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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The sweeping changes to Texas' election code now awaiting GOP Gov. Greg Abbott's signature would make it harder — sometimes even legally riskier — to cast a ballot in the state, which already has some of the nation's most restrictive voting laws.
Democrats gridlocked the state Capitol for 38 consecutive days after more than 50 fled to Washington, D.C., in July to deny Republicans a quorum, which is required to conduct the state's business. Enough of them returned less than two weeks ago to end the impasse, and GOP leaders made quick work of pushing the bill through both chambers on Tuesday. Abbott immediately said he'll sign it.
Here's a closer look at what's in the final version of the legislation:
Some of the most significant changes in the Texas legislation concerns partisan poll watchers, the volunteers deployed by both major parties to observe voting and counting. As recently as 1962, Republican poll watchers in some parts of Texas challenged Black and Latino voters to read and explain the U.S. Constitution before casting ballots as part of a campaign dubbed "Operation Eagle Eye." In 2020, then-President Donald Trump cited unverified observations from GOP poll watchers to spread doubt about the results and make false claims of fraud.
The final language of the omnibus bill gives partisan poll watchers new access, protections and power. The legislation makes it a Class A misdemeanor — comparable to burglary of a vehicle — for an election official to reject an appointed poll watcher. Under the measure, anyone who knowingly obstructs a poll watcher's view also commits a legal offense. The bill states the watchers may have "free movement" around the voting facilities and may "sit or stand near enough to hear or see the activity." Texas law still prohibits poll watchers from watching someone actually cast a ballot. However, they may observe the transfer of voting data.
The legislation empowers poll watchers to sue and seek court orders against election officials who get in their way. The new proposals would also require poll watchers to swear an oath that they will not harass voters and complete a training prior to participating for which they must show a certificate upon arrival.
Poll watchers may only be removed for violating election law if the violation is witnessed by the election clerk or judge and for violations of the penal code.
Republicans argue these changes are needed because voters will only trust elections if their representatives have free access to just about every aspect of voting and counting. But Democrats and civil rights organizations worry about the history of Texas conservatives using poll watchers to intimidate racial and ethnic minority voters.
The legislation written by Republicans explicitly rolls back ways Democratic counties have made it easier for people to vote, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. It bans drop boxes for mail ballots — a practice that has been used for years in other states with no major problems — and prohibits the mailing of absentee voting applications and ballots to all eligible voters. The bill also makes it a felony for any election official who sends out unsolicited applications or ballots to vote-by-mail.
The GOP bill also bans drive-thru voting for most voters and controls the times at which county governments can keep polling places open. That would put a stop to 24-hour voting locations. Houston's Harris County — one of the nation's largest, most racially diverse areas — says 140,000 voters utilized its drive-thru and 24-hour locations in November.
Republicans argue that these procedures were used during the ongoing but once-in-a-century pandemic and shouldn't be regular features of voting in the state. Democrats and voting rights groups say those measures simply make it easier for people to cast ballots and especially helped working class, young and ill voters access the polls.
Two provisions of the bill make voting more convenient, by extending early voting hours and mandating that workplaces allow employees to make a trip to the polls during either early voting or on Election Day.
Texas is already one of the hardest states in the nation in which to vote by mail. The process is limited to those 65 and older, voters who will be out of state during the election or people with disabilities. But after Trump objected to mail voting during his failed reelection bid, Republicans in Texas and elsewhere turned against the method and have been eager to tighten regulations on it.
The Texas bill adds more steps and paperwork for voters, including requirements to include their driver's license number, election identification certificate or the final four digits of their Social Security number and an "ink-on-paper" signature that can verifiably be matched with any previously filed signature in corresponding Texas Department of Public Safety records.
Opponents of the provision — somewhat similar to one that passed in Georgia — say it would create another opportunity for voters to make minor mistakes that could result in ballots being thrown out.
The new proposals partially address that concern. Voters who submit ballots before Election Day would be notified of problems and allowed to go to an elections office to fix some issues that can disqualify the vote, such as a mismatched signature, while some qualifying voters may be able to correct mistakes online.
The Texas bill, like others proposed this year, creates or expands several criminal violations involving elections, some of which are broadly defined and could ensnare voters or those who help them. Republicans contend they're necessary to prevent fraud or improper influence on voters. Democrats note, accurately, that voter fraud is exceedingly rare. The state's Republican attorney general dedicated millions of dollars to voter fraud investigations since last year but has only turned up a handful of cases in a state where more than 11 million people voted in November.
The bill expands an existing mandate that people who help voters with ballots provide information on the envelope attesting to their role. Under the legislation, anyone who helps a voter complete a ballot must also submit their name, address, relationship and details of whether they were paid by a campaign or political committee and take an oath, under penalty of perjury. Voters who can't complete a ballot on their own or read the ballot are allowed to vote with assistance.
In a win for disability advocates who said the clause required disclosure of personal or medical information, the bill's final language amended the oath to not obligate voting assistants to pledge they certified the voter was eligible due to a disability or inability to read the ballot.
The legislation also requires local election officials to refer all cases of improperly cast ballots to the state attorney general. Voting rights groups worry this could be abused to prosecute common errors, such as a voter failing to update registration when moving counties. Republicans argue this is a common-sense way to prevent fraud.
Language that would have shielded people with felony convictions from prosecution if they cast a ballot without knowing they were ineligible to vote was cut out at the last minute. It was one the few areas of bipartisan agreement and overwhelmingly approved in the House following backlash over the arrests of two Texas voters, both of whom are Black, which intensified criticism amid a broader fight over voting restrictions that opponents say disproportionately impact people of color. GOP lawmakers in the Senate rejected the change.
Riccardi reported from Denver.
Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.


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Electronic Arts has announced a Limited Edition release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the premier first-person shooter of 2010. The Limited Edition game features six special gameplay unlocks that give players a tactical advantage on the battlefield from the minute they fire up the game. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been recognized by critics worldwide for its uncompromising action gameplay, unprecedented level of destruction, vehicular warfare, squad play and open sandbox environments in a modern warfare game. Available while supplies last, the Limited Edition version of the game will be sold at the same price as the standard version of the game with participating retailers in North America on March 2, 2010 and in Europe on March 5, 2010.
The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition delivers six special customizations early to give players a day one advantage in multiplayer matches. Four vehicle warfare unlocks will immediately enhance the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 best-in-class online vehicle warfare experience, delivering extra firepower, radar, and armor for the vehicles. Additionally, the tracer dart attaches to any enemy vehicle and allows RPG-toting teammates to track, lock on, and destroy their adversary. Seasoned veterans of Battlefield 1943 will be able to immediately re-acquaint themselves with two classic and highly powerful weapons, the M1A1 submachine gun and the M1911 pistol.
The full list of six unlocks are as follows:
Four vehicle warfare unlocks
- Improved Vehicle Armor -" An up-armor package is mounted on all vehicle types, decreasing the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability.
- Supreme Vehicle Firepower -" Additional weapon packages are mounted for the driver of all armored vehicles, greatly expanding the range of targets the vehicle can successfully engage and destroy.
- Vehicle Motion Sensor -" Use this electronics warfare package to locate enemy units in direct proximity to the vehicle.
- Tracer Dart Pistol -" This magnetic dart attaches to any vehicle surface, allowing squad members to track, lock on, and fire rockets onto moving targets even beyond line of sight.
Two classic Battlefield 1943 weapons
- M1A1 Submachine Gun -" Reliable but heavy this classic weapon is a powerful force in the hands of any Battlefield veteran.
- M1911 Pistol -" Highly customized M1911 are favored for its dependability and the power of its large .45 caliber round.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be available on March 2, 2010 in North America for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation3 and the PC. The game will be available on March 5, 2010 in Europe.
For more information on DICE, please visit www.dice.se. For more information on the Battlefield franchise please visit: www.battlefield.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Need a good pair (and who doesn't…)? You're in luck. The Warners' Stellian Extreme Warehouse Sale this weekend features hundreds of appliances below cost.
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 12 from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
WHERE: Warners' Stellian Warehouse. 550 Atwater Circle, one mile north of I-94 on Dale Street at Topping Street, St. Paul.
In total, we'll have thousands of deals on discontinued, floor models, scratch and dent, one-only models — you get the picture.
Demand is such that we even make special purchases from the manufacturers at deep discounts exclusively for this sale.
Here's a sneak peak of some of those below (stay tuned for more discount appliance previews on Thursday and Friday!):
LG front-load laundry pair is just $999 (reg. $1599)
Save $700 on this Whirlpool laundry pair, now just $1299 after instant savings and mail-in rebate.
How often do you see four-figure savings? Pretty amazing, huh? $1000 off this LG steam washer and dryer, now only $1399.
Gas dryers and pedestals will set you back more and all deals are only good while supplies last (i.e. once they're gone, they're gone).


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Fanlore:Image Policy
|Image Policy
|In summary:
|Related Policies:
Note: A discussion on this policy was held on the Fanlore Dreamwidth community: the discussion of original draft, the discussion on policy revisions.
How do I add an image to a Fanlore page?
There are two steps which you can do in either order. You need to upload the image and fill out our image template, and then you need to link it in the appropriate page. Probably the easiest way is to edit the page you want to include the image on and add the link first. It should look like this:
[[Image:Name_for_your_image.jpg|thumb|This is a caption for my image!]]
When you save this edit, you will then see a red link for the image name. When you click on this, you will be taken to the upload form.
What information should I include when uploading an image?
When you are uploading an image, you will see a small form like this:
Please include as much information about the image as you can in the *Summary* field. Please edit the image page itself (i.e. access 'edit' on the page that you are on after uploading an image) to add the following information if you have it:
Creator: who made the image
Description: a text description of what's in the image (helpful for people using screenreaders or browsing without images)
Copyright: whether this image is in the public domain or if the copyright is owned by you or someone else.
Source: where you got the image from (eg, the URL if you found it online, "I scanned this from a zine I purchased in 1997 at Escapade," etc)
When you're editing the image page itself, please use the following template: Template:ImageSummary
Do I need to add anything else, or can the image stand on its own?
When you upload an image, you'll be prompted to offer information which will go in the image's summary box (e.g. creator, description, copyright, source.) Please use the Image Summary Template and any warnings that may apply. Images go on their own pages; article pages can link to those image pages, and that's how the image will come to appear alongside some text.
If you're uploading an image for a specific article page, please include some text about the image you've uploaded within that article: explain why the image is important or interesting, tell readers what trends it illustrates or represents, write about why you wanted to preserve the image in the first place.
Can I upload copyrighted images on Fanlore without the permission of the creator?
Yes, as long as doing so would be fair use! Here are some key aspects of fair use of images:
First, please make sure you give credit to the creator! (It's also helpful for future editors if you make a note where you obtained the image.) Attribution is very important; we want to give honor to the fanartist(s) who created the work in the first place.
Second, the image should be there to illustrate a point. Please consider whether putting the image on Fanlore adds new meaning or message. If you're going to upload an image, please also include some commentary on why the image is noteworthy. It doesn't have to be a lengthy essay -- just some commentary.
Fanlore is not an archive, so it's not appropriate to upload all of the artwork created by a given fan artist just to create a gallery of that artist's work. Instead, a user might upload a selection of images to illustrate that artist's style or range, alongside some text about that artist and their work, and then link to the artist's personal website. Or an image might be used to illustrate a particular fannish trope, or a particular trend in fanart. Or, if the page is about the artwork itself, the article should make note what is interesting or important or beautiful about it.
Third, you should use the resolution/image quality you need to make that point. For instance, if you were working on a Fanlore article talking about illustrated borders on zine covers, or a particular artistic technique in icon-making, you might need a very high-resolution image to make your point. If you were writing a page about the details of a particular artwork, you'd want a good enough copy to be able to show those details. In other cases, a lower-resolution image will be enough.
How do I know what resolution is appropriate?
This is a very good question, and the answer is: use what resolution you need to make your point. Please use your best judgment! The OTW Legal team will review cases if a complaint is made.
What about images I've already uploaded? Do I have to go replace all of them with low-resolution versions?
You do not! If a complaint arises, and a review by the Legal team concludes that a lower resolution image would be more appropriate in a given case, it can be replaced then.
I am a fan artist and low-resolution images of my work are posted on Fanlore. They look bad! I want my work displayed in better quality.
We are happy to upload higher-resolution images of your work to replace the low-resolution ones as quickly as our editing resources allow. (You are also welcome to do this yourself, of course, but we will make an effort to do it for you if you are unfamiliar with wiki editing.) We can also arrange to make sure that low-image versions are linked to higher-resolution versions on your site or elsewhere, if you provide us with the links.
I am a fan artist, and I don't want any of my work displayed on Fanlore. Will you take it down?
As described above, some uses of images without permission are fair use. Protecting fair use rights is important for the benefit of all fan creators — these are what give fan artists the right to make their work in the first place.
However, we are all fans here and we respect your concerns. If your art is displayed on Fanlore in a way which doesn't meet fair use rules, there are two primary options. One option is for us to delete art that is on the wiki if it is not being used in a way that meets fair use guidelines, and we will do that if you ask us to do so. A second option is for us to work with you to ensure that your work is being used according to fair use rules. We will make sure that your work is credited appropriately, link back to your site, and ensure that your image is accompanied by contextualizing text.
If you wish, we can use higher-resolution versions of your work. Or, if you prefer, we can use low-res versions of your work or show partial screencaps of your work. Email us using our webform and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
If you are unsatisfied with our response, you can submit a DMCA takedown notice.
I am a fan artist, and I don't want to have my name displayed on my fanart.
If you are/were active in fandom under your legal name, but feel uncomfortable with some or all of your art being associated with this name, we can offer you two options (per our identity protection policy): we can either edit the artwork's information so that it is associated with whatever pseud you choose, or we can "orphan" the artwork. If a piece of fanart is orphaned, it can still be shown on the wiki (as it is still part of our fannish history), but no name will be attached to it, and we can also blur or remove any signature which appears in the image itself.
Wait! Someone uploaded my image without permission and it's not being used in any article. What should I do?
You have options! One option is to add text which contextualizes the image, or to ask the person who uploaded the image to do so. Another option is to contact the Fanlore committee and ask the image to be deleted because its use doesn't fit fair use parameters. Email us using the webform and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
If you are unsatisfied with our response, you can submit a DMCA takedown notice.
If Fanlore uses my fanart to illustrate something, does that mean I'm releasing it under the wiki's Creative Commons license to the world at large?
As our revised Fanlore:Copyright page indicates, original text posted to Fanlore is covered by the wiki's Creative Commons license; images and quotes are considered to be used under the principles of fair use, and are therefore not subject to the Creative Commons license.
The exception to that are images which were created specifically for the wiki (logos, banners, pie charts created to illustrate the contents of archives, etc.) Images which were created specifically for the wiki are covered by the wiki's Creative Commons license; other fanart is not.
The Image Summary Template gives instructions on how fans can upload their own images to the wiki for use in article pages under a CC license.
What kinds of images on Fanlore can I expect to have warnings?
Images that are sexually explicit, depict rape or sexual assault, or depict people or characters who are underage engaging in sexual activity should have warnings on Fanlore. Users are responsible for reading and heeding the warnings provided by the person who loaded in the image. Risk-averse users should keep in mind that not all content will carry full warnings and consider whether they should set up filters for viewing images, as described below. If you think an image should have a warning, feel free to add the warning; bear in mind that other users may edit the page.
I just a saw an image that fits the warning criteria, but has no warning. How do I add a warning?
We have templates for Sexually Explicit Images, Images Depicting Non-con and Sexual Assault, and Underage Persons in Image. Explicit is defined as anything that depicts persons engaging in sexual acts that also features visible genitalia. Underage is defined as anybody under 18 (Earth years) engaging in sexual acts. They can be found in the Templates section of the wiki, and here are direct links:
- Template:SexuallyExplicitImage
- Template:ImageDepictingNon-conOrSexualAssault
- Templates:UnderagePersonsInImage
You can add a warning by editing the page and adding the appropriate template.
Can I filter out all images when I am browsing on Fanlore?
Yes, you can. We have detailed instructions for how to filter out all images when browsing Fanlore. You can find them here: Help:Filtering images
I have other questions about images which aren't covered here.
Contact us and ask, and we'll do our best to answer promptly! You can email us using the webform and we'll respond as quickly as we can.


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OVERVIEW: What every practitioner needs to know
Are you sure your patient has Diphtheria? What are the typical findings for this disease?
Diphtheria is an infection caused by toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae, an anaerobic, pleomorphic Gram positive bacillus. Infection usually involves the throat, but the nasal mucosa and/or larynx may be affected. Initial symptoms include sore throat and, in some cases, low grade fever. These mild complaints are followed after 2-4 days by pseudomembrane formation on the pharyngeal walls, tonsils, uvula, and soft palate. The membrane may extend to the larynx and trachea. The soft tissue of the neck becomes edematous, and enlarged lymph nodes cause swelling of the neck – the so-called "bull neck" appearance.
Patients with diphtheria may hold the neck in extension to relieve pressure on the throat and larynx. The definition of the angle of the jaw and sternocleidomastoid muscle is "erased" by the brawny edema that is pitting, warm, tender, but not erythematous. Swallowing may be compromised by unilateral or bilateral paralysis of the muscles of the palate.
In untreated patients complications include extension of the pseudomembrane leading to airway compromise. Circulating toxin can precipitate circulatory collapse, respiratory failure, stupor, coma, and death. Diphtheria toxin may affect the myocardium and central nervous system, even in patients whose pharyngeal involvement was mild.
Nasal diphtheria, more common in infants, is less likely to lead to serious systemic disease, because the toxin is less well-absorbed from the nasal mucosa. In this condition, initial clear nasal discharge is followed by serosanguineous, and then mucopurulent drainage with excoriation of the upper lip and nares. Pseudomembrane may develop on the nasal septum, and a foul odor may be appreciated.
Cutaneous diphtheria results in pain, tenderness, and erythema at the site of infection, leading to ulceration and formation of a brownish-gray membrane. This manifestation is more common in tropical regions.
Unusual manifestations of diphtheria
Unusual sites of infection with toxigenic C. diphtheriae include the external ear, the palpebral conjunctivae, and the genital mucosa. Rarely, bacterial endocarditis due to non-toxigenic strains has been reported. Sporadic case of C. diphtheriae bacterema have been reported rarely, but they have been universally fatal.
What other disease/condition shares some of these symptoms?
The clinical findings of pharyngeal diphtheria are distinct from those of other infectious causes of oropharyngeal disease. The leather-like pseudomembrane extending beyond the tonsillar area, along with a paucity of systemic signs and symptoms, including low or non-existent fever, help distinguish pharyngeal diphtheria from other causes of exudative pharyngitis, such as
Streptococcus pyogenes, adenovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus.
The lack of oropharyngeal ulceration distinguishes diphtheria from herpes simplex infection or hand-foot-mouth disease caused by enteroviruses. Oropharyngeal candidiasis and mucositis may be associated with similar physical findings to early diphtheria, but the clinical circumstances should prevent confusion. The neck involvement of phlebitis and thrombosis of the jugular veins (Lemierre disease) is unilateral, and no pseudomembrane is seen in the oropharynx of these patients.
If a lumbar puncture is performed in a patient with neurologic complications, elevated CSF protein may lead to an erroneous diagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome.
What caused this disease to develop at this time?
C. diptheriae is spread by respiratory tract droplets and by contact with exudate from skin lesions. Untreated, infected individuals shed the organism from the nose and throat or from skin lesions for 2-6 weeks following infection. Rarely, the organism may be acquired by contact with contaminated dust, food, or fomites. The incubation period is usually 2-7 days, but it can be longer.
Infection due to C. diphtheriae is seen worldwide, but the incidence is higher in temperate climates and among individuals living in crowded, socioeconomically deprived conditions and in regions with low rates of immunization. Humans are the sole reservoir for this organism.
Historically, diphtheria occurred most often in children under 15 years, usually in unimmunized individuals. The disease is now rare in countries in which immunization is universal or nearly universal, but the few cases that do occur in those countries are more likely now to be in adults whose antibody against diphtheria toxin has waned. There has been no confirmed case of respiratory tract diphtheria in the United States since 2003. It is estimated that epidemic spread of toxigenic C. diphtheria can be prevented if 70%-80% of a population has been immunized.
Cutaneous diphtheria has been reported among homeless individuals living in crowded and poor hygienic conditions in the United States. When untreated, cutaneous infection is associated with prolonged shedding, environmental contamination, and transmission to close contacts.
What laboratory studies should you request to help confirm the diagnosis? How should you interpret the results?
Specimens for culture should be obtained from the nose and throat and from any mucocutaneous site suspected of being involved. In addition to exudate or secretions, a portion of the membrane should be submitted for culture. The receiving laboratory should be notified that infection with
C. diphtheriae is suspected, because specific selective media will be required. Specimens to be sent to a remote laboratory should be transported in a silica gel pack or transport medium. Gram stain and fluorescent antibody staining for identification of
C. diphtheriae is unreliable. Suspicious isolates should be tested for toxin production by a laboratory recommended by health department authorities.
The Shick test, which involves intracutaneous injection of diphtheria toxin, was used in the past to determine immunity to the toxin, but this test is not useful for diagnosis.
Though coryneform bacteria are frequent contaminants of blood cultures, any such bacteria isolated from a sterile site or from mucocutaneous samples from patients with suggestive disease should be identified to the species level with appropriate tests for toxin production for any
C. diphtheriae isolated.
Other commonly obtained laboratory tests are not likely to be helpful in diagnosing diphtheria. The WBC count may be normal or slightly elevated. If neurologic involvement is suspected and CSF is obtained, the CSF protein may be elevated, and there may be a slight CSF pleocytosis.
If cardiac involvement is suspected an electrocardiogram may demonstrate prolonged P-R interval, ST-segment elevation, and T-wave changes. Arrhythmias may also be detected. An echocardiogram may demonstrate dilated or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Elevation of serum aspartate aminotransferase suggests cardiac myonecrosis.
Would imaging studies be helpful? If so, which ones?
Chest x-ray in patients with suspected cardiac involvement may demonstrate cardiac enlargement or evidence of pulmonary edema.
If you are able to confirm that the patient has diphtheria, what treatment should be initiated?
Treatment of diphtheria involves BOTH administration of equine antitoxin AND antimicrobial therapy.
A single dose of antitoxin should be administered as soon as possible if the clinical condition is suggestive of diphtheria. Mortality can be reduced to less than 1% if antitoxin is administered in the first day of disease compared to 20% if administration is delayed to the 4th day. In the United States, diphtheria antitoxin can be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. physicians caring for patients with suspected respiratory diphtheria can obtain diphtheria antitoxin by contacting the Emergency Operations Center at 770-488-7100.
The purpose of the antitoxin is to neutralize circulating toxin; intravenous administration is preferred. Only horse antidiphtheria antiserum is available in the United States, and approximately 10% of individuals have preexisting hypersensitivity to horse serum. Approximately 8% will develop serum sickness with its administration. For this reason, a scratch test using a 1:1000 dilution of antitoxin in saline solution should be performed prior to antitoxin administration. If no reaction is seen, the scratch test should be followed by an intradermal test using a dose of 0.02 mL of a 1:1000 dilution in preservative-free isotonic saline. Even if both tests yield no reaction hypersensitivity may manifest during administration of serum, so antitoxin should be administered cautiously.
Approximately 5%-20% of individuals will manifest hypersensitivity or develop serum sickness when exposed to horse serum. The likelihood of reaction is increased in patients with a history of allergic disease or past exposure to animal serum. If hypersensitivity is suspected based on the results of the prick test or the intradermal test or based on the patient's history, desensitization must be attempted using increasing amounts and decreasing dilutions of intravenously administered antiserum at 15 minute intervals, beginning with 0.1 mL of a 1:1000 dilution and increasing to 1.0 mL of undiluted serum. Despite these precautions anaphylaxis can occur, and appropriate resources should be available to treat this complication.
The dose of intravenous antitoxin to be administered depends upon the degree and duration of illness. The recommended dose for pharyngeal/laryngeal disease of ≤ 48 hours duration is 20,000-40,000 units; for nasopharyngeal disease, 40,000-60,000 units; for extensive disease of
≥ 3 days duration or for diffuse swelling of the neck, 80,000-100,000 units. Antitoxin is probably not effective or needed for treating cutaneous disease, but some experts recommend administration of 20,000-40,000 units for this condition.
Antimicrobial therapy
Antibiotic therapy should be given along with antiserum to eradicate the organism and halt toxin production. Either erythromycin (40 to 50 mg/kg/day to a maximum of 2 grams/day orally or parenterally) for 14 days or penicillin (penicillin G, 100,000 to 150,000 U/kg/day intravenously in 4 divided doses or procaine penicillin, 25,000 to 50,000 U/kg/day IM to a maximum of 1.2 million units in two divided doses) for 14 days may be used. Other antibiotics may be effective, but their use has not been studied or approved for this purpose.
Patients with respiratory diphtheria should be isolated and placed on droplet precautions until two cultures from the nose and throat taken 24 hours after antimicrobial therapy had been completed are negative. Patients with cutaneous diphtheria should be on contact precautions until 2 cultures from the affected skin taken 24 hours after completion of antibiotics are negative.
Active immunization with diphtheria toxoid should be undertaken during convalescence, since disease does not necessarily confer immunity.
Public health officials should be notified of suspected cases of diphtheria. In addition, nasal and pharyngeal swab cultures should be obtained from all close contacts, regardless of immunization status to identify asymptomatic carriers. All household contacts and others with habitual, close contact with the patient should be treated with oral erythromycin (40-50 mg/kg/day to a maximum of 2 g/day for 7 days or with a single intramuscular dose of benzathine penicillin G (600,000 units for those weighing < 30 kg or 1.2 million units for larger children and adults).
Contacts who are found to be asymptomatic carriers should be isolated until at least two cultures taken at a minimum of 24 hours following completion of antibiotic therapy are negative. Finally, repeat cultures should be obtained 2 weeks following completion of therapy from contacts whose initial culture was positive. If these cultures are positive, the antibiotic course should be repeated. Antitoxin administration is not needed for asymptomatic carriers. Immunization should be undertaken or completed for contacts who have not been fully immunized against
C. diphtheriae.
What are the adverse effects associated with each treatment option?
Administration of equine antitoxin may result in acute febrile reactions, serum sickness, or anaphylaxis. Approximately 8% of patients will develop serum sickness, and 10% have pre-existing hypersensitivity to horse serum.
Administration of erythromycin results in gastrointestinal complaints in some patients. Since erythromycin is metabolized via hepatic cytochrome P-450 enzymes, antibiotic-drug interactions can occur. Allergic reactions, including rash, fever, and anaphylaxis can occur with administration of penicillin.
What are the possible outcomes of diphtheria?
Death due to mechanical airway obstruction or to cardiac involvement occurs in at least 10% of patients with respiratory diphtheria. The prognosis depends on the immunization status of the patient, the site of involvement, and the speed with which antitoxin is administered. Patients treated on the first day of illness have a mortality rate of approximately 1%, while patients for whom antitoxin treatment is delayed as long as 4 days have a 20% risk of death.
Patients who develop cardiac involvement but who survive generally recover normal cardiac function unless toxic damages has led to a permanent arrhythmia. Recovery from neurologic complications usually is complete in surviving patients.
What causes this disease and how frequent is it?
Corynebacterium diphtheriae is an aerobic, nonencapsulated Gram positive nonmotile pleomorphic rod which has worldwide distribution. Humans are the only known reservoir. The organism can be grown on a variety of selective media, including tellurite agar or specially enriched Loffler, Pai, or Tinsdale medium. There are three phenotypes of C. diphtheriae (mitis, intermedius, and gravis), each capable of producing toxin and disease, but distinguishable from each other by growth characteristics in vitro.
The exotoxin that produces multiple complications in infected individuals is not essential for bacterial growth. It is produced only in C. diphtheriae that are lysogenic for a phage carrying the gene for toxin production.
Prior to availability and use of diphtheria toxoid to prevent disease, approximately 125,000 cases were reported in the United States annually, with approximately 13,000-15,000 deaths per year. Disease predominantly affected children under 15 years of age. The frequency of disease fell sharply after availability of vaccine. Since 1980 the incidence in the United States has been approximately 0.001 cases per 100,000 population, and there has not been a case of respiratory diphtheria reported in the United States since 2003. When immunization rates fall, as they did, for instance in the countries of the former Soviet Union during the 1990's, outbreaks can still occur.
How do these pathogens/genes/exposures cause the disease?
C. diphtheriae can cause infection of the mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and of the skin. If the infecting organism is lysogenized by the toxin-producing bacteriophage, toxin is elaborated and released after an incubation period of 2-5 days. The B fragment of the toxin attaches to host cell receptors, allowing entry into the cell. The A fragment interrupts cellular protein synthesis. The effect of toxin activity is to produce necrosis, edema, and membrane formation. The gray-black membrane is made up of epithelial cells, fibrin, inflammatory cells, erythrocytes, and organisms.
Toxin is also distributed through the blood stream and lymphatics, reaching distant organs. The heart may suffer from development of cellular infiltrate with fatty accumulation, particularly affecting the conduction system. Myelin sheaths of the nervous system undergo fatty degeneration leading to local (pharyngeal and palatal) paralysis and also affecting more distal nerves, including the muscles of respiration. Necrosis of renal tubules and hepatic parenchyma, as well as amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia and adrenal hemorrhage may also occur.
Though antitoxin administration leads to neutralization of circulating toxin, it has no effect on toxin that has already entered cells. For this reason antitoxin should be given as quickly as possible.
What complications might you expect from the disease or treatment of the disease?
Complications of diphtheria include airway obstruction by the diphtheritic membrane and through peripharyngeal edema.
Cardiac complications, including dysrhythmias (first-, second-, and third-degree heart block, atrioventricular dissociation, ventricular tachycardia) and congestive heart failure occur in 10-25% of patients and are thought to be responsible for 50-60% of deaths due to diphtheria. Cardiac involvement may become apparent during the first 10 days of illness, or it may be delayed by several weeks, when the pharyngeal involvement is subsiding. Tachycardia out of proportion to fever is suggestive of cardiac involvement or autonomic dysfunction.
Demyelination of nervous tissue may lead to paralysis of the muscles of the soft palate and hypopharynx, and can also involve other cranial nerves. This complication may be seen as early as 10 days into the illness, but may be delayed as long as 7 weeks. Diffuse, usually bilateral involvement of the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord may cause progressive weakness, and involvement of the phrenic nerve can lead to diaphragmatic paralysis. These motor deficits may be delayed in their appearance by as long as 3 months.
How can diphtheria be prevented?
Immunization with a diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine is effective in preventing disease. In the United States vaccine is recommended to be given using vaccine also containing tetanus toxoid and pertussis antigen at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, followed by booster doses at 12-18 months, 4-6 years, and in early adolescence.
Because of a higher likelihood of adverse reactions, children over 6 years of age should receive a reduced dose of diphtheria toxoid (2 limit of flocculation, Lf units). This dose should be repeated every 10 years throughout life. Though circulation of toxigenic strains of
C. diphtheriae is low in countries where immunization is routinely used, subgroups of underimmunized individuals would be at risk of disease if exposed. A serum concentration of 0.01 to 0.1 IU/mL of antibody against diphtheria toxin is considered protective.
Public health officials should be notified of suspected cases of diphtheria. In addition, nasal and pharyngeal swab cultures should be obtained from all close contacts, regardless of immunization status to identify asymptomatic carriers. All household contacts and others with habitual, close contact with the patient should be treated with oral erythromycin (40-50 mg/kg/day to a maximum of 2 g/day for 7 days) or with a single intramuscular dose of benzathine penicillin G (600,000 units for those weighing < 30 kg or 1.2 million units for larger children and adults).
Contacts who are found to be asymptomatic carriers should be isolated until at least two cultures taken at a minimum of 24 hours following completion of antibiotic therapy are negative. Finally, repeat cultures should be obtained 2 weeks following completion of therapy from contacts whose initial culture was positive. If these cultures are positive, the antibiotic course should be repeated. Antitoxin administration is not needed for asymptomatic carriers. Immunization should be undertaken or completed for contacts who have not been fully immunized against
C. diphtheriae.
What is the evidence?
Pickering, LK, Baker, CJ, Kimberlin, DW, Long, SS. "Diphtheria". 2009. pp. p 280(This is the "go-to" resource for management of infectious diseases in children.)
Farizo, KM, Strebel, PM, Chen, RT. "Fatal respiratory disease due to Corynebacterium diphtheriae: case report and review of guidelines for management, investigation, and control". Clin Infect Dis. vol. 16. 1993. pp. 59
Hodes, HL. "Diphtheria". Pediatr Clin North Am. vol. 26. 1979. pp. 445(This is an authoritative review by a giant in the field of pediatric infectious diseases.)
McMillan, JA, Feigin, R, McMillan, JA, Feigin, RD, DeAngelis, CA, Jones, MD. "Diphtheria". 2006. pp. 1059(This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the disease and its management.)
Copyright © 2017, 2013 Decision Support in Medicine, LLC. All rights reserved.
No sponsor or advertiser has participated in, approved or paid for the content provided by Decision Support in Medicine LLC. The Licensed Content is the property of and copyrighted by DSM.
- OVERVIEW: What every practitioner needs to know
- Are you sure your patient has Diphtheria? What are the typical findings for this disease?
- What other disease/condition shares some of these symptoms?
- What caused this disease to develop at this time?
- What laboratory studies should you request to help confirm the diagnosis? How should you interpret the results?
- Would imaging studies be helpful? If so, which ones?
- If you are able to confirm that the patient has diphtheria, what treatment should be initiated?
- What are the adverse effects associated with each treatment option?
- What are the possible outcomes of diphtheria?
- What causes this disease and how frequent is it?
- How do these pathogens/genes/exposures cause the disease?
- What complications might you expect from the disease or treatment of the disease?
- How can diphtheria be prevented?
- What is the evidence?


text: Some players are on the verge of stardom, others are entering a crucial phase of their development and still others are getting their first tastes of full-season ball. With the 2019 season approaching, MiLB.com takes a look at the most intriguing prospects from each MLB organization. Below is the schedule for each primer and links when ready.


text:
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Inflammation is our body's way of sending help to heal wounds, prevent infection, and fend off germs. Without all that heat, redness, and swelling surrounding the area needing immediate attention, we...
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It's time to put the green in your clean! Common household cleaners contain toxic chemicals that can be harmful to your health. You can create safe, eco-friendly cleaning products using essential...
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1.Don't ignore the problem. The further behind you become, the more likely that you will lose your house. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to reinstate your loan because you'll have fewer options. So, act fast, even if you are not in foreclosure yet. If you've had, or expect, a reduction in income, explore your options now. Don't wait until you've exhausted all of your savings. Open and respond to all mail from your lender. Your failure to open the mail will not delay or stop the foreclosure process.
2. Never pay a fee for foreclosure prevention help. Use that money to pay the mortgage instead.
3. Seek housing counseling. Access FREE professional advice by attending a foreclosure prevention workshop like the IFPN Keep Your Home Illinois event in South Holland October 13. Or visit the IFPN website-www.keepyourhomeillinois.org or call the IFPN hotline at 1-855-KEEP-411 (1-855-533-7411). Foreclosure counseling more than doubles a homeowner's chance of receiving a loan modification and reduces the likelihood of re-default by 67%.
4. Know your mortgage rights. Find your loan documents and read them so you know what your lender may do if you can't make your payments. Never sign a legal document without reading and understanding all the terms. If you sign a document appointing someone to act on your behalf, you may be signing over the title to your property and becoming a renter in your own home!
5. Maintain a household budget. A budget helps you recognize problems before they arise, and you can then change your commitments and behavior to prevent them. A housing counselor can help you with this.
Governor Quinn Helps Working Families Connect With Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network
Thousands of Illinois Residents Getting Help to Save Their Homes; South Holland Event is Latest to Connect Families Facing Foreclosure with Resources SOUTH HOLLAND - October 13, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today met with homeowners seeking help from foreclosure and outlined the progress of his Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network (IFPN) that has been helping thousands of families across the state stay in their homes.
Thanks to the network, Illinois homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments are able to access the assistance and information they need to help them avoid foreclosure. The "Keep Your Home, Illinois" regional foreclosure prevention workshop was held at the South Holland Community Center.
"The home is the foundation of working families across Illinois," Governor Quinn said. "Keeping people in their homes strengthens families, communities and our economy. The Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network provides homeowners with the guidance they need to do what's best for their families at no cost."
Most importantly, it offers homeowners a safe and trusted source for assistance so they do not fall prey to mortgage rescue scams offered by unscrupulous business entities.
IFPN has made a far-reaching impact, enabling tens of thousands of residents in every part of Illinois to access services they need to help them keep their homes. Thanks to IFPN:
Almost 350,000 homeowners have accessed either the IFPN website or the Illinois Hardest Hit program website.
More than 10,000 people have called IFPN help hotlines.
More than 37,000 homeowners have received homeownership counseling.
Almost 1,800 people have attended a series of IFPN workshops across the state.
More than 4,600 homeowners have been given more than $52 million in mortgage payment assistance with almost $105 million in funds approved through the Illinois Hardest Hit program.
"When the governor launched the IFPN, we knew that it was the best way to help people navigate the often confusing and overwhelming world of foreclosure prevention assistance programs," said Mary Kenney, executive director of the IHDA. "We now see the impact and success of IFPN and we will continue to reach out across the state so more and more people can get the help they need."
As states across the nation recover from the Great Recession, foreclosures continue to be a challenge. As of September, according to RealtyTrac, one in 376 Illinois homes had some form of foreclosure filing on record. The first half of 2012 saw a 3.1 percent increase in foreclosure filings in the Chicago region, compared to the same period in 2011. For the same period, Cook County as a whole saw an increase of 3.4 percent.
"Under Governor Quinn's leadership, Illinois has made many important strides to reduce foreclosures and protect homeowners - including providing access to free homeownership counseling," Kenney said. "Studies show that housing counseling nearly doubles the chances of mortgage modifications and reduces the likelihood of re-default by at least 67 percent. We are pleased that through IFPN, more than 37,000 homeowners have been referred to counseling."
Interagency cooperation and partnerships are a key element of IFPN, linking the various agencies and nonprofit organizations that play essential roles in providing resources to Illinois homeowners.
"We are proud to be one of the 68 counseling agencies providing services under the network," said Ofelia Navarro, executive director of the Spanish Coalition for Housing. "Governor Quinn understands that homeowners have difficulty understanding and keeping up with which foreclosure prevention programs are available to them. Now more than ever, as the number of programs increase, homeowners need guidance to choose the best option for them."
Under Governor Quinn, the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) comprise the IFPN.
Illinois residents who are having trouble paying their mortgage, facing foreclosure or know someone who is should reach out to IFPN as soon as possible by calling the IFPN hotline at 855-KEEP-411 or by visiting www.keepyourhomeillinois.org. A list of upcoming IFPN events is also available.
About IHDA
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (www.ihda.org) is an independent, self-supporting bonding authority that finances the creation and preservation of affordable housing throughout Illinois. Since 1967, IHDA has allocated more than $11.1 billion to finance more than 221,000 affordable housing units for the residents of Illinois. ###
More info at www.ihda.org and www.keepyourhomeillinois.org


text:
Moving my Catalyst Apps from Apache/FCGI to Nginx/Starman
Recently I had to move all my projects to a new server and decided to give Nginx and Starman a chance.
The Nginx config is rather simple.
my Catalyst Application is located at /var/www/MyApp
server {
listen 80;
server_name myapp.at *.myapp.at;
location / {
include /etc/nginx/proxy_params;
proxy_pass http://unix:/var/www/MyApp/myapp.socket:/;
location /static {
root /var/www/MyApp/root;
expires 30d;
Nginx expects the Catalyst Application to listen on the socket /var/www/MyApp/myapp.socket.
Here is my initd script that takes care of starting and stopping the starman processes. (/var/www/MyApp/myapp.starman.initd)
#!/usr/bin/env perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use Daemon::Control;
my $app_home = '/var/www/MyApp';
my $program = '/var/www/perl5/perlbrew/perls/perl-5.16.2/bin/starman';
my $name = 'MyApp';
my $workers = 1;
my $pid_file = $app_home . '/myapp.pid';
my $socket = $app_home . '/myapp.socket';
name => $name,
lsb_start => '$nginx',
lsb_stop => '$nginx',
lsb_sdesc => $name,
lsb_desc => $name,
path => $app_home . '/myapp.starman.initd',
user => 'www-data',
group => 'www-data',
directory => $app_home,
program => "$program -Ilib myapp.psgi --workers $workers --listen $socket",
pid_file => $pid_file,
stderr_file => $app_home . '/myapp.out',
stdout_file => $app_home . '/myapp.out',
fork => 2,
Check out Daemon::Control, it's a really helpful CPAN module that eases the creation of init scripts. Let's create the initd script.
./myapp.starman.initd get_init_file > /etc/init.d/cat-myapp
You want the starman processes to survive a reboot, so let's install to runlevels
update-rc.d cat-myapp defaults
Now reload Nginx and start your starman processes and you should be good to go.
I just started using this kind of config, so any problems wouldn't surprise me too much.


text:
In addition to the three new Liquid Sand shades, OPI's fall/winter collection is full of warm, autumn-like colors offset by a handful of bold blues, a shiny foil, and even a little duochrome.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
OPI San Francisco Collection Fall/Winter 2013 Swatches and Review
In addition to the three new Liquid Sand shades, OPI's fall/winter collection is full of warm, autumn-like colors offset by a handful of bold blues, a shiny foil, and even a little duochrome.
35 comments:
I am kind of surprised at how repetitive this collection is with some past collections from OPI and other nail polish brands. I can think of at least close dupes for at least a handful of these.ReplyDeleteReplies
Yes, yes and more yes to that! I mean, the first color is unique. The rest, I swear are colors they already have; they just add/remove a little bit of sparkle and stick a different label on the bottom. I normally adore their seasonal collections. The good news here is that I pretty much already have these \(°_°)/Delete
Yep. I feel like, been there, done that. The rest are very Sally Hansen.Delete
Embarca-Dare Ya looks awesome! But it looks kind of similar to You Only Live Twice.. Not sure if I should get it.ReplyDelete
I really shouldn't be liking A-Piers to Be Tan but I find it strangely alluring. It's the only one I'm thinking of getting from this collectionReplyDelete
I don't know why, but this Fall collection by OPI does not sweep me off my feet. I only love Muir Muir on the Wall...ReplyDelete
I hope you won't mind my asking how true are your photos of Muir Muir on the Wall. It doesn't look anywhere near this pretty in other swatches I've seen.ReplyDeleteReplies
Scrangie's swatches are always the best! ;)Delete
Agreed with you and Pink Pamalamma: Scrangie's swatches always seem to look prettier than others but she takes time to capture all nuances and looking at it in different lighting. But I also have to agree with you--bc bloggers only seem to show Muir Muir on the Wall as JUST a blackened plum shimmer (the first photo of it).Delete
Scrangie, your swatches are always the best ever! I'm loving the blues and Peace, Love,& Opi.ReplyDelete
Not impressed with the colours. They are pretty but nothing special to me.ReplyDelete
Wow, this turned out to have a lot of gems! I especially loved A-Piers to Be Tan, Muir Muir on the Wall and Peace & Love & OPI... So want them! :DReplyDelete
WHY DID I CLICK ON THIS LINK.ReplyDelete
Love your swatches!!ReplyDelete
a piers to be tan is awesome!ReplyDelete
I've been most excited for Muir but you've convinced me I need Peace&Love&OPI, too, and maybe Embarca-dare Ya. BUY ALL THE DUOCHROMES!!! Even the weak ones. ♥ReplyDelete
I think doing big collections like this spreads OPI too thin, so they have to repeat themselves with a lot of the colors. There are red and burgundy cremes and shimmers in the core line; I don't need them in a seasonal collection, too. And I don't ever need brushstrokey shimmers. Thank goodness for the duochromes they put in here!ReplyDelete
Wow! I seriously want all of them.ReplyDelete
I really like A Piers-To Be Tan. It's not a unique color by any means but I still want it. I Knead Sour dough reminds me of a browner version Schnapps Out Of It. Overall not that exciting a collection- though I do like The Liquid SandsReplyDelete
Much lusting going on here, love In the Cable Car Pool Lane and Incognito in Sausalito :)ReplyDelete
Sara at Belfast Beauty Love
Amaze-Balls *.*ReplyDelete
The president of OPI was at our local beauty salon in SF today to promote the new collection. Such a nice man, and he even autographed boxes of the mini collections that he gave away just for stopping by!ReplyDelete
Love the duochromes!ReplyDelete
I really like Muir Muir, Peace Love and OPI, and Haven't the Foggiest.ReplyDelete
I want to try a piers to be tan, unique color.ReplyDelete
Nice reviews <3
Wow I wasn't expecting anything. I need to rethink this. I see some I may neeeeeed! Lol thank u ;)ReplyDelete
Wow I wasn't expecting anything. I need to rethink this. I see some I may neeeeeed! Lol thank u ;)ReplyDelete
I was just perusing these at lunch today.ReplyDelete
Are you going to do a post on Essie's fall 2013?
- AnonymousAugust 15, 2013 at 11:46 PM
I gotta know, what is notorious about OPI And Apple Pie?ReplyDelete
I gotta know, what is notorious about OPI And Apple Pie?ReplyDelete
Muir Muir on the Wall is a serious problem to me. Very serious. That polish is gorgeous!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 25, 2013 at 1:46 PM
I want them all! I love OPI!ReplyDelete
would you say that Peace, Love & OPI is a dupe for Essie's For the Twill of it?ReplyDelete
would you say that Peace, Love & OPI is a dupe for Essie's For the Twill of It?ReplyDelete
Please be respectful. Refrain from using my comments for unsolicited advertising. If you would like me to check out your blog or product, please email me. Thank you!


text:
My time living and working in Mexico has given me an appreciation for the celebrations of Halloween on October 31st, All Saints' Day on November 1st, and the Day of the Dead (or Día de los Muertos) on November 1st through the 2nd.
To remember the dead and honor their joys and pleasures in life at the end of October, I often create an altar adorned with photos of my loved ones who have passed on, marigolds, and other beautiful things they enjoyed in life.
This year it's different.
This year on the Día de los Muertos, I want to honor thousands of unknown and uncelebrated dead.
Just as our children will mask up tonight to disguise themselves, our ignorance and apathy disguise some frightening statistics of an epidemic of preventable deaths in our country.
Recently my spouse and I travelled to Lake Tahoe for a business meeting in Incline Village, Nevada. We traveled up the beautiful Mount Rose Highway that leaves the Great Basin—where we live—up into the Eastern Sierras. It was a beautiful and crisp autumn day with the aspens turning brilliant yellow and the clear, cold air pungent with the scent of the pines.
As we climbed up into the Sierras, a news report about child abuse broke our hearts wide open just as we crested the mountains and saw the brilliant blue of Lake Tahoe before us.
"Every five hours, a child is beaten to death or dies of neglect in the United States," we heard on NPR. The report was based on a recent BBC report entitled, America's Child Death Shame.
We were shaken and shocked, so I decided to explore this issue.
According to the National Children's Alliance, five children die of abuse and neglect every day in the United States. These are the reported cases; many more may never be reported or acknowledged.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, infants under age 1 suffered the highest rate of victimization and death in 2009. Fatalities were also high that year for children younger than age 4, according to the agency, with girls suffering more acts of violence than boys.
A majority of these children weren't killed by a stranger—these children actually met their deaths at the hand of a parent or relative, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This information is sadly reflective of our values and our society. These reports are about us. There is no one outside "us" to blame—no other group, no different ethnicity or nationality.
People behave in ways the system supports and, from a systems perspective, our society is supporting the deaths of our most vulnerable—our infants and children.
While debate over the raising or cutting of taxes rules the U.S. Congress, our children are being murdered. While right-to-life, anti-abortion activists are putting legislation on ballots in Georgia and Mississippi that demands that civil liberties begin for fetuses from the moment of conception, I find myself asking, What about our little ones who have already been born—the ones being beaten or starved to death or abused in so many different ways? What about the five children we will kill today?
We have disguised what is going on by focusing exclusively on economic issues that are difficult to fix. From Congress to the Occupy Wall Street movement, we are obsessed with the declining economic state of our country. We have our masks over our eyes while we neglect our values of caring for all our citizens.
Preventing the death of our children is possible with the right systems' protections and preventions as well as with safety nets for families and children in grave distress. It is up to us. These are our children.
This year, my altar will have a candle burning for these children from Halloween through el Día de los Muertos. And my heart will be breaking.
Read other posts by Bernice Moore
Keep up with our community: Facebook | Twitter | Saybrook's Organizational Systems Program


text:
Most athletes view the treadmill as a temporary alternative when conditions don't permit outdoor running. The treadmill, however, is an important tool to improve running performance and fitness because it offers the option to incorporate hill work into your training in a safe, controlled environment.
More: 3 Surprising Ways to Enjoy Treadmill Running
The Benefits of Treadmill Hill Workouts
The hills found outside aren't necessarily ideal for training. The treadmill allows a runner to easily change the incline from a short, steep hill to a long gradual incline depending on his or her specific goals or needs.
RRCA-certified running coach Melissa Cox explains how treadmill hill workouts are beneficial to athletes at any fitness level. "Many of us are surrounded by hills that seem daunting—either too long or too steep—and avoid them all together," she says. "By being in control of the incline, length of the interval and speed, runners can introduce hills as they feel comfortable, and progress any of the variables as they feel ready."
Running hills requires the use of more muscles than running on flat surfaces, and forces a runner to expend more energy. Taking your workout from a flat surface to a hill will help to strengthen the glutes, quads and calves. In addition to the higher calorie burn, targeting these muscles can help to improve stability and running performance.
"Beyond preparing you for a hilly race, running hills can provide metabolic, psychological and biomechanical benefits for all runners," Cox says. "Uphill running improves aerobic capacity, allowing for enhanced utilization of oxygen and, therefore, improved running economy."
More: Strength Train to Improve Running Economy
Running uphill places different demands on a runner's body, which can help to improve an athlete's strength and running power. The use of more muscles, and an increase in cadence are required to push up the incline of a hill, which translates into speed gains and improved running form.
"By focusing on a strong posture, increased hip flexion and shorter, quicker steps, a runner can improve strength, form and, therefore, efficiency," Cox says. "Running hills will quickly translate into improved cardiovascular capacity, improved muscular strength and endurance, and increased speed on the flat road."
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text:
|» Summary
|» License
|Provides a class to decode mime messages.
|BSD Style
|» Current Release
|» Bug Summary
1.5.6 (stable) was released on 2016-08-28 by alan_k (Changelog)
Easy Install
Not sure? Get more info.
pear install Mail_mimeDecode
Pyrus Install
Try PEAR2's installer, Pyrus.
php pyrus.phar install pear/Mail_mimeDecode
Development Roadmap (next release: 1.6.0 in -5747 days!!, 80% complete)
Report a new bug to Mail_mimeDecode
|» Description
|Provides a class to deal with the decoding and interpreting of mime messages.
This package used to be part of the Mail_Mime package, but has been split off.
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text:
Karel Capek play R.U.R. The play introduced the world to the word "robot" from the Czech "robota," which literally means "forced work." Below are excerpts as well as the article as it appeared in The Bee.
If any industrial genius, like Henry Ford, ever turns his energies to the manufacture of Robots we're all goners, as the saying is.
The Robot is a terrible creature of synthetic flesh, bone and skin. He is in the image of man and has all the attributes of man except spirituality and laziness. One Robot having been completed and assembled he can be turned to the task of manufacturing arms and legs of other Robots. After they are assembled he can be sold in wholesale lots to various industrial concerns and to nations as soldiers against the Robot armies of other nations.
Or maybe you would like a Robotess as stenographer. She wouldn't chew gum because she has no taste. She wouldn't waste time with lip-stick and primping because she has no sense of beauty. She'd never ask for a raise because she has no use for money.
The Robot symbolizes the present-day spirit of mechanicalism used to forecast the revolt of humans against the human-created artifices that mock the powers of nature.
Or perhaps the play presents the theory of a coming genesis, the anticipation of a future cycle of human evolution in which man shall be confounded by the Creator he has mimicked.
See also:
The Mechanical Man of the Future (1928)
Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (Fresno Bee, 1934)
Mammy vs Robot (Charleston Gazette, 1937)
Donald Duck's "Modern Inventions" (1937)
All's Fair at the Fair (1938)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Robot is a Terrible Creature (1922)
Posted by Matt Novak at 9:30 PM
Labels: 1920s, danville bee, gender roles, robot rebellion, robots, theatre, war
2 comments:
- Dave Lester said...
Great post as usual Matt! I'm enjoying all the robot posts and discussing them on my blog. I think you should consider these early representations based upon power, and the desire of a culture to seek control through technological advancement.
I'm surprised you haven't posted any Elektro articles yet!
- May 16, 2007 at 2:28 AM
- Gail said...
Interesting side note: Spencer Tracy made his Broadway debut in that production of RUR.
- May 21, 2007 at 7:52 PM
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text:
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in preventing pneumonia, diagnosed radiologically according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, among indigenous infants in the Northern Territory of Australia. Methods: We conducted a historical cohort study of consecutive indigenous birth cohorts between 1 April 1998 and 28 February 2005. Children were followed up to 18 months of age. The PCV7 programme commenced on 1 June 2001. All chest X-rays taken within 3 days of any hospitalization were assessed. The primary endpoint was a first episode of WHO-defined pneumonia requiring hospitalization. Cox proportional hazards models were used to compare disease incidence. Findings: There were 526 pneumonia events among 10 600 children - an incidence of 3.3 per 1000 child-months; 183 episodes (34.8%) occurred before 5 months of age and 247 (47.0%) by 7 months. Of the children studied, 27% had received 3 doses of vaccine by 7 months of age. Hazard ratios for endpoint pneumonia were 1.01 for 1 versus 0 doses; 1.03 for 2 versus 0 doses; and 0.84 for 3 versus 0 doses. Conclusion: There was limited evidence that PCV7 reduced the incidence of radiologically confirmed pneumonia among Northern Territory indigenous infants, although there was a non-significant trend towards an effect after receipt of the third dose. These findings might be explained by lack of timely vaccination and/or occurrence of disease at an early age. Additionally, the relative contribution of vaccine-type pneumococcus to severe pneumonia in a setting where multiple other pathogens are prevalent may differ with respect to other settings where vaccine efficacy has been clearly established.
|Original language
|Pages (from-to)
|Number of pages
|Bulletin of The World Health Organization
|Issue number
|Publication status
|Published - Feb 2010


text:
Access Data Section
Data in the AAVSO International Database is available via the following tools. The database is updated in real-time, so all data submitted is available immediately.
The Light Curve Generator plots a customizable graph of data in the AAVSO International Database.
The WebObs search function allows you to view observations. You may search by star, dates, observer, and/or observation type.


text:
Youth Football Team Pulls Off Trickiest of All Trick Plays
Touchdowns are worth six points, but maybe this team should've gotten a few style points, too.
The 7th grade football team for Plainview Elgin Millville in Minnesota recently pulled off this spectacular trick play that resulted in a touchdown against Lake City.
Quarterback Conner Schumacher faked the handoff and then tossed the unconventional no-look, backward, over-the-head pass to receiver Derrick Boyum while a surprised crowd and fooled defense looked on.
PEM cruised to a 51-0 victory, so you know there were plenty of other scores on the day, although we doubt they were as memorable as this one.


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WASHINGTON – A standoff between the government and sellers of desktop magnet toys for adults escalated Tuesday, with federal consumer safety officials filing their second complaint to force a company to take the potentially dangerous product off the market.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission filed an administrative complaint against Zen Magnets, a Colorado-based company that imports and markets tiny but powerful magnets that can be molded into different shapes. Although the magnets are meant for adult use, the commission said they pose grave danger to youngsters who also play with them and to teenagers who use them mimic tongue, lip or cheek piercings.
If accidentally swallowed or inhaled, the magnets can pinch internal tissue, causing infection or even death.
Zen Magnets vowed to fight the complaint, which is similar to a lawsuit and will be heard by an administrative law judge. The company said its product has never caused any injuries.
Trying to take a product off the market entirely is a rare move for the commission, which usually works cooperatively with companies to stop the sale of hazardous products. Two weeks ago, the CPSC filed a similar complaint against Maxfield and Oberton, a New York-based manufacturer of "Buckyballs" magnets.
"Our action is not isolated to just one company," CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said. "We're trying to keep kids safe from this entire class of products."
The commission said 11 manufacturers and importers of the magnets have agreed voluntarily to take them off the market.
At least a dozen children have swallowed the magnets since 2009, the CPSC said, and some required surgery. None of the incidents involved those sold by Zen Magnets.
The commission's aggressive action raised questions about the government's authority to stop companies from selling products that, if used properly, are safe and legal.
"How much societal damage results from the slippery slope of absolving parents from the responsibility to read warnings?" Zen Magnets founder Shihan Qu wrote on his company's website, where Qu also published more than 40 letters from supporters urging the CPSC to rethink its decision.
In an interview, Qu accused the CPSC of trying to put his company out of business. He said the company has never marketed its product as a toy and includes warnings with the product about potential dangers.
The CPSC, in its complaint, argued the opposite. It said the company advertised the magnets as "fun to play with," and even referred to them in some packaging inserts as a "strong magnetic toy."
Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP


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(CNN) -- Thousands of children in England have been sexually exploited by gangs or groups of men or are at high risk of sexual exploitation, according to a report released Wednesday.
The report, which calls for urgent action to protect young people, comes amid wide public concern prompted by revelations of child abuse by a former BBC TV presenter, Jimmy Savile.
There were 2,409 victims of child sexual exploitation in gangs or groups from August 2010 to October 2011, the inquiry by the Office of the Children's Commissioner found.
Another 16,500 children in England were identified as being at high risk of sexual exploitation during the year from April 2010 to March 2011.
Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England, described the report, titled "I thought I was the only one. The only one in the world," as "a wake-up call" for the nation.
The report is based on the findings from the first year of a two-year study, based on evidence from the government, police, local authorities, health services, voluntary workers and young people.
Deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz, who is leading the inquiry, said: "The reality is that each year thousands of children in England are raped and abused by people seeking to humiliate, violate and control them. The impact on their lives is devastating.
"These children have been abducted, trafficked, beaten and threatened after being drawn into a web of sexual violence sometimes by promises of love and sometimes simply because they know there is no alternative.
"This abuse and violence can be relentless and take place anywhere -- as they go home from school, as they walk to the shops, in their local park."
Berelowitz said the study found the majority of perpetrators were male and that they ranged in age from young adolescents to older men.
"The evidence is clear that they come from all ethnic groups and so do their victims -- contrary to what some may wish to believe," she said.
In a high-profile court case earlier this year, nine men were jailed for "grooming," sexually abusing and raping five girls, one of them only 13, in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. The men were all of Asian origin and the girls were white, prompting questions over whether the perpetrators' ethnic origin was a factor in their actions or in the failure of local authorities to uncover the child abuse ring sooner.
The report suggests better record-keeping is needed in order for the ethnicity of perpetrators in gangs, many of whom are never arrested or convicted for sexually exploiting minors, to be tracked.
The victims come from a range of ethnic backgrounds but 28% are from black or minority backgrounds -- higher than previously thought, the report says. Of the 2,409 victims reported to the inquiry, 155 were identified as also being perpetrators of child sexual exploitation, in what the report describes as a "deeply troubling" overlap.
Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England, urged people to look out for the signs of sexual exploitation in young people around them. "Each and every one of us owes it to all victims to be vigilant, to listen and to act to stop the sexual exploitation of children," she said.
The report's list of warning signs includes children going missing from home, care homes or school; repeated sexually transmitted infections; committing crimes; misuse of drugs or alcohol; self harm and other physical injuries.
The issue of child sexual exploitation is in the forefront of many people's minds following wide UK media coverage of a series of scandals.
The furor erupted several weeks ago with the claims against Savile, who died last year but who police now believe sexually abused as many as 300 young women and girls, sometimes on BBC premises, in past decades. Two other men have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
Also in the past month, a BBC program looking into historic sex abuse allegations at children's homes in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s alleged that a Conservative, Thatcher-era politician, whom it did not name, had been among the children's abusers. Internet speculation over who that politician might be led to Lord McAlpine being falsely identified via Twitter. He is now planning multiple libel suits, and the BBC has already settled.
A number of government inquiries have been launched as a result of questions over how past allegations were handled.
CNN's Susannah Palk contributed to this report.


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The Search For Vegan Madeleines
The short version of this post: I don't have a perfect vegan madeleine recipe, yet. But if you want to experiment for yourself, these notes might be helpful. For those of you who are interested, here's the long version:
In my last post I talked about petits fours, specifically petits fours glacés–meaning iced. I mentioned how the term petit four can refer to many kinds of small sweets. As soon as my blood sugar returned to normal human levels, I began working on petits fours secs, specifically madeleines.
Even if you've forgotten the French you learned in highschool (goodness knows I have), you're probably already familar with the word sec, as in triple sec. The world sec is often used to describe a lack of sweetness in an alcoholic beverage, but in the case of triple sec it means that the alcohol has been distilled three times, i.e. triple dry. What does this have to do with petits fours? Nothing, really. Just remember that sec means "dry."
A common petit four sec is a madeleine – a lemony shell-shaped confection that hovers somewhere between cookies, cakes, and shortbreads. There is much discussion about what the original madeleines, the ones eaten and written about by Proust, were really like. Softy and crumby? Dry and sconelike? It seems that most people seem to prize the following characteristics of madeleines, so these are my goals for my final version:
1. Crispy and browned around the edges
2. Softish in the middle
3. Well defined, smooth shell ridges on one side
4. A nice "hump" on the other side
5. Slightly sweet and lemony, with buttery undertones
All recipes I've found seem to call for the liberal use of eggs, which are beaten with sugar to the "ribbon stage" before completing the batter. Obviously eggs are out of the question, so I'm experimenting with egg replacers and chemical leavening, but we'll get into that in a minute.
The first thing I do when trying to create a vegan recipe is study as many non-vegan recipes on the web as I can. After getting a feel for the standard recipes in use, I usually pick the recipe that seems to be the easiest to veganize and substitute non-vegan ingredients with the vegan versions. Then I take stock of the results and change what needs to be changed, if anything.
For the madeleines, I decided to veganize a recipe I found on about.com. It only called for two eggs (as opposed the three or four that some other recipes used), and it only made 12 – I wouldn't be stuck with three dozen if they didn't turn out.
Madeleines – Trial One (Unphotographed)
1 1/4 cup flour (I used Pastry Flour)
1 tsp baking powder
eggs Ener-G Eggs
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbs lemon or orange juice
6 tbs
butter Earth Balance Margarine, melted
Grated rind of lemon or orange
Melt margarine and let cool. Mix dry ingredients together. Beat ener-g eggs and sugar together until frothy. Add juice and zest to the ener-g mixture. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and melted earth balance until all combined. Grease and flour a madeleine pan and fill each shell 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 375º until crisp and brown around the edges (15-20 minutes).
#1 Results: Too scone-like, a little ugly, tastes okay
1. They were crispy and browned
2. They were a little dry in the middle, but not bad
3. The ridges were undefined because of poor pan flouring (see photo)
4. No hump
5. Correct sweetness and buttery undertones (for my taste)
If you put to much oil on your pan, the flour sticks too well and actually fills in the ridges a little, making for lame looking madeleines. This is how the pan will look after it's been properly floured. Use a cooking spray to oil your pan, and hold the pan a good two feet away from the nozzle. You want an even, light coating of oil which will ensure an even, light coating of flour. Like so:
Madeleines – Trial Two
I wanted to see if I could increase the moisture content, so I tried out a modified version of a lemon muffin recipe of mine. I increased the heat to 400º help brown the edges and create a peaked hump.
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Pinch Salt
1/2 Cup Soy Milk
1 Tbs Lemon Juice and Zest from the lemon
3 Tbs Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Whisk dry ingredients together. Whisk soy milk, juice, zest, oil and extract together until thickened. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Bake in an oiled and floured madeleine pan for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack shell-side up.
#2 Results: Total disaster
1. They didn't brown
2. Too soft in the middle
3. No ridges, batter way too thick and bubbly
4. No hump
5. Not sweet enough
These were a disaster. It seemed I was better off with the first recipe. The batter was way too thick, creating a lot of textural and aesthetic problems. I decided to thin out the batter used above by adding 1/4 cup of water just to see what would happen:
Madeleines – Trial Three
Same recipes as #2 but with 1/4 cup added water.
You can see trial #2 madeleines on the left, and #3 on the right. I wanted to show you how a simple thing like batter consistency can have a HUGE effect of the final result. The third batch certainly looked better, by about a hundred billion times. But how did they stack up?
#3 Results: Pretty, but that's about it.
1. Beautifully browned
2. Texture all wrong, too much like cupcakes
3. Beautiful Ridges
4. Humps!
5. Not sweet enough
So after all that, I'm still searching for the perfect madeleines. It wasn't until after my third try that I realized I might have had the answer all along in my petits fours glacés – the cake had these beautifully crispy and caramelized edges. If I can combine those edges with a less cake-like texture I'll be in business. I'll let you know the final recipe, if I ever find it…..


text: Studio 7055: The Harley White Jr. Orchestra Nick Brunner Thursday, June 12, 2014 Thin, sharp dressed, direct. Harley White Jr. doesn't waste time when he arrives for the recording. He asks to see our piano. It's a horrendous machine, out of tune for years. He wants it. The day's session doubles as a rehearsal for the 10-piece band. Listen close near the three-minute mark of "Untitled" and you'll hear White directing. White has been leading the group for six years and this current iteration is the most stable of that time. The most recent addition was Jason Galbraith who has been in the group just over two years. The two who have worked together the longest are White and pianist Clark Goodloe."We're like the C-3P0 and R2-D2 of the old saga," White says.Compare the terms "orchestra" and "band." The former has a few powerful connotations over the latter: A big sound, many musicians to manage. Why does White gravitate toward Basie more than Miles? "As much as I like to get it all together…I like to get it together so it can be loose. I like the team aspect of it. The best music is when people are listening to each other so I like that, the feel of the ensemble." As for the members of his band, White has a bright crew even when you don't factor in their musicianship."A lot of my guys have advanced degrees," explained White. "One guy's got a degree in public transportation. One of my cats has a degree in microbiology. Very talented individuals beyond just their instruments." The track "Dry Spell" is one of my favorites from this session. Byron Colburn leads us on baritone sax. After about 30 seconds the dam breaks with trumpet stings and fleshed out alto sax parts. Oh, and that piano I mentioned earlier? Clark tuned it as much as any human could. The results shine as his staccato stabs give way to a samba flavor. Horns of the Golden Ram Harley collaborates and adapts. His latest endeavor is a nine-part work called Horns of the Golden Ram. The recordings have inspired a hard-boiled detective story, currently being co-written by White and Steve Archer. It will be printed as a graphic novel. Set in 1920's Sacramento, HotGR (take that, GoT) is the story of detective, Skip White, and two mythical instruments that when brought together have magical power. It's a mix of many talents from many people, Harley and his band of course, and illustrator Avery King.White tells me the project will also explore the themes of reintegration to society by WWI vets, contributions to American culture by Chinese immigrants and First Tribes, environmentalism and the restorative power of music. Harley is drawing on a good amount of history local and musical for this project. Check out The Harley White Jr. Orchestra this summer at the Shady Lady Saloon (R and 14th Streets) in downton Sacramento. June 18thJuly 2nd July 16thOne last tune by Beth Ruyak request. This one features Brandon Au channeling Satch. More from the Harley White Jr. Orchestra around the web: Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud // Sonicbids


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As of September 2017, new Sweat Science columns are being published at www.outsideonline.com/sweatscience. Check out my bestselling new book on the science of endurance, ENDURE: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, published in February 2018 with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell.
- Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience)
Why do you slow down in the heat? This may seem like a painfully obvious question, but it's a topic of heated (oops) debate among physiologists. There are two basic camps:
- You slow down because the increasing temperature in your body begins to cause some sort of physical problem — maybe it's in your muscles, or your heart, or your nervous system; there are several theories;
- You slow down because your brain detects that your body is getting hot, so it forcibly applies the brakes to avoid letting you reach any dangerous system failure (in your muscles, heart, brain, or whatever).
To put it another way, do you slow down in response to problems, or in anticipation of problems?
The problem with many of the experiments on both sides of this debate is that they can't separate out the conscious psychological factors that also regulate self-paced performance. (I say "self-paced" because that's what we're really interested in understanding. Putting someone on a treadmill at a fixed pace and forcing them to run until they fall off is an interesting way of studying our ultimate failure mechanisms, but it offers basically no insight into what happens during a real-life race, where your decision to slow down comes long before you're at risk of collapsing.)
Anyway, a new study from Stephen Cheung's group at Brock University, in the journal Physiology & Behavior, takes a clever look at this problem. They told a group of cyclists that they were studying how much power output changes when you try to maintain a constant perceived exertion. To do that, they asked the cyclists to do two 60-minute rides (on separate days) where they maintained their RPE at 14 out of 20 (between somewhat hard and hard). But on the second ride, they secretly manipulated the room temperature as follows:
Now, let's not kid each other: as the chamber heated up to 35 C, the cyclists knew something was changing. But at this point, they had oxygen tubes in their mouths, and couldn't communicate with the experimenters. And the point is, they couldn't consciously regulate their pace in advance to take the hotter temperature into account. Here's what happened to their power output:
So what's happening? Well, the power output did go down as they got hotter — but there was no real-time match between power output and any of the other variables that the researchers measured, including skin temperature, rectal temperature, heat storage (a measure of how much thermal energy is accumulating in the body), sweat rate, or heart rate. The verdict seems to be that the brain isn't using any of these physical cues to anticipatorily regulate power output.
There are some potential limitations to the study — for example, the RPE of 14 might have been too low to cause severe enough thermal stress to trigger a response. But overall, the message seems to be that conscious psychological factors play a role in our response to thermal stress. And that fits with earlier studies like the one I blogged about last May, where lying to cyclists about the temperature allowed them to go just as fast at 31.6 C as they did at 21.8 C. This new study may not support the "anticipatory heat storage" idea of the central governor model, but it certainly reinforces the idea that the brain calls the shots.


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Cpanel PHPMyAdmin Error: You should upgrade to MySQL 5.0.15
If you are using MySQL Server version 4.x.x on your server but when you try to access PHPMyAdmin from Cpanel you will get following Error:
You should upgrade to MySQL 5.0.15 or later.
Due to your application configuration or any other reason you want to access PHPMyAdmin without upgrading MySQL version to 5.x.
To fix this issue you should have root level access to your Server (if you are on shared server please contact your hosting company).
1) Login to server (SSH) using root login credentials.
2) Remove "_usr_bin_mysql_config_–version" file using following command
3) Now update your PHPMyAdmin (forcefully) with following command
patching file config.sample.inc.php
patching file db_operations.php
patching file libraries/auth/http.auth.lib.php
patching file libraries/common.inc.php
patching file libraries/db_links.inc.php
patching file libraries/navigation_header.inc.php
patching file libraries/session.inc.php
patching file main.php
patching file server_privileges.php
cPanel authentication library installed.
cPanel API interface library installed.
phpMyAdmin updated to 22.214.171.124-all-languages.cp5
Now try to access PHPMyAdmin


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Before engaging with the sacraments, I thought about grace almost exclusively in terms of the forgiveness of sins. The accompanying images were of removal: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." ...[A]n exclusive focus on grace as forgiveness implies that except for our assorted wrongdoings, we are basically whole and healthy. On the one hand, I understood that was inaccurate: the phrase "spiritual growth" was in my religious vocabulary. But I lacked a vision for how grace operated not merely to cleanse but also to edify.
The act of eating, as appropriated by the Communion rite, makes this other aspect of grace unmistakeable. As C.S. Lewis puts it, God "uses material things like bread and wine to put the new life into us." This correctly pictures our incompleteness, our brokenness and hunger, our need for God that exists apart from our need for forgiveness. Grace builds us up in addition to washing us off. In receiving grace as sustenance, we are called into a more substantial life; like the narrator in The Great Divorce, we are becoming more solid as we draw near to God. ....
Of course, the tradition I grew up in was not entirely without additive spiritual practices. The study of Scripture was commonly discussed in quasi-sacramental terms. .... We naturally understand that filling our heads with holy writ could tend to give us the mind of Christ. But that by filling our stomachs with bread and wine we partake in the divine life comes as something of a surprise. It reminds us of our need for God to act on us and for us, that grace is an intervention. It cures us of our native Pelagianism.
I fully understand that, for many traditions, the mechanics behind the transmission of grace through the sacraments are of great importance. While I don't particularly share that concern, I respect that opinions differ. My hope is that this is one of many areas in which a thicker Christian practice will develop across denominational lines. .... [more]What I've Learned from Communion


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Those fine folks at Pantone, "the world's experts on color," have selected the color of the year for 2013. And the winner is … emerald green, or, as it's known by designers all over the world, 17-5641.
There are so many shades of green and each one would be welcome today, on a drizzly, gray afternoon in DC. Rather than wait for spring, I decided to search the collections and look for some of my favorite green objects. The range is vast: from the robe of a sixteenth-century Persian youth to the grass and trees in a Thomas Dewing landscape to the aged patina of a bronze Chinese vessel, and, of course, the folio above from the Khamsa (or Quintet), a collection of five poems by the poet Nizami.
The Khamsa ranks among the great masterpieces of Persian literature. It tells the story of a prince and seven princesses, each from a different land, and each depicted in a colored pavilion. The turquoise pavilion is the setting for Wednesday's tale, a romantic poem recited by the princess from Magrib. But delving deeper, the poem offers a glimpse into Islamic mysticism (Sufism), with each day of the week representing the journey of the soul. Here, at stage five, the soul is satisfied, on its journey to become wholly purified and at one with god.
Check out other scenes from this tale, including a visit from the Indian princess in the black pavilion.


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Please wait
It is a pilgrimage route once traveled by those who would come from the south of France, like the Italians. This route goes through the Toulousian way and crosses the Pyrenees at the Somport pass – on the border between Spain and France. This pass is nowadays still considered the starting point of the Aragonese Way. It is a 165 km long route, which usually is walked in six stages, passing through fascinating rural areas. Close by Puente la Reina, more specifically at Obanos, you can find an alternative gateway to the French Way.


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So, it's been all over the news here... instead of the regular Sworofski-covered Christmas Tree that the mall has been putting up for the last 10+ years, they replaced it with this:
I, personally, HATE IT! I loved the Swarofski tree, especially because it rotated and was very, VERY sparkly (reminded me of CrazyMike's Tree!)... what does everyone else think?