text:
Names: Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter
Sport: Rowing (lightweight double sculls)
Hometown: Purchase: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England; Hunter: Romford, Essex, England
Age: Purchase: 26; Hunter: 34
Why you should care about them: Are you British? If you are British, there's no way for you not to care about these guys. Rowing is a big deal in Britain, probably a way bigger deal than it should be. (Sorry!) And the Brits own rowing. They've won at least one rowing gold in every Olympics since 1984.
But it took Britain a while to conquer lightweight rowing, which first became an Olympic sport in 1996. The gold won by Purchase and Hunter in Beijing was the country's first ever in the lightweight division.
In lightweight rowing, the crew members must have an average weight of 154 pounds, and no rower may weigh more than 160 pounds. The lightweight division was introduced to allow people who don't fit the traditional description of a rower (long arms, long legs, broad shoulders—think Winklevoss) to compete. Purchase and Hunter compete in "sculling" which means they each use two oars, as opposed to "sweeping," where the rower uses both hands on a single oar.
In the water, Purchase and Hunter have to be in perfect sync, but on land, they're strikingly different. From the Guardian:
Hunter learned to row down near the Isle of Dogs, "wading in my welly boots out in all the mud and crap, past the trolleys and bodies in the water, past the big boats that would come by and soak you. It was disgusting". Purchase was at a "totally different end of the spectrum". He started at the King's School in Worcester, going up and down the Severn in the shade of the cathedral.
Following their gold medal in Beijing, Purchase and Hunter took off in completely opposite directions. Purchase went on a partying binge, telling the Guardian he was "burning the candle at both ends." Hunter, meanwhile, took a job coaching at UCLA.
The post-Olympic bender left Purchase mentally and physically exhausted. He spent a while away from the sport to recuperate before returning to team up with Hunter and win the 2010 world championship.
Olympic/world championships experience: The duo took gold at Beijing, and followed that up with golds at the 2010 and 2011 world championships.
Sexy-pose threat level:
Olympic archetype: Misty May and Kerri Walsh
Scouting report from some guy on the internet: YouTube commenter "darkblueyank":
...interesting that [Purchase] doesn't put his thumbs over the ends of the oars, or just fleetingly.
Scouting report from home country: From the Guardian:
Last time around in Beijing Hunter and Purchase proved unstoppable and are also the reigning world champions. Their preparations this year, though, have been far from smooth, with illness disrupting their recent performances. They could finish only sixth in Munich and the opposition, particularly France, are improving fast. "They have a lot of pride and they'll be fighting, but you can't class them as favourites now," said Sir Steve Redgrave recently.
Main rival: New Zealand
Medal prediction: Bronze
Did you know?: Purchase can play the saxophone.
Forecast for 2012: Purchase and Hunter have struggled in their final pre-London tune-ups. They won a World Cup Series race in Serbia in May, but had two consecutive last place finishes at races in Germany and Switzerland in June. It's cause for concern, but hopefully nothing serious. A recent story from the AP projected Purchase and Hunter to win the bronze, behind New Zealand and France.
The pair won their heat last Sunday and their semifinal on Thursday. They go for a medal tomorrow.
Relevant Bob Costas facial expression:
For a handy master schedule of every Olympic event, click here.


text:
Calgary's art community and alumni of the Albert College of Art and Design (ACAD) are mourning the loss of Richard Halliday, an acclaimed artist and former head of the college who died of pancreatic cancer on June 21. Halliday was 72.Born in Vancouver, Halliday received his early training at the Emily Carr College of Art.
Halliday arrived in Calgary in 1978 when he was appointed to a teaching position at ACAD. He became head of the art department in 1982 and immediately made a change that would have a major and lasting impact on the institution.
"He was instrumental in the independence of ACAD," says Dr. Daniel Doz, ACAD's president and CEO.
"In the early '80s, we were still a part of SAIT. At that time they were focused on technology, so having an art program distracted them from their mission. . . .
(Breaking away from SAIT) really helped define the mission of the institution."
Given the talents that have emerged from ACAD since, Doz said Halliday was "instrumental in helping a new generation of Calgary artists emerge."
Halliday's work is represented in numerous collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank, Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Glenbow.
A memorial service is being held today at 1: 30 p.m. at St. James Anglican Church.
HALLIDAY, Richard
Born: 5/17/1939, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died: 6/21/2011, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Richard Halliday's westerns - actor:
Lonesome Dove: The Series (TV) 1994 - bartender
Ebenezar (TV) - 1998 (Jacob Marlowe)
Into the West (TV) - 2005 (drunken moutain man)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
[Page 477]
After W.W.1, the majority of members that had returned to Brest joined the Left Poale Zion after the split. These were the active members at that time: Reuven Pregel, Tzalke Minivetski, and myself. After that Shimon Itzbitzer, Avraham Shrickman, Alter Lustigman, Shimon Acroplanski, David Gittelman and Sarah Gittelman, joined us. There was also a strong youth movement that founded a workers kitchen (soup-kitchen) that became the center for the entire labor movement. The activities of all the Jewish worker's organizations took place there. Hundreds of workers received their hot meals there daily, in those hungry years with the entire town in ruins - many found a home there. The police disliked this soup kitchen and would conduct frequent raids and make numerous arrests. Reuven Pregel, the kitchen manager, was arrested and sent to Czestochowa for several years. Due to the police persecutions, as soon as the economic situation improved, the soup kitchen closed down.
The influence of the Left Poale Zion was also evident in the professional circles they had control of the trade's employees, and they also had great influence over the sewing and tailoring professions, the metal workers and locksmiths, and all the building trades. The party was active in cultural affairs and the education of children.
They ran a free university with classes for adult with lectures on literature and cultural matters. The evening course attracted hundreds of young people. As the community re-established itself, the Left Poale Zion played an important role in life of the community. It's struggle against the orthodox religious movement was especially difficult.
The party's strength was visible in the political life of Brest it ran candidates at every election for the Sejm (Polish Parliament). Thousands of supporters would show up at their election rallies and the Left Poale Zion would always get the most votes they were especially strong in the municipal activities and the area of education.
The third Jewish primary school was part of the rebuilding network of Brest the teaching was in Yiddish and Hebrew. The large teaching staff included the known activists: Dr. Israel Rubin, Katyn Maladovski, and others.
As soon as the city was somewhat re-established, the officials began to create school programs. The school was not only a teaching institution, but also included a children home - with the support of the Joint; the children received two meals daily. In 1919 the first school was founded with Yiddish as the teaching language through the efforts of the Poale Zion and the Bund. This school began in Topolowa 12 and grew strongly it's students reached 500. The head of this school was David Shnider and myself. Due to internal conflicts this school did not last for long. The Bund and the Poale Zion had differing opinions on the contents of the curriculum and how it should be taught and after a year, the school was disbanded.
The second primary school was then formed in Zymuntowska 12. This was a light and warm haven for the children who mostly lived in dark cellars, and would run from one aid institution to another, until we obtained free meals, clothing and shoes for them. At this school there was also a home for children under the age of three, supervised by Esther Menachowski. Former pupils of this school have spread over many countries of the world the United States, Argentina, Europe, the Soviet Union and Israel. The staff included Moshe Levine, Hannah Fisherman (teacher killed in the Holocaust), B. Shlevine (renowned Yiddish writer), Chaim Finkelstein, who was later director of a Yiddish school in Buenes Aires. This primary school struggled for survival due to lack of income, and legal impediments. The budget came from three sources - school fees, collection of donations, and educational taxes. This school existed solely due to the dedicated efforts of the teaching staff.
1st (bottom) row R-L: B. Minivitski, Y. Gelerstein, Katya Molodowski,
Gelerstein, Malka Lys, ---, Eisenstein
2nd Row: S. Gershonboim, R. Shtrickman, ---, M. Lev, Dr. I. Rubin, ---,
L. Mular, S. Itzbitzer, and Fanaberia
3rd Row:,---, ---, Acroplanski, Buchstein, E. Menachowski, ---, and Gelerstein
4th Row: D. Shnider, Dr. Mastovlanski, ---, ---, ---, Distler, Distler
Centre: Director David Shnider and Esther Menachowski
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
Brest Lit(owsk), Belarus Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page
Copyright © 1999-2019 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 18 Aug 2005 by LA


text:
Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect. But then again, neither were early mobile phones. However, just like early mobiles, ML1 is more about possibilities and a vision for the future, which it has in spades.
Many-to-many relationships in EF Core 2.0 – Part 4: A more general abstraction
In the last few posts we saw how to hide use of the join entity from two entities with a many-to-many relationship. This post doesn't add any additional functionality, it just abstracts some of what we saw so it can be re-used more easily.
Many-to-many relationships in EF Core 2.0 – Part 3: Hiding as ICollection
In the previous post we ended up with entities that hide the join entity from the public surface. However, it was not possible to add or removed entities through this public surface. To enable this we need an ICollection implementation that acts as a true facade over the real join entity collection and delegates all responsibilities to that collection.
Many-to-many relationships in EF Core 2.0 – Part 2: Hiding as IEnumerable
In the previous post we looked at how many-to-many relationships can be mapped using a join entity. In this post we'll make the navigation properties to the join entity private so that they don't appear in the public surface of our entity types. We'll then add public IEnumerable properties that expose the relationship for reading without reference to the join entity.
Many-to-many relationships in EF Core 2.0 – Part 1: The basics
As of EF Core 2.0, many-to-many relationships without an explicitly mapped join table are not supported. However, all is not lost. In this series of posts I will show:
- Mapping many-to-many relationships with a join entity/table
- Abstracting/hiding the join entity
- In a simple way for read-only access to the relationship
- In a more involved way that allows entities to be added and removed from each end
Add, Attach, Update, and Remove methods in EF Core 1.1
EF Core provides a variety of ways to start tracking entities or change their state. This post gives a brief overview of the different approaches.
EF Core 1.1: Looking at your model in the debugger
As developers on the EF team it is often useful to see what is in the metadata model. To facilitate this, the model and all other metadata elements are able to generate a "debug view" which provides lots of useful information about the metadata in a terse but human-readable form.


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We sought to determine the effect of severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on long-term outcomes after myocardial infarction. We hypothesized that severe OSA was associated with lower event-free survival rate after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).
A total of 120 patients underwent an overnight sleep study during index admission for STEMI. Severe OSA was defined as apnea hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 30, and non-severe OSA defined as AHI < 30.
Among the 105 patients who completed the study, 44 (42%) had severe OSA and 61 (58%) non-severe OSA. The median creatine kinase level and mean left ventricular systolic function were similar between the 2 groups. None of the 105 study patients had received treatments for OSA. Between 1- and 18-month follow-up, the severe OSA group incurred 1 death, 2 reinfarctions, 1 stroke, 6 unplanned target vessel revascularizations, and 1 heart failure hospitalization. In contrast, there were only 2 unplanned target vessel revascularizations in the non-severe OSA group. The incidence of major adverse events was significantly higher in the severe OSA group (15.9% versus 3.3%, adjusted hazard ratios: 5.36, 95% CI: 1.01 to 28.53, p = 0.049). Kaplan-Meier event-free survival curves showed the event-free survival rates in the severe OSA group was significantly worse than that in the non-severe OSA group (p = 0.021, log-rank test).
42% of the patients admitted with STEMI have undiagnosed severe OSA. Severe OSA carries a negative prognostic impact for this group of patients. It is associated with a lower event-free survival rate at 18-month follow-up.
Lee CH; Khoo SM; Chan MY; Wong HB; Low AF; Phua QH; Richards AM; Tan HC; Yeo TC. Severe obstructive sleep apnea and outcomes following myocardial infarction. J Clin Sleep Med 2011;7(6):616–621.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is increasingly being recognized as an important risk factor in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.1 The underlying pathophysiological mechanism involves a complex interplay of intermittent hypoxemia, sympathetic activation, endothelial dysfunction, and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. There are ample data supporting the close association between OSA and hypertension, heart failure, as well as stroke.2–4 However, the relationship between OSA and myocardial infarction has not been well studied.
Previously, we reported that 65.7% of patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) had undiagnosed OSA.5 The role of OSA as an adverse prognostic marker after STEMI, although plausible, remains to be proven. We failed to detect any effect of OSA on microvascular perfusion following primary percutaneous coronary intervention.5 Yet it has been shown that OSA is associated with impaired recovery of left ventricular function after myocardial infarction.6 Findings from published reports on the effect of OSA on clinical outcomes after acute coronary syndrome are conflicting.7,8 Existing reports were limited by short follow-up duration of 6 to 8 months and inclusion of a heterogeneous population including patients with stable angina, unstable angina, and myocardial infarction. Therefore, in this study, we sought to determine the relationship between OSA and long-term event-free survival among patients presenting with STEMI.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is prevalent in patients with acute myocardial infarction. However, the prognostic implication of untreated OSA after acute myocardial infarction is unclear.
We found that 42% of the patients who presented with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) had severe OSA. After adjusting for age and body mass index, severe OSA remains an independent predictor of adverse events at 18 months follow-up.
This was a prospective longitudinal cohort study of 105 patients who presented with STEMI and underwent an overnight sleep study during their index admission. The original study investigating the prevalence of OSA among patients presented with STEMI, as well as the effect of OSA on microvascular perfusion following primary percutaneous coronary intervention, has been published.5 As reported previously, patients aged 21 to 80 years who were admitted to our institution with a first STEMI and had undergone a primary percutaneous coronary intervention were eligible. Exclusion criteria included known OSA, intubation mechanical ventilation, electrical instability with ventricular arrhythmia, cardiogenic shock, previous coronary artery bypass surgery, previous percutaneous coronary intervention to the target vessel, and inability to give informed consent.
Recruited patients were scheduled to undergo an overnight sleep study using a portable diagnostic device between day 2 and 5 after primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Discharge medications were prescribed according to international guidelines. All patients underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram before discharge from the hospital. The study was approved by the local institutional review board (Domain Specific Review Boards. Reference: DSRB-C/06/389), and all patients provided written informed consent.
Sleep studies were performed using a portable diagnostic device (Somte; Compumedics, Australia). The parameters measured included nasal airflow (nasal cannula), thoracoabdominal movements (inductive respiratory bands), arterial oxygen saturation (pulse oximetry), snoring episodes (derived from the integrated pressure transducer), limb movement, electrocardiogram (ECG), and body position (continuous actigraphy). This system has been validated against 12-channel "in-hospital" polysomnography for quantifying sleep disordered breathing.9
Outputs from the portable diagnostic device were analyzed by 2 investigators with no knowledge of the clinical characteristics of the patients. An apneic episode was defined as cessation of airflow > 10 sec and hypopnea as a reduction > 50% in airflow lasting > 10 seconds. An event was also considered to be a hypopnea when there was a reduction in airflow that did not reach the 50% criteria, but was associated with an arterial oxygen desaturation > 3%. Apneas were classified as obstructive if there was paradoxical thoracoabdominal movement and as central if there was no thoracoabdominal movement. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was calculated as the number of apneic plus hypopneic episodes per hour of recording time in bed, with the start of recording being the point at which respiration settled to a rhythmic, stable pattern. The end of the recording time was either the waking time recorded by the subject or the point at which the thoracoabdominal tracings became disturbed, consistent with wakefulness. For this study, patients were divided into 2 groups: severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30) and non-severe OSA (AHI < 30) groups.
The 30-day clinical outcomes of the patients have been published in the original report. In this study, the long-term follow-up data of the patient cohort were collected. Clinical outcomes at 6, 12, and 18 months were collected by dedicated research nurses via telephone calls and/or clinic chart reviews, and all the information was entered prospectively. Relevant adverse events included death, reinfarction, stroke, unplanned target vessel revascularization, and heart failure requiring hospitalization.
Continuous variables are described as mean with standard deviation or median with range, whereas dichotomous variables are described as numbers and percentages. Differences in clinical and procedural characteristics between patients in severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups were analyzed by unpaired Student t tests (continuous data) or χ2 tests (dichotomous data).The time to event was calculated from the date of index admission to the date when an adverse event first occurred. Patients in whom there has been no evidence of an adverse event were censored at the date of last follow-up, i.e. 18 months. Event-free survival curves for severe and non-severe OSA groups were constructed using the Kaplan-Meier methods and compared using the log rank test. Cox proportional hazards multivariable analysis adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI) was also performed. All statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS software version 14.0. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.
Between January 2007 and April 2008, overnight sleep studies were commenced in 120 patients and were successfully completed in 105 STEMI patients. The remaining 15 patients could not tolerate the sleep study and therefore discontinued it prematurely. Among the 105 patients who formed the study cohort, the average age was 53 ± 10 years, and the majority (n = 103, 98%) were men.
AHI was ≥ 30 (severe OSA) in 44 (42%) patients; the remaining 61 (58%) patients had AHI < 30 (non-severe OSA). Mean AHIs for severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups were 48.6 ± 13.4 and 14.4 ± 8.2, respectively (p < 0.001). None of the 105 study patients had complained daytime sleepiness or received continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or any other treatments for OSA. The baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population are shown in Table 1. The 2 groups were well-matched in the baseline characteristics. The median peak creatine kinase levels and mean left ventricular ejection fraction (by echocardiography on day 2 after admission), which reflects the severity of myocardial injury after STEMI, were similar between the 2 groups. None of the patients in this study had atrial fibrillation, probably due to exclusion of patients with severe heart failure or cardiogenic shock.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients
[i] SD, standard deviation; PCI, percutaneous coronary intervention.
(more ...)
The angiographic and procedural characteristics of the patients are shown in Table 2. Twenty-one (47.7%) and 27 (44.3%) patients in the severe OSA and non-severe OA groups, respectively, had multi-vessel coronary artery disease (p = 0.772). The infarct-related artery was successfully opened in all patients, each of whom received at least 1 stent. Endothelial progenitor cell capturing stents (Genous, Orbus Neich) were implanted in 34 (77.3%) and 40 (65.6%) patients in the severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups, respectively. The corresponding numbers for bare metal stents were 10 (22.7%) and 19 (31.1%) patients, respectively. None of the patients in the severe OSA group and 2 patients in the non-severe OSA group (3.3%) were implanted with a drug-eluting stent. Intravenous glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors were used in 31 patients (29.5%), and there was no significant difference between the severe OSA (27.3%) and non-severe OSA (31.1%) groups. The median symptom-to-balloon times and door-to-balloon times were similar in severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups. After percutaneous coronary intervention, final TIMI 3 flow was achieved in all except 1 patient (TIMI 2).
Angiographic and procedural characteristics of the patients
The resolution of ST-elevation between the severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups is shown in Table 3. The corrected TIMI frame count and myocardial blush grade results are shown in Table 4. The patients in the severe OSA group had a higher prevalence of microvascular obstruction, as represented by myocardial blush grade 0/1.
Electrocardiographic parameter of microvascular perfusion in AHI ≥ 30 and AHI < 30 patients
Electrocardiographic parameter of microvascular perfusion in AHI ≥ 30 and AHI
Angiographic parameters of microvascular perfusion and quantitative coronary analysis in AHI ≥ 30 and AHI < 30 patients
Angiographic parameters of microvascular perfusion and quantitative coronary analysis in AHI ≥ 30 and AHI
The discharge medications given to the patients were in accordance with international guidelines. The medications included aspirin (96.2%), clopidogrel (100%), β-blockers (90.5%), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (85.7%), and lipid-lowering agents (96.2%). There was no difference between the severe OSA and non-severe OSA groups in discharge medications (data not shown). Thirty-day clinical follow-up data were available for all patients. There was 1 case of hospitalization for heart failure in the non-severe OSA group. There were no other adverse events.
Complete data on 18-month follow-up are available for all 105 patients. Between 1- and 18-month follow-up, the severe OSA group incurred 1 death, 2 reinfarctions, 1 stroke, 6 unplanned target vessel revascularizations (5 percutaneous coronary interventions and 1 coronary artery bypass surgery), and 1 heart failure admission. In contrast, there were only 2 unplanned target vessel revascularizations by percutaneous coronary intervention in the non-severe OSA group. The incidence of major adverse events was significantly higher in the severe OSA group (15.9% versus 3.3%, adjusted HR: 5.36, 95% CI: 1.01 to 28.53, p = 0.049) (Table 5). In Figure 1, the Kaplan-Meier event-free survival curves are presented. The event-free survival rates in the severe OSA group were significantly worse than those in the non-severe OSA group (p = 0.021, log-rank test). There was no incidence of stent thrombosis in this study.
Multivariate logistic regression analysis to discern factors associated with 18-month adverse event rate
Kaplan-Meier Curve showing lower event-free survival rate for patients with severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30)
In this long-term prospective cohort study of OSA in STEMI patients, we demonstrated that about 40% of the patients admitted with STEMI have undiagnosed severe OSA, defined as AHI ≥ 30. Severe OSA was associated with a negative prognostic impact on both early and late outcomes for this group of patients. After adjusting for age and BMI, severe OSA was associated with a lower event-free survival rate at 18-month follow-up and more unplanned target vessel revascularization compared to patients without severe OSA.
Despite contemporary revascularization strategy and pharmacological treatment, long-term clinical outcomes following STEMI remain unsatisfactory. In the Drug Elution and Distal Protection in Acute Myocardial Infarction (DEDICATION) trial, which included 626 STEMI patients, the incidence of major adverse events at 3-year follow-up after bare metal stent and drug-eluting stent implantation was 11.5% and 18.2%, respectively.10 Effective risk stratification after STEMI is a prerequisite for improving patient outcomes. In an early study by Peker et al., OSA was found to be an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality at 5-year follow-up in patients with stable coronary artery disease.11 However, this study was conducted more than 15 years ago, and medical therapy for coronary artery disease has refined tremendously during this period. Existing data on the prognostic impact of OSA on acute coronary syndrome are limited and conflicting. Mehra et al. found that despite a high prevalence detected, OSA had no significant impact on 6-month clinical outcomes.7 In contrast, Yumino et al. reported that OSA was associated with lower 8-month event-free survival rates following percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndrome. The high prevalence of adverse events in the OSA group was mainly driven by high target vessel revascularization rate following planned follow-up angiography.8 The aforementioned studies are limited by small sample size, brief follow-up, and inclusion of a heterogeneous population. Furthermore, patients were divided according to presence (AHI ≥ 10) or absence (AHI < 10) of OSA. Yet, current data suggest that the impact of OSA on coronary artery disease is most pronounced in severe form, with AHI ≥ 30.12,13
To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first report on the association of untreated severe OSA with long-term clinical outcomes in patients admitted for STEMI. We demonstrate that the adverse event rate in patients with severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30) is five times as high as in those without severe OSA (AHI < 30). Our study population received optimal treatment. The median door-to-balloon time was below 90 minutes. Final TIMI 3 flow was achieved after percutaneous coronary intervention in almost all patients. The use of evidence-based medications on discharge was high.
The reason for the higher adverse event rate for patients with severe OSA remains unclear. The peak cardiac enzyme levels and left ventricular systolic function were similar between the 2 groups. In the present analysis using AHI 30 as a cut-off, there was a higher incidence of suboptimal microvascular perfusion, as measured by myocardial blush grade, in patients with severe OSA. However, no significant differences were detected when using ST-segment resolution and corrected TIMI frame count. Recently, Nakashima reported a higher incidence of impaired ST-segment resolution in STEMI patients with OSA.14 Further studies evaluating the effect of OSA on microvascular perfusion are warranted.
This finding has potential healthcare implications. The current risk stratification for patients admitted with STEMI is imperfect. Our findings suggest that by performing an overnight sleep study during the index admission, we may be able to identify high-risk patients who are likely to have worse long-term prognosis. Although not targeted for STEMI patients, CPAP treatment has been shown to have beneficial effects on long-term cardiovascular outcomes.12,15,16 Studies evaluating the effectiveness of CPAP treatment on STEMI patients with severe OSA are warranted.
In the original publication reporting on this cohort of 105 patients, the diagnosis of OSA was made based on AHI ≥ 15.5 In this follow-up study, instead of comparing the long-term outcomes between patients with AHI ≥ 15 and < 15, we decided to compare patients with AHI ≥ 30 versus AHI < 30 (severe OSA versus no/mild/moderate OSA) because there is evidence suggesting that the vasculopathic effects of OSA are most significant in those with AHI ≥ 30. The mechanism behind this "threshold effect" remains to be determined. In a recently published epidemiological study that included more than 4000 patients, Gottlieb et al. reported that the effect of OSA on coronary artery disease was only observed in patients with AHI ≥ 30.13 In fact, a negligible effect was observed among patients with no (AHI < 5), mild (AHI 5–15) and moderate (AHI 15–30) OSA. In another 10-year observational study on otherwise healthy individuals, severe OSA (AHI > 30) was found to be associated with a higher incidence of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events.15 Likewise, the deleterious effect of OSA on left ventricular function recovery following myocardial infarction was most marked in those with AHI > 30.6,17 Finally, the risk of stroke among elderly people was found to be higher in those with severe OSA (AHI > 30).4 When our data were reanalyzed using AHI 15 as the cut-off, there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with AHI < 15 (11.1%) versus AHI ≥ 15 (14.5%) (data not shown).
A previous study showed that after bare metal stent implantation, OSA was associated with higher late lumen loss (1.28 ± 0.84 mm versus 0.69 ± 0.81 mm) and binary restenosis rate (37% versus 15%) compared to absence of OSA.8 The target vessel revascularization rate of the OSA group was four times as high as those without OSA. This is in line with our study, which shows that the target vessel revascularization rate among patients with severe OSA was three times as high as those in the non-severe OSA group. Although two-thirds of our patients received endothelial progenitor cell capturing (Genous) stents, we have recently reported that the late lumen loss of endothelial progenitor cell capturing stent was similar to that of bare metal stent.18
The sample size of this study is relatively small. We are unable to determine the effect of severe OSA on late lumen loss following endothelial progenitor cell capturing stent implantation due to lack of planned repeat angiography. Data on OSA-related symptoms were not captured. However, the relations between OSA and cardiovascular diseases seem not to be related to the presence of symptoms of sleep apnea.19 Patients who were sick and intubated were excluded due to inability to obtain written informed consent. It is conceivable that the effect of OSA could be even more pronounced if all patients admitted for STEMI comers had been included. The mean body mass index of our Asian study population (approximately 25 kg/m2) was different from that of Western patients. Hence, whether the results can be generalized to the western population remains unclear.
In conclusion, 42% of the patients admitted with STEMI have undiagnosed severe OSA. Severe OSA carries a negative prognostic impact for this group of patients. It is associated with a lower event-free survival rate at 18-month follow-up.
This was not an industry supported study. The authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
The authors thank the Publications Support Unit of the National University Health System, Singapore, for its help in the preparation of this manuscript. This study was supported by Cardiac Department Fund, National University Heart Centre Singapore.
Authors' Contributions: Study design: Dr. Lee, Dr. Khoo, Dr. Chan, Dr. Wong, Dr. Richards, Dr. Yeo. Research funding application: Dr. Lee, Dr. Tan, Dr. Yeo. Application for ethics approval: Dr. Lee, Dr. Phua, Dr. Yeo. Data collection, data analysis and critical review of the findings: Dr. Lee, Dr. Khoo, Dr. Chan, Dr. Phua, Dr. Low, Dr. Richards, Dr. Tan, Dr. Yeo. Manuscript draft: Dr. Lee, Dr. Khoo, Dr. Chan, Dr. Phua. Manuscript review and intellectual inputs: Dr. Lee, Dr. Richards, Dr. Wong, Dr. Tan, Dr. Yeo.
Bradley TD, Floras JS, authors. Obstructive sleep apnoea and its cardiovascular consequences. Lancet. 2009;373:82–93. [PubMed]
Shahar E, Whitney CW, Redline S, et al., authors. Sleep-disordered breathing and cardiovascular disease: cross-sectional results of the Sleep Heart Health Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;163:19–25. [PubMed]
Peppard PE, Young T, Palta M, Skatrud J, authors. Prospective study of the association between sleep-disordered breathing and hypertension. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:1378–84. [PubMed]
Munoz R, Duran-Cantolla J, Mart́inez-Vila E, et al., authors. Severe sleep apnea and risk of ischemic stroke in the elderly. Stroke. 2006;37:2317–21. [PubMed]
Lee CH, Khoo SM, Tai BC, et al., authors. Obstructive sleep apnea in patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction. Prevalence, predictors, and effect on microvascular perfusion. Chest. 2009;135:1488–95. [PubMed]
Nakashima H, Katayama T, Takagi C, et al., authors. Obstructive sleep apnoea inhibits the recovery of left ventricular function in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Eur Heart J. 2006;27:2317–22. [PubMed]
Mehra R, Principe-Rodriguez K, Kirchner HL, Strohl KP, authors. Sleep apnea in acute coronary syndrome: high prevalence but low impact on 6-month outcome. Sleep Med. 2006;7:521–8. [PubMed]
Yumino D, Tsurumi Y, Takagi A, Suzuki K, Kasanuki H, authors. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on clinical and angiographic outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Am J Cardiol. 2007;99:26–30. [PubMed]
Cunnington D, Menagh J Cherry G, Teichtahl H, authors. Comparison of full in-laboratory polysomnography to a portable sleep data acquisition device. Am J Resp Crit Care Med. 2003;167:A405(Abstract).
Kaltoft A, Kelbaek H, Thuesen L, et al., authors. Long- term outcome after drug-eluting versus bare-metal stent implantation in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: 3-year follow-up of the randomized DEDICATION (Drug Elution and Distal Protection in Acute Myocardial Infarction) Trial. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;56:641–5. [PubMed]
Peker Y, Hedner J, Kraiczi H, Löth S, authors. Respiratory disturbance index: an independent predictor of mortality in coronary artery disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;162:81–6. [PubMed]
Marin JM, Carrizo SJ, Vicente E, Agusti AG, authors. Long-term cardiovascular outcomes in men with obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea with or without treatment with continuous positive airway pressure: an observational study. Lancet. 2005;365:1046–53. [PubMed]
Gottlieb DJ, Yenokyan G, Newman AB, et al., authors. Prospective study of obstructive sleep apnea and incident coronary heart disease and heart failure: the Sleep Heart Health Study. Circulation. 2010;122:352–60. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Nakashima H, Muto S, Amenomori K, Shiraishi Y, Nunohiro T, Suzuki S, authors. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea on myocardial tissue perfusion in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Circ J. 2011;75:890–6. [PubMed]
Milleron O, Pillière R, Foucher A, et al., authors. Benefits of obstructive sleep apnoea treatment in coronary artery disease: a long-term follow-up study. Eur Heart J. 2004;25:728–34. [PubMed]
Cassar A, Morgenthaler TI, Lennon RJ, Rihal CS, Lerman A, authors. Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea is associated with decreased cardiac death after percutaneous coronary intervention. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007;50:1310–4. [PubMed]
Shamsuzzaman AS, Gersh BJ, Somers VK, authors. Obstructive sleep apnea: implications for cardiac and vascular disease. JAMA. 2003;290:1906–14. [PubMed]
Low AF, Lee CH, Teo SG, et al., authors. Effectiveness and safety of the Genous endothelial progenitor cell-capture stent in acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Am J Cardiol. 2011;108:202–5. [PubMed]
Young T, Skatrud J, Peppard PE, authors. Risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea in adults. JAMA. 2004;291:2013–6. [PubMed]


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nucleosynthesis or nucleogenesis, in astronomy, production of all the chemical elements from the simplest element, hydrogen, by thermonuclear reactions within stars, supernovas, and in the big bang at the beginning of the universe (see nucleus; nuclear energy). A star obtains its energy by fusing together light nuclei to form heavier nuclei; in this process, mass ( m) is converted into energy ( E) in accordance with Einstein's formula, E= mc2, in which c is the speed of light. The reactions are initiated by the high temperatures (about 14 million degrees Celsius) at the center of the star. In the course of producing nuclear energy, the star synthesizes all the elements of the periodic table from its initial composition of mostly hydrogen and a small amount of helium.
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The weekend of May 17 and 18, I was lucky enough to be in Santa Cruz, California, and to once again be a part of the Surfer's Path Marathon and Capitola Half Marathon & Relay. I have been involved with the race since its inaugural year, and have loved watching the race grow and transform into what is becoming a "must do" race for the Santa Cruz area (recaps of years 1 & 2). This year, I participated only as a runner but was SO happy to be able to add the race into my race schedule – especially knowing it meant I would get to race with some of the best runners around!
[Full disclosure: my race entry was comped for my contributions to the race from the first two years, but all opinions are my own.]
Race weekend started early Saturday morning with a 4 mile shakeout jog w/ Meg & Rebecca. Then, after breakfast and showering, Meg (who ran the relay w/ Leslie & won the women's division – check out her recap here) & I headed down to the expo to pick up our packets and meet up with Alisyn for the tweet-up (which ended up just being the three of us, but that just means there is lots of room for improvement next year!!).
At the Expo we also hung out at the SCE tent, and chatted for a bit before I headed off to meet a good friend for the rest of the afternoon.
After burgers + sweet potato fries for lunch, an afternoon chocolate sorbet and a poke bowl for dinner, I figured I was all carbo-loaded up and hit the hay to get ready for race day.
Sunday morning came all too fast. Even though the race started extremely close to where I was staying at Meg's, I woke up at 4am to pop 2 immodium (you can never be too safe) so that I didn't have the same problem as the time I spent FAR too much time in the bathroom when I ran this race in 2012. I went back to bed and woke up again at 5:00am to eat breakfast, pack a little and get dressed. Around 6:30, Meg, Hillary and I headed to the start line, where I popped another immodium (seriously, I was worried. I mean, did you see what I ate on Saturday?!). And before I knew it, it was go time.
I had made plans with Gaylia and Charmin, two absolutely incredible, sweet and talented ladies, to start out at about a 7:15-7:20 pace, and we all had the goal of finishing in the 1:35-1:38 time range. Of course, I forgot to turn on my watch, so I only had a vague idea of "current" pace as we were running and what miles 2-13.1 were, since mile 1 was way off.
Running with those two ladies was seriously the greatest gift and experience I could've asked for. They just made the day that much more fun. And before we knew it, we checked in at the 4-mile mark right on at a 7:15 page. This was thanks in large part to Gaylia keeping us all honest and not letting us pick up the pace too early, and Charmin for making sure we were all feeling good and knocking it out together. We saw Rebecca around this point too, who had made it out after her morning run to cheer us all on! Such a delightful surprise!
Around mile 5 I took my first gu and shortly thereafter I saw my good friend who had woken up to cheer – it was kind of a surprise since he's not necessarily an early morning riser, but it was fun and wonderful to see another friendly face on the course. And we frequently saw Bob on the course with his bike & camera, and I have him to thank for most of these fantastic photos he took for SCE.
At about mile 6, you fly down the downhill into Capitola to the around point of the race where the relay has its hand off. I saw Meg who had just handed off the baton to Leslie who ran and started screaming at me about PRs of some sort (she PRed her 10k unofficially in the first half the relay!!, so we're pretty sure thats what it was all about) and I screamed back at her something about pace, probably getting myself a PR and other sorts of nonsense. I love that girl and our insanity.
And then it was back up and out of Capitola with Gaylia and Charmin – where the motto was "keep it relaxed and easy" because that hill is a beast. This is also where we met up with speedster Jenn, who was a sweetheart and got up super early to come run in the last six miles of the race with us. And Benoit joined us for a "cooldown" mile or two at the easy pace of about a 7:10…during miles 7 and 8.
The miles flew by, and our paced jockeyed between a 7:03 and a 7:10, and suddenly we were at mile 11, which is on a short but pretty steep hill. I took my second gu here, and came out of the hill with Jenn just ahead of Gaylia and Charmin. I didn't want to leave them since we had been running together the whole race, and it had been going perfectly, but when we turned back to look they waved me on, so I took off with Jenn. When we got to mile 12 I told Jenn I didn't want to know the splits. Thankfully, she kept her mouth shut (we were running sub-7s) b/c otherwise I probably would've freaked out. She just kept telling me to charge on, and so charge I did.
Just after 13 miles, Jenn turned around to go bring Gaylia & Charmin in and as I turned left to run down onto the beach to the finishline, my eyes caught the timer and it read "1:32:xx" and my mind just went "f*&p %s#s jd&*#" because I had no idea that was where I was at. I mean, Kelley had told me after Cherry Blossom that I could do that, but I didn't fully believe her…
And then the PR glow aftermath started settling in. My official time was 1:32:23, a 12 minute PR from December… My mind is still a little blown.
After the race, I hung out and celebrated with SCE and the running wives. We grabbed some coffee, ate some post-race food (which comes from New Leaf and in AWESOME paper grocery bags – you just pick a bag up and you're on your way!).
We waited around for the awards, because SCE pretty much cleaned house. SCE took top place in all the relays categories (open men, women and mixed) and there were AG takings and PRs flying all over the place. I even managed to snag 3rd in my AG, which was definitely a nice bonus, but really all that mattered to me was that PR.
It was seriously the perfect race day, with my favorite runners and in one of my favorite places in the world. I couldn't have asked for a better end to the most wonderful week.
Actually I could have had a better end to my week in Santa Cruz – not having to run back to Meg's, shower, pack and head to the airport would've been better… At least I'll be back in August.
I seriously love the Capitola Half Marathon and have heard wonderful things about the marathon course as well, though its definitely a half-marathon dominated race. The course is well marked, the water stations are well manned and the volunteers are great at cheering, there are post race massages, lots of good food and a free ice bath called the ocean (which I wish I had taken advantage of. And the location seriously can't be beat. While there are lots of rolling hills making it not a challenging course, the views are pretty hard to beat. You bet your buns I'll try to be back again next year.


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TWA(4) NetBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual TWA(4) NAME twa -- 3ware Apache RAID controller driver SYNOPSIS twa* at pci? dev ? function ? DESCRIPTION The twa driver provides support for the 3ware Apache family of RAID con- trollers. Attached disk arrays are supported by the ld driver. SEE ALSO intro(4), ld(4) HISTORY The twa driver first appeared in NetBSD 3.1. AUTHORS The twa driver was written by Vinod Kashyap and was modified for inclu- sion in NetBSD by Jordan Rhody <firstname.lastname@example.com>. NetBSD 9.0 November 6, 2006 NetBSD 9.0
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Liberty News
Cold courage: LU professor on path to Alaska's great race
What compels a man to endure a grueling 1,159-mile trek across ice and snow in the wilds of Alaska, entrusting his life to a team of dogs and his survival skills, all for a relatively small reward and the promise of hardship?
For Army Master Sergeant and Liberty University Distance Learning Professor Rodney Whaley, the answer is both complex and simple. His drive in entering the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race is closely tied to his childhood in Alaska, his decades of service to his country and his love of adventure.
Entering Iditarod veteran Al Hardman's musher camp, Alcan Kennels, on Michigan's Upper-Peninsula, is like stepping into another world.
Snuggled between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, the chilly air is filled with wood smoke and the deep howls and sharp barks of dogs ready to run. Accommodations are rustic yet comfortable and the main cabin has a battery generator for power.
Outside the cabin, a shiny row of metal pans used to feed the 37 dogs in the dog lot dry after the morning rations while a group of colorful, well-used dog sleds, some on wheels, hang from the rafters of a nearby open-sided shed.
Although snow has fallen, it has not yet begun to accumulate in early November and the dogs are being run with 4-wheelers. It will take at least a foot of snowfall to allow the dog sleds to be used and eventually there will be nearly four feet of powder on the ground through spring.
Whaley left his home in Franklin, Tenn., to train at the musher's camp (mushing is dog sledding) in early October. He is the first Tennessean to ever enter the Iditarod.
Joining Whaley and Hardman at the camp are dog handler Danielle DeBruyne, who has a master's in ecology, and Private First Class National Guardsman Matthew Cheek. Cheek's active duty assignment is to assist Whaley in the care and training of the dogs.
The Army National Guard is sponsoring Whaley's participation in the 2008 Iditarod by covering the cost of transportation to Alaska, food for the dogs and lodging. Liberty University is also one of Whaley's sponsors.
"I will be using the skills I've developed for the past 24 years in the Army National Guard," 55-year-old Whaley said. "The Iditarod is the ultimate experience and my lifelong dream."
Although Hardman never planned to be a dog musher, his road to the Iditarod began with two puppies.
"I started off with two little Samoyeds I got in 1990 and then they liked to pull and I got them to pull the toboggan and give the kids a ride. My employees got them a sled and my wife has cursed them every since," Hardman said.
Hardman flew to Alaska as an Iditarod spectator in the early 90s and later purchased the musher's camp in Michigan near the rural hamlet of McMillan. Now in his 60s, Hardman is planning to run his fifth Iditarod in March.
"I don't know what it is. It's got to be the challenge I guess," Hardman said. "It's just you do it and then you make a lot of mistakes and think 'I'm never going to do this again.' I remember getting to Nome and thinking, 'I'm never going to do this again.' I told my buddy this is the last time."
The terrain of the "Last Great Race on Earth" includes jagged mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense woodlands, tundra and coastlines with temperatures normally below zero. From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, the race route is alternated every other year, one year going north through Cripple, Ruby and Galena, the next year south through Iditarod, Shageluk and Anvik. Each team of 12 to 16 dogs will travel at a trot of about 8 miles per hour to complete the race in about two weeks.
Ninety-five mushers have signed up to run the 2008 Iditarod, which begins on March 1.
"Some days you wish you weren't alive and other days the scenery is beautiful and you think, 'Wow the team is going good,'" said Hardman, who has finished as high as 21st place.
The dogs at the musher's camp come in an array of colors, including tan, white, black, yellow and multi-color and weigh around 45 pounds. They are known as Alaskan Huskies, or mutts, as Whaley calls them. Their names range from Sackett and Whiskey to Soap Here and Spelling Bee.
"When you think of sled dogs, you typically think of the Siberian Husky, which was my first love. Over the years they started mix-breed dogs and they just call them Alaskan Huskies now … They are extremely excitable dogs. They are not trained to sit down and stay, they are trained to run, run, run. Gee haw. They live to run," Whaley said.
Most dogs running the Iditarod are 4 or 5 years old, but there have been cases of 10-and 11-year-old dogs participating. They will run 40 to 50 miles without stopping and sleep on straw while still hooked into their harnesses on the line.
The dogs wear booties in the snow to protect their paws from fissures caused by impacted ice and snow and veterinarians run complete check-ups on every dog at check-points during the race. If a dog is found unfit to run they are flown back by plane.
Whaley was first introduced to dog sledding when he was 6 years old. Originally from eastern North Carolina, Whaley's family moved to Anchorage in 1958, when Alaska was still a territory and the rough, unpaved Alaskan Highway took more than a month to traverse.
In Anchorage, there was a winter festival called the Fur Rendezvous, which included three days of sled dog races called The World Championship Sled Dog Races. It was at the festival that Whaley got a glimpse of the sport he would later come to love.
"For three years I kept asking for a husky, but we lived in a two-room house and finally after a lot of persistence my parents got me one," Whaley said of his first husky. "By the time I was in fourth grade, when I was 10 years old, I raced my first race in the one-dog class, went a half mile and won a couple trophies."
Each year Whaley added more dogs to compete in longer races. He came in second place in the Junior Fur Rendezvous, to the son of Joe Redington who is co-founder of the Iditarod.
Whaley continued to participate in dog sled races until junior high when his family moved back to North Carolina because his mother became ill. The family brought Stormy, one of their huskies, with them. Although Whaley wasn't dog sled racing in high school, he continued to follow the races into his teenage years.
In 1970, Whaley graduated high school and in 1973 the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race was born to commemorate the diphtheria serum run of 1925 in Nome.
Although Whaley wanted to join the military after finishing high school, his mother wanted him to attend a Bible college, so he enrolled in Free Will Bible Baptist College in Nashville where he would later meet his wife, Vicki, and eventually become part of the faculty.
Whaley earned a master's degree in music and played the trumpet and French horn. Still interested in joining the military, Whaley learned the National Guard had a band.
"I talked to the commander and found out I could enlist in the band and go to basic training during the summer. The more I performed duty, the more I really enjoyed it. After I was in the Guard, when I was teaching, I would do different types of duty in the summer. I really enjoyed the military experience." During Desert Storm, Whaley was in the Army band and was called to duty.
During that time his wife and children began to attend a Southern Baptist church. Whaley then transitioned from a ministry role to a role in the military. He took a job as a readiness non-commissioned officer and has had several different assignments since then, including troop commander, recruiter and as part of the inspector general's office.
Whaley continued to follow dog sledding and the Iditarod, and a trip to Washington State convinced him to get back in the game.
"My wife is a big dog lover from Washington State and we went to visit her mother and went snowmobiling and stayed in a cottage. We went mushing on two sleds with a team," Whaley said. "We got two little huskies and I took them out jogging and then with a harness and hooked them up to a little cart. Then I started going mushing every winter in British Columbia and Washington and took them with me and found races to enter."
In 2004, Whaley went to the Iditarod as a dog handler for four-time Iditarod musher Hardman. Hardman and Whaley became friends and are now training together in Michigan for the upcoming race.
No stranger to physical challenges, Whaley, who says he "has always liked extreme things," ran 14 marathons after turning 40. He even ran the Blue Angel Marathon in Florida on his 50th birthday.
Whaley, whose brother Dr. Vernon Whaley is the director of Liberty's Center for Worship, is teaching a 400 level religion class through Distance Learning and is a Liberty Seminary student.
"My goal is to retire from the military and have my doctorate at the same time in the next couple years and then hope and pray for a ministry opportunity," Whaley said.
Whaley, who teaches Sunday School in Tennessee, brings his dog Maverick to be a teaching assistant. He has also officiated high school football for more than 20 years and speaks to school groups about mushing and the Iditarod.
"There's a lot of camaraderie, but there's not many people that do [mushing]. The big camaraderie is between a musher and his dogs. You really got to love them."
Whaley's training in Michigan will continue until January, when he must complete two sanctioned qualifying races totaling 500 miles. Whaley plans to enter a race in Michigan and one in Minnesota. After qualifying, Whaley will head to Alaska in mid-February.
Visit Whaley's website at http://www.tndogmusher.com/home.html. For the Iditarod: http://www.iditarod.com/.


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Reviewed By Mary S (O Fallon, IL) Reviewed for a 2009 Toyota Matrix —7/1/2014 10:20 PM
My CalTrend Pet Print seat covers are definitely worth the money. They fit perfectly and, after watching the video I found on YouTube featuring CalTrend employees installing the seat covers on a Corolla) , were easy to install. A really great note was that AutoAnything actually contacted me to make sure I was getting the correct covers. I had NO IDEA my passenger seat folded flat but somehow, THEY did and just wanted to confirm this with me. EXCEPTIONAL customer service!


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COLLEGE STATION – I appreciate Kevin Sumlin's timing in terms of practice. The same time he cut us off from interviews and filming parts of practice (this past Monday) was about the same time our college football special section stories were due – why I've been laying low on this page over the past few days.
Four of the special section stories will be about my journeys to Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Starkville and Oxford this summer, and I'm happy to say they're in the can.
So while I'm shy of any practice information or video of late, I do have an updated plan on where A&M intends to place all of those SEC billboards around the state (and you can almost be certain one will pop up near you). And it's great that something as old-fashioned as a billboard (especially in this information age) can still cause a stir – evidenced by the "This is SEC Country" propaganda placed near Austin.
According to Jason Cook, A&M's vice president for marketing and communications:
* There will be four billboards in Houston, four in San Antonio and four in Dallas-Fort Worth. Two in each city will say, "This is SEC Country," one "This is New Turf" and one "We Stand Ready."
* There's the aforementioned "This is SEC Country" billboard in Round Rock north of Austin.
* And, "This is SEC Country" billboards will be placed on I-35 entering Texas from Oklahoma; I-10 and I-20 entering Texas from Louisiana; and I-30 entering Texas from Arkansas/Louisiana.
Meanwhile, A&M's football press conference to advance the Louisiana Tech game a week from Thursday will be this Thursday in the Bright Football Complex. I will be there – along with my video camera.


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A current summary discussed non-technically for the
information of practicing accountants
of Professional Accountants
to Clients and Others
R. James Gormley and Robert M. Trueblood
R. James Gormley is a partner in the Chicago law
firm of Bell, Boyd, Lloyd, Haddad & Bu rns. Mr.
Gormley is also a CPA, and he and Mr. Trueblood
worked together at Baumann, Finney & Co. in the
early years of their careers.
Robert M. Trueblood, chairman of the TRB&S
Policy Group and our National Director of Accounting
and Auditing, is currently serving as president of
the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.


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With start, Niese becomes a leader for Mets
Aside from strong pitching, southpaw fights to keep ball in first Opening Day effort
NEW YORK -- Heading into Opening Day, the Mets had a Johan Santana-sized vacancy at the top of their rotation. But luckily for them, they also had someone ready to fill it. Southpaw Jon Niese started a season opener for the first time Monday and delivered a standout performance.
Niese worked into the seventh inning and held the Padres at bay, and he even reached base safely three times in his team's 11-2 victory. But perhaps most importantly, Niese lobbied to stay in a one-sided game, and he won the right to face two more batters in Monday's seventh inning.
Why was that a big deal? The Mets have a young and unproven staff with Santana out for the year, and they need somebody up top to set an example. Niese, who owns a 36-32 career record, told manager Terry Collins on Monday that he wanted to keep the ball, even with a five-run lead at the time.
"Last year was kind of the year where I hit that sixth inning and I had 95 pitches, and they kind of shut me down," said Niese. "This year, I want to be that guy that goes back out and finishes my start. I just told him that I wanted to go back out and I felt like I had a lot left. Thankfully, he let me."
Niese was dominant early, allowing just two hits in the first five innings, and his bat helped the Mets forge an early lead. The left-hander came through with a two-out RBI single in the second inning, and he drew a leadoff walk and scored a run in the home team's fourth-inning rally.
Niese notched another two-out hit in the fifth inning, and after cruising through the sixth, he drew his line in the sand. The Mets were leading 7-2 at the time and Niese was nearing his pitch limit, but he stepped up and told his manager that he wanted to stay in the game and preserve the bullpen.
"It just tells you what a competitor he is," said Collins. "I said, 'Look, you've got a start in four days and you've got to go back out there.' We picked 100 pitches as a maximum for him anyway, and he said, 'I'll get there.' He went out and got the first two batters of the inning, and that's all he was going to go. As we said before the game, he's kind of stepped into a role where he leads the rotation."
Niese, a seventh-round selection in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, has seen that transformation happen gradually. He broke into the rotation for good in 2010 and has been one of the Mets' most durable starters, logging at least 26 outings in each of the last three seasons.
And when it came time to take the next step, it happened due to necessity. Santana's shoulder kept him from pitching in the early weeks of Spring Training, giving Collins a chance to think of an alternative. And when the Mets discovered that he needed surgery, they had a replacement in mind.
"About three weeks before we named him the Opening Day starter, I went to [Niese] and said, 'Look, there's a real good chance Johan's not going to be ready. And if he's not, it's going to be you,'" said Collins. "He said, 'All right!' That means he wanted it bad. He got himself ready for it, for sure, and he pitched a great game."
Niese struck out four batters and gave up just two walks on Monday, and he managed to strand two runners in scoring position. The Padres went 1-for-7 on the day with runners in scoring position, and one of their two runs scored on a home run to right field by veteran Carlos Quentin.
The Mets scored two runs in the second inning, and they came back for two more in the third and a three-spot in the fourth. Niese had said in the days leading up to Monday that he'd treat the season opener just like any other game, but his team's offense sure gave him a reason to relax.
"I'm not going to lie: The adrenaline was pumping," he said. "But I prepared as if it was any other game. Before the game, I had my pregame routine that I followed."
Niese said after the game that he doesn't want to be a vocal leader for the staff; he just wants to lead by example and learn from his teammates as much as they can learn from him. And if you ask catcher John Buck about Niese's poise and maturity, he'll give you the highest praise possible.
"I think he's kind of got that naturally," Buck said. "At first in spring, it was like he was being prepared to [Andy] Pettitte. He didn't change who he was. Then he was moved into the No. 1 spot. He didn't change who he was. I feel like it takes some maturity and some guts to stick to who you are."
That praise was fired right back to Buck, who was starting his first game with the Mets. Niese said that Buck is the kind of veteran catcher who can improve a pitcher's confidence by default.
"He's outstanding. He called a great game," said Niese. "He's a veteran guy that reads hitters better than I've ever seen. It's always great to have that extra mind out there that sees that and calls the game accordingly. He did a great job today calling the game. I rarely shook him, if I ever did."
Collins didn't hear those comments, but he probably would've been thrilled if he did. The manager had said moments earlier that Buck had a huge impact on Niese's game, and he said that he hoped the backstop could have the same kind of effect on the rest of his starting rotation.
"That's going to turn out to be a huge acquisition for us," said Collins. "John Buck controls our staff as good as any catcher I've been around. One of the innings, they came in and he and Jon were discussing a pitch that Jon didn't make, and [Buck] pretty much said, 'Look, we're going to make these pitches one at a time. You've got to think about the big picture. Don't worry about the bad pitch.'"


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Kazmir's comeback a Major accomplishment
Left-hander gets second chance at career by making Indians' rotation
TORONTO -- Scott Kazmir knows he spoke with reporters last week. Evidence can be found in the wave of articles about him making the Indians' rotation, a decision that completed his journey from baseball's scrap heap back to the big league stage.
Kazmir just is not sure what he said that day.
Everything after that early-morning meeting last Monday with Cleveland manager Terry Francona and general manager Chris Antonetti is a blur. Kazmir was hit with a heavy dose of joy and relief, an emotional mix that made it one of the more special days of his baseball career.
"I don't even know what I told you guys," Kazmir said with a smile. "I think I might've blacked out. I was definitely in another place."
Kazmir said it has finally sunk in, the fact that he has a place with the Indians, that he is in this place, Rogers Centre in Toronto, with a nameplate and a locker and a spot in a Major League rotation. For the left-hander, it is almost like he has reached the top of a mountain, and he is taking this moment to scan the horizon to soak everything in.
"I definitely feel that way, especially where I was a couple years ago," Kazmir said. "I'm very proud of the fact that this has happened. This is very exciting. I'm happy to be an Indian and I'm happy to start the season with these guys."
There was a point in time when Kazmir's fall from stardom would have seemed unthinkable. More recently, it seemed that a trek back to the Major Leagues was unrealistic. The collapse and subsequent climb happened, however, and Kazmir believes he will be better for it.
Two years ago, the Angels released Kazmir after he endured one rough outing in the big leagues and five forgettable (17.02 ERA) starts for Triple-A Salt Lake. His mechanics were out of whack after two years of tweaks to compensate for small injuries, and his velocity had dropped dramatically.
Last season, with no takers, Kazmir pitched for the Sugar Land Skeeters in the independent Atlantic League. He decided that he needed to solve the pile of problems on his own, and was determined to make his way back to the big leagues.
After all, in his early days with the Rays, Kazmir was a force on the mound.
He never let himself consider quitting.
"There was never that thought," said Kazmir, who was a first-round Draft pick by the Mets in 2002 and the American League strikeout leader with the Rays in 2007. "It was more just stress throughout the couple years, wondering, 'When is it going to happen? When am I going to figure out some things?' I never gave up."
Kazmir finally began to feel more comfortable with his delivery during his stint in independent ball, and dedicated himself to getting into prime shape over the winter. As part of his offseason, the 29-year-old left-hander pitched in the Puerto Rican Winter League for Carolina, which was managed by Cleveland's Double-A manager, Edwin Rodriguez.
Rodriguez saw improved velocity, better mechanics and a pitcher poised for a potential comeback.
Cleveland bit, signing Kazmir to a Minor League contract on Jan. 8.
"I thought it was really exciting," Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. "Obviously, we didn't know what we were going to get at the time. But to have a guy who's done what he's done in the past, you're always optimistic that, 'Hey, if this guy figures it out again, we've got a great starter on our hands.'
"I think we got even more excited when we saw him pitching in the spring. It was like, 'Oh, man.' You could tell just by the way he was playing catch and long-tossing that this guy might be figuring it out again."
When did Francona think the Indians might have caught a break by signing Kazmir?
"Scarily, the first day when he threw that bullpen [session]," Francona said. "We got good reports from Edwin this winter. That's why we signed him. But when you saw him throw, it was like, 'Whoa.' I couldn't wait to see his next couple, just to see if it was like the first day, and he was letting it fly. He kept backing it up. It was really exciting."
Throughout the spring, Kazmir was one of Cleveland's most consistent starters, and he displayed a fastball that sat around 90-92 mph. He also featured a strong changeup and a slider that -- at times -- looked similar to the biting breaking ball he used to toy with hitters in his prime.
"Obviously, he's got a little ways to go," Callaway said. "He feels like he's on the cusp. I think that's where he's at. If he can just continue to keep on making that climb back, he's going to be in a really good spot."
It was a spring showing that convinced the Indians to hand the fifth spot to Kazmir, and to send pitching prospect Trevor Bauer -- along with righties Daisuke Matsuzaka, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber -- to the Triple-A Columbus rotation.
"It's a really great story," Antonetti said. "As we told Scott when we met with him, he deserves a ton of credit. He overcame a lot of adversity."
And on Saturday, Kazmir will be back where his big league career began.
The lefty is scheduled to pitch against Tampa Bay.
"How ironic is that?" Kazmir said with a smile. "I know what the mound feels like -- that's for sure."


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Seven players scored in Harvard's third straight win over Yale (Craig Cyr).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – With the score tied 2-2, the Harvard women's lacrosse team netted five unanswered goals over the course of 29:45 en route to its third straight win over Yale, 10-5, on Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium.
Harvard (2-4, 1-2 Ivy) featured a balanced scoring attack as seven different players recorded a goal in the contest. Micaela Cyr posted her sixth straight game registering a point as the captain led the Crimson with four points on two goals and two assists. Classmate Danielle Tetreault and freshman Alexis Nicolia each found the back of the net twice while senior Mariel Jenkins, juniors Kyleigh Keating and Lauren Tomkinson and freshman Audrey Todd contributed a goal apiece. Senior Melanie Cook recorded six saves in between the pipes for the Crimson.
Cyr started the scoring at the 25:07 minute mark, on Harvard's first free position attempt of the day. Sophomore Cathryn Avallone put Yale (4-4, 0-3 Ivy) on the board six minutes later to even the score, 1-1. Yale's Nicole Daniggelis followed a minute later to give the Bulldogs their only lead of the afternoon when the freshman found the back off the net off a pass from junior Jen DeVito.
Harvard commanded the remainder of the first frame as Nicolia netted her first goal of the day at the 11:39 minute mark to tie the game at 2-2. Off a Yale turnover, Todd regained the lead for the Crimson, 3-2, with 9:27 to play before intermission. Cyr made a spin move right in front of Yale's goaltender Erin McMullan to cushion Harvard's lead to two goals before the break.
Just 16 seconds out of the locker rooms, Jenkins secured the first draw control of the second half, raced toward McMullan and netted her first goal of the season. The Crimson controlled the ball for the majority of the next 10 minutes receiving unassisted goals by Tomkinson and Tetreault, as Yale continued its scoreless draught, to hold a 7-2 lead with 20 minutes to play in the game.
Yale attempted a comeback scoring twice within a four minute span to cut the Crimson's lead, 7-3, with 14:40 to play, but Harvard went on to score three goals, including a shorthanded goal by Keating, to complete their first Ivy League victory of the season.
Harvard held advantages in shots, 29-20, and ground balls, 21-19, while Yale won more draws, 11-6.
The Crimson will make the short trip to Boston University, Friday, March 29. First draw is set for 7 p.m. at Nickerson Field.


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|The new Classic Kameo Hotel features fully furnished and serviced deluxe rooms and studio, one bedroom suites in the heart of Rayong.
Stylish and modern, it comes complete with an indoor swimming pool, fitness centre and free Wi-Fi in public areas.
It also boasts the Tapestry Chinese Restaurant, a smart executive lounge, a large conference facility and all the services associated
with a top quality hotel.
Deluxe RoomSize: 33 sq.m. Our spacious Deluxe Rooms are designed for elegant and comfortable living with a complete set of quality in-room amenities.
Studio SuiteSize: 45 sq.m. Our modern Studio Room offer a spacious, well planned interior that features a separate living cum dining area and complete in-room amenities.
1 Bedroom SuiteSize: 60 sq.m. Our contemporary styled One Bedroom Suites feature a spacious bedroom and are fully equipped with every modern day convenience, including a washing machine.
|Tapestry Restaurant is an ideal venue for just about any occasion. Specialising in Dim Sum and Chinese cuisine,
the all-day dining restaurant also offers excellent Thai and international a la carte selections and a sumptuous breakfast buffet.
Café Kantary is conveniently located in front of the nearby Kameo Rayong Hotel. Featuring stylish yet comfortable indoor and outdoor seating, premium coffee and a host of delectable treats and beverages, Café Kantary is the ideal setting to share a delicious dessert with buddies or relax with a coffee and good book or work on your laptop – anytime of the day.
At Classic Kameo Rayong you will find a wide range of facilities designed to make your life easier and more comfortable including
a stylish swimming pool, fitness center, executive lounge, meeting rooms and more. Our full range of facilities and services include:
|Swimming Pool
|Fitness Room
|Snooker Table
|Executive Lounge


text: You will find a large sample of some of the items we carry. Not all our items are listed so please email us with any questions you might have and we will get right back to you. We carry everything from tees and clubs to a full line of rain gear. Most all orders are shipped the same day except for custom orders, weekends and Holidays. We pride ourselves in knowing our products. Thank you for supporting our store and we hope you enjoy your shopping experience here.


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Lot 23 Flag Stone Run, MURPHY, NC 28906 US Murphy Home for Sale
Lot 23 Flag Stone Run, MURPHY, North Carolina
Property Details
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- Bedrooms: 0
- Baths: 0
- Partial Baths: 0
- Lot Size: 0.872
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Property Description
Beautiful lots! Gorgeous Mountain Subdivision! Gentle, rolling land with views in a great gated subdivision that is pleasing to the eye! Wide, paved roads, amazing 14-/+ acre park with rushing and tumbling creek (fully stocked), gazebo, deck, pond, and fire pit. The perfect community for you!These lots will not last long. Get them while you can!
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Winners need:
Watch Video -
Watch Video -
Coworking Plans:
Join a community of 60,000+ like-minded imagineeers to buy from, sell to & collaborate with. Choose a location and gain access to Servcorp's renowned Coworking Spaces, Boardrooms, Meeting Rooms and Day Offices at member rates.
Ask if they have unique-password, rocket-fast WiFi – For your security.
Ask to be connected to the internet – How long does it take?
Ask if the provider is Tier-1.
Ask to be allowed to check download speeds.
Ask to speak to IT support: Are they in-house or a third party? Are they even in the country?
Ask to be given a phone number so you can try the service before you buy.
Ask for a phone rate card.
Ask to meet your dedicated receptionist. The receptionist is the front line of your business.
Ask about disaster transfer.
Ask if your phone extension can roam at no cost to other locations.
Ask if the wireless internet is secure.
Ask what kind of firewall can be set up for your network.
Ask to see the transparency code of the provider.
Ask if incoming callers can dial '1' for voicemail to mobile.
Ask if you can get free calls equal to your connection amount.
Ask if your phone bill is 20% lower than telco rate.


text:
More information
UK orders under £75
DPD two day delivery - £3.99
UK orders £75 or over
DPD two day delivery - free delivery
Orders outside of the UK
Prices will be displayed at checkout and are dependant on carrier costs
Please note that shipping supplements will be incurred for overseas delivery on heavy items such as golf bags, travel bags and other oversize items. This charge will be added to your shipping cost upon checkout.
Free UK returns
We have free UK returns on all UK orders over £100, including all UK shoe orders which now receive FREE returns. There will be a Tracked 24 Royal Mail returns label with your order confirmation form within your parcel, which can be peeled off and placed on the parcel, then returned at your local post office, free of charge. Returns for UK orders under £100 will need to be arranged using a carrier of your choice.
International returns
All returns from outside of the UK are the responsibility of the customer, for further information please see our full returns information.
General Information
Returning items are the responsibility of the sender until the parcel has been received by the returns department at TRENDYGOLF, it is advisable to obtain a receipt of postage or add a tracked service to the parcel so that you can track the progress of your return.
Please enclose a note with the reason for the return, your order number, and the item you wish to return. Items must be returned in original packing with all tags. We will only accept returned items unworn/undamaged.
For any questions on products including fit or fabrication please contact us :
Telephone : 44 (0) 845 680 6479
Email: [email protected]
Orlebar Brown
Orlebar Brown launched in 2007. The brand mission was to bring a more tailored approach to beach and swimwear, providing clean and stylish garments you can wear to the beach or by the pool, and then go out for a quick lunch or drinks with friends.
The range has now evolved into a full ready-to-wear resort collection, including Riviera shorts and chinos, sharply tailored sweats and jackets, as well as bags and other accessories.
The Orlebar Brown man chooses versatility, quality, and timelessness.


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LENOVO STAR WARS:JEDI Challenges - Lots of Fun for Gamers and Non-Gamers
I am sometimes a skeptic about VR/AR gaming. Seems to be rather too techy and even often quite low resolution for my liking. And the storytelling and educational aspects often seem a bit lacking. But I would say that, being one who is always looking for the bigger story and valuable use cases rather than just for killing time. The Lenovo STAR WARS:Jedi Challenges technology and Smartphone games Application is of a different breed. Very clever how they use the smartphone at 45º in the headset in a way that lets you see the room you are in (visual see-through, not video) and then lets you play Star Wars Chess or challenge the various Star Wars charactors to Light Sabre duels. But first, to qualify to fight, you need to learn how to use a light sabre! Light Sabre Training also done well, and fun. The light sabre itself is stunning to look at and hold and in your virtual vision and hearing pops out just like in the movie. Lots of virtual charactors and action in your living room or kitchen. Virtual Star Wars charactors and in fact everything in your line of sight is life-sized and lifelike and of course, it is also taking place in the reality of your home setting. This is a great piece of technology Lenovo and a great gaming experience Disney! Fun, fun, fun. Credit goes to the partnership with Disney (and Lucasfilm) to produce interesting, authentic and compelling experiences. Oh yes, and an amazingly reasonable price of $199. to boot. More, More, More please Lenovo and Disney!
And in Lenovo's words:
Inspired by the Star Wars Holochess game shown in Star Wars: A New Hope, the Lenovo Mirage AR headset was built truly from the ground up to recreate an immersive augmented reality experience for Star War fans of all ages. Users were able to truly enjoy key moments in the Star Wars films – a new type of experience that had never existed until now.
Star Wars: Jedi Challenges lets fans live their dream of battling with a Lightsaber in augmented reality and other in-game experiences through the Skywalker Lightsaber and Lenovo Mirage AR headset.
This product comprises three pieces of hardware: The Lenovo Mirage AR headset, the Lightsaber controller and the Tracking Beacon.
* The Lenovo Mirage AR headset is an all-new augmented reality head mounted display (HMD) designed to give Star Wars fans an opportunity to recapture some of their favorite Star Wars moments.
* The Lightsaber Controller is a Lightsaber device that pairs with the Lenovo Mirage AR headset for fans to experience Star Wars in AR. The Lightsaber was intricately designed by Lucas film to be modeled after the Skywalker Lightsaber.
* The Tracking Beacon acts as a stable base and zero reference point for the sensors in Lenovo Mirage AR headset.
Starting price $199 at Best Buy and also available at Lenovo.com.
Ozobot - Augmented Virtuality in Gaming?
The small (1" diameter) Ozobot 'robot' gaming pieces bridge the physical and virtual online world with robots that respond to what they see beneath them on the tablet screen or tabletop or both. Basically, they move themselves! An interesting new innovation that could bring tabletop social gaming back to life. Devices and Apps not available until later this year, but I will be looking forward to trying this one.
The fun will come when lots of games and Apps appear.
see video of basics here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xFjTXQ8uho


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Facelift For the Sugar Plum Fairy
A Dad & Daughter's Take on new 'Nutcracker'
It's always tough to know if or when to update a beloved classic. Over time, people take a sort of public ownership over cultural institutions, and woe to those caretakers or companies who ignore or forget that. (See, "New Coke, 1985.")So it's likely that more than a few fans of the Boston Ballet's famed "Nutcracker" were anxious when it was announced last season that the 2011 production would be the last to look as it had for decades. The existing version would be re-imagined, re-designed, re-made. Re-tired, in other words. For 2012, there would be new costumes, new sets, new staging and choreography.
The decision wasn't arbitrary or capricious. Frankly, it had as much to do with simple economics as artistic vision.
SLIDESHOW: Photos from the 'new' Boston Nutcracker
"It was costing us a quarter of a million dollars in keeping it all up," says Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissenen. "The sets were falling apart -- literally -- there was dry rot in some of them; lighting helped, but if you would have seen them up close…"
Can't say I ever saw the shop-worn sets any closer than the third or fourth row of the balcony. But it's clear from Nissenen's tone on the phone that there was no way his company was going to drive into one more Holiday season in that beat-up, battered clunker of a shop-worn production.
"It was at the point of no return; it was time to create a new future."
But there were other reasons for breaking with the past, too. The existing production was one that Nissenen had essentially inherited when he took over the company in 2001. Clearly, that chafed a bit.
"I was tired of wearing my big brother's clothing!," he laughs. "I had to twist my choreography into someone else's sets and costumes."
Not to mention having to twist it into someone else's theater. When "The Nutcracker" moved from the Wang Center to the Boston Opera House four years ago, there was little adjustment to the somewhat smaller space.All of this background was in my mind as my assistant and I attended a recent production of the Boston Ballet's brand-new version of "The Nutcracker."
Actually, I don't really have an assistant. But I do have two daughters, and on this night, my oldest, Kyra, understood that she would be watching the show in two capacities: as a nine-year-old audience member, and as a member of the working press.
Actually, I was the only one getting paid, and my assistant didn't exactly accept the notion that her big night out involved work of any kind. At any rate, I did buy her a sumptuous pre-show dinner. (Okay, it was a hot dog at Five Guys. But she loved it.)
How different does the new production look? There are subtle but intriguing touches with the staging even before a single step is danced.
"What do you think?," I leaned in and whispered to my companion. She smiled.
My daughter watched, rapt, as Clara made her entrance in a dress a shade more sharply white than the other dancers. A subtle touch, but one that's a key part of Nissenen's re-imagining.
"I wanted to make it more clear that this is Clara's story," he says. "And to make it more clear where reality ends and the dream begins.
The new production accomplishes that. A definite improvement, because both elements were problematic in the old one.
In fact, the new costumes throughout are stunning and vibrant; they literally pop with color. The sets, at once both vaguely familiar and clearly different, also seemed to have a new clarity. (And presumably no dry rot.) It's almost as if the production's overall visual resolution, now re-staged to suit a somewhat smaller frame, is suddenly viewed in sharper detail.
That said, Kyra's night was actually made at intermission, when an older gentleman accidentally bumped her as we filed up the aisle. He apologized profusely, then did a double-take.
"You could be Clara!," he exclaimed, to Kyra's blushing enjoyment.
In the lobby, notebook in hand, I quizzed my "could-be-Clara" assistant.
"Best part so far?" I asked.
"Definitely the battle with the mice."
Who could argue?
These new Nutcracker mice are not your grandmother's mice. The costumes are wonderful (think very realistic, seven-foot mice), and the staging is whimsical.
The level of armament has been upped as well. Forget mere swords -- there are now cannon-fired projectiles flying across the stage. We liked.
The signature dances of the second act -- Spanish, Arabian, Chinese, Russian (or, the "Nutcracker United Nations," as I like to think of them) all seem wonderfully refreshed. Perhaps it's a combination of new choreography, sets, lighting, and the vibrant new costumes with their striking splashes of color. In other words, all the theatrical elements of an updated and re-designed production.
In short, no "New Coke" worries with the new "Nutcracker," and no reason to miss a thing of the old. And lots of reasons to relish and embrace the new.
Midway through the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, my daughter, tiring a bit, leaned over, rested her head on my shoulder. And put her arm through mine.
Yes, the show was wonderful. But that, was the best part of my night.
(Additional reporting for this story by Kyra Reinstein)
(Follow Ted on Twitter.)


text: The PR people at VeeDub were more than happy to give us a walk through of the black Volkswagen CC, which looks even better than the silver model. Though it's called the Passat CC, and will be likely thought of as a Passat, the current talk is that they'll drop the Passat moniker and offer it as the next step up for VW buyers that didn't go for Phaeton and would otherwise get an Audi or BMW. And we included a close up of the doors for those that asked.Who loves you?


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Consider the following question:
Input: Two graphs G1 and G2
Question: Is the cycle matroid M(G1) isomorphic to the cycle matroid M(G2)
What is the complexity of this question?
It is well known that the two cycle matroids are isomorphic if and only if the graphs are "2-isomorphic" which means that there is a sequence of "Whitney flips" (where a graph is disconnected at a 2-vertex cutset and then reconnected with one of the pieces flipped) from one to an isomorph of the other.
This suggests that the complexity should be the same as graph isomorphism, but I cannot find a reference to this.


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Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) works to provide children and youth around the world with access to financial services, enhance their awareness of economic rights, and empower them to build their assets, invest in their future, and ultimately break the cycle of poverty.
Copyright © 2019 Child & Youth Finance International. All rights reserved


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The Airbag Market report published and promoted by WMR draw out historical, existing, and forecast valuation of the Airbag industry till 2024. The report highlights the market essentials, opportunities, regional market, Emerging Growth Factors, market challenges, forecast and competitors joined with their market share. The fundamental purpose of Airbag Market Report is to provide a appropriate and strategic analysis of the Airbag industry.
Airbag Market 2018-2024:
The market analysis report speaks about the growth rate of Airbag market till 2024 manufacturing process, key factors driving this market with sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Airbag Market, distributors, traders and dealers of Airbag Market.
Ask for Free Illustrative Report (Sample) of Airbag Market: https://www.worldwidemarketreports.com/sample/255665
Key Stakeholders Covered within this Airbag Report:
Airbag Manufacturers
Airbag Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers
Airbag Subcomponent Manufacturers
Airbag Industry Association
Downstream Vendors
The research process involved the study of various factors affecting the industry, including the government policy, market situation, competitive landscape, historical data, present trends in the market, technological innovation, upcoming technologies and the technical progress in related industry, and market risks, opportunities, market barriers, and challenges.
Airbag Market – Regional Analysis
On the basis geography, the Airbag market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Africa. North America is expected to hold dominant position in Airbag market over the forecast period, owing to increasing FDA approved products in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth due to emerging market players and their market expansion strategies.
In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Airbag are as follows:
-History Year: 2014-2018
-Base Year: 2018
-Estimated Year: 2019
-Forecast Year: 2019 to 2024
In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources – industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Airbag industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study.
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Coverage from the Airbag Market Report Analysis, Market Forecast, Production Demand 2024
Chapter 1: Overview of Global Airbag Market (2018-2024)
• Definition
• Specifications
• Classification
• Applications
• Regions
Chapter 2: Market Competition by Players/Suppliers 2018 and 2024
• Manufacturing Cost Structure
• Raw Material and Suppliers
• Manufacturing Process
• Industry Chain Structure
Chapter 3: Sales (Volume) and Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2024)
• Sales
• Revenue and market share
Chapter 4, 5 and 6: Global Airbag Market by Type, Application & Players/Suppliers Profiles (2018-2024)
• Market Share by Type & Application
• Growth Rate by Type & Application
• Drivers and Opportunities
• Company Basic Information
Chapter 7, 8 and 9: Global Airbag Manufacturing Cost, Sourcing & Marketing Strategy Analysis
• Key Raw Materials Analysis
• Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing
• Marketing Channel
Chapter 10 and 11: Airbag Market Effect Factors Analysis and Market Size (Value and Volume) Forecast (2018-2024)
• Technology Progress/Risk
• Sales Volume, Revenue Forecast (by Type, Application & Region)
Chapter 12, 13, 14 and 15: Global Airbag Market Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source
• Methodology/Research Approach
• Data Source (Secondary Sources & Primary Sources)
• Market Size Estimation
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