text:
Sur-Prize Bingo going down a tr-eat at Zingo Bingo
Players at Zingo Bingo have really taken a liking for the special prizes at are on offer in the new Prize Bingo games that have been running through May. For anyone that has not yet given them a try, there is still two weeks left to have a go.
It's a very simple concept. A special Prize Bingo room opens every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 7pm until 9pm and offers an extra prize to every full house bingo winner that depends on the number won on. Prizes given away so far include celebrity cookbooks, iPod Shuffles, Moet Champagne, DVD box sets and much more and there are still two more weeks left to take part.
This special room is proving a magnet for online bingo players and tickets are just 25p each and can be pre-purchased.
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Read Zingo Bingo Reviews


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Devotions for Couples
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Product Description
Product Information
|Format: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 256
Vendor: Zondervan
Publication Date: 1998
Dimensions: 8 X 5.18 (inches)
Availability: In Stock
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Publisher's Description
Is your marriage the one you pictured when you said "I do"? Is the passion still hot, the friendship still warm, and the relationship still meaningful? If not, you owe yourselves this book, delivered to you in the vulnerable style that has become the author's trademark. Written by Patrick Morley, the award-winning author and pioneer men's leader, Devotions for Couples invites you to come together and let God's Word do some searching, encouraging, and strengthening of your hearts . . . and your marriage. Both profound and practical, these 120 devotional readings will help you apply biblical truths to deepen your relationship, communicate better, understand each other, learn about what pulls you apart and how to stay together, raise your children, and share a future filled with grace, faith, growth, and appreciation of one another.
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Bob and PatriciaColorado5 Stars Out Of 5An Incredible Journey!November 14, 2010Bob and PatriciaColoradoQuality: 5Value: 5Meets Expectations: 5After 45 years of marriage and many books read, and devotionals shared, this book opened doors that were never fully open. It was an incredible journey! Our marriage is better today because of this book and we continue to share it as a gift to many.
Jim Neal5 Stars Out Of 5August 11, 2009Jim NealWe have been married over 37 years and continue to guard our marriage with good sound Bible study supplemented by Christ-centered devotionals. This devotional has been one of the best we have ever used.
Rev. Terry Lippstreu5 Stars Out Of 5January 20, 2009Rev. Terry LippstreuBest couple devotional I've found. This has been my wedding gift to every couple I've married for the past four years. All have been very pleased.
Chuck & Chri Najimy5 Stars Out Of 5November 28, 2007Chuck & Chri NajimyThis is the best couples devotional we have used. It has helped us improve our communication, caused us to look deeply into our spiritual life together and to recognize and improve on our weaknesses. It has helped us improve our already great marriage. We have given several as gifts, and are now ordering more for gifts. We highly recommend this book for every married couple!
Jennifer Borden5 Stars Out Of 5October 26, 2007Jennifer BordenEven though some of the topics aren't relative to us at all times, this book gets you to talk to one another about the issues in your relationship and keep communication lines clear. It has deepened the way that we relate to each other and has helped us have special times together.
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text: Note what Earl Doherty says in the next sentence after the one I quoted in my previous post: Great. Finally something that will give mythicism a shot in the arm. After all, if someone like Bart Ehrman feels the necessity to take it on, that implies a certain degree of legitimacy. It can no longer [Read More...]


text:
Enjoy the best photos of Surandai , his landscapes, monuments, men, women and girls. Visit other towns and cities province,
region or state Tamil-Nadu Tamil Nadu. See zip code, number of inhabitants, coordinates, restaurants and hotels
Join Surandai group G+ 1, Please Share in facebook, twitter and Gogle +
These are photos taken by their neighbors and tourists, In the vicinity of the following coordinates, latitude and longitude 8.96667,77.4 and in order of the most visited. It is therefore possible that no images of what you are looking for is displayed. On this same page you can access the google map of Surandai and Street View Google
|Photos of the city and surroundings of the town of
Surandai Indian Maps Pic
|Pictures of landscapes and monuments in estado of
|Getting there, hotle, lodging and dining in:
|Tamil Nadu
|Map & satellite map of how to get
|flat map of Surandai
|Forum Surandai customs, postal zip code,
|Latitude longitude coordinates Surandai
|coordinates de Surandai
|Number of residents, men, women girls Surandai
|See photos of other states and peoples
- Other states India
Surandai and Tamil-Nadu province, state


text:
Common Exercise Myths
When it comes to health and exercise, it is important to separate fact from fiction.
Step It Up
You're walking some but know you need to do more... Whether you want to do more physical activity to help your weight loss, relieve some stress or improve your health, you can stick with walking.
Celebrating Valentine's Day the Healthy Way
This Valentine's Day, you can avoid the enticing desserts and stay healthy.
Diet Extremist
A diet extremist mindset is a poor way to get the weight loss results you want.
Hungry? Try a Healthy Fruit Smoothie!
Smoothies make great meal or snacks and may be great additions to your diet plan. Just be sure to use healthy ingredients, so that you're loading up on 'good for you' nutrients while feeling full.
Get Moving and Get Healthy
Weight loss, endurance, reduced stress and an overall sense of wellbeing are just some of the reason why you should get moving!
Drink Up
Water is key to keeping well, especially during endurance events such as the Heart Walk!
Pounds Lost, Confidence Gained
There are several benefits to losing weight, with health and wellness typically being at the top of that list. Losing weight is also a great way to boost your confidence and feel even better about yourself.
Learn to Love Yourself
Think you're not good enough? Worried you'll fail? Don't be your own worst critic. A positive attitude can go a long way, especially if you're trying to lose weight.
Moderation -- Your Key to Success
If you have a long history of dieting off and on, or losing weight and gaining it back, you may be a diet extremist. The key to diet success and a healthy lifestyle can be found in practicing moderation, rather than resorting to extreme measures.


text:
The Shortlist
The Afternoon Shortlist for April 23
- Photo: Retna Digital4 of 7
Terrence Howard is a little peeved about being replaced in "Iron Man 2." He told Parade magazine that giving his role to Don Cheadle was a "very, very bad choice" and that karma will punish Marvel with a terrible movie. Hard to imagine who wouldn't want to work with this charmer. (Parade)
Get out the vote
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Pregnant Kate Middleton's Siblings, James and Pippa, Visit Her in the Hospital
Supportive siblings, indeed!
Two days after Kate Middleton was admitted to London's King Edward VII Hospital for acute morning sickness, the 30-year-old Duchess' siblings, James and Pippa Middleton, visited her for the first time Dec. 5.
"They arrived at the hospital at 3:50 p.m. in a black taxi," a source tells Us Weekly. "They left at 5 p.m." Prince William, who had been by his wife's side all morning, left at 5:10 p.m. local time.
On Dec. 4, a rep for the royal couple told Us Weekly Kate "is continuing to feel better" after being hospitalized the day prior for hyperemesis gravidarum, a rare condition that can cause severe nausea, vomiting, weight loss, dehydration, lightheadedness and fainting.
PHOTOS: Prince William and and Kate Middleton's first year of marriage
As Kate receives medical attention, the Church of England has published a prayer for the expectant parents: "We pray for William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, as they prepare to receive the gift of their child."
The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward and Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, wished the mom-to-be well at a London engagement that same day. "We have deep sympathy with Catherine," Edward said. "We know someone who had the same condition."
Added Rhys-Jones, "It really is a perfect end to pretty great year."
PHOTOS: See Kate Middleton as a child
Both William and Kate have spoken candidly about their desire to become parents since tying the knot in April 2011. "Trying for a baby has been their priority," a royal confidant told Us prior to their Dec. 3 announcement that Middleton is expecting. "They're both excited to be focusing on a new chapter in their lives."
This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Pregnant Kate Middleton's Siblings, James and Pippa, Visit Her in the Hospital
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Welcome to GBBCC
We are pleased that you found your way to our website. Here you can find out more about our car club, who we are, what we do, and our upcoming events. We will be very pleased to welcome you in person.
If you are looking for a British car, please check our Classifieds section of this website under * Autos for Sale *
Note: For every photo gallery, click once on the first photo to view a larger image. On the right side of each photo there will be an arrow to click to move to the next photo. On the bottom right of each photo, click once on the right arrow to start a slide presentation of the photos.
Check GBBCC Events for 2015
Your GBBCC Events Co-ordinator has been very busy this winter and we already have a very busy driving season. Check future GBBCC events, including the East & West Cruises that were re-introduced last season by popular demand. We encourage all members to bring their British vehicles but if they are off the road for any reason, or the weather is poor, please come in your regular vehicle - this club is about people, not vehicles.
Look at the difference 50 years make !
TVR S2 finds a new home
Comments from seller and buyer regarding the sale of TVR S2, as told by the authors; Bill Rogers & David Sheldahl. See the article on this Link
Women with VISION – Summer Issue 2015
Thanks to Bill Rogers, Lorraine Leslie (Publisher) featured an article about our car club in the latest summer issue of the free publication Women with VISION.
Pick up a free copy of this publication and turn to page 75. Although she credits the club for forming in 2000 (rather than 2006), it is a very good article with some great photos by Bill.
Click on the video to see the MG2015 car show from an aerial drone
Fall Colours Tour - October 6th 2015
37 members and one guest attended our Fall Colours Tour on Tuesday. There was a great collection of 19 British cars who gathered at the Ravenna General Store to sample the wonderful Butter Tarts. Graeme led us on an enjoyable drive to Hanover using quiet backroads with one stop to stretch our legs. We had a good tour of Maclean's Ales by Charles MacLean (founder of the brewery) followed by some samples. We then adjourned to the Queen's Bush pub for a late lunch. Everyone drove back on their own route. Many thanks to Mark Hord for the photos.
The Gathering of the Classics, Edenvale August 8, 2015
14 Members gathered at Sunnidale Community Centre for the short drive to the Edenvale Airport, and several other members joined us later at the show. Despite some drizzle and overcast there were many classic cars and aircraft of all descriptions.
We had a great time socialising and chatting with visitors to the show as well as touring the various exhibits.
July 25th 2015 – Barrie Thunder Classics
It was a hot sunny day for this event at Heritage Park in Barrie. Jim Spruce was our leader and a total of five GBBCC members attended; 1978 MGB, 1967 MGB, 1977 Triumph Spitfire, 1963 Austin-Healey 3000 and 1970 MGB. The highlight of the Show for British car fans was the 1908 Daimler, which had won second place at Pebble Beach in 2014.
July 23rd 2015 – Stratford Avon Theatre
Tom Schutte arranged a great trip for eight GBBCC couples to Stratford where the group had a lovely lunch followed by a super performance of "Carousel" at the Avon Theatre.
July 21st 2015 – Thornbury to Walter's Falls
Mike Arkless led a group of sixteen cars (32 members) from the Thornbury harbour through Beaver Valley, ending at the Walter's Falls Inn where we had a great buffet dinner. The evening was capped off with a gift of British goodies (mostly biscuits and candies) to everyone. It was a lovely social evening and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Many thanks Mike and Gillian.
July 5th 2015 – 7th Annual Wings & Wheels
Bud McCannell of GBBCC led a wonderful convoy, with a total of 21 cars to visit Wings and Wheels at the Owen Sound Airport. Started at Tim Hortons in Collingwood at 09:30am and off to downtown Thornbury to pick up 4 more cars (on time again). Then to Bayview Park for a pit stop and organize our entrance to Billy Bishop airport.
"Entrance was a smooth move and parking was easy, right by the gate for a quick exit. Lunch was a bit of a scramble as our reservation took up half of the seats in the restaurant, so you can't be 100 % all the time.
All in all, the GBBCC group had a good walkabout, checking out the antique cars, trucks, planes, some even went for airplane rides in a C47 (oops, that's US), DC 3 that's Canadian. I personally met an old fly buddy David Hatfield, brother of now famous Chris Hatfield (the astronaut). David Hatfield had flown a WW II Lysander Air craft to Wings and Wheels. Not there long enough for me to bum a ride.
It was a great day, Hope to do it next year." Cheers, Bud McCannell
The event was organised by the Owen Sound Rotary Club for the benefit of a "Send a Kid to Camp" programme.
Many thanks to Bud.
July 2nd 2015 – Hockley Valley Hill Climb Reunion
Mike Arkless led a group of eight GBBCC cars from Collingwood to Hockley Valley where they met up with other enthusiasts from the Headwaters British Car Club, the MG Car Club of Toronto and others. Several people drove their vehicles up the hill and enjoyed listening to the people who told tales of the old days of the Hill Climb.
After the hill climb, a group of GBBCC members stopped at the Terra Nova Public House for a bite of lunch before heading home.
June 27th, 2015 - Visit to S.S. Keewatin
Four British cars ventured out for the trip to the S.S. Keewatin in Port McNicoll. This was great visit and our hosts were super. Please see their website for more photos:
Many thanks to Bob Muir for leading this enjoyable trip.
June 16 to 18, 2015 - Manitoulin Trip
This was an enjoyable three day trip to Manitoulin with 12 GBBCC members driving two red cars (1975 Triumph TR6 and 1965 MGB), two pale blue cars (Austin-Healey Sprite and 2007 Jaguar XK) and two BR Green cars (1957 Morgan Plus 4 and 1967 MGB).
The Chi-Cheemaun ferry journeys went well and everyone had a good time.
Well done and thank you Brian and Laurie.
See photos of this Manitoulin trip 2015 Past Events & Photos
Look at GBBCC Past Events 2015, 2014, 2013 & 2012
We have posted photos of GBBCC events that were held in 2015, 2014 and 2013 as well as 400+ photos from 2012 – see
New Section - GBBCC Members Recommend
This new section, "GBBCC Members Recommend" will post recommendations made by our members of products, services, and other items, which they have had good experiences. Please submit to email@example.com anything that may benefit your fellow members. This section is only available to GBBCC members.
Meeting Venue
GBBCC will be holding its monthly meetings in the upstairs room at The Huron Club, 94 Pine Street, corner of 2nd Street, Collingwood.
Why not bring your partner and enjoy supper in this fine restaurant before our meeting. Come early (before 6:00 pm) and
let them know you are with the car club. There are food and drink specials between 5 & 7 pm.
See "How to Find Us"
Please check our Past Cruise Routes under Past GBBCC Events
This section of the website will contain details, including some maps of cruise routes that GBBCC has taken in the past few years so that our members may use them for planning future cruises for their own enjoyment or to make it easy for you to pick one and volunteer to lead a club cruise.
It is recommended that these routes be driven prior to leading a cruise to ensure roads are in good condition and are not under construction.
thanks to Ralph Kertcher who has re-created these routes for our website.
Note: Our website hosting company, "1and1" recommends using either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to browse the Internet and view our website. Until an error is corrected by "1and1", you may NOT be able to view some photo galleries, when using Internet Explorer (IE).
Number of Visitors since August 5th 2015
"Number of Visitors" counter reset to zero
on Aug 5th 2015 from 2,237
on July 3rd 2015 from 1,393
on June 3rd 2015 from 2,007
on Aprl 28th 2015 from 1,612
on Mar 26th 2015 from 3,195
on Jan 20th 2015 from 2,518
No reset for December 2014
on Nov 26th 2014 from 1,835
on Oct 26th 2014 from 4,446
Reset for September was missed
on Aug 25th 2014 from 1,835
on July 23rd 2014 from 1,330
on June 23rd 2014 from 1,007
on May 27th 2014 from 1,687
on Aprl 22nd 2014 from 1,362
on Mar 23rd 2014 from 2,200
on Feb 15th 2014 from 2,676
on Dec 24th 2013 from 2,661


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Featured Product
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Whether you need a logo to brand your business, a product to recognize your employees or a coordinated selection of products for a sustained campaign, Elite Image is here to help.
For added value, check Our Specials, a selection that changes regularly.
Search our website or Contact Us for assistance.


text:
Flooded house and ceiling leaking water into kitchen
- Filed Under
Louisville's Waste Reduction Center, where residents can dispose of bulk waste, we be open two extra days per week during the rest of October to accept household items damaged in the past weekend's flooding.
The Waste Reduction Center at 636 Meriwether Avenue normally operates on a Wednesday through Saturday schedule.
But effective immediately, the center will be open Monday through Saturday until October 26 to take in flood debris. The ...


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Birney Elementary School
Public School | Grades PK-5 | Cobb County
Marietta, GA 30060
(678) 842-6824
775 Smyrna Powder Springs Rd, Marietta, GA 30060
(678) 842-6824
Elementary Schools Nearby
|School Name distance
|Community Rating
|Milford Elementary School 1 miles
|Covered Bridge Academy 1.1 miles
|In His Image Christian Academy 1.4 miles
|Cobb County Christian School 1.4 miles
|Norton Park Elementary School 1.4 miles
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text:
PBF Holding Company LLC purchased the refinery near Delaware City in 2010, with state incentive aid helping overcome market forces that led Valero to close the plant.
Not too long ago, oil refineries appeared to be falling like dominoes.
Valero had planned to shut down its refinery in Delaware City. And last year, Sunoco, owner of refineries in Marcus Hook, Pa., and Philadelphia, was among firms announcing plans to close them, saying losses were too heavy.
But today, some of the same forces that are driving gas prices down are brightening prospects for the U.S. refining business as a whole, observers say. ...


text:
I want Data back...
View Single Post
September 5 2012, 06:32 PM
Location: Texas
Re: I want Data back...
BillJ wrote:
Seriously, we've brought Kirk, Spock, Tucker and Janeway all back from the dead. Why not Data? Believability shouldn't be a roadblock as it got thrown out the window a long time ago in the Star Trek universe.
Besides, TNG never felt right after his departure.
Well you need to get a Face Book page, and about a thousand (give or take some) working fans, a twitter account, and a petition. Then just never ever give up.
Seriously Data should be brought back, the reasoning behind a plot ending in his death while valid at the time are not today. He is a great character and he should be returned.
"My name is Matai Shang and I do not exist, indeed I work very hard at it."
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text:
Graduate ProgramsAdult ProgramsTransfer StudentsAccepted StudentsCurrent StudentsFaculty/Staff
Students interested in using Veterans Affairs (VA) educational benefits at Reinhardt University are encouraged to follow these steps:
If you are a traditional student, please contact the Office of Admission at 770-720-5526 or click here.
If you are a working adult or non-traditional student, click here.
In order to begin using your educational benefits at Reinhardt, you will need to apply with the Department of Veterans Affairs first. Visit the VA's Education and Training website to get started.
Please print and complete Reinhardt's VA Student Contract and VA Student Enrollment Data Form. When finished, please submit these to the Office of the Registrar:
Attn: School Certifying OfficialOffice of the RegistrarReinhardt University7300 Reinhardt CircleWaleska, GA 30183
Phone - 770-720-5534Fax - 770-720-5913
Office Hours: Monday through Friday 8:30AM - 5PM
Upon registering for classes each semester, students using VA benefits at Reinhardt will need to complete the Confirmation of Certification Form. This form needs to be completed and submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the end of the Drop/Add period for each semester in which the student intends to use VA benefits. Failure to complete and submit this form could result in the student not receiving his/her VA benefits for the given semester.
The School Certifying Official is available in the Office of the Registar to assist with any issues Reinhardt's VA students may have. Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns!
770-720-5534Toll-free: 1-87-REINHARDT (1-877-346-4273)fax email@example.com
Office of the RegistrarReinhardt University7300 Reinhardt CircleWaleska, GA 30183-2981


text:
GTA V Narrated By Morgan Freeman Sounds Like A Bedtime Story
The calm, magical voice of Morgan Freeman—impersonated by Jason Stephens—makes us forget that GTA V is full of murder and turns Franklin's vacation in Los Santos into a peaceful tale. »
Why Grand Theft Auto V Had Me Begging for Unforgiveness
Like many of the millions of Americans who got Grand Theft Auto V on or soon after its Sept. 17 release, I spent much of that first weekend in Los Santos, the game's fictional mega-metropolis. Having bought, binged on, and beaten the game, I can mouth my own oohs and ahs. »
Official GTA 5 Map Shows UFO Crash Sites Easter Egg Under Blacklight!
Our favorite GTA 5 Collector's Edition easter egg is the GTA map. When held under UV/blacklight it reveals clues to locations of paranormal hotspots like bigfoot sightings, alien bases and UFO crash sites. If Mulder was a gamer, he'd be all over this shit...and Scully would be just another GTA widow. »
Let The Grand Theft Auto Parodies Begin
We're not sure whether this is funny, sad, ignorant, offensive, or a quaint mix of all four, but it is something. Our two zeros attempt to evoke some form of humor through a fun mix cardboard box carjacking and emulation of mental disability. We're pretty sure these two don't understand what autism is, or what a… »


text:
High-throughput sequencing technologies are improving in quality, capacity and costs, providing versatile applications in DNA and RNA research. For small genomes or fraction of larger genomes, DNA samples can be mixed and loaded together on the same sequencing track. This so-called multiplexing approach relies on a specific DNA tag or barcode that is attached to the sequencing or amplification primer and hence appears at the beginning of the sequence in every read. After sequencing, each sample read is identified on the basis of the respective barcode sequence.
Alterations of DNA barcodes during synthesis, primer ligation, DNA amplification, or sequencing may lead to incorrect sample identification unless the error is revealed and corrected. This can be accomplished by implementing error correcting algorithms and codes. This barcoding strategy increases the total number of correctly identified samples, thus improving overall sequencing efficiency. Two popular sets of error-correcting codes are Hamming codes and Levenshtein codes.
Levenshtein codes operate only on words of known length. Since a DNA sequence with an embedded barcode is essentially one continuous long word, application of the classical Levenshtein algorithm is problematic. In this paper we demonstrate the decreased error correction capability of Levenshtein codes in a DNA context and suggest an adaptation of Levenshtein codes that is proven of efficiently correcting nucleotide errors in DNA sequences. In our adaption we take the DNA context into account and redefine the word length whenever an insertion or deletion is revealed. In simulations we show the superior error correction capability of the new method compared to traditional Levenshtein and Hamming based codes in the presence of multiple errors.
We present an adaptation of Levenshtein codes to DNA contexts capable of correction of a pre-defined number of insertion, deletion, and substitution mutations. Our improved method is additionally capable of recovering the new length of the corrupted codeword and of correcting on average more random mutations than traditional Levenshtein or Hamming codes.
As part of this work we prepared software for the flexible generation of DNA codes based on our new approach. To adapt codes to specific experimental conditions, the user can customize sequence filtering, the number of correctable mutations and barcode length for highest performance.
High-throughput sequencing is an increasingly popular technique due to steadily improving sequencing capacity and decreasing costs. Since modern machines are (at the time of writing this manuscript) capable of generating up to 8 ∗ 109 base pairs (8 Gbp) total read length in one lane, it might exceed required capacity for many research protocols focused on smaller scale sequencing applications, for instance those focused on selective DNA sampling for SNP analysis [1,2], miRNA expression profiling [3], cellular barcoding [4], profiling repeated elements [5] and retroviral vector integration sites in the genome [6], as well as complete sequencing of microbial [7] and other small genomes [8].
In such cases many samples are combined in a single batch and sequenced as one sample. Using this multiplexed format, specific sample tags, also called barcodes, are added to the amplification or sequencing primer to discriminate all sub-samples in the mixture. After sequencing, reads can be identified by reading barcodes, allowing the sorting and separating of all sequence reads into original samples. The protocol is efficient as long as barcodes can be read robustly [9].
It is known, however, that multiple errors can occur with DNA sequencing due to defects in primer synthesis, the ligation process, sample pre-amplification, and finally sequencing. These errors can be either nucleotide substitutions or small insertions and deletions [10]. In addition to common sources of error, some sequencing platforms show elevated error rates in specific situations, such as indels of identical bases in Roche 454 Pyrosequencing [11] or random indels in PacBio sequencing technology [12]. Although any randomly picked synthetic nucleotide sequence can be used as a barcode, this approach is problematic because all basic parameters of the corresponding oligonucleotide, namely minimal distance, GC content, sequence redundancy etc. cannot be properly controlled [13].
In recent years several papers were published attempting to utilize general coding theory of binary error-correcting codes. The major advantage of those codes over "naive" tags is the possibility to detect and correct a limited number of errors. In addition they also ensure a constant minimal distance. Other parameters, such as GC content and sequence redundancy, are generally more uniform in error-correcting codes than in randomly generated tags.
Probably the first attempt to create a systematic error-correcting code for DNA barcodes was made by Hamady et al. [7], based on the original Hamming binary code [14,15]. The authors adapted Hamming codes for a DNA context by representing each DNA base by two consecutive binary digits. Although being popular for a while, this barcode was later found to be flawed [13,16]: in a proposed configuration one third of all single errors occurring at the DNA level caused 2 bit changes (2 errors) in the code. By definition those 2 bit errors could not be corrected. As an alternative, Krishnan et al. proposed to use binary, linear error-correcting codes for DNA barcoding applications [16]. Those codes provide larger minimal distance and better error-correcting capacity. This allowed correction of DNA errors even if there were 2-bit errors in the code. Recently one of us proposed to adapt Hamming binary code to the DNA quaternary metric, thus preserving minimal distance and capability to correct single errors on the DNA level [13]. Both applications [13,16], however, were dedicated to the linear perfect codes capable of correcting nucleotide substitutions only. As indicated above, insertions and deletions (indels) might be a persistent problem for at least some sequencing platforms. Therefore it is very important to design a code resistant to this type of error as well. In this manuscript we provide a code, which we call the Sequence-Levenshtein code, capable of correcting all types of errors, including insertions and deletions. This code largely follows ideas from the Levenshtein code [17]. Unlike previous attempts at adapting Levenshtein [18], it is specifically designed for the DNA context. As a consequence it shows significant improvements in recovering errors in DNA sequence compared to other codes of the same kind.
Barcode preparation
Barcodes were constructed as DNA sequences of fixed length n from the 4 different bases. Here, we encoded DNA bases A, C, G, T as numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 in a quaternary alphabet and therefore avoided the binary-quaternary conversions used by others [7,16]. The number of all possible combinations, and therefore the size of the maximum barcode set was 4n, e.g. an unfiltered 8-mer barcode set could have been used for 48 = 65536 unique samples. For the calculation of maximal set sizes of barcodes of length n, we initially generated the full set of all possible barcodes with our custom software written in Java. This initial barcode set was then filtered to exclude barcodes with GC-content of less than 40% or more than 60%, perfect self-complementation, or more than two sequential repetitions of the same base.
Error-correcting codes
Error-correcting DNA barcode sets were constructed using only a subset of the 4n maximal combinations, while carefully meeting some specific error-correcting properties. Commonly, this subset is called code and the individual barcodes in the set are called codewords.
A very popular code for the correction of substitution errors is based on the idea of linear codes (e.g. Hamming codes [14,15] or Reed-Solomon codes [19]). This type of code consists only of codewords that differ in at least three positions from each other (called the Minimum Hamming Distance, denoted as ). Figures 1(A-C) depict the Hamming distance and its application in DNA context.
Figure 1. Barcode correction using Hamming and Levenshtein distances. (A) Hamming distance between two example codewords. (B) Example linear code of four codewords with the minimal Hamming distance . (C) A mutation is corrected on the basis of the minimal distance between barcodes and mutated sequence. (D,E,F) The same for Levenshtein distance and an example Levenshtein code with the minimum Levenshtein distance .
Figure 1(B) gives an example of a linear code that has a minimal Hamming distance of 3 and corrects 1 substitution error. A substitution error and its correction is shown in Figure 1(C): The barcode "ACT" mutates at position 3 and the base "T" became substituted with the base "G". The Hamming distance to the original barcode "ACT" is 1, while it is greater for all other barcodes of this linear code. Therefore correct decoding and identification of the original barcode is possible. In general, more substitution errors can be corrected by constructing codes with a larger minimal distance between codewords. To correct k errors, the minimum Hamming distance of the codewords needs to be at least 2 ∗ k + 1.
As in the case of linear codes, Levenshtein-based codes guarantee a specific minimum distance between any codewords [17]. The difference is in the distance definition: Levenshtein based codes also include insertions and deletions that need to occur to transform one word to another word, as depicted in Figure 1(D). Levenshtein-based codes consisting of codewords with a minimum Levenshtein distance can correct k insertions, deletions, and substitutions. Figure 1(E) depicts an example code with that corrects 1 insertion, deletion, or substitution error when not in context of other DNA. Figure 1(F) shows such a correction: The last base of barcode "GCG" becomes deleted and is read as "GC". The Levenshtein distance to the original barcode "GCG" is 1, while it is greater for all other barcodes of this Levenshtein code. Therefore correct decoding and identification of the original barcode is possible.
For the purpose of this paper, the error-correction capability of a code is the number and types of errors that a code (per design) guarantees to correct in a specific scenario. The actual error-correction capabilities in realistic scenarios (e.g. biological experiments, PCR and sequencing data) will be studied separately.
Sequence-Levenshtein distance
We adapted the Levenshtein distances in such a way that the DNA context is taken into account and the length of the new mutated barcode in the sequence read is correctly identified. In the worst case, any barcode embedded in the sequence read will be surrounded by the sample sequence such that it decreases its distance to other sequences in the set.
The Sequence-Levenshtein distance between two arbitrary words A and B is the minimum number of the following three operations:
• Substitutions
• Deletions
• Insertions
which results in word , finalized by applying one of the following operations exactly once:
• Truncating to match the length of B
• Elongating to match the length and bases of B
The latter two operations do not increase the distance between A and B. It follows, that the distance between A and B is 0 if A is a prefix of B (and vice versa). For the purpose of this distance metric, we define in this case A to be equal to B.
Barcode computation
There is no systematic calculation rule for the classic Levenshtein code and codes based on our Sequence-Levenshtein distance. A generation of distance-based codes by an exhaustive search of the set of all possible subsets has two computational bottlenecks that have to be addressed: Firstly, the number of all subsets grows exponential with the length of the codewords and therefore the enumeration of these subsets is prohibitively inefficient. Secondly the distance between any two codewords has to be calculated at least once, making calculations necessary. Distances need to be calculated repeatedly if the complete distance matrix cannot be held in memory.
We therefore generated codes heuristically with a so-called greedy closure evolutionary algorithm first described for this application by Ashlock et al. [20,21]. Here, we initialized our code set with a small number (2-4) of random barcodes that fulfill the distance requirement (the so-called seed). We then walked through all eligible barcodes in lexicographical order and added the tested barcode to the code set if its distance was at least 2 ∗ k + 1 to every other barcode that was already in the code set. Using an evolutionary approach (in the computational sense), we tried a large number of different seeds or altered very successful seeds to find the seed giving the best, i.e. largest code set. Among other heuristic algorithms for the generation of classic Levenshtein codes, this particular method has shown the best results (Houghten et al[22]). The same study revealed that this method yielded nearly-optimal solutions for short codewords (n ≤ 5) and it reached approximately one third to one half of the upper limit of code sizes for longer codewords (5 < n ≤ 12) [22,23].
We also optimized the calculation of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance. We adapted the dynamic programming approach to the classical Levenshtein distance [24] and reached approximately the same performance (see Additional file 1: Supplement). Additionally, we minimized the number of operations with the approach developed by Allison (Lazy Programming, [25]).
Additional file 1. Supplement. The supplement contains a proof of the metric property of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance, the dynamic programming algorithm of the Sequence-Levenshtein distance, a figure of code rates depending on barcode lengths, a table of Sequence-Levenshtein code sizes as well as an additional table describing the codes used in Simulation 3.
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We simulated three scenarios both with classical Levenshtein codes and modified Sequence-Levenshtein codes:
• In Simulation 1 the application of classical Levenshtein codes in DNA context was assessed. A large number of barcodes of the same length was generated at random, followed by a random sample sequence. Every barcode was mutated with a single random in/del/sub error and then attempted to be decoded. As the length of the received codeword was unknown, the codeword of equal length to the generated DNA barcodes was used. If decoding did not work (i.e. there was no DNA barcode with a distance of 1 to the received codeword), codewords of the length n - 1 and n + 1 were tried. If ambiguities still existed, we decided randomly.
• In Simulation 2 the error correction capabilities of Sequence-Levenshtein codes were tested. Every code used in this manuscript was included, up to a length of 12nt for 1 and 2 correctable errors. We iterated through every possible error (1 error, respectively 2 errors; insertions, substitutions, and deletions) and decoded the resulting DNA barcode.
• In an experimental setup, more than one error might occur. Therefore, in Simulation 3 a large number of classic Levenshtein and new Sequence-Levenshtein barcodes was simulated, where every base had a chance p of being mutated with equal likelihood for substitutions, insertions and deletions. Every base was equally likely to be inserted.
Classic Levenshtein codes fail in DNA context
Levenshtein-based codes have one mandatory condition: The length of the codewords and the received words need to be known. While we know the length of the DNA barcodes because we construct them ourselves, the length of the received codeword is not available as the barcode is embedded into the DNA sequence. If the DNA barcode is shortened during processing, the first base of the sample DNA sequence takes the place of the last base of the DNA barcode. If the DNA barcode is elongated, the last base of the DNA barcode now becomes the first base of the sample DNA sequence. There is no inherent separation between DNA barcode and sample sequence to detect this change in length and thus traditional Levenshtein correction fails. To show this, we construct two codewords cA and cB whose Levenshtein distance is 3 but is reduced by the inference of the remaining sample DNA sequence.
We construct the codewords cA = "CAGG" and cB = "CGTC" with a Levenshtein-distance dL (cA,cB) = 3. In an exemplary biological experiment, cA could be used as a barcode and within it could be followed by "CA" so that the whole DNA sequence reads "CAGG|CA...". If the base "A" at the second position of cA becomes deleted, the base "C" (previously on position 5) would succeed the base at position 4 so that the sequenced DNA creceived now would read: "CGGC|A..." (Figure 2). Because the deletion would remain undetected, we could try to find a correction for creceived = CGGC. Consequently, the codeword cB is actually closer to the manipulated received sequence (dL(cB,creceived) = 1) than codeword cA (dL (cA,creceived) = 2) and there is no possibility to find the actual chain of mutations because the only criteria in correcting errors is the minimal distance. Trying to guess the real length of the corrupted barcode gives ambiguous results as Table 1 shows.
Figure 2. Deficiency of Levenshtein Codes in DNA context. Classical Levenshtein-based codes fail in DNA context as the word boundary is not decodable. Here, the original barcode "CAGG" becomes corrupted through a deletion. The new barcode "CGGC" is now closer to the wrong barcode "CGTC" on the left as opposed to the original barcode "CAGG" on the right.
Table 1. Distances of the received codeword at various presumed word lengths
We generalized this problem in Simulation 1 (Figure 3): Barcodes based on classical Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance failed to correct indel errors on average in 26% of the cases (see Methods for details). This error level is very close to , the probability of the adverse base to be inserted or the adverse base to be added to the barcode after a deletion. Accordingly, classical Levenshtein-based codes correctly decoded barcodes that were corrupted once if the codes have the guaranteed capability to correct two errors, but failed on average in 6.5% of two-corruption cases. This error level is explained by the probability of inserting or complementing the two random worst-case bases, which is .
Figure 3. Simulation of Levenshtein Codes in DNA context. Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance failed to correct indel errors on average in 26% of the cases while Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance always corrected one indel error but failed to decode two indel errors in about 6.5% of the cases.
Clarke and Ferreira previously showed that Levenshtein codes with a minimal distance can robustly correct at least one error in a context scenario with fixed-length decoding as applied here [26]. Henceforth, we will delineate the guaranteed minimal error-correction capability of Levenshtein codes specifically in DNA context under this assumption, so that Levenshtein codes with guarantee to correct at least one error, those with a minimal distance guarantee to correct at least two errors in DNA context.
Sequence-Levenshtein distance
With the adapted Sequence-Levenshtein metric, the distance between the previously considered codewords "CAGG" and "CGTC" is now dSL ("CAGG","CGTC") = 2: Delete second base "A" of "CAGG" to get "CGG" and substitute third base "G" with "T" to get "CGT". In the worst case the remaining sample sequence will start with base "C", so that if we elongate with "C" then get "CGTC". Therefore, "CAGG" and "CGTC" cannot be part of the same error correcting code.
The formal definition of our Sequence-Levenshtein metric allowed us to prove that it is indeed a "distance metric" (see Additional file 1: Supplement), so that codes based on this distance can correct k substitutions and indels in DNA context if their minimum distance is at least .
Sequence-Levenshtein code example and decoding
An example of a Sequence-Levenshtein code with 4 bases for the correction of 1 error yielded 4 barcodes: "TTCC", "ACAC", "CGAA", and "TAGG". Suppose, we use "TTCC" as the barcode and the base "T" at the second position becomes deleted during sequencing. In our example, exemplary sample reads have the length m = 10 and the sequence read is "TCC|ATGCATA" ( 4). To decode this example, we calculate the distance between the word "TCCATGCATA" and the words "TTCC", "ACAC", "CGAA", and "TAGG" with the results in Table 2. The column "operations" is the listing of the possible operations that corrupted the barcode.
It is apparent that the difference between the number of insertion and deletion operations is the difference between the barcode length and the starting part of the sample sequence, which allowed the identification of the starting position of the sample sequence, as shown in column four of Table 2.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes useful for DNA applications
We calculated and verified a number of Sequence-Levenshtein codes for different sequence lengths and compared them to codes with higher Levenshtein distance that were designed for the correction of at least this particular number of errors (the guaranteed error correction capability in DNA context). Figure 5 depicts the number of DNA barcodes that we generated for the correction of at least 1 or 2 insertion, deletion, and substitution errors with our Sequence-Levenshtein distance and with the classic Levenshtein distance. For comparison purposes, we also added the number of barcodes of the classical Levenshtein code with a distance that does not guarantee to correct at least one error reliably in DNA context.
Figure 5. Number of Barcodes vs Barcode Length. Barcodes based on the Sequence-Levenshtein distance resulted in barcodes with a magnitude higher numbers then Levenshtein barcodes for the same length of the barcode and the same guaranteed minimal error correction capability. The guaranteed correction of one additional error shrunk the number of barcodes by almost two magnitudes.
For codewords of length 8nt, 48 = 65536 possible combinations of DNA bases can be generated. Of those, 14600 met the required chemical properties as described in the Methods section. Finally, with the Sequence-Levenshtein distance a maximum barcode set of 188 elements for the correction of one error in DNA context could be generated. This is equivalent to a code rate of . For classical Levenshtein codes, we could generate 552 barcodes, the equivalent of a code rate of . We found that the code rate increased with barcode length for both Levenshtein and Sequence-Levenshtein based codes (see Additional 1: Figure S1).
Figure 5 shows that our modified Sequence-Levenshtein codes scaled up to more than 20,000 possible barcodes with one guaranteed correctable error. This would satisfy the needs of the most complex sample multiplexing setups. Alternatively, for a medium-sized experiment of only 48 samples, the length of the barcode did not need to exceed 7 bases (77 barcodes). Conversely, we could increase the robustness of the code to 2 correctable errors and generate 90 11-nt-long barcodes. Compared to classic Levenshtein codes, we produced one order of magnitude more barcodes for the same length and guaranteed minimal number of correctable errors.
Simulation for correctness and the decoding rate
In Simulation 2, we simulated all possible 1 or 2 mutations for every Sequence-Levenshtein barcode used in this manuscript up to a length of 12 with the guaranteed capability to correct 1 or 2 errors and found that the original barcode could be decoded correctly in every case.
We also used this simulation to measure the speed of decoding random sequence reads with our unoptimized Java-based prototype implementation. As a general result, the number of decoded sequence reads per seconds depended on three parameters:
• Length of the sequence read: longer was slower
• Length of barcodes: longer was slower
• Number of used barcodes: more barcodes were slower
In the slowest simulation with 20,894 12-nt-long barcodes and 14-nt-long sequence reads, we decoded 20 sequence reads per second while we decoded approximately 190,000 sequence reads per second with four 4-nt-long barcodes.
Experimental simulation
In Simulation 3, we analyzed the behavior and limits of Sequence-Levenshtein codes under the assumption that multiple mutations of barcodes are possible. The results are depicted in Figure 6. The theoretical expected average number of mutations μM for each barcode of length n and per-base mutation probability p was μM = p ∗ n, which we also confirmed on average in all simulation runs. As a consequence, the number of mutations in a barcode of a sequence read increased linearly with the length of the barcode, leading to a higher number of mismatches during the decoding phase (Figure 6(A)).
Figure 6. Results of Simulation 3. (A) Number of correct matches after decoding depending on base mutation probability rate p for different error correction codes and barcode lengths. (B) Number correct matches after decoding depending on base mutation probability rate p for the fixed number of 48 barcodes simulated with the smallest eligible error correction codes: Levenshtein code with , length 6; Sequence-Levenshtein code with , length 7; Levenshtein code with minimum distance , length 9; Sequence-Levenshtein code with minimum distance , length 11.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes have been decoded correctly at a better rate than classical Levenshtein codes of the same barcode length and the same minimal distance ( and respectively). Furthermore, both classical Levenshtein codes and Sequence-Levenshtein codes with a higher minimal distance ( and ) decoded barcodes correctly more often than the same codes with a smaller minimal distance ( and ). Notably, although Sequence-Levenshtein codes with were designed for the same guaranteed minimal number of correctable errors in DNA context as classic Levenshtein codes with , the latter outperformed the former when a random number of mutations was considered. All these effects were more pronounced for median base mutation probabilities p ∈ [ 0.2,0.8].
In practice, the choice of the barcode length and the type of error correction ( or ) is based on the number of samples that one wants to sequence in parallel. We therefore repeated simulation 3 on 48 barcodes from six different error correcting codes that supported this number of parallel samples: a classic Levenshtein code with and length 6; a classic Levenshtein code with and length 9; a Sequence-Levenshtein code with and length 7; a Sequence-Levenshtein code with minimum distance and length 11, a linear code of length 5, and finally a code of length 3 that offered no correction (see Additional 1: Table S2 for details). The result is depicted in Figure 6(B). It shows that the new Sequence-Levenshtein codes outperformed classical Levenshtein codes of the equivalent minimal distances as well as the linear code despite requiring longer barcodes. The same was true for the comparison of Sequence-Levenshtein codes with minimal distances and . Apparently, in this case the added robustness of larger distances and the change to the classical Levenshtein distance outweighed the drawbacks of longer barcodes.
Historically error-correcting codes were first made in binary metric to correct program-reading errors in early type computers in the 1950s [14,27]. Levenshtein was one of the first in attempting to resolve more natural problems such as insertions and deletions [17]. Whereas computer codes were gradually evolving (in data transfer and processing, mobile, satellite communications, etc.), an application for DNA studies was far from successful. A few authors rediscovered Hamming code while making a theory of oligonucleotide design for microarrays [28,29]. This however was not implemented in commercially available microarrays. Similarly, currently available barcoded primers from, for instance, Illumina look like a random design devoid of any theoretical (error-correcting) considerations [13]. The first attempt to implement Hamming code into DNA barcode design failed due to improper binary-tertiary conversion protocol [7]. Later, this problem was resolved by adapting the Hamming concept to quaternary format [13]. Alternatively, Krishnan et al. used binary, linear error-correcting codes with longer minimal distances for DNA barcode design [16]. Whereas a noticeable progress was achieved with linear/perfect codes mentioned above, a proper application of Levenshtein codes for DNA barcodes had not yet been demonstrated. The major obstacle in these implementations was the problem of word recognition in the continuous context of DNA. As this inherent failure is not addressed in the literature on Levenshtein-based error correction in DNA barcodes (e.g. [18]), we at best assume that some form of separating sequence is used between the DNA barcode and the sample DNA, and at worst no correction of this failure was attempted. The drawback of separating sequences is obvious: they do not come with any correction ability by themselves and elongate the DNA sequence at the same time, increasing the error rate for the sample DNA. The use of separating sequences is therefore not ideal.
By simulating equally likely substitutions, deletions, and insertions we tested the robustness of Sequence-Levenshtein distance based codes. We found that the error correction of Sequence-Levenshtein barcodes was, on average, more reliable than comparable Levenshtein-based codes. Although the probabilities of mutation rates in experimental sequencing data or in biological samples might considerably deviate from equal, it very much depends on the organism and the sequencing platform. Therefore it is not easy to create a "real life" simulation of sequencing errors. In our mutation study we ignored possible differences in mutation rates solely to test as many possible mutations on as many possible DNA combinations as possible. As a result the revealed rates of successful error corrections will not necessarily correspond to those in a real sequencing data.
Sequence-Levenshtein codes can be further improved in the following ways. Firstly, as barcode libraries are often constructed only once and then reused for later experiments, it is desirable to construct barcode sets that correct k errors with a maximum subset that corrects k + 1 errors. Thus, if the number of parallel processed samples in an experiment is very low, the more robust k + 1 subset is used. This code construction is easily achieved by modifying the evolutionary greedy search algorithm to favor barcode sets with a large robust k + 1 subset. Secondly, not every error occurs with the same probability: some substitutions are more likely than others, e.g. DNA/RNA sequences are more likely to be altered at the end of the read than at the beginning. An advanced version of this code would therefore use probabilities of operations as a distance measure and construct codes that, while not guaranteeing error correction, will correct more errors on average with shorter barcodes.
We propose a solution to the problem of the word size definition in the continuous context of DNA and a definition of a modified Levenshtein distance which we name "Sequence-Levenshtein distance". This new distance measure takes into account the interference of appended sample sequences and the resulting shorter distances between barcodes.
This approach allows for the detection of the length of the corrupted barcode and the recovery of the start of the appended sample sequence. However, this imposes more strict rules for the selection of barcode sets eligible for error correction. We show that the application of these new barcodes decreases mismatching in multiplexing experiments considerably, increasing the robustness of experimental results. For further experimental validation and application, we provide barcode sets of different lengths and guaranteed error-correcting capabilities that will satisfy current size-needs of most experimental setups as well as software to decode sequence reads which is, in its current implementation, highly efficient.
Our Sequence-Levenshtein software package is a versatile tool to flexibly generate barcode sets of different sizes and robustness, simulate expected mismatch rates for individual next generation sequencing technologies, and decode millions of sequence reads in a short time. As such, we believe it offers a valuable research utility to the general public.
Competing interests
Dresden University of Technology submitted a patent application for the Sequence-Levenshtein technology in Germany (application id 800228609).
Authors' contributions
LVB initiated the re-analysis of classical DNA codes and initiated and inspired the development of the method. TB developed the method. TB developed, ran and analysed the simulations. TB and LVB wrote the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
We thank Michael Chang, Erik Zwart and Lydia Kuettner for reading and correcting the manuscript.
The research of Tilo Buschmann was supported by the European Commission project EuroSyStem (200270), Leonid V. Bystrykh was partially supported by an HEM-ID grant (http://www.hemid.eu/) and NIRM grants (http://www.nirm.nl/).
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Ashlock D, Guo L, Qiu F: Greedy closure evolutionary algorithms. In Proceedings of the 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation, CEC'02. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA: IEEE; 2002:1296-1301.
Ashlock D, Houghten SK: DNA error correcting codes: no crossover. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual IEEE conference on Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, CIBCB'09. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA: IEEE Press; 2009:38-45.
[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1688165.1688171 webcite]
Houghten S, Ashlock D, Lenarz J: Construction of Optimal Edit Metric Codes. In Information Theory Workshop, 2006. ITW '06 Chengdu. IEEE. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; 2006:259-263.
Bogdanova G, Brouwer A, Kapralov S, Ostergard P: Error-correcting codes over an alphabet of four elements.
Designs Codes Cryptography 2001, 23(3):333-342.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A%3A1011275112159 webcite]Publisher Full Text
Wagner RA, Fischer MJ: The string-to-string correction problem.
[http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/321796.321811 webcite]Publisher Full Text
Allison L: Lazy dynamic-programming can be eager.
Inf Process Lett 1992, 43(4):207-212.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0020-0190(92)90202-7 webcite]Publisher Full Text
Clarke W, Ferreira H: Coding for synchronous, fixed length decoding windows in the presence of insertion/deletion errors. In AFRICON, 2004. 7th AFRICON Conference in Africa. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA: IEEE; 2004:297-300.
Golay M: Notes on digital coding.
Ben-Dor A, Karp R, Schwikowski B, Yakhini Z: Universal DNA tag systems: a combinatorial design scheme.
J Comput Biol 2000, 7(3-4):503-519.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/106652700750050916 webcite]PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text
Liu W, Wang S, Gao L, Zhang F, Xu J: DNA sequence design based on template strategy.
ChemInform 2004, 35(5):no-no.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chin.200405241 webcite]


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There's been a lot of talk about wrong polls this year, because there have been a lot of them. One that's come out right again is The Ohio Poll. The University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll projected President Barack Obama's re-election...Read more »
Ohio Poll, like Ohio, Getting it Right
Ohio, Nation Close: Poll-Watch
On the eve of the final week of the presidential election contest, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney have held a virtual tie among likely voters surveyed nationally for three days in ABC News-Washington Post tracking surveys. And the...Read more »
Ohio: Close Count Could Take Days
With polls showing a tightening presidential race in Ohio, there's at least a chance for what elections officials are calling the "nightmare scenario:" The U.S. presidential race comes down to Ohio on election night, and the race can't be called...Read more »


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Secrets of Success< Secrets of Success Main Page
All Secrets submitted by MAQUESTA
Please note these are member-submitted secrets and are not reviewed by SparkPeople's health experts for accuracy. If you feel a secret is inappropriate, please click the "Report Inappropriate Secret" on the secret's page and our staff will review it.
When you find yourself craving that one thing and you can't find a substitution that fills it.... indulge! I'm not saying do it every day but every once in a while if you can make it fit in your calories then do it. Better a small controlled amount now then risking a binge later
- Submitted by MAQUESTA 4/1/2010 in Healthy Eating | 2 Comments
Save time by knowing how much things hold
have dishes and such that you know how much they hold ie: a glass for milk (or other liquids) that you know holds I cup worth exactly. It helps keep you to your portions
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- $34,999
- Mileage 34,000 Miles
- Mileage 34,000 Miles
- Color White
- Engine 8 Cyl
- Mpg Avg: 16
- Location Little Silver, NJ
You can save multiply searches so it's good to give some valid names, so you can easily change filters.
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Emmy season is underway! For the next week, Emmy voters will be checking off names and shows they think are worthy of getting a nomination come July 19. We at TVGuide.com have a few selections in mind ourselves. Next up: our dream ballot for Best Comedy Series.
Emmys: TVGuide.com's picks for lead actor in a comedy series
Emmys: TVGuide.com's picks for supporting actor in a comedy series
We dare you to find a more innovative and brilliant series currently on the air than Louie. Louis C.K.'s brainchild is single-handedly reshaping the genre with its weird, bold brand of storytelling — a vignette structure featuring segments of his stand-up gigs. C.K. crashed the lead actor race last year, so could a series nod be that far off?
New Girl
The series was built around Zooey Deschanel's cute and quirky ways, but it's developed into a formidable ensemble show with side-splitting, star-making turns from Max Greenfield and Jake Johnson. No nomination might call for a donation for the Douchebag Jar.
Parks and Recreation
If there's a show that consistently delivers every season, it's this one. Just like we can depend on Leslie's kindness, we can always look to Parks and Rec for bellyaching yet heartwarming laughs from one of the most endearing and talented casts on TV. In Season 4 alone, we got Leslie's city council campaign, finally met Tammy 1 (an Emmy-worthy guest spot by Patricia Clarkson) and learned the art of treating yo' self. And just like the citizens of Pawnee, Emmy better vote Knope.
Which shows do you want to get nominated?


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Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler and The Strokes star Nikolai Fraiture are set to hit to court at this year's (12) Pop Versus Jock charity basketball game at the Pop Montreal music festival in Canada.
The 22 September (12) festival at MCGill University Sports Centre will feature performances by Grizzly Bear, Dirty Three, Lil B and Patrick Wolf, among others.
Former Talking Heads star David Byrne will perform at half-time during the basketball clash between musicians and MCGill University students.


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The Jornada del Muerto (Spanish for "single day's journey of the dead man"hence "route of the dead man") in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to a desert basin and the particularly dry 100-mile (160 km) stretch of the route through it leading northward from central New Spain (modern-day Mexico) to the furthest reaches of the colony in northern Nuevo México. This route became El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. The Jornada del Muerto runs between the Oscura and San Andres Mountains on the east, with the Caballo Mountains and the Fra Cristóbal Range on the west. The name Jornada del Muerto Volcano refers to a shield volcano and lava field, about 10 by 15 miles (16 by 24 km) in size and reaching an elevation of 5,136 ft (1,565 m), located at the northern end of the desert basin.
Originally posted by Strawberry_Icecream
Further descriptions given by Paul Shartle of the Holloman aliens: "big-nosed" tall humanoids with gray complexions and eyes with vertical slits, similar to cat eyes. They had thin, slit-like mouths and no chins.


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3 stars (out of four)
A few years back, Jennifer Aniston shed her polished sitcom image to play Justine, a poor, rural young woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the indie gem "The Good Girl."
A small-town clerk at a small-time store, Justine felt suffocated by her lot in life, desperate for adventure and trapped in an unfulfilling marriage. With stringy hair and shabby clothes, Aniston seemed far from Central Perk. But in truth, Justine -- a Texas girl who wants more out of life than just an employee discount at Retail Rodeo--wasn't so different from Rachel Green. Take away those designer duds and rich dad and you've got two women frustrated by the stuff they don't know, trying every day to know a little more. (What? You never watched "Friends"? Please.)
This is fast becoming Aniston's trademark, and thankfully she again does it well in "Rumor Has It ," Rob Reiner's easygoing but surprisingly likable comedy about the Pasadena family that inspired "The Graduate."
Let me set one thing straight: I expected to loathe this film, both for its blasted ellipses and blatant exploitation of that most classic of American romantic comedies. But then, well, it's fun.
Bye, bye principles.
Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a burned-out New York Times obit writer in early midlife crisis who is scared to settle down with boyfriend Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) and stifled by her prim and proper Pasadena upbringing, where if you don't play tennis, you don't fit in.Back in Pasadena for her chirpy sister Annie's country-club wedding, Sarah learns her family's deepest, darkest, hippest secret from Shirley MacLaine's "Don't call me Grandma" Katharine: That family long-rumored to be the inspiration for Charles Webb's 1963 novel and its subsequent Mike Nichols film? Sarah's.
Yes, Sarah's mom (long deceased) and grandmother slept with the same man, a sexy boy hunk named Beau Burroughs, a.k.a. Benjamin Braddock. And yes, that makes Katharine Mrs. Robinson. And wait a minute! As Sarah crunches dates like a good little obit writer, she realizes that this Beau character may just be her real father.
So she runs off to San Francisco to find Beau -- now an Internet mogul with a little less hair and a little more wear -- with the hope that, by figuring out her godforsaken family, she'll make some sense of herself.
If this all sounds gimmicky, well, it is. But with MacLaine doing her best grande dame and Kevin Costner as swinging single Beau, it's brassy and juicy and emotionally satisfying. Give in. (And just forget about the whole Kevin Costner-Dustin Hoffman dilemma. Just put it out of your mind. The end.)
Costner has settled into his ideal persona -- the aging loner with a twinkle in his eye. Playing a washed-up baseball player and gentle drunk, he was the best thing about Mike Binder's "The Upside of Anger," and here, too, he's playful and sexy and wise and immature and sad all at once. This guy Beau? He's lived.
And yet, like everyone else in "Rumor Has It," he's still waiting for that elusive prize called true happiness.
"You want more out of your life?" Katharine asks Sarah, after sensing her granddaughter's early-30s paralysis.
"Yes!" Sarah exclaims.
"Get in line."
`Rumor Has It...'
Directed by Rob Reiner; written by T.M. Griffin; photographed by Peter Deming; edited by Robert Leighton; production designed by Tom Sanders; music by Marc Shaiman; produced by Paula Weinstein and Ben Cosgrove. A Warner Bros. Pictures release; opens Sunday, Dec. 25. Running time: 1:37. MPAA rating: PG-13 (mature thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference).
Sarah Huttinger -- Jennifer Aniston
Beau Burroughs -- Kevin Costner
Katharine -- Shirley MacLaine
Jeff -- Mark Ruffalo
Annie Huttinger -- Mena Suvari
Earl Huttinger -- Richard Jenkins


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Welcome to Northern Pan Riders – a friendly and helpful club for owners of touring style motorcycles. Established 2002 and affiliated to the British Motorcyclists Federation, the Northern Pan Riders is a club which welcomes all types of large touring motorcycles.
Our membership is a diverse but like minded group of people who enjoy the companionship, friendship and camaraderie to be found on our regular rides, events and social meetings. Rides are organised by volunteers and can be anywhere in the locality or further afield, but are always good fun and interesting. We use the 'Drop Off Marker System' on all our rides for the safety and comfort of everyone (see the Club website for further details).
Monthly events and social gatherings take place in various locations and are a great way of meeting existing and new members. Here, on our website, and in our quarterly electronic magazine 'PanTalk', you will find a wealth of useful Pan and touring related information – the best tyres to use – hints and tips on riding at home and abroad – discounts at local stockists – good deals on ferries – in fact, any information you need or any queries you have, with over 150 members, someone will have the answer…just ask!
If we have whetted your appetite and you would like to join us, go to the "Join Up" page and you'll soon become a valued Northern Pan Rider !


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Breaking down the schemes that make the teams
NFL coaching trends change as quickly as the coaches themselves. Scouts Inc.'s Gary Horton brings you up to speed.
Updated: September 1, 2008, 2:51 PM ETBy Gary Horton | Scouts Inc.
Arizona Cardinals
Offensive scheme: Ideally, coach Ken Whisenhunt and coordinator Todd Haley would prefer to run the ball 55-60 percent of the time in a scheme that closely resembles the offense Whisenhunt ran while he was Pittsburgh's coordinator. A steady diet of passes designed to take advantage of the complementary styles of WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin is also a key part of the mix. If Whisenhunt has his way, many of those throws will come off of play-action and allow ...
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The Giants defeated the Redskins, 16-7, in the NFL opener Thursday night. Which teams will complete the journey to Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII?
NFL preview index | Playoff dates
Predictions/Power rankings• Power rankings: Champs start season No. 8
• Gene Wojciechowski: Another run at perfection?
• Bristol's picks: We love Bolts-'Boys
AFC emerging stars• Williamson: Broncos' Cutler ready for stardom
• Kuharsky: Titans' Finnegan never satisfied
• Walker: Steelers' Holmes has lofty goals
• Graham: Bills' Whitner maturing on, off field
• Scouts Inc.: More emerging AFC stars
NFC emerging stars• Seifert: Lions' Johnson poised for monster year
• Sando: Seahawks' Hill seeking consistency
• Mosley: Giants' Tuck no longer under radar
• Yasinskas: Beason takes lead in Carolina
• Scouts Inc.: More emerging NFC stars
Commentary/features• Chadiha: Replacing big names
• Clayton: NFC East reigns supreme
• Kuharsky: AFC South is toughest division
• Chadiha: Merriman a marked man
• Clayton: Gonzalez is a Chief asset
• Football Outsiders: Under-the-radar prospects
• Clayton: Cards' James likes latest trends
• Joyner: Brady among true big-game players
SportsNation• Vote: How will your team fare?
NFL fan base rankingsBest fans in the NFL? We think they wear black and gold. So who's Nos. 2-32? And was there a method to our ranking madness? Matt Mosley explains. ESPN.com fan base rankings
• Yasinskas: The Panthers' garage band
• ZOOM gallery: Carolina's Garage Mahal
• 32 NFL fans you need to know
AFC team previews• North: Balt. | Cincinnati | Cleve. | Pittsburgh
• South: Houston | Indy | Jax | Tennessee
• East: Buffalo | Miami| New England | NY Jets
• West: Denver | K.C. | Oakland | San Diego
Scouts Inc.From Boldin's best crossing route to Addai's bread-and-butter running play to Washington's pressure defense, watch the signature plays unfold for every NFL team. Play animations | Team schemes
NFC team previews• North: Chicago | Detroit | Green Bay | Minnesota
• South: Atlanta | Carolina | New Orleans | Tampa
• East: Dallas | NY Giants | Philly | Washington
• West: Arizona | St. Louis | San Fran. | Seattle
NFL blog network• NFL Nation blog | Contact our bloggers
• AFC: North | South | East | West
• NFC: North | South | East | West
ESPN The Magazine• On newsstands Aug. 29: How control-freak Peyton Manning and laid-back little bro Eli channeled each other to become the NFL's biggest winners. Plus, our experts join NFL scouts and players for a 3-D preview of all 32 teams.
• The Mag: Season preview | The 'It' Team 2008
• Mannings: Madmen | Watch: Sklars | Williams
• Injuries: We're all just day-to-day | Fitzgerald
• Watch: Mario Williams | Matt Hasselbeck
• More: Marion The Barbarian | Colleges vs. Pros
• NEXT: Five NFL rookies to watch


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Who We Are & What We Do
APTA represents more than 90,000 members: physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students of physical therapy.
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Legislation to Repeal Therapy Cap Would Ensure Availability of Medically Necessary Therapy Services.
Alexandria, VA, February 14, 2013 — Legislation to be reintroduced today will protect patients from arbitrary limits on physical therapy services so often needed after a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or hip fracture, or to effectively manage conditions such as Parkinson disease, multiple sclerosis, or arthritis, says the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). APTA has long supported and fought for a repeal of the controversial therapy cap.
The Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act introduced in the US House of Representatives by Reps Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Xavier Becerra (D-CA), and in the US Senate by Sens Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Susan Collins (R-ME) would permanently repeal the $1,900 therapy "cap" imposed on physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services. APTA applauds these members for reintroducing this vital legislation.
"An arbitrary therapy cap on outpatient services without regard to clinical appropriateness of care discriminates against the most vulnerable of Medicare beneficiaries," said Gerlach. "In addition, these caps shift costs, delay care, and reduce an individual's ability to remain independent in his or her home and community. So I look forward to working with my colleagues on enacting this common sense legislation to ensure seniors continue to have access to the care they need and deserve."
Created as a part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the therapy cap places an annual financial limit on payment for outpatient therapy services under Medicare Part B. Physical therapy and speech language pathology services are under a combined cap, and another cap is applied to occupational therapy. Created out of a need to balance the federal budget, the cap policy was not based on data and was applied without consideration for quality of care or clinical judgment. Since its passage, Congress has attempted—multiple times—to forestall the negative consequences of cap implementation, first through moratoriums and now through an exceptions process.
With discussion of reform of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) ramping up, APTA is calling on Congress to also address permanent repeal of the therapy cap. Given the opportunity to act on both the SGR and the therapy cap, APTA believes this should be the last time this important legislation should have to be introduced and that it should be passed this year. Until the cap is fully repealed, patient access to medically necessary rehabilitation services will continue to be threatened.
"Rehabilitation therapies are critical to helping millions of Americans recover from injuries and debilitating illnesses," said Cardin. "We should be helping seniors get the therapy they need so they can resume their normal lives, not putting up road blocks to their recoveries. Year after year, Congress has shown its disapproval for these arbitrary therapy caps with short term fixes. Now, with this legislation, we have an opportunity to eliminate them permanently."
The legislation has historically enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress with approximately 200 members cosponsoring the bill each session. APTA is also committed to continuing to work with the committees of jurisdiction, CMS, and MedPAC, to implement long-term payment reform policies, with repeal of the therapy caps and appropriate patient access to services remaining the ultimate goal.
Physical therapists provide evidence-based services to decrease disability, improve function and independence, prevent illness, promote wellness, and restore quality of life to the patients/clients they serve. Physical therapist services lower the rate of disability and associated clinical cost by reducing the need for services of greater expense and/or greater risk to the patient/client.1
About APTA
The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) represents more than 85,000 physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, and students of physical therapy nationwide. Learn more about conditions physical therapists can treat and find a physical therapist in your area at www.MoveForwardPT.com. Consumers are encouraged to follow us on Twitter (@MoveForwardPT), Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
1Peterson LE, Goodman C, Karnes EK, Chen CJ, Schwartz JA. Assessment of the quality of cost analysis literature in physical therapy. Phys Ther. 2009;89(8):733-755.
American Physical Therapy Association | 1111 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1488 703/684-APTA (2782) | 800/999-2782 | 703/684-7343 (fax) |
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Q:The first question was a very important question. I am asking the same question. What size bits are in the kit? I don't care about the extensions as they were already listed, I am interested in the bit sizes. Thank you.
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A:Th bit sizes are 1-3/8",1-1/2",2-1/8",2-9/16" and 5-1/2" extension.
Q:How can you miss putting in the sizes of the holes / bits? That information is mandatory for drill bits...
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Q:what size bits are included in the DeWalt #DW1648 drill kit???
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A:Here is what is included in the kit:
DEWALT offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all DEWALT accessories, except for pressure washer accessories. DEWALT accessories are fully guaranteed against defects in material and workmanship. The warranty does not cover misuse of product or normal wear and tear.


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Immaterialism is the philosophical position that there is no material world and all that exists does so only in the mind and is for the mind. It is also the position that the supernatural has existence, i.e., ghosts, spirits.
About The Author
Matt Slick is the President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.


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PROVINCETOWN — An old-fashioned pageant of regalia and fancy dress, elected dignitaries, ships, cannon fire, street strolls, speeches and singing is planned tomorrow to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the Pilgrim Monument.
The 252-foot granite monument — the town's most iconic and well-known structure — was built to honor the arrival of the Pilgrims in America.
Before the settlers arrived in Plymouth on Dec. 21, 1620, they stopped in Provincetown Harbor for about 40 days.
The monument was built to remind people that Provincetown was first, according to federal records.
"I was 2 years old when it was put down," Provincetown resident Frances J. Raymond, 102, said of the cornerstone. "I remember that my sisters told me it was a big, big parade."
It was a day to remember, Aug. 20, 1907, according to monument records.
President Theodore Roosevelt arrived in the presidential yacht "The Mayflower." Eight battleships greeted the yacht in the harbor with a gun salute. Officials from the Grand Lodge of Masons arrived a little late — by train. It was their job — 100 men strong — to spread the cement onto the cornerstone with a special trowel, lower the 4,800 pound block of granite and declare it "level, plumb, true and trusty," according to monument records.
The Monument, which is owned by the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association of Provincetown, cost about $95,000 in federal, state and local grants, and donations to build.
Today the monument, with 116 interior steps and ramps, is visited annually by about 69,000 people, according to a monument official.
And, it is still the structure that visitors wonder about most, according to local business people and residents.
From inside his shop at the corner of Ryder and Commercial streets, taffy maker Ross Cicero fields all kinds of questions about the "tower."
"They don't even know you're allowed to climb to the top," Cicero said.
Mary Ann Bragg can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Location, ST | website.com


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House Tours & Grounds
Gosford House - Interior
Inside, the building exceeds the expectations raised by its elegant exterior. The Marble Hall, in the south wing, is arguably the most arresting of its many fine features. It was completed in 1891 by William Young for the tenth Earl of Wemyss and rises to a height of three storeys, with a magnificent double staircase leading to a surrounding picture gallery. The elaborate fireplace, alabaster colonnades and ornate plasterwork reflect the strong Italianate taste of the tenth Earl, while the Palladian screen of Venetian windows are reminiscent of Adam's original designs.
We will be open
The house will be open on the 15th of March for Mother's day and Easter weekend from the 2nd - 6th April.
Public Open Days for the summer 2015
Thursday 23rd July
Friday 24th July
Saturday 25th July
Sunday 26th July
Thursday 30th July
Friday 31st July
Saturday 1st August
Sunday 2nd August
Monday 3rd August
Thursday 13th August
Friday 14th August
Saturday 15th August
Sunday 16th August
Monday 17th August - OPEN DAY NOW CANCELLED
Thursday 27th August
Friday 28th August
Saturday 29th August
Sunday 30th August
Monday 31st August
The house opens at 1pm and the last tour is at around 3.30pm.
Each tour costs £6 and lasts approximately 45 minutes.
The gates to Gosford close promptly at 4.45pm.
For further information please e-mail email@example.com or call 01875 870201
Visitors are kindly reminded that NO photographs are allowed to be taken inside the house and bags are not allowed into the house. There is a cloakroom for bags.
The house has limited disabled access and part of the tour requires climbing stairs.
For tour groups of 8 and above please call or e-mail to book in advance.
Cash payments only.
Visitors to the grounds, are kindly reminded to keep their dogs on a lead at all times and respect the privacy of the private dwelling houses on the estate.
Summer dates for house opening will be available in June 2015.


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text: I actually use a fairly small Kodak shoulder bag that is just big enough to take an RB67 with one back and a single lens attached. Into the pockets on the bag go a lightmeter, spare back, small extension tube and filters (orange and polariser). On top of the camera goes a lee filter holder, soft grad and warm-up filters in a cloth pouch. Film is stuffed into any remaining gaps. This set-up actually weighs less than the 35mm gear I used to cart around as I would regularly take every lens I owned. I like the discipline of just taking one camera and one lens out, but if I need another lens I just take it in a lowepro lens pouch and use the slip-lock attachment around the shoulder strap of the bag. The tripod has a strap too and that goes on the other shoulder.


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Shop for other products in Stroller Accessories
This Snuggle Bag is water repellent and lined with plush sherpa to keep toddler warm and cozy while out in the stroller. Dual zipper design allows room for child's feet to come through for when they start wearing shoes. Fully removable top provides easy temperature control and access to child. Straps pull thorugh to rest directly on childs shoulders. The Snuggle Bag can also be used in forward facing car seats.
Stroller not included.
I purchased this for my Quinny stroller and it works perfectly! it is so easy to take on and off the stroller as the weather changes during this time of year. It is warm for my little one and yet not heavy which is great for comfort.
LOVE this product!!! It is really warm, and is large enough for my 2.5 yr old to fit comfortably. Will be buying a second for my younger child.
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Whenever I see a sale on avocados, I always buy them. We love avocados and making guacamole. If you eat avocados, then you know they can be a little messy when prepping. Good Cook's avocado slicer has made it easier. I just cut the avocado in half and use the pointed end of the slicer to take the pit out. Then I take the slicer and scrap out the avocado half which cuts it into slices at the same time. The avocado slicer is very easy to use and makes pretty slices.
I wanted to use my nicely cut avocado slices for something different than my usual guacamole. I decided to make avocado egg salad. It is a great twist on classic egg salad for anyone who likes avocados. Check out my recipe HERE.
Buy It
Purchase the Avocado Slicer, Reamer, and Zester online at Good Cook
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Two lucky winners will receive a Good Cook Avocado Slicer, Citrus Reamer and Zester
Winner is Paula and Lesley F.


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April 24, 2014
Blue Zertuche
New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) looks at some of the new faces that made an impact for their teams during the GASO in March and/or April.(2016) Alex Vilarino pictured. ...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now!
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