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Human Longevity Inc.'s Open Search provides researchers access to the data on over 10,000 genomes.* This browser-based search supports efforts to understand human genetic diversity and empowers researchers to quickly search through our genomic database. This database contains more than 200 million variants that are linked to ClinVar and other trusted databases.
We report on the sequencing of 10,545 human genomes at 30x to 40x coverage with an emphasis on quality metrics and novel variant and sequence discovery. We find that 84% of an individual human genome can be sequenced confidently. This high-confidence region includes 91.5% of exon sequence and 95.2% of known pathogenic variant positions. We present the distribution of over 150 million single-nucleotide variants in the coding and noncoding genome. Each newly sequenced genome contributes an average of 8,579 novel variants. In addition, each genome carries on average 0.7 Mb of sequence that is not found in the main build of the hg38 reference genome. The density of this catalog of variation allowed us to construct high-resolution profiles that define genomic sites that are highly intolerant of genetic variation. These results indicate that the data generated by deep genome sequencing are of the quality necessary for clinical use.Read Paper
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Effective Date: October 24, 2016
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Floral Abstract Black Coffee Mug
Tags / abstract / anshukumarart / art / cushion / floral / flower / mug / Mugs / painting / Pink / White
Explore the new depths of your imagination while sipping Coffee from our premium Ceramic Mug
- Wrap around art
- Huge handle for firm and comfortable gripping
- Dishwasher and Microwave safe to let you enjoy every little bit of your Hot or Cold beverages
- Every purchase of yours at PosterGuy pays an Artist
Dispatch Time: 1-2 days after placing the order. Delivered in 4-6 business days.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

subset: commoncrawl


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MapleStory Cygnus Knights Edition Review
- Publisher: NEXON MOBILE
- Genre: Adventure
- Released: 30 Jun, 2011
- Size: 18.4 MB
- Price: FREE!
- Warm, pleasing visuals.
- Optimized level up system.
- A lot of content.
- Repetitive gameplay.
- Finicky movement control.
- Text box errors.
Fans of Maple Story or of grind heavy RPGs will feel right at home with this well made adaptation.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
For those of you unfamiliar with Maple Story, it's a free to play Korean MMO that's been around for the latter half of the 2000s. Cygnus Knights is the 2nd release of a single player version of the franchise for mobile devices, allowing play with two characters through a world full of endlessly respawing monsters.
You can play either as Mikhail the Soul Knight or Oz the Flame Wizard, essentially giving you a play choice between melee combat or magic (although it takes a bit of play to earn your magic powers as Oz). The two are childhood friends being trained in their respective classes when they're thrown into a greater struggle via a mysterious silver hair cloaked figure.
If you've played Maple Story before, the gameplay is pretty much the same. You accept 'kill monster' and fetch quests in towns, and you travel around grinding on monsters for loot, cash and experience. The game comes with customizable hotkeys to make play easier, and for those not wanting to worry about where to place their experience points every time they level up, the game comes with an optimized option where the points are placed automatically.
Visually the game is top notch, with beautifully drawn, and iconic characters and monsters on lush backgrounds, with every piece of weapon or armor being displayed on your character adding to a sense of progression. The sound effects suit the mood of the game, and while the music is nice enough, the tracks are very short, and the endless looping can become mind numbing. Even though there is no online play, the game still features a shop where you can buy enhancements with real money, and a mailbox system so friends can stay in touch while playing through the game.
Maple Story is well translated to the iPhone. The only major problem with the port is that the touch screen d-pad is finicky, which makes jumping on platforms and climbing vines troublesome. The ultimate judgment call comes down to if you enjoy grind heavy RPGs or not. If so, Maple Story Cygnus Knights definitely warrants a look.
Enter the wonderful world of MapleStory, the casual RPG loved by millions worldwide, in this all new adventure! Experience the rise of Empress Cygnus as you take on the role of one of her elite Cygnus Knights. Follow the origins of the mighty Dawn Warrior or the clever Blaze Wizard as you battle your way through countless zany monsters using a vast array of explosive skills and customizable equipment. Meet up with your favorite MapleStory characters as well as some wacky new additions! Dodge, weave, leap, and zoom into action in the biggest mobile MapleStory yet!
-Twelve never before-seen areas!
-Dozens of brand new quests!
-Make your way across precarious platforms, dangerous conveyor belts, and bouncy springboards in this arcade-style side scroller!
-For the first time ever, tame and ride monsters in a MapleStory mobile game!
-Aim for a high score in four exciting new Mini-games!
-Change the controls however you like with a fully customizable interface!
-Post ads and messages to other Maplers with the in-game Ad Board!
-Use the mailbox to exchange mail with your friends!
★Payment info★
The App store applies a $1 temporary holding fee to register or renew the credit card on your account. Once the card has been verified, this money will be returned to your account automatically.
★Supported Models★
**Add in notes about 4S and iOS 5.0 and above
★ Related Sites ★
Nexon Mobile Homepage (http://global.nexonmobile.com)
Mobile Maple Cafe (http://maplecafe.nexonmobile.com)
Customer Support e-mail ([email protected])


text: Sonam Kapoor who is always known for her fashion sense recently lashed out at media for shaming her on her controversial black dress which the actress wore at an event in Mumbai. The actress responded by saying, "I was very comfortable in my outfit. I said a lot of pertinent things, but obviously you guys (media) rather report this."


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How Do You Know You Are Ready To Tell The Story You Are Now Living?/
I think many times, in telling our stories our desire exceeds our abilities, even when our talent is up to the task. How do you know when you are truly ready? What do you need to know? Ira Sachs has a new film in the theaters this week, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, and addressed this issue for the WGA Blog. He kindly offered to let us repost it here.
by Ira Sachs
It took me nearly 25 years to finally feel ready to write a film about New York. My first job in the city was the summer of 1984, when I was the assistant to Eric Bogosian at his office down on Mott Street, and I moved to the city full-time in 1988. When I started writing feature films, my mind and imagination were still rooted in Memphis, where I had grown up, and where I'd made my first two features, The Delta and Forty Shades of Blue. I lived in NYC, but it was my hometown that I knew from the inside. For me to feel ready to make a film about a place, I need both intimacy and distance. The intimacy with this city came over time, with the creation of memories; the distance came much more slowly.
In many ways, New York grabbed me too hard for me to be able to step outside and look at my life with any clarity. Yes, I was in therapy – many days a week, in fact; it was still the age of psychoanalysis – but my life was narrow and obsessive. The things I cared about, and searched out, were love and sex and making movies. The New York I discovered was a nocturnal one, of late nights in cabs, or on subway platforms; in restaurants with a lover starting a fight, before ordering the next drink; of mornings when I hoped the first coffee at the café on Smith Street would help me through the day. I recognized my own New York in the images I saw in films like Goodfellas or Chantal Akerman's News from Home. A city driven and in motion. Lonely at times, always on the verge of sadness and ecstasy.
But in my late 30s, I had the good/bad fortune of having life as I knew it explode. I was in a relationship that had been ticking dynamite from the start, but that I tried to control and keep going for nearly a decade. The New York of those years was all contrast: daytime shiny surface, nighttime full of secrets and despair (the kind of double life that has become nearly epidemic in dramatic television these days, so, clearly, my story is not unique). But when the cards came tumbling down – symbolized perhaps most dramatically in a 34-day crack binge that left my partner in the Lenox Hill Hospital mental ward and me a trembling wreck alone in our apartment – I knew on some profound level that it was time for a change.
And so I did. It took a few years (and a few 12-step programs), but by 40, I was doing things differently. As a gay man who had come of age in the minutes after Stonewall, to live a transparent life did not come naturally to me. But like a baby who touches the burning stove one last time before knowing not to, when the New York of my 20s and 30s blew up around me – when the burden of hiding my behavior in this city became impossible to maintain – I finally was ready for real change. To put it most simply, I chose to live an honest life.
And it was only then that I felt truly ready, or able, to write a film about this city. With co-screenwriter Mauricio Zacharias, I wrote my fourth feature, and my first set in New York, Keep the Lights On. What I found, happily, is that the stories were there. The experience and the feelings were all there. I now have them all in my hand, and in my mind, and my New York feels for the first time full of movies I must share.


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The allegation by doctors with expertise in prison experimentation and torture that the Bush administration conducted "illegal and unethical human experimentation and research" on detainees while in CIA custody after 9/11 is certainly newsworthy. See this, this and this.
Specifically, Physicians for Human Rights – an international doctors' organization – alleges that:
High-value detainees captured during the Bush administration's "war on terror," who were subjected to brutal torture techniques, were used as "guinea pigs" to gauge the effectiveness of various torture techniques, a practice that has raised troubling comparisons to Nazi-era human experimentation.
"Health professionals working for and on behalf of the CIA monitored the interrogations of detainees, collected and analyzed the results of [the] interrogations, and sought to derive generalizable inferences to be applied to subsequent interrogations," said the 27-page report, entitled "Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence of Experimentation in the 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program." "Such acts may be seen as the conduct of research and experimentation by health professionals on prisoners, which could violate accepted standards of medical ethics, as well as domestic and international law. These practices could, in some cases, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity."
For example, CIA medical personnel obtained experimental research data by subjecting more than 25 detainees to individual and combined torture techniques, including sleep deprivation and stress positioning, as a way of understanding "whether one type of application over another would increase the subjects' susceptibility to severe pain," the report said, adding that the information derived from that research informed "subsequent [torture] practices."
If the allegations are true, such experimentation would certainly violate the Nuremberg Code, the Geneva conventions, and the War Crimes Act of 1996.
Nuremberg Code
Among other things, the Nuremberg Code prohibits experimentation conducted without the voluntary consent of the subject. Voluntary consent means:
The person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonable to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment.
Moreover, the Code requires that the subject be allowed to stop the experiment at any time "if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible."
The Code also requires that "the experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury."
Here, the experimentation did not seek consent at any point. And – rather than limiting pain – the experimentation was specifically conducted as a way to determine how to maximize the pain the subject would experience.
Geneva Convention and War Crimes Act
The Geneva Conventions prohibit torture, mutilation or humiliating and degrading treatment. For example, the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits:
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; [or]
(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment
And the War Crimes Act of 1996, a federal statute set forth at 18 U.S.C. § 2441, makes it a federal crime for any U.S. national, whether military or civilian, to violate the Geneva Convention by engaging in murder, torture, or inhuman treatment. The statute applies not only to those who carry out the acts, but also to those who ORDER IT, know about it, or fail to take steps to stop it. The statute applies to everyone, no matter how high and mighty. Indeed, even the lawyers and other people who aided in the effort may be war criminals; see also this article, this one, and this press release.
The detainees were obviously subjected to mutilation, cruel treatment, torture, and humiliating and degrading treatment, and so both the Convention and the War Crimes Act were violated.
The Bigger Picture
But it is important to keep the medical experimentation story in context.
The bigger picture is that torture doesn't work, it reduces our national security, and it is mainly used to extract false confessions and as a form of intimidation to squash dissent.
Don't believe me?
Okay, then don't read this (and whatever you do, don't click through to look at the links!)


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Stand Up Boldly
No Cussing Club
Standards of Strength
Stand for Truth
Yes, Aaronic Priesthood holders, we are at war. And in this war, the best way to defend against evil is to actively promote righteousness. You cannot listen to foul words and pretend you don't hear. You cannot watch, alone or with others, images you know are filthy and pretend you don't see. You cannot touch any unclean thing and pretend it's no big deal. You cannot be passive when Satan seeks to destroy that which is wholesome and pure. Instead, stand up boldly for what you know is true!
When you hear or see anything that violates the Lord's standards, remember who you are—a soldier in the army of God Himself, empowered with His holy priesthood. There is no better weapon against the enemy, the father of lies, than the truth that will come out of your mouth as you exercise the power of the priesthood. Most of your peers will respect you for your courage and your integrity. Some will not. But that doesn't matter. You will gain the respect and trust of Heavenly Father because you used His power to accomplish His purposes.


text:
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Jordan Swing scored six of his career-high 24 points in overtime as Alabama-Birmingham rallied past Texas-El Paso 78-72 Wednesday night, snapping a six-game losing streak and posting its first Conference USA win of the season.
Swing hit the layup with 5 seconds left in regulation that tied it at 64 after the Blazers (9-12, 1-5) erased a 15-point, second-half deficit.
UAB used a 22-7 run, with Swing scoring eight and Rod Rucker seven, to make it 50-50 with 6:08 remaining in regulation, but could not take the lead until Fahro Alihodzic's layup opened overtime.
With the Blazers ahead 71-65, the Miners closed the gap to 71-70 on Jacques Streeter's three-point play with 2:13 remaining. Swing hit four straight free throws and Alihodzic added a layup with 20 seconds left, making it 77-72.
McKenzie Moore's 18 points led UTEP (11-8, 4-2), which had won five of its previous six games.


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Gas prices are giving handyman Sal Kalil a very tough time.
"I'm putting more money into my truck than into anything else in my life," he says.
His 1995 pickup only gets about 10 miles per gallon, tethering him to work – painting, carpentry, odd jobs – close to his Pasadena home.
"I'm not eating like I usually do and am forgoing all kinds of things because of this," Mr. Kalil says.
His predicament will be common to more and more people nationwide in the next few weeks as gas prices surge toward the $4-per-gallon mark, a psychological threshold at which analysts say consumers begin to dramatically modify their behavior.
For the moment, the average price of self-serve regular in the nation's most populous state is 31 cents per gallon higher ($3.83) than the national average ($3.52), according to the California Energy Commission. But from Feb. 8 to 15, the price Californians paid already topped $4.10.
The result is impacting people and businesses in the Golden State in profound ways.
"We are spending $90,000 a week on gasoline for our fleet," says Keith Lutrel, general manager of Lutrel Trucking Inc., in Bakersfield. He calculates the 60-cent rise per gallon since August has bumped up the cost to keep his fleet of 35 trucks on the road by $15,000 per week.
"It's getting harder and harder to survive with fuel prices like these," says his brother Rick. "Only the really big companies – 200-400 trucks – can survive nowadays," he says. "Will this [firm] last another generation? I doubt it."
Michael Kopilevich, owner of OnTime Limousine in Los Angeles, says high-priced gas is now burning through about 20 percent of his company's revenue, compared with 7 to 10 percent in 2008.
"In general, everything in my life is changed in a bad way because gas prices are tied to everything … it's just a big chain reaction," says Mr. Kopilevich, whose firm has 12 limousines and 7 full-time drivers. To make ends meet, he says, he is deferring maintenance, vacations, and new-car purchases.
The owner of family-run Affordable Limousine Service – who requested his name not be used – says he is making ends meet by moonlighting with other companies that require chauffeur's licenses, even making food deliveries.
"To stay in business, we have to keep cutting our prices to the bone," he says. He wonders aloud whether competing firms are forgoing insurance payments.
"We only have three cars and we're family owned so we can't lay anyone off. We're barely making enough money to pay our bills."
From messenger services to pizza deliverers, anyone who burns fuel to get to their market is being hit hard by the high prices and trying to pass them on to their customers.
"We're trying to get our customers to pay a surcharge, and they are screaming that they can't pay it and will go elsewhere," says Rick Lutrel of the family truck firm. "We are looking for ways to band together."
The Automobile Club of Southern California meanwhile says that the price of regular fuel is 19.4 cents higher than a week ago and 51.4 cents higher than a year ago. Prices have increased 14 straight days and 26 out of the last 27, they say.
Spokeswoman Marie Montgomery told the L.A. Daily News she is optimistic that the spikes could signal an early peak in seasonal prices that might lead to a sooner decline.
"Hopefully that peak comes early," she said. "Generally speaking we see the peak of L.A. prices in May. We started a little earlier this year and maybe we'll peak a little earlier."
Others say they can't wait for a price drop any more and are changing their vacation plans.
"We usually take a big family trip, but now we're just going to stay home and go to the beach a lot," says Becky Chastain, playing a video game on her iPhone in the front seat of her mother's Volvo XC 90 at a Sherman Oaks gas station.
Ms. Chastain says her mom went inside the station to pay the cashier to save the obligatory 45-cent fee for using an ATM card. She says she understands that prices are soaring because Iran announced on Monday they would stop selling oil to England and France.
"I know Iran threatened to shut the Straits of Hormuz, which is the passage for one-fifth of the world's oil," says Chastain. "And I'm embarrassed to say I had to get out a world map to see where that was."


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First-time Seabourn Cruiser - Page 1by Paul Motter | 10.28.11
My first sailing experience with Seabourn Cruises finally fills a gap in my cruise experience that has haunted me for the last five years. So, how did it go?
|Caviar Hors D' Oeuvres on Seabourn
My job is to write about cruise lines. I have two regular outlets, FoxNews.com, one of the top news outlets in the country, and CruiseMates, one of the leading cruise commentary sites online.
My FoxNews travel editor defines their audience (32,000,000 visitors per month) as people looking into buying a cruise – but not cruise aficionados who already know what they like. CruiseMates readers are different; they know and care about specific cruise details.
This article is about my first and only Seabourn cruise experience, an award winning luxury cruise line. Plenty of articles praising the line uncritically already exist, which is appropriate for a top luxury cruise line. But my goal is to write articles truly helpful to the person considering purchasing a cruise on the line – where the details of the experience matter more than the décor or history.
For example, it's easy to gush about a luxury car; a Mercedes or BMW, in a general car magazine, but if that is your price range you really want to know the differences between the two cars. If you are in the market for a luxury cruise, Seabourn is certainly one of the best in the world. It has received accolades as the "World's Best Cruise Line" from Condé Nast and Travel and Leisure magazines, for example. But if you read those polls you will see that other luxury cruise lines also finish so close that the methodology of those polls alone may create results that don't coincide with your personal priorities.
So I would like to start at this specific point, luxury cruise lines, and take this review from there to see where Seabourn fits in. And just to get it over with, if what you were hoping to find here was a glowing Seabourn review then here is one on Seabourn Odyssey. You can go there now and skip my review which will have a different focus. To be clear, I don't disagree with that review, I just think it is a bit one-dimensional.
Can There Be a Bad Seabourn Review?
I have stated my oath to be unbiased when covering cruise lines for years now. I also disclose the fact that I was given a complimentary cabin and airfare for this and other cruises (like the vast majority of writers). But I am paid to report my findings and while I don't see my opinions as more important than anyone else's, I do think they are far more informed than most people – since I have an extensive cruise history – but that never means I don't understand and value the fact that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Opinions are never wrong in my book; they are personal.
I am going to point out the good with the bad in this article, and I have found that some devoted Seabourn cruisers don't like to read anything negative about "their" cruise line. The only aspect of that attitude that troubles me at all is that some of these people have attacked me personally, as a professional cruise reviewer, saying I lie, write with an agenda, am not qualified or just don't get it.
All I can say is this: there is nothing "unfathomable" about Seabourn to me. Nor is Seabourn a private club where one has to pass a test, agree to an attitude adjustment or come with pedigree papers to get onboard. It is a cruise line business, like any other, that will sell a cruise to anyone.
I admit I had a certain dilemma when it came to reviewing Seabourn, until my recent cruise I never found it easy to get aboard one of their ships for various reasons. I am not saying this was their fault, I am just saying I have a way of working that didn't jive with their way of working. There are some cruise industry people who do not like me because I am honest. But I have to say the most professional cruise lines accept all criticism graciously, because they understand that (1) I would never criticize them for personal reasons and (2) in the long run, a cruise line wants to have customers that appreciate what they do, and avoid the ones who do not. Therefore, as long as what I write is accurate (and I have full confidence in my accuracy) my benefit to the customer and the cruise line is finding the perfect match, and not selling anyone something they don't like.
First thing First; the Seabourn Experience
First of all, Seabourn is known primarily for two things; food and service. The food on Seabourn is very, very good; gourmet quality. In this department I will defer to our CruiseMates' culinary expert, Janice Wald Henderson, the Los Angeles editor of the Essential Restaurant Guide at epicurious.com and a regular contributor to Bon Appétit Magazine.
Her review of Seabourn cuisine is highly complimentary. I suggest you read it if food is a main differentiator for your cruise selections. Janice was wowed by Seabourn's food, and because I do not claim to be a gourmet, I will just say I was very impressed, although I also saw small things I would not consider acceptable on a luxury cruise line.
The first night we dined in the Colonnade I said to my wife; "Everything is delicious." And it was. The theme that night was fresh seafood, it had just been newly provisioned from the North Atlantic that day and it was exquisite. In retrospect, I think I should have dined in the Colonnade more nights, but since I was sailing alone the second half of the cruise, I accepted a kind invitation to dine at hosted tables in The Restaurant every night. In any case, food and wine are not my specialty, which is why CruiseMates has Janice Wald Henderson.
In addition to the link to her complete article on Seabourn food above, I just asked Janice for an update to summarize the cuisine of Seabourn for this article. Here is what she sent to me:
Seabourn delivers top-notch cuisine befitting its sophisticated clientele. With ships no larger than 450 passengers, Seabourn can dedicate itself to dishes that require intensive preparation. Its cooking style is modern American, based on solid French techniques. Consulting chef Charlie Palmer, Seabourn's self-described "gustatorial guru," heads Manhattan's landmark Aureole restaurant (among many credits) and gets what today's tony cruisers long to eat; smallish plates of prime fresh ingredients, imaginatively prepared. Flavor is driven by the quality of foodstuff, rather than added sugar or fats. It's easy to imagine yourself onshore at an upscale, fashion-forward intimate eatery at most dining venues onboard.
Personally, I found myself noticing the food service more than the food itself. A big part of the dining experience for me is the efficiency of the dining staff. In that light, having Janice's comments on record, I have some of my own culinary comments under the service portion of this review.
Moving on with the experience, the onboard atmosphere appears to be the most important aspect of a Seabourn cruise. Seabourn is a truly serene sea-going experience. The "yacht" moniker is very apt. Sitting on the aft deck, watching the wake of the ship disappear over the pure horizon, enjoying a drink and smelling the salt air is something every true cruise lover cherishes. Seabourn really brings this feeling home.
The yacht metaphor defines the cruise. Unlike mainstream cruise ships, there are no intrusive announcements, no flyers placed under doors or inside The Herald (the daily event schedule) to publicize onboard events. The onboard events do not include promotional sales pitches disguised as lectures for spa treatments or recommend shoreside shopping. To its credit, Seabourn has no art auctions, no photographers, no bingo games, no singing waiters and no kid's programs at all. It also has no movie theater, computer learning center or dance hosts.
So, what does Seabourn have? Peace and tranquility. As a cruiser you are essentially on your own, armed only with a minimal daily schedule for the day's events. Those events include card games (bridge), quizzes, enrichment lectures, cooking demonstrations, team trivia and dance classes. They also offer bridge (where the captain steers the ship) and galley tours, a nice touch. I had been told that regular Seabourn cruisers regard the daily Trivia game as a "blood sport" often with a dozen teams or more playing. I played, and while I didn't see much difference in Seabourn trivia over other cruise lines, Cruise Director John started out by saying he had to Google four different answers on which he had been challenged the previous day. Obviously, Seabourn cruisers do take trivia seriously.
There is an extensive library onboard where you can read daily newspapers like USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, etc. There is also very good programming on the in-suite television. Nappers holding books are a common sight, especially outside on the generous poolside chaise lounges. There is a large Spa area, with free steam rooms for men and women in the locker rooms. If you book a massage you get access to the "thermal suite" of heated chairs, aromatherapy steam rooms and a dry sauna.
After dark, dinner is the main attraction. The casino is a dead zone unless blackjack is your game. I lost $50 on video poker in 15 minutes, not once getting a hand better than three of a kind. Penurious slots are common on cruise ships, so I didn't expect to win, but for $50 it would have been nice if the distraction lasted a little longer, especially when there is so little else to do.
Meal times are short; breakfast from 8:00 to 9:30 or 10:00; Lunch from 12:00 to 1:30 or 2:00. The open-seating dinner hours are 7:00 to 9:00 with no other planned activities until 9:30 dancing and 10:00 showtime in the main theater.
So, the main thing a first-time Seabourn cruiser needs to understand is this; the Seabourn experience is quiet. Their trademarked name is "The Yachts of Seabourn," not Seabourn Cruises. This is how the regulars view and prefer the experience. When the line added its three new ships of 30,000-tons some writers questioned whether you can still call these larger ships "yachts?" I say Yes, indeed, the word is about the experience, not the size of the ship.
Continue Article >> The Seabourn Reputation (Page 2)


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February 2008
It is ironic that rabbits are a symbol of fertility throughout the world. Recent estimates suggest that 25% of rabbit species worldwide are declining or endangered. Examples of declining rabbit species include:
An endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit juvenile born at the captive breeding facility at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA. Photo: Tara Davila
- Brazilian rabbit—Brazil
- Volcano rabbit— Mexico
- Amami rabbit—Japan
- Riverine rabbit—South Africa
- California brush rabbit—USA
- Pygmy rabbit—USA
Until recently, the status of pygmy rabbit populations in the U.S has received little attention. Their range consists of the Great Basin and surrounding intermountain regions, including Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. There is one exception—the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit. It was extirpated from the wild in Washington by 2004, and this genetically distinct population was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered distinct population.
Subsequent surveys documented the disappearance of many historic populations in other states in which pygmy rabbits reside—all of which now classify pygmy rabbits as "a species of concern" or "vulnerable." Although pygmy rabbits are also considered a federal "species at risk," the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined petitions for listing pygmy rabbits as threatened range wide—citing insufficient evidence and inconsistent survey techniques.
What is so special about pygmy rabbits?
The unique life history and specialized habitat requirements of this species have made conserving and restoring this small rabbit especially challenging.
Pygmy rabbits are on average the smallest rabbit, with large individuals weighing about 1 pound.
Pygmy rabbits require habitats containing both tall, dense sagebrush and deep soils.
Up to 90% of its winter diet and up to 50% of its summer diet consists of sagebrush leaves. Most animals avoid sagebrush because of its toxic chemical defenses.
In addition to the volcano rabbit of Mexico, pygmy rabbits are the only North American rabbit that dig their own burrows.
They dig a series of residential burrows for hiding and thermal cover. They also dig a separate natal burrow in which they place newborn young.
Females return to the natal burrow 1-2 times per day to nurse, covering the entrance with soil after each visit. Young emerge from the natal burrow 15 days after birth.
Pygmy rabbits mate during chasing sessions, and mating stimulates ovulation, thus they can become pregnant again immediately after giving birth. Pygmy rabbits, therefore, can have up to four litters of 2-7 young between February and July every year.
Pygmy rabbits are prey for a host of sagebrush-steppe predators, including coyotes, badgers, weasels, and raptors.
Why are pygmy rabbits at risk or endangered?
Because pygmy rabbits are restricted to sagebrush habitats with deep soils, they have always been rare and patchily distributed across their range. Biologists agree that the main threats to pygmy rabbits across their range are habitat loss and fragmentation caused by:
- conversion of sagebrush rangeland to agriculture;
- development, including oil and gas production; and
- wildfire frequency in some areas.
In addition, most remaining pygmy rabbit habitat—throughout its range—is currently grazed by livestock, which may reduce habitat quality for pygmy rabbits. In some areas, wildfires have destroyed remaining pockets of pygmy rabbit habitats. The temperature and frequency of these fires may increase by the invasion of the exotic annual grass, cheatgrass; thus, it is more likely to destroy sagebrush stands. Coyotes—important rabbit predators—have increased in number over the last few decades, presumably because of habitat changes. In addition, diseases like tularemia and sylvatic plague can decimate rabbit populations periodically.
Pygmy rabbits in Washington State, however, have been particularly vulnerable. This population was separated from those in other parts of their range as sagebrush communities receded with climate changes. Analysis of the rabbit's genome suggests that the divergence of the Washington population occurred between 15,000 and 115,000 years ago. Because of long-term geographic isolation and local habitat fragmentation, the Washington population exhibits significantly lower genetic diversity than the populations in neighboring states.
To complicate matters, the existing population in Washington (already low) has declined in diversity, over the last 50 years, which may have reduced the fitness, thus survival and reproduction, of this small and isolated group of pygmy rabbits. Burrow surveys and other records indicate a continuously declining population during the last 20 years. Habitat loss and fragmentation was also accelerated in this state when dams on the Columbia River provided irrigation that allowed land in these arid regions to be converted to agriculture.
What can be done for the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits?
To date, efforts at conserving pygmy rabbits have focused on acquiring information about their distribution, abundance, and life history.
In Washington, management efforts by a number of agencies have included acquiring and restoring potential habitat for the endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit—a slow and expensive task. Because some pygmy rabbit habitat is contained within private lands, agencies have attempted to work with local ranchers and farmers to develop mutually beneficial resource management plans and Safe Harbor agreements. Many private landowners are wary of having endangered species on their land and mistrust state and federal natural resource agencies, however, so this work has been sensitive and arduous. As a parallel course of action, and perhaps the last chance for saving the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit4, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife initiated a program in 2001 for captive breeding and restoration of pygmy rabbits, which is now a key component of the Federal Recovery Plan for the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit.
The last 16 Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were trapped from their last remaining population at Sagebrush Flats in central Washington.
Animals were transported to captive breeding facilities at Washington State University in Pullman, Oregon Zoo in Portland, and Northwest Trek Animal Park near Pullayup, Washington.
The genetic profile of all rabbits was ascertained by sequencing DNA from a skin biopsy.
The ongoing captive breeding program takes into account the pygmy rabbit's special needs:
Animals are housed individually because they exhibit aggression in breeding pens. The pens are designed to allow for at least 2 feet of soil for building burrows;
Pens contain artificial nestboxes and burrows, and are connected with breeding tunnels with doors;
Pygmy rabbits are fed commercial and custom rabbit pellets consisting of grains, alfalfa, grass hay, vitamins, and minerals. Each breeding facility grows fresh grasses and greens, and rabbits are provided with greenhouse-grown or wild-cut sagebrush;
To allow mating to occur, a door connecting adjacent pens holding a male and female rabbit is left open for 3-4 days; and
At each pairing, mates are selected to maximize genetic diversity of the offspring.
What are the challenges of boosting pygmy populations?
Restoring an extirpated population using captive breeding poses three management challenges:
- maximizing pygmy rabbit reproduction;
- minimizing mortality of the animal in captivity; and
- developing techniques to reintroduce them into the wild successfully.
Maximizing reproduction
Breeding success was very low during the first few years of the captive breeding program. Only about half of the female Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits became pregnant and half of the males sired young during the breeding season. Less that 18% of pairings resulted in pregnancies. In contrast—all pygmy rabbits from populations in Idaho, which are not considered endangered—became pregnant or sired young, and 60% of pairings were successful. Litter sizes and kit survival, however, were similar. Three main strategies were attempted to increase pregnancy rates of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits:
- increase the nutritional quality of the breeding diet;
- intercross Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits with pygmy rabbits from Idaho; and
- mate rabbits right after parturition.
At first, many of the animals were relatively thin, with lower body masses than those caught from the wild, so the protein and digestibility of the breeding diets were increased and the fiber content was decreased. During the 2 years following the diet change, the average weight of adult males and females increased 5%, and their kits increased 15%. At the same time, pregnancy rates of Columbia Basin rabbits increased to 28% of pairings, and litter sizes increased to five kits.
Differences in pregnancy rate between Columbia Basin and Idaho pygmy rabbits, and the extremely low genetic diversity of the Columbia Basin rabbits, suggested that inbreeding depression might have played an important role in low pregnancy rates. Therefore, our second strategy was to begin a process of genetic rescue, where the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were intercrossed with Idaho rabbits, aiming for creating and maintaining a captive and release population of greater than 75% Columbia Basin genes. Intercrossing required maintaining a balance between preserving the unique genetic profile of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit, while increasing the genetic diversity overall. Rabbits from the two populations mated readily, and the intercross rabbits had higher pregnancy and siring rates; thus, they produced more kits per adult than the pure Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits.
Other changes to the breeding protocol have also helped increase reproduction. Originally, females were re-mated only after their first litter had weaned over a month after mating in an effort to protect newborn kits. We learned that re-breeding females right after giving birth—when the first litter was in the natal burrow—was safe and has doubled the number of possible litters per female within the breeding season.
Minimizing mortality
Ensuring reproduction is one challenge of a captive breeding program—minimizing mortality is the other critical aspect. Most of the deaths of adults and kits in the captive breeding facilities have been caused by common, ubiquitous disease agents—such as mycobacteriosis in adults and coccidiosis in young.
Mycobacteriosis: Most deaths of adult pygmy rabbits in captivity have been caused by mycobacteriosis (Avian tuberculosis),5 a disease caused by Mycobacterium avium, which causes granulomas in the lungs and other tissues. M. avium is ubiquitous in the environment; the disease is not normally associated with healthy wildlife. Immune response challenges indicated that pygmy rabbits have an unusually high sensitivity to M. avium. Veterinarians at the captive breeding facilities prescribe an intensive antibiotic regime for any animal with the symptoms of mycobacteriosis. This regime has proved to prolong the life of some pygmy rabbits, but does not cure M. avium).
Coccidiosis: On the other hand, the most commonly identified source of kit mortality is coccidiosis—an intestinal disease caused by the coccidea parasite. Like M. avium, coccidea is common in the environment, and it affects the young of most domestic animals. The majority of deaths from coccidiosis in pygmy rabbits occur within one week of emergence from the natal burrow. Captive populations are frequently monitored for coccidea and treated continuously with a series of coccidiostats provided in the water and given orally. Unfortunately, both coccidiosis and mycobacteriosis are exacerbated by housing rabbits on soil, which cannot be sanitized. However, attempts to raise young pygmy rabbits in enclosures without soil were unsuccessful. Therefore, the captive breeding program must maintain a difficult balance between ensuring reproduction and minimizing mortality.
Successful reintroduction techniques
By 2006, the combined captive population of pygmy rabbits had reached 100 animals. Clearly, the ultimate goal of any captive breeding program is reintroducing captive-reared animals into native habitats to restore a stable population. To determine what procedures would maximize survival of released rabbits we conducted two tests of release techniques, consisting of four separate releases of 62 pygmy rabbits fitted with radio-collars.
Three releases totaling 42 captive-reared Idaho rabbits back into Idaho habitats August, September, and February 2003-2004.
One release of 20 captive-reared 75% or greater Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits back into Washington in March 2007.
A pygmy rabbit hops out of its artificial burrow during a pilot reintroduction experiment conducted by Washington State University designed to develop methods suitable for restoring extirpated populations. Photo: Rodney Sayler, Washington State University
Pygmy rabbits—in all the releases—experienced high mortality, primarily from predation, initially. In the Washington release, many animals, especially males, dispersed great distances quickly, often into unsuitable habitat outside the state-owned reserve. Some rabbits survived to reproduce during the breeding season, however.
Although each experimental release will encounter its own challenges, the following would provide the best opportunity for a successful reintroduction. To maintain sustainable, wild populations, researchers should:
transition release animals onto a mostly natural diet of sagebrush, grass, and greens, while in captivity;
avoid releasing males with pregnant females during breeding season, as this may encourage the animals to disperse too widely looking for mates, increasing their risk of starvation or predation;
release at least 30 pygmy rabbits for up to 10 years, annually;
provide large areas of contiguous habitat;
offer artificial burrows at release sites, which may serve to protect rabbits and discourage them from dispersing;
stop soft-release caging, as it may serve as a predator trap—confining rabbits with small predators like weasels;
utilize targeted predator control (including translocation, hazing, and lethal methods)—in release areas where predator risk is high, immediately before and after a release may be necessary—to allow pygmy rabbits to be accustomed to their new habitat before facing predation risks; and
time the release to avoid regional raptor migrations—this is critical.
In conclusion, captive breeding and releasing rabbits with at least 75% of their genes from the original Columbia Basin population has become a key component of the draft recovery plan for Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan outlines actions aimed at removing or abating threats to prevent extinction and re-establishing and protecting the appropriate number and distribution of free-ranging subpopulations that could withstand foreseeable threats. Although recovering the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit has been a steep and ongoing challenge, federal and state wildlife agencies, private conservation groups, university researchers, and captive breeding facilities involved in the project for over a decade are committed to saving this unique and endangered population. Acquiring and preserving habitat, acquiring knowledge about biology and ecology and disease, adaptive management within captive breeding and release, are all critical aspects of meeting this challenge. Lessons learned from this struggle to save Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits may help prevent similar extirpation in other parts of the pygmy rabbit's range.
© 2008, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com for reprint permission. See reprint policy.


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While its not clear what exactly the changes will be to WHOIS in the long term, its expected that to comply with the GDRP deadline ICANN will roll out limited access to WHOIS this year (as a temporary measure) which only lets reasonable access to WHOIS such as by law enforcement. ICANN is also not enforcing WHOIS compliance on registries anymore as well.
These changes do not seem to be nice as now any website will be able to harass and threaten any individual without accountability of the general public. I hope WHOIS in its current form sticks but that does not seem likely.
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