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Comparison of the Shang Ring With Conventional Surgical Methods
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01300910
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 23, 2011
Last Update Posted : March 16, 2012
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Circumcision, Male
|Device: Shang Ring Procedure: Male circumcision
|Phase 2 Phase 3
A randomized control trial of 400 adult male circumcision procedures with a one to one ratio between Shang Ring and the in-country standard surgical technique (forceps guided in Kenya and dorsal slit in Zambia)
Population: 400 men (200 at each site), HIV sero-negative men, ages 18-54, living in/around the two clinic sites seeking adult male circumcision
Duration: 2-4 months of recruitment; 60 days follow-up per participant; total expected duration of approximately 6 months in the field
Primary Objectives: (1) Compare the pain and acceptability of the Shang Ring procedure with the forceps guided surgical circumcision technique (Kenya) and the dorsal slit technique (Zambia) (2) Compare the safety and the course of wound healing, including the time to complete healing, between the Shang Ring adult male circumcision procedure and the standard surgical circumcision procedures (forceps guided in Kenya & dorsal slit in Zambia); (3) Compare the ease of the Shang Ring method versus standard circumcision surgical procedures
Primary Endpoints: (1) To compare the pain & acceptability of the circumcision methods, we will evaluate the following: post-operative pain; time to return to normal activity; patients' opinions of the Shang Ring and conventional procedures, and satisfaction with cosmetic results.
(2) To compare safety between methodologies, we will clinically compare and evaluate related adverse events and their severity. We will also compare the time to complete wound healing for each method. Complete wound healing is defined as no scab and dry skin by clinical assessment.
(3) We will evaluate the ease of surgery based on the duration of surgery and surgeons' opinions.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Estimated Enrollment :
|400 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Comparison of the Shang Ring With Conventional Surgical Methods: A Randomized Controlled Trial
|Study Start Date :
|February 2011
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|June 2011
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|June 2011
Active Comparator: 1
One group of men will undergo a circumcision using the Shang Ring and men are to return for regular follow-up visits to evaluate pain and wound healing. . The Shang Ring will be removed at 7 days, and the last scheduled follow-up visit is at 60 days.
Device: Shang Ring
The Shang Ring is a sterile device consisting of two concentric medical grade plastic rings: an inner ring with a silicone band and an outer, hinged ring. The inner ring fits inside the outer ring which will lock when snapped together. The Shang Ring comes in multiple sizes. The appropriate size is determined through use of a measuring strip. To ensure that men cannot remove the device prematurely, the locking mechanism must be broken open using a tool that is similar to a scalpel handle. Then, a pair of special scissors, specifically designed for this purpose, is used to remove the inner ring after healing
Active Comparator: 2
One group of men will undergo a conventional circumcision using a WHO recommended surgical technique, either the forceps-guided method or the dorsal slit method. Men are to return for regular follow-up visits to evaluate pain and wound healing, with the last scheduled follow-up visit at 60 days.
Procedure: Male circumcision
A conventional surgical procedure will be performed, per WHO recommendations, involving: drawing a line to mark the amount of foreskin to be cut; cutting off the foreskin; hemostasis; and wound closure with sutures.
- Pain scores on the Visual Analog Scale [ Time Frame: Within the first 48 hours after circumcision ]We will ask participants about pain they experienced during and soon after the procedure, and during the recovery period.
- Number of Participants with Adverse Events as a Measure of Safety and Tolerability [ Time Frame: Up to six weeks after surgery ]We will classify circumcision-related adverse events, using the detailed definitions of moderate and severe events per standardized protocol definitions, based on WHO recommendations. Most post-operative complications are apparent within six weeks of surgery.
- Compare the cost of the Shang Ring procedure versus conventional surgery [ Time Frame: Three months ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 54 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Must be aged 18 and 54 years;
- Must be uncircumcised (on examination);
- Must be in good general health;
- Must be HIV sero-negative, with documentation of testing no more than one week before the procedure;
- Must be free of genital ulcerations or other visible signs of STI (on examination);
- Must be able to understand study procedures and requirements of study participation;
- Must agree to return to the healthcare facility for the full schedule of follow-up visits after his circumcision;
- Must freely consent to participate in the study and sign a written informed consent form;
- Must have a cell phone or access to a cell phone; and,
- Must agree to provide the study staff with an address, phone number, or other locator information while participating in the research study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Has a known allergy or sensitivity to lidocaine or other local anesthesia;
- Takes a medication that would be a contraindication for elective surgery, such as an anticoagulant or steroid;
- Has known bleeding/clotting disorder (e.g. hemophilia); or
- Has an active genital infection, anatomic abnormality or other condition (e.g. severe obesity, diabetes or sickle cell anemia), which in the opinion of the surgeon, prevents the man from undergoing a circumcision as part of this study;
- Is not currently participating in another biomedical study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01300910
|Homa Bay District Hospital male circumcision clinic
|Homa Bay, Nyanza, Kenya, 40300
|Society for Family Planning Clinic
|Lusaka, Zambia
|Principal Investigator:
|Marc Goldstein, MD
|Weill Medical College of Cornell University
|Responsible Party:
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01300910 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|February 23, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|March 16, 2012
|Last Verified:
|March 2012
Keywords provided by FHI 360:
Adult Males
HIV prevention
Shang Ring


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Nicki Minaj - Itty Bitty Piggy
Hood Affairs reports " Nicki MInaj Has been on the grind for a minute and it has definitely payed off. She Just signed a new deal with Lil' waynes "Young Money Records" Check out this new video to itty nitty piggy off of her "Beam Me Up Scotty" Mixtape."
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subset: commoncrawl


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The Sun City men's travel volleyball team will play an exhibition game against the Lowcountry Blacktips Volleyball Club's girls 17-and-under team from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Bluffton High School gymnasium.
Admission to the fundraiser is free, but donations will be accepted at the door.
The Lowcountry Blacktips team will travel to Dallas this month for the 34th annual USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships, scheduled for June 28 to July 5. The club's 16-and-under team will compete June 23-26 at the 40th annaul AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando, Fla.
Bobcat tennis camps continue through July
Bobcat Tennis Day Camps will be held at Bluffton High School this week and the week of June 24, July 8, 15, 22 and 29. Cost is $60 per week or $18 per day for "drop-ins," which require 24 hours' notice. Racquets will be provided and rain dates will be made up.
The camps are open to ages 5-17 and all skill levels.
For more information call Brown at 290-2833 or go to blufftontennis.org.
McCracken girls hoops camp this week
The Bulldog Girls Summer Basketball Camp will continue this week at H.E. McCracken Middle School.
Sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday. The camp is open to girls entering grades 4-8, with a cost of $85 per week. Financial aid is available.
For more information, or to register, contact Debbie Retzer at 816-8200 or 836-2886.
Boys lacrosse camp registration extended
Bluffton High school will host a boys lacrosse clinic on Monday and Wednesday evenings in July. The registration period has been extended to Thursday.
The camp will be held on the practice field behind H.E. McCracken Middle School and is open to rising fourth- through 12th-graders. Cost is $80 for a new player or $60 for an experienced player.
To register, contact coach Herman Kramer at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Firecracker 5000 road race July 4
The 28th annual Publix Hilton Head Firecracker 5000 road race will begin at 8 a.m. July 4.
Because of construction at the run's traditional location in Shelter Cove Park, this year's course will start behind Jarvis Creek Park on Cross Island Parkway. The course will take runners across U.S. 278, Jarvis Park Road, Natures Way, Pembroke Drive, Hatton Place and Lafayette Place, finishing at the main entrance to Jarvis Creek Park.
A post-race party and July 4 celebration will follow the run. Scheduled events include a children's fun run, live music, refreshments and door prizes.
A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Hilton Head Rotary Club, the Hilton Head Island High School cross country team and the Hilton Head Runners Club.
For a course map or additional information, go to www.bearfootsports.com or call 757-8520.


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This is where my life as an SS-Class Otaku/Gamer shall be explored.I know you're curious about it
I'll also post pics of various anime or video games I watched/played or want to AND my opinion of them.
Otaku Profile
Just so you know,I'm a SS-class Otaku(and yeah,when I say I'm Otaku,I do include the japanese meaning),with extensive knowledge on anime culture.
As a gamer,Well,I currently own 5 consoles:A Wii,A Xbox 360,a PS2,a DS and a PSP.
Most of my games are Anime-style.I prefer RPGs,2D Fighting games and Dating sims/Gal games.I'm also a collector who loves to buy Limited Edition Games.Most gamers know hammered in my head how ''superior'' they are to anything else,but without me,some great games will go on uncredited for their quality and I find this sad
Top 5 Games
*Note that my Top 5s change fairly often,as there are always very close candidates.


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Mrs Timberlake's tour break
Justin Timberlake has spent the last couple of months on tour through Europe. I haven't missed him. Have you? He played London last night and is on a break until he resumes back in North America on July 9 in Buffalo. His wife has been with him for most of the travel but showed up in Paris for the Tiffany & Co opening yesterday wearing Giambattista Valli.
That's it.
I got nothin' else.
I googled for news, didn't help. No projects, no premieres, not much. How about social media?
A photo with her mother and the Eiffel Tower:


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Michigan Technological University is one of five universities nationwide selected to receive a 2009 Ford College Community Challenge grant. The $50,000 grant will enable Michigan Tech undergraduates and community partners to continue and expand a winterization project for low-income elderly residents of the community.
Ford C3 is a national initiative of Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company. The initiative challenged students from within Ford's national network of higher education partners to develop innovative programs that create sustainable change in their communities.
"How gratifying it is for the Ford Motor Company Fund to continue its long relationship with Michigan Tech through this grant," said Shea McGrew, vice president for advancement at Michigan Tech. "Our proposal rose to the top in a highly competitive process. The grant enables us to address the need of our elderly citizens for affordable energy solutions. The partnership demonstrates the Ford Fund's recognition of our exceptional student talent and the alignment of its priority of building sustainable communities with our focus in that area."
The Michigan Tech project, called Generations of Energy, developed when New Power Tour, Inc., a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing the use of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies, launched a winterization effort last fall. They sought help from a student team at Michigan Tech, the Efficiency Through Engineering and Construction (ETEC) Enterprise. Project partners at Michigan Tech and in the community now include the University's Youth Programs; New Power Tour, Inc.; Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly; Martineau & Morris Contracting; ThermalAnalytics, Inc.; and newly established High School Enterprise teams.
The project harnesses the energy, enthusiasm and talents of community residents from multiple generations: elderly residents who are often isolated and living on severely limited incomes, college students who are not always connected to the world beyond campus and at-risk high school students who are already confronting challenges and obstacles that can make college or post-secondary education seem out of reach. It aims to strengthen the foundations of a sustainable community, defined as one where residents are responsive to needs of those less fortunate and understand that their community is no stronger than the most vulnerable among them.
"I'm very excited to have the opportunity to be part of the Generations of Energy project, said Mike Powers, a senior in construction management at Michigan Tech and a member of ETEC. "Not only is this for a good cause, but it's also helping to inform people of the importance of sustainability and the savings it can bring," added Powers, assistant project manager.
Other winning projects include an innovative and first-ever bike share program, using information technology to increase energy efficiency within a community's residential area, and assisting a local non-profit organization to significantly expand its operations. In addition to Michigan Tech, the grants will go to the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Michigan State University, the University of Illinois and Georgia Tech.
"Education is a top priority for Ford Motor Company Fund," said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. "We are pleased to be able to support the millennial spirit of innovation in these students, whose projects help address critical needs within their communities."
Through the Ford C3 program, which was launched in 2008, Ford reached out to its national network of Ford Advanced Education Partnership (FAEP) colleges and universities and invited them to compete in the Ford College Community Challenge. Participating schools worked with their local communities to put together proposals that utilized the school's resources and capacity to address a social need or problem in the local community. Proposals had to address the theme of Ford C3 – Building Sustainable Communities – in some unique and innovative way. Unlike many traditional college grant programs, Ford C3 requires colleges to create project proposals that have significant student input, involvement, and leadership from beginning to end. As a result, winning proposals have a distinctive student perspective on what it means to have a sustainable community.
Ford Fund grants are designed to launch and sustain the projects through the first year of implementation. The projects then will continue to be supported by university and local resources.
Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services is a community relations and philanthropic non-profit funded by Ford Motor Company. Celebrating its 60 th anniversary in 2009, Ford Fund supports initiatives and institutions that foster and promote innovation in education, greater automotive safety and American heritage and diversity. National programs include Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (Ford PAS), which provides 21 st century skills-based curriculum to more than 40,000 high school students; and Ford Driving Skills for Life, which has taught safe driving skills to more than 337,000 young drivers. In addition, the Ford Volunteer Corps, established in 2005, enlists the help of thousands of Ford employees and retirees who volunteer their time to continue Ford's legacy of community service worldwide. For more information about programs made possibly by Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services, please visit www.community.ford.com or www.volunteer.ford.com.


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Moving to a circular economy
Aluminium has a life cycle that few materials can match. Our move toward a circular economy involves an emphasis on recycling aluminium.
Recycling and reusing aluminium
Ore is mined and processed into aluminium. The metal is transformed into products. And when the lifetime of the product ends, it is recycled and reused in new products.
Aluminium can be recycled endlessly
Aluminium is like an energy bank. Only 5 percent of the energy required to produce primary aluminium is needed to remelt aluminium for new uses, with no loss in the quality of the metal. This makes sense environmentally and financially.
We offer sustainable materials for your products
Aluminium can be recycled infinitely, with no loss of quality. And recycling uses only a fraction of the energy that was required to produce the original metal. This makes obvious the environmental benefits of using recycled aluminium.
Sustainability is the reason why we invest in improving our casthouses and in setting up new ones. We also work with customers on designing products and solutions that facilitate easy disassembly, bringing us ever deeper into the circular economy.
Contact us today to learn more about using sustainable aluminium in your products.


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Ferry Porsche once said: "We believe in quality, not quantity when it comes to building cars". An attitude with a long tradition at Porsche. Since back in 1986, we have been dedicated to implementing special customer wishes and develop one-off vehicles which bring our motto "Individuality straight from the factory" onto the road. In addition to the use of high-quality materials such as leather, Alcantara, carbon, wood and aluminium, the human hand is our most valuable asset. This is what makes all the many individual details add up to a coherent whole. A truly unique vehicle. Your Porsche.Дэлгэрэнгүй үзэх
Everything starts with the right advice. And the focus is on you and your exclusive wishes and requirements. We offer personal support and individual expert advice to each and every customer. We answer all your questions on the relevant Porsche models and your personalisation options.
At our Customer Centres in Zuffenhausen and Leipzig, as well as at our Exclusive Flagship Dealers, we can show you what we mean by personalising our customers' wishes.


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New voucher program to expand transportation for those with disabilities
The combination of advancing age, muscular dystrophy and other health problems have made it nearly impossible for Ronald Zolla, 79, of Orange, to get around. It's not only difficult for him to walk, but even getting into and out of a car is a struggle. A town bus used to take him to appointments, but when that service was no longer available, he and his wife, Dorothy, 76, faced a problem. "I can't take him in my car," Dorothy said. "I can drive, but I can't get him in and out by myself."
Thus it was a relief when the couple found out that Metro Taxi, the state's largest full-service cab company, offered wheelchair-accessible taxis. Dorothy said she and her husband frequently use the cabs to take him to doctors' appointments in Milford, and "it's a big help."
Metro Taxi President Bill Scalzi said the company has long focused on offering more options for the disabled community. To that end, the company launched its New Freedom Fund Taxi Voucher Program a year-and-a-half ago. Through the program, Metro collaborated with the Greater New Haven Transit District to allow those who qualify for transportation assistance under the Americans with Disabilities Act to purchase vouchers and receive 50 percent discounts on accessible services from Metro. For instance, if someone buys a $50 voucher, that entitles him or her to $100 worth of service.
The voucher program has been successful enough that Metro is expanding it, partnering with the Kennedy Center in Trumbull and the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority to offer the program to those with disabilities in the Bridgeport area.
Margaret Mixon, the Kennedy Center's regional mobility manager, said the new voucher service will be an enormous help for many of the 2,000 clients the center serves annually. "There's definitely a lack of transportation options out there, and we were trying to fill that gap," she said.
Currently, clients have to use the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority's paratransit service. The service only provides transportation within a 3/4 mile radius of an operating GBTA public bus route. Also, riders have to call GBTA at least one day in advance to reserve a spot on the bus.
The Metro service offers more flexibility, Mixon said. "It works like a regular taxi service -- you call them and they come and pick you up," she said.
Though users must begin and end their trips in Bridgeport, Stratford or Trumbull (the area Metro Taxi serves), they can go anywhere within those towns. The voucher service is partly funded through the New Freedom Fund Initiative, a grant program of the Federal Transit Administration that proposes to remove barriers to transportation for people with disabilities.
Scalzi said he always wanted to expand the program and is looking forward to the new partnership. "It was always a given that, once we got this set up in New Haven, we would do it in Bridgeport," he said.
Mixon said at least five people from the Kennedy Center have applied for the voucher program, and, as soon as the center receives the vouchers, the program is ready to go. "Right now, we're still trying to get the word out about it," she said.
Greater Bridgeport residents looking to apply for a voucher should call Mixon at 203-365-8522, ext. 263, or visit www.knowhowtogoct.org. Those in Greater New Haven interested in applying should visit http://www.gnhtd.org/news.htm#TAXI or call the Greater New Haven Transit District at 203-288-6282.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 203-330-6290; twitter.com/AmandaCuda; http://blog.ctnews.com/whatthehealth/


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1150 S.beverly Drive Los Angeles 90035 USA
Area Travel Easy From Hotel's Address in Beverly Hills, CA Top among hotels in Beverly Hills, CA, the Crowne Plaza Hotel Beverly Hills promises distinguished accommodations and easy access to business and leisure destinations, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Burbank Airport (BUR), Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles. Conveniently positioned near I-10 and I-405 and just off Wilshire Boulevard, this hotel offers Los Angeles, CA travelers a central home base for exploring the area. Featuring 5,000 sq ft of flexible event space for up to 300, as well as a Crowne Meetings Director and Business Center services, this is The Place to Meet among Beverly Hills, CA hotels. Close proximity to Century City offices, Los Angeles Convention Center, medical centers and businesses allows business travelers a productive visit. Wilshire Boulevard offers hotel patrons in Los Angeles, CA endless entertainment, from Rodeo Drive shopping to the fabulous collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Universal Studios Hollywood is just a short drive away, as are Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica beach. Top amenities, including an outdoor, heated pool, a Fitness Center and the Crowne Plaza Sleep Advantage program, allow hotel guests to feel pampered in Beverly Hills, while conveniences like complimentary Wi-Fi access and on-site dining ensure a pleasant stay. Experience the difference of the Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills Hotel!


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Batman knows on how to put on a freakin' show when he wants to. And he's polite, too.
Whenever my brain randomly moves to thoughts of Batman, this is the series of panels that comes to mine. It's a page from Batman #405, part of the Batman Year One storyline. This 1987 arc contained Frank Miller's great re-imagining of Bruce Wayne's first outings as Batman. Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli make up one of comics' best teams when they work together, able to use space and silence to stunning effect.
Part of the appeal of this page is in how quiet and polite the Dark Knight is here. Yes, the cape swirling in silhouette is a great moment. But my favorite panel is the silent one immediately afterward, where the detail of that poor waiter's uncontrollably shaking hand drives home just how scary even a novice Batman must be. Poor guy, he's probably just some actor doing catering gigs in between auditions only to have the wall explode and a creature-of-the-night walk in and commandeer his bananas foster. And the way that Mazzucchelli controls the light sources, so that the terror of that final black panel hits home? Sheer genius.
So, yeah, that's the Batman sequence I can't get out of my head. What's yours?


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a pet, no self-respecting animal would have let him linger that
long with a madeleine half-eaten in his fingers." - from Compendium Dachsundium by Matthea Harvey, Everyman's Library, 2003.
Lovable and slightly disreputable, even when domesticated, the Nabi dogs of Pierre Bonnard are irresistible scene stealers.
Bonnard himself did not have an "irresistible passion for painting", according to his friend Annette Vaillant, but after failing to pass his civil service examination and his failure to win the Prix de Rome, his success with his poster for France-Champagne in 1891 was especially sweet. And influential - it inspired Toulouuse-Lautrec to give the popular new medium a go.
Whether pampered pets of the bourgeoisie or scraggly privateers, dogs in Bonnard's work are equally personable. If these pictures were plays, the dogs would get the best lines. In Bonnard's affectionate depiction of his sister Andree and her adored dog Ravageau, Andree and Ravageau form a tightly knit group between themselves. We see Andree again in The Game Of Croquet, dog at her side, part of a tableau where the composer Claude Terrasse is upstaged by the happy pair. The pattern of the leaves looks like paper cut-outs; the flatttened colors and diffuse perspectives are evidence of the artist's interest in ukiyo-e prints.
On the streets of Paris in the late 19th century fully a quarter of working people labored at the endless making and maintaining of clothing. In The Little Laundress (1895) the girl carrying a heavy load of clean laundry and the spotted dog are fellows. Interestingly, a preliminary sketch placed a trio of people standing on the sidewalk, but their removal serves to suggest a correspondence between the two characters. Painted during the same year Place Clichy could be the little laundress's employer taking her dogs for a walk. Something about her extravagantly ruffled collar connects this woman and these capering dogs.
Although carefully plotted, Bonnard's street scenes are casual affairs, anecdotes of urban life, ofetn likened to the prints of Ando Hiroshige for the way his characters are flattened on the surface of the picture. Sometimes the dogs are mere silhouettes but, even so, they exude a liveliness that suggests Bonnard was as captivated by them as we are.
1. The Women And The Dog, 1891, Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA.
2. The Game Of Croquet - or -Crepuscule, 1892, Musee d'Orsay, Paris.
3. Andree and Ravageau, c. 1891, Galerie Vollard, Paris.
4. Woman With Dog, 1897, Courthauld Institute, London.
6. Street Scene, Place Clichy, 1895, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
7. Two Dogs On A Deserted Street, 1894, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
7. Street Corner, from the series Quelques aspects de la vie de Paris, 1899, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.


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Throwback Beatdown : When Stage Crashing Goes Wrong! Snoop Dogg's Crew Give A Man A Beating On Stage After Crashing On Snoop Dogg! (What if Lil Mama crashed this stage?)
Throwback clip. Shout out to Mr. Exclusive!
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193503/bigBrands_screenshots/1_preview.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/2_home.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/3_logo.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/4_web.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/5_print.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/6_testimonials.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/7_elements.png 193503/bigBrands_screenshots/8_contact.png
BigBrands – HTML Theme
To track any updates to this theme go here LogPush – BigBrands . Click the 'follow project' button to get notified of any updates made via email
If you're looking for the Wordpress version, you can find it here
BigBrands is a marketing/Portfolio site geared towards showcasing your skills in a variety of fun ways.
- 7 Fully coded pages with different styles and layouts
- PHP Contact script – fully styled and functional – just insert your email address
- Unique layout and navigation style
- JQuery image zoom for cool web portfolio interaction
- Clean testimonials style to showcase what others are saying about you
- JQuery rotator in sidebar for showcasing featured content
- JQuery image thumbnail sliding on logo and print pages
- Clean focus on content presentation and typography
- JQuery form validation on catact form
- Easy to manage and customize
- Tableless design
Whats in included
- All theme files
- Fully sliced and layerd PSD files for all layouts and colors
- PHP Contact script
- README guide
Logo images included in theme (sidebar rotator and thumbnails) are courtesy of John Mascarenhas Check out his portfolio for more fantastic logo design
If you have any questions or need help please email me @ chrisfay[at]chrisfay.net


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2013-03-07 / Police Blotter
Burglaries Reported State Police at Towanda are investigating a burglary in Towanda Township that occurred on Feb. 25. Someone entered the home of a Reuter Boulevard resident and cut away copper piping. Readers with information are asked to call 570-265-2186.
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Learning Index >> Ceramic Decoration: a selective guide to pots in the collection of the Crafts Study Centre
No 30: Bottle vase, 1970 (P.75.99)
Bernard Leach produced this well-known, tall stoneware bottle in his late career at St Ives. Its pale cream-grey form is the perfect vehicle for the pairs of leaping fish which are pained between horizontal bands of brushed iron pigment. The body is thus divided up almost architecturally into two classical friezes of decoration.


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Eggs with Vegetables
I spent the last few days visiting my daughter Carson in Ontario, where she is an archaeology student at the University of Toronto. My son Mo and I stayed at the elegant Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street—the general manager is an old friend of mine who I met in Hungary years ago (on a boar hunt of all things). Anyway, the Intercontinental is kind of boutiquey, without the attitude. They have a good restaurant: I had a fantastic venison tenderloin with smoked potatoes and beech mushrooms with an Ontario cuvee that I am still thinking about, and the bar made a vodka Gibson for me that was perfect. Twice.
So Carson was carrying on about what she wanted me to cook for her when she got home, and it is so ironic, because the dish she is after is the same one I craved when I was away from home, and the same my dad craved when he was drafted into the army: eggs with vegetables.
Italians traditionally eat eggs at night, as part of a light dinner (the heavy meal of the day is lunch). This dish, with a salad afterward, is actually a summer staple in our house, although I've made variations with winter vegetables, too.


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VIII. An Earthly Child
Released December 2010
Thirty years on from the Daleks' invasion of Earth, the scars still haven't healed. The survivors inhabit a world thrown back two hundred years, a world of crop shortages and civil unrest. A world where the brightest and best of its young people are drawn to the xenophobic Earth United group.
A world sliding into a new Dark Age, believes Susan Campbell, widow of one of the heroes of the Occupation. A world in need of alien intervention. A world in need of hope.
But as Susan takes drastic action to secure the planet's future, she's oblivious to the fact that her student son, Alex, ensnared by Earth United, is in need of alien intervention too. Or so Alex's great-grandfather thinks.
Main Doctor Who range subscribers whose subscription includes release number 129, Plague of the Daleks, will receive this one-disc Doctor Who audio drama absolutely free. An Earthly Child can also be pre-ordered now and will be available to buy separately in December 2010.
Written By: Marc Platt
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs
Paul McGann (The Doctor), Carole Ann Ford (Susan Campbell), Jake McGann (Alex Campbell), Sheryl Gannaway (Holly Barrett), Leslie Ash (Marion Fleming/Hope), Matt Addis (Faisal Jensen/Reporter), Ian Hallard (Duncan), Ian Brooker (President of the Earth Council/Policeman/Air Control/Helicopter Pilot/Reporter)


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I'm E-Ming, a Product Manager at Research In Motion® (RIM®), and I wanted to tell you about the recent update to BlackBerry® News application for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet! Before I get into the details of what's new in BlackBerry News 1.1, I wanted to take a minute to thank #TeamBlackBerry for all the feedback that's been provided so far! Be sure to keep it coming* – we love hearing about what you think of our app.
For those of you new to the app, BlackBerry News is a news aggregator that works with the RSS feeds provided by many different content providers. It enables you to subscribe to multiple RSS feeds and then have them delivered to a single location to get the latest news, right on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Pretty convenient, huh? If you want to get further caught up, be sure to read our original post about BlackBerry News for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
Now, let's walk through the new functionality in BlackBerry News 1.1.
Portrait Orientation Support
We've optimized support for portrait mode by providing an article list view to help you view more headlines at a single time. We've also optimized the article list view, so instead of getting your magazine layout in landscape mode, you'll get a portrait-mode list view of all the articles for quicker headline browsing. Whether you're looking to enjoy a casual browse of your news or you're a journalism junkie looking to stay on top of all the headlines, we've got you covered.
New Visual Indicators – "new" and articles marked read
We've added two new visual indicators – one that provides more context regarding which channels have new articles added since the app's last content update, and another that displays which articles have already been read, so you'll never have to read the same article twice (unless you want to!).
Go to Next/Previous Article
New navigational buttons mean you can easily move to the next or previous article. (I find these buttons make it much easier to read through my RSS feeds when I'm on the go.)
Channel Switcher From Magazine View
Using the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's top-down swipe gesture, you can access the new channel switcher functionality to quickly switch to another category. Perfect for all you news addicts with quick attention spans!
Go to Feed After Subscribing
After subscribing to a feed in our content library, you now have the ability to go directly to that feed, so you can start reading your news right away.
Update News Through Data Tethering
With this update, you can take advantage of a paired BlackBerry® smartphone, so you can connect and update your feeds wherever you are and stay on top of what's happening. Just make sure you have your BlackBerry smartphone paired up and a valid data tethering plan with your carrier.
Download Today!
Just as a reminder, your BlackBerry News subscriptions will be synced with your BlackBerry® ID, which means your news is available via BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or BlackBerry smartphone. So if you happen to be on the go without your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you can still catch up on your favorite news by using your BlackBerry smartphone and the BlackBerry News Feeds application that's available on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.
I hope this update is helpful. And I hope you decide to download the updated BlackBerry News for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet today, and come back and share your feedback!


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The Dark Knight Rides In This Batmobile-Inspired Lamborghini
By now you've probably seen the video of Batman chillin' in his Lambo. While that's like the Reese's Pieces of awesome (childhood) fantasies, designer Mark Hostler took it a step further with his new Lamborghini Ferruccio concept.
Hostler's concept takes some of the most notable features from Lamborghini history; the low windshield and rear end of the Countach, the jet-inspired body lines of the Reventon and the rounded fenders of the Miura, among others – and mixes them into an aggressive, dynamic vehicle that we'd solemnly swear to fight a lifetime of crime for.


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Underwater Alt, produced by McCann-Erickson for Lucent Technologies.
Underwater Alt (the "alt" in the title is for "alternative"–the client saw several executions of this spot) is the newest ad in a series by advertising powerhouse McCann-Erickson for Lucent Technologies, the company that was once Ma Bell's lab.
At the most obvious level, Underwater Alt is just chyron writing on a computer screen. As the tap-tap-tap of the spot's message glides across the screen, the keyboardist provides the voice-over at the same speed he types. We don't see the keyboardist–we intuit him based on the visual and audio clues.
"This is a demonstration," our narrator types. A demonstration of what? The screen and the clacking keys suggest it has to be something high tech. As we cut from a close-up to a wider view, we're informed that the product is "Lucent wireless systems and technology." In fact, no one specific product is hyped.
Water edges into the frame from below, as if the computer screen is not just a computer screen but also a big, clear bowl. The rising tide distorts the words ("this is now just about the only place") and then swamps them ("where you can't stay in touch."). As the water fills the screen, a goldfish swims by.
"Any questions?" our narrator types. The fish turns to face the camera, as if it might have one, and then swims away because, of course, we can't communicate down here. The fish swims into the next scene, across the company name and into the last frame, complete with name, logo, and a reference to "Bell Labs Innovations" (there's equity left in the old corporate identity).
Finally, the spot delivers an explicit message: "We make the things that make communications work," says and types the keyboardist. At the same time, an air bubble burps over the fish, making it seem as if we're listening to the fish's thoughts.
The brand-name advertising of Underwater Alt aims to associate Lucent with the futuristic, high-end segment of the communications web. And by soft-selling the idea that Lucent is inventing the future for everyone (except for fish), the spot disarms potential technophobes by banishing techy talk and visuals.
–Robert Shrum


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About Us
UAF has done much over the last decade to move towards a move sustainable campus. Many of these efforts have been driven by student enthusiasm and energy. The UAF Office of Sustainability is working to create a campus wide network and engage the community in a sustainable future.
For more information on the sustainable efforts being made at UAF, visit Greening at the Blue and Gold and the Green Bikes Program.


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rtceL needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 47 designs submitted by 16 freelance designers.
Paragon of Virtue, one of the top Counter-Strike 1.6 teams in the United States is in need of a sleek, creative, and thoughtful logo that can successfully represent the organization professionally and competitively.
Paragon of Virtue
Who are we?
Paragon of Virtue is a competitive gaming team that travels nationally competing at some of the largest gaming competitions for cash prizes ranging from a few hundred to nearly half a million dollars.
We compete in the widely popular, first-person-shooter PC game, Counter-Strike 1.6, a game that has reached millions of players world-wide. Some of the top teams in the world have had salaries, sponsorships from brand names such as Tylenol, Subway, and Intel, televised interviews on talk shows, and reached rock-star status in many countries. (The U.S. is just now picking up on this)
What we need!
We're in need of a clean, sleek, and thoughtful logo that is easily transferable to any web or apparel based medium. This logo should represent the name, and be unique. We're open to a variety of ideas and interpretations. The Paragon of Virtue team interprets the name as meaning a, "model of excellence."
The logo, once accepted, will be an official trademark of the team, displayed on all of our apparel, websites, and will become publicly recognized by the entire gaming community, and media outlets at live events.
- Theme colors: Black, Silver, Yellow, and White. (you don't have to use all of them, just understand the basic theme colors)
- Must be clean, nothing random.
- Must represent the name of the company.
- We're open to mascot-like figures, text-based logos, and any other thoughtful concept that follows the requirements listed.
- Gaming stereotypes (nerds, glasses, joysticks, etc.)
- Confusion (this must be clean, and creative)
- Plain text. (I don't want you to just give me cheesy stylized font with the brand name)
- Anything comical.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Hamelman's Pain Rustique
Not sure this is the right place to post about a recipe tried, but if it's not I will delete it and post it somewhere else.
Today I made Hamelman's Pain Rustique (page 111 of "Bread" ) - I made half the recipe, ending with two small loaves, will be perfect for lunch/dinner today.
The recipe is extremely easy - dough is a pleasure to work with. An overnight poolish goes in the final dough, that rises for only 70 minutes with two folds at 25 and 50 min. Final rise is less than half an hour - bread is not shaped, just separated in rectangles of the right size, and slashed.
I will post two photos. We loved the flavor and crumb texture, by the way


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"Why didn't I hear about this show before?"Ever been to the National Genealogy Society annual conference in Salt Lake City? It's pretty interesting.
I was just there a few weeks ago to help spread the word about The Generations Project. We had a really cool booth set up which stood out pretty well among the rest. Maybe because it looked like we had ripped out a section of Ikea.
I went to the conference with three main goals in mind.
1. Increase awareness of the show
2. Find genealogists who specialize in niche areas and are interested in doing research for our show
3. Find cool stories for upcoming episodes
The four-day event really was fun and I loved talking to people from all over the world, even if some of them just stopped by to take a free truffle. (We were told several times we had the best chocolates at the whole conference. It really wasn't hard competing against the generic miniature candy bars. But thank you.)
"Why didn't I hear about this show before?"
Was the question I heard again and again from the hundreds of people we talked to.
Many were already fans of NBC's new show, Who Do You Think You Are but never knew there was a show that takes your average everyday person on a genealogical journey. They would say, "It's fun seeing celebrities, but we want to see people like you and me." Everyone was excited to hear they could even apply to be on the show. (Here's how - http://www.byutv.org/thegenerationsproject/yourstory/). I got to hear several cool stories and often found myself saying, "that's a great story, you need to fill out an application."
Overall it was a great experience and we informed a lot of people about the show. However, we still need to get the word out about this great new TV series. What do you think we can do to better spread the word?


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I'm a Guitar HeroPosted by Steve Jamieson in Games, tags: Beth, Guitar Hero, Kenny
Previously, I wrote about my friend Beth getting me hooked on Guitar Hero. So in celebration of being halfway done my MLS, I gave in to my new Beth-induced addiction and purchased a Guitar Hero bundle. Right now I'm working on mastering the medium difficulty in general, and "No One Knows" as made famous by Queens of the Stone Age from Guitar Hero 1 in particular.
Here's a pic of my co-worker Kenny and I rocking out in the break room.


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The maintenance of our water meters is one of the most important parts of ensuring the highest level of water and wastewater services to our customers. DEP has begun contacting customers to schedule an appointment to have their meter installed, repaired, or replaced. Below is a list of frequently asked questions to help property owners and managers understand what this means.
The Multi-Family Conservation Program (MCP) provides qualified multiple-family housing of four or more Dwelling Units with billing based on a fixed charge per unit in lieu of billing based on metered charges. The program objective is to promote water conservation in multiple-family housing, while giving Customers control over their water and wastewater costs. At the discretion of the Commissioner, buildings with substantial increases in water consumption caused by unaddressed leaks or waste may be expelled from the program.
MCP Program guidelines can be found in Part IV, Section 2 of the Water and Wastewater Rate Schedule (PDF) effective as of July 1, 2018.
Where applicable, MCP properties will be billed for services provided after July 1, 2018 at an annual charge of $1,028.53 per Dwelling Unit, $846.77 per Low-use Commercial Unit, and $291.65 per Boarder, Roomer, or Lodger Unit. These rates include both water and sewer charges.
The MCP requires participants to implement certain conservation measures in order to remain on flat-rate billing. Properties must have an Automated Meter Reading (AMR) compatible contemporary meter and an AMR device installed, and high-efficiency water-using fixtures installed in 70% of all units. Toilets installed as a part of DEP's original 1994 to 1997 Toilet Rebate Program will count towards this requirement. After December 31, 2018, properties failing to meet these requirements will be assessed an Additional Charge for failing to comply, as described in Part IV, Section G of the Water and Wastewater Rate Schedule, effective as of July 1, 2018.
Customers currently billed on metered charged can apply to have qualified buildings enrolled in the MCP. Please note that neither DEP nor the Water Board makes any claim with regard to whether meter-based billing or the MCP will produce the lowest charge for a Customer. Neither DEP nor the Water Board will be liable for any financial loss incurred by a Customer's choice.
To apply to the Program, print out the application and reference the documents below, fill out the application form and send it to DEP at the address listed on the form:
New York City Department of Environmental Protection has added a new feature to help building managers and homeowners to determine if their property has complied with the MCP requirements. Customers will be able to search for their property's MCP compliance status by borough, block and lot or service address through this website.
Please click here to determine if your property has complied with the MCP requirements.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection has put together a presentation to help building managers, superintendents, home owners and the public learn more about how to conserve water.
A letter of authorization is required for a third party to conduct certain types of business with DEP. All letters should be mailed to:
Letter of AuthorizationDEP/Bureau of Customer Services59-17 Junction Blvd 7th FloorFlushing, NY 11373-9055
Private meter installation with reimbursement is designed to provide owners of residential properties the opportunity to have their water meters installed by a Licensed Master Plumber of their own choosing. It also provides all property owners, both residential and commercial, with the ability to use their own licensed plumber to replace existing "entire premise" ("EP") meters that are no longer functioning properly.
This alternative is provided because the New York City Water Board and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recognize that metering can be a mechanically difficult task in some cases, that it may need to be coordinated with other work in the building and/or that you may prefer to have your own plumber perform this work prior to the City contracting to have meters installed or replaced in your building or home. If you choose to have your own plumber meter your building, you will be reimbursed in the form of a credit on future water and sewer bills.
To learn all about private installation and replacement installation with reimbursement, including the Reimbursement Schedule and maximum reimbursement amounts, read the:
This is an application for owners who previously had a separate meter for a commercial tenant but that meter has been superseded by an "entire premises" meter. If the owner qualifies through this application he will be able to hire a licensed plumber to perform work to install a new meter for the commercial tenant. That new meter, along with the existing "entire premises" meter will together cover the entire property and both will be billed by DEP.
To apply for a separate commercial meter, print out this application, fill it out and send or deliver it to DEP:
DEP rules allow certain condominiums as tall as six stories with individual hot water and space heating systems in each unit to install meters for each condo unit. These Guidelines provide a step-by-step process for such applications.
For the approved list of meters and related equipment, read the following:
The application is intended for a licensed plumber who is installing, replacing, relocating or repairing a water meter.
To apply for a water meter permit, print out this application, fill it out and send or deliver it to DEP:
In response to a number of inquiries concerning methods of reading water meters through various types of building energy or facility automation systems the Universal Metering/Technical Services Division of DEP's Bureau of Customer Services has produced the following Technical Note. This note will be revised regularly since advances are being made in this field on a regular basis:
This Guide provides technical background for design professionals, licensed plumbers and energy/water professionals wishing to comply with Council Intro 0268-2010 that requires the use of water submeters in new or substantially renovated non-residential construction.
Specifications for water meter installation and placement for properties built or renovated within Flood Zones.
New Payment OptionsWater Charges
Current: %
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Wellington Chase Subdivision
Wellington Chase Subdivision is located in (North), St Louis County, Missouri.
The following school information for Wellington Chase Subdivision may or may not be up to date. School districts and area assignments can often change. For current information make sure to contact the school. Also note not all area private schools may be listed here.
Real Estate For Sale in 63031.
Condos For Sale: 8
Commercial For Sale: 18
Lots For Sale: 1
Total For Sale: 195
Featured Properties For Sale
Subdivisions Near 63031


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Steam ovens and techniques
My husband and I are currently building a new family home. I recently attended a cooking demonstration from a luxury appliance company, where I was introduced to steam ovens. They sounded very versatile but I couldn't find many cookbooks to give an introduction to what you can do. Would you recommend the purchase?
Many thanks, Tina Coombes
To answer your question, you need to consider how often you currently steam food. It may well be that you never steam anything, so you'll need to really believe that you're about to change your eating habits quite considerably before you lay out a considerable wad of cash on an appliance that you may rarely use.
If I were you I'd buy a cheaper alternative, before you build your kitchen, and see how you like it. If it's a style of cooking you think you could warm to, then go for the best you can afford. Affordable alternatives range from the uber-cheap bamboo Chinese steamers that sit on top of a pot or wok that you'll be familiar with from any yum-cha restaurant.
Next in price would be those folding metal trivets with legs, that sit inside a pot filled with a few centimetres of water, which are great for steaming broccoli and the like. An electrical bench steamer is perhaps the closest to what a built-in steam oven could produce because they're multi-layered and have a good amount of surface area on which to lay dishes of fish, meat or even steamed puddings.
The advantage of a built-in steam oven is that they are large, accessed from the front and not the top, they have many racks and trays, and they can produce enough food to feed quite a lot of people - but you do need to consider if they're too big for your needs and if an alternative is better.
Steamers are a great addition to a commercial kitchen. I like to steam belly pork (before roasting it at a high temperature) and likewise, halved duck carcasses - cooking them in a moist environment in a proper steamer-tray with holes allows for the fat to be "steamed" off the meat before roasting at a high temperature to crisp the skin and colour the meat.
Fish wrapped in banana leaves, or even just sitting on a parchment-lined tray works incredibly well, as do chicken breasts, scallops in the shell, even mussels and clams. If you can purchase a steamer combi-oven, one that does both steaming and dry-roasting, then the advantages are enormous.
This style of combi-oven is also brilliant for bread-bakers. Place your loaves or rolls in a steam oven at 100C for 10 minutes, before baking at 190C and you'll have much lighter bread with a good crust. Steaming fish and meat is also a very healthy way to eat and, to further enhance the dish, it's good to lay the food being cooked over herbs (thyme and rosemary, etc), spices (star anise and cinnamon work really well with savoury food) and aromatics such as ginger and lemongrass.
The steam vapour swirls the flavours around the oven and unlike in a regular oven, they aren't burnt away at high temperature. So, to answer your question, I'd suggest that if you have some cash to play with, first see if you really truly like steamed food.
If you do, consider how often you'll be using the steam oven and if it's only once or twice a month, consider a bench-top steamer to fulfil your needs. If it would, then maybe you'd be better off to invest more money in a top-of-the-range oven, hob or extraction fan and save money (and space) on the steamer. If you are going to take advantage of this healthy and versatile cooking technique, then research it fully and buy the best you can afford.
In our Ask Peter series, executive chef Peter Gordon answers your curly culinary questions. If you're stumped over something food-related, send your question to email@example.com and keep checking in for answers. You can read more on Peter on his website, have a read of his Ask Peter articles or check out his recipes on our site.


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Roasted Beet Salad Recipes
View All | View Summaries
Roasted Beet Salad with Feta and Candied Pecans
11.29.10 by Jackie
Roasted beet salad is a first course I serve often when we host dinner parties. It has great visual appeal. The dish doesn't just have good looks though. The roasted beets are incredibly flavorful and they pair wonderfully with many ingredients. I've used them in risotto, gnocchi pasta and salad. To give the beet salad a rich mouth-feel, I added garlic-and-herb-flavored feta cheese and spicy candied pecans (I recently used them as garnish for pumpkin mousse) for crunch.
If you're planning a buffet-style dinner, you could serve the beet salad in endive or mini butter lettuce leaves as a "cup". Just spoon the mixture onto the leaves and chill for an hour before serving. When you're ready to serve, drizzle with the vinaigrette. Voilà!
Full Recipe...


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Weddings have now become so expensive that more and more Americans are taking out insurance policies against the big day, as though it were a brand new Chevy Tahoe.
That's according to the AP, which reports that there are insurance policies to protect against all manner of nuptial catastrophes, from hurricanes to illness to deployment. None of the companies would cough up numbers besides claiming they're "growing steadily," but Travelers did admit a quarter of claims are related to vendor fuck-ups—mostly photographers and videographers.
Maybe this is a wise financial investment! Personally, though, I am much too superstitious to purchase any such thing.
One firm, Fireman's Fund Insurance Co, even sells a policy that covers a change of heart. But it only pays out if someone nixes the wedding nine months or more in advance—because initially, "The only ones who were buying it were the ones who knew they would have a claim," explained an administrator.
Yeah, it's not exactly a good sign if you're already investigating escape routes.
Image via Shutterstock


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Opening Day brings chills for Ziegler every year
D-backs reliever Brad Ziegler sat down recently with MLB.com to share his memories of Opening Day.
My first Opening Day in the big leagues was in 2009 when I was with Oakland. I just remember kind of having chills when my name was called out on the line.
D-backs reliever Brad Ziegler sat down recently with MLB.com to share his memories of Opening Day.
My first Opening Day in the big leagues was in 2009 when I was with Oakland. I just remember kind of having chills when my name was called out on the line.
You get chills every year for it. You're just so amped up. You're tired of Spring Training and you're just so ready to go. It's always special. You're guaranteed to have a good crowd and they're usually into it from the start. You usually get a jet flyover, which jolts adrenaline through everybody. It's just like finally, these games count.
We get to do it four times this year -- in Australia, at home, in Denver and San Francisco -- and it will be special every single time. Even when you're on the road and the fans are booing, there are still goosebumps that come.
My favorite Opening Day was 2010 when we were in Seattle to play the Mariners. It was Ken Griffey Jr.'s last season and Seattle was his place, and he had gone back to Seattle for that year and we were their home opener.
It was incredible. There was a huge display of fireworks and they had a red carpet rolled from the outfield wall all the way to the infield, and every one of their players ran out on the red carpet and Junior was the last one.
They had Randy Johnson throw out the first pitch to Dan Wilson. Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner were also there to celebrate. It was awesome. There's not a century-long baseball history in Seattle, but what there is, they brought it all together that day and it was really neat.
I don't remember the game, whether we won or lost, but it was just cool to get to see Junior's last home Opening Day, because that was someone that I had looked up to since I was little kid and to be on the same field with him was really special.
I never went to an Opening Day before my first one with the A's. The Royals always played a day game for their opener and I was in school. I had friends that skipped school and went, but I was never a huge Royals fan to the point where I would even think about that.
I don't remember the year, but it was in the 1990's at some point and Kevin Appier had a no-hitter through seven on Opening Day. But it's Opening Day, so it's not like he can throw 130 pitches and his pitch count was around the 90's and they took him out. Whatever reliever came in lost the no-hitter. They still won the game, but I remember thinking how cool it would be if he threw a no-hitter on Opening Day.
I was listening to the game on the radio while in school that day. We had some teachers who would put the TV on with no sound while we were working on stuff. Other teachers were like, "Absolutely not, this is school." It depended on what was going on in class that day as to whether we could watch.
All the guys on the baseball team and guys who liked baseball a lot would try and find out the scores. We didn't have internet on our phones at that time. So the best way to find out the score was a lot of times the radio. Other than that, it was just kind of word of mouth. You don't have to do that anymore because you can just check them out yourself on your phone.
It's crazy. I have so many memories of watching ball when I was younger. When Johnny Damon first came up with Kansas City I was 16 maybe. I could barely drive, and me and my best friend went out to a game just to watch Johnny Damon play. We bought seats in right field. I took a camera and took a whole roll of film, just Johnny Damon -- while he was at the plate, when he was on the bases, when he was out in the outfield. We were yelling, "Hey Johnny!" He nodded his head at us and we were waving back and we were like, "Dude, that is so cool."
Then when I got to Oakland and we're playing the Yankees a couple of years later and I'm running into Damon in the weight room it's so surreal. I didn't want to tell him that story and say, "Dude you were my favorite player in high school," and make him feel old or something. But at the same time, it was really neat to be on the same field with him.
Even though it's been six or seven years now, the feeling inside of me on Opening Day never changes me. I always take a step back and take a reality check and say, "Wow, I'm in the big leagues."
Brad Ziegler is a relief pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks.


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FMD Mom Blog Featured Articles
You Are What You EAT, READ, WATCH & THINK
Have you ever heard the old additive you are what you eat. Well, we not only believe that is true [...]
4 Nutrition Tips for Moms
It was a huge goal for us to lose weight after the birth of our children. Between us we shed [...]
Lose 5 Pounds by Eating These Foods
If you are looking to drop 5 pounds in a healthy way all you need to do is focus on [...]
As Seen In:
Total Mommy Fitness CoverFit Mom Diet
Fox 10 Flat Belly Plan SegmentFit Mom Diet
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Truth About CaloriesFit Mom Diet
Green Pepper RecipeFit Mom Diet
"There is nothing better then connecting with like minded people when it comes to setting new goals especially when it comes to health and fitness. I became an ambassador with Fit Mom Diet last year and was very inspired by the team work and support they have for their community and all the mom's looking to improve their health. I was also given the opportunity to be the fitness model for one of their articles! It was a great experience and I was grateful to have been chosen to represent them! My journey in the fitness industry has embellished my life beyond expectation. I am so thankful for all the inspirational role models and leaders who have empowered me to keep driving in a forward direction and to never give up on my goals!"
I truly appreciate the great opportunities and incredible support from being involved with the FMD Mom Community. Kim and Shannon's authenticity, positive messages and motivating spirit have helped me believe in my own strengths as a mom and healthy role model to others. I can't thank Kim and Shannon enough for their encouragement and for the opportunity to share my story. Thank you for all you do – I am proud to be a part of such an inspiring team of people.
Kim and Shannon, Founders of Fit Mom Diet are quite the dynamic duo. They have inspired me to continue chasing my passion of modeling, being a fit mom, taking chances and empowering others. The FMD Mom Community is like extended family to me. I am honored to work with such passionate individuals.
FitMomDiet.com occasionally receives vendor/brand sponsorships for mentioning their products and services.


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You might call it a friendly reminder. That's what Washington observers were saying about an unusual two-page letter sent by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman.
Chambliss, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, fired off the letter on Oct. 9 after Portman said he planned to offer to reduce U.S. farm subsidies by 60 percent to try to restart the stalled Doha Round negotiations in the WTO in Zurich, Switzerland. The letter was released to the agricultural media on Oct. 11.
Noting that the Doha negotiations seemed to be at a critical point, Chambliss said he wanted to express his concern regarding proposals from the European Union "and others" that would dramatically reduce U.S. farm support. Then he delivered the kicker:
"As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I have a responsibility and duty to protect the farm safety net and ensure the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act passed by Congress and signed by the president remains intact through 2007. I believe that an agreement that genuinely results in a more market-driven international trading system would be good for the United States and for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, it appears that some of our trading partners are asking for a lot while offering very little."
Johanns, attending the Doha Round negotiations in Zurich with Portman, said he would not comment on Chambliss' letter since he hadn't seen it. The secretary spoke with reporters over a conference call.
In the letter, Chambliss spelled out five principles that he said must guide any WTO agreement that would gain his support pertaining to the so-called "domestic pillar" of the Doha Round agreement. Those include:
-- No net reduction in the farm safety net. "I understand that existing programs will face new limits in a Doha Round agreement, but care should be taken to ensure that resources currently committed to all titles of the farm bill remain available when it is reauthorized in 2007," he said.
Chambliss called on the president and USDA to protect the current baseline for agriculture spending. "I firmly believe the United States should commit to reduce trade distorting domestic support in exchange for other forms, but it should not reduce overall farm program expenditures in the negotiations. Domestic budget decisions are best determined by the president and elected members of Congress. With ample resources, farmers and ranchers will better manage whatever transition will be necessary resulting from a final agreement."
-- Negotiations should proceed as a single undertaking. The negotiations should not isolate any particular commodity for "early harvests," and commitments in agriculture must be part of a single undertaking. Efforts to single cotton out for special treatment by other WTO members are misguided and threaten support for the overall Doha Round in Congress, Chambliss noted.
-- The new blue box should accommodate the U.S. counter-cyclical program. "Negotiators should adhere to the agreement made last summer shifting counter-cyclical payments from the amber box to the blue box," he said. "Efforts to eliminate the blue box should be opposed. Overall caps are not objectionable, however, product specific caps should not be part of limits placed on either amber or blue box support." (Amber and blue refer to the categories of different types of farm price supports under discussion in the WTO.)
-- Reasonable period of implementation. The broad reforms being discussed in the agriculture negotiations will require time to implement, Chambliss noted. "Any significant changes in the structure of U.S. domestic support programs will cause some economic hardship in rural America. The United States can commit to substantial down payments in the first years of an agreement, but Congress must have adequate time extending over a period of time (i.e. minimum 10 years) to implement larger and deeper reforms in domestic support. The agriculture economy should not be subject to rapid shocks as part of the negotiations."
-- Greater certainty and predictability regarding WTO litigation. "WTO rules need to provide greater certainty and predictability so that farm programs designed to meet WTO requirements are not subject to arbitrary and capricious rulings in WTO litigation. A final agreement should maximize protection for farmers and ranchers while providing flexibility for new mechanisms to maintain the farm safety net.
Chambliss said he wants to work with Johanns and Portman to ensure a new WTO agreement will follow those principles.
"However, let me caution you that the negotiations and modalities should not preempt the responsibilities and prerogatives of Congress," he said. "The agriculture negotiations can set the broad parameters of spending limits, but they should not write the next farm bill.
"Let me be clear, the Congress will be writing the next farm bill in 2007, and I am deeply concerned the administration is using the current negotiations to reshape farm policy without the full input of Congress and grassroots support. Any substantial structural changes to the farm safety net must account for the varying types of agriculture in the United States."
The senator said policies best suited for the eastern Com Belt, for example, may not be appropriate for southern agriculture or that found in the western states. "I am looking forward to a successful conclusion to the negotiations, but not at the risk of a bad agreement that lacks the support of farmers and ranchers in the United States."


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I've tried creating flashcards for Flashcard Exchange/Mental Case according to the blog post here - analyzing hit words, setting their display correctly, exporting as RTF, etc.
Everything works fine for me until I try to import my modified RTF text into Flashcard Exchange. When I do that, the Hebrew gets really wacky - it looks like the vowels are becoming their own "characters" instead of being above or below the consonants. Any ideas of what's causing this? It is still wacky when I display and study the set in Flashcard Exchange, and not just when I am pasting it on FE. I have Accordance set to paste Greek/Hebrew in Unicode and I'm on OSX 10.6.8.
Assuming it shows up the same on your screen, it looks like this:


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Vonage dodged a bullet on Tuesday when an appeals court allowed the company to continue signing up customers while it appeals its loss to Verizon in a patent case last month. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear the appeal in June, with a decision expected as early as July.
While the story was covered extensively by the mainstream press, there was very little coverage of the patents themselves. The Los Angeles Times, for example, merely described the patents as "covering key technologies that connect Internet calls to the public phone system and provide features such as call forwarding and voice mail." A closer look reveals that what the patents cover isn't a "key technology" in the ordinary meaning of that phrase. Rather, Verizon is claiming a monopoly over a broad category of VoIP functionality: the ability to translate between IP addresses and phone numbers in the case of two patents, and the concept of connecting a wireless device to a VoIP network in the third.
Inventing the obvious?
Two of the patents, 6,104,711 and 6,282,574, are virtually identical. Both patents begin by describing the workings of TCP/IP and DNS in some detail. They then describe the Advanced Intelligent Network, an enhanced telephone network developed in the 1990s that (according to the patent author) is superior to ordinary DNS because it provides advanced routing services, such as the ability to direct traffic in different directions based on the time of day or the status of different destination devices.
The "invention" disclosed by the patent is the concept of applying these "advanced" routing concepts to DNS servers. One of the additional services envisioned by the patent is the ability to translate among domain names, telephone numbers, and IP addresses—clearly essential in any VoIP system that interfaces with the traditional phone system. The server described by the patent would also be able to "condition name-to-address processing on certain parameters relating to a request for translation, such as the time of the request, the party or terminal making the request, the status of one or more potential destination terminals, etc."
What follows is a detailed description of the functionality provided by this DNS server, listing a variety of situations and how it would behave in each. But hardly any of the details would be interesting from a programmer's perspective. No algorithms or data structures are described in any detail.
The patent author seems to regard the lack of "advanced" routing features in the Internet's routers and DNS servers as an oversight. But of course, the limited functionality of routers and DNS servers on the Internet is a reflection of a deliberate design choice. The Internet was built with a layered architecture, so that most of the intelligence in the network resides in the endpoints. That allows the routers at the core of the network to be simple, fast, and reliable. The DNS system, too, was designed to provide a relatively simple task efficiently and reliably. Loading DNS servers up with a lot of customized logic for VoIP applications would slow their performance and reduce their availability when performing lookups for other types of services.
In short, the "invention" described in these patents is combination of an excruciatingly obvious point—that it would be helpful for an Internet telephony application to have a mechanism for translating between phone numbers and IP addresses—and a series of "enhancements" to DNS servers that many network engineers would regard as a step backwards.
A new use for existing technology
The third patent at issue is patent 6,359,880, "Public wireless/cordless internet gateway." The patent describes a variety of prior systems that allow telephone calls to be made wirelessly. Some use cellular technology to achieve coverage over large areas, while others serve as a gateway to a traditional phone line, and only work over limited areas. The patent also discusses the existence of several Internet telephony applications that allow Internet users to engage in voice communications via the Internet. However, the patent argues, no prior systems have combined wireless calling with Internet telephony.
In this sense, the patent is a precise analog of the patent at issue in KSR v. Teleflex, due to be decided in the next two months by the Supreme Court. In that case, KSR held a patent that covered the combination of two otherwise obvious components: a gas pedal and an electronic sensor. Here, as in Teleflex, Verizon admits that both VoIP and wireless calling were well-known technologies at the time the patent was filed. However, they claim, no one had thought of having both features in one system.
The Federal Circuit sided with KSR in the Teleflex case, holding that combining two obvious technologies was non-obvious, and therefore eligible for a patent. The Supreme Court justices, however, expressed skepticism about that claim in oral arguments. If the Supreme Court sides with Teleflex in that case, it is extremely likely that Vonage will be able to use that precedent to get Verizon's wireless VoIP patent invalidated as well.
A matter of concepts, not technologies
It's common to read stories in the press discussing whether "Vonage has used some of [Verizon's] technology" or whether "its services were built on technology it developed itself." As the analysis above should make clear, this language is deeply misleading. There have been no allegation that Vonage's VoIP applications are in any way based on Verizon's designs. Moreover, the "technology" at issue in these patents are not specific algorithms, data structures, or chip designs, but broad concepts: "translating IP addresses to phone numbers" in one case, and "connecting a wireless device to a VoIP service" in the other. It doesn't even make sense to talk about Vonage's products being "built on" this type of "technology."
Another thing that should be clear is that discussion of finding a "work-around" for Verizon's patents doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The Washington Post, for example, reports that Vonage is "continuing to work on designing an alternative technique to avoid Verizon's patented technology." But if the "patented technology" in question is the concept of connecting a wireless device to a VoIP service, then then the only way to "work around" that is to stop offering wireless functionality.
Unfortunately, this is the default language that we use to talk about our patent system. Journalists, who have limited time and are not experts on either law or technology, are apt to adopt this terminology without giving much thought to whether it makes any sense. That, in turn, gives the public the mistaken impression that what's at issue in most patent cases is whether one company has "stolen" another company's work. If the public clearly understood that many of the patents involved in litigation were thinly-disguised attempts to monopolize entire categories of hardware or software, the pressure for serious patent reform would likely be much greater.


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IanIppolito needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 19 designs submitted by 3 freelance designers.
Planet Source Code is the largest free public source code database on the internet. It includes code, article and tutorials in 11 different programming languages as well as bulletin boards and jobs.
Software developers (and advertisers wanting to reach them). Most programmers come to the site to solve specific problems or share their knowledge with others for the social recognition and reward.
Need to redesign Planet Source Code.
There are 3 main "sections" which are slightly different because they show different information, but of course need to be cohesive and have common elements that tie them all together into an effective overall look and feel by you.
a) The home page (see http://www.planet-source-code.com) which shows:
1) Stats about how much code is in the database
2) A summary of the latest tutorials/code in the 11 different languages (called "worlds").
3) Ticker of latest code
4) Links to choose a language
5) Ads (see existing page: 728x90 and two billboard ads)
b) World home page: Click on any language to go to that "world". For example, if you click on visual basic, you are taken to the home page for that world:
c) Code display page: An example is:
If you have any other questions pleasel let me know.


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Remind your guests of your special day with something elegant and charming. The Ivory Corinthians Unity Candles feature a pre-printed verse and design to commemorate the special occasion. The unity candle is a fantastic way to not only celebrate the special day, but to add some decor to any room in the house. Take the opportunity to make a memory last a lifetime by personalizing the unity candle beneath the pre-printed design. They're sure to capture the eyes of all who attend and render your occasion unforgettable. These are well-suited for elegant weddings for all seasons.
Features and Facts:


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The Associated Press
Tuesday, 05 March 2013 03:52 PM
Oil rose for the first time in four days Tuesday, but traders questioned whether the gains were sustainable.
Benchmark oil for April delivery rose 70 cents to finish at $90.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price many kinds of oil imported by U.S. refineries, gained $1.52 to end at $111.61 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Oil rode the coattails of global stock markets. Stocks rallied as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao confirmed the country's annual growth target of 7.5 percent and retail sales rose in Europe. A number of European indexes rose 2 percent or more. In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average shot to a record high.
Oil is still down more than 6 percent over the past two weeks. That's helped push down prices at the gas pump. The average price for a gallon of gas fell a penny overnight to $3.74, and is now 3 cents cheaper than a year ago.
Some traders think Tuesday's oil trading is just a pause in a downward trend.
"The ability of Brent and WTI to rebound back to above $110 and $90 suggests to us a bear market that could be in a pause for a while before resuming a decline that could carry down to about the $104 and $85 areas within the next week or two," said Jim Ritterbusch of the energy consulting group Ritterbusch and Associates.
As this week goes along, oil traders will be monitoring fresh information on U.S. supplies of crude and refined products and the latest government data on hiring.
In other energy futures trading on the Nymex:
— Wholesale gasoline added 5 cents to finish at $3.15 a gallon.
— Heating oil rose 5 cents to end at $2.97 a gallon.
— Natural gas was flat at $3.53 per 1,000 cubic feet.
© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Romantic, lace underwear in sorbet shades
Pastel interiors that are soft and feminine
Gelati ice-cream in lemon and spearmint
Pink, white and mauve tulips.
Have a beautiful day!
I'm loving all those ceiling roses on the wall. They look terrific. What a great idea for texture and interest
So purdy. xx
Oh yeah...
Perfection indeed!
Adore all the pastel hues!
Happy Thursday xoxo
Loving all those lavender tones melissah! Stunning :)
Abbey x
I like this colors too :)
wow love the colours, its so very gorgeous and relaxing :))
I have still, to this day, never had a macaroon. They look so delicious - too beautiful to eat. I have to try one soon! : ) x
Every effort is made to properly credit images - if you see an image that is not credited to the correct source please let me know so I can fix it. If I have used an image that belongs to you or your company, and you would prefer it was not used please let me know I will remove it asap.


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by Pete MazzaccaroApril is the cruellest month, breeding, Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. – T.S. Elliot "The Waste Land"
I'm not one to quote T.S. Elliot in the editorial section of a community weekly, but I'm feeling a certain kinship with the opening lines of "The Waste Land," albeit my feelings towards April are (happily) not nearly as grim as those expressed in Elliot's masterpiece
First, I'm glad for the change in weather. As I write this editorial, the thermometer is tacked at just about 70 degrees. Expectations are that it will hit 80 by this afternoon. Last week I was wearing a down jacket and a wool hat, fending off cold northerly winds as I walked my kids to school.
This week my kids are wearing shorts to school. I left the jacket at home and stored the hat. Flowers are blooming in front of the house and a pesky sparrow keeps building its nest in my drier vent. No matter how often I pull the dry grass and feathers out of the vent, the bird just doesn't get it. (I finally fixed the issue Sunday by repairing a lid for the vent to keep the birds out.)
Spring has sprung. But the explosion of the wonderful weather makes the tasks of working indoors more onerous. It makes office work difficult, not unlike what Elliot must have felt after being ordered indoors by several doctors for treatment of various ailments he suffered while writing his poem. April right now is indeed cruel.
And it is yet even more cruel for those of us who enjoy welcoming spring in Philadelphia with baseball. (Here I think the Elliot comparison fails. I doubt he was a baseball fan).
The Phillies, a team with perhaps diminished promise, but promise nonetheless, has opened its season 2-5. And worse than that, the team's top two pitchers have been miserable.
Cole Hamels, a World Series MVP in 2008 is 0-2 with a 10.97 ERA. Roy Halladay, who not long ago was considered the best pitcher in baseball, has the same record and a massive 14.73 ERA. Pitching, that on which the Phillies season depended, has fallen on its face at the starting gate.
Now a baseball season is long, and the Phillies can easily change their fortunes in the 155 games that remain. But to quote another wise man – Yogi Berra – it gets late early. A long baseball season can feel a lot longer if the Phillies continue their losing ways. At this rate, April will seem to last forever.
So what, right? There's more to life than baseball. True, but good baseball certainly makes the spring more enjoyable for many of us. It looks right now that we're going to have to do without good baseball this spring.
The good news? At least that will make it easier to stay indoors and slave away at your desk (for those of us who work indoors). You might look out your window and wonder what it would feel like to be out on the sidewalk or on a bike in the Wissahickon.
But you won't be wondering what it would be like to kick your feet up in a half-empty Citizens Bank Park for a daytime game. You won't mind missing that.


text:
Journal of Lie Theory
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 335–339 (2005)
A Dynamical Approach to Compactify the Three Dimensional Lorentz Group
Marcos SalvaiMarcos Salvai
FaMAF - CIEM
Ciudad Universitaria
5000 C¾rdoba, Argentina
Abstract: The Lorentz group acts on the projectivized light cone in the three dimensional Lorentz space as the group $G$ of M÷bius transformations of the circle. We find the closure of $G$ in the space of all measurable functions of the circle into itself, obtaining a compactification of it as an open dense subset of the three-sphere, with a dynamical meaning related to generalized flows.
Keywords: compactification, Lorentz group, M÷bius transformation, generalized flow
Classification (MSC2000): 53C22, 57S20, 58D15, 74A05
Full text of the article: (for faster download, first choose a mirror)
Electronic fulltext finalized on: 26 Aug 2004. This page was last modified: 4 Jun 2010.
© 2004 Heldermann Verlag


text:
According to a Piper Jaffray study cited by Forbes earlier this week, the investment firm conducted an extensive test of Siri's accuracy both on a busy Minneapolis street and within a quiet room. The researchers conducting the study asked Siri 800 questions in each location and checked the accuracy of the responses. According to the results, Siri was able to understand 83 percent of the questions on a noisy street and 89 percent of the questions in the quiet room. When providing answers to those questions, Siri was only 62 percent accurate when on the street and 68 percent accurate when providing an answer within the room. Alternatively, Google's voice assistant provided accurate results approximately 86 percent of the time when asked the same questions.
Based off these results, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster gives Apple a letter grade of a "D" and gives Google's voice assistant a "B+." However, Munster is optimistic about future improvements with each revision of Apple's mobile operating system.
In an email to clients, Munster wrote "In order to become a viable mobile search alternative, Siri must match or surpass Google's accuracy of B+ and move from a grade D to a B or higher. With the iOS 6 release in the fall, we expect Siri to improve meaningfully while reducing its reliance on Google from 60 percent to 48 percent."
According to Munster, Apple relies on Google significantly for responses supplied by Siri. The specific breakdown of Siri responses includes sixty percent of the information from Google's search engine, twenty percent from review site Yelp, fourteen percent from search engine Wolfram Alpha, four percent from Yahoo's search engine and two percent from Wikipedia. Also breaking down Google's share, Munster stated "Google provides 100 percent of navigation results, 61 percent of information results, 48 percent of commerce results and 42 percent of local results."
When iOS 6 is released later this year with the new iPhone, Apple plans to add Fandango for movie tickets and times, Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews, Open Table for restaurant reservations and Yahoo! Sports for scores and player information.
In addition, Apple is transitioning away from Google Maps and Siri will provide walking or driving directions based on Apple's new maps software. Munster estimates that Apple will be able to reduce the company's dependence on Google search results from 60 percent down to approximately 48 percent after iOS 6 is released.
Munster provided a variety of examples of the types of questions that Siri would get incorrect. For instance, when Munster or his staff asked "When did the movie Cinderella come out?", Siri brought up movie theater listings on Yelp. The statement "I want to go to Lake Superior." caused Siri to provide directions to a local business with Lake Superior in the title. The question "How do I get from Boston to New York?" was impossible to answer as Siri wasn't able to provide directions for a place that the user wasn't currently located. According to Munster, the most common error that Siri made was answering a new question with the response from the previous question.


text:
Archived Publications
contain dated information
that do not reflect current
WDFW regulations or policy.
These documents are provided
for archival purposes only.!
WDFW Publications
Washington State Status Report for the Pygmy Whitefish
Threatened and Endangered Species - Status Reports
Date Published: September 1998
Number of Pages: 27
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:Pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri) are remnants from the last ice age. In North America they are distributed across the northern tier of the United States, throughout western Canada and north into southeast Alaska. Pygmy whitefish are also found in one lake in Russia. Washington State is at the extreme southern edge of their native range in North America.
Pygmy whitefish are most commonly found in cool lakes and streams of mountainous regions. Streams they inhabit are of moderate to swift current, and may be silty or clear. In lakes, pygmy whitefish are frequently found in deep unproductive waters. However, they have been collected from smaller, shallow, more productive lakes in British Columbia and Washington. Washington lakes containing pygmy whitefish are typically unproductive. Pygmy whitefish have been caught in water depths ranging from 7 to 92 m in Washington.
Depending upon availability, food items consumed by pygmy whitefish include crustaceans, aquatic insect larvae and pupae, fish eggs and small molluscs.
Pygmy whitefish spawn in streams or lakes from late summer to early winter, depending upon geographic location and elevation. They probably scatter their eggs over coarse gravel, as do other species in this genus. Presumed spawning runs have been noted in several streams. Lake spawning by pygmy whitefish may have been observed in Priest Lake, Idaho in late October. Although lake spawning had not previously been documented in Washington, the presence of pygmy whitefish in Bead Lake, which has no spawning streams, verifies its occurrence.
Pygmy whitefish presence in heavily sampled lakes has often gone undetected because of the fish's small size (usually under 20 cm) and tendency to inhabit the deeper portions of lakes. Only recently, when sampling techniques were modified to target pygmy whitefish, was the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife able to pinpoint their distribution in Washington State.
Historically, pygmy whitefish resided in at least 15 lakes in Washington. Currently they inhabit only nine. We do not know the status of the populations in these lakes. Their demise in six lakes is attributed to piscicides, introduction of exotic fish species and/or declining water quality. Pygmy whitefish, particularly in smaller lakes, are vulnerable to exotic fish species introductions and declining water quality, both of which may constrict their habitat.
Because of the very limited range of the pygmy whitefish in Washington, we believe they are vulnerable and likely to become endangered or threatened in a significant portion of their remaining range without cooperative management. For these reasons, the Department recommends that pygmy whitefish be listed as a sensitive species in the state of Washington.
Suggested Citation:Hallock, M., and P.E. Mongillo. 1998. Washington State status report for the pygmy whitefish. Wash. Dept. Fish and Wildl., Olympia. 20 pp.
Draft Document(s):Draft documents are provided for informational purposes only. Drafts may contain factual inaccuracies and may not reflect current WDFW policy.
About WDFW
Wildlife Viewing
Licensing & Permits
Living with Wildlife
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
E-mail: email@example.com
Privacy Statement
Fish Washington
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Weekender Report
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text:
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text:
Watch depthRADIUS
by IGzlz
The Slender Man
by Ekuneshiel
by astridmatsuoka
By techgnotic
In this season of deceits deceptions & witcheries
I am wary of my following message not being received with the full gravity it deserves. It is not my intention to unduly alarm the deviantART community, but... LaurenKitsune is at this time unaccounted for. All attempts on our part to contact her have failed. It is my hope that she has simply taken a much deserved unscheduled pre-Halloween "vacation" and will be back in online communication soon.
Before going dark, LaurenKitsune was good enough to write and transmit a report on the Slender Man phenomenon sweeping the Internet. That report is published here