Memory alignment is the way data types are arranged and accessed in memory. There are numerous tutorial on the internet that covers the topic in depth. This is not one of them. This is just a post that gathers my thoughts on how little I knew about the topic.

I’ve read Write Portable Code awhile ago, and there are some recommended practices that I follow to avoid alignment issues. Along the lines of the recommended practices is to avoid using memory overlay and bit-fields.

By avoiding those features, I don’t deal with memory alignment issues too often. But at the same time, I also avoided understanding those memory alignment issues in the first place.

In the past several weeks, I have worked with low level programmer that uses those features. After working with alignment bugs that we have encountered, I feel like I need to take Programming 101 again.

Bus Error on Solaris

My co-worker was developing a cross-platform software in C that receives and routes data from the software I developed(vague on purpose). We integrated our code, and they worked fine under the Linux system. Then he ported the code over to the Solaris machine, it quickly gave him a “Bus Error”.

// code has been drastically simplified for demonstration purposes

// some byte array
char p[5000];

//...many lines later

// extract a 4 byte integer from the buffer, and get a Bus Error from Solaris
int *intData= (int *) ((char *)&p);
int fourByteInteger = *intData;

It smells like an alignment issue. By de-referencing of variable intData, it probably caused a misaligned memory access. We didn’t know the exact detail, but my co-worker changed it to memcpy (one of the recommended practice from Writing Portable Code), and everything is happy.

So it is an alignment issue. But this leaves a bigger question, why does it work on the Linux system?

Unaligned Memory Access on Intel Architecture

The Linux system uses an Intel processor, and the Solaris system uses a SPARC processor.

Turns out that Intel Architecture allows unaligned memory access, with a small performance penalty. I’ve been sheltered under the Intel Architecture for so long that I took unaligned memory access “feature” for granted.

So this leads to another question, how much is the penalty, and how to detect unaligned memory access?

Finding out the penalty isn’t a difficult task. You can force an unaligned access by upconverting a byte pointer into a pointer of a larger type. Here is some pseudo-code.

// loop through the entire array by assuming that the void
// pointer is of type T
template<typename T>
void LoopThroughData( void *data, uint32_t size )
{
	T *dataT = (T*) data;
	T *dataTEnd = dataT + size/sizeof(T);

	while( dataT != dataTEnd )
	{
		(*dataT)*=2;
		dataT++;
	}
}
...
char buffer[2000];
char *bufferWithOffset = buffer + someOffset;
// loop through the array by assuming that it is an integer array
LoopThroughData<int>((void *)bufferWithOffset, 2000);

Here’s some plots that shows the penalty of unaligned access in Intel architecture.

Convert a byte array with 32 bit integer array with different offset values.

Convert a byte array with 64 bit integer array with different offset values.

The plot shows that there is a 2% performance penalty on unaligned 32 bit integer access and 3.6% performance penalty on unaligned 64 bit integer access.
I am using an Intel I5-750 processor. The penalty ratio is likely to be different across the Intel processor family.

Defense Against Unaligned Memory Access

Regardless of architecture, we should avoid unaligned memory access. Say that you can’t use memcpy for some performance reason, there is a compiler specific macro that can help detect unaligned memory.

In Visual Studio, there is __alignof that returns the alignment requirement of a given type. In GCC, the equivalent routine is__alignof__. With this tool, I wrote a small C++ routine that will determine whether a given pointer meet its alignment requirement.

template <typename T>
bool CheckIfDataIsAligned(T *p)
{
	if(((uintptr_t)p % __alignof(T)) == 0)
	{
		return true;
	}
	return false;
}

If your compiler does not support any variant of alignof, there is a clever solution that implement it in terms of through offsetof.

Bit-field Padding Problem

Another problem I encountered recently is data structure padding. My co-worker defined a bitfield to extract message from devices.

// code simplified for demonstration purposes.
// method 1
struct BitFields
{
	uint32_t a : 16;
	uint32_t b : 16;
	uint8_t c;
	uint8_t d;
};
// method 2
struct BitFields2
{
	uint16_t a;
	uint16_t b;
	uint8_t c;
	uint8_t d;
};

I am simplifying the code here. The story is a bit more complicated. There are many messages defined, and he is using the size of the messages to determine the offset to read from a large buffer. He found out that if he uses method 1 for his bit-fields, things are completely out of sync. If he uses method 2, everything works.

If you run the sizeof() operator on both object, object defined with method 1 will be bigger than method 2. This is because compiler have the tendency to align a structure to the nearest multiple of the largest member alignment value. So in the case of method 1, the largest method is uint32_t, and causes a 2 byte padding at the end of the structure.

Defense Against Bit-field Padding

Regardless of how much understanding I have on bit-fields, mistakes can always be made. I came up with two personal guideline to follow next time I define a bit-field.

1. Use unnamed bit-field if padding is intended.

2. Use Static Assert to validate structure sizes to prevent unaware paddings.

struct BitFields
{
	uint32_t a : 16;
	uint32_t b : 16;
	uint8_t c;
	uint8_t d;
	uint8_t : 8; // use unnamed bit-field if it is intentional
	uint8_t : 8; // use unnamed bit-field if it is intentional
};
// static assertion to guard against unaware padding
BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT(sizeof(BitFields) == 8);

struct BitFields2
{
	uint16_t a;
	uint16_t b;
	uint8_t c;
	uint8_t d;
};
// static assertion to guard against unaware padding
BOOST_STATIC_ASSERT(sizeof(BitFields) == 6);

On a side note, I know that #pragma pack(n) can also remove padding. But #pragma pack(n) only gives programmer partial control over a structure’s alignment. Compiler can still choose to align object less than n if n is greater than 1.

Source

The source and spreadsheet can downloaded here.

Compiler: Visual Studio 2008

Machine Specification: Intel I5-750, Window 7 64 Bit.

 Here at GO Outdoors HQ, we work out of the Sheffield office. Having been around for a gazillion years, or since the 1970’s, much the same, it’s the hub of the business.

Sheffield this weekend is following London, who had their’s ages ago, by getting Celebrities To Turn On The Lights. Ooooooooooooh.

The Lights of the High Street will burn like a beacon of hope to anyone who is Not Yet Festive. Christmas lights are fantastic in my opinion.

A perfect visual aid for everyone to crack on with their shopping and get started with the overindulgence, or the diet, depending on your party schedule, also, a great excuse to do some of my favourite things- eat, meander, people watch, and look at celebrities. In that order.

Headed over to Sheffield town this weekend will be Beverley Knight and ‘Little Shoes’ as my friend’s mum calls her. (That’s Little Boots to the under 50.) I think they are sharing the light turn on, all hands on deck, as it were, and I’m hoping for a giant red button, akin to a Destroy The World button from a Bond film. (Encased in a small glass box that rises from a desk.)

This is probably not going to happen. What will be guaranteed with light switch ons, are a few certain things.

However much you eat before you leave, the array of foodstuffs and the jovial ‘it’s Christmas!’ hysteria will lure you in with sausages the size of a small rocket and pick and mix the size of rocks. It’s okay, you need the energy to get past the next hurdle- being:

The population of the city will take the opportunity to bring out the big guns, namely, double pushchairs. Single length streets + one way traffic + Pushchairs being stopped mid-walk so the mum can tend to  little Tabitha/Chloe/Damian’s Wotsit requesting needs = Carnage.

You may well decide that your mum/grandma/sister would love a carved wooden duck, something you would never consider in the cold light of day, and purchase said duck, only to realise that a)you’ve wasted £20 (sorry, carvers) and b) there is no appropriate way to wrap something in the shape of a duck.

You will lose the feelings in your fingers and toes as you wait for The Celebrity to make their way to the stage. Brrr. Why can’t they turn on the lights in July and be done with it?

We can’t do much about you purchasing wooden ducks or guzzling your body weight in pick and mix, apart from offering you a Rennie and suggesting you leave your cash at home.

What we can help is with keeping you warm.

As a quick heads up, we have been selling insulated jackets like hot cakes this season, with temperatures plummeting, and the fact that most insulated jackets also repel water and come with actual styling and fitted looks that mean you can wear them off the hills.  From men’s jackets to women’s jackets, to something for the kids as well, from RG1 jackets to the sexily named Latok Alpine jacket, we are having a Price Crash. Sounds a bit violent, I admit, but it does mean you get about £30 or so off our insulated jackets, which can’t be a bad thing. Have a clicky here:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/product-list&SpecialOffer2=1&ResultsPerPage=48

Which will take you through to our cheapest products with the most money off at the moment. (Don’t tell everyone, or the double pram owners will be out for longer, with no chills to drive them home. )

And if you must spend your savings on carved wooden ducks and liquorice wheels the size of a small child’s head, well then we can’t stop you.

Happy Illuminations.

Elaine –x-

What makes us value thinness?

Do American women really want to be “model thin?” Is “model thin” becoming “too thin?” there was an outrage at the “thinness” of Calista Flockhart back in the early ’90’s but now I dare to say she would be lost in the crowd. The photo above is not real, the model was fired for being “too heavy” at 120 lbs on her 5′11 frame! When R.L. Used a photo from her very urproarious shoot, she was aghast at how R.L.’s graphic designers Photoshopped her to a near-death depth of thin. What I ask you is where in the world did R.L. get the idea that American women either identify or pine to look as thin as the model whose image is represented in this photo?  I say “represent” because 99.9% of all photos of either celebrities and / or models, for clothing or couture, are “Photoshopped” in some way.    Most usually they are modified to correct “normal” things such as small sun-spots, blemishes, smile  lines, discoloration of the skin, and increasingly the larger lines of form around the body that are seen as crucial as they define the “value of the woman” as in the angle of the curve of her waist, the breast-to-hip ratio, the width of the thigh in relation to the arms and the torso, are Photoshopped as well.   Some popular “shape profiles” are  ”waif”  ”statuesque model” “boy shape” ” hard /fit” or “thin but curvaceous” (which by the way is still extremely thin, but the model retains some more normal looking curves) Any of these “profiles” can be achieved with photoshop and most are.  The models provide the basic ballpark figure and for sure the hair, eyes and teeth, but the neck can be elongated, the torso also as other parts can be radically changed by the same process.  What interests me is a psychological question.   Is this seemingly increasing hunger for thinner and thinner icons of beauty a reaction to something that we recognize in our culture that we want to distance ourselves from?  Is it the entropy that American people are seen as embracing?  As diabetes reaches alarming levels and appears more often in poor, lower or even middle class Americans, could it be that we fantasize about setting ourselves apart?  Does 120 lbs at 5′11 scream  un-popular, overweight, and underachieving?  I should think not, but the Ralph Lauren people thought that this weight / height ratio would not send the right image.    It is my theory that by contrasting the shapes of women when shown in print as extrememly thin, the idea of elevated class and superiority within the culture is achieved. During the Roccoco era of American and European Art, women were portrayed as not only voluptuous, but somewhat chubby, no doubt healthy, but not fat by any means. It was widely thought that women of that time who were “fleshy” were more desirable. This was also due to the perception that women who were “thicker” were more sedentary as a result of not “having to” work in a physical vocation. This “women of leisure” or “perceived women of leisure” was in turn sexy to men, either innately, or the idea of a “higher class woman” resulted in feelings of finding them “sexy”   Maybe they just felt better than a bag of pointy bones?  Women of the time wanted to keep that “more than a modicum of thickness” would thereby strive to have the few extra pounds. It’s all tied to class and how our society perceives the body shape of the poor en masse.  For us women with “some extra padding” which even nowadays could mean only  3-4 pounds, we long for the attitudes of the Roccoco period.  Oh what a world that would be!

JPanelName.setBorder(BorderFactory.createEmptyBorder(0, 10, 0, 0));

//size of padding moves from top, left, bottom, right

Aside from the obvious purposed of clothing; to keep us warm, dry and protect our modesty, the extreme conditions that we encounter when hiking or trekking may demand we take more care selecting our clothes. Outlined below are three main things that we should look to achieve with our outdoor clothing.

Maintenance of Thermal Equilibrium
The purpose of your clothes is not to increase your body temperature when it is cold; they should help you maintain a thermal equilibrium. In maintaining thermal equilibrium your body will lose as much heat as it is generating without having to either produce extra heat or lose it through sweating. The more your clothes help you maintain a thermal equilibrium, the less energy your body will use in trying to achieve this. A good quality base layer is very effective for this, especially as we enter into the colder months.  I am a fan of Regatta base layers, which are extremely good quality for the price and if you shop around you can get them for a quite a lot below the RRP.

Keeping Dry
Whilst keeping dry is desirable in normal life, we can normally survive being caught in the rain without an umbrella. For trekking or walking expeditions, however, this can become a much more of a necessity as it helps to preserve often necessary body heat. Good outdoor clothing will not simply protect you from outdoor moisture (rain, show etc.), but also protect you from body moisture; moving perspiration away from your body.

This combination of protecting against outside moisture and moving perspiration away from your skin means that clothing suitable for trekking or walking trips should be both waterproof and breathable. For me, the Crahoppers Ladies Madigan IA jacket is a must have as it is fairly low cost for the quality, extremely comfortable and looks good on too.

Protection and Padding
Any regular outdoor adventurer will know that you encounter a lot more bushes, nettles, spikes and dangers to your skin than on a stroll through a city or town. Padding is, therefore, necessary to protect our delicate skin from terrain or chafing of equipment.
These basic purposes of outdoor clothing are designed to help anyone new to outdoor life, select appropriate clothing for there impending adventures!

Memang secara default text area tidak memiliki background warna, tapi kita bisa membuat text area tersebut memiliki background warna sesuai kehendak kita.

Copy kode dibawah ini dan taruh pada area penulisan dalam mode ‘HTML’.

Kemudian kembali ke mode ‘Visual’ untuk melakukan pengeditan text.

Ket :

1. width : lebar text area
2. height : tinggi text area
3. background-color : warna background text area
4. text-align : perataan text
5. padding : jarak antar tulisan
6. border : tebal tipisnya garis tepi text area
7. solid : warna garis tepi text area

Sudah selesai bentar minum Extra Joss dulu biar bisa lanjutin Ceritanya..

Retirado do Portal Tableless

A maior parte dos desenvolvedores web, designers ou programadores, começaram antes do surgimento dos movimentos em prol dos padrões web, usando tabelas para montar layouts em editores WYSIWYG, e ainda hoje este método é usado na maioria dos projetos de internet. Logo, é natural que muita gente, ao começar a entender o valor dos padrões, se pergunte como migrar do desenvolvimento “tradicional” para o desenvolvimento de código semanticamente coerente.

É um caminho muito duro o que separa o desenvolvedor acostumado a editores visuais do desenvolvimento de código coerente. E é muito comum que o designer desista após uma primeira tentativa frustrada de desenvolver um website tableless, com layout CSS e XHTML validado.

Por isso gostaria de propor um caminho gradual, mais suave, para aqueles que querem se aventurar pela primeira vez pelos padrões web. O princípio desse método é da recompensa. Você pode obter um grande benefício aproximando seu código dos padrões web, mesmo que não faça tudo de uma vez. Quero mostrar como você pode começar, e obter benefícios imediatos.

Limpe seu HTML

A minha primeira recomendação é que você estude CSS. Comece pela formatação básica de fonte, cor e tamanho. Isso vai te garantir código menor e produtividade maior com pouquíssimo esforço.

Assim, ao criar um item de menu, você vai evitar códigos como este:

<a href="parceiros.asp"><font
face="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif" size="2"
color="#FF3300"><b>Parceiros</b></font></a>

Colocando no lugar:

<a href="parceiros.asp">Parceiros</a>

Tendo no CSS:

.menu{
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif;
font-size: 80%;
font-weight: bold;
color:#FF3300;
}

Como você pode ver, o CSS é extremamente simples. Aprender esses quatro atributos, mais o “font-style” (para fazer itálico), é a primeira coisa que eu recomendo. É claro, isso apenas faz cócegas nas possibilidades do CSS, ainda há muito o que aprender, mas recomendo começar por aí porque é algo que você pode aprender em alguns minutos e vai te salvar muito, muito tempo. E você vai começar a ter o controle da formatação, tendo todas as definições de fonte em um único arquivo, podendo alterar, por exemplo, a qualquer momento, a fonte de todo o conteúdo ou de todos os menus do site.

O passo seguinte para limpar seu HTML é se livrar do spacer.gif, aquele gif transparente de 1 pixel que se usa para dar espaços em tabelas, e das dezenas de tabelas aninhadas. Para isso vamos começar a estudar o “box-model”.

O pulo-do-gato aqui é um atributo CSS chamado padding. O padding é a distância entre as bordas de um elemento e o texto dentro dele. Assim, se é preciso que o conteúdo de uma célula esteja a 10 pixels da borda esquerda, ao invés de inserir uma célula extra como espaçador, ou inserir mais uma tabela, basta definir uma classe para essa célula. Uma vez que você já está colocando a formatação no CSS, provavelmente esta célula já tem uma classe. Então basta:

.conteudo{
padding-left:10px;
}

Isso vai fazer com que o texto esteja a 10 pixels da borda esquerda do documento. Ah, claro, o CSS também pode livrar você de definir no HTML as bordas e o background das células de sua tabela. Lembre-se, quanto mais layout e formatação você colocar no CSS, mais controle terá sobre seu site, principalmente em mudanças de layout durante o processo de produção e em futuras manutenções. O site também será mais leve para carregar.

Concluímos então que, após aprender os atributos de formatação de fonte, o passo seguinte é aprender os atributos background, border e padding. Indo até aqui você com certeza será um desenvolvedor muito mais feliz! Depois de limpar seu HTML, ganhar controle sobre a formatação de seu site e se tornar muito mais produtivo, você está pronto para passar à segunda etapa, correndo atrás da semântica.

Começando o Trabalho de Gente Grande

Muito bem, agora você já pode limpar seu código. Vamos estudar um exemplo prático. No começo de cada uma de suas páginas você tem um título, cujo código hoje é assim:

<font face="Arial, Helvetica, Sans-serif" size="4"
color="#FFFF00"><b>Novidades</b></font>

Ao limpar esse código, você vai substituir esse monte de tags por uma só. Que tag você vai usar? Como o CSS te permite formatar qualquer elemento, muita gente que começa a estudar o assunto acha que é indiferente que tag usar, e coloca algo como:

<p>Novidades</p>

Agora, veja bem, outro desenvolvedor poderia resolver o mesmo problema com:

<div>Novidades</div>

E o resultado visual poderia ser o mesmo. Acontece que há algo na natureza do HTML que nos diz que tag usar. Chamamos esse algo de “semântica”: as tags do HTML tem significado. A tag P é para parágrafos, a tag DIV para divisões no conteúdo, e há uma série de tags para título, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 e h6. Assim, se você pode usar qualquer tag, pode fazer assim:

<h1>Novidades</h1>

O que você ganha com essa preocupação? Os buscadores inteligentes podem ler semanticamente o conteúdo de um documento, entendendo que trecho de código é um título, por exemplo. Assim, escrever HTML semanticamente correto pode melhorar muito sua visibilidade em buscadores. O segundo bom motivo é que você vai saber para que serve cada tag se tiver que mexer nesse mesmo documento daqui a alguns meses. E vai ser mais fácil também se outra pessoa tiver que dar manutenção no seu código.

Logo, use as tags do HTML para aquilo para o que foram criadas:

• dd, dl e dt para listas de definições (um glossário, por exemplo)
• h1 a h6 para títulos
• p para parágrafos
• abbr para abreviaturas e acronym para acrônimos
• blockquote e q para citações longas e curtas
• address para endereços (sabe aquele rodapé onde vai o endereço e o telefone da empresa?)
• ul e ol para listas e li para os itens da lista

Você pode obter uma lista mais abrangente em:
http://www.w3schools.com/xhtml/xhtml_reference.asp

E formate tudo ao seu gosto com CSS.

Finalmente, Livrando-se das Tabelas

Não há bons motivos para você eliminar a qualquer custo todas as tabelas de seu primeiro trabalho. Conheço alguns excelentes profissionais, muito talentosos, que fizeram um ótimo trabalho em sua primeira tentativa de tableless. Mas a maioria dos que eu vi tentarem demoraram muito para conseguir da primeira vez, e alguns não obtiveram os resultados que esperavam. Isso tudo serve para que você possa produzir mais rápido e melhor, não o contrário. Então vá com calma. Faça alguns estudos em tableless, comece eliminando parte das tabelas em seus primeiros trabalhos. Por exemplo, remover as células de tabela que formam o menu, trocando por uma lista (com as tags ul e li), é um ótimo desafio para o primeiro projeto.

Ah, e não se esqueça que para dados como uma tabela periódica ou um calendário a solução semanticamente correta é a tabela mesmo. Ou seja, tableless não é ausência de tabelas, é o seu uso apenas onde é semanticamente justificável.

Não vou entrar em detalhes aqui, porque já escrevi bastante sobre como construir um layout no Tutorial Tableless Básico, mas o conselho é ir com calma, sem estresse. Você logo vai estar produzindo tableless mais fácil do que produz sites com tabelas.

XHTML

Há uma coisa que muita gente que está começando me pergunta: o que é e para que serve esse tal de XHTML? É muito mais simples do que parece. Um arquivo XHTML é um arquivo HTML, que pode ser lido por qualquer browser. Não estamos falando de um novo HTML, com novas tags ou coisa assim. Pelo contrário, o XHTML 1 foi feito para funcionar mesmo em navegadores antigos. Mas, ao mesmo tempo, Um arquivo XHTML é também um arquivo XML válido, que pode ser lido por qualquer interpretador de XML.

Meu primeiro conselho, nesse caso, é que você, se não trabalha com XML, deixe preocupação com o XHTML para depois de dominar bem o código semântico e o layout tableless. Não porque seja complicado, pelo contrário, transformar bom HTML em XHTML é bem simples, mas simplesmente porque você pode obter benefícios muito significativos, e muito mais rapidamente, aprendendo CSS do que XHTML.

O segundo conselho é que você comece a estudar o assunto. Depois de dominar bem layouts CSS, mergulhe no XML. A maioria dos bancos de dados hoje permite extrair dados diretamente em XML e todas as plataformas de aplicações web trabalham bem com XML. E com a poderosa linguagem XSLT você pode muito facilmente oferecer seus os dados em XHTML para o navegador.

Voando Alto

Estamos falando de muito mais do que criar sites estilosos. Há duas semanas esteve aqui um amigo com um Palm novo, um Zire 71, e um celular com acesso à internet. Isso está se tornando cada vez mais barato e comum. Conheço também uma porção de empresas e instituições, entre elas uma série significativa de TeleCentros e órgãos públicos, que estão adotando Linux como sistema operacional para desktops. O Google hoje é responsável por 90% do tráfego que meu site consegue de buscadores. É o primeiro colocado absoluto entre os buscadores. E conseguiu isso indexando semanticamente o conteúdo real dos sites. Praticamente todas as plataformas web estão oferendo suporte a XML e apostando na idéia de webservices.

Quem segue os padrões web não precisa ter medo do futuro. Não importa que browser vai ser o mais usado daqui a dois anos, que tecnologia vai estar na moda ou de onde as pessoas vão estar usando a internet. Seu site estará lá, leve, acessível, atual e útil.

Home Depot or Iran? Persia or Wal Mart? Department store or India? Where did your rug come from? If it came from Department stores or Asia is there a difference?

The answer is Yes!
The difference is between Area Rugs and Oriental Rugs.
In this post we will talk about the difference between synthetic rugs and hand made, wool oriental rugs.
Note: Some department stores do sell high quality Oriental Rugs.

How To Tell If Your Oriental Rug Is Authentic

•  The wool on the back is sewn on, not glued
• If it is made from real wool, cotton, or silk.
• If the rug was dyed with vegetable dye or another high quality dye.
  (How you can tell: If the colors have ever run, or stained your hard floor then your Oriental Rug is made with dye.)
• If it was hand made with many details. (How you can tell if it is hand made: the lines are not straight and the details are not symmetrical.)
• Some Oriental Rugs are machine made, in this case, the tag on the back will describe the material of the rug and the quality.

  How To Tell If It’s An Area Rug

• The canvas backing is glued on to the back of the rug, typically on the back of wool.
• The backing is latex, meaning when you rub your hand across it, it feels like hard glue.
• The rug is made from synthetic fiber. When buying the rug, the tag should describe the material.
• Some rugs are even made from recycled materials, or a combination of synthetic material and wool. This also means, the colors will not run.
• Mainly, Area Rugs are synthetic, and are typically machine made.

The Worst Kind of Area Rugs In Regards to Pet Accidents

• Wool Area Rugs with glued canvas’ don’t handle accidents very well. After constant exposure the glue starts to loosen from the rug and eventually will tear right off. This will also happen with heavy traffic on the rug (which is similar to pounding the rug with a hammer) and direct sun light. These conditions will destroy your rug over time.
• Burlap (Sisal) Area Rugs are not designed to get wet and therefore when pet accidents gets on the rug, it makes a permanent stain.

Padding

If you have an Area Rug or Oriental Rug, padding is very important. If you have a high quality Oriental Rug a special, high durable padding is a must. If you want to maintain your Oriental Rug for generations to come, padding is important. (PetPeePee offers a special padding such as this. Please visit our website for more information. PetPeePee.com/OrientalRugs/AreaRugs)
By using padding, the colors will not run onto the hard floor and it will protect any damage caused by heavy traffic.
It is important for both Oriental Rugs and Area Rugs to have padding so the rug will not slip and cause any injuries.
Tip: The popular, rubber waffle shaped padding is not a good padding because it leaves stains on wood and marble flooring. It is also not a durable  for your rugs.

When Pee Gets on Your Oriental Rug or Area Rug.

Dogs and Cats commonly pee on Oriental Rugs or Area Rugs simply because it is a soft place that reminds them of grass or litter. When houses have hard floors pets will tend to pee on any soft surface because they don’t like to have any urine splash back onto their legs. If you want to eliminate the urine odor and remove any stain/discoloration, consider using PetPeePee System. Our product and system is designed to treat the urine without affecting the condition of the Oriental Rug or Area Rug. There are several options as to how to clean the rug. If you are local we can pick up the rug to our 4,000 sq. ft. warehouse and deliver it to you 100% odor free. If you are out of our region you can ship the rug to us and we can send it back with no urine odor, guaranteed! If you have a couple of spots, we have our Do It Yourself Cleaning Product that is made from naturally blended minerals from the Dead Sea and will provide you with excellent results and will never make colors run.
Tip: Never scrub the rug! Always clean with the nap, never against, and in the same direction. Otherwise you can ruin the nap and create an uneven pattern in your rug that may be permanent. 

The title suggest implants, or something about Kim Kardashian’s butt issue, yet the reference is really about motorcycle seat pads.

Shallow as it may seem, many motorcycle enthusiasts are in pursuit of perfect seat comfort.

I’ve never been on a stock saddle for long before a butt-ache sets in.  It seems that Harley-Davidson stock seats are made for good looks and to fit your bike, but not your butt!  Custom seats do provide improved fit/placement for your booty and your bike, but typically they don’t fit budgets in this economic — taking a page from the Beatles — “Help! All I need is sales” environment.

Butt pads are more affordable and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and substances.  Their marketing claim is empowering motorcyclists to rediscover the love of the long ride.  I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that some of us have built-in “pads.”  The greater the shape and density of your derriere, the longer you can sit in the saddle, correct?  Those of you who are natural padding challenged, are likely plagued with a butt-ache within a few hours on the road.  Of course poor riding posture, handle-bar placement, and foot peg location all contribute to the comfort level.

I’m not a doctor or a vertebrae expert, but we all know comfort when we feel it!  There are all types of riding postures.  Those who sit back or upright and everything from low to high butts.   The ergonomics of Cruisers, especially those with foot boards set near the front of the engine, put most of the rider’s weight squarely on the seat.

I converted my current ride over to a Mustang seat within weeks of buying the motorcycle.  I prefer a hard seat — one where the cushion doesn’t pancake — versus the soft and quick to compress type seats.  But,  I’m interested to hear what other riders are doing to minimize the long ride discomfort.  Do you use a removable pad?  Is it air, foam, gel or wood?   What about hot or cold weather and the need to increase circulation to relieve heat-induced discomfort?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

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