ATCA und µTCA Systeme müssen hinsichtlich des Kühlungsmanagements und der Spannungsversorgung umfangreich getestet werden. Nur so kann die Zuverlässigkeit und Verfügbarkeit garantiert werden.

Damit Systemhersteller und Anwender ihre µTCA Systeme bis an die Grenzen der Spezifikation testen können, hat GateWare ein Load Board im AMC Format entwickelt. Dieses Load Board

verhält sich im Prinzip wie ein Standard AMC Modul, d.h. es ist HotPlug fähig und wird gemäß IPMI Spezifikation vom Carrier Manager (MCH) verwaltet. Alternativ kann zur Konfiguration und Überwachung auch die frontseitige RS232 Schnittstelle verwendet werden.

Zum Test des Wärmemanagements kann die Leistungsaufnahme und somit die Wärmeabgabe feinstufig in zwei getrennten Kühlsegmenten eingestellt werden. Mit jeweils 6 Temperatursensoren pro Modul wird über das Trägersystem ein Temperaturprofil erstellt. Die Kühlsegmente befinden sich in der vorderen und in der hinteren Hälfte des Load Boards, um die Wärmeverteilung marktüblicher AMC-Karten nachbilden zu können.

Weiterhin kann die Stromversorgung (PU) des µTCA Systems statisch und dynamisch getestet werden. Neben einer konstant eingestellten Grundlast können sehr langsame, wie auch sehr schnelle Lastsprünge in einem weiten Bereich simuliert werden.

Einsatzgebiete

AMC Last Board zum Test des Kühlungsmanagements und der Spannungsversorgungs-Einheit von ATCA und µTCA Systemen.

• Das µTCA Powermodul (PU) zwischen minimaler und maximaler Belastung testen.
• Ansprechverhalten des µTCA Power Moduls bei Überlast überprüfen.
• Kühlleistung und Luftströmung im Carrier untersuchen.
• Regelung des Lüftersystems optimieren.
• Langzeituntersuchungen im Grenzbereich der Systeme.

Features

• AMC Formfaktor Single Full-Size (SW/ FH) Standard.
• Compact, Mid-Size und andere Größen auf Anfrage.
• Das Last Board verhält sich gegenüber dem Carrier Manager wie ein AMC Modul und wird vom MCH und des PU bezüglich HotPlug und Management verwaltet. [caption id="attachment_70" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jürgen Schäfer gmbH"][/caption]

• Steuerung des Last Boards über IPMI Bus auf der Backplane durch den Carrier Manager oder über serielleSchnittstelle an der Frontseite mit Terminalprogramm.

• Die Wärmeabgabe ist auf zwei Segmente aufgeteilt und getrennt einstellbar.
• Durch unterschiedliche Kühlkörperausführungen mehrere Luftwiderstandsvarianten möglich (Pmax begrenzt).
• Die Leistungsaufnahme bei Full Height Kühlkörpern ist von 0W bis 90W fein-stufig einstellbar (Peak 100W).
• Aufteilung der Payload Last in eine statische Grundlast und zusätzlicher dynamischer Last (PWM kontrolliert).
• Die Stromaufnahme und die Backplane-Spannungen werden kontinuierlich gemessen und überwacht.
• Kapazitive Last nach µTCA Spezifikation auf Management- und Payload Power.
• 6 feste Temperaturfühler sind auf beiden Seiten des Last Boards verteilt, um ein Temperaturprofil des

Systems erstellen zu können.

[caption id="attachment_71" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Jürgen schäfer GmbH"][/caption]

• Optional ein frei verlegbarer Temperatursensor.
• Sicherheitsabschaltung bei Übertemperatur.
• Relaisausgang an der Frontplatte zum Schalten von Verbrauchern bis 60V / 0,5A.
• LEDs zur Statusanzeige.

Die Boards sind ab sofort im JSMarkt erhältlich.

i can't wait for season two to begin july 27th!

Here's a Canacorn fun fact: The Wife and I love getting into new teevee series.

This show is the new jam at Casa Canacorn. MAD MEN

I know we couldn't convince some of our friends to get into the truly awesome BSG...your loss...but hear me now, MAD MEN is fucking great teevee.

Here's 3 reasons why:

1- The men are charming.

2- The women have manners.

3- It's the best dressed show on television.

Welcome to 1960....where a speech like this is guaranteed to get you laid:

Para los ansiosos como yo, también dentro del sitio de la cadena AMC, más precisamente haciendo click aquí, pueden ver algunos adelantos de 30 segundos de Mad Men. Lamento informarles de todas maneras que ninguno de los trailers tiene escenas nuevas, sino que son fragmentos de la primera temporada. De todas maneras, se disfrutan. Acá tienen una muestra:

Recordemos que Mad Men ganó dos Globos de Oro en su última edición, uno para mejor Serie Dramática y otro a Mejor Actor, otorgado a Jon Hamm por su interpretación del misterioso creativo publicitario de Don Draper.

Info acercada via Changu. Gracias por la data!!

Fuente: Blog Creativity Blab

Then I prepared a fresh batch of marinade made in the formula of 1-2-3-4-5, essentially of sugar, vinegar, dark sauce, soy sauce and Absolut vodka: the numbers can represent table spoons, cups or glasses, depending on the quantity of meat used. Also, which number goes with each ingredient depends on the cook's preference.

I tend to put 5 with Vodka and 3 or 4 with vinegar. Sugar could be either 1 or 2 while dark sauce shouldn't be higher than 3. Sometimes, one ingredient could be measured with a tablespoon while another could be measured with a cup. The crux is be flexible and remember that 5 ingredients make up the marinade, and permutate to your heart's content.

This marinade was added slowly to the ribs as the natural juices thickened and the meat softened. I checked every 10 minutes, turning the ribs on their garlic-chilli bed to ensure that nothing stuck at the bottom of the pot and got burnt.

In all, cooking time took  about 2 hours, over the lowest ring on the gas hob.

The other dishes which enjoyed a healthy slosh of Absolut were fruit salad (for the dessert), steamed belly of salmon with shimeji mushrooms and ratatoulle.

For the fruit salad, it was a no-brainer to douse the freshly squeezed orange juice base with half a glass of vodka, a table-spoon of sugar and generous sprinkling of all-spice and cinnamon powders.

Absolut wasn't added to the steamed salmon and shimeiji till the dish was almost done. Turn off the heat, sprinkle some vodka and a dash of sesame oil and then cover for the steaming to complete.

For the ratatoulle, when the vegetables (crushed whole garlic, onions, zuchinni, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots and one yellow bell pepper or pepsicum) were cooked till almost soft, add a marinade of balsamic vinegar and Absolut and continue cooking.

When the "rat" was as soft as my family liked (which is like ripe strawberries), turn off the gas and leave the dish to continue cooking in its own heat for a little while longer. Then serve, with rice or bread.

I am Ian Bollard and I have started an 18 month secondment as the AMC Librarian. I come to the AMC Library with a background of providing information and liaison services recently in the sciences at the Launceston Campus Library and previously in other disciplines such as business.  In the darkest past I worked at the Bureau of Meteorology library in Melbourne. I hope to complete my studies in the Graduate Certificate in University Learning and Teaching this year. I am committed to improving the learning opportunities in information skills so staff and students can become independent researchers. I am keen to demonstrate the services and resources available to staff and students. It  is an interesting fact that the AMC Library has the next largest number of loans behind the bigger libraries of the Launceston Campus and Morris Miller Libraries. If you are in the vicinity, please drop by the AMC Library and say hello to Michelle and Ian.

One of my mental snapshots is a moment when I was getting dressed for the beach, and T3 pointed to my exposed bikini area and said, "Mom, you're growing hair. Are you going to become a man?" 

It was a surprisingly relaxing vacation though.  The kids got into a groove on the beach, playing with other kids and boogie boarding.  Ee would play a bit, then get her ice cream before sacking out totally under the umbrella for like three hours.  It was awesome.

At night, after the kids were in bed, Manfrengensen and I got into Mad Men, every night ON DEMAND, which was really compelling. We watched the whole season in a week. Reminded us a lot of The Sopranos in its tone and sense of morality.  We both found the character of Peter totally sleazy and disturbing. Kind of wished Don had gone Tony Soprano on that guy and kicked his ass.  All in all, very well-written with interesting characters and attention to authentic period props and sets. Can't wait to see the new season starting June 27th.

In addition to the quality TV-time, Manfrengensen also read a couple of books, and I got about a third of the way into Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

The boys started camp today, and they both loved it. I had thought that just having Ee all day would be so easy, but it turned out that we had QUITE A DAY together...I think she wanted to stick close to home, but I had to go grocery shopping. She was not at all happy with me, even though I took her out for lunch. That was the best part of the day, the only time she was smiling at me.  Just sitting next to her in the booth as she ate her grilled cheese was so much fun.  She was happy, and every once in a while, she would lean over and press her forehead against mine, smiling and looking deeply into my eyes.  Then when we left, she was back to asserting her independence, which is good, but you know, it takes patience to deal with sometimes.

She spent the rest of the day pulling out things (with a preference for things with multiple parts) and leaving them on the floor. Then when I asked her to help clean it up, she would say, "No, you." Pretty much anything I asked her to do, get her clothes, find her cup when she wanted more milk, whatever, the response I got was, "No, you." And in between that, she would stall with this kind of escalating sing-songy two-syllable "Why?" as in  Ee can you please put your shoes on? "Why-y?" Because we have to go out. "Why-y?" Because we need groceries. "Why-y?" Because we need them for dinner tonight. "Why-y?" And the line would continue until...until she broke me.

The day flew by, and then the boys were home again.  She was thrilled to see them, and the three of them went right upstairs to play with cars, dolls, and other toys they'd been missing.  It was great!  Whatever they did, they all got along and didn't need me to mediate at all.  It's great when everyone plays nice.

Charlie Collier, AMC's general manager, either thinks like I do or he reads the blog.  He wants to "mine" classic shows and movies for possible remakes, hoping to appeal to the fans who are in their 40s and 50s.

About frakkin time!

Someone in cablevisionland finally woke up to the fact that: 40 & 50 year olds (generally) have money, most of 'em grew up on TVand a whole shitload (official measurement according to the US Dept. of Weights and Measures) get off on some kind of science fiction.

That's right. Science Fiction.  NOT Nazi Werewolves versus the Giant Alligator from Planet Redneck.

They've also not missed the obvious fact that SkiffyTube(R) - aka the SciFi Channel - has abandoned that demographic in favor of Inbred Nazi Werewolves from the Redneck Planet.  (Although to be fair, inbreeding for werewolves might actually be a good thing.)

AMC is producing a remake of Patrick McGoohan's cult classic The Prisoner.  From the buzz I'm hearing, they're going to do it proper justice. Although the proof will be in the pudding, I'm rooting for 'em. 

Collier seems to be looking for other classics that AMC can give the same treatment to.  I have a strong suggestion to offer.

Before you go and remake a classic, find out if your core audience prefers a remake, the original, or maybe even both.  Give some strong and serious thought towards EMBRACING a comparison between the old and the new.  Have your cake and eat it too.

As one (vocal) member of the fifty year olds who grew up on SF on television and in the theater, I know I cast a jaundiced eye towards any redo I'm offered. I know I watch in horror and pain when some smartypants director or script writer thinks they're capable of improving on the original and fucks the entire thing up by failing to have understood not just the original message/plot/characters, but the zeitgeist of the era that produced it as well.

Its admittedly pretty hard to get the feel for a 50s era film if you've never been instructed to hide under a school desk in the event of nuclear attack.  Its impossible to know what it was like to watch a space flick before man had landed on the moon.

Which is one of the major reasons that I think that so many re-makes have failed to hit the mark, at least in my estimation.  To provide a recent example - I'd MUCH rather sit down and watch Heston's Omega Man than Smith's I Am Legend.

What I WILL happily do is watch both back to back, with Vincent Price's Last Man on Earth thrown in for good measure.  I'll spend the entire 6+ hours explaining to my friends exactly how and why LMOE is the closest to Matheson's story, OM is a good update and strikes the right balance and IAL sucks on so many levels that the real tragedy is that its the only one of the three that shares Matheson's title.

As far as the broadcaster is concerned, it doesn't really matter why I'm watching now, does it? I'm watching. Nielsen can tell I'm watching and they can tell the advertiser's that I'm watching. That's all that really counts.

Now, when it comes to The Prisoner, I really have my doubts as to whether anyone can improve on the original.  McGoohan was made for the role - or rather, he made the role for himself. No other actor can say that.

The vaguely displayed technology of the original was pretty far-out for the time. Nowadays its standard government operating procedure for ordinary citizens, let alone retired secret agents.

The zeitgeist of the time was one of ultra-paranoia (pretty darned close to now) coupled with a sense that the old order was about to be overthrown and replaced with - what? Flowerpower? Anarchism? Communism?  No one knew.  The latter is going to be very hard to capture and translate for a different era.

But I'll tell you what, AMC.  If you broadcast the original show before of after your remake - I promise I'll watch both. I'll even watch the redo with an open mind and anticipatory heart.

On the other hand, if all you offer up is the new version, I might remember to schedule watching the first episode .  After that its all up to how badly I think you've screwed with the original.  But if you give me both, I'll have a reason to stick around.

AMC has a good chance here to eclipse SkiffyTube(R) and make the SICs over there regret ever having coined their new mantra, because all you'll be hearing around their offices will be people saying "What If we had stuck with science fiction? What If we had realized our audience was already more than just geeky young guys? What If we hadn't been such idiots?"

AMC has a hot, successful head of programming in Collier, a wide open field, some good connections to the existing SF community (Scalzi's blog for one) and they've demonstrated with this move that they're paying attention to what's going on.

Just remember AMC - let us have our cake and eat it too!

The Air Force Association has put together a three slide PDF with interesting facts about the Air Mobility Command or AMC, the US Air Force major command responsible for strategic airlift.

The first shows how much we, as a nation, have leaned on AMC to perform. [Note that the hours listed are those flown above the planned amount], the second show the age of the fleet, and the third ... was most startling to me - the impact on AMC of rising fuel costs. The cost of fuel has increased for AMC over 250% in just 5 years - almost $200M in just this past quarter alone [as compared with the first quarter of 2007]. It is no wonder the Air Force leads DOD in devising ways to develop and use alternative fuels ... and has announced an aggressive program to begin to make almost every base "green."

http://www.afa.org/EdOp/Airlift_in_Demand.pdf

"Babylon"

Season One, Episode Six

In the world of Mad Men, normalcy is the goal: for Don Draper, it's bringing his wife breakfast in bed on Mother's Day. Of course, as he travels up the stairs, he losing his footing and everything smashes around him. Cue the flashback to his brother's birth, and another sign that Donald Draper's life is a giant lie just waiting to be smashed like the falling breakfast tray.

Yes, the opening of "Babylon" is not exactly subtle, but this is an episode that is all about the hidden becoming revealed, the secrets becoming part of common knowledge. The central attempt to commodify Israel into a tourism destination for Americans is about taking a secret and turning it into common knowledge, but there the ad men get to put their spin on it; the facts are one thing, but with the right treatment they can become something far more profound. This episode is about the people who need to spin their own lives, and the one person who's about to start spinning for others.

And in the meantime, you're stuck in exile; and as a series about people who find themselves searching to avoid such a position, Mad Men flourishes.

First and foremost, the big news in the episode is the emergence of both Christina Hendricks' Joan and John Slattery's Roger Sterling to our narrative. While not quite on the level of Pete, Peggy or Don, these characters are certainly still important parts of the show's milieu. Roger isn't the first man we've seen with extra-marital affairs, but he's the most honest about it. With Don we sense that there's something deeper behind his various connections with women, an inner struggle relating to his own identity issues. For Roger, it's far more simple: as he says to Joan, "Before I met you, I wanted to leave my wife."

It's a best of both worlds scenario, for Roger - he has his fling with the attractive redhead for fun, and then his wife for the sake of appearance. He revels in this relationship, while it never seems like Don is enjoying himself in the same way (And his flings aren't new, even with Midge he barely cracks a smile). A later episode will delve further into the difference between these men and their affairs, but the sneaking around is indeed Roger's favourite but Don's least favourite part.

The new client at Sterling Cooper, meanwhile, wants to turn Israel into a tourist attraction (The Middle East's "Rome" is their pitch); however, as Don notes, to Americans "Israel is a quasi-communist state where women have guns and it's full of Jewish people...well, they're not all Jewish, let's not forget there's also Arabs." Armed with a copy of Exodus, a novel by Leon Uris that details the creation of the country, Don has nothing until he finds an excuse to call on Rachel Menken, and embrace his own secretive side.

Rachel's little speech is almost too on-the-nose for my sake, as she discusses what Israel is to her. It's a utopia, a place where you don't have to live but where you want to live, and place that's more dream than reality. Of course, by this metaphor, Don Draper's life is a whole host of Israel's, all shrouding a reality that he is clearly at least somewhat discontent with (albeit in ways that he himself doesn't seem to really understand, and that we as the audience get a greater glimpse of in the episodes to come). Like all of his relationships, this is more about him than her - it's almost weird to get her side of the conversation as she discusses him with her sister, actually.

Further playing into the same theme, I love the parallel between this theme of appearance and reality that we see with the one-way mirror that separates the horny ad men from the secretarial pool. The whole point of the exercise is to capture them at their most vulnerable, their most honest; it is clear who amongst them is skilled at keeping things close to the chest when Peggy barely even moves, instead scanning the room and thinking (cherish the thought) about what is going on around her. The rest of the women are dazzled by lipsticks and glamour, and all she can do is sit back and look around her.

I love her stumbling upon something that sparks, something that really clicks with that the client is looking for. Her approach is refined, measured - it's everything that her boss tries to get across. Brainstorming, it seems, is up her alley; and while it may be like a dog playing the piano to the men of Sterling Cooper, it's also something that leads to a rather great opportunity of writing copy for Belle Jolie lipstick.

And Joan's in on the game, playfully nodding to the looming threat and even showing off for the men behind the mirror. Of course, this is as much a game as it is for Peggy, but she knows what's coming - she's the liasion with the authority, the one who has an inside track and who isn't willing to give it up. She pulls out the Marshall McLuhan on Peggy, and it's what she lives her life by: the medium is the message. That Peggy was noticed by the other men bothered her, as it limited her control; without that control, she loses what she believes defines her. She believes that she is the right medium for all of the important things, and she models her life on it.

And even after an entire season, I don't think we get to know the real Joan - even here, in Christina Hendricks' Emmy submission, there is never a sense that we're seeing something real. When with Roger, she is more frank but just as committed to playing the part at hand. One of the things that makes the show so realistic is that everyone is acting, that everyone is having to hide secrets and appear as something they're not, and Joan always feels the most committed. As Don's commitment wavers while wading his way through various conquests, and as Roger's commitment will eventually be tested by other complications, Joan forever remains perfectly uniform, ideal in her slavery to expectation.

Next up: "Red in the Face," probably one of the weaker episodes of the season although not without merit.

One of my fav movies at the time and still a fav today is WarGames.

I admit that at the time I had a thing for Matthew Broderick, but what keeps it a fav for me is the clear message that is just as valid today as it was then...

The only way to win at war is not to play the game.

What also makes it especially vivid for me is that as I child living overseas in the 80's, I witnessed war unfurling around me. I got the message in my head and at gut level in a way back then that I hope my daughter never has to experience. I only wish she wasn't four, so I could take her to go see WarGames on the big screen!

LOCATIONS

To my utter delight, WarGames is on for a one night special screening -- July 24th! Locally you can catch it at

Winter Park Stadium 20
510 NORTH ORLANDO AVE
WINTER PARK, FL 32789
407-628-0163

Waterford Stadium 20
541 NORTH ALAFAYA TRAIL
ORLANDO, FL 32828
407-207-4603

AMC Pleasure Island 24
1500 BUENA VISTA DRIVE
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL 32830
407-827-1311

The Loop Stadium 16
3220 N. JOHN YOUNG PARKWAY
KISSIMMEE, FL 34741
407-343-0652

PLOT SUMMARY

It's rated PG, and the description from IMDB reads:

A young computer whiz kid accidentally connects into a top secret super-computer which has complete control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It challenges him to a game between America and Russia, and he innocently starts the countdown to World War 3. Can he convince the computer he wanted to play a game and not the real thing ?

You can get a more extensive description and other screening locations in Florida at fathomevents.com.

A TEACHABLE MOMENT

The look of WarGames is dated of course. 1983 was a long time ago. We've long grown used to swankier special effects, sleeker computers, new teen idols.

But we've kept it around our home library waiting for the day when daughter is ready to start thinking about war and peace and why it is important to try to resolve conflict without resorting to war. As the world she grows up in becomes more and more interdependent, learning to get along as global citizens is going to be pretty darn important!

Those of you with older children who are ready to start tackling the "war and peace" issues, you can grab the teachable moment and go check out WarGames as a family.

Enjoy!

Cat

The only problem is, I record all these shows, and then I get stressed out that I'm not watching them. The DVR fills up, and capacity dwindles, and I feel like I need to do something fast. Like somehow, by reading, or working, or hanging out with my family, I'm not doing anything productive.

The show that's just sitting there with a blank stare, and has been for the last few months, is Mad Men. Everyone I know who watched it when it first ran on AMC said it was really great. Many in the press called it a good replacement for missing the Sopranos fixed (not the same subject matter... just that kind of good).

Anyway, I was reminded of that item on my to-do list when I saw this ad campaign that's currently appearing in the subway in NYC...

Not only was the design of the ad pretty cool, but it makes the seat look like clean, premium seating. I would think, though, that anyone who chooses to sit there will just have the entire car staring at them.

Aanbeveling CBO:

Door het CBO zijn al de nodige richtlijnen opgesteld die de rituelen (k)raken.
Wat te denken van ijzen of föhnen? Ik had er nog nooit van gehoord (zit niet in het vak). Misschien wel zo prettig ook al gaat het hier niet om voorbehouden handelingen. De lust lijkt langzamerhand een last te zijn geworden voor de patiënt en/of de verpleegkundige.
Gelukkig bleek bij de stemrondes, dat 99% van de `praktiserende” aanwezige AMC' ers, deze rituele dansen niet meer uitvoert.
Trouwens het LEVV doet op dit moment in den lande een vergelijkbaar onderzoek. Zij spreken van dilemma’s.

Zie http://www.levv.nl/fileadmin/sites/levv/PDF/levv_congres/LEVV_enquete_dilemmas.doc

De “rituelen”

· Gebruik van een schapenvacht ter preventie van decubitus

· Inpakken van hielen en ellebogen met vette watten en zwachtels

· Massage ter preventie van decubitus

· Gebruik van hielringen of met water gevulde operatiehandschoenen

· IJzen en föhnen.

· Het gebruik van een windring

· Katheter bij incontinentie ter preventie van decubitus

· Routinematig cliënten fixeren in het kader van valpreventie.

· Fixeren en separeren in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg en in de verstandelijke gehandicaptenzorg

· Preventief laxeren middels lactulose na cardiothoracale operaties

· Patiënt vanaf 24.00 uur nuchter houden voor OK

· Standaard preoperatief scheren.

· Routinematig gebruik van neusmaagsonde na een buikoperatie

· Routinematig tempen van postoperatieve patiënten

· Föhnen bij smetten

· Gebruik van pasta’s of poeders

· Desinfecteren van de huid voor injecties

· Standaard bijhouden van een vochtbalans bij patiënten met een zware cytostaticakuur

Bron: Doorbreek de rituelen: Een overzicht van zinloze rituelen in de zorg en een stappenplan om deze te doorbreken. Plas, M., I. van Engelshoven, J. Mintjes – de Groot Utrecht: LEVV, Utrecht. jan 2008. 38 blz

Overige literatuur:

• Rituelen en evidence-based handelen in de verpleging: tegenstelling of aanvulling? Hoofdstuk in Handboek Zorgvernieuwing. MANK, A., A. SEMIN-GOOSSENS Houten, Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum, 2003, 43 blz

• Vermeulen, H. Evidence based improvements in postoperative care; on the cutting edge between nursing and medicine. Proefschrift UvA, 2006. 283 blz

Mad Men joins a list of recent series setting end points for their runs (Battlestar Galactica-4 years and Lost-6 years to name a few.)  Though I would love if my favorite show could go on and on, I understand and agree with this policy.  I think all shows would improve dramatically if their respective creators have a diagram of where it begins and where it ends.

Season two of Mad Men premieres on AMC July 27th.  The season one DVD set (which is terrific by the way, and absolutely LOADED with extras) is available to own on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def.

Source: THR

For the uninitiated, Mad Men is a show on AMC that takes a look at the advertising industry in Manhattan in the 1960s. Matthew Weiner of Sopranos fame is the writer and creator of this masterpiece. I watched the pilot when it first came out last summer and fell in love with it, but wasn't able to keep up when I started my first job in Manhattan. In an effort to catch up before Season Two, which starts July 27, I ordered the DVD so I could get my deliciously politically incorrect, period-specific fix.

The case for the DVDs is a pretty neat Zippo-esque deal. I'm sure that'll make me not want to smoke.

In any event, this will help keep me company while all my Wallkill homies are off doing their gambling/partying/sight-seeing thing in Las Vegas (have fun, y'all--win me money!).

Anyway, just finishing up some items at work so I can leave on time today. Working from home tomorrow so I can take my car to the mechanic to fix what's really wrong and making my Check Engine light turn on. He's a very, very honest guy ... so when he says "It'll probably be really expensive," it makes me shudder. Here's hoping the wiring is just loose or something. If I wanted to spend gobs of money on a car, I'd buy a new one that's really fun.

'Til next time...

☞First things first, while on vacation I made what seemed like a barrel of Sangria using our friend Jessie's recipe. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200 dollars, make yourself a batch of this nectar as soon as you can. We shared this with loads of pals and it was unanimously considered delicious. Thanks Jess.

☞Did you see the strength in the Dollar and the subsequent $9 a barrel drop in the price of oil?  Just saying.

☞If you've ever considered blogging or thought that maintaining your blog was too arduous then Tumblr.com may be for you. I love the ease of use, signup takes somewhere between 10-20 seconds and the design templates are great. Take a peak. If you are just looking for a place to keep track of what interests, amuses or fascinates you this may be your answer.

Got more Random? Yep, right after the jump...

☞During the mid to late 90's, one of my favorite Britpop groups was a band named Dodgy. They had a small fan base but a loyal one but it wasn't enough to keep the band from losing record deal after record deal. One of their songs is a great summer anthem and you can listen to it right here.
[audio http://thegrandview.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/01-staying-out-for-the-summer.mp3]

☞Does it "feel" to you like Obama has lost his way between securing the Democratic nomination for president and now?

☞In the week past that was filled with friends, I was reminded of this Grand View Quote of the Week:

Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.
~Anonymous

☞I do not read celebrity rags like People or US and others but I might be tempted to look now just to see what Alex Rodriguez' wife Cynthia has in store for her ex-man. If the past couple of days are any indication, A-Rod is going to have an interesting summer. Cyn recently spent $100 grand on a recent spiteful shopping jaunt. Ouch.

☞You cannot believe how empty Boston gets in the summer. As a university town, students clear out immediately after the spring term.  Visitors here must be overwhelmed by how easy it is to park, get reservations at good restaurants and move around the city. I haven't figured out whether this is good or bad news for Boston.

☞Chris and I have been catching up with an AMC show called Mad Men. It's a great show taking place in the late 50's, early 60's at a Madison Avenue ad agency. The one thing you will pick up on straight away is that they used to smoke a lot back then. A pregnant woman sits down to talk to her friend and the first thing she does is light up. It's almost painful to watch. Oh, and she follows it with a glass of sherry. Nice.

☞If you were very wealthy but could only pick between having a chef, butler or a driver, which would you pick? For me it's a no-brainer. I hate driving.

☞Lastly, one of my favorite websites (maybe not any more) Lifehacker.com came up with this piece of brilliance. In order to stop your excessive spending, apply for a pink Hello Kitty debit/credit card. The idea is that you will be so ashamed to use the card that you will use it less.  Brilliant, just brilliant.

And that, my friends, is this week's Random Thoughts.

"5G"

Season One, Episode Five

To say that "5G" is uneventful or unrevelatory isn't really doing it justice, but the point could probably be made. Of the episode's major story points, none of them are all that surprising: yes, they fill in some blanks in Don Draper's past and present, but elsewhere the episode plays much into the same things we already know. Pete is unwilling to share the spitlight, Draper has a lot of secrets, and Peggy is still just a little in the dark when it comes to how to handle her new position.

What "5G" does, though, is make these elements more starkly real: it displays the pettiness of Pete and the desperation of Draper. Pete's attempt at being famous is a bit of a simple little plot point until you consider the implications on her marital relationship, but Draper's actions take his character to a new level. The relationship between his old life and his current one is what paralyzes him, and here we see that seeing those two worlds collide creates a volatile situation.

Draper is all about compartmentalizing his life: he gets frustrated with Midge for calling directly to the office, and downright vicious with his brother for daring to even step into the building. In some ways, this is smart: Peggy overhearing even the tiniest bit of conversation causes her to react - not necessarily in a dangerous way, but in a way that is just confused enough to lead to others (Like Joan) doing more with that information.

As the episode demonstrates, his reaction is quick and assured: literally buying his brother out of his life for the second time is the only way he can think about it. That it means the Drapers can't buy a Summer House isn't of concern to him: unlike Pete, who is tentative in accepting his in-laws' help, Don is willing to do whatever it takes in order to maintain the big picture. As an Ad Man, this is a great skill: it's what allows him to win the award central to the episode, a vision that others simply don't (or can't) have.

Of course, the episode's big Ad buy is simple: Executive accounts. It's one of the most "on the nose" connections between his life and his job, as it is really an idea tailor made for his kind of lifestyle: an "executive" (Not private, which indicates it is something to keep others away from vs. something for a higher level of customer) bank account to appeal to business people like himself. His willingness to so quickly commodify his own lifestyle, with its demands for discreetness and separation, is something the show relies on quite heavily. Here, it feels like a lot of things we've seen before (and will see again) but in the form of blackmailing away his family it shows the level he is willing to go to.

For Pete, of course, it's a petty desire to match with Ken's recent publishing success - in his case, he is willing to pimp out his wife in order to attempt to get a story of his own (Featuring a talking bear, a touch I always liked) published in a similar magazine. It's a reaction to his struggles in the last episode, and a further sign that his character has serious issues with control - of his fate, of his wife, and of something as relatively trivial as a short story in a nationwide publication.

More complicated, of course, is the great scene where Betty and Peggy finally square off: Peggy, housing important information about Don's scandalous lunch meeting, and Betty, unaware of any of it except that they need to get the pictures taken. It is clear that Betty doesn't belong in this world, and that Peggy doesn't belong yet - Pete, meanwhile, has no idea what world he even wants to live in, so he's grasping at anything that sounds prestigious. These trends will all continue into future episodes, where we learn the parts that everyone else plays.

Cultural Observations

• Part of me, especially in rewatching it and writing these thoughts, is reminded of Arrested Development, and Michael's willingness to pimp out his mother in order to snag Oscar and get back the Lemon Grove deal. Which isn't really related, but does make me laugh. So, score one for Pete's storyline.
• As you may have noticed, this is a fairly male-centric episode - that all changes next week, when Joan, Peggy and Rachel return to our central narrative (The former two in a big, big way) in "Babylon."

"New Amsterdam"

Season One, Episode Four

[I'm a week late on this one, but forgive me: I'll have a piece on tonight's episode done sometime tonight, probably]

By the time Mad Men got to its fourth episode, it had filled in a lot of its gaps: we are thoroughly compelled by Don Draper, interested in seeing more of this world from Betty's perspective, intrigued at the inner workings of Sterling Cooper, and curious as to how all of these people intersect in the historical mediation the show presents.

All except Pete Campbell, that is. To be honest, Pete Campbell was pretty much a snake before this point: a spineless, ungrateful punk at his worst, and certainly not the kind of character that any of us relate with. His insistence on rising the corporate ladder could be passed off as mere capitalist determinism, a selfish attempt to take for himself and to leave others in his wake.

What "New Amsterdam" provides is a new perspective, a glimpse into the fact that Pete Campbell's life is just as complicated as everyone else's in terms of the series' primary characters. Over time, the show reveals the truth behind other characters as well (Joan and Roger Sterling are next up), but the familial and spousal pressures facing this character are some of the most eye-opening. No, it isn't exactly surprising that he has some serious family issues, but it does explain at least some of his past behaviour while leaving plenty of qualities on the table that we as viewers will take issue with.

Pete Campbell has a complicated history: family is Old Money that's reaching the final days of its wealth if not quite its reputation, and this has resulted in two of the traits we've seen. First is a sense of entitlement, that he deserves a better position than the basic "Entertain and Nothing Else" role he plays at Sterling Cooper. Second, though, is a constant desire to prove himself as to the expectations of family, and more importantly those who judge his family. He's got a legacy to live up to, and it's a reason (but not an excuse) for his desperation to survive on his own.

And really, although Don Draper wouldn't be happy to hear about it, Pete is a younger version of Don Draper: he's someone who has something to hide, who tends to use his history and his past as a reason for some of his more reckless behaviour. Just as we empathize with but don't condone Draper's infidelity, we can't quite condemn Pete after seeing the rest of his life. Pressure to marry and improve his work position lead to his near firing, but he can only watch as patronage is the only thing keeping him alive and sheltered: his wife's patronage provides money for an apartment, and his family name keeps his job after he goes behind Don's back with a pitch.

Vincent Kartheiser gives a great performance in the episode, so it's a pity that he is too much of an unknown to make it into Emmy contention. He gives Pete that hateful edge that makes him a villain to a character like Peggy, but also enough charm to see why Peggy would bed him and why he's good at his job. I loved his speech about how, before coming to Sterling Cooper, no one had ever so quickly downgraded his talents to being "good with people." He's not ungrateful, per se, just concerned of his life remaining defined on someone else's idea of success or talent. That's a legitimate concern, in my books, even if Pete really needs to learn a better way to express it.

The episode's only other real storyline, however, is hard to express: what is there to say, precisely, about little Glen Bishop's creepy obsession with Betty Draper? The babysitting trip out of the Twilight Zone, complete with his urination spectation and his desire for a lock of her hair, is really abstract at the moment. We can presume that Betty is fairly crazy to give him that lock of hair, but we don't really yet know why she would do that. If she was just doing it to get rid of him that's one thing, but not giving it to him would have been just as easy - there's something more at play here, and it will begin to pay off in later episodes (Although the boy himself won't be back for a while).

The storyline also gave us a bit more insight into the Kennedy/Nixon battle currently ongoing, one that Sterling Cooper wants a part in and that Helen Bishop introduces to Betty. Really, the introduction is for us: Betty immediately concedes her vote to her husband's will (such an obedient wife), so she won't have any part when we get to "Kennedy v. Nixon" later in the season.

Cultural Observations

• That Trudy is the one who Pete gets to tell the story of his family history is one of my favourite moments in the episode, demonstrating how much Pete will never be able to escape his past now that his wife has both introduced a new connection and (more importantly) someone who believes in the hype so to speak. His quest to define himself is nowhere near over, and watching this episode again has put a lot of that into further perspective.
• Next on the docket: "5G," where we learn more about Donald Draper and Pete Campbell, and where their desperation begins to show through the cracks.

Maia Cerqueira faz questão de afirmar que a AMC não é uma agência de comunicação, mas uma empresa cujo foco da actividade está direccionado para a gestão de stakeholders. E explica: “As empresas precisam de identificar os seus stakeholders e de ter uma forma de se relacionar com eles directamente, deixando de estar apenas dependentes das ferramentas tradicionais da comunicação, do marketing e da publicidade”. Trata-se, portanto, de identificar todos os públicos das empresas para, a partir daí, criar uma forma de relacionamento que abrange várias disciplinas da comunicação, de modo a que todas essas capacidades sejam “abordadas de uma forma integrada nesta perspectiva de gestão de stakeholders”. O que a AMC faz é “identificar os stakeholders relevantes para a empresa e os que podem vir ser parceiros, fazendo também a avaliação do mercado que a envolve”.

A AMC está a atacar em vários pontos do globo, nomeadamente Brasil e Médio Oriente, onde já trabalhou para empresas a actuar nesses mercados. Nesse capítulo, para Maia Cerqueira, o papel de Domingos Piedade será fundamental: “É uma pessoa com uma larga experiência na gestão de stakeholders. Tem grandes conhecimentos sobre mercados emergentes, como a América Latina, a África e o Médio Oriente, onde ele tem capacidade de apoiar o desenvolvimento do negócio pela forma como facilmente consegue identificar e relacionar-se com stakeholders relevantes”.

Neste momento, a empresa está a trabalhar com quatro clientes, os quais, por motivos de confidencialidade, Maia Cerqueira não quer revelar, e está prestes a fechar acordo com mais três. Certo é que todos eles pertencem às áreas financeira, das energias e dos serviços. Em relação ao investimento e às perspectivas de negócio, Maia Cerqueira apenas disse que a empresa tem um “grande investimento no capital humano e na nossa capacidade”.