the growing mountains of useless information produced by the kgb. the putins had a second daughter and named her ekaterina. putin drank beer and got fat. he stopped training, or exercising at all, and he gained more than 20 pounds — a disastrous addition to his short and fairly narrow frame. from all appearances, he was seriously depressed. his wife, who has described their early years together as harmonious and joyful, has pointedly refrained from saying anything about their family life after spy school. she has said only that her husband never talked to her about work. not that there was much to tell. the job putin had once coveted, working to draft future undercover agents, turned out to be not only tedious but fruitless. he and his two colleagues from the illegal - intelligence unit tracked down foreign students enrolled at the dresden university of technology and spent months gaining their confidence, often only to find that they did not have enough money to entice the young people to work for them. still, it was in the west — so close and so unreachable for someone like putin ( some other soviet citizens posted in germany had the right to go to west berlin ) — that people had the things he really coveted. he made his wishes known to the very few westerners with whom he came in contact — members of the radical group red army faction, who took some of their orders from the kgb and occasionally came to dresden for training sessions. “ he always wanted to have things, ” a former raf member told me of putin. “ he mentioned to several people wishes that he wanted from the west. ” this source claims to have personally presented putin with a grundig satellit, a state - of - the - art shortwave radio, and a blaupunkt stereo for his car ; he bought the former and pilfered the latter from one of the many cars the raf had stolen for its purposes. just as the putins left the soviet union, that country began to change drastically and irrevocably. mikhail gorbachev came to power in march 1985. two years later, he had released all soviet dissidents from prison and was beginning to loosen the reins on soviet - bloc countries. over the next few years, a chasm would open up between the party and the kgb, culminating with the failed coup in august 1991. watching the changes from afar, surrounded by other secret - police officers — and no one else — putin must have felt a hopeless, helpless fury. in east germany


open up between the party and the kgb, culminating with the failed coup in august 1991. watching the changes from afar, surrounded by other secret - police officers — and no one else — putin must have felt a hopeless, helpless fury. in east germany, as in the soviet union, people were beginning to come out into the streets to protest, and the unthinkable was quickly beginning to look probable : the two germanys might be reunited — the land putin had been sent here to guard would just be handed over to the enemy. everything he had worked for was now in doubt ; everything he had believed was being mocked. this is the sort of insult that would have prompted the agile young man that putin had been to pound the offender until his fury had subsided. middle - aged, out - of - shape putin sat silent and helpless as his dreams and hopes for the future were destroyed. on oct. 7, 1989, vladimir putin ’ s 37th birthday, east germany celebrated its 40th anniversary, and riots broke out in berlin. a month later the berlin wall fell, but demonstrations in east germany continued until the first free - elections in march. even before the protesters had chased the stasi out of its buildings, east germany began the grueling and painful process of purging the stasi from its society. all of the putins ’ neighbors not only lost their jobs but also were banned from working in law enforcement, the government, or teaching. the putins returned to leningrad. they carried a 20 - year - old washing machine given to them by their former neighbors and a sum of money in u. s. dollars, sufficient to buy the best soviet - made car available. this was all they had to show for four and a half years of living abroad — and for vladimir putin ’ s unconsummated spy career. the four of them would be returning to the smaller of the two rooms in the elder putins ’ apartment. in the years that followed, putin did all he could to bring back the life he had loved : the closed world of the soviet union and, even more important, the kgb. not only did he become head of the russian state a mere dozen years after returning from germany, but he also succeeded in transforming the country, turning back democratic reforms and ultimately establishing a thoroughly corrupt and inefficient authoritarian regime in the image of the u. s. s. r. while his political inspiration has come from the kgb, his personal style goes back to the st. petersburg courtyards, where


ultimately establishing a thoroughly corrupt and inefficient authoritarian regime in the image of the u. s. s. r. while his political inspiration has come from the kgb, his personal style goes back to the st. petersburg courtyards, where he picked up the wit and social - graces of a street thug. he scored his first major surge in popularity in 1999, when he vowed to hunt down chechen terrorists. since then he has continued to employ a rhetoric based on homegrown vulgarisms even when many russians seem to have had enough of his ways. what used to look like macho decisiveness and directness now looks unenlightened. putin ’ s thug myth may ultimately contribute more to his demise than it did to his rise to power. from the man without a face by masha gessen. reprinted by arrangement with riverhead books, a member of penguin group ( usa ) inc. and granta books ( uk ). © 2012 by masha gessen. “ in a country where journalists critical of the government have a way of meeting untimely deaths, ms. gessen has shown remarkable courage in researching and writing this unflinching indictment of the most powerful man in russia … although written before the recent protests erupted, the book helps to explain the anger and outrage driving that movement. ” – the wall street journal “ part psychological profile, part conspiracy study … as a moscow native who has written perceptively for both russian and western publications, gessen knows the cultures and pathologies of russia … [ and has ] a delicious command of the english language … a fiercely independent journalist … gessen ’ s armchair psychoanalysis of putin is speculative. but it is a clever and sometimes convincing speculation, based on a close reading of putin ’ s own inadvertently revealing accounts of his life, and on interviews with people who knew putin before he mattered. ” – the new york times book review " absorbing … gessen is most illuminating when she details the historical accidents that allowed an unexceptional bureaucrat to rule russia. " – the new yorker “ engrossing and insightful. ” – bloomberg the putin era : some casualties a time line by masha gessen october 7, 2006 ( putin ’ s birthday ) to keep up - to - date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication please alert me via email when :


a number of studies have found evidence that too much television is bad for children ' s development, even when it ' s playing in the background and kids are not watching. now a study has tracked just how much background tv kids get and it ' s a lot — 232. 2 minutes or nearly 4 hours worth every day. the average amount is even greater among some, especially children who are younger, african - american or from the poorest families, finds the study in today ' s pediatrics. the nearly four hours of background tv exposure " easily dwarfs " the 80 minutes of active tv viewing the average child in this age group absorbs daily, says the study. " you ' re looking at three times the amount, which is enormous, " says matthew lapierre, one of the study authors, an assistant professor of communication studies at the university of north carolina - wilmington. " it ' s really kind of shocking, " he says. the study was presented in may at a meeting of the international communication association. it was conducted using a nationally representative telephone survey of 1, 454 parents with at least one child between the ages of 8 months and 8 years old. among questions that parents were asked : how often their tv was on when no one was watching ; whether their child had a tv in their bedroom and the number of tvs in the home. it found that in addition to actual tv viewing, children under age 2 and african - american children were exposed to an average of 5. 5 hours a day of a tv playing in the background ; children from the poorest families were exposed to nearly 6 hours per day. the finding among african - americans " wasn ' t unexpected, " says lapierre noting that statistically, their households " are often found to be more tv - centric, " compared with other groups, with more tvs per household and more of those tvs in bedrooms. he suspects that the high rate of background tv among very young children may have to do with parents and caregivers leaving the television on, even when they ' re not actively watching, to " break up the monotony " of being with an infant or toddler for long stretches of the day. the study notes that background television exposure has been " linked to lower sustained attention during playtime, lower quality parent - child interactions, and reduced performance on cognitive tasks. " heather kirkorian, an assistant professor of human development and family studies a researcher at the university of wisconsin - madison who has published studies on background television ' s


1. upali thera. - one of the most eminent of the buddha ' s immediate disciples. he belonged to a barber ' s family in kapilavatthu and entered the service of the sakiyan princes. when anuruddha and his cousins left the world and sought ordination from the buddha at anupiya grove, upali accompanied them. they gave him all their valuable ornaments, but, on further consideration, he refused to accept them and wished to become a monk with them. the reason given for his refusal is that he knew the sakyans were hot - headed, and feared that the kinsmen of the princes might suspect him of having murdered the young men for the sake of their belongings. at the request of the sakiyan youths, the buddha ordained upali before them all, so that their pride might be humbled. ( vin. ii. 182 ; dha. i. 116f ; see also bu. i. 61 ; but see bua. 44 ; the tibetan sources give a slightly different version, see rockhill, op. cit., pp. 55 - 6 ; according to the mahavastu iii. 179, upali was the buddha ' s barber, too ). upali ' s upajjhaya was kappitaka ( vin. iv. 308 ). when upali went to the buddha for an exercise for meditation, he asked that he might be allowed to dwell in the forest. but the buddha would not agree, for if upali went into the forest he would learn only meditation, while, if he remained amongst men, he would have knowledge both of meditation and of the word of the dhamma. upali accepted the buddha ' s advice and, practising insight, in due course won arahantship. the buddha himself taught upali the whole of the vinaya pitaka ( thaga. i. 360f, 370 ; aa. i. 172 ). in the assembly of the sangha, the buddha declared him to be the most proficient of those who were learned in the vinaya ( vinayadharanam ) ( a. i. 24 ; see also vin. iv. 142, where the buddha is mentioned as speaking upali ' s praises ). he is often spoken of as having reached the pinnacle of the vinaya, or as being its chief repository ( vinaye agganikkhitto ), ( e. g., dpv. iv. 3, 5 ;


. he is often spoken of as having reached the pinnacle of the vinaya, or as being its chief repository ( vinaye agganikkhitto ), ( e. g., dpv. iv. 3, 5 ; v. 7, 9 ) and three particular cases - those of ajjuka ( vin. iii. 66f ), the bharukacchaka monk ( vin. iii. 39 ) and kumara - kassapa ( aa. i. 158 ; ma. i. 336 ; j. i. 148 ; dha. iii. 145 ) - are frequently mentioned in this connection as instances where upali ' s decisions on vinaya rules earned the special commendation of the buddha. in the rajagaha council, upali took a leading part, deciding all the questions relative to the vinaya, in the same way as ananda decided questions regarding the dhamma ( vin. ii. 286f ; da. i. 11f ; mhv. iii. 30 ). in accordance with this tradition, ascribing to upali especial authority regarding the rules of the order, various instances are given of upali questioning the buddha about the vinaya regulations. thus we find him consulting the buddha as to the legality or otherwise of a complete congregation performing, in the absence of an accused monk, an act at which his presence is required ( vin. i. 325f ). again, he wishes to know if, in a matter which has caused altercations and schisms among members of the order, the sangha declares re - establishment of concord without thorough investigation, could such a declaration be lawful? ( vin. i. 358f ). when a monk intends to take upon himself the conduct of any matter that has to be decided, under what conditions should he do so? what qualities should a monk possess in himself before he takes upon himself to warn others? ( vin. ii. 248f ). in what case can there be an interruption of the probationary period of a monk who has been placed on probation? ( vin. ii. 33f ). a whole list of questions asked by upali and answers given by the buddha on matters pertaining to the vinaya rules is found in the chapter called upali - pancaka in the parivara ( vin. v. 180 - 206 ; see also the upalivagga of the anguttara nikaya v. 70ff ). it is not possible


is found in the chapter called upali - pancaka in the parivara ( vin. v. 180 - 206 ; see also the upalivagga of the anguttara nikaya v. 70ff ). it is not possible to determine which of these and other questions were actually asked by upali, and which were ascribed to him on account of his traditional reputation. it is said ( e. g., vin. iv. 142 ; sp. iv. 876 ) that even in the buddha ' s lifetime monks considered it a great privilege to learn the vinaya under upali. the monks seem to have regarded upali as their particular friend, to whom they could go in their difficulties. thus, when certain monks had been deprived by thieves of their clothes, it is upali ' s protection that they seek ( vin. iii. 212 ; see also the story of ramaniyavihari, thaga. i. 116 ). the canon contains but few records of any discourses connected with upali, apart from his questions on the vinaya. in the anguttara nikaya ( a. iv. 143f ) he is mentioned as asking the buddha for a brief sermon, the buddha telling him that if there were anything that did not conduce to revulsion and detachment, upali could be sure that such things did not form part of the buddha ' s teaching. there is a record of another sermon ( a. v. 201ff ) which the buddha is stated to have preached when upali expressed the desire to retire into the solitude of the forest. the buddha tells him that forest - life is not for the man who has not mastered his mind or attained to tranquillity. for other sermons see upali sutta and ubbahika sutta. three verses are ascribed to upali in the theragatha ( vv. 249 - 51 ; but see gotama the man, p. 215 ; another verse ascribed to upali, but so far not traced elsewhere, is found in the milinda p. 108 ) where he admonishes the brethren to seek noble friends of unfaltering character, to learn the monks ' code of discipline and to dwell in solitude. in the time of padumuttara, upali was a very rich brahmin named sujata. when the buddha came to his father ' s city in order to preach to him the dhamma, sujata saw him, and in the assembly be noticed an


of the vinayadharas was dasaka, whom upali had first met at the valikarama, where upali was staying ( mhv. v. 10 ). upali taught him the whole of the vinaya. upali ' s death was in the sixth year of udayibhadda ' s reign. dpv. v. 7ff. 2. upali. - a lad of rajagaha. his parents, wishing him to live a life of ease, did not have him instructed in any of the usual means of livelihood, lest he should be inconvenienced while learning them. after much consideration, they decided to have him ordained. he joined the order with sixteen other companions equally young, and it is said that they rose at dawn and started shouting for food. this was the reason for the rule that no one under twenty years of age should receive the upasampada ordination. vin. i. 77f. 3. upali thera. - the apadana ( i. 91f ) contains the story of a thera named upali, who is to be distinguished from the eminent disciple of that name, though the apadana verses obviously point to a confusion of the legends of the two. the apadana commentary distinguishes this monk as " bhagineyya upali, " and states that he was a nephew of the venerable upali. he was born in kapilavatthu and was ordained by his uncle, who later became an arahant. bhagineyya upali had been a householder in the time of padumuttara. later he left the world and became an ascetic in himava. there he met the buddha and the monks, and uttered their praises in song. as a result he was eighteen times king of the devas and twenty - five times king of men. 4. upali. - distinguished as upali - gahapati. he lived at nalanda and was a follower of nigantha nataputta. he was present when digha - tapassi reported to nataputta an account of his visit to the buddha in the pavarika mango - grove. upali undertook to go himself to the buddha and refute his views, in spite of the protestations of digha - tapassi. at the end of his discussion with the buddha, which is recorded in the upali sutta, upali is converted and invites the buddha to a meal.


##ute his views, in spite of the protestations of digha - tapassi. at the end of his discussion with the buddha, which is recorded in the upali sutta, upali is converted and invites the buddha to a meal. although the buddha enjoins upon upali that his benefactions to the niganthas should not cease because of his conversion, upali gives instructions that no nigantha be admitted to his presence, but that if they need food it shall be given to them. hearing a rumour of his conversion, first tapassi, and later nataputta himself, go to upali ' s house, where they learn the truth. when nataputta is finally convinced that upali has become a follower of the buddha, hot blood gushes from his mouth ( m. i. 371ff ). according to buddhaghosa ( ma. ii. 621, 830 ), nataputta had to be carried on a litter to pava, where he died shortly after. upali became a sotapanna ( ma. ii. 620 ). he is mentioned, with ananda, citta - gahapati, dhammika - upasaka and khujjuttara, as one who had acquired the four patisambhida while being yet a learner ( sekha ). vsm. ii. 442 ; vibha. 388. 5. upali thera. - head of the chapter of monks sent from siam, at the request of kittisirirajasiha, to re - establish the upasampada ordination in ceylon. he was held in great esteem by the king of ceylon and often preached to him. upali died in ceylon of an incurable disease of the nose, and his funeral obsequies were held with great solemnity. cv. c. 71, 94, 117, 127, 142.


links to government agencies and offices : - american president - fast facts about each of the u. s. presidents. a comprehensive resource from the university of virginia. - ben ' s guide to u. s. government for kids - a comprehensive look at the workings of the u. s. government. includes sections for different age ranges. from the u. s. government printing office. - congress for kids - an interactive look at the workings of the u. s. congress. designed for students from 4th grade to high school. - kids. gov - from the federal citizen information center. this site contains links to kid - focused sites about government and many other subjects provided by numerous government agencies. conveniently grouped by subject. - political resources on the net - listings of political sites available on the internet sorted by country, with links to parties, organizations, governments, media and more from all around the world. - state and local governments - information about each state government, plus maps of states and information about local governments. from the library of congress. - state of illinois website - the official site of the state of illinois. - the declaration of independence - this is a web page from the national archives with outstanding information about the declaration of independence. - thomas from the library of congress - detailed information about the legislative process : how laws are made ; current legislation in congress ; historical documents.


your child ’ s pediatrician has diagnosed her with asthma. now what? your next stop will probably be at an allergist ' s office since there ’ s a strong connection between asthma and allergies. according to the asthma and allergy foundation of america, about 80 percent of children with asthma also suffer from allergies. your pediatrician will probably also recommend that you take your child to a pulmonologist, a doctor who specializes in the lungs. the pulmonologist will use a machine called a spirometer to measure how well your child ’ s lungs are working — how much air the lungs can hold and how quickly the air moves to the lungs when your child inhales. your child will be asked to breath in deeply, hold her breath momentarily, and then blow out into the machine as hard as she can for a few times. it ’ s painless, and kid - friendly spirometers have smiley faces or birthday candles, which keep toddlers and preschoolers engaged and encourage them to work hard. managing your child ’ s asthma here ’ s what you can do at home to help your asthmatic child : identify and remove the triggers : your little one ’ s allergy tests probably identified some of the triggers, but not all. so you ’ ll have to uncover a few yourself : does your child have an attack when she ’ s stressed or when she ’ s been running around the playground at top speed? if the doctor suspects that dust or mold is the culprit, you may have to remove carpeting and stuffed animals from your tot ’ s room. you can also get hypoallergenic mattresses and pillows to minimize the effects of dust mites and pet dander. if cigarette smoke is what ' s behind your child ’ s flare - ups, now ’ s the time to quit ( and make sure no one else smokes around your sweetie ). get the right meds : asthma is essentially treated with two types of medication : quick relief or rescue meds, such as albuterol, are used to stop the symptoms and relax the muscles tightening around the airways ; and long - term or controller drugs, such as advair, are used on a daily basis to help prevent flare - ups. in an emergency ( when albuterol or other type of fast - acting medicine doesn ' t provide relief within 15 to 20 minutes ), corticosteroids ( anti - inflammatory medication that keeps the airways from swelling ) — in addition to albu


an emergency ( when albuterol or other type of fast - acting medicine doesn ' t provide relief within 15 to 20 minutes ), corticosteroids ( anti - inflammatory medication that keeps the airways from swelling ) — in addition to albuterol — are administered for three to five days to get your child ’ s asthma under control. asthma medications come in many different forms. they can be taken orally in liquid form or pills, inhaled using a metered - dose inhaler ( for example, albuterol ), or given intravenously. babies and toddlers often get their medication through a machine called a nebulizer. the device turns the liquid form of albuterol into a mist that is delivered to the lungs through a mouthpiece and mask. schedule frequent appointments : each patient responds differently to asthma meds, so to minimize side effects and complications, make regular doctor visits a priority. your little one will probably need to see the doctor or specialist every three or four months. teach your older child self - care : if your child is taking daily medication to control her asthma and is already in grade school, she may be given a peak - flow meter to use at home. it ’ s easy to handle and helps monitor how well the lungs are working. she ’ ll be shown the proper technique for blowing into it and how to record the daily results. sometimes the peak - flow number decreases hours or days before an asthma attack. so the information can help you ( and her ) adjust her treatment to prevent an oncoming flare - up. some kids do outgrow asthma, many before they turn six. but most often these are the kids whose asthma was the result of an infection and who don ’ t have allergies or a family history of the disease. other children ’ s symptoms diminish as they become tweens or teens, but their asthma may return when they become adults. unfortunately, there are no tests to predict who will outgrow the condition and who won ’ t. even if your child has asthma all her life, taking the proper steps now will help her breathe easier. the support your little one gets from you, the doctor, and the right combination of medications will make an enormous difference in her well - being and guarantee that she ’ ll lead a rich and active life.


image of the sun from soho click on image for full size courtesy of nasa soho catches glimpse of the sun ' s " far side " news story originally written on june 23, 1999 the solar and heliospheric observatory ( soho ) caught a rare view of the far side of the sun. scientists can now see if a solar storm is coming before it reaches earth. this may save the satellite industry millions of dollars each year. when the sun releases large amounts of energy, the light makes patches of hydrogen gas glow. this glow is invisible to earth, but not to soho. this new technology can give scientists a few days warning before the storm actually hits. soho also captured the largest shadow ever seen. when comet hale - bopp passed by in 1997, soho took a few photographs. behind the comet, was a shadow over 150 million kilometers long. when the comet came near the sun, it developed a long tail made of hydrogen. this tail and the comet itself were projected onto the sky. shop windows to the universe science store! our online store on science education, ranging from evolution, classroom research, and the need for science and math literacy you might also be interested in : hale - bopp continues to offer new surprises as two astronomers report of their study of the comet. using the hubble space telescope and the international ultraviolet explorer, the astronomers did a year - long... more it was another exciting and frustrating year for the space science program. it seemed that every step forward led to one backwards. either way, nasa led the way to a great century of discovery. unfortunately,... more the space shuttle discovery lifted off from kennedy space center on october 29th at 2 : 19 p. m. est. the weather was great as discovery took 8 1 / 2 minutes to reach orbit. this was the united states ' 123rd... more a moon was discovered orbiting the asteroid, eugenia. this is only the second time in history that a satellite has been seen circling an asteroid. a special mirror allowed scientists to find the moon... more will russia ever put the service module for the international space station in space? nasa officials want an answer from the russian government. the necessary service module is currently waiting to be... more a coronal mass ejection ( cme ) happened on the sun early last month. the material that was thrown out from this explosion passed the ace spacecraft. the swics instrument on ace has produced a new and very... more j. s. maini of


this weather balloon is full of helium gas. it is surrounded by earth ' s atmosphere, which is mostly nitrogen and oxygen gasses. helium is " lighter " ( less dense ) than nitrogen or oxygen, so the balloon will rise when the scientist lets go of it. click on image for full size image courtesy of the university corporation for atmospheric research. gas is one of the four common states of matter. the three others are liquid, solid, and plasma. there are also some other exotic states of matter that have been discovered in recent years. the air in earth ' s atmosphere is mostly a mixture of different types of gases. a gas usually has much lower density than a solid or liquid. a quantity of gas doesn ' t have a specific shape ; in this way it is like a liquid and different from a solid. if a gas is enclosed in a container, it will take on the shape of the container ( a liquid will too ). the volume of a gas changes if the temperature or pressure changes. there are several scientific laws, called the " gas laws ", that describe how the volume, temperature, and pressure of a gas are related. the molecules or atoms in a gas are much further apart than in a solid or a liquid. gas molecules or atoms are usually flying around at very high speeds, occasionally bouncing off each other or the walls of the container the gas is in. when a gas is cooled or placed under high pressure, it can condense and turn into a liquid. if a liquid boils or evaporates, it will become a gas. under some circumstances, usually very low pressure, a solid can turn directly into a gas ( without first melting and becoming a liquid ). when a solid turns directly into a gas, it is called " sublimation ". most of the air in earth ' s atmosphere is either nitrogen or oxygen gas. balloons are often filled with helium gas ; since helium is lighter ( less dense ) than air, helium balloons " float " or rise up in air. when liquid water boils or evaporates, it turns into a gas called " water vapor ". most of the gas in the atmospheres of the giant planets jupiter and saturn is hydrogen gas. in recent years, carbon dioxide gas has become quite famous because of its role in the greenhouse effect and global warming. shop windows to the universe science store! our online store includes fun classroom activities for you and your students. issues of nesta ' s quarterly journal, the earth scientist are also full of classroom activities on different


role in the greenhouse effect and global warming. shop windows to the universe science store! our online store includes fun classroom activities for you and your students. issues of nesta ' s quarterly journal, the earth scientist are also full of classroom activities on different topics in earth and space science! you might also be interested in : solid is one of the four common states of matter. the three others are gas, liquid, and plasma. there are also some other exotic states of matter that have been discovered in recent years. unlike liquids... more plasma is known as the fourth state of matter. the other three states are solid, liquid and gas. almost everything is made up of atoms ( your dog, your science book, this computer... ). the atom has a nucleus... more density is a measure of how much mass is contained in a given unit volume ( density = mass / volume ). put simply, if mass is a measure of how much ‘ stuff ’ there is in an object, density is a measure of how... more most things around us are made of groups of atoms connected together into packages called molecules. molecules are made from atoms of one or more elements. some molecules are made of only one type of... more a snowman, glass of water and steam might look very different but they are made of the same stuff! just like any substance, water has three different forms, called states : solid, liquid and gas. the state... more have you ever left a glass of water out for a long time? did you notice that the water disappears after a few days? that ' s because it evaporated! evaporation is when water passes from a liquid to a gas.... more there is more nitrogen gas in the air than any other kind of gas. about four out of five of the molecules in earth ' s atmosphere is nitrogen gas! a molecule of nitrogen gas is made up of two nitrogen atoms.... more


introducing windows azure windows azure is microsoft ' s application platform for the public cloud. you can use this platform in many different ways. for instance, you can use windows azure to build a web application that runs and stores its data in microsoft datacenters. you can use windows azure just to store data, with the applications that use this data running on - premises ( that is, outside the public cloud ). you can use windows azure to create virtual machines for development and test or to run sharepoint and other applications. you can use windows azure to build massively scalable applications with lots and lots of users. because the platform offers a wide range of services, all of these things - and more - are possible. to do any of them, though, you need to understand the basics. even if you don ' t know anything about cloud computing, this article will walk you through the fundamentals of windows azure. the goal is to give you a foundation for understanding and using this cloud platform. table of contents the components of windows azure to understand what windows azure offers, it ' s useful to group its services into distinct categories. figure 1 shows one way to do this. figure 1 : windows azure provides internet - accessible application services running in microsoft datacenters. to get started with windows azure, you need to know at least the basics about each of its components. you can also use the what is windows azure poster for a quick, visual way to get an overview. the colors of the boxes in figure 1 correspond to their grouping on the poster. the rest of this article walks through the technologies shown in the figure, describing what each one offers and when you might use it. one of the most basic things a cloud platform does is execute applications. windows azure provides three options for doing this, as figure 2 shows. figure 2 : windows azure provides infrastructure as a service ( iaas ), web hosting, and platform as a service ( paas ). each of these three approaches - virtual machines, web sites, and cloud services - can be used separately. you can also combine them to create an application that uses two or more of these options together. the ability to create a virtual machine on demand, whether from a standard image or from one you supply, can be very useful. add the ability to pay for this vm by the hour, and it ' s even more useful. this approach, commonly known as infrastructure as a service ( iaas ), is what windows azure virtual machines provides. to create a vm, you specify


ability to pay for this vm by the hour, and it ' s even more useful. this approach, commonly known as infrastructure as a service ( iaas ), is what windows azure virtual machines provides. to create a vm, you specify which vhd to use and the vm ' s size. you then pay for each hour the vm is running. as figure 2 shows, windows azure virtual machines offers a gallery of standard vhds. these include microsoft - provided options, such as windows server 2008 r2, windows server 2012, and windows server 2008 r2 with sql server, along with linux images provided by microsoft partners. you ' re free to upload and create vms from your own vhds as well. wherever the image comes from, you can persistently store any changes made while a vm is running. the next time you create a vm from that vhd, things pick up where you left off. it ' s also possible to copy the changed vhd out of windows azure, then run it locally. windows azure vms can be used in many different ways. you might use them to create an inexpensive development and test platform that you can shut down when you ' ve finished using it. you might also create and run applications that use whatever languages and libraries you like. those applications can use any of the data management options that windows azure provides, and you can also choose to use sql server or another dbms running in one or more virtual machines. another option is to use windows azure vms as an extension of your on - premises datacenter, running sharepoint or other applications. to support this, it ' s possible to create windows domains in the cloud by running active directory in windows azure vms. this quite general approach to cloud computing can be used to address many different problems. what you do is up to you. one of the most common things that people do in the cloud is run web sites and web applications. windows azure virtual machines allows this, but it still leaves you with the responsibility of administering one or more vms. what if you just want a web site where somebody else takes care of the administrative work for you? this is exactly what windows azure web sites provides. this execution model offers a managed web environment using the windows azure management portal. you can move an existing web site into windows azure web sites unchanged, or you can create a new one directly in the cloud. once a web site is running, you can add or remove instances dynamically, relying on


the windows azure management portal. you can move an existing web site into windows azure web sites unchanged, or you can create a new one directly in the cloud. once a web site is running, you can add or remove instances dynamically, relying on windows azure web sites to load balance requests across them. windows azure web sites offers both a shared option, where your web site runs in a virtual machine with other sites, and a reserved option that allows a site to run in its own vm. the reserved option also lets you increase the size ( computing power ) of your instances if needed. windows azure web sites is intended to be useful for both developers and web design agencies. for development, it supports. net, php, and node. js, along with sql database and ( from cleardb, a microsoft partner ) mysql for relational storage. it also provides built - in support for several popular applications, including wordpress, joomla, and drupal. the goal is to provide a low - cost, scalable, and broadly useful platform for creating web sites and web applications in the public cloud. suppose you want to build a cloud application that can support lots of simultaneous users, doesn ' t require much administration, and never goes down. you might be an established software vendor, for example, that ' s decided to embrace software as a service ( saas ) by building a version of one of your applications in the cloud. or you might be a start - up creating a consumer application that you expect will grow fast. if you ' re building on windows azure, which execution model should you use? windows azure web sites allows creating this kind of web application, but there are some constraints. you don ' t have administrative access, for example, which means that you can ' t install arbitrary software. windows azure virtual machines gives you lots of flexibility, including administrative access, and you certainly can use it to build a very scalable application, but you ' ll have to handle many aspects of reliability and administration yourself. what you ' d like is an option that gives you the control you need but also handles most of the work required for reliability and administration. this is exactly what ' s provided by windows azure cloud services. this technology is designed expressly to support scalable, reliable, and low - admin applications, and it ' s an example of what ' s commonly called platform as a service ( paas ). to use it, you create an application using the technology you choose, such as c #


these has already been mentioned : the ability to run sql server or another dbms in a vm created with windows azure virtual machines. ( it ' s important to realize that this option isn ' t limited to relational systems ; you ' re also free to run nosql technologies such as mongodb and cassandra. ) running your own database system is straightforward - it replicates what we ' re used to in our own datacenters - but it also requires handling the administration of that dbms. to make life easier, windows azure provides three data management options that are largely managed for you. figure 3 shows the choices. figure 3 : for data management, windows azure provides relational storage, scalable nosql tables, and unstructured binary storage. each of the three options addresses a different need : relational storage, fast access to potentially large amounts of simple typed data, and unstructured binary storage. in all three cases, data is automatically replicated across three different computers in a windows azure datacenter to provide high availability. it ' s also worth pointing out that all three options can be accessed either by windows azure applications or by applications running elsewhere, such as your on - premises datacenter, your laptop, or your phone. and however you apply them, you pay for all windows azure data management services based on usage, including a gigabyte - per - month charge for stored data. for relational storage, windows azure provides sql database. formerly called sql azure, sql database provides all of the key features of a relational database management system, including atomic transactions, concurrent data access by multiple users with data integrity, ansi sql queries, and a familiar programming model. like sql server, sql database can be accessed using entity framework, ado. net, jdbc, and other familiar data access technologies. it also supports most of the t - sql language, along with sql server tools such as sql server management studio. for anybody familiar with sql server ( or another relational database ), using sql database is straightforward. but sql database isn ' t just a dbms in the cloud - it ' s a paas service. you still control your data and who can access it, but sql database takes care of the administrative grunt work, such as managing the hardware infrastructure and automatically keeping the database and operating system software up to date. sql database also provides a federation option that distributes data across multiple servers. this is useful for applications that work with large amounts of data or need to spread data access requests across multiple servers for


automatically keeping the database and operating system software up to date. sql database also provides a federation option that distributes data across multiple servers. this is useful for applications that work with large amounts of data or need to spread data access requests across multiple servers for better performance. if you ' re creating a windows azure application ( using any of the three execution models ) that needs relational storage, sql database can be a good option. applications running outside the cloud can also use this service, though, so there are plenty of other scenarios. for instance, data stored in sql database can be accessed from different client systems, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones. and because it provides built - in high availability through replication, using sql database can help minimize downtime. suppose you want to create a windows azure application that needs fast access to typed data, maybe lots of it, but doesn ' t need to perform complex sql queries on this data. for example, imagine you ' re creating a consumer application that needs to store customer profile information for each user. your app is going to be very popular, so you need to allow for lots of data, but you won ' t do much with this data beyond storing it, then retrieving it in simple ways. this is exactly the kind of scenario where windows azure tables makes sense. don ' t be confused by the name : this technology doesn ' t provide relational storage. ( in fact, it ' s an example of a nosql approach called a key / value store. ) instead, windows azure tables let an application store properties of various types, such as strings, integers, and dates. an application can then retrieve a group of properties by providing a unique key for that group. while complex operations like joins aren ' t supported, tables offer fast access to typed data. they ' re also very scalable, with a single table able to hold as much as a terabyte of data. and matching their simplicity, tables are usually less expensive to use than sql database ' s relational storage. the third option for data management, windows azure blobs, is designed to store unstructured binary data. like tables, blobs provides inexpensive storage, and a single blob can be as large as one terabyte. an application that stores video, for example, or backup data or other binary information can use blobs for simple, cheap storage. windows azure applications can also use windows azure drives, which let blobs provide persistent storage for a windows file


. an application that stores video, for example, or backup data or other binary information can use blobs for simple, cheap storage. windows azure applications can also use windows azure drives, which let blobs provide persistent storage for a windows file system mounted in a windows azure instance. the application sees ordinary windows files, but the contents are actually stored in a blob. windows azure runs today in several datacenters spread across the united states, europe, and asia. when you run an application or store data, you can select one or more of these datacenters to use. you can also connect to these datacenters in various ways : you can use windows azure virtual network to connect your own on - premises local network to a defined set of windows azure vms. if your windows azure application is running in multiple datacenters, you can use windows azure traffic manager to route requests from users intelligently across instances of the application. figure 4 illustrates these options. figure 4 : windows azure allows creating a cloud vpn, and intelligently distributing user requests across different datacenters. one useful way to use a public cloud is to treat it as an extension of your own datacenter. because you can create vms on demand, then remove them ( and stop paying ) when they ' re no longer needed, you can have computing power only when you want it. and since windows azure virtual machines lets you can create vms running sharepoint, active directory, and other familiar on - premises software, this approach can work with the applications you already have. to make this really useful, though, your users ought to be able to treat these applications as if they were running in your own datacenter. this is exactly what windows azure virtual network allows. using a vpn gateway device, an administrator can set up a virtual private network ( vpn ) between your local network and a defined group of vms running in windows azure. because you assign your own ip v4 addresses to the cloud vms, they appear to be on your own network. users in your organization can access the applications those vms contain as if they were running locally. a windows azure application with users in just a single part of the world might run in only one windows azure datacenter. an application with users scattered around the world, however, is more likely to run in multiple datacenters, maybe even all of them. in this second situation, you face a problem : how do you intelligently assign users to application instances? most


an application with users scattered around the world, however, is more likely to run in multiple datacenters, maybe even all of them. in this second situation, you face a problem : how do you intelligently assign users to application instances? most of the time, you probably want each user to access the datacenter closest to her, since it will likely give her the best response time. but what if that copy of the application is overloaded or unavailable? in this case, it would be nice to route her request automatically to another datacenter. this is exactly what ' s done by windows azure traffic manager. the owner of an application defines rules that specify how requests from users should be routed to datacenters, then relies on traffic manager to carry out these rules. for example, users might normally be routed to the closest windows azure datacenter, but get sent to another one when the response time from their default datacenter exceeds a certain threshold. for globally distributed applications with many users, having a built - in service to handle problems like these is useful. analyzing data is a fundamental part of how businesses use information technology. a cloud platform provides a pool of on - demand, pay - per - use resources, which makes it a good foundation for this kind of computing. accordingly, windows azure provides two options for business analytics. figure 5 illustrates the choices. figure 5 : for business analytics, windows azure provides reporting and support for big data. analyzing data can take many forms, and so these two options are quite different. it ' s worth looking at each one separately. one of the most common ways to use stored data is to create reports based on that data. to let you do this with data in sql database, windows azure provides sql reporting. a subset of the reporting services included with sql server, sql reporting lets you build reporting into applications running on windows azure or on premises. the reports you create can be in various formats, including html, xml, pdf, excel, and others, and they can be embedded in applications or viewed via a web browser. another option for doing analytics with sql database data is to use on - premises business intelligence tools. to a client, sql database looks like sql server, and so the same technologies can work with both. for example, you ' re free to use on - premises sql server reporting services to create reports from sql database data. for many years, the bulk of data analysis has been done on relational data stored in a data warehouse built with a relational dbms. this


, you ' re free to use on - premises sql server reporting services to create reports from sql database data. for many years, the bulk of data analysis has been done on relational data stored in a data warehouse built with a relational dbms. this kind of business analytics is still important, and it will be for a long time to come. but what if the data you want to analyze is so big that relational databases just can ' t handle it? and suppose the data isn ' t relational? it might be server logs in a datacenter, for example, or historical event data from sensors, or something else. in cases like this, you have what ' s known as a big data problem. you need another approach. the dominant technology today for analyzing big data is hadoop. an apache open source project, this technology stores data using the hadoop distributed file system ( hdfs ), then lets developers create mapreduce jobs to analyze that data. hdfs spreads data across multiple servers, then runs chunks of the mapreduce job on each one, letting the big data be processed in parallel. hdinsight is the name of the windows azure ' s apache hadoop - based service. as figure 5 suggests, hdinsight lets hdfs store data on the cluster and distribute it across multiple vms. it also spreads the logic of a mapreduce job across those vms. just as with on - premises hadoop, data is processed locally - the logic and the data it works on are in the same vm - and in parallel for better performance. hdinsight can also store data in windows azure storage vault ( asv ), which uses blobs. using asv allows you to save money because you can delete your hdinsight cluster when not in use, but still keep your data in the cloud. hdinsight supports other components of the hadoop ecosystem as well, including hive and pig. microsoft has also created components that make it easier to work with data produced by hdinsight using traditional bi tools, such as the hiveodbc adapter and data explorer that work with excel. no matter what it ' s doing, code frequently needs to interact with other code. in some situations, all that ' s needed is basic queued messaging. in other cases, more complex interactions are required. windows azure provides a few different ways to solve these problems. figure 6 illustrates the choices. figure 6 : for connecting applications, windows azure provides queues, publish / subscribe, and sync


messaging. in other cases, more complex interactions are required. windows azure provides a few different ways to solve these problems. figure 6 illustrates the choices. figure 6 : for connecting applications, windows azure provides queues, publish / subscribe, and synchronous connections via the cloud. queuing is a simple idea : one application places a message in a queue, and that message is eventually read by another application. if your application needs just this straightforward service, windows azure queues might be the best choice. one common use of queues today is to let a web role instance communicate with a worker role instance within the same cloud services application. for example, suppose you create a windows azure application for video sharing. the application consists of php code running in a web role that lets users upload and watch videos, together with a worker role implemented in c # that translates uploaded video into various formats. when a web role instance gets a new video from a user, it can store the video in a blob, then send a message to a worker role via a queue telling it where to find this new video. a worker role instance - it doesn ' t matter which one - will then read the message from the queue and carry out the required video translations in the background. structuring an application in this way allows asynchronous processing, and it also makes the application easier to scale, since the number of web role instances and worker role instances can be varied independently. whether they run in the cloud, in your data center, on a mobile device, or somewhere else, applications need to interact. the goal of windows azure service bus is to let applications running pretty much anywhere exchange data. as figure 6 shows, service bus provides a queuing service. this service isn ' t identical to the queues just described, however. unlike windows azure queues, for example, service bus provides a both queues ( one - to - one ) and publish - and - subscribe mechanisms. with publish - subscribe, an application can send messages to a topic, while other applications can create subscriptions to this topic. this allows one - to - many communication among a set of applications, letting the same message be read by multiple recipients. and queuing isn ' t the only option : service bus also allows direct communication through its relay service, providing a secure way to interact through firewalls. service bus relays enable applications to communicate by exchanging messages through an endpoint hosted in the cloud, rather than locally. applications that communicate


: service bus also allows direct communication through its relay service, providing a secure way to interact through firewalls. service bus relays enable applications to communicate by exchanging messages through an endpoint hosted in the cloud, rather than locally. applications that communicate through service bus might be windows azure applications or software running on some other cloud platform. they can also be applications running outside the cloud, however. for example, think of an airline that implements reservation services in computers inside its own datacenter. the airline needs to expose these services to many clients, including check - in kiosks in airports, reservation agent terminals, and maybe even customers ' phones. it might use service bus to do this, creating loosely coupled interactions among the various applications. applications tend to access the same data over and over. one way to improve performance is to keep a copy of that data closer to the application, minimizing the time needed to retrieve it. windows azure provides two different services for doing this : in - memory caching of data used by windows azure applications and a content delivery network ( cdn ) that caches blob data on disk closer to its users. figure 7 shows both. figure 7 : a windows azure application can cache data in memory, and copies of a blob can be cached at sites around the world. accessing data stored in any of windows azure ' s data management services - sql database, tables, or blobs - is quite fast. yet accessing data stored in memory is even faster. because of this, keeping an in - memory copy of frequently accessed data can improve application performance. you can use windows azure ' s in - memory caching to do this. a cloud services application can store data in this cache, then retrieve it directly without needing to access persistent storage. as figure 7 shows, the cache can be maintained inside your application ' s vms or be provided by vms dedicated solely to caching. in either case, the cache can be distributed, with the data it contains spread across multiple vms in a windows azure datacenter. an application that repeatedly reads a product catalog might benefit from using this kind of caching, for example, since the data it needs will be available more quickly. the technology also supports locking, letting it be used with read / write as well as read - only data. and asp. net applications can use the service to store session data with just a configuration change. suppose you need to store blob data that will be accessed by users around


be used with read / write as well as read - only data. and asp. net applications can use the service to store session data with just a configuration change. suppose you need to store blob data that will be accessed by users around the world. maybe it ' s a video of the latest world cup match, for instance, or driver updates, or a popular e - book. storing a copy of the data in multiple windows azure datacenters will help, but if there are lots of users, it ' s probably not enough. for even better performance, you can use the windows azure cdn. the cdn has dozens of sites around the world, each capable of storing copies of windows azure blobs. the first time a user in some part of the world accesses a particular blob, the information it contains is copied from a windows azure datacenter into local cdn storage in that geography. after this, accesses from that part of the world will use the blob copy cached in the cdn - they won ' t need to go all the way to the nearest windows azure datacenter. the result is faster access to frequently accessed data by users anywhere in the world. working with identity is part of most applications. for example, knowing who a user is lets an application decide how it should interact with that user. to help you do this, microsoft provides windows azure active directory. like most directory services, windows azure active directory stores information about users and the organizations they belong to. it lets users log in, then supplies them with tokens they can present to applications to prove their identity. it also allows synchronizing user information with windows server active directory running on premises in your local network. while the mechanisms and data formats used by windows azure active directory aren ’ t identical with those used in windows server active directory, the functions it performs are quite similar. it ' s important to understand that windows azure active directory is designed primarily for use by cloud applications. it can be used by applications running on windows azure, for example, or on other cloud platforms. it ' s also used by microsoft ' s own cloud applications, such as those in office 365. if you want to extend your datacenter into the cloud using windows azure virtual machines and windows azure virtual network, however, windows azure active directory isn ' t the right choice. instead, you ' ll want to run windows server active directory in cloud vms, as described earlier. to let applications access the information it


azure virtual machines and windows azure virtual network, however, windows azure active directory isn ' t the right choice. instead, you ' ll want to run windows server active directory in cloud vms, as described earlier. to let applications access the information it contains, windows azure active directory provides a restful api called windows azure active directory graph. this api lets applications running on any platform access directory objects and the relationships among them. for example, an authorized application might use this api to learn about a user, the groups he belongs to, and other information. applications can also see relationships between users - their social graph - letting them work more intelligently with the connections among people. another capability of this service, windows azure active directory access control, makes it easier for an application to accept identity information from facebook, google, windows live id, and other popular identity providers. rather than requiring the application to understand the diverse data formats and protocols used by each of these providers, access control translates all of them into a single common format. it also lets an application accept logins from one or more active directory domains. for example, a vendor providing a saas application might use windows azure active directory access control to give users in each of its customers single sign - on to the application. directory services are a core underpinning of on - premises computing. it shouldn ' t be surprising that they ' re also important in the cloud. one of the most attractive ways to use a cloud platform is for high - performance computing ( hpc ), the essence of hpc is executing code on many machines at the same time. on windows azure, this means running many virtual machines simultaneously, all working in parallel to solve some problem. doing this requires some way to schedule applications, i. e., to distribute their work across these instances. to allow this, windows azure provides the hpc scheduler. this component can work with hpc applications built to use the industry - standard message passing interface ( mpi ). software that does finite element analysis, such as car crash simulations, is one example of this type of application, and there are many others. the hpc scheduler can also be used with so - called embarrassingly parallel applications, such as monte carlo simulations. whatever problem is addressed, the value it provides is the same : the hpc scheduler handles the complex problem of scheduling parallel computing work across many windows azure virtual machines. the goal is to make it easier to build hpc applications running in the cloud. video makes up a large part of


provides is the same : the hpc scheduler handles the complex problem of scheduling parallel computing work across many windows azure virtual machines. the goal is to make it easier to build hpc applications running in the cloud. video makes up a large part of internet traffic today, and that percentage will be even larger tomorrow. yet providing video on the web isn ' t simple. there are lots of variables, such as the encoding algorithm and the display resolution of the user ' s screen. video also tends to have bursts in demand, like a saturday night spike when lots of people decide they ' d like to watch an online movie. given its popularity, it ' s a safe bet that many new applications will be created that use video. yet all of them will need to solve some of the same problems, and making each one solve those problems on its own makes no sense. a better approach is to create a platform that provides common solutions for many applications to use. and building this platform in the cloud has some clear advantages. it can be broadly available on a pay - as - you - go basis, and it can also handle the variability in demand that video applications often face. windows azure media services addresses this problem. it provides a set of cloud components that make life easier for people creating and running applications using video and other media. figure 8 illustrates the technology. figure 8 : media services is a platform for applications that provide video and other media to clients around the world. as the figure shows, media services provides a set of components for applications that work with video and other media. for example, it includes a media ingest component to upload video into media services ( where it ' s stored in windows azure blobs ), an encoding component that supports various video and audio formats, a content protection component that provides digital rights management, a component for inserting ads into a video stream, components for streaming, and more. microsoft partners can also provide components for the platform, then have microsoft distribute those components and bill on their behalf. applications that use this platform can run on windows azure or elsewhere. for example, a desktop application for a video production house might let its users upload video to media services, then process it in various ways. alternatively, a cloud - based content management service running on windows azure might rely on media services to process and distribute video. wherever it runs and whatever it does, each application chooses which components it needs to use, accessing them through restful interfaces. to distribute what it produces, an application can use the windows


azure might rely on media services to process and distribute video. wherever it runs and whatever it does, each application chooses which components it needs to use, accessing them through restful interfaces. to distribute what it produces, an application can use the windows azure cdn, another cdn, or just send bits directly to users. however it gets there, video created using media services can be consumed by various client systems, including windows, macintosh, html 5, ios, android, windows phone, flash, and silverlight. the goal is to make it easier to create modern media applications. the rise of software as a service is transforming how we create applications. it ' s also transforming how we sell applications. since a saas application lives in the cloud, it makes sense that its potential customers should look for solutions online. and this change applies to data as well as to applications. why shouldn ' t people look to the cloud for commercially available datasets? microsoft addresses both of these concerns with windows azure marketplace and windows azure store, illustrated in figure 9. figure 9 : windows azure marketplace and windows azure store let you find and buy windows azure applications and commercial datasets. the difference between the two is that marketplace is outside of the windows azure management portal, but the store can be accessed from the portal. potential customers can search either to find windows azure applications that meet their needs, then sign up to use them either through the application ' s creator or directly through the marketplace or store. customers can search either for commercial datasets as well, including demographic data, financial data, geographic data, and more. when they find something they like, they can access it either from the vendor, directly through the marketplace or store web locations or in some cases from the management portal. applications can also use the bing search api through the marketplace, giving them access to the results of web searches. back in 2008, the very first pre - release version of windows azure supported only. net development. today, however, you can create windows azure applications in pretty much any language. microsoft currently provides language - specific sdks for. net, java, php, node. js, ruby, and python. there ' s also a general windows azure sdk that provides basic support for any language, such as c + +. these sdks help you build, deploy, and manage windows azure applications. they ' re available either from www. windowsazure. com or github, and they can be used with visual studio and eclipse. windows azure


learn something new every day more info... by email gross national income ( gni ) and purchasing power parity ( ppp ) can be closely related, as gni may be expressed in terms of ppp for comparison purposes. this gni and ppp adjustment allows viewers to generalize financial declarations on an international scale, so they better understand metrics from different countries. numerous organizations maintain frequently updated references on the gni of various nations around the world, adjusted by ppp for convenience. the gni and ppp connection is important to consider when looking at these documents. to calculate gni, analysts look at the total value of goods and services produced within a given time period, such as a year. it is very similar to the gross domestic product ( gdp ), which measures the same characteristics. with the gni, however, analysts also evaluate things produced overseas that add value to the nation, looking at what residents produce regardless of where it ’ s located. thus, products made in africa for a company based in britain would be part of britain ’ s gni. for ppp calculations, analysts look at purchasing power by nation, recognizing that simple currency conversions don ’ t account for inflation and other factors. they convert to a uniform hypothetical international currency, looking at what a dollar ’ s worth of that currency would buy in any nation around the world. a loaf of bread might cost $ 3 in this hypothetical currency in one nation, but $ 6 in another, showing that a dollar goes further in some places than others. looking at gni and ppp, researchers want to be able to accurately depict information about a country ’ s financial status and economy. just listing gni doesn ’ t provide enough context, because people don ’ t know how the country compares to others. listing information with adjustments for ppp allows for cross comparisons ; a country might look like it has a high gni, for example, but when compared with other countries after adjustment for ppp, it might appear less impressive. the connection between gni and ppp is important for analysts, because when numbers are adjusted, it is important to know which metrics were used. information about the gni and ppp conversion can be important in the future when researchers want to evaluate the validity and usability of the data. some charts may provide raw data in addition to ppp adjustments so viewers can check the math themselves. ppp conversions can also be used for discussions of other financial matters, to provide a context and base for comparison to make these topics


national museum of african american history and culture groundbreaking wednesday the newest exhibit explores thomas jefferson ' s lifelong ownership of slaves and his conflict and advocacy against slavery, while also looking at the lives of six slave families who lived on his monticello plantation in virginia to humanize the issue of slavery. telling such stories has been taboo at many museums in the past and missing from the national mall. bunch said that by presenting a fuller view of history and dealing directly with difficult issues like race, the smithsonian can present a fuller view of history and what it means to be an american. " what this museum can do is if we tell the unvarnished truth in a way that ' s engaging and not preachy, what i think will happen is that by illuminating all the dark corners of the american experience, we will help people find reconciliation and healing, " he said. curators estimate that 15, 000 to 20, 000 artifacts already are in hand. bunch estimates they will need about 35, 000 artifacts to choose from to create the museum ' s permanent galleries. the staff is working to collect more material on popular culture and music, earlier materials from military history from world war i and earlier and artifacts to tell stories from the 19th century, including slavery and reconstruction. in washington, the black history museum will follow major museums devoted to the holocaust and to native american history. legislation has also been introduced in congress to create a smithsonian american latino museum. actress phylicia rashad, famous from tv ' s " the cosby show, " is hosting the groundbreaking ceremony wednesday. in an interview, she said african - american history is interconnected with many other groups. " this is what makes america really great and unique is that there are different peoples living here who come together as one people, she said, adding that she hopes to be surprised by what the new museum can offer. " i would like to see some stories i ' ve never imagined. i ' d like to see some stories that aren ' t so well talked about but that have documentation to back them up. " the groundbreaking also marks the start of a public fundraising campaign to build the museum. officials revealed about $ 100 million has been raised to date in private funds. this includes $ 5 million gifts from wal - mart, american express, boeing, target and unitedhealth group. the bill and melinda gates foundation and the lilly endowment each gave $ 10 million in recent years. some celebrities also are supporting the project, including quincy jones and oprah winfrey, whose foundation gave $ 1 million. del


and unitedhealth group. the bill and melinda gates foundation and the lilly endowment each gave $ 10 million in recent years. some celebrities also are supporting the project, including quincy jones and oprah winfrey, whose foundation gave $ 1 million. delphia duckens, the museum ' s associate director for fundraising, said the museum will begin a regional campaign targeting key markets of new york, los angeles, houston, dallas, chicago, atlanta and washington. they are modeling the strategy to seek individual donors on the recent effort to build a martin luther king jr. memorial and on obama ' s 2008 presidential campaign, she said. those campaigns maximized the value of drawing many small gifts online, in addition to major donors, she said. " this is a museum for everybody, " she said. " we to model it such that everybody can say they had a part in making this a reality. " national museum of african american history and culture : http : / / www. nmaahc. si. edu would you like to contribute to this story? join the discussion. recommendedrecent facebook activity only on 7 for all the breaking stories happening in your neighborhood and developing stories happening around the world, join leon harris and alison starling weeknights on abc7 news at 5 and 11. tbd blogs what you need to read @ tbd on foot best of tbd in case you missed it billed as the biggest food truck assembly to ever happen in d. c., " curbside cookoff : trucko de mayo " took place on saturday with at least 40 vendors.


cloak of deceit. dear word detective : i was just reading an old column of yours on the phrase “ made it up out of whole cloth ” to mean “ lying ” and wondered, given the textile reference, if there is any connection between “ fabrication ” and “ fabric. ” — tim maguire. that sounds like the foundation of a bad pun, but it ’ s actually a good question. of course, that presumes that there is such a thing as a “ good ” pun, an assertion i would contest. for some reason, probably born of a childhood trauma now buried in a cobwebbed corner of my psyche, i loathe puns. feh. don ’ t mind me ; i ’ m in a bad mood because i have to type this with an index finger badly bitten by an ungrateful cat. long story. where were we? yes, there is a family connection between “ fabric ” and “ fabrication, ” but the connection between “ fabric ” in the “ cloth ” sense and “ fabrication ” in the “ lie ” sense is very indirect, akin to that between two second cousins who only met once, as children. but before we proceed, we ’ d better take a moment to explain “ to make something up out of whole cloth, ” meaning to invent a story that contains not even a smidgen of truth. “ whole cloth ” has been used since the 15th century to mean a large piece of cloth in its original state, not yet cut up for sewing. as a metaphor in use since the 19th century for a story completely invented out of thin air, “ from whole cloth ” carries the same sense of “ starting from the absolute beginning ” as is found in the phrase “ starting from scratch, ” which originally referred to a scratch or line drawn on the ground as the starting line for a race. in the case of “ fabric ” and “ fabrication, ” the connection is a common root, the latin noun “ faber, ” meaning a craftsman such as a carpenter or blacksmith. the derivative “ fabrica ” meant “ workshop ” or “ product, ” and the verb “ fabricare ” meant “ to make or build. ” that verb “ fabricare ” eventually gave us the english word “ fabricate, ” which appeared in the late 16th century with the meaning of “ to make, construct or manufacture ” anything that requires skill, but by the early 20th century “ fabricate ” had taken on the specific meaning of “ to semi - finished materials into a finished product, ”


the late 16th century with the meaning of “ to make, construct or manufacture ” anything that requires skill, but by the early 20th century “ fabricate ” had taken on the specific meaning of “ to semi - finished materials into a finished product, ” as one might “ fabricate ” bumpers from rolled steel. ( whatever happened to steel bumpers, anyway? ) meanwhile, back in the 18th century, that “ make or construct ” sense had led to the use of “ fabricate ” to mean “ constructing ” a story that was utterly untrue, which gave us “ fabrication ” meaning just such a lie. the original meaning of “ fabric, ” when it first appeared in english in the late 15th century ( derived via the french “ fabrique ” from the latin “ fabrica ” ) was, literally, “ building ” ( “ a vaulted fabric without wood or iron - work, three stories high, ” 1756 ). “ fabric ” went on to mean pretty much anything that could be built or manufactured, but settled down in the mid - 18th century to being used in our modern sense to mean “ textile, cloth. ” interestingly, so complete has this narrowing process been that even figurative references to “ the fabric of the universe, ” etc., are usually based on this “ textile ” sense of “ fabric ” ( “ faith in the unseen and reverence for the divine … are inwoven in the very fabric of our nature, ” 1877 ). so there is a connection between “ fabric ” and “ fabrication, ” but it has nothing to do with “ whole cloth ” and making stuff up. honest.


want to learning a programming language i found this course starting on the 3rd of october in waterford college of further education. introduction to software development ( java ) this course has been designed to introduce students to the concepts of programming and the techniques involved in constructing small programs. the course would be suited to people interested in learning the fundamentals of java programming or for people considering returning to third level education in the area of information technology and / or computer science. this course may also be of interest to people in the workplace who support software development projects. • an understanding of the windows based operating systems such as xp, vista and windows 7 • an interest in learning a programming language ive spent most of my life designing on / using apple machines. i know my way around a pc, as in i use them on a day to day bases for general things, windows 98, 2000, xp and vista. the entry requirements state an understanding of the windows based operating system and and interest in learning a programming language. my question is i ' m very interested in learning a programming language ( currently learning html5 & css3, i know this is just mark - up and not a language ) but do i have enough of the understanding of the pc os? really i suppose i want to know am i just wasting my time and money, comments and advice are greatly appreciated. great to hear you are thinking of learning a programming language. there are plenty of online resources that can help you get started. first i would pick a good ide ( integrated development environment ). we use netbeans here and i can highly recommend it. you can program in java, c + +, php all from the one ide and best of all its free and runs on apple osx. there are also some good online courses which will show you the basics and let you decide if its is for you. ive done a bit of work in java before and it might be a steep learning curve if you have never done any programming before. we use php here and it is a great little language to get you used to things if you are a complete novice. as for your question about using the pc, id say you will be fine if you are used to using osx. either way i highly recommnd playing around with some of the free online resources before you go paying any money to see if its something you are interested in. just out of curiosity how long is the course and what does it cost? i would say that if you are able to understand html and cs


some of the free online resources before you go paying any money to see if its something you are interested in. just out of curiosity how long is the course and what does it cost? i would say that if you are able to understand html and css then the next step is something like java, php or. net. the course does say it is an introduction so with your background in html etc i would say that it would be a good course to do! the os will not be a problem, you do not need to get into the nitty gritty of how the os work to be able to program. if you can use a pc for the regular day to day stuff then you will be fine. cheers niall for the quick response, the course is for 10 weeks, on a monday night, at 150 euro, not a huge amount but in these recessionary times if im spending it i want it to be of value, as well as this i dont want to drop myself into something that is way out of my league. ive wanted to learn to program for quite a while. thanks niall, steve my background in recent years is in design for print, im still working within the print industry, ( bored, but its a job, pays the bills etc ) over the last couple of months ive decided that i need to re - educate myself, " i need a new challenge " i would have been involved with web design about 7 - 8 years back in the last dot com bubble, mostly dabbling with adobe dreamweaver and leaving the complicated bits to a couple of programmers that i worked with at the time. now ive almost ditched dreamweaver, and work with a text editor and browser and have immersed myself in html5 and css3, exciting stuff, at least for me anyway. also i have start to work with a guy who develops in erlang, and with the zotonic cms. it ' s very early stages but i just feei i need to start looking at learning to program. you may be interested in adobe edge it all works on iphone ipad ( or other non flash devices ) there could be a bright future for this tech as you can display flashy looking ads in mobile devides, this isnt possible at the moment i dont think.


information contained on this page is provided by newsusa, an independent third - party content provider. worldnow and this station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. / parentingtodayskids. com ) - the explosions of technology, mobile and social media use among tweens and teens have left many parents increasingly in the dark about what their children see, say and do every day, and without a clue as to what to do about it. the truth is, most children have a hard enough time navigating the potential threats and pitfalls that come with being a " tween " or teen in the physical world, and the digital component only compounds the situation. many parents today have no idea what kind of information their teens are accessing and sharing on a daily basis, while most kids have no idea of the potentially far - reaching consequences of their online behaviors and activities. so the question is : how can parents help teens and tweens navigate their physical and digital worlds in a way that will keep them safe and on the right track? 1. start a dialogue with your teen / tween. talk about sexting, cyberbullying, hazing and other threatening acts. make your teen feel comfortable coming to you or other trusted adults if inappropriate content is shared with them. 2. remember that you own the technology. communicate upfront that you are the owner of the computer or phone and should have access to it, as well as any passwords used on the device. 3. learn from experts. be sure to set controls on your teen ' s computer and smartphone to monitor usage and activity. for parents looking for advice and to learn from first - hand experiences on how to better protect their teens around technology use and other areas of their life, log onto www. parentingtodayskids. com. the site brings together a roundtable of experts from legal, safety and parenting experts to real - world moms and teens who engage in and offer words of wisdom to address today ' s parenting challenges. what parents teach their kids now about safe and appropriate online and mobile behavior will help ensure a happy and healthy passage to adulthood. lisa shaw is the senior director of online teen safety and protection at spectorsoft and editor at parentingtodayskids. com.


the flute is the instrument often considered to most closely mimic the human voice. playing the flute is a personal experience and a unique extension of communication. typically a young flutist gets their start on a student flute, which is typically a concert c flute. if their fingers are not quite large enough to reach the keys, curved headjoints are available to get them started. also in the flute family are piccolos, eb, alto, and bass flutes. flutes are some of the oldest instruments in history and have been found in numerous cultures. they have gone through a variety of changes over the centuries but a flute created by theobold boehm in 1846 has remained the standard since its creation. boehm was the first flutist in the royal bavarian orchestra and also studied acoustics at the university of munich. his interests and skills uniquely joined when he began developing flutes. after a series of experiments and trials, boehm developed a flute with a cylindrical body, tapered headjoint, and large toneholes covered by keys. he also tested many types of material but introduced his flutes in silver and a copper, zinc, nickel alloy called german silver. at the time of boehm ’ s flute, wood was still the primary material being used for flutes. the value and importance of a good teacher is incredibly important in the development of young musicians. great flute teachers like marcel moyse have shaped generations of flutists based on the precedent they set with their own students. marcel moyse was a famous french flutist who performed widely and had many compositions written for him including the famous 1934 “ flute concerto ” by jacques ibert. moyse studied at the paris conservatory under phillippe gaubert, adolphe hennebains, and paul taffand. beyond his career as a performer, moyse also founded the marlboro music school and festival. he developed numerous studies and exercises that are still utilized by flute teachers today. among his writings are works like “ tone development through interpretation. ” many flutists went on from moyse ’ s tutelage to become quite successful including william bennett and james galway. beyond all of the exercises and techniques that marcel moyse taught, his underlying emphasis was not on teaching students how to play the flute, but teaching them how to make music instead. today flute teachers draw from previous virtuosos and instructors like marcel moyse as they introduce the student flute to numerous young musicians. with the aid of the internet, more flute instruction and exposure to music can be supplemented


yes! national student writing competition the yes! national student writing competition is an opportunity for middle school through university students to write for a real audience — not just you, the teacher — and the chance to be published by an award - winning magazine. each quarter, students are invited to read and write an essay on a selected yes! magazine article. we divide contestants into four categories : middle school, high school, university, and powerful voice ( for authors whose essays are powerful and passionate ). winning essays in each category are published on the yes! magazine website and in our online education newsletter. spring 2013 national student writing competition : this spring, students will read and respond to the yes! article, “ a month without monsanto, ” by april davila. april ' s story is about the confidence she developed from knowing what she is eating. after april learned of the possible health effects related to eating genetically modified corn from monsanto, she had an insatiable need to know more. she wondered where exactly monsanto corn existed in her family ' s diet, and where her food came from. genetically modified organisms, commonly referred to as “ gmos, ” are organisms in which the genetic material or dna has been altered in a way that doesn ' t occur naturally. prompt : your students should write an essay of up to 700 words answering the questions : april davila discovered that around 70 percent of processed foods on american supermarket shelves contain genetically modified organisms ( gmos ). does this concern you? what matters most to you about the food you eat? the deadline for registration is april 27. essays must be submitted no later than may 18, 2013. how does it work? - complete the competition registration form ( see link at bottom of page ) - students read and respond to the yes! article in up to 700 words. - submit up to three essays per class period, along with student release forms. - for each of the following categories, yes! staff ( and possibly the author of the article ) will select one essay that we feel is well - written, compelling, and captures the spirit of the article : - grades 6 - 8 - grades 9 - 12 - powerful voice ( for an author whose essay is uniquely powerful or thought - provoking ) - the selected essays will be featured on the yes! magazine website and in our online education newsletter, reaching thousands of yes! readers, including over 26, 000 teachers. - teachers who submit essays will be entered into a drawing to win a complete set of 23 yes! posters for their


on the yes! magazine website and in our online education newsletter, reaching thousands of yes! readers, including over 26, 000 teachers. - teachers who submit essays will be entered into a drawing to win a complete set of 23 yes! posters for their classroom, valued at $ 66. see what you could win here! common core state standards : this writing competition meets several common core state standards for grades 6 - 12, including w. 9 - 10. 3 and w. 9 - 10. 4 for writing, and ri. 9 - 10. 1 and ri. 9 - 10. 2 for reading : informational text * * this standard applies to other grade levels. “ 9 - 10 ” is used as an example. who is eligible? - you must be a classroom teacher — homeschool cooperatives and resource centers included — for your students to participate. - student writers should be in grades 6 - 8, grades 9 - 12, college / university, or adult continuing education, and should reside in the united states. what are the essay requirements? - respond to the article and writing prompt provided by yes! - provide an original essay title - reference the article - no more than 700 words - must be original, unpublished work - teachers must read and submit their students ' essays. remember, the limit is three essays per class period! please take time to read your students ' essays to ensure they have met essay requirements, including correct grammar. unfortunately, we cannot accept essays sent independently by students. in addition, we are evaluating essays for : - strong style and personal voice. we encourage writers to include personal examples and insights. - originality and clarity of content and ideas how do i submit the three best essays from my class? - you must be registered for the competition by april 27, 2013. - e - mail your three best student essays as word - processed document attachments ( preferably word and nor as a pdf or scanned document, please ) to firstname. lastname @ example. org no later than may 18, 2013. - include a scanned, completed student release form with each submitted essay. questions? please email email @ example. com, and thank you for joining us! get started here : that means, we rely on support from our readers. independent. nonprofit. subscriber - supported.


ames research center, calif. oct. 04, 2004 nasa infrared images may provide volcano clues nasa scientists took infrared ( ir ) digital images of mount saint helens ' last week. the images revealed signs of heat below the surface one day before the volcano erupted last friday in southern washington. the images may provide valuable clues as to how the volcano erupted. scientists flew an ir imaging system aboard a small cessna caravan aircraft over the mountain to acquire the data. " based on the ir signal, the team predicted an imminent eruption, " said steve hipskind, acting chief of the earth science division at nasa ' s ames research center ( arc ), moffett field, calif. " we were seeing some thermal artifacts in the floor of the mount saint helens ' crater in southern washington, " said bruce coffland, a member of the airborne sensor facility at arc. " we flew thursday and used the 50 - channel modis / aster airborne simulator ( master ) digital imaging system. we are working to create images from the ir data that depict the thermal signatures on the dome, " coffland added. master is an airborne simulator instrument similar to the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer ( aster ) high - resolution infrared imager carried on nasa ' s terra earth observation satellite. scientists plan to fly the master instrument again over the volcano early this week. the arc airborne sensor team was in the area taking data for a united states geological survey ( usgs ) study examining some of the effects of the 1980 mount saint helens ' eruption. " this had been planned for some time, and we were there totally by coincidence, " coffland said. the science objectives for the usgs study were to outline the boundaries of the lava flows associated with mt. st. helens ' previous eruptions in 1980. " we flew four flight lines over the mountain, " coffland said. " it ' s a continuous scan image, eight miles long ( 13 kilometers ) and about 2. 3 miles ( 3. 7 kilometers ) wide. " there were four adjoining flight lines flown for joel robinson, an investigator at usgs, menlo park, calif. after the plane landed, technicians downloaded data from a computer hard drive, and began to process the data to produce an image format for use by scientists. nasa will post the pre and post eruption infrared images on the web. sky research, based in ashland, ore. provided the cessna caravan, a propeller driven, single - engine airplane that carried the ir imager. to access images


walk by nancy baxter hastings ’ workshop - calculus classroom, and you ’ ll never believe that she ’ s teaching math. | nancy hastings ’ accessible approach to math is meeting with great success among all majors at dickinson. above, hastings ( left ) discusses a concept in the calculus lab. that ’ s because hastings, holder of the theodore & catherine mathias chair in mathematics and computer science, cleverly crosses boundaries, replacing traditional lectures with an innovative learning environment where students “ read, write and discuss math ” — and even enjoy it. what does reading, writing and discussing math entail? “ students learn by doing, ” hastings explains. “ instead of my going up to the board and telling them how to do a particular problem, students work together on activities that are designed to help them understand new ideas. as a result, they develop a sense of ownership of the material. ” this approach to teaching was inspired in the early ’ 90s by dickinson ’ s workshop - physics program, which already fostered activity - and observation - based learning. in 1991, hastings, then associate professor of mathematics allan rossman and physics professor priscilla laws received their first three - year grant from the u. s. department of education ’ s fund for improvement of postsecondary education ( fipse ) for development of a similar workshop program for mathematics. “ the idea was that, to start, we ’ d spend a year designing activities, a year testing them, a year revising them and then we ’ d be done, ” hastings says. “ but the project kept going and, since that initial grant, we ’ ve had continuous funding for our project from the national science foundation ( nsf ) and fipse. ” along with the workbooks she developed — including workshop calculus : a guided exploration with review — hastings creatively uses technology to help students learn calculus concepts. for example, her students use motion detectors — box - like devices that emit signals to detect movement — to understand graphic representations. “ i watched [ laws ’ ] students use a motion detector to think about velocity, ” hastings recalls. “ i thought, ‘ hey, our students could use this to think about graphs and functions. ’ “ if you walk in front of the box, the box measures and graphs how far away you are from it, ” hastings explains. “ if you increase your distance, it draws a curve that goes uphill. if you decrease your distance, the curve goes downhill. using this, students develop an understanding of the shape of graphs — they develop a mental image