text:
charlie elk wrote:Highly recommend the thermacell.
I have used mine to repel serious bugs like the hoards above the Arctic Circle in Alaska and Canada. It accompanies me here in WI on late season spring turkey hunts and early fall deer hunts: deer have never picked up any scent from the unit and I hunt on the ground a lot to shoot at least one of these each year-
The Thermacell allows me to hold still rather than trying to discreetly shoo bugs away.
You'll end up with a lot extra thermacell pads because they usually last almost as long the butane; about 12-16 hours. To save a buck you can buy extra generic butane refills at Walmart. They stock them next to the lady's curling irons.
I will look for the generic brand at Walmart thanks for the tip. You can also refill the used bottles.


text: The historic Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake has been providing our guests with memorable vacations since 1916. It is our mission to continue the legacy of high standard of service, dedicated staff, and unique atmosphere that has been upheld for 100 years. Explore a variety of activities, two championship golf courses, the rejuvenating Glacial Waters Spa, a collection of distinctive dining venues and some of the best accommodations in the state. Join us in 2016 for a year of celebration!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Grab your PSP, hit the road and race rings around the world.
- Join Lightning McQueen and the gas-guzzling cast of Disney's Cars series in a global racing adventure that never slows down.
- Set off from Radiator Springs and put the pedal to the metal in iconic locations, including New York, London, Rome, Paris and the Great Wall of China.
- Go head-to-head with a fellow racer via your PSP system's wireless Ad Hoc Mode.


text:
It rained overnight, making it easy to get through the woods & grasses quietly. I brought the strutter decoy along with a feeding hen decoy in hopes that they'd help. I went to the oldest blind on the property alongside of a old logging road. I set the decoys 20 yards in front of me.
Just as it was getting light, a wren hopped on the sweetgum branch over my head and several large drops fell down my back & neck. Nice. Long as there's no soap in it, I'll probably be all right. At 6:03 a crow fired up in the distance and the boss gobbled on top of him from the hilltop across the creek behind me. I quit counting gobbles somewhere around 40. I threw a single quiet cluck out from my XT diaphram and he gobbled right on top of it (good, maybe he'll play along). At 6:30 I heard wingbeats behind me & cutt quietly four times. He double gobbled right on top of my calls (Game On!) I got the gun up and checked the safety. A lone hen came out of the woods and crossed the logging road, not caring about the decoys, and disappeared into the scrub trees. About 50 feet behind me I heard more hens squabbling near the creekbed. I checked the safety again. Just after that, I heard spitting & drumming (now we're talking!). I saw another hen step out, then another, & another. suddenly, I saw a red & blue gobbler's head pop out between me and the hens. He spied the decoy and took off like a shot to kick that decoy's foam butt. That gobbler hit the decoy so hard, it BROKE the stake in half and knocked the dried tail fan 16 feet away from where the decoy had been standing (yes, I measured). He also spurred two holes in it big enough to slide an ink pen through. He realized that something wasn't right, PUTTED, and started the head-bobbing walk they do right before they break & run. I rolled him @ 16 yards. My hunt was over at 6:38 AM.
He weighed 21 pounds 2 ounces, had 1-1/16th inch spurs, and an 11-1/8th inch beard. Not the biggest turkey I've taken from there, but probably the baddest. I found five #6 pellets in his breast that had healed over, so it was not his first encounter with a turkey hunter, but it was his last. That was probably why he was so call-shy. He was also about bald on his breast from breeding so many hens. With him out of the picture, maybe we'll hear a few more gobblers. I may go call for some friends, because I'm done shooting.
I called E.P. to share the good news & he told me that He'd called in a gobbler for his disabled friend, Ronnie (who shoots my old SBE). It was Ronnie's first gobbler.


text:
Slide 5 of 15 | Back to Post
Maria Menounos
Slide 5 of 15
may be serving our lunches.
Ian Somerhalder
A festive little topper for Ian.
Kate Gosselin
This hat is a revelation.
Lindsey Vonn
The Olympic skiier went straw.
Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo
Nothing for you, Nick?
Maria Menounos
may be serving our lunches.
Larry Birkhead
Marisa Miller
Supermodel and her superhat.
Niki Taylor
Another model at the derby.
Jennifer Tilly
Whoa, what's going on here?
Jordin Sparks
Jordin went kinda cas.
Joey Fatone
Fatone looks like a bookie.
Aubrey O'Day
Hate of the o'day?
Miranda Lambert
certainly won't get sunburned.
Erin Andrews
has a big old hat.


text:
Our Helplines
Motherisk Helpline
1-877-439-2744 (Toll-free)
416-813-6780 (Toronto and GTA)
Alcohol and Substance
Pregnancy & Breastfeeding Resources
Read more in our News Archive
Fetal safety of calcium channel blockers
Fatoumah Alabdulrazzaq, MD and Gideon Koren, MD, FRCPC, FACMT
July 2012
Many of my pregnant or lactating patients are taking calcium channel blockers (CCBs) for hypertension. How safe is maternal use of CCBs for fetuses and nursing infants?
Generally, CCBs have not been shown to increase teratogenic risk. Information regarding the safety of CCBs during lactation is limited, although they are not likely to pose a risk to the nursing infant.
Bon nombre de mes patientes enceintes ou qui allaitent prennent des inhibiteurs calciques (IC) pour l'hypertension. Dans quelle mesure l'utilisation maternelle des IC est-elle sécuritaire pour le ftus et les nourrissons allaités?
En règle générale, il n'a pas été démontré que les IC présentaient un risque tératogène. Les renseignements concernant l'innocuité des IC durant l'allaitement sont limités, mais il est improbable qu'ils posent un risque pour le nourrisson allaité.
Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are commonly used during pregnancy and lactation to treat hypertension, arrhythmia, and preeclampsia. They have also been used as tocolytic agents to prevent premature labour and its complications.
Population-based data from 5 health maintenance organizations in the United States were used to study the risks of perinatal complications and congenital defects among infants exposed in utero to CCBs or ß-blockers. Calcium channel blocker use in the third trimester was associated with increased risk of neonatal seizures, jaundice, and hematologic disorders (relative risk [RR] 3.6, 95% CI 1.3 to 10.4). The risk of neonatal convulsions was in part attributed to the placental transfer of CCBs, leading to a decrease in infants' cellular calcium levels.1 There was no increase in risk of congenital anomalies in either group of infants. The risk of one or more malformations was not elevated in the group of infants exposed to CCBs (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.47 to 1.97). 1
The Motherisk program reported no increased teratogenic risk of perinatal complications among 78 women exposed to CCBs in the first trimester. Maternal hypertension was the most important factor responsible for babies with low birth weights in this group. 2
The Swedish Medical Birth Register studied a cohort of 1418 pregnancies in which the mothers took anti-hypertensive drugs in early pregnancy; in 217 pregnancies, the mothers took CCBs. Three babies were born with congenital heart defects (RR 1.15). The study concluded that there was little drug specificity in the association between maternal use of antihypertensive drugs and increased risk of infant cardiovascular defects. 3
A Hungarian case-control study identified 22 865 infants with congenital abnormalities and 31 151 healthy population control babies between 1980 and 1996; 586 mothers had been exposed to CCBs during pregnancy compared with 907 mothers in the control group. The overall prevalence ratios for 17 congenital abnormalities varied between 1.1 and 1.4, and there was no significant increase in risk of congenital abnormalities. 4
All CCBs pass into the breast milk in small amounts. 5-7 Both LactMed (Drugs and Lactation Database) and the American Academy of Pediatrics conclude that this class of medications is compatible with breastfeeding. 8 It is advisable to follow up with any exposed infant for signs of hypotension.
Calcium channel blockers can be safely used during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Motherisk questions are prepared by the Motherisk Team at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ont. Dr. Alabdulrazzaq is a member and Dr. Koren is Director of the Motherisk Program. Dr. Koren is supported by the Research Leadership for Better Pharmacotherapy during Pregnancy and Lactation. He holds the Ivey Chair in Molecular Toxicology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario in London.
Do you have questions about the effects of drugs, chemicals, radiation, or infections in women who are pregnant or breastfeeding? We invite you to submit them to the Motherisk Program by fax at 416 813-7562; they will be addressed in future Motherisk Updates.
Published Motherisk Updates are available on the Canadian Family Physician website (www.cfp.ca) and also on the Motherisk website.
Competing interests
None declared
Can Fam Physician
Vol. 58, No. 7, July 2012 746-747
Copyright © 2012 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada
- Davis RL, Eastman D, McPhillips H, Raebel MA, Andrade SE, Smith D, et al. Risks of congenital malformations and perinatal events among infants exposed to calcium channel and beta-blockers during pregnancy. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2011;20(2):138-45. Epub 2010 Nov 15. Medline
- Magee LA, Schick B, Donnenfeld AE, Sage SR, Conover B, Cook L, et al. The safety of calcium channel blockers in human pregnancy: a prospective, multi-center cohort study. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1996;174(3):823-8. CrossRef | Medline
- Lennestål R, Otterblad Olausson P, Källén B. Maternal use of antihypertensive drugs in early pregnancy and delivery outcome, notably the presence of congenital heart defects in the infants. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2009;65(6):615-25. Epub 2009 Feb 7. CrossRef | Medline
- Sørensen HT, Czeizel AE, Rockenbauer M, Steffensen FH, Olsen J. The risk of limb deficiencies and other congenital abnormalities in children exposed in utero to calcium channel blockers. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2001;80(5):397-401. Medline
- Ghanem FA, Movahed A. Use of antihypertensive drugs during pregnancy and lactation. Cardiovasc Ther 2008;26(1):38-49. Epub 28 Jun 2008. Medline
- Shannon ME, Malecha SE, Cha AJ. Calcium channel antagonists and lactation: an update. J Hum Lact 2000;16(1):60-4. Abstract/FREE Full Text
- Solans C, Aramayona JJ, Bregante MA, Fraile LJ, Rueda S, Garcia MA. Pharmacokinetics of verapamil in lactating rabbits: prediction of verapamil distribution into rabbit milk. Gen Pharmacol 2000;34(4):237-43. Medline
- American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs: the transfer of drugs and other chemicals into human milk. Pediatrics 1994;93(1):137-50. Abstract/FREE Full Text


text:
As of this posting, this video has earned 2, 720, 971 viewers with 15,029 likes and some 119 dislikes.
Impressed? Like his Facebook page by clicking this link: Jotta A.
this is an amazing kid. nakaka-bless. +1 na +1 to!ReplyDelete
wow...amazing indeed..so gifted..inspiring.
+1 done.
he is so cool! grabe ang talentedReplyDelete
I really love the song and every time I listen with this song it makes me cry how much more a kid with great talents. Iyak na tayú pa balahibo. hahahaReplyDelete
Wow, what a voice...I like his version of amazing grace and the way he sing..ReplyDelete
amazing kid and amazing talent. one of my favorite song, "amazing grace"ReplyDelete
Whoa! That's some kid! Ang galing! *applause*ReplyDelete
Oftentimes children amaze us endlessly. Amazing performance, bless this kid.ReplyDelete
wow ang galing nga!! so talented kid...ReplyDelete
An amazing voice dedicated to our AMAZING GOD.ReplyDelete
ang galing naman nia very talentedReplyDelete
His voice is really cool and its so soothing to the ears. He's really got talent. ^_^ReplyDelete
wow, almost 3 million views... this kid definitely got talent...ReplyDelete
yea nice voice and great talent!! i love the song before, now i super dooper love it and want to listen to it over and over again!!ReplyDelete
That's what a talent! This boy is really gifted. He has the voice. He could project it very well.ReplyDelete
galing naman nung bata :)
and ang ganda ng song, haha, na-LSS ako nito dati pramis!
It's great that they are many talented kids sprouting about these days.ReplyDelete
F*ck. That kid is so great! I like his rendition. So moving and touching. It melts my heart. :)ReplyDelete
wow..birit kung birit. I can feel the emotion, I can feel how the kid felt when he sang the song and I guess that is what matters most.ReplyDelete
I wish I have that kind of voice talent. Really gifted!ReplyDelete
I can't sing but I can play Amazing Grace with the Flute. :))ReplyDelete
Spectacular voice!!! .. amazing talaga! and amazing you for sharing this with us! :)ReplyDelete
good we have this talent contests to discover great voice like this singing amazing song as such. Yahweh bless.ReplyDelete
An Amazing Kid great voice Thanks for sharing this information which is useful for all.
php web development


text:
A few points on the SOAP discussion:
- SOAP itself does not mandate transmission over HTTP. You could, for example, use BEEP as a transport.
- SOAP over HTTP was definitely designed to get through firewalls and HTTP proxies. This is the reason why people use HTTP and not a superior transport like BEEP (that would allow communication from the server to the client without pulling). If it did not use HTTP all those web services would not work for many problems, it would require a huge change in the infrastructure. Basically everybody who can access the web only over a www proxy could not use those web services.
- If your problem with SOAP is that you can not prevent a user/client from using it, read my last entry - you can not effectively limit the user's communication anyway.
- if your problem with SOAP is tunneling the firewall on the server side: you dont want SOAP to run on port 80, use another port. If you dont want to use HTTP, you are free to use another protocol. You will lose a lot of users/customers, of course, because many of them wil not be able to use it.
- I also don't buy the 'build an abstraction layer around the interface' argument. Basically SOAP is the abstraction layer. If you write one yourself you write more new and unproven code and introduce more potential security leaks. And, of course, you will lose a lot of time that you can also spend on making your code more secure.
- If your problem with SOAP is that it makes it too easy for server developers to shoot themselves in the foot: if you really take a COM object and make it available via SOAP without a security audit then, well, it is your fault. But the technology is not bad only because it allows stupid people to do stupid things. If that was true Unix would be the worst of all operating systems...


text:
Given where you hunt and considering any and all ducks that you may kill, what are your trophy birds that you would have mounted for the wall?
Mine are first, a wood duck, then a pintail, then a redhead, which I got today!
Trap is hard to get a good picture of. I think he is camera shy.


text:
Your Cart is empty
Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasnt getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish and the odd eel.
To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.
Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all-time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian shepherd who is too smart for his own good and the latest addition, a hyperactive papillon.


text:
Soccer: DV vs Rincon
- [David Jolkovski/AFN]
- 0
As featured on
The boys soccer game between Desert Vista and Rincon at Desert Vista on Wednesday, Jan. 30, …
Post a comment as
Watch this discussion. Stop watching this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Classifieds - Ads
Most Popular
- Final PARC brief rips freeway planning as abuse of discretion
- True Life asks court to change golf course regs
- Ahwatukee Foothills Montessori opens new campus
- Entrepreneurs turned oats into big breakfast venture overnight
- Ahwatukee toddler's blood disorder weighs heavily on her, parents
- At nearly $2.5 million, Warpaint Drive home a technology marvel
- Birds and the bees can bring misery to Ahwatukee
- New UFC gym in Ahwatukee offers a different workout experience
- Desert Vista High, three Kyrene schools in Ahwatukee given A+ awards
- Tempe Union land sale could bring 178 homes to Ahwatukee site
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.


text:
Scary. People I know are googling me and finding this page. How embarrassing ;-)
Scary. People I know are googling me and finding this page. How embarrassing ;-)
As people may have noticed, I don't actively maintain my journal here any more; I just posted this whilst passing through to remove all references to my (somewhat abandoned) project previously known as MailTrack, due to trademark reasons......
Well, here I am in Cambridge University, starting a computer science course on Thursday. It's been an exhausting few days, but I'm enjoying it (although I was horrified to hear that I have 9am lectures every day - including Saturday!). I packed too much to fit into my small-ish room, but never mind. (Except I had to lug it all up three floors...)
And the download speeds here are amazing :-) After being stuck on 64 kbit/s ISDN for ages, downloading stuff at speeds approaching 40 Mbit/s is quite a shock to the system!
Spam, spam, spam, spam....
You know you've been spending too long organising spam filtering when you start writing <spam class=...> in a block of HTML!
The new UK anti-spam law is, um, a bit odd. I can't see the logic in not banning spam sent to businesses. Is this so we're allowed to spam the spammers back in revenge? :-)
Well, it's been a long time since I posted here - too long considering I've (in theory) had loads of spare time for the past month!
Real life
Starting with the "old news": I'm definitely going to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and I've had a few billion forms to fill in about this... Two other people I know are going there, which is nice, and others are going to different colleges in the same university. I travel down on 4th October... and before then I've got to have sorted out everything I want to take with me, which will not be easy considering the state of my room!
I bought my Undergraduate Gown today (which I need on the second day in Trinity Hall, for the Matriculation Photograph). It's plain black. That's boring. Perhaps I should have chosen one of the colleges, e.g. Gonville and Caius which has a blue one. Oh well, never mind, at least my college is pronounceable!
The mailing list program I mentioned in my last entry works well now, and I've been paid. A few more features - fairly extensive ones - have been requested, and I'll hopefully have time to implement those (for a further payment, of course!). I would have started earlier, except there's been a disagreement over code licensing - but I think I've finally got permission to continue GPLing it (or at least I got "Thanks for the clarification; please proceed" which I think means the same). (Memo to self: sort out licensing before writing any code next time...) Thanks to aes for his help and suggestions in resolving this.
I've also started programming in C again - just a little bit, writing fixes for aes's calculator app - but I haven't done this for years, and have never before done any GUI work in C. Great fun. But my method of teaching myself probably means I'll end up with really bad coding style... (I suppose that's what my imminent CompSci course is for!)
The Network From Hell
A DNS server I set up a few months ago for a large, wide-area company network has started choking, complaining of excessive connections. This server is supposed to only handle DNS lookups for the Internet and for the non-Windows portion of their network (and there isn't much of that) - lookups for internal Windows machines should be handled by various NT Domain Servers before the queries get to my server. But no: it turns out that for the past couple of years, they've been doing their Windows DNS stuff completely wrong (mainly because they were using Windows NT techniques on Windows 2000 servers, I think) and this results in huge numbers of bogus queries being dumped on my server. E.g. a machine wants to find another Windows machine called "ABCD123". My server shouldn't see this request at all, since it should be handled by either a Windows NT Domain Controller or a Windows 2000 Active Directory Controller. But instead my server is thrown requests for "ABCD123.subdomain.domain.co.uk.", "ABCD123.domain.co.uk.", "ABCD123.co.uk.", "ABCD123.uk." and "ABCD123.". None of which exist. And this is happening hundreds of times a second from different machines all over the network...
And for once I can just say "it's not my fault; fix your network" :-) It's nice when it's Someone Else's Problem.
(Not something I do regularly, but why not, once in a while...)
I helped organise a small LAN party at a friend's house last weekend - and amazingly everything worked as planned. Now, with the enthusiasm gained at the LAN party, I'm trying to set up a Linux dedicated server for UT2003; this worked perfectly for about half an hour today, then mysteriously stopped working and nothing I do will make it work again. Clients just get stuck in some sort of loop whilst connecting, sending out about 10 six-byte UDP packets per second to the server. Oh well, more tweakage needed.
I've got far too many projects on the go at the moment. The 'most current' one is a mailing list system with tracking facilities. I.e. when someone clicks a link in a message, the system records that they did that, and (the controversial bit) also tracks when they open the message, via a remotely-loaded image. (It's not designed for spamming. It's designed for small-scale mailing lists; I doubt it could even cope with the quantities of mail spammers send.) My excuse is that I'm being paid to write this...
...doesn't boot on my system. It freezes just after initialising the speaker. (It's a hardware-fault-esque freeze - even SysRq doesn't do anything.)
And now my old, previously working configuration of 2.4.20-gentoo-r6 also dies on bootup as well; I've managed to strip out a load of extras (preemptile kernel, ACPI, APIC, low-latency, etc.) and now it boots. The difference is that I can't get 2.6.0-test3-bk1 to boot whatever I do to the configuration.
I'm not sure exactly what's causing it to freeze - that's a job for tomorrow. But to add insult to injury, my PC boots Windows XP fine...
I hope it's not a hardware fault. I can't really afford to go buying a new motherboard at the moment. (And I've swapped almost everything else around, so if it's hardware, it's the motherboard, CPU, graphics card, or hard disk.)
Real life
Well, in under eight hours I'll have my A-level results and will (hopefully) know which university I'm going to (first choice: Cambridge, second choice: Manchester).
I hope the events of the past day weren't supposed to be an omen or something... all sorts of things have gone wrong, starting with my box suddenly refusing to boot my Linux kernel (above), and culminating with me dropping two years' worth of heavy computer magazines onto the floor from ceiling height, narrowly missing my Mum and my sister. (They were tied together with string, and attached to the end of a rope, so they could be hoisted into the attic. The string snapped. Enough said.)
Hopefully that will have got all of this week's bad luck out of the way before my results arrive. :-)
Arrived back from my holiday in Austria yesterday. The holiday was great; I got a lot of mountain walking done, and took over 1Gb of photos - 300Mb more than last year. (But I took them in a higher quality mode, so I suppose that was cheating. I actually took slightly less in number - 1051 this year, 1097 last year.)
The journey back went smoothly, except that the one brief torrential rainstorm in Manchester that day had to coincide with when we were moving luggage around outside...
And we arrived home to find that, to our surprise, our house had grown scaffolding whilst we were away. Apparently the builders are starting some work on our slate-covered wall (i.e. attaching the slates properly, so they don't fall off and hit people) which we asked them to do sometime last year, but we were told it would be some time before they could start. So, naturally, they manage to pick a time to start whilst we're on holiday. Oh well, they haven't wrecked much yet.
Going away tomorrow to Austria for a fortnight. It'll probably do me good to have no Internet access for a while...
On last year's Austria holiday I took over 700Mb of photos. I wonder if I can beat that this year? :-)
According to University Challenge on TV this evening, "daemon" is actually an acronym for "disk and execution monitor". Well, fancy that. The word has evolved though to mean a lot more than that, so perhaps their attempt to be up-to-date backfired slightly...
(Probably old Unix hands will already know that. But I'd never heard it before. It just means "background process" as far as I'm concerned.)
On Thursday, I finished my exams (all but one went OK), and yesterday I finished school. It feels really weird - I've been at that school for the past nine years, and I've grown to quite like the place. Having spent an appreciable fraction of my life there, it was sort of like a second home. Over the past two years, the A-level Further Maths set (of which I was a member) grew a really strong sense of community - and now I might not see some of them ever again. The past year in particular has been the peak of my time there.
But I suppose good things can't last forever, and there's a time when we all have to move on. I've applied to study Computer Science at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and I'm fairly confident I'll make the grades. One other friend from Further Maths has applied to the same college, for Engineering - his offer is a little more steep than mine, but I hope he manages it.
And now for the summer. I'm hoping to get a job at my Dad's work (a supermarket chain) in the IT department. I've worked at that company before, for Work Experience, but they could only fit me into the Accounts dept. I hope I can get a better job than folding letters and sorting invoices into order this time...
But for now... free coding time! At last I can get back to something other than revision for exams. I've collected a huge To Do list over the past few months (mostly for my friend's hosting business) and hopefully I'll be able to have a stab at it over the long summer.
New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
Keep up with the latest Advogato features by reading the Advogato status blog.
If you're a C programmer with some spare time, take a look at the mod_virgule project page and help us with one of the tasks on the ToDo list!


text:
this anime certainly gets a lot of sh*t for it's art style. but i certainly liked it, more than any other show i have watched to date *except maybe ef...* i thought it was very colorful and just "pretty"... so it was different but so-what? "i admit this created an awkward mix of a dark story and a bright art style" SO! don't let people discourage you from watching it when they say the art sucks, think of it as a nice change to re-fresh the series and make it seem new and interesting. "i also admit there were some shaky stills in the firstep that were pretty silly"
the... See full review
you see a lot of people call this anime out on being a hentai with a sh*ty story to go with it; of course there is always that taboo problem with incest that turns people off.
*showing to a friend of mine, first episode, everything going good until...*
"ewww! they kissed that's nasty! they're siblings! what are you showing me?!"
i might feel this way because i don't have any sibling and could just "not understand" the nasty-ness here. BUT i will say that regardless on your opinion on incest, it makes one hell of a romance drama!
i liked this anime, i liked... See full review
i had no idea this was a "short" anime series until after the first episode, in fact i thought the video player had just screwed up and cut me off :P however the anime short thing was new to me but i honestly enjoyed it. when watching this keep in mind that there's not really supposed to be a story, just short videos leading up to some cute joke or something along those lines "like reading a comic strip in the news" "actually these reminded me lots of the garfield shorts skits in-between the segments of garfield and friends." ... you can finish this whole series in little... See full review
short sweet review -
i in fact liked these episodes, i felt like it gave the anime a much needed ending, or simply "better ending" if you will... a department which the anime left very un-satisfying... at first i had a hard time watching these because i saw it as "the sad-ending" but nope, its still light hearted and happy for everyone. adds also much needed character development for black cat *if you are truly not interested in the black cats story but want to know more about kirino then i don't think it would do any harm to simply watch the first ep and the last ep... but... See full review
there's not really many negative things i can say about this show, so i will just get the few complaints of mine out at the beginning here;
-the misa character can be quite the mood-killer...
-the near character just seemed like a pointless repetition...
-the shinigamis are just... ugly...
now that those minor bugs of mine are out of the way lets get to the positive side;
-love the sort of *battle of the geniuses* theme. if you really pay attention there are so many little details to the plot that make it un-fold into a wonderful mystery-detective sort of thing.
-i'm quite the... See full review
when sequels pop up you find a lot of disappointed people to go with them. sequels have it tough because people expect more of the first, so the second they come up with a new story it's too different. in this case i'm sure everybody wanted to see more "hei and yin" and how they escape and all that. *also, be sure to watch dtb:gaiden before season 2, it may have come out afterwords but should be watched prior; saves you a lot of "wait, where the hell is yin" drama*. SO! try not to look at this as a continuation but rather a freshnew story that goes a long with starting a new anime... See full review


text:
Lucy Pinder is a native of Hampshire, England. She's a Page 3 glamour model famous for her huge natural breasts. Lucy Pinder was just your average school dropout when a freelance photographer spotted her sunbathing. On the back of his photos, Lucy signed a contract with national newspaper The Daily Star which thrust her into the public eye and garnered an immediate fanbase. From the beginning of her career, big busted Lucy was regularly partnered with Michelle Marsh, with whom she has appeared in magazines, television and corporate appearances. They often appear highly erotic lesbian-themed poses together. Lucy was also featured with other glamour models, including Danielle Lloyd, Sophie Howard, Jana Defi, Lindsey Strutt, and Saskia Howard-Clarke; all these pretty big-busted girls enhanced Lucy's lesbian appeal. Since then, Lucy has appeared on the covers of magazines, such as Loaded, Maxim, Nuts, ZOO, Ice, Carnoisseur, Redline and Fast Car. Lucy has also appeared in prominent ads for PlayStation 2, Yellow Pages and the National Lottery.
Like other allegedly lesbian-leaning girls in Britain, Lucy loves football. (Ever wonder why Sporty Spice is the only Spice Girl without a man in her life?) Lucy is a fan of the Southampton Football Club. Lucy's taste in music includes Michael Jacksons, Soul, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson and George Michael. Lucy's carrer idols are Kelly Brook, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra.
If you want to see more Lucy Pinder naked photos, just click on the link.


text:
If he is available at #12 do the Dolphins take him and how would he fit into their scheme?
If he is available at #12 do the Dolphins take him and how would he fit into their scheme?
If not for his spinal stenosis, I'd jump at drafting Jones. But, that's too big of a question mark. I'd go in another direction.
I am not sure on Jarvis Jones, great motor, great player, health issues. Once the combine hits, there will be more information regarding health. But for him to fit the system, Koa Misi will be cut if Jones is drafted. However, I would prefer a lineback who can defend the pass and stuff the run. If Buffalo takes a QB, Te'o could drop into Miami's lap at 12
The more i look at and analyze things, the more im convinced teo just might be available to the phins at 12... and thats gonna get real interesting.
I'm a UGA fan, and attended 101 consecutive games home and away the past 8 years (unfortunately my streak ended this year). With that said, I am extremely familiar with Jarvis and have been since he was in high school in Columbus, GA. I can ASSURE you that Jarvis has no health issues relating to his neck. After he got hurt at USC, their doctors wouldn't clear him to play. Our doctors did feel he was capable of playing and he transferred back home. He played this year and was dominant and was a first team all american. There is not a better pass rusher or linebacker in America than Jarvis. He did miss some action this year, but it was due to a groin injury. Hey, those things happen in football.
The ONLY knock on him is that he is not top notch in run defense. Teams that ran directly at him had some success on the ground. As a pass rusher though, he is unmatched. He simply gets to the QB. The guy is disruptive as hell and will thrive in the NFL getting in the backfield. Like I said though, his run defense may be a question mark.
With all that said though, there is absolutely no reason for concern about the health of his neck or spine.
Twitter: @ckparrot
Second, he played all year (aside from a groin injury, which isn't the issue in question) and had no repercussions. He was flying around, making tackles, putting his head down, getting blocked, etc. and had no trouble at all with his neck or spine. His injury was over 2 years ago. I mean, yeah I guess if he gets his neck squashed or mangled like David Pollack did then he'll have an issue, but any human being on earth would in some cases. What I'm saying is that Jarvis has zero issues as of now with his injury over 2 years ago, and he's shown that on the field.
Idk, I'm scared he turns into a Daquan Bowers. Too much of a question mark, it really depends on what the doctors say on him cause if its even a moderate problem I wouldn't even take him with a 2nd.
Michael Irvin played many years before spinal stenosis ended his career.....so you can play at a high level before that condition rears its ugly head. The biggest difference to me is Jones plays a position that puts him at a higher risk every play than Irvin. If Jones truly has that condition (which will be evaluated in depth by NFL team doctors) i would avoid him at 12. But if i was drafting later and he fell, i would consider the risk/reward on him versus the other guys still on the board.
Id grab him in a heartbeat.
People get freaked out when it comes to spinal injuries. Rightfully so. But for a condition like Jones' the best treatment that is given is physical therapy/rehab. The goal is to get into the best shape possible to relieve the pressure on your spine by strengthening the surrounding muscles. As a professional athlete, he stays in top physical shape anyways. If he aggravates the condition, there are treatments available that he could immediately get to help manage the pain.
The type of pain that is caused by Spinal stenosis is not uncommon and be caused by various other injuries. Numbness, cramping, and weakness are some of the conditions of stenosis but those can also occur after things such as disc bulging. Bulging discs are such a common occurance that im willing to bet 2 out of the 9 people who posted before me have some sort of disc bulging and just dont know it. Often, its one of those things thats not a problem until it becomes a problem.
If Jones was healthy enough to play college football now, i have no doubt he is healthy enough to play professional. It wouldnt surprise me if USC refused to clear him because of insurance liability issues. That said, as PSU Cane stated, spinal stenosis is something that can get worse as a person ages. I suppose the question it comes down to is, much like Brandon Weeden last offseason, would you draft a talented player knowing you will have 8-10 years from him instead of 10-15? Id vote yes.
More information on spinal stenosis, if you look at the non-surgical treatment options they almost all involve things athletes do anyways(and doctors almost always advise younger patients to avoid surgery for this type of thing):
Terrorist attack count against the Anything Goes Thread: 5


text:
Universal Fit
"TDK IE800 VS. BA200 IE800 $40-90 (Discontinued by manufacturer) BA200 $55-120 (Discontinued by manufacturer) (on Head-fi, Ebay, and Amazon) Some have even found these at Ross and TJ Maxx for $10-20. Packaging: Pretty much the same packaging for both IEM's. If both packages were side-by-side, you'd probably have to read the labels pretty carefully to..." --aiaosu
"When i bough these i had no id'ea how they would sound. I read some reviews but it is a iem that was flying under the radar and kind of hide in the shadow of the BA200 which is TDK's flagship ( was, i think it´s discontinued ) All plastic build, feels solid but not expensive. They do have a great fit and can be used both with deep or shallow insertion and a various amount of..." --Arvan
" "The TDK BA100: Like Beige Wallpaper, But..." ...I Like Them! I have all of about 4 hours of listening time with these headphones, but I don't think I need more to justify my thoughts. They are BA (balance armature) drivers so burn-in is not a factor. For this test I used my iPod Classic (no external amp and no EQ adjustments). Many, many different..." --SoulSyde
TDK Life On Record MT300 High Definition In Ear Headphones
"These IEMs received quite a hype in the forum, with lots of Canadian head-fiers saying wonders about them for the price. As I found these on ebay for 12 euros (10 dollars more or lesss), I gave them a try. The first reaction was the fit. It is just perfect for my ears. I believe it is due to the angled nozzle. They hold in incredibly well and are among the most comfortable IEMs I've..." --Mellowship
TDK CLEF-P Live Tuning
The Live Tuning model is designed to intensify live recordings, rock and Latin music. It is compatible with high treble sounds and enhances 'live' music for an immersive music experience. The earphones in TDK's CLEF-P series feature the same high-quality aluminum construction that also adds to the overall ruggedness of TDK's design. Sound wise, these models come with an...
iRhythms A-9800 Passive Noise Reducing Ear Bud Headphones
Passive noise reducing ear bud headphones for iPod, white with acrylic finish, 3 sets of custom fit ear sleeves, 1 set of foam fitted ear sleeves, in-line volume control, travel pouch, 9mm neodymium drivers


text:
|Our Environment We are stewards of wild places
|Topic Review (Newest First)
|old man
It was the size of Rhode Island not Vermont. If people keep telling it it will end up being the size of Texas.
If something that big broke off,wouldn't it create a tidal wave?
|Yes agree, never thought I would say I was thankful for the Great Lakes PCB problems, but I am now since that I think is was keeps them out of here, plus our cold winters.
Once again, fish farming is a global issue not just a PNW one, although the adulteration is particularly disturbing there due to the pristine races that are at risk there. To be fair, the atlantic salmon anglers of the Canadian Maritimes, Northern Europe, and beyond are no less disturbed by the farming craze than we are in the PNW.
Over a million tons of sand eels are harvested in the North Sea annually to produce feed pellets for salmon farms, which has impacted the entire food chain from seabirds to groundfish to whales in that region.
And so it goes!
I keep hearing about the chunk of ice the size of Vermont that fell into the sea! How big is that really? At least three times in the last four years I have heard these Science guys say that a chunk of Ice as big as Vermont and 650 feet thick has broken off the Ant Artic Ice Pack and is melting." I'm melting" (the wicked witch of the east tried that) oh Vermont is in the East. May haps we are on to something here.
The whole idea of Global warming is out of our control we are not empowered to deal with such issues. I, however watch the Discovery Channel and Know that as "we" warm the planet we will be releasing copious quantitys of freshwater into the North Atlantic and this will trigger a cessation of the "Conveyor" which is nothing more than the return cycle of the Gulf Stream. This will stop the Conveyor resulting in a cessation of Global warming and begining of the next "Ice Age". Well Looking around the ONP the last few weeks I wonder......
They tell me that all snow and such is about to stop" Bully "I say! Wow what would happen if Vermont dropped into the sea?
"Franken Fish"
More bad fish farming news.
I took the staff to a great seafood restaurant today and you will be proud to know I did not order the Atlantic Salmon special, knew it was most likely farmed fish. Went for the Mahi Mahi instead figure they donot farm these.
Big business in BC and Washington.
Wonder how those "franken fish" fight
|Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


text:
The place to be....for the Characters, Places & Things
on Television
Created by Robert Watkins in 1952 for a magazine ad, Speedy had red hair,
blue eyes, a bottle cap for a hat and a midsection shaped like an Alka-Seltzer
tablet. Speedy was an instant success with the upset stomach crowd. His popular
jingle of "Plop, plop, Fizz, Fizz Oh, what a relief it is!" sold millions of
The cute little character first
debuted on television in 1953 in a B/W stop-action/live-action 60-second
commercial created by the Wade Advertising, Inc. of Chicago.
The commercial begins with "All over America...for fast relief, it's Speedy Alka-Seltzer!" The ad ended
with "Get Speedy Alka-Seltzer, for fast re-lief, you bet!"
The Speedy-Alka
Seltzer character was a doll with movable joints and animated by a stop-action
film technique called "Pixilation." Speedy's successful run as trademark for
Miles Laboratories ended in 1964 when the company decided to retire the
The 1976 Bicentennial revived the Speedy character; and in the 1980s Speedy was
seen in a Winter Olympics commercial and in 1985 lobbying in a "Save Big Boy
Campaign" when Bob's Big Boy restaurants were considering dumping their chubby
faced Big Boy trademark.
In the late 1980s, both H&R Block, the nation's No. 1 tax preparation company
teamed with Alka-Seltzer products and Speedy Alka-Seltzer to hawk the slogan
"Alka-Seltzer to the rescue for tax-time upsets."
Advertising artifacts of Speedy can be found warehoused in San Francisco at The
Museum of Modern Mythology. The voice of Speedy was performed by Richard Beales.
In South America, Speedy was known as "Prontito."
TRIVIA NOTE: In 1971, the original puppet
used in the commercials was shipped to the Philippines and lost in transit.
However, it was rediscovered in an Australian warehouse in 1976 and placed
within a glass case at Miles Laboratories located in Elkhart, Indiana, that is,
until Bayer Corporation purchased Miles Laboratories in 1979 and has since
slowly closed their USA Alka-Seltzer production facility and moved their
production to Mexico and Germany. The Speedy puppet is rumored to in their
Pittsburgh headquarters.


text:
I really think the whole H1N1 thing is way overblown...
As with all other flu vaccines, I will not be getting one.
Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. ~ Ronald Reagan
I'm not arguing with you, as I don't get the standard flu shot either, but this one is killing people. We just had a healthy 45 year old woman die in a neighboring hospital. That kind of makes one rethink. A few posts up, I gave me reasons for NOT getting vaccinated routinely, and I stick by them. One more think that concerns me about the H1N1 (thank you, U.B.!) is the rush to mass market. I understand the constraints, but I would feel a little better about it if it were produced by standard vaccine makers in the standard fashion.
God Bless PFC Jamie Harkness. The US Army's newest PFC, but still our neighbor's little girl!
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!----Benjamin Franklin
Pandemic refers to the geographic distribution of the disease. Mortality or lethality refer to how many die. There is an epidemic of stupidity in Washington, but nobody has died from it. Hold your tongue, you may want to criticize the same people if it becomes apparent they haven't done enough.
Preparing for any unpredictable natural disaster is easy target for anyone who wants to criticize or armchair quarterback. Look at hurricane evacuations....another false alarm....couldn't they see this coming....should have acted sooner....should have waited longer.....
I think the CDC and the WHO are doing their best under very uncertain, yet possibly dire circumstances. Anytime a disease kills otherwise healthy people, there is cause for alarm. With traditional influenza epidemics, your 30-40k are more typically the very young, very old, or otherwise vulnerable. Also, the number of 7 fatalities that you seem to downplay came during the "off season", which can portend a much more severe fall season.
This has nothing to do with Jimmy Carter, and attempts to politicize it will just hamper the good efforts of people trying to figure this thing out.
God Bless PFC Jamie Harkness. The US Army's newest PFC, but still our neighbor's little girl!
We just had a 24 year old woman die locally from H1N1. I have never been diligent about getting yearly flu shots. Sometimes I get them, sometimes I don't. However, with people dying from this strain of the flu, I think I'm going to get the shot.
Semantics aside, I believe this has been blown out of proportion just like the constant elevated terror alerts issued during the whole Bush reign. Eventually people start saying, "another terror alert or another pandemic" and when the real thing DOES happen they have become desensitized.
My point with Carter is that he exaggerated that all who oppose Obama are racists and currently the H1N1 risk SEEMS to be exaggerated. We will know come springtime.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!----Benjamin Franklin
The CDC tracks influenza trends and your questions will be answered if you check their website at www.cdc.gov
Personally, I'm glad the dedicated men and women at WHO and CDC are taking this seriously. If some choose to see it as a political conspiracy or being blown out of proportion, they can feel free to bury themselves in their bunkers and wait for the all clear.
God Bless PFC Jamie Harkness. The US Army's newest PFC, but still our neighbor's little girl!


text:
Hunt down and trap mysterious creatures with your PSP.
- Use the PSP Camera to hunt down invisible animals and capture them.
- Pit your Invizimals against each other or enjoy multiplayer fights with friends.
- Learn new attacks or power-up and evolve your Invizimals, then trade them with your friends online.


text:
- Home
- News
- Sports
- Opinion
- Obituaries
- Features
- Special Sections
- Classifieds
- Public Notices
Forgot Password? | Not a User? Sign up
At Radcliff's request, the Kentucky League of Cities released an opinion this week arguing county government cannot take control of a first- or second-class city's solid waste managem
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The News Enterprise, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
|ZIP Code:


text:
The Chatham Cup final will return to one of its earliest venues with Lower Hutt City and Central United set to contest the 85th edition at Newtown Park in Wellington on Sunday, August 26.
The venue of the 1925, 1927 and 1989 finals will also host the 19th final of the women's knockout cup in another bumper day of football in the capital.
The final of each competition sees a first-time finalist taking on a multiple winner with Lower Hutt City tackling four-time winners Central United from Auckland in the Chatham Cup and three-time women's knockout cup winners Three Kings United from Auckland facing Palmerston North's Massey University.
Recent tradition has seen the finals played at North Harbour Stadium; but with the venue for 11 of the last 14 Chatham Cup finals due to host provincial rugby that weekend an alternate venue was sought.
Wellington has a long association with the Chatham Cup final. The first two in 1923 and 1924 were held at Wellington's Athletic Park while the Basin Reserve has hosted the most finals with 52.
Lower Hutt secured their passage to the final with a 4-0 win over Caversham at Dunedin's Caledonian Ground, while Central United thrashed Miramar Rangers 6-0 at David Farrington Park in Wellington.
Massey University upset Claudelands Rovers 4-1 in Hamilton to book their knockout cup final berth and they were joined by Three Kings who dispatched last year's runners up Coastal Spirit from Christchurch 2-0.
Three Kings United and Central United were drawn as the respective home teams in a ballot yesterday giving them the right to wear their home kit in case of a colour clash.
The women's final will start at 11am, with the Chatham Cup Final to be played at 2.30pm.


text:
eBay Seller Needed! Pure Profit Up to 130 daily
This project received 30 bids from talented freelancers with an average bid price of $ USD.Get free quotes for a project like this
Project BudgetN/A
Total Bids30
Project Description
We are looking for productive Auction sellers with outstanding accounts to add to our team. At first you will be listing around 1-3 items at one time, after a certain period of time you will be listing 10+ items at one time. Some of our sellers are making $1600+ a week.
ATTENTION: WE DO NOT SELL HIGH PRICED PRODUCT (eg. iPhone, Ipad or Macbook..etc), THOSE ARE VERY HOT PRODUCTS FOR SCAMMER.
We are here to look for reliable business relationship and will take good care for every new seller.
These are genuine products. These are not fakes or counterfeit!!
- You'll need an Auction account with a decent amount of Positive Feedback. You will be listing on ANY Auction site and ships to worldwide.
- Your auction account must be more than 6 months old. Preferably more than a year old.
- You must have a valid, working and completely unlimited verified Paypal account which has been used often for transactions (So payments don't get held). You must not have any sending or receiving limits.
- You should have the time in the day to answer customer questions, list items and create sales reports.
- You should be experienced in selling; I will provide listing descriptions, images etc.; I will answer your questions but you must be able to follow simple directions and think for yourself.
- You must be able to send reports in excel format in an organised way (I will provide excel spreadsheet).
- You must be able to speak good English.
- Auctions will be BIN (Buy-it Now) in Fixed price format for most items.
- You will receive 30% per sale; you will be selling more than one item per day.
- Shipping for most items is free.
- You will send a sales report at the end of each day; items will be posted the next working day.
- Items will be shipped once I receive payment and tracking numbers will be provided with most items.
- Support questions will be forwarded to me and I will write the reply to send.
Skills Required
Looking to make some money?
- Set your budget and the timeframe
- Outline your proposal
- Get paid for your work
Hire Freelancers who also bid on this project
Looking for work?
Work on projects like this and make money from home!Sign Up Now
- Forbes
- The New York Times
- Time
- Wall Street Journal
- Times Online


text:
biometric dataA general term used to refer to any computer data that is created during a biometric process. This includes samples, models, fingerprints, similarity scores and all verification or identification data excluding the individual's name and demographics.
See "How Fingerprint Scanners Work" in the ""Did You Know..." section of Webopedia.
See also "How Biometrics Security Works" in the "Did You Know..." section of Webopedia.
Stay up to date on the latest developments in Internet terminology with a free weekly newsletter from Webopedia. Join to subscribe now.
Like everything in technology, AI touches on so many other trends, like self-driving cars and automation, and Big Data and the Internet of Things... Read More »DevOp's Role in Application Security
As organizations rush to release new applications, security appears to be getting short shrift. DevSecOps is a new approach that holds promise. Read More »Slideshow: Easy Editorial SEO Tips to Boost Traffic
This slideshow reviews five easy on-page editorial SEO tips to help drive organic search engine traffic, including the page title, heading,... Read More »
Java is a high-level programming language. This guide describes the basics of Java, providing an overview of syntax, variables, data types and... Read More »Java Basics, Part 2
This second Study Guide describes the basics of Java, providing an overview of operators, modifiers and control Structures. Read More »The 7 Layers of the OSI Model
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) model defines a networking framework to implement protocols in seven layers. Use this handy guide to compare... Read More »


text:
A way of driving voters away?
Today I got a new driver's license to reflect my weekend move from Baton Rouge to Lafayette. I did so as fast as I could to make the deadline for voting in the November elections. The deadline is 30 days prior to the Nov. 6 election — so if you aren't sure about your current registration status, check it this week!
According to the Louisiana Secretary of State's website, voters are required to present identification such as driver's license, Special ID or "some other generally recognized picture ID that contains your name and signature." Voters who don't possess any of the above can bring "a utility bill, payroll check or government document that includes their name and address." Voters with such documents "will have to sign an affidavit furnished by the Elections Division in order to vote." As far as voting requirements go, this seems fair; it balances the integrity of the polls with accessibility for citizens.
I've spent 10 of my 14 voting years in Louisiana, and have never had a problem either voting or registering to do so. I voted in my first election before I had a driver's license, using my college ID. A year later, I changed my address three weeks before an election, but still was able to vote at my previous precinct. Since then, it's been smooth sailing everywhere I've lived.
Knock on wood.
One of the big political stories of 2012 has been the push toward more stringent voter laws nationwide. Though Louisiana hasn't been among the major players in this push, the state shares the conservative makeup that most of the states involved have in common. Mandatory picture ID for voters could absolutely happen here in the near future.
Critics — I'm raising my hand here — contend that photo-ID laws are less about curbing voter fraud than about curbing voters, period. In a sense, it's a genius political calculation by Republicans, who would benefit from the reduced influx of poor, minority, college and elderly voters for whom narrow ID standards can be an obstacle, and can disguise that de facto purge as upholding poll integrity. And who could possibly be against voter integrity?
Well, my trip to the DMV reminded me exactly why I'm against voter integrity — at least as the ID proponents define it.
In Lafayette, the DMV office is located at the very north edge of town near Carencro, on a frontage road off I-49. It's the only one in the entire city, and people often confuse it with a police station on another frontage road (which, for a long time after the new DMV opened, had a stack of fliers pointing visitors to the correct location). The DMV's isolated location is accessible almost exclusively by car, adjacent only to a Mexican restaurant whose core business is probably weary licensees. For those relying on the bus, their own two feet or a walker, it might as well be Emerald City. Even if you do get there, you'd better have the right papers and cash, just in case. Some don't. Some never have.
As long as ID offices are less ubiquitous than polling stations, stringent ID laws are going to disenfranchise some (or many) legit voters — citizens whose only crime is lack of access to offices and/or proper documentation. For those making the push, this outcome is exactly what they want.
Let's make sure anyone wanting to bring Louisiana into this poisonous movement has an equally tough road ahead.
Posted on October 1, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged election, ID, louisiana secretary of state, politics, transportation, voting. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Ian, welcome to Lafayette and to the DMV office I personally avoid like the plague for the same reasons… those with reliable transportation are better off going to Abbeville or Breaux Bridge, which even further emphasizes your point about lack of access. When I first moved here 10 years ago Lafayette's DMV was in what wasn't much more than a shack… but on the Thruway across from the airport, so in a more accessible location. My guess is that the local powers that be figured, it's a DMV, people can and will drive there. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if they got some kind of incentive for developing on the northside rather than staying where they were near the airport. Are driver's licenses/IDs also cash only in BR, or is that just a local phenom? Based on what happened in the parking and transit office of our local university, which ceased cash operations only after the former parking and transit head got caught with his hand in the till and committed suicide, I can imagine that cash-only operations at the local DMVs are also ripe for fraud. Fraud that would only get bigger if our fair state doubles down on "voter fraud" aka disenfranchisement. But since (unfortunately) we are reliably red and the state has already done a decent job of disenfranchising a significant percentage of its populace through the prison system, maybe there isn't the same urgency here as in other states where the demographics have shifted significantly enough to make the GOP very afraid.


text:
By Michael Aneiro
The end of the first quarter is a good occasion to check in on the latest discussion of bond bubbles, a topic his blog has touched upon several times while trying not to induce further bubble fatigue. We'll keep it brief, but today's entries come from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. In his quarter-end roundup, Tom Lauricella writes in today's Journal that investors have been painted into a corner by the Federal Reserve, and that investment across asset classes currently involves one strategy: keep buying, and keep one eye on the Fed to figure out when to stop buying.
Investors will inevitably face a fork in the road. At some point they know the Fed and other central banks will pull back from their unprecedented levels of support. Rates will rise and inflict losses on bondholders…. However, it is impossible to know exactly when the Fed will change its stance, and it hasn't paid to be early….
The bind facing investors is clearest in the U.S. bond market. With the Fed buying $85 billion of government bonds every month, Barclays (BARC) analysts note the U.S. central bank is absorbing an estimated 90% of total net debt issuance in the country, including corporate and municipal bonds. The end result of the Fed buying is to drive up prices, drive down yields—which move inversely to prices—and leave investors having to gravitate toward riskier fare in order to earn yields that are above inflation….
"It's not a bubble in a classic sense" of buyers expecting ever-rising prices, said Marty Fridson, chief executive of financial research firm FridsonVision. "But they are comfortable owning bonds where they are because they think 'the Fed is backstopping me.'"
And over the weekend, David Stockman, a former budget director in the Reagan administration, penned a lengthy opinion piece in the Times arguing that this extended era of Fed largesse is going to end very, very badly for the U.S. economy. An excerpt:
[T]he flood of liquidity, instead of spurring banks to lend and corporations to spend, has stayed trapped in the canyons of Wall Street, where it is inflating yet another unsustainable bubble….
If and when the Fed — which now promises to get unemployment below 6.5 percent as long as inflation doesn't exceed 2.5 percent — even hints at shrinking its balance sheet, it will elicit a tidal wave of sell orders, because even a modest drop in bond prices would destroy the arbitrageurs' profits.
Stockman argues for "benching the Fed's central planners, and restoring the central bank's original mission: to provide liquidity in times of crisis but never to buy government debt or try to micromanage the economy. Getting the Fed out of the financial markets is the only way to put free markets and genuine wealth creation back into capitalism."


text:
By Tiernan Ray
I'm at the Renaissance Hotel in New York's Times Square, where Samsung Electronics (005930KS) is expected to unveil a smart watch gadget.
The actual unveiling is apparently taking place in Berlin, during the IFA consumer electronics show taking place this week. Samsung has reserved a section of New York's Times Square to live stream the proceedings, with a giant white booth set up next to the TKTS booth. A decent crowd has gathered down below in front of that booth's giant screen.
The smart watch has been a hot topic this year, with expectations both Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) will offer their own wares at some point.
Engadget's Zach Honig today discusses a new watch introduced by chip maker Qualcomm (QCOM), called "Toq."
Gregory Lee, the newly installed president of Samsung Telecom Americas, takes the stage. He tells us the New York-Berlin simulcast will debut both the "Galaxy Note III" smartphone, which he calls the "best large-screen smartphone," as well as "Galaxy Gear," which is presumably the watch gadget.
Down below, at the booth, an announcer is whooping up the crowd with a promise of a stupendous "Samsung Reveal." He asks the crowd is they have any idea what's being unveiled. Not much from the crowd. But he offers them some "very special guests across the globe," and asks the assembled, "Are ya feelin' alright?!" And the special guest is … Icona Pop! They take the stage to sing.
After a few songs by the band, the feed from Berlin starts and we are offered … A live orchestra playing a classical piece, though I'm afraid I can't name the piece.
A British chap in hilarious giant white glasses and a loud suit, bearing a strong resemblance to Paul Shaffer of the Tonight Show band, named Jason is the MC in Berlin.
He introduces J.K. Shin, head of the mobile devices effort at Samsung. Shin says the company has listened to what "you" want, including more options and a larger screen. The new Galaxy Note, number 3, is "slimmer, lighter, longer, larger, faster," he says. Shin says the company has made changes to the included "S Pen" stylus used with the phablet, and more "powerful" multitasking. He mentions the enhanced long-term evolution, or LTE, functionality, "category 4."
The phone apparently can play back ultra-hi def video, or "4k," as it's known in the industry. It comes with 3 gigabytes of DRAM, which should help with that task.
Shin, brushes his jacket cuff aside to reveal a watch. "This is Samsung Galaxy Gear," he says, to applause. It has a 1.63-inch color display, and the strap includes a camera.
Shin talks up features such as receiving text message alerts on the screen, features familiar from some other smart watches such as the Pebble, and says it will bring "Smart Freedom." It also runs numerous apps, including eBay (EBAY) shopping and the Path social networking program.
It gets more than a day's operation on a charge.
The watch will be backward-compatible with the Galaxy S 4 smartphone introduced this past spring.
But wait, there's one more thing!
Shin says there will be a new version of the company's 10-inch tablet, Galaxy Note 10.1.
Galaxy Note 3 and Gear will be available September 25th, he says. That date is a "global launch," as Samsung calls it, in 125 countries. No specific dates were offered for the U.S. market. Further details are forthcoming. No pricing was announced.
After the presentation, there was a demo area at the Renaissance, where camera crews jousted to get a shot of the devices, especially the Gear watch, which Samsung reps where wearing on their wrists. If you're interested, you can also go to the kiosk in Times Square to see the products yourself.
Note that CNet staff today had a great live blog of the Berlin event, in case you want to dig further into any details discussed about the products. Staff at Engadget also offered their version.
I had a chance to fiddle with the Galaxy Note 3 for a brief while. There is certainly a lot going on. Pressing the button on the S Pen stylus brings up a small semi-circular menu on screen. It offers several options, including search and the ability to write a note on the screen. It takes some getting used to, to be able to grasp the pen, press the button, and navigate to the on-screen icon for the function one wants.
The Note 3 also features a sliding drawer on the left of the screen that allows for the selection of another app that can be made to share the screen with whatever one was already doing. My sense is that one should be able to drag-and-drop objects between the two panes of this split window, though it wasn't entirely successful, though it's possible I was simply doing something wrong. I tried composing an email in the top pane of the window while browsing photos in the Gallery application in the bottom pane. It was all very smooth, which was a delight. However, I expected to be able to drag a photo out of the Gallery and into the email composition window. I wasn't able to do so, which seems a shame, as it would be a most useful feature. Again, it is possible I hadn't found the right approach.


text:
The 39-year-old bared it all in the July issue of Playboy. In her eight-page photo spread, she wears nothing but red lipstick and a whole lot of fishnet.
PHOTOS: Playboy Gets a Little "Cheeky" With Their Latest Ad Campaign
The blonde bombshell thought this spread was really classy, telling People magazine:
"I'm really proud of it. The pictures are really gorgeous and classy. They could be out of W magazine. They're really elegant. It's probably a lot more sophisticated than a lot of the stuff you'd see of people with their clothes on."
This is Jenny's sixth Playboy cover and her seventh pictorial. In 1993, she made her Playboy debut as a centerfold, and was later named Playmate of the Month and Playmate of the Year.
STORY: Jenny McCarthy Says Jim Carrey Won't See Her Autistic Son!
Check out the gallery above to see some behind the scene shots from her spread!


text:
Connect With Us
Habitat Conservation Plans In Development
Duke Power Company - Least Tern HCP
A single pair of endangered Interior least terns (Sterna antillarum) nested at Cinergy Corporation's (Cinergy) Gibson Generating Station in Gibson County, Indiana in 1986. Since that time, the least tern colony at the facility has grown. In the late 1990s, Cinergy worked cooperatively with the Indiana DNR and the Service to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for continued operation of the facility, and the Service issued an Incidental Take Permit to Cinergy in late-1999. the Incidental Take Permit was renewed in 2005. In 2006, Duke Energy purchased Cinergy and continued managing the site under the renewed permit and Habitat Conservation Plan. In 2010, an estimated 150 adults, 110 nests, and 165 fledged young were recorded. In addition to the growth in numbers, the tern colony has expanded to areas beyond the original location.
Duke Energy Incidental Take Permit Renewed.
Federal Register Notice of Availability: Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Incidental Take Permit Application; Proposed Low-Effect Habitat Conservation Plan and Associated Documents; Duke Energy Corp., Gibson County, IN
Duke Power Company Habitat Conservation Plan (86-page PDF; 3MB)
Incidental Take Permit for Duke Power Company's Gibson Station (3-page PDF)
Application for Renewal of Duke Power Company Incidental Take Permit (7-page PDF; 1.4MB)
Low Effect HCP Determination - Duke Power Company (6-page PDF)
Midwest Habitat Conservation Plans
USFWS Midwest Endangered Species Home
Last updated: April 14, 2015


text:
A date for your diaries!
The Exe-Wing Fundraisers are pleased to announce that Star Wars Day VII will be held on Sunday 2nd March 2003, at the Honiton Sports Centre in Devon, with proceeds donated to the Childrens Hospice South West.
The event is a one-day Star Wars convention featuring special guests, autograph sessions, dealers, displays of art, models, collectibles and prop replicas, fancy dress, games and competitions, costumed characters, vintage arcade machines, and lots more.
Confirmed guests (subject to work commitments) include SILAS CARSON (Ki-Adi-Mundi & Nute Gunray), JEROME BLAKE (Rune Haako & Mas Amedda), JONATHAN HALES (Co-writer, Episodes II & III), and MICHAEL SHEARD (Admiral Ozzel). More guests will be confirmed shortly!
For all the information, please visit our website http://www.exewing.btinternet.co.uk/


text:
Japanese Dock Surfs to Oregon!
Tracking Debris from the Japanese Tsunami
Student Exploration
How did a dock from Japan make its way to a beach in Oregon?
The earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 continues to have impacts worldwide. In June 2012, a surprise arrived on the shore of Oregon:
'Mystery' dock washes up on Oregon beach
Extension Investigation
- What caused a dock from Japan to make its way to Oregon? In order to understand the end result, let's explore from the beginning: the earthquake! In this article, you can click through the steps of how the March 2011 Japanese earthquake formed: How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan As the oceanic plate converges with the continental plate, an earthquake is triggered resulting in an upward displacement of water. The powerful tsunami wave travels away from the earthquake's epicenter with a wavelength that shortens and wave height that increases as it travels into shallower water.
- Why would shallower water cause the wavelength and wave height to change? Use this wave simulator to learn about various wave types and the effect that wind can have on a wave: Wave Machine
Resources Cited
KATU. CNN. http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/06/06/dnt-mystery-dock-lands-in-oregon.katu
New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/11/world/asia/maps-of-earthquake-and-tsunami-damage-in-japan.html??smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=WO-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-HSP-031411-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click#panel/0
Savage Seas. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageseas/multimedia/wavemachine.html
Connections to other CK-12 Subject Areas
- Tsunami (SCI.ESC.364.L.1)
- 21st Century Tsunami (SCI.ESC.364.1.L.1)
- Surface Ocean Currents (SCI.ESC.545.L.1)
- Coastal Pollution (SCI.ESC.547.1.L.1)
- Ocean Garbage Patch (SCI.ESC.547.2.L.1)


text:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures fell Wednesday to settle back under $1,600 an ounce after a two-session climb of nearly 3%, as investors bid up U.S. equities in the wake of strong data on domestic housing.
Gold for delivery in April US:GCJ3 fell $19.80, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,595.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had traded as high as $1,614.40 during the session.
The metal on Tuesday rose $28.90, or 1.8%, to settle at $1,615.50 an ounce. That was gold's biggest one-day gain in 2013.
Small jets taking over the skies
Passengers who think they've booked a regular flight are often surprised to find themselves on smaller, bumpier regional jets. WSJ columnist Scott McCartney explains why the U.S. is becoming an "RJ Nation."
But on Wednesday, investors favored equities over gold. See: U.S. stocks rally builds on home-sales data.
They cheered by a rise in pending home sales in January to the highest level since April 2010. See: Pending home sales rise in January.
Stocks also got a boost after remarks U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week assuaged fears over an end to the central bank's quantitative-easing program. Read Bernanke: QE benefits clear, risks manageable.
"Investors were once again seeking risk in the form of equities," said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at GFT Markets, in a note, citing easing worries over Italy's fiscal woes following a successful debt auction in Rome. "We also saw a big rise in U.S. pending home sales which further discouraged defensive positioning."
European woes
Tuesday's gain in gold prices came as investors turned to the metal for its safe-haven appeal following an election that resulted in a political gridlock in Italy. See: Gold up nearly 2% for biggest one-day gain of year.
"The European Union and its sovereign debt problems are still simmering on the front burner of the marketplace," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com, in a note Wednesday. "The Italian elections failed to show a clear winner as voters ostensibly rebuked present government austerity measures."
Remarks from Bernanke Tuesday during his testimony to the Senate also contributed to gold's rise. He offered similar testimony to the House Wednesday. Read the blog on Bernanke's second day of testimony.
Bernanke's comments were "very supportive for gold in 2013 and beyond," said Jeffrey Wright, managing director at Global Hunter Securities.
"Further QE measures by the FOMC, such as purchasing of assets ... are funded by the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet," he explained. "Over time, this degrades the value of the U.S. dollar compared with other currencies and can lead to inflation in the economy.
"Gold as a U.S. dollar-denominated commodity, appreciates with a lower U.S. dollar and is viewed as a hedge against inflation," said Wright.
Sequester likely to begin and more
What's News: President Obama and congressional leaders plan to meet on Friday to discuss the sequester, Exxon wins a reversal of $1.5 billion in damages in court and a Rosa Parks statue is unveiled in Statuary Hall. Photo: AP
Meanwhile, the U.S. government's "likely inability to agree on a taxing and spending plan by the March 1 sequestration deadline is added to a nervous and uncertain atmosphere in the world marketplace this week," said Wyckoff. "That's also a mildly supportive factor for the safe-haven investment assets this week." See: The sequester starts Friday. Then what?
Gold tallied a gain of nearly $43, or 2.7%, on Monday and Tuesday. It poised for a loss of around 4% for the month.
Silver tracked gold prices lower Wednesday, with May silver US:SIK3 down 34 cents, or 1.1%, to $28.99 an ounce.
Other metals ended mostly lower. May copper US:HGK3 fell nearly 2 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.57 a pound and palladium for delivery in June US:PAM3 closed up $3.75, or 0.5%, to $745.65 an ounce.
Platinum for April delivery US:PLJ3 fell $16.40, or 1%, to $1,600.10 an ounce, with the difference between platinum and gold under $5. See Commodities Corner: What platinum's premium over gold really means.
The platinum/gold spread was "probably a bit overdone in platinum's favor anyway," said Tim Murray, general manager of precious-metals marketing at Johnson Matthey. "With tensions [at mining operations] easing in South Africa, it makes sense that traders would unwind the trade a bit."


text:
Well made lens great value. 2/15/2012Kyle Willems from Goodland, KS
Rokinon lenses are all well made and have great value.
Good lens and good servive from Cameta 8/30/2011Cameta Camera customer from montreal qc. Canada
Good lens
Great lens for the money-Not a Fisheye 1/11/2011A customer from North Dakota
Great lens for the amount of cost. Very good even at f2.8. Fair amount of moustache distortion, but DX labs has a very good correction for it so it becomes a non-issue. It is a manual focus and manual aperture lens only so I marked down the ease of use, but that is also to be expected.


text:
Petition to the FDA requesting regulatory action concerning the possible spread of botulinum toxin (Botox, Myobloc) from the site of injection to other parts of the body (HRG Publication #1834)
January 23, 2008
Andrew von Eschenbach, MD
Dear Dr. von Eschenbach:
Public Citizen, representing 100,000 consumers nationwide, hereby petitions the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 21 U.S.C. Section 355(e)(3) and 21 C.F.R. 10.30, to immediately require Allergan and Solstice Neurosciences to issue a warning letter to physicians regarding all formulations of botulinum toxin (Botox and Myobloc, respectively). This letter would alert physicians to serious problems, including hospitalizations and deaths, resulting from the spread of the toxin from the site of injection to other parts of the body. In order to alert both physicians and patients, we also request additional warnings in the form of a black box in the product label and a MedGuide for patients, to be dispensed by doctors at the time the drug is injected. These significantly improved warnings to doctors and patients would increase the likelihood of earlier medical intervention when symptoms of adverse reactions to botulinum toxin first appear and could prevent more serious complications, including death.
The European Union (EU) has posted a series of warnings concerning botulinum toxin on its web site, the latest in March 2007, alerting physicians in its 27 member states about the need to monitor for signs of botulinum toxin adverse events.[1] The U.K.[2] and Germany[3] amplified the EU warning with "Dear Doctor Letters," but no similar official warnings have been forthcoming from the FDA. The spread of toxin has been implicated in serious adverse events including muscle weakness, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), and aspiration pneumonia, the latter sometimes resulting in death. Public Citizen has done its own analysis of the FDA Adverse Event database (AERS) for Botox and Myobloc (excluding foreign reports) and found 180 adverse event cases submitted by drug manufacturers relating to these conditions, including 16 deaths. Four of these deaths occurred in children less than 18 years of age.
Description, indications, and mechanism of action
Botulinum toxins are proteins produced by a bacterium, Clostridium botulinum. Botulinum toxin acts by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles, causing those muscles to relax and resulting in a loss of muscle control. In the case of food poisoning from botulinum toxin, in which the toxin spreads widely around the body, early symptoms include dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, slurred speech, drooping eyelids, and muscle weakness. Subsequent paralysis of respiratory muscles can lead to death.
In the case of injected therapeutic or cosmetic use of botulinum toxin, if the product spreads from the injection site to another area of the body, this loss of muscle control can be similarly harmful. For example, when muscle control to the esophagus is lost, one loses the ability to control swallowing; food and drink can then accidentally reflux and be aspirated into the respiratory tract and lungs, causing a serious complication, aspiration pneumonia, and occasionally lead to death.
Botulinum toxins are classified as distinct serotypes, A-G, with different potencies but the same mechanism of action. Types A and B have been developed commercially for use as drugs. In the U.S., there are two approved products: Botox (Allergan), which is Type A, and Myobloc (Solstice Neurosciences), which is Type B.
The two broad indications for the use of botulinum toxins are therapeutic and cosmetic. FDA-approved therapeutic uses include cervical dystonia (contractions of the neck and/or shoulder muscles that cannot be controlled), strabismus (crossed eyes), blepharospasm (spasmodic blinking of the eyes), and primary axillary hyperhydrosis (excessive underarm sweating; Botox only). Botox has one approved cosmetic use (Myobloc has none) and that is for temporary improvement of glabellar lines (wrinkles between the eyebrows). Most cosmetic use of botulinum toxin is unapproved by the FDA and is therefore considered off-label.
Chronology of European cautions
The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) is the European counterpart of the U.S. FDA. Under its jurisdiction, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use monitors adverse event reports for all forms of botulinum toxin and has been posting information about adverse effects on its web site for over two years. Highlights include the following:
On August 9, 2007, the Danish Medicines Agency, in cooperation with the European Pharmacovigilance Working Party, published an analysis of adverse reactions from the four products marketed in the EU stating that, "Since the entry of the product [botulinum toxin] on the market, more than 600 reports of this type [adverse events related to botulinum toxin] have been registered [in the EU]. Approx. half of all serious adverse reactions were caused by spread of toxin." (Italics added) This warning mentioned the dangers of "muscular weakness and difficulties in swallowing and breathing." The Danish agency also pointed out that these adverse events are "substantially under-reported" and have been seen in connection with cosmetic as well as therapeutic uses.[5]
The Danish Agency stated further that muscle weakness may be long-lasting, especially for those at increased risk of this type of adverse event: children, weakened elderly patients, and those suffering from serious neurological disorders. In addition, it noted that the risk of adverse events is increased if the dose is too high or the recommended injection technique is not followed. In the cases where use is off-label, there is no approved dose or technique.
Information for physicians
European Union
The Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) is the EU counterpart to the U.S. label. The EU label for the therapeutic uses of Neurobloc has a "Special warnings and precautions for use" section that succinctly addresses all the major issues related to migration of injected drug. The latest SPC, in its "Special warnings and precautions for use" section located near the beginning of the document, warns physicians:
United States
Unlike the EU warnings, the U.S. information is scattered throughout the labels (typically under "Warnings" and the still less-prominent "Adverse Reactions" sections). Most of the information in the EU label is present, but the Myobloc label makes no mention that the mechanism of toxicity is through distant spread. Some labels do not make clear enough that the phenomenon of distant spread is not restricted to patients treated for cervical dystonia. Neither the EU nor the U.S. has the information in a black box.
Information for patients
European Union
"Package Leaflet: Information for the User" is a document, included in the package of each drug that a patient receives, which provides comprehensive information on the prescribed drug. This package leaflet has two bolded sections, "Possible Side Effects" and "How You Will Be Given Neurobloc," that alert patients to possible serious adverse events and what actions they should take. The following quotations appear in these sections in the Neurobloc (therapeutic) label:
United States
Unlike in Europe, FDA-approved information is not consistently provided to patients. Some labels do have sections of the physician labeling devoted to information that is supposed to be imparted to patients. For botulinum toxin-containing products, the "Information for Patients" section is very brief, and does not approach the five-page EU patient information in comprehensiveness. In the Botox cosmetic label, literally the only information for patients is "Patients or caregivers should be advised to seek immediate medical attention if swallowing, speech or respiratory disorders arise."[8] In the Botox therapeutic label, there is, in addition to the above sentence, a warning for cervical dystonia patients about the risk of dysphagia leading to aspiration, shortness of breath, and pneumonia. There is no warning about distant spread of toxin, or that treatment of conditions other than cervical dystonia can also lead to these adverse events.[9] Myobloc has no "Information for Patients" section.[10]
Even if this section of the labeling were more complete, there is no evidence that physicians actually discuss this information with their patients consistently. The FDA does have the authority to require that detailed written information in the form of FDA-approved Medication Guides be routinely given to patients. Unfortunately, this has been required for no more than approximately 100 of the thousands of drugs approved by the FDA. Medication Guides are usually dispensed in the pharmacy when patients get their prescription filled, but there are at least four examples in which the Medication Guide is provided in the doctor's office when the drug is injected.[11]
Pre-approval evidence of dysphagia
Pre-approval clinical studies provide ample proof that botulinum toxin can cause dysphagia. In the analysis below, we have generally restricted ourselves to randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) with placebo controls.
Therapeutic uses
Significant rates of dysphagia were documented in the Medical Officer's clinical reviews of both Myobloc (October 1999)[12] and Botox therapeutic (November 1999).[13] In most studies, patients had previously been exposed to botulinum toxin. Since those with previous adverse events would presumably be less likely to enroll in subsequent trials, the incidence of dysphagia may be underestimated.
Botox: There was only one RCT for Botox therapeutic that was placebo-controlled (Study 140). The rates of dysphagia were 7% vs. 4% (treated vs. placebo). Severity grades were only provided for the six cases in the treated group: three moderate and three mild cases of dysphagia.[14]
Myobloc: The three RCTs for Myobloc consisted of one Phase II range-finding study (Study 009) and two Phase III trials (Studies 301 and 302). The only difference between Studies 301 and 302 was that subjects in the former had cervical dystonia symptoms that were still responsive to Botox (Type A toxin), while those in Study 302 had ceased to respond to Botox. (Myobloc is Type B.) The data below summarize the incidence of dysphagia in all placebo-controlled trials of this product, based on only one dose. (Doses of Botox and Myobloc cannot be compared directly as they are different botulinum toxins.)
A summary of the severity of dysphagia for all Myobloc-exposed patients, both those in placebo-controlled and open-label studies, is shown below.
Although these trials were small and consisted only of a single dose, the results have a consistency that lends them added weight. The Medical Officer noted that dysphagia was consistently the second most common adverse event after dry mouth and, "...the most common important adverse effect of BOTOX treatments for cervical dystonia reported in the medical literature."[17] While not having as high an incidence of serious cases as dry mouth, serious dysphagia cases "can be more medically risky" and "even moderate grade events in these two categories have been responsible for patients discontinuing repetitive injections..."[18]
Cosmetic uses
The Botox cosmetic reviews found the incidence of muscle weakness in treated patients in two placebo-controlled clinical trials to be 1% and 3%. There were no cases of muscle weakness in the placebo groups and no cases of dysphagia in either the treated or placebo groups.[19]
Thus, dysphagia was a common adverse event in the clinical trials conducted prior to approval and occurred in a dose-related fashion. Although most cases were mild, some severe cases did occur.
FDA analysis of adverse events
FDA subsequently highlighted the dangers of botulinum toxin in a published 2005 analysis of adverse events covering the period from 1989 to May 2003.[20] These adverse event data add to the clinical trial information because severe cases of dysphagia were not common in the clinical trials and the adverse event data would tend to include more severe cases of dysphagia. The adverse event data also emphasize that, although dysphagia was more common in therapeutic than cosmetic clinical trials (presumably due to higher doses and, for many indications, greater proximity to the esophagus), cosmetic cases have been reported and some have been serious.
Therapeutic use: The FDA analysis found 406 adverse event reports related to therapeutic use, 217 of which met the FDA's definition of serious. There were 26 reports of serious adverse events involving dysphagia (including one death due to aspiration pneumonia) and 13 reports of non-serious dysphagia.
Cosmetic use: There were 36 serious reports related to cosmetic use, including two reports of dysphagia, but no deaths. There were, in addition, 995 non-serious reports for cosmetic use, the most frequent of which was "lack of intended effect" (63%). Four of the non-serious reports were for dysphagia. The agency also noted that, "Numerous departures from FDA-approved recommendations for drug use, dilution, handling, site of injection, and storage were noted in these AE [adverse event] reports."
Public Citizen analysis of adverse events
We have done our own analysis using the FDA adverse event database for cases submitted to the agency by drug manufacturers between November 1, 1997 and December 31, 2006. We searched the database using the terms "*botox*", "*botulinum*" and "*myobloc*" as Primary Suspect drugs and did not restrict the search by Indication for drug use. We excluded cases marked "foreign."[21] (The EU analysis included all international reports.) The initial search included all Preferred Terms (the medical description of the adverse event), but in the principle analyses we restricted the Preferred Terms to "*dysphagia*", "*pneumon*" and "*aspir*".[22] The latter categories were combined in the data presentation below. The search included Outcomes, but we provide specific information only about deaths and hospitalizations. Cases that were associated with both death and hospitalization were coded as deaths. Those that included the Preferred Term "*suicide*" were excluded from the list of deaths. We looked separately at the adverse events associated with Botox cosmetic use and the three Preferred Terms by searching on the Indication *skin* (which yielded "skin wrinkling" and "skin cosmetic procedure").
We found 658 cases of adverse events for all Preferred Terms, of which 180 (27%) were associated with aspiration, dysphagia, or pneumonia. Of these 180, 106 had an indication listed: 18 cosmetic only and 87 non-cosmetic only. Eighty-seven of the cases associated with these three Preferred Terms were hospitalized and 16 died (including 4 children less than 18 years of age). Table 1 presents the cases broken down by Preferred Term and Outcome, while Table 2 contains a description of the 16 deaths, one of which was associated with cosmetic use.
It should be noted that these data come from voluntary reports submitted to the FDA which have been estimated to represent approximately 10% of the actual occurrences. Additional limits to our data include: causality cannot be proved, other Preferred Terms may exist that might increase our counts, some fields such as Outcome are not consistently filled in, and reports from individual consumers were not included.
Actions requested
Failure to immediately take these actions is likely to result in more preventable serious adverse reactions and deaths from these products.
Environmental impact statement
Nothing requested in this petition will have an impact on the environment.
We certify that, to the best of our knowledge and belief, this petition includes all information and views on which this petition relies, and that it includes representative data and information known to the petitioners that are unfavorable to the petition.
Elizabeth Barbehenn, PhD
Peter Lurie, MD, MPH
Shiloh Stark, B.A.
Sidney M. Wolfe, MD
Public Citizen's Health Research Group
[1] http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/neurobloc/411400en8b.pdf. Accessed September 4, 2007.
[2] http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/es-
[3] http://www.bfarm.de/SharedDocs/Publikationen/DE/
[4] http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/neurobloc/411400en8b.pdf. Accessed September 6, 2007.
[5] http://www.dkma.dk/visUKLSArtikel.asp?artikelID=11694. Accessed September 6, 2007.
[6] http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/neurobloc/H-301-PI-en.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2007.
[7] http://www.emea.europa.eu/humandocs/PDFs/EPAR/neurobloc/H-301-PI-en.pdf. Accessed December 4, 2007.
[8] http://www.botoxcosmetic.com/botox_physician_info/
[9] http://www.botoxmedical.com/images/pdfs/BOTOX_prescribing_information.pdf. Accessed September 21, 2007.
[10] Myobloc package insert. http://www.myobloc.com/hp_about/PI_7-19-05.pdf. Accessed November 8, 2007.
[12] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type B. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/products/botelan120800.htm. Accessed December 6, 2007.
[13] Medical Officer's Review of Botulinum toxin type A. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/products/botaller122100.htm. Accessed December 6, 2007.
[14] Medical Officer's Review of Botulinum toxin type A. pp.42-43. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/review/botaller122100r2p4.pdf.
[15] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type B. p.74. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/products/botelan120800.htm. Accessed December 6, 2007.
[16] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type B. p. 78. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/products/botelan120800.htm. Accessed December 6, 2007.
[17] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type B. p. 44. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/products/botelan120800.htm. Accessed December 6, 2007.
[18] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type B. p.77.
[19] Medical Officer's Review of botulinum toxin type A. pp.43 & 54. http://www.fda.gov/cder/biologics/review/botuall041202r2-2.pdf. Accessed January 17, 2008.
[20] Cote TR, Mohan AK, Polder JA, et al. Botulinum toxin type A injections: Adverse events reported to the U.S. Food And Drug Administration in therapeutic and cosmetic cases. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2005;53:407-15.
[21] There could be multiple sources of reports for one patient (case), but if any one was listed as "foreign," we classified the case as foreign.
[22] Although these search terms also occasionally produced records with other preferred terms such as pneumonitis, we refer to the results of the restricted preferred term search as dysphagia, pneumonia and aspiration as these were by far the most common.
[23] Smalley W, Shatin D, Wysowski DK, et al. Contraindicated use of cisapride. Journal of the American Medical Association 2000;284:3036-9.
[24] Graham DJ, Drinkard CR, Shatin D, Tsong Y, Burgess MJ. Liver enzyme monitoring in patients treated with troglitazone. Journal of the American Medical Association 2001;286:831-3.
[25] Willy ME, Manda B, Shatin D, Drinkard CR, Graham DJ. A study of compliance with FDA recommendations for pemoline (Cylert). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2002;41:785-90.


text:
By The Associated Press
OXFORD — An investiture ceremony for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Josiah D. Coleman is scheduled for Tuesday in Oxford.
The ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Lafayette County Courthouse in Oxford.
Retired Court of Appeals Judge Thomas A. Coleman, Josiah Coleman's father, will administer the oath of office.
Coleman, 40, of Toccopola, won election last fall to succeed former Presiding Justice George C. Carlson Jr., who retired.
Coleman is the second member of his family to serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court. He is the grandson of the late Gov. J.P. Coleman, who also served on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. J.P. Coleman served briefly as a justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, resigning to accept appointment as state attorney general.