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cheeseaholic wrote:I'm a bit curious about the end of the conversation here. The king says they'll need another loophole, but the prediction that he says doesn't require one for them to survive. They "will face a major attack on the City of Homekey, and that it will come by air". Why do they need a loophole for that? I mean, I can see some. Enemy units come and threaten attack but then leave maybe. Or the father nation threatens to break alliance with massive air units. But why do they *need* a loophole? Why is fighting not simply good enough? I wonder if there's more to that prediction. Hell, there's not even a vague timeframe reference. If I were the king I'd set up a line of succession with a contract that the city will automagically change name if the king is croaked and then head off somewhere else. If there's more to the prophesy than is stated, such that the attack is imminent, hire Charlie to attack the city and blame it on the enemy to try to make the parent nation more afraid and less likely to turn then try to patch up relations with them. Or maybe just buff up defenses then.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, change the capital.
Well, the thing about Predictions is that they tell you what will happen - not what you should do about it, or what actions will best benefit you. King Posbrake's capital is not set up for air defence, and his army isn't expecting it, as Numloch has little in the way of air units and they are allied (for now) with Delkey. So he knows that a major attack is coming by air on Homekey - but what should he do? How best to prepare for it? It seems Posbrake wasn't told the outcome of the attack (or he is possibly holding it back), but having learned from the first prediction that any Prediction's wording is important, he's trying to figure out how best to move forward to ensure victory for his side. Maybe his gambles will work, maybe they won't, but if they do work, his continued success will hopefully indicate to future rulers that some traditional wisdom is erroneous, and can be used to tactical advantage in some cases.
I expect changing the capital costs major schmuckers, way too much to hide from Delkey - from whom we are expecting the atttack. They'd just change their destination accordingly. And you still need to have a capital city on your side.
LOL, I wonder if there ever was a ruler stupid enough to try eliminating his own capital, inadvertently made himself a barbarian in the process, lost all his units and such, and had to abandon the place as his purse didn't have enough income to re-found the side, and watched as his former kingdom was subsumed by his neighbours?


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Hébergement pas cher Hôtels pas cher Europe Portugal Angra do Heroismo
Foz do Igauca (Iguassu Falls)
We left Rio early this morning and travelled to Foz do Iguaca. Our flight few over Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande, where the mudslides occurred a few days ago. Our thoughts were with the residents of this area, hoping all is well. We met our guide Nelson and he suggested we head to Itaipu Dam today instead ...
Posted in Falking Off by winmouse
Paraty Paradise
It was good to leave Rio behind, I'm not a lover of cities, you always get the feeling you getting ripped off. The bus journey to paraty is only 4 hours which is a hop without the skip and a jump. Along the way we noticed a number of land slides and traffic jams around angra do reis, the town were you catch ...
Posted in South America For Two by finny7
Ilha Grande
From Paraty we caught a 2hr local bus ride up the coast to Angra dos Reis, then from Angra it was a 45min catamaran ride out to Ilha Grande. The island is largely undeveloped and only has one main ...
Posted in Gav & Kerryn in South America by gavandkerryn
Qu'est-ce qui est plus important à vos yeux?Prix Popularité

subset: commoncrawl


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---- — If you're ever going to issue a specialty license plate celebrating the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the timing couldn't be better.
The park is coming off its biggest year ever in 2012, when it played host to 1.53 million, smashing all previous attendence records. And in 2011 it was named the Most Beautiful Place in America — a pretty heady title — by ABC's "Good Morning America."
The park is on a roll, and Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear, a nonprofit "committed solely to preserving the over 300 historic structures and cultural landscapes within the Park," launched an effort to get a specialty license plate approved by the state.
The plates would cost a motorist $35 on top of the normal vehicle registration fee for the first year, then an additonal $10 a year after that; Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear would get $25 that first year, then $10 each year afterward to help pay for work on historic structures and controlling non-native species.
This isn't a new idea. The nonprofit Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes, an all-volunteer group that helps the park with a host of projects, including river, shoreline, trail maintenance and establishing new trails, had suggested a specialty plate in 2008; but with the economy going to the dogs at the time, the timing didn't seem right, according to the group's Kerry Kelly.
This isn't an inexpensive proposition. The set-up fee for specialty plates is $15,000, and the nonprofit group has to guarantee 2,000 sold in the first year and 500 annually for the next five years, a Michigan Department of State spokesman said. The plate is discontinued if sales numbers aren't met.
Given the attendence record set in 2012 and the Good Morning America endorsement, this is probably as good a time as any for a specialty plate to make it.
Much is yet to be done. A bill sponsored by Rep. Ray Franz, R-Onekama, has to be approved by the Legislature and the design — which can make or break this kind of effort — has yet to be approved. Then they have to get sold.
There's plenty of competition in the specialty plate field in Michigan. All of the state's public universities have their own, along with 10 nonprofits that support causes from organ donation to lifehouse preservation and the Boy Scouts.
But brands don't get much better than Sleeping Bear, the 50,000-acre gem perched on pristine sand dunes above Lake Michigan straddling Leelanau and Benzie counties. The park has 64 miles of beaches, two islands, 26 inland lakes and a lot of fans.
All that's needed is a few thousand of the park's Michigan admirers to volunteer their car's bumper to the cause.


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Filed under: Boomer's Health
Tuberous sclerosis (TWO-bur-uhs skluh-ROW-sis) complex is a rare genetic disease that causes noncancerous (benign) lesions to grow in many parts of the body, such as the skin, brain and kidneys. The signs and symptoms of tuberous sclerosis vary — from patches of light-colored skin to seizures or behavior problems — depending on where the lesions develop.
Tuberous sclerosis is often detected during infancy or childhood. Some people with tuberous sclerosis have such mild signs and symptoms that the condition isn't diagnosed until adulthood, or it goes undiagnosed. Others experience serious disabilities.
There's no cure for tuberous sclerosis, and there's no way to predict the course or severity of the disease. With appropriate treatment, however, many people who have tuberous sclerosis lead full, productive lives.
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"This is just an enormously sad situation," said Bernard August as he guarded the home of his neighbor, Christine Belford in Newark, DE.
She and another woman were shot and killed early Monday morning at the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington. Belford was preparing to attend a child support hearing regarding three kids she has with ex-husband David Matusiewicz.
He served prison time for kidnapping the children and taking them to Mexico.
Belford got the kids back but neighbors say she lived in constant, around-the-clock fear that they could be taken again, or that something worse could happen to them…or her.
"She had something done to the windows so that they were wired and locked and secure because at one point she thought she saw someone looking in," said neighbor Lois Dawson who lives across the street.
"She had cameras (installed) because someone was going through her mailbox," she said.
Neighbors are now coping with the fact that a friend is gone and even more devastating, that three kids are now left without a mother.
"She was a very strong person," August said.
WJBK-TV | Fox 2 16550 West Nine Mile Rd.Southfield, MI 48075Main Station: (248) 557-2000Newsroom: (248) 552-5103


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---- — AuSABLE — The cause of Friday's garage fire at 205 Grove St. is still under investigation.
"At this point, it's still undetermined," Director of Clinton County Emergency Services Eric Day said Saturday afternoon.
"The garage is pretty heavily damaged so there's not much to work with," he said.
Homeowner Michael LeCuyer suffered burns from the fire and was transferred to Fletcher Allen from CVPH Medical Center Friday.
LeCuyer was listed in fair condition at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington Saturday afternoon.
— By Staff Writer Felicia Krieg


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As the final day of the high school football season approaches, there are still a few area teams fighting for the right amount of wins to book a postseason spot.
Top ranked Blanchard and local rivals Tuttle enter their final-day encounter with the knowledge that playoffs will be in their immediate future. Minco and undefeated Alex will also take part in the postseason as the leaders in their respective districts. But Chickasha (2-4 in district) and Rush Springs (3-3) will be looking for wins they desperately need to have a shot.
5A District 1: Duncan at Chickasha
Chickasha win: Fightin' Chicks get the last playoff spot in the district if their win is by six points or more. They will play Guthrie in the first round.
Chickasha loss or win by less than six: Duncan goes fourth
3A District 1: Tuttle at Blanchard, Jones at Bridge Creek
Tuttle win, Jones loss: Tuttle goes top of the district and plays Chandler in first round. Blanchard and Jones have opponents TBD
Tuttle win, Jones win: Tuttle goes top with a win by eight points or more, will be second if win is by seven points or less and Blanchard would be third. Jones plays Chandler in first round.
Tuttle loss, Jones loss: Blanchard goes top and plays Chandler in first round.
Tuttle loss, Jones win: Blanchard goes top, Tuttle goes third.
A District 3: Pioneer at Minco, Carnegie at Watonga
Minco go through top of the district and will play fourth placed team from A District 4
Carnegie and Watonga will decide who gets final spot.
A District 4: Rush Springs at Wilson, Velma-Alma at Healdton
Rush Springs win: Redskins go third if they win and, in doing so, make up a 16 point difference between them and Velma-Alma. If they do not, Rush Springs will go fourth and play Wynnewood in the first round of the playoffs.
Rush Springs loss: They will have to Walters loses or that they do not beat Ringling by nine points or more. In either scenario, Rush Springs would go fourth.
B District 2: Fox at Alex
Alex win or loss: Regardless, the Longhorns are through to the playoffs as the top seed. They'll play either Merritt, Ringwood or Garber depending on results in B District 1.


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SWAMPSCOTT — Bryan Buckley is not playing tomorrow in Super Bowl XLVII, but his performance will be seen by tens of millions who tune in for the biggest TV event of the year.
He won't throw a pass or tackle a running back, but Buckley may be under just as much pressure, or create almost as much buzz, as 49ers' quarterback Colin Kaepernick or Ravens' linebacker Ray Lewis.
The former Swampscott resident is the director of three Super Bowl commercials for three big clients: Coca-Cola, Best Buy and Tide. Combined, they will air for only a few minutes but cost around $20 million.
"I feel really good about this year ... really solid," Buckley, 49, said yesterday before jumping on a plane for New Orleans.
Maybe, he conceded, there was a wee bit of pressure.
"We literally just finished (the Tide commercial) minutes ago," he said.
And the stakes, indeed, are high.
"You've got to come through," he said. "The big thing is you're paying for every second, so it's got to count and you've got to make things work for the client."
The Best Buy ad, which features "Parks and Recreation" star Amy Poehler, has been getting a lot of attention, but Buckley isn't picking favorites.
"They're all your children," he said. "No way you can say one child is better than the other."
While he's too humble to admit it, the 1981 Swampscott High graduate is actually a Super Bowl star himself.
His commercials have been airing since 1999. In all, he has made more than 40 Super Bowl spots.
He did the Monster.com "When I Grow Up" ad that first year, and directed Will Ferrell in a memorable Bud Light commercial. He also did a CareerBuilder ad with monkeys in the office. His FedEx "Castaway" spoof made a list of top 10 Super Bowl commercials, as did several others.


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Ask any desk jockey or cubicle dweller you know, and they're likely to tell you that their workplace is, if not Hell incarnate, then a pretty good preview of it. In Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, the new show airing on Adult Swim (Thursdays at midnight EST), the workplace is literally Hell itself. The show centers around Gary (Henry Zebrowski), a low-level demon trying to work his way up the worst corporate ladder imaginable.
The show is a hybrid of comedy and horror (think The Office meets Dante's Inferno by way of Sam Raimi), which is always a difficult proposition to pull off successfully. An integral part of the show's efforts is set designer/makeup effects guru Shane Morton, an Atlanta-based artist who's a big part of the Southern city's thriving horror scene. In addition to his work with Adult Swim, Morton stays busy with projects like the Silver Scream Spookshow and the Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse. He worked with Rob Zombie on Halloween II and is shopping around his own bikers-versus-Bigfoot flick, Dear God No! Despite juggling so many projects, Morton took a few moments to give FEARnet.com an idea of what it's like working in Hell.
FEARnet: Tell us a little bit about yourself and tell us how you got involved in makeup effects work.
SHANE MORTON: I've been a monster fanatic since I first saw King Kong when I was three years old. I've since spent my life obsessing over monster movies and haunted houses. I've worked in the haunted house industry for a couple of decades now, and I created the Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse, which is one of the world's largest haunted attractions. It's the kind of theater where people actually have heart attacks in there, literally mess their pants every night going through it.
That's a great selling point for that kind of business.
Yeah. It's a real different kind of thing. We don't even call it a haunted house in any of our advertisements because we wanted to break away from any of the stuff you've seen before in haunted houses. It's been really good for us.
I've been working in movies for decades also, as a special effects artist and set designer. I've actually produced my own film called Dear God No! which has done really great. It's out overseas. It came out in America last year. It's shot in Super 16. It's a bikers versus Bigfoot thing that myself and some of my best friends worked on.
How did you get involved with Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell?
They called me initially about doing the makeups because I'm known for being really fast. I showed them I could do a waist-up makeup in under an hour, and they loved that. I came to the meetings and realized they didn't have a designer for Hell yet, so I said, "Give me a couple of days, I'd really like to design Hell for you guys." I went home, locked the door and did about 50 drawings, a couple of paintings, shot some miniature footage, and came back in a couple of days with all of this stuff. They were like, "Okay, you've got the job."
I had to be the guy that does the first Satanic sitcom. So I really worked hard on it. I took it to heart, because the material really hits all my sweet spots.
In doing a show like this where you're trying to strike that balance between comedy and horror, so much rides on the makeup and the set design. Was it difficult to find that balance, or did you have it right away?
I knew at the first meeting what it could be, and what I would want to do if given the opportunity. I'm in the haunted house business, and in that business you have to work fast. Being in that business taught me how to make stuff big and dramatic and quickly and cheaply.
Whenever you turn on this show, there's something weird going on. There's never going to be talking heads, or people sitting at a table having a discussion over mashed potatoes. It's like, you're flipping through channels and when this show is on, you're going to stop and say, "What's going on with this?" because it's just so garish.
Everything in Hell has a twist, you know? Even the cell phones are like these little Cthulhu type creatures. The urinals are evil. I've had a lot of fun making this. Basically, it's been "anything goes." We've had a lot of fun with that sort of freedom.
You see horror mixed with a variety of genres, like comedy and Westerns and science fiction. What is it about horror that makes it such a versatile genre?
We're all going to die, we're all going to feel pain, we're all going to know people who die horribly or go through terrible things like cancer. There's horror everywhere. It's something you have to deal with. I really think horror films, and the horror tropes in general, exist because they actually exist, you know. Only you get to experience it in a different way to take the edge off. I think horror films provide a lot of relief, and I think that's why horror and comedy work so well, because as you know, in horror you've got to have a pressure valve release and let them laugh at something, or they're going to laugh at something they're not supposed to laugh at. There has to be a time to let the pressure off and then, okay, now we can get back into the horror.
As far as horror-comedy, that was something I was really worried about with Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, because the scripts were just brutal. The show got a lot funnier as the cast got into their improv. I think this stuff is funny because I'm depraved, but I was like "How are we going to soften this?" That's why I started pitching these makeup ideas that had kind of a silly edge to them.
We shot Satan literally shitting in people's mouths. It looked so bad and so rotten, but Henry (Zebrowski) was making it funny with what he was saying. If you can make being shit on by Satan funny, you can make just about anything funny.
If they market this show right, it could be the next Monsters. Every shot has a monster in it. It's really intense. The episodes were edited down to 15 minutes from the original half hour we shot, because they said it was not as funny. It became sad because you're paying more attention to the torture, so they said they had to speed it up. They cut back on some of the stuff because you want to feel sorry for the guy, but you don't want it to ruin your good time.
Is this something that's built to be a one-and-done thing, or is it possible to come back if it takes off?
I'm putting it out there: I say let this thing be five seasons and a feature film. Everybody on the show feels that way. The New York guys are saying, "Man, I hope we get to move down here and work on this thing constantly," because everyone was having such a good time with it. So yeah, let's keep our fingers crossed that this thing gets picked up for more, because I love going to Hell every day.
Blu Gilliand is a freelance writer of fiction and nonfiction. He covers horror fiction at his blog, October Country, and contributes interviews to the Horror World website. Follow him on Twitter at @BluGilliand.


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Capital Flows, Contributor
Guest commentary curated by Forbes Opinion. Avik Roy, Editor.
By Angelo Codevilla
On January 1, 2013 one third of Republican congressmen, following their leaders, joined with nearly all Democrats to legislate higher taxes and more subsidies for Democratic constituencies. Two thirds voted no, following the people who had elected them. For generations, the Republican Party had presented itself as the political vehicle for Americans whose opposition to ever-bigger government financed by ever-higher taxes makes them a "country class." Yet modern Republican leaders, with the exception of the Reagan Administration, have been partners in the expansion of government, indeed in the growth of a government-based "ruling class." They have relished that role despite their voters. Thus these leaders gradually solidified their choice to no longer represent what had been their constituency, but to openly adopt the identity of junior partners in that ruling class. By repeatedly passing bills that contradict the identity of Republican voters and of the majority of Republican elected representatives, the Republican leadership has made political orphans of millions of Americans. In short, at the outset of 2013 a substantial portion of America finds itself un-represented, while Republican leaders increasingly represent only themselves.
By the law of supply and demand, millions of Americans, (arguably a majority) cannot remain without representation. Increasingly the top people in government, corporations, and the media collude and demand submission as did the royal courts of old. This marks these political orphans as a "country class." In 1776 America's country class responded to lack of representation by uniting under the concept: "all men are created equal." In our time, its disparate sectors' common sentiment is more like: "who the hell do they think they are?"
The ever-growing U.S. government has an edgy social, ethical, and political character. It is distasteful to a majority of persons who vote Republican and to independent voters, as well as to perhaps one fifth of those who vote Democrat. The Republican leadership's kinship with the socio-political class that runs modern government is deep. Country class Americans have but to glance at the Media to hear themselves insulted from on high as greedy, racist, violent, ignorant extremists. Yet far has it been from the Republican leadership to defend them. Whenever possible, the Republican Establishment has chosen candidates for office – especially the Presidency – who have ignored, soft-pedaled or given mere lip service to their voters' identities and concerns.
Thus public opinion polls confirm that some two thirds of Americans feel that government is "them" not "us," that government has been taking the country in the wrong direction, and that such sentiments largely parallel partisan identification: While a majority of Democrats feel that officials who bear that label represent them well, only about a fourth of Republican voters and an even smaller proportion of independents trust Republican officials to be on their side. Again: While the ruling class is well represented by the Democratic Party, the country class is not represented politically – by the Republican Party or by any other. Well or badly, its demand for representation will be met.
Representation is the distinguishing feature of democratic government. To be represented, to trust that one's own identity and interests are secure and advocated in high places, is to be part of the polity. In practice, any democratic government's claim to the obedience of citizens depends on the extent to which voters feel they are party to the polity. No one doubts that the absence, loss, or perversion of that function divides the polity sharply between rulers and ruled.
Representation can be perverted. Some regimes (formerly the Communists, and currently the Islamists) allow dissent from the ruling class to be represented only by parties approved by the ruling class. Also, in today's European Union the ruling class' wide spread and homogeneity leaves those who do not like how their country is run with no one to represent them. Though America's ruling class is neither as narrow as that of Communist regimes nor as broadly preclusive as that of the European Union, the Republican leadership's preference for acting as part of the ruling class rather than as representatives of voters who feel set upon has begun to produce the sort of soft pre-emption of opposition and bitterness between rulers and ruled that occurs necessarily wherever representation is mocked.
To see how America' country class can be represented, let us glance at how the current division of American politics into a ruling class and a country class came about and why it is inherently unstable.
Ins and Outs
Those who attribute the polarization of American politics to the partisan drawing of congressional districts at the state level have a point: The Supreme Court's decision in Baker v. Carr (1962) inadvertedly legalized gerrymandering by setting "one man one vote" as the sole basis of legitimacy for drawing legislative districts. Subsequent judicial interpretations of the 1965 Voting Rights Act demanded that districts be drawn to produce Congressmen with specific features. No surprise then that Democratic and Republican legislatures and governors, thus empowered, have drawn the vast majority of America's Congressional districts to be safe for Democrats or Republicans respectively. Such districts naturally produce Congressmen who represent their own party more than the general population. This helped the parties themselves to grow in importance. But the U.S. Senate and state governments also have polarized because public opinion in general has.
Political partisanship became a more important feature of American life over the past half-century largely because the Democratic Party, which has been paramount within the U.S. government since 1932, entrenched itself as America's ruler, and its leaders became a ruling class. This caused a Newtonian "opposite reaction," which continues to gather force.
In our time, the Democratic Party gave up the diversity that had characterized it since Jeffersonian times. Giving up the South, which had been its main bastion since the Civil War as well as the working classes that had been the heart of its big city machines from Boston to San Diego, it came to consist almost exclusively of constituencies that make up government itself or benefit from government. Big business, increasingly dependent on government contracts and regulation, became a virtual adjunct of the contracting agents and regulators. Democrats' traditional labor union auxiliaries shifted from private employees to public. Administrators of government programs of all kinds, notably public assistance, recruited their clientele of dependents into the Party's base. Democrats, formerly the party of slavery and segregation, secured the allegiance of racial minorities by unrelenting assertions that the rest of American society is racist. Administrators and teachers at all levels of education taught two generations that they are brighter and better educated than the rest of Americans, whose objections to the schools' (and the Party's) prescriptions need not be taken seriously.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of American education's centralization, intellectual homogenization and partisanship in the formation of the ruling class' leadership. Many have noted the increasing stratification of American society and that, unlike in decades past, entry into its top levels now depends largely on graduation from elite universities. As Charles Murray has noted, their graduates tend to marry one another, perpetuating what they like to call a "meritocracy." But this is rule not by the meritorious, rather by the merely credentialed – because the credentials are suspect. As Ron Unz has shown, nowadays entry into the ivied gateways to power is by co-option, not merit. Moreover, the amount of study required at these universities leaves their products with more pretense than knowledge or skill. The results of their management– debt, decreased household net worth, increased social strife – show that America has been practicing negative selection of elites.
Nevertheless as the Democratic Party has grown its constituent parts into a massive complex of patronage, its near monopoly of education has endowed its leaders ever more firmly with the conviction that they are as entitled to deference and perquisites as they are to ruling. The host of its non-governmental but government-financed entities, such as Planned Parenthood and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, argue for government funding by stating, correctly, that they are pursuing the public interest as government itself defines it.
Thus by the turn of the twenty first century America had a bona fide ruling class that transcends government and sees itself at once as distinct from the rest of society – and as the only element thereof that may act on its behalf. It rules – to use New York Times columnist David Brooks' characterization of Barack Obama – "as a visitor from a morally superior civilization." The civilization of the ruling class does not concede that those who resist it have any moral or intellectual right, and only reluctantly any civil right, to do so. Resistance is illegitimate because it can come only from low motives. President Obama's statement that Republican legislators – and hence the people who elect them – don't care whether "seniors have decent health care…children have enough to eat" is typical.
Republican leaders neither parry the insults nor vilify their Democratic counterparts in comparable terms because they do not want to beat the ruling class, but to join it in solving the nation's problems. How did they come to cut such pathetic figures?
The Republican Party never fully adapted itself to the fact that modern big government is an interest group in and of itself, inherently at odds with the rest of society, that it creates a demand for representation by those it alienates, and hence that politicians must choose whether to represent the rulers or the ruled. The Republican Party had been the party of government between the Civil War and 1932. But government then was smaller in size, scope, and pretense. The Rockefellers of New York and Lodges of Massachusetts – much less the Tafts of Ohio – did not aspire to shape the lives of the ruled, as does modern government. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal largely shut these Republicans out of the patronage and power of modern government.
By the late 1930s, being out of power had begun to make the Republicans the default refuge of voters who did not like what the new, big government was doing. Some Republican leaders – the Taft wing of the Party – adopted this role. The Rockefeller wing did not. Though the latter were never entirely comfortable with the emerging Democratic ruling class, their big business constituency pressed them to be their advocate to it. A few such Republicans (e.g. Kevin Philips The Emerging Republican Majority) even dreamed during the Nixon-Ford Administration of the 1970s that they might replace Democrats at the head of the ruling class. But the die had been cast long since: Corporations, finance, and the entitled high and low – America's "ins" – gravitated to the Democrats' permanent power, while the "outs" fled into the Republican fold. Thus after WWII the Republican Party came to consist of office holders most of who yearned to be "ins," and of voters who were mostly "outs."
This internal contradiction was unsustainable. The Republican leadership, regarding its natural constituency as embarrassing to its pursuit of a larger role in government, limited its appeal to it. Thus it gradually cut itself off from the only root of the power by which it might gain that role. Thus the Republicans proved to be "the stupid party."
The damage from the first term came from the intransigence of Republicans who preferred to see the recession continue rather than do what was needed to be done to allow Obama to be a success.
It's a waste of tiime to try and combine fiscal conservatism and social liberalism as a political agenda. It just doesn't work, because fiscal conservatism is unpopular (when people demand spending cuts, what they mean is they want _someone else's_ spending cut), and social liberalism alienates social conservatives, who are indispensable to any counter-elite voting coalition.
A libertarian governing majority is politically _impossible_. The country class, if assembled into a functioning majority, is going to bear a resembalnce to the old FDR coalition, because it's more-or-less the same groups, that were driving out of the Democratic Party coalition by the soclail liberals and internationalists. They do want smaller government than the current elites do, but their vision of rightsized government is still going to look horribly bloated to libertarians. A more relaistic way to envision the struggle in America today is 'big government vs. medium-sized governement'. That won't get libertarian juices flowing, but it's the best they're going to get.
And yes, a functioning country-class majority would have to be mildly socially conservative, as a matter of electoral necessity. Immigration, international free trade, a lot of issues where some libertarians agree with the elites, are anathema to much of the country class.
Well Dave, I wasn't aware that there was a whole lot Obama wanted his first term that he didn't get. The billions and billions in bailouts seemed to be his grand scheme at an economic turn-around. He couldn't care less about the economy anyway, as he's clearly shown. He's adopted every social concern possible, from gun control to healthcare to gay marriage to punishing the wealthy. He's paid gratitude to every type of Democrat voter there is. Maybe if he cared about this country instead of his celebrity he'd have earned that Nobel Prize by now. Instead, he blames others for his failures and apparently you're just as willing to make excuses for him. Saying, "Gee whiz guys, he'd be the best President this country's ever had if you'd just let him succeed," just doesn't cut it for me. It's always someone else's fault.
Fantastic insightful article!
One only has to look to the Reagan landslide to see who the true silent majority is. The best an establishment candidate will ever do is pull off a slim electoral majority ala G. W. Bush in 2000. Rove has been trying to recreate that victory instead of going after the entire map.
The candidacies of H. Ross Perot and Ron Paul clearly show where all of the dissatisfied republican voters have gone.
The only question that remains is how to get plausible candidates to the neational level without being eviserated by the ruling class dominated media (see Rick Perry). There are no plausible candidates who will even dare to throw their hat into the ring for president so you get a freak show like we saw last year with gingrich and cain alternatively frontrunners with the anointed establishment candidate waiting in the wings until the media finshed them off. It is even difficult to elect a non-establishment senate candidate without being crushed by the media(see Mourdoch, Akin, Angle, Odonnel).
I was only seven years old in 1980, how was Reagan able to do it. Was it because he was an actor and was able to maipulate the media?
Reagan did it because Jimmy Carter had created total economic and foreign affairs chaos. Also because he was consistent in his conservatism for many years even in the face of the usual democrat party tactics. He was no hedging politician who campaigned by trying not to offend.
Yeah I think that is the point, Reagan had the "street cred" from a long career of battling communism. Romney seemed like a weak waffler similar to John Kerry.
Both parties are failing the American people. One of them is dangerous; the other is an enabler. Historically, something is about to break loose economically, which will force a good deal of change politically. The bulk of wage and salary earners will not sustain this pus-filled bloat of a corrupt, threatening government much longer. I don't know quite what will emerge, but I often look to Toffler's research for clues. You can almost feel the public tension. Something's about to snap.
You might want to look at the Conservative Party USA
The Right has been in resentful retreat ever since the Civil War. They regrouped for a bit after reconstruction, and then they started retreating again in the 1960s. The Right makes two central mistakes (1) they really are racists, and (2) they fail to see that a small government model is insufficient governmental intrastructure for a modern industrial state. As an aside, a large governmental model is our only way to balance and defend ourselves against the greed, arbitrary power, and lack of accountability of large capital interests.
then why are the large capital interests in bed with big government?(see TARP)
you are simply too afraid to stand on your own so you need government to protect you from all those mean racists and capitalists
move out of your parents basement


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The Express-Star
Lillian Scrivner
Private services for Lillian Scrivner, 71, of Chickasha will be held at a later date by the family.
Lillian Scrivner was born January 7, 1942, in Buckeye, Arizona. She died on Monday, February 25, 2013 in Chickasha.
Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Ferguson Funeral Home.


text:
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text:
Sinopec and Airbus to develop Chinese alternative aviation fuel
Partners support Chinese sustainable alternative fuel standard and supply
Blagnac, 24 September 2012
China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), one of China's biggest energy companies and Airbus are developing and promoting renewable aviation fuel production for regular commercial use in China.
Sinopec is the instrumental partner in helping the Central Government to establish a Chinese airworthiness certification for alternative aviation fuels made from locally grown feedstocks.
The certified fuel known as "1# bio-jetfuel" will be produced by Sinopec using its own technology in a newly built refinery in Hangzhou (near Shanghai). The refinery is one of the few in the world that has the capacity to produce aviation fuel from biomass in large-scale.
Airbus is supporting the development of the Chinese standard with technical expertise gained in past certification processes with the European Union and US fuels standards bodies and in the selection of sustainable feedstocks.
"Bio-jetfuel is becoming increasingly important in aviation and the energy market. It will help aviation grow sustainably and demand for fuel increase. Sinopec has developed its own technology for producing aviation fuel from biomass and waste oil and has already produced aviation fuel meeting international standards. Sinopec is assisting CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) in the airworthiness certification process and is proud to be collaborating with Airbus and other partners in the push for alternative aviation fuels," said DAI Houliang, SVP of Sinopec.
In addition to fuel certification, the partners are also establishing a sustainable alternative fuel value chain in China, to help speed up its commercialisation, and will use 100 per cent domestic resources and refining capabilities.
"Bio-fuels are a crucial part of the roadmap to meet aviation ambitious CO2 targets. We are privileged to be working with our Chinese partners to establish a domestic value chain in China which is 100 percent Chinese," said Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China.
Airbus currently supports alternative fuel value chains in Australia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
Note to editors:
About Airbus
Airbus is the world's leading commercial aircraft manufacturer producing the most modern and efficient airliners in every category, from the single-aisle A320 Family up to the world's largest airliner, the A380. Airbus has design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK, and Spain as well as subsidiaries in the US, China, Japan and in the Middle East. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS company.
About China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ("Sinopec") is a large scale integrated energy and chemical company with upstream, midstream and downstream operations. Its principal business includes: exploring, developing, producing and trading crude oil and natural gas; producing, storing, transporting and distributing and marketing petroleum products, petrochemical products, synthetic fibre, fertilizer and other chemical products. Sinopec is China's largest manufacturer and supplier of petroleum products and major petrochemical products. It is the second largest producer of crude oil in China. Its refining capacity and ethylene capacity rank No.2 and No.4 globally. The Company has 30,000 sales and distribution networks of oil and chemical products, its service stations is now ranked third largest in the world. Sinopec Group, the parent company, is ranked the 5th in Fortune Global 500 in 2012. Sinopec listed in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai.


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I was joking on Twitter about setting up some crowdsourced funding to get folks to SPX. Turns out Hannah Lee Stockdale is way ahead of us.
She's set up an IndieGoGo funding drive to raise $700 to cover the costs of an SPX visit. What the hell…? I'm in for $20.
And that's MDT personal funds not SPX cheddar for those with a mind for corporate governance issues.
Here's a peek at Hannah's pitch:
I am hoping to make it out to Bethesda, Maryland in September to attend the Small Press Expo. Getting the chance to connect with people (in real life!) and to share my portfolio of work will help me along in my career exponentially.
My plans are to create a short comic that serves as a sort of intro or "pilot" to a longer story I have been planning for a few months now. It's a story about Anita, a jaded girl who's too close to the cusp of adulthood to be considered a teenager anymore, and the secrets she finds in the forest behind her house. Up until now, I've done only comics of the autobiographical variety and I would love to stretch my muscles into new territory!
If all goes according to plan, I will have it printed and all primped and pretty to hand out to folks at SPX! (and to the lovely folks who donated but couldn't make it to SPX)… I don't get a whole lot in the way of job prospects around my neck of the woods! And this combined with the glorious post-grad money woes and anxiety, I know that missing out on such a great opportunity that is SPX would only slow me down! The magic of the world-wide-web can only help me so far.
I've been in love with comics, graphic novels, webcomics, etc, for years now, and they have been such an inspiration to me personally. It's a big deal for me to try and be a part of the thing that's inspired me so much.
Source: indiegogo.com
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A reminder.
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You should also support my friend Matt (Eiffelart) with his indiegogo for Bluenose. Help them both get to SPX! Because I...
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Halfway funded and not even the first day!! You guys have been great let's see if we can keep this going!
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Former inmates released from the Cambria County Prison walk out the gate hoping to be met by a friend or family member, but the 27 people released Monday from the Day Reporting Center found the atmosphere significantly different.
Blue and white balloons bounced in the humid air, "Congratulations" signs hung inside the Cambria County services building and the participants were given plaques.
As a hot, catered lunch waited at the back of the room, each participant was handed a potted bamboo plant – a symbol of patience and the need to take time to grow.
"If it wasn't for the DRC program, I don't know where I'd be, probably back in the gutter again," said John Ribblett.
One of the first in the state, the day reporting center was opened in May 2012 to help alleviate jail overcrowding and attempt to reduce the rate of recidivism with specific groups of offenders.
The program, which keeps defendants out of prison, is aimed at nonviolent offenders convicted of crimes such as DUI, drug violations and burglaries. County judges have rejected sentencing offenders of violent crimes, sex offenders and those who have committed serious property crimes.
Housed at 499 Manor Drive, Cambria Township, the center has the ability to manage up to 100 direct sentence offenders, probationers and parolees, said John Hogan, center director and part of the BI Inc. staff.
A most times, the center has about 75 participants.
Hogan termed Monday's event as a transition celebration, calling them rewarding events for participants and their families, probation officers and center staff.
"The clients who are graduating have worked hard to complete this program. This is a major step toward becoming contributing community members," he said.
Ribblett, 55, of Johnstown, picked up on drug charges, said he gave 110 percent to the program and believes he is a better person who will stay out of trouble.
"I've been straight for close to seven months and I feel a whole lot better than I did before," he said.
Jimmy Claar, a Windber native now living in Johnstown, said staying out of jail and practicing the discipline required by the reporting center gave him what he needed to get a job. He works for a utility contractor installing sanitary sewer lines.
"I looked at it as a get out jail free card when I started," Claar said.
But it was much more, he said.
"I made it there everyday, thanks to my Aunt Grace Brallier," Claar said. "I never missed a day."
"I'm working, I have blisters on my hands, I've busted butt everyday instead of trading drugs and I'm never going back to that," he said.
Statements like Claar's are priceless, according to leaders like Cambria County Commissioner Mark Wissinger and prison Warden John Prebish.
"It's good for these people and their families, for the community and for the county," Wissinger said.
For every defendant who can be sentenced to complete the requirements of the center and not return to prison, it is one more empty bed, Prebish said.
"Today we have 120 contract prisoners from the state and that wouldn't be possible if these people would be in jail," he said.
Estimates made in 2012 are that it costs the county $24 a day to keep a person in the day reporting center, $31 less than the $55 a day to house that person in the county prison.
The reporting center program requires the defendants to report in every day, be drug or alcohol tested if required, get any needed counseling and conduct job searches. Those with jobs are free to head out and earn a living.
Stacy Morris, reporting center director and county probation officer, told family, friends and county court officials that there are no excuses in the program.
Morris challenged the participants:
"You now face a greater task ahead of you. When you stumble, it's part of the normal rhythm of life. But pick yourself up and keep going," she said.
BI Inc. contracts with the county to operate the facility and county residents run the center.
BI was established in 1978 and is part of a global leader in delivery of correctional, detention and residental treatment services to federal, state and local government agencies.
Clients complete day reporting program
Former inmates released from the Cambria County Prison walk out the gate hoping to be met by a friend or family member, but the 27 people released Monday from the Day Reporting Center found the atmosphere significantly different.
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Blood bank
A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation or collection, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a division of a hospital where the storage of blood product occurs and where proper testing is performed (to reduce the risk of transfusion related adverse events). However, it sometimes refers to a collection center, and indeed some hospitals also perform collection.
Collection and processing[edit]
In the U.S., certain standards are set for the collection and processing of each blood product. "Whole blood" (WB) is the proper name for one defined product, specifically unseparated venous blood with an approved preservative added. Most blood for transfusion is collected as whole blood. Autologous donations are sometimes transfused without further modification, however whole blood is typically separated (via centrifugation) into its components, with red blood cells (RBC) in solution being the most commonly used product. Units of WB and RBC are both kept refrigerated at 33.8 to 42.8 °F (1.0 to 6.0 °C), with maximum permitted storage periods (shelf lives) of 35 and 42 days respectively. RBC units can also be frozen when buffered with glycerol, but this is an expensive and time consuming process, and is rarely done. Frozen red cells are given an expiration date of up to ten years and are stored at −85 °F (−65 °C).[citation needed]
The less-dense blood plasma is made into a variety of frozen components, and is labeled differently based on when it was frozen and what the intended use of the product is. If the plasma is frozen promptly and is intended for transfusion, it is typically labeled as fresh frozen plasma. If it is intended to be made into other products, it is typically labeled as recovered plasma or plasma for fractionation. Cryoprecipitate can be made from other plasma components. These components must be stored at 0 °F (−18 °C) or colder, but are typically stored at −22 °F (−30 °C). The layer between the red cells and the plasma is referred to as the buffy coat and is sometimes removed to make platelets for transfusion. Platelets are typically pooled before transfusion and have a shelf life of 5 to 7 days, or 3 days once the facility that collected them has completed their tests. Platelets are stored at room temperature (72 °F or 22 °C) and must be rocked/agitated. Since they are stored at room temperature in nutritive solutions, they are at relatively high risk for growing bacteria.
Some blood banks also collect products by apheresis. The most common component collected is plasma via plasmapheresis, but red blood cells and platelets can be collected by similar methods. These products generally have the same shelf life and storage conditions as their conventionally-produced counterparts.
Donors are sometimes paid; in the U.S. and Europe, most blood for transfusion is collected from volunteers while plasma for other purposes may be from paid donors.
Most collection facilities as well as hospital blood banks also perform testing to determine the blood type of patients and to identify compatible blood products, along with a battery of tests (e.g. disease) and treatments (e.g. leukocyte filtration) to ensure or enhance quality. The increasingly recognized problem of inadequate efficacy of transfusion[1] is also raising the profile of RBC viability and quality. Notably, U.S. hospitals spend more on dealing with the consequences of transfusion-related complications than on the combined costs of buying, testing/treating, and transfusing their blood.[2]
Storage and management[edit]
Routine blood storage is 42 days or 6 weeks for stored packed red blood cells (also called "StRBC" or "pRBC"), by far the most commonly transfused blood product, and involves refrigeration but usually not freezing. There has been increasing controversy about whether a given product unit's age is a factor in transfusion efficacy, specifically on whether "older" blood directly or indirectly increases risks of complications.[3][4] Studies have not been consistent on answering this question,[5] with some showing that older blood is indeed less effective but with others showing no such difference; nevertheless, as storage time remains the only available way to estimate quality status or loss, a first-in-first-out inventory management approach is standard presently.[6] It is also important to consider that there is large variability in storage results for different donors, which combined with limited available quality testing, poses challenges to clinicians and regulators seeking reliable indicators of quality for blood products and storage systems.[7]
Transfusions of platelets are comparatively far less numerous, but they present unique storage/management issues. Platelets may only be stored for 7 days,[8] due largely to their greater potential for contamination, which is in turn due largely to a higher storage temperature.
RBC storage lesion[edit]
Insufficient transfusion efficacy can result from red blood cell (RBC) blood product units damaged by so-called storage lesion - a set of biochemical and biomechanical changes which occur during storage. With red cells, this can decrease viability and ability for tissue oxygenation.[9] Although some of the biochemical changes are reversible after the blood is transfused,[10] the biomechanical changes are less so,[11] and rejuvenation products are not yet able to adequately reverse this phenomenon.[12]
Current regulatory measures are in place to minimize RBC storage lesion - including a maximum shelf life (currently 42 days), a maximum auto-hemolysis threshold (currently 1% in the US), and a minimum level of post-transfusion RBC survival in vivo (currently 75% after 24 hours).[13] However, all of these criteria are applied in a universal manner that does not account for differences among units of product;[7] for example, testing for the post-transfusion RBC survival in vivo is done on a sample of healthy volunteers, and then compliance is presumed for all RBC units based on universal (GMP) processing standards. (Of course, RBC survival does not guarantee efficacy, but it is a necessary prerequisite for cell function, and hence serves as a regulatory proxy.) Opinions vary as to the "best" way to determine transfusion efficacy in a patient in vivo.[14] In general, there are not yet any in vitro tests to assess quality deterioration or preservation for specific units of RBC blood product prior to their transfusion, though there is exploration of potentially relevant tests based on RBC membrane properties such as erythrocyte deformability[15] and erythrocyte fragility (mechanical).[16]
Many physicians have adopted a so-called "restrictive protocol" - whereby transfusion is held to a minimum - due in part to the noted uncertainties surrounding storage lesion, in addition to the very high direct and indirect costs of transfusions,[2] along with the increasing view that many transfusions are inappropriate or use too many RBC units.[17][18]
Platelet storage lesion[edit]
Platelet storage lesion is a very different phenomenon from RBC storage lesion, due largely to the different functions of the products and purposes of the respective transfusions, along with different processing issues and inventory management considerations.[19]
Alternative inventory/release practices[edit]
Although as noted the primary inventory-management approach is FIFO to minimize product expiration, there are some deviations from this policy - both in current practice as well as under research. For example, exchange transfusion of RBC in neonates calls for use of blood product that is five days old or less, to "ensure" optimal cell function.[20] Also, some hospital blood banks will attempt to accommodate physicians' requests to provide low-aged RBC product for certain kinds of patients (e.g. cardiac surgery).[21]
More recently, novel approaches are being explored to complement or replace FIFO. One is to balance the desire to reduce average product age (at transfusion) with the need to maintain sufficient availability of non-outdated product, leading to a strategic blend of FIFO with LIFO (last-in-first-out).[22]
Long-term storage[edit]
"Long-term" storage for all blood products is relatively uncommon, compared to routine/short-term storage. Cryopreservation of red blood cells is done to store rare units for up to ten years.[23] The cells are incubated in a glycerol solution which acts as a cryoprotectant ("antifreeze") within the cells. The units are then placed in special sterile containers in a freezer at very cold temperatures. The exact temperature depends on the glycerol concentration.
An early development leading to the establishment of blood banks occurred in 1915, when Richard Lewison of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City initiated the use of sodium citrate as an anticoagulant. This discovery transformed the blood transfusion procedure from direct (vein-to-vein) to indirect. In the same year, Richard Weil demonstrated the feasibility of refrigerated storage of anticoagulated blood. The introduction of a citrate-glucose solution by Francis Peyton Rous and JR Turner two years later permitted storage of blood in containers for several days, thus opening the way for the first "blood depot" established in Britain during World War I. Oswald Hope Robertson, a medical researcher and U.S. Army officer is often regarded as the creator of the first bank of stored blood in 1918.[24] He stored blood for up to 21 days to treat haemorrhagic shock suffered in battlefield injuries. Although he recognised the advantages of adding glucose to blood, it was 20 years before this observation was fully appreciated in the development of large-scale blood storage during the Spanish Civil War between 1937 and 1939.
In Russia Sergei Yudin pioneered the transfusion of cadaveric blood and performed this successfully for the first time on 23 March 1930. Also in 1930 Yudin organized the world's first blood bank at the Nikolay Sklifosovskiy Institute, which set an example for the establishment of further blood banks in different regions of the Soviet Union and in other countries. By the mid-1930s the Soviet Union had set up a system of at least 65 large blood centers and more than 500 subsidiary ones, all storing "canned" blood and shipping it to all corners of the country.
News of the Soviet experience traveled to the United States, where in 1937 Bernard Fantus, director of therapeutics at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, established the first hospital blood bank in the United States.[25] In creating a hospital laboratory that preserved and stored donor blood, Fantus originated the term "blood bank." Within a few years, hospital and community blood banks were established across the United States. Willem Johan Kolff organised the first blood bank in Europe (in 1940).
In 1939 Charles R. Drew researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge in developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. The University of Louisville is also credited for the Blood Bank.
An important breakthrough came in 1939/40 when Karl Landsteiner, Alex Wiener, Philip Levine, and R.E. Stetson discovered the Rh blood group system, which was found to be the cause of the majority of transfusion reactions up to that time. Three years later, the introduction by J.F. Loutit and Patrick L. Mollison of acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) solution, which reduces the volume of anticoagulant, permitted transfusions of greater volumes of blood and allowed longer term storage.
Carl Walter and W.P. Murphy, Jr., introduced the plastic bag for blood collection in 1950. Replacing breakable glass bottles with durable plastic bags allowed for the evolution of a collection system capable of safe and easy preparation of multiple blood components from a single unit of Whole Blood.
An anticoagulant preservative, CPDA-1 was introduced in 1979. It decreased wastage from expiration and facilitated resource sharing among blood banks. Newer solutions contain adenine.
See also[edit]
- ^ Marik PE, Corwin HL. Efficacy of red blood cell transfusion in the critically ill: a systematic review of the literature. Crit Care Med 2008; 36:2667-2674.
- ^ a b Shander A, Hofmann A, Gombotz H, Theusinger OM, Spahn DR. "Estimating the cost of blood: past, present, and future directions". Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol 2007; 21:271-289.
- ^ Bakalar, Nicholas (2013-03-11). "The Shelf Life of Donor Blood". The New York Times.
- ^ Wang, Shirley S. (2009-12-01). "What's the Shelf Life of Blood?". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ http://www.annalsofintensivecare.com/content/3/1/2
- ^ http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-2/QUA-289788/Bloods-Shelf-Life-May-Be-as-Short-as-3-Weeks
- ^ a b http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22229278
- ^ http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/ac/02/briefing/3839b2_02_platelets.htm
- ^ Zubair AC: Clinical impact of blood storage lesions. Am J Hematol; 2010; 85: 117-22.
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2492818
- ^ Decreased Erythrocyte Deformability After Transfusion and the Effects of Erythrocyte Storage Duration Anesth Analg ANE.0b013e31828843e6; published ahead of print February 28, 2013.
- ^ http://www.isb-isch2012.org/Poster/P32.htm
- ^ http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/115/21/4284.long
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782802/
- ^ Transfusion. 2012 May;52(5):1010-23. Artificial microvascular network: a new tool for measuring rheologic properties of stored red blood cells. Burns JM, Yang X, Forouzan O, Sosa JM, Shevkoplyas SS.
- ^ Vox Sang. 2010 Nov;99(4):325-31. The use of the mechanical fragility test in evaluating sublethal RBC injury during storage.
- ^ http://www.patientsafetysummit.org/_assets/documents/Action%20Plan%20-%20RBC%20Overuse%20-%20January%2013,%202013.pdf
- ^ http://www.cap.org/apps/cap.portal?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt{actionForm.contentReference}=cap_today%2F0409%2F0409d_easy_does_it.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20513565
- ^ http://www.imj.ie/Archive/IMJ%20June%2007%20Supplement.pdf
- ^ Handbook of Pediatric Transfusion Medicine, edited by Ronald Strauss, Naomi Luban; Ch. 2, p. 12.
- ^ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21756261
- ^ "Circular of Information for the use of Human Blood and Blood Components". AABB, ARC, America's Blood Centers. pp. page 16. Retrieved 2010-10-18.[dead link]
- ^ http://www.ibms.org/go/nm:history-blood-transfusion
- ^ Morris Fishbein, M.D., ed. (1976). "Blood Banks". The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopedia 1 (Home Library Edition ed.). New York, N.Y. 10016: H. S. Stuttman Co. p. 220.
External links[edit]


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U.S. News Rankings
|Ranking score and category
University of Charleston is a private institution that was founded in 1888. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,026 and its setting is urban. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Charleston's ranking in the 2014 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Colleges (South), 19. Its tuition and fees are $19,700 (2013-14).
|School mission and unique qualities (as provided by the school):
The University of Charleston prepares students for a life of productive work, enlightened living and community involvement. UC is a private, non-profit institution with locations in Charleston, Beckley and Martinsburg, West Virginia as well as online. Our nationally recognized outcomes-based curriculum focuses on flexible, learner-centered, and demonstrable learning. Students are prepared to thrive in the real world with skills in Citizenship, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Ethical Practice, Science, and their chosen career.
Classes at UC are geared to do two things: engage students in active learning and let them grow as people. What sets the school apart is that the education is outcomes-focused -- meaning students prove their learning every step of the way, and every class is an exercise in understanding how the coursework relates to the real world.
Many UC students finish their degrees in fewer than four years, which gives them one less year of tuition and up to a year of extra earning power. Placement in graduate school and careers is consistently above national averages. This is true of all majors, with health sciences and pre-professional studies leading the way. UC offers fast-track programs in pharmacy, business and physician assistant studies, in which motivated undergraduate students have the opportunity to achieve goals of an advanced degree on an accelerated schedule.
Learn more at www.ucwv.edu.
General Information
|School type
|private, coed college
|Year founded
|Religious affiliation
|Academic calendar
|2012 Endowment
When applying to University of Charleston, it's important to note the application deadline is rolling. Scores for either the ACT or SAT test are due August 29. The application fee at University of Charleston is $25. It is selective, with an acceptance rate of 56 percent.
For more information about the tests, essays, interviews, and admissions process, visit the Applying to College knowledge center.
|Fall 2012 acceptance rate
|Application deadline
|SAT/ACT scores must be received by
|August 29
Academic Life
The student-faculty ratio at University of Charleston is 15:1, and the school has 44.8 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students. The most popular majors at University of Charleston include: Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services; Biological and Biomedical Sciences; Health Professions and Related Programs; Education; and Social Sciences. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 64.8 percent.
|Class sizes
|Student-faculty ratio
|4-year graduation rate
|Five most popular majors for 2012 graduates
Student Life
University of Charleston has a total undergraduate enrollment of 1,026, with a gender distribution of 40.3 percent male students and 59.7 percent female students. At this school, 61 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated, or -affiliated housing and 39 percent of students live off campus. University of Charleston is part of the NCAA II athletic conference.
|Total enrollment
|Student gender distribution
|Undergraduate men who are members of a fraternity
|Undergraduate women who are members of a sorority
|Collegiate athletic association
Campus Info & Services
University of Charleston offers a number of student services including nonremedial tutoring, placement service, and health service. University of Charleston also offers campus safety and security services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport/escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways/sidewalks, and controlled dormitory access (key, security card, etc). Of the students at University of Charleston, 72 percent have cars on campus. Alcohol is permitted for students of legal age at University of Charleston.
|Students who have cars on campus
|Health insurance offered
More About Campus Info & Services
Paying for School
At University of Charleston, 88.7 percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $9,469.
Paying for college doesn't have to be difficult or devastating. Go to the Paying for College knowledge center to get advice on raising cash and reducing costs.
|Tuition and fees
|$19,700 (2013-14)
|Room and board
|$9,000 (2013-14)
|Financial aid statistics
* Overview details based on 2012 data


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The Norman Transcript
NORMAN — This week's little tidbit about me is that I turned another year older last week.
It wasn't that hard to face the reality that another year of my life is over, but still birthdays always make me reflect back on the last year. I might not have received everything I wanted last year, but I survived. And, as I always say, turning another year older is better than the alternative.
I remember when I was a pre-teen sitting in my Kansas bedroom with a calculator doing the math on what year I'd be what age. Back then, the year 2000 seemed like the Jetson era. Not that I figured we'd all be riding around in flying cars or having robot maids named Rosie, although I did secretly wish for all of that.
As an 11-year-old, I also couldn't imagine being close to 40. But, here I am and even now, it doesn't seem like it's possible. The years have a way of slipping by you. Even though some of them were rough, it still seems like life is short. Of course, some of these cold mornings I feel older than I really am. Bones pop. Muscles ache. My vision isn't what it used to be either. My hair turns gray a lot quicker. And losing a pound or two is a lot harder than it was 20 years ago.
But most days I live by the little piece of advice I received from my Great-aunt Thelma, who lived well into her 90s. She said, "Age is a mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." I think she told me that when she was in her 80s and I was just lamenting the thought of turning the ripe old age of 25. I remember thinking then that her words of encouragement were funny and sweet. She never acted a day over 50 herself, even near the end of her life.
It might take me a little longer to climb the stairs at work and I can't stay out late any more either. A few weeks ago I was bragging to all of my friends and family that I stayed out until 10. That's p.m. And here I thought the week before that staying out until 7 p.m. was a big deal.
I'm hoping to see another birthday and I'm hoping to live until I'm old enough to accomplish jumping out of an airplane. That's how my Aunt Dorothy celebrated her 80th birthday. And, yes she did it willingly. Because age truly is a mind over matter.
Shana Adkisson
For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.


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Catalyst issue no. 15 Summer 2009
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I am memorized by so many things especially the big anchor and whats attached to it ! do tell how you made it or where you bounght it from !!!! everything looks great !
Thank you so very much, Claudia!!! The big rattan anchor was purchased at Home Goods and I had to build a little stand out of wood to attach it to behind the table! It was built to attach to a wall, so if you had a table leaning against the wall, it would be a lot easier! Hope this helps! ♥
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Party Recap...
A nautical-themed baby shower to welcome the newest first mate aboard the ship for the Summer 2012 issue of The Party Dress Magazine.
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View article at http://www.thepartydress.net/the-party-dress-magazine/issue-6/


text: National Milk Chocolate Day Sale! Save 15% one day only: July 28. *15% discount applies to online and in-store orders placed on July 28, 2014 between 12:01 a.m. EDT and 11:59 p.m. EDT. Discount does not apply to gelato, cakes, gift certificates, chocolate clubs, shipping fees, phone orders, already-placed orders, or purchases made at Artisan Gelato by Norman Love. Cannot be combined with any other offer or already discounted items.


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By Gene Kershner
As a young boy whose grandparents lived just outside of Philadelphia, I never made it the 5.4 mile distance from the backyard where I hit wiffle ball home runs as a faux Greg Luzinski to Keystone Race Track. It's still a track on my wish list to visit, now known as Parx Casino and Racing (formerl Philadelphia Park). My grandfather did take me to see the first football game at Veterans Stadium (versus O.J. and the Bills) in 1971 and to see Hank Aaron play the Phils in 1974, but never to see the ponies.
Keystone opened in 1974, wherein thoroughbred racing ceased at Liberty Bell Park and commenced at the Bensalem, Pa. track. On Saturday afternoon the slots-fueled racetrack will deliver one of the best racing cards in its history with two $1 million races scheduled, not something you see everyday, even at the major thoroughbred tracks around the country.
The two races feature a rematch of the Travers dead heat competitors, Golden Ticket and Alpha in the Pennsylvania Derby as well as a much-awaited showdown between Questing and My Miss Aurelia in the Cotillion Handicap.
The Cotillion only drew four fillies to run in the big race, including the Prince of Wales champion, Dixie Strike (4-1) who won the second jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown in July at the border oval for trainer Mark Casse. New York's top rider and Saratoga meet champion Ramon Dominguez will ride Dixie Strike for the first time.
The big matchup is between last year's 2-year-old champion My Miss Aurelia (8-5) who is trying to return from an injury running in her second race of the year after winning a $100K non-graded stake at Saratoga. Corey Nakatani gets the mount back from Julien Leparoux who rode her at the Spa. She's won all five of her career races, but will face the test of her career in the talented Questing.
Questing (1-1) comes into the race off a monster performance in the Grade 1 Alabama at the Spa, where she swept the two big 3-year-old filly races winning the Coaching Club American Oaks on opening weekend with young rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard. She won the Alabama by nine lengths in commanding fashion and should have no issues shortening up to the 8 ½-furlong Cotillion. She's the pick based on her recent efforts and that My Miss Aurelia is still working her way back off the long layoff.
Moment in Dixie (6-1) will complete the four horse field for trainer Jimmy Toner.
The $1 million Pennsylvania Derby has attracted six colts and two ridglings, including the two horses that dead-heated in the Travers. Alpha (9-5) drew the four post and has been a killer everywhere he's ridden except for Churchill Downs where he bombed in both the Derby and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Kiaran McLaughlin is looking to complete a Questing-Alpha double and take home all the cash back to New York.
Alpha has worked well off the Travers victory where he had to extend to catch the longshot Golden Ticket (5-2) at the wire. David Cohen will return in the irons on the Speightstown colt who shocked the Spa crowd with his effort in the Travers at 33-1 odds.
The race has also attracted the West Virginia Derby winner Macho Macho (4-1), who took advantage of a hot pace duel at Mountaineer to pick up the pieces late where he defeated talented horses such as Bourbon Courage and Hansen for trainer Steve Asmussen.
If you're looking at a possible upset winner, Csaba (5-1) looks to be on the improve and may succeed returning to dirt after several solid efforts at Calder and on an off track in the Grade 2 Hall of Fame at Saratoga.
Alpha appears to be the one to beat on paper and McLaughlin continues to be very high on him. I'll probably key him on top of the other three horses in the exotics.
Post Time Outlook – 1) Alpha; 2) Csaba; 3) Golden Ticket; 4) Macho Macho
Gene Kershner is a Buffalo-based turf writer and handicapper who blogs at equispace.blogspot.com and tweets @EquiSpace.
taggedHorse Racing


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Born and raised in Falmouth. I Graduated from Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in the field of Environmental Technology in 2002. I left in 2004 when I joined the Navy. I spent 6 years in the Navy. 2 Years of schooling in South Carolina and Upstate New York, and 4 years in Connecticut serving onboard the Fast-Attack Submarine USS Springfield (SSN-761). I worked as a Nuclear Electronics Technician with the job of operating the reactor, and maintaining the monitoring equipment onboard the submarine. I achieved the rank of First Class Petty Officer (E-6). I Went on 2 deployments and visited a handful of countries: Canada, Panama, India, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Italy, France, Spain and Diego Garcia, which isn't its own country but is a paradise on Earth.
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Pale blue ceramic with a glossy, smooth finish. Food-safe.
Turn your fridge door into a growing habitat for herbs, flowers, cactuses and other small plants. Let life animate your inanimate surfaces. Glue three small round magnets (0.750" x 0.125" or 20mm x 3mm) at the bottom to make the planter stick to your fridge.
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|Lawrence Gunderson, 69
|Written by TRF Times
Climax - Lawrence Gunderson 69, of Climax, died on Thursday, March 17, 2005 at the Halstad Living Center in Halstad.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 24 at the Climax Lutheran Church in Climax. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 at the Climax Lutheran Church, with a 7 p.m. prayer service. Interment wil be held at Highland Cemetery in Buxton.
Lawrence Olaf Gunderson was born on August 1, 1935 in Fargo, N.D., the son of Casper and Laura (Dvergsten) Gunderson.
He lived in the Hillsboro, N.D., Thief Rivers Falls and Crookston areas and attended the Crookston Agriculture College, and worked in Minneapolis, for Concrete Construction, then worked Seasonal Campaigns for American Crystal Sugar in Crookston.
On October 28, 1967 he was united into marriage to DeEtta Hoberg in Newfolden and then moved to Warren. In 1979 they moved to Climax. where he was a self employed mason and bricklayer.
Cherished family members include his wife DeEtta of Climax; three sons, Chad (Shannon Hall) Gunderson and Dean Gunderson, both of Climax, Scott of Yorkstown, Va.; two grandchildren; one sister, Adeline (Ted) Nordheim of Fertile; two brothers, Arnold (Alice Jacobson) Gunderson of Ada, Orville (Donna) Gunderson of Hendrum, and one sister-in-law, Joan Gunderson of Thief River Falls.
He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother Donald and an infant sister Marjorie.