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Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to jump into the controversial national debate over health care reform at this stage, rejecting a plea from Virginia for a judicial end-around -- an expedited review over whether the sweeping federal law is constitutional.
As expected, the justices without comment on Monday declined the state's "petition for certiorari before judgment."
Various state and private challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are now before federal appeals courts across the United States -- meaning it could take several months, at least, before they would go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unusual requests such as Virginia's, to have its appeal move to the head of the line, rarely succeed since the justices traditionally like to have these kind of petitions fully analyzed and decided by lower courts before tackling them.
Federal judges have split on whether a key provision -- the "individual mandate" requiring most Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or face financial penalties -- is constitutional.
The high court could be asked this fall to take formal jurisdiction of one or more health care appeals, and decide the matter perhaps by 2012, a presidential election year.
In the meantime, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, early next month will hear two separate challenges to the reform legislation, including Virginia's petition. And an appeals court in Atlanta in June will hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by Florida and 25 other states over the law.
One pressing issue is whether parts of the law already in effect can continue to be enforced. The parts of the health care reform law currently being administered include small business tax credits, federal grants and consumer protection measures. The federal government wants to know whether these provisions can continue while the issue is under appeal, particularly in the 26 states that filed suit.
Oklahoma and a range of private groups have also filed separate legal challenges that are concurrently working their way through federal courts around the country.
The Affordable Care Act has about 450 individual components, placing a number of new or revised regulations on states, private insurance companies, employers and individuals.
Health care reform -- a top Democratic priority since the Truman administration -- passed in 2010. Opponents derisively labeled the measure "Obamacare." Republican leaders -- who captured the House of Representatives in the midterm elections -- have vowed to overturn or severely trim the law.
Two federal judges have ruled the health care act to be constitutional, while two others have concluded the opposite. That sets up what is likely to be a Supreme Court showdown, perhaps sooner rather than later.
Justice Elena Kagan apparently participated in the decision to deny fast-track status to the current appeals. The brief order from the court does not mention any refusal by the newest member of the court.
There been some calls for Kagan to step aside from deciding the issue, if it ultimately reaches the high court, because of her previous job as solicitor general, tasked with defending the Obama administration in high court challenges. The 50-year-old justice had refused at her July confirmation hearings to say whether she would participate in the health care reform dispute. The Justice Department has not indicated exactly what her role was in early discussions over defending the health care bill in court. She was nominated to the bench in May and confirmed in August.
Virginia officials had argued that the Constitution's Commerce Clause does not give the government the authority to force Americans to purchase a commercial product -- like health insurance -- that they may not want or need. They equated such a requirement to a burdensome regulation of "inactivity." Virginia is one of the few states in the country with a specific law saying residents cannot be forced to buy insurance.
"Expediting our case would have been the exception and so, although disappointing, this is not surprising," said Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli after the justices issued their order. "This case's logical end point is the Supreme Court. It will simply have to make its way through the Fourth Circuit (appeals court) first."
But backers of the law tried to downplay any high court review. "Proponents of this lawsuit have tried to frame it as a hugely important constitutional challenge steamrolling to the Supreme Court. It is, in fact, a nothing burger," said Doug Kendall, president of the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center. "By all rights, the legal challenge to health care reform should be rejected unanimously by the courts of appeals and never even be reviewed on the merits by the Supreme Court."
Among other things, the measure was designed to help millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans receive adequate and affordable health care through a series of government-imposed mandates and subsidies. The federal government stated in court briefs that 45 million Americans last year were without health insurance -- roughly 15% of the country's population.
Critics have equated the measure to socialized medicine, fearing that a bloated government bureaucracy will result in higher taxes and diminished health care services. About two dozen challenges have been filed in federal courts nationwide.


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Enter either a width or height, the image will maintain the correct aspect ratio.
You may select any custom size in between but you will be charged for the next size up.
Canvas prints come in 3 different styles
Our most popular option. Unframed canvas keeps the focus on the image for a modern gallery look.
Canvas appears to float within a plain black frame. The image stands off the wall at a depth of 2" inches
Canvas is carefully framed with the molding of your choice to support your aesthetic.
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A minimalist, aluminum standoff creates the impression of wall sculpture with a weightless feel.
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Acrylic prints come in 2 different styles
Sleek acrylic glass is supported by simple, brushed aluminum standoffs and invisible hanging mounts.
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By printing fine art photography onto mirror we have transformed it into something extraordinary
A staunch presentation, beautifully presented on thick half-inch birchwood, fashioned with everlasting UV-curable inks.
**Please note if the image has white in it, the white area will show up clear on the aluminum and birchwood options, exposing the color of the material beneath.
Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862-February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a formative figure of international Modernism that emerged at the turn of the century. Klimt was also one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession, a group that worked to support young, emerging, unconventional artists while claiming no single artistic manifesto or style. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects. Though he received public commissions in his early years in Vienna, Klimt's work was met with criticism and rejection. Perceived as pornographic and radical, Klimt's treatment of the female body as his primary subject matter was at times openly erotic, but is now considered masterful. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Klimt entered what is known as his Golden Phase, which was marked by positive critical reaction and success. Many of his paintings from this period (which derived its name from the prominent use of gold leaf in his paintings) are considered beacons of the Art Nouveau period. View all of Gustav Klimt's work.
The Austrian Symbolist Gustav Klimt's "Golden Period" has long been accepted as his artistic highpoint, and his 1907-1908 painting The Kiss is the crowning jewel. A stunning exemplar of art nouveau patterns and forms, The Kiss has been called the most important modern painting by some scholars of twentieth-century art. Depicting a couple embracing in a sublime, gold-flecked background, Klimt combines modern techniques with traditional iconography while maintaining an instantly recognizable singularity. Now displaying at the Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, The Kiss, unlike many of Klimt's earlier works, gained immediate attention and positive critical response. Klimt's combination of oil paints and a great amount of gold leaf have become known as his signature style, and make the painting a lively, engaging piece to encounter.
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text:
Experts talk about how news gathering has been transformed in the digital age.
These days, news correspondents don't travel so light. At the start of yesterday's "News Goes Real Time" Round Table, Bill Spindle, Middle East Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, brought out the "standard issue kit" every one of his paper's journalist is expected to carry in the field – and, yes, he had more than just a pen and a notebook. There were tripods, mic set-ups and all the equipment required to produce video reportage.
In the social media and interactive age, even staid old newspapers are producing their own in-house TV shows each as well as "hundreds of pieces of video." Their journalists are tweeting from the field, gathering stories from YouTube and communicating instantly. In short, the process of news gathering has been utterly transformed.
"It has really become a fact of life," Nart Bouran [pictured], Head of Sky News Arabia, observed of the use of social media in news organisations. "Anyone who thinks that this is not part of day to day life any more is delusional."
Other panelists agreed that the time for mulling how new technology might affect news reporting is long since over. That technology is already a key part of their working existences. The debate now is more about how to maintain editorial integrity and coherence when there is so much information from so many sources to sift through.
Reporters, meanwhile, have had to learn to perform new tricks.
"It's quite a more difficult thing for us reporters because you have so many fronts you have to monitor," stated Gamal El Din, Middle East Correspondent for CNBC. "I do a report on the phone or on camera but I also have to make sure that I am tweeting on a regular basis and updating my Facebook status…you're quite all over the place and juggling at the same time is very challenging."
Given the torrent of data that news organisations are now obliged to interpret almost instantly, panelists acknowledged that errors are inevitable. It's not always possible to verify reports submitted by "citizen journalists" or footage shot on cell phones.
"It comes back down to us to make a judgment call," Gamal El Din said.
The paradox is self-evident: social media enables news organisations to report instantly on events as they happen…but that doesn't mean it is any easier to make any sense of those events. As the panelists acknowledged, the digital age has "opened up a whole minefield of problems, challenges and difficulties."


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Andrea Fellman necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 43 diseños de 10 diseñadores freelance.
Savvy Sassy Moms
Logo for my blog, business cards, letterhead, stickers, etc...
Savvy Sassy Moms are women who love being a mom but also enjoy all things Non-Mom, too. This is a place for women to connect not only as a mom, but as a woman who wants to fulfill all the other pieces that make her more than a mom.
Women are amazing, and if you throw in being a MOM well,
We're Practically Super Heros!
SavvySassyMoms is a Mom Blog that will also review and rate the Best of the Best for the Mommy Market! Babies, toddlers and older kids. But also products for mom herself.
The products that I choose will be based on a 5 point star rating - the star being pink and glittery of course! To receive this "Savvy Sassy Seal of Approval" it must meet my five-point criteria (Function, Style, Value, Creativity and Purpose).
I am trying to brand myself with "We're Practically Super Heroes" so a character (cartoon) is something that I want - and the pink star is to be incorporated on her "super-hero like outfit"
At the end of this brief, I have added 2 links: A pink star that I would like to base the Logo off of and an image of a Superhero girl that I found as a source of inspiration. (I like her stance, and the black and pink) I think the outfit would be better with black pants and hot pink boots (and I need her to be more mom like, a friendly image - and of course the Pink Star represented!
But please be creative - Sassy and Bold!
So the colors of choice would be Black, White, Hot Pink, and an accent of a bright blue (teal, turquise, aqua)
Savvy Sassy Moms
We're Practically Super Heroes!
The name and the tagline must both be represented.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer
.Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer completely cleans dried acrylics, oils, and alkyds with no damage to the brush head or loss of fibers. It can be used on natural or synthetic brushes. The cleaning solution is effective within minutes for oil colors (hours for dried acrylics), and leaves no oil residue.
This water soluble cleaner is non-toxic, biodegradable, non-flammable, and has low vapor. It comes in a plastic bottle.
Shipping Note - Due to manufacturer distribution restrictions, Winsor & Newton products cannot be shipped to addresses outside of North America.
Item Specs
Bottle 4 oz 118 ml Bottle 16 oz 473 ml Bottle 32 oz 946 ml
4 oz
118 ml
16 oz
473 ml
32 oz
946 ml


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We can just imagine the brainstorming sessions that went on deep in the bowels of Illinois-based Volition as it pondered the way ahead for the next generation of its games. And it would have boiled down to this: "Erm, how about we do a GTA, but, er, make it better? Stick it online or something?" "Yeah, that sounds good."
And so Saint's Row on 360 was born, with its gats precisely targeted on Rockstar's jewel in the crown and anything else of its ilk out there on the game shelves. But is this all ghetto and no game? And can it compete now those next gen stakes are even higher?
In terms of straight-up comparison, it's not so much a game that's ripped off GTA but more an extended tribute to Rockstar's genius. Robberies, car theft, free-roaming, customisable gangster gear, building a crew, getting stuck into turf battles for control of a city - it's all in there.
In achieving this, Volition has quite clearly gone for areas where San Andreas is weak. Aiming is based on FPS controls - an absolute must and one of the few let-downs in the GTA series. Finally we can shoot exactly where we want, when we want and expect it to hit.
Then there's the super-shiny next generation graphics that mean, while the surface area might not quite match the world of San Andreas, the still-huge city looks the business with loads of distinct neighbourhoods and absolutely tons of buildings to enter.
One area of focus for Saint's Row has been freedom. Yep, in San Andreas you could do anything, go anywhere, but the story, ultimately, followed a pre-ordained linear path. Don't get us wrong, it was superb. But, well, you remember when you had to do those stupid, fiddly, remote-controlled plane games? Exactly.
Saint's Row has looked to advance the model. Yep, you can roam free, but the story isn't quite the cinematic and necessarily linear structure of San Andreas; it's a lot more organic. Here, those random crime sprees and violent rampages have an impact on your progress, increasing you and your gang's notoriety.
There are 30ish standard missions, in the traditional mould. But you can take over neighbourhoods in any order you want, and landscape domination is the game's ultimate aim. Yes, like CJ you need to rise to the top, but you'll do so with far more emphasis on growing your gang and using a team of elite members to complete a goal.
With all these tweaks to the near perfect San Andreas model, Saint's Row could certainly be 360's answer to GTA.


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If Rafael "Rafa" Benitez can get fellow Spaniard Fernando Torres playing for Chelsea as he did for Liverpool, then Roman Abramovich's latest throw of the managerial dice will look like a double six.
Benitez was appointed Chelsea's caretaker manager on Wednesday until the end of the season, with his immediate task being to shore up a porous defense that has contributed to a run of only two wins in eight games that has left the European champions on the verge of an embarrassing group-stage exit from the UEFA Champions League.
Their 3-0 defeat at Juventus on Tuesday spelt the end of the line for Roberto di Matteo and meant that Chelsea's prospects are out of their own hands in the final round.
Di Matteo himself was brought in as a stop-gap after the sacking of Andrea Villas-Boas last season, but then got the job on a permanent basis after giving owner Roman Abramovich the "big one" in May. However, "permanent" means something entirely different at Chelsea than elsewhere, as evidenced by the nine managers who have now been in the hot seat in the nine years since the Russian billionaire bought the club.
Villas-Boas, now Tottenham Hotspur manager, lasted a similar time to Di Matteo's 262-day reign, while Carlo Ancelotti was positively long-serving with his two years.
What Ancelotti, Villas-Boas and Di Matteo had in common was their frustration with the performances of Torres, bought under Ancelotti's reign for a stunning £50 million pounds (US$79.74 million) in January last year.
All three men kept faith with the Spaniard in the face of poor returns before eventually dropping him. However, Di Matteo went furthest, dropping him from Tuesday's team to face Juventus, despite not having another recognized striker in the team.
Torres has cut a forlorn figure for most of his time in London, but linking up again with Benitez, who bought him for Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in July 2007, could finally kick-start his Stamford Bridge career
"Rafa Benitez has been the most important coach in my career. He has been the only one who knew how to help me improve," Torres said not in his Liverpool pomp, but a year ago, when he was agonizing over his 25-game scoreless streak for club and country.
The striker has found the net on a reasonably regular basis this season, with seven goals from 19 games, but still looks a shadow of the razor-sharp penalty-box poacher who scored 81 goals in 142 games for Liverpool, including 33 in his first season.
Benitez has been without a club for two years after lasting just six months at Inter and reports said he turned down a short-term deal at Chelsea last season.
The received wisdom is that he is now merely keeping the seat warm for Pep Guardiola, the former Barcelona coach who is enjoying a year's sabbatical from the game, but Benitez will not see it that way.
Just like Jose Mourinho, the man he locked horns with during those classic Liverpool-Chelsea Champions League clashes of the early 2000s, Benitez is his own No. 1 fan and will no doubt expect to make the job his own beyond this season.
Di Matteo got off to a flying start last year when he turned round a 3-1 first-leg deficit against SSC Napoli in the Champions League first knockout round to win the tie and go on to lift the trophy, and then get the full-time job.
Benitez faces a much tougher task, as even if his new team get their expected win over Danish side Nordsjaelland in their final Group E game in two weeks, a draw between Shakhtar Donetsk and Juventus in Ukraine would send them both through.


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University of Florida computer science students remain fearful about their department's future, despite the school's decision this week to "set aside" an earlier plan to reorganize the department and cut its budget.
This month, students at the state's flagship university in Gainesville organized demonstrations after the university announced plans to cut $1.7 million from the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) department.
The move would have cut all teaching assistant positions, which help finance education costs for Ph.D. students, increased the teaching responsibilities for faculty who now conduct research, and eliminate staff, including technical support. The ensuing reorganization of the program, which trains more than 1,100 students, would have crippled research efforts and left a "token department," according to critics.
On Monday, the university released a statement defending its plan.
But on Wednesday, the school president, Bernie Machen, appeared to retreat a little, and said the "overwhelming negative response" to the university's proposal "has been based on misunderstanding." Exactly what that misunderstanding is wasn't explained.
The university, in its latest statement, said a new proposal "in consultation with students, faculty, staff, alumni and industry partners" is being developed. The statement didn't address the proposed cutbacks.
The Florida legislature instituted a $300 million cut on the state's university system in the next fiscal year that begins July 1. Machen said the university has to cut more than $38 million. "After five years of cuts, we have lost almost 25% of University of Florida's state support," he said.
Nuri Yeralan, a Ph.D. student at the university who is the leader of the student opposition, said there was nothing in the university president's statement to lessen concerns about the future of the computer science department.
"We are in an existential sort of crisis mode," said Yeralan. "This is a threat to our department; this is a threat to our department's autonomy, and to every student and to the value of their degree," he said.
Yeralan disputes the need for the cuts and believes the university has sufficient money in its reserves to ride out what he says is a non-recurring cut by the state.
The university's plan, affecting 600 undergrads, 400 master's degree students and about 130 Ph.D. computer science students, quickly garnered national attention because it affected a program directly linked to U.S. global competitiveness.
President Barack Obama has cited the training of so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) grads as a "national priority essential to meeting the economic challenges of this century."
Patrick Thibodeau covers cloud computing and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @DCgov or subscribe to Patrick's RSS feed. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Patrick Thibodeau on Computerworld.com.
Read more about education/training in Computerworld's Education/Training Topic Center.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.


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BMW Car Club GB @ Oulton Park Circuit
BMW Car Club GB
Friday, November 9, 2018
Oulton Park Circuit, Taporley, Cheshire
ATTENTION! Your web browser is either very old or portions of MotorsportReg.com are being blocked. As a result, some things on this and other sites may be out of place or look broken. Before you try and register for events, learn how to correct it.


text: It's not like I'm supporting this, but in the end he is off the streets for a long time. No doubt he'd get good behavior, and he would get the benefits of a government pension as a reformed citizen. He no longer has to worry about being homeless, and most likely wouldn't be sent to a high security prison. Probably could work at a degree. Not all is bad is for this honest man. But it still f***ing sucks. Send the fraud to a max prison. Get a free a*****e expansion.


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An Innovative HIV Prevention Intervention Using Social Networking Technology
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01381653
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : June 27, 2011
Last Update Posted : June 3, 2013
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Sexual Risk Substance Use
|Other: Behavioral: HIV prevention intervention
|Not Applicable
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|60 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|An Innovative HIV Prevention Intervention Using Social Networking Technology
|Study Start Date :
|November 2011
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|March 2013
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|March 2013
Experimental: Motivational Interviewing
Eight 30-minute sessions utilizing Motivational Interviewing will be delivered to reduce substance use and sexual risk in a group of high risk young men who have sex with men.
Other: Behavioral: HIV prevention intervention
Substance using HIV-negative young men who have sex with men who engage in sexual risk and use social networking (Facebook) will be recruited and enrolled in a brief intervention utilizing Motivational Interviewing over chat window to reduce their substance use and sexual risk. They will also evaluate their intervention experience at the end of their eight sessions and post-assessment.
Other Name: Reductions in sexual risk and substance use
- feasibility and acceptability of intervention delivery [ Time Frame: 1 month ]Participants (N=40) who received eight 30-minute sessions of Motivational Interviewing (to reduce substance use and sexual risk) over instant messaging on Facebook will be interviewed to evaluate the intervention delivery and structure, including their perceived connection with the counselor and concerns with receiving an intervention online.
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 29 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
Phase I:
For the focus group portion of the study (N=20), we will invite former YMHP participants who declined the intervention or only completed one session, agreed to be contacted for future studies, indicated using Facebook, are still between the ages of 18-29 and live in NYC.
Phase II:
To qualify for the intervention portion of the study, participants must report
- at least 5 days of drug use (of 1 or more of the following drugs: cocaine, methamphetamine (MA), or ecstasy (MDMA) in the prior three months;
- high-risk sexual behavior (1 or more acts of unprotected insertive or receptive anal sex with a male partner of unknown or HIV+ serostatus), in the prior three months;
- biologically male;
- age 18 to 29;
- reliable Internet access;
- Facebook use at least four times per week;
- able to write in English given that intervention participation involves writing;
- NYC residency.
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will be excluded for any of the following reasons:
- Unstable, serious psychiatric symptoms;
- Currently suicidal/homicidal;
- Evidence of gross cognitive impairment;
- Self-reported current enrollment in a drug or HIV-related intervention or research study.
We exclude those with serious cognitive or psychiatric impairments because this would compromise ability to participate, regardless of whether these impairments are attributed to drug use. Such impairments would make completion of assessments difficult.
Excluded participants will be referred to local community health and social services resources, for which we have established linkages to facilitate access to care regardless of ability to pay.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01381653
|United States, New York
|Hunter College, CUNY, Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training
|New York, New York, United States, 10001
|Principal Investigator:
|Corina T Lelutiu-Weinberger, PhD
|Hunter College, CUNY, Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training
Additional Information:
|Responsible Party:
|Jeffrey T. Parsons, Professor, Hunter College of City University of New York
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01381653 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
R03DA031607 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|June 27, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|June 3, 2013
|Last Verified:
|May 2013
sexual risk
substance use
HIV prevention
intervention acceptability and feasibility


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Glacier Jet
The ultimate half day wilderness jet boat, and helicopter adventure. See hanging glaciers, LOTR & Hobbit film locations, ice carved landscapes and enjoy a wilderness walk in the Matukituki Valley: gateway to the Mount Aspiring National Park.
- Adult
- $759.00
- Child
- $455.00
Contact Us
1 / 6
This is a great opportunity to capture a close up look at the huge glacial area beneath Mount Aspiring with this unique combination of jet boating, helicopter flight, and wilderness walk.
Board the helicopter from the river bank for a scenic helicopter flight. See hanging valleys where glaciers once lay and waterfalls that cascade from under giants of ice into the streams and rivers that feed into the Matukituki River.
During this unique New Zealand glacier tour experience a high altitude snow landing overlooking Mount Aspiring. Disembark the helicopter for photos before flying down into the Matukituki Valley to join the guided wilderness walk and return leg of the Jet Boat Journey.
Tour locations
Physical address
Glacier Jet, Departures from 99 Ardmore, Wanaka town, Wanaka, 9305, New Zealand.
Opening times
- Business hours:
- Summer departures 10am and 1.00pm closed christmas day / winter departures 11am
- Months of operation:
- Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Pricing and Conditions
(14 year(s) and under)
- Age restriction:
- 4


text:
Home Commercial Storefront
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Commercial Storefront in Sacramento, CA
Commercial Storefronts in the Sacramento, CA Area
Curtain wall storefront systems utilize glass and mullions which act as structural members to transfer wind and gravity forces to the building structure. Commercial storefronts can be customized to fit nearly any taste, budget or building style. Updating your existing aluminum and glass storefronts is an excellent way to improve and modernize the appearance of your building.
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text:
|Display Modes
|October 13th, 2014
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Jew S. A.
Posts: 3,678
Video at link. Basically a White guy is nearly hit by an out of control motorcycle. He jumps over the sliding bike and continues talking on his cell phone.
The guy on the phone, the motorcyclist and all the White people in the crowd just continue focusing on the motorcycle race as if nothing has happened.
This woulda been a holocaust if they'd been a jews.
|October 19th, 2014
News Bot
White Spirit: The Dutch boy mopping up a sea of plastic - Whites are the only race who care about making the world better/cleaner
Boyan Slat is a 20-year-old on a mission - to rid the world's oceans of floating plastic. He has dedicated his teenage years to finding a way of collecting it. But can the system really work - and is there any point when so much new plastic waste is still flowing into the sea every day?
"I don't understand why 'obsessive' has a negative connotation, I'm an obsessive and I like it," says Boyan Slat. "I get an idea and I stick to it."
This idea came to him at the age of 16, in the summer of 2011, when diving in Greece. "I saw more plastic bags than fish," says Slat. He was shocked, and even more shocked that there was no apparent solution. "Everyone said to me: 'Oh there's nothing you can do about plastic once it gets into the oceans,' and I wondered whether that was true."
Over the last 30 to 40 years, millions of tonnes of plastic have entered the oceans. Global production of plastic now stands at 288 million tonnes per year, of which 10% ends up in the ocean in time. Most of that - 80% - comes from land-based sources. Litter gets swept into drains, and ends up in rivers - so that plastic straw or cup lid you dropped, the cigarette butt you threw on the road… they could all end up in the sea.
The plastic is carried by currents and congregates in five revolving water systems, called gyres, in the major oceans, the most infamous being the huge Pacific Garbage Patch, half way between Hawaii and California.
Although the concentration of plastic in these areas is high - it's sometimes described as a plastic soup - it's still spread out over an area twice the size of Texas. What's more, the plastic does not stay in one spot, it rotates. These factors make a clean-up incredibly challenging.
"Most people have this image of an island of trash that you can almost walk on, but that's not what it's like," says Slat. "It stretches for millions of square kilometres - if you went there to try and clean up by ship it would take thousands of years." Not only that, it would be very costly in terms of both money and energy, and fish would be accidentally caught in the nets.
Slat had always enjoyed working out solutions to puzzles, and while pondering this one, it came to him - rather than chase plastic, why not harness the currents and wait for it to come to you?
At school, Slat developed his idea further as part of a science project. An array of floating barriers, anchored to the sea bed, would first catch and concentrate the floating debris. The plastic would move along the barriers towards a platform, where it could then be efficiently extracted. The ocean current would pass underneath the barriers, taking all buoyant sea life with it. There would be no emissions, and no nets for marine life to get entangled in. The collected ocean plastic would be recycled and made into products - or oil.
Computer animation of Boyan Slat's plastic catching system
The high school science project was awarded Best Technical Design at Delft University of Technology. For most teenagers, it would probably have ended there, but Slat was different. He had been interested in engineering from a very young age. "First I built tree houses, then zip-wires, then it evolved towards bigger things," he says. "By the time I was 13, I was very interested in rocketry." This led him to set a Guinness World Record for the most water rockets launched at the same time: 213, from a sports field in his native Delft. "The experience taught me how to get people crazy enough to do things you want, and how to approach sponsors." Useful skills, as it turned out.
When Slat began studying aerospace engineering at Delft University, the idea of cleaning up the oceans just wouldn't let him go - he says it niggled at him like "an asymmetrically positioned label" on a pair of boxer shorts. He set up a foundation, The Ocean Cleanup, and explained his concept in a TedX Talk: How the Oceans can Clean Themselves. Then, six months into his course, he made the decision to pause both university and social life to try make it a reality.
His entire budget consisted of 200 euros (£160) of saved-up pocket money, so he spent a few desolate months trying to get sponsorship. "It was so disheartening, because no-one was interested," he says. "I remember one day contacting 300 companies for sponsorship - only one replied, and that, too, resulted in a dead end."
But then something happened. On 26 March 2013, months after it had gone online, Slat's TedX talk went viral. "It was unbelievable," he says. "Suddenly we got hundreds of thousands of people clicking on our site every day. I received about 1,500 emails per day in my personal mailbox from people volunteering to help." He set up a crowd-funding platform that made $80,000 in 15 days.
Slat still doesn't know what made his idea take off like that, but he describes it as a great relief. "A year ago I wasn't sure it would succeed," he says. "But considering the size of the problem it was important to at least try."
The amount of plastic being discarded into the marine environment is such that we could eventually see an ocean where the amount of plastics is roughly one third the total biomass of fish - 1lb of plastic for every 2lbs of fish, according to Nicholas Mallos from Ocean Conservancy, which organises coastal clean-ups.
According to the UN Environment Programme there are on average 13,000 pieces of floating plastic per square kilometre of ocean - but that goes up to millions of pieces in the gyres. Many of these particles end up being accidentally ingested by marine animals, which can die of starvation because of the plastic filling their stomachs.
A decayed albatross carcass shows the amount of plastic it had ingested
Albatrosses are particularly vulnerable because they feed on the eggs of flying fish, which are attached to floating objects - now most likely a piece of plastic. Dr Jan Andries van Franeker from the Institute for Marine Resources an
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read full article at source: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29631332
|January 1st, 2015
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Svithiod.
Posts: 2,142
Don't follow trends -- MAKE THEM!!
Robert Frenz, FAEM, 06 May 2001
Ek trui a matt minn ok megin.
Visit Robert Frenz' FAEM: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/faem/
|January 16th, 2015
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,910
Caldwell and Jorgeson, Two White Guys, Conquer El Capitan
Kevin MacDonald on January 15, 2015 10 Comments
Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson at their hanging camp on El Capitan at Yosemite
Extreme sports is a context for implicit Whiteness:
Tommy Caldwell free climbing El Capitan
Kevin Jorgeson
Jorgesons girlfriend, Jacqui Becker, told the San Jose Mercury News:
Jorgesons hands, January 9
The Washington Post article gives a good feeling for the difficulties involved:
So its good to be reminded that there are still those among us who possess the psychological traits needed for great deeds. These lines from Beowulf capture well the Faustian spirit apparent in these men that is so central to understanding the West and, I suggest, Caldwell and Jorgeson:
As we must all expect to leaveLet us honor them now.
|January 31st, 2015
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Svithiod.
Posts: 2,142
If people do not control themselves by inner direction, then they must be controlled by making them an offer they cannot refuse. This offer consists of an inescapable alternative. Firing squads work very well in this regard.
Robert Frenz, FAEM, 7 February 2001
Ek trui a matt minn ok megin.
Visit Robert Frenz' FAEM: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/faem/
|February 1st, 2015
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Svithiod.
Posts: 2,142
I've been shit on and shot at; lied to and lied about; thrown from a bridge; damned near paralyzed from spinal meningitis; watched my mother die when I was a kid and a few years later, my brother. I've enjoyed the delusion of being in love and learned from the snippet who ultimately betrayed me and stole everything I owned. My only son died before he could walk, and you know what? I AM STILL HERE! I have been on top of the world and in its darkened depths but I never copped out to alcohol or drugs; have never went back on my word; never "ratted" on anyone and never stole anything from anyone. As long as my ass can muster up the strength, I'll keep on marching. It's great to be a White man.
Robert Frenz, FAEM, 31 October 2000
Ek trui a matt minn ok megin.
Visit Robert Frenz' FAEM: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/faem/
|March 8th, 2015
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Svithiod.
Posts: 2,142
Amsterdam, Netherlands A terminally ill woman looks at a self-portrait of Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum. Dutch charity Ambulance Wens granted the dying womans last wish for a private viewing of the Rembrandt exhibition
Photograph: Roel Foppen/AP
Ek trui a matt minn ok megin.
Visit Robert Frenz' FAEM: http://www.jrbooksonline.com/faem/
|March 26th, 2015
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: USA
Posts: 704
The Faustian Spirit
Dr. Pierce attributes the Faustian Spirit as being Hallmark of the "Aryan Race Soul".
|May 18th, 2015
not giving up, studying and thinking, chain through generations...
baseball: father jeff trout, derailed by injury, helps son become among best in game
|May 18th, 2015
whites have the courage to do this, but we can't retake society from jews? bullshit.
of course, they are not directly comparable.
|March 24th, 2017
|April 12th, 2017
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,910
Saw this on Twitter. To me, Irwin exemplifies the nature/animal-loving side of White people. He just exuded pure, unaldutered love for animals in a way that very few others do.
|April 30th, 2017
|April 30th, 2017
"Well they can't all be winners." --Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa
Mr Hinke said Steck – known as the Swiss Machine – was famous for doing technically difficult climbs very fast and solo – including classic Alpine routes like the north face of the Eiger, which he completed in two hours and 47 minutes without using a rope.
He said: "He was pushing the envelope, but he was at the top of his game.
|May 27th, 2017
"My love of playing is still the same as when I was 24. In fact, I appreciate it all more and understand it much better," Allman told the Wall Street Journal in 2015. "I'm grateful for every gold record, good review and award I've ever received, but I'm just so into what I'm doing and that's where my focus is."
|June 5th, 2017
tremendous concentration, preparation and sheer courage - literally no one else in the world can do what this guy did
Alex Honnold casually climbed a rock higher than the world's tallest building. With no safety gear.
The climber rewrote what humans are capable of and made it seem totally logical and normal.
by Spencer [email protected] Jun 5, 2017, 3:08pm EDT
It's easy enough to read it: On June 3, 2017, Alex Honnold rewrote what is humanly possible by climbing the nearly 3,000-foot-tall face of Yosemite's El Capitan without a rope.
It's harder to understand how or why, but let's try.
Start with the feat, and the feat alone: Alex Honnold, a 31-year-old universally acclaimed climbing genius, scaled El Capitan without a rope, aid, or any help whatsoever. That is yes, almost 3,000 feet of climbing and focus applied to the almost sheer, vertical surface most consider to be the heart of the rock climbing universe, done without so much as a BASE jumping chute for a sliver of the illusion of safety.
In 1958, the first three climbers to make it all the way up El Capitan did it only after 18 months of planning and 47 days of actual climbing. They used ropes and drove pitons into the rock itself to secure their progress, and established a series of base camps along the way on a long siege of the climb. Even skilled climbers working today typically take four days to summit the most commonly climbed route, the standard called The Nose.
The route Honnold chose, Freerider, requires a similar commitment of time and resources. There are climbers sleeping on the rock as we write this, very fit, very experienced climbers who will need the better part of a week to knock off. They will sleep there, haul gear from station to station, and even defecate into PVC pipes and carry it with them for disposal later in order to finish the climb. I know this because Alex Honnold said in an interview just after the climb that he woke a few of them up on his way up the rock, passing them without a rope as they slept in Bivy platforms attached to the wall.
That route — my god, I almost don't want to tell you what's involved because it makes my hands start sweating just thinking about it. The rock is nearly vertical or past vertical. It heats up in the sun and messes with grip, and starts out cold enough to tear off callouses, leaving a climber's hands bloody and useless. There are cracks small enough to get hands and feet stuck in, requiring expensive and embarrassing rescue; there are "off-width" cracks, big enough to require delicate use of the entire body as a kind of safety plug, a sometimes nightmarish move for a climber even with protection.
The entirety of Freerider grades out at a 5.12d on a scale that only goes up to 5.15. The crux of the route — i.e. the hardest part — is something called "The Teflon Corner," a move working across holds no bigger than 1/8th of an inch requiring "a karate kick." When Honnold was sizing up possible free solo routes on El Cap in 2009, even he doubted tackling Freerider because of the crux: "I've never even looked at the Teflon Corner, but it doesn't sound like something you'd want to solo."
Eight years later, Honnold blew through the Teflon Corner with ease.* He finished a route most people do in four days in three hours and 56 minutes. He was wearing only a red shirt, cutoff nylon climbing pants, and a pair of climbing shoes when he did it, and carried only a bag of chalk. He was done by 9:28 a.m. PT.
*Correction: Honnold blew through the crux at "The Boulder Problem," which is a 5.13a rock climbing move, not the Teflon Corner. This is a photo of Pete Whittaker working his way through that section. No, we can't see what he's holding onto, either, or how anyone would attempt this with a rope, much less without one.
There is also the matter of how he did this: Free soloing, i.e. climbing without a rope or any aid of any sort. There is no bigger level of commitment to your own skill as an athlete than free soloing a climb. There is no backup past your ability, no preservation from chance or the random disaster, no option B to select on the menu. If a free soloist makes a mistake on an ascent past a certain height, then that free soloist dies, often in violent and spectacular fashion.
Pedantry about free soloing being a glorified suicide helps me make this point: For Alex Honnold, the most unreal aspect of his ascent of Freerider is that it might not even be within the range of unreal for him.
Honnold didn't use siege tactics and pitons to climb El Cap, but his preparation was no less rigorous. Honnold studied and worked the route — often alongside pioneering free soloist Peter Croft — for years. He free soloed other faces to get a feel for long climbs without protection done at scales that would melt other climbers' brains. For comparison, take a look at Moonlight Buttress, and feel the fear tingling in your knees and neck just looking at it, and then consider how Honnold did this free solo almost nine years ago, when he was just getting started two years after dropping out of UC-Berkeley to live in his van and climb.
Consider how Honnold's brain processes fear differently than the average human brain, and how his ability to stay calm and focused despite dangling by his fingertips a thousand feet off the ground comes from his amygdala barely firing under circumstances that would set most other people's emotional centers on fire. Read about his fingerboard workouts, which he does in an L-sit position to keep his feet off the ground because he has to do them hanging from the frame of his home. Consider that his home is a van he lives in so he can devote his entire life to climbing, and that he rolled out of that same van to climb up the full height and length of Freerider, and that he spent the night before what will likely be the greatest achievement of his or any other rock climber's career in that van, watching "the last Hobbit movie" and "vegging."
Also think about there being nothing past this, at least not on Earth. There are larger sheer rock faces on the planet, but almost all of them involve some degree of alpine-style climbing just to get there, and are located in places where the climate and geography are almost as much of an obstacle as the wall itself. Free soloing Trango Towers or Mount Thor would be legitimate suicide attempts made into the teeth of freezing weather and unstable rock conditions. Honnold's risk in the end was no less absolute, but was also wagered at the very edge of the limit of the possible. What might lie beyond Yosemite is a degree of madness — even for the visibly mad free soloing community, where competitors race only themselves, each other's records, and ultimately Death.
Finally: Consider how sensible all this madness looks, now that it's all laid out there. Honnold, who was training to be an engineer before dropping out of university, chose the least unreal and controllable venue for the insanity of the world's biggest free solo attempt. He prepared for it ruthlessly, devoted his whole life to it, and tracked the entire route until some of the holds felt like "old friends." Honnold did that for the better part of eight years, then waxed it like it was a practice lap at the peak physical performance age of 31, and with a mental edge so pronounced it became the focus of official scientific inquiry.
Think about that on the day before the climb, Honnold bouldered just to stay loose, and that on the day of, after he finished, he was planning to work out because he'd only had "four hours of light exercise," but definitely needed lunch first. The most shocking thing about Honnold's free solo of El Cap isn't just that it rewrote what humans are capable of, but that the human who accomplished it made it seem so logical and normal in the first place.
The feat is extraordinary without the athlete; the athlete regards it as logical and normal; by extension, the athlete is simply doing what they are there to do, and anyone watching now realizes that they are in the company of a legitimate mutant, someone whose achievements are only made normal by comparison with the extranormal person producing them. I'm out of ways to say this: Alex Honnold is human, and so are you, and that the definition includes both is proof that words are shoddy signifiers for the reality they are supposed to represent, because Alex Honnold climbed Freerider without a rope and it didn't even seem like an unsafe, unwise thing for him to do.
If all that isn't enough: Consider that about halfway up, Honnold was planning his next climb, a sport climb at the absurd grade of 9A. That wasn't being presumptuous: In his mind, the climb was finished the minute he left the ground. The rest — all of the nearly 3,000 feet of it — was just light exercise.
Last edited by Alex Linder; June 5th, 2017 at 07:38 PM.
|June 5th, 2017
|June 5th, 2017
Research has shown that every time we recall a memory, it undergoes reconsolidation, meaning we are able to add new information or a different interpretation to our remembrance, even turning fearful memories into fearless ones.
Honnold keeps a detailed climbing journal, in which he revisits his climbs and makes note of what he can do better. For his most challenging solos, he also puts a lot of time into preparation: rehearsing the moves and, later, picturing each movement in perfect execution. To get ready for one 1,200-foot-high ascent at the cutting edge of free soloing, he even visualized everything that could possibly go wrong—including "losing it," falling off, and bleeding out on the rock below—to come to terms with those possibilities before he left the ground. Honnold completed that climb, known as Moonlight Buttress, in Utah's Zion National Park, about 13 years after he started climbing, and four years after he started soloing.
Revisiting memories to cast them in a new light, Monfils says, is almost certainly something that we do all the time without being aware of it. But doing so actively, as Honnold did, is better—"a beautiful example of reconsolidation."
|September 2nd, 2017
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,910
Olympic rower posts gruesome pic of blistered hands after record-breaking Arctic expedition
Published time: 1 Sep, 2017 14:19
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British two-time Olympic rowing champion Alex Gregory posted a shocking picture of his blistered hands following the premature finish of his team's expedition in the Arctic.
Gregory, who won two gold medals as part the British men's coxless fours team at both London 2012 and Rio 2016, was taking part in The Polar Row Arctic expedition in which his team has set 11 world records related to distance traveled and location.
The number of records is also an achievement in itself, as it surpassed the previous highest number of records by a man-powered rowing expedition.
They were originally set to break as many as 12 world records, but had to call off their bid due to safety fears.
"After around 7 days of tough seas and with failing power supplies we made the decision as a crew to head for the island of Jan Mayen in order to recover, recuperate and fix the technical issues we were having on board with the power supplies," wrote Gregory on his Facebook page.
"My feet were extremely wet and cold, clothing damp, I was undernourished but to be quite honest in good spirits as we all were. I was hurting, I had been scared, I was worried about safety but I was happy," he continued.
The 33-year-old rower also explained the decision was partly due to family reasons.
"My three young children need their dad, they need him to be responsible and to make the right decisions in life. They need him to be brave, adventurous, ambitious and to set them the right example, but they also need him to not take unnecessary risks."
The photo of his blistered hands appeared on his social media account four days after the decision was announced to finish the expedition early.
"My hands after spending so long in wet gloves," wrote Gregory on his Twitter.
"The blisters were never bad on this Polar row, but the wet & damp seeped into the skin…"
The Polar Row was a two-stage rowing crew Arctic expedition aiming to set a number of world records to raise funds to build a school in the Himalayas.
|September 15th, 2017
|white spirit
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Is the software currently working with the Standard Ethershield? (W5100)
Assuming it is... Does UDP work?
Is it more reliable than the W5100? Is the reliability of the W5100 a software issue? In that case does this library fix that problem?
Is the ENC28J60 a better shield than the standard W5100 board?Note: I use the Mega2560 board. The ethershield is the new one with the MicroSD card.
Does anyone know what is the function of the D2 connection on the shield? It is connected to the ICP1 pin, but I can't find an explanation in the code why it has to be connected.I would like to change the pin, as the mega board doesn't have the ICP1 pin accessible
#define ENC28J60_CONTROL_CS 10#define SPI_MOSI 11#define SPI_MISO 12#define SPI_SCK 13
Knowing that D2 isn't used in the libraries, that makes it pretty easy to add compatibility with Mega boards, and in fact I have already sent the code to alvarojusten and should be added soon to the libraries.
Also, Sure electronics's ENC28J60 based ethernet board is also compatible with the libraries as expected, but couldn't find any information about that before buying it.
Oh! I forgot, the mega compatibility has the same issue, with shields that do not get SPI signals from the ICSP header, than the old ethernet shield, you have to bend the pins and connect cables to the SPI pins of the Mega board.http://mcukits.com/2009/04/06/arduino-ethernet-shield-mega-hack/This should be indicated in the readme, so the newcomers are warned, as the famous nuelectronics shield has this issue, in fact, all the shields listed in the reosurce file have this issue.
Also, in the resource file there is a link to http://blog.thiseldo.co.uk/?p=344 , but he has already released a newer one v1.6, http://blog.thiseldo.co.uk/?p=504
But accidentally, I found another realization of the library:http://jeelabs.net/projects/cafe/repository/entry/EtherCardEtherCard based on official ENC lib, but there are a lot rewritten code, DNS realization, cool http server, new tcp-ip stack & etc.
what is the function of the D2 connection on the shield?
Server side works great !Can you tell when client side will be ready ?


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Ion add-on to equip iPhone with full Qwerty keyboard
iType turns you handset into a Sinclair Z88
CES 2010 Ion, a company best known for its USB turntables and cassette decks, has introduced a Qwerty keyboard add on for... the iPhone.
Ion's iType: fast text entry on the iPhone
No mere clip-on BlackBerry-style mini keypad, the iType is a near full-size board with a space in which to sit the handset in landscape mode.
The iType has its own battery, so won't drain the phone's own power pack. Quite the reverse. Since it connects to the iPhone's docking port, it should charge the handset.
Also available in silver
At CES, the company had two prototype iTypes on show: one silver, one gloss black.
Ion's using the same basic design in its iPhone-friendly piano keyboard accessory, iDiscovery Keyboard. It comes complete with pitch, modulation and a stack of other controls which interface directly with the keyboard tutor app the board is designed to operate with.
If music's more your thing, there's a piano option too
Ion has given the iType a rough Q2 release window, and the company told Register Hardware it's aiming for a price of just £70. There's no word on the piano price. ®
Sponsored: Beyond the Data Frontier


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The Victorian era with its flamboyant and baroque extravagance lured hundreds of designers into a beautiful fantasy world. Sarah Burton is one of the pioneer style godmothers who decided to dedicate the autumn collection to the cult of the golden decades. The heiress to the throne of the McQueen atelier revealed that the inspiration came, "By researching folk art and Romany art, which then became Spanish, and then it all somehow linked up with Victoriana and fifties couture." The motto for the new season is definitely 'refinement' and 'stand... Read More


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New editor takes the reins of the Summit Daily News
summit daily news
After five years at the helm of the Williamson County Sun, Ben Trollinger took over as managing editor of the Summit Daily News last week, after former editor Alex Miller departed for a job on the Front Range.
Trollinger, formerly of Georgetown, Texas, is a 10-year veteran of the newspaper business, with past experience as an editor, as well as a reporter covering crime, environment, business and politics.
He said he's approaching his new role with an eye to the community, but without any immediate plans for big changes to the newspaper.
"The Summit Daily definitely seems to have a vital role in the community," Trollinger said. "For me to come in and start changing everything would be a big mistake. What I'm looking to do is to learn the community, learn the paper and work with everyone at the Daily to evolve it in a way we are excited about."
Trollinger is temporarily residing in Vail, but plans to move to Silverthorne by the end of the month.
Coming from a community of 50,000 and with a background in local news reporting, he said he plans to take an active approach to getting to know Summit County as he settles into his new position.
"There are certain similarities that all communities have," Trollinger said, "but the trick for me is learning what makes this one stand apart, what makes it unique. That's going to be a learning curve for me, but it's exciting at the same time."
Trollinger grew up in Dallas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 2002.
He grew up visiting Colorado during summer vacations with his family.
"I've had a lifelong affection for the place," Trollinger said. "It's always been kind of a goal that I wanted to move here one day."
After college, he took a position as a reporter for a twice-weekly newspaper in a community north of Austin. He would later settle at the Sun, a family-owned weekly with a circulation of 10,000.
His wife of 10 years, Brenda, and two children, ages 5 and 22 months, will join him in Summit County before the end of the year.
Miller, who was the SDN managing editor for four years after moving over from the Vail Daily, stepped down from the position in late August.
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.


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Craft sushi, Japanese beers, sake, and whiskies.
From the executive chef that brought you Japonessa, Billy Beach returns to his roots in this smaller, more relaxed Ballard sushi setting.
We do not take reservations but if you are worried about getting a seat, just give us a call 15-20 minutes before your expected arrival (30 minutes on Friday & Saturday recommended), and we can add you to the wait list right over the phone.


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AGE in Food: Are You What You Eat?
Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH December, 2006
When I started medical school my biochemistry professor used to tell my class, "Oxidation is the consequence of eating and breathing." I felt this sentiment was darker than how one should view food and breath, however for some people (including those with diabetes), considering the already oxidized materials in food - and reducing them - may have health benefits!
Oxidation of food occurs during the cooking process in the presence of oxygen, i.e. air. One of the most common reactions occurs between carbohydrates (e.g. sugar and starch) reacting with proteins at high temperatures. However oxidation of oils also occurs. This process forms little chemical bridges or bonds that alter the way food is treated inside the body.The resulting particles are called advanced glycosylation endproducts or AGE.
So who cares? Perhaps we all should. It turns out AGE products are absorbed into the body and can bind to AGE-receptors, i.e. they stick around inside of us and stick to things they shouldn't stick to. High consumption of AGE in food appears to affect kidney function and blood vessel disease in people with diabetes. Can anything be done to fight off AGE? The simple answer is yes, but you have to keep reading!
AGE Content in Food
Nutrition researchers Goldberg et al. published the most comprehensive list of the AGE content of food in the literature and provided tables of food AGE content1.
Foods with the highest AGE content:(in decreasing order)
- high fat foods (particularly butter, cream cheese, mayonnaise and cooking oils)
- high protein foods (meat and meat substitutes including tofu)
- carbohydrate-dense foods
Foods with the lowest AGE content:
- low-fat dairy
- vegetables
- fruits
How food is prepared also determines AGE content:
- High AGE: oven frying, deep frying and broiling
- Lower AGE: stewing, boiling, poaching and microwaving
- Processed boxed/pre-cooked foods had the highest AGE content for carbohydrate dense foods.
I suspect many of you are now thinking, "Wonderful. One more thing to add to list of concerns about my diet. Now I have to watch carbs, fat, glycemic index, glycemic load, total calories, saturated fat and cholesterol." I agree it is confusing and I too get burdened by the quest for the "perfect" diet. Please remember, knowledge is power and empowerment helps us all make better decisions about our health and the health of our family.
AGE in Diabetes
AGE does appear to matter in diabetes. Specifically the published research suggests dietary AGE products do enter the blood stream, bind receptors, and stimulate inflammatory processes known to cause blood vessel disease in diabetes.
High intake of AGE products by people with diabetes leads to increased oxidation of LDL cholesterol compared to low AGE intake; oxidized LDL stimulates inflammation (increased C-reactive protein and NF-kappa B activity) leading to calcification of blood vessels, i.e. atherosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries" (See Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
Of note, because AGE intake increases various receptors, or adhesion molecules, on the inner lining of the blood vessels, high AGE intake may have lasting effects beyond one isolated meal!
AGE in Kidney Health
One of the most debilitating complications of diabetes can be reduced function of the kidneys. If untreated by improving blood glucose and blood pressure, kidney disease can lead to kidney failure requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation. Although it is too early to say definitively, research suggests dietary AGE intake may also affect kidney function in people with diabetes.
Kalousova et al. have published reviews discussing the role of AGE products in kidney disease3. In additional to the inflammatory process discussed above, AGE-effects in the kidney also include direct reductions in kidney filtration due to blood vessel disease and fibrosis.
Can Eating Less AGE Products Impact These Processes?
Human studies investigating the effects of low AGE intake on long term blood sugar control or blood vessel disease are nonexistent to date, however animal models of diabetes give us some information of what may be possible if people with diabetes limit AGE intake.
Specifically, Hofmann, et al. published research demonstrating reduced body weight and improved insulin sensitivity in diabetic mice fed a low-AGE diet compared with a high-AGE diet4. The low-AGE fed mice also had improved functioning and shape of the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin! "Good" cholesterol (HDL) was also increased in the low-AGE mice.
Similarly, animal studies by Zheng et al. demonstrate that low dietary intake AGE products in animals with either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes prevents kidney disease and increased survival5.
How to Stop AGEing?
The evidence is accumulating that dietary consumption of advanced glycosylation end products (AGE products) has implications in health and disease, possibly including the development of heart and kidney disease in humans. Although still untested, the background research in animal models of diabetes suggests AGE intake may also contribute to the development of insulin resistance and reduced insulin secretion known to be important in the development of diabetes. So can you stop AGEing?
Based on the research by Goldberg and Vlassara, the most direct method for reducing the damage cause by high AGE product intake is to reduce AGE product intake from the diet from a combination of choosing different foods and cooking methods!
Fortunately for all of us, the dietary changes needed to reduce AGE intake are very similar to a "whole-foods" diet recommended for diabetes and heart disease.
A Low AGE Diet:
- Processed foods (boxed foods,
- frozen meals, etc.)
- Full-fat dairy
- Meat
- Fried/Oven-fried/Broiled Foods
- (especially meat)
- Butter/Mayo/Cream cheese
- Fish (except fried or breaded)
- Vegetables
- Fruit (sparingly)
- Low-fat dairy
- Legumes/Whole Grains
- Boiled/Poached/Stewed Foods
- Nuts
Some may consider these changes to be impractical or difficult to incorporate into daily life. I agree these changes may take some time to get accustomed to, however I also believe small choices can have a big impact on AGE intake. For example:
- A hard-boiled egg has about 1/100th of the AGE content as a fried egg
- A homemade pancake has about ? the AGE content of a frozen, toasted pancake
- Puffed rice cereal has 120 times the AGE content of puffed wheat cereal
- Using avocado as a spread in place of butter reduces AGE intake 3-fold
- (Values abstracted from Goldberg et al. 2004)
- Small changes may lead to large long-term health gains!
Can Supplements Help?
Although we lack long-term clinical studies that show using supplements changes the long-term impact of AGE products in the body, there are several nutrients and nutrient derivatives that have demonstrated reductions in the inflammatory changes that result from AGE intake.
Many of these nutrients are available as nutritional supplements, however, as always, I discourage self-prescription of nutritional supplements or the prescription of nutritional supplements by store clerks. Many of the supplements which may improve AGE effects have not been studied for long-term safety and the medical community really has no idea how safe many of these substances are for long-term human consumption.
My recommendation is always to fix the real problem - reducing high dietary AGE intake - rather than looking for a quick-fix, patch.
Alpha-Lipoic Acid
Although most of the data we have on alpha-lipoic acid and AGE product formation is limited to animal studies, both the density of the research and the continuity of the research makes alpha-lipoic acid one the more favorable supplements to consider.
Both Midaoui et al. and Thirunavukkarasu et al. have published research in animals demonstrating alpha-lipoic acid as an effective inhibitor of AGE formation in diabetes.
N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant precursor to a natural antioxidant called glutathione; glutathione is known to be depleted in people with diabetes.
In the animal research performed by Cai et al. cited above, administration of NAC prevented the inflammatory changes observed from high AGE intake. This finding is consistent with the findings of De Mattia et al. who demonstrated reductions in pro-atherosclerotic vascular adhesion molecules from NAC supplementation in patients with Type 2 diabetes7.
NAC is relatively safe, though stomach irritation and agitation have been reported.
Benfotiamine is a derivative of the B-vitamin thiamine. Some data suggests high dose thiamine may have similar actions but benfotiamine appears to be better absorbed.
Recent publications suggest Benfotiamine may prevent inflammation caused by AGE intake. Specifically, Stirban et al. administered 1050 mg benfotiamine per day to patients with Type 2 diabetes and demonstrated reduced inflammatory markers, improved circulation and reduced pro-atherosclerotic adhesion molecules8.
Recommended doses and confidence in safety are still elusive due to a lack of long-term, large clinical studies.
Various on-line supplement companies (in some cased representing themselves as researchers or health-professionals) heavily market L-carnosine as the answer for preventing AGE-induced damage.
Scientific reviews suggest carnosine is a potent inhibitor of the formation of AGE products, and therefore carnosine has therapeutic potential in a variety of conditions including diabetes and diabetic complications9.
However clinical studies of carnosine are virtually non-existent in the U.S. literature and therefore it is nearly impossible to recommend a dose. Also, the lack of rigorous studies in humans make it very difficult to discuss the safety of the substance.
Although carnosine is present in food, specifically meat, the safety of taking high doses of carnosine in isolation is unknown.
Vitamin C and Vitamin E
Data is inconclusive on the effects of antioxidant vitamins on the development of AGE products. Preliminary animal research suggests a combination of vitamin C and vitamin E may prevent AGE product formation10, however this effect has not been demonstrated in humans. In fact, Konen et al. supplemented twenty-two people with diabetes with vitamin C and vitamin E for one year and did not observe a reduction in AGE content of skin samples11.
Advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGE) are an important factor in health and disease and appear to be particularly important in people with diabetes at risk for complications.
Although in diabetes, AGE formation occurs as a consequence to chronically elevated blood sugars, AGE products are also directly consumed by all of us in our diets.
There are dramatic differences in AGE content of food determined both by the nutrient composition of food, as well as by the degree of processing and method of cooking.
Dietary intake of AGE appears to affect blood vessel inflammation and oxidation of "bad" cholesterol, leading to increased atherosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries."
Although supplements may be beneficial, few have been rigorously tested and therefore self-prescription without physician oversight is discouraged.
Alternatively reductions in the negative consequences of AGE products can be achieved by eating a "whole-foods" diet free of highly-processed, high-fat foods and by avoiding fried or broiled foods.
1. Goldberg et al. J. Am. Diet. Ass. 2004
2. Cai et al. Circulation. 2004 and Vlassara et al. Proceedings National Academy of Science. 2002.
3. Kalousova et al. Kidney and Blood Pressure Research. 2004
4. Hoffman et al. Diabetes. 2002
5. Zheng et al. Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews. 2002
6. Midaoui et al. Am J Hypertens. 2003 and Thirunavukkarasu et al. Pharmazie. 2005
7. De Mattia et al. Diabetelogia. 1998
8. Stirban et al. Diabetes Care. 2006
9. Guiotto et al. Curr Med Chem. 2005
10. Yatoh et al. Diabetes Met Res Rev. 2006
11. Konen et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2000


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A movie used to enjoy a second life on DVD. Now that has exploded into third, fourth, fifth and more lives on digital platforms as studios adjust to the new ways people watch movies outside of theaters.
In addition to slotting discs into traditional DVD players, average Joes and Janes are now downloading or streaming entertainment to PCs, gaming consoles, iPods and other portable devices. To capture that emerging business, studios must distribute movies to dozens of new digital retailers that were virtually unheard of just a few years back, including Xbox Live, PlayStation Store and Amazon Video on Demand.
A single movie can be offered in as many as 250 digital formats worldwide to accommodate the various video resolutions and encoding guidelines of these digital retailers.
Faced with such new responsibilities, studios are changing business models to better cater to digital. Today, many titles launch on cable/satellite video-on-demand, Web-based download sell-through/rental services and physical DVD simultaneously. Historically, studios would give DVD a head start on store shelves, thinking that's where consumers go most.
"We know that consumers are changing their patterns from one platform to another. And we don't want to lose that consumer," says Steve Nickerson, president of Summit Home Entertainment. "If you don't offer it at the same time, you risk losing the sale."
Since its launch two years ago, Summit has rolled out its titles to nearly all available digital services day-and-date with their DVD bow.
Many other studios do continue to impose about a weeks-long window between DVD street and cable/satellite VOD, in the hopes of promoting the more valuable sale over rental transaction. But even that is disappearing as studios are chasing the increasingly digital consumer.
In fact, Warner Home Video decided to street "Observe and Report" and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" to certain cable/satellite providers several days before their September DVD releases.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment began launching select titles day-and-date with VOD this year, starting with August release "Obsessed."
"It's much more beneficial if the consumer buys content (instead of) renting content," says Sean Carey, SPHE senior exec VP worldwide digital distribution. "That being said, we do feel that, for some titles, moving the VOD date to the same day as sell-through can grow (the business)."
Download sales are a small part of the home entertainment business, though they can be more meaningful on individual titles — as they were for Sony's "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist."
"This is still a small portion of the home entertainment pie, but digital is becoming an increasingly significant portion," Carey adds.
With the help of the Entertainment Technology Center, studios are engineering an interoperable digital master format (IMF) to further boost their digital businesses. Studios would seriously simplify — and save money on — the distribution process with one movie file, instead of 250, that could be delivered to fit most digital retailers.
Based at the U. of Southern California, the ETC has been overseeing regular studio meetings toward this IMF goal. The ETC expects to create a master specification by early 2010, having already completed more than half the work by September.
"We have an outline for all the necessary components required to make the IMF work," says David Wertheimer, ETC executive director. "We are all pleased with the progress. Everyone wants more efficiency in the system. This will definitely take what is now a highly people-intensive, manual process into something that is automatic, predictable and reliable. Studios want to make it easier to get content out as broadly as possible to as many companies that provide digital entertainment."
What: Entertainment and Technology Summit
When: Monday
Where: Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
Web: digitalhollywood.com/VarietySummit.html
Sponsor: SNL Kagan


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Less than a year after LACOSTE launched its first ever collection of male fragrances, fragrances introduces new Rouge– a joyous and energetic addition to the collection. Inspired by one of the world's most iconic pieces of clothing – the LACOSTE shirt, the collection symbolises the transformation of the shirt into a fragrance. Rouge is a dynamic, masculine, fresh and spicy fragrance that perfectly complements the existing editions: Blanc, Bleu and Vert.
The Inspiration
Inspired by the white polo shirt designed by René Lacoste in the late 1920s, Blanc captures the transformation of the iconic polo shirt into a fragrance. Each fragrance within the EAU DE LACOSTE L.12.12 collection represents a mood – pure for Blanc, relaxed for Vert and powerful for Bleu, so the wearer can choose his scent, according to how he feels or even how he wants to feel. New Rouge is about reinvigorating his outlook, interrupting his daily routine with playful bursts of energy which inject a sense of excitement and dynamism into his life.
The Fragrance
The latest addition to the Fragrance Collection is a scent based on a triple blend of spices – ginger, black pepper and cardamom. When first sprayed, the fragrance is introduced with a refreshing, colourful blast of iced red tea, spiked with spicy mandarin liqueur and juicy mango. A second energy burst of notes emerges through a stimulating spice cocktail of Madagascan black pepper, Indian ginger and Guatemalan cardamom, creating a vibrating contrast. The long lasting signature of this aromatic woody creation sustains its character through acacia wood accompanied by golden Laos benzoin and labdanum.
The result? A masculine and spicy fragrance with a spirit that can be captured in one word – ENERGETIC – making Rouge the perfect addition to the existing collection.Why Red? Not only is it one of the classic shirt colours, red is seen as emotionally intense. It is an alluring and tempting colour, symbolising confidence and courage in its wearer. Above all red represents life. The most dynamic and energetic shade in the colour spectrum, like Rouge, it symbolises life and vitality.
The Packaging
Like the original trio of Blanc, Bleu and Vert, Rouge is captured in a glass flacon that has been created to mirror the chic simplicity and shape of the shirt, complete with a textured piqué panel running down the side of the bottle. A real textile crocodile logo sits at the heart of the flacon, a recognisable symbol of the brand and a tribute to the forward-thinking René Lacoste who pioneered the concept of putting a logo on the outside of a garment. The bottle is fittingly coloured red to depict both its name and the energy it conveys. The flacon is housed in an elegant outer carton in its matching colour with the textured material of the carton once again reflecting the petit piqué woven cotton of the shirt.
Rouge is a pretty awesome scent It lives up to its billing as warm and energetic, and actually comes off as downright sensual. Using the fragrance in a variety of situations and settings, it is definitely the bottle that you want for intimate settings, either of the friendship or romantic variety. It has that right touch of sweetness and spice that sets a mood for more personal interactions. Well worth the bottle price, its perfect to fill that void in the marketplace left by the departure of Envy a few seasons ago. Not that it is similar to Gucci's trademark fragrance. Rouge is definitely a more subtle toned down, complex and approachable scent. But the warmth and spicy after notes are truly masculine and delightful.
This is a date night, dinner fragrance and even family reunion worthy.
Article by Stephen Dare
Metro Jacksonville


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American Physical Society Sites|APS|Journals|PhysicsCentral|Physics Magazine
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Steve Fetter
In many countries there are few opportunities for university scientists to serve as government officials. But in the U.S., hundreds of academic scientists take positions in federal agencies or in Congress every year, through Interagency Personnel Act appointments, fellowships, sabbatical leave, or other appointments. These appointments typically last only one or two years, but the benefits are substantial. Government benefits from fresh ideas and knowledge from scientists who are true experts in their field; universities benefit from having faculty with an understanding of how government works; and faculty benefit from having an opportunity to serve the country and apply their knowledge and skills to important policy problems.
I have had the good fortune to take work in government three times: in the Pentagon for two years in the beginning of the Clinton administration; in the State Department a few years later; and, most recently, I worked for over three in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the White House. Here I will focus on my experiences at OSTP.
The White House is, of course, a special place to work. During the first year I attended several meetings each week in the fabled situation room, working through various policy reviews. I felt privileged every time I walked through the doors into the West Wing.
The White House is a large and complex operation, with many offices that have overlapping portfolios. Few issues are the sole responsibility of a single person or office. When arranging a meeting, it was important to identify all of the people who would have a stake in an issue, to make sure that all views were represented. I worked on a daily basis with the people from the National Security Staff, the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council, that National Economic Council, and the Council on Environmental Quality. On some issues, I worked with the Office of the Vice President, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Council of Economic Advisers.
Because portfolios overlap, collaboration is essential. And although everyone is collegial, it is also a competitive environment, with people jockeying to get their policy initiatives to the top of the agenda. For that reason it is also an entrepreneurial environment, with people looking for good policy ideas or for problems that should be addressed. Although there was no shortage of frustrations, it was inspiring to see how hard everyone worked, and how everyone worked for public good.
The director of OSTP is John Holdren, who also serves as the President's science advisor. OSTP has four divisions: Science, Technology, Environment and Energy, and National Security and International Affairs. I initially worked mostly in the national security division, and directed the environment and energy division in the final year. In between, I played the role of a utility infielder, handling issues as they arose, such as the U.S. response to the nuclear accident in Fukushima.
OSTP has two basic roles, which might be summarized as "policy for science" and "science for policy." The most important aspect of "policy for science" is setting overall priorities for research and development, and ensuring that those priorities are reflected in the programs and the budgets of all federal agencies, particularly those with large R&D efforts, such as NSF, NIH, DOE, NASA, NOAA, NIST, DOD, DHS, CIA, EPA, USDA, and USGS.
OSTP works closely with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on budgets for R&D programs. The OSTP and OMB directors issue a joint memorandum to the heads of all executive departments and agencies on science and technology priorities. The priorities memo for fiscal year 2014 outlined priorities in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, climate change, information technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and STEM education.
Agencies use this guidance in preparing their budgets, which are submitted to OMB in early September. OSTP assists OMB in analyzing and reviewing these submissions and suggesting adjustments to R&D programs. OMB returns the adjusted budgets to agencies in late November in the "passback." Agencies appeal some of the adjustments, and negotiations with OMB ensue. There is never enough money to fund all priorities, and tough decisions remain for the president. President Obama understands the value and importance of scientific research, and he has accorded high priority to R&D in these decisions.
Part of OSTP's job is to defend federal R&D expenditures to Congress and the public. Many people do not understand the nature of science and the research enterprise or fully appreciate the value of government-sponsored R&D for society. One member of Congress said, "We're spending over $60 billion a year for research. What are we getting for that money?" That is a hard question to answer; if one could say with confidence what the benefits of current research will be, it would not be research. But you can identify the benefits of past research. Studies of the social returns to past R&D consistently show returns of 20-30 percent per year over the last several decades — a rate of return that far exceeds stock markets.
Much — maybe most — research expands human understanding but does not produce tangible economic benefits. But some research produces enormous benefits that cannot be foreseen. When the Office of Naval Research gave Charles Townes small grants in the 1950s to support work in quantum electronics, no one could have foreseen that it would lead to lasers and other devices that would transform dozens of industries. No one imagined that ARPAnet would one day be the foundation for the digital economy, or that the need for particle physicists to share data would lead to the creation of the World Wide Web.
Scientists must get better at explaining the significance of their research, and why it matters. A steady stream of senior scientists came through our office. Most were terrific, but I was surprised that many could not explain in five or ten minutes what they were doing and why it was important and worthy of support. Business schools teach students to give an elevator pitch — how to describe their idea in one minute, well enough so that potential investors want to hear more. They develop 5-minute and 15-minute versions in case the investor wants to hear more. We should train our graduate students to do the same thing, using language that any intelligent person can understand. If you really understand something, you ought to be able to explain succinctly to an assistant secretary or senator what you are doing and why it matters.
The budgetary process is important, but more time is spent on policy or "interagency" processes. Interagency committees are commonly chaired or convened by a White House office — usually by OSTP when the issues concern the conduct of science. This includes coordinating R&D programs across Federal agencies, to ensure that key challenges are being addressed while avoiding unwanted duplication. OSTP convenes dozens of such groups under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council, on topics ranging from space weather to critical materials. Other "policy for science" issues include improving STEM education; streamlining visa processing for foreign scientists; promoting international scientific cooperation; protecting scientific integrity; and policies to make data and other results of federally-sponsored research widely available. The Obama Administration has made significant progress in all of these areas.
The second main role of OSTP is "science for policy." OSTP is responsible for ensuring that the President and his senior staff have the best available scientific and technical advice, and that all of the President's policies are informed by the best available scientific information and analysis. Science and technology play important roles in many key policy challenges and issues before the Administration, including health care, economic recovery and growth, climate change, clean energy, homeland security and cybersecurity, and nonproliferation. Accordingly, OSTP had a seat at the table on a very wide range of policy issues. One of the things I enjoyed most was the opportunity to work on a wide range of issues: nuclear weapons and arms control policy; ballistic missile defense and landmines; identifying opportunities for scientific and technical collaboration with other countries; climate change, ocean policy, and various EPA regulations; energy research and development; protecting the grid against solar storms; and earth observation satellites. It was incredibly stimulating.
These interagency policy committee (IPC) meetings are often convened at the assistant or deputy assistant secretary level. If agreement by all the key agencies cannot be reached at that level, the issue will be escalated to the "deputies" level for resolution; if agreement cannot be reached at the deputies level, the "principals" or cabinet secretaries will be convened. The deputies or principals also are convened to confirm agreements reached at lower levels on particularly important issues.Let me close by sharing a few things I learned:
Steve Fetter
Associate Provost for Academic Affairs
Professor, School of Public Policy
University of Maryland, College Park
These contributions have not been peer-refereed. They represent solely the view(s) of the author(s) and not necessarily the view of APS.


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MONTGOMERY COUNTY -- A toddler is out of the hospital and doing much better one week after being attacked by a pit bull.
Eighteen-month-old Anthony Rodriguez was with his mother outside their Montgomery County last week when the dog lunged and came off its chain.
Anthony will need more surgeries to repair nerve damage in his face, but his mother said he's up and playing.
The pit bull, named Oreo, belonged to a family friend.
It was picked up by Montgomery County Animal Control and remains in quarantine as they determine whether he has rabies. Then, the courts will decide whether or not to euthanize him.