text:
Quartet of Sox named All-Stars
Ortiz, Ramirez, Loretta and Papelbon all get the nod
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
The group with an all-access invitation to Pittsburgh was flanked by superstar sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and rounded out by star rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon and steady second baseman Mark Loretta. The three position players were voted on by the fans while Papelbon was selected by the players, receiving 283 votes, the most of any relief pitcher.
In particular, being able to relay the news to Papelbon, who has come so far in such a short period of time, brought Red Sox manager Terry Francona to tears.
"It was very emotional, to be honest," said Papelbon. "Your first All-Star [selection], your first year with your manager. All the things we've been through with last year up and down [from the Minors] and this year starting off the season together. Hopefully I'll be able to play for Terry for a long, long time and be a part of him and be a part of this whole Red Sox organization."
Though it was a day of organizational pride for the Red Sox, it also came with a bittersweet twinge. It was one of those years when the Red Sox had a lot of deserving players, so not everybody could make it.
Perhaps the most noteworthy snub was ace right-hander Curt Schilling, who entered the day tied for the American League lead in wins with 10, fifth in strikeouts (102), fifth in innings (114 1/3) and fourth in WHIP (1.08).
"Given what's happened over the last 18, 24 months, to be in this position [as a candidate] is very rewarding," said Schilling. "Obviously, going is a big deal. It means something to me, it always has. We're 14-3 in my 17 starts and I'm very proud of that."
Josh Beckett (10 wins), Mike Lowell (.308 average, 29 doubles), Jason Varitek (who led AL catchers in fan voting most of the way) and Kevin Youkilis (.312 average, 10 homers, 40 RBIs, .418 OBP) were other Boston players in the running.
"Always my hope is that as many guys as possible make it because they're our guys," said Francona. "My other hope is that those guys you're talking about got great consideration. If nothing else, maybe they got the respect of people looking. That would mean a lot to me."
Francona said earlier this week that he's in favor of Ramirez, who along with Ortiz and Loretta was voted in by the fans, not playing in the game and instead resting his ailing right knee. He reiterated that on Sunday.
"What I'm hoping is going to happen -- and again, if somebody's going to take some heat, I hope it's me. ... I've already asked Manny to not play," said Francona. "I didn't tell him he couldn't play. I've asked him in the interest in our ballclub, I'm think it's the best thing. I'm hoping that's kind of what he'll do."
Ramirez, maintaining the media silence he has held since March 1, was unavailable for comment. Ortiz, one of Ramirez's closest friends on the team, had no indication of what his fellow slugger would do.
"He hasn't talked to me about it," said Ortiz. "It's up to him. If he's hurting, he's got to chill out. If I was hurting, I'd chill out, too. The All-Star Game, that's good, but you've got a second half coming up. We're going to have a lot of doubleheaders, we need Manny."
The All-Star Game will be played on July 11 at PNC Park.
This is Ramirez's 10th All-Star berth. He has been voted in as a starter all six years he's been with the Red Sox. The milestones continue to add up for the gifted cleanup hitter, who notched career hit No. 2,000 on Saturday.
Ramirez (.309 average, 22 homers, 60 RBIs) hits behind the fearsome Ortiz, who has gone from platoon player in Minnesota to an All-Star for the Red Sox the last three seasons.
Ortiz, who finished second in the AL MVP voting in 2005, is having yet another monster season. He leads the Major Leagues in 75 RBIs, and has 26 homers. Because there is no DH in this year's game, Ortiz will start at first base.
Despite his rookie status, there was little doubt that Papelbon would make the team. He became the first pitcher since Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley in 1992 to successfully convert his first 20 save opportunities in a season. Almost unfathomably, Papelbon has given up just two earned runs in his first 41 2/3 innings of work. The case can be made that he's been Boston's MVP in the first half.
"Obviously for me it's an honor," said Papelbon. "It's something that I definitely set out to do at the beginning of the season, to be the best in my trade or one of the best. For me it's a real humbling experience to get voted to this and to be a part of this. So it's very surreal and very humbling to me."
Then there is Loretta, who has simply blended in on both sides of the ball. After a sluggish April, Loretta broke out by hitting .405 in May and .330 in June. A key part of a defense that broke a Major League record for consecutive errorless games, Loretta committed just three errors in his first 324 chances.
"I knew I was in second place with about a week to go. I had kind of, in some ways, written it off," said Loretta. "I'm very overwhelmed and humbled by it and excited and I think it speaks volumes to the Red Sox Nation. They get out there and support their team, so I'm very happy about it."
This is his second All-Star appearance in three years. He was the lone member of the 2004 Padres to make the All-Star team.
"It's going to be nice to go with some teammates this time," said Loretta. "It really kind of felt like you were on an island when you were the only guy from a team going. I think I'll be able to savor it."
So would Schilling, who might get added on if another pitcher on the AL squad suffers an injury.
Schilling is slated to pitch the last game before the All-Star break, which could well have been a reason that he wasn't added to the team by manager Ozzie Guillen.
"If they needed me to throw an inning, that wouldn't be an issue," said Schilling. "There's a lot of guys having good years in the American League this year."
But not many who have had the type of success as Papelbon.
"I came into the first half of the season with an opportunity Francona gave me," Papelbon said. "I kind of just took the ball and did what I know I can do, just go out there and compete. That's it. Lay everything on the line. Once Francona gave me the opportunity to be the closer for the Boston Red Sox, I just took it with open arms and never looked back."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text: Meets first 8 weeks only This course will explore the social, economic, political, and aesthetic aspects of tourism from an anthropological perspective. It will focus on the sites of tourism (theme parks, heritage travel, eco -tourism, cultural villages), as well as the players (tourists, guides, cultural brokers), the objects (souvenirs), and the performances that characterize the tourist experience. This course will be conducted as a seminar. Requirements will be appropriate for an 8-week course.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Utah Merger Sees Two Ogden Credit Unions Consolidate on July 1
The $61 million SummitOne Federal Credit Union in Ogden, Utah, will merge with the $187 million Wasatch Peaks Federal Credit Union, also in Ogden, on July 1, the credit unions said.
SummitOne members approved the merger last week at the credit union's annual meeting. Of the credit union's 6,129 members, more than 1,000 members voted. According to SummitOne, 91% voted in favor of the merger.
Though SummitOne's net worth is 7.38%, its loan income has steadily declined from $2 million in 2008 to $1.3 million in 2012, according to NCUA financial performance reports. The credit union also has seen its investment income drop from $1.2 million in 2008 to $433,721 in 2012.
In 2008, 2009 and 2011, SummitOne posted a total net loss of $806,846, according to NCUA financial performance reports. In 2010 and 2011, however, the credit union reported a total net income gain of $613,381.
Post merger, SummitOne's four branches will remain open, according to a Wasatch Peaks CU blog post. Wasatch Peaks CU serves 25,864 members.
SummitOne FCU was founded as the Dee Hospital Credit Union on Sept. 13, 1954, to serve the financial needs of doctors, nurses, administration and staff at McKay-Dee Hospital. The credit union later changed its name to McKay-Dee Hospital Credit Union.
By 1974, its assets grew to $1 million. In 1989, the Ogden Clinic Credit Union and the Browning Employees Credit Union merged with McKay-Dee Hospital CU.
On Jan. 1, 2006, the credit union changed its name to SummitOne Credit Union to reflect the diversified membership, a federal charter conversion and an expanded field of membership.


text:
This chapter helps you to decide whether to implement a server plug-in. It also explains what to do next if you choose to implement a plug-in.
This chapter covers the following topics:
Many Sun Directory Server native product features rely on server plug-ins. Plug-ins are libraries of functions that are registered with the server to perform key parts of specific directory service operations.
The Directory Server plug-in API provides an interface to add server capabilities that are not in the current releases of the product. If you must add server capabilities because a required feature has not yet been implemented, the plug-in API might render that enhancement possible. If you can instead use standard features of the product, avoid creating a plug-in.
Be aware that creating your own plug-in links your software solution to a specific product release. The plug-in API can evolve from release to release to accommodate new features. As you choose to upgrade to take advantage of new features, you might need to update your Directory Server plug-ins.
You can use the header files with class libraries solely to create and distribute programs to interface with the Software's APIs. You can also use libraries to create, then distribute program "plug-ins" to interface with the Software's plug-in APIs. You cannot modify the header files or libraries. You acknowledge that Sun makes no direct or implied guarantees that the plug-in APIs will be backward-compatible in future releases of the Software. In addition, you acknowledge that Sun is under no obligation to support or to provide upgrades or error corrections to any derivative plug-ins.
When providing technical support, Sun technical support personnel request that you reproduce the problem after turning your custom plug-ins off.
Sun Services can help you make the right deployment decisions. Sun Services can also help you to deploy the right solution for your specific situation, whether or not the solution includes custom plug-ins.
All client requests to Directory Server instances undergo particular processing sequences. The exact sequence depends on the operation that the client has requested. Yet overall, the sequences are similar. The way plug-ins handle requests is independent of how the client encodes the request. In other words, client request data appears essentially the same to plug-ins regardless of the client access protocol used to communicate with Directory Server.
In general, client request processing proceeds as follows. First, the Directory Server front end decodes the request. The core server handles the decoded request, calling the necessary back end functions to find or store entries, for example. The primary function of the Directory Server back end is to retrieve and store entries. Unless abandoned, however, a client request results in a response originating in the back end. The front end formats the response and sends it to the client.
The following figure illustrates how client request data moves through Directory Server.
As a rule, plug-ins register functions to be called by Directory Server at specific steps of processing the client request. A plug-in has a specific type, such as preoperation or postoperation. A preoperation plug-in registers functions that handle incoming requests before the requests are processed in the server. For example, a preoperation plug-in can register a pre-bind function that is called before the core server begins processing the client bind. The pre-bind function might redefine how the client authenticates to Directory Server, enabling authentication against an external database. A postoperation plug-in registers functions that are called after a request is processed. For example, a postoperation plug-in might register a post-modification function that is called to log the information about the modification request. Example Uses provides examples for other plug-in types.
The two internal operation plug-in types form an exception to the rule that functions are called to perform client request processing. Internal operation plug-ins implement functions that are triggered for internal Directory Server operations. Internal operations are initiated not by client requests, but by Directory Server or by another plug-in called by Directory Server. Exercise caution when manipulating internal operation data.
The following table summarizes when Directory Server calls documented plug-in function types.Table 1–1 Server Plug-In Types
Plug-In Type
When Called
Entry store-fetch
Immediately before writing a directory entry to or immediately after reading a directory entry from the directory database
type: ldbmentryfetchstore
Extended operation
For processing an LDAP v3 extended operation
type: extendedop
Internal postoperation
After completing an operation initiated by Directory Server, for which no corresponding client request exists
type: internalpostoperation
Internal preoperation
Before performing an operation initiated by Directory Server, for which no corresponding client request exists
type: internalpreoperation
Matching rule
When finding search result candidates based on an extensible match filter for search operations only
type: matchingrule
Depends on the functions that are registered. (This type is generic and is used to register other types)
type: object
Password check
When performing a strong check on a userPassword value to add or modify
type: passwordcheck
Password storage scheme
When storing an encoded userPassword value that cannot be decrypted
type: pwdstoragescheme
After completing an operation requested by a client
type: postoperation
Before performing an operation requested by a client
type: preoperation
The following figure illustrates where in the processing sequence Directory Server calls some of the plug-in types described in Table 1–1.
Notice that postoperation return codes do not affect Directory Server processing.
The plug-in type and plug-in configuration information are typically specified statically in a configuration entry.
You can include multiple plug-ins in a single shared library, but you must specify individual, server-specific configuration entries for each plug-in that is registered statically. This means that if you want preoperation and postoperation functions, you typically write two plug-ins. Then you register each plug-in with Directory Server. Both plug-ins can be contained in the same shared library. Both plug-ins can communicate private data across the same operation or connection, as well, using the interface provided. You can also write one plug-in that initializes other plug-ins, if that configuration is required for your deployment.
The sample plug-ins delivered with the product follow the principle of building all plug-ins into one library, then registering plug-ins individually.
The following figure shows multiple plug-ins that reside in the same library.
Each plug-in includes a registration routine that is called by Directory Server at startup. The registration routine explicitly registers each plug-in function with Directory Server.
Plug-in libraries are linked with Directory Server. Plug-ins execute in the same memory address space as Directory Server. Plug-ins have direct access to data structures used by Directory Server. As a result, plug-ins can corrupt memory used by Directory Server. Such memory corruption can result in database corruption. Due to this danger, never use an untested plug-in on a production Directory Server.
Furthermore, Directory Server runs as a multi threaded process. Code you write for a plug-in must be reentrant. Multiple threads can call your entry point simultaneously. These threads can be rescheduled at any time.
To select the right plug-in type for the job is an art, rather than a science. The following table suggests example uses for documented plug-in types.Table 1–2 Plug-In Example Uses by Type
Plug-In Type
Example Uses
Entry store-fetch
Encoding and decoding entire plug-in entries
Auditing or logging each entry as the entry is written to disk
Extended operation
Adding client services that are not available in LDAP v3 such as digital signatures in requests and responses
Internal postoperation
Auditing results of internal operations initiated by another plug-in
Internal preoperation
Preempting internal operations initiated by another plug-in
Matching rule
Offering enhanced sounds-like matching for directory searches
Developing a plug-in that registers a group of other plug-ins with Directory Server
Password check
Forcing new passwords to conform to corporate policy for password syntax
Password storage scheme
Using a custom algorithm for password encryption instead of one of the algorithms supported by the standard product
Associating alerts and alarms sent after particular operations
Auditing changes to specific entries
Performing cleanup after an operation
Handling custom authentication methods external to the directory
Forcing syntax checking for attribute values before adding or modifying an entry
Adding attributes to or deleting attributes from a request
Preprocessing client request content to translate requests from legacy applications
Approving or rejecting the content of a client modification request before processing the request
The list of example uses is by no means exhaustive, but is instead intended to help you brainstorm solutions.
Most of the rest of this guide is devoted to examples that demonstrate the specific plug-in types.
Never develop plug-ins on a production server, but instead on a test server used specifically for plug-in development.
You might not have installed Sun Directory Server software. You might not have installed development software for the C language for use during plug-in development. Install the software now. Without development tools and a functioning Directory Server, you cannot use the examples discussed here.
If you have not yet written a plug-in for the current release, refer to Chapter 3, Getting Started With Directory Server Plug-Ins. The chapter helps you to build a simple plug-in, and to register the plug-in with Directory Server.
If you maintain plug-ins developed for a previous release of Directory Server, refer to Chapter 2, Changes to the Plug-In API Since Directory Server 5.2 for information about what has changed.
Examples for several plug-in types are provided with the product in install-path/examples Subsequent chapters demonstrate the use of the sample plug-ins.
See Part II, Directory Server Plug-In API Reference for details about particular data structures, functions, and parameter block semantics.


text:
Select Hotels
- $25 American Express card per night for gas
- Complimentary valet parking
- Complimentary Yoga on the Roof classes
Take a nice drive—then get out and stretch in the nation's capital.
This summer, the Liaison Capitol Hill DC will help fill up your tank, park your car, and give you fun ways to unwind in DC.
With rates starting at $215, you get to:
- PUMP - With a $25 American Express card per night for gas
- PARK - With complimentary valet parking for 1 vehicle daily
- STRETCH - With complimentary Yoga on the Roof classes each morning.
You can also borrow our walking tour kit to explore DC during your stay, or take a dip with a drink at our Rooftop Pool & Lounge—the biggest in the city.
Available for stays from May 25 to September 7, 2015. Call 1-866-246-2203 and mention promo code PUMPKG.
Based on availability for stays from May 25 to September 7, 2015. The offer must be booked by September 6, 2015. Some blackout dates apply. The package includes one $25 gas card per night per room, complimentary valet parking for one car, daily instructed yoga class on the rooftop, and use of our walking tour kit during stay. Register for yoga class with the front desk 24 hours prior, as space is limited. Not applicable to groups. May not be combined with any other offer. Offer may be discontinued at any time.


text:
I am currently training for InnerAct Alliance Red Ribbon Half Marathon & Run in Lakeland, Florida. It will be my fifth half marathon and the first one that I trained with a group.
What is different during this training cycle?
- Running with a group
- Track workouts
- Running hills
My mileage and days running are actually less than in past training cycles. I am really enjoying having one complete rest day and being able to fit in two days of full-body weight training.
Total mileage from weeks two through five.
The mileage for last week (36) would have been higher but a massive thunder storm stopped the track workout about four miles short.
Key Workouts
Hill Repeats
In this workout we ran up the hills and walked back down. It hurt but the Red Ribbon Half is a hilly course, running these repeats can only help.
Track Workouts
8×400 Repeats with 200 walks in between
Painful but helpful to feel speedy (which rarely if ever happens to me.)
7×800 Repeats with 200 walks in between
Painful again but the Lakeland High School marking band practices when we run, so that was fun.
I didn't even know they had hills like this in Florida. They are massive and they sure are painful. This is a route I will remember and incorporate when training for future races.
Long Runs
The group is up to nine miles and I am already feeling a difference. Just looking through runs of similar distance from the beginning of 2013, I am significantly faster. As someone who is on the slow side and my number one goal is to get faster, this is really making my day.


text:
Bullpen a point of strength so far for Orioles
By Rick Eymer / Special to MLB.com
OAKLAND -- Orioles relief pitcher Darren O'Day pointed to a specific series last year in Boston when he thought the Baltimore bullpen came of age.
In a three-game May series at Fenway Park, the Orioles needed 17 relief appearances (including one from first baseman Chris Davis) to throw 23 innings in a sweep of the Red Sox.
Two games went extra innings, one 13 innings and the other 17 innings. The bullpen allowed one run for an ERA of 0.39.
"Everybody was coming in and throwing two innings and we kept throwing up zeroes," O'Day said. "That set us up for the whole year."
The Orioles are getting the same results this season. The bullpen has an ERA of 2.15 and is averaging about 3 1/3 innings a game.
Take away Pedro Strop's 8.22 ERA and it's even more impressive, with the relievers owning an ERA of 1.27.
"The way the bullpen was constructed last year, you had a good mix of veterans, guys who had been closers and setup guys, and young guys," O'Day said. "The veterans were a big influence and taught the younger guys how to handle tight situations."
Arrieta strikes out eight in first Triple-A start
OAKLAND -- Orioles manager Buck Showalter had to be happy about Jake Arrieta's effort Friday night, even if it was 3,000 miles away.
Arrieta, who started the season in the Orioles' rotation, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk on Monday to put things back together. On Friday, he threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight as the Tides beat the Charlotte Knights, 11-4.
"It's a double-edged sword. I want him to go down and work on things," Showalter said before Friday's game in Oakland.
Perhaps Arrieta's most impressive stat was the zero walks he issued. He threw 94 pitches, 54 for strikes.
"He knows he just can't throw his glove out there," Showalter said. "I'd like to see him carry the stuff he had up here."
Worth noting
• Baltimore leadoff hitters entered Friday leading the American League in on-base percentage, and the O's were one of just five teams whose leadoff hitters had walked more than they had struck out.
"You can't look at the leadoff position the same way it used to be," Showalter said. "You look for a guy with a little pop, a guy who take walks and a guy who steals bases. Rickey Henderson is in the Hall of Fame. There aren't many like him any more."
Rick Eymer is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
To the person who decided July 13 should be National French Fry Day: thank you. Celebrate one of burger's best friends by going out for some good fries (fast food's cool, too) or making them at home with these recipes and techniques:
- How to Make Perfect Thin and Crisp French Fries
- Why Double Fry French Fries
- How to Cut French Fries
- Cheese Sauce for Burgers, Fries, and Chips
- Chili For Burgers, Hot Dogs, and Fries
Love hamburgers? Then you'll Like AHT on Facebook! And go follow us on Twitter while you're at it!


text:
No. 21 SDSU at Boise State
Site/time: Taco Bell Arena, Boise, Id./7 p.m. PST
TV/radio: 4 San Diego, The Mtn./600-AM, 95.7-FM
Records: SDSU is 22-6, 8-4. BSU is 13-14, 3-9.
Aztecs update: TCU's loss at Wyoming on Tuesday means the Aztecs can finish no lower than third in the Mountain West. This is just the third meeting against the Broncos, once in 1976 and the Feb. 1 game the Aztecs won 58-56 won Thomas Bropleh's three-pointer rolled out at the buzzer. "I'm sure they'll talk about that," SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. The Aztecs are returning closer to full strength after ankle injuries sidelined Jamaal Franklin and Garrett Green 11 days ago at Air Force. Franklin is coming off a career night: 31 points and 16 rebounds against Colorado State. Xavier Thames had been struggling but had all 15 of his points against CSU in the second half. James Rahon also broke out of a slump by making 4 of 8 threes. The only guard still waiting to is Chase Tapley, who is shooting 28.6 percent (12 of 42) in the last four games.
Broncos update: They are 1-10 on the road and 11-4 at home. A lot of that is a function of their youth, with three freshmen starters (Anthony Drmic, Derrick Marks and Joe Hanstad) and four more on the roster. The danger here is their perimeter shooting accuracy, which is substantially better at home. Second-year coach Leon Rice can put a lineup on the floor with five legit three-point shooters. After going 0-7 through the first half of the Mountain West season, the Broncos won three straight before losing at UNLV and at Wyoming last week. They have defeated two of the last three ranked teams to come to Taco Bell Arena – No. 20 BYU in 2007, and No. 21 Utah State in 2009. The third, then-No. 12 UNLV on Jan. 25, went to overtime.
-Mark Zeigler
The San Diego State men's basketball team practiced at Peterson Gym on Tuesday, rode a bus to Gillespie Field in El Cajon and boarded three small charter jets for a late afternoon departure. They took off in the setting sun, banked to the northeast and headed into the great unknown.
Senior Night was Saturday, a festive, emotional occasion as 12,414 in Viejas Arena bid farewell to Tim Shelton, Garrett Green and the rest of a 2011-12 team that so magically exceeded expectations and tantalized the imagination.
But this season largely will be defined by what happens over the next three weeks, on planes and buses and hostile arenas, far from what Coach Steve Fisher likes to call the "friendly confines" of Viejas Arena. The No. 21 Aztecs (22-6, 8-4) close the regular season at Boise State tonight and at TCU on Saturday. Then it's Las Vegas for the Mountain West tournament and possibly three games in three days. Then Greensboro or Pittsburgh or Omaha or wherever else the NCAA Tournament selection committee sends them the following week.
"I feel like this year we've had harder travel than in the last two years," junior guard Chase Tapley said, "with the big Wyoming trip, the weather, coming in late, stuff like that. Comes with the territory in this league."
For that, they can thank a computer in Butler, Penn., that spits out the Mountain West's annual schedules. Mix in three times zones, major altitude changes, radical temperature swings, the massive winter storms of North America's most imposing mountain range and the obstinance of a conference office to make logical (or compassionate) adjustments, and you have a potentially lethal cocktail.
How do the Aztecs end up with road games four days apart against schools (Wyoming and Colorado State) just 60 miles apart? Or a 4,000-mile road trip on the season's final weekend knowing that, as one of the Mountain West's top programs, they'll likely be on the road for at least the next two weekends as well?
Or how does UNLV, which hosts the conference tournament on its home floor, get to play Wyoming there four days earlier in the regular-season finale, forcing the Cowboys to fly back and forth to avoid breaking NCAA rules that govern the number of days on the road between games?
"It's a great question," Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt said. "Sometimes computers on their best days have bad days. That's probably the best way I can answer it."
The Aztecs tried to reduce missed class time on the Wyoming-Colorado State trip in January by flying charter to Laramie, only for it to take 20 hours, two refueling stops and an unscheduled overnight just to get there. Wyoming had to get a police escort with snowplows to get out of Laramie for its game at San Diego. UNLV had a flight to Dallas cancelled and didn't arrive until 2 a.m. for a game at TCU that it lost in overtime.
Then there's New Mexico. It entered last week 8-2, with a two-game lead with four to play. It lost at Colorado State on Tuesday, had its flight delayed the next morning due to high winds, didn't want to spend the day in the airport, overnighted in the Denver area and flew directly to Dallas for its Saturday game at TCU. Lost that, too, and now is in a three-way tie for first with SDSU and UNLV at 8-4.
Said Lobos coach Steve Alford: "We told our guys after the TCU game: 'Yeah, we're frustrated, we're upset with losing. But we just had a winning record (4-3) on the road in a Top 5 league (in RPI) in the country. That's pretty good. Now let's get home and try to finish this thing out.'"
The Aztecs are 2-3 in conference road games this season, 0-3 in the last month. Boise State has an RPI of 166, the lowest in the eight-team Mountain West, but it came within a rimmed-out three-pointer of beating the Aztecs in San Diego. And now the Broncos are playing in Taco Bell Arena (yes, that's what it's called), where they are 11-4 this season and where the Aztecs have never played in their history.
"It's going to be the first time for everybody to go to Boise," Tapley said. "It's just another experience, different kind of city, different arena, different atmosphere. Every place has its own feel, and you have to get used to it."
UNLV knows. The Rebels sweated out a last-season shot by the Broncos in regulation, then won in overtime.
"We were very fortunate to get out of there with a win," UNLV coach Dave Rice said. "I was with BYU and went up there twice as a ranked team, and lost both games. It's just a difficult place to play."
History certainly isn't on the Aztecs' side, either. Over the previous 34 years, they have finished the regular season with back-to-back road games seven times – and lost all 14 of them. The last time they won two road games to close the regular season: 1977.
"I'm not even thinking about all the travel," said Tapley, whose team will fly home immediately after tonight's game, then head to TCU on Friday. "This part of the season, with the conference tournament in Vegas, with the NCAA Tournament, is the fun travel."Copyright © 2018, The San Diego Union-Tribune


text:
orderingList component allows to reorder items in a list.
Ordering List could contain several columns in list representation. And it
also has strong keyboard support out of the box.
Manage simple playlist represented via Ordering List:
In this example you may select some songs (using the mouse and Ctrl/Shift keys) and move them
within the list using controls.
Content definition for this component is similar to any Iteration component.
Thus, all you need is to define collection in Ordering List value attribute
and iterate the collection in nested columns with var attribute.
In order to set initially selected rows or to process submitted selection,
use selection attribute.


text:
Tata Group Charts Return to the Skies
The Tata Group's airline plans are taking wings again.
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, the group's former head with a legendary status among India's businessmen, founded India's first airline, Tata Aviation Service. He piloted its first commercial flight on Oct. 15, 1932–from Karachi to Mumbai in a single-engine Puss Moth aircraft.
The government nationalized Tata Aviation in 1953 and renamed it Air India. The Tatas never played an active role in aviation since, though its recently retired chairman Ratan Tata had said that returning to the sector was one of his dreams.
That dream may soon become a reality.
Wednesday, Malaysian discount carrier AirAsia Bhdid it has sought India's permission to set up a low-cost airline in India in a joint venture with Tata Sons Ltd. and another local investor, Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace Pvt. Ltd.
Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, will have a minority 30% stake in the proposed joint venture and won't have any operational control in it. Still, it could break the $100-billion-revenue salt-to-software group's airline jinx under its new chairman, Cyrus Mistry.
The group tried, unsuccessfully, at least twice in the past to reenter the business.
After India opened the aviation sector to private companies in 1990s, the Tata Group tried to launch an airline jointly with Singapore Airlines In a 2011 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Ratan Tata, a qualified pilot himself, said the aviation ministry held up his application for years despite constant prodding.
In 1998, after seven years of government inaction, he withdrew the application.
The group tied up again with Singapore Airlines to bid for Air India when the government proposed to sell it in 2001. The Singaporean airline later ended the pact, citing political opposition in India, and the government never sold its stake in the national carrier.
Meanwhile the group expanded its operations globally, buying Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus in 2007 and the marquee auto brands of Jaguar and Land Rover the following year. It also acquired the Tetley tea brand and is currently pursuing a bid to buy U.S.-listed hotels group Orient-Express Hotels
According to business historian Gita Piramal, the Tata Group's attempts to invest in the aviation industry show it is "emotional" toward the sector.
Its latest effort comes at a time the local aviation industry is hit by high operational expenses. The cost of financing debt taken by airlines to expand operations in the second half of the last decade, when the market was growing fast, is further hurting the financial performance of companies.
Air India, for instance, hasn't made a profit since 2007 Kingfisher Airlines, the most aggressive local airline to expand operations until a couple of years ago and which has now run out of cash, grounded its flights last October.
But low-cost airlines such as InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.'s Indigo and SpiceJet are profitable and this may be one of the reasons for AirAsia and the Tata Group to consider the investment.
"We have carefully evaluated developments in India over the last few years and strongly believe that the current environment is perfect to introduce AirAsia's low fares, which stimulate travel and grow the market," Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's founder and group chief executive, said in press statement Wednesday.
But, then Tata's bid with AirAsia may face the same regulatory hurdles which thwarted one of its previous efforts.
"There is no clarity from the government on issue of new licenses, so we can't be sure how long the airline may take to actually fly," said Kapil Kaul, the South Asia chief executive at aviation consultancy CAPA-Centre for Aviation.
Mr. Kaul said the Tata Group's plan to only invest in, but not to operate, the proposed airline is "surprising."
Mrs. Piramal, the business historian, says the airline venture is unlikely to become a major milestone for the group. "But, Cyrus Mistry may soon have to learn the art of flying."
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.


text: This sounds frighteningly like a problem I just resolved. RH7 failed to install, hanging at various points in the process under repeated attempts, but most frequently at the end. A new box, I suspected a BIOS problem. I also asked the vendor to check the memory which he stated was tested and returned to me. Short answer: I just replaced the memory with another vendor's stick and it worked and has not failed so far. I've gotten a discouragly large number of reports, of late, of bad, or failing memory. Gerry -- Richard C Ferri wrote: > > Arthur, > Are you installing using the text mode, or graphics mode? In my > experience with similar distros, sometimes the software doesn't configure X > properly, and installation hangs as a result. If you installed in graphics > mode and got a hang, I would try doing a text install (from the initial > installation menu) and see if that goes more smoothly. You might have to > run Xconfigurator on your first boot from the harddrive to tweak your > XF86Config file to get X-windows up cleanly, but everything else should > work. > > regards, Rich > > Richard Ferri > IBM Linux Technology Center > rcferri at us.ibm.com > 845.433.7920 > > "Arthur H. Edwards" <edwards at icantbelieveimdoingthis.com>@beowulf.org on > 04/11/2001 10:08:05 PM > > Sent by: beowulf-admin at beowulf.org > > To: beowulf at beowulf.org, edwards at icantbelieveimdoingthis.com > cc: > Subject: System hangs on installation > > I am trying to install the newest Scyld operating system on the head node. > Things seem to go well until the end when the system simply hangs. Any > insight? > > -- > Arthur H. Edwards > 712 Valencia Dr. NE > Abq. NM 87108 > > (505) 256-0834 > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf -- Gerry Creager | Never ascribe to Malice that AATLT | which can adequately be Texas A&M University | explained by Stupidity. 979.458.4020 (Phone) | -- Lazarus Long 979.847.8578 (Fax)


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Empowering deserving military families with educational support and opportunities.
Padraig Harrington finished runner-up at the WGC-Bridgestone
Invitational in preparation for his title defense at this week's PGA
Championship. Hear what he had to say after the round.
Padraig Harrington (SYNR-G style #53918, PureTouch Limited glove) opened with a bogey-free 6-under 64 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational to lead by one after the first round. Click on the video below to hear about some of the key shots of the round as well as some insight into how a major champion approaches the final few holes when he knows he's working on a solid round.
While checking out images from the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, we found a shot of Padraig Harrington wearing our newest style of SYNR-G golf shoe ... style #53918. At the time of this post, he is in the lead at 6-under par, two clear of the field.
Leave a comment and let us know what you think of this new style.
We've got more photos from our FJ folks onsite at Turnberry! Pretty busy few days for everyone at the Open Championship, especially the players as they make final preparations for tomorrow's opening round. One of my favorite sayings is that you can't win a major on Thursday, but you can certainly lose one! Can't wait to see how this event unfolds, starting tomorrow morning.
Click here to begin the slideshow.:


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It's been a few weeks, but a Dynamo player is once again getting some recognition in MLSsoccer.com's Team of the Week. This week, the honor goes to defender David Horst for his role in keeping a shutout for the Dynamo in Saturday's 0-0 draw in Philadelphia. Here's what the editors had to say about Mr. Wreck-It:
"Absolutely dominant in his own box, clearing balls and preventing the Union from winning any aerial chances. Also put in a few good blocks and challenges to deny Union chances."
Horst and the rest of the Dynamo backline notched their third clean sheet of the season, and the first since Week 2 against the Montreal Impact.


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Previously, I've written at length on this topic, on my public blog, comparing the book and the video as teaching / learning tools. It's a complex issue.
Here, let me lay it on the line and lay out the major reasons why, for language learning and teaching – video is in the ascent and much superior to a book. And the reason why EnglishCentral is on track to do a lot that books can't nor ever could.
#1 Videos Talk!
Yes, seems obvious doesn't it? Video has audio that unlike the clunky, choppy CDs of the textbook, provides premium contextualization for the learner. You encounter words in a visual context, a real context. When Xmas shopping recently, I picked up a book about 2 inches thick. Each page had audio! And you could record audio! But it was a monster, ugly and awkward. I thought to myself – why bother, I'll just use video. Also, think about skype and videoconferencing – people talking with people through video. Textbooks, no matter how sweet you speak to them, never answer back in any way resembling a real human. Textbooks will keep trying but they'll only be throwing money out the language classroom window.
2. Students can't lose a video
How often do students lose a costly book? Often. Money down the drain. Videos are always there, in the cloud, available and at one's beck and call. Let's not forget – dogs can't eat videos either!
3. Videos scale and that =s $$$$$$
Videos aren't printed, one by one by one. They are online and thus, "shared". This means they are cost effective and can be offered at a lower cost than books. They scale. Video will win out in the dog eat dog of the educational economic market – no question about that. Even production costs are decreasing astronomically every month.
4. Videos have emotion
I wanted to say paralinguistics but emotion covers even more territory and really is important. Books just sit there dry and uninviting. Sure, some nice images help but the smile doesn't move, there is nare a scream or a curse. Video emotes, it pulls you in, it engages the learner and lights up the hypocampus, getting us ready for the language learning topic. Further, videos become personal. They are human to human. Also, they come in devices – netbooks, pads, readers, phones, we love and make our own. Books aren't sexy and therefore will remain less loved.
5. Videos are image heavy.
Images are important to language learning (and so too sound – see point #1). Books can have a few images but videos have hundreds / minute. Can't beat that in terms of benefiting the language learner, can you?
6. The video brings "reality" into the classroom
The book is and always will be, an approximation of reality. The video IS reality (or usually is). The importance of authenticity and connecting the learning with immediate, real aims and purposes (thus the importance of functional language) is vastly underrated. We learn inductively and through our connection to real life problems, situations and environments. Only this can give us "game time" and allow us to grow as language learners. The book will always fail at this.
7. Videos let freedom reign.
By this I mean that they don't impose structure, artificial structure onto the teacher or learner. They aren't 1, 2, 3, follow the lines, paint by numbers in approach. They aren't over engineered to entrap learners into exercises and scopes and sequences. Books as such artificial artifacts breed dependency – but have you ever seen a fluent speaker referencing his/her book while speaking? Videos in contrast, allow learners to go forward, go back, skip, play slow, play fast, check out words as needed, have translation or not, subtitles or not. They prepare us for reality. Video allows choice – books as printed things are "my way or the no learning highway". Videos let freedom reign.
8. Videos Talk back.
To come full circle with point one – videos can provide feedback to learners. I'm talking EnglishCentral now. You can speak videos and the video will give you feedback on your speech. Now, a teacher can do that as a student reads a book – but only one student at a time. Nor is the average teacher able to give the precise feedback EnglishCentral is able to give.
9. Students can produce videos
Sure, students can make a textbook (and see my Student Created Coursebook for an example) but it takes a damn long time and is hard work. However, they can make videos easily and use them for their own learning. Using their cell phones, it is simple as pie. And we all know that as we create, we learn. Learning is a very constructivist process.
10 Video is where it's at.
Don't undervalue the power of a trend, a fashion, what's hot. Right now, while I've been typing this post, 36,000 hours of video have been uploaded to Youtube (1200 hours / min. x 30 min). Students are visual learners, their eyes and brains meet reality with a different consciousness. This will have important effects/impacts and we'd do well to note this trend and get ready for the future which is video learning. It's coming, no matter how much we bury our own and our student's heads into books…..
Imagine you are teaching a Billy Collin's poem. Let's say "Budapest". Would you want to use a book, just the words or use this video?


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Cardiac pacing is ineffective in obstructive sleep apnea (SA), but it can alleviate central SA/Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSA) in patients with heart failure (HF). We examined whether overnight overdrive ventricular pacing (OVP) has an effect on SA in pacemaker recipients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF).
An apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 15 was confirmed in 28/38 patients screened by finger pulse oximetry during overnight ventricular pacing at a backup rate of 40 bpm (BUV40). These patients (23 men, 77.9 ± 7.6 y, BMI 27.6 ± 5.1 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to 2 consecutive nocturnal ventilation polygraphies with BUV40 versus OVP at 20 bpm above the mean nocturnal heart rate observed during screening.
During BUV40 versus OVP, (1) mean heart rate was 49 ± 8 versus 71 ± 8 bpm (p < 0.0001) and percent ventricular pacing 36% ± 38% versus 96% ± 6% (p < 0.0001); (2) AHI was 35.4 ± 11.9 versus 32.5 ± 15.5 (p = ns), central AHI 23.9 ± 11.8 versus 19.1 ± 12.7 (p < 0.001), and obstructive AHI 11.6 ± 13.1 versus 13.5 ± 15.9 (p = ns). In 15/28 patients without HF, mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 51% ± 17%, AHI was 37.6 ± 11.0 during BUV40 and 39.0 ± 11.5 during OVP, versus 32.8 ± 12.9 and 24.9 ± 16.5 in 13/28 patients with HF (p = 0.02) and mean LVEF 35% ± 15% (p = 0.01). Between the 2 subgroups, (1) central AHI was 23.6 ± 12.4 during BUV40 and 21.5 ± 14.0 during OVP versus 24.1 ± 11.6 and 16.2 ± 10.7 (p = 0.05); (2) obstructive AHI was 14.0 ± 13.7 during BUV40 and 17.6 ± 16.5 during OVP versus 8.8 ± 12.3 and 8.7 ± 14.3 (p = ns).
The prevalence of SA, predominantly central, was high in our pacemaker recipients with permanent AF. In those with HF, a single overnight OVP resulted in modest improvement in central events.
Bordier P; Maurice-Tison S; Ramana NK. Overdrive ventricular pacing in pacemaker recipients with permanent atrial fibrillation and sleep apnea. J Clin Sleep Med 2012;8(3):257-264.
After a first report suggesting that cardiac pacing might alleviate sleep apnea (SA), subsequent studies have yielded conflicting results1,2 An increase in pacing rate by overdrive atrial pacing, using a dual chamber pacemaker implanted for the treatment of bradycardia, has no effect on obstructive SA (OSA) in patients without history of heart failure (HF). In contrast, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) does alleviate central SA/Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSA), a breathing disorder present in > 30% of patients with stable HF and associated with a decreased survival rate.3–14
The aim of this study was to compare the effects of overnight overdrive ventricular pacing (OVP) versus overnight ventricular pacing at a low backup rate on SA in recipients of permanent pacemakers suffering from permanent atrial fibrillation (AF). The comparison was also made in separating the patients depending on whether they suffered from HF or not. Those patients were chosen since a high prevalence of SA has been observed in patients with permanent AF and in pacemaker recipients.15,16 Previous studies about cardiac pacing and SA included atrial pacing or CRT, but not right ventricular (RV) pacing alone.
We screened 62 consecutive patients treated in our medical center who presented with permanent AF and were VVI paced for ≥ 6 months. Patients were eligible for inclusion in the study if, for ≥ 6 months, they were (a) in stable general health, (b) in stable New York Heart Association HF functional class I-III, (c) on a stable medication regimen, and (d) not hospitalized. Eleven patients refused to participate in the study, and 8 were hospitalized or in unstable health within the previous 6 months. Ultimately, 43 patients were eligible and agreed to participate in the trial. Our institutional ethics committee approved the study protocol, and all the study participants granted their written informed consent. After the recording of a baseline electrocardiogram at rest, we excluded 2 patients from the study who were in sinus rhythm, and 3 patients who presented with AF and a ventricular rate > 75 bpm. The VVI pacing mode was verified with the pacemaker programmers.
Current Knowledge/Study Rationale: Cardiac pacing can alleviate central sleep apnea (SA) in patients with heart failure (HF). We examined whether overnight overdrive ventricular pacing (OVP) influenced SA in pacemaker recipients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF).
Study Impact: The prevalence of SA, predominantly central, was high in our pacemaker recipients with permanent AF and, in those with HF, a single overnight OVP resulted in modest reduction in central events. Common programming of a nocturnal pacing rate decrement in pacemaker recipients might not be suitable to all the paced patients.
After recording of the electrocardiogram, on the same day the 38 remaining patients underwent overnight home recording of pulse finger oximetry with a PalmSAT 2500 oximeter (Nonin Medical, Minneapolis, MN). For that recording, the pacemakers were programmed in VVI mode at a back-up rate of 40 bpm (BUV40), rate responsive function off, allowing ventricular pacing when the spontaneous heart rate was < 40 bpm. This allowed the detection of overnight O2 desaturation events while the heart rate was the slowest, at the slowest acceptable back-up pacing rate. The recordings were scored with the automated analysis protocol of the Nonin software. A significant O2 desaturation event was defined as ≥ 4% dip in O2 for ≥ 10 sec immediately after the baseline arterial O2 saturation signal.17 The mean hourly number of dips in O2 defined the O2 desaturation index, with ≥ 12 indicating a high probability of SA. We excluded 10 patients from the study (26%), who had < 12 dips/h, and included the 28 remaining patients (74%) with ≥ 12 dips/h, who completed the protocol. The cutoff of 12 dips/h was chosen arbitrarily. The mean nocturnal heart rate measured during this recording was retained as the reference for the subsequent individual setting of OVP.
The characteristics of the 28 patients are presented in Table 1. In the study, HF was defined by history of ≥ 1 episode of clinical cardiac decompensation corresponding to documented acute pulmonary edema treated with intravenous diuretics and/or nitrates. Thus, 13 patients were considered with HF, 7 suffering from ischemic cardiopathy, and 6 from idiopathic dilated, hypertrophic, or valvular cardiopathy. Recipients of dual chamber pacemakers were in sinus rhythm at the time of device implantation, which was reprogrammed to the VVI mode after the development of a permanent AF. Two patients were recipients of CRT-D because of a hemodynamic indication associating permanent AF with permanent low ventricular rate. These patients were equipped with a RV apical lead and an epicardial left ventricular (LV) lead via the coronary sinus. They were chronically paced in RV-VVI mode because of a nonfunctional LV lead. The other patients, paced for conventional bradyarrhythmia-related indications, had an RV lead implanted at the apex. Interrogation of the pacemakers before screening by finger pulse oximetry revealed a mean of 82% rate of ventricular pacing for the study population and a mean backup rate programmed at 62 bpm.
Characteristics of the 28 study patients
(more ...)
The 28 patients underwent, in random order, 2 consecutive nocturnal ventilation polygraphic examinations in our sleep laboratory, during BUV40, with the rate responsive function off, and during OVP, with the back-up pacing rate programmed to match the mean nocturnal heart rate observed during screening oximetry + 20 bpm, with the rate responsive function on.18 In 15 patients, BUV40 polygraphy and OVP polygraphy were performed on consecutive nights, and 13 patients underwent the same tests in the reverse order. The pacemakers were reprogrammed between 20:00 and 21:00 on the evening of each recording. The overnight sleep polygraphy signals was automatically acquired with an Embletta PDS system (Medcare Flaga, Reykjavik, Iceland) at 23:00 and ended at 06:00 the following morning. The recordings included (1) continuous airflow by a nasal cannula pressure transducer, (2) the sum of nasal and oral airflow via a thermistor, (3) rib cage and abdominal motion, using respiratory inductive plethysmograph sensor belts, (4) arterial O2 saturation and heart rate by pulse finger oximetry, and (5) synchronized, single-channel electrocardiogram (Figure 1).
ECG trace shows atrial fibrillation with ventricular rate ranging from 56 to 40 bpm in this sequence, while the pacemaker is programmed in VVI mode at a backup rate of 40 bpm. See text for further explanations.
Nocturnal ventilation polygraphy. In this example, mixed apnea is documented, with 1 min 18 sec duration, associated with a marked dip in O2 saturation from 98% to 73%ECG trace shows atrial fibrillation with ventricular rate ranging from 56 to 40 bpm in this sequence, while the pacemaker is programmed in...
The same sleep specialist, unaware of the patient's identity, scored all recordings visually, using standard criteria.17 Apnea was defined as complete cessation of oro-nasal airflow ≥ 10 sec, confirmed by simultaneous nasal cannula and oro-nasal thermistor signals. Hypopnea was defined as a decrease ≥ 30% in inspiratory oro-nasal airflow amplitude below the surrounding baseline ≥ 10 sec, on at least the nasal cannula signal, accompanied by ≥ 4% decrease in O2 saturation from the preceding stable baseline, in presence of thoraco-abdominal ventilatory efforts. In obstructive respiratory events, breathing efforts were present, generally of greater amplitude during the event, and associated with out-of-phase rib cage and abdominal movements. Obstructive hypopnea was accompanied by distinct changes in the inspiratory flow pattern, such as prolonged inspiration with flattening of the upper airflow waveform, consistent with airflow limitation. In central respiratory events, breathing efforts were absent during apnea and weakened during hypopnea, associating an in-phase decrease in rib cage and abdominal movements with a proportional decrease in airflow amplitude. Cheyne-Stokes respiration was defined as a regular waxing and waning breathing pattern followed by central apnea or hypopnea in ≥ 3 consecutive respiratory cycles. In case of periodic breathing, apnea and hypopnea were scored as central apnea and central hypopnea, according to the definitions above. A mixed respiratory event was defined by either an initial central pattern followed by obstructive pattern of thoracic and abdominal movements, or by the absence of breathing efforts followed by in-phase thoraco-abdominal movements of increasing amplitude. Once scored, mixed respiratory events were classified as obstructive events. Obstructive and central nocturnal respiratory events could coexist in the same subject; therefore, SA was classified as central or obstructive when ≥ 50% of the respiratory events were of central or obstructive origin, respectively. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was calculated as the total number of apneas and hypopneas divided by the number of hours of nocturnal recording. SA was diagnosed when AHI was ≥ 15, and severe SA when AHI was ≥ 30. Results of the 2 polygraphies were compared in all patients and between the 2 subsets of patients without versus with HF.
A transthoracic echocardiogram was recorded, using Acuson-128 sonographic instrumentation (Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Malvern, PA) the evening before the first polygraphic recording and before pacemaker programming. Three measurements of LVEF were made according to the modified Simpson method, and averaged to mitigate the effects of the irregular spontaneous rhythm. Baseline plasma concentrations of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) were not measured; nevertheless, they were measured after each nocturnal recording, upon awakening of the patient. At that time, the pacemaker memories, which were reset each evening, were interrogated, and the proportion of spontaneous and paced ventricular events was recorded. At the end of data acquisition, the pacemakers were returned to their pre-study settings.
Statistical analysis consisted in comparison of means (Epi Info CDC). Student 2-tailed t-test was used to examine differences between paired quantitative variables. In the study group, difference between OVP and BUV40 values were established for each datum. The value given by [mean/(Std Dev/√76n)] was compared to those in Student tables for 27 degrees-of-freedom, and, matching in between 2 thresholds from Student tables determined p-value for the datum. It tested difference between mean and zero. Fisher exact test was used to compare categorical variables and suit to sample of small size. ANOVA, a parametric test for inequality of population means was used to examine differences in quantitative variables between patients without and those with HF. Each patient was compared to himself, and the mean of differences was analyzed between the 2 subgroups. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The 74% prevalence of SA in our study population is consistent with that reported in paced patients or in patients with AF.15,16 We observed a high proportion of CSA, 79%, probably due to a high prevalence of HF and depressed LVEF in the study population.19 Severe SA was present on both nocturnal polygraphic recordings in 61% of our patients, compared with 67% of pacemaker recipients suffering from OSA in the study by Pepin et al.20 Among our 13 patients with history of decompensated HF, 46% and 31% had severe SA during BUV40 and OVP, respectively, which is similar to the 36% prevalence previously reported in unpaced patients with HF and CSA.5
Table 2 compares the nocturnal observations made during BUV40 versus OVP in the 28 patients. During BUV40, a majority of patients had a highest density of spontaneous rhythm than paced, while pacing was permanent in 1 patient, and almost permanent (≥ 90%-99% ≤ of ventricular beats) in 5 patients. During OVP, 8 and 18 patients were, respectively, permanently and almost permanently paced, and 2 patients had < 90% of ventricular pacing. None of the patients have reported particular symptoms during BUV40 or OVP.
Measurements made during overnight BUV40 and OVP
No significant difference was observed between the 15 patients without and the 13 patients with history of HF decompensation, comparing age (78.4 ± 6.5 versus 77.2 ± 8.9 y), sex (12 [80%] versus 11 [(85%] males), body mass index (27.4 ± 4.6 versus 27.8 ± 5.8 kg/m2), and presence of central SA (10 [67%] versus 12 [92%] patients). In the patients without and those with history of HF decompensation, LVEF was 51% ± 17% versus 35% ± 15% (p = 0.01), respectively. We henceforth compared the changes observed between BUV40 and OVP, between these 2 subgroups of patients (Table 3). Figure 2 shows the corresponding changes in AHI. Among the 13 patients with history of HF decompensation, LVEF was > 35% in 4 patients, including 2 with LVEF > 55%, 1 with LVEF = 50%, and 1 with LVEF = 43%. In these 4 patients, the absence of significant or severe cardiac contractility impairment did not prevent from AHI alleviation between BUV40 and OVP, since they had an AHI decrease ≥ 20%, and on average 39%.
Measurements made during both nocturnal recordings in patients without and with history of heart failure (HF) decompensation
BUV40, back up pacing rate programmed at 40 bpm; OVP, back up pacing rate programmed at the mean nocturnal heart rate measured during the screening oximetry + 20 bpm. Box plot: upper and lower vertical bars are the maximum and minimum values of AHI, respectively; upper and lower horizontal boundaries of the box are the 75th and 25th percentiles, respectively; bold horizontal line inside the box indicates median AHI for the corresponding group.
Apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) during overnight BUV40 and OVP according to the absence versus presence of history of heart failure decompensation (HFD)BUV40, back up pacing rate programmed at 40 bpm; OVP, back up pacing rate programmed at the mean nocturnal heart rate measured during the screening oximetry + 20 bpm. Box...
In previous studies, a single night of fixed overdrive atrial pacing lowered AHI significantly in recipients of conventional dual chamber pacemakers or cardioverter defibrillators with HF and predominant CSA,1,21 whereas several months of dynamic overdrive atrial pacing had no effect on obstructive or mixed SA.22,23 Furthermore, in patients with HF, CRT might alleviate CSA, while leaving obstructive respiratory events, if present, either unchanged or aggravated.24 The majority of studies of CRT in patients with SA were performed without overdrive atrial pacing.13,14
In our study population, AHI was similar during BUV40 and OVP, though the duration of time in apnea-hypopnea was significantly shortened during rapid pacing. This was due to a significant decrease in the severity and duration of central apnea, leading to significant decrease in central AHI and to an increase in hypopnea burden due essentially to obstructive events. In patients with history of HF decompensation, the decrease in AHI during OVP seemed mostly due to a decrease in apnea index, while the hypopnea index remained stable. In patients without history of HF decompensation, a decrease in apnea index combined with an increase in hypopnea index resulted in no significant change in AHI. That might be explained by the evolution of apnea toward hypopnea or by the development of new hypopnea events during OVP. Our observations are concordant with previous reports of a decrease in apneic events by cardiac pacing in patients with HF and predominant CSA.1,9–12,18,21 The impact of our experiment on apnea-related symptoms or on HF outcome has not been assessed. Patients with HF and CSA often have a paucity of symptoms related to central apnea. Therefore, a decrease in central AHI in a patient, though statistically significant, might not be expected to improve clinical symptoms. The focus of this study was to determine the influence of nocturnal heart rate modification on AHI.
In patients with HF and low LVEF, single chamber ventricular pacing and RV apical pacing can lower cardiac performance, mainly due to ventricular desynchronization.25–27 In those patients, it is suggested that dual-chamber pacing (with atrioventricular synchronization) be combined with biventricular pacing. Recently, this was also proposed in patients with normal LVEF.28 However, in patients with low permanent AF (with or without HF), few studies have been published about deleterious effects of RV pacing. Tops et al. reported detrimental effects of RV apical pacing after AV node ablation for permanent AF.29 LV function deterioration was observed, with LV dilatation and LVEF decrease, possibly due to LV dyssynchrony after long-term RV pacing. This observation was performed on average 3.8 ± 1.7 years after the AV node ablation. The clinical consequences appeared modest, with tendency to NYHA functional class worsening, but without more hospitalizations for HF or related deaths reported. Orlow et al. observed beneficial effects of biventricular versus RV pacing in patients with HF 6 months after AV node ablation for rebel and permanent AF.30 RV and not biventricular pacing had a negative impact on left atrium in increasing its volume while biventricular and not RV pacing improved LVEF. A decrease of interventricular dyssynchrony was observed with biventricular pacing. Moreover, superiority of biventricular pacing appeared in echographic measurements but not in functional and clinical HF parameters. In our study, in absence of ventricular resynchronization, the effects of overdrive pacing on SA may be simply related to an acceleration of the heart rate, which is a major compensatory mechanism in the setting of HF. Javaheri et al. reported an alleviation of CSA by theophylline in patients with HF, which was attributed to a drug-induced acceleration of the heart rate.31 On the other hand, the potential effects of OVP may also explain the increase in AHI in a subset of patients, essentially those without HF. It may be the manifestation of deleterious effects of RV apical pacing which, in absence of HF, was not counterbalanced by the favorable effects of an increase in heart rate. We did not evaluate ventricular dyssynchrony upon OVP application on a single night.
High pacing rates are considered deleterious on myocardial performance, particularly in patients with HF.32–34 Nevertheless, Sinha et al. reported no adverse effects of long-term overdrive atrial pacing in patients with SA and HF.22 In our study, mean nocturnal heart rate during OVP was of 71 ± 8 bpm with 96% ± 6% of ventricular pacing. This heart rate was very close to the threshold of 70 bpm recently highlighted in SHIFT study.35,36 It established better outcomes in patients with HF when heart rate, in sinus rhythm, was below 70 bpm. Before the protocol, our patients had a mean backup rate of 62 bpm with 82% of ventricular pacing. These data were not far from those recorded during OVP. One could consider that our patients at baseline were already with an OVP, while during BUV40, the proportion of ventricular pacing was of 36% with a mean heart rate of 49 bpm. We do not know if a difference would have been observed by comparing nocturnal recordings between pacemaker programming before the protocol and study OVP.
In our overall patient population, blood oxygenation did not change significantly between the two nocturnal recordings. Gabor et al. observed no change in blood O2 saturation despite a clear alleviation of CSA by CRT,10 while Oldenburg et al. noted a mitigation of O2 desaturation.11 The duration of pulse oximeter O2 saturation < 90% during BUV40 was significantly longer among our patients with history of HF decompensation than our patients without (Table 3), suggesting that patients with previous cardiac decompensation were more hypoxic at baseline than patients who never previously suffered an episode of acute HF. This did not seem strictly related to SA, since AHI was not highest among patients with the longest duration of pulse oximeter O2 saturation < 90%. This is a noteworthy observation with respect to the pathophysiology of CSA in patients with HF, since hypoxia causes hyperventilation and hypocapnia, the main trigger of CSA.
No difference in BNP levels were observed in our study comparing measurements after BUV40 and OVP in all the patients, but also in the subgroups without versus with HF. Measurements of BNP have not been included in the majority of studies of CRT and sleep disordered breathing.9–12,14 Lüthje et al. observed a decrease in BNP after 3 months of CRT, of similar amplitude in patients with versus without CSA.13 In that study, BNP was unchanged by overnight overdrive atrial pacing. In two other studies of overdrive atrial pacing in patients with HF without CRT, neither BNP nor SA were changed in one study,37 while BNP was not measured and SA was alleviated in the other.21
A limitation of our study design was the absence of baseline recording of nocturnal ventilation polygraphy. Furthermore, interpretation of nocturnal polygraphy was not performed blinded to the pacing mode, since heart rate and electrocardiogram were both visible on the recordings, nor did we examine the intraindividual variability of the AHI measurements.38,39
The use of monitoring limited to respiratory and cardiac sensors may have resulted in less accurate indices of AHI. Medication was maybe not optimized for HF in some study patients, but they had been in stable health for at least six months. Finally, the impact of our observations is limited by the relatively small size of the entire population and its subgroups and by the modest changes in AHI.
A high prevalence of SA, predominantly central, was observed in our VVI-paced patients with permanent AF. In those with HF, defined by history of HF decompensation, a single overnight OVP could modestly alleviate CSA, despite the risk of decreased cardiac performance associated with RV apical pacing. Even if biventricular pacing might be more beneficial for patients such as in our study, we should keep in mind the ease of single chamber device implantation with RV apical lead. According to our findings, programming of a nocturnal pacing rate decrement that is generally suggested in pacemaker recipients might not be suitable to all the paced patients. Impact of our experiment on apnea-related symptoms or on HF outcome has not been assessed. A long-term protocol might demonstrate whether our results could be stable in time, considering that OVP would be applied intermittently, i.e., only during nighttime.
This was not an industry supported study. The authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
atrial fibrillation
apnea-hypopnea index
brain natriuretic peptide
ventricular pacing at a backup rate of 40 bpm
cardiac resynchronization therapy
central sleep apnea/Cheyne-Stokes respiration
heart failure
left ventricular
left ventricular ejection fraction
obstructive sleep apnea
overdrive ventricular pacing
right ventricular
sleep apnea
The authors thank Florence Mongie for her staunch support in management of the secretarial staff of their department. This study was financially supported by unrestricted institutional funds.
Garrigue S, Bordier P, Jaïs P, et al., authors. Benefit of atrial pacing in sleep apnea syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2002;346:404–12. [PubMed]
Simantirakis EN, Schiza SE, Chrysostomakis SI, et al., authors. Atrial overdrive pacing for the obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:2568–77. [PubMed]
Bordier P, author. Sleep apnoea in patients with heart failure. Part I: Diagnosis, definitions, prevalence, pathophysiology and haemodynamic consequences. Arch Cardiovasc Dis. 2009;102:651–61. [PubMed]
Hanly PJ, Suberi-Khokhar NS, authors. Increased mortality associated with Cheyne-Stokes respiration in patients with congestive heart failure. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1996;153:272–6. [PubMed]
Lanfranchi PA, Braghiroli A, Bosimini E, et al., authors. Prognostic value of nocturnal Cheyne-Stokes respiration in chronic heart failure. Circulation. 1999;99:1435–40. [PubMed]
Bradley TD, Logan AG, Kimoff RJ, et al., authors. Continuous positive airway pressure for central sleep apnea and heart failure. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:2025–33. [PubMed]
Arzt M, Floras JS, Logan AG, et al., authors; CANPAP Investigators. Suppression of central sleep apnea by continuous positive airway pressure and transplant-free survival in heart failure: a post hoc analysis of the Canadian Continuous Positive Airway Pressure for Patients with Central Sleep Apnea and Heart Failure Trial (CANPAP). Circulation. 2007;115:3173–80. [PubMed]
Javaheri S, Shukla R, Zeigler H, Wexler L, authors. Central sleep apnea, right ventricular dysfunction, and low diastolic blood pressure are predictors of mortality in systolic heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007;49:2028–34. [PubMed]
Sinha AM, Skobel EC, Breithardt OA, et al., authors. Cardiac resynchronization therapy improves central sleep apnea and Cheyne-Stokes respiration in patients with chronic heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004;44:68–71. [PubMed]
Gabor JY, Newman DA, Barnard-Roberts V, et al., authors. Improvement in Cheyne-Stokes respiration following cardiac resynchronisation therapy. Eur Respir J. 2005;26:95–100. [PubMed]
Oldenburg O, Faber L, Vogt J, et al., authors. Influence of cardiac resynchronisation therapy on different types of sleep disordered breathing. Eur J Heart Fail. 2007;9:820–6. [PubMed]
Kara T, Novak M, Nykodym J, et al., authors. Short-term effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy on sleep-disordered breathing in patients with systolic heart failure. Chest. 2008;134:87–93. [PubMed]
Lüthje L, Renner B, Kessels R, et al., authors. Cardiac resynchronization therapy and atrial overdrive pacing for the treatment of central sleep apnoea. Eur J Heart Fail. 2009;11:273–80. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Stanchina ML, Ellison K, Malhotra A, et al., authors. The impact of cardiac resynchronization therapy on obstructive sleep apnea in heart failure patients: a pilot study. Chest. 2007;132:433–9. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Mehra R, Benjamin EJ, Shahar E, et al., authors. Association of nocturnal arrhythmias with sleep-disordered breathing. The Sleep Heart Health Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006;173:910–6. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Garrigue S, Pepin JL, Defaye P, et al., authors. High prevalence of sleep apnea syndrome in patients with long-term pacing. The European Multicenter Polysomnographic Study. Circulation. 2007;115:1703–9. [PubMed]
Iber C, Ancoli-Israel S, Chesson A, Quan SF, authors. The AASM manual for the scoring of sleep and associated events: rules, terminology and technical specifications. 2007. 1st Ed. Westchester, Illinois: American Academy of Sleep Medicine;
Shalaby AA, Atwood CW, Hansen C, et al., authors. Analysis of interaction of acute atrial overdrive pacing with sleep-related breathing disorder. Am J Cardiol. 2007;99:573–8. [PubMed]
Bordier P, author. Sleep apnoea in patients with heart failure: Part II: Therapy. Arch Cardiovasc Dis. 2009;102:711–20. [PubMed]
Pepin JL, Defaye P, Garrigue S, Poezevara Y, Levy P, authors. Overdrive atrial pacing does not improve obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. Eur Respir J. 2005;25:343–7. [PubMed]
Sharafkhaneh A, Sharafkhaneh H, Bredikus A, Guilleminault C, Bozkurt B, Hirshkowitz M, authors. Effect of atrial overdrive pacing on obstructive sleep apnea in patients with systolic heart failure. Sleep Med. 2007;8:31–6. [PubMed]
Sinha AM, Bauer A, Skobel EC, et al., authors. Long-term effects of dynamic atrial overdrive pacing on sleep-related breathing disorders in pacemaker or cardioverter defibrillator recipients. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 2009;32:S219–22. [PubMed]
Weng CL, Chen Q, Ma YL, He QY, authors. A meta-analysis of the effects of atrial overdrive pacing on sleep apnea syndrome. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol. 2009;32:1434–43. [PubMed]
Tamura A, Kawano Y, Kadota J, authors. Carvedilol reduces the severity of central sleep apnea in chronic heart failure. Circ J. 2009;73:295–8. [PubMed]
Sweeney MO, Hellkamp AS, authors. Heart failure during cardiac pacing. Circulation. 2006;113:2082–8. [PubMed]
Wilkoff BL, Cook JR, Epstein AE, authors; DAVID Trial Investigators. Dual-chamber pacing or ventricular backup pacing in patients with an implantable defibrillator: the Dual Chamber and VVI Implantable Defibrillator (DAVID) Trial. JAMA. 2002;288:3115–23. [PubMed]
Epstein AE, DiMarco JP, Ellenbogen KA, et al., authors. ACC/AHA/HRS 2008 guidelines for device-based therapy of cardiac rhythm abnormalities: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Revise the ACC/AHA/NASPE 2002 Guideline Update for Implantation of Cardiac Pacemakers and Antiarrhythmia Devices): developed in collaboration with the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Circulation. 2008;117:e350–408. [Erratum, Circulation 2009;120:e34-5.]. [PubMed]
Yu CM, Chan JY, Zhang Q, et al., authors. Biventricular pacing in patients with bradycardia and normal ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:2123–34. [PubMed]
Tops LF, Schalij MJ, Holman ER, van Erven L, van der Wall EE, Bax JJ, authors. Right ventricular pacing can induce ventricular dyssynchrony in patients with atrial fibrillation after atrioventricular node ablation. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;48:1642–8. [PubMed]
Orlov MV, Gardin JM, Slawsky M, et al., authors. Biventricular pacing improves cardiac function and prevents further left atrial remodeling in patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation after atrioventricular node ablation. Am Heart J. 2010;159:264–70. [PubMed]
Javaheri S, Parker TJ, Wexler L, Liming JD, Lindower P, Roselle GA, authors. Effect of theophylline on sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure. N Engl J Med. 1996;335:562–7. [PubMed]
Benchimol A, Liggett MS, authors. Cardiac hemodynamics during stimulation of the right atrium, right ventricle, and left ventricle in normal and abnormal hearts. Circulation. 1966;33:933–44. [PubMed]
Feldman MD, Alderman JD, Aroesty JM, et al., authors. Depression of systolic and diastolic myocardial reserve during atrial pacing tachycardia in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. J Clin Invest. 1988;82:1661–9. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Lim CC, Apstein CS, Colucci WS, Liao R, authors. Impaired cell shortening and relengthening with increased pacing frequency are intrinsic to the senescent mouse cardiomyocyte. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2000;32:2075–82. [PubMed]
Swedberg K, Komajda M, Böhm M, et al., authors; SHIFT Investigators. Ivabradine and outcomes in chronic heart failure (SHIFT): a randomised placebo-controlled study. Lancet. 2010;376:875–85. [PubMed]
Böhm M, Swedberg K, Komajda M, et al., authors; SHIFT Investigators. Heart rate as a risk factor in chronic heart failure (SHIFT): the association between heart rate and outcomes in a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2010;376:886–94. [PubMed]
Luthje L, Unterberg-Buchwald C, Dajani D, Vollmann D, Hasenfuß G, Andreas S, authors. Atrial overdrive pacing in patients with sleep apnea with implanted pacemaker. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2005;172:118–22. [PubMed]
Vazir A, Hastings PC, Papaioannou I, et al., authors. Variation in severity and type of sleep-disordered breathing throughout 4 nights in patients with heart failure. Respir Med. 2008;102:831–9. [PubMed]
Oldenburg O, Lamp B, Freivogel K, Bitter T, Langer C, Horstkotte D, authors. Low night-to-night variability of sleep disordered breathing in patients with stable congestive heart failure. Clin Res Cardiol. 2008;97:836–42. [PubMed]


text:
Alvimopan is only for short term use by hospitalized patients. You will receive no more than 15 doses of alvimopan during your hospital stay. You will not be given any additional alvimopan to take after you leave the hospital.
Talk to your doctor about the risks of taking alvimopan.
Alvimopan is used to help the bowel recover more quickly after bowel surgery, so that you can eat solid foods and have regular bowel movements. Alvimopan is in a class of medications called peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists. It works by protecting the bowel from the constipation effects of opioid (narcotic) medications that are used to treat pain after surgery.
Alvimopan comes as a capsule to take by mouth. It is usually taken once shortly before bowel surgery. After the surgery, it is usually taken twice a day for up to 7 days or until hospital discharge. Your nurse will bring your medication to you when it is time for you to receive each dose.
This medication should not be prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.
Before taking alvimopan,
Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, continue your normal diet.
Alvimopan may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:
Alvimopan may cause other side effects. Tell your doctor if you have any unusual problems while taking this medication.
In one study, people who took alvimopan for up to 12 months were more likely to experience heart attacks than people who did not take alvimopan. However, in another study, people who took alvimopan for up to 7 days following bowel surgery were no more likely to experience heart attacks than people who did not take alvimopan. Talk to your doctor about the risks of taking alvimopan.
If you experience a serious side effect, you or your doctor may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online ( Web Site) or by phone (1-800-332-1088).
In case of overdose, call your local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. If the victim has collapsed or is not breathing, call local emergency services at 911.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have any questions about alvimopan.
It is important for you to keep a written list of all of the prescription and nonprescription (over-the-counter) medicines you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements. You should bring this list with you each time you visit a doctor or if you are admitted to a hospital. It is also important information to carry with you in case of emergencies.
AHFS® Consumer Medication Information. © Copyright, The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc., 7272 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland. All Rights Reserved. Duplication for commercial use must be authorized by ASHP.
Selected Revisions: November 1, 2008.
EBSCO Information Services is fully accredited by URAC. URAC is an independent, nonprofit health care accrediting organization dedicated to promoting health care quality through accreditation, certification and commendation.
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Information Services. All rights reserved.


text:
Players enjoying All-Star treatment
First-ever All-Star Game Red Carpet Show a success
By Mark Newman / MLB.com
"I'm amazed -- this is a beautiful thing," the Philadelphia outfielder said. "Look, we're getting treated like stars."
That was the idea behind the first-ever All-Star Game Red Carpet Show presented by Chevrolet. Players in the 76th All-Star Game began arriving at the FOX Theater across the street from the ballpark at 2:30 p.m., and at 3 the first vehicles began arriving to pick them up and transport them and their families to Comerica in grand fashion.
Fans gathered and cheered along what became a parade route on Witherell and Elizabeth Streets outside Comerica to witness this procession of 64 Major League Baseball players, as well as their families and American and National League managers. They rode in open-air vehicles provided by Chevrolet, the Official Vehicle of Major League Baseball, with the name of each representative on the front of that car or truck. The street out front was completely carpeted in red just for this spectacle.
"The event's terrific. These guys are stars, and that's why we're doing it," Tim Brosnan, MLB's executive vice president for business, said while coordinating each departure from the talent-packed staging area at the FOX. "These guys are the greatest athletes in the world and they're getting recognized as such.
"The All-Star Game Red Carpet Show presented by Chevrolet is yet another way Major League Baseball is bringing fans closer to the game. We hope this event will become an annual tradition, as it will give fans the opportunity to see their favorite Major League Baseball stars in a new and unique way as part of the overall All-Star Week experience."
FOX Sports Net will produce and air "The All-Star Red Carpet Show presented by Chevrolet" nationwide from 7-8 p.m. ET as a lead-in to the national network broadcast beginning at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
Actor Jon Lovitz, star of such movies as "A League of Their Own," drove the car that carried Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield.
"It's fun," Lovitz said after dropping off his passenger for the night to come. "I asked if I could drive, and they said, 'Who do you want to drive?' I got to drive Sheff. I knew him before when he was playing for the Dodgers."
It was a decidedly different scene than anyone has ever seen before an MLB All-Star Game. Inside the FOX Theater, players and their families mingled, and they listened for announcements like this over the loudspeaker inside:
"Paging Mariano Rivera. Please proceed toward the exit, and do not forget to pick up your XM Satellite Radio on your way to the door."
That company was one of the corporate partners for this event, along with The Gillette Company, The Home Depot, MasterCard International, Pepsi, Taco Bell and, of course, Chevrolet.
"It's nice," said Boston's David Ortiz, who was resplendent in a pinstripe suit as he prepared to start as the designated hitter for the American League. "It's looking pretty good so far, but I'm not really sure what it's going to be like." That was echoed by teammate Johnny Damon, who was waiting with wife Michelle and said, "I don't really know what to expect yet. Let's see how it goes."
Mark Teixeira, who is representing the Texas Rangers as the starting AL first baseman, stepped inside a canary-yellow Chevy SSR and said, "It's definitely a different concept. It's cool to have everybody driving in on nice cars on the way to the park. This is definitely something new. I'm excited to see how it feels."
Florida Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis said the best part of the whole experience was the way his family was babied before the event. This was not only a chance for players to greet fans on the way to the game, but a way to involve the players' families.
"It's great that they take care of my family," he said. "It's hard for us to entertain and play at the same time when we are here."
The final vehicle in this parade was an Avalanche that carried something especially meaningful, and it wasn't a person.
It was the World Series trophy. It has a definite part in this event, after all. For the third consecutive year, the outcome of the All-Star Game will determine which league will have home-field advantage in the Fall Classic. In keeping with the All-Star Game theme of "This Time it Counts," that official trophy crafted by Tiffany & Company brought up the rear as if to emphasize what is coming ahead. It was sort of like Santa Claus riding in the last float of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Baseball's Midsummer Classic is the highest-rated All-Star Game among the four major professional sports and is annually among the highest-rated sports telecasts of the summer. Last year, 32.8 million Americans tuned in to the 75th All-Star Game on FOX, the most since 2000, according to Nielsen Media Research.
This time, fans will be watching something completely different. Maybe even a little amazing, according to the game's newest home run hero. Abreu is batting first in this All-Star Game, and he got to the park in style. "Just amazing," he said.
Mark Newman is enterprise editor for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Dell Battles to Protect Deal
Founder Defends $24.4 Billion Buyout as Large Investor Balks and Rival Circles
Michael Dell is battling to keep his $24.4 billion buyout of the computer company he founded on track after a major shareholder balked and Dell Inc.'s biggest rival considered a bid of its own.
One of the deal's most vocal critics and Dell's largest outside investor, Southeastern Asset Management Inc., believes the offer price is too low and has contemplated a counter-bid, people familiar with the matter said. Southeastern also approached the buyout group about joining a deal to take the company private while retaining an...


text:
It wasnt entirely casual Friday at Dirks Field. Call it business casual.
Sam Weiss recorded her second hat trick of the season, and the Fort Lewis College womens soccer team rolled to a 4-0 victory over Colorado Christian on Friday as FLC got the necessary result with plenty of smile-inducing moments to go around.
The Skyhawks (12-3-2, 8-5-2 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) threatened early and often against the Cougars, with Elena Benavides nearly missing on the first good scoring opportunity less than a minute into the game.
Kate Sowell had a great chance that went awry when she hit the crossbar.
FLC kept pounding away, trying to slip the through-ball several times with varied success as they had the run of possession.
We were talking a lot about the texture of that last pass. If we can eliminate the goalkeeper on that last pass and force the goalkeeper to stay, we know were fast enough to get on to it, FLC head coach Damian Clarke said.
Weiss, who leads FLC with 14 goals, broke the stalemate in the 18th minute, when Benavides played Therese Romero, whose feed sent Weiss in alone, and she chipped Colorado Christian goalkeeper Caitlyn Moses for a 1-0 lead.
The sophomore striker couldve had a hat trick in the first half if not for a couple of quality saves by Moses, who held up as well as she could against a fairly relentless FLC onslaught. But Weiss would crack the code again less than two minutes into the second half, again chipping the keeper after a feed from Emma Cannis, who pushed the lead to 3-0 in the 55th minute by volleying in a corner kick from Allison Knewitz.
The third goal of the afternoon was Weiss best. Taking the ball just inside of midfield, she was a baby-blue blur as she simply outran the Cougars defense and slid a shot under Moses for a 4-0 advantage in the 61st minute.
Im always trying to look for Emma on those, but that one was just in such a weird spot, and I just saw the space in behind, and I decided to give it a go. I was dribbling at her, and I thought why not try it, and it worked, Weiss said.
Other than a couple of quickly-rectified turnovers, FLC allowed nary a chance to the Cougars (2-14-1, 0-12-1 RMAC). The defense shut down a small handful of runs, and Amanda Raso made three saves for the Skyhawks 10th shutout of the year, its best mark in two seasons. The Skyhawks outshot the Cougars 25-6 and 11-3 in shots on goal.
We made sure the shots they got on goal were from way out and not very dangerous at all. ... Our defense was able to drop in and cover for us, defender Grace Sheridan said.
The win started off a big weekend for the Skyhawks, who will face Regis on Sunday. A sweep would guarantee them at least host duties Wednesday in the first round of the RMAC Tournament.


text:
Thanks for the info on your track width - I'm preparing to setup my 78 R100/7 with a DMC subframe and a Sputnik car - I figured that the minimum track width would be around 48", and this will be my first sidecar, so for me, going a bit wider makes sense. At least with a wider track (within reason), one isn't so hemmed in when trying to do valve adjustments, etc.
Beautiful looking rig - I hope that mine comes out at least to something approaching that, in time.


text:
Submit News
Report: Apple Preparing to Finally Catch up With PCs by Adding USB 3.0
Jason Mick
September 2, 2011 4:40 PM
Recipient E-mail
Sender E-mail
A publication claims that USB 3.0 could at last hit Macs.
The addition would allow Apple customers to ditch their $50 premium cables -- and, more importantly, gain access to many more peripherals.
(Source: iFixIt)
Move could alleviate Apple owners' woes of limited peripheral selection
These days USB 3.0, an extra-speedy connectivity technology is supported by an increasing number of peripherals like
external hard drives
thumb drives
. And it's become quite mainstream in the PC market, even showing up in mid-range models like the Micro-Star International Comp., Ltd.'s (
) $700
MSI FX603 notebook
But customers of Apple Inc. (
) -- the
third largest computer-maker
in the U.S. -- are willing to settle for paying as much $3,000 or more for some high end "fully loaded" notebooks or $5,000 on some desktops without a scrap of USB 3.0 support.
Ex-CEO Steve Jobs claimed customers
didn't care about USB 3.0
and it wasn't time for them to be allowed to get it, anyways. Apple instead offers customers Thunderbolt, an early copper-based implementation of Intel Corp.'s (
) upcoming fiber-optic "LightPeak" technology.
LightPeak offers 20 Gbit/s bidirectional data transmission versus up to 5 Gbit/s with USB 3.0. While that sounds like a favorable trade, one relatively minor downside to this arrangement is that Apple customers have to pony up
a whopping $50 USD per cable
, thanks to the slew of microchips inside the complicated design. Further, while an extra $50 on a $5000 computer may not seem that bad, the
lack of selection
in terms of ThunderBolt peripherals offers a far more pressing issue for Apple computer users.
Now with
a new CEO
at the head of Apple the rumor has popped up yet again that the company will finally catch up to PCs in hardware by offering its customers USB 3.0.
, "A lot of people have been disappointed over Apple's lack of interest in the USB 3.0 standard, but thanks to a little bird, VR-Zone has heard that the company is still looking at USB 3.0 as a potential feature to add on future products. As to when and how this might happen is not something we know, but from our understanding it'll happen
Intel integrates USB 3.0 support into its chipsets."
The important word in that comment is "before". Intel is supposed to drop in support for the USB 3.0 standard
in its
Ivy Bridge
CPU series
, which will launch in 2012. If
's source is correct Apple could be preparing to deliver USB 3.0 slightly ahead of schedule in late 2011.
If Apple does that it'd probably have to go with a third party chip to add compatibility to its stock Intel chipset. That wouldn't be the first time Apple has done this -- its a well known secret that back in 2010 it
hacked at the stock chipsets
to allow graphics switching (similar to Optimus) between the integrated GPU in the Intel CPU core and the dedicated onboard NVIDIA Corp. (
) GeForce GPU.
Hopefully the rumors are true, after all, from our perspective there's little excuse to be peddling a $5,000 computer that lacks USB 3.0 support found in $700 Windows PCs.
"I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For [Paramount] to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks!" -- Movie Director Michael Bay
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