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More than 200 firefighters and forty fire engines have been called to east London to tackle the "largest fire in several years."
The blaze at a recycling centre in Dagenham began at 1.15pm on Sunday afternoon and at its height sent up a plume of smoke so large it was visible across the capital, telegraph.co.uk reports.
Fire chiefs said the entire building, a single-storey facility on Chequers Lane measuring 50 metres by 100 metres or about the size of a football pitch, was alight.
A spokesman said the cause of the fire had not been established yet but emphasised that it had not affected fire cover at Olympic venues.
Ron Dobson, London Fire Commissioner, said: "We've not seen a fire of this size in London for several years.
"It's certainly a dramatic end to the Olympics for the London Fire Brigade. That said though, we are still able to attend incidents across the capital and the fire cover we're providing at the Olympic venues has not been affected.
"We've got over 200 firefighters from across London working hard under challenging conditions to bring the incident to a close. Fortunately, we've not had any reports of injuries at this stage.
"I would like to reassure people that we are still able to attend incidents across the capital and the fire cover we're providing at the Olympic venues has not been affected.
"At this stage we aren't sure how the blaze started as our focus is getting the flames under control. Fire crews will remain at the scene for as long as necessary and a thorough investigation will begin once the fire is out in order to establish how it started."
The recycling centre is about eight miles from the Olympic Park. Crews from Dagenham, Barking, East Ham and surrounding stations were sent to the scene.


text:
|28. Mai 2009
|3. Febr. 2009
|31. Jan. 2005
|Auch veröffentlicht unter
|Adam B. McCullough, Robert W. Kalis
|Ursprünglich Bevollmächtigter
|C. R. Bard, Inc.
|Zitat exportieren
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Referenziert von (2), Klassifizierungen (8), Juristische Ereignisse (1)
|Externe Links: USPTO, USPTO-Zuordnung, Espacenet
This is a divisional of prior application Ser. No. 11/047,953, filed Jan. 31, 2005, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Various biopsy devices for taking tissues samples have been previously disclosed. Typically, the device comprises a hand piece, in which a portion of a hollow biopsy cannula/needle protruding from the hand piece is introduced with its sampling chamber into the tissue being investigated. A sample of the tissue is sucked into the sampling chamber by vacuum, separated by a sample separating mechanism, and then removed.
Examples of biopsy devices are disclosed in British Patent Publication No. GB 2018601A, European Patent Publication No. EP 0890 339 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,822, German Patent No. DE 40 41 614 C1, International Publication No. WO 96/28097, German Patent Publication No. DE 100 34 297 A1, International Publication No. WO 98/25522, and US Patent Publication No. 2001/0011156 A1, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Integrated biopsy systems having built-in actuators for displacing a biopsy cannula and a corresponding cutting sheath and a pressure/vacuum generating device for suctioning and expelling tissue samples from the lumen of the cannula are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/500,518, entitled "BIOPSY DEVICE AND INSERTABLE BIOPSY NEEDLE MODULE" filed Jun. 29, 2004, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/500,522, entitled "BIOPSY DEVICE FOR REMOVING TISSUE SPECIMENS USING A VACUUM" filed Jun. 29, 2004, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although various biopsy devices have been previously disclosed, it may be desirable to improve the reliability and efficiency of the present biopsy devices such that extraction and/or removal of the tissue sample from the tissues sample chamber within the biopsy cannula may be facilitated.
One aspect of the invention comprises a method for facilitating the ejection/removal of a tissue sample from the tissue chamber within the biopsy cannula. The cannula may be inserted into a body of tissue within a patient to extract a sample of the tissue of interest. Once the sample tissue is pulled within the tissue chamber in the cannula through suction, the chamber is closed, severing the sample tissue from the patient's body. The cannula may then be removed from the patient's body. The tissue chamber is maintained in a closed position while the lumen of the cannula is pressurized. Once the pressure within the lumen of the cannula has reached a desired level, the tissue chamber is opened. The pressure behind the sample tissue will force the sample tissue to eject or move out of the tissue chamber. The operator may open only a distal portion of the chamber (e.g., exposing only the distal one-third or one-half of the chamber opening) to prevent the fluids from leaking through the side of the sample tissue, and force the sample tissue to exit from the partial opening. Alternatively, if the pressure is high enough, the operator may open the chamber completely.
Another aspect of the invention comprises a biopsy apparatus with an integrated valve for facilitating high and/or low pressure build-up within a pressure chamber for providing suction and/or ejection pressure to the lumen of the biopsy cannula. In one variation, the biopsy apparatus comprises a built-in pressure generator that is coupled to the proximal end of a biopsy cannula. The pressure generator may be capable of generating both a positive and a negative (e.g., vacuum) pressure within the lumen of the cannula. A valve is placed between the biopsy cannula and the pressure generator to control the fluid flow from the chamber of the pressure generator to the lumen of the biopsy cannula. An electronic system control board coupled to an actuator may be utilized to displace the biopsy cannula and its corresponding cutting sheath. The electronic system control board may also be adapted to control the pressure generator and the valve. In one application, the valve is placed in the open position when the pressure generator applies suction to the lumen of the cannula to extract a sample of the interested tissue into the chamber of the cannula. After the chamber is closed and the cannula is removed from the patient's body, the valve is closed and a positive pressure is built-up within the chamber of the pressure generating device. Once the tissue chamber has been opened, the valve may subsequently be opened to release the built-up pressure into the lumen of the cannula. The fluid inside the pressure chamber enters the lumen of the cannula and ejects the tissue sample out of the cannula. One of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the disclosure herein would appreciate that the valve may be utilized to build-up either positive or negative pressure inside the chamber to various pressure levels as desired by the operator. The valve may then be released to cause a sudden increase or decrease in pressure within the lumen of the cannula.
These and other embodiments, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art when taken with reference to the following more detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings that are first briefly described.
The following detailed description should be read with reference to the drawings, in which identical reference numbers refer to like elements throughout the different figures. The drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, depict selected embodiments and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The detailed description illustrates by way of example, not by way of limitation, the principles of the invention. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives and uses of the invention, including what is presently believed to be the best mode of carrying out the invention.
Before describing the present invention, it is to be understood that unless otherwise indicated, this invention need not be limited to applications in humans. As one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, variations of the invention may be applied to various other animals and plants as well. Moreover, it should be understood that embodiments of the present invention may be applied in combination with various imaging devices (e.g., ultrasound, X-ray, etc.) for guiding the surgeon on the placement of the biopsy needle/cannula within a patient's body.
Taking biopsy of a tumor tissue is used herein as an example application of the biopsy apparatus and method disclosed herein. In light of the disclosure herein, one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that variations of the apparatus and/or method may be applicable for extracting samples from various types of tissues within the human body.
It must also be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, the term "an actuator" is intended to mean a single actuator or a combination of actuators, "a fluid" is intended to mean one or more fluids, or a mixture thereof. Furthermore, the words "proximal" and "distal" refer to directions closer to and away from, respectively, a physician operating the biopsy cannula, with the tip end (i.e., distal end) placed inside the patient's body. Thus, for example, the cannula end placed in the tissue of the patient would be the distal end of the cannula, while the cannula end outside the patient's body would be the proximal end of the cannula.
One aspect of the invention comprises a method of building up a pressure inside the biopsy apparatus to eject a tissue sample captured in the chamber of the device. In one variation, the method comprises providing a biopsy cannula having a closed distal end and an orifice located on a circumferential surface of said cannula. An example of such a biopsy apparatus 201 is shown in
Once the distal end 204 of the cannula 2 is in place, the cutting sheath 3 may be retracted toward the proximal end of the cannula to expose the orifice 202. A suction draws a portion of the desired tissue into the tissue chamber 71 within the lumen of the cannula 2. In one particular design, a stopper 79 is positioned within the lumen 203 of the cannula 2, proximal to the orifice on the cannula. The distal end of the stopper along with the wall of the cannula lumen forms a tissue chamber 71 at the distal portion of the cannula. The stopper 79 partially blocks the lumen to allow fluid flow in the unobstructed portion 205 of the lumen, but to prevent the captured tissue sample from migrating in the proximal direction. Once the tissue is captured within the tissue chamber 71, the cutting sheath 3 may be advanced in a distal direction to cover the orifice 202 on the cannula 2, which acts to sever the sample tissue from the body of tumor tissue in the patient. The distal tip 72 of the cutting sheath 3 may be advanced past the distal edge 206 of the tissue chamber to achieve a clean separation between the sample tissue and the primary body of tissue of interest. The cannula 2 and its corresponding cutting sheath 3 may then be removed from the patient's body.
While the cutting sheath is closed, a positive pressure (a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure) is generated within the lumen 203 of the cannula 2. As shown in
Referring to
By changing the program control parameters in an integrated biopsy device, such as the one shown in
In another aspect of the invention, as shown in
In one example application, with the assistance of an ultrasound imaging device, a cannula guide 213 is inserted into a body of tumor tissue within the patient's body. The cannula 2 with its tissue chamber 71 covered and placed in a spring-loaded cocked position is inserted into the cannula guide and advanced toward the tissue. The spring-loaded cannula is then released, shooting into the tumor tissue. With the cannula 2 in place, the piston 210 in the pressure generating device 207 is retracted to regenerate a negative pressure within the lumen of the cannula 2. The cutting sheath is subsequently retracted to expose the orifice to the tissue chamber. A sample of the tissue is suctioned into the tissue chamber 71. A delay may be built into the control protocol to ensure that the tissue chamber 71 is loaded before the cutting sheath 3 is slid back into the closed position. In an alternative approach, the valve may be closed and a negative pressure generated within the chamber 209 of the pressure generating device 207 prior to or after the cutting sheath is retracted and the chamber is opened. With the cannula 2 inserted inside the tumor tissue and the orifice to the tissue chamber in an open position, the valve 218 may be opened to provide the suction to capture a sample of the tumor tissue within the tissue chamber.
Once the sample of tissue is suctioned into the tissue chamber 71, the cutting sheath 3 is advanced forward of the orifice of the tissue chamber 71, severing the sample tissue in the chamber from the body of tumor tissue. With the sample tissue secured in the tissue sample chamber 71, both the cannula 2 and the cutting sheath 3 are withdrawn from the patient's body. Either prior to, during, or after the cutting sheath 3 is retracted to expose the captured tissue sample, the valve 218 may be closed and positive pressure generated in the pressure chamber 209 inside the pressure generating device 209 by compressing the piston 210. With the cutting sheath 3 retracted and the orifice of the tissue sample chamber 71 at least partially exposed, the valve 218 may then be released to direct a positive pressure into the lumen 203 of the cannula 2 to force the sample tissue out the cannula 2. The steps described above may be executed through manual control, or may be programmed into an electronic controller that is linked with the actuators/drives to synchronize the various components and carryout the desired procedure.
A particular variation of a biopsy apparatus is illustrated in
In applications where pressure build-up is regulated by keeping the tissue chamber closed during pressurizing and depressurizing of the pressure generating device, the apparatus 1 may be fabricated without the control valve 150, and the connection element 4 may be directly connected to the pressure generating device 5.
From the distal part of the distal end cover 6 protrudes the distal part of the hollow biopsy cannula 2, with the cutting sheath 3 surrounding it coaxially, which is required to remove the tissue sample. Usually, a coaxial cannula guide is placed into the tissue first, into which the biopsy cannula 2 with cutting sheath 3 is inserted. Outside the proximal end cover 7 of the housing there is arranged a connection element 4 (e.g., a transparent flexible hose) which connects the valve and the vacuum pressure generating device 5, arranged in parallel with the biopsy cannula, to the interior cavity of the biopsy cannula 2. The hollow connection element 4 is situated in immediate proximity to the end cover 7 of the housing. The biopsy cannula with cutting sheath and additional elements, arranged in a biopsy cannula carrier 37, forms together with the connection element 4 and the vacuum pressure generating device 5 an element 20, easily inserted or taken out at the top, which is replaced as necessary (
The removable insert element 20, comprising a vacuum pressure generating device 5, elastic connection element, biopsy cannula carrier 37 with cannula and cutting sheath and additional elements connected to it, also contains a guide roller 81 mounted on the cannula. This unit, including an insert aid, comes in a sterile package. The plunger in the syringe body of the vacuum/pressure generating unit 5 comes slightly (about 1-2 mm) displaced from the syringe bottom and the sample removal chamber 71 of the biopsy cannula 2 may be open to improve sterilization within the chamber. After opening the housing cover 10, the carrier element 37, including biopsy cannula 2, cutting mechanism 3, and other parts connected with it, such as the vacuum pressure generating device 5 hooked up to the connection element 4, is inserted into the connection element provided for this (
During the insertion process, the operator should check to ensure that the gear 74 engages with the teeth of the toothed roller 23; that the cutting sheath is inserted from above into the U-shaped holder 36, and at the same time that the brackets 40 of the tension slide are introduced into the recesses 77 of the carrier element; the guide roller 81 is inserted in the passage 13, so that the flanks 101 and 102 embrace the distal end cover 6. The cutting sheath 3 is mounted in the guide roller 81, able to move lengthwise and turn freely; the guide roller 81 itself, however, can no longer move relative to the cutting sheath 3 after being inserted in the distal end cover 6, as illustrated in
When the housing cover is closed, the connection piece 63 is forced downward and activates the miniature switch by the switch pin 19 built into the end cover of the housing. This activates the electrical control system, which is indicated by blinking of the reset diode on the control panel located at the left side 113 of the hand piece 1. The reset diode at first blinks yellow, which means that the positioning of the individual elements, i.e., the inserting process, is not yet finished; the DC gear motor 21 first open the sample chamber 71 all the way (at which point the motor feels resistance and calibrate that point), it then rotates the other direction a certain predetermined number of revolutions until the sample chamber 71 is closed with the cutting sheath 3. This occurs by twisting the threaded casing connected to the cutting sheath. The cutting sheath moves in the distal direction until the gear 74 comes to bear against the inside of the holder 36. In one variation, the controller is able to calibrate the displacement by counting the number of the rotation during the reset sequence, and then uses that information to start and stop the rotation rather than relying on the physical stops. After closing the sample removal chamber, the plastic disk 78 bears against the holder 36 (inside). During this process, or before or after it, the DC gear motor 58 brings the syringe plunger to bear against the syringe bottom.
After the starting positions have been established for the vacuum pressure generating device and the biopsy cannula/cutting sheath, the cocking diode lights up yellow and the sample removal diode light up green and the reset diode goes out. The operator must now decide whether to initiate the cocking of the tension slide or to remove an additional sample, e.g., because he has already previously removed one tissue sample. If the operator presses the cocking button, the cocking of the tension slide is initiated; the cocking diode blinks yellow, the pierce diode blinks green, and the sample removal diode goes out. By pressing the cocking button, the electrical DC gear motor 21 receives current and the DC gear motor actuates the toothed roller 23. The gear 74 meshing with the toothed roller 23 turns the spindle shaft and at the same time the cutting sheath 3 connected to it. Since the spindle nut 75 is press-fitted in the biopsy cannula carrier 37 and the gear 74 is supported against the holder 36, which is firmly connected to the housing by the base block 8, the turning of the threaded spindle casing 73 has the effect of moving the biopsy cannula carrier in the proximal direction.
At the same time, the biopsy cannula 2 connected to the biopsy cannula carrier by the bearing element 49 is carried along, resulting in the tip of the biopsy cannula moving into the cutting sheath. The biopsy cannula carrier 37 is displaced in the proximal direction by the recess/bracket connection of the tension slide against the action of the spiral spring 31 until the lever of the locking element is forced into the recess of the tension slide by the spring. The tension slide is locked in this position. The gear motor receives the control command that the locking position has been reached, e.g., via a photocell installed in the sliding surface of the cover plate or based on the number of rotations by the motor, which interacts with the retracted biopsy cannula carrier; the direction of turning of the motor is reversed and the cutting sheath is displaced in the proximal direction by the amount that the cutting sheath had moved beyond the tip of the biopsy cannula by the movement of the tension slide and the biopsy cannula.
At the end of this step, the cutting sheath completely closes the sample removal chamber, as at the start of the cocking process. The locking diode lights up green; the blinking of the cocking diode goes out. Now, the biopsy cannula of the biopsy mechanism is inserted, for example, in a previously mounted coaxial cannula. The proximal end of the mounted coaxial cannula receives a seal, designed so that it seals off the space between cutting sheath and cannula, on one hand, and allows an easy insertion of the biopsy cannula with cutting sheath, on the other. The seal ring prevents air from the outside getting sucked in through the space between cannula and cutting sheath. The seal ring likewise prevents fluid (cytological material) from escaping after the biopsy cannula is introduced or inserted. Thus, the possibility of the disinfected hand piece 1 getting dirty is nearly precluded; on the other hand, the flank 101 of the sterile guide roller 81 prevents the sterile cannula from getting dirty by reason of the hand piece 1. The tip of the biopsy cannula is brought up in the cannula to the tumor and, after being correctly positioned, thrust into the tumor.
The shot is triggered by pressing the activation button on the control interface panel. This has the result of swiveling the double-arm lever about the axis to release the tension slide. The tension slide is hurled in the distal direction by spring action. The sample removal diode lights up green and the cocking diode goes out. By operating the program button, the sample removal sequence is enabled; the sample removal diode blinks green. At first, the DC gear motor 58 will activate the vacuum pressure generating device. The plunger of the vacuum pressure generating device is moved in the direction of the base block, i.e., away from the bottom of the syringe, until it reaches a position just before clearing the ventilation borehole 67. The vacuum is generated in the system. After reaching its end position, the system activates the motor 21, the cutting sheath which closes the sample removal chamber is opened via the gear/spindle drive. During the opening process, the partial vacuum prevailing in the system sucks in the tissue and any cytological fluid (cytological material) into the sample removal chamber. Cytological fluid may also flow due to the vacuum in the biopsy cannula cavity and the vacuum pressure generating device.
It has proven to be advantageous to direct the partial vacuum by the stopper 79 primarily at the lower region, the lower side, of the sample removal chamber, and the stopper 79 will prevent or impede tissue from getting into the biopsy hollow cannula. When the sample removal chamber is fully open—the tissue sample is accommodated in the sample removal chamber—the gear motor 21 is reversed and the sample removal chamber 71 is closed. By turning the cutting sheath, the tissue is separated by the cutting edge 72 of the sheath 3 during the closing process. In order to reliably cut through the tissue filaments, it is advantageous to move the cutting sheath 3 beyond the distal end of the sample removal chamber (around 2 mm). In order to accomplish this, it is only necessary to program accordingly the microprocessor where the control data is kept. Because of the special configuration of the sample removal chamber and thanks to the vacuum applied, the tissue sample is held in the chamber without torsion, so that the tissue sample is not twisted or turned by the rotating and lengthwise moveable cutting sheath 3 which surrounds the biopsy cannula on the outside, as described.
After the sample removal chamber is closed, the DC gear motor is activated for the vacuum generating unit 5. The plunger is first retracted far enough to clear the ventilation opening 67 (
After the removal of the biopsy unit and providing a vessel to receive the tissue sample and fluid, the program button is again operated and the ejection diode starts to blink. First, the DC gear motor 58 of the vacuum pressure generating device is activated while the sample removal chamber remains closed. The turning direction of the DC gear motor 58 remains and the threaded spindle with plunger moves in the direction of the syringe bottom, so that now an excess pressure is created in the system. After this, the gear motor 21 of the cutting sheath is operated to open the sample removal chamber roughly halfway. As soon as the sample fits through the opening it will shoot out of the biopsy chamber.
In a system with a built-in valve 150, an alternative approach may be used to eject the sample from the sample removal chamber. After the removal of the biopsy unit from the patient, the actuator coupled to the valve is activated to close the valve 150. With the valve 150 closed, the DC gear motor 58 of the vacuum pressure generating device is activated. The turning direction of the DC gear motor 58 remains and the threaded spindle 53 with plunger moves in the direction of the syringe bottom, so that now an excess pressure is created in chamber of the pressure generating device. After this, the gear motor 21 of the cutting sheath is operated to open the sample removal chamber roughly halfway. The actuator couple to the valve is activated to open the valve and release the pressure into the biopsy cannula, and force the sample out the biopsy chamber 71.
With the release of the excess pressure build-up in the vacuum/pressure generating unit 5, the sample is forced out due to the a pressure pulse and ejects into a waiting laboratory vessel even when the sample removal chamber is halfway open, and at the same time the chamber of the vacuum pressure generating device, the biopsy cannula and the sample removal chamber is cleared of tissue particles and fluid. The ejection of the sample when the sample removal chamber is around halfway open is so that the ejection of the tissue sample is assured and the tissue sample does not fall back into the chamber as a result of premature dissipation of the excess pressure. The narrowing of the cavity of the biopsy cannula by the stopper 79, which prevents or impedes tissue from getting into the cavity of the biopsy cannula, proves to be especially advantageous when removing the sample, since the narrower cross section boosts the ejection pressure. The best ejection results, therefore, may be achieved with the sample removal chamber halfway open; i.e., the cutting sheath clears half of the sample removal chamber. The excess pressure also forces tissue fluid out of the sample removal chamber and cleans it.
In the example illustrated in
The components of the exemplary device shown in
In the upper-left part of the housing interior there is arranged a biopsy cannula carrier 37, which can be inserted into and taken out from the U-shaped insert holder 36 of the base block 8, which is open at the top, and the bracket 40 arranged on either side of the tension slide 28 and pointing upward; the biopsy cannula/cutting sheath unit with actuating parts is moveably mounted in this, extending for almost the entire length of the hand piece. This means that, in the uncocked state, the distal end surface of the biopsy cannula carrier 37 lies against the distal end cover 6 of the housing, and in the cocked state the proximal end surface lies against the proximal end cover 7. "Almost the entire length" means that the biopsy cannula carrier is at least shorter by the distance required in the interior of the housing for the cocking sequence. If the cocking distance of the tension slide is 20 mm, for example, the biopsy cannula carrier must be able to move by this amount. In this particular design, the cocking distance set at 20 mm. As one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure would appreciate, the device may be adapted to allow the physician to adjust the device to capture the desired length of the sample.
The cocking device itself consists of a tension slide 28, placed on a bolt 30, the bolt screwing into the base block 8. The bolt 30 has a spiral spring 31 surrounding it. The locking device of the tension slide is secured to the block 26. In the upper-right proximal interior of the housing is accommodated the vacuum pressure generating device 5 with parts of the actuator; the actuating motor with reduction gearing for the vacuum pressure generating device is located in the distal lower-right area of the housing interior.
At the left side of the bottom piece of the housing there is a surface 113 provided for the control interface panel with the operating and monitoring elements (
When configuring the operating and monitoring elements on the control interface panel consideration was given to the difference between the cocking sequence of the tension slide and the triggering of the tension slide, on one hand, and the performance of the biopsy, such as the cutting out of the sample, as well as the removal of the sample with the ejection of the sample, on the other hand. Accordingly, the activating button (trigger) for the tension slide has been placed at the right and the cocking button for cocking the tension slide is at left. The program button for performing the biopsy is in the middle. It is necessary to press the program button for three functions. The first function, start or reset, is indicated by the reset diode, while the sample removal diode arranged underneath indicates the opening and closing of the sample removal chamber when removing the sample. The lowermost eject diode indicates the ejection of the removed sample. The cocking diode indicates the cocking of the tension slide; the locking diode indicates the locking of the tension slide. The battery charge diode indicates the charge condition of the battery or storage battery. The diodes are switched so that the diode blinks while performing the particular sequence and after completion of the sequence the next diode lights up. When there are two possible choices, both diodes are lit. The operator is then free to make a choice. The mode of operation and possibility of control shall be examined more closely in detail when describing the sequence. Symbols (icons) at the margin symbolize the individual processes.
To improve the operating safety it may be advisable to outfit individual automated sequences with delay circuit. In particular, it has been found that the processes of "cocking of the tension slide" by pressing the cocking button and "ejection of sample" by pressing the program button are provided with delay circuits of around 1.2-1.5 seconds to improve the operating safety. Furthermore, the operating safety is improved when the light-emitting diodes indicating the individual processes have different colors for processes outside and processes inside the tissue.
A perspective representation of the base block 8 is shown in
An additional block 26 is machined to form the wall 22, pointing in the proximal direction, which accommodates both the swiveling double lever 33 for the locking process and also serves to fasten the bolt 30 for guiding the tension slide 28. The bolt 30 is screwed into the threaded borehole 29. During the cocking process, the tension slide 28 moves in the proximal direction on the bolt 30 and the separating plate arranged underneath. The spiral spring 31 arranged on the threaded bolt 30 is compressed during the cocking process. At one end, the spiral spring thrusts against an end piece 32 of the threaded bolt or directly against the end cover 7 of the housing; the other end of the spiral spring thrusts against the end of the guide borehole of the tension slide.
The tension slide 28, which adjoins the block 26, is arranged at equal height and is roughly equal in cross section. On its top side, the tension slide has two brackets 40. The upward pointing surface 41 of the tension slide, as well as the upward pointing surface 44 of the block 26, and the upward pointing surface of the extension 42 of the basic block 8, together form a planar bearing surface for the lower sliding surface 43 of the biopsy cannula carrier 37 mounted thereon. The biopsy cannula carrier is made of plastic. As the tension slide is moved from the starting uncocked condition (
At the other, proximal end of the cutting sheath, away from the cutting edge 72, there is fastened a threaded spindle casing 73 with a gear 74 arranged at the end face of the threaded spindle casing. The threaded spindle casing with gear is arranged on the cutting sheath and prevented from turning and shifting. The threaded spindle cooperates with a threaded spindle nut 75, which is firmly press-fitted in the biopsy cannula carrier 37. The gear 74 lies next to the nut 75, i.e., before the spindle casing begins. When the threaded spindle casing is turned by means of the gear 74, the cutting sheath is rotated and shifted in lengthwise direction along the biopsy cannula 2.
The gear 74 at the distal end of the threaded spindle engages with the toothed roller 23 after the biopsy cannula carrier is inserted in the brackets 40. So as to allow for inserting the biopsy cannula carrier 37 into the brackets of the tension slide when the slide is not cocked (
The proximal end of the cutting sheath is connected to the hollow biopsy cannula by a seal element 76, able to move in rotation, but air-tight, so that neither air can get in between biopsy cannula and the cutting sheath coaxially surrounding it, nor can air escape during excess pressure. On the proximal end of the biopsy cannula 2 is mounted air-tight a round, likewise hollow plastic part 47, being frictionally joined to the biopsy cannula. The plastic part 47 has a bearing element 49 at its distal end, which is press-fitted into the biopsy cannula carrier; at its proximal end, protruding from the hand piece 1, there is inserted another plastic part 112, which can turn relative to the plastic part 47 and the biopsy cannula 2. Between biopsy cannula and plastic part 112 there is inserted an O-ring seal. The plastic part has a plug 17 at its proximal end, onto which the connection element 4 is placed air-tight.
There is also a knurled disk 80 on the proximal end, protruding from the biopsy cannula carrier and the housing, by which, when rotated, the position of the sample removal chamber can be adjusted radially, without altering the position of the cutting sheath. One rotation of the biopsy cannula involves only one rotation of the sample removal chamber and, thus, the sample removal device. The plastic part 47 with biopsy cannula and cutting sheath is press-fitted into the biopsy cannula carrier with the bearing element 49 and the threaded spindle nut 75. The biopsy cannula can rotate in the biopsy cannula carrier and is mounted in the cutting sheath by the bearing element 49 and its narrow guide in the cutting sheath, and it can shift in the lengthwise axis with the biopsy cannula carrier. As described above, the cutting sheath is axially movable by rotation relative to the biopsy cannula. A polygon 50 (positioned proximal of the bearing element 49) is arranged on the plastic part, which can lock with the biopsy cannula carrier by tension, so that the sample removal chamber of the biopsy cannula can be brought into the most favorable position for the biopsy removal and held there by means of the knurled disk 80.
Details of the sample removal chamber and the tip of the biopsy cannula are represented in
When there is excess pressure in the cavity of the biopsy cannula, the narrowing or stopper has a pressure boosting effect. The stopper has roughly the length of 10 mm and is glued or welded into the cavity. When using laser welding, it has proven to be advantageous to make the distal side of the stopper thin for a short length, around 2 mm, by removing material at the end surface. As a result, in this region at the end surface the tube of the biopsy cannula is welded to the end surface of the stopper and is air-tight at the end surface. The stopper can also be of shorter length, as long as the same effect is achieved. Thus, the stopper can also be replaced by a lip or a partial plug of approximately the same height. The important thing is that the narrowing is configured such that the vacuum is brought to bear primarily from the bottom in the sample removal chamber, so that the sample clings to the wall of the sample removal chamber during the cutting process and does not change in length. It has also proven to be advantageous to provide additional fixation means on the sample removal wall.
The suctioning of the sample from the bottom into the sample removal chamber produces, first, a high fill ratio of the sample removal chamber and, second, especially due to its configuration, a good fixation of the sample on the wall. Since the cutting sheath separates the sample at the outside of the biopsy cannula, this firm suctioning of the sample into the interior is also preserved during the separation process. Furthermore, due to the cutting sheath arranged on the outside, and the vacuum applied, no tissue is suctioned into the hollow cutting sheath and thus the tissue cannot get twisted or turned by the rotating lengthwise movement of the cutting sheath, as it is held fast in the interior of the cutting sheath. This improves the quality of the sample, since the pathologist obtains original material corresponding to the cross section of the cut and not being twisted or deformed. When the sample is ejected under pressure, a complete cleaning of the sample removal chamber occurs in addition through the stopper 79, so that no commingling occurs when used repeatedly. Since the vacuum generating device is used at the same time as a pressure generating device, the entire cavity is cleaned, especially that of the cannula.
The toothed crown 55 arranged on the circumference of the threaded spindle nut meshes with the drive pinion 56, which is fastened on the take-off shaft of the DC gear motor 58. The take-off shaft of the DC gear motor 58 is mounted in the base block 8; for this, the take-off shaft is inserted into the transverse plate 59 of the base block. When the DC gear motor 58 is activated, the plunger is moved toward the syringe bottom or in the direction of the base block 8, depending on the direction of turning. The drive motor used is likewise a DC motor with high speed, connected to a planet transmission with high reduction ratio. It corresponds to the motor already described for the cocking mechanism.
The plunger is configured in familiar fashion as a syringe plunger. The syringe body made from plastic, being a cylinder with a bottom, is transparent. In order to prevent a twisting of the threaded spindle 53 upon actuation of the threaded spindle nut, the two opposite surfaces of the threaded spindle are plane in configuration. The threaded spindle is inserted into the insert element by its free end. The spacing between the surfaces of the threaded spindle corresponds to the width of the U-shaped insert element of the base block 8. There is only slight play between the U-shaped cross section of the insert element and the spindle surfaces at either end. The threaded spindle nut thrusts against the base block. In order to prevent the syringe body from sliding out upon turning of the threaded spindle nut, the bearing surface at the base block 8 is slightly conical toward the bottom. The connection piece of the syringe body is inserted into the passage 16 of the proximal end cover 7 so that the syringe body is held in roughly horizontal position. In addition, a pin pressed into the machined aluminum motor block may also be provided to prevent the syringe from rotating. The pin rests against the plastic syringe body when the needle is loaded into the housing properly. When the lid is closed the pin digs into the syringe slightly and prevents the syringe from rotating.
If the syringe plunger is moved beyond the ventilation opening 67 (FIG. 5H)—when the vacuum is no longer required—intake of air (atmospheric pressure) through the ventilation opening 67 will dissipate the previously established vacuum in the hollow biopsy cannula. If, then, the direction of turning of the gear motor is reversed, the vacuum pressure generating device will build up an excess pressure in the system by retraction of the plunger (toward the bottom of the syringe), which brings about the ejection of the tissue sample after opening the sample removal chamber. Moreover, the pressurized air will clean not only the sample removal chamber, but also in particular the inside of the biopsy cannula. The stopper narrowing the cavity of the cannula will make it difficult or entirely prevent tissue parts from getting into the cavity of the biopsy cannula. The narrowing of the cannula cavity by the stopper 79 will increase the pressure at the sample removal chamber and thereby improve the ejection of the sample, even when the sample removal chamber is half open.
This invention has been described and specific examples of the invention have been portrayed. While the invention has been described in terms of particular variations and illustrative figures, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the variations or figures described. In addition, where methods and steps described above indicate certain events occurring in certain order, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the ordering of certain steps may be modified and that such modifications are in accordance with the variations of the invention. Additionally, certain of the steps may be performed concurrently in a parallel process when possible, as well as performed sequentially as described above. Therefore, to the extent there are variations of the invention, which are within the spirit of the disclosure or equivalent to the inventions found in the claims, it is the intent that this patent will cover those variations as well. Finally, all publications and patent applications cited in this specification are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually put forth herein.
|Zitiert von Patent
|1. März 2007
|6. Sept. 2011
|C. R. Bard, Inc.
|Quick cycle biopsy system
|10. Aug. 2011
|22. Apr. 2014
|C.R. Bard, Inc.
|Quick cycle biopsy system
|Internationale Klassifikation
|Europäische Klassifikation
|13. Nov. 2014
|Fee payment
Year of fee payment: 4

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Post 29 Falls To Cherryville At State
|Written by Staff Reports
|Saturday, 04 August 2012 16:51
The Caldwell County Post 29 American Legion baseball team saw its season come to an end Saturday afternoon. Post 29 (28-10) dropped a 5-1 decision to Cherryville Post 100 in an elimination game in the American Legion State Tournament at MS Deal Stadium in Granite Falls. Despite the loss, Post 29 finishes among the top four teams in the state.
Caldwell grabbed an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Max Linnville in the third inning, but from that point on winning pitcher Dylan Hastings kept Post 29 in check. Caldwell only made three hits; Linnville was 1-4 with an RBI; David Martin was 0-3. Hastings went the distance and gave up an earned run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
|Share This Article:


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Have the past three years left you or your kids bored of tossing birds around on your screen? Has the endless sound of "ba-KAW" from a bird or "Hee hee hee" from a pig left you wanting? (No? Me either!) Regardless of your relationship with Rovio's popular and highly successful Angry Birds franchise, their latest offering may pique your interest. In Bad Piggies (available on Mac, iOS, and Android as of September 27), you must construct contraptions to successfully deposit your pig at the end point of a level. No enemies to smush or blocks to smash, just designing and operating vehicles that can roll, explode, flap, or fling your pig. Sound easy? Think again. Continue Reading "Bad Piggies for iOS Is Frustrating (in a Good Way)" »
All posts tagged 'game'
Bad Piggies for iOS Is Frustrating (in a Good Way)
- 10.02.12
iPad App Magic Belles Helps Kids Have Fun, Make Music
- 09.06.12
In our house, we have entered the phase of development where my 3-year-old daughter is as likely to sing as speak. She frequently treats her life with us as a musical, where she plays the narrator and describes what we are doing in song. Living as we do in the shadow of a renowned music school, odds are good that many opportunities will arise to develop her natural love of the arts by learning to play instruments and capture her compositions. In the meantime, it is wonderful to have access to technology that lowers the barriers to music making.
My daughter has grown a year wiser since we last play-tested a Magic Belles offering. While regularly journeying back to the website proved to be difficult — Dad was stingy with computer time, and the toddler had to master a mouse or trackpad — the jump to a tablet instantly elevated Magic Belles: Magic Music to her favorite game.
The iPad application — available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99 — features the familiar six magical fairies, each with a favorite interest and a distinct musical jingle. There are seven activities included in Magic Music: painting with rainbows, finding hidden butterflies, connecting the dots, composing music with picnic food and bells, growing flowers and orchestrating a concert featuring a custom composition of all of the Belles' jingles.
All of the music in this world is derived from a tone matrix, step sequencers to create electronic music. This means that every combination sounds pleasant. Each activity also has a number of kid-level Easter eggs, like mice stealing cookies and owls flying to a distant tree, that encourage exploration of the environment. My daughter's favorite game involves simple one-touch painting from buckets filled with rainbow paint.
Luma Creative, a branding firm run by Maxine Stinton and Luciana Mazzocco, designed the iPad version of their musical world with the help of Do-Tank Studios. Although the game was created to introduce girls ages 3 to 6 to music, the appeal of Magic Music extends beyond that limited demographic. My daughter spent the past few days insisting that everyone she encounters learn about the Belles. Most followed that opening into a lengthy session of music-making with her.
Magic Music is an engaging application that should keep the young children interested in playing with music while providing some pleasant background sounds for adults.
Disclosure: Luma Creative head Maxine Stinton is married to GeekDad Core Contributor Nathan Barry.
Challenge Your Friends to a Geek Battle
- 09.04.12
Two words: Geek. Trivia. Yeah, I know. Two great tastes that taste great together.
For those of us who love to test our knowledge with trivia games, Geek Battle: The Game of Extreme Geekdom is a new game designed to do just that, but with targeted geeky trivia. The four categories follow that theme. They are Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Comics & Video Games, Science & Technology, and Geek Life (not to be confused with Bob Boyle's fantastic webcomic of the same name).
A couple of weeks ago I had some of my geekiest local friends come over and try out the game with me. We played it through, and I managed to win, but only because a particular wormhole journey was fortunate for me. Our group opinion is that it is a fun game, with great questions, and some interesting game elements, with only a few small issues.
The first thing I noticed about the game is the diminutive game board. I like this very much, because it takes up less room in my house, and makes it more portable and playable on a small surface. The next thing was the pieces. It comes with four cardboard pieces that you have to assemble and disassemble each time you play, if you want the pieces to still fit in the box. The pieces are much larger than any of the spaces on the board, though, and would be better suited to a full sized board. So from now on, I'll just ditch the pieces and use something small from my stash of little things.
The general idea of the game is to roll the D6, move ahead, and answer a question. If you get the wrong answer, you stay there. If you get it right, you roll the D12 and move that many spaces. Then it's the next person's turn. Unless you land on a wormhole that might send you to another part of the board (think Candyland — I'm looking at you, Queen Frostine!), or a Geek Battle space where you challenge someone else to a Geek Battle (more on that below).
Continue Reading "Challenge Your Friends to a Geek Battle" »
iPad Game Run For President Teaches Kids About the Election Process
- 08.28.12
The second half of the U.S. Presidential campaign season gets underway this week with the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. The weather-challenged GOP will attempt to rally followers with a few days of politically charged speeches, culminating in the official presentation of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as running mates for the nation's highest office. After the Democrats get their turn in the limelight next week, celebrating the past four years of Barack Obama and Joe Biden with their own speeches, the race for the White House will make its final turn toward November.
Just in time for this stretch run comes a new iPad game that teaches kids about the election process. Mixing politics with Oregon Trail and a dash of Risk, Digomind Productions' Election: Run For President is an simulation game to replay past and current U.S. Presidential elections. Players compete alone or head-to-head as election strategists to try and improve or overcome past results.
Election: Run For President sets the stage one year before America votes to elect its next president. The players take on the role of campaign manager, guiding the candidate through a 12-month strategy that includes fundraising, baby-kissing events, and the selection of a Vice-Presidential running mate. The game offers a realistic simulation mode — which features real candidates competing for states as they leaned in that point in history — or a fantasy mode, where you can run as any candidate you like in different eras.
Each turn, players spend a single fundraiser card, multiple campaign cards, or exchange cards for a new stack of three. Fundraising is more successful in big states you already control and haven't yet asked for money. Campaign activities are more effective if they are well-funded to match their reach. There are also random events that may impact either fundraising or state leanings.
Kevin and Mark Williams, co-creators of Election: Run For President, credit such famous titles as Ticket to Ride, Small World and Settlers of Catan for inspiring their game. "We wanted the game to play well for elementary school kids," says Kevin Williams of the game mechanics. "We were mindful of making a game that didn't have a heaping pile of rules, banking on the human element to make the game unpredictable."
Although voter turnout for the last Presidential ballot in 2008 reached 57%, higher than any election since the 1960s, much of that boost at the polls was credited to an energized youth vote. That group of young voters is not expected to participate in high numbers this fall, and there are growing concerns that the divisiveness of contemporary politics will breed a new generation of voter apathy. Teaching kids about the election process early will remove at least one barrier to early political engagement and can only help revive interest in voting.
"We may be aiming high," says Williams, "but we feel our game provides a great jumping off point for classroom discussions, parents and their kids regarding how our President gets elected."
While the game play doesn't yet go deep into the nuances of the federal elections, Election: Run For President does lay the groundwork to understand elections from the candidate's perspective. It is certainly enough to give the voters of tomorrow an appreciation for the news they will be hearing over the next few months.
Before play-testing the game, I asked some tweens how a President gets elected. This group of 8-to-12-year-olds came to the game knowing that votes were involved, but most could not explain how the states tallied those votes to determine the winner. They also couldn't articulate any strategy for how a candidate went about persuading and engaging voters. After playing the game a few rounds, these kids not only were able to grasp how the electoral college works but they enjoyed trying to win the race.
Williams concurs with my experiment: "I have witnessed many times how our game gives people who play it a very clear understanding of how the electoral college system works. It shines a light on why the candidates pour so much time, energy, and resources into a few key states while ignoring less valuable states like Montana and North Dakota."
There are winning strategies in Election: Run For President that will overcome both history and bad luck. Being able to swing states to your side early can cut into the fundraising effectiveness of your opponent, and recognizing which campaign actions are going to have limited impact can prompt timely redraws to get new cards. There are also some cues that are not as obvious, such as the details in the state descriptions that suggest whether a card will be effective. At some point in the future, the Williams brothers will introduce polling options, to allow players to get more precise feedback on how their candidate is doing.
"We didn't want these variables to be transparent because we feel real elections are a bit hazy," explains Williams. "Obama campaigns in Iowa, and the impact is not always plainly obvious."
The initial release of Election: Run For President offers the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, with expansion modules to add 2004, 2000 and 1960. An update this week will add GOP Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan ("We didn't see that one coming when we released the app last spring," says Williams) as the developers intend to stay current with the 2012 election as it progresses.
The long-term goal is to provide simulations for all 57 Presidential elections, preserving the context of their campaign environments. It is a vision that poses some programming challenges for the Williams brothers. Abraham Lincoln, for example, was the first Republican election in a campaign that earned less than 40 percent of the popular vote and sparked a secession movement. Lincoln needed only 152 electoral votes to win (he got 180), a far cry from the 270 needed today.
"I would expect Reagan-Mondale to come first, specifically because it was such a monster landslide," explains Williams. "The fun historical challenge becomes can you dominate like Reagan did, or can you win as Mondale in one of the worst historical loses ever?"
"My dream for Election: Run for President is to develop it to a point where kids remember it as fondly as I remember Oregon Trail. It's fun, but it is educational at the same time.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a Megatron of Fun
- 08.21.12
I've just spent the last two days playing through Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and it is, without a doubt, my favorite game this year. High Moon Studios put a lot of their heart and soul into this game and it really shows. I've known since BotCon that this game was going to be epic, but I didn't realize how much so until this weekend.
Continuing where War for Cybertron (WfC) left off, the game starts out with the Autobots scrambling to make an exodus from their dying planet. Like the first game the story flows effortlessly between chapters with smooth story transitions and cut scenes. Unlike the WfC, the different perspectives are woven together in a single timeline with the player moving smoothly from one to another.
A few large transformers make appearances through the game. First up is Metroplex, a city sized defense robot analogous to Trypticon from WfC. You don't get to control him directly, but while playing as Optimus you can target his attacks at various Decepticon vehicles and weapons.
My favorite character is Grimlock, the giant fire-breathing robot T-Rex. Grimlock has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde problem in that he can only transform when mad (though on command) and, if you aren't careful, will switch back to robot form at the least opportune moment.
Later in the game you also get to take control of Bruticus, a combination of five legendary Combaticons, but I can't say too much about that without some major spoilers. Let's just say he kicks some proverbial robot butt.
Multiplayer has not changed significantly since the Demo, but there are a couple more game types and maps. They have tweaked the game, presumably to level the playing field for different weapons and class types. Details are posted on their blog here: High Moon Studios: Demo Change Log.
Wired: Great story and game play. It is obvious that the developers are true fans of Transformers and poured their soul into making this game true to the universe.
Tired: I only had one complaint about the story, early on, but can't really reveal it without major spoilers. Leave a note in the comments if you would like to discuss it.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron Official Launch Trailer:
You can find out more about Fall of Cybertron on the game page, or order a copy for Xbox, PS3, or PC at Amazon for about $60.
Club Caveman Raises the Bar for iPad Storytelling
- 07.16.12
As evident by the number of posts on GeekDad featuring such projects, Kickstarter is a great source for interesting and cutting-edge innovation in areas of gaming and technology. One recent campaign is trying to elevate kids' engagement with narrative by expanding the range of user interaction and quality of game animation.
Club Caveman features a British-sounding narrator guiding the participant into a forest in search of a simple-minded caveman, Club. The caveman reacts to the player through touch, voice and motion language and evolves as the story progresses. The iPad application-in-progress was inspired by instructional Disney shorts where Goofy demonstrates a topic (like how to play baseball).
On the surface, Club Caveman is reminiscent of Talking Tom Cat, a popular download by parents for their kids and hit in the Entertainment genre of the App Store. Instead of call-and-response mimicry and overt buttons to trigger actions, however, Club has to deal with speech recognition and the orientation of the iPad. Most importantly, the animation takes one giant leap forward.
Continue Reading "Club Caveman Raises the Bar for iPad Storytelling" »
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)
- 07.07.12
In my experience most movie-based games fall flat, but once in a while one comes along that makes me think there is hope. The Amazing Spider-Man is one such game. Though to be fair, this isn't exactly based on the movie since the story and timeline are a continuation of the movie that is opening in theaters today.
I'll try not to include much of the plot of the game since it does give a few spoilers of what to expect in the movie. Feel free to discuss the plots in the discussion below though, and if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'd recommend avoiding the comments for now.
Gameplay is well thought out and the controls, for the most part, make sense. Web swinging is fluid and fun, but it does take a little getting used to. The physics are good, most of the time, but occasionally you're left wondering how Spidey managed to not only survive that face-plant into the side of the Oscorp building, but also transition to running up the wall. All this happens in real-time, but you can also use Web Rush to slow things down and pick your target. Web Rush reminds me a little of the Dead Eye Targeting system in Red Dead Redemption, but you are only able to target one thing.
Continue Reading "The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game (GeekDad Weekly Rewind)" »
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Game
- 07.03.12
In my experience most movie-based games fall flat, but once in a while one comes along that makes me think there is hope. The Amazing Spider-Man is one such game. Though to be fair, this isn't exactly based on the movie since the story and timeline are a continuation of the movie that is opening in theaters today.
I'll try not to include much of the plot of the game since it does give a few spoilers of what to expect in the movie. Feel free to discuss the plots in the discussion below though, and if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'd recommend avoiding the comments for now.
Gameplay is well thought out and the controls, for the most part, make sense. Web swinging is fluid and fun, but it does take a little getting used to. The physics are good, most of the time, but occasionally you're left wondering how Spidey managed to not only survive that face-plant into the side of the Oscorp building, but also transition to running up the wall. All this happens in real-time, but you can also use Web Rush to slow things down and pick your target. Web Rush reminds me a little of the Dead Eye Targeting system in Red Dead Redemption, but you are only able to target one thing.
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures – Mini-Quiz and Freebie
- 05.04.12
As I'm sure everyone reading this blog is aware, today, the fourth day of the month of May, is now commonly known as Star Wars Day, thanks to the pun "May the Fourth Be With You." The first organized celebration of Star Wars Day apparently took place last year in Ontario, Canada, and included an array of activities including trivia, costume contests and tribute-films. As if we needed a holiday to celebrate Star Wars culture!
I'm sure you'll be bombarded with tweets wishing you a Happy Star Wars Day, no doubt hashtagged #StarWarsDay and Sony Online Entertainment is doing its part to help celebrate this most hallowed of holidays by offering everyone a free Nelona Dual-Bladed Lightsaber, just like Darth Maul's. Before you get too excited imagining battling your friends on the driveway – it's not a real lightsaber. It's only available to players of the family-friendly virtual world Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures today, starting from 9am EDT.
From the press release:
Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, a free-to-play family-friendly online virtual world from Sony Online Entertainment and LucasArts, is now available to play at www.CloneWarsAdventures.com. Clone Wars Adventures is an action-packed browser-based virtual world where fans can live out the thrills and excitement of The Clone Wars animated TV series on Cartoon Network.
In Clone Wars Adventures, players become the next great hero of the Republic as they take their place alongside their favorite characters from Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated TV series including Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Ahsoka Tano. Gamers can play exciting minigames, engage in dynamic activities, attend lively social events, and access thousands of customization options for their very own personalized avatars. They will speed through space in a Starfighter, take out waves of battle droids in Tower Defense, and test their brains with challenging Droid Programming puzzles. Players can also purchase legendary Star Wars outfits, items and accessories through micro-transactions using Station Cash, SOE's virtual currency.
It's essentially a kind of Club Penguin or Moshi Monsters for the Star Wars–obsessed, with basic content offered for free, but if you sign up to the paid membership scheme, you get access to more customization options, games, items and accessories for your virtual self.
Sony is offering players 40 booster points just for logging in today and the official Star Wars website will also be participating in the festivities, providing users with a special code that will grant them the Lightsaber. Also, as a special promotion, the Jedi Membership option will be available for only $1.99 (instead of $5.99) for the first month for new registrants.
And finally, they've sent us a fun little quiz to test your knowledge of The Clone Wars. Jot down the answers to these twelve questions and head to the next page to see how well you've done. High-tech, I know!
Continue Reading "Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures – Mini-Quiz and Freebie" »
An Early Look at Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
- 05.03.12
I took a short trip into Dallas on Sunday to check out BotCon 2012, the Transformers Collector's Convention. The convention was cool and interesting, but the thing I wanted to see most was Activision's Transformers: Fall of Cybertron booth.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a third person shooter slated for release at the end of August. It is being produced by High Moon Studios, the same people that brought us the highest rated Transformers game yet, War for Cybertron. Matt Tieger, Game Director at High Moon Studios was on hand to walk us through some actual game play. The game isn't finished yet, but the engine (Unreal), models, and game mechanics are fleshed out well enough for at least 3 playable levels.
One of the things that Matt emphasized is that transforming is a key element in the game play. One of the demos showed Vortex flying into battle, guns blazing, then dropping down into robot form for some hand-to-hand melee. Another demo shows Vortex and the rest of the Combaticons joining together to form Bruticus, a gigantic powerful machine of destruction.
Watch the video to see some Grimlock game play footage as Matt Tieger explains why he thinks Grimlock is the best character in the game.
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is available for pre-order on Amazon for $60.


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DCS DishDrawer Dishwasher Double Drawer Unit, DD224P5
24" Double DishDrawer with 9 Wash Cycles, Integrated One-Touch Controls and Eco Option.
- Product: DCS Double DishDrawer Dishwasher
- Brand: Fisher & Paykel
- Retailer: AJ Madison Appliances
- Color: Silver
Have an opinion? Care to comment? We'd love to hear what you have to say.


text:
The Gardener
October 16, 2006
Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War By Robert L. Beisner (Oxford University Press, 768 pp., $35) I. "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world." The speaker could have been Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, or Bill Clinton. In fact, it was George W. Bush, in his second inaugural address; and what he said is what historians will probably remember as the Bush Doctrine.
September 11, 2006
Surry Hill. So reads a plaque at the end of the long, winding private road that leads to the crown jewel of McLean, Virginia: the 18,000-square-foot mansion that Republican lobbyist Ed Rogers and his wife Edwina call home. To get there from Washington, you drive across the Potomac River and along a parkway that, in the summer, is canopied by lush green trees. Shortly before the guarded entrance to the CIA, you turn off McLean's main road and then down a private lane, passing through brick gate posts adorned with black lanterns and into a grand cul-de-sac. A massive brick Colonial with majestic
War College
March 20, 2006
Hillary Clinton, congratulations. You're the lucky recipient of a winning political issue, which has the added virtue of being morally important. Send your thanks to Columbia University and the U.S. Supreme Court. This week, the Court unanimously upheld the Solomon Amendment, which denies government funding to universities that prohibit military recruiting on campus.
The Case Against New Ideas
July 11, 2005
Ideas--the idea of ideas, anyway--have always held a lofty place in our political culture. But perhaps never before have they been imbued with such power as at this particular moment. Since last November, conservatives have been braying about their victory in the war of ideas, often with a whiff of Marxian assurance. "Conservatism is the ideology of the future," gloated Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.
Juvenile Logic
March 21, 2005
THE MORNING AFTER the Supreme Court struck down the juvenile death penalty as a form of cruel and unusual punishment in Roper v. Simmons, the reaction in the Supreme Court press room was unusually scathing.
Out of Africa
February 14, 2005
Melville J. Herskovits and the Racial Politics of Knowledge By Jerry Gershenhorn (University of Nevada Press, 338 pp., $65) Melville J.
Body of Evidence
February 14, 2005
There are many iconic photographs of Marie Curie: Early on with her husband, Pierre, with whom she shared the first of her Nobel Prizes; and, after his death, standing alone with her instruments in the lab. But there are other, more telling, images as well: With her peers--among them Michelson, Rutherford, Millikan, Poincare, Kapitza, Pauli, Bohr, Fermi, and, of course, Einstein--always the lone woman. In a 1911 photograph, she is surrounded by 23 men at the Solvay physics conference in Brussels. In a photograph at Lausanne, she sits, front-row, dead center, between Einstein and Fermi in a con
On Familiarity
October 29, 2004
What is present other than all those things--physical, objects, ideas, and sensibilities as well as their traces and fragments--that have somehow persisted into our own time? It is a characteristic, yet peculiar condition of modern life: Even though our world is made up of just these things from the past, more often than not, they have become unintelligible to us, if not invisible.
The Bill Clinton Show
August 09, 2004
My Life By Bill Clinton (Alfred A. Knopf, 957 pp., $35) Click here to purchase the book. Bill Clinton used to tell us that he wanted to feel our pain, even though he often gave us one. In this characteristically garrulous volume of almost one thousand pages, he tells us all about his own pain.
Textual Harassment
June 07, 2004
After Theory By Terry Eagleton (Basic Books, 231 pp., $25) I. When I attended Cambridge in the mid-1980s, "theory" was sickly ripe. What looked like its fiercest flush of life, the red of its triumph, was in fact the unnatural coloring of fever. Paul de Man had just died, Harold Bloom was preparing his second career as a weak misreader of Clifton Fadiman, Roland Barthes was gone, the Yale gang of deconstructionists was breaking up, and much postmodern silliness among the signifiers was just around the corner.


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Apprentice motor mouth Katie Hopkins reveals transformation for new show Journey to Fat and Back
Posted: September 02, 2014|
Katie Hopkins has revealed her fuller figure on tv for the first time after pilling on the pounds for a new programme.
The Apprentice motor mouth, who grew up in Bideford, appeared on This Morning to discuss her experience putting on – and losing – 3.5 stone.
The columnist has been eating 6500 calories a day over the course of three months, and has gone from a size 8 to size 16.
ITV's This Morning today showed a clip of the TLC doc Katie Hopkins Journey to Fat and Back and in it the former Apprentice contestant sobs.
Related content
She revealed her fuller figure to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on Monday's show.
She said: 'I've always criticised fat people so I've put my money where my mouth is. [But] my lungs don't have space anymore. I was 8 stone 8, I'm nearly 12 stone now.
'I'm not lucky to be skinny…it's really hard to be fat. Carrying this around is exhausting. Feeling my stomach sitting on top of my legs is exhausting.
'If you're happy with yourself when you look in the mirror, that's fine by me – but if not have you got excuses?'
Katie had previously put on the weight as she had had enough of fat people making excuses for putting on weight.
In her article for The Sun, Hopkins said that putting on weight has made her 'more miserable than I have been at any other time in my life.'
In a clip, the rent-a-gob sobbed: "This is a stupid project. I hate fat people for making me do this..."
Off camera, her husband replied: "Well, it was your idea."


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Get the FCN APPS
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KARE) -- In the Battle Creek area of St. Paul, coyote sightings are
happening more frequently.
"There was a coyote kind of down by the water, and he kind of looked at me I
looked at him," smiled Dan Strike. "We stared at each other a little bit and he
just took off back in the woods."
That's exactly the kind of reaction animal control would like the coyotes to
have. While coyotes have practically moved in next door, the last thing you want
to do is make them feel at home.
"Cover your garbage, don't leave your pet food outside, don't intentionally
feed some of the wildlife, if you do it, make sure it's cleaned up daily,"
explained St.Paul Animal Control's Bill Stephenson.
Additionally, it's now more important to ensure their fear of us sticks.
The last thing animal control wants is a coyote to get used to us. So they
recommend something called "hazing" the animal. For instance, banging on a pan
to scare them off or throwing a rock, or even if you have a hose at your house,
spray water at them to keep them from getting used to us.
Right now, coyotes are breeding or "pupping" so they may be a little bit more
protective and a little more aggressive.
Whatever we can do to be a bother is the best approach, and don't stop until
the coyote is out of sight.
"Because if they learn all I have to do is run away 20 or 30 feet from you
it's going to stop and be okay," explained Stephenson. "So there's where the
consistency comes in."
Coyotes in Saint Paul are here to stay, so residents should exercise caution
around them.
Coyotes have a natural fear of humans, and there have been very few verified
reports of a coyote attacking pets. Attacks on humans, particularly children,
are extremely rare. The key to a healthy relationship between coyotes and
people is to maintain the natural fear, or apprehension, that coyotes have for
The City of Saint Paul offers a few basic rules for this below:
1. Don't provide a food source. Experts insist that residents should never
feed coyotes. If you keep a dog dish full of dog food outside at night,
logically this will attract coyotes to your yard.
2. Haze or annoy the animals if you see them. If you see coyotes in your
yard, haze them. Examples of this include banging on a pot and pan, throwing a
stick or rock at them, yelling at the animal, whistling at them, or spraying
them with hoses or pepper spray. Do not make them feel welcome and be persistent
and consistent in hazing them.
3. Be mindful of the law. Saint Paul ordinance requires a leash on all dogs
for good reason. Keeping your pets, especially small ones, on a leash when
outside at all times will go a long way to ensuring they do not wander off and
find themselves around an aggressive coyote. Ultimately, the only way to assure
that your pet is totally safe from coyotes or other predators is to keep them
Jeffrey DeMars, KARE


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Dimitar Angelov & Dimitar Kolev charged for 'skimming' plot at Springdale credit union ATM
CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury indicted two men from Chicago on Wednesday for placing electronic devices on an ATM in Springdale in order to steal account information from bank customers.
The indictment of Dimitar Angelov, 28, and Dimitar Kolev, 26, both of Chicago, was announced Wednesday by Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Mark Porter, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service and Springdale Police Chief Michael Mathis.
According to court documents, Springdale police officers responded to a credit union on Sept. 28 after receiving a report that two individuals had been sitting in a car parked in an adjacent lot.
The subjects were seen individually walking to the ATM and returning to the vehicle. Springdale officers later approached the men and found evidence of possible credit card fraud, according to the the U.S. Attorney's office.
Upon further investigation, law enforcement officials say they discovered a device known as a "skimmer" and a pinhole camera attached to the ATM.
A "skimmer" is a small electronic device mounted to the front of an ATM card slot that reads the bank card number and transmits it to the criminals sitting in a nearby car. At the same time, a wireless camera is disguised to look like a leaflet holder and is mounted in a position to view ATM PIN entries, according to an article on Snopes.com .
The articles indicates that the thieves copy the cards and use the PIN numbers to withdraw money from many accounts in a short time directly from the bank ATM.
Springdale police have not indicated if anyone's account information was compromised or had their money stolen.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation gives a few tips to avoid being skimmed:
- Inspect the ATM, gas pump, or credit card reader before using it. Be suspicious if you see anything loose, crooked, or damaged or if you notice scratches or adhesive/tape residue.
- When entering your PIN, block the keypad with your other hand to prevent possible hidden cameras from recording your number.
- If possible, use an ATM at an inside location (less access for criminals to install skimmers).
- Be careful of ATMs in tourist areas, they are a popular target of skimmers.
- If your card isn't returned after the transaction or after hitting "cancel," immediately contact the financial institution that issued the card.
Angelov and Kolev, who've been in jail since their arrest, were indicted by a grand jury on Oct. 16. Both men pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
The one-count indictment charges both men with fraud in connection with access devices, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The suspects are being held without bond pending trial. The date of the trial has not been determined.


text: They say that beauty is only skin deep, but, c'mon, let's be real. My mom once told me that you have a choice when it comes to dating. You can either date a rubber tree or a rose. A rubber tree has strong roots and a strong foundation, though no one will ever really look at it and they usually walk on by because it's not appealing or sensual to the eye. A rose, on the other hand, is beautiful with shallow roots, and all the meanwhile, everyone wants to look at it, touch it, and go out of their way to pull it from its home.But you know what? Screw that. There's a certain amount of truth to what she said, but we'd rather hunt around for a rose with rubber tree roots and we're sure that you do to. Is there such a thing? They're few and far between, but Nina Mercedez is a perfect example of a woman with the beauty of a rose and the strong-rooted foundation of a rubber tree. She's as solid as they come, and when it comes to beauty, she's the Southern California Latin sensation who's taken over the World Wide Web as well as the publishing industry.Nina's voluptuous, charming, intellectual and surprisingly sincere. But beyond the superficial needs, we can already see from gawking at her pictures that she's a kind-hearted woman who deserves the success and fame that she's achieved. In this special issue, Nina already has an advice column, and she recently came out in our Best-Of Radicals issue. She graced the covers of more than a dozen titles and this is just the beginning.Nina's an instant hit and there's no stopping her so indulge your mind with the responses in her column and feast your eyes on the beauty and feel the heat that this Latin doll brings. And be sure to point your cursor at www.ninamercedez.com for more of Nina.


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AT Internship Site: Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers
601 Laurel Oak Road
Vorhees, NJ 8043
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Part of the 1967 NHL expansion, they were the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup. The Flyers have the most appearances in the league semi-finals out of all 24 expansion teams and are second behind the St. Louis Blues for the most playoff appearances out of the expansion teams.


text:
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Sarah Horton
Sarah Horton is interested in exploring ways to improve quality of life through good design. As director of accessible user experience and design for the The Paciello Group (TPG), she works with companies and product teams to create "born accessible" digital products and services that work well for everyone. She is co-author of A Web for Everyone with Whitney Quesenbery and Web Style Guide with Patrick Lynch.
Contributions by Sarah Horton
Designing for Easy Interaction
Whether you contribute to the user experience, development, or strategy of your website, you have a business, ethical, and (in many cases) legal responsibility to make your site accessible. And an equally compelling duty to your stakeholders, creativity, and career to achieve accessibility without sacrificing one whit of design or innovation. So what's a site and application maker to do? For starters, read this book! We are thrilled to present an exclusive excerpt from Chapter 5 of A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery, available now from Rosenfeld Media—and with a 20 percent discount for ALA readers, even.


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any specific reason for the double post?
SUSE 9.1 Pro
Mandrake Community 10.0
I have recently aquired all of these distros and decided to give them a try. This is what I found:
Mandrake Community Edition 10.0 (4 CD Edition)
* MP3 support, java, and flash and DVD support out of the box, no hunting for codecs.
* Rather bold attempt at including the latest and greatest of the packages.
* THe DRAKE menu items are great for beginners.
* Good inclusion of Window Managers, also the addition of extra themes and icons were great to see.
* Mandrake galaxy 2 and 1 theme for gnome and kde
* Trouble installing the Nvidia 6111 driver.
* Where is Juk and other mulitmedia programs?
* A little unstable, and glitchy. Some programs just closed with no explanation.
* Encountered an error with the install at the very end. When I tried to configure my network, it spat the dummy and rebooted the computer. I then had to reinstall everything because the system hadn't been configured yet.
Fedora Core 2:
* Easy installation
* Relatively bug free, when compared with Mandrake
* 100% free
* Some of Redhat's management programs are great and easy to use.
* Good hardware support
* Nvidia drivers installed without a hitch
* Uses Xorg instead of XFree86
* No mpeg support, no java, no flash, nothing!!!
* Limited amount of packages. I installed over 5gbs worth, and I was left wondering where it all went!
* Dependence on GNOME 2.4 as the default WM
* Man I hate the bluecurve theme!!!
* Stupidly patched kernel prevents a lot of programs from running, unless you are prepared to do a bit of hacking.
Suse Pro 9.1
* Huge range of programs that are available. I did the full 11.8 gb install and I am sure that there is no other linux program out there :lol:
* YAST was a dream to use for the install, and it was helpful after with configuration.
* Java, flash, mp3 support out of the box.
* Nvidia drivers 6111 installed without a hitch.
* No problems were encountered with any programs. I haven't had it crash as of yet.
* No DVD support!!!
* A lot of useless packages too. Some of the window managers have different names, but they are the same darn WM!
* Some problems with the VIA AC97 audio.
In conclusion, although these systems are good, the best was SUSE 9.1 Pro. I thought Mandrake was good as well, but I was frustrated that I couldn't install my Nvidia drivers. I also felt that it could have had more packages. Fedora was the worst of the lot. Although it seemed pretty stable, it was useless because there was nothing to do. THere were hardly any programs, and it was pretty hard to install some new ones because it has plenty of libraries missing. However, I liked how it used Xorg, the other distros should have thought of that too.
My Website: http://ttgale.com
My Website Uptime: http://img.uptimeprj.com/holastickbo...dee9bae2e2.png
My Server Specs: AMD Athlon X2 3800+, 2gb DDR2 RAM, 1.5TB HDD, Ubuntu 9.10
My Gaming PC: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93ghz, 4gb DDR2 RAM, 9800GTX+
any specific reason for the double post?
Thanks for the review beez. I haven't been able to Dl and play with any of the new distro's so its nice being able to read about others peoples experiences.
Two things about Mandrake, in case you didn't already know. 1)Juk is in there, it is just included in a a kde-multimedia package, you would probably have to do a 'urpmq --fuzzy juk' to find it oddly enough, I found this annoying too. 2) The latest nVidia drivers/installer isn't really supported by Mandrake, you should just use the provided RPM's.
Thanks again for the reviews! Did you go out an buy Suse9.1, I was just wondering where you got it from.
jro - http://jeff.robbins.ws
Linux counter#:213782
GnuPG ID: 406238E7
Most of the things I've read and people I've talked to... People either love or hate YasT. I haven't used it in many years now, but your comments make me want to give it another try (specially in light of the problem I'm having with getting my sound card to work with the Knoppix family). Echoing jro's question; where did you get your copy of SusE? Did it cost you anything?
I got all of the distros for free. SUSE 9.1 came with that pack that Novell sent me, and a buddy of mine burnt me Mandrake 10 and Fedora 2. I have found another reason why I like SUSE. It was really easy to install Unreal TOurnament 2004 with. The graphics are great and the performance was perfect. I can't wait for some more games to come out for linux... Also, sorry about the double post. I was at uni when I posted it, and they are really buggy, and sometimes it looks as if you haven't posted, when in reality, you have. Sorry ops:
My Website: http://ttgale.com
My Website Uptime: http://img.uptimeprj.com/holastickbo...dee9bae2e2.png
My Server Specs: AMD Athlon X2 3800+, 2gb DDR2 RAM, 1.5TB HDD, Ubuntu 9.10
My Gaming PC: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93ghz, 4gb DDR2 RAM, 9800GTX+
np, i just thought you might have meant to have posted something different in the second one.
My Website: http://ttgale.com
My Website Uptime: http://img.uptimeprj.com/holastickbo...dee9bae2e2.png
My Server Specs: AMD Athlon X2 3800+, 2gb DDR2 RAM, 1.5TB HDD, Ubuntu 9.10
My Gaming PC: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93ghz, 4gb DDR2 RAM, 9800GTX+


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Please add this newsletter to your Safe Sender listView this email as a Web page | Manage Account
Philip Betbeze
Regardless of how your organization looks on the massive list of hospital pricing data released to the public this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, you've got some strategic thinking to do. >>>
For the first time, the federal government has made public chargemaster data for the 100 most common Medicare inpatient diagnostic related groups or DRGs. Hospital prices vary widely even within the same city or region. >>>
A $39.3 judgment million and the specter of hefty fines hang over Tuomey Healthcare System following a jury's decision that it violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act. Adventist Health will pay $14.1M to resolve false claims allegations. Both cases were initiated by whistleblowers. >>>
Arguing that documenting a full clinical encounter in an electronic health record "can be pure torment," an American Medical Association official describes three time-saving methods physicians have turned to, each of which has the potential for abuse leading to the denial of CMS payments, he says. >>>
Hospitalists are among healthcare's fastest growing specialties and increasingly they are playing more of a leadership role. As a result, providers must shift to accommodate a more team-based approach to care. >>>
In the Leapfrog Group's third release of hospital safety grades, overall scores rose minutely, but more hospitals got worse than got better. "So far, these numbers aren't really moving," says CEO Leah Binder. >>>
More money is being invested in healthcare IT infrastructure and less in brick and mortar assets than ever before. If you doubt the data, listen to what one CFO at a New York health system is saying about his capital spending plans. >>>
Physician groups say the time is finally right for lawmakers to overhaul the disdained sustainable growth-rate formula. But no one in Congress is embracing a specific plan, and the funding possibilities are uncertain. >>>
The amount of spiritual support received by terminally ill patients has a direct impact on the aggressiveness of their end-of-life care. But not in the way you're probably thinking. >>>
The second in a series of four Executive Insight Reports from Bank of America Merrill Lynch explains the results of a survey on how leading organizations are approaching mergers, joint ventures, acquisitions, and strategic alliances, as they strive to meet the goals of healthcare reform.
Download Today >>>
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The Ontological Problem
This selection from a recently updated edition of a classic work by Paul Churchland considers such questions as the nature of mental states and processes, in what medium they take place, how they are related to the physical world, whether consciousness survives the disintegration of the physical body, and if a purely physical system such as a computer could enjoy real conscious experience. It proceeds by investigating which of the available theories of mind proves to be the most reasonable theory on the evidence and has the greatest explanatory power, predictive power, coherence, and simplicity.
Purchasers of this MIT Press BIT will also receive a discount code (good on the MIT Press website only) for 40% off the price of the book Matter and Consciousness, third edition, from which this BIT is excerpted. Please email email@example.com with your order number to receive your discount code.
About the Author
Paul M. Churchland is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul, Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (both published by the MIT Press), and other books.


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Posted: January 2, 2013 | Tag:
On a 40-foot boat, I think there are some great alternatives, all of which could be done with or without the cameras. First, before leaving on any long-term cruise, Clean the engine-room bilges and lay down new marine oil-absorbent pads under the engines and gears, which makes it easy to see if any oil is leaking.
If you are keeping an eye on your exhaust smoke while you are running and don't see evidence of lost oil, where else can you look? The most likely place is in the bilge. Theoretically, oil could also escape into the coolant water. The most likely place to lose oil would be through very smoky exhaust. If there is a serious loss of oil, gauges and alarms will let you know.
A change in engine temperature should be your indicator of lost coolant water. Again, if it's not steaming out the exhaust, it will most likely spill into that clean and dry bilge.
We have a gear temperature gauge. If there is a loss of gear fluid, it will usually be in the bilge.
Listen, listen, listen. Don't use the stereo while running, because you may not hear important changes in the engine.
Always take a close look at the engine room before you leave. Inspect belts, hoses, seawater strainers, fuel filters and oil levels.
Occasional inspections of the engine room are good. A great time to do this is right after you start the engines. Any time I have had a problem with my engines while they were running, it happened quickly. One last thing to look at while running is the shaft logs, to make sure there is little water leaking and they are turning smoothly.


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fantasy football
August Data is Now Live – Fantasy Football, Back to School, Adult Swim and More
August data is now live and available in Compete PRO! August saw the annual rise of fantasy football sites, back-to-school sites, and more. Check out our Monthly Fast Movers!
September Data is Now Live – Fall Sports, Celebrities, and More
September data is now live! See which sites made it into our Monthly Top Movers and which trends drove traffic last month,
Sunday Series: Fantasy Football Fast Movers
As the football season moves along and your home team playoff hopes begin to crash and burn or rise at a worrisome pace (I'm an Eagles fan, a city where hope is poisonous and it is foolish to be too optimistic), many of us have turned to our fantasy football teams for solace. The category as a whole is doing the best it has in at least two years. After a 34% month-over-month (MoM) increase in unique visitors (UVs), the category is now seeing over 25 million UVs.
Sunday Series: Fast Movers Among Fantasy Football
It's that time of the year again. Summer is cooling down and football season is heating up. And with that comes one of the best things about the start of football season – the start of fantasy football season.
Fantasy Football: A Whole New Playing Field
With the NFL regular season right around the corner, I thought I would take a close look at Compete's fantasy football 'playbook' and check out a few big players in the space. The closer I got down to the digital playing field, the more interesting facts started to rise to the surface. Here are few that you might not have known about. With baseball in full swing and football about


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SIGN IN with one password from all these PCH properties!
Today's Tournament You Could Win Cash Tonight!
Mahjongg Minute
The Fun is Right on Time!
The clock is ticking on this game of tile-matching madness from PCHgames! See how much can you match in a minute as you enjoy a modern twist on this classic puzzle!
Play Now!
Sometimes, even the best laundry stain fighters can't remove those greasy spots. If you have a button-down shirt with a stain on the collar or sleeve, don't throw it out! Instead, MarthaStewart.com recommends transforming it into a chic throw pillow to spruce up your interior design. Here's how to go about transforming that shirt into a stuffed pillow.
To make the pillow, you'll need the shirt, measuring tape, paper for making a pattern, scissors and cotton stuffing. You might also want to grab a few decorative buttons to give your pillow added flair.
To begin, lay the shirt on a flat table and measure the width. Cut out a piece of paper that's ¼-inch larger than the shirt's width on all sides. If you want to make a decorative fringe, leave a bit more space depending on what effect you're going for. Use the scissors to cut down the center of the pattern, leaving ½-inch uncut at the top and bottom.
Place the pattern over the shirt so that the line of buttons pokes through the slit you made. Following the pattern, cut out the front and back pieces of the shirt. Pin the two layers together so that the "good sides" are facing inward, then sew, leaving a ¼-inch seam allowance. You don't need to worry about leaving an opening for the stuffing, as you'll have the buttons.
Turn the pillow inside out, then use the stuffing to fill the interior. If you're using more elaborate buttons, sew these on before you do this. Ta-da! Now you have a cute pillow that was practically cost-free!