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Of all the forms of woe that take root in the human genome, the cancer called Glioblastoma multiforme is one of the most merciless. It can infiltrate the brain's white matter for months before causing any symptoms. By the time memory loss and seizures reveal the presence of an invader, there's often little to do but minimize the patient's suffering. Most who are diagnosed with the disease—people like the late senator Edward Kennedy—are dead within two years.
In fall 2005, the National Cancer Institute announced that it was going after glioblastoma and several other fatal forms of cancer in a totally new way. Francis Collins, then director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, told an audience of reporters, federal health officials, and cancer survivors that the same technologies his team had employed to map the complete human genome—high-throughput DNA sequencing, lab automation, and computational biology—would now be enlisted in the fight against some of the most feared diseases in medicine.
Video: camera: Andrew Tingle; sound & video editing: Luke Tingle
The NCI's new initiative would be called the Cancer Genome Atlas. By cataloging the genetic glitches that turn healthy cells into malignant marauders, the institute hoped to come up with innovative methods of detecting and treating cancer in its earliest stages as well as develop smarter strategies for prevention. The pilot phase of the project would focus on three of the most common and treatment-resistant forms of the disease: glioblastoma, serous cancer of the ovaries, and squamous-cell carcinoma of the lungs, the classic killer of smokers.
Hopes for the atlas were extraordinarily high. NCI deputy director Anna Barker predicted that everyone in the room would remember the day as a milestone in medical history. Director Andrew von Eschenbach declared that genomic analysis would ensure that the future of cancer testing and treatment looked "no more like the past than a butterfly resembles a caterpillar." Even the normally low-key Collins—now head of the National Institutes of Health—gushed that the "planets have aligned to tackle cancer."
Just a few months later, however, NCI researchers might have wondered whether the planets had instead conspired against them. Rather than making progress by analyzing DNA from hundreds of samples of cancer tissue, the project had practically slammed to a halt. The problem was not in the data or the technology. The problem was in the flesh and blood—the tumor specimens provided by thousands of cryogenic storage facilities known as biobanks.
Located in hospitals, universities, nonprofit organizations, and pharmaceutical companies, biobanks play a quiet but crucial role in health care. Like libraries of the human organism, they archive a wide range of biospecimens—including blood, hair, sperm, saliva, plasma, whole organs, and purified DNA—to use in research and experimentation. From drug development to assisted reproduction, progress in dozens of fields would be impossible without biobanks. They are the biological back end of data-driven medicine.
When the NCI drew up its plans for the atlas, dozens of bio-repositories in the US assured the institute that at least 500 samples of each type of tumor could be provided easily. Once the project was under way, however, the researchers got a series of bruising reality checks.
Many biobank managers didn't seem to know exactly what was in their own freezers. Some specimens had never been checked before they were put in storage and turned out to be unfit for analysis. Others had been obtained from patients without adequate consent, so a single sample might require months of legal wrangling before it could be used. And often, when a frozen chunk of tumor finally arrived at the lab, it was a bloody mess, riddled with dead and decaying cells or simply too small to yield enough DNA.
One bank at a major university claimed to have more than 12,000 samples of glioblastoma in its collection. Only 18 of those were good enough to use. The rate of unacceptable shipments from other institutions ran as high as 99 percent. "We originally aimed for 1,500 samples, which we were told we could get from four to six biobanks in the US alone," says Carolyn Compton, director of the NCI's Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research, which led the collection effort. "We never made it to 500 samples of glioblastoma, even after asking biobanks all over the world. We barely got to 500 in ovarian cancer. And we never even started working on lung cancer, due solely to our inability to find the requisite samples. Meanwhile, everyone at the biobanks thought they were doing a superb job."
In a subsequent investigation, Compton's office discovered that an inability to obtain high-quality biosamples is a growing problem in labs, eating away at progress in medicine like an undetected malignancy. Many scientists reported that rather than pursuing the most promising leads in their research, they're forced to design experiments around whatever tissue scraps they can get. One in five confessed that the inferior quality of the samples might be compromising their data.
Every year, billions of dollars' worth of research into the genetic underpinnings of autism, schizophrenia, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and other devastating disorders hinges on scientists' ability to tap industrial quantities of cells and tissue. But Compton found that while our technology for decoding the inner workings of life is advancing dramatically, the protocols for collecting and storing specimens of human flesh have barely evolved in decades. At the same time, innovation in the field of biobanking has stalled for lack of funding and interest. The science of bio-preservation is still considered an arcane, musty specialty, more akin to taxidermy than medicine. "You might have thought that doing the science would be the biggest challenge of a massive undertaking like the Cancer Genome Atlas," Compton told me last fall. "But acquiring the biospecimens turned out to be the hardest part, bar none. It's the Wild West out there."
The first floor of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, New Jersey, looks less like the Wild West than a bustling spaceport crammed with flying saucers. Rows of stainless steel tanks filled with liquid nitrogen house the most diverse collection of human cells in the world. The contents of these freezers, kept in sealed Pyrex vials at -196 degrees Celsius, played key roles in a wide array of 20th-century medical breakthroughs.
The institute was founded in 1953 by Lewis Coriell, a charismatic pediatrician who pioneered methods of growing viruses and human cells in vitro. By turning test tubes and centrifuges into factories of life, he gave the young Jonas Salk a way to mass-produce polio viruses in the quantities needed to create a vaccine. Coriell also invented the first sterile air-filtration system for labs and turned a crate of foreskins donated by pediatrician and future surgeon general C. Everett Koop into a medium for growing chicken pox.
The town of Camden has changed a lot since then. Poet Walt Whitman's old cottage, a few blocks away, is a grassy oasis in a flatland of bail-bond agencies and strip malls. But the shining tanks that Coriell left behind when he died in 2001 have kept a Noah's ark of genomic data safe for decades.
The keeper of the ark is Christine Beiswanger, a cell-culturing expert with the patient manner of a middle-school science teacher. She swells with pride as she says that even if Camden were off the grid for six weeks, her beloved samples would stay frosty because of the institute's 11,000-gallon gravity-fed backup tank of liquid nitrogen. Portions of Coriell's collection have also been seeded in multiple locations, including a site in Wisconsin that bills itself as the world leader in bovine genetics. "Bull semen," she says. "We went out there once. We heard more than we ever wanted to know about artificial insemination in cows. But at least we learned that our collection is safe."
In addition to human cell lines, Coriell's repository also houses tissue, plasma, serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid. Pausing at one of the freezers, Beiswanger pulls on a blue cold-resistant glove and raises the lid. Fishing with a long hook, she catches a rack of vials and lifts it out. The nitrogen pool is eerily invisible, having the same refractive index as air. Clouds of sublimating vapor pour out and vanish halfway to the floor.
Each vial represents the trace of a human life launched into the future in hopes of a cure that will benefit others. The dozens of tanks lining this room contain cells of diabetic Native Americans, autistic Chinese, bipolar Amish, and a Latino infant who suffered from Moebius syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes an inability to smile, frown, or form any other facial expression.
The Coriell Institute is only one of tens of thousands of biobanks in the US. An exact number is hard to calculate, because they range in size from fridges stocked with tumors for a surgeon's personal research to a mammoth collection of tissue samples stored by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at a warehouse in Maryland.1
Biobanking is an expensive proposition: Just one cryogenic freezer can suck down $2,000 worth of electricity a year. In the interests of science, it's best to archive samples and the data related to them for decades after enthusiasm for the research has faded. As a result, many bio-repositories are chronically underfunded. Those in academic labs are typically paid for with money siphoned from grants and departmental expenses. Larger nonprofit institutions, including Coriell, are kept afloat by year-to-year contracts with federal agencies under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health.
A growing number of firms now market their human commodities directly to scientists online. Browsing through one of these biobazaars can be surreal for the uninitiated. Recently, the "most popular" cells available from a company called Asterand were fibroblasts removed from the milk ducts of a 45-year-old African-American woman who died of invasive breast cancer. The price of a vial containing approximately 1 million of her cells: $875 plus shipping.
Though prolific sperm donors can earn a modest living by making regular biobank deposits, tissue donors are not paid, thanks to a 1984 US law designed to prevent organ trafficking. It's technically illegal to sell human tissue at a profit under this statute, but high-volume vendors like Asterand and BioServe finesse this by charging hefty processing and shipping fees. In the age of molecular medicine, the tissue trade is booming. Asterand's annual revenue soared by 82 percent in 2008 to more than $22 million.
Lewis Coriell would not have been surprised that his cell collection in Camden gave birth to a thriving global industry. After all, he tried to persuade the US government to build a vast storehouse of human cells to support research from coast to coast. But he might have been taken aback to learn that the crude 19th-century chemistry he and his peers repurposed for bio-preservation is still the state of the art in the 21st century.
Note 1. The original version of this story gave the incorrect name for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Learning how to freeze and thaw human tissue without turning it into mush took scientists a very long time. One of the first cryo-pioneers was a Catholic priest named Basile Luyet, author of a 1940 book called Life and Death at Low Temperatures. For decades, he chronicled dozens of gruesome attempts to resurrect monkeys, dogs, cats, and rabbits that had been frozen in their cages or immersed in slushy water until their hearts stopped. Few of these unfortunate creatures survived the ordeal intact; their organs were turned to a rank stew by a buildup of salt and ice crystals. Shortly before his death, the priest reluctantly concluded that "it would be easier to bring back a dead body than a frozen one."
The long-awaited breakthrough was a lucky accident. In 1947, a British scientist named Christopher Polge was searching for ways to freeze, store, and revive chicken sperm, a potential boon to farmers who would no longer have to wait until their prize leghorns were in the mood. Polge tried immersing the fowl gametes in a fructose solution, which didn't work very well—until one day, mysteriously, it did. Analysis of the curiously effective solution revealed that its label had somehow been switched. The bottle actually contained glycerol, not fructose.
Glycerol seemed to be such an effective cryoprotectant that it's still employed in biobanks for preserving blood cells and fluids like saliva and urine. Another decades-old discovery is also still in use—dimethyl sulfoxide, a colorless, odorless solvent derived from wood pulp. (DMSO is weird stuff: Dip a finger in it and you will pick up a faintly oysterish flavor under your tongue a few minutes later.)
Tissue requires a different preservation method, which relies on two mainstays of Victorian-era labs: formaldehyde and paraffin. In a typical cancer operation, the surgeon excises a lump of flesh that is suspected to be malignant. The nurse carries it to the pathology suite, where a sample is mounted on slides so a pathologist can make a diagnosis. If the patient has signed a consent form, whatever tissue is left over will be shipped to a biobank. But first, it's dipped in a diluted formaldehyde solution called formalin that acts as a fixative, arresting all metabolic processes in the cells. Then it's embedded in paraffin, which prevents oxidation.
Such tried-and-true preservation protocols have endured because, for a long time, they were all that researchers required. "Study sizes were small, investigators sourced their samples locally, and they got what they wanted," NCI clinical investigator Stephen Hewitt says. "There was no need for evolution."
If you wanted to freeze and thaw red blood cells, a dash of glycerol would do the trick. Sperm? Use a 5 percent DMSO solution. Hair follicles, lymphocytes? Ditto. By 1999, Rand estimated that there were more than 300 million tissue samples stacked up in US biobanks, with 20 million additional specimens coming in every year. As new items were added to the menu, the classic recipes were repurposed over and over again with minor variations. Plasma, whole organs, stem cells?
Check, check, and check.
The industry seemed ready to accommodate any advance in medicine. When Coriell began stocking his human ark in the early '50s, the role of DNA in heredity was just becoming clear. By the mid-'90s, doctors were scheming to hijack genes with viruses to cure congenital diseases. Keeping pace with the state of science for half a century, institutions like Coriell grew into bio-smorgasbords, serving products ranging from kidneys to dental pulp.
But with the sequencing of the complete human genome in 2003, everything changed. Our ability to probe the inner workings of cells jumped by many orders of magnitude. What the gene chip and microarray revealed—which even the trained eye of a pathologist couldn't see—is that the traditional methods of bio-preservation play havoc with genetic material. Just as the advent of high-throughput DNA sequencing demanded factory-size shipments of tissue, it made many of our ways of harvesting and storing human specimens obsolete.
The trouble starts in the operating room. The first step in taking out a tumor is clamping off its blood supply. But cancer doesn't give up so easily. In 2001, researchers in Florida discovered that just minutes after a tumor goes offline, its genes start switching on and off as the cells try to adapt to a world without oxygen.
While everyone's attention is focused on the patient, those genes are rapidly altering their expression patterns. As the surgeon prepares to close the incision, the lump of deadly DNA on the back table is still hard at work.
Often the tissue destined for a biobank languishes for a couple of hours at room temperature before it's finally dunked in formalin. In a hectic clinical environment—like Massachusetts General in Boston, where the NCI's Compton was director of gastrointestinal pathology—a slice of diseased colon can sit around in a cooler all weekend before being fixed on Monday morning. NCI investigators have now identified more than 460 genes in colon cancer that switch on or off in just the first hour after the arteries are clamped.
In other words, the tumor that is deposited into a biobank is not really the same one that was removed from the patient. With an increasing number of crucial treatment decisions based on analysis of that tissue—including which drugs might be lifesaving or life-threatening for a particular patient—unreliable data has the potential to translate into bad medicine.
Another set of problems kicks in during the freezing and thawing process. In the late '90s, researcher John G. Baust figured out why some samples that look perfectly preserved after thawing turn black and liquefy on the lab bench a day or two later. He discovered that the cryoprotective effects of glycerol and DMSO were overrated. Yes, they minimize structural damage to cells, which was all that was needed when the most powerful tool in the lab was a microscope. But they don't shield the genome from the trauma of a round trip to the subarctic regions of a freezer. Some cells get so stressed that hours after they thaw, they take themselves out of the gene pool permanently in a cascade of events known as "programmed cell death."
In the past, a certain amount of dying off was considered just a brutal fact of life in the cryozone. But the work of Baust and others revealed that even cells that don't outright perish experience changes in genetic expression during the freeze-thaw cycle. In fact, by keeping visible cell structures intact, cryoprotectants can lead to overestimating the quality of biospecimens, making them even more likely to corrupt genomic data.
What's more, it turns out that formalin causes significant alterations to cellular RNA, the key to decoding the genetic mechanisms of cancer. And DMSO can have the perverse effect of amplifying a tumor's metastatic potential, turning cancer into super cancer at the molecular level.
While news of these discoveries was trickling out in bio-preservation journals, therapeutic medicine was progressing by leaps and bounds. Many new treatments—such as using stem cells to repair bone marrow stripped out by high-dose chemotherapy and radiation—require banked cells to be thawed and injected into patients immediately. Because these protocells are so fragile, they're often not rinsed before treatment for fear that too many will be lost. As a result, preservatives end up coursing through the patient's bloodstream.
But DMSO can cause nasty side effects, particularly in children, including chills, nausea, kidney failure, and even cardiac arrest. So patients simply have to bear up under the onslaught of DMSO while trying to survive cancer, chemo, and radiation.
The industry's response to these revelations was a series of cautious upgrades. Adding a dose of enzymatic inhibitors to the preservative mix can reduce unexpected bouts of cell death but does nothing to eliminate DMSO toxicity. Chilling tissue at a carefully controlled rate immediately after harvesting (using a technique appropriated from Eskimos in the early 1900s by Clarence Birdseye, father of the frozen-food industry) reduces the need for toxic antifreeze but requires disruptive changes in the routine of overworked hospital staff.
These incremental solutions are hardly enough to make up for a long period of complacency. "We got stuck for about 20 years," says Allison Hubel, a cryopreservation expert at the University of Minnesota. "People assumed that things like DMSO were one-size-fits-all solutions. If you have the perception that all the big problems in a field have been solved, there's no motivation for funding."
Tackling unsolved problems is even harder because biobanks have been lackadaisical about establishing standard operating procedures. This is largely due to the fact that they haven't been forced to; biobanks used for research operate outside the purview of regulatory agencies like the Food and Drug Administration. Instead, the industry supervises itself, following voluntary advisories issued by groups like the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories. But only a tiny fraction of US biobanks are members of that organization, which didn't get around to publishing its first set of guidelines until 2005.
The CEO of Coriell, geneticist Michael Christman, acknowledges an immediate need for new standards across the industry as it tries to cope with a massive tech upgrade on the research side. "Tissue banking in particular hasn't been studied in a systematic way, and acquisition of specimens in the hospital isn't consistent," he says. "One surgeon might make sure that a sample is frozen right away, while another calls up the lab and says, 'OK, send somebody over now.' You might have specimens side by side in a bio-repository that were acquired very differently."
Meanwhile, the ascendancy of data-driven science is putting ever greater IT demands on biobanks. In addition to the massive quantities of information generated by molecular analysis, a properly annotated sample library now requires megabytes of anonymized data about patients' medical histories, along with a Web-enabled infrastructure capable of supporting collaborative research projects. Not surprisingly, many biobanks—with decades of legacy records still sitting in flat files in the basement—are struggling to keep up.
Finally, there are hurdles to providing labs with adequate supplies of cells and tissue that have little to do with biobanks themselves. Researchers are notoriously loath to share choice specimens, because unlike data, once they're used, they're gone. And though early diagnosis has been a lifesaving boon for cancer patients, it has also reduced the size and quantity of tumors available for research. Only at a gathering of biobankers can you hear someone say wistfully, "The days of huge tumors are over."
Carolyn Compton looks a little harried and jet-lagged this morning, which is understandable. The NCI's bio-repository chief has come straight off a plane from Beijing to a biobanking conference in Philadelphia and is due back in DC after lunch.
But as the trim 62-year-old steps up to the podium to offer a tart assessment of the state of the industry, her wit and energy return. "We now have the technical ability to get the wrong answers with unprecedented speed," she says. "If we put the wrong stuff into the front end of our analytical pipeline, we will not only lose the war on cancer, we'll pollute the scientific literature with incorrect data that will take us a long time to sort out. This is a crisis that requires disruptive innovation."
The biobankers in the room hang on every word because she is one of their own. Before joining the NCI in 2005, she was a pathologist and biobank manager. Now, with millions of dollars in federal incentives at her disposal, Compton is ideally situated to bring order to the Wild West.
For decades, she was content simply to practice medicine and take care of patients. She taught at Harvard and McGill universities while running bio-repositories for major hospitals like Shriners and Mass General. A former go-go dancer for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, she also earned a following in local gyms, teaching aerobics to housewives who had no idea that the diminutive blonde funking out at the front of the room spent the rest of her day scrutinizing tumors.
After a 2002 conference where she heard some of the top US researchers and government officials admit that the war on cancer had stalled out, she quit academia. "The consensus in the room was that a shortage of high-quality biosamples was the number one roadblock to a cure," she says. "This hit me like a revelation. I realized that seeing patients and doing my own research couldn't possibly be as important as removing this roadblock." During the conference, she met with NCI deputy director Barker, who later created the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research specifically to induce Compton to come to Bethesda.
One of her first major achievements was to put the cancer atlas back on track. Compton's team scoured hospitals, community and academic cancer centers, patient advocacy groups, surgical societies, and tissue archives worldwide for samples worthy of molecular analysis. This three-year effort finally paid off last winter, when the institute made the genetic source code of more than 300 specimens of brain and ovarian cancer available to researchers. At least 20 more tumor types will be sequenced in the next two years, with the results available free online. Recently, the NCI announced that it has identified four new subtypes of glioblastoma. In a stroke of luck, drugs currently in clinical trials for other forms of cancer target the mutations in these tumors as well. If the trials go well, the first treatments for a disease long considered a death sentence could already be halfway to market.
Down the road from NCI headquarters, the centerpiece of Compton's plan to reboot the industry is taking shape. Here, by the end of the year, she will launch caHUB, the command center of a network designed to supply cancer labs with genomics-grade tumors and other biospecimens in industrial quantities. Jump-started by a $60 million stimulus grant, the hub will bring together pathologists, oncologists, sample providers, preservation specialists, patient advocates, ethicists, and computing experts with the common goal of dragging biobanks into the 21st century.
There will be no shiny domes in caHUB's headquarters. Storage will be outsourced to vendors that follow the NCI's best-practice guidelines, formulated after years of probing for weak links in the so-called cold chain.
Some of Compton's ideas seem basic. Most biobanks now evaluate the quality of a sample for the first time when it's about to be shipped to a researcher. Gauging the quality of samples when they're logged into the archive instead will reduce unpleasant surprises later. Compton has made clear to biobank managers that if you want the institute's funding in the new era, you will have to play by its rules.
The reforms that will be tougher to execute require changes in the mindset of surgeons, pathologists, and hospital staff. "Fixing this will require a new level of awareness that the tissue in the bucket is now one of the most important parts of the patient," Compton says, "because analysis of that tissue will determine all treatment decisions downstream."
One vendor that Compton is likely to tap for caHUB is a German startup called Indivumed, which has built a business based on that way of thinking. The brainchild of a ruddy Hamburg oncologist named Hartmut Juhl, the company offers biobanking and genomics analysis at 10 hospitals in the US and Europe. To guarantee the integrity of its molecular data, Indivumed assigns each patient a nurse who ensures that no more than 12 minutes elapse before a sample is fixed or frozen. The nurse also keeps meticulous records of every aspect of the process ("all very German," Juhl says), because even the patient's time under anesthesia affects the results of the analysis. Boutique biobanking like this doesn't come cheap, but it's paid for by companies like Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis in exchange for tissue and data that help them develop new products.
Obviously, not every sample in caHUB can come equipped with its own German nurse. But the NCI's guidelines are serving as a new gold standard for the biobanking industry as a whole. Compton's campaign is also lending momentum to grassroots reform efforts far from the centers of power in Washington. Some of these are aimed at addressing problems that NCI guidelines can't solve, such as the need to move past glycerol and invent a new breed of cryopreservative agents optimized for genomics and cell-based medicine. This year, Hubel and her colleagues at the University of Minnesota launched a think tank called the Biopreservation Core Resource, dedicated to developing new ways of storing cells and tissue.
Hubel has patented a DMSO-free method of preserving fragile cells intended for treatments that require direct infusion into patients. "Sometimes even best practices aren't good enough," Hubel says. "We're here to push the envelope."
The stakes are high, as personalized medicine is finally starting to make good on its hype. In March, researchers at Johns Hopkins University announced that they're developing blood tests for cancer based on mutations in an individual's mitochondrial DNA. Drug companies are embracing genetic testing as a way to revive potential blockbuster medications that were taken off the market because they triggered side effects in volunteers with rare genetic vulnerabilities. Overall, the US market for personalized tests and treatments is expected to double by 2015.
Cancer is only one continent in the atlas of human misery. Everyday killers like diabetes and hypertension may someday yield to the diagnostic power of microRNA and other molecules we don't yet know how to look for. But getting to that future will require thawing out an industry still frozen in the past.
Contributing editor Steve Silberman (firstname.lastname@example.com) wrote about the placebo effect in issue 17.09.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


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Items where Person is "Chiarullo, Enzo J."
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Number of items: 1.
Bolzon, Gabriella and Chiarullo, Enzo J. and Egizabal, Pedro and Estournès, Claude. Constitutive modelling and mechanical characterization of aluminium-based metal matrix composites produced by spark plasma sintering. (2010) Mechanics of Materials, 42 (5). 548-558. ISSN 0167-6636

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love(redirected from loving)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Psychology The personal experience and manifest expression of emotional attachment or bonding to another person
Types Sacred and profane love, and affectional and erotic love. The word is also used in the vernacular as a synonym for like or fancy
Sports medicine Nil, naught (tennis)
1. Profound concern and affection for another person.
2. In psychoanalysis, love may be equated with pleasure, particularly as it applies to the gratifying sexual experiences between individuals.


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Leave it to a YouTube celeb to develop an app that marries largely unscripted video clip with that scripted still photo -- all via an app on your iPhone -- and all for the purpose of quick-and-easy sharing across social networks.
And leave it to Apple to swoop in, ask "Why hasn't anyone done this before?" and offer some development help so they can boost it on iTunes, according to Silicon Alley Insider.
Voila: synergy.
U.S. & World
Actually, it's called GLMPS and it emanates from Paul Robinett, he of millions of YouTube views and videos.
The app captures a few seconds of video before the still photo is snapped -- for example, the set-up time when everyone gets in a line for that "candid" shot in front of a Las Vegas fountain. The video can then be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Tumblr. Each clip has its own URL.
GLMPS' display swaps the video and still shot:shows a larger version of either piece of media: that is, when the photo is dominantly displayed, there's a clickable inset of the video, and vice versa.
GLMPS warranted some Apple and Facebook attention, according to SAI and Robinetti.
"Once (Apple) saw what we were up to, they decided to help us along during development because for them, it's ultimately all about selling phones. And how do you sell phones? With really great apps.
GLMPS is free on the App Store now.


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Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you sit at home and wonder how that dude who butchered "Beautiful Day" managed to win "American Idol." I'm moving to Costa Rica. They never play Hinder's music there. LET'S GO!
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE – 8:00PM (FOX) Oh, so you REALLY think you can dance, do you? Well, you ain't seen NUTHIN' yet! Anyway, FOX's popular dance contest arrives just as "Dancing With The Stars" is leaving us. Because heaven forbid you ever go a week without televised dancing. DANCING IS LIFE. Anyway, I'm hoping for lots of toned bodies in very light amounts of clothing. This is why dance shows will always be with us, people. ANTICIPATION: CHA CHA CHA!
100 QUESTIONS (PREMIERE) – 8:30PM (NBC) This new sitcom is about a girl named Charlotte who takes a 100-question compatibility test for a dating service. Each question she answers serves as an episode theme, as Charlotte hearkens back to some times in her life. It's just like "Slumdog Millionaire," if the slumdog was a rich white girl living in Manhattan. Anyway, I have two questions about this show. First, are online compatibility tests really 100 questions long? That's crazy. What is this, a government security clearance interview? Why do I think the folks at eHarmony will take your love of long walks on the beach and sell it to the highest travel service provider? Second, any girl that takes a half hour to answer each of those 100 questions is someone I would avoid like the clap. I bet she owns a cat. ANTICIPATION: YUPPIFIED!
FLASHFORWARD (FINALE) – 8:00PM (ABC) It's the final episode of this would-be "Lost" successor that never caught on. Anyway, tonight the flash forward day arrives, and that day is… April 29, 2010. Dude, that was a month ago. Your flash forward is dated and useless now! I already know what happens on that day! Justice Sotomayor met with kids from Paint Branch High School! What does it MEAN? ANTICIPATION: FUTUREY!
HOLLYWOOD SALUTES MATT DAMON – 9:00PM (ABC) Uh… isn't Matt a little young for this honor? ANTICIPATION: CLIPPY!
SUNS/LAKERS – 9:00PM (TNT) Pivotal Game 5 in a 2-2 series. All Game 5's in a 2-2 series are described as "pivotal". It's just the word you use. Sure, you could use "leveragey," but no one would take you seriously if you did that. ANTICIPATION: SUPER PIVOTAL!
Thursday Watch List: NOW'S THE TIME WHEN YOU DANCE!
Welcome to Watch List, where we identify five things on TV to watch while you sit at home and wonder how that dude who butchered "Beautiful Day" managed to win "American Idol." I'm moving to Costa Rica. They never play Hinder's music there. LET'S GO!


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GE withdrew from Japan in 2007 as business deteriorated, but is returning in the wake of more attractive feed-in tariff prices post-Fukushima and the possibility of stable demand. The announcement was made at Japan's Wind Expo.
The GE turbine, which has a blade diameter of 103 meters, has been developed to comply with Japanese laws and regulations.
It will work during severe typhoons and has protection against lightning strikes. Along with severe turbulence, these are characteristics of the Japanese climate.
According to Japanese media reports, sales of the new turbine could commence as early as this spring.
Speaking at the event, GE vice-president for renewable energy Anne McEntee said:"With floating turbines and high penetrations of solar and wind there has never been a more dynamic time for renewables.
"As you look at Japan and how you think about the energy mix, Japan's overall energy diversity is key. As you look between 2011-12, with the repositioning of nuclear, you see the growth of needs for natural gas and coal.
"But we see an opportunity, and that opportunity is in renewables. Renewable energy is zero fuel usage, zero emissions and zero water usage. What you see is an opportunity for Japan."


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20 Free CSS3 Forms for Web Developers
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Have anyone seen HbMk2 as utility in Harbour (of course) using like as the old dBase III plus ??
So recently in another forum was presented HbMk2 for this propose by Mr. Alexandre ( alxsts ).
At Prompt Command (DOS screen, let say) you only need to type:
HbMk2 . (with space and one point)
Then it will display a screen like this: Well the rest of commands, you should know !!!
You can type:
This is a good information, whom still misses the old dBase...
Code: Select all
I hope all enjoy, and also you can run HbMk2.exe from C:\hmg.3.1.1\HARBOUR\bin


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FIRST Night at the Phillies (2011)
FIRST President, Dave Scholl, on the HD
Scoreboard in FIRST's video.
The weather was cold and windy, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of everyone in attendance.
|FIRST member, Ryan Licursi ready to throw out the first pitch.
FIRST's video was seen on the HD scoreboard and generated awareness to the sold-out crowd of 44,123, of which approximately 25,000 were in their seats when the video was shown just before the start of the game. After our video, FIRST member Ryan Licursi won the opportunity to throw out the first pitch to the Philly Phanatic. FIRST's name also appeared on the scrolling sidebars throughout the entire game.
In addition, the FIRST's seats in the 400 level provided a fantastic view of the Philadelphia skyline. From this vantage point, our message on the PECO Building crown lights was visible during the entire game.
Prior to the game, several participants were treated to a personal meeting with Phillies closer, Brad Lidge. Brad went to college with Justin Scholl, son of FIRST President, Dave Scholl. Justin was kind enough to ask for Brad's participation, and Brad graciously agreed. He signed autographs, took photos and answered questions from our group. He even offered some pitching techniques!
In the parking lot before game time, the Licursi family hosted a pre-game tailgate with approximately 50 friends and family members joining the fun. There was great food, games, and a fun-filled atmosphere as everyone was looking forward to the game. Many thanks to the Licursi family for their outstanding efforts promoting our event to family and friends.
Also active in promoting the evening was the Kass family. More than 50 friends and family members supported our event. Thank you so much for your hard work on our behalf.
Also active in promoting the evening was the Kass family. More than 50 friends and family members supported our event. Thank you so much for your hard work on our behalf.
FIRST extends many thanks to the all of our volunteers who spread the word and sold so many tickets to friends and family members. We could not have done this without your help.


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Fans of Robot Chicken and DC Comics will want to skip right to the jump to watch the new trailer from Robot Chicken DC Comics Special. We brought you the news of this special earlier this year and this new trailer proves it's been worth the wait.
The special will feature the voices of Seth Green as Batman, Robin and Aquaman, Paul Reubens as The Riddler, Neil Patrick Harris as Two-Face, Alfred Molina as Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Megan Fox as Lois Lane, and Breckin Meyer as Superman, along with a few heroes and villains you may have forgotten over the years. Hit the jump to watch the hilarious trailer!
Check out the new trailer for Robot Chicken DC Comics Special below (via IGN):
Look for the special to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on September 9th. Here's a look at their previous press release:
First they tantalized you with three Emmy®-nominated Robot Chicken Star Wars specials, now Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, in partnership with DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, bring you the awesomeness of the DC Comics universe of characters as only Robot Chicken can, with amazing guest stars and the stop-motion sketch comedy you've come to love after five seasons of the popular Adult Swim series.
The all-star cast includes Green as Batman, Robin and the put-upon Aquaman, Paul Reubens as The Riddler, Neil Patrick Harris as Two-Face, Alfred Molina as Lex Luthor, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Megan Fox as Lois Lane, Breckin Meyer as Superman, plus Abe Benrubi, Alex Borstein, Clare Grant, Tara Strong, Senreich, Tom Root, and Zeb Wells.
Green said, "Having been raised on DC Comics and the Super Friends vs. Legion of Doom, it's exciting to tell a whole Robot Chicken story within this awesome universe." Senreich adds, "We've been working with Geoff Johns for over 15 years, so playing together on this special only made it more fun to work in the worlds we all love so dearly."
The Robot Chicken DC Comics Special airs this Fall and features many Robot Chicken favorites including the Robot Chicken Nerd, the Humping Robot, Composite Santa, and the Mad Scientist who will be joined by the DC characters to poke fun at those with the most impressive powers and the lesser ones who can't really be called superheroes.


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Nicole Scherzinger's use of the term "effing" during a live broadcast of Britain's "The X Factor" last year has been deemed "offensive language" by U.K. TV regulators.
Broadcasting regulators at Ofcom received 52 complaints after the pop star introduced one of her acts by declaring "I'm so proud, this is James effing Arthur" on the talent show last November.
Ofcom chiefs deemed the phrase, which is used as a substitute for a swear word, inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience and said it was "capable of causing a certain amount of offense."
According to Ofcom, the show's judges were reminded about the use of bad language on the family-friendly show.
No further action will be taken, while Scherzinger will return to the judging panel when the 10th season of "The X Factor" kicks off later this year.


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Snapshots from Paris: Ice Cream at Berthillon
There's a reason that Berthillon is the most famous glacier (ice cream maker) in Paris. And that reason is their wild strawberry sorbet. No, wait: it's their caramel au gingembre ice cream (it tastes like a ginger snap). Or the agenaise. Definitely the agenaise (prunes with armagnac).
Founded in 1954, discovered in the 1960s by none other than Messieurs Gault & Millau, Berthillon has become synonymous with the Île St. Louis. On a hot summer day, if you walk past Nôtre Dame and across the bridge that links the Île de la Cité to the Île St. Louis, the first thing you'll see is a line of ice cream lovers trailing from a café, waiting for their cones.
I queue up and scan the list of flavors. No matter how long the line is, it always takes me right up until the moment I order to decide which flavors I want most that day. I take my scoops to the banks of the river, or cross back over to the park behind Nôtre Dame before the ice cream has the chance to melt. Sitting with a cone of Berthillon ice cream, watching the city go by, is one of the great joys of Paris. Often there are musicians playing on the bridge, and for a moment, life is simple.
Though many shops on the island sell Berthillon ice cream, the original store is on Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île and it's definitely worth seeking out. I stopped in, trying some seasonal flavors and stopping to chat with Muriel Delpuech, granddaughter of Monsieur Berthillon himself.
29-31 Rue Saint-Louis en l'Île 75004 Paris, (map) +33 (0)1 43 54 31 61; berthillon.fr
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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2020 Porsche 911On
Expert review of the 2020 Porsche 911 provides the latest look at trim-level features and specs, performance, safety, and comfort. We reviews the 2020 Porsche 911 Price where consumers can find detailed information on specs, fuel economy, transmission and safety. Explore the design, performance and technology features of the 2020 Porsche 911. See models and pricing,


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I was made to sign on 2G audit report: R P Singh
Former CAG official R P Singh, who has created a storm with his statements on the 2G spectrum allocation audit, on Saturday claimed that his superiors gave him "written order" following which he signed on the final report giving a presumptive loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
Singh, who headed the CAG team that audited the 2G spectrum allocation, maintained that he had never put the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in his draft report.
"They (senior CAG officials) told me that this is the final report and asked me through a written order to sign on it. So I followed the instruction and I signed the report," Singh told PTI.
He claimed "there was no opportunity to show one's difference of opinion."
"I am their field office. I prepared the report. Why I removed those figures I explained. I gave them the reasons for the removal and thereafter submitted it to the higher authorities. This is their report and their responsibility. They again put those loss figures. What can I do in this?"
Click on NEXT to read further...
Image: Former CAG official R P Singh
I was made to sign on 2G audit report: R P Singh
To a question whether he had differed on the figures quoted in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)'s final report, he said it was not a question of difference.
"I had removed these figures from my report. Why I removed these figures from my report I had explained. But they did not agree to my explanations and they incorporated those figures in the final report.
"And they told me that this is the final report and asked me through a written order to sign on it. So I followed the instruction and I signed the report," Singh said.
Singh had in his draft report given a figure of Rs 2,645 crore as loss on account of 2G spectrum sale in 2008.
Asked why he decided to speak now on the issue, Singh said "2G auction has just closed and price has been found through market discovery and the figure that has been found is very less. The CAG report had cited much higher loss.
"Some reporters had asked about low price discovery. I said whatever figure is in the report that is presumptive loss and this is the actual price discovery."
Click on NEXT to read further...
Image: CAG of India Vinod Rai
I was made to sign on 2G audit report: R P Singh
He said the CAG had already said that the presumptive loss figure was debatable, disputable and questionable and "this is not actual loss".
"This is actual discovery through market forces. So obviously there is a difference and this is what I told journalists," Singh said.
The CAG report tabled in Parliament in 2010 had created a political storm. The controversy over spectrum allocation also led to cancellation to 122 licences by the Supreme Court in February this year.
Saying that PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi never asked him any question, Singh said, "Nobody asked me any question on the presumptive loss thing. It was a CAG report. After finalisation of report I was directed to sign on it".
Photographs: Reuters


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Eric Schmidt is the owner of a mansion in Montecito, California that's so beautiful and gorgeous that even the rich and famous use it to hold their weddings and parties. But apparently, not anymore. And it's not because Schmitty is no longer the Google CEO...but because of Kim Kardashian. What?
Kim Kardashian was one of those rich and famous who used Schmitty's house for her wedding (with Brooklyn Net Kris Humphries) and has apparently spawned a curse over the 1926 George Washington Smith-designed Spanish mansion (formerly owned by Ellen Degeneres). According to Radar Online:
Before Kim, the home was often used in the Summer months as a place where the rich could hold their private weddings—but now couples are shunning the estate because they think the place is jinxed
It's a combination of Kimmy K's "nouveau riche" / reality TV-ness / failed marriage that's turning off people, but I can't help but feel sad for ol' Eric Schmidt. He gets caught in an icky affair; loses control at Google and now gets jipped because of Kim Kardashian. Such is life, I guess. [Radar Online via The Verge, Image Credit Getty]


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See more from the Pali Bergamo collection.
This nursery set includes Crib, Double Dresser
Nestled against the foothills of the Italian Alps, the magnificent peaks tower over the cultural little gem of Bergamo. The snowcapped slopes and delightful winding streets full of history and culture beckon skiers and tourists to admire the beauty. It is the stunning angles and textures of the mountains that inspired our stunning Bergamo Collection. Designed to highlight curves and contours with layers of beautiful wood, The Bergamo Collection brings together our commitment to beauty and the striking design of the rugged landscape of the Alps into a collection that is as eye-catching as the mountains that inspired it.
The Bergamo Forever Crib is a textured masterpiece that echoes the exciting dimensions of the Alps and brings a sense of style and adventure into any nursery. The legs and base piece of the footboard are highlighted by layered wooden pieces that are cut with striking curves and nicely defined feet. The headboard is subtly curved and designed with an inset piece that runs along the length. The headboard, footboard, and the connecting sidepieces are all finished on the top with a curved piece of molding that provides depth and character. From any angle, this stunning crib is a picture of complexity and depth that is blended with quality and beauty.
Designed to grow with your little one, the Bergamo Forever Crib transitions easily from a crib to a toddler bed with the addition of the Bergamo Toddler Rail. As your child continues to grow and experience more adventures of his or her own, the bed can be converted into both a child's day bed and a full-sized bed.
Our commitment to design and style is always paired with our desire to create quality pieces that look beautiful for years to come. The Bergamo Forever Crib is crafted from sustainable wood and then finished with finishes that are regularly tested to ensure that they exceed the required standards for lead. It is available in both White and Earth, a rich brown finish that echoes the deep colors of our planet and our commitment to the Earth that we all share.
The Bergamo Forever Crib seamlessly blends texture and interest with the beauty of quality craftsmanship.
The Bergamo Double Dresser is a perfectly stylish place to store all of the new things that come with a new little one. Created with a sense of the contours that are an integral part of the mountains above the town of Bergamo, the styling of this dresser is both fresh and involved. The legs of the piece are defined by two layers of wood that provide a sense of depth and intrigue as they curve delicately toward the ground, while the top of the dresser is highlighted by a piece of molding.
The sense of style is complemented by the functional configuration of four large drawers and three small ones providing a place for you to conveniently store both large and small items with ease. Designed with rounded edges, the drawers are crafted from solid pine and slide easily with full-extension drawer glides. Our commitment to quality and beauty is evident in this piece that is made from sustainable woods and finished with non-toxic finishes that are regularly tested to be sure that they exceed the required standards for lead. The Bergamo Double Dresser is available in both White and Earth.
The Bergamo Double Dresser is a stylishly designed dresser with plenty of storage space.
The unique foots and legs to the Pali Bergamo Forever Crib make this crib look regal, perfect for your little prince or princess. With the rest of the Pali Bergamo Collection and Pali Conversion Rails available on our website, your baby will continue to grow into royalty. For different styles look at the rest of the Pali Furniture and Pali Cribs we offer. We also offer Mattresses for your convenience.
View More Pali Nursery Sets
View More Pali Cribs
View More Pali Conversion Kits
Additional Info
|Product Dimensions
|Type of Wood
|Poplar with Veneers
|Manufactured In
|Made in USA


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Oh, our crazy Tennessee weather. Last week we had highs in the 20's. Yesterday it was 77 when I left to pick the kids up from school. When I sent them off to school this morning, it was 67. An hour later, and the temps have dropped to 52 and will continue to drop. An ice storm is planned for tonight.
You know what that means? Everyone (and by that, I mostly mean Brian) is dreaming of a snow day tomorrow. It's Tennessee, so it's really a toss-up as to whether or not our weather forecasters are correct or not.
Just in case we're snowed/iced in (HA!), I'm going to the grocery store. Actually, that grocery trip was planned long before the ice, but it's a Tennessee joke that they clean out the stores in preparation for the storms that rarely come.
We put the tree up Friday and I snapped a picture or two.
You know those mothers who take beautiful, dreamy holiday photos? Yeah, I'm clearly going to have to keep working on that.


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Nikon DF Body Only - Silver
The Nikon Df packs modern technology in an easy to use retro-inspired body
With a full frame sensor similar to the high-end Nikon D4 and high speed focusing borrowed from the D610, the Df delivers exceptional images in dificult lighting, at a fast 5.5 frames per second. The cameras small size, combined with the 35mm full frame sensor, makes it an excellent fit for photographers seeking convenience without sacrificing image quality.
- 16 megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor
- Maximum 5.5 fps continuous shooting
- 39-point AF system with 9 cross-type AF points
- Compatible with virtually all Nikon F-mount lenses (including pre-Ai standard)


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With the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of a special operations force commando team on May 1, calls are intensifying to pull US troops out of Afghanistan more quickly and change US strategy in what has become America's longest war.
After all, the argument goes, it was strikes by unmanned US Predator drones that ultimately drove Mr. bin Laden from the ungoverned tribal areas of Pakistan to the comparative affluent garrison town of Abbottabad, and it was US intelligence agencies that found him there. A premier team of Navy SEALs proved how effective the US military can be in small numbers.
Vice President Joe Biden and other US officials have long been advocating for America to end its troop-intensive counterinsurgency strategy of winning hearts and minds, and instead opt for a "counterterrorism" strategy, scaling back the number of soldiers on the ground and concentrating on promptly striking terrorist cells when they crop up. The bin Laden raid has now become their Exhibit A.
The "Biden" view, however, still has its share of opponents. The notion of a smaller, more flexible military relying on special forces strikes was tried – and failed – in Iraq before the surge, they say. To abandon the Afghan surge now, when it is beginning to show some signs of progress, would be to ignore the lessons of Iraq, they add.
In 2009, the Pentagon and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ultimately prevailed in convincing President Obama that a surge of US troops was needed in Afghanistan, with 100,000 currently fighting throughout the country today. But the bin Laden operation has now given critics of that approach fresh momentum.
"I hope the killing of bin Laden signals the chapter of our military being extended in that part of the world will end, and we will conclude that actionable intelligence and clandestine operations will allow us to deal with our enemies effectively," says Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) of Ohio, a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee.
Critics speak out
On Monday, a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers similarly said the death of bin Laden "requires us to examine our policy of nation building in Afghanistan."
"We believe it is no longer the best way to defend America against terror attacks, and we urge you to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan that are not crucial to the immediate national security objective of combating Al Qaeda," wrote the congressmen, led by Reps. Peter Walsh (D) of Vermont and Jason Chaffetz (R) of Utah.
In a time of economic crisis, a strategy that relies more heavily on special-forces operations may offer more return on what is currently a tremendous investment, both in money and in political will, says retired Marine Col. T.X. Hammes, a senior research fellow with the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University.
"We said we got into this war to get Al Qaeda guys," he says. But as their ranks in Afghanistan diminish and the costs of the war escalate, "it's getting harder and harder to argue that," and in turn, to justify continued US troop presence on the ground, he adds.
Stay the course
The Biden counterterrorism approach has its detractors, most notably Secretary Clinton, as well as military leaders including Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Afghan war and future director of the CIA. They have plenty of supporters on Capitol Hill, as well. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, calls the prospect of a stepped-up US troop pullout a "catastrophic blunder."
Opponents to counterterrorism point out that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was enamored of special operations forces and a small footprint in Iraq – an approach that was largely discredited after violence began to ebb on the heels of a surge of US troops into the country.
For its part, the White House has said that bin Laden's death will not change US policy. Though troops are scheduled to begin department Afghanistan in July, the numbers are widely expected to be small. "Our agenda, the president's agenda has not changed at all in the last eight days," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
Indeed, to some experts, bin Laden's death is evidence that the current counterinsurgency strategy is working in the most violent areas of the country. "What we're slowing seeing is that the strategy is actually starting to work in the south. It has actually seized the momentum back from the insurgency, and has them on the back heels," says Jeffrey Dressler, an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. "I find it troubling that given the state of play we're talking about rushing to the exits."
The point is not simply to eliminate Al Qaeda operatives, which are estimated to number in the dozens in Afghanistan, Mr. Dressler says. Troop operations in Afghanistan, in conjunction Pakistani military operations across the border, are designed to strike not only Al Qaeda, but also Taliban and other insurgent groups that work with the terrorist group.
"They're designed to squeeze these guys in between, keep them as constrained as possible, and cut down on the amount of terrain they're able to use," he says.
US military officials tend to agree, noting that US troops are still needed for a wide array of other security needs, such as training Afghan security forces.
Special operations strike forces like the Navy SEALs and Delta soldiers often have "great impact, but they're not the be-all and end-all," says Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commanding general of the first Marine Expeditionary Force, who recently returned from serving as commander of US troops in southwest Afghanistan. "You don't play golf with one club."
Consequences of change
Pull US troops out, and Al Qaeda operatives, in cooperation with other insurgent groups, will move into the ungoverned spaces and establish bases. That is essentially what had happened in Afghasnistan before the surge, Dressler says: "Things spiraled out of control, and nothing short of a massive troop surge was going to get the job done."
It also happened last spring. When military commanders closed small US combat outposts in the violent but remote Korengal Valley to instead focus on protecting Afghan population centers, Al Qaeda operatives entered and set up training camps.
Yet what happened in the Korengal Valley has also bolstered proponents of the smaller footprint "targeted strikes" approach. After Al Qaeda moved back in, US military aircraft bombed the camp and killed a number of foreign fighters, including a wanted Saudi militant.
If US troops pull out of Afghanistan, the Pentagon can do the same thing – destroy training camps if they crop up, says David Rittgers, a former special forces officer and analyst at the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. What's more, in Afghanistan, unlike Pakistan, US forces would have more leeway to operate, says Mr. Rittgers.
"It would be very similar to what we're doing in Pakistan," he says, "but we'd have more freedom of movement to use drones, and even to use" troops or strike forces.


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WEST READING, Pa. — Thousands of Christmas carolers gathered to sing outside the home of a terminally ill Pennsylvania girl.
The singers were fulfilling one of 8-year-old Delaney Brown's wishes: a huge holiday sing-along outside her West Reading home. On her "Team Laney" Facebook page, a picture of Delaney giving two thumbs up was accompanied by the text, "I can hear you now!!! Love you!"
Delaney was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in May. Her family says earlier this week doctors gave her only days to live.
Supporters have been trying to fulfill a number of Delaney's wishes. She video chatted with singer Taylor Swift on Friday, her eighth birthday.


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Automated speed cameras, installed around area schools three years ago with the goal of punishing dangerous drivers and making the streets safer for children, have caught hundreds of school buses speeding near the schools they serve, often with children aboard, a Baltimore Sun analysis has found.
Privately owned buses have received at least 800 automated speed citations in Baltimore City, while city-owned buses have accumulated more than 50, records show. And Baltimore County public school buses have triggered speed cameras more than 100 times over the past two years.
The $40 tickets are issued only to vehicles recorded driving at least 12 mph over the speed limit. More than two dozen school buses were clocked 20 mph or more over the limit in the city, including one that hit 74 mph one afternoon in February on West Cold Spring Lane near the Poly-Western high school campus.
Protecting schoolchildren was a key justification when the General Assembly voted in 2009 to allow speed cameras statewide. In addition to highway work zones, the devices are permitted in designated "school zones," defined in the law as being within a half-mile radius of a school.
Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke called the volume of school bus citations in the city "a very serious issue." Many city students who ride school buses — as opposed to taking mass transit or other means — have special needs or are in elementary school, which Clarke said heightens her concern.
"If we don't do something about the companies and the drivers picking up these tickets, we're not helping to prevent accidents," said Clarke, who chairs the City Council's education committee. "There will be accidents if these habits are not turned around."
Officials at both the city and the county school systems say it is unacceptable for buses to speed.
Both districts say they require their drivers — not taxpayers — to pay the citations, and ticketed drivers face a graduated series of disciplinary measures.
But the city school system's own records show that officials have an uncertain grasp on the issue. For example, a Jeep Liberty registered to the city schools' police program has accumulated 28 speed camera tickets in the city and Baltimore County, records show. Yet the school system said this week it has a record of just 15.
City school officials also acknowledge they have no way of knowing how many privately owned buses have gotten tickets while carrying public school students, because the companies aren't required to notify the district when their buses receive citations.
Using partial speed camera data provided by City Hall, The Sun identified 122 citations that were issued to privately owned buses that have each gotten five or more tickets. School district officials checked their records and found that 96 of the violations occurred with children on board.
Barber Transportation Inc.'s buses got 24 of those tickets. Company representative Veronica Robinson expressed surprise at the numbers, saying Barber monitors tickets its drivers receive. "Anything that goes beyond two, they're reprimanded and they lose their [bus] run," she said. The most that any driver has gotten was four, she said, and "he's no longer working here."
A Barber bus that has gotten 15 citations, at least eight while students were aboard, is a "spare bus and is driven by numerous drivers," Robinson said. On Jan. 13, a camera detected that bus going 57 mph in a 25 mph zone on Hillen Road, not far from Yorkwood Elementary School.
Rams Bus Service owner Karen Vora questioned school system figures showing four of her company's buses amassed a combined 25 speed camera tickets with students aboard (and five more with none aboard). Asked about the tickets, she said none of her drivers have gotten more than two, and she said her six or seven current drivers rotate driving duties among the buses.
Any speed camera ticket is unacceptable, Vora said: "Whether there are kids or not, they should not be speeding — that's the bottom line."
Representatives of several other companies whose buses got tickets declined to comment or did not return calls.
In a statement to The Sun, the city school system said it will begin requiring contractors to report speed camera tickets, at least when a driver gets more than one. As school bus contracts are renewed, "we will be asking that they monitor and respond swiftly and appropriately to speeding by their drivers and that they inform our transportation office of drivers who have received multiple citations."
The absence of such a reporting requirement alarms the Parent and Community Advisory Board, a city schools' parent organization.
"The contractual agreement between City Schools and the private bus companies should include an agreement to report on speed camera tickets," the board said in a statement. "We urge City Schools to expedite the process of inclusion of this reporting in these agreements for the safety of all involved, especially our children."
"We are quite concerned as our children receiving bus service are typically the city's most vulnerable student populations," the statement added.
A camera overlooking a stretch of Greenspring Avenue near Kennedy Krieger High School, which serves special education students, has recorded 57 school buses speeding, most in the city. Tops in Baltimore County was the camera at 3800 Washington Ave., site of Milford Mill Academy, with 22.
The city and Baltimore County have the largest speed camera programs in the region. Howard County has a smaller program, with two cameras, while Carroll, Harford and Anne Arundel counties don't have automated speed camera devices. Unlike the city and the county, Howard refused to provide citation data containing license tag numbers, claiming that state law forbids it.
"Student safety is paramount and the district's position is that speeding is not acceptable under any circumstance," the city school district said in its statement, issued by spokeswoman Edie House-Foster. "Our expectation is that vendors take traffic violations in school zones with utmost seriousness."
City school officials said buses contracted or owned by the system made more than 800 trips a day last year, logging some 23,000 miles each day.
All district employees are required to pay traffic tickets and to show proof to their supervisors. Yet in "limited instances," officials say, the system has had to pay tickets incurred by workers whose employment ended with tickets unpaid. The district paid Baltimore County $280 to satisfy seven tickets that one employee got while driving the school police Jeep Liberty on Putty Hill Avenue.
As of last month, the district said it had 67 unpaid tickets, a figure that encompasses all system-owned vehicles and not just buses.
In Baltimore County, records show county buses have gotten at least 117 speed camera tickets. School board president Lawrence Schmidt said he was unaware of that.
"Obviously the Board of Education doesn't want our bus drivers speeding, whether they have children or don't have children," he said.
He said the number of tickets should be viewed in the context of how many miles county school buses travel. According to the district, its buses log 1,933 trips a day covering 80,294 miles.
Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said drivers who violate traffic laws are subject to a "progressive scale of disciplinary measures," though he did not know whether or how often those have been used.
"One ticket is too many," he said, adding, "Any time a driver receives a citation is a cause for concern and for us to take it seriously."
Automated speed cameras, installed around area schools three years ago with the goal of punishing dangerous drivers and making the streets safer for children, have caught hundreds of school buses speeding near the schools they serve, often with children aboard, a Baltimore Sun analysis has found.


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Points Credit : 6 points Currently valued at $0.60
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, All NaturalIncludes 3 egg rollsIngredients:Wrapper: water, non-GMO rice flour, non-GMO corn starch, non-GMO canola oil, eggs, baking powder, salt, soy lecithin.
Filling: Cabbage, yellow onions, vermicelli (peas, green beans, water), carrots, sesame oil, scallions, mushrooms, evaporated cane juice, salt, ginger, black pepper, yeast extract.This product contains: Egg and soy
This product is manufactured in a facility that also processes wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, eggs and shellfish.
NUTRITION FACTSServing Size 3oz (84g)Servings per container 3Amount per servingCalories 120Calories from fat 30Total fat 2g - 3%Saturated Fat 0g - 0%Trans Fat 0gCholesterol 0mg - 0%Sodium 380mg - 16%Total Carbohydrate 14g - 5%Dietary Fiber 1g - 4%Sugars 3gProtein 2gVitamin A 20%Vitamin C 20%Calcium 2%Iron 2%Preparation Instructions:Microwave Method:Place egg rolls on a paper towel or on microwave-safe dish.Heat on high for 2-3 minutes, or until heated through.Cool for 2 minutes.
Quick Method:Preheat oven to 450 degrees.Place egg rolls on plate and microwave on high for 1 minute.Place egg rolls on baking tray.Cook for 12-15 minutes or until heated through (turn egg rolls once during cooking).Conventional Method:Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Place egg rolls on baking tray.Cook for 20-22 minutes or until heated through (turn egg rolls once during cooking).


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September swoons have become an Ozzie trademark
…Here are the dirty details:
• 2004 – White Sox go 17-12 in September, swept by Minnesota Twins.
• 2005 – White Sox go 17-12, swept by Los Angeles Angels and see lead shrink to 1 1/2 games before running off five wins to end the season and 16 of 17 to end the season as World Series champs.
• 2006 – White Sox go 12-16, including a sweep by the Oakland A's.
• 2007 – White Sox go 15-12 and avoid a sweep but finish at 72-90 and in fourth place.
• 2008 – White Sox go 12-15 in September in what becomes a war of attrition with the fading Twins. The White Sox won three straight games to end the season as Central champs, but lost five straight, including being swept out of first place on September 25 by the Twins to create such dire straits.
• 2009 – White Sox go 13-14 and are swept by the Twins.
• 2010 – White Sox go 14-13 and are swept by the Twins and Tigers, essentially eliminating them from the division race.
• 2011 – White Sox are 5-12 and will have to go 10-1 in the home stretch to finish better than .500 for the month. Two sweeps by Detroit nailed the coffin shut on the 2011 season.
Seems like September is sweeps month in the south side…
Other White Sox links:
- James looks at Adam Dunn's future. Speaking of Adam Dunn, he hit his 1st eXtra Base Hit of a leftie for the 2011 season today, September 18.
- Besides the linked above report card, Brett Ballantini posted his latest Sox player value calculations. "Through 150 games, Dunn and Rios have cost the team $39.8 million" says Brett.
- Gordon Beckham on his missing offensive potential: " I really believe that it's in there and it's waiting to come out."
- Shane Lindsay has a tough off-season ahead of him. Help the guy out Jerry!


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3 officers, male suspect burned in confrontation
CEDAR HILL, Texas (AP) — A man armed with a bottle of flammable liquid set himself and a police officer ablaze Wednesday before another officer shot the suspect at a suburban Dallas shopping strip, police said.
Three officers were burned with the suspect at a Cedar Hill chicken wing restaurant, with one being airlifted to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, city spokesman Corky Brown said. The suspect also was taken to Parkland, while the other two officers were taken to a nearby hospital, he said. Information on the severity of their injuries was not available.
The man was suspected in a nearby burglary when officers pursued him into the Wingstop restaurant and tried to subdue him about 3 p.m. Wednesday, police Lt. Charles Reiss said. Witnesses said a female officer brandished a stun gun and the man yelled, "I'm going to set myself and the restaurant on fire."
The suspect, who reeked of gasoline and was holding a bottle of flammable liquid, set himself and the female officer on fire, Reiss said.
"Ten seconds into the Wingstop, you hear screaming," said witness Robert Gonzales. "That's when the man left the Wingstop completely on fire. He looked like a human torch. He had no facial features."
The female officer also ran into the lot, fully ablaze, Gonzales said, so he and another man, Spencer Stroud, ran to tried to smother the flames. Stroud said the suspect continued to pour liquid from the bottle on himself.
The other officers chased the blazing suspect and tried to smother his flames, before one officer finally shot the man, Brown said. Aside from the bottle, a yellow lighter was found at the scene, Brown said.


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This is a DOTA2 ICON CHEAT SHEET with all item icons arranged based on type. e.g. weapons, potions, headdress etc
Use this to compare the visual consistency of the items based on what type they are. E.g. Clarity should look like potion compared to others etc.
Feel free to link to this page or the images.
NOTE: This is in no way trying to replace the existing layout in the in-game Shop!
This thread will be updated as icons are updated by Valve.
PS: Can any moderator make this a sticky? (Edit: Done! Thanks BLABLAFU!)


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We are seeking Automotive Mechanic/Technicians
Requirements for Automotive Mechanic/Technician
- Diagnose and provide quality vehicle repairs. From Engine repair to Brakes, Suspension, Heating and AC, to All Drive-ability concerns and everything in between.
- Consistently deliver superior Quality Control
- Must work well with other team members
- Maximize personal productivity
- Assist in maintaining shop image
- Hiring A,B, and C Technicians
- Up to a $20,000 Sign on Bonus
- 401K Matching
- Paid vacations, Sick time, and Uniforms
We offer a Competitive Salary, Growth Opportunities and Excellent Benefits to our Automotive Mechanic/Technicians


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