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The Diablo Mountains, east of San Jose, Calif., offer some of the best and most spectacular driving roads in Northern California. Bordering the local state park, Route 130 starts in the foothills by Highway 680, and winds its way up Mt. Hamilton towards Observatory Peak at 4,213 feet above sea level, and down the other side.
Running across Mt. Hamilton for 22.5 miles, Route 130 has much more gradient than flat, a few short straights, many open but even more numerous tight bends, and the occasional hairpin thrown in for good measure.
In all, there are 365 curves here, one for each day of the year, and all the tighter corners are cambered the right way. The backdrop to this sinuous piece of tarmac is rock face on one side and a sheer drop on the other. This is a serious driver's road par excellence!
On the downside, the road was better maintained before the financial crisis, and the subsequent lack of funding and a couple of hard winters have begun to degrade the surface.
Thus, you have to be careful of small rocks that have been washed off the cliff face by the occasional rain. And just like at the Nürburgring in spring, autumn and winter, the damp patches shaded by the trees do not dry out.
Today, we are enjoying the breathtaking views from the University of California's Lick Observatory, on Observatory Peak. It has taken us just over half an hour of spirited driving from the highway, covering barely half of Route 130, to get here.
It was no surprise that we only saw one other car on the way up as the locals say the population of Mt. Hamilton is around 40 people. However, unlike the odd tourist who comes up here for the observatory tour or just to get some clean air, the five of us, and our three GT3s were on a mission.
GT3s are not town or highway animals; they are lean and lithe predators born to go quickly on a racetrack or on roads like these, and the jockeys who ride them want to enjoy every minute.
Enjoy it is precisely what I was doing in this back-to-back drive of two tuned 997 GT3s and one tuned GT3 RS 3.8, all three fettled by California-based Porsche tuner Shark Werks.
It is one thing for Shark Werks to hand over their own brand-new GT3 RS 3.8 to a total stranger, it's quite another for two of their best customers to do the same, especially on a road as demanding as this. I take it as a mark of the confidence they have in their cars, and the respect they have for Shark Werks co-founder Alex Ross and his team.
Ralph Jackson's silver GT3 was actually the second car I drove that day. I had decided to start with the lightly tuned blue and orange Shark Werks RS 3.8, using it as the benchmark for the two modified 997 GT3s.
Their car, one of the four Gulf blue and orange themed RS 3.8s to come to the U.S., was famous even before it reached Shark Werks HQ. Alex and Dan collected it in person from supplying dealer Isringhausen Porsche in Springfield, Ill., in early November and drove it all the way back to California.
Their 2,229-mile journey across five states on the legendary U.S. Route 66 was the subject of a daily blog on the Shark Werks website in early November. I followed his journey in the days leading up to my visit to Shark Werks. The timing was perfect as I was due to drive the new 991 Carrera in Santa Barbara just a few days after my visit to Shark Werks.
Apart from being the most lurid GT3 RS 3.8 I have ever seen in the metal, the setting was familiar, and the figure-hugging race seats felt like a favorite pair of gloves.
When I twisted the ignition key, the engine fired up with a deeper, more visceral bark than standard thanks to the Shark Werks GT3 exhaust. I knew from Alex's blog that scant seconds after taking delivery of his brand-new car, he had Isringhausen whip it into their workshop to install the exhaust, which is one of Shark Werks best-selling lines.
On day four, and 1,500 miles into the journey home, the intrepid duo stopped off at Evolution Motorsport (EVOMS) in Arizona for the ECU remapping work that would optimize the fuel, ignition and camshaft timing for both 91 and 93 octane fuel.
On the EVOMS dyno, the factory output baseline was 424 hp at the wheels. This was boosted to 442 hp, or 470 hp at the flywheel, by the ECU and exhaust mods, and the RS continued its journey west with smiling faces all around.
"When we got the car back to our workshop, we then did all our usual suspension and wheel upgrades as well," said Alex. "Having a car that a customer can drive is a basic principle we uphold here, and we have proven over and over with various demo cars that there is no better way to sell parts or even complete cars."
Feeling 20 hp on top of 450 hp is a tough call, especially on a road like this where you seldom get up enough speed to see the redline in Third. But from the more incisive way the throttle responds, and the more eager the rev counter needle chases the red paint, the seat of my pants tells me that the freer-breathing exhaust and remapped software have done the trick.
On top of that, the Shark Werks exhaust shaves about 18 pounds off a 997 GT3, but as the factory RS 3.8 uses a titanium exhaust, the saving drops to around 8 pounds. That said, the factory RS exhaust only uses titanium in its center muffler and tips, and the pipes are still stainless steel. Shark Werks use titanium tips that are larger in diameter but lighter.
A road like Route 130 requires a driver to get into a rhythm. I always take it easy until I feel comfortable, stepping up the pace gradually until car, driver and road come together. It takes three or four miles till everything snaps into place, but then we are off with the two GT3s behind.
The RS 3.8 takes the occasional rough surface and change of road camber in its stride. This car has fantastic poise and stability under trail braking into bends, and superb traction on the way out.
I know how good the stock RS 3.8 is, but with Shark Werks' bump steer correction kit, control arms and rear adjustable link kit, the handling has even more finesse.
I know from experience that on a racetrack I would be confident to push the RS all the way and beyond. But here, with the rock face always just a couple of feet away, there is no margin for error.
Even pushing hard on this road, there is no sign of the suspension running out of travel, tram lining or the ABS even hinting of kicking in, and only once or twice does the deep front spoiler lip come into contact with the tarmac.
Lower unsprung weight always helps ride, traction, braking and even acceleration, so the HRE Monoblock P43S centerlock wheels in factory sizes that shave a total of 12 pounds from the unsprung weight play their own part here.
With a shade more grunt, soundtrack and handling than it came with out of the box, the modest Shark Werks alterations to the RS 3.8 score a bull's-eye. They leave the RS 3.8 slightly more focused as a keen driver's car, without upsetting its fine balance or eating into its ability to be used as a daily driver.
When Alex told me that property developer, Ralph Jackson, whose 2007 GT3 was the first recipient of the Shark Werks 3.9-liter motor, was keen to join our little soirée, I was elated. I have heard so much about Ralph, his car and the Shark Werks 3.9-liter engine that my expectations are running close to escape velocity.
Ralph's 2007 GT3 is no garage queen. It was the very first '09 GT3 delivered in Northern California and is used as a daily driver. It is also probably one of the highest mileage GT3s in the world, with over 58,000 miles under its belt, 23,000 of those covered with the 3.9-liter motor.
"I live on the northern part of the loop that we are driving today, where the roads are similar but smoother, so the steering, suspension, tires and engine get a good daily workout," said Ralph. "It is a testament to the basic toughness of the GT3 and Shark Werks' engine building skills that the car has never missed a beat."
"The only thing that has ever gone wrong was the shafts of the stock front dampers bending at 50,000 miles with the torture this infamous road gave them," he continued. "But since I replaced them with aftermarket Bilsteins, everything has been fine."
Ralph is no ordinary GT3 owner. Turning 65-years-of-age this year, he is a GT3 Rennlister who has been associated with Porsche since his teens when he worked for the legendary Vasek Polak, and drove Abarth Carreras and RSKs around the Riverside Raceway.
"Ralph has had many modified Porsches over the years, and says that this is his favorite—and last," said Alex. "He is a big-capacity, naturally aspirated motor junkie, and when he met us in late 2006, he made it his mission to wean us off the crazy turbo scene! No question that he has succeeded there!"
"He was one of our first customers for the GT3 street exhaust system and has number 4 of the 467 sold so far. His car has been a testbed for many of our new parts, and the good news is that five years down the line, his faith in our work is undiminished."
Halfway to the observatory, we spot a pulloff and I switch to Ralph's silver 3.9-liter bullet. As expected of a U.S.-spec GT3, this car has the conventional sports seats rather than the lightweight race seats fitted to the ROW version. No matter, Ralph decided not to change them for practical reasons.
One thing I am less happy with is the steering wheel, whose leather rim has become shiny and slippery after four years of hard use. After the grippy Alcantara covered wheel in the RS 3.8, I initially feel less in control. Ralph however, grew up on a diet of Porsches with thin, shiny plastic steering wheels, and it does not bother him.
Compared to the 415 hp and 298 lb-ft of torque from the first-generation 997 GT3 3.6-liter motor on which it is based, the 3.9-liter conversion is a sensational improvement that actually jumps over both the second-generation 3.8 and the RS 3.8 to make 502 hp at 7700 rpm and 355 lb-ft of torque at 5250 rpm.
With forged lightweight pistons weighing just 496 grams each including the wristpin (stock 3.6 pistons: 519 g, stock 3.8 pistons: 539 g), running in steel liners, and a single-mass flywheel, it also revs like a race motor with a screaming 8800-rpm rev limit. Peak power arrives just under 8000 rpm, and amazingly only drops 5 hp from that point to the limiter.
Thanks to the other mods like the EVOMS intake and exhaust camshafts and their bespoke ECU mapping, there are also gobs of torque along the way. In fact, the big numbers made by the Shark Werks 3.9 compare very favorably to the 450 hp and 318 lb-ft of torque generated by the factory RS 3.8, and even the 500 hp and 340 lb-ft of the RS 4.0.
All this extra power and torque is fed through an uprated clutch and pressure plate from the Carrera Cup car, and you can feel the resistance of the stronger springs when you depress the left pedal.
From the very first gearshift, I just know that I am sitting on a flat-six bombshell. The 3.9-liter motor has power and torque coming out of its ears, and whether I am driving conservatively as I get to know the car, or hanging it out later on, I realize that I am instinctively using one gear higher in most places than I would be even in the RS 3.8.
It is the same kind of feeling I had with the RS 4.0, and tells me that not only can you go faster when you are pushing on, when you are not in a hurry you can almost treat the big motor like it is coupled to an automatic transmission.
I dropped down to just over 1000 rpm in Third for my tractability test, and when I began to feed in throttle, the car simply pulled away smoothly from there, enthusiastically from 1500 rpm, and then took off like a dingbat after that.
When the original dampers in Ralph's car gave up the ghost, he fitted a set of fully adjustable Bilstein B16 Damptronic coilovers. They were set up to drop the ride height another 15 mm over stock and are compatible with PASM, but reduce the 10 selectable settings to two in that configuration. The springs are also firmer than factory issue.
When I later read off the long list of suspension mods around the Bilsteins, I was not surprised one bit. RSS/Shark Werks bump steer correction and toe steer kits, RSS inner rose joints and adjustable thrust arm bushings all round, rear adjustable links.
This car came with steel brakes, and Ralph replaced these with the Brembo GT upgrade, which uses 380-mm vented, cross-drilled discs all round, and six- and four-pot calipers front and rear.
This uprated brake system takes 18 pounds off the car's unsprung weight, while the HRE Competition C93 three-piece wheels, shod with 225/35-19 and 305/30-19 Michelin Super Sport System tires, remove a further 25 pounds.
On this undulating road with its broken surface, the ride was borderline uncomfortable. It felt like the suspension was wound up tight and did not "breathe" like the PASM system in the RS 3.8. If anything, the ride reminded me of a 996 GT3, which illustrates how far the suspension technology in the current-generation car has advanced.
However, for all that firmness the car also felt very well planted on the hard deck. So although my spine was taking a good pounding over some of the more uncompromising bumps, there was no loss of traction front or rear, and the car's nose dived for apexes like it was an Olympic event, the back end following through without hesitation. It may not exactly glide over the broken surfaces of this mountain road, but this is one car I would love to try on a smooth racetrack.
It is time to get into a blue car again, but one without a lick of orange paint in sight. The '10 997 GT3 3.8's owner Larry Cable is a fellow Scot, so we were off to a good start.
This Mexico Blue car is Larry's third GT3, and you will get an idea of his commitment by his reputation on Rennlist, and the fact that he was chosen for the Michelin Pilot Super Sport R&D program, going to Dubai and other places for testing.
Larry's GT3 is a work in progress, and when I drove it, it had the Shark Werks Stage One engine and suspension conversion. Thus, it is close to being the GT3 3.8 version of Shark Werks GT3 RS 3.8 demo car.
The motor benefits from an EVOMS remap for an extra 12 horses and 10 lb-ft of torque on 91 octane pump fuel. The e-gas throttle has also been dialed right up and left-foot braking enabled.
A small handful of those extra horses come from the Shark Werks exhaust, whose main mission in life is to carve 16 pounds from the extreme end of the car and give it a more enticing soundtrack.
As a keen track junkie, Larry knows the difference between a road- and a race car, aiming to keep his ride civilized on the street while taking out most of the slack in the rear suspension for greater precision on track.
That happy medium was achieved using RSS/Shark Werks rear adjustable link kit, bump steer correction kit and 997 GT2 antiroll bars. The wheels are one of the first sets of HRE's 19-inch centerlock wheels for the GT3 Mk 2. Larry chose the satin black finish on the P40 wheel design that saves 21 pounds over a set over the standard wheels. When I drove the car, it was wearing stock sized Pirelli Corsa tires.
Despite its power and torque deficit compared to the other two, this GT3 felt very together and balanced. If longer straights had been involved, the other two might have pulled out some distance, but on this twisty road, the blue GT3 had no trouble keeping up.
I was not surprised that the one area where the GT3 was lacking was its ability to rev as hard and high as its running mates. Naturally, the dual-mass flywheel is the culprit here, and Larry plans to fit a single-mass flywheel and a Guard limited-slip differential as part of his Stage 2 upgrade. As with the factory RS, the single-mass flywheel will also allow the ignition timing to be made more aggressive at lower revs, further enhancing the car's pickup.
Driving these modified GT3s and GT3 RS 3.8 all in one day was quite an adventure. Weeks later, my Fun Meter is still tingling from that awesome drive over Mt. Hamilton, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
While there is no doubt that the wider front track of the GT3 RS 3.8 and its more advanced suspension gave it the ultimate edge in the ride and handling stakes, on a public road where you cannot go all out, there was simply not much in it.
Ralph's car in particular, with its well run-in 3.9-liter motor, is breathtakingly fast, with torque and high revving ability that push the similarly powerful factory RS 4.0 very hard indeed.
Given that all the 4.0-liters are sold, and that they were a lot more money even if you were lucky enough to get your name down in time, GT3 and RS 3.8 owners now have an alternative.
In fact, they will soon have two alternatives as Alex is talking about a Shark Werks 4.0-liter GT3 conversion. With the new GT3 two years away and plenty of good used 997 GT3s on the market, it looks like this is a story that could run for quite a while.
My grateful thanks to Ralph Jackson and Larry Cable for kindly volunteering their cars, and riding shotgun on the day.


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Second Supplemental Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1976: Hearings Before Subcommittees of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, Ninety-fourth Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 13172 ....
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A look at issues I deem worthy of my time, whether it be politics, religion or medical issues.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tea Party, "taqwacores," and other profiles in stupidity
Any hope that the Tea party would be able to offer a viable alternative to the two party dictatorship has been dashed. Why you ask? Sarah Palin for starters. The woman makes Dubya look like an intellectual, and that's no easy feat. The movement for a third political party has been hijacked by the right wing to pester the Obamaniac(who is nothing more them America's Gorbachev), meaning it won't in any way change the way things are done in Washington. These Republican clowns are no threat to the establishment, give or take a white suicide bomber who flies straight into the nearest IRS building.
I hear the "taqwacores," a group of desi losers languishing in obscurity for the last 8 years, trying to make it in the world of music have a movie coming out. Who? These are basically a crew of ABCDs(American Born Confused Desis) who are atheists and agnostics but use the Muslim label to promote themselves as "punk Muslims." Think of them as the remnants of the failed pro-regressive movement of the early 2000s. These guys are so untalented they couldn't con their way into a Carribean Medical School(maybe a desi one through a hefty "donation"). I guess it's a step up if the only other accomplishment in life is either pulling a 007-11 at liquor store or chilling at a fat desi uncle's funky sweets and spices store pirating Bollywood DVDs. Nobody heard of them until they were given free publicity by the fake Muslim known as "Michael Muhammed Knight," a dabbler in pseudo-Islamic cults and wannabe fake wrestler ala WWE. Recently Umar Lee issued a challenge to him with some exceptional trash talk thrown in. Knight ran to the FBI with his tail between his legs citing the "threat." In the end, Knight turned out to be nothing more then a yuppie poseur playing street smart urbanite.
Moral of the previous paragraph? If you stay in school, work hard, keep your connection with Allah(swt) strong, you may become somebody, otherwise you'll end up in the dumpster like the "taqwacores." Reality check chutiyas, there is no Muslim "punk underground," the whole rebel act is played out and wont get you far in your balding unemployed 30s. See you on the side walk, I promise to bring enough loose change to help you go wild on the dollar menu at Mcee dees.
Recently Hillary made the statement that "Iran is turning into a military dictatorship" from....Saudi Arabia, a pro-American puppet client dictatorship, as well as a secular state masquerading as a religious one. Jet lag I'm sure.
Next up, the judeofascist antics at UCI, among other places.....hold on to your passports(especially if you're anywhere near Dubai).
14 comments:
- Ali said...
lol this was good
glad to see you updating again
- Omar said...
wow, i've met these people, including knight, and read/watched the related books/movies. your post is remarkably rampant with BS. bravo
- DrMaxtor said...
Congrats on being foolish enough to waste your time and money on their rubbish(assuming you're not one of the chutiya band members). So what if you met them? So you're a groupie high on their horse manure, that in no way disproves anything I've posted about them. To put it mildly, you're out of your depth.
Do your homework and come back and try to refute me, junior.
- Akashi said...
I don't think the tea party was hijacked by the righties, they were righties to begin with. It's a lame fringe movement that uses taxes and spending as a cover for their racism and xenophobia. LOL these fools do not know anything about economics and the fraudulent international monetary system. I find it hilarious that they think they're "independent" thinkers.
Michael Knight is another one of these phony "good" Muslims the White Man loves. Remember when he bragged about having sex with a Muslim woman and then attacked the Prophet(saw) when criticized for his views?
BTW: What happened with Umar Lee's blog? It's not public anymore.
And nice to see you update your blog, DrM. Do you still comment on altmuslim?
- DrMaxtor said...
Yes you are correct, they did start out that way. Why else would a "tea party" movement start up after the Obamaniac came to power and not during the tail end of the Bush years? I guess I only noticed them after Palin showed up. My bad.
As far as MMK goes, you said it for me. I would not be surprised if he switched to some other religion or lack of in a few years time.
Umar Lee's blog is set on "protected" last I checked. It means you have to sign in with a wordpress account which I did, but got nothing. I'm fairly certain it's related to Knight's bogus complaint to the FBI in response to Umar's wrestling challenge.
As for the proggie lite Altmuslim, I won't waste time on any site which does not moderate its comments. This is my number one issue with so called Muslim websites which give islamophobes space to post their lies. I thought that was what Geehad Watch aka Jewhad Watch was for?
Don't get me wrong I have a blast humiliating anti-Islamic racists and charlatans but it's the responsibility of the site administrator to clean house.
I prefer to use what little spare time I have here inshallah.
- DrMaxtor said...
I've axed your comment after I read the following, Omar :
"I don't really need to provide examples. You sit there and spit unfounded sewage, and then have the gall to ask me to do my homework."
Yes you do, my dear chutiya. Put up or shut up, junior. I've known about these losers from the very beginning, long before you became their groupie. The only sewage here is the one between your ears. Oh and look up the definition of what "subculture" is. It's not a handful of confused desi yuppies who couldn't make it in life.
I suggest you take your own advice and yank your head out of not only your own rear end, but also that of Knight and company.
- Omar said...
Well, you said that knight will probably change religions in a few years. Do you know he has performed hajj multiple times? Do you know he married a muslim woman who comes from a large conservative muslim family? Even having knowing these facts, to assume something so personal about someone so distant from you -- smacks of desperation and ignorance.
So when i said i don't need to provide examples, it means that you are discrediting yourself. You're making yourself look foolish, and doing the work for me in the process.
One of these taqwacores, singer in one of the bands, just returned from aid efforts in haiti. You don't know these people-- you just sit in the back of the classroom and throw spitballs. You're a child, and a lost one at that.
Btw, i'm not a groupie. I don't subscribe to taqwacore ideology (or lack thereof). I'm more of a fundamentalist. But that doesn't stop me from respecting where these people are coming from. It's a real place and an imminent experience for many.
- DrMaxtor said...
You're digging yourself deeper in a hole, Omar. You haven't done your homework, and are wasting my time.
Knight's history does not begin with his "multiple Hajjs." He went to Pakistan, nearly became a militant, played the Sunni act and is now on the Shia path. Big whup, I could not care less. Muslims don't go around disrespecting Muslim women and especially slandering the Prophet (s.a.w), an act of kufr. I have yet to hear of any public apology on his part for this.
As for his bride from a supposed "conservative Muslim family"(another bogus term aimed at practicing Muslims), we'll see how long that lasts.
A "taqwacore" chutiya went to Haiti you say? And? So did did a lot of Muslims. You're playing the displacement card. That does not excuse anti-Islamic behavior. They do not practice Islam, and are desi agnostics and atheists.
You see, you and I wouldn't even be having this conversation if they had not brought Islam into their act.
And really, fundamentalist? I don't know of a single practicing Muslim who calls him or herself that. And what kind of Muslim makes excuses for the likes of Knight and the immature chutiya crew? Who are you to respect those who disrespect and slander the Prophet(s.a.w.)?
Not much of a Muslim I'd wager.
- Matthew Smith said...
As-Salaamu 'alaikum,
Umar Lee's blog got cracked. The protected status is temporary, insha Allah. Not sure if it's to do with Mikey Knight's trouble.
- Kashif said...
Like every groupie, Omar please put your phone number in your underwear and throw it on stage the next time you are masturbating to the "taqwacores" or whatever other form of sand-nigger/neo-con endorsed entertainment you can get your confused airheaded self onto.
- DrMaxtor said...
I axed your latest comment for cursing, Omar. At this point your just repeating yourself like a broken record.
You haven't refuted a thing I've said. You continue to insist to that we all don't know a thing about these suburban desi losers, yet remain tight lipped about their slanderous attacks on Muslim women, Rumi, Siraj Wahaj, and the Prophet(s.a.w.) himself to name a few.
Rather strange for a self-proclaimed fundamentalist.
Bwahaha! Love the post, DrM! Your observations are on the money as usual. Good lord man, where do you come up with such descriptions?! lol!
One bit of clarification though...the "tacwacores" is umbrella term for a 2 or 3 bands(of idiots) like the "kominas." The way Omar's been trolling your site, I think Kashif's comment was a little too close to reality for him.
I'm sure he gets a lot of backstage passes if you know what I'm saying...
- Usman said...
As-Salaamu 'alaikum,
Mashallah on nailing MMK and his groupie Omar, I couldn't have said it better myself. What's the point of going to Hajj multiple times if your going to go around selling yourself as some rebel apostate who's challenging the core of Islamic belief. It seems like another one of his self-serving acts to show he has some "Islamic" credibility to spew the filth he does. It's sad really, because MMK is a decent writer, he could be making meaningful respectful dialogue about any proggie issue he genuinely cares about, but instead he uses his celebrity to throw more mud at Islam and practicing Muslims.
- Kashif said...
Hey groupie 'Omar'
Nobody cares whether they play at ANY film festivals. Ayaan Hirsa Ali calls herself an "ex-Muslim" and made an "artistic" film called "Submission" in which she painted Quranic ayats over her naked body to show how "oppressive" Islam was to women. Her Dutch collaborator got stabbed for this and she is still a pinup and feted by neo-cons (much like you and your false idols).
You, MMK, and the rest of these failed rejects are on the same path but too cowardly and spineless to openly leave Islam but rather mock Islam and Shar'iah as a path to fame/infamy.
As for the reference to the sand nigger types which you and all the human garbage associated with taqwacores are, let me refer instead to a speech by Malcolm X in which he defined the difference between the "field negro" and the "house nigger" (which in the 21st century is modified as "domesticated sand niggers" and describes you and your ilk perfectly):


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Real-life Example
Research with NASA gives kinesiology professor experience he can share with students
If NASA ever sends astronauts to Mars, Southwestern University kinesiology professor Scott McLean can say he had a small part in keeping them healthy.
That's because McLean contributed to a research project NASA did to help determine how astronauts can best exercise in a zero gravity environment.
According to McLean, NASA estimates it will take somewhere between 9 to 12 months for a spacecraft to get to Mars. Both the cardiovascular and skeletal systems can undergo drastic changes over such a long period of time in a zero-gravity environment. While there are drugs that can be taken to counteract changes such as the loss of bone density, they all have side effects.
"If they could, they would prefer to use exercise to prevent the loss of bone mass," McLean said.
Researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston have been using the international space station to investigate a variety of ways for astronauts to exercise in space, and one of the most promising of these is a small treadmill. But running on a treadmill in space is much different than running on Earth. Astronauts have to wear bungie cords to recreate the effect of gravity. However, bungie cords don't provide a constant resistance like gravity. Researchers need to figure out how much resistance is enough to stimulate the desired physiological responses while allowing the astronauts to run normally – a factor that can only be determined by analyzing video of astronauts running with varying levels of resistance.
"Their goal is to have the astronauts run as close as possible to how they run on Earth," McLean said. "If what they prescribe changes the way they run, then other problems may arise."
McLean said the small area that is available for a treadmill in the space station made it difficult to film astronauts while they were running on it, and therefore to conduct research.
"Their challenge was to figure out how they could use their existing camera to do a full-blown motion analysis of someone running on the space station," McLean said.
As it turned out, a method that McLean had used to film swimmers underwater for his research could be applied to the situation on the space station. "When you film in a pool you are also restricted by the dimensions of the pool. So, you often have to either angle the camera or use a wide angle lens (which creates distortion) to capture the full movement," McLean said. To compensate for this, McLean uses a calibration method known as the two-dimensional direct linear transformation, or 2-D DLT.
John DeWitt, a former graduate school classmate of McLean's who now works as the biomechanist in the exercise physiology lab at Johnson Space Center, asked him if he could help them develop a 2-D DLT system to conduct research on the space station.
McLean worked with DeWitt to come up with a protocol for implementing a 2-D DLT calibration using existing hardware on the space station. NASA began testing the system in 2004-2005 and recently completed a full-scale study on the space station using this methodology.
"They have learned quite a bit from this research," McLean said. "I am proud to have played a small, but important part in it."
In the kinesiology classes he teaches at Southwestern, McLean said he talks about this research project a lot because it is a great example of how students can put what they are learning in the classroom to use.
"Students often wonder how they are going to use what they are learning," McLean said. "There is no better example than this. We took a problem that had unbelievable constraints and were able to get usable data out of it. I think that's a huge success."
McLean also takes his students to Houston so they can see the lab where NASA researchers study how astronauts can perform exercise in a zero gravity environment.
2013 graduate Sarah Nonaka, who is now in the doctor of physical therapy program at Texas State University, said she is applying what she learned on her visit to NASA to her planned career.
"I need to get patients out of bed and moving as soon as possible after injury to prevent the same type of bone loss seen in astronauts," she said.


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One bright, rainy September, my mother and I walked from Edinburgh to Dundee. Every day we trekked about six to 11 miles, along a skull-gray coast, on ancient tracks and lanes recently united under the banner of the Fife Coastal Path. A work in progress, the path sometimes petered out into a cow field or a tumble-down castle on a bluff above the North Sea.
Though my mother was approaching 70 and I was close to 50, our relationship is a work in progress, full of twists and hairpin turns. And it had been ages since we had spent so much time together.
Like all trips involving more than one person, this one was built on compromise. It was a struggle to find a 10-day stretch to which both of us could commit. And for this trip, my mother wanted something familiar. Maybe an English-speaking country, where you could get a recognizable meal. I lobbied for economy and for a place I'd never been. We settled on a self-guided walking tour of southeastern Scotland; our luggage would be sent ahead each day to the next inn.
We walked along craigs (cliffs) and through harr (coastal fog); locals emerging from the mist were friendly but spoke as though their mouths were full of thistle. Whenever we asked directions or just said hello, these residents of Fife look alarmed. It turned out they couldn't understand a word we were saying either. For years my mother and I couldn't understand each other; now we were the only ones who could.
We shared a room every night, spent all day together on the trail and tried not to blame each other when getting lost added more miles to the day's total, or when our room at the end of the day was something to be endured rather than enjoyed.
One day, on the trail, my mother asked me one too many times to get something out of her pack and then put it back in. Digging into mymother's daypack started to feel queasily cozy, as if the zippered compartments were recesses in our own bodies. And later, when my mother couldn't find her medicine and started to freak out, I called her a catastrophist. For some reason she didn't appreciate this assessment. At dinner, conversation was strained.
The great thing about a walking tour is that you can literally walk it off, whatever it may be. Walking is powerful medicine — maybe the most powerful I know. And as we walked, it became both model and metaphor: By moving forward, one step at a time, we could get through anything. Or so we hoped.
Mother-daughter closeness wasn't all bad. A few nights later we were eating dinner at the Crusoe Hotel in Lower Largo. Three Dutch businessmen struck up a conversation. Sales reps for a paint company, they were part of a centuries-old tradition of trade between Scotland and the Netherlands. They were also excellent conversationalists and gallant flirts.
Walking back to that night's inn, I asked my mother, "How old do you think those Dutch guys were?"
"Wait," she said, though I wasn't pressing her. "I have to think."
I thought too, picturing each face. We walked half a block, the gentle slap of the waves still audible even as we made our way inland. "Ready," we both said at the same moment. When we laughed, even our laughs were of the same timbre and duration. We didn't come up with the same ages for the flirty Dutchmen, but our decision-making process was identical.
Putting one foot in front of the other, hour after hour, day after day, pulled us into the present like nothing else I've done. History was everywhere: in seaside caves graffitied with 5th century Pictish glyphs, in medieval castles featured in Shakespeare plays, in clearings where the last witch was burned in 1644. Where history is so palpable, death seems closer, inviting you to contemplate your own, or that of those closest to you.
At the 12th century churchyard in Crail, on a hill above the harbor, we admired the multicolored lichen on old stone walls. And we read headstone after headstone, as if looking for clues to our own mortality.
I could tell my mother was saddened by the short life spans on so many stones, and I reminded myself that the very time we were spending together was fast running out.
I joined her in front of a weathered stone for an 8-year-old girl who had lived and died more than 100 years ago. "Sometimes," I said, "I lay awake and think of how much of my life has gone by."
She laughed, because, of course, even more of her life had gone by.
"Is that silly?" I asked.
"Not at all. I do it all the time. I don't like the system at all."
"The system?" I asked.
"That you're born and then you die."
"Oh," I said. "That system."
On one of our last nights out, we ordered a bottle of wine and cullen skink, a thick stew of haddock and potatoes that smelled of the sea. My mother had a proposition. "People tend to dwell on the negative," she said. "I'm no exception. But let's do something. I'll tell you everything I appreciate about you, and you tell me what you appreciate about me."
I groaned. "Can we finish the wine first?"
She ignored me and told me she appreciated my willingness to ask for better rooms in hotels and better tables at restaurants. She appreciated my sense of humor, she said, and I knew that one was true: I made her laugh so hard that she had to stop on the trail and cross her legs.
I told her I appreciated how hardy she was — nearly 70 and walking long wet days with little complaint. I appreciated that when we hit a rough spot, she was quick to recover and offer a hug. And I really liked that every morning, she got us going with a cheerful, "Are you ready to walk?"
The last few days flew by, and before we knew it, we were heading home. On the flight I remembered the taxi driver in Dundee. Hearing of our walk, he appraised us in the rear-view mirror. "And could you find nothing better to spend your dollars on?" he asked.
In the hushed cabin far above the Atlantic, I thought: No, sir. I can think of nothing better than to walk along an unfamiliar coast with the person I've known longer than any other, sharing a physical trial that becomes a bond, traveling light so there's no room for grudges, giving ourselves time to walk off minor irritations and ambling ever closer to a relationship that wouldn't have been possible 20 or even 10 years ago, when I, at least, was sure I had all the time in the world.
We parted at the airport that evening, but the next morning I gave my mother a call. I said what she had been saying every morning and which I missed already: "Are you ready to walk?"


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artificial sweeteners11 messages in this subject.
|I have found the TOLS, cause my mouth ulcers. Sorbitol, xylitol,. Hard to avoid since now days even tooth pastes are beginning to use. I made a toothpaste from baming soda and xoxonut oil, love it
|Bonnie 1 April 18
|I don't think all artificial sweeteners cause the same results for me, but I have not figured out which ones do or don't. For example, I know if I chew Trident I will absolutely get an ulcer. If I chew Extra I don't. I also use Zinc therapy, (Zicam or generic versions) when I feel a cold or sore throat coming on. They absolutely help with the cold, but the ones that melt in your mouth give me ulcers.
I also tried the Crystal Light flavored drops that you mix in water last year. I used them for about 2 weeks and although they did not give me ulcers, I had a headache a lot during those 2 weeks. Once I stopped using the Crystal Light, my headaches stopped. So whatever that artificial sweetener is gave me headaches. Fortunately I have never had a problem with toothpaste though.
|KKR 31 January 18
|Just figured out artificial sweeteners trigger my mouth sores, toothpaste and mouthwash also contain these products so how do I keep my mouth healthy
|Paddy 19 January 18
|Hey Guys,
I cam across this thread so I thought I would post my findings. We all have highly sensitive mouths, which erupt into canker sores and mouth ulcers when triggered. For me, it's highly acidic foods... (lots) of tomatoes... balsamic vinegar (usually with bread) and some weird products like coffee sweetener.
For me this last week... I forgot about the link between the mouth ulcers and artificial sweetener and now I'm laying the price. 2-3 sores on the roof of my mouth :(
So what helps ?!? Sensitive toothpaste is a saviour !! I use Colgate Sensitive Pro Relief. This takes the pain away quite a lot. It's also recommended to use mouth wash (antiseptic mouth wash) to keep your mouth in tip top shape.
It's funny... I can't do diet pop because of the sweeteners... however for some odd reason I can totally handle Coke Zero. So for any pop lovers out there... give it a try :)
I've also figured out that when I eat highly acidic foods, I come down with Geographic Tongue. (Yes it's a thing) super painful swollen and cracked tongue... so some of you might have that too !!
Hope this helps
|Kelstr 27 November 17
|I drink many large glasses of tea sweetened with stevie and now I know what's causing my horribly painful ulcers on the sides of my tongue. It really hurts to eat and swallow. Now I don't know what I can drink nowIt even hurts to talk. Has anyone tried silver nitrate to get rid of the ulcers?
|Peg Mickelson 17 December 16
|Hi... My tounge gets very sore and sometimes sweels and splits...could this be linked to sweetes/canderal that i use to sweeten tea/coffee..
thank you
|c.phillips 4 December 14
|Kingfisher toothpaste in the UK is sweetener free. Local pharmacist definitely links sweeteners to mouth ulcers.....non diet lemonade particularly bad for sweeteners.
|Paddy UK 30 November 13
|I was having many mouth ulcers until I quit artificial sweetners but they are hidden everywhere including mouthwash and toothpaste. Finally found Squiggle toothpaste and it has made a big difference. Anyone know of a mouthwas that has no artificial sweetner? I can handle glycerin.
|ellie 22 February 13
|I have suspected this for a long time, and it has become more obvious as I have had alot of diet sodas
|Bella 18 October 12
|Hi, I'm a physician and was not aware of this issue. Spoke to my dentist about it and she didn't know anything related to this topics. I have been having the same problem. I get mouth ulcers as soon as I take sweeteners, lately on the tongue and very painful. Also hope this helps.
|Guy 12 November 11
|I can give myself a mouth ulcer any old time I want. All I need to do is not bother reading the ingredients on packaging. Any time I accidentally eat or drink something containing any artificial sweetener, I get an outbreak that is pure misery. First discovered when I went from sugar to sweetener in my cup of tea. Always got the odd one, but suddenly found I was going from one batch almost straight into another. Tried to figure out what had changed and it was the sweetener. Cut them out and no more ulcers. You have to be very picky - you can forget sweets, gum, soft drinks etc etc, but it is worth the effort. Having said that, at times of great stress they still manage to make the odd appearance whatever I do or dont consume. But all things being equal, Ive found that artificial sweeteners are definitely my trigger. Hope it helps.
|Mark 15 May 05
artificial sweeteners11 messages in this subject.


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If you're hankering for another post and wondering where I am-hop on over to
Bramblewood fashion where I'm guest posting!
Everyone is welcome here and I LOVE hearing from my readers! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! I will try to get back as soon as possible with you if you ask a question, however if you'd like you may also email me at firstname.lastname@example.com
Here are a few comment guidelines:
This is an open discussion, being so, I'm open to other people's opinions! However, please keep the discussion nice and if you'd like to critique something, please do it tactfully! I.E-instead of "I hate that outfit!" putting, "I think the outfit is a bit miss matched, however I like ___."
Your comments are so appreciated-you rock!
Proverbs 3:5-6


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Stefanie Ann Whiting Bitton
Stefanie Ann Whiting Bitton passed away at home early in the hours of Jan. 19, 2014.
Stefanie was born May 30, 1962 in Boise to Robert and Louise Whiting. She was one of the "middle maid" children right in between her older sister Laurie and her younger sisters Tanya and Shiara.
Being raised in Idaho, being a tomboy came naturally and she was a daddy's girl through and through. As soon as she could walk, she fished and camped with her numerous cousins and followed her dad around his construction sites.
Stefanie attended Cole Elementary, Fairmont Junior High and graduated in 1980 from Capital High School. She met and married Micheal Bitton and together they raised 3 daughters: Monae, Danielle and Makayla.
Being a mother was very important to her. In addition to traditional values, she instilled a love of music, books, dance, art and good food in each one of them. All three have grown to be independent, strong women; something of which she was incredibly proud.
As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her family, her faith and family history was very important to her. She endeavored to continue the work started by her parents on their ever-growing family tree. She worked not only finding new names, but also researching stories for many of those names.
Stefanie had a huge heart and was very accepting of every single member of her family, distant and immediate. She was an important part of the glue that kept her extended family together and often helped organize family reunions, which is quite the feat with the size of her extended family.
Stefanie was preceded in death by her grandparents; her father Robert Whiting and most recently her niece Chante Forgett who passed away on Dec. 15, 2013.
She is survived by her mother, Louise Whiting; sisters: Laurie and Shiara Whiting and Tanya Forgette, husband Micheal Bitton, daughters: Monae (Matt) Curtis and Danielle and Makayla Bitton and grandson Rylan Bowsky as well as numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014 at the LDS Church, 6711 Northview St. in Boise. A viewing will be held at the church from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24 and again at the church from 10 -10:45 a.m. Saturday prior to the services.
Arrangements are being provided by Zeyer Funeral Chapel, Nampa. 467-7300


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New Cars + New Gear + New Technology
First Drive
Some of you grousers might still hang on to the thought that AMG was better off before Mercedes owned the company whole back in 2005. It wasn't. Truth is that there weren't really too many AMG cars to fall madly in love with between the famous "Hammer" 300E sedan in 1986 and the moment the now Mercedes-owned tuner finally started delivering its very own V8 engine in 2007, the M156 6.2-liter good for over 500 horses and gobs of torque.
This hot unit has transformed AMG overnight into a real threat to BMW's almighty M, while it outright humiliates the Audi RS franchise. While the C63 AMG has made a most impressive impact on us all, it's the bigger luxo E63 that bowls me over with its newfound dance moves backed up with all that adrenalin.
Regardless of your opinion on the family looks, the W212 E-Class sedan (much moreso than the sexy but disappointing coupe) is perfectly executed as a middling sibling between the C- and S-Classes. In E63 trim, the 16-foot sedan inherits the other new AMG exclusives: the wider and nimbler front axle with steel-spring suspension and greater negative camber, and the latest 7-speed multi-clutch automatic with four-mode AMG Drive Unit. Additionally, it gets a posh rear suspension scheme supplied by Sachs with a high-end adaptive scheme that makes the tail hard or soft depending on what you want the car to do.
On the road, the new E63 shows only a little of its former body roll tendency and only in the tightest curves, while any understeer has been pleasingly minimized. For the normal day to day, the driving is sublime under all circumstances. The latest seven-speed MCT tranny and its software modes of C (controlled efficiency), S (sport, duh), S+, and M (manual), all represent well, S being the best all-rounder if I'm solo, C being right if Mom's a passenger. Three-mode ESP-on, ESP Sport, off-makes for another cool menu depending on your mood. As ever, Mercedes still won't let "ESP off" actually stand for "wholly off," but this becomes an issue only at the track, and sensors prevent the system from locking up completely if you're stuck still.
I got to witness the E63 at its extremes in northeast Italy. Imola is a perfect layout for racing touring cars and this best-of-all E really had a good time out there on two perfect days. Whereas the former E63 with the old seven-speed was best left in S and using the paddles, this new brew is equally sensational left in S+ and just gripping the steerer or switching to M for "I decide" shifts. The track days being as ideal as they were, I went with M mode and ESP (mostly) off. Set up this way, the big E did just about everything I had in mind when I had it in mind. When it didn't, it was a matter of either my braking harder and in a truly straight-on position before the curve, or learning a better and generous line through the curve to account for the momentum this thing carries along.
For these self-improvement purposes, luckily the 14:1 steering via the 2.2-inch-wider new front axle is sensational, the large compound brakes are solid (though I'd go for the optional huge ceramic discs), and the 518 hp and 465 lb-ft are handled well by the 19-inch Pirelli P Zeros. In the end, at the declared 4,050-pound curb weight, each horse under the E 63 hood hauls around 7.8 pounds, which isn't half bad for a highway-bombing sedan. And the four-tip Sebring exhaust system is typically throaty V8 in character, making pretty get-what-you-pay-for noise. The sound wave warping effect off the concrete walls along Imola's main straight is worthy stuff.
It's a sign of the mother company's big plans for the E-Class (not to mention big desire to change its still conservative image versus sporty BMW in particular) that they have dropped the same drivetrain from the SL63, along with the universally acclaimed front axle tech from the C63. The Affalterbach folks have exceeded what we thought they could ever do with this model and those are the brave corporate moves that make the difference when competition for the choicest buyers' attention heats up.
Happily, too, this keenly improved mid-large AMG was just launched in the U.S. last October at a starting price of $85,750. All I'd add would be the full-on Performance Package, ceramic brakes, and delimited top speed. These are certainly many dollars, but Europeans pay tons more, and in any case this is identical to the price of the former E63. Not too shabby.
Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
Longitudinal front engine, rear-wheel drive
6.2-liter V8, dohc, 32-valve
Seven-speed AMG-Speedshift MCT automatic
Dampers and steel springs by Sachs, front axle with alloy control arms (f), electro-pneumatic adaptive AMG Ride Control air suspension (r), anti-roll bars
Six-piston calipers with 14.2-inch ventilated steel discs with perforated friction rings (f), four-piston calipers with 14.2-inch rotors (r), three-stage ESP; optional ceramic rotors
Length/Width/Height (in.):
Wheelbase: 113.2 in.
Curb Weight: 4,015 lb
Peak Power: 518 hp @ 6800 rpm
Peak Torque: 465 lb-ft @ 5200 rpm
0-62 mph: 4.5 sec.
Top Speed: 155 mph* (limited)
*186 mph with "code 250" Performance Pack option


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The training on Transboundary Protected Areas, conducted by IUCN Programme Office for South Eastern Europe in cooperation with IUCN WCPA members, was held in Shkodra, Albania, 12-13 September. The training was given to representatives of Local Action Groups (LAGs) from Albania and Montenegro residing in the area of potential three lateral transboundary protected area of Bjeshkët e Namuna/Prokletije Mountains.
Based on practical experiences, the participants were introduced to modern transboundary protected areas concepts and approaches with an emphasis on governance, management, financing, administration and tourism. Lively discussions in work groups resulted in valuable feedback which will be further utilized to set basis for transboundary cooperation agreement between the two LAGs.
The training was led by IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) members – Michael R. Appleton, Alois Lang (Public Relations and Ecotourism Department of Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel National Park, Austria), Martin Šolar (Director of Triglav National Park, Slovenia) with the contribution of IUCN Secretariat and local experts. The training was organized in the frame of "Environment for People in Dinaric Arc" project implemented jointly by IUCN, SNV and WWF, and financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.
For further information please contact Tomasz Pezold, IUCN SEE.


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By Eric Kurhi
Monday's respite from the weekend's deluge wasn't expected to be long lived, with forecasters promising a wet Christmas in the region and continued danger in the mountains, where an alert remains in place following three avalanches that left a snowboarder dead and an experienced ski patroller in critical condition.
National Weather Service forecasters in Reno said they expect more snowfall through the week, and posted an avalanche advisory on their website.
"The avalanche danger is definitely pretty high," said forecaster Zach Tolby. "Anytime you got a lot of snow in a short time it will create those conditions."
Closer to home, weather made a mess in Palo Alto, where the San Francisquito Creek overflowed on West Bayshore and Embarcadero roads on Sunday, depleting the city of its sandbag stockpile. And on the coast, a rockslide closed Highway 1 south of Big Sur.
And while a Livermore man needed to be rescued from high waters at a regional park, the rainy day troubles paled in comparison to what was happening on higher ground.
A snowboarder died after he was buried for hours following an avalanche at Donner Ski Ranch near Truckee Monday morning, according to Nevada County sheriff's officials.
Steven Mark Anderson, who lives in the Truckee area, was reported missing around noon, three hours after the avalanche. A search dog found his body around 1:30 p.m., buried under two to three feet of snow.
At Alpine Meadows, a longtime ski patroller was caught in an avalanche that had been purposely triggered.
"The avalanche was triggered by an explosive charge that had been thrown by a senior member of the ski patrol team," said the statement released by the resort. "The charge triggered the avalanche, which broke much higher and wider on the slope than previously observed in past snow safety missions."
And on Sunday, two skiers were treated for minor injuries after getting caught in an avalanche at Squaw Valley. "Our ski patrols do everything we can to keep the resort safe," said Amelia Richmond, spokeswoman for Squaw Valley and Alpine Meados resorts. "But basically, it's not an exact science."
Richmond added that they will close the slopes if conditions are deemed too hazardous.
In the Bay Area, most creeks in the region have receded to their pre-storm levels by Monday afternoon, but authorities continue to monitor waterways in Napa and Guerneville that haven't receded to comfortable levels. Strudley added that areas like the Santa Cruz Mountains will sometimes get under-forecast, building in some unpredictability.
"If those reach the two to three inch levels, then we're in flooding territory," he said.
Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.


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Chile Relleno Casserole
6 roasted and peeled
green chiles
, split in half
1 cup pepper jack or mozzarella cheese
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
¼ cup 1% milk
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Coat bottom and sides of 8-inch square glass baking pan with cooking spray.
Line bottom of pan with half of the
green chile
Sprinkle ½ cup of cheese on top.
Using electric mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tarter on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine milk with flour, stirring until smooth. Add egg and blend well.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the flour/milk mixture until well combined. Do not beat.
Pour half of the egg white and flour mixture into the pan and spread evenly.
Place remaining chile on top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Pour remaining egg white mixture on top and spread until evenly covered.
Bake in preheated oven until tops in golden brown and eggs are set and reach an internal temperature of at least 160°F (about 25 minutes).
Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 4 squares.
Flavors of Fiesta
by University of Illinois Extension
<- fold here


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Treatment With Interleukin-2 (IL-2) Plus Combination Anti-HIV-Drug Therapy (HAART) for Patients Formerly in ACTG 328
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00000923
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : August 31, 2001
Last Update Posted : May 21, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study examines the long-term effects of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in combination with anti-HIV drugs, or highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The purpose of this study is to see if IL-2 can increase the number of CD4 cells (cells of the immune system which fight infection) in HIV-infected patients who have completed ACTG 328.
HAART is often successful in decreasing viral load (level of HIV in the blood), but these drugs have not been able to restore the immune systems of HIV-infected patients. IL-2 is a substance naturally produced by the body's immune cells. In ACTG 328, IL-2 is tested to see if it can increase the number of CD4 cells and "boost" a patient's immune system. This study is a follow-up to ACTG 328 so that patients who are benefiting from IL-2 can continue to take it and patients in the control group who do not receive IL-2 can start taking it.
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infections
|Drug: Indinavir sulfate Drug: Lamivudine Drug: Stavudine Drug: Zidovudine Drug: Didanosine Drug: Aldesleukin
|Not Applicable
HIV disease is characterized by a progressive decline in CD4 cells and an increase in viral burden. Although antiretroviral therapy has been successful in controlling viral levels, its effects on CD4 cell counts have been modest. Intermittently administered IL-2 in the presence of HAART has been shown to increase CD4 cell counts, decrease lymphocyte activation markers, and increase certain lymphocyte functional activity in patients with early-stage HIV infection. ACTG 328 evaluated the effects of intravenous and/or subcutaneously administered IL-2 in conjunction with HAART in a group of more advanced HIV-infected patients over an 18- to 22-month period. As patients were enrolled in this study over an 18-month period, a follow-up protocol is required to provide continued IL-2 therapy for patients responding to IL-2 and patients in the control group who wish to receive this drug.
This study enrolls patients who participated in ACTG 328. Patients in Arm I of ACTG 328 (the control group receiving HAART only) who have a viral load of 5,000 copies/ml or less register for Step II. Patients in Step II receive subcutaneous [SC] IL-2 in combination with HAART. IL-2 is administered for 5 days every 8 weeks for the first 3 cycles. For subsequent cycles, the interval between cycles may be extended in 8-week increments for a maximum of 24 weeks, provided the patient's bimonthly CD4 count exceeds 500 cells/mm3. Patients in Arm I who have a viral load greater than 5,000 copies/ml register for Step I which requires a change in antiretroviral therapy. Patients who then achieve viral levels of 5,000 copies/ml or less may begin to receive IL-2 no earlier than 4 weeks and no later than 12 weeks after the change in HAART regimen. Patients whose viral load remains above 5,000 copies/ml for 12 weeks after the change in drug regimen are discontinued from the study. Patients in Arms II or III of ACTG 328 (IL-2-containing arms) who have had a 25 percent or greater increase in CD4 cell count above their Week 11 value and have a viral load of 5,000 copies/ml or less continue on SC IL-2 and HAART. Patients who meet the CD4 criteria but whose viral load is above 5,000 copies/ml change their HAART regimen. After a minimum of 4 weeks and a maximum of 12 weeks, these patients may receive IL-2 provided they have a viral load of 5,000 copies/ml or less. For this study, HAART is defined as one protease inhibitor and two nucleoside analogues. [AS PER AMENDMENT 9/16/99: All patients must receive a protease inhibitor or, with permission of the chair, a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) plus either two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) or another protease inhibitor or NNRTI.] The protease inhibitor provided on this study is indinavir (IDV). The nucleoside analogue combinations provided on this study are as follows: zidovudine (ZDV) plus didanosine (ddI), ZDV plus lamivudine (3TC), stavudine (d4T) plus 3TC, or d4T plus ddI. Other antiretroviral drugs may be used but are not provided by this study. Patients are monitored for CD4 counts at bimonthly intervals after the first IL-2 dose. CD4 counts and plasma storage for HIV RNA are done within 96 hours prior to each cycle of IL-2. Safety laboratory evaluations are obtained prior to and at the conclusion of each IL-2 course. TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone), DTH skin testing, and real-time plasma HIV RNA are obtained at 6-month intervals.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Enrollment :
|110 participants
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Treatment Rollover for Subjects Formerly on ACTG 328 With Subcutaneous Interleukin-2 (IL-2) in Combination With Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART)
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|August 2004
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
Patients may be eligible for this study if they:
- Are HIV-positive.
- Have completed at least 84 weeks of treatment on ACTG 328.
- Have had a 25 percent or greater increase in CD4 cell count above the ACTG 328 Week 11 value (only applies to patients who received IL-2 during ACTG 328).
- Are 18 years of age or older.
- Agree to practice abstinence or use a barrier method of birth control (such as condoms) during the study. (This study has been changed. Hormonal methods of birth control such as birth control pills are no longer allowed.)
Exclusion Criteria
Patients will not be eligible for this study if they:
- Have significant heart disease or are taking certain heart medications. Patients with hypertension who are being treated are eligible.
- Have taken certain medications that might affect the immune system within 4 weeks of study entry including corticosteroids, interferons, or thalidomide.
- Have taken rifampin, rifabutin, or St. John's wort within 7 days of study entry. (This study has been changed. St. John's wort was not in the original version.)
- Are taking certain investigational anti-HIV drugs.
- Are taking indinavir and any of the following within 2 weeks of study entry: cisapride, terfenadine, astemizole, midazolam, triazolam, ketoconazole, itraconazole, or delavirdine.
- Have cancer requiring chemotherapy. Local radiation therapy is allowed.
- Have untreated thyroid disease.
- Are allergic to albumin.
- Have a serious mental illness.
- Have a history of an autoimmune disease, including inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis.
- Have a central nervous system disease or seizures, if these have been active within 1 year prior to study entry.
- Abuse drugs or alcohol.
- Are pregnant or breast-feeding.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00000923
|United States, Alabama
|Alabama Therapeutics CRS
|Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35294
|United States, California
|Los Angeles, California, United States, 900331079
|Harbor-UCLA Med. Ctr. CRS
|Torrance, California, United States, 90502
|United States, Hawaii
|Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Leahi Hosp.
|Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 96816
|United States, Iowa
|Univ. of Iowa Healthcare, Div. of Infectious Diseases
|Iowa City, Iowa, United States, 52242
|United States, Louisiana
|Tulane Univ. A1701 CRS
|New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
|United States, Missouri
|St. Louis ConnectCare, Infectious Diseases Clinic
|St Louis, Missouri, United States, 63112
|Washington U CRS
|St. Louis, Missouri, United States
|United States, New York
|Mt. Sinai Med. Ctr. A0404 CRS
|New York, New York, United States, 10029
|United States, Ohio
|Case CRS
|Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106
|The Ohio State Univ. AIDS CRS
|Columbus, Ohio, United States, 432101228
|United States, Washington
|University of Washington AIDS CRS
|Seattle, Washington, United States, 98104
|Study Chair:
|Ronald Mitsuyasu
|Study Chair:
|Richard Pollard
Publications of Results:
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00000923 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
10205 ( Registry Identifier: DAIDS ES Registry Number )
Substudy ACTG A5052s
Substudy ACTG A5053s
Substudy ACTG A5054s
Substudy ACTG A5094s
|First Posted:
|August 31, 2001 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|May 21, 2012
|Last Verified:
|May 2012
Keywords provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
Drug Therapy, Combination
CD4 Lymphocyte Count
Anti-HIV Agents
Viral Load
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Anti-HIV Agents
Antineoplastic Agents
Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
Sensory System Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents


text:
Cesarean section, C-section, or Cesarean birth is the surgical delivery of a baby through a cut (incision) made in the mother's abdomen and uterus. Health care providers use it when they believe it is safer for the mother, the baby, or both.
The incision made in the skin may be:
The type of incision used depends on the health of the mother and the fetus. The incision in the uterus may also be either vertical or horizontal.
If you can't deliver vaginally, C-section allows the fetus to be delivered surgically. You may be able to plan and schedule your Cesarean. Or, you may have it done because of problems during labor.
Several conditions make a Cesarean delivery more likely. These include:
Your healthcare provider may have other reasons to recommend a Cesarean delivery.
Some possible complications of a C-section may include:
After a C-section, a woman may not be able to have a vaginal birth in a future pregnancy. It will depend on the type of uterine incision used. Vertical scars are not strong enough to hold together during labor contractions, so a repeat C-section is necessary.
You may have other risks that are unique to you. Be sure to discuss any concerns with your healthcare provider before the procedure, if possible.
A C-section will be done in an operating room or a special delivery room. Procedures may vary depending on your condition and your healthcare provider's practices.
In most cases, you will be awake for a C-section. Only in rare cases will a mother need medicine that puts you into a deep sleep (general anesthesia). Most C-sections are done with a regional anesthesia such as an epidural or spinal. With these, you will have no feeling from your waist down, but you will be awake and able to hear and see your baby as soon as he or she is born.
Generally, a C-section follows this process:
In the recovery room, nurses will watch your blood pressure, breathing, pulse, bleeding, and the firmness of your uterus.
Usually, you can be with your baby while you are in the recovery area. In some cases, babies born by Cesarean will first need to be monitored in the nursery for a short time. Breastfeeding can start in the recovery area, just as with a vaginal delivery.
After an hour or 2 in the recovery area, you will be moved to your room for the rest of your hospital stay.
As the anesthesia wears off, you may get pain medicine as needed. This can be either from the nurse or through a device connected to your intravenous (IV) line called a PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia) pump. In some cases, pain medicine may be given through the epidural catheter until it is removed.
You may have gas pains as the intestinal tract starts working again after surgery. You will be encouraged to get out of bed. Moving around and walking helps ease gas pains. Your healthcare provider may also give you medicine for this. You may feel some uterine contractions called after-pains for a few days. The uterus continues to contract and get smaller over several weeks.
The urinary catheter is usually removed the day after surgery.
You may be given liquids to drink a few hours after surgery. You can gradually add more solid foods as you can handle them.
You may be given antibiotics in your IV while in the hospital and a prescription to keep taking the antibiotics at home.
You will need to wear a sanitary pad for bleeding. It is normal to have cramps and vaginal bleeding for several days after birth. You may have discharge that changes from dark red or brown to a lighter color over several weeks.
Do not douche, use tampons, or have sex until your healthcare provider tells you it's OK. You may also have other limits on your activity, including no strenuous activity, driving, or heavy lifting.
Take a pain reliever as recommended by your healthcare provider. Aspirin or certain other pain medicines may increase bleeding. So, be sure to take only recommended medicines.
Arrange for a follow-up visit with your healthcare provider. This is usually 2 to 3 weeks after the surgery.
Call your healthcare provider right away if any of these occur:
Your healthcare provider may give you other instructions, depending on your situation.
Before you agree to the test or the procedure make sure you know:


text:
|Kyle Busch Wins ISM Connect 300
|Modified Season Sweep for Santos
|Bell Wins UNOH 175 Truck Series Race
|Mile Kyle: Busch Takes Pole for ISM Connect 300
|Short Track Extravaganza Set for Sept. 2018
|New England Themed Going Away Gift for Junior
Diet Mountain Dew to Sponsor No. 88 in 2012
Four years after making waves in NASCAR by signing on as the primary sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Amp Energy is phasing its brand off the car of the sport's most popular driver.
PepsiCo is expected to announce this week that Diet Mountain Dew will replace its Amp Energy brand as Earnhardt's primary sponsor for 16 races in 2012. The company has the primary sponsorship rights for 20 total races on the No. 88 car, and Amp will serve as an associate sponsor while also appearing on the hood for the other four races. The National Guard will continue to be the primary sponsor for the other 18 races Earnhardt drives.
The shift is a major downsizing in the sponsorship between Amp, an upstart energy drink, and Earnhardt, the sport's biggest driver. Pepsi, which owns Amp and Mountain Dew, has one year left on its contract with Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports, and the company's executives believe Diet Mountain Dew, which is one of the fastest-growing soft drinks, stands to benefit more from Earnhardt than Amp.
"The story is really about opportunity," said George Cox, Mountain Dew brand manager. "With Dew, Dale and NASCAR there's this awesome marriage. Dale is the embodiment of the person we're trying to target with Diet Dew. We wanted to tap into that equity Dew has in NASCAR and put it into overdrive with Dale."
Pepsi and Hendrick Motorsports are expected this week to unveil a new paint scheme for the No. 88 car for next year's Daytona 500. The unveiling comes just weeks after Earnhardt signed a five-year extension with Hendrick Motorsports that will keep him with the team until 2017.
Cox said Pepsi plans to focus on developing its marketing and activation plans for Diet Mountain Dew and won't begin discussing a possible renewal with Hendrick until next year. Its current agreement with Hendrick and Earnhardt runs through 2012, but the company has had a long-standing relationship with Hendrick that dates to 1996.
Amp Energy signed a deal with Hendrick Motorsports and Earnhardt in 2007, shortly after the team added Earnhardt to its stable in one of the sport's most anticipated free-agent signings. The sponsorship was valued at $25 million to $30 million and made the brand the primary sponsor for 20 races on the No. 88 Chevrolet.
At the time, Amp was the fifth-largest player in a fast-growing category, which then had more than $6 billion in annual sales. But the category's growth has stalled recently. The category added only 1 million new energy drink consumers between 2007 and 2009, compared with 9.3 million new consumers from 2005 to 2007, according to Mintel, a global market research company. Amp Energy has remained a small player in the category, generating an estimated $234 million for the past year across key retail channels for energy drinks except Wal-Mart, according to SymphonyIRI Group, a company that tracks retail sales across consumer packaged goods.
The shrinking number of new consumers made it difficult for Amp to justify the cost of the sponsorship. The brand also is planning to relaunch its product later this year and reposition it as an energy drink for older users, sources said.
By shifting the bulk of its marketing support of the driver from Amp to Diet Mountain Dew, Pepsi can save the Amp brand money and align Earnhardt with a brand he's already passionate about. Earnhardt is a fan of Mountain Dew and grew up drinking the soft drink in North Carolina. When Brian Vickers drove a retro Mountain Dew car in a 2006 Nationwide Series race, Earnhardt famously asked for some of the retro hats that the brand rolled out for the occasion.
Though not as prevalent, Amp Energy will continue to have an association with Earnhardt, which PepsiCo hopes can preserve the connection Amp made with NASCAR fans during the past four years.
"They're going to continue to speak to the NASCAR Amp drinker we've developed, but Amp is going through an evolution," Cox said. "We're not to a point of where we can talk about where we're going with that, but once it's public it will make sense how we're using the NASCAR platform going forward."


text:
Jim Carrey attended the Oscar show in 2004 and was presenter of the honorary award to Blake Edwards.
When Jim presented the award, Blake wanted Jim to hold his Oscar while he did his acceptence speech and Jim tried to hand it back to Blake and said, "No, they don't let me have these."
Jim Carrey attended the Oscar show in 1999 and was presenter of the Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing.
Jim came out and immediately started talking about his not being nominated. He dramatically explained that it wasn't winning, it was getting nominated that was the most important, and abruptly acted like he broke down and cried. He then switched tact, and joyously made a mention of Best Actor nominee Roberto Benigni ("Life Is Beautiful") a la Benigni's excitable awards acceptance style. As he opened the envelope, Carrey acted like he suffered a severe paper-cut, and said in an annoyed tone of voice, "That's just perfect."
Jim Carrey attended the Oscar show in 1997 and was presenter of the Visual Effects Award.
Jim entered stage, walked to the microphone, stood there with his arms stretched on the "Liar Liar" poster's pose and after a carefully timed moment said:
"And how was your weekend? ... Mine was gooood."
Jim Carrey attended the Oscar show in 1996 and was presenter of best cinematography.
Jim used two characters from the movie "Toy Story" as he reads the nominees in the category


text:
City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
2006 Media Releases
Mayor Coleen J. Seng today called on the citizens of Lincoln to honor veterans and the armed forces with a moment of silence at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, Monday, May 29. The moment of silence is being observed nationally and is supported by many local and state government, military and veterans organizations.
"On Memorial Day, we honor and remember those who gave their lives serving our country, and we show support for those men and women now serving in the military defending our nation," said Mayor Seng. "Monday afternoon, all of us have an opportunity to show our patriotism by observing a moment of silence. By taking part in this symbolic event, we show that we stand with our brothers and sisters across the nation in remembering our veterans, our soldiers now on active duty around the world, and their families. It's a silent salute to the guiding principles of this nation -- freedom and justice for all."
On Memorial Day, Mayor Seng will speak at a ceremony beginning at 9 a.m. at Wyuka, 3600 "O" Street. The Mayor also will participate in an candlelight remembrance service at 8 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Garden in Antelope Park.


text:
Multiple Factors Led to Reduced Big Sioux River Crest
There's a huge sigh of relief from residents of North Sioux City and Dakota Dunes as the Big Sioux River crested lower than first forecast.
Lt. Governor Matt Michels said the river crested early Friday morning around 1 a.m. Multiple reasons were given for the lower crest. Forecasted rain never materialized in the Big Sioux River Basin, a portion of the river flowed over the top of the levee in Northern Union County and a levee breach near Akron, Iowa all led to the lower than forecast readings.
Good news on the south end is heartbreak to the north. Many acres of farmland and some roads are now under water at the expense of the broken levee.
In addition, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still reducing flow from Gavin's Point Dam to allow the Big Sioux to release as much water as possible.


text:
'Breastaurant' Brawl - When Less Clothing Brings More Profit
'Mugs & Jugs'???
By Dell Hill
Age Appropriate Discretion Is Advised. I've removed the photos from this post, but they DO appear at the link. (Fox News.)
"From cheap pitchers of beer
to fancy hors d'oeuvres or sawdust on the floor, most restaurants
employ some sort of theme or a gimmick as a way to stand out in a
saturated market.
recent tough economic times has restaurant owners getting creative to
make their place the go-to spot for cash-strapped customers; some are
now showcasing specific assets to make their businesses pop.
growing number of restaurants nationwide are looking to increase
profits by decreasing the amount of clothing worn by an all-female
waitstaff, turning their restaurant into whats commonly referred to as a
Brestaurants have become so popular that Terra Watson, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and owner of BreastaurantUniforms.com, changed her business plan five years ago from selling cheerleading uniforms to selling waitress uniforms.
Click here for a slideshow showcasing Watson's outfits
market for breastaurant uniforms is growing like nothing Ive ever seen,
says Watson, whose company sold more than 6,000 breastaurant uniforms
last year. Restaurants are seeing how much more they and their
waitresses can make, and the whole concept is becoming hugely popular.
restaurant chain Hooters entered the market in 1983 with its iconic
orange shorts and tight tank tops, America had never seen anything like
it. Today, the idea of an attractive waitress serving food while showing
off her curves is not as taboo as it used to be, says Watson. And many
new chains are giving Hooters a run for its money.
did have a monopoly on this, and they still have the most locations,
but in the last five or six years, there are a lot of new kids on the
block with great new themes, says Watson.
designed the sexy ski-lodge themed uniforms for the breastaurant chain
Twin Peaks, based in Addison, Texas, and the cowgirl-themed uniforms for
Louisianas Double D Ranch and Whiskey River in the Carolinas.
more breastaurants have opened, the competition has heated up, and in
some cases, the rivalry is fierce. At Canz Citi Roadhouse in Long
Island, N.Y., owner Tim Lorito claims Hooters is so threatened by his
new establishment, it has sent corporate spies to steal menus and
secretly take photographs.
came into the restaurant one day, and there was a gentleman at a table
drinking water who I recognized as someone in Hooters upper management,
says Lorito. When he left, the menus had disappeared from his table.
This kind of behavior only leads me to believe they are curious as to
what we are doing.
of America Vice President of Marketing, Mike McNeil, says that like all
good businesses, Hooters pays attention to what is going on in the
marketplace, but no corporate espionage or stealing of menus has
idea that a business that admits they are trying to be like Hooters
thinks we are spying on them is ridiculous, says McNeil. Through our
28-year history, there have been many copy cats. However, none have yet
to create the magic or the success of Hooters. There is a long list that
includes places called Melons, Knockers and Mugs and Jugs. None are in
existence today.
went onto say that while Hooters cares about what is happening on Long
Island, the company is currently focusing its energy on opening
restaurants in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. The chain, which describes
itself as delightfully tacky yet unrefined", has 430 restaurants
operating in 44 states and 28 countries.
with so many locations, its no surprise that when people think of
breastaurants, Hooters is the first one that comes to mind, says Mike
Currier, director of operations at RestaurantMarketingGroup.org.
Hooters is leading the way when it comes to breastaurants, says Currier. But it doesnt mean someone isnt going to out do them.
Restaurants seeking to embrace the breastaurant concept should be careful where and how they do it, Currier cautions.
really depends on demographics and the concept you're after. For most
restaurants, it would be a hinder to business if the waitresses were put
in skimpy outfits. If you're in Southern California next to the beach
or in a college town, it could work. But its not going to work
chain that's had success in multiple locations is Twin Peaks, which
opened in Texas in 2005 and now has restaurants in Oklahoma, Nebraska,
and Kansas and is opening Louisiana and Colorado locations later this
year. CEO and founder of Twin Peaks, Randy DeWitt, says that not all
breastaurants are created equal.
are really flying at a different altitude than Hooters, and were not
ever going to have a collision with them, says DeWitt. Most of the time,
there is a Hooters in the same trade area as a Twin Peaks, but we
attract a different customer. We are targeting affluent,
college-educated, white-collar customers. We have taken the high road.
says he knows Twin Peaks will always face comparisons to other
breastaurants due to the use of an attractive waitstaff, but that using
sex appeal to gain customers is the oldest trick in the book.
its Web site, the company writes that customers can expect their food
to be served by, our most prized assets: the friendly, attentive, and
beautiful Twin Peaks Girls that wear checkered bikini-style tops and
barely-there khaki shorts.
always try to draw the analogy of sports teams with cheerleaders. The
cheerleaders are just part of the show, says DeWitt. People don't go eat
at a table service casual dining restaurant for the food. If they just
wanted food, they'd go get fast food. But they want an experience, and
we deliver an experience that's about sports and food, and the sideshow
is a cute waitstaff that fits the theme of the restaurant.
Watson says that fitting the theme is what it's about for most
breastaurants, and that most are opting for uniforms that are cute and
sexy rather than slutty and gross.
true that breastaurants are a growing trend, but nobody wants offensive
uniforms. You can see cleavage, but you can see more at a beach or
local waterpark. It used to be that there was only stripper clothes or
boring shorts and a t-shirt, but now theres an in-between.
DeWitt says breastaurants are here to stay, whether people like it or not.
will always be a small percentage of people who want to see things go
back to puritanical times, but that's not going to happen, says DeWitt.
This is the way a certain group of the population wants to eat and drink, and were going to give it to them."


text:
Good to hear man. Should we expect you around again this season?
Holy shit, your alive. LOL .... how you doing dude?
Dammit i spelt his name wrong haha, thankyou for correcting me, it was one of my first thread posts and i was tired as hell. Thanks again
how do, james!
Hey Dude,
Well, up until 2 hours ago I would have said yes. Now that Chandler and Diaw are not en-route will be interesting to see. I would say 43-45 wins would be awesome, alot will depend on the complexion of our roster in 3 mths.
I wouldn't live any place other than Los Angeles.
Hey James,
thanks for the shout out, I was a tad late in catching up on the Chappelle show but ive watched the season 2 dvds so many times, I can recite them..lol..
and yeah, i agree, better to put out 2 classic seasons than to fade away with not so funny stuff.
Hopefully our Raptors can put out at least a couple classic seasons themselves and surprise some of the critics.
have a good day buddy
haha. pretty awesome. food here is great. err. from what i hear about Toronto, its pretty similar in terms of the multicultural side of it. anyways. im going to study in Canada in the near future. Not sure which university and/or course to go to. but if possible, id like to be closest to the Raps as possible. hehe any suggestions?
Thanks James. I'm new here and didn't realize what had happened. I appreciate you removing those comments. Cheers!
I didn't write that. Who are you and how and why did you edit my post? If you want to disagree with me, respond to me... don't add content to my posts.
Raptors Republic All-Star
Super Moderator
Raptors Republic Veteran
Raptors Republic Starter
Raptors Republic Rookie


text:
These were quite the chocolate chip cookie.
I love that they are made with whole wheat; they have a delicious flavor and textures.
And, the chocolate.
The original recipe called for 3 CUPS of chocolate chips.
I could only bring myself to use 1 1/2 C and that was plenty.
Talk about chocolate chips in every bite.
The only change I'll make when making these again is to reduce the amount of sugar; they were fairly sweet. I'd likely reduce the granulated sugar to 1/3 C rather than 2/3 and see how that works.
Chocolately Chocolate Chip Cookies - Adapted from King Arthur
10 T unsalted butter
2/3 C brown sugar
2/3 C white granulated sugar
2 T light corn syrup*
1 T cider vinegar
2 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C dark chocolate chips {original recipe calls for 3 C!}
*1 T agave nectar, or 1 T honey can be substituted, adding 1 1/2 tsp. water with either substitution
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease your cookie sheets.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, sugar, corn syrup {or agave/honey and water substitute}, and vinegar.
Beat in the eggs.
Then, add the vanilla.
Meanwhile, mix together the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour. Add this mixture to the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
Beat until well mixed.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough onto the lightly greased cookie sheets. I used a medium-sized cookie scoop to do this; this scoop contains roughly 2 T of dough.
Space these cookies 2-inches apart; they do spread out.
Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 until the edges are just set. The center will likely still look under done.
Transfer to a cooling wrack to cool completely.
Serve warm, or cold. And, for an extra special treat, warm the cookie and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Makes 4 dozen cookies
Linked to: Mangia Monday, Tuesdays at the Table, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Fun with Food Friday, Sweets for a Saturday


text:
Ross Radish
Immediately after graduation Ross moved to Columbus, Ohio where he attended The Ohio State University (OSU). At OSU he studied Higher Education Administration receiving his masters degree in June of 2004. While attending OSU Ross served as a residence hall director at Capital University.
Ross graduated from Washington College in 2002 where he completed a double major in Political Science and History.
Upon graduation from OSU in 2004 Ross joined the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia as the Administrator of Residence Life and Off Campus Living. In this role Ross provided leadership to residence life staff, managed crisis situations, oversaw campus housing, and developed parents/student partnerships. In the Fall of 2007 he decided to further his education and purse a Juris Doctor at Widener University School of Law while working full time.
In 2009, due to his work within residence life and off campus living Ross was promoted to Assistant Dean of Students. In his role as Assistant Dean of Students Ross managed the student conduct process, provided students with guidance on the University grievance process, coordinated the Student Early Intervention Response Team, and provided leadership within the Division of Student Affairs including the departments of career services and campus recreation.
Ross received his Juris Doctor degree from Widener University in May of 2011. In August of 2011 Ross was promoted to Associate Dean of Students at the University of Sciences. In this role he will help coordinate the efforts of several offices within the Division of Student Affairs to ensure holistic student development. These offices include Academic Advising, Career Services, Student Academic Support Services, Student Accommodations, Student Conduct, and the Student Early Intervention Response Team to ensure holistic student development.
Undergrad Highlights
- Major: History and Political Science


text:
FundingFactory needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 12 designs submitted by 2 freelance designers.
We are looking for a slight refinement to our site design. The site is a technology trade website geared towards the younger crowd (tween/teen and young adults) that have a number of "no longer used" electronic products.
the site is targeted towards tweens/teens and young adults
We need the site to have clean usability and logical flow to give the user an "ease-of-use" experience. The design and back-end code has been developed but the site needs USABILITY refinement in areas of:
Search (location/prominence)
Login [UserName - Password - Forgot Password link] (location/prominence)
Navigation (consistent location of graphical links)
Shopping Cart graphic (for product we offer)
Trading Cart graphic (for product user has to trade)
The HOME page layout differs from the subsequent pages. Banner images on SUB pages reflect the section/category the user is in. The biggest "usability" concern is the location and prominence of important functionality (see above)n on these SUB pages. There is a difference between BUYING and SELLING so the "shopping cart" graphics/icons need to reflect this.
Site colors are:
gradient background #505C5B to #1E1E1E
Site/Page Example: (see attached)
SUB PAGE (search by category - game condsole)
Layered PSD file or Illustrator file for layout tweeks and graphical icons only - NO CODING
We are looking for sensible solutions to usability issues


text:
Making me think of Ramona over at Suture for a Living:
Apple T-shirt Quilt Available on EBay
Bidding there currently at $200. I suspect it will go for a lot more.
If you're wanting a quilt with a bit more social value, though, you can't do any better than bidding on this quilt:
It features the beloved Zippy the Lobster, and the proceeds go to the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation. Instructions to bid can be found here. It may not have the Apple logo on it, but it is imbued with several extra insulating layers of good karma which are guaranteed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy when you wrap it around your shoulders. The auction ends Dec 15, so you'd better hurry!
13 December 2008
Making me think of Ramona over at Suture for a Living:
Posted by shadowfax at 5:07 PM
2 comments:
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