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Q: How do I display a bitmap rotated?
A: Mirroring or inverting a bitmap about its center point is not difficult to achieve since they do not change its rectangular shape with horizontal and vertical sides. Rotating the bitmap in multiples of 90 degrees also is easy. But displaying a bitmap rotated by an arbitrary angle is difficult since the shape is changed and screen resolutions come into picture. Here I have attempted to achieve this, using simple graphic transformation.
I am presenting a function 'MBRotate()', which takes, as inputs, the handle to a display device context, X and Y positions of the top left corner where the bitmap is to be displayed, handle to the bitmap object and angle of rotation in radians. Rotation direction is positive in anti-clockwise direction and point about which the rotation is performed is the insertion point of the bitmap, which is the top left corner of the bitmap. Since I am using trigonometric functions like 'sin()' and 'cos()' functions for coordinate transformations, I have included '
' header file. I have written two simple functions to return rotated coordinates of a point and an array of points, latter using the former function. Steps to display the bitmap rotated involves two main steps:
- Get the bitmap dimensions and compute the span when it is rotated. Get minimum and maximum of X and Y coordinates.
- Scans all the points from between the minimum and maximum values of X and Y. Checks whether the point corresponds to a point within the bitmap dimensions. If it is, pick up the corresponding pixel of the bitmap and display.
The code is amply commented.
Here is what I got when I rotated the bitmap by 30 degrees. Point about which rotation is performed is marked for illustration.Code:#include <math.h> POINT Rotate(POINT pt, double theta) { // Gets horizontal and vertical resolution of display HDC hDC = GetDC(NULL); int XScale = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSX); int YScale = GetDeviceCaps(hDC, LOGPIXELSY); ReleaseDC(NULL, hDC); // Transforms coordinates int X = (int) (pt.x * cos(theta) - XScale * pt.y * sin(theta) / YScale); int Y = (int) (pt.y * cos(theta) + YScale * pt.x * sin(theta) / XScale); // Returns transformed point POINT P = {X, Y}; return P; } LPPOINT Rotate(LPPOINT lppt, int size, double theta) { // Replaces the array with transformed points for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) lppt[i] = Rotate(lppt[i], theta); // Returns the transformed array return lppt; } BOOL BMRotate(HDC hdc, int x, int y, HBITMAP hbm, double theta = 0) { // Return value; TRUE if funtion successfully completed BOOL Done = FALSE; // Does nothing if bitmap handle is not valid if (hbm == NULL) return Done; // Set mapping mode to MM_TEXT int MapMode = SetMapMode(hdc, MM_TEXT); // Creates a compatible memory DC handle to load bitmap HDC hDC = CreateCompatibleDC(hdc); if (hDC) // Device contect handle is not NULL { // Selects bitmap to device context HBITMAP hBM = (HBITMAP) SelectObject(hDC, hbm); // Gets bitmap dimensions BITMAP BM; GetObject(hbm, sizeof(BITMAP), &BM); int W = BM.bmWidth, H = BM.bmHeight; // Gets vertical & horizontal screen resolutions int XScale = GetDeviceCaps(hdc, LOGPIXELSX); int YScale = GetDeviceCaps(hdc, LOGPIXELSY); // Evaluate corner points POINT P[4]; P[0].x = 0, P[0].y = 0; P[1].x = W, P[1].y = 0; P[2].x = W, P[2].y = H; P[3].x = 0, P[3].y = H; // Rotates the rectangle Rotate(P, 4, -theta); // Computes span of rotated rectangle for (int i = 1, MinX = P[0].x, MinY = P[0].y, MaxX = P[0].x, MaxY = P[0].y; i < 4; i++) { MinX = MinX < P[i].x ? MinX : P[i].x; MaxX = MaxX > P[i].x ? MaxX : P[i].x; MinY = MinY < P[i].y ? MinY : P[i].y; MaxY = MaxY > P[i].y ? MaxY : P[i].y; } // Computes original rectangle RECT R = {0, 0, W, H}; // Spans all points of rotated rectangle for (int iX = MinX; iX < MaxX; iX++) for (int iY = MinY; iY < MaxY; iY++) { POINT P = {iX, iY}; // Rotates back and checks whether in bitmap rectangle P = Rotate(P, theta); if (PtInRect(&R, P)) // Valid point { // Displays the bit in display device context SetPixel(hdc, x + iX, y + iY, GetPixel(hDC, P.x, P.y)); } } // Deselects bitmap and deletes device context SelectObject(hDC, hBM); DeleteDC(hDC); // Returns TRUE since operation is successful Done = TRUE; } } // Resets mapping mode to its original value SetMapMode(hdc, MapMode); // Returns FALSE since operation is failed return Done; }
For bigger bitmaps, 'GetPixel()'/'SetPixel()' calls will be time consuming. This can be changed by getting the pixel information of the bitmap in an array and reconstructing the rotated pixels from this information. That is beyond the scope of this post since this attempts to illustrate the method to display rotated bitmaps.


text: Camouflage Cream Waterproof cover cream for every skin type to cover red veins, pigmented moles, port-wine stains, tattoos, etc. Color: Size: Art. No. Please select a color. *Color Number Choose an Option... Description Camouflage Cream covers flaws in the skin perfectly and reliably and is ideal for special occasions, like photographic- or bridal make-up. All colors can be mixed with each other which means the skin color can be matched exactly. The Camouflage Cream is also an ideal long-term make-up and lasts well even if the surrounding temperature is high. The cover can be light or heavy - depending on the amount applied and gets waterproof after fixing powder has been applied. It is very practical because Camouflage Creams are available separately, can be combined individually in the refillable magnetic box and those that have been used up can be replaced. Detailed information of the ingredients can be found here: ARTDECO makeup and ARTDECO care Application After moisturizing, remove a little Camouflage with a spatula, mix or soften on the back of the hand. Then apply thinly and evenly, using a slightly moistened latex sponge, and blend in at edges. Perfectly concealed: To neutralize redness such as couperose or scars, use Camouflage no. 1. Numbers 2 and 8 are ideal for covering up pigmentation marks and blue-tinted areas. If necessary, mix two color shades together. To make sure that the shade of make-up matches the skin tone exactly, always test the shade in a small area of the face, e. g. the cheek or where chin joins neck. Then apply fixing powder.

subset: commoncrawl


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LETTER- Correction: Like the car, Rugby keeps going
Contrary to what is stated in your story, [August 7 news: "Driver missing: After 85mph car scalps house"], the south branch of Rugby Road does not intersect with Preston Avenue and Barracks Road at the light where the car ran through the barricade.
It does meet Preston Ave there, but not Barracks Road. Rugby Road continues, taking a sharp left on its way to meet Barracks Road two lights to the west, where itangles off to the right and continues until it dead-ends at the 29/250 Bypass.
Given the number of tourists, student drivers, and drunks who have approached that intersection from the south in dark, foggy, gloomy, slippery, and otherwise imperfect conditions, I am astounded that they all made the left or right turn and none of them took the same flight– until now. When I first observed this intersection as a driver back in the 50's, I assumed that people missed the turn a couple of times a month at a minimum. Maybe the saving factor is that the damned light is almost always red when one approaches it.
Good story. Until I read your account, I had no idea that the stolen car flew almost all the way to Rugby Avenue. Muggles beware!
Roger Adams


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Police step in when SF shelters can't help homeless mom and tot
Police in San Francisco's Tenderloin reached into their own pockets in the wee hours to help house a mother and her toddler whom they found camping in an alley — after the shelters of last resort that the city relies on to keep families off the streets didn't open their doors.
"I don't want to see a 2-year-old sleeping in the Tenderloin — it's not right," said Officer Kevin Lyons, one of several cops who paid to put the young girl and her mother in a neighborhood motel.
The story began one day last week at 2:40 a.m. when officers from Tenderloin Station were dispatched to the corner of Larkin and Myrtle Street, a three-block-long alley, to check on a 36-year-old woman and her daughter who were camping and unable to find shelter for the night. The woman, who had food and blankets, told police she was "currently homeless" and had previously stayed in shelters with her daughter, but that she had no family or friends who could help her.
The officers began calling around to try to find space in a family shelter — but none of the five they dialed answered the phone.
They then asked dispatch if an officer at Southern Station on Third Street could check at a nearby women's shelter — like the others, a nonprofit run under contract with the city. After waiting, the Tenderloin cops were told there were no beds — or even chairs — for the mother and daughter and that the shelter "provided no further assistance."
The answer was the same when Mission District cops were sent out to check at a drop-in center in their area.
Because it was cold, Fire Department paramedics came out and checked the mother and daughter. But there was no medical emergency, and all the paramedics could do was leave them with some more blankets.
The cops even contacted Child Protective Services, but because it was after hours, they could only leave a message.
Lyons, who was monitoring what was happening over the radio back at Tenderloin Station, couldn't believe what he was hearing. He began collecting $10 and $20 donations from the cops there. Soon he had $240, enough to get the mother and child a room for a couple of nights at the Civic Center Inn on Ellis Street.
"Every day, the city is touting its homeless program and how many people they are getting off the streets," said Lyons, an 18-year SFPD veteran. "But if the cops didn't do anything in this situation (and something bad happened), they would be hung by the flagpole.
"This isn't the first time (we've helped), and we are not looking for accolades. We just want to be able to call these services for help," Lyons said.
"It's awesome they did it," said Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness activist group. "It's not the first time cops have covered (such) costs. They've let people sleep in the stations, and they passed hats to put people up in hotels."
But she said the circumstances here underscore the fact that "we do not have a safety net at all."
Capt. Teresa Ewins of Tenderloin Station followed up with in a email to Sam Dodge, deputy director of the city's year-old Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, looking for answers.
Dodge told us the city does have contracts with a pair of church-run emergency shelters for families, and they "always have a little space." The police report doesn't indicate that the officers phoned either shelter, but it probably wouldn't have done much good.
We found that the nearby First Friendship Family Shelter on Steiner Street doesn't answer its phones after 5 p.m., and representatives did not return a voice-mail message we left during the day.
Dodge said clients can knock on the doors after hours, but according to Friedenbach, "they frequently will turn away people who show up after the (8 p.m.) curfew." And despite official counts showing space, she said, both shelters often are full.
"Clearly, it's a place where we can improve," Dodge said.
He said he had urged the Tenderloin captain either to call him directly or to call the 24-hour 311 help line if her officers can't find an available shelter.
This time, he said, the cops who stepped up "found an answer in a tight situation ... and it speaks to their dedication. But we want to make sure they don't have to invent the wheel if they ever come across this situation again.
"There is support," Dodge said, "and if they don't have answers immediately, there are ways to get the answers."
Ewins said Dodge and other city officials "have been very good at giving us what we need." Given the complexities of dealing with a large homeless population, she said, challenges are to be expected.
"It's a group effort, and that's what our approach is right now," she said. "Any family is going to want us to go the extra step for their child — that's part of our job."
As for mom and her toddler? After their two nights at the Civic Center Inn, they disappeared back onto the Tenderloin's rough-and-tumble streets — until Sunday night, when police got another call about a woman and child who appeared to be homeless.
It was the same mother and daughter. This time, the cops went straight to First Friendship Family Shelter. When the officers dropped Dodge's name, Lyons says, the doors opened wide.
"There has got to be a better system," he said. "Especially with a child involved."
All this in a city that spent $275 million on homeless services last year.
S an Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@ sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross


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Chivas USA 1, Seattle Sounders 2 | MLS Match Recap
CARSON, Calif. -- Leading assist man Obafemi Martins set up one for himself, scoring in the 81st minute to propel Seattle Sounders FC to a 2-1 comeback victory against Chivas USA on Saturday night at StubHub Center.
Both sides capitalized on miscues for their goals, but the Sounders made the most of playing with a man advantage following the ejection of Chivas USA midfielder Marco Delgado in the 73rd minute. Martins scored his second goal of the season on a give-and-go with Clint Dempsey, beating Dan Kennedy with a chip shot.
Erick "Cubo" Torres scored on a penalty kick five minutes in to give the Goats a quick lead, but Lamar Neagle responded some 20 minutes later, cleaning up a Dempsey shot attempt after Kennedy fumbled the ball inside the box.
Delgado, who was in the starting lineup in place of injured rookie Thomas McNamara (ACL tear), received a straight red card for his tackle on Gonzalo Pineda. Seattle needed only eight minutes to jump ahead.
With the result, the Sounders (4-2-1) extended their unbeaten streak on the road to four matches, while the Rojiblancos (1-3-3) remained winless since the season opener.
A break arrived early for the Goats, who were coming off an uplifting draw against the Portland Timbers. Leandro Barrera beat Osvaldo Alonso to a loose ball and was taken down just inside the box to draw a penalty. Torres converted with ease, beating Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei for his sixth goal of the season to pull even with Dempsey atop the league leaderboard. Despite joining Chivas USA on loan from C.D. Guadalajara last July, Torres is only two goals shy of tying Sacha Kljestan for fourth place on the club's all-time list.
Chivas USA nearly tied the score in the 87th minute, but Luke Moore's shot was punched away by Frei and the result was secure.
Chivas USA nearly went in front in the 45th minute, but a goal from Delgado was disallowed when it was ruled that Torres crashed into Frei while lunging for a Mauro Rosales centering pass.
Seattle claimed their eighth win in 14 games against Chivas USA. The sides have two other meetings this season; both scheduled for September.
Next up for the Sounders is a three-game home stand beginning with a matchup against the Colorado Rapids on April 26. Chivas USA hit the road for a game against the San Jose Earthquakes.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
|What We Saw
|Clint Dempsey
|Didn't tally this time around, but continued to be essential to Seattle's attack in setting up both goals on the night
|Obafemi Martins
|Was rather wasteful for much of the match with his chances, but hit the winner when it mattered
|Gonzalo Pineda
|The game was largely played in the midfield, and Pineda was at the center of it, on both sides of the ball


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How Galapagos Marine Iguanas Helped Darwin Unlock the Secrets of Evolution
When Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos, he was repulsed by the marine iguanas, famously referring to them in his journal as "imps of darkness." But these "disgusting, clumsy lizards" were one of the keys that helped Darwin unlock the secrets of his theory of evolution. Galapagos marine iguanas are the only aquatic lizards in the world, and Darwin surmised they were able to adapt their ability to swim and dive for food to suit their habitat.
Marine iguanas make their home on the rocky shores of the Galapagos Islands. As such, their limbs and claws are much stronger than those of other large lizards. This allows them to cling to the rocks when waves crash upon them. Their limbs and flattened tails also help them dive into the sea to feed on algae and seaweed. The noses of marine iguanas are also much shorter than those of land-lizards, which helps them get their mouths on rocks to scrape off some algae for dinner with their short, razor sharp teeth. These iguanas typically forage for food in shallow waters, but can dive as deep as 80 feet in search of a snack.
Each sub-species may vary in color, but in general Galapagos marine iguanas are dark gray to black in color, which helps them absorb sunlight to stay warm. This is useful for these cold blooded creatures, as the waters around the islands are typically pretty cold. Larger iguanas are able to retain heat longer and therefore tend to be active for longer stretches. Smaller lizards need to spend more time in the sun to stay warm. When the sun goes down, the marine iguanas retreat underneath large boulders for protection while they sleep.
During mating season, the iguanas' will change color, adopting brassy green and red splashes of color across their bodies. Scientists believe this is associated with eating seaweed that only blooms during the summer months. The correlation of this color change and mating season could either be a coincidence or one may have influenced the other. The mating season of Galapagos marine iguanas lasts for three months each year. Females will lay one to six eggs and then bury them in sand or volcanic ash to incubate for about three months.
While these lizards may not be the most beautiful animals on the Galapagos Islands, they are certainly some of the best-known creatures roaming the archipelago. During daily excursions on your Galapagos cruise, IE's naturalists will point out both the cute and the not-so-cuddly creatures of this diverse archipelago.
For the latest travel trends and exciting discoveries., visit our Galapagos Islands Travel News section.


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Merewether High School
The mythical Queen Mab, instigator of nightmares and fantasies, is perhaps the creator of dreams. Or is dreaming a subconscious process, sorting through emotions left unfulfilled during the day? Sigmund Freud and the dream theorists believe this may be closer to the truth. I see dreams as explorations of ourselves, our limitations, fears and hopes. My works represent dreams as extensions of reality, as well as tainted with absurdness and imagination. Gaining inspiration from the surrealists including Max Ernst, as well as Marc Chagall, John Olsen and Michael Bell, I have recreated my subconscious world, life and adventures.


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City Hall
You can't fight City Hall, but you can shop there. In big cities, there are often cool holiday gifts in the same government buildings people visit to pay parking tickets or get marriage licenses. In New York, simply follow the tourists to Manhattan's Municipal Building or the City Clerk's Office. The city-run gift shops at these locations have a lot more than just cheesy mugs and "I Heart New York" t-shirts. The stores sell offbeat items like NYPD horseshoes that come with an official certificate of authenticity ($12). Alternatively, food lovers who refuse to eat in a restaurant with "Grade Pending" sanitary inspection signs in the window may get a kick out of CityStore's exclusive line of "Grade Pending" T-shirts ($18), baby onesies ($18) and fridge magnets ($5). Plus, all sales benefit the city.
— By Quentin Fottrell
Rest rooms
It's no secret that more and more holiday shopping is now done online, but apparently many Americans buy loved ones gifts while on the toilet. Some 16% of mobile-device owners do their holiday shopping in the bathroom, according to a 2012 survey by CashStar, a digital gifting company. The survey of 2,000 adults, which was taken by polling company Harris Interactive last month, found that the shop-til-you-plop approach was more prevalent among men than women. "Smartphones and tablets have enabled consumers to shop and gift on the go in more ways and places than ever before," says David Stone, co-founder and CEO of CashStar. Other odd places consumers have done their online gift-buying, according to the survey: during business meetings and, despite the safety warnings about texting and driving, while stuck in traffic. Video: Where to Do Holiday Shopping? Try the Men's Room
Truck stops
Exiting off the holiday high road, some shoppers say they've scored some great gifts at truck stops. Al Castellanos, a New York-based musician from Austin, Texas, did all of his holiday shopping last year at a truck stop. He picked up car accessories like Bodum Chambord's eight-cup coffee press ($40 from GotTruckStop.com), a Bluetooth headset ($80), Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton CDs, and toy stocking stuffers for his nieces and nephews. Loves — a nationwide chain of fueling stations — sells 16-inch Angry Birds cuddly toys ($50) and, fittingly, "Monster Jam" trucks (from $10). There should not be any stigma attached to gift shopping at rest stations, says Ummu Bradley Thomas, founder of the Freddie Bell Jones Modeling & Finishing School in Denton, Md. "Even road maps make a perfect stocking stuffer and learning tool for children," she says.
QVC, Home Shopping Network, and infomercials are often a source of quirky gift ideas too, experts say. QVC's holiday offers include kitschy Coca-Cola branded products like the Snow-Cone Maker ($34), a three-wheel go-kart ($150) and tricycle ($119). HSN has a range of ceramic salt-and-pepper shakers shaped like sports shirts from pro teams ($15). (Fanatics.com also has a range of actual shirts from NHL, MLB, MBA, NFL and college teams.) Both companies also do a brisk business online. QVC was ranked No. 2 behind Amazon in a recent "Internet Retailer" magazine list of the most popular multicategory mobile shopping sites. Of course, consumers don't get to handle the products they see on the screen, so experts recommend buying in time to make sure they can be reimbursed before the holidays. Both sites have a 30-day return policy on most items.
Drug stores
Here's a prescription for shoppers desperate to avoid the crowds at the mall: Hit the drug store. It may seem odd to buy presents at a place better known for pain-killers, but big chains like Walgreens and CVS are heavily promoting several holiday gift ideas. Their photo departments can personalize everything from sweaters to key chains. For as little as $35, CVS will customize iPhone and Kindle cases with photographs from users' Facebook or Instagram pages. Walgreens's photo department likewise does personalized wall décor, calendars, towels, tote bags, calendars and mugs. Customized T-shirts with photographs cost $15. Drug stores are also a good source for cheap cosmetics for teenage girls, says Kerry K. Taylor, creator of frugal-shopping advice site Squawkfox.com. "These are perfect stocking stuffers," she says. teenagers who remain Beliebers, there's also "Eau De Parfrum Girlfriend," a perfume by Justin Bieber for $34.
This story has been updated from an earlier version.
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10 things Obamacare won't tell you
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News came this morning that Pope Benedict 16th is resigning.
Nine names are said to be papabili (potential popes), frontrunners to succeed Benedict 16th. Among them is an ominous name — Peter Turkson of Ghana, Africa.
It is not just that his name "Peter" is evocative of St. Malachy's (1094-1148) prophesy that the last pope would be one "Peter the Roman," Peter Turkson was the person who, in 2011, had called for a "supranational world political Authority," i.e., a one-world government.
I am therefore re-publishing this post, originally titled "About the Vatican's Call for a World Political Authority," which I had first published on October 26, 2011.
~Eowyn (Feb. 11, 2013)
Two days ago, on October 24, 2011, the Vatican issued a curious document calling for the creation of a "supranational global political Authority" and a central world bank to manage and cure the ills of the world's economies.
The proposal, "Note on the reform of the international financial and monetary systems in the context of global public authority" (henceforth, "The Note"), was not authored by the Pope but by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP). Nevertheless, the PCJP is a part of the Roman Curia or the Holy See, the leaders of the PCJP are appointed by the Pope, and The Note liberally references and quotes past and present popes. Given all this, one can only conclude that The Note has Pope Benedict XVI's approval.
To read a translation of The Note, click here.
The Note begins by declaring:
"The economic and financial crisis which the world is going through calls everyone, individuals and peoples, to examine in depth the principles and the cultural and moral values at the basis of social coexistence. […] as Benedict XVI teaches, the crisis 'obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future. In this spirit, with confidence rather than resignation, it is appropriate to address the difficulties of the present time.'"
The author(s) of the Note attributes the global economic crisis to mainly two factors:
- Economic liberalism, i.e., the free market;
- Problems of personal and national ethics — of greed and unbridled "materialism."
All of which, The Note maintains, has led to great inequalities, between/among nations and peoples, and a seemingly intractable global economic crisis.
The Note's proposed remedy is contained in Section 3, titled "An Authority over Globalization."
The Section begins by referring to Pope John XXIII's teaching, in what The Note calls "the prophetic" Encyclical Pacem in Terris of 1963. In the encyclical, John XXIII observed that the world was heading towards ever greater unification, that a correspondence was lacking in the human community between the political organization "on a world level and the objective needs of the universal common good," and expressed the hope that one day "a true world political authority" would be created.
The Note then urged that John XXIII's teaching be implemented today "in view of the unification of the world engendered by…globalization, and of the importance of guaranteeing…a free, stable world economic and financial system." Moreover, The Note insists, the present Pope Benedict XVI himself had "expressed the need to create a world political authority," given the ever longer " agenda of questions" that must "be dealt with globally" — questions of "peace and security; disarmament and arms control; promotion and protection of fundamental human rights; management of the economy and development policies; management of the migratory flows and food security, and protection of the environment."
The Note then asserts that the answers to all these questions in an "increasingly interconnected and interdependent" world "are not just sectorial and isolated, but systematic and integrated," and should be "geared to the universal common good." To do otherwise is to consign ourselves to a world characterized not by "the common good" but dominated by only "the strongest nations."
The Note then proposes that a "supranational world political Authority" be "set up gradually" to deal with all these problems. The Note recognizes that such a world political Authority (WPA) "cannot be imposed by force, coercion or violence, but should be the outcome of a free and shared agreement" and "a sincere dialogue". Such an agreement can only come "from a process of progressive maturation of consciences and freedoms as well as the awareness of growing responsibilities."
The Note then goes on to say that the WPA must recognize and respect the differences of the world's many disparate cultures and civilizations. This WPA would be "subsidiary" to the world's many governments: "Governments should not serve the world Authority unconditionally. Instead, it is the world Authority that should put itself at the service of the various member countries."
Such a WPA would:
- Make decisions "with a view to the global common good, which transcends national goods." [Who decides what "the global common good" is?]
- Create "the socio-economic, political and legal conditions" essential for "efficient and efficacious" markets that "are not over-protected by paternalistic national policies." [Excuse me, but didn't The Note just say that it was "economic liberalism" (i.e., the free market) that had caused global inequities and the global economic crisis, in the first place?]
- At the same time, those "efficient and efficacious" markets must be well-financed, instead of being "weakened by systematic deficits in public finances and of the gross national products." ["well-financed" by whom?]
- At the same time as the WPA ensures there be "free and stable markets," there would also be "a fair distribution of world wealth." [No contradiction there!]
- But the WPA would offer aid "only when individual, social or financial actors are intrinsically deficient in capacity, or cannot manage by themselves to do what is required of them." [Try telling that to U.S. taxpayers who are sick of supporting food stamps used to buy lobsters, and welfare ATM cards being used in casinos and cruise ships.]
The Note then proposes it is "logical" that the creation of such a GPA should "proceed with the United Nations as its reference."
To that, I can only ask: "And how well is that working?"
So the Vatican is proposing that we should begin the process toward creating this global welfare state of a World Political Authority by using the UN as our "reference" — whatever that means.
Is this the same United Nations, whose IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) — the world's chief "climate change" institution — again and again has been caught issuing unsubstantiated and downright fraudulent claims about global warming? The same United Nations that is overrun with New Age occult mumbo-jumbo? (See my 4-part series on the UN here)
God help us.
So what is this Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP) that issued The Note?
Wikipedia says the PCJP, founded in 1967 as part of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, is dedicated to "action-oriented studies" for the international promotion of justice, peace, and human rights from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church. The Council's objectives and mandate are the promotion of "justice and peace in the world, in the light of the Gospel and of the social teaching of the Church."
The PCJP's president is 63-year-old native of Ghana, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, who was appointed by none other than Pope Benedict XVI himself in 2009.
Turkson also is a member of other important institutions in the Vatican: the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.
Turkson's most recent appointment may be the most important. On 16 October 2010 Pope Benedict appointed him as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the same institution that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had headed, before he was chosen to succeed Pope John Paul II, and so became Benedict XVI.
Clearly, Peter Turkson is being groomed for high office. Indeed, Wikipedia's entry on him says that "Peter Turkson is considered papabile," which means a cardinal of whom it is thought likely or possible that he will be elected pope. A literal English translation would be "popeable" or "one who might become pope".
Wikipedia also identifies Peter Turkson him as being the source of The Note:
"In response to the global economic crisis started in 2008, Cardinal Turkson together with bishop Mario Toso elaborated a proposal to reform the International Financial System by creating a Global Public Authority and a Global Bank that consider the interest of all developing countries. The document of 40 pages was officially presented in October 2011…."
If The Note sounds familiar to some, that is not surprising. It is merely that neo-Marxist Liberation Theology in a new and global garb — the same liberation theology repudiated by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1984 and 1986.
In a speech, "Protecting Human Life and Dignity: Promoting a Just Economy," which Turkson delivered at the Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C., February 13-16, 2011, the cardinal said the following:
"The first step is surely to face the difficulties of the present time, not with ready-made answers or simplistic (/simplifying) ideologies, but with a realistic attitude and with discernment. […] In order to confront the problems of our world we must first study them, we must learn to SEE them clearly and recognize what constitutes injustice at every level. 'Seeing' demands more than a glance based on presumptions of ideology or prejudice (even political affiliation: Republican or Democrat). Rather, using the available scientific tools, we must conduct a rigorous analysis of social conditions, their causes and interconnections, their effects, especially on the poor and marginalized, and the contemporary experiences of the People of God who struggle. Beside an empirical analysis, we make use of biblical insight, the tradition of our Church's social teaching, theological reflection to 'judge' the situation described. And out of this effort – which sometimes entails solitary research but which often is a collaborative task – emerges a way forward and proposals of what to do and how to 'act'."
I humbly suggest that the good Cardinal Peter Turkson should take his own admonishments to heart and refrain from prescribing to the world the "simplistic/simplifying ideology" and "presumptions" of Marxism.
I will now end this post with this last little nugget:
St. Malachy (1094-1148), the first Irish saint in the Catholic Church, prophesied that the last pope would be one "Peter the Roman":
"In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End."
UPDATE (Nov. 21, 2011):
10 days after The Note was issued, the Vatican's Secretariat of State convened a special meeting in which the Roman Catholic Church's Secretary of the State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone effectively denounced The Note. For details, go to my post.


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Fake Government Busted in China
China has seen its share of counterfeits, from fake Apple stores to fake reporters to fake Gucci. Now add fake government to that list.
State media recently reported that a "People's Government of Dengzhou" set up in central Henan province was toppled after it was found, in fact, to be a fraud.
According to reports, the government was set up late last year by three residents who had gone so far as to counterfeit fake government seals and issue papers in the bogus government's name. They also tried to build up their own "civil service," sending out recruitment ads that attracted more than 10 applicants before the real government shut it down.
Apparently the trio wanted to independently annul their existing government on the basis of its "nonperformance." They located the headquarters of their faux government adjacent to the real one.
This isn't the first time Dengzhou has made headlines for unusual political news. Four years ago, government mouthpiece China Daily wrote a story about the city titled "Democracy takes root in rural areas." It chronicled Dengzhou's measures to involve more residents in the vetting of proposals relating to villages in the region, in what the publication called an "innovative experiment" that was also hailed at the time by then-Vice President Xi Jinping.
No one, evidently, thought the farmers would get quite so innovative.
In the end, the would-be bureaucrats were outed after they served a property developer a suspension notice and tried to levy penalties for illegal construction in the area. The developer got suspicious, and the trio were rounded up. They have been charged with the forging of government documents. Attempts to reach them for comment weren't successful.
-- Te-Ping Chen. Follow her on Twitter at @tepingchen
Also popular on China Real Time now:
Chinese Urban Enforcer Hopes Google Glass Will Prevent Violence


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NCSS Awards
Awards and Grants
Outstanding Social Studies Teacher of the Year
sponsored by Farmers Insurance
The annual NCSS Outstanding Teacher of the Year Awards recognize exceptional classroom social studies teachers for grades K-6, 5-8, and 7-12 who teach social studies regularly and systematically in elementary school settings, and
at least half-time in middle or junior high and high school settings. Award winners receive $2,500, complimentary one-year membership in NCSS, and present a session on their work at the NCSS Annual Conference, and up to $500 in transportation/lodging reimbursement to attend the Annual Conference.
Grant for the Enhancement of Geographic Literacy
The NCSS Grant for the Enhancement of Geographic Literacy was created to promote geography education in the schools; to enhance the geographic literacy of students at the classroom, district, or statewide level; and to encourage the integration of geography into the social studies curriculum/classroom. Award winners receive $2,500, a commemorative award, and present a session on their work at the NCSS Annual Conference
Award for Global Understanding Given in Honor of James M. Becker
The Award for Global Understanding Given in Honor of James M. Becker recognizes a social studies educator (or a team of educators) who has made notable contributions in helping social studies students increase their understanding of the world.
The award includes a $2,000 cash award, a session to present at the NCSS annual conference; complimentary NCSS conference registration; and up to $700 in transportation/lodging reimbursement.
FASSE Christa McAuliffe Reach for the Stars Award
In 1986 the Christa McAuliffe Reach for the Stars Award was established to help classroom teachers "reach for the stars" and achieve a dream that under ordinary circumstances would not be fulfilled. The Fund for the Advancement of Social Studies Education (FASSE) was created in 1984 by the Board of Directors of the National Council for the Social Studies. The purpose of the fund is to support research and classroom application projects which improve social studies education, foster enlightened citizenship, and promote civic competence.
The purpose of the $2,500 grant is to help a social studies educator make his or her dream of innovative social studies a reality. Grants will be given to assist classroom teachers in: 1) developing and implementing imaginative, innovative, and illustrative social studies teaching strategies; and 2) supporting student implementation of innovative social studies, citizenship projects, field experiences, and community connections.
NCSS Research Awards
NCSS and the Research Committee sponsor three annual research awards designed to recognize substantive scholarly inquiry in social studies education:
Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research Award
Larry Metcalf Exemplary Dissertation Award
NCSS Exemplary Research Award
Carter G. Woodson Book Awards
In 1974, National Council for the Social Studies established the Carter G. Woodson Book Award for the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States. The purpose of this award is to encourage the writing, publishing, and dissemination of outstanding social science books for young readers that treat topics related to ethnic minorities and relations sensitively and accurately.


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The dress rehearsals — Day in the Life mock exercises, as they're called — are almost over. About 100 doctors, nurses and other health professionals at Surrey Memorial Hospital's new emergency department (ER) are ready to receive their first patients on Oct. 1.
The hospital has the distinction of having B.C.'s busiest ER. Now, at 57,000 square feet, it's five times bigger. Big enough, in fact, to equal three NHL hockey rinks. Big enough to have the cachet as Canada's second-largest emergency department (in space and patient volume), after Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ont.
Surrey's fast exploding population, which has doubled since 1986 and is expected to grow by another 20 per cent in less than a decade, demands a 100-room ER.
It replaces the existing one which was bursting at the seams to accommodate nearly 100,000 patient visits last year. It was built, just two decades ago, for a capacity of less than half of what it has been receiving.
The 1991-built ER will be repurposed as part of the hospital's half-billion-dollar expansion and redevelopment project. But what it will be turned into is not clear at this point.
Dr. Craig Murray, chief of the ER since 2010, says staff have been doing simulation training exercises during the past few months to get up to speed on the department's new state-of-the-art features and technology.
"We've been running through different scenarios, like massive traumas, to test processes, learn how to use the equipment and to identify any deficiencies," he said in an interview.
As Murray said that, he was paged on his wireless, hands-free badge device that health professionals will wear on their lapels to communicate with colleagues. Gone are the days when doctors would have to go to a phone to respond to an intercom page.
On a recent, exclusive Vancouver Sun tour of the ER, Murray pointed out some of the features sure to impress patients and their visitors:
• Private treatment rooms with walls (not curtains) and glass fronts so health care professionals can monitor patients from nursing stations.
• 100 electric stretchers made by Stryker which, among other things, measure the weight of patients.
• White boards in every room so patients and their families can have interactive communication with health care teams. Pediatric patients have wipeable table tops and erasable felt markers kept in baskets at their beds so they can doodle for distraction.
• Televisions in treatment rooms and remote controls designed to be easily disinfected with disposable wipes.
• An all-concrete, six-ambulance holding garage area that can be converted into a disaster command centre.
• A pediatric ER (the second in B.C., after BC Children's Hospital) with a separate entrance for an anticipated 18,000 to 24,000 patient visits.
• A trauma room with three bays that has the first ceiling boom of its kind in Canada. The boom contains the cables and cords for equipment such as special LED surgery lights that can be readily swung into position for use.
• A decontamination suite for patients exposed to hazardous materials.
• A dozen treatment rooms for patients with infectious diseases. The rooms have their own bathrooms so contagious patients don't expose others. They also have ante rooms where health care staff can put on their protective masks, gowns and gloves.
• A medical imaging unit close to the trauma area where an anticipated 70,000 tests will be done each year. The CT scanner features a ceiling design of blue sky and blooming cherry trees, in a nod to anxious patients who can now gaze up at something other than dreary walls.
• A dedicated zone for mental health and substance use (MHSU) patients.
With one of every three Surrey residents a juvenile, the separate pediatric zone in the Surrey ER is expected to take pressure off BC Children's Hospital, not to mention parents and ambulances in the Fraser region who've historically had to drive to Vancouver in emergencies.
Although somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 Fraser region pediatric patients have been treated at BCCH each year, the effect remains to be seen. Maureen O'Donnell, executive director of Child Health BC, said any decreases the BCCH emergency department will experience as a result of the new Surrey pediatric ER will likely be offset by "expected increases to the pediatric population in the province.
"Over the next 15 years, the pediatric population of Vancouver Coastal Health is expected to increase by 13 per cent; Fraser Health is expected to increase 22 per cent; Vancouver Island by 16 per cent and Interior Health by 12 per cent," she said.
In other words, although the new Surrey pediatric ER will result in a "repatriation" of Fraser patients, an ever-increasing number of children requiring specialized emergency care from across other areas of the province will still have to go to the BCCH emergency department where there were 42,000 patient visits last year.
Through an arrangement between the Vancouver and Surrey hospitals, there has been plenty of professional collaboration, including opportunities for staff exchanges, O'Donnell said.
Hospitals throughout the Fraser region have made little progress in ER decongestion efforts in the past several years as just over half of patients admitted through emergency have been placed in ward beds within 10 hours. (The goal is 80 per cent.) Part of the problem begins at the moment patients enter ERs. Murray said in the new ER, the goal is to completely eliminate delays and lines for registration and triage.
"Patients will arrive, they'll be quickly assessed and placed in a private treatment room or other appropriate area. The registration will take place at the bedside by staff with mobile equipment," he said.
Lakh Bagri, acting executive director of SMH, said he couldn't say how much the ER cost to build since the "construction company (EllisDon) was asked to bid on the whole project so costing one floor was not specifically unidentified."
The project also includes a new critical care tower (opening in just under a year) and renovations to other hospital areas.
Bagri was also unable to say what the emergency department budget is, or will be.
"Budgets in Fraser Health are broken out by regional programs. Also, many departments provide services to emergency department which are not always broken out. We have been working with each of the service departments to understand and develop operating budgets with them," he said.
"We do know that there will be an increase (to the Surrey ER expenditures), given the much greater geographical footprint," he said, referring to the five-times-bigger ER.
Meryl McDowell, director of clinical operations in the mental health and substance use zone of the ER, said Surrey firefighters donated $500,000 to the area, which features private rooms where patients can have consultations with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, as well as stretcher bays where more patients can be monitored.
In a recent dress rehearsal before ER opening, staff members practised with this scenario: an anxious, depressed patient expressing the motivation to self harm. If such a patient is considered medically stable, and not requiring urgent treatment from ER doctors, he or she would be taken to the MHSU zone. A psychiatric nurse, social worker or other mental health professional would then take over care for the patient.
"The vast majority of patients will be discharged, not admitted, and linked to community resources," said McDowell, noting that up to 10 per cent (8,000 to 10,000) of all ER patients in Surrey are those with mental health and substance use problems. They often go together, she says.
McDowell says she is proud of the new zone because it takes mental health and substance use patients out of the frenzied atmosphere of the ER.
The separation is not meant to stigmatize them, but rather, to create a calming, low-stimulus, welcoming environment, said Gary Sault, a manager in the MHSU zone.
Sun Health Issues Reporter
This is part one of a five-part series, appearing in five consecutive Saturday papers.


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Barbara Poma, owner of Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were killed early Sunday morning, promised Monday that the club will "always continue to be the heartbeat of Orlando," NBC News reports.
"I will not let hate win," said Poma, who told NBC News she started the gay nightclub 14 years ago to honor her brother, John, who died of AIDs in 1991.
"For nearly 14 years, Pulse has served as a place of love and acceptance for the LGBTQ community," she said. "It should be the last place for such a tragedy."
U.S. & World
Poma said that she learned of the shootings Sunday from the club's manager in what she called "the most surreal phone call I'd ever received."


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A force that shapes our planet
Gravity is a fundamental force of nature that influences many dynamic processes within Earth's interior, and on and above its surface. It was Isaac Newton who, more than 300 years ago, explained the basic principles of gravitation and the concept more commonly known as the 'g' force.
At school we generally learn that g = 9.8 ms–2. Indeed, this value for gravitational acceleration was, for a long time, assumed to be constant for the entire planet. However, as more sophisticated and sensitive tools have been developed, it has become apparent that the force of gravity varies from place to place on Earth's surface.
The standard value of 9.8 ms–2 refers to Earth as a homogeneous sphere. However, in reality, there are many reasons for this value to range from a minimum of 9.78 ms–2 at the equator to a maximum of 9.83 ms–2 at the poles. We can now measure how g varies to more than eight decimal places, but what causes these small but significant changes?
The most significant deviation from the standard value of g is a result of Earth's rotation. As Earth spins, its shape is slightly flattened into an ellipsoid, so that there is a greater distance between the centre of Earth and the surface at the equator, than the centre of Earth and the surface at the poles. This bigger distance, coupled with the rotation of Earth, results in the force of gravity being weaker at the equator than at the poles.
Secondly, the surface of Earth is very uneven; high mountains and deep ocean trenches cause the value of gravity to vary. Thirdly, the materials within Earth's interior are not uniformly distributed. Not only are the layers within the crust and mantle irregular, but also the mass distribution within the layers is inhomogeneous.
Petroleum and mineral deposits or ground-water reservoirs can also subtly affect the gravity field, as can a rise in sea level or changes in topography such as ice-sheet movement or volcanic eruptions. Even large buildings can have a minor effect. Of course, depending on location, these factors are superimposed upon each other, and can also change with time.
The irregular gravity field shapes a virtual surface at mean sea-level called the 'geoid'.
This is the surface of equal gravitational potential of a hypothetical ocean surface at rest, and so defines 'the horizontal' - meaning that if a ball were placed on this hypothetical surface it would not roll, despite the presence of virtual slopes. The geoid is important for understanding more about ocean currents and is also used as a reference for traditional height systems and monitoring sea-level change. In addition, the geoid is used for levelling and construction.


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World Heritage Review Focuses on Climate Change
The 42nd issue of the World Heritage Review, published in June 2006, focuses on the issues of climate change and World Heritage Sites. A background on the issues is given in a feature article which discusses coral reefs under threat, rising sea levels, storms and 'extreme weather events,' and how the World Heritage Committee is trying to deal with the threats to World Heritage. There is also an interview with Mr. Klaus Töpfer, UN Under-Secretary-General and former Head of UNEP, who explains the importance of biodiversity conventions to work together to respond to the challenge of climate change. In addition, the increased effects of desertification on the mosques of Timbuktu, Mali are highlighted.
News (1)
Events (1)
- Workshop: Climate Change and Cultural Heritage 14-May-2009-16-May-2009


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Bamileke(redirected from Bazu)
a people in Cameroon, inhabiting the highlands between the Mbam and the Noun rivers.
Some of the Bamileke live in the city of Douala or in its vicinity. The Bamileke and related tribes such as the Bamum (Mum; self-designation Shupamen) and others number about 1 million (1967 estimate). The language spoken by the Bamileke is one of the eastern Bantoid languages. Most of the Bamileke are Muslims, but some adhere to local traditional beliefs. Their basic occupation is agriculture (corn, cassava, and peanuts). The Bamileke also work on banana, coffee, and quinine plantations and at the seaport of Douala.


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About being an astronaut
When did you decide for the first time that you wanted to be an astronaut?
It was when I saw the first launch of the Space Shuttle in 1981. I was studying at the military school at that time and the Columbia was the first Shuttle to be launched. "I would like to do that too", I thought to myself. A few months later I wrote to NASA to ask what I should do to become an astronaut. I even got a reply. They told me that I had chosen a good education, but I needed more experience.
Will you be going on more than one space mission? Do you plan a further space career?
Yes, of course. It has always been my intention to become a professional astronaut. I think it's great if you can first make a short flight, like my taxi-flight, to get acquainted with space and the International Space Station. Later I hope I will be able to make a longer flight as a member of the ISS main crew and stay on board the Station for three, four or more months. I would really like to do that. Maybe it will be possible once our own European Columbus laboratory has been launched to the ISS in 2004.
What does your family think about your spaceflight?
I get a lot of support from my family in this adventure. Especially my wife and children, they are very supportive. They watch everything very closely. But it is difficult to combine certain things. I'm here in Moscow, while my family lives in Belgium. I try to go home regularly, and I make a lot of phone calls home. We can also use a videolink to keep in touch. My family has got used to all this. In 1991 I was an astronaut candidate. At home we talked a lot about space and about how I wanted to be an astronaut.
Maybe the ISS will be the departure point or an intermediate station for interplanetary missions. Would you like to make a flight to Mars?
I've already answered this question many times. At the moment I have a responsibility to my family. Even now it's difficult to combine this responsibility with my work and my function. Often I am not at home, but it can still be done. But a mission to Mars takes many years. It would be difficult for my children if I were away for such a long time. Maybe I will be interested in ten, fifteen or twenty years when my children have their own life and I have less responsibility towards them.
What does the astronaut profession mean to you?
It is something I have always wanted to do. I think it's great to be able to fly into space. More generally I think that mankind always tries to step forward, to explore and to look further. I think we should continue in this way. The next step will be the further exploration of space beyond the Earth, returning to the Moon and then on to Mars and the rest of the Solar System.
Is your work still a pioneering job?
The pioneering part of space exploration lies mostly behind us; I think that's a good thing. More people should be able to go into space. We must increase the number of space flights to reduce the costs. The decision makers can then concentrate on the further exploration of space. We cannot afford to keep orbiting Earth for another 20 years. We must have the courage to step forward.
A lot of youngsters want to be an astronaut. What is your advice to them?
The main thing is that you get a good education as an engineer, a scientist or a doctor. This is very important if you want to be a professional astronaut. Then once you start your career you must try and look for possibilities that bring you closer to space research. You can do scientific or medical research in areas relating to space. Or you can have a career within an operational field of space research.


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Viser treff 1-1 av 1
A comprehensive analysis of the androgen receptor gene and risk of breast cancer. Results from the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3)
(Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2006-09-20)
Introduction Androgens have been hypothesised to influence risk of breast cancer through several possible mechanisms, including their conversion to estradiol or their binding to the oestrogen receptor and/or androgen receptor (AR) in the breast. Here, we report on the results of a large and comprehensive study of the association between genetic variation in the AR gene and risk of breast cancer ...


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Ahead of the Holidays, OpenSky Releases Its First TV Commercial
OpenSky is launching its first-ever TV commercial today as it prepares to enter the crazy holiday shopping season.
The 30-second spot shows a day in the life of a woman who uses products she discovered on OpenSky, including a meat and cheese platter recommended by Bobby Flay, an iPhone case from Alicia Silverstone and perfume from actress Mariel Hemingway.
As the company gets ready for its second-ever Christmas season, OpenSky founder and CEO John Caplan calls the TV commercial a "modest test" to tell the world about the emerging commerce company. The commercial, created by ad agency dw+h, officially begins airing today on Bravo, the Food Network and HGTV.
Since its start in 2011, the company has been focused on connections-based e-commerce, meaning that consumers "follow" people on their network to receive product recommendations. The end result is that consumers can find new items serendipitously, much like scrolling through Pinterest or Facebook, rather than entering terms into a search bar. "In traditional e-commerce, consumers suffer from the paradox of choice," Caplan said. "And in connections-driven commerce, everything they've seen is relevant to who you are. It's entertaining and it's engaging."
A year ago, the company raised $30 million in capital; today, it has two million members who have made more than 30 million connections. In six words, he boldly calls it, "Pinterest with a universal shopping cart."
Some of the company's other metrics are also trending in the right direction: The average repeat buyer makes seven purchases a year and places an order size of around $85. Caplan declined to provide the company's annual revenue, but said sales jumped almost 50 percent between August and September. During a recent week, sales topped $700,000.
The company provides plenty of incentive for experts to become product endorsers since they receive a share of the gross profit from each item sold. Shaquille O'Neal, who recently joined, already has 180,000 connections and has adopted the theme of doing "the shopping for the kid in all of us." In a video, he recommends a turntable that plugs into your computer and converts vinyl to digital, while telling folks to follow him at OpenSky.com/shaq. Honestly, it's more entertaining to watch than OpenSky's commercial, but here's that anyway:


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Booking Sheet | Contact Form | Address & Map | Standard Operating Procedures |
© 2020 Langley Flying School, Inc. The content of this website is protected by copyright and reproduction in whole or in part is only authorized with the written consent of Alex Zhang, President and CEO, Langley Flying School.
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Confucius


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Adeus Denilson. Ta-da for now (though I am prepared to wager that the 'for now' part will become 'for good').
Denilson's departure reminded me that this summer was as much about clearing out some deadwood as it was about bringing in some alivewood [find a new word – Ed]. He's the first of the exclusive gang to go – though who is in that gang is subjective and ebbs and flows accordingly.
Poor old Denilson was – along perhaps with Bendtner & Almunia, though it wasn't an exclusive triumvirate – the butt of things last season. Personally, as I have said before, I think Bendtner got it a bit hard. He was shoved on the wing for the most part – nuts really – and his goalscoring ratio was not that bad.
But Denilson, well Denilson was in part a victim of the emergence of the staggeringly good Wilshere and the returning Ramsey. But it was only in part: Denilson was shorn of confidence, while Wilshere brims with it. He was too timid, where Wilshere exudes forward threat. He half-tackled, half-tracked. He just never seemed to do enough. So this loan has hardly slapped us in the face. He played 153 times for Arsenal but his 51 appearances in 2008-9 seem a long time ago now.
So who's next? We were told pre-Asia that Almunia and Bendtner were negotiating moving-on deals (they've clearly been imbued with the same glacial negotiating tactics favoured by the club).
I wouldn't be surprised to see Eboue go, too (if someone will have him – a foster club?) In a moment of sleeplessness the other night, I tried to name a few starting XIs across the years, and attempted to recall the line-up of the 2006 Champions League final. Eboue was right-back then (no, it didn't help me get back to sleep). But what is he now? A jobbing fill-in. Sad but true. You can't push an opponent over in your own box in the 102nd minute of a 90-minute game and carry on as normal. Or can you?
As for the rest, well I can't see much doing unless we sign a new centre-half. If we do get in Garris Samhill, I can see us ditching a centre-back (even for balsawood Arsenal, five seems a bit greedy). The Squill would be the obvious victim there, though I'm afraid we've now entered the realm of pure conjecture.
So anyway, good luck Denilson. I hope you come good. You need to play.


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Mission Statement and Beliefs
Mission Statement
At Sallie Zetterower, our mission is to inspire every student to think,
to learn, to achieve, and to care.
Our Beliefs
Our belief is that every person:
- deserves to be treated with dignity.
- deserves to work and learn in a safe environment.
- can learn and experience success.
- is responsible for his/her own actions and words.
The attitudes and habits of teachers, students, and parents affect the
quality of learning.


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Italian Family History Group Facebook
'As featured in the March/April edition of Italianicious'.
Co.As.It. is proud of its over 40 years of service to the Italian-Australian community.
Co.As.It. was established in 1968 to fulfil two distinct aims: to promote the Italian language and culture in NSW and to assist the growing number of migrants arriving from Italy.
Since this time Co.As.It. has evolved to meet the changing needs of the community. Being true to our initial objectives, we have continued to expand services in the areas of education and community services.
Co.As.It. provides Italian language classes to adults and children both during and after school, Italian language resources via our Italian Multimedia Resource Centre, Bilingual storytime for children, customised Italian language classes for business, language certification and professional development opportunities for teachers.
In the community services area, Co.As.It. provides aged care services and a wide range of community services, from youth and family to mental health, to problem gambling to many more.
Finally, Co.As.It. fully owns and operates an Independent primary school, the Italian Bilingual School where the NSW curriculum is delivered both in Italian and English.
Browse our website, Co.As.It.org.au to discover the many services Co.As.It. can provide you, your family and your business.


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America's Next Top Model: Jon Gosselin?
Despite his ongoing troubles with wife Kate, Jon Gosselin was all smiles Monday as he posed for a set of shots by a poolside in Los Angeles, California.
The 32-year-old reality TV dad, clad in a white button-up shirt, black slacks and sunglasses looked more like a teenaged boy preening for Facebook pics than a father-of-eight.
VIDEO: Jon Gosselin Claims "I'm Not The Bad Guy Here, I'm The One Trying To Protect My Children"
Later in the night, Gosselin went on ET to retort to Monday's report he had emptied his families' bank account, and was fixing to halt production of his hit TLC show, Jon & Kate Plus 8.
Jon Gosselin Says Kate Is Lying About The Money
"I'm not the bad guy here," he said. "I'm the one trying to protect my children, that's called being a parent, protecting my children. I need to pull them off the television so we can work this out."
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Kate Gosselin's Lawyer Calls Jon's Money Excuse "Ridiculous"
Jon & Kate Plus 8 airs Mondays at 9/8c on TLC.


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Apple chief executive Tim Cook was paid $378 million in 2011, making him the highest paid CEO of a publicly traded company in the Bay Area, according to reports.
Cook beat out Oracle chief Larry Ellison's $77.5 million, according to the San Jose Mercury News. If $378 million sounds like a fantastic number, it is. Cook's actual take-home salary is $1.8 million and the rest of the money is tied up in 1 million shares of Apple stock that will vest in 10 years.
Similarly, Ellison's take home pay is $14.9 million, with $62.6 million in stock options. Nonetheless that number still dwarfs the median $3 million salary for most Bay Area CEOs -- a 7 percent increase from $2.8 million in 2010.
U.S. & World
Others included No. 9, Intel's Paul S. Otellini with $17.2 million; No. 10 HP's Meg Whitman with $16.5 million; No. 11 John J. Donahoe of EBay with $16.5 million; No. 13 AMD's Rory P. Read made $15.6 million; and No. 16 Cisco's John T. Chambers, who made $12.9 million last year..


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When you apply for a NYSLRS pension, you'll be asked to pick a pension payment option. All payment options will provide you with a monthly benefit for the rest of your life. With the Single Life Allowance, all payments stop at your death and nothing is paid to a beneficiary.
Providing for a Beneficiary
If you're married and need to provide for your spouse, or if you have someone else you would like to provide a lifetime pension for after you're gone, there are payment options that let you do that. In exchange for a reduction in your monthly payment, Joint Allowance options allow a beneficiary to collect all or part of your pension after you die. The amount of the reduction in your pension is based on your life expectancy and the life expectancy of your beneficiary. That means the younger your beneficiary, the deeper the reduction.
You can only choose one beneficiary under a Joint Allowance option, and your beneficiary selection cannot be changed after you retire, regardless of the circumstances. The benefit reduction for Joint Allowance options will continue even if your beneficiary dies before you do.
Pop-Up Payment Options
If we could predict the future, pension choices would be a lot easier. But a Pop-Up payment option is one way to hedge your bets. Like Joint Allowance options, these plans allow you to provide a lifetime payment for a beneficiary after your death. But if your beneficiary dies before you, your future monthly payments would be increased to the amount you would have been receiving had you chosen the Single Life Allowance. (The pop-up only affects future payments. You would not be entitled to any retroactive payments.)
The monthly reduction in your benefit will be greater if you choose a Pop-Up option over a regular Joint Allowance.
Find Out More
There are also options that allow you to leave a monthly payment to more than one beneficiary, and options that leave a benefit for a certain amount of time. Visit our Payment Option Descriptions page for details about all of the available payment options.
For a better idea of how these payments options would work out for you and your beneficiary, you can use our online pension projection calculator. It uses the information you enter to show how much you could expect to receive under each option. Most members who are within five years of retirement eligibility can also request a benefit projection by contacting our Call Center at 1-866-805-0990 (press 2 for members, follow the prompts, then press 5 to request a benefit projection), or you can submit a Request for Estimate form (RS6030).


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Friday, June 8 2012
The past two weeks have been characterized by four main activities:
- Game Scene Editor Development
- Sound Integration
- Platform Specific Game Packaging
- Build System
I'll go over each in order.
The Game Scene Editor (Zeno) is coming along quickly. The first order of business is getting our Landscapes editable in the tool. Right now they are represented by layers of sprites which pan across the screen at various rates. A Landscape can be bundled with a Battle Scene or a Caravan Path across which the Caravan travels. This data is all currently represented by JSON files, which I carefully and lovingly created by hand. The JSON parser requires that the data be in a very very specific format. A single misplaced or missing quotation mark or comma can cause the whole thing to fail, with no useful error messages. For some reason Alex and Arnie don't want to edit them by hand. Anyway, our tool lets you add, remove, and modify sprites and layers visually.
Sound has been progressing well. We are loading sounds and music through FMOD. We are currently triggering sounds on GUI interactions and combat abilities. Music is playing in the battle scene. We have some works in progress samples from Austin Wintory, so we are using those... VERY inspiring to hear it playing in-game.
We still have a long way to go in setting up how the music actually works. We intend to have various things in battle change the music dynamically. For instance, when an ally dies, the music might transition into a more sombre mood, or play an ominous 'sting'. We will be working close with with Austin to make it work the way he wants.
Also, we recently provided a draft sound list to Kpow, and will very soon be starting the sound engineering work on their end. As they need to hook up different samples and loops, we will be expanding our sound system to accommodate them.
One of the powerful parts of the AIR technology platform is the Air Native Extensions (ANE). However, it is a new technology and full of pitfalls and difficulties. Because our ANE depends on several FMOD dynamic libraries (DLLs on Windows, dylibs on Mac OS X), we have spent an inordinate amount of time making them work seamlessly in all situations.
There are essentially 3 deployment options with ANE:
- Debugging in Flash Builder. This process creates your as3 bytecode, collects your ANE and DLL/dylibs, and invokes the AIR runtime with ADL, the Air Debug Launcher. The downside is that the damn thing can't find our 3rd party (FMOD) DLLs/dylibs. This only affects programmers, and we finally came to a satisfactory workaround by running FlashBuilder with a particular set of environment variables on Windows. On Mac OS X the workaround is still TBD. The other downside is that FlashBuilder incorrectly stores absolute paths to the ANE in its project settings. This means that every programmer has to do a little prep-work before running after syncing down the latest code changes. And we all know how programmers prefer that everything just work automatically.
- Deploying a Native installer executable. The Native executable requires that AIR be installed on your system, and helpfully installs it for you if it is not. This makes the download sizes smaller and is generally pretty convenient. In addition to being a stripped down executable, this build was configured to NOT include the game assets. The game assets are loaded from the web dynamically. This is how we have been deploying our builds internally, although we never intended to deploy them externally in this fashion. Internally, you typically tweak your configuration to look on your hard drive for your work-in-progress assets so you can do things like replace images and see them in-game without pushing your changes. However, similar to the ADL issues above, when you run the installed program it can't find your 3rd party DLLs and dylibs. Because you have little to no control about how it packages your installer, you can't really apply too many workarounds. We had to abandon this method of deployment.
- Deploying a Bundled native executable with Captive AIR Runtime. This is how the end user will receive our game in the end. It contains all the AIR framework code that makes everything function. The downside is that the deployed files are about 20MB (or more) larger right now. In fact, on Mac OS X the deployed size is about 80MB more. This is because of massive bloat in the Captive AIR Runtime. The upside is that it creates the bundled application laid out on disk in a way that allows you to perform surgery on it before packaging it up into an installer. So our build script can go in and strip away lots of unnecessary fat. It's still too big, though. I really hope Adobe makes some improvements to this before we launch. Adobe is scheduled to release the next version of AIR this summer, so we shall see.
In addition to trimming the fat, the build system can also make some changes to the way the bundle is structured to ensure that the game can find all of its required dynamic libraries. On Mac OS X the primary strategy for this is to create a front-end game executable launcher that sets the correct working directory prior to invoking the real game. On Windows the primary strategy is to just copy the DLLs into the same folder as the executable.
Overall, ANE is a piece of technology that we absolutely require to make this game. ANE allows us to integrate 3rd party libraries, integrate with platform specific features (Steam, GameCenter, etc...), and to simply write performance critical code in C++. Despite that, over the last 2 weeks I have experienced extreme frustration with getting it to work in practice.
- Because we had to abandon our internally used Native executable, I created a 'Lite' version of #3, the Bundled Captive AIR Runtime. This is essentially the same, but does not include the game assets.
The Build System is finally in a pretty final and usable state. It took a long time, but it was well worth it. We have some very good volunteers setting up a Jenkins server on an EC2 instance running Windows Server 2008. The Jenkins server serves two purposes:
- To Continually Integrate changes from all the developers, build them, test them, and ensure that everything still functions. If something breaks, we get emails about it within about 20 minutes of the break occurring. It watches Mercurial for changes to code or assets, and then starts a build. Preventing code and assets from rotting is a hugely important function of software development.
- To create final builds and publish them to our internal servers. The published builds can then be downloaded and installed by everyone working on the game. This would be the guys at Kpow, our new GUI contractor in San Francisco, external QA, Austin Wintory in LA, and Alex and Arnie internally. The published builds include a full build, the Lite build, Zeno the game editor, and the asset compiler.
Since we are building and publishing executables for both PC and Mac, we have to do the builds on two different machines. The Jenkins machine running in the cloud starts the build. When it finishes building all the Windows and platform-independent stuff, it sends a command to my iMac in Austin TX via ssh. My iMac creates the Mac OS X specific stuff, and uploads it to our publish server if necessary. The process of getting this ssh invocation working was incredibly difficult. We exposed yet another bug in ADT, the Air Deployment Tool when trying to use it through ssh. I just got this issue resolved today, and it is a great relief to have that out of the way. You can follow the saga on the adobe forum here.
Long story short, we have gotten quite a bit of infrastructure taken care of, and I am looking forward to resuming some forward traction on the game itself ASAP. We have a meeting on Monday with some of the Waking Mars folks to check out their game landscape editor. We expect to take some inspiration from that. If you haven't played Waking Mars yet, do yourself a favor and check it out on your iPad, if you have one. We are going to get going integrating Steam and Desura very soon as well. The other big thing coming up is lots of GUI implementation work. We have a very talented GUI developer out in San Francisco, and we will have to work hard on our end to keep him supported and fed with the tech support he needs.
Previous: Technical Blog #1
Next: Technical Blog #3


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Frequent Links
Open Access Articles- Top Results for Gram-negative bacteria
Journal of Nanomedicine & NanotechnologyAromatic and Terpenic Compounds Loaded in Lipidic Nanocapsules: Activity against Multi-drug Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Assessed in vitro and in
Biochemistry & Pharmacology: Open AccessAn Antibiotic from Bacillus thuringiensis against Gram-Negative Bacteria
Journal of Microbial & Biochemical TechnologyAntiradical Activity and Total Phenolics of Algerian Honeys and Antibacterial Effect against Gram-Negative Bacteria
Gram-negative bacteria
Gram-negative bacteria are a class of bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation,[1] making positive identification possible. The thin peptidoglycan layer of their cell wall is sandwiched between an inner cytoplasmic cell membrane and a bacterial outer membrane. After staining with crystal violet, an alcohol wash is applied which decolorizes the bacteria showing that their peptidoglycan layer is too thin to retain the stain and enabling identification. A counterstain (safranin or fuchsine) is then added which recolorizes the bacteria red or pink.
Gram-positive bacteria have a thicker peptidoglycan layer in their cell wall outside the cell membrane, which retains the crystal violet stain during the alcohol wash, so long as it is timed correctly. The counter stain may also be absorbed by gram-positive bacteria but the darker crystal violet stain predominates.
Gram-negative bacteria display the following characteristics:
- Cell membrane (cytoplasmic).
- Thin peptidoglycan layer (which is much thicker in gram-positive bacteria)
- Outer membrane containing lipopolysaccharide (LPS, which consists of lipid A, core polysaccharide, and O antigen) in its outer leaflet and phospholipids in the inner leaflet
- Porins exist in the outer membrane, which act like pores for particular molecules
- Between the outer membrane and the cytoplasmic membrane there is a space–the periplasmic space filled with a concentrated gel-like substance called periplasm
- The S-layer is directly attached to the outer membrane rather than the peptidoglycan
- If present, flagella have four supporting rings instead of two
- Teichoic acids or lipoteichoic acids are absent
- Lipoproteins are attached to the polysaccharide backbone
- Some contain Braun's lipoprotein, which serves as a link between the outer membrane and the peptidoglycan chain by a covalent bond
- Most, with very few exceptions, do not form spores
- Some release liposaccharide
Gram negative bacteria deploy their periplasm to secrete bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) for trafficking bacterial biochemicals to target cells in their environment. OMVs also carry the lipopolysaccharide initiating disease process in their host.[2]
Along with cell shape, Gram staining is a rapid diagnostic tool and once was used to group species at the subdivision of Bacteria.Historically, the kingdom Monera was divided into four divisions based on Gram staining: Firmacutes (+), Gracillicutes (−), Mollicutes (0) and Mendocutes (var.).[3]
Since 1987, the monophyly of the gram-negative bacteria has been disproven with molecular studies.[4] However some authors, such as Cavalier-Smith still treat them as a monophyletic clade and refer to the group as subkingdom "Negibacteria".[5]
Outer cell membrane bacterial classification
|This section may be too technical for most readers to understand. (March 2014)
Though bacteria are traditionally divided into the two main groups of gram-positive and gram-negative, based on their Gram stain retention, this classification system can be ambiguous; it can refer to three different aspects, those of staining result, cell-envelope organisation, or taxonomic group, which do not necessarily coalesce for some bacterial species.[6][7][8][9] The staining response is also not a reliable phylogenetic character as these two kinds of bacteria do not form phylogenetically coherent groups.[6] However, Gram staining response of bacteria is an empirical criterion; its basis lies in the marked differences in the ultrastructure and chemical composition of the two main kinds of prokaryotic cells that are found in nature. These two kinds of cells are distinguished from each other based upon the presence or absence of an outer lipid membrane, which is a reliable and fundamental characteristic of bacterial cells.[6][10] All gram-positive bacteria are bounded by only a single unit lipid membrane and they generally contain a thick layer (20–80 nm) of peptidoglycan responsible for retaining the Gram stain. A number of other bacteria that are bounded by a single membrane, but stain gram-negative due to either lack of the peptidoglycan layer (viz., mycoplasmas) or their inability to retain the Gram stain because of their cell wall composition, also show close relationship to the gram-positive bacteria. For the bacterial (prokaryotic) cells that are bounded by a single cell membrane, the term Monoderm bacteria or Monoderm prokaryotes has been proposed.[6][6][10] In contrast to gram-positive bacteria, all archetypical gram-negative bacteria are bounded by both a cytoplasmic membrane and an outer cell membrane, and they contain only a thin layer of peptidoglycan (2–3 nm) in between these two membranes. The presence of both inner and outer cell membranes defines a new compartment in these cells, the periplasmic space or the periplasmic compartment. These bacteria/prokaryotes have been designated as Diderm Bacteria.[6][6][10] The distinction between the monoderm and diderm prokaryotes is also supported by conserved signature indels in a number of important proteins (viz. DnaK, GroEL).[6][7][10][11] Of these two structurally distinct groups of prokaryotic organisms, monoderm prokaryotes are indicated to be ancestral. Based upon a number of different observations including that the gram-positive bacteria are the major reactors to antibiotics and that gram-negative bacteria are, in general, resistant to them, it has been proposed that the outer cell membrane in gram-negative bacteria (diderms) evolved as a protective mechanism against antibiotic selection pressure.[6][7][10][11] Some bacteria such as Deinococcus, which stain gram-positive due to the presence of a thick peptidoglycan layer, but also possess an outer cell membrane are suggested as intermediates in the transition between monoderm (gram-positive) and diderm (gram-negative) bacteria.[6][11] The diderm bacteria can also be further differentiated between simple diderms lacking lipopolysaccharide, the archetypical diderm bacteria, in which the outer cell membrane contains lipopolysaccharide, and the diderm bacteria, in which outer cell membrane is made up of mycolic acid.[8][9][11][12]
In addition, a number of bacterial taxa (viz. Negativicutes, Fusobacteria, Synergistetes, and Elusimicrobia) that are either part of the phylum Firmicutes or branches in its proximity are also found to possess a diderm cell structure.[9][11][12] However, a conserved signature indel (CSI) in the HSP60 (GroEL) protein distinguishes all traditional phyla of gram-negative bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria, Aquificae, Chlamydiae, Bacteroidetes, Chlorobi, Cyanobacteria, Fibrobacteres, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Spirochetes, Acidobacteria) from these other atypical diderm bacteria as well as other phyla of monoderm bacteria (e.g., Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Thermotogae, Chloroflexi).[11] The presence of this CSI in all sequenced species of conventional LPS-containing gram-negative bacterial phyla provides evidence that these phyla of bacteria form a monophyletic clade and that no loss of the outer membrane from any species from this group has occurred.[11]
Example species
The proteobacteria are a major group of gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, Shigella, and other Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Moraxella, Helicobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Bdellovibrio, acetic acid bacteria, Legionella etc. Other notable groups of gram-negative bacteria include the cyanobacteria, spirochaetes, green sulfur, and green non-sulfur bacteria.
Medically relevant gram-negative cocci include the three organisms that cause a sexually transmitted disease (Neisseria gonorrhoeae), a meningitis (Neisseria meningitidis), and respiratory symptoms (Moraxella catarrhalis).
Medically relevant gram-negative bacilli include a multitude of species. Some of them cause primarily respiratory problems (Hemophilus influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa), primarily urinary problems (Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia marcescens), and primarily gastrointestinal problems (Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhi).
Gram-negative bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections include Acinetobacter baumannii, which cause bacteremia, secondary meningitis, and ventilator-associated pneumonia in hospital intensive-care units.
Medical treatment
|This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2013)
One of the several unique characteristics of gram-negative bacteria is the structure of the bacterial outer membrane. The outer leaflet of this membrane comprises a complex lipopolysaccharide (LPS) whose lipid portion acts as an endotoxin. If gram-negative bacteria enter the circulatory system the liposaccharide can cause a toxic reaction, resulting in increases in temperature and respiratory rate, and low blood pressure. This may lead to life-threatening endotoxic shock.
The outer membrane protects the bacteria from several antibiotics, dyes, and detergents that would normally damage either the inner membrane or the cell wall (peptidoglycan). The outer membrane provides these bacteria with resistance to lysozyme and penicillin. However, alternative medicinal treatments such as lysozyme with EDTA and the antibiotic ampicillin have been developed to combat the protective outer membrane of some pathogenic gram-negative organisms. Other drugs can also be used, significant ones being chloramphenicol, streptomycin, and nalidixic acid.
The pathogenic capability of gram-negative bacteria is often associated with certain components of their membrane, in particular, the lipopolysaccharide layer (also known as the LPS or endotoxin layer).[1] In humans, the presence of LPS triggers an innate immune response, activating the immune system and producing cytokines (hormonal regulators). Inflammation is a common reaction to cytokine production, which can also produce host toxicity. The innate immune response to LPS, however, is not synonymous with pathogenicity, or the ability to cause disease. In fact, the innate immune response is triggered purely by LPS.
Orthographic note
The adjectives gram-positive and gram-negative are named after Hans Christian Gram; as eponymous adjectives, they are conventionally written in lowercase.[13][14][15]
See also
- 12px This article incorporates public domain material from the NCBI document "Science Primer".
- Notes
- ^ a b Baron S, Salton MRJ, Kim KS (1996). "Structure". In Baron S et al. Baron's Medical Microbiology (4th ed.). Univ of Texas Medical Branch. ISBN 0-9631172-1-1. PMID 21413343.
- ^ YashRoy R C (1993) Electron microscope studies of surface pili and vesicles of Salmonella 3,10:r:- organisms. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences, vol. 63 (No.2), pp. 99-102.
- ^ Gibbons, N. E.; Murray, R. G. E. (1978). "Proposals Concerning the Higher Taxa of Bacteria". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 28 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1099/00207713-28-1-1.
- ^ Woese CR (June 1987). "Bacterial evolution". Microbiol. Rev. 51 (2): 221–71. PMC 373105. PMID 2439888.
- ^ Cavalier-Smith T (2006). "Rooting the tree of life by transition analyses". Biol. Direct 1: 19. PMC 1586193. PMID 16834776. doi:10.1186/1745-6150-1-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gupta RS (December 1998). "Protein phylogenies and signature sequences: A reappraisal of evolutionary relationships among archaebacteria, eubacteria, and eukaryotes". Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 62 (4): 1435–91. PMC 98952. PMID 9841678.
- ^ a b c Gupta RS (2000). "The natural evolutionary relationships among prokaryotes". Crit. Rev. Microbiol. 26 (2): 111–31. PMID 10890353. doi:10.1080/10408410091154219.
- ^ a b Desvaux M, Hébraud M, Talon R, Henderson IR (April 2009). "Secretion and subcellular localizations of bacterial proteins: a semantic awareness issue". Trends Microbiol. 17 (4): 139–45. PMID 19299134. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2009.01.004.
- ^ a b c Sutcliffe IC (October 2010). "A phylum level perspective on bacterial cell envelope architecture". Trends Microbiol. 18 (10): 464–70. PMID 20637628. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2010.06.005.
- ^ a b c d e Gupta RS (August 1998). "What are archaebacteria: life's third domain or monoderm prokaryotes related to gram-positive bacteria? A new proposal for the classification of prokaryotic organisms". Mol. Microbiol. 29 (3): 695–707. PMID 9723910. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2958.1998.00978.x.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gupta RS (August 2011). "Origin of diderm (gram-negative) bacteria: antibiotic selection pressure rather than endosymbiosis likely led to the evolution of bacterial cells with two membranes". Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 100 (2): 171–82. PMC 3133647. PMID 21717204. doi:10.1007/s10482-011-9616-8.
- ^ a b Marchandin H, Teyssier C, Campos J, Jean-Pierre H, Roger F, Gay B, Carlier JP, Jumas-Bilak E (June 2010). "Negativicoccus succinicivorans gen. nov., sp. nov., --~~~~isolated from human clinical samples, emended description of the family Veillonellaceae any classis nov., Selenomonadales ord. nov. and Acidaminococcaceae fam. nov. in the bacterial phylum Firmicutes". Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 60 (Pt 6): 1271–9. PMID 19667386. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.013102-0.
- ^ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal Style Guide. Preferred Usage
- ^ Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
- ^ Elsevier, Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, Elsevier.