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Science Uncovers "Couch Potato" Type of Fat and Lazy TB
The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is in enormous need of newer ways to combat the disease. Each year, 9 million people develop TB and about 2 million die. Newer drug resistant and multi-drug resistant strains are complicating treatment efforts worldwide, especially in resource-poor nations and when combined with treating HIV disease. Now, results from a recent British study looking at how tuberculosis (TB) survives during transmission have uncovered "fat and lazy" bacteria, which may present a new avenue for prevention and treatment.
This study built upon a separate recent observation that some TB cells contain a substance called triacylglycerol synthase that is found in TB bacteria as they enter a very slow or non-replication state in their life cycle. The researchers set out to investigate the phenomenon further in newly diagnosed people. Samples of mucous from the lungs (sputum) of untreated people in the United Kingdom and Gambia were examined for the presence of lipid bodies and compared to TB samples grown in the lab. Over time, the lab samples were exposed to different stressors, such as a lack of oxygen, to find out how the TB responded.
The reason for the "fat" remark directed at this very slow or non-replicating TB is due to discovering lipid bodies containing the fat triacylglycerol within the cells. More triacylglycerol built up as the lab cultures were continually stressed during this state. The more stress that TB encountered, the more fat that accrued and the slower it replicated. This phenomenon may also apply to TB being stressed from anti-TB drugs, though this study did not evaluate that.
What appears to be happening is that one of TB's survival techniques is to build up fat and slow down its replication cycle. Stressors -- like its access to less oxygen or other factors present -- force TB into a slow state of replication. The researchers concluded that TB may need to enter this state of "fatty laziness" in order to survive during transmission and infection. This is likely also a reason why TB is so persistent and difficult to treat. A normal course of treatment lasts six months, while some people need longer courses.
Not much is known about this persistent non-replicating part of TB's life cycle. It has been generally accepted that sputum contains rapidly growing bacteria that are released from infected areas of the lungs. Yet these results show that fat and lazy TB bacteria actually outweigh active TB in sputum. Finding these populations of fat and lazy TB in all the sputum samples presents new considerations for changing how the disease is treated.
Treatments for TB have remained static for decades, so finding new avenues to stop TB transmission and infection have become critically important. The results from this study may provide researchers new targets to exploit the components of these TB "couch potatoes". Drugs could then be designed to interfere with this cycle, ultimately finding new ways to treat and perhaps cure TB infection and disease. At the least, treating TB in this fat and lazy state might reduce the burden that people face by having to take six months of drugs.

subset: commoncrawl


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Standing beside my Cousin John was what seemed to be a beautiful blonde haired girl holding a football and wearing a football uniform. The child seemed to be 11 or 12 years old.
I looked at the picture closer and didn't make reference to my thinking the football player was a girl.
I love looking at pictures of Cousin John because his facial features look so much like my Daddy. You can tell by looking at him, he's kind, but not the type of fellow you would want to cross.
Cousin John had on overalls, an Alabama hat and sunglasses and was holding his mouth in such a way that reminded me so much of my Daddy.
I said to myself, "These are my people; this is where I come from."
Asking Cousin John's daughter tactfully, "Who is that with Cousin John?"
She replied, "That's Billy Bob! My son's best friend."
Feeling relieved that I had not stuck my foot in my mouth, which I am very capable of doing; I continued to keep my mouth shut. Cousin John's daughter went on to say, "Billy Bob has recently been diagnosed with…"
She didn't finish her sentence.
Billy Bob's mother finished it for her, "Epilepsy."
It kind of set me back.
Then I learned a little more about epilepsy and a lot more about Billy Bob.
In the United States, more than 300,000 children under the age of 15 have been diagnosed with epilepsy. More than 90,000 of those children have seizures that cannot be adequately treated.
Billy Bob has had a number of health issues that have been challenges to him and his family. Throughout his life, he and his parents have been back and forth to the Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.
This past October, the doctors diagnosed Billy Bob with benign rolandic epilepsy, a form of Pediatric Epilepsy Syndrome.
Benign rolandic epilepsy is a common childhood seizure syndrome, with seizures beginning between 2 and 13 years of age. The seizures most commonly observed with Billy Bob's type of epilepsy are partial motor seizures (twitching) or a sensory seizure (numbness or tingling sensation) involving the face or tongue and which may cause garbled speech. In addition, tonic-clonic (formally called grand mal) seizures may occur, especially during sleep.
Children are amazing… Billy Bob is extraordinary.
First, is "Billy Bob" his real name?
His name is "William Robert," taking names from each of his granddaddies.
His Uncle Jonathan tagged him "Billy Bob" and that is the name he prefers. It is also the name that friends, teachers, doctors, teammates and the opposition call him.
He is famous.
He should be.
As noted, Billy Bob calls my cousin, "Pawpaw John," even though they are not related by blood. Down home, folks look out for each other and having "extra grandparents" that aren't related to you is a welcome thing.
Cousin John describes Billy Bob's football skills as follows, "In the open field, Billy Bob will knock the fire out of you." Cousin John used a little more of my Daddy's sailor language, which is very acceptable when describing football skills in Alabama. In particular, tackles in the open field.
I have always preferred, "He will field-dress you in the open field."
Cousin John knows what it means to have the fire knocked out of you – he was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries in Vietnam. Therefore, if he says Billy Bob is capable of doing that – I believe him.
His parents did go through much consideration, consultation and prayer in deciding to let him play football. They also considered how much Billy Bob loved playing football.
With that golden blonde hair hanging out of his helmet, Billy Bob plays middle linebacker on defense and wingback on offense. You have to just love it. A fellow named Billy Bob who plays linebacker in the woods of one of Alabama's most beautiful counties – Nick Saban, the coach at the University of Alabama needs to get in his vehicle and head due east before Auburn finds out who is in their backyard.
As you would imagine, Billy Bob takes a lot of flak for his hair being so long and blonde on top of that. He hears the "Is that a girl?" or "Are you a girl?" At 11 years-old and in a football helmet and uniform, you can understand how folks might make that mistake.
If this doesn't get you, nothing will.
Billy Bob was visiting his doctor in Anniston, Alabama a few years back and he had grown his hair a little long. The doctor who has developed a special relationship with Billy Bob told him, "I know there are a lot of sick kids who would like to have that hair."
After leaving the doctor's office, Billy Bob asked his mother what the doctor meant about sick kids needing hair. His mother showed him on the computer where the Locks of Love program uses donated hair to create hair prosthetics for children.
Having seen many children in the hospital with no hair, Billy Bob didn't realize it was because they were sick. He decided that he wanted to grow his hair out to give away to kids who needed it.
Billy Bob is working on growing his third hair donation for Locks of Love.
Billy Bob is 11 years-old.
Billy Bob has epilepsy.
Billy Bob will knock the hell out of you in an open-field tackle.
That is not all.
Billy Bob's name has 3 B's when you include his last name, but he has never had a "B" on his report card. He is proud of his Junior Beta Club membership!
Someday, Billy Bob hopes to be a game warden because he loves being outside and in the woods so much. He is hooked on the fact that game wardens get paid to be in the woods.
When I was a little boy, my Mama used to read me a story about a little boy named Harold and his purple crayon by Crockett Johnson. In "Harold and the Purple Crayon," the little boy has the power to create a world of his own simply by drawing it with his purple crayon.
Billy Bob has taken his purple crayon and drawn a world filled with adventures that are not only fun for him, but amazing for us to stand back and watch.
November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, wear a purple ribbon or draw with a purple crayon and know that there are lots of tough little girls and boys living with a cruel and puzzling disease.
I bet you have friends or relatives who may suffer from the various forms of this disease - help them if you can. Sometimes the best way to help is by learning more about the disease.
Billy Bob's success is attributable to not only his determination, but to wonderful parents, brothers, other family members and a supportive community. A community who knows "Billy Bob" is a name to be proud of on the football field, in the classroom, in the woods and in life helping others.
On a sidebar, I would be cheating you if I didn't share a picture of Billy Bob's mama's pink jeep. She had it painted pink to honor her grandmother, her husband's grandmother and breast cancer survivors everywhere.
At this point you say – This IS the good stuff.
I say, "These are my people; this is where I come from."
And also, "Watch out for Billy Bob in the open field, I've heard he is a beast."
Cranks My Tractor
Share this story with friends - it helps me a lot. "Like" the Cranks My Tractor Facebook Site, if you have not already.
Kindle owners, give me a try on the Kindle, it keeps me writing.
Twitter folks, follow me on Twitter (@CranksMyTractor).
Tell 27 people you love them today; something good will happen.
I'm BN Heard and I like semicolons, dogs and children who are heroes.
Copyright, BN Heard


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CHAPEL HILL � Kinston�s boys and girls basketball teams may have owned Chapel Hill and the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday, but it was home that motivated them to victory.
CHAPEL HILL � Kinston�s boys and girls basketball teams may have owned Chapel Hill and the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday, but it was home that motivated them to victory.
Following its girls� 51-40 win over Canton Pisgah and its boys� 56-53 win over Waxhaw Cuthbertson in the state 2A title game sweep, both head coaches were quick to heap praise on a town that doesn�t get enough of it.
Roughly 1,200 fans clad in green showed up to see Kinston�s girls win the first girls basketball championship in county history, then about 800 more showed up to see the boys cap the sweep and win their second state title in a row.
�When you think about Kinston basketball and the tradition, there�s no better place,� boys coach Perry Tyndall said. �And to be able to come home and bring two to the community, and the community rally around us, it�s pretty special.�
Girls coach Hubert Quinerly has seen the spectators at his girls games go from a handful of fans to a half-packed gym.
To the town, girls basketball is no longer just a bridge between the junior varsity and varsity boys.
�We�re so happy for our city. They�ve been there to support us throughout the whole year. This is not just them showing up today. This has been an entire year�s worth of dedication to our program,� Quinerly said.
�Our motto is, �Kinston tough.� That�s what we are. That�s what our city is.�
Summer heat
For years Kinston�s boys have held voluntary summer workouts, and they always participate in their former coach Wells Gulledge�s East Coast Invitational team camp. But with the girls, that hasn�t always been the case.
The Vikings have improved in each of the last four years, and each season began with voluntary summer workouts and scrimmages. Junior Brittany Drumgoole may have rather wanted to enjoy the beach or sleep in, but she and her teammates gave that up to work towards a state title.
�I feel like it�s the best feeling in the world. We used to tell coach that we didn�t want to come to workouts in the summertime, but we had to come work out,� she said. �We weren�t forced to do it, it was a choice. And it all paid off in the long run.�
No more curse
During the post game press conference, Denzel Keyes was asked what it means to play for such a prestigious and accomplished high school basketball program, and the only thing the senior could think of was ridding the Vikings of some rare bad luck.
Until Saturday, Kinston�s boys had never won a state championship in an odd-numbered year. Their previous three titles each came two years apart, beginning in 2008.
The Vikings entered Saturday�s title game 0-2 in state championship games ending in odd years (2001, 2007).
�We�re just all happy that we broke the curse, and won a state championship in an odd year because we�ve only won state championships in even years,� said Keyes, who had a team-best 18 points and 10 rebounds.
�I�m just glad we did that. No more curse.�
Too close for comfort
In most of Kinston�s wins this season, both boys and girls, the outcomes were decided by halftime. But such wasn�t the case on Saturday.
Although the girls pulled away late for an 11-point win, the game featured three ties and five lead changes. The boys� game was much closer, having six ties and six lead changes, and it came down to the final possession � just like the previous two between the state�s top two 2A teams.
Cold then hot
In the girls championship game neither Canton Pisgah nor Kinston could get much going on offense in the first half.
The Vikings had been deadly from 3-point range all season, but found themselves heading into the locker room after missing all five of their attempts in the first half. But in the second, they hit 4 of 6 on their way to their first state championship.
�It was a little bit of us and it was a little bit of Pisgah � they put some pressure on us,� Quinerly said. �I thought we had some nerves, which was normal. � Our offense is going to work. We weren�t going to change anything that we did all year just to get here to the state championship � that got us here.�
Ultimate team player
Josh Dawson walked off the Dean Dome floor Saturday as the most accomplished high school basketball player to ever walk Kinston�s halls. No, he�s not a McDonald�s All American and committed to play at a major Division I school like Reggie Bullock was in 2010, but from a team aspect, Dawson�s three state titles in four years are the most any one individual has received in the sport since the school opened in 1970.
The senior guard was also named the MVP of the regionals and in Saturday�s title game, sending him out with a bang. But with sophomore Brandon Ingram earning two state championship rings in two years, there is a chance he could best Dawson in the jewelry department.
And Dawson hopes he does.
�The fact that Brandon has two rings and I�ve got three, I want him to get four,� Dawson said, �just so he can be better than me.�
Having the runs
Both of Kinston�s state championship wins were decided by one big run � a 9-0 streak in the third quarter for the girls and a 13-2 spurt midway through the second half for the boys.
Cuthbertson coach Mike Helms didn�t know what to say about his team coming up on the short end of the game-deciding run, other than he knew one of the teams was going to do it.
�Gosh, I don�t know. We had said over on the bench that somebody�s going to make a run right here, and it�s probably going to be the difference in the game. And unfortunately it was the team in white. I don�t really have the answer, I really don�t,� he said.
�In a game like that usually there�s some runs that take place and you�ve just got to weather it. We had some runs in the first half that weren�t quite that big. You�ve just got to weather it and try to keep playing. Unfortunately that was just big enough.�
A 2A three-peat?
Now that Kinston and Cuthbertson have met in the state finals for two consecutive years, there�s already talk about it happening a third time next season, but it will be tough.
The Cavaliers are losing nine seniors and Kinston is losing eight � and each team is losing four starters.
�Coach Tyndall and I talked before the game and both of us agreed that the one thing we wanted was a great high school basketball game, and I think we got that,� Helms said. �The two teams have played three times now and all three times it�s been a one-possession game. There�s not much difference in (the teams). It�s a matter of having the lead at the right time in these games.
�Hat�s off to them. They�re a great basketball team and well coached. We have really enjoyed competing with them.�
In Sunday�s Cuthbertson-Kinston game story, The Free Press incorrectly said the Vikings had won four state titles in five years. It�s actually a six-year stretch � 2008-13 � and they plan on working towards making it five of seven in 2014.
�I�m just going back into the gym and working hard and staying humble,� said super sophomore Ingram, the only one who played all 32 minutes for Kinston on Saturday.
�I still want to get to the state championship next year. I�m looking forward to it.�
Correspondent Keith Spence and Managing Editor Bryan C. Hanks contributed to this notebook. Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.


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In Sweden, museums are anything but boring and stuffy. The Nobel Museum, for example, is small but delightful, and surprisingly high-tech. The Museum of Modern Art not only has Bacons and Warhols on display but also progressive video art; and the Vasa Museum uses modern techniques to portray life on a medieval Viking ship. These are 3 top Stockholm museums in a nutshell.
For a small capital, Stockholm has quite a lot to offer culturally. There are dozens of museums in all imaginable categories, from classic and modern art to science and Vikings. When the sun refuses to shine, there is still plenty to do. If you are planning to visit several museums, it's advisable to get a Stockholm Card, which gives you unlimited public transport and access to more than 80 museums and attractions for 1, 2, 3 or 5 days.
In Moderna Museet, Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art that was beautifully rebuilt by Spaniard Rafael Moneo, you can enjoy one of the world's most prestigious 20th-century art collections with works by the likes of Picasso, Dalí, Bacon and Warhol. In addition, the museum houses progressive video art, film, dance and music, a trendy café and restaurant, and a well-stocked museum shop. An admission ticket costs €13.50 and part of the museum can be visited for free on Fridays from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
Alfred Nobel's most famous invention – dynamite – is on display in a beautifully lit display case. Einstein, Röntgen, and 874 other Nobel Prize winners are also honoured: their portraits – accompanied by texts and explanations – move through the museum above visitors by means of a rail system. There are also biographic films on the winners and the 'e-museum' contains a complete moving Nobel encyclopaedia and various interactive installations. Enjoy a cup of coffee at the museum café and let all the impressions sink in.
The Vasa was once the largest, most powerful and most garish warship in the world. But it sank under the weight of all the weaponry on board during its first journey in 1628 only minutes after putting to sea. The ship lay on the seafloor for more than 3 centuries. When it was rediscovered half a century ago, it turned out to be virtually completely intact. The recovery of the ship was a 2-year monster operation and media circus. This giant ship is still a must-see for all Stockholm visitors.


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HAGART wrote:... Are there places, like an Astral Plane, that exist beyond our own subjective experience, and can be verified by more than one person. If you describe the place to someone, can they answer, "Yea, I've been there too! I etched my name on a tree and you can go and find it there." Or you might meet a dream character who is not just in your mind, but also visits other people as if it has a life of it's own. ...
Fascinating thread! You're right, defining 'real' is key.
I heard somewhere 'All realities are illusions, and all illusions are real', or something like that...
I think one issue comes from taking physical reality as the standard for what is real. Maybe there are other 'real places' out there that don't follow the same rules as physical reality at all. Maybe there are realities where if I etch my name in a tree and tell you to go find it there, you will go and you will find it there, but only because I told you so. Maybe anyone else who does not know I etched that name in that tree would never see it.
Some talk about 'collective fields of consciousness', that can be experienced in a similar way by many people of similar beliefs. That makes some sense to me, and it's one of my goals to try to get out of my 'personal field of consciousness' during lucid dreams, and try to visit collective fields that I am interested in. Maybe a shared dream between two people would be one step closer to that, a mini-collective creation between two people.
Concerning creatures in the astral having a life of their own, maybe those 'exist' in the collective unconscious of humanity, if such a thing exists? Maybe there are some cultural archetypes, that one might encounter depending on their culture, time in history, etc... Some talk about 'resonance', meaning that I will not encounter something that at a consciousness level I don't resonate with? Again, the laws 'out there' might not be the same at all as physical laws, and maybe something 'out there' cannot hurt me unless I believe it can. That's what I chose to believe until proven otherwise, though I admit that my personal experience in those matters is very limited.
Speaking about personal experience, I can only mention two very basic ones: first one, in my second LD, I found myself in that place I called a void, very odd and disorienting, with no reference points, no ups and downs, just darkness with pale flashing lights here and there, and then I saw that exact description of this place in Frederick Aardema's book and he called it 'the void' too. That's not something I had ever heard of before. Second experience: in my third LD, I had a very strong desire and a very strong intent to meet another consciousness. I did instantly end up in a very odd place that looked just like TV static noise. I could not go beyond. I did share that story here and there, and recently I found another person who experienced the exact same thing when she intended to meet someone else in her LD, even though in her case she was able to push through this 'TV static plane' and make it to her target. Interestingly, she posted her story BEFORE I had my experience, on a private site which I had no access to, and she used the same words I did, also describing it as 'TV static noise'. Maybe that's a type of barrier one encounters when trying to exit the personal field? Those two examples don't prove anything, and I am sure there are tons of more interesting stories out there, but as a beginner, they do intrigue me and certainly motivate me to keep exploring.


text: Mr David James (who has his PIT code) is the chief representative of a multinational in Vietnam. The representative office is implementing tax compliance such as deduction, declaration and payment for taxable income of Mr. James. However Mr. James prefers to pay PIT himself instead of paying via Representative Office. Is this acceptable?


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Trial date set for Boston Marathon bombing suspect
BOSTON — Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will stand trial beginning Nov. 3.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole set the trial date at a Wednesday hearing. The trial is expected to last about three months. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Tsarnaev, who faces more than 30 federal charges in the April 15 twin bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.
Tsarnaev, who faces the death penalty, has pleaded not guilty.
Tsarnaev, 20, and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, allegedly planted two pressure cooker bombs at the finish line of the marathon, where thousands of runners and bystanders had massed.
A few hours after the FBI released their photos, the brothers allegedly shot Sean Collier, a campus police officer with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Authorities say the pair then hijacked an SUV, forcing a hostage to withdraw $800 from an ATM machine and were planning to travel to New York City. Authorities were able to track the SUV through the driver's cell phone.
Tamerlan died in an April 18 shootout with police. Dzhokhar, wounded in the shootout, was captured a few hours later as he hid in a boat parked in the backyard of a Watertown, Mass., home.
Tsarnaev attorney Judith Clarke had sought a trial delay, saying prosecutors have not provided access to evidence.
A Nov. 3 trial date "will be impossible for us to meet," said Clarke. The attorney said there was no way her team could review evidence and line up expert witnesses in such a short time frame. In a filing earlier this week, the defense requested a trial date no sooner than September 2015.
Clarke's team has not been able to review more than 2,000 items that could be potentially used as evidence, which are reportedly undergoing FBI analysis. The items "are in the lab, but until they tell us when and where we can view them, we cannot complete automatic discovery," said Miriam Conrad, a defense attorney for Tsarnaev.
O'Toole, however, was unmoved.
"That's the calendar," he said. "I think it is a realistic one and a fair one."
Wednesday's hearing attracted a nearly full courtroom, including bombing victims and MIT Police Chief John DiFava, Collier's boss.
Some observers expect the trial date and venue to be moved.
David Frank, editor of legal affairs newspaper Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, said the Nov. 3 trial date "isn't realistic" and could become an issue on appeal if Tnarnaev is convicted.
"It's a serious issue," Frank said. "We're talking about a defendant's fundamental right to a fair trial."
A March 12 hearing is scheduled, at which O'Toole is expected rule on further motions in the gathering and review of potential evidence. A decision on the venue for the trial is expected at a June 18 status conference.
Strauss (@gbstrauss) reported from McLean, Va.


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Thursday, June 21, 2012
The second is that I'm also going to have to buy some new wheels. I've got a 2001 Ford Ranger that's pretty much reached the end of the road. In any event, I don't feel like pouring hundreds of dollars into it any more. So there's also that.
The third reason is that I'm once again rethinking the whole raison d'etre of this site. I'm not thinking of closing it down, just greatly expanding its coverage.
Just so you know.
19 comments:
NOOOOOOO! Don't take Bad Vestments Blog away! Think of the children!
Seriously Chris, I hope all that stuff goes smoothly for you.
- June 21, 2012 at 2:36 PM
I wish you well on numbers 1 and 2. And, I greatly look forward to eventually experiencing number 3.
- June 21, 2012 at 2:37 PM
- Keisha said...
This blog is really funny. I hope you come back.
Good luck with all your stuff.
- June 21, 2012 at 5:08 PM
Whatever you need to do, and please come back.
All the best!
- June 21, 2012 at 6:22 PM
- NBW said...
I hope all goes well for you. And I hope you continue with Bad Vestments.
- June 21, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Wish I was in the area to give you a hand moving.
-Midwestnorwegian (strong back, weak mind UFFDAH!)
- June 22, 2012 at 5:24 PM
- The Underground Pewster said...
Maybe you could add some "Bad Lookin Old Trucks" to the gallery.
- June 25, 2012 at 9:56 AM
I have just the thing for you.
- June 26, 2012 at 3:56 PM
- Fradgan said...
T]Pewster, there's nothing "bad lookin" about a Ford Ranger. I suggest a 2012 model.
- June 30, 2012 at 1:15 AM
Mr. Johnson, your conservative, antiquarian view of ecclesiastical vestments and buildings will be missed if but a short while. Good luck with the move. Not to anything too contemporary, I hope.
- July 3, 2012 at 10:54 AM
- The Dogfather said...
A friend gave me a link to your blog a couple of years ago, and I have enjoyed it ever since. I visited again yesterday because I am a diaconate candidate in the EO Church, and we were looking at vestments for my upcoming (God willing) ordination. This blog is needed, but it is probably enough to stay focused on the vestments, church architecture, liturgical travesties and related topics. This site works because it is VISUAL, and not a collection of unverifiable FOAF stories. The pictures pretty much tell the story.
- July 3, 2012 at 12:27 PM
- Denita Arnold said...
Good luck! :)
- July 6, 2012 at 4:20 PM
- Brook Hedick Packard said...
and to think of all the funny images at General Convention. Sigh.
- July 6, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Man, does that mean we'll have to wait for the surely notable train wrecks from TEC's Conference...Alas.
- July 16, 2012 at 10:48 AM
- GeorgeMitges said...
The advantage for Food and Agricultural business could be the management of all crux-of-the-matter from production to consumption through accomplishing certain tasks, which includes, up to the mark quality and consumer safety procedures to follow environmental protection standards. It also called as end to end supply chain process.
- July 18, 2012 at 1:13 AM
- Cantor Nikolaos said...
Please expand your coverage to include the horrid Allen "organs" some people buy instead of pipe organs.
How about the $300,000 toaster at St. Andrews in Roanoke, VA? Wasn't there a canon against electronic organs? I'd give anything if they'd enforce that. I'd give anything if the Greek Orthodox Church would abolish toasters! Let's crusade against toasters!
- July 20, 2012 at 12:49 PM
- Cantor Nikolaos said...
If you talk about ugly trucks, trash-talk the ugly modern trucks. Those cargo trucks from Pakistan aren't too bad. What I dislike is how ugly modern International, Freightliner and other commercial trucks are. Look at the beauty of the old Freightliner Classic and the old Peterbilt and then look at the curvy crap they make now! Yuck!
- July 20, 2012 at 1:01 PM
- Sponsa Agni said...
It would be really sad to loose this blog - to cheer you up I can show you this:
Greetings from Germany!
Sponsa Agni/http://ecce-sponsus-venit.blogspot.de/
- August 7, 2012 at 5:54 AM
Tip: New suffragan bishop of Virginia. http://www2.timesdispatch.com/mgmedia/image/0/0/249993/female-bishops-ordination/
- August 8, 2012 at 8:02 AM


text: Director Adam Smith's family-crime drama Trespass Against Us received an Official Selection nod at last year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), as well as top nods at the British Independent Film Awards and the Zurich Film Festival. Following a number of runs at various film festivals here in the United States, the film received a brief limited release back in January, but as of now we have yet to see it picked up for major distribution in theaters nationwide, but here's hoping that changes! Written by documentary director Alastair Siddons (Turn it Loose, Inside Out), Trespass Against Us follows a man who comes into conflict with his outlaw father and family after he decides he must find a way out of his own criminal world in order to provide a better future for his own family. Michael Fassbender (Macbeth, The Light Between Oceans) and Brendan Gleeson (Cold Mountain, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) lead the cast as Chad and Colby Cutler, the father and son who come to arms with each other over the former's desire to break free of his criminal past. Continue reading


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pH Test Strips by Vaxa - 100 count
Code: ph_litmus_test_paper_strips
Product Details
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100 Litmus Strips


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Biosphere, relatively thin life-supporting stratum of Earth's surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the ocean. The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors from which they derive energy and nutrients.
Before the coming of life, Earth was a bleak place, a rocky globe with shallow seas and a thin band of gases—largely carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, molecular nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and water vapour. It was a hostile and barren planet. This strictly inorganic state of the Earth is called the geosphere; it consists of the lithosphere (the rock and soil), the hydrosphere (the water), and the atmosphere (the air). Energy from the Sun relentlessly bombarded the surface of the primitive Earth, and in time—millions of years—chemical and physical actions produced the first evidence of life: formless, jellylike blobs that could collect energy from the environment and produce more of their own kind. This generation of life in the thin outer layer of the geosphere established what is called the biosphere, the "zone of life," an energy-diverting skin that uses the matter of the Earth to make living substance.
The biosphere is a system characterized by the continuous cycling of matter and an accompanying flow of solar energy in which certain large molecules and cells are self-reproducing. Water is a major predisposing factor, for all life depends on it. The elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, when combined as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids, provide the building blocks, the fuel, and the direction for the creation of life. Energy flow is required to maintain the structure of organisms by the formation and splitting of phosphate bonds. Organisms are cellular in nature and always contain some sort of enclosing membrane structure, and all have nucleic acids that store and transmit genetic information.
All life on Earth depends ultimately upon green plants, as well as upon water. Plants utilize sunlight in a process called photosynthesis to produce the food upon which animals feed and to provide, as a by-product, oxygen, which most animals require for respiration. At first, the oceans and the lands were teeming with large numbers of a few kinds of simple single-celled organisms, but slowly plants and animals of increasing complexity evolved. Interrelationships developed so that certain plants grew in association with certain other plants, and animals associated with the plants and with one another to form communities of organisms, including those of forests, grasslands, deserts, dunes, bogs, rivers, and lakes. Living communities and their nonliving environment are inseparably interrelated and constantly interact upon each other. For convenience, any segment of the landscape that includes the biotic and abiotic components is called an ecosystem. A lake is an ecosystem when it is considered in totality as not just water but also nutrients, climate, and all of the life contained within it. A given forest, meadow, or river is likewise an ecosystem. One ecosystem grades into another along zones termed ecotones, where a mixture of plant and animal species from the two ecosystems occurs. A forest considered as an ecosystem is not simply a stand of trees but is a complex of soil, air, and water, of climate and minerals, of bacteria, viruses, fungi, grasses, herbs, and trees, of insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
Stated another way, the abiotic, or nonliving, portion of each ecosystem in the biosphere includes the flow of energy, nutrients, water, and gases and the concentrations of organic and inorganic substances in the environment. The biotic, or living, portion includes three general categories of organisms based on their methods of acquiring energy: the primary producers, largely green plants; the consumers, which include all the animals; and the decomposers, which include the microorganisms that break down the remains of plants and animals into simpler components for recycling in the biosphere. Aquatic ecosystems are those involving marine environments and freshwater environments on the land. Terrestrial ecosystems are those based on major vegetational types, such as forest, grassland, desert, and tundra. Particular kinds of animals are associated with each such plant province.
Ecosystems may be further subdivided into smaller biotic units called communities. Examples of communities include the organisms in a stand of pine trees, on a coral reef, and in a cave, a valley, a lake, or a stream. The major consideration in the community is the living component, the organisms; the abiotic factors of the environment are excluded.
A community is a collection of species populations. In a stand of pines, there may be many species of insects, of birds, of mammals, each a separate breeding unit but each dependent on the others for its continued existence. A species, furthermore, is composed of individuals, single functioning units identifiable as organisms. Beyond this level, the units of the biosphere are those of the organism: organ systems composed of organs, organs of tissues, tissues of cells, cells of molecules, and molecules of atomic elements and energy. The progression, therefore, proceeding upward from atoms and energy, is toward fewer units, larger and more complex in pattern, at each successive level.
This article focuses on the makeup of the biosphere and examines the relationships between its principal components, including man. The characteristics and dynamics of biological populations and communities are dealt with, as are the interactions that constitute the primary stabilizing links among the constituent organisms. Due attention is also given to the distribution patterns of these biotic units and to the processes that produced such patterns. The major aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems of the Earth are treated in some detail. Other points include energy transformations and transfers within the biosphere and the cyclic flow of materials needed for life. For the development, methodology, and applications of the study of interrelations of organisms with their environment and each other, see ecology. Further treatment of the various aquatic and terrestrial environments is provided in ocean, lake, river, continental landform, Arctic, and Antarctica. For a discussion of the origin of life on Earth and the varieties of and commonalities among organisms, see life and Earth, pregeologic history of. The characteristics and classifications of living organisms are covered in detail in algae, amphibian, angiosperm, animal, annelid, arachnid, arthropod, aschelminth, bacteria, bird, bryophyte, chordate, cnidarian, crustacean, dinosaur, echinoderm, fern, fish, flatworm, fungus, gymnosperm, insect, lamp shell, mammal, mollusk, moss animal, plant, protist, protozoa, reptile, sponge, and virus.
The diversity of life
The biosphere supports between 3 and 30 million species of plants, animals, fungi, single-celled prokaryotes such as bacteria, and single-celled eukaryotes such as protozoans (Figure 1). Of this total, only about 1.4 million species have been named so far, and fewer than 1 percent have been studied for their ecological relationships and their role in ecosystems. A little more than half the named species are insects, which dominate terrestrial and freshwater communities worldwide; the laboratories of systematists are filled with insect species yet to be named and described. Hence, the relationships of organisms to their environments and the roles that species play in the biosphere are only beginning to be understood.
The organization of the biosphere
Natural groupings
This tremendous diversity of life is organized into natural ecological groupings. As life has evolved, populations of organisms have become separated into different species that are reproductively isolated from one another. These species are organized through their interrelationships into complex biological communities. The interactions in these communities affect, and are affected by, the physical environments in which they occur, thereby forming ecosystems through which the energy and nutrients necessary for life flow and cycle. The mix of species and physical environments vary across the globe, creating ecological communities, or biomes, such as the boreal forests of North America and Eurasia and the rainforests of the tropics. The sum total of the richness of these biomes is the biosphere.
Processes of evolution
This hierarchical organization of life has come about through the major processes of evolution—natural selection (the differential success of the reproduction of hereditary variations resulting from the interaction of organisms with their environment), gene flow (the movement of genes among different populations of a species), and random genetic drift (the genetic change that occurs in small populations owing to chance). (See evolution.) Natural selection operates on the expressed characteristics of genetic variants found within populations, winnowing members of the population who are less well suited to their environment from those better suited to it. In this manner, populations become adapted to their local ecosystems, which include both the physical environment and the other species with which they interact in order to survive and reproduce.
The genetic variation that is necessary for a species to adapt to the physical environment and to other organisms arises from new mutations within populations, the recombination of genes during sexual reproduction, and the migration of and interbreeding with individuals from other populations. In very small populations, however, some of that variation is lost by chance alone through random genetic drift. The combined result of these evolutionary processes is that after many generations populations of the same species have widely divergent characteristics. Some of these populations eventually become so genetically different that their members cannot successfully interbreed, resulting in the evolution of a separate species (speciation).
The diversification of life through local adaptation of populations and speciation has created the tremendous biodiversity found on the Earth. In most regions a square kilometre (0.4 square mile) will harbour hundreds—in some places even thousands—of species. The interactions between these species create intricate webs of relationships as the organisms reciprocally evolve, adapting to one another and becoming specialized for their interactions (coevolution; see community ecology: The coevolutionary process). Natural communities of species reflect the sum of these species' interactions and the ongoing complex selection pressures they constantly endure that drive their evolution. The many ecological and evolutionary processes that affect the relationships among species and their environments render ecology one of the most intricate of the sciences. The answers to the major questions in ecology require an understanding of the relative effects of many variables acting simultaneously.


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Time to dig out that cabana wear.
Earlier this year, the Jaguars disclosed their plans to sell cabana space near two pools in the north end zone of EverBank Field for the upcoming season.
And from the sound of it, the Jaguars might have struck a nerve with the cabana-going set.
In a story published Monday by SportsBusiness Journal, Jaguars senior vice president of sales Chad Johnson indicated the club had sold 65 percent of the 20 cabanas for the season, whether via single-game sales or season-long sales.
According to SportsBusiness Journal's Don Muret, the most expensive cabanas have pool access and will cost $12,500 per game, with food and drink (beer and wine) included. These "Spa Cabanas" can hold 50 people and include televisions and seating.
The Jaguars and city of Jacksonville are revamping the north endzone as part of a $63 million agreement to spruce up EverBank Field, which opened in 1995.


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Annabel J. Wharton
William B. Hamilton Professor of Art and Art History
Ph.D., University of London (UK) 1975
M.A., University of Chicago 1969
B.S., University of Wisconsin at Madison 1966
ANNABEL WHARTON, William B. Hamilton Professor of Art History, Duke University, and Vincent Scully Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture in 2014, received her Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute, London University. Initially her research focused on Late Ancient and Byzantine art and culture (Art of Empire [Penn State] and Refiguring the Post-Classical City [Cambridge]). Then she began to investigate the effects of modernity on ancient landscapes, notably in Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture (Chicago, 2001). She has combined her interests in the Ancient and the Modern in her last two books: Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks (Chicago, 2006) and Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings (Minnesota, 2015). Architectural Agents considers material and digital buildings as agents that both endure pain and inflict it. She has begun work on a new project treating the theory and practice of models, conceptual and material, analog and digital, tentatively titled Manipulating Models.
ExpertiseEarly Christian & Byzantine Architecture, architectural history, medieval architecture, modern architecture, religious visual culture, new technologies for visualizing historical materials
Contact Information
114 South Buchanan Blvd, Smith Warehouse Bay 9, A288a Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
Wharton, AJ. Models as Manipulators. 2016.
Wharton, AJ. Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings. University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
Wharton, AJ. Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Themeparks. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Wharton, AJ. Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
Wharton, AJ. Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Wharton, AJ. Art of Empire: Painting and Architecture of the Byzantine Periphery. A Comparative Study of Four Provinces. University Park, Pa & London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988.
Wharton, AJ. Tokali Kilise. Tenth Century Metropolitan Art in Byzantine Cappadocia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies XXII. Washinton, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees of Harvard University, 1986.
Kazhdan, AP, and Wharton AJ, . Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.
Wharton, AJ. "The Istanbul Hilton, 1951-2014: Modernity and Its Demise (Accepted)." Mid-Twentieth Century Architecture in Turkey. Ed. M Gürel. Routledge, 2015.
Wharton, AJ. "The tribune tower: Spolia as despoliation." Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine. January 1, 2012. 179-198.
Wharton, AJ. "History and Fiction." Archaeology, Politics and the Media. Eisenbrauns, 2012. 85-90.
Wharton, AJ. "The tribune tower: Spolia as despoliation." Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine. December 1, 2011. 179-197.
Wharton, AJ. "History and Fiction." Archaeology, Politics and the Media. Eisenbraun, 2010.
Wharton, AJ. "Jerusalem in Varallo: From Truth to Fiction." Imaginary Cities: Fictions of Space in the Early Modern World. Ed. C Houghton and D Purdy. Penn State Press, 2009.
Wharton, AJ. "Remaking Jerusalem." Modernism and the Middle East. Ed. S Isenstadt and K Rizvi. University of Washington Press, 2007. 29-35.
Wharton, AJ. "Commodifying Space: Hotels and Port Bellies." Hospitality: A Social Lens. Ed. C Lashley, P Lynch, and A Morrison. Elsevier, 2006. 101-116.
Wharton, AJ. "Icon, Idol, Fetish, and Totem." Icon and Word: The Power of Images in Byzantium. Ed. A Eastmond and L Hunt. London: Ashgate, 2003. 12-23.
Wharton, AJ. "Erasure: Eliminating the Space of Late Ancient Judaism." From Dura to Sepphoris: Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity. Ed. LL Levine. Ann Arbor, MI, 2000. 195-214.
Wharton, AJ. "Relics, Protestants, Things." Material Religion 9.4 (2014).
Wharton, AJ. "Jerusalem's zions." Material Religion 9.2 (June 2013): 218-242. Full Text
Wharton, AJ. "John Ruskin: Ethics in Economics." History of Political Economy 43.2 (2011). (Academic Article)
Wharton, AJ, and Amiri, A. ""Home in Jerusalem: the American Colony in Jerusalem"." Post Medieval Archaeology 45.1 (2011). (Academic Article)
Wharton, AJ. "Shaping the 'Public Sphere' in Second Life: Architectures of the 2008 US Presidential Campaign." Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 2.2 (2009): 1-14. (Academic Article)
Wharton, AJ. "Jewish Art, Jewish art." Images 1.1 (December 1, 2007): 29-35. Full Text
Holloway, RR, and Wharton AJ, . "Constantine and Rome." Church History (2005). (Review)
Biddle, M, and Wharton AJ, . "The Tomb of Christ." Journal of Early Christian Studies (2004). (Review)
Cody, JW, and Wharton AJ, . "Exporting American Architecture." (2003). (Review)
Wharton, AJ. "Two Waldorf-Astorias: Spatial Economies as Totem and Fetish." Art Bulletin 85 (2003): 523-543. (Academic Article)
Wharton, AJ. "Jerusalem Architecture: Old Is bitter, New Is Ugly." Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East, special issue MEI (2008).
Wharton, AJ. "Empire Building." New Statesman (January 2005).
Wharton, AJ. "Height of Fashion." New Statesman (September 2001).
Baptisteries, , Decoration, B, and Wharton AJ, . "The Dictionary of Art." (1996).
Pseudo-Sacrality and Its Dangers: David's Tomb. Diversity and Conformity in Muslim Societies. December 24, 2010
ACLS Fellows (ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowships and ACLS/New York Public Library Fellowships). American Council of Learned Societies. 2002
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellow. Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. 1993


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Apparently, all those veteran receivers the Saints brought in recently weren't in play for the third wideout job.
The Saints released Steve Breaston and Patrick Crayton Monday, ending their short stints with the team.
According to Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Saints also waived five players: Defensive backs A.J. Davis and Dion Turner, linebacker Chase Thomas, wide receiver Jarred Fayson and guard Ricky Henry.
Clearing out those older wideouts is a good sign the team's growing more comfortable with players such as Nick Toon and Kenny Stills. They're looking for a dependable third after Joe Morgan was lost for the season to a knee injury, and Toon showed some deep play ability Friday night against the Raiders, and could take advantage.


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Sound like you had the same experience as I did on my first ride on my E9. What I found was that the stopper had been set far to low and hence the de-power range on the bar was just about 30 cm so I had the feeling of kiten with an old c-kite from early 05. Had to edge like mad to control the kite. I did finally just get ridd of the stopper altogether to get something like a "normal" sheeting range, now the kite was completely controlable and nice, realy nice infact.
If you get a chance to try it again, possibly with another bar, let us know how it turns out.
As you has stated you have a Naish Cult and in my experience these kites are possibly the best kites ever made for gusty horrible winds. I did have a Naish 14 m Helix, and boy was that a kite that could handle gusty overpowered riding .
I just have to say that the Element 13 and Element 9 are realy good, allround kites but are a bit put down by the bar system (mostly the stopper) that I believe need som work.