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Nov. 23, 2005
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara baseball recruiting class of 2006 was announced today as head coach Mark O'Brien announced the signing of ten high school seniors to National Letters of Intent to attend Santa Clara University next fall.
The class includes eight players from California, one from Arizona and one from Washington.
Nathan Garcia (Bellarmine College Prep), Patrick Glenn (Amador Valley HS), Matthew Hiserman (Capistrano Valley HS), Steven Kalush (Aragon HS), Geoffrey Klein (Ocean View HS), Tommy Medica (Bellarmine College Prep), Alex Rivers (Tokay HS) and Dylan Slocum (Paloma Valley HS) make up the California contingent. Tayler Thomas (Salpointe Catholic HS) hails from Arizona and Jeremy Zink (Garfield HS) will come to the Mission Campus from the state of Washington.
"This is a very strong class in both numbers and talent," said head coach Mark O'Brien. "We strongly believe that each of these players can make significant impacts in our program right away. I am extremely happy with the character and attitude of each of these future Broncos.
"Assistant coaches Mike Oakland, Mike Zirelli and Matt Mueller have once again done a tremendous job in producing a high-caliber class of players to represent Santa Clara Baseball," O'Brien continued. "We are getting some very talented pitchers who are extremely competitive and have pitched at a high level throughout their careers, and we are very excited with the talent and potential of our position-player signees."
The 2006 baseball season opens up Feb. 3 as the Broncos host the University of Pacific a 6 p.m. at Stephen Schott Stadium in the first leg of a three-game series. The next two games of the series will be played in Stockton. Santa Clara returns six starters this season, including All-WCC first-team selection Kevin Drever, who led the Broncos with a .327 average in 2005.
Santa Clara Baseball Recruiting Class of 2006
Nathan Garcia
A local standout right-handed pitcher from Bellarmine College Prep, Garcia is coming off of an outstanding 2005 season in which he went 11-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 71 innings of work. Those numbers earned Garcia a place on the All-CCS second team as well as the All-West Catholic Athletic League first team and team MVP honors for a nationally-ranked Bells team that won a CCS-record 34 games in 2005.
Garcia also played in the Junior Olympics in 2003 and 2004 and was named a PUMA 2006 All-American.
Patrick Glenn
Glenn, a second baseman and outfielder for Amador Valley High School, is a versatile player who will bring a varied repertoire both offensively and defensively to Santa Clara.
Last season he hit .335 with three homers and 28 RBIs and also served as the starting quarterback for Amador Valley, leading the Dons to the division finals.
Matthew Hiserman
Right-hander Matthew Hiserman will come to the Mission Campus from Capistrano Valley High School. A valuable utility player who starred as a pitcher, second baseman and outfielder, Hiserman has helped the Cougars to three consecutive South Coast League championships and carried a 4-1 record with a 2.32 ERA before his junior season was cut short due to injury.
Hiserman also played for Capistrano Valley's American Legion team, batting over .600 and earning all-area honors as a utility player, playing all positions that season except for catcher and second base. Later in the summer he played for the Encinitas Reds, helping the team to the U.S. Amateur Baseball Federation U-19 wood-bat championship.
Steven Kalush
Kalush, out of Aragon High School, was the fifth-rated pitcher at the Perfect Game Showcase in the summer of 2005.
The right-hander posted a 6-3 record for Aragon last season, with a 1.83 ERA. He struck out 55 batters in 61 innings of work and only walked 13, holding opponents to a paltry .168 batting average.
Geoffrey Klein
Southern California native Geoffrey Klein brings an impressive list of credentials to the Mission Campus. A first-team All-Golden West League selection, Klein batted .310 with 17 RBIs, a triple and eight doubles in leading Ocean View High School to the CIF Division III Championship in 2005.
Klein, a participant in the CBCA North-South All-Star Showcase last season, also demonstrated his defensive skills behind the plate, managing the Ocean View pitching staff to a team ERA of 1.26.
Tommy Medica
A standout backstop out of San Jose's Bellarmine College Prep, Medica brings not only a strong ability to manage a pitching staff but a penchant for hitting for power and getting on base as well.
Medica participated in the 2005 CBCA North-South All-Star game after a season which saw him earn First-team All-WCAL honors. Playing for a nationally-ranked Bells squad, he hit .371 with five home runs, 34 RBIs, 48 runs scored, 20 walks and an on-base percentage of .471.
Alex Rivers
Ranked No. 227 in Baseball America's class of 2006 Top 400, the right-handed Rivers led Tokay High School to the South Subsection Championship
A first-team selection by the San Joaquin Athletic Association, Rivers posted a 5-2 record with a 1.31 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 53 innings. He hurled a pair of shutouts and also had a no-hitter to his credit. He was also invited to play in the prestigious Perfect Game Showcase over the summer.
Dylan Slocum
A 6-5 right-hander from Paloma Valley High School, Slocum was named PVHS' Pitcher of the Year in 2005. He struck out 49 batters in as many innings while notching a 6-2 record and 1.79 ERA.
Slocum's stats earned him a spot on the All-Sunbelt League first team and the Honorable Mention All-Valley Team.
Tayler Thomas
Playing first base and catcher, Tucson, Ariz. native Tayler Thomas will bring a power-hitting edge to the Broncos upon his arrival in the 2007 season.
A first-team All-Region 5A Southern Section selection for Salpointe Catholic High School, Thomas hit .395 with five homers and nine doubles with a slugging percentage of .667.
Jeremy Zink
Zink, a 6-2 southpaw for Garfield High School in Wash., was one of the top pitchers for the Bulldogs last season. He posted a 4-3 record with a 2.30 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 50 2/3 innings of work and was named All-League Honorable Mention.
This summer Zink played for the Seattle Mariners' prestigious Area Code team in the Area Code Games in Long Beach for the second year in a row. In addition, he also earned invitations to the Team One West Showcase in Phoenix and the Perfect Game World Showcase.


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To quote Jonathan Adler's own website : 'Iconic potter, designer, author, and personality Jonathan Adler is dedicated to bringing style, craft and joy to your life'.
Right opposite Fred Segal on Melrose in LA, there is a Jonathan Adler shop! Not sure how long it has been there but we bring you the scoop on what's in store this spring.
The products are not just great design, but they are also beautifully made and packaged :
A sneaky peek :
You can see everything in the online store : www.jonathanadler.com

subset: commoncrawl


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- Jul 10, 2015
- 0
Get to Know Us Better!
Frank P. "Perk" Tyler began an ice cream and ice business in Villisca, Iowa around 1905. In 1909 he sold the business to sons Royal, Harry, and Henry Tyler who, in 1915, expanded the business by producing soda named "Tyler's Flavors."
Soda and ice cream sales were so strong that year that they expanded their building to include a bottling room connected to their ice cream plant. Sadly, the addition was lost to a fire that same year. In 1916, the brothers purchased a creamery in Clarinda, Iowa. In the creamery's safe they found a franchise contract for Coca-Cola. The Tyler's had heard of this product and its success elsewhere, but Iowans weren't familiar with it. The Tyler's began making Coca-Cola, adding a few bottles to the cases of Tyler's Flavors. In no time, Iowans were requesting more Coke.
In 1923, Royal sold his interest to Harry and Henry, who continued expanding the business by purchasing four additional bottling companies in Shenandoah, Atlantic, and Creston, Iowa and Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1929 they acquired the franchise rights for the Atlantic plant to bottle and distribute Coca-Cola.
By 1930 the Tyler Brothers had sold their ice cream business and turned their focus to soft drinks. In 1949, Harry and Henry divided their business by drawing straws. Harry got Atlantic and Creston; Henry got Shenandoah and Grand Island.
Harry's son Jim was managing the company by 1958. They served customers in a 60-mile radius of Atlantic with Coca-Cola, 7-Up and Tyler's Flavors products. At this time the company had 16 employees; ten years later there were 40 employees and the company had added Squirt, Dr. Pepper, Frostie Root Beer, and Tab and Like to its lineup.
On April 1, 1975, Atlantic Bottling purchased the Des Moines area Coca-Cola franchise, and burgeoned the brand's presence and popularity. This was accomplished in large part due to Jim's son, Kirk Tyler, who was placed in charge of sales for the company in 1981.
By the late 1980's, the growth of Coca-Cola in Des Moines required more space than the Tyler's existing facility could hold, and in 1989 the Des Moines operation moved into its warehouse and sales center on Hickman Road in Waukee. In 1991 Kirk Tyler was named President of Atlantic Bottling Company, and Jim became Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Three generations of the Tyler family have built and continue to expand on "delivering the refreshment" of Coca-Cola and related products to customers throughout the Atlantic Bottling Company's franchise territories.
See pictures on our Company History page.


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Introducing the 2018 Toyota C-HR in Moline, IL
A very strong argument can be made that Toyota has all but perfected the modern compact coupe as well as the increasingly popular compact crossover SUV. The next logical step for Toyota as one of the world's largest and most successful automakers is to essentially create a new class of vehicle. Enter the 2018 Toyota C-HR, coming soon to the Hiland Toyota inventory. First shown as a concept vehicle in 2014, the Toyota C-HR is on its way to offering potential buyers a truly unique vehicle. With the interior flexibility of a compact crossover SUV, on par with that of the famed RAV4 while offering handling perfected on the world's toughest proving grounds, the 2018 Toyota C-HR delivers city-drivers an agile and dynamic package.
Once the 2018 Toyota C-HR arrives to the Hiland Toyota inventory, it will instantly standout among the rest of its Toyota siblings. Three dimensional exterior elements were designed to remind people of precious gem stones. Slim projector beam halogen headlights juxtaposed with elaborate eye lines and protruding taillights redefine a new aesthetic for Toyota. Additionally, the interior of the 2018 Toyota C-HR has been built around the driver. First time observers may notice something just a little different about how the controls and center stack are laid out in the new Toyota C-HR. Everything is canted toward the driver. This is a common feature on high-performance, even full-time race cars, but remains a fairly original innovation in passenger vehicles like the 2018 C-HR.
Get the in Moline IL
One of the leaders of the design team which developed the 2018 Toyota C-HR spends much of his free time on a race track as a driver. These experiences played no small part in how the new Toyota model will handle for future owners. Several years were spent running hot laps around the world famous Nürburgring Nordschleife. In order to meet the designers expectations, Toyota used a newly developed McPherson strut on the front suspension and a tried and true double wishbone rear suspension. The result was a vehicle with precise handling, excellent passenger comfort as well as making the interior as quiet as possible.
Under the hood of the all-new 2018 Toyota C-HR is a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine mated to a brand new version of the continuously variable transmission. An available Sport mode and the simulated seven-speed sequential shiftmatic transmission experience brings a new level of driver engagement to the 2018 C-HR; but only when its desired. The Toyota Safety Sense P suite of systems is standard equipment with the new Toyota C-HR which also supports the vehicle's 10 standard airbags..


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Double clicking a tab on editor or any other view like "search results" or "output" will cause it making fullscreen within the IDE.
I love this feature, because double clicking again, brings the old position back.
Here is my request:
Some views have subviews, like "search results". They are organized as well as some kind of tabs. It would be nice, to be able to double click on them, having their parent tab zoomed.
Last used version:
7.2 RC1 on OSX Lion 10.7.4
Created attachment 122094 [details]
proposed API changes
If there are no objections, I'll integrate the changes tomorrow.
core-main fbe7d3bbe7e7
Integrated into 'main-golden', will be available in build *201207241500* on http://bits.netbeans.org/dev/nightly/ (upload may still be in progress)
Changeset: http://hg.netbeans.org/main-golden/rev/fbe7d3bbe7e7
User: S. Aubrecht <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Log: #215265 - double-click a tab in e.g. Output window to maximize the enclosing TopComponent


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The Annual "Scotties Stampede", the Ballston Spa 5k for Education!
The primary goal is to bring the community together and encourage students and families to participate in healthy and active lifestyles. We invite the entire community to walk or run in this fun athletic event for the school district and our community.
Financially, the event will support the Ballston Spa Partnership for Innovation in Education Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region.
This field of interest fund is used to support the various innovative and mission-related programs throughout the district that include: Sponsor-A-Scholar, Robotics, the Performing & Fine Arts, STEM enrichment initiatives, and the Clean Technologies & Sustainable Industries Early College High School. Over 50 partners from business and industry, non-profit organizations and government agencies currently support the Partnership Fund.
Embracing collaboration with regional business and industry, higher education, non-profit organizations and government agencies, the Partnership for Innovation in Education develops innovative educational experiences that help reshape teaching and learning in our district's schools.


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Hi folks! Lori has made the cutest roses out of the Prickley Pear's Scalloped Circle Die and here is a tutorial how to make these yourself. But first the beautiful card!
Products used: Holly and Berries Die, Circles Clear Stamps Set Winter, With Christmas GoodWill, Ornaments ATC and Scallop Circle Die
Here are the how to:s
Supplies Needed: Scalloped Circle Die, Circles Clear Stamps Set Winter, Quilling Tool, Scissors, Ink, and Paper
Step One: Cut Scalloped Circle Die
Step Two: Stamp both sides of the die with matching stamp set.
Step Three: Cut through the circle and cut center circle out leaving the outer rim only
Step Four: Curl around quilling tool tightly and then remove…let it open up some and bend back some of the filigree edges back around the outside for a finished rose.
Ready to use!
Happy Scrapping!
Pssssst: A new sketch challenge is up and running! All info HERE!


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You may call us toll-free during business hours (Monday-Friday, 9 am - 4 pm) at
However, by far the most efficient way to contact us is by email. Simply use the form below, type in your note, and click submit. We try to respond to emails within one business day.
Our snail-mail address is:
Russian Life
PO Box 567
Montpelier VT 05601-0567
Other customer service links:
Russian Life is a 29-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.
[email protected]


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Find the Napa, CA, HVAC contractor you need to get your climate control systems in good working condition. At Bell Products, Inc., we have heating and cooling technicians available 24/7 to address any issue you might be experiencing with the heater or AC at your property in Napa, CA. We work on most major makes and models, and our crews always carry the right tools to fix the problem in a timely fashion.
We strive to make our services affordable to our customers in Napa by offering flat rate pricing. Our services include replacement, installation, and repairs for both branded and non-branded AC units, as well as air duct cleaning, repair, and installation. No matter the extent of the job, our NATE certified technicians will get to the root of the problem quickly, and we back up any work we perform with a 100% guarantee. We have more than 70 years of experience on our side, and we're confident we can get the job done to your specifications.
When you notice a problem with your heating or cooling system, don't hesitate to hire a Napa, CA, HVAC contractor. At Bell Products, Inc., our experienced technicians are available for same-day service in Napa, CA. To schedule your appointment or to learn more about our financing options, call our locally owned and operated company today.


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Luke DeCock
DeCock: Normalcy returns for both Duke, NC State
Caleb Martin's stand-in (stand-up?) protest against a Cameron Crazies tradition couldn't defray the inevitable imposition of normalcy for both Duke and N.C. State on Saturday. The Blue Devils welcomed Mike Krzyzewski back to their bench after a one-game absence, and the Wolfpack suffered yet another single-digit ACC loss, 88-80 this time, an old story for the Wolfpack.
The Duke tradition is to howl at an opposing player who picks up his fifth foul until he takes a seat on the bench, at which point they all yell "See ya!" and get back to doing the other carefully choreographed in-game antics for which they are famous. Many an opposing player has baited them by standing for a while. Few, if any, have taken it as far as Martin did Saturday.
He fouled out with 4:41 to go and stood for almost 15 minutes, through the entirety of the under-4 media timeout and right to the finish of the game. The "oooohing" paused only for Duke free throws, of which there turned out to be plenty down the stretch.
Martin could do nothing about the Wolfpack's 17th straight loss at Duke. His stand against Craziedom coincided with the game slipping away from N.C. State, which had cut Duke's lead to three before the Blue Devils pulled away late for a win that has some implications for the rest of Duke's season.
Freshman point guard Derryck Thornton continued to show progress for the Blue Devils, doing an outstanding job defensively on Cat Barber in the first half before getting yanked from the game after a pair of sloppy turnovers early in the second half, one against token backcourt pressure that led to a Cody Martin dunk, the other after crossing midcourt on the next possession that led to a Cody Martin layup.
It was a step back after two steps forward for Thornton, whose ongoing development is imperative for Duke to reach its full potential. At the same time, when Duke shoots like it did from 3-point range – 14-for-28, including six from Luke Kennard – the Blue Devils can beat almost anyone. That can be fool's gold, because they can't always expect to shoot that well, and finding other sources of offense is imperative. Grayson Allen is as reliable as they get, but Brandon Ingram faltered at times Saturday.
No one in the ACC is more reliable than Barber, who was held to under 30 points for a change but scored 17 of his 26 in the second half as Duke found neither Matt Jones nor a 1-3-1 zone as effective against him as Thornton had been. It wasn't enough, and a bad day for N.C. State took an ominous turn at the end when Barber fell to the floor and stayed down clutching his right wrist.
Barber never left the game despite a number of lengthy glances toward the bench, and said afterward he was OK – N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said X-rays were still forthcoming – but even for a moment the prospect of Barber missing any time at all for N.C. State was a frightening one.
Krzyzewski had a moment like that of his own when Allen stepped awkwardly on a foot and went down grabbing his right ankle, leaving the game briefly before returning to show no lasting effects. Only a few days removed from the overnight hospital stay that kept him away from Tuesday's win at Georgia Tech, Krzyzewski joked that if Allen had been seriously injured, his own health troubles might have taken a turn for the worse.
"When Grayson got fouled there, not intentionally or anything," Krzyzewski said, "I thought, 'All right, my knee should go out right now because it ain't going to be good for the rest of the year if he's gone.' You know?"
If Krzyzewski can make an offhanded joke about 1995, when he sat out most of a dismal season due to back problems, surely things are getting back to normal after a week of turmoil for Duke. And despite Martin winning his battle with the fans, a seventh narrow ACC loss and another at Cameron was all too normal for the Wolfpack.
Luke DeCock: 919-829-8947, firstname.lastname@example.com, @LukeDeCock


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Been away for a while
A few road patches
But fine alright
Thought huh, my knowing
Oh true, and my not knowing
Got me on a peddle stone
Maybe finally a better place
A place I could call home
While away, I wandered
Along deep empty streams
Praying for the unknown
Perhaps hoping to find mine
That will quench this undying thirst
Hoping the tides would be just
In the distance, I heard a throbbing
But the river never flowed
I hit my foot hard on a rock
Then suddenly I knew
It was never coming
At least not while I waited
Then there was a thought
What if it finally never flowed?
Was I doomed to die of thirst?
This was no way to die
It's the easiest thing ever
To get lost while searching
Hoping that they will get it
What it all means to you
Maybe feel the magic
Harboring in your soul
Even see possible, wonders
Of your wildest imagination
My not knowing got me knowing
That there was nothing to find
This strolling got me anxious
Was further lost than found
Along this dry river was me
And I had me to survive
So I made an about turn
The turn that got me home.


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There are lots of amazing beauty blogs out there and we learn a ton from our blogging friends every single day. What you may not know, however, is that we also learn so much from each other! We have both been reviewing products and writing beauty articles for over ten years and we have been working together on Beauty Info Zone for five of those years. Sometimes Marcia gives an essential tip that Lisa finds she can't live without; sometimes Lisa challenges Marcia to try something out of her comfort zone with surprising results. Today we are writing about one of best gifts we've found through the years from each other.
Lisa's Side:
Long ago, Marcia and I met online through 'swapping' on MakeUpAlley. Marcia then told me about another website she ran where there was a great beauty community with reviews and wonderful chat boards. Sadly, that website eventually went out of business, but I made some lifelong friends from all over the world. I also learned one of my favorite beauty tips ever from my future blogging partner, Marcia!
Ok, so you know how gel eyeliners are wonderful…they are easy to apply, they are fun to work with because you can go super defined or you can smudge out the line, they are way easier to work with than liquid liners, and they have even better lasting power than pencil eyeliners. What isn't so wonderful is how quickly those little pots of amazingness dry out. I could never use up an entire pot of gel liner before it became hard and totally useless.
I still remember the joy I felt when I read this tip from Marcia: to get the most out of your gel eyeliner, use the outer side of the pot first. Take your brush and grab liner around the rim. This helps keep the integrity of the product and makes it last and last and last. Some of my favorite gel liners are Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliners. I lost quite a few before I started using this simple trick Marcia taught me. I actually have gel liner pots that are seven years old and they are still as fresh as the day I bought them!!
Marcia has steered me toward many 'perfect' Lisa products, but her gel eyeliner tip stands out for me since it has saved me tons of money over the years. I think of her every time I use a gel liner!
Marcia's Side:
What Lisa has taught me (besides the fact that I have to loosen up) is not to be so afraid of products. She'll often convince me to try something that's out of my comfort zone. Most times she's right but today's review is all about hitting the bullseye with FARMHOUSE FRESH. Every time a product from Farmhouse Fresh was offered I'd send the email to Lisa and tell her that it was perfect for her. But recently I did that and she insisted that it was something I was going to love and that I had to do it. Thank you Lisa!!
Farmhouse Fresh Watermelon Basil Vodkatini Body Scrub is amazing. When I use this in the shower I don't want to get out. The smell is to die for. I wish we had Smell-O-Blog for you to sniff what I sniff. It's a combination of real watermelon seed oil, sweet basil oil and organic vodka mixed with sugar and rice bran oil. This isn't a wimpy scrub, the sugar (with some salt in it) gives you a lot to work with to help exfoliate your skin. It washes cleanly off leaving behind a little bit of nourishing oil. It also dissolves in the shower so you don't go slip sliding away.
I keep a plastic spoon in my shower to mix the oil into the scrub to evenly disperse it. This Farmhouse Fresh Body Scrub not only makes me smell delicious but it leaves my skin wonderfully soft. I hate to use a body lotion after it so I wait as long as I can before applying anything else. I just want to smell myself. That fragrant aroma does fade away so you can continue with a fragrance of your choice – but I wish it didn't.
Farmhouse Fresh Watermelon Basil Vodkatini Body Scrub is 97% natural and vegan and has no parabens or sulfates. My skin feels soft and refreshed. I want to call Lisa after my showers to thank her but instead I'll just let her smell me next time we meet.
Update – we've just realized that Farmhouse Fresh has a Facebook giveaway for 10 of the amazing Watermelon Vodkatini Body Scrubs. It's easy to enter by following on Instagram. This is open through August 2nd and then announced on Watermelon Day, August 3rd.
Thanks for reading a little about us. What have you learned from the Beauty Info Zone team?
*Farmhouse Fresh sent for editorial consideration, affiliate link


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AXPONA Chicago 2014 Show Report|After last year's exciting debut, I think everyone at TAS was expecting AXPONA Chicago 2014 to be a huge success—and it may well have been financially. (Several record dealers told me that they had never ...read more
Masterpieces from Avantgarde and Raidho|In mid-February I escaped the miserably cold weather in Southern Ohio and flew to the relative balminess of Germany and Denmark to visit Avantgarde Acoustics in Bensheim outside of Frankfurt, and Raidho Acoustics in Pandrup ...read more
San Francisco Event With Neil Gader|Take advantage of a rare opportunity to learn how Neil Gader -- TAS Associate Editor and Acquisitions Manager, and high-end audio journalist for more than 20 years -- reviews a hi-fi system. He'll be at ...read more
EnKlein Introduces Analog David Cable|EnKlein is proud to introduce the most technologically advanced analog cable ever offered to the audiophile community. Introducing, the solid silver "David". The technology involved in creating the "David" stems from our years of research ...read more
2014 CES and T.H.E. Show: High Value Cables and Power Products|While most of the buzz at CES revolves primarily around new reference loudspeakers, exotic electronics, or stunning front-ends, several significant cable and power product introductions were quite noteworthy and promise to make major sonic enhancements ...read more
EnKlein Prairie Fire II Release|December 19, 2013 - The Prairie Fire II is our premium copper interconnect, using ultra pure continuous cast oxygen free conductors. The Prairie Fire II incorporates many of the concepts of the forthcoming "David" design ...read more
Wireworld Series 7 Equinox and Eclipse Speaker Wire and Interconnect|Over the years numerous examples of Wireworld Audio speaker cables and interconnects have crisscrossed my listening room. So many in fact that a common theme has gradually emerged. On a tonal basis, Wireworld's wires have ...read more
New Interconnects and Cables from Cardas, MIT, and Wireworld|Earlier this year I reviewed Dynaudio's XEO 5 wireless speaker system, which wasn't truly wireless. While it was true that speaker cables were relieved of their duties, plenty of work was still found for AC ...read more
Cable and Interconnect Construction|Cables and interconnects are composed of three main elements: the signal conductors, the dielectric, and the terminations. The conductors carry the audio signal; the dielectric is an insulating material between and around the conductors; and ...read more
MIT Cables Indroduces NEW Series of High End Cables|September 10, 2013 - Rocklin, CA - High-performance manufacturer MIT Cables, announces the availability of a broad line of new products. Known for nearly 30 years for its top of the line Reference cable products ...read more
Transparent Announces New Online Store|September 9, 2013 - Transparent now offers a wide range of their products through their new online store. When a customer needs a USB or HDMI cable, an additional interconnect, speaker cables, power cord, or ...read more
Cable Designer Roundtable|The Pioneering Founders of The Cable Industry Discuss the History, Art, and Science of High-End Audio Cables. It's easy to forget that just 35 years ago cables were an afterthought in the pursuit of great ...read more
Crystal Cable Absolute Dream Speaker Cable, Interconnect, and Power Cords|Nowadays, what I look for in a cable is pretty simple to sum up: higher resolution of those low-level details that bring instruments and vocalists (and the space they are playing in) to life; a ...read more
A Quartet of New Cable Lines at the Munich Show 2013|Having heard the startling difference a Nordost Valhalla power cord made to my Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 21 DAC several years ago, I have moved from being somewhat skeptical of high-priced speaker cables, interconnects, and power ...read more
Synergistic Research Introduces Galileo LE Speaker Cables|May 25, 2013 - Synergistic Research is proud to announce the launch of their new Galileo LE Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and Power Cords, at T.H.E. Show Newport 2013 in Newport Beach, California. Engineered to be ...read more


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Airstream International Group Limited
Now in our 30th year of trading, we have completed transactions involving over 625 aircraft for an international client base that has included airlines, government organisations, lessors, investors and financial institutions, as well as part-out organisations.
We specialise in:
Remarketing surplus aircraft
Sourcing or placing aircraft on lease (dry/finance/ACMI wet)
Sourcing aircraft for purchase
Arranging asset based financings (including sale & leasebacks)
Advisory services
Airstream is a leading provider of aircraft remarketing services. We can develop and implement a remarketing campaign focused on achieving the best terms available in the marketplace. We have an extensive worldwide network of airline contacts and have considerable experience in closing both sale and lease transactions.
Airstream is also an experienced and active arranger of ACMI, wet and dry leases. We can source or remarket aircraft using our comprehensive airline database and detailed knowledge of all aspects of aircraft leasing. Our experience ranges from 30-seat turboprops to long range widebody aircraft.
We also use our expertise and worldwide network to structure, source and close financing solutions. We are a leading arranger of financing for corporate, regional and commercial aircraft, and have concluded sale and leasebacks, operating leases, finance leases and debt financings for customers worldwide.
Contact us to discuss your fleet plans
Meet Airstream at these forthcoming events:
Dubai Airshow & ISTAT Reception
17-21 Nov
ISTAT Holiday Reception
4 Dec, London


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PA Consulting Group has announced the appointment of Marcus Agius as Non-Executive Chairman as of 1 January 2014.
The appointment comes after the earlier announcement that Jon Moynihan, currently Executive Chairman of PA, would be retiring at the end of the year. Simultaneously, the Board had commenced a series of changes to refresh its membership, other long-serving members having expressed their wish to retire along with the Chairman. Marcus' appointment therefore concludes a series of changes to PA's Board that have been taking place over the year, preparing PA for its next phase of development:
· Victor Halberstadt, having served on the Board for fourteen years, and having agreed to stay on the Board beyond his previously-planned retirement date in order to oversee these changes as head of PA's Succession Committee, will now be retiring at the end of the year
· Martin Stapleton, having served on the Board for seven years in both an Executive and Non-Executive capacity, has announced that he will retire from the Board at the end of the year, thus completing the separation of Ipex, PA's former Venture Capital arm, from PA. Martin will remain as Chief Executive of the fully independent Ipex which will continue to manage, as part of its portfolio, the PA venture Procserve Limited
· Lady (Barbara) Judge has recently announced that she will be retiring from the Board at the end of the year, after eight years of service. Lady Judge has been lessening her various Board commitments in order to support her husband, Sir Paul Judge, who assumes the post of Aldermanic Sheriff of the City of London for 2013-14
· The departing directors are replaced by Michael Queen, who joined the Board at the end of 2012; Richard Wilson, who joined the Board in mid-2013, and Esther Dyson who will join on 6 December.
Moynihan, retiring Chairman, commented: 'The refreshing of PA's Board starts our company on a new epoch in its on-going story. Our CEO, Alan Middleton, has shown the way forward over the past six years; we anticipate the new team writing another great chapter in the company's history. I would like to thank all the retiring Board members for seeing PA through a period of success and consolidation of PA's position as the leading management, science, innovation and technology consulting firm in the world'.
Alan Middleton, CEO of PA, commented: 'On behalf of the Board and everyone at PA, I would like to thank Jon for his drive, leadership and determination over the last two decades. During his time at PA, Jon has transformed the firm and helped secure its enviable reputation across government and business worldwide. In particular, Jon's passion for new technology has allowed the firm to develop the technology and innovation capability that gives it a unique place in the management consulting industry. In this, our 70th year, PA is sound, prosperous and growing. We look forward to welcoming Marcus and Esther and working with the Board to build on the firm's success'.
Marcus Agius commented: 'I am delighted to be joining PA and salute Jon Moynihan for the role he has played in building it into such an outstanding business. PA has a distinguished history: it also has a great future in prospect given the wealth of talent in its executive ranks. I much look forward to working with my new colleagues to develop PA's forward trajectory'.
Biographies of PA's Non-Executive Board members as of 1 January 2014:
· Marcus Agius was Chairman of Barclays for six years until October 2012. He was also the first Non-Executive Director to be appointed to the BBC's Executive Board acting as its Senior Independent Director until November 2012. Before then, Marcus was Deputy Chairman of Lazard Ltd, and Chairman of Lazard in London. He also served as a Non-Executive Director of BAA plc, becoming its Chairman in 2002.
· Esther Dyson is the founder of the Health Initiative Coordinating Council ('HICCup'), a startup dedicated to fostering and testing community health programmes. She is an independent investor in space, healthcare and IT start-ups and technologies; current investments include Evernote, Omada Health and Square. Esther has been patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation since 2008. She is a Non-Executive Director of 23andMe, Eventful, Meetup, Voxiva, XCOR Aerospace, WPP Group and Yandex. She sits on the Board of the Sunlight Foundation, and was founding Chairman of ICANN. She is an influential commentator on the commercial and social implications of the internet.
· Michael Queen has been a Non-Executive Director of PA Consulting Group since December 2012 and is Chairman of its Audit, and a member of its Succession and Compensation Committees. During his career, he was previously Chief Executive of 3i Group plc, a member of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group, and Chairman of the BVCA. He is currently a Director of Coller Capital; a member of the advisory Board of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business; President of The Surrey 100, a business angel group attached to the University of Surrey.
· Richard Wilson has been a Non-Executive Director of PA Consulting Group since June 2013 and is a member of its Audit, Succession and Compensation Committees. Richard was at Apax Partners for 17 years, rising to run its Tech & Telecom practice worldwide, and serving on its Investment, Exit and Portfolio Review Committees. Richard has served on the Boards of many companies, including Inmarsat plc, Autonomy Corporation plc and TDC A/S; was Chairman of the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association; and has taught at INSEAD.
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Information-related opportunities:
Volunteer Editor, Rights in Exile Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter [info]
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Coordinator, Asylum Information Database (AIDA) Project [info]
- Apply by 16 February 2015.
Communication and Complex Emergencies: A Resource Guide (University of Adelaide & Australian Civil-Military Centre, July 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]
Communications with Communities: 2014 Update (OCHA, Jan. 2015) [text via ReliefWeb]
Discussion Starter: Introducing Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC Network, Dec. 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]
- "This exercise has been designed to help people discuss the importance of access to information
and two-way communication in a response."
"Off-grid Solar PV Power for Humanitarian Action: From Emergency Communications to Refugee Camp Micro-grids," Procedia Engineering, vol. 78 (2014) [open access]
Overview of Activities and Impacts of Refugee Research Network (RRN, June 2014) [text]
Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda): Information Management Handbook (OCHA, Dec. 2014) [text]
Related post:
- Thematic Focus: ICTs, Information & Innovation (17 Dec. 2014)
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During the Roman Empire era, Quaestors were elected officials who supervised the treasury and financial accounts of the state, its armies and its officers. The Quaestors were tasked with financial supervision. To understand:
We only deal with your finance as a financial administrator, the final decisions are yours, and yours alone.
The mission of Quaestor Solutions is to encourage and enable the wide-spread use of cryptocurrencies.
Quaestor Solutions strives to improve the lifestyle of every associate. To this end, our program facilitates and encourages the use of cryptocurrencies in every-day life. We introduce the Quaestor Coin which is available to associates and MasterNode owners, as well for you who believe in our concept.
To help as many people as possible, we have introduced a great concept, where everybody can be invited to the complete setup, for a small fee, and participate in webinars and seminars weekly to help even the most novice beginner to understand the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, and methods to employ its use in our everyday lives. Here you also will learn how to analyze MasterNodes and Trading-Bot features.Read More
a) Start of network pre-launch 01.08.2019 on the homepage included signup, 2FA, Matrix Placement
b) Ongoing integration of bonuses and payouts to the network
a) End of Founder Pool qualification 31.10.2018
b) Quaestor MLM and MN coin start (Estimated 1.11.2018)
c) Listing of Quaestor coin on the first exchange (Estimated 01.11.2018)
d) Master node integration
e) Integration of Trading Bot 2.0
a) New listing on exchange (aim for 2)
b) Product integration (aim for 2-4 products) to increase usability
a) New listing on exchange (aim for 2)
b) Listing on CMC (Coinmarketcap)
c) Product integration (aim for 2-4 products) to increase usability
a) Beta test Quaestor Exchange
b) New listing on exchange (aim for 2)
c) Product integration (aim for 2-4 products) to increase usability)
a) Opening of Quaestor Exchange
b) Listing on Quaestor Exchange
a) Integration of whole network in to our new blockchain technology
a1) Secure the network forever on integrated smart contracts (Position, income)
a3) Increases the demand on the coin (pay in only possible with Quaestor coin
a4) Opens up for more MLM company`s on the block chain This will make these financial transactions transparent and all coin holders will benefit.
DynaSoft Technologies handled our specialized application development, maintenance and support requirements very well. We benefitted from the reduced cost , and very good quality of their services. We would highly recommend DynaSoft for offshore services related to all aspects of the software development lifecycle.


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We also wanted to announce that we've made a couple of changes to the blog. You can find more trips under our "Adventures" tab, as well as two new buttons on our left sidebar called "Best of Dallas" and "Craft Movement." Our "best of" list will be updated often as we explore more unique and tasty food places in and around Dallas. All of the videos we post that are non music or movie related will appear under our new Craft Movement tab. Be sure and check them out!
In addition, we've changed our "Tuesday Questions" to "Weekly Questions." This is because we don't want to limit you to asking them just on Tuesday's. Pick a time of the week that works best for you! We've also added a 5th question to our list that we've "tested" for 6 months or so. Rest assured that it's a good addition. To check it out go here.
Lastly, Happy freakin Monday, Homies! Only 19 more days until CHRISTmas. CAN'T WAIT.


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Freenome is developing a blood-based early colorectal (CRC) screening test using artificial intelligence. Patients newly diagnosed with colon cancer or advanced adenoma are encouraged to sign up for the Freenome study, AI EMERGE.
Highlights from Freenome's first annual day of giving back
Back to the future with the Freenome Holiday Party
A deeper dive into data from our colorectal cancer screening program
Freenome event supporting women in STEM fields
Working at Freenome: Sometimes it's a picnic!
Working at Freenome
Sometimes, when you're up to your neck in multi-analyte data, trying to identify patterns that could help you cure cancer, you just need a little help from your friends. At Freenome, we're fortunate to find those friends hard at work by our side, and from time to time we make a special excursion just to celebrate that fact.
The annual Freenome company picnic last Friday was just such an occasion, as we gathered both our work family and our family-families together to enjoy a fog-free, golden summer afternoon in Westborough Park, South SF.
Around 3PM Freenomers begin trickling in with families, toddlers and pets (a.k.a. Freenome Mascots and Mascotas), and a smorgasbord of favorite potluck dishes in tow.
Special shout out to Freenome's office manager and Chief Happiness Officer, Jenn Harrison, for organizing, and to Ben Sutherland, software engineer plenipotentiary and Freenome Grill Master Extraordinaire, for laying out a sumptuous BBQ to satisfy and delight those of all dietary persuasions.
It proved to be the perfect Freenome recruiting event for junior computational researchers and aspiring commercial specialists. Before you judge, this is important work in a highly competitive space!
And, because this is Silicon Valley, after all, we found time to partake in some wholesome team competition, sharpening mind and body in such future Olympic events as Buddy Walker, Giant Slingshot, and Human Targets. (That last one needed special clearance through HR, but we got it.)
All in all, it was a day to relax and reflect on where we were just one year ago. From a core team of 25 biologists, machine learners, clinicians, engineers, and operations staff we're now at 77 strong and growing fast. (One of the many, many lessons learned? Taking the team photo BEFORE the medal ceremony!) Facing the challenges of marrying two of the most important fields of our time can be equal parts inspiring, challenging, and sometimes, just plain frustrating. But realizing that the people you need to succeed are all around you? That, my friends, is a picnic. And we're already cooking up ideas for next year. Hope to see you there.
Understanding gene expression using cell-free DNA
Cell-free DNA Cancer Testing
Much of the recent research in the field of early cancer detection has centered on cell-free DNA, a concept that most people, clinicians included, have never heard of. But its existence makes intuitive sense. Cells, like anything else, don't simply up and vanish when they die. They break down into the raw materials from which they were comprised. Some of those component parts are fragments of nucleic acids from the cells' DNA and RNA. Think of them like cellular garbage blowing along before being swept up by the blood's street sweeping system.
Such real-time information on cellular turnover in the body is, of course, of great interest to anyone studying what's going on with a disease like cancer. To this point, much of the work around cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in cancer has centered around trying to detect tiny traces of mutated DNA shed into the bloodstream from cancerous cells. The problem with using this technique for early cancer detection is that, during the early stages of a cancer, the fraction of tumor signal as a total of cfDNA in the blood is incredibly, infinitesimally small—less than a tenth to a hundredth of 1%. If you do the math (and we did, in this Perspective Paper), you start to realize some serious limitations on tumor DNA as an early detection tool.
Challenges of detecting tumor DNA
To reliably detect cancer (at around 95% sensitivity) you'd need to draw 15 tubes of blood; not something most patients will be eager to participate in as routine blood work. That's one problem. The other challenge you run into is that there is only so much you can say with confidence even when you do detect a mutation.
Why? Because not every mutation, even in known cancer-driver genes, represents a malignancy. For example, in the human eyelid, multiple cancer genes are under strong positive selection (found in 18%-32% of cells), including most of the key drivers of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas.1 That's almost up to a third of cells showing cancer-associated mutations in otherwise physiologically normal skin. If cells from that epidermal layer (for example) were to shed DNA into the bloodstream, a test based solely on calling mutations might incorrectly identify those somatic mutations as cancerous—leading to poor specificity (false positive results).
A new technique to analyze cell-free DNA
Recognizing that identifying circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood was a classic needle-in-the-haystack problem, some of us at Freenome started to wonder about the rest of the haystack—the other 99.99% of the cell-free DNA circulating in the blood. Where does it come from and what can it teach us about the health status of an individual?
Our partners at the Medical University of Graz in Austria are doing some leading-edge work in this area. In 2016 graduate student Peter Ulz and Professors Ellen Heitzer and Michael Speicher published a study in Nature Genetics, "Inferring expressed genes by whole-genome sequencing of plasma DNA," showing how patterns of gene expression could be inferred from cell-free DNA. To make their results more accessible, we've put together a short summary of the paper here.
Their study was based on the knowledge that cfDNA that resists degradation long enough for analysis consists primarily of sequences that were bound within, and protected by, nucleosomes—the DNA-protein complexes within which DNA is organized. Because nucleosomes stick to DNA very tightly, they block other cellular components, like the proteins that transcribe DNA to RNA, from accessing the DNA to which they're bound. Consequently, nucleosome binding in the cell is a dynamic process: they will bind, unbind, and move around as necessary to allow or restrict access to the underlying DNA.
Because nucleosomes must move around to allow the cell's transcriptional machinery access to DNA, patterns in this nucleosome positioning, or "nucleosome footprints," at a particular gene vary depending on whether the gene is actively expressed or not. In particular, the "beginning" of an actively expressed gene (the transcriptional start site, or TSS) tends to be less tightly packaged within nucleosomes to allow transcription to occur more readily. Given their lack of protection by the nucleosome, TSS's corresponding to actively expressed genes were expected to be under-represented in cfDNA.
To test this hypothesis, the study authors compared differences in cfDNA sequencing coverage between transcriptionally silent and highly-transcribed genes. After establishing that silent and highly-transcribed genes had different coverage patterns, and that larger changes in transcription level lead to larger changes in coverage, they then assessed the sensitivity and accuracy of gene-expression predictions based on cfDNA sequencing–coverage analysis.
Finally, they confirmed the technique of nucleosome footprint analysis by determining whether blood samples from patients with cancer were informative for expressed cancer driver genes. They were, as predicted. Again, you can find a helpful review of their foundational work here.
The most important implication of this work is that nucleosome footprints—inferred from cfDNA sequencing coverage and analyzed through machine-learning techniques—can be used to develop classifiers to sensitively and accurately predict expression of certain genes from cfDNA alone, both in healthy individuals and those with cancer.
Understanding tumor-host interaction through nucleosome footprints
Nucleosome footprints are known to vary by cell type, and prior research has demonstrated that, in healthy individuals (theoretically more representative of early-stage patients with low-tumor fraction), most circulating cfDNA is derived from immune cells.2,3 Freenome is currently investigating whether the techniques outlined above may be used to similarly infer epigenetic changes in immune cells to provide us with valuable insights into cancer's interaction with the rest of the body.
The Medical University of Graz continues to be a leader in this important research, and we're excited to deepen our collaboration with support from the Christian Doppler Research Organization.
As Freenome continues to move toward a systems-biology approach to cancer detection, our artificial intelligence platform is the key to realizing the true clinical potential of cell-free DNA. Only through advanced machine-learning techniques can we hope to determine clinical significance from subtle correlations among billions and billions of data sets. Inferring gene-expression patterns in this way will provide important clues to cancer's underlying biology, leading to new and noninvasive ways to detect and monitor tumor activity over time, and, eventually, helping physicians disrupt tumor formation altogether.
_Imran Haque, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Freenome
1. Martinicorena I, Roshen A, Gerstug M, et al. Science. 2015 May 22; 348 (6237): 880-886.
2. Lui yy, et al. Clin Chem. 2002 Mar; 48(3): 421-7.
3. Valouev A, et al. Nature. 2011 May 22; 474 (7352): 516-20. doi: 10.1038/nature10002.
How Blood Tests Can Be Used to Detect Cancer
Early Cancer Detection
In 2018, nearly 1.7 million new cases of cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the United States alone, which will result in an estimated 609,640 deaths. With statistics this profound, chances are high that you or someone you know has been—or will be—diagnosed with cancer in your lifetime. In fact, recent facts and figures from the American Cancer Society show that nearly 40% of men and women in the US will, at some point, be diagnosed with cancer.
The most common cancer diagnoses in order of prevalence 1
- Breast
- Lung and bronchus
- Prostate
- Colon and rectum
- Bladder
- Melanoma of the skin
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Thyroid
- Kidney and renal
- Leukemia
- Endometrial
- Pancreatic
One reason cancer mortality remains high is that screening for and detecting all the specific types can be difficult. In addition to being lengthy, expensive, and complex, common screening methods like lab tests and imaging procedures are often only designed to detect a certain type of cancer, such as mammograms for breast cancer and colonoscopy for colorectal cancer. Along with prostate, cervical, and lung cancer, these 5 are the only cancers commonly screened for in the general population.
Cancer blood testing today
Cancer screening using blood testing could make early detection more accessible; however, currently available cancer blood tests are hindered by limited accuracy and only apply to specific cancers. Some common blood tests used in cancer today are:
The complete blood count (CBC) test measures the number of blood cells and/or abnormal cells within the body.
Blood protein testing is effective in identifying abnormal immune system proteins commonly present in multiple myeloma. A blood protein test, also known as electrophoresis, is often the most reliable way to study and examine the health and vitality of proteins in the blood.
Tumor-marker tests such as PSA testing in prostate cancer, detect the chemicals created by cancerous tumor cells. Because tumor markers are also produced by normal cells, this test is typically used in conjunction with other tests to make a firm cancer diagnosis.
Circulating tumor cell tests are used for detecting cells floating in the bloodstream that have broken away from the initial cancer site. This test is often used to monitor patients with breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer.
Even though these tests are scientifically proven, their results are not always accurate and must be closely read and interpreted.Variables like body type and diet can sometimes influence test results. In order to make a definitive diagnosis, most forms of cancer require a biopsy. A biopsy is an invasive surgical procedure in which doctors remove a small piece of tumor tissue in order to diagnose, and in some cases determine how best to treat, a given cancer.
How can blood work detect cancer better?
In many cases, cancer can be present in the body long before any symptoms appear. Unfortunately, many people never consider getting tested for cancer until their symptoms become obvious, at which point the tumor may already have grown and spread. Recently, however, scientists have discovered that, even in the early stages of tumor growth, small amounts of DNA, RNA, and proteins are released into the blood. These fragments can come from both the tumor as well as the body's own surveillance system, which includes infiltrating immune cells. Patterns among these cell-free molecules could provide the earliest indicators of cancer—if they can be identified.
Next-generation cancer blood tests
Companies like Freenome are now experimenting with new methods to digitize and examine a much broader range of molecules in the blood than ever before possible. While this creates an unprecedented amount of data that can be analyzed for patterns associated with specific types of cancer, it's so complex that specially-designed artificial-intelligence (AI) is needed to draw meaningful conclusions.
AI pattern recognition among billions of cell-free biomarkers should enable doctors to detect cancer much earlier, and with greater sensitivity and specificity than current blood tests. So thanks to advanced medical technology and ongoing cancer research, it won't be long before multiple life-threatening cancers can be detected using a simple AI-powered blood test.
Stay connected with the latest news on AI genomics and early cancer detection blood tests by entering your email below.
1. American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures 2018. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society, 2018. Also available online. Last accessed February 26, 2018.
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: How "Deep Learning" Is Helping Doctors Save Lives
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
In the past century, the field of medicine has made miraculous advancements in lifesaving technology. Many diseases and conditions, fatal in previous generations, now have reliable cures, treatments, and preventions. As technology in communications, engineering, chemistry, and physics continues to develop, more possibilities open up for those who work in medicine. Until recently, though, nothing we've developed has been able to do the work for doctors.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly changing that.
Advances in the field of "deep learning" have made it possible for machines to begin lightening the workload of doctors by performing certain tasks faster—and in some cases more accurately—than humans. This frees up medical professionals to focus on their true priority: treating patients. Today, we'll take a look at AI, and several ways it's making life easier for medical practitioners.
AI and Deep Learning
The idea of artificial beings that are capable of thought has been around since at least ancient Greece. Much like the eponymous doctor in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, humans have postulated for years that if divinity has created sentient life capable of cognition, man may likewise be capable of such acts of creation. The result has been the romanticising of the concept in literature and culture, as science simultaneously pursues its realization.
Both approaches have become more sophisticated over the centuries, with writers and poets broadening the scope of what hypothetical synthetic cognition might be capable of. Likewise, as the progression of technology has led to the development of computer systems, it has finally become possible to create systems that can accomplish tasks previously considered too abstract for non-human minds.
The most significant advancement thus far in the field is that of "deep learning," a subcategory of machine learning that attempts to mimic the way the human brain learns new concepts. A simple definition of deep learning is when a system or algorithm is given a large dataset, and told to look for patterns, without being programmed how to differentiate between the patterns.
The most convenient example of this is image recognition, and how Google built a computer network that taught itself what a "cat" was. Fed enough YouTube videos, it started to recognize patterns among the images it was presented, and it started to group felines together as a category. It's an impressive feat, considering there's a non-trivial amount of variety of characteristics among cats.
None of the data Google fed the algorithm was labeled, meaning this was "unsupervised" deep learning, and the computers didn't have any base examples to work from first. The alternative is "supervised" deep learning, where the computer is given a number of labeled examples to start it off, teaching it what kind of things classify as "category A" or "category B." In supervised learning, they're still not instructed what to look for, just given examples of what qualifies; determining qualifying characteristics is up to the system.
This is very similar to how we teach a child what a cat is. We show them pictures and videos of a cat, tell them what sound they make, and maybe even let them pet a cat (if one is available). Most toddlers, even ones who have never seen a cat in person, can identify them by sight or sound. We give them sufficient data, and they can draw the conclusion on their own. That's one of the foundational principles of intelligence.
Image Recognition
Image recognition is where much of the deep learning research has been done, and it's where a majority of the AI use cases in medicine can be found. That's because so much of a doctor's job is looking at images and scans and trying to determine if there's a problem. It can consume large amounts of valuable time, so employing AI to help process the large number of radiology results can save both time and money on the task.
AI has already been tested (with successful results) to prove it can identify the presence or absence of a number of conditions via reviewing images alone. At Jefferson University Hospital, researchers proved that A.I. could detect tuberculosis with an accuracy of up to 96%. Over in China, Infervision is using the same methodology in detecting lung cancer, helping the mere 80,000 radiologists process the over one billion radiology scans a year.
Lungs aren't the only things being inspected by computers. In England, several clinical trials have proven that a computer can predict future heart problems in patients simply by looking at a patient's heart scans. It does this with accuracy levels greater than the doctors themselves. Even diabetic retinopathy can be detected, as can the metastasizing of breast cancer.
As the technology improves, and as the algorithms are fed more data, an increasing number of diseases and conditions should be detectable or predictable by machines, enabling doctors to save more lives.
Predictive Modeling
Artificial intelligence in medicine isn't limited to image recognition. In some cases, the AI doesn't even need to see images to make a diagnostic prediction. Take the "Deep Patient" project. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai gave their AI 700,000 electronic health records (EHRs), hoping that the machine would be able to make the connections between disease or condition predictors, and eventual diagnosis.
Once the AI had been given the chance to parse all the information (patient X developed lung cancer, patient Y developed heart disease), it was tested. It was given data on 76,000 patients whose diagnosis was known, but not given to the computer. Their results were impressive, drastically outperforming "evaluations based only on raw EHR data, doing particularly well at predicting severe diabetes, schizophrenia, and various cancers."
They weren't the only ones who had positive results. A team of UK researchers performed a similar test, to see if their learning algorithm could accurately predict heart attacks. It "correctly predicted 7.6% more events than the ACC/AHA method, and it raised 1.6% fewer false alarms." What's more, the machine used different guidelines to make its judgement calls, highlighting the fact that doctors may be using the wrong metrics:
Several of the risk factors that the machine-learning algorithms identified as the strongest predictors are not included in the ACC/AHA guidelines, such as severe mental illness and taking oral corticosteroids. Meanwhile, none of the algorithms considered diabetes, which is on the ACC/AHA list, to be among the top 10 predictors.
The corporate world has been benefiting from "big data" for several years, and now, with the help of AI, medicine is too.
The Human Diagnosis Project
The Human Diagnosis Project, also known as Human Dx, is similar to the above-mentioned EHR projects, but on a much larger scale. Using the same methodology of machine learning, but crowdsourcing both the patient data and the solutions, Human Dx aims to aggregate comprehensive diagnostic and prognostic data on a legion of conditions.
The AI then parses the information, and makes it more accessible and user friendly. Then, when a practitioner needs information or a second opinion, they can consult the archive for a wealth of knowledge related to their use case. The project makes answering difficult medical questions easier, and faster.
Mental Health and Cogito
Shifting from physical health to mental health, a new app is actually making it easier for mental health professionals to track the status of their patients. The Cogito Companion app is designed to track a patient's activity, social connectedness, and mood. It can tell when you've left your house, or if you've stayed in one place for an extended period. It can tell if you've been calling or texting other people, or if you've been out of contact. And it allows your counselor to see your progress.
On the surface, it seems like other apps on the market: it tracks your activities, and reports back to your therapist. What makes it different is how you can record audio logs as a sort of diary. While this helps to record your feelings and thoughts, an AI algorithm analyzes the speed, tone, and energy in your voice to assess your mood. It can tell you if you're having a down day, or if you're doing better than you expect, and those results can be viewed by the practitioner.
The tool is still in its early stages, but as it learns and becomes more sophisticated it stands to help a great many people who struggle with mental health challenges.
Surgical Robots
The most direct application of AIs to medical practice is that of surgical robots. Though robots have been assisting surgeons since the 1980s, they've been non-autonomous, human-operated tools until very recently. They were just another device for surgeons to use.
Recent developments in machine learning have made it possible for surgical robots to become increasingly autonomous. Again, the technology is still in its early stages, but tests have begun to demonstrate the potential for the robots to be more accurate and precise than humans in the operating room. While it's unlikely that machines will totally replace experienced surgeons in the conceivable future, there's the definite possibility that they will begin making procedures easier for them.
AI and Machine Learning Applications in Genomics
Perhaps the most impressive usage of artificial intelligence in medical diagnosis is in the rapidly developing field of genomics, which includes analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and other genomic biomarkers. Cell-free DNA tests, if you're unfamiliar with the practice, screen blood plasma for DNA fragments that are left behind when cells in the body die. Currently, the most prominent usage for these tests is as a pregnancy screening tool—by testing fetal DNA (cffDNA) found in the mother's blood plasma, medical professionals can test for gender and certain genetic conditions.
The new technique already has a wealth of potential, even before artificial intelligence is applied. Incorporate the AI, however, and the possibilities only become more impressive.
Take our ambitious mission at Freenome, for example. Using advanced deep learning algorithms, Freenome's AI genomics platform is looking at cfDNA and other cell-free biomarkers, such as cell-free RNA (cfRNA) and proteins, to aggregate and decode genetic data left behind by cancer cells, as well as the patient's immune system. Using the AI to identify patterns and trends in these cell-free biomarkers enables Freenome to achieve cancer detection at much earlier stages, and determine which treatments will be most effective.
Rather than having to wait until later stages when the cancer causes observable symptoms in the patient, or the growth is visible on X-rays and CT scans, Freenome will help doctors identify cancer at the earliest stages of its growth, making treatments more effective and drastically improving survival rates, all from a simple blood test.
Computers have been changing the world since their inception, and with the advent of functional "weak A.I.s," that progress has only accelerated. With the introduction of artificial intelligence into healthcare and the continual improvement of technology, clinicians in the next several years can expect to achieve medical miracles long thought impossible, ultimately shifting the practice of medicine from its current focus on treatment to one where disease is prevented altogether.
From Project to Product: Realizing the Promise of AI Genomics
Freenome News
In 2014, my co-founders, Riley Ennis and Charlie Roberts, and I had what we thought was a relatively straightforward, but powerful idea: to create an early-detection diagnostic test for cancer, one that would become smarter over time as it saw more people's samples. The idea was that we would sequence fragments of DNA from blood and detect signals associated with the presence of cancer through software equipped with a type of artificial intelligence (AI) called machine learning. This concept, now known as AI genomics, became the foundation of Freenome's approach in developing next-generation, smart diagnostics.
Little did we know at the time how hard it was going to be to realize our vision. Bringing artificial intelligence to bear on DNA, RNA, and protein data to detect biomarkers associated with early-stage cancer involves merging two incredibly complicated fields of research in a way that's never been done before. In the three years since we began our research, we've made incredible progress, but we've also had complications and setbacks that were largely unexpected, and, sometimes, impossible to even identify the cause of. We also underappreciated the giant chasm of work that lies between a research project and a fully-functioning, validated clinical assay.
Sharing lessons learned
One could argue that the three years that Freenome spent learning these lessons the hard way is now a competitive advantage that we have among other companies who are also making the trek to clinical validation; however, these lessons are also applicable to anyone who is trying to make a science project into an actual product. We're relaunching the Freenome blog to give you a front row seat so that, together, we can progress towards the future quickly and responsibly. Through our posts, we'll provide updates on our progress and our challenges, and help foster meaningful dialogue on how to move discoveries out of the lab and into everyday clinical practice, where they can help people detect and treat diseases like cancer at their most manageable stages.
Building the right team
Once we realized that doing research in a clinical context was far more difficult than we anticipated, we began to hire key players who could fill in our blind spots. Thanks to successful funding and a large network of supporters, over the past two years we've been able to recruit some of the top minds in machine learning, molecular biology, and clinical research. Some of our earliest hires included clinical and reimbursement experts like Girish Putcha, MD PhD, from Palmetto; our VP of Operations, Dan Delubac, PhD, formerly of Guardant Health; Alex Rasmussen, PhD, who insures that our software is built in a clinically-compliant way (no easy feat); and some of the most brilliant scientific minds I've ever worked with, led by our Chief Scientific Officer, Imran Haque, PhD.
Halfway through 2018, we're at 70 employees and growing. Our latest key hires include our VP of Regulatory, Abe Tzou, MD, formerly of the FDA; our VP of Marketing, Lena Cheng, MD, formerly of Doctor On Demand; and our new Chief Commercial Officer, Mike Nolan, formerly of Foundation Medicine.
Along the way, we've continued to establish partnerships with pharma and academic institutions, led by our VP of Business Development, Blandine Merino, providing valuable data, perspectives, and insights to help accelerate our research.
To ensure we have the right guidance and strategy to scale our business, we recruited a visionary pioneer in genomic medicine, Randy Scott, PhD, (co-founder of Invitae and Genomic Health) and a scientific advisory board to share their expertise in machine learning and biology. That group includes Anshul Kundaje, PhD, from Stanford, and Olivier Elemento, PhD, from Weill Cornell Medical College.
Living our values
Of all our achievements, I'm proudest of the incredible culture we are building. Trust, empathy, integrity and a dedication to service leadership are the core values that set Freenome apart from anywhere else I've ever worked. We voted on these values as a team, and, as a team, we strive to live them every day in our work, our hiring, our volunteering—even in how we evaluate our own performance (more on this later). Our courageous, humorous, kind, and brilliant team inspires me daily to push myself as a leader and to be the better and wiser person that they deserve.
Every new addition has raised our company to new heights in a way that I could not have anticipated. Each person has patiently taught me much more about all of the different aspects of what it takes to launch a clinical test than I ever could have learned on my own. I'm thankful to them, because Freenome would not be where it is without their knowledge and their willingness to challenge me and push me to think different.
Looking ahead
For the remainder of this year, Freenome will be focused on bringing a blood-based cancer test to market that will finally make early-stage detection and treatment of colorectal cancer a reality for millions of patients. That of course means serious work ahead, but now that we have the right resources, people, and culture in place, I'm more optimistic than ever that we'll get there together. Thank you to everyone at Freenome for your positivity, vision, and dedication. To the rest of you, keep an eye on future posts where there will be many more learnings and developments to come.
_Gabe Otte, CEO, Freenome


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Why the ADM-Waiver?
Hahn Air developed the ADM-Waiver as a solution for protecting travel agencies who have been penalised in GDSs when issuing HR-169 tickets. With this exclusive service offered only by Hahn Air, travel agencies are able to rid themselves of one Agency Debit Memo (ADM) made on an HR-169 ticket, every rolling year.
*For more detailed information, please see our Terms and Conditions.


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Crafts To Make Out Of Old Xmas Cards
Have some time to creatively spend these days? Then here are some crafts to make out of old Xmas cards. Almost everybody loves to display old Xmas cards during the holiday season and so preserve them in a box for later viewing. We have enjoyed creating diverse crafts from these… Continue reading


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Skeletons In The ClosetFriday, July 10th, 2009
Description from YouTube: A woman and a man wake up on the floor in a musty flat, remembering nothing of who they are or why they are there. As they try to piece together how they ended up in this situation, their brutal, clumsy, and yet erotic nature is revealed – but at what cost? Found at YouTube from futureshorts.


text: Rich Dad Scam #2: Get a Job Written by Robert Kiyosaki Read time: ... Original post date: February 08, 2013 We see scams every day. Sometimes they are easy to see and call out, like spam emails that promise riches in exchange for your bank information. But some scams are a lot harder to spot. From my rich dad, I learned financial smarts, which taught me how to spot scams—and how to not be taken in. Unfortunately, without those financial smarts, it can be very easy to be taken in by scams, especially the scams that the rich use to keep the poor in their place. Those scams are what I'm writing about in a series called Rich Dad Scams, and to break away from them you usually need someone else to warn you that you're being duped, to tell you that you're being taken advantage of, and to tell you what you can do about it. The first Rich Dad Scam I wrote about was Higher Education. Today, I'm writing about the Rich Dad Scam of "Get a Job." The big one: You need a job When I was young, my poor dad always told me that I needed to go to school so that I could get a good job. To my poor dad, getting a good job was the most important thing in life. My poor dad worked very hard. And he was always worried about money. Yet, he never got ahead. His job was one of the things that actually kept him from succeeding. He toiled away working for others, often getting raises only to keep up with the cost of living and paying a high percentage to the government in taxes. My rich dad, on the other hand, never had a "real" job, and he was rich and successful. My rich dad understood that the sentiment, "Get a job," was a scam. Rather than get a job, he made jobs. Rather than work for someone else, he worked for himself. Rather than pay high taxes, he used the tax code to get rich. How the scam works The reason Get a Job is a Rich Dad Scam is because it makes you poorer, especially if you have a high paying job, because you pay the most in taxes. And guess who isn't paying a lot of taxes? The owner of the business you work for. The scam gets even worse when you look at it long-term. If you do well at your job, if you claw your way up the ladder, what is your reward? A small increase in pay and a bigger increase in taxes. It gets even worse if you work for yourself. You pay the highest taxes in the form of self-employment taxes. The only way to avoid this is to be the owner of a big business or to be an investor, to put your money to work for you. That's where the rich work and live. The system is set up to benefit the rich so they can keep their money while making sure you keep getting taxed. The tax scam When you realize that taxes are a way of keeping you in your place, you can see that this Rich Dad Scam is really just an extension of Rich Dad Scam #1, "Go to School." It's in school that you learn to be a good employee, that if you work hard you can succeed. But really, you can't, not on those terms. The government gives tax breaks to those people they identify as creating jobs: entrepreneurs and big business owners. They want the private sector to develop real estate, start companies, and generate wealth. The government rewards that. In return, the government expects employees to pay taxes that cover things like Medicare and Social Security. Some people argue that employers pay these taxes too, but really what they are doing is using money that would otherwise pay you to pay their share of the taxes. False security The idea that a job is an important part of your personal security is a big part of the Rich Dad Scam #2, "Get a Job". The reality is that having a job does not make you secure. You only need to look at the state of our economy or turn on the news to see that people are losing their jobs. In an economy where people are losing their jobs, the more secure position is to own the company that is firing people. Stepping away My poor dad, just like most people, was conditioned and taught from the day he was born to be an employee. My rich dad broke away from that thinking and was an entrepreneur. He put his money to work. He was on the side of the rich, the side protected by the government. But how do you get there? The first answer is simple. You do it by increasing your financial education and beginning to think like an entrepreneur instead of an employee. When you do that, you break out of the rat race. You realize that everything you've been taught about getting a job and finding success is a lie, and that there is another way— a better way that actually works. And that's the secret the rich don't want you to know. Original publish date: February 08, 2013


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Food odor
Possible Solutions
Are there food soils on the dishes or the bottom of the tub?
Odors can be caused by dirty dishes and food soils that fall into the tub or other parts of the dishwasher and decompose. If the dishwasher is not used daily, you can run a rinse cycle with the partial load until a full load is ready to be washed. Use affresh® Dishwasher Cleaner regularly to keep the tub of the dishwasher clean of soils. You can also run a vinegar rinse through the dishwasher by putting 2 cups (500 mL) of white vinegar in an upright glass measuring cup in the lower rack. Run a normal cycle with the dry option turned off (on some models). Do not use detergent.
Is the dishwasher filter dirty? (on some models)
Cleaning the filters periodically helps keep the dishwasher working at peak performance and helps to remove odor causing soils. The filters can be found at the bottom center of the dishwasher. See the Use and Care Guide for instructions on removing and cleaning the filters.
affresh® cleaners are available at many retailers. Find one here.
Still need help? Call or schedule service.
You may need assistance from a qualified technician. Call 1-800-422-1230 or click below to schedule an appointment.


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Why Toastmasters?
Nobody is a born speaker. But with proper training & practice one becomes good speaker. The Toastmasters platform provides an exclusive, extensive and elaborate exposure to improve public speaking and leadership skills.
You may be a working professional, student, entrepreneur, teacher, business leader or someone else. In order to succeed and be remarkable in any profession, one requires both communication skills and leadership skills. These skills can be developed and improved over a period of time, with practice.
Toastmasters, can, therefore help you in Becoming
• Better Speaker
• Better Leader
• Better Communicator
and Better Person above all
There is always a first time when the disaster you always dreaded to never happen, happens. There will be a time when the audience begins to like you and you get a rush of confidence. Speech by speech, step by step, you move forward towards the imaginary speaker you saw in the mirror but never thought would be possible in reality !!
• Toastmasters helps you find your voice!
• Toastmasters kick starts your journey towards becoming the polished speaker you always wanted to be.
• Toastmaster is a safe place where there is no penalty for failure!
Once you start speaking and speak in a group of active listeners, you will start communicating, clearly and effectively.
Secretly in our hearts, we all want to lead. What we fear is:
• Nobody would listen
• We will make mistakes
• We would not be able to communicate exactly what we actually want to say
Smedley decided to organize a club where they could learn these skills in a social environment, and the men responded well to the concept. He named the group the Toastmasters Club; "toastmaster" was a popular term that referred to a person who gave toasts at banquets and other occasions.
The first unofficial Toastmasters meeting was held on March 24, 1905. Much like Toastmasters meetings today, the participants took turns leading and speaking at each meeting. Smedley and the older, more experienced men evaluated short speeches, while the younger men were invited to join in the evaluations. However, as Smedley was offered positions at other YMCAs in Illinois and later, in San Jose, California, the fledgling clubs lacked leadership and did not flourish.
The Forming of Toastmasters International
Smedley began working at the newly organized YMCA in Santa Ana, California, in 1922, and for the first two years, his time was spent building a home for the organization. However, his passion to help others learn to speak and lead remained. Once the new YMCA building was christened in April of 1924, he was able to introduce the idea of Toastmasters to his colleagues, and organize the Toastmasters club that eventually became Club No. 1 of Toastmasters International. The first meeting was held at the YMCA building on October 22, 1924. Word spread about Smedley's Toastmasters clubs and soon people in surrounding communities and other states were asking how they could start their own club.
To save time replying to the many letters and inquiries he was receiving, Smedley wrote the "Manual of Instructions" and "Ten Lessons in Public Speaking," which he had printed and bound in paper covers. On October 25, 1928, he secured copyrights on the publications and trademarked the name "Toastmasters Club."
By 1930, nearly 30 Toastmasters clubs had formed including a club in British Columbia, Canada. To reflect expansion outside of the United States, the newly formed association was re-named Toastmasters International. Two years later, in 1932, Toastmasters International was incorporated as a California non-profit organization and Smedley took on the positions of Secretary and Editor of the new association.
He resigned as YMCA Secretary in 1941 to devote more time to Toastmasters. Through the war years, he operated the organization out of a small office. When the war ended, a new Secretary, Ted Blanding, replaced Smedley and remained active as Educational Director for the rest of his life, as well as a permanent member of the Board of Directors.
The Growth of Toastmasters International
A series of rented office spaces in Southern California served as Toastmasters International's headquarters until 1962, when the staff moved into the first World Headquarters building in Santa Ana, not far from the YMCA where the first Toastmasters club met.
Ralph C. Smedley died in 1965. In 1970, Toastmasters International admitted its first female member, Helen Blanchard, under the name Homer Blanchard. In 1973, Toastmasters began officially admitting women, and in 1985, Helen became Toastmasters' first female international president.
Terrence McCann, an Olympic wrestler, was chosen in 1975 to serve as the Executive Director of Toastmasters International, a position he held until 2001. He was replaced by Donna Groh (2001–2008) and then Daniel Rex (2008 to present).
Source of information and for further details- Click Here
There are two tracks in Toastmasters-
1.Communication Track
2.Leadership Track
Once an individual become a member, he/she receives a kit from TI which consists of two manuals:
Competent Communicator (CC)
Competent Leadership (CL)
Both these manuals helps the members to sharpen their skills in the step by step manner. For example: CC track takes a member through Ice Breaker, Organization of Speech, Body Language, Vocal Variety, Researching the Topic etc. Similarly, CL track takes through various leadership opportunities as Timer, General Evaluator, Master of Ceremonies (known as the Toastmaster for the Day) etc.
Your journey will be supported by a Mentor from among the membership base. The Mentor will guide you and support you throughout the journey. As one move forwards as a TM, completing various such manuals in both the tracks, as per the following chart, one would finally join the elite club of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).
Image source: honeybpatel.blogspot.in
On successful completion of all requisite projects as per the Manual, the Member is awarded the corresponding Level certificate by Toastmasters International. For example, on completion of the Projects, under Competent Leader manual, one will be awarded the 'Competent Leader' certificate. This certificate is valid and recognised around the world.
Every Toastmasters meeting consists of three sections:
1.Prepared Speech: Where a member delivers a speech s/he has practiced beforehand. Furthermore, this will be as per the project flow of the Communications Track of the member. Only members are allowed to participate in this section.
2.Table Topics: This is an opportinuty where members and guests are invited to speak impromptu on a topic provided by the Table Topics Master.
3.Evaluation: Where a member will evaluate the speech of the participants and provide constructive feedback to each of the presenters.
Members can complete their Leadership Track by taking up various roles within and outside the Club will help one hone leadership skills.To understand how this actually works, please do join us for our upcoming meeting!


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Applause for the week of May 18
Kudos to: Rocklin High School choir
Accomplishment: Performed at Carnegie Hall
Details: The choir was selected by Choirs of America to perform at the prestigious venue. The students performed in the Choral Convergence Concert on April 25, singing five pieces, and joined a mass choir of more than 800 students from across the nation.
Kudos to: University Presbyterian Church
Accomplishment: Accumulated more than 4,000 books for a Ugandan village's library
Details: A 1,000-book drive went into overdrive with church members accumulating thousands more. The two champions for the cause, parishioners Amy Azzarito and Nancy Auberg, are helping the small village build a library.
Kudos to: Franklin High School and Sheldon High School students
Accomplishment: Received awards from local National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
Details: Animation students from the two schools each received an award of excellence in the Animation/Graphics/Special Effects category.
Bill Lindelof


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Mark Dennis
Native to York County, PA. Mark Dennis has a BA in Technical Theatre from Mansfield State College. Developing his sculpting skills in multiple mediums, Mark evolved into one of the top doll makers. Currently he has opted to return to a relaxed style by utilizing architectural epoxy in which he can ...
Dan Dennis
Dan graduated from Millersville University and has been designing furniture for over 16 years. His pieces are created with re-purposed antique barn wood utilizing contemporary design elements. He currently lives in Lancaster County.