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An op-ed article in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune written by Professor James Kakalios about the physics of Spider-Man has caught the attention of the Associated Press (AP)
As well as the AP, it also drew attention from many other news agencies including The London Times, CNN, BBC Radio and the CBC Radio show "As It Happens." The original commentary uses physics to settle the long-standing debate around the death of the "Spider-Man" character, Gwen Stacy in 1973. Apart from appealing to true fans of the "Amazing Spider-Man" comic book, the commentary rode the media whirlwind surrounding the new movie. The article also makes reference to a Freshman Seminar that Kakalios built around physics problems from the world of comic books.
Interest in Kakalios and his Science in Comic Books course has moved beyond a tie-in with the "Spider-Man" movie and has been sustained by the novelty of using super heroes as a tool to teach physics. The AP article has also become a favorite with internet readers, appearing in the top ten e-mailed stories by Yahoo News and the New York Times Online.
Kakalios said that he is pleased by the positive reaction to his article, but is feeling a bit over-whelmed by the sudden attention. "I am starting to root for (Star Wars) Episode II to knock Spider-Man off the front pages," he said.


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The Crossfire 2 utilizes four micro adjustable buckle closures, with indented memory-regulation straps. The buckles, straps and retaining clips are easily replaceable. The buckles have just one fixing point (by a screw), which allows them to be easily replaceable.You will note that all four buckles work independently from each other. This system allows the boot to fit all shapes of feet and lower legs independently making each boot that much more comfortable for each individual rider.
The Crossfire 2 maintains the key feature of the Sidi Flex system, with its 2 articulated joints. The first lower one, on the ankle, improves leg flexation and allows for a more natural and correct position on the foot pegs. All bolt on components of the Crossfire 2 are replaceable. The upper pivot, on the bootleg, improves the boots flexibility and the adjustment of the bootleg itself. In this way, the rider can adjust the boot strap at the calf to his personal preference and achieve an improved fit.
The boot leg has a replaceable inner polyurethane plate with a heat resistant rubber insert to protect the leg from exhaust heat, wear and tear. The calf plate features an inner double adjustment, which allows to widen the circumference of the boot and accommodate even the wider calves.
The boot leg upper is entirely assembled with screws, thus it is stitch-free and totally replaceable!
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The CE marking on every boot means that it conforms to all of the manufacturer's obligations with regards to the products according to the EU directives that consider these items.
LEVEL 2 - Abrasion strength due to upper's impact
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"When you think of high-end boots, Sidi's Crossfire should be one of the first things that comes to mind. It's that good."
Motocross Action magazine
Sidi Crossfire 2 SR White Boot
Produced by Sidi of Italy

subset: commoncrawl


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The Southern hospitality Augusta National Golf Club can provide certainly must appeal to Tiger Woods. For a man looking to re-invent himself, trying to foam a runway and softly land his badly damaged image, the Masters has irresistible charm.
Augusta doesn't cotton to strangers, doesn't suffer fools. The green coats won't be expanding the press credential list or setting up an auxiliary press center. Those there to observe this Masters will be largely those that observed the last one, the last many for that matter. The grounds might be bursting with azaleas and magnolias, but you won't see any paparazzi in bloom.
What's more, you aren't likely to hear any offensive taunts or or catcalls from the galleries. Folks who are fortunate enough to get their paws on a gate pass at Augusta approach this golf tournament the way they might approach the Soup Nazi in an episode of "Seinfeld." They don't dare draw attention to themselves; they watch their p's and q's.
Loudmouths and wiseacres are not well-received. Song birds and piano music are the sounds of choice. Just ask Gary McCord about Augusta's sense of humor. For the most part, save for structured press conferences, Woods will be able to go about his professional business at the Masters.
There will be nothing inside the ropes other than caddies in white overalls and some 7,450 yards of "Tiger-proofed" turf, a golf course Woods has counted four times among his 14 major championships.
In terms of passive environments, Augusta might as well be Eden for the scarred Sir Eldrick. Even Dr. Drew would approve of the Friendly Fruitlands The path to golf focus will be as uncluttered as it can get.
Ah, yes, but there's the rub. As he attempts to ease his perforated private life into an orderly professional career, as he performs CPR on television executives and restores normal breathing for PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Woods has to play golf. Moreover, he has to play well.
The quickest way the game's No. 1 star can put these unsavory months behind him is to change the content from "birds" to birdies, to sensationalize what is going inside the ropes rather than outside, to bring back comparisons to Jack Nicklaus and perspectives about his rank in golf history.
Al Davis can tell Woods how to make all this go away: "Just win, baby."
But winning golf tournaments, much less majors, is never a layup, even for Woods. His career winning percentage in majors is 33 percent, which is fabulous stuff. Only Bobby Jones has a better mark, a 44 percent winning clip that demands some qualification. The definitions were significantly different during Jones' illustrious career in the 1920s and early 1930s.
But to re-iterate, before "Driveway-gate," before the parade of embarrassing phone messages and seamy soirees, when mental fortitude was Woods' calling card, he failed to win 67 percent of the majors he entered. Now, he will attempt to make a major championship his first competition in five months.
And Ari Fleischer will be no help when it comes to answering the kind of questions the greens at Augusta will pose.
No one knows this better than Woods, which makes his decision to go straight to Augusta, without passing go, without collecting first-place money at Bay Hill — which he seems to do annually — all the more intriguing.
No warm-up act to iron out kinks in his swing. No dipping the toe in the waters of tournament golf to re-acclimate himself. Woods is starting off at the top, in a major.
This is not new territory for Woods. He tried this same cold turkey trick in 2006, going from an emotional frying pan into a U.S. Open fire at Winged Foot. It did not go well. After taking eight weeks off to mourn the passing of his father, Woods pulled trombones from his bag. He carded a pair of 76s, stumbled 12 strokes over par and missed the cut at a major for the first time in his professional career.
Michael Campbell, who played with Woods through those initial two rounds, noticed a difference. "He's pretty focused, but the intensity wasn't there as it normally is," Campbell said afterward.
Yet, Woods has trumped that glitch as well. Two years later, he came back from eight weeks off for surgery on his knee and won the U.S. Open. He hobbled around Torrey Pines while defeating Rocco Mediate in a memorable Monday playoff.
Perhaps those conflicting results aren't so confusing. Perhaps they speak to the essential ingredient in championship golf. The challenge at Winged Foot was personal, emotional, mental. The obstacle at Torrey Pines was mostly physical. Still mentally strong, Woods was able to overcome.
In that perspective, Augusta in April will be like Winged Foot in 2006, only the jump start in Georgia promises to be even more mentally challenging. We all know hitting balls on a range, practicing without consequences, is nothing like swinging the club when it counts. Only when thousands of people are watching, when millions of dollars are at stake, will Woods' legendary ability to tunnel his vision be challenged. And it remains to be seen how he will react.
Given the incredible circumstances, one wonders if can he still afford to conduct himself with the same "intensity," if he can slam clubs in anger, if he can launch the occasional f-bomb, if he can continue to be indifferent and unaffected toward the huge galleries. Or will Woods will be more sensitive, more aware of his surroundings? He has said he will try to be more respectful of the game — how, exactly, will that affect his concentration?
Woods enjoyed an 88 percent USA TODAY/Gallup poll popularity rating in 2000. In recent weeks, his rating has dropped 52 points in the same poll.
Augusta will be a safe house; only golf will be spoken there. But the toll the past few months have taken on Woods remains unknown. Since the incident in November, he has appeared just once in public, in a controlled atmosphere Feb. 19 at TPC Sawgrass. He addressed a television camera and 40 of his closest associates, including his mother. He looked sullen and uncomfortable. He read a statement and did not take questions.
The Masters might seem similar, but there will be at least one question asked, the most compelling question of all. After all that has happened, is Tiger Woods still the best player of his time?
Augusta can ask that question most succinctly. The challenge will be for Woods to provide the absolute answer.


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Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House
Phone (661) 437-4130
Fax 661-324-4632
Bakersfield, CA 93301
Unifying the efforts of our six houses, a camp, two family rooms and other programs, the Southern California Chapter of Ronald McDonald House Charities is committed to creating a community where children and their families embrace life and healing with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage and joy.
Since 1980, the Southern California Ronald McDonald Houses serve as a inexpensive, and often free, "home–away–from–home" for families of critically–ill children undergoing treatment at nearby hospitals and medical facilities.
Each year Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times serves an average of 1,500 campers who are children with cancer so they can take a break from hospitals and find an opportunity to just be "ordinary kids."
Our Ronald McDonald Family Rooms provide an "oasis" within the hospital for parents with children in pediatric or neonatal intensive care units; allowing them a chance to sleep, shower and recharge while remaining within steps of their hospitalized child.
We support the children of our Southland communities by awarding scholarships to high–achieving high school seniors and providing grants to non–profit organizations working to improve the lives of children.
Thank you for your interest in contacting us. If you have a question, it may already be answered on our FAQs page. If not, please don't hesitate to contact us below.
Phone (661) 437-4130
Fax 661-324-4632


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Established more than 30 years ago, Cawarden Brick and Tile have become the leading specialists in the supply of both reclaimed and period building products. Due to our level of excellent customer service and flexible approach Cawarden are considered the finest reclaimed and period building supply centre in the UK.
We offer top quality building products; everything from reclaimed bricks, timber and roofing to doors, hard landscaping and interior and exterior products. Select any of the options above so that you can view what building products are available for you. Our experienced and friendly staff, many of whom are knowledgeable specialists in their areas of expertise, are always on hand to help and advise.
Our unique premises, covering over 10 acres, with over 10,000sq feet of covered showroom, is located in the heart of England. Thanks to our location, based in the Midlands, we can serve all customers nationwide.
So whether you are a builder looking to repair and maintain a property, an architect considering designing a new building, a craftsman making designs or even someone who's redecorating your home; Cawarden have the perfect product for you.


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Bolton 2 Manchester United 2
Michael Owen rescued a point for Manchester United after Alex Ferguson's men twice had to come from behind against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.
Owen nodded home Nani's free-kick 16 minutes from time to ensure United did not join the other victims on a weekend of shock defeats.
Yet it was hardly a pleasing outcome for Ferguson, who would have hoped for better once Nani levelled Zat Knight's early effort but instead saw his team fall behind again thanks to Martin Petrov.
As United have now conceded nine goals in five league games and trail leaders Chelsea by three points, it was not the best of weekends for them, nor an out-of-sorts Wayne Rooney, who was replaced by Federico Macheda half an hour from the end.
Saturday's results could not have worked out any better for United and the intent behind their attacking play was obvious from the first kick, but defensively they remain unconvincing.
The absence of Rio Ferdinand with Wednesday's Champions League encounter with Valencia in mind was a further indication that all is not well with the England skipper.
And without him, life continues to be a struggle.
A late goal at Fulham, two in injury-time at Everton and a Steven Gerrard brace against Liverpool last weekend when the Reds did not have a single shot of note in open play during the entire game is not a record to be proud of.
To that crime sheet can now be added Knight's back flick.
The defender's third goal in as many years could not be described as conventional.
But once Patrice Evra moved away from the far post he was supposed to be patrolling when Petrov curled over his corner, the target was wide enough for him to steer the ball into once he had escaped the attentions of Jonny Evans.
That United would score themselves was never really in doubt such was their dominance of possession in key midfield areas.
The problem was whether they would concede again in the meantime.
Edwin van der Sar was forced to make a couple of vital interventions as Kevin Davies and Johan Elmander made their presence felt, with Evans not looking entirely comfortable.
At the other end, United's play was incisive and both Giggs and Rooney wasted decent chances.
The manner of the visitors' equaliser would have come as a disappointment to Owen Coyle.
Nani deserved plenty of credit for his ambition as he set off racing towards the Bolton goal from inside his own half.
However, the Trotters defence just kept inviting him to run and the Portuguese winger had got to the edge of the area before he drilled an impressive shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen.
In fairness to Bolton, it was something of an aberration given how well they had done at closing down space around their penalty area and forcing United into pumping a succession of crosses into the box.
It was a tactic United persevered with after the interval and eventually resulted in the substitution of an ineffective Rooney half an hour from the end.
Rooney's work rate could not be faulted on his first appearance away from Old Trafford since the storm erupted over his private life.
But he does not threaten at the moment and now Owen has taken his tally to three in a week, compared to one for Rooney – from the penalty spot – all season, an interesting selection dilemma looms for Ferguson in Valencia on Wednesday.
Owen was not even on the pitch when Petrov put Bolton back in front, exploiting more poor defensive work to step inside Park then rocket a shot past Edwin van der Sar that flicked off John O'Shea.
The introduction of Federico Macheda did result in an opening for Berbatov but it took Owen's deft near-post flick for the far corner from Nani's free-kick to bring United level.
A late onslaught was expected as United hunted the winner.
But it did not actually materialise, with Elmander, who had wasted an excellent chance to seal victory for Bolton before Owen scored, steering the final opportunity wide as well.


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Dealership Disclaimers: All 2018/2019 new models customer must qualify for all rebates and discounts and also use Hendrick finance and trade assist incentives for full discount, as well as all general manufacturer rebates which will not combine with factory finance or lease incentives. GM financial down payment assistance, New Vehicle pricing includes Cadillac Loyalty, not all will qualify. $699.00 Dealer Administrative Charge is not included in advertised price. All prices and offers are before state, city and county tax, tag, title and license fees. All rebates and discounts are assumed in Hendrick Sale Price. Out of state buyers are responsible for all state, county, city taxes and fees, as well as title/registration fees in the state that the vehicle will be registered. All prices and offers include all rebates and incentives which the dealer retains unless otherwise specifically provided. Dealer not responsible for errors and omissions; all offers subject to change without notice, please confirm listings with dealer.Prices include all available rebates. New vehicles prices may change with special financing rates and may include GM Owner Loyalty or Conquest Cash. Some customers may not qualify for all rebates. Vehicles could be equipped with accessories not included in reduced price. Cannot be combines with any other pricing offers. Please call, email or visit dealer for more details. Tax, title, license (unless itemized above) are extra. Not available with special finance, lease and some other offers.
The new Cadillac CT6 Sedan is a perfect illustration of substance and style in a car. Innovative engineering comes together with thoughtful design elements, promising an exhilarating driving experience. Moreover, the interior is tailored to suit your comfort. The Cadillac CT6 Sedan automatically adjusts the available Quad-Zone Climate Control, heated seats, steering wheel, and ventilated seats as per the conditions. Add to that a cutting-edge sound system, a rear-seat infotainment, and features like auto vehicle hold, and you will have a fabulous experience behind the wheel of the Cadillac CT6 Sedan. Take a test drive, and experience the drive quality for yourself. Apart from new models of this sedan, the vehicle inventory at Hendrick Cadillac Cary also comprises other SUVs and sedans. Come by to explore your options.
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Hendrick Cary Cadillac is pleased to serve the communities of Cary, Raleigh, and Durham with quality new and used Cadillac Cars and SUVs, as well as exceptional customer service.
When customers experience the pure luxury of a new Cadillac, present equally in its exterior and interior design, they achieve a deep understanding of why this brand has earned the admiration of car enthusiasts the world over. You can experience this luxury firsthand at Hendrick Cary Cadillac, as we have a large inventory of new Cadillac cars and SUVs available. We carry a variety of the most popular Cadillac models, including the Cadillac Escalade, Cadillac ATS, Cadillac XT5, and more. What's more, we frequently offer specials on our new Cadillacs, as we are committed to giving customers optimal value on their purchase. Shop our selection online now.
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Among the pre-owned vehicles available at Hendrick Cary Cadillac, we also carry certified pre-owned vehicles that go through extensive testing to assure that they meet a strict standard of quality. This certification can give customers peace of mind knowing that their used car was inspected by highly trained specialists in the Hendrick Cary Cadillac service department. Stop by our dealership in Cary today!


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Surgeons Eyed Over Deals With Medical-Device Makers
Justice Department Investigation Shines Light on Federal Authorities' Broader Scrutiny of Physician-Owned Distributorships
Ten months after an Afghan-born surgeon named Aria Sabit arrived in Ventura, Calif., local hospital staffers noticed he suddenly developed a preference for an obscure brand of spinal implants for many of his surgeries. Soon his volume of operations increased, with sometimes-tragic results.
By the time he moved on less than a year later in late 2010, he had become embroiled in investigations by the California medical board and the Food and Drug Administration and more than two dozen medical malpractice lawsuits, including 12...


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Bakersfield: German Shepherd Dog Breeders
Below is a sample search of our German Shepherd Dog breeders with puppies for sale. The search tool above returns a list of breeders located nearest to the zip or postal code you enter. From there you can see photos of their pups, find detailed information on their web page and contact them by email, phone or even get driving directions.
(Detailed contact information has been omitted. Enter your zip or postal code above to access our up-to-date directory).
This is a FREE search tool! Use the form at the top to get complete listings for breeders in your area!
Reds Above The Rest
Additional Information: We still have a few pups available ($1800-$2500) born Oct 26th and ready to join your family Dec 21st out of Scarlet a daughter of Dm clear Henna Vom Rotterbarental good Hips/Elbow and DM clear 3 x's VA Randy vom Leithawald KKl1, 76ZW score ("A" Normal Hips & Elbows) and our Gorgeous blk/deep red Long haired German shepherd DM Clear OFA hips/Elbows Magnum Vom Rotterbarental. The perfect time for the Holidays. These pups will DM Clear, blk/red and blk/deep red colors. Standard coats and long coats available. This litter is from our own lines of 25 years, that has produced Search & Rescue, Therapy, Service and Guide dogs. With these pups pedigree and background, they should do well in both the Show and the IPO ring or make an...
W e are excepting holding fees for pups out of a litter born Oct 26th and ready to join your family just in time for Christmas and we have a... ...
Von Allen Haus
Additional Information: We have been German Shepherd Breeders for 40 years! Our beautiful black and red German Shepherd puppies for sale in California! Your new furever friend is waiting for you at Von Allen Haus! We welcome your visit with open paws! Bring the whole family to come meet, hold, and play with our puppies, we are taking deposits now on our two litters born on May 12th by Hilda and Arrex, and the other born on June 4th by Naula and Arrex. Please call Sue* (951) 681-8524 and visit our website for more information and photos at vonallenhaus.com! All of our dogs are vaccinated, DM Free and come with a written guarantee.
We have been German Shepherd Breeders for 40 years! Our beautiful black and red German Shepherd puppies for sale in California! Your new furever... ...
So Cal GSD
Additional Information: UPDATE 6/1/19 Puppies available!! German shepherds have been part of our family for more than 25 years, we will always be available for help and support as your new family member grows. This is a lifelong commitment to the dogs that we love the puppies that we raise and the family's that become part of our So Cal Extended family. Update 6/1/19 Puppies available to go home now. www.socalgermanshepherds.com These puppies are Black and Red German import bloodlines! With great temperaments these puppies are super smart!!! The puppies in this litter will be perfect family companions We are now taking reservations on this litter.
Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE... ...
West Coast German Shepherds
Additional Information: 100% German Import bloodlines - 5 Year Guarantee. Parents hip/elbow certified, DNA tested Clear for DM. Pups are raised in our home, we strive to bring you the best puppies with super temperaments.
**UPDATED 4/1/2019 *PUPPIES AVAILABLE NOW!!** Black/Red Solid Black Puppies Due April 29th from Tarantino & Xasha Red Sable... ...
So Cal German Shepherds
Additional Information: German import bloodline puppies raised with proper socialization to ensure the integrity of the breed and a happy puppy to take home.10 years experience-5 year guarantee-lifetime support-DM Free pups!
So Cal German Shepherds
Additional Information: German import bloodline puppies raised with proper socialization to ensure the integrity of the breed and a happy puppy to take home.10 years experience-5 year guarantee-lifetime support-DM Free pups!
So Cal GSD
Additional Information: Update 7/8/15 Puppies available to go home 7/20/15. New litter from Titan and Halley born 5/25/15 1 male and 1 females available. Contact us about our expected August litters! Our puppies are Black and Red German import bloodlines! With over a decade of experience and four generations of puppies raised in our home so they are properly socialized and ready to go home to their new family's. All of our puppies are AKC registered, DM free and go home with current vaccines, dewormings and puppy wellness checks along with micro chip and our 5 year guarantee. Please contact us if you would like more information on this litter or our other litters
Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONE... ...
Rotterbarental German Shepherd Dogs
Additional Information: Specializing in DM free blk/deep red exceptional family companions. Our dogs have become Search & Rescue, Therapy, Service and Guide dogs. 5 yr guar & lifetime support. MC/Visa for your convenience
Up-dated 12/11/2018 Males/females available ready to go home for Christmas on Dec 21st 2018 www.RedsAboveTheRest.com . Please vist... ...
Zwinger vom Roten Wald German Shepherds
Additional Information: Outstanding pups from titled/breed surveyed parents! AKC/SV/DNA. Solid temperaments, good conformation, trainable. Health guarantee. Hip/elbow certified. Stud is also DM clear, cardiac normal, CERF.
We have been breeding German Shepherds for 17 years. Our top goal is to produce healthy and sound german shepherds. Our next focus is trainabiliy... ...
Additional Information: Quality German Shepherd DogsReservations accepted - Litter Announcement: 2016, Puppies expected February 2016Call now 650-670-0538 or E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com temperament, Chpn lines,OFA
WWW.WardenGERMANshepherds.com We are dedicated to upholding the Standard of the German Shepherd Dog. Quality German Shepherds. Champion lines.... ...
Tank Shepherds
Additional Information: Beautiful AKC black/red German Shepherd female puppy available. Excellent temperament and great with children. Born 2/14/18 $1100/ vet check/first shots/ 2 yr hip guarantee
Tank Shepherds is a small family breeder dedicated to raising healthy, quality puppies. We raise our puppies in our home. From day one they are... ...
De Alma Indiana German Shepherd Dogs
Additional Information: Outstanding Temperament is my 1st priority!! AKC Registered West German Show Line/ Czech Republic Import. Long Coat and Stock Coat German Shepherd puppies bred to work in protection for families, Service Dogs, Family pets and Protection Sport Dogs. Due the 1st week of April 2017 This fantastic litter is sired by V Britt Alanex ZVV1, Kkl1, "V" Rated Conformation Hip and Elbows normal and out of an incredible Dam Vande Vom Nadelhaus SDA P1S protection titled. OFA Good. Both Sire and Dam are certified with hips and elbows. Sire and Dam are very stable reliable family companions who are confident in all environments. They are relaxed in the home and around strangers. They have the true confidence and grit to be true family protection. The...
CS Vista Farms
Additional Information: we raise beautiful 'Old Fashioned' AKC German Shepherds- specializing in white, black, silvers. We VALUE Health testing, DM, MRD1, CERTIFIED OFA Hips & Temperament in our Shepherds. Family/Farm Raised
Our Family raises AKC German Shepherds on a 12 acre farm located in Northern California. specializing in WHITE, BLACK, SILVERS, and BLACK... ...
Dickinson German Shepherds
Additional Information: We are family of German Shepherd lovers and this is our first litter of puppies. These dogs are our personal pets and live and interact with our family. Our male and female were carefully selected and have good drives with high tolerances. They are both from working lines, however the dame's mother was a compliance champion. The sir is a blend of American and Czech Working lines and is large and tall. The dame is from an american champion line. These dogs were selected for training as my companions while mining in the dessert and are a reliable defense and my two best friends. They are great with our 5 kids and do associate well with other dogs with some guidance and affirmation.
Please click the "website" link at the top right corner to see pictures of our German Shepherd Puppies and the parents. ...
SHERMAN-RANCH German Shepherds
Additional Information: SHERMAN-RANCH German Shepherds.Trusted breeder of Exceptional German bloodline Puppies and started/trained pups occasionally. Strong Sound Beautiful
SHERMAN-RANCH German Shepherds. Trusted breeder of Exceptional German bloodline German Shepherd puppies, Started pups/ Trained adults... ...
Greenleaf Kennels
Additional Information: Breeder of quality German Shepherds for over 25 years. Located in the beautiful White Mountains of NE Arizona. Please call or e-mail regarding the current litter or more info about our dogs! Thank
Additional Information: We are a family of 4 with 2 German Shepherds,Bruno n Zella who bring Us Joy when they have puppies. Both parents are AKC registered with a very nice championship bloodline n OFA tested. 360-213-8158
Hello We have purebred West German shepherds puppies born July 8th 2019 we have 2 female left with great temperaments raised around kids easy to... ...
Vom Berk Haus German Shepherds
Additional Information: Vom Berk Haus German Shepherds is one of the top kennels in the US! All of our dogs are titled imports, fully trained & titled in protection, tracking & obedience. Family raised, fully health tested.
Vom Berk Haus German Shepherds is one of the top kennels in the US. We imported all of our breeding stock directly from Europe ourselves. All... ...
Vom Berk Haus German Shepherds
Additional Information: We at Vom Berk Haus German Shepherds strive to produce the best GSDs in the world. All of our dogs are European imported, have top health clearances & are titled in obedience, tracking & protection.
We live in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana, truly the last best place! Our kids are now the 7th generation of our family... ...
Rocky Mountain German Shepherds
Additional Information: The Finest in Top VA/V European bloodlines. Family raised and properly socialized. Beautiful balanced dogs that are suitable for service, sport and loyal, loving, family companions and protectors!
Rocky Mountain German Shepherds , Home of von dem Felsengebirge Kennels , proudly provides the finest in quality European bloodline puppies,... ...
German Shepherds Vom Reine Rasse Haus
Find us on FB: German Shepherds Vom Reine Rasse Haus Whether you need a loyal companion, sport, service or personal protection K9,... ...
Von Ridens German Shepherds
Additional Information: ALL PUPPIES ARE SOLD AT THIS TIME.I breed for an easy going temperament. These puppies are calm and attentive. They are from titled, health tested parents.
$1,000 full AKC registration. My puppies are the perfect combination of intelligence and confirmation. Pedigree available upon request.... ...
Smith Pak Working Dogs
Additional Information: Smith Pak is a full service K-9 company that specializes in the training professional working dogs for single and dual purpose, personal and executive protection. Puppies, Young Adults and Adults
Smith Pak offers incredible lineage German Shepherds with proven track records in Apprehension, Dual and Single Purpose, SAR, Tracking and... ...
Ca-Ji Shepherds
Additional Information: Top German import blood lines. AKC puppies black and red contact for information. Large boned. Excellent temperament. Healthy hip line and both parents are direct from Germany/titled. 50years in breed
von hilkey shepherds
Additional Information: our lines are german lines. We specialize in Coated (long Haired) german shepherds. We have been breeding for over 45 years. We belived in Quality not Quanity. All our puppies are raised in our home.
Von Hilkey Shepherds. Has been breeding shepherds for over 45 years. We do it for the love of the breed. Quality not Quanity.... ...
Kopper Haus Shepherds
Additional Information: Puppies are wormed at regular intervals starting at 3 weeks. and will have age appropriate vaccines before leaving our farm. they come with a 2 year limited health guarantee and a lifetime of consult
We are a small breeder of select West German Shepherds. Our puppies are raised with our children in a rural farm environment. They are exposed to... ...
Noblecroft German Shepherds
Additional Information: Breeder for over 60yrs. Temperament-Type-Trainability. Beautiful companions for you and the family. OFA Hips/Elbows parents. Calm, sweet and loyal. Hip Guarantee. German Import & American Bloodlines
Additional Information: Pridelands Kuna Matata has stock coated male and female puppies available to approved buyers. Sired by Odin DM clear. Odin is a large male with nice bone and rich pigment, very loving with his family and strangers. Med drive and energy and willing to please. Very nice male with a good temperament. A nice pair for the dam Kuna.Kuna is medium sized female with medium to high drives. Solid temperament on this female and solid nerve. High ball drives, medium food drive. Very willing to please her handler. She has championed in UKC, ICKC, and IABCA. Kuna has received her CGC Through AKC and her SPOT through UKC. She has EXCELLENT hips and normal elbows, DM carrier.
We are now accepting deposits on Kuna and Odins AKC German Shepherd pups. They will go home with Full AKC, vet check, vet given first... ...
Carisa Shepherds
Additional Information: PUPPIES AVAILABLE NOW!!We are a small breeder of German Shepherds located on 5 wooded acres east of Oklahoma City. Our dogs are predominately German show lines.
WHERE GREAT BEGINNINGS MAKE GREAT DOGS We are a small breeder of German Shepherds and we plan to stay small in order to give each puppy we... ...
GSD Ranch
Additional Information: Red and Black, oversized, AKC, with straight backs, superb temperament. Hip guaranteed. All Vet checked. A calmer family style temperament, while still being protective. Breeding GSD over 57 years.
We Breed only dogs with superior inteligence, You will be amazed at the ability of my German Shepherd Puppies Bloodlines are the Best VA1 World... ...
Important: breeders.NET has not screened the listed breeders and accepts no responsibility for their reputation or quality. It is your responsibility to investigate. See How to Find a Dog.


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You can obtain information
about different methods of filing your individual income tax return electronically
as part of the Electronic Filing Program (ELF).
It is possible for individuals to file directly from their computer (e-file).
Find answers to some frequently asked questions about electronic filing
on the FAQ web page. Look at our Problems
page for commonly occurring NJ-1040 filing errors.
You may also be able to pay
your taxes with a credit card by making either
a toll free telephone call or directly over the Internet. New Jersey State
Personal Income, Estimated, and Fiduciary Taxes may be paid with MasterCard,
American Express, Visa, and Discover/Novus credit cards.
The Commercial Recording Unit
is the primary information repository for the State's business, legal
and financial communities. You can get an application for a Notary
Commission or request an Apostille from the Division.
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text:
Microsoft opened registration for the 2013 Xbox 360 Dashboard Update beta, and due to the overwhelming response from potential testers, registration is already closed.
The Xbox 360 2013 Dashboard update is said to include a number of performance enhancements, as well as the ability to use real world local currency for transactions as the big gains in this update. The ability to complete transactions using local currency is important going forward, as Microsoft is planning to retire Microsoft Points later this year.
While no information has been released as to when Microsoft is targeting the new dashboard update for release, sources say to expect it in the fall. Microsoft has not closed the door on the possibility of re-opening beta registration to add additional testers, but for the time being it remains closed.


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Remodeling Literacy Learning Together
/a>In NCLE's most recent report, Remodeling Literacy Learning Together, one of the key findings is that, when given the opportunity, teachers involved in standards implementation are innovating and designing appropriate lessons and materials. In fact, our profession is filled with stories of innovative and successful collaborative practices that did not start or end with prepackaged programs or solutions. In a recent Language Arts article, Virginia Goatley and Peter Johnston remind us that innovation occurs through small scale tinkering in our classrooms on a daily basis.
At the same time the report reveals that teachers value working with other educators as the most powerful form of professional learning; it also reveals that time for teachers working together is brief and shrinking. In "Collaboration as a Change Force: The Power of 'Know How' over 'Have To,'" Catherine Nelson speculates, "One reason why teachers currently have limited time for collaboration may be administrators' uncertainty about what actually happens during that time out of the classroom and how it impacts what happens inside the classroom."
Where does this leave us? If we are to successfully advocate for more shared time for planning and professional learning, we must share our stories of collaboration and the impact in our classrooms. Here are some snapshots that are sure to inspire and inform:
2 English Teachers + 2 Math Teachers = 1 Multidisciplinary Research Paper
Collaboration as an Opportunity for Shared Leadership
What Makes a Good History Essay? (Or as the kids would say, does spelling count?)Web Cams, Inquiry and Observation reminds us that opportunities for learningdo not stop at our classroom doors or our own backyard.
Reflections from Rowland School District Educatorson a Year of Shared Learning and Change
Now it's your turn! Share your story of the power of collaboration as professional learning.
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We are in complete awe of what just transpired. We knew Caroll's story transcended age, gender, nationality and just about every barrier out there, but to see people rally around this film has been amazing. We're going to make I AM BIG BIRD... and it's all thanks to you.
We didn't pick the $100,000 number lightly--as a matter of fact, this film will cost a lot more than that. But we knew that with a minimum $100,000, we could make this film. And now we'll be able to. Thank you.
So what next? We know Caroll's story has staying power and it seems like our Kickstarter momentum has just gotten started. Now, we're aiming to break the record number of documentary backers. As we write this, we're at 1426 backers. The record is 6508. It's in our sights. Remember, every pledge--even a dollar--counts towards that goal. We've achieved one milestone--a crucial one--now let's take on the next one.
We have 6 days left to reach that hurdle and every pledge past $100,000 means we can make the film that we've envisioned, the film that we've been sharing with you for the last 24 days. Don't stop now, folks. Spread the word. Let's make history together.
Much love,
The I AM BIG BIRD CREW
Hey folks,
Well here we are. One week to go. Crunch time. With only 7 days remaining, we are $20,000 from our goal. How are we going to close that gap and surpass our goal with a fury? Why, with your help of course!
If you've already pledged, awesome. You're the best. We love you. But we'd also love it if you found it in your heart to do more! You can call a friend and tell them about the film. You can Tweet about it. You can blog about it. Get the story out there!
Also, we've heard from tons of you that HAVE already pledged that you wanted a t-shirt, which we weren't offering, or the alternate film poster designed by Caroll himself, which we only offered as part of the $500 package. In our ongoing effort to meet your demands, we're now offering the official I AM BIG BIRD crew t-shirt for $30 and an unsigned poster designed by Caroll for $60. These are both KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVES. You'll never get them anywhere else.
We know you also wanted the signed 2-disc Blu-Ray special edition, but those packages keep selling out. So, in a last ditch effort to make sure everyone that wants one gets one, we're now offering a $150 package that has both the signed 2-disc Blu-Ray and the unsigned poster designed by Caroll. It's a great deal for two Kickstarter Exclusives. This really is the last chance to get the 2-disc Blu-Ray!
Finally, in an effort to make it more accessible, we've SLASHED the cost of tickets to the New York premiere from $5000 to $1100. Again, we'll never make these available to the public, so if you want to participate in what is sure to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, get your tickets now! Don't have $1100 but still want a chance to get to the premiere? Head over to YouTube and make a video response telling us what Caroll means to you and you'll be entered to win two tickets to the premiere—for free!
If you haven't pledged yet, here's a friendly reminder: you're running out of time. If we don't hit our goal, all pledges are forfeited, no one is charged and I AM BIG BIRD won't get made. And that would mean that all the content we've been sharing, like this great clip of Caroll talking about how he met his wife, is going to go back into the Spinney archive, never again to see the light of day. Help us keep bringing this amazing content to the world! Happy pledging!
Much love,
The I Am Big Bird Crew
Hey everyone!
We're about to start week 3 of our Kickstarter campaign and things are looking good! We want you to know we appreciate what you guys have done for us. We also want you to know that we have heard you! We know people are really interested in getting the 2-disc Blu-Ray special edition signed by Caroll, but couldn't afford the $350 package it came in.
To that end, we've made limited quantities (50) of just the 2-disc Blu-Ray available for $99. This Blu-Ray is going to be chock full of all the archival footage we couldn't get in the film and is a must-have for any Sesame Street or Muppet fan! We can't stress enough that this is a KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE. This special edition will never be available anywhere else. Ever. Get it? If you've already pledged, you can simply increase your pledge and opt for this special edition.
Finally, in this week's clip, OK Go, rock band extraordinaire, tell you why they support our Kickstarter campaign!
Much love,
The I AM BIG BIRD Crew
Hi everyone!
We're going to keep this update short, but we just wanted to thank you. A quarter of the way through our campaign, we're almost at 37% of our goal—that makes us feel pretty great!
The response from Caroll's fans has been incredible. This outpouring of support is why we turned to Kickstarter in the first place. It lets us interact with fans on a whole new level. With Kickstarter, we're not tied to making the movie that an investor demands of us, rather we are free to make a film that honors Caroll's work and is true to who he is. In essence, Kickstarter lets us make the movie the fans want to see--and as fans ourselves, that is crucial to us.
You've already done so much by pledging and we can't thank you enough. But since you've pledged, you obviously want to see this movie get made. How can you help us do that? Tell your friends and family about the project. Blog about it. Tweet about it. Post flyers in the subway about it (not really, that might be illegal).
This campaign is only going to succeed if people know about I AM BIG BIRD so anything you can do to spread the word about the film is crucial.
And we'll do our part too. Do you have a blog and want to do a piece on the film? Contact us and we'll either do an interview or provide you with content to use there (we'll also then share that blog and hopefully get you more traffic). No outlet is too big or too small! We'll help however we can!
Finally, to celebrate our one week Kickstarter anniversary, here's another clip from the film in which Caroll rehearses for a Christmas special with Michael Bublé. We think you'll agree that it's pretty charming. Enjoy!
Much love,
The I AM BIG BIRD Crew
Hi everyone!
When we first started this Kickstarter campaign, we thought we might post an update a day; however, since we started releasing photos and videos from Caroll's archive, we have been bombarded by emails from people telling us how Caroll impacted their lives. Responding to each one personally takes time and is very important to us because your support and kind words mean the world to us.
It's simply amazing. Many people have told us that they didn't know who Caroll was. It's not that they were indifferent. They, like us, had just always thought of Big Bird and Oscar not as puppets, but as beings. They just existed. It seems like as people have gotten to know Caroll, even in the brief clips we've released, they've realized that the man behind the Bird is the man that makes the Bird. In other words, Caroll is a remarkable person who deserves to be recognized for shaping generations of people.
We've had some early success in this campaign--and it's too early to say whether or not that will continue--and we believe that's all due to who Caroll is. As we've said to countless people, he's exactly what you'd want the man inside Big Bird to be. We hope that you take the time to get to know Caroll through the photos and videos we'll be releasing here and on Twitter over the next few weeks. We also encourage you to visit our production journal to catch up on any photos or videos you might have missed. We think you'll be glad you did, and we hope it moves you to pledge to help us tell Caroll's story to the world.
Finally, we've updated this page with a wonderful video of Caroll talking about how he met Jim Henson. The video features some touching moments from Jim, which came during the celebration of the 15 year anniversary of Sesame Street, which Jim chose to hold in honor of Caroll. It's the sort of rare video that Caroll has tucked away in his archive that he's chosen to share with us so the world can get to know him a little bit better. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
Thanks for reading, and please keep spreading the word.
Much Love,
The I AM BIG BIRD Crew
About I AM BIG BIRD
I AM BIG BIRD is a feature-length documentary about Caroll Spinney, who has been Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since 1969… and at 78 years old, he has no intention of stopping.
Think you know everything there is to know about Sesame Street? You don't. You might know that Frank Oz turned down an offer to play Big Bird, but you probably don't know that until a last minute change of heart by NASA, Big Bird was supposed to go to space aboard the Challenger. Or you may know that Oscar the Grouch got his voice from a cantankerous cabbie, but you'd be surprised to learn that a fire in his trash can almost led to Caroll's untimely demise.
Caroll's stories are the stuff of legend. He has been a constant presence in our lives for over 40 years, his path weaving through American history like that of Forrest Gump. His time inside the Bird has taught him about the world and about himself. I AM BIG BIRD will peel away the instances in his life that inspired his creation of characters that have influenced generations of children. And, as the yellow feathers give way to grey hair, it is the man, not the Muppet, who will steal your heart.
What You'll See
In addition to compelling interviews with Caroll and his luminary cronies, I AM BIG BIRD will feature fascinating material from Caroll's personal archives. Among the treasures in the Spinney vault, we've found…
…never-before-seen footage capturing unscripted moments of Caroll with giants like Jim Henson, Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson.
…Caroll's short films, in which he showcases his skill in animation, a talent which led to a job offer at Disney… which Caroll turned down.
…Thousands of snapshots and hundreds of hours of videos that capture his undying love for his wife.
…Art displaying his hidden passion for illustration.
…Puppets that were lovingly crafted by Caroll's mother over 70 years ago and that he still uses today.
We're using these amazing artifacts to create a dynamic portrait of an unknown man whose characters have had unrivaled influence in American pop culture.
Why You'll Love It
You haven't outgrown Sesame Street. Maybe it won't be the opening strains of the theme song that brings memories rushing in, but at some point during I AM BIG BIRD, a skit, a line or a character will bring you back. I AM BIG BIRD won't just give you a chance to relive these moments, it will let you see them through Caroll's eyes. And when it finally becomes clear that Caroll doesn't just operate Big Bird and Oscar, he gives him their souls, you'll realize just how much impact the faceless puppeteer has had on your life.
You know his characters. Isn't it time to get to know Caroll?
Why We Need the Dough
We made it through pre-production and now we're facing the two costliest parts of making a film: production and post-production. The money we are aiming to raise on Kickstarter is targeted for three very specific areas:
-Production Travel—Caroll has spent his career criss-crossing the globe; in order to truly feel his impact, we'll need to retrace some of those steps—and that doesn't come cheap!
-Rights/Licensing/Clearances—The costs associated with licensing Big Bird, Oscar or Caroll's appearances on programs outside of Sesame Street can be astronomical. Unfortunately, many of these sorts of cameos are integral to the film.
-Production Crew—in order to assure that we give Caroll's story the treatment it deserves, we need to make sure we have the best people at each position. We have a solid network of freelancers, but those freelancers need to get paid!
Funding period
- (30 days)


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MANILA - Eight women died in the Philippine capital on Friday as a fire engulfed a building in which they had been locked in by their employer, police said.
Eight other women survived the blaze by climbing to the roof of the two-storey building and jumping off, said police officer Cris Gabutin, an investigator in the case.
"They said the gate was locked. It was dark and they could not find a way out. It was a lucky thing they were able to get out to the roof and jump," Gabutin said.
The bodies of the eight other women were found sprawled in one room, Gabutin said.
"It was like they were trapped. Maybe they panicked and could not find their way out," he said.
Gabutin said six of the dead women identified so far were aged between 19 and 24.
A neighbourhood watchman in the middle-class residential area where the fire occurred, Jayvee Arizapa, said neighbours saw the women leaping from the roof.
"We could also hear people screaming for help inside but we could not help them because the wall was too high," he said.
The women were all from rural areas who had been brought to Manila to work in a warehouse storing electronic products and computer disks, according to Gabutin.
He said they were sleeping in a building next to the warehouse when the fire started just after midnight.
He said the cause of the fire was unknown but police had arrested the owner of the building, charging him with human trafficking, negligence resulting in homicide and operating a business in the area without a license.
It is a common practice in the Philippines for low-paid employees to sleep in their place of work.
Employers typically do not provide enough safety measures for their staff, and some are known to lock them in to stop them stealing or prevent socialising.
Seventeen workers died in the southern Philippines in 2012 when a fire burnt down a department store in which they were sleeping.


text: President Obama joins in a toast with Technology Business Leaders at a dinner in Woodside, California, Feb. 17, 2011. Apple's Steve Jobs is to the president's left. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is to the president's right. Pete Souza/The White House hide caption toggle caption Pete Souza/The White House The Two-Way Photo: Apple's Jobs, Facebook's Zuckerberg Flank Obama At Dinner February 18, 2011 Apple CEO Steve Jobs and other high-tech executives met with President Obama in California Thursday.


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To read an in depth history of the Conservative Book Club, please read this beautiful tribute from The Daily Signal, written by Lee Edwards, the Distinguished Scholar of Conservative Thought at The Heritage Foundation, along with his wife, Anne Edwards, who was the first employee of the Conservative Book Club back in 1964.
Christopher N. Malagisi is Editor of the Conservative Book Club – a division of Salem Media Group. As Editor, Malagisi is responsible for writing and managing editorial content, social media, marketing, and serves as the Club's public spokesman.
Malagisi is also an Adjunct Professor at American University teaching History of the Conservative Movement and serves as President of the Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC), which hosts the annual "Buckley Awards" and Reaganpalooza confab.
Previously, he was the CPAC Director & Director of External Relations at the American Conservative Union, the Director of Political & New Media Training at The Leadership Institute, worked at the International Republican Institute, and has served in coalition leadership positions on four U.S. presidential campaigns.
He has been published in over a dozen publications as a freelance writer and has been a political analyst on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN and CSPAN. Campaigns & Elections magazine has recognized Malagisi as a "DC Mover & Shaker" and received their "Rising Star Award," and was awarded the "Conservative Leader Award" from The Leadership Institute.
He received his M.P.A. from Syracuse University and B.A. from American University, completed fellowships with National Review and The Claremont Institute, and serves on the board of The Philadelphia Society and his church young professionals' group.
Fun Facts: Malagisi has sailed around the world and visited 40 countries, enjoys rock climbing, racquetball and fencing, is a movie aficionado, is originally from Buffalo, NY, and has recorded two original piano albums. His favorite conservative classic is Dr. George H. Nash's The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945.
Follow him at @chrismalagisi


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The Biology of What Is Not There
By Robert Dorit
Is it only natural selection that guides the shapes seen in nature?
Is it only natural selection that guides the shapes seen in nature?
Understanding the living world seems challenge enough for biologists. Technological advances have produced a cascade of data—from detailed genome sequences to the sophisticated satellite imagery that documents the planet's ecosystems—but our ability to make sense of these data still lags far behind their acquisition. With such a backlog, the idea that we might want to think about objects that are not real seems, frankly, capricious.
Yet without thinking about life-forms that never were, we cannot fully understand the life forms that do exist. Questions about absence lie at the very core of evolutionary biology: Is the living world we behold the only possible outcome of the evolutionary forces that produced it? Or can we imagine, instead, different unfoldings, of which this is but one? The one actual unfurling of the tree of life, of course, places restrictions on our capacity to address this question. I would argue that there are nonetheless ways of posing such queries that may prove productive.
The most accessible example of how to examine the shapes of the possible comes from work on shell forms carried out in the 1960s by American paleontologist David Raup and his collaborators (see the first figure). Shell shapes are beautiful; they are also geometrically well behaved and can be described relatively easily in mathematical terms. The mathematical model of shell shape, at its most basic, includes the rate at which a shell grows around its central axis, the rate at which it descends down that same axis and the rate at which the shell opening expands as its architect grows. With these three parameters we can depict a three-dimensional shape space: Any point in that space defines a single shell shape that may or may not occur in the living world. Real shell-bearing organisms are varied, abundant both in the current biosphere and in the fossil record, and their shapes can be plotted onto the shape space we have defined. When we do so, the pattern is striking. Certain regions of the cube, shown in color, are densely occupied, but most of the cube is uninhabited.
The challenge of understanding the distribution of biological objects in shape space thus consists of two separate, but interrelated, problems. The first of these problems involves the definition of the space of possibilities. For snail shells, we are fortunate, because the shape is mathematically tractable (a logarithmic spiral is a reasonable first approximation). The shape also involves a limited number of variables (in this case, three, which allows us to depict the space as a three-dimensional cube). For other biological shapes at other scales, defining the shape space may be considerably more challenging. How, for instance, do we define the space of all possible protein or RNA shapes? What mathematical expression will capture all of the possible architectures of tree shape? Not only are these spaces likely to be of a higher dimensionality, making them harder to depict, but the underlying mathematical function that can generate the shapes is likely to be far more complex.
The second problem with understanding shape distributions involves mapping the real objects of the world onto the shape space that we have constructed—and then accounting for the distribution of these realized forms. And it is here that we find an astonishingly consistent result. In every case studied, the distribution of realized shapes is nonisotropic: Some parts of the cube are densely populated with realized shapes, whereas others are virtually, if not entirely, empty. Such patterns in biology demand an explanation. What is this strange occupancy of shape space at all scales telling us about the forces that give form to the living world?
The temptation to attribute the occupancy of shape space to the action of natural selection is almost irresistible. In this optimalist light, the occupancy problem is easily dismissed: What is there is what works; what is not, doesn't. Yet this easy solution may be based on a set of problematic assumptions. To be sure, the objects of the real world—shell shapes in our example—do function effectively in their environment, or natural selection would have made short work of them. The nautilus shell is a stunning example of how propulsion and buoyancy can be elegantly balanced, and biologists and naval engineers alike justly admire its shape. The barnacle shell has indeed evolved a shape that enables its tenant to survive the pounding of the waves, and the rising and falling of the tides. But the fact that natural selection acts incessantly to shape the natural world does not mean that anything that we do not see has been tested by natural selection and found wanting. What that formulation assumes is that every corner of shape space is accessible, that every conceivable shape in our cube has in fact been tried—which is to assume too much.
Evolutionary theory, especially in its Anglo-American formulation, has traditionally favored the idea of natural selection as the driving force that shapes living form. Natural selection is indeed a powerful chisel, but a complete theory of evolution also needs to take into account the material being chiseled. The occupancy riddle will not be solved until we think about how organisms are actually built, and until we give history its proper due as an architect of form.
Constructionist explanations for the occupancy of shape space acknowledge that not all corners of shape space are equally accessible. Under this rubric, the occupancy of shape space derives (at least in part) from the consequences of how biological forms are constructed. Organisms have ontogenies, and the way they develop from a fertilized single cell into a final adult form has implications for the resulting shape. Thus, to stay with our shell-shape example, it is unlikely, if not impossible, for the opening of the shell (where new material is deposited) to decrease in size as the animal matures. Organisms tend to get bigger as they mature. Even though it is possible to model a logarithmic spiral whose leading edge grows and then shrinks, that excursion in shape space appears to be inaccessible to real organisms. Importantly, this inaccessibility is not due to the fact that such a shape would not function and thus would be eliminated by natural selection. Instead, we do not see it as a realized shape because, given the rules that govern shell construction, it occupies forbidden territory. Given how shapes are made, certain among them cannot even show up to participate in the struggle for existence.
Proteins too have ontogenies, dictated by folding rules. And similar forbidden zones in shape space exist at the molecular level. Knots, for example, are notoriously scarce in proteins, for reasons that flow both from the chemical character of the amino-acid components of proteins and from the mechanisms that govern protein folding. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that until fairly recently we thought knots to be a virtually impossible geometry for real proteins to adopt. We were wrong. They are rare, but not impossible.)
In our search to account for the occupancy of shape space, we have much to gain by paying closer attention to the rules and mechanisms that generate form. Simultaneous progress in computational methods and developmental biology repeatedly leads to the same conclusion: Simple rules can give rise to enormously complex forms. A graphic example, first described by British physicist and mathematician Stephen Wolfram, is shown in the second figure. In this computer simulation, a simple set of generating rules (such as "branch out into 3 [or 2 or 4], increase the branching angle by 15 degrees, repeat") gives rise to an array of leaflike forms. These forms are striking in their variety. Note, too, that every shape is discrete and does not appear to blend with an adjacent shape: The generating rules themselves populate shape space in characteristic ways, overstuffing certain parts of it while leaving others nearly deserted. By attending to the construction of biological forms, we can begin to appreciate just how much pattern and structure can arise before natural selection even has a hand in the process.
Provocative as they are, however, these relatively simple simulations need to be interpreted with caution: They are not meant to simulate the actual biological mechanisms of leaf development. We have yet to elucidate fully the actual dynamics that determine leaf shape. Similarly, we need to remember that the developmental process—the biological counterpart of the computer program that created these leaf shapes—itself evolves. Indeed, the evolution of developmental programs has resulted in the opening up of regions of shape space that might previously have been inaccessible. For instance, take the Cambrian explosion some 600 million years ago. Changes in the rules of construction, coupled with changes in the geochemistry of the oceans, suddenly allowed certain groups of marine organisms to make hard shells. Whole new dimensions of shape space abruptly opened, and the diversity of organisms on this planet was forever changed.
Although the constructionist perspective enhances our ability to account for the distribution of biological objects in shape space, it lacks an acknowledgment of the role that history plays in the filling of shape space. At its most basic, history matters because evolution often works by composing variants on a theme. As a result, once a functional shape evolves, the adjacent shape space is most likely the first to be fully explored. This tendency to remain in the shape neighborhood of one's ancestors is further enforced if the existing shape is surrounded by less-functional alternatives. Evolution will not cross through less-fit alternatives even if better-functioning alternatives lie within view.
The extent to which history controls the distribution of realized shapes also depends on just how easily one shape can be transformed to the next. In our shell example, we can safely claim that cone shells, in terms of transformation, are conservative. They give rise to other cone shells, both from one generation to the next and over evolutionary time. The corner of the tree of life represented by the genus Conus is bushy indeed, with over 3,000 named species, each of them crowded into a distinctive zone in shell space. But for shapes at other scales—the shape of folded RNAs, for instance, or the shape of proteins—a few changes in the sequence may suffice to cause a flip from one location in shape space to a completely new location.
Perhaps if every lineage had world enough and time, if the tree of life had an infinity to explore shape space, it would eventually discover every successful form that could be built given constructionist constraints. But history dictates that because the evolutionary life of most lineages is brief, many paths and shapes remain unexplored.
Having defined the universe of the possible, we will have to populate it with the actual. We will need statistical approaches to determine whether there are over- and under-populated zones beyond what we would expect from sampling alone. We will need to flesh out the consequences of the ways in which living form is built and the constraints imposed by the materials of life. We will need to elucidate the role of time and history in shaping shape. And only then will we be able to invoke the sculpting power of natural selection. Yet daunting as the occupancy problem is, the nonisotropic distribution of realized forms appears both universal and independent of scale. Such regularity in biology is strangely beguiling.
When you next look out at the stars, notice how some parts of the night sky are teeming with stars, whereas others seem comparatively dark. This is no optical illusion. At all scales, and for all of the classes of objects that astronomers can identify—stars, galaxies and constellations—the universe, too, is nonisotropic. The variability of the heavens, like the variety of living things, underlies much of their beauty.
Click "American Scientist" to access home page


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Groton Growers Farmer's Market
September 21 @ 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Every Saturday from June 16 to October 13, 9 AM to 1 PM. Located at Groton's Community Building, the market offers local produce and fruit in season, as well as culinary herbs, pies, breads, vegan cookies, meats, jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, pies, pastries, homemade candies, homemade ice cream, wood crafts, holiday cheese balls, quilted purses, embroidered towels, hand spun wool, soaps, lotions, stained glass, peanut brittle (newest flavor: candy cane), cheese, salsa, fudge, handmade jewelry, infused oils, and knife and scissor sharpening. Woodturning demonstrations most weeks. About 2 hours from Quimby Country, but just 5 minutes off Route 91 if you're going home that way. And a good place to stop for lunch. For more, see the Groton Grower's website.


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Boise Co-op Wine Crew educators Divit Cardoza and Bob Tait host interactive wine classes for beginners to connoisseurs. Join us and expand your knowledge, taste a variety of wines and tour our specialty wine shop that offers more than 3,600 wines ranging from $7-$2,900. Cheers!
$25.00 per person-Ages 21+. Meet at the Wine Shop at 1:45 pm. Classes are held from 2:00-4:00 pm. Snacks and hors d'oeuvres served.
RSVP by clicking the button below or calling the Boise Co-op Wine Shop at 208-472-4519


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Louis Daignault (ISN)
June 5, 2013, Myslowice, Poland (ISN) – Denise Wooding of North Vancouver and Charlotte Sider of Ottawa won their qualifying match on Wednesday to advance to the main draw at the FIVB U23 World Championships in beach volleyball.
Wooding and Sider defeated Hana Treskanova and Barbora Pilatova of the Czech Republic 24-22, 21-15. Sider competed at the last two world junior championships, both held in Halifax, and placed ninth each time with different partners.
"It was a tough match to play in, but we accomplished our goals," Wooding said. "We were always expecting a tough match; it is always hard to play in the qualifier because everyone wants to get through to the main draw. We knew it would be tough and that both teams would want it, but it is nice to win."
The teams pushed each other point for point throughout the first set until the Canadian duo, who are both students at the University of Toronto, managed to find an edge. In the second set a vital service ace from Sider put the pair 12-9 ahead at a change of ends and despite the Czechs trying to spark a comeback, Wooding and Sider were able to keep them at arm's length.
"I think you can never really lay back at all; when you have a lead you just have to keep pushing," Sider said. "It is hard to control what they do, but when they were serving to me, all I had to think about was siding out and that was my only job. We can't take control of what they do, so we just have to do what we can."
They will join Taylor Pischke of Winnipeg and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Toronto in main draw action which starts Thursday.
Pischke and Humana Paredes had a bye to the main draw. They were fifth at the world juniors last year while Humana-Paredes won a silver medal in 2011 with Victoria Altomare.
On the men's side, Greg Simone of London, Ont., and Gabriel Burlacu of Tecumseh, Ont., were eliminated in qualifying losing 21-7, 21-12 to Gabriel Kissling and Mirco Gerson of Switzerland. It was the international debut for both Canadians.
William Hoey of Brampton, Ont., and William Sidgwick of Toronto had a bye to the main draw. Sidgwick, 21, has competed at the last to world juniors and the 2009 world youths. Hoey made his international debut at last year's world youths in Cyprus.


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Justin Bieber's debut appearance in Australia has caused another case of tween chaos.
The teen star caused what the New Zealand Herald called "mass scenes of hysteria" in Sydney, Australia, on Monday morning.
The star had planned to perform on the "Sunrise" morning show, but due to an unruly crowd of thousands, authorities canceled the gig – after numerous fans had camped out overnight. The paper reported that a number of fans "forced a crowd surge" at 2 AM, with incidents throughout the night causing injuries and leaving at least 10 girls cared for by paramedics following fainting spells.
"I am just as disappointed as everyone else with the news from this morning. I want to sing for my fans," Justin Tweeted.
However, according to Melbourne's The Age, the young singer did end up performing one track, doing his hit "Baby" to calm fans then telling them to head home.
The incident wasn't Justin's first time causing tween panic.
In November, a Long Island, New York, mall was the scene of a similar crush, ultimately leading to charges being filed against the singer's manager, Scott Braun, after he allegedly failed to send a Tweet to Justin's fans to ease the situation.
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It's been 30 years since the release of Bill Cosby: Himself, the special that revolutionized stand-up comedy by alerting comics to the existence of chairs. Now, after decades in which that film spawned The Cosby Show and influenced comics who continue to sing its praises to this day—albeit mostly while standing, still having yet to master the chair—Cosby is coming back. Comedy Central has announced it will air Bill Cosby: Far From Finished on November 24, Cosby's first comedy special since Himself, and the first time anyone has seen him do a stand-up set outside of the live audiences who have seen him on tour. Robert Townsend—a fellow guy who was very active in the '80s, then not as much—directed the special, which is culled from Cosby's appearance at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center last month. According to some recent reviews, Cosby is still a master of the funny storytelling tradition, still has observations about kids (grandkids this time), and still has the chair.
Here's Bill Cosby: Himself in its entirety, since you don't have anything else to do for the next two hours.


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pH linearization lubricates waste control
Learn how a simplified technique for linearizing pH can enhance control in waste treatment applications and eliminate the need for gain-adjusting techniques.
By Robert C. Kelahan
GET REAL. It's not the pH, it's the ion flow. Modifying logarithm bases to help calculated titration curves match the pH range of real curves allows PID control to act based on linear ion flow rates, rather than pH, so traditional gain adjustments aren't needed.
pH control is often studied in control literature because it presents such a unique case of nonlinearity, and nonlinearity can be very problematic in process control. With pH systems, the emphasis on pH as the control variable obscures the fact that what we're really trying to measure and control is not pH (although the specification may be in terms of pH), but simply ion concentration or ion flow. pH is just a convenient measure of ion concentration by way of electrode potential as described by the Nernst Equation. However, the Nernst relationship between ion concentration (more correctly, activity) and electrode potential is logarithmic–hence the nonlinearity and its representation as pH.
Compensating for pH Nonlinearity
Most discussions of pH control accept pH measurement as the control variable and apply strategies to modify a part of the PID algorithm, usually the controller gain, to compensate for the nonlinearity. This can involve techniques, such as adaptive gain or gain scheduling, with a low fixed-gain region where pH is most sensitive to changes in reagent (high process gain), and with increasing gain as pH departs from this high process gain region. The result is a controller gain function with two breakpoints. In many cases, this can be reasonably effective. Success with this approach depends on how closely the controller gain maps to offset the changing process gain in the titration curve. Breakpoints must be selected, as well as the degree of gain adjustment, and some control instability can be observed around these breakpoints, even if these parameters are carefully selected.
"It's valuable to keep the control strategy relatively simple with few parameters to change, but adaptive enough to remain effective with changing conditions."
In each of these approaches, shifts in the influent titration curve from changing conditions may require significant alteration of the parameters in the control strategy employed, depending on its complexity. This is why it's valuable to keep the control strategy relatively simple with few parameters to change, but adaptive enough to remain effective with changing conditions.
Simplified pH Linearization
Chemical plant waste streams requiring neutralization often are combinations of streams from several processes brought to one location for neutralization with caustic or slaked lime. The resulting neutralization inlet stream is a complex mixture of several components. Consequently, the titration curve may not appear as a simple strong acid, weak acid, or even a polyprotic acid, but as a combined curve representing the effects of several of these. This combined curve often will be a much smoother version of its component curves, with individual plateaus and bends disappearing into the overall shape of the curve. The goal usually isn't complete neutralization (pH near 7), but is instead partial neutralization to minimize reagent use against a low-pH (5 to 6) constraint. With partial neutralization, the acid side of the titration curve is of primary interest; transition to the base side either isn't a likely occurrence or would result in triggering an interlock or other discrete action, overriding the main control strategy.
Rigorous solution of charge balance equations for strong acid, weak acid, and more complex systems are within the capability of modern DCS systems. However, in this approach, simplifications that would be easier to implement and support are considered that don't significantly impact accuracy for the range of pH of interest.
The definition of pH in terms of hydrogen ion concentration involves the base 10 logarithm. It's interesting to note that the shape of a calculated strong acid titration curve can be flattened to varying degrees by lowering the logarithm base in this equation. By modifying the logarithm base, the resulting "titration" curve can be made to look similar to the real titration curves of complex waste streams, at least enough to be used as an effective but simple linearization algorithm for pH that is easy to configure and maintain. (See Figure 1).
|Modifying the logarithm base produces a titration curve that can be made to look similar to the real titration curves of complex waste streams. This allows to modified curve to be used as a simple, effective linearization algorithm for pH that's easy to configure and maintain.
Analysis and Implementation
A calculated titration curve with a modified logarithm base can be fitted in a spreadsheet to a real titration curve from a waste stream exhibiting the characteristics described above. For implementation in a control strategy, it's more important that the slopes of these titration curves match over the expected range of pH than for the actual curves to match. This takes advantage of the PID initialization capabilities present in most modern DCS systems. In the system studied for this article, the Solver tool in Excel was used to adjust the logarithm base to minimize the squared error of the slopes between the real and calculated titration curves over the pH range of interest. The same technique can be used for primary influent streams that are good candidates for feedforward control.
For integration with PID control, separate characterization function blocks can be set up for the setpoint and process variable of the control loop using the same parameters (Figure 2). For feedforward control using an influent stream, a separate set of parameters would be needed because this stream only represents part of the overall influent. Flow measurements for the influent streams can be used if variable, or a design rate can be used in the characterization function block for streams with flows that don't very appreciably.
|FIGURE 2: PID pH CONTROL
|To integrate with PID control, separate characterization function blocks can be set up for the setpoint and process variable of the control loop using the same parameters.
The overall effect is that the PID acts entirely on ion flow rate, which is linear, instead of pH. The PID block sees only effective ion flow for its setpoint, process variable, and any feedforward input. The operator interface, however, is still in pH units as far as the actual setpoint entry and process variable representation is concerned. Since the PID sees an essentially linear input, there is no longer any need for adaptive gain or gain scheduling. Also, if the pH loop is cascaded to a flow loop for neutralization, then calculation of a process gain for the loop is straightforward.
The PID initialization capabilities of modern DCS systems play an important role in dealing with positional inaccuracies in the calculated titration curve. When the PID is initialized by placing it in a mode higher than manual, the integral contribution is back calculated, and assumes any prior contribution from integral action and feedforward if enabled. This results in bumpless transfer to the higher mode. Proportional action will only result from subsequent changes in setpoint or process variable, and action from any feedforward connection will only result from subsequent changes in the feedforward signal. For this reason the accuracy of the slope of the calculated titration curve is far more important than its positional accuracy.
Precautions need to be taken when tuning this pH control strategy. Although gain adjustment strategies are no longer necessary, tuning needs to be in terms of the ion flow variables (or their percentage of scale) instead of pH. This would apply also to autotuners.
Further Enhancements
Although the technique of linearizing pH by modifying the logarithm base can be applicable to a wide variety of complex waste streams, an enhancement was added to provide more flexibility by accounting for the presence of a single weak acid in significant concentration. This would appear as one flat part of the titration curve, even though there may already be some flattening due to the presence of other acids. Adding a weak acid to the strong acid/base charge balance model provides two additional variables: the weak acid's fraction in the influent and the dissociation constant, to better match the slopes of more complex real titration curves. This provides some additional flexibility at the cost of a slightly more complex characterization equation in the DCS system. Some examples indicating the wide range of titration curve shapes are shown in Figure 3. In a spreadsheet, these parameters can be varied manually to observe the effect on the calculated titration curve, or a tool such as Excel's Solver can be used to adjust all three parameters to match the titration curve slopes.
|The many titration curve shapes and their parameters on a spreadsheet can be varied manually to observe the effect on the calculated titration curve, or a tool such as Excel's Solver can be used to adjust all three parameters to match the titration curve slopes.
In conclusion, pH control can be made more straightforward by linearizing the pH inputs to the control strategy, which includes the process variable and a feedforward, if present. If this can be done effectively, complex and maintenance-unfriendly gain adjustment strategies can be avoided. Waste streams are often complex mixtures that don't have the sharply defined titration curve typical of strong acid/base neutralization or the pronounced plateau typical in the titration curves of weak or polyprotic acids. For these streams, simply modifying the logarithm base in the definition of pH to give a reasonably accurate calculated titration curve can be used to linearize the pH input. This pH characterization has only one parameter to be adjusted to fit different waste stream systems.
- Shinskey, F.G., "pH and pION Control in Process and Waste Streams," Wiley and Sons, 1973.
- McMillan, Gregory K. and Cameron, Robert A., "Advanced pH Measurement and Control," 3rd Edition, ISA, 2005.
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