Fuzzy Slipper Cookies are topped with peanut butter fudge to make them one of the most popular treats here on Hungry Happenings.
- Nutter Butter Lamb Pops
- Bumble Bee Nutter Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Puppies
- Pink Fuzzy Slipper Nutter Butters
- Nutter Butter Puppy Pops
farm-themed dessert recipes
Whether you are studying farm life, planning a trip to Granpa's farm, or you just want to make some cute farm-themed treats, I've got you covered.
- Graham Cracker Barn
- Pig-shaped Pigs in a Blanket
- Oreo Pigs
- Oreo Lamb Lollipops
- Farm Animal Pretzel Pops (cow, pig, horse, chicken, sheep)
cute animal-themed treats
There are so many adorable animals in the world and it's so fun to create their likeness using snack cakes, white chocolate dipped strawberries, cookies, candies, and cakesicles.
- Nutter Butter Polar Bears
- Hatching Chick Reese's Cup Eggs
- Twinkie Puppies
- Unicorn Cakesicles
- White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Unicorns
frozen treats for kids
When it's hot outside and your kids want a cool treat, chill out in the kitchen and create some of these fun frozen desserts.
- Moo Shakes
- Frozen Yogurt Bunnies
- Cookie Monster Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Galaxy Popsicles
- Pink Polka Dot Ice Cream Cups
homemade gummy candy
I don't personally know a single kid who doesn't love gummy candies. Making gummy bears and worms is so easy using just a few ingredients.
Making homemade gumdrops requires adult supervision and help but homemade gumdrops are so much better than any store-bought candy. I know you and your kids will love them. Plus you can make them in any flavor, shape, and color you like.
- Sour Bunny Gumdrops
- Under the Sea Gumdrops (shells, starfish, fish)
- Gumdrop Ghosts
- Homemade Gummy Bears, Worms, and more
- Star Wars Gummies
kid-friendly candy recipes
Your kids will be amazed that you can make candy at home. Help them make homemade Tootsie Pops if you really want to "wow" them!
- Homemade Tootsie Pops
- Peanut Butter Butterfly Candies
- Mickey Mouse Chocolate Bark
- Paw Patrol Candies
- Emoji Fudge
animated movie character desserts
What kid doesn't love animated movie characters? They make perfect cakes, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, and candies.
- Finding Dory Sea Otter Cupcakes
- Light Fury and Toothless Cakes
- Dug and Hognob (Early Man) Cupcakes
- Forky Cupcakes
- How to Train Your Dragon Lollipops
- Paddington Bear Cupcakes
- Norm of the North Lollipops
- Captain America Cookie Cake
- Sherlock Gnomes Magnifying Glass Cookies
- Mini Snowgie Cheese Balls
- Mickey Mouse Cheesecake
- Beauty and the Beast Cupcakes
- Mickey Mouse Olaf Cake
Minions are seriously so darn cute and they are super easy to turn into desserts with their simple oval body and big goggle covered eyes.
summer fun recipes for kids
Bake up some fun for your a day spent hanging out at the pool or beach.
- Marshmallow Goldfish
- Veggie Pizza Fish
- Rice Krispie Treat Sea Animals
- Modeling Chocolate Octopus, snail, and goldfish
- Cheesecake Beach Ball
- S'mores Starfish
- Brownie Beach
cute ice cream cone animals and characters
These ice cream cones are easy to decorate and look so fun. Kids will get a kick out of adding their own decorations to their frozen treats.
- Orange Goldfish Ice Cream Cones
- Ice Cream Cone Eagle
- Puppy Dog Ice Cream Cones
- Pink Bubble Gum Ice Cream Cone Pigs
- Chocolate Ice Cream Cone Monkey
- Polar Bear Ice Cream Cones
- Minion Ice Cream Cones
- Cookie Monster Ice Cream Cones
- Bunny Butt Ice Cream Cones
- Ice Cream Turkeys
- Ice Cream Cone Frogs (Scoop green ice cream onto a cone, add large candy eyes, and red candy mouth and tongue.)
- Panda Bear Ice Cream Cones
cute cookies for kids
Kids of any age will love these cute cookies.
- Ralphi Cookies (nilla wafer kid in a pink bunny costume)
- Sunshine Cookie Pops
- Smiley Face Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Polar Bear Cookies
- Mickey Mouse Galaxy Cookies
candy-filled piñata cookies
What's better than a homemade cookie? Several homemade cookies "glued" together with chocolate or icing and filled with candy!
- Baseball Cap Piñata Cookies
- Basketball Piñata Cookies
- Sunshine Piñata Cookies
- Batman Piñata Cookies
- Sombrero Hat Piñata Cookies
animal pretzel pops
Chocolate dipped pretzels are delicious but they can be wildly fun when decorated like animals.
- Koala Pretzel Pops
- Giraffe, Lion, and Tiger Pretzel Pops (see the hippo, elephant, and zebra too)
- Chocolate Pretzel Pop Bears
- Farm Animal Pretzel Pops (sheep, pig, cow, chicken, and horse)
- White Chocolate Polar Bear Pretzel Pops
kid-friendly chocolate recipes
Chocolate doesn't have to be a boring rectangle. Have some fun making these sweet and sometimes silly chocolate treats.
- Milk Chocolate Fudge Bears
- Poop Emoji Fudge Pops
- Chocolate Pudding Bears
- Mickey Mouse Animal Kingdom Lollipops
- Poop Emoji Fudge
decorated snack cakes
Snack cakes, like Twinkies, HoHos, Swiss Rolls, and Ding Dons are so easy to decorate using sprinkles, candies, marshmallows, chocolate, and candy clay. You can create the cutest animal snack cakes or make fun cartoon characters too.
- Snack Cake Pups – Twinkie Dogs
- Chocolate Snack Cake Bats
- Beaker Twinkie
- Teddy Bear Snack Cakes
- Twinkie Bunnies
- Kaboom Cakes
- Bumble Bee Twinkies
- Mickey Mouse Ding Dongs
- Snack Cake Penguins
- Snack Cake Cats
kid-friendly breakfast ideas
Make your kids day a little brighter by starting the morning with some cute food.
- Scrambled Egg Flowers
- Sunshine Cinnamon Rolls
- Breakfast Pizza Chick
- Baseball Breakfast Sandwich (see basketball, football, and golf)
- Panda Bear Breakfast Pastry Filled with Nutella
- Smiley Face Breakfast Sandwich (not pictured)
kid's lunch ideas
Then don't forget to make something extra special for lunch too.
- Uncrustables Bunny Sandwich
- PB&J Monkey Sandwich
- Taco Tart Teddy Bear
- Bumble Bee Corn Dogs
- Chicken Nugget Butterfly
- Corn Dog Centipedes and Caterpillars (not pictured)
- Pigs in a Blanket Snake (not pictured)
- Cookie Crumble Cheesecake Caterpillars (not pictured)
school lunch ideas
If you are homeschooling your kids or packing a lunch for school, make it really special.
- "Your My Superstar" Sandwiches
- Fruit Roll-Up Books
- School Book Sandwiches
- Fruit Leather Books
- Mozzarella Bites Book Worm
- School House Sandwich
- Graham Cracker Rulers
WOW, can you believe I have created over 150 treats for kids? Actually 95% of what I share here on Hungry Happenings is kid-friendly, but these are the non-holiday food crafts specifically made for kids.
I hope you and your children enjoy time together in the kitchen crafting these fun recipes.


|There should be flashing light on the modem to indicate connection problems that are not PC related. Otherwise try new modem cables.|
Only way to check if it's a faulty modem is by replacing it with a different one.
Same with network card, try a different one.
Always keep spare modem and network card in your drawer for such occasions. I have two spare router/modems, a spare network card and spare networking cables at all times in my spares cupboard. It's the only way to diagnose connection problems, process of elimination.
message edited by phil22


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1 A White Paper Using Enhanced Application Monitoring to Achieve Peak SQL Server Performance
2 Improving SQL Server Performance through Better Application Monitoring SQL Server is at the heart of many enterprises most critical business processes, ranging from line of business production applications, to internal CRM and decision support systems, to customer-facing e-commerce and self-service web applications. Consequently, SQL Server availability and performance are high on IT s list of priorities. Many challenges, however, face the IT administrator in charge of supporting SQL Server resources. For starters, application complexity is on the rise and IT infrastructures are becoming far more diverse. With complex applications working across heterogeneous infrastructures, monitoring applications and providing fast, accurate problem resolution are more difficult. Additionally, IT departments are being asked to do more with far less in terms of budget and personnel. Few companies have ample IT budgets and staff to manage their increasing workload. As a result, tasks like application monitoring are not given the attention that they really need to pay significant dividends. Finally, enterprises are becoming increasingly distributed and the needs of the end-user population are far more diverse both in location and in the technology they are using. An IT user may be a business partner or a customer, accessing your databases via web interfaces from anywhere in the world. This makes user demands far less predictable and harder to manage. Fortunately, delivering high performance and availability for SQL Server can be achieved even in light of these challenges if you have the right monitoring strategy and tools in place. Monitoring the SQL Server Environment Monitoring Memory Monitoring Disk I/O Monitoring CPU Utilization Monitor Key SQL Server Indicators Monitor Proactively Choosing a Monitoring Solution Make multiplatform a must Reduce the burden of proving SLA performance Aid in threshold adjustment Be security-friendly Consider agentless monitoring In the first section of this paper, Monitoring the SQL Server Environment, you will learn about how you can provide higher performance and availability for your SQL Server by knowing the key drivers behind SQL Server performance and availability. Armed with this knowledge, you will be able to focus your monitoring strategy and get better returns from the time you dedicate to SQL Server monitoring and management. In the second section of this paper, Choosing a Monitoring Solution, you will learn what to look for in an application monitoring tool. By choosing the right tool, you can dramatically improve your monitoring strategy while greatly reducing the amount of dedicated personnel needed for application monitoring and management.
3 Monitoring the SQL Server Environment A focused monitoring strategy is essential to creating and maintaining a high performance and highly available SQL Server and application infrastructure. By accurately monitoring and tracking performance of SQL Server resources, you will be able to Rapidly locate problems at the hardware, server and application level and reduce the time and resources needed for supporting your SQL Server infrastructure Improve end-user performance by determining the configurations that are most appropriate for your unique operating environment Evaluate usage patterns and plan for the best times to perform system upgrades or maintenance Improve capacity planning by looking beneath the surface of performance and availability problems to determine whether issues can be resolved by changing database and server configurations rather than purchasing new hardware Proactively troubleshoot performance problems before they reach end-users When it comes to monitoring SQL Server, there is an abundance of different sources for data. While it may be tempting to monitor everything, many administrators find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of performance data available to them. Fortunately, most SQL Server performance issues can be detected based on just a handful of metrics, starting with memory, I/O and CPU, in that order. This is because a performance issue in memory can contribute to I/O and CPU bottlenecks, and so on. If you spot trouble in one area, you can then delve in to investigate further. A dashboard display can provide a quick snapshot of overall performance and indicate areas that need further investigation. Here, there appears to be a memory issue; clicking on the dial will drill down to a more detailed display.
4 Monitoring Memory The primary factor impacting most SQL Server performance problems is memory. It s important to monitor memory to ensure that the percentage of available memory stays above 20%. If this number falls below 20%, and users are experiencing performance problems, you can be sure that insufficient memory allocation is the culprit. High paging rates, the rate at which pages are read or written to the disk when the system can t find the page in memory, can also contribute to an I/O bottleneck and impact performance. Be sure to monitor paging rates and tune your server if they are regularly above 1,000 pages/second. Investigate memory issues first, as a memory shortage can cause secondary I/O or CPU bottlenecks. SQL Server gives you several options for allocating memory. You can configure SQL Server to use a fixed amount of the memory available on the server, dynamically allocate memory to itself according to demand, or dynamically allocate memory to itself within limits that you configure. If adjusting how memory is allocated to SQL Server does not free up enough memory for the SQL Server instance to function properly, the physical memory for the server may need to be increased, or the concurrent application load on the server may need to be decreased. Look at which processes are consuming memory to identify potential application problems such as memory leaks, or processes that can be offloaded to a different server. Monitoring Disk I/O Another important area to monitor is disk utilization to see whether the I/O subsystem is the bottleneck. Disk utilization over 50% will result in sluggish response time and poor application performance. When monitoring the I/O subsystem, be sure to monitor both the physical disk times and the disk queue length. If the physical disk is consistently busy servicing I/O then the disk may be the problem. Performance can also degrade if the disk queue length exceeds two. Disk queue length is the number of outstanding requests that need to be serviced by the disk. As with memory, the way to solve a disk I/O bottleneck is to reduce the concurrent application load or upgrade your hardware (in this case, upgrade the computer with faster disks and/or more disks). Faster disks will cope with the I/O load better, whereas additional disks will allow for the I/O load to be spread across more spindles. Monitor CPU Utilization When monitoring CPU utilization, remember that occasional spikes of 100% are nothing to worry about and are normal. Consistently high CPU utilization rates, over 90%, may indicate a poorly-tuned or designed application, or an underpowered system.
5 A good auxiliary metric to look at is the size of the processor queue. If you see high CPU usage and a processor queue that exceeds two over time, it means that processes consistently have to wait for the CPU a sure sign of a bottleneck. If that is the case, check for blocked SQL Server processes or processes using large amounts of CPU time. If you have one or a few CPU-intensive processes on the system, you will want to investigate possible bugs or efficiency problems with the application; or, it s possible that high CPU utilization is simply a signature of this particular application. Monitor Key SQL Server Indicators By keeping your monitoring strategy focused on memory, disk I/O and CPU utilization, plus a few key SQL Server indicators, you will decrease the time and energy associated with ensuring high performance and availability for SQL Server. Some good indicators are as follows: Make sure SQL Server data caching has at least a 90% hit rate Don t let the transaction log get more than 85% full. In general you want to make sure you have at least 20% free disk space Check to make sure all SQL Server services are running. If a SQL Server service is not running, restart it Verify that your queries are performing at adequate levels, particularly watching for queries that are using excessive amounts of CPU time Don t let the rate of unsafe auto-parameterization attempts get too high Watch to ensure that data throughput is at a sufficient level Check the number of user connections and ensure that there are not too many Look at average wait time for locks to verify that they are not too high. This may be common in OLTP (online transaction processing) and other applications characterized by high volumes of similar small transactions In addition to performance metrics, it is a good idea to monitor the SQL Server Error logs for the presence of errors that could affect the performance of the server. Some errors to watch for include: Error 1204 Error 1205 Error 1105 Error Error 605 Not enough locks Deadlock victim Can t allocate space for object Unable to connect Database corrupted If you experience any of these errors, consult Microsoft documentation regarding potential consequences and advice on how to respond to them. Keep in mind that performance monitoring is an iterative process. A single snapshot of a few key metrics may help diagnose a current performance problem, but it takes an ongoing monitoring effort to ensure performance and availability over the long haul. The next section, Monitoring Proactively talks about the merits and tactics of an ongoing monitoring strategy which will allow you to sustain high performance and availability and diagnose and address problems before they reach the end user. Monitor Proactively By capturing, analyzing and acting on performance data over a long period of time, you will develop a clear picture of exactly what constitutes normal behavior on your system, and you will be better equipped
6 to detect and deal with the subtle symptoms that spell trouble ahead. A proactive monitoring strategy will alleviate the time and resources needed to sustain high performance and availability for SQL Server. This section will layout a blueprint for a reliable proactive monitoring strategy. In any performance monitoring exercise, remember that you will need to make adjustments based on the characteristics of your various expected database workloads which you can only do if you know what s normal on your system. Also, remember that sound SQL Server performance and high availability may require several adjustments, or a combination of hardware and software remedies, in order to obtain the results you re looking for. Establish a baseline One of the biggest pitfalls of performance monitoring is waiting for a problem to happen, then not having any sort of baseline for comparison. To establish a baseline, capture a week or two s worth of performance data in log files. This data will serve as your benchmark moving forward. Capture as much data as possible. Disk space is cheap, so it s OK to collect a large amount of data. It s important to be exhaustive up front so you don t have to revisit this step down the road when more granular or obscure metrics may be needed. Refine the baseline With an effective baseline in place, the next step will be to monitor key metrics like memory, disk I/O and CPU usage over long periods of time, keeping logs and comparing performance over the long term. As you begin to get a sense of how user demands shift over time, you will be able to identify usage patterns and correlate actual processing load with anticipated processing load. In time, your perception of what is typical behavior for your SQL Server environment will become more accurate, allowing you to make smarter decisions about when to perform maintenance and upgrades. You will also be in a much better place to diagnose performance problems as they crop up, knowing how individual hardware and software components are performing as compared to your benchmarked data. Be sure to monitor the response time of commonly run queries over time to gauge the relative performance of your SQL Server. If the response time for the same queries increases to unacceptable levels, the resources on the server may need to be increased. Performance patterns may emerge that also suggest that the application code needs to be refined. Troubleshoot Once you have refined your baseline, you will be in a position to automate a good deal of the monitoring and problem diagnosis process by establishing thresholds for key performance metrics and setting up automated notifications alerts and alarms - when thresholds are violated. Having an accurate performance baseline for your SQL Server environment will allow you to create accurate thresholds. Preset, manufacturer-recommended monitoring thresholds are useful and necessary. However, you need to tune thresholds that are meaningful in context of your environment and user demands. Keep in mind that over time, as demands change, the thresholds should change as well.
7 Manufacturer-recommended thresholds should be adjusted to the usage patterns of each workload. Here, actual workload data makes it easy to fine tune thresolds for individual servers or groups of servers. With accurate thresholds in place, you can arrange to have alerts and alarms set up to notify the correct person. With the right monitoring solution, you can build in rules for escalating problems issuing wider alerts, triggering phone calls or s to people progressively higher in the IT department hierarchy until a problem is solved. And last, you can build in automated corrective action that is triggered when predefined (or dynamically defined) thresholds are reached or other conditions occur. In all of these cases, you re not limited merely to responding after the fact. With a proactive monitoring strategy, you will have the data you need to fix minor SQL Server performance issues before they mushroom into major problems and impact your service levels. Start with a baseline and a disciplined monitoring regimen which helps you refine your baseline and establish an accurate picture of usage patterns and the systems requirements needed to accommodate the current performance demands of your users. Once an accurate baseline is in place, you can automate portions of the monitoring function by creating predetermined thresholds that trigger alerts and alarms when human intervention is necessary to address performance problems. notification and corrective action help solve problems before users are affected.
8 Choosing a Monitoring Solution No discussion of application monitoring is complete without spending some time on monitoring tools. While many applications and hardware components come with built-in monitoring programs, it just isn t feasible to use separate monitoring programs across your entire infrastructure. More complex enterprises require more sophisticated monitoring tools which take the complexity and diversity of your environment into account. This section will discuss some of the key things to think about when evaluating a monitoring tool. Make multiplatform a must Most IT departments are charged with supporting an IT infrastructure that is multiplatform, and comprised of a diverse set of proprietary hardware. In choosing a monitoring tool, look beyond SQL Server and Windows and seek a solution that will support your company s other operating systems and applications directly out of the box. Operating system support may span Microsoft Windows, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, IBM AIX, and Sun Solaris platforms. Application support may extend to a variety of application servers, Web servers, databases, messaging, and infrastructure products from different vendors. Think J2EE, Apache, Oracle, Microsoft Exchange, and the like. In addition, look for the ability to specify and track a range of user and business metrics, including transactions and service level agreements (SLAs). You stand to get more from a multiplatform package designed to be truly platform-neutral from the start, as opposed to one developed for SQL Server / Windows environments and retrofitted for Unix or Linux platforms (or vice versa). The idea is to have consistent capabilities across the platforms you are monitoring. Reduce the burden of proving SLA performance Even if you don t have formally written Service Level Agreements, you can benefit from SLA monitoring. SLAs enable you to look at delivery of specific business services and understand which problems are truly caused by SQL Server and which may be due to system, network, or application issues. Even when users are satisfied with the SQL Server performance and availability levels you ve achieved, you need to document that service level agreements are being fulfilled. Reduce the burden of proof with a monitoring solution that integrates the required reporting and graphing. Not only will you avoid developing reports and graphs from scratch, but also you will be able to produce documentation quickly and easily whenever your organization requires it. What s more, a dashboard can present gauges, graphs, and statistics that let you evaluate SLA adherence in real time. You will then be positioned to spot developing trends and problems within the context of SLAs, allowing you and your team to act before users notice an adverse impact. Whether supplying you with real-time or historical SLA information, a standout monitoring solution will correlate, analyze, and present key statistics in a graphical, easy-to-understand style. Summary views as well as in-depth details should be provided.
9 Effective SLA monitoring will look across servers and applications to determine the overall health of the business service being delivered. Here, the service depends on the availability of a web page and the performance of the network, memory, and CPU, in addition to the availability of the SQL Server. Reporting and analysis should take into account that meeting an SLA normally depends on multiple factors. Aggregating data from monitored entities in this manner is beneficial in a number of ways. For instance, delivering a service to business users may require that a key SQL Server query, web page download time, CPU resources, and network traffic all perform at a good level. If a problem affects one of these components say that poor SQL Server caching slows database response time and impairs service the monitoring solution should report the service level as degraded even though the condition of the other three components remains good. Another case where a monitoring tool can help by providing SLA information along multiple dimensions is server redundancy (whether the servers are clustered or not). Perhaps five different monitored servers are running a database application when one server goes down; that might still be good for the particular service level. The condition would fall to degraded if two servers went down, and so on. While the remaining three servers might all remain in good condition, the overall service level is the primary concern. Employ a solution that uses workload characterization to aid in threshold adjustment One of the greatest challenges in SQL Server monitoring is setting and maintaining the right thresholds for memory, disk I/O, CPU utilization, and other functions. One size does not necessarily fit all. What constitutes normal behavior for one database server may be very different for another. For instance, the SQL server for an OLTP application may carry much more volume than a similar server for another application. As a result, you would need a different, higher data throughput threshold before an alert for corrective action is triggered. Conversely, the thresholds on a lower volume application should be lower to avoid letting problems go unnoticed. A monitoring solution that can provide you with workload data will be much easier to fine tune to your needs. In some cases, it may even be able to do the job for you by adjusting monitoring thresholds automatically. This not only saves valuable staff time and energy, it keeps your SQL Server monitoring and management at peak performance.
10 Be security-friendly IT security has become a hot button because of the increasing threat of intrusions and attacks, not to mention increasingly stringent government regulations. SQL Server and system monitoring must therefore conform to your organization s security and firewall policies. Additional security-conscious features should also be on your checklist. One is role-based security that permits users to see only those tasks and information for which they are authorized. For example, DBAs and Exchange administrators could be restricted to the specific SQL Server and Exchange servers they manage. Access to your monitoring system must be protected as well. For example, a product that provides a Web browser interface should use HTTPS (Hyper Text Transport Protocol Secure) to enable secure access over your intranet or the Internet. A firewall-friendly product will be able to monitor using a single open TCP port across domains. Role-based security enables you to restrict certain users to specific tasks, such as reporting only operation. Consider agentless monitoring The distinguishing characteristic of agentless monitoring is that you don t have to install software agents on the systems you are monitoring. In addition to the benefits that accrue from not having to introduce software on production SQL Servers, the primary upside of the agentless approach is the simplicity and savings that come from faster deployment, lower software license fees, and streamlined operation. Until recently, these benefits came with a steep downside: very limited capabilities. You usually could not expect an agentless product to do much more than collect a few statistics. The more recent trend is to build on industry-standard technologies, such as WMI, SSH, Telnet, rexec, HTTP, JDBC, and JMX, taking agentless monitoring to a higher level. Choose well, and today it s possible to find an agentless monitoring and reporting product that combines affordable agentless monitoring with strengths once provided exclusively by more expensive agent-based software. The best of the new breed of agentless solution will offer the most desirable features of high-end
11 monitoring: multiplatform support, comprehensive application coverage, extensive reports and graphs right out of the box. Determine whether the agentless product you are considering requires the purchase and installation of layered software. Some packages are not self-contained, which means they rely upon add-ons such as a database or report writer to be usable. Prerequisites like these diminish the cost savings and ease of use that you re after. A comprehensive, out of the box agentless monitoring solution, however, will reduce the complexity of implementing and administering a solution, and add some transparency to the overall cost of your monitoring investment. Comprehensive Agentless Capabilities Modern agentless products combine lower cost and ease of use with the comprehensive coverage previously provided only by higher end, agent-based solutions.
12 Summary Delivering the performance and availability that end users demand from SQL Server begins with a sound monitoring strategy. The more focused you are on the metrics that matter most to performance and availability, the easier it will be to diagnose and troubleshoot problems. Focusing on memory usage, disk I/O and CPU usage will help you address a majority of performance related issues for SQL Server. A sound monitoring strategy will allow you not only to quickly diagnose problems, but to sustain high performance and availability over the long haul and anticipate and address problems before they reach endusers. Monitor your SQL Server environment proactively by establishing a performance baseline for your environment and using it as a benchmark for all of the data you collect in the future. By understanding typical usage patterns and performance demands of your environment, you will be able to make better judgments about performance related issues that crop up and you will also be able to better plan for upgrades and maintenance that may impact end-user performance during peak usage. Finally, when choosing a monitoring tool, look beyond individual applications and seek out a monitoring tool that will provide a broad view of your entire infrastructure. IT environments today are a heterogeneous mix of hardware and software. By focusing monitoring efforts too narrowly, you will not be able to accurately consider all the many factors that contribute to application performance. Always keep the big picture in mind! About Heroix Heroix delivers award-winning software products that help organizations optimize the availability and performance of applications, databases, systems, and IT infrastructure running across multiple platforms. Today, with a presence in over 40 countries, Heroix has delivered performance management solutions to over 1,000 organizations worldwide, including Arrowsight, Fallon Clinic, Kaiser Permanente, Honeywell, Tembec, Motorola, Inc., and Young Broadcasting. Heroix believes that the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Heroix is not responsible for any inadvertent errors. Heroix Longitude, Heroix and the Heroix logo are registered trademarks of Heroix. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright 2007 Heroix. All rights reserved.