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Last updated: March 25, 2014
In Mouse Study, NIH Investigators Observe the Immune-Boosting Properties of Vitamin A
In Mouse Study, NIH Investigators Observe the Immune-Boosting Properties of Vitamin A
A new study in which National Human Genome Research Institute researchers collaborated with colleagues from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease helps shed light on how vitamin A regulates the immune system at mucosal surfaces - the moist linings of the mouth, lungs and gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
The study, published in the March 2011 issue of Immunity, demonstrates in mice that certain immune T cells use vitamin A metabolites to respond to infection or vaccination and maintain the health of the host. Often the GI tract is where the immune system first comes in contact with proteins and microorganisms and receives signals that indicate whether a substance is harmful or helpful. The study adds to the evidence suggesting that vitamin A metabolism helps T cells in the GI tract respond appropriately to both beneficial and harmful challenges.
Helping maintain balance
Vitamin A is found in foods such as carrots, spinach, and sweet potatoes. When the body breaks down vitamin A, a key product is retinoic acid, which is needed for growth, development, and immunity. Previously, Belkaid's group demonstrated that retinoic acid cues T cells in the gut to differentiate into cells that when needed, help maintain immune tolerance. Without this brake on the immune response, immune cells can attack helpful bacteria naturally found in the gut, harmless proteins in food, or even the body's own cells, resulting in conditions like autoimmune diseases and allergies.
In this latest study, Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., and colleagues in NIAID's Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases collaborated with Pamela Schwartzberg, M.D., Ph.D. and Jennifer Cannons, Ph.D., of NHGRI's Genetic Disease Research Branch to examine the role of retinoic acid in the immune response to a disease-causing parasite and vaccination. The investigators examined four groups of mice: those given nearly identical diets, except one group received food lacking vitamin A and the other group received food with sufficient vitamin A, and mice with and without a receptor for retinoic acid. Mice fed vitamin A-deficient diets or mice lacking the retinoic acid receptor did not mount a robust T-cell response to infection or vaccination. Mice without vitamin A deficiency and with the retinoic acid receptor cleared the infection and responded to the vaccine.
The vitamin A-deficient mice were able to clear infection and mount an appropriate immune response to vaccination after receiving retinoic acid, demonstrating that the deficiency is readily reversible. Importantly, the NIH team also found that retinoic acid played a direct role in the early response of T cells, providing fuel necessary for T cells to protect mucosal surfaces against infection and foster immunosurveillance.
Scientists and parents agree: Eat more vegetables.
Taken together, the results of the new study and Belkaid's previous work suggest that vitamin A is a strong regulator of the immune response in the gut, helping adjust the response to appropriately handle encounters with both helpful and harmful substances. While the new data show that mice need retinoic acid to carry out this role, additional studies are needed to determine if the same is true in humans.
What is clear is that proper amounts of vitamin A play an important role in human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 250 million preschool children are deficient in vitamin A, which is associated with increased susceptibility to diarrheal disease and poorer response to vaccination. NIH-supported studies that explore the interplay between the immune system and dietary nutrients help broaden understanding of mucosal immunity and provide insight into how the balance between immune tolerance and response in the gut is maintained.
To read the study, go to: Essential Role for Retinoic Acid in the Promotion of CD4+ T Cell Effector Responses via Retinoic Acid Receptor Alpha
More information on what the WHO is doing to combat vitamin A deficiency can be found at: www.who.int/nutrition/topics/vad/en.
Information on the research in Dr. Schwartzberg's lab can be found at: www.genome.gov/Staff/Schwartzberg.
Information on the research in Dr. Belkaid's lab can be found at: www.niaid.nih.gov/labsandresources/labs/aboutlabs/lpd/mucosalimmunology/sites/default/files/genome-old/pages/belkaid.aspx.


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Adelina Vinyl Floorcloth
Free Shipping!
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- Furniture and oversized items that ship freight will require 2-3 weeks for delivery. Standard Freight is curbside, to your door. White Glove freight may be an option for an additional charge. Email us at email@example.com for a quote.
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- Free shipping applies to the 48 contiguous states only. Custom shipping quotes are available for Alaska & Hawaii by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com
In order to fulfill your order quickly and to reserve your product, we process orders right away. All orders are processed within 24 hours.
We understand you may need to cancel or modify an order and we will attempt to do so but orders cannot be canceled after 24 hours or after item confirmation and tracking info has been sent. Made to order or custom products may not be canceled.
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Paynes Gray's return policy lasts 15 days. If 15 days have passed since your purchase was delivered, we cannot offer you a refund or exchange. Furniture, lighting, mirrors, sale, clearance, and gift certificates are exempt from being returned.
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Only partial refunds are granted in the following circumstances:
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- Due to the manufacturing process please expect some variation in colors

subset: commoncrawl


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Photo Challenge: Vices
A new year signals a new start, and every time New Years rolls around people evaluate their lives in an effort to change for the better. For this photo challenge capture one of the vices you or others may be eradicating once the clock strikes midnight.
RSS for photos in Photo Challenge: Vices


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Clinical Trials
Safety and Acceptability of the Anti-Microbe Vaginal Gel, PMPA Gel
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Information provided by (Responsible Party)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
First received: December 13, 2001
Last updated: February 16, 2012
Last Verified: February 2012
History of Changes
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the PMPA gel, which kills microbes, in HIV-infected
and HIV-uninfected women.
The majority of new HIV infections occur through heterosexual contact. A product that stops or slows the replication of HIV during sexual contact is needed. At present, there are no products that are completely effective. PMPA gel, also known as tenofovir, is an anti-microbe agent that may fight against sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). It is applied to the vagina and gives women the ability to control their disease-prevention activity.
HIV Infections
Drug : Tenofovir
Phase 1
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose: Prevention
|Official Title:
|Phase I Safety and Acceptability Study of the Vaginal Microbicide Agent PMPA Gel
Further study details as provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
|Study Completion Date:
|December 2005
Detailed Description:
The majority of new HIV infections are transmitted through heterosexual contact. Currently,
there is no single product that is completely efficacious in preventing initial HIV infection
through vaginal transmission. Thus, the development of a topical product which could block
local virus replication once infection has occurred is needed. Topical microbicides are
designed to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other disease pathogens. Potentially,
they can be applied vaginally to prevent both male-to-female and female-to-male transmission.
They also offer a female-controlled option. PMPA gel has shown some activity against HIV and
STD pathogens in in vitro and in vivo laboratory studies.
Participants undergo eligibility screening tests which include: a general physical exam; a pelvic exam; a urine pregnancy test; urinalysis; HIV and STD testing and counseling; and hematology, liver, and renal function tests. For HIV-infected participants, a CD4 cell count is performed and specimens are collected for quantitation of HIV viral load in plasma and cervico-vaginal fluids. [AS PER AMENDMENT 05/29/02: and for HIV resistance genotyping.] PMPA gel is evaluated among 4 types of women distributed into 7 cohorts. All participants apply PMPA gel intravaginally for 14 consecutive intramenstrual days. The dose and frequency of application is escalated across "cohorts." Cohorts A1 through A4 consist of HIV-uninfected, abstinent women who use different doses of PMPA gel once or twice daily. Cohort B includes HIV-uninfected women who are sexually active. Cohorts C and D consist of HIV-infected women who are abstinent or sexually active, respectively. Cohorts B, C, and D use the highest practical dose frequency. The male partners of sexually active participants undergo HIV and STD testing and counseling as well as an optional genital exam and a post-regimen interview. Participants keep a daily record of when doses are taken and of any adverse effects. Pelvic exams, and hematology, liver, and renal function tests (and CD4 cell counts [AS PER AMENDMENT 05/29/02: and resistance genotyping] in HIV-infected participants) are performed at follow-up visits. After the regimen is complete, participants participate in group interviews to discuss adverse effects, adherence to, and general perception of PMPA gel.
The first 6 participants in Cohorts A2, B, and C take part in a pharmacokinetic (PK) study of PMPA gel. Serum collection and PK analysis are performed at different time intervals during 2 study visits.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 45 Years
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
All female participants may be eligible for this study if they:
- Are between 18 and 45 years of age.
- Have a menstrual cycle with at least 21 days between periods or have not menstruated for at least 6 months.
- Agree from the time of Screening Visit until the Day 14 Follow-up Visit to: a) not use IV drugs (except for therapeutic use) and b) not participate in other microbicide or contraceptive studies.
- Agree not to take part in the following activities for at least 48 hours before the study enrollment visit (Day 0) until the Day 14 Follow-up Visit: anal intercourse; douching; oral contact with the vagina; penetration of the vagina by fingers, sex toys, or any other objects; use of any vaginal product, including lubricants, drying agents, feminine hygiene products, diaphragms, and cervical caps.
- Agree to insert the PMPA gel in the exact way it is specified.
- Abstinent Women (Groups A1-A4, C, and V) may be eligible for this study if they:
- Agree to abstain from vaginal intercourse from 48 hours before study until Day 14.
- HIV-infected abstinent women (C) must be HIV infected; have a CD4 count of at least 200/mm3 at time of screening and within 6 months prior to screening, and a viral load of 10,000 copies/ml or less if on anti-HIV therapy or have a viral load of less than 55,000 if not on anti-HIV therapy; provide study staff access to HIV medical records and be under medical care for HIV management; and be on stable anti-HIV therapy (if any) for 1 month before screening and expect to stay on that therapy throughout the study.
- Sexually Active Women (Groups B and D) may be eligible for this study if they:
- Agree to abstain from vaginal intercourse for 48 hours before study start.
- Agree to tell their mutually monogamous male sexual partner about their participation in the trial and of requirements from Day 0 until Day 14 to have vaginal intercourse at least twice weekly and to use a study-provided male latex condom for every sexual episode.
- HIV-uninfected sexually active women (B) must currently have a single male HIV-uninfected sexual partner who is at low risk for HIV infection and who can be included in the study.
- HIV-infected sexually active women (D) must have a CD4 count of at least 200/mm3 at time of screening and within 6 months prior to screening, and a viral load of 10,000 copies/ml or less if on anti-HIV therapy or have a viral load of less than 55,000 if not on anti-HIV therapy; provide study staff access to HIV medical records and be under medical care for HIV management; be on stable anti-HIV therapy (if any) for 1 month before screening and expect to stay on that therapy throughout the study; and currently have a single male HIV-infected sexual partner who can be included in the study.
- Male sexual partners of sexually active participants (Groups B and D) must be:
- At least 18 years old and in a relationship with the study participant for at least 3 months and be willing to maintain this relationship for the entire study.
- At low risk for HIV infection and be HIV-uninfected if female partner is HIV-uninfected (B) or be HIV-infected if female partner is HIV-infected (D).
- Able and willing to have vaginal intercourse with only the study participant at least 2 times per week, and to use study-provided lubricated male condoms each time during study.
- Willing to not have vaginal intercourse for 48 hours before Day 0.
- Willing to abstain from the following from 48 hours before Day 0 until the end of study product use: anal intercourse, oral contact with the vagina, and penetration of the vagina by fingers, sex toys, or any other objects.
- Willing to take part in an interview after the study and undergo clinical evaluations.
- (This study has been changed to expand the CD4 cell count criterion for Groups C and D.)
- Have gone through menopause.
- Have had a hysterectomy.
- Are breast-feeding.
- Are using or have used within the past year IV drugs (except for therapeutic use).
- Are pregnant.
- Have serious liver, kidney, or blood problems.
- Have had antibiotic therapy in the 14 days before study start.
- Have taken part in other microbicide or contraceptive studies within 1 month of study start.
- Have been previously enrolled in this study.
- Have any genital abnormalities.
- Are sensitive or allergic to any substances used in the study.
- Are unwilling to use 1 of the following methods of contraception during the study unless surgically sterilized: non N-9 condoms, hormonal contraceptives, abstinence.
- Have used any spermicide or condoms that have spermicide on them within 1 week before study start.
- Have used a hormonal contraceptive method for less than 3 months before study start.
- Have had any of the following in the 3 months before study start: vaginal bleeding during or following vaginal intercourse; breakthrough menstrual bleeding; an IUD; an abnormal Pap smear; a pregnancy; an abortion; or gynecologic surgery.
- Have had, in the 6 months before study start, an STD or treatment for any STD, signs of an STD, or signs of genital tract infection.
- Have any other condition that, in the opinion of the doctor, would be unsafe for the participant or would interfere with the study.
- Male sexual partners may not be eligible for this study if they have:
- Been treated for STDs or presumed STDs within 6 months before study start.
- Symptoms of STDs that cannot be evaluated within 2 weeks of study start.
- Sensitivity or allergy to any substance used in the study.
- Any other condition that, in the opinion of the doctor, would be unsafe for the
Exclusion Criteria
Female participants may not be eligible for this study if they:
Contacts and LocationsChoosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision.Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00028132
Locations Show More
|United States, New York
|Bronx- Lebanon Hospital Center Clinical Research Site (BLHC CRS)
|Bronx, New York, United States, 10457
|Harlem Prevention Ctr. CRS (El-Sadr CTU)
|New York, New York, United States, 10037
|United States, Pennsylvania
|3535 Market Street CRS
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
|United States, Rhode Island
|The Miriam Hosp., Div. of Infectious Disease
|Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02906
|Women & Infants' Hosp.
|Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02906
Sponsors and CollaboratorsNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|Study Chair:
|Lisa Maslankowski
|Study Chair:
|Kenneth Mayer
More Information
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00028132 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|December 13, 2001
|Last Updated:
|February 16, 2012
Keywords provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):Risk Factors
Mucous Membrane
Anti-Infective Agents
Cervix Uteri
Anti-HIV Agents
HIV Seronegativity
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this data on November 15, 2019
This information is provided by ClinicalTrials.gov.


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- Shop
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Human rights group calls for probe of mass grave's removal
Physicians for Human Rights called Friday for the Afghanistan and United States governments to investigate the removal of perhaps as many as 2,000 bodies from a mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, Afghanistan.
McClatchy reported Thursday that men allegedly reporting to Afghan warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum had dug up the site in recent months and that nothing remained there now but open pits.
Frank Donaghue, the chief executive office of PHR, said that his organization, which discovered the graves in 2002, had been investigating since whether the men's deaths, allegedly after they had surrendered to Dostum's forces, were a war crime. The men allegedly died of suffocation as they were being transported in sealed cargo containers.
"Removing evidence of an alleged mass atrocity is itself a war crime and must be investigated," Donaghue said. "The Afghan government, with the support of the UN and the international community, must move quickly to protect the site."
PHR also called for the United States to investigate what role American troops might have had in the deaths of the men and accused the Bush administration of covering up at the time the magnitude of what had taken place.
"The Bush administration's willful failure to investigate Dasht-e-Leili is a stark example of its disregard for international and U.S. standards of detainee treatment," Donaghue said.


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Below is an excerpt from my article about the Ninth Circuit opinion on BurnLounge. The article can be read in full over at Seeking Alpha. It's an important subject. Click here to read it.
- The Court successfully threaded the needle on the issue of "ultimate users," essentially creating two classes of participants.
- The Court provided several factors throughout the opinion to help outsiders deduce the motivation driving consumption. This is especially helpful in assessing $HLF.
- The Opinion will require the FTC's pyramid scheme expert to create another analytical framework to distinguish pyramid schemes from legitimate direct selling companies (assuming they need one).
- The Court adopted the logic provided by the FTC in its 2004 Staff Advisory Opinion.
- The Court eliminated all confusion regarding Omnitrition as it completely ignored the widely referenced dicta that consumption from participants cannot count as sales to "ultimate users."
On June 2nd, 2014, the Ninth Circuit published its long awaited BurnLounge Opinion. Within hours, both sides of the Herbalife battlefield issued statements claiming victory about the decision. I've taken the week to process the opinion. During this time, I've tried to keep up to speed with the online chatter regarding various interpretations. One thing is clear: the gray space in MLM law separating legitimate direct selling companies from pyramid schemes has been minimized considerably.
On the one side, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square spun it as validation of its argument that commissions in the Herbalife plan were derived primarily by opportunity driven demand (recruitment rewards) instead of legitimate product consumption. On the other side, the MLM industry (myself included), breathed a sigh of relief, submitting that the decision validates a lot of our main points in responding to common criticisms of the model. This article is intended to cull out the key nuggets in the BurnLounge decision and interpret what it means going forward.
End of Excerpt
Click here to read the rest of the article on Seeking Alpha. Seeking Alpha is a news site dedicated to publishing content about publicly traded companies. The article took me quite a bit of time to prepare. I hope you find it informative.


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Q&A with Senior Infielder Blake Tagmyer
Related Links
Sporting a 38-12 record and a 17-game winning streak, the seventh-ranked UC San Diego Baseball team travels to Stockton this weekend for the CCAA Championship Tournament with a third consecutive conference regular season title already in its possession. One of the catalysts for the Tritons' late-season surge has been senior Blake Tagmyer. The Centennial, CO native who came to UCSD via USD, is hitting .352 and leads the club in both on-base (.481) and slugging percentage (.576) despite sitting out a stretch with injuries and playing several different positions. Although the numbers are gaudy, it's the intangibles that catch the eye of UCSD Coach Dan O'Brien. "Blake's just a winner-he flat out competes," says O'Brien, in his 14th season at the helm. "I think he's been our team leader between the lines. He always gets quality at bats and does whatever it takes in the field-and he gets it done every day, no matter what the situation." With the post-season looming, Tagmyer spent time discussing his team, the season and what's ahead.
Q-In your opinion, what has been primarily responsible for your team's late-season surge?
TAGMYER-I think
we finally started to come together as a team. Guys started to pick each other
up, which took some pressure of the guys that felt they had to carry the team.
Also, I didn't think there were too many games during the beginning of the
season when both offense and pitching were on during the same game. As of late,
we have been getting outstanding pitching performances and our hitters have
been locked in at the plate.
Q-Was there a particular, moment, game or series during the year where you thought, "hey, we're really playing at a higher level?"
TAGMYER-After the first game at Chico State was when I realized we were playing at a high level. I have always known this team has what it takes, but before that series we were playing inconsistent baseball. We had taken 3-of-4 from a lot of teams, but nobody was satisfied with that because we all hold each other to such high standards. After that Friday night game at Chico, I knew we were going to be unstoppable. Then Guido (Knudson) came out on Saturday and shut down a good team for the second straight night. Chico has been having success all year, and there was a moment during that weekend that I thought they could hang with us.
Q-Over the weekend, your team clinched its third consecutive CCAA regular season championship. In your mind, what does that say about the UCSD program?
TAGMYER-I think
it speaks volumes about this program. It's hard to have continued success in
college baseball, which says a lot about the job that Coach O'Brien and his
staff have done. This year more than ever I think teams have been gunning for
us, which made winning a third consecutive regular season title that much more
of an accomplishment.
Q-How sweet was it to be able to clinch the conference in front of your home fans?
TAGMYER-It was awesome to be able to clinch it at home. We have had tremendous support from friends, family, and alumni this year so it was great for them to be a part of it.
Q-You were part of last season's 54-8 squad that finished second at the NCAA Division II Championships. What effect, positive or negative, did last year's performance have on this year's club?
TAGMYER-I think at first it had a negative effect on this year's team. I felt like everybody felt the pressure to win and sweep almost every series, which put a lot of pressure on this year's team. I think this all changed after the Sonoma series. I think that weekend we finally found our own identity, and since then we have been unstoppable. Last year's team had tremendous successes, but in my mind why strive to be like last year's team when we didn't finish what we set out to do. This year's team has a totally different dynamic, and in my mind were more battle-tested than ever and prepared to accomplish all the goals that we set out to reach at the beginning of the year.
Q-What are the primary, ongoing messages that Coach Dan O'Brien and his staff preach to the players?
TAGMYER-I think his main message has been to just have fun and enjoy playing with the guys around you. Our team is at its best when we're loose and relaxed, so I think having this mentality has played a huge part in our late season success.
Q-You lead the team in both slugging and on base percentage, two categories that aren't always directly related. How do you explain that?
TAGMYER-My focus at the plate all year has been to have quality at bats and go 90 feet for this team. We have so many good hitters up and down the lineup that if somebody gets on it creates so many different weapons for our offense. I think I have been more patient at the plate this year, which has led to more walks and hit by pitches, and also allowed me to get my pitch. When this happens I have been fortunate to get some extra base hits.
Q-This season, the batting order has been more fluid than it was a year ago. Is there a particular spot in the order you prefer to hit? Does your place in the order change your approach at the plate?
TAGMYER-Before this season I had never batted clean-up before. It took a little bit to get used to because you definitely get pitched differently than other spots in the lineup, but now I cant imagine hitting anywhere else. It's been awesome hitting behind guys like Danny Susdorf, Aaron Bauman, and Kyle Saul because they are always on base, and I feel that I am at my best when there are guys in scoring position.
Q-Along the same lines, you started the year at second base, are now over at first and have done some duty at DH. Which do you like best?
TAGMYER-Second base had always been my favorite position, but to be honest I don't really care where I play as long as I am in the field. DH is a difficult position because it's hard to get into the flow of the game, and you have nothing to take your mind off your next at-bat. First base has been an easy transition coming from middle infield, and I'm sure the other guys love it now that they have someone with some height to throw to.
Q-You bat left-handed and throw right-handed. Which is your dominant hand and have you always batted from the left side of the plate?
TAGMYER-I don't really have a dominant side. I throw right, kick right, and play golf right, but everything else I do left-handed. I refuse to call myself a lefty though, so I guess I will say I am right hand dominant. When I was younger, I used to switch hit, but when I got to high school I went back to my natural side which is left-handed.
Q-To date, what has been the high point of this season for you?
TAGMYER-The high point of the season for me has been everything from the Sonoma series on. After that first game we lost, this team made a decision to turn it around and not be the same team we were at the beginning of the year. Right before the Sonoma series I remember telling the guys in a team meeting that our season is just beginning.
Each team that we were going to play from that point on was at the top of the pack, which is what college baseball is all about. Coming out and rising to the occasion and winning the last 17 regular season conference games to win conference is something that I will never forget. And the most exciting part about it is that best times are still to come!
Q-Looking at this year's roster, who would you describe as the "leader," the "best clutch hitter," the "comedian" and the "brain?" Give reasons.
TAGMYER-This year's team is different than most because we have so many seniors. I think we have tremendous senior leadership with all the guys, but if I had to pick a couple I would say Tim (Shibuya) and Guido. Both these guys have tremendous work ethic, and come to play everyday. I think true leadership is demonstrated on the field, and Tim and Guido are perfect examples of this. They don't need to talk to lead the group, they just come out everyday ready to help this team win! The younger guys on the team have some great role models to look up to, which is why UCSD has had continued success throughout the years.
I think the best clutch hitter has been Danny Susdorf. He has been our most consistent hitter throughout the year, and also been one of our most clutch hitters. I can think of many times when we needed to get a leadoff man on late in the game and Danny was the guy to do it. I can also think of a couple times, most recently in Chico, when Danny had a two-out two-strike hit that scored a couple guys late in the game to give us a lead. Danny has tremendous work ethic which is why he is such a great hitter.
As for the comedian, I would have to say Abro (Eric Abraham). I have never met someone that has made me laugh so much. He always has funny one-liners and is so quick-witted, which makes him an awesome guy to be around.
I think the nerds of the team has to go to Guido and (Elias) Tuma. Guido is so smart that he tutors all the geniuses that go to UCSD, and Tuma owns all academic records at UCSD. He is the guy that won't go out on a Friday because he has a midterm three weeks away.
Q-What's this team like on the road? Is there a particularly memorable moment or two you can share from this season's travels?
TAGMYER-To be honest there isn't much excitement that goes on with this team on the road. Were such old guys that when the game ends, we eat, take an ice bath, and usually pass out before nine. I think all the excitement happens with our assistant coaches, but those aren't stories I can tell on here. The real excitement happens when we get home Sunday night and we get together as a team to celebrate a sweep. Those are some stories that I can't repeat either.
Q-You are from
Centennial, Colorado, started your collegiate career at USD and then
transferred to UCSD; what about UCSD caught your eye? Has your experience at
UCSD been everything you hoped it would be?
TAGMYER-The first thing that caught my eye about UCSD baseball was that it was a winning program. I knew coming from USD that I wanted to transfer to a program that had a chance to win a national championship, and I also wanted to stay in Southern California. Coming to UCSD has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, I just wish I would have done it sooner.
Q-As a Communications major, what are your plans after you graduate? Is baseball part of that equation?
TAGMYER-My goal
has always been to play professional baseball and I will follow that dream as
long as I can. If that doesn't work out, I have thought about playing overseas
somewhere because I don't think I am ready to hang em' up. I have also thought
about going to Law school next year, but as of right now I am just trying to
enjoy my last month of college and win a national championship!
Q-You've got the CCAA Championship Tournament this weekend in Stockton with the NCAA Regional's the next week, likely at Triton Ballpark. How does post-season play differ from the regular season? Does last year's experience make you and your team any better-prepared this time around?
TAGMYER-There really isn't too big of a difference between post-season play and regular season. Our regular season is designed to get you ready for post-season play, so all we have to do now is continue what we have been doing since February. So many teams and players try to do something extra special during the post-season, but we know that if we play our game it will all work out in the end. The pressure is on the team in the other dugout because we have proven all year long that if we play our game nobody can beat us.
Q-What is your dream scenario for the 2011 NCAA Championships?TAGMYER-My coach would kill me to know that I am looking past the conference tournament, but I can't help dreaming about dog piling on our own field to send us to Cary, North Carolina! This team has been through a lot this year, and I think we have put ourselves in a great position to go back to the World Series for the third consecutive year. And this year were gonna win it!
Previous Q & A Articles
Theresa Richards (Women's Track & Field) April 27, 2011
Austin West (Men's Tennis) April 17, 2011
Drew Lawyer (Men's Crew) April 11, 2011
Keith Okasaki (Men's Golf) March 26, 2011
Matt Herman (Men's Swimming & Diving) March 12, 2011
Hanalei Crowell (Women's Water Polo) March 5, 2011
Camille Gaito (Softball) February 23, 2011
Tim Shibuya (Baseball) February 8, 2011
Carl Eberts (Men's Volleyball) January 31, 2011
Neda Nguyen (Women's Swimming & Diving) January 24, 2011
Amy Bianchini (Fencing) January 14, 2011
Lauren Freidenberg (Women's Basketball) January 3, 2011
Christian Hatch (Men's Basketball) December 24, 2010
Blake Langland (Men's Swimming & Diving) November 27, 2010
Sarah McTigue (Women's Soccer) November 8, 2010
Brandon Yee (Men's Soccer) October 11, 2010
Bryce Madsen (Men's Water Polo) September 23, 2010
Annette Ilg (Women's Soccer) September 9, 2010
Ricci Luyties (Women's Volleyball Head Coach) August 24, 2010
Kevin Messey (Head Athletics Trainer) July 7, 2010
Dan O'Brien (Baseball Head Coach) June 18, 2010
Christine Merrill (Women's Track & Field) June 14, 2010
Vance Albitz (Baseball) May 11, 2010
Erik Elliott (Men's Tennis) May 3, 2010
Kelly Fogarty (Women's Track & Field) April 23, 2010
Liz LaPlante (Women's Tennis Head Coach) April 15, 2010
Kirby St. John (Baseball) March 24, 2010
Dan Perdew (Men's Swimming) February 28, 2010
Calvin Ross (Men's Volleyball) February 20, 2010
Nicole Saari (Softball) February 4, 2010
Brad Kreutzkamp (Women's Water Polo Head Coach) January 18, 2010
Tyler Acevedo (Men's Basketball) January 4, 2010
Dr. Cliff Kubiak (UCSD's Faculty Athletic Rep) December 18, 2009
Chelsea Carlisle (Women's Basketball) December 9, 2009
Carianne Cunningham (Women's Swimming) November 23, 2009
Elena Inouye (Cross Country) November 6, 2009
David Morton (Men's Water Polo) October 28, 2009
Juan Pablo Carillo (Men's Swimming) October 19, 2009
Sara Spaventa (Women's Soccer) October 10, 2009
Karen Reis (Women's Volleyball) October 2, 2009
Daniel Pavitt (Men's Soccer) September 23, 2009
Daniel Anderson (Cross Country) September 11, 2009
Peter Gresham (Men's Water Polo) September 2, 2009
Alexia Zatarain (Women's Soccer) August 24, 2009
Elaine Chen (Women's Volleyball) August 12, 2009
Jared Kukura (Men's Soccer) July 30, 2009
Dawn Lee (Former Women's Soccer Standout) July 8, 2009
Rob Mamula (Director of Athletic Performance) June 18, 2009
Garrett Imeson (Baseball) June 8, 2009
Leon Baham (Men's Track & Field) May 21, 2009
Kristyn Lesovsky (Softball) May 8, 2009
Kazumi Negishi (Men's Tennis) May 5, 2009
Laiah Blue (Women's Track & Field) April 16, 2009
Ryan Andre (Men's Crew) April 2, 2009
Josh Tanner (Baseball) March 24, 2009
Anju Shimura (Women's Swimming) March 7, 2009
Stephanie Bocian (Women's Water Polo) February 20, 2009
Lauren Chastain (Softball) February 5, 2009
A.J. Maulhardt (Men's Basketball) January 28, 2009
Annette Ilg (Women's Basketball) January 22, 2009
Steven Hardy (Men's Swimming) January 13, 2009
Frank Fritsch (Men's Volleyball) January 5, 2009


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BALTIMORE – With the men collecting their first America East championship since 2005, and the women posting their best-ever finish at the conference race two weeks ago, the UMBC cross country teams return to Lehigh for the 2013 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet, Friday afternoon in Bethlehem, Pa. The men's 10k race will kick-off the day's events with a 12:00 p.m. start with the women's 6k race set for a 1:15 p.m. start time.
Using All-Conference performances from sophomore Hassan Omar (Frederick, Md./Thomas Johnson) and senior Andrew Smith (Chadds Ford, Pa./Garnet Valley), the Retriever men edged out meet-host Binghamton for their first conference title in nearly ten years. Omar led the way for UMBC for the third time this season by placing third overall with an 8k time of 25:07.32, while Smith improved his time from the pre-conference race on the same course by 46 seconds to finish with a time of 25:20.35.
The victory at the conference championship meet helped UMBC hold on to its No. 10 ranking in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Poll. The Retrievers have been ranked in coaches' poll every week this season, a first for the program.
Behind Omar and Smith, senior Jake Albino (Hampton, N.Y./Minisink Valley), who scored in each of the Retrievers' five meets this season, took 12th overall. Sophomore Austin Hayslett (Mount Airy, Md./Urbana) crossed the finish line three seconds back in 14th and senior Brandan McGee (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) earned a top-20 finish in 19th.
For the women, senior Cody Mezebish (Westminster, Md./South Carroll) led UMBC for the third straight time this season, taking 15th at the America East Championships. Paced by the senior, the Retrievers finished in fifth-place for their best-ever finish in their 11 years in the conference.
Sophomore Nicole Dawson (Jessup, Md./Hammond) continued her scoring string, crossing the line as the second Retriever finisher. Dawson paced the UMBC squad at each of the team's first two meets of the season, then pushed her streak to 12 straight meets with a scoring slot at the Paul Short Invitational, Princeton Invitational, and then the conference meet.
Just three spots behind Dawson, senior Sarah Daly (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) finished in 33rd to earn a scoring spot for the third time this season while junior Julie Gessler (Ellicott City, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) and senior Kirsten McGovern (Sykesville, Md./Century) placed back-to-back in 44th and 45th.


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Posted: Mar 17, 2012
AUBURN, Ala. - Sophomore swimmers Andrea Ward and Sophia Yamauchi completed their event programs on Saturday at the 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Yamauchi, who swam three events during the championships, finished 45th in the 200 breaststroke preliminaries. She touched the wall in 2:14.15.
Ward, who was competing her second event of the weekend, finished 40th in the 200 butterfly. She finished with a time of 2:00.01.


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Rutgers in danger of losing transfers, recruits
Put the short lists away, at least for a few weeks. The Rutgers men's basketball coaching search just got benched.
As if the program didn't take enough hits with the dismissal of head coach Mike Rice and the impending transfer of three players, including point guard Jerome Seagears, Friday's resignation of athletics director Tim Pernetti pushed the search for Rice's successor to the backburner.
The consequences of that could be dire. The more time that elapses, the smaller the pool of attractive candidates becomes. Not to mention the increased chance of more defections by players, who currently are under the auspices of interim head coach David Cox.
BRENNAN:Rutgers president's defense a joke
"In the grand scheme of things, if Cox isn't chosen to stay on board, it sets you back a long way," said longtime booster Brian Kelley, who serves as president of the Court Club. "Now you have to go through and intense AD search, pick the right guy with all the scrutiny in the world on you, and then find a basketball coach with the same scrutiny. It's a very difficult spot."
Then there is the recruiting situation. Rice had garnered three commitments for his 2013 class — point guard Shane Rector and junior college wings Craig Brown and Chris Griffin. All three said earlier this week they would stay in a holding pattern while the transition unfolded. But if a full month elapses — which seems likely at this point — all bets are off.
"Every day that goes by doubts creep in with the players," Kelley said. "The way this has been handled really would make a parent or an AAU coach wonder what the hell is going on at Rutgers and why would I send my kid to play there?"
WIFE OF OUTGOING AD:Resignation is 'unfair'
President Robert L. Barchi said Friday he would appoint an interim athletic director "in the coming days."
In the fast-moving world of major college basketball, that's an eternity.
Jerry Carino writes for Gannett New Jersey.


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Apple, Bauscher, Brioche, butter, chef, chutney, Culinarian, Deep Plate, Elkton, Facebook, Fair Hill Inn, Foie Gras, herb, Jelly, lovage, MD, parsley, Pear, pomegranate, Pumpkin, quince, radicchio, savory, seeds, Showpieces T792523, spreads, Tafelstern, Torchon, Trace Wilson, vanilla
December 2012 Exercise – Trace Wilson, Culinarian, Fair Hill Inn, Elkton, MD
Foie gras torchon with parsley & lovage brioche, pomegranate seeds and a palette of spreads: savory quince chutney, radicchio jelly, apple & herb butter, pumpkin butter and vanilla & pear butter
Do you want to DEEP PLATE? CLICK HERE!
Happy Holidays!


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Miss Mission Beach San Diego was started by three Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) members in order to bring awareness to the adaptive sports community of San Diego. Each year, hundreds of physically challenged children and adults are in need of support in order to remain active and live healthy happy lives. Miss Mission Beach was designed to raise funds through events and sponsorships in order to allow donations to be made to a variety of organizations throughout San Diego.
View the event here on YouTube
Known as "Americas Finest City", elegant and sunny San Diego is truly a city with something for everyone. In town, a whole day or more could be spent in Balboa Park, playing golf, touring the world-famous San Diego Zoo or visiting a museum. Just outside of town, Torrey Pines State Reserve offers a somewhat wilder terrain where visitors can view rare birds and the stately trees the park is named for. Children, and in turn parents, will be delighted with the city's wide range of family-oriented activities. From SeaWorld to the historic Gaslamp Quarter, there are events and exhibits to keep even the most hard-to-please happy. San Diego boasts an array of fine and trendy restaurants covering a melting pot of cuisines, world-class shopping and hotels from lavish to budget. San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United Sates and the second largest city in California. Relatively free from smog and byzantine freeways, San Diego, set around a gracefully curving bay, represents the acceptable face of southern California. Although it was the site of the first mission in California, the city only really took off with the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1880s, and in terms of trade and significance it has long been in the shadow of Los Angeles. However, during World War II the US Navy made San Diego its Pacific Command Center, and the military continues to dominate the local economy, along with tourism and the Biotech Industry. San Diego is also home to one of the 2009 top ten beaches in the US. Coronado beach has just moved up from the number 8 position to number 4. You can enjoy the 100 year old Hotel Del Coronado visited by Kings, Presidents and movie stars behind you while taking in the ships and sail boats in front of scenic Point Loma.


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Contact Us
Touch of Grace, LLC offers personal home care (also called custodial care). Personal care services are those that individuals would typically accomplish themselves if they did not have a disability. Our P.C.A.s (patient care assistants) and C.N.A.'s (certified nursing assistants) support and assist with ADL's (Activities of Daily Living) Acute Illnesses, Case Management, Companion Care, Health Care Services, Health Education, Health Maintenance, Home Care, Homemaker Services, Hospice Care, IADL's (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living), Intermediate Care, Learning Disability, Long Term Care, Personal Care, Risk Management, Transportation Services, and assistance with Veterans. We offer a structured approach to risk management where the quality of care services meet established professional standards within the industry.


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A Windows phone game, developed by Austrian Christian Zangl, has been blocked from release in China not because it contained contentious political commentary. It's been blocked because it featured the sound of a flushing toilet.
According to Microsoft, that makes it offensive to the Chinese market, and "Content that is offensive in any country/region to which your application is targeted is not allowed."
OK, so Chinese bathroom etiquette is a little different. You won't find toilet paper in many public bathroom stalls, for example. And you often find it's custom to put "soiled" paper in a garbage bin rather than flush it.
But let's be real here: the Chinese dig toilet humour as much of the rest of us. Which Microsoft may have picked up on seeing as the game's available on the Chinese App Store and has a healthy 4-star rating.
Microsoft Rejects Windows Phone Game Because 'Flushing Toilet Sounds' Offend Asians [Game Politics]
(Top photo courtesy of Maxxelli)


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Ca Phe Sua Nong (Vietnamese-Style Coffee)
A while ago a guest brought us some Fair Trade coffee beans and it's been sitting in our pantry ever since. We're not big coffee drinkers. The only coffee I ever make at home is Vietnamese coffee, and I only make it when we have guests over. To make cà phê sữa nóng (literally Hot Milk Coffee in Vietnamese) you need a strong coffee, and the dark, extra bold French roast blend from Africa that our guest gave us was perfect for the job. My husband's friend Andrew came over today and he is addicted to Vietnamese coffee, so I made him several cups. Somehow the caffeine does not seem to stop him even late in the evening...
Making the coffee took me back in time. It reminds me of the coffee I used to make for my dad when I was a little girl growing up in Paris. He still lives there today. I would fall into a trance-like state watching the coffee drip, drop by drop into the tall glass of luscious condensed milk. Later on, we got an espresso machine but I was still making coffee for my papa every morning. I think about you, Papounet. I miss you dearly.
Yields: 1 serving1 Vietnamese coffee filter
3 Tbs dark roast coffee, freshly ground
3 Tbs sweetened condensed milk
1 cup water, nearly boiling
Pour the sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of a tall glass.
Put the dark roast, freshly ground coffee in the Vitenamese coffee filter. Tighten the screw of the filter so that the coffee does not escape, then cover with the lid. Place a tall glass underneath. Pour a little bit of water in, to make sure the coffee is totally submerged and start dripping. Fill the water completely (make sure you don't pour too much water so that it does not overflow).
You'll start seeing the condensed milk turning into a nice caramel color at the bottom. Stir well with a long-stemmed spoon. I transfer the liquid into a small cup to cut down on the amount of caffeine. I typically serve the coffee with tea cakes or rau câu (a Vietnamese dessert) .
Sip slowly, it's time to relax!
I wrote the recipe for 1 serving because I think the flavor is so much more intense when it's made individually. It has be extra strong. There's nothing subtle about this drink!
Start with cold, fresh filtered water to avoid that off-taste because of the presence of chlorine in regular water.
I mentioned in the instructions to use nearly boiling water. Plain water boils at temperatures from about 200°F to 212°F. The temperature for brewing coffee is about 200°F for an optimal taste.
I use the Longevity Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, the one with the picture of a white long-bearded old man. You can easily find it in Asian stores, well at least it's very easy to find it in California.
You may serve this drink with rau câu, it's a Vietnamese jello cake. I'll post the recipe later, it's ultra simple.
Published By: on January 6, 2009.


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I've been watching a lot of The Munsters to get into the Halloween spirit.
I saw this great expression on Lily Munster's face today and took a screencap:
It's perfect, because I've been wanting to paint something for an old wooden oval picture frame that I found in a thrift store. I have this other thing I did on cardboard a few years ago for a Halloween prop, and have wanted to do something similar:
With Lily's prefect expression I think I've definitely found inspiration for my next painting!


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If employers find that explaining benefits to their employees is challenging now, then they should brace themselves for fall enrollment when workers are expected to receive an avalanche of marketing materials from insurers, health insurance exchanges and government agencies in anticipation of health care reform, experts say.
In addition to sifting through their own company's benefits plans, employees will also be getting marketing materials from private and state health care exchanges, insurance providers and others who are expected to start peddling their products to consumers as 2014 approaches, says Jennifer Benz, founder of Benz Communications, a San Francisco-based consulting firm. Under the individual mandate of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all Americans will have to purchase health care insurance in 2014.
"In just a few months, the exchanges and insurers are going to start advertising themselves to employees," Benz says. "We've never seen this before. Picture Geico and how prevalent their car insurance commercials are. We have no reason to think that health insurance marketing is not going to get that creative, prevalent and targeted."
That means employees will have to not only understand their own company's benefits plan, but also will need to know enough about the other options available to them in order to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.
"The No. 1 implication for employees and employers is confusion," Benz says. "Employers have never had to explain their benefits alongside another offering."
And employees have never had to deal with so much benefits information at one time, experts say.
HR departments and call centers can expect to see a 50 percent increase this fall in the number of calls from employees seeking information, according Rhonda Newman, senior workforce communications consultant at Mercer. She says that few companies will be able to handle that kind of influx without an effective employee benefits communication plan.
In order to help employees understand how health care reform will affect their benefits, Mercer is launching a microsite this month called Health Care Reform Made Simple. Employers will be able to offer the site to their workers once they've purchased a subscription.
"Most employers have been focused on what health care reform means to their organization and the plans they offer, Newman says. "Just now are they turning their sights to the individual employee and the decisions they'll need to make. Employers need to start thinking about how they'll handle the mixed messages with regard to their workforce before then. If they wait until open enrollment, they'll be playing catch-up."
In response, a growing number of companies like Trustnode Inc. in San Francisco and Jellyvision Lab Inc. in Chicago have developed interactive decision-making tools to help employees choose their benefits.
Jellyvision, a developer of interactive online programs and games, including the video game You Don't Know Jack, launched "Alex," a virtual benefits counselor in 2009. The company plans to launch Alex Does Health Care Reform this summer in time for fall enrollment.
"Users will be able to estimate if they will be eligible for a subsidy to buy insurance on one of the exchanges," says Henry White, director of product development for the company. "It will explain what health care reform is and how it will affect you and the benefits choices you make for 2014."
Clearly, employees need help, and employers need to do a better job of communicating benefits, according to Dana Bagwell, director of benefits communication and education at Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co. Colonial released a survey April 2 showing that most workers think their employers are not doing it well.
"In fact, employees don't give their companies very high marks for the effectiveness of their benefits communication," Bagwell says. "Only 60 percent say it's fairly or very effective, and 9 percent say it's not at all effective."
Not surprisingly, she says, only a third of employees who receive benefits at work say that they're comfortable about making the right choices.
"The benefits landscape becoming more complex and over time more responsibility is being placed on the consumer," Bagwell says. "When I started here at Colonial, I was asked for my name and address, and then it was, 'Here's your health plan.' Those days are over."
Rita Pyrillis is Workforce's senior writer. Comment below or email firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow Pyrillis on Twitter at @RitaPyrillis.


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Tax returns go from post office to digital
Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story misidentified Sue Brennan. She is a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service who handles operations issues.
April 15 will mark a digital first for Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen. It will be the first year ever he won't be heading to the post office to drop off his tax return.
"I remember you just didn't want to be at the post office on the 14th or 15th," says Koskinen, 74, who took over as head of the IRS in December. "Now, whenever you're ready to file, you just file."
Koskinen has plenty of company. Electronic filing has overwhelmingly become the preferred method of completing tax returns. And so instead of receiving a hefty manila envelope from his tax preparer and heading to a downtown Washington, D.C., post office, Koskinen will complete the once arduous and stressful process in seconds with the click of a button.
Three decades ago, April 15 was like a marathon national block party. As millions of Americans swarmed post offices to file their tax returns at the eleventh hour, vendors handed out free coffee, IRS representatives were on hand to provide advice, and jazz bands sometimes set the mood. Lines lingered for hours, and branches stayed open past midnight to accommodate the overflow crowds.
But those days have faded into the realm of archaic, pre-Internet traditions; the yearly ritual of fingering through rumpled receipts and W2s has gradually experienced its digital awakening. This year, electronic filings are expected to reach 85% of total tax returns, "a new American record," Koskinen says.
At the start of the millennium, e-filing made up 23.5% of total tax returns, a little more than 30 million. By the end of 2014, the IRS expects that number to reach more than 125 million.
Even though electronic filing became available for the first time, though to a limited number of professionals, in 1986, it was 16 years before the process became entirely paperless. The transition since then has turned the cumbersome task into one that can be accomplished with the click, or tap, of a button. And it's significantly cheaper. In 2011, the most recent year for which the IRS has data, e-filing cost the agency 15 cents to process; paper returns cost $3.50. Plus, e-file has cut down on mistakes, the IRS says. The error rate associated with e-filed returns is 1%, compared with a nearly 20% error rate for paper returns.
Paying the government in taxes you owe no longer requires sending a check either — although it's still an option. The IRS offers several online payment systems.
But when the Internet was first gaining traction, "it was almost as if you were kind of going rogue if you filed electronically," says Sue Brennan, a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service. She remembers when many Americans were skeptical of Internet security and would never have trusted it with something as important, and personal, as the documents involved in filing taxes.
So what changed? "It became easy," Brennan says. Eventually, as with most things in the Internet age, convenience won. And technology became sophisticated enough to ensure security.
Refunds now come within weeks, not months — the IRS tries to issue them within 21 days. And manila envelopes full of tax documents no longer travel through the postal service, often making multiple trips, between individuals and their tax preparers; instead they're electronically dropped onto cyber portals in a matter of minutes.
Brennan personally filed online for the first time in 2002. But as a clerk at the Merrifield, Va., post office and sorting facility in the Washington suburbs in the early 1990s, she remembers lines of cars forming on the streets while postal service employees walked around with large bins on April 15, creating a makeshift tax return drive-through. At other locations across the country, vendors sold food and coffee, bands played and IRS officials were on hand to help people finish their forms.
"It was very festive," Brennan says. "April 15 used to be a major postal event across the country. At least in the last 10 years for sure, it's all but gone away."
Overall, yearly single-piece first-class mail volume, which includes tax returns, has declined nearly 60% since 1999, according to USPS data. This year, the Merrifield office will close at its normal time, 8 p.m., on tax day — though some larger offices across the country still stay open until midnight.
Don Mingo, a 57-year-old pastor from Grand Rapids, Minn., will wake up to another regular Tuesday; he and his wife filed their return weeks ago and already received their refund. They're using it to go on a vacation to visit their grandchildren. Michael Brooke-Gay, a high school chemistry teacher, did his and his wife's taxes on his iPad two months ago in the span of about four hours.
Mingo remembers spending months mailing tax forms back and forth to his tax preparer in the 1990s. If something was missing or needed clarification, his tax preparer would send the forms back. Mingo would have to identify the correct form or furnish the missing information and put the packet back in the mail.
"It was a nightmare," he says. "More than once we needed an extension because we ran out of time."
For the past two years, Brooke-Gay, who turns 30 on Monday and lives in Hilton, N.Y., has used his iPad to file his taxes with the TurboTax app. He even calls the experience enjoyable.
"I actually almost trusted the iPad experience more because it was all self-contained in the app," he says. "The website gets kind of cluttered because there's different advertisements."
H&R Block and TurboTax both provide smartphone apps that allow users to file by taking pictures of their W2s. The tax forms automatically fill in based on the image. Tablets have also become an increasingly popular way of completing at least some of the filing process.
Last year, H&R Block noticed a significant increase in the number of people using a combination of phones, tablets and desktop computers to prepare their returns. So this year the company overhauled all 6,000 pages of its website so that the content could shrink or grow to fit the screen of any device.
"We're seeing explosive growth in the number of people who use their tablet as an extension of the experience," says Jason Houseworth, president of global digital tax software at H&R Block.
The one thing the move to digital filing hasn't changed: the need for professional tax help. Thanks to a tax code that only seems to grow in complexity, the split between those who seek help and those who file on their own has remained around 60/40 for the past decade, Houseworth says.
Lonnie Gary, a partner at the CPA firm Young, Craig & Co., in Mountain View, Calif., says the firm has gained clients at a rate of 1% to 2% a year in the past five years, chalking it up to a tax code that's "too complicated." Even so, the process has been stripped of many of its time-consuming moments.
When Gary needed to fill out an uncommon tax form for a client while working for H&R Block in the late 1980s, he had to Xerox it from a massive book of forms, then fill it out by hand with a pencil. Now, he has clients submit documents through a cyber portal and e-files with the IRS through his company's tax software.
Still, it seems no amount of technological ease can alleviate the dread of tax season for the majority of Americans.
"It doesn't change the need of the assisted filer," Houseworth says. "Regardless of the amount of technology, they still are frightened by taxes and have no interest in doing them."


text:
Website For Sale
This website is no longer used. Why not make use of it!
Welcome To Our Website!
Its not everyday you get the chance to own your own website. We no longer use this site so if you would like to buy the domain name and make more use of it, please use the 'Contact Us' link at the top right to email us.
So why have your own Domain Name?
1) It increases your name recognition and allows your friends, family or customers to remember more easily how to find you and your site. It's a lot easier to remember www.example.com than it is to remember www.whatever-hosting.com/business/~myname.
2) It gives you a more serious and professional "appearance" on the Net.
3) It helps brand your image and adds a level of trust and integrity to your site. You don't want to be the lawyer at the city club with an e-mail address like firstname.lastname@example.com when everybody's passing out their business cards!
4) It helps people find you through search engines. Sites like Yahoo! and Google have taken on immense importance, and getting your site in users' search results is key to establishing new relationships with them.
5) Nobody else will get the name that you own.
6) E-mail addresses hosted on your domain name will not change, even if you switch ISPs or temporarily lose your access during a move, for example.
"Since owning my own domain name and setting up email, my confidence in the way I sell things and the confidence of my customers in the way we communicate has grown."
Domain names allow you to have your store front in the Global Mall. You become a global seller immediately at a relatively small cost!
Copyright 20
11 Fowlmere Solutions


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Hi, new to forum.
I see there is little activity here; my guess is that this program works so well and error-free and is so intuitive that there is little need to get help or ask questions.
Just wanted to say this is the best stand-alone graphic program I own, and also will note that it often turns into a diverting slideshow of artistic possibilities and rewards; I really meant to color that photo, but got lost for hours in the triple filter section...
So thanks for this gem!
this program!
ColorStyler specific discussions
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by GAIL N. BROWN/National Director, AgribusinessS
Bacon $1.69 per lb., eggs 64 cents per doz., bread 38 cents per loaf, butter $1.01 per lb,, cheese $1.69 per lb. Food prices such as these, obtained on a recent visit to a San Fran-cisco supermarket, are worrying American consumers. But what has happened to food prices and what will happen to them in the next decade is also of increasing concern to businessmen and government officials. As the US popu-lation spends more of its disposable income for food, a smaller amount becomes available for such purchases as automobiles, clothing, furniture, travel, and entertain-ment. As a result, increasing food prices not only affect one's personal standard of living but also slow the eco-nomic growth of the nation.
Why Are Food Prices High?
In 1975, food prices increased approximately nine percent above 1974. This compares to increases of 14 percent in both 1974 and 1973. Expressed another way, the nation spent a record $180 billion for food in 1975, compared to $165 billion in 1974 and $144 billion in 1973, for a similar vol-ume. Some consumers still have not recovered from this blow to their pocketbook. Why? Because during the past three years such increases have been greater than the in-creases in personal disposable income (that is, income after federal, state, and local taxes). This is a change from the years prior to 1973, when the percentage of disposable income that consumers spent for food was decreasing year after year. At the end of World War II, for example, con-sumers were spending approximately 25 percent of their in-come for food. By 1960, this had decreased to 20 percent. The ratio of food expenditure to personal disposable in-come reached a low of 15.4 percent in 1972, increased to


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Etiquette For Dummies, 2nd Edition
Read an ExcerptDownload Acrobat
Table of Contents
Author Information
Etiquette For Dummies approaches the subject from a practical point of view, throwing out the rulebook full of long, pointless lists. Instead, it sets up tough social situations and shows you how to navigate through them successfully, charming everyone with your politeness and social grace. This straightforward, no-nonsense guide will let you discover the ins and outs of:
- Basic behavior for family, friends, relationships, and business
- Grooming, dressing, and staying healthy
- Coping with unexpected stuff like sneezing or feeling queasy
- Maintaining a civilized relationship
- Making friends and keeping them
- Building positive relationships at work
- Communicating effectively
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Part of being an internet marketing professional is staying atop of industry trends and news. I spend at least an hour every day reading blogs, forums, whitepapers, and watching videos - all to keep up to date. For the average website owner, it would be impossible to sift through the silt to get to the real gold. I went through my GoogleReader account and pulled out a mixture of some of my favorite local internet marketing blogs and general all purpose must reads. While this isn't the definitive list of internet marketing resources, you can't go wrong following these RSS feeds!
An internet marketing staple, SEOMoz offers a suite of tools alongside a very compelling community and staff written blog. From experiments to how-to guides, they have it all.
6s Marketing is a fellow Yaletown based internet marketing agency. They're constantly providing new information, from traditional SEO tactics to social media trends. I'm a big fan of their whitepapers. They've also been promoting New York-based Foursquare as a local advertising option, bringing a potential solution to a very thorny problem in the online world: how to move bodies in the "meat space."
VKI Studios has established itself as an absolute authority when it comes to analytics and conversion optimization. As one of the first companies invited into the authorized analytics consultant program from Google, they've had a front seat position from a widely used platform. Their educational seminars on conversion optimization are amazing - from offer positioning to landing page optimization, these guys are experts.
Love him or hate him, Matt Cutts is Google's Czar on all things search. From dispelling myths about the practice of search engine optimization, to calling out areas of the internet he dislikes, Mr. Cutts is never afraid of being controversial. His influence has resulted in groups of dedicated fans going to internet marketing conferences calling themselves "Cuttlets." How can you not read?
The team at Elastic Path really gets ecommerce, and it shows in their award winning Get Elastic blog.
A dumping ground of marketing related news, the Marketing Pilgrim often has great industry news that an internet marketer (or website owner) should be aware of.
Although I dislike their ranking tool (it's too easily gamed, and can lead to complacency from a webmaster when there are underlying issues preventing ranking that no script can interpret), their blog is top notch reading through and through.
Local social media and sales consultant Shane Gibson is a fixture at meetups and events around town. An expert on all things sales, Shane can easily relate the process of social media outreach to cold calling, and he has a knack for being topics back down to the bottom line.
Another huge presence here in Vancouver, John Chow has made a living telling people how much money he makes online. Affiliate marketers take note - the man is an authority..
An email solution provider, Mailchimp is my favorite mailing platform of choice. Their blog is excellent, spanning topics in email marketing far outside the scope of their product.
While by no stretch of the imagination was this an exhaustive list (I have another 150 or so IM related feeds that I check regularly), I'd love to hear from you what your "Must Reads" are. Please let me know!
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King's "A" team shot a 281, one-over par after the first day of the tournament. Three King golfers currently share the lead for first place after an opening day score of 69. Adrian Kibsey (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Richard Powell (Hixson, Tenn.) and freshman John Scott (Glasgow, Scotland) each sit atop the leaderboard with team and tournament-best scores. Powell shot the best front-nine score (32) of anyone in the tournament while Scott cleaned up on the back nine with a 33, the best in the field of 35 participants.
Josh Bamberger (Waterloo, Ontario) tied for seventh place with a first round 74 while Lee Whitehead (Knoxville, Tenn.) completed the tandem with a 75 and a 13th place individual finish.
"The guys knew they needed to come back after their performance at Myrtle Beach," said Head Coach Brian Kamm. "They certainly came back in a big way. I am proud of them but there is still work to be done tomorrow to finish the job."
The Tornado pitted a second team in the competition and finished sixth in the field of seven teams, shooting a 312. Nick Carden (Hixson, Tenn.) topped the team's score with a 77 with no member of the secondary team finishing more than two shots off that mark.
On the women's side of the tee, Erskine College sits in the lead with a team total 334. King is currently 10 shots off the pace but has two top-five individual finishers. Esther Gandarias (Madrid, Spain) is currently tied for second place with a first round score of 82, just one shot off the leader, Anna Jenkins from Erskine.
Cortnee Young (Cleveland, Tenn.) finished in a tie for fourth place, just one shot behind Gandarias. She also finished the back nine with the lowest score (39). Anna Walker (Marion, Va.) finished just outside the top five with a sixth place finish. Walker shot an 84 on the day and is three strokes back from the leader. Chelsea Gammon (95) and Kerby Jones (96) rounded out the team's performance, helping them to a second place finish and a manageable 10 shots behind Erskine in the team totals.
"Both teams just need to continue what they began today," said Kamm. "Everybody needs to stay focused and come back tomorrow for round two."
The second round of the tournament will begin at approximately 9:00 a.m. at the Country Club of Bristol (Tenn.). Weather conditions continuing to look favorable for the final round of play.


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Media react to Sulzberger death
Reaction to the death of former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who died Saturday:
"Punch, the old Marine captain who never backed down from a fight, was an absolutely fierce defender of the freedom of the press. His inspired leadership in landmark cases such as New York Times v. Sullivan and the Pentagon Papers helped to expand access to critical information and to prevent government censorship and intimidation." — Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., Sulzberger's son and the current publisher of the Times.
Story Continued Below
( Also on POLITICO: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, former New York Times publisher, dies)
"As an editor you knew that if you went to the publisher and sought his support on an issue that you deemed to be of high importance you could pretty much count on getting it. He knew how to back his people. ... As well as a publisher and a colleague he was a good friend. The last years have been extremely difficult with his health problems. He bore them with great courage. I admired him hugely." — Former Times executive editor Joseph Lelyveld.
"It was Punch Sulzberger who made the decision to resist the government's effort. In making that decision he set in motion a litigation which not only preserved but protected the First Amendment for generations. It was Punch Sulzberger who decided that this was a case that had to be fought. That decision was one that will be honored among not only journalists but future generations of Americans." — Floyd Abrams, the lawyer who represented the Times in the Pentagon Papers case.
"He was a firm believer in the importance of a free and independent press — one that isn't afraid to seek the truth, hold those in power accountable, and tell the stories that need to be told." — President Barack Obama.
"It also became increasingly clear that the system of monarchy helped save the New York Times as a great newspaper. Punch made some bad calls as a businessman, along with some great ones, but by far the most important fact about him and his family was that they never wavered in their commitment to great journalism." — Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof.
"If you weren't around then, you forget the unbelievable outrage that greeted those sections. But in retrospect it was the right decision both editorially and economically." — Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, on Sulzberger's move to expand the Times to sections such as Living and Metro.
"Punch Sulzberger was a giant in the industry, a leader who fought to preserve the vital role of a free press in society and championed journalism executed at the highest level." — Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt.
"With enormous power and authority he was as humble a person as you could ever meet. ... People with enormous power often dominate a room. He did not. And yet the power and authority was there." — Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.
"I found him always a gentleman and always ready to at least listen." — Public relations maven Howard Rubenstein, who brought many clients to meet with Sulzberger and Times editors.
"It is probably not much of an overstatement to say that Arthur Ochs Sulzberger saved The New York Times." — The Daily Beast and Newsweek's Howard Kurtz.
"A great newspaper man even in death, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger dies in time to make the Sunday edition." — @DwightGarner.


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Unloading Data from Greenplum Database
A newer version of this documentation is available. Click here to view the most up-to-date release of the Greenplum 5.x documentation.
Unloading Data from Greenplum Database
A writable external table allows you to select rows from other database tables and output the rows to files, named pipes, to applications, or as output targets for Greenplum parallel MapReduce calculations. You can define file-based and web-based writable external tables.
This topic describes how to unload data from Greenplum Database using parallel unload (writable external tables) and non-parallel unload (COPY).


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We now have the official announcements for the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10, which will hit the U.S. market in mid-March, and the BlackBerry Q10 with its physical keyboard, which isn't expected out until April. But what do we know about them?
The BlackBerry Z10, which is now available for pre-order, is all about its 4.2-inch touchscreen display. Meanwhile, the BlackBerry Q10 fills the hardware keyboard void that's been abandoned by competing phone manufacturers.
Can these two smartphones hold a candle to the phone hardware crowding the market today? If you want to judge, here is a comparison chart of current major smartphones and their specs.
Here are our initial impressions after handling both phones:
BlackBerry Z10: Great touchscreen
The first thing you'll notice in picking up the Z10 is that it feels light and looks reasonably thin. It weighs 135 grams and stands 9mm thick, which compares favorably to the sleeker-still iPhone 5.
It actually looks quite similar to the iPhone 5; the Apple phone stands taller, but is narrower. The near-buttonless design gives the Z10 a more futuristic look. The only buttons are along the right-hand side, volume up and down buttons separated by a hardware mute button (huzzah) in between.
The BlackBerry phone fits well in-hand, and the textured backing felt comfortable. The removable battery can be reached by pulling off the back; and happily, the back snapped back in easily, too (often, replacing a phone's backing can be a chore).
This phone's gesture interface definitely takes some getting used to. I was used to using gestures for the BlackBerry PlayBook but, while there are some echoes of familiarity between that tablet OS and the new BlackBerry 10, there's plenty new in BB10 to get used to.
BlackBerry Hub
I really liked the BlackBerry Hub, both in concept and in my initial use. But I wonder how useful that feature will be in the end when I'm inundated with content from my various social networks.
My colleague Tim Moynihan wondered aloud whether you really need all your emails and tweets and incoming content to be in one place. We both liked the quick-action slider that popped out of the right side of the screen though, when long-pressing on a message; the slider gave the various option to act on that contact or message (for example, file it, flag it, forward it, call, text, and the like).
The predictive text did a startlingly good job of suggesting the words you are actually going to type. If you type the letter "W," for example, the word "Would" hovers above the "O," the word "What" hovers above the "H," the word "We" hovers above the "E," and so forth.
By swiping upward over a suggested word, it adds that word to your message. According to BlackBerry, the feature also adapts to your own text input over time; the words it suggests are in line with the words you use the most.
Predictive text: big timesaver
Even without the personalized suggestions, we found that the predictive-text feature (and the way it's implemented) really is a big time-saver for quick messages. Writing a message such as "On the way, I'll be there soon" involves typing a few letters and swiping upward a few times with your thumb instead of writing the whole thing. This keyboard essentially eliminates the need for acronyms and text-speak such as "OTW," "BRB," and "OMG," as typing full words takes much less time than on other phones.
Tim and I both found the "swipe-up-to-select-a-word" feature to be just as accurate for longer messages, but a bit less useful.
It actually takes a bit of coordination and muscle memory to switch between tapping letters, swiping upward, and occasionally moving your thumb to see what words it's suggesting.
The predictive-text feature is only a fraction of the story, really. The touchscreen keyboard on the Z10 is probably the best either of us have ever used in terms of autocorrect features and typing accuracy.
When our thumbs flew across the keyboard in landscape orientation, the Z10 did a solid job at making our fast-and-furious touchscreen typing more coherent and accurate than other devices have managed.
Stay tuned for our full review of the Z10.
BlackBerry Q10: Keyboard-a-rific
For all the competitive importance the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10 carriers, the BlackBerry Q10 is the phone that stands out for all kinds of reasons—most noticeably, of course, for its physical keyboard.
During my limited time handling the device (truly limited—BlackBerry representatives were very careful about what you could do with the Q10), I found the physical keyboard a welcome return to years past.
The keys felt like a throwback to the time when my fingers touch-tapped their way across BlackBerry and Palm Treo phones of yore. I liked the texture and size of the keyboard buttons, and the gentle contour of the keys, too; all of those elements contributed to a near-flawless typing in my first attempt.
The buttons are three percent larger than those on a 2011 BlackBerry 9900, while the keyboard itself is situated in a straight design, without the angling found on the 9900.
The 3.1-inch display packs 330 pixels per inch, and has a resolution of 720 by 720 pixels. The SuperAMOLED display is 30 percent larger than on the BlackBerry Bold 9900, and looked bright and crisp in the demos.
Of the two phones, I have to admit that the Q10 is the one I more looked forward to playing with extensively. Sadly, that will have to wait until later this spring.
Additional reporting by Tim Moynihan
This story, "New BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 smartphones: first impressions" was originally published by TechHive.


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"Jersey Shore" might have ended, but another partygoer is lending her wild life to MTV: Ke$ha.
MTV announced late Tuesday that the pop singer will debut a documentary series, "Ke$ha: My Crazy Beautiful Life," in April.
The show highlights Ke$ha's life over the last two years, including recording music and traveling. MTV says the footage was shot by the singer's brother, Lagan Sebert.
The 25-year-old performer says in a statement that she's "revealing a more complete picture of what my life is really like" in the series. She says her life is "not all glamorous, but it's all real."
Ke$ha has released a number of Top 10 hits since she debuted in 2009, including pop smashes like "TiK ToK," "We R Who We R" and "Die Young."


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DOOFUS of the DAY: Columnist Blames Teh Eevil Jooz for the 'War on Christmas'
The Vicious Babushka: DOOFUS of the DAY: Columnist Blames Teh Eevil Jooz for the 'War on Christmas'
BURT PRELUTSKY writes in World Nut Drooly:
I never thought I'd live to see the day that Christmas would become a dirty word. You think it hasn't? Then why is it that people are being prevented from saying it in polite society for fear that it will offend?
Why, after 60 years, is the city of Santa Monica, Calif., no longer allowed to erect its traditional crèche in the palisades overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and why is the governor of Rhode Island insisting on calling the state's Christmas tree a holiday tree?
Schools are being forced to replace 'Christmas vacation' with 'winter break' in their printed schedules. At some major retail chains, the word is verboten, replaced as a matter of policy by the generic Happy Holidays. Carols, even instrumental versions, are verboten in certain locales. All across the country, grammar schools are banning Christmas pageants.
And then he sez:
I am getting the idea that these self-righteous secular Jews won't be happy until they pull off their own version of the Spanish Inquisition, forcing Christians to either deny their faith and convert to agnosticism or suffer the consequences.
You can read the entire screechy diatribe at wnd.com (WARNING: This link goes to a site that is run by delusional stupid crazy people. You may lose brain cells.)
The mind boggles. I thought it was supposed to be Muslims and their "stealth Sharia" who were leading the War Against Christmas! There is so much wrong with this diatribe that I don't even know where to begin. Let's begin with the hysterical claim that wishing somebody "Happy Holidays" is the equivalent of burning somebody to death in an auto-da-fe. Uh, no it's not.
Also, nobody is even being FORCED to say "Happy Holidays." It's just a generic greeting, like "How are you today?" People who say "How are you today?" are not expecting a full run-down of your medical condition.
Now is is possible that some people are concerned that public funds or public space are being designated for religious objects that are not inclusive of many citizens. At the same time, the same "conservatives" who are in such horror of a "War on Christmas" also complain that the White House is spending too much money of holiday decorations during a time of recession and unemployment and OMG a Blackity Black Man is President!
I can look all around and see Christmas symbols everywhere! My favorite TV shows are either pre-empted for Christmas specials, or else have a Christmas episode, but it is very rare to see a TV program that has a Hanukkah episode. Which reminds me, "South Park" has not done a Christmas Special since the infamous "Woodland Critters" episode. I haz a sad!


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Brazil warned US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday that failure to resolve the row over Washington's electronic spying could sow mistrust between the two countries.
Brazil was outraged by media reports of widespread US telephone and Internet eavesdropping based on information leaked by fugitive intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota told reporters after talks with Kerry that revelations about the vast US global surveillance network posed a "new challenge in our bilateral relationship."
"If the implications of this challenge are not satisfactorily resolved, they run the risk of casting a shadow of mistrust over our work," he said.
"Practices which harm the sovereignty and relations of trust between states, and violate the individual freedoms which our countries so cherish, must be stopped," he added.
Kerry, who is on his first trip to South America since he assumed his post in February, said: "Brazil is owed answers with respect to those questions and they will get them."
"We will have this dialogue with the view to make it certain that your government is in complete understanding and complete agreement with what it is that we must to do provide security, not just for Americans, but for Brazilians and the people of the world," Kerry added.
US officials have defended the surveillance programs as entirely lawful measures that have helped foil dozens of terrorist attacks around the world.
Brazil, Latin America's economic powerhouse, has meanwhile sought to assert regional independence from Washington.
Kerry arrived in Brazil late on Monday from Colombia, where he also defended Washington's electronic espionage.
"I think it's very obvious to everybody that this is a dangerous world we're living in," Kerry told reporters in Bogota on Monday.
"We are necessarily engaged in a very complex effort to prevent terrorists from taking innocent lives in many different places," he said.
Based on documents leaked by Snowden, the daily O Globo reported last month that Washington eavesdropped on Brazilians' telephone calls and Internet communications.
A spy base in Brasilia, part of a worldwide network of 16 such stations operated by the US National Security Agency (NSA), also intercepted foreign satellite transmissions, it claimed.
O Globo also published an NSA document which seemed to indicate that the Brazilian embassy in Washington and the Brazilian mission to the UN in New York were also targeted by the US spy agency.
Snowden, who was granted asylum in Russia on Aug. 1 after spending more than five weeks in a Moscow airport transit zone, is said to now be at an undisclosed location in the country.
Washington wants to put him on trial for leaking sensitive secrets, but Moscow has steadfastly refused to hand him over.
In fence-mending remarks, Kerry took pains to acknowledge emerging Brazil's growing international profile.
"The United States recognizes, and welcomes and greatly appreciates the vital leadership role, the increasing leadership role, that Brazil plays on the international stage," he said.
He cited Brasilia's participation in global peace initiatives, its promotion of human rights and its efforts to help maintain peace in some parts of the world, notably in Haiti.
"We're also exploring opportunities for closer collaboration on peacekeeping in Africa," Kerry said.


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Nov. 10, 2007
Head Coach Jerry Smith
On the win on Senior Day:
"Although today is Senior Day, it is important for the entire team. It is a day to showcase our seniors and how much we appreciate them. Everyone seems to work harder on a day like today."
On Kendall's performance:
"I think a lot of our senior really dream about what they expect for their senior day and Kendall's dreams for her senior day unfolded perfectly. She scored two great goals for us and almost had two more."
On Lisa Lahman's second half performance:
"We put in Lisa for the second half and it was just the second time this season she's played for us. She did very well and made a couple big saves that preserved the shutout."
Senior defender Kendall Doherty
On playing what may be her last game at Buck Shaw:
"The seniors really stepped up today but it was a huge team effort. We all worked really hard to the wein and it was pretty exciting to score those to goals on Senior Day."
On what it'll take to have a successful postseason:
"We need to stay aggressive and continue to work hard. We need to play simple."
Sophomore forward Kiki Bosio:
On Kendall Doherty:
"Kendall played great. I'm so proud of her and to have a volley and a header back-to-back is amazing."


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What does it mean to be Captain?
The Captain will have the privilege to bear the title of "the bravest of his noble Faction". In addition, the Captain will coordinate the war efforts of the members of the same Faction and Local Militia during the Global Campaign. .
During the voting that will take place in the forum for the "Decision Making", the Captain will have double vote. His voice in the councils and meetings is well respected and his opinion is always heard by the members of his party.
In addition, Captain will get a ring that will test his authority and rank. It is essential to take it always to take command of his men in the conflicts of the Global Campaign.
This information will be conveniently expanded along with data from the Global Campaign.
How can I become a Captain?
Each local militia will have a representation of each Faction during the Global Campaign. Therefore, the Factions need a Captain.
Each member of a Local Militia will play three Contests (if possible with different opponents) and record the results. To do this they may play any Contest available in the 1650 "A capa y espada" Rulebook.
The Adalid de Juego should keep track of the Honor Points of each member of his Local Militia, using the forum for that. In this way all members could see the progress.
After this process, the player with more Honor Points will get the title of Captain of his Faction in his Local Militia. From that moment and until the Global Campaign ends (after summer) he will be Captain. Everyone should show some respect or indiscipline will dilute their group cohesion and increase the failure's chances in the Global Campaign.


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