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|1st February 2010, 12:00 PM
The one and only
De-Lite Amplifier
The third annual Burning Amp Festival was held in San Francisco last October, drawing a couple hundred DIY Audio enthusiasts, many from long distances. At previous BAF gatherings I have simply brought a truckload of parts that might appeal to DIYers, but this year an announcement went out that I would have a presentation. It was news to me, but a quick talk is a lot less effort than hauling a ton (literally) of parts, so I decided to pretend it was my idea.
Procrastination being as much a part of my life as anyone else's, I found myself two days before the event having nothing prepared. What better opportunity to throw together something totally easy for beginners...
Many of you have never built an amplifier, and this article is intended to get you to do it. One of the biggest problems helping people to take the leap into building their own electronics is offering something really easy but satisfying a simple but exotic project with low barriers and cheap satisfaction.
This power amplifier is just such a piece of low hanging fruit.
In 33 years of creating DIY projects I recall that one of the most popular was 1997's Son of Zen, a single-stage no-feedback Class A design using two N channel Mosfets arranged as a single balanced differential pair. It remains one of the simplest amplifiers I have written up.
The Pass-DIY Gallery has examples of SOZ amplifiers, usually featuring totally over-the-top metal work and giant heat sinks and power resistors more so than other designs. Apparently there is a breed of he-man DIYers who can saw, machine, drill, bend, glue, weld, bolt, cut, and solder with confidence but who break into a sweat when confronted with the three legged critters.
So here's an amplifier that carries some marketable buzz words: Depletion-mode FET, Single-ended Class A, no negative feedback, current source output and glows in the dark.
And only one transistor.
The Simplest Amplifier
I wanted an amplifier easy enough to lure unsuspecting audiophiles away from blind consumerism and down the slippery slopes of DIY obsession.
So on the Thursday night before BAF I took my scrappiest piece of wood and glued a heat sink and transformer to it and let it sit overnight.
Halfway done - just like that!
The following afternoon I populated it with screw-on terminal blocks, power cord, fuse, diode bridge, two big electrolytic capacitors, a one ohm power resistor, two 300 watt light bulbs (with sockets), two RCA connectors, two smaller electrolytic capacitors, two small resistors and two power Mosfet transistors.
An hour of point-to-point wiring, and Voila! A stereo power amplifier.
Figure 1 shows what it looked like at Burning Amp Festival:
You see that it glows comfortingly and does not require an on light.
Figure 2 shows the schematic with the supply and one of the two channels:
Nothing magical about the supply I chose a CRC filter configuration to take out some of the voltage ripple and get the noise down a bit. The diode bridge, power resistor, and Mosfets should be mounted on the heat sink as seen in Figure 1, as they dissipate quite a bit of heat. R1 is going to dissipate as much as 20 watts, and the Mosfets will dissipate as much as 55 watts each, so don't scrimp on the heat sinking. If you choose to build this amplifier and its variations as a monoblock, then you can get away with less, but don't fool around. The power transformer should be rated at at least twice the actual draw, so you should figure on 350+ VA rating per channel.
I used power supply capacitors at 25,000 uF, but feel free to use more. Maybe lots more. The supply voltages we will be seeing start at 65 volts and go as high as 100 volts DC, so it will be good to get caps rated at this. The rectifier bridge is a standard 35 amp 400 volt type, a very common part. Perhaps you will want to try those snazzy fast/soft recover diodes you read about, but save it for later.
This supply is the bare minimum, but it will get the job done, and you can improve on it in your free time. Remember SAFETY FIRST use a fuse and insulate the AC line connections. Try not to start a fire or electrocute anyone. The article Zen Variations v3 is a decent start if you want to explore power supply issues and safety further.
The Mosfet will develop its output across a 300 watt (120V) light bulb which I bought from McMaster-Carr along with some sockets. The clear glass ones look the best. The output capacitor C3 protects the speaker from the DC voltage seen at the Drain pin of the Mosfet. If your speaker drivers are capacitively coupled already by a crossover filter, you might eliminate this capacitor, and of course you can use a better capacitor than my 10,000 uF 50V electrolytic. 1,000 uF of polypropylene capacitance will get you down to around 30 Hz or so, and larger values will get you lower, if you can afford them.
The output impedance of the amplifier is essentially that of the light bulb, which is about 20 ohms or a little more, depending on the DC voltage across it. If you want, you can easily substitute a 16 to 25 ohm power resistor instead of the light bulb, but it's not as much fun or attractive in the dark.
The input resistor R3 to ground gives the Gate a DC connection to ground, so that you don't depend on the preamp to provide this and the Mosfet doesn't start acting strange. If you know your preamp has this and you're not a scaredy-cat, then you can do without it. With it, the input impedance of the amplifier is essentially the value of this resistor, which is not critical.
The amp worked the first time I plugged it in, and Figure 3 shows the distortion curve:
2 watts of power into 8 ohms with about 10 percent distortion (I've seen worse).
I hooked it up to a pair of full range speakers in open baffles and gave it a listen: On the plus side, it has plenty of gain. On the minus side, the 2nd harmonic distortion is high, even at low power. If you own efficient speakers (like 93 to 100 dB/watt) and listen to simple music (a vocal and guitar for example), then this amp might take care of you, but it will get congested pretty quickly with orchestral crescendos.
In the meantime it does play music, and you can spend some quality time educating your ear and learning a bit about it before we take up a soldering iron to make it better.
By the way, please note that the circuit as presented has a rather large turn-on and turn-off thump. You can power it up and down slowly with a Variac, or you can short the output terminals to ground during turn-on and turn-off (I used clip leads) so as to protect delicate drivers. The Variac solution is a particularly good one, as it allows you to adjust the voltage easily, and we will be doing some of that later. There are some decent ones starting at $49 at MPJA and if you're going to get addicted to building power amps you might as well get this purchase over with.
Note that there is no input static protection, so exercise a little care when connecting your preamp to the input. Also, there are no gate stopper resistors on the Gate pin of the transistors. If by chance your Mosfet looks like it's misbehaving, then 47 ohms or so in series with the Gate might be appropriate.
Depletion Mode Mosfets
This transistor is an unusual part, the Ixys IXTH20N50 depletion mode Mosfet. I got them from Digikey for about 6 bucks (and I had to buy 60). If you don't want 60 of them, then look around or check the group buys at diyAudio.
There's a reason to try depletion mode Mosfets instead of usual enhancement mode devices. Mosfets conduct current based on the relative voltage between the Gate and Source pins. N channel Mosfets (like this one) conduct more current as the Gate becomes more positive with respect to the Source. In enhancement mode N channel Mosfets, the transistor is turned off when the Gate is at the same voltage as the Source. With depletion mode N channel Mosfets, current flows when the Gate and Source are at the same voltage, and it takes a negative Gate voltage to turn off the device. Figure 4 shows the characteristic curves of the two types.
You can see from the curves that it takes a few volts of Vgs to get the enhancement mode device going, but the depletion mode part conducts with no encouragement. In the case of the Ixys IXTH20N50 in our amplifier, the current is around 1.7 amps when the both the Gate and Source are grounded.
Well, that's convenient Our little amplifier doesn't need any additional circuitry to set the Class A bias current. Like tubes, depletion mode FETs can be self-biasing, and that makes the amplifier simpler. And simple is the raison d'etre of this design.
Version 2
The first effort works, but with the high distortion, it's hard not to want to monkey with it. After you have basked in the glow of accomplishment and light bulbs for a while, perhaps you will feel ready for a little more effort.
In this case, that means a couple more parts. Placing a power resistor on the Source of the Mosfet will lower the gain and distortion. After a little testing, I settled on a 1 ohm power resistor, as seen in the schematic of Figure 5. Frugal guy that I am, I used the same resistor as in the power supply.
This takes the gain down to about 13 dB and lowers the distortion. Of course adding just one part would be too easy - we still need to keep the Gate and Source at the same voltage, so we end up moving the input resistor as in Figure 5. Incidentally, this will raise the input impedance to 4 or 5 times the value of the resistor. This is the amplifier that was demonstrated at Burning Amp with a lower supply voltage, but afterwards I decided that it sounded better with 80 volts as shown here.
And now we need an input capacitor because the input has a non-zero DC voltage (same 1.75V as across the new Source resistor), unless you are certain that your preamp is capacitively coupled and has no resistor to ground at the output. 10 uF is a fine value.
Figure 6 shows the distortion vs output power into 8 ohms after these changes.
This version (with a lower supply voltage) was played to an audience at BAF, driving a pair of field coil Lowther PM6A full range drivers with Eminence Beta 15 woofers, all mounted up in a pair of BOBs (the Big Open Baffle project - coming soon). In conversations with attendees, I heard unanimous (if polite) praise of the sound.
Well OK, it's a little more complicated now, but it sounds so much better. The mid-band distortion is now comparable to either a really good 300B SET (single-ended triode) without negative feedback or perhaps an ordinary one with feedback. There is still more we can do, but perhaps this is a good time to stop and have another listen.
Version 3
So maybe you really don't like that input capacitor. I know lots of people who hate them, laying awake at night. There is an alternative that gets rid of it, which is a slightly different Ixys part number, IXTH6N50D2. It runs at about the same current but with a negative Gate to Source voltage equal to the voltage across the Source resistors of Fig 5. This results in approximately the same bias current with the Gate referenced to ground, thus no need for the capacitor. This is seen in the circuit of Figure 7.
As an added bonus, the distortion is about 30% lower than that of the IXTH20N50, as seen in Figure 8:
Definitely better, no? We pause in rejoicing to note that the IXTH6N50D2 has a little more input capacitance which is also more non-linear than the IXTH20N50. This will raise the distortion at the top end if driven by a preamp with a high source impedance, otherwise the distortion figure should be flat across the audio band.
I don't think this will be an issue unless you run this device with a passive preamp with a high source impedance. I surmise that since the gain of this amplifier is not so high, most of you will be using an active preamp anyway.
De-Lux De-Lite
We are not at all finished. First we can crank up the voltage and current a bit. Figure 9 shows the distortion curve of Figure 5 operated at 100V DC supply and bias current of 2.2 amps.
As the light bulb glows brighter, the distortion continues to decline and the power increases. And the transistor runs hotter, so take care that you have enough heat sink. We are getting into the 50 to 60 watt dissipation territory for devices which are rated at 300 watts, and with care mounting the transistor, it should be plenty fine if you can put your hand on the sink for 10 seconds (50-55 deg C.)
We can do much the same for the IXTH6N50D2, and Figure 10 shows the circuit of Figure 7 at 100V DC and 2.2 A. This requires a Gate voltage in between the Source and Ground voltage, so we adjust the input bias with a potentiometer as shown. Typically a 10K pot will end up being adjusted for about 25V DC at the Drain of the transistor. If you want to use an enhancement mode part (an IRFP240 for example) you can obtain the positive Gate voltage needed by tapping the potentiometer to the Drain of the transistor instead of the Source.
It's performance offers more improvement, as seen by the distortion curve of Figure 11. Now we are surpassing the 300B SETs without feedback, and are into the zone of good 300B SETs with feedback.
In general, transistors will vary in their bias voltage values, as will your supply voltage and also the actual resistance of your light bulb. The potentiometer arrangement in Figure 10 is an easy way to deal with any case where the Source and/or Drain voltages are not close to the examples shown here.
We can stop right there and be pretty happy. To give you a taste of what to expect from even better transistors coming out of the labs these days, I have a distortion curve from a part which is not yet on the market but which you will eventually be able to drop right in. Figure 12 shows a depletion mode power JFET placed in the circuit of Figure 7 but with an 80 volt supply.
At 1 watt, the distortion here is about 30 dB lower than our first effort. You can do better than this still, but given the current state of transistor art you will probably have to make the amplifier more complicated; adding more parts, more gain stages, active current sources, feedback, and whatnot.
Without doing that you can still take advantage of improvements offered by power supply filter and regulator circuits as shown in Zen Variations #3. These will reduce noise and add more stability.
You can also think about an input and output switch for protection. The input switch is closed when you want to safely connect and disconnect input leads and avoid any possibility that static discharge will damage the Gate of the Mosfet.
Alternatively you can put some back-to-back Zener diodes at the input to ground for that. However it seems every time I present a schematic that shows some form of circuit protection like this, DIYers insist that it sounds better without it.
You can use a big knife switch like in the Frankenstein movies to ground the output when the amp is being turned on and off to avoid damaging little girlie-man full range drivers. Or perhaps one of you advanced DIYers will offer up a circuit to do these things automatically.
Zen Variations v3 is a good place to see examples of grounding safety and means of isolating against ground loops, and I sincerely recommend that you pay close attention to this issue to prevent possible injury. Keep in mind that you are playing with voltages that should always be respected.
Stone Soup
We started out with with a totally minimalist piece intended to get you off your butt and building something. Like Stone Soup, the initial result wasn't very impressive, but with small incremental additions it became a pretty special amplifier. You are invited to share questions, comments, photos and improvements on the friendly no-question-is-too-dumb De-Lite thread in the Pass Labs forum at:
De-Lite Thread on diyAudio
Depletion MOSFET Group Buy
© Nelson Pass 2010
Last edited by Variac; 4th February 2010 at 06:39 AM.
|4th February 2010, 10:13 AM
Official Court Jester
diyAudio Member
will it drive F4 ?
my Papa is smarter than your Nelson !
clean thread; Cook Book;PSM LS Cook Book;Baby DiyA ;Mighty ZM's Bloggg;Papatreasure;Papa...© by Mighty ZM
|4th February 2010, 10:41 AM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Denmark
If in version 3, the light bulb is replaced with same MOSFET as driver and gate connected to source throug same 1.6R resistor, will a ZEN with 34V supply be workable?
|4th February 2010, 05:13 PM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: roseville, ca
Looking at fig 10 – how is the idle current measured? R4 and P1 combine to an unknown resistance. Should R4 and P1 be in series from the drain?
|4th February 2010, 06:23 PM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: The Milky Way
Mr. Pass,
Can we change the last sentence on the Intro to "And One and Only one transistor."?
Life simplified! Leap into the Warpspeed wormhole... http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/warpspeed/1.html
|5th February 2010, 12:33 AM
The one and only
Looking at fig 10 - the resistors R4 and P1 combine pretty much to R4,
since it's resistance is incredibly lower than P1. Simply measure the DC
across R4. Since R4 is 1 ohm, the current will be equal to volts.
|6th February 2010, 07:39 PM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Dear Mr Pass,
Thank you for a brilliant design that actually made me laugh! :-)
Andy in the UK
|10th February 2010, 08:24 PM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
very nice thanks for uploading..........
|20th February 2010, 04:53 PM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Possible upgardes
Hi there, i was wondering if this design can be adapted to make a more powerful amplifier? like around 3k ish, will i have to use many smaller MOSFET's or are there larger ones available?
|21st February 2010, 03:54 AM
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
please tell me my bulbs are 240 V then how many watts required .
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Obviously if you're reading this post you know about our blog. But take a moment to make sure you have subscribed to the RSS feed with your favorite news reader. I use Google Reader on my Mac and Reeder on my iPhone and iPad.
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For times when a local copy is more convenient, each release of Real Studio incudes a local copy of the wiki. By default when you click on one of the Help topics in the Help menu of the IDE, you get the web-based help in the IDE's documentation viewer. If you would rather see the local help, you can hold down Option (Mac-only) while clicking the menu. There is also a Preference in the General section to select which version of the documentation you want to see by default.
Updating documentation is one of my primary responsibilities and you should see many changes in the coming weeks and months.


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Ted – White Marsh, MD
A: It sounds like your finned pal has a parasite called anchor worm. And they're no fun.
These copepod crustaceans from the genus Lernaea bury themselves into the muscles of fish where they live and grow for several months, transforming into an unsegmented worm-like protrusion. Once developed, they make their way out of the fish, leaving behind bad wounds – which is the red area you're seeing on your fish. Right before anchor worms die, they release their eggs and the cycle repeats over and over again.
A fish suffering from an anchor worm infestation will show the following signs:
- Frequent rubbing or 'flashing,' which is when it rubs its body up against objects attempting to dislodge the parasite
- Localized redness
- Inflammation on its body
- Tiny white-green or red worms in wounds
- Breathing difficulties
- General lethargy
Parasites like anchor worms can be introduced into the pond when new aquatic critters or plants are added to the existing mix. Unbeknownst to water garden hobbyists, the anchor worms hitch rides on the other fish or in the soil and roots of plants and establish themselves in their new home.
The cure for anchor worms is a pond-wide treatment with an anti-parasitic medication like KnockOut™ PLUS. As soon as you see signs of anchor worm, pour the recommended amount in your pond daily for seven consecutive days. When the infection clears up, continue treatment for an additional three days to ensure the parasites are gone for good.
If you plan to add fish or plants to your pond this summer, you can also use KnockOut™ PLUS as a preventive. It treats a variety of other fish ailments, including ich, fungus and flukes. Simply add it to the water when you introduce the new pond inhabitants.
Good luck getting those anchor worms under control. We hope your fish feels better soon!
Pond Talk: Have your fish suffered from some sort of parasite? How did you get rid of it?
Filed under: Fish Diseases, Fish Population, Koi & Goldfish, Water Gardens & Features | Tagged: anchor worm, fungus, how to treat anchor worm, how to treat fungus, ich, ick, knockout plus, sick fish, treating anchor worm | 2 Comments »


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Our once a year inventory CLEARANCE SALE is on now with up to 70% OFF. Everything must go!
This water-repellent, durable rucksack with roomy interior has Bridle Leather straps, rustproof brass zipper closure and a storm flap for added protection. It meets standard airline carry-on size requirements.
- Rustproof brass zipper closure with storm flap for added protection
- 2 bellows pockets, 1 stow pocket
- Roomy full-access interior with three exterior pockets
- Bridle Leather carrying loop and adjustable straps
- Meets standard airline carry-on size requirements
- Made in USA of imported materials
- Model: 70262
- Dimensions: 15" (w) x 17" (h) x 5" (d)
- Fabrics: 22-oz Rugged Twill


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Photo: Flickr / D. Begley
Jeff Atwood, co-founder of question-and-answer site Stack Exchange, has a huge list of 30 new pieces of programming jargon that have emerged on the question-and-answer site.Some of them are a bit obscure, but most of them are hilarious.
We've included some of the best ones below. You can check out the full list on his blog, Coding Horror.
- Yoda Conditions: When a programmer writes the conditions for a piece of code in the opposite order for which you would expect to normally read them. (Instead of saying if(variable == constant), the code says if(constant == variable).)
- Smug Report: A bug report submitted by a user who thinks he or she knows everything about a system, when he or she does not.
- A duck: A feature added for the sole purpose of drawing attention to itself from management to be removed, avoiding unnecessary other changes in a product.
- Refuctoring: Taking a well-designed piece of code and, through a small series of changes, making it completely unmaintainable for anyone other than yourself.
- Heisenbug: A play on "Heisenberg," a principle in quantum mechanics, a Heisenbug is a bug that disappears or alters its characteristics when an attempt is made to study it.
- Jimmy: A generalized name for a clueless or new developer.
- Higgs Bugson: Another bug based on a physics phenomenon, a Higgs Bugson is a bug that's hypothetically predicted to exist based on other conditions, but is difficult to produce.
- Unicorny: A feature so early in its planning stages that it might as well be imaginary.
- Oh, the humanity!Hindenbug: A catastrophic, data-destroying bug.
- Fear-driven development: When project management adds more pressure, such as by firing engineers.
- Hydra: A bug that, when an attempt to fix is made, introduces two new bugs. It's a bug that cannot be fixed.
- Common Law Feature: A bug that has existed for so long that it is considered a feature.
- Loch Ness Monster bug: A bug that has only been spotted by one person.
- Rubberducking: Talking with other engineers to solve a problem.
- Banana banana banana: Placeholder text in code that hasn't been implemented yet.
- Reality 101 failure: Creating a program that does exactly what was asked, but the problem it's trying to solve was misunderstood and the program is basically useless.
- Mad girlfriend bug: When you see something strange is happening, but the software is telling you everything is fine.
- Hooker code: Code that is problematic and causes application instability.
- Jenga code: The whole program collapses once you alter a block of code.
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Quote: As I understood it, Simi Valley was not only overwhelmingly white but also home to a huge population of LAPD officers and employees. Am I remembering this right?
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Slovio is a newly-constructed language created by linguist Mark Hučko. It is an international auxiliary language primarily created to help Slavic speakers communicate. The grammar of Slovio is similar to Esperanto, but the vocabulary is derived from the most common words from Slavic languages, that of the largest European-language group.
It also includes many internationally-understandable words from Latin, English, French, German, and Spanish. As soon as one learns Slovio one can communicate with over 400 million people in such countries as: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldavia, Serbia, Montenegro and so on.
The name of the language, Slovio, comes from the old-Slavic word "slovo" which means "word".
Table of contents:
- Slovio/Introduction
- Slovio/Basics


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Indiana Jones in the Garden
I finally have a procrastination explanation: You just never know what you're going to find when you put a shoven into the dirt.
Sender-inner Robert Koehn , while doing a massive renovation of his back yard, found evidence of a lost civilization.
I'll let him tell the tale in his own words, just as he told it to me last May and again recently, just before the Democratic Convention.
"I was walking through my backyard last night and saw a hole in the ground.
The hole was big enough for my hand to fit in it and not touch anything at the other side. It was big enough to swallow a 3-foot piece of rebar. I thought maybe it was a buried treasure. Kinda. I mean, it's (near) City Park in Denver, what treasure could there be?
"So, I carefully dig around the edges. I find the corners of a 2.5-ft x 2.5-ft piece of stone."
But as Koehn dug deeper, it wasn't just a stone. It was a stone-lined hole in the ground.
Rob's theory: "It was some sort of waste management system from 100 years ago." But his discoveries just kept coming, especially when he took a few weeks off from his job as Macintosh skills instructor to spend some more quality landscaping time.
"More recently, we've found massive concrete supports for what was once a porch. Um, the 'porch'
was touching the ground! These things were bigger than the ones we filled for my dad, and his porch was 6 feet off the ground. Then again, Dad sold his house and I don't know if that porch is still upright. Now we're in the process of digging where the paver-covered patio will go." Among the things he's found while digging for that part of his new back yard: an ivory-handled 12-inch knife/machete.
Noy and Rick Farrell from Taste of Thailand in Englewood write in to say they're having a blast preparing their restaurant's dishes from fall veggies that are overlapping a late peach harvest. They're playing with lemongrass, basil, chard, squashes and pumpkins — but alas, they, like many of us, suffered from Total Tomato Denial Syndrome when the weather turned too hot for fruit to set back in July. They're hoping to still get a good late harvest.
I'll cross my fingers along with Noy and Rick — I've got fruit on almost all of my tomato plants, even the persnickety yellow brandywine. And I just picked a Black Pearl tomato. But for a couple of weeks, I've been depending on the farmer's markets up here in Larimer County for supplies for my annual Can-a-palooza. I've done eight pints of salsa — and counting. I'm getting a feeling that I'd better have a few recipes for green tomato pickles up my sleeve.


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In Australia around 16,000 babies are born preterm each year (6-7percent of births). Preterm birth is defined as birth occurring before 37 weeks of pregnancy or more than three weeks early. It is divided up into mildly preterm (32-37 weeks), moderately preterm (28-31 weeks) and extremely preterm (before 28 weeks). Disappointingly the rate of preterm birth has not really changed in over 20 years and there are concerns that it is in fact on the rise in Australia.
It is not easy to predict who will go into premature labour and who will not. While there are some factors that add risk, there are many women that have none of these risk factors and still go into preterm labour. The actual cause of preterm labour is still largely unknown.
Around 25-40 percent of preterm births are what we call 'elective.' This means they are induced, or delivered by caesarean section early due to an illness in the mother, baby or both. Some common reasons for elective preterm birth are: severe high blood pressure in the mother, poor growth of the baby, problems with the placenta, a baby that is not formed normally or a severe illness in the mother. In these cases an obstetrician will discuss with the parents the benefits of continuing the pregnancy with the risks of ending the pregnancy early. In another 12-15 percent of preterm births the baby has already died or is so abnormal it won't survive after birth and the labour is often induced.
Around half of all preterm births occur because labour starts 'spontaneously'. This may begin with contractions or with the 'waters breaking' (premature rupture of the membranes). There are several factors associated with spontaneous preterm birth but it can also occur when none of these factors exist:
Many women who are 'at risk' of preterm birth do, however, experience straightforward pregnancies and births. Being at risk does not mean it will happen to you.
Certain social factors such as: very vigorous exercise; excessive use of alcohol, smoking and certain drugs; domestic violence; poor social support; poor access to antenatal care and working very hard may also increase the risk of having a preterm birth.
The National Health and Medical Research Council say there are several things you can do to help prevent a preterm birth, or help improve the outcomes for you and your baby if preterm birth is inevitable.
Most women are very good at diagnosing preterm labour themselves. If you suspect this may be happening to you, you are probably right. If you are bleeding, your waters break or you experience regular contractions (these can feel like period cramps or aches) then phone the hospital and get advice. Drugs called tocolytics are often used when the baby is under 34 weeks to help prolong the pregnancy for a few more days. This can also give the baby a better chance of receiving the benefits of the corticosteroid drugs. Most drugs used in managing preterm labour just prolong pregnancy for a few days rather than stop preterm labour.
The amount of care a premature baby will need will depend on how early in the pregnancy they are born, how big they were when they were born and if they were ill when they born. Under normal circumstances every extra week the baby spends growing inside the uterus increases its chances of surviving enormously. Before 24 weeks the chance of a baby surviving is extremely small and the long-term complications if they do survive are great. Routine intensive care is not routinely given. By 28 weeks this chance has increased dramatically and more than 80% of babies will survive if born at a hospital with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Long-term disabilities associated with preterm birth are rare over 30 weeks and increasingly common the earlier the baby is born. Approximately one third of babies born at 24 to 25 weeks and one quarter of babies born at 27 weeks will have some form of disability (commonly problems with eyesight, hearing and movement).
In the first few weeks in the neonatal intensive care the main problems that are encountered by very preterm babies are lack of lung maturity that is needed to maintain enough oxygen in the blood stream. Most babies born before 30 weeks need some help with their breathing. Even at 32 weeks four in every ten babies will need help to breathe. Bleeding in the brain is very rare in babies born after 30 weeks but occurs in one in five babies born before his time. Usually the bleed is small and causes no brain damage but in about one in twenty babies the bleed will be serious enough to cause brain damage and/or death. Premature babies are also very vulnerable to infections, as their defence systems are not properly developed. Antibiotics will be used to treat infections but occasionally they will not be adequate to control the infection.
|Completed weeks of pregnancy at birth
|Babies Surviving at one year of age in NSW 1992-1997
|24 weeks
|25 weeks
|26 weeks
|27 weeks
|28 weeks
|greater than 80%
|29 weeks
|greater than 90%
|30 weeks
|greater than 90%
|31 weeks
|greater than 95%
(NSW Pregnancy & Newborn Services Network, 2000)
Most preterm babies go home around or slightly before the date they were originally due to be born. It is important that your baby is gaining weight and breastfeeding well before they go home. If your baby has been transferred to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit then it is highly likely they will be transferred back to a hospital near where you live when they don't need intensive care any longer.
Very premature babies will be fed through a drip at first. Breast milk is, however, the best food for all babies and you will be encouraged to express your milk after the baby is born. This can be frozen and given to the baby when they can take feeds though a tube into the stomach. The amount of milk your baby is given will increase gradually over a period of weeks depending how preterm they are. Generally babies begin sucking well between 34 and 36 weeks. Most mothers are breastfeeding by the time their baby comes home.
The development of a preterm baby is of great importance to the parents. Most babies born ten or more weeks early will have developmental checkups. These checkups will keep a track of the baby's eyesight, hearing and movement. Eyesight and hearing problems can range from mild loss of function to total deafness and blindness. Key development areas that will be examined during developmental check-ups are movement, vision, hearing and language, social development and learning. Of the babies that develop a disability, two thirds will have a mildly disability and will still be able to lead independent lives and one third will have a severe disability that will make them very dependant. To give you an idea, around 30 out of every 100 babies born at 24 to 25 weeks and 25 out of every 100 born at 27 weeks, will have one or more of these disabilities.
Preterm birth has been described as a crisis and parents often go through a wide range of emotions such as fear, shock, hurt, grief, guilt and a sense of lost control. Parents grieve for lost experiences and lost dreams and have to learn to come to terms with the reality they have been dealt. The roller coaster of emotions that result can be exhausting and confusing and whatever the individual experience, parents need a great deal of support and information to help them through this often unexpected event. Doctors, nurses, midwives, social workers, lactation consultants, chaplains and preterm support groups interact with and support parents through this very difficult time.
2 comment(s) on this page. Add your own comment below.
does a mother of a premature baby have any longer maternity leave than a mother of a baby born normal?
I would like to do a research on maternity benefits for mothers of pre term babies. Any country that offers longer maternity leave?


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Organising Committee spokesperson Lalit Bhanot said "success is subjective and depends on perception. Your measure of success may be different from my measure or his measure or his measure... We may not be able to host the games but we got worldwide publicity"
Union Urban Development Minister, Govt of India, Mr Jaipal Reddy admitted: "Yes, there has been some delays and issues, but these are very common. Though number of people doing the actual work on the ground is close to none, we'd sent large number of supervisors to supervise the progress. They've been doing wonderful job supervising the progress." "We're now planning another committee that will supervise these supervisors", Union Home Secretary GK Pillai added.
"There's no issue at all. There have been projects where we executed everything on paper and pocketed 100% of the money. Here we've at least built something"- Said an OC member who didn't wish to be named. "These structures were supposed to last at least till inauguration day, its unfortunate they collapsed just few days ahead of it.." he added
Late night update: Happy to see the wonderful response received for this post. 50+ likes, 550+ pageviews, lots of comments- thanks to each one of your for the appreciation.-Nidhi
Image sourced from bollypatrika.com/ Other Humor posts: New Year Resolutions * Work phone * Gender confusion over the name Shrinidhi * Ladies who call me everyday *


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Happy New Year! Hoping everyone is having a fun, safe New Years Eve! Today is my wonderful husbands birthday and we've been celebrating all day! First thing this morning, Mom and Vicente took us to breakfast @ IHOP! Went to hang out @ Moms for a bit afterwards and played "Spicey Farkle" that Dorinda gave us for Christmas and Mom and Vicente loved it! Mom won the first game and I won the second! Then my brother-in-law Greg and nephew Davis took us to dinner @ Red Lobster! It was great seeing them, as they just got back from visiting Greg's younger brother Terry, his new wife Michelle and her 3 boys in WA, State!
Santa brought us a wonderful gift this year - a little sister for Hanz! We had been thinking about it for a while and weighing the pros and cons on another pet ...We didn't want Hanz to be any older before getting another pup, so there wouldn't be such a big difference in their ages, so we really needed to move quickly as Hanz is already 2 years old! Actually let me go back a bit and tell you how it all started! I was on year SIX of my embolization treatments for my AVM and Mark and I were really feeling like our lives were on hold. Couldn't do much between all the treatments, trips and recovery I was going through. We had a Labrador for 8 years and had lost him to what we think were the effects of getting hit by a car. In any case, we talked about what kind of pet we wanted next, and had decided we wanted an indoor, small dog - since our last one had been a large outside dog! We had also agreed to wait until my treatments were over, otherwise it wouldn't be fair to the dog that we had to go out of town all the time. Well, we happened to have an opportunity to have the dog we always wanted after seeing the movie AS GOOD AS IT GETS that came out in 1992 I think - starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt and the super cute Brussels Griffon named Verdell! We acquired a male, rough coat Brussels Griffon we named Hanz that has been such a blessing! Funny thing is, when I would go see my local ENT Dr. Zane - I found out he also has a Brussels Griffon, a female named Ellie! He loved her so much, he also got Brussels pups for his two daughters from the same litter as Ellie! Dr. Zane told me that not a day goes by that he and his wife feel that Ellie is a blessing for them! We feel the same way about Hanz! He has been such a good boy! Smart, cute and loving! It was the hardest thing ever for me to leave him when I would go to CO for a treatment... I mean I would CRY after dropping him off @ my brother-in-law Jim and his wife Shelley's before going on a medical trip! I didn't want my baby to think that Mommy abandoned him! I really think it has taken Hanz until very recently to realize that we are in fact coming back for him every time! We always felt guilty leaving him home alone while we were @ work all day. We had played around with the idea of getting another Brussels to keep Hanz company during the day! I was really bugging Mark about it, because I love Hanz so much and he makes me so happy, that I just knew it would be awesome to have another Brussels!
While I know that not every one is a "dog person" - heck we had 5 Siamese cats @ one time - but Hanz was great about helping me forget my medical woes! Do you know how horrible living with an avm on a daily basis is?! If you have kept up with my blog, then you might have an idea. It's nothing like living it though! Lately, I've been having some spontaneous bleeding - Had one @ work while I was standing @ the copy machine. Just as a co-worker walked by and told me I was bleeding, I saw a drop of blood land on the copy paper! A day or so later, I can't remember why I woke up about 4:00 a.m., but next think I knew I realized I had blood all over the front of my nightgown! I quickly took off the humidifier cap I wear on my trache and shook Mark awake to help me! I ran to the bathroom to see that I had a big blob of coagulated blood on my nightgown and the bleeding had come from the inside of my mouth and I was still bleeding! When these things happen, and by the time your bleeding finishes and you clean up the area and yourself, I didn't sleep much and went to work the next day not feeling my best! Lately seems I was getting a lot of being asked, "What happened to your face"?! Do you know how invasive that is? I just can't get over the fact, that some people ignore common sense and good manners and disregard how they may be making ME feel when they ask that! I know my brother-in-law Greg had asked my sister Celia a while back, if there was something they could do for me to make me feel better. I know he was wishing they could do more for me, as to not see me hurting and having so many avm related problems! They see me often enough to know how badly things can get dealing with this avm! Nothing would make happier than to add to our little family with a baby girl that I could dress up and put bows in her hair! I told Mark this is all I wanted for Christmas, our 18th Wedding Anniversary and my upcoming 50th Birthday in May! Every year Mom asks me, "what do you want for your birthday", and I tell her the same thing, "nothing". I feel I have everything w/my husband and Hanz! But now I had my heart set on adding to our perfect little family!
So the search started! I don't know how we got so lucky to find Hanz nearby, but it is pretty hard to find a Brussels Griffon in South Texas! I was calling Vets. in San Antonio, Houston, Kerrville and Austin to see if any might know of a breeder to refer us to! No luck going that route, darn! Yes, I tried the Internet - that was everyones suggestion, but most Brussels were located out of state - the closest being Oklahoma! I had been bugging my girlfriends that live out of town if they knew of any Brussels breeders and finally had some luck!
Found what we were looking for, a female, rough coat puppy! The one downside was having to go pick her up in Dallas! Yikes! As it is, the breeder was in Oklahoma, but had a friend willing to drive the puppy in to Dallas! Called one of my best buds Dorinda that lives in Pasadena, TX to tell her our excitement about it and right away she said, "Sounds like a road trip to me"! (You'll see a photo of Mark, Hanz and I right before we get in the car to go on our road trip!) I e-mailed another best bud that I've known for 37 years that lives in Dallas and without hesitation she invited us to stay with her on our visit! I explained that while I appreciated the hospitality, we had a friend coming with us and I didn't want to impose! Without missing a beat, Patty said, "Bring your friend too, she is welcomed to stay as well"! Do I have awesome friends or what? Let the fun begin! Well, one of the things that wasn't much fun, was deciding whether to lug my humidifier with us. I need it to moisten my trache area and if I don't have it, I get very dry and start hacking with phlegm! Gross, I know, but this is just part of the fun of my avm world! This monstrosity is heavy and sounds like an air compressor and has parts and water and a hose! Mark packed it! That is really why we really don't wander too far away from home - I have too many needs for my avm to make me comfortable and it's too much trouble to drag everything with me! I know alot of people have worse problems, but mine aren't your basic ones either! I do recognize how blessed I am that I have such an amazing support team and I have hope this will all be over one day!
So Mark and Dorinda started planning ... we would drive to Pasadena and pick up Dorinda, put all our stuff into her car and she would take over driving on to Dallas! There is just no way I could help drive with all the medication I'm on! As it is, I slept most of the way over and back! That would give Mark a break in driving, and Dorinda knew the way already, having gone to Dallas many times for her NASCAR races! Dorinda has GPS so we were set! Patty was standing outside her front lawn when we arrived and we were all happy to see each other and Patty/Dorinda were meeting for the first time! They hit it off so well! Both liked each others style and sense of humor! Patty has a very nice home in Frisco, TX and we slept in her guest room and Dorinda in a pull out sleeper in a den. Hanz was such a good boy on this trip! See photo of him on the bed @ Patty's, he slept with us as always! We wondered whether he would get along with Patty's 3 dogs, but they all got along great!
There's a funny story about what happened on the way up to Dallas - we stopped along the way @ a rest stop called Buc-ees and Mark and I had never been there, so we were anxious to see what it was all about! It was a huge convenience store/souvenir shop that had a deli and bakery inside. Huge bathrooms, coffee and sodas/juices galore and everything from candles to stuffed toys! I think Dorinda went in first and got what she wanted, while Mark walked Hanz around outside. I think I went in next, then came out to tell Mark all about what I had seen, so Dorinda offered to hold on to Hanz so both Mark and I could go in together. I didn't think much about it and took advantage of the opportunity and when we came back out, Dorinda had a story to tell us! She said my poor baby Hanz panicked when we both disappeared and she said you would have thought we dropped him off @ the pound with the way he was acting! Said Hanz was looking through the glass doors in a panic hoping to catch a glimpse of us, meanwhile people were stopping to pet and admire him. My poor baby thought Mommy and Daddy had left him! I'm so sorry Hanzie! Thank goodness we weren't in there too long!
Anyway, next morning, we were to meet up with the lady bringing the puppy in, and Patty had a prior commitment in the morning, so she didn't come with us. I have another best bud that lives in Euless, TX that we had planned to hook up with - Felice, her husband Jon and their baby daughter Emily! Dorinda and Felice know each other, but unfortunately we missed Felice's call in the morning and we didn't get a chance to meet up with her! I had already chosen the name I wanted for our little girl - Bella, after the character in the Twilight book/movie series!
We went back to Patty's house and introduced Bella to the rest of Pattys dogs and she jumped right in and played with all of them! We should have named her Dynamite, she is something else, a real live wire!
I think I'll end this here and continue this with part II - that way it won't seem like such a long entry all @ once! Talk to you soon!
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Posted by Dulce at 8:46 PM 0 comments
Extra photos and comments!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Good Morning everyone! Woke up to take pain pills and steroid and now I'm going to do what I tried to do last night before sleep necessity took over! I already wrote all the basic things that happened, and overlooked talking about one of the main people that is with me on this journey!
Mark is outstanding as a husband, friend, home health tech.! He totally understands me and what he needs to do to make these trips as comfortable as possible for me! We have been through this routine so many times, and with Mark @ the helm, I'm just following his direction! Mark always has my ticket/ID/Purse or whatever he needs to do that will make things easier for me!
Here are some extra photos from the trip - I just noticed that I had not posted any photos of Dr. Hepworth while we were in his office! Dr. Hepworth is the best! The one photo where I'm holding something black like sunglasses are for me to wear while Dr. Hepworth is looking in my right ear and up my nostrills! Yikes! I get to "see" through these glasses @ everything Dr. Hepworth is doing to me - weird!
Here is a photo Mark took of me @ the hotel - I am so tired I fell asleep sitting up and I wasn't feeling well w/an upset stomach!
Here I am on the way to surgery - Saba has been a part of my trips since I got her! We really had a good trip - just enough time to do what we needed to. Actually could have used another couple hours to shop maybe - but like I said, Mark humors me and tries to make this as pleasant as possible for me! Take care y'all! Thanks again!
Cyndi Schuman
Posted by Dulce at 7:38 AM 0 comments
Dec. 1, 2010 - 34th embolization
Friday, December 3, 2010
Hi everyone! It's been so long since I've blogged, I hope I remember how to do everything! Our trip started on Tues., Nov. 30th - soon as we arrived in Houston, we made a beeline for Starbucks! Felice and Jon kindly had given us a Starbucks gift card, so we put that to good use! Thanks Felice! Arrived in CO mid-morning Tuesday, and headed to the car rental. Mark had suggested we go to Teds Montana Grill for lunch and see our friend, waitress Michelle! I wasn't in the mood for a burger, so we decided to go to the Cheescake Factory and have lunch before my 2pm appt. w/Dr. Hepworth! Wasn't sure what to order since we've had a lot of turkey and chicken lately, so @ the last minute I saw some fried macaronni as an appetizer and went for that w/some passion tea! Mark had some avocado egg roll looking like things and passion tea as well. After we were done eating, we had a little time to run up to the pet store on the second floor of the Park Meadows Mall! See photos of puppies!
Headed over to Dr. Hepworths Office, where he checked my air passages and trache to make sure everything is in working order. Dr. Hepworth has a very good bedside manner and is very happy with my progress! He is hoping that in March, if Dr. Yakes said it's ok, then we'll do another debulking then! Mark asked Dr. Hepworth about whether I would eventually have my hearing back in my left ear, and Dr. Hepworth was pretty confident I would! Right now the avm is pushing against something that is making me deaf on my left side - very frustrating! All I can hear is a constant pulse! Dr. Hepworth went on to say that it may not look like a lot of changes are taking place on the outside right now, but is definitely noticeably better on the "inside"!
Went back to Park Meadows Mall to look around some more and had to go into St. Nick's, the Christmas Store! Here I am in front of the Snow Babies display. One of my best friends, Dorinda, has a sizeable collection of these in her home displayed in a curio! We always enjoy stopping in @ Borders Bookstore, so we did that, before heading to the hotel to check in! Actually, we went to Whole Foods to pick up something for dinner. We got some pulled pork sandwiches that are really good, along with some sides, like spiral pasta salad. Again, I gave Mark a gift card that Felice, Jon and Emily sent us to Whole Foods and Mark was so busy talking to the cashier, he paid for our dinner in cash! Hijole! So now we head to the hotel to check in and start having our dinner. Meanwhile, I had been feeling a little nauseous so I barely touched my dinner! I kept thinking back to what I had eaten earlier in the day and all I can think of that might have done me wrong is the fried macaronni appetizer? Mark kept telling me to lay down, but I was afraid I wouldn't get up in time to run to the bathroom if I felt that coming back! Yuck! So, I had a miserable night before my procedure!
Showed up right @ 9:00 a.m. for pre-registration and got started with all my activities! I think the name of the nurse doing my IV was Angela and she got it done the first time! Usually I'm making sure I have a book to read while I wait, or trying to get comfortable, but I still wasn't completely over the nausea, so I didn't do much of anything but lay there. Dr. Yakes P.A., Kelly came by - lovely in her pregnancy! She is due in early Feb. I believe! We had asked Kelly to find out what # embolization this was for me - and it's actually #34! We'e made 41 trips to Denver - but there were times I was there for another reason, like removing coils and not necessrily getting an embolization. Anyway, next thing I knew, Quinn the anesthesiologist came by to ask a few questions and then it was time to go! Mark always walks along next to my bed as we head to the surgical room. Of course I had to hop off the bed to go to the bathroom one more time, so got that taken care of! The surgical nurses are super nice and like to get in on photos and asked whether we had seen Dr. Yakes yet - since we hadn't, Dr. Yakes came over for hugs and to hear if we had any concerns or questions. He's looking awesome and skinny! I was telling him how happy I was that Shalon is looking so good, and he said that would be me pretty soon! Dr. Yakes felt that we made it a turning point during my last embolization and is very pleased with my progress! He made it sound like it's all downhill from now on! Yay! I sure hope so!
Didn't seem like I spent much time in recovery, even though Dr. Yakes told Mark he injected 27 cc's of alcohol this time! I was put in a holding room until my room was ready, and Dr. Yakes other P.A., Mandi, stopped by to "discharge" me as a patient. They'll do this the night before, so we won't have to wait for them in the morning to do their rounds and can leave as early as we want to catch our flight!
My sister Celia made me a cute, colorful hospital gown, along with matching pillowcase - I changed in to that after taking a much needed shower! I had some blood in my hair, although Kelley said I hardly lost any blood when Dr. Yakes was injecting alcohol - Dr. Yakes was very pleased about that!
Mark stayed with me until 10pm and he headed back to the room. Next morning as always, he brings me a white choc. mocha from Starbucks! Plus, a sticky bun to go with it - yum! One of the times Mark went down the hall, he ran into Don, one of my favorite nurses from my very first embolization @ Swedish that we nicknamed "The Dream Team"! I hadn't seen Don in a long time, so was very happy to see him! My current nurse of the day was Evan, and Evan told me later that Don is the one who orientated him - so I told him Don always did an awesome job! Love nurses that anticipate what you need before you even call them - Don is one of those!
Got dressed shortly after Don left and we started heading out to drop off prescriptions and get our things repacked @ our hotel! Oh! almost forgot! Dropped in on Dr. Yakes patient coordinator Sadie to set up my follow up appt.!
So that's pretty much our trip this time 'round! I may tweek this here and there, but I think this covers it! Thanks to everyone for their prayer and support! We arrived in CC about 8pm and headed out to Rockport to pick up our Hanzie from Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelleys house! They take such wonderful care of Hanz! Shelley said Hanz seemed a bit bummed after Mark dropped him off Monday afternoon. Luckily from what I hear, Hanz's buddy Bessie cheered him up right away when they started playing together outside! Shelley even bathes Hanz before she returns him to us, all clean and blow dryed! Leaving Hanz is one of the hardest things about my trips - the only way they are bearable for me is knowing what good hands Hanz is in! Jim and Shelley take great care of their 4 dogs and I know they both like Hanz a lot and he adores them! Many thanks!
Cyndi Schuman
Posted by Dulce at 11:06 PM 0 comments


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(Liasis fuscus)
The Water Python's scales are an iridescent dark grey colour which reflects the colours of the rainbow. An aboriginal myth tells the story of the Rainbow Serpent (Water Python) which created the rivers and valleys of northern Australia with it's brightly coloured body.
Water Pythons inhabit freshwater swamps, lagoons, creeks and rivers across the tropical north of Australia. Water Pythons have also been found in the Torres Straits and Papua New Guinea. They are very fond of water and in the wild frequently use water as an escape route.
Water Pythons feed on rats, bandicoots, wallabies, water birds (and their eggs) and has also be seen feeding on small Freshwater Crocodiles. Their prey is usually ambushed when it comes to drink. A juvenile Water Python's diet consists of frogs, fish and lizards.
Breeding tends to commence with a flurry of mating activity in February/March with eggs being laid some weeks later. The female Water Python will usually lay between 11 and 19 eggs.
Water Python Profiles
Sex: Male
Yellow was born here at Australia Zoo in 1986 and when he was smaller he used to participate in the daily shows in the Crocoseum. Now that he has reached a length of 1.85 metres, he has been put on display with his best mate, Little Guy, for all of our guests to enjoy.
Yellow absolutely loves a meal and has, to date, never missed one. His favourite are rats and he would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner if he could!
Yellow is a fairly lazy snake and apart from eating, his next favorite thing to do is lounge around basking under his heat light.


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Rays Home to Series Win over Jays
Rays 3, Blue Jays 2
Before the contest last night, the members of the Rays/Pepsi Wall of Fame met for a pre-game meal up in the leftfield conference room at the Trop. It was a very informal get together so that we can chat amongst ourselves ans catch up with each other before the game. It was a great event for this small group of extreme fans to just sit, eat and glow about the 2008 Rays squad.
Members from the first years' class of inductees to the crop of newbies for 2008 mingled and raved about the food and the gifts bestowed on us by the Rays. I do have to say that the Rays have been extremely supportive and responsive to the fan's needs in the last two years. It is a welcome sight from when the fan hosts and other Rays personnel used to just be a little less humanitarian and civil to the fan base.
Among the conversations were the play of B J Upton recently and the pricing of the post season ticket packages. I heard a few voices opinions that they will not be able to afford the playoff packages and felt terrible they could not support the team fully right now in their drive for a playoff berth. A few even wished the Rays would push back the date needed for the deposits and full payments so they could build their nest egg to purchase these packages.
It would be a true crime to not have every member of this impressive group there for the playoff contests. But in the economic times that we have, sometimes people have to make a choice in their own financial endeavors. With that in mind, please remember that your post season purchase deadline for Season Ticketholders is Sept 12th. Failure to secure a ticket package by this date will be a forfeiture of the reduced rate and the guarantee of your seats for the playoff games.
Rays 3, Blue Jays 2
When Toronto's Joe Inglett hit a 1-1- pitch to leftfield that was dipping and moving away from the playing field as it flew down the foul line. Eric Hinske came out of nowhere and leaped to his right and caught the ball in mid flight to secure the first out of the 1st inning for the Rays.
The play was remarkable to see, and was voted as the 4th best Web Gem on "ESPN's Baseball Tonight" for Thursday night. Hinske has been impressive both on the field and at the plate in the absence of Carl Crawford in his susal leftfield position. Hopefully the Rays; will reward Hinske for his efforts and give him a nice chunk of change in the off season to remain with the team.
B J Upton stole his 38th base in the 5th inning after singling to center field. Upton took off on the third pitch to Carlos Pena and arrived before the throw from Jay's catcher Rod Barajas. Upton was then picked off before the Jay's Jesse Litsch threw another pitch to Pena. Upton was casually moving off second base and did not see Litsch pivot in time to get back to second to prevent the tag for the third out in the inning.
Upton's 38th stolen base currently has him ranked third in the Al, 3 behind current leader Jacobs Ellsbury of the Red Sox. Upton's 14th caught stealing play of the year has him still on top of the list for the major leagues this season. Upton currently has been caught 3 more times than his nearest AL competitor, the Angels Chone Figgans.
Willy Aybar has been a great force at the plate and in manning third since the injury to Evan Longoria. Aybar again provided offensive support for the Rays with his 8th homer of the year to deep right centerfield stands. His solo shot in the 6th inning proved to be the game winner for the Rays.
Aybar is batting .277, with 4 homers and 11 RBIs and 5 walks since taking over for Longoria on August 8th in Seattle.
Edwin Jackson was rewarded for his great control and firm pitching tonight with his 11th win of the year. Jackson threw 106 pitches over 7 innings and gave the Rays Bullpen a much needed breather tonight.
Tonight was also Jackson's 100th career appearance in a game. Jackson has now won a career-high 11 game this season. His previous high was 5 set in 2007. Jackson has also won 5 of his last 6 starts and seems to be peaking this year at the right point for the Rays. His only loss over those 6 starts was in Texas where he only allowed 1 run on a Ian Kinsler homer in the first inning. In that period, he has a 2.63 ERA over 34.2 innings.
Cliff Floyd also hit a monster solo homer in the 3rd inning last night that travels well over 400 feet to within a few feet of the Rays tank in right centerfield. Floyd has been on a bit of an offensive tear lately hitting .311 in the last 14 games, and is currently the second best hitter ( .341 ) to ever play at the Trop trailing only former Yankee Bernie Williams ( .374 ).
The Rays other run was scored in the after Akinora Iwamura lead off the game with a double to deep center. Upton then hit a single to left to move Aki into scoring position at third base. Cliff Floyd then came up and hit a high sacrifice fly to center that score Iwamura and put the Rays up 1-0.
The Rays finally gave up the shutout in the 8th inning as Alex Rios lead off the innning with a ground rule double that bounced over the centerfield wall before Upton could catch up to it. Jackson then was relieved by Chad Bradford then got Vernon Wells to ground out to Bartlett who threw to first to get the first out of the inning and put Rios at third.
Adam Lind then got an infield single to second to score Rios and put the Jays on the board 3-1. Trever Miller was the brought in to face Lyle Overbay and got him to strike out for the second out of the inning. Grant Balfour then relieved Miller and gave up a RBI double to Rod Barajas, who scored Lind on the play to put the Jays within one 3-2. Jose Bautista, who is 0-11 since coming up for the Jays, then struck out to end the 8th inning.
Congrats to the Rays for having next Weds. game against the Yanbkees picked up by ESPN as their primary broadcast game of the night. Thiss marks the 9th nationally televised contest for the Rays this season. It is by far a franchise high mark for the team.
Dan Wheeler then came on and pitched an inspired 9th inning for the Rays. Wheeler got the Jays out on 12 pitches to earn his 10th save of the year. Wheeler struck out the first two Jays batters before Barajas hit a liner to Aki to end the game. It also secured the Rays 29th series win, which is tops in the majors this year.


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Tuesday Morning
Duration: 8 Weeks 2/27, 3/6, 3/13, 3/20, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17
Description: This class is offered for owners who want to expand their dogs' skills. The goal will be to prepare anyone who is interested getting a CGC certificate for their dog or competing in Agility, Rally or Obedience, as well as to provide real-life skills that make for a dog to be a joy to have in public. Skills will include heeling without training equipment, attention even in distractions, hand/ voice signals from a distance, rock-solid stays, recalls and more.
Instructor: Nancy Dougan
Please Note:
Owners should bring copy of current vaccination record. All dogs must have current vaccination record on file with CWDTC. Please update yearly.
Bring your dog to ALL classes


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(NewsUSA) - Beauty, like health, goes beyond the visible surface. While many of us manage our wellness via diet, exercise and check-ups, we don't apply the same 360-degree approach to our beauty regimen. It's possibly due to lack of viable options.
(NewsUSA) - Beauty, like health, goes beyond the visible surface. While many of us manage our wellness via diet, exercise and check-ups, we don't apply the same 360-degree approach to our beauty regimen. It's possibly due to lack of viable options.
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Open access walks in Cumbria
The historic new right of Open Access, sometimes known as the 'right to roam', started in Cumbria in May 2005. Open Access means that you can walk across miles of spectacular open country that was previously out of bounds to the public. There is over 825 square miles (2,100 square kilometres) of open access land in Cumbria alone. The opportunities to explore and discover little known areas and to link up existing footpaths in new ways are endless!
On open access land you are allowed to walk, run, climb, picnic, take photographs, paint, watch wildlife and above all appreciate the stunning landscape. The new rights do not extend to camping, cycling, horse riding, and the driving of any vehicle other than a mobility scooter or buggy.
Walking on open-access land can be challenging, as you will often be a long way from recognised paths or even obvious landmarks. Stiles and gates may also be few and far between. As a large percentage of the access land is open country, good navigation skills and suitable clothing are essential. Also your access rights can sometimes be restricted for conservation, land management and public safety reasons - this can be checked here.
The county council's Countryside Access team has teamed up with local guidebook writer, Mark Richards, to produce a series of downloadable leaflets to help you explore a variety of open access landscapes in all corners of the county. Please take a look through the left hand menu which lists all the walks, each page provides a general description and a facility for you to download the route information and map. This work has been supported by a number of partner organisations including the Friends of the Lake District, Cumbria Tourism, Natural England and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Full photo galleries of all the walks can be found on Mark's web site at www.markrichards.info
A compact taster leaflet which encapsulates 6 walks is also available from the quick links menu.


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Am currently listening to some records. I always used to be quite sceptical about the whole "records sound better" theory but I have succumbed, I much prefer listening to music on vinyl as it sounds that bit better.
That being said, other factors have to be considered; I can't exactly listen to my Dig Out Your Soul or Chinese Demorcacy LPs on the train to work, and I can't put my records on if I'm busy doing other things whilst listening to the music because of the fact that I will have to turn them over etc.
Not a huge fan of downloaded music, I am a bit of a saddo who likes the artwork etc and also having a new album in my hands is always exciting. But this is another area where LPs come into their own; the artwork looks more impressive and you feel you have bought something more substantial. I read an interview with some geezer from some band once, he was ranting about CDs and saying "how the **** could you love this?" He may have a point, I dunno
Anyway, for me it's vinyl. I don't have anywhere near as many records as I do CDs (basically have a few GNR & Oasis albums and boots, a couple of Beatles LPs then a whole load of GNR, Oasis & Motley 7" & 12" singles) but if I own an album on both CD and LP and am just going to sit and listen to it then I will put the LP on, no question.


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American Idol may no longer be the must-watch TV show that it once was, but if last year's attendance numbers were any indication, a local competition styled after the singing contest is only gaining in popularity.
Songsters in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties will once again have a chance to belt their hearts out on stage and compete for a $2,500 scholarship at the South Bay Teen Idol on March 22.
The Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos is holding auditions for the singing competition through Jan. 12. Entrants can choose either a video audition Jan. 7-10, 7-10 p.m. each evening, or a live audition on Jan. 12, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., on a first come, first served basis.
Judges will select 20 contestants to compete in the semifinals, which will be held Feb. 8. From there, 10 will go on to the final competition on March 22.
The contest is open to teens in grades 8-12 who live in Santa Clara or Santa Cruz county. The minimum age to enter is 13. There is a $20 entry fee.
As for the audition itself, contestants are free to sing a song of their choice, as long as they can do it a cappella.
The ultimate prize is $2,500 for the winning singer and $500 for his or her school. Second- and third-place cash prizes will also be awarded.
For more information or to register, visit sili convalleyjcc.org/idol.


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White member of Boston Asian gang pleads guilty
John Willis leader of Boston Chinatown gang
A white leader of one of Boston Chinatown's normally insular Asian gangs has pleaded guilty to federal drug and money laundering charges.
John Willis, known as Bac Guai, or "white devil," pleaded guilty Thursday to what prosecutors called a "vast conspiracy" that also included prostitution.
The Boston Globe reports that the 42-year-old Willis is one of dozens of reputed gang members swept up in a 2011 sweep through Chinatown. Most have already pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors say Willis, from the city's Dorchester neighborhood, had been introduced to the Chinatown underworld when he was about 12 years old, learned to speak Cantonese, and was essentially adopted by a Chinese family.
Described as an 'enforcer,' he faces more than a decade in prison at sentencing June 6.
Willis's lawyer had no comment.


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