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The symptoms of celiac disease can be different from person to person. This is part of the reason why the diagnosis is not always made right away. For example, one person may have constipation, a second may have diarrhea, and a third may have no problem with stools.
Gastrointestinal symptoms include:
- Abdominal pain, bloating, gas, or indigestion
- Constipation
- Decreased appetite (may also be increased or unchanged)
- Diarrhea, either constant or off and on
- Lactose intolerance (common when the person is diagnosed, usually goes away after treatment)
- Nausea and vomiting
- Stools that float, are foul smelling, bloody, or "fatty"
- Unexplained weight loss (although people can be overweight or of normal weight)
Because the intestines do not absorb many important vitamins, minerals, and other parts of food, the following symptoms may start over time:
- Bruising easily
- Depression or anxiety
- Fatigue
- Growth delay in children
- Hair loss
- Itchy skin (dermatitis herpetiformis)
- Missed menstrual periods
- Mouth ulcers
- Muscle cramps and joint pain
- Nosebleeds
- Seizures
- Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet
- Unexplained short height
Children with celiac disease may have:
- Defects in the tooth enamel and changes in tooth color
- Delayed puberty
- Diarrhea, constipation, fatty or foul-smelling stools, nausea, or vomiting
- Irritable and fussy behavior
- Poor weight gain
- Slowed growth and shorter than normal height for their age
Signs and tests
- Albumin (may be low)
- Alkaline phosphatase (high level may be a sign of bone loss)
- Clotting factor abnormalities
- Cholesterol (may be low)
- Complete blood count (CBC – test for anemia)
- Liver enzymes (transaminases)
- Prothrombin time
Blood tests can detect several special antibodies, called antitissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) or anti-endomysium antibodies (EMA). The health care provider will order these antibody tests if celiac disease is suspected.
If the tests are positive, upper endoscopy is usually performed to sample a piece of tissue (biopsy) from the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). The biopsy may show a flattening of the villi in the parts of the intestine below the duodenum.
Genetic testing of the blood is also available to help determine who may be at risk for celiac disease.
A follow-up biopsy or blood test may be ordered several months after the diagnosis and treatment. These tests evaluate your response to treatment. Normal results mean that you have responded to treatment, which confirms the diagnosis. However, this does not mean that the disease has been cured.
Celiac disease cannot be cured. However, your symptoms will go away and the villi in the lining of the intestines will heal if you follow a lifelong gluten-free diet. Do not eat foods, beverages, and medications that contain wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats.
You must read food and medication labels carefully to look for hidden sources of these grains and ingredients related to them. Because wheat and barley grains are common in the American diet, sticking with this diet is challenging. With education and planning, you will heal.
You should NOT begin the gluten-free diet before you are diagnosed. Starting the diet will affect testing for the disease.
The health care provider may prescribe vitamin and mineral supplements to correct nutritional deficiencies. Occasionally, corticosteroids (such as prednisone) may also be prescribed for short-term use or if you have sprue that does not respond to treatment. Following a well-balanced, gluten-free diet is generally the only treatment you need to stay well.
When you are diagnosed, get help from a registered dietitian who specializes in celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. A support group may also help you cope with the disease and diet.
Support Groups
For additional information and support, see the organizations listed in celiac disease resources.
Expectations (prognosis)
Following a gluten-free diet heals the damage to the intestines and prevents further damage. This healing most often occurs within 3 – 6 months in children, but it may take 2 – 3 years in adults.
Rarely, long-term damage will be done to the lining of the intestines before the diagnosis is made.
Some problems caused by celiac disease may not improve, such as a shorter than expected height and damage to the teeth.
You must carefully continue to follow the gluten-free diet. When untreated, the disease can cause life-threatening complications.
Delaying diagnosis or not following the diet puts you at risk for related conditions such as:
- Autoimmune disorders
- Bone disease (osteoporosis, kyphoscoliosis, fractures)
- Certain types of intestinal cancer
- Low blood count (anemia)
- Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
- Infertility or repeated miscarriage
- Liver disease
Calling your health care provider
Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of celiac disease.
Because the exact cause is unknown, there is no known way to prevent the development of celiac disease. However, being aware of the risk factors (such as having a family member with the disorder) may increase your chances of early diagnosis, treatment, and a long, healthy life.


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Around a third of visitors to the Women's Museum in Wiesbaden come from Germany's neighbouring European states, Scandinavia and the US.
The museum always provides an extensive supporting programme of events for each exhibition, comprising seminars, lectures and workshops. As well as being invited to look at, touch and listen to exhibits, visitors are engaged on a range of issues, whether current or historical, local or international, economic or sociocultural.
Opening times:
Wednesday & Thursday 10am-5pm, Saturday & Sunday 12pm-5pm
Tālummaiņa jūsu pārlūkā ar divām ērtām taustiņu kombinācijām:
Tuvināt: +
Tālināt: +
Lai saņemtu atbalstu no pārlūka izstrādātāja, noklikšķiniet uz ikonas:

subset: commoncrawl


text:
TNA taped their TNA 10 "One Night Only" pay-per-view earlier this evening, Here are the full results.
* Kenny King defeated Sonjay Dutt and Petey Williams.
* Velvet Sky defeated Gail Kim.
* Matt Morgan won a Gauntlet Battle Royal.
1) Johnny Devine
2) Shark Boy
3) Chase Stevens
4) Cassidy Riley
5) Robbie E
6) Jessie Godderz
7) Matt Morgan
8) Mr. Anderson
9) Johnny Swinger
10) Joseph Park
Order of eliminations
1) Johnny Devine (by Shark Boy)
2) Cassidy Riley (by Jessie and Robbie E)
3) Chase Stevens (by Matt Morgan)
4) Robbie E (by Matt Morgan)
5) Jessie Goddarz (by Matt Morgan)
6) Johnny Swinger (by Mr Anderson)
7) Shark Boy (by Matt Morgan)
8) Mr. Anderson (by Joseph Park)
9) Joseph Park (by Matt Morgan)
* Aces & 8?s Team 3D (Bully Ray & Devon) defeated LAX (Homicide & Hernandez) and Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) after a 3D on Homicide.
* Jeff Hardy defeated Austin Aries.
* Bobby Roode defeated James Storm.
* Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe.
EXCLUSIVE: WWE Should Capitalize On RVD's TNA Status


text:
(written from a Production point of view)
Susan "Susie" Theresa Wallingford Rossitto (15 December 1956 – 30 June 2013; age 56) was a stuntwoman and actress who played one of the two transwarp Humans, along with Cindy Sorensen, in the Star Trek: Voyager second season episode "Threshold". She received no credit for her work.
Rossitto started to work for the Screen Actor's Guild in the early 1980s and was featured in the comedy Under the Rainbow (1981, with Jim Boeke, Joe Gieb, Patty Maloney, Felix Silla, and Dennis Tracy), the musical comedy The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987, with John Cade), and the mystery pic Communion (1989, with Andreas Katsulas).
Beside her acting work, Rossitto worked as stand-in and stunt double for child actors. She was one of the penguins in the comic adaptation Batman Returns (1992, with Vincent Schiavelli, Anna Katarina, Branscombe Richmond, Anthony De Longis, Diane Salinger, Biff Yeager, and stunts by Rick Avery, Jeff Cadiente, Joyce McNeal, Denney Pierce, Spiro Razatos, and Erik Stabenau), performed stunts in the horror sequel Phantasm II (1988, with June Jordan, Felix Silla, and Lynn Salvatori), and was one of the stunt doubles for Warwick Davis in Leprechaun (1993, with Ken Olandt, Mark Holton, Shay Duffin, and stunts by Denise Lynne Roberts).
As stand-in, Rossitto worked for Justin Cooper in the comedy Liar, Liar (1997, with Anne Haney, Mitchell Ryan, Eric Pierpoint, Ben Lemon, Stephen James Carver, Don Keefer, Randy Oglesby, Jim Jansen, Ed Trotta, Ernest Perry, Jr., Amanda Carlin, Eric Sharp, Charles Emmett, Benjamin Brown, Mark Chaet, and stunts by Rosine "Ace" Hatem, Simone Boisseree, Robert Herron, Jeff Mosley, Spice Williams-Crosby, and Gene LeBell) and for child actors in the television movie Annie (1999).
Further acting work includes episodes of Fantasy Island, Married with Children (1990, with Felix Silla), Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1997), Everybody Loves Raymond, and Fat Actress (2005, with Kirstie Alley, Rachael Harris, and Joe Gieb), the comedy The Independent (2000, with Fred Williamson, Larry Hankin, Billy Burke, Andy Dick, Sam Anderson, Michael Berryman, and stunt coordinated by Scott Leva), as the nurse in Eminem's music video "The Real Slim Shady" (2000), and the documentary The AMC Project: The Talent Collector (2004, with Joe Griffo, Roger W. Morrissey, and Cindy Sorenson).
Rossitto passed away peacefully at her home on 30 June 2013. Her memorial service was held on 20 July 2013 at St. Charles Borromeo in North Hollywood. Following that she was buried at Forest Lawn. The reception was held at the Toluca Lake Tennis Club. [1]


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several Democratic lawmakers called for a new push for U.S. gun restrictions on Sunday, including a ban on military-style assault weapons, in the wake of the Connecticut massacre in which 20 children and six adults were gunned down in a school.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, the author of an assault-weapons ban that lapsed in 2004, said she would introduce new legislation this week. Senator Dick Durbin, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said lawmakers would hold hearings on gun control, and several others said they would devote new attention to the long-ignored issue.
"I think we could be at a tipping point ... where we might get something done," Senator Charles Schumer, another top Senate Democrat, said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Any effort to restrict access to high-powered weapons is likely to face fierce opposition from many Republicans in Congress who say restrictions violate the U.S. Constitution's right to bear arms.
Gun control has been a low priority for most U.S. politicians due to the widespread popularity of guns in America and the clout of the pro-gun National Rifle Association. Most Republicans and many Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are firm allies of the group.
Opinion polls have found Americans to be divided on the issue even after other high-profile shooting incidents.
U.S. lawmakers have not approved a major new gun law since 1994.
Feinstein said her planned legislation would outlaw the high-capacity magazines and military-style assault rifles that have factored in many recent mass shootings, including Friday's massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. People who own such weapons now would not be required to give them up, Feinstein said.
She said she would introduce her bill in the Democratic-controlled Senate soon, and a companion bill would be introduced in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Connecticut's Democratic governor and two senators, one a Democrat and one an independent, voiced support for an assault-weapons ban or restrictions on high-capacity magazines.
A Republican lawmaker signaled ongoing opposition to gun control.
Asked on "Fox News Sunday" why Americans would need to own semi-automatic weapons, Republican Representative Louie Gohmert said, "Well, for the reason George Washington said: a free people should be an armed people. It ensures against the tyranny of the government, if they know that the biggest army is the American people."
Gohmert added, "Once you start drawing the line, where do you stop? ... Gun laws don't work."
President Barack Obama campaigned on gun control in 2008, but he has expanded gun rights in his first four years in office, signing legislation that would allow people to carry weapons on Amtrak trains and in national parks.
He tearfully called for "meaningful action" to prevent further tragedies on Friday, but the White House has declined to say what measures he would support.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken gun-control advocate, said Obama will have to make the issue a priority to get any new laws enacted.
"It's time for the president, I think, to stand up and lead and tell this country what we should do - not go to Congress and say, 'What do you guys want to do?' This should be his number one agenda," Bloomberg said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, who has met with families of the victims of Friday's massacre, spoke of the need for new gun control steps.
"These are assault weapons. You don't hunt deer with these things. And I think that's the question that a lot of people are going to have to resolve their own minds: Where should this line get drawn?" Malloy added.
(This story has been corrected to fix spelling of first name of Senator Feinstein in second paragraph: Dianne instead of Diane)
(Additional reporting by Todd Eastham, Deborah Charles and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Will Dunham)


text:
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text:
Considering the amount of artistic goodwill that Ricky Gervais has built up over the years here in America, news that his new film "Cemetery Junction" won't be getting a theatrical release here is both shocking and dispiriting.
Word that "Junction" will be going straight to DVD on Aug. 17 comes from DVD Active by way of The Playlist, who gave the film a so-so review earlier this year. While the general consensus is that the film is less than great, one would think that a film from the genius behind "The Office," "Extras" and "The Ricky Gervais Show" would at least merit a chance.
The film, which Gervais co-wrote and co-directed with longtime collaborator Stephen Merchant, stars Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Matthew Goode and a slew of unknowns, in a story about three young men trapped in a small town in 1970s England. Gervais has described the film as his "Saturday Night Fever."
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
While it's true that Gervais' films "Ghost Town" and "The Invention of Lying" have not done terribly well at the box office, it nonetheless comes as a surprise that "Junction" couldn't even get a "platform release" (PR speak for opening in LA/NY to see if it can get any traction), especially when you consider some of the garbage that shows in 3,000 theaters.
We don't pretend to understand how these people think.


text:
There are many different ways to whiten your teeth at home without having to pay the high prices of professional tooth whitening systems. Lemon juice is an acid, and it causes your teeth to lose calcium, which is why it makes your teeth whiter.
Things You'll Need
* Toothbrush
* Baking soda
* Lemon juice
* Fluoride toothpaste
How to Whiten Your Teeth Using Lemon Juice
* 1
Brush and floss your teeth like you would usually.
* 2
Put baking soda and one drop of lemon juice onto your toothbrush.
* 3
Brush your teeth a second time with the lemon juice and baking soda mixture.
* 4
Rinse your mouth thoroughly with water.
* 5
Brush your teeth for the final time with fluoride toothpaste.


text:
Thinking the UnthinkableBy Edward H. Baker
Nobody likes to think about worst-case scenarios. But for Ian Mitroff, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, it's more than just a preoccupationit's his job.
Mitroff is an expert in crisis management, and given the sheer volume of full-blown crises the U.S. has endured in just the past five yearsfrom Sept. 11, to war, to corporate scandalsthe time to start planning for the next crisis is upon us. And the benefits of anticipating the next disaster go far beyond being prepared when panic sets in; the process can also help to identify inherent weaknesses in any organization. CIO Insight Editor Edward Baker and Executive Editor Dan Briody discussed the importance of crisis management with Mitroff.
CIO Insight: Why is crisis management so much more important now?
Mitroff: Because the systems are more complex and the media is more 24/7. In 1984, Charles Perrow wrote a very important book called Normal Accidents, which included things like chemical spills, nuclear meltdowns and airline disasters. The reason they are "normal" is that major accidents are almost guaranteed to happen, because the technology being used is so complex, but the management systems are not up to the same level of complexity.
And now you have things like Sept. 11, which is abnormal, an intentional crisis. So now you've got both: normal accidents due to complexity, and abnormal accidents due to human intention.
Can you do risk analysis to avoid crises?
Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl, Sept. 11every one of these things wouldn't have happened if six improbable things hadn't coincided. Well, somehow they did. That's why risk analysis doesn't work. Risk analysis is faulty. You're not going to get a Sept. 11 scenario through risk analysis. It's too high consequence, low probability.
So crisis management is picking at least one low-probability, high-consequence scenario. It's thinking about the unthinkable. And it doesn't matter what you imagine, because everything gets unique. You just want to be prepared to adapt.
Do you see the emergence of a Chief Crisis Officer?
I'm really ambivalent, because I don't want it to be just another person that you add to the bureaucracy. But you do need somebody, or something, that looks at this full time. It doesn't cost that much to do this well. It isn't perfect, and you're not going to avoid all crises. On the other hand, you need somebody who understands crisis management. You don't leave marketing to chance. You don't leave finance to chance. You don't leave IT to chance.
What is an internal assassin?
That's just one of the ways to start thinking about this: controlled paranoia. It's like hiring a hacker to probe your security weaknesses. Only this is much broader because you're not just hacking the data source, you're hacking the organizational structure, learning your vulnerabilities. It's a valuable exercise.
Click here For the complete interview
At a Glance:
Background: Ian Mitroff is author of Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger and Better from a Crisis (Amacom, 2005).


text:
Cover plates
All HS and HSF seals, split and solid, are manufactured oversized relative to the housing bore diameter and depth to enable proper compression and stability. A cover plate (fig 1) provides axial compression of the seal and stabilizes it in the housing bore to achieve maximum seal performance. The cover plate must be dimensioned properly to obtain the required fit. It should be thick enough not to bend or distort. Generally, a thickness of 6,35 to 12,7 mm (0.25 to 0.50 in.) is sufficient.
The plate should be fastened with bolts, no more than 150 mm (6 in.) apart, on a bolt circle located as close to the seal housing bore as practical. The cover plate should be flat and the housing bore depth uniform. Splitting the cover plate at 180° will make seal replacement easier, particularly in confined areas.
To block surges of lubricant toward the seal from the inside and to protect the seal from damage from the outside, SKF recommends dimensioning the inside diameter of the cover plate so that it is approximately 6,35 mm (0.25 in.) greater than the shaft diameter to accommodate shaft-to-bore misalignment and runout.
In applications where supplementary sealing is necessary, and it is impractical to machine the original housing to provide a seal cavity, a seal cavity can be incorporated into a new plate that is bolted into place (fig 2).


text:
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Elderflower & Lemon Drizzle Cake
Elderflower & Lemon Drizzle Cake
225g/8oz butter, softened
225g/8oz caster sugar
4 large eggs
225g/8oz self raising flour, sifted
zest and juice 1 lemon
2tbsp hot water
100ml elderflower cordial
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Preheat the oven to 180C/ Fan 160C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a (20cm) round, deep loose-based tin and base line with baking parchment.
Place the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, whisking well between additions. When you whisk in the last egg, add 2 tbsp of the flour as well, this will prevent curdling.
Sift in the remaining flour, then gently fold it in with a metal spoon along with 2 tbsp hot water. Spoon into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake for 45-50mins or until it is shrinking away from the sides of the tin. A fine skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 mins.
Squeeze the lemon juice, then sieve to remove the bits, stir in the cordial. Use the fine skewer to prick the cake all over, pour over the syrup then sprinkle over the sugar - it should sink in but leave a crunchy crust. Leave to cool completely, before removing the cake from the tin. Serve in wedges.
16 comments:
- Jemima said...
This sounds yummy, will give this a go at the weekend. x
- 7 April 2011 at 21:15
- Anna's kitchen table said...
Looks lovely and light and 'spring-like'!
Nice to see you back blogging Maria!
- 7 April 2011 at 21:42
- Pink Fairy Vicky said...
I only just found your blog and was so sad there were no new posts for a while, now I am happy :-)
- 7 April 2011 at 21:48
- Simplyfood said...
Moist and delicious looking cake.
- 7 April 2011 at 22:16
- Kate said...
oooh this looks so good! deffo one to try! it looks great!!! great to see another post! :)
- 8 April 2011 at 02:19
- Feeling Food said...
Oobly ooh! That looks gorgeous;-) Spring on a plate!
I write a blog too - drop by if you get a mo;-)
- 8 April 2011 at 16:37
- Gloria Baker said...
Im happy you come back María! This cake look delicious and beauty, nice to see you, xgloria
- 8 April 2011 at 19:57
- cocoa and coconut said...
You really decorate your cakes so sweetly. This looks delicious and exactly the type of cake that the family would love to munch on.
- 9 April 2011 at 06:47
- Caroline said...
That looks gorgeous Maria - and a perfect combination of flavours for spring. I really must make this soon!
- 9 April 2011 at 19:28
- Choclette said...
This looks delightful Maria. I remember you made something with elderflower last year and I thought it was a splendid idea. Can't remember what it was now, but this sounds delicious too.
- 10 April 2011 at 14:54
- Maggie said...
Pretty cake Maria.
I love the use of the elderflower cordial in the recipe.
Pleased that you are back to blogging. M x
- 11 April 2011 at 09:46
- Cynthia said...
The cake has a perfect crumb!
- 13 April 2011 at 01:43
- Maria♥ said...
Thanks for the lovely comments :)
- 15 April 2011 at 15:44
- The Girl said...
I've got to tell you - I've made this cake twice now and it has been the best received cake I've ever made, people have LOVED it.
It's officially on pile of Cakes I Must Make All The Time.
- 26 May 2011 at 11:47
- Julie Apps said...
Made this cake today - beautiful - very pleased with it.
- 5 March 2013 at 15:37
- Julie Apps said...
I made this cake today - it's lovely.
- 5 March 2013 at 15:38


text:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ingersoll-Rand Plc (IR.N) is expected to announce as soon as Monday it will spin off its security division, two people familiar with the matter said, as the industrial conglomerate cedes to pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz to unlock more shareholder value.
The company, which has a market value of more than $14.5 billion, also plans to buy back shares and increase dividends, one of the sources said.
The spin-off, buybacks and dividend hikes come as part of a strategic review undertaken by Ingersoll after Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP acquired a stake of about 7 percent and proposed a break-up of the company. Peltz joined the company's board in August after three months of agitating for changes at the manufacturer.
Ingersoll's security technology division — which makes mechanical and electronic locks as well as steel doors — had operating income of more than $330 million in 2011 on revenue of $1.63 billion.
The sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public, did not put a value on the division. Ingersoll and Peltz declined to comment.
Peltz has, among other proposals, suggested separating Ingersoll's main business units into three standalone publicly traded companies focused on air conditioning and heating, security, and the remainder of its industrials businesses.
Some analysts agreed, saying that Ingersoll's shares were undervalued because of its disparate businesses. Several other diversified conglomerates have also decided to break up, often under pressure from activist investors.
Activist investor Ralph Whitworth pressured industrial conglomerate ITT Corp (ITT.N) to split up its defense and water purifying businesses. Other companies announcing breakups or major divestitures include Tyco International Ltd TYC.N, Kraft Foods Inc KFT.O and Fortune Brands (FBHS.N).
Ingersoll's biggest business is heating and cooling systems as a result of its 2008 purchase of Trane. It also makes industrial air compressors and golf carts.
Its competitors in heating and cooling include Johnson Controls' (JCI.N) York business, United Technologies Corp's (UTX.N) Carrier unit and Lennox International Inc (LII.N).
Editing by Edwina Gibbs


text:
BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE: Vilgax Attacks is the latest game in the multi-million unit selling video game series. Players will have the opportunity to experience the vast ALIEN FORCE universe in a brand new action-adventure game, taking Ben into outer space and distant planets for the first time ever in the series to battle against a terrifying threat that only he can stop!
Ben Tennyson's greatest enemy of all time, Vilgax, has been busy assembling his own extreme team of Ben's most fearsome foes in a grand scheme to take over the universe one planet at a time, culminating with the destruction of Ben's home planet, the Earth!
One planet after another—including some of the home worlds of Ben's alien forms—has quietly been falling under the control of Vilgax and the villainous underling bosses he's been stationing on each conquered world to rule ruthlessly in his stead, each more eager than the next to rid the universe of the bane of their collective evil existence, Ben Tennyson, once and for all!
Now it's the Earth's turn and Ben's the only person for the job! The fate of the whole universe lies in your hands!
• Play as Ben Tennyson and ten alien heroes from the ALIEN FORCE series, the most number of playable aliens in a BEN 10 game• Adventure as alien form Upchuck exclusively in the Nintendo DS version for additional powers to command and explore• Use each alien's special powers and unique abilities to combat a ton of enemies and solve form-specific puzzles• "Best of BEN 10" – new and old characters and settings from the entire BEN 10 universe come together for the first time ever• Battle against a roster of Ben's most infamous villains and foes, including his ultimate nemesis, Vilgax• Journey to never-before-seen and exciting alien home planets and experience Ben's first intergalactic adventure• Solid blend of combat, puzzle-solving and platform gameplay to challenge players of all skill levels• Original storyline based on the BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE TV series


text:
Enhanced Observation and Documentation (DVD)
A Home Health Aide In-service Training Video
High-Quality Training Saves You Time and Money
• Documentation essentials to protect the worker and agency
• Confidentiality
• Observations
• Incident
Order the Complete Set to help your home health aides meet their in-service hours!
Meet Certification requirements
The videos make it easy to meet the regulatory requirements for 12 hours of training annually for each home health aide.
Gain Flexibility in Scheduling
Video training allows greater flexibility in scheduling training and saves you time. These efficient, cost-effective programs make it easier for you to conduct large group, small group, or even individual training sessions.
Assure Consistent Instruction
Each program is a comprehensive training package, so you can be confident that every aide will receive consistent, accurate information, regardless of who serves as the discussion leader. You'll never worry about important content being missed or inaccurate information from one session to the next.
Reduce Risk
Each program in this series was developed specifically for home health aides by homecare experts. Practical guidelines for infection control, patient safety, privacy and confidentiality are presented from a homecare perspective. Plus, the programs highlight documentation tips and conditions which warrant a call to the RN.
Your homecare staff will discover a wealth of new ideas, common-sense communication and practical techniques that promote individualized, quality patient care.
This product qualifies for our money-back, satisfaction guarantee. If you are dissatisfied with this training video, for any reason, return it to Beacon Health in good condition within 30 days of purchase to receive a full refund of the purchase price.
Video running time: 33 min.
Price: $160.00
Order the Complete Set of 22 DVDs to help your home health aides meet their in-service hours.


text:
Juneau Campus: Technical Education Center
Construction Technology
- 907.796.6120
- Fax: 907.796.6571
AddressTechnical Education Center
1415 Harbor Way (TEC1)
Juneau, Alaska 99801
Associate Professor and Program Head of Construction Technology
Phone: 796-6141
Email: email@example.com
Career Education: Construction
Technical Education Center, TEC 223, Juneau Campus
Juneau Campus
Ms. Gilcrist was born and raised in Sacramento, California where she received an Associates of Arts in drafting Technology. Robin moved to Hawaii in the early eighties and completed a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Hawaii before leaving for Alaska. Ms. Gilcrist has worked as a drafter and designer since 1980 in California, Hawaii and Alaska, working for large architectural firms as well as small construction businesses. Since moving to Juneau in the fall of 1993 she has been working full-time designing custom homes, remodels and additions. Ms. Gilcrist owns her own residential design business, Interline Design. She also is actively involved in creating affordable housing through volunteer work with Housing First and Habitat for Humanity.
Executive Dean, Career Education; Assistant Professor, Construction Technology
Phone: 796-6139
Email: email@example.com
Career Education
Technical Education Center, TEC 222, Juneau Campus
Juneau Campus
Assistant Professor, Construction Technology
Phone: 796-6132
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Career Education: Construction
Technical Education Center, Rm. 206, Juneau Campus
Juneau Campus


text:
CANstasis is our top selling ALL-IN-ONE yeast balance, digestion & colon health support supplement. CANstasis helps support the correct balance of gut microflora (bacteria & yeasts), integrity of the gastrointestinal tract and encourage the growth of friendly bacteria (probiotics).
CANstasis is a specially designed high potency all in one formula containing 15 powerful ingredients, including active herbals, probiotics and other natural cleansing and protective agents, which have anti- bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory actions.
Garlic helps support levels of gut bacteria without adversely affecting friendly bacteria
Caprylic acid is a short chain fatty acid naturally found in human breast milk and coconuts. It has been found to help maintain the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. It also plays a supportive role in establishing the growth of lactic bacteria (friendly bowel bacteria)
Aloe vera supports intestinal integrity and helps to cleanse
Both Garlic & Cinnamon are traditional foods used for added flavour and to reduce bacterial spoilage of foods. They also help with soothing the gastrointestinal tract & discourage the growth of unwanted organisms on foods.
CANstasis also contains the friendly bacteria (pro-biotics) Acidophilus and Bifidophilus, making it the ideal choice for people who wish to maintain a healthy gut environment.
CANstasis is a best taken in conjunction with a low yeast and low sugar diet or as part of a cleansing program – a must try product. Combine with our magnesium peroxide formula Oxy-Kalm, Digest-Tonic and Col-Flush for a complete cleansing combination.
Troo Health Care CANStasis Capsules are manufactured in the UK to GMP code of practice.
These manufacturing procedures ensure that the basic manufacturing practices and prerequisites necessary for product quality and safety are being followed. This goes above and beyond what is required so that we can guarantee you receive consistently high quality products.
Suitable for Vegetarians and vegans


text:
Photography Competition - Snap your way to Paris!
For all you photographers out there, we are giving away 2 tickets for an STA Travel Key Accounts Eurostar weekend away in Paris (non-UK residents will receive a prize of equivalent value). Runners up will each receive a Lonely Planet guidebook of their choice.
All you have to do is send us up to 5 of your best pictures, from any of Projects Abroad's 19 destinations and show us what you did! The winner and runners up will be selected by a panel of judges.
Photos can either be sent on a CD, for the attention of Sarah Milnes, to: Projects Abroad, Aldsworth Parade, Goring, Sussex, BN12 4TX, UK or emailed to: email@example.com
Please remember...
- Photos must be at least 1024 x 768 pixels in size and (if you can change the settings on your camera) a higher resolution than 72 dpi.
- We are especially interested in pictures of volunteers participating in placements, whether teaching in Ghana, saving turtles in Mexico or observing surgery in Mongolia! However, all photos relating to your chosen destination will be considered.
- The closing date for entries is 1st October 2006, winners will be announced shortly afterwards.
Good luck!


text:
There will be no storybook ending for Borders. The 40-year-old
bookseller could start liquidating its 399 remaining stores as
early as Friday.
The chain, which helped pioneer the big-box bookseller concept,
is seeking court approval to liquidate its stores after it failed
to receive any bids that would keep it in business. The move adds
Borders to the list of retailers that failed to adapt to changing
consumers' shopping habits and survive the recession, including
Circuit City Stores Inc., Mervyn's and Linens 'N Things.
Borders is expected to ask a judge to approve a sale to
liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers
Group. Liquidation sales could start as soon as Friday if the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York approves the
move at a scheduled hearing Thursday. The company is expected to go
out of business by the end of September.
Borders' attempt to stay in business unraveled quickly last
week, after a $215 million "white knight" bid by private-equity
firm Najafi Cos. dissolved under objections from creditors and
lenders. They argued the chain, which has 399 stores and 10,700
employees, would be worth more if it liquidated immediately.
"We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the
headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the
rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent
economy, have brought us to where we are now," said Borders Group
President Mike Edwards in a statement.
Simba Information senior trade analyst Michael Norris said a
Borders liquidation could have far-reaching effects, putting
thousands of people out of work at a time of high unemployment,
even possibly cause sales of electronic books to fall.
"Bookstore employees don't just sell books, they sell the
activity of reading, and this decision throws thousands of them out
of work," said Simba Information senior trade analyst Michael
Norris. "This industry is going to slowly figure out that a lot of
e-book readers still use bookstores all the time to discover what's
new before heading home to buy it for their e-reading device."
Borders entered the electronic book market with Canada's Kobo
Inc. last year. Owners of the Kobo e-reader will still be able use
Kobo software to buy and read books.
A Borders spokesperson declined to comment about what would
happen to e-books bought from Borders.com
It has been a long fall for Borders since Tom and Louis Borders
opened their first store in 1971, selling used books in Ann
At the time, the brothers were mostly interested in offering
other bookstores a system they developed for managing
But in 1973, the store moved to a larger location and shifted
its focus to selling new books and expanding, helping pioneer the
big-box bookstore concept along with Barnes & Noble Inc.
At the time, Waldenbooks and B. Dalton mall chains, with small
stores and 20,000 to 50,000 titles, were growing rapidly.
The new superstores, by contrast, offered between 100,000 and
200,000 titles, as well as enticements to linger like comfortable
chairs and attractive lighting.
Kmart Corp. saw the potential and acquired Borders in 1992,
forming a book unit with Waldenbooks.
It then spun the bookstores off as a separate company in 1995,
the same year Amazon started selling books online.
Borders was slow to adapt to the changing industry and lost
book, music and video sales to the Internet and other competition.
Sales began to fall, leading to a revolving door of CEOs.
By the time Borders' current CEO, financier Bennett LeBow, came
aboard in May 2010 after investing $25 million in the company,
bankruptcy was already looking like a strong possibility.
Borders filed for bankruptcy protection in February after being
hurt by tough competition from online booksellers and discounters.
It hoped to successfully emerge from bankruptcy protection by the
fall as a smaller and more profitable company, but pressure from
creditors and lenders eventually led the chain to put itself up for
sale and finally, seek approval to liquidate.
At its peak, in 2003, Borders operated 1,249 Borders and
Waldenbooks, but by the time it filed for bankruptcy protection in
February that had fallen to 642 stores and 19,500 employees. Since
then, Borders has shuttered more stores and laid off thousands.
Borders says it expects to be able to pay vendors for all
expenses incurred during the bankruptcy cases.


text:
RENTON — T-Jack is back. Well, OK, he's not quite back yet, but the Seahawks are expected to sign quarterback Tarvaris Jackson today.
"Not officially," Jackson wrote on Twitter to a fan asking if he was officially returning to Seattle. "… Headed that way tomorrow to make it official."
The Seahawks couldn't announce a move yet because it wasn't final, but they did go ahead and free up No. 7 just in case, switching undrafted rookie safety Ray Polk from that number to 38. In other words, Jackson isn't on the roster yet, but they're getting ready for him.
Ever since the Buffalo Bills released Jackson on Monday, a return to Seattle just made too much sense not to happen. Jackson in all likelihood is a better option as a backup quarterback than anyone currently on the roster. He knows the coaching staff, Seattle's playbook and many of the players, and as much as Russell Wilson won everyone over last year, Jackson is still very highly thought of in the Seahawks' locker room.
"It's great," receiver Sidney Rice said of Jackson's expected return. "I don't think he ever wanted to leave here. It's a great opportunity for him to be here, he's got a lot of friends here. Everybody was kind of upset when he left, so we'll welcome him back with open arms."
The Seahawks are set at starting quarterback this year and for the foreseeable future with Russell Wilson running the offense, but since trading Matt Flynn to Oakland, the backup quarterback spot has been a big question mark. Former first-round pick Brady Quinn was signed in the offseason and until this week seemed to have the inside track on the job. Then there's Jerrod Johnson, a player with a lot of physical upside but no NFL regular season experience. The Seahawks also re-signed Josh Portis, then later released him following a DUI arrest.
If Wilson starts 16 games next season, the backup quarterback won't matter. If Wilson's sidelined for a start or two, how comfortable would you be with Quinn, a player who has thrown five more interceptions than touchdowns in his career and completed 53.8 percent of his passes, running Seattle's offense? Maybe a fresh start with little pressure will help Quinn, but again, does a team with Super Bowl potential want to count on him for a few games if necessary?
Jackson, meanwhile, will return to Seattle with more experience under his belt and a better track record than any of the Seahawks' current backup options. He also has the locker room credibility that comes with having played through a partially torn pectoral muscle for most of the season.
So respected was Jackson that it's fair to wonder if last year's three-way quarterback competition only lasted as long as it did because Pete Carroll knew Jackson was too popular in his locker room to just cut loose without a chance to earn the starting job.
"He was a warrior out there, fighting through an injury that most guys would have shut it down with," said Doug Baldwin, who was Seattle's leading receiver in 2011 catching passes from Jackson. "Guys looked at that and they respected that and they appreciated that. He'll be welcomed here with open arms."
Seattle's decision to trade Jackson made sense last year. Once the starting job was Wilson's, there was no need to keep both Flynn and Jackson, so the Seahawks moved their former starter for a seventh-round pick. But now that Jackson is available, it's something of a no-brainer for Seattle to at least let him compete for the backup job.
After all, Jackson did go 7-7 as a starter in 2011 on a far inferior roster to the current one, and he did so playing most of the season with an injury that severely limited his ability to practice and throw at full strength. Could Quinn, whose numbers are worse than Jackson's pretty much across the board, have done that on the 2011 team? Seems doubtful, doesn't it?
Add the fact that Jackson has played for offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell in Minnesota and Seattle, will be familiar with his Seattle's receivers — even the newly-signed Percy Harvin, with whom he played in Minnesota — and the aforementioned respect Jackson has with Seahawks players, and this had to be one of the easiest roster decisions Carroll and John Schneider have made.
About the only thing that could have gotten in the way of a Jackson-Seahawks reunion would have been Jackson's unwillingness to come to a team where there was no chance of starting — barring injury, of course. That doesn't appear to be an issue based on how quickly this process has gone, and even as a backup, Jackson can still help the Seahawks.
"His presence in the locker room is different; he's a character, but he's a leader as well," Baldwin said. "Regardless of his role on the team, he'll be welcomed back with open arms, because he's a great guy.
"His knowledge of the game is impressive. He has this vast knowledge of the game, he helped me tremendously when I was a rookie, so it's going to be exciting to have him back."
Herald Writer John Boyle: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to firstname.lastname@example.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.


text:
Download from below link Xiaomi Mi 5s Firmware and for flash your Xiaomi smartphone read carefully our flashing guideline.
Xiaomi Mi 5s Firmware Description
- Phone Model: Mi5s
- Version: MAGMIDI V22.214.171.124
- Android OS Version: 6.0
- Android OS: Marshmallow
- Country: Global
How To Flash Xiaomi Phone Using mi Flash Tool
Step 1: First download Xiaomi official Mi Flash Tool latest version and install it on your PC.
Step 2: Now open Mi flash tool from your PC Start Menu and then click "Select" button.
Step 3: Then select your phone Firmware file from your PC.
Step 4: Now turn off your phone and after completely turn off your phone press Vol- button + Power button for fast boot mode.
Step 5: After getting fast boot mode connect your phone to your PC. ( Note: before connecting your phone device must install Xiaomi Phone USB driver)
Step 6: Now Click Refresh button on Mi flash tool to see the device connect.
Step 7: Now click Flash. After few munites your flash will be done. After flashing done your phone device automatically reboot.


text:
When Elana Meyers Taylors is pushing a bobsled, she's a mathematician calculating speed, distance and time in a matter of seconds.
At the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, a small mistake meant missing gold by one tenth of a second. As one of the best bobsled pilots in the world, Taylor said she won't make that mistake again in PyeongChang.
"I feel very prepared," Taylor said. "We've got the experience, we've got the talent. Now it's time to go for the gold."
Taylor has gone from a star high school softball player in Georgia who didn't own a winter coat to an elite professional bobsledder and the first woman to pilot a four-man team. She's accustomed to training on a track of concrete and metal rails long before the weather provides the backdrop for a sport dependent on ice.
But she doesn't do it alone. Always with her on the track is training partner and husband, Nick Taylor, who is on the men's bobsled team.
"Having the support of my husband and having him by my side means the world to me," Taylor said. "I feel like our relationship has really grown through all our experiences in the sport of bobsled."
Now entering her third Olympics, Taylor is hoping that PyeongChang will be her moment for gold in a sport she's loved for so long.
"I slide down a hill for a living," Taylor said. "I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?"


text:
- Title: Zahir
- Artist: HISS
- Label: Rossbin
- Format: CD
- Price: €10,00EU (incl. 19% VAT)€8,40non-EU
Pat Thomas: Keyboard/Electronics
Ivar Grydeland: Electric Guitar
Tonny Kluften: Double Bass
Ingar Zach: Percussion
"Dick Verdult, a.k.a Dick el Demasiado is the Philip K. Dick of multi-disciplinary art, the Moby Dick of "cumbia lunática", and the Charles Dickens of literature and …
"l Mewt uL-Xebba" is a new joint effort by Ralf Wehowsky & Anla Courtis.
"The compilation "Celestial Birds" reveals and focuses on the widely unknown electronic compositions of the AACM founder and jazz pianist MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS.
""New Zealand is on summer holidays all through the month of January. For some reason I had the house to myself, the wife and kids were elsewhere.
"Günter Schickert, krautrock maestro of echo-driven psychedelia, returns on Marmo one year and half after the release of the Labyrinth 12''LP (+CD and digital download code).
"Limited edition (200 copies) 12" heavyweight (180g) blood-stained white vinyl encased in a white slip plus booklet and postcards: each designed to survive the impending word-bombs …
Pat Thomas: Keyboard/Electronics
Ivar Grydeland: Electric Guitar
Tonny Kluften: Double Bass
Ingar Zach: Percussion


text:
Award Winning Our House Media Store
Allen International Designs The Our House Media Store
Allen International, the maker of the displayed work Media store by Allen International demonstrates, New integrated retail experience Reinvents the shopping experience though innovative design, leading edge digital technology and a touch of Virgin magic to create a retail environment like none other. Provides an unrivalled 'wow' factor, perfect in which to showcase Virgin Media's next-generation services & provide a fun & immersive sensory experience at every touch point through: Kinetic gesture controlled screens and interactive panels interactive mobile wall noticeable absence of traditional tills .
Award Winning Our House Media Store Images:
End of the article, click here to go back to previous page, or alternatively go back to Claim Magazine homepage.


text:
Minister mistakenly jailed in driver's license mix-up
A Des Moines Catholic Diocese minister was mistakenly arrested and sent to the Polk County Jail due to a error made with his driver's license, according to the Department of Transportation.
Rev. Quan Tong was arrested near 21st Street and Forest Avenue in Des Moines as he waited to deliver food to a friend.
"The officer was waiting for me there, checked my ID, handcuffed me and put me in the back of the car. He told me that, 'Did you know that your driver's license was revoked?' and then I just said, "I didn't do anything wrong, why do I have to go to prison?' There was no explanation for me," Tong said.
Tong's record reveals a speeding ticket six years ago. There was no charge big enough to get his license revoked. But the police officer only knew what was coming up on his in-car computer, so he sent Tong's car to be impounded and sent Tong to the Polk County Jail.
"It really was like hell on earth when you got in the jail," Tong said.
Deputies fingerprinted Tong and took his mug shot.
"They wanted me to take off all my clothes, and you had to put on the uniform of the prison and it's really humiliating when you don't even know what I am doing there," Tong said.
"There is no hotline number we can call to verify with the Department of Transportation. What is on the screen or on the radio, that is our basis - there is nothing after that we can check with," said Sgt. Jason Halifax with the Des Moines Police Department.
Had the police officer been able to check with the Iowa Department of Transportation, the DOT could have told them what Tong found out Tuesday morning.
"The DOT said someone put the wrong record on my driver's license," Tong said.
A spokesman for the DOT told News Channel 8 that it was human error: someone transposed two numbers on Tong's license, putting someone else's record under his name.
"Being in the jail without doing anything wrong -- it really is a scar on your memory," Tong said.
Tong paid to get out of jail and paid to get his car out of the impound. He's also been given a court date for next week.
"The DOT made a terrible mistake and an innocent person paid the price," Tong said.
The DOT said that mistakes like this are rare, and they usually don't see the outcome so extreme with someone ending up in jail.
Halifax said police officers in some other states have a system in their car where a picture will come up with a corresponding record, but in Iowa, just the background comes up.


text:
Occupy's Pledge to FIGHT BACK
We Didn't Start the Class War
Michele Kaplan pledged on to fight back against the 1% by doing the following:
- Come out in the streets when Occupy calls for a day of action.
- Help promote #occupy news and actions via social media.
- Never go to work during a general strike.
- Attend a direct action / civil disobedience training session.
- Start an affinity group to occupy something.
3873 others also signed the pledge. Will you pledge to fight back too? Click Here


text:
Single Cartilage Bendable Hypoallergenic Hoop
Product Description
- Note: This is a single segment earring, not a pair
- Size: 10mm
- Thickness: 0.8mm
- Material: 316L Stainless Steel
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How? Surgical steel jewellery is known to be the most hypoallergenic metal on the market.
Hypoallergenic means 'unlikely to cause reaction'.
Although nothing can be promised as 100% allergy free, as certain people can be allergic to anything, surgical steel is used by medical professionals for knives and implants due to the low chance of a reaction.
For more information about hypoallergenic earrings, check out our blog on nickel allergies.
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Size Guide
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5mm Small (suitable for kids/ adults everyday wear)
7mm Medium (suitable for kids who want larger earrings/ adults)
10mm Large
Ring Size Circumfrence(mm)


text:
Palm Pixi / Pixi Plus (CDMA)
Info Photos News Forum 58 Reviews
Phone Scoop Review
Nov 12, 2009 by Eric M. Zeman
The Palm Pixi swoops into stores just in time for the holidays. Was Palm able to give the Pixi a magic touch, or does it need another dose of pixie dust to really take off? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Pixi Paradise!
Every phone has its pro's and con's I just wish some idiots would give a phone a try for more then 24 hours before they try to post a bad reveiw of it!
Anyway, this phone had MANY pro's! Ive got more phones then most people even want to know about and I ALWAYS go back to my Pixi!
~Takes AMAZING photos
~The gesture area is genius!
~Ability to upload photos and videos to your choice of: Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, email, MMS, etc.
~Touch screen is very responsive
~Size ( Perfect)
~Screen Quality
~Sprint ( Pricing and coverage)
~Multitasking is amazing and surprisingly fast!
~Ring tones/Speaker/vibrate could be louder and stronger
~HATE that the charger is "universal" and not actually made for the pixi
~The battery life is horrible! I have NEVER had to charge my phone twice in one day until now!
Im sure If I sat here long enough I could name at least 10 more pro's! But the cons are nothing compared to the Pro's. This phone is just amazing all in all considering the size, and everything it does!
Pixi Plus with VZW (newest software version)
I love this phone!
I have always said I would never get a smartphone because I have no need for one. However when I spent some hands on time with this phone I fell in love with it and decided to make the leap!
almost everything!
gesture area
takes good pics
web browser
mobile hotspot
not many!
no camera settings
screen can be too sensitive sometimes
AD reviews continues below...
Verizon Pixi Plus - diggin it
Just got this on Friday and so far I am digging it..
Unbelievably small size - can we say Derek Zoolander?
Great call quality
Wifi works perfect
Push email and contact/calendar sync (via gmail) work flawlessly
Keyboard is tiny but yet it is so easy to use - coming from BB Tour and this is just as easy
Love the form factor, slides into pocket and I almost forget it's there
Touchstone charging
Threaded SMS - WebOS is sweet
Haven't been blown away by battery life
Camera sucks
Vibrate is weak
MP3 ringtones don't play loud enough (though standard ones on phone do, weird)
No ringer profiles
Can't use custom tones other than ringtones (for email, txting, etc - you get only 1 option, their tone or nothing)
No removable media - I am fine with the 8 gig internal memory but some people will wish they could add on
Overall I am definitely digging the phone. Beware of 1 issue, if you are a former Alltel user who switched to Verizon - you will have texting issues with this phone(and the Pre). They are currently working on it but it isn't fixed yet.
So far.. SO LOVE IT!
I bought a new Pixi Plus the first day they were available as I have been anticipating a Web OS Palm to come out for Verizon. I previously had a Centro that was very hard for me to part with as I had become so accustomed to features like the calendar, task list, alarm, texting, etc. Finally, I stepped up and made the change. So far, I'm glad I did.
-Nice rubberized back, sleek design
-WebOS is quite customizable and pleasing to the eye
-Touch screen is very accurately responsive
-Texting interface is beautiful!
-Relatively easy to sync Centro information with Pixi Plus
-Option to use Touchstone charging docks
-Very practical lit bar under screen to help navigate
-Great push email
-Battery life seems to rival that of my Centro which I only needed to charge once every two days
-Crystal clear call quality
-Similar keyboard to Centro which is great for my petite fingers
-By far, the worst thing is that the phone has NO option for removable memory (micro SD)
-No Flash Player support yet (supposedly a hardware issue that will be resolved soon)
-Much softer vibration than the Centro
-No LED notification light (waiting for an application to double the light bar as an indicator light)
-Big exposed hole at top of back of phone is the headphone jack (worries me about any possible debris/moisture accidentally getting in there in the future)
-Not many "big name" apps (i.e. ESPN, eBay, etc.)
As I pointed out, the fact that the phone has NO removable memory was closer than I can describe to being a deal-breaker. Not that using a USB cord is a pain to transfer media, but once you don't have the luxury- you notice! (8GB memory is included internally & is plenty for my needs, but may not be for others).
Otherwise, the phone really is a GEM for the Palm OS faithful. Sure, it is a big change but it is well worth exploring.
My boyfriend also has a Centro & is switching to the Sprint Pixi tomorrow because of my success :D
Its all about what you need from a phone
1>Excellent small size -if thats what you like- I do
2> WebOS software is fantastic
3> Surprisingly great keyboard -don't let the small keys fool you- to me much better than touchscreen keyboards- personal preference of course.
4> More than enough apps available to do anything that you need. Not as complete as Apple of course but getting bigger and better everyday.
5> Bar phone style no need to slide for keys etc.
6> Google, yahoo, Exchange integration works smoothly
7> Functions PERFECTLY as a PHONE and thats what I wanted was a PHONE and TEXTING device.
8> Enough Newsreader free apps that amke the best use of the screen- Mobile EPSN, Forbes, Newsweek the NY Times- all show perfectly on this phone for news and info junkies.
1> No missed alert light- why did they leave out such an important "no brainer" feature? You have to turn the phone on to see if anyone tried to reach you.
2> Could be faster- not a deal breaker and not THAT slow but could be snappier.
3> Limited to 8 GB of storage and apps- Way more than I need but maybe not you?
4> Screen size is perfect for phone use and the web is the web but is too small for serious surfing.
5> No Wifi- not a deal breaker for me but they are adding this to the Verizon version and will be on Sprint soon.
6> Camera sucks wish it was brighter and better- I wanted a PHONE but a camera would be nice too.
Here's the bottom line-
if you want a smart PHONE for email, texting and have almost any app that you would need - this is your phone.
IF on the other hand you want to surf the web PERFECTLY for ANY website- this is NOT your phone. Get an Android or some other larger screen phone.
The keyboard is great for texting- even with the small keys.
The WebOS is every bit as slick- if not more than Apple OS in my opinion. And you can multitask. Better on the Pre since it is faster than the Pixie but not bad on the Pixie either.
BEWARE- the new 126.96.36.199 upgrade may CRASH the app store wait for the next upgrade!
Pixi Perfect! =)
I got this phone for christmas. This is my 4th smart phone, coming from a pink centro, to the htc pro and then diamond.. To samsung exclaim for a month but couldn't stand that it wasn't touchscreen I.was thinking about going to the hero but I hate virtual keyboards. I HAVE to have a physical keyboard and I hate slide out keyboards of any kind. I'm so glad they came out with a phone so small and touchscreen with a keyboard. I loved my centro but I wanted something new. And then palm came out with this.When I got it, I couldn't believe how small and cute it was. I love the touch screen. Very responsive but make sure you update your phone. Because after I updated it to 1.3.5 ...it's better than when I got it out of the box. The messaging and notification alerts are awsome and I love how it shows you your email . Texts. Etc. The internet is fast. The cameras alright. It doesn't lag like the pre or any htc cameras. But it's only 2mp . Pretty decent for a phone. This phone doesn't feel cheap or flimsy. The reason why I gave it a 4.5 is because there is no led notification liqht. Not enough apps. And the ringtones could be louder and the screen briqhter. And I can't wait till the pink one comes out. Definatley would have given it a 5 if it was PINK! I'm not into blackberrys because I hate the trackball. But if your coming from a palm centro and liked that. You'll love this phone!!
Palm Pixi Near Perfect
By far this is one of the best phones i have used in awhile. Im a phone junkie and have tried out almost every high end phone sprint has had in the last 7 years. I also have had a iphone 3g. While that phone was truly amazing, at&t service and pricing were not. The Pixi works very well as. The OS is great. I definitely like it better than android, and almost as much as iphone.
Size ( Perfect)
Screen (Good quality)
Sprint ( Pricing and coverage)
Ring tones/Speaker could be louder
Not many apps
No visual voice mail
Nice phone, but could be better
I have had this phone for 5 days and have decided I am going to take it back and exchange it out, the phone works great and has a nice feel to it, but is lacking as far as features go.
- 3G, phone is very fast and gets a better signal in this area than my old droid.
- Real web browser.
- Nice clear screen, looks really nice.
- Free Mobile hot spot.
- Mute button on the side.
- Has an app store with some simple free apps.
- Wi-Fi.
- Camera with flash.
- Overall set up of the phone.
- Doesn't have GPS, it does have VZ Navigator, I have used VZ Navigator in the past and it has been really slow and has gotten me lost more than once, I don't know if it's any better now, I didn't bother trying it.
- Does not take a memory card.
- You cannot got online and save a picture from online, you can go onto your home computer and send your self that picture through an e-mail, then open the e-mail from your phone and save the picture, but that's really more hassle than I like.
- Internet lags sometimes.
I gave this phone a 4 because I do REALLY like it and want to keep it but I need a phone that has real GPS and can take a memory card... If a newer Palm comes out I will definitely try it out.
For Centro owners thinking of upgrading
Overall, I'm delighted with the Pixi. I was a Centro user and while researching, found that very few reviews focussed on the issues a Centro user might face beyond data transfer.
So here goes:
Ability to see multiple Calendars (iPhone friends drool at this one) and all your Contacts.
Ability to charge from any computer using the USB connection.
The AC connection is ingenious ie much smaller than most chargers one has had to use over the years.
Ability to play You Tube videos
Value is hard to match.
GPS and Google positioning services.
Speed - most actions were far more instantaneous on the Centro
No ability to search the Calendar
No ability to edit documents or create a new one. Documents to Go has been bought by RIM. (You can view Word, Excel, Pdfs.)
Battery life is miserable but the charging options are certainly flexible.
No text only option for web pages.
While it does take a little time to learn WebOS, it is certainly worth the investment.
WebOS = WOW
I have had my Pixi for a little over a month now and all I can say is WOW. For the past few years I have used a Palm OS Treo of some sort so when the Palm Pre first came out last summer I was very excited. The Pre's problems with quality issues and the fact that it had the slide out keyboard made me weary of attempting to give that phone a shot, even though webOS seemed like a solid platform. When I saw the Pixi I fell in love with it (although not the name, the codename EoS I liked much better) and knew I would have it.
The Pixi's hardware specs make it seem inferior to its older brother but it handles it self just fine (wow, really no Wifi for sprint only?) and the form factor really works for me since I text ALOT so sliding out the keyboard every time would be a complete pain. The screen size difference makes no difference to me, it is plenty big for me to see what I'm doing. One huge PRO is the size, it is literally tiny compared to my Treo 755, I can now actually carry my phone in my pocket.
Palm has done an unbelievable job with WebOS, I just can't stress it enough. Straight out of the box it works great. It is intuitive and responds quickly. The main advantage is that it is completely customizable. There are many communities with custom tweaks to the OS that will make it work even better for you. Once you start you just won't stop you will be hooked. Small changes can make all the difference and WebOS allows you to do that with ease.
On the phone side of things the Pixi works very well. Signal strength is on par with other phones on Sprint and the sound quality if ok but sometimes right at the beginning of a call the audio can be a bit glitchy but otherwise good for a smartphone. One thing to note on volume for calls I had to learn to hold the phone to my ear differently in order to get the full volume, maybe just me or maybe because the front of the phone is completely flat.
Well I'm out of room, give it a try you will enjoy.


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This is a sponsored post about managing the back to school season. We're still over a week out from school starting here but I'm already sort of cringing a little bit inside at what is yet to come. I'm a Brownie leader, apparently also now a Sunday School teacher (although I'm sharing this with 2 other moms), I have 3 kids who will be playing soccer, a son who's going to start Boy Scouts, a daughter in gymnastics and a daughter in dance. Trying to sort this whole new routine out is a little daunting, but I'm making a list of things to help stay organized and on top of things.
1. Calendar. Have a calendar on the wall that has a color for each kid. That way, even the kids who can't read can know that they have "something" on the day they see their color. I need to find an enormous calendar so I can put things like stickers for gym days, dance shoes for dance…that kind of thing. Or I need to get separate calendars for each kid.
Not just for kids, but include meal ideas on the calendar. Even if you have a family "meeting" of sorts on Sundays to decide what you will eat for the week, it leaves the person who has to prepare dinner with a plan and ideas. It also makes shopping for groceries easier since you know what you will prepare- and save time in making lists.
2. Organization board. Wouldn't you just know that we're in the middle of gutting our breezeway but I have this decent-sized cork board and I'm going to make it into organization/calendar central. This is where we can keep papers for each kid, things that have to be signed or saved, their weekly schedules, etc., keep track of library books due. That kind of thing.
With the beginning of the school year comes all of the papers to fill out and be signed. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. Eleventy billion pieces of paper…multiplied by how many kids you have. It's a LOT to keep track of, and not always something that we can sit down and complete in one sitting. That's why each kid will have a folder on that board- clearly labelled- so we can all keep track of who's paper is what. I actually filled out my son's paperwork in triplicate last year before realizing what I'd done so not only did I waste all that time, cover my pinky in ink (I'm a lefty) and get a cramp in my hand, I had to humbly ask for 2 more sets of papers from the school and fill them all out AGAIN for each of the girls. Don't be like the Brett of the 2012-2013 school year.
I am going to have a meal plan section for this too so I can get all of our favorite meal ideas up and hopefully help simplify my dreaded what do I make for dinner times. Being organized with meal and menu plans will also help ME to get dinner prepped and cooked on the days when we have after school activities and I won't be able to cook after school, but will need to cook midday. (My actual organization board/station is a work in progress since that room is under construction but when it's done, I"ll update this with a photo). Being organized saves a LOT of time and makes that hectic back to school season a little less hectic.
3. Routine. We need to get into a routine. Routines are great for all families. Figuring this out BEFORE school starts is key- so, starting today? We're getting up, making beds, cleaning out backpacks, and doing extra journaling. Bedtime isn't whenever anymore, it's 7:30 sharp. Baths or showers after dinner…you know. Whatever our school routine is going to be, that's what we'll be practicing.
4. Delegate. No matter how old or young your kids are, even toddlers can help with household tasks. All 3 of my kids fed the dog and/or cat before they were 2. Scoop of food into dish. Voila. My kids also clear their own dishes from the table. Life is going to be busy, and hectic, but for example- my oldest is 8 and wants to have money of her own. So she'll be able to earn $1 each time she sorts the laundry baskets full of laundry into each family members' piles. Putting away the laundry can earn her more money. She's learning reponsibility and I have effectively delegated a task. Win- win, right?
There's a lot that kids can help with- it also teaches them responsibility at the same time. We keep the kids' dishes in a drawer next to the dishwasher- that's so they can access whenever they want. It also means that from a young age, all 3 kids have been able to help unload the dishwasher. They are able to help and it's a little less for me to do.
5. SYNC. This just may be the most important one for we parents. Sync those calendars. The schedules. Routines. If the soccer coach emails one parent the practice and game schedules, forward the email to your spouse. I can't tell you enough how much having a calendar feature on my phone that is synched to my email account has saved me and made me more organized. There's many many reasons I love this amazing and wonderful and glorious calendar feature on my phone, but
- I can set reminder alerts for whenever I want.
- I can see if we've already got other things going on that day and NOT overbook myself
- Did I mention the reminder alerts? I can have email and pop up alerts to my heart's content.
- We can share a calendar. By we I mean my husband and me. So even if he forgets to tell me he'll be wicked late because he has a work meeting, I can see it. Or if we're not going to be home until super late because there's a game in a neighboring town, he can see that too.
Seriously. I can't even explain how much I love having a calendar for family activities that is accessible to me almost 24/7. It's saved me and helped me be more organized. It might be my favorite tech thing ever. It's a beautiful thing!
Help your family manage the back to school season with Sprint's limited time Buy One, Get One FREE offer on the brand new HTC One. Got a kid heading back to school? Get one for them, and one for you! Or get one for you and one for your spouse. I won't judge. Of course, if one of you wanted to get the HTC One but didn't have someone to give it to, I would gladly help you out. I'm hearing really great things about this phone and would love to try it! (Kidding. Mostly).
Sprint, the Only National Carrier to Guarantee Unlimited Talk, Text and Data for Life.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Sprint via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Sprint


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Students Excel in College Entrance Exams
- 2004 1 Oct
ACT Inc., producer of the ACT college entrance exam, reports that homeschool students scored an average of 22.6 for 2003. This compares with 20.9 for public school students for the same period.
Over the years there has been concern that homeschool students would not be able to compete effectively for places in colleges. It was said that homeschool parents simply couldn't educate their children to the college level. This is false.
Even if an individual family is unable to provide every aspect of a high school education, the pooling of resources among homeschool families and the availability of classes from private resource centers have enabled families to continue homeschooling until high school graduation.
There should be no doubt that the homeschool movement is committed to excellence, from the youngest to the oldest student.
For more homeschool news check out http://hslda.org


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|Flight Simulator X
|Latest version
|Release date(s)
|Numerous; see text
|Windows, one version newer than the one you own
|System requirements
|Monthly fee
|Active players
Flight Simulator X (FSX) is a pointless game, like The Sims, created solely to show you the inadequacy of your computer and induce you to buy a new one in the vain hopes of driving the game to produce 2 frames per second.
Minimum requirements[edit]
Flight Simulator X runs well on high-end NSA supercomputers. The minimum system requirements listed on the box were designed by Microsoft to maximize sales. The real requirements for running FSX smoothly are as follows:
- Eight-core Intel Skunkworks processors
- 20 terabytes of DDR10 Quint-channel RAM
- 2Tb quad-core Nvidea 0u812 GT
- A secret Microsoft patch for the Gamespy issue.
Modes of operation[edit]
This game has no story or "point" at all. You basically fly around in your choice of aircraft. You can fly in Multiplayer Mode or, for added annoyance, listen to elderly Rob Machado tell you what to do in Lesson Mode.
Free Flight[edit]
In Free Flight, you choose an aircraft and just fly around. You can explore, execute a flight plan, hijack, land at your local airport, and especially, crash into a building.
The documentation suggests that it might be fun to land on an Interstate highway that seems uncrowded (change the settings first, as FSX has a nagging tendency to treat this as a crash), or to fly underneath large suspension bridges. (Note: In real life, these maneuvers are frowned upon.)
As an added bonus, you can specify a number of passengers, increasing the enjoyment for Muslims when they pretend to blast another 767 into New York City. You can also call for failures to occur. These can be as subtle as an instrument malfunction (and who looks at all those dials and lights anyway?), or as sudden as a fire or an engine failure.
There is a big-ass selection of missions in FSX. They range from law enforcement to exploration. None of them is fun. You simply listen to some random arse bark commands at you as you fly in circles. (Again, in reality--if you made it that far and took your "check ride"--you would be judged on your ability to politely obey absurd commands from such a random arse, employed by the FAA to grade you.) You can chase drug smugglers (although you would be them in real life) and rescue things. They show their gratitude and you get a badge or epaulette. There are also a set of tutorial missions. After winning these, you get rubber wings to wear on your shirt. Oh, wait, never mind; you can't actually wear them, because they are just a picture.
Missions take unnerving amounts of time to load, and therefore should only be done by desperate children. The only good thing about them is being rewarded with a picture to show your mom. But you could be playing Counter-Strike on the Internet for real weed.
What to do next[edit]
The most awesome thing to do after playing this game for hours on end is to go and hijack a real plane and see if you can fly it. If successful, you may end up crashing into the ground. Then you can sue Microsoft for making you think you were an actual pilot.
Add-on community[edit]
The Flight Simulator franchise has a vast and fanatic user community. Designers of "freeware" add-ons are the most depressed, attention seeking, whiny-assed people on the Internet. They spend hundreds of hours designing and developing an add-on, then cry like a bitch when the whole world doesn't fall to its knees, showering them with compliments and praise for their wonderful offerings to the losers who spend their days flying fake airplanes. Users and makers of add-ons congregate at various Flight-Sim forums around the Net, where they feed off of each other's comments and stroke each other's egos.
If you are on-line, you can select Multiplayer Mode. You can fly with real people! But each of those real people will ridicule you incessantly until you own a virtual airline, which lets you pretend to be a virtual corporate arsewipe. Multiplayer is a lose-lose situation.
Virtual airlines[edit]
Virtual airlines are like real airlines (see below). Some guy with nothing to do opens an FSX server with some clever title such as Arsehole Airlines. The name of the airline affects whether or not you are still a n00b, or if you actually have something cool going on. If your idea catches on, then you start becoming even more gh3y. You may build a website, pay $29.99 a month, and try to recoup it by begging for donations or selling ads. This is more of a lose-lose situation.
Real airlines have their act together. Occasionally a jet overflies Minneapolis and sails into the darkness for 90 more minutes because pilot and co-pilot are both glued to their laptops--unlike you--trying to figure out a new pilot scheduling program that took effect at the last corporate merger. Stewardesses call the cockpit but get told they're crazy and get hung up on. The U.S. Air Force can't figure out whether to scramble fighter planes to shoot down the obviously hijacked Jumboliner because their only phone numbers for the airline pre-date the merger. They also get hung up on. The airline boss at the terminal has the squawk box to the USAF at her desk, except that she's never at her desk; she's out trying to find a secure comm-link to the government (to mention this code-red Homeland Security violation without embarrassing the Corporation), unaware that the squawk box is secure.
Now, aren't you glad you're wasting your adolescence in relative safety, inside a Windows simulation?


text: After a day full of rumors and speculation the Cubs came out flat and uninspired against A.J. Burnett. Burnett took advantage and was four outs away from pitching his second career no-hitter before Adrian Cardenas lined a two out single in the 8th to break it up. That was the only thing left undecided by the 8th inning tonight as the Pirates, thanks to a first inning grand slam by Neil Walker were cruising to a 5-0 victory. Casey Coleman got the start for the Cubs thanks to Ryan Dempster being traded earlier in the day to the Texas Rangers. Coleman didn't seem ready to go at the start either as he gave up four runs in the first on the way to his second loss of the season. Coleman only lasted 4.2 innings thanks to spotty command, he gave up four runs on seven hits while walking four and striking out five. As you could already guess the Cubs did nothing at the plate as Burnett had everything working, a brutal two-seem fastball that took up residence on the inside corner and a curve ball that vanished all night. Games like this happen, especially after a long day of wondering who is the next guy to be traded. Definitely not taking anything away from Burnett, he was outstanding tonight. Full box score and highlights after the jump.


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Amber Rose Gets Wiz Khalifa Tattoo On Her Arm
Real Love: Amber Rose Gets Wiz Khalifa's Face Tattooed On Her…And Other Pics Of Them Being Disgusting In Public
- By Bossip Staff
1 of 11
So we know it's real…
Amber Rose Gets Wiz Khalifa Tattoo On Her Arm
Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa are seriously in love. Like, so much in love. Even after a long pregnancy, they're still beaming.
So much so that Amber Rose got Wiz's face tatted on her arm. Like, his entire face. It's just another sign of their incredible affection for one another.
But this isn't anything we haven't seen before. These two have put their love on blast dozens of times before. And some times it sort of makes our breakfast repeat on us. Just take a look at these two loving on one another in the wildest ways.
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In November 2011, the laboratory of Nobel laureate David Baltimore published encouraging results from humanized mouse studies of an approach to HIV prevention they have named vectored immunoprophylaxis (assigned the slightly uncomfortable acronym VIP). The strategy involves the use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a vector to deliver genes that make broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV after delivery into muscle tissue. The ultimate goal is to make an end-run around the well-documented challenges associated with designing a vaccine capable of persuading the human immune system to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies. Instead, AAV would serve as a factory for the production of these antibodies, a task to which it is thought to be well-suited because it persists for very long periods in the episome of cells (but does not integrate into the genome). The idea was first developed by Phillip Johnson at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who is collaborating with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) to launch phase I human testing of an AAV encoding the broadly neutralizing antibody PG9 (listed as AAV1-PG9 on the IAVI portfolio page). Johnson's preclinical research in the SIV/macaque model has been covered previously on the blog.
Baltimore's VIP work is now receiving renewed attention due to the posting of a video by Cara Santa Maria, who runs the appealingly named "Talk Nerdy to Me" science blog on Huffington Post. Inadvertently, the distillation of the research into a short-video-interview format suggests a narrative in which the VIP idea is unprecedented and unique, created by Baltimore and the scientists in his lab. Baltimore's opening statement, "no one has ever tried this before," is true in that VIP has yet to be tried in humans, but it risks glossing over the contributions of Johnson and many others who have long been wrestling with the complex issues involved in attempting to develop the technology for clinical testing. In essence, the approach is a gene therapy intended for healthy HIV-negative people, and it is very likely -- and entirely appropriate -- that plans for human trials will be closely scrutinized by regulators prior to approval.
Beyond just safety, there are other issues pertaining the use of AAV as a vector that the video does not explore. A study published in Nature Medicine in 2007 demonstrated that humans -- unlike mice or monkeys -- typically possess AAV-specific CD8 T-cell responses that target the virus for elimination. These CD8 T-cell responses are thought to have contributed to the poor performance (and in some instances, toxicity) of AAV as a gene transfer vehicle in human trials for other conditions, such as hemophilia B. The presence in humans of AAV-specific CD8 T cells may also explain why IAVI-sponsored trials of AAV as a traditional vaccine vector found that it was poorly immunogenic (only around 20% of those receiving the highest dose showed low-level immune responses to the HIV antigens encoded by the AAV-based vaccine -- starkly different from the promising-looking immunogenicity seen in macaques).
In their November 2011 Nature paper, David Baltimore and colleagues note that the AAV serotype they have chosen to work with, AAV8, has some differences compared to the more commonly used AAV2. They write:
"Studies in non-human primates have shown that the elicitation of capsid-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes is limited to AAV capsids that exhibit heparin-binding activity. Interestingly, serotypes lacking heparin-binding activity, including AAV8, did not induce CTL responses, suggesting that AAV8-based vectors, like the one we have used, may circumvent previously observed immunological barriers to long-term transduction."
However, they fail to cite the 2007 paper mentioned above, which is explicit that: "alternative serotypes currently being considered for clinical applications (for example, AAV-1, AAV-8) are processed in a manner appropriate for presentation of the same epitope(s), at least by human cells, resulting in expansion of functional CD8+ T cells that are indistinguishable from those elicited by AAV-2 capsid."
So far it appears that the only clue as to how this might play out in humans comes from a study of a hybrid AAV vector comprising the backbone of AAV2 with an AAV8 capsid, used to deliver the gene for factor IX. In a small clinical trial for the treatment of hemophilia B in which the vector was given via peripheral vein (to target the liver), encouraging evidence of therapeutic efficacy was observed, which was not the case in a prior trial involving a vector consisting entirely of AAV2. But most participants did show some evidence of T cell responses against the AAV8 capsid, indicating that the hope that this serotype would be completely invisible to CD8 T cells has not borne out.
Thankfully though, that is not the end of the story. A study published just a couple of days ago in the journal Blood suggests that additional modifications to AAV can significantly reduce CD8 T cell recognition. And last year in the same journal, researchers reported that the AAV2 vector used to deliver the gene for factor IX in the first hemophilia B clinical trial could still be detected in muscle tissue ten years after administration. Although the level of factor IX production achieved in this trial was too low to be therapeutic, the authors conclude: "these data do establish that AAV2-mediated gene transfer to human skeletal muscle can persist for up to a decade. The use of alternate serotypes and/or delivery techniques that can perfuse muscle more extensively may improve therapeutic efficacy for this approach." This conclusion also offers hope for VIP because, as David Baltimore stresses in the video interview, his lab's humanized mice experiments suggest that protection against HIV infection might be achievable with relatively low levels of broadly neutralizing antibodies.
Richard Jefferys is the coordinator of the Michael Palm HIV Basic Science, Vaccines & Prevention Project Weblog at the Treatment Action Group (TAG). The original blog post may be viewed here.


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The Great Indoors
The 55th Grand National Roadster Show
Weird how there are people who still call this event the Oakland Roadster Show. Maybe they're forgetful. More likely it's the show's heritage. For decades the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) was held at the Oakland Coliseum. If traditionalists were upset when "Oakland" moved to San Mateo a few years ago, you should've heard them moan when they found out that it was leaving the hallowed shores of San Francisco Bay for the smog-swathed netherworld of L.A. County.
We, on the other hand, were thrilled. Southern California is not only the home of hot rodding, it's our home as well. Going to the GNRS is no longer a day's drive--it's a freeway away. Sweet!
The L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona is the perfect location for the Show, with a heritage all its own. The NHRA Museum is there, the Winternats and World Finals open and close the drag racing season there, and the L.A. Roadsters have their gig there every June. Of course, the GNRS isn't about drag racing, or even shade tree parking. It's about primped and pampered show cars. That's fancy stuff for hot rodders but a treat just the same, especially when you're talking about the most mouth-watering rods, customs, and bikes assembled under one roof--actually three roofs since almost 300 cars spilled over into three separate buildings at the Fairplex.
Move or no move, the turnout from participants and spectators exceeded expectations, according to GNRS head honcho Dan Cyr, who told us that he was very happy with the number of entrants as well as the representation of both high-tech and traditional cars. Cyr says the Grand National Roadster Show will expand into five fairground buildings when it returns to Pomona in 2005, and that he and the Fairplex folks are currently negotiating several more years in Pomona. Even sweeter!


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Motor Fuel Tax Proposal Highlights Champaign City Council Meeting
The Champaign City Council is considering a four-cent a gallon motor fuel tax --- a level that would be higher than a similar tax in Urbana, but lower than one in Danville.
City officials say recent budget cuts have reduced spending on street maintenance, at the same time that a "complete streets" strategy is making the work more expensive. At Tuesday night's city council study session, Councilman Tom Bruno said Champaign needs the additional money to avoid the congested streets of big urban areas.
"One only needs to drive in the Chicago area, or the suburbs or southern California to appreciate how blessed we are to have a lack of traffic congestion in Champaign," Bruno said. "If we want to keep that, if we want to maintain that, we have to be able to fund our streets."
Bruno said motorists wouldn't see any change in gasoline prices, because gas station owners absorb the cost to keep customers coming to buy snacks, cigarettes and liquor. But Councilwoman Karen Foster was doubtful, saying the gas tax could hurt other Champaign businesses that use motor fuel in high quantities.
"That will have a huge impact on them by having to buy bulk fuel," Foster said. "It's in the thousands of dollars, it's not just when we go to the pump and you have another $1.20 or $5 on your pump. It's thousands of dollars to these businesses."
Mayor Don Gerard joined four other council members to endorse the motor fuel tax on a 5 to 4 vote. A final council vote is expected in December or January.
In other action at the Tuesday night session, the Champaign City Council voted to give the public an additional opportunity to speak during their meetings.
A city council study session grew raucous three weeks ago, when several people alleging excessive force by police in the arrest of Calvin Miller were not allowed to speak. The council eventually suspended the rules to allow public comments --- but public comment on issues not on the agenda is usually allowed only at regular council meetings only, not study session. Council members changed that rule Tuesday night, voting unanimously to allow public comment on any topic at study sessions as well. Councilman Tom Bruno said the important thing was to keep the rules consistent and clear.
"Because there were people who maybe wanted to speak that night, who stayed away because our rules were clear that there wasn't going to be any public participation that night," Bruno said. "So as long as our rules are clear, I think there's unanimity among us that we like public participation."
Also on Tuesday night, the Champaign City Council voted to approve a new council district map reflecting 2010 census results.


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Pot-Based Prescription Drug Seek FDA Approval
Only a small number of states currently have laws on the books allowing medical marijuana, but help may be on the horizon for patients in other states who could benefit from the ingredients in cannabis plants — clinical trials are currently underway for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents.
British pharmaceutical company GW Pharma is developing a mouth spray called Sativex it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain, and if the trails go well, FDA approval could be granted as early as next year.
The spray contains delta 9-THC and cannabidiol, two of marijuana's two best-known components. The drug has already been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries to relieve muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.
Since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, FDA approval would mark a major milestone and could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position. It could also encourage other drug companies to develop their own marijuana-based drugs.
"There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing," Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, told USAToday. "It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, 'If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.'"
That said, marijuana advocates fear that the government will use any new prescription products to keep pot illegal.
"To the extent that companies can produce effective medication that utilizes the components of the plant, that's great. But that should not be the exclusive access for people who want to be able to use medical marijuana," Americans for Safe Access spokesman Kris Hermes said told USAToday. "That's the race against time, in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill."


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A while back, I wrote about pinpointing my priority surnames in order to provide a better focus to my personal research. I have had a bit of luck learning more about a few of those ancestors, and wanted to share a little of what I've found.
Update: Priority Surnames
Tombstone Tuesday: W. M. Carver
W. M. Carver
Born Sept. 26, 1828
Died Jan. 12, 1920
I don't have very many Aha! moments with my own family anymore, but this is one of them. Today, I was browsing through the death certificate images for Rabun County (available online through Georgia's Virtual Vault) when one of those exciting moments happened. I was actually looking for death certificates for the Gillespie family of Rabun County, and was browsing because the spelling on old records is unreliable. I found an entry for one Samuel M. Carver. Not being familiar with him, I clicked on the link to view the image. Imagine my surprise when Samuel's parents were listed as William Carver, born Spartanburg S.C. and Elizabeth Morris, born Cobb Co., GA.
My first thought was, this is my family!, followed closely by, but William and Elizabeth didn't have a son named Samuel! So I pulled up my trusty database and, sure enough, no son named Samuel. But there was a William M. Carver whose birth and death dates matched the same dates on the death certificate of "Samuel M. Carver" exactly. I'm not sure exactly why the name was different, but I am thankful for the inclusion of the mother's maiden name; this is the first definitive proof I have of Elizabeth's family name, and I hope that this death certificate will be the springboard I need to find her parents.
William M. Carver was buried next to wife, Malinda Jane, in Godfrey Cemetery, located in the Chechero community of Rabun County.


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While I understand things move slowly in Washington, D.C., I simply don�t understand why it�s taken more than 20 years for Congress to take action to help America�s local businesses.
I�m talking about the unfair advantage online-only retailers have over the small businesses lining our main streets. By not requiring online-only businesses to collect our state�s sales tax, Congress subsidizes them, placing their interests above local small businesses.
As a result, more of our Main Street shops are cutting back or shuttering their doors. I don�t see why anyone would think it�s acceptable to hold similar businesses to different tax requirements when the only difference between them is whether they operate online or out of a brick-and-mortar storefront.
That flies in the face of the free-market system upon which our great nation was built. It�s the government picking winners and losers, plain and simple.
No one wants to pay sales taxes, and no business really wants to have to collect them. But if we�re going to require one business to collect them, then we must require all businesses to do the same. It�s only fair.
The Senate already passed e-fairness legislation by way of the Marketplace Fairness Act last year. It�s the right solution because it levels the playing field for businesses, and it ensures the sales taxes paid by consumers benefit the communities where they live.
It�s time for the House to show they also support the local businesses by passing e-fairness legislation once and for all.
Dennis Rieken