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TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian study that many experts say has major flaws has revived debate about the value of mammograms. The research suggests that these screening X-rays do not lower the risk of dying of breast cancer while finding many tumors that do not need treatment.
The study gives longer follow-up on nearly 90,000 women who had annual breast exams by a nurse to check for lumps plus a mammogram, or the nurse's breast exam alone. After more than two decades, breast cancer death rates were similar in the two groups, suggesting little benefit from mammograms.
It's important to note that this study did not compare mammograms to no screening at all, as most other research on this topic has. Many groups have not endorsed breast exams for screening because of limited evidence that they save lives.
Critics of the Canadian study also say it used outdated equipment and poor methods that made mammograms look unfairly ineffective.
The study was published Wednesday in the British journal BMJ.
Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Many studies have found that mammography saves lives, but how many and for what age groups is debatable. It also causes many false alarms and overtreatment of cancers never destined to become life-threatening.
In the U.S., a government-appointed task force that gives screening advice does not back mammograms until age 50, and then only every other year. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40. Other countries screen less aggressively. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years.
The Canadian study has long been the most pessimistic on the value of mammograms. It initially reported that after five years of screening, 666 cancers were found among women given mammograms plus breast exams versus 524 cancers among those given the exams alone.
After 25 years of follow-up, about 500 in each group died, suggesting mammograms were not saving lives. The similarity in the death rates suggests that the 142 "extra" cancers caught by mammograms represent overdiagnosis — tumors not destined to prove fatal, study leaders concluded.
The work was immediately criticized. The American College of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging called it "an incredibly misleading analysis based on the deeply flawed and widely discredited" study. Mammograms typically find far more cancers than this study did, suggesting the quality was poor, the groups contend.
In a letter posted by the medical journal, Dr. Daniel Kopans, a radiologist at Harvard Medical School, described outdated machines and methods he saw in 1990, when he was one of the experts asked to review the quality of mammograms used in the study.
"I can personally attest to the fact that the quality was poor," he wrote. "To save money they used secondhand mammography machines" that gave poor images, failed to properly position breasts for imaging, and did not train radiologists on how to interpret the scans, he wrote.
The study leader, Dr. Anthony Miller of the University of Toronto, said it was "completely untrue" that inferior equipment or methods were used.
Still, the study highlights the fact that mammograms are an imperfect tool that lead to many false alarms, needless biopsies and treatment of many tumors that would never threaten a woman's life.
"Overdiagnosis is not an anomaly in the study from Canada. This has been compellingly demonstrated in research from the U.S. and Europe," said another study leader, Dr. Cornelia Baines of the University of Toronto.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in New Hampshire, spoke on the issue at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December.
"Screening is a choice, not a public health imperative. There are trade-offs here," he said.
"The people who stand to gain the most from screening are the people at greatest risk of the disease" — older women who are more likely to have breast cancer and those not too old that they are likely to die of something else, he said.
Death rates from breast cancer have fallen mostly because of dramatic improvement in treatments, he and other doctors have said.
"The better we are at treating clinically evident disease, the less important it becomes to find it early," Welch said.
A big caveat: The Canadian study was on routine mammograms to screen healthy women. No one doubts the value of diagnostic mammograms — more detailed X-rays when a problem is suspected or after a lump has been found.
Study disputes value of routine mammograms


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FRENCH Durotone DUR-O-TONE
Durotone Papers
The unique DUR-O-TONE paper, made exclusively by French paper mills, is a great addition to any creative project. We carry this durable line of paper in various sizes & weights. Durotone is made up of 11 color selections.
100% recycled/30% post-consumer (All colors except Butcher Extra White)
Acid free / Chlorine free / Laser & Ink Guaranteed for Durotone Text Weight (Cover may be limited by its thickness)
Durotone BUTCHER has a unique look and touch. Durotone BUTCHER'S nice slick feel offers an identity all its own.
Durotone NEWSPRINT along with Packing Brown Wrap & Steel Grey, have an authentic rustic look and earthy feel. Here at Paper-Papers we stock all 11 colors in the paper & various envelope sizes.

subset: commoncrawl


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PHP Judy is a PECL extension for the » Judy C library implementing dynamic sparse arrays.
A Judy array is a complex but very fast associative array data structure for storing and looking up values using integer or string keys. Unlike normal arrays, Judy arrays may be sparse; that is, they may have large ranges of unassigned indices.
A Judy array consumes memory only when populated yet can grow to take advantage of all available memory. Judy's key benefits are: scalability, performance, memory efficiency, and ease of use. Judy arrays are designed to grow without tuning into the peta-element range, scaling near O(log-base-256) -- 1 more RAM access at 256 X population.


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From Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions, explore a vintage world inhabited by living Russian stacking dolls as you jump into more than 100 unique dolls and use their special abilities to solve a wide variety of puzzles & challenges. Play as Charlie Blackmore, the world's tiniest Russian stacking doll, and embark on an adventure to rescue Charlie's family from the nefarious industrialist known only as the "Baron." This imaginative 3rd person puzzle adventure game will take you on a journey from a bustling Royal Train Station to a high-flying Zeppelin as you collect unique dolls and matched stacking sets to display in Charlie's secret hideout, where you chronicle your adventures.
- 2/9/2011
- Double Fine
- Xbox Game Studios
- Action & Adventure, Role Playing
- Dolby Digital
Get it here. Play it there.
Buy Xbox content on Xbox.com. Your Xbox 360 console will automatically download the content next time you turn it on and connect to Xbox Live.
Learn More


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Small charity
Organisation details
- Registered Charity Number: 1142313
This organisation is demonstrating their commitment to good fundraising practice. They have committed to follow the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise.
The organisation can use the following badge on their fundraising materials.
Contact details
In order to make a complaint about fundraising, please contact:
- Name:
- Paul Gates
- Email:
- firstname.lastname@example.com
Fundraising Regulator Registration Details
- Date of initial registration:
- Most recent registration:
- Registration expiry (Organisations have 3 months to renew their registration):


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Puzzle Categories
Download a FREE Solution for your puzzles!
Cast Elk
Object | Disassemble and Reassemble the Puzzle |
Difficulty | Level 9 - Gruelling |
Brand | Hanayama |
Type | Hanayama Metal Puzzles |
Dimensions | 2 in x 1 3/4 in x 1 1/2 in / 5 cm x 4.6 cm x 3.7 cm |
Packaging | Cardboard Box |
Watch the video review! Read reviews, and write your own! Request the FREE solution for this item!
Product Info
Note: Our level rating system is different than Hanayama's. Hanayama's level 1 is equivalent to our level 5.... level 6 is equivalent to our level 10.
At the end of the 19th century, Britain experienced a huge puzzle craze. I managed to pick up a number of puzzles famous during that period in flea markets, despite their rarity. Based on these original puzzles from Britain's famous puzzle period, this is one that we have successfully revived in its new form.
The key word here is "antlers". Can you free the antlers... and then put them back together again?
Customer Reviews
Disclaimer: These reviews are written by our customers. Puzzle Master makes every attempt to keep these posts informative and relevant. If you find a post objectionable or inappropriate, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected]
One of the Easiest "high" rated puzzle, take 5 mins to solve, there are better ones
A bit challenging a first but after some work at it. Was able to solve it.
I thought I was pretty smart, but this one stumped me. Level 9 is accurate.
To my eye, this is the prettiest of the Cast series. It's also a remake of a classic British puzzle, which I think is a nice idea. The original puzzle has identical pieces, so it's easier to solve. Hanayama updated it by making the pieces slightly different so only one of the mirror image solutions works. That doesn't make it that much more difficult though. I only gave it four stars because of the inaccurate difficulty rating. For comparison, Vortex is a Level 9 (Hanayama 6) and has a much longer solution with more intricate movements and many possible dead ends. Elk is very pretty and has a nice subtle solution, but is overrated by one or two difficulty levels. Since Puzzlemaster has already developed solutions for the whole Hanayama series, I'd suggest that someone there could re-assess the ratings instead of just converting the Hanayama ratings one-for-one.
Δεν μπορώ να το λύσω
This puzzle is pure masterpiece. Solved it within an hour, didn't understand, why. Then tried to solve it again with no luck, spend almost a day until noticed one very important thing. It looks so simple, but it's really deep and clever puzzle with a "twist" :) Must have!
An indeed very good puzzle and for me very difficult to solve i did it by luck the first time and then i saw the routine and got it finally. The amazing is that after a while i forgot how it was solved and it was like have bought it for the first time. Highly recommended.
My first Hanayama, very, very happy. I've had it a long time and absolutely could not get it apart, I ended up looking at the solution and heating, and then got is apart and back together. I then spent some time figuring out why it works, which I now fully understand and can solve intuitively, without memorising a set path. Those who think the two pieces are not the same don't understand, one has N.O.B, and one 'Hanayama', but apart from that they are the same, it doesn't really make a difference if they were labelled differently. In fact, it would have been better I think if they didn't label them differently and also put the deers face on both sides of each piece, forcing you to recognise the small feature that allows you to solve it to know which way each piece was facing. Plan on buying more, get it!
One of the cast puzzles I solved relatively quickly. As others have said before me, the fact that there are few possible moves could lead you easily to the indeed impossible-to-spot solution. The two elks are not perfectly similar, as well as the antlers of each. There are differences only in parts of the millimeter, which lead to only one possible solution, and not two symmetrical. But I like the design itself very much. Such elaborate and beautiful in the same time.
Clever, aesthetic. One of the best Hanayamas.
I bought this knowing it looked great and them solved it within an hour. Then found myself studying it and why there was only one way to solve. After that I brought it to work and had a blast seeing others struggle with it four hours only to end up back at the starting point. Worth it for me.
awesome puzzle, but why level 6? it sould have been level 4.
This was my first hanayama puzzle. I really like this one for that reason and I like the design too. It's not too difficult but it offers a little challenge.
Awsome thing, like it very much , HIGLY RECOMMEND FOR BEGGINNERS!
The elk is a level 10? Yikes - I received one of these as swag at an IT trade show and had it apart and back together again reliably within about 10 minutes. Who decides on these ratings?
After spending two days on Enigma and finally managed to understand it, i bought Elk, both level 6 rated. I was disappointed to have Elk understood within half an hour. Very nice puzzle but was hoping for more of a challenge.
Really good puzzle but not a 10. Nice looks and horns to restrict movement. A beautiful piece of work.
This puzzle doesn't deserve the difficulty rating, there are much harder Hanayama ones available. That being said, it is one of those puzzles that if you pick it up again a few months later, it is just as challenging to do as the first time (just not THAT challenging).
great looking puzzle. very challenging the first time around, but once you figure it out its not terribly hard to put back together. this is one of my favorites. deffinately worth the "10" rating though.
This is the Hanayama puzzle that got me addicted. I've purchased eight more since! This puzzle just feels good in the hands. If you jostle this around long enough you will get it apart, and maybe even back together. But to really solve it and be able to quickly assemble/disassemble at will is a whole different story. Enigma was harder, but this is still my favorite due to its "elegance."
Bf came home with small box with puzzle inside. Says if you can open it by tomorrow night you will get a Bday gift. Its tomorrow 6:50pm and i still cant open it. I meen its fun but i want my Bday GIFT!!!!!I
Hard. Still figuring it out after only half an hour. Great difficulty and fun.
Great puzzle.. great workmanship. Pretty. Possible to randomly stumble on solution which ruins fun, but can also solve it without realizing like me. After about 15 min of jingling noticed unique feature, and had pre-solve state several times, but for over an hour stubborn thinking THATs too easy and there must be some elaborate way. Good thing I looked at the clue given on the box and solved it then before going to bed or I would have been up all night..
i've had this thing for two weeks and still can't get it apart i've given it to many friends and co-workers and it hasn't been apart yet. I would download the solution but even that isn't being sent. this is the best of the six puzzles i have purchased so far.
I really liked this puzzle. There are not many steps, but one is counterintuitive in a clever way. I thought Chain, News, and Nutcase, and Vortex were harder.
Loved it. My husband also took it apart by accident in a few minutes, but took hours to get it back together, so be careful! A lot of fun, highly recommended!
This puzzle took me twenty minutes to get apart but took a bit of time to figure out why. I think I may have gotten lucky but still don't consider this level appropriate. Over all not a bad puzzle.
The funny thing about this puzzle is that the solution should apply symmetrically, but because metal is removed at strategic locations during manufacture, only one sequence is possible. In other words, mirror image solutions should work, but do not. That is probably why each piece is uniquely labeled.
It was not so easy to solve it at first time, but when you get it it´s just three moves and it is open. Still I recommend this. It is really worth of buying.
it awesome im still having trouble figuring it out but to me thats better i love a brain teaser
This puzzle did seem easier than suggested, but it still took me some time to figure out the secret. There is only one way to solve it. This puzzle is also very nice looking... OOOOOHHH pretty...
Very nice-looking. However, I was a bit disappointed by its difficulty. Either I am very lucky, either this puzzle is not what it seems. I solved it 3 times within 10 minutes, when I still hadn't found the trick, and this kind of puzzle is the first for me. Anyway, the sound it makes when twisting and manipulating it is great.


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Are you ready for your next trade show? If you're heading out for your first one, you may find that you have little of the necessary supplies to make an impressive display. Maybe you're preparing for another trade show after several successful ones, and you want to change your display to draw more attention or fit a new booth size. Rather than buying everything you need, Godfrey Group makes it easier with our rental trade show booth options.
Trade show booth rental allows you to rent the components for impressive trade show displays. Please scan through some of our custom rental display examples below, viewable by booth size. This is not a comprehensive catalog of all of our rental exhibits, but rather some of our most popular designs. Our rentals are turnkey, including round trip shipping, installation, dismantle, graphics, lighting, etc.
If you see something that fits your rental needs, contact Godfrey Group or call (800) 789-9394 to learn more about our rental process.
Tote bag


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All Roads Lead to Customer Satisfaction and Compliance in 2013
Jojy Mathew, Capgemini
Jim Washburn, Capgemini
Update Core Banking Systems: The typical core banking system is decades old and regulatory imperatives such as Basel III and CCAR reporting demand greater data availability, consistency, quality, and visibility across the bank than many core systems can provide. Banking institutions realize they need to make changes. The costs associated with system maintenance can be fairly expensive but implementing an entirely new system would require a substantial investment that a banking institution may not feel is feasible.
The solution is to gradually update a core banking system with the aim to center operations around the customer, placing the end-user at the heart of the platform. Modernized core systems can provide banks with faster and less costly ways to manage their operations. Research shows that if a bank can eliminate between fifty to one hundred percent of duplicated activities, it could reduce between seven to thirteen percent in total manufacturing and processing costs. Additionally, delivering banking services via multiple-channels is also a must now for attracting and retaining customers. As the customer base is transforming to one that is more mobile technology aware, a modernized core-banking system is a key enabler for a bank to take advantage of multiple banking channels such as web and mobile.
Re-architect Your CRM Systems to Address Mobile Conundrums: The smart phone explosion and easy access to payment apps have resulted in mobile payments usage at a rapid pace, with 17 billion mobile payments processed per year by 2017 according to Capgemini and RBS' 2012 World Payments Report. Getting to know your customer better will start and end with the mobile device. Those without the tools or CRM systems to capture valuable insights from this channel to more effectively cater to customers' needs and increase their satisfaction will face significant obstacles to success in the coming years.
Don't Tolerate Silos as an Excuse for Ineffective Data Management: Industry consolidation and M&A will likely keep a breakneck pace over the coming year and both have created enormous challenges for institutions trying to align and make sense of the voluminous customer data coming through their doors. Institutions may very well have a multitude of data tools at their disposal to address the challenge but tools won't generate beneficial outcomes such as knowing which branch location a customer most frequents unless banks leverage the true power of innovative technologies such as Big Data and make analytics a core focus for effective business decision making.
More importantly, efficient data management and analytics will support the C-suite. Senior leadership is feeling pressure for increased regulatory requirements from entities such as the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (FRB) for information and data management to support risk and compliance reporting. Institutionalizing Data Governance and ascertaining the quality of data is also becoming paramount for banks led by reputational, regulatory and risk management mandates. Organizations need now, more than ever, specified stakeholders and leaders for driving a data management initiative such as a Chief Data Officer to establish, manage and support reporting of institutional data in the most cost effective, transparent and efficient ways possible.
Investing in Customer Master Data: The silo breakdown also points to a need for investing in customer master data. By aggregating customer data across products and services, customers will be the true beneficiaries. Having a single view of the customer is the catalyst needed for increasing the level of customization banks can deliver through numerous channels such as mobile or online.
These considerations might be viewed as significant undertakings but banks must bring operational efficiencies to the forefront and improve availability of information to enable bank management to make better decisions. Doing so will not only directly or indirectly improve customer satisfaction and meet regulatory demands, but will also adapt to the changing technology, product and services landscape in the process.
Joyj Mathew is Global Practice Leader of Enterprise Information Management & Strategy Consulting and Jim Washburn is Global Practice Leader of Core Banking at Capgemini Financial Services.


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Your business is unique, and it takes a personalized business planning approach to help you create, grow and protect your business's value.
Whether you're thinking about launching a new business or hoping to expand an existing one, we can help you create, grow and protect your business's value with comprehensive business planning services.
We'll work with you to develop a personalized financial plan with solutions designed to meet the unique needs of your business, with strategies to:
- Integrate all aspects of financial planning for your business and your personal life to ensure success on both fronts.
- Minimize risk by being prepared for the unexpected.
- Safeguard your business with coverage to help offset the loss of cash flow if you become sick or hurt.
- Recruit and retain employees with competitive benefits programs.
- Enhance your benefits programs to reward employees who are key to the success of your business.
- Transition your business smoothly with a properly designed and funded business succession plan.


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The Injen RD series is a cold air intake system for the enthusiast craving mid-range power. The intake tube is strategically placed behind the front bumper to acquire colder denser air. Although most of the Injen RD series are a one-piece design several are two-piece designs due to the mass air flow meters. Every Injen RD system is certified or pending by the California Air Resource Board and backed by Injen Technology's limited lifetime warranty.
Installation Instructions
Installation Instructions
This Part Fits:
Year | Make | Model | Submodel |
1999-2000 | Honda | Civic | Si |


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RAZR X HL (High Launch) Hybrids are designed to help amateurs improve their game.
You could earn up to 41 points with this purchase when you join Callaway Rewards!
Designed to help amateurs improve their game with these highly versatile hybrid clubs. Shots fly straighter, higher, and longer. Vertical CG Optimization lowers CG, Zero Roll Design on the clubface increases distance and creates softer landings, and the Inertia Driven Design increases hosel offset which squares clubface impact. Purchase the RAZR X HL Hybrids with the RAZR X HL Irons.
The Clubface with Zero Roll gives a higher launch angle on low face shots for softer landings and increased distance.
The sweet spot is bigger because of precision shaping of the thickness of the clubhead face. This leads to longer distance and hotter ball speeds.
The crown is thinner with a lower CG, which lines it up with the area most amateurs hit the ball. This feature allows for strong, high trajectories that land softer while still flying farther.
The foot head on the club heads is slightly increased for exceptional forgiveness and a high MOI. The clubface is more square at impact because of the increased hosel, which also provides a confident look at address.


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Since I am not good at cooking, I always have to rely on very simple and easy meals which I can handle. The entire "process" requires carefull planning as well...I'll have to make sure the lunches do not "repeat" itself too often, and I try not to overlap what we have for lunch with our dinner meals...you know, I'll make it a point not to have chicken for lunch and chicken again for dinner, and so on. On top of that, I still have to ensure the kids get to get their greens and maintain a balanced diet. The rest of the post will feature what I came up with for the past three days.
Set 1: Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Pasta
This is a rather easy meal to whip up, and one of the few dishes that my kids keep asking me to cook for them. Since I ran out of fresh cream, I used a can of mushroom soup for the sauce. To make up for the "illegal" use of canned soup in this dish, I added fresh chicken thigh meat (boiled and sliced into bite sizes) and fresh shitake mushrooms. These were stir-fried with some garlic and added to the pot of mushroom soup...with just a dash of peppers and no other seasoning, the sauce was poured over a plate of angel hair noodles. I liked the "woody" taste from these fresh mushrooms.
We had the pasta dish with some salads...the two of them were trying their best to finish their share of the raw lettuce, zucchini and cherry tomatoes...although the kids do eat cooked vegetables, they are still not comfortable chewing raw greens ;)
Set 2: Cha Soba with Onigiri (Rice ball)
This is the first time I have made this Cha Soba (cold noodles) dish for my kids. I added a few Onigiri (rice balls) to complete the meal. This soba dish was really not authentic as I omitted the other condiments such as raw quail egg, spring onions and wasabi...knowing very well that the kids would push these aside.
These assorted rice balls were filled with pork floss in the middle, and coated with black & white sesame seeds and some furikake seasonings.
My younger boy prefers the rice ball over the cold noodles...he ate 3 in a row!
Set 3: Hotdog
Our lunch today...hotdog with tortilla chips. This is another fast to cook, quick to eat meal :p
My boys helped put together the sandwich when they were back from school. I added some sour wriggle worm candies as a treat.
Here's my version...topped with some hot & spicy salsa sauce (my better half gave me this idea). If you like spicy food, this is the way to go!!
Now, what are we going to have for lunch next week?!!


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High-speed rail players join forces for purchasing power
by Kevin Freking THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Officials with Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority said they envision that the two systems will purchase about 60 trains over the next decade.
By Kevin Freking
WASHINGTON—The two biggest players in the nation's pursuit of high-speed rail said Thursday they'll work together to search for trains that will operate at up to 220 miles per hour along both coasts of the U.S.
Officials with Amtrak and the California High-Speed Rail Authority said they envision that the two systems will purchase about 60 trains over the next decade. The first order could take place next year.
The aim is for manufacturers to design trains that will work for both systems. In the process, their combined buying power should generate better pricing from manufacturers.
"By combining our buying power, potentially, we can drive the market in a way that we can't if we purchase separately," said Jeff Morales, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.
California is expected to begin construction on its high-speed rail in the summer. The first 65-mile segment will run from Merced to Fresno.
The high-speed rail efforts in California have come under increased scrutiny by members of Congress who say it has become too expensive to build and operate. The more ties it has with Amtrak, the better its future prospects might be, but officials said the announcement was not designed to bolster high-speed rail in California.
"It doesn't make any sense whatsoever to go out have a different set of standards for California or any other high-speed train," said Amtrak President and CEO Joe Boardman. "So, no, it's about doing the right thing for the United States."
Morales said the high-speed line that would serve California has much in common with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in terms of population, traffic congestion and economic output.
"If the case is there for investing in the Northeast, that same case can be made for the West Coast and California. We think there's very good reason to look at them as a pair," Morales said. "That's something we're talking to Amtrak about, to align our interests where it makes senses to align them."


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Paul Walker Autopsy Report -- Horrifying Injuries
Paul Walker Autopsy Report Horrifying Injuries
Paul Walker's entire body was charred through the skin it was burned so badly ... this according to the autopsy ... burned so bad none of his organs were suitable for donation.
According to the report ... obtained by TMZ ... Walker's body was laying supine in the passenger seat in a "pugilistic stance" -- that's a defensive position, as if he were bracing himself for impact.
He had multiple fractures throughout his body, including his jaw, collarbone, and left upper arm. There were also various ribs and pelvic fractures.
The report concludes Walker died from "combined effects of traumatic and thermal injuries" sustained from the Nov. 30 crash in Santa Clarita, CA.
According to the report, the L.A. County Coroner is preserving portions of Paul's organs in a jar -- sources tell us tissues are kept for a certain period of time in case of lawsuits.
Roger Rodas -- the driver -- suffered major head trauma with the top portion of his skull fractured and his brain exposed.
No alcohol or drug traces were found in either body.
The report also says there was "scant soot in Walker's trachea" -- suggesting he took a few breaths after impact. Sources close to the investigation, however, tell TMZ, they believe both men died almost immediately.
And the report goes on ... Paul had 14% carbon monoxide saturation in his blood stream ... the normal level is 2%. Roger had 10%.
According to the report ... after impact the car spun 180 degrees, struck a tree and nearly tore in half before exploding in flames.


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Where Dora Don't Go
WonderBaby has discovered her nether regions.
She's known that they were there for some time, of course, but she hadn't really done any, um, exploring. But she's recently discovered what a fascinating area it is, and has been checking it out at every opportunity.
The character of her exploration, however, is not the idle tourism of which I've sometimes heard other parents speak. It is not the casual, inattentive perusal of parts hitherto unknown, the distracted poke or prod, the almost accidental discovery of something only mildly interesting. No, WonderBaby's discovery of her nether regions has the character of World Historical Discovery of Continents, Peoples and Artifacts. It is Pytheas, Marco Polo, Columbus, Ponce De Leon, Indiana Jones and Jean Luc-Picard. It is Thule, Xanadu, the undiscovered Americas, the Fountain of Youth, the Holy Grail, the Next Frontier. It is accompanied by hoots and hollers, exultant cheers and the unrestrained brandishing of flags.
It really is quite something to witness. It goes something like this:
(Tear off diaper. Probe unexplored regions.)
Lo! What is this? A cavern? A tunnel? A secret passageway to Teletubbylandia? Whatever could it be? Wherever does it go?
(Rubber Ducky is dispatched to investigate.)
Lo! Ducky cannot proceed! What prevents his passage?
(Run to Mommy.)
"Mommy look!"
(Squat. Point.)
(Attempt to get hand into hole.)
(Withdraw hand, which, for better or for worse, does not fit.)
(Demand explanation from Mommy.)
"Whassat?!?! Whas DIS?!?! HOLE?!?"
(Mommy has lost her words.)
With all of the authority of Columbus proclaiming Cuba to be India, she decides that it is, indeed, a hole, and proceeds to investigate, by standing with legs splayed and head bowed in an ineffectual effort to get a firsthand look. There are more hollers and shouts and proclamations of discovery, and then, finally, she loses interest until the next time she rips off the tearaway pants that are her diapers and discovers - LO! - that there is still - OMG MOMMY LOOK! - a hole there. At which point we repeat the same scene.
It's a scene that is, for me, at once heart-lifting and heart-lightening and all-out discomfiting. It's funny, obviously. And touching: her discovery of herself as a living, breathing, sensual being is a wonder to behold, a reminder of the miracle that is life. But it's disconcerting, too - largely because, I think, I (we?) have forgotten how simple and natural it is to take joy in the miracle of our physical beings. For WonderBaby, the discovery of her nether regions is exciting - but so too was the discovery of her elbow, and the daily re-discovery of the elbow, and the ongoing experience of discovering what the elbow does and how the elbow works and oh, look! Everybody else has elbows, too! The hole is pretty cool, but oh man have you seen the elbow?!? And - wait what's this? - THE BELLY-BUTTON!
(Ah, the navel. It is by far her favourite body part and it is an ongoing source of great delight for Wonderbaby to discover that other people have belly-buttons, too. If you meet her, she will invariably shout Button! and lift her shirt or her dress to display it, proudly. And then she will expect you to do the same. This goes over very well at parties.)
(We are very much hoping that she does not invent a similar game for The Hole. That might not go over quite so well at parties. Well, at least not at the sorts of parties we attend. It would, however, have brought down the house at BlogHer.)
Wonderbaby's body is, for Wonderbaby, a vast, underexplored landscape, full of fascinating turns and corners, peaks and valleys. There is nothing dark or scary or shameful there - it is all miracle. It is all wonderful. It is all fun. If I get discomfitted - beyond the mild maternal discomfort at the prospect of Wonderbaby exposing herself under inappropriate circumstances - it is because I have forgotten the joys - those simple, natural joys - of the body as simply body. It is because I have lost those joys, perhaps, beneath the many, many layers of maps of shame, imposed by a culture that regards the body solely as an object, something separate from our natural being, something to be sexualized, commodified, or mortified.
This, then, is just one more lesson from my child: reject the maps. Be your own explorer. Exult in what you discover. Visit - and celebrate - the elbow, and the button, and the hole, and all your other parts, and then visit them again, and again, and again.
Just be careful about sending Ducky in. Ducky doesn't know his way around. Dora might, though.
Other stuff that does a body good:
1) The Purse-Voyeur master list is up. Let me know if I've missed yours.
2) My Baby Can Read. Sort of. Mostly, she just dances.
3) BlogHers Act Canada is narrowing down its list of environmental causes and needs your opinion.


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Interstate Garage Door Service - My Garage Door Company 02061 - 781-519-4371
Your garage door is one of the most important parts of your property. It is the largest moving object in the house and requires proper care and maintenance to serve its purpose effectively. The garage door is usually taken for granted even though it is one of the crucial areas of your home. It is not only the biggest opening to your house, but it also houses your treasured vehicle when you are not using it as well as other valuables. It is therefore crucial that you take good care of it and keep it secure. The garage door can also go a long way towards enhancing the look of your garage door. At Interstate Garage Door Service, we provide the entire range of garage door services and you can use some of them to improve your existing door or install a new one.
Proper care and maintenance can add reliability and longevity to the doors. To ensure that your door is in top condition at all times, hire reliable services such as Interstate Garage Door Service for the best professional help. We provide the entire gamut of garage door services and are the most trusted name in and around Norwell, MA 02061 for high quality and affordable solutions.
We will begin by examining the garage door to identify the source of the issues that you are facing. We will then recommend the best solutions. At Interstate Garage Door Service, our experts have been working with garage doors for more than a decade and are adept at fixing all kinds of issues with the same.
We provide:
- Installation of new garage doors
- Overhead garage doors
- Vents, opener repairs/installation
- Safety system installation
- Door weatherstripping
- Damaged and worn-out door repairs
- Regular maintenance checks
- Custom solutions
- Wooden, glass and aluminium garage doors
- Commercial garage door installation
and more
Your local 24/7 garage door service company:
We have been serving the people living in and around zip code 02061 for the past several years. We have gained a reputation for being the most reliable garage door services in the region. With our outstanding services, timely help and reasonable costs we are the go-to services in the area. We are available 24/7/365 and our professionals can reach you in less than 30 minutes and offer a quick resolution of your concerns.
Call us at 781-519-4371 today for the best help.


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For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake decided on Dulce de Leche Duos on page 161 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Have you read California girl Jodie's blog? Always a fun read...although Jodie loves coconut (my arch enemy). Her decorated cakes are really cute!
Because I live in Los Angeles, canned La Lechera Dulce de Leche is easy to find for just a few dollars. Lots of TWD bakers made their own using their ovens, stove tops and crock pots. I just reached for it on the shelf and was happy with that. Opening a can of Dulce de Leche is lovely...the sweet caramel smell is intense and you just try your darnest to not throw a spoon in there and just start eating it!
These were delicious!
The cookie (made with dulce de leche) was soft and the dulce de leche in the center? Heaven.
They were GONE at the library. Gone.
I like the cookies on their own. They didn't need the filling...but I'm not going to pass that up either! ;)
Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!
Jodie's blog, or...
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 161


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No, you can't borrow my yellow boots. Yes, I know they're awesome. No, sorry, you can't "just hold one for a minute." Hey, what are you...are you smelling my shoes?!? Dude, this is getting kind of uncomfortable. You know what? How 'bout you just give me my slice of cake and I'll go eat it in my cubicle?
Of a lovely lady!
(everybody, now!)
Who was something something very lovely something!
Something something...something...
Alright, maybe some of us don't remember the Brady Bunch that well.
And once the honeymoon's over, there's always this handy design to let your mate know exactly where s/he stands:
It's kind of a mixed message, though, don't you think? I mean, I'm in the doghouse, but you're giving me...cake? (Granted, a vile cupcake cake - ptooie!- but still.) Hmm. Yeah, I've thought it over, and you know what? I *still* think those pants make you look fat. So THERE. And I hear there's a sale on sheet cakes today. Just thought you should know.
And speaking of repeat offenders...
If loving your favorite gun enough to celebrate it with a cake is an offense, then call me not guilty. (I prefer cannoli. Unless it's an automatic, of course; in that case, I go with the more traditional JELL-O Jigglers.)
"But, Jinn," you're thinking - because now you've confused me with a bottle-dwelling genie, or maybe that guy on LOST - "Jinn, I don't *have* a favorite gun to celebrate! Or any gun at all!"
Well, my sadly confused friend, never fear; no matter who you are, or what you're celebrating, I've found a cake that will truly go with any occasion:
Thanks to Alison D., Becky K., Sondra D., Kasey R., Laurie R., & Mia L., Mia L., Mia L., who I believe are all Canadian. And I love them. In fact, I love Canada. I love Canadian stuff. The fact that I've chosen to make Canada my knee-jerk nemesis for this post is really just a reflection of my deep-seated love and respect for this country and its people. 'Cuz they can take a joke. And won't, for example, hunt down errant bloggers with packs of wild meese. (That IS the plural of moose, right?)


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Chicago, like most of the United States, is experiencing wintry weather that has no business showing up in mid-April. Mind you, I know better than to expect a balmy, shirtsleeves spring beside the Lake. But I do look forward with desperate longing to the arrival of the daffodils every year. Once they bloom, I feel a certain sense of accomplishment in having survived yet another nasty go-around on the Hivernal Carousel.
This year, they bloomed, and then got sucker-punched by snow squalls and freezing temperatures. The bed of daffodils I pass every morning on the way to the office is blackened and shriveled, and I don't feel so well myself.
On the other hand, the other spring arrival–baseball fans–is right on time.
I've nothing against professional baseball. Truly. In general I regard it as most Americans do the opera season, which is to say not at all. Because the transit line I ride services both ballparks in Chicago, however, I do have to deal with baseball fans. Especially Cubs fans.
And yesterday was the home opener.
Illinois is supposedly a blue state, but I've noticed that North Shore (i.e, white and affluent) parents who bring their offspring into the city for Cubs games turn a violent shade of tomato red.
I've tried to understand why this is so. I've concluded that it's because they see a trip to Wrigley Field as a to connect their children with their own past, in those halcyon days when America led the free world, gasoline was cheaper than milk, and Certain People had to sit in the back of the bus.
As the train heads south and Addison Station looms, the parents become so emotional that some actually produce handkerchiefs to deal with the tears. "We're almost there," they gasp, choking on rising nostalgia. "Can you watch for the stadium, Caitlyn? Do you see it coming up?"
I'd be the last person to have a problem with this except that in the midst of a crowded commute, the parents get pushy about art directing the experience and become visibly (and sometimes audibly) annoyed at any extras (that would be the rest of us) who don't fit the motherhood-flag-apple pie aesthetic they're after. For example:
- Passengers occupying window seats, including the elderly. (I once saw an able-bodied man unblushingly ask an old woman if she could give her seat to his five-year-old daughter so she would have an unobstructed view of the Wrigley Field sign.)
- Persons of African, Latin or Middle Eastern descent.
- Persons speaking languages other than English.
- Persons whose appearance deviates in any way from the white, suburban, middle class idea of "normal," i.e. goths, punks, transvestites, homeless people.
- Males of any stripe who are knitting lace.
This was a source of enormous consternation to a father whose daughter–she was perhaps six–was interested in the progress of the christening shawl.
I didn't notice the family of three–Dad, daughter, son–at first because I was, well, knitting lace. But the daughter kept getting up from her seat and leaning toward my needles. After she'd done this three times I glanced up and gave her a smile.
She smiled back. And then her father yanked her away and pushed her firmly into her seat.
But she got up again, and came over, and this time asked if the design had flowers in it. I was about to explain that the shapes were fir cones when her father yelled, "Halley! Get back here now."
I honestly thought he was concerned that she might be bothering me, so I smiled and said, "It's okay, I don't mind questions."
To which he replied, "You leave my kid alone!"
And then, not directly to me, but just as audibly, "Goddamned freaks."
Rude? Oh yes. But this is not supposed to be another man-knits-in-public-and-attracts-idiocy story. Those are too common to be interesting in and of themselves.
This is a reminder to myself that my own brain's not so different from his.
I may not be inclined to tell a stranger on the subway she's a freak, but it doesn't mean I don't think it. I do it all the time. In fact, I did it at the beginning of this entry, no?
I look, I categorize, I judge. And just as I believe that man got me wrong in believing me to be a threat to his child, I'm certain I often misjudge others.
One of the aspects of elusive Enlightenment I'm pursuing through Zen Buddhism is (I hear) a genuine understanding that between yourself and myself, there is no difference. If I didn't believe that to be so, I'd probably give up sitting zazen. But even though I believe it, I haven't grasped it sufficiently to act upon it.
Hmph. Back to the damn cushion.
Tomorrow: actual knitting. (I know! I can hardly believe it, either!)


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What company wouldn't want to attribute its profits to the quality product it produces? The answer might be: the company that competes on price. According to research from Washington University in St. Louis and Southern Methodist University, producers of lower quality products actually have better prospects for gaining market share and improving their bottom line.
It's a lesson that should put American companies on guard against their supposedly low-quality competitors in China, said Panos Kouvelis, the Emerson Distinguished Professor of Operations and Manufacturing Management at the Olin School of Business at Washington University. China is not just an outsourcing location for Western manufacturing companies, but also the base of the most potent manufacturing competitors American firms will face within the next two decades. Car makers might be the first industry in for a surprise as Chinese manufacturers start competing in U.S. and European markets with low-cost product lines.
"Over time, China has gained market share at the expense of manufacturing centers around the world and in the U.S.," Kouvelis said. "While at one time, China's products were considered inferior products, Chinese manufacturers have moved up the quality-spectrum, taking global market share along the way. By learning to compete in the extremely cost-sensitive Chinese environment, they have reached a level of superiority in designing and producing goods that sell at a low price"
Don't dismiss "made in China."
Chinese manufacturers will follow a path similar to the entry strategies of Japanese firms in the 70s and early 80s. They will surprise their competitors at the low end by offering products that are relatively high in quality yet low in price, Kouvelis explained. Eventually, this will force the established companies into successive retreats towards the higher margin "luxury" niche segments.
"Allowing the Chinese manufacturers to gain the upper hand in pushing quality up while keeping prices low is a dangerous tactic for Western firms to face since higher volume, low-end firms often end up enjoying the lion's share of market profits," Kouvelis said.
According to his research, low-quality firms in general are better positioned to make disproportionate gains in many product markets than producers of high-quality goods.
The standard assumption has been that the cost curve is linear and that the only way for lower quality producers to become more like their high-quality competitors is by increasing quality and incurring the same costs.
However, Chinese companies can raise quality without raising costs.
"They have new and efficient factories, an abundance of cheap labor and a willingness to use cutting-edge, lean management approaches in their facilities," Kouvelis said. "This drives costs down substantially while offering reasonable quality."
The result is what Kouvelis refers to as a "convex cost curve," which rises slowly across the quality spectrum and then rises sharply in cost once quality reaches the very high end. The more opportunities for a low cost firm to narrow the quality gap and strengthen its value-cost proposition, the more a high quality firm faces a competitive disadvantage.
"The high quality firm stakes its profitability in maintaining separation in quality levels compared to low cost firms," Kouvelis said, "However, in an environment where firms have the resources, the know-how and the willingness to produce higher and higher quality goods with low variable costs, the truly high quality firms get backed into a quality corner, and might not have control over the price of their products if their costumers are getting sensitive to the high quality premiums they are asked to pay."
The high end firm may be able to hold onto its niche for a time and continue to be profitable, but as the lower quality competitor gets better and narrows the gap in quality, the only feasible avenue for the high quality firm is to engage into price competition.
"But that is a game they cannot win, and if they try to play it, their days are then numbered," Kouvelis stated.
The current dynamics favor Chinese manufacturers and their low-end entry market strategies, the researcher said, but that does not mean there is no hope for U.S. firms.
For high-end western firms the only way to react is to constantly innovate and find creative ways to increase the quality of their offerings in ways that their competitors can not replicate (breakthrough designs, very responsive and mass customizing variety strategies, etc.) Kouvelis pointed to Harley Davidson motorcycles as an example of a company that recreated its quality level to the firm's advantage. As lower cost, Japanese motorcycles landed in America in the 80s , Harley faced extinction until they began distinguishing their product as a custom-made, high end motorcycle. The company also branded their bikes in a way that created mystique around the product and the buying experience.
"By creating those differences, Harley Davidson thus paved the way for a highly differentiated sustainable competitive advantage. Harley changed the definition of quality, and created the needed quality separation," Kouvelis said. Definitely a strategy to keep in mind as firms are engaging in competition with Chinese manufacturers in the coming years.
Kouvelis co-authored the paper, "Quality based competition, profitability and variable costs," with Chester Chambers and John Semple, professors at the SMU Cox School of Business.
Editor's Note: Professor Kouvelis is available for interviews. Television and radio reporters can conduct live or taped interviews via the University Communication's studio which is equipped with VYVX and ISDN line


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This is a blog documenting a project that will span exactly one year, from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. On each of those 365 days, I will photograph or draw (and occasionally paint) one collection. Most of the collections are real and exist in my home or studio; those I will photograph. Some are imagined; those I will draw or (occasionally) paint.
Since I was a young girl, I have been obsessed both with collecting and with arranging, organizing and displaying my collections. This is my attempt to document my collections, both the real and the imagined. Some of my collections are so large that I will need to photograph them separately over several days. I will likely not attempt to photograph collections in which the individual pieces are large in size or awkward in shape (i.e. my art collection or vintage enamel dishware collection). The only rule is that I must photograph or draw a whole or part of a collection each day for 365 days and post the result here on this blog.
The practice of collecting and documenting collections is as old as the hills. I want onlookers here to know that I do not profess to be doing anything new or unique or ingenious. I am embarking on this project because I love my collections, and I want to document them in a way that makes sense to me, and share them with whoever might be interested in looking at them.
This blog is open for comments. I encourage you to share your thoughts about what memories the photographs and drawings of my collections spark for you and what, if any, sense of nostalgia or repulsion they make you feel.
For those of you who have stumbled here and don't already know me, my name is Lisa Congdon. I am an artist and illustrator, and I live in the Mission District of San Francisco with my partner Clay Lauren Walsh and our Chihuahua Wilfredo and two cats, Barry and Margaret. If you are interested, you can see the kind of artwork I make on my website or on the website of my illustration agent, Lilla Rogers. If you would like to see what my home looks like (as it contains many of my collections) you can see a house tour here. You can view my studio (also a repository) here.


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Garden Grove Garage Door Spring Repair Technicians – Call 1-714-464-2075 to ask for a Free Quote!
If you feel like your garage door's springs have seen better days and you'd like to have them in tip-top shape again, contact our garage door springs repair and installation experts! Give us a call at our dispatch center at 1-714-464-2075 to speak with one of our garage technicians and to arrange a service call for the small rate of $19, which will be waived if you decide to have us service your garage door spring. Or, send us an e-mail by requesting an estimate through our painless consultation entries, and we'll have one of our schedulers get back to you as soon as possible. When it comes to your commercial or residential garage door's springs, don't hesitate to call our nationally-claimed technicians that set the standard for maintenance, repair and installation of springs.
Garage Door Springs: An Understated Part
Garage door springs are an essential part of any well-built garage door system, as their purpose is to provide the counterbalance to the weight of the door in order to make it much easier to open and close. They have the same use that their older counterparts have had for the past several centuries, balancing doors from the past to the present-day, modern doors that we use currently. As an example to how a garage door spring works, if the average garage door weighs about 100 pounds, then a spring force of an equal 100 pounds is needed in order to successfully provide pull against the door's weight. The way the spring accomplishes this is to either stretch and contract itself, or apply torsion to special parts that assist in balancing the door.
Replacing these garage door springs can potentially be dangerous for those that do not know their way around them, as the amount of torque force in a wound up torsion spring or the stretch force in an extended spring can be several hundred pounds which is enough to cause injury to someone. Repairing garage doors often include completely replacing certain garage door parts that are tied into the spring system itself, and unfortunately, due to the nature of the spring force possible many people have injured themselves and have even lost their lives because of injuries suffered due to not exercising the proper caution or knowing what to do in the proper manner. Working knowledge of garage components like garage door springs, garage door weights, and other garage door parts, as well as how these work and combine together are needed in order to correctly, and more importantly, safely operate and repair these parts.
Garage Door Torsion Springs and Their Properties
The garage door torsion springs are of a garage door system are securely fastened to a metal shaft directly above the garage door itself. Depending on the design and type of system, the metal shaft can pass through in any number of ways, with a few being: through the middle of the spring or spring system, close to the springs, or even housing the spring system itself in certain cases. If the metal shaft does actually pass through the middle of the torsion spring, then the spring can be mounted in the middle of said shaft, but it can also be mounted on the end of the metal shaft close to the outer edge of the garage door.
The way these torsion springs balance a garage door is to apply torque to this metal shaft with special drums that are attached to each end. Each of these drums has a cable fastened onto it that is also attached to a special type of fixture located at the bottom of the garage door, extending all the way down to it when the door is closed. The torsion spring, along with the cables, extend and contract as needed when the garage system is either opened or closed, helping the balance to do either one. There are three main qualities of a torsion spring that determine the lift it produces as well as its cycle life. These three characteristics include: the size, or gauge, of the wire, the inside diameter of the spring, and the overall length when contracted or extended or at rest. All three of these qualities determine the lift, which is the total amount that the torque of the spring can provide, which in turn determines the maximum amount of weight that the spring can safely hold. The other characteristic is the cycle life, which is simply the amount of times that one can open and close their garage door before the spring degrades and ultimately breaks.
Standard Residential Torsion Springs
Torsion springs of the standard variety are the most common type of residential torsion springs in the whole garage door industry. Residential grade garage doors almost always use one of two types of torsion springs. On the lighter end of the garage door spectrum, one spring can satisfy the requirements for the load of the garage. In that kind of situation, the torsion spring can be attached to a spring anchor bracket in the exact center of the metal shaft that is in the middle of the garage door. In other cases, the spring has an off-center, or offset, type of mount, which means that the torsion spring will simply not be installed in the spring anchor bracket in the center of the door, as it will be somewhere else.
If the garage door is heavy or much heavier than normal, then two torsion springs will usually be required. If there are two torsion springs balancing a garage door, they are usually attached to the spring anchor bracket that is located above the center of the garage door. Using two springs on a garage door typically means that the system is safer, for various reasons, one of which is that if one spring does break or snap, then there is another slowing it down or holding it in place when the door is opened. The other spring will hold the door in place for an amount of time, usually enough for the person to avoid any further incidents, preventing damage to the garage door and injury to the person.
Standard Commercial Grade and Industrial Grade Torsion Springs
Commercial and Industrial Garage doors, for the most part, contain at least two or more torsion springs. A large percentage of these doors make use of four springs at a time, in a number of designs and setups which include, but are not limited to: linear type, duplex type, triplex type, or mixed type.
The linear type system of garage door springs comes into use when a larger, wider kind of vehicle needs to fit inside, like a semi-trailer or a tractor, etc. Since these garage doors need to be much wider than normal, four or more torsion springs are lined up on the metal shaft easily. Clients that choose to install a linear type system acquire the advantage of having less material requirements than other types of systems, thus reducing the total cost of the garage door project.
The duplex type of system are more intricate, and at first appear to have only two springs attached to each side of the garage door. However, if one looks closer at each spring, you'll discover that the springs are outer springs, and the bigger springs house one smaller spring inside of them with a smaller diameter. The duplex type of spring system is able to supply more torque, and with it, more total lift in a smaller space without needing more space for the other springs due to its design.
The triplex type of system looks and functions almost exactly like the duplex system, with the main difference being that instead of one spring inside a larger, outer spring, the outer spring actually houses two smaller spring on each side of the door, for a total of six torsion springs attached to the garage door.
The mixed type of spring system, as you may have already guessed from its name, actually combines the best of all the other systems, linear, duplex and triplex into one combined spring system. Mixed systems tend to have more than one, or multiple, set of both duplex and triplex springs on each side of the garage door. This option is possible for those clients whose garage door metal shaft is large and wide enough to be able to fit multiple springs inside of it. If the garage door in question is extremely heavy compared to other doors, then it is a safer and better option to just attach multiple sets of duplex spring pairs to the garage door itself. However, while these types of spring systems are very safe, it can often be difficult to examine the inner springs and decide whether they are worn out and in need of repair or replacement.
Since commercial grade garage doors usually weigh more, the torsion springs used by these doors need to have a larger inside diameter as well as a bigger wire size in order to safely operate within the door, when compared to a residential grade garage door system. Many spring systems on various garage door metal shafts have a 1 inch outside diameter, but some metal shafts happen to need a 1 ¼ inch outside diameter. These metal shafts are full of bearings, drum cables, and a type of winding cone that has the 1 ¼ inch opening for the metal shaft. Garage doors that are bigger and heavier are more often than not equipped with solid metal shafts, while the lighter, smaller garage doors make use of hollow metal shafts. Certain solid metal shafts come with a groove cut out on the surface of it, resulting in a keyed shaft that, when combined with its own respective shaft key, helps to keep the cable drums in place and not spinning around loosely.
Singular-Piece Curtain Door Torsion Springs
One-piece curtain garage doors and steel rolling doors have a similar method of operation when compared to one another, and these types of doors are most commonly found in self-storage facilities. Those in the business of garage doors like to call them "mini-warehouse" doors or "self-storage" doors due to the fact that that's exactly what they are and where they can be found, and they all come in a wide variety of shapes, builds and sizes.
The manufacturers of these doors roll them from a single piece of steel sheet metal, which is why they only have one piece. While steel rolling doors actually use a series of interconnecting slats or parts to make up the curtain, "self-storage" doors are just one big piece of rolled sheet metal. When someone opens the door, the curtain moves along the edge of the cable drums, which in turn are attached to the shaft, as previously mentioned. Due to the nature of the way these doors work, they are also known as "steel rolling doors" as well as the more heard-of term, "roll-up doors".
Along the axle of the system, in evenly spaced intervals, are the circular cable drums, which help to provide support for the curtain as the door opens or closes. The torsion springs inside are attached to the outer cable drum with a large bolt. On average, a set of two torsion springs provides balance to a door, with one on either side of it.
The other end that's not attached to the cable drum is instead mounted to the door bracket which is located just outside the door. The axle itself passes through the middle of the bracket, the middle of the torsion springs, and then through the cable drums. Several garage door manufacturers such as Janus International and Trac-Rite design garage doors with a specialized adjustment wheel to change the tension of the system, while manufacturers like DCBI do not include this adjustment tool. Those doors that do include an adjustment tool for tension also include a type of steel housing closing around the drums that hide the torsion springs from view, while the garage doors that do not make use of an adjustment wheel usually have their springs completely visible when the door is open.
Garage Door Extension Springs
Garage door extension springs will usually be secured to the sides of a garage door, sometimes above the horizontal tracks. These types of springs contract and extend when the door is opened or closed and are the counterweight to the weight of the door. Typically, residential garage door systems only contain two extension springs, with one each side of the door. Garage doors used in commercial and industrial sectors, and even certain residential-use doors make use of several springs on each side of the door. Extension type springs are designed to have loops in them, whether it's an open loop, a closed loop, or a loop with clipped ends that secure the spring to the track hang, pivot pin, frame, pulley or tension bolt.
Sectional Garage Door Extension Springs
Sectional Garage Door Extension Springs are the type of spring more exclusive to the United States. These types of springs extend above the horizontal tracks on each side, as well as parallel to them. They pull on the cables to support and counterbalance the door. When the door closes, all of the weight goes from the horizontal tracks to the cables, which are also supported by the extension strings which stretch out and pull against the door, making it very easy to open and close.
Residential garage doors, with usually only one spring on each side of the door, have their springs connect to bolt that has an open eye at one end. This bolt is then attached to the garage door frame by way of a beam or a track.
At the other end of an extension spring, a pulley is connected to it by way of a pulley fork. The end of the cable that goes over the pulley is connected with a clip for cable adjustment. Attached to the clip itself is an S-hook, which is then connected to the horizontal track. The end of the cable continues over a second pulley, which ends up at the bottom part of the garage door in a special fixture attachment point.
Although residential doors have a relatively simple setup, the truth is that commercial and industrial garage doors have similar system of operation. With garage doors that are much heavier, special connection kits are used to connect the various ends of the extension springs, which allows the use of multiple springs on each side of the garage door.
Although this design is common, not all commercial and industrial garage doors make use of this type of setup. Certain ones will just have one extension spring on either side. On average, though, the rest of the setup itself looks and works about the same as a residential setup. While both commercial and residential garage doors use pulleys to lift the doors, commercial pulley systems tend to be much stronger and have a greater load capacity in order to be able to lift bigger, heavier doors without breaking.
One-Piece Garage Door Extension Springs
Like the name says, one-piece garage door systems operate as one large, self-contained piece. As the door is opened, the top of the door moves inside on the tracks, while the bottom part of the door moves to an outside direction. The extension springs then pull on a pivot pin, or an attachment point, to counteract the door's weight. With that in mind, seeing how the bottom of the door moves both inside the garage as well as outside of it, coating this type of door with a weather deterring agent is not that effective. To this effect, one-piece garage doors are used almost exclusively in regions with more temperate weather.
As we've said before, one-piece garage door systems use a series of springs, pulleys, and cables as a counterweight to the door itself, averaging about 2 to 4 extension springs as its main means of counterbalance. The bottom of the spring is attached to an adjustable bolt, which is connected to a mounting bracket on the bottom of the door, while the top of the spring is has an open or closed loop clipped on to a pivot pin or another bolt. When in use, the extension springs stretch upward, coming in at a right angle to the garage floor, and are at length attached to a lever. This lever arm is then connected to the garage door itself. When you open the door, the extension spring contracts, which causes it to lose some of the stretch-out force it had.


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For the third month in a row, Alexandria home sales have increased in all three categories single-family houses, condos and townhouses as compared to the same period last year, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors monthly report.
Townhouses led the pack for June, with an 18 percent increase to 84 units sold. The median sales price fell by 1 percent to $525,000. They were followed by condos, with an 11 percent climb to 94, and a 1 percent median price gain to $263,250. Single-family homes followed, with a 5 percent sales increase to 44, and an 8 percent median price hike to $686,000.
The same positive pattern was seen throughout Northern Virginia, including Fairfax and Arlington. Even after the homebuyers tax credit expired on April 30, the housing market has been rolling on. Sales actually rose by 8.5 percent in May, followed by a modest 0.9 percent decline for June.


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Monogamous, romantic love — or, more prosaically, pair-bonding — may have evolved in a sexual revolution that could have laid down the roots of the modern family, according to an intriguing new mathematical model.
Researchers have long wondered why — unlike our sexually promiscuous chimpanzee-like ancestors — humans developed strong pair bonds with individual partners. It's thought that at one time, human ancestors did engage in chimp-like habits of sex and child-rearing, in which strong alpha males mated freely with the females of their choice, and then left the child-raising duties to them. So, the question is, How did we got from there to the modern-day monogamous, two-parent family?
"People have been discussing ways by which the transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding could have occurred and there are various different scenarios," says study author Sergey Gavrilets, distinguished professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and mathematics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "What I've done is shown mathematically that some of these scenarios are more likely than others."
Gavrilets study suggests that a sexual revolution occurred, led by low-ranked males and faithful females. Low-ranked males, who had no hope of physically overcoming the dominant members of their groups, instead began providing extra food to certain females, to curry sexual favor. These females responded by remaining faithful to their breadwinning males. That change in behavior favored the reproductive success of these monogamous couples — pair-bonding offered a greater likelihood that their children, who took a lot of effort to raise, would survive — ultimately moving humanity away from a promiscuous mating system dominated by alpha and beta males.
(MORE: What the U.S. Can Learn from the Dutch About Teen Sex)
Gavrilets reasons that males in promiscuous hierarchical species face a dilemma because the alpha and beta males tend to get all the mating action. Lower-ranking guys have two choices: either compete their way to the top and win reproductive opportunities, or look for ways to beat the system.
"They can put effort into achieving high-dominance status. If they do, they will have more mating opportunities and more offspring," says Gavrilets. "On the other hand, they can do something else. They can try to increase the survival of their own offspring directly and that would also increase the potential for greater numbers of surviving offspring."
One way a male could do this is simply by guarding a particular female and making sure no other males can mate with her. Or he could exchange food for sex with a variety of females, in something like an early version of prostitution.
Alternatively, a male could provide extra food to a specific female exclusively, thereby getting more chances to mate with her and also helping her and her offspring survive with the increased nutrition. "Males get a double benefit. There's the immediate benefit of more mating. [Having more food] also increases female fertility and decreases the interbirth interval so you can have more kids more often," Gavrilets says.
Another male strategy could be to help out with kids directly — whether they're his offspring or not. By helping all of the group's mothers raise their children, the males help increase the offspring's chances of survival, presumably including those that he fathered.
In Gavrilets mathematical models, the only scenario that appeared to push humans away from promiscuity was one in which males — low-ranking males, to be specific — provisioned one female. (Thankfully, love doesn't seem to have its roots in the oldest profession.) "What happens is that for guys at the bottom of the hierarchy who are weak or small and who would never be able to win competitions, mate-provisioning becomes a very valuable option" says Gavrilets. "They start provisioning the females first and then females develop a preference for provisioning, and then [begins] the whole process of the co-evolution of male provisioning and female faithfulness."
(MORE: Does Monogamy Even Exist Anymore? Not For Young People)
In other words, when females come to prefer males who provide a bit more for them even if they aren't the biggest or strongest, those males start preferring females who are faithful, and this process ultimately creates pair bonds between them.
Both male and female choice drove evolution. "Female faithfulness increases as a result of males selecting more faithful females and male provisioning grows as females select for better providers and they co-evolve in a mutually beneficial way," Gavrilets says.
Sarah Hrdy, professor emerita of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and a leading evolutionary theorist, commended Gavrilets' research, though she took issue with some of the assumptions made in his mathematical model. "We don't fully understand the evolution of human pair-bonding so I welcome this effort," says Hrdy.
However, she disagreed with a few of its key suppositions: for one, she thinks that cooperative rearing of children by women was a critical factor in human evolution, but Gavrilets' model relies on research that doesn't reflect this. Gavrilets uses data that suggest that early human females left their home groups in adolescence in order to mate, and that they did not cooperate in child care with females in their new group because they were unrelated.
But Hrdy says, that "multilocal residence patterns were far more typical," citing data that suggests that males often moved to live with a female and her family for a while. "Over the course of their lifetimes, both sexes are moving, perhaps multiple times," she says, allowing for cooperation between females to be important.
Hrdy adds that paternal commitment in the human species is highly variable — both today an in ancient times. "Some men will do anything to remain near their children. Others, even some [who are] certain of their paternity, act like they do not even know they had children," Hrdy says. "I don't think human mothers in the past could count on the long-term survival and fidelity of provisioning mates any more than mothers today can. It looks to me like males are responding to a wider range of factors than can be represented in such a model."
(MORE: Penis Size: It May Be Written in the Length of His Fingers)
Gavrilets agrees that the model is not complete and is working to include more variables. "I think what this model does is that it looks at the very first step in this very long process," he says. It does not, however, fully explain the origins of male tendencies toward monogamy.
Whatever started it, Gavrilets notes, humans' transition to monogamy was much more radical than the sexual revolution of the 1960s — even though it went in the opposite direction. "Not many people realize that the most important sexual revolution for our species probably happened several million years ago," Gavrilets says. "This revolution was accomplished by the masses of lower-ranked males, along with females, directly against the elite of alphas, so the term revolution is even more appropriate."
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Maia Szalavitz is a health writer at TIME.com. Find her on Twitter at @maiasz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME Healthland's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIMEHealthland.


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According to a source inside Microsoft, over 25 percent of Vista installations in the US at the end of last year were 64-bit. There were several major drivers for the switch to 64-bit, most related to cheap DDR2 DRAM.
Jon DeVaan, Senior Vice-President of the Windows Core Operating System Division, agrees. "From our point of view we believe that we have accomplished the tipping point in terms of 64-bit adoption. Now, this happened to a large degree because memory prices are coming down, and another dynamic that we've seen in the United States is that the retail channel is looking to use RAM upgrades as a way to boost margin. So what that means is that 64-bit machine run rate is increasing rapidly, and that means our ability to support those 64-bit machines fully in the broad ecosystem is a really important thing."
Any PC with 4GB of RAM or more must use a 64-bit installation of Windows in order to address the full amount of RAM. Typically a 32-bit installation would recognize a maximum of 3-3.5GB of RAM.
Instead of purchasing a 32-bit version and then having to change to 64-bit later when they purchase more RAM, many are choosing 64-bit at the start. Over 75 percent of Windows sales are based on OEM installations of new computers.
The majority of Core i7 platforms are also using 64-bit operating systems, due to the triple channel memory setup using more RAM.
Windows 7 is expected to be the last to natively run at 32-bits. The next major Windows revision after it will be 64-bit native, running 32-bit applications through the use of a compatibility layer.
Windows Server 2008 R2, the server version of Windows 7, is already exclusively 64-bit.
With the switch to Windows 7, it would be easiest for PC OEMs to adopt 64-bit exclusively. That would reduce the number of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) and drivers that would be needed by half, not an insignificant number when you consider that Windows 7 will ship in at least 4 editions. Multiply that by at least 34 localized language versions.
Additionally, the price premium of DDR3 will drop significantly as 50nm production kicks in. DDR3 is the memory of choice for AMD's CPUs using the AM3 socket, as well as Intel's Core i7 and Core i5 (Lynnfield). Due to lower power consumption, DDR3 adoption on laptops is progressing rapidly as well.
"Put more simply, usage of 64-bit Windows Vista is growing much more rapidly than 32-bit. Based on current trends, this growth will accelerate as the retail channel shifts to supplying a rapidly increasing assortment of 64-bit desktops and laptops," said Chris Flores, a Director on the Windows Client Communications Team.
Since 64-bit Vista and Windows 7 can run 32-bit applications, the last remaining hurdle is driver compatibility. Many new devices now have 64-bit device drivers available for Vista, and those should be mostly compatible with Windows 7.
An important tool is the Windows Vista Compatibility Center. Devann thinks that 64-bit support will drive sales: "They can go here and look at 64-bit compatibility, and with the trend that we just saw this is a good place for communicating with your customers about your support for 64-bit, so that they can prefer your product if they have one of these 64-bit systems".
Devann addressed the crowd at WinHEC with the following message, "I urge everyone here to make sure that you have the right 64-bit support, and in general 32-bit software runs fine on 64-bit Windows, but when it comes to drivers, that's where the work is. And with this audience, it's something that we're all acutely aware."
Source: DailyTech


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Boston College Law Review (Vol. 14, Iss. 5)
Boston College Law Review is Boston College Law School's flagship scholarly publication.
The Review, ranked in the top 25 law journals by Washington & Lee, publishes eight issues each year featuring articles and essays by prominent authors addressing legal issues of national interest.
In addition to articles written by outside academics, the Review prints the work of its student staff, many of whom publish notes during their third year. The Review's second-year staff members also prepare short comments on recent federal circuit court decisions, which may be published in the Review's Electronic Supplement.
Visit the Boston College Law Review website at bclawreview.bc.edu.
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Ever since the fresh corn showed up in the markets I have been enjoying a lot of it, especially combined with black beans! The other day I came across some picadillo and that made me think that a black bean and corn picadillo would be awesome! Picadillo is a ground beef dish that is popular in many Latin American countries and it varies quite a bit from region to region. The version that has always piqued my interest is one that includes salty olives and sweet raisins which add a certain exoticness to the dish. Picadillo is often served with rice and beans or used in other dishes like tacos which is where I was heading with this one. The thought that picadillo is commonly served with rice put the idea of quinoa in my mind and I could not resist adding some right into the picadillo for the boost of protean along with it's amazing texture. This picadillo certainly is packed with flavour and the creamy black bean, juicy corn, salty olive and sweet raisin combo is fantastic! With everything in this picadillo you could easily eat it by itself as a complete meal but it is so good when stuffed into corn tortillas along with some cool and creamy avocado, diced onions and a sprinkling of crumbled cotija!
You could go with pretty much any of you favourite taco toppings on these picadillo tacos!
Black Bean, Corn and Quinoa Picadillo Tacos
Tasty black bean and corn picadillo tacos with cool and creamy avocado crumbled cotija and cilantro!
- 12 small corn tortillas, toasted
- 4 cups black bean, corn and quinoa picadillo (see below)
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 2 large avocados, diced
- 1/4 cup cotija, crumbled
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- Assemble the tacos and enjoy!
Black Bean, Corn and Quinoa Picadillo
Black bean and corn picadillo that is just packed with flavour!
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 3/4 cup water or broth
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 green or red bell pepper
- 1 jalapeno, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans (or 1 1/2 cups cooked beans, from 1/2 cup dry)
- 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes or 2 cups fresh
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup pimento stuffed olives, cut into 3 slices
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 1 cup corn (~2 ears)
- salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- Bring the quinoa and water to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered until the water is absorbed and the quinoa it tender, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the onions and bell pepper and cook until tender, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add the jalapeno, garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minutes.
- Add the beans, tomatoes, oregano, cinnamon, olives, raisins and capers, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the corn and cook for another 5 minutes
- Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste, mix in the vinegar and cilantro and remove from heat.
- Serve the picadillo on the quinoa or mix it all up.


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When choosing your basketball court surfacing in Yearngill CA7 3 knowing the different type of surfaces available and their qualities can help make the decision of which surface option to have installed.
Firstly, the most popular basketball facility surfacing type used is the type 1 and 2 macadam. It is the most popular for players who play competitively, as this option offers fantastic anti-slip qualities that allow individuals to swiftly change direction at pace, allowing for a much more fast paced game than other materials. This quality is crucial for facility surfacing, as it enables players to reach their maximum potential on the zone.
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Basketball playing surfaces in Yearngill CA7 3 are great for a number of facilities across the UK that are looking to improve their surrounding areas and encourage individuals to get involved with sports. Our specialists have years of experience and expert knowledge to ensure you that you are able to find what you are looking for, at a great price. Whether you are looking for a tarmac or geotextile flooring, we are able to give you everything you need to know in order to get the best results. We can also provide you with a maintenance plan http://www.basketballcourtcontractors.co.uk/maintenance/cumbria/yearngill/ which helps protect your surface from contamination as well as extends the life expectancy. Speak to our specialists today if you are wanting to learn new information and receive further details. Simply fill out the contact form provided and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
The court surfacing for the type 3 and 4 polymeric surfacingin Yearngill CA7 3 is slightly different, as this process is carried out similarly to the type 1 and type 2 surfacing but with the added polymeric surface. This allows for a slightly softer surface than the macadam. As a result of this, the macadam surface specification is more popular for people looking to install Multi Use Games Areas as opposed to a dedicated basketball facility as the zone is suitable for tennis, football and much more as well. Our team of specialists will apply basketball line markings http://www.basketballcourtcontractors.co.uk/line-markings/cumbria/yearngill/ along with lines for any other sports and activities you want to play. Again, with this court surfacing you still have the same geotextile membrane that prevents contamination within the court, as well as the same angular stone sub base that gives the zone its porous qualities. These factors mean that this court specification stays playable all year round, whilst remaining in a good condition. Both of these choices of sports court surfacing materials have their benefits, and it's important to consider the purpose of your facility when deciding upon a court specification as the type 1 and 2 macadam surface will offer you a zone that specifically tailors towards sports, whereas the type 3 and 4 polymeric is much more suited to a wider variety of sports.
However, we always recommend a proactive maintenance approach to ensure that the area stays clean. If the zone in Yearngill CA7 3 was to become dirty, the anti-slip coating that is provided could be lost and the pores of the flooring could become clogged. To counter this, you should;
Our team are available to evaluate any reapirs you may think necessary. We can provide these services to ensure that the grounds are fit for use.
Feel free to get in touch with us if you need any information in regards to basketball court surfacing in Yearngill CA7 3 or if you'd like a quote for a project you're looking to carry out. Our specialist team are always more than happy to help with any of your enquiries.


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Adorable Pomeranian puppy decked out in an Uncle Sam Suit. Isolated on white.
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