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Members of the U.S. Marine Corps performed a solemn duty for one of their own Christmas Day at Dover Air Force Base
Having a loved one come home for Christmas has been a joyous occasion for military families since the beginning of the Republic. But sometimes, especially during times of war, a Christmas homecoming can be a much sadder time.
U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Daniel M. Vasselian came home to the United States for the last time Christmas night, borne by six of his fellow Marines, saluted by his commanding general, and honored by his fellow countrymen.
What are believed to be Vasselian's remains – the military does not make a positive identification until after a formal examination − arrived at approximately 6 p.m. at Dover Air Force Base, site of the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs.
The night's dignified transfer was an operation that has been repeated hundreds of times at Dover over the past 11 years, and was the second held there within 24 hours.
Vasselian, 27, of Abington, Mass., was killed Dec. 23 while taking part in combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, according to a Department of Defense press release. His family said he was on his third tour as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The transfer of Vasselian's body from a McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. C-17 aircraft to a waiting van took place on a nearly deserted base, most of whose personnel were at home, celebrating the holiday with their families.
But the lights were on at the Carson Center and at the adjacent Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations center at Dover, as specialists there prepared to receive Vasselian's remains and prepare them for return to his family.
As with all such transfers, this one was carried out in complete silence. Although Vasselian's family was not present, a blue van brought three of his close friends, fellow Marines, to the aircraft, which was brightly lit on an otherwise cold and pitch dark night. The transfer team, consisting of six Marines who would carry the case and a supervisor, marched up the ramp into the C-17 Globemaster III, while Brig. Gen. James W. Lukeman and Master Chief Petty Officer Russell W. Folley, both of Vasselian's 2nd Marine Division, waited, standing at attention with two officers from the base.
The team brought the transfer case down the C-17's ramp, reverently carrying it to the waiting van. The four officers, including 436th Mission Support Group commander Col. Thomas A. Reppart, and Chaplain (Maj.) Matthew Boarts, saluted as the carry team approached, holding the salute until the case was safely inside the van. The doors were ceremoniously closed, and the van drove slowly away, followed by the transfer team.
An Air Force security forces patrol car preceded the van, its emergency lights flashing as it led the way to the Carson mortuary.
A true hero
Like all of those who have served in Afghanistan and in Iraq, Vasselian had volunteered for military service, all while knowing the risks of combat.
According to his family, he was ambushed while dismounting from a Humvee, just two days before Christmas.
A graduate of Abington (Massachusetts) High School, Vasselian enlisted in the Marines on Dec. 4, 2006, first serving in Iraq from February to August 2008, and then in Afghanistan from May to November 2009. He married his high school sweetheart, Erin, shortly after returning from that tour of duty.
Although separated by thousands of miles, the couple had observed their fourth wedding anniversary on Dec. 19.
Vasselian had been promoted to the rank of sergeant on June 1, 2013, said Lt. D. Oliver David, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division.
At the time of his death, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
His current assignment in Afghanistan began in September, David said.
Family members said Vasselian had a fun-loving personality that was hard to miss. He always looked out for others, they said.
"He was so fun. He was hilarious. He was amazing. He just would do anything for anyone," his sister, Jeannine, told The Enterprise newspaper in Abington. "He was the life of the party. He was the life of the town."
Vasselian's sacrifice was remembered throughout Abington. One sign outside a real estate office said, "Semper Fidelis Sgt. Danny Vasselian. A true hero."
His decorations included the Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and the NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.
Vasselian's death took place the same day another Massachusetts Marine was buried approximately 40 miles away. Lance Cpl. Matthew Rodriguez died Dec. 11, also in Helmand Province.
To date, there have been 2,276 American service members killed in Afghanistan.
The Enterprise newspaper in Abington, Mass., is a sister newspaper to the Dover Post, and is part of Gatehouse Media. A story by their reporter, Maria Papadopoulos, provided much of the background material for this article.


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subset: commoncrawl


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The Bisons have won their last four games and six of their last eight. Jacksonville has won its last three. The tip-off at Veterans' Memorial Arena is 6:15. The Bisons lead the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 5-1 record, 8-7 overall. Jacksonville is 3-3 in the A-Sun, 6-8 overall.
"Like most teams Jacksonville needs to win its home games," Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson said. "They are athletic. They have good size. And they have the ability to rebound the ball."
They also have senior guard Ben Smith, averaging 19.6 points per game. He is third overall in the conference in scoring and leads in minutes played with 36.86 per game.
"They have one of the best players in the league in Ben Smith at the point guard spot," Sanderson said. "He is a major challenge.
"He runs the team. They go as he goes. He is that vital to their team. He spearheads them offensively. He spearheads them defensively. He spearheads them in transition. He is very valuable to their team."
Junior guard Travis Cohn averages 10.2 points per game. Junior forward Ayron Hardy is the rebounding leader for Jacksonville with 5.6.
The Bisons are coming off one of their worst offensive performances of the season in their 64-53 win over Belmont Monday night. They shot 36.7 percent from the field and 13 percent from 3-point range.
The Bisons lead the Atlantic Sun overall in scoring with 81.2 points per game. They are also first in assists (18.07), assist-to-turnover ration (1.14) and first in rebound margin (plus 3.3). They are second in 3-point field goal percentage (36.2) and 3-point field goals made (8.40).
"We didn't play as good offensively as we usually do, but I think Belmont had a lot to do with that," Sanderson said. "I really like the way we played for the most part defensively. We rebounded the ball better in the second half.
"We still have a lot of room for improvement. I am waiting for us to play defense like we played against Belmont and offense like we have played every night except the Belmont game."
One of the best things that Sanderson saw in the Belmont game was the ability of his team to not get bogged down on the defensive end of the court when the offense sputtered.
"We got better defensively as the game went on," Sanderson said. "Most of the time when you miss a bunch of shots you don't defend as well. Can we withstand a bad shooting night on the road? I don't know that."
Junior center Adnan Hodzic is second overall in the A-Sun in scoring with 20.9 points per game. He is fifth in rebounding with 7.6 per game. Hodzic has scored in double figures in 42 straight games, the longest streak in the nation.
Junior guard Josh Slater is sixth in the conference with 15.3 points per game. Junior forward Brandon Brown averages 12.5 points per game, but his status is not known for this game. Sophomore guard Jordan Burgason averages 11.1 points per game.
"I thought we had decent shots against Belmont, but we just missed them," Sanderson said. "The shots Adnan shot were ones he has made his whole like. He just missed them."
The Bisons will follow the Jacksonville game with a visit to North Florida Saturday at 6.
Written by Mark McGee, Senior Publisher/Director of Media Relations


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Kip Moore, 'Beer Money' – Lyrics Uncovered
When Kip Moore sat down to write his latest hit, 'Beer Money,' he knew what kind of lyrics would resonate with himself to sing night after night. With the help of co-writers Blair Daly and Troy Verges, Moore is on the brink of having another chart-topping smash to follow in the footsteps of his last singalong hit, 'Somethin' 'Bout a Truck.'
"Kip, Blair and I wrote 'Beer Money' on Jan, 3, 2012," Verges tells Taste of Country. "It was the first song after the Christmas break for all of us. We spent a good while catching up with each other before we got down to writing that day. Then Blair threw out the title, and we were tearing into the song pretty fast."
"So Come on, come on / Baby, I'm buying / I got enough to last us all night / And you got the kiss that tastes like honey / And I got a little beer money / Tonight, Tonight / Baby, we're drinkin' / Let's wake the town that never stops sleeping / You got the kiss that tastes like honey / And I got a little beer money," they wrote in the lyrics to the 'Beer Money' chorus.
"The three of us are good friends," notes Verges. "We'd written a lot together and seen the whole record develop over the preceding months. By this point Kip and [his producer] Brett James had a really solid handle on the direction and vibe that they wanted for the album. And Kip is so good at staying focused on what works for him. When we were writing 'Beer Money,' we were really writing it for Kip. It made the whole process really natural. We all knew the rest of the record well. So the story in this lyric felt like writing another chapter to a book that was already underway."
"We can dance in the dark / blow the speakers out of this car / Light it up, burn it down / Until the morning rolls around / In a field, where we can scream / Get away with almost anything / Yeah, every now and then you gotta raise a little hell / Hope we get lucky and stay out of jail," they wrote in the second verse.
"We finished the song in a couple of hours and recorded a quick demo in Blair's basement," Verges recalls of penning the 'Beer Money' lyrics. "A couple of days later we heard from Kip that Joe Fisher at Universal and Brett were over the top about the song and it that they were cutting it. Kip recorded it for his record less than a week later. I think it's the shortest time between writing something and having it recorded that I've ever experienced."
More Lyrics Uncovered: | Somethin' About a Truck Lyrics | Come Over Lyrics | Good Girl Lyrics | Springsteen Lyrics | Over You Lyrics | Better Than I Used to Be Lyrics | That's Why I Pray Lyrics | You Don't Know Her Like I Do Lyrics


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Re: Rob's Halfway House #11
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:22 am
Hi everyone. I'm back--for a while, anyways. I decided against a chicken dinner tonight, and I might eat some fish instead--quicker to make and eat. However, I should be able to get at least a good start on chapter 6 before I have to call it a night on here.
I'll be back some time tomorrow
I'll be back some time tomorrow


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Mythtranscode is the internal process used by the front end to transcode MythTV recordings.
Usage: mythtranscode <--chanid <channelid>> <--starttime <starttime>> <--profile <profile>> [options] --mpeg2 or -m: Perform MPEG2 to MPEG2 transcode. --chanid or -c: Takes a channel id. REQUIRED --starttime or -s: Takes a starttime for the recording. REQUIRED --infile or -i: Input file (Alternative to -c and -s) --outfile or -o: Output file --profile or -p: Takes a profile number or 'autodetect' recording profile. REQUIRED --honorcutlist or -l: Specifies whether to use the cutlist. --allkeys or -k: Specifies that the output file should be made entirely of keyframes. --fifodir or -f: Directory to write fifos to If --fifodir is specified, 'audout' and 'vidout' will be created in the specified directory --fifosync : Enforce fifo sync --buildindex or -b: Build a new keyframe index (use only if audio and video fifos are read independantly) --showprogress : Display status info to the stdout --verbose level or -v: Use '-v help' for level info --help or -h: Prints this help statement.
Choosing a Recording
Two methods are available to choose which recording to work on. The first is to specify the channelid and start time,
-c 1067 -s 2006-04-24-18-30-00
Unless starttime is formatted yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss, you get "QTime::setHMS Invalid time" and "QDate::setYMD: Invalid date" errors. According to http://mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-dev/2003-July/011650.html , it's been that way since 0.10.
The other method is to specify the file,
-i /MythTV/tv/1856_20060425200000.mpg
--honorcutlist Limitation
--honorcutlist only seems to work (0.19-fixes [9938]) with the "-c -s" switch combo, NOT with a specified input (-i) file, even if that file is in the mythconverg database.
(Virtually) Lossless MPEG2 Transcode
New in 0.19 is a virtually lossless MPEG2 transcode. What this does is let you select cut points and mythtranscode will only re-encode the frames that need to be, copying the rest directly from the stream. If you are using this to cut commercials and you cut at the black frames of a fade to black (or white of a fade to white), what you get is basically a perfect stream copy of the video with no loss to the frames that matter.
This also has some side benefits,
- Converts the mpeg2 from a TS stream to a PS stream, possibly saving up to 20% of the file size!
- Fixes Audio/Video sync issues in a similar fashion to ProjectX.
Remove commercials from an MPEG2 recording
First, set a cutlist for the show. Then:
mythtranscode --chanid 1017 --starttime 2006-12-16-20-00-00 --mpeg2 --honorcutlist
This will drop the cut version beside the original, but with an added .tmp extension. I'm not exactly sure what it does to the database. It seems to keep the cutpoints and points at the old .mpg file, but shortens how long it thinks the movie is to the size of the .tmp file.


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With the growing popularity of Linux, the number of quality applications that are available for this platform has also increased. Gone are the days when Firefox was the only non-geeky Linux application and everything shiny was on Windows. Linux can now boast of a variety of applications, games and utilities that can make the naysayers change their view about this rapidly growing platform. So, without further ado, here are 10 great desktop applications that have found their place in the hearts of almost every Linux user out there.
1. Firefox
Firefox undoubtedly is the most used application on Linux. Be it the shell-based Ubuntu or the pure and simple Debian, the open-source browser is used by millions across the world. Firefox's huge popularity can be attributed to the fact that it is the default browser on most of the Linux-based distributions. Moreover, thanks to the sheer amount of features it provides across every platform, it makes switching easy for users migrating from Windows or Macs. This award-winning browser is one of the few software that has managed to find its place in the Guinness book of world records.
2. Wine
Wine which stands for 'Wine is not an emulator', is an open-source software that enables users to run Windows-based games and applications natively on Linux. The hugely popular application has over a million users worldwide. Wine, by bringing to Linux all the coveted stuff Windows offers, makes it very easy for Windows users to switch to this developing platform.
3. Amarok
Any seasoned Linux user would agree that Amarok is probably the best music player / iTunes replacement for Linux. There were people who switched to Linux just for Amarok. After Amarok 1.4, the new KDE4-based version pissed off quite a lot of loyal users. However, the team quickly managed to bring back all the niceties of the old version to the new one. Hence, Amarok undoubtedly stays on the list as one of the most popular desktop applications for Linux.
4. LibreOffice Suite / Openoffice.org
This is another software that eases the switching hassles many Windows and Mac migrants face. Formerly known as Openoffice, LibreOffice is one of the most popular office suites out there; second only to Microsoft's Office suite. The most attractive part about this software is that it provides almost every feature Microsoft Office offers at a cost only a few can beat, that is free. Since the 'liberation' of OpenOffice, expectations are high from LibreOffice and there's no doubt that it will live up to them.
5. Mozilla Thunderbird
Another Mozilla product ranking high on this list is Thunderbird. Thanks to the huge amount of features this desktop mail client provides, it has become one of the most popular applications for this platform. The reason Thunderbird is so in vogue amongst penguinians is due to lack of any competitive mail client for this platform. Also, by offering features like add-ons support and easy configuration, Thunderbird easily beats competing Linux e-mail clients like Evolution and Kmail. There are also chances that Thunderbird might become the default client for Ubuntu's next release.
6. Rhythmbox
Though Banshee replaced it in Ubuntu's latest distro version, Rhythmbox still remains one of the most widely used media players for Linux. One reason for its popularity is the fact that there are many Ubuntu users who haven't upgraded yet. Moreover, there are distributions that are still using Rhythmbox as their default music client. When compared head-to-head with Banshee, Rhythmbox misses out on a lot of features. However, there are still a lot of users who swear by Rhythmbox's simplicity and stability.
7. Banshee
Since becoming the default music player for Ubuntu, Banshee has become one of the most popular music players around. Thanks to the tons of features it comes with, it has found itself being used by a lot of new users. Features like Amazon store support, video playback capabilities, and multiple-device support make it a better player when compared to its closest competitor Rhythmbox.
8. Dropbox
Dropbox is one of the very few proprietary software that has been so popular amongst Linux users. Dropbox is a free web-based service that uses cloud-computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the internet using file synchronization. One of the striking features of Dropbox is its tight integration with the rest of the desktop. Users just have to 'drop' files into a folder, and it is instantly backed up on the cloud. Dropbox works exceptionally well on Ubuntu and makes perfect use of the unique features the distribution provides. If you're uncomfortable with the idea of using a proprietary tool on your desktop, then there are unofficial open-source builds of Dropbox like Kdropbox.
9. GNOME Terminal
The Linux community has been making a lot of efforts to dispel the myth that Linux is just for geeks. However, most of the Linux userbase still consists of hackers and developers. Hence, a terminal emulator makes its way into this list as one of the most popular software for Linux. GNOME Terminal is not a tool that is just used by developers; in fact, many new users might need to use the terminal from time to time. This usage also includes copying and pasting tips, tricks and instructions found on technology blogs like ours.
10. Google Chrome and Chromium
Since its release, Google Chrome has managed to build up quite a following amongst Linux users. Also, with the announcement of Chromebooks, the Google-owned browser is also prepping up to become a full-fledged Operating system. Such is the popularity of this browser that there were talks of making it the default web browser for Ubuntu.
Finally, do tell us if we've missed out on any software. Also, please share with us your top 10 desktop applications for Linux.
Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate.


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If you visit a farmers' market, you'll often find beets sold with the greens still attached. It may seem like those leafy bits are just adding weight on the scale, but they're great quickly wilted down, as in this pasta dish.
Game plan: If you buy beet greens that are still attached to the beetroots, be sure to cut the greens off as soon as you get home or they will pull the water from the roots, causing the beets to shrivel.
When cooking the greens, you probably won't be able to fit them into the pan all at once. Add as many as will fit, let them wilt slightly, then add a few more until they are all in the pan.
This recipe was featured as part of our Cooking with Winter Ingredients photo gallery.
Beverage pairing: Mancini Vermentino di Gallura, Italy. Strong flavors of greens, salt, and sharp cheese need a white wine that can hold its own. Vermentino from the island of Sardinia matches the pasta note for note while bringing citrus and dried herb flavors to the occasion.


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I read several papers about the technique, but I didn't find the exact mechanism how the gene expression works.
Everything I found out was that if you infiltrate the leaves with Agrobacteria that carry a plasmid with your desired gene, the gene sequence is not intergrated into the chromosome... But where does the gene expression takes place then? I the agrobacteria which are in the plant cells?
So consider you want to express a gene that carries introns. In bacteria is no splicing mechanism and so your gene expression wouldn't work with this technique.
I hope someone can help me with my problem!
Best regards,
Submit your paper to J Biol Methods today!
Transient Transformation of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves
Started by Ikar, Aug 15 2011 10:35 AM
1 reply to this topic
Posted 15 August 2011 - 10:35 AM
Posted 14 September 2011 - 08:00 PM
Same as for stable transformation, T-DNa goes into nucleus. If, following infiltration, leaves or whatever you are infiltrating are kept on appropriate media you would get new, stably transformed plants. If there was an intron it would be spliced out. Only difference is that with transient expression you do not have to wait for new transgenic plants.
Edited by kajmak, 14 September 2011 - 08:01 PM.


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Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Wilson found music at a young age and immediately looked at the guitar as more than just a hobby.
Today she is just months off of releasing her second album, and now on her way to recording a third album with her new project.
I met up with Wilson at Tip of the Tongue, Baked and Brewed, located at 43 Lincoln Rd., to discuss her road to the creation of The Bright Smoke.
What is like it to be Brooklyn-based artist?
The community of musicians is big. For whatever you're playing, there are a million other people out there doing the same thing. So in terms of camaraderie, the response has been great. Every time we book a show people are always interested to see what everyone is doing and connect. This has been the case since our very first show at Greenpoint Gallery, I had never played there before; I didn't even know it existed. It was nighttime and the weather was really crazy and there were all of these people there who are just there and a part of the space. And it was really great.
How did you first get involved?
I've been playing music since I was 13 years old. I was a dancer and was injured. So everyone in my family did something in the entertainment field – actors or musicians or whatever – and my dad was playing in the same band since he was in high school -- same dudes, same styles and a lot of the same haircuts.
I started teaching myself to play guitar after seeing Dave Matthews Band. And that was it. I thought that I could do that. I felt connected. I loved music, I loved listening to music, and obviously with ballet; it's music too, but it's classical, however there was always musicality around.
But this was the first time that I ever saw it as a live; living breathing career, and that it didn't exist without people doing it. I just thought I was going to do that. But that was it, I locked myself in my room for the summer and I taught myself how to play guitar.
Where did you get the guitar?
We had them around. It was actually my older sister's and she never took to it. I just jumped right in, and I was pretty bad for a long time. This was the late 90's, so there was a lot of Jewel. I just had this weird connection to her as a female artist.
Do you feel like there is a hurdle you have to take as a female artist?
I never thought of it as a hurdle. I never noticed any weird pushback from the venues or the artists, but some of the comments after a show were just kind of weird. They would say something like, "Oh, I didn't know that you would actually play guitar," or, "is that your guitar?" But, in high school, that was the kind of thing that kept me going. There were all these guys that played music, and I tried to play with them, but it was always like Calvin and Hobbes, it was like their "tree house."
Did you feel like this was something you had to do on your own?
Everyone else did other stuff. When I was young, like back when I was a teenager, I used to try and play with all the guys in school. The nice part about that was being able to come back later and being able to collaborate with other people. You already have your own style.
How do you write your music?
I started writing the first time when I was alone in college. I was a sophomore and I found that it kind of meshed, and it was a point when I was able to write a song. From that point on, I noticed that I started hearing it, and that was sort of a frustrating thing – to hear the music and not have the capacity to play it. I would hear a song and that would be a motivator. Now I just hear it and I have to learn how to play it.
What does that sound like?
Well, the best way I've been able to describe it is; you know when you have food poisoning, and you know you're going to throw up, but you just have to try and talk yourself down? Well, until I write it, it's just hard to concentrate. It sounds like a radio, but it's just sort of tuned down and then it won't go away until I write it. If I'm out I will just wait to do something about it, because I try to keep some kind of human dignity.
How did you get involved in music here in NYC?
When I came here I got into a program at NYU, and a friend from college was here and I used to play with him back then. He was up here and playing with a ton of bands, so while I was still in South Africa, he was talking about how he wanted to start this band. So, I started writing and sending drafts out there, so when I got back we had a band called the French Exit. We hit the ground running with that. We had those songs that I wrote and we played with that for a while, but then that folded in the end of 2009. But we were doing some good stuff. We had some good songs and we were on the road.
And that was tough when that ended. I took a little less than two years off writing. I didn't think I was going to do music again. It was a little rough.
How did you find your band?
Well it started with me and Quincy Ledbetter, and it was when I wanted to put out a solo album and he was the producer. I had it in my head that I would be writing it, and I wanted to do the independent thing – I didn't want to depend on anybody else – so he started as a producer and it was just so easy to work with him. He knew what I wanted to do, and the sound was just there. So he just stuck around, we put out another live album and since then he has just become integral.
How does the recording process work with you and Quincy?
The newest record came out in December and we're writing a new record now. That should be out in August, but I started writing for it about two months ago. I don't like to do the backlog stuff too much, because generally if it doesn't make it to an album, it just wasn't on par.
But, I will start writing something when I start hearing new songs – so I don't have a ton of stuff backlogged -- but if there's nothing to hear then there is nothing to write. The lyrics and music are mine, and he just hears space and he knows how to add those accents to it.
What is the New York audience like versus playing other places?
Well it's different. There's a good and a bad from what I've experienced, and obviously it's only anecdotal so it's different for other people. There is a resonance to get really excited, and I think people go out and see things and want to give it a shot, but there wasn't a very physical excitement, so they seem very restrained. There was just this energy that's different here. They're a little cold and they don't want to give too much away.
You could go see different shows every single night so there's a lot going on here. There is a good and a bad to that too. They're not forgiving if your amp and your guitar are out of tune or your pedal breaking down.
Check out The Bright Smoke live at Tammany Hall, located at 152 Orchard St., on May 22 at 8 p.m.


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To paraphrase a popular Christmas song: �Do they know it�s Christmas in their tanks?� Even with our volunteers humming �Jingle Bells� as they feed and scoop, it�s doubtful that our patients celebrate anything other than waking up each morning. But we certainly celebrate whenever a critically ill or injured turtle makes it through another night.
To paraphrase a popular Christmas song: �Do they know it�s Christmas in their tanks?� Even with our volunteers humming �Jingle Bells� as they feed and scoop, it�s doubtful that our patients celebrate anything other than waking up each morning. But we certainly celebrate whenever a critically ill or injured turtle makes it through another night.
Right now we have about 20 patients in Sea Turtle Sick Bay � our ICU. The smallest one, a little Kemp�s just under 4 pounds remains in isolation due to a nasty wound on her shoulder. Hospital visitors who are Dr. Seuss fans will giggle when they learn the names of our little greens: Grinch, Cindy-Lou Who, Sam-I-Am, Yertle-The-Turtle and Lorax , among others. We�ve had more than 400 turtles under our care so sometimes just coming up with a not-yet-used name is the hardest part of our job!
Santa Vet, our own Dr. Craig Harms, stopped by last week with his bag of tools (and a small entourage of students and techs) to check on our patients. The shoulder wound on our little Kemp�s is healing nicely, and flippers that had been stitched back together on our green and loggerhead are on the mend. Out in the �big room� (Sea Turtle Bay, where our ICU patients will eventually relocate) Nichols� badly mangled flipper, which had been stitched and splinted for months is totally healed and functioning nicely. When Nichols was admitted there was much concern that his flipper may have to be amputated. Knowing the remarkable powers of sea turtles to overcome horrific injuries Dr. Harms and Jean decided on the less aggressive treatment and it paid off. Nichols got a flipper in his Christmas stocking.
Back in the ICU we fired up the therapy pool. First in was �ICie�, a good-sized green who�s still with us because of a flotation problem. We had already observed that she�s a bit of a bully and doesn�t play well with others so she had the pool all to herself. Next in was a quartet of our smaller greens: Crush, Wiggles, Sigmon and Earle. After the initial novelty of having space to zoom around in wore off Earle and Sigmon became a little cozier with our smaller guys than we wanted them to, so they were snatched out and returned to their tanks. Wiggles and Crush then had the entire pool to themselves and those little flippers were working at top speed, fighting the currents and building muscle for their eventual release. It�s fascinating to watch the grace and acrobatics of these critters in our simulated �ocean.�
Dr. Harms is the consummate teacher, always willing to spend time with us, answering questions, explaining procedures and listening to our concerns. We discussed our long and ongoing collaboration with the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State, and his work with sea turtles at CMAST. We reminisced about the old hospital and the amazing work that came out of that little building. We got a little giddy when talking about the joy of finally seeing our dreams of a first-class rehabilitation center come true. Clearly we have all learned much together and grown in our abilities to care for these amazing creatures. And we thank all of you who believe in and support us financially, and in so many ways. Blessings and flipper hugs in this holiday season.
Visit us in December
We will be open for tours and shopping on Dec. 28 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In our gift shop you�ll find our logo and other exclusive hospital designed T-shirts, including long-sleeved T�s, warm hoodies and sweats, lots of youth and toddler items and an array of locally crafted jewelry, pottery, sea turtle art and exclusive-to-us note cards.
Our �Adopt-A-Sea-Turtle� program has always been popular, and we now have one-stop-shopping for the adoptions of our patients. While you�re here you can select from the list of turtles and various adoption levels and leave with all of the �goodies� in hand. It�s your last chance to get our �Christmas Adoption Package.� It�s very special and not available on-line. You�ll have to come in to find out all the details. If you miss it this time you may miss it forever.
Directions to our new hospital in Surf City: Take the turn off of N.C. 50/210 onto Charlie Medlin Drive, which is the road next to the Shipwreck Point (Mini) Golf course. Follow the road onto the gravel section, through the round-about and onto Tortuga Lane. Stay on Tortuga until it ends and circle into our parking lot. Come in through the double glass doors. We now have a working phone: 910-329-0222.
Admission to the sea turtle viewing area is: adults, $5; military and seniors 65 and up, $4; and children, $3. Visitors are always welcome to browse our gift shop, talk with volunteers, peek through the window and use the facilities for free if they don�t wish to take the tour. Watch this column and our Facebook page (The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center) for any additional tour and shopping hour and special events.
Cold weather + sea turtles = trouble
Cold air and cold water is deadly for sea turtles. Normally they would have moved out into the toasty waters of the Gulf Stream by now, but due to their inexperience or disability from illness the influx of cold-stuns will continue throughout the winter months. Our visitors and residents are very important to our hospital and beach program because we can�t be everywhere 24/7. Sea turtles are cold-blooded and cannot regulate their body temperature. That�s why a cold-stunned turtle can sometimes appear to be dead � it�s literally unable to move its flippers, head and often even close its eyes. You can help us by removing the turtle from the beach or water and placing it in an unheated area such as your garage, car or utility room. Do not try to warm it up! That could cause the turtle to go into shock. The N.C. State hotline for any stranding is 252-241-7367 and the call will be picked up 24/7. Locally, if you come across any turtle in distress you can text or phone our director, Jean Beasley, at 910-470-2800 or our beach director, Terry Meyer, at 910-470-2880. Please report any and all local sea turtle activity (strandings , injured or sick turtles) immediately to Jean or Terry.
Questions, comments, suggestions?
Please direct any questions, comments or suggestions re: this column to me at firstname.lastname@example.com. This column is in the off-season schedule of publication of every other week. To be added to the newsletter list e-mail me at the same address: email@example.com. If your e-mail address has recently changed please send me your new one so I can update my master list. I�ve been adding everyone who requests the newsletter. Work on the next issue is in process.
Karen Sota is the volunteer media coordinator for the Sea Turtle Hospital in Topsail Beach.


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ALTON — The administration at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton has announced the top 10 students from the Class of 2012 The students are listed according to their rank in class as follows:
Samantha Holton — valedictorian
Samantha Holton, the daughter of Millie and Eric Holton, has been involved in a number of activities throughout high school. She played on the JV Soccer team for her freshman and sophomore year. In her junior year she joined project search, history club, and helped work backstage for a high school musical, Seussical. During her senior year she joined Project Search and History Club again, along with National Honor Society and Tri-M. She also decided to learn how to play the clarinet in Prospect Mountain's Concert Band. She was a part of the Concert Band, Marching Band, and Pep Band. She also took her share of rigorous courses ranging from AP US History to Honors Anatomy and Physiology. Apart from her busy schedule as an active student, she also volunteered for senior class events whenever there was work to be done. In the fall she will be attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY to study Biomedical Engineering.
Kristine Adams — salutatorian
Kristine Adams is the youngest daughter of James and Priscilla Adams of Alton. During the past four years Kristine has been involved with clubs, sports, theater and the performing arts, as well as community service activities both in and outside of the academic realm. Kristine has been involved in sports since elementary school, specifically volleyball and basketball. She played JV Volleyball for two years receiving Coach's Award and sportsmanship awards along with scholar athlete awards. Kristine was the JV Captain of the basketball team during her freshman year and then moved onto Varsity Girls basketball for 3 years, also receiving the Coach's Awards and recognition for her sportsmanship. During this past season, she was co-captain of the Varsity Girls Basketball team. Within Prospect Mountain, Kristine has been an active member of the performing arts and has been a part of many productions as a leading role including: Anything Goes, Seussical, Lizzie Borden of Fall, Macbeth, as well as participating in both the Mixed and Select Choirs for four years. Furthering her love of the arts, Kristine joined the Village Players and was nominated at age 14 for the 2008 New Hampshire Theater Awards for Best Supporting Actress for her role as "Ado Annie" in Oklahoma. Additionally she was cast in Little Shop of Horrors last fall and performed alongside her parents. Kristine also has strong leadership skills and she has demonstrated them in her position as a crew trainer at McDonald's and within the school as President of National Honor Society, Vice-President of Tri-M Music Honor Society, and as the Senior Class Treasurer. She is also a member of the National Society of High School Scholars and received the Book Award for Academic Achievement with a Social Conscience from Saint Michael's College in 2011. In the community, Kristine is an active participant in service activities such as blood drives, roadside pickups, and senior tea parties. In addition, Kristine has been involved with the Alton Community Youth Action (CYA) program in Alton since 2009 and was the idea behind the mentoring program now initiated with Alton Central School and Prospect Mountain. In the fall, Kristine will be attending Saint Anselm's College studying Politics with a Pre-Law Advisory.
Kirby Beranger
Kirby is the daughter of Karen and Steven Beranger of Alton Bay. Kirby has excelled academically at PMHS, as well as outside the classroom. She has served as class Vice President for three years, is a member of the National Honor Society, the History Club, Outing Club, and Competition Math Team. She has participated in Student Council, Mock Trial, and numerous school and community fundraising events. This year, Kirby was chosen by faculty and her peers to receive the DAR Good Citizen Award. Kirby has distinguished herself athletically, having received the Scholar Athlete Award for Varsity Soccer, Varsity Softball, Indoor Track, and Alpine Ski Team. She has also received the Coach's Award for Alpine Ski Team and the NHIAA Sportsmanship Award for Varsity Softball. Kirby has participated for three years in the NHIAA Leadership Conference, this year as Student Ambassador. This fall, Kirby will attend the University of South Florida in Tampa, majoring in Biomedical Engineering.
Michelle Laliberte
Michelle Laliberte is the daughter of John and Sharon Laliberte of Alton. Over the past four years Michelle has participated in Varsity Softball and Varsity Tennis. Her junior year she was also a part of the Prospect Mountain Ski Team. She was a member of the Mock Trial team all four years. After completing the honors math program at PMHS, Michelle will be going on to pursue a major in Mathematics/Economics this fall at the University of California — Los Angeles.
Rebecca Krivitsky
Rebecca Krivitsky is the daughter of Andrew and Cheryl Krivitsky of Alton. Over the past four years Rebecca has maintained her honors status while working, playing sports, participating in community service, and being an active member of St. Katharine Drexel Parish. Rebecca has been on the Varsity Basketball team for four years and played soccer her freshman and sophomore years. She has earned a Coach's Award, Outstanding Dedication Award, and Most Valuable Player Award. She is a leader in her church serving as a Master of Ceremonies for special masses and helping to train younger altar servers to participate in masses. She also had the honor of being chosen to represent her parish in Spain at World Youth Day. This was a two week faith filled journey where Catholic youth from all over the world came together, and an experience that will shape her future and leadership within the church and community. Musically she has played in Jazz, Concert, and Marching Band all four years, originally playing the alto saxophone and then playing the tenor sax. She has also participated in numerous community services including the walk for Alzheimer's, senior citizen tea parties, visiting the elderly at Wolfeboro Bay, blood drives, community clean up, and much more. She has been a member of the National Honor Society her junior and senior year and Tri-M for three years. She currently serves as Treasurer for NHS and Secretary of Tri-M. Rebecca's true love is science and she has just received the George Washington Carver award for the pursuit and love of science. She will be attending the University of New England, ME, in the fall as a Neuroscience major and hopes to become a Radiologist.
Martha Rasbridge
Martha Rasbridge, daughter of Donald and Laurie Rasbridge of Alton, has attended Prospect Mountain High School for four years and has participated in many activities including soccer, basketball, National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, History Club, Jazz Band, Marching Band, and Pep Band. She has also served as the Class of 2012 Secretary for all four years. She has taken many honors courses, succeeded in attaining the high standards of Prospect Mountain. She plans to attend the California University of Pennsylvania in the fall for Physical Therapy and join the Marching Band.
Ryan Demmons
Ryan Demmons is the son of Amy Stanley and Robert Stanley of Alton. Ryan has shown a true quest for knowledge in his four years of high school, especially the year and a half spent at Prospect Mountain High School. During his freshmen and sophomore years, as well as all of middle school, Ryan participated in Track & Field, and still likes to run in his free time. At PMHS Ryan has been a part of the History Club, Project Search, Prom Committee, and the National Honor Society. Ryan also has worked very hard at a part-time job since the beginning of his junior year, and plans to continue doing this through college. In the fall Ryan will begin his studies at the University of Vermont, in Burlington. There Ryan will work for a BA in Sociology, and he hopes to continue on to law school.
Jeffrey Olmsted
Jeffrey Olmsted is the son of Ronald and Traci Olmsted of Barnstead. During his time at Prospect Mountain High School, Jeff played four years of baseball and two years of golf. In the summer of his junior year, Jeff attended leadership seminars at both the United States Air Force Academy and West Point. In addition, he attended a six week Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul's School in Concord, where he studied Astronomy. In the fall, Jeff will be attending the University of New Hampshire to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Rebecca Meyer
Rebecca Meyer, daughter of Raymond and Sherry Meyer, lives in Alton Bay, NH. She has been a very active student at her school and in her graduating class, participating in Student Council, selected into the National Honor Society and given the opportunity to sing in PMHS's Select Chorus. This year she was elected and served as the Vice President of the National Honor Society. Rebecca's voice will be remembered for reading the morning announcements every day since the start of her sophomore year; as a result she received "Service to the School" awards each year. When not at school, you can find Rebecca at the Alton Dance Academy where she is taking multiple dance classes as well as teacher assisting. Rebecca is excited to be attending UMass-Amherst, MA working hard on her dance production repertoire to earn her way in as a Dance major. Her goal is to someday own her own studio to spread the love of dance to young people.
Aaron Russell
Aaron Russell is the son of Jean and Jim Russell of Barnstead. Aaron pushed himself in school, taking honors classes taking AP Biology his senior year. He was on the honor roll all four years. Aaron played on the Lacrosse team all four years, was a leader on the Robotics team for 3 years, and was a driver his junior and senior year. Aaron will be attending the University of New Hampshire, Durham, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and would like to focus either in Aero Space or Ocean Engineering. After he receives his BS in ME, Aaron hopes to continue on for his Masters, either through the accelerated program at UNH or attending graduate school at MIT.
Prospect Mountain High School announces top 10
ALTON — The administration at Prospect Mountain High School in Alton has announced the top 10 students from the Class of 2012 The students are listed according to their rank in class as follows:


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Apart from the well known T-series tanks and BMP infantry fighting vehicles, Syria also operates various lesser-known vehicles for use in conflicts home and abroad, one of which is the SPR-1 mobile jammer.
The SPR-1's appearance in the world today is so rare that not much is known on this elusive vehicle. Only Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Russia were known to have operated the SPR-1 in limited numbers, with East Germany only acquiring two!
Based on the chassis of the GT-MU multipurpose armoured vehicle, the SPR-1 is tasked with disabling mortar grenades and artillery shells through jamming their proximity fuses. The jamming is performed by two powerful antennas, which sends targeted pulses generating interference with the proximity fuses of the mortar grenades and artillery shells, leading to their explosion in mid-air before hitting their intended target.
As both vehicles can be seen in typical Syrian camouflage, and Syria always had a special relationship with the Soviet Union and Russia concerning electronic warfare and jamming systems, it is most likely these vehicles were received in the late 80s or early 90s, albeit in very limited numbers.
The two SPR-1s, one with its antennes deployed, likely make up a large part of the SPR-1 fleet inside Syria. It is possible some saw action near the Presidential Palace on Mount Qasioun near Damascus, due to the repeated targeting by mortars early in the Syrian Civil War. Their current theatre of deployment remains unknown however.
Recommended Articles
Syria's Steel Beasts: The T-55
Syria's Steel Beasts: The T-62
Syria's Steel Beasts: The T-72


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Name Pendant – Square (Gold-plated)
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Complete your gift with a beautiful chain
The pendant is gold plated with a personal engraving, but this doesn't mean that you can't make your pendant even more fun! You can complete your gift now with a lovely chain, with a choice out of different sizes and links. The pendants are easily attached the chain, that way you can keep varying with these unique chains and pendants.
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Size: 25 x 25 mm
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Give a beautiful square engraved pendant with a name as a gift!
Surprise your partner, friends or family with a beautifully engraved pendant! A pendant is an orginal gift for a birthday, anniversary or as a token of love. Make this gift really personal by having your own name engraved on the front of the pendant!
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November 21, 2011, 12:22:48 PM »
I woke up to a harsh knocking on my front door. Nervously, I walked to the living room, knowing what awaited me. As expected, two sheriffs were standing outside. The clock on the wall said 10AM, the time assigned by court for my familys eviction. My stomach was twisting and I felt as if the oxygen level in the room had suddenly decreased. Our home of ten years was no longer ours. We stood outside and watched the sheriff throw our things onto the curb. I felt as if everyone on our block was staring at us, I felt humiliated, embarrassed, and angry. I was angry at my father, angry at the system, and angry at this unjust world. As my family of six packed into our car to go to a shelter, our home for the next few weeks, tears rolled down my eyes as I looked at the house that I once called home. Not only was I now without a father, but also without a home. I look back now and realize that even though this experience was horrible to say the least, there is a lot that I learned from this and many other experiences that life threw my way.
At thirteen, I lost my father in a car accident. I did not lose him because he passed away from his brain injuries; I lost him because he deserted his wife and five children. My father became emotionally and physically abusive after his car accident, a consequence of his accident that tore our family apart. He put many restrictions upon us, such as no guests allowed, no heat on regardless of how cold it is, no TV or any such noise, and that we could not hold any jobs. Furthermore, if he was in a bad mood we had to stand his physical beatings and degrading swear words. I watched as he hit my older brother with a belt before his middle school graduation, for making too much noise. I watched as he called my mom names and sometimes pulled her hair or slapped her. I felt helpless knowing there was not much I can do to help. I hid in the room I shared with my two sisters during these violent episodes at home. I resorted to books and kept myself busy with school work. It was during the Fourth of July weekend that my father left, I guess he was tired of the fighting too. I was not home but I remember getting that call from my mom when I was at friends house and the freedom I felt is indescribable. My dad tried taking everything from us after his accident, but soon I became aware that whatever I learn in school and whatever I accomplish cannot be taken away from me. His behavior made me motivated in school and to try to be the best I could.
I did what I knew I had in me; I graduated from high school in three years with a perfect GPA and a great ACT score. I was ready for College, my maturity level was not that of other 15 year old children and nor were my experiences. Throughout high school and college I was the head of the household after my fathers car accident. My family depended on me because I was able to talk to strangers and not behave shyly. I would call the various credit card companies, mortgage lenders, and other creditors to whom we owed money, spending hours making arrangements for payment plans. I was indirectly given the responsibility of the financial situation at my house, the role most fathers fulfill. Throughout all this school was something I was not willing to give up on, because for me that would be accepting defeat. College was no different than high school; I worked hard because I expected nothing less from myself. Taking the maximum credits allowed each semester allowed me to complete Loyolas 128 credits required for graduation in three years. I was my own worst critic, if I did not do well on a test or in a class, I would tell myself it was not okay and that every time I fall I need to get back up again.
My strength for getting back up has always been my mother. She left her entire family behind in Pakistan so that her kids could have the life she never did. I will not let her struggles go to waste. She pushes me each and every day, my mom mother never ceases to amaze me. After the death of her sister my mother took legal guardianship of my two cousins, knowing that she already has five kids to raise on her minimum wage income. Looking at her strength gives me my own. How could I disappoint the woman who raised me for the past 13 years alone, while my father was always at work, the same woman who took jobs and worked morning till night as a single parent to make sure I have food in my stomach and a roof, no matter how small, over my head? I became grateful for these experiences because they cleared my vision that was once blurred and fastened my heart beat that was once slow because it lacked direction and passion. I look at her and know that I want the best for myself and that I can accomplish anything, because of her I know I want to be a lawyer. I want to be that lawyer that helps people like her struggling, no one was there to help us, but I want to be there to help the women fighting.
It was hard to juggle a full class load freshman year, work numerous hours a week, and then also commute back and forth from school to save my house from foreclosure. This was the first time I had the opportunity to experience the legal system up close and personal. No longer was it a foreign world. I was spending hours talking to free legal services about how to represent my mother in court to save our home, understanding summons letters and various other documents being dropped off to our house, drafting legal documents, attending court over and over, and collecting the necessary paperwork requested by the judge. Even though I was not able to save our home, one positive consequence of the experience was my awareness of my passion for the law. I instantly fell head over heels for the justice system because it had logic that my life lacked. There was always a solution to a problem and predictability, again something my life did not have.
I grew up in a third world country but at that age I barely could understand the situation I was in. Therefore, I decided to study abroad in China for four months. China has one of the highest numbers of human rights cases. I got to witness this firsthand through my Silk Road academic excursion for two weeks where I had the opportunity to travel over 2,000 miles and got the opportunity to talk to many Chinese natives who were not impressed at the way the government was handling things.
The only thing no one can snatch from you is whatever is inside your mind,, this includes the education you attain and the life changing moments you experience. This motivated me to receive the best education I can and to work hard to help others attain it as well. While I am headed in the right direction, I still have major steps to take. A legal education would give me the tools needed to make better use of my abilities. If I am given the opportunity I will bring willpower, maturity, and seriousness of my purpose to my legal studies. With my extensive professional experience, community service involvement, and multicultural background I am able to contribute distinctively to the diversity of law school.
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November 21, 2011, 12:37:54 PM »
Very powerful. Tinker around the edges, maybe, but what you've got is exceptionally good. (At least in my not particularly important opinion.)
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From Sea To Shining Sea: Marvelous USA Maps for the 4th
We've been looking at maps celebrating civicism (it's like patriotism, but for cities!), but today we'll go all-out, coast-to-coast. Here are some of the prettiest U.S. maps, celebrating breweries, bikes, and more.
1. The National Parks Checklist map by Ello There is elaborate and awesome. It is printed on a large canvas, and includes stickers to mark off the parks you've visited, as well as a Moonrise Kingdom-esque explorers patch. I know THE PERFECT PERSON to give this to but was bemoaning the $95 price tag, when I realized you can place a special order for an 11x17 print on paper for only $24. Perfect!
2. Let Them Eat (Cup)Cake featured this inspiring and immense map of the Breweries of The United States by Pop Chart Lab.
3. Bittersugar's Bike Cities USA map just might encourage all cities to earn the little green dot symbolizing "very good bicycle planning and infrastructure".
4. Rar Rar Press makes these darling custom It's Not That Far Really postcards. Just tell them where you'd like the hearts to be, and try not to think about how huge this country is.
5. I cannot get over how detailed this America The Beautiful print by Tugboat Printshop is. It really gives you a feeling for all the stuff happening in our country. These prints are quite pricy, but once you take a look at the close-up shots of the carved woodblocks, you'll see why.
6. Is it wrong that I like Jennifer Maravillas' The United States print because it reminds me of a lush, glossy magazine?
7. The last map here is a bit quirky- I don't entirely understand it, and I love it. Purgatory Pie Press INK has created a limited edition handbound book, featuring "Linoleum cuts of the 54 United States as identified by Londoners". Basically, their friend was in town from London, wanted to join in the project, and attempted to identify all the states. "He promptly mislabeled all the states, most as English counties. " Love it.
(Images: as credited above.)


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Stop Saying 'If You're Not Paying, You're The Product'
from the there-are-more-options dept
Derek Powazek (random trivia: whose work inspired me to learn how to create a web page back around 1995 or 1996 or so) has an excellent take on the pithy and dismissive phrase that many often use to argue that free services treat users worse:
"If you're not paying for the product, you are the product."It's pithy and clever... and wrong. Powazek dismantles the claim eloquently. He attacks the underlying assumptions in that statement. He highlights that "free with advertising" has been a pretty big business for a long long time, in which there's no indication that users were treated as "the product" or somehow treated poorly. And then there's the key one: this is not an either/or situation:
He also points out, as I have many times, that there are plenty of companies whose services you pay for who treat their users atrociously. And then points out what many of us have been arguing all along: there are all sorts of business models online. Some work in some cases, others work in other cases. But to argue that "free" services mean you're "the product" and thus not treated as well, simply isn't an accurate or realistic statement. So can we please agree to kill it?
I've worked for, and even run, many companies in the last 20 years with various business models. Some provided something free in an attempt to build an audience large enough to sell advertising, some charged customers directly, and some did a combination of both. All treated their users with varying levels of respect. There was no correlation between how much money users paid and how well they were treated.
For example, at JPG Magazine we sold something to our audience (magazines, subscriptions, and ultimately other digital services) and we also sold ads and sponsorships (online and in print). We made it 100% clear to our members that their photos always belonged to them, and we had strict rules for what advertisers could do in the magazine. We also paid our members for the privilege of including their photos in the printed magazine (as opposed to Instagram's new policy that they can use your photos however they want, even in ads, without paying you a dime).
This example is much more complicated than the black and white "you're the product" logic allows. In some cases, users got the service for free. In others, they paid us to get the magazine. In still others, we paid them! So who/what is the product?
And just because you pay doesn't mean you're not the product. Cable TV companies take our money and sell us to the channels, magazines take our money and still sell ads, banks and credit cards charge us money for the service of having our money. Any store that has a "loyalty card" takes our money for products but gives us a discount in exchange for the ability to monitor what we buy. In the real world, we routinely become "the product" even when we're already paying.


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PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - January 1, 2013 --Thousands of people in Southern California are lining the route of the 124th Rose Parade in Pasadena.
The die-hards staked out their spots early Monday with folding chairs, hammocks and portable barbeque grills. They brought in the new year by throwing marshmallows, shaving cream and tortillas, and then hunkered down to stay warm in sleeping bags.
The parade features floats covered with flowers and plant material and marching bands from across the country. It will be broadcasts around the world.
College student Brandy Grueter (GROO'-ter) spent the night on the sidewalk with her younger brother and saved spots for about 20 friends and family. She says she slept 20 minutes but would rally enough energy once the parade started.
The pre-dawn line at a Starbuck's stretched around the block.


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More than half of outpatient lumbar spine MRI scans weren't appropriate, with a particularly poor record of ordering by family physicians, researchers found.
When analyzed by an expert panel, 29% of MRI referrals to two large teaching hospitals were deemed inappropriate and a further 27% were of "uncertain value," Derek Emery, MD, of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and colleagues found.
Only 34% of lower back scans ordered by family physicians were considered appropriate compared with 58% ordered by physicians in other specialties, the group reported online in JAMA Internal Medicine in a research letter.
"Eliminating inappropriate scans and some of uncertain value could reduce the harm that accrues from unneeded investigations and result in significant cost savings," they wrote.
The findings weren't a surprise, Emery's group acknowledged.
Imaging for low back pain made the top five list of overused tests and treatments for both the American Academy of Family Physicians and American College of Physicians in the "Choosing Wisely" campaign.
Lumbar spine scans have risen dramatically to account for about a third of all MRI done in some regions, despite the poor correlation between its findings and clinical signs and symptoms, Emery and colleagues noted.
"Overuse is driven by many factors, including patient expectations, physician concerns about litigation, and lack of physician accountability for cost," they concluded. "Solutions will require strict adherence to appropriate guidelines and better education of patients."
The current study of requests for MRIs at two large Canadian teaching hospitals also examined scans of the head for headache but found better referral characteristics.
Among 1,000 requisitions examined over a set period by an expert panel nominated by Canadian specialty societies, 83% were considered appropriate without much variation among specialties.
The rest were evenly split between inappropriate indications and those of uncertain value.
"Most of the patients in our study referred for MRI of the head for headache had already been pre-screened with a CT scan, likely explaining the high rate of appropriate head MRIs," Emery's group suggested.
How appropriate the CT scans were wasn't assessed.
The only indication for lumbar spine MRI among the 1,000 outpatient referrals examined that routinely received a rating of "appropriate" by the expert panel was postoperative leg or back pain.
However, these accounted for only 17% of the lumbar spine MRI orders. The rest were three times more likely to receive an uncertain or inappropriate rating than to be judged appropriate.
Among the subspecialties, neurosurgeons were most likely to order appropriately (76%), whereas less than half of referrals by neurologists and orthopedic surgeons were deemed appropriate.
One limitation was that the majority of the lumbar spine MRI orders (64%) didn't have enough information on the original requisition to determine appropriateness.
"This has implications to study validity insofar as we had to seek out information from other sources," the researchers pointed out.
They also cautioned that their study couldn't address underuse of MRI and wasn't population based, "so extrapolation to other health systems should be done cautiously."
The study was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
- Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
Primary Source
JAMA Internal MedicineSource Reference: Emery DJ, et al "Overuse of magnetic resonance imaging" JAMA Intern Med 2013; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.3804.


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Style # 199765
Lace Tights is rated out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Michelina from Great investment! It's so nice to finally find stylish tights that not only flatter my legs but keeps me very warm & doesn't dig into my tummy! LOL! The elastic at the hips is very gentle & the overall feel of the tights is so nice & soft. The P/S size is the perfect fit for me because I'm 5'3", 115 lbs.
Date published: 2012-12-30


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Fisher Investments on Telecom explains some of the Telecom industry, including integrated services, wireless services, alternative carriers, and provides a framework for understanding the Telecom sector and tips and tools for security analysis and portfolio management.
Fisher Investments on Financials provides most levels of investors the tools to understand and analyze investment opportunities. This guide explains some of the sector's key macro drivers (regulation, interest rates, and credit trends), takes you through the components of the industries within the global Financial sector, offers investment strategies on when and how to be overweight in specific industries within a sector, and much more.
Fisher Investments on Utilities explains some of the key macro drivers in the sector, including regulation, economic cycles, and investor sentiment, provides a framework for understanding the Utilities sector and its industries.
In 2007, John Wiley & Sons teamed up with Fisher Investments to create Fisher Investments Press with the goal of educating investors on global markets, investment strategy, and additional investing-related topics. The publishing imprint offers a series of educational books suitable for a wide range of investors—from novices to professionals. The Fisher Investments On series analyzes the 11 primary investment sectors, including Energy, Technology, Health Care, and others. Other books cover topics ranging from global investing to behavioral finance.


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HathiTrust full-text index to be integrated into OCLC services, making content from this important collection easily discoverable
DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 7 September 2011—OCLC and HathiTrust have signed an agreement that will allow OCLC to integrate the HathiTrust full-text index into OCLC services, enabling member libraries and their users to more easily discover resources from this important digital collection through WorldCat.
Under this new agreement, OCLC will be able to integrate the full-text index of HathiTrust collections into services such as WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local. Following integration of the full-text index, users will be able to search beyond bibliographic records to include the full text of these cooperatively built library collections in their searches.
Content from the HathiTrust Digital Library complements member libraries' collections already in WorldCat. Through a single search of WorldCat.org or WorldCat Local, users will easily find HathiTrust resources and other materials available in their own collections, and in the collections of thousands of libraries around the world that are part of the OCLC cooperative.
As a digital repository for the nation's great research libraries, the HathiTrust Digital Library brings together the massive digitized collections of partner institutions. HathiTrust offers libraries a means to archive and provide access to their digital content, whether scanned volumes, special collections, or born-digital materials. The representation of these resources in digital form offers expanded opportunities for innovative use in research, teaching and learning.
"For HathiTrust, access is a key part of our preservation mission," said John Wilkin, Executive Director of HathiTrust. "Resources that remain hidden will not be effectively preserved. While we will continue to support a standalone full-text search of HathiTrust (maintained by HathiTrust), we believe that getting our content into the flow of where our users are is critically important. We are pleased to see the addition of OCLC's services in exposing the HathiTrust content."
"OCLC and HathiTrust have worked together for several years on behalf of our member libraries to provide easy access to these valuable resources," said Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. "OCLC includes 4.7 million records in WorldCat representing the HathiTrust Digital Library, and we continue to synchronize with the HathiTrust daily. This new agreement is an important next step to providing discoverability and easy access to this significant collection."
Earlier this year, OCLC and HathiTrust began testing a unique WorldCat Local user interface for discovery of items accessible through the HathiTrust Digital Library. The WorldCat Local prototype for the HathiTrust Digital Library, available to anyone on the Web, was designed and implemented by both organizations in close cooperation as a means to further develop a shared digital library infrastructure. HathiTrust Digital Library records are discoverable through the separate WorldCat Local interface, as well as through WorldCat.org, available on the Web at www.worldcat.org.
OCLC and HathiTrust continue to work together to increase online visibility and accessibility of the digital collections by creating WorldCat records describing the content and linking to the collections via WorldCat.org and WorldCat Local.
HathiTrust was launched in 2008 by the then 12-university consortium, known as the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), and the University of California system. It has grown to more than 60 partners including Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Duke and Johns Hopkins. In the past two years, those partners have contributed more than 9.5 million volumes to the digital library, digitized from their library collections. More than 2.5 million of the contributed volumes are in the public domain and freely available on the Web.
More about HathiTrust is at www.hathitrust.org/.
About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 72,000 libraries in 171 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials. Search WorldCat.org on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.
OCLC, WorldCat and WorldCat.org are trademarks/service marks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Third-party product, service and business names are trademarks/service marks of their respective owners.
Bob Murphy
Manager, Media Relations


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The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes from the Internet Data Exchange Program of the Santa Barbara Multiple Listing Service. Real estate listings held by brokerage firms other than Prudential California are marked with the "MLS" logo and detailed information about them includes the name of the listing brokers.


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Alumni Weekend 2012 will be celebrated with Loyola's Centennial Celebration
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Loyola press release - April 10, 2012
Throughout 2012 and 2013, Loyola University New Orleans will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its chartering as a university. The centennial will be observed from April 2012 to May 2013, featuring a number of signature and academic events that celebrate and explore Loyola's rich history. Loyola University alumni are invited back to campus to celebrate Loyola's 100-year anniversary during Alumni Weekend 2012.
The schedule of class-specific events, together with a variety of all-class activities, will be happening throughout the weekend.
The classes of 1952, 1962, 1972, 1987, 1982, 1992 and 2002 will celebrate milestone reunions during Alumni Weekend festivities, April 13 -15, 2012.
For additional information, visit www.alumni.loyno.edu/alumniwknd12www.alumni.loyno.edu/alumniwknd12 or contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 800-798-ALUM, 504-861-5454, or e-mail email@example.com. All events are open to all alumni and free unless otherwise noted.
2012 Alumni Weekend Schedule of Events:
Friday, April 13, 2012
5 - 7 p.m.
• Alumni Welcome Reception
J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library
$20 per person/$30 per couple
• Book Signing and Centennial Exhibit
Monroe Library, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. Presidents' Exhibit in Thomas Hall, all day, free
7 – 9 p.m.
• Alumni Reunion Class Dinners
Various locations on campus
$40 per person/$70 per couple
Classes of 1952, 1962, 1972, 1987, 1982, 1992, and 2002
Saturday, April 14, 2012 - Founder's Day Events
1 -- 2 p.m.
• Campus Tours
Meet in front of J. Edgar and Louise S. Monroe Library
2 – 3 p.m.
• Book signing and lecture by Loyola's Provost Distinguished Professor of History, Bernard Cook, Ph.D.
Location: Whitney Presentation Room, Thomas Hall
Meet Bernie Cook, author of "Founded on Faith: A History of Loyola University New Orleans"
3 p.m.
• Loyola Concert Band
Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall
Featuring the premiere of the Ignatian Fanfare by Col. John Bourgeois '90, H '05
5 p.m.
• 100th Anniversary Celebratory Mass
Holy Name of Jesus Church
6:15 p.m.
• Picnic Dinner Anniversary Celebration
Marquette Lawn
Complimentary food and soft drinks; cash bar available
Music: The Yat Pack and Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes
Centennial cake
Centennial video screening
Special appearance by the 610 Stompers
Fireworks finale
Sunday, April 15, 2012
10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
• Annual Alumni Association Jazz Brunch
St. Charles Room
Limited seating is available at the Jazz Brunch.
Registration will close at 220 attendees.
$30 per person/$50 couple
Adjutor Hominum Award presentation
Young Alumni Award and individual College awards
Alumni Association annual meeting/ passing of the gavel
Presentation of reunion class gifts
3 p.m.
• Loyola Chorale, Chamber Singers, and NOVA Chorale
Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall
7 p.m.
• St. Louis Cathedral Spring Concert
St. Louis Cathedral
Loyola chorale to perform
For the latest updates about Loyola University New Orleans, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaNOLANews or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/loyno.
LoyNews is an e-newswire produced by the Loyola University New Orleans Office of Public Affairs. LoyNews is distributed weekly to local, regional and national news media outlets, communicating the latest news and accomplishments of the university and its community.


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Popular Buses from Ambernath to Shirdi
- DepartDuration
- arriveoperator
- 21:45
- 04:00
ShirdiSukirti Tourist Non A/C Seater (2+2)
- 22:10
- 03:35
ShirdiLucky Travels Dombivali Non A/c Seater (2+2)
- 21:45
- 04:00
ShirdiVITA AAI(SHREE ASHTAVINAYAK TRAVELS) A/C Seater (2+2)
- 22:11
- 03:36
ShirdiLucky Travels Dombivali Non A/c Seater (2+2)
- 21:45
- 04:30
ShirdiVITA AAI(SHREE ASHTAVINAYAK TRAVELS) Non A/C Seater Pushback (2+2)
- 21:50
- 04:00
ShirdiVITA AAI(SHREE ASHTAVINAYAK TRAVELS) Non A/C Seater (2+2)
FAQ about Buses from Ambernath to Shirdi
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- Dixit Wada Museum
Showcasing some of Sai Baba's personal belongings, the Dixit Wada museum offers visitors an interesting insights into his simple and pious life. It was established by Kakasaheb Dixit in the year 1911 on Ram Navami with Baba's permission.
- Gurusthan
A must visit pilgrimage site of Shirdi, Gurusthan(place of the Guru) is the place where Sai Baba spent most of his time when he first came to Shirdi. It is said that the Baba believed that the tomb of his own Guru is located by the neem tree.
- Khandoba Temple
The Khandoba Temple is among the thirteen main temples of Khandoba. It is said that the temple priest Mhalsapati spotted Sai Baba in front of the temple and said Yaa Sai which means Welcome Sai. People started referring to him as Sai Baba after the incident.
- Chavadi
The Chavadi Mandir was originally a place wherein taxes were collected, village records kept and visiting officials put up.


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IA Column
Education for IA: Talking Heads and That D-Word Again!
Andrew Dillon is dean of the School of Information at University of Texas at Austin; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com.
The issue of IA education is raised every now and again among the IA chattering classes even if the topic has lost some of its luster since the initial explosion of interest in 2000. In my last column I mentioned the work of the ASIST committee on Information Science Education, which spent a large part of the previous year compiling a listing of IA education opportunities. The results are, on the surface at least, impressive (see www.asis.org/Board/educationprograms.html): 33 universities, two commercial schools and six distance education programs offer a range of courses, programs, certificates, sites and degrees in information architecture. You can download another, partially overlapping, listing of worldwide programs now at the AIfIA site (www.aifia.org), thanks to the efforts of a team led by Victor Lombardi. We should all give thanks to both groups for the efforts such work is very helpful to many of us, but will prove next to impossible to keep up-to-date.
Outside of the self-proclaimed IAs, education in the subject, it seems, is based on courses or combinations of courses in various LIS programs or from several interaction design programs. Dedicated degrees in IA are still pretty rare, though at least four now exist. I've mentioned the Kent State MS degree in IA and knowledge management which was the first, and which has already graduated students, as far as I can tell. The University of Baltimore, Capitol College in Maryland and the Illinois Institute of Technology also all offer IA degrees. I contacted each of these programs to get an estimate of the number of graduates each had produced but at the time of submitting this column had received an answer only from Baltimore where I learned there are currently 22 students enrolled, with the first graduate likely in Spring 2004. I am keen to hear more as I have yet to meet anyone who has a formal IA degree and it would be nice to learn how such folks are getting on.
We should not lose sight of the remarkable fact that there even are degree programs and graduates soon to emerge when the first serious conference on IA only happened in May 2000. Given the speed at which universities typically operate, this is truly surprising. Moreover, what the ASIST and AIfIA listings reveal is just how many schools are offering courses in the subject. The cynical side of me notes that some LIS programs have just re-packaged old classes, but an examination of others indicates some serious efforts have been made.
I did pose a request to SIGIA-L about people's perceptions of the state of IA education. This inquiry produced a few responses, some quite lengthy. The general tone of replies suggested that degrees in IA were either premature or not required to gain a position. This may reflect the biases of those without the degree, but it made me wonder how new graduates will be received among their professional peers upon completion of their studies. Heaven forbid we have a new professional society that only admits degree-carrying members to its ranks.
The education picture is still confused by the rather narrow view many people have of IA. If you consider the subject only to be concerned with organizing websites, then it is pretty clear that a master's degree in the topic may be overkill, and a course or two within a more general program will probably suffice to get you on the path. But if, like me, you think of IA as a more encompassing effort aimed at understanding how information can be organized and presented for human and organizational use, both within and beyond websites, and addressing issues of performance effectiveness and efficiency, user satisfaction, sustainability and indeed aesthetic response to a resource, then a degree program looks to be more like a minimum requirement to get started. Regular readers will note that I even managed to say the above without once mentioning the "D-word", definition, which in IA circles is prone to set off the same arguments one starts by mentioning the "L-word" at an ASIS&T conference.
David Byrne, the man behind Talking Heads, is clearly a Big-IA guy. On the occasion of launching his PowerPoint art, he told Newsweek that the "architecture of the software makes assumptions about how you do things." Quite right, and he did not need an IA degree to discover this. But then, how many people are as naturally gifted as Mr. Byrne, even if they do make a living creating PowerPoint presentations? For the rest of us, IA education makes a lot of sense. Let's see how it plays out in the coming few years.
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Information Science and Technology