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Genetic Link Between Pancreatitis and Alcohol Consumption
A new study published online in Nature Genetics reveals a genetic link between chronic pancreatitis and alcohol consumption. McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine affiliated faculty member David Whitcomb, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, cell biology and physiology, and human genetics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, along with other researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and more than 25 other health centers across the United States found a genetic variant on chromosome X near the claudin-2 gene (CLDN2) that predicts which men who are heavy drinkers are at high risk of developing chronic pancreatitis.
This finding enables doctors to identify people with early signs of pancreatitis or an attack of acute pancreatitis who are at very high risk for progressing to chronic pancreatitis, allowing them to take preventative action to slow the development of the disease, and give the pancreas a chance to heal. Once an individual develops pancreatitis it takes several years for the pancreas to deteriorate.
"The discovery that chronic pancreatitis has a genetic basis solves a major mystery about why some people develop chronic pancreatitis and others do not," said Dr. Whitcomb, lead author of the report. "We also knew there was an unexpected higher risk of men developing pancreatitis with alcohol consumption, but until now we weren't sure why. Our discovery of this new genetic variant on chromosome X helps explain this mystery as well."
Over 100,000 Americans suffer from chronic pancreatitis, a progressive inflammatory disease characterized by abdominal pain and permanent damage to the pancreas. Most studies report excessive alcohol consumption as the major risk factor for adult-onset chronic pancreatitis. However, according to Dr. Whitcomb, who also is chief of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, only 3 percent of individuals who are alcoholics develop chronic pancreatitis, suggesting a pancreas-specific risk factor.
The study was conducted over 10 years and involved more than 2,000 patients, all of whom underwent DNA testing in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers discovered that there was a common DNA variant on the X chromosome that is present in 26 percent of men without pancreatitis, but jumps to nearly 50 percent of men diagnosed with alcoholic pancreatitis. Women have two X chromosomes, so most women with the high-risk DNA variant on one X chromosome appear to be protected from alcoholic chronic pancreatitis by the other X chromosome, if it is normal. Men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, so if they inherit a high-risk X chromosome, there is no protection.
The factor on chromosome X does not appear to cause pancreatitis, but if pancreatic injury occurs for any reason such as gallstone pancreatitis or abdominal trauma, it is more likely that the person will develop chronic pancreatitis – especially if they also drink alcohol.
"This information is important because the high-risk chromosome can be identified in patients who drink and have early signs of pancreatic injury," said Dhiraj Yadav, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at Pitt, and a co-investigator on the study. "If pancreatic injury and acute pancreatitis occur, patients must stop drinking immediately."
Nationally, 16 percent of men drink alcohol at levels defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism as high risk. Twenty-six percent of these men who drink heavily are at high risk of chronic pancreatitis following pancreas injury. Only 10 percent of women drink alcohol at dangerous levels, and of these only 6 percent have the X chromosome variant on both X chromosomes.
"Previous discoveries show that chronic pancreatitis without alcohol involvement has a strong genetic link. This helps to eliminate the previous stigma that patients with chronic pancreatitis must also be heavy drinkers," added Dr. Whitcomb. "This study proves that there is a genetic element to the disease."
Read more…
UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Media Relations News Release
Abstract (Common genetic variants in the CLDN2 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci alter risk for alcohol-related and sporadic pancreatitis. David Whitcomb, et al. Nature Genetics; published online 11 November 2012.)


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"Boy, Kia sure has come a long way!" - so starts just about every lazy Kia review you read today. Well, what were they like before their quality revolution?
MotorWeek tested a '95 Kia Sephia back when it was new. Judging by reviews of the current Kia Cadenza or Optima or whatever, you'd guess that this car would be such a steaming pile of shit that even John Davis would hate it.
Turns out the car doesn't seem to fall terribly below average in any areas. It's a little light on the highway and in hard cornering (doesn't sound so bad to me), but otherwise it's reportedly a solid-feeling 2,586 lbs car.
That said, John Davis can't say how well the car will hold up. Have any of y'all had Sephias? How are they doing now?
MotorWeek Theater is our showcase of some of our favorite classic reviews from public television's finest motoring program. How does this video only have 133 views on YouTube? It's an important piece of the imported car narrative in the American automotive market!
Vid thanks to Test Drive Junkie/Bajabusta!

subset: commoncrawl


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Hanukkah starts this year on December 11th so I wanted to get a jump on the festivities by sending something fun and personal to my niece Miriam and nephew Daniel for their celebrations. I decided to make these monogramed pouches and fill them with everything they will need to play the dreidel game: a dreidel, some chocolate coins (aka gelt), and even a little printout with a copy of the rules.
To make 4 pouches:
- 1/4 yard of Global Weave Loose Weave Linen in Natural (Please note: this fabric is no longer available, but you can choose from a selection of other linen fabrics here.)
- Sashiko Thread in six colors. I used: Aqua, Cobalt, Cyan, Yellow, Orchid, and Off White.
- 100% cotton thread in color 3260 (to match the linen)
- A Reverse Alphabet, available for free download here, printed out
- Tracing paper
- A water soluble fabric marker
- An iron on transfer pencil
For the dreidel game:
- Four dreidels. I bought mine at E.A.T. in New York City, but you can find cute ones online here.
- Our Dreidel Game Rules printout, available for free download here, printed and cut out.
- Four Bags of Hanukkah gelt (chocolate gold coins), available at candy stores, grocery stores or online here.
Cut the linen into four pieces, 10-inches wide by 6-inches tall.
Embroidering the Initial
Trace the initial from the reverse alphabet you want to use onto the tracing paper with your iron on pencil.
With the water soluble pen mark the area 3-inches from the bottom, and 2 1/2-inches from the right edge.
Place the traced initial traced side down so that it's outer corner lines up with the mark.
Iron on the tracing paper in this position. Don't move the tracing paper as you iron. When you remove the tracing paper the initial will be marked on the linen. (If you need more help with ironing on the initial please check out the Simple Embroidered Stockings post here.)
Using the red sashiko thread, embroider the perimeter of the initial with a small back stitch.
Fill in the initial using a satin stitch.
If you need help with backstitch or satin stitch please check out our basic embroidery tutorial here.
Embroidering the Background
Make five to six horizontal markings across the width of the linen with the water soluble marker. Place them randomly, 1 1/2-inches to 1/4-inches apart from one another.
Embroider over each of these lines (but not across the initial). For each line use a different embroidery stitch and a different sashiko thread color.
I used many variations of running stitch, cross stitch, and chain stitch. If you want more advanced embroidery stitch inspiration check out my Two Color Embroidery Tutorial.
Press the sides and bottom of the linen 1/2-inch over to the wrong side of the fabric.
Attaching the Drawstring
Now iron the top down 1/2-inch, to the wrong side of the linen. Sew this fold down with a running stitch using one of the sashiko threads. This fold is the drawstring channel.
Cut an 18-inch length from three different colors of sashiko thread. Braid these strands and tie one of the ends into a knot. Thread all three pieces of the untied end into a blunt needlepoint needle and pull the braided thread through the top drawstring channel.
Tie the remaining loose end of the braided threads.
Fold and press the linen in half like a book. Make sure all the threads from the raw edges are all encased on the inside of the pouch and then pin it shut.
Using the linen colored sewing thread, sew the bottom and side of the pouch shut with a slip stitch as shown above: Take a small stitch through the fold of one side of the seam,
and then take a small stitch though the opposite side's fold.
Stitch the bottom and the sides up like this. The seam should be fairly invisible.
Fill each bag with a copy of the dreidel game rules, some gelt, and a dreidel and then let the games begin!
Happy Hanukkah! –Molly


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Items where Author is "Williams, S.C.R."
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Tsermentseli, S., Dell'Acqua, F., Landau, S., Williams, S.C.R., Jones, D.K., Leigh, P.N., Catani, M. and Goldstein, L.H. (2012) Frontal white matter connections and cognitive change in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a DTI-tractography study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 83 (10). e1. ISSN 0022-3050 (Print), 1468-330X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp-2012-303538.37)


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As I've been popping back and forth from Pinterest to Facebook to Twitter viewing them all, I thought it might be helpful to put the best content marketing infographics all in one place. At the same time, I was wondering how long a blog post could actually get (this one sets my personal record for scrolling).
I hope you find this collection of infographics helpful…and, if you have other ones to add, please let me know in the comments.
The History of Content Marketing
Like this infographic? Get more
content marketing information from the
Content Marketing Institute.
22 Ways to Create Compelling Content
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.
The Anatomy of Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Explosion
Content Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising
Storytelling vs. Corporate Speak
The Hoffman Agency is a public relations firm that emphasizes storytelling in business communication.


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Compare cheap flights from Cairns to Suva
Compare and book cheap flights from Cairns (CNS) to Suva (SUV) in Fiji with Skiddoo. Use the Skiddoo flight explorer to find the cheapest time to fly to Suva (SUV) from Cairns on a range of leading airlines. Save with our exclusive Cairns to Suva flight deals online today.
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Flights to Suva
Nausori International Airport provides services mainly to the domestic market, connecting Suva with Nadi International Airport, and provides service to smaller international aircraft servicing Brisbane and Sydney routes. Air Pacific runs regular flights to and from Nadi. There are also direct flights to Auckland. Other airlines that have scheduled flights to Suva are Qantas Airways, Virgin Australia Airlines and Fiji Airways.
Things to Do and Places to See in Suva
When in Suva make sure that you see a local rugby game. The city is known for good rugby players. You can also go hiking, swimming and fling off the rope swing at Colo-i-Suva Forest Reserve. You can also try watching current Bollywood and Hollywood blockbusters in Suva's local cinema, the Damodar. Go visit the city's well known landmark, the Suva City Library or better known as the Carnegie Library. The Fiji Museum is another place to see as it has the most extensive collection of artifacts of. While in Suva you might as well have a nice and leisurely walk at the Takashi Suzuki Garden or the Apted Park where you will enjoy viewing the sunrise and sunset. Having a simple vacation that will relax you from your toxic work should not be expensive.
Skiddoo is here to offer you low priced flight options and schedules. Choose a flight now and have that much needed vacation.
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Provided by: xymon_4.3.0~beta2.dfsg-9.1_amd64
hobbitd_filestore - hobbitd worker module for storing Xymon data
hobbitd_channel --channel=status hobbitd_filestore --status [options] hobbitd_channel --channel=data hobbitd_filestore --data [options] hobbitd_channel --channel=notes hobbitd_filestore --notes [options] hobbitd_channel --channel=enadis hobbitd_filestore --enadis [options]
hobbitd_filestore is a worker module for hobbitd, and as such it is normally run via the hobbitd_channel(8) program. It receives hobbitd messages from a hobbitd channel via stdin, and stores these in the filesystem in a manner that is compatible with the Big Brother daemon, bbd. This program can be started multiple times, if you want to store messages for more than one channel.
--status Incoming messages are "status" messages, they will be stored in the $BBLOGS/ directory. If you are using xymon(7) throughout your Xymon server, you will not need to run this module to save status messages, unless you have a third-party add- on that reads the status-logs directly. This module is NOT needed to get trend graphs, you should run the hobbitd_rrd(8) module instead. --data Incoming messages are "data" messages, they will be stored in the $BBDATA directory. This module is not needed, unless you have a third-party module that processes the data-files. This module is NOT needed to get trend graphs, you should run the hobbitd_rrd(8) module instead. --notes Incoming messages are "notes" messages, they will be stored in the $BBNOTES directory. This modules is only needed if you want to allow people to remotely update the notes-files available on the Xymon webpages. --enadis Incoming messages are enable/disable messages, they will update files in the $BBDISABLED directory. This is only needed if you have third-party add-ons that use these files. --dir=DIRECTORY Overrides the default output directory. --html Used together with "--status". Tells hobbitd_filestore to also save an HTML version of the status-log. Should not be used unless you must run with "BBLOGSTATUS=static". --htmldir=DIRECTORY The directory where HTML-versions of the status logs are stored. Default: $BBHTML --htmlext=.EXT Set the filename extension for generated HTML files. By default, HTML files are saved with a ".html" extension. --multigraphs=TEST1[,TEST2] This causes hobbitd_filestore to generate HTML status pages with links to service graphs that are split up into multiple images, with at most 5 graphs per image. If not specified, only the "disk" status is split up this way. --only=test[,test,test] Save status messages only for the listed set of tests. This can be useful if you have an external script that needs to parse some of the status logs, but you do not want to save all status logs. --debug Enable debugging output.
This module does not rely on any configuration files.
hobbitd_channel(8), hobbitd_rrd(8), hobbitd(8), xymon(7)


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Fisher SMF will be in Chicago this week at University of Illinois-Chicago and at the University of Chicago for a couple of events. The details are listed below.
Thursday, October 4: 3:00PM-7:00PM
University of Illinois-Chicago (at the UIC Forum)
Chicago Graduate and Professional School Fair
725 West Roosevelt Rd
Chicago IL 60607
Friday, October 5: 12:00PM-4:00PM
University of Chicago
Graduate and Professional School Fair
Ida Noyes Hall, Cloister Club
1212 E 59th St
Chicago, IL 60637
If you're in the area, please stop by. We'd love to chat with you about your interest in the program!


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Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
A coin struck using the same or similar equipment, but not with official sanction or at a later date. For example, a collector may make a replica of a Mercury dime. Replicas are illegal to sell in the United States unless "replica," "facsimile," or "copy" are printed on them.


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Next Monday (November 19 at 7:30 p.m.) the Olmos Ensemble presents Warren Jones, piano, and Andrew Garland, baritone, with Mark Ackerman, oboe, Sharon Kuster, bassoon, and Martha Long, flute. There has been a lot of wonderful Ravel lately and this concert is no exception. But, for me, the piece I'm looking forward to is by Vaughan Williams. Can't get enough of VW!
The program is:
Sonatina, for oboe and piano by Malcolm Arnold
Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée by Maurice Ravel
Trio, for flute, bassoon, & piano by Carl Maria von Weber
Wine, soft drinks and snacks afterward.
First Unitarian Universalist Church
Suggested donation, $10 Adults, $5 Students and Seniors
For more information call 210-384-0929
Jack Fishman
Email: email@example.com
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog


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- Prayer and Worship
- Beliefs and Teachings
- Issues and Action
- Media
- Bible
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
WASHINGTON—The Catechism of the Catholic Church is now available at the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in a format identical to an e-book. The new version, currently only available in English, can be found at www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/index.cfm.
Authorized by Pope John Paul II in 1986, the Catechism of the Catholic Church was first published in 1992, with a revised second edition published in 2000. Prior to 1992, the Church had been using a universal catechism approved by the Council of Trent in 1566.
Since its release in 1992, the Catechism of the Catholic Church has become a bestseller in the Church, with the USCCB alone having sold more than 988,000 print copies of the second edition. Late in 2011, the USCCB released the e-book edition, which has sold more than 7,100 copies through Amazon, iTunes and the USCCB online bookstore.
"Providing the Catechism in this particular electronic format will make this foundational resource even more accessible to people," explained Bishop John Wester, chair of the USCCB Communications Committee. "It is free to anyone who has access to the Internet."
Available through any Internet browser, the Catechism file displays and functions as an e-book. Users can bookmark or highlight areas, see footnotes in a "light box" without leaving the original page, and search within the Catechism, including by paragraph number.
Until the second half of the twentieth century, for millions of Catholics in the United States, the word "catechism" meant the Baltimore Catechism, which originated at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884 when the bishops of the United States decided to publish a national catechism. The Baltimore Catechism contained 421 questions and answers in 37 chapters and gave unity to the teaching and understanding of the faith for millions of American Catholics. Its impact was felt right up to the dawn of the Second Vatican Council in 1962.
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church is proving to be as compelling if not more, of an influence on the faithful," said Bishop David Ricken, Chair of the USCCB Evangelization and Catechesis Committee. "Our ability to use the new technologies means that many more millions will be able to find the Catholic Church's teachings on their tablets, their smartphones, and their laptops."
"The USCCB is wisely using technology to serve their constituents and they are raising the bar for engaging users," said Dave Gallerizzo, CEO of Fig Leaf Software, the interactive Web agency that partnered with the USCCB to create the e-book. "There might be some e-book readers that have a few of these features, but I doubt you can find one that offers all of these features in a single application."
The new e-book version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church resides on the USCCB's flagship website, www.usccb.org. The site receives more than two million visitors per month, with approximately two trillion bytes of data delivered. In addition to reading content, visitors to the site can share what they find with their social media networks, receive an RSS feed of the daily readings, and view videos of reflections on the daily Scripture readings.
About the new e-book version of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Most browser-based e-book readers:
The new e-book version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church has all those features, plus new custom features that most e-book readers don't offer. The new USCCB e-book reader has:
Keywords: Catechism of the Catholic Church, e-book, browser, catechism, USCCB, website, download, iPad, Bishop John Wester, USCCB Communications Committee, Bishop David Ricken, Evangelization and Catechesis
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On December 8th, 2011, MedShare's New York Regional Council hosted a dinner at The University Club to welcome MedShare to New York. Our CEO and President Meridith Rentz gave an inspiring speech which we wanted to share.
"As Seth [Zachary, MedShare Trustee] shared, I have 3 little boys…..they were certainly a key motivation for me to become a part of this extraordinary MedShare team. I am delighted and honored to be here this evening to share more about the important work MedShare does every day.
Are there any other mothers in the room? What about fathers? Daughters? Sons? Brothers? Sisters? Okay – I think we've covered just about everyone. Close your eyes please – just for a moment. Imagine, if you will, being a pregnant mother at term and going to your local hospital only to find out that in order to deliver your baby you must go to the store and purchase the supplies you need in order to ensure a safe and successful delivery – but you have no money to do so. This is a common occurrence at a hospital in Uganda. Now, imagine delivering a premature baby only to find out the hospital doesn't have an incubator and so your child will be transported in a shoe box by a motorcycle ambulance to another hospital in order to get the care she needs. This happens every day in Haiti. Now imagine your brother being in surgery and the anesthesia machine failing. This happened in Colombia. Fathers, imagine losing your son because the hospital at which he was born didn't have something as simple as this, an endotracheal tube with infant resuscitation mask. This happened in Niger.
These are difficult stories to hear. This past September, when the special envoy from the office of the First Lady of Haiti visited us at MedShare, she told us about the motorcycle transport of low birth weight infants. After she finished speaking, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Those stories sit heavy, so heavy on your heart. If these situations were to occur in the United States, the outrage would be instantaneous and enormous. Lawyers would be called. Politicians would be stirred up. Op-eds would be written. Protests staged. Unfortunately, – and perhaps even outrageously – this is the status quo in many developing countries. A hospital or clinic may have the most talented, the most committed doctors and nurses in the world……but if they don't have the critical supplies and equipment, there is often little they can do to save the lives of those patients that depend on them.
While we certainly have some challenges with our health system here in the United States, we are typically not lacking for supplies. In fact, as was shared in the videos, the US health system throws away millions of tons of medical waste per year, much of which is useful surplus created as a result of procedural excess and our regulatory environment. Surely we're capable of finding a way to recover these items and get them into the hands of talented medical professionals caring for the mother in Uganda, the children in Haiti and Niger, and the brothers and sisters in Colombia.
Well, I have good news. In this case, we don't need a protest; we don't need op-eds; we don't require the help of politicians. You see – MedShare is that bridge between our U.S. surplus and the tremendous need across the developing world. Here is the same endotracheal tube with infant resuscitation mask that the doctor in Niger needed to save a child's life. It would have gone to a landfill if MedShare didn't have the systems in place to recover it. We have hundreds of these items in our inventory right now and they are being ordered every day by the recipients we serve. We are taking something that is being discarded right here, every day by New York hospitals and getting it to a place where it can mean the difference between life and death.
The MedShare concept is simple – we take something that is no longer useful in one context and get it to another where it is. A place where it can improve healthcare and save lives. We do this in a way that values the dignity of the recipients and actually allows them to choose box by box exactly what they need. This high quality, responsible model that was developed carefully and thoughtfully by co-founders A.B. Short and Bob Freeman 13 years ago has been lauded through national studies by the Catholic Health Association and others.
Simple, yet powerful. Simple, and yet it takes a lot to make this happen. In order to create that bridge between surplus and need, MedShare needs hospital partners; we need suppliers and manufacturers; we need thousands of volunteers; and MedShare needs financial support. We need help from you.
In our early days, we recognized that there was nothing unique about the medical surplus in Atlanta, and our Board committed to developing an organization that – when appropriate – could be replicated and expanded into other communities. As Seth mentioned, the New York Tri-State area has more hospitals than any other market in the United States. This need was confirmed as part of a national pro bono expansion study conducted for MedShare by Accenture. So MedShare has developed a world-class, proven model and New York has the largest potential medical surplus in the U.S. that is not being systematically and comprehensively gathered. Any way you look at that equation, it points to the fact that hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved if MedShare joins this New York community and works in partnership with all you and many others.
In fact, even before we have had a chance to set up a facility here, we have been overwhelmed by the support of our tremendous New York Council, led by the extraordinarily committed Sandy Tytel. We were extremely honored to be selected by the North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the nation, to handle their surplus supply and equipment donations. Already, we have 80 collection sites throughout the system. North Shore LIJ "champions" have been to Atlanta for training, and have taken that knowledge back to train their staff to utilize this program. We recently processed a donation of 400 late model hospital beds from North Shore LIJ. Thanks to the The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation's sponsorship, 150 of those beds have already been shipped to Accra, Ghana, to benefit needy hospitals there. We have another shipment planned to benefit a series of clinics in Peru scheduled for January. We have also received donations of IV pumps and poles from North Shore and are in the process of handling donations of baby incubators, anesthesia machines, and other useful equipment. Soon, this equipment and supplies will be in the hands of doctors and nurses across Africa and South America and will quite literally allow them to save lives.
MedShare has worked with Dennis Lynch and Sandy Tytel to send a container to Sunyani, Ghana, to benefit the charity health care facilities operated by the Catholic Church. Our MedShare team has worked with New York Drs. Julius Garvey and Allan Abramson to send a container to Jamaica and we are engaged in a project with North Shore LIJ employees from Sierra Leone to send a container there. With the support of excellent product manufacturers and distributors like Henry Schein, Covidien and Kimberly-Clark, we are able to supplement our recovered supplies with newly manufactured product.
While substantial, these results garnered over the past 6 months barely scratch the surface of MedShare's potential community impact in New York. As we grow our physical presence in this market and establish a distribution center, we will be able to equip local medical teams, send hundreds of containers of medical supplies, and divert millions of cubic feet of medical surplus from area landfills. We will also create thousands of volunteer and civic engagement opportunities to mobilize the residents of the New York Tri-State Region in meaningful, high impact service. The potential is enormous.
Just like with any new venture in the for-profit world, before we can proceed with this next exciting phase in the New York market, we must attract seed capital and develop the key relationships required to support the MedShare model. We need introductions to hospitals, potential philanthropic donors, and volunteer, religious and civic groups who might want to become involved in MedShare's mission.
I began my remarks by talking about real, specific stories that members of the MedShare team have experienced over the years. Unfortunately, those stories are not the exception to the norm – rather, the need in developing countries is truly exponential. There are 7 billion people living in the world today and billions of them live in poverty on less than $2 per day. Simply put, this world of ours needs more MedShare. This world – more specifically, mothers in Uganda, children in Haiti and Colombia, families in Niger, and countless others – they need the support of this New York community.
As you step up to this challenge, you have our commitment that MedShare will continue to be the bridge between New York medical surplus and tremendous need in developing countries. We will work hand-in-hand with the New York community, to save lives around the world, and keep surplus from ending up in your area landfills. On behalf of the millions of women, men and children whose lives have already been improved by MedShare supplies and equipment, THANK YOU for all you have done and all that I know you will do to help us to fulfill our mission of bridging the gap between surplus and need."
This was part of our December 2011 newsletter. To view the rest – including stories on our expansion into NY and FL and our new videos – click here.


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The small intestine is basically a long tube through which digested food passes.
Intussusception is a common cause of bowel obstruction in children. It occurs when a segment of small bowel "telescopes" on itself, thus causing swelling, obstruction, and eventually intestinal gangrene.
Intussusception is suspected if the child has experienced sudden, severe abdominal pain, blood and mucous in the stool, and vomiting. Abdominal X-rays are usually taken to confirm the diagnosis. A barium enema may be used for diagnosis. Barium, a heavy, radio-opaque dye, is administered through the rectum, fills the bowel, and allows for visualization of the bowel by x-rays. This procedure is sometimes successful in correcting the problem- the weight of the barium itself in the bowel frequently reduces the telescoped bowel. If intussusception is diagnosed and not corrected by barium enema, surgery is necessary IMMEDIATELY to prevent complications such as obstruction, gangrenous bowel and peritonitis.
While the child is deep asleep and pain-free (using general anesthesia), an incision is made in the abdomen, usually in the midline. The bowel obstruction site is located, the obstruction is relieved, and the bowel is examined for injury. Injured sections are removed and the healthy ends of the bowel are either stitched together or brought out onto the abdomen temporarily (colostomy).
Generally, patients are able to go home within 5-10 days after surgery, depending on how long it takes the intestines to recover from the surgical procedure.
This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM


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New Year's transitions: Fusion, Kokopelli's hand over the keys"
As was recently reported, former City Centro owner Andreas Gaynor has sold his downtown eatery, Fusion. According to a voice-mail he left us, Gaynor finally got an offer he couldn't refuse, but he wasn't saying who the new owners are. Curious, Dish set out to get the scoop.
"The sad thing about people who own small businesses," says Gaynor, only half joking, "is that they have to sell their places to take a vacation." Like any savvy businessman, Gaynor admits that Fusion was for sale as soon as he started it. He was just waiting for the right deal and the right time.
"I needed to take care of myself. I didn't want to get an ulcer," Gaynor laughs. " Don't get me wrong, I had a decent life, and the people at my restaurant were like a family, but it was time to try something new."
After 15 years in the restaurant biz, Gaynor says he's happy to be debt free and is looking forward to some time to reflect on his next move. "I'm going to relax and see what kind of epiphanies I have," he says.
So who gave Gaynor time to have epiphanies? Meet the Epstein brothers.
"I think we can run the best fast-casual restaurant in Charlottesville," says 26-year-old Dan Epstein, who, along with his 25-year-old brother, Charles, plan to open Eppie's on March 1. "It will be nice like a sit-down place like Bizou, but quick like Christian's Pizza," says brother Dan.
The Epsteins settled on the Fusion space after scoping out locations for almost two years. "We finally decided that Downtown was the place to be," says Dan, a former UVA student who moved back to Charlottesville after his girlfriend (now wife) began law school here.
Entrees like jerk chicken and lemon pepper chicken, fresh pastas and sauces, and meal-size salads will run between $6 and $8, and brother Dan says their counter and tray service will allow them to get orders up in three minutes or less.
"We're not talking about rocket science here," says Dan. "It's simple food, but it will be fast, fresh, and good." Dish was impressed with the Epsteins' youthful energy and enthusiasm. If Gaynor's worry about ulcers is any indication of what's to come, they're going to need it.
Ribs and Rock in Crozet
Out in Crozet another changing of the guard has taken place. A smokehouse-style restaurant, bar, and weekend music joint called Uncle Charlie's will be taking over the old Mountainview Grill/Kokopelli's spot.
Owner Charlie Mayer, who has been a chef in Pennsylvania for over 20 years, plans to open for dinner Friday, January 13, with musical guests American Dumpster playing later that night. On Saturday, perennial favorites the Hogwaller Ramblers will take the stage. Covers for both shows are only $5 for two people.
Mayer specializes in what he calls "elegant smokehouse" cuisine, which feature tenderloins, fillets, crab cakes, and the must-have wings and ribs as well. Of course, soups and salads will be part of the mix. Mayer hopes Uncle Charlie's will have a neighborhood bar atmosphere, a casual place where someone can come in and watch a football game, have a beer and some ribs, and stay around to catch a show.
Arrivederci, l'Avventura
After eight years, l'Avventura quietly closed its doors in late November. Dish recently caught up with owners David Wyatt and Ann Porotti, who back in May, put both l'Avventura and their Vinegar Hill Theater up for sale for a cool $1.5 million. Since then, they've decided to keep the theater. So why did they decide to call it quits on the restaurant?
"The business itself had fulfilled its life span," says Wyatt." Basically, it was time to move on." Any chance they'll open another?
"That's it for the restaurant business," says Wyatt, who plans to spend more time teaching English at the University of Maryland. "Of course, Ann will continue to run the theater."
Any parting remarks? "Thanks for the eight years, Charlottesville," says Wyatt. "It was everything we hoped for and more."
According to the City Assessor's office, OS Realty Inc. bought the 6,000-plus square foot Chi-Chi's building on 29 North back in June for $1.1 million, which is nearly $600,000 below its most recent assessed value.
Who's capitalizing on Chi-Chi's decline? Outback Steakhouse strikes again! In addition to its signature restaurant in the Albemarle Square Shopping Center, and its recently opened Bonefish Grill out in Hollymead, the mega-chain has earmarked the Chi-Chi's space for its Cheeseburger in Paradise franchise.
Cheeseburger's area director, Craig Briggs, says the target opening for the Jimmy Buffett-inspired burger joint is April 25th. In addition to its famous pina coladas and margaritas, says Briggs, Cheeseburger's will also have live acoustic music everyday.
Dan and Charles Epstein plan to open their "fast-casual" restaurant, Eppie's, on March 1.


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Word and Photos: Hondo
On August 28, 2009, Absinthe films unveiled their latest creation titled Neverland in front of a packed house at Salt Lake City's Tower theater. Hundreds of hungry people lined up, patiently anticipated the newest vision from the minds of Justin Hostynek and crew, and boy was it worth the wait.
Right off the bat, Nicolas Müller shows us that we are in for not just any snowboard film, but one that is going to be filled with some next level boarding. From Nicolas to Eero Ettala to Romain to DCP, and the noboarding and snowboarding of Wolle Nyvelt, the action never stopped.
One thing I was especially hyped on was that Absinthe showed women snowboarding at the level that it should be shown at. Annie Boulanger and Marie-France Roy demonstrate some of the best womens' snowboarding that has ever been captured on film. In the same fashion Bode Merrill also proved to the world that he is no longer to be slept on, he is a definite main stay in the snowboard world. His part is sure to blow your mind with some of the most amazing all around snowboarding that I have ever seen.
All in all I would have to say that Neverland is for sure one of the most progressive snowboard films ever to come out. I would make sure you get a copy, and if possible to hit up one of the showings on their tour if they come through your town.


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Come See Us at Fredericksburg Trade Days!!
Come see me this Friday, Feb. 20th - Sunday, Feb. 22nd at Fredericksburg Trade Days at Sunday Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas. This show is famous for its antiques, collectibles, tools, crafts, shabby chic, primitives, vintage furniture, candles, clothing and jewelry. You can shop with over 350 vendors in 6 barns. Picturesque Sunday Farms is surrounded by local wineries, Lavender trails, the Pedernales River, delicious country peaches, Luckenbach, Enchanted Rock, and hundreds of bed and breakfasts. Fredericksburg Trade Days also hosts a Biergarten that offers over 50 varieties of beer and live music.
I'll be in our new spot at the back on row F in space F13.
February 20th, 21st & 22nd, 2015
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Friday
9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Friday Saturday
9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday


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Beat the Streak Report: Wednesday, August 3
Well, well, well doorsrule — how about that BTS Report curse now? You chose not to answer our oh-so-friendly email interview questions, and your 36-game streak still went down in flames on Jimmy Rollins' 0-fer. Take note, future 35-gamers: Deprive the readers of the juicy personal tidbits they demand at your own streak's peril.
Anyway, doorsrule is now old news and Simon_s999 tops the new current standings at 29 games. We recommend rehearsing your own answers now, just in case a certain missive hits your inbox in about a week …
Wednesday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
Joe Mauer: 667 (10-for-15) since '06 vs. Angels starter Joel Pineiro
Melky Cabrera: .407 (11-for-27) since '06 vs. Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie
Nelson Cruz: .455 (5-for-11) since '06 vs. Tigers starter Doug Fister
Cameron Maybin: .455 (5-for-11) since '06 vs. Dodgers starter Ted Lilly
Erick Aybar: .417 (5-for-12) since '06 vs. Twins starter Scott Baker
Adam Jones: .417 (5-for-12) since '06 vs. Royals starter Luke Hochevar
Feeling kinda spicy?
Ryan Raburn: .667 (6-for-9) since '06 vs. Rangers starter Matt Harrison
You'll thank me later …
Robinson Cano: .125 (2-for-16) since '06 vs. White Sox starter Gavin Floyd
Howard Kendrick: .091 (1-for-11) since '06 vs. Twins starter Scott Baker
Michael Cuddyer: .182 (1-for-11) since '06 vs. Angels starter Joel Pineiro
Lance Berkman: .188 (3-for-16) since '06 vs. Brewers starter Randy Wolf
Carlos Beltran: .182 (2-for-11) since '06 vs. Diamondbacks starter Jason Marquis
Top MLB streakers
Dan Uggla: 24 games
Freddie Freeman: 17 games
Justin Upton: 14 games
Adrian Gonzalez: 12 games
Hideki Matsui: 11 games
Yadier Molina: 11 games
Ryan Zimmerman: 11 games
Home Run Beat the Streak pick:
Joey Votto: (17 home runs this season) vs. Astros starter Jordan Lyles
30 Comments
Pretty sure that should say Adam JONES not James vs KC.
thinking Mauer tonite
I'm going with Mauer to get to 17. I'm a little wary because Mauer broke my career-longest streak in 2009. It's also the first time I've picked him all year.
come to think of it, i think he broke by 17 back in 09 as well. it was that time when picking him or ichiro and one other player…. all three of them were so hot for a 3 week stretch
Woo. 4. Shoulda woulda coulda Box. GL with Jacoby.
Post will be up in About an hour when I take lunch break.
20% picked Mauer! That scares me. My pick is usually really low in the top 15, or out of the top 15 altogether.
LaVolpe wrote a program that just downloads all 100 pages of current streaks and saves them into a spreadsheet, then i manually adjust the spreadsheet and transport the necessary data into a template to create these posts. Takes about 15-30 mins a day.
LaV's List
Wednesday's Top Picks of the current Top2500,
141 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Joe Mauer 357 14.42
Jacoby Ellsbury 296 11.96
Adrian Gonzalez 261 10.55 (1RST)(2ND)(4TH)
Dustin Pedroia 89 3.6
Joey Votto 88 3.56
Michael Bourn 82 3.31 GOOD
Melky Cabrera 78 3.15
Freddie Freeman 68 2.75
Hanley Ramirez 67 2.71
Shane Victorino 54 2.18
Jason Kubel 43 1.74
No Selection 43 1.74
Rickie Weeks 8 0.32 (2ND) DL
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 6 with streak of 16 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset rate was 22.68% with UTLEY reseting the most.
There was also 10.36% PPD due to players not playing, These streakers do not reset, but did not increase either,
6.56% —> 164 picks of these were intentional DL/inj picks.
Got Pinched OR 1/2 AB Wonders
TOP2500 saved or reset by PHA (going to include any pinch hitters and/or double switch, 2 AB or Less)
D Murphy NYM, RESET 4, WERE GAMERS
M Diaz PIT, SAVED 1, WAS 9 GAMER
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick, (Times picked in top2500)
gpearson17, 16, pg 7, 122, MAUER (PICKED 357X)
box86rowh, 15, pg 10, 224, JACOBY (PICKED 296X)
jonhilliard, 15, pg 11, 224, MAUER (PICKED 357X)
trixiewright, 11, pg 42, 964, ICHIRO (PICKED 7X)
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
Mdrossi(nymets1979), 19, RESET by GABY SANCHEZ
J_St33z, 14, RESET by ROLLINS
GL to all
Went with Melky to restart my steak.
Don't know if any of you guys caught this on yesterdays blog. Yay us.
"Congrats to you and your followers here for No. 5 position on MLB.com/blogs Latest Leaders for July! Let's see how many fans start a WordPress blog at mlb-Com with MLB theme and try to join you and the Fan Top 50 in our monthly rankings.
By MLBNewman on August 3, 2011 8:53 am – Reply "
So today is the last day to start a streak to get to 57, unless season is extended to settle a Division or Wild Card. It could be extended few more days if BTS allowed credit for 2 games for players in doubleheaders. How about it?
It would be interesting if they modified the game to allow a carryover streak. If you end the year with a 20-gamer, and then get 37 next year, you should win some kind of prize – even if you don't win the main prize. By not carrying over streaks, any reset after today makes submitting additional picks totally futile, and basically cuts off the game when interest in baseball and its pennant races should be gathering. If they had 'something' that let you feel like you carried over a streak into the subsequent year, even a reduced prize that has the same low likelihood of being claimed (especially if they have a 'ESPN Sunday night opener', with only one game with two good teams each pitching their aces and forcing a pick from that game), it would add some purpose to submitting further picks.
As it stands today is cutoff for the main 5.6m prize but 40 is still the season high putting the actual deadline to win any cash a little over two weeks from now.
But I like the idea of carrying over and winning something.
Well, thanks to Mr. Utley, tomorrow's pick officially has some minisucle level of relevance.
It is usually a good goal to have a relevant pick in September. That's not something I have ever accomplished. I've come close, but not yet.
They used to give you credit if your pick got a hit in both games of a doubleheader and you moved up 2 games and I don't know why they changed it but it sucks now because you can't even look at doubleheaders at all because of that rule change. They won't ever change it back but I think if your pick gets a hit in at least one game of a double header your streak should continue.
The original rule also only gave you credit for 1 game in a doubleheader, but your hitter only had to pick up 1 hit in either game of the doubleheader.
The only time you can ever move up 2 games in 1 day is if a suspended game is being finished within the next 3 days.
Normally not a truly exciting event even for true Cubbie fans. But this is their 1st 4-game winning streak ALL YEAR!
Well played, Mauer.
Cute 🙂
Interesting way that my last important run of the year has been built so far.
2 last AB hits!
Today's was by Hideki Matsui!!!


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|A snippet from students at different stations
This year, before getting back into poetry, I spent a day helping students start their year with no regrets and learning about their poetic pasts.
Then we jump into poetic stations. I've done stations before but this time I set them up slightly differently than I normally did. Stations were throughout my classroom more or less in a circular arrangement. Students started at one station with a partner. After about seven minutes, students were able to move on. Before moving on, one student at each station moved to clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. This way they are able to work with different students throughout the day. It also meant for new students, they got a chance to meet everyone in the class (be it only for 5-7 minutes).
My poetic station this year varied a bit from last year because I built off of what they revealed in their poetic journeys.
|Students racing with Quizlet!
- Students expressed fear over needing to know literary terms. So, another Station was two of my yearbook computers set up with a Quizlet Figurative Language set. Students made note of words they didn't know, and raced their partner for the fastest time. Many students said that they were impressed by how many of these words they already knew.
- This was effective because students expressed a fear of needing to remember all of the literary terms. This showed them that they already knew many of them as we'd used them the previous semester. The students that were less sure have access to this Quizlet and can practice on their own in free time or at home.
- This was hit or miss as far as enjoying it. Some students LOVED it because they races with their partners. If they weren't close with their partners then they enjoyed this station less.
- As I circulated the room I heard some great discussions here!
- This was a close second for their favorite station. Students thought the scene was very funny, and they agreed with the teacher.


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Execs Remain Confident on Security While All Is Not Well, Survey Shows
The people in charge of security at large companies and organizations appear to have a pretty high opinion of their abilities and their preparations for attacks by hackers and other security incidents, even if the evidence shows they're fooling themselves.
According to a new survey out today by PwC Consulting, prepared in cooperation with the trade magazines CIO and CSO, the general mood among security executives around the world is optimistic. When asked about their security posture in the survey, nearly 70 percent said that they were "very confident" or "somewhat confident" that they have sufficient security policies and practices in place, and more than 70 percent said their policies are "effective."
All this confidence rings a bit like Chip Diller from "Animal House" imploring the crowd at a parade to "remain calm, all is well," while chaos erupted around them. The number of organizations who admitted they had suffered more than 50 security incidents in the prior year increased to 13 percent. That's a slight increase from last year, but a lot higher than in previous years.
Perhaps their confidence stems from this: Only 7 percent of respondents said they had experienced a loss in shareholder value, and 14 percent saw a financial loss stemming from a security incident in the prior year. The financial loss number is down from 20 percent in the two prior years. But there's a catch, PwC says: Most companies haven't done the thorough analysis to determine whether they're likely to experience a loss in value in the first place: Most haven't considered whether or not a high-profile security breach might damage a brand.
And even though attacks are on the rise, fewer than half of those executives surveyed expected a boost in their security budgets for the coming year. Most of those — 86 percent — pointed to their bosses as the biggest obstacle to improving security.
The survey — its formal name is "The Global State of Information Security Survey 2013" — sought input from 9,300 CEOs, CFOs, CISOs, CIOs, CSOs, vice presidents and directors of IT and information security in 128 countries.
Update: Today, it seems, is a day for security surveys. IBM's X-Force security unit has just released its 2012 Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report, and the picture it paints would deflate a lot of that confidence found in the PwC report. The group monitors some 15 billion security events every day for its 4,000-odd clients in 130 countries.
What IBM sees is an increase in efforts to target individuals by directing them to a trusted Web address or site which has been injected with malicious code, and then use weaknesses in browser software to install malware on the target system. Lots of big-name Web sites are still vulnerable, IBM says.
Also, attacks using SQL injection — a technique in which attackers access a database via the Web site it is connected to — are on the rise. Big Blue has also noticed an uptick in attacks on mobile devices. Most people with smartphones are still vulnerable to attacks carried out via text message.
Maybe those overconfident-seeming execs should read this IBM report.


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Behavior Driven Development ( BDD ) , Cucumber
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Appium – Mobile Automation
RESTful API Testing
Continuous Integration – Continuous Quality – Discontinuous Headaches
Gett, Grab : How It Can Sure Shot Find Success in India – My Personal Experiences of 12 years on Bangalore Roads
Bangalore vs Budapest : Public Transport System – Lessons to be learnt
Mobile Tower Radiation : India vs Germany ( Rest of the developed countries )
Indian Public Not Aware of Chemical Weapons Usage on them since last many years ( Plates Loaded With Pesticides )
Bangalore Traffic – Simple Solutions for Complicated ( ?? ) Problems
Pepsi Investing $5.5 billion to spoil health of 300+ million middle class families – Boycott Junk Food and Drink
How India Democracy , Elections works
How Indian Farming can be run like Silicon Valley Tech Startup and help saving thousands of farmers' lives
Saving Indian Farmers and Their Families – Middle Class in City Is The Solution To Grave Problem
Opportunities for SolarCity in India – Billion Dollars ( in profit each year ) Market – Not To be Ignored
Exercises for Software Engineer – Personal Experiences from last 2 decades
Paris ( Disneyland ), Normandy Travel Guide – Part Deux
Peenemünde – Birthplace of Rocket & Cruise Missile
How to enjoy Switzerland with 20% – 40% of usual cost ?
7 Days In Sicily ( Italy ) How to make it memorable, fun filled vacation
Switzerland Grand Tour for 10 days – Panoramic Trains, Mountains, Lakes
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Portugal – Travel Guide For 2 Weeks ( Lisboa , Lisboa Day Trips , Porto )
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Stuttgart and Black Forest Region Visits ( Forest Steam Train , Cuckoo Clocks , Märklin , Mercedes , Porsche … )
Barcelona and Costa Brava – 7 Days in Barcelona + Costa Brava Beaches
Madrid Travel Guide – 3 days In Madrid
Paris Travel Guide – 5 Days In Paris
Solapur Startup Business Plan
2 Wheelers in India – why should all be Electric
Trains In India vs Germany, Switzerland – How Indian Rail can be efficient as well
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For two years in a row, Palawan has been hailed by Condé Nast Traveller as the Best Island in the World, beating Bora Bora and Maldives, two places I would love to visit too.
This is only my second time visiting Palawan; the first one was several years back at Amanpulo, long before GoPros and social media. If we weren't ready then to document our travel, we were ready now, kinda.
My husband and I were both beach buddies, and if there was one place we wanted to spend time together by ourselves, it had to be Palawan. We were lucky too because Palawan is just a couple of hours away from Metro Manila.
We knew we wanted to save as much as possible without sacrificing the quality of our stay, so we decided to scour the travel fairs for the best deals. July to September are the best months to get the coolest deals for local and international travel. We found a great El Nido Resorts deal for a 4-day stay at Pangulasian Island. We spent about $2,500 for everything including airfare, lodging and food. This is just about the normal rate for the accommodations, so in a sense, we were able to get free airfare and food.
The resort had its own aviation travel partner, whose Manila airport was smack right where Amanpulo's is. It really brought back memories. The El Nido lounge has a breakfast buffet set for us, and we had our own reserved table.
Getting to Pangulasian was very easy because everything was already arranged for us. Let's see. We rode a plane from Manila to El Nido. Then this huge jeepney took us from the runway to the airport lounge, where we were served Palawan delicacies.
It was high tide when we arrived, so we rode a speedboat from the marsh behind the lounge to get to the bay and ride the bangka to the resort. Normally, visitors have to ride a jeepney to go to the port and ride a bangka from there.
Finally, we arrive at the resort! There were probably 10-15 people who welcomed us at the shore.
They gave us these palm leaf necklaces. Fruits were waiting for us inside our villa.
This is how the villa looks inside.
(to be continued)


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Kotlin is the name of a new statically typed programming language targeting JVM and JavaScript. Started in 2010 by JetBrains, the company behind numerous popular development tools such as IntelliJ IDEA and ReSharper, the Kotlin project is now available as open source.
Kotlin is a general-purpose language intended for industrial use. In particular, JetBrains plans to use it in the production of IntelliJ IDEA and other projects. The core motivation behind this project is the obvious need for a modern language for JVM. This need is evidenced by the fact that many developers and organizations are looking for an alternative to Java. Three new JVM languages backed by well-known industry leaders were announced during the last year, which suggests that many people are not satisfied with the existing alternatives.
Our goal with Kotlin is to create a language that is 100% Java-compatible, safer than Java, more concise and more flexible, and not overly complex.
Another important consideration is keeping compilation speed and IDE support on a level comparable to those in Java. These last two points may seem like insignificant technicalities, but our experience has shown that they do impose certain constraints on the language design.
While the compiler, IDE, and the language itself are under development, it is already possible to try many things out (with an IDE plugin or a lightweight online editor) and see what it is like to code in Kotlin. (The related Kotlin video shows coding using the IntelliJ IDE.)
This article gives an overview of Kotlin for Java developers and focuses on the interoperability between Java and Kotlin.
Hello, World!
Let's start with a "Hello, world" example. Unlike Java, Kotlin does not require us to define functions inside classes, so we can just declare a "free" function in a package:
package hello fun main(args : Array<String>) { println("Hello, world!") }
The syntax is more or less self-explanatory: The
fun keyword denotes a function,
Array is a generic class, and
println() is a free function defined in the std package, which is imported by default.
Now, let's make it more object-oriented and personalized. Traditionally, this starts with defining a
Greeter class:
class Greeter(name : String) { private val message = "Hello, $name!" fun greet() { println(message) } }
Our class has a primary constructor that takes a parameter of type
String. It is defined right in the class header, which saves us some lines of code compared with Java. In the class body, there is a private, read-only property message. It's defined with
val stands for "value" and represents an immutable piece of state.
Primary constructors and
vals should look familiar to Scala users, as should types following a colon. Another feature should be familiar to Groovy users: The message property is initialized with a string template. The
$name template variable is replaced by the value of the name parameter passed to the constructor. The type of message is inferred to be
String. As can be seen, Kotlin borrows features and ideas from other languages as well as adding original features of its own. The borrowing of features enables parts of the language to look familiar while allowing Kotlin to leverage the advances in programming language design.
Now, let's use our class to greet the user who passed a name on the command line (or the whole world, if no argument is provided):
fun main(args : Array<String>) { val name = if (args.isEmpty()) "world" else args[0] Greeter(name).greet() }
You can see that
val is used for a local value, too, and that
if can be used as an expression.
Also note that to create an instance of the
Greeter class, we simply write
In other words, Kotlin doesn't have a
new keyword.
Java Interoperability
A primary goal for Kotlin is to make the Java platform a better place to work, so that developers who choose Kotlin have all the benefits of Java, plus more. Thus, one of the absolute requirements for Kotlin is two-way interoperability with Java:
- Java code can call Kotlin code,
- Kotlin code can call Java code, and even make some of the APIs better.
This is the approach Scala and Groovy took, and we also think it is a must to make a JVM language an effective tool.
At JetBrains, we intend to use Kotlin to develop our main products such as IntelliJ IDEA. Of course, rewriting a whole codebase of more than 50,000 classes is not an option. Our strategy is to mix Java and Kotlin in the same code base, so that we can write new product features using Kotlin while gradually migrating old ones.
Compiling Mixed Projects
There are different issues in mixed projects: Kotlin must understand both Java sources and binaries and Java must understand Kotlin sources and binaries. While binaries are relatively easy (they are normal
*.class files in both cases) mixing sources code is trickier: It's not difficult to imagine that a Kotlin compiler understands Java sources (although that looks like a lot of work), but making javac understand Kotlin sources is clearly impossible.
People take different approaches to solving this problem. For example, in Groovy, groovyc generates stubs from Groovy code that is, Java source files containing only declarations of Groovy classes, methods, and fields then runs javac on the stubs and Java sources. That way everything compiles, but Groovy classes don't have method bodies. Then it runs the real Groovy compiler to replace the stub classes with real ones. Thus, Groovy only looks at
*.class files generated by javac and never tries to parse Java code. This comes at the expense of having the extra step for stub generation, which complicates the build process and takes time.
Another approach, used by Scala and Kotlin, is to teach our compiler to understand Java sources. In this case, it's enough to run kotlinc on the mixed source base, have it emit the
*.class files for Kotlin classes, and then run javac against the java sources and Kotlin binaries. Fortunately for us, it's very easy to implement a Java parser and do further analysis because IntelliJ IDEA is very good at it already, so all we need is just to reuse the relevant parts.
The only thing left is to make the IDE itself understand mixed projects, so that we can navigate from Kotlin code to Java and back. And again, only the reverse part is hard: we can't afford generating
*.class files every time we want to navigate from a Java class to Kotlin. Or can we?
Actually, the IDE invokes a lightweight version of code generation that writes nothing to disk and skips method bodies (very much like Groovy stubs, but no compiler relies on them) and builds a Java model of Kotlin classes in memory to facilitate name resolution in the IDE.
Making Java APIs Better
As mentioned previously, Kotlin can do better than merely reuse Java libraries: It can enhance them. The main way to do this is through extension functions and properties. This feature should be familiar to Groovy and C# users. (Scala achieves a similar effect with a different technique: implicit conversions.) Let's start with a simple example and add an
isNotEmpty() function to the
String class. (I'd use
isEmpty(), but the JDK guys finally figured that this method is useful and added it to JDK 6.) To do this addition, we define an extension function for
fun String.isNotEmpty() = ! this.isEmpty()
String. prefix to the function name tells us that this function should be called on references of type
String, like this:
if (name.isNotEmpty()) { println("Hello, $name!") }
In the body of the function we can refer to that string using
this, as if our function were a member of the
String class. So, with extension functions we can add capabilities to classes that are in our control, thus enriching their APIs.
An important note: Extension functions are not real members of classes; they are statically bound, that is they're not virtual. Technically, they are very much like good old Java utilities found in
java.util.Collections or
java.util.Arrays, only in a different syntactic form.
,p>Do we really need them? If no magic happens, is the syntactic sugar worth it? We think it is, but there are some important additional reasons.
Take the process of learning a new API. How do we all do it? Starting with a manual? Not really: We type a dot in the IDE and press a key sequence to review the completion options that tell us in a pop-up window what we can do with this object. We fall back on the manual (or Google) when the thing we are looking for is hidden in some utility class. So, extensions add one important thing: discoverability by code completion. The IDE suggests available extensions as if they were normal members, which makes learning APIs easier.
Convention-Based Language Constructs
Another good thing about extensions is that Kotlin treats many syntactic constructs by convention. The
for loop is a good example: Unlike Java, which requires an Iterable in the enhanced for loop, Kotlin is fine with any class that has an
iterator() function, even an extension function. This is very much like duck typing. Now, if I want to iterate through a
String in Kotlin, all I have to do is define an extension:
fun String.iterator() = StringIterator(this)
We assume that the
StringIterator class is defined in an obvious way. Now, the for loop works fine:
fun String.isNumber() : Boolean { for (c in this) { if (c !in '0'..'9') return false } return true }
This is again an extension function, so that we can type, for example,
Another feature that works by convention is operator overloading. In Kotlin, things like '
+,' '
-,' '
in,' and so on are nothing but shorthand for function calls (optimized for built-in types such as
Int). For example,
a + b stands for
a.plus(b) and works whenever there is an appropriate
plus function defined for
a. This means that if we want, say, to use
BigInteger in a natural way — that is, as a number — we can define the corresponding extensions. For example:
fun BigInteger.plus(other: BigInteger) = this.add(other).sure()
This function enables the following code:
fun sum(data : List<BigInteger>) : BigInteger { var sum = "0".toBigInteger() // another extension for String for (x in data) sum = sum + x return sum }
Other operators can be added in a similar manner.


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Above: In this video-grab, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gesture during a joint press conference after their cabinets held a meeting at the King David hotel in Jerusalem on February 25, 2014. (Getty Images)
There are embarrassing photo-op fails. And then there is this.
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Jerusalem to talk Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she probably didn't see this coming. After all it's just a fleeting moment caught (super awkwardly) on camera, but despite some media outlets avoiding the photo, it cannot be untaken.
Hopefully it can at least be forgotten, just don't count on it in this news cycle.


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I get 26 points a day, 49 extra points a week and I can earn more extra points for working out! I am on the monthly plan and I go to the meetings once a week to weigh in - I need that accountability. I also need the etools on my iPhone - the only thing that helps me track my points!
Here is the code for what I eat:
I usually try to eat about 3-4 points for breakfast, 7-8 points for lunch, and 12-14 for dinner, plus 2 am snack points, and 2 pm snack points. Sometimes I go over, big whoop, that's what the extra points are for...but I try not to use too many of those - you lose faster if you don't use them. It's HARD not to! All fruit is 0 points, and most veggies are 0 points.
B: Oikos Greek Yogurt Vanilla - 1 cup
L: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Santa Fe Style Rice and Beans, 1 banana, 1 cup of pears in own fruit juice - no added sugar
S: applesauce - natural - 1 cup
D: 3 tacos meal #8 from Taco Bueno, salsa, coke
S: Dr. Pepper
This is a BAD example people, just keeping it real...wanted to start out this way on purpose. DO NOT drink your points...its not worth it, SO much better to drink water, not soft drinks...but some days you just need it - today was one of those days for me...now...I gotta watch it the rest of the week.
I got a few extra workout points today because I walked in a parade after school for about 30 min, this was moderate walking so only about 2-3 points earned.
Stay tuned for more if you are interested - before pics and right now pics coming soon!


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When The Bank Won't Modify The Loan On Your Upside Down Macomb County Michigan Home Or Investment Property I'll Help You Avoid Foreclosure For FREE With A Short Sale.
Do you owe more than your Macomb County Michigan home is worth? Macomb County home values have recently seen significant increases in value. Do you know what your Macomb County Michigan home is really worth? Zillow estimates are no where near reliable enough. Get the expert opinion of 30 year Macomb County real estate agent Rick Giese by clicking right here. Call me now for a zero pressure conversation about the general market in your neighborhood ar
If you owe more on your Macomb County home or investment property than it's worth and can no longer afford the payments, you've got options and this site provides fast and easy access to all sorts of free tools, information, and resources, including HUD-certified counselors who will assist you in exploring your options for free.
Whether you seek to modify your loan in order to keep your property or wish to speak with a short sale advisor about avoiding foreclosure by selling your home for less than is owed, you'll find information here that will help you immensely.
Right now you can also get a FREE copy of my $27.00 book, The Homeowner's Guide to Real Estate Short Sales. This easy-to-understand, step-by-step instruction guide describes how banks operate in the negotiation process and also includes the tools and forms required to short sell your home or investment property.
What's A Short Sale?
A short sale occurs when the lender agrees to take less than the full amount required to pay off existing loans in full because the outstanding loan balance is greater than the proceeds realized from the sale of the property.
This sounds simple enough and is the definition most agents will give you. The problem is in the details. The terms of the approval are almost always dictated by the lender. Most sellers and many agents assume any approval is a "good approval", which is often not the case.
If you're considering a real estate short sale there are things you need to know before speaking to your lender. Consulting with a M.A.R.S. compliant, licensed professional versed in short sales and the foreclosure process is a must.
Why Would My Lender Accept Less Than Is Owed?
Knowing why and how much your lender does not want to foreclose on your home is crucial to the negotiating process. It's oftentimes much more expensive for the lender to modify your loan than it is to simply foreclose on you and sell it, or accept a short offer and pay all the associated sales costs.
Of course your lender would prefer that you stay in your home and continue making payments but selling it and geting the "bad asset" off their books is frequently their next favorite choice. Many lenders will negotiate short sale terms quite favorable to you, oftentimes allowing you to walk away for free and with zero delinquency judgments.
A successful no cost short sale with zero deficiency judgments looming in your future can be possible if you work with an expert team to get it done.
Will I Qualify For A Short Sale?
Has Your Home's Market Value Dropped?
Whether you're doing a loan modification or short sale, hard comparable sales will be used to substantiate that your property is worth less than the unpaid balance owed the lender. I provide a comprehensive property value report designed to determine your properties 30, 60 and 90 day sales price value - the same info your lender will want. Get a FREE Home Valuation Report.
Is Your Mortgage Currently In Default or Are You Concerned That It Soon Will Be?
It used to be that lenders would not even consider a loan modification or short sale if your payments were current, but not anymore. Realizing that other factors contribute to a potential default, many lenders are eager to head off future problems at the pass.
Many lenders no longer require that you be late on your payments however you must be able to convince them with your hardship letter and financial records that you're concerned about your ability to continue making payments.
Have You Fallen on Hard Times?
Have you experienced a job loss, cut back in work hours, divorce, death or any other challenge that is hampering your ability to make your monthly payments? You must be able to prove financial hardship. If you've answered yes to all of these questions, you're probably an ideal candidate for a real estate short sale.
Take this simple Quick Qualifier Quiz to determine the likelihood of whether or not you'll qualify for a short sale.


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Ready Or Not?
This story appears in the January 1998 issue of . Subscribe »
Just what is a good idea? For most inventors, the answer is a product they would like to have themselves. But that's not enough for a successful introduction. An inventor has to be able to profitably develop a product for customers who will buy it. This is a difficult task.
When I evaluate an idea, I look for products an inventor with limited resources can introduce to the marketplace and sell for a profit. I've worked with inventors for more than 20 years as both a marketing manager and a marketing consultant and have helped them introduce more than 25 industrial and consumer products.
I've worked with hundreds of inventors, some of whom had less than $100 to invest and some who had raised more than $1 million from investors to launch their products. I've learned that what counts is not how much money an inventor has but how well the inventor can fit his or her product into a market niche that's open to small, single-line companies.
I use five key criteria when I evaluate an idea. Rarely do products immediately meet all five criteria, so the inventor's job is to rework the idea and marketing strategy until the criteria are met.
Devee Govrik, an inventor in St. Paul, Minnesota, who sells about 25,000 of her Junk Drawer Organizers each month, is a good example of how inventors can profit by meeting the five key criteria. Govrik designed and produced an injection-molded plastic tray with compartments for scissors, tape, pens and all the other items people keep in their junk drawers. Her product was successful, partly because she was a hard worker and partly because her product satisfied the five key criteria.
1. The product is easy to distribute. An under-financed inventor needs an easy-to-penetrate distribution network that's open to products from small companies.
Govrik considered selling to large discount mass merchants, hardware stores, supermarkets, variety stores, and kitchen- and closet-organizing stores either directly or through manufacturers' representatives. Because she didn't have a lot of money in this start-up phase, she decided to sell directly and not use manufacturers' representatives, thus saving a 10-percent to 15-percent commission fee.
She then made a list of all retailers who might be interested in selling her product and called them to qualify her leads and identify the buyers that she could direct her pitch letters to. By eliminating those stores that weren't interested in her product and identifying the buyers, she was able to send out a more effective mass mailing.
Through this aggressive approach, Govrik was able to land Target as her first account. And by successfully penetrating that market, she gained the resources to expand into other markets, such as organizing stores. Although there were only about 50 organizing stores nationwide at the time she introduced her product, they were easy to find through trade magazines and the Yellow Pages, and the store buyers were looking for new products with which to stock their shelves.
Although inventors typically need representatives in markets where store buyers have many salespeople calling on them--the representatives have contacts and can get appointments where inventors can't--in markets with fewer suppliers, inventors can usually talk to store buyers relatively easily.
2.The technology is simple. Most inventions call for at least two or three prototypes and anywhere from five to 10 product changes. An inventor may be able to afford that for a simple product, but they'll go broke trying to modify a complex one. Govrik's product was an injection-molded tray with decals and shrink-wrapping--the type of product that's economical to develop.
The difference between a simple and a complex invention depends on the inventor's skills. Your product can be considered simple if you can either make the product or the prototype by yourself or if a model shop can build a prototype for you for less than $1,000.
If your product is more complex than you can handle yourself, you should find an engineer or industrial designer willing to work with you in exchange for a small royalty or for a percentage of your future profits. Or you can find a manufacturer that's running below 60-percent capacity; they often look for contract manufacturing jobs, such as building products for inventors. For such manufacturers, the extra production can mean the difference between making and losing money. They'll often be willing to help you produce prototypes to pick up future business. Be warned, however: If the prototype development expense is high, the manufacturer may also ask for a percentage of the eventual profits.
3. The product isunique. Sellers in the distribution channel don't like taking on new vendors; they'll only do it for a product that's clearly different. Consumers, too, tend to buy products they're familiar with and only break their traditional patterns when a product is outstanding.
The Junk Drawer Organizer is not that different from other products made by Rubbermaid and other plastic products companies. But Govrik did three things to set her product apart. First, she sold her product to kitchen- and closet-organizing stores, where Rubbermaid didn't have a dominant presence; second, she put picture decals in the bottom of each compartment so people could see what items went in each compartment--a tactic competitors weren't using; and third, she chose a name that clearly explained her product: Junk Drawer Organizer. Well-chosen names, striking visual appeal and innovative packaging can all help differentiate a product in the marketplace.
4. The benefit is obvious. The Junk Drawer Organizer is simply a plastic tray with compartments. Consumers may not be able to figure out the product without the clear name and illustrative decals. You have to connect with your audience in some way. Govrik's product made sense to her customers immediately; virtually everyone has a kitchen junk drawer.
5. The product can be sold at four to five times its manufacturing cost. The truest statement in the invention business is that the inventor gets paid last. Retailers and distributors get their profits on every item they sell, and suppliers have to be paid before a company makes any profit. The hard reality is, an inventor won't make any money unless his or her product sells for four or five times its production cost.
Govrik didn't consciously try to meet all five criteria, but her product and marketing efforts happened to meet them. I've seen such scenarios over and over again. Success doesn't come just from hard work or having an imaginative idea; it also depends on a product being easy to sell. The criteria are not meant to make a go/no-go decision for you. They're meant to tell you when a product is ready to be introduced. You'll need to continually rework your idea until it meets the criteria to have a real chance at a successful product introduction.
Don Debelak, author of Bringing Your Product to Market (John Wiley & Sons, $19.95, 800-225-5945) is a marketing consultant specializing in bringing new products to market.
This Is Only A Test
By Don Debelak
Question: I'm getting ready to sell my consumer product. The packaging supplier will sell me 5,000 packages for just twice the price of 500 packages. I don't have much cash, and I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to purchase the larger quantity.
Answer: You need to consider all your sales efforts to be test marketing until you've successfully sold your product through distribution channels such as stores, manufacturers' representatives or mail order catalogs.
When test-marketing a product, you must conserve your cash. You can't be sure your idea will sell, and you may need to make product or packaging changes before you can market your product on a larger scale.
In the test-marketing phase, expect to lose money on each product you sell because you're forced to buy low quantities of supplies. That's OK; that's what test marketing is for. Too often, inventors are swayed by their own optimism and try to make money in the test-marketing phase. The result is usually that they invest heavily in inventory and don't have money left to make product adjustments.
Stick with the 500 packages, and don't be concerned about the per-unit price at this stage. Your goal for now is to preserve as much cash as possible.


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View Full Calendar of Events at the Flynn
Corporate Membership
As a Flynn Center corporate member, your company assures the success of the premier performing arts center in the state. Supporting the Flynn is also good for business – our economic impact in downtown Burlington and the region is estimated to be over $24M.
Thank you to our current corporate members supporting us this season!
Benefits include a subscription to our member newsletter, the Marquee, personalized concierge ticketing service, advance purchase opportunities for Flynn presentations, ads in the Season Guide and lobby, receptions, and more. Corporate membership begins at $250. Learn more about levels and benefits.
Event Sponsorship
With a membership at the $2,000 level and above, you have the unique opportunity to sponsor a Flynn performance which includes complimentary tickets and recognition in publications, press communications, advertising, on the Flynn website, from the stage, and more!
There are also opportunities to sponsor a benefit event, such as the annual Flynn Garden Tour, our Community Ticket Program, and education programs such as Summer Youth Theater, and the FlynnArts Jazz Music Program. For more information, contact Susan Leckey at 802-652-4533 or email@example.com.


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Henderson Auto Glass – What Should I know?
Simply put, this is glass that you would find in an automobile. Not too many know that in Henderson there are two major forms of auto glass. Each one is used on certain windows in the automobile. Both types of auto glass are more impact resistant and stronger than regular glass.
What Are the Different Kinds Of Windshield Replacement Henderson Services that are Available?
Laminated safety glass-this glass is generally used on a car's windshield. It is comprised of a couple of pieces of glass that has a slim layer of vinyl. The glass is then heated and pressed together in an autoclave, which is a type of oven. When this glass receives a tough impact it will shatter also but usually the shattered pieces will stick to the vinyl and not fall on the ground.
If the windshield just has a tiny vein or nick, the auto glass professional may be able to repair the tiny vein or nick to keep it from spreading further. The repair will generally take fewer than thirty minutes in Henderson. The vein or nick is cleaned thoroughly and dried. Resin is injected and a material like Mylar is used to hold it in place. The professional cures the resin by using an ultraviolet light.
Auto Glass For Classic Cars?
When there are windshield cracks the owner may be able to fix it themselves using a kit or have a professional auto glass technician do the job. The kit has all the tools that are necessary to fix the crack, including the resin. One thing to note is that these cracked windshield kits will only work on little holes or dings or thin small cracks. With larger cracks, they may not disappear no matter how many treatments are applied. For long or deep windshield cracks or ones that do not respond to treatment with the kit, should be taken to an auto glass repair shop to have the windshield replaced or fixed. When they look at it, they can tell you if it is repairable or needs to be replaced. Most insurance companies will take care of the repair or replacement.
• Once it has hardened you can remove the tool
• Check the crack to see if you need to repeat the treatment. If it is a deep crack, you may need to do it again.
• Once you are satisfied with the repair of the windshield cracks you should take a soft dry cloth and polish the area so the resin solution will match the glass around it as much as it can. If you were fixing a small crack it could become almost unrecognizable and appear new to the naked eye but if it is a large crack it could look slightly warped in the area where it was fixed.
Should You be Fixing Windshield Cracks?
Were you aware that the windshield provides up to 30% of a vehicle's structural strength. In the event of a crash or rollover, the windshield supports the roof and assists the airbags in deploying. Maintaining the windshield will help to ensure safety while operating the vehicle.
In everyday driving conditions, a chipped windshield can quickly turn into a safety hazard if the chip cracks suddenly. It is impossible to determine whether a chip will crack and cause greater issue, but if it is a large chip, chances are it will eventually cause a crack if it goes unrepaired.
A chipped windshield does not mean that the windshield needs to be replaced, but the chip should be repaired as soon as possible. There are several reasons why windshield chips should be repaired rather than ignored:
Glass repair may not be covered by all car insurance policies; avoiding the need for full replacement is the best choice. Repairing a chipped windshield in relatively inexpensive, with do-it-yourself kits starting around $10. Many places offer windshield chip repairs while you are getting an oil change. This can be a convenient way to repair a chipped windshield while having other work completed on the car.
There is no way to know for sure how long a chipped windshield will go without cracking, however it is best to avoid taking chances and have windshield chips repaired as soon as you notice them.


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Satellite Monitoring
Security environments are becoming more and more challenging as the complexity of technology advances, especially for government authorities involved in the surveillance of communications traffic transpiring across different satellite networks.
The portfolio of Rohde & Schwarz satellite monitoring solutions for passive interception of satellite communications signals is based on many years of professional experience. It ranges from flexible, transportable solutions to complex strategic stationary systems for simultaneous interception of signals and services from multiple satellites. Areas of application include the analysis and identification of unknown satellite-based communications as well as the processing of satellite signals and services for intelligence purposes. Field-proven operational concepts and sophisticated analysis tools support organizations in efficient and effective analysis of carriers, services, content and metadata.
The Rohde & Schwarz satellite monitoring product portfolio ranges from compact transportable to scalable strategic monitoring solutions for the following mobile satellite systems (MSS) and fixed satellite systems (FSS/VSAT).
- Thuraya
- Inmarsat III / IV / IsatPhone Pro / ACeS / IsatPhone
- Iridium
- Wide range of FSS/VSAT systems based on TDM, DVB-S, S2 and more
- Others on request
Rohde & Schwarz sells its satellite monitoring systems only to government-authorized organizations that have been clearly and reliably identified as such.
Authorized organizations are welcome to contact their nearest Rohde & Schwarz office or click here for more information.


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The Russian pop duo tATu will perform at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics, with a song about two schoolgirls in love.
It's a curious choice for Friday's event, designed to showcase Russia to the world just as many activists and world leaders are angry over a Russian law against gay rights "propaganda."
The event's producer said tATu's "Not Gonna Get Us" was chosen because it's one of the only Russian pop songs that international viewers might recognize.
U.S. & World
Konstantin Ernst also argued that the choice was about motivating athletes with an upbeat dance song that challenges competitors by saying "you're not going to get us."
While the singers put on a lesbian act, they have not championed gay rights and it is largely seen as an attention-getting gimmick.