On June 24th, 1997, Ween released their sixth full-length album through Elektra Records. The Mollusk, known for its psychedelic darkness and heavy progressive rock influence, is a favorite amongst Ween fans. The album market only their second time recording in a professional studio and the first time Dean and Gene Ween welcomed a traditional band,including current keyboardist Glen McClelland, to record. Dean once commented that it was also his favorite ween album and that it was the “only record that I ever felt really confident about.”With songs like “Mutilated Lips, “The Golden Eel,” “Cold Blows the Wind,” “Buckingham Green,” and “Ocean Man,” The Mollusk takes charge as one of the more definitive records in Ween’s thirty-plus-year history. What started as a middle school friendship has certainly blossomed into a collective sound that will forever brown across the speakers of music history. All hail the mighty Boognish!Ween’s performance of The Mollusk on WahWahThe Mollusk [Full Album]Ween recently added a new crop of fall tour dates. For a full list of upcoming performances, head to the band’s website.
Self-diagnosis on Internet not always good practice
Hundreds of millions of times every year many of us turn to a new kind of online software called symptom checkers to try to self-diagnose our symptoms and to get advice on whether we should seek further medical care or just rest at home until we feel better.But how good is the information we receive?The first wide-scale study of the accuracy of general-purpose symptom checkers found that although the online programs are often wrong, they are roughly equivalent to telephone triage lines commonly used at primary care practices — and they are better than general Internet-search self-diagnosis and triage. The study, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS), is published in the BMJ.“These tools may be useful in patients who are trying to decide whether they should get to a doctor quickly, but in many cases, users should be cautious and not take the information they receive from online symptom checkers as gospel,” said senior author Ateev Mehrotra, associate professor of health care policy and medicine at HMS and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.Symptom checkers are hosted by medical schools (including Harvard Medical School), hospital systems, insurance companies, and government agencies (including the United Kingdom’s National Health Service). This type of software asks users to list their symptoms, using methods such as multiple-choice checklists and free text entry. Once a program has collected the information, the computer returns a list of potential illnesses that might cause the listed symptoms and suggests whether the patient should seek care immediately, visit a doctor in the next few days, or use self-care methods, such as resting at home.To test the symptom checkers, the researchers created standardized lists of symptoms from 45 clinical vignettes that are used to teach and test medical students and then input those symptoms into 23 different symptom checkers. Overall, the software algorithms that the researchers studied listed the correct diagnosis first in 34 percent of cases. The correct diagnosis was included in the top three diagnoses in the list in 51 percent of cases and in the top 20 in 58 percent.In many cases, getting the exact diagnosis may not be as important as getting the correct advice about whether — or how quickly — to go to the doctor.“It’s not nearly as important for a patient with fever, headache, stiff neck, and confusion to know whether they have meningitis or encephalitis as it is for them to know that they should get to an ER quickly,” Mehrotra said.Overall, the 23 symptom checkers provided correct triage advice in 58 percent of cases, with the checkers performing much better in more critical cases, correctly recommending emergency care in 80 percent of urgent cases. In comparison, other studies have found that Internet search engines for urgent symptoms led to content that suggested emergency medical treatment only 64 percent of the time.The symptom checkers that were evaluated tended to be overly cautious, encouraging users to seek care for situations where staying at home might be reasonable. The researchers noted that this tendency toward conservative advice encouraged people to seek unnecessary care — an outcome that health care reform strives to minimize in order to reduce costs.The researchers found a great deal of variation between checkers, but none was without limitations; for example, checkers with the most accurate diagnoses (Isabel, iTriage, Mayo Clinic, and Symcat) were not on the list of the programs that did the best job of recommending the appropriate level of care for a given case (Healthychildren.org, Steps2Care, and Symptify).Symptom checkers are part of a larger trend of both patients and practitioners using online platforms for a range of health care tasks, such as patient-doctor chat sessions and algorithmic tools used to aid the diagnosis and triage of patients, the researchers said.“The tools are not likely to go away,” said first author Hannah Semigran, HMS research assistant in health care policy. “With symptom trackers, we’re looking at the first generation of a new technology. It’s important to continue to track their performance to see if they can reach their full potential in helping patients get the right care.”Other authors on the study were Courtney Gidengil, HMS instructor in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and a physician-scientist at the Rand Corp., and Jeffrey Linder, HMS associate professor of medicine and a physician and researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.Harvard Medical School’s Family Health Guide is used as the basis for one of the symptom checkers evaluated. None of the study authors is involved with the HMS-related symptom checker.This study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
EMC ProtectPoint is Now Flash Optimized for 20x Faster Oracle Backup!
You wouldn’t drive a racecar without a helmet and you shouldn’t buy an all-flash array without data protection. Organizations usually want flash to accelerate workloads and to support workloads that sometimes require hundreds of thousands of IOPS with sub-millisecond latency. But most traditional backup can’t meet the performance or efficiency demands of mission-critical applications on flash. An all-flash array demands protection without compromise with the performance to meet strict SLAs – including backup windows, RPO and recovery time. Also, the efficiency of flash storage arrays and the applications stored on them should not be impacted by protection. That’s why today we’re excited to announce EMC ProtectPoint for XtremIO – a flash-optimized data protection solution – providing backup directly from EMC XtremIO all-flash arrays to EMC Data Domain protection storage systems.ProtectPoint was designed to protect mission-critical applications and databases, like Oracle and SAP, on flash and its design fundamentally changes the traditional mechanics of data protection.With ProtectPoint for XtremIO customers can:Gain up to 20x faster backup than traditional stream-based solutions, to meet stringent protection SLAs;Eliminate backup impact on application and database servers; andReduce cost and complexity by eliminating traditional backup.At a high level, this is how EMC ProtectPoint works to backup directly from XtremIO to Data Domain.First… there’s a backup agent on the application server, which empowers app owners to control their own backup and recovery. To trigger a ProtectPoint backup, an application owner, like an Oracle DBA, triggers a backup at an application-consistent checkpoint. Unlike a traditional backup, the data is then never pulled back through the host – which means there is no impact on the application server.Then, leveraging the XtremIO in-memory metadata virtual copy (XVC) architecture and EMC RecoverPoint technology, ProtectPoint tracks changes since the latest backup to send only unique data directly to Data Domain over Fiber Channel. During this process, no host resources are used, virtually eliminating performance impact on the database application.Finally, the Data Domain system will ingest and store those blocks and use them to create an independent full backup in native format, which enables greatly simplified recovery. With ProtectPoint, customers get a full backup every time, but only send unique blocks, so the full comes at the performance of an incremental.ProtectPoint brings together a trio of best-in-class EMC technology from our data protection and primary storage portfolio to provide storage integrated data protection including:Simple granular recovery via application agents, which ensures application-consistent backups and recovery via native application integration with Oracle, SAP and IBM DB2Minimal impact on infrastructure via efficient change block tracking and data movement engine, which ensures only unique data is sent directly from XtremIO to Data Domain without impacting the application host or all-flash arrayReduce storage requirements by 10x to 30x and ensure reliable recovery every time with the industry-leading protection storage technology of Data DomainFlash is the future of storage, and EMC ProtectPoint is the future of data protection, providing the performance and efficiency required for the world’s #1 all-flash array, EMC XtremIO.Learn more about EMC Data Protection Solutions for Oracle:http://www.emc.com/data-protection/protection-oracle.htm
Today, Tomorrow’s Technology Ready for Close-up at Sundance
Dell brings powerful tech and innovation to Sundance; creators discover new possibilities on the big screen and in virtual reality.Every January, thousands of filmmakers, critics and fans fill the snowy streets of Park City to attend the Sundance Film Festival – the largest independent film festival in the United States. While the popularity and cultural reach of the festival have grown immensely since its first screening in 1978, the Sundance Institute – the organization behind the event – remains dedicated to helping new and emerging artists.“It takes a lot to process 13,000 submissions. It takes a lot to handle 100,000 guests,” said Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute. “That’s why this festival needs a great technology partner.”Dell happily joined forces with Sundance this year, powering various aspects of the festival, including the New Frontier, an exhibit entirely dedicated to cutting-edge augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) works. Behind the scenes at the institute, Precision Workstations and other Dell products were used to create, edit and disseminate video content.Additionally, we opened the Dell Den – a central event destination and demo space where customers, press, and influencers came to experience new technology and discuss the latest trends in film and innovation.The Race to 6KAt this year’s festival, Vashi Nedomansky, a filmmaker and editorial consultant on Gone Girl and Deadpool, premiered his new movie 6 Below – the first feature film to be edited natively in 6K.I’ve cut music videos and short films in native 4K but the challenge of 6K is a brand new beast. It’s nine times larger than HD,” Vashi said. “The Dell Precision Tower 7910 Workstation was the only machine that could give us real-time playback.”From blockbuster studios to indie filmmakers, Dell technology is designed to meet the demanding needs of an ever-changing industry. So far it’s been incredibly successful.Five of the last six Academy Award-winning films for visual effects have been powered by Dell (the list: Ex Machina, Inception, Hugo, Gravity, and Interstellar) while Dell Precision workstations kept last year’s blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming swinging.Picturing a More Diverse IndustryOn the first Saturday of the festival, the same day as the International Women’s March, a panel of female filmmakers met at the Dell Den to talk about representation, bias and equality in Hollywood.“What Hollywood will not do for us, we’re going to do for ourselves.ShareRobyn Moreno, Co-President of the Latina Media Ventures told the crowd, “what Hollywood will not do for us, we’re going to do for ourselves.”More and more filmmakers are taking the process into their own hands, creating the stories they want to see without relying on big studios. Moreno went on to add that a rise in diverse, empathetic filmmaking could cross boundaries and change minds.“Storytelling is important,” she said. “It stops the bias, so you’re able to connect on a heart level.”For Ondi Timoner, the director of award-winning documentaries Dig! and We Live in Public, filmmaking is all about taking risks. “I take on projects that are fascinating to me; that answer questions that I might have,” she said. “Most people who create things have to break the rules.”Ondi would like to see more women working behind the camera as well as in front of it. “If every A-lister said ‘I have to work with a woman director this year,’ it would change the numbers real fast.”The Future of FilmmakingAt a Sunday afternoon panel titled ‘VR for Good’, Mike Libecki, National Geographic Explorer, shared his enthusiasm with the crowd, saying, “VR is changing the way I tell stories.” Recently, Libecki and team used 360ᵒ VR cameras and Dell Precision Workstations to capture incredible experiences in remote locations.“We’re paddleboarding next to polar bears in Greenland,” he said. “VR really takes you there. It allows viewers to get as close as possible to actually going on the trip.”VR has rapidly moved beyond gaming to shift the way the health, education and film industries work. VR and AR revenues were in the billions for 2017, while VR headsets passed a milestone of one million headsets per quarter in the 3rd quarter of last year.In addition to sales, the technological innovation is moving at light speed.“One year in AR and VR is like a dog year,” said Gary Radburn, Dell’s director of Commercial VR/AR.According to Kevin Cornish, founder of Moth + Flame and CAA’s first full-time virtual reality director, the possibilities for VR storytelling are extraordinary.“VR is a medium where people can talk to you. It’s a medium where people can share their emotions with you, and you can share emotions with them.”While the film industry itself seems to be on the brink of a major change, Dell continues to create powerful innovation that gives creators more freedom and independence.“We provide the tools,” said Radburn. “What humankind does with them is boundless and limitless.”
Georgia Corn Crop
Georgia corn growers can expect to face challenges in pricing this year, according to Dewey Lee, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension feed grain agronomist.Growers need to watch their expenses closely, recognizing that there is not much of a market for corn this season, Lee said. Currently, corn is selling for $3.67 per bushel, down almost a full dollar from last July. As a result, Georgia corn acreage is expected to drop significantly from last year.“In 2013, we were at 510,000 acres. In 2014, when prices started dropping, the acreage continued to drop to 350,000. Then, in 2015, it dropped even further to 330,000 acres. Last year, we produced about 410,000 acres,” Lee said. “As a guess, we will likely be down to around 330,000 to 340,000 acres.”Entering the growing season, Lee said that the market for corn is rapidly declining and remains unpredictable. Growers are frustrated that the market dropped considerably, but the price of production stayed the same. Costs of seed and fertilizer treatments have not decreased. Corn is a water-intensive crop, so growers also have to factor in irrigation costs.There other alternatives that growers may have to consider this year, Lee said.“They (growers) have to rely either on government programs or on planting more acres of a crop that’s more favorable price-wise, such as cotton or peanuts,” Lee said. “They also may change their rotations, but a lot of growers don’t like to change their rotations because they feel it is important to subsequent crops. It’s definitely an important year for corn growers to make every decision count.”Because temperatures are expected to be high with clear conditions this week, Lee expects many growers to begin planting their crop. Since the majority of corn acreage is irrigated, drought isn’t a concern. The only potential problem with the high temperatures is disease pressure. With prices already low, growers don’t want to lose any crop to diseases like southern corn rust.“With prices expected to be tight this year, growers need to carefully manage their crop. There’s not much wiggle room in regard to profitability, so farmers need to make large yields,” Lee said.Of the top three row crops that Georgia farmers produce – cotton, peanuts and corn – corn is grown on the least acreage, but still records a significant farm gate value every year. According to the UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, corn’s 2015 Georgia farm gate value is more than $252.9 million.(Julia Rodriguez is an intern on the UGA Tifton Campus.)
Fridays on the Fly | Drink Beer. Tie Flies. Socialize.
One of the things WNC has become known for over the past few years is its breweries. All across theSoutheast breweries are popping up left and right, and we aren’t upset about it. So, a few of us fisher-people decided we’d come up with a way to get people together, learn about fly tying, and drink some awesome locally brewed beer.Every Tuesday throughout winter Headwaters Outfitters and Flymen Fishing Company host a tying night at Brevard Brewing Company located in downtown Brevard, N.C. at 7:00pm. This free tying night allows beginners and experts to come have a few beers, socialize, and learn a thing or two about tying flies. We offer all of the materials and can provide additional vises for folks just getting into the sport. We have “open tie” nights when we all come up with our best tie or we have “instructor” nights where we’ve got a designated fly that we’re all learning how to tie. All ages are welcome. If you’re interested and have all of the stuff you need, come on down. If you’re interested and are in need of loaner vises or tools, shoot Jessica an e-mail at Jessica@headwatersoutfitters.com so we can bring some extra stuff along for you.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-gI59Xbkr0Brevard isn’t the only place where you can go to a fly tying night. Every Tuesday of January and February Davidson River Outfitters hosts a tying night at Catawba Brewing Company off of Banks Avenue in Asheville, NC. This weekly social gathering starts at 6:30pm and is for all levels of tiers from beginners to experts. This is also a free shindig but a beer purchase is recommended to attend. For more information contact Jeb Hall at jeb@davidsonflyfishing.com or come check it out for yourself. This is something every fly shop and brewery could partner up and do. It’s an incredible way to bring new people into the sport of fly fishing by learning how to tie their own flies and bring folks into a local business during their slow winter months. We’ve had folks travel hours just to come to one of these nights because they aren’t offered in their own towns. It’s a simple idea that creates not only a following of newcomers to the sport, but an incredible social atmosphere where everyone is relaxed, eager to learn and enjoying life. We urge you to take the initiative to create something like this in your own town and continue spreading the love of fly fishing through education. And beer.Abbi Bagwell is the business operations manager for the Brevard, North Carolina-based Flymen Fishing Company. Follow her fly fishing adventures on Instagram and Youtube. [divider]read more fridays on the fly[/divider]
Get everyone on the same page with marketing strategy session
You’re a marketing executive and it’s the beginning of the year. Your plan is to hit the ground running with your newly approved 2018 budget, mass media schedule, the promotional calendar, your credit union’s events, and the social media content wrapped around your incredible, new marketing plan. 2018 is going to be stellar! All that is left to do is to let the results start rolling in. Why then, do you have this nagging feeling that you’ve overlooked something critical? What’s missing? You forgot to review the marketing plan with the executive team! Marketing can only be effective when everyone is on the same strategic page. Be sure to take the time to get on the executive team calendar to discuss your marketing strategy and initiatives for the year. This will help ensure everyone works together to implement the marketing plan and grow your credit union!Discuss these four items in your Marketing Strategy Session:Start with the Why – Explain the purpose of each promotion, event and initiative. Is the objective to raise awareness, drive a specific behavior, or ask for the business? Then tie objectives back to the strategic plan of your credit union. If you can’t define why you are doing it (and we’ve always done it that way doesn’t count), then re-evaluate and cut or refine until it makes business sense to pursue.Review the Marketing Channel Mix– Talk through your media plan and the promotional calendar. Make sure that everyone understands why you are using a certain channel and how you plan to define success. If you run ads in mass media for example, is the purpose to raise awareness? What are the metrics you will use to determine if the objective was achieved? Get Buy-In and Achieve Consensus – Encourage your colleagues to ask questions and dive into the specifics. You want to make sure that each member of the team understands the marketing strategy and can articulate it to their employees. Also, as part of this process ask for ideas of how the marketing strategy can be integrated throughout your credit union. Conclude by asking for buy-in… “Is everyone on-board with this approach? Yes? Awesome, can’t wait to get started!”Rock It! – Document the strategy in your marketing plan then review and discuss each month. Cover what’s going on, what’s next and review the results you’ve achieved. Prepare quarterly metric updates and make sure that the marketing plan progress is appraised as part of the strategic plan review. Take the time to get everyone on the same strategic page and you’ll find that marketing and growth discussions will become and stay much more strategic throughout the year. Talk strategy and make 2018 the best year ever! 19SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Bryn C. Conway Bryn C. Conway, offers more than 15 years of experience as a former credit union executive with extensive background in strategic planning, brand development, member experience, retail delivery and public … Web: https://www.bccstrategies.com Details
Construction on new Gainsborough Greens recreation hub has kicked off
“The new recreation centre will further add to the array of amenities available in this precinct of Gainsborough Greens, giving residents resort-style facilities to entertain, socialise and stay fit within a short walk of their home.” The new facilities will complement an existing recreation centre in the precinct. More from news02:37International architect Desmond Brooks selling luxury beach villa11 hours ago02:37Gold Coast property: Sovereign Islands mega mansion hits market with $16m price tag2 days agoA 25m lap pool, basketball court, gym and barbecue area will be among its facilities. MORE NEWS: Acreage estate raises the bar Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayNext playlist itemMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:50Loaded: 0%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -1:50 Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedQuality Levels720p720pHD540p540p360p360p180p180pAutoA, selectedAudio Tracken (Main), selectedFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.PlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:00Loaded: 0%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate1xFullscreenDifferences between building in new or established estates01:50 Construction has started on a $2 million recreation centre and pool at Mirvac’s Gainsborough Greens community in Pimpama.GAINSBOROUGH Greens residents will soon have access to a 25m lap pool, basketball court, gym and barbecue area.The facilities are part of a $2 million recreation centre and pool being built for Mirvac’s Pimpama community. Construction has started on the architecturally-designed centre, which will be next to the latest premium golf-side land release. Mirvac Queensland residential general manager Warwick Bible said the lifestyle available to residents in the exclusive Forest Green release had been a major drawcard. “Buyers are seeing the unique opportunity offered by our golf-side land, with access to these exclusive resident facilities and an idyllic outlook to match,” he said. MORE NEWS: Million-dollar home profit to go to charity
Woman caught ‘repacking shabu’
BACOLOD City – A woman was arrested afterpolice officers, who were conducting a surveillance operation, caught herrepacking suspected shabu in Barangay Lantad, Silay City, NegrosOccidental. Suspected illegal drugs weighing about fivegrams valued at around P75,000 was recovered from 21-year-old resident LexmarBritania around 10:45 p.m. on Friday, a police report showed. The suspect was detained in the lockupfacility of the Silay City police station, facing charges for violation ofRepublic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
Solskjaer backs Caulker for Brazil
And while Sascha Riether’s own goal gave the result a comfortable look, Cardiff did require their captain to be just as effective in front of David Marshall’s goal throughout the 90 minutes. “I just want him to focus on his performances here because if he plays this way defensively and he keeps chipping in with the odd goal he has got to be in with a shout,” Solskjaer said. “He is 22 years of age and he is a leader who is very talented, he has had a very testing season and when it comes to Cardiff he knows he will be fighting for survival and that is a big ask. “He could have had an easy life at Spurs probably, playing x amount of games but he has taken on a great test and is maturing all the time. “It is great to see him taking on a lot of the leadership roles because of Huds’ (Cardiff captain Mark Hudson) absence.” Despite this win lifting Cardiff level on points with 17th-placed West Brom, Solskjaer admits his side cannot relax and rest on their laurels. They currently sit on 25 points and the Bluebirds boss believes 12 points from their final nine games will be enough to cement survival. “That (37 points) is our aim and if we can get to that then we will be safe,” he said. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Cardiff captain Steven Caulker can gatecrash England’s World Cup squad after his two goals helped see of fellow strugglers Fulham. Their £8.5million signing from Tottenham last summer has not been capped by his country since making his debut against Sweden in 2012 and the 22-year-old was an unused substitute in midweek as the Three Lions saw off Denmark. But the centre-back rose to the occasion in a crucial 3-1 win, opening the scoring with a close-range finish before rising unmarked at the back post to regain Cardiff’s lead 22 minutes later. “A win like this, especially the way we did it with bouncing back, that was a great feeling. The response of the lads is what I take out of this game, they didn’t let their heads drop and created chances. “It was great to get it in such an important game but it is not about one result. If you get to the top of Mount Everest and relax then you’ll struggle. We have to build on this.” In stark contrast to the Norwegian’s buoyant mood Felix Magath admits confidence is low amongst his rock-bottom Fulham outfit who have not picked up three points since New Year’s Day – a run of eight games. Lewis Holtby’s close-range finish levelled the match just before the hour mark to give his side hope of taking at least a point from south Wales, but they held out for just eight minutes before Caulker’s second. And having received a frosty reception from their travelling supporters at the final whistle Mageth knows he faces a tough task to lift his squad for the visit of Newcastle. “The second goal breaks us,” he said. “If you come back into the game especially in an away game, and you score, then you are very eager to get more and the second goal came too early. After that we are not able to come back. “Our chances are worse than before. We have to win our home games, that is the most important thing. The next game is a home game against Newcastle and we need three points. “When you are in the situation when you are losing you have not enough confidence to take unfortunate situations as happened here.” Magath made four changes but two selections in particular raised eyebrows in the away end with Kostas Mitroglou thrown into the starting line-up for the first time since arriving from Greece for a club-record fee to partner untried teenage Cauley Woodrow on his Fulham debut. But the German rejected suggestions that handing a 19-year-old, whose last competitive action came during a loan spell at Southend in January, was a risk. “I see no gamble in it because he is a very talented player and I was satisfied with him,” the German said. “He did a lot of work for the team and I was very satisfied.” Press Association