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Testing of serum atherogenicity in cell cultures: questionable data published
Bewertung der Serumatherogenität in den Zellkulturen: fragliche Daten veröffentlicht
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|September 7, 2011
|January 18, 2012
|January 31, 2012
In a large series of studies was reported that culturing of smooth muscle cells with serum from atherosclerosis patients caused intracellular lipid accumulation, while serum from healthy controls had no such effect. Cultures were used for evaluation of antiatherogenic drugs. Numerous substances were reported to lower serum atherogenicity: statins, trapidil, calcium antagonists, garlic derivatives etc. On the contrary, beta-blockers, phenothiazines and oral hypoglycemics were reported to be pro-atherogenic. Known antiatherogenic agents can influence lipid metabolism and cholesterol synthesis, intestinal absorption or endothelium-related mechanisms. All these targets are absent in cell monocultures. Inflammatory factors, addressed by some antiatherogenic drugs, are also not reproduced. In vivo, relationship between cholesterol uptake by cells and atherogenesis must be inverse rather than direct: in familial hypercholesterolemia, inefficient clearance of LDL-cholesterol by cells predisposes to atherosclerosis. Accordingly, if a pharmacological agent reduces cholesterol uptake by cells in vitro, it should be expected to elevate cholesterol in vivo. Validity of clinical recommendations, based on serum atherogenicity testing in cell monocultures, is therefore questionable. These considerations pertain also to the drugs developed on the basis of the cell culture experiments.
In einer großen Studienserie wurde berichtet, dass Kultivierung der Glattmuskelzellen mit dem Serum von Atherosklerosekranken eine intrazelluläre Lipidansammlung verursachte, während Serum von gesunden Kontrollsubjekten keine derartige Wirkung hatte. Die Zellkulturen wurden für die Bewertung anti- und pro-atherogener Wirkung von Arzneimitteln und anderer Substanzen verwendet. Mehrere Wirkstoffe verminderten angeblich die Serumatherogenität in den Zellkulturen: Statine, Trapidil, Calciumantagonisten, Knoblauchderivate und andere. Betablocker, Phenothiazine und orale Hypoglykämika wirkten hingegen pro-atherogen. Es ist jedoch bekannt, dass anti-atherosklerotische Arzneimittel auf folgende Punkte einwirken konnen: Lipidstoffwechsel und Cholesterinsynthese, intestinale Resorption von Lipiden und die endothothelassoziierten Mechanismen. Alle diese Angriffsziele sind in den Zellmonokulturen nicht vorhanden. Entzündungserscheinungen, die von einigen anti-atherosklerotischen Wirkstoffen moduliert werden können, werden auch nicht reproduziert. In vivo ist das Verhältnis zwischen der Cholesterinaufnahme von Zellen und der Atherogenese umgekehrt: z.B. veranlagt bei der familiären Hypercholesterinnämie eine vom LDL-Rezeptordefekt bedingte unzureichende Clearance von LDL-Cholesterin zur Atherosklerose. Wenn ein pharmakologischer Wirkstoff die Cholesterinaufnahme von Zellen senkt, sollte er in vivo den Cholesterinspiegel im Blut erheben. Die Zuverlässigkeit der aufgrund obengenannter Zellkulturstudien formulierten klinischen Empfehlungen erscheint also fraglich. Das betrifft auch die Arzneimittel, die auf der Basis der Zellkulturexperimente entwickelt wurden.
Letter to the Editor
Strategies to treat atherosclerosis pharmacologically should take its multifactorial etiology into account [1]. Atherogenesis involves many cell types interacting with each other and with extracellular matrix [2]. Therefore, results obtained in studies on a single cell type should be considered with caution when extrapolated to the whole body. A large series of studies, having become internationally known in 1986 after the publication in The Lancet [3], has been continued until today [4]. Cultures of smooth muscle cells from human aorta and, in some studies, of peritoneal macrophages, were used as an in vitro model for testing of serum atherogenicity and anti- or pro-atherogenic action of various substances. The following, among other things, was reported: within 24 hours of cultivation with diluted (40%) sera of coronary atherosclerosis patients, the total intracellular cholesterol (Ch) increased twofold to fivefold [5]. Low density lipoproteins (LDL) from patients with coronary atherosclerosis caused a twofold to fourfold rise in cholesteryl esters in cultured human blood monocytes and intimal smooth muscle cells isolated from the normal aorta [6], [7]. Cultivation with the sera or LDL from healthy individuals failed to induce intracellular lipid accumulation [5], [6]. Furthermore, calcium antagonists (verapamil, nifedipine, darodipine, isradipine, diltiazem, etc.) reduced the Ch level in cultured cells and, at the same time, lowered the incorporation of 3H-thymidine by the cells, which was interpreted as decreased cell proliferation [8]. It was concluded that calcium antagonists manifested a direct antiatherosclerotic effect in culture [8]. Furthermore, beta-blockers (propranolol, alprenolol, metoprolol, atenolol, pindolol, and timolol) caused a 1.5- to 2-fold rise in Ch level of cultured cells and stimulated their proliferation [8]. Apart from direct admixture of a tested substance to the culture medium, an "ex vivo" model was used: within 2–4 h after an oral administration of a beta-blocker (propranolol), plasma became atherogenic i.e. its addition to the cell culture medium induced intracellular Ch accumulation and stimulated proliferation of the cultured cells. At the same time, blood plasma of patients receiving calcium antagonists acquired antiatherosclerotic properties manifested by its ability to lower the intracellular Ch and to inhibit cells proliferation in a culture [8]. Another example: garlic extract added to the medium, where smooth muscle cells from atherosclerotic plaques had been cultured, significantly reduced the Ch level in the cells and inhibited their proliferation. Blood serum taken from patients 2 hours after an oral administration of 300 mg of garlic powder significantly lowered Ch accumulation in the cultured cells [9]. Remarkably, infiltration of cultured cells by lipids was reported to be associated with their increased proliferation: in the cultures of smooth muscle cells taken from zones of fatty infiltration and fatty streaks in the human aortic intima, the thymidine index exceeded the normal value 4.5- and 3-fold respectively [10]. Pharmacological agents, modifying intracellular lipid accumulation, influenced cell proliferation in the same direction [11]. In general pathology, however, fatty infiltration is seen as a manifestation of cell damage (degeneration) [12], which can hardly be expected to come along with enhanced proliferation.
Furthermore, recommendations for practice were formulated on the basis of cell culture experiments [13], including drug dosage: "To decrease atherogenic potential of serum and to maintain it at a low level, verapamil should be administered at a dose of 40 mg 5 times daily with a 4- to 5-hour interval between doses." [13] This recommendation should be seen within the scope of a broader question, whether data from cellular models may be used directly for clinical recommendations without clinical trials. Cellular systems in pharmacological research are essential for initial evaluation of drugs. However, their use to predict a response of the whole body is limited. A response of cellular systems to an agent influencing transport across the plasma membrane can have opposite effects in cells compared to the whole body [14]. As an explanation for atherogenicity of serum from patients with coronary atherosclerosis, a causative role of Ch-containing immune complexes was maintained [15]. However, among the mechanisms of atherogenesis induced by immune complexes, discussed in the literature, are inflammatory phenomena such as release of proinflammatory cytokines from macrophages, increase in adhesion molecules and dysfunction of endothelial cells [1], [16], [17], [18], which are not reproduced in the cell monocultures. Known action mechanisms of antiatherogenic or lipid-lowering drugs include regulation of Ch synthesis, lipid metabolism in the liver, intestinal absorption of lipids or endothelial functions [1], [19], [20]. All these targets are absent in the cell cultures. In addition, drugs like statins have numerous "pleiotrophic effects" that can be beneficial [1] but are not reproducible in the cultures. Inflammatory phenomena, addressed by some antiatherogenic agents [2], [21], are also not reproduced by this model. In vivo, the relationship between Ch uptake by cells and atherogenesis is inverse rather than direct. For example, in familial hypercholesterolemia, caused by abnormality of lipoprotein receptors, ineffective clearance of LDL-Ch from serum causes hypercholesterolemia and predisposes to atherosclerosis [22]. Moreover, up-regulation of LDL receptors (and, correspondingly, of the LDL-Ch uptake by cells) is one of the therapeutic strategies for atherosclerosis [23]. Accordingly, if a pharmacological agent reduces Ch uptake by cells in vitro, it should be expected to cause serum Ch elevation in vivo. In other words, pharmacologic agents displaying an "antiatherogenic" effect in cell cultures should be expected to have a pro-atherogenic effect in vivo. Therefore, conclusions and recommendations, formulated on the basis of the cell culture studies discussed above, can be based on misunderstanding. Moreover, an anti-atherosclerotic drug Allicor, a derivative of garlic, was developed on the basis of the cell culture experiments. Anti-atherosclerotic efficacy of Allicor was confirmed by clinical trials [24], [25]. Discussing the mode of action of the Allicor, both articles refer to the cell culture study [8]. In fact, the results of the trials [24], [25] are at variance with those of the cell culture experiments: if garlic indeed lowers the intake of Ch by the cultured smooth muscle cells [9], it might cause elevation of serum Ch in vivo. It is written in [25] with reference to a review [26], obviously implying effectiveness of garlic: "Lipid-lowering properties of garlic-based drugs and preparations are studied rather well" [25]. However, it is stated in [26] that there is increasingly less evidence for lipid lowering properties of garlic preparations. A later review on this topic concluded that evidence, based on rigorous clinical trials of garlic, is not convincing [27]. For hypercholesterolemia, the reported effects of garlic are small and may be of no clinical relevance [27]. Previously we discussed other trials on hypercholesterolemia, results of which have not been convincingly confirmed by other researchers [28]. The matter could be clarified by means of a large-scale independent trial. Note that Allicor is produced by INAT Farma fused with the Institute of Aterosclerosis Research (http://inat.ru), where the above-mentioned cell culture experiments have been performed. With pharmaceutical costs increasing faster than most other health care expenditures, studies should meet the needs of evidence-based treatments and not just the needs of the manufacturers [1].
The material from this paper was presented at several conferences (e.g., [29]); and the author was asked, why it is focused on reports of mostly one research group and the topic is not discussed in a broader perspective. In fact, there have been no other studies, where serum atherogenicity and atherogenic/antiatherogenic potencies of drugs were evaluated directly on cell cultures and practical recommendations given on the basis of such evaluations. Earlier experiments with culturing of smooth muscle cells from atherosclerotic plaques [30], culturing or incubation of different cells in lipoprotein-containing media (e.g., [31], [32]) included neither measurement of serum atherogenicity nor drug evaluations. In conclusion, a reason for submitting this paper to an open access journal is to draw the attention of the scientific community to the fact that doubtful information was published in numerous pharmacological, clinical and other editions (e.g. [7], [10], [12], [33], [34], [35]) including a recently published Russian-language handbook, and is still being referred to in more recent studies (e.g. [36], [37], [38]). However, the study [38] disagreed with the results of some experiments by the research group under discussion in this paper; and an artifact in these experiments was proposed as an explanation for the disagreement.
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Ossian Brown is an English artist and musician whose book "Haunted Air" gives us a rare glimpse at the vintage celebration of Halloween in America, c. 1875-1955. Anonymous photographs collected from family albums depict the traditional macabre costumes from ages past.
"I find their haunting melancholy completely absorbing; all of these photographs <…> now torn out, disembodied and forgotten <…> they've now become fully and utterly the masks and phantoms they dragged up as, all those years ago."
Compared to today's flashy, pop-culture inspired Halloween costumes, these get ups of are capable of giving viewer the chills. Black and white photographs feature children and adults dressed with strange DIY masks and robes. Popular motifs contain disguising as devils, witches or animals.
According to Brown, he was fascinated by the wild imagination of these people who at the time were living in great poverty but still managed to create "these incredible and phantasmagorical apparitions". From whatever inanimate objects, they would construct truly haunting costumes and kept with the essence of tradition which is overlooked nowadays.
To give the book even more mystery, the foreword was written by David Lynch. A short excerpt presented here:
"All the clocks had stopped. A void out of time. And here they are – looking out and holding themselves still – holding still at that point where two worlds join – the familiar – ant the other."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Aldeburgh Business Association offers the ultimate free guide to visiting Aldeburgh in Suffolk. The A to Z listing contains the most up to date information on the Best Places to Stay in Aldeburgh, including Hotels, Self-Catering Accommodation, Bed & Breakfast and Campsites. The guide also covers Eating and Drinking in Aldeburgh, Shopping on the High Street, Public Services and all the latest Things To Do in Aldeburgh as well as news from this stunning Suffolk seaside town.
Copyright © The Aldeburgh Business Association 2019


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NEW YORK (CBS 2) — She's a 20-year-old woman who allegedly took wild sexual liberties with a 13-year-old boy.
And now, as CBS 2's John Slattery reports, she is facing very serious charges, including statutory rape.
The 20-year-old is Megan Donovan, and she had no comment on Thursday. The 13-year-old boy, who lives in the Rossville section of Staten Island, is not being identified. His family's attorney is Louis Diamond.
"The allegation is that there was a formal act of sex, intercourse, with someone under 14," Diamond said.
The parents of the 20-year-old would not speak of the case.
A source close to the investigation said there were text messages exchanged about what happened, and that the boy bragged about it.
The woman's attorney, Mark Geiser, told the court the 13-year-old has an active imagination. He said there were seven people in the house, and there's no way it could have happened. In Donovan's upscale Prince's Bay neighborhood, there was surprise at the charges against her.
"She's a very nice girl. I'm very surprised to hear that," neighbor Ron Hansen said, adding when pressed if it's possible something happened, "I really don't think so."
But the attorney for the alleged victim disagreed.
"Obviously, she has a problem to do something like this. People should seek help, if they have these desires," Diamond said.
If Donovan is convicted, she would have to be registered as a sex offender under Megan's Law, a black mark that would follow her for the rest of her life.
Donovan was released on $1,000 bond, and ordered to stay away from the child and his family.
Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below.


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Memory Eternal! + Anthony Michaels
His Grace Bishop Anthony writes:
Your Eminence Metropolitan Philip, Beloved in Christ,
Christ is in our midst!
My father Anthony Michaels fell asleep in the Lord on Tuesday December 17th, the commemoration of Daniel and the three holy youths: Ananias, Azarias, and Misail.
Funeral arrangements for Anthony Michaels are as follows:
Friday, December 21st
5:00 - 7:00 pm - Visitation
7:00 pm - Trisagion Prayers
Saturday, December 22nd
11:00 am - Funeral
Lunch to follow
St. Simon Orthodox Church
226 E. Harding Ave.
Ironwood, MI, 49938
I ask your prayers for the repose of his soul and your continued prayers for my family. May his memory be eternal.


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On the menu bar, the "Find My Work" button has a number of sub-menus associated with it. One of these is titled "Interviews."
I have just updated the entries there to capture recent and some older work that I'd missed.
Please have a look. Any questions or comments? Feel free to contact me.
Thank you!
Or "How to be a totally ineffective leader in 4 easy steps!"
Hmmmmm, that doesn't sound as attractive as the main title, right?! No, it doesn't, but it doesn't make it any less relevant.
It's not often that I am wanting to talk about "secrets," but in this case I'm going to make an exception.
I recently saw a tweet by a "renowned leadership expert" talking about "the secret of leadership."
And that is when I lost it. Here's why…
I have this recurring nightmare that just won't go away.
So, there I am… I've just woken up from a nap on my favorite recliner in my living room. I'm still a bit groggy, but I look down and see my young daughter looking up at me intently through her hazel eyes. Really, she's staring at me.
I sit there for a few moments, looking back at her and then I ask "what is it, Virginia?"
She looks away for a moment, looks back into my eyes and then asks the question parents don't expect their children to ask until after they've had "the talk."
Then she asks me:
It was inevitable, wasn't it?
I tried so hard, for so long to avoid using the word "transformation." Yet, I knew it was merely a matter of time…
Until what, you ask?! The word transformation started creeping into our vocabulary (again). This time it was in the context of "Next Generation IT."
I wish we could say "OK, let's transform into the organization that we're intending to become," we press a button and then watch it happen for us.
Unfortunately, that doesn't work. What does work?
C'mon over here and let's chat about that for a bit, OK?
Because we can't really talk about that, until we get straight about what transformation is (and isn't)!
If you've read or paid attention to anything that I've written over time, you'll know that I hate clichés.
OK, I'm lying through my teeth! I love them, but not for the reason which might seem apparent. You see, I think there's a lot of truth and a lot of mischief in clichés. In each one, there is a nugget of truth which is often obscured or masked by a thick layer of common sense. Not the common sense that is like "you shouldn't let your kids play in traffic." No, I mean the common sense that is more like sleight of hand — if you say it quickly enough, (most) people will accept the statement at face value, nod their head approvingly and then move on as if what was said is (actually) true — even if it's not or a gross oversimplification of reality.
I enjoy them, because I enjoy identifying them, stomping them into the ground and having people come to recognize them for what they truly are. In the expression "you only get what you pay for," we have another viable candidate to do damage to.
Why am I railing against this one now? Why is this relevant to ITSM? I'm glad that you asked!
ManageEngine recently announced that its Standard Edition product would be made freely available to all current and future customers.
What does this mean? Why is it important? Is the cliché really true?!
Let's have a look, shall we?
While it may not be evident to those who don't know me well, I've had an interest in performance management and metrics for almost as long as I have been a working professional. Indeed, I have been actively researching this since around the time of the Y2K "crisis" — which roughly translates to about 17 years. Some times I've been more active in my research than others, but it's always been core to how I think and work with customers and approach any project.
Well, even though the past months may have looked like I've been sitting on my hands, I can assure you that I've not. I've been busy on a number of fronts, including performance management and metrics. It's a "good news, bad news" proposition really — I haven't had a lot of time for "fun," but I have gotten a lot done. There is a lot of work left to do (I think it'll be the rest of my life, really…), but I think that it's finally time to bring it to the forefront.
It's time to launch! What does that mean? Well, the first thing is that I am kicking this all off with a BrightTALK webinar "Built To Perform: A Pragmatic Look At Performance Management." During this session I am going to address the items in the abstract that I wrote for it, as a way of providing a general introduction to the area and a way to frame all of the work done and those things that will be unleashed over the next few months. In addition to this webinar, you can expect that there will be other blogs, articles and webinars associated with it.
Needless to say, I think this is the start of something big! I hope that you'll find this interesting and will join me.
I recently appeared on the ITSM Weekly Podcast (#117) with Mark Kawasaki [@WindUpBird] and Matt Beran [@MattBeran].
It was a lot of fun, despite having bandwidth issues during the hangout. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to participate!
Have a listen/view (click this link to go to the podcast) and let me know what you think!
Today, I find myself one day older and (hopefully, potentially) a day wiser. I won't bet my car on the latter, but I think you get my point.
What makes today noteworthy isn't today, but yesterday. Why yesterday?
Well, it's because I had the opportunity to be a "Guide" for TFT13! 😀
I thought I'd take the opportunity to make a few notes about my experience of participating in TFT13, while the thoughts were still fresh in my mind.
Care to find out more? Good. Let's go! 😉 Continue reading
In my last blog, where I wrote about the levels of learning, I talked about how different training tools and methods would be targeted at or useful for a given level of learning. In this post, I offered a way to better understand the nature of insight as:
Insight involves the grouping of perceptions into meaningful wholes.
This is a generally accepted view, but there is more to say about insight and learning. It's perhaps an insight into insights…
Let's have a look, OK? Good! 😉


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Model: GS202174BQ
2000 Series 33"x22" stainless steel 20 gauge double bowl drop in sink
The 2000 Series delivers design and functionality at a value. A variety of configurations and mounting options in quality 20-gauge stainless steel give you choices that fit almost any countertop material -- backed by a Limited Lifetime Warranty.
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- quickmount sink installation hardware is designed to cut down installation time considerably while offering a variety of features that eliminate most pain-points installers experience today with drop-in sink
- Sink Type
- stainless steel
- No Of Bowls
- double bowl
- Drain Opening Size
- 3-1/2"
- U Channel
- yes
- Soundshield
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- drop in
- Overall Dimensions
- 33"x22"
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- yes
Installation and Support
Access videos, manuals, replacement parts, and more.
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Replacement Parts for this product may be covered by the Moen Lifetime Limited Sink Warranty


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John Fogerty Warms to the Idea of a Creedence Clearwater Revival Reunion
Almost 40 years after one of the most acrimonious breakups in rock 'n' roll history, former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty says he's willing to consider the possibility of an eventual reunion.
Though their recording career spanned a mere five years, Creedence amassed one of the most successful — and enduring — discographies of the rock era, selling millions of albums and churning out an impressive stack of hits that included 'Down on the Corner,' 'Fortunate Son,' and 'Who'll Stop the Rain?'
Personal strife engulfed the band, however, destroying Fogerty's relationship with his brother, Tom, who quit the group in 1971 and died in 1990. He also had tough dealings with bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford — and a series of bitterly contested lawsuits after the breakup only deepened the split. When Creedence was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Cook and Clifford were barred from the stage.
But age seems to have mellowed Fogerty, who, when recently asked about a possible reunion, mused, "I have to admit, people have asked me more recently, and even though I have no idea how such a series of events would come to pass, I can tell that there isn't the bombast in my voice, in the denial, in the refusal. It's more like, 'Well, I dunno.' Never say never is I guess is what people tell you. In this life, all kinds of strange things come to pass."
Fogerty is currently recording the follow-up to his 2009 album, 'The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again,' and he's been hinting at something special for the project, saying, "I will be having some other artists guest with me so that makes it — it's not all under my control, let's put it that way. I hope to have a lot of really high-caliber players and we should have lot of fun with the material but I really can't say much more about it right now."


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When the greatest quarterback rivalry in NFL history made its debut, nobody cared.
On the windy September afternoon in 2001, when the greatest quarterbacks of this generation met on the field for the first time, the eyes of the nation were on a Rams-Dolphins blowout.
When two future Hall of Famers who would lead their teams to seven Super Bowls and combine for six MVP awards first faced each other in Foxboro, neither looked very good. It wasn't a competitive game. The heroes were running backs and cornerbacks.
The storyline was not Johnny Unitas vs. Bart Starr, It wasn't even David vs. Goliath, because this Goliath was a likeable, gentle giant, and David didn't appear to have a slingshot of a chance of winning, let alone someday mounting a throne.
When the matchup that defined the NFL in our era debuted, the fans who tuned in at all expected the Colts, a 12-point favorite led by the league's brightest young star, to steamroll a bad team that foolishly expected a scrawny former fourth-stringer to replace the mighty Drew Bledsoe.
The greatest quarterback rivalry in NFL history, which will be renewed on Sunday when the two meet for the 13th time, had a very humble beginning.
The Week Before
Peyton Manning stood at the line of scrimmage and surveyed the Bills defense. It was the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, and Manning's Colts had a commanding lead. He may have been looking at Bills defenders, but Manning was more interested in the clock than the opponent: He was doing mental math, trying to determine how many meaningless snap-and-kneel plays he would have to execute before the final gun.
Bills veteran Phil Hansen watched from across the line of scrimmage as Manning mastered the finer points of subtraction. "Do you have a Ph.D. in mathematics, too?" Hansen shouted.
"Do you think we should snap it again?" Manning replied.
Hansen's opinion did not matter. Little the Bills defense did that day mattered, as Manning completed 23 of 29 passes for 421 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-26 win. Early in the game, the Bills shifted their defensive fronts around at the line of scrimmage, rattling Manning into throwing a pick-six. But Manning watched, learned, and adapted. He used his no-huddle offense to frustrate the Bills, waiting through their shifts and tricks before snapping the ball. "He'd line up with 17 seconds left on the play clock," Hansen said after that game. "He wouldn't even call a play sometimes. He'd just stand up there and look around."
Peyton Manning was already Peyton Manning in 2001. All of the elements were there: the Pro Bowl selections, the touchdowns, the no-huddle audibles, the elaborate courtship ritual with the defense at the line of scrimmage. Manning was already a superstar, and even old hands like Hansen had never seen anything quite like him. "Phew. He can tear you apart," Hansen said.
At about the same time that Manning bantered with Hansen in Indianapolis, the franchise quarterback of the New England Patriots was staggering around the sidelines in Foxboro, trying to recover from a vicious hit and oblivious to the damage that had been done to his body.
"He's trying to get his bearings," Tom Brady later said of Drew Bledsoe's confusion after getting hit by Mo Lewis of the Jets late in the fourth quarter of a 10-3 game. "He couldn't remember anything."
Bledsoe was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1993. He had led the Patriots to a Super Bowl and participated in three Pro Bowls. Lewis' hit collapsed Bledsoe's lung. He was bleeding internally. He could not remember the Patriots' play calls.
He stayed in the game.
After a not-so-stringent medical consultation with team trainers, Bledsoe returned to the field for a short, wobbly series: two handoffs, a pass, a punt. When the Patriots got the ball back, Brady replaced him. Many fans in attendance believed that Bledsoe, who had played poorly in the game, had simply been benched. Even after the game, when Bledsoe left the stadium on a stretcher, there was a decided lack of sympathy for the former superstar who gamely tried to lead a comeback while his abdomen filled with blood. "Drew Draws Questions: Franchise's Performance Not Enough," ran the headline of a story in the Boston Herald, which led with a note about Bledsoe's hospitalization, followed by hundreds of words about his poor performance.
While doctors rushed Bledsoe to the hospital, one of the most obscure quarterbacks in the NFL trotted onto the field. He completed a few short passes. He scrambled for nine yards. The Jets were in a prevent defense, but with the score 10-3, Brady had time to try to be a hero in nine-yard chunks. A 21-yard pass to receiver Charles Johnson got the Patriots to the 29-yard line with 14 seconds left. It was time for the Jets to get serious, and they did. Brady threw three passes into the end zone. All three fell incomplete.
The Patriots fell to 0-2. Their superstar was hospitalized. They were poised to fall off the radar. New England had gone 5-11 the previous year. Its second-year head coach, Bill Belichick, had flunked his first trial as a head coach and was considered a gruff, down-market version of Bill Parcells, his former mentor.
With Manning's Colts next on the schedule, the Patriots were supposed to sink back to the bottom of the AFC East, especially with Tom Nobody at quarterback.
The Preparation
The Colts knew a little bit about Brady, but not much.
Colts tackle Josh Williams was Brady's college teammate. "He does a little bit of everything," Williams said before facing the Patriots. "Whatever he feels is necessary, he'll do."
Manning had met Brady once at a promotional event, but his midweek analysis of the second-year pro betrayed an obvious lack of first-hand knowledge. "Check out where the guy played college football when he's about to make his first NFL start,'' Manning said. "Tom has been in the big games playing in front of huge crowds at Michigan. It's a different game and different team, but playing big-time college football will help his cause a little bit.''
Manning only knew slightly more than the informed fan knew about Brady: He played at Michigan, backed up Brian Griese on their 1997 championship team, went 20-5 as a starter, was drafted in the sixth round in 2000 and clawed his way from fourth to second on the Patriots' depth chart. The Patriots also had journeyman Damon Huard on their bench, but Belichick was comfortable with Brady, as were the offensive players. "When he's in there he takes control, he takes charge," fullback Patrick Pass said. "He's most definitely a leader ... He has the fire in his eye to be a great NFL quarterback."
The fire in the eyes. The leadership. The guy who does whatever is necessary. Those things were said about Brady from the beginning. Those things are said about nearly every unknown quarterback before his first start. They are boilerplate compliments: "He isn't the best athlete, but …" Brady had a reputation as one of the hardest workers on the roster, but the fourth-string quarterback had better be a hard worker if he ever hopes to have any reputation. Brady added 15 pounds of muscle after college, but only because it was necessary.
His arm also appeared stronger in the 2001 preseason than it had in college, but we don't talk about the fire in a guy's belly unless we're trying to change the subject from the velocity of his fastball. "I think his arm is good," Belichick said, the praise audibly faint. "I don't think we're talking about John Elway here, but I don't know how many of those guys there are. I think he has an NFL arm."
The Colts knew nothing about Brady, but the Patriots knew plenty about Manning. The teams were still in the same division in 2001, so Manning had already faced the Patriots six times in three seasons, winning twice, losing three times in Foxboro. Manning threw three interceptions against the Patriots in Foxboro in 2000, and he was developing a reputation as a player who could not outsmart defensive-guru Belichick and did not play as well in cold weather as he did in a dome.
Manning was already burdened with another label, one he carried with him from college. He was the guy who "could not win the big game," who could never beat Florida, who had already played poorly in two playoff losses in his young NFL career. The stereotype of the statistical giant with feet of clay was as much a cliché as Brady's fiery-eyed, any-means-necessary unknown. They had always been football's yin and yang, and always will be, and facts will never be allowed to get in the way of the enduring story.
But for a few years, Manning and Brady played their roles in the morality play perfectly, Brady nurturing the mythos of the underdog, Manning powerless against his greatest rival, Brady becoming Starr to Manning's 1960s Unitas, Manning finally answering back with his own victories and championships. It's a story that played across the decade and continues on Sunday, the fiery nobody now a crowned prince, the clay-footed hero now a battered legend trying to build a new legacy.
And it all started in a forgettable game on a forgettable afternoon in September of 2001.
The Game
Not many eyes were on Foxboro on Sept. 30. The national CBS early game pitted Kurt Warner's Rams against the turnover-happy Dolphins defense (the Rams rolled, 42-10). Fox had the Cris Carter-Randy Moss Vikings against Tony Dungy's Buccaneers (the Vikings won, 20-16). No one watched Colts-Patriots except folks in New England and Indiana, some satellite-savvy fans, and the people in the stadium.
Brady's older sisters were in the stadium, one wearing a Michigan jersey. "Tom Brady looked up, saw the Michigan football jersey, and knew where to turn for reassurance," wrote Mark Murphy in the Boston Herald.
Bledsoe was also in the stadium, on the Patriots' sideline in street clothes after a four-day hospital stay. "Drew said the most important thing was to go out there and have fun, because you're as prepared as you're going to be at that point," Brady said, calling Bledsoe "such a help" in the moments leading up to the game.
Brady did not have much fun on his first series. He was sacked on the opening play from scrimmage. On third-and-long, he overthrew David Patten. "The ball just jumped," Brady said. "He was wide open."
Manning was not having much fun, either. Official sources list the stadium conditions at 59 degrees, with 20-mile-per-hour winds. Newspaper reports described the conditions more icily. "The Colts were a dome team playing on what felt like a December day in Foxboro, with the wind swirling the entire day," wrote the Hartford Courant. Brady said that passes dipped like baseball sliders.
Belichick's defense also gave Manning early fits: The quarterback kept calling audibles, but nothing the Colts tried worked. "The coaching staff knows what they are trying to accomplish," Patriots linebacker Bryan Cox said after the game. "It was conveyed very well to the players."
After several punts, Patriots running back Antowain Smith burst untouched through the Colts line for a 39-yard run, adding a four-yard touchdown on the next play. Then, more punts. The greatest quarterback rivalry in history started out as a punting contest between Lee Johnson and Hunter Smith.
Midway through the second quarter, Patten drew a 26-yard pass interference penalty to put the Patriots in Colts territory. The Patriots handed off five times and kicked a 47-yard field goal. The Patriots led 10-0. Their future Hall of Famer could not quite be trusted to do more than draw defensive flags just yet.
Manning began one of his classic marches down the field before halftime: dinks, dunks, audibles, draw plays. Just before the two-minute warning, New England's Otis Smith stepped in front of a deep pass along the right sideline, hauled it in, raced upfield, weaved behind the block of cornerback Ty Law until he reached the opposite sideline and, finally, arrived in the end zone for a 78-yard touchdown.
Smith said he ran so far on the play that his legs were tired. "You get depressed, try to make a play," Manning said of the throw. "You either make the play or get burned."
The Colts got burned again when they could neither move the ball nor the clock on their next possession. The Patriots got the ball back near midfield, and with the help of two runs for 19 yards by Kevin Faulk (and one four-yard pass by Brady) they got into range for another field goal. It was 20-0 at halftime. The Patriots had already rushed for 141 yards. Their defense had provided a touchdown. Brady was 6 of 12 for 52 yards.
The Colts turned the ball over two more times in the third quarter, leading to five Patriots handoffs, one incomplete Brady pass and a field goal. Manning was battling the elements, a great defensive game plan, his own misfires and now the clock. Manning finally led a scoring drive late in the third quarter, one that ended with a 10-yard touchdown scramble, of all things. But Brady answered, with more than a little help from his running backs: a 38-yard screen pass to Antowain Smith and a 17-yard completion to Patten set up a Faulk touchdown.
A 30-7 fourth-quarter lead against Manning, even a decade ago, was not absolutely safe. A 37-7 lead was. Two plays after Faulk's touchdown, Manning looked for Ken Dilger but found Law instead. Law intercepted the pass, fell down, got up before being touched and raced to the end zone, Otis Smith returning the favor from earlier in the game by throwing a key block.
Garbage time ensued. The final score was 44-13. Manning did not even finish the game; journeyman Mark Rypien led the Colts' late, meaningless drives.
Brady finished the game 13 of 23 for 168 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions and that lone sack on the game's first play. His longest completion was the screen to Smith. It was no performance for the ages, though it was better than Manning's. "Brady played, as they say, within himself," wrote the Hartford Courant. "He did a real solid job," Belichick said.
Brady himself gave credit where it was due. "That was our offense," he said. "We're looking to throw the ball and run the ball. As a quarterback, you're looking for situations where you don't have to throw the ball every down. Believe me, I like seeing Antowain bust down the left side."
That was that: a lopsided upset, kudos for the team effort, game ball for the running back, great job managing the game, son. There was no reason to think that the greatest quarterback rivalry in NFL history had just begun.
The Aftermath
The Colts lost their next two games after that windy Foxboro meeting, including a rematch with the Patriots in Indianapolis made famous by Patten's performance: The receiver caught a touchdown, rushed for another and threw for a third in a 38-17 win. After a few victories, the Colts embarked on a five-game losing skid, and questions began swirling around Manning, who was among the league's interception leaders. Had the NFL figured him out? The Colts finished the season with a 6-10 record, their star of the future having apparently reached his plateau as a guy who racked up big stats in a dome but could not -- wait for it -- win the big games.
New England, meanwhile, geared up for a quarterback controversy. "The Yahoos are out there already," wrote Kevin Mannix in the Boston Herald after Brady's debut, seeming to mock the talk-radio banter. "Get rid of the overpaid statue who's been clogging up the pocket for years. Give the exciting, energetic young kid a chance. See if Brady can be the updated of version of Steve Grogan to Bledsoe's Jim Plunkett."
"You know what?" Mannix concluded. "The yahoos are right."
Brady became the quarterback with "it." The magic. The swagger. The bullsnot. Dozens of unheralded quarterbacks have had "it" after winning a game with the help of hundreds of running back yards and some defensive touchdowns. The archives are full of magical moxie reports after debut starts, most of them rushed to publication in the heady hours just after that first victory, before reality sets in, the magic fades, and we remember that quarterbacks who specialize in dumping screen passes and handing off don't win very often.
But for once, the kid really had "it." Or, more appropriately, Brady had more talent than expected, a better arm and body than the ones he left college with, outstanding teammates, a great defense, a great system, realistic expectations and yes, the work ethic and will to succeed. Brady kept leading the Patriots to victory. Bledsoe returned to health, but his immobility had become a true liability for a team with a mediocre offensive line. Brady remained the starter, and he became more of a passer and less of a handoff specialist. A dozen wins and some postseason controversy later (that's a whole other long-form essay, folks), Brady was a champion who climbed over the back of Manning to get there.
And the greatest quarterback rivalry in NFL history was born. Brady and Manning would meet three times in the playoffs, Brady's Patriots winning twice, Manning's Colts finally turning the tide in a third meeting that chased away the champ-versus-choke demons. Brady currently leads Manning 8-4, postseason included, but their annual regular-season matchups -- nearly every one a high-scoring, hotly contested classic -- became the Continental Divide of each NFL season. There was what happened before Brady-Manning, then the turning point game, then what happened after. More than a decade later, the game is still a referendum, this Sunday it's on the Patriots' worthiness to remain among the league's contenders and the Broncos' wisdom in trying to build around an old, injured warrior. The story of Brady and Manning is the story of 21st century football.
But in September of 2001, that story didn't look like much, and no one can blame you for watching Kurt Warner instead.


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Beyonce's Visual Album Earns No. 1 Spot for Second Week
It's safe to say that 2013 was the Year of Beyonce. In the past 10 days, the R&B queen has sold 991,000 copies of her visual album. So it's no surprise that her collection retains its No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 chart for a second consecutive week.
Buoyed by digital sales from iTunes and CD purchases at brick-and-mortar stores, the album moved 374,000 copies during the week ending Dec. 22. Queen Bey's self-titled LP is now the 12th biggest-selling album of 2013. And with only one more tracking week left in the year, it's likely that the 'XO' singer will finished among the top 10 sellers.
Interestingly, fans have also illegally downloaded Beyonce's self-titled effort as well.
According to Musicmetric and Billboard, 240,000 copies have been bootlegged off the Internet since its Dec. 13 release.
Had those MP3s been purchased legally, Beyonce would have grossed $3.8 million in sales at $15.99 per album.
While these numbers could be tabulated as lost sales, Musicmetric's Chief Executive Gregory Mead believes that the data could be useful in gauging her audience.
"The usefulness of BitTorrent data is that it allows record labels to have an incredibly detailed insight into where their artists are popular -- right down to the town," he told Billboard. "Although the file-sharing numbers may be high, it will be possible to translate many of these into buyers."


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Students' Art Projects
Several students in the graduate program of Visual and Cultural Studies are also active in producing artwork using various media such as film, photography, and interactive media.
Cohort of 2012, Joel Neville Anderson, is also an independent experimental filmmaker. His work has been screened at Anthology Film Archives, Bronx Museum of the Arts, as well as school campuses and community events. Among his films is Invert the Vessel (2009), a featurette-length experimental drama shot in multiple formats telling a story of magnetism in relation to botany, computers, and love. For his complete work, visit Joel's website: http://www.joelnevilleanderson.com/.
Recent cohort of 2013, Alicia Chester, has been an artist working in lens-based media for a while. Her work has been exhibited in such venues as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Co-Prosperity Sphere (Chicago), PEREGRINEPROGRAM (Chicago), Paragraph Gallery (Kansas City), and Artcite (Windsor, ON). In her ongoing project Every Acconci in the Video Data Bank, she is attempting to remake every video by renowned performance artist, Vito Acconci, in the collection of the Video Data Bank, but with women and an HDSLR camera. One example from this project is Open Book (2012), recording how a Chicago-based artist, Yasi Ghanbari, addresses the viewer while attempting to speak for nine minutes without closing her mouth. For more of Alicia's work, visit her website: http://aliciachester.com/.
Lina Zigelyte, cohort of 2010, has been making sound art and interactive art projects. Among her works are, Transmisija (2013), an audiovisual project that brings together queer historiography and Vilnius' public spaces, and Searching for Simone (2013), a soundscape on intimacies, memory, the beach, and Simone de Beauvoir. Searching for Simone comes along with a map-like artist book and was done during Lina's stay as artist-in-residency at Nida Art Colony (Lithuania).
Cohort of 2012, Tara Najd Ahmadi, has been actively producing artwork since she was living in Iran. For her, working with hand painted film, stop motion animation, and puppets is a way to resist brutal political reality with playfulness, and suggest an alternate narrative of history. This approach can be seen in her works such as the video diary series, Productive Frustration (2012). Tara has exhibited in Tehran, Croatia, Paris, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Ohio, Tucson, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. For her complete work, visit Tara's website: http://taranajdahmadi.com/.


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Pakistan--basic Facts, Volume 11
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NM Tech's PRRC Uses Nanotechnology to Monitor Gases, Dec. 6, 2005
by Shawna Carter
SOCORRO, N.M., Dec. 6, 2006 — New Mexico Tech researchers Hai Xiao, assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Junhang Dong, assistant professor of chemical engineering, recently teamed up with scientists at Arizona State University (ASU) to start a research project titled "Development of Nanocrystalline Doped-Ceramic Enabled Fiber Sensors for High-Temperature In-Situ Monitoring of Fossil Fuel Gases."
The ongoing project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy through the National Energy Technology Laboratory and is part of the Petroleum Recovery Research Center's (PRRC) push toward alleviating some of the nation's most pressing energy and environmental problems. The PRRC, located on the university's campus in Socorro, is a research division of New Mexico Tech.
Xiao and Dong, along with researchers at ASU, hope to create a low-cost, reliable, miniaturized gas sensor capable of fast, accurate, in situ monitoring of gas composition in flue or hot gas streams in harsh environments.
Sensors of this type are essential in developing high-efficiency, clean energy technologies such as low-emission fossil fuel-based power systems. However, currently available gas chemical sensors cannot withstand the hostile environment found in fossil fuel energy systems.
The resulting sensor will be one of many sensors developed using nanotechnology at New Mexico Tech. In recent years, Dong's and Xiao's research groups have teamed up to develop new types of nanomaterial-enabled, fiber-based optical chemical sensors, which are used for a multitude of purposes in the energy industry.
These sensors have recently attracted considerable interest from scientific society, industry, and government agencies because of their outstanding advantages, such as capability of in situ monitoring, small size, immunity to electromagnetic interference, safety, remote operation, and survivability in extreme environments.
For example, an all-optical fiber-based sensor has been demonstrated for quick and sensitive detection of trace chemicals in gas and liquid phases. These new types of sensors would be useful in many critical areas, including emission control, environmental pollutant monitoring, food and water quality assurance, biological and medical analysis, and even in homeland security, such as for the detection of explosives.
The collaborative PRRC research project involving Arizona State University began earlier this year in July and will terminate in June of 2008.


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Bill Downes
Chief Information Security Officer and Vice President Chief Technology Officer Engineering, The Hartford Financial Services Group, IncBill Downes is Vice President of The Hartford's Information Protection organization and has 29 years of experience in the field of Information Systems. Downes is responsible for the day to day operations of the Information Protection organization which is accountable for Information Protection across The Hartford's Global Enterprise. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a member of the LOMA CISO Council, Computer Security Institute Peer Group and on The Board of Directors for Connecticut Police Foundation. Prior to assuming his current position he developed and implemented The Hartford's Threat Management Team.


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Arthur Hailey's Strong Medicine is the story of Celia Jordan, a detail woman who rises through the ranks of a major pharmaceutical company, Felding Roth. The story begins with Celia getting chewed out by a young doctor, Andrew Jordan, for wasting his time while his patient id dying of hepatitis. Celia returns the next day with an experimental drug, which saves the patient from certain death. This experience draws them closer and they get married. Celia r...
The Evening News
Crawford Sloane is the lead anchorman at CBA news. One day his wife, son, and father are kidnapped by terrorists. The news crew feels they can do a better job with their resources and contacts of finding out who the terrorists are and where they took Sloane's family, than can the FBI. So Harry Partridge leads up a team of crack TV people, who search for clues throughout the northeast to try to find out who took Sloane's family and why. The trail lead...


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(a) The Legislature recognizes that the higher education goals set forth in section one-a, article one of this chapter are of utmost importance. The Legislature further recognizes that meeting the goals may require the appropriation of funds above the current operating budgets of the institutions.
(b) It is, therefore, the desire of the Legislature to increase funding annually for higher education at a rate not less than the annual percentage increase in the overall general revenue budget.
(c) If the commission or council, or both, determines that appropriations are insufficient to fund the requirements of the institutional compacts under its jurisdiction, the commission or council first shall consider extending the length of the compacts or otherwise modifying the compacts to allow the institutions to achieve the benchmarks in the compacts. If modifications to the institutional compacts are not sufficient to allow the institutions to meet their benchmarks, the commission or council, or both, shall recommend to the Legislature methods of making the higher education system more efficient. The methods may include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Administrative efficiencies;
(2) Consolidation of services;
(3) Elimination of programs;
(4) Consolidating institutions; and
(5) Closing institutions.


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If I walk into any restaurant, deli, coffee shop in the United State there will be a sugar packet caddy. My choices are pink, sunny yellow, pale blue, (saccharin, sucralose and aspartame). Sometimes one has to ask to get the classic white packet. New to the caddy is happy green. I was startled to find out the Americans consume 16 pounds per person of zero-calorie sweeteners . The choice to use them is an attempt to quench the insatiable American sweet tooth without the calories. Unfortunately there is no evidence that people who consume non-calorie sweeteners lose weight. In some instances, they gain it.
The new kid in the caddy comes with an interesting history and another load of false promises. Truvia or Purevia are trade names for the new zero calorie sweetener. Once again we are being led to believe that THIS ONE is somehow different, more natural.
Stevia is an herb native to Paraguay. The annual plant grows 1-2 feet tall with pale green leaves. The leaves can be gathered and dried then ground to a fine powder or steeped in water to make a liquid. The chemical substance in the stevia plant responsible for the sweetness is rebiana. It is said to be 300X sweeter than sugar – one teaspoon of stevia equals the sweetness of one cup sugar. Plus stevia is low in calories – 1/10 of a calorie per leaf. Our own Center for Science in the Public Interest seemed nonplussed about the sweetener. They cited the Scientific Committee on Food for the European Commission which concluded that "there are no satisfactory data to support the safe use of these products [stevia plants and leaves]." CSPI's round-up on stevia also cited pro-stevia articles to be fair. That's good because other experts felt stevia's use was perfectly safe, a suitable sweetener for diabetics.
Because the FDA would not give stevia the rubber stamp as a food, it stayed out of mainstream food products and was only sold as a "supplement". The plant came to the forefront in 2008 when Cargill and the Coca Cola company teamed up to patent a new no-calorie sweetener using rebiana. The problem is that this new "natural" sweetener is it not a made by a simple grind or steep of stevia leaves. Though trade secrets are highly guarded, we do know that Truvia combines rebiana with erythritol, a sugar alcohol. Though there may be a lack of long-term studies supporting human consumption of rebiana, there are plenty condemning ingestion of erythritol. In studies (true, done with rats) there is an increased elimination of protein in the urine and in some cases kidney calcification. Read more here from the Quality Systems, GMP, Regulatory site.
The caddies full of pastel packets seem so friendly, so normal, so reliable. Just some innocent granules to sweeten the coffee or tea. Every few years a new color is added as evidence mounts up against the pink, blue or yellow. I say stick with the sweeteners where we have lots of history and research about the detrimental affects. I shake and tear the classic white, light brown or add dab of honey. Calories be damned. What do you stir into your ice tea?


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Kemper — SuicideGirl of the Day [PICTURES]
Introducing Kemper, a SuicideGirl who gets sick of people easily, looks up to Wonder Woman and loves sharks as much as she loves puppies. Now those are two very different types of pets.
Name: Kemper
Age: 23
Location: California
Body mods: Tattoos and implants.
Heroes: Wonder Woman.
Gets me hot: Talk science to me.
Fantasy: To meet someone I can stand to be around for more then 2 months.
Cigarettes: Nope.
My diet: Omnivore.
Alcohol: Occasionally.
My drug use: Drug free.
I am looking for: A woman.
My kink factor: I'll try anything once, especially if you beg for it.
Pot: Nope.
My status: Single.
My pigeonholes: Arty, jazz cat, tattooed, straight edge, retro, bookworm and geek.
Into: Sharks and puppies.
Not into: Indoor pools and loud roommates.
Makes me happy: My dogs, breakfast, happy hour, sleep.
Makes me sad: No dogs allowed, high kill shelters, strays, teachers that don't pass out a syllabus and being away from my dogs.
5 things I can't live without: vibrator, my dogs, car, sleep, chapstick
Vices: Procrastinating, masturbating, procrasturbating and I'm a total creeper.
I spend most of my free time: Searching for the mythical clitoris.
1. Hank Williams Sr.
2. Ella Fitzgerald
3. Peggy Lee
4. Karen Elson
5. Violent Femmes
6. Smashing Pumpkins
7. Cake
8. Louis Armstrong
9. Patsy Cline
10. Queen
1. I Am Legend
2. What Dreams May Come
3. Sense & Sensibility & Sea monsters
4. The Stand
5. The Devil's Teeth
6. Greek Mythology
7. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
8. Resurrection
9. Candide
10. Pride & Predjudice & Zombies
SuicideGirls is a community that celebrates alternative beauty and alternative culture from all over the world. Since 2001, tens of thousands of models have submitted millions of photos to their website hoping to become SuicideGirls.


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Charity Wakefield — Crush of the Day
Millions of people all over the nation got to know Charity Wakefield this weekend. The UK actress co-starred in the NBC 'Munsters' remake 'Mockingbird Lane.'
The show aired as a one-time special, and it's doubtful if it'll return as a regular series. Still, we thought Wakefield was great as the "normal" one in the creepy Munster clan, Marilyn.
Wakefield, a Sussex, England native, has also appeared in a number of BBC TV productions, and she has a long theater resume as well.
Here's hoping we get to see her gracing our screen again soon, even if 'Mockingbird Lane' doesn't make the cut.


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'Special relationship': Oracle bags UK.gov contract renewal
Cabinet Office sticks to big biz for Whitehall database – with some caveats
Database giant Oracle has bagged a renewed contract to supply its technology to Whitehall in a deal that the Cabinet Office claimed would save £75m for taxpayers by 2015.
The California multinational is one of the biggest provider's to government, Francis Maude's department said when announcing the agreement this morning.
It outlined the following areas where those savings will supposedly be met:
- A single discount. In the past, different parts of government have brought software from Oracle on different terms and at different discounts. Today's deal will mean that the government acts as a single, intelligent client, with all departments buying software using the same discount rate.
- Licence sharing. Software licences can be re-used across departments rather than each department having to buy licences that the government already owns.
- Bulk buying. The government can maximise its buying power and buy in bulk as a single customer.
- Shared services savings. Savings from the government's spend on back office (so called "shared services", such as HR and payroll) through reduced requirement for software upgrades.
The Cabinet Office appears to have struck a fairly good deal with the database company, which appears to loosely tie in with Maude's apparent desire to move the government away from being locked in to single suppliers – even as it in effect remains locked in.
After all, the fact remains that the Cabinet Office has once again inked a deal with a huge supplier rather than farming out the work to smaller players. Oracle remains a key government supplier – at a cost.
Indeed, the agreement is likely to dismay those who thought G-Cloud would open up government databases, middleware and business applications to greater competition from smaller businesses.
Oracle is notorious for its expensive pricing, especially when it comes to its per-core pricing model.
Pricing for products such as WebLogic has been hiked, with Oracle paying little attention to customers who have complained about the increases.
Meanwhile, Maude has said he "aspires" to meet a target of 25 per cent to "channel" government business to SME suppliers by 2015.
Oracle's president and CFO, Safra Catz, unsurprisingly welcomed the contract renewal. She said:
The relationship with the UK government has always been very special to Oracle.
Maude claimed the deal represented "better IT for government and savings for the taxpayer".
He added: "The days of the government paying different prices for the same goods or services are over - we will no longer sign inflexible contracts that tie the taxpayer into unfavourable terms.
"We are pleased to have made these savings with Oracle and expect more deals with other suppliers to follow."
The Cabinet minister began renegotiating Oracle's government contract in August 2010.
But do those 'savings' add up?
Earlier this month, the National Audit Office – which scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament – warned against certain aspects of the Cabinet Office's approach to negotiations with key suppliers to government.
"The initiative for government departments to share back-office functions has suffered from an approach which made participation voluntary and tailored services to meet the differing needs of individual departments. The result was over complexity, reduced flexibility and a failure to cut costs," said head of the NAO Amayas Morse.
"The new Cabinet Office strategy on shared services acknowledges these issues but, if it is to achieve value for money, it must learn the lessons from past implementation. Only in this way can the sharing of back-office functions have a realistic prospect of contributing towards the government's drive to cut public spending in the long term," he added.
The NAO published a report highlighting that a £47m upgrade investment was required from the government to cover the costs of updating Oracle's ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems before November 2013 at three shared service centres.
At present, the Cabinet Office spends around £1.5bn a year on finance, procurement, HR and payroll systems.
The NAO noted in its report that Maude's department would be required to cough up around £50m of transition costs and between £26m and £77m on redeployment, offset by one-off savings of £32m by shunning the Oracle upgrade costs.
But the public spending watcher urged caution about the Cabinet Office's ambitious strategy and said that the estimate of transition cost appeared "low for such a large and complex programme." ®


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Bulldogs Move Into Second Place In Ivy League With Two Games Left
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Yale University women's basketball team was aiming to win more than eight games against Ivy League competition in a season for the first time in 22 years on Saturday. To do so, the Bulldogs had to pull off their first season sweep of Harvard 17 years.
Sophomore guard Megan Vasquez scored 15 of her game-high 23 points to help Yale accomplish both feats thanks to a 78-64 win over Harvard at Lavietes Pavilion, the Bulldogs' first win at Harvard since Feb. 17, 2001.
The Bulldogs earned an 82-71 win over Harvard at Yale on Feb. 11.
"I thought the last win over them at home was the best win I've ever had here at Yale, but this one definitely beats it," senior forward Mady Gobrecht said. "Every time I've been up here, we have gotten blown out. I can't even describe what I'm feeling after this win."
The win moved the Bulldogs (13-13, 9-3 Ivy League) past Harvard (16-9, 8-3 Ivy League) into second place in the Ivy League standings with two games remaining. The win also gave Yale its first season sweep of Harvard since the 1993-94 season. The Bulldogs remain a game and a half behind Princeton (21-4, 10-1). The Tigers and Crimson both have three games remaining.
It is the first time that Yale has won more than eight Ivy League games since a 10-4 campaign in 1988-89 and the third time overall. The Bulldogs went 9-5 in 1986-87 and have finished 8-6 in league competition five times until this season.
"A Harvard win should be that big. That is a credit to them. That it is that big of a deal is only a complement to Harvard," said Chris Gobrecht, the Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954, Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We feel like we're playing really well right now. That is mostly where we are getting our confidence from right now. We are really catching our stride. We had been waiting for that to happen and finally it did. It's awesome."
Trailing 6-4, Yale took control of the game using a 23-4 run over a 7:51 span to open up a 27-10 lead with 8:47 left in the half. Senior captain Yoyo Greenfield scored five of Yale's points in the run, while Mady Gobrecht and junior forward Michelle Cashen each had four points in the run.
Yale's defense was just as stellar in that span, holding Harvard to only one field goal — a Brogan Berry jumper at 14:55 — and a pair of free throws.
However, Harvard regained its composure during an official timeout at 7:55 and came back on the floor and scored the next six points before sophomore guard Allie Messimer stopped the run with a 3-pointer at the 3:15 mark.
Harvard wasn't finished, however, and completed a 12-5 run over the final 7:24 to trim the deficit to 32-22 at the halftime buzzer. Elise Gordon scored Harvard's final six points of the half, including a layup at the buzzer to give the Crimson the momentum heading into the locker room.
Freshman forward Janna Graf kept Yale in control of the game at the start of the second half, scoring eight of Yale's first 12 points of the half, keeping Yale ahead 44-32 with 14:06 to play.
"The way we started the second half was critical because they had a lot of momentum going into halftime and that's where Janna really gave us a lift at the beginning of that second half," Coach Gobrecht said. "She was fresh because she sat so much of the first half after picking up her second foul (with 9:08 left in the first half)."
Harvard responded with an 11-3 run to trim the deficit to 47-43 with 8:28 remaining, but that was as close as the Crimson would get.
Vasquez regained control of the game for the Bulldogs with a 3-pointer followed by an old-fashioned 3-point play that put the Bulldogs back on top 53-43.
"That was huge that Megan made those plays. The clutch free-throw shooting was also huge for us at the end from Megan, Michelle and Aarica West," Coach Gobrecht said.
Harvard got no closer than six points, and that came inside the final minute. Yale sank 13-of-14 free throws in the final 1:22 to secure the victory. Cashen made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch, while Vasquez and sophomore guard Aarica West each went 4-for-4 from the line.
Vasquez was 7-for-8 from the foul line and added seven rebounds to her fifth 20-plus-point performance of the season. Cashen finished with 17 points, including an 11-for-12 performance from the foul line, and eight rebounds, while Graf finished with 13 points. West chipped in seven points, nine rebounds, six assists, and six steals, with all seven points coming in the second half.
Senior Emma Markley was the top Harvard scorer in her final home game of her Crimson career. She finished her Senior Night performance with 17 points. Victoria Lippert scored 14 points off the bench, while Berry added 13 points and eight rebounds.
"I had high hopes for us," Greenfield said. "I'm not saying I expected us to be in this position, but I'm really proud of the girls. I'm a positive person so I was hoping for this. We were only up by four with 8:28 left, so to actually push through and win is a big deal for us."
Yale returns home to close out the 2010-11 regular-season schedule. The Bulldogs will play host to Columbia on Friday at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Bulldogs will honor seniors Yoyo Greenfield and Mady Gobrecht during pregame Senior Night festivities prior to taking on Cornell at 7 p.m.
"We have something to play for," Coach Gobrecht said. "We have the possibility of postseason play. We have to take care of business next weekend."


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Originally posted May 2010
My Mother died in December of 2007. A week after she died I sat down and wrote this brief and inadequate tribute to her.
A sincere Happy Mother's Day to all to whom it applies. I still miss her.
The night after the bells tolled for her in the hospital, my Mother stayed awake all night fearing that she would die in her sleep before seeing my brother Robert who was driving in from Las Vegas that night. Inevitably, she found a blank piece of paper, folded it into quarters, unconsciously mimicking the folios of her beloved Shakespeare (or maybe not unconsciously--I, too, tend to underestimate her), and wrote down her thoughts. I know that she would not mind my sharing a bit of what she wrote.


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<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Zjy_dXIkzfM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We like to fossick and gather the unique and different.
We'd like to add you to The Kerbside Kollection.
You will get your first Piazza d'Oro Coffee on us, and a little spesh sumthin' sumthin's
on your birthday. Not to mention invites to RAD events, and just generally be in the know.
Don't forget to Like us (we already like you) and check in when you come visit!
Check out a quick clip of Bobby Alu at the website launch ...link below
From raw beginnings as a young punk playing with The Gastric Chunks and Acid Moon, Morgyn Quinn (aka Rudi Quinzalez) started his career at underground festivals such as EarSex and monthy noise gigs at the local community centre.
In 1999 Rudi toured Japan as bass player with Gudju Gudju and stayed as a guest with the Ainu people of Hokkaido. In 2001 Rudi visited the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, researching the origins of Rastafarian culture and satisfying a deep love of reggae music.
In 2003 Rudi settled in Brisbane and founded Rudekat Records and going on to play in such acts as Hot rubber Glove, The Dynamic Thrills, Die Rude, The RudeKat Sound System and The Senors alongside such players as Paulie B (The Beautiful Girls, Bobby ALu), Lachlan Mitchell (Laneous & The Family Yah), D KazMan (Dubmarine, and Sunny Dread (The Zionites).
What started as an ethical clothing label specializing in original screenprints, the company soon expanded to include live events and music releases.
As well as being an avenue to release Australian reggae and independent music, Rudekat Records has been the creative force behind the Kuranda Roots Festival (2003 - 2013), West End Carnivale (2009 - 2010) and Island Vibe Festival (2006 - 2013). Rudekat also co-developed a DIY Event Management course for Youth at the Byron Bay YAC.
Rudekat Records has always been a strong supporter of environmental groups and causes, donating popular tee shirt designs to The Wilderness Society and The Australian Marine Conservation Society. Island Vibe has a strong environment record and has been twice awarded by the prestigious international A Greener Festivals Award. Wherever possible, Rudekat uses recycled materials for posters and CD manufacture, promotes recycling and DIY composting at festivals, and abstains from sweat-shop produced merchandise.
A trademark of Rudekat events is a cross fertilization of cultures, with a strong focus on Indigenous and Pacific artists and World Music. Rudekat has been proud to work with a stunning line up of star acts over the years including Archie Roach, The Easy Star AllStars (US), Prince Alla (Jamaica), JipaJiroa (Vanuatu), Opiuo, Spoonbill, Blue King Brown, Katchafire (NZ), Nicky Bomba, Chali 2na (US), The Black Seeds (NZ), House of Shem (NZ), Olmecha Supreme (NZ), Ladi 6 (NZ), Little Bushman (NZ), 1814 (NZ), The Beautiful Girls, Mista Savona, Grace Barbe, Oka, Dubmarine, Kooii, Kingfisha, Electric Wire Hustle (NZ), Zennith, Mantaka, The YuluBarribah Dancers, The Groote Eylandt Dancers amongst many others.
Rudekat events are also supportive of emerging artists, youth and showcasing various artforms, including circus, cabaret, spoken word, comedy, dance and visual arts.
Welcome to Rudekat Records - Brisbane's iriest online Reggae and Roots music store! Join our mailing list for news on free music, latest releases and wicked festivals!


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Personally, i do not enjoy spending $140 on a speed controller (ESC) for my planes, the price is to steep for my pocket, but being in the RC hobby, i was forced by my own will to at least purchase one and see what all the hype was. So here i am after a solid -$140 "well spent" which ill explain why in a bit, i got myself a Castle Creations Phoenix 80 Brushless ESC.
I originally purchased this ESC for my wild wing running on a 5S Lipo with a Medusa inrunner motor, outputting a solid 1200 watts, click here to watch the video, there is nothing negative i can say about the Phoenix 80 except for its price. After about 50 or so runs, i connected the esc for one more flight and noticed a bright light which was a circuit burning and a loud popping sound, yup the esc had seen its last day, which brings me to the reason why it was worth spending $140. I sent the ESC back to Castle Creations and sure enough they replaced it with a brand new one. Here is the picture below. So thank you CC
Now if you own a Castle Creations ESC, you will most likely need to program it, so thanks to Bob at the field i fly at, he gave me a Castle Link USB Programming Kit.
If you don't have one, i assume you can find one from ebay or amazon or directly from Castle.
With this Kit, you will need a Mini USB Data Cable which i had from my Sony Camera. You will also need the Castle Link Software V3.26, click here to download it.
If you get stuck and need help on how to use the software, click here to download the PDF user guide for the Castle Link Software
Now if you want a cheaper alternative with pretty much the same functionality, i would go with the Turnigy Super Brain 80A Brushless ESC at around $52.26


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Author Notes: I'm a curd fanatic. I eat the stuff straight out of the bowl. When I saw this rhubarb curd on a couple blogs, I was instantly smitten and had to try it for myself. It's got the zing and intrigue of passionfruit curd, but it's...pink! I'm in love. The shortbread is an adaptation of (shocker!) Karen DeMasco's recipe, with some spices added to complement the rhubarb. - Rivka —Rivka
Food52 Review: On top is a silky and tangy blanket of rhubarb curd (made just like lemon curd) and beneath is a pad of thick and crumbly spiced shortbread. Genius! We made the shortbread in the food processor and suggest that you do, too, if you have one handy. The curd takes some elbow grease, it must be said. Think of it as your workout for the day. Once you have the two basic elements, all you do is fuse them with an icing spreader and finish with a few minutes in the oven. - A&M —The Editors
Serves: 16 bars
Prep time: 1 hrs 30 min
Cook time: 1 hrs 5 min
for the curd
pound rhubarb (about 6 stalks)
tablespoons water
cup sugar
egg yolks
cup plus 1/8 cup sugar
teaspoon lemon zest
teaspoons lemon juice
tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
For the shortbread
tablespoons butter, cut into chunks
cup powdered sugar
teaspoon salt
1 1/2
cups all-purpose flour
teaspoon powdered galangal or ginger
teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cloves
- Wash rhubarb and trim as little off the ends as possible. Cut rhubarb into 1-inch chunks. In a small saucepan, heat rhubarb, 1/4 sugar, and water on medium. Cook until rhubarb falls apart and there are no whole pieces left, adding water by the tablespoon if rhubarb sticks to the bottom of the pan. At this point, either use an immersion blender to puree the mixture, or (if you're like me and your blender is otherwise occupied) push the mixture through a strainer. The first method is definitely easier.
- Preheat oven to 350. Now, make the shortbread: blend all ingredients in a stand mixer or food processor until combined. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about 1 hour. Then, either roll into 8×8 square and place square in 8-inch square baking pan, or dump dough into pan and use fingertips to press evenly into pan. Bake 30 minutes, until golden. Let cool on a rack or on the counter.
- Add a couple inches of water to the pot of a double boiler and set over medium heat. Put egg yolks, butter, remaining sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in the boil of the double boiler and whisk to combine. When sugar has dissolved completely, add the rhubarb puree by the spoonful, to temper the eggs. When all rhubarb has been added, set bowl over pot; the water should be simmering. Continue stirring the rhubarb mixture; after about 5 minutes, the mixture will be warm and slightly thickened. At this point, remove from heat. Press through a strainer -- this will give your curd that smooth, pudding-like texture.
- Use an offset spatula to spread curd evenly over shortbread. If you haven't eaten half the bowl right then and there, you should have enough curd to make a layer about the thickness of the shortbread; I didn't. Bake another 10 minutes, then remove from oven and cool on rack. Refrigerate about 20 minutes, and you'll find that they've firmed up enough to slice cleanly. Cut into 16 equal bars. Dust with powdered sugar before serving; do your best not to polish them all off in one sitting.
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