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In this image provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. the stolen car sits on small transport trailer as it is delivered to Robert Russell 's home in Texas.
A man whose prized sports car was stolen 42 years ago recovered the vehicle after spotting it on eBay, authorities said Sunday.
Robert Russell, 66, a retired sales manager, told the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that he had never given up searching for the 1967 Austin Healey after it was stolen from his Philadelphia home in 1970.
Russell recently spotted what he thought was his car listed on eBay by the Beverly Hills Car Club. He checked the vehicle identification number on the website with the one on the car's title certificate and found they were a match, the sheriff's department said in a news release.
Russell, who now lives near Dallas, Texas, contacted the department in May, and Detective Carlos Ortega tracked down the car in East Los Angeles.
"Detective Ortega located the stolen Austin Healey at the dealership listed in the eBay ad and confirmed that the car was the same vehicle reported stolen by Mr. Russell," the department said.
After working with Philadelphia police to resolve vehicle identification issues, the department told Russell he could pick up his car.
Robert Russell and his wife with the car back in their Texas garage.
He has since brought it back to Texas.
Russell told deputies that he bought the vehicle for $3,000. It's now valued at $23,000.
He said "he continued his search for the vehicle, not for its monetary value, but because it had sentimental value to him and his wife," the department said.
Russdell said he didn't hold out much hope of ever finding the vehicle he paid a friend $3,000 for back in 1968, only to find it stolen the morning after taking his future wife out on their second date.
"The fact that the car still exists is improbable," he told NBCPhiladelphia.com. "It could have been junked or wrecked."
See original story on NBCPhiladelphia.com
Russell and his wife, Cynthia, drove to Los Angeles on June 16 and took possession of the car two days later after paying roughly $600 in impoundment fees.
They also paid about $800 to have the Austin Healey shipped to their Southlake, Texas, home, where it arrived June 23.
"We were probably out $1,500 plus six days of travel and hotel costs," Russell said, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported. "I'm not complaining about any of that. I couldn't get the credit card out of my pocket fast enough."
Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com
The Beverly Hills Car Club said it had no idea the car may have been stolen.
"Beverly Hills Car Club found the Austin Healey on Craigslist and purchased the car from a seller in New Jersey who claimed to have owned the car for 42 years. The VIN matched the registration and paperwork, had no liens and was clear and unencumbered from the State of New York, when it was issued to the seller in 1970," Versa Manos from the Beverly Hills Car Club said in a press release. "In good faith, we purchased the car and paid to have it shipped cross-country, where it was detailed, photographed and displayed for sale on our eBay page."
The Beverly Hills Car Club said it immediately took down the listing after getting a call from Russell saying that the car was stolen in 1970. The matter was handed over to the dealership's attorney for investigation into Russell's claims.
"To our knowledge, the car had a valid title and there was no report on it being a stolen vehicle, which was apparently due to an error by the Philadelphia Police Department," Manos said. "This could have happened to anyone buying a car on the Internet."
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The car club said it cooperated with local authorities to return the car to its rightful owner.
"We are all very happy that Mr. Russell has gotten his car back," says Manos. "However, we are victims in this situation. We have lost $27,000, which is what we paid for the car plus the cost to ship it to California."
The car club said the previous "owner" had the car in his possession for the past 42 years and had been driving the car on a regular basis.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com's James Eng contributed to this report.
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Bayer CropScience and Monsanto have entered into a series of licensing agreements for next-generation and enabling technologies in the field of plant biotechnology that will provide new options and choices for farmers.
Monsanto will provide Bayer CropScience with a royalty-bearing license to Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend technology in soybeans in the U.S. and Canada. Bayer CropScience also will receive a royalty-bearing license to Intacta RR2 PRO in soybeans in Brazil with an option to a royalty-bearing license in other Latin-American countries in the future. Bayer CropScience has also been granted stacking-rights under certain conditions.
Under the agreements, Bayer CropScience will grant Monsanto licenses to evaluate enabling technologies for corn rootworm control and herbicide tolerance as options for Monsanto's future pipeline development work.
"We are excited that with the combined technologies from both companies, we will be able to offer farmers additional pest control options and an all-inclusive weed resistance package in soybeans. These will fit nicely with our own technology such as LibertyLink," said Rüdiger Scheitza, head of strategy and business management, Bayer CropScience. "We're also pleased to give Monsanto access to evaluate enabling next-generation weed control and insect technologies for potential support of future pipeline developments."
"This agreement further supports the value of our Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield platform as we prepare to enter the next phase of innovation in soybeans with the addition of Intacta RR2 PRO and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend," says Brett Begemann, Monsanto president and CCO.
Additional terms and financial details of the agreements were not disclosed.
Read the full press release here.
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subset: commoncrawl


text: SpaceTiger 436 Posted January 3, 2015 (edited) KerboKatz presents to you: AutomatedScienceSampler Do you think that science in kerbal is tedious ? Clicking on all those tiny tiny parts and pressing "run experiment"? Did it bother you that it took you longer to do all those things than actually enjoy the game ? Well wait no longer we got the all around solution for you! This handy little(/big) plugin will do all those tedious tasks for you and more! It works out of the box with DMagic Orbital Science and can be easily updated to work with other science plugins as well! Old content: Spoiler Hey guys we present to you ForScience Continued! As i already announced in the original thread that we were going to release an updated version of ForScience, which was created by WaveFunctionP, since it was lacking features. SpaceKitty and I decided to try our hands at modding and we decided to update a mod that was missing features but wasnt overly complicated (we were wrong badly). What does the original mod do ? ForScience is a plugin to improve the science gameplay by automating the executions of science experiments. Short and simple you dont have to click on every science module and deploy it. Just toggle this mod on and it will do it for you. What does ForScience Continued do? Basically what changed is the whole thing, just adding things here and changeing things there turned into an almost complete restructuring of the code. Everything the original mod did, plus we added things like a settings menu which saves most of the settings into a file so you dont have to do it all over again everytime you launch something. Another thing the original code was missing is a toggle for the window it had. You can open the settings menu by right-clicking on the icon in the Applauncher and close it by clicking on it or pressing save. I think the descriptions in the tooltips are pretty clear but if you have any questions what they do feel free to poke us here. If you find any bugs again let us know. Code pieces were taken from ScienceAlert by xEvilReeperx,KSP Alternate Resource Panel by TriggerAu. And again thanks to xEvilReeperx for helping me with the EVA code. Thanks Sephiroth_018/Sephiroth018 for the code to call the "conduct" method of DMModuleScienceAnimate. Warranty void if you click on the Applauncher icon. Future features: Spoiler Automagically do EVA experiments Run an instance per craft, this will have a few issues if multiple craft have the same experiments and each craft will have its own counter so you wont get the expected results back. Have atleast a single copy of every expermint to dump in the MPL Transmit results back to Kerbin if feasible Have a special wish ? Just ask here in this thread and we might be able to do what you want! Known bugs: Spoiler None right now Credits/Inspiration: We would like to thank WaveFunctionP for creating ForScience and giving us inspiration for this mod. It was initially a fork of his work but got completely reworked for the 1.1 update and has very little in common with the old source therefore the rename. Thanks to DMagic and his DMAPI for his DMagic Orbital Science mod. Without it things would have been more complicated FAQ Q: How do i install this mod ? A: The zip files are all structured so that you only have to extract them into your kerbal folder and overwrite the folder. Q: How do i uninstall this mod ? A: I'm sorry that you want to do that. Just remove the "AutomatedScienceSampler" folder in your "GameData\KerboKatz" folder. If you aren't using any of our other mods you can remove the "KerboKatz" folder too. If you have a few minutes please tell us what you didn't like about this mod. So we can improve it. Q: Does this mod work with other mods ? A: In short: yes. In long: This mod was only tested under stock and with DMagic Orbital Science. I'm not aware of any other science mod that doesn't use the stock methods. If you are experiencing compatibility issues please report them here. Q: This mod isn't working ?!!!! A: Make sure you got the KerboKatzUtilities. If you do so please post your output_log so we can investigate your issues. Q: I installed with CKAN and it's not working! A: Even though we let CKAN generate meta files for our mods we don't actively check if its actually working or has the newest version. In cases with issues that can't be reproduced with a manual install, it's suggested to take it to the CKAN guys. Q: How do i access this mod? A: If you don't have any other mods created by us you are going to have a new toolbar icon. If you do have another mod installed you will have a green cat icon, by clicking on it it will pop up another "toolbar" with all of our active mods listed in it and you can chose this mod out of the list. By left-clicking on the icon you activate/deactivate the automatic science gathering. By right-clicking the settings menu will pop up and you can change all the settings you want there. Q: I have issues with this mod. A: Please post your output_log, detailed description and reproduction steps so we can investigate your issues. Q: I have a suggestion for this mod. A: Just post it in this thread. We always like new ideas. But please be aware that some things might not be doable. Q: I like your mod how can i thank you ? A: Just post something in this thread. We like reputation points too . If you feel like it you can donate to us too. How to get support: As a first step make sure you have the latest version and installed everything correctly. If you still encounter the bug open the settings menu and turn on the debug option, this will enable the logs and it isn't recommended to play with this option on unless you try to reproduce a bug. Following that please restart kerbal as this will log everything happening from the very beginning. Now reproduce the bug with as little steps as possible. Once you successfully reproduced the bug shutdown kerbal and write down the reproduction steps. Once done upload your logs to file host, for example DropBox and include a link to your file in your post. These steps are necessary for us to reproduce the bug that you are experiencing. It is very hard to fix a bug without being able to reproduce it or understand how it is happening. If you like our mods please consider a donation: Or Support us on Download from our website. License: All rights reserved Requires: KerboKatzUtilities: 1.5.2-KSP1.8 -> License: All rights reserved. (included in the downloads) Want your own mod to be supported in ASS? It's very simple really! 1. You need this file as a base. 2. Put it in a new project as if you were creating a new plugin for Kerbal. 3. Reference all the needed assemblies: Assembly-CSharp, UnityEngine, KerboKatzUtilities, AutomatedScienceSampler as well as your mod. 4. Adjust all the methods to your wish!. 5. Don't forget to modify "GetValidTypes"! 6. Compile it and distribute it with your mod or send it as a pull request on GitHub so it can be included in future releases. If you need any assistance don't be shy and just ask here in this thread. Edited October 18, 2019 by SpaceTiger Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
- Material: Spandex
- Ring Diamter: 4.5cm
- Size: Free size
- Color: Light pink
- Highly flexible inner frame
- Breathable and comfortable
- Allow yourself some guilty pleasures
- Share with a special friend or keep the secret to yourself
Package Includes:
- 1 x C-string
Note: Due to health regulations, we regret to inform you that we cannot accept returns on intimate apparel. Only defective product will be offered exchange or store credit. Please be reminded that due to lighting effects and monitor's brightness/contrast settings etc, the color tone of the website's photo and the actual item could be slightly different.


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Roy Hodgson has lashed out at the 10,000 people who have signed up to a petition calling for Tom Cleverley to be excluded from England's World Cup squad.
Cleverley has come in for strong criticism this season for his performances for Manchester United, but the midfielder remains a regular in the national set-up.
One England fan – Glenn McConnell from Blackpool – took exception to Cleverley's latest call-up last month when he launched an online petition calling for the 24-year-old to be "banned" from the World Cup.
McConnell hit out at Hodgson for handing the "inept" Cleverley 13 caps when the midfielder, in his opinion, does not possess "any genuine qualities whatsoever".
Over 10,000 people have signed up to the cause online. Some of them have left derogatory comments on the webpage that hosts the petition – something that Hodgson is not happy about at all.
"That petition does not impress me, I must admit," a visibly irritated England manager said.
"I'm disappointed that Tom, as a sensitive young man, has got to bear that burden, but I know one thing – he will come through it and when he does come through it and Manchester United start winning again, and he's starting to get praise for his performances, he'll be stronger for it."
Cleverley said recently he was annoyed at being a scapegoat for United's recent troubles.
The re-emergence of Jordan Henderson has cast doubt on whether Cleverley will make the 23-man squad for Brazil.
But Hodgson refuses to ditch the Manchester United midfielder, who played the first nine games in England's World Cup qualifying campaign.
"The fact is Tom Cleverley, from the moment the Euros ended, has been a part of the England set-up, he's played some very good games for us, he's been a very useful member of our group," said Hodgson, who may play Cleverley in Wednesday's friendly against Denmark at Wembley.
"Quite frankly, I saw no reason, when selecting a larger group of players here (for the Denmark game), to leave him out of the team because, perhaps at this moment in time, his team isn't doing well and he's receiving criticism for it.
"I don't think it's really correct that people should single out one player for Manchester United's lack of success this season. I don't think you can expect me as a football person and football coach to have any sympathy with that, and I would like to think that I'm not going to have the England team selected in the future by petitions from various people who are holding it against one person for a team's lack of success.
"So as far as I'm concerned, Tom Cleverley deserves to be in this group of 30. He's done an awful lot of good for us."


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By Donnie Bryant email@example.com
This will be the second store for Schlotzsky's restaurateur Nelson Olivares who owns another in Brownwood. It is also the third time for the sandwich shop to enter Stephenville city limits. But it doesn't take long to surmise Olivares's bid for success will soon make the original Schlotzsky's sandwich something of a staple in local fast food fare.
A franchise begun in Austin in 1971, the unique spin on the Italian muffuletta earned fierce loyalty from students who swarmed the shop, quickly making it a college favorite. Olivares is certain his close proximity to Tarleton will garner the same devotion from area university sandwich aficionados.
Question: You have made a franchise triad at this store with Schlotzsky's at the helm and some favored cinnamon rolls and ice cream riding shotgun. What drew you to the three brands?
Answer: "I've been doing Schlotzsky's for 15 years, and this is my second restaurant. It's familiar to me. This store will have the Cinnabon cinnamon rolls, which are the best, and Carvel ice cream. It'll be tri-branded."
Question: This will be the third Schlotzsky's to open in Stephenville. What do you expect to be the key to making this store a success?
Answer: "Our concept has grown in the last 10 years―since the last one closed. Our menu has evolved. We do offer the Original, which everybody loves, but we also offer a lot of nutritional sandwiches. Society has changed and people are not into the fried foods like they used to be. We don't fry. We attract the people who don't want the french fry or the hamburger.
"Our bread is baked daily from scratch. It's never brought in frozen and then put into an oven. We do pizzas and the ordered salads, fresh when you order them – it's a higher grade salad with the field greens and things of that nature."
Question: Your location at the corner of Harbin Drive and Washington Street is the busiest intersection in town. What is your plan to make access to your Schlotzsky's less challenging?
Answer: "I've noticed a lot of the locals have embraced the side door entrance on Harbin that they are really comfortable with. And I also notice the Stephenville traffic is very friendly. They actually let people out and to cross the traffic. But I'm banking on that side back entrance on Harbin.
"I think when the food is good enough, getting there doesn't tend to bother people. A loyal Schlotzsky's fan is not going to let the traffic slow him down."
Source: Empire Tribune
Filed under: General News | Tagged: "Lotz Better", Carvel, Cinnabon, franchise, Nelson, Olivares, Original, sandwich, Schlotzsky's, Stephenville, Texas | Leave a comment »


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These posts about my journey with this new venture are often characterized as a surprise. In fact, it's a surprise on so many levels that the unlikeliness of this enterprise is, in itself, a pretty big surprise.
So in this sea of surprises – the biggest surprise rests in the unlikeliness of me as the one to coalesce this vision; only useful to ponder so that we know what makes us different from many other marketing tech companies out there today.
Clearly I am an outlier given my age, gender, training and temperament causing even the casual observer to wonder: "Why me?"
On the surface, one could point to my diversity of experience spanning B2B and B2C marketing. I've been fortunate to have worked in a diversity of industries spanning advertising (NWAyer), technology (Bell Labs, CloudLinux), software (CA, Comodo) and telecommunications (AT&T, Lucent, and Paltalk). The combination means I have a quirky understanding of how to look at a marketing situation from the brand point of view as well as the end-user perspective at the same time.
O.K. – That begins to answer the question but doesn't wholly get at it since many of my colleagues are tech savvy too. While they express curiosity about the new marketing technology, they aren't going off and creating new businesses. Instead, most of my friends leading marketing agencies or marketing departments (like I was) are banging their heads against the marketing brick wall trying to figure out how to incorporate the "new" technologies into the "old" system profitably. In the chaos of "creative destruction" (a term coined by economist Joseph Schumpeter), my peers can't see the marketing forest for the financial trees.
So again I ask; Why me?
In digging deeper, I then realize that my experience with communications networks gave me a unique understanding about social networks. Both types of networks serve a similar purpose – the efficient transport of a call or a marketing message from the network edge (the initiation point) through the switching stations along its way to its ultimate destination.
It also became clear to me that as social networks evolved into a powerful marketing network – it urgently needed system architects. But I saw no hint of any serious understanding of the issue or how to address it – not at the agencies or the social network companies or even the armies of consultants who offer insights but few tactical road maps.
When at first I noted this architecture gap back in 2010, I wondered out loud in Ad Age about the impracticality of integrating new technologies into existing marketing systems in posts like "Five Trends That Marked TechCrunch Disrupt Conference 2010." Then, my wonderment continued unabated at the lack of system attention when I wrote: "Has Facebook jumped the Shark". Actually, I was writing mostly in the hopes of uncovering the technology companies that were focused on solving this system gap. I knew someone had to it…
But all I heard was deafening silence. I seemed rather alone in recognizing the utter futility of trying to retro-fit the older marketing system with the newer technologies. The sheer tonnage of all these new marketing "platforms;" so defined because they incorporated some combination of the mighty local, social, mobile triad; were built by technologists (usually under 30) and not marketers. This meant they were long on cool but pathetically short on practicality. Yet as slim as many of these businesses seemed, they were getting valuations disproportionate to their real world usefulness (think Groupon), further highlighting the underlying weakening of the business of marketing. It was an ominous echo from a decade ago.
This explains "Why me." It takes depth of experience to see beyond the buzz to the potent marketing model evolving. I wanted a role in that evolution largely because it seemed few of us with any real world marketing experience were doing the heavy lifting of operationalizing the brilliance of all this new technology.
The journey to understand "Why me" is useful in that it defines the business we are in – creating the system upon which the rich marketing innovation engine can flourish. It's a surprise that it is me – but perhaps, this is the sweetest surprise of all.
Judy Shapiro
Filed under: Communications, Corporate business models, Digital Agencies, Facebook, Internet, Marketing Management, Marketing Measurements, New tech venture, online marketing, profitable business model, social media, social media agency, social networks, Technology, VC | Tagged: "creative destruction", "opensky", "seeded buzz", AT&T, Bell Labs, CA, CloudLinux, comodo, judy shapiro, klout, Lucent, NWAyer, Paltalk, quora | Leave a comment »


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A Langley-based company is banking on testimonials from professional athletes like Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler, Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer and Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller to make its new oxygenated bottled water a gushing success with consumers around the world.
The bottled-water product is called Formula Four and "brand ambassador" Kesler even took two cases with him to the Sochi Olympics, while Reimer reportedly has a supply in Belarus at the IIHF World Championships, where he's in goal for Canada.
Glas Water, the company selling the product, claims it has at least 100 times more oxygen than tap water. Those who drink their oxygen, as opposed to merely breathing it in, will experience a boost in mental clarity and a surge in stamina and endurance, and the water will improve their immune system and aid muscle recovery, the company claims. It is also touted for staving off hangovers and headaches.
Tap water in the Lower Mainland has about 10 parts per million (PPM) of oxygen but Formula Four "guarantees" that it has 1,000 PPM.
So far, the published studies and experts interviewed for this story say benefits from oxygenated water are still unproven by scientific methods.
The water in Formula Four comes from municipal tap sources in California. It's subjected to reverse osmosis purification methods before a supplement called Activated Stabilized Oxygen (ASO) is added in the bottling process. The rights to the supplement, consisting of a hybrid oxygen molecule called O4, are owned by of Glas Water. Formula Four is a Glas Water subsidiary; it gives Kesler and other athletes a small amount of the profit from every case sold in their local jurisdiction as compensation for their efforts touting the brand, said Allan Klassen, Formula Four's chief marketing officer.
"Ryan is not a shareholder in the company but he's like a partner because he's going to get a share of the profits by helping us educate the public," Klassen said. Not surprisingly, Kesler states this about the bottled water product on the company's website:
"I use it everyday of my life. I feel it improves my game on the ice and I don't feel winded or tired. Especially in the third period."
On all NFL and NHL teams with Gatorade sponsorship deals, players must appear to be consuming only Gatorade at the bench during games. Klassen said Kesler drinks Formula Four before and after games, and during intermissions. He may also have it in his Gatorade bottle.
Sean Payton, head coach of the NFL's New Orleans Saints, is another Formula Four brand ambassador. But the dietitian for the Saints — a Canadian named Jennifer Gibson, who also works for the U.S. Olympic team at its massive training facilities in Colorado — says she has reservations about it.
While she's happy whenever her athletes are hydrating their bodies, she doubts there's enough scientific evidence to back up the claims of benefit, Gibson said in an interview.
"It's a trend that's been going on for a while now but we have not seen strong evidence to support big — or any — performance benefits.
"But if it means athletes are hydrating more, and it's not harmful, then it's fine with us."
While professional athletes may have a vested interest in endorsements, what about the rest of us? Should we be tempted to buy the bottled water consumers are now seeing in select grocers, in towering displays accompanied by life-size cardboard cut-outs of athletes like Kesler?
Jordan Guenette, a scientist at the University of B.C. Centre for Heart Lung Innovation and director of the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Physiology Lab at St. Paul's Hospital, said there's no scientific evidence that oxygenated water improves athletic performance and exercise tolerance.
"Rigorously controlled studies consistently fail to show improvements in exercise capacity following ingestion of these products. Our blood is already fully saturated with oxygen at sea level and our lungs are more than capable of maintaining oxygen levels … .
"Unlike the lungs, the intestine is not designed for gas exchange so we do not know if oxygen from drinking water is actually absorbed … even if oxygen could enter the bloodstream from the intestine, it would have a negligible effect on the total amount of oxygen in the blood," said Guenette, who is also an assistant professor in the UBC faculty of medicine.
A small 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that compared with tap water, an oxygenated water product (not Formula Four) had no advantages on several measures.
Another study, prominently cited by Formula Four as scientific proof of oxygenated water's benefits, was done in 1999 on 36 U.S. marines at a naval training facility in California.
The purpose of the study was to measure effects of drinking the oxygen supplement in subjects training at about 8,000 feet above sea level: did it increase oxygen blood saturation (which, in healthy individuals, is usually near 100 per cent) and did it increase performance capabilities? One group drank plain canteen water and the other had water treated with the oxygen product.
Wayne Askew, a University of Utah nutrition professor who helped lead the study, said in an interview the evidence of benefit was unconvincing.
"Essentially, we found no significant differences in anything physiologically important. The oxygenated water did not raise (oxygen saturation) levels, which is the key measurement. To the best of my knowledge, no one has, to this point in time, shown that the dissolved oxygen in water contributes significantly to blood hemoglobin-bound oxygen."
Askew, who co-authored an oft-cited commentary in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on oxygenated water, said it's debatable whether oxygen is absorbed from drinking water, no matter whether it's the hyper-oxygenated form.
Elizabeth Gnatiuk, an exercise physiologist at Fortius Sport and Health in Burnaby, said breathing supplemental oxygen (in gas form) may improve performance, but only during high intensity exercise, and not before or after.
"When we (inhale) normal air, oxygen dissolves and diffuses through membranes in the lungs and into the bloodstream … While it may possible for some oxygen (in water) to enter circulation, the intestine is not designed for gas exchange (so) oxygen absorbed (by drinking water) would have a negligible effect on systemic oxygen delivery."
In previous research studies on other brands, "even those claiming to have the highest oxygen content on the market contained about 80 ml of oxygen per litre," she said.
A Food and Drug Administration consumer magazine article addressed the issue of oxygen supplements several years ago when oxygen bars were popular. It quoted Conrad Earnest, a director of exercise physiology in Dallas:
"If you drink oxygenated water, either the water passes through the gut and has no effect, or the acid in the stomach reacts with it and the only effect of the oxygen is that it will cause you to burp more."
Klassen said despite the previous research results and the skeptics, he's convinced his product is "a medical breakthrough."
The company is now sponsoring a small research trial (in 15 college athletes) at Indiana State University that will prove "this is not smoke and mirrors.
"We're here for the long haul. It's not a get-rich scheme."
Sun Health Issues Reporter
Follow me on Twitter:@medicinematters


text:
Nothing 'special' about Canucks power play, penalty killing so far
Notebook: Still, players and coaches see things getting better
Daniel Sedin has just seven shots on Canucks power plays this season and only one in the last 28 Vancouver power-play opportunities.
Photograph by: Jeff Vinnick, Nhli Via Getty Images , Vancouver Sun
VANCOUVER — Given the sorry state of their special teams, the Vancouver Canucks should probably consider themselves fortunate to sit atop the Northwest Division standings.
"I think if we can keep working on those special teams we can only get better," captain Henrik Sedin said Wednesday. "That's a positive moving forward that we have been able to win games without having a great power play or a PK."
Forget great. The Canuck power play and penalty-kill have not even been good this season.
Heading into Wednesday night's action, the Canuck power play was tied for 20th in the NHL with an efficiency rate of only 15.9 per cent. Their penalty kill isn't much better and was tied for 19th at 80 per cent.
Excellent special teams have been a staple of the Canucks in recent years. Two years ago, when they went to the Stanley Cup final, Vancouver's power play was tops in the NHL at 24.3 per cent and its penalty-kill was tied for second at 85.6 per cent.
The Canucks are on an 0-for-15 run on the power play over the last six games, although coach Alain Vigneault did see some positives in Tuesday night's 3-2 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks.
"Our power play was 0-for-5 and the first two were not efficient, but I liked the last three," Vigneault said before the Canucks left for Columbus, where they begin a three-game trip on Thursday (4 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, Team 1040). "We got some good looks. I think we got something like 10 scoring chances which is quite a lot and the chances that we got, a lot of them were Grade A.
"We did everything we could except finish and score. This is a performance-based business and at the end of the day you have to score. But it seemed like last night was the first time in a while that our power play had more than one or two opportunities in a game and finally had some quality puck movement, some quality chances. So hopefully we took a step in the right direction."
The key to kick-starting the power play may lie with Daniel Sedin. As Jeff Paterson of Team 1040 noted Wednesday, Daniel has just seven shots on Canuck power plays this season and only one in the last 28 Vancouver power-play opportunities. Two of Daniel's eight goals this season have come on the power play.
ALL ABOARD: Injured defencemen Keith Ballard and Kevin Bieksa both made the trip Wednesday. Bieksa definitely won't play Thursday in Columbus and Ballard is probably doubtful.
Ballard suffered a charley-horse in the second period of Tuesday night's game when he was hit by San Jose forward Andrew Desjardins.
"I just tried to get out of the way of a hit in the second in the corner," Ballard said. "As I was moving his leg clipped mine … It stiffened up quite a bit between the second and third."
But Ballard said he felt significantly better Wednesday morning.
"From last night to this morning, it's a lot better than I thought it would be so hopefully it continues on that same path."
Bieksa, who has missed four of the last five games with a groin problem, was not made available for an interview Wednesday. But Vigneault described his condition as day to day and said Bieksa will skate some with the team while it is away.
WHO'S IN GOAL? Before boarding the team's charter flight, Vigneault said he had decided who would start in goal Thursday, but had not yet informed his two goalies.
Vigneault acknowledged that both Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider have not been razor sharp of late.
"At the end of the day both goaltenders have had some real solid moments, both both goaltenders have had some moments that I'm sure they'd like to have back," he said.
"Both goaltenders would like to get on a roll and we'll see what happens here. We're no different than any other team. You need that Grade A-plus goaltending to win on a consistent basis. That is just part of the NHL today."
ICE CHIPS: Winger Nicklas Jensen, who has wrapped up his season with AIK of the Swedish Elite League, could join the Chicago Wolves as early as this weekend … Goalie Danny Taylor, who beat the Canucks on Sunday night in Calgary, has been reassigned to the Abbotsford Heat by the Flames.


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This information is produced and provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The information in this topic may have changed since it was written. For the most current information, contact the National Cancer Institute via the Internet web site at http://cancer.gov or call 1-800-4-CANCER.
This patient summary on the sexual side effects from cancer and cancer treatment is adapted from the summary written for health professionals by cancer experts. This and other credible information about cancer treatment, screening, prevention, supportive care, and ongoing clinical trials, is available from the National Cancer Institute. Better treatment of many cancers has resulted in more patients experiencing longer periods of disease-free survival. In addition, the side effects associated with cancer and cancer treatments have also become more prevalent.
This patient summary addresses the impact cancer and cancer treatment can have on all aspects of an individual's sexuality, including sexual desire and physical and psychological sexual dysfunction.
This summary is about sexuality and reproductive issues in adults and children with cancer. Section titles show when the information is about children.
Sexuality is a complex characteristic that involves the physical, psychological, interpersonal, and behavioral aspects of a person. Recognizing that "normal" sexual functioning covers a wide range is important. Ultimately, sexuality is defined by each patient and his/her partner according to sex, age, personal attitudes, and religious and cultural values.
Many types of cancer and cancer therapies can cause sexual dysfunction. Research shows that approximately one-half of women who have been treated for breast and gynecologic cancers experience long-term sexual dysfunction. Men who have been treated for prostate cancer report problems with erectile dysfunction that varies depending on the type of treatment. Less is known about how other types of cancer, especially other solid tumors, affect sexuality.
An individual's sexual response can be affected in many ways. The causes of sexual dysfunction are often both physical and psychological. The most common sexual problems for people who have cancer are loss of desire for sexual activity in both men and women, problems achieving and maintaining an erection in men, and pain with intercourse in women. Men may also experience inability to ejaculate, ejaculation going backward into the bladder, or the inability to reach orgasm. Women may experience a change in genital sensations due to pain, loss of sensation and numbness, or decreased ability to reach orgasm.
Unlike many other physical side effects of cancer treatment, sexual problems may not resolve within the first year or two of disease-free survival. These problems may even increase over time and can interfere with the return to a normal life. Patients recovering from cancer should discuss their concerns about sexual problems with a health care professional.
Both physical and psychological factors contribute to the development of sexual dysfunction. Physical factors include loss of function due to the effects of cancer therapies, fatigue, and pain. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy may have a direct physical impact on sexual function. Other factors that may contribute to sexual dysfunction include pain medications, depression, feelings of guilt from misbeliefs about the origin of the cancer, changes in body image after surgery, and stresses due to personal relationships. Getting older is often associated with a decrease in sexual desire and performance, however, sex may be important to the older person's quality of life and the loss of sexual function can be distressing.
Surgery-Related Factors
Surgery can directly affect sexual function. Factors that help predict a patient's sexual function after surgery include age, sexual and bladder function before surgery, tumor location and size, and how much tissue was removed during surgery. Surgeries that affect sexual function include breast cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and other pelvic tumors.
Breast Cancer
Sexual function after breast cancer surgery has been the subject of much research. Surgery to save or reconstruct the breast appears to have little effect on sexual function compared with surgery to remove the whole breast. Women who have surgery to save the breast are more likely to continue to enjoy breast caressing, but there is no difference in areas such as how often women have sex, the ease of reaching orgasm, or overall sexual satisfaction. Having a mastectomy, however, has been linked to a loss of interest in sex. Chemotherapy has been linked to problems with sexual function.
Colorectal Cancer
Sexual and bladder dysfunctions are common complications of surgery for rectal cancer. The main cause of problems with erection, ejaculation, and orgasm is injury to nerves in the pelvic cavity. Nerves can be damaged when their blood supply is disrupted or when the nerves are cut.
Prostate Cancer
Newer nerve-sparing techniques for radical prostatectomy are being debated as a more successful approach for preserving erectile function than radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Long-term follow-up is needed to compare the effects of surgery with the effects of radiation therapy. Recovery of erectile function usually occurs within a year after having a radical prostatectomy. The effects of radiation therapy on erectile function are very slow and gradual occurring for two or three years after treatment. The cause of loss of erectile function differs between surgery and radiation therapy. Radical prostatectomy damages nerves that make blood vessels open wider to allow more blood into the penis. Eventually the tissue does not get enough oxygen, cells die, and scar tissue forms that interferes with erectile function. Radiation therapy appears to damage the arteries that bring blood to the penis.
Brachytherapy (internal radiation therapy using radioactive implants) is being used more often to treat prostate cancer. With brachytherapy alone, ejaculation and erectile function are better preserved than when external radiation and/or hormone therapy are added. Radiation damage to nerves and blood vessels may occur with brachytherapy, and higher doses of radiation may cause more damage.
After treatment for prostate cancer with radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy, many patients report trouble with orgasm. Problems can include:
Problems related to orgasm after prostate cancer treatment can be managed, but at this time, there is no treatment that will return orgasm to the way it was before surgery. Pain during orgasm may occur in the penis, abdomen, or rectum. Pain can be treated with alpha-blockers, drugs that relax muscle tissue in blood vessels and in the prostate gland. Incontinence or leakage of urine from the bladder during orgasm can be managed by limiting fluid intake and emptying the bladder before sexual activity or by using condoms, if the leakage is minor.
The penis may be 1 to 2 centimeters shorter after a radical prostatectomy. This shortening of the penis may be related to nerve injury or structural changes that can occur right after surgery or months after surgery.
Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer and its treatment can affect sexual well-being. Most study results suggest that problems with sexual function are usually short-term. Function improves later to about the same level as seen in men who do not have testicular cancer.
Other Pelvic Tumors
Men who have surgery to remove the bladder, colon, and/or rectum may improve recovery of erectile function if nerve-sparing surgical techniques are used. The sexual side effects of radiation therapy for pelvic tumors are similar to those after prostate cancer treatment.
Women who have surgery to remove the uterus, ovaries, bladder, or other organs in the abdomen or pelvis may experience pain and loss of sexual function depending on the amount of tissue/organ removed. With counseling and other medical treatments, these patients may regain normal sensation in the vagina and genital areas and be able to have pain-free intercourse and reach orgasm.
Chemotherapy-Related Factors
Chemotherapy is associated with a loss of desire and decreased frequency of intercourse for both men and women. The common side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, mucositis, weight loss or gain, and loss of hair can affect an individual's sexual self-image and make him or her feel unattractive.
For women, chemotherapy may cause vaginal dryness, pain with intercourse, and decreased ability to reach orgasm. In older women, chemotherapy may increase the risk of ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy may also cause a sudden loss of estrogen production from the ovaries. The loss of estrogen can cause shrinking, thinning, and loss of elasticity of the vagina, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, urinary tract infections, mood swings, fatigue, and irritability. Young women who have breast cancer and have had surgeries such as removal of one or both ovaries, may experience symptoms related to loss of estrogen. These women experience high rates of sexual problems since there is a concern that estrogen replacement therapy, which may decrease these symptoms, could cause the breast cancer to return. For women with other types of cancer, however, estrogen replacement therapy can usually resolve many sexual problems. Also, women who have graft-versus-host disease (a reaction of donated bone marrow or peripheral stem cells against a person's tissue) following bone marrow transplantation may develop scar tissue and narrowing of the vagina that can interfere with intercourse.
For men, sexual problems such as loss of desire and erectile dysfunction are more common after a bone marrow transplant because of graft-versus-host disease or nerve damage. Occasionally chemotherapy may interfere with testosterone production in the testicles. Testosterone replacement may be necessary to regain sexual function.
Radiation Therapy-Related Factors
Like chemotherapy, radiation therapy can cause side effects such as fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms that can decrease feelings of sexuality. In women, radiation therapy to the pelvis can cause changes in the lining of the vagina. These changes eventually cause a narrowing of the vagina and formation of scar tissue that results in pain with intercourse, infertility and other long term sexual problems. Women should discuss concerns about these side effects with their doctor and ask about the use of a vaginal dilator.
For men, radiation therapy can cause problems with getting and keeping an erection. The exact cause of sexual problems after radiation therapy is unknown. Possible causes are nerve injury, a blockage of blood supply to the penis, or decreased levels of testosterone. Sexual changes occur very slowly over a period of six months to one year after radiation therapy. Men who had problems with erectile dysfunction before getting cancer have a greater risk of developing sexual problems after cancer diagnosis and treatment. Other risk factors that can contribute to a greater risk of sexual problems in men are cigarette smoking, history of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Hormone Therapy-Related Factors
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can decrease normal hormone levels and cause a decrease in sexual desire, erectile dysfunction, and problems reaching orgasm. Younger men do not always experience the same degree of sexual dysfunction. Some treatment centers are experimenting with delayed or intermittent hormone therapy to prevent sexual problems. It is not yet known if these modified treatments affect the long-term survival of younger men.
Women older than 45 years who are treated with adjuvant tamoxifen therapy may have slightly more hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal discharge. Studies show that patients who take tamoxifen do not have less sexual activity, but may have slightly less sexual desire and more problems reaching orgasm.
In a large study of women with breast cancer who were treated with adjuvant hormone therapy, patients who took exemestane, a type of aromatase inhibitor, had fewer hot flashes and less vaginal discharge than those who took tamoxifen. However, patients who took exemestane had more vaginal dryness, bone pain, and sleep disorders than patients who took tamoxifen.
Psychological Factors
Patients recovering from cancer often have anxiety or guilt that previous sexual activities may have caused their cancer. Some patients believe that sexual activity may cause the cancer to return or pass the cancer to their partner. Discussing their feelings and concerns with a health care professional is important for patients. Misbeliefs can be corrected and patients can be reassured that cancer is not passed on through sexual contact.
Loss of sexual desire and a decrease in sexual pleasure are common symptoms of depression. Depression is more common in patients with cancer than in the general healthy population. It is important that patients discuss their feelings with their doctor. Getting treatment for depression may be helpful in relieving sexual problems. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Depression for more information.)
Cancer treatments may cause physical changes that affect how an individual sees his or her physical appearance. This view can make a man or woman feel sexually unattractive. It is important that patients discuss these feelings and concerns with a health care professional. Patients can learn how to deal effectively with these problems.
The stress of being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment for cancer can make existing problems in relationships even worse. The sexual relationship can also be affected. Patients who do not have a committed relationship may stop dating because they fear being rejected by a potential new partner who learns about their history of cancer. One of the most important factors in adjusting after cancer treatment is the patient's feeling about his or her sexuality before being diagnosed with cancer. If patients had positive feelings about sexuality, they may be more likely to resume sexual activity after treatment for cancer.
Childhood Cancer Survivors
Being treated for cancer as a child may lead to sexual problems in adulthood. Childhood cancer survivors who were diagnosed at age 21 years or younger with different types of cancer were surveyed in their late teens, twenties, or thirties. About one-half of the women and one-third of the men in the study reported trouble with sexual function, including problems becoming aroused or lack of interest in sex. Childhood cancer survivors who had emotional and health problems were more likely to have problems with sexual function.
Although women in the study reported more sexual problems, men reported more feelings of distress. While this study did not directly link a cancer diagnosis or cancer treatment with sexual problems, it found that childhood cancer survivors, especially men, had more problems with sexual function than the same age group with no history of cancer.
Sexual function is an important factor that adds to quality of life. Patients should discuss their problems and concerns about sexual function with their doctor. Some doctors may not have the appropriate training to discuss sexual problems. Patients should ask for other information resources or for a referral to a health care professional who is comfortable with discussing sexuality issues.
General Factors Affecting Sexual Functioning
When a possible sexual problem is identified, the health care professional will do a detailed interview either with the patient alone or with the patient and his or her partner. The patient may be asked any of the following questions about his or her current and past sexual functioning:
Psychosocial Aspects of Sexuality
Patients may also be asked about the significance of sexuality and relationships whether or not they have a partner. Patients who have a partner may be asked about the length and stability of the relationship before being diagnosed with cancer. They may also be asked about their partner's response to the diagnosis of cancer and if they have any concerns about how their partner may be affected by their treatment. It is important that patients and their partners discuss their sexual problems and concerns and fears about their relationship with a health care professional with whom they feel comfortable.
Medical Aspects of Sexuality
Patients may be asked about current and past medical history since many medical illnesses can affect sexual function. Lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and high alcohol intake can also affect sexual function as well as prescribed and over-the-counter medications. Patients may be asked to fill out questionnaires to help identify sexual problems and may undergo a variety of physical examinations, blood tests, ultrasound studies, measurement of nighttime erections, and hormone tests.
The side effects of medicines can add to the sexual side effects of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Cancer patients may receive drug therapy that can affect nerves, blood vessels, and hormones that control normal sexual function. Mental alertness and moods may also be affected. These side effects may occur in cancer patients who take opioids for pain and drugs to treat depression, for example.
Many patients are fearful or anxious about their first sexual experience after cancer treatment. Fear and anxiety can cause patients to avoid intimacy, touch, and sexual activity. The partner may also feel fearful or anxious about initiating any activity that might be thought of as pressuring to be intimate or that might cause physical discomfort. Patients and their partners should discuss concerns with their doctor or other qualified health professional. Honest communication of feelings, concerns, and preferences is important.
In general, a wide variety of treatment modalities are available for patients with sexual dysfunction after cancer. Patients can learn to adapt to changes in sexual function through reading books, pamphlets, and internet resources or listening to and watching videos and CD-ROMs. Health professionals who specialize in sexual dysfunction can provide patients with these resources as well as information on national organizations that may provide support. Some patients may need medical intervention such as hormone replacement, medications, medical devices, or surgery. Penile rehabilitation may be helpful for men who have had surgery for prostate cancer. Patients who have more serious problems may need sexual counseling on an individual basis, with his or her partner, or in a group. Further testing and research is needed to compare the effectiveness of various treatment programs that combine medical and psychological approaches for people who have had cancer.
Current Clinical Trials
Check NCI's list of cancer clinical trials for U.S. supportive and palliative care trials about sexuality and reproductive issues and sexual dysfunction that are now accepting participants. The list of trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site.
Radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments may cause temporary or permanent infertility. These side effects are related to a number of factors including the patient's sex, age at time of treatment, the specific type and dose of radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, the use of single therapy or many therapies, and length of time since treatment.
When cancer or its treatment may cause infertility or sexual dysfunction, every effort should be made to inform and educate the patient about this possibility. When the patient is a child, this can be difficult. The child may be too young to understand issues involving infertility or sexuality, or parents may choose to shield the child from these issues.
For patients receiving chemotherapy, age is an important factor and recovery improves the longer the patient is off chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs that have been shown to affect fertility include: busulfan, melphalan, cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, chlorambucil, mustine, carmustine, lomustine, vinblastine, cytarabine, and procarbazine. In women older than 40 years, adjuvant endocrine therapy increases the risk that chemotherapy will cause permanent loss of menstrual periods.
For men and women receiving radiation therapy to the abdomen or pelvis, the amount of radiation directly to the testes or ovaries is an important factor. In women older than 40 years, infertility may occur at lower doses of radiation. Fertility may be preserved by the use of modern radiation therapy techniques and the use of lead shields to protect the testes. Women may undergo surgery to protect the ovaries by moving them out of the field of radiation.
Procreative Alternatives
Patients who are concerned about the effects of cancer treatment on their ability to have children should discuss this with their doctor before treatment. The doctor can recommend a counselor or fertility specialist who can discuss available options and help patients and their partners through the decision-making process. Options may include freezing sperm, eggs, or ovarian tissue before cancer treatment.
Check NCI's list of cancer clinical trials for U.S. supportive and palliative care trials about fertility assessment and management and cryopreservation that are now accepting participants. The list of trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Changes were made to this summary to match those made to the health professional version.
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Last Revised: 2012-06-13
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iMentor via Crowdrise
April 03, 2012
BENEFITING: iMentor
Join iMentor's Online Donor Drive
The iMentor Online Donor Drive team is a dedicated group of mentors and supporters who join forces to raise awareness and funds to further iMentor's mission to help students in low-income communities succeed in high school and college. Every year, our team launches this "friendraising campaign" by making individual pages and asking friends, family, and coworkers to give to this cause that means so much to them.
You can join the team that is helping high school students in New York City build a bright future by making a page or donating to one today!
Donor Drive Makes a Difference
Funds raised will help iMentor match more than 1,800 students with mentors this year. It costs $1,000 for iMentor to provide each mentor-mentee pair with access to quality programming and resources. Every donation you give or raise—whether $10 or $1,000—will make you part of a team that is having a lasting impact on the life of a high school student.
Last year, our Donor Drive team broke our online fundraising record and brought in more than $86,000 for iMentor's programs. This year we aim to shatter that record, and with your help, raise over $125,000 to support mentor-mentee pairs in New York City.
Why We Do This
"[My mentor] helped me realize that if I want to succeed, I have to do better. She's helped me learn the steps on how to become a better person and also a better student. I want to succeed."–Emily, mentee
The donor drive is about Emily, and the thousands of students like her, who have the potential to do great things. Students in low-income communities need the support from mentors to graduate high school and succeed in college. In New York, only 37 percent of all students graduated high school college-ready in 2011. To build college-readiness for students in low-income communities, iMentor matches students with mentors who work with them one-on-one to help them graduate high school, navigate the college application process, and develop critical skills that lead to college success.
Spread the word and get everyone in your network involved in this year's Online Donor Drive. It's not every day that you can say you helped change a life, but today can be that day.
To learn more about iMentor, visit www.imentor.orgor check out what it takes to become a mentor. You can also follow us on Facebookand Twitter.
The Team: $61,786 TOTAL RAISED SO FARJOIN THE TEAM
Donor Comments
Bob & Kathleen Fierro
very happy to support a creative project that nurtures young talent. we are very proud of you, TK! 8 years ago


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We can discuss eBook production, workflows, ePub2 and ePub3, Kindle Format 8, QA for eBook files, automation, and anything else related to eBook development. We can also talk about sales, distribution, marketing, and other issues that publishers and authors deal with in the eBook space.
Joshua Tallent has been an eBook developer since 2002. He is an acknowledged expert on the Kindle and ePub formats, and his book, Kindle Formatting: The Complete Guide, has been praised as the most thorough explanation of the Kindle format available. Joshua founded eBook Architects, his eBook design and consulting business, in 2008, providing services to both publishers and authors, with a focus on complex projects and enhanced eBooks. He regularly teaches at conferences and workshops about building and designing eBooks, and he is a vocal advocate for beautiful, functional, accessible eBooks. Joshua resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two daughters. He can be found online at www.ebookarchitects.com and @jtallent or @ebookarchitects.
For information on exhibition and sponsorship opportunities at the conference, contact Scott Harvey at email@example.com
For media partnerships, contact mediapartners@ oreilly.com
For media-related inquiries, contact Maureen Jennings at firstname.lastname@example.com
View a complete list of TOC contacts


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what means will we be able to develop by which we can identify/recognise meaningful/cultural behaviour [in the robots]; and, then, what means might we go on to develop for interpreting or understanding this behaviour and/or its significance?Now, more than 3 years on, we come face to face with that question. Let me clarify: we are not - or at least not yet - claiming to have identified or recognised emerging robot culture. We do, however, more modestly claim to have demonstrated new behavioural patterns (memes) that emerge and - for awhile at least - are dominant. It's an open-ended evolutionary process in which the dominant 'species' of memes come and go. Maybe these clusters of closely related memes could be labelled behavioural traditions?
Leaving that speculation aside, a more pressing problem in recent months has been to try and understand how and why certain behavioural patterns emerge at all. Let me explain. We typically seed each robot with a behavioural pattern; it is literally a sequence of movements. Think of it as a dance. But we choose these initial dances arbitrarily - movements that describe a square or triangle for instance - without any regard whatsoever for whether these movement sequences are easy or hard for the robots to imitate.
Not surprisingly then, the initial dances quickly mutate to different patterns, sometimes more complex and sometimes less. But what is it about the robot's physical shape, its sensorium, and the process of estimation inherent in imitation that gives rise to these mutations? Let me explain why this is important. Our robots and you, dear reader, have one thing in common: you both have bodies. And bodies bring limitations: firstly because you body doesn't allow you to make any movement imaginable - only ones that your shape, structure and muscles allow, and secondly because if you try to watch and imitate someone else's movements you have to guess some of what they're doing (because you don't have a perfect 360 degree view of them). That's why your imitated copy of someone else's behaviour is always a bit different. Exactly the same limitations give rise to variation in imitated behaviours in the robots.
Now it may seem a relatively trivial matter to watch the robots imitate each other and then figure out how the mutations in successive copies (and copies of copies) are determined by the robots' shape, sensors and programming. But it's not, and we find ourselves having to devise new ways of visualising the experimental data in order to make sense of what's going on. The picture below is one such visualisation; it's actually a family tree of memes, with parent memes at the top and child memes (i.e. copies) shown branching below parents.
The diagram also shows which child-memes are high quality copies of their parents - these are shown in brown with bold arrows connecting them to their parent-memes. This allows us to easily see clusters of similar memes, for instance in the bottom-left there are 7 closely related and very similar memes (numbered 36, 37, 46, 49, 50, 51 and 55). Does this cluster represent a dominant 'species' of memes?
Also posted on the Artificial Culture project blog.


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People More Willing to Make Changes Now Than to Spend Less in Retirement
Public Company Information:
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Americans are becoming more realistic about retirement, with nearly half of those currently eligible for Social Security now planning to work in their "golden years." But there is one thing all generations refuse to change: 95 percent say they would not be willing to spend less in retirement. Those are the findings of the fourth Real Life Retirement quarterly pulse survey conducted Oct. 28-Nov. 2, 2009 by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
"Americans are willing to save more and work later, in the hope of maintaining their spending and lifestyle in retirement," said Stacy Hammond, director of Real Life Retirement Services, Charles Schwab.
To better understand how Americans of all ages are responding to the economic upheaval, Schwab's survey measured the attitudes of the Silent Generation, Older Boomers, Younger Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.1 Here are a few trends among the survey highlights:
- Taking Charge: More than half of all investors (52 percent) are getting more involved in retirement planning. Self-reliance increased after hearing about experiences of a friend or loved one going through a personal financial crisis.
- More Time, More Money: Younger investors are saving more money now, taking advantage of their longer time horizon. Approximately half of Gen Y (48 percent) and Gen X (53 percent) have increased their retirement contributions.
- Postponing Retirement: Among Older Boomers and Gen Y, 40 percent of both groups plan to postpone their retirement date. Compared to the previous survey, postponement declined among older generations (previously 61 percent) but rose for Gen Y (previously 28 percent).
- Working During Retirement: Nearly half (47 percent) of workers aged 65 and older are prepared to work during retirement. That compares to 10 and 11 percent among Gen X and Gen Y, respectively, and 20 percent of Baby Boomers.
"Investors should know that, despite the financial setbacks of the past year, there are still ways to retire on your own terms, and the right guidance can make all the difference along the road to and through retirement."
For More Information
Charles Schwab encourages individuals to take advantage of Schwab's Real Life Retirement Services, which provides a realistic approach to retirement, not only offering key insight into actionable ways to save for and manage retirement savings, but also providing guidance on products and services and access to stories from Americans who have successfully moved into life's third act. For more information please visit, www.schwab.com/RealLifeRetirement.
About the Q4 Real Life Retirement Study
The Charles Schwab Q4 Retirement Omnibus Survey was conducted by Kelton Research between Oct. 28 and Nov. 2, 2009, using Random Digit Dialing of listed and unlisted numbers. Quotas are set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total U.S. population ages 18 and over. Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. In this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.
About the Rethinking Retirement Study
This cross-generational study was initiated by Charles Schwab in collaboration with Age Wave. All data collection and analysis was conducted online in the United States by Harris Interactive®. All interviews were conducted online from March 28 to April 22, 2008. A total of 3,866 were conducted among 21-83 year olds. The sample is representative by age, gender, race, income, investable assets, education and region for each of the four generations studied. An oversample was conducted by generation among the major non-White ethnic groups (Hispanics, African Americans and Asians) to ensure adequate representation by ethnicity across all generations. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.
About Charles Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation (Nasdaq:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 7.6 million client brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 687,000 banking accounts, and $1.3 trillion in client assets. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Named "Highest in Investor Satisfaction with Self-Directed Services" by J.D. Power and Associates in 2009, its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. The Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC) provides banking and mortgage services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com. (1109-11918)
1 The Silent Generation (born before 1945); Older Boomers (born between 1945 and 1954); Younger Boomers (born between 1955 and 1964); Generation X (born between 1965 and 1974) and Generation Y (born after 1975).
Charles Schwab
Matt Hurwitz, 415-667-0480
Pablo Rodriguez, 415-486-3267


text: I am moving to a new server and I installed Ubuntu 11.10 it and followed the instructions at http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-se...04-ispconfig-2 everything went fine I also copied databases and www folders at night. I came to the step to install ISPConfig 2 when I executed setup, it gave 'Your Operating System is not supported!' message. Right now, what must I do ? should I format server and start again with 11.04. Or is there a work around to install ispconfig 2 on ubuntu 11.10, I hope there is


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National Reconnaissance Office officials accused of contracting crimes, retaliation
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Tue 14 Aug, 2012 10:15 am
Aug. 13, 2012
National Reconnaissance Office officials accused of contracting crimes, retaliation
By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers
A senior officer with the nation's spy satellite agency is being investigated over criminal allegations related to contracting even as the agency's No. 2 official is accused of trying to illegally shield the subordinate from scrutiny, McClatchy has learned.
The inspector general of the National Reconnaissance Office opened the criminal inquiry after meeting secretly in May with four top officers of the agency, who told her about "a series of allegations of malfeasant actions" by a colleague, according to agency documents obtained by McClatchy.
The agency's deputy director, Air Force Maj. Gen. Susan Mashiko, then heard about the investigation and made what the inspector general described as an illegal threat of retaliation against the whistleblowers.
"Four directors went to the IG," the inspector general quoted Mashiko as saying to a senior officer. "I would like to find them and fire them."
When the officer reacted with surprise, Mashiko backed off, saying she would have preferred if the directors had come to her first, the inspector general said in a memo. However, the inspector general, Lanie D'Alessandro, wrote that she'd learned of a "history of intimidation" by Mashiko and the senior official who's being investigated.
"Now, rather than pledging to address the underlying issues, General Mashiko has responded with threats of reprisal against those who revealed the information to the IG," the inspector general wrote in a memo. "It is this threat of reprisal, by one of the most senior leaders in the NRO, that constitutes the violation of law."
The whistleblowers told the inspector general they'd tried previously to raise the concerns with Mashiko and the then-principal deputy director of the agency, but that none of the accusations had been "addressed to the best of their knowledge," the inspector general wrote. D'Alessandro, who didn't return calls requesting comment, didn't reveal the names of the target of the investigation nor of the whistleblowers. National Reconnaissance Office officials, including Mashiko, refused to comment on the allegations, but federal officials with knowledge of the investigation said it involved improprieties in the agency's handling of contracts.
The drama is unfolding as Congress debates whether to toughen anti-leak laws to crack down on classified information being provided to the news media. The Obama administration has responded by ordering that thousands of U.S. intelligence and law enforcement employees be questioned about media leaks when they're polygraphed during security clearance screenings. In an unprecedented move, the administration also has criminally prosecuted numerous government employees for leaking. Whistleblower and media advocates fear that the aggressive efforts will have a chilling effect on the reporting of government wrongdoing but won't stop classified information from being leaked when it's politically advantageous to administrations.
After McClatchy published stories raising questions about the National Reconnaissance Office's polygraph program in July based on whistleblower allegations, top agency officials told polygraphers in a meeting that the accusations McClatchy detailed were unfounded and based on incidents that were taken out of context, said one person familiar with the meeting. One official vowed to "take action" against polygraphers named and unnamed who'd cooperated with the reporter, said the source, who asked not to be named. The statement was taken as a threat that polygraphers who raise similar concerns about the agency's practices – even to the inspector general – would be punished or criminally prosecuted as leakers. At the same meeting, polygraphers then were asked whether they had any problems with the way the program was being run. "You could hear crickets," the source told McClatchy.
The inspector general recently agreed to investigate the National Reconnaissance Office's polygraph program, but "people are going to be reluctant to talk with NRO's inspector general now," said the source, who was afraid to be identified for fear of being seen as cooperating with the media. Among some employees, the agency's inspector general office is perceived as overly aligned with the CIA and out to protect the CIA's interests rather than root out government misconduct. In an unusual relationship, the CIA shares responsibility with the Defense Department in overseeing the National Reconnaissance Office, which is staffed by CIA and Air Force employees.
However, the inspector general's recent reaction to the allegations of retaliation signals independence from the NRO's leadership, other officials said.
D'Alessandro, a senior intelligence service officer with the CIA who became inspector general in 2009, raised the alarm about the retaliation and other criminal allegations in what's known as a "seven-day letter," a mechanism for inspector generals to report serious misconduct of agencies to Congress. D'Alessandro officially notified the agency's director in the letter, dated July 3. D'Alessandro didn't name the principal deputy director who's accused of disregarding the whistleblowers' allegations, but according to the agency's website Betty Sapp held that title until July 6, when she became director.
D'Alessandro's predecessor, Eric Feldman, said he'd never sent a seven-day letter during his six years as the NRO's inspector general. "It's reserved for serious matters," said Feldman, who said he didn't know about the investigation until a reporter called him. "For four senior officials to go to the inspector general about a fifth, I would say it would have to be a serious matter."
Feldman said he was surprised to hear of the allegation against Mashiko, whom he said he'd had "favorable dealings" with when he was inspector general. However, he said he wasn't surprised to hear of allegations against an NRO official related to the handling of contracts.
"You're talking about a lot of money at this agency and a culture within the intelligence community that isn't really comfortable with the idea of transparency," he said. "Generally speaking, people in that agency are ethical but there is a certain dependency on contractors and closeness with contractors that can create an awkward environment."
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told the inspector general in a letter sent Monday that the criminal investigation only added to his concerns about the agency. Grassley, who's the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, is seen as a whistleblower advocate and he's previously scrutinized the use of polygraph by the federal government.
Grassley said in his letter he also was concerned that some law enforcement agencies had told McClatchy that they weren't notified of child molestation confessions that came out during the NRO's polygraph screenings.
"These allegations raise a number of questions about the NRO leadership," Grassley wrote about the various issues, adding that he wanted D'Alessandro to turn to the inspectors general for the Pentagon or the intelligence community for help "if you deem it appropriate and necessary."
McClatchy tried to talk with Mashiko, but she hung up as soon as she understood that a reporter was calling. Mashiko is a decorated 30-year Air Force veteran who's described on the agency's website as working in a "wide variety of space and acquisition assignments."
Former director Bruce Carlson, who announced his retirement before the criminal investigation was opened, declined to comment on the inquiry even though the controversy occurred during his tenure.
"I'm really not interested in commenting," he said. "I'm no longer on the payroll."
Carlson, however, spoke at length in praise of the agency's work, calling its last three years "the most successful in the past quarter century."
"NRO has some of the most dedicated and hardworking people I've ever been around," said Carlson, who singled out Mashiko for praise.
Referring to a long-ago accounting scandal at the NRO, Carlson said the agency had finally succeeded in leaving behind its "horrible record." In 1996, the NRO's director and deputy director were fired in the wake of accusations that the agency had kept a slush fund and hadn't adequately informed Congress about the construction of its headquarters in Chantilly, Va.
The NRO's budget is classified, but according to some estimates it could be more than $10 billion annually and it rivals the budgets of the National Security Agency and the CIA. In 2005, the NRO faced questions about its financial stewardship when it canceled a major satellite program, called Future Imagery Architecture, because of cost overruns and delays.
In contrast, Carlson said the agency got a "clean audit" every year of his three-year tenure. "That's a big deal for Congress. We can account for our money."
Other officials with knowledge of intelligence operations questioned Carlson's characterization.
"Given the lack of transparency over intelligence operations, we can't go on the word of agency officials that everything is fine," said one official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. "There needs to be a neutral and outside review of what's going on."
Tish Wells and Michael Doyle contributed to this article.
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Men Who Love Hannah Vogel
By Rebecca Cantrell
This week's question "why do fools fall in love?" is deceptively simple and completely impossible to answer. So, instead I decided to run through the fools who have fallen in love with Hannah Vogel. Considering her complicated lifestyle, it's actually a fairly long list. I'll try not to reveal any spoilers. And, since I just wrote a post where I cast the whole Hannah Vogel series at "My Book, the Movie," I'll paste in some pictures of the characters here (
Walter. He never even gets a last name, but he and Hannah were engaged when she was seventeen. They never married because he was killed at the end of the Great War. If he had lived, she probably would have settled down into as a German housewife and started raising kids.
Paul Keller. He was delivered into the hospital where Hannah worked as a nurse with serious injuries to his leg and shell shock. She helped nurse him back to health and he proposed. She gave it a lot of thought, but turned him down because she did not want that housewife life after all. They remained friends and he helped to get her a job at the newspaper. In spite of his rudeness in A Game of Lies, he is my personal favorite for Hannah.
Boris Krause. Hannah meets him in A Trace of Smoke. He's a banker with a teenaged daughter. His wife died in childbirth, so he's been alone for a long time. He's a solid dependable guy who can still hold his own in a car chase or a gunfight. He's charming and handsome and a good father. He's probably the guy she should marry.
|Aaron Eckhardt
|Rufus Sewell
|Sebastian Koch
Lars Lang. Hannah meets him in A Trace of Smoke too. He's a police kommissar who is also a member of the SS. Lars has the toughest journey of any of the characters so far. He's devoutly loyal to Hannah, but he has a dark past, and a dangerous one. He is exactly the guy she shouldn't get involved with, even though he has saved her life on numerous occasions (she's saved his too) and they work well together as an espionage team.


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Fat Man back in the Pool
Having your cardiologist ask to be named as a beneficiary on your life insurance policy is pretty good motivator to get back in the water.
I swam from age 8 -19 AAU & College. Gained weight and then started swimming again, 25-35 Masters. A couple of moves and did not find the right team, so back to sloth and weight gain. Drive a desk and volunteer a lot with the Boy Scouts. Gained enough weight to be restricted on high adventure activities so I started back into the exercising.
I have had a couple of starts & stops along the way, with breaks for knee surgery and a shoulder injury. But now at 50 I am back in the water (since 7/2/08), working with a coach, an orthopedic surgeon, and a physical therapist.
This is a record of where it is going. Thanks for reading. Don


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Your shopping cart is empty!
The original Nike Air Presto, originally released in 2000, was created as a kind of T-shirt for the foot, with a breathable and incredibly flexible sock-like elastic upper. Today, the Nike Air Presto Ultra Flyknit Women's Shoe updates the original with formfitting Flyknit for ultra-lightweight comfort.
Flyknit OriginsNike Flyknit technology was inspired by feedback from runners seeking a shoe with the snug (and virtually unnoticed) fit of a sock. Nike embarked on a four-year mission with teams of programmers, engineers and designers to create the technology needed to make the knit upper with static properties for structure and durability. Then the precise placement of support, flexibility and breathability—all in one layer—was refined. The result is a featherweight, formfitting and virtually seamless upper.


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The general notion is that America is a country founded on christian morals and ethics.
There is reference to God in the Declaration of Independence. Our presidents take their oath with their hand on the Bible. The most recent Supreme Court justice even put her left hand on the Bible held by her mother at her swearing in.
So if it is good enough for the goose why then is the gander put under such scrutiny?
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