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-- Bruce Coville, The Last Hunt
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Maple Leaf Pendant, Doped up Kitty
This is the maple leaf from Karey Solomon's book Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf. I really like the way it came out in Yarnplayer's size 80 "Sugar Maple". As you can see, it's going to hang at an angle as a pendant. I like that, too.
I highly recommend this book of Karey's if you enjoy tatting shapes from nature. I've made many of the designs in it, several of them more than once, and they are all lovely. Karey really took the time to capture the shape of each leaf and get the stitch count just right. She also explores a number of different techniques; this one uses roll stitch at each of the points.
Poor Squijum had to have a tooth pulled on Thursday. He is very young for such a thing; the vet said that when cats get periodontal disease at this young an age it is usually genetic. They gave him a narcotic that is supposed to last for three days, so he spends a fair amount of time just staring into space...
He also keeps rubbing my legs and demanding to be petted (not that that's a hardship for me, of course!) and giving much harder head-butts than usual. All this is basically the feline equivalent of a person high out of their mind going, "I LOVE YOU, MAN!!!" And needless to say, he is thoroughly enjoying his current diet of all canned food!
10 comments:
I really like the leaf. It's so pretty and the colours are perfect! :)ReplyDelete
Poor, spaced-out kitty! I've often wondered if all-dry food is a good idea. I think they should have variety. (Of course, I don't have a cat, but I do 'babysit' one!)ReplyDelete
I LOVE that leaf! What a great design by Karey, and beautifully tatted by you! And excellent color thread, although size 80 would be difficult for me. Did the original have beads? They look beautiful here. I'm curious about the roll stitch! There's so much I still haven't explored in tatting!Replies
I added the beads. Size 80 was necessary to make it small enough for a pendant!Delete
Nutritionally, canned food is much better for cats, since it's closer to what they're designed to eat. On the other hand, dry food leaves less plaque on their teeth and is far more affordable for those of us who don't have a money tree growing in a pot on our porch!
Hey Squijum,ReplyDelete
Enjoy your drugs, man! If you have a genetic thing with your teeth, that means you will get these great tablets again sometime! Whoohoo!
Also, when you are taking medication, you can get away with absolute murder - you can ruin thread and tear up stuff and get away with anything you want, because SHE is so worried about you! Have a blast!
Your buddy,
Gian, Squijum is currently staring into space again and has no interest in looking at the computer. I must say that this is a good thing, because you are a naughty influence!Delete
Actually, as soon as his gums heal he's going to start receiving daily oral care, so a genetic tooth condition might not be as much fun as you think!
You helped me figure out this pattern exactly two years ago, when I first discovered it and was stymied and it is one of my all time favourites. I love it.
This one you have tatted is one of the prettiest I have seen! It looks great in this thread and I like the way you placed the beads - perfect! It will be a lovely pendant.
Fox : )
That's a really lovely leaf! Adding a little doodad to the top is nice.ReplyDelete
You did a wonderful job on that leaf! The beads really add a bit of extra punch, don't they?ReplyDelete
Heehee, stoned kitty, at least it's a happy high and he isn't screaming and tearing things up.
Beautiful leaf, I must out this book on my every growing wish list.ReplyDelete
Poor soul I do hope he feels better today, it's not good feeling sorry for oneself and not knowing what's happen to yourself. Please give him a cuddle from me.
Your leaf pendant is super!!! :)ReplyDelete
And I love the beads on it!! :)


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WildFlower's Story
I was diagnosed on August 17, 1998. I first notice a small bit on my left bust and thought at that time it was a flea bite. That's what it started out to be so I waited a couple of weeks, to get hold of my Dr. By then my bust was very warm and had a red rash on it. Plus on top of that it was itching and getting very big.
When I went in to see my Dr. he checked my bust and found a lump, so he sent me down to have a mammogram done. During that time I had a funny feeling that something wasn't right. I waited for them to tell me the results and the tech there told me that they had found three small spots and that they suspected it to be cancer. Well that just blew my world apart and at that time I said no you don't know what you are talking about. The tech said that they would send the report back to the Dr. and that the Dr. would give me a call. He called the next day and wanted me to go to a surgery Dr. and have an ultrasound done. It took me two weeks to get the courage up to go to this Dr. When I went I took my best friend Robin with me to hold my hand as I would have not gone because I was so scared. The nurses were really nice and talked with me and then I met the Dr. He explaned what he wanted to do and I got to see the tumor on the screen. By this time it had grown from a pin point to the size of a quarter, so he wanted to take some samples from my bust. I didn't watch at this time but could watch it on the screen, he had given me a shot to deaden the area and then put the needle in. He took three samples and sent them into the lab to get check for cancer. That was the longest week I have ever waited. At this time my husband was out of town and I had to tell him over the phone what was going on. The next week I got a call from the Dr. to come in and I went in to see him and he told me that it was IBC. He wanted me to go over and see Dr. Goldberg the next day. This was Monday and so Tues I was over there again with Robin to see Dr. Goldberg. He explained what they wanted to do and so that day they started me in on Adriamycin/Cytoxan. Before I had my chemo they had me go and take a Bone Scan plus blood work to find out if it had spread. At that time it hadn't. Then I was sent back over to the surgery Dr. to be told that they had to put a port in. So they put me on the schedule for surgery in the hospital. I went in the next week and had the port put in and they waited for a week before I got my chemo. I had 6 weeks of this chemo and during that time I started losing my hair, so I got it cut except for some hair down the middle. That was my racing strip and my goal to keep it until my hair start growning back. I was really sick to my stomack during this time of chemo. After those 6 weeks I went back to my surgery Dr. who was and he took a look at my bust and told me that he still couldn't do surgery. One reason was because there was not enough margins around the rash to do the surgery. And he was afraid if he did it now that the rash would come back. So I went back to ONC and he put me on Taxol for 8 weeks and my rash and the bigness of my bust started going down. Then on January 24 I went in for surgery and he took my bust, when I woke in my room I was really sick to my stomach. The poor nurse couldn't figure out how to stop the sickness until we both got to talk about the pain pill and sickness pill. That they were giving it to be both once it was stop I was better. I spent 2 days in the hospital and two drains that were a pain, but they had to be there. I was finally allowed to go home and sleep in my own bed. I had learned in the hosptial how to measure and empty my drains. Both came out almost at the same time and really didn't hurt that much. My husband was a great support for me during the chemo and surgery, he was always there for me. I had some problems when the drains came out with the fuild coming back a lot of times. And a lot of visit to the Dr early in the morning or late at night. And having to put in two drains to get the fuild out. During this time I notice that a rash had started on my scar so I went back to surgery Dr. and he took another sample and it turned out that my skin rash had come back. So they sent me over to the radiation people and they started me in on radiation. I had about 2 weeks of radiation. When they got me there they told me that I would get a small sunburn on my scar and that they would give me something for it. They weren't kidding about a sunburn it is now a tan. I finished with the radiation and had a week off before I went back to ONC and saw Dr. Goldberg. He suggested that I do the stem cell replacement, because it would give me a chance to get rid of the cancer. That was another blow to the system and I wasn't ready for that. So they gave me some paper work to read about it. And then they started me back on the Taxol for 6 weeks until my paper work could go thru. During that time I talked to lots of people and learned a lot of things about it. At that time I wasn't ready for somebody to almost kill me and then bring me back from death. By the time the paper work came back, the Dr. had changed his mind about it. He asked me if I would like to go on with the hard chemo and I said yes. So he put me back on Taxol for a couple of days and then started me in on the Herceptin. This had to be done in the hospital for the first time, so that the nurses could watch for any problems. I was then sent home very sleepy. I went in once a week for the Herceptin/Taxol for 8 weeks and then was taken off because of an infection that had started up. It took about 3 weeks of being on meds at that time to get rid of the infection (I thought) then when I was put back on it the infection came back. So was sent over to the hospital for a Muga Scan to see if my heart was ok. It was. Then back to the Dr. and was put on Navelbine for 1 week and more infection. Finally got it under control after more meds. Now I have been off chemo for a month and had my blood work, Bone Scan, Muga Scan and CT Scan and they have come out clear.
My chemo will start up again this next week and will continue for 6 months off and on. Sometimes I get really afraid that this cancer will come back but I've made it this far and will continue to fight if it does come back. But it won't.

subset: commoncrawl


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The guys at Agent Online asked us to create a company profile, welcome video and 5 explainer videos for their new business. Agent Online is an online estate agent that offers a property selling service geared at saving their customers huge amounts of money by not having the expensive overheads of high street branches. They needed a company profile for their home page, a video to include in an email welcoming newly signed clients and informing them on the next few steps, and then 5 animated explainer videos that explain various aspects of selling a house, like listing the property, conducting viewings and dealing with legal. As Sarah Willingham is an investor in Agent Online, she agreed to be the face of the campaign so we combined her to-camera video with an animated Sarah, allowing us to explain some of the more complicated parts of property selling using easy-to-follow visual aids.
"I was introduced to Shorefront Films by one of our investors and they produced some fantastic videos for us. They worked quickly and the quality of the end result was excellent. We will undoubtedly be using Shorefront again."


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In a welcome move at the end of last week, Nick Clegg announced his opposition to the communications data bill (CDB). His article in the Telegraph listed five reasons why CDB went "too far" in its attempted legislation. Among those reasons was the ease with which competent criminals could sidestep the effects of CDB and the alarming precedent the UK government would be setting for other countries in the scope of its jurisdictional claims. He's not alone; these arguments and many more have been brought against CDB from a wide range of opposition.
Clegg finishes the article by suggesting a number of steps that could be taken in place of CDB. Increased data navigation training for police personnel and improving links with other international jurisdictions governing internet service providers are two of the ideas he mentions. That's all good, and I'd welcome positive actions that use existing laws to make things better. But whilst his rejection of CDB is clearly in the public interest, the counter proposals he brings up don't really solve the long-term problem.
It's not enough to just stop this bill. It's already a Zombie Bill, appearing from the grave time after time. The same sort of excessively invasive proposals arose unannounced in previous governments without appearing in their manifestos. There is clearly some underlying need deep in the Home Office that is making these proposals keep showing up in Parliament.
I imagine each successive Secretary of State having a "Yes, Minister" moment where a shadowy civil servant explains that yes, the proposals seem invasive and yes, the parties in power expressed opposition to just those proposals when the previous government made them but blocking the proposals would be "a very brave decision, Minister".
Clegg presumably had that briefing and decided the Liberal Democrats' electoral position was desperate enough to risk that "brave decision". Bravo. But I don't think his actions will solve the problem for Britain long-term. Someone, somewhere (GCHQ? MI5?) knows there's a conflict between their desired operational actions and the law and needs it fixed as soon as possible.
Consequently, the same proposals will simply claw their way out of the grave Clegg has dug for them one day and return in the night for our brains. To stop the Home Office bringing it back yet again, we need some new legislation which meets some of the needs addressed by CDB but in a way which doesn't blindly trample the rights of the average internet citizen or company.
Open Rights Group's new digital surveillance report offers a much more thorough and workable outlook. It gathers papers from a range of expert views and ultimately makes ten recommendations for policy makers to take on board. A clear criticism by the Joint Select Committee was that the Home Office was not clear which parts of the proposed Bill were truly essential and which parts were over-reach or for the purpose of obfuscation. This new report offers a basis for joint discussions, which the Home Office now needs to embrace.
If new legislation can be drafted built on the principles of this report, we can hopefully avoid altogether future iterations of the Snoopers' Charter. But to do that, the Home Office needs to engage with informed, capable citizens. The Open Rights Group has spent the money and taken the initiative; the ball is now in the Home Office's court.


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Know Everything about Hearing Aids Types - KolkataFriday, 2 February 2018
Item details
City: Kolkata, West Bengal
Offer type: Offer
hearing plus
Item description
There are many types of hearing aids available at Hearing Plus, a reputable clinic that treats hearing impaired persons. Hearing aids types vary based on design (Behind-the-ear or BTE, mini-BTE, In-the-ear or ITE, In-the-canal or ITC, Completely-in-the-canal or CIC, Invisible-in-canal or IIC), technology used (analog and digital), features (directional microphone, direct audio input, T-coil, feedback suppression) and lifestyle of the patient. Nowadays, hearing aids have programs that can be self-regulated according to the needs of the patient; so you have many options to choose from.


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I have reflecting on the race and recap details and hope to have it up later today.
I can't thank Antonette enough for being with me all day and getting me through some really tough sticking points. We both had our Up's and Down's during the day and again I am glad that we worked well, pushed each other and respected each other all day! She really is the Best!
Also have to give Tremendous Thanks and Appreciation to her family for Crewing for us and being at the aid stations, helping with every detail and encouraging at every stop! I was so glad to see them at the different stops. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!


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Sue's Kitchen and my Butler's Pantry are just about completed, the electrical and plumbing are finished and its now down to floor coverings and final touch up and clean up. We are hoping for move in within the next three weeks.
|Sue's kitchen has double electric ovens with LPG gas cook top. The range-hood sits neatly above the cook top. Behind the cook top will be an easy clean glass splash back. There actually three hanging lights over the huge stone island bench.
|There's plenty of storage either side of the ovens and cook top for all of Sue's pots and pans.
|This is where I am banished to. The Butler's Pantry has a double sink, dish washer, micro wave on this side.
|On the other side is more storage below a stone bench top (still to come). Note all the double power points - 3 in total.
All of Sue's appliances will sit on the bench ready for preparation.
|Except for the bedrooms, study and lounge room which will be carpeted, the rest of the house will have this bamboo tongue and groove flooring. The colour really works well with the light grey walls.
|The big surprise to us on Thursday was to see the Alfresco area being concreted. This is an L-shaped area and all under cover with 2 fans situated in both areas for air movement on the hot summer nights.
|We expect that on Monday, the driveway will concreted. I'm taking this photo from inside the double car garage.


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- Research article
- Open Access
Comparative genomics using teleost fish helps to systematically identify target gene bodies of functionally defined human enhancers
© Parveen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013
- Received: 9 November 2012
- Accepted: 19 February 2013
- Published: 23 February 2013
Human genome is enriched with thousands of conserved non-coding elements (CNEs). Recently, a medium throughput strategy was employed to analyze the ability of human CNEs to drive tissue specific expression during mouse embryogenesis. These data led to the establishment of publicly available genome wide catalog of functionally defined human enhancers. Scattering of enhancers over larger regions in vertebrate genomes seriously impede attempts to pinpoint their precise target genes. Such associations are prerequisite to explore the significance of this in vivo characterized catalog of human enhancers in development, disease and evolution.
This study is an attempt to systematically identify the target gene-bodies for functionally defined human CNE-enhancers. For the purpose we adopted the orthology/paralogy mapping approach and compared the CNE induced reporter expression with reported endogenous expression pattern of neighboring genes. This procedure pinpointed specific target gene-bodies for the total of 192 human CNE-enhancers. This enables us to gauge the maximum genomic search space for enhancer hunting: 4 Mb of genomic sequence around the gene of interest (2 Mb on either side). Furthermore, we used human-rodent comparison for a set of 159 orthologous enhancer pairs to infer that the central nervous system (CNS) specific gene expression is closely associated with the cooperative interaction among at least eight distinct transcription factors: SOX5, HFH, SOX17, HNF3β, c-FOS, Tal1beta-E47S, MEF and FREAC.
In conclusion, the systematic wiring of cis-acting sites and their target gene bodies is an important step to unravel the role of in vivo characterized catalog of human enhancers in development, physiology and medicine.
- CNEs
- Human genome
- Enhancers
- Teleost fish
- Synteny
- Central nervous system
- Transcriptional factors
One of the main emerging challenges for genomics research is to discover all functional regions in the human genome. The completion of human genome sequencing/assembly and its annotation using computational and comparative genomic approaches has led to the cataloging of ~25,000 protein-coding genes. Key questions now relate to understanding how the spatial and temporal expression patterns of these human genes are established at cellular and organismal level [1]. In eukaryotes, transcriptional regulation tends to involve combinatorial interactions between several transcription factors, which allow for a sophisticated response to multiple conditions in the cellular environment [2, 3]. In metazoans the precise spatial and temporal patterns of gene's expression also require enhancer elements, distant regions of DNA that can loop back to the promoter [4]. To comprehend the molecular mechanism that governs specific expression patterns, it is important to identify the distant acting transcriptional regulatory elements (enhancers) associated with each predicted gene [5]. Furthermore, the ability to identify such elements is an essential step toward understanding how gene expression is altered in pathological conditions [1]. However, this task remains difficult due to lack of knowledge of the vocabulary controlling gene regulation and the vast genomic search space, with many of such distantly acting enhancers are positioned remotely from their target gene bodies [6].
Metazoan genes hold extremely intricate regulatory sequences that direct complex patterns of expression in diverse cell types, tissues and development phases [7]. Expression of a typical animal gene is likely to be governed by several distinct enhancer elements that can be located in 5′ and 3′ genomic regions, as well as within intronic intervals [8]. Metazoan cis-regulatory sequences are modular with each enhancer is responsible for a subset of the total gene expression pattern and usually mediate expression within a specific tissue/cell type or developmental phase/domain [9]. These elements are typically up to 500 bp long and contains binding sites for sequence-specific several distinct transcription factors [8].
The origin of organismal complexity is often thought to be the consequence of evolution of novel gene functions subsequent to gene duplication events [10]. According to the classical model (describing evolutionary fate of duplicate genes) one copy of the duplicated gene pair often degenerates by accumulating deleterious mutations, whereas the other copy keeps the ancestral function. This model further predicts that very rarely, one gene copy may obtain a novel adaptive function, resulting in the preservation of both duplicates, one copy with the new function and the other preserving the ancestral function. However, in numerous cases, empirical data suggest that the fraction of genes preserved subsequent to duplication events is much higher than predicted by the classic model. Keeping in view the regulatory complexity of eukaryotic genes, it was proposed that complementary degenerative mutations in distinct regulatory elements of duplicated genes can assist the preservation of both copies, thus providing long-term opportunities for the evolution of novel gene functions [11]. Numerous duplicate genes have been confirmed to evolve following this model of regulatory subfunctionalization. For instance, zebrafish engrailed-1 and engrailed-1b is a pair of transcription factor genes generated by a duplication event specifically in the lineage of teleost fish [11]. Expression pattern analysis revealed distinct expression domains for zebrafish engrailed paralogs with engrailed-1 is expressed in the pectoral appendage bud, whereas engrailed-1b is expressed in the hindbrain/spinal cord region [11]. The mouse genome harbor single ortholog (engrailed-1) for both genes of the zebrafish, which is expressed in both pectoral appendage bud and hindbrain/spinal cord. Complementary changes in gene expression domains after gene duplication events appear to be a general rule rather than exception and such changes usually happen rapidly after gene duplication [12].
Genomic comparison of diverse set of vertebrate species revealed many genomic intervals that have remained conserved throughout the vertebrate lineage [13]. Some of these sequences correspond to coding genes and non-coding RNAs, however two third of them are unlikely to produce a functional transcript [14]. These sequences fall in the new category of elements, which we collectively call as conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) [14]. These elements are experimentally characterized to harbor transcriptional regulatory elements, so involved in gene expression regulation [15]. Therefore, comparative genomics based strategies are now being employed to predict genomic regions harboring transcriptional regulatory elements even in the absence of knowledge about the specific characteristics of individual cis-regulatory element [16].
To explore the functional significance of conserved non-coding genomic elements, Pennacchio and coworkers (2006 & 2008) carried out in vivo enhancer analysis of hundreds of human CNEs in transgenic mice assay by using LacZ as a reporter gene [15, 17, 18]. This data confirmed the gene regulatory function for ~1000 of these sequences, directing reproducibly the reporter expression in diverse set of body tissues at mouse embryonic day 11.5 [17]. To elucidate the significance of this in vivo characterized catalog of human enhancers in organismal development, physiology and medicine it is essential to pinpoint the precise target gene for each of these elements. Noteworthy, Pennacchio and coworkers (2006 & 2008) associated the gene regulatory potential of these human enhancers with the genes harboring them (intragenic) or their immediate flanking genes (intergenic) [17]. However, the empirical evidence showed that enhancers regions are often located at large distances from transcriptional start site of the genes upon which they act [19]. They may be located upstream or downstream of target gene, within introns, in introns of unrelated neighboring genes or can be found at a distance of 1 Mb or even greater and are still able to regulate the gene expression in tissue specific manner [20]. Scattering of enhancer elements over larger regions in vertebrate genomes, impede attempts to assign precise target gene bodies to functionally characterized enhancer elements.
The association of the human CNE-enhancers with their target gene bodies by comparative syntenic analyses and through comparison of the reporter expression induced by CNE-enhancers with the reported endogenous expression patterns of the neighboring genes
No. of enhancers
No. of target genes
Technique used
Minimal evidence for association
Paralogy mapping (duplication)
Orthology mapping (synteny)
Only synteny
Synteny along with expression (MGI in-situ)
Once the enhancers were assigned to their probable targets the next, we sought to use these associations as a training dataset to gauge the maximum distance at which an enhancer can act upon its target gene body. Furthermore this study aims to define the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) specific transcription factor code.
Results and discussion
Predicting target genes for human CNE-enhancers
We devised a rule-based procedure to associate CNE-enhancers with their respective target gene (see methods). The human CNE-enhancers opted for this purpose is conserved over longer evolutionary distance, i.e. between human and teleost fish. Pennachio and coworkers has confirmed the gene regulatory potential of these deeply conserved human elements by employing transgenic mice assay [15]. Combined employment of comparative genomics and expression pattern analysis has assisted us to explicitly assign these human enhancers to their target gene bodies.
Among the unduplicated set of CNE-enhancers (149/192) 45 regions were assigned to a single target gene only on the basis of synteny comparison (Table 1, for detailed list see Additional file 1: Table S1). For example, BLAST based search of a CNE-enhancer (hs529) residing on Hsa9 (17,322,200-17,324,371) identified putative orthologs of this human interval in zebrafish, medaka, Fugu, stickleback and tetraodon genomes (Figure 3B). Synteny comparison of human, zebrafish, medaka, Fugu, stickleback and tetraodon orthologous loci revealed the differential loss of BNC2, C9orf39 and FOXE1 genes (positioned in the vicinity of CNE-enhancer) from the corresponding loci suggesting them as bystanders. SH3GL2 was the only gene in this human locus which maintains physical linkage with the CNE-enhancer in all examined genomes. Therefore, the gene regulatory potential of this CNE-enhancer (CNE_ SH3GL2) was assigned to human SH3GL2 gene (Figure 3B).
In 48/149 unduplicated CNE-enhancers we noticed that more than one syntenically conserved gene (2 or 3) are showing analogy in expression pattern with the CNE-enhancer. In this case, two or more genes are declared as target for the relevant CNE-enhancer (Table 1). For instance, a human CNE-enhancer (hs1305) on Has8 (80,874,361-80,876,746), revealed conserved syntenic association with HEY1 and STMN2 in all the compared orthologous loci (Figure 4B). Furthermore, reported endogenous expression pattern of both of these genes matches with the reporter expression pattern induced by the CNE-enhancer (Additional file 3: Table S2). Therefore, we assigned both HEY1 and STMN2 as target genes for this human enhancer region (Figure 4B).
Range of action of human cis-acting sites
It is often assumed that cis-acting regulatory sites act on the nearest neighboring genes and therefore the conventional search space for enhancers includes immediate upstream or downstream intervals of genes of interest. However, some examples exist where enhancers skip nearby promoters and specifically act on distantly located genes [19]. For instance, tissue specific expression of developmentally important SHH[20] and SOX9[22] genes were found to be regulated by enhancers positioned ~1 MB away from their transcription start site. Intriguingly, in this study substantial proportion (31/192) of enhancer-target gene associations are established at ≥ 1 Mb genomic interval and thus firmly establishing the fact that long-range spatial interaction among regulatory sites and their target gene bodies are not rare exceptions but occur on pervasive scale (Figure 2B and Additional file 4: Table S3). Consequently, this would imply that assignment of full complement of regulatory sites that act upon a single gene of interest can be seriously impeded by extreme site separation and this could in turn hinder attempts to associate disease causing non-coding mutations with their concerned gene bodies. Rigorously defined enhancer-target gene associations established in this study enable us to underscore the idea that linear proximity (among regulatory sites and target genes) rule is inadequate for the identification of cis-regulatory regions and thus extends the previously established maximum search space for enhancers from 2 Mb DNA template around the gene of interest to 4 Mb DNA template (2 Mb on either side) around the gene of interest (Additional file 4: Table S3).
CNS specific transcriptional factor code
In higher eukaryotes the cell type specific or temporal specific influence of enhancer on their target genes is implemented through interactions of these cis-regulatory modules with TFs. The co-occurrence of distinct set of TFs (heterotypic clustering) with each type of binding site represented many times within the same regulatory region (homotypic clustering) are the key features of TF interaction networks in complex metazoan [23]. An important feature of homotypic site clustering is that it facilitates cooperative binding of factors that interacts to moderate or weaker sites [24]. Numerous transcription factors work in concert to regulate target genes in a developmental, cell, or tissue-specific manner. Typically, specific type of cooperativity (similar set of distinct TFs) is required to regulate diverse set of genes exhibiting temporally and spatially synchronized expression (co-expressed genes) [25, 26]. For example, skeletal-muscle-specific expression of distinct gene sets has been associated with the cooperative interactions among at least five TFs: Mef-2, Myf, Sp1, SRF, and Tef [27]. Prediction of transcription factor cooperativity has been carried out in yeast and human but unfortunately our current knowledge about combinations of TFs that contributes to the tissue specificity of cis-regulatory modules is limited. This in turn has limited the large scale bioinformatics study of tissue-specific gene regulation.
Here we seek to identify TFs that act cooperatively to define CNS (central nervous system) specificity of an enhancer. For this purpose, among the selected subset of distant acting developmental enhancers we choose the one for which reproducible CNS-specific activity has been shown in vivo in E11.5 mouse embryos [15]. This data set consists of 159/192 elements, majority (118/159) of which are explicitly associated with single target gene (Table 1). Given the fact that a typical binding motif for TF can be as short as 5-8 bp, in silico matches to such short motifs occur frequently by chance alone, with many of these predicted sites presumably non-functional. Therefore, a major challenge in computational identification of such motifs that must be overcome is distinguishing functional TFBSs from spurious motif matches. In order to better define biologically relevant combinations of TFs, while analyzing each brain specific cis-regulatory module for an input set of known TFs we focused on: (i) evolutionary conservation of each enhancer across human and mouse lineages; (ii) conserved binding motifs that occurred more than once in an enhancer. This stringent criterion combining the technique of phylogenetic foot printing and possibilities of occurrence of homotypic interactions within typical metazoan enhancers reveals that the brain specific cis-regulatory modules have evolutionary conserved binding site preferences for SOX5, HFH, SOX17, c-FOS, HNF3β, c-REL, MEF2, nMYC, USF, FREAC, Tal1beta-E47S, NF-kappaB, AML1 and ARNT, the fourteen transcriptional factors (Additional file 5: Table S4).
The CNE enhancers across the 14 TFs of training data set are then developed as a matrix and non-conserved/non-coding elements (Additional file 6: Table S5) across the 14 TFs of the control data set developed as a matrix . The two correlation matrices of the training and control data sets developed as R X = [r ij 2] and R Y = [r ij 2] and revealed the pattern of TFs existing in the two comparative data sets (Additional file 7: Table S6). In the training data set a specific pattern of TF interactions is exposed by the formation of three distinctive groups of TFs with strong within and poor or no correlation among the groups, leaving aside two TFs: Tal1beta-E47S and MEF. These two are neither correlated between nor with any other member of the three groups formed. Here the findings of R X = [r ij 2] may be grouped into three clusters configuration as,
➢ Cluster-1: n-MYC, ARNT, USF (each r ij 2higher than 69%)
➢ Cluster-2: c-REL, NF-kappaB (r2 is 30%)
➢ Cluster-3: FREAC, AML-1, c-FOS, HNF3-β, SOX17, HFH, SOX5 (12% ≤ r ij 2 ≤ 54%)
The R Y = [r ij 2] present findings in contrast with the above three cluster structure found from the R X = [r ij 2]. Apart from a highly correlated group of three TFs similar to cluster-1, not any other group structure is seen with the remaining TFs (Additional file 7: Table S6) in the control data set. A presumption of a non-interactive pattern of TFs in the control data set may be considered here.
Probability table of transcription factor binding sites in training and control data sets
Sr. No
P(TF i ) in training data set
P(TF i ) in control data set
❖ Cluster-3: Talb-E47S, MEF, FREAC, AML-1, c-FOS, HNF3-β, SOX17, HFH, SOX5.
We may conclude that there are three distinct clusters of TF internally interactive and showing brain specific cis-regulatory modules binding site preferences in the training data set. The statistical significance of pattern of TFs interactions in the training data set exposed are well supported by the probability table (Table 2), the correlation matrix (Additional file 7: Table S6) interpreted as R = [r ij 2] and are further statistically significant with the control results of non-conserved and non-coding elements.
List of transcription factors having over-representative occurrence in brain specific cis -acting sites
Transcription factor
Protein-related information
Known endogenous expression pattern
RUNT-type transcription factor
spinal cord, hindbrain
Helix-loop-helix DNA-binding
spinal cord, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
Basic-leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor
Immunoglobulin-like fold
CNS (components not defined yet)
Winged helix-turn-helix transcription repressor
CNS (components not defined yet)
Winged helix-turn-helix transcription repressor DNA
CNS (components not defined yet)
Winged helix-turn-helix transcription repressor DNA
Spinal-cord, forebrain midbrain, hindbrain
myocyte-specific enhancer factor 2A
forebrain, hindbrain
Immunoglobulin-like fold
spinal cord, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
Helix-loop-helix DNA-binding
spinal cord, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
High mobility group, HMG1/HMG2
spinal cord, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
High mobility group, HMG1/HMG2
spinal cord, hindbrain, midbrain
Helix-loop-helix DNA-binding
spinal cord, forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain
Helix-loop-helix DNA-binding
spinal cord, forebrain, hindbrain
Metazoan cis-regulatory landscape is complex, with modular organization and widespread spatial distribution around the target genes. This complexity hampers attempt to localize and catalog the entire repertoire of enhancers that orchestrate spatially and temporally diverse expression patterns for single gene of interest. Recent relatively high throughput transgenic mice assay based studies generated the genome-wide experimentally validated data set for hundreds of human enhancers. Regulatory activities of each of these enhancers were confirmed through enhancer induced LacZ reporter expression in E11.5 mice embryos and tissue specificity of expression was also described. Such genome-wide collections of enhancer data set are expected to contribute immensely in understanding i) structural anatomy of metazoan enhancers ii) mechanisms of enhancer-target gene interactions iii) comprehensively catalog the genetic regulatory circuits for developmentally critical genes iv) role of cis-regulatory mutations/alterations in development and disease. However, the utility of these in vivo characterized enhancers for variety of biological applications requires their systematic association with target gene bodies. This study is an attempt to systematically associate subset of these functionally defined enhancers with their target genes and thus establishing regulatory interactions for dozens of human genes. These explicit associations would enable the screening of this subset of enhancers for those pathogenic mutations not affecting the coding sequences of concerned genes but disrupting the functionality of these cis-acting regulatory sites and thus altering temporal, spatial and quantitative aspects of gene expression. Furthermore, assigning enhancers to bona fide target genes assisted us to gauge maximum range at which an enhancer can access its target promoter and delineated the fact that in human genome long-range regulatory interactions occur more frequently and involve longer distances than was previously anticipated. Maximum range of enhancer action reported in this study should serve as a guideline when analyzing the chromosomal deletions/rearrangements associated disorders; such as locus alternations are known to disrupt communication among distant regulatory sites and their target genes.
Gene regulation is exerted by cooperative interactions among TFs that binds to clusters of sites within cis-regulatory regions. Distinct cis-regulatory modules direct reporter expressions selectively in a particular cell/tissue specific manner are likely to interact with similar set of TFs and thus defining the TFBSs code for co-expressed genes. In this respect, given the abundant set of experimentally defined regulatory sequences, which is sufficient to direct expression of a reporter gene in a cell-specific pattern and list of TFs that are known to be relevant to that tissue, it is possible to construct biologically relevant, tissue specific, complex heterotypic TFs cluster model. Under this assumption, among the CNE-enhancers linked to their target genes we analyzed the large subset of regions that direct gene expression selectively to CNS and defined combinatorial heterotypic interactions of multiple TFs that are likely to bind to typical CNS specific cis-regulatory module. This analysis not only figures out the generalized structure of typical CNS specific enhancer, but has established TF interaction network that can be used as training data set for large scale identification of CNS specific enhancers.
In vivo dataset
Experimentally verified catalog of human enhancers which is the basis of this study was obtained from VISTA Enhancer Browser [17]. The core dataset of the VISTA Enhancer Browser consists of experimental in vivo data of human and mouse tissue-specific enhancers [17]. These enhancer regions were initially identified by evolutionary sequence conservation or by ChIP-seq [17]. Subsequently these putative enhancer sequences are tested in a transgenic mouse assay to validate their in vivo function and to determine their tissue specificity [17]. Elements that show reproducible and consistent LacZ reporter gene expression among at least three mouse embryos are presented as positive enhancers elements, whereas elements for which no reporter expression is observed among a minimum of five transgenic embryos are defined as negative [17]. The dataset of positive embryos is reported comprehensively in terms of sequence coordinates, flanking genes, annotated expression patterns and details of reproducibility of each structure, images of individual embryos, and series of histological sections [17]. Currently this database host experimentally confirmed 975 human enhancer sequences, directing reproducibly the reporter expression in diverse set of embryonic domains at embryonic day 11.5. We restricted our analyses to 192 human-teleost fish conserved sequences (Table 1, for detailed list see Additional file 1: Table S1). For each of the candidate enhancer element, we retrieved from VISTA enhancer browser information such as, genomic sequence, VISTA enhancer ID, conservation depth, and name of neighboring genes, tissue specificity and image data (Additional file 3: Table S2).
Assigning the target gene to human CNE-enhancers
In order to associate each of the selected subset of human CNE-enhancer with their bona fide target gene, we analyzed the neighboring genomic context using the UCSC [55] and Ensembl genome browsers [56] and drafted a locus map depicting the flanking genes spanning at least 2 MB interval on either side of CNE-enhancer (Additional file 2: Figure S1). The sequence similarity of selected subset of CNEs between the human and the teleost fish genome suggests that they are functional in both lineages. It would be appropriate then to speculate that the target genes would also be the same in both species. Given this assumption, comparative picture of these CNE-enhancers bearing human synteny maps was observed in currently available teleost genome (zebrafish, tetraodon, stickleback, medaka and Fugu) by using Multi-species view option at Ensembl genome browser [56]. This allowed us to map carefully the genomic context of evolutionary conserved human enhancers in corresponding zebrafish, tetraodon, medaka, stickleback and Fugu loci (Additional file 2: Figure S1). Among these anciently diverged genomes (human-teleost fish, >450 Mya) uninterrupted physical linkage between CNE-enhancer and one or more neighboring genes was taken as an evidence of functional association (Additional file 1: Table S1 and Additional file 2: Figure S1). To further confirm these associations, for one or more genes depicting evolutionary conserved physical association with CNE-enhancer, the endogenous expression pattern of the mouse ortholog was obtained from MGI [28]. We preferred available gene expression obtained by RNA in-situ hybridization. Reporter gene expression induced by the selected CNE-enhancer is also captured from the VISTA enhancer browser database [17]. We manually compared the image data of transgenic mouse embryos expressing LacZ reporter gene under the influence of CNE-enhancer element with the RNA in-situ hybridization based endogenous expression data of genes residing in the neighborhood of enhancer sequence (Additional file 3: Table S2).
Duplicated copies of selected subset of CNE-enhancers (dCNEs) were searched through BLAST based similarity searches at Ensemble and UCSC genome browsers [55, 56]. We categorized the duplicated enhancers into those, with duplicated copies only in fish lineage (only a single counterpart in human), duplicated copies only in human (only a single counterpart in fish), and the ones that contains duplicated copies in both fish and human lineages (Figure 2A). Duplicated CNE-enhancer facilitated further, to link them explicitly with their target gene through paralogy mapping, i.e. by identifying the genes that have paralogs in the genomic regions that harbor at least two dCNEs from the same family. Paralogy relationship among target genes of duplicated set of enhancers was generated by using paralogy prediction pipeline of Ensembl genome browser where maximum likelihood phylogenetic gene trees (generated by TreeBeST) play a central role [57].
Estimation of range of action of human CNE-enhancers
Orthology mapping, paralogy mapping and expression pattern analysis helped in assigning bona fide target genes to total of 192 human CNE-enhancers. These large numbers of enhancer-target gene associations enables us to define the genomic range of regulatory activity for human enhancer sequences. For this purpose we calculated the distance between the CNE-enhancers and transcriptional start site of their predicted target genes and then examined the distribution of distances. We partitioned the range of enhancer action as, CNE-enhancers embedded within intronic intervals of target gene (intragenic), CNE-enhancers whose target gene lies within the ranges, e.g. 0-200 kb, 201-400 kb, 401-600, 601-999 and >1 Mb (Figure 2B). Our data shows that 36/192 (18.75%) enhancers are located within the intronic interval of genes they regulate, 47/192 (24.48%) enhancers are within a range of 0-200 kb from their assigned gene, 32/192 (16.67%) enhancers are within a distance of 201-400 kb, 19/192 (9.89%) positioned within 401-600 kb from their associated gene, 27/192 (14.06%) separated by a distance of 601-999 kb from their target. Intriguingly, 31/192 (16.14%) enhancers were found to act on their concerned gene body from a distance of >1 Mb (Figure 2B and Additional file 4: Table S3).
Transcription factor analysis
To establish the central nervous system (CNS) specific transcriptional factor (TF) code we selected 159/192 the subset of human CNE-enhancers that were shown to drove expression in various domains mouse CNS (Additional file 5: Table S4). For this purpose the technique of phylogenetic foot printing was employed on human and mouse orthologous enhancer regions to track the occurrence of evolutionary conserved grouping of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) in experimentally verified subset of brain specific enhancers (Additional file 5: Table S4).
Mouse orthologs of human enhancers were obtained through BLAST based similarity searches. Human-mouse conserved transcription factor binding sites in each CNE-enhancer were detected with computer program ConSite [58]. The ConSite screen for conserved TFBSs was performed against the JASPAR database with 85% conservation cutoff, 60 bp window size and 75% transcription factor score threshold settings.
To track cooperative heterotypic interaction among distinct set of TFs within brain specific enhancers, suitable statistical methodologies were employed for their identification and verification. We formulated a multivariate data matrix with n (rows) as the sample of enhancers and p (columns) the number of TFs for training and control data sets (for control data set see Additional file 6: Table S5). For the materialization of the known biological background that occurrences of TFs in sample of enhancers are not mutually exclusive, the repeated occurrence of a TF is determined by finding the individual probability of the occurrence of a TF (P(TF) i in a sample). Looking for the patterns and structures in TFs, primarily the training data matrix of 159 enhancers across 14 TFs and control data matrix of non-conserved/non-coding elements are subjected to a two step exploratory data analysis. Computation of probabilities of TFs in (Table 2) and correlation matrices R X = [r ij 2] (lower diagonal in Additional file 7: Table S6) and R Y = [r ij 2] (upper diagonal in Additional file 7: Table S6) complete the two steps employed for the initial exploration of patterns of TFs in the control and training data sets respectively. The probability table (Table 2) is a classified presentation of P(TF) i with P(TF) i < 0.5 as members of group-1 and for P(TF) i ≥ 0.5 members of group-2 in the training and control data sets.
The correlation matrices of the data sets are desirable to define clusters of TFs that may covary together among all possible pairs of TFs. For the purpose, the squared correlation coefficient (R = [r ij 2]) is interpreted as it indicates a meaningful and practical co-variation among the variables (Additional file 7: Table S6) [59, 60].
Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a powerful multivariate exploratory tool is used to identify patterns in specifically high (P) dimension, interrelated data sets and express the data sets by highlighting their similarities and differences. For multivariate data sets that are interrelated, appropriate application of PCA is using R = [r ij ] matrix for eigen analysis. Therefore, PCA will be used as a means of constructing an informative graphical representation of the data set by projecting the data onto a lower dimensional space. In the study, control and training data will be presented in a three dimensions (3D) subspace of the first three PCs [61, 62]. The PCs derived by the eigen analysis of correlation matrix (R = [r ij ]) is a linear combination of the original p variables (the TFs) and each PC uncorrelated with the other, meaning these are the new transformed data expressed in terms of the patterns existing in the original data set. The total PCs derived are equal to the number of original variables present in the dataset. The p PCs formed are with decreasing order of magnitude of variance of the total variation in the data sets. Thus the first three PCs capturing most of the variation in the data set is visualized in a 3D representation. The coefficient of the variables in each of the linear combination, i.e. the PC is defined as loadings. The magnitude of these loadings represents the importance of each variable present. Thus a 3D representation of the loadings of the first three PCs will identify any cluster structure present in the variables (the TFs), exhibiting the co-occurring pattern of TFs in the control and training data sets.
The comparative analysis of control and training is of major significance in the validation of clusters of known TFs highly represented in human brain specific enhancers.
We are thankful to the NCB computer programmers Yasir Mahmood Abbasi and Aftab Alam for providing the computational facility. This research was supported by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
Authors' Affiliations
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text:
As a member of a musical duo on the verge of making it into show business, Shindou Shuichi has a lot on his mind -- especially since he writes the songs for his Bad Luck band. His life gets no less hectic when he bumps into Yuki Eiri, a successful yet cynical author extraordinaire, who immediately insults Shuichi's lyrics upon reading them. Seeking him out to demand an apology, Shuichi nevertheless sees other facets of Eiri's personality. Can he accept the fact that he might be developing feelings for the novelist who discredited his work on their first meeting?
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Shuichi is a young guy who has a friend named Hiro and a band named Bad Luck. They haven't hit it big quite yet, but are determined to get to the top eventually! One day, by chance and a gust of wind, one of the self conscious Shuichi's songs gets into the hand of Eiri Yuki, a cynical and heartless writer, who proceeds to inform Shuichi that he has no talent. Shuichi is totally thrown off guard... read more
Gravitation is and probably always will be one of my favourite anime. The story is fantastic, and every episode leaves you hanging on for more, especially in the later episodes. Despite being a shonen-ai, there is not much explicit content in it. There are a couple of kissed and suggestive scenes, but nothing over the top, as it more focused on the dynamics of the relationship. The characters are well built... read more
Gravitation OVA
|Original Manga
Gravitation dj: Gravitation Remix
Gravitation: The Novel (Light Novel)
Gravitation: Voice of Temptation (Light Novel)
Gravitation EX
Shindou Family Circumstances
|Same Franchise
Character Design
Original Manga Creator


text:
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Building your organization's capacity to develop creative new ideas and strategies can be accomplished using our Synectics-inspired approach. Many clients are interested in institutionalizing the skill set that will enable staff to better lead and manage internal problem solving. While clients have often had experience with facilitation, there is agreement that everyone can benefit from training that refines the ability to lead idea generation, obtain actionable solutions and run better meetings.
Dialogue offers a one to two-day training seminar where participants acquire the leadership skills for both planning and managing ideation sessions. The approach – grounded in the Synectics philosophy – is both a body of knowledge about the process of innovation and a specific set of techniques for creative problem solving.
In this interactive workshop, participants learn how to:
Participants leave the workshop with the practical experience of leading an innovation development process that can be applied to key business opportunities. The workshop experience brings facilitation skills to a new level of expertise enhancing the organization's competence in creative problem solving. Participants enrolled in the training receive a comprehensive set of tools in a Workshop Manual referencing key steps in the innovation process. The feedback that we have received indicates that these training seminars "really work".


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No news
No news
Please, do not hesitate to contact me with any doubt or request you may have.
If you would like to visit the workshop, please call for an appointment to avoid disappointment.
You can call for any questions or to make an appointment: (+34) 669 835 895
Or send me an email to diegovila (at) outlook.com


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Joyce Weiss is proud to have worked with so many businesses – large and small – over the course of her 30+ year career. The written and video testimonials below are from clients who have realized tremendous benefits from Joyce's keynote speeches, business coaching, and other resources such as her books and premier online program.
We encourage you to take a minute and see what they have to say!
Angie Ligon, Management Consultant describe the benefits of taking Joyce Weiss's Online Course – Communicate with Impact
Julie Pingston-Greater Lansing CVB shares why Greater Lansing CVB continues to work with Joyce on improving communication skills at all levels
Check out Sue Stratton-Orgpro describing Joyce's expertise in reducing conflict in the workplace
Check out how Bridget Looby-Catholic Federal Credit Union will implement "You Get What You Tolerate!" to reduce retaliation in the workplace
Check out how Jamie Furbush – Frankenmuth CVB will use be direct with respect to reduce conflict in the workplace
Check out the testimonial from Bob Thomas – Director of Operations from MI Chamber of Commerce
Check out this testimonial from Yvonne Cunningham – President of IAAP Oakland Chapter
Check out this video testimonial from Kelly Vanzale (IAAP)
Check out this video testimonial from Holly Mercer, Director of East Central Arkansas Regional Library System
Check out this video testimonial by Amanda Allen from Okemos Conference Center
Check out this video testimonial by Mona Murphy – Flint Area CVB "How to Reduce Conflict in the Workplace"
Check out this video testimonial by Doris Sims – Greater Lansing CVB "The New Normal: Doing More with Less to Reduce Conflict in the Workplace"
Check out this video testimonial by Alicia Wilson – MI Business Professional Assn (MBPA) "Be Direct with Respect-How to Improve Communication Skills"
Check out tips that Ginny Pitts – MI Health Information Management Assn learned from Joyce Weiss' Reducing Conflict in the Workplace Program
Check out tips that Michelle Goss learned from Joyce Weiss' New Facts About Stress Program
Check out tips that Debra Setman – MI Lean Consortium learned from Conflict in the Workplace
Check out strategies Phil Berry – MI Lean Consortium will use as a result of the Conflict in the Workplace Program
Watch how ZaLonya Allen, PhD – SE MI Entrepreneurs Assn will use tips from Joyce Weiss' Program on How to Stay in Business
2 Emerging leaders from ICBND speak about new facts about stress learned from Joyce's program
Ohio Florist's Association participant Dick Dirks shares what he learned in Joyce's Conflict in the Workplace program
Anita from ICBNB shares facts about stress she learned from Joyce's Conflict in the Workplace program
Kathy Bart shares tips she learned from Joyce's Facilitation Workshop to reduce conflict in the workplace
Kylan Shaw shares tips she learned about Generations in the Workplace from Joyce's Oakland University Jump Start Program
Shelby Toft shares tips she learned in Joyce Weiss' Accountability Program at Oakland University's Jump Start Program
TJ Peak shares tips he learned on Generations in the Workplace from Joyce's training at Oakland University's Jump Start program
"I really enjoyed the Be Direct with Respect Class! I find myself using Be Direct with Respect almost every day; both professionally and personally. I am so glad I took this class and will recommend it to everyone! Thank you so much for all of your feedback and truly being engaged with all of your students in the class!"
– Christina McWilliams, Executive Assistant, Rochester Community Schools
"According to our surveys, our attendees really enjoyed your speech; in fact several mentioned that it was their favorite part of the conference! You were truly a joy to work with and I look forward to collaborating with you in the future." – Lisa Purvis, Conference Co-Chair, Society of Women Engineers
"Our team was tremendously impacted by the Team Building Program that Joyce Weiss presented to our office. There were several people on our team who did everything possible to avoid one another. During the sessions Joyce helped everyone see how the negative energy between those two individuals affected the entire office. Everyone was given the opportunity to express their concern – which really helped. The best part of the training was when Joyce taught us how to speak directly to each other in a respectful way. By the end of the workshop there was a tremendous difference in our team. The stress level of everyone dissolved. Several weeks went by and I noticed the two people that had the main issue with one another were having a conversation with each other. I called Joyce immediately to let her know how she really left a positive impact on our office. Thank you Joyce!" – Cpl Steve A. Richardson, Jr, Regional Contracting Office. Marine Forces Reserve
"I had the opportunity to attend an abbreviated version of one of Joyce's presentations and was impressed by the amount of valuable information and insight gained in only an hour. She fully engaged and involved the audience, and their understanding of the topic was clearly demonstrated by their involvement. Joyce was presenting to a chapter of a leadership development organization, and I have recommended her services for our 1,400 member chapter as well." – Michael Dowding, Manager Sales Liason, Blue Cross Blue Shield
"The way you researched Ford Motor Company and interviewed several of the attendees really made a difference and showed your interest in tailoring your presentation to the audience. Your enthusiasm and energy are contagious. We all felt great after your presentation on dealing with change." – Patty Shannon, Special Liaison Team Leader, Ford Motor Company
"Feedback from the audience was extremely positive. They remarked that they had concrete, common sense strategies they could implement immediately." – Katherine Svedman, Executive Director, American Hospital Association


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It was December 2008, Barack Obama had just been elected--and the Republican Party had just followed George W. Bush off a political cliff. After preaching small government, balanced budgets and economic growth while producing bigger government, exploding deficits and economic collapse, they had gotten pasted for the second straight election. Publishers were rushing out titles like The Strange Death of Republican America and 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation. "We were in disarray," recalls Representative Pete Sessions of Texas. "People were comparing us to cockroaches, saying we weren't even relevant. We had to change the mind-set."
With the economy in free fall and Obama's approval rating in the stratosphere, the Beltway believed chastened Republicans would have to cooperate with him. But Eric Cantor of Virginia, the new House minority whip, believed chastened Republicans should start acting like Republicans. He summoned his whip team to his condo building to plot strategy, and the strategy was: Fight. He invited two pollsters to the meeting, but no policy experts because he wanted Republicans to be communicators, not policymakers. They lacked the power to block the Obama agenda, but they could win the battle for public opinion if they could stick together, so Obama couldn't claim bipartisan victories.
"We're not here to cut deals and get crumbs and stay in the minority for another 40 years," Cantor said. "We're not rolling over. We're going to fight these guys. We're down, but things are going to change."
A few weeks later, Sessions began his presentation at a House Republican leadership retreat in Annapolis, Md., with an existential political question: "If the purpose of the majority is to govern ... What is our purpose?" The answer was not to promote Republican policies, or stop Democratic policies, or even make Democratic bills less offensive to Republicans. "The purpose of the minority is to become the majority," Sessions wrote. "That is the entire conference's mission."
Mission accomplished. In the 2010 elections, the GOP reclaimed the House, ushering in two years of bitter stalemate with Obama and the Democratic Senate. But they still haven't done much legislating. They've defined themselves politically by their opposition to Obama, papering over tensions between the Republican Party establishment and Tea Party activists. They've defined themselves ideologically by their tentative embrace of Paul Ryan's ambitious budget plan. So if Mitt Romney wins the White House with Ryan at his side, how would the Party of No try to govern?
To make an educated guess, it helps to go back to the start of the Obama era.
Senate republicans held their own retreat in January 2009 at the Library of Congress, and they were even gloomier than their House counterparts. "We might find ourselves in the minority for generations," groaned Utah Senator Bob Bennett. Five of the 41 surviving GOP Senators would soon announce their retirement.
"We were discouraged, dispirited and divided," Bennett recalls. "The one guy who recognized that it need not be so was Mitch McConnell."


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bryant turner.jpg
Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive tackle Bryant Turner Jr. sacks Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo in a Canadian Football League game on July 4, 2013, in Montreal. (Courtesy of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have added two years to the contract of Bryant Turner Jr., Kyle Walters, the general manager of the Canadian Football League team, announced on Thursday. Turner is a former football standout at Daphne.
The new deal extends Turner's contract through the 2016 season.
"Bryant has proven to be among the elite defensive lineman in our league," Walters said, "but it as much of his on-field play as his off-field characteristics that make him such valuable asset to our organization. His professionalism, work ethic and overall desire to be a winner, along with his outstanding football ability, make this a great extension for us."
Turner has played three seasons with the Blue Bombers. He has been a CFL East Division All-Star for each of the past two seasons and also made the All-CFL team in 2012.
Turner played collegiately at UAB after starring at Daphne. He played on two teams that reached the AHSAA Class 6A championship game at Legion Field in Birmingham only to lose to Hoover. The Bucs beat the Trojans in 2003 and 2005 to win state titles.
Turner overcame a frightening injury early in the 2013 season to earn All-Star selection again. He suffered sprained chest ligaments while making a sack - his third of the game -- late in Winnipeg's second contest of the season against the Montreal Alouettes on July 4. Turner played so well in the game that he was selected the CFL's First Star for that week, but he also landed in the hospital because the injury made it difficult for him to breathe, and he missed the next two games.


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Like I've said before, writer's block is a b****. Today I sat down at my computer and just stared at the page. Nothing. I re-read what I already wrote. Nothing. I tried to do some free writing…nothing. SIGH!
I even BSed around and cleaned up some of the files on my computer but the muses have abandoned me. I wallow in my despair, trying to figure out how in the world did I offend our lovely ladies of the arts and search for the means to get back into their good graces.
I thought about reorganizing my bookcase, but as I stared at it, I realized that the only way to clean it up is to get a new bookcase. Mind you, the top row is double stacked and I have three complete series on top.


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This program has SOLD OUT.
Scroll down to add yourself to the wait list, or click here to register for our live, online bronze program that starts November 2.
Kirkpatrick Four Levels® Evaluation Certification Program
Kirkpatrick Partners
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. – Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at 4:30 p.m.
Dulles, VA
Program Description
Click to download program brochure
The Kirkpatrick Model comprises the foremost training evaluation methodology in the world. In this program, you will learn directly from the Kirkpatricks the true and correct Kirkpatrick methodology and apply it to an actual program to maximize business results.
During this program, you will learn the four levels of training evaluation, receive a participant manual filled with examples and templates that you may borrow and adapt to build your own Blended Evaluation Plan® tools, and gain a complete understanding of what each level measures. You will also explore the reasons why training evaluation is critical to training success and hear case studies and success stories from companies that have used the Kirkpatrick Model effectively. You will learn tactics to help you to allocate training resources effectively.
A focus of this program is the exploration of how to ensure that what is learned transfers to on-the-job behaviors. You will learn why training alone is not enough and receive guidance to ensure that what you teach actually gets used on the job.
You will receive a grade and personalized feedback on the Blended Evaluation Plan® submitted by your in-class team at the end of the course to become Kirkpatrick bronze level certified.
This program can be part of an accelerated certification plan because it is followed by Kirkpatrick silver level certification. You may attend the bronze and silver programs consecutively if you have a good training evaluation background. You will also need to accept that some of the activities in the silver level program are focused on a bronze plan that you will just have started to create. Click here for silver program information. You must register for each program separately.
Schedule (all times are in U.S. Eastern Time, like New York, NY)
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
8:00 a.m. Full breakfast (provided)
8:30 a.m. Session begins
12:00 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:00 p.m. Session resumes
4:30 p.m. Session concludes
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
8:00 a.m. Full breakfast (provided)
8:30 a.m. Session begins
12:00 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:00 p.m. Session resumes
4:30 p.m. Session concludes
Dr. Jim Kirkpatrick is the Senior Consultant for Kirkpatrick Partners. He is a thought leader in training evaluation and the creator of the New World Kirkpatrick Model.Using his 15 years of corporate experience, Jim trains and consults for organizations around the world. He is passionate about assisting learning professionals in redefining themselves as strategic business partners.
Brandon Huff is a Learning and Performance Manager in the Claims Learning and Performance organization within Nationwide Insurance. Brandon's focus is on operationalizing learning and working with data analytics to demonstrate the value of learning against business results.He has over 22 years of experience in the insurance industry and has focused his area of expertise for the last 14 years in learning and performance.
Venue and Travel Information
The Executive Conference & Training Center (ECTC) offers a convenient location within easy walking distance from all 4 of its reasonably priced, top-quality partner hotels.
All of these hotels feature:
Click here for additional hotel information.
Free on-site parking is available for those who choose to drive to the program.
The ECTC provides an excellent full breakfast and rave-worthy buffet lunch. Click for a sample menu.
We strive to provide a variety of food that is universally appealing and addresses various basic dietary restrictions. However, we are not able to make special arrangements for individual dietary needs. If your dietary needs are such that you often have difficulty finding appropriate foods at catered events, we suggest that you bring a snack of your own to supplement the choices available to you at the program.


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About Us
We meet all your home comfort needs.
Our mission is to provide our customers with superior quality products and services at a fair price. We continue to build a team of the most talented people, who believe in complete customer satisfaction, and who are proud of the workmanship that is put into each and every project. We at Home Air Services are as committed to your comfort and satisfaction today as we were when our father founded the company in 1953.
Your air conditioner repair and cooling maintenance is equally important to us. Keeping your home's air cool and comfortable all summer long is our first concern. We are committed to becoming the most exclusive heating and air conditioning contractor in the area by placing value on our referral based business. We are devoted to being honest with our customers, keeping promises, being accessible, and providing excellence in all that we do!
Our Guarantee to You
A live person will always answer your call during normal business hours. For after hour emergencies, we maintain an emergency service duty technician on call evenings and weekends and we don't charge for overtime or travel! And, we don't stop there...if for any reason your are dissatisfied, we will happily come back after any installation at no additional cost to you.


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2008: Wolverhampton, Cross Street South
Winner of a design competition for Wolverhampton City Council, November 2004, for a flagship environmental housing project including 30 flats & houses and an eco-park. The scheme re-instates strong street frontages and provides a secure, safe and leafy landscaped amenity space for the residents. Environmental features include bio-mass boiler for district heating, highly insulated timber panel construction, sedum turf roofs, rainwater harvesting and balancing pond. Launched in October 2008 by TV environmentalist David Bellamy who described the scheme in one word: "Wow!"
Housing minister John Healey: "What I can see here in the middle of urban Wolverhampton is an eco village that sets the standards for what we should be building in the future,"
Awards: Building for Life Gold Award; Winner of Homes and Communities Academy 'Low Carbon Development' Award; Inside Housing Sustainable Social Housing Project of the Year; Wolverhampton's Environmental Award 2008; Birmingham City Council's Built in Quality Awards 2008 (Sustainable Housing Category).
Next Project
Previous Project


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What do you guys do to fix the sound quality of the video from a smartphone? The small microphones on our phones are horrible at clarity and there must be something that can be done to fix the sound.
I know that on iPods or iPhones you can plug in an external Mic with the headphone port but I've never seen anyone do that.


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
Over the last couple of weeks, the County has received numerous media inquiries concerning a litter of eight puppies that were taken into the Hall County Animal Shelter in late September. These inquiries stemmed from allegations of mistreatment of the animals within the shelter. On advice from legal counsel, we could not answer medical questions about the specific animals because that information is protected by Georgia law. Our staff looked into these allegations of wrongdoing at the shelter and found no evidence to support them. The shelter is licensed through the Georgia Department of Agriculture. In order to maintain the license, the shelter undergoes an inspection by the Department of Agriculture 2-4 times per year. The Dept. of Agriculture also looks into allegations of problems within shelters. Therefore, the Dept. of Agriculture did an investigation into a consumer complaint regarding the litter of puppies. We have received the Animal Protection Inspection Reports from their investigation. We are pleased to say, that the reports show the shelter did not violate any protocols, policies, or procedures in the treatment of the puppies. These reports are a public record and can be found on our website: www.hallcounty.org. As always, Hall County will continue to monitor the services provided by each of our divisions.


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huntLINX Outfitter Edition helps Guides/Outfitters organize every aspect of their outdoor business. This is our enhanced program with functionality that includes a Client/Customer Management module, expanded Location Management, and Media Management. This program allows you to combine Location and Property Management data with Media files from trail/game cameras, and adds a Customer/Client database for assignment to active locations and maintaining your customer history. Features include:
huntLINX Professional Edition is our Hunting Location & Property Management program with an additional module for Media Management. This program allows users to combine Location and Property Management data with trail camera, digital camera, and video footage pertaining to each location. Features include:


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Water Quality Monitors in the Englishman River Watershed
Once a week for the next 5 weeks our volunteers will be monitoring water quality at nine sites in the Englishman River Watershed. This monitoring program is part of the Community Watershed Monitoring Network (CWMN) run by the Regional District of Nanaimo's (RDN) Drinking Water and Watershed Protection department.
Every year the CWMN monitors for 5 weeks in August to collect water quality data during the driest time of the year when water flows are at their lowest, and 5 weeks in the fall when rainfall is running off the land and carrying sediment into the creeks and rivers. Four water quality parameters are measured using scientific meters supplied by the RDN: water temperature, dissolved oxygen concentrations, turbidity (measures the amount of solids in the water), and conductivity (measures the amount of contaminants like metals). Each summer, two employees of the RDN hold a training session on water sampling technique, and the operation and maintenance of the meters.
The sites that MVIHES monitor are located between the Orange Bridge in Parksville and the upper Englishman River above the falls, and include Shelly, Morison and Centre Creeks in addition to the Englishman River. Some of the sites are on Timber West and Island Timberlands' properties which require some four wheeling to access (woohoo!) and a radio to communicate with logging trucks on the road.
Ben is using a meter for measuring temperature, oxygen and conductivity, while Elaine shows Janet how to use the turbidity meter on Centre Creek
This water quality data was critical for identifying erosion and sedimentation problems in Shelly Creek which led to some stream rehabilitation work and a hydrology study to identify the source of the problems.
The RDN compiles all the data from the CWMN in an annual report titled "The State of Our Streams" which can be found here.


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Herbs are plants that people have been using for ages now because of their magical effects. Growing herbs is a tradition that has been followed by every generation. The word herb is derived from a Latin word Herba which means grass, green stalks or blades.
When the herbs are still young, their stem is juicy, but it becomes hard as the herbs become old. They are mostly perennial and annual in nature. Perennial herbs are the plants whose upper part perishes when they are old but the roots remain alive which help them to grow again, whereas annual herbs are the ones that are limited for one season and are raised from its seed each year.
Herbs have amazing medical, culinary and sometimes spiritual properties, which make them an important ingredient in our everyday living. In some parts, there is a tradition of growing herbs to help in curing many diseases. When used with caution by experts who have proper knowledge of herbs, they can fight against many physical and mental problems, like stress, skin diseases, health problems, depression, etc.
What is the procedure for growing herbs?
Botanists cultivate herbs to make novel researches for the betterment of mankind, whereas some people grow them in their homes to be used as fresh or dried ingredients to add flavor to their food. Growing herbs is really inexpensive and an easy procedure. You do not need a huge land and money to grow them.
You can grow them in pots and containers which can be kept easily in any corner or windowsill of the house, which also in turn can enhance the beauty of your house. If the soil is of an excellent quality and there is adequate sunlight available, they can grow even with a little care. In many gardens, gardeners make bed patters to raise herbs. The seeds for growing herbs are conveniently available. Thyme, parsley, lemon balm, chives, basil, mint, oregano, cilantro are examples of some herbs that can be grown in the garden.
One important thing to be considered before growing herbs is the quality of the soil. Though many herbs grow in any kind of soil, improving its texture and fertility will help in the effortless growing of the herbs. Many techniques are adopted by gardeners to increase the fertility of the soil. First, you may send a sample of the soil to a laboratory designed and engaged in soil improvement program to know its nutrient level. The laboratory will be able to provide an insight about the nutrients that are missing in the soil and provide proper guidelines to increase their levels.
The soil nutrient deficiencies can be reduced by using organic and inorganic matter too. Organic matter which includes straw, hay, grass clippings, corncobs, sawdust, your own compost compile or manure can act as a fertilizer for the soil. On the other hand, inorganic matter is also readily available in the market which has a combination of different nutrients in them.
Dr. Eliza sent me this article "50 Benefits and Uses for Organic Argan Oil". I appreciate Dr. Eliza for this wonderful article.


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Extended Schools
At West Acton Primary we offer a wide range of activities to extend and challenge the children and to support parents.
We believe that education is not confined to the classroom. Each year there is a comprehensive programme of activities on offer, before, during and after school hours. Students can sign up to activities with their parents permission on a termly basis. The table below provides a snapshot of the many activities that are on offer throughout the year. The school actively encourages parent help and support with clubs. Clubs vary according to year groups and places are prioritised for children that have not previously attended a club. Across the year children currently have the opportunity to take part in the following clubs:
Dance Club
Tennis Club
Homework Club
Music Club
Athletics Club
|Science Club
|Origami Club
Cricket Club
|Cooking Club
|Street Dance Club
Football Club
Creative Coding Club
|Ukulele Club
Arts & Crafts Club
Breakfast Club
Our breakfast club is run by our Lunchtime Supervisor Mrs Jadunath and Mrs Chan
Breakfast Club starts at 8am and finshes at 8.50am, Monday to Friday during the school term. The children are provided with a healthy breakfast of cereal and fresh fruits in order to promote healthy eating. They are then taken to class by the Breakfast Club staff.
To book your child onto the breakfast club you can download the registration form and Terms and Conditions for using breakfast club, alternatively contact the school office for more information.
Aktiva After School and Holiday Club
Aktiva Camps provides multi choice, multi activity after school and holiday clubs to children between 4 and 11 years of age in a safe, fun and friendly environment.
After School club runs from 3.15pm to 6pm during the school term. The Aktiva team will collect your child from their classroom and take them to the after school club area. After registration, children will be offered a choice of sports and creative activities. We also offer "child-centred" sessions where children contribute to the planning of our timetables. For those children who are tired from their day at school, Aktiva offers quiet, break-out corners where they can play or read in a calm and homely environment.
Aktiva provides children with a healthy snack during their sessions. Children help us choose the menu and assist in preparing the food. Bookings are now completed online here
Aktiva Holiday Camp runs from 8am to 6pm during the school holidays. Places for the Holiday camps can now be booked online here
For more information on the services provided by Aktiva, please contact the provider directly via one of the following:
Telephone: 0203 551 8909
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
website: www.aktivacamps.com
After School Club Flyers/ Booking forms (please complete and send directly to the Provider and not the school)
10 Coaching Football - Reception
10 Coaching Football - Key Stage 1 (Years 1 & 2)
10 Coaching Football - Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 6)
The brochure for both the Summer Term 2019 Extended Schools Clubs can be found below.