text:
Newtown calls for privacy on 12/14 anniversary
Sandy Hook: Community to focus on private commemorations
NEWTOWN -- President Barack Obama will not be invited to Newtown on Dec. 14.
Nor will any other politician, entertainer or national media personality.
On the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, Newtown's leaders are calling for privacy. No public ceremony will be held to mark the morning when 20 children and six educators were gunned down at the school.
"Our community is choosing to remember and honor those who lost their lives in that awful tragedy in ways that are quiet, personal and respectful -- centered on the themes of kindness, love and service to others," First Selectman Pat Llodra wrote in a blog post this week. "We are wishing fervently that those many persons who wish us well, and the media, will allow us this time to be alone and quiet with time for personal and communal reflection."
Llodra said the town was grateful for the outpouring of support it received in the days after the shooting; Obama's visit was a comfort to many, as were the tens of thousands of gifts, and millions of dollars in donations.
But she and the other leaders hope the town can avoid the media presence that overwhelmed the town in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and lingered long after the welcome had worn out.
"We don't want a spectacle made of Newtown on that day," Council Chairman Jeff Capeci said, noting a fear that a spotlight on the anniversary might make the anniversary "almost celebratory."
"Pat's intention is to let people acknowledge the anniversary of this tragedy in their own way."
It is unlikely the town will avoid attention on that day, Interim Schools Superintendent John Reed said.
The schools will host age-appropriate observances and discussions, but the intent is for "everyone to deal with it in a positive, thoughtful, productive way to honor, in an earnest, sincere fashion, the memories of those that we lost," he said.
The Rev. Matthew Crebbin, senior pastor at Newtown Congregational Church and the head of the Newtown Interfaith Clergy Association, said the day will be hard.
"We all know it's a unique day, and we're not trying to pretend it's not," Crebbin said "There will be a lot of powerful emotions, and some will want to seek spiritual healing, and it is important that we provide that support but find a way to do it so that it is not a spectacle, especially for those who were the most traumatized."
Over the course of six weeks, Llodra said she met with community representatives, Reed, Crebbin, Cody Foss, of the Newtown Youth Academy, and psychiatrist and Newtown Community Foundation member Dr. John Woodall, on how best to mark the anniversary.
They agreed that focusing on personal kindnesses and acts of service is more appropriate than a large, public event.
"I agree, entirely, with Pat's decision for the anniversary date, and the days leading up to it," said Monte Frank, a Sandy Hook parent who is assistant town attorney and a leader with the Newtown Action Coalition. "Her vision is well thought out, and it took into account what most people in Sandy Hook are feeling. I think it's a time for reflection and spending time with family."
As for the alliance, Frank said members plan to visit Washington, D.C. before the anniversary, but not to lobby for gun control. Their trip will be focused around charity work.
"We are working really hard to change the dialogue to lead by performing acts of kindness. That's what we will do. And we will ask other communities to do the same."
firstname.lastname@example.com;860-354-2274; http://twitter.com/NTNanci
More InformationLlodra's statement
First Selectman Pat Llodra's full statement is on her blog at the website: www.onenewtown.org


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With his announcement, Thomas Hitzlsperger became the biggest name in football to declare he is gay. He said he wants to help break down the prejudice against homosexuality that has long permeated the macho, testosterone-fueled culture of the world's most popular sport.
"I am expressing my sexuality because I want to promote the discussion of homosexuality among professional athletes," Hitzlsperger said in the German newspaper Die Zeit, a statement that was widely welcomed by his countrymen and former teammates.
His disclosure came less than a month before the start of the Winter Games in Sochi, which have been the focus of a furious backlash in the West against a recently enacted Russian law banning gay "propaganda."
The Olympics "are ahead of us, and I think we need some critical voices to counter the campaigns by various governments against homosexuality," Hitzlsperger said.
Before retiring from the game four months ago, the 31-year-old former midfielder played in England's Premier League and in Germany as well as Italy. He is the first German player to come out and the first from the Premier League.
The fact that Hitzlsperger waited until his career was over to make the announcement reflected the persistent taboo in the game, where many players are reluctant to discuss homosexuality because they fear the reaction of teammates and fans.
Hitzlsperger said he felt the time was right to broach a subject that was "simply ignored."
"I get particularly annoyed by the fact that people who know the least are precisely the people to talk the loudest about this issue," he added, noting that the word "gay" is commonly used as a slur against footballers.
At many football grounds, sexually themed chants are not uncommon. Fans in Britain sometimes chant songs that are viewed as religiously, sexually or racially offensive.
In many European countries, especially in Russia and Eastern Europe, thousands of fans chant obscene songs, defying all attempts to stop them.
Hitzlsperger said his own record shattered the idea that gays are "sissies."
"I was a pretty tough guy with an extremely strong shot. That's not something many can claim," he said. "My nickname is 'The Hammer.' It's complete nonsense that gay men are 'unmanly.'"
In England, outspoken Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton praised Hitzlsperger for his "courage" but lamented that he had to wait until now to make his announcement.
"Sad times when people have to wait until they retire from their chosen profession before they feel other people will judge them solely on who the human being is," Barton said on Twitter. "Shame on all of us as a society."
Hitzlsperger said he grew up in a small community in Catholic-dominated Bavaria, where homosexuality was treated as something unnatural or even criminal. He had a long-term relationship with a girlfriend and planned to marry her.
"But then after eight years, the relationship ended without my partner knowing about my feelings for men. That was six years ago," Hitzlsperger said. "Only in the last few years did it dawn on me that I would rather live with a man."
Hitzlsperger represented Germany at the 2006 World Cup and 2008 European Championship. He played for Bayern Munich's youth teams before switching to English club Aston Villa in 2001. He later played for Stuttgart, Italian club Lazio, West Ham, Wolfsburg and then Everton in the Premier League.
"Homosexuality is not a serious issue in England, Germany or Italy, not in the dressing room in any case," said Hitzlsperger, who made 52 appearances for Germany's national team from 2004 to 2010. "That's why it's not easy to find anyone in the football scene who will talk publicly about his sexual orientation. To this day, I don't know any footballer personally who has made this an issue.
"I was never ashamed of how I am," said Hitzlsperger, adding that the behaviour of some of his teammates was sometimes hard to take. "Think about it. There are 20 young men sitting around a table drinking. You let most of it go, as long as the jokes are halfway funny and the rubbish about homosexuals is not hugely offensive."
Last February, American player Robbie Rogers declared he was gay before announcing his retirement. He returned to action with the Los Angeles Galaxy after an overwhelmingly positive reaction to his declaration.
Former English player Justin Fashanu, who played for Norwich and Nottingham Forest, was the first footballer to say openly that he was gay in 1990. He committed suicide eight years later at age 37.
Swedish defender Anton Hysen came out in 2011.
Athletes from other sports have also spoken about their sexuality. Last month, British Olympic diver Tom Daley said he was in a relationship with a man. Other high-profile gay athletes include former Wales rugby captain Gareth Thomas, English cricketer Steven Davies and former NBA players Jason Collins and John Amaechi.
On Twitter, German forward Lukas Podolski welcomed his former international teammate's announcement, calling it "brave and right" and "an important sign in our time."
Another former international teammate, Arne Friedrich, tweeted, "I'm proud of you. Good decision and at the right time in my opinion."
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert praised Hitzlsperger's announcement on behalf of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"We judge footballers by whether they conduct themselves well and with dignity on and off the pitch, and I believe both are true for Mr. Hitzlsperger," Seibert said.
German football federation president Wolfgang Niersbach said Hitzlsperger "was always an example for whom I had the highest respect, and this respect is even greater now."
Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff said players were unaware of Hitzlsperger's sexuality until after his retirement, when the player informed both him and Germany coach Joachim Loew.
Said Bierhoff: "We'll give him every support so he can continue on his courageous path."
Loew hoped Hitzlsperger's "announcement helps us all to be more relaxed about this issue."
Associated Press Writer Frank Jordans contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange
previous taxon |
next taxon
Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Annual to tree
Leaves generally compound, alternate, stipuled; leaflets generally entire
Inflorescence: generally raceme, spike, umbel or head; flowers sometime 12 in axils
Flowers generally bisexual, generally bilateral; hypanthium generally flat or cup-like; sepals generally 5, fused; petals generally 5, free, or the 2 lower ± fused; stamens 1many, often 10 with 9 filaments at least partly fused, 1 (uppermost) free; pistil 1, ovary superior, generally 1-chambered, ovules 1many, style, stigma 1
Fruit: legume, sometimes including a stalk-like base above receptacle, dehiscent, or indehiscent and breaking into 1-seeded segments, or indehiscent, 1-seeded, and achene-like
Seeds 1several, often ± reniform, generally hard, smooth
Genera in family: ± 650 genera, 18,000 species: worldwide; with grasses, requisite in agriculture and most natural ecosystems. Many cultivated, most importantly Arachis , peanut; Glycine , soybean; Phaseolus , beans; Medicago ; Trifolium ; and many orns
Reference: [Polhill & Raven (eds) 1981 Advances in legume systematics; Allen & Allen 1981 Leguminosae]
Family description and key to genera by Duane Isely.
Annual or perennial herb from crown, glabrous to hairy; hairs sometimes forked at base, branches parallel with leaf surface, sometimes very unequal
Stem 0 or prostrate to erect
Leaves odd-1-pinnate; leaflets generally jointed to midrib; stipules membranous, sometimes fused around stem at stem base
Inflorescence: raceme, axillary, sometimes head- or umbel-like; flowers 2many
Flower bilateral; calyx 5-lobed; banner outside wings in bud, keel blades with small protrusion at base locking into pit on adjacent wing; 9 filaments fused, 1 free; ovary (and fruit) generally sessile, style slender, stigma minute
Fruit generally 1- or ± 2-chambered, often mottled, generally becoming ± dry; placenta on upper suture
Seeds 2many, smooth, compressed, ± notched at attachment scar
Species in genus: > 2000 species: ± worldwide (380 in North America, 94 in CA including many rare taxa)
Etymology: (Greek: ankle-bone or dice, perhaps from rattling of seeds within fruit)
Reference: [Barneby 1964 Mem NY Bot Gard 20:11188; Isely 1986 Iowa State J Res 61:157289]
Very difficult; both flower and fruit needed for identification; many good species appear similar; some species complexes need study. Taxa near province boundaries may appear in > 1 key. Varieties keyed under species for simplicity; species with vars. so identified in key. Fr length includes beak and any stalk-like base unless fruit body specified.
Perennial, generally robust, leafy; hairs fine, incurved-ascending or curly, grayish, or ± 0
Stems prostrate to erect, often in dense tangles, 210 dm
Leaf 2.517 cm, generally spreading, arched; stipules fused around stem into sheath, sometimes early ruptured, seemingly free; leaflets 2143, generally ± crowded, 325 mm, ± obovate or oblong, tips notched
Inflorescence: flowers 20125, dense, early reflexed
Flower: petals ± cream, sometimes lavender-tinged, banner 1015 mm, recurved ± 40°, wings 1 mm < to 1.5 mm > banner, keel 9.714 mm
Fruit 2060 mm, 1527 mm wide, bladdery, papery, glabrous to thinly hairy; chamber 1; immature seeds 1438
Ecology: Open bluffs, dunes, sandy areas
Elevation: < 150 m.
Bioregional distribution: c&s North Coast, Central Coast
Distribution outside California: Baja California


text:
It's a little early but Skulls of the Shogun is now live in the Windows Phone Store.
Due to be released tomorrow, January 30th, the newest Xbox title not only breaks the drought of Xbox game releases but also spans the full gaming spectrum with versions for Windows 8/RT and Xbox Live Arcade as well as for Windows Phone 8 and 7.x.
With the release comes special pricing as well. The Windows Phone version is discounted to $4.99, the Windows 8 version will run your $9.99 and the Xbox Live Arcade version launches at 1200 Microsoft Point (about $15).
While we are seeing the Windows Phone version of Skulls of the Shogun appearing in the Windows Phone Store, it's yet to make it to the Windows 8 or Xbox Store. Hopefully it's just a case of the other stores being a little behind our Windows Phone Store front.
There is a trial version available for Skulls of the Shogun and you can pick up your Windows Phone version here in the Store.
Thanks, Kei, for the tip!


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From PostgreSQL wiki
PostgreSQL Booth Preparation Checklist
Get Ready!
You! The booth organizer must commit to being available, and preferably present, for the entire event. It will be your job to keep track of everything associated with the booth. This can take an additional 2-3 days of your time outside the actual event. The organizer will also need e-mail, address, office, fax and cell phone numbers which can be distributed publicly as the contact for the booth, and may be required to sign legally binding paperwork.
The event organizers should provide you with a timeline for booth space requests & let you know what information they need. Make sure you fill out forms on time, and keep copies for yourself. If you miss a form, you can end up without a booth. Depending on the booth, tax forms and other paperwork may be required as well.
The conference organizers should also send you (or make available on their website) the following information:
- size of your booth (this will help you plan which displays are appropriate for the space)
- number of tables & chairs provided/allowed
- location of power & network drops
- times you can access the event hall outside of event hours for setup/teardown
Booth Staff
See Booth Volunteers. You'll need to recruit these a few weeks ahead.
Get Set!
PostgreSQL in North America, and in Europe, has a fair amount of the stuff on this checklist available for shipping to volunteers who plan to run a booth. Shipping can take 2-3 weeks, and we might be out of some things, so ask early. The place to ask for the stuff is on the |pgsql-advocacy mailing list.
You need one or more flyers or brochures which extol the virtues of PostgreSQL and explain it to newcomers. Make sure to think of this well ahead; designing takes a while, and last-minute color xeroxing is a very expensive way of printing. Ideally, these materials will be tailored to the expected audience of the show; technical details for geeky conferences and business buzzwords for "suit" conferences. Don't be afraid to call for help on pgsql-advocacy to design this stuff.
Generally, we like to have for each PostgreSQL booth:
- cheap 1-sided flyer for everyone and their brothers to take (such as one on the latest release features or other news)
- more expensive glossy piece to hand to people who are genuinely interested (such as the 4-page Business Advantage brochure)
- the PostgreSQL Business Folders for really serious people.
Other flyers that are good to have on hand include:
- "talking points" of PostgreSQL vs other databases
- what's new in the latest version
- list of PostgreSQL-related talks at the conference (you can make one of these with a highlighter & the conference schedule)
- list of upcoming PostgreSQL-related events
- business cards/flyers for the local PUG, if there is one
Quantities required vary a great deal with the nature of the content and the expected traffic. Straight up trade shows tend to be flyer-greedy and need 100 flyers per 1000 expected attendees, whereas advanced technical conferences usually aren't that interested in paper and you can get by with less than half as much. Do be aware that color printing is both expensive and slow, so you should arrange a sponsor and allow plenty of time do to color brochures.
"Swag" means stuff to give away at trade shows. There are two kinds of swag we use at PostgreSQL booths; items which are given away free, and items which we solicit a donation for. Generally you want one kind of free swag, and 2-3 different items for donation.
Free Swag
It's customary for us to have some kind of free giveaway stuff for our booth. Most commonly, these are cheap plastic buttons, which we buy for $150/1000, and impose on everyone and try to get them to wear. These free items build general goodwill.
If you want to get your own free swag, think of some other item which costs less than $0.30 apiece which you can give away. Last LWE, BayLUG -- who meet in a Chinese restaurant -- gave away fortune cookies with their URL inside. Other groups have used cheap buttons, stickers and pens. Again, giveaway items will take time and money to produce so you'll need some sponsorship and lead time before your first conference.
Cotton tote bags printed with the PostgreSQL logo have been very popular as well. Again, ask on the list as there may be some left over from previous conferences.
Non-Free Swag
In order to pay for the costs of setting up the booth, we usually have some items you can offer in return for a donation to the appropriate PostgreSQL Non-Profit. If you can, have several items at different price/donation levels: PostgreSQL North America has buttons (any amount, even $0.25), T-shirts ($20), Books ($40+) and plushy elephants ($30+). Sometimes you can get sponsors to donate these items if they are co-branded; the books we use are donated by the publishers. However, don't get carried away with this idea; donation/sale items are a sideline of your booth and not its main purpose.
Note that many conferences (depending on country/state) will require you to have a reseller permit for your booth. Make sure to find out early and apply for the permit; fines for not having a permit can be up to $1000 and cause you to be banned from that conference permanently. Also, bring a jar or cash box for the money you receive! Putting it in your pocket can lead to awkward questions. Finally, print out some blank receipt forms you can fill in if asked.
At a minimum, your booth should have at least one large banner with the name of your project and its logo. On the cheap, copy shops can do a 3' x 6' vinyl banner for as little as $100 and a week's notice. If your conference is in North America, you can request the PostgreSQL Pop-Up Display, which is a very professional self-supporting booth background sign, 8' square. This takes at least a week and costs $90 to ship, though, so plan ahead. The ultimate combination, in my opinion, is a pop-up for the back of the booth and a small banner (maybe 1' x 4') to be hung from the front of the booth table. Again, banners and pop-ups can require weeks of advance ordering if you don't want to pay a "rush" premium. Also, make sure that you have hooks, tacks, string and tape with you to hang the banners you have.
You'll want, pre-installed on some machine, some kind of eye-catching demonstration of PostgreSQL-related technology. Since PostgreSQL doesn't lend itself to eye-catching displays, don't be afraid to base the demo on some trivial use of your software or something tangential done by one of your volunteers or supporters or even a good slideshow. The important thing about the main demo is to stop people from across the hall. You'll also want to be able to interactively show more core features and do troubleshooting or Q&A with visitors to the booth, but this only happens after they stop. For example, at last LWE we had a PostGIS/Perl/GoogleMaps "mashup" as the main demo, but also had PostgreSQL 8.3 and pgAdmin3 with the TPCE database for more interactive show & tell. The demo should not require reliable Internet access, as this is extremely rare at shows.
If you're doing a demo, assemble and test your setup before the conference, in case there are missing parts or troubleshooting required. As much as possible of this equipment should be able to be off the table, so include long cables, and possibly an external keyboard and mouse (especially if you care about the laptop). Also bring locking cables so that you don't have to worry about leaving the equipment at the booth overnight.
Check out HowToBooth.
Folding Dolly, Boxes and Bags
Most venues will require you to "hand-carry" in your materials or pay through the nose for professional help. This means that your entire booth needs to break down into boxes and bags which can be carried by a regular-strength geek onto a standard escalator. Folding dollies, or wheeled luggage of a "carry-on" size are generally also allowed but full-size dollies seldom are.
All volunteers in a PostgreSQL booth should wear PostgreSQL shirts, ideally the same kind. If for some reason someone needs to wear a suit, they should wear PostgreSQL enamel pins. This makes your booth look much more professional and lets visitors know to whom to ask questions.
Water and Food
Many conference facilities are very drying, and soft drinks can be scarce or expensive at many trade shows. Get a box of small bottles of water for your volunteers.
It's nice to provide your volunteers with some kind of lunch as well; platters of wraps are popular options. Just be sure to abide by the conference venue's catering rules; sometimes they prohibit outside food.
Finally, don't forget to budget some money for necessary on-site expenses, including copies, shipping, cables, adapters and volunteer lunches. I generally find that about $100 to $150 is more than enough "just in case" money for the conference. Our standard practice is to have you use your own cash and for a PostgreSQL non-profit to reimburse you, so save those receipts.
Booth Kit
Over the years, we've found that there are lots of items which we need to have on hand for various booths. Get a duffel bag and assemble this kit now (adjust for your situation) and you'll save yourself a lot of last-minute panic:
- General Supplies:
- Duct, masking, or painter's tape (painter's tape won't damage painted walls, and may be required at some conferences)
- Zip ties
- Tape gun with extra packing tape
- Spool of string
- Scissors
- Notepad
- Pens (whole box, they'll vanish)
- Several permanent markers
- Highlighters
- Shower hooks (for banners)
- Couple of c-clamps or spring clamps
- Book/document stands, if available
- Envelopes for receipts
- Locking cash box (and keys!)
- Safety pins
- Tacks
- Aspirin
- Tools:
- Snap-blade knife or utility (carpet) knife
- Multitool, or at least a couple of different screwdrivers
- Power/Networking/Computer Supplies:
- 2 or more extension cords and power strips
- Several medium-length CAT5 cables (minimum 10' [~3m])
- Mini-router or hub
- Some blank CDs
- USB thumbdrive
- Cable locks for computer equipment (and keys!)
- USB-PS2 adapter
- DVI-VGA adapters and Mac adapters


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Hard to imagine that the xBox age still is a time when a kid and his dad can spend an afternoon blowing through a box of .22-caliber shells in the good old pastime of shooting tin cans off the back fence.
Old-fashioned "plinking" is alive and well across America. In fact, not only does it dominate the target-shooting world, target shooting is much larger — and shooters' wallets are much fatter — than the gun industry ever imagined.
A new study sponsored by the shooting sports industry shows target shooters make up an $8.2-billion industry that almost equals what hunters pay annually for guns, ammunition and other gun-related items.
And basic, behind-the-barn plinking accounts for almost three-fourths of all target shooting with handguns and more than half of all rifle shots at targets in the United States, according to the study.
"I don't think anybody really considers themselves a plinker," says Bill Brassard, communications director of the National Shooting Sports Association, which sponsored the study. "It's kind of an old-fashioned thing.
"It's good to know there are still places in the country where you can go out and do that sort of thing," he says.
The NSSA released the report, called "Target Shooting in America: Millions of Shooters, Billions of Dollars," on Wednesday during its Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, known commonly as the SHOT Show, in Las Vegas — the largest trade show of its kind in the world.
The report provides the first clear look at U.S. target shooting-related purchases in the same sort of format that hunting-related expenditures have been tracked for decades.
It includes state-by-state statistics for the number of target shooters, retail sales, taxes and jobs supported by target-shooting — ranging from ammunition manufacturing and sales jobs, but not the 5-cent deposit on the thousands of cans shot off fenceposts across America annually.
"It's the first time it's ever been quantified, really," Brassard says. "It's the first time we have numbers showing how many people are taking part in this activity."
The report provides plenty to chew on.
Oregon has 426,307 target shooters who logged 14.8 million days shooting annually, the report states. That data includes only those who bought goods or services specifically for target-shooting and excludes air guns, the report states.
In Oregon, target shooting contributed $354,248,428 to the state's economy and supported 3,574 jobs, according to the report.
Rifle and handgun shooting dominate target-shooting nationwide, followed by shotgun and muzzleloader shooting, according to the report. California and Texas are the top two states ranked by retail sales, and there are more target-shooters in America than there are people in New York State, the report states.
The category of "plinking or informal" target shooting accounts for 73 percent of participation among rifle-shooters. Sighting in rifles is a distant second, accounting for 22 percent of the activity. Only 6 percent of target shooting involves high-powered rifles and silhouette targets, the report states.
Among rifle-shooters, 57 percent are plinkers, slightly above the 52 percent who target shoot to sight in their rifles. Benchrest shooting accounts for a quarter of all target shooting.
Last spring, NSSA and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies released its "Hunting in America" economic and participation report to a room full of hunting and shooting-sports writers.
"What we heard a lot from the audience was, 'what about target shooting?' " Brassard says.
The report authors relied on target-shooting participants as reported by the National Sporting Goods Association multiplied by the average annual expenditures on firearms as reported by Southwick Associates' annual report for the industry. Estimates were broken down by weapons, and deductions were made for firearms sold for hunting and target-shooting.
The report also relies on manufacturers' excise taxes as reported by federal agencies.
The report doesn't assert that target-shooting is as relevant to the American economy as hunting, which accounts for $8.4 billion in firearms and firearms-related sales annually.
Target-shooters, for instance, typically don't buy waterproof camouflage suits, tree stands, stay in as many hotels or travel far distances.
"Target-shooting is much more localized," Brassard says from the SHOT Show floor, where media credentials had to be cut off at 2,500 because of space.
Coupled with other studies that show one in five gun owners is less than 5 years into shooting, the study concludes target-shooters tend to be younger, more female and more urban-based, Brassard says.
"In many ways, they reflect the changing face in target shooting," he says.
And that face may look far more familiar than many expect.
"There are many more gun owners than one might think," Brassard says. "They might not talk about it in the workplace or socially, but they are avid target-shooters, from just plain plinking all the way up to competitive shooting.
"Because it's fun," he says.
Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MarkCFreeman


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text:
Skirt & Top by Zara, Christian Louboutin Pumps & Chanel Boy Bag
Hello gorgeous people, how are you? I hope everything is well and you are enjoying your fabulous weekend.
I have had a long week so far. From endless events, meetings, hospital appointments to photo-shoots and training for the San Francisco half marathon with Nike.. I am not lying when I say, I have not done any sort of work out since the last marathon, which was back in November last year. You can just imagine how I am feeling right now.
But hey, any challenge is good right?


text:
In the end, I used a combination of two recipes, the one my Facebook friend shared, and another (not vegan) recipe for chicken tandoori. I knew that a big bowl of cauliflower wouldn't ward off The Hungries for long, so I decided to make a big batch of the marinade sauce, and toss in a pound of cubed tofus along with the cauliflower florets.
Verdict? Super yum and super spicy! I've never made anything like this before! I was excited to find that second recipe for chicken tandoori, because I just happened to have a bunch of the exact spices it asked for - which I had brought home from India on my last trip. This tandoori biz was mega-spicy, but just within my comfort range, which made it sort of thrilling. I'm not usually a raw onion gal, but I must say that the cool, crisp, fresh bite of the onions was a great compliment to the tandooris. Also, the fresh lime was essential - a great addition of tang to the overall experience.
I'm pretty much stoked on tandoori gobi now, and I can't wait to make it again sometime soon. Very minimal effort, not too long to prepare (I totally skipped the "marinate for 4 hours" part), and very yummy.


text:
The region of the West Midlands is an extremely urbanised area including major cities such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry making it the most populous area after London. There are however also very rural areas such as Shropshire and Herefordshire in the west and the Peak District National Park crosses over into the northern part of Staffordshire. Alongside Britain's busiest and most popular cities this region has five areas of outstanding beauty making this region of Britain perhaps the most geographically diverse.
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Flash Components updatePosted by FlashOtaku on May 20th, 2010
Hello everyone,
I just want to let you know that we updated our flash components recently. There might be a lot of changes since you've last visited FlashOtaku.com, so take a look at:
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Fodorite Reviews
Nov 16, 2003
South Pacific-Australia
The new Pacific Princess was formerly the Renaissance R 3. We really enjoyed cruising with Renaissance a few years ago on a sister ship to the R 3, the R 6. Princess has made a good ship even better with their renovations to the former R ships. This was our 7th cruise with Princess. This was also our greatest Princess cruise to date. We felt
like we were cruising with Seabourn or Crystal, both high price luxury lines. The service was absolutely superb! The accommodations were great. Each cabin category offered spacious staterooms or suites as compared with other Princess ships or ships of other lines. This is a small ship by today's standards with only 670 passengers yet it has most of the comforts of the larger ships with none of the disadvantages. We became acquainted with lots of the passengers during this 16-day cruise. The passengers were an international mix with lots of Australians, Kiwis, Brits, Canadians, Europeans, and a lovely group of native Hawaiians who serenaded themselves and us during sea days in the Casino Bar with melodies from the Islands. Lots of additional details about the ship, deck plans, etc. can be seen on the Princess web site. We were always met with a friendly greeting by the staff and crew. The only exception I noted was the Captain. He seemed to dread being around or talking with the passengers. Otherwise, the atmosphere was similar to an exclusive resort. The staff really seemed to enjoy their jobs and took pleasure in pleasing the guests. Add to that the idyllic setting of our ports, and this was certainly a dream cruise. The weather was great most of the time too. Sunsets were spectacular and the seas were mostly calm. Operation of this ship is shared with the partner company of Princess, P & O Cruises. At the end of this journey, P & O will operate the ship [with largely the same staff and crew] mainly to the Australian cruise market until Spring 2004 when operation will again revert back to Princess for the summer and early fall. The entertainment on this ship was fabulous. All of the Cruise Staff and Entertainers are from New Zealand or Australia. The cast presented 5 full shows and the lead singers shared two additional shows with other entertainers. One of the featured entertainers was Byrle Davis, a name I really don't remember. She began her career singing with the Glen Miller Orchestra in World War II. Obviously she is no spring chicken but she was nevertheless fascinating. Ms. Davis sang with old-time greats including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, and others. She was featured on the old TV shows, Bob Hope Comedy Hour and Your Hit Parade. That was way back in the days of live broadcasts in black and white viewed on a 12" or 14" TV screen. She related interesting antidotes about these famous stars between some of her numbers. The ship offered some enrichment lectures, had computer classes, Internet access 24/7, conducted bingo games, and did lots of other activities associated with cruising. The Lotus Spa and Fitness Center were both well equipped and well attended. The library is spacious, nicely appointed, and well stocked with reading materials. The bars and lounges are also nicely appointed and the top-deck nightclub was a place for the late-night partygoers to revel and for great views of the sea during the days. Princess advertises "Personal Choice" dining with open seating at the various dining venues. That wasn't the case on this small ship. Only the traditional main and late dinner seating was offered in the dining room. Two alternate restaurants were offered; The Sterling Steak House Grill [$8 cover charge per person] and Sabatini's, an Italian gourmet restaurant [$20 cover charge per person]. We found the beef entrées in The Grill to be delicious. Sabatini's was open only on certain evenings but not many passengers felt the menu warranted spending the extra $20. Your $20 got you an elegant and very leisurely seven-course meal. The Panorama Buffet offered something to eat from 4 am to 12:30 am and room service was available 24/7. No one suffered from hunger for good food on this ship. We noted some changes in the dining room since previous cruises. There is no longer a sommelier or wine steward. The waiter now serves this function. Princess used to offer a separate pasta course. You can still have pasta nightly as an entrée but no separate course. Tureens with hot vegetables are no longer offered either. Some evenings we ordered more vegetables and received a nice variety. A tray with dessert samples is no longer brought to the table after the entrée for viewing. Salad selections in the luncheon buffet were not as varied as in the past. These changes have enabled Princess to serve more people with less wait staff. Fortunately the quality of the food and presentation remains great. The pastries on this cruise were especially nice and the home made [on board daily] ice cream was delicious. The casino offered penny and nickel slots as well as the traditional twenty-five cent and dollar slots. It appeared that the odds on the cheap slots were dismal. All of the slot machines were the same type. One could bet up to 20 lines per spin. Video poker was not offered. The tables of black jack, poker, and roulette seemed crowded together, especially when well attended. The dress code for this entire cruise was 'smart casual' except for three evenings when formal wear was optional. Lots of the women wore fancy outfits on those evenings but most gentlemen stuck to the 'smart casual' with a jacket. A few passengers decided not to dress up at all. Gratuities are now added to one's shipboard account, $10 per day. I was concerned that this method might result in less attentive service but the opposite was true. I guess the staff felt more confident of not getting slighted with this method than the old way of the passengers handing out envelopes at the end of the cruise. The service in all departments was really super. The Cruise Director, John Clelford, encouraged additional gratuities for 'exceptional' service. That seemed a bit tacky. The official policy for 'additional' gratuities is that the recipient may retain the 'extra' gratuity if the passenger did not reduce the standard gratuity charged to the shipboard account. Otherwise the 'extra' gratuity was to be submitted to the pool. A negative aspect of the Princess departures from Papeete, Tahiti is that getting to Papeete independently by air is expensive and infrequent. The Princess air program offers non-stop charter service from Los Angles. This system is unpleasant because each passenger must move their baggage from connecting flights to the charter departure gate that is at the far end of one of the LAX terminals. The charter gate opens only three hours before flight time so there are long lines and the entire check-in and security check process to be endured again. Then one gets the typical feeling of being a sardine once aboard the aircraft. Maybe that is why the ship cabins/staterooms seem so spacious. Nevertheless, in summary, the new Pacific Princess offers luxurious cruising at main line prices. The atmosphere is refined and relaxed. The food is tasty, the entertainment and shipboard activities are plentiful and varied for a ship of such small size, the staff is always cordial and attentive, and this itinerary offered a great chance to see the South Pacific, a bit of New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. We traveled 4,459 nautical miles during the cruise and visited 9 ports in 5 countries. If you wish to cruise on the Pacific Princess before April 2004, you must book your cruise through P & O, the partner company to Princess. I believe that Princess is offering a similar itinerary on the Pacific Princess in 2004. The French Polynesia ports are offered almost year-round on the sister Princess ship, the Tahitian Princess, which does 10-day itineraries from/to Papeete, Tahiti. Bruce Baldwin November 2003


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Enforcement Directorate further interrogates Kunal Ghosh in Saradha scam
Suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh was today interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here on his role in the Saradha ponzi scam.
Responding to a volley of questions about his knowledge on Saradha group chairman Sudipta Sen's rapid rise from a small time fund manager and real estate dealer in South 24 Parganas' Bishnupur area, Ghosh told reporters after coming out of the ED's Salt Lake office, "Madan Mitra knows better than me. I was asked to be present in the ED's office today which I did."
On Saradha's agreement with Pratidin Publication, Ghosh said "I have told the ED that Srinjoy Bose (Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress) knows it."
Asked about Saradha's overseas programmes, he said "Retired IPS Rajat Majumdar knows it better."
Describing it as "most unfortunate", state transport minister Madan Mitra said he was introduced to Sen at a function at Bishnupur, after he was elected from there in the state Assembly in 2009.
"But, I came to know that Sen was doing his business in there since 2006," he said.
The ED interrogated Ghosh first time in Delhi some weeks back.
Asked about Sudipta Sen's letter to the CBI, accusing him of extorting money from him, Ghosh alleged Sen's letter to the agency was nothing but a conspiracy.
"The conspiracy was hatched in a way to divert attention from the main issue and implicate me," he claimed.
ED sources, however, could not be contacted. Apart from being grilled repeatedly by the local police, Ghosh was also summoned by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.


text: dear wulfers, i recently assembled a tiny and cheap (i know :-) cluster using the ecs k7s5a mobo (SIS 735 chipset). the board is very cheap (~75 ) and comes with FE (SIS900) onboard. just want to tell about my experience (other hardware, netbooot + stream / netpipe results). i would be happy to know of others using this board. this mail also contains some questions ... maybe someone can answer or help me here? if this doesn't interst you please skip - apologies for the bandwidth. ############# HARDWARE (currently 4 nodes .. hope to get 4 more :-) mobo: k7s5a cpu: athlonxp 1,4 ghz (1600+) ram: 256 MB DDR (266MHz, CL2) graphics: various pci/agp graphics cards i could find floppy small tower with 250W PS nodes are diskless, master has an additional 40GB IDE disk. switch: D-Link DES 1008D 8 port switch. ############## POWER /GRAPHICS the cluster has continuously been up for about 3 weeks now with quite some load for most of the time. as far as i can tell, the 250W seems to be ok for the board and the 1,4 ghz athlonxp. the ami-bios does not allow booting without a graphics adapter. someone on the net (using a lot of the boards for a SETI at home "farm" told me that he did not get around it even with teaking tools for the ami-bios. i am happy to have a console for maintenance but one has to find a cheapo graphics card ... anyone out there managed to avoid this? ############## NETBOOT / OS i run a RH7.2 on it with a 2.4.17 kernel with NFS-root. the bios supports the RPL protocol for netbooting. i tried the rpld for linux and the board seems to communicate with the rpl-server and download something, but i didnt get it to boot. the rpld-developers sent me some patch to "switch off a DMA channel" of the onboard NIC but i have to admit that i didnt really understand what to do, nor did i try it. i currently boot from a syslinux floppy and use NFS-root. did soemone manage to netboot linux with this hardware? ############### STREAM because of the comments on the gcc versions 2.96 versus 2.95 issue mentioned on the ATLAS webpages i reinstalled the gcc 2.95 and found differences also for stream results and therefore i will post both here (both compiled with -O2 for comparison) Array size = 2000000, Offset = 0 gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-98) -O2 Function Rate (MB/s) RMS time Min time Max time Copy: 666.0980 0.0489 0.0480 0.0559 Scale: 585.3939 0.0547 0.0547 0.0549 Add: 726.1178 0.0662 0.0661 0.0663 Triad: 679.6655 0.0707 0.0706 0.0707 gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 (release) -O2 Function Rate (MB/s) RMS time Min time Max time Copy: 727.6031 0.0440 0.0440 0.0443 Scale: 627.5864 0.0526 0.0510 0.0649 Add: 798.1775 0.0602 0.0601 0.0603 Triad: 727.6691 0.0660 0.0660 0.0661 i guess it is obvious to reinstall gcc-2.95 when using RH7.1 or RH7.2. these results are not as good as reported recently for the nforce chipset. i tried to set the bios settings for the ddr-ram to optimal, but i didnt test/experiment. ########## NetPipe-2.4 The following results are NOT from a crossconnect cable but measured throug the D-Link switch!! kernel 2.4.17 / NIC-driver SIS900 for MPI: LAM-MPI 6.5.1 NPtcp: latency: 33 us bandwidth: ~89.7 MBit/s NPmpi: latency: 41 us bandwidth: ~82 MBit/s (maximux at about 85 MBit/s) the latency of around 40 microsec seems to be very low as far as i can tell from the information on the net (i am absolutly a beginner in this field). is there anything one can seriously do wrong? i tried it a couple of times. between different nodes always with basically the same result. ################### i hope i did not anoy the pros on this list too much, and this is helpfull for comparison. again: please contact me off list if you also use this type of hardware. thanks and best greetings from munich, rochus -- Dr. Rochus Schmid Technische Universität München Lehrstuhl f. Anorganische Chemie Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85747 Garching Tel. ++49 89 2891 3174 Fax. ++49 89 2891 3473 Email rochus.schmid at ch.tum.de


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"Umm... Uhh... Yeah you might just want to get a little concerned about them... "
Clamen are most notably one of the most forgotten of the seven sentient species of Earth. Clamen, or more uncommonly known as Clampeople, are a deep sea race of thinking, aquatic sea monsters that evolved from the animals of clam. They have been secretly and clamily evolving in the deep seas right under our very noses. Although like most of the seven sentient species of Earth (including Humans, Sasquatches, Birdman, Batman, Spiderman and Lizardmen), they do want world domination, so far they only have minimal demands of arpartment housing and pre-fried shrimp as they cannot make any fire under water. They do not pose much of a threat as they spend most of their time butting heads and seeing who can last the longest. They are known to invent the rugby and American football when several Clamen fought over a deliciously ripe melon. They also enjoy the music of both Beethoven and music from The Little Mermaid.
Deep below the water of the Pacific Ocean is the mighty underwater city of Clammy in their ocean kingdom aptly named Clamydia. The common confusion of the city and the STD has had dramatic consequences to tourism, especially after the campaign to get more tourists to come to the city by Mayor Aquaman which simply consisted of large posters saying Get Clamydian Fever!. The city does support very popular tourist attractions like the Worlds Soggiest Chalupa Stand, the Worlds Lowest Average IQ, the Worlds Biggest Glass Statue of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and the Worlds Largest Toilet, which is the entire city as the excrements tend to float to the surface depending on fibre intake. Although public urination is still a spankable offence.
They have a very dull sense of culture as they are too dumb to uphold a consistent one. It mostly consists of pictures of plants stapled to sea paper of them butting heads from different angles. Their buildings are usually shaped like whatever the builder was thinking of at the time, so most houses are shaped like food, most notably shrimp or perhaps a small salad. The closest thing to a culture they have that does not exactly involve culture, is an affinity to overly violent sports like Grid Iron and Gladiatorial Arenas and then drinking rum after watching violence then participating in some themselves, which is not much unlike some Human cultures of Yemen and Eskimos. Despite lacking any sense of culture, they feel it their duty to mock most Human cultures for their lack of head butting and shrimp, all except France. Clamen seem to respect France as the French tend to run and hide when faced with war, just as a clam retracts into its shell.
National AnthemEdit
After much debate and deliberation recently, the Clamen have once again changed their national anthem. They have decided that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme song is too discouraging to the pirates within the Clam society as they heavily out weigh the ninjas as they are an aquatic society. The Claman responsible fof the decision not long after died of a sudden and tragic Ninja star overdose in his home, but the decision remained valid. It was instead changed to the Great Chalupa Sea song made famous by the disembodied head of film noir legend Robert Mitchem in the popular internet cartoon The Cloak.
So on the winds we sail forth on the Sea of Chalupas. Chalupas! When out of the Ocean, The Chalupa King, He comes with his mighty bolt of electric lightning fury! My Chalupas I defend! From the king of the great Chalupa Sea!" With his hands of modern steam-powered engine of the future! $6.99 for a value meal! $6.99 for a value meal!
They stand about 6 feet tall and are mostly pink, squidgy blobs held together by thick clam armour, with their head protected by a bivalve. They have weird shaped feet that resemble the Halo Elite legs. The Bungie artist has been quoted that he got the idea when he was Jellyfish fishing and a Claman with a squid on his head attacked him. He received third degree burns from Jellyfish (the preferred drug of the Clamen) overdose. The Claman has been quoted saying the squid attacked his face and he simply tried to use the man to pry it off his face, without noticing that the squid had been on his head for years already.
Mostly blue but some have been sighted being partly morone or blue depending on the colour of their clothing at the time.
Depends how much they have been working out.
Depends mostly on the Claman's mood as they have the ability to change genders. This also means all homosexual marriage is banned in Clamydia as it only takes a few hours to change gender. All homosexuals requesting marriage are ordered by most aquatic courts to be engaged in immediate slapping by family members and small, cruel children.
This has no real link to the appearance of Clamen but my Clamen supervisors have insisted on including this on the page.
Common Weaknesses & FearsEdit
Whenever faced with needing to kill or possibly just annoy a Claman, here are a few things that you might want to keep in mind:
- Find something thicker than their head and bet them they can't dent it. They never turn down a challenge
- Any part of them not covered in armour
- NOT their crotch
- Easily tricked and confused, always check if their shoelaces are tied despite the fact they never wear shoes
- Mentioning Family Guy will have them mentioning jokes for hours
- Mention the words 'turbulance' or 'chimney sweep'
- Especially scares them upon mention of Mountain Dew, usually causes running and screaming
- Emoes
- Chuck Norris, then again most things are
- Christians
- Tartar sauce
- Mountain Dew, it burns them like battery acid
- Otters, a clams worst nightmare
- Sushi bars
- The Pope
- Nutcrackers
- The Christmas Nutcracker
See alsoEdit
|It is requested that an image or images be included in this article to improve its quality.


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Studio 49 KBN b1 No24 Resonator Bar
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Training to be Warrior Ready in a Positive Encouraging Community!
This site does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Use of this site is subject to our terms of service and privacy policy. All material provided on this website is provided for informational or educational purposes only. Consult a physician regarding the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your symptoms or medical condition.
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Transform your photos into one-of-a-kind, hand painted masterpieces!
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Decorate your bathroom and dry yourself off with our luxuriously soft bath towels and hand towels. Our towels are made from brushed microfiber with a 100% cotton back for extra absorption. The top of the towel has the image printed on it, and the back is white cotton. Available in three different sizes: hand towel, bath towel, and bath sheet.
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Machine wash cold and tumble dry with low heat.
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Jane Benton
April 18th, 2019
Original paintings are available from www.janegirardot.com. Canvas prints, paper prints and greeting cards are available from FineArtAmerica.com and www.jane-girardot.artistwebsites.com. See Jane on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-Girardot-Art/49642413739. The flower landscaped mountains down to the granite rock cliffs are surrounded by the gentle green waters of China Cove. Point Lobos is my favorite place to hike when in Northern California.
A �native Californian�, I grew up living along the coastal areas of California and I have a deep appreciation for nature and the beauty of the ocean. My passion for California beaches, tropical islands and the colors of nature quickly became my primary subject matter, as well as my inspiration. I truly enjoy capturing the elements of nature surrounding the ocean in detailed realism in my paintings and photography. I am a relative newcomer to the professional world of art, but like most artists, I have been drawing and painting since I can remember. After pursuing art in college, I quickly figured out that in order to support myself, I would need to use these talents in a way that would make money. I became a electronics design engineer...
Our return policy is very simple:
If you're not happy with a purchase that you made on Pixels.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 30 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - Pixels does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
Pixels sells thousands of pieces of artwork each month - all with a 100% money-back guarantee. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of thousands of artists have chosen Pixels to fulfill their orders, and we look forward to helping you select your next piece!
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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'Picture Gallery' started by stevedude, Sep 17, 2004.
i have 3 wonderful kitties, whom i love to death.
the gold one is cute, i used to have a cat like that... got old and ran away
I have a Samoyed. Kind of like a white husky I will take a pict in the morning.
happy dog
This is my dog phil at the races.
He looks pretty pleased with himself.
Why shouldn't he?
Left to Right, Top to Bottom:
Lola (& Wife), Logan, Slate, and dear, departed, Sophie.
Disney & Coco from babies to adults
We sure do have a lot of cat lovers around here! I'm just waiting for somebody to post a picture of their pet snake/crocodile or something equally freaky!
no pets in my building
but i'm the proud uncle of a beautiful little lhasa-poo named lodi:
Here's Oscar
He's a toy fox terrier, 7 lbs, around 1 year old in this photo.
My brothers dog
No pets myself, but here is my brothers dog Yeah-yo.
this is my 10 year old puppy, Jess. She rocks, and I miss her when I'm away at school, I'm home for the weekend, and on my Mom's computer, and this is the best picture I could find.
one kind is that grey one, bottom left.
This is Olaf.
Check out my Meezer pics here:
He's the cutest most furocious cat on here.
Leela is the white and black one. Fry is the other kitty.
I'll post some when I get back in town. It will be a lot of pictures though. Two shelties, three ferrets and one cat.
I think you're asking what kind he is? Slate is a handsome grey tabby, with a serious attitude, and he weighs 20lbs!
Here's Slate training for his favorite sport, Luge!
Seriously, he loves to lie like that. Or sit like a Buddha. It's amusing.
Why is your dog purple?
our two cats:
on the left: "Susi", born 1989-90 don't remember i was only 6-7 at that time, we got her together with her big black lion like brother(who sadly disapeared)...my mother couldn't resist to take her .. she was a very small kitten and very 'people friendly'... even today she as a very small cat and loves to jump on the laps of strangers who visit our house for the first time...and she brought back lots of mice and even rats who where nearly half her size...
on the right: "Maxi",born 1992 he is actually Susi's 'grandson'..his black mother (the one kitten we kept from Susi kids) disapeard as well after he was born ...
he is more 'grumpy' but still likes to play from time to time ... he eats a lot and is whining a lot if he is hungry... last year he nearly lost his left eye completly to a tumor ..he got better and kept the eye but he doesn't see much with it ...(he is able to catch mice,so it seems to work)
my best bud
This my my pal Foots, defending my driveway from intruders, and resting for his next battle.
Great idea for a thread...
Here is Ellie.
My cat Disco
I've got some pictures of our cat, Naluaka, online...
Here's a more recent one of him enjoying a treat.
What a beautiful cat! Great pictures!
Especially where he's on his hind legs!


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This gallery showcases the winners of this years UK Picture Editors' Guild Awards and the nominated finalists. The results were announced at an awards ceremony in central London on November 4th.
SABMiller Photographer of the Year, and OpenText News Photographer of the Year - Stefan Wermuth, Reuters
The coffin of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is carried as it arrives for her funeral service at St Paul's Cathedral in LondonPicture: STEFAN WERMUTH/REUTERS


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The Genesis Key
More than three decades ago, Dr. Kathleen Sainsbury's archaeologist parents were murdered at an ancient excavation site in Iraq. Now the gifted biologist stands on the brink of a miraculous breakthrough: the discovery of a gene that could extend human life by hundreds of years. But at the moment of her greatest triumph, a mysterious phone call reveals a hidden truth that draws chaos and violence once again into her world . . . and threatens to irreversibly alter the destiny of human kind.
For somewhere in the shadows, powerful unseen forces are watching . . . and waiting. Suddenly Kathleen is a target of covert government operatives as she races to uncover the mystery behind her parents' secret research and brutal deathsa mystery locked in the human genome, in the sands of antiquity, and in the Book of Genesis. More than survival is a stake for Dr. Kathleen Sainsbury. The future of all humanity hangs in the balance . . . the prize is the secret of life itself.
Read interesting facts and background info...
HarperCollins, Mass Market Paperback, (June 2011), ISBN-13: 9780062021380
"THE GENESIS KEY is a solid blend of science, myth, history, and suspense. It's remarkable and unconventional, which together make for a great tale. There's an intense brand of storytelling here, utilizing all of the elements I love. I can't wait for more from James Barney."
Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The Jefferson Key and The Templar Legacy
"A strong debut thriller. . . James Barney deftly explores elements of modern science and antiquity to mine the kinds of themes so ably explored by the likes of Dan Brown and James Rollins. . . Barney is a welcome player in a crowded field."
John Hart, New York Times bestselling author of The King of Lies, Down River, The Last Child, and Iron Horse


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Elevate your stay and bask in an unparalleled sense of community and dedication to service on The Ritz-Carlton Club® Level. Every Club Lounge is designed to create a place of belonging. Here, guests may unwind with friends and family, settle into a quiet workspace with breathtaking views, or indulge in an array of complimentary culinary presentations. The Treat You package includes:
Terms and Conditions:
Complimentary night requires purchase and minimum length of stay, and will be credited at time of check-out. A stay is defined as consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, regardless of check-in/check-out activity. Parking or Transfer option varies by hotel.


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Provider Search
Provider Listing
* The physicians displayed on this site are associated with our hospital. Physicians can be found in an alphabetical listing or searched based on individual patient needs or preferences. When the search tool is used, physicians are presented randomly based on location to the searcher. Physicians employed by the parent company of the hospital may appear before other physicians.


text: Eric Zorn is an op-ed columnist and daily blogger for the Chicago Tribune who specializes in local news and politics. Zorn is a 1980 graduate of the University of Michigan, where he was a senior editor at the Michigan Daily and a creative writing/English literature major. After serving a four-month internship at the Miami Herald, he came to work at the Chicago Tribune in summer 1980. After five years as a feature writer in the Tempo section, he began writing a metro column in 1986. He started Change of Subject — the Tribune's first blog — in 2003, and moved to the op-ed pages in 2009. He is a co-author of the 1990 book, "Murder of Innocence," an exploration of the life and tragic rampage of Winnetka schoolhouse killer Laurie Dann. Zorn, his wife Johanna and their three children live on the city's Northwest Side. Zorn plays traditional folk music, golf and basketball.


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Every project begins as an unfinished canvas to which we bring color, texture and energy.
That is the question we are most often asked. The answer is simple. It is our people, our synergy, our vast expertise, our taste level and our integrity.


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|Sweet Impressions from Dancing Deer.......Having trouble viewing this email? Click Here
Dancing Deer will be sampling goodies at the following events:
One Family Graduation Event: July 17th To learn more, click here: One Family Inc.
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GA Draft Agreement A/370 - 9 September 1947
Draft Agreement between the UN and ITU
In 1946 the Economic and Social Council, stressing its desire to "discharge effectively its responsibility to coordinate the activities of the specialized agencies", adopted resolution 13(III) which requested the Secretary-General to "establish a standing committee of administrative officers of the specialized agencies brought into relationship with the United Nations, for the purpose of taking all appropriate steps, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, to ensure the fullest and most effective implementation of the agreements entered into between the United Nations and the specialized agencies." The UN Secretary-General established the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), then known as Coordination Committee. The title of ACC was given in 1948 to distinguish it from ECOSOC's own Coordination Committee.
Dates Organizations Signed Relationship Agreements with the UN


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Optimal Medical Management
Update: Treatment of HIV-Associated Body-Composition Abnormalities
New Approaches to the Clinical Care of Patients With Wasting Syndrome and Lipodystrophy
October 1999
A note from TheBody.com: The field of medicine is constantly evolving. As a result, parts of this article may be outdated. Please keep this in mind, and be sure to visit other parts of our site for more recent information!
Cachexia has been seen in individuals with advanced HIV disease since the earliest days of the epidemic. Indeed, weight loss of unexplained origin was a defining symptom of both ARC and frank AIDS during the epidemic's first phase, when we did not know the syndrome's causative agent and when symptoms such as adenopathy, oral thrush, night sweats, and severe weight loss were what identified infected individuals. HIV Newsline carried its first article on AIDS-related wasting in 1995 (see "Management of Wasting Syndrome in Late-Stage HIV Infection," Vol. 1, No. 5, or visit our Web site, hivnewsline.com), and we have updated that information at intervals over the past four years.
Lipodystrophies, by contrast, are a relatively new body-composition abnormality -- first reported in significant numbers following the widespread adoption of multidrug antiretroviral therapies that contained at least one protease inhibitor. This temporal coincidence initially led a number of researchers to implicate this potent class of anti-HIV drugs as the source of these unusual and often unsightly fatty deposits, but it now seems clear that lipodystrophies occur in patients who have received only protease-inhibitor-sparing antiretroviral regimens.
From a clinical standpoint, the news regarding body-composition abnormalities is decidedly mixed: The good news is that several efficacious treatments are now available to increase lean body mass and improve physical performance in patients who develop wasting syndrome. The bad news is that there is still very little that we can do to reverse lipodystrophy when it occurs, and there is much that we still do not understand about this phenomenon.
The loss of more than 5% of total body weight is associated with worse prognosis in recent as well as older studies in HIV-infected individuals (4-6). Both lean tissue and fat stores are depleted when seropositive patients lose weight, but prognosis and function correlate with lean-tissue losses, not with the loss of body fat or of weight per se (5). Although it has proven considerably more difficult to restore lean tissue than body fat (7-11), rebuilding lean body mass is what matters: treatments that successfully increase lean body mass also increase objective measures of strength or physical performance (12-14), whereas the mere accrual of body fat is not associated with improved performance or survival (9, 10).
The primary therapeutic objective of treating patients for wasting is, therefore, the accrual of functional lean tissue, with attendant improvement in performance. A number of therapeutic options have been tested with this clinical objective in mind, among them appetite stimulants.
Megestrol acetate is an extremely effective appetite stimulant in people with advanced HIV infection and weight loss (9, 10). Food intake generally increases by 20% to 25% (i.e. 500-600 kilocalories per day), and weight gain averages about a pound per week, when patients are given high doses of megestrol acetate. Between 70% and 100% of the weight gained is body fat, however, and no improvements in function or survival have been demonstrated in large multicenter trials. These fat gains generally occur on the abdomen, trunk, back, and face -- a pattern that tends to exaggerate the changes in body-fat deposition associated with protease-inhibitor-containing antiretroviral regimens (1, 3).
Megestrol acetate therapy also has some adverse effects. It can lead to diabetes or insulin resistance in both sexes, and in men it results in a high incidence of hypogonadism, which is marked by lower serum testosterone concentrations, fatigue, and loss of libido (15). These adverse effects may exacerbate problems that are already present due to HIV disease itself or to the effects of antiretroviral therapy.
The reasons that megestrol acetate therapy primarily increases body fat and fails to increase lean tissue remain uncertain. Secondary hypogonadism may be a contributory factor in men, although a study that combined megestrol with testosterone replacement did not improve lean-tissue response (15). This may be due to the fact that megestrol has intrinsic glucocorticoid-agonist actions, and these may favor body-fat anabolism and lean-tissue catabolism. Alternatively, disturbances of macronutrient metabolism due to HIV infection itself may intrinsically limit lean-tissue anabolism (7, 11, 13, 17-19).
The usefulness of megestrol acetate in HIV-related wasting is limited, given these disappointing results. For people who simply want to gain weight or get more enjoyment out of meals -- or who want more body fat, to counteract facial wasting, for example -- this is an effective agent. Optimal dosing is 400-800 mg (10-20 mL of the oral suspension), taken once a day in the morning. Higher doses lead to more rapid weight gain, but they may increase the tendency for fat accrual to predominate. At San Francisco General Hospital we routinely initiate testosterone replacement therapy prophylactically, to prevent secondary hypogonadism, whenever we prescribe megestrol acetate (16).
Marinol, an orally available cannabinoid derivative, has not been proven to increase body weight or even food intake in HIV-associated wasting. Subjects have reported increased appetite, but little or no weight gain has been observed (20). Sedation, impaired concentration, and other adverse psychoactive effects are common with marinol therapy -- which makes administration to patients with a history of substance abuse problematic. If this appetite stimulant is used, side effects can be minimized by administering the agent as a single dose at bedtime. Studies with inhaled marijuana are ongoing, but results have not yet been reported.
Parenteral or enteral nutritional support
Total parenteral nutrition is rarely indicated for treatment of HIV-associated wasting. TPN tends to increase body fat rather than lean tissue in these patients, although a subset of patients with relatively pure "starvation" (i.e., deficient nutrient intake in the absence of infection or inflammation) did demonstrate increases in lean-tissue mass (8). Preferential accrual of fat over lean has similarly been observed when the cachexia associated with end-stage cancer is treated with TPN (21, 22). In cancer wasting, meta-analyses suggest that TPN reduces rather than increases survival, due to infectious complications. Long-term, prospective, controlled outcome studies of TPN in HIV infection have not yet been reported.
Intractable cryptosporidial watery diarrhea, which was a major indication for the use of TPN in previous years, has virtually disappeared since the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy -- and so, as a result, has the need for total parenteral nutrition. Because administration of TPN is expensive, associated with infection and other risks, inconvenient, and of unproven efficacy for increasing lean tissue or overall function, we do not recommend its use except in special circumstances.
This recommendation does not apply to enteral nutrition, in the form of oral supplements -- which can be an extremely useful adjunctive therapy in HIV-associated wasting. Patients with clear histories of nutrient deficiency (23) or with objective biochemical measures indicating "starvation" rather than inflammation (11) may accrue lean-tissue mass when given oral supplements. Many forms of enteral nutrition are currently available, and most are well tolerated by patients with AIDS-wasting; experienced dietitians can generally find dietary supplements that are acceptable even to patients with diarrhea, altered taste, or oropharyngeal pain. As a rule, however, oral supplementation does not significantly increase lean body mass (11).
Over the past few years there have been major advances in the therapeutic use of androgens to increase lean body mass. From a clinical perspective, it is useful to separate discussions of androgen use into three categories: in states of low androgen level (hypogonadism), in eugonadal states, and in combination with exercise.
It is well established that administration of male hormones to any person who does not have the testosterone levels of a normal adult male -- that is, to women, pre-pubertal boys, or hypogonadal men -- results in substantial nitrogen retention, an increase in lean body mass that includes muscle, and improvements in strength. This is, of course, why use of androgens is banned among female competitive athletes.
This pattern of response to testosterone supplementation is highly relevant to the treatment of HIV-associated wasting, because hypogonadism, defined as a significant drop in serum testosterone concentrations, is the most common endocrine abnormality in HIV-infected men. Close to 50% of men with HIV infection exhibit a persistent lowering of serum total testosterone in the course of their illness (17). The typical reduction, however, is not into the frankly hypogonadal range (< 200 ng/dL) but into the lowest quartile or tertile of serum values (200-500 ng/dL) (13, 17). In a study that my colleagues and I conducted, we found that the bell-shaped population distribution observed in healthy controls is not present in Bay Area men with HIV-associated weight loss (13). The most common value for serum total testosterone was 200-450 ng/dL, which was present in close to half the subjects, rather than the 450-700 ng/dL range that was most common in healthy controls. This borderline hypogonadism may represent the "hypothalamic hypogonadism" seen in other settings of stress, infection, or weight loss (24, 25).
These findings suggested that there were two important clinical questions that needed to be addressed regarding androgen replacement therapy in HIV- associated wasting: First, is this treatment effective in frank hypogonadism (testosterone < 200 ng/dL), or is there resistance, in HIV disease, to the usual anabolic effects of androgens? And second, do patients with borderline hypogonadism also benefit? In other words, is this commonly observed condition a functionally hypogonadal state? Both of these questions have now been answered in the affirmative.
Grinspoon et al. gave testosterone injections to men with serum testosterone levels in the frankly hypogonadal range and observed significant increases in both fat-free mass and overall body weight (15). My colleagues and I have compared intramuscular nandrolone decanoate to placebo injections in men with weight loss and total testosterone levels between 200 and 500 ng/dL (13). The nandrolone arm showed a significant positive nitrogen balance (equivalent to about 0.5 kg of muscle gained per week) over the first two weeks of treatment when compared with the placebo arm.
After 12 weeks of nandrolone decanoate therapy (100 mg/wk), participants gained, on average, about 3 kg of lean body mass and 4.5 kg of total weight. These values for lean-tissue accrual with nandrolone are similar to results achieved with recombinant growth hormone, but at much lower cost. Some measures of exercise performance also improved with nandrolone therapy. In our view, it is therefore reasonable to expand the criteria for androgen replacement therapy to include not only frank hypogonadism but also borderline hypogonadal patients -- that is, those in the lowest quartile or tertile (values < 500 ng/dL) who have weight loss or other signs or symptoms of functional hypogonadism.
Administration of replacement doses of androgens to healthy, eugonadal men has little effect on body composition. This might be expected, since endogenous production of testosterone is suppressed by exogenous testosterone. Administration of supraphysiologic doses of androgens to healthy men, in the absence of exercise, typically has modest effects on body composition, with little or no increase in strength (26). Similar results have been reported in eugonadal men with HIV-associated weight loss (27).
Combining androgens with resistance exercise
The exception to the rule just noted for eugonadal men is when high-dose androgens are combined with resistance exercise such as weight-lifting. Bhasin et al. performed an important placebo-controlled study of this therapeutic combination in healthy, eugonadal men. In this cohort, very high doses of testosterone (600 mg IM weekly, or six times the usual replacement dose) were given alone and in combination with supervised resistance exercise (26). Substantially greater gains in muscle size and strength were observed in the combined treatment group, compared with either treatment alone. The subjects in this study gained, on average, 6 kg of lean tissue with the combination of high-dose testosterone plus exercise, compared to 2 kg with exercise alone; strength also increased more in the testosterone-plus-exercise group. We recently performed an analogous study in eugonadal men with HIV infection and an average 9% weight loss, asking three questions:
Our study compared the addition of oxandrolone (20 mg/day) or placebo with a regimen of supervised resistance exercise plus replacement doses of testosterone (100 mg IM/week) for 8 weeks. The replacement dose of testosterone was given for several reasons: to prevent suppression of endogenous testosterone production by exogenous oxandrolone; to overcome any borderline hypogonadism that might have been present; and to prevent exercise-induced hypogonadism, which has been described in other settings (28).
Oxandrolone was given at 20 mg/day because this is the approved dose and has been shown to be safe over the longterm in other clinical settings, such as alcoholic liver disease (29). We observed a significant improvement in all measures of body composition and strength in the oxandrolone/testosterone/exercise group (14). Subjects gained an average of 7 kg of lean body mass with oxandrolone/exercise, compared with about 4 kg in the placebo/exercise group. Nitrogen balance was also more positive in the oxandrolone group. Muscle strength (determined by the maximum amount of weight lifted or the maximum power exerted on a Cybex machine) improved in the placebo/exercise group but was considerably greater with the addition of oxandrolone.
During a subsequent three-month open-label phase of this study, the subjects in the oxandrolone/testosterone/exercise arm continued to increase their lean body mass. Significantly, the use of protease inhibitors did not affect gains in lean tissue or strength. The exercise regimen and oxandrolone were well tolerated, and there were no effects on CD4 counts or viral load. One subject out of the 12 in the oxandrolone group developed moderate elevations in liver function tests and had to be withdrawn from the study. One potentially important adverse effect was that HDL cholesterol levels fell significantly (by 9 mg/dL) in the oxandrolone group. No adverse behavioral effects were observed.
We conclude that combining a moderately supraphysiologic androgen regimen that contains an anabolic steroid, oxandrolone, with supervised resistance exercise has extraordinarily beneficial effects on lean body mass and muscle strength, is well tolerated, and is not affected by protease-inhibitor therapy. The average lean-tissue gain of 15 pounds over eight weeks in the exercise/oxandrolone group is considerably greater than has previously been reported for any anabolic intervention in HIV infection, cancer, or other causes of wasting disorders (22).
Other therapies
Administration of recombinant growth hormone (0.1 mg/kg S.C. daily) produces a positive nitrogen balance and leads to a gain of 3 kg lean tissue over 12 weeks time in HIV-associated wasting (30). Modest improvement in treadmill exercise endurance has also been reported (12). Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that patients are likely to lose all of the weight and lean tissue they have gained, if their rGH therapy is discontinued, so treatment may have to be lifelong. Side effects such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, headaches, and carpal tunnel syndrome, although uncommon, can also be problematic. Clinical use of rGH has been relatively infrequent to date, primarily because of the extremely high cost, which can reach $1,000 a week.
Anticytokine therapies, including thalidomide treatment and n-3 fatty-acid supplementation, have also been evaluated (19, 31). Although the cytokine hypothesis of wasting remains attractive, studies to date with potent anticytokine agents have shown only a modest improvement in lean-tissue mass in patients with AIDS-related cachexia, with no documented effect on function or performance (31, 32). Patients coinfected with tuberculosis and HIV who have constitutional symptoms may exhibit a better response to thalidomide (31) than patients with HIV infection alone (32). The toxicities of thalidomide are substantial and include sedation, rash, and fever in addition to the agent's notorious teratogenicity.
Alterations in body-fat content or distribution
A number of syndromes involving altered content or distribution of body fat have recently been described in HIV-infected patients on combination antiretroviral therapy. These alterations include abdominal obesity ("protease paunch"), peripheral lipodystrophy (often combined with atrophy, resulting in "AIDS face"), and the build-up of interscapular fat ("buffalo hump"). Almost all of the important questions about these syndromes remain unresolved at this point, and clinical trials evaluating potential therapies have yet to be published. Nevertheless, we are closer than we were two years ago, when the first of these cases were reported, to understanding these anomalous changes in body composition.
Estimates of the prevalence of these body-fat alterations have ranged from less than 10% to upward of 80% in patients on combination antiretroviral therapy (1-3, 33-35). Some of these differences may be due to different stages of illness or duration of multidrug therapy among study populations. Differences in inclusion criteria may also explain different estimates, and whether the alterations in corpus habitus were observed by care providers or were self-reported by patients may have some bearing as well. For the present, an increase in the waist:hip ratio may be the most reproducible objective measure for clinical studies.
It does seem clear, at this point, that weight is gained by patients after they start a protease-inhibitor-containing multidrug regimen, and that most of the weight that is gained is body fat. In a study of almost 1,000 patients taking ritonavir, the average weight gain was about 2 kg (36). The weight gains seen in patients who start therapy with a regimen that includes indinavir are similar, and older studies of zidovudine in nucleoside-naïve patients also noted weight gains of about 2 kg. When patients are followed longitudinally, almost all the weight they gain on protease-inhibitor-containing therapies appears to be body fat (37). After longer periods on protease-inhibitor-containing therapies, patients tend to lose much of this added weight, often from subcutaneous fat stores.
Are these antiretroviral-therapy-associated changes in body composition due to protease inhibitors per se or to suppression of viral replication? This essential question remains unanswered -- and highly controversial. Several authors have now described body-fat changes associated with the use of classes of anti-HIV drugs other than protease inhibitors (34, 38). Others have presented preliminary evidence of both improvement (39, 40) and no improvement (41) in abnormal body-fat distribution in patients who were switched to regimens that did not contain a protease inhibitor. It may be that antiretroviral therapy itself is responsible for some of these metabolic changes, or it may be that protease inhibitors have effects that exacerbate underlying metabolic disorders. At present, therefore, it is premature to recommend changing from, or avoiding, protease-inhibitor-containing regimens solely to reduce body-composition abnormalities.
Thus far, no interventions have been proven effective in eliminating any of the body-composition abnormalities associated with multidrug antiretroviral therapy. Anecdotal observations have suggested that exercise plus dietary-fat restriction may be effective in reducing paunch. Dawn Averitt, a member of the editorial advisory board of HIV Newsline and an 11-year veteran of various anti-HIV regimens, has an interesting personal take on this subject (see "Trekking with AIDS, Part 2 -- A Special Report" from AIDS Care in this issue). Ms. Averitt, who has spent the past four-and-a-half months hiking the Appalachian Trail, reports that her strenuous daily routine has not only eliminated her lipodystrophy, it has brought her serum cholesterol down from an all-time high of more than 600 to 225 at last count.
Some investigators have suggested that rGH may also reduce so-called protease paunch (42). It should be recognized, however, that rGH therapy is likely to worsen peripheral lipoatrophy (since rGH increases lipolysis and fat oxidation), and it may lead to hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance as well (30). Off-label use of rGH should therefore be considered very carefully, and treated patients should be followed very closely.
Modestly supraphysiologic doses of androgens, combined with resistance training, tend to encourage the deposition of abdominal fat -- leading to so-called android obesity -- and they suppress HDL cholesterol concentrations. Androgens plus exercise can reduce body fat, but the effects on specific depots have not been determined (15). Therefore, these agents seem to be less than ideal candidates for treatment of this syndrome, although definitive studies have not yet been performed.
Another treatment for lipodystrophy that has been considered is metformin. This is an antihyperglycemic agent that is used in Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metformin improves insulin sensitivity (largely by reducing hepatic glucose overproduction), reduces serum triglyceride concentrations, and tends to cause weight loss in Type 2 diabetics (43, 44).
HIV-infected patients on combination therapy often exhibit insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia, and central obesity (1-3), and when they do, their insulin resistance primarily reflects sharply increased hepatic glucose production (45). Whether metformin will prove beneficial in treating the body-composition abnormalities seen in patients on multidrug antiretroviral therapy remains uncertain, although a preliminary report is encouraging (46).
The recently reported syndrome of lactic acidosis, abdominal pain, and nausea -- often combined with fatigue and weight loss -- that is seen in patients on multidrug therapies that contain a non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor, has no specific treatment (47). Clinicians must learn to identify this syndrome, because the lactic acidosis can be life-threatening. At present the provider's only option is to switch affected patients to a regimen that does not contain an NNRTI.
As with the management of obesity in the general population, patients and providers are faced with a frustrating inability to affect the debilitating changes in body fat that are observed in individuals on combination antiretroviral therapy. Until such time as we do have effective treatments for these lipodystrophies, it is very important to work on those variables that can be controlled. We can -- and should -- encourage our patients to reduce the amount of fat, especially saturated fat, in their diets. At the same time we should urge them to reduce their intake of sugar and alcohol while increasing their level of physical activity, even if that activity is limited to walking.
In addition, we can prescribe drug treatments for the metabolic complications that occur in association with these body-composition changes. These complications include hypertriglyceridemia, which can be extremely severe and can be associated with low HDL cholesterol concentrations, and insulin resistance or frank diabetes.
The emergence of altered body-fat content and distribution as a clinically important syndrome in patients on multidrug antiretroviral therapy has added an extra dimension to the clinical management of body-composition changes in HIV disease. Whereas treatments to manipulate body-fat content or distribution remain uncertain, with no interventions of proven efficacy, the options for efficacious treatment aimed at increasing lean-tissue mass and muscle strength have advanced considerably in recent years. Clinicians can now offer several effective therapies to combat lean-tissue wasting.
It seems reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we will be able to deal as effectively with alterations in body fat. In the meantime, providers can attend to secondary disorders (such as dyslipidemia and diabetes), for which treatments are available, they can offer reasonable dietary suggestions, and they can keep an eye out for encouraging results of a number of ongoing clinical trials.
Marc K. Hellerstein, M.D., Ph.D., is with the UCSF Medical School, San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA.
Back to the October 1999 HIV Newsline contents page.
A note from TheBody.com: The field of medicine is constantly evolving. As a result, parts of this article may be outdated. Please keep this in mind, and be sure to visit other parts of our site for more recent information!
This article was provided by San Francisco General Hospital. It is a part of the publication HIV Newsline.


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GIVENCHY MINAUDIERE CHAIN AYERS PANDORA BOXCategories:Other Brands
Almost every designer bag has two types of design – there is the 'ordinary' bag and there is the 'extra ordinary' bag. One is beautiful, and the second one is beyond beautiful. And thus at Givenchy, you have the normal leather Pandora Box Bag and the Ayers Snakeskin leather Pandora Box Bag, which one do you prefer?
Meet the Givenchy Minaudiere Chain Ayers Pandora Box.
Created as an addition to the famous luxurious Pandora Collection, this is another handbag that makes every girl skip a beat.
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You will love it.
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Tags: Givenchy Chain MINAUDIERE


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Yeah, that's an issue. No gaming store, no college campus, no friendly local retailer, and if none of the people you work with/engage in other extracurriculars with want to try it out, you're boned.Whiteagle wrote:...And that's where you hit my problem, where you don't live ANYWHERE near anything!
There are some online resources. Forum play by post RPGs, chatrooms, and the like. There are also a couple of programs which are basically glorified dice macros rammed together with a chat interface (sometimes they include basic mapping functions) you could use if you already have people interested and the only real problem is distance. Maybe even guild members from an MMO if you're short on real people. I'm not a huge fan of online RP...it can be fun sometimes but it'll never match the tabletop experience. But hey, if its your only option.


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Freddie Mac , the No. 2 U.S. home funding company, said it will sell $2.0 billion worth of reference bills on Monday.
The sale consists of $1.0 billion of three-month bills March 25, 2013, and $1.0 billion of six-month bills due June 24, 2013.
Continue Reading Below
The bills will be sold over the Internet in a Dutch auction. In such uniform price auctions, successful bidders pay only the price of the lowest accepted bid rather than the actual price as in a conventional multiple-price auction.
Bids will be accepted from authorized dealers until 9:45 a.m. EST (1445 GMT).
Settlement is December 26
(Reporting by Caryn Trokie; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)