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I wanted to take a look at some teams that are facing a crossroads of sorts but that usually fall by the wayside or operate shrouded under popular perception. To that end this series is focused on taking a look at some of the out-of-the-way NHL franchises that don't get much attention here on the Nations. So we'll start with the Leafs…
Just kidding.
The first organization I wanted to look at is one that I've mentioned a few times in discussions here at the Nations and one that has had some peculiar happenings these past few seasons. The Anaheim Ducks.
They traded away Jake Gardiner and Joffrey Lupul for Francois Beauchemin, then GM Bob Murray started openly shopping Bobby Ryan, then he stopped, then he started again, and now Ryan has pre-empted Murray and has asked to be traded because he is sick of being jerked around. Finally Justin Schultz bolts out the first available CBA trapdoor and Murray, knowing that there was a strong likelihood of losing Schultz for nothing via free agency, sits on the highly-touted prospect rather than trading his rights for any tangible asset.
This organization warrants further scrutiny.
Mighty Ducks
The ownership of the Ducks under Henry and Susan has been relatively quiet, despite Henry Samueli having his ownership temporarily suspended after he had plead guilty in a charge of lying to securities regulators in 2008. The charges were later dropped after being found baseless, and Samueli was exonerated in 2009.
Since purchasing the team in 2005 from the Walt Disney Corporation for $75 million the franchise has increased in value to approximately $188 million, 19th in the league in 2011, according to Forbes magazine.
Today the Ducks are rumoured to be working under an internal budget that is more or less in the range of their current payroll, roughly $56 million. Oilers and Flames fans are well aware of the restrictions that can place on the running of a team.
Prospects and Drafting
Photo: Alexander Laney/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0
Drafting has been a strength of the Ducks over the past decade. While they may not have hit on every prospect, many of the ones they've selected have become NHL players. Their success doesn't impress as a percentage, but the number of players they tend to find good players even when they are drafting at a disadvantage.
The Ducks are ranked 5th in the league for prospects by Hockey's Future and 8th by Corey Pronman over at Hockey Prospectus. Personally I'm more comfortable with them in Pronman's range than as high as 5th. The loss of Jake Gardiner and Justin Schultz leaves this prospect group with two legitimate defensive prospects in Cam Fowler and the recently drafted Hampus Lindholm. Those two, in addition to a defensive corps that has Sheldon Souray, Francois Beauchemin, Luca Sbisa and Bryan Allen means that there is decent mix of the older and younger players. I'm a big fan of both Sbisa and Fowler. It is likely that these two will form the nucleus of the Ducks defensive core over the next few years.
The problems begin to arise when one looks further down the developmental depth chart. Lindholm and Sami Vatanen are the next two defensive prospects. One is still playing in junior while the other is listed as being only 5'9", 165 lbs. Vatanen may yet become a power play specialist, and Ryan Murphy is perpetually convincing others that size need not be an impediment to being an impact player, so we cannot be dismissive of him based solely on size. However, had the Ducks kept Gardiner and Schultz it is very likely their defensive six would be set for anywhere from five to ten years. They need to add blueline prospects at this time. How remains to be discussed, but depth in this area is of concern.
At forward the Ducks, like so many other NHL teams, appear to lack a future franchise center. They have been gifted with one in Ryan Getzlaf since 2006-2007 and it is often difficult for teams to address future needs when the present appears so safely predictable. Elite talent at the center position is also notoriously difficult to acquire.
The strength of the Ducks prospect pool is on the wings in Rickard Rakell, Emerson Etem, Devante Smith-Pelly, Kyle Palmieri and Nicolas Kerdiles. If all five were to become regular NHL players then the Ducks might only need to find one first line center and a passable second-line center.
At goal the Ducks have a highly-thought-of prospect of John Gibson as well as Igor Bobkov, who is more of a project draft pick. This is a very difficult area to predict, but I would hazard the guess that the goaltending is not as strong an area of depth or potential as the forward group at this time. I may very well be wrong. As we all know, and have been reminded by BookofLoob, Trevor Kidd was once selected ahead of Martin Brodeur, so guessing on goalies is a tough game.
The prospect group for the Ducks is certainly above average. That is the good news. But how does that contrast to the current state of the NHL roster as it projects to play out over the next few seasons? That is the real question. What you have in reserve depends greatly on how far you need to travel.
It also depends on the ability of your management staff to properly assess and prioritize that talent. If the scouts are seeing one thing and the GM another then they will be working at odds, and every job well done by the one may be undone by the other.
The State of the Roster
The Ducks have made several roster changes since their Stanley Cup win in 2007, yet have been able to retain a portion of their core group in Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. They've gotten generous mileage out of Selanne and Scott Niedermeyer and boast a good first line of Getzlaf, Perry and Bobby Ryan. Getzlaf and Perry are both unrestricted free agents at the end of this season (or whatever this season becomes once Gary and Donald are through with it). Selanne and Saku Koivu are also pending UFAs at the end of this season and at this point I don't think that either can be counted upon to re-sign for another season. Koivu may want to explore other options and Selanne's retirement is only a matter of time.
The Ducks are rumoured to be in difficult financial straits and are a budget, rather than a cap, team. This may change depending on the outcome of the current CBA negotiations and the prospect of a new revenue-sharing model. For the purpose of this exercise we are going to focus on the realities of the organization as it existed under the old CBA and assume that a significant portion of that financial landscape will carry over to the new (ie: salary cap within the range of $60 to $70 million).
The Ducks have four of their top six forwards as pending UFAs and are unlikely to find themselves able to replace high-end players on the open market due to budgetary consraints. In addition to that, their 1st line winger in Bobby Ryan has recently demanded to be moved after routinely finding his name brought up in trade rumours. Meanwhile, their second-line center and second-line winger, two of the alluded-to free agents, are both close to retirement. What then to do?
Getzlaf and Perry are the primary concerns, of course. The general concensus is that they need to be re-signed to three or four year deals and that they are players who are too good to simply let walk or to trade away. Looking at Getzlaf and Perry's numbers at Behind the Net, they drive the play and face the toughest competition that the Ducks encounter. That's great. But does the team have a counterpunch to those two or are the team's best players being sacrificed in an effort to prevent scoring, but leaving nobody behind them to capitalize offensively on weaker matchups? The Ducks don't have a good enough shutdown line to allow Getzlaf and Perry to feast on the lesser lights of the competition. That they have done as well as they have to date is a credit to their skill.
Koivu was a great second-line center but has been losing ground these past two seasons. Given his age (38 in November) and the inevitable decline in play, as well as the likelihood of his imminent free agency, it would behoove the Ducks to pursue a replacement-level player for the second-line center position, presupposing that they can retain Ryan Getzlaf. Right now Andrew Cogliano is the heir-apparent for Koivu. His first season with the Ducks, and his career thus far, suggests that he is far better suited to the wing than the middle.
If the Ducks attempt to retain Getzlaf, Perry, and Koivu it means that the team is committed to attempting to win with this group and will complement this core with some of their drafted talent. Right now the likely candidates for promotion to the NHL team are RW Kyle Palmieri, LW Luca Caputi, and defensemen Matt Clark and Sebastian Erixon. The Ducks could, conceivably, promote these players from within, trade Bobby Ryan for other immediate assets (we'll get to him in a moment), and then attempt to sign one or two free agents after the lockout ends, all in an attempt to make the playoffs. Given their lack of depth at most positions and weak goaltending, though, it is difficult to believe that they could accomplish much in the post-season. For what it's worth, the Hockey News has predicted that they will finish 11th in the West.
Given the financial situation of the organization it can be debated which approach would be in the best long-term interests of the franchise: to attempt to make the playoffs as a weaker roster with a core that is nearing peak performance but gets buried on matchups. Or to trade expiring assets at their peak to capitalize on a relatively healthy prospect group and re-assemble a new core group around draft windfalls Cam Fowler, Kyle Palmieri, Devante Smith-Pelly and Emerson Etem. There are, of course, other variations the team could take between the stated options here, but these two are simply examples of philosophically divergent alternatives.
Duck Soup
So why on earth would the Ducks be looking at moving Bobby Ryan, a dynamic winger with speed, size and a dependable scoring touch (not to mention a decent long-term contract)? According to some Ducks observers it is because Ryan isn't enough of a talent to build around. So perhaps management has identified that while he is an elite complementary talent, he is not a foundational one. The Ducks could extract from a Cup-ready team a king's ransom for a young dependable skilled winger like Ryan. What Nash returned to Columbus, Ryan presumably could be worth and more. His cap hit is lower, his production is similar, he is younger and they both play a similar style – Ryan looks to be the more valuable asset. And what does this gain the Anaheim Ducks? Trading away such a valuable player when they appear to desperately need to add his strengths to their roster? The argument from within the Ducks fan base is balance. The Ducks would gain by being able to add a player to make up the difference lost in the departure of Gardiner and Schultz, as well as find a player to slot in to replace Koivu.
Trading Bobby Ryan seems absurd and counter-intuitive on the surface. I'll admit, my immediate reaction when I heard the rumours a year ago was that they would be better to trade Getzlaf and Perry, keep Ryan and add the new center they so desperately need through the draft. However, it would appear that the Ducks have instead chosen to try and exchange Bobby Ryan likely for a mixture of quality and quantity that will help to even out the roster while staying under their internal budget and capitalize on the ELCs of their prospects Rakell and Etem.
I have read that the internal budget for the Ducks sits somewhere in the range of $56 million. This is hearsay, but it comes from fans in Anaheim and most often those fans are privy to offhand remarks and subtle media comments that outsiders never hear. So let's suppose, for the sake of argument that they do sit in that $56 to $59 million range. If the salary cap remains at $70 million once the season begins, that puts the team at roughly an $11 million to $14 million disadvantage over at least half of the other teams in the league.
The Ducks had a defensive group under the age of 25 that included Fowler, Schultz, Gardiner, Sbisa and Matt Clark. They traded Gardiner and Lupul for Beauchemin and lost Schultz in a very high-profile free agency loophole. That leaves them with Fowler, Sbisa and Clark. The first two are in the NHL and can be relatively quantified as to their potential. The last is still untested in the NHL but would appear to be near ready to make the jump.
Had the Ducks retained Gardiner somehow convinced Schultz to stay (or at the very least traded his rights for some tangible return) this organization might be able to afford to trade Ryan or lose either Selanne or Koivu and not be set too far back. Unfortunately, the Beauchemin/Gardiner trade was a disaster and the damage wrought by Schultz's unceremonious departure could have repercussions for the organization for years to come.
With that in mind, trading Bobby Ryan might seem like a bad idea following on the heels of earlier bad ideas. However, it may become Bob Murray's only alternative to improve the team. It is one that he cannot afford to screw up.
A Small Digression On Justin Schultz…
The Ducks don't have a stellar defense and three of their defensive six are nearing the end of their careers. Ice time and a decent forward group with which to play seems an inevitability for any budding defensive prospect in Anaheim's system.
So then why did Justin Schultz leave? Was there something else going on there that we don't know about? Is there some whispering dysfunction deep in the halls of Duckville of which the fans and mainstream media are as yet unaware? Maybe he doesn't like Disneyland and is he still upset that Bambi's mother died?
Schultz said he wanted to play in Canada and he used some obscure CBA arcana to achieve that end. There is rampant speculation that he decided to leave after his friend Jake Gardiner was traded, but I find it difficult to believe that a hockey player could advance to the level of NCAA hockey, and excel there, and have such thin skin. Besides, if it were that important to him he could simply have signed in Toronto this June.
The defensive depth that the Ducks currently have would have ensured Schultz as much ice time in Anaheim as he is likely to get in Edmonton, or any other NHL market for that matter. So a prima donna drive to want to step in as an immediate 1st pairing option is a non-starter as well.
Perhaps we simply have to take Schultz at his word and live with the explanation that he took a road few find open to them in order to control his career.
Fans and the league in general tend to find this offensive because of the proprietary nature with which we both view players. Jim Devallano wasn't really telling stories out of school when he called players cattle. Even I am guilty of assuming terms of language that imply that perspective. I speak of leveraging assets and returns and so on. It is part of the landscape of the NHL player, from draft and development to roster/cap management. Maybe it is also alien to many of us that a player with his potential would actually want to play in Canada. We have become so accustomed to players leaving for warmer, more cosmopolitan cities that we are suspicious when they go the other direction.
Maybe he just really likes free Health Care.
The Ducks failed to trade the negotiation rights to Justin Schultz prior to his becoming a free agent and this may be a signature nail in Bob Murray's coffin when the axe finally does fall (too many metaphors?). Murray made a bad move when he traded Gardiner, and he made another when he didn't trade Schultz.
So then back to what this means for the Ducks. It means that Bob Murray suddenly needs to address an area that he felt was insured by the presence of his star prospect, Justin Schultz. He is left scrambling to fill that organizational void and surprise surprise, Francois Beauchemin, Sheldon Souray ,and Tony Lydman are not the solution.
The Ducks have had some phenomenal drafting over the past few years. Their cupboard is considered reasonably well-stocked for a team that won a Stanley Cup five years ago and has finished relatively high (and thus drafted relatively late in the first round) these past few seasons. With their prospect group they ought to be a sustainable regular contender for a deep playoff run with occasional seasons of being Cup favourites. Why not? While the drafting has been above average in quality, their management, including ownership, has been unable to meet the same standard. Bob Murray has made some ill-advised trades and the ownership group has been financially hampered, forcing the team to run the same top line with an aging supporting cast year after year. They haven't brought in the help that would have taken the pressure off of Getzlaf and Perry and allowed them to dominate offensively, as is their potential.
Selanne has provided some sense of security and has bought time for the team to let Rakell, Etem and others develop at their own pace. However, they are now facing a transition point where new bodies will have to be inserted into the roster. What Murray does with Ryan, Getzlaf and Perry is obviously going to dictate the trajectory of the team. If he trades Ryan, and this seems to be likely given the recurring rumours and Ryan's most recent request to simply be done with it, and re-signs Getzlaf and Perry to contracts with approximately a $1 million dollar raise (a number that is considered likely amongst the Anaheim media), that means that the team will be heavily reliant on the next generation of players graduating from junior. Those ELCs will determine the duration of the Ducks' window of opportunity as a playoff and championship contender.
The Ducks have been losing ground in the standings since their Stanley Cup win in 2007, with the exception of the 2010-2011 season where they had a phenomenal run near the end, with Corey Perry earning the Hart Trophy. Their season-by-season progression (or regression in this case) has them going from 110 points, to 102, 91, 89, 99, and 80. The trend is pretty apparent and we have seen what happens to teams that fail to make attempts at improvement from year to year. When an organization retains a great deal of their roster, barring exceptional status, quite often they begin to lose ground to other teams that make adjustments, whose core players mature, or who have a windfall infusion of talent.
The Ducks are a team that bears some similarities to the Calgary Flames. Whereas the Flames have had stalwart talents in net and on the wing, the Ducks were blessed with those talents at the forward position, and when coupled with the windfall addition of Chris Pronger and a generational talent like Scott Niedermeyer, they were able to translate that talent (and a good amount of belligerence) into a championship. Since then they have suffered a steady rate of roster attrition and have failed (though understandably) in their attempts to replace that talent.
The franchise strength has been in finding one or two exceptional talents in the draft, and this bodes well for the organization. However, the failures of management and the limitations of ownership may yet doom this team to a period of continued mediocrity, albeit with the chance of some playoff opportunities, before the roster requires a full-scale rebuild.
My guess is that this team is between three and five years away from needing a massive overhaul. Four to five-year extensions for Getzlaf and Perry are likely the safest bet at this time, coupled with a trade of Bobby Ryan focusing on a replacement winger, a first round draft pick for 2013, and a middle-tier defensive prospect in return. The money saved on Ryan's contract could be used to either sign a free agent or to allow room in trading for an available player once the season begins. A player in the range of a Jim Vandermeer or Michal Roszival would probably be a good stopgap for a season while Vatanen, Clark and Fowler gain more experience.
The goaltending situation will need to be addressed sooner or later, but the old paradigm of needing an elite goaltender to win a championship seems to be fading and perhaps Hiller can improve, or at least maintain some decent numbers until the team can see what they have in John Gibson.
My personal preference would be to retain Ryan and trade Getzlaf and Perry, due in part to age and relative cost. However, Ryan has made it known that he has no interest in being a part of a bad team looking to rebuild and at this point is tired of the rumours and simply wants out. Were the Ducks to annihilate the roster and trade all three they could no doubt gather enough draft picks (in a very deep year) and deep-six their roster to such an extent that either Nathan MacKinnon or Seth Jones would be all but guaranteed. The team's under-23 talent could outstrip nearly every other franchise in the NHL in a single draft year. It would be a risky and bold plan, but the advantages would be in playing to the organization's strengths (drafting) and cutting costs for ownership in the short term. The fan base of the team might also have become aware enough of the intricacies of the NHL that such a move could generate excitement.
So here are a few trade ideas to mull over and give you an idea of what sort of assets I would target in moving Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Getzlaf is the cornerstone for a line and likely the most attractive piece for many teams. The Oilers and Leafs might be interested given their shared interest in large centers. The asking price would have to be a 1st round pick (intrinsically very valuable given the recent records of both teams), a roster player (Kadri or Franson for the Leafs, Gagner for the Oilers) or a prospect (Carter Ashton or Joe Colborne for the Leafs, Tyler Pitlick or Curtis Hamilton for the Oilers). If the price is too high or too low you can debate it in the comments, but if Murray isn't asking for this in exchange then he isn't doing his job.
As for Perry, likely something similar but without the 1st round pick included. So a roster player on a longer contract or a pair of good prospects. Daniel Catenacci and Mark Pysyk from the Sabres might be a good price, or Drew Stafford and one of the above, for example.
If we compare Ryan's value to Nash, and assume that he would be worth more because of his contract and age, then a 1st round pick, two roster players and a good prospect would be the bargain price. My guess would be an improvement of roster player in return or a greater number of prospects. If Philadelphia were on the phone, Brayden Schenn, Matt Read, and Braydon Coburn and probably a pair of 1st round picks would be where I would begin. Again, this is aggressive, but when you are trading away a player with Ryan's talents at his young age you have to try to win the deal outright. The Flyers have one of the worst prospect pools in the league right now and there is precious little they could offer to actually sweeten a deal for a team with as rich in prospects as Anaheim.
My argument for this is simply that Getzlaf and Perry are high-demand players right now, and yet they are not enough to make the difference in Anaheim. As well, due to financial restrictions and a lack of any prospect likely to become the difference-maker in the crucial center position in the immediate future, those players are stagnating in Anaheim. Their value becomes moot so long as they are neither leveraged for an improvement in the team's future nor accompanied by the required complementary talent on the depth chart. With each passing year they are likely to lose some of their current value, if it hasn't already diminished, and the wise investor knows to sell a fraction of a second after the asset has reached peak value.
This is all very good and logical, but I'm not the one writing cheques for the team and trying to sell tickets. Reticence to part with iconic figures in a non-traditional hockey market is understandable.
Why Should I Care?
The Ducks are one of the teams in the West that the Flames have been fighting against for a playoff position and the Oilers will need to pass in order to rise out of the basement. If the organization is headed in a new direction, be it up or down, it will greatly affect the fortunes of both Alberta teams.
The Flames are considered to be close to rebuilding. Bob Murray isn't looking good lately, but his scouting group does. And if the Ducks go into a rebuild before or at the same time as the Flames it will impact the cost of draft pick and prospect procurement. One detail that I didn't discuss in the previous rebuilding series was the timing of many rebuilding efforts relative to the rest of the league. Several teams undertook the effort of acquiring prospects and draft picks with little competition on the trade market. This allowed them to gather those resources fairly readily. The Oilers found themselves in this situation in 2010 when the other teams at the bottom of the league with them were more focused on making immediate improvements. This allowed the Oilers to acquire a number of 2nd and 3rd round picks that otherwise might not have been so readily available had there been other teams also interested in acquiring those selections.
When the Flames rebuild they will need to hope that they are the only team interested in doing so. If the Ducks are in the mix with them it will make the job that much harder to manage.
As for the Oilers, if the Ducks find some resurgence then it may take that much longer and that many more adjustments to get the team to the playoff cut line, delaying the progress of the team by perhaps a season or more. With the shortened window for winning in the NHL today and a league rapidly finding parity, the fewer external delays in a team's progress the better.
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I'd like to add that I expect, in three to five years, to be wrong on my earlier prediction. Kent has mentioned a book by Dan Gardner, Future Babble, that discusses why experts (and in fact most of us) are so bad at making predictions. Those that are the worst at it are the hardliners who base predictions on ideology or a biased and unbending view of history as the ultimate predictor of future occurrence. Those that are more flexible in their perspectives are often more correct if only because they are willing to adapt to new information.
With that in mind, I have no idea what Bob Murray or the Samuelis will do over the next twelve months. Philip Anschutz surprisingly put his entire AEG sporting empire up for sale only a month ago. Prior to that nobody expected it to happen. Perhaps Murray fails to sign Getzlaf and Perry. Perhaps the Ducks astonish everyone and win their division. Perhaps the season is cancelled and they win the resulting draft lottery. One can only guess based on the general trajectory of several significant factors. The weight given to those factors when determining a team's direction may vary depending on the observer.
In other words, this is my best guess and far from a comprehensive evaluation. Take a look at the team yourself and see what you see. Results may vary.


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Portland // 8x8 Map Painting
Portland // 8x8 Map Painting
Portland : 8"x8" Map Painting
This painting comes from my love of maps and little birds. Original mixed media map painting with a map of Portland, Oregon layered subtly under the painting. Has a thick, waxy texture and is mounted on top a simple, handmade wood frame. The paintings began with a map on a wood panel and is covered with acrylic medium, oil paint and ink. This piece is ready to hang and enjoy!
Made in Portland, Oregon.
If you have any questions about this piece or are interested in a custom map painting with a map and design of your choice, just email and I will get back to you within 24 hours.
Thanks for shopping and supporting my small business!
© 2019. Rachel Ann Austin. All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


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In hindsight, shoving my hand into a narrow drinking glass wasn't such a good idea. I learned this the hard way a few years ago while vigorously scrubbing the inside of a glass with a sponge. When the glass shattered in my hands, one of the shards cut the base of my index finger–right by the the knuckle–and required a trip to the local urgent care center. After being stitched up, I was sent home with some antibiotic ointment, extra gauze, and instructions to keep the wound clean. And that's when things got worse.
Several days later, my finger became red, inflamed, and tender to the touch. There was also stomach-turning pus oozing out of the wound. Fearing that it was infected, I went back to the the urgent care center where the doctor took one look at my wound and then stated the obvious, "That looks infected." A swab sample was taken from my wound to start a bacterial culture, which would be used to identify the nature of the infection. Since it would take a few days for the results to come back from the lab, she preemptively started me on a course of antibiotics. At the end of the week, there was a message left on my voicemail. The culture was positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA).
MRSA-infected finger
This was cause for concern because MRSA is a bacterial pathogen that, once it enters the bloodstream, can cause severe to life-threatening infections. MRSA is also notoriously difficult to treat because it is resistant to β-lactams, a class of antibiotics generally prescribed as the first line of defense against normal staph infections. β-lactams, which include drugs like penicillin, oxacillin, and methicillin, kill bacteria by preventing the synthesis of bacterial cell walls–without which bacteria cannot survive. These drugs accomplish this by glomming onto and inactivating penicillin-binding protein (PBP), an enzyme that makes an essential component of bacterial cell walls. MRSA strains, however, are resistant to β-lactam drugs because they carry a gene called mecA. The mecAgene encodes a different form of penicillin-binding protein, PBP2a, which β-lactam drugs cannot inactivate, thus allowing normal cell wall synthesis to occur even in the presence of these drugs.
MRSA infections have long been associated with health care settings such as hospitals and nursing homes. These settings, characterized by a sick general population coupled with high antibiotic usage which selects for drug-resistance, are a perfect environment for MRSA strains to gain a foothold. Given that I had my stitches done at an urgent care center I just assumed that's where I came into contact with MRSA.
In recent years, however, community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections have been on the rise. These are infections contracted from settings like schools, childcare centers, gyms, and prisons. Infections caused by CA-MRSA strains are a particular concern because they are more virulent, spread more rapidly, and can cause more severe infections than its healthcare-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) counterparts. What's worse is the line between the two are blurring as HA-MRSA strains move out into the community and CA-MRSA moves into the hospitals. Because of the increased virulence of CA-MRSA strains there are fears that these strains will eventually replace HA-MRSA strains in healthcare settings–although a recent model published in PLOS Pathogens suggests otherwise[1].
How MRSA developed β-lactam resistance is still unclear. While there are quite a few different strains of MRSA (some of which have also developed resistance to other classes of drugs) they all carry the mecA gene. The mecA gene, in turn, is part of a larger piece of foreign DNA known as the SCCmec element, which is not normally found in S. aureus. Since bacteria are quite adept at exchanging DNA with each other, scientists speculate that the SCCmec element found its way into a normal staph strain from an as-of-yet identified trading partner. This process of swapping and transferring DNA is known as horizontal gene transfer.
Interestingly, MRSA has a finely-tuned, "on-demand system" that turnsmecA expression on in the presence of β-lactam drugs, while keeping expression turned off in the absence of these drugs. This regulation is carried out by proteins whose genes are also found on the SCCmec element. In the absence of β-lactams–when the bacteria doesn't need the drug-resistant PBP2a protein around– the expression of mecA is kept in check by the protein MecI. MecI binds to the DNA promoter region of mecAand prevents gene transcription. However, in the presence of β-lactam drugs the bacteria needs PBP2a around in order to survive. In this case, expression of mecA is turned on through the action of the cell surface protein MecR1 whose job is to keep an eye out for β-lactams. When MecR1 detects the presence of β-lactams, it instructs the bacterial cell to break down the MecI inhibitor. This allows expression of themecA gene that is essential for the bacteria's survival to occur.
Model for the mecA induction by MecR1-MecI-MecR2.In the presence of a β-lactam antibiotic, MecR1 is activated and rapidly induces the expression of mecA and mecR1-mecI-mecR2. The anti-repressor activity of MecR2 is essential to sustain the mecA induction since it promotes the inactivation of MecI by proteolytic cleavage. In the absence of β-lactams, MecR1 is not activated and a steady state is established with stable MecI-dimers bound to the mecA promoter and residual copies of MecR1 at the cell membrane [2].
Recently, researchers from Portugal have identified and characterized another gene on the SCC element called mecR2 [2]. As it turns out the MecR2 protein is another component of the finely-tuned, "on-demand system"that regulatesmecA expression. When MRSA bacteria encounter β-lactam drugs it starts ramping up the production of MecR2 protein. MecR2, in turn, knocks the MecI inhibitor protein off of the mecA gene promoter, thereby increasing mecA expression. The researchers speculate that the dislodged MecI protein becomes unstable and is then degraded inside the bacterial cell.
Importantly, the researchers demonstrated that in order to get the optimal expression of mecA that would confer resistance to β-lactam drugs, the bacteria needed MecR2 protein around. When they removed the mecR2 gene, the bacteria once again became sensitive to the β-lactam drug oxacillin, which coincided with a decrease in mecA expression. This research not only helps further our understanding of drug resistance in MRSA but also highlights new targets for therapeutics. For instance, drugs could be designed that either short circuit the ability of MecR1 to alert the bacterial cell to the presence of β-lactam drugs or prevent MecR2 from dislodging the MecI inhibitor from the mecApromoter, thereby keeping mecAexpression in check.
As for my finger and me, we made it out of the MRSA scare relatively unscathed–other than a barely noticeable scar at the base of my index finger. Once the lab results came back positive for MRSA, the doctor switched my prescription to Bactrim. Luckily for me, I wasn't dealing with one of the multi-drug resistant varieties of the bug so the infection cleared in a few days.
1. Kouyos R, Klein E, Grenfell B (2013) Hospital-Community Interactions Foster Coexistence between Methicillin-Resistant Strains of Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS Pathog 9(2): e1003134. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1003134
2. Arêde P, Milheiriço C, de Lencastre H, Oliveira DC (2012) The Anti-Repressor MecR2 Promotes the Proteolysis of the mecA Repressor and Enables Optimal Expression of β-lactam Resistance in MRSA. PLoS Pathog 8(7): e1002816. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1002816
Source: PLOS Public Health Perspectives


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169 Laurelhurst Avenue Columbia, SC 29210
Bill Lublin has been recognized as a thought leader for his insights regarding social media and its use in business. From his earliest days he began a career of service to both the community and the industry, always embracing the latest tools and technology.
Bill has served as a member of the National Association of REALTORS® Professional Standards Committee and Risk Management Committee.
Bill has been recognized for his insights in the use of Social Media and technology for business. He was named by Inman News as one of "Real Estate's Most Influential Online" for three years running. He was also listed on, Roost's "50 RE People to follow on Twitter", one of 4Realz's 50 Most Influential Real Estate People on Twitter, Swaenepol's 100 Most Interesting & Influential in Real Estate and other social media lists.
Bill is currently the CEO of the Social Media Marketing Institute (SMMI), CEO of Century 21 Advantage Gold, REALTOR®, and self-proclaimed Tech Freak. For more information and a complete bio, visit his website.


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How to Hand-Dye Scarves Using the Folding Method
This dying method is one of several ways you can use reisist dying to create fanciful silk scarves. After you fold the scarf, you overdye it in a contrasting color. When the dye is set and the scarf is dry, remove the resist and admire the pattern you have created.
Dyeing silk scarves is a fun way to use leftover dyes. It's also a neat way to experiment with mixing colors and to explore textile surface design techniques. Keep a stash of silk scarf blanks (available from dye supply companies, listed in the appendix) on hand to absorb the color left over in unexhausted dye baths.
Gather these materials:
Four 1 X 60-inch crepe de chine silk scarf blanks
An unexhausted acid dye bath
Leftover acid dyes
White cotton string
Embroidery or small scissors
Place the blank scarves in a warm presoak with 1⁄2 teaspoon Synthrapol.
Allow them to soak for at least 1 hour.
An unexhausted dye bath with a visible amount of leftover dye will dye the scarves a pale overall color. You may add more dye to the unexhausted bath to deepen the color. Add more dye in small increments (25ml at a time). Check the dye bath, making sure the pH range is between 4 and 6. Add 1 teaspoon citric acid crystals if needed.
Add the scarves to the dye bath and gradually raise the temperature of the bath to 185°F (85°C).
Do not let the temperature go beyond this point or it will ruin the luster of the silk. Allow the scarves to simmer for 30 minutes.
When the dye bath has cooled completely, rinse the scarves in warm water. Then hang them on a rack to dry.
Using the silk setting on an iron, press the scarves to remove all wrinkles.
Make a 1-inch fold lengthwise and press the scarf along this fold.
Turn the scarf over and make a second fold lengthwise. Press this fold to form a pleat.
Continue to fold and press the scarf, forming crisp accordion pleats.
Create the resist pattern by tying cotton strings tightly at 2-inch intervals for the length of the scarf.
Wherever you tie the string, the fabric will resist the second color.
Place the scarf in a zipper-locked baggie with dye and vinegar, as described for the stitch and gather method. Place the baggie in a pot to steam for 45 minutes. When the pot has cooled, rinse the scarf in warm water, then remove the ties and rinse once again.


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Lady Gaga rocks a "Bruce Springsteen" t-shirt while attending the Keynote during the 2014 SXSW Festival at Austin Convention Center on Friday (March 14) in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
Later in the night, the 27-year-old entertainer sported fake teeth while wowing the crowd at the iTunes Festival at the Moody Theater.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Lady Gaga
On the same day, Gaga was seen speaking about her recent album ARTPOP and comparisons between her and Katy Perry at the Hilton.
"I don't know what the f–k-all I have to do with Katy Perry. Our music is so completely different. I couldn't be more different, really. I really don't fit in pop music in a way, but I came through it and I'd like to think I changed it in some way so you can feel like you don't have to fit into a mold," Lady Gaga said.More Here! »


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4 Parts Guitar
released 2011
4 Parts Guitar are Gordon Giltrap, Raymond Burley, John Etheridge and Clive Carroll.
4 Parts Guitar is a quartet that has grown organically over the past few years. First there was the duo Double Vision with Gordon Giltrap and Raymond Burley. Gordon then had the idea of extending this duo format to a trio by inviting his old friend John Etheridge. Fortunately he accepted the invitation. To make things even more interesting and fun the last person to be invited, and to complete the circle, was Clive Carroll.
For those who would like to know more, why not have a look at their various websites:
This CD is now available to purchase from GuitarCDs or download from iTunes


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Darrell Bain
Over the last several years, Darrell Bain has become one of the top best selling authors in the world in the realm of electronic publishing. Most of Bain's books are also in print. He produces a monthly newsletter, discoursing on various subjects brought up by fans or by his own voracious reading habit, written in an informal, narrative style. It is available around the first of each month from his website.
Darrell is the author of more than two dozen books in many genres, running the gamut from humor to mystery and science fiction to non-fiction. For the last several years he has concentrated on science fiction and suspense/thrillers, with an occasional foray into humor and short stories. Some of his most memorable titles are The Sex Gates, Savage Survival, Alien Infection, The Melanin Apocalypse, Strange Valley, The Pet Plague trilogy and the Williard Brothers series.
Darrell served 13 years in the military and his two stints in Vietnam formed the basis for his first published novel, Medics Wild, and the sequels featuring the zany Williard brothers, where the latest book has brought them up to their present day exploits. Darrell has been writing off and on all his life but really got serious about it only after the advent of computers. He purchased his first one in 1989 and has been writing furiously ever since.
While Darrell was working as a lab manager at a hospital in Texas, he met his wife Betty. He trapped her under a mistletoe sprig and they were married a year later. Darrell and Betty operated a Christmas tree farm in East Texas for many years, which became the subject and backdrop for many of his humorous stories and books.
The Bain family consists of he and his wife Betty and their dachshunds, Tonto and Susie, along with Velcro the cat. They still live on the site of their Christmas tree farm, though it is no longer in business. Darrell is a full time writer now and Betty is retired. They spend most of their leisure time reading.
Mail to Darrell Bain can be addressed to him from his website.


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Our offices in King's Road Tower are situated on the prestigious business strip on King's Road which is commonly known as the most important business avenue in Jeddah. The Tower is made up of a grand total of 32 floors with an array of facilities including retail shops, health clubs, cafés, luxurious restaurants, prayer rooms, ample parking spaces, and a rooftop helicopter landing pad; providing a premium location for Servcorp Saudi Arabia.
King's Road Tower is not only distinguishable for its height but also for its architectural features including the Pearl. Its unique and largest advertising screen in the world not only attracts tourists and residents but serves as a benchmark for advertising in Saudi Arabia.
25 mins drive from King Abdulaziz International Airport
Taxis are available around the city.
Ask if they have unique-password, rocket-fast WiFi – For your security.
Ask to be connected to the internet – How long does it take?
Ask if the provider is Tier-1.
Ask to be allowed to check download speeds.
Ask to speak to IT support: Are they in-house or a third party? Are they even in the country?
Ask to be given a phone number so you can try the service before you buy.
Ask for a phone rate card.
Ask to meet your dedicated receptionist. The receptionist is the front line of your business.
Ask about disaster transfer.
Ask if your phone extension can roam at no cost to other locations.
Ask if the wireless internet is secure.
Ask what kind of firewall can be set up for your network.
Ask to see the transparency code of the provider.
Ask if incoming callers can dial '1' for voicemail to mobile.
Ask if you can get free calls equal to your connection amount.
Ask if your phone bill is 20% lower than telco rate.
Within 5 minutes walking distance:
Recommended lunch places:
Tea Amo Café (Located on G floor of the Tower) - Light and healthy Sandwiches
Piatto (Italian cuisine)
(+966) 12692 2501
Open Sat- Tues: 12:00 pm- 1:00 am
Wed – Thurs: 12:00 pm- 2:00 am
Fri: 1:00 pm – 1:00 am
The Counter Burger Jeddah (Casual American dining)
+966 122 75 42 61
+966 122 75 42 66
Open daily Sat- Tues: 12:00 pm – 1:00 am
Wed – Fri: 12:00 pm – 2:00 am


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Spring Into Action / Laugh4Hope / Night For Life / Open House
Each year we schedule an Open House to offer information about, and tours of our Clinics. Our 2019 Open House was held on May 25th.
Dominique discovered she was pregnant and called life Choices Women's Clinics seeking information about abortion. At the clinic, she met the nurse and received an ultrasound that changed everything. She was offered words of encouragement and counseling from caring staff that gave her hope. She left the clinic "excited and scared" putting her trust in God. She now has a precious little boy named Elijah.
I had found myself lost and without a way out. We had just lost our apartment and all our belongings. To me, the news of me expecting another child felt like I could not bring another child into this world. This baby was going to be #5. I called Life Choices to get information on abortion. I made an appointment and when they did an ultrasound on me, I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. My husband and I found ourselves feeling guilty of even thinking about abortion when such a precious gift from God was forming inside me. Life Choices changed my life, not only mine but also helped my family through the most difficult times. They helped us to keep our family together, and prevented us from homelessness. I was able to save up enough money to move into a place to call home. My family and I have been blessed with so much and Life Choices has been a big part of that. I am proud to say my blessings are my children, and I am the mother of 5 beautiful children. My 5th blessing is called Isabella.
When I scheduled my appointment at the abortion clinic, I was struggling financially. The pregnancy left me feeling alone and very sick. Daycare was very expensive and I was already struggling. I had no support or family in Arizona, and I felt abortion was the only option. I prayed that God would take this pregnancy away. I called Life Choices Women's Clinics looking for financial help with my abortion. They offered me help instead to carry my pregnancy to full term. It has not been easy, but Life Choices was there for me during a sad and difficult time. They walked me through my options and helped me make a decision I could live with. I realized that kids don't ask to come into the world, or for their lives to be taken. This baby was a part of me and I was now committed to helping my baby girl to live. After giving birth I was tired and in awe. It was all worth it. Life Choices has continued to be there for me after my pregnancy. I wanted to say thank you because your contribution helps a lot of families.


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This shirt has a lot of things going on, so let me walk you through it. First there's a shark, then there's a bear straddled on top of said shark. Bear is clutching a rifle while smoking a cigar. All the while, the bear has on a Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt. Not far away, there is an explosion, the kind of big explosion that Michael Bay loves to set off in his movies (see Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and Armageddon).
Can a shirt get any more epic than this? I'd sign a petition to have this shirt made into a movie. Someone, anyone, go get that petition started!
Bear Shark is available now from NerdyShirts for $24.95.
I wonder if this T-Shirt has anything to do with the sharkbeartopus meme that spread via Reddit a few years ago:


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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ:DNDN) today announced restructuring plans, overall cost reductions, and an update on PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T) sales.
Dendreon reported August gross revenues of approximately $22 million. Dendreon continues to expect modest quarter-over-quarter growth as it works to educate physicians on the improved reimbursement paradigm under the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) recently established National Coverage Decision (NCD) and issuance of a product specific Q-code.
As of August 31, the company had cash, cash equivalents, and short and long term investments of approximately $600 million dollars. Given the current cash balance and the reduced levels of spending following the restructuring, Dendreon expects to have sufficient cash to enable the company to achieve a cash flow break even position in the United States at an annual run rate of approximately $500 million in revenue.
"PROVENGE provides patients with a clinically meaningful survival benefit, a manageable side effect profile, and a short duration of therapy. We believe that the improved reimbursement landscape and our comprehensive plan to educate physicians, coupled with the meaningful clinical benefit that PROVENGE provides to patients, creates a strong market opportunity," said Mitchell H. Gold, MD, president and chief executive officer. "While the last month has been difficult for our employees, these cost reductions are necessary to ensure the long-term growth of our company, and I am grateful to our dedicated and passionate employees who are the driving force behind Dendreon."
Recent Announcements:
- Dendreon reported approximately $22 million in gross revenues in August.
- Dendreon announced a workforce reduction of approximately 500 employees to align with the shift in the launch trajectory and meet the company's manufacturing requirements.
- The total employee-related cost of the restructuring is expected to be approximately $21 million, of which approximately $5 million are non-cash charges related to stock-based compensation.
- On August 26, 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Dendreon's Atlanta immunotherapy manufacturing facility. The Atlanta facility is Dendreon's third manufacturing facility in the U.S.
- Dendreon announced the departure of Hans Bishop, chief operating officer.
- Dendreon announced the appointment of John Osborn as executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary.
- Dendreon announced the appointment of John Johnson to the Board of Directors.
"With the addition of John Osborn as our general counsel and John Johnson as a newly appointed director, we continue to strengthen our management team and Board of Directors," said Dr. Gold. "We thank Hans for his service and commitment to Dendreon and wish him well in his future endeavors."
Conference Call Information
Dendreon will host a conference call on September 8, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. ET. To access the live call, dial 1-877-548-9590 (domestic) or +1-720-545-0037 (international); the conference ID number is 97761940. The call also will be audio webcast and will be available from the Company's website at http://www.dendreon.com under the "Investor/Webcasts and Presentations" section. A recorded rebroadcast will be available for interested parties unable to participate in the live conference call by dialing 1-855-859-2056 or +1-404-537-3406 for international callers; the conference ID number is 97761940. The replay will be available from 7:30 p.m. ET on September 8 until 11:59 p.m. ET on September 15. In addition, the webcast will be archived for on-demand listening for 30 days at http://www.dendreon.com.
PROVENGE Indication and Safety
PROVENGE is an autologous cellular immunotherapy indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castrate resistant (hormone refractory) prostate cancer.
PROVENGE is intended solely for autologous use and is not routinely tested for transmissible infectious diseases.
The safety evaluation of PROVENGE was based on 601 prostate cancer patients in four randomized clinical trials who underwent at least one leukapheresis. The most common adverse events (incidence greater-than or equal to 15%) are chills, fatigue, fever, back pain, nausea, joint ache, and headache. Serious adverse events reported in the PROVENGE group include acute infusion reactions (occurring within 1 day of infusion) and cerebrovascular events. In controlled clinical trials, severe (Grade 3) acute infusion reactions were reported in 3.5% of patients in the PROVENGE group. Reactions included chills, fever, fatigue, asthenia, dyspnea, hypoxia, bronchospasm, dizziness, headache, hypertension, muscle ache, nausea, and vomiting. No Grade 4 or 5 acute infusion reactions were reported in patients in the PROVENGE group.
To fulfill a post marketing requirement and as a part of the company's ongoing commitment to patients, Dendreon will conduct a registry of approximately 1500 patients to further evaluate a small potential safety signal of cerebrovascular events. In four randomized clinical trials of PROVENGE in prostate cancer patients, cerebrovascular events were observed in 3.5% of patients in the PROVENGE group compared with 2.6% of patients in the control group.
For more information on PROVENGE, please see the full prescribing information at http://www.provenge.com/ or call 1-877-336-3736.
About Dendreon
Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development, commercialization and manufacturing of novel therapeutics. The Company applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in a variety of tumor types. Dendreon's first product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2010. Dendreon is exploring the application of additional ACI product candidates and small molecules for the potential treatment of a variety of cancers. The Company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol DNDN. For more information about the Company and its programs, visit http://www.dendreon.com/.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could affect these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, developments affecting Dendreon's business and prospects, including progress on the commercialization efforts for PROVENGE. Information on the factors and risks that could affect Dendreon's business, financial condition and results of operations are contained in Dendreon's public disclosure filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. Dendreon cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Dendreon on the date hereof, and Dendreon undertakes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release, except as required by law.


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Here is the link. Thanks AbhishekS
The above Boot Animation happens to be an Android KitKat "Easter Egg" Boot Animation, which is my current running theme, I tend to update these Boot Animations regularly when I find something that stands out, 2 weeks ago I had a Android Tribute to Sochi Winter Olympic Games which can still be downloaded.
The Boot Animations featured here in this thread are NON-FLASHABLE, that is they cannot be installed through custom Recovery. They are however, installed manually and I will explain in detail how this is done. These Boot Animations run on QMG file format which are located in your Samsung's system/media file. Inside your system/media file there are 3 files that I use:
1) BootSamsung.qmg-> This is a rather large file that holds the main Boot Animation, it does not loop.While the above are the 3 files in the system/media file there is 1 more file that I use that is found in the system/media/audio/ui:
2) BootSamsungLoop.qmg-> This is the smallest of the 3 files, it normally loops, but not always, it can also be inconsistent and run continuously or end abruptly. Begins immediately after the BootSamsung.qmg often without a sequence, screen may dim as it runs.
3) ShutDown.qmg-> This is an important one, as it plays a Boot Animation as the device "Powers Off and Restarts", restart is the key word, as Power off will not play a ShutDown. Tends to hold on the last image before device reboots.
1) PowerOn.ogg-> This is a sound file that is typically 18-20 seconds that plays music during the BootSamsung.qmg & BootSamsungLoop.qmg, before turning off prior to reaching the Lockscreen.First, things first when you may be more familiar with these QMG files than you know. When your device was new, unboxed, setup, before Root and Unlock. These QMG files were already on your device. If you have Flashed a Bootanimation.zip, YOU MUST REMOVE IT in order to install these Boot Animation QMG files as 2 Boot Animations will not run at the same time and the Bootanimation.zip is set to run as the MAIN Boot Animation.
Boot Animation Sound can be controlled under System Volume.
To move forward, I suggest to either "move" or "delete" the existing bootanimation.zip file. If you are unsure where the bootanimation.zip file is it would be in your system/media folder. As look around for the "bootsamsungloop.qmg" and the "shutdown.qmg" if they are there go ahead and "delete" them. Go into system/media/audio/ui and look for the "PowerOn.ogg" and delete this file as well. See my example of the bootanimation.zip in the system/media folder below.
Once, this is complete and/or if you have never flashed a bootanimation.zip, the next step-> select a Boot Animation that you would like to try and download. Can either move the extracted files to your device or extract the files to a folder on your device and move them to the appropriate folder.
+++ KEEP IN MIND +++ If you just removed your bootanimation.zip whether it was deleted or moved, when you reboot, your system is going to expect it to be there. When rebooting if your device reboots into Recovery a simple Battery Pull or Reboot will be enough to get the new QMG Boot Animations to turn on.
bootsamsung.qmg, bootsamsungloop.qmg, shutdown.qmg-> system/media
PowerOn.ogg-> system/media/audio/ui
Change the Permissions to RW-R-R (as displayed below)
As a note: I tend to suggest using the "T" ie "Sticky" Special Permission setting on the QMG files, as I use variable speeds, max file settings, and play is smoother.
A custom Bootanimation works best with a custom ROM, it simply does, Stock ROMs do not finish the same.
There may be a delay between the loading of the Bootanimation and after the Recovery Logo loading screen appears.
QMG files are governed by Samsung Theme Designer, which means there are limits however, limits can be pushed to create the best results.
Bootanimation's require the use of both bootsamsung.qmg and bootsamsungloop.qmg (using one without the other will produce undesirable results.)
I am always looking for new creations to add to the collection, any suggestions, any posts with work provided credit will be given.
Feel free to see if these Boot Animations on other Samsung Device's and Tablet's at your Own Risk.
Please, give credit where due, there are many Bootanimations here, if I left someone out please let me know, if you want to post my work, please extend the courtesy.
With so many Bootanimations it is often hard to remember all of the sources that I pulled them from, the largest source Developer that does simply incredible work and is simply known throughout the Android community for his work is JaeKarr99 which most of the Bootanimations that appear in this LiBRaRy KoLLecTioN are his, I have simply accepted the challenge of using a difficult themeing system and configured it the best I can to keep these Bootanimations in the best form possible. This was done through the guidance of xessus as his walkthroughs and many many countless hours of attempting this work is hopefully showing a positive. Other themers I will mention are Crakanug with the Black Ops II Bootanimation, PartimusPrime, CyanogenMod with CM, BKJolly, and the many others, if I fail to recognize I apologize it is not intentional nor out of disrespect, please forgive me.
Go ahead and Reboot the device. You are all done. Enjoy!


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- Phone +49 (0)221 43005780
- Find a dealer
- Contact
- Imprint
- Terms & Conditons
- Deutsche Version
Privacy Notice
Data Protection and Privacy
We handle your data with great care!
Customer data is only queried, saved and used for the purpose of processing your order. This is done in accordance with the relevant data protection provisions of the German Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the German Teleservices Data Protection Act (TDDSG).
You may request information on your saved data or ask for it to be amended, blocked or deleted at any time free-of-charge. Please contact our team.
Forwarding of Customer Data
We will not pass on your personal details including your address(es) to third parties without your express permission which may be withdrawn at any time. The only exception to this are the delivery and payment companies (e.g. banks or shipping companies) which require data to process orders. Data provided to these companies is limited to the required minimum.
Your personal data is transferred via the internet. We take technical and organisational security measures to protect data we manage on your behalf against accidental or intentional manipulation, loss, deletion or access by unauthorised persons.
If you request the newsletter, you will receive current offers and news regularly by e-mail. We require your permission to send this newsletter in accordance with the aforementioned legislation. You can withdraw this permission at any time in the online shop, by e-mail, by telephone or in the newsletter itself.


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Want some cash in Gifu Prefecture, Japan? Come September, you'll be able to just press some flesh with one of Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank's biometric ATMs to access your accounts.
These are expected to be the first biometric-only teller machines in Japan. The technology is already employed by some other banks but in conjunction with a card. OKB customers will have to register their biometric data with the bank beforehand but will be able to get cash with just a hand swipe.
Unfortunately there is precisely zero chance of this technology coming to America. Why? Take a look at your nearest municipal bus, your closest pay phone booth, the underside of the nearest desk. Americans are some unsanitary people and anything that requires physical contact like that is guaranteed to be covered with an unknown slimy substance almost immediately. And nobody wants to stick their hand in that. [Nikkei via Engadget - Image: Ford Prefect / Shutterstock]


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Madness reigned in Brazil on Sunday – both the good kind and the bad. The national soccer team claimed victory over Spain to win the Confederations Cup for the third time in a row, an important feat in the leadup to the World Cup, which will also be held here. But euphoric cheers inside the venue were countered by several thousand protesters just outside the stadium walls.
Police fought running battles with demonstrators angry not just at the money being spent on organizing the two soccer competitions, but at the corruption and mismanagement they say blight Brazil and its political system. The country has been racked in recent weeks by demonstrations on a range of issues including corruption, megaevent spending, and public services.
Outside, protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the largest police presence ever at a sporting event in Brazil. Inside, 70,000 people were delirious with joy.
Brazil's 3-0 win bodes well for the five-time world champion as the team attempts to win the biggest prize in soccer on home soil next year. But now that Brazilians have shown they can do the business on the field, defeating the world and European champions, the big question is what will happen off it.
Political analysts say Sunday's result will provide little succor to the country's politicians, almost all of whom have seen their popularity ratings plummet in recent days. President Dilma Rousseff saw her popularity rating fall over the weekend from 57 to 30 points, a record decline. The mayors and governors of both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo saw similar falls.
The protests have diminished in size compared to two weeks ago, but that is more a result of fatigue than a placating effect of sporting triumph, says Rafael Cortez, a political consultant at the Tendencias agency and a keen soccer fan.
"The protests will tend to diminish over time because it is hard to maintain and keep people mobilized," Mr. Cortez says. "What will happen is that they will get smaller and focus on more specific issues."
In the longer term, however, next year's World Cup could serve as a renewed rallying point for those angry at the 3.5 billion dollars being spent on stadiums and the failure of several big cities to build the monorails, bus lanes, and subway lines they promised would be ready in time for the competition.
"I think the worry is that the World Cup is so grandiose and so symbolic that people will see it as a bargaining tool," Cortez says. "The World Cup attracts opposition and that can bring people together."
President Rousseff is not a soccer fan, and the 70,000 fans booing her and FIFA President Sepp Blatter at the opening Confederations Cup match two weeks ago likely didn't help win her over. Rousseff was noticeably absent from yesterday's final, though she did send the team her congratulations.
Rousseff has sought to temper the public's anger with a five-point package of reforms aimed at changing the political system and boosting investment in public services such as education, health, and transportation.
But it is too early to say if her strategy will pay off.
Sporting glory will no doubt cheer up Brazilians, as the euphoric mood around the country today has already shown. But as coaches love to say, teams are only as good as their last win.
As the feel-good factor fades, goals and trophies may not be enough to keep protesters at home.


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Day 1
Flight LH900
Transfer to Hotel Bel Air
The restaurant closes at 22.00. A cold buffet meal will be requested for
Day 2
Collect packed lunches
09.00 Departure
09.30 Arrive Llobregat Delta Nature Reserve
Sand dune vegetation succession, xerophytic adaptations and management.
14.00 Return to hotel
Afternoon excursion to Barcelona if desired, followed by classroom follow-up
21.00-22.30 Teaching session and feedback
Preparation for following day
Day 3
08.45 Briefing
09.00 Depart for Garraf Natural Park.
Comparison of Biodiversity between three zones with different fire histories:
Zone 1: Burnt July 2001
Zone 2: Burnt Summer 1996
Zone 3: No recent burning
Work to include vegetation and soil sampling
20.00 Evening Meal
Day 4
09.00 Depart for River Tordera (Montseny)
Ecostrimed Protocol: changes in a river's ecological status from source to
17.00 Return to hotel
21.00-23.00 Teaching session and feedback
Day 5
08.45 Packing: two rooms may be left for storage, showers etc.
Morning at your disposal or follow-up work
15.30 Arrive back at hotel
Depart hotel 16.15
18.40 Flight LH 4333


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Science Mag: International Year of Astronomy Claims Record Numbers of Citizen Stargazers
15 September 2010
by Sarah Reed on 8 September 2010
The International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009 is the biggest public science outreach event ever, with more than 815 million people in 148 countries taking part, says its concluding report released yesterday at the Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting in Lisbon. Organizers say its decision to focus IYA2009's €18 million budget on communicating astronomy to the public, rather than splitting funding between outreach and research, and appointing a global coordinator to oversee the project, is a successful model that should be adopted by future public science outreach events.
Read more: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/09/international-year-of-astronomy.html
Search IYA2009 Updates
National Nodes: 148
Organisational Nodes: 40
Organisational Associates:33
National Websites: 111
Cornerstone Projects: 12
Special Task Groups: 11
Special Projects:16
Official Products:8
Media Partners:22


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All of our product lines have been created with this goal in mind by pairing high quality, durable materials with cutting edge designs. We make sure each product we produce deserves to be in the most important room in the house, and enhances the beginning and end of each day.


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A year after the BP oil spill, Cherri Foytlin walked 1,243 miles to send a message: the Gulf is still suffering, and residents are mobilizing for change.
What it's like to respond to an environmental and democratic crisis—and where we go from here.
For Gulf residents, the BP oil spill has made the problem of unchecked corporate power painfully clear. Exxon Valdez survivor Riki Ott on why this may be the moment to overcome our political divides and take back our democracy.
Those who know the Gulf best say seafood still isn't safe following BP's oil disaster.
Video: Mycologist Paul Stamets gives six ways fungi can help save the planet.
As Willie Nelson taught us, you just can't play a sad song on a banjo. Folk legend Pete Seeger unveils his newest protest song.
A proposed coal plant in Malaysia is provoking an international outcry.
100 days into the BP disaster, it's time to quit claiming that an economy based on fossil fuels is our only option.
A delegation of indigenous leaders from Ecuador visited Louisiana to share what they learned in a decades-long battle with Texaco.
A photographer bears witness to the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Hands Across the Sand movement: How one Florida restaurant owner has organized a force against offshore drilling.
Even as we work to prevent future disasters and break the U.S. oil addiction, we must keep up pressure for a fair, ambitious climate treaty.
In the wake of the BP disaster in the Gulf, Americans are ready for clean energy.


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ProtocolsWelcome to The Science Advisory Board's extensive database of research protocols for the biomedical sciences. Protocols are organized by techniques and are fully searchable by key word(s). Protocols are divided into a brief description of the methods, a step-by-step overview of the procedure, a collection of recipes, the supplies needed, and any helpful tips. Members submitting protocols will be rewarded through the ViewPoints system.
... back to articles list
Metaphase Block for Cell Synchronization
Posted on Monday, October 27, 2003


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warning: this post has a heap of photos.
The one I received is blue.
My first impression of the box was that it was bigger than I expected it to be. Considering it's a Gerber product, and marketed to preschoolers, I anticipated it to be smaller. I'll get back to the size in a second.
My second impression was that it reminded me a lot of a pencil box. The latch especially, it just snaps closed, as many pencil boxes do. There is no tricky latch to maneuver. My three-year-old had no problems opening the box independently.
The lid is interesting. On the right side there is a built-in cubby compartment. The lid to this compartment is completely removable, it snaps on and off.
This cubby lid has a picture frame kind of thing going on with it. There is a space there to slide in a note or a photo.
At first I thought this was pretty cute. But then this morning I was about to put a family photo in that frame, but then paused thinking about condensation forming from the icepack.... that would ruin a photograph pretty quickly.
So next I decided to put a little note in that space. And I did end up doing just this, but I discovered that getting that cover off the frame isn't as easy as it looks. It wouldn't be easy for a child to access in a timely manner...and I have doubts that most kids would be able to get that frame cover back in place.
That cubby isn't all that deep, maybe 3/4". Here it holds a Trader Joe's cereal bar.
Here's my big issue with this whole cubby compartment... it sits down inside the actual box, so it interferes with the space you have to pack the actual meal. You can see here how approximately half the depth of the box is obstructed by that cubby section being in the lid.
Back to the size... it is just about exactly the same size as a Laptop Lunches box.
Here the Gerber Mealtime Organizer is sitting atop a Laptop Lunches 2.0 box. The length and width are nearly even.
Here is the Gerber box and Laptop Lunches box from another angle, showing that space-encroaching cubby area.
At first I didn't have a big opinion one way or the other about that cubby section, until I tried to use a standard sized silicone muffin cup in that big section....
This is just your regular sized silicone muffin cup (not the jumbo ones I use in Bynto boxes), and it is too tall to use in the Gerber Box. See how it is obstructing the lid from closing?
Maybe it's too close to the edge? I'll push it away from the wall of the box...
Nope, still no luck! The lid pops right up and doesn't come close to closing properly with the silicone muffin cups under that cubby area.
Moving the silicone cups to the other side of the box...
On the other side of the box, where there is no cubby section above, the silicone cups fit mighty fine!
Note: the hinged lid. It opens completely and lays flat against the table surface. This is nice. Sometimes my kids are annoyed that Laptop Lunches lids will slowly fall closed, getting in their way while eating. That wouldn't happen with this box.
Side view of the standard sized silicone muffin cups sitting pretty on the non-cubby side of the box.
A view of the box interior. It's made up of two small sections on the left, and one large section on the right.
It comes with a fully removable lid that seals one of those smaller sections. See here:
The lid has a nice silicone seal around it, making that one compartment leak-free. The lid can fit on either front or back section.
Being leak-free means it fits tightly. It's not too difficult for an adult to get that lid on fully, but a young child might not be able to press firmly enough to get it in place correctly. Might be a problem if kiddo doesn't finish their yogurt/applesauce/stuff and then those contents start spilling around between lunch time and getting back home.
The fact that the lid is fully removable means that it can get lost.
It also means you can just not use it at all, and have three open sections:
Packed in the Gerber Mealtime Organizer:
- large soft pretzel
- fruitabu fruit leather
- kiwi
- cheddar cheese
- cracked pepper turkey rolls
I used the lid to cover the section holding the kiwi fruit. The ultra rad stainless spork is tucked behind the fruitabu.
Here is a side view of the box, with the lunch packed. The pretzel is thin enough to fit just fine.
I think thin sandwiches would work okay too - like peanut butter and jelly. My own sandwiches, always packed with a lot of spinach or other leafy greens, are far too puffy to fit in here.
I am not exactly sure what my feelings are on it.
On the negative side:
- it's quite large for a preschooler (the target audience, I imagine)
- that cubby section is riddled with issues: the lid to it can be lost, it's difficult to get pictures/notes inside the frame, and the biggie: it encroaches on the depth of the main lunch packing section
- the little inner lid will be tricky for young kids to put in place, the lid can be lost
On the positive side:
- it appears to be made quite nicely
- attractive colors
- the hinged lid
- very affordable price point
Has anyone been using a Gerber Mealtime Organizer? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!


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Indiana Police Arrest Two in $4.5 Million Ponzi Scheme
Two men were arrested on charges that their investment company was in reality a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $4.5 million. Jerry Smith, 49, of Brookville, Indiana, and Jasen Snelling, 47, of Anderson Township, were charged with 18 felonies by Indiana prosecutors, including securities fraud and theft. While authorities have arrested Smith, Snelling's whereabouts remain unknown.
Snelling and Smith operated Dunhill Investment Advisers and CityFund Advisory in downtown Cincinnati, where they guaranteed high rates of returns to clients under the guise that the firms were successfully day-trading. More than thirty people invested $4.5 million with the operation, which, instead of being invested, was used to pay owner salaries and purchase a boat, furniture, and plastic surgery. Following his arrest, Smith, through his attorney, claimed he and his family had also lost a great deal of money and was a victim of Snelling.
Following a tip by an investor whose accountant questioned the legality of the operation, the Indiana Securities Division filed a civil complaint in June 2010 freezing Smith and Snelling's assets. Smith and Snelling have also been charged in two other Indiana counties. The filing of federal charges is also a possibility.