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Mohammad Anwar has to change his email address. He asked for advice on handling the transition.
Think of all the places where your old email address resides, outside of your immediate control, waiting to give people plenty of false information. There are other people's address books, old messages in people's inboxes, websites that use your address as your login name, and your business cards.
Changing your email address can be quite a chore.
The first thing you need to do is check with your old mail provider and find out how long you can keep the old address and at what price. It's probably worth the money to keep it for at least a few months.
Then you need to tell everyone. Using your new address, send an email to everyone in your address book – friends, relatives and business associates. Address the message to yourself (again, with the new address), and BCC everyone else.
The BCC part is important. Providing everyone with everyone else's email address is going to get people angry – especially if some people reply to all.
Set up your mail client to receive messages from both accounts. Check the client's features to see if there's a way to send an automated response in reply to any message coming from the old address – and only the old address. The message, of course, should remind them to use the new address.
Meanwhile, go through all of the websites you log on to via your email address, and change your account information to reflect your new address.
Finally, consider buying your own domain name, and using an email address from there. No one can take away your email address if you own the domain. You can get a domain name for less than $60 for two years.
And speaking of expenses, don't forget to reprint your business cards.
by Lincoln Spector, PC World


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This collection is designed with the Marathon des Sables (MdS) & desert racing in mind. In the MdS 40°C race days can give way to 4°C nights in which warmth plays a vital role in recovery for the next day's challenge. Maximising these items' warmth/weight ratios are central to the developiment of this collection, to meet the needs of both elite competitors and those who simply want to finish. Our Desert Race Collection will be available again in Autumn 2018.
There are currently no products in this range.

subset: commoncrawl


text: First of all... hi everyone I just joined GBAtemp and a gotta say... THIS SITE IS AWESOME anyway right on to my question... How can i use cheats for a ds game if the cheats aren't in the cheats.db? Is there a way to enter action replay codes to use them with the game or something like that? If the info is needed: the game i want to cheat in is Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's Stardust Accelerator


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The Official Music Video For Ali Dee's "Sweet Southern Song."
For those of you who don't know, Ali Dee is an aspiring country singer, a cast member on CMT's reality show, Texas Women and an award winning host. "Sweet Southern Song" is her latest single and will be on her upcoming album that she is currently working on.
Below is the official music video for "Sweet Southern Song."
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- JB And The Moonshine Band Kiss Me That Way-Video
Find the most current Ali Dee tour dates from our partners at Country Music On Tour, your trusted country concert ticket source!


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MPW Renovations
DIY Projects
by MPW customers
DIY Projects
What are Mister Ply&Wood customers building with plywood, MDF, particleboard and other panel products?
Telescopes, workbenches, bookcases, dog kennels and sales counters. That is to name a few.
Click here to view the photo gallery for more images.
Grant from Blacktown speaks about how he assisted a customer, Krystal. Grant says, "Krystal didn't know where to start. She needed new doors for her vanity as the old ones wouldn't close properly and were chipped. I asked Krystal to come into the store with the old doors. On the spot I cut two new doors to size. Then I replaced the hinges and handles with new ones. Krystal took the vanity doors home and mounted them to the existing vanity."
Contact your local Mister Ply&Wood store about your next DIY project.


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Houston is a popular landing spot for Desi's whenever they visit USA, for it being densely populated with immigrants from all around the world. I found it pleasant in terms of climate, landscape and family-friendly atmosphere, which made our two-week stay memorable while the kids enjoyed time visiting their granny. Here are a few attractions …
Tag: rides
Things to do in Houston with Kids
by Guilty Mama
1 year ago
1 year ago
976 Views


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The lounge is open 24 hours and is located in the arrivals hall, before immigration.Meet and Greet Services Rates:
For more information please contact the lounge on tel: +968-24518198 or email: firstname.lastname@example.com.
Some airlines permit fold-up strollers to taken through to the departure gate, rather than checking them into the hold. Passengers are advised to check with respective airlines to understand the restrictions and requirements about strollers. A children`s play area is located in the departures terminal, after passport control. The Oman Air Business Class lounge also has a children`s play room available to members and their guests.
Oman Airports is owned by the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, Oman Airports is responsible for the management and operation of Muscat International and Salalah Airports and for the future new airports of Ad Duqm, Sohar and Ras Al Hadd.


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AT 10 PAST 1 ON A THURSDAY night, Alice Day takes the stage for her last set. By now, almost everyone has gone home except for a few musicians who have strayed by, a couple of loosened-tie businessmen, friends of the band and the late-shift bartenders counting the inventory.
The music was supposed to stop at 1, but Alice still wants to sing. Her voice has a teasing, after-hours rasp, and the mood has turned a little melancholy as the night wears down. It`s the music that keeps her going. Alice sways and nods to the soft, moody piano solo, lost in her own bluesy reverie.
``What good is love?`` she sings, like a woman who knows. ``The love that no one shares. This bitter earth can be so cold. Today you`re young -- too soon you grow old.``
She sings till almost 2 o`clock.
It`s just another working night for Alice Day. At least six times a week she is singing next to a bar somewhere in South Florida. If this is Monday, she`s in Miami; Tuesday, it`s Delray Beach; Wednesday through Saturday, the Lagniappe Cajun House in Fort Lauderdale.
``I consider myself a saloon singer,`` she says. ``I like smoky joints.``
For three sets a night, Alice saunters up to the bandstand to find a little magic. And somehow, every night, in some old familiar song, she always does. Watch her closely as she loses herself in her inner world of music. Listen to that impossibly pure tone coming from her -- it`s a sound from the forehead rather than the throat, as she opens and twists her mouth like a cat, and the sound remains the same. Her voice ranges from the lowest alto depths to a lyric soprano.
Before the night is through, something Alice sings, whether a bawdy blues or a sad-hearted ballad, will melt you in your seat. There is something in the way she sings that is convincing and true.


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Electrical — Security — Communications
Providing our clients from Vancouver to Abbotsford with professional, reliable service since 1986, Protec Electrical Services can meet your complete residential, commercial and industrial electrical needs. We also offer security and communication services for your home or business.
Our electricians are licensed, bonded and insured. Find out why we are the top choice in the Greater Vancouver Area – contact us today and get your free quote!
Proudly Serving
Greater Vancouver Area | Lower Mainland
Contact Information
179 – 991 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1V3 | 778‑322‑8255 | email@example.com


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A Cape buffalo hunt in South Africa is sure to be a thrilling dangerous game hunting experience.
The Cape Buffalo is considered by some to be the most dangerous of all of the Big Five. While he seems docile enough when viewed undisturbed in the herd, when agitated or wounded this bovine can be extremely aggressive, vindictive, and cunning. Found all over southern Africa in herds of various sizes, the buffalo can weigh up to 1800 pounds. He is primarily a grazer but an occasional browser who must drink every day. They favor the thick bushveld during the day, leisurely moving and grazing as they go. At night they tend to herd up to protect the young from their archenemy, the lion. Both sexes carry horns, however, the horns of a bull can be quite spectacular in spread, with a deep curl and a solid boss covering the forehead. Cows lack the boss, but can have a very wide spread; in fact, the world record buffalo on file in the Roland Ward record book is a cow with a spread of some 62 inches.
With a well-placed shot, a rifle of .375 caliber is adequate for the Cape buffalo. However, a shot from the various 40 calibers provides a much more immediate and noticeable effect. With the advent of quality soft-point bullets, many hunters prefer to make their first shot on the buffalo with a soft point to prevent over-penetration and the chance of wounding other members of the herd. Follow-up shots are most often made with solids to take advantage of their superior penetration. Even with a well-placed first shot, once the Cape buffalo is wounded and its adrenalin is flowing, he can be extremely hard to bring down. It has been said that if your first shot on "Inyati", as the Zulu call him, is a bad one, the next 14 will only serve to further annoy him. Remember, when it comes to shot placement and your selection of rifles and bullets, always trust the judgment of your Professional Hunter.


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|Created by:
|Asahina Yajinden
|First used by:
|Akodo Meikuko
|Currently in the possession of:
|Custody of the Phoenix Clan
The bloodsword Fukushu (Revenge) was forged by Asahina Yajinden in 508 on the Anvil of Despair. [1] It was the first of four bloodswords forged by Yajinden. [2]
Fukushu's Powers Edit
Fukushu possessed all of the abilities of any Bloodsword, and like its sister Yashin, it bore an additional mixed blessing. It reduced the damage taken by the wielder, at the risk of becoming berserker. While in such a state, the wielder would not sheathe Fukushu until every visible enemy was dead. After all enemies were killed or escape, the rage faded, and the wielder remembered nothing of the time in which he lost control. Fukushu could sense those of violent temperaments, and sought them out. [3] Revenge's trigger was activated if anyone slighted its bearer. [4]
The Lion Clan Champion Edit
It was given to the Lion Clan Champion, Akodo Meikuko who had the reputation of a cool and level-headed general. In 509 she was present at court when Togashi Moho, an Ise Zumi who was a personal advisor to the Emperor of Rokugan made a joke that she took offense at. The Emperor had posed the hypothetical question "Were I to lower taxes to ease the burden of the people, where should I start?" Moho's response was "Among the Lion. Perhaps emptying their larders would remind them of the hands that fill them." Meikuko took offense at this remark. "Do you imply that we neglect our duty to the Emperor?" Moho's answer did not help. "In fact," he said, shaking his head, "I meant to remind you of your duty to the people. I apologize if your sense of self worth is so fragile that you misunderstand me, Matsu-sama." Meikuko demanded satisfaction for the insult and petitioned the Hantei to permit her to challenge Moho to a duel. The Emperor, who valued both retainers and wished to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, did not grant her request until three days later, after he had advised the monk to return to Dragon lands. Winter would soon begin, and the Emperor expected that since the mountain passes would soon be blocked with snow that Meikuko would have plenty of time to forget the insult. [2] Somehow the ise zumi was eventually dueled by the Lion Champion and died in the ongoning duel. The Dragon replied by quietly leaving the city. Taking the act as an insult to the Emperor whom she served, [5] she declared war on the Dragon Clan and led and army of 20,000 Lion into the Dragon lands to attack Togashi Mountain in the dead of winter. Only 2,000 soldiers returned from the Battle of Red Snow. Meikuko took her own life with Revenge on the summit of Togashi mountain, and her name became synonymous with "mistake" among the Lion. [2]
The Fall of Shiro Morikage Edit
The blade was recovered centuries later by the last master of Shiro Morikage, Shiba Kojiro. The exact cause of the destruction of Shiro Morikage in 782 was unknown, but those who learned the lore of the bloodswords did not doubt that Fukushu played a key role. [6]
Akodo Ginawa Edit
The bloodsword after the fall of Shiro Morikage was unclear until it resurfaced before the Scorpion Coup in the hands of Akodo Ginawa. A minion of the Shadows impersonated his own Lord, Akodo Uragiri, and tricked Ginawa to wield the cursed blade. Through deception Ginawa killed the true Uragiri and was forced to flee, becoming the ronin Ginawa. [7] [8] The magistrate Isawa Tadaka saw the blade in the hands of the ronin [9] The attempts by Tadaka to obtain the blade met with violent refusal. [3]
Ginawa left Revenge Edit
After the War Against Shadow Ginawa decided he no longer needed to wield a sword of steel. The Akodo would be his sword, and he would forged them, shaped them, and temper them. They were his soul. [10]
Storehoused and passive Edit
Revenge was left unused, in the custody of the Lion Clan, [11] within the Kitsu Tombs. [12] The Council of Five wanted Kaneka to deliver it to the Phoenix so as to study it and to discover how to destroy all of the Bloodswords. [13] Ginawa presented it to the Phoenix for research. While it was possible that the spirit of the blade might simply be biding its time, it seemed passive, as if its thirst were somehow quenched, its kharmic debt finally paid. [14]
Wielders of Revenge Edit
The sources relating to this article are in conflict with each other.
|Secrets of the Dragon page 33 claims that Ginawa surrendered Revenge to Togashi Satsu. Oni no Pikachu (talk) 21:56, April 18, 2013 (UTC)
- ↑ Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 13
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Way of the Wolf, p. 115
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Way of the Wolf, p. 116
- ↑ Magic of Rokugan, p. 81
- ↑ Bloodspeaker, p. 27
- ↑ Way of the Wolf, pp. 115-116
- ↑ Unexpected Allies, pp. 4-11
- ↑ A Dark Path's Beginnings, Part I, and Part II, By Ree Soesbee
- ↑ Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire, pp. 132-134
- ↑ Akodo Ginawa (Gold flavor)
- ↑ Bloodspeakers, p. 27
- ↑ Secrets of the Lion, p. 84
- ↑ Secrets on the Wind - Part 1, by Rich Wulf and Shawn Carman
- ↑ Fires of the Heart, by Lucas Twyman
|This Shadowlands related article is a stub. That means that it has been started, but is incomplete. You can help by adding to the information here.


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April 15th, 2012 by WCBC Radio
Maryland's General Assembly failed to pass a balanced budget, according to a memo obtained by The Baltimore Sun. Enacting a balanced budget is the legislature's primary constitutional requirement.
"The [fiscal year] 2013 budget is nearly $70 million out of balance," wrote Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster in a memo to all of Gov. Martin O'Malley's Cabinet secretaries. She recommended that the governor not sign any legislation that reduces revenues "until the imbalance is addressed."


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Sweet Potato Pie
If you like it, save it!
Save and organize all of the stuff you love in one place.Got it!
If you like something…
Click the heart, it's called favoriting. Favorite the stuff you like.Got it!
Author Notes: Nothing says "holidays" to me more than sweet potato pie -- pumpkin pie just can't compare. While this is technically a dessert, you will always catch my family eating it as part of our breakfast the morning after it's made (because calories don't count between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, of course). I love the pumpkin craze in the fall, but sweet potatoes are the real MVP.
For this recipe, you can either boil or roast the sweet potatoes to make the mash for the filling. If boiling, dice the sweet potatoes and boil them in a large pot of water until tender before draining and mashing. If roasting, place sweet potatoes in a 400° F oven for about an hour until tender. Then slice the sweet potatoes and scoop out the pulp from the skin. —Nicole Price
Food52 Review: WHO: Nicole Price joined the Food52 advertising team in October -- and she brought this recipe with her.
WHAT: A pie that looks like the classic pumpkin but tastes a little sweeter (and a little more potato-y).
HOW: Make your favorite pie crust and primp the edges however you'd like. Roast or boil sweet potatoes, then mash and mix them with your usual filling ingredients and a hit of lemon extract. Pour into pie shell and bake until firm.
WHY WE LOVE: This Thanksgiving, don't limit sweet potatoes to mashes and marshmallow-covered casseroles -- they want to be turned into full-fledge desserts. This pie might pass for pumpkin, but its earthy and buttery flavor is all its own. —The Editors
Makes: one 9-inch pie
cups mashed sweet potatoes (from about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
1 1/4
cups sugar
cup evaporated milk
tablespoons butter, softened
teaspoon lemon extract
tablespoon vanilla extract
teaspoon cinnamon
teaspoon all-purpose flour
unbaked 9-inch pie shell
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Blend all of the ingredients except the eggs and the pie shell together with a mixer and taste for seasoning.
- Add eggs and mix until the filling is smooth.
- Spoon the filling into the unbaked pie shell.
- Bake for 1 hour or until firm. Let cool completely before slicing and enjoying.
- This recipe is a Wildcard Contest Winner!
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:


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23rd > June > 2007 Archive
Russian trouble makers find Quicken backdoor
A Russian firm that provides password-recovery services says it has found a backdoor in the encryption mechanism that Quicken uses to secure password-protected files, a feature that makes millions of users of the personal finance program more vulnerable to government spooks or other highly determined snoops.
DrinkorDie warez leader jailed for 51 months
It took a while, but US Customs today got their man: Hew Raymond Griffiths, a ringleader of the infamous warez group DrinkorDie, was sentenced today to 51 months in a US prison.
Royal Society readies Glastonbury for eggheads
Diary markerFrom tiny fitness trainers and simulated surgery to high pressure situations on Earth and the possibility of generating life on Mars, the Royal Society's annual Summer Exhibition in London has got it covered.
Sentient world: war games on the grandest scale
Perhaps your real life is so rich you don't have time for another.
Yahoo!'s pink liberation army a threat to America's youth
And NinthlyStunted by the eclipse of justice, Little Johnny Walker made his way over to the piano. He played a sad tune. One full of preambles, bees and summer vegetables. It made the women of the night cry, and the men of strong moral fiber tense. Jesus breathed easier that night. We all did. A Butter Dish for Beelzebub by Julio Stantore
Team America to launder $24m North Korean cash through Russia
"He likes to gamble, feast on Korean food and take late-night tipples of cognac with his friends. He is also said to spend hours rejuvenating from his nocturnal adventures in the city's saunas." The Asia Times, on North Korean dauphin Kim Jong Nam


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Civil War Fitting Tips & Tricks: 1860s Handbook
$ 12.00
Tips & Tricks to Help You Look Like You Stepped Out Of The 1860s!
Fine tune your sewing skills and make your costumes look like the clothing our ancestors wore!
The challenge when making fashions from another time is learning how to fit the fabrics to the body. Just because you have the pattern cut to your size doesn't mean it'll fit. And very rarely does it. You have to fine tune it, fiddle with the seams so it lays correctly on your individual figure.
In this valuable handbook you can apply the techniques fast to be on your way to looking like you stepped out of the past.
Handbook covers:
- Tips to enhance your sewing skills
- Day and evening bodices fitting techniques (pg. 5)
- Gaping necklines in ball gown bodices (pg. 7)
- How far up a side seam should go under the arm
- Where to end bust dart points (pg. 9)
- How to create a narrow back & waist appearance
- Two ways to defeat the common problem of "gaposis"
- Working with sleeves for both day and evening bodices
- Fitting tips for the unusual dropped armhole seam (pg. 10)
- Dealing with extra fabric around the shoulder area (pg. 11)
- Skirts of the period - how to measure and cut for your height & hoopskirt size (pg. 12)
- Other general era-specific sewing information
and much more!
Pages full of helpful notes describe how to deal with the unusual dropped armhole seam, gaping necklines in ball gown bodices and the notorious "Gaposis." Also covered is how to deal with extra fabric around the shoulder area and how to cut a perfect skirt length.
Enhance your sewing skills and develop personal fitting techniques with this valuable handbook!
15 pages.
Available as digital PDF file download.


text:
- TAC statement on the slow pace of justice in the Nandipha Makeke case
- TAC activists help achieve swift justice in rape case
- Annie Lennox launches website and releases music video aimed at HIV/AIDS in South Africa
Read the newsletter
- Research shows how to make antiretroviral programmes successful
- Memorandum handed to Eastern Cape Health Officials
- BBC Admits that "Guinea Pig Kids" is Misleading, Erroneous
Read the newsletter
Over 1,500 people gathered at St Georges Cathedral Cape Town to demand that the South African government implement the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections National Strategic Plan for 2007-2011.
Here are video clips and photos from the event.
Videos and photos are by Faizel Slamang and may be used free of charge without permission.
TAC Women in Leadership
- HPV Vaccine
- HIV Education
- National Strategic Plan
- And much more!
- Tenofovir registered
- A report on the NUM strike at Impala Mines
- Challenge by people living with HIV to Criselda Kananda
Also in this newsletter
- Tenofovir Campaign details and memo
- Response to City Press poor reporting on microbicide trial
Also in this newsletter
- Church leaders call on Novartis to drop Indian court case
Also in this newsletter
- a community story told to TAC trainee journalist Nokulanga April by Alfreda Brinkhuis.
Also in this newsletter
- TB and social grants: Some interviews conducted by Sylvia Flynn, a TAC trainee journalist.


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It's Arrived!/
Well, finally, it's happened. The Sony Reader has been launched in the UK in partnership with Waterstones. Having been out of the country for the past couple of days (more of which to follow) I haven't yet managed to go through most of the coverage, but it all seems as high profile as can be and generally more positive and sensible than might be expected. Here's hoping that things turn out to be a success. I've often mentioned on this blog that I don't expect things to change overnight; that ebooks suffer from both being over hyped and irrationally despised. This launch marks the beginning of a new phase rather than being a sudden turning point. That said, this is a hugely significant moment for digital publishing in the UK and should be acknowledged as such. This launch has been something we have been working up to for a while. We're delighted to be involved and a big thanks goes out to everyone who helped along the way. It's been quite a journey! Still the work doesn't stop now. Expect more ebooks and more new ideas as things progress.


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U.S. criticizes E.U. rejection of agreement that would help track suspected terrorists
Obama administration officials said Thursday that the European Union's rejection of an agreement to share banking information will "disrupt" efforts to track suspected terrorists and is a "setback" for counterterrorism cooperation.
Top officials from the State and Treasury departments, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had lobbied the Europeans to maintain the interim agreement, but the parliament invoked privacy concerns to nix the deal to keep alive a program that dates to George W. Bush's administration and the weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Meeting in Strasbourg, France, the parliament voted 378 to 196 to reject the agreement, which would have enabled U.S. authorities to have access for the next nine months to portions of vast databases of financial transactions maintained by a Brussels-based consortium of banks called the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT. The deal was to last while a longer-term agreement was reached.
While publicly lobbying hard in recent days, administration officials spoke only on the condition of anonymity about Thursday's vote, hoping to continue the negotiations.
"For the last nine years, the terrorist finance tracking program has been instrumental in protecting the citizens of the United States and Europe and has played a key role in multiple terrorism investigations," a Treasury official said. "Today's outcome is a setback . . . and leaves all of our citizens less safe."
The program has resulted in more than 1,500 reports and numerous leads about terrorism investigations for European authorities, officials said. The United States had access to the information until this year, when SWIFT put in place a computer system that walled off European bank data. That move prompted the need for a new agreement.
The European lawmakers' vote will complicate the Obama administration's push to disrupt terrorist financing, analysts said.
"Europe obviously is a financial superpower with some of the largest banks in the world," said William Keylor, a Boston University professor of international relations. "For it not to be part of this program is a real challenge to the Obama administration, which is taking the lead in promoting this campaign of drying up the finances of the terrorist groups. It will make waging a war on terrorism much more difficult."
Stewart A. Baker, former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for policy, said the European parliament was effectively "creating a safe haven for terrorist finance."
But U.S. and European privacy advocates praised the vote. Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said the vote should send a message to other legislative bodies to stand up for "fundamental freedoms and transparency."
Also driving the vote was lawmakers' anger that they had been left out of negotiations about the interim deal, which was concluded in November between the United States and the Council of the European Union, the union's principal decision-making body. The Treaty of Lisbon, which took effect in December, gave lawmakers the power to review and approve measures that affect internal security and counterterrorism, and their vote was seen as a flexing of that new power.
E.U. officials remain hopeful that another deal can be reached. "We will work with our U.S. partners to ensure that the new SWIFT agreement will at the end be able to receive the consent of the European Parliament," said Viviane Reding, E.U. commissioner for justice.
U.S. officials did not indicate what their next move will be.
Last week, William E. Kennard, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, threatened to bypass the federation entirely in counterterrorism efforts if the parliament rejected the agreement.
The administration could choose to negotiate directly with individual countries, such as the Netherlands, where the computers holding the European financial information are located.


text:
NOTE: Please contact Blackbaud Support Services if changes need to be made to any information (such as site URL or time zone) in this task.
To view access the Site URL & TIme Zone task:
- From the persona menu, select Core.
- Click Demographics under Settings.
- Click Site URL & Time Zone.
The school e-mail addresses from Pushpage and or Notifications follow this format:
- email@example.com
- firstname.lastname@example.com
- firstname.lastname@example.com ]
Allother email, such as Notifications, Forgot Password, come from firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson once said in effect that in boxing you make your plans and then go about executing them to perfection, until someone punches you in the nose. Sage observation for all of us. The punch in the nose might come in the form of a shadow on an X-ray, a pink slip in our pay envelope, a violent storm that sweeps away our home and, with it, our dreams. We can never be certain when the punch will come or from whom but we can be certain that none of us will go through life unscathed. We needn't be frightened, but we are wise to be alert. We needn't be rigid, but we are wise to know ahead of time what our priorities are.


text:
Kojima: 'Metal Gear was born from hardware limitations'
Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has discussed the genesis and development of the Metal Gear series in his GDC 09 keynote.
Kojima said that, in 1985, he was tasked to create a 'combat action game' - similar to those popular in the arcades at the time - for the MSX2 home console.
Due to a limitation with the hardware, if more than nine sprites were placed on a horizontal line the final one would disappear, and four-colour sprites had to be 'emulated' by placing two sprites on top of each other. As such, with two enemies, the player, and a bullet or two on-screen, the display would flicker and make it difficult to play.
It was at this time that Kojima started to develop the skill on which he based his talk - 'making the impossible possible'. He instead looked at the situation in a different way, and came up with a combat game without fighting.
"I realised that this idea wouldn't sell, though, so I continued to think about it," he said. "The next thought was a combat game just about escaping, running away. But then I thought, 'this is totally uncool.'
"Next was about hiding; sneaking and staying still. I realised that this could work, but it wasn't very heroic; it may still prove a difficult sell. So it needed a final layer: infiltration, having to sneak into somewhere. To add extra tension, I added the story - and the stealth game genre was born."
"So, Metal Gear was born from hardware limitations. It came from having an impossible mission; if I'd given up then Metal Gear Solid wouldn't exist." Cheekily, he added: "And maybe Splinter Cell too."


text:
While Romney never said he was "to the left of Teddy Kennedy on gay rights," Romney did reach out to gay and lesbian voters during his failed 1994 bid for Kennedy's Senate seat. More to the point, Romney said he could outperform Kennedy on gay and lesbian issues.
In an October 1994 letter to the Massachusetts chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP gay rights group, Romney wrote, "For some voters it might be enough for me to simply match my opponent's record in this area. But I believe we can and must do better."
And during an August 1994 question and answer session with the Boston gay and lesbian newspaper Bay Windows, Romney said he could be a more effective advocate for gay rights than Kennedy because he is a Republican. "When Ted Kennedy speaks on gay rights, he's seen as an extremist. When Mitt Romney speaks on gay rights he's seen as a centrist and a moderate," he said.
By 2002, when Romney defeated Democrat Shannon O'Brien to become Massachusetts' governor, he had backed off his support of gay rights. O'Brien said she would support legislation to legalize gay marriage, while Romney said he would not. After Romney won the election, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2004 that gays and lesbians must be allowed to marry in Massachusetts, making it the first state to confer that right. Romney fought it every step of the way.
While he didn't say that he would "be to the left of Teddy Kennedy on gay rights," he did say he would be a more effective gay rights advocate than Kennedy because of his centrist/moderate stance. So apart from the license he takes with Romney's wording, Giuliani's attack is Mostly True and demonstrates just how far Romney has shifted to the right since his first foray into politics in 1994.


text:
Stanley Unwin News
News about Stanley Unwin continually updated from thousands of sources around the net.
Stanley Unwin news is powered by NewsRank ®
20 Co-stars Who Hated Each Other's Guts
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56 Insanely Successful Celebrity Dropouts
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29 Stars You Wouldn't Guess Are Battling Horrific Diseases
29 Celebrity Feminists And Their Powerful Quotes On The Subject
Trending Now
Updated: Wed Jun 08, 2016 06:15 pm
Copyright © 2018 Topix LLC


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Instax Mini Bluetooth Speaker (Colors May Vary
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Trump just landed in Japan moments ago on the first stop of his five-nation tour of Asia. Trump wants to unite with the Japanese to present a strong front against North Korea.
Trump is on a 12-day trip and spoke with US and Japanese forces at the Yakota air force base. Right as he walked on the stage, Trump got an amazing surprise. You can watch the moment below at the 33rd minute.
The US forces there gave Trump a bomber jacket. It look's so nice.
Trump is facing down fire and fury. He is on the front lines and the media is attacking him from behind. Aerial drills occurred near North Korea this week and tensions are at an all-time high.
Share this if you are praying for our President. Let's show him how much support there still is out here, y'all.
WE cannot quit fighting just yet.


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High Intensity Task Training
High intensity task training is treatment that trains you to do daily tasks using your arms or legs. You'll learn to do complex, difficult movements to accomplish a task.
High intensity task training requires active problem-solving. This type of treatment is most appropriate for people who are ready for more intense rehabilitation.
High intensity task training might be right for you if:
- Your activities are limited because of weakness or poor coordination
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- You can't work, do household activities or socialize as well as you'd like
- You can't do things you enjoy, or have limitations on fun activities
High intensity task training helps you with activities that are important to your daily life. You train for four to five days a week for four weeks and then two days a week for two weeks. The training is tailored to your personal goals.
To do high intensity task training, you need to:
- Be in stable condition (not much change from day to day)
- Come to therapy regularly, four to five days a week
- Have mild to moderate hemiparesis (weakness on one side of your body)
- Be able to extend your wrist, grasp an object with your affected arm or walk 30 feet
High intensity task training helps you improve function:
- Practicing activities
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- Doing difficult tasks


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There's one thing that I won't build with anymore, and from the title you may have guessed what it is. I won't take on a new client without a website support contract. Let me show you why it's in everyone's best interest to do so.
Today's best practices are to have
- a central git repository with at least a master branch of the project. This allows multiple developers (or a different developer, later) to work on the project at the same time from the same starting point.
- A development site on which to present enhancements and test updates
- A central project management system (i.e. not an email inbox) for reporting issues, discussing solutions, assigning tasks, and tracking to completion.
These all cost money if you want to keep them secure, private, and stable. More than that, updating on a monthly basis (which is another best practice on Drupal, Backdrop, and WordPress) takes billable time. If you have an internal team, like the projects I've worked on with Washington University, it's still a good idea and one which I'll still require. If one of the nation's leading universities, with a dedicated IT and web staff thinks it's a good idea to enter into website support contracts, you might want to consider one as well.
Think of it like buying a pony. You might get a pony for a good price, occasionally even free! But you still have to feed and groom the pony, house it in a stable, give it exercise and attention, fit and replace shoes, teach it how to be a riding horse, and of course, muck the stables. Now, if you want to do all of that by your lonesome, and know how to, great. Otherwise you're better off keeping a trusted stable hand or two on retainer. In this extended analogy, that'd be me.
It's not only that I want a continued working relationship with the few clients I want to service really well – It is also a genuine on going concern for the success of your company. One of the worst assumptions clients have about a site is that it's only a brochure; an on going support contract can open the door to better ways of helping your customers and more efficient ways of servicing them for your business. Support Contracts open the door to analysis of customer behavior and sales opportunities you'd never see before. And support contracts make your organization's digital platform more capable and easier to iterate and build upon.
Bottom line: Just because you can hire a vendor to come in and do a one-off job, doesn't mean that's the right model. In fact, after years of doing exactly that, I'm convinced that it's a disservice to the client and their customer to do one-off engagements. Any web property isn't just a one-time thing. They all fit in an organization's broader competitive and strategic plans and that means planning and relationships for the long haul.
One caveat – I'm not interested or able to support sites I didn't build. That's simply too much hassle and overhead. What I'm selling is a model where I nurture the digital aspect of your company on an on-going basis, not a place for you to outsource support.
That said, you might want to re-think your web strategies any way, and then we're cooking!
Pro tip – telling me that you've even considered how you'll maintain and eventually retire a site tells me you are serious about the project.


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Power on Display
Check out the hot parts coming in 2018.
By SID297
The Christmas season brings my favorite show of the year, the annual Performance Racing Industry trade show. For those unfamiliar, PRI is an industry-only show that is not open to the public. Instead of being a 'car show', PRI is a Car-Parts-Show. Every year in Decemeber, the best manufacturers in the performance automotive aftermarket industry gather to show off their latest wares.
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The HTC One Reviewby Brian Klug on April 5, 2013 8:50 PM EST
- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Android
- Mobile
- HTC One
- Snapdragon 600
Sense 5
UI skins are generally a polarizing thing for Android users. On one hand, there's a camp of enthusiasts who want nothing but the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) experience, the unadulterated version of Google's Android platform which is reserved typically only for Google Experience Devices. Then there are enthusiasts who spend time crafting their own custom ROMs with features that are essentially analogous to skins, but somewhere in-between full-on OEM skins and the AOSP version of Android. At the other side of the spectrum we have what OEMs deliver which they believe adds value for normal — dare I say naïve — users who just want a smartphone. You have to realize that UI skins and OEM customizations are the result of the back and forth optimization function which takes place between operators and OEMs. The operator is trying to reduce returns and increase attachment and satisfaction, while the OEM has to somehow keep a middle ground without their platform becoming a homogenous mess and at the same time manage their own vision for the platform.
The HTC One is launching running Android 4.1.2, and the software that I've been testing is the final build for the hardware I'm using. At some point in the future, the HTC One will get an update to Android 4.2.x, but at this point I can live with 4.1.x, and HTC says it went with 4.1 for both stability and time to market reasons, which I think is reasonable considering some of the 4.2.x issues people have complained about, though 4.2.2 fixes most of it. At this point it would be awesome to have 4.2, but for a smartphone the only features I miss are the notification shade settings and perhaps photosphere. I'm sure Google I/O will make me want whatever version of Android comes out there, but for now the HTC One running 4.1 isn't a problem.
The new Sense 5 experience is a re-imagining of what HTC's idea of an Android experience should be. Sense 5 introduces a number of new features that HTC believes address the most common user work patterns on a smartphone, and at the same time creates an entirely different visual theme.
The Sense 5 UI does away with the rounded edges and 3D looking effects that previous iterations included and instead moves to a much more modern looking flat UI style. There are still some gradients here and there, but most of the places which previously had that late 2000s bubbly appearance to them have been smoothed over or flattened entirely. Perhaps the most striking difference is the move to Roboto Condensed for the system font, which looks amazing throughout the UI. I'm surprised Google doesn't make more use of that font given how good it looks as a system font, just about the only place I've seen it in AOSP is during setup. HTC has also moved to their own flat iconography for system icons throughout, which look attractive and much different from the tacky, bubbly icons I've seen on various other Android skins I won't name.
The application launcher gets a number of striking changes. First, by default the grid is a 3x4 arrangement which leaves a lot of negative space around the application icons themselves. The list is paginated vertically by default as well. There's of course an option to return to the more dense 4x5 grid of icons, however, there's something about the 3x4 grid which seems less intimidating, and that's a lot of what HTC wants to do with Sense 5 — make Android less intimidating to normal users and the launcher less of a sea of icons.
Probably the biggest new thing in the launcher is that there's now some level of default organization. My biggest mental friction point when getting a new device is the soup of applications dumped in an ad-hoc fashion into the launcher on whatever new device I'm using. With the One, HTC is mandating order to the chaos, and there are no exceptions. Operators can preload applications, but they now will always be sorted into their own folder by default, rather than peppered all over the place. There are no exceptions to the organization mandate, their apps all live inside a folder with the operator name. The rest of the first party HTC applications are likewise sorted into some logical containers like Google, Media, Tools, and so on, not just an arbitrary mess. Of course all this can also be turned off, if you want a stock-looking 4x5 grid with an alphabetized list, it's there for you to select.
Probably the biggest new feature in Sense 5 is HTC's BlinkFeed, which is a combination of local and remote content aggregator and optional home screen replacement. BlinkFeed aggregates media from accounts that are signed in on the device like Facebook and Twitter, as well as events from the gallery, calendar entries, and news from aggregation sources. HTC uses a third party content service called MobileRepublic to aggregate and bubble interesting stories, which it then exposes as feeds users can enable for consumption via BlinkFeed. By default BlinkFeed only auto refreshes when connected via WiFi, where it has essentially minimal impact on battery life. When on mobile, getting new data requires a pull to refresh the external feeds, though I've noticed that local data on the device will still get surfaced into BlinkFeed which makes sense. HTC says it wants to provide easily glanceable information for users to consume during idle periods. I should note that BlinkFeed by default is the home page, however it is entirely possible to change the home page in Sense 5 to one of the traditional widget panels and never have to look at BlinkFeed again. There's no way to turn it completely off, but if you really want you can disable all the services and set the homepage to another widget panel. At launch there's no support for arbitrary RSS feeds in BlinkFeed, but this obvious omission will supposedly get added in with a later update. RSS is on everyone's mind right now after the loss of Google Reader, so I suspect this will come sooner rather than later.
Again the traditional widget panels don't really change much, and in Sense 5 you can have four of them in addition to the leftmost BlinkFeed homepage. HTC changed up their first party widgets as well, though the ever-familiar Sense clock and weather widget still is in there if you choose. Most of the widgets get the same nice flat themed UI and style, however.
The notification shade is now cleaned up drastically as well from previous versions of Sense, there's the shortcut into settings which we saw with 4.1, expandable notifications, and the time and date in Roboto Condensed. An always-present fixture is the power saver option, which seems like a bit of wasted space to have always present, but is a handy feature otherwise. Multitasking gets a big change with a 3x3 grid that shows the 9 last applications in the order which you used them. These can be dismissed by dragging up.
The rest of the first party applications in Sense 5 get a complete makeover too, many of which rely on a pivot bar design which is very Holo-like. It's actually surprising to me how well HTC managed to stick to the pivot bar design pattern, even in ways that I haven't seen the first party Google applications.
I spend a lot of time using messaging SMSing friends, and in Sense 5 most of the UI patterns are the same, however the opposed conversation dialog also gets a bit of a makeover and looks better. I still wish the compose box wasn't nearly as big however, so I could view more of the conversation context. I feel like the send and attach buttons should be moved from the right side so that the conversation box starts out being one line tall and grows with the message, rather than starting with such huge size.
The stock keyboard also gets a makeover in Sense 5 to a design that is much cleaner and, you guessed it, flatter than the rounded virtual domes of Sense 4 and 4+. It matches the rest of the Sense 5 UI, however there don't appear to be any major changes if you're comparing the 4+ and 5 keyboards beyond visual style. There are still some issues with a few applications like Plume (which HTC and Plume trade blame on), and I can occasionally out-type autocorrection, but I was able to last longer with the Sense 5 keyboard before feeling the urge to jump ship to SwiftKey like I inevitably always do on any Android phone.
The combination of that pivot bar UI pattern, Roboto Condensed, as well as overall flat design, really make Sense 5 feel the most like Android 4.x of the skins I've seen in this last cycle or two. I have been using Sense 5 for a while now and don't have a problem with it, in fact, it's just about the cleanest and most sensible skin I've seen on Android to date. If you don't like BlinkFeed, you can basically configure the home screen so that a widget panel is what you'll see instead, however I've found myself discovering content from BlinkFeed far more often than expected. Now if only AnandTech was included as of the feed sources…
HTC Sense TV
HTC has added TV control to the HTC One via a Consumer IR transmitter and receiver cleverly hidden in the power/standby button at the top. For whatever reason, IR went away after the Palm OS and Pocket PC days, never to really surface again. IR seems to be making a resurgence however in tablets or larger tablet-style phones, but the HTC One thankfully brings this back to the smartphone form factor.
With the One, HTC doesn't want to replace the Logitech Harmony type universal remotes of the world, but rather try to make the smartphone you're going to wind up holding while watching TV anyways a functional utility for controlling it. As such there's no state machine like workflow on the One, and the instructions sometimes bear this out by asking you to press input until the right device appears.
The TV experience is driven by a custom HTC application which uses Peel as the backend, and is pretty well done, though there are a few rough points in the UI. There's some basic setup and configuration at first, with your market and either TV cable, satellite, or OTA package, and then download of device profiles. What's great about marrying a smartphone with IR is that the device profiles are always online and easy to pull down, so now everyone can quickly hack hotel room TVs for the HDMI inputs or change channels at the sports bar or airport (though I've noticed airports are getting smarter about this lately). There's no longer any need for me to cart around a Logitech universal remote and miniUSB cable for programming it when I want to use HDMI at a hotel that thinks locking it down is a wise endeavour.
The experience is pretty good. I admittedly pretty much never watch TV anymore, even OTA programming, but I can imagine this being more than just a little bit handy if you're an avid TV watcher. There are alerts for shows you're interested in or might be interested in, reminders, and supposedly good integration with set top boxes. Again I can't really speak to any integration beyond OTA tuning on the TV itself since I haven't had TV since I entered the dorms. I do however love having an IR port on my phone again — I can relive the shenanigans which played out while having an IR-enabled device in my pocket during high school.
There's allegedly no official way to talk to IR devices in Android, for this HTC will open up an API through HTCdev and its OpenSense SDK to enable development of IR applications.
USB-OTG Support
Lately I've been getting questions about USB On The Go (USB-OTG) support on just about every handset I test. With microSD cards going away for the most part, it does make sense to explore this somewhat. I tested the HTC One using a USB-OTG adapter I bought a while back, and can report that it does work with USB mass storage devices, keyboards, mice, and even hubs. I tried the USB ethernet adapter that I've used with the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7, but that didn't work.
If you want to mount USB storage that's totally a possibility on the One, I had no issues playing back media or browsing a simple USB flash drive attached to the device. In addition an SDXC card reader I attached over USB-OTG works, finally I can tweet JPEGs from my DSLR on the HTC One! It's nice to see decent USB-OTG support included on the HTC One.
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MobiusStrip - Sunday, April 07, 2013 - linkYeah, because on a 32 GB device, 16 GB is consumed by Microsoft's bloated hog of an OS.
Sounds like a winner. Reply
MobiusStrip - Sunday, April 07, 2013 - linkUnfortunately the continued failure to put audio line-out jacks on Android phones makes them an inelegant pain in the ass for anyone who cares about music and sound.
Actually, I can add the iPhone 5 to that complaint, since Apple royally bungled the new (disgracefully bad) dock connector. Reply
danbob999 - Monday, April 08, 2013 - linkYou already have bluetooth, USB, and headphones out. Use one of the first two if you want quality. Reply
darwinosx - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - linkThe new dock connector is excellent. Thin and small, carries audio, video, and data works great in the USB port of my car. Far more capable than microusb.You just don't know what you are talking about. Reply
darwinosx - Sunday, April 07, 2013 - linkWell thats a really reliable source... Reply
nehway0912 - Friday, April 05, 2013 - linkSamsung isn't the one who made the screen, JDI is. Samsung is the one who made the driver chip. Reply
Brian Klug - Friday, April 05, 2013 - linkAhh is that how you'd parse the string? That makes much more sense.
-Brian Reply
nehway0912 - Friday, April 05, 2013 - linkYes. xda has a thread about who the manufacturer behind the screen is. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3... Reply
elmicker - Friday, April 05, 2013 - linkGold? I really don't think I've ever seen one of those awarded before. I don't even think I've seen any phone win any award before. And that's not even your highest accolade? What is the highest? Reply
Brian Klug - Friday, April 05, 2013 - linkPlatinum is highest, it's a new awards tier.
-Brian Reply


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Published: 2006/02/21
by Jesse Jarnow
Phil Lesh & Friends, The Beacon Theater, NYC- 2/15
NYC ROLL-TOP: Phil Lesh and the Dot-Dot-Dots
Civilians have no idea, and probably even think it's kind of funny. I mean, imagine how it looks in the newspaper: 65-year old bassist for '70s-peaking '60s rock behemoths rolls into town with a bunch of dudes whose names are probably totally unfamiliar to you if you didn't who the bassist was to begin with (and a singer you maybe remember from a few years back). And that's actually all well and good, because it meant that Deadheads could show up on nearly any of once-and-future Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's eight nights in Manhattan and scoop up half-price tickets for $30 or so.
Before moving 40 blocks downtown for a three-day weekend at the cavernous Hammerstein Ballroom (nearly across the street from Madison Square Garden), Lesh and company closed out a five evening residence at the almost-brokedown palace of the Beacon Theater on Wednesday, February 15th. At least when hippies are around, the well-appointed Beacon — replete with murals and gigantic gladiators and goddesses — is the last gloriously pre-9/11 venue of its size left in Manhattan: no ticket scanners, no patdowns, no bag searches, no metal detectors, and ushers with authentic New Yawk character who tend to go with the flow. After all, they probably figure, if the terrorists are bothering to attack the Deadheads, they've won a long time ago, so why not party like it's 1999? Or, perhaps more accurately, 1974?
Over more than three hours of music, Phil's Friends demonstrated why, despite a constantly changing membership and ignoring the fact that they aren't quite as good as the last time they came to New York, they were (for all intents and purposes) the same band Lesh has been playing with for the past eight or so years. Despite Lesh's presence, the outfit remains essentially a tribute to the Dead in the mid-'70s whose main creative challenge (besides, y'know, playing well) is making (and adapting) music that is aesthetically true to the Dead's peak: sweetly galloping country-rock cut with jazz chords and white boy blues, alternating with monstrously psychedelic fusion jams (but where's Ned Lagin?)
On their fifth night, Lesh's quartet rumbled to life with "Passenger," from 1977's Terrapin Station. Guitarist Larry Campbell — who served as Bob Dylan's most sensitive technician since Robbie Robertson between 1997 and 2004 — soloed strongly, though wrapped up his phrases after every chorus as if expecting the band to jump in with the next verse. Eventually, Lesh led the band down into the evening's first jam, drippy and purposeful as he called out chord changes through the monitor system. The jam — which eventually found its way into "Doin' That Rag" — introduced a few more of Lesh's Friends: senior Friends keyboardist Rob Barraco (employing only his "acoustic piano" setting, at least on this night) and Bay Area guitarist Barry Sless (who, when on electric guitar, mostly convincingly played the role of Jerry Garcia).
Playing at somewhat sluggish tempos, the rest of the set was a bit of a mixed bag: "Doin' That Rag" was tagged with one of the evening's four lovely and ragged a capella codas sung by Lesh, Barraco, and vocalist Joan Osborne; "Stagger Lee" recalled the uncomfortable largesse of the Dead's twin-drummer '80s configuration; "The Hardest Part," one of the half-dozen distinctly Dead-like Adams songs Lesh has introduced into his repertoire of late was a welcome "why not?" curiosity; "The Weight" filled the role of the unnecessary classic rock cover (and the delightfully stentorian Lesh didn't even get a verse!); and "Cosmic Charlie" led into the Deadheads' intermission/social hour.
The second set demonstrated why Phil Lesh and Friends are worth seeing. Opening with a meticulous jam that built from nothing into a major key romp that could've easily turned into "China Cat Sunflower," the band veered deliciously into the minor-key disco alley of "Shakedown Street." Across the set, the band's jamming ranged from mind-numbing to exhilarating, but always worth paying attention to. Stepping to the pedal steel, Sless employed a magical tone that fit perfectly into Lesh's sound while bringing something new to the table. Throughout the set, the band employed Lesh's patented Friends technique: long, adventurous improvisations that frequently reached conceptual cul-de-sacs that seemingly required the band to disintegrate to nothing and start anew, more akin to an ellipsis than a segue mark on a setlist.
The best of these jams appeared unexpectedly out of "Cats Under the Stars," a Jerry Garcia solo tune hardly known for its psychedelic properties. But there they were. Most importantly, drummer Jeff Sipe finally came alive. Sipe should be the perfect drummer for Lesh, schooled equally in Americana from Leftover Salmon, deep fusion/prog roots from the ultra-dense Hellborg, Lane, and Sipe, and weirdness via Col. Bruce Hampton (ret.) and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. For most of the night, though, Sipe (like Campbell) still seemed to be getting comfortable with the idea of playing Grateful Dead music, keeping the backbeat going during songs and dropping the snare in favor of ambient cymbal crashing during the spaciest of jams. In "Cats Under the Stars," Sipe loosened up and danced with the band, contributing elegantly angular patterns as they pushed off. Barraco and Campbell traded fragments of a mysterious melody as if were trying to remember it before locking into complementary lines. Sipe dropped out altogether, leaving all four musicians playing interlocking leads. Eventually, there was probably another dot-dot-dot, but the moment had been found.
The rest of the performance built back up from that point: Ryan Adams' "Magnolia Mountain" featured another Sipeless breakdown; Campbell donned the mandolin for a toothless but enticing String Cheese Incident-like calypso jam that built predictably and almost-precisely into "Uncle John's Band"; Osborne, whose voice and presence in Lesh's band remains most welcome, delivered "Morning Dew," the folk revival ballad (later inadvertently rephrased by Sun Ra in four-and-a-half words: "nuclear war, it's a motherfucker"); and the band dusted off a few more sunshiny those-were-the-days anthems, including "Truckin'" (duuuuuude!), "The Golden Road" (wheeee!), and "I am the Walrus" (you'd think the whole "smoke pot! smoke pot!"/"oompa oompa" outro chant would be a natural for the Deadheads, especially at the Beacon, but the band dropped it).
So, yeah, it was a band led by the dorky-ass bassist of a band who went around the bend a long time ago, but, but, but — well — dotdotdot…
Jesse Jarnow blogs at wunderkammern27.com..


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Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham): I am grateful for the opportunity to debate this subject. The methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA problem and the broader matter of hospital hygiene are strongly connected. It is appropriate that, in a week when we have been discussing the substantial and extremely welcome increase in resources for the NHS, we should discuss also how to reduce the great waste of resourcesthe waste of nursing staff and of beds, and the human and financial costs of infection.
My interest in the subject goes back five years to shortly after I was elected to Parliament. A case was raised with me within weeks of May 1997 by a distressed constituent. She was a middle-aged cancer patient being given chemotherapy at her local general hospital, who contracted MRSA in an outbreak of the infection. Her treatment had to be interrupted, and given the severity of her condition, it could have been a life-threatening problem. I did not then appreciate the fact that infection control in hospitals was a major problem. I was brought up to believe that hospitals were inherently clean places, where antiseptics and disinfectants were widely used. However, as a result of the publicity that resulted from that case, I realised that it was indeed a major problem, both locally and nationally.
I appreciate that a great deal has happened on the policy front during the intervening five years. I do not want to rehearse all the Government intervention and the study since then, but I know of the Public Accounts Committee's report and the Government's response and of the helpful work of the National Audit Office, with its follow-up report. The Government have taken a series of welcome initiatives, including mandatory reporting, the setting of standards for hospital trusts and the introduction of guidelinesand have made the cash available. The tranches of £30 million that have gone to hospitals, including my local hospital, will make a welcome contribution. I acknowledge that, and I am not using this debate as an opportunity for bashing the Government for not doing things. I appreciate that policy has been progressing.
I am prompted to raise the subject again because of local experience and a feeling in local hospitals that the problem remains serious. I have two local district general hospitals in my constituency, the West Middlesex and the Kingston. The latter has a generally good record on infection control, and the preliminary statistics on MRSA show that it is pretty low in the national league tables. However, a few weeks ago I learned from a constituent that his mother, Mrs. Tarrant, had died of MRSA during an outbreak at the Kingston hospital.
The West Middlesex hospital has altogether more serious problems. It was the subject of a scathing report by a Government inspection team on hygiene grounds a few months ago, and almost weekly I hear anecdotes and receive letters describing the problems of hospital infection that derive from bad practice on the wards. I shall describe a couple of cases. In a letter to the hospital
I do not need to rehearse all the arguments about MRSA and hospital hygiene. They have been set out in the NAO reports. Let me just return to the dichotomy between the two issues. MRSA is a distinct problem caused by the overuse of antibiotics and the building up of resistance. It is something that most of us carry around on our skins, not inherently an infection. However, in a hospital it can be very damaging. A great deal more is now known about it. The House of Lords report on resistance to antibiotics has advanced the science considerably and data have emerged revealing the extent to which MRSA is a severe problem, particularly in London. Statistics for the quarter April to June 2001 show that five London hospitalsincluding some of the most highly regarded such as Guy's and St. Thomas'shad more than 20 incidents of MRSA in that three-month period.
We now know more about MRSA. It is a serious problem in the general area of hospital hygiene. Why is it a problem? First, it is because of its sheer scale. Recent figures have indicated that one in 11 patients acquires an infection in hospital. I believe that statistics are now emergingpartly prompted by the Government's emphasis on monitoringthat suggest that a third of cases have hitherto been undetected, so the real figure is substantially more than one in 11. That translates into about 100,000 cases a year. Some 5,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to hospital-acquired infection. There are bound to be problems of interpretation: one of the complicating factors is that patients are, by definition, vulnerable. However, hospital-acquired infections kill more people a year than, for example, car accidents.
There is a big cost to the NHS as a result of people having long stays in hospital and operations being cancelled. The NAO estimates that it is about £1 billion a year, some of which is unavoidable, because vulnerable people will acquire infections even in conditions of perfect hygiene. However, between 15 and 30 per cent. of that £1 billion could be saved if practice was improved.
I should like to ask three groups of questions about where some of the Government's current initiatives might be leading, and about follow-up. The first is about the system of surveillance and monitoring, the second about how national standards operate and can be improved, and the third about resources.
I appreciate that the Government now require hospital trusts to report on internal infections, and specifically on MRSA. I believe that a surveillance exercise was due to be published this month. Is it now available, and if so, in what form? I have two specific questions about monitoring and surveillance. First, is it now possible to get meaningful and useful data on post-discharge infections, which are an important element of the story? Secondly, is it now possible, as a result of international work on the issue, to make meaningful comparisons between British standards and those overseas? I have heard conflicting views in that regard, and while some people say that British hospitals are the dirtiest in Europe, others suggest that they are about in the middle among developed countries. I have no objective basis on which to judge which of those propositions is true, and it would be helpful to know what analysis is being done and what conclusions are emerging from it.
The Government made a big breakthrough a couple of years ago, when they set national standards and tried to push them through at the hospital level, but I have several questions about that. First, do we have any indication whether some of the basic principles of hygiene are being applied in hospitals? I was shocked by comments in the National Audit Office report, which referred in slightly arch language to "a culture of non-compliance" as regards handwashing. The fact that doctors, in particular, rarely wash their hands struck me as rather shocking, perhaps because I was brought up in a traditional way. Clearly, patients and staff are not following elementary practices, and that is responsible for much cross-infection. It would be interesting to know how far the attitude to such practices is changing.
A more important question under the heading of basic hygiene is what happens under the Government's standards in cases of blatant non-compliance. What would happen if my local general hospital was given a caning by an inspection team? Clearly, it would make an effort to improve, but what sanctions could be put in place? Have any been used, and how does the Minister envisage that happening?
On institutional arrangements, the Government's response to the Public Accounts Committee acknowledges that there has been a big improvement in the involvement of chief executives, for example, in infection-control debates in hospitals, which is clearly an advance. Is there, however, any indication that infection-control teams are much more systematically involved in key decisions in hospitals? I noted from one report that a quarter of all infection-control teams are not allowed to have an input into cleaning and catering contracts, which are the heart of the transmission mechanism.
Is there any indication that the structure and organisation of wards is being changed in the way that the Royal College of Nursing strongly advocated? There is a belief that senior sisters should be unambiguously in charge of all activities on their wards, including
Finally, under the general heading of standards, what is the Government's assessment of the utility of screening? I know that it is not a straightforward matter and that costs are involved in screening staff and patients to discover whether they are carrying infections when they come into hospitals. However, is there a potential advantage in terms of cost-effectiveness in extending screening programmes, given the severity of the problem and the associated costs?
My last set of questions relates to resources. I appreciate that more resources are going into the NHS in general and that there has been a specific allocation of funding for infection control, which is welcome. Do the Government have a view on the optimum level of infection-control nursing, and how close are we to achieving it? Will the big new injection of cash into the NHS help with that? Is the issue specifically highlighted, and are the Government trying to achieve a particular target?
On bed occupancy, one reason for the high instance of hospital infection is that beds are being used constantly. There is a rapid turnover in patients with little time for a break. Sheets are changed, but infections can hang around. With less pressure on beds it should be possible to reduce some of the infections associated with intensive use. Have the Government formulated a view on how their big investment programme will affect bed occupancy levels? Is it expected that bed occupancy levels will fall, building some spare capacity into the system? Will the £30 million programme, which has now run for two financial years, continue, and what lessons have been learned from it?
This issue is not politically contentious. I am aware that progress is being made, but it is a matter of real concern. I continue to be shocked, as do many members of the public, to encounter major examples of very poor hygiene and malpractice in public hospitals, and I want to be assured that the Government are on top of the issue.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Yvette Cooper) : I congratulate the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on securing this debate and choosing to discuss hospital hygiene and MRSA. I know that he has a long-standing interest in these important issues and has raised them before. I welcome his approach to the debate, and many of his points, and I will try to respond to his questions. Some of them I can respond to nowthey concern systems that are already in placeand others concern issues that are currently being considered as part of a programme of developing work. I will try to explain where we are on the matters about which he is concerned.
As the hon. Gentleman rightly said, hospital-acquired infection in general and MRSA in particular are serious problems for the NHS. These infections associated with health care are difficult and expensive to treat and directly affect patients, causing acute and chronic illness, pain, anxiety, depression, longer stays in hospitalwith implications for NHS resourcesand sometimes death. They have serious consequences in terms of health care.
For those reasons, we need to tackle this serious problem. There is much ongoing work to improve the current arrangements for surveillance, infection control, monitoring and action to reduce hospital-acquired infection. As the hon. Gentleman pointed out, the National Audit Office has examined the issue. It estimates that the potential avoidable costs are around £150 million annually. We should treat those figures with caution, because they are based on a study performed in just one hospital and then extrapolated across the NHS, but the issue clearly has a serious impact.
Some hospital-acquired infection is generally viewed as an inevitable consequence of many serious illnesses being treated under one roof and the vulnerability, for different reasons, of patients to infection. However, it is also widely accepted that some of the hospital-acquired infection currently occurring is avoidable and could be prevented through strengthened arrangements. That is what we should aim for.
The hon. Gentleman is right that many people carry the staphylococcus aureus bacterium without any harm being caused. The serious problem arises when methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureusMRSAspreads rapidly in a hospital environment where patients are seriously ill and susceptible to infection and where the use of catheters and other invasive devices allows the bacterium an easy route of entry.
Also, rates of MRSA vary across different NHS trusts. The statistics can be affected by the nature of the patients and conditions being treated. Trusts with more vulnerable patients and those that undertake more invasive and high-risk specialist care are more susceptible to higher rates of MRSA. However, that does not entirely explain the wide variation in levels of MRSA across the country.
What action needs to be taken about the problem? The hon. Gentleman grouped his concerns around surveillance, national standards and what happens when there is non-compliance. He is right in saying that extensive work is being done on surveillance. We should not underestimate how important good surveillance is for serious action to reduce MRSA and hospital-acquired infection. The fundamental element of any strategy to improve the situation is to collect proper data about the level of MRSA and the surveillance operating throughout the country. Since April last year, we have required all acute trusts to collect data on MRSA bloodstream infections. When the hon. Gentleman referred to information to be published in April 2002, I think that he was referring to those data, which were published in February.
The information allows trusts to identify problem areas for more detailed investigation and allows national monitoring and action to tackle the problem. It also provides a base line against which we can measure improvements in hospital-acquired infection. That is the first phase of a compulsory national surveillance system for a broad range of infections associated with health care. It is more comprehensive than systems used in other developed countries and provides us with important information.
The hon. Gentleman referred to international comparisons, which are in place, but the United Kingdom system is the more extensive, and that has an impact on international comparisons. I am willing to write to him further on the subject.
The data need to be interpreted cautiously because the reasons why there are different levels of MRSA can vary. Trusts may import MRSA from other hospitals, and the many patients who move through tertiary centres as they go between hospitals may bring with them MRSA and other problems. That problem may have affected the London teaching hospitals to which the hon. Gentleman referred.
We have established a programme of work to improve the surveillance system, which involves extending compulsory surveillance and carrying out alert organism surveillance to collect information routinely on specified micro-organisms causing MRSA and other infections. We also intend to monitor adverse patient incidents due to infections, such as outbreaks of salmonella food poisoning in hospitals, and link that to the National Patient Safety Agency. Other systems are in an early stage of development for surgical site surveillance in conjunction with orthopaedic surgeons and surveillance of infection occurring after patients are discharged from hospitals. The hon. Gentleman referred to that post-discharge issue, which is complicated and difficult but important to measure. We shall consider, too, levels of MRSA and health care-acquired infection in the community, which is more difficult to measure than the levels in hospitals but represents an important part of the picture.
The hon. Gentleman asked about national standards. There are two relevant sets of standards. First, the controls assurance standard on infection control requires chief executives to ensure that effective policies to tackle hospital-acquired infection are in place and are implemented. The standard requires acute NHS trusts to ensure that people work in a managed environment in which the risk of infection to patients, staff and visitors is minimised. There are 15 supporting criteria for hospital infection control, including the work of infection-control teams and their supervision by local infection-control committees that incorporate local consultants in communicable disease control.
Secondly, all hospitals were required to introduce national standards of cleanliness for the NHS by February and to implement a regular programme of monitoring to ensure that the standards are met. All trusts with in-patients in England received guidelines on implementing the standards, which will be added to the performance assessment framework in July. The NHS plan recognises that hospital cleanliness is a major issue for patients, their families and visitors. That is why the clean hospitals programme was launched. We should recognise that there is not a strict relationship between hospital cleanliness and MRSA. Of course, it is an important consideration, but there are many other complicating factors involved.
To support those standards, extra investment is being put into the NHS. The hon. Gentleman referred in particular to investment to support the clean hospitals programme and to improve the patient environment
The hon. Gentleman asked about capacity. Local flexibility is necessary, because trusts need to be responsive to the nature of the problems that they confront. The capacity that they need will depend, in part, on the level of their problems, but also on the sort of hospital or unit involved. It is important to provide national guidelines on infection control and hospital-acquired infection. Although a considerable number of guidelines are already in place, and work undertaking infection-control audits against standards of national guidelines is being carried out to update local guidelines for hospital infection control, it is important to take stock now of the work that has gone on so far and to consider what further action needs to be taken. That is where much of the work being carried out as part of the chief medical officer's strategy for combating infectious diseases comes in, and I shall say a little more about that in a moment.
The hon. Gentleman also asked what happens in cases of non-compliance, where hospitals are clearly struggling with MRSA or doing badly compared with similar hospitals. Action is already under way, but we need to review that as part of the chief medical officer's strategy. Regional directors of public health play an important role. They have already been instrumental in collecting and collating data from trusts in their regions, and they arrange peer review visits, in conjunction with the regional epidemiologist, regional meetings with infection-control teams and support from regional infection-control nurses. Where MRSA rates give cause for concern, regional directors of public health will work with a trust to review its infection control arrangements.
A range of enhanced initiatives are under way, which include reviewing the adequacy of infection-control resources; raising awareness of health care-associated infections and control measures in hospitals, reinforced by training and education of staff; undertaking infection-control audits; updating local guidelines; reinforcing specific measures, such as handwashing, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned; promoting ward cleanliness initiatives and training; equipping wards for better handwashing and cleaning; and assessing the degree of importation of MRSA from the community. One of the 10 responsibilities of modern matrons is to prevent hospital-acquired infection by ensuring that infection-control measures are properly applied by all staff.
Much work is already being done, but there is an extra enforcement and inspection role to be undertaken by the Commission for Health Improvement and by the new Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection. We have tried independently to review and monitor the uptake of the national controls assurance standards for hospital-acquired infection during the routine reviews of an organisation's system and processes for monitoring and improving services. Obviously, the work done in that inspection process feeds into the national enforcement system and the wider programme.
As I said, there is forward-looking work to be done, as part of the chief medical officer's strategy for combating infectious diseases, "Getting Ahead of the Curve", published in January 2002. The chief medical officer has identified a small number of priority areas including health care-associated infection and antimicrobial resistance, and said that we need particular additional action in those areas. New updated action plans are currently being drawn up for health care-associated infection and three other areas, which will be ready by the end of the year. For each action, they will set out who is responsible, who is to implement it, what the output will be and in what time scale it will happen. That important further action builds on the progress that we have made so far on an important matter that is of concern to people throughout the country.
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Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
Notice of intention to request extension of OMB approval of revised collection of information.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of its collection of information for annual reporting and disclosure under 29 CFR Part 2520 (OMB control number 1212-0057, expires September 30, 2010), without change. This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.
Comments must be submitted by August 23, 2010.
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
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Comments received, including personal information provided, will be posted to http://www.pbgc.gov.
Copies of the collection of information and comments may be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure Division, Office of General Counsel, at the above address or by visiting the Disclosure Division or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040.)Start Further Info
Grace Kraemer, Attorney, Legislative and Regulatory Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026; 202-326-4024. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)End Further Info End Preamble Start Supplemental Information
The Employee Retirement Income Security Start Printed Page 36128Act of 1974 (ERISA) contains three separate sets of provisions—in Title I (Labor provisions), Title II (Internal Revenue Code provisions), and Title IV (PBGC provisions)—requiring administrators of employee benefit pension and welfare plans (collectively referred to as employee benefit plans) to file returns or reports annually with the federal government.
Since enactment of ERISA, PBGC, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (collectively, the Agencies), have worked together (under DOL's leadership) to produce the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report, through which the regulated public can satisfy the combined reporting/filing requirements applicable to employee benefit plans.
The Form 5500 Series is the primary source of information concerning the operation, funding, assets and investments of pension and other employee benefit plans. In addition to being an important disclosure document for plan participants and beneficiaries, the Form 5500 is a compliance and research tool for the Agencies, and a source of information for use by other federal agencies, Congress, and the private sector in assessing employee benefit, tax, and economic trends and policies.
On November 16, 2007, the Agencies adopted revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report in order to update and streamline the annual reporting process in conjunction with establishing a wholly electronic processing system for the receipt of the Form 5500 Annual Return/Reports and to conform the forms and instructions to the provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).
OMB has approved PBGC's annual reporting and disclosure collection of information (2008-2010 Forms and Instructions) under control number 1212-0057 (expires September 30, 2010). PBGC intends to request that OMB extend approval of this collection of information for three years, without change. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
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Issued in Washington, DC, this 21st day of June 2010.
John H. Hanley,
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2010-15339 Filed 6-23-10; 8:45 am]


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Saints' restructure sees two executives go marching out
New St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis has overhauled the club's executive weeks after starting at the club, axing the roles of the club's chief operating officer Terry Dillon and general manager of commercial operations Shane Wakelin.
Finnis has hired Christine Finnegan from the Melbourne Rebels as the new chief commercial operations officer, essentially replacing the two roles with one.
The two senior club figures were told on Monday morning that Finnis had reviewed the club's structure and had decided to alter the reporting structure which would mean the two positions would be made redundant and replaced by one newly created role.
"It's a restructure of the roles and is not about the individuals involved, who have been terrific employees of the club," Finnis said. "Terry and Shane are outstanding people who had done great work with the Saints, but this is about the best way to structure the business."
Coincidentally the club's merchandise manager, Dale Christie, resigned on Friday,
The review and consequent restructure was confined to the club's administration and did not include a football department review given that department was largely reviewed last year when Scott Watters was removed and replaced by Alan Richardson as coach.
Finnis had worked with Finnegan previously when he was chief executive at the AFLPA prior to taking up the St Kilda job earlier this year after the Saints parted ways with former CEO Michael Nettlefold.
It is the second time Wakelin has lost his employment at the Saints. After being traded by the club as a player, the key defender went on to play in two Collingwood grand final sides.
Wakelin had been at the Saints head commercial operations. Dillon moved to St Kilda from Hawthorn about two-and-a-half years ago. He had previously worked in finance roles at Collingwood.
Finnis felt that the St Kilda business was not large enough to justify also employing a chief operating officer.
The Saints have battled for sponsorship revenue, having not signed a joint major sponsor this year alongside Ledified.