By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, January 9, 2008; Page A11
BEIJING, Jan. 8 -- Government officials from a county in northeastern China's Liaoning province were not pleased by a magazine story criticizing their local Communist Party leader. So they traveled nearly 500 miles to Beijing seeking to arrest the author.
On Tuesday, as word of the case filtered out, it prompted national attention, with the news media crying foul and many other Chinese using the Internet to voice their displeasure.
Editorials in the Beijing press said the officials, from Xifeng county, had abused their power. Even the party's official propaganda organ, People's Daily, ran a signed editorial suggesting that the way to deal with libel accusations is to go to court rather than use heavy-handed "administrative power."
The attempt to arrest the reporter was an uncomfortable reminder of the degree to which local Communist Party officials and their police, in the absence of an independent judicial system, routinely exercise power without legal restraints. But the outcry from editorialists and online commentators also showed that the Chinese public's willingness to accept such untrammeled power may be diminishing.
Public expectations in this regard have been heightened recently by repeated pledges from President Hu Jintao to make the party more honest and responsive to people's needs.
"I have always wondered what makes these cadres, even though they are educated and trained by the party for so many years, fail to perform normally, ignoring their superiors and arrogantly challenging the central media," wrote an Internet user who said he was a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing. "Where does their confidence and strength come from? It shows a lack of democracy and rule of law at the grass-roots level."
The controversy began when a Xifeng gasoline station owner, Zhao Junping, accused the county government of failing to pay her adequate compensation when it expropriated and tore down one of her stations in 2006 to make way for a new trading center. Reinforcing her complaint, she sent her friends a number of cellphone messages satirizing the local party secretary, Zhang Zhiguo, for refusing to give in to her demands for more money.
Zhao also traveled to Beijing last year to petition the national government for redress. But Xifeng county police followed her to the capital and took her back, eventually jailing her and putting her on trial in a local court for tax-dodging and libel. She has been behind bars for about nine months, her case still unresolved.
The dispute caught the attention of Zhu Wenna, editorial director of the monthly magazine Faren in Beijing, and she wrote a story about it in the Jan. 1 issue. Three days later, colleagues reported, the Xifeng propaganda director and law committee director showed up in her Beijing office with a document accusing her of inaccuracies about Zhang, the party secretary.
Zhu refused to entertain their complaint. But they returned in the afternoon, her colleagues said, this time accompanied by three Xifeng police officers and armed with an arrest warrant from the Xifeng Public Security Bureau accusing her of libel, which in China can be a criminal as well as a civil offense.
Zhu, meanwhile, had disappeared, and her editor, Wang Fengbin, refused to reveal her whereabouts.
Party leader Zhang, contacted by the Beijing newspaper Xinjing Bao, said he had not issued orders to the Xifeng police to arrest Zhu and had no idea how they came to travel to Beijing. The official New China News Agency later reported that the investigation against Zhu had been called off. But the pullback did nothing to assuage online critics.
"This incident shows fully the defects of our society, in which power is not effectively checked and local so-called judiciaries are actually the tools of local officials," said one of Tuesday's 30,000-plus Internet commentators. "What's the difference with the feudal emperors?"
2008年1月9日星期三
Mayo Clinic, IBM Establish Medical Imaging Research Center
ROCHESTER, MN and ARMONK, NY, Jan 09, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Today, Mayo Clinic and IBM (NYSE: IBM: 97.59, +0.00, +0.00%) announced the creation of a collaborative research facility aimed at advancing medical imaging technologies to improve the quality of patient care. The Medical Imaging Informatics Innovation Center (MI3C) is an extension of a Mayo-IBM research collaboration announced in 2007, the results of which have given physicians the ability to register medical images up to 50 times quicker and provide critical diagnosis, such as the growth or shrinkage of tumors, in seconds instead of hours.
"This facility will allow us to explore projects in medical imaging and radiology that can help to provide faster and better information for our physicians, and in turn, improved treatments for our patients," said Bradley Erickson, M.D., Ph.D., head of Mayo's Radiology Informatics Lab. "The collaborative potential of the MI3C gives us the opportunity to develop computationally intensive solutions for diagnostic problems we see every day, but that we at Mayo could not attempt to resolve on our own."
Driving these patient-centered projects will be a full-time team of Mayo and IBM researchers and development staff. Together, they will tackle a long list of potential projects, including:
-- Maximum-resolution organ imaging to provide physical (phenotype)
information that parallels the current level of genetic detail available
for the same tissue. This is designed to give physicians a much more
complete impression of a patient's condition.
-- Image-guided tumor ablation to pinpoint and maximize efficiency of
heat transfer probes used to destroy cancer tumors. By guiding physicians,
this innovation can help to improve accuracy and minimize side effects.
-- "Video swallow analysis" to see and compare how stroke patients
swallow in order to better determine the severity of their disability and
help provide proper physical therapy as well as protection against choking.
-- Automated Change Detection and Analysis designed to allow physicians
to compare a new image with a previous one, eliminate what has not changed
and to better assess what change has occurred, helping to improve
diagnostic speed and accuracy.
At the heart of the MI3C will be the latest in high-end imaging platforms and computational hardware, including IBM's breakthrough computing system based on the Cell Broadband Engine(TM: 103.04, +0.00, +0.00%) and blade technology. The MI3C will showcase this capability along with Mayo's leadership in medical imaging research and informatics.
"The MI3C is a physical manifestation of the larger set of skills and resources IBM and Mayo Clinic can collectively apply to the medical imaging space," said Bill Rapp, IBM distinguished engineer and chief technology officer for IBM's Healthcare and Life Sciences team. "IBM has world-class research and development teams focused on the fundamental algorithms that drive medical imaging informatics and hardware, while Mayo Clinic provides its expertise for exploiting these algorithms in applications that support a working, real-life radiology environment."
The MI3C will be housed on the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, MN, and will bring together clinicians, researchers and vendors in an environment where they can freely interact. By mutual agreement, third parties also will have future opportunities to collaborate with IBM and Mayo in the facility.
In addition to increasing interest and participation in imaging projects that can help to improve patient care, the MI3C also hopes to attract research grants for future investigations. The work will not only grow assets in imaging informatics at IBM and Mayo, including potential new graphics tools for visualization, but also lead to development of a software library for advanced medical imaging on high-end computer systems.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit medical center, thoroughly diagnoses and treats complex medical problems in every specialty. It also conducts wide-ranging, interdisciplinary medical research with the sole goal of improving patient care. Mayo Clinic has campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.
About IBM
For more information on IBM, visit www.ibm.com.
*Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license therefrom. All other company product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
IBM VIRTUAL PRESS KIT: http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/23251.wss.
Note to Editors: Images and broadcast-quality b-roll are available for download by registered journalists at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm.
Bloggers: Images and video are available for download by registered bloggers at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/videocafe.
Contact:
Jason Stolarczyk
IBM Media Relations
914.766.4469
jrstolar@us.ibm.com
SOURCE: IBM
mailto:jrstolar@us.ibm.com
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 01-05-2008 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend® Alert,
an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on
12-27-2007 for IBM @ $111.37.
For more information on SmarTrend, contact your market data
provider or go to www.mysmartrend.com
SmarTrend is a registered trademark of Comtex News Network, Inc.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
"This facility will allow us to explore projects in medical imaging and radiology that can help to provide faster and better information for our physicians, and in turn, improved treatments for our patients," said Bradley Erickson, M.D., Ph.D., head of Mayo's Radiology Informatics Lab. "The collaborative potential of the MI3C gives us the opportunity to develop computationally intensive solutions for diagnostic problems we see every day, but that we at Mayo could not attempt to resolve on our own."
Driving these patient-centered projects will be a full-time team of Mayo and IBM researchers and development staff. Together, they will tackle a long list of potential projects, including:
-- Maximum-resolution organ imaging to provide physical (phenotype)
information that parallels the current level of genetic detail available
for the same tissue. This is designed to give physicians a much more
complete impression of a patient's condition.
-- Image-guided tumor ablation to pinpoint and maximize efficiency of
heat transfer probes used to destroy cancer tumors. By guiding physicians,
this innovation can help to improve accuracy and minimize side effects.
-- "Video swallow analysis" to see and compare how stroke patients
swallow in order to better determine the severity of their disability and
help provide proper physical therapy as well as protection against choking.
-- Automated Change Detection and Analysis designed to allow physicians
to compare a new image with a previous one, eliminate what has not changed
and to better assess what change has occurred, helping to improve
diagnostic speed and accuracy.
At the heart of the MI3C will be the latest in high-end imaging platforms and computational hardware, including IBM's breakthrough computing system based on the Cell Broadband Engine(TM: 103.04, +0.00, +0.00%) and blade technology. The MI3C will showcase this capability along with Mayo's leadership in medical imaging research and informatics.
"The MI3C is a physical manifestation of the larger set of skills and resources IBM and Mayo Clinic can collectively apply to the medical imaging space," said Bill Rapp, IBM distinguished engineer and chief technology officer for IBM's Healthcare and Life Sciences team. "IBM has world-class research and development teams focused on the fundamental algorithms that drive medical imaging informatics and hardware, while Mayo Clinic provides its expertise for exploiting these algorithms in applications that support a working, real-life radiology environment."
The MI3C will be housed on the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, MN, and will bring together clinicians, researchers and vendors in an environment where they can freely interact. By mutual agreement, third parties also will have future opportunities to collaborate with IBM and Mayo in the facility.
In addition to increasing interest and participation in imaging projects that can help to improve patient care, the MI3C also hopes to attract research grants for future investigations. The work will not only grow assets in imaging informatics at IBM and Mayo, including potential new graphics tools for visualization, but also lead to development of a software library for advanced medical imaging on high-end computer systems.
About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit medical center, thoroughly diagnoses and treats complex medical problems in every specialty. It also conducts wide-ranging, interdisciplinary medical research with the sole goal of improving patient care. Mayo Clinic has campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.
About IBM
For more information on IBM, visit www.ibm.com.
*Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license therefrom. All other company product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
IBM VIRTUAL PRESS KIT: http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/23251.wss.
Note to Editors: Images and broadcast-quality b-roll are available for download by registered journalists at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm.
Bloggers: Images and video are available for download by registered bloggers at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/videocafe.
Contact:
Jason Stolarczyk
IBM Media Relations
914.766.4469
jrstolar@us.ibm.com
SOURCE: IBM
mailto:jrstolar@us.ibm.com
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 01-05-2008 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend® Alert,
an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on
12-27-2007 for IBM @ $111.37.
For more information on SmarTrend, contact your market data
provider or go to www.mysmartrend.com
SmarTrend is a registered trademark of Comtex News Network, Inc.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
2008年1月7日星期一
IBM DB2 31技巧
发布时间：2008.01.07 04:56 来源：赛迪网 作者：20363
1.查看本地节点目录
命令窗口中输入：
db2 list node directory
2.编目一个TCP/IP节点
命令窗口：
db2 catalog tcpip node
remote server
ostype
SUN ¦MVS ¦OS400 ¦
VM ¦VSE ¦SCO ¦SGI ¦
LINUX ¦DYNIX>
3.取消节点编目
db2 uncatalog node
4.查看系统数据库目录
db2 list database directory
5.查看本地数据库目录
db2 list database directory on <盘符>
在本地数据库目录中有而系统数据库目录中没有的数据库不能访问，可以在控制中心中选中 <数据库> 右键单击选择添加，然后输入需要添加的数据库名称或者点击刷新按钮选择数据库，加入数据库后即可以访问。
6.编目数据库
db2 catalog database as
at node
7.取消数据库编目
db2 uncatalog database
8.测试远程数据库的连接
db2 connect to user
using
9.任何用户均可通过设置Current Schema专用寄存器为特定的数据库连接设置默认模式，初始默认值为当前会话用户的权限ID。
set schema = 可以由用户交互式的使用，也可在应用程序中使用，如果用Dynamicrules Bind选项绑定包，这个语句就没有作用。此语句不在事务控制之下。
10.代码页的设置
在创建数据库时设置字符集
create database using
codeset territory
例：
create database dbtest using codeset
IBM-437 territory US
也可以设置整个数据库的代码页，在win2000/NT/xp中，在我的电脑--> 属性--> 高级--> 环境变量中添加变量DB2CODEPAGE = ，例：DB2CODEPAGE = 437 或 DB2CODEPAGE = 1386。或者在IBM DB2命令窗口输入 db2set DB2CODEPAGE=1386，设置后需要重新启动DB2生效。
11.DB2低版本数据到高版本的迁移
先将低版本数据备份使用恢复功能导入高版本数据库，然后在命令窗口输入：
db2 migrate database
12. 表名或模式中含有引号时访问表
命令窗口：
db2 select * from \ "tabschema\ ".\ "tabname\ "
命令行处理器：db2=> select * from "tabschema ". "tabname "
13. 导出数据库的表结构生成DDL文件
命令窗口：
db2look -d -e -c -o
14. 执行脚本文件
命令窗口：
db2 -tvf
15. 代码页的转换
16. 获取当前DB2的版本
select * from sysibm.sysversions
17. DB2表的字段的修改限制?
只能修改VARCHAR2类型的并且只能增加不能减少
alter table alter column
set data type varchar(SIZE)
18.如何查看表的结构?
describe table
or
describe select * from .
19. 如何快速清除一个大表?
ALTER TABLE TABLE_NAME ACTIVE NOT
LOGGED INITALLY WITH EMPTY TABLE
20. 如何查看数据库的存储过程?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.PROCEDURES
21. 如何查看表的约束?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.CHECKS
WHERE TABNAME =
22. 如何查看表的引用完整约束?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.REFERENCES
WHERE TABNAME =
23. 如何知道BUFFERPOOLS状况?
select * from SYSCAT.BUFFERPOOLS
24.如何在命令行下查看修改实例和数据库配置参数?
查看实例配置参数:
db2 get dbm cfg
修改实例配置参数:
db2 update dbm cfg using 参数名 新值
修改数据库配置参数:
db2 update db cfg for
using 参数名 新值
25.如何修改缓冲区?
增加缓冲区:
create bufferpool size
[pagesize 4096]
{[not] EXTENDED STORAGE}
修改缓冲区:
alter bufferpool size
{[not] EXTENDED STORAGE}
删除缓冲区:
drop bufferpool
如果缓冲区大小设置为 -1 表示缓冲池的页面数目由数据库配置参数buffpage决定。
注意: 数据库配置参数buffpage仅对缓冲区大小设置为 -1 的缓冲池起作用。
26. 多个字段时如何不通过使用select子句使用in/not in
select * from tabschema.tabname where
(colA, colB, colC) [not] in (values
(valueA1, valueB1, valueC1),
(valueA2, valueB2, valueC2),
...(valueAn, valueBn, valueCn))
27. 查看当前连接到数据库的应用
db2 list application [show detail]
28. 如何确认DB2数据库的一致性
db2dart /DB
/DB表示检查整个数据库的一致性
29. 测试SQL语句的性能
db2batch -d -f
[-a userid/passwd] [-r ]
-r 选项表示将查询结果输出到一个文件中。
30. 导出某个表的数据
export to
如：导出用户表
export to c:\user.ixf of ixf select * from user
31.导入数据
import from
如：导入用户表。导入时可以直接建立新表。如果有该表存在也可以用INSERT 插入，或者用UPDATE更新。
执行导入:
import from c:\user.ixf of ixf
[Create/Insert into / update] tablename
1.查看本地节点目录
命令窗口中输入：
db2 list node directory
2.编目一个TCP/IP节点
命令窗口：
db2 catalog tcpip node
remote
SUN ¦MVS ¦OS400 ¦
VM ¦VSE ¦SCO ¦SGI ¦
LINUX ¦DYNIX>
3.取消节点编目
db2 uncatalog node
4.查看系统数据库目录
db2 list database directory
5.查看本地数据库目录
db2 list database directory on <盘符>
在本地数据库目录中有而系统数据库目录中没有的数据库不能访问，可以在控制中心中选中 <数据库> 右键单击选择添加，然后输入需要添加的数据库名称或者点击刷新按钮选择数据库，加入数据库后即可以访问。
6.编目数据库
db2 catalog database
7.取消数据库编目
db2 uncatalog database
8.测试远程数据库的连接
db2 connect to
9.任何用户均可通过设置Current Schema专用寄存器为特定的数据库连接设置默认模式，初始默认值为当前会话用户的权限ID。
set schema = 可以由用户交互式的使用，也可在应用程序中使用，如果用Dynamicrules Bind选项绑定包，这个语句就没有作用。此语句不在事务控制之下。
10.代码页的设置
在创建数据库时设置字符集
create database
codeset
例：
create database dbtest using codeset
IBM-437 territory US
也可以设置整个数据库的代码页，在win2000/NT/xp中，在我的电脑--> 属性--> 高级--> 环境变量中添加变量DB2CODEPAGE = ，例：DB2CODEPAGE = 437 或 DB2CODEPAGE = 1386。或者在IBM DB2命令窗口输入 db2set DB2CODEPAGE=1386，设置后需要重新启动DB2生效。
11.DB2低版本数据到高版本的迁移
先将低版本数据备份使用恢复功能导入高版本数据库，然后在命令窗口输入：
db2 migrate database
12. 表名或模式中含有引号时访问表
命令窗口：
db2 select * from \ "tabschema\ ".\ "tabname\ "
命令行处理器：db2=> select * from "tabschema ". "tabname "
13. 导出数据库的表结构生成DDL文件
命令窗口：
db2look -d
14. 执行脚本文件
命令窗口：
db2 -tvf
15. 代码页的转换
16. 获取当前DB2的版本
select * from sysibm.sysversions
17. DB2表的字段的修改限制?
只能修改VARCHAR2类型的并且只能增加不能减少
alter table
18.如何查看表的结构?
describe table
or
describe select * from
19. 如何快速清除一个大表?
ALTER TABLE TABLE_NAME ACTIVE NOT
LOGGED INITALLY WITH EMPTY TABLE
20. 如何查看数据库的存储过程?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.PROCEDURES
21. 如何查看表的约束?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.CHECKS
WHERE TABNAME =
22. 如何查看表的引用完整约束?
SELECT * FROM SYSCAT.REFERENCES
WHERE TABNAME =
23. 如何知道BUFFERPOOLS状况?
select * from SYSCAT.BUFFERPOOLS
24.如何在命令行下查看修改实例和数据库配置参数?
查看实例配置参数:
db2 get dbm cfg
修改实例配置参数:
db2 update dbm cfg using 参数名 新值
修改数据库配置参数:
db2 update db cfg for
25.如何修改缓冲区?
增加缓冲区:
create bufferpool
{[not] EXTENDED STORAGE}
修改缓冲区:
alter bufferpool
删除缓冲区:
drop bufferpool
如果缓冲区大小设置为 -1 表示缓冲池的页面数目由数据库配置参数buffpage决定。
注意: 数据库配置参数buffpage仅对缓冲区大小设置为 -1 的缓冲池起作用。
26. 多个字段时如何不通过使用select子句使用in/not in
select * from tabschema.tabname where
(colA, colB, colC) [not] in (values
(valueA1, valueB1, valueC1),
(valueA2, valueB2, valueC2),
...(valueAn, valueBn, valueCn))
27. 查看当前连接到数据库的应用
db2 list application [show detail]
28. 如何确认DB2数据库的一致性
db2dart
/DB表示检查整个数据库的一致性
29. 测试SQL语句的性能
db2batch -d
[-a userid/passwd] [-r
-r 选项表示将查询结果输出到一个文件中。
30. 导出某个表的数据
export to
如：导出用户表
export to c:\user.ixf of ixf select * from user
31.导入数据
import from
如：导入用户表。导入时可以直接建立新表。如果有该表存在也可以用INSERT 插入，或者用UPDATE更新。
执行导入:
import from c:\user.ixf of ixf
[Create/Insert into / update] tablename
2008年1月6日星期日
IBM硬件部门实施15年来规模最大重组
2008-01-04
［计世网消息］（胡杨 编译） IBM将根据客户的类型而不是单个产品对其硬件部门实施重组。这是IBM硬件部门15年来进行的规模最大的重组。
IBM硬件部门负责人
William Zeitler在本周四发布的内部备忘录中称，这次重组将加强IBM向中小企业销售技术以及专门为中小企业设计产品的能力。
IBM的大多数业务来自于大型企业和政府部门。但是，IBM一直在设法改善向小企业销售服务、软件和服务器的业务，因为中小企业技术采购的增长速度更快。
虽然IBM仍然将按照产品类型报告硬件的销售收入，但是，这次重组将创建四个客户部门。其中，一个部门负责大型企业硬件，第二个部门负责中小企业硬件，第三个部门重点负责零售、电信和健康医疗行业的工业系统，第四个部门重点是微电子产品，为IBM的客户化微处理器买主服务。
Annex Research公司分析师Bob Djurdjevic称，这次调整将使IBM更快地适应中小企业的需求。虽然IBM董事长兼首席执行官彭明盛一直在谈论“降低IBM的重心”，但是，在此之前这些说法仅仅是空谈。
彭明盛在2007年称，向中小企业客户销售将很快将成为IBM最大的客户部门，超过金融服务行业。IBM称，2006年IBM的中小企业销售收入为170亿美元，而向金融服务行业销售的收入为250亿美元。
IBM将于1月17日公布其2007年财务报告。IBM的股票本周四收盘价格为104.90美元，上涨了21美分。
［计世网消息］（胡杨 编译） IBM将根据客户的类型而不是单个产品对其硬件部门实施重组。这是IBM硬件部门15年来进行的规模最大的重组。
IBM硬件部门负责人
William Zeitler在本周四发布的内部备忘录中称，这次重组将加强IBM向中小企业销售技术以及专门为中小企业设计产品的能力。
IBM的大多数业务来自于大型企业和政府部门。但是，IBM一直在设法改善向小企业销售服务、软件和服务器的业务，因为中小企业技术采购的增长速度更快。
虽然IBM仍然将按照产品类型报告硬件的销售收入，但是，这次重组将创建四个客户部门。其中，一个部门负责大型企业硬件，第二个部门负责中小企业硬件，第三个部门重点负责零售、电信和健康医疗行业的工业系统，第四个部门重点是微电子产品，为IBM的客户化微处理器买主服务。
Annex Research公司分析师Bob Djurdjevic称，这次调整将使IBM更快地适应中小企业的需求。虽然IBM董事长兼首席执行官彭明盛一直在谈论“降低IBM的重心”，但是，在此之前这些说法仅仅是空谈。
彭明盛在2007年称，向中小企业客户销售将很快将成为IBM最大的客户部门，超过金融服务行业。IBM称，2006年IBM的中小企业销售收入为170亿美元，而向金融服务行业销售的收入为250亿美元。
IBM将于1月17日公布其2007年财务报告。IBM的股票本周四收盘价格为104.90美元，上涨了21美分。
The home-office life can sometimes be harder than it looks
By Ralph Gardner Jr.
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Sunday, Jan 06, 2008, Page 9
`You're either working too hard or not hard enough.'
Before they were married in September, Nicci Young and Richard Wiese first had to split up. The problem was not romantic, but spatial: Young Wiese, who organizes community development safaris to Africa, and Wiese, a writer and explorer, found that their Upper East Side one-bedroom was not big enough for the two of them after both decided to work from home.
"He kept talking to me about his work, which is very interesting, but it was really taking time out of my workday," Young Wiese said. "And when I was alone there was a sense of loneliness and procrastination."
Wiese, who is writing a how-to book about exploration for teenagers, acknowledged the problem.
"Nicci tends to be a lot more intense," he said. "Especially with lighter work, I can be watching a ballgame. If I saw a funny e-mail coming through I'd want to share it. I'd get these glances from her, like, `I'm working!'"
Young Wiese is one of many of the millions of Americans now working outside traditional workplaces who have found themselves surprised by how difficult home-office life can be. It requires strict self-discipline and an ability to tune out spouses, children and pets. For the more sociable or emotionally needy, it can feel like house arrest, especially if the phone hasn't rung in a while.
Young Wiese's solution was to rent space in a communal office, an increasingly popular option for those who can afford it. (According to Sara Horowitz, the executive director of the Freelancers Union, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the self-employed, the use of communal work spaces has been on the rise among members for about three years, "and in the last year it's started accelerating.") Those who can't afford a separate space, or who find home too convenient or rewarding a workplace base to give up -- learn to live with the challenges, coming up with smaller-scale solutions over time.
One of the hardest adjustments for those working from home is deciding when to take a break, and when to quit for the day. With the computer always beckoning and the commute measured in the time it takes to cross the living room, there's always a reason to go back to work -- or an excuse to avoid it.
"It's sort of a guilty feeling -- I should be working," said Kathy McHugh, a headhunter for high-tech companies who has worked out of her Manhattan apartment on and off for several years. "My office is 2 feet away."
Children can be a distraction, as Barbara Magnoni, an international development consultant, discovered when she and Magali Montes, a business associate, tried to hold meetings in Magnoni's apartment after picking up their children from school.
"We'd meet at home with our kids running around and they would think it was a play date when it actually wasn't," Magnoni said.
Sid Holt, a media senior vice president whose office is in a barn a few steps from his house in northern Westchester County, described the difficulty of pacing himself.
"There are no cigarette breaks," he said. "You're either working too hard or not hard enough."
Holt said he finds it helpful to schedule his time in a way that mimics the 9-to-5 life of his years spent working in a New York office. He tries to keep to a routine that includes breakfast at a local coffee shop -- reminiscent of his ritual of picking up coffee and a bagel at Grand Central Terminal on the way to his former job -- and a 10am conference call with three other employees of go2Media, a Boston-based mobile Web service for which he oversees editorial content.
The conference call and frequent e-mail exchanges with other employees contribute to a sense of accomplishment that would be harder to achieve if he were working entirely on his own, he said. And they also help him to feel that he has earned the reward that once greeted him on his return from Manhattan, and that he still uses to punctuate the day.
"I say to myself, there's a martini waiting for me down at the house and I'm leaving now," he said.
For home-office workers who aren't in regular touch with colleagues or clients, a frequent complaint -- even among those who say they are distracted by other members of their households -- is of isolation. David Behl, a photographer whose studio is connected to his TriBeCa loft, said he enjoys working at home when the jobs are pouring in and the studio is filled with clients and assistants. But at other times, he added, he misses the studio he used to share with two other photographers.
"You don't see anybody," he said. "You don't go out for lunch. It's easier to get depressed because there's no one to complain to."
McHugh said business lunches can be a lifeline after a couple of weeks working from home, and that she often finds herself glomming onto her daughter when she gets home from high school in the afternoon.
"I'm happy to see somebody who's out in the world," she said.
These issues have been observed at IBM, where a "mobile work force" strategy has led to 30 percent of employees working full time from home (as well as a savings on office space that the company estimates at US$100 million a year).
"We found if you're working from home and do not have an interaction with someone from work, or a client, or a physical meeting, after three days you start to feel isolated," said Dan Pelino, who manages IBM's mobile work force program. Soon after the company introduced the program in 2001, he added, "people have said to me, `IBM stands for `I'm By Myself.'"
The company has tried to mitigate this problem with "mobility centers," communal spaces that it maintains wherever it has offices, offering desks, phone and Internet lines, and office equipment for the periodic use of home-based workers.
It has also promoted "IBM clubs," meant to encourage employee bonding. Club members have taken day trips together to a zoo, traded cookie recipes and "gone to a race track and learned how to be a NASCAR driver," Pelino said.
For those who can't depend on corporate beneficence, it is now possible to rent a desk or office in communal work spaces all over the country.
The Regus Group, a Dallas-based company that rents temporary office space around the world and has 17 locations in Manhattan alone, has been doubling its US business every two years, said Guillermo Rotman, the company's chief executive for the Americas.
In addition to cubicles and individual offices in various configurations, its spaces all have business lounges with sofas, armchairs, Internet ports, coffee machines and companionship for those seeking it. (The company also sells US$300-a-year passes to its business lounges, which number 950 around the world and cater to itinerant laptoppers.)
One Regus client in New York, David Robertson, said he had been looking forward to working at home from his Lower Manhattan apartment when he took a job in 2006 with a startup company that licenses images from college sports events, but that he lasted less than three months.
"There seemed to be a lot of distractions," he said, "whether it was my children, or the refrigerator, or some home improvement project that was just sitting there staring at me."
His company pays slightly less than US$1,000 a month for the cubicle he selected over an office with a closing door because it presented more opportunities to socialize. He now wears a suit and tie to work when he wants to, and enjoys the reassuring cadences of the 9-to-5 world, as well as the camaraderie of his new office mates.
"It's not like they're best friends," he said of his fellow business lounge denizens and the Regus staff members who are there to support them. "But they're adults you can have a conversation with."
Young Wiese, who pays US$650 a month for a desk in a communal office in a private house near her apartment, said she, too, is happy to be surrounded by office mates who are friendly, if less gregarious than Wiese. They share job leads with one another, they go out to lunch.
She added that she prefers these relationships to those in a traditional office.
"You have this collegial atmosphere, but it's not fraught with any work issues or roles or responsibilities," she said.
Several of them are women who, like her, have abandoned their home offices to their work-at-home husbands.
Abby Vaughn, an advertising representative for Canadian newspapers, actually took over her husband's space at the communal office when he was dismissed by the office manager after two weeks because his telephone manner was too loud. He is once again selling market research from home, while Vaughn goes off to the rented cubicle.
"He's worked from his apartment for two years," his wife explained. "He wasn't used to being around people."
This story has been viewed 463 times.
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Sunday, Jan 06, 2008, Page 9
`You're either working too hard or not hard enough.'
Before they were married in September, Nicci Young and Richard Wiese first had to split up. The problem was not romantic, but spatial: Young Wiese, who organizes community development safaris to Africa, and Wiese, a writer and explorer, found that their Upper East Side one-bedroom was not big enough for the two of them after both decided to work from home.
"He kept talking to me about his work, which is very interesting, but it was really taking time out of my workday," Young Wiese said. "And when I was alone there was a sense of loneliness and procrastination."
Wiese, who is writing a how-to book about exploration for teenagers, acknowledged the problem.
"Nicci tends to be a lot more intense," he said. "Especially with lighter work, I can be watching a ballgame. If I saw a funny e-mail coming through I'd want to share it. I'd get these glances from her, like, `I'm working!'"
Young Wiese is one of many of the millions of Americans now working outside traditional workplaces who have found themselves surprised by how difficult home-office life can be. It requires strict self-discipline and an ability to tune out spouses, children and pets. For the more sociable or emotionally needy, it can feel like house arrest, especially if the phone hasn't rung in a while.
Young Wiese's solution was to rent space in a communal office, an increasingly popular option for those who can afford it. (According to Sara Horowitz, the executive director of the Freelancers Union, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the self-employed, the use of communal work spaces has been on the rise among members for about three years, "and in the last year it's started accelerating.") Those who can't afford a separate space, or who find home too convenient or rewarding a workplace base to give up -- learn to live with the challenges, coming up with smaller-scale solutions over time.
One of the hardest adjustments for those working from home is deciding when to take a break, and when to quit for the day. With the computer always beckoning and the commute measured in the time it takes to cross the living room, there's always a reason to go back to work -- or an excuse to avoid it.
"It's sort of a guilty feeling -- I should be working," said Kathy McHugh, a headhunter for high-tech companies who has worked out of her Manhattan apartment on and off for several years. "My office is 2 feet away."
Children can be a distraction, as Barbara Magnoni, an international development consultant, discovered when she and Magali Montes, a business associate, tried to hold meetings in Magnoni's apartment after picking up their children from school.
"We'd meet at home with our kids running around and they would think it was a play date when it actually wasn't," Magnoni said.
Sid Holt, a media senior vice president whose office is in a barn a few steps from his house in northern Westchester County, described the difficulty of pacing himself.
"There are no cigarette breaks," he said. "You're either working too hard or not hard enough."
Holt said he finds it helpful to schedule his time in a way that mimics the 9-to-5 life of his years spent working in a New York office. He tries to keep to a routine that includes breakfast at a local coffee shop -- reminiscent of his ritual of picking up coffee and a bagel at Grand Central Terminal on the way to his former job -- and a 10am conference call with three other employees of go2Media, a Boston-based mobile Web service for which he oversees editorial content.
The conference call and frequent e-mail exchanges with other employees contribute to a sense of accomplishment that would be harder to achieve if he were working entirely on his own, he said. And they also help him to feel that he has earned the reward that once greeted him on his return from Manhattan, and that he still uses to punctuate the day.
"I say to myself, there's a martini waiting for me down at the house and I'm leaving now," he said.
For home-office workers who aren't in regular touch with colleagues or clients, a frequent complaint -- even among those who say they are distracted by other members of their households -- is of isolation. David Behl, a photographer whose studio is connected to his TriBeCa loft, said he enjoys working at home when the jobs are pouring in and the studio is filled with clients and assistants. But at other times, he added, he misses the studio he used to share with two other photographers.
"You don't see anybody," he said. "You don't go out for lunch. It's easier to get depressed because there's no one to complain to."
McHugh said business lunches can be a lifeline after a couple of weeks working from home, and that she often finds herself glomming onto her daughter when she gets home from high school in the afternoon.
"I'm happy to see somebody who's out in the world," she said.
These issues have been observed at IBM, where a "mobile work force" strategy has led to 30 percent of employees working full time from home (as well as a savings on office space that the company estimates at US$100 million a year).
"We found if you're working from home and do not have an interaction with someone from work, or a client, or a physical meeting, after three days you start to feel isolated," said Dan Pelino, who manages IBM's mobile work force program. Soon after the company introduced the program in 2001, he added, "people have said to me, `IBM stands for `I'm By Myself.'"
The company has tried to mitigate this problem with "mobility centers," communal spaces that it maintains wherever it has offices, offering desks, phone and Internet lines, and office equipment for the periodic use of home-based workers.
It has also promoted "IBM clubs," meant to encourage employee bonding. Club members have taken day trips together to a zoo, traded cookie recipes and "gone to a race track and learned how to be a NASCAR driver," Pelino said.
For those who can't depend on corporate beneficence, it is now possible to rent a desk or office in communal work spaces all over the country.
The Regus Group, a Dallas-based company that rents temporary office space around the world and has 17 locations in Manhattan alone, has been doubling its US business every two years, said Guillermo Rotman, the company's chief executive for the Americas.
In addition to cubicles and individual offices in various configurations, its spaces all have business lounges with sofas, armchairs, Internet ports, coffee machines and companionship for those seeking it. (The company also sells US$300-a-year passes to its business lounges, which number 950 around the world and cater to itinerant laptoppers.)
One Regus client in New York, David Robertson, said he had been looking forward to working at home from his Lower Manhattan apartment when he took a job in 2006 with a startup company that licenses images from college sports events, but that he lasted less than three months.
"There seemed to be a lot of distractions," he said, "whether it was my children, or the refrigerator, or some home improvement project that was just sitting there staring at me."
His company pays slightly less than US$1,000 a month for the cubicle he selected over an office with a closing door because it presented more opportunities to socialize. He now wears a suit and tie to work when he wants to, and enjoys the reassuring cadences of the 9-to-5 world, as well as the camaraderie of his new office mates.
"It's not like they're best friends," he said of his fellow business lounge denizens and the Regus staff members who are there to support them. "But they're adults you can have a conversation with."
Young Wiese, who pays US$650 a month for a desk in a communal office in a private house near her apartment, said she, too, is happy to be surrounded by office mates who are friendly, if less gregarious than Wiese. They share job leads with one another, they go out to lunch.
She added that she prefers these relationships to those in a traditional office.
"You have this collegial atmosphere, but it's not fraught with any work issues or roles or responsibilities," she said.
Several of them are women who, like her, have abandoned their home offices to their work-at-home husbands.
Abby Vaughn, an advertising representative for Canadian newspapers, actually took over her husband's space at the communal office when he was dismissed by the office manager after two weeks because his telephone manner was too loud. He is once again selling market research from home, while Vaughn goes off to the rented cubicle.
"He's worked from his apartment for two years," his wife explained. "He wasn't used to being around people."
This story has been viewed 463 times.
2008年1月2日星期三
IBM Annexes XIV
January 2, 2008
By Paul Shread
IBM started the new year on the acquisition trail, picking up Israel-based storage startup XIV Ltd. for a reported $300 million to $350 million.
XIV makes Nextra, a storage system based on a grid of commodity hardware that includes features such as thin provisioning, snapshots and remote mirroring.
The company, founded by former EMC chief engineer Moshe Yanai, has shipped about 4 petabytes of high-performance storage in the last couple of years. But rather than adding another general storage line, IBM plans to target the company's technology at next-generation digital content.
"IBM is positioning this acquisition and the Nextra solution in the emerging applications space — Web 2.0, video surveillance, rich media, etc., whereas I would guess that XIV has been selling in the more general purpose application space that products like EMC Symmetrix occupy," said John Webster, principal IT advisor at Illuminata. "So right now, there is a positioning wall between Nextra and IBM's established storage lines."
XIV, its technologies and employees will become part of the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group, and IBM plans to discuss integration plans as they develop over time.
IBM is billing the acquisition as the first major deal for the IBM Systems and Technology Group in nearly a decade.
"The acquisition of XIV will further strengthen the IBM infrastructure portfolio long term and put IBM in the best position to address emerging storage opportunities like Web 2.0 applications, digital archives and digital media," Andy Monshaw, general manager of IBM System Storage, said in a statement.
"The ability for almost anyone to create digital content at any time has accelerated the need for a whole new way of applying infrastructure solutions to the new world of digital information," he said. "IBM’s goal is to provide the leading technologies and solutions at every layer of the data center — storage, servers, software and services — to address these new realities IT customers face."
IBM said it was impressed by Nextra's ability to scale dynamically, heal itself and self-tune while eliminating the management burdens associated with rapid growth environments. The architecture also automatically optimizes resource utilization of all components within the system, allowing for easier management and configuration and improved performance and data availability.
"We believe the level of technological innovation achieved by our development team is unparalleled in the storage industry," boasted Yanai, who is credited with the development of EMC's high-end Symmetrix system. "Combining our storage architectural advancements with IBM’s world-wide research, sales, service, manufacturing and distribution capabilities will provide us with the ability to have these technologies tackle the emerging Web 2.0 technology needs and reach every corner of the world."
IBM isn't the only storage company that spent the holidays making strategic acquisitions. EMC announced that it is buying publicly-held Document Sciences Corp. for $85 million. Document Sciences makes document output management (DOM) software that facilitates personalized, multi-channel communications with customers, partners and suppliers, adding to EMC's position in the transactional content management (TCM) space, the fastest-growing segment of enterprise content management.
And Double-Take Software acquired CDP startup TimeSpring to bolster its data protection and backup capabilities for virtualized and physical server environments.
Back to Enterprise Storage Forum
By Paul Shread
IBM started the new year on the acquisition trail, picking up Israel-based storage startup XIV Ltd. for a reported $300 million to $350 million.
XIV makes Nextra, a storage system based on a grid of commodity hardware that includes features such as thin provisioning, snapshots and remote mirroring.
The company, founded by former EMC chief engineer Moshe Yanai, has shipped about 4 petabytes of high-performance storage in the last couple of years. But rather than adding another general storage line, IBM plans to target the company's technology at next-generation digital content.
"IBM is positioning this acquisition and the Nextra solution in the emerging applications space — Web 2.0, video surveillance, rich media, etc., whereas I would guess that XIV has been selling in the more general purpose application space that products like EMC Symmetrix occupy," said John Webster, principal IT advisor at Illuminata. "So right now, there is a positioning wall between Nextra and IBM's established storage lines."
XIV, its technologies and employees will become part of the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group, and IBM plans to discuss integration plans as they develop over time.
IBM is billing the acquisition as the first major deal for the IBM Systems and Technology Group in nearly a decade.
"The acquisition of XIV will further strengthen the IBM infrastructure portfolio long term and put IBM in the best position to address emerging storage opportunities like Web 2.0 applications, digital archives and digital media," Andy Monshaw, general manager of IBM System Storage, said in a statement.
"The ability for almost anyone to create digital content at any time has accelerated the need for a whole new way of applying infrastructure solutions to the new world of digital information," he said. "IBM’s goal is to provide the leading technologies and solutions at every layer of the data center — storage, servers, software and services — to address these new realities IT customers face."
IBM said it was impressed by Nextra's ability to scale dynamically, heal itself and self-tune while eliminating the management burdens associated with rapid growth environments. The architecture also automatically optimizes resource utilization of all components within the system, allowing for easier management and configuration and improved performance and data availability.
"We believe the level of technological innovation achieved by our development team is unparalleled in the storage industry," boasted Yanai, who is credited with the development of EMC's high-end Symmetrix system. "Combining our storage architectural advancements with IBM’s world-wide research, sales, service, manufacturing and distribution capabilities will provide us with the ability to have these technologies tackle the emerging Web 2.0 technology needs and reach every corner of the world."
IBM isn't the only storage company that spent the holidays making strategic acquisitions. EMC announced that it is buying publicly-held Document Sciences Corp. for $85 million. Document Sciences makes document output management (DOM) software that facilitates personalized, multi-channel communications with customers, partners and suppliers, adding to EMC's position in the transactional content management (TCM) space, the fastest-growing segment of enterprise content management.
And Double-Take Software acquired CDP startup TimeSpring to bolster its data protection and backup capabilities for virtualized and physical server environments.
Back to Enterprise Storage Forum
2008年1月1日星期二
Times Square marks century of celebrations
NEW YORK (AP) -- More than a million revelers in Times Square cheered as the giant crystal ball made its 100th drop and a ton of confetti rained down on the urban canyon, ushering in the new year.
art.new_year.ap.jpg
Pedestrians started crowding the Times Square area even before the neon-lit crossroads were closed to vehicles.
Organizers said well over a million people attended the festivities. They were treated to an entertainment lineup that included Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest handling the countdown to 2008 and musical performances by Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus and others.
New Year's Eve revelers converged on Times Square to watch the dropping of a new energy-efficient ball, while gay couples in New Hampshire awaited the stroke of midnight to take advantage of a new law allowing civil unions.
In New York, Milwaukee resident Jennelle Joset and her mother, Wanda Bowers, had been standing around since 1 p.m., wearing hats with big plastic wheels of cheese to show their Wisconsin pride.
"I had to do this once, to see it once before I die," Bowers said.
The first ball was an iron-and-wood contraption lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs, but the Waterford crystal-clad star of this year's extravaganza was lit up with 9,576 tiny LEDs that organizers said would draw about as much electricity as 10 toasters.
Philips Lighting, which made the light-emitting diodes, said they would be more than twice as bright as last year's energy-hungry lights and are capable of generating more than 16 million colors. Video Watch CNN's Deborah Feyerick report on preparations at New York's Times Square »
A different sort of light show was set in Brooksville, Florida, where the ball being dropped was a 200-pound fiberglass tangerine, with light bulbs inside. And in downtown Miami, the Big Orange will slowly climb to the top of the Hotel Inter-Continental, followed by a laser and fireworks show.
About 1 million people were expected for the 32nd First Night celebration in Boston. The party lineup included a half-dozen ice sculptures around the city, each weighing 30 to 45 tons, performances by hundreds of artists, and a midnight fireworks display over Boston Harbor.
Don't Miss
* AC 360 Blog: What's your New Year's resolution?
* New Year's in New York
* New Year's Eve around the world
Authorities in several cities including Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit pleaded with residents not to ring in the new year by shooting bullets skyward. Emergency Medical Service technicians in New Orleans even planned to don combat helmets made from the same fiber used in bullet-resistant vests for the second straight year.
The Chicago Transit Authority continued its New Year's Eve tradition of offering penny fares on buses and trains as thousands were expected to head to the city's fireworks shows on Navy Pier. Philadelphia also had a huge fireworks display planned, with 4,000 fireworks shells scheduled to explode over the Delaware River.
More than 300,000 people were expected to crowd the Las Vegas Strip and downtown resorts for the countdown to midnight. They were expected to spend more than $200 million in restaurants, theaters and clubs -- with a big chunk of that going to the hefty door charge, usually around $250, at the Strip's slick nightclubs.
For that much money, patrons could see pop star Avril Lavigne, booked to host the party at the new Prive Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The Luxor's LAX scored both Hilton sisters -- Nicky and Paris -- for its bash.
"It's a party city, it's wild out here!" said Stephanie Smith, 21, of West Covina, California, as her friends polished off yard-long margaritas and walked the sidewalk outside the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Sleeping bags and folding chairs were already in place Monday in Pasadena, California, at prime viewing spots for the 119th Rose Parade and its New Year's Day floats and marching bands.
"This is my first time at the parade," said Mimi Moore, 18, who had been waiting on a patch of grass near the starting point of the parade since 2 a.m. "I'm only on three hours sleep. We spend the time playing Twister and football."
About 20 couples decided to be the first to take advantage of New Hampshire's new civil-unions law with a midnight ceremony on the Statehouse steps in Concord. Snow and freezing temperatures were forecast.
"I don't have any winter coats with rhinestones and glitter, so I'm just going to dress warmly," said organizer and participant Jennifer Major of Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
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About 1,000 runners had signed up to greet the New Year with the 10th Annual First Night 5K race at Saratoga Springs, New York. Nearly a foot of snow had fallen since Sunday, but the race has never been canceled, usually because crews start cleaning the course immediately after a snowfall.
"I think what happens on a day like this is that runners are even more motivated and challenged to run," said Ray O'Conor, a bank president who runs it almost every year. "I'm not sure what that says about our mental makeup!" E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
art.new_year.ap.jpg
Pedestrians started crowding the Times Square area even before the neon-lit crossroads were closed to vehicles.
Organizers said well over a million people attended the festivities. They were treated to an entertainment lineup that included Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest handling the countdown to 2008 and musical performances by Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus and others.
New Year's Eve revelers converged on Times Square to watch the dropping of a new energy-efficient ball, while gay couples in New Hampshire awaited the stroke of midnight to take advantage of a new law allowing civil unions.
In New York, Milwaukee resident Jennelle Joset and her mother, Wanda Bowers, had been standing around since 1 p.m., wearing hats with big plastic wheels of cheese to show their Wisconsin pride.
"I had to do this once, to see it once before I die," Bowers said.
The first ball was an iron-and-wood contraption lit with 100 25-watt incandescent bulbs, but the Waterford crystal-clad star of this year's extravaganza was lit up with 9,576 tiny LEDs that organizers said would draw about as much electricity as 10 toasters.
Philips Lighting, which made the light-emitting diodes, said they would be more than twice as bright as last year's energy-hungry lights and are capable of generating more than 16 million colors. Video Watch CNN's Deborah Feyerick report on preparations at New York's Times Square »
A different sort of light show was set in Brooksville, Florida, where the ball being dropped was a 200-pound fiberglass tangerine, with light bulbs inside. And in downtown Miami, the Big Orange will slowly climb to the top of the Hotel Inter-Continental, followed by a laser and fireworks show.
About 1 million people were expected for the 32nd First Night celebration in Boston. The party lineup included a half-dozen ice sculptures around the city, each weighing 30 to 45 tons, performances by hundreds of artists, and a midnight fireworks display over Boston Harbor.
Don't Miss
* AC 360 Blog: What's your New Year's resolution?
* New Year's in New York
* New Year's Eve around the world
Authorities in several cities including Phoenix, Dallas and Detroit pleaded with residents not to ring in the new year by shooting bullets skyward. Emergency Medical Service technicians in New Orleans even planned to don combat helmets made from the same fiber used in bullet-resistant vests for the second straight year.
The Chicago Transit Authority continued its New Year's Eve tradition of offering penny fares on buses and trains as thousands were expected to head to the city's fireworks shows on Navy Pier. Philadelphia also had a huge fireworks display planned, with 4,000 fireworks shells scheduled to explode over the Delaware River.
More than 300,000 people were expected to crowd the Las Vegas Strip and downtown resorts for the countdown to midnight. They were expected to spend more than $200 million in restaurants, theaters and clubs -- with a big chunk of that going to the hefty door charge, usually around $250, at the Strip's slick nightclubs.
For that much money, patrons could see pop star Avril Lavigne, booked to host the party at the new Prive Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. The Luxor's LAX scored both Hilton sisters -- Nicky and Paris -- for its bash.
"It's a party city, it's wild out here!" said Stephanie Smith, 21, of West Covina, California, as her friends polished off yard-long margaritas and walked the sidewalk outside the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Sleeping bags and folding chairs were already in place Monday in Pasadena, California, at prime viewing spots for the 119th Rose Parade and its New Year's Day floats and marching bands.
"This is my first time at the parade," said Mimi Moore, 18, who had been waiting on a patch of grass near the starting point of the parade since 2 a.m. "I'm only on three hours sleep. We spend the time playing Twister and football."
About 20 couples decided to be the first to take advantage of New Hampshire's new civil-unions law with a midnight ceremony on the Statehouse steps in Concord. Snow and freezing temperatures were forecast.
"I don't have any winter coats with rhinestones and glitter, so I'm just going to dress warmly," said organizer and participant Jennifer Major of Gilmanton, New Hampshire.
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About 1,000 runners had signed up to greet the New Year with the 10th Annual First Night 5K race at Saratoga Springs, New York. Nearly a foot of snow had fallen since Sunday, but the race has never been canceled, usually because crews start cleaning the course immediately after a snowfall.
"I think what happens on a day like this is that runners are even more motivated and challenged to run," said Ray O'Conor, a bank president who runs it almost every year. "I'm not sure what that says about our mental makeup!" E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
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