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Last updated: February 26, 2012
Free Online Tutorials Teach Anyone How to Use Genome Databases
Free Online Tutorials Teach Anyone How to Use Genome Databases
Sequence data from numerous genomic projects are pouring out of the sequence centers and into public databases at an unprecedented rate. The sequencing projects flooding the free, online databases, such as the Entrez Genome Browser [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov], include the cancer tumor sequencing projects from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), such as The Cancer Genome Atlas, a host of model organism sequencing projects, The 1000 Genomes Project, and related genetic-information producing projects such as the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that look for genetic risk factors that cause anything from tooth decay to heart disease.
For researchers not trained in the relatively new field of bioinformatics - which applies information technology and computer programming to the field of molecular biology - the complexity of the information flooding the public databases can be overwhelming. Moreover, there is a shortage of bioinformatics experts, making it difficult for some researchers to even form a collaboration that would allow them to use the freely available sequence data in their studies.
This has led a number of federal research centers and institutes to increase the amount of Web-based training that will allow any molecular biologist to use the public databases to advance genomic research. The latest tutorials, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the NIH, provide essential training on the use of model organism genome databases. The tutorials were developed by OpenHelix, LLC, which already has published several free training sessions [openhelix.eu] on its Web site, with more coming in the next year.
"While computers are widely used in society today, there is a gap in understanding how to use bioinformatic tools associated with genome databases," says Peter Good, Ph.D., a program director for NHGRI's Genome Informatics and Computational Biology Program, which is funding the tutorials. "We're really pleased to be able to fund these tutorials that enable scientists without prior training in bioinformatics to ask both simple and complex scientific questions that can be answered by these resources."
Publicly available genome data from an array of model organisms, such as yeast, worms and mice, is widely used to gain critical insights into human biology. NHGRI funded the tutorials to empower the average researcher and encourage even greater exploration of these publicly available genome resources.
The first tutorials focus on GBrowse [gmod.org], a customizable genome browser tool; the Rat Genome Database [rgd.mcw.edu]; the Mouse Genomics Informatics [informatics.jax.org] resource; and WormBase [wormbase.org]. Tutorials will also be freely available in the coming weeks on the Zebrafish Information [zfin.org] network; FlyBase [flybase.org], and the Saccharomyces (Yeast) Genome Database [yeastgenome.org].
Each narrated tutorial, which can be viewed online or downloaded to a user's computer, introduces the resource and shows researchers how to use its features and functions. Resources connected to each tutorial, including PowerPoint slides, handouts, and user exercises are also available. The model organism tutorials are available at OpenHelix [openhelix.com].
Although the human genome sequence is not the focus of the newly funded tutorials, there are numerous publicly available databases that provide both the sequence itself, or data from genome-wide association studies, as well as online tutorials. One such database is the Genome Browser [genome.ucsc.edu] developed by University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). The UCSC Bioinformatics group is also funding a free tutorial that is available through OpenHelix on how to navigate their genome browser, which has data from many model organisms that can be compared to the human genome.
One of the most widely used group of databases used by biomedical researchers are those from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the National Library of Medicine at NIH. NCBI hosts a one-stop shop to easily access more than a dozen human genome sequence resources at NCBI's Human Genome Resources [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov].
"NCBI databases are used by approximately two million people each day," said NCBI Director David Lipman, M.D. "We are constantly striving to make our resources more intuitive for researchers and scientists, as well as the general public, so they can make the best use of them without extensive training,"
In addition to their user-friendly genome resources, they also have The NCBI Handbook [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov], a comprehensive guide providing summary information of each database that includes basic tutorials. NCBI also hosts a set of interactive tutorials of how their databases were used in recent discoveries called Coffee Break [ncbi.nlm.nih.gov].
With more than 300 genetic risk factors for common diseases found as a result of genome wide association studies, or GWAS, over the last two years, there is also a rising demand for data from NCBI's dbGaP (database of Genotypes and Phenotypes). NCBI offers a tutorial on dbGaP as well.
Additionally, NHGRI hosts multimedia with video and slides from past short courses to help researchers use GWAS data. The Web-based programs include Epidemiology for Researchers Performing Genetic/Genomic Studies and Genetics for Epidemiologists: Application of Human Genomics to Population Sciences.
So, while you may not have a bioinformatician at your disposal, Dr. Good emphasized that "any scientist from any discipline or anyone else who wants to pursue their ideas can easily take advantage of these important databases. Our hope is that anyone can use these resources to make the breakthroughs that could dramatically change our understanding of biology or lead to better treatments for disease."
Last Reviewed: February 26, 2012


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Obama provides comfort in Boston: 'You will run again'
- Interfaith service dedicated to those killed%2C injured in marathon bombings
- Obama says what happened in Boston %22is personal%22
BOSTON — President Obama found himself at an all too familiar event Thursday; a somber ceremony where he tried to comfort victims of a deadly tragedy.
"Everyone of us has been touched by the attack on your beloved city,'' Obama said, speaking at an interfaith service dedicated to the three people killed and 176 injured in twin bombings at Monday's Boston Marathon.
"For millions of us, what happened in Boston Monday is personal,'' he said at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross as part of a 90-minute service that included comments by clergy, Boston Mayor Thomas Merino and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Speaking to those who lost limbs or were severely injured at the marathon's finish line, Obama vowed "you will run again."
He issued a warning to those responsible for the attacks. "They picked the wrong city to do this,'' Obama said. "Yes we will find you. And yes, you will face justice,'' he said, later calling their acts "small and senseless."
Obama's appearance here in the wake of another tragedy had a familiar tone that was part comfort, part support and part rallying cry for victims and the nation. It was a tone similar to that when he spoke following the 2009 serial shooting at Fort Hood, Texas; the 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six people and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords; the 2012 shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater that left 12 dead; and the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 20 children and six staff members were killed.
Jocelyn Perez was smiling as she left the service in a wheelchair. Jocelyn, 10, who lives outside Boston, was watching the marathon Monday with her mother and other family members when the blasts hit.
Perez's mother, Sara Valverde Perez, remains in intensive care. Her mother's sister and Jocelyn's aunt, Tania Valverde, said the service was comforting because it included a speech by Roberto Miranda, pastor from the family's church.
Jocelyn, who suffered cuts from the blast is doing as well as can be expected, Valverde said. "Physically, yes -- emotionally, not so much," she said as the family boarded a shuttle back to Boston's Beth Israel Hospital.
Mary Jo Brogna, a registered nurse based at Beth Israel Hospital who was on duty when the blasts shook the marathon, said the president's message was badly needed.
"I've been a nurse 31 years and I've never seen anything so horrific," said Brogna, 52, of Quincy, Mass., her expression distant. Of Obama's speech, she said, "I think it was inspirational. I think it's going to bring people together."
Speaking ahead of the president, Mayor Merino praised firefighters, medical personnel and Bostonians for reacting swiftly to attend to victims. "This was the strength of our city at work,'' he said. "Nothing will take us down, because we take care of each other."
Groups of people had come in waves to the church, surrounded by volunteers dressed in bright yellow Boston Marathon jackets. A woman began openly sobbing as she neared the entrance. Hospital staffers and volunteers from the American Red Cross quickly surrounded her, embracing her and helping her walk.
Anne Thibau, who was injured in the leg and back from Monday's blasts, wore a T-shirt reading "I Love Boston" as she prepared to enter the cathedral. She wasn't hoping for any particular message from the president, but simply wanted to be in a place of comfort. "I thank God that I walked away" from the blasts, said Thibau, 57.
Boston resident Sharon Butler-Charles was among a swarm of people who'd gotten to the cathedral early Thursday, but not early enough to get a ticket inside.
"I was born and raised in Dorchester, and I really felt for the little fellow that was killed (Martin Richard, 8, Dorchester)," said Butler-Charles, 50. "I just wanted to give support."
Dozens of people gathered in the gymnasium of Cathedral High School to watch the service. Security to get inside was tight as police searched purses and confiscated items like apples, which one officer warned could be thrown. Anyone entering had to pass through a metal detector. There was silence as the service began and people stared intently at the images of speakers whose voices echoed through the room.
Ann Sanfilippo of Gloucester, Mass. was among those watching the service at the high school.. She said Obama delivered the right message. "It was uplifting and very much what we needed right now. He was very comforting and I felt like he gave me hope. He reminded me when I wake up tomorrow, the sun will rise."
People lined up early hoping to get into the church service. One of them, Regina Fisher, 57, got in line at 11 p.m. Wednesday and stood outside all night.
"I haven't slept a wink and I probably won't sleep when I get home," she said. "I came because I care about people and it hurts me when innocent souls get hurt."
Bostonian Amanda Ayers was volunteering at the marathon's mile 18 water station when the explosions hit. She doesn't know anyone who was killed or hurt. But Thursday morning, Ayers, 27, got to the line to get into the church just as general admissions tickets were being passed out at 7 a.m.
Watching Obama on television didn't feel personal enough, said Ayers, a student at Boston University.
"Being here, with other people makes it real," she said. "This happened in our city. I want to be with my Boston people."
Contributing: Gary Strauss

subset: commoncrawl


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Adriana Taylor
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I am studying architecture and my goal is you let me build our dream house by myself. I want your heart to have the same pace as mine ;)I love long walks in the nature with my dog Bijoux, you are welcome to join us all the time :P I love to draw and paint but also to cook and travelling. I like mature men that know when to bring flowers, apologize to me or even argue me haha or cuddle me when I need the most or even let me by his chest me on rainy days.I hate being lied by persons I really care about. No free demands in free chat. You have an idea, come in private to put it in practice , I am an open minded girl :)
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Christopher Eccleston to Star in Romeo and Juliet
By Admin Published: September 3, 2008
Doctor Who, G.I. Joe and Heroes actor Christopher Eccleston is set to star in a Manchester Celebrity Pig Theatre Company production of Romeo and Juliet.
Celebrity Pig is a company of actors with learning disabilities, Eccleston is the patron and will this weekend get in on the action playing alongside the company&8217s cast.
Romeo and Juliet: A Question of Choice, starring Christopher Eccleston and Celebrity Pig, is on September 5 and 6.
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With her architectural installations the young US artist Rebecca Ward creates impressive effects by using nothing more than different coloured isolation tape.
"Utilizing existing lines, beams, and angles, each piece I create is informed by the individual site and its unique linear movement… I choose patterns and shapes according to detailed measurements of the installation site. Ideally these patterns are numerically symmetrical or somehow numerically balanced, producing a dialogue between line and space", explains the artist.


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Activists: Siege of Damascus camp grows deadlier
January 29, 2014
BEIRUT (AP) — Starvation and illnesses exacerbated by hunger or the lack of medical aid in a Palestinian camp in Damascus besieged for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have killed at least 85 people, activists said Wednesday.
The Yarmouk camp, located on the southern edge of the Syrian capital, is one of several opposition areas where humanitarian conditions have crumbled under a tight blockade imposed by pro-government forces. Activists and aid groups have accused the military of using starvation as a weapon of war.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said the first person died in Yarmouk in June, and that as of Wednesday a total of 85 people had perished there. Five days ago, activists and residents said the death toll stood at more than 60.
The need to open humanitarian corridors to ferry desperately needed aid into blockaded areas and to relieve civilian suffering has been one of the topics discussed at ongoing peace talks in Switzerland between the Syrian government and the opposition. Despite encouraging signs early in the discussions, no concrete progress has been made on that front.
Authorities recently allowed a few hundred food parcels into Yarmouk in what appeared to be a goodwill gesture ahead the peace talks, but residents said only a tiny amount of aid entered because government officials ordered aid workers to distribute the parcels in an area under sniper fire.
Also Wednesday, Turkey's state-run news agency said the Turkish military fired artillery and heavy machine guns at a convoy across the border in Syria belonging to the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The Anadolu Agency said the attack on the Islamic State vehicle was in response to gunfire that had targeted Turkish troops patrolling the frontier at the border in Kilis province. Turkish troops used tanks, self-propelled artillery and machine guns to destroy two trucks and a bus in the convoy, the agency said. No casualty figures were given.
The military declined to immediately confirm the report. In October, Turkey's military fired artillery at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant positions in Syria in retaliation for a mortar that had landed near another Turkish military post.
The Islamic State and another al-Qaida-linked group, the Nusra Front, have become a dominant force in Syria's armed opposition, causing jitters in Western capitals and leading to a drop in international support for the rebels.


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The New National Defense Authorization Act Is Ridiculously Scary
David Seaman
Fellow entrepreneurs, Americans, anyone who still cares about this country at all — this is a must read: By the end of this week, the US government very likely will have the power to lock up US citizens for life at Guantanamo Bay or other military prisons — without charge and without trial. This means that, in the near future, a controversial Twitter post, attending a peaceful protest, or publishing an anti-Congress critique or anti-TSA rant on Google+ could land you "indefinite detention" for life, in the wording of the bill. No access to a lawyer, no access to trial.
Yes, you read that right. This would target American citizens, on American soil. Military personnel would be able to come into your house like something out of a Tom Clancy novel and chopper your innocent self down to Guantanamo Bay for life.
Details: There is a scary provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (fiscal year 2012) which is typically passed by Congress each and every year to continue funding our military operations around the world.
This provision is not a mistake or error; it has vocal backing from some of the most powerful Senators in Washington, including Sen. John McCain and Sen. Carl Levin.
The imminent passage of this bill containing the provision, which appears VERY likely at this point, would put our civil rights on par with countries like Saudi Arabia and China.
This is actually happening folks. Do a search on Google News for "National Defense Authorization Act" if you don't believe me. Please spread word of this — quickly. Our last remaining rights as AMERICAN CITIZENS are being stripped from us. And as HuffPo recently reported, an effort to amend the bill and remove the scary provision targeting Americans has FAILED.
Even top-level law enforcement officials such as FBI Director Robert Mueller are reportedly against this wacko provision, as it would limit and confuse the FBI's ability to legitimately investigate those who actually are engaged in terroristic activities on American soil.
But unless the public voices opposition — very soon, as in within days — this will become reality. When I asked friends and family members about this, they hadn't heard anything about the National Defense Authorization Act controversy. The mainstream media is not covering this travesty at all. Instead, they are focused on whether Cyber Monday beat expectations, and if Michael Jackson doctor Conrad Murray's sentencing yesterday was "fair." Unbelievable.


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(MCCOG) is the state-designated lead regional organization for Cumberland, Harnett, and Sampson Counties. Mid-Carolina is one of the seventeen North Carolina Regional Councils formed to provide a wide variety of programs and services to their local governments and citizens. The MCCOG provides technical assistance services to its member governments including land use planning, zoning administration, subdivision and zoning ordinances, water and sewer studies, annexation reviews, and community development workshops on timely issues.
MCCOG also maintains the regional data center and business and industry data affiliation for the N.C. State Data Center and Office of State Planning. In this capacity, Mid-Carolina provides population, housing and economic data resources through census materials and other sources to member governments, area businesses, private non-profit organizations, academic users and others who work for the development of communities within the region.
Further services are provided through Mid-Carolina's Area Agency on Aging and Rural Transportation Planning Organization. Mid-Carolina provides administrative and financial support to the Middle Cape Fear basin Association (MCFRBA) which is organized to protect the Cape Fear River Basin through proper management of the river, its tributaries and adjacent land uses.
Mid-Carolina is also the fiscal agent to Fort Bragg / Pope AFB Regional Land Use Advisory Commission (RLUAC) which provide services to counties surrounding Region M.


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Don't let the Pilot's new, sleek look fool you. Honda's largest sport utility vehicle is bigger than ever on the inside, particularly in its third-row seats.
Audi A3 Cabrio Provides Drivers with Low-Priced Luxury
Those looking for a luxury-branded convertible with a low price tag should turn toward Audi's A3 Cabriolet.
2015 Volkswagen Golf Still Nimble, Picks Up Power and Space
The fun, nimble Volkswagen Golf GTI, Germany's original hot hatchback, has more power, new features, roomier seating and better fuel mileage for 2015. There's also sharp-looking plaid upholstery that makes the compact car look special on the interior.
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Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Symphonies by Dan Black.
I made a promise and I am a girl of my word. Back in January when I did my version of "research" :) I took a fencing class, just because it sounded like fun. What can I say? Swords are cool. I also said I would take video of it. So here it is at last, humbly presented before you. And yes, I did manage to fit bloopers in, just for you guys. Have a great weekend everyone!
Feature Fun Friday - Me. Fencing.
Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Symphonies by Dan Black.
5 comments:
- Frankie Diane Mallis said...
Thats so awesome, I love that you learned how to do that!
- April 2, 2010 at 12:51 PM
- Unknown said...
That's pretty freaking awesome. For reals. Dang, I'm jealous!
- April 3, 2010 at 12:05 PM
- PJ Hoover said...
You make me want to take up fencing! Seriously. I'm inspired!
- April 3, 2010 at 5:50 PM
- Sharon K. Mayhew said...
Way to immerse yourself! Very cool!
- April 4, 2010 at 11:28 AM
- Heather Zundel said...
Frankie - It was fun. I would highly recommend it.
Beth - Thanks, but I was doing a ton of stuff wrong. My stance is HORRIBLE.
PJ Hoover - I'll wait to see pictures!
Sharon Mayhew - Thanks! I love learning by immersion. The only way to go, in my opinion. :)
- April 5, 2010 at 1:02 PM


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Running Time: 18 minutes
Studio Name: Fisting Twinks
Director: Seth Tyler
Categories: Fetish Interracial Bareback Anal Extreme Penetration High Definition
Description: Poppi called and asked if I'd fuck him before flying back to Denver. He said his Daddy was at work so I was happy to fuck my former student.
1 Scenes from Bareback Fuck While Daddy's At Work
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Starring: Poppi (m) Seth Tyler ... More Details
Stars: Poppi (m), Seth Tyler
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Cauliflower is one of the trustiest of vegetables, in winter or summer. It has more potential than it's usually given credit for, as Vancouver cooking teacher Bal Arneson demonstrates in Everyday Indian (Whitecap, $29.95).
The Punjabi-born TV cook flavours the cauliflower with such seasonings as ginger, cumin and turmeric to make this easygoing dish.
Substitute regular potatoes for yams if you wish, she says.
2 tablespoons grape-seed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala*
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
2 large yams, finely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 large cauliflower, in bite-size pieces
* Ready-made or homemade. Arneson makes this seasoning mix by toasting and grinding together coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dried curry leaves, black peppercorns, whole cloves, black cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves.
In a large, non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium high heat and cook onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add ginger, cumin seeds, garam masala, turmeric and salt and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, yams and water. Cover pan, lower heat to medium-low and cook until yams are tender, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in cauliflower, cover and cook just until cauliflower is cooked but still crunchy, 5 to 8 minutes.


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NEH invites humanities institutions to apply for Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle film sets
***The application deadline for the Created Equal film set and public programming grants has been extended to May 15, 2013 ***
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is offering grants to up to 500 libraries and humanities organizations to develop public programming around a set of four NEH-funded films that explore the history of civil rights in America. Guidelines for the Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle grant opportunity are available here.
The Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggleproject was developed by NEH to mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Up to 500 communities across the nation will receive a packaged set of NEH-funded films on civil rights history, accompanied by programming resources to guide public conversations about the changing meanings of freedom and equality in U.S. history.
Each participating site will receive an award of up to $1,200 to support public programming exploring the themes of the Created Equal project. The documentary films featured in the set are: The Abolitionists, on the anti-slavery movement of the 1830s; Slavery By Another Name, which examines forced labor practices in America from Reconstruction to World War II; The Loving Story, an account of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving V. Virginia which overturned anti-miscegenation laws in the United States; and Freedom Riders, about the brave band of activists who challenged segregation in the Deep South during the spring and summer of 1961.
The Created Equal film set was developed through a partnership of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. These four NEH-funded films tell a remarkable story about the importance of race in the making of American democracy, about the power of individuals to effect change, and about the historical contexts in which Americans have understood and struggled with ideas of freedom, equality, and citizenship.
Part of the National Endowment for the Humanities' ongoing Bridging Cultures initiative, the Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle grant program will encourage communities across the country to revisit the history of civil rights in the U.S. and to reflect on the ideals of freedom and equality that have helped bridge deep racial and cultural divides in American life.
The Created Equal: America's Civil Rights Struggle grant opportunity is open to museums and historical societies, humanities councils, public, academic, and community college libraries, and nonprofit community organizations. Applications are due by May 1, 2013.


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On June 22 at approximately 6:30 p.m., DEC Central Dispatch received a call about two lost hikers in Elm Ridge Wild Forest. Elm Ridge is located in the Town of Windham, and can be access from Peck Road or Rt 23. There were two hikers lost. The male and female hikers, both 74 years old. When the hikers encountered another hiker, they were helped back to the main Trail. Forest Ranger Christine Nelson responded, signaled for the subjects by whistle, and located the pair on a side trail. Once located, the two hikers were walked out to the Peck Road trailhead in good condition.
We should note that Elm ridge has many trails. Some official trails and some unofficial trails. It is very easy to get lost on the trails. So, when you come to the entrance of the trails, take a picture of the map. Then you can refer to the map on the camera to determine where you are. Most hikers get lost on the Elm Ridge trails.
Western end of Elm Ridge


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A passerby found Johnson early Thursday in a car parked near a stop sign and called 911. Police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement that Johnson indicated he parked his car after feeling lightheaded.
British choreographer Cathy Marston's enthralling production of "Jane Eyre," is now being performed with stellar artistry and deep emotional insight by the Joffrey Ballet even though not a single word is spoken throughout the performance.
The flavors affected by Thursday's announcement — mango, crème, fruit and cucumber — account for less than 10% of Juul's sales. The flavors had only been sold through Juul's website, after the company pulled them from stores last November.
The school district sent a letter Wednesday informing families the written threat was found inside a student bathroom at the North Side high school.
The Chicago Teachers Union expects all of its members to be on picket lines during their ongoing strike. Breaking ranks could cost teachers their job.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson had "a couple of drinks with dinner" before he fell asleep at a stop sign while driving home early Thursday morning.
As teachers hit the picket lines for the second day, the city called on Chicago Teachers Union leaders to spend more time at the negotiating table in order to reach a deal.
Chicago teachers take to the picket lines. Will the city delay the start of legal pot sales? A federal probe into ComEd widens. And the Bears try to bounce back against the Saints.


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Model: HP Deskjet 3620 Color Inkjet Printer, HP Deskjet 3650 Color Inkjet Printer, HP Deskjet 3653 Color Inkjet Printer
Operating System: Windows 2000 (Note: might work with other versions of this os.)
File: 3600_esm_win2k_xpinfu.exe
HP Deskjet 3600 Printer series
Installation instructions:
Caution! The printer's USB cable must be unplugged before proceeding!
Do not plug USB cable in until instructed to do so by the installation software!
Create a new folder on the hard drive before downloading the printer driver.
Suggestion: "c:\dj3600"
Download the driver to the newly created c:\dj3600 folder.
Open the c:\dj3600 folder and double-click the downloaded "exe" file to extract the driver files.
Note: The driver file extraction process will create a series of folders under the c:\dj3600 folder that you downloaded the driver file into. Under the "C:\dj3600\3600" folder, a three letter language folder will be displayed which corresponds with the driver language that you downloaded. For example, the English driver (3600_enu_win2k_xpinfu.exe) contains a folder named "enu". This folder was created during the extraction process after double-clicking on the downloaded "exe" file.
Connect the USB cable from the PC to the printer.
A Hardware Wizard screen appears, click "Cancel".
Note: If the Hardware wizard does not appear, continue to the next step.
From Windows, click "Start", "Settings", "Printers".
Next, double-click "Add Printer".
When the Add Printer Wizard screen appears, click "Next".
Choose "Local Printer", uncheck "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer", and click "Next".
Select "USB" Port and click "Next".
In the next window, click the "Have Disk" button.
Note: For the next step, the three letters in the filename (such as "enu" in the following example) will correspond to the language code of the downloaded driver as explained in step 3.
Click "Browse" and go to the folder "c:\dj3600\3600\enu\drivers\Win2k_xp". A file, with a filename similar to "hpf3600k.inf", will be displayed. Select the file name and click "Open".
Click "OK" to continue. "hp deskjet 3600 series" will now be found in the Printers column. Click "Next".
Note: If another 3600 Series driver is already installed on this PC, you will be shown a window asking you to decide if you want to keep or replace the existing driver. Make your selection and click "Next"
Click "Next" to accept the default printer name (suggested), or rename the printer and click "Next".
Select "Yes" or "No" to print a test page and click "Next".
To complete the installation process, click "Finish". The printer driver files will now be installed and the hp deskjet 3600 series icon will be added to the "Printers" folder.


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Protesting the government when the police suddenly show up? Now protestors about to be arrested can inform loved ones and their lawyers with one button.
The new Android application, called "I'm Getting Arrested!" was designed by Jason van Anden for a friend's girlfriend protesting at Occupy Wall Street, according to the New York Daily News.
The free app available at the Android Market lets users prewrite a text message to a list of recipients. Then as the police get closer, users can hit one button and let friends, family and even a lawyer know they're about to be taken into police custody. "A must have for protesting," wrote a user named Jose. "There are more than 1,000 ways to get arrested where I live [so] this will be very useful," LunaticNeko added. So far, about 10,000 users have download the app.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The app is helpful especially when protesting turns ugly with pepper spray or tear gas. In the confusion, it's good to know that one button can let everyone you care about know where to bail you out.


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Our host, Matt Santos, has spent most of his professional life as a journalist covering everything from small town events to major international news stories.
Relocating from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004, Matt quickly learned that the Prescott area was home to some of the most talented artists, entertainers, musicians, and authors as well as large cast of characters with stories to tell.
Using long form conversational style interviews, The Mile High Show hopes to share these stories with the world.
Want to listen to more? https://Milehishow.podbean.com


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George William Summers (4 March 1804–19 September 1868), member of the House of Representatives, of the Convention of 1850–1851, and of the Convention of 1861, was born in Fairfax County and was the son of Ann Smith Radcliff Summers and George Summers, who represented the county in the House of Delegates for four terms. In 1814 the family moved to Walnut Grove in the part of Kanawha County that in 1848 became Putnam County. Following the death of his father early in 1818, Summers and his mother lived in Charleston with his eldest brother, Lewis Summers, later a member of the Convention of 1829–1830.
Summers attended Washington College (later Washington and Lee University) during the 1820–1821 academic year before enrolling in Ohio University. He received an A.B. in 1825, and the university awarded him an A.M. five years later without further study. Summers returned to Charleston to read law under the instruction of his brother and was admitted to the Kanawha County bar in 1827. On 14 February 1833 he married Amacetta Laidley, who was a few weeks short of her fifteenth birthday. Of their four sons and two daughters, only one son reached adulthood.
In 1830 Kanawha County voters elected Summers to the first of two consecutive one-year terms in the House of Delegates. During the debates on the future of slavery in January 1832, following Nat Turner's Rebellion, Summers, who then owned no slaves, declared that an antislavery petition before the House was destined to be the starting point of the abolition movement in the United States. Evoking "the great principles of eternal justice, which demand at our hands the release of this people" from slavery, he argued for gradual emancipation, and he cautioned slaveholders that all property was subordinate to the general welfare of the community in which it existed. Summers voted with the minority for proposals anticipating the abolition of slavery.
The House of Representatives, 1841–1844
After serving additional terms in the House of Delegates for the 1834–1835 and 1835–1836 assemblies, Summers won election in April 1841 to the House of Representatives from the Nineteenth District, comprising Cabell, Fayette, Giles, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Logan, Monroe, and Nicholas Counties. He served on the standing Committees on Elections and for the District of Columbia, of which he was ranking member, and on select committees on the apportionment of representatives and on retrenchment, which he chaired. As a Whig, he supported tariffs to protect domestic manufactures, and in July 1842 he criticized President John Tyler's veto of a provisional tariff bill as an abuse of the veto power and obstruction of the popular will. In 1843 Summers won reelection by a comfortable margin to represent a redrawn Fourteenth District, composed of Braxton, Cabell, Fayette, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Mason, Nicholas, Ritchie, Wayne, and Wood Counties and also a portion of Barbour County. He sat on the Committee on the Judiciary. Early in 1844 Summers condemned as an ugly form of nullification the actions that several states had taken in declaring a congressional reapportionment act unconstitutional. He did not seek reelection in 1845.
The Convention of 1850–1851
In 1848 Summers won election as commonwealth's attorney for the new county of Putnam. On 22 August 1850 he received the most votes of the four men elected to represent Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha, Nicholas, Pocahontas, and Raleigh Counties in a convention that met in Richmond from 14 October 1850 to 1 August 1851 to revise the state constitution. A brilliant debater and an eloquent orator, Summers played a leading role in championing western interests, including universal white manhood suffrage. Many observers considered him the ablest man in the convention. Named to a committee charged with devising a method by which to amend the constitution, Summers also chaired the important Committee on the Basis and Apportionment of Representation. The committee proved unable to forge a compromise acceptable to western reformers, who insisted that apportionment of seats in the General Assembly should be based on the white population only, and also to eastern opponents of reform, who favored a mixed basis of calculating representation on the total white population plus the value of taxes paid on property, including slaves.
Seeking to break the deadlock, Summers proposed on 8 May that the new constitution be submitted to the voters with an option at the ratification referendum to choose between eastern and western apportionment proposals, but the other delegates defeated his suggestion. As chair of a select committee of four western and four eastern delegates, he helped fashion another plan for representation in the legislature, but that measure failed by a single vote. On 16 May the convention adopted a compromise plan of apportionment based in part on his committee's work that shifted some political power from the East to the West by allowing a western majority in the House of Delegates and preserving an eastern majority in the Senate of Virginia. The constitution also authorized a referendum in 1865 on whether to adopt one of three options for future apportionment of assembly seats. On 31 July 1851 Summers voted for the new constitution that the voters ratified later that year.
Campaigning for governor, 1851
His reputation at its peak, Summers was the Whig Party's candidate in 1851 when for the first time Virginia's voters elected the governor, but his earlier advocacy of gradual emancipation dogged his campaign. In a published letter he refuted allegations that he was an abolitionist by pointing out that he had voted to insert in the Constitution of 1851 a provision that prohibited emancipation and by adding that as a slaveholder (in 1850 he paid taxes on five slaves) in the largest slaveholding county in the West he opposed schemes that adversely affected the value or compromised the security of slave property. Summers lost the governor's race to Joseph Johnson, a western Virginia Democrat, by a vote of 65,527 to 57,040.
In May 1852 Summers was elected judge of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. He resigned on 1 July 1858, two years before the end of his term. During those years sectional antagonism within the nation deepened. Summers made his views known in a speech in May 1860 to the Old Dominion Society in New York City. His meditation on Virginia's past included both a defense of slavery, which he believed by then to be a beneficial institution protected by constitutional provisions, and an attack on disunion. Summers declared that "modern heresies of nullification and secession are alike unknown to the Constitution."
The Convention of 1861 and the Peace Conference
On 4 February 1861 Kanawha County voters elected Summers as one of their two delegates to a convention that the General Assembly had called to act for the state during the secession crisis, and on the same day he took his seat as one of five men the assembly had named to represent the state at a national peace conference. More than a hundred men from twenty other states, most of them from the North, met in Washington, D.C., and chose former president John Tyler as presiding officer. Summers chaired the Committee on Credentials, but he made a quick trip to Richmond to take his seat in the Virginia convention on 13 February and nominated John Janney, a fellow Whig and opponent of secession, for president of the convention.
On 15 February the Peace Conference's Committee on Resolutions submitted a compromise proposal that, if passed by Congress and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, would have been a thirteenth amendment to the Constitution. Similar to proposals that the House of Representatives had already failed to pass, it would have restored the Missouri Compromise division between free and slave territories and states in the West and offered additional constitutional protection for slavery in the states where it then existed. Southern extremists rejected the compromise because it offered them too few incentives to return to the Union, and northern extremists rejected it because they believed that it was too much in the interest of slave owners. Both sides resisted the efforts of Summers and other opponents of secession to resolve their disagreements. In an emotional speech four days later, Summers pledged his devotion to the Union and affirmed his belief that if Congress submitted the amendment to the states, Virginia would ratify it. Dissenting from a majority of the Virginia delegates, he voted for the article, which failed to be adopted.
Summers and other moderates personally appealed to President-elect Abraham Lincoln to intervene, but the immediate crisis was averted when the conference reconsidered the article and adopted it by a single vote. Summers again dissented from the Virginia majority and cast his vote in favor of compromise proposals that later failed to pass the Senate and that the House of Representatives let die when it adjourned without taking a vote.
Summers returned to Richmond, where he established himself as the floor leader of the Unionists in the Virginia convention and defended the work of the conference against denunciations that Tyler and other Virginia members had made. On 11 March, Summers spoke for about five hours in praise of the conference and the provisions of the failed constitutional amendment. Painting an optimistic picture of Northern willingness to make accommodations to safeguard Southern interests, he pleaded with delegates to reject secession and warned that disunion would weaken Virginia economically and politically. Summers also sought to ease fears that Lincoln's inaugural pledge to secure government property in seceded states would lead to war. He declared that the president had neither the practical necessity to protect those properties nor the power to raise an army for that purpose.
Consulting with Seward and the Lincoln Administration
In March, Summers began consulting through intermediaries with William Henry Seward, a former Whig whom Lincoln appointed secretary of state. Summers and opponents of secession from both the Whig and the Democratic Parties met secretly with Seward to keep apprised of the administration's plans. Seward was probably the person who floated Summers's name for a seat in Lincoln's cabinet to give Southern Unionists a position in the administration, and he did recommend Summers for appointment to a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Summers believed that the evacuation of army forts in the seceded states was essential to avoiding war. In mid-March, Unionists in the Virginia convention welcomed Seward's assurances that the administration would withdraw the garrison from Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, but within days Lincoln changed his mind, prompting Seward on 1 April to summon Summers to a meeting with the president. Unaware that Seward's telegram was a desperate attempt to reverse Lincoln's decision to hold and resupply Fort Sumter, Summers decided not to return to Washington because of important convention business. Two days later Summers declined an invitation from a Lincoln emissary and instead remained at the convention to vote against immediate secession. Lincoln had suggested that Summers send a representative should he be unable to attend, and a fellow Unionist, John Brown Baldwin, traveled to Washington in his place. On 4 April, Summers voted with a majority when the convention rejected a motion to secede.
Summers and the other Unionists in the convention drafted compromise proposals in hopes that one of them would bring the nation back together. He approved of the report, introduced by the convention's Committee on Federal Relations and on 13 April adopted by the convention, that contained provisions similar to those that the Peace Conference had proposed and that Congress had rejected. Events in South Carolina destroyed their efforts for peace. Following the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln called on the states for troops to enforce federal law and suppress the rebellion, an action that ignited an outcry in Virginia. Popular opposition to secession collapsed in much of eastern and central Virginia. On 17 April, Summers voted with the minority when the convention submitted an ordinance of secession to the voters for ratification.
A Final Plea and Resignation
Two days later Summers made a final plea that the convention also submit to the voters a constitutional amendment to repeal a clause in the Constitution of 1851 that placed a limit of $300 on the value of slaves for taxation purpose and required that all other personal property be taxed at its full market value. He and other western delegates charged that the limitation resulted in unfairly high taxation of the personal property of western Virginians, who owned few or no slaves. Summers expressed his hope that the Confederate states might yet reunite with those in the Union and so avoid a bloody and destructive war. He vowed to do whatever possible in the convention to ensure Virginia's future in the dramatically changed circumstances.
In the statewide referendum on 23 May, Kanawha County voters rejected secession by 520 to 1,697 but, along with a majority of the state's other voters, ratified the constitutional amendment on taxation. A few days later Summers resigned from the convention. Citing concerns for his family, he stated in a public letter that he had intended to return to Richmond for the June session to participate in revising the state constitution, but he may have been fearful for his own safety. The issue of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer in which he printed the explanation for his resignation also published an editorial that, while professing admiration for his intellect, described him as a timid man, a follower who lacked the moral character to provide the leadership the times demanded. To his critics, Summers's acceptance of the Confederacy as a political reality and his efforts to dissuade Union troops from entering the northwestern counties proved his treachery.
Criticism, Assessment, and Justification
Granville Davisson Hall, then a reporter for the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, later portrayed Summers inaccurately in a history of the founding of West Virginia as having been, in effect, a secessionist. Hall insinuated that Summers had been part of a conspiracy to instigate the firing on Fort Sumter and force a call to arms in the North that would drive Virginia Unionists into the arms of the secessionists. He also accused Summers of having failed to stop the war by suppressing the compromise offer that Lincoln has allegedly made to Baldwin to evacuate Fort Sumter if the Virginia convention adjourned without voting for secession.
Summers was distraught by Virginia's departure from the Union, the solemnity of which he compared to the death of a family member, and he was further disheartened by the secession of the northwestern counties from Virginia. He did not participate in the formation of the Restored government in Wheeling and took no part in the creation of West Virginia. Shunning public life, Summers focused his energies on his law practice. In August 1863, at the urging of friends, he made a speech in Wheeling to clarify his conduct during the secession crisis and also his subsequent political inactivity. Summers declared to a large, receptive audience that he had no regrets and reaffirmed his devotion to the Union and his opposition to rebellion. To critics who had accused him of disloyalty, he pointed out that early in the war Confederate brigadier general Henry Alexander Wise had threatened to hang him. Summers's enemies regarded his speech as a failed bid for exculpation. Still, he was not without admirers, as indicated by the three votes that he received in the balloting for United States senator that month in the West Virginia legislature. That year his fifteen-year-old son died after running away to join the Confederate army.
One supportive contemporary observed that Summers was "a Union man with Southern sympathies" whose mixed loyalties "displeased the partisans on both sides, and this was his course throughout the war; his head and his heart were at variance, and were never fully reconciled." His wife died on 13 October 1867. George William Summers died on 19 September 1868 at his Charleston residence and was buried at the family cemetery at Walnut Grove, in Putnam County. In 1978 all the graves were moved to Spring Hill Cemetery, in Charleston. Summers County, West Virginia, was named for him at its creation in 1871.
Sources Consulted: Biographies in George W. Atkinson, History of Kanawha County (1876), 252–255 (with variant birth date of 4 Mar. 1807), George W. Atkinson and Alvaro F. Gibbens, Prominent Men of West Virginia (1890), 214–217 (variant birth date of 4 Mar. 1807), Washington and Lee University Historical Papers 5 (1895): 23–25 (third quotation), National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1891–1984), 13:580 (birth date of ca. 1805), William Sydney Laidley, History of Charleston and Kanawha County West Virginia (1911), 103–109 (with birth date of 4 Mar. 1804), and George W. Atkinson, Bench and Bar of West Virginia (1919), 118–119; Patricia Clark Bulla, ed., My Dearest Husband: The Letters of Amacetta Laidley Summers to George W. Summers: 1842–1843 (1989), 5–6 (portrait on 17); letters in Ezra Walker Collection, Ohio University, in Laidley Collection, University of Michigan, and in Papers of Lewis and George W. Summers, West Virginia University; published speeches include Richmond Enquirer, 14 (first quotation), 16 Feb. 1832, Speech of Mr. Summers, of Virginia, on the Veto of the Provisional Tariff Bill (1842), Register of the Debates and Proceedings of the Va. Reform Convention (1851), and Supplement, 1850–1851 Convention Debates, no. 25, Library of Virginia (which also appears in condensed form in Speech of George W. Summers, of Kanawha, before the State Convention of Virginia, in Committee of the Whole, on the Basis of Representation [1851]), Richmond Whig and Public Advertiser, 28 Oct. 1851, First Anniversary Address before the Old Dominion Society of the City of New-York by the Hon. George W. Summers of Virginia (1860), 59 (second quotation), L. E. Chittenden, A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention (1864), George H. Reese and William H. Gaines Jr., eds., Proceedings of the Virginia State Convention of 1861 (1965), Speech of Hon. George W. Summers on Federal Relations in the Virginia Convention Delivered March 11, 1861 (1861), and Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, 12 June 1861, 4 Aug. 1863; Granville Davisson Hall, The Rending of Virginia: A History (1902), 548–562; obituaries in Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 30 Sept. 1868, and Charlestown, W.Va., Spirit of Jefferson, 6 Oct. 1868.
Written for the Dictionary of Virginia Biography by Donald W. Gunter.
Copyright 2010 by the Library of Virginia. All rights reserved.


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RN to B.S. in Nursing (Online): St. Mary Medical Center
Rider's Distinguishing Features
Rosemary Fliszar, PhD, RN, CNE
Assistant Professor II, Director of the BSN Program
The RN to BSN is specifically designed to advance the professional skills and credentials of licensed RNs.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Rider University #18 out of 189 institutions in the Northeast.
Transfer up to 90 credits! We will work with you to maximize your transferable credits.
Scholarships and payment plans for adult students and a designated financial aid counselor.
Seven-week courses with multiple entry dates year-round for fast track success.
For nearly 150 years, Rider University has been serving the academic needs of adult students with innovation and distinction.
Clinicals are completed independently to better accommodate your work and school responsibilities.
The entire 30-credit nursing core is offered completely online.
Remaining classes can be completed online or on campus
Tuition for RN to BSN Program / St. Mary Medical Center
St. Mary Medical Center employees are offered a 30% discount from Rider's standard part-time tuition rate for the 2018/2019 academic year.
|Cost per Credit Hour
|3 Credit Hour Course
|Fees per Course
|10 Nursing Courses
|Note: Tuition and fees are based on current tuition rates and are subject to change.
Scholarships are available for qualified students. Please call the 609-896-5036 for details.
Financial Assistance
Qualifying students may be eligible for the St. Mary Medical Center Tuition Reimbursement Benefit Program, which covers certain educational expenses each year. Rider will assist interested students in meeting with University financial aid counselors to explore financing options and tuition deferment.
For information about applying for financial aid visit the Financial Aid website.
Apply Now
Get a FREE transfer credit evaluation before you apply.
Scan copies of your transcripts and send to the Continuing Studies Admissions office at [email protected].
Admission Requirements
An earned associate degree or diploma in nursing from an accredited institution
Official transcripts from all institutions attended with a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA
Copies of a current/unrestricted RN license
Background Check
To Learn More
To make an appointment with an advisor for a no-obligation credit evaluation, please contact:
Rider University Admissions
For more information about the RN to BSN program, please contact:
Rosemary Fliszar
For information on educational benefits from St. Mary Medical Center, please contact
Monica Lozaga


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Paprika chicken
Nutrition and extra info
- Freezable
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal460
- fat18g
- saturates5g
- carbs26g
- sugars0g
- fibre2g
- protein42g
- salt1.03g
- 3 tbsp light olive oil
Olive oilol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, each cut into four pieces
- 1 onion, finely sliced
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 500g floury potatoes, peeled and cubed
The world's favourite root vegetable, the potato comes in innumerable varieties. A member of…
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
- 1 tsp paprika
A spice that's central to Hungarian cuisine, paprika is made by drying a particular type of…
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 100ml medium-dry Amontillado sherry
- 300ml tub fresh chicken stock
- 4 tbsp soured cream, to serve
- handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauté or deep frying pan over a medium heat. Season the chicken and add to the pan. Fry for about 4 mins until browned all over. Lift out of the pan and set aside. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and fry the onion for about 3 mins, until it is just softened, then add the garlic and cook for a further min.
Add the potatoes, mustard and sundried tomato paste to the pan, and cook for 1 min. Stir in the paprika, vinegar, sherry and stock. Bring to the boil and allow the liquid to reduce for 2 mins.
Return the chicken to the pan, cover and simmer for 10 mins. Stir well and simmer with the lid off for another 8 mins, or until the sauce is thickened and the potatoes and chicken cooked through. Can be frozen at this point for up to 1 month. Check the seasoning and serve in bowls with a dollop of soured cream and a sprinkling of parsley.


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Introducing Depth of Test (DOT)
For the last couple of years I have been particularly passionate and vocal on my projects and in the community about the importance of writing tests as close as possible to where the code is written. As a result I have been achieving easier and cheaper to maintain testing pyramids as opposed to expensive and brittle ice-cream cones. My passion stems from all the times that I saw, and wrote myself, test suites which attempted to achieve most of the high level scenario coverage through the user interface. I was one of the passionate advocates of this technique during a ThoughtWorks Technology Radar session where we collected new ideas. Now I am quite satisfied to see that the technique has recently been added to the adopt section of the latest radar.
Testing at the appropriate level
"The advent of BDD, testing frameworks like Cucumber, combined with browser automation tools like Selenium, has encouraged widespread use of acceptance testing at the browser level. This unfortunately encouraged doing the bulk of testing where the cost to run the tests is the greatest. Instead, we should test at the appropriate level, as close to the code as possible, so that tests can be run with maximum efficiency. Browser-level tests should be the icing on the cake, supported by acceptance and unit tests executed at appropriate layers"
Shallow Depth of Test
I believe that neologistic metaphors, like Ward Cunningham's Technical Debt, are extremely effective to explain concepts like this. I will explain a real world example and eventually I'll get to my neologism: Shallow Depth of Tests.
Let's say, hypothetically, as if I had never worked on one of these, that we have to implement a quote web application that has several business rule validations and if the details provided are valid, it gives the user a price. From the user's perspective, the app is pretty much like this:
Let's keep in mind that we want to avoid testing this system as a black box, so let's break it down and understand what's inside. The system's architecture is explained in more detailed in the image below:
- Javascript layer communicating to server side using JSON services
- Controller and mandatory validator
- Domain model, business rules and pricing calculator
- Data storage
The pricing calculator is a crucial component of this system. It has to be thoroughly tested in order to make sure that it provides the right price for several scenarios.If we decide to test pricing through the user interface, using a tool like WebDriver/Selenium, or any other tool that drives a browser the image below shows all the components that will be visited by these tests, I call these components on focus.
For pricing, there are several scenarios, maybe tens, sometimes hundreds of different combinations of factors that might affect the amount to be paid. This means that we will be visiting those components many times when all we are testing is the pricing calculator. In other words, everything will be on focus, when all we want to be focused is the pricing calculator component.
Here is when I start my neologistic metaphor… In optics, particularly in film and photography, there is the concept of depth of field:
"Depth of Field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image."
Therefore, adapting this definition to software testing:
"Depth of Test (DOT) is the distance between the nearest and farthest software components that get visited during the execution of a test."
It is important to point out that the definition mentions a "software component", which is not necessarily one "class" (OOP), or one "function" (FP). Components are logical entities that performs a small feature of the system. It could be an entire pricing calculator, a business rule validator or a simple string concatenation function. Each system will have its own components with various sizes.
Having defined that, if we want to test the pricing calculator mentioned above, we should keep it on focus and test it at a different level, not through the user interface, in this case a browser. If we do that, we will end up having a Shallow Depth of Test.
What I have learned and observed is that the more shallow the depth of tests, the cheaper is it to maintain and also the faster it is to execute them.


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Hello everyone…
Well, here we are, another post and it is nearly the month of March! Crazy stuff. Life is busy as ever and with the impending onset of the (admittedly, self-inflicted) training regime for the Tour of Pembrokeshire, it is set to get busier, I dare say. Apparently, it's a 12 week improvement plan, or something. I shall let you know how it is going.
Anyway, for one thing, I hope the weather picks up some time soon. A little while ago, I may have mentioned the onset of the back end of Storm Doris (thanks to the US for sending that across) but it seems that was a false alarm and this is now the time for Doris to hit. According to one of my my little weather gadgets, it is set to rain…..
For ease of reference, this little bulb, known in the lingo as a "Goethe Globe" is a weather predictor in that, once filled with liquid, a pocket of sealed air with a constant pressure is created inside the device. As the atmospheric pressure changes outside the glass, it will affect this sealed air. A high atmospheric pressure system will push the liquid down the spout, as the outside air is heavier than the trapped air inside. Low pressure will cause the trapped air to be heavier than the outside air and will push the water up the spout. High atmospheric pressure or a "low reading" in the spout usually indicates fair weather, while a "high reading" in the spout usually forecasts poor weather or a low pressure system. In this instance, it seems that it should have been raining buckets indoors!
However, I digress. I seem to recall that I promised you all a castle, or in German "ein schloss", so here we are. On the day in question, following the roads and my few euros worth of map, I happened upon Burresheim Castle. In so doing, I chose a unique place, as this castle, together with Eltz and Lissingen, is one of the few sites in the Eifel that have never been conquered or destroyed and have been able to withstand the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as numerous European upheavals since.
That being the case is all well and good, I was just struck by the fact it was a pretty good looking building all in all. From the moment you entered the grounds, you could tell this was a mature and well established property (click the link for an old painting of the castle) and was especially taken by the lovely gardens to the side. The effort that goes into the maintenance of the pyramid bushes is pretty awesome in itself.
Moving further in, a glance at the floor lets you know that this place has been around for a few years. In fact, the castle was built in the 12th century and Bürresheim was mentioned in documents for the first time in 1157 along with the owners at the time. You can see the age of the property by the visible ruts in the stone entrance way worn down by umpteen horses and carts transporting their wares ….
How is this for an olde worlde kitchen too eh? OK, so I know that all of the equipment here is most likely not original, but I am sure there is an attempt to make the fixtures and fittings as close to authentic as possible. Imagine rustling up dinner using the rickety cupboard and stone fireplace…..by candlelight. Respect to the cooks!
Talking of trying to be authentic, it is worth mentioning that what you see in the photos is not what you saw if you clicked on the link above to the original painting of the castle. The complex, which currently appears as a closed unit, has only been like this since the 15th century. Previously, they were two completely independent, non-connected and differently sized buildings. Once upon a time, the fortress of Bürresheim was secured by a few walls and drawbridges. The latter are nowadays buried and only a few remains are left of the walls. On other matters though, get a load of this door….that there is a piece if fine architecture. Beats IKEA hands down…..
It seems that this castle was so good, it even had a brief flutter with the movies. That's right, Burresheim is famous, albeit under different names. A brief exterior shot of the castle can be seen in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade where it features as the fictitious Brunwald Castle on the German-Austrian border, where Professor Henry Jones Sr is held. Additionally, it has featured in German domestic films for children as a kings castle, an advert showed the baroque garden as well as the castle in the background and in May 2009 filming took place for a German language version of Rumpelstiltskin. So, in honour of a static building being more famous than I, a further picture of the lovely exterior inclusive of gardens is due!
Onward now to a couple of water based images. On the way back from here, I stopped at what I thought was a pleasant lake for a leg stretch/walk. Judging by the large car park and numerous cafes, I thought it would be nice but it turned out to be very interesting too. What I had actually found was the Laacher See, an oval volcanic caldera lake around 1.5 miles in diameter up in the hills. It is part of the larger Eifel volcanic range and caldera features in the area, after an eruption formed the lake around 13,000 years ago. Since then it slowly filled with water but was expanded a bit in Roman times as the lava was quarried for millstones until the introduction of iron rollers for grinding corn. On the western side lies the Benedictine monastery of Maria Laach. The lake has no natural outlet, but is drained by a tunnel dug before 1200 and rebuilt several times since. As you can see, the nature of the rock makes the water as clear as a bell, which probably accounts for the popularity with tourists.
Having a Google, there are guesses of what this eruption might have appeared like at the time. SCIENCE ALERT! Much text about volcanoes now; please scroll down if you are likely to be bored easily or frightened by scales of the eruption in numbers! It is very interesting though, so please, hang on in there…..
So, for what seems a fairly small hole in the ground, the effects that it would have had were pretty far reaching and quite humbling. According to the scientific guff and in summary, volcanism in Germany can be traced back for millions of years, due to the collision between the African and Eurasian plates, but it has been concentrated in bursts associated with glacial advances and retreats. The initial blasts forming the Laacher See, which took place in late spring or early summer, flattened trees up to 3 miles away. The magma opened a route to the surface which erupted for about ten hours, with the plume probably reaching a height of 20 miles. Activity continued for weeks or maybe even months, with pyroclastic flows travelling 6 or 7 miles away covering the area with hot sticky mud. According the surveys, near the crater deposits are over 150 feet thick and even many miles distant, they are still 30 feet thick. In this eruption, all plants and animals for a distance of about 40 miles would most likely have been exterminated.
Unbelievably, the sticky mud actually seems to have dammed the Rhine River and created a lake! When this burst, the water flooded downstream and traces of this mud have found in Bonn, 50 miles away. Fallout effects have been recorded in an area of more than 120,000 square miles, covering from central France to northern Italy and from southern Sweden to Poland.
The wider effects of the eruption on weather were pretty harsh too, amounting to several years of cold summers and up to two decades of environmental disruption in Germany. However, the lives of the local population, known as the Federmesser, were massively disrupted. Before the eruption, they were a sparsely distributed people who existed by foraging and hunting, using both spears and bows and arrows. According to archaeologist Felix Riede, after the eruption the area most affected by the fallout (the area nearby occupied by the Federmesser) appears to have been largely depopulated and population shifted to southwest Germany and France. However, he states that these people seem had a lower level of toolmaking skills than the Federmesser and appear to have lost the bow and arrow technology. In Riede's view the decline was a direct result from the disruption caused by the Laacher See volcano eruption. In essence, the eruption set the evolution of northern Europe back a little, which is pretty blooming scary when you consider the existing volcanoes and the population nearby in parts of Europe such as Naples.
Anyway, not that anything is likely to happen in our lifetimes, let us bask in the prettiness of the clear water and try and forget the geological time-bombs around the world!
That was a little bit of a sobering note to end up on wasn't it? Sorry about that. You have to admit that it is fascinating though isn't it? The fact that surveys can find things like this out and a picture can be built up of what might have happened, is very interesting to me and I hope that it was for you too. Don't worry, I don't go all science all the time, there was a few easily accessible articles that had clear illustrations in, so I couldn't help myself. Calm your fevered brows with a nice green landscape….
You're welcome. Next time, I shall avoid science, honest. Thanks for reading as ever, see you soon with a more light hearted blog, promise!


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Corn and wheat staged a large rally today to finish the week. December corn finished 12 ¼ cents higher at $7.25 ¼, December wheat up 22 cents at $7.61 ¼, and November beans up 7 ½ cents at $13.68 ½.
The market is still heavily supporting corn on supply concerns. Next week we have the highly anticipated Pro Farmer crop tour. This can provide a lot of volatility in the markets as reports start coming in out of the field. Either way it will be one of the main focus points of the market.
Supply concerns have obviously been high enough lately to keep the price well supported since we are just off the contract highs. Rains are expected to be favorable in the short term. It all depends on where the national average yield goes from here. Currently for corn it is set at 153 by the USDA which is well below the trend. If you look at the last 7 of the 8 times the USDA has dropped the August yield estimate significantly, the final yield ended up being MORE than the August projection. The point is many analysts are still expecting further final yield reductions which may end up being the case, but we have to remember that the USDA has a history of overestimating these reductions when it comes to the August reports. I have the December 2011 corn chart showing the contract lows at 3.70 all the way to this week's contract highs at $7.33 ½. We came into the year expecting a tight carryout and the latest S & D report estimates that we are going out of the year with a surplus of 940 Million bushels. For the 2011-2012 corn crop they are projecting a tight carryout but supply and demand are obviously still widely open. The point is, the market has priced a lot of these concerns in right now and that is why we have doubled the price from the contract lows. Technical retracements and moving averages are all sharply below current levels and the funds are still loaded up with long positions. If production turns out to be worse than what they are projecting then we can obviously see the market continue to take out the highs, but we will have to figure in some demand destruction as well to ration supply. Ethanol numbers and exports are nothing to write home about right now for corn, but until we get more definitive information about the size of the crop they could keep this market supported on production concerns.
With the Dow Jones having another 200+ point swing today it looks clear that the market isn't ready to drop the volatility just yet. We want to stay in sustainable positions and stay well hedged at these levels. Please call your broker if you have any questions.
Best Regards,
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DWTS14 Cast – Hunches & Suspicions about Sherri Shepherd & Sam Champion
This is a post that Vogue & I decided to write after making some interesting observations on Twitter & TV 🙂 Keep in mind that no other news outlet has reported on these two as "casting rumors" this season, and that this is just Vogue and I postulating based on our observations and some gut feelings. Since the casting rumors so far have been kinda sparse, we figured we'd go ahead and share. But read this with a grain of salt, if you will 😉
First up, we have Sherri Shepherd – and with that, I'm going to turn it over to Vogue:
Vogue: Thanks Courtney! Well, on the day Dance With Me Studios was filming for the Christmas and New Years Nancy Grace shows, @PulseCreativeNY at twitter was posting pictures promoting what was going down. She posted twitter photos of Maks, Val, Carson, Tristan, and Nancy to name just a few. In the mix and to my surprise, she also posted a picture of SHERRI SHEPHERD. At first I didn't think anything of it, but, then I got to thinking of the recent rumors about Sherri dancing on Dancing With The Stars and for several seasons now. Sherri has expressed great interest, but, the timing was always wrong at the time. I quickly pmed Heidi about it to see if she was at twitter to see what she thought….especially being Sherri was clothed in work out clothes very similar to what Nancy Grace always wore for rehearsing. Sherri was also pictured with VAL! Now maybe this is something and maybe not since, as you know, Dance With Me Studios is where they teach people how to dance? The interesting part is, no sooner had @PulsecreativeNY posted that picture, she quickly took it down (kicks self for not taking screen shot in time). Now, my suspicions grew even more. lol Another interesting note is that Sherri currently follows Tony, Cheryl, Val, and Kirstie Alley….but, not Maks (atleast not since the last time I checked). She's talked a lot at twitter about dieting and getting into shape…why? It's like she's preparing for something…is it…could it be….Dancing With The Stars? 💡 🙂 In covering all of our bases, we thought we better mention it.
Heidi adds: Highly suspicious indeed and, as you might imagine, I asked Vogue what she would do next time she saw something "interesting" on twitter. SCREENSHOT. Immediately. 🙂 Before doing anything else. In regard to Sherri herself – I vote NO. Nothing against Sherri, but if she's already been spending time over at Dance with Me and is taking lessons?? Ha! And you though Derek has had advantages!! CheaterCheaterCheater (sung in 12 year old voice)!! Who was the last contestant who took ballroom before DWTS?? Donny Osmond is the only one I know of. Didn't think it was fair then, don't think it would be fair now. Of course, maybe Sherri just wants to get in shape without going on the show (what fun would that be?) and is doing it at Dance With Me. Who knows?? Well, we will in 30 days or so. 🙂
*photo courtesy ABC
Now we move on to a guy who has only come to my attention as a possible contestant in the past few hours: Sam Champion. For those of you who don't know, Sam is the weather guy on Good Morning America, and is a HUGE fan of DWTS. He usually live tweets Monday night's performance shows, and even had a Monday night "Tweet-off" with Chris Cuomo (a former fellow GMA anchor who's now with 20/20) last year – DWTS vs. Monday Night Football. In short – the guy obviously loves DWTS 🙂 Anyway! It was announced on GMA this morning that the cast would be announced on GMA the morning of Feb. 28…and who was the most excited out of all the anchors? Sam. Who was off-camera, but made a point of jumping in the shot when Robin made the announcement? Sam. Who was disappointed when Robin said he'd have to wait until Feb. 28 to hear the cast? Sam. Who acted extra coy & fiddly during the whole segment? Sam. If you haven't yet, go watch the video Vogue posted – Sam acts unusually squirrely, and seems extremely excited to announce the cast. Perhaps because he's part of it…? You also have to take into account that the cast announcements for the past 4 seasons of DWTS have all occured during The Bachelor or The Bachelorette – big primetime ratings draws. Far bigger than the audience they're likely to get from announcing the cast in a morning slot…so what would entice TPTB to change the timing, you ask? Perhaps the fact that one of the GMA anchors is going to be one of this season's celebs? If you think about it, the reason they switched to announcing the cast during the The Bachelor in season 10 was because Jake, that season's Bachelor, was going to be a part of it. What's to say they wouldn't do the same this time around? To add to my growing suspicions, I was exchanging emails with my lovely mother this morning, and the minute I mentioned we thought someone from GMA was going to be part of the cast (all the anchors were acting kinda odd), her immediate response was "It's Sam Champion, isn't it?" Apparently Robin made a comment on the air recently about Sam being a good dancer – a comment that seemed a bit unusual, given the context. Perhaps a bit of a hint from Robin? Draw your own conclusions, but Sam's behavior this morning practically screamed "I've got a secret…I'm going to be on DWTS!!!!" to me 😉
Heidi: As you know, I have to add my two cents to this whole thing, too. My response to Courtney this morning was "well, it's either Sam or Robin" – based mainly on the fact that Robin is also a fan to the point that she's had Maks teach her a few moves. 🙂 I say no to Robin (but not as much of a no as I do to Sherri and I won't be mad if she's on) and YES YES YES to Sam. I would love to see him on the show. Everyone on that show is a giant though, with Sam being about 6'3″ or so. But they've had taller. I think Sam is a ray of sunshine and he could fill the Ken doll slot if Derek isn't around. 😉
*photo courtesy ABC
So what do you guys think? Could we be seeing Sherri & Sam hoofing as contestants on season 14? 🙂


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call forth
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.
call forth
1. To instruct or signal someone to step forward or come to the front of a group. A noun or pronoun can be used between "call" and "forth." Counselor, you may call forth your first witness. Do not step forward until they call you forth.
2. To induce a certain reaction, emotion, or behavior. A noun or pronoun can be used between "call" and "forth." Lots of people tear up at the art museum. Beautiful artwork is known to call very strong emotions forth. The catastrophe called forth great bravery from the victims and emergency responders alike.
call someone forth
to call to someone to come out or come forward. The principal called Wally forth. Please call forth Wally again.
call something forth
[for an event] to draw a particular quality or induce a particular behavior. The battle called extraordinary courage forth from the soldiers. It called forth great courage.
call forth
1. To summon someone to come forward; beckon someone: The judge called me forth and asked me to tell what happened at the crime scene. The coach called forth the winners and presented them with a trophy.
2. To evoke or elicit some result or reaction: The love song called forth sad memories. I held back my tears through most of the story, but the tragic ending called them forth.