text:
The announcement comes three weeks after the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County ponied up $500,000 in incentives to help lure the jobs here.
Castle Branch, an employment screening firm, announced Friday that it will bring 420 jobs and invest $10.2 million in a new Wilmington headquarters building.
State and local officials gathered at Castle Branch's current office across from Mayfaire Town Center, where the company already employs 250, for the announcement.
"There's been a long drought there, so it's good to get one under our belt," Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said after the event.
Castle Branch said it plans to build a $10.2 million, 60,000-square-foot facility and, by 2017, add 420 jobs there, giving them more than 650 employees in the Port City.
Friday's announcement came three weeks after the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County ponied up $500,000 in incentives to help lure the jobs here. The company also received a state grant from the Job Development Investment Grant program. Under the terms of the award, Castle Branch could receive up to $1.23 million over eight years.
Saffo and New Hanover County Commissioners' Chairman Woody White smiled as the announcement of Castle Branch's expansion was made on the second-floor of the company's building on Sir Tyler Drive.
N.C. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll, speaking on behalf of Gov. Pat McCrory, delivered the news to a group of business leaders and local officials, who applauded.
"Now this is a very significant win for Wilmington and for the entire state of North Carolina and for this region of the country," Carroll said, adding that Castle Branch could have expanded elsewhere, such as California.
"We're so glad that they made the commitment here," Carroll said. "Castle Branch is just the type of company that we want to help flourish in North Carolina."
Castle Branch CEO Brett Martin, who founded the company in 1997, praised Wilmington's quality of life and workforce educated by the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College.
"You have to build the business with people, and that's what our business is built from, and by," Martin said. "It's built by people. We don't use steel to make our product. We don't use plastic. Our business is people."
When he recently spoke to a crowd of 200 people at UNCW, only two people raised their hands when he asked who was born here.
"That's it, that's our community," Martin said. "We choose to live in Wilmington. We choose to make this our home."
Martin credited UNCW and CFCC with educating the workforce.
"Without them, we would not be here," he said.
White recalled visiting Castle Branch's offices in the Cotton Exchange in 2003, when they only had about 25 employees.
"We're all going to enjoy watching this grow to 600-plus jobs," White said. He also praised the cooperation between the city and the county.
"When we work together, we can send a message across the state and across the country that Wilmington is a place to do business," White said.
Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development, said the announcement shows Wilmington has brain power and economic assets.
Castle Branch workers help companies with employment screening, such as verifying immunization records and education credentials. Satterfield has said the average salary for the new jobs would be $35,000.
A surge in demand from the health care industry, with screening requirements for everybody from doctors to technicians, has helped spawn the company's recent growth.
Satterfield praised Castle Branch as a "cutting edge company that any community in this country would love to have."
"We need more Castle Branch's locating here," he said. "We need more announcements like this."
Julian March: 343-2099
On Twitter: @julian_march


text:
Italian sausage is known for its rich seasonings and sweet, medium and hot styles. Broiling Italian sausage is one of the best ways to bring out the full, juicy flavor and delightful aroma. Since most sausage is made from pork, it is important to cook it fully for safety reasons. Making the Italian sausage and pepper hero sandwich is an excellent way to familiarize you with the sausage broiling technique.
Things You'll Need
- Skillet
- Knife
- Wooden spoon
- Hot Italian sausages
- Sweet Italian sausages
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Bell peppers
- Garlic
- Italian bread loaf
Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat until hot, but not smoking. Add one large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced. Add three bell peppers -- red, orange and green -- thinly sliced; 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper and 3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced. Cook for 15 minutes or until golden.
Preheat the broiler while the peppers and onion are cooking. Pierce two hot, and two sweet Italian sausages with a fork to keep the sausage casing from splitting. Put the sausages on the broiler pan rack, and place it under the broiler. Make sure the broiler pan and rack are approximately 8 inches from the heat source. Broil for seven minutes until golden brown. Pull the broiler pan from the oven and turn the sausages over. Broil for another seven minutes.
Remove sausages from the oven to a cutting board, and let cool for five minutes. Cut the sausages in half lengthwise, then cut the Italian bread loaf in four equal sections. Slice each section in half to form a top and bottom piece for each sandwich. Place one hot and one sweet Italian sausage half on each sandwich and top with the pepper and onion mixture.
Tips & Warnings
- Refrigerate the sausages as soon as you get home from the store. Use fresh sausage within two days of purchasing. If you are not cooking your sausage immediately, put it in the freezer until ready for use.
- Cooked sausage, kept in the refrigerator, is good for up to four days.
- Use a separate cutting board for sausages and vegetables. Thoroughly wash and sanitize any cutting board after slicing raw sausages. Wipe the cutting board with 1 tbsp. bleach and rinse the board with clear water.
- Never defrost sausage on the kitchen counter. Defrost slowly in the refrigerator or in your microwave oven on defrost setting. Cook immediately after defrosting
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- Photo Credit Michael Blann/Digital Vision/Getty Images
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subset: commoncrawl


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hi, it says something sbout themedia err something, im new to this, so plz help
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text: But before we go into the numbers, I'd like to provide a sense of the macroeconomic environment that our business operate in, in the second quarter. Your, clearly, investor confidence was under pressure with deteriorating economic climate in Europe and sluggish U.S. growth, and even people's perception of the strength of China entered into the psyche of investors. And in this uncertain economic environment, investors naturally were seeking safe havens and acting very defensively like the difference from the first quarter. We're spending a lot of time with our clients as many are trying to navigate the environment. But given our broad range of investment capabilities, we believe we're well-positioned to provide outcome-oriented solution to meet our clients' needs in this challenging environment.But with that as a backdrop, let me highlight the firm's operating results for the quarter. I'm on Slide 3 now. Long-term investment performance was strong across all time periods for the second quarter. Our investment performance contributed to solid operating results despite of the challenging markets. Invesco's quarterly dividend is now $0.1725 per share, representing the 41% increase of the last year's dividend and reflecting continued confidence in the fundamentals of our business. Return of capital to shareholders totaled $153 million during the quarter. Reflecting the challenge of the operating -- of operating in a volatile market, assets under management ended the quarter at $646 billion versus $672 billion at the end of the first quarter. Total net long-term outflows were $4.9 billion for the quarter. Operating income was $249 million for the second quarter versus $269 million in the first. The operating margin was 35% for the second quarter as compared to 36.6% in the first quarter and earnings per share were $0.41 versus $0.44 in the prior quarter. Turning into investment performance. A continued focus on investment excellence and our efforts to build and maintain strong investment culture helps us achieve solid investment performance in spite of the volatile market environment during the quarter. And as you can see, 73% of the assets were ahead of peers on a 1-year basis. This is the highest number since August of 2009. 73% of the assets were ahead of peers on a 3-year basis and 77% of assets were ahead of peers on a 5-year basis, so very, very strong investment performance across the organization. And as I mentioned earlier, net long-term outflows were $4.9 billion, clearly reflecting the challenges in the market during the quarter as investors reacted to a barrage of negative economic news. But importantly, in the first few weeks of July, we've seen a sharp turnaround in flows, and we'll talk about that in more detail.


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Dulann 12 Page Brochure
We have some awesome clients and we would like to have you on board too. Please fill out the quotation form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Thanking you The Graphedia Team


text:
what do you like about cuddling, what would you like to do, what would you like the girl to do.. please keep this non sexual
Most Helpful Guy
I think it satisfies a deep human desire to be close to and touch the one we love. I don't think we can completely understand it...it's instinctive. It feels good, physically and emotionally. Probably increases the release of dopamine and norepinephrine on our brains, I don't know.00|00|0


text:
A huge fan of Taylor Swift, Caillou Pettis, wrote an awesome letter to Taylor Swift:
"My name is Caillou Pettis, and I love you, your fans, etc. Your songs are so sweet, and they've got so much meaning in every lyric, and it really makes me smile to know that a celebrity with tens of millions of fans replies to fans."
In it he said how amazing Taylor Swift is:
"taylorswift is so amazing."
He told her how he gets bullied for his name and being skinny, but he just uses Taylor Swift's lyrics to help him through it:
"I get bullied everyday, and I try to #ShakeItOff."
To Caillou's great surprise, T. Swift actually responded to this boy pouring his heart out:
Hi pal.
I was really shocked to hear you say that you'd been bullied because of your name because the first thing I thought when I saw it was 'woah, Caillou is such a cool name'. "
She even gave him some good advice:
"And if someone punches you again, call the police and report them because that is assault. I'm serious. There's no direct penalty for bullying with words (except karma) but no one is allowed to hit you. Ever."
Luckily for Caillou, he will never forget this:
"taylorswift If you replied to this, it would make my next 10 years!"
...And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate!
Complete conversation below here;


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Author | Noor Fathima Warsia | Tuesday, Dec 13,2005 8:36 AM
Senior Vice-President (Finance) and Company Secretary of Zee Telefilms, Vikas Gupta, has decided to move on. He was recently also given the additional responsibility of Business Head of the ETC Network in addition to being Director-Finance of the company.
Confirming the development to exchange4media, Gupta said, "I have decided to move on. There is much that I have learnt from my experience at Zee in different disciplines, and now it is time to try something different."
Though he refused to divulge his next destination due to the "silence period" of his new organisation, Gupta revealed, "I am not going to be in the media side of the business any more, but will be in the services sector."
Gupta is a qualified cost accountant, company secretary and law graduate. He has had 16 years of experience in corporate affairs and finance function, having worked on mergers, acquisitions, amalgamation and cross border financing projects. He is a regular lecturer of SMTP classes being conducted by ICSI.
Programming HeadRadio Mango


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10 Shades of NARS: Cult Products to Buy Now


text:
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Design of Major Randomized TrialsPart 3 of a 4-Part Series on Statistics for Clinical Trials
Author + information
- Received September 24, 2015
- Revision received October 23, 2015
- Accepted October 25, 2015
- Published online December 22, 2015.
Author Information
- Stuart J. Pocock, PhD∗∗ (stuart.pocock{at}lshtm.ac.uk),
- Tim C. Clayton, MSc∗ and
- Gregg W. Stone, MD†
- ∗Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
- †Columbia University Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, New York, New York
- ↵∗Reprint requests and correspondence:
Prof. Stuart J. Pocock, Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom.
This paper provides practical guidance on the fundamentals of design for major randomized controlled trials. Topics covered include the choice of patients, choice of treatment and control groups, choice of primary and secondary endpoints, methods of randomization, appropriate use of blinding, and determination of trial size. Insights are made with reference to contemporary major trials in cardiology.
- avoidance of bias
- randomized controlled trial
- sample size
- selection of patients
- study design
- treatments and endpoints
The properly designed randomized controlled trial is recognized as providing the highest level of evidence in determining guidelines for therapeutic practice (1). However, numerous pitfalls in trial design may occur, which, if succumbed to, may seriously impair the reliability of or confidence in the results. In this paper, we review the key features that determine whether a trial's design is "up to scratch." These fundamentals include: selection of patients, treatments, and outcomes; randomization methods; appropriate blinding; and determination of trial size, which are summarized in the Central Illustration. Of course, one first has to propose a relevant clinical question for which true equipoise exists.
Our focus is on major, pivotal (phase III) trials that are intended to directly influence clinical practice, and throughout we bring the issues to life with topical examples from recent cardiology trials. Our underlying intent is to elucidate matters of trial design that should be considered and clearly documented in a study protocol (2,3). Once the study protocol is finalized, it is good practice to register the trial on a website (prior to patient enrollment) and to make the protocol readily available. The core goals are to plan each trial so that it will achieve unbiased conclusions for treatment comparisons of direct public health relevance that are both clinically meaningful and statistically precise. It is fundamentally important to differentiate a statistically significant difference from a clinically meaningful difference. Very large studies may sometimes result in small, statistically significant differences in outcomes that have little or no clinical relevance. It is, of course, also essential that the trial can be successfully completed. That is, from ethical, scientific, organizational, and funding standpoints, the protocol is deliverable. This pragmatism underpins all that follows here.
Choice of Patients and Centers
The delineation of precise eligibility criteria is important in determining the population of patients to which the trial findings can be extrapolated (3). Setting the criteria too specifically can inhibit successful patient recruitment and restrict generalizability, whereas unduly broad entry criteria may dilute the opportunity to identify a treatment effect in a specific population.
In acute coronary syndromes (ACS), the PLATO (Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes) trial of ticagrelor versus clopidogrel studied a broad population: patients with ACS with or without ST-segment elevation and treated with or without invasive procedures (4). In contrast, the HORIZONS-AMI (Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction) trial compared anticoagulation regimens only in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in acute myocardial infarction (MI) (5). This was appropriate, as the ACUITY (Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage Strategy) trial had already studied bivalirudin in ACS patients with high-risk unstable angina or non–ST-segment elevation MI (6). As the prognosis and treatment pathways for patients with ACS with and without ST-segment elevation are quite different, it is advisable to avoid pooling these 2 groups in a single trial design unless each cohort is separately powered for safety and efficacy.
In chronic heart failure, the CHARM (Candesartan in Heart Failure Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity) trial of candesartan had broad entry criteria with no entry ejection fraction restriction, although the investigators recognized that patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function should be interpreted as a separate stratum: CHARM Preserved (7,8). In contrast, the RALES (Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study) trial of spironolactone focused on high-risk patients (history of New York Heart Association functional class IV and ejection fraction ≤35%). This facilitated using all-cause mortality as a realistic primary endpoint, but restricted the generalizability of the trial findings (9). Alternatively, some trials recruit only high-risk patients to achieve a sufficient number of outcome events, for example, SAVOR-TIMI 53 (Saxagliptin Assessment of Vascular Outcomes Recorded in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus-Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction 53) and other cardiovascular (CV) safety trials in diabetes (10).
Nearly all major trials in cardiology are multicenter trials, and many have a global recruitment strategy. The occasional exception happens (e.g., the single-center TAPAS [Thrombus Aspiration during Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Acute Myocardial Infarction] and HEAT-PPCI [How Effective are Antithrombotic Therapies in Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention] trials in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI] patients) (11,12), but then their generalizability is uncertain. The results of single-center trials may be unique to the specific practices and techniques used at that institution, adequate masking and absence of independent monitoring and core laboratories may be issues, resource commitment is often less than in multicenter trials, and treatment effect sizes can sometimes be at odds with multicenter investigations.
However, global trials raise other issues: problems of ensuring trial quality in all countries; issues with center-to-center variability and training; easier recruitment in certain regions (e.g., Eastern Europe), which affects the distribution of geographic representation; and concerns over geographic heterogeneity in treatment effect, as occurred in the TOPCAT (Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist) trial of spironolactone in preserved cardiac function heart failure (Figure 1) (13). Nonetheless, large-scale multicenter trials are preferable to single-center studies, with the understanding that the results apply to the geographies and practices of the participants. Secondary analysis should be undertaken to ensure that there are no major geographic disparities in the results (14).
Choice of Treatments and Control Groups
In drug trials, usually the new treatment has 1 specific dose regimen that is selected on the basis of earlier research investigating the agent's safety profile, and surrogate endpoints are often used to evaluate efficacy. Occasionally, a major trial proceeds with 2 different doses of the new drug, for example, RE-LY (Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy) in atrial fibrillation and PEGASUS-TIMI 54 (Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Prior Heart Attack Using Ticagrelor Compared to Placebo on a Background of Aspirin-Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction 54) in the post-MI setting (15,16). If the increase in trial size necessitated by 2 experimental drug regimens is achievable (with appropriate adjustments to preserve alpha), examining different drug doses (or, occasionally, even different experimental treatments) is, in principle, a valuable design option, although controversies can ensue in interpretation of findings.
The appropriate choice of control group is crucial in trial design (17). Many opt for a placebo control, whereby the new drug or placebo is assigned on top of current therapeutic practice, for example, CHARM and SHIFT (Systolic Heart Failure Treatment with the If Inhibitor Ivabradine Trial) (assessing ivabradine) in chronic heart failure (7,18). This is common for regulatory trials; evidence for Food and Drug Administration approval can be straightforward, but in an advancing field such as heart failure, this means that patients face a growing polypharmacy with little evidence that any drugs get withdrawn from routine use (19).
Opting for an active comparator poses additional challenges. For example, in the PARADIGM-HF (Prospective Comparison of ARNI with ACEI to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure) trial in heart failure, which compared LCZ696 with enalapril (20), the consequent superiority of LCZ696 is liable to have a far greater effect than if a placebo control had been chosen. Others will choose an active comparator to demonstrate noninferiority in efficacy, anticipating other benefits (e.g., safety). An example is the ACUITY trial in ACS, which compared bivalirudin with heparin plus a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (noninferior rates of composite adverse ischemic events with reduced major bleeding) (6). A placebo control would be unethical in many such scenarios. We review noninferiority trials in next week's paper.
Another option is to have a third combination treatment arm, new drug + active comparator, as was done in the VALIANT (Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction) trial of valsartan versus enalapril versus both in MI with complications (21). In this instance, the combination demonstrated an excess of adverse events without improving survival, a warning that combination arms need careful preparatory study to see if their safety profiles are acceptable.
Another consideration for chronic disease trials is whether to have a run-in period prior to randomization on the new drug, the comparator, or both in sequence (as in PARADIGM-HF) (20). In principle, this helps to confine enrollment to patients who can tolerate both treatments, resulting in greater adherence, but care is needed to ensure that a fair and relevant treatment comparison is not compromised. Trials with a run-in period tend to result in better drug adherence and tolerability than would otherwise occur. For instance, if a trial of ticagrelor had a run-in period, patients experiencing dyspnea in the short-term would likely be excluded, thereby under-reporting dyspnea in the consequent randomized comparison.
Trials comparing radically different strategies, such as PCI versus coronary artery bypass graft, face unique challenges, which are discussed in the next paper in this series.
Choice of Primary and Secondary Outcomes
Most major trials in cardiology focus attention on disease event outcomes. Treatment effects on potential surrogate endpoints (22) and biomarkers in earlier-phase trials can be a useful motivation and help determine drug dose, but pivotal trials typically require clear evidence of patient benefit using clinical endpoints if they are to influence treatment practice. Nonetheless, many drugs (and some devices) are approved on the basis of surrogate endpoints (e.g., blood pressure or glucose control). Given the cost and complexity of pivotal randomized trials, there is increasing interest in considering surrogates as pivotal trial endpoints, but the criteria for true surrogacy are difficult, although not impossible, to achieve (23). For example, angiographic late loss after coronary stent implantations has been demonstrated to be a surrogate for ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization (24).
Although selection of which clinical events to collect follow-up data on may be straightforward, precise definitions are needed in the study protocol. Furthermore, many trials have an independent events adjudication committee (25) that is blinded to treatment assignment, a potentially important quality control measure to ensure a greater consistency of event arbitration than can be achieved by relying on individual investigators.
An important challenge is to define the primary endpoint for the trial (26). In trials of high-risk patients, such as the PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) trials of transaortic valve replacement (27), all-cause death is the primary outcome. However, for most major trials, a composite primary endpoint (26) comprising several nonfatal events along with mortality is chosen; no 1 type of event adequately captures the treatment effect, and such a composite has the potential to enhance statistical power by the greater frequency of patients experiencing at least 1 component of the composite during follow-up (Table 1).
However, what events should contribute to a composite primary endpoint? This depends on the disease and treatments being studied. In ACS and diabetes CV safety trials, the usual composite is CV death, MI, and stroke. Some are tempted to add in extra components, for example, including unstable angina or ischemia-driven revascularization into a broader major adverse CV events composite. This boosts the numbers of events but dilutes the effect and meaning of the composite. For instance, the most frequent (and often least clinically relevant) component tends to be the driver of event rates (e.g., enzymatic MIs or revascularization in ACS trials).
In chronic heart failure, the standard composite primary endpoint is CV death and hospitalization for heart failure. The weakness here is that it emphasizes the first hospitalization and ignores any subsequent hospitalizations or death thereafter. Greater insight and enhanced statistical power may be achieved by a primary endpoint analysis that incorporates both repeat hospitalizations for heart failure and CV death (28), as in the ongoing PARAGON-HF (Efficacy and Safety of LCZ696 Compared to Valsartan, on Morbidity and Mortality in Heart Failure Patients With Preserved Ejection Fraction) trial (29).
Several options exist for the analysis of repeat events (e.g., hospitalizations) in chronic disease (e.g., heart failure) trials and are illustrated in reanalyses of the CHARM and CORONA (Controlled Rosuvastatin Multinational Trial in Heart Failure) trials (28,30). It is important to recognize that repeat events within a patient are not independent. For example, a few patients will have many hospitalizations, whereas many will have none at all. The negative binomial approach allows for this, while producing event rates per treatment and hence a rate ratio (and its confidence interval). One complexity is the competing risk of mortality: patients often have high event rates prior to death, but their follow-up is then informatively censored. Joint frailty models can simultaneously estimate both hospitalization and mortality risks; the challenge is how to make such statistical complexity comprehensible to readers of trial reports with repeat events data.
Novel methods of handling composite endpoints are of value when the components vary in their clinical severity and importance. The least serious component may tend to occur earlier (and more frequently), and thus is afforded undue priority in a conventional analysis. These novel methods, for example, the Finkelstein-Schoenfeld method or the win ratio, invert the priorities to match with clinical severity (31–33). The principle behind the win ratio method is that one compares every possible pair of patients on the new treatment and the standard treatment. First, the "new" patient is declared the winner or loser if they did better or worse on the most serious outcome (e.g., who lived longer). If neither died, then you decide the winner or loser on the basis of who had the next most serious outcome (e.g., hospitalization) first and so on, if there are more (less-serious) events to help determine who did worse. Then, across all pairs, one notes the number of winners and number of losers for the new treatment (ignoring any "tied" pairs who had no relevant events); the win ratio is the former number divided by the latter. This concept can be extended to include nonevent outcomes (e.g., ejection fraction) as a "tie-breaker" in patients who are otherwise event-free (34).
Another challenge is how to incorporate pre-defined safety concerns, for example, major bleeding in antiplatelet and anticoagulant drug trials, into the overall outcome priorities. Some trials (e.g., ACUITY and OPTIMIZE [Optimized Duration of Clopidogrel Therapy Following Treatment With the Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent in Real-World Clinical Practice] [6,35]), have extended major adverse CV events to net adverse clinical events by adding major bleeding as an extra component of the primary composite outcome (26). If the included safety and efficacy components are weighted similarly in terms of their clinical importance, such an endpoint may reflect the overall net clinical benefit to the patient of the therapies being evaluated. However, if adequate power is present, it may be more desirable to evaluate efficacy and safety separately as coprimary endpoints. For example, major bleeding was pre-defined as the primary safety outcome in the HORIZONS-AMI trial (5).
In general, efforts to collect quality data on potential safety concerns are important. Although Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities coding of adverse events and serious adverse events is well established (36), the process has its limitations. Thus, if prior insight into which safety concerns may plausibly arise is available, specific extra reporting procedures may be undertaken for such events.
Having defined the primary endpoint, it is important to then provide a list of secondary endpoints in the protocol, along with any pre-defined priorities among them. Specifically, the separate components of the primary endpoint should be included here. For regulatory trials, interest focuses on how to interpret secondary endpoint data should the primary be "positive," that is, can one extend the label to include any positive secondary endpoints? Across a multiplicity of outcomes there are 2 options in this regard. First, one can list a set of secondary endpoints in order of priority, so that one can proceed down that list when results are known, counting all in sequence as positive until 1 fails to reach statistical significance (hierarchical testing). Alternatively, one can pre-declare, on equal terms, a specific set of secondary outcomes and use a statistical correction for multiplicity (e.g., the Hochberg procedure [37]) in determining which endpoints meet criteria as "positive." If a method to control for multiplicity was not pre-specified, the data with confidence intervals should just be presented and clearly identified as secondary outcomes. Although the implications from such secondary endpoints should usually be considered exploratory and hypothesis generating, they still may provide a persuasive level of evidence if highly positive (e.g., p < 0.001).
Because patient-centered outcomes and economic evaluations are of increasing importance, secondary outcomes may also include quality of life, patient preferences, and resource utilization data.
Methods of Randomization
The justification for randomization and the problems in interpreting nonrandomized treatment comparisons are well known (38,39). Herein, we discuss the actual methods of setting up and delivering random allocation of patients to treatments (Table 2) (40). There are 3 key elements: 1) the statistical methods used to set up the sequence of randomized treatment assignments; 2) the practical means by which the investigator assigns each randomized treatment; and 3) ensuring that patient eligibility, investigator agreements, and informed patient consent are all in place before randomization. Informed consent is a vital component of ethical trial conduct, but its proper delivery lies beyond the scope of this more statistical paper. We do note, however, that there are special challenges to obtaining consent in an emergency setting, for example, primary PCI in STEMI patients.
A central tenet is that the investigator cannot predict the assignment in advance because that could bias the choice of the next patient to be randomized. The CONSORT guidelines state that a trial publication should document these randomization methods (41). For example, the MATRIX (Minimizing Adverse Haemorrhagic Events by Transradial Access Site and Systemic Implementation of AngioX) trial stated: "before start of angiography, patients were centrally assigned (1:1) to radial or femoral access…using a web-based system to ensure adequate concealment of allocation. The randomized sequence was computer generated, blocked and stratified by…use of ticagrelor or prasugrel, type of ACS (STEMI or non-STEMI) and anticipated use of immediate PCI" (42). Thus, MATRIX used 1 of the most common approaches: a web-based allocation system and random permuted blocks within strata, with 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 strata in this instance. What is not stated here is the number of patients in each randomized block: commonly this is set at 4 (2 per treatment) or 6 (3 per treatment) in a random order. Because MATRIX is an "open" study, blocks of varying size would be recommended to avoid prediction of some assignments in advance, whereas this consideration is less important for blinded trials.
For the CURRENT-OASIS 7 (Clopidogrel and Aspirin Optimal Dose Usage to Reduce Recurrent Events–Seventh Organization to Assess Strategies in Ischemic Syndromes) trial, a 24-h computerized, central automated voice-response system with permuted block randomization stratified by center was used (43). Note the need for continuous day and night randomization in an acute setting.
These 2 examples, 1 stratifying by 3 patient factors (but not center) and the other stratifying by center only, reflect the diversity of approaches to stratifying randomization. Indeed, some trials (e.g., CHARM in chronic heart failure [7]) have just a simple randomization list with permuted blocks. So, why stratify at all? Stratification offers insurance that for a key patient feature, a serious imbalance between treatment groups will not arise by chance. However, for large, pivotal trials, this becomes very unlikely, and if it does occur, it may be accounted for in a covariate-adjusted analysis. In addition, trialists often have difficulty agreeing on the choice of stratification variables, and the gain in statistical efficiency by stratification is negligible. However, showing near-perfect balance in treatment groups for key baseline variables is a convenient bonus of stratification.
An alternative method of achieving balance across 2 or more baseline features is called minimization (44). Minimization is a dynamic approach (randomization lists are not prepared in advance) whereby as each patient enters the trial, a computerized algorithm determines which treatment assignment would achieve the better overall balance across multiple patient characteristics. That treatment is then assigned, or to preserve a chance element, it is assigned with a high probability (e.g., 0.75). For example, the TITRe2 (Transfusion Indication Threshold Reduction) trial of liberal versus restrictive transfusion after cardiac surgery "used cohort minimization to balance assignments according to center and type of surgery" (45). Whatever method is chosen, what is more important than stratification is ensuring that randomization is carried out in a rigorous manner.
Sometimes an unequal randomization is used, for example, with a 2:1 or 3:2 ratio in favor of the new treatment (46). This has 2 possible advantages: it increases information on the new treatment (e.g., to allay safety concerns) and may also stimulate greater enthusiasm by investigators and patients knowing they have more than a 50:50 chance of getting the new treatment. For instance, the SYMPLICITY-HTN 3 (Renal Denervation for Resistant Hypertension) trial of renal denervation versus a sham procedure in resistant hypertension had a 2:1 randomization ratio, whereas the HORIZONS-AMI trial in primary PCI had a 3:1 ratio of drug-eluting versus bare-metal stents (5,47). But, there is a loss of statistical power with unequal randomization. For example, for 3:2, 2:1, and 3:1 ratios, the total number of patients needs to increase by 4.2%, 12.5%, and 33.3%, respectively, to preserve the same power as a trial with equal randomization.
It is standard practice for drug trials to be double-blind: that is, the patients and those responsible for their treatment and follow-up evaluation do not know which randomized treatment they are assigned (48,49). This is the optimal way to ensure that any potential influence that awareness of treatment might have on patient perceptions, patient management, and evaluation of endpoints is avoided.
So, what are we to make of trials that are not double-blinded? For instance, the 3-arm RE-LY trial in atrial fibrillation compared 2 fixed doses of dabigatran in a blinded manner with open-label use of warfarin (15). Does this bias the comparison with warfarin? Having all primary and secondary outcome events adjudicated by an independent group that was centrally blinded helps reduce bias, but we are still reliant on unblinded patients and investigators to fairly report relevant events. Other similar trials, for example, the ARISTOTLE (Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in Atrial Fibrillation) trial of apixaban versus warfarin, were double-blinded with the consequent complexity of carrying out repeat international normalized ratio testing on all patients, including those not on warfarin (50). Which of these approaches is better is open to debate.
Of course, many trials of devices and alternative treatment strategies cannot possibly be double-blinded. For instance, the MATRIX trial of radial versus femoral access for ACS patients undergoing invasive management inevitably had patients and treating physicians who were aware of their randomized assignment, but outcome assessors were masked (blinded) (42). Such a PROBE (Prospective Randomized Open Blinded Endpoint) design is commonly used (51), but many researchers believe that the data obtained is less reliable than in a double-blind study.
Blinding becomes particularly important when the primary endpoint is not on the basis of "hard" clinical events (with objective definitions), but on softer endpoints, such as quality of life indicators or a measurement such as blood pressure. The SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial in resistant hypertension is an important illustration of the value of comparing a device (renal denervation) with a sham procedure. Both the patients and the blood-pressure assessors were unaware of the study group assignments (47). In prior unblinded and uncontrolled studies, marked blood pressure lowering was attributed to renal denervation. In contrast, in the sham-controlled randomized trial, comparable reductions in blood pressure were noted in the treatment and control groups, suggesting a substantial placebo effect with some regression to the mean (52). The neutral finding of this trial, the first objective, unbiased evaluation of renal denervation, has importantly affected future trial design considerations for medical devices in general.
Trial Size
A key role of statistical reasoning in trial design is the provision of power calculations to determine the required trial size (53). Focusing on the trial's primary endpoint, one needs to specify the expected event rate in the control group, the magnitude of treatment effect that the trial is required to detect (the alternative hypothesis), and the degree of certainty that such detection should occur (the statistical power [1 – (risk of a type II error [β])] and the significance level that qualifies as "detected" (the risk of a type I error [α]).
For instance, in the CHAMPION (Cangrelor versus Standard Therapy to Achieve Optimal Management of Platelet Inhibition) PHOENIX trial in patients undergoing PCI, the composite primary endpoint was death, MI, ischemia-driven revascularization, and stent thrombosis within 48 h. The investigators planned for a difference of 5.1% in patients treated with clopidogrel versus 3.9% in patients treated with cangrelor (a 24.5% relative risk reduction) to be detected with 85% power and type I error of 0.05. This required a total of 10,900 randomized patients (5,450/group). They actually recruited 11,145 patients, and the observed difference was in fact 5.9% versus 4.7% (p = 0.005) (54).
Note the large sample size that was required. Had the trial planners hypothesized an unrealistic 50% relative risk reduction with 80% power, the required trial size would have been reduced to 1,780 patients. With observed rates of 5.9% versus 4.7%, the p value would have been 0.25, well short of statistical significance. Fortunately, such overoptimistic planning is becoming less common nowadays in major CV trials, although this requires commitment to relatively large trials with modestly realistic, but still clinically important, expectations of treatment benefit.
For chronic disease trials, sample size determination involves considering length of follow-up as well as patient numbers. For instance, the PARADIGM-HF trial in chronic heart failure was planned to recruit 8,000 patients with a mean 34 months of follow-up. For the composite primary endpoint of heart failure hospitalization and CV death, they anticipated an annual event rate of 14.5% on enalapril and had 97% power to detect a 15% relative risk reduction on LCZ696, with type I error of 0.05. Why set the power so high? They wanted good statistical power (80%) to also detect the same relative risk reduction in the secondary endpoint of CV death alone. A wise choice, in fact, because the published trial results showed marked treatment benefits for both outcomes (20).
A cynical view of statistical power calculations is that people "juggle with the numbers" until they get the sample size they always wanted (or could afford). There is an element of truth to this: there are practical limits on what is achievable patient recruitment. Hence, some compromise is needed in not making the target so difficult as to put the consequent number of patients out of range for a real world study.
So, how can we "play with the numbers" while preserving scientific integrity? Take CHAMPION PHOENIX as an example (54), and consider varying the parameters that feed into the calculations:
1. Control group event-rate. If one were to double the anticipated 5.1% rate to 10.2%, while keeping the same relative risk reduction and power, one could halve the required number of patients. But, this would be an artificial deception unless recruitment was restricted to very high-risk patients, an unrealistic option in this case.
2. Alternative hypothesis. The required number of patients is inversely proportional to the square of the declared absolute treatment difference. So if one increased this difference from 5.1% (control) − 3.9% (treatment) = 1.2%, to 5.1% − 2.7% = 2.4%, one would only need less than one-quarter of the patients, that is, 2,400 rather than 10,900. In contrast, halving the difference to a mere 0.6% takes the sample size to a staggering 46,300 patients. The declared 1.2% difference was a realistic compromise.
3. Power. There is nothing magical about the chosen power. The greater the power, the larger the required patient numbers (but the smaller the likelihood of failing to detect a difference that is truly present). A common choice is 90% power; it carries a reasonable sense of guarantee that one would be unlucky (10% chance) to miss out on detecting the specified treatment difference, if it were true. If one reduces the power to 85% or 80%, then trial size can be reduced by 14% and 25%, respectively. Reducing power down to 50% reduces sample size by 63% compared with 90% power, but only a gambler would take such a risk. Few trials are performed with <80% power.
4. Type I error. One could choose options other than the conventional 0.05. For instance, changing to 0.1 or 0.01 would make trial size around 19% smaller and 42% bigger, respectively, but the former falls short of conventional significance and the latter is not commonly chosen.
An important fact when determining trial size is to recognize that statistical power depends mainly on the total number of patients in the trial experiencing the primary event during follow-up. Thus, some trials are event-driven, meaning that all patients are followed until that calendar date when the required number of events has occurred. Applying this logic, how many events should a trial aim for? A useful approximate formula is the following: one declares the hazard ratio (R) (or risk ratio) for the alternative hypothesis and its associated statistical power (1− β) (often 90% or 80%) and the 2-sided type I error (α) (usually 0.05). Then, the total events required is calculated:where , which equates to 10.51 and 7.85 for 90% and 80% power, respectively, with α = 0.05. z is a standardized normal deviate.
Thus, if one wishes to detect a hazard ratio of 0.7 (i.e., a 30% relative risk reduction) with 80% power, then 252 total primary events are required. A much tougher challenge is to detect a hazard ratio of 0.85 (i.e., a 15% relative risk reduction) with 80% power because this requires a total of 1,194 primary events.
Figure 2 displays the power curves to assist the reader in determining his or her own trial size (required number of events) for any choice of hazard ratio, with options for 90% and 80% power, as desired.
It has been argued that all power calculations enforce an arbitrary logic by focusing on a particular alternative hypothesis. In practice, the trial statistician could produce extensive tabulations by varying all 4 of the parameters that have been discussed, thus guiding the investigators to a sensible trial size. Overall, a concise logic, specified in both the trial protocol and the publication's methods section, helps to instill confidence that the trialists chose wisely (and achieved) their target sample size. Of course, "the bigger the better" is a crude maxim whereby the larger the trial becomes, the greater the precision of any treatment effect estimate (and the more likely are the results to approximate "the truth"). This scientific optimization always needs to be placed in perspective alongside the need to keep the trial's scale, duration, and costs finite.
Concluding Remarks
A sound knowledge of the essential issues in the design of major randomized trials, as outlined in this paper, is of importance to cardiologists and others involved in trials research and their interpretation. Although there are many details of relevance, the essential elements of designing a worthwhile investigation include:
1. Identifying a valuable therapeutic concept worthy of a major trial;
2. Focusing on the essentials of the trial protocol: defining exactly which patients, which treatment comparison(s), and which primary (and secondary) endpoints should be studied;
3. Ensuring that the trial provides a reliable (unbiased) treatment comparison by appropriate randomization, blinding, and quality delivery of the protocol's intent; and
4. Making the trial large enough so that it is adequately powered to detect (or refute) any treatment differences of clinical importance.
The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
Listen to this manuscript's audio summary by JACC Editor-in-Chief Dr. Valentin Fuster.
- Abbreviations and Acronyms
- acute coronary syndrome
- cardiovascular
- myocardial infarction
- percutaneous coronary intervention
- ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
- Received September 24, 2015.
- Revision received October 23, 2015.
- Accepted October 25, 2015.
- American College of Cardiology Foundation
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text: Many players were concerned with the Frostscythe's stats because of its inflated +700 stamina instead of plus intellect, which casters obviously prefer, since stamina has been normalized across gear. To be fair, I think it is completely fine to have this holiday fluff item be a non-ideal, cosmetic item that players can wear for it's on-use effect and prestige-luck. Not every item that drops has to be the ideal, especially during a holiday that is coinciding (potentially) with patch 4.2 dropping. That staff you want to be ideal so badly isn't going to be exactly ideal in week if the patch hits June 28. For now, it was an easier alternative to just scale the item opposed to tinkering around and making something perfect. I'd say just leave it as a fun, unique item.


text:
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text:
- English
- français
Conference paper
A new interleaved multi-channel DC/DC converter specially dedicated to low voltage, high current applications
Making transportation systems more energy efficient is one of the key challenge in this century. This paper presents a solution for increasing the efficiency of an electrical scooter by adding a supercapacitive energy storage in parallel to the original batteries. This paper focuses on the DC/DC converter that must be implemented to connect the supercapacitors to the batteries in the system. The researched converter needs to be as light and as small as possible with an efficiency as high as possible. The converter topology is based on interleaved channels operating in intermittent mode and usage of the reverse conduction of the power mosfets.
Record created on 2006-07-10, modified on 2017-05-10
- There is no available fulltext. Please contact the lab or the authors.


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LAFAYETTE — University of Louisiana at Lafayette professor Holly Damico said "sayonara" to the U.S. this week and headed off to Japan to show off her skills in the karate equivalent of the Olympic Games.
Damico will have the chance to spar against some of the best black belts the world has to offer as an alternate on a five-member sparring team in the 2014 Japan Karate Association's Shoto Cup held in Tokyo Oct. 17-19.
"I'm very excited," Damico said before leaving for the island country. "It's been a little bit of being scattered mentally trying to do what I do here: teaching and getting ready to be gone for about 12 days."
The third-degree black belt will serve as an alternate for the other four martial artists on her team, filling in in case they get sick or injured.
"This will be my first world-level competition," she said. "I've done our regional and national competitions for a number of years, and I have also been to a tournament in Las Vegas that is an international competition called the Ozawa Cup."
Damico qualified for the team in New Orleans in February, sparring in a tournament-style competition to decide the five best female fighters in the U.S.
Damico said she's been practicing karate since fall 2001, her first semester working at UL-Lafayette.
"I had a colleague here at the time who had been training karate herself for a number of years," Damico recalled. "She heard me say that I was bored with aerobics and a little too undisciplined to make myself go run every day and that what I really needed was to be in a big room with a lot of people and someone telling me what to do."
That was when her colleague told her she needed to get into karate, and it was love at first fight.
"I've always enjoyed sports and athletics," she said. "This was something different that I had never tried before — a martial art. I was hooked immediately because of the physical aspect of it but also because of the competition option."
What attracts Damico to the sport is that there's always room to improve.
"No matter how long you've been doing it and no matter what degree belt you are, there's always a mental aspect because there's something to be focusing on to improve," she said. "Most of the time, it's very basic things. It really takes some focus to go out every day and train and think about getting better at those basic things."
She's also the faculty adviser for UL-Lafayette's Karate Club. Along with club founder and Aphasia Center Director Rose Shuff, the club racked up many awards, including four All-South Championships in four years of existence.
"We got the best representative from UL-Lafayette, Lafayette and the Southern region in Dr. Damico," Shuff said.
Originally from Soda Springs, Idaho, Damico received her doctoral degree from UL-Lafayette in speech-language pathology in 2012 and teaches classes in the communicative disorders department.
"She's the best competitor that we could send to represent the U.S.," Shuff said. "I hope she does well."


text:
Towers of Midnight Book Tour, Harvard Coop, Cambridge, MA 7 November 2010Edit
Report by Zaela Sedai
Here is the unofficial report from the signing. AKA what I could make of my notes. We will have an official report later with the video and such. I was taking pictures, so I wrote as much as I could when I could. We had a great time,there were a ton of people there (about 200) we only had about 45 min of alone time with Brandon, so I had to share But hopefully you guys enjoy some of the info I got!
1) In TGS Brandon did tell us that Rand was mostly his voice and Egwene was RJ, In ToM Mat was RJ and Perrin was more BS. I'm not quite sure what he meant by voice, considering he doesn't usually answer questions like this.
2) Encyclopedia - Harriet is working on this project and it will be out probably about a year after MoL. Harriet said she plans it to be "like the 11th edition of Encyclopedia Britannica" - There is still a chance that the prequels/outriggers would be done, Brandon wants to do them IF Harriet decides to have them written. BS would rather the prequels over the outriggers but TOR would rather the outriggers it seems as of right now, if only one is chosen (which probably would not be the case)
3) Q: Much has been made of Egwene's thought to tie up Perrin in the midst of a battle that could have brought about his death if he had not been able to stop her. Such apparent negligence is shocking considering her knowledge of how quickly things can happen in T'A'R. Can you Explain Egwene's thought process? Did she intend to leave Perrin there while she finished the battle?
A: (not verbatim) Egwene thought she was doing the right thing. She was acting as the Amyrlin and trying to make sure that he would be safe and out of the way of danger. She was not going to tie him up and leave him, she would have brought him somewhere safe away from the danger of the fight and left him there until it was over.
Q: (my follow up) Who is stronger in T'A'R?
A: (not verbatim) They are both very strong, but in different ways. Perrin is very strong instinctually. Like the wolves, he makes decisions based on instinct while in T'A'R. Egwene plans out her moves rather than going by feeling as Perrin does. If the two were matched against each other the outcome would entirely be based on what type of encounter it was.
4) Q: When the wolves were on Dragonmount who were they there to "lend strength to" Rand or Perrin?
A: They were there for Rand. They were doing what they thought would help Rand. Keep in mind that they are wolves and are not thinking as men would when it comes to the idea of helping others.
5) Q: Was Demandred or his proxy in this ToM.
A: No he was not, he will be in MoL
6) Q: Was it an Aiel in the Epilogue?
A: Rafo
7) Q: Was the channeler at the Portal stone the same "group" as who we saw in the blight.
A: ~smiles~ Rafo
8) Q: Is Nicola really gone for good?
A: Nicola is dead
9) BS would not confirm that we've seen the 13/13 turning to the Dark One's side'
10) Q: Why did Verin trust that Matt would open the letter?
A: Verin was bound to the Dark Oathes and she could not tell ANY of them to open the letters right away because she was not in her last hour. She had thought that out of anyone Matt would NOT listen to her and would open the letter right away. She was not able to give him any indication of what was in the letter or even tell him to open it open it right away.
11) Q: Have we met the "ugly man" (I assume Gaidal this was a question I heard during the signing)
A: yes we have
12) Brandon is trying to convince Harriet to let him do Annotations of the WoT books he co-wrote when the series is over. If he is allowed to do so it will come out in book form.
13) Harriet was asked about religion in the series. Her response was that they are far more aware of the Light and Dark because it is what is around them, more so than it is for us. The Children of the Light are the closest thing to organized religion and it shows you what Robert Jordan feelings were towards organized religion.
14) Harriet was also asked about movies/tv and said that Universal bought the rights for 7 years, and 2 have gone bye, she said "There is a twitch of life, like a frog twitching in your science lab" The most recent information is that they have recently assigned 2 writers to the project.
15) Brandon was asked what moment most shocked him in the notes. He said that Verin showing up in Egwene's room was definitely what shocked him the most.
URL for report: http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=124754#poststop


text:
Wed, 15 December 2010
Erik, Donald, and Scott discuss cons they've been to recently and then party games
Scott reviews The Resistance
Erik reviews Defenders of the Realm
RSS Feed: http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/rss
Direct download: obg54_121510.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:57pm EDT
Sun, 28 November 2010
Erik, Donald, and Scott discuss variants in games.
Jonathan reviews 8 iPhone apps
Erik reviews 7 Wonders
RSS Feed: http://onboardgames.libsyn.com/rss
Direct download: obg53_112810.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:48pm EDT
Tue, 9 November 2010
Erik, Donald, and Scott discuss beaking up with a game store or group
Episode Disussion:
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Direct download: OBG52_110910.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:45pm EDT
Wed, 20 October 2010
Erik, Donald, and Scott discuss the number of players and its impact on the game
Don reviews a host of Mayfair games
Erik reviews D-Day Dice
Direct download: OBG51_102010.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:49pm EDT
Sun, 3 October 2010
Erik, Donald, and Scott discuss Epic games
Don reviews Poo and a host of Minion games
Jonathon reviews Carcassonne for the iPhone
Erik reviews Crokinole
Direct download: OBG50_100310.mp3
Category:board games -- posted at: 10:26pm EDT
Sun, 12 September 2010
0:50 Erik Donald and Scott discuss feedback on previous Preferred Target Status and Auction Games segments then a new discussion about the way game groups interact
32:54 Giles previews High Frontier
40:45 Erik reviewsTerra Prime
46:34 Donald reviews Wacky Wacky West
50:17 Giles reviews a bundle of games as they relate to school.
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On Board Games Guild at Board Game Geek
Direct download: OBG_049_100912.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:44pm EDT
Tue, 10 August 2010
Scott & Donald on Dexcon
Ryan & Donald on preparing for house cons.
Giles on school game days
Erik's Homesteaders review
Donald's Mayfair Games reviews
Witch of Salem
World Without End
Glenn's Gallery
Thanks to Cameron Pazirandeh and Giles Pritchard for their show IDs.
Direct download: OBG048_100811.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:29am EDT
Sun, 18 July 2010
Scott, Cathy, and Donald talk about out of game influences that impact game play.
Ryan of the How to Play podcast, Derek, Scott, and Donald, talk about auctions in games.
Erik reviews Automobile.
Direct download: OBG047_100718.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:45pm EDT
Wed, 30 June 2010
Donald, Scott, Erik, and Giles talk about building relationships with game companies.
Erik Reviews - Mercenary Air Squadron
Jonathan Bishop reviews the iPhone version of Carcassonne
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On Board GamesGuild at Board Game Geek
Direct download: OBG046_100630.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:20am EDT
Sun, 20 June 2010
How to Play Invades On Board Games!
Ryan Sturm has sent us this episode of the How To Play podcast. Once you've checked out our latest shows, you can find the rest of the How to Play podcasts at http://ryansturm.libsyn.com/
There is good content over on his feed, even if he does have an unhealthy fascination with Caylus.
Direct download: How_to_Teach_Games.mp3
Category:Show Invasion -- posted at: 12:08pm EDT


text:
Kyle Summers was at it again last Friday night at Warrenton High School.
Summers, Washington's senior running back, broke his own school record with 336 yards rushing on just 12 carries in the Blue Jays' 47-21 victory over the Warriors.
Averaging 28 yards per carry, Summers scored four touchdowns in the game.
Last season against Ft. Zumwalt South, Summers broke the school record with 300 rushing yards.
"The story of the game was the way our offensive line performed. They were tremendous. They did a great job opening holes and Kyle hit them," said Washington Head Coach Zach Schneider. "Kyle was sick last week and didn't practice much. Friday was his first day of the week with full pads and he wasn't at full strength."
It was a game of big plays for the Blue Jays. Five of their six touchdowns were on plays of 37 yards or more and four were from 60 yards or more.
"We ran 31 plays in the game, and 11 of them were by our JV team in the second half. We were very efficient. There were three plays in a row that went over 60 yards for a touchdown," Schneider said. "It was about as well as we've ever played offensively."
Washington's starting linemen were Nick Thiel at left tackle, Brandon Brown at left guard, Ben Heggeman at center, Levi Ray and Michael Watterson platooning at right guard and Austin Subke at right tackle.
Washington accumulated 489 total yards, 406 rushing and 83 passing.
In addition to Summers' big night, receiver Seth Bollmann had his third straight solid performance to start the season. He had three receptions for 83 yards and one touchdown and also ran 79 yards for a score.
"Seth had another touchdown catch called back for a penalty and had two returns called back, one that went for a touchdown and another where he was stopped inside the five-yard line," Schneider said.
Quarterback Isaac Lippert 3-5 passing for 83 yards with one touchdown. It's the first time in three games the Blue Jays didn't use two quarterbacks in the first half.
"We kept Isaac in there for the first half because we were clicking, the tempo was good and we didn't want to mess with that," Schneider said.
Jeremy Monehan rushed for 15 yards on five attempts. Caleb Curran had one carry for four yards and one touchdown.
"We were embarrassed that we didn't rush for 100 yards as a team the week before against Timberland," Schneider said. "No matter who we're against, we should be able to do that. The kids were determined to have a better showing."
Defensively, Austin Pieper paced the Blue Jays with eight solo tackles and one assist. Nathan Kopp and DJ Quaethem both registered eight solos.
Alex Schull finished with five solo tackles. Nick Cunningham and Jay Jacquin both added four solos and one assist. Joe Meyer, AJ Bartlett, Austin Hudson and Curran each had four solos.
"Our defense started well with two three-and-outs and a turnover," Schneider said. "We let up a little with a 21-0 lead. We did a solid job taking away their run."
For Warrenton, sophomore Braydan Chmiel replaced junior Zach Logan at quarterback and connected on 17 of 31 passing attempts for 135 yards. He also rushed for 78 yards on nine carries.
Game Summary
The Blue Jays set the tone early, overcoming a fumble on the first play by scoring on a 73-yard run by Summers.
He followed up with a 37-yard touchdown on the following drive.
Later in the first quarter, Lippert connected with Bollmann on a 60-yard touchdown pass.
Chmiel scored Warrenton's only touchdown of the first half on a two-yard run early in the second quarter.
Bollmann and Summers promptly answered with touchdowns bursts of 83 and 79 yards, respectively.
Following a nine-yard touchdown run by Summers, the Blue Jays led 40-7 at halftime, tacking on a four-yard touchdown run by Caleb Curran in the third period.
Warrenton scored twice in the final five minutes of the game, both on two-yard runs by Dane Huck and Corey Eckenfels.
Holt Preview
Washington returns home to play Holt in both teams' GAC Central opener Friday at 7 p.m.
The Indians (0-3) lost last week at home to Timberland, 20-19. They also have lost to Francis Howell 45-0 and Hickman, 30-15.
"Holt is a lot better than an 0-3 team. We'll have our hands full. If we play the way we're capable, we can beat anyone on our schedule," Schneider said. "They're tough defensively. They run a 4-3 and are strong up front. Offensively, they are a spread team that likes to throw the ball. Their sophomore lefty threw it 45 times for about 370 yards last week. They struggle a little with the run. They played a very good game against Timberland."
Box Score
Wash 21-19-7-0-47
War 0-7-0-14-21
First Quarter
Wash — Kyle Summers 73 run (Aaron Meyer kick), 9:04
Wash — Summers 37 run (Meyer kick), 6:03
Wash — Seth Bollmann 60 pass from Isaac Lippert (Meyer kick), 2:07
Second Quarter
War — Braydan Chmiel 2 run (Dillen Mayfield kick), 7:07
Wash — Summers 83 run (kick failed), 6:34
Wash — Bollmann 79 run (Meyer kick), 3:45
Wash — Summers 9 run (kick failed), :30
Third Quarter
Wash — Caleb Curran 4 run (Meyer kick), 8:48
Fourth Quarter
War — Dane Huck 2 run (Mayfield kick), 4:58
War — Corey Eckenfels 2 run (Mayfield kick), :24


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Discussion in 'Android Devices' started by aeiou, Sep 13, 2010.
Android leaderboard: The 10 best smartphones | ZDNet
Shocking that the Epic 4G is #6...smh
Exactly WHAT feature does the Evo have that the Epic doesn't that make it the pound-for-pound favorite?
Depending on which journalist article you read, they all have their own opinion. This is one that I posted on SU forums awhile back:
Top 10 Android Phones - PCWorld
I pretty much agree with that list except for putting the vibrant at 2. Wtf...I had the vibrant...the lag was horrendous. I would still have the evo at 1 then the nexus one and then the epic. Reason? I prefer htc over samsung any day . Just my opinion thouh because we all obviously know that the epic is amazing
I would not be surprised if the person that made this list had no idea that the Captivate, Vibrant, Fascinate and Epic are all Galaxy S phones.......
Okay, I guess I can understand the Evo up there with it being the first 4G phone and now having 2.2 on it....but why those others are >Epic I don't know?
Now THAT review looks more reasonable. The DInc is basically the Nexus1 with a trackpad instead of the trackball. The DX is an upgrade to both (bigger screen, etc..) . The Evo has more features than 3,4,5. The Epic has more features than all with the additiona of the KB, screen, etc.
This one seems a little more accurate. I mean it's a no Brainer at this point that the top three are the EVO, Droid X and Epic in whatever order you may choose, and then the next group probably the Vibrant, nexus and incredible.
Of course it does.
The fact that they all belong to the same line does not make them equal in the way they perform.
If you are in this forum just to cause problems, then you WILL be reported to a moderator.
It has already been stated that members are NOT to go into other phone forums with the distinct purpose of posting "My phone is better than yours" type posts.
Looking at post 1, and your last post I am assuming you are doing just that.
This is insane. I don't know if the reviewer has actually seen phones. the mytouch slide is much better than ally. Much much better.
Now, that pc world ranking is much better.
Uh, yeah..whatever that means, but i own both phones, if that makes you feel better.
This past weekend I was hanging out with a couple friends. Between us, I had just bought the Epic, one friend the EVO, and the other the Droid 2. The other two were android noobs (D2 for 2 weeks, EVO not even 1) so they let me play around with them. I have to say I've never been more happy with my Epic choice. The D2 was my least favorite. I didn't play around with it as much as the EVO but nothing stood out to me. The default launcher was bland at best and the screen looked extremely dull. I liked the EVO but after using the S-AMOLED screen and Swype, I could never go to it.
Relax..the Epic is only 2 weeks old...it will get up there as soon as we get the 2.2 froyo and all the bugs get worked out
All the bugs/issues the epic has...and its at 6th place .....that's pretty impressive if u ask me
This guy has the LG Ally listed in this top ten so he's an idiot regardless of how he ranks these phones...He raves about the EVO but doesn't mention anything really for the Epic besides the physical keyboard and it being a Galaxy S phone.
A co-worker of mine has the Vibrant and I asked him why he only has 2 widgets running. He said it lags like hell anytime he puts more widgets on.
I found that odd considering I got 6 widgets and it's smooth as butter on my Epic. We're both running LP, but for whatever reason his Vibrant runs like crap compare to my Epic. I played with it and it doesn't feel or run as fast as my epic.....
As for the list, why does anyone really care for it? I don't. I read it and that's his opinion.
Agreed. I don't think the EVO would've even made the list on 2.1
Well, the EVO does have Froyo and also has the HTC Sense UI. And both cameras are higher resolution, and it can tether to more devices.
It seems that the top 3 phones are represented by the 3 major manufactuers for android in the US. Htc evo, samaung epic 4g and Motorola Droid X


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1 mile from sea
This semi-detached single storey holiday home is situated in the grounds of Eldin Hall on the outskirts of Cayton Bay. Furnished and decorated to a good standard, it offers cosy and welcoming holiday accommodation, with the addition of a communal grassed area complete with picnic tables. It is superbly placed, being less than a mile from the beach and ideal for exploring the coastal resorts of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Flamborough and Bridlington. Inland you can visit the North York Moors National Park, made famous for filming the television series 'Heartbeat'. For the keen ornithologist, Bempton RSPB Sanctuary is also close by or for the walking enthusiast walk the Cleveland Way. Shop, pub and restaurant 0.5 miles.
All on ground floor: Living room with sofa bed (for alternative sleeping only). Dining room/kitchen. 1 double bedroom. Bathroom with shower over Jacuzzi bath (no toilet). Separate toilet.
Oil CH, elec, bed linen and towels inc. M/wave. Shared laundry facilities. D/washer. Shared lawned garden with furniture. Parking (2 cars). No smoking.


text:
Hey, Joe!
by Jake Rivers
Tags: Romance, Drama, War,
Desc: Romance Story: Danny comes home from 'Nam and when he see his buddy's girl he knows she's the one he wants. The fun starts when he tells his friend, "She's the cutest girl I've ever seen, I'll tell you face to face I mean to steal her from you." Joe was not pleased by this.
Author's Note:
"Hey, Joe!" Is the story of a guy that wants his buddy's girl. A great song by Carl Smith.
"Hey, Joe!
Though we've been the best of friends
This is where our friendship ends.
I gotta have that dolly for my own."
Our platoon was pinned down by a VC sniper hidden on a hill at the end of the valley. No one had been able to get a hard fix on his location. It was Thanksgiving Day in 1965 but no one was eating turkey. We were in a long valley near the Phu Bai airfield trying to locate a Viet Cong force that had been sending harassing fire at planes taking off and landing.
Earlier the lieutenant had tried to send out a small patrol and the SOB picked off two of them before they even reached the tree line. The LT shook his head and walked over to where I was cleaning my rifle.
The Marines at that time were using Winchester Model 70 30.06 rifles for sniper work. This was essentially a target rifle and they had acquired a number of them over the previous decade. There were complaints that the match grade ammo would cause supply problems but for now that had been overruled. The following year would see a change to the M40, which was based on a Remington model 700-40.
I'd learned to shoot with a Winchester Model 70 30.06 growing up in the hill country of west Texas, so this was essentially the same rifle I had at home. Antelope were real spooky so you had to stand off quite a ways—and the heavy barrel was great for varmints, such as gophers. I knew what I could do with what I grew up with. The addition of the eight-power Unertl scope gave me a much longer effective range than the 2.75X Redfield scope I had at home.
"Danny, anything you can do to help us out?"
I'd been listening to the few shots the sniper had fired and I had thought a lot about the angles involved in the shots at the patrol.
"Yeah, LT, I think so. I'd guess he's within fifty yards of that clump of rocks on the left side of the valley and about half way up the hill. Put a couple of guys quartering around that area with binoculars and have them let me know if they see any movement at all."
We looked over the map and it was a good twelve hundred yards to the rocks. I'd never sighted the Winchester for more than a thousand yards.
After twenty minutes or so, Billy, the lieutenant's radio operator leaned over, "Danny, I saw something move about twenty-five yards to the upper left of the rocks." Laughing a bit nervously, he added, "Hell, it was probably just an animal or something."
"Yeah," I thought, " ... maybe."
I got in a comfortable position and turned the knob for a thousand yards. If I did find a target I'd have to wing it for the over-distance. I started at the rocks and slowly moved up and to the left, looking carefully at every inch of the terrain. Finally I saw an anomaly, a straight line. Deciding it was the barrel of the VC sniper's, rifle I moved the aiming point slightly for where his head should be located in relation to the barrel. I was assuming he was right handed ... if not, I'd miss.
There was no wind; it was dead calm and hot. I figured he was about fifty yards higher than I was and adjusted for that. Flashing back to the Sniper manual (the military had a manual for everything, even on how to dig latrines) I remembered the example. For a scope sighted for a target at 500 yards, to hit another, unsighted target at 600 yards would be a hold off of twenty-five inches. That worked out pretty good for this target since I was sighted in for a thousand yards and I was taking a shot at close to twelve hundred I wanted to shoot about fifty inches higher than where I guessed his head would be.
I breathed out to the two guys with the binoculars,"Okay, watch."
A sniper is a one shot killer. The average grunt shot upwards of fifty thousand rounds for each enemy kill ... the average sniper's number was one point three rounds—less than a quarter's worth of ammunition.
Fear played a big part in what I was doing. All too frequently I would be gently easing back on the trigger and have the sense of a VC sniper taking aim at me. I handled it—controlling my fear was the name of the game. It was all about being in the zone: managing my breathing by taking slow, steady deliberate breaths. I could feel my heart rate slow and my body coming to a completely relaxed state.
When it was right, I was one hundred per cent in the zone. For that moment time stops, I would feel alive with some nagging sense that I wouldn't be staying that way for long. That moment would seem to last forever for me ... a time out of life. Then I would pull the trigger and know I had taken a man's life.
Looking through a scope at a target is something quite personal. I would watch some guy wipe his nose with his sleeve or the sweat off his brow with his hand. Sometimes I would watch the eyes shift and I would wonder what he was thinking about ... and whether he was married and had kids. Was he looking at me ... wondering what I was thinking? Wondering if I had a wife? Sometimes I just thought too damn much. It was best to think of this as an intellectual exercise of the dynamics of trajectory, speed and the play of the elements on the bullet on its way to its own violent death.
I eased gently on the hair trigger, past images in my head of the startled leap of an antelope made when hit with a high-power rifle. In another world now, I barely heard the shot or the quick kick of the recoil. I'd held steady and had a quick flash of something falling back, streaks of red coating the clump of grass he'd been behind.
I looked over at Billy and he nodded, not saying anything. The LT put his hand on my shoulder and walked away, sending another patrol out to see if the sniper had any documents. I lay down, my head on my pack and looked at the sunlight making a dappled pattern through the trees. Lighting up a smoke my body and mind shut down. I went somewhere that no one ever went with me: a lonely place, a place of cold and ice.
I remembered what the gunnery sergeant at the sniper school told us he had heard overheard some anonymous Marine captain say to some friends in a bar one night in Saigon:
"You have to be strong enough to endure lying in the weeds day after day, letting the bugs crawl over you and bite you, letting the sun cook you and the rain boil you, shitting and pissing in your pants. Lying there because you know that Charlie's coming and you're gonna kill him."
No one spoke to me—they had learned not to. Sure, I heard what they said, "He's a cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch." A nurse I'd spent a few days with in Saigon told me my eyes were the hard blue of glacier ice ... but colder. She loved me a little but I don't think she liked me very much.
Well, hell, I knew I was cold-hearted. I never could figure out how I felt about killing people for a living. I had twenty-two kills with twenty-three bullets. The one miss was when I thought I could get an officer standing next to an enemy sniper. I took the sure shot and tried a snap shot at the officer but I'd over-compensated and missed him.
Three weeks later I'd mustered out and was flying home. My granddad was picking me up at the airport in Austin and driving me home to his ranch west of Bandera. I didn't want to come back and live in town, like I'd done before I moved to the ranch. I was now twenty-seven and starting over with my life. On the flight home I kept thinking about my skills: I could ride bulls and broncs and I knew how to kill people from a thousand yards with one shot.
Daddy Jim was standing there when I got off the plane. He was a big guy with thinning curly brown hair running to gray and a ready grin. He'd taken over most of the running of the ranch since I'd left. He gave me a hug that 'bout broke a rib or two, but damn, it felt good. It felt like he had lost none of his legendary strength during the time I'd been killing people over in 'Nam. For a guy in his early seventies, he looked damn good.
"Danny, I'm sure glad to have you home, son. You were missed around here."
I was glad to see he brought my truck to pick me up. After my folks were killed in a car crash when I was fourteen, I moved out to the ranch to live with my grandparents. I was pretty down on life and granddad could see that. He found a forty-eight Ford pickup and helped me restore it. We put a lot of time on it together and became very close.
Driving home in my truck we talked and I felt a slight easing in the pent-up tension of the last four years. Daddy Jim—we had always called him that—was one of the good guys. He was patient to a fault, never meddled; yet he always seemed to be there when anyone needed him. About a year after I moved in with them, grandma died of cancer and it was the two of us against the world.
I had a fair amount of mustering out pay—it's hard to spend money out in the boonies of 'Nam. I used some of it to help Daddy Jim get the ranch fixed up a bit. He'd mostly given up on cattle before I had moved in with him and concentrated on breeding bulls for the rodeo. It was pretty good money but more importantly it kept him happy. His animals always scored pretty well at the various rodeos.
Once a bull has shown some talent it can get entered at some of the smaller rodeos. An average bull makes two/three hundred per out in early rounds and a top bull can earn upwards of six hundred for each out in the finals. It can go as high as a hundred grand winning top bull of the year. For a bull with a good reputation each straw of semen can go for several thousand dollars.
.... There is more of this story ...
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text:
Hex core mesh using ICEM CFD 10
HI to all i am using icem cfd 10.I am trying to use hex core mesh,but it fails.Can any body please know how to use hex core mesh?I think it is failes due to fine thin surface at one region.How to modify it?
Re: Hex core mesh using ICEM CFD 10
I also had probelms with failing hexa-core mesh, but then I read the manual and tutorial, and tried the approach from in there and it worked. The tutorial was the Fin meshing one.
The trick was (I think) to do the tetra first, then smooth, do the prism layer, smooth again, do the hexa-core but not from the surface, but from the surface mesh, smooth for the last time.
hope this helps.
|All times are GMT -4. The time now is 14:23.


text:
Braided hair is hair that has been woven together into each other pulls the hair away from the front of the face. The style is usually worn by females in Western countries, but became popular in the world overtime. The hair may be worn in one thick plait at the back, in two worn on either side of the head or anyway you would like to all over the head.
Hairstyles with braids go in and out of fashion, but females going to schools or colleges still prefer to make that hairstyle if it suits on their face. To make the braid hair, the section of hair is divided into three even parts by overlapping on each other creating a beautiful structure out of it. There are many different hairstyles with braids. From which one of the most popular one is the French braid where all of the hair are gathered into a single braid and ends up folding them together to make it look cute. You can find hairstyles with braids pictures online as well with giving you the directions of how to put up this kind of hairstyle.
The best thing with the braided hairstyle even if you have wavy hair or curly hair it would still look the same. It would not bring out the type of your hair with this hairstyle but it will give you a new stylish and fashionable look. Some girls tend to wear braids to make their hair curls after they wash them. As the hairs dry off the braids naturally curl them. If you want you can also use the extensions which are worn in between the braids to grow the hair long faster than usual. You will be able to find them in the market from any shop. You can choose any color you want and they would look magnificent within the hairstyle of braid on your head.


text:
To try the thousands of add-ons available here, download Mozilla Firefox, a fast, free way to surf the Web!Close
Welcome to Firefox Add-ons.
Choose from thousands of extra features and styles to make Firefox your own.Close
About me
|User since
|September 30, 2010
|Number of add-ons developed
|0 add-ons
|Average rating of developer's add-ons
|Not yet rated
My Reviews
The Browser Highlighter
Awful Firefox slow down:Not Responding Rated 1 out of 5 stars
I have no idea how or when Browser Highlighter got added to my Firefox. I've been using Firefox steadily for at least 4 years and from time to time add another add-on. I don't recall adding this, but I'm not certain that I didn't. I don't recall ever using it, either, but it certainly sounds like it should be benign.
In any case, some time at the end of July of this year (2010) I started experiencing terrible slowdowns in Firefox. I mean really terrible, especially for long pages. Long pages would just get hung up with a 'Not Responding' when I would try to scroll or see what was going on. Often I would have to use Task Manager to close out of Firefox.
I kept researching on the internet to see what was causing my problem and did all the usual things (cleared cache, expanded cache size, deleted temp files etc) all to no avail. I even uninstalled Firefox and reinstalled it several times.I had to resort to using Internet Explorer for my browser much of the time, instead of Firefox. Finally yesterday after several months of frustration and wasted time, and embarrassment when I was trying to show things to people and had to kill my Firefox, etc, I spent the day yesterday just focusing on this problem. This time when I uninstalled Firefox, I checked a box that said something like 'destroy all my settings'. I don't remember exactly but as a result, I had far fewer Add-ons, this being one, and I was able to delete it. Finally the strangle hold on my Firefox is gone. It was being choked by this Add-on.
I can't believe how much time I have lost and how much aggravation I experienced as a result of this Add-On. I hardly ever ever go to eBay. I don't recall if I went there at the end of July and that's why this started. I do use Skype quite regularly but I don't think I use a browser to do it. But in any case, I am so glad to be rid of this problem and hope it does not re-appear.
To create your own collections, you must have a Mozilla Add-ons account.


text:
Our breakdown of Thursday's 51-49 win against Minnesota at the Big Ten tournament:
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brandon Paul, Illinois.
There's no other choice. The senior's dagger at the buzzer secured the win and removed the little bit of doubt folks had about the Illini getting an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.
Illinois B
Minnesota A
The Hollinses carried the Gophers and Paul's heroics (25 points) lifted the Illini, who got a big three-pointer from D.J. Richardson in the final minute.
Illinois C
Minnesota C
Nnanna Egwu and Tyler Griffey combined to score 10 points with eight boards, but they hld Minnesota's bigs (13 points, nine boards) in check.
Illinois B
Minnesota C
Sam McLaurin's forced turnover late set the stage for the final play of the game and Joseph Bertrand returned from a shoulder injury with productive minutes.
Illinois B
Minnesota C
The low score isn't attractive, but Illinois' defense stymied the Gophers and limited them to a season-low 16 points at the half. This time of year, it's all about hanging Ws.


text:
The Planning Commission met Tuesday to discuss a site plan for the west side of Harrington Street and a rezoning case at the intersection of Spring Forest Road and Atlantic Avenue.
A site plan for West Apartments II, an expansion of the existing West Apartments on the edge of downtown, was recommended for approval. SP-49-13 concerned a 286,000 square foot multifamily building on a 1.22 acre site on Harrington Street. The site is currently zoned Industrial-2 with downtown overlay district. The proposed development would have 177 dwelling units spread over five stories. The goal is to create an apartment building.
The current request was to modify the accepted plan that was approved more than a year ago. The original review weighed the height of the building, which was greater than the downtown overlay district requirements. Phase II would include 102 units, bringing the total to 177.
The applicant, Ken Thompson of JDavis architects, said the new request would allow the developer to phase construction of the project, from the initial 75 dwelling units to the later 102 dwelling units. The commission asked about the number of parking spaces required for the development.
"The parking exceeds the required, but not exceeding the maximum," Thompson said. "What we attempt to do is provide one parking space per bed."
Rezoning Case Recommended For Approval on Transit Corridor
The rezoning of a property at the intersection of Spring Forest Road and Atlantic Avenue, Z-15-15, was also recommended for approval. The three acre parcel was to be zoned from shopping center to commercial mixed-use with a three story height cap. The new remapping of the city labeled the property commercial mixed-use with parking limited frontage.
Conditions limited the scope of the development and two transit easements were offered. Conditions also mimicked the parking limited frontage. Residential developments were prohibited and the amount of retail and office intensity allowed would be the same under the previous zoning and proposed zoning. There were no inconsistent policies noted within the comprehensive plan.
Michael Birch from Morningstar Law Group represented the applicant. He said the main purpose for this rezoning was to alter one of the conditions that limited the density of the development to one building. The rezoning request, if approved, would allow for development of more than one building on the site.
Commissioner Adam Terando had questions about the topography of the site. Chris Bosley of Kimley Horn said the topography was very flat. Commissioner Terando expressed his interest in a pedestrian walkway on the site due to the flat nature of the topography.
There was a lengthy discussion about the difference between medium profile signs and high profile signs. The applicant was proposing a high profile sign due to the paucity of pedestrian traffic in the area. Commissioners asked staff to explain the different between the classifications of signage. The applicant agreed to allow the restriction of a medium profile sign.


text:
Swim at Shelving Rock Bay
Rate this Adventure New York › Shelving Rock Bay Trailhead
Added by Rebecca Nichols
Cool off in Lake George. Enjoy a short walk to this perfect swimming spot with amazing views.
The parking lot is located on Shelving Rock Road a few minutes down the road from the trail head to Shelving Rock Mountain. The parking is on the left and the trail is located in the middle of the parking lot. The trail is unmarked but easy to follow.
Follow the trail down to the lake for approximately 0.3 miles. Here you will reach the lake with a choice of left or right. To reach the swimming area take a right. The trail stays close to the shoreline. Another 0.2 miles will take you to the point. This area has some small cliffs for jumping as well as a great point to catch the sunset.
This is a day use area only and can sometimes be heavily populated. Please do your part and always remember to leave no trace.
Pack List
- Bathing Suit
- Snack
- Water
- Camera
ReviewsLeave a Review
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Added by Rebecca Nichols
I hike to push my limits both mentally and physically, take in the beauty of the great outdoors, and just to get away from it all. Every chance I get you will find me in the mountains, on a kayak or ending my day by the campfire!Follow
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