text:
Medical professionals maintain that in order to justify the use of a drug, its benefits are supposed to outweigh its risks and therefore, there should be a discussion of exactly what benefits result from the use of SSRIs, in any population, that would outweigh the suicide risks associated with this class of medications.
The most popular SSRIs sold in the US include Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro and Celexa.
As far as the benefits of the various SSRIs, an April 2002 study in the Journal of American Medical Association compared the effectiveness of Zoloft, St John's Wort, and a placebo and found that the placebo treated patients had the highest rate of remission of symptoms at 31.9%, and Zoloft's 24.8% was barely better than the rate of remission with St John's Wort of 23.9%.
The FDA's own records on Celexa (citalopram) show the agency knew the drug to be ineffective when it was approved, and the agency based its approval on 2 marginally positive studies out of a total of 17 conducted.
A March 26, 1998, memorandum by Thomas Laughren, of the FDA's Psychiatric Drug Products, notes a total of 17 clinical trials on Celexa, including 2 uncontrolled trials, 6 active controlled trials showing no difference between treatments, and 2 placebo controlled trials that were too small to be considered studies.
Dr Laughren's memo discusses 5 short-term trials (85A, 91206, 86141, 89303, and 89306) and 2 long-term studies (89304 and 89305). "In summary," he wrote, "I consider studies 85A and 91206 positive support for the claim of short-term antidepressant efficacy for citalopram."
"While 3 other placebo-controlled short-term trials (86141, 89303, and 89306) were negative, and not easily interpretable since there were no active control arms," he stated, "I feel there were sufficient reasons to speculate about the negative outcomes and, therefore, not count these studies against citalopram."
Dr Laughman also counted 2 relapse prevention trials as effective to support the drug's approval. "Overall," he wrote, "I consider these results sufficient to support claims of both short-term and long-term antidepressant effectiveness of citalopram."
However, other FDA officials were not so eager to stretch the truth about the weak studies with medical professionals and consumers. For instance, a May 4, 1998 memo by Paul Leber, Director of the Division of Neuropharmacological Drug Projects, on the subject of "Approvable Action on Forrest Laboratories NDA 20-822 Celexa," said the pubic had a right to know the truth about all the trials submitted to the FDA for the approval of Celexa.
He advised that the drug labeling should not only describe the trials that showed Celexa's adequate effects; but should also describe the "well controlled clinical studies that failed to do so."
Dr Leber specifically pointed out that Study 86141, Study 89303, and Study 89306, all failed to provide results confirming the positive findings of Studies 85 and 91206, the two clinical trials that Dr Laughman listed to support the approval of Celexa.
"I am aware that clinical studies often fail to document the efficacy of effective drugs," Dr Leber wrote, "but I doubt the public, or even the majority of medical community, are aware of this fact," he said.
"I believe that labeling," he stated, "that selectively describes positive studies and excludes mention of negative ones can be viewed as being potentially "false and misleading.""
"I believe it is useful for the prescriber, patient, and 3rd party payer to know," Dr Leber wrote, "without having to gain access to official FDA review documents, that citalopram's antidepressants effects were not detected in every controlled clinical trial intended to demonstrate those effects."
"I am persuaded," he stated, "they not only have a right to know, but should know."
When Forest Labs got Lexapro approved in 2002, it was nothing more than a chemically altered version of Celexa, and Forest Labs spent a fortune on persuading doctors to switch patients to Lexapro before its top selling drug Celexa lost its patent protection in 2004.
At the time, Forest could point to only one lone study, that the company itself paid to have published that claimed Lexapro was any better than Celexa. The paper, by Dr Jack Gorman, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, pooled the results of three studies and concluded that Lexapro "may have a faster onset" than Celexa, according to a report by Melody Peterson in the November 22, 2002 New York Times.
Dr Gorman's paper was published in CNS Spectrums, a medical journal he edits, and Forest paid Medworks Media, a small medical marketing company that publishes the journal, to print the article in a special supplement.
Other researchers disagreed with the study results. "The Medical Letter, a nonprofit newsletter respected for its independence from the pharmaceutical industry," Ms Petersen reports, "reviewed the same clinical trials as Dr. Gorman and concluded ... that Lexapro had not been shown to be better than any other antidepressant, including Celexa."
As for Paxil, in June 2004, New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, charged GlaxoSmithKline, with fraud for hiding studies that "not only failed to show any benefit for the drug in children but demonstrated that children taking Paxil were more likely to become suicidal than those taking a placebo."
According to Mr Spitzer, Glaxo published only one of 5 studies it conducted, and even that one showed mixed results.
Prozac (fluoxetine) was also known to be ineffective before it was approved for use in the US. While serving as an expert witness in a lawsuit, psychiatrist and SSRI expert, Dr Peter Breggin, author of, "Talking Back to Prozac," reviewed a July 1985 in-house analysis by its maker, Eli Lilly, that showed Prozac had failed to demonstrate efficacy in clinical trials with patients taking Prozac verses a placebo or a tricyclic antidepressant.
"When this potential economic disaster for Eli Lilly was discovered," Dr Beggin reports, "the FDA allowed the company to include in its efficacy data those patients who had been illegally treated with concomitant benzodiazepine tranquilizers in order to calm their over stimulation."
"Basically, Prozac was approved in combination with addictive benzodiazepines such as Ativan, Xanax, and Valium," he says, "but neither the FDA nor the drug company revealed this information."
"With these patients included," he states, "statistical manipulations enabled the FDA to find the drug marginally approvable."
An internal Lilly document dated March 29, 1985, says, "The benefits vs. risks considerations for fluoxetine currently does not fall clearly in favor of the benefits."
Medwatch is the reporting system by which adverse events involving prescription drugs are reported to the FDA. Within one decade of Prozac's arrival on the market, there were 39,000 adverse event reports submitted to Medwatch and that number is said to represent only about 1% of the actual number of adverse events, according to an April 22, 2006 report by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
Serious questions about the possible link between suicide and SSRIs began in 1990, when Martin Teicher, of McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, reported on 6 patients who he said experienced "intense, violent suicidal thoughts" after taking Prozac.
He offered three possible theories for the increased suicidality: (1) SSRIs gave patients more energy before lifting their depression, allowing them to act on a suicidal impulse; (2) the drugs worsened depression in a small subset of patients; or (3) SSRIs caused a state of agitation and restlessness.
In a February 10, 1990, report titled, "Emergence of Intense Suicidal Preoccupation During Fluoxetine Treatment," Dr Teicher said, "The purpose of this report is to suggest the surprising possibility that fluoxetine may induce suicidal ideation in some patients."
"In our experience," he wrote, "this side effect has occurred in 3.5% of patients receiving fluoxetine."
Throughout the 1990s, Eli Lilly publicly denied that Prozac was associated with suicide or violence, but by the year 2000, the company had quietly paid an estimated $50 million to settle over 30 lawsuits, according to an Indianapolis Star investigation.
When reviewing Lilly's studies on Prozac, Dr Breggin found that there were 12 suicide attempts in the Prozac group verses only one in the placebo group and one in the tricyclic antidepressant group, but that many of the suicide attempts were hidden under false categories.
"Even after the company winnowed out six of the suicide attempts," Dr Breggin says, "the remaining 6:1 ratio was alarming."
He also reviewed a November 8, 1998, study titled, "Activation and Sedation in Fluoxetine Clinical Trials," that showed a 38% rate of stimulation in the patients taking Prozac, even though, he says, many patients were sedated and many parameters of stimulation were not counted.
Another group of documents that he examined, contained a study conducted by the FDA on increased spontaneous post marketing reports of "hostility" and "intentional injury" by patients on Prozac. "These documents," Dr Breggin says, "were generated shortly before the 1991 FDA PDAC meeting that evaluated antidepressant-induced suicidality."
For this study, the FDA used the antidepressant, trazodone, as a control and found a 24-fold relative increase of reports of hostility and intentional injury per prescription of Prozac when compared to patients on trazodone.
"The spike in Prozac reports," Dr Breggins says, "occurred even before any public controversy surrounding Prozac and violence."
The documents he reviewed also contained graphs showing a 40-fold relative increase in reports of suicide attempts, overdose, and psychotic depression, in patients on Prozac compared to patients on trazodone.
"In one memo," Dr Breggin reports, "a Lilly employee expresses shame and regret about hiding this data."
In the case where Dr Breggin testified, Lilly was able to have the records sealed by the court where they remained hidden for roughly 10 years.
On April 10, 2004, the British Medical Journal, citing Jurendi et al, criticized the authors of studies on SSRIs for exaggerating benefits and downplaying their harm and noted a clinical trial of 93 children on Paxil that produced 11 serious adverse events, including 7 hospitalizations, compared to only two in children in the placebo group.
But the Paxil suicide risk does not only apply to children. An August 22, 2005, study by Norwegian researchers found that Paxil also increases suicide risk in adults. In the study of over 1,500 adults, 7 Paxil patients attempted suicide compared to only one attempt in the group of patients on a placebo. The researchers recommended that the warning not to prescribe Paxil to children should be extended to adults.
In Insight News, on October 4, 2002, investigative reporter, Kelly Patricia O'Meara, author of, "Psyched Out, How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill (2006)," revealed a study conducted by Dr Arif Khan, medical director of the Northwest Clinical Research Center in Bellevue, Washington, that disclosed the number of suicides committed or attempted by patients in the clinical trials on SSRIs, that were kept hidden from doctors and consumers.
For the study, Dr Khan examined the official clinical drug-trial data for all SSRIs approved by the FDA between 1985 and 2000.
According to Ms O'Meara, the rate of suicides in the general public is 11 in 100,000, but the incidence rate for people participating in the SSRI trials was 718 for every 100,000. Dr Kahn's research also revealed that nearly 4% of study participants attempted suicide within the following year.
As for weighing the benefits against the above risks, the British Medical Journal published a study on July 16, 2005, by Joanna Moncrieff, senior lecturer in psychiatry at University College London, that found SSRIs no more effective than a placebo in reducing depression.
The study also found that trials on SSRIs with negative results were less likely to be published than those with positive results, and that even in the published trials, negative outcomes were often not presented.
Dr Moncrieff said she found "no good evidence that these drugs work."


text:
I have recently been the victim of copyright infringement. Not a good feeling. For all I know this has happened many times before and I was blissfully unaware.
On November 24th, 2010 I got an early morning phone call from a woman in Australia. She was excited to have found me. She had gone to some lengths to locate my contact information, first calling my dad at his studio, then my mother who gave her my home phone number (thanks mom!). 😉
Woken from a nice morning sleep by a friendly sounding voice happy to have me on the line, I tried to shake the cobwebs as I listened to this woman explain that she had purchased a series of stamps online filled with my artwork and could she please send them to me to have them "signed by the artist". I was now wide awake and completely confused. How could someone from Australia possibly have stamps of my art? I asked her to explain:
-"I am an avid collector. I saw these stamps and fell in love with the beautiful imagery. They are Russian and I bought them online. I would be thrilled if you would agree to sign them!"
(I'm paraphrasing here, but that's more or less what she said.)
-( Whoah! Back up lady! You have what?) "How do you know these are my images?"
-" Wwell, I am looking at your website right now and see your barn owl called Ginger, your cheetah, chimpanzee, opossum…" ( she rambled off several images )
– "Hmm! Well, indeed I have drawn these animals, but I have never made stamps out of them. Where did you say you got these?"
-"Oh, I bought them online in good faith and paid good money for them too."
-"Wow, well, I know nothing about this. I've never okayed anyone to use my artwork to make stamps. I am curious to see them. Yes, please send them my way."
I asked her to email me so I would have her contact info and to solidify that this conversation really happened (and that it wasn't one of my vivid morning dreams)!
She emailed me an hour later thanking me for agreeing to sign the stamps and that she'd contact me once they were in the mail.
I wrote her back immediately asking her to please tell me where she had purchased them… a name, a website, anything! I never heard back.
A few weeks later a package arrived by registered mail. Sure enough, inside were 4 sheets of stamps filled with my artwork, beautifully printed and by all accounts appearing like actual postage stamps with the year ( two sheets said 2009, two sheets with 2010), and foreign writing and currency! Two sheets looked like they were from some Russia or an eastern block country and two sheets had what looked like Japanese text on them. I was blown away! Shocked! Impressed. ANGRY!!! Who the hell had stolen my artwork to make stamps and sell them for a profit and not tell me or mention my name anywhere?!?!? I was outraged. I had a lot of questions.
I emailed the Australian woman to let her know the stamps had arrived and indeed they were filled with my artwork. Could she PLEASE tell me where she bought them? Was she aware that these images were stolen directly from my website (THIS WEBSITE!) and did she realize this was copyright infringement and illegal?! She became very defensive saying she only bought them because she loved the beautiful images and that she was a victim here. She was not going to reveal where she bought them. She now feared she was going to be implicated in the theft. My head was spinning. The nerve of her to not reveal the manufacturer of these stolen works. What did she have to lose by telling me?
There were too many inconsistencies in her story. Why did she so desperately want me to sign these? Why wouldn't she tell me where she bought them? How on earth did she find out I was the artist?! Nowhere on the stamps is my name or contact information! She claimed that while she was waiting for the stamps to arrive she was surfing the internet and came across my website and realized I was the artist of what she'd just purchased. I'm sorry but that is like looking for a needle in a haystack! I tried for hours to locate my images by naming "barn owl", "cheetah", "aye aye"…and on perhaps the 50th page of imagery I came across one of my barn owl drawings! Something was definitely fishy about her story and now she was refusing to help me in any way. She had turned around and was accusing me of stealing stamps she'd paid "good money" for. She was afraid I would not return them to her and was going to "confiscate" them for evidence. The mind boggles! I was gobsmacked. The nerve! I simply want to locate the manufacturer of these illegal items and get to the bottom of this, and my one link (a supposed "fan" of my work) was refusing to facilitate me in this quest.
My parents spoke to their lawyer- who is not a copyright lawyer, but gave his advice to the best of his knowledge saying that unfortunately, unless the stamps were made in North America it would be pretty hard to fight it. How upsetting! So, some company on the other end of the world can steal directly from someone's website on another continent, create marketable products and profit while the artist struggles to make ends meet from her art in her own country. Where is the justice here?
How can this happen? Continue to happen …and there be no recourse?! Why does the artist get the bum wrap here? It's hard enough trying to make a go of it in this world…double that by being in the arts and working for yourself…Where is the legal backing and compensation? Of course the majority of artists don't have the kind of money to spend on lawyers to fight this sort of thing. Does this make it okay for it to occur?!
You may notice most of my images now have ©Anouk Bikkers splashed across them…a tough lesson to learn. The damage has been done. A blatant disregard for the fact that on every page I've stated All Illustrations © Anouk Bikkers…I had to take it one step further and take every drawing off and embed the © file and reload them onto my site. How else am I to let the world know of my artistic capabilities if not to advertise them on my personal website? It's so unfair.
I am hoping to get some media on this…there is a local paper who has written the story and is awaiting confirmation from my parents lawyer before they print the story. But this is a big issue and it's not going away anytime soon. The internet is the "wild west"…anything goes! Stealing is obviously okay and acceptable. I am shocked by the loose morals of consumers like this Australian who seem to think it's okay to buy stolen work and have the nerve to expect the artist to be complacent and agree to send "their" property back to them – signed no less!!
What would you do in my situation?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
If you have forgotten your username or password, simply enter the email address you used to create your BASSC profile. Your
username and instructions on how to reset your password will be emailed to you. Note that you do NOT have to reset your password
if you have simply forgotten your username.


text:
It is true- I am the kind of girl who gives people vegetables for Christmas. Last year, it was homemade pickles and chutneys. This year, I went raw. The thing is, my brother is one of the best and bravest cooks I know- and since he and his lady moved to Austin, TX last year, they have been so busy getting settled in that I thought I'd give them a leg up on some of the local farms 'round there. I found Greenling.com, which is a bit like our Dominion Harvest, but with the addition of gift baskets. I could have gotten bunches of wine, cookies and locally made snack foods, but I am the big sister, so I opted for a big old box of veggies to be delivered to their door. Greenling consistently sources from several local farms in the Austin area- and gives farm info with each order and on the webiste.
Plus, I wanted to find out what grows in Austin in the winter. A lot, as it turns out! Everything from radishes to tangerines, apples to peppers to lettuces and herbs was in that box. Plus, Al got to know to know several local farms all at once, and a great service to boot! So, if you are ever at a loss for what to give someone- go with veggies. Everybody needs 'em!


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Moosewood turns 40, offers fresh take on veg life
In the bearded, Birkenstocked '70s, the Moosewood Restaurant in upstate New York was more than a vegetarian eatery. It was the standard-bearer of a movement, iconic of a lifestyle, an ethic and an ideal. And like so many hippies from that era, Moosewood has grown up.
"The image was definitely crunchy granola back in the day," says Mary Margaret Chappell, food editor of Vegetarian Times magazine. "It has a much more sophisticated image than it did then. Because vegetarianism has a much more sophisticated image than it did then. You don't have to be part of a commune and eating tofu. We have former presidents who are vegans. The world has changed and Moosewood has changed with it."
Since it opened in 1973, the Ithaca, N.Y., restaurant has evolved from a group of 20-somethings cooking for friends into a mature business with a line of cookbooks and an international clientele. The group's 40th anniversary cookbook, "Moosewood Restaurant Favorites" (St. Martin's Press, 2013), showcases a more sophisticated cuisine that is lighter, more diverse, and attuned to concerns about gluten, dairy and potential allergens.
Quite simply, today's Moosewood is not the vegetarian menu of four decades ago. Recipes for dukkah-crusted fish and Turkish borekas extend the restaurant's reputation for introducing international concepts and lighten the load on the obligatory tofu recipes; brown rice has been joined by trendy grains such as quinoa.
"The perception of Moosewood then and as it remains is authentic, honest food," says Wynnie Stein, co-owner of Moosewood Restaurant. "We've never changed that aspect of who we are. We're not interested in tiny little portions or overdecorated plates. That's not who we are. We serve generous portions of very satisfying delicious food."
The original "Moosewood Cookbook," published in 1977, was the point of entry for many of today's older vegetarians (though not all of the restaurant's dishes were vegetarian). Penned by cookbook author Mollie Katzen, a member of the restaurant's founding group, it had hand-lettered pages and whimsical illustrations. It was the book that introduced a generation of college students to meat-free cooking. And to cooking in general.
"The first recipe I ever cooked was from Moosewood," says Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine, who was a college student in the early 1980s. "It was all part of a scene. And it really introduced cooking to so many people who were young and had never cooked and that lifestyle really spoke to them."
Though Katzen has been gone from Moosewood for more than 30 years, she may still be its best-known voice. The cover of her new cookbook, "The Heart of the Plate" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013), proudly touts her as "author of 'Moosewood Cookbook.'"
Which only speaks to the strength of the brand. Moosewood has survived an onslaught of gluten-free upstarts and celebrity vegans to emerge as a quiet stalwart of the movement it helped launch. That credibility, according to many food world observers, provides the foundation of its past -- and future -- success.
"As more people are trying to eat more and more vegetables, and reducing the amount of meat, some of the old school veg heads have found a new audience that finds their approach credible," says Joe Yonan, Washington Post food editor and author of "Eat Your Vegetables" (Ten Speed Press, 2013).
"Because it's not based in any fashion. It's just an honest approach to cooking that comes from a pretty rich background and lot of years in the kitchen," he says. "It's not a gluten-free cake pops in the slow cooker."


text:
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Iron damp.
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We are currently unable to provide direct support to Matlab users wanting help with using Cedrus hardware. This forum is the next best thing: a place for Matlab users to ask and hopefully get answers from fellow Matlab users.
If you are interested in becoming this forum's moderator (or can think of anything else we can do to help), please send me a private message.


text:
Worst-to-first finishes becoming more common
Red Sox are the 11th team in the last 24 seasons to turn the trick
The idea is that every spring there is hope for each team that a championship awaits.
Used to be.
In the first 90 years of Major League Baseball, no team had ever gone from worst to first.
Not anymore.
In the last 24 years, it has happened 11 times. Boston, which finished last in the American League East with a 69-93 record a year ago -- 26 games behind the Yankees, became the latest to accomplish the feat, clinching the division title on Friday night. The Red Sox won their 94 game in their 155th game of the season. That is a 25-win improvement over a year ago with seven games to play.
The Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins, who met in the 1991 World Series, were the first two teams to go from worst to first. Philadelphia made the move in 1993, when it claimed the National League East.
And then came the realignment of the two leagues to three divisions, providing another shot at a first-place finish in both the AL and NL, which has led to seven teams going from worst to first in the last 17 seasons: San Francisco in 1997; San Diego in 1998, Arizona in 1999 and 2007, the Chicago Cubs also in 2007, Tampa Bay in 2008, Arizona again in 2011 and this year's Red Sox.
Only twice has the worst-to-first team won a division a second year in a row -- the Cubs in 2008 and Atlanta in 1992. The Braves went on to claim a professional-sports record 14 consecutive division titles.
The in-season success hasn't carried over to the postseason. The 1991 Twins are the only one of the first 10 teams to go from worst to first to win a World Series championship. The 1991 Braves, 1998 Padres and 2008 Rays lost in the World Series, while the 1997 Giants, 1999 D-backs, 2007 Cubs and 2011 D-backs were all eliminated in the best-of-five Division Series.
Down under
The Dodgers and D-backs will take their growing rivalry to Australia in 2014, opening the Major League season with two games in Sydney on March 22-23. It will be the seventh time that Major League Baseball has opened its season outside of North America.
San Diego and Colorado were the first teams to take the opener elsewhere, when they played in Monterey, Mexico, in 1999. Texas and Toronto opened the 2001 season in Puerto Rico.
The four other foreign openers were in Tokyo: The Mets and Cubs in 2000, Yankees and Rays in 2004, Red Sox and A's in 2009 and A's and Mariners in 2012.
Does the juggled schedule -- which includes the teams returning to Arizona to complete Spring Training after playing the first two regular-season games -- hurt a team?
The Mets, Yankees, Boston and 2012 A's all won division titles.
Out of nowhere
The Dodgers are the fourth team in history -- and third since the three-division alignment -- to finish in first place in a season in which it was in last place on July 1 or later. The Dodgers began their turnaround on June 21, and had won eight of nine games by July 1. But they were still in the NL West basement on that day.
On Thursday, the Dodgers became the first team to clinch a division title this year.
The 1914 Boston Braves were in last place in the NL as late as July 18, trailing the New York Giants by 10 1/2 games. They not only won the NL by a 10 1/2-game margin, but swept the Philadelphia A's in the World Series.
The 1973 New York Mets were in last place, 6 1/2 games out, on Aug. 30. They won 21 of their final 29 reuglar-season games, but lost the World Series in seven games to Oakland. The 1995 Seattle Mariners were in last place as late as July 16. They rallied to force a one-game playoff with the Angels, which the Mariners won, 9-1, to claim the AL West title. They lost to Cleveland in the AL Championship Series.
Empty feeling
The struggles of Tampa Bay and Oakland to fill seats is well documented. Their stadiums and the locations of the franchises have been blamed for the lack of support.
But what about Cleveland? Though very much a factor in the AL Wild Card race, the Indians rank 14th in the AL in attendance at 1,468,122 going into Saturday. Only Tampa Bay has a smaller attendance in the AL. In their first 11 home games this month, the Indians reached a paid attendance of 20,000 only once.
It's not like it's been a lack of competition in the games. A three-game series during the past week with fellow Wild Card challenger Kansas City drew a combined 34,494. Two weeks ago, four games against Wild Card rival Texas resulted in a combined attendance of 49,947.
Many are blaming the economy. But just north of Cleveland, in Detroit, a city that has filed for bankruptcy, the Tigers went into Saturday with an attendance of 2,999,876 -- second best in the AL.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh last Sunday, the Pirates broke the record for most sellouts at PNC Park, with their 20th in 2013. It surpassed the old record of 19 set in 2001, the year that park opened. The Pirates added No. 21 on Friday, and expect to add two more sellouts on Saturday and Sunday for their games with Cincinnati.
• Andrew Cashner became the 19th Padre to throw a one-hitter on Monday night against Pittsburgh. The Padres, however, remain the only active franchise that hasn't had a pitcher throw a no-hitter. There have been 135 no-hitters thrown since the Padres debuted during the 1969 expansion -- including seven alone by Nolan Ryan.
• The Astros are the 12th team since 1901 to lose at least 100 games in three consecutive season. The Phillies lost at least 100 games a record five consecutive seasons (1938-42).
• The Mariners have suffered 48 walk-off losses since 2010, tops in the Major Leagues over that stretch.
Out of left field
The Cubs and White Sox are on course to finish last in the same season for just the second time since 1901 -- and the first time since 1948 -- according to stats guru Bill Arnold. Among current and former two-team metropolitan areas, Philadelphia holds the dubious distinction of most last-place finishes for both teams (the Phillies and A's) in the same season with nine.


text:
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) Trey Blue scored 15 points and three other Vermont players scored in double figures in a 70-45 win over Albany on Saturday.
Luke Apfeld, Sandro Carissimo and Candon Rusin each finished with 12 points for the Catamounts (9-5, 2-0 America East Conference), who have won three of their last four games.
Vermont never trailed against the Great Danes (12-4, 1-1), who had their three-game winning streak snapped. The Catamounts jumped out to a 24-11 lead when Carissimo knocked down a 3-pointer with 7:18 left in the first half.
Blue, who went 7 of 10 from the floor, made a jumper as time expired before halftime to give Vermont a 35-19 advantage. The Catamounts continued their surge in the second half, leading by as many as 28 points to cruise along for the victory.
Mike Black was the only Albany player to score in double digits with 14 points.


text:
Feel bad for Harrell there – though that was a terrible handoff and his fault. Not what you want for your first NFL play. Though after watching the replay, Benson probably could have done more to watch it in.
3 Responses to "Unreal"
CindyV Says:
September 30, 2012 at 5:39 pm |
I'm ready to give up football.
James Says:
September 30, 2012 at 5:46 pm |
Harrell needs to be on the street tomorrow
AZ Warrior Says:
September 30, 2012 at 9:46 pm |
Should a similar circumstance present itself again, I think that Cobb in the wildcat would be a better option.


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Code: Select all
sudo samsung-scripts wifi
Code: Select all
sudo samsung-scripts wifi
Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install nvidia-common=0.2.15.1 && sudo apt-get purge nvidia-190-modaliases nvidia-195-modaliases
Then check if the command is correctly binded to the FN key.Julian2010 wrote:It does work through the terminal command, so it's related to a wrong keybinding.
Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
compizconfig was already on my machine.voRia wrote:Then check if the command is correctly binded to the FN key.Julian2010 wrote:It does work through the terminal command, so it's related to a wrong keybinding.
- Install 'compizconfig-settings-manager':- Start it from 'System'->'Preferences'->'CompizConfig Settings Manager'.
Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
- Click on the 'Commands' plugin (the first one in the list).
- Check the command in the 'Command line 2' text field, it has to be 'sudo samsung-scripts wifi' (with no quotes).
- Go to the 'Key Bindings' tab.
- Check the assigned key for 'Run command 2', it has to be 'XF86WLAN'. If it's not, click on the currently assigned key, then on 'Grab key combination' and press Fn-F9.
Just a note (for the record):
from here you can bind the unused Fn keys (like Fn-F3) in order to launch custom commands. Just use the empty commands fields.
Why do you have brightness up and down?Julian2010 wrote: It will be command line 6 (0 is brightness-up, 1 is Brightness-down 2 is for WIFI now, 3 for bluetooth, 4 for webcam and 5 for wmswithcher.sh:for VGA display).
What about the Fn-up and down? Do they work too now? From your words I assume it is, and if so, I'll add this nvidia driver to the official repository.Julian2010 wrote: I uploaded from your archive repository the 190.53 NVIDIA driver, rebooted, and then tested the Fn/F5 action: good news, it works!
So as a whole, backlight control is a success on the N510, with the minor ( in my view) defect of the number of Fn/F5 needed strikes.
I can't figure out why it behaves this way. The script for managing the backlight on/off use the 'vbetool' command line utility which, as far as I know, should work good in any case.Julian2010 wrote: However, strangely, in the same session the Fn/F5 does not always shut down the backlight at the first strike, and at times a second Fn/F5 strike is needed
When backlight is OFF, two strikes may also be needed to get the backlight ON again.
Code: Select all
sudo samsung-scripts lcd
Well, I was thinking about rewriting the howto for using the repository in a better way, by adding specific instructions for netbooks that need some further step. But I'm really out of time lately, so it's not a thing I can do for now.Julian2010 wrote: May I suggest that all this could be summarized in a separate tutorial , specific to the N510?
So, thank you again.
My fault, I misunderstood your report.Julian2010 wrote:It seems there is a misunderstanding about brightness control , specially as regards the last line of my previous answer, which I thought was self-explanatory about the remaining issue: I only stated in that post that now the Fn/F5 works (with some trouble sometimes),which was not the case before, but that the brightness control problem remains unsolved.
In fact in that last answer I said nothing about the Fn/Up & DOWN, which means they still do not have any effect on the real brightness of the screen, although the brightness bubble is correctly displayed and the level it shows is increased/decreased by the Fn/UP or DOWN action.
Yes, I think you should try the beta driver.Julian2010 wrote:As already told, as the Fn/F5 works with the 190.53 driver, I did not even try the beta 195 NVIDIA driver you mentioned as I thought is was then useless.
Do you think I should have a go with this beta driver for the Fn /UP & DOWN...and what are my risks?
I would not like to break everything and restart from scratch if the Xserver is not pleased with that driver....
Code: Select all
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-190
Please redo the same test by using these commands instead:Julian2010 wrote:About the backlight command using the terminal, it seems it does not always work well.
When it does not work properly , I have to type Fn/F5 to have backlight ON again..and read what has happened in the terminal.
In that case, hand has not been given back to terminal, so the second typed command has not been executed, as the line does not begin by xxxx@MyNetbook:~$
It can be the other way around: backlight is on, I type the command in terminal, backlight stays ON, and I can see that the second command line (for backlight OFF) is just at the beginning of the next line, meaning that also in this cas hand has not been given back to the terminal.
Code: Select all
sudo vbetool dpms off
Code: Select all
sudo vbetool dpms on


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At least two separate fault lines have developed at the Federal Reserve over how much quantitative easing to do this year.
One debate—which is the least controversial—is how quickly the unemployment rate will start to improve, which would allow the central bank to start pulling back from its bond purchases and even begin reversing its longstanding zero interest-rate policy.
But the other, more divisive issue is over the huge growth in the Fed's balance sheet from the bond purchases. This year alone, the Fed could expand its balance sheet by more than $1 trillion. That's got some members worried that the Fed may need to pull back even before it even reaches its economic targets.
Disagreements over economic forecasts and the timing of improvement in the labor market are something the market can price in. But the investors are much more puzzled over how to deal with the split at the Fed over the balance sheet.
The issue erupted last Thursday, when the Fed released minutes from its December policy meeting. The minutes revealed that some members were worried about the growing balance sheet and thought the Fed might stop buying bonds before the end of this year. (Read More: Some Members See QE Ending This Year)


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A friend recently gave me Dead Boys, Richard Lange's 2007 collection of short stories. I've read three so far and I'm hooked. He's really good, man.
I like this from an interview with Lange over at Fiction Writers Review:
Q: You recently wrote about Samuel Beckett in an essay on literary last moments for the Mulholland Books website, saying, "[There] is something so profoundly sad, hopeless, and hatefully true in [his] meditations on loneliness, regret, and death. I believe in a universal melancholy, and Beckett has come closest to getting it down on paper." How did he influence what you did with language and tone in Angel Baby?
Lange: Beckett is one of the big influences on everything I do. You read him, and you're forever changed. The psychological bleakness he captures, the air of regret. But there are a thousand other influences at work in Angel Baby, too. Writers, musicians, filmmakers, painters. My work is an amalgam of all of them plus my own experiences, all tossed into a blender, then formed, battered, breaded, and fried. Melville, Zola, Hemingway, Carver, Mamet, Denis Johnson. Cormac McCarthy, Robert Stone, Taxi Driver, Badlands, Bonnie and Clyde, Dancer in the Dark, Tom Waits, Black Flag, Will Oldham, some guy I overhead at a Laundromat once, the desert in a certain light, the feel of the sun on the back of your neck when you're miles from water. Every time I sit down to write, all that and more is there, and I write best when I give myself up to the maelstrom and stop trying to control things, when I trust my natural rhythms. That's not to say that it's easy or that great stuff just pours out of me. I work hard to find the right word, the right cadence, the right moments in a story to spotlight, but it starts with letting go, not bearing down.
Or as Robert Duvall said in Tender Mercies: "Sing it the way you feel it."
And then there's this, from Lange's chat with George Pelecanos:
Pelecanos: One of the endorsement quotes on the back of Angel Baby includes the line, "Lange stands out as the greatest young crime writer of his generation, precisely because he doesn't write crime—he writes literature." Are the two concepts mutually exclusive?
Lange: Those are just marketing terms to me. I'm writing exactly what I want to write, and they can call it whatever they want in order to sell it. People have said I'm too literary for the crime crowd and to crime-y for the literary crowd. Everybody's taste is different, and I'm not going to chase an audience. I like what I write, and that's all that matters. I'll probably have a short, shitty career because of that attitude, but it'll damn sure be fun while it lasts.
[Photo Via: This is Los Angeles, I'm Yours; illustration by David Levine]


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Here at Catwalk Wholesale Clothing we offer a high quality wide range of wholesale dresses. Our collection includes party pieces, wholesale evening dresses, as well as casual and day dresses. We stock the latest trends and designs including flattering wrap dresses, flirty skater dresses and sexy bodycon styles. Our range includes a variety of lengths, including mini, maxi, and midi dresses. These are available in a number of trends and prints, such as animal print, wet look, florals and wholesale celebrity inspired pieces.
1 Item


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Verdict: 2010 BMW 535i Gran Turismo
Segment-buster, or Just Plain Bust? A Little of Both.
The BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo is emblematic of everything that's both right and wrong with today's automotive industry.
In a desperate search for the next big thing, product planners continue to push, pull, and bend the metal shapes draped over four wheels. In some cases, it works to great effect (see the modern crossover or the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class). In others, you get cars like the 5 GT. That's not to say the 2010 BMW 535i GT we piloted for almost 24,000 miles is an inherently bad car. But in Munich's unceasing drive to develop yet another "segment buster," it instead created a vehicle that's been mostly a bust in the U.S. (But they love it in China!)
As the 5 GT is part crossover, part station wagon, part sedan, it's hard to figure out the BMW's mission. It's nowhere near as engaging to drive as the 5 Series sedan or wagon (the latter of which it nominally replaced in the U.S. ). It doesn't offer the commanding view of the road or the interior space of the X5 or the bizarro world appeal of the X6.
Built on a variation of the 7 Series platform, it isn't even really a 5 Series in the strictest sense, and its awkward exterior proportions are a reflection of that.
But once we stopped scratching our crania over what this car is all about and started driving it, we found the 5 GT had its share of redeeming qualities. Fuel efficiency, for one. Given its 4579-pound heft, the 535i -- powered by BMW's now ubiquitous 3.0-liter turbo inline-six with its 300/300 horsepower/torque combo -- recorded an overall Motor Trend observed 20.6 mpg combined, impressive mileage. Overall range per 18.5-gallon tank hovered between 325 to 350 miles, and we got nearly 400 during a couple of longer trips.
While no Ultimate Driving Machine, the 5 GT proved a perfectly competent tourer for long or short journeys. Equipped with the optional Dynamic Handling package ($2700), the standard Drive Select System's settings ranged between the Charmin-soft Comfort setting to Sport+, which more closely resembled the road feel of most modern BMWs. We found ourselves dialing up Sport+ in most situations. One thing we would have appreciated was a way to reset the default setting.
No one felt compelled to carve canyons in the 5 GT; this is a big, bulky car, and it feels like it, especially in tight spaces like parking structures. But with the settings sharpened, it didn't roll over and play dead either when we got a hankering to get busy behind the wheel, which admittedly wasn't often. This is a car designed more for cruising comfortably in a straight line.
Mash the right pedal and the 3.0-liter moved the 5 GT's mass ably to the tune of 6.0 seconds to 60 mph onto a 14.5-second quarter mile at 94.6 mph, although it was sometimes slow to respond in freeway passing situations when spurred. Hit the brakes hard, and the 5 GT hauls down from 60 mph in 122 feet, solid for its weight class. The eight-speed automatic also performed ably for the most part, but several editors reported a lurching and jerky operation, especially when accelerating normally from a stop. We experienced similar behavior in our long-term X3 equipped with the same transmission. We had BMW techs perform an examination of the X3, and they offered no real answers.
At speed, the cacophony of road noise outside the 5 GT's cabin was limited to a dull roar inside. As is the case with BMWs in this price range, the interior was a finely crafted blend of leather and wood trim, anchored by the iDrive infotainment screen. We had a few ergonomic quibbles, mainly with the placement of the cupholders, as the climate controls can be a pain to access when the cups are held.
There's plenty of room for five adults; or fold down the rear seats and open up the big-boy hatch (there's another, sedanlike trunk opening you can access, a relatively useful two-in-one feature) and the 5 GT can swallow up 63 cubic feet worth of gear. The motorized self-sealing doors (part of the $2300 convenience package) are a nice touch.
During its stay, the 5 GT was mostly trouble-free from a maintenance standpoint, other than a pesky seat calibration fault we couldn't seem to clear and some minor nicks and bruises. We took it in for one scheduled service, which was gratis thanks to BMW's free maintenance program.
So while the 5 GT isn't going to be busting up any segments or dominating any sales charts (its three-year residual value is also eye-poppingly low), it proved itself a perfectly capable vehicle during its stay with us -- whatever you want to call it.
From the Logbook
"It just doesn't feel like a BMW. It doesn't have the tightness or rigidity of any other current BMW. It feels solid, yes, but also heavy -- in an obese kind of way." - Edward Loh
"The rolling refinement, combined with the high H-point, makes the car feel deceptively slow; you feel like you're schmoozing along the freeway until you look down at the speedo and see the needle tickling the 90-mph mark." - Angus MacKenzie
"It's more of a Honda Crosstour for rich people than a traditional BMW. The 'I'm not driving a wagon' approach is the same, as is the wonderful feeling of knowing a driver of my height won't need to move the seat forward to accommodate adult passengers in the rear seats." - Zach Gale
|Our Vehicle
|Base price
|Dynamic Handling Package ($2700), Convenience Package ($2300: garage door opener, keyless entry & starting), Sport Package ($2200: 19-in wheels,
sport steering wheel, multi-contour seats), Navigation ($1900), Premium Sound ($1400: iPod/USB adapter, Premium hi-fi), Driver Assistance Package ($1350: automatic high beams, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring), Cold Weather Package ($950: heated steering wheel and seats), Titanium Silver Metallic ($550), rearview camera ($400), satellite radio w/1-year subscription ($350)
|Price as tested
|Total mileage
|23,812 mi
|Avg fuel economy
|20.6 mpg
|Problem areas
|Maintenance cost
|Normal-wear cost
|3-year residual value
|Fuel level sensor replacement
|2010 BMW 535i Gran Turismo
|Drivetrain layout
|Front-engine, RWD
|Engine type
|Turbocharged I-6,
aluminum block/head
|DOHC, 4 valves/cyl
|181.8 cu in/2979 cc
|Compression ratio
|Power (SAE net)
|300 hp @ 5800 rpm
|Torque (SAE net)
|300 lb-ft @ 1200 rpm
|Redline 7000 rpm
|Weight to power
|15.3 lb/hp
|8-speed automatic
|Axle/final-drive ratios
|Suspension, front; rear
| Multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, adj anti-roll bar; multilink,
air springs, adj
shocks, adj anti-roll bar
|Steering ratio
|Turns lock-to-lock
|Brakes, f;r
|13.7-in vented disc; 13.6-in vented disc, ABS
|Wheels, f;r
|8.5 x 19-in; 9.5 x 19-in cast aluminum
|Tires, f;r
Goodyear Excellence
|120.7 in
|Track, f/r
|63.4/65.1 in
|Length x width x height
|196.8 x 74.8 x 61.4 in
|Turning circle
|40.0 ft
|Curb weight
|4579 lb
|Weight dist, f/r
|Seating capacity
|Headroom, f/r
|41.4/39.0 in
|Legroom, f/r
|40.6/41.8 in
|Shoulder room, f/r
|59.3/57.7 in
|Cargo volume (beh f/r)
|63.0/15.0 cu ft
|Acceleration to mph
|1.9 sec
|Passing, 45-65 mph
|Quarter mile
|14.5 sec @ 94.6 mph
|Braking, 60-0 mph
|122 ft
|Lateral acceleration
|0.87 g (avg)
|MT figure eight
|26.6 sec @ 0.64 g (avg)
|Top-gear revs @ 60 mph
|1550 rpm
|Stability/traction control
|Dual front, front side, f/r head
|Basic warranty
|4 yrs/50,000 mi
|Powertrain warranty
|4 yrs/50,000 mi
|Roadside assistance
|4 yrs/unlimited
|Fuel capacity
|18.5 gal
|EPA city/hwy econ
|19/28 mpg
|Energy cons, city/hwy
|177/120 kW-hrs/100 mi
|CO2 emissions
|0.87 lb/mi
|Recommended fuel
|Unleaded premium


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Category:1049 deaths
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Edmunds is trolling again, this time instead of the 100 Worst Cars Of All Time they're doing a new list with the 100 "ugliest cars" of all time. Again, it's a blatant traffic grab and full of stuff I disagree with.
All that being said, the guy who put it together is occasionally funny and apparently could use the traffic, so go over there and help us find the prettiest cars on their ugly car list and post them below.


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Proper hair care has lately seem a problem of effective concern. The days are gone of old when individuals needed to get by using the hair they'd, rather than were built with a choice in deciding within the color. For instance, they didn't possess a choice in choosing the thickness, …Read More »
Home / Tag Archives: love


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Truth Is, All of Higher Ed Is Broken
Over at the New America Foundation's "Higher Ed Watch" blog, Stephen Burd purports to know "the truth behind Senate Republican's boycott of the Harkin hearing." And what is that truth? Republicans are trying to "discredit an investigation that has revealed just how much damage their efforts to deregulate the industry over the past decade have caused both students and taxpayers."
Okay, it is possible that Republicans are trying to save themselves some sort of blame or embarrasment — I can't read their minds — but if so they've done a terrible job. Every time Harkin holds one of his hearings the bulk of the media coverage treats it like it has revealed shocking abuse by the entire for‐profit sector. And don't forget the damage done by the now-discredited — at least for those wonks who have followed it — GAO "secret shopper" report that was baised against for‐profits enough on its own, but Sen. Harkin abused even beyond what the GAO wrote was reasonable. So Harkin has defintiely gotten his message across, and he certainly hasn't hidden past Republican efforts to reduce regulatory burdens on for‐profit schools.
The fact remains, however, that the whole Ivory Tower — every floor and staircase — is loaded down with luxurious but crushing waste, and the crumbling foundations are being propped up with huge amounts of taxpayer dough and student debt. Not addessing that, as the boycotting Senators have stated, is what has been blaringly wrong with Harkin's crusade. (Not that I think either party is likely to do what needs to be done: phasing out federal student aid.)
So absolutely, let's stop forcing taxpayers to prop up the for‐profit part of the tower. But let's also stop pretending that that part isn't just one rotten level in a much bigger, buckling edifice.


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At first, the task seemed as difficult as trying to make a submarine fly: to begin with, the keyboard was dead (more on that in a moment) and the painfully slow installation process got stuck five times. However, I discovered that the extremely slow installation and repetitive halts were due to a corrupted DVD. So, I burned a new one and started again.
These are the two most serious issues that I found along the process:
1. Lack of an operational keyboard
At boot, regardless of which of the two installation methods provided you chose (regular or basic graphics), the keyboard will refuse to work. Of course, since you can navigate the screens with the mouse during the first steps of the process, you might not notice that your keyboards is useless.
This one is not a new problem; it bugged me also during the install of the beta. What beats me is that the dead keyboard has still made it to the RC1. I mean, it is a serious issue that should have been taken care of earlier.
Anyway, I could activate the keyboard by rebooting the distro, selecting the basic graphics install, and then hitting TAB to get some options. Once the installer got to the keyboard selection screen, I waited a couple of seconds and the keyboard was operational.
The rest of the process was a bit slow, but simple if you have installed Mandriva or Mageia before.
2. Grub installation on partition
This is simply impossible because, although there is a drop down menu, the only option that you get is the MBR, so OpenMandriva's GRUB2 will wipe out your existing GRUB.
However, OpenMandriva was finally installed and ready to run. These are the good points:
1. Faster boot and shut down times. As compared to those of Mandriva 2011, the boot and shut down are much faster.
2. Improved login screen. The login screen, which got a bit stuck on Mandriva 2011, works now perfectly and is more visually-appealing.
3. Everything worked. Sound, printer, scanner, card readers, USB drives, wired and wireless Internet connections, desktop effects, mounted partitions of other distros, YouTube video playback... I even customized the Window decorations and added the Cairo dock.
4. Fully functional GRUB2 menu. Although my previous GRUB was gone, it was replaced by one that picked up every other distro and identified it flawlessly, regardless of the fact that some of those distros used legacy GRUB.
5. Improved timeline (with SimpleWelcome launcher). For Facebook lovers, the timeline now displays updates of your friends, which you can comment and like quickly without firing up the browser. The updates become larger with a neat animation effect when you clic on them.
After balancing positive/negative points, I would say that OpenMandriva Association is sticking to its plan to deliver an original, fresh, and innovative Linux distro. Even though it might take some time until all isues are ironed out and the vision becomes a reality, it is good to know that the association is not falling for the fallacy of "let's dumb our Linux down so that Windows users adopt it." The quality of their product is pretty high.
Right now, the RC is powering my desktop and my laptop. Using the distro is a delight, too. I even wrote this entry with OpenMandriva RC1.
So, trying to make the submarine fly was difficult at first...but it was good that the submarine happened to be the Mighty Jack.
|Some submarines can fly. Tatakae, OpenMandriva!


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Canby, OR: Good Days and Bad Days at Frack Burger
Frack Burger
919 SW 4th Ave., Canby, OR 97013 (map); 503-266-7654; frackburger.com
Cooking Method: Griddled
Short Order: Depending on when you drop by, you'll get either a sterling example of the classic fast food burger or a ho-hum one.
Want Fries with That? Like the burgers, they're inconsistent from one day to the next. But the onion rings are pretty good, as long as you salt them.
Prices: 1/4-pound Single Frack, $3; Double Frack, $4; hand cut fries or onion rings, $2; milkshake, $3
Living in the Pacific Northwest, I am constantly disheartened by this region's lack of understanding when it comes to building a good griddled burger. Outside of Little Big Burger (and to a lesser extent, Five Guys), Portland's cheap burger scene ain't pretty. While our bistro burger scene is alive and well, sometimes I just crave the simple pleasures of thin, well-seared beef patties crowned with school-bus-yellow American cheese and placed between two toasted buns slathered with a "special sauce" that always seems to be some combination of mayo and ketchup. How so many so-called burger joints in Seattle and Portland can get these fundamentals wrong when the international fame of In-N-Out has practically drawn up the blueprints to do it right I will never know, but one thing I do know is this: on a good day, Frack Burger nails it.
"On a good day..." Yes, there's a catch. My two visits to Frack Burger so far have resulted in vastly disparate experiences, but I'll begin with the meal that convinced me it was perfectly fine to drive 30 miles from home for a cheeseburger twice in one week.
Frack Burger offers single ($3), double ($4), and triple-patty ($5) burgers, and the double-patty option provides the best ratio of meat to bun + toppings. Arriving at my table (one of only four in the tiny restaurant), the hand-formed patties gave off a mouthwatering aroma of charred beef, more akin to a grilled burger than a griddled one, and the first bite delivered on that promise of a crisp crust courtesy of the high-heat flat top. Each patty was cloaked in a slice of melted American cheese, reaffirming the axiom that, when it comes to cheese on ground beef, more is more.
Extra crunch came courtesy of the well-toasted bun, which was nearly black around the outer rim, the way I like it. The bottom half of the bun had a healthy smear of Frack Sauce, which to my estimation was the expected ketchup and mayo combination, heavier on the mayo. The sauce lacked the deceptive complexity of In-N-Out Spread, but it did its job. Sliced onions, iceberg lettuce, tomato, and pickles rounded out the remaining toppings, though the pickles were a (free) add-on. Altogether, that first burger reminded me very much of my attempts to recreate the In-N-Out Double-Double (minus the Animal Style) at home. That's a good thing, because my home versions taste pretty darn good, if I do say so myself (thanks, Kenji).
The hand-cut fries ($2) weren't quite as successful, but they were by no means a failure. Some were too soft, as is almost always the case with hand-cut fries, but some had a nice crispness to them, and all were well salted. Bottom line, they tasted as good as an all-around more superior version (and certainly better than what In-N-Out calls fries).
I also sampled the onion rings ($2), which, texturally, I had zero complaints with. The batter formed an audibly crunchy exterior that housed the oh-so-tender onions, but the rings weren't salted. The best time to salt anything deep-fried is straight out of the oil, rather than at your table as is expected here, so hopefully they'll fix this going forward.
I see very little reason to ever pass up the chance to try a new milkshake ($3), so I've tried three here. The Peanut Butter shake was a pass for me; far too sweet. The Rich Chocolate? A marked improvement, and one of the few chocolate shakes I've had that didn't taste like it used Hershey's Syrup as the base. But the real winner was the Fresh Banana. For those looking for banana cream pie in semi-liquid form, get thee to Frack Burger. Just remember to ask for a spoon; mine was so thick I could barely coax it up the straw.
A few minor quibbles aside, that was a mighty satisfying meal. Imagine my disappointment then, when on a visit just six days later, everything would go wrong. The burger lacked a proper sear or seasoning, so the wonderful crust I just raved about was MIA. The bun was barely toasted, resulting in a sad, mushy pillow you could chew through with a sideways glance. The fries? Even sadder: limp and burnt tasting. I felt duped.
So what's the real Frack Burger experience? Like so many places, it's a gamble. But if you're lucky enough to be there on a day when they're running on full cylinders, you're in for a real treat. Especially if you're a local craving a burger in the style of In-N-Out but don't feel like driving down to California to reach the nearest location.
Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter while you're at it!


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text: 1. Witness history saved in stone Newry has been a place of continuous human settlement since way back in 4,000BC so it's no surprise that the city has a rich and colourful heritage. Sitting handsomely among modern structures are elegant 18th-century Georgian townhouses and a lovely mid-19th-century courthouse. Down by the quays, brick canal buildings with attractive terracotta façades are still in place with their original features. A flax and spinning mill on Cornmarket has been restored, and now acts as a centre for community groups. You can find out all about the history behind Newry and its magnificent structures as you explore the city, beginning at the historic Bagenal's Castle. 2. Discover a castle Hidden for centuries and rediscovered in 1996, Bagenal's Castle has gone through a remarkable restoration process and comprises a 16th-century fortified tower and a 19th-century warehouse. Now home to the Newry Tourist Office and a museum, it's definitely worth a visit. Look out for the "Promise Stone", a black-speckled granite slab featuring a ringed Latin cross, found in the wall on Castle Street. It got its unusual name from the deals that were struck over it on market days by bakers who touched it for good luck. And not far away from the city, you'll find another famous castle – Castle Ward. This ancient construct was used as a filming location for HBO's Game of Thrones®, portraying the stronghold of House Stark, Winterfell. 3. Cathedral culture Newry's churches and cathedrals are powerhouses of history. Stand high on the grounds of St Patrick's Church, and a view of the surrounding countryside and city centre unfolds before you – this is the Home of St Patrick, where the island's patron saint once walked spreading his teachings. The church itself was founded in 1578 and was one of the first Protestant churches built on the island of Ireland. Next stop is the Cathedral of St Patrick and St Colman – the primary place of Catholic worship in the city. Known for its vibrant stained-glass windows, this cathedral was opened in 1829, and has wonderful interior marble works with Italian craftsmanship. 4. Appreciate the "navvy" Chiselled and carved to perfection, the face of the Newry Navvy sculpture looks down from his plinth on Sugar Island. The bronze statue, erected in 2011, celebrates the men who built the Newry Canal in 1742. 5. Eat cake! The Shelbourne is a Newry institution. It's where weary shoppers and lunchtime strollers converge to indulge in cake and pastry loveliness. For over 100 years, the tantalising aroma of newly baked goodies fills the air as the in-house bakers do what they do best in the kitchens. We're talking chocolate fudge cake, banoffee pie, Pavlova, tarts… the list goes on. Up on the walls hang works from local artists, as well as pieces from one of Ireland's hottest artists: Graham Knuttel. Our favourites are his portraits of Bono and Van Morrison.


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Stephen Weitzner, a Schreyer Honors College student majoring in materials science and engineering, has been honored with a Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Award.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was established in 1984 to ensure that the United States would maintain its leadership in science and technology by supporting promising college students in science and engineering. The foundation's scholarship candidates must be nominated by faculty members and must be in an engineering, science or mathematics field. Scholarship nominees are those students who have shown initiative, creativity and excellence in their chosen field.
In 2008, James Adair, professor of materials science and engineering, met Weitzner, then a high school student involved in research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Upon immediate engagement with the student, Adair offered, and Weitzner accepted, the opportunity to join Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Early in his Penn State academic career, Weitzner began working with Adair's research group.
In 2011, Weitzner was accepted in the International Internship in Materials program, where he traveled to the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, to conduct research with Karsten Albe, professor of materials science. Impressed with Weitzner's work, Albe invited him to return to Germany during the following summer as an undergraduate research technician to continue work with Albe's research group.
Both Weitzner's academic scholarship and research-intensive history demonstrated his nomination for and receipt of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Award.


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Bon Voyage!
This story appears in the April 2005 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Editor's note: Looking for our online exclusive? You can find more business travel resources in our Travel Center .
Business travel is really just a means to an end. It is a tool entrepreneurs use to increase sales, discover new technology, monitor competition or maintain relationships. But knowing and understanding the travel business enough to feel like a smart buyer requires more time and persistence than most business owners can afford to give up.
That's exactly why we created Entrepreneur's Business Travel Awards 12 years ago--to help cost-conscious entrepreneurs find the most bang for their business travel bucks. In the following pages, you won't find the results of a scientific survey. Instead, you'll find a subjective selection of travel suppliers that we believe offer the best travel products and services for entrepreneurs at the most affordable prices. So read on--you'll find it easier to make quick and confident decisions when planning your next business trip.
Best Low-fare Airline Value:
AirTran Airways
When AirTran landed its first Business Travel Award from us in 1998, it was a small upstart airline, flying older, hand-me-down jets, and considered nothing more than a nuisance by the major carriers. Now it towers over them in terms of profitability and customer satisfaction. None of its fleet of new Boeing jets is more than five years old. And this year, AirTran will probably join the ranks of "major" carriers, or those with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
Over the years, AirTran has followed a smart--but slow--path to success in the airline industry, winning over value-conscious business travelers and companies fed up with major airlines. That's because of its low fares and common-sense approach to air travel.
For example, fares rarely exceed $100 each way for tickets bought at least 21 days in advance, and walk-up fares rarely exceed $300 each way. It also offers A-Plus Rewards, a simple frequent-flier program that rewards members with a free one-way flight for every eighth one-way trip flown. A program for small businesses, the A2B Corporate Travel Program, provides member companies with easier access to upgrades, reduced restrictions and waived change fees.
AirTran sets itself apart from other low-fare carriers by offering two classes of service--coach and business class--something you won't find on airlines like JetBlue or Southwest. Best of all, standby upgrades to its business class cabin (identical to first-class cabins of major airlines) cost just $35 to $75.
To keep passengers entertained on its transcontinental runs, AirTran plans to install XM Satellite Radio onboard its fleet this year, offering passengers 100 channels of live news, sports, music and games from every seat back.
Recently, AirTran has broadened its mostly East Coast/Midwest presence with new east-west flights, connecting cities like Atlanta with Western cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. AirTran also offers same-day standby at no additional cost.
For more information, see www.airtran.com , or call (800) AIR-TRAN.
Best Major Airline Value:
Southwest Airlines
No other major airline has brought more value to more budget-conscious business travelers than Southwest. After 31 consecutive profitable years, this airline juggernaut now ranks as the largest carrier in the nation in terms of passengers carried.
Once the model that low-fare carriers aspired to, Southwest has become the model for the entire airline industry. If you're enjoying low airfares anywhere in the country, you can thank Southwest for bringing them to you, either directly or indirectly. Despite its name, Southwest is now a major carrier with influence reaching beyond its Sun Belt focus to 60 cities, including Northern cities such as Chicago; Long Island, New York; and Philadelphia. It's now also the biggest carrier in Florida and at Chicago-Midway airport, where it picked up the assets of bankrupt ATA.
For small businesses, Southwest offers SWABiz.com, a free tool that allows travelers to plan, book and purchase tickets on Southwest.com, while providing purchasing reports to the company. Rapid Rewards, its frequent-flier program, is the only major frequent-flier program that doesn't limit the number of seats available for award travel.
Southwest offers more than just low fares. It has one of the newest, all-Boeing fleets in the industry and leads in airline on-time performance. But don't expect a first-class section, an airport lounge or onboard meals. Southwest serves only peanuts and drinks, with snack packs only for long trips, encouraging customers to bring their own snacks. For reservations, call (800) I-FLY-SWA, or see www.southwest.com .
Best Hotels
Best Budget Hotel Value:
Holiday Inn Express
Holiday Inn Express is no stranger to the value-conscious business traveler who spends a lot of time on the highway. Since its launch in 1991, it has opened 1,500-plus properties worldwide (most along major roadways or near airports), offering modern and dependably clean rooms and free Express Start continental breakfasts for an average rate of just $60 to $90 per night.
Not resting on its laurels, the chain has been adding new features since 2003, from hot cinnamon rolls for breakfast to the SimplySmart shower, featuring a new proprietary Kohler shower head, thicker towels, shower curtains with curved rods (adding 25 percent more showering space) and an upgraded line of bathroom amenities. Guests also enjoy free high-speed internet access and local calls, as well as the ability to earn points in the Priority Club Rewards frequent-stay program. For reservations, call (800) HOLIDAY, or see www.hiexpress.com .
Best Midprice Hotel Value:
Hampton Inn & Suites and Hampton Inn
Hampton Inn raised the bar for midprice hotels last year with a chainwide upgrade that made its value proposition even more appealing. As a result, nearly all of Hampton Inn's competitors in the midprice space have been scrambling to match the enhancements. First, Hampton added eight new hot items, such as eggs, pancakes and biscuits, to its popular free breakfast. (New Breakfast Bags are also available for those in a hurry--great for the food-free plane trip.)
All hotel lobbies were redesigned with red-carpet welcome mats and local art on the walls. Free high-speed internet is available in the rooms, and beds are thicker and taller. A new clock radio was designed for the chain, with easy-to-follow instructions for setting the alarm.
Bathroom upgrades include massaging shower heads; larger, fluffier towels; and a curved shower curtain rod, adding more space and light in the shower. Small boardrooms are also available at most hotels for meetings.
Hampton was the first chain to offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, and it still says if you're not satisfied, the company doesn't expect you to pay for your stay at any of its 1,300 hotels worldwide. Guests also earn points in the popular Hilton HHonors frequent-stay program. For reservations, call (800) HAMPTON, or see www.hamptoninn.com .
Best Upscale Hotel Value:
W Hotels
W Hotels have taken the business travel trend toward boutique hotels and supersized it (some are as big as 700 rooms), but maintained the boutique-style quirks, charms and reasonable prices. Business travelers with a sense of style can't get enough of the W Hotel chain for its hip factor, great locations, luscious beds, contemporary design, trendy lobbies and general buzz.
The first W Hotel opened in New York City in 1998, and the chain has since grown to 20 hotels in major cities in the United States and abroad (W Hotels are now in Mexico City; Montreal; Seoul, Korea; and Sydney, Australia; two more are in the works in China).
The chain combines a keen sense of style and customer pampering with a price that won't blow your budget. Depending on the location and the season, rates range from $159 to $459. All rooms have high-speed internet access and CD players. Bathrooms stock Bliss bath products, cotton terry bathrobes and fluffy towels.
The hotel's full-service meeting facilities are bound to wow attendees. At most W Hotels, the lobby bar area--and sometimes the entire lobby--are filled with guests and locals, eager to see and be seen in such cool surroundings. Guests can earn points in the Starwood Preferred Guest program. For reservations, call (877) W-HOTELS, or see www.whotels.com .
Best Hotel Value, Chicago:
Hilton Garden Inn Chicago/Downtown/Magnificent Mile
If you're looking for a good location, lots of amenities and a great price, check out the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago/Downtown/Magnificent Mile. For rates starting at $99, travelers get free in-room high-speed internet access and extras including refrigerators, microwaves and stunning views of the Chicago skyline. There's also a free business center and meeting space as well as an indoor pool and gym. A Starbucks kiosk is in the lobby, and the Weber Grill, which is next to the hotel, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked on--you guessed it--those kettle-shaped Weber grills. Room service is also available, and you can graze in the hotel's 24-hour Pavilion Pantry. The hotel is located in the heart of the Magnificent Mile and adjacent to the River North dining and entertainment district. Call (312) 527-1989, or visit www.hiltongardenchicago.com .
Best Hotel Value, New York City:
Affinia Dumont
The Affinia Dumont hotel, located just south of Midtown on East 34th Street (between Third and Lexington), could be the best-kept hotel secret in Manhattan--and a real find for the health-conscious. Built in 1986 and renovated in 2003, its spacious rooms are actually suites, which include kitchenettes; big, fluffy beds; 27-inch TVs; oversized desks with Aeron chairs; free high-speed internet access; and two-line phones. All rooms are large enough to accommodate exercise equipment that can be delivered to your room free of charge, or you can choose to work out in the hotel's Oasis Day Spa.
Fitness freaks can check in to the hotel's one-bedroom fitness suite, featuring cardio equipment, free weights and a sauna. Standard room rates range from $219 to $340 per night, with the lowest rates guaranteed at www.affinia.com , or call (212) 481-7600.
Best Hotel Value, San Francisco:
Courtyard by Marriott Downtown
If an overpriced hotel on Nob Hill is more than you need to take care of business in San Francisco, this hotel is for you. Budget-conscious business travelers have a long-standing love affair with Courtyard by Marriott. And now that the chain has snatched up most of the good suburban locations, it's moving into expensive downtown areas like San Francisco, offering many full-service amenities at a great price.
It's one of the newest hotels in town, so you'll find meeting space, a lobby bar with a big-screen TV, an indoor pool and spa, and free high-speed internet in all 405 guest rooms. Another plus is the hotel's location south of Market Street--a five-minute walk from the Moscone Convention Center or the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. As at many Courtyards, there's a free wine and cheese reception in the lobby each evening. Rates run in the $129 to $239 range. Guests also earn points in the Marriott Rewards frequent-stay program. Call (415) 947-0700, or visit www.marriott.com .
Car Rental and Online Deals
Best Site for Hotel/Car Rental Rate Deals:
For business travelers on a budget, location and price are the main factors in choosing a hotel. As long as the hotel is a good value and it's near the place you're doing business, it's probably fine. The same goes for rental cars--it doesn't matter which rental car company you choose as long as you get an on-airport location, a clean car and a decent price.
That's why lots of travelers have jumped at Priceline.com's model of allowing users to name their own prices for an unknown hotel or rental car company. The uncertainty at the time of booking is a small price to pay for the savings you'll pocket (up to 40 percent or more off published hotel rates, 25 percent off rental car rates) with a successful bid. Currently, more than 20,000 hotels around the world are listed on Priceline.com. It offers deals on cars from the five biggest names in the rental car business and guarantees it will find you the best rental car rate, pledging to refund 100 percent of the difference if you find a lower rate anywhere else. Find out more at www.priceline.com .
Best Car Rental Value:
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
For the third consecutive year, Enterprise gets the prize for its no-nonsense approach to car rentals. Enterprise is the Wal-Mart of car rentals (with more than 6,000 locations), so expect low prices but few frills. You won't get frequent-flier miles and the other perks that bump up rates at other rental car companies. Enterprise's rates are about 20 percent less than those of its competitors, but you can still rely on clean cars, helpful employees and plenty of on-airport locations. Frequent renters can get even lower rates when signing up for its Corporate Class program. And for five out of the last six years, the company has ranked highest in the J.D. Power and Associates Rental Car Satisfaction Study. For more information, see www.enterprise.com .
Best Site for Airfare Deals:
One of the biggest drawbacks to shopping for airfare deals on websites like Expedia or Orbitz is that they don't list all airline fares available. Enter SideStep, a free program you download onto your PC that searches multiple travel booking sites (including online agencies; consolidators; and airline, hotel and rental car company sites) for the lowest fares. It presents all fares side by side to make them easy to compare.
While you can't book trips with SideStep, it provides links to the websites where the best deals are posted. Recently, SideStep added the ability to search for fares from a web-based platform--good news for Mac users who couldn't use the software program designed for PCs. For more information, see www.sidestep.com .
Best Site for Travel Advice:
When it comes to covering the travel business, there's no better site than USAToday.com/travel. With a full staff of reporters and freelancers covering the travel beat, business travelers are sure to find every shred of news, advice or opinion that can keep them in the loop and improve their lives on the road. The day's top travel stories are listed on the main page, and from there, you'll find links to other articles and columns that apply to your travel habits. For example, if you're a frequent flier, check out the daily air travel blog, "Today in the Sky." Frequent hotel guests should tune in to the weekly "Hotel Hotsheet." There's also a weekly "Business Traveler" column that offers advice or takes on an issue of importance to road warriors. Check it out at www.usatoday.com/travel .
Travel Must-Haves
When it comes to luggage trends, color is the new black. Hartmann's Mobile Traveler from the new Sky Luxe collection (in dazzling polka dot, solid and checkerboard patterns) is a cinch to spot on the luggage carousel. These wheeled bags, covered in a durable wool/nylon blend, come in 22-inch (the legal limit for carry-ons) and 24-inch sizes. Durable in-line skate wheels and a sturdy, push-button locking handle system make towing your bag through the airport easy. Cost: $775 for a 22-inch; $925 for a 24-inch.
Forget the briefcase. If you want to be on fashion's cutting edge, it's time to switch to a messenger bag. The Commute bag (available in a rainbow of colors) combines the durability and look of a messenger bag with business travel features like a protective pouch for laptops; a padded handle; quick-access exterior pockets; a a padded, rubberized bottom; a padded back; and a quick-adjust shoulder strap. Cost: $100, or $110 for an extra-large version that fits 15-inch widescreen PCs.
Travel Gadgets
You'll create 80 percent more packing space when you put bulky items like sweaters in the Eagle Pack-It Compressor Set , which sells for $19.85. Just place your clothes in these special triple-laminated plastic bags, then roll the air out through the one-way valve, flattening the bag. It's also a smart way to keep dirty or wet clothing separated from the other contents of your suitcase, and the clear plastic makes them easy to inspect at the airport. The set includes two reusable bags, one medium and one large.
At $24.95, Bucky Shades are the Cadillac of eyeshades, and a must-have for any traveler who has suffered through a sleepless red-eye flight. A lightweight eye mask with a unique sculpted interior padding that cradles your eyes is covered in 100 percent light-blocking blackout cloth, providing complete darkness for better sleep. An adjustable elastic strap accommodates all head sizes, and a handy, built-in pouch stores reusable earplugs. Sweet dreams!
Cell Phones
No mobile warrior would be caught working anywhere without a cell phone. It's your lifeline, your constant connection to your business. It can be daunting to wade through the many phone candidates, but the wide variety available means you can find one that's right for you. Keep in mind that pricing can vary depending on the plan you get.
Overseas travelers should check into a world phone like the $230 LG L1400. Like most phones these days, it has a camera. It also works on the GSM/GPRS network, so you're covered in the United States and Europe.
Samsung's a795 is an update to its previous world phone, the a790. It covers CDMA and GSM networks, and features advanced voice recognition and 64MB of internal memory. A clamshell design makes it stylish as well as functional. The price had not been set at press time. The $550 Siemens SX66 is a Pocket PC phone with a host of extras, like Wi-Fi, infrared, Bluetooth and USB. This all comes in a familiar, compact PDA-style form, but with the bonus of a nifty, slide-out keyboard. It's a good example of how the line between phone and PDA continues to blur.--Amanda C. Kooser
You don't always have to haul around a laptop to have mobile computing power. Sometimes a PDA will do just fine. If you like to keep your PDA and cell phone separate, there are some PDAs that'll serve you well. For example, Palm smartphone lovers will be attracted to the Palm-One Treo 650. For $449, it has all the bells and whistles, including a camera, keyboard, Bluetooth and all the Palm OS organizer functions. It even has an MP3 player to help you relax while you're busy with mobile computing.
Hewlett-Packard iPAQ hx4705 Pocket PC has the specs you would have seen in a well-stocked laptop a few years ago. For $650, it features 64MB SDRAM, a 624 MHz Intel processor and integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to boot.
Also in the Palm camp is a hot device for early adopters and entrepreneurs who don't mind paying for the cool factor. It doesn't get more portable than the $249 Fossil Wrist PDA. But you will make compromises. It has just 8MB of memory and a small black-and-white screen, but it lets you access all the main Palm features, like the memo pad and datebook.--A.C.K.
When you're on the road, it's important to have your computing power to go. The IBM ThinkPad T43 starts at about $1,499 and comes stocked with a Centrino processor. Centrino, with its integrated Wi-Fi, is becoming the standard in laptops for business travelers. At 4.5 pounds, it won't hurt to cart it around the airport. A built-in fingerprint reader is available for extra security.
When it comes to being ultraportable, the 3.1-pound Sony VAIO T-series notebooks fit right in. They come with CD-RW/DVD drives and 10.6-inch widescreen displays. Integrated Wi-Fi also comes along for the ride. The T-series starts at about $2,000. These super-light models are pricier than heavier options, but you may find the cost trade-off and smaller screen worthwhile.
Budget buyers should keep an eye out for a model like the Toshiba Tecra A4. Starting at $1,229, you get an Intel Centrino mobile processor, a 15.4-inch widescreen display, a 40GB hard drive and Windows XP Professional. The whole package weighs about 6.2 pounds--not a feather, but good bang for your buck.--A.C.K.
Chris McGinnis is Entrepreneur's "Biz Travel" columnist.