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BCS Championship: Alabama 21, LSU 0
Published 12:00 am Monday, January 9, 2012
By Dave Skretta
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Jeremy Shelley kicked five field goals and Trent Richardson broke a 34-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter as No. 2 Alabama beat No. 1 LSU 21-0 on Monday night — the first shutout in BCS title game history.
Richardson swept around left end and raced down the sideline to the end zone with 4:36 left for the first touchdown between the Southeastern Conference rivals in more than 115 minutes of play and one overtime period.
Alabama (12-1) had put it away before that as Shelley kicked field goals of 23, 34, 41, 35 and 44 yards in the first three quarters to make it 15-0, matching an all-bowl record. He also missed two field goals and an extra-point attempt.
But this time, the missed kicks didn't matter to the Tide.
The Tigers (13-1) and Tide met on Nov. 5 in what was dubbed the Game of the Century, and the Tigers won a touchdown-less, defensive standoff, 9-6 in overtime. Alabama went 2 for 6 on field goals in Tuscaloosa.
Richardson, the Heisman Trophy finalist, ran for 96 yards on 20 carries and offensive player of the game A.J. McCarron passed for 234 yards as the Tide had no problem moving against LSU's second-ranked defense in the nation — just not into the end zone.
Alabama's top-ranked defense didn't need much help. With All-American linebacker Dont'a Hightower leading the way, the Tide held LSU to 92 total yards and five first downs.
For the Tide, it's the second BCS championship in the last three years under coach Nick Saban, who also won a title at LSU in 2003.
In a bowl season filled with high-scoring games, the top two defenses in the nation set the tone at the BCS title game. And much like the first meeting, special teams were pivotal.
The Tide's defense was dominant and linebacker C.J. Mosley had the first takeway of the game in the third quarter, his last play of the game as it turned out.
LSU's Jordan Jefferson started to scramble toward the line, but at the last second flipped the ball toward Spencer Ware. Problem was, Ware had turned to block and Mosley snagged the ball and set up Alabama at the Tigers 27.
Mosley was twisted down to the turf by Jefferson and his left leg bent awkwardly. The sophomore stayed down for several minutes and as the medical staff worked on him Alabama fans chanted his first name. As he was carted off, sitting up on the back of a golf cart, he got a huge ovation and pumped his fist.
Alabama couldn't convert the field position into points as Shelley dropped to 4 for 6 on the day, missing wide right on a 41-yarder with 5:38 left in the third.
The next time down, he booted a 44-yarder, giving him more field goals than any kicker has ever had in a college bowl game. His seven attempts were also a record.
The Tide faked a 49-yard attempt early in the second quarter and went with a shovel pass to backup tight end Chris Underwood that gained 4 yards. He reached the first-down marker by the nose of the football.
The drive didn't last much longer and Shelley's 42-yard attempt was blocked by LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers.
Shelley came back to make one from 34 yards with 4:24 left in the half, and from 41 yards as time expired in the first half.
Alabama opened the second half with another solid drive that stalled, but Shelley tacked on another 3-pointer from 35 yards.
LSU's offense was shut down completely. The Tigers managed two first downs and 66 yards through three quarters. The Tide, led by linebackers Courtney Upshaw and Mosley, gave Jefferson no space to run the option and only short gains when he passes.
It was Alabama's special teams that struck first in the first BCS title game to match teams from the same conference.
Punt returner Marquis Maze found a lane and broke into the open around midfield, though he pulled up instead of trying to get around punter Brad Wing and grabbed his left leg while running out of bounds at the LSU 26 after a 49-yard run-back.
Maze, the Tide's leading receiver, had to be helped over to the Alabama sideline, but he had put his team in scoring position. Maze didn't play again.
McCarron completed a 15-yard pass to Darius Hanks to set up first-and-goal, but LSU's defense, ranked second in the nation behind only Alabama, stiffened.
Shelley, who made one field goal and had another blocked in the first meeting between the SEC rivals, was perfect on a 23-yarder with 5:00 left in the first quarter.
It didn't sound like an LSU home game at the Superdome, about 80 miles from its Baton Rouge campus. The dome was deafening on almost every play with a crowd that was much closer to 50-50 than partisan.
The racket coming from the crimson-clad Alabama fans might have even contributed to a mishandled snap by Jefferson on the first LSU series.
More than a few people questioned whether Oklahoma State should have been given Alabama's spot in the BCS championship game, but the Tide won over the voters and earned a rematch with the Tigers.
The Associated Press
01/09/12 23:55


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This undoubtedly marks the lowest point for the world's largest bowling center operator; started in 1900 making equipment for the tobacco industry, AMF made its mark in 1946 with the automatic pin spotter. The device, which picked up and reset pins using suction cups, was previously executed by hand. Since that point, AMF has purchased over 500 centers to date, many of which were sold overseas. This device was later modified in 1951 and over 30,000 machines were installed by 1957.
This also marks the second time in 11 years that the company has filed for bankruptcy. In 2001, after amassing a glut of purchased bowling centers and failed equipment sales strategy in the 90's, the company filed for reorganization and exited with a confirmed Chapter 11 plan. This gave the AMF's unsecured creditors 7.5 percent of the new stock.
AMF began searching for a buyer last year after facing what was considered to be "unimaginable" debt levels. When the attempt proved to be unsuccessful, the company then began to seek out creditors to discuss restructuring.
Despite receiving over 20 million bowlers a year, the AMF attributes the bowling industry's shift to open play from leagues among the greatest contributors to the recent financial troubles. Another contributing factor is the domination of "mom-and-pop" operators, which makes up for more than 5,000 centers across the Unites States.
The company also cited a failure to upgrade facilities and incorporate a competing brand of technology and enviroment – such as Lucky Strike, a lounge-style, upscale center – which appeal to today's bowlers, played a role in the downturn of revenue, therefore thwarting plans of improvement.
On the bright side, representatives said that they expect for AMF to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the next five months,
"We will recapitalize our balance sheet and reduce our burdensome debt load and related costs," said Steve Satterwhite, AMF's chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
AMF will also have the support of the Bowling Proprietors Association of America (BPAA). Steve Johnson, Executive Director of the BPAA, recognized the advances in the bowling industry in recent years. He also stated that the association will "offer AMF our full support as the company undergoes Chapter 11."
The company has stated that it has $50 million of financing to keep operating now, and that customers should see no difference.

subset: commoncrawl


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Taxon Names in NZOR
All biodiversity information systems use the names of organisms as a fundamental identifier. Names provide the essential vocabulary by which we discover, index, manage, and share information relating to biodiversity. Access to an authoritative list of names and their relationships to species (taxa) is key to supporting information management and sharing across the conservation, biosecurity, and biotechnology sectors.
Until NZOR there was no currently no single, definitive, and maintained compilation of the over 100,000 organism names relevant to New Zealand. Because of this many agencies currently each maintain their own lists of taxonomic names in isolation from each other, in different formats, and at different levels of depth and quality. The absence of a definitive source of taxonomic names means that resources are wasted through duplication of effort; there is increased expense to end-users in having to access multiple sources, and increased risk of confused decision making.
The New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR) is intended to address this issue. The vision, developed by a multi-agency steering group established in 2006, for the project was:
"to create an accurate, authoritative, comprehensive and continuously updated catalogue of taxonomic names of all New Zealand biota and other taxa of importance to New Zealand. This catalogue will be electronically available through one or more portals, and will be directly integrated into biodiversity and biosecurity systems used by central government ministries, departments, and agencies, local government, research institutes, NGOs and the wider community. The catalogue will be based on internationally agreed standards and will include organism names and synonymies, origin and occurrence data (presence/absence) and where possible alternate and historical synonymies. In the future it will link to information from other sources on aspects such as threats, ecology, distribution, use, management status, published material, keys for identification, and all collections, observation and survey data. As such it will form a key part of New Zealand's bioinformatics infrastructure, supporting scientific research and biodiversity and biosecurity management."
A more detailed description of the original proposal for NZOR may be found in the scoping document: What's in a name?, Carver et al, 2000


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Women with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes who are considering pregnancy have reason to feel optimistic. That's because women with diabetes can and do experience healthy, uneventful pregnancies and give birth to perfectly healthy babies. That said, however, a pregnancy with preexisting diabetes is always considered high-risk, and its outcome is largely dependent on a woman's efforts to keep her blood glucose levels as close to the normal range as possible for the entire duration of her pregnancy.
The American Diabetes Association recommends blood glucose goals for pregnant women that are lower than those suggested for the general population: 60–99 mg/dl before meals and 100–129 mg/dl one hour after eating. Anyone with diabetes knows that staying in that range every day for nine months requires tremendous commitment, even when not pregnant. Achieving those goals while pregnancy hormones are wreaking havoc with your insulin needs and while your whole body is growing and changing is another thing altogether. Add morning sickness, exhaustion, swollen ankles, and normal pregnancy anticipation into the mix, and you have a full bag of stress triggers.
So how does a pregnant woman with diabetes manage to keep herself and her baby healthy while also balancing her usual family, work, and other life responsibilities? This article offers strategies based on experiences from my own two pregnancies as well as those from other women with diabetes who have made the effort to do all that was in their power to bring healthy children into the world. (Note: This article focuses on women with existing Type 1 or 2 diabetes before pregnancy rather than women who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy).
Pregnancy preparation
When I first mentioned wanting to have a baby to my endocrinologist, he urged me to get my glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level to 6% or lower (it was 6.6% at the time). The HbA1c test gives an indication of average blood glucose levels over 2–3 months; a normal HbA1c level in person who doesn't have diabetes is 4% to 6%. He also gave me a referral to meet with a perinatologist, or high-risk obstetrician. That meeting was a moment of truth for me: The doctor spelled out in plain terms the birth defects, including spinal and other major organ damage, that could happen to my baby if I did not maintain his recommended blood glucose control while pregnant.
I remember leaving his office feeling scared but also determined. He had encouraged me by telling me that he had lots of patients with diabetes who had worked hard and given birth to babies with no birth defects at all. Though I ultimately chose a different high-risk obstetrical practice, I am still thankful that in my meeting with that doctor, he didn't try to sugarcoat the facts (no pun intended).
Besides getting my HbA1c lower, I knew that my other assignment was to spend time figuring out, with all of my heart and soul, if I truly wanted a baby and could do what was needed to make sure that baby would come into the world with just as good a chance as any of not having permanent birth defects. While I worked on both of those things, my husband and I continued to use birth control.
Like the other doctors I spoke with, endocrinologist Lois Jovanovic, former CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and author of Medical Management of Pregnancy Complicated by Diabetes, strongly urges women with diabetes to make a conscious choice to become pregnant and to get their blood glucose levels in the recommended range before trying to conceive. "Love your baby first," she says. "That means you'll do anything, even checking your blood sugar every hour, 24 hours a day, to make sure your baby is healthy. A woman with diabetes needs to be really unselfish and make sure that this is the right point in her life for a pregnancy."
Establishing "tight" blood glucose control before conception is important, because keeping blood glucose levels in the recommended range during the first trimester is critical to preventing birth defects — and a woman doesn't always know exactly when she becomes pregnant. Uncontrolled high blood glucose can even cause a woman to miscarry early in her pregnancy.
In addition to blood glucose control, a woman needs to make sure that she is in optimal health in every way and needs to be assessed for any possible complications that could be made worse during pregnancy, including retinopathy (eye disease), kidney disease, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Women with Type 1 diabetes should additionally be screened for thyroid disease.
"Six months before I tried to get pregnant, I made my appointment to see that my eyes were all right," says Karen Eason, a mom with Type 1 diabetes who has two healthy daughters. "All of those appointments — eyes, kidneys — to make sure that I was all right were just part of what I knew I needed to do before we began trying."
Knowing your health status in every way — mentally, physically, and emotionally — before trying to conceive is the first step toward achieving a healthy pregnancy. (Check out "Preconception Planning Checklist" for a list of steps to take before becoming pregnant.)
Finding a health-care team
When Bjay Wooley, editor of DiabeticMommy.com and mom of a healthy 12-year-old son, got pregnant, she was a student at a major university and went to see the campus doctor there. He gave her the impression that pregnancy wouldn't be a big deal, despite Wooley's Type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, at the same time, she went to see a certified diabetes educator (CDE) who referred her to an experienced perinatologist who had seen many women in her position. Wooley was admitted to the hospital to help get her blood glucose under control, and with the help of her CDE and obstetrical team (and her own dedication), she was able to continue through with a healthy pregnancy.
Ideally, the time to assemble the medical professionals you need during pregnancy is before conception. Begin by talking with the doctor who provides your diabetes care and getting a referral to an obstetrical practice affiliated with a hospital equipped with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), in case the baby should have any complications after delivery. It is not uncommon for babies of mothers with diabetes to have some hypoglycemia after delivery. This is a short-term, reversible problem, but it may need to be treated in the NICU depending on its severity.
Set up an appointment to meet with a doctor from the practice to talk about how he works with women with diabetes. Look for a doctor that you "click" with — remember, you will be seeing him frequently throughout your pregnancy. Talk with both your diabetes care provider and the obstetrician about who will help you to manage your blood glucose levels during the pregnancy. Some obstetricians prefer to keep track with you, while others are happy to have you work with your endocrinologist or CDE, as long as you are keeping them posted.
Jennifer Ferry, who has Type 1 diabetes and is the mom of two healthy daughters, worked with a high-risk practice during her first pregnancy that had her make daily calls with her blood glucose reports. During her second pregnancy, however, she preferred working with a CDE who followed her blood glucose levels with a weekly fax and follow-up phone call. "That felt more than sufficient to me, and my blood sugars were right in the recommended range," Ferry says.
It is critical that all of your doctors and other health-care professionals be willing to communicate with each other as a team. Often that step is made easiest when they all work together at the same hospital, but that does not always have to be the case.
In addition to your other care providers, you may also want to find a nutritionist who can help you make adjustments for eating during pregnancy and possibly a personal trainer who can help you adjust your exercise routine for pregnancy. Many women who experience high levels of stress during pregnancy also seek out a psychotherapist or support group for help.
And don't forget about your baby's medical needs: When selecting a pediatrician, you want to find one who understands the issues connected to babies of women with diabetes. For example, sometimes the babies of mothers with diabetes can be bigger than other babies, due to increased glucose levels in the womb. A baby's size will eventually even out though, as he grows to meet his natural genetic endowment in the months after birth. An experienced pediatrician will recognize this phenomenon.
For women not living in or near a metropolitan or university area, the choices in physicians may be more limited. According to Dr. Jovanovic, it is critical to find an obstetrician-gynecologist who delivers at least five babies of mothers with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes (not gestational diabetes) every year. If that means traveling within a radius of a hundred miles, she encourages people to do so.
Support and adjustments
Many women who become mothers discover that the "superwoman" ideal is truly a myth: No one can be all things to all people or do all things perfectly all of the time. For women with diabetes who are pregnant, the extra time, energy, and pressure of blood glucose management and scheduling medical appointments may feel overwhelming at times.
It is important to think about what life adjustments can be made so that you can give your pregnancy the focus it needs. For Jennifer Ferry, that meant leaving her job during her first pregnancy so that "being pregnant could be my job," she says. If you are fortunate enough to be in a financial position to do so, you may consider that option. Sometimes women with diabetes can qualify for short-term disability if work proves to be too stress-inducing or will not allow time for frequent blood glucose monitoring and making insulin adjustments. Ideally, your employer will work with you to create the flexible time you need for medical appointments or allow you to go to a part-time schedule for some of the pregnancy as needed.
Some women feel all right about maintaining their usual work schedule but feel overwhelmed by the demands of housework, yard work, or care of older children on the home front. Hard as it may feel, it is important to ask for help from partners, relatives, and friends during your pregnancy so that you can take care of yourself. An hour or two of child care here and there can make all of the difference in terms of giving you the time you need to rest, cook healthy food, or exercise. While it may feel selfish asking for this time, you're doing so to take the best care of your unborn child.
"During my pregnancy, I asked for more help from others," Bjay Wooley recalls. "I'm the kind of person who hates to ask for help. I'm kind of a trouper. But because I made my pregnancy a priority, I started to ask for help."
Some women also discover that their friends without diabetes have difficulty understanding what they're going through during pregnancy. One woman I spoke with talked about how frustrating it felt when a couple of her girlfriends who were pregnant at the same time frequently made plans to get together at a restaurant to pig out. "I explained to them that I really needed to stay on my meal plan to keep my blood sugars in check," she said, "but they would try to encourage me to go for that extra slice of pizza or huge dessert. Maybe they felt guilty eating that way if I wasn't, but it got so that I didn't want to go out with them anymore."
Other women describe how friends don't understand why they are going to so many doctor appointments — especially during the third trimester when women with diabetes are monitored several times a week with a fetal nonstress test to make sure the baby's activity level is normal. It's frustrating when your friends can't relate to your experience (in spite of your explanations), but what's ultimately most important is that you respect that a pregnancy with diabetes really is different and that you attend to your needs.
If you're not getting the support you need from your established social circle, you may want to seek out or even create a local support group for women with diabetes who are pregnant or go online to www.DiabeticMommy.com to become part of that cyber-support network.
Trimester by trimester
For women with diabetes, each trimester truly contains its own challenges. Because the first trimester is the time of much of the fetus's major organ development, it is critical to maintain blood glucose in the recommended range during this time. However, women may not find out right away that they are pregnant, and even when they do, their blood glucose levels can fluctuate wildly because of the introduction of pregnancy hormones into their systems. This is the time when women need frequent contact with a physician or CDE who can help them to make insulin adjustments as needed. During my second pregnancy, my endocrinologist had me wear a continuous glucose monitoring system in my first trimester for three days so that we could see what was going on with my glucose levels 24 hours a day and then make adjustments to my insulin doses from there.
Morning sickness can also disrupt some women's blood glucose control during the first trimester. How do you know how much rapid-acting insulin to take when you're not sure how much of your meal you'll be able to eat or keep down? I discovered that insulin pump therapy allowed me to easily take part of my premeal bolus before I ate, then take more during the meal as needed. On days I felt nauseated, being able to do this made all of the difference in my blood glucose control.
The second trimester is when most women see their insulin needs increasing each week, as pregnancy hormones cause them to become more and more insulin resistant. Some women describe this time as "chasing their blood sugars" — needing to add more insulin just when they thought they'd found the dosage they needed. Insulin pump therapy, which mimics the human pancreas by secreting small amounts of insulin into the bloodstream in an ongoing manner, makes it easier for a woman to make adjustments in her basal rates at this stage in pregnancy. In fact, many women with Type 1 diabetes go on the pump before conception with the specific purpose in mind of making pregnancy management simpler and better.
This pattern of increasing insulin needs usually continues into the third trimester, which is often a challenging time because it's when the woman is at her largest. She may feel more tired and less able to exercise. For me, swimming helped to keep me in shape during the last few months when walking more than a few blocks felt like running a marathon.
Planning for delivery
It is during the third trimester that women need to sit down with their obstetrician and talk through a birth plan. For women with diabetes, a baby's due date is somewhat flexible. Because we are at a higher risk for stillborn babies, many physicians routinely schedule babies to be delivered at week 38 or 39, which can be done by induction or Caesarean section (C-section), depending on factors including the size of the baby (estimated by an ultrasound report).
Talk with your doctor about what he recommends, and let him know your hopes for the birth, so that you can be on the same page as much as possible. Remember, women with diabetes statistically deliver by C-section more than other women. For some, this is a disappointing prospect. While many women with diabetes do have vaginal births, it's worth making peace with the idea of a C-section, in case that becomes a necessary option.
Talk with your doctor about how your insulin will be managed during delivery. For example, many hospitals require a pump, including infusion site, to be removed during any surgery, including a C-section. If that is the case, ask how soon you will be able to reconnect to your pump. During labor and vaginal delivery, many women need little or no insulin because of the strenuousness of contractions. Who will be monitoring your blood glucose levels? Will your endocrinologist be consulted? Will the obstetrics team make adjustments? Knowing how all of these things will be determined ahead of time will help to make you feel more in control in the moment.
Also, make sure to talk with your doctor about the hospital's policies on handling babies of women with diabetes. Some hospitals routinely take babies to the nursery for up to six hours after birth to monitor blood glucose levels; at least knowing this information can help you to prepare emotionally for this experience.
If you feel sad or angry that your baby may not be with you in the moments after birth, you are not alone. Many mothers with diabetes have been there and experienced that same frustration. "It felt like it took more time for my second daughter and me to bond," says Karen Eason, whose daughter was placed in the nursery for blood glucose observation. "I knew that her blood sugar was going to be fine, but they were very strict at looking at the numbers."
Delivery and beyond
Delivering a baby, vaginally or through a C-section, is truly awesome and completely exhausting all at once. Again, talking through what will happen with your insulin or medicine adjustments and blood glucose management ahead of time is important. Knowing that you may be feeling exhausted or overwhelmed, you may want to appoint an "advocate" for you — a partner, parent, or close friend who can help you reinsert your infusion site, check your blood glucose levels as needed, etc.
Having an advocate can be important because, unfortunately, not everyone you encounter among hospital staff will have the knowledge they need to help you. Many nurses know little about insulin pump therapy, and some have less education than they should about diabetes in general. Hypoglycemia can happen in the hours and even first few days after delivery as your body begins to adjust to being in a nonpregnant state. I remember checking my blood glucose to find it was 45 mg/dl the first night after my C-section and buzzing the nurse to bring me juice. Five minutes went by, then 10. I buzzed again…and when she finally came by she was annoyed that I had buzzed a second time. The next day I had my husband bring me glucose tablets so that I wouldn't be dependent on the nursing staff again!
All of this adjustment in your body is taking place at the same time as you start to realize that you have given birth to your very own boy or girl. Whether they need to spend time in the NICU or nursery or get to be right there in your arms, the moment of realizing that you have just met your own child is like no other. "The first time I had a baby, before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I took getting pregnant and having a baby for granted," recalls Karen Eason. "But when my second daughter was born, it truly felt like a miracle. You realize what a miracle bringing a child into the world truly is."
And so your diabetes should not stop you from experiencing that possibility. Educate yourself as much as possible, make a commitment to yourself, and put your baby first as much as you can while you are pregnant.


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The team also used mathematical modeling to test the properties of a feedback loop that relies on the length of the cell cycle. They were able to show that a system that incorporated both the new loop and the PU.1-production feedback loop was able to account for three distinct levels of PU.1 — one corresponding to B cells, one to progenitor cells, and one to macrophages.
In addition to Kueh, Elowitz, and Rothenberg, the paper, titled "Positive feedback between PU.1 and the cell cycle controls myeloid differentiation," is also coauthored by Ameya Champhekar, a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech, and Stephen Nutt, head of the Division of Molecular Immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Parkville, Victoria, Australia. The work was supported by a CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship, an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the National Institutes of Health, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professorship, the Al Sherman Foundation, and the Louis A. Garfinkle Memorial Laboratory Fund.
And, indeed, when the researchers looked at B cell development, they saw what they expected: developing B cells decreased PU.1 levels by putting the brakes on the production of the protein.
"The key to this mechanism is that PU.1 is a very stable protein," says Rothenberg, the Albert Billings Ruddock Professor of Biology at Caltech. "Its central role in blood cell development has come from the fact that it collaborates with different regulatory protein partners to guide stem cells to make different cell types. We've known for some time that the exact ratios between PU.1 and its partners are important in these decisions, but it has been hard to see how the cells can manage to control the balance between so many of these different regulators with such precision. The beauty of this mechanism is that this ratio can be controlled simply by altering cell-cycle length. This shows us a new tool that factors like PU.1 and its collaborators can use to guide stem cells into precise developmental paths."
July 18, 2013 ? Biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have worked out the details of a mechanism that leads undifferentiated blood stem cells to become macrophages — immune cells that attack bacteria and other foreign pathogens. The process involves an unexpected cycle in which cell division slows, leading to an increased accumulation of a particular regulatory protein that in turn slows cell division further. The finding provides new insight into how stem cells are guided to generate one cell type as opposed to another.
To test what kind of positive feedback loop might control these events, the researchers forced cells to express extra PU.1, and measured its effect on the cells' own PU.1. They found that the extra PU.1 did not boost the cell's own PU.1 synthesis rate any further, but instead slowed the rate of cell division, causing PU.1 to accumulate to higher levels in the cells — an effect that slowed the cell cycle further.
So where was the increase coming from? Upon investigation, the researchers observed that cells increased their PU.1 levels simply by slowing down their rate of division. With fewer cells being produced as the rate of PU.1 production marched steadily on, higher levels of the PU.1 protein were able to accumulate in the cells. Indeed, by slowing down the cell cycle, the researchers found that they could raise PU.1 levels enough to prompt the generation of macrophages. This result suggested that a different type of positive feedback loop might be responsible for the decisive final increase in PU.1 levels during macrophage differentiation.
The surprise came when they observed macrophages. Although the amount of PU.1 in the cells increased when the stem cells became macrophages, the researchers saw no change in the rate of PU.1 synthesis.
"That was a proof-of-principle that this type of architecture can work," Kueh says. "The modeling will also help us to generate predictions for future studies."
"This work shows the amazing power of movies of individual cells in deciphering the dynamics of gene circuits," says Elowitz, who is a professor of biology and bioengineering at Caltech and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Just by following how the amount of PU.1 protein changed over time in a single cell, one can see directly that cells use a very different kind of feedback architecture than we usually associate with cellular differentiation."
PU.1 can work through a positive feedback loop, binding to its own DNA regulatory sequence to stimulate its own production in a self-reinforcing manner. This type of loop is thought to be a general mechanism that allows a stem cell to switch into a differentiated state. In the case of PU.1, the process cranks up to produce macrophages, for example, and turns down to produce B cells.
In the study, the researchers captured movies of blood stem cells taken from transgenic mice. The cells expressed a green fluorescent protein that serves as an indicator of PU.1 levels in the cell: the brighter the cells appeared in the movies, the more PU.1 was present. By measuring PU.1 levels over time using this indicator, the scientists were able to monitor changes in the rate of PU.1′s synthesis.
"Our results explain how blood stem cells and related progenitor cells can differentiate into macrophages and slow down their cell cycle, coordinating these two processes at the same time," says lead author Hao Yuan Kueh, a postdoctoral scholar at Caltech who works with biologists Michael Elowitz and Ellen Rothenberg, who were both principal investigators on the study. "We are excited about this because it means other systems could also use this mechanism to coordinate cell proliferation with differentiation."
Previous research has shown that different levels of a key regulatory protein called PU.1, which is involved in the new cycle, are important for the production of at least four different kinds of differentiated blood cells. For example, levels of PU.1 need to increase in order for macrophages to form, but must decrease during the development of another type of white blood cell known as the B cell. Precisely how such PU.1-level changes occur and are maintained in the cells has been unclear. But by observing differentiation in both macrophages and B cells, the Caltech team discovered something unusual in the feedback loop that produces macrophages. Their findings appear in the current issue of Science Express.


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I recently was talking recently with a lady about this very topic- can someone be completely healed of the effects of narcissistic abuse? We both shared the same opinion. With God, of course, all things are possible. However, to be completely healed isn't necessarily the norm.
For one thing, narcissistic abuse infects every area of your being. The stress of it can affect you physically, such as developing high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, or heart disease. The negativity & crazy making affect you mentally. So many victims feel like they're crazy. Many lose their self esteem or live with depression & anxiety. A lot of victims live with PTSD or C-PTSD after leaving the relationship with a narcissist. Many people in a relationship with narcissists are affected financially. Narcissists see people as nothing more than tools to be used in whatever way benefits the narcissist, so many victims lose a great deal of money to their narcissist. Many victims are also affected spiritually because of the narcissist's weird religious beliefs or being overly "religious", using God to make the victim feel like a bad person, God is punishing them or the like.
For another thing, if you had a narcissistic parent (or two), the abuse is even worse simply due to the nature of the relationship. It goes so deeply against nature for a parent to abuse a child instead of loving & caring for her, that it's virtually impossible to accept. That can deeply affect a child no matter that child's age. Many are in denial, saying their narcissistic mother was just quirky or over protective rather than narcissistic. Some believe their covertly narcissistic parent was naive, & didn't know any better. Or, they believe the covertly narcissistic parent was incapable of stopping the overtly narcissistic parent from abusing them for various reasons.
Also, childhood forms who you are as an adult. Whether you had a good or bad upbringing, you are a product of your childhood. I think childhood is much like the foundation of a home. If a home's foundation is damaged, the home won't be safe. If you had a bad childhood, your adulthood won't be healthy until you fix the damage done to you in childhood.
You may never fully heal from the abuse. It's quite normal. If you get to the place the abuse doesn't consume you, you're doing great. If you can think or talk about certain events without feeling devastated, but instead feeling more like you're remembering an unpleasant dream, you're doing great. It's quite possible you may not be healed more than that. In my personal experience plus observations of the many other victims of narcissistic abuse I've spoken with, complete healing isn't common. In fact, I haven't seen it myself.
If you are like most of us & still struggling even many years after the abuse happened, please know you're not alone! Not by a long shot! You also aren't weak or a failure. God hasn't abandoned you either. In fact, He is with you during the worst times, whether you feel His presence or not. I'll close this post with a beautiful reminder of that fact..
Psalm 23
1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


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There are circulated and planned demonstrations against the National Resistance Movement and their "elected" government during the General Election of 2016 and was announced and declared by Eng. Dr. Badru M. Kiggundu on the 20th February. That they waited for the Supreme Court Petition of Amama Mbabazi that they cascaded and destroyed by all means. Just the same way the Uganda Police Force went after Democratic Party Members, FDC supporters and leadership in the days after to destroy evidence of the altering and rigging of the election.
The Reason why Uganda People's Congress haven't done or had any issues after the Election is because their leader Jimmy Akena have done deals with the NRM and even had his own people in the party campaign for the NRM in certain areas. Therefore they have been left in peace as they in solidarity have concocted an campaign trail together with the NRM, as well as the Party had no Presidential Candidate, which is also an extended token to the NRM and their Executive.
So with all of that mind, with the electoral climate and the electoral process that have been farce, where the South Sudanese rented troops was around in the nation during the election days, together with the army and anti-riot police stationed on the streets while the election and polling where held. Where the ballots and pre-ticking extensions and the certainty of Police involvement in central parts of the electoral process, then you know that the general election was neither free nor fair for the people and the citizens hadn't their vote, they got the people the Executive had selected, not the ones the people wanted to have elected.
Elected by the people is whole stage of difference than the Selected from the Executive. That is power of the President and the president that has presided since 1986. The man who does not believes in the will of his own people, because he selected the leaders for them, if they don't show loyalty towards him. He is the only man with a vision, as well have heard so clearly and everybody else is not able to run the country. I am sure he has stalled the procurement of the Cobalt 60 Teletherapy Machine at the Uganda Cancer Institute to facilitate more cows to one of his ranches.
In this days and age, the reason for extra haste and other meetings at the State House is that the Russian and French investors in the Oil Development that is the key to new ways of extorting the state, as the Executive have done for 3 decades. The reason why the deals of the Pipeline between Ugandan Government, Tanzanian counterparts and the Total E&P Uganda is uncertain, as much as the drilling agreements in Lake Albert by Total, China National Oil Offshore Corporation (CNOOC) and the others who have gotten rights to do so. But, that is not important as the exotic dancing at the clubs of Kabalagala in the Suburb of Kampala is the real danger of the country. Just ask the wise-guy Hon. Jim Muhwezi, he has the vision for the sodomy of the nation and the danger of dancing!
The hesitation also of the final days of the 9th Parliament to fix themselves some more cash without questions while stalling the budget talks for next budget year of 2016/17 that was supposed to voted-in Parliament; but the Members of Parliament wanted to be sure of a pay-rise for the Nobel duty of being Selected by the Executive. The Executive knows this and let it go, because he knows if he needs anything done he can just give them little sweet brown-envelopes and they will let him be giddy.
So with that all in mind, the planned demonstrations, the running and planning building a petroleum industry behind closed chambers, the amazement of last-pitched laws of the 9th Parliament and last saga of late the speakership of the 10th Parliament.
10th Parliament like the 9 Parliament before needs a speaker and people are fighting for it, the Incumbent Kadaga believes she is the one for it again, the deputy Oulanya believes it his turn and other are throwing in their vote for confidence of being it. The NRM have no plans of letting a opposition leading the Parliament minutes and the organizing the structure of the lawful assembly of the land. That cannot happen, because the NRM and the Executive need to work in own speed and own liking as the Executive is the final word as he fix the votes and run the land. Therefore his last word on who becomes it and who is dismissed, just like Amama Mbabazi and Gilbert Bukenya have been dismissed by him for their ambition, so if the speakers become the same; I am sure he will do it again with force of the NRM CEC and the screaming tone of NRM Secretary General Justine Kasule-Lumumba. Be noted, that will happen, because he keeps people hungry and when they see a moment of eating more than expected then he hit back.
As we note the days and coming days. The tension of the faulted election will unfold and the questions will remain at what force the Police and Army will address the men and woman who walks to demonstrate, and how will the rest of the days between the 5th May and to the 12th May go. There are the historical pains of the Walk to Work where the tear-gas and the crackdown of it. The Police have ever since been monitoring and also spying on the opposition with their Political Police and Commission that been vicious on the dismantling the hopes of the opposition.
So how it might go is hard to predict as we can hope of the grand show-up of the Nomination Day around Kampala, if so then the Police Force cannot take them all and wind-down the demonstration with water-cannons, live-bullets and tear-gas. This I say because this is the tactics of the Police Force, even take Helicopters and Armoured Personnel Carriers and Mambas filled with officers to control with harassment of the fellow citizens. So the Police will want to dissolve the matters and the will of the people with the tarnish of civil disobedience. That is what I am worried about as the loss of life and the loss of will after 30 years of oppression.
And I have not even mentioned the started wrangles between the councillors, KCCA administration of the selected men and woman of President Museveni and the elected Lord Mayor that they want to rid-off for the second time. Because the Mzee believes all of the opposition supporters of Kampala are cockroaches or rats, depending on the way he does not talk about crash or kill opposition as proven in the Supreme Court Election Petition of 2016. But, hey maybe I am wrong. You can do the fact check on the words used by the His Excellency during and after the Election Day.
So even if Don Museveni gets President Mugabe, President Kenyatta, President Kagame, President Kabila, President Kiir, President Al-Bashir, President Sheik Mohamud, President Magafuli, President Gulleh, Prime Minster Hailemariam Desalegn and so on. They will surely grace him at Kololo and surely nobody will attack the car of President Mugabe this time. As they did last time he entered a roundabout on the road towards Kampala from Entebbe International Airport. Surely the men and woman, who grace the Kololo, will either be the few die-hards of NRM, the actually paid for the day Crime Preventers and the ones that are earning on the National Resistance Movement. Even some ambassadors and other pleasantries will show-up. Even some of the singers like Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone will be there to sing-a-song. So you are warned.
The levels and magnitude of it all is how the world will perceive the days and how the Police Force will act towards the Opposition. How the mentality and the grandest approach, how the rhetoric and words from the ruling party will also show the TRUE state of affairs.
The international reactions and the real surface of how they will deal with it; as we know the American Africa Corp have recently given more technical gear and training to the Ugandan Army in Somalia. Not that makes headlines or be questioned as the President Obama have talked about leaders who never leaves, but at the same time gives handouts to the same men he critic. That is saying something, but acting differently and is hard to fully follow and accept.
It is in this view that the 12th May will show who is loyal and who his friends are, this will show how powerful and loyalty towards the 30 year ruling President Museveni. The Besigye move is deteriorate and also show that the legitimate Executive are something Museveni is not, not at this point and time. Therefore he uses all tactics to oppression and harassment of the opposition. That I fear also will transpire in the coming days as the Police Force, UPDF Special Force Command and the Flying Squad will surface to violate the rights of fellow citizens of Uganda without any consideration to the violence or the extended freedoms they take away to enforce the rule of their Executive. That is the sad prospects I envision, but if the people show up on the 5th May 2016 as they did on the Presidential Nomination day in November 2015, then the Police Force cannot "kill" or dissolve the demonstration. They have to let it go, because the majority will control the streets even when the Anti-Riot Police have to lay low as they can't brawl with every person on the street. They can only take a small piece of the population, as they are a minority, but a minority with weapons.
Let's hope that the oppressive regime will get a peaceful shock and that the preparation for the Swearing-In at Kololo Independence Ground will be shackled and feel the heave of the population tiredness of their Executive and his regime. Peace.


text:
No, not the moon – the bright face of a clock
glimmers to me. How is it my fault
that I perceive the feeble stars as milky?
And I hate Batyushkov's unbounding arrogance:
What time is it? Someone simply asked –
and he replied to them: eternity!
by Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам (Osip Emilyevich Mandelshtam. His surname is commonly latinised as Mandelstam)
translated by Boris Dralyuk
Fun fact: Such an exchange did occur between Konstanin Batyushkov and his doctor and in his poem 'For The Tombstone of a Little Girl' he imagined a dead baby saying to her parents 'Dear ones, don't cry! / Envy my ephemerality; / I did not know this life, / And know eternity' (translation by Peter France).


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Or: chroma-key, anywhere.
It's amazing how easy portable video production has become. You can shoot high definition video with a smart phone, a tablet, a FlipCam (and similar products), an inexpensive video camcorder, a digital still picture camera… The list goes on.
Most of the time, the recorded video is real life… people in action, scenery, and so on. Sometimes, it's interesting to explore new creative domains. Often, these explorations involve the placement of people or objects in imagined places, and this is often achieved through a technical miracle called chroma-key.
You know chroma-key: it's the technology used to place your local meteorologist in front of a digital weather map. The subject performs in front of a green screen, and then, all of the green is (miraculously) dropped out of the image so that it can be replaced with your choice of alternative video. In fact, any color can be used as the chroma-key color, but most often, a deeply saturated green or blue is used because these colors are not (usually) seen in the colors of human skin or hair or eyes. The colored area is usually painted, or created with a cloth stretched very tightly and lit evenly. When using chroma-key, folds and shadows cause difficulty.
With these challenges in mind, I had very high hopes for the FlexDrop2 from Photoflex. The portable package is a big, lightweight fabric disc, not quite a yard in diameter. It sets up with not much more than the flick of a wrist, and opens to a taut five foot by seven foot panel. Very cool.
Mostly, the FlexDrop is flat, but the use of a small clamp here and there is necessary to eliminate all visible shadows and wrinkles. Unfortunately, it's not a standalone device…it is designed to be attached to a lighting stand or other pipes or tubes (and these are rarely lightweight).
Hands on, FlexDrop2 really works. One person can stand in front of a field of nothing but blue (one side) or green (the other), and then, live or with a good edit application, the chroma-key process can be used to drop out the blue or green and drop in any video still, animation, graphic, or footage. Two people? Hang the FlexDrop2 horizontally. Another good use: as a background for stop-motion animation, but you will need to dress the tabletop surface with an additional green or blue cloth (exactly the same color as FlexDrop2).
At $165, the FlexDrop2 is a nice-to-have, a bit expensive unless you use it often. And, of course, there are less costly ways to make chroma-key happen: buy a cloth and stretch it yourself, paint a wall, etc. But this one is handy, portable, stretches nicely, stores without taking up much space, and does the job in a professional manner. One catch: it's not so easy to collapse and pack away. This video shows you how to pack it up.
BTW: Thanks to Kristy and to Rebecca for their help with this article.


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You may have heard grumbles of disappointment after—and in some cases before—the iPhone 5 announcement. Amid those guttural moans, you might also have heard such phrases as "user interface is the same," "same hardware," "safe, reliable, boring."
Such assessments seem to assume that Apple should wow us with each and every release. After all, the company is supposed to be the world's most abundant font of innovation. So whenever a new iPhone model is brought forth, it should sport not only a completely redesigned interface but also a wholly new case. In the land of shiny objects and gnat-like attention spans, we seem to expect companies like Apple to either change constantly or die.
Unless, of course, we take a couple of deep breaths and consider how these things really work. To do that, we need to take a brief stroll through the iPhone's history.
In the beginning
The original iPhone ( ) offered a countenance navigable by people of normal intelligence, a keyboard-less touchscreen interface, a phone, visual voicemail, SMS, data connectivity, media playback, an email client, a calendar, an address book, and a real Web browser. Additionally, Apple and AT&T managed to create the simplest phone and data plans on the planet. By any measure, the first iPhone was a revolutionary machine.
But it was far from perfect. Where were the apps? Why was I stuck with slow EDGE networks when I'm out and about? How could anyone expect to store a reasonable amount of media on an 8GB device? Where was the GPS? My state requires hands-free operation while driving, but my iPhone had no voice control. Why was the camera so crummy? How was someone with visual disabilities supposed to use this thing? How to use the phone overseas without accumulating backbreaking charges? I want a video phone! Where's my high-def display? Why. Is. This. Thing. So. Slow. ?
When the armchair quarterback crowd gathered to consider what the iPhone needed to be, those were the concerns that rose to the top of the list. And then, with subsequent iterations of the phone, Apple addressed each and every one.
The next steps
With the 3G iPhone ( ) and iOS 2, we got faster cellular connectivity, assisted GPS, and a lower price. The 3GS model ( ) added advanced accessibility features, a compass, video recording, voice control, an autofocusing camera, higher-capacity storage, and a significantly faster processor. (iOS 3 added cut and paste, MMS, and better search throughout.) The iPhone 4 ( ) added a faster processor in the A4 chips, FaceTime video with a front-facing camera, an improved rear-facing camera, Retina display, and LED flash. (iOS 4 brought multi-tasking, folders, and spell checking.) The 4S ( ) added Siri, a better camera that recorded 1080p video, and yet another processor bump. And the recently announced iPhone 5 bring more camera improvements, a larger display, a faster processor, LTE support, and a new dock connector.
Look through that list and you'll find that with the last couple of iPhones it's become more difficult to find glaring omissions. Those interested in finding fault instead look ahead to developing technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC) for using your phone as a wireless credit card. Or 3D cameras. Or, well, something.
But from all signs, the revolutionary days are over. They are because—like OS X, like the iPod, like Apple's computers—the iPhone is fully baked. It's no longer a "We know, we know, we'll get to that the next time around" product. Instead, new models get refinements along the lines of faster processors, better cameras, better battery life, and compatibility with faster networks. And for people addicted to sparkly changes, that's infuriating.
And so, instead, they demand…what? New shapes? New materials? New colors? A radically different interface?
Maybe I need a couple of sips of whatever they're drinking. But when I see those kinds of changes—as I have with the last several generations of the iPod nano—I can't help but think that Apple has run out of compelling ideas. New features seem to be there not because they're necessary or because they improve on existing technologies, but simply because they're different.
And that's the danger of getting the basics right, first crack out of the box. The round wheel works. Putting a couple of heating elements on either side of a piece of bread turns out to produce a fine hunk of toast. Placing a body's thinking mechanism at the top rather than in constant contact with the ground makes for a more thoughtful machine.
While getting it right makes the case for obtaining the next model more difficult, the evidence that you still haven't a clue how to approach a problem's first steps is a tougher sell still. While others flounder (or, worse, copy), Apple evolves and—judging by the company selling out its iPhone 5 pre-orders in an hour—succeeds. Darwin would be proud.


text: I am the author of the updated "rsbep" package that was mentioned in this thread, and I was contacted by David Mathog (just "mathog" henceforth) about the issues he had. "mathog" reported a difference in the decoded output sizes, when directly using "rsbep" - but as mentioned by David N. Lombard, the usage scenario that "mathog" followed was not a sanctioned one: both my site's article as well as the package instructions (README) referred to the "freeze"/"melt" scripts, that decode the shielded data into the correct output size. The reason for what mathog experienced is a bit complex, but clearly explained on my site (http://users.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/rsbep.html), and it boils down to this: in order to withstand storage errors, an interleaving of the Reed-Solomon encoded data has to take place. Basically, the x86 ASM code of Reed-Solomon that I "inherited" from the original "rsbep" and use in my package, adds 16 bytes of parity data to each block of 223 bytes of input, turning it to a 255-bytes block. These parity bytes allow detection and correction of 16 errors (in the encoded 255-byte block), as well as detection of 32 errors (in the encoded 255-byte block). This however won't work for storage media, since they work or fail on sector boundaries (512 bytes for disks and 2048 bytes for CDs/DVDs) - so the encoded data are interleaved by my package, inside blocks of 1040400 bytes (containing 4080 of the Reed-Solomon-encoded 255-byte blocks)... In this way, a loss of a sector only impacts ONE byte in the 512 encoded "blocks" that are passing through it (due to the interleaving)... If interested, you can read more details on my page, where I explain how the idea works. The end result, is that - the interleaved stream can lose 127 contiguous sectors (65024 contiguous bytes) and still be recoverable. - the interleaved stream can lose 128-255 sectors, and detect the error (and report it, but not fix it) - Beyond that number of errors (which correspond, after de-interleaving, to more than 32 bytes in the encoded 255 byte block), the Reed-Solomon code is lost... Given the interleaving that my package performs on the encoded bytes, the only chance of this happening, is losing a contiguous stream of more than 32x4080 bytes, i.e. 130560 bytes. A storage error that causes this much loss (255 contiguous sectors!) is a lost cause anyway - at least as far as my needs go. If you want to be able to recover from this or even larger amounts of loss, you can do it, by increasing the block size from my chosen 255x4080 (1040400 bytes) to something even bigger, and by adapting my interleaving code (rsbep.c, "distribute" function). To summarize, "mathog"'s pockmark app is not representative of what happens in storage media - they NEVER fail on byte-levels - they fail on sector levels. So what should you do, if you want to be 100% sure of failure detection? Simple: By reviewing my freeze/melt scripts, you will see that all I do to the "to-be-shielded-stream" is (a) add a "magic marker" and (b) add the file size, so that "melt.sh" can chop the output down to the right size. If you want bullet-proof checks, you can easily add the MD5 or SHA sum of the input data, to the "to-be-shielded-stream", so that the "melting" process can check this and be 100% certain in restoration or detection of failure, even in the face of impossible stream corruption (more than 130K lost). Note however, that this is not necessary if you use an algorithm that can detect errors in the decoded stream (which is how I use my rsbep - i.e always on a stream generated by gzip, bzip2, etc) Hope this clarifies things. Kind regards, Thanassis Tsiodras, Dr.-Ing. -- What I gave, I have; what I spent, I had; what I kept, I lost. -Old Epitaph


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text:
I have complied a list of Nigerian record labels looking for artistes to sign.
These are music companies who regularly reshuffling their ever dynamic roster with upcoming musicians, to meet new demands.
The search for a record contract can be a very frustrating one for upcoming artistes in Nigeria. But it could also be easy and stress free if you know where to look.
They do not put out vacancy adverts but rather rely on independent/affiliated managers and representatives to submit new artistes to them for consideration. The reason why you don't not hear about any opening is because you do not belong to any group within the music industry inner circle.
But you can bypass that clique and send your music yourself, There is no rule against that. You don't have an agent, manager or promoter so you have to do it well by yourself.
Put your best songs, photos and videos on a good CD because no executive has time to download your song. Below are a list of record labels in Nigeria that can sign you if they like what you have to offer;
1. Made Men Music (Triple M) group
MMM Group is a record label owned by Ubi franklin, a young business man and philanthropist. They boast of artistes like Emma Nyra, Iyanya, Tekno, Selebobo, back, DJ Cublon and newest 2017 signee, Chibbz.
They specialize in dance themed afro pop kind of artistes and also have an experienced management personnel. If you think you're up to the task,
Send your CD in a mail to:
2. Hyperteck Digital records
This record label boasts of artistes like Rocksteady and Tu Face himself. They are more of a digital distribution outfit than a record label.
Under them your music can be very well distributed because of their good relationship with Alaba marketers. Do not expect to start buying houses and jets immediately, they are distributors.
Text your sing link to: 08133115108 (no calls)
3. DB Records
Dbanj started this record label as a way of solidifying his musical legacy. Since 2015 he has signed 2kriss, Kayswitch. The label is always looking for new and amazing talent so send your material to them via:
We cannot access their phone numbers at this time but we are working on that.
Send your CD in a mail to:
4. HKN Music
The label is run by the Adeleke millionaire brothers. Davido is their front runner and they also have contracts with artistes like B Red, Shina Rambo, Orezi and Mayourkun.
Although they rely on referral and handpicked candidates, you can give them a shot if you want to have a taste of that big money contract that will take you all around the world.
Send your CD in a mail to: 6A Wole Ariyo Street, Lekki phase 1, Lagos.
5. Trybe records
This is one of the most respected record labels in Nigeria. Trybe is not just respected for their professionalism but also for the history they've had in the industry.
They have been around since the early 2000's and are led by Mr. Lanre Dabiri aka eLDee the don. They have had contracts with artistes like Freestyle, Sasha p, kemistry, Kaboom, Sarz and Eva Alordia in the past.
They are a versatile recording label for all kinds of artistes although their terms may not be very flexible.
Send your CD in a mail to: Plot 17b Adesola Akinnifesi Street, Lekki, Lagos.
6. Chocolate City Records
M.I Abaga acts as the President of this subsidiary label which is under the mother body chocolate City Group, which is run by Entertainment lawyer Audu Maikori.
They have Ice prince, Nosa, Victoria Kimani, Jesse Jagz and many other artistes. They are specialists at promoting and selling hip hop oriented artistes.
Send your CD in a mail to: Plot 102, Johnson Omorire Street, lekki Phase1, Lagos.
7. Aquila Records
Shina Peller is the Chief Executive Officer of this modest label. He is a seasoned music industry professional that can push your music career relentlessly provided you can keep your end of the bargain stated in the contract.
They are very good at lobbying shows and appearances for unknown artistes who are still in their developmental stages.
Send your CD in a mail to: 873, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos State.
8. 5 Star Music Group
Five Star Music is owned by Emeka Okonkwo (E-Money) who is also the younger brother of Kcee. This label has been one of the most successful in Africa in the last two years.
They have Harry song, Skibii and Kcee on their roster. They are specialists in contemporary high life music.
Send your CD in a mail to: 619 Mobolaji Giwa Crescent, Omole Phase 2, Lagos.
9. Mavin Records
Its Don Jazzy again! Mavin records needs no introduction. They have undoubtedly been the most successful record label in Nigerian in the last decade.
After their metamorphosis from Mo hits, they have signed about 6 artistes who are all doing well. They have Dija, Korode Bello, Reekado Banks, DNA, Dr Sid, D Prince and their latest addition is a rapper, Poe.
No one saw that coming.This means Don Jazzy is diversifying from his predominantly afro-party-pop signature into other genres.
Send your CD in a mail to: 27a, Akwuzu Street, Off Providence Drive, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
10. X3m Music
Steve Babaeko is the chief executive officer of X3m and they have contracts with very talented artistes like Boogey, Similar and Praiz. Given their track record I'll say they love to work with conscious and soulful artistes.
Send your CD in a mail to: 6a Folusho Alade street, Off Omodara Awuse street, Opebi, Lagos
11. Starboy Music
Wizkid acts as the CEO of starboy records, he started it when he broke off from EME 3 years ago. The record label has contracts with Maleek berry and LAX.
The management of starboy is always on the lookout for new marketable talent so why not try them out.
Send your CD in a mail to: 9C Ayinde Akinwande Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
12. Now Muzik
This label run by Efe Omorogbe is more of a promotional/management outfit set up to kick start your career with all necessary tools at their disposal. They have worked with artists like Olamide, Reminisce, Burna Boy and a lot others.
Send your CD in a mail to: Plot 26 Beckley Estate, Abule Egba, Lagos.
13. 1960 Music Group
Mark Redguard is the CEO of this recording subsidiary. They will accept new demos and promotional materials from unsigned artistes looking for record labels.
They can represent you while ensuring you get signed unto bigger labels provided you give them a cut from your earnings as stipulated by the contract they offer you.
Send your CD in a mail to: Rio Plaza, Muri Okinola, Victoria Island, Lagos.
12. Storm 360 Records
Obi Asika is the CEO of this very respected record label. He Is the elder brother of Davido's manager, Asa Asika.
They have had contracts with Artistes like Naeto C, Sasha P, Overdose, Elajoe, Illbliss and Ikechukwu in the past. They have very friendly atmosphere for rap artistes currently.
Send your CD in a mail to: Plot 77, 22b Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.
13. E.M.E Records
Banky W (Bankole wellington) is the CEO of empire mates entertainment. This label groomed and created Wizkid. They have an extensive knowledge of artiste management and branding.
Artistes like Niyola, DJ Xclusive and Shaydee are currently on their roster. They are a versatile record label with a group of music professionals. I believe they sign all kinds of artistes, with the option of developing you commercially.
Send your CD in a mail to: 106, Rasheed Baruwa Street, Omole Estate, Ojodu, Lagos.
14. 5IVE Music Label
Paul Okeugo is the CEO of 5ive music and they are currently signing pop and rap artistes on mini recording deals.
Send your CD in a mail to: 10B Bosun Adekoya Street, Off New Market Road, Oniru.
15. Capital Hills Records
Run by veteran video director Clarence Peters and have worked with the likes of Tesh Carter, Chidinma Ekile. Illbliss is also a top executive in this label.
Send your CD in a mail to: 12b Ladega Str, Omole Phase 1, Ojodu, Lagos.
16. Camp Music
Camp music is a brainchild of Cobhams Asuquo; the veteran music producer and instrumentalist is more attracted to soul and RnB artistes.
Send your CD in a mail to: 26 Salauden Akano Street, Ogudu G.R.A, Ojota, Lagos.
17. Livespot Studios
Mrs Deola Art Alade is the CEO of this label and is directly responsible for signing new artistes. They can be the link you need to go further into the industry so do not expect to drive a lamborghini the next day after getting a call from them.
Send your CD in a mail to: 17B Fatai Arobieke Street, Lekki, Lagos.
18. Tinny Entertainment
Tinny is Home to Bella, DaboTurner and Ycee Jagaban himself. Its a very good environment for young upcoming artistes to develop because they support newcomers from the start.
Mail them at: firstname.lastname@example.com
Send your CD to them: 9 Kunsela Str, Ikate Elegushi, Lagos, Nigeria or call (+234) 800 559 6580
We wish you all the best in your endeavors, the list will be updated monthly once more opportunities are found. So check back here once in a while.
Hope you enjoyed the list of Nigerian record labels looking for artistes to sign. So introduce yourself with a comment, agents are always looking out to see new artistes. Are you the next super star?


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At long last it is here. What you see before you is the official Ask the Commish.Com Automated Mock Draft -- Premium Edition. This mock draft was designed by our developers with inherent logic for each of the teams that "participated".
The logic feeds off our very own Player Rankings. We always preach having confidence in your draft board -- and sticking with your rankings (come what may) for the first two rounds, in particular. That is, avoid reaching based on position preferende, as the position preference is already built into your rankings. Keep it safe and simple.
Be sure to look at the final roster for each team below.
As we always emphasize: the key is to stick to your draftboard -- and be adapatable for whatever may come your way.
Take a look at each roster below.


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Charlie Company Vietnam 1966-1972
1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
A Brief History of C/1/22 Reunions
A Brief History of the 1st Battalion
For Our Visitors
Frequently Asked Questions
Medals and Awards
Bronze Star Award
Charlie "Doc" Shyab
Commendation Medal
Silver Star Award
The Purple Heart
Eugene Westbrook
Vietnamese Self-Determination
Vietnam War Timeline
What is a Combat Veteran?
Interesting Facts
Vietnam War Facts
Agent Orange
Mapping In Vietnam
Copyright Disclaimer
Battle of Kontum
Battle of Chu Moor Mountain
Mike MacCallum
Sam Drake
Charlie Shyab
Bud Roach
Remembering Chu Moor
Combat Assault
Tet 1968
Order of Battle
Success of the Offense
Northern Decisions
General Offensive and Uprising
Allied Unpreparedness
Before the Storm
Hue and The Citadel
Khe Sanh
Phase II
Phase III
Aftermath – North Vietnam
Aftermath – South Vietnam
Aftermath – United States
Troop Request
Vietnam Heroics
Hill Trap Maneuver
VC Valley
Fred Childs
John Bobb
Jim Eckl
Charlie Company Troops
Photos A-D
Ken Balluff
Randy Becker
Lt John Bobb
Tom Boring
Ron Brunty
Danny Carmona
Jack Chavez
Mark 'Chris' Christensen
Sam Drake
Ron Draper
Photos E-L
Dale Fleming
Curt Fletcher
Gerald Jett
Cpt. Lee Kleese
Photos M-Q
Mike Meadows
Andrei Pashin
Photos R-Z
Bud Roach
1Lt Bob Schmidt
Charlie "Doc" Shyab
Dick Snow
Eugene Westbrook
Then and Now
Tributes – Individual
Bill Zimmerman
Gary Grassi
Hollis Buck
Ann Konermann
Mike Flannery
Gary Tedeschi
Laurence Caplan
Audie Norman
Mike Davis
Charlie Shyab
Medic Returns
John Bobb
My First Days in Vietnam
Bud Roach
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Fred Childs
Basic Training
To Vietnam
In The Field
The Salute
The Sniper Story
On Leave
Fort Carson
Civilian Life
Bill Clinton
Clinton's ROTC Letter
Col Holmes
Bill French
Dennis Jones
Art Hauser
Mike Bedell
100 Greatest Military Photographs
News Clippings
Names on The Wall
The Charlie Shyab Page
Seeking our Troops
Where We Are
Reunion 2023 – Colorado Springs, CO.
Patriotic Songs
Veteran's Medals and Awards
Huey Helicopters in the Vietnam War
The Real Platoon Vietnam Music Video
TAPS and Amazing Grace
The Real Charlie Company on Film
Jimmy Wayne
Military Links
Story Links
Veterans Benefits
A Means To Heal
Songs About Vietnam
How We Got Together
Reunion 2022, Branson, MO
Reunion 2019 – San Antonio, TX
Commemorative Coins
Reunion 2018 – Albuquerque
Reunion 2017 – Nashville, TN
General Jackson Dinner Cruise
Downtown Nashville
At The Opry
Jack Daniels
Reunion 2016 – Colorado Springs
4th Infantry Museum
Stryker Vehicles
4th Infantry Headquarters
Ft. Carson Dining Facility
Reunion 2015 – Monterey, CA
Pavel's Bakerei
Nepenthe Restaurant
International Cuisine
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Rocky Point Restaurant
Reunion 2014 – Columbus, GA
75th Ranger Regiment
Combatives School
US Infantry Museum
Airborne School
Armor Museum
Reunion 2013 – Tulsa, OK
Honor and Recognition
SB Recognition
A Poem
My Summer Vacation
The Escort
Motorcade Arrival
Welcome to Claremore
Thank You Soldier
Reunion 2012 – San Antonio, TX
P38 Ceremony
Ft Sam Army Day
Just a note
Reunion 2011 – Branson, MO
Reunion 2010 – Branson, MO
Reunion 2009 – New Orleans, LA
Reunion 2008 – Gilroy, CA
Reunion 2007 – Washington DC
Reunion 2006 – Grand Lakes 'O The Cherokees, OK
Reunion 2005 – Killen/FT Hood, TX
Reunion 2004 – Plano, TX
Reunion 2003 – Corsicana, TX
Chu Moor Project
Audie Murphy
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII
Part IX
Part X
Part XI
Part XII
Part XIII
Audie Murphy Presidential Medal of Freedom
Contact us
Reunion 2016 – Colorado Springs
4th Infantry Headquarters
4th Infantry Headquarters
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Wow! What a difference a day makes. NASCAR Now host Erik Kuselias returned to his studio hosting role and led a fast-paced thirty minute program on Monday that can be defined by only one word...excellent. This is the reason ESPN returned to NASCAR news after SPEED Channel passed time-and-time again on an opportunity to establish its own daily news program. Here are some highlights:
- NASCAR President Mike Helton appeared via telephone and spoke plainly and in very clear terms about the caution flag controversy at the finish. Like it or not, Helton put to bed any additional speculation about NASCAR's "motives" by appearing live on ESPN2.
- Marty Smith returned to his best role as "news man," and broke the scoop that Mark Martin will likely run the Pepsi 400 this season. Smith has a credibility when he is reporting and speaks with a sincerity that a new program like NASCAR Now needs.
- Mike Massaro brings his strong field reporting skills to the show in a manner that is always factual and fast-paced. His report comparing Harvick to Earnhardt Sr. featured exclusive sound from Richard Childress, and left no doubt that Massaro is the top NASCAR field reporter at ESPN.
- The surprise of the show is Stacy Compton. ESPN should have left Chris Fowler, Brad Daugherty, and Brent Musburger at home when they went to Daytona, and just featured Stacy Compton with Kuselias. His moment-by-moment break down of the final lap of the Daytona 500 was the best explanation of what happened, why it happened, and what NASCAR was thinking. Even Mike Helton complimented Compton on his analysis of the situation. What more can ESPN ask from a rookie announcer?
- Taking the time to put the 2007 Daytona 500 in historical perspective was a great idea, and shows the maturity of the ESPN studio production team. With the network returning to NASCAR after six years, its important to establish that they understand the history of the sport, and more important, that they respect it.


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How to Break Destructive Relationship Patterns
Whitney Hopler
Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Editor's note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Tim Clinton and Pat Springle's new book, Break Through: When to Give In, How to Push Back: The Moment that Changes Everything (Worthy Publishing, 2012).
Are you caught in a dysfunctional relationship with someone? Perhaps you're letting others control you, such as by tolerating an abusive marriage or enabling a friend's addiction because you're afraid of losing the relationship if you speak up. Or maybe you're trying to control others, such as by making unreasonable demands on a coworker or rescuing your children when they make mistakes rather than letting them learn from the consequences. Such "one up, one down" relationships are built on power instead of on the trust and respect that God wants people to have for each other.
The good news is that your close relationships don't have to be painful. If you're willing to change destructive relationship patterns in your life, God will help you break free from them and enjoy healthy relationships. Here's how you can break destructive relationship patterns:
Get to know what true love is like. Study how Jesus related to people during His life on Earth to see what true love in action looks like: Jesus neither manipulated nor deceived people, and He never tolerated others trying to manipulate or deceive Him. Instead, Jesus spoke the truth to people and let them freely make their own choices about how to respond. Jesus valued people for who they were rather than for what they could do for Him. Make Jesus your role model for how to relate to all people in your life.
Answer God's wake-up calls. God will often allow crises to come into your life to wake you up to the fact that one or more of your relationships is dysfunctional and needs your attention to heal. If you're going through a crisis that's causing heartache in your life (from a divorce to a financial collapse), ask God what He wants to teach you about your relationships through that crisis. Let your crisis draw your attention to the fact that your unhealthy relationships are actually costing you more than they're giving you. Decide to begin the process of changing the way you relate to people so you can enjoy more peace in your life.
Repent of idolatrous relationships and choose to love God the most. Realize that any relationships in which you tie your identity to either someone else's opinion of you or your ability to fix or rescue them reflect the fact that you've made that other person an idol in your life. Only God truly has the power to shape your identity or fix or rescue another person. God alone can meet your deepest relationship needs. So confess and repent of idolatry in your life, and move God to His rightful place at the center of your life as the one you love most. Invest more time and energy into nurturing your relationship with God than you do into any other relationship. When God becomes your top priority in life, all of your relationships with people will become healthier as a result. Enjoying a close relationship with God will make you sensitive to any sin (such as destructive ways of relating to others) that interferes with that relationship, and motivate you to grow closer to God every day.
Pray to break relationship strongholds of sin in your life. Ask God to help you identify specific strongholds of sin that are affecting your relationships. Then pray about each of those strongholds, confessing and renouncing the sins that relate to them and exercising your God-given authority over evil. Ask God to release you and the people you're in relationships with from all negative spiritual forces associated with each stronghold. Thank God and receive the forgiveness He offers you. Follow God's guidance to make appropriate restitution to any people you've wronged through your past sins.
Hold up mirrors of truth and love to your relationships. Evaluate the state of your relationships regularly by considering how well they do or don't line up with biblical principles, by asking the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom regarding your relationships, and by discussing your relationships with some trusted friends who support your healing process and will speak the truth to you. Each of these practices is like holding up a mirror to relationships so you can see them more clearly from God's perspective.
Base your identity on your relationship with God through Jesus. When your identity is rooted where it should be – in God's love for you – you'll gain the confidence you need to develop a more secure style of relating to others, such as boldly identifying and communicating your thoughts and feelings to them.
Choose to trust wisely. Ask God to give you the discernment you need to know when to trust people and when they're not worthy of your trust. Decide to trust the most important people in your life to God, who has much more power than you do to help them.
Take responsibility appropriately. Pray for the wisdom to know which responsibilities are truly yours to handle, and which are not. Then take back responsibility for your own decisions from others who have inappropriately tried to control you, and set boundaries to protect yourself from taking on responsibilities that other people should be handling.
Confront people with whom you want to change your relationships. You must speak the truth to people with whom you've shared dysfunctional relationships, so you can work to change those relationships for the better. Don't expect the people you confront to be happy about it; they'll likely be upset at first and try to convince you to stop your efforts to change your relationship with them. Stay strong, however, and eventually they may learn new, healthier ways of relating to you. Prepare a written agenda for your meetings with people, and focus only on a few major issues in your relationship instead of every way you all have hurt each other. Speak calmly, listen carefully, and clarify what people say to you. Apologize for what you've done wrong and ask people to reflect on how they've wronged you and pray about what God may want them to do about it.
Pursue forgiveness. Ask the people you've hurt to forgive you, and follow God's command to forgive the people who have hurt you. But keep in mind that, while forgiveness is a gift you give people, people must earn your trust back over time.
Look toward the future with hope. You can be hopeful about the future as long as you remain committed to renewing your mind with thoughts that reflect biblical truth and relating to others in healthy ways. Over time, you can fulfill more of God's purposes for your relationships.


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With their sprawling, emotional music, the thought of Italian act Nosound releasing an EP may seem like an impossible prospect. Or at least, their definition of an EP would be at least the length of a mini album. Surprisingly and pleasingly, Nosound's "post rock meets prog rock" approach can be concise and they pack a generous three tracks into fifteen minutes for 'At The Pier'.
How appropriate that one of the EP's tracks should be called 'A New Start'. Yet at once it sounds familiar; brushed cymbals and slo-mo drums usher in Giancarlo Erra's disconsolate vocals as bluesy organ and guitars embellish tales of great anguish. Erra could probably express forgetting to leave the iron on as an emotional trauma but his tones are always controlled and restrained enough for his delivery to offer a comforting form of pain. To demonstrate this point, 'The Anger Song' is anything but an exercise in violence even if the percussion offers a bit more venom and urgency than usual. This just leaves 'Two Monkeys (Alt Version), which begins unassumingly enough but the mix of glorious fade-out and desolate piano to accompany one of Erra's most forlorn vocal performances yet, ensure the EP ends on a classy and poignant note.
'At The Pier' will doubtlessly satisfy current followers of the group but this EP also serves as a useful introduction for possible converts to their cause. The curious may well be rewarded because, as one of a number of Italian acts taking the post-rock route, Nosound come closest to achieving the elusive greatness of Bark Psychosis.
Web Sites:
Nosound Official Site
Kscope Label and Shop Site
Further Listening:
Bark Psychosis, No-Man


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The Philippines' premier preseason tournament for college basketball has found a new home.
When the 12th edition of the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup kicks off on April 21, it will have a new television partner. For this season, ESPN5, via T5N and AksyonTV, will broadcast a select number of games plus the entirety of the playoffs.
Here is the game schedule of the upcoming FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup. All games will take place at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
All seniors teams of the UAAP and NCAA will participate in the tournament. However, the biggest surprise came when the cadets of the Gilas Pilipinas national team announced that it will join the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup, with each of its games to be treated as official matches and not mere exhibitions.
This will mark the first time that ESPN5 will cover live Philippine college basketball games since the rebrand last year. Prior to that, the then-Sports5 was home to the NCAA seniors basketball tournament from Seasons 88 to 90 (2012-15); this does not include the 2016 CESAFI which aired on AksyonTV but produced by VIVA.
It will also mark the return of the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup to Philippine television for the first time since 2016. Last year none of its games were aired on television and were streamed live on Facebook instead.
While the games featuring the Gilas cadets will headline ESPN5's coverage, it will also take a look at the legendary Ateneo-La Salle rivalry that will have new recruits getting their first taste of this long-running saga. In addition, old NCAA rivalries between San Beda and La Salle, and Ateneo and San Beda, will also be aired.
As for non-televised games, these are expected to air on the FilOil Flying V Sports' Facebook page. Highlights of these games will also be featured on SportsCenter Philippines.
The FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup will run from April 21 to June 24.


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Does shooting a man in a wheelchair who is holding a knife constitute the use of excessive force?(CBS News) The AP is reporting that San Francisco police say a knife-wielding man in a wheelchair stabbed an officer before the attacker was shot. The suspect and wounded officer are in the hospital with non life-threatening wounds,which is […]
Posts Tagged 'SFPD'
San Francisco Police Shoot Knife-Wielding Man In Wheelchair In The Groin Area!?!?…Is This A Case Of Excessive Force,Or Not?January 5, 2011
Posted in Social Politics |
Tags: "Jerry Brice", 4 dirty cops, african american youth, Alameda County Superior Court, arrest, bail, balls shot off, BART, Bart Cop Guilty, Bart Cop Shooting Trial, BART Police, bart shooting, Bart Shooting Trial, Bart Shooting Verdict, bart trial, bart verdict, Bay Area, Bay Area Rapid Transit, before, black america, ca, California, case, cell phone, CHANGE OF VENUE, civil rights, coffin, color of change, contra costa times, court, crime, death, demonstrating, Derrion Alberts, don't shoot, double standards, Eric Chiang, excessive, excessive force, execution, following, full length, funeral, gang warfare, Getty Images, grant, groin, ground, hayward, Hayward - California, hayward karina vargas, hip hop, hold, homicide, horizontal, Human Age, human body, human brutality, Human Interest, investigation, involuntary manslaughter, janetyska, Javone Sloan, jerry lee brice, Jerrybrice, jerrybrice's blog, johannes, Johannes Mehserle, Johannes Mehserle Guilty, Johannes Mehserle Innocent, Johannes Mehserle Trial, Johannes Mehserle Verdict, Justice For Oscar Grant, kcbs, killer, kkk, knife, kron, kron 4, ktvu news bay area, L.A. RACIST COPS, l.a. riots, law, lies, Los Angeles, Los Angeles News, lying down, mehserle, Mehserle Guilty, Mehserle Innocent, Mehserle trial, Mehserle Verdict, memorial, Mental Health, monitor, Mourner, murder, new years eve shooting of oscar grant, News, newspaper, no justice no peace, non life-threatening wounds, oakland, oakland tribune, oakland verdict, officer, on the move, one, oscar, OSCAR GRANT, Oscar Grant Case, Oscar Grant III, Oscar Grant Shooting, oscar grant tria, oscar grant trial, oscar grant trial update, oscar grant verdict, Palma Ceia Baptist Church, passing, People, police, police officer, protest, Protestor, Racism, rack, rip, rodney king, san francisco, San Francisco - California, San Francisco Bay Area, san francisco news, San Francisco Police Department, saying, scene, serving, sf gate, sfgate, SFPD, SFPD Chief George Gascon, shooting, shot, shot in the balls, shot in the dick, shot in the groin, shouting, Show, signs and symbols, soma, source magazine, stand, station, sterotypes, stop killing our black men, trial, urban crime, USA, vic lee, video, violence, Waist Up, wheelchair
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by Calculated Risk on 4/19/2013 07:58:00 PM
Friday, April 19, 2013
Update: Federal and State improving Fiscal Situation
A couple of updates ...
From Goldman Sachs economist Alec Phillips: The Federal Budget Deficit: Shrinking Faster
The federal deficit continues to shrink. Through the first six months of the fiscal year, revenues have come in higher than expected, while spending has come in lower than expected. As a result we are lowering our deficit forecast for the current and next two fiscal years.There are still longer term issues, but the deficit is shrinking fairly quickly.
Earlier this year we lowered our FY2013 deficit forecast from $900bn (5.6% of GDP) to $850bn (5.3%). In light of recent trends, we are lowering it again to $775bn (4.8%). Spending in the fiscal year to date is lower than a year ago and the nominal growth rate is lower than it has been in decades. Revenues have also exceeded expectations, with a 12% gain fiscal year to date. What is more notable is that the strength in revenues preceded the payroll tax hike at the start of the year, and the spending decline does not seem to reflect sequestration, which has just started to take effect.
We expect the improvement to continue for the next few years. Although we had already expected additional cyclical improvement and residual fiscal policy tightening to reduce the deficit further in 2014 and 2015, we have reduced our estimates a bit further, to $600bn (3.5% of GDP) and $475bn (2.7%).
The Controller of California has a website showing daily income tax collections compared to last year. The California budget expects personal income taxes of $51.4 billion as if April 30th. Right now, as of Thursday April 18th, net income taxes are at $53.3 billion - ahead of plan with more collections to come.
Just one state, but we are seeing an improving fiscal situation at the Federal and State levels.
Posted by Calculated Risk on 4/19/2013 07:58:00 PM


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Construction Play Outdoors – Using Garden Cuttings!
My 4 year old son Doodles is absolutely obsessed with all things building and construction related. I f he's quiet then I know not to worry as he is probably playing with Lego or bricks or pieces of recycled rubbish and building some sort of a contraption!!!! I even had to ask his preschool teacher to discourage him from playing in the construction corner at school all the day everyday and encourage to him to do other activities!
Construction Play Obsessed – Lego, Blocks, Cubes, Tent Building – you name it Doodles loves it! (and so does his little sister!)
We have been cutting back all of our hedges and trees and shrubs over the past few weeks – we have a huge garden so this has been a massive job (now finished thank God!). Anyway, as a result of all this work there has been a tonne of garden debris stacked up in a pile waiting to be shredded. Doodles has been keeping an eye on this with great curiosity, I could almost see the cogs turning as he planned in his mind what he could use all the branches for.
Yesterday afternoon, as soon as he got home from preschool, he set to work! He hauled as many of the big branches as he could into the middle of our front lawn and began to build his fort. He worked away until he was happy with his circular fort. He then happily played in his fort for most of the afternoon. He just amazes me everyday with his building ideas. He will use absolutely anything he can find to build. There is always another use for all of our rubbish, be it garden cuttings, toilet rolls, boxes, etc. Why not let your little engineers lose with these materials and see what they will create.
Linked to The Weekly Kids Co Op//Tuesday Tots//HipHomeSchoolMoms Blog Hop//Sun Scholars For the Kids Friday//Welcome Party Wednesday @MakeoversandMotherhood//The Blogger's Digest @ Pig and Dac//Meandering Monday @ Epic Mommy Adventures//Mums Make Lists
The Finished Product – Fort Doodles!


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Classic Wines Auction Fall Dinners 2013
Nothing beats the feeling of donating to a worthy cause—but of course, some ways of donating are a lot more fun than others. Case in point: Classic Wines Auction Fall Winemakers Dinners.
The Classic Wines Auction has supported local charities for 30 years, and in that time has helped raise over $30 million! The Winemaker Dinners series—now in its third year—is a mouthwateringly good way to get involved.
This season, guests will enjoy a delicious dinner at one of Portland's top restaurants while getting to brush elbows with the makers of top-tier wines. Even better? They'll also be supporting five local non-profits: Metropolitan Family Service, New Avenues for Youth, Friends of the Children-Portland, YWCA Clark County, and Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel.
Want to get in on the action? Don't wait! Many of the dinners have already sold out, but there's still space available on Tuesday, November 12 at Imperial (with Cristom Vineyards), Sauvage (with Fausse Piste Winery), Urban Farmer (with Domaine Serene Vineyards & Winery) and Wildwood Restaurant (with aMaurice Cellars and Division Winemaking Company), and on Wednesday, November 13 at 23Hoyt (with Sokol Blosser Winery), Andina Restaurant (with Penner-Ash Wine Cellars), Din Din Supper Club (with Phelps Creek Vineyards) and Gruner (with Montinore Estate).
Dinners start at 6:30 and cost $150 per person. Head to the Winemaker Dinners website to purchase reservations for the dinners, and grab a few raffle tickets to win one of three restaurant gift certificate packages. For more information call 503-972-0194.