text:
Improving public health information: a data quality intervention in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Amélioration des informations sur la santé publique: une intervention sur la qualité des données dans le KwaZulu-Natal (Afrique du Sud)
Mejorar la información acerca de la salud pública: intervención para mejorar la calidad de los datos en KwaZulu-Natal, Sudáfrica
W MphatsweI; KS MateII,*; B BennettII; H NgidiI; J ReddyI; PM BarkerII; N RollinsIII
IDepartment of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
IIInstitute for Healthcare Improvement, 7th Floor, 20 University Road, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MA 02138, United States of America
IIIDepartment of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of an intervention to improve the quality of data used to monitor the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of the human immunodeficiency virus in South Africa.
METHODS: The study involved 58 antenatal clinics and 20 delivery wards (37 urban, 21 rural and 20 semi-urban) in KwaZulu-Natal province that provided PMTCT services and reported data to the District Health Information System. The data improvement intervention, which was implemented between May 2008 and March 2009, involved training on data collection and feedback for health information personnel and programme managers, monthly data reviews and data audits at health-care facilities. Data on six data elements used to monitor PMTCT services and recorded in the information system were compared with source data from health facility registers before, during and after the intervention. Data completeness (i.e. their presence in the system) and accuracy (i.e. being within 10% of their true value) were evaluated.
FINDINGS: The level of data completeness increased from 26% before to 64% after the intervention. Similarly, the proportion of data in the information system considered accurate increased from 37% to 65% (P < 0.0001). Moreover, the correlation between data in the information system and those from facility registers rose from 0.54 to 0.92.
CONCLUSION: A simple, practical data improvement intervention significantly increased the completeness and accuracy of the data used to monitor PMTCT services in South Africa.
OBJECTIF: Évaluer l'effet d'une intervention visant à améliorer la qualité des données utilisées pour contrôler la prévention de la transmission de la mère à l'enfant (PMTCT) du virus de l'immunodéficience humaine en Afrique du Sud.
MÉTHODES: L'étude a concerné 58 cliniques prénatales et 20 salles d'accouchement (37 urbaines, 21 rurales et 20 semi-urbaines) de la province du KwaZulu-Natal, qui ont fourni des services PMTCT et reporté les données au système d'information sanitaire du district. L'intervention d'amélioration de la qualité des données, mise en place entre mai 2008 et mars 2009, a impliqué une formation à la collecte des données et au retour d'information du personnel d'information sanitaire et des gestionnaires de programme, ainsi que des vérifications de données mensuelles et des audits de données dans les centres de soins. Les données de 6 éléments de données utilisés pour contrôler les services PMTCT et enregistrés dans le système d'information ont été comparées aux données sources des registres des centres de soins avant, pendant et après l'intervention. L'exhaustivité des données (c'est-à-dire leur présence dans le système) et leur précision (représentant 10% de leur valeur réelle) ont été évaluées.
RÉSULTATS: Le niveau d'exhaustivité des données a augmenté de 26% avant l'intervention à 64% après celle-ci. De même, la proportion des données dans le système d'information, qui sont considérées précises, a augmenté de 37% à 65% (P < 0,0001). De plus, la corrélation entre les données du système d'information et les données des registres des centres de soins est passée de 0,54 à 0,92.
CONCLUSION: Une intervention d'amélioration des données, simple et pratique, a permis d'augmenter considérablement l'exhaustivité et la précision des données utilisées pour contrôler les services PMTCT en Afrique du Sud.
OBJETIVO: Evaluar el efecto de una intervención para mejorar la calidad de los datos empleados para controlar la prevención de la transmisión del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana de la madre al hijo (TMT) en Sudáfrica.
MÉTODOS: El estudio incluyó 58 clínicas prenatales y 20 paritorios (37 de ellos situados en áreas urbanas, 21 en áreas rurales y 20 en áreas parcialmente rurales) en la provincia de KwaZulu-Natal que proporcionaban servicios de prevención de transmisión de la madre al hijo y comunicaron sus datos al Sistema de Información Sanitaria del Distrito. La intervención para la mejora de los datos, que se aplicó entre mayo de 2008 y marzo de 2009, incluyó la formación sobre recopilación de datos y comunicación de resultados dirigida al personal sanitario encargado de la información así como a los gestores de programas, exámenes mensuales y auditorías de los datos en las instalaciones de asistencia sanitaria. Se compararon los datos basados en seis elementos de datos utilizados para controlar los servicios de prevención de TMT y archivados en el sistema de información con la fuente de datos de los registros de las instalaciones de asistencia sanitaria antes, durante y después de la intervención. Se evaluaron los datos en base a su exhaustividad (por ejemplo, su presencia en el sistema) y su exactitud (por ejemplo, estar situado dentro del 10% de su valor auténtico).
RESULTADOS: El nivel de exhaustividad de los datos aumentó del 26% antes de la intervención al 64% después de la misma. De manera similar, la proporción de datos en el sistema de información considerados exactos aumentó del 37% al 65% (P <0,0001). Además, la correlación entre los datos del sistema de información y aquellos de los registros de las instalaciones aumentó de 0,54 a 0,92.
CONCLUSIÓN: Una intervención sencilla y práctica para mejorar los datos aumentó la exhaustividad y exactitud de los datos empleados para controlar los servicios de prevención de la TMT en Sudáfrica.
Reliable and accurate public health information is essential for monitoring health and for evaluating and improving the delivery of health-care services and programmes.1-4 As countries report their progress towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the need for high-quality data has never been greater.5, 6 Furthermore, funding and support for public health activities, such as immunization programmes, remain contingent on demonstrating coverage using routine statistics.7 However, assuring the quality of health information systems remains a challenge.
Studies of public health information systems in resource-poor countries frequently document problems with data quality, such as incomplete records and untimely reporting.8, 9 Yet these systems are often the only data sources available for the continuous, routine monitoring of health programmes.10, 11 Efforts have been made to improve the quality and management of public health information systems in developing countries. Two examples are the Health Metrics Network, an international network that seeks to improve the quality of health information from various sources,12 and the Performance of Routine Information System Management (PRISM) framework, which was developed as a method for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of routine health information systems.13, 14 Other initiatives, such as the Data Quality Audit, have been used by the GAVI Alliance to improve the monitoring of immunization coverage.7 However, the complex nature of health information systems and the demands placed upon them have complicated efforts to improve the quality of routine data.15
In South Africa, the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on maternal and child health has raised considerable concern. The reported prevalence of HIV infection among women attending antenatal clinics in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, for example, is 38.7%, the highest in the country.16 This led South Africa to set a target of reducing the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission to below 5% by 2011.17 Although HIV testing is essential for delivering interventions for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and thereby for reducing maternal and infant mortality,18 routinely available health information indicates that the HIV testing rate is highly variable.19, 20 The questionable accuracy and reliability of these data compromise efforts to improve the health-care systems that provide PMTCT interventions.20
Routine health data from the primary health-care system in South Africa, which is organized in districts, are collected and stored in the District Health Information System (DHIS).21 Recent studies of this system, however, have reported that the quality of the data, including those used to track PMTCT care, is suboptimal and is hindering efforts to strengthen service delivery.20, 22 As a result, in 2008 the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Institute for Health care Improvement launched a large-scale effort, entitled the 20000+ Partnership, to improve the quality of PMTCT services in three health districts in the province. This programme included an intervention to increase the completeness and accuracy of the public health data routinely recorded in the DHIS. The aim of this paper is to report on the effect of that intervention.
Routine data collection for the DHIS in South Africa starts with information being collected in registers at each point where clinical care is provided. Every month the staff at the different primary health-care facilities collate the data and send monthly summaries on paper to a clinic supervisor who, on average, oversees six facilities. The monthly summaries are then converted into electronic format by an information officer based either at the facility or centrally within the district health office. Larger facilities such as community health centres and hospitals have dedicated facility information officers who themselves create electronic files containing the facility data. District information officers oversee the input of all data into the DHIS. In addition, district PMTCT coordinators work regularly with district information officers to ensure that all health-care workers receive training on data reporting requirements, data collection tools and any changes or updates to the definitions of the data elements used as indicators of the performance of PMTCT services.
Study design
The study involved data collected before and after the data quality improvement intervention at 58 antenatal clinics and 20 delivery wards in both urban and rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal. These 78 locations were randomly selected from 222 fixed facilities that provide PMTCT services in three of the 11 districts in the province: eThekwini, Umgungundlovu and Ugu districts. Across KwaZulu-Natal province, over 90% of pregnant women attend antenatal care facilities at least once during pregnancy and over 90% of deliveries take place in delivery wards at health-care facilities.23, 24 The prevalence of HIV infection among expectant mothers in the three districts ranged from 40.3% to 45.7% in 2008.17
The data quality improvement intervention took place between May and November 2008 and included three main components: (i) training days on data collection, (ii) monthly reviews of data and (iii) data audits at individual facilities.
Three data training days for health-care facility and district information officers and PMTCT programme managers took place in May, August and November 2008, respectively. Each one-day training session dealt with: standardizing data collection procedures; improving data quality; selecting data elements that were useful for monitoring the quality of data on PMTCT services; and providing clear definitions of those data elements. After training, each district information officer liaised on data quality with facilities in his or her district.
Monthly reviews of routine data on PMTCT services were carried out in each district by a PMTCT improvement task team, which comprised the district information officer, the PMTCT programme coordinator and the primary health-care coordinator. During these monthly meetings, the study team provided the task teams with information about the completeness and accuracy of the PMTCT data elements they were using to assess the PMTCT programme. Thereafter, each district task team provided feedback to the facilities on the quality of the data.
Data audits were carried out by study staff at the 78 randomly selected facilities three times: before, during and after the intervention. The original source data in facility registers covering the 3 months preceding the audits were collected and summarized in the same manner in which they were routinely dealt with at the end of each month. The accuracy of the process by which these data were collated at health-care facilities, transmitted to the district offices and entered into the DHIS was assessed by examining the degree of agreement between the data elements for a particular clinic that appeared in the DHIS and the data elements recorded by the study team for the same time period. It is important to note that whether or not the data contained in the registers accurately represented the clinical activities taking place at each facility was not assessed, as resources did not allow for direct clinical observation. After each audit, the study team provided individual facilities with feedback on the quality of its data on PMTCT services.
Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Biomedical Research Ethics Committee. In addition, consent was obtained from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health and the district managers of all three participating districts. The funding agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, United States of America (USA), also gave approval but did not influence the study design or data reporting.
Data collection and assessment
The study team visited the 78 randomly selected facilities before the intervention between September and November 2007, during the intervention between June and September 2008 and after the intervention in March 2009.
At each visit, the team collected information on the six data elements used for monitoring PMTCT services that were routinely recorded in registers on the number of: (i) pregnant women who were tested for HIV antenatally; (ii) pregnant women who tested positive for HIV; (iii) pregnant women in whom CD4+ lymphocyte quantitation was performed; (iv) pregnant women who received nevirapine in the delivery ward; (v) babies who were born to an HIV-positive woman and who underwent a polymerase chain reaction test for HIV; and (vi) babies who received nevirapine. These six data elements were selected from a total of 24 possible elements because of their clinical importance. The characteristics of each facility were recorded in a simple form that was completed by the facility manager during the site visit.
It was possible to obtain information on the completeness of the data reported between January 2007 and March 2009 to the DHIS for all 222 facilities providing PMTCT services in the study districts. Completeness was quantified by determining whether a value for a given data element from a specific facility was or was not present in the information system. Data completeness was analysed by data element and facility, as well as over time.
Data accuracy was determined by comparing the data recorded in the DHIS with the data obtained from individual facility registers during data audits. An individual data element value was defined as accurate if the value recorded in the information system lay within 10% of the corresponding value "reconstructed" by the study team from the original source data during the data audit. The 10% threshold was based on that used in previous studies.11, 20 No assessment of the accuracy of a data element value was made if that value was missing from either the facility register or the DHIS or if the difference between the value reconstructed by the study team and that in the information system was greater than 1000%. Such large differences were regarded as "errors" rather than inaccuracies.
Statistical analysis
The data analysis was carried out using Excel 2007 (Microsoft, Redmond, USA). The change in data accuracy from before to after the intervention was evaluated using the χ2 test, with an α of 0.05. The degree of agreement between data reported in the DHIS and data obtained from facility registers during the data audits was evaluated using Pearson's correlation coefficient (r), both before and after the intervention.
Of the 78 facilities randomly selected to participate in the study of the data quality intervention, 37 (47%) were urban sites, 21 (27%) were rural and 20 (26%) were semi-urban. The median number of clients seen daily at each site was 28 and the median number of health-care workers at each site was 6. All facilities had been offering PMTCT services for more than 2 years.
Data completeness
Overall data completeness improved from 26% before the intervention at all 222 facilities to 64% after: of the 1115 data element values that could have been completed in January 2007, 285 were completed, while of the 1010 that could have been completed in March 2009, 643 were completed. In the antenatal clinics, data completeness improved from 25% (i.e. 271 of 1065 relevant data element values were completed) to 63% (i.e. 600 of 960 relevant data element values were completed). In the delivery wards, data completeness improved from 28% (i.e. 14 of 50 relevant data element values were completed) to 86% (i.e. 43 of 50 relevant data element values were completed). Fig. 1 shows the change in completeness for the six data elements individually.
Data accuracy
Overall, 55% of data element values were excluded from the accuracy analysis before the intervention because of errors or missing data, compared with 37% after. The overall accuracy of the remaining data on all six data elements improved from 37% at the first data audit to 65% at the third data audit (P < 0.0001). In antenatal clinics, data accuracy improved from 41% to 65% (P < 0.0001); in delivery wards, it improved from 32% to 64% (P < 0.0001).
During the first data audit before the intervention, there was poor correlation between data that appeared in the DHIS and data obtained from facility registers (r = 0.54, Fig. 2). The correlation was much better for data obtained after the intervention during the third data audit (r = 0.92, Fig. 2).
A data quality improvement intervention that involved specific training for health-care workers on the importance of public health information, monthly data reviews and feedback, and regular data audits was effective in significantly increasing the completeness and accuracy of the data used to monitor PMTCT services in South Africa.
Training principally involved the health-care facility and district information officers who were responsible for data collection and was intended to help them understand that high-quality data are essential for improving PMTCT programme performance. It was possible to use monthly district programme review meetings, which were often already under way, as an opportunity to reflect on data quality. In the study, data audits were carried out by a small team of four data clerks. Although we did not undertake a formal costing analysis, these activities are likely to be a relatively inexpensive way of improving data quality in resource-poor settings before more systemic or expensive solutions, such as computerized data management, can be implemented.
Although previous reports have made recommendations for improving public health information, few studies have gone further than describing the inadequacy of the information available.11, 20, 22, 25 One systematic review identified 12 studies of activities for improving data quality: all were conducted in well resourced health-care services and only one appeared to be an interventional study.26, 27 However, three other studies reported the outcomes of data quality improvement interventions in resource-limited settings, in Kenya, Malawi and Peru. In Peru, phone reminders to epidemiological surveillance teams and clinic visits were used to improve the timeliness and accuracy of data reported in an electronic surveillance system of infectious disease outbreaks used by the navy. Phone reminders but not clinic visits improved timeliness, whereas in some settings data accuracy was improved by visits but not phone reminders.28 In Malawi, the completeness and accuracy of public health information on HIV testing were reported, though not quantified, using a software package provided by a donor-funded HIV programme.29 In Kenya, investigators used on-site assessment and feedback on data completeness and validity to improve the quality of routine health information: the number of HIV tests recorded and the number of HIV positive patients identified both doubled.30 Finally, a recent study found that sequential data quality audits in six countries improved the quality and accuracy of data on immunization,7 which confirms our finding that regular audits can help improve data quality.
Despite the improvement in data quality observed during this study, the absence of a comparison study arm limits our ability to conclude that there was a strong cause-and-effect relationship with the intervention. Part of the improvement may have resulted from the stringent scrutiny that the South African PMTCT programme received from both programme donors and the department of health. However, we know of no specific efforts to improve data quality in the study facilities or districts at the time of the intervention. The well known inaccuracy of the DHIS has led many nongovernmental organizations, academic bodies and other development partners in South Africa to adopt parallel data collection systems to monitor PMTCT programme performance. These systems, while effective in serving the specific needs of these organizations, were not designed to improve the quality of the information system. An additional limitation of our study is that personnel at participating districts often retrospectively inserted missing data and corrected major errors in the DHIS for up to 1 year. These corrections could have made the data that were available at baseline appear to be better than they actually were and could have resulted in an underestimation of the effect of the intervention.
One unexpected complication that arose during the study could have reduced the effect of the data improvement intervention. The PMTCT programme in South Africa is relatively dynamic and the names and definitions of the data elements used for monitoring are frequently changed. Several challenging changes occurred during the study. For example, the data element used in the DHIS to record whether a baby had undergone a polymerase chain reaction test for HIV at 6 weeks was initially titled "HIV 1st test of baby born to HIV-positive woman" but was later changed to "HIV PCR test of baby born to HIV-positive woman at 6 weeks or later". Such changes were made without the district offices providing definitions to the clinics. This could have caused considerable confusion at individual facilities and compromised the quality of reporting on that particular data element. To lower the chance of a similar occurrence we selected data elements whose descriptions had remained largely unchanged in recent years.
Despite these limitations, the improvement in PMTCT data quality observed in this study is encouraging, for it suggests that similar approaches could improve the quality of the data needed for decision-making and resource allocation in other public health programmes. The rationalization of data collection tools, clear definitions of data elements, continuous feedback on data quality and intermittent but regular data audits are effective ways of improving data quality. However, while this study shows that public health information can be improved, the final result falls short of what we should accept from our health information systems. The quality of public health data could be improved further. In addition, more work is needed to ensure that the data transmitted from bedside to the public health record are complete and accurate and that the original data collected in consultation rooms accurately reflect the interaction between patient and health-care provider.
In conclusion, this study reports a simple, practical approach to improving the quality of public health information, both locally and in a district health information system. Accurate information is vital for health-care planning and for evaluating progress towards specific health targets. Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of similar interventions on a large scale, to estimate their cost implications and to clarify the connection between improved data quality and better health service delivery.
The authors thank Hlengiwe Gcaba, Thanda Goniwe, Sibongiseni Gumede, Sibongiseni Khambule, Lungisani Mhlungu, Nirvasha Moodley and personnel at eThekwini Municipality, Ugu, eThekwini and Umgungundlovu health districts and the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Department of Health. In addition to their primary affiliations, KS Mate is also affiliated with the Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA, PM Barker is affiliated with the Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA and N Rollins is affiliated with the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
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25. Doherty T, Chopra M, Nsibande D, Mngoma D. Improving the coverage of the PMTCT programme through a participatory quality improvement intervention in South Africa. BMC Public Health 2009;9:406. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-406 PMID:19891775
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28. Huaman MA, Araujo-Castillo RV, Soto G, Nezra JM, Quispe JA, Fernandez MF et al. Impact of two interventions on timeliness and data quality of an electronic disease surveillance system in a resource limited setting (Peru): a prospective evaluation. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 2009;9:16. doi:10.1186/1472-6947-9-16 PMID:19272165
29. Douglas GP, Killam WP, Hochgesang MS, Deula RA, Limbe W, Davis MK. Improving completeness, accuracy & timeliness of HIV voluntary counseling & testing client data in Malawi using touchscreen computers. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2005:942. PMID:16779229
30. Otwombe KN, Wanyungu J, Nduku K, Taegtmezer M. Improving national data collection systems from voluntary counselling and testing centres in Kenya. Bull World Health Organ 2007;85:315-8. doi:10.2471/BLT.06.033712 PMID:17546313
Submitted: 29 June 2011
Revised version received: 28 October 2011
Accepted: 2 November 2011
Published online: 5 December 2011
Funding: This study was funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Competing interests: None declared.
* Correspondence to KS Mate (e-mail: email@example.com).


text:
Statistics regarding Lebanese banks were recently published in Al-Hayat newspaper. According to these figures, the Lebanese Audi Bank reported a net income decrease of seven percent during the first nine months of 2000 compared with the corresponding period of last year.
The bank posted a net operating income of LL 41.9 billion ($27.83 million) during the period in question. Sources at the bank related this profit fall to the general economic slowdown in Lebanon.
Nevertheless, the Bank Du Liban ET D'Outre-Mer Bank, or Blom Bank, posted a net operating income of $58.76 million from January through September of this year, reflecting an 11.78 percent increase compared with the first nine months of 1999.
The bank's total assets value grew to reach $5.593 billion by the end of September 2000, a 17.9 percent growth. The total customer deposits of the Blom Bank grew to $4.848 billion during this period, constituting an 18 percent rise. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 - 2019 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
USBFever 2x Optical Lens for iPhone 4 Review /
I've been snapping some pictures on my iPhone 4 recently. The iPhone 4 is a great casual camera, but I've been running into situations where I wish I had just a bit of zoom. The iPhone doesn't have any optical zoom abilities. What it does have is a ditigal zoom, which produces a very pixelated and ugly result.
After doing some searching, I recently picked up the 2x Optical Zoom lens from USBFever. In my search, I'd found that there were lenses that offered up to 12x zoom (again, which you can get from USBFever). But, besides being rather bulky, these lenses require a tripod. Anyone who's tried taking a steady picture with a smartphone camera knows the difficulties of trying to hold the phone steady. Stick a 12x zoom lens on that phone, and it's not humanly possible to hold the phone steady enough in your hand. But my goal was to get something which I could easily snap on or off in casual use, and lugging around a giant lense and a tripod doesn't seem that casual to me. At that point, you might as well carry around a real camera.
So, a week after ordering, the lens found itself to my door from Hong Kong ready to take for a spin.
The lens itself is screwed in place onto a specialized iPhone case which comes included in the package. The idea is that you keep this case on your iPhone at all times, and then just screw in the lens whenever you need it. I actually really like the case, so that won't be a problem.
General Use
After taking some shots, a few things became apparent. First of all, it does indeed zoom. But there's also a very noticeable distortion around the edges, accompanied by a vignette effect. The distortions are more noticeable in some shots than in others.
Without lens:
With lens:
Without lens:
With lens:
The distortions will have to be something I keep in mind when deciding whether to use the 2x lens, but I like having the option when I want to see something a bit more closely.


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If you missed our Kickstarter campaign, you will still be able to get your own AGENT smartwatch. Please visit agentwatches.com for more info.
Let's talk about a generational leap forward in smartwatch technology.
Smartwatch batteries are less than 10% the size of smartphone batteries. Yet while we're thrilled when a smartphone lasts the entire day on a charge, we're frustrated when a tiny smartwatch battery doesn't last the week.
So smartwatch designers have compromised to conserve battery power—limiting us to simple apps, minimal connectivity and primitive developer tools.
No Compromises
We weren't willing to compromise. So we spent the last year testing and integrating the very best new technologies from around the world, eliminating limitations of the past.
We've created the first smartwatch that doesn't compromise, with both unparalleled battery life and powerful watch apps. With two-way communication to smartphones and amazing developer tools that you can download today. And with so much more.
This is AGENT, a brand-new generation of smartwatch. Please join us on a tour.
Trendsetting Design
We want to wear our watches everywhere, so Secret Labs teamed up with NYC watchmaker House of Horology to craft a beautiful watch that matches any outfit.
You can switch from one watchface to another with the press of a button, matching your style or your mood. And you can download additional watchfaces through your smartphone.
Works with your Smartphone
AGENT talks to your smartphone using Bluetooth, enabling convenient control of your music library and acting as a wrist-based display for smartphone apps.
Our powerful Bluetooth firmware makes it possible for smartphone apps to work with your watch, no inter-process communication or white-listing required.
AGENT also displays incoming calls and notifications. And it vibrates to let you know when you've accidentally left your phone behind.
Compatible with iPhone 4S or newer, Android 2.3+ and Windows Phone 8.
Connected Watch Apps (Bluetooth Classic + 4.0 LE)
Like your smartphone, AGENT runs downloadable apps.
These apps can talk to traditional Bluetooth devices such as smartphones and heart rate monitors (for exercise apps) as well as the new generation of Bluetooth Low Energy devices such as door locks (so you can leave your physical keys behind).
Working with your smartphone, watch apps can also retrieve info from the Internet, keeping you up to date with the things that are most important to you.
Dual Processor
Powerful watch apps demand a powerful processor. But powerful processors drain batteries quickly.
For long battery life, a smartwatch's processor remains in sleep mode most of the time. While last year's processors consume 300μA in sleep mode, AGENT's brand-new ARM Cortex-M4 processor consumes just 33μA (11% as much power).
And to keep that processor in sleep mode as much as possible, we added a much smaller secondary processor. The second processor takes care of housekeeping duties and events and itself remains in a super-low-power 0.1μA sleep mode most of the time.
Precision Power Metering
Because watch batteries are so small, watch apps must be designed for battery efficiency. But since power metering chips consume too much power, smartwatches have lacked the tools necessary to power-optimize watch apps.
So we've been stuck with simple apps that get decent battery life—or more sophisticated apps that can drain battery and ruin the user's experience.
Thankfully, recent hardware innovations in coulomb counting, combined with some really smart software, enable AGENT to provide precision power metering on demand without sacrificing battery life. This gives developers the tools they need to create sophisticated Bluetooth-connected watch apps which are also battery friendly.
Managed Runtime
Traditional smartwatches run apps in an unrestricted environment. This can lead to memory leaks, lockups, and permanently disabled watches. Without access controls, apps can even steal private data from other apps.
Smartphones solve these issues through sophisticated security frameworks and managed runtimes. AGENT's OS includes a managed runtime, optimized for our low-power architecture. It is called the .NET Micro Framework and it makes watch apps trustable.
This feature-rich managed runtime also offers developers modern features they crave: event-based programming; multi-threading; garbage collection; lambda expressions; exception handling; automatic power management; and much more.
World-class Development Tools
Watch apps can be written in C# using Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 (including the free Express edition). Deploy your apps over Bluetooth and debug them interactively.
Developers can also use AGENT as a secondary display, interacting with it remotely via Bluetooth from their Objective-C, C#, or Java smartphone app.
We've also created a desktop emulator, making it easy for developers to start creating watch apps while we are hard at work getting your smartwatch ready for your wrist. We will release the preview version of the emulator right after the Kickstarter campaign ends and will release the final version this autumn.
High Speed Memory Display
Traditional LCDs can display smooth user interfaces, but they're very power hungry. E-paper displays are very energy efficient, but their slow refresh rates don't allow for animations.
So AGENT uses a new 1.28" Sharp Memory Display which combines the best aspects of both technologies: fast animations; high clarity outdoor-readable display; and ultra-low (~20uA) power consumption.
This new memory display also runs at a lower voltage than the last generation, eliminating energy-wasting voltage boosters from our electrical design.
Wireless Charging
We love MicroUSB for charging our devices, but AGENT needs to be water resistant. And we are not big fans of proprietary charging cables.
Qi (pronounced 'chee') is a global standard for wireless charging, and we are building it into the AGENT smartwatch. Simply set your watch on the included Qi charging pad (or any other Qi charging pad) from time to time to keep the battery topped off.
No wires, no hassle. The included charging pad is compact and powered by MicroUSB. If you have a Qi charging pad from Energizer, JBL, LG, Nexus, Nokia, or Panasonic those will work too.
Motion and Light Sensors
AGENT senses motion in three dimensions with an integrated 3-axis accelerometer. Motion data is available to apps on demand and via timestamped motion events. Use your smartwatch as a pedometer, a sleep tracker or a game controller.
Two integrated light sensors (both broadband and infrared-only) work together to measure ambient light, enabling AGENT to intelligently illuminate the display in dim lighting conditions. And of course apps can retrieve the current ambient light level anytime.
Fail-safe Recovery Modes
Since AGENT firmware is updated wirelessly, we built fail-safe recovery modes into our hardware design. This ensures that firmware updates cannot disable your watch.
We incorporated bootable dual-bank flash, so we can store two sets of our recovery mode software. If a firmware update is aborted—even while updating the recovery mode software itself—its backup automatically recovers and lets you start the update over again.
And in the rare case that your watch gets into a bad state, our second processor can reset the watch and force it into recovery mode.
Advanced Power Management
7 days of battery life with Bluetooth. 30 days of battery life in watchface-only mode. This is the minimum standard we set for AGENT.
So behind all our premium energy-sipping components lies an advanced power management system. With three separate ultra-efficient power converters and custom power management software, AGENT is optimized to allocate every microwatt of battery power wisely.
And when the watch reaches 10% battery remaining, it automatically switches into watchface-only mode. This ensures that your watch still provides basic timekeeping functions if you're away from power for a few days.
Watch Straps
AGENT features an accent-stitched watch strap. Available in six accent colors (orange, black, green, red, blue and white), these standard 22mm watch straps can be swapped without specialized tools.
UPDATE (22-May-2013): Thanks to extra funding from our backers, you will be able to choose between a genuine leather watch strap and a silicon rubber watch strap (leather straps pictured above).
UPDATE (31-May-2013): We now have an extra-long watchstrap (20mm longer) option. The extra-long watchstraps will be available in a subset of accent-stitching colors (black and white stitching), in both genuine leather and silicon rubber materials.
We will send you a survey before shipment, so that you can select your watch strap's accent stitching color. The default accent stitching is white, as seen in the video.
Assembled in USA
Secret Labs manufactures its electronics products in the USA. Likewise, we plan to assemble AGENT's advanced circuit boards and the watch itself in the USA.
Building AGENT smartwatches in the USA speeds our time to market, reduces our manufacturing risk, and enables us to build the watch with exacting standards. It also helps employ our neighbors, which we love.
Every AGENT smartwatch will come with a limited 2-year warranty. This will cover the replaceable battery under normal usage circumstances.
- 120MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor
with secondary AVR co-processor
- 1.28" Memory Display (128 x 128)
with intelligent backlighting
- Anti-glare glass lens
- Bluetooth 4.0 BD/EDR + LE
- 3-axis accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Vibration motor
- 7 days battery life (typical)
30 days in watchface-only mode
- Qi wireless charging
- Water resistant (ATMs: TBD)
including .NET Micro Framework 4.3
- RoHS, Pb-free
- Designed for repair and recycling
including replaceable battery
About the Creators
Secret Labs engineers and manufactures electronics platforms for software developers. Our open-source Netduino product line (launched in 2010) is used by 10,000s of software developers worldwide as the basis for their custom electronics projects.
Secret Labs also builds hardware, software, and services in the smart home and building control industries—with years of experience working with wireless technologies and building robust protocol stacks.
House of Horology crafts fashion-forward, precision timepieces. Their Bedlam watches are popular on both runways and wrists. New York Magazine just named them "Best Men's Watches of 2013."
House of Horology's passion is to create premium timepieces without the huge price tag.
The Road to Your Wrist
The watches in the video are the latest prototype watches, with cases precision-milled out of aluminum and powder coated black. We are evaluating several premium case materials for production watches and will select the final material based on beauty and wireless performance.
Our prototype watches use ARM7 processors, Bluetooth Classic, and a wireless charging breakout board. For production, we are using our dual-processor design, a dual-mode Bluetooth radio (including Bluetooth LE), and our custom-designed wireless receiver coil (integrated into the caseback).
We have completed design of the electronic circuitry for production AGENT watches, and we have ported our operating system to the new Atmel Cortex-M4 microcontroller. We have also built validation boards using the production circuitry and are using those boards now to optimize our power management and to integrate Bluetooth Low Energy support into AGENT OS.
Upon successful funding of this Kickstarter campaign, we will use raised funds to create watchcase molds and production circuit boards. We will then obtain the necessary international certifications for wireless radio and wireless power devices (FCC, CE, Qi). We also need to pay for one-time engineering costs for items like our custom backlight assembly.
And most excitingly, we'll be ordering a rather large volume of processors, screens, batteries, and more...to make AGENT watches for our backers.
Estimated Timeline
- May-June 2013: Kickstarter campaign
- June-September 2013 - Order parts for backer rewards and watchcase molds; build production circuit boards; finish support for Bluetooth Low Energy mode
- October 2013 - FCC, CE, and Qi certification
- November 2013 - parts arrive, pilot production begins
- December 2013 - volume production begins
During this process, we will share snapshots of the journey: eddy current testing for our custom wireless charging coil and materials selection; radio frequency test results where we ensure that AGENT stays within FCC limits; details about final backlight illumination testing; and more.
We're excited to take this journey with you, to make AGENT a reality together.
Thank you.
Risks and challenges
Every technology project has risks and challenges.
Before starting this Kickstarter campaign, we created the electrical circuitry and core software for the AGENT smartwatch. That is the riskiest part of the project, and we felt that we needed to take that risk ourselves.
As we move towards production, our main challenges are in final integration, wireless certifications, and parts deliveries.
The AGENT smartwatch is a combination of electronics, software, and watch hardware. We are confident in our design. To deliver a premium product, it is sometimes necessary to spend extra time tuning circuit board designs, refining software, or adjusting mechanical tolerances.
Our smartwatch has both wireless communication and wireless charging. We are working with testing firms who have years of experience in their respective areas so we expect the certification process to go smoothly. That said, with wireless products it is sometimes necessary to tweak coil designs or RF shielding a bit to meet efficiency goals or regulatory requirements.
Finally, we have integrated cutting-edge components into the AGENT smartwatch. Brand-new components sometimes incur longer lead times. We have excellent relationships with these component suppliers and are coordinating closely with them to ensure that parts arrive on time.
We are driven to get your AGENT smartwatch off the assembly line and onto your wrist; we will let you know if we run into unexpected delays.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (30 days)


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Posts from our Monthly Newsletter, Spotlight!
Technical Tools of the Trade is a program to provide low-cost, accessible, yet high-quality instruction in technical theater and design. This is made possible by Legacy funding so that we are not compromising on the needed costs to get the proper equipment and hire the top-notch working professionals that we do.
We provide workshops for children and youth, all the way to seasoned experts looking for continuing education. We also have workshops for young professionals looking to improve their marketability and for networking opportunities in a business that is typically hard to break in to.
Technical Tools of the Trade | 2205 NE California St Suite 103B, Minneapolis, MN, 55418, United States


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Mike McCoy stood in front of the assembled media on Tuesday and said "change is good for an organization."
He isn't lying. Truthfully, change was probably a year too late for the San Diego Chargers. Tom Telesco was announced as the new general manager last week. On Tuesday, McCoy was introduced as the team's new head coach.
We explained earlier the winners and losers following McCoy hiring. Now some takeaways from his first meeting with the media:
1. As Norv Turner hinted at in his departing press conference, McCoy sounds like a guy who knows he has a lot of work to do to fix the Chargers.
"It's going to be a process. It's not going to just happen overnight," he said. "We're going to have to make some tough decisions in this business and that's what we're paid to do. We're going to lead this team to a championship sometime in the future."
2. McCoy is looking forward to working with Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, calling him a "great guy to have a face of your franchise." McCoy said he couldn't say why Rivers' production has declined in the last two seasons, but promised he would ask the quarterback "some tough questions."
He added he hasn't watched all of the Chargers' games from this season yet. Andy Reid would be disappointed.
Coaching search tracker
Gregg Rosenthal provides a one-stop shop for all the latest head-coaching search news. Who are teams targeting? More ...
3. McCoy said he will sit down with Telesco to determine the fate of the remaining coaching staff. That includes defensive coordinator John Pagano, who has been in limbo since the firing of Norv Turner. Pagano remains under contract, which has cost him multiple opportunities to jump to another team.
"We have an idea where we're going, but we want to give everybody an opportunity to talk to us," McCoy said.
4. In a funny twist, a reporter asked McCoy if he backed John Fox's decision to kneel on the ball late in regulation of the Broncos' double-overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.
"As an organization we made that decision and we're going to do the same thing here. When we make decisions as a football team, we're all going to live with it, we're all going to back one another, it's the same thing."
Citing a mystery source, McCoy said there was a 97.9 percent chance the Broncos should've won that game. Ironically, the Ravens' conquering of the odds likely got McCoy his job in San Diego.
5. McCoy plans to hire an offensive coordinator who will handle playcalling duties. The anti-Norv.
6. The uncertainty of the Chargers' future in San Diego came up during the interview process. "I asked the question, but we're not worried about it. That's not my concern my concern right now."
7. Because of course he was, McCoy was asked about coaching Tim Tebow last season: "It was a great opportunity. We did something special last year as an organization. It's not going to be done the same way ever again I don't believe because now teams understand what can happen when you run that kind of offense. Teams last year were shocked."
The Jets were shocked this year.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.


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European Christmas Markets
European Christmas Markets Previous Broadcasts
KQED Life: Sun, Dec 18, 2016 -- 12:30 PM
Discover Europe's Christmas Markets, where the town center, market square or just the narrow, cobblestone streets of the cities and towns of Europe come alive in winter with festively decorated wooden stalls offering all sorts of treats and delights. Travel along the rivers that connect Germany, France and Switzerland (the Mosel, Rhine and Main rivers), visit cities and towns and learn of their history, see their major sights, and visit their charming markets. Besides being a visual treat, the show is also a musical treat, as the Kingston Trio provides special folk arrangements of traditional Christmas carols to add to the magic and enchantment of the medieval and castle towns we visit. This show is a true Christmas treat, with the warmth and the fun of the holiday season, and some geography and history lessons to boot!
Repeat Broadcasts:
- KQED Life: Mon, Dec 26, 2016 -- 1:30 AM
- KQED Life: Sun, Dec 25, 2016 -- 7:30 PM


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Gamersmint : Eidos just revealed the full list of weapons which will be at your disposal in Deus Ex : Human Revolution. Get them with snaps for each below -
Kind a small set, but they look fenomenal
An admin over at Eidos forums confirmed that it is the full list according to the guy who sent these to us
I think there will b more, or custom weapons perhaps
weapons can be customised with upgrades. A lot of them actually
since original deus ex also had quite few weapons however any word about melee weapons? Deus ex had a few, including the baton and taser or wtv it was that'd be nice! still, the guns look great and I cn imagine different ammo and different add ons will make them more than enough
I think mele weapons are a no show, which is pretty disapointing. Aparently they want to focus on the 'takedowns'. What i don't understand is why there can't be those kind of 'takedowns' for mele weapons e.g. Police baton and Stun prod.
I would be a bit disappointed if they didn't include melee weapons. In the original Deus Ex, I thoroughly loved the fact that you could play the game any way you wanted, and that melee was actually a viable means of combat. If they completely remove that in favor of the "takedowns", I believe that would be a major mistake. Not to mention, as they currently have been shown off, I think the takedowns are far too overpowered. I don't think it's a bad idea, I just would like to see it as something that can only be preformed either under very specific conditions, or through using a large amount of Bioelectric Energy. And definitely not as an entire substitute for melee. The Dragon sword mission line and the weapon itself in the original Deus Ex still stands as one of my favorites.
There doesn't appear to be a viable option for a clean,silent and non-lethal takedown. The first game let you choose who to kill, especially since some of the characters turned out to be.... ooops, no spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the game. Deus Ex allowed for almost no kills throughout the game and that itself, was an incredible challenge. My decisions in the game felt gradual and subtle, by the end it seemed to make a difference.
Love the two handguns!!
weapons are good. hope there is more weapons
Day one.
This game looks sik!
I'm sure more weapons are coming to Deus Ex HR like the Rail Gun
There has to be more weapons. Where are the melee weapons at?
but I definitely want to play it. It's an intellectual's shooter
The revolver kinda looks like Deckard's gun from Blade Runner.
Oh my god this game looks so amazing, plus those graphics are super slick. I've had both Deus Exe's on my laptop for nearly a year now, perhaps it's time to play em'...
Yes do so immediately. The first DE is easily the best video game I've ever played in my life.
Loved it in the first game and would like it for the next. The only possible non-lethal option is the crossbow, if it can be equipped with tranquilizer darts, perhaps. Hmmm, I hope there's more than this coz I really don't want to slaughter ever NPC that crosses my path. Also, the return of the crowbar would be nice..
The cattle prod needs a comeback. In fact there I'm pretty sure there should be more weapons in Human Revo. I mean how cool would it be to see a super super prototype of the dragontooth sword.
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It's part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today's pop culture.


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Euzebe Imperator The Saiyans Monday 07/06/2010, 14:45
Hello all,
He's understanding, he's patient, he has a good sense of humour, he's not a hobbit for real, he's full of paint stains after his hard training and he is available for behind spammed.
Welcome aboard Bilbo1_OC
Few things you have to remind :
- You won't become a moderator by asking. In fact it's worse than trying to divide by zero.
- There are no set criteria for the moderator position except the changing ones constantly created by my weird and sick mind.
- People are not selected because of their levels, guilds (but if you want to join Open Casket, please, spam elchew_OC a lot so he can understand what it means), ELO ranking or colour of their socks, it's far worse than that and I won't tell you more about it or it will wake Cthulhu up. He is always very grumpy when he wakes up and it's not really a good thing.
- Believe me or not, moderators are players who volunteer, they don't get massive super powers, they can't change water in chocolate milk nor tell you what will be next collectors. They are nice people with a big quality : they are very patient. And is some cases, it's a bigger power than changing water in chocolate milk.
Infiniti Colossus Open Casket Tuesday 01/02/2011, 17:18
Saveroftime Hero TRiNiTY Wednesday 02/02/2011, 05:11
Can't u spell ?


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Kabukabu & Klezmer Chidesch performs
The Elgaland-Vargaland National Anthem Nos: 3 & 4
A: Kabukabu perform The National Anthem No. 3
B: Klezmer Chidesch perform The National Anthem No. 4
These recordings were regally made on 21 October 2006, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin at the opening of the Elgaland-Vargaland Embassy for Germany in the presence of the Kings, Michael I and Leif I, Consul Hans Ulrich Obrist (who made the inauguration speech) and the KREV Ambassador Bernd M. Scherer.
This 7'Ä? is the second in a series of vinyl acoustic versions of the National Anthems of Elgaland-Vargaland. See also the Mariachi version on Ash 7.2 ~ Ash International, 2007.
Genuflections to: Dorothea von Hantelmann and Vera Dorsch.
Vocals and percussion: Akinola Famson
Drums and vocals: Ekow Alabi-Savage
Bass and vocals: Patrick Frankowski
Trumpet: Daniel Allen
Keyboards: Matti Klein
Tenor/baritone saxophone: Michael Holder
Percussion and vocals: John Famodimu
2005, after the dissolvement of the then only afrobeat band in Berlin 'ÄúRhythmtaxi'Ä?, the city witnessed the birth of a new offspring of Afrobeat family christened 'ÄúKABUKABU'Ä?(a slogan used in Lagos / Nigeria for Buses used in transporting the masses. The bus not only transports people from one point to another, but also serves as a medium of desseminating news and messages to the people). A band formed by Akinola Famson, Ekow Brown and Patrick Frankowski (pillars of Afro and Reggae scene in Berlin) alongside with other international outstanding musicians, who have dedicated their artistic life to improving on the legacy laid by Fela Kuti 'ÄúGod father of Afrobeat'Ä? , an explosive combination of Westafrica rhythms with Funk and Jazz Americas. Irresistable groove travelling round the globe. KABUKABU stands out as the only unbeatable 'ÄúAfrobeatdynamite'Ä?. Through its new style of playing and the introduction of diverse musical acts as well as other indigenous percussive instruments, the band had added a new dimension into the way Afrobeat is being played, taking afrobeat to another level which conforms with the present musical demands of all music lovers without neglecting the original intention of 'ÄúANIKULAPO'Ä? the initiator . The band had created a musical delicacy termed 'ÄúExplosive-Afrobeat'Ä? through its mix of HipHop, Reggae, Dancehall, Soul, Funk with african traditional elements. This new dimension enables the band to cooperate and work with other solo artist as well as Dj'Äôs and Mc'Äôs e.g. the collaboration work with exotical musicians like JIMI TENOR, TM STEVENS, MFA KERA'Ķetc. With just one year of refining the left overs of Rhythmtaxi, KABUKABU'Äôs just finished EP with 'Äú3 delicious tracks'Ä? will be release soon. So stay tuned and watch out when next the rhythm bus is passing through your area.
Klezmer Chidesch
Accordion: Jossif Gofenberg
Clarinet: Igor Sverdlov
Drums: Mark Szmelkin
Double bass: Alexander Franz
BERLIN KLEZMER: (the miracle called Klezmer) brings the most cheerful and heart-moving mood in the music halls with its rapid tempo. The four musical souls bring nostalgia, melancholy, love and amusement together in a feeling of life: The Klezmer. Their Klezmer music is particularly facet-rich, since all four musicians have professional music training and an experience of many years. The lovely Band from Berlin, that consists of trained musicians, who originally come from Ukraine and White Russia, plays the original Jewish instruments and the folks music of eastern Europe with a lot of soul and energy.
""We play very gladly at your weddings, birthdays and also all other occasions and guarantee for the fact that, our Jewish folks music that comes from the heart will inspire you will draw you along."
Further information/reviewsFor more information, please visit this product's webpage.


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You know the feeling.
You trudge up the stairs and can't remember why you're there.
So back down the steps. Then . . . you remember. So you retrace your steps, kicking yourself for being such a dope.
I was always mad at myself for all this wasted time and effort. Not anymore. Now I just think of it as exercise.
For this, I thank Zonya Foco, a diet and exercise author and lecturer whose mantra is "Just move it!"
You don't need to go to a gym to exercise, Foco contends. Consider all the time you're not sitting as a workout — and maximize it.
"A year of 1-minute-a-day stair climbing will take off 5 pounds a year," she writes in her book, "Diet Free."
And she cites Dr. James Levine's Mayo Clinic study that says active day-to-day living (like pacing while on the phone) burns more calories in a year than working out for an hour at the gym three times a week (a 35-pound weight loss versus 20 at the gym).
Yeah, we've all heard (and ignored) "leave the car in the far corner of the parking lot" advice.
"We don't do it because we think, 'How does that really add up?'" says Foco. But Levine did the math and says everyday activity can lead to real weight loss.
"Once you're more active in your everyday life and you're thinking about exercise, it becomes your middle name," Foco says.
Now, when I find myself racing up the stairs to retrieve something I forgot, I focus on the calories I'm burning instead of the brain cells that seem to be eroding.
And the idea that exercise is my middle name? For now, it's still Anne.
Got a bite-size tip on diet, exercise, well-being? I want to hear from you at email@example.com.
You know the feeling.


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The Pope's broken wrist is getting in the way of some everyday tasks for the Vatican's No. 1 -- like putting his hands together to pray.
Pope Benedict XVI, whose wrist is encased in plaster, couldn't clasp his hands together to pray during mass on Saturday, the AFP reported.
The pontiff told Vatican spokesman Frederico Lombardi "some suffering is not a bad thing."
"What pains him the most is to be no longer able to bless with his right hand and to be no longer able to clasp his hands together" in prayer, the spokesman told AFP.
The 82-year-old Pope broke his wrist after falling in his bedroom while on vacation in the Alps on Friday. He had two metal pins inserted in the wrist and was fitted with a plaster cast.
Despite the injury, the pontiff, still in the Alps until July 29, will keep to his planned schedule.
Sunday night he plans to fly to the nearby town of Romano Canavese to recite prayers to an expected crowd of 10,000. The only plans on hold due to his injury are any writing-related tasks, including the completion of his book -- a follow-up to his 2007, "Jesus of Nazareth."
"He is learning to live with a right wrist in plaster," Lombardi said. "The most difficult thing for him is having to give up writing."
Once the injury heals, the right-handed leader should be able to complete his book quickly.
"The pope already had the text's structure outlined in his head," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's Secretary of State told The AFP.
His doctor's report that the Pope remains in good health.


text: NaiveMelody 0 Posted March 6, 2013 Hi Everyone, I'm new to the boards so I hope I'm posting this in the right spot. Basically, my skin has been pretty clear since taking Accutane nearly two years ago. I usually just have a couple whiteheads but they dont really bother me. However, starting about 2 1/2 weeks ago my skin got really bad. The first thing that happened was I developed a weird rash on my chin that I still have at the moment. After that I started getting A LOT of whitheads - first they were popping up around my nose and then when those went away they started popping up around my mouth. In both situations, I would wake up with at least two new whiteheads everyday and they would last 1-3 days. At the moment I have about 4 whiteheads around my mouth and one painful pimple with no head that is right in the corner of my mouth (and a TON of red marks and scabs from whiteheads that have gone down). Although having this much acne is unusual for me I still just thought it was a bad breakout. However, when I woke up this morning, there were some whiteheads under my left eye and there was this really big, extremely red bump (no head) under my right eye (in the "bag" under my eye). Overall, the effect this had on my face which was already looking pretty terrible was huge. It made me look like I was sick or something...and that's when I started thinking that I might be having a reaction to something and that something might be oranges or mangoes. Lately, I've been eating 1 or 2 oranges and/or mangoes a day which isnt typical for me so I'm thinking that this is why my face is flipping out. (Before this, I would probably eat 1 or 2 oranges a year and I had never even tried a mango.) So, sorry I made this into a really long story but I wanted to post this because I wanted to ask some questions for those of you who have experienced an allergy-related breakout: 1. Did you notice that your breakouts were confined to the mouth, nose and eye area? 2. How long did it take for your face to resume to normal after cutting out the food that was giving you problems? 3. Is there anything you can do to make the breakouts go away quickly (on top of cutting out the culprit food)? I was thinking of maybe taking an antihistamine like Benadryl. Has anyone tried this? I already drink a ton of water but maybe drinking even more would help clean my system? (I know I should be patient but I am going on a lot of job interviews and these breakouts are killing me!) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Part of National Museums Liverpool
Also in this section…?
Enslaved Africans cutting cane in Antigua, published 1823. Image reference NW0054, as shown on www.slaveryimages.org, sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library. Courtesy of authors Jerome S Handler and Michael L Tuite Jr.
The introduction of sugar cultivation to St Kitts in the 1640s and its subsequent rapid growth led to the development of the plantation economy which depended on the labour of imported enslaved Africans. African slaves became increasingly sought after to work in the unpleasant conditions of heat and humidity. European planters thought Africans would be more suited to the conditions than their own countrymen, as the climate resembled that the climate of their homeland in West Africa. Enslaved Africans were also much less expensive to maintain than indentured European servants or paid wage labourers.
The main reason for importing enslaved Africans was economic. In 1650 an African slave could be bought for as little as £7 although the price rose so that by 1690 a slave cost £17-22, and a century later between £40 and £50. In comparison, in the 17th century a white indentured labourer or servant would cost a planter £10 for only a few years' work but would cost the same in food, shelter and clothing. Consequently, after 1660 very few new white servants reached St Kitts or Nevis; the Black enslaved Africans had taken their place. ( Bridenaugh and Bridenaugh 1972, 266; Edwards 1793 II, 118)
As a consequence of these events, the size of the Black population in the Caribbean rose dramatically in the latter part of the 17th century. In the 1650s when sugar started to take over from tobacco as the main cash crop on Nevis, enslaved Africans formed only 20% of the population. By the census of 1678 the Black population had risen to 3849 against a white population of 3521. By the early 18th century when sugar production was fully established nearly 80% of the population was Black. The great increase in the Black population was feared by the white plantation owners and as a result treatment often became harsher as they felt a growing need to control a larger but discontented and potentially rebellious workforce. (Fog Olwig 1993, 34)
Enslaved Africans were often treated harshly. First they had to survive the appalling conditions on the voyage from West Africa, known as the Middle Passage. The death rate was high. One recent estimate is that 12% of all Africans transported on British ships between 1701 and 1807 died en route to the West Indies and North America; others put the figure as high as 25%. Nearly 350,000 Africans were transported to the Leeward Islands by 1810 (Curtin 1969, 268, table 77) but many died on the voyage through disease or ill treatment; some were driven by despair to commit suicide by jumping into the sea.
Once they arrived in the Caribbean islands, the Africans were prepared for sale. They were washed and their skin was oiled. Finally they were sold to local buyers. Often parents were separated from children, and husbands from wives.
The plantation relied almost solely on an imported enslaved workforce, and became an agricultural factory concentrating on one profitable crop for sale. Enslaved Africans were forced to engage in a variety of laborious activities, all of them back-breaking. The work in the fields was gruelling, with long hours spent in the hot sun, supervised by overseers who were quick to use the whip. Tasks ranged from clearing land, planting cane, and harvesting canes by hand, to manuring and weeding. The plantation relied on an imported enslaved workforce, rather than family labour, and became an agricultural factory concentrating on one profitable crop for sale.
Inside the plantation works, the conditions were often worse, especially the heat of the boiling house. Additionally, the hours were long, especially at harvest time. The death rate on the plantations was high, a result of overwork, poor nutrition and work conditions, brutality and disease. Many plantation owners preferred to import new slaves rather than providing the means and conditions for the survival of their existing slaves. Until the Amelioration Act was passed in 1798, which forced planters to improve conditions for enslaved workers, many owners simply replaced the casualties by importing more slaves from West Africa.
(Bridenaugh and Bridenaugh 1972, 266; Edwards 1793 II, 118)
Slave diet and food production
Sugar plantations
Slave villages in Nevis and St Kitts
Slave houses in Nevis and St Kitts
Slave houses elsewhere in the Caribbean
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text: The images I paint in this series represent individuals who talk story and share their memories of past experiences with others. Storytelling is part of the oral tradition of different cultures worldwide. I feel that it is an important tradition and should be maintained and recognized for what it is. My storytellers don't speak. I invite whoever sees them to imagine what they might be say if they could talk.


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U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
Security Guard Fired for Opposing Sexual Harassment, Federal Agency Charged
DETROIT - Security giant Guardsmark retaliated against a security guard who opposed a sexually hostile work environment by firing him, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged in a lawsuit filed today.
The lawsuit alleges that Guardsmark terminated Christopher Smith in retaliation for his role in a woman's sexual harassment complaint. According to the lawsuit, another security guard used security cameras to zoom in on women's private parts. Smith told the security guard to stop, but the guard continued to engage in the behavior. Smith told a woman about the guard's actions, and the woman filed a sexual harassment complaint with the contractor for whom she worked. Guardsmark responded by firing Smith.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits retaliation. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Guardsmark, Case No. 2:13cv15229), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan), after first attempting to settle the case through its conciliation process. The agency seeks to recover monetary compensation for Smith, including back pay and compensatory damages for emotional distress, as well as punitive damages.
"Title VII protects employees from being retaliated against for opposing sexual harassment even if they complain to someone else, like a co-worker or client," explained Nedra Campbell, trial attorney for the EEOC. "Employees like Smith who oppose the illegal acts of a co-worker should be commended, not fired."
Guardsmark provides security services to companies throughout the world. According to its website, www.guardsmark.com, Guardsmark, LLC, is one of the largest security firms in the world with over 19,000 employees and offices in more than 400 cities.
Eliminating policies and practices that discourage or prohibit individuals from exercising their rights under employment discrimination statutes, or that impede the EEOC's investigative or enforcement efforts, is one of six national priorities identified by the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.


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Its there anyway to remove the sample videos on the 128mb partition? These videos are insanely big (61.5mb) which is awesome quality but half the system ram.
I tried using shrink-os with the new os 18.104.22.1689 and they are still there!
Is there a way to remove a cod file or something which shrinky isnt removing?
Any help would be helpfull.
Thanks in advance.


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What is childhood Hodgkin lymphoma?
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a cancer that starts in lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are cells of the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system works with other parts of your immune system to help your body fight infection and disease. The lymphatic system is made up of a network of lymph vessels, lymph nodes and the lymphatic organs. Lymph vessels carry lymph fluid, which contains lymphocytes and other white blood cells, antibodies and nutrients. Lymph nodes sit along lymph vessels and filter lymph fluid. The lymphatic organs include the spleen, thymus, adenoids, tonsils and bone marrow.
Lymphocytes develop in the bone marrow from basic cells called stem cells. Stem cells develop into different types of cells that have different jobs. Lymphocytes are types of white blood cells that help fight infection. There are 2 types of lymphocytes:
- B-cells stay in the bone marrow until they mature.
- T-cells move to the thymus to mature.
Lymphocytes sometimes change and no longer grow or behave normally. These abnormal cells can form tumours called lymphomas. Hodgkin lymphoma usually starts in abnormal B cells called Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells, or HRS cells. These cells are much larger than normal B cells and have a large nucleus or more than one nucleus.
Hodgkin lymphomas are divided into classic HL or nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL. Most childhood HL is a classic form.
Classic HL means that HRS cells are present. The WHO further groups classic HL into 4 subtypes.
- Nodular sclerosis HL is the most common type of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma. About half of all childhood HLs are nodular sclerosis.
- Mixed cellularity HL makes up about 30% of all childhood HLs. This type of classic HL is more common in children younger than 10 years of age.
- Lymphocyte-rich HL makes up only about 5% of all childhood HLs.
- Lymphocyte-depleted HL is a very rare type of childhood Hodgkin lymphoma. It is aggressive, which means that it can grow and spread quickly. This type of classic HL is usually found in children who are infected with HIV or the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Nodular lymphocyte predominant HL means that there are very few or no HRS cells present. About 10%–15% of all childhood HLs are nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL. This type of childhood HL is more common in children younger than 10 and in boys younger than 18.
Because lymphocytes are found throughout the lymphatic system, HL can start almost anywhere in the body. It usually starts in a group of lymph nodes in one part of the body, most often in the chest or neck or under the arms. It usually spreads in a predictable, orderly way from one group of lymph nodes to the next. Eventually, it can spread to almost any tissue or organ in the body through the lymphatic system or the bloodstream.
Other cancers of the lymphatic system are called non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL). The Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin lymphoma look and behave differently from non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells. Hodgkin lymphomas and non-Hodgkin lymphomas are treated differently.
Reducing the burden of cancer
Canadians can help CCS fund the best research and support people living with cancer by donating and volunteering.


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Double Cuff Cap Serape - Ivory
Double Cuff Cap Serape - Ivory
Chamula knits are very warm and soft because they are made of Merino wool which comes from 100% locally raised purebred sheep grazing in the Mexican Mountains. Chamula caps feel great on your skin.
Mexican natives hand-knit each Chamula product one by one for a truly hand-made feeling. All production processes are done by hand such as spinning the merino yarn on small hand-built spinning wheels and hand-dyeing the rich colors so each product is one of a kind and very original. These rare qualities make Chamula the ideal garment for the winter.
Double cuff pom pom beanie with with a traditional colorful Serape design
- 100% Merino Wool
- Fold-over ribbed cuff
- multi color pom pom top
- Hand-made in Mexico
One size
CHAMULA knits are handmade and no two are alike.
Slight color and size variance should be expected. sizing charts.


text: Billy McGuigan as you've never seen him before. Classic rock tunes with a big band twist; big band standards with a rock and roll twist. Backed by a full horn section and an all star line up of Omaha's finest musicians, Billy's brand new show will have Playhouse audiences rocking like never before. Frank Sinatra? Check. The Beatles? Check. Harry Connick, Jr? Check. Billy Joel? Check! Fresh re-arrangements of rock and jazz standards performed as only Billy can. It's rock with a twist!


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Hundreds of thousands of survivors of a deadly Philippines typhoon have crammed into overcrowded shelters, braving the stench of corpses as the government vowed action to prevent storm disasters.
Typhoon Bopha, which smashed into the country's south on Tuesday leaving at least 484 people dead and 383 missing, was the deadliest natural disaster this year in a region that is regularly hit with quakes, floods and volcanic eruptions.
President Benigno Aquino flew into the southern island of Mindanao which bore the brunt of Tuesday's storm, to meet with bruised and grieving survivors who must now rebuild their lives.
"We want to find out why this tragedy happened and how to keep these tragedies from happening again," he told dazed crowds after arriving by helicopter in the town of New Bataan which was mostly obliterated by the storm.
As the president spoke, a yellow excavator tore into the rubble of a row of flattened houses a short distance away, allowing rescue workers to pull out the bodies of two more victims.
Among the 306,000 left homeless by the storm were 2000 people huddled in a basketball gym in New Bataan, one of only a few buildings left standing in the town which is a centre for the country's banana and gold mining industries.
With the overpowering stench of decomposing corpses from the parking lot outside, farmer's wife Violy Saging, 38, tried to focus on the needs of her surviving children.
"It (the typhoon) snatched our life away. There is nothing left, but we are hoping our relatives or friends will take us in," she said.
Her eldest son's body was found wrapped around a coconut tree that he had climbed in a vain effort to flee the deluge.
The youngest of her three children who survived, a son aged aged three, has a high fever.
The concrete floor of the crowded gym was caked with mud, and part of its roof was blown away by the cyclone, exposing the newly homeless to heavy rain that began pouring again shortly after Aquino left.
Families took turns to sleep on benches around the walls, and the 2000 occupants had to share the building's two toilet stalls.
The government has appealed for immediate international aid for food, tents, water purification systems and medicine, and warned that the homeless face months in evacuation centres before safe places can be found for new homes.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas told reporters during Aquino's visit that more rescue workers, equipment and canine units, capable of sniffing out any people still alive beneath the rubble, were being fielded in the worst-hit areas.
He said the government is also investigating why so many people were killed even when advance warnings were given ahead of the typhoon.
"They should not have built houses there," Roxas said, noting many of the mining areas which are a magnet for the country's poor had been declared unsafe for habitation due to frequent deadly landslides.
Outside the gym, Medarda Opiso, 47, joined crowds with handkerchiefs pressed to their noses as they gingerly peeled away death shrouds covering faces and bloated bodies laid out on the pavement.
Her son's wife and daughter are among the missing.
"My son is in despair. He is not talking to anyone. I am afraid he will lose it," Opiso said.
The son, farmer Gomer Opiso, had been tending to his crops when the wall of water and debris nearly wiped out the town of 48,000 people.
But amid the despair there were also some poignant reunions.
Lucrecio Panamogan, 74, found his grown children huddled together with their families in a devastated school yard two days after the storm.
"I thought I had lost them," he said, his tears welling up.
"We may no longer have a house, or any possessions, but we still have each other."


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Montreux URComfort® Duplex Sling
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The Clinton-in-Law
Marjorie Margolies's son married Chelsea Clinton. Is that enough to fuel her political comeback?
At 6:30 p.m. on Halloween night, Marjorie Margolies's black SUV pulls up to a handsome colonial in the Philadelphia suburbs where a campaign fundraiser is being held in her honor. Margolies is 20 years out of office, 10 years removed from a scandal that was supposed to have ended her career and running once again for the House of Representatives, this time in a contested four-way Democratic primary. But she has at least one not insignificant thing going for her—a very personal tie to a very powerful family.
Inside the party, Margolies is in her element, and not only because she's engulfed in a familiar sea of air kisses and cheese plates. Her old friend Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, is headlining the night. But the fundraiser's VIP cachet is representative less of Margolies's political potency than of her connections.
Story Continued Below
When Margolies was elected to the House in 1992, she was in her early 50s, and her last name was Margolies-Mezvinsky. After that, three key developments occurred. One, President Bill Clinton personally convinced her to cast a tie-breaking vote on his infamous 1993 budget bill that cost the Pennsylvania congresswoman her job. Two, her now-ex husband went to jail for running a Ponzi scheme. Three, her son Marc married Chelsea Clinton. If that last fact isn't immediately obvious to everyone attending the fundraiser, it will quickly become so.
When Albright and Margolies stop posing for pictures with donors, Margolies, now 71, and impeccable in pearls and an elegant floral jacket, takes the mic and explains why she's running. "A friend of mine called Hillary and said, 'Why do you think she wants to do this?' And Hillary said something that was very interesting. She said, 'I think that she has unfinished business.'" (Tonight, we're all on a first-name basis with the Clintons.) Margolies follows this remark by insisting that she doesn't know whether Hillary is running for president, before concluding with an anecdote about the time Albright busted a move with a younger guy at Marc and Chelsea's wedding.
After exactly three minutes and 30 seconds, Margolies stops talking and yields the floor to Madam Secretary, who proceeds to flesh out the story about the time she busted a move with a younger guy at Marc and Chelsea's wedding.
Even for a campaign fundraiser taking place a half-year ahead of a primary, there is surprisingly little talk of the election itself. Margolies's brief remarks are apolitical; she mentions the race only to tell people to direct questions to her staff. In interviews with me and other publications, she'll insist that her candidacy is not premised on her relationship with the Clintons. But tonight, it's her entire pitch. Her decision to run puts the Clintons in a difficult spot. Do they risk their political capital by publicly supporting a flawed congressional candidate in the sensitive run-up to Hillary's likely presidential run, or do they turn their backs on a family member—and one to whom the former president owes a considerable political debt at that?
Sure enough that is exactly the theme of Margolies's riff at the fundraiser, when she refers to the time Bill phoned from the Oval Office to beg for her vote. "When he called and said, 'What would it take?'" she tells her well-heeled donors, "I did not say, 'Your first-born.'"
She's joking. Sort of.
Margolies's career in electoral politics lasted only one term, but it ended twice. The first death occurred on Aug. 5, 1993, when Clinton was one vote short of passing a budget bill and convinced Margolies to change her mind. Elected in 1992—dubbed the "Year of the Woman," after the female representation of Congress doubled—she was a staunch feminist who had recently given up a career as an Emmy-Award winning television journalist. She had been the first single woman in U.S. history to adopt a kid from a foreign country: Lee Heh, a South Korean girl, who eventually became one of 11 children Margolies would consider her own—a large family including her biological, adopted, step- and surrogate children. (Marc was her first biological child; his brother Andrew, now an artist, was born a few years later.) She became pals with Katie Couric and Gloria Steinem. She was also a fiscal hawk representing Philadelphia's moneyed suburbs; prior to her election, her district had gone Republican every year since 1916.
A couple hours before the vote, she had appeared live on Philadelphia television to explain her opposition to the bill. "I felt the budget cuts didn't go far enough," she wrote in her 1994 book A Woman's Place: The Freshmen Women Who Changed the Face of Congress. "Especially in our out-of-control entitlements programs." Then the president called. "I picked up the phone and said hello, then heard his voice, which sounded tired and drained," she wrote. "'What would it take, Marjorie?'" Clinton asked her. Within a few minutes she changed her mind, walked onto the House floor and cast her vote to Republican jeers of "Bye-bye, Margie!" The Greek chorus proved prescient: Her right-leaning district deemed the budget too heavy on the taxes and too soft on the cuts. Margolies was booted in 1994, after a single term.
Her career ended for a second time in 2000. She had lost her bid for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 1998 and was in the midst of a run for Rick Santorum's Senate seat when her husband, Edward Mezvinksy, a former congressman who represented Iowa in the 1970s, declared bankruptcy. Three weeks later, she declared bankruptcy too and dropped out of the race; creditors were asking the two of them for more than $7 million. It turned out a solid portion of the family's money—they owned a 15-room mansion in Narberth, Pa.—belonged to other people. In 2002, Ed would plead guilty to 31 counts of bank fraud—he had bilked more than $10 million from unsuspecting investors, including $309,000 from his 86-year-old mother-in-law. As one of the swindled told the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time, "Who expects to be taken to the cleaners when you've got an ex-congressman whose wife is running for the Senate?" Mezvinsky eventually got in so deep that he fell for one of the original Nigerian-guy-needs-cash email scams, losing up to an estimated $3 million just to try to feed the scheme.


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Direct Links That Open Pages Within An Iframe?Aug 9, 2010
I have developed an intranet local site that consists of a home page: index.html which contains an iframe.
Above the iframe, I have a navigation bar that opens pages with target:iframe inside the iframe.
iframe's src is set to a page named home.html and this is the page displayed when you visit the site.
I would like to be able to give users links that point directly to certain pages that populate within the iframe and not instructions on how to get to them via the nav bar. And I am not talking about the pages alone but the parent piece where the navigation bar is (nav and iframe are contained in the index.html)
Except obviously the home.html, I am unable to do that. I have found a few Javascripts but I was not clear if they were supposed to help me achieve what I wanted and they haven't worked.


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I am using slime along with clisp.
When I try out the following loop, I get NIL results in the *slime-repl clisp* buffer:
Code: Select all
CL-USER> (loop for i in '(1 2 3) do (print i))
However, if I look over at the *inferior lisp* events buffer I see the expected:
Is this normal? If I should expect the output to print to my slime repl, any ideas how to fix this?
Code: Select all